As Muslims worldwide welcomed the Eid al-Fitr holiday, photojournalist Hamada Elrasam turned his lens to Cairo where communities sought relief in rituals, festivities, and causes, especially amid the country’s deepening economic crisis. Captions were written in collaboration with Elle Kurancid.
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Men wearing Burkinabe military uniforms killed approximately 60 people last week in a village in northern Burkina Faso, a local prosecutor said Sunday, citing a police report.  

Lamine Kabor said authorities have launched an investigation into the attack in the village of Karma in Yatenga province, near Mali. 

The region has experienced an uptick in similar attacks by suspected jihadists. 

Some information for this report came from Agence France-Press and Reuters.  
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Kenyan police say 47 cult members who were convinced by their minister that they would meet Jesus if they starved themselves have died.  

Search teams found 26 bodies in shallow graves Sunday in the coastal town of Malindi, on their minister’s property, increasing the death toll from last week’s discovery.  

Paul Makenzie Nthenge, the leader of the Good News International Church, told his members they could meet Jesus if they starved themselves to death and some believed him.  

Police received tips that there were likely more victims on the minister’s property. When police raided the location, they found 15 emaciated people. Four of them have since died.  

Officials fear other members of the church may be hiding from authorities.  

The minister is in custody.  
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As more countries safely evacuate their diplomats from Sudan, U.S. citizens who are still stranded in the conflict-ridden African nation are being asked to continue sheltering in place and monitor U.S. official communications. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias takes a look at the options being considered to provide support to those left behind amid ongoing fighting between Sudan’s armed forces and a paramilitary group.
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Thirty-nine bodies have been found so far on land owned by a pastor in coastal Kenya who was arrested for telling his followers to fast to death.

Malindi sub-county police chief John Kemboi said that more shallow graves have yet to be dug up on the land belonging to pastor Paul Makenzi, who was arrested on April 14 over links to cultism.

The total death toll is 43, because a further four people died after they and others were discovered starving at the Good News International Church last week.

Police have asked a court to allow them to hold Makenzi longer as investigations into the deaths of his followers continue.

A tipoff from members of the public led police to raid the pastor’s property in Malindi, where they found 15 emaciated people, including the four who later died. The followers said they were starving on the pastor’s instructions in order to meet Jesus.

Police had been told there were dozens of shallow graves spread across Makenzi’s farm and digging started on Friday.

Makenzi has been on hunger strike for the past four days while in police custody.

The pastor has been arrested twice before, in 2019 and in March of this year, in relation to the deaths of children. Each time, he was released on bond, and both cases are still proceeding through the court.

Local politicians have urged the court not to release him this time, decrying the spread of cults in the Malindi area.

Cults are common in Kenya, which has a largely religious society.
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Ten civilians and three soldiers were killed and 88 jihadis “neutralized” in multiple incidents across Mali on Saturday, the government said, in a wave of bloodshed it described as a resurgence of “terrorist incidents.”

Early Saturday morning, suspected jihadis attacked the Sevare airport area in the central Mopti region, detonating car bombs, which killed 10 civilians and injured 61 others, the government said in a statement.

The blasts destroyed some houses in the airport’s surrounding area, which is home to a Malian military camp.

“Thanks to the legendary determination of our valiant armed forces, operating exclusively with their own resources, the attackers were routed, and 28 terrorists were neutralized,” the statement said.

A local elected official earlier told AFP that Senegalese soldiers from the U.N.’s peacekeeping mission in Mali, MINUSMA, were involved in the fighting.

MINUSMA’s camp covers 4 hectares next to the airport and the Malian army camp.

“MINUSMA strongly condemns the 22 April attacks on the Malian Armed Forces (FAMa) camp in Sevare and the nearby car bombings that killed and injured civilians. … Shots were also fired toward the MINUSMA camp,” the mission said in a statement Saturday.

“MINUSMA declares its readiness to provide all necessary support to the Malian authorities to conduct the required investigations.”

Two local elected officials and a diplomatic source, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, referred to the base as a “Russian” camp.

Mali’s junta in 2022 began working with what it calls Russian military “instructors.” Opponents say these are mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner group.

“It is the Russian camp and their planes that have been targeted, the camp is near the airport,” an elected official told AFP.

Jihadists ‘neutralized’

In separate incidents on Saturday, the Malian army reported it “destroyed a terrorist sanctuary in Mourdiah and neutralized some 60 terrorists in Boni,” the government statement said.

