Saudi Arabia on Tuesday announced an international conference next week to gather aid pledges for war-ravaged Sudan, where the United Nations says more than half the population urgently needs assistance and protection. 

Many of them are in Sudan’s Darfur region, where attacks against civilians could amount to crimes against humanity, the U.N.’s head of mission said. 

The pledging conference will be held on June 19, the official Saudi Press Agency said. It cited the Foreign Ministry and added that the kingdom would jointly lead the meeting with Qatar, Egypt, Germany and the European Union, as well as U.N. agencies.  

Saudi Arabia and the United States have been mediating in the eight-week war between Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who leads the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. 

A record 25 million people, more than half the population, are in need of aid and protection, according to the U.N., but as of late May, the world body’s needs for $2.6 million to address the crisis were only 13% funded. 

Entire districts of Khartoum no longer have running water, electricity is only available for a few hours a week, most hospitals in combat zones are not functioning, and aid facilities have been looted. 

The country’s western Darfur region has also been a center of the fighting. Darfur Governor Mini Minawi, a former rebel leader now close to the army, in early June declared Darfur a “disaster zone” and appealed for help from the international community. 

In May, the warring sides signed a written agreement for a Saudi and U.S.-brokered weeklong cease-fire, later extended by five days, that aimed to provide safe humanitarian corridors. These did not materialize. 

Sudan’s annual rainy season begins in June, and medics have repeatedly warned that it threatens to make parts of the country inaccessible, while raising the risks of malaria, cholera and waterborne diseases. 

More than 1,800 people have been killed since battles began, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED). 

Fighting has forced nearly 2 million people from their homes, including 476,000 who have sought refuge in neighboring countries, the U.N. says. 

The head of the U.N. mission in Sudan, Volker Perthes, on Tuesday said the situation in Darfur “continues to deteriorate,” with “an emerging pattern of large-scale targeted attacks against civilians based on their ethnic identities, allegedly committed by Arab militias and some armed men” in RSF uniforms. 

If these reports are verified, they “could amount to crimes against humanity,” Perthes said. 

Also Tuesday, a government official said Sudan’s army chief is not ready to meet Dagalo, after a regional bloc proposed a face-to-face encounter between the two. 

At a summit held in Djibouti on Monday, the East African Intergovernmental Authority on Development announced it would expand the number of countries tasked with resolving the crisis, with Kenya chairing a quartet including Ethiopia, Somalia and South Sudan. 
…

Blood banks in Cameroon are usually close to empty due to widely held taboos against blood donation. Officials in the central African country are trying to convince people to move past those beliefs amid an increased demand for blood and blood products in hospitals and on the front lines where soldiers are fighting separatists and Islamist militants. The effort comes ahead of World Blood Donor Day, observed on June 14. 

Illustrating the shortages is the story of a woman who told nurses at the Yaounde military hospital that she has not found anyone to donate blood to save the life of her two-year-old son. 

Hospital workers said the 34-year-old fruit seller’s blood was infected and that it could not be transfused to her son.

Medical staff members have requested blood from government hospitals to save the child’s life, the hospital said, adding that the blood bank at the military hospital is empty.

Celestin Ayangma, head of the laboratory that is in charge of the hospital’s blood bank, said that since January of this year, the Yaounde military hospital had been able to provide only six of the 20 units of blood it needs every day. Ayangma added that patients eventually die if they do not have relatives, friends or other donors to give the blood that the patients need.

By midday on Tuesday, the baby was still waiting for blood. 

Cameroon’s public health ministry reported that in 2022, hospitals in the country were able to collect a little more than 120,000 pints of blood from voluntary donors, family members and friends of sick patients. 

But each year, Cameroon needs at least 600,000 pints of blood for both private and government-owned hospitals.

The government says blood donation needs in Cameroon are increasing due to the separatist conflict in the country’s western regions and fighting with Boko Haram militants on the northern border with Nigeria. 

This year, government officials, health workers and aid agencies took to the streets ahead of World Blood Donor Day, trying to convince people to donate blood and save lives.

Ruth Abeng of the Cameroon Medical Council, an association of Cameroonian doctors, took part in the campaign. She sayid there are very few voluntary blood donors in Cameroon as some people are compelled to donate blood only when they see their sick relatives and friends in need of blood and dying. She said it is disheartening to see patients dying because some of their relatives believe that a blood donation is mystical.