Boni is also in Mopti, while Mourdiah is in the Koulikoro region near the border with Mauritania.

“A supply mission of the Malian Armed Forces was ambushed just 10 kilometers from Mourdiah on the road to Nara,” the governorate of Nara said in a statement earlier on Saturday.

The area around Nara was also the site of an ambush on an official delegation Tuesday.

The chief of staff of Mali’s transitional president and at least two others died in that attack, which was claimed by the al-Qaida-linked Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin.

Also on Saturday, an air force helicopter crashed in a residential neighborhood of the capital, Bamako, killing three military crew members and injuring six civilians, the government statement said.

It said the crash occurred “following a typical aerial surveillance operation of Bamako.”

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a military source told AFP earlier on Saturday that the helicopter had been returning “from the Mauritanian border where it had intervened against jihadists.”

Mali has been battling a security crisis since jihadis and separatist insurgencies broke out in the north of the country in 2012.

It has since August 2020 been ruled by a military junta, which broke a long-standing alliance with France and other Western partners in the fight against jihadism and turned militarily and politically toward Russia.
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Somalia’s military repulsed an attack by jihadi fighters in a remote region of the country early Saturday, killing at least 18 of the al-Shabab militants, according to a top army official.

At least three civilians described as traditional elders were killed in the fighting near Masagaway town, General Mohamed Ahmed Taredisho said by phone.

Masagaway is in the central region of Galgadud and home to a military base. Resident Yusuf Sheikh told The Associated Press that militants overran the base, confiscated weapons and burned military vehicles during the attack.

“It was early in the morning, and (al-Shabab) completely took over the whole town, including the military base, forcing the government forces out of the town,” he said.

Sheikh said several people were killed in the attack and others were missing. 

Al-Shabab, which has ties with al-Qaida, opposes the Somali federal government in Mogadishu, the capital. The group intensified attacks on military bases in recent months after it lost control of territories in rural areas to government forces. 

Al-Shabab members have fought for years to create an Islamic state in the Horn of Africa nation. African Union peacekeepers and occasional U.S. airstrikes on al-Shabab targets have tried to help keep the militants at bay.

Somalia also is facing its worst drought in decades. During a visit there earlier this month, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed for “massive international support” for the country.
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At least nine people were killed and more than 60 wounded when a triple suicide bomb attack destroyed about 20 buildings in the central Mali town of Sevare early on Saturday, a spokesperson for the regional governor said.

All of those killed and wounded in the blasts were civilians, Yacouba Maiga, the spokesperson, told Reuters by phone. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Mali is the epicenter of a violent insurgency that took root in its arid north following a Tuareg separatist rebellion in 2012, and Sevare is home to a major Mali military base and troops from the United Nations mission in Mali.

Since the rebellion, militants with links to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group have spread to countries in the Sahel region south of the Sahara and more recently to coastal states, seizing territory, killing thousands and uprooting millions in the process.

Images shared on social media showed several buildings, including a gas station, destroyed by the blast, as well as injured people being given assistance. Reuters could not independently verify the images.

The attack comes two days after the chief of staff of Mali’s interim president and three others were killed in an ambush.

Earlier on Saturday, the West African country’s government said in a statement read on national television that “a terrorist attack” had been stopped by the army in Sevare.

“Three vehicles filled with explosives were destroyed by army drone fire,” the statement said, without giving further details on casualties.

Separately on Saturday, the Malian army said in a statement that a military helicopter returning from a mission had crashed in a residential neighborhood in the capital, Bamako, and that it was assessing the crash site.
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A military helicopter crashed Saturday in a residential neighborhood of Mali’s capital, Bamako, after returning from what the Malian army say was an “operational mission.”

The crash was confirmed in a statement on the Malian army’s official Facebook page. The “attack helicopter” crashed at 1:10 p.m., “in a residential area of Bamako,” according to the statement.

Unverified videos circulating on social media show heavy smoke rising from a residential neighborhood, one showing a piece of a military aircraft marked “army.”

Military aircraft could be seen flying above Bamako in the hours before the crash.

Mali has been battling an Islamist insurgency since 2012, which has since spread from Mali’s north into the center and south of the country.

France intervened in 2013 after northern Mali was taken over by militants but withdrew in 2022 over concerns about Mali’s military government working with Russian Wagner Group mercenaries.

Mali has been under military rule since a 2020 coup.

On Thursday, interim President Assimi Goita’s chief of staff, Oumar Traore, was killed along with three others in an ambush in Nara, in the southwest of the country.

Saturday morning, a military base in central Mali was attacked by suspected Islamists.

The army has not yet released the number of dead or injured in Saturday’s crash.
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The Sudanese army said Saturday it was coordinating efforts to evacuate diplomats from the United States, Britain, China and France out of the country on military airplanes, as fighting persisted in the capital, including at its main airport.

The military said that army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan had spoken to leaders of various countries requesting safe evacuations of their citizens and diplomats from Sudan. The country has been roiled by bloody fighting for the past week that has killed more than 400 people so far, according to the World Health Organization.

Foreign countries have struggled in vain to repatriate their citizens, a task deemed far too risky as clashes between the Sudanese army and a rival powerful paramilitary group have raged in and around Khartoum, including in residential areas.

The main international airport near the center of the capital has been the target of heavy shelling as the paramilitary group, known as the Rapid Support Forces, has tried to take control of the complex, complicating evacuation plans. With Sudan’s airspace closed, foreign countries have ordered their citizens to simply shelter in place until they can figure out evacuation plans.

Burhan said that some diplomats from Saudi Arabia had already been evacuated from Port Sudan, the country’s main seaport on the Red Sea, and airlifted back to the kingdom. He said that Jordan’s diplomats would soon be evacuated in the same way.

Even as questions persisted over how the mass evacuation of foreign citizens would unfold, the Saudi Foreign Ministry announced Saturday that it had started arranging the evacuation of Saudi nationals out of the country. Officials did not elaborate on the plans.

Earlier this week, the Pentagon said it was moving additional troops and equipment to a Naval base in the tiny Gulf of Aden nation of Djibouti to prepare for the possible evacuation of U.S. Embassy personnel from Sudan.

On Friday, the U.S. said it had no plans for a government-coordinated evacuation of an estimated 16,000 American citizens trapped in Sudan, and continued to urge Americans in Sudan to shelter in place. 
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Civilians in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum are caught in the middle of fighting between rival military factions. Sidahmed Ibraheem reports from Khartoum. Idrissa Fall and Carol Van Dam in Washington contributed to this report, narrated by Salem Solomon. Camera: Sidahmed Ibraheem.
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Human rights activists welcome the move by President Yoweri Museveni to return a draft of the anti-homosexuality bill to parliament for review, saying it provides them with more time to fight it.

On Thursday, Museveni, in a meeting with legislators of the ruling National Resistance Movement party, congratulated them upon passing the bill in March. But Museveni said that while he agrees with the bill, legislators need to make changes to not frighten someone who, in his words, needs rehabilitation and wants to come out.

The bill was widely condemned for what human rights activists have called some of the world’s harshest punishments against the gay community.

The bill mandates life in prison for anyone who engages in homosexual acts, up to 20 years for promoting homosexuality, and a three-year sentence for children convicted of homosexuality. Certain acts of gay sex could warrant the death penalty.

Speaking to VOA, the ruling party’s chief whip in parliament, Denis Hamson Obua, said parliament will examine the bill “in order for some proposed clauses to be reviewed, to be reinforced, to be strengthened. There is also the question of rehabilitation of the victims.”

“But we also agreed in principle that the proposed sentences in terms of punishment for promotion, recruitment and publicizing acts of homosexuality will be sustained,” he added.

The NRM caucus will likely decriminalize failure to report homosexuality. The current bill requires everyone to report a person known to be gay to police, but Museveni wants that provision removed. 

Amnesty International continues to call on Museveni to veto the bill.

“It is sad that he did not veto the bill,” said Roland Ebole, Amnesty’s regional researcher. “But what we are actually saying, the provisions of the bill are very dangerous, the death sentence. Having sentences that go against the constitution. And really worried about the forced testing of persons because they are suspected of having committed aggravated homosexuality, and especially targeting HIV/AIDS community.”

Amnesty also argues that forced testing will increase stigma and reverse achievements against HIV and AIDS made by Uganda.

The United States pays for anti-retroviral drugs for hundreds of thousands of Ugandans each year. The country director for the U.S. Agency for International Development recently said the bill, if passed, would make it impossible for the agency to work in Uganda.

Joan Ameka, founder of the Rella Foundation, a group that provides shelter to queer women, said Museveni sending the bill back for review provides some hope. 