Some Cameroonians believe that if they give blood, the recipient will receive any good luck and success they’ve had in life. Others say God will punish them if they donate blood to an evil person. 

The government says such beliefs are unfounded and people should not be afraid to donate blood. 

The Ministry of Health also says donated blood is not sold as some people erroneously believe. Blood that is donated is stored in banks and transfused to people in need, the government says. 

Hospitals say patients pay a fee of about $50 for the hospital to test donated blood and make sure it is safe to use. 

The government gives donors about $10 in a bid to encourage more donations. 

Cameroon says it expects to raise about 20,000 pints of blood by June 14. 

Hospitals say the amount will not be enough to meet the country’s needs but that it will reduce suffering and prevent some people from dying.
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The Zimbabwe African National Union- Patriotic Front or ZANU-PF has ruled the country for 43 years. But the opposition party thinks the nation’s poor economy might give it an opportunity to make gains in the country’s upcoming elections. Columbus Mavhunga has this report from Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare. Camera: Blessing Chigwenhembe
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Eritrea has rejoined the East African bloc, the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), nearly 16 years after the politically isolated state pulled out of the body, Information Minister Yemane Meskel said Monday.

“Eritrea resumed its activity in IGAD and took its seat” at a summit organized by the seven-nation bloc in Djibouti on Monday, Meskel said on Twitter.

He said the country was ready to work toward “peace, stability and regional integration.”

The authoritarian state suspended its IGAD membership in 2007 following a string of disagreements, including over the bloc’s decision to ask Kenya to oversee the resolution of a border dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Eritrea broke away from Ethiopia in 1993 and fought a two-year border war with its neighbor that poisoned relations until a peace agreement in 2018.

Following the rapprochement with Addis Ababa, Eritrean troops supported Ethiopian forces during the federal government’s war against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and have been accused by the United States and rights groups of some of the conflict’s worst atrocities.

That war ended with a peace deal signed in November last year that called for the withdrawal of foreign forces, but Asmara was not a party to the agreement and its troops continue to be present in bordering areas of Tigray, according to residents who have accused the soldiers of murder, rape and looting.

‘North Korea of Africa’

Monday’s announcement comes after Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki told reporters during a visit to Kenya in February that his country would rejoin IGAD “with the idea of revitalizing this regional organization.”

Isaias, 77, did not attend Monday’s summit in Djibouti, sending Foreign Minister Osman Saleh and Presidential Adviser Yemane Ghebreab to the meeting instead.

Workneh Gebeyehu, executive secretary of IGAD, hailed Eritrea’s return to the bloc, saying in an official statement: “Let me take this opportunity to welcome back the State of Eritrea to the IGAD family.”

Dubbed the “North Korea” of Africa, Eritrea was sanctioned by the United States in 2021 after sending troops into Tigray.

In a rare news conference in Kenya earlier this year, Isaias dismissed accusations of severe rights abuses by Eritrean troops in Tigray as “fantasy.”

Human Rights Watch in February called for fresh sanctions against Eritrea, accusing it of rounding up thousands of people, including minors, for mandatory military service, during the Tigray war.

The country sits near the bottom of global rankings for press freedom, as well as human rights, civil liberties and economic development.
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The charcoal makers in the forests of northern Uganda fled into the bush, temporarily abandoning their precious handiwork: multiple heaps of timber yet to be processed.

The workers were desperate to avoid capture by local officials after a new law banned the commercial production of charcoal. They risked arrest and beatings if they were caught.

But what’s really at stake for the charcoal makers is their livelihood.

“We are not going to stop,” said Deo Ssenyimba, a bare-chested charcoal maker who has been active in northern Uganda for 12 years. “We stop and then we do what? Are we going to steal?”

The burning of charcoal, an age-old practice in many African societies, is now restricted business across northern Uganda amid a wave of resentment by locals who have warned of the threat of climate change stemming from the uncontrolled felling of trees by outsiders. Not much has changed as charcoal producers skirt around the rules to keep the supply flowing and watchful vigilantes take matters into their own hands.

Much of northern Uganda remains lush but sparsely populated and impoverished, attracting investors who desire the land mostly for its potential to sustain the charcoal business. And demand is assured: Charcoal accounts for up to 90% of Africa’s primary energy consumption needs, according to a 2018 report by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.

Before the charcoal ban, local activists formed vigilante groups in districts such as Gulu, where a former lawmaker recently led an attack on a truck that was dispossessed of 380 bags of charcoal.