“We could have a chance to have a conversation on how further do we protect queer persons in Uganda. Because the bill so far has caused a lot of damages, especially in the lowest communities that are offering support,” Ameka said. 

Museveni has called for a meeting with the proposer of the bill, Justice Reform opposition party legislator Asuman Basalirwa, to agree on amendments to the bill before parliament considers it again. 
…

Kenya’s President William Ruto has offered to mediate between Sudan’s warring parties, after multiple ceasefires failed to hold and fighting raged for a seventh day Friday in Khartoum and other Sudanese cities.

Ruto made the offer as he conveyed a message of goodwill to the people of Sudan as the holy month of Ramadan comes to an end.

Murithi Mutiga, Africa program director of the International Crisis Group, said it’s encouraging that neighbors, including Kenya, are eager to help resolve the Sudan crisis, but he’s skeptical that Ruto or any one leader can do it alone.

“The reality, though, is that you need concerted actions by multiple external partners because nobody has really substantial leverage over the main actors,” he said.

Ruto said he strongly believes that a peacefully negotiated solution to the conflict in Sudan is within reach. He expressed hope the fighting parties will respond to appeals to end the fighting put forth this week by the East African regional bloc IGAD and the African Union.

But Mutiga says major powers need to step in.

“It’s good to support the regional initiatives that might send the Kenyans, the Djiboutians, and South Sudanese heads of state, but they need to be backed up by serious external pressure, particularly by two key players: Saudi Arabia and the U.S.,” he said. “They have considerable access to the main actors. They might be able to move the needle and they might be able to encourage them to accept talks.”

Ruto said halting the fight will be a gesture of goodwill and will stop a descent into conflict, insecurity, instability, and humanitarian crisis.

On Friday, the Rapid Support Forces of Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire. The Sudanese Army general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan did not seem interested.

“That might suggest that the RSF is under some sort of military pressure,” Mutiga said. “But we have to remember that this is a very large force, very motivated force and one with a lot at stake. The armed forces seem determined to crush them militarily, but that is partly because they worry that a truce might allow the RSF to reinforce.”

Regardless, Mutiga said it is essential that the two parties move toward an agreement sooner rather than later because the suffering in Sudan has been horrific.
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Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces said Friday it has agreed to a 72-hour truce to begin at 6 a.m., designed to bring at least a temporary halt to the days of deadly fighting in the African country that has killed hundreds.

The RSF said in a statement, “The truce coincides with the blessed Eid al-Fitr … to open humanitarian corridors to evacuate citizens and give them the opportunity to greet their families.”

The Muslim holiday of Eid marks the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

There has been no indication, however, from the rival Sudan Armed Forces about its intention to observe the truce.

On Thursday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an immediate halt to fighting and appealed for a three-day cease-fire to mark the end of Ramadan to enable trapped civilians to seek safety and supplies.

“This must be the first step in providing respite from the fighting and paving the way for a permanent cease-fire,” Guterres told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York.

He had just met virtually with the heads of the African Union, Arab League and regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development bloc, IGAD, as well as representatives from other countries with influence. The session yielded no breakthroughs.

Guterres has been working the phones to achieve a deescalation since violence erupted last Saturday between former allies, now rivals, Army Commander General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the commander of the RSF.

“The cessation of hostilities must be followed by serious dialogue allowing for the successful transition, starting with the appointment of a civilian government,” the U.N. chief said.

Humanitarian crisis

Guterres told reporters it is “virtually impossible” for aid workers to conduct operations in the current state of hostilities, and he demanded that fighters stop targeting humanitarians.

Three employees of the World Food Program were killed in crossfire at the start of the fighting in Darfur. Others have been harassed and intimidated. There have also been reports of sexual assaults on aid workers. Warehouses have been attacked, looted and seized. The WFP said 4,000 metric tons of food was stolen at one of its depots in Nyala, south Darfur.

“There were no humanitarian services provided to Sudanese the last five days, simply because it’s not possible for any humanitarian workers to move outside of their home location or their compound,” the acting U.N. humanitarian and resident coordinator for Sudan, Abdou Dieng, told reporters by phone Thursday from the country.

He said the U.N. was hoping for a cease-fire to move staff in more dangerous areas to safer zones but said that what is safe one day may not be safe the next.

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Thursday that more than 330 people have been killed in the fighting and around 3,200 wounded.

The U.N. has warned that Sudan’s health care system “could completely collapse.” Hospitals need more staff and supplies, including blood.

At least 20 hospitals already have closed, according to Sudan’s minister of health. At least nine in the capital, Khartoum, are closed, with the potential for a dozen more to soon close, according to the United Nations.

Officials say this is all tragic for a country where one-third of the population – or nearly 16 million people – needed humanitarian assistance before the latest violence.

The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, said Thursday that between 10,000 and 20,000 Sudanese have fled this week into neighboring Chad. The U.N.’s Dieng said his office has also received reports of people arriving in South Sudan and at the border area between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Calls for dialogue

The fighting between the army and RSF broke out after months of rising tensions over the country’s political future and plans to integrate the RSF into the national army.

Calls to end the fighting have come from around the world and within Africa, including the African Union, the Arab League and IGAD.

The presidents of Kenya, South Sudan and Djibouti say they plan to travel to Sudan in the coming days to hold discussions with the leaders.

But Sudan’s two top generals have yet to express a willingness to negotiate, and each has demanded the other’s surrender.

The clashes are part of a power struggle between Burhan, who also heads Sudan’s ruling military council, and Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, the deputy head of the council. The two generals joined forces in October 2021 to overthrow the transitional government formed after the 2019 ouster of longtime autocratic leader Omar al-Bashir.

The restructuring of the military was part of an effort to restore the country to civilian rule and end the political crisis.
…

Sudan’s top general said Friday the military is committed to a transition to civilian rule, in his first speech since brutal fighting between his forces and the country’s powerful paramilitary began nearly a week ago.

In a video message released early Friday to mark the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday, army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan said: “We are confident that we will overcome this ordeal with our training, wisdom and strength, preserving the security and unity of the state, allowing us to be entrusted with the safe transition to civilian rule.”

The sounds of heavy fighting could be heard amid the call to prayer in the Sudanese capital, where mosques are expected to hold the morning services inside to protect worshippers.

The army chief’s statements came as his rivals claimed they would implement a three-day cease-fire for the holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, the holy month of fasting, based on “international and regional understandings.” There was no immediate response from Burhan to the cease-fire announcement.

Since he took control of the country in an October 2021 coup, Burhan and his rival, commander of Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, have repeatedly promised to shepherd the country toward civilian rule. However, both have failed to sign political agreements that would see their institutions lose power and open the way for democratic elections.

The video message was the first time Burhan has been seen since fighting engulfed the capital and other areas of the country. It wasn’t known when or where the video was made.

On Thursday, Sudan’s military ruled out negotiations with the rival Rapid Support Forces, saying it would only accept its surrender. The two sides continued to battle in central Khartoum, the capital, and other parts of the country, threatening to wreck international attempts to broker a longer cease-fire.

The military’s statement raised the likelihood of a renewed surge in the nearly weeklong violence that has killed hundreds and pushed Sudan’s population to the breaking point. Alarm has grown that the country’s medical system was on the verge of collapse, with many hospitals forced to shut down and others running out of supplies

“Ruin and destruction and the sound of bullets have left no place for the happiness everyone in our beloved country deserves,” Burhan said in the speech.

Both sides have a long history of human rights abuses. The RSF was born out of the Janjaweed militias, which were accused of widespread atrocities when the government deployed them to put down a rebellion in Sudan’s western Darfur region in the early 2000s.

The conflict has raised fears of a spillover from the strategically located nation to its African neighbors.
…

The Pentagon is positioning military forces near Sudan to help evacuate U.S. Embassy personnel in Khartoum, if needed, amid the explosion of violence between the African country’s two warring factions. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other leaders are pushing for a cease-fire until at least Sunday. VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports from the State Department.
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Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni declined to sign a bill that would require the death penalty for homosexuality in some cases and sent it back to Parliament for “strengthening.”

Museveni’s decision was announced late Thursday after he met with lawmakers in his ruling National Resistance Movement party, almost all of whom supported the bill.

The meeting ended with a decision to return the bill to Parliament “with proposals for its improvement,” a statement said. It was not clear what the president’s recommendations were.

The Ugandan Parliament passed the bill on March 21, and the president must sign it for it to become law.

NRM chief whip Denis Hamson Obua said Thursday that Museveni would meet Tuesday with the Parliament’s legal and parliamentary affairs committee to draft amendments to the bill.

Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda — as it is in more than 30 of Africa’s 54 countries — under a colonial-era law criminalizing sex acts “against the order of nature.” The punishment is life imprisonment.