Although Odonga Otto was then charged with aggravated robbery, the country’s chief justice praised him as a hero.

“I have not heard anybody who is destroying our environment being charged,” said Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo, who is from northern Uganda. “If you steal from a thief, are you a thief?”

The week after Owiny-Dollo’s public comments, President Yoweri Museveni issued an executive order banning the commercial production of charcoal in northern Uganda, disrupting a national trade that has long been influenced by cultural sensibilities as much as the seeming abundance of idle land. Commercial charcoal production is still permitted in other regions.

The ban follows a climate change law, enacted in 2021, that empowers local authorities across the country to regulate activities deemed harmful to the environment. Trees suck in planet-warming carbon dioxide from the air, but burning charcoal emits the heat-trapping gas instead.

Days after Museveni’s order, a team of Associated Press journalists walked into a charcoal-burning enclave in a remote part of Gulu, 335 kilometers (208 miles) from the Ugandan capital of Kampala.

One local official, Patiko Sub-County Chairman Patrick Komakech, gave chase when he heard fleeing footsteps. A small patch of bamboo opened to an almost bare patch where trees were being cut, juicy stumps still fresh here and there.

Komakech was agitated and on the verge of tears.

Timber had been heaped like contraband ivory in different spots, and grey smoke rose from one pile being processed. Beside it stood loaded bags of charcoal. The charcoal makers slept in little tarp tents draped in dry leaves.

“I am completely perturbed (by) all this destruction,” Komakech said, speaking of charcoal makers who “are actually imported and put in this community, and they do this thing without the mercy of leaving any vegetation.”

Uganda’s population explosion has heightened the need for cheap plant-based energy sources, especially charcoal. In this east African country of 45 million people, charcoal is preferred in households across the income spectrum but especially in those of the urban poor — seen as ideal in the preparation of certain dishes that require slow cooking. Middle-class families maintain both gas cookers and charcoal stoves.

“Even those policemen who are coming to beat us, they are cooking with charcoal,” said Peter Ejal. “We are not here to spoil the environment. We are here by their orders, those people who are selling these trees.”

His colleague, the ragtag charcoal maker Ssenyimba, said bluntly, “When we finish this place we will go to another place.”

One charcoal maker asserted that charcoal from northern Uganda was likely used even in the State House. Others charged that they were cutting the trees with the complicity of landlords who sell charcoal-making rights by the acre to interested dealers.

The industry can be lucrative for landowners and investors.

In nearby towns a bag of charcoal fetches about $14, but the price rises further as the goods approach Kampala. Ssenyimba said he’s paid about $3 for every bag he makes.

An acre of property with plenty of trees goes for up to $150 in Gulu, although the sum can be much smaller in remote but vegetation-rich ranches owned by the poorest families. The investors then deploy men armed with power saws and machetes, working over specific places and leaving when they have cut down all the trees they were sold.

District councils in the region raise revenue from licensing and taxes, and corrupt members of the armed services have been protecting charcoal truckers, according to Museveni and Otto, the former lawmaker now leading vigilantes against charcoal makers.

Otto has helped cause the impounding of multiple trucks in recent weeks, including two recently seized ones parked outside a police station where a crowd gathered one afternoon, hoping to grab the goods.

He said he plans to serve hundreds of local officials with letters of intent to sue for any lapses in protecting the environment. Otto told the AP his goal is to make the rest of Uganda “lose appetite” for charcoal from his region.

“We go to the fields where the charcoal ovens are and we destroy the bases,” he said. “We managed to make the business risky. As of now, you drive a hundred (of) kilometers, and you will not find any single truck carrying charcoal.”

The ban on commercial production in northern Uganda is almost certainly bound to push up the retail price of charcoal. Otto and others were concerned that charcoal dealers would avoid authorities by ferrying charcoal bags in small numbers — on the backs of passenger motorcycles — to towns where the merchandise could be stealthily loaded into trucks.
…

Zimbabwean authorities charged 39 opposition activists with political violence over the alleged “demolishing” of a ruling party office on Monday, as tensions grow ahead of national elections in August. 

Prosecutors said the group attacked an office of the ruling ZANU-PF party, in Nyatsime, south of the capital, last week. 

The ruling ZANU-PF party has been in power since independence in 1980. 

The group “destroyed several houses and also assaulted members of the Nyatsime community thereby causing massive destruction to property and inflicted serious injuries on them,” prosecutors said. 