Museveni is a strong opponent of LGBTQ rights. Last month, he described gay people as “deviants.” However, he is under pressure from the international community to veto the bill. U.N. experts say the bill, if passed, would be “an egregious violation of human rights,” and the U.S. has warned of economic consequences if the legislation is enacted.

Last month, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken “urged the Ugandan government to strongly consider [the impact of] the implementation of this legislation,” saying via Twitter that the bill “could reverse gains in the fight against HIV/AIDS.”

The bill prescribes the death penalty for the offense of “aggravated homosexuality,” defined as sexual relations involving people infected with HIV as well as minors and other categories of vulnerable people. It also includes life imprisonment for “homosexuality.”

Jail terms of up to 20 years are proposed for those who advocate or promote LGBTQ rights.

Under the bill, a suspect convicted of “attempted aggravated homosexuality” can be jailed for 14 years, and the offense of “attempted homosexuality” is punishable by up to 10 years.

The bill has widespread support in Uganda, including among church leaders. It was introduced by a lawmaker who said his goal was to punish the “promotion, recruitment and funding” of LGBTQ activities in the country. Only two of 389 legislators present for the voting session opposed the bill.

Ignatius Annor of VOA’s English to Africa Service contributed to this report. Some information came from The Associated Press and Reuters. 
…

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an immediate halt to fighting in Sudan on Thursday and appealed for a three-day cease-fire to mark the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan to enable trapped civilians to seek safety and supplies.

“This must be the first step in providing respite from the fighting and paving the way for a permanent cease-fire,” Guterres told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York. 

He had just met virtually with the heads of the African Union, Arab League and regional bloc IGAD, as well as representatives from other countries with influence. The session yielded no breakthroughs. 

Guterres has been working the phones to achieve a de-escalation since violence erupted last Saturday between former allies, now rivals, Army Commander General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. 

“The cessation of hostilities must be followed by serious dialogue allowing for the successful transition, starting with the appointment of a civilian government,” the U.N. chief said. 

Humanitarian crisis 

Guterres told reporters it is “virtually impossible” for aid workers to conduct operations in the current state of hostilities, and he demanded that fighters stop targeting humanitarians. 

Three employees of the World Food Program were killed in crossfire at the start of the fighting in Darfur. Others have been harassed and intimidated. There have also been reports of sexual assaults on aid workers. Warehouses have been attacked, looted and seized. The WFP said 4,000 metric tons of food was stolen at one of its depots in Nyala, south Darfur.   

“There were no humanitarian services provided to Sudanese the last five days, simply because it’s not possible for any humanitarian workers to move outside of their home location or their compound,” the acting U.N. humanitarian and resident coordinator for Sudan, Abdou Dieng, told reporters by phone from the country.  

He said the U.N. is hoping for a cease-fire to move staff in more dangerous areas to safer zones but noted that what is safe one day may not be safe the next. 

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Thursday that more than 330 people have been killed in the fighting and around 3,200 wounded.  

The U.N. has warned that Sudan’s health care system “could completely collapse.” Hospitals need more staff and supplies, including blood. 

At least 20 hospitals already have closed, according to Sudan’s minister of health. At least nine in the capital, Khartoum, are closed, with the potential for a dozen more to soon close, according to the United Nations.  

Officials say this is all tragic for a country where one-third of the population – or nearly 16 million people – were in need of humanitarian assistance before the latest violence. 

The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, said Thursday that between 10,000-20,000 Sudanese have fled this week into neighboring Chad. The U.N.’s Dieng said his office has also received reports of people arriving in South Sudan and at the border area between Ethiopia and Eritrea. 

Calls for dialogue  

The fighting between the army and RSF broke out after months of rising tensions over the country’s political future and plans to integrate the RSF into the national army.  

Calls to end the fighting have come from around the world and within Africa, including the African Union, the Arab League and IGAD.

The presidents of Kenya, South Sudan and Djibouti say they plan to travel to Sudan in the coming days to hold discussions with the leaders.  

But Sudan’s two top generals have yet to express a willingness to negotiate, and each has demanded the other’s surrender.  

The clashes are part of a power struggle between Burhan, who also heads Sudan’s ruling military council, and Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, the deputy head of the council. The two generals joined forces in October 2021 to overthrow the transitional government formed after the 2019 ouster of longtime autocratic leader Omar al-Bashir. 