The incident comes as rights groups and opposition parties have complained of a clampdown ahead of the vote. 

Lawyers for those detained, however, stopped short of saying the accusations were politically motivated. 

“Our clients were not even at the scene,” Anesu Chirisa, legal lead at Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, an umbrella group representing the 39, told AFP. 

The 39 were arrested over the weekend and on Monday briefly appeared before a local court. 

They were remanded into custody after investigating authorities called for a “lengthy custodial sentence.” 

Members of the group are supporters of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), Zimbabwe’s leading opposition party. 

CCC’s leader Nelson Chamisa, a 45-year-old lawyer and pastor, is hoping to replace President Emmerson Mnangagwa, 80, who is seeking a second term in the August 23 vote. 

Analysts are bracing for a tense ballot in a country where discontent at entrenched poverty, power cuts and other shortages runs deep.

Critics have accused the government of using the courts to target opposition politicians and say there has been an increase in arbitrary arrests and repression.

Earlier this month, another five CCC activists were held on various charges including assault after an alleged altercation at a voter registration center. 
…

Thousands of Sudanese refugees who fled to Chad to escape fighting in their country could be cut off from humanitarian and medical aid during the approaching rainy season, medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Monday. 

More than 100,000 people have fled across the border to Chad since conflict broke out in Sudan in April, and numbers could double over the next three months, the United Nations’ refugee agency (UNHCR) warned earlier this month. 

MSF’s Head of Mission in Chad, Audrey van der Schoot, said the flooding that usually occurs during this time of year could isolate refugees and host communities in Chad’s eastern Sila region and other areas that share a border with Sudan. 

Rains will also bring a higher risk of waterborne and infectious diseases, given poor access to clean water and sanitation, she said. 

“We fear that with the coming rainfall, people in this border area will be trapped and forgotten,” she said, noting that arrivals from Sudan were continuing. 

Nearly 30,000 refugees are in Sila, where they lack shelter, water and food due to deficiencies in humanitarian assistance. Many have moved in with local host families as a result, putting pressure on meager resources, MSF said. 

One of the poorest countries in the world, Chad was already hosting close to 600,000 refugees before the latest Sudanese crisis. 

The UNHCR said Chad needs $214.1 million to provide vital services to displaced people in the Central African country, of which only 16% were funded at the start of June. 

The conflict in Sudan is affecting Chadian citizens, too, as those living near the border are no longer able to access health care and markets in Sudan. This has caused food and commodity prices to soar in areas already suffering from high levels of malnutrition, MSF said. 
…

A three-year-old startup company is leading Kenya into the world of high-tech manufacturing, building a sophisticated workforce capable of making the semiconductors and nanotechnology products that operate modern devices from mobile phones to refrigerators. VOA’s Africa correspondent Mariama Diallo visited the plant and has this story.
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In Nigeria, poverty is the main reason children do not go to school, but there are increasing efforts to close the gap. Gibson Emeka reports on one unique economic approach designed to get kids into school.
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In a move that many hailed as a salve for the historic wounds between Europe and Africa, Germany last December returned 22 artifacts looted during the Colonial Era to what is now Nigeria.

But five months on, questions are being asked in Germany as to whether cultural guardians were wise to hand back the priceless treasures, known as the Benin bronzes.

Controversy erupted after Nigeria’s outgoing president, Muhammadu Buhari, suddenly declared in March that the artifacts would be returned to a traditional ruler — and not to the Nigerian state, as Germany had expected.

The recipient named by Buhari is the Oba of Benin, a descendant of the sovereign who reigned over the kingdom of Benin when the bronzes were looted by the British at the end of the 19th century.

Custody of any repatriated bronzes must be “handed over to the Oba,” who will be “responsible for the management of all places” where they are kept, Buhari’s statement said.

Buhari’s announcement was one of his last moves in office before he was succeeded by Bola Tinubu following elections.

But it stirred soul-searching in Germany, where critics said it appeared to breach a key understanding with Nigeria.

Under a July 2022 agreement, Germany promised to return around 1,100 bronzes from 20 of its museums, and both sides agreed on the importance of making the works accessible to the public.

Underpinning this were plans to display the bronzes in a new museum in Benin City in southern Edo state.

The state of Saxony has put the brakes on further restitutions pending clarification on whether the Oba’s ownership would affect public display of the bronzes.