The restructuring of the military was part of an effort to restore the country to civilian rule and end the political crisis.
…

Fishermen in Madarounfa, Niger, count on Lake Madarounfa to provide them with a living and the food on their tables. But both are at risk because of a drought. Youssouf Abdoulaye has this report from Niamey, narrated by Salem Solomon.
…

As the conflict in Sudan escalated this week, refugees, many of whom had fled violence in neighboring countries, found themselves trapped in Khartoum and other cities.

In interviews with VOA, many said they fear for their lives and are in need of help, but nobody seemed to be listening to their pleas. 

Aster Tariku, an Ethiopian refugee and a mother of two children, described the chaos in Khartoum: “The city is in havoc. There are airstrikes. It’s terrifying. We’ve shut our doors and are hiding in the house. The children scream if I open the doors; they scream. They are in shock.”

Aster also spoke of the difficulties of finding food. “I’ve nothing to feed my children. God is my witness. We are just eating what I had. We stay on an empty stomach and eat during the evening,” she told VOA’s Amharic service.

Eyasu Adola, a coordinator of the Oromo community in Sudan, said members of the Eritrean and Ethiopian refugee communities have been wounded and killed in the conflict. 

“Many people are injured,” he said. “And due to the clash, many have died too. We have confirmed that a husband, wife, and child have died, and another four people traveling on a Bajaj [auto rickshaw] have died.” 

Eyasu also spoke of the ordeal of some Oromo children, saying, “Some children are locked in a school in the Medhanialem Ethiopian Orthodox Church, in Khartoum. They have been there ever since the first day. All the teachers and the students are there.”

Another refugee from the Oromo community, who spoke to VOA’s Afan Oromo service on condition of anonymity, said he saw some civilians caught in the crossfire. “A woman from our country was hit by a bullet in her leg when she tried to get back home from her workplace. Even her family was not able to visit her at all.”

Kumera Jirata, another refugee from Ethiopia based outside of Khartoum, described the condition most refugees are facing. “We are waiting in fear. Nothing is happening so far. Our camp is further away from the capital. However, there is no guarantee for our safety.”

All the refugees called on the international community to urgently assist in providing food, shelter and safety. 

Two cease-fires declared in Sudan this week broke down, making it difficult for aid workers to reach individuals in need or for people sheltering in their homes to flee to safer surroundings. 

The United Nations says Sudan is home to more than 1 million refugees from neighboring countries, including Chad, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Tedros Berhane, an Eritrean refugee living in the capital city, said they are in distress due to the almost non-stop heavy fighting between the Sudanese armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. 

“There’s a lot of gunfire and disturbance around us,” he said in a WhatsApp message.

Another Eritrean who asked to remain anonymous said, “We’ve been warned to close our doors and stay in because there is looting and abuse.”

Refugees in the country said they had difficulties even before the fighting started. Security forces, some reported, had been harassing and detaining refugees.

“Prior to this chaos, they were harassing refugees, requesting them for identification, so we were telling our families to stay indoors as a result,” an Ethiopian refugee told VOA.

But above all else, he added, refugees in the crossfire called on the international community not to forget them. He said, “Please be our voice, for people who are suffering the most.” 

Eden Geremew, Jalene Gemeda and Winta Kidane contributed to this report. 
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A Nobel Prize-winning Ukrainian is in Pretoria this week as part of a group urging South Africa’s government to re-think its friendly relations with Russia as it wages war on Kyiv. The Ukrainians called on South Africa to honor an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant and arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin if he goes there for a summit in August.

Oleksandra Romantsova, who heads Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties, an NGO that won the Nobel Peace Prize last year, is in South Africa along with an official from the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce, to try and shore up support for Kyiv.

Pretoria has taken an officially neutral stance on the conflict and has refrained from criticizing Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The government is close allies with Moscow, going as far as holding bilateral talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov earlier this year and hosting Russian war ships in February for joint military exercises.

Romantsova told VOA the group had met with officials from the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, and it had a good and “productive” discussion.

She said as a regional leader, however, it was disheartening that South Africa had not taken a stronger stance in speaking up about the illegal invasion by Russia.

“For Ukrainians, who know Nelson Mandela and struggle of South African population for dignity, equality and human rights, it’s truly quite disappointing,” she said.

She said as a country that has good relations with Moscow, South Africa should use that platform to warn Russia about its human rights abuses in Ukraine, such as the kidnapping of thousands of Ukrainian children. She suggested South Africa could play more of a mediation role.