Saxony’s Grassi museum was among five museums that handed over the 22 bronzes in December and other museums in the state still hold 262 pieces.

Before proceeding with returning them, the state wants to “wait to see what the effect of this declaration is … and how the new government is going to proceed,” a spokesman for the Saxon culture ministry told AFP.

“We will not take any new steps” before the situation is made clear, he said.

Asked about Buhari’s declaration, foreign ministry spokesman Christopher Burger said the return of the bronzes was “not subject to conditions.”

“It is the decision of the sovereign state of Nigeria to do what it wants,” he said, while adding that it was “important to us that the public continue to have access to the Benin bronzes.”

German Culture Minister Claudia Roth said she was “surprised and irritated” by the response to the declaration in Germany.

“What happens to the bronzes now is for the current owner to decide, and that is the sovereign state of Nigeria,” she told the ZDF broadcaster.

Hermann Parzinger, president of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (SPK), which runs the Ethnological Museum in Berlin, said he did not believe Buhari’s declaration placed future restitutions in doubt.

The Ethnological Museum has around 530 historical objects from the ancient kingdom of Benin, including more than 400 bronzes — considered the most important collection outside London’s British Museum.

The Museum of Ethnology in Hamburg is also among the German museums that returned the first tranche of bronzes in December

It has signed a deal to return 179 artifacts from its collection to Nigerian ownership, though a third of them are to remain in Hamburg

The museum told AFP it “has confidence in its Nigerian partners.”

Abba Isa Tijani, who heads the Nigerian government agency in charge of recovering looted works, said the planned museum project in Benin City was unaffected by the declaration.

“The museum construction is still in place,” he said.

“The Oba of Benin relies on this museum, nothing has changed because he doesn’t have the staff or the expertise to run the museum,” he added.

“We want to reassure our partners, the museums in Europe” that the objects will be “made available for researchers, and for the public and tourists to be seen,” Tijani said.

“The artifacts of course can’t be sold, because in Nigeria it’s forbidden to sell Nigerian antiquities.”

Peju Layiwola, an art historian and artist in Nigeria who was heavily involved in the battle for the return of the bronzes, said the reaction of Western museums to the declaration had been overblown.

“It’s an excuse… to not return those artifacts, because they didn’t want to give it back,” she said.
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The European Union on Sunday offered major financial support to crisis-hit Tunisia, to boost its economy and reduce the flow of irregular migrants across the Mediterranean Sea.

The North African country, highly indebted and in talks for an IMF bailout loan, is a gateway for migrants and asylum-seekers attempting the dangerous voyages to Europe.

The EU is ready to offer Tunisia a 900 million euro package plus 150 million euros in immediate support, European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said on a joint visit with the Italian and Dutch prime ministers.

Aside from trade and investment, it would help Tunisia with border management and to combat human trafficking, with support worth 100 million euros this year, she said.

“We both have a vast interest in breaking the cynical business model of smugglers and traffickers,” said von der Leyen. “It is horrible to see how they deliberately risk human lives for profit.”

She said other EU projects would help Tunisia export clean renewable energy to the bloc, and deliver high speed broadband, all with the aim of creating “jobs and boost growth here in Tunisia.”

Von der Leyen, after talks with President Kais Saied, said she hoped an EU-Tunisia agreement could be signed at the next European summit later this month.

‘Long and difficult road’

She stressed that the EU is Tunisia’s top trade and investment partner and had “supported Tunisia’s path to democracy” since it became the birthplace of the Arab Spring revolts in 2011, “a long and difficult road.”

Von der Leyen visited Tunisia with Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte, for talks with Saied, who has assumed near total governing powers over the country since 2021.

EU governments, under pressure to reduce migrant arrivals, last week agreed on steps to fast-track migrant returns to their countries of origin or transit countries deemed “safe”, including Tunisia.

Italy’s far-right premier, Meloni, was on her second Tunisia visit within a week, after meeting Saied on Tuesday.

Tunisia lies less than 150 kilometers (90 miles) from the Italian island of Lampedusa, and has long been a stepping stone for migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan African countries, seeking a better life in Europe.

An increasing number of the migrants hail from Tunisia, whose tourism-based economy was hit hard by the Covid pandemic and which is now in a serious economic crisis marked by high inflation and unemployment.

Not Europe’s ‘border guard’ 

The country reached an in-principle deal last year for an IMF bailout loan of around $2 billion. But talks have since stalled over the reforms demanded by the fund, especially on state-run enterprises and state subsidies on basic products.

Saied, who has seized almost total power since a dramatic July 2021 move against parliament, on Tuesday again slammed what he has termed the “diktats” of the Washington-based IMF.

On the migration issue, Saied has in the past vowed “urgent measures” to tackle arrivals in Tunisia.

Tunisian rights groups accused him of hate speech after he charged in February that “hordes” of sub-Saharan African migrants were responsible for rising crime and posed a “demographic” threat.

Attacks on migrants rose sharply after his speech, and thousands fled the country.

Saied on Saturday also said he rejected turning Tunisia into Europe’s “border guard,” speaking in Sfax, a coastal city in a region from where many migrants leave.

The Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights denounced the visit by the three European leaders as an attempt to “blackmail” Tunisia with an offer of financial support in return for stepped up border vigilance.
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An employee with the World Health Organization was among those killed in the weekend siege of a beachside hotel in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, the head of the UN health agency said on Sunday.   

The siege left six civilians dead and another 10 wounded, according to police.   

“I’m heartbroken that we have lost a WHO staff member in the recent attack in #Mogadishu, #Somalia,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director general, tweeted on Sunday.   

“My heartfelt condolences to their families and to everyone who lost a loved one,” he said. “We condemn all attacks on civilians and humanitarian workers.”   

The Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab have been waging an insurgency against the internationally backed federal government in Somalia for more than 15 years and have often targeted hotels, which tend to host high-ranking Somali and foreign officials.   

The latest assault, for which Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility, began just before 8:00 pm on Friday (1700 GMT) when seven attackers stormed the Pearl Beach hotel, a popular spot at Lido Beach along Mogadishu’s coastline.   

It ended at around 2:00 am, police said, after a fierce gunfight between security forces and the militants, all of whom were killed during the battle.   

The attack at Lido beach underscored the endemic security problems in the Horn of Africa country as it struggles to emerge from decades of conflict and natural disasters.    

Al-Shabaab, which was driven out of Somalia’s main towns and cities by an African Union force, still controls large swathes of countryside and continues to carry out attacks against security and civilian targets, including in the capital. 

 
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Shelling and gunfire resumed Sunday in the Sudanese capital, witnesses said, after the end of a 24-hour ceasefire that had given civilians rare respite from nearly two months of war.

Deadly fighting has raged in the northeast African country since mid-April, when army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), turned on each other.

The latest in a series of ceasefire agreements enabled civilians trapped in the capital Khartoum to venture outside and stock up on food and other essential supplies.

But only 10 minutes after it ended at 6:00 am (0400 GMT) on Sunday the capital was rocked again by shelling and clashes, witnesses told AFP. 

Heavy artillery fire was heard in Khartoum and its twin city Omdurman to the north, and fighting also erupted on Al-Hawa Street, a major artery in the south of the capital, they said.

The one-day lull was “like a dream” that evaporated, said Nasreddin Ahmed, a resident of south Khartoum who was awoken by the fighting.

Asmaa al-Rih, who lives in the capital’s northern suburbs, lamented the “return of terror” with “rockets and shells shaking the walls of houses” once again.

Clouds of smoke were also seen billowing for a fifth successive day from the Al-Shajara oil and gas facility near the Yarmouk military plant in Khartoum.

Multiple truces have been agreed and broken, including even after the United States had slapped sanctions on both rival generals after the previous attempt collapsed at the end of May.

Both Burhan and Daglo amassed considerable wealth during the rule of longtime Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir, whose government was subjected to decades of international sanctions before his overthrow in 2019. 

Egypt toughens visa rules

The 24-hour ceasefire that ended on Sunday morning had been announced by US and Saudi mediators who warned that if it failed they may break off mediation efforts.

The two warring sides had “agreed to allow the unimpeded movement and delivery of humanitarian assistance throughout the country,” the Saudi foreign ministry said on Saturday.

“Should the parties fail to observe the 24-hour ceasefire, facilitators will be compelled to consider adjourning” talks in the Saudi city of Jeddah which have been suspended since late last month, it added.

The mediators said they “share the frustration of the Sudanese people about the uneven implementation of previous ceasefires.”

The fighting has gripped Khartoum and the western region of Darfur, killing upwards of 1,800 people, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.