She noted, though, it was “really painful” to see Putin invited to a summit of the BRICS countries — Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — scheduled for August in Johannesburg.

The International Criminal Court recently accused Putin of war crimes, saying he is responsible for the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.

South Africa is a signatory to the ICC and is technically obliged to act on the warrant should Putin attend the event — which he hasn’t yet confirmed.

If he does come, Romantsova hopes South African authorities will act.

“South Africa should follow the ICC rules and arrest Putin if he attends BRICS,” she said.

South Africa’s hesitancy to condemn Russia is often attributed to their relations during the Cold War, when Moscow courted the anti-apartheid activists who now dominate the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party.

But a Kyiv university professor traveling with the delegation, Olexiy Haran, told VOA that Ukraine itself, as part of the former Soviet Union, was equally supportive of the ANC.

“In times of apartheid, Ukraine provided lots of support to South African liberation struggle… So definitely, we supported you and we hoped that you would support us during our fight for freedom,” said Haran.

The delegation said they had requested a meeting with the ANC but had not heard back.

ANC spokeswoman Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri told VOA the party had never received a request to meet.

Asked if they would consider meeting now, she said she’d have to consult with the ANC leadership before she could answer.
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Researchers say tomato farmers in Ghana are good at growing tomatoes, but poor at storage. But some are discovering how to give their tomatoes a longer life. From Kumazi, Hamza Adams has this report, narrated by Salem Solomon.
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As Zimbabwe celebrated its Independence Day on Tuesday, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said the country’s economy was improving. But a World Bank report released this month said that while Zimbabwe’s poverty levels are declining, they remain elevated. Columbus Mavhunga reports.
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Officials on Cameroon’s northern border with Nigeria say Boko Haram militants in the past week destroyed hundreds of homes in large-scale attacks that killed at least six villagers and two soldiers, and left thousands homeless. Cameroon’s government says troops retaliated Wednesday morning and killed at least 12 militants.

Officials in Cameroon’s Mayo-Moskota district, on the border with Nigeria’s Borno state, say hundreds of Boko Haram fighters launched deadly attacks on villages over the past five days.

Cameroon’s military says six civilians and two government troops were killed in the attacks and the militants stole two military jeeps and some ammunition.

Guedjeo Salomon is Cameroon’s official in charge of agriculture in Mayo-Moskota, where he spoke by phone Wednesday to VOA.

He says the militants looted markets, ranches, farms, and shops and sent villagers fleeing for safety.

Salomon says thousands of civilians are hiding in the bush on the border with Nigeria and neighboring towns, including Mokolo, Moskuta and Koza. He says on Monday the militants destroyed close to 400 shops and houses.

“They militants crossed the border to Nigeria with stolen loot, including about 200 cows, more than 250 goats and sheep, and one hundred motorcycles,” he added.

Salomon says Cameroon’s military chased the militants back across Nigeria’s border into Borno state, the birthplace of Boko Haram.

Cameroon’s government says at least 12 militants were killed on Wednesday morning in a military raid on its side of the border.

VOA could not independently verify the number of casualties, but witnesses confirmed the attacks involved hundreds of militants.

The governor of Cameroon’s Far North region Midjiyawa Bakari spoke to VOA via a messaging app.

Bakari says Cameroon’s military has been deployed to protect civilians on the border with Nigeria who are again suffering because of fresh Boko Haram incursions.

“Besides fighting the insurgents, troops will provide first aid to wounded civilians and work with local militias, who have a mastery of roads used by the militants to enter Cameroon through the porous border,” he said.

Villagers are calling on troops to better protect them from the militants.

Cameroon’s military said Tuesday the Multinational Joint Task Force of the Lake Chad Basin Commission met in Mora, a northern border town with Chad and Nigeria.

The task force, made up of troops from Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria, discussed how to stop the attacks.

Cameroon in March said at least 3,000 people were displaced in fighting along Nigerian border towns and villages, including Mayo-Moskota.

Cameroon’s government repeated calls for villagers to report any strangers in their villages and said it remobilized militias to assist troops fighting Boko Haram.

Boko Haram attacks began in Nigeria’s Borno state in 2009 before spreading to neighboring countries, including Cameroon, Chad, and Niger. The United Nations says the Islamist insurgency has left more than 36,000 people dead, mainly in Nigeria, and 3 million displaced.
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