Nearly two million people have been displaced, including 476,000 who have sought refuge in neighboring countries, the United Nations says.

Over 200,000 have entered Egypt, mostly by land.

But Cairo on Saturday announced it was toughening requirements for those Sudanese who had previously been exempted from visas — women of all ages, children under 16 and anyone over 50.

Egypt said the new requirements were not designed to “prevent or limit” the entry of Sudanese people, but rather to stop “illegal activities by individuals and groups on the Sudanese side of the border, who forged entry visas” for profit. 
…

Romania has recalled its ambassador to Kenya after Dragos Tigau allegedly compared Africans to monkeys.

Tigau is reported to have said, “The African group has joined us,” when a monkey appeared outside a window during a meeting in April at a United Nations building in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital.

CNN reports it has obtained documents showing that African diplomats formally condemned the Romanian diplomat’s remarks during a meeting with Eastern European envoys at an April meeting.

CNN reports that it has also seen two letters of apology Tigau sent to the diplomats.

Romania said Saturday that it had just recently learned about the April incident.

Romania’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement, “We deeply regret this situation and offer our apologies to all those who have been affected.”
…

Whether Sudan’s warring parties stick to the latest U.S.-Saudi Arabian-brokered cease-fire agreement remains an open question. What is not in doubt is that Saturday’s 24-hour truce has capped another murderous week of intense fighting in which civilians were the main victims. 

Since fighting between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces erupted April 15, Sudan’s Federal Ministry of Health says nearly 800 people have been killed and 5,800 wounded. 

The U.N. refugee agency said Friday 1.42 million people have become internally displaced and nearly half a million have crossed borders as refugees. 

This past week alone, fighting between Sudan’s rival factions in and around the capital, Khartoum, has taken a heavy toll on civilian lives. Attacks against a busy livestock market, residential areas and a refugee center reportedly killed dozens of people. 

While people are dying from shelling and gunfire, the lack of humanitarian aid and a rapidly deteriorating human rights situation are compounding their misery. 

Jeremy Laurence, UNHCR spokesman, said Friday his office has received concerning reports of conflict-related sexual violence. 

“Since the fighting began, our office has received credible reports of 12 incidents of sexual violence related to the conflict against at least 37 women—although the number could be far higher. 

“In at least three incidents, the victims were young girls. In one case, 18 to 20 women were reportedly raped.” 

Laurence said growing reports of apparent enforced disappearance and arbitrary detention were another cause for concern. He said that journalists were at heightened risk “amid a rise in online hate speech and disinformation.” 

“Our office has learnt of a list circulating on social media accusing certain journalists of being supporters of the RSF. We have observed comments on Facebook calling for the killing of the journalists on the list,” he said. 

Alfonso Verdu Perez, the outgoing head of delegation for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Khartoum, said Friday he was present when the conflict began in mid-April and since has witnessed the heavy toll combat and violence have taken on the civilian infrastructure of the densely populated city. 

“Electricity and water levels have been severely damaged. We fear outbreaks of diseases because many residents have had no choice but to use unsafe drinking water from the river, from the Nile and other sources. At the same time, food and fuel prices have skyrocketed and the situation has been made worse for many people by the fact that they cannot even access their money in their banks.” 

Perez said the situation in Darfur was equally worrying. He said robberies and looting were on the rise, power stations and markets have been looted. He said more than 200 people reportedly were killed in the town of El Geneina in western Darfur in just a few days early last month. 

He warned that this flare-up of violence could easily escalate and worsen the already dire humanitarian situation in the region. 

“Health care may collapse at any moment, despite the best efforts of Sudanese doctors and nurses who have continued working in extremely difficult conditions caring for the wounded and providing other essential health care services to communities.” 

The Red Cross official said conditions in Khartoum were no better, saying that only an estimated 20% of the city’s health facilities were still functioning. Those facilities, he said, were facing severe shortages of water, power, food, and essential medical supplies were running low. 
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Egypt has announced that as of Saturday it requires all citizens of neighboring Sudan, engulfed in bloody conflict since mid-April, to obtain a visa before they can cross the border. 

Since fighting broke out between two rival generals vying for control in Sudan, about 200,000 Sudanese nationals have entered Egypt, most of them through land crossings, Cairo said. 

Egyptian authorities had so far exempted Sudanese women of all ages, children younger than 16 and anyone older than 50 from having to obtain a visa before arriving at a point of entry. 

Cairo’s foreign ministry issued a statement Saturday announcing the new regulations, justifying the move as a crackdown on illegal activities, including fraud. 

The authorities introduced visa procedures aimed at regulating “the entry of the brotherly Sudanese (people) into Egypt after more than 50 days of crisis” in their country, the statement said. 

It said that the new requirements were not designed to prevent or limit the entry of Sudanese nationals, but rather to stop “illegal activities by individuals and groups on the Sudanese side of the border, who forged entry visas” for profit. 

Sudan has been rocked by nearly two months of intense battles between the regular army, led by General Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Burhan’s former deputy, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. 

More than 1,800 people have been killed in the fighting, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project. Aid agencies and international organizations say the actual toll may be much higher. 

The United Nations’ International Organization for Migration said nearly 2 million Sudanese people have been displaced, including 476,000 who have sought refuge in neighboring countries. 

“Egypt has welcomed more than 200,000 Sudanese citizens since the start of the crisis … adding to the approximately 5 million Sudanese citizens who were already present” in the country before the war, the foreign ministry statement said. 

Sudanese media and some social media users have reported over the past two days orders issued by Egyptian authorities at two border crossings with Sudan, according to which “entry into Egypt is allowed only after obtaining a visa, for all age groups and genders.” 

Egypt’s foreign ministry stressed in its statement that its consulates in Sudan have been provided with “the necessary electronic devices to carry out these regulations in a precise, rapid and safe manner, ensuring the orderly entry of Sudanese citizens.” 
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South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has briefed Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the upcoming visit by African leaders to Russia and Ukraine in a bid to end hostilities, the South African presidency said Saturday. 

Chinese state broadcaster reported that the two leaders had a phone call Friday. In a statement, South Africa’s presidency said Ramaphosa told Xi he noted the peace plan proposed by China and affirmed African leaders’ support for initiatives aimed at a peaceful resolution of the conflict. 

“President Xi Jinping commended the initiative by the African continent and acknowledged the impact the conflict has had on human lives and on food security in Africa,” the presidency statement said. 

Various peace proposals to end the war have popped up in different capitals as the war has displaced millions of people, propelled food prices and made a dent in world prosperity. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a major push to court the Global South, a term used for the regions of Latin America, Africa and Asia, last month in response to peace moves from some of its members. Ukraine’s stated position for any peace deal is that all Russian troops must withdraw from its territory. 

On May 16, Ramaphosa announced the African peace plan, whose details have not been made public. The peace plan is also backed by the leaders of Senegal, Uganda, Egypt, the Republic of the Congo and Zambia. 

During Friday’s call, Ramaphosa and Xi had also discussed the summit of emerging economies Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS), which is due to be hosted by South Africa in August. South Africa has said it is considering legal options if Russian President Vladimir Putin, the subject of a war crimes arrest warrant, attends the BRICS summit. 

The International Criminal Court has issued a warrant for Putin related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and South Africa as an ICC member would be required to arrest him if he attends the summit in Johannesburg. 
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The Somalia government says an attack launched Friday by al-Shabab militants on a Mogadishu hotel has ended.   

State media report that security forces successfully neutralized the militants who stormed the Pearl Beach hotel on Friday evening and rescued a large number of civilians.  

Somalia police said nine people were killed and 10 others injured in the attack.  

In a statement, Somali Police Command said those killed were six civilians and three security forces. 

The police also said that 84 people, including children, women and the elderly, were rescued from the scene of the attack. 

Somalia security forces had engaged in ongoing efforts to neutralize al-Shabab militants who launched the attack at the beachfront hotel. 

Witnesses told VOA’s Somali Service that the assault began with at least two explosions outside the Pearl Beach Hotel, followed by gunmen storming the hotel. 

Gunfire was heard with an unknown number of people trapped inside the building, witnesses said, while others managed to escape through the back doors and windows. 

“Special elite forces gained access to the entry into the upper floors of the hotel,” one witness told VOA Somali. 

Al-Shabab group, affiliated with al-Qaida, has claimed responsibility for the attack. 

“The mujahideen managed to enter the Pearl Beach hotel and are still fully in control” the group said in a statement.  

The hotel at the center of the attack is near Lido Beach, a popular destination for politicians and members of the Somali diaspora visiting the capital city. 

This incident occurred during a period of relative calm for Mogadishu after the government in mid-April deployed newly trained military police in and around the city. However, violence by the group has wreaked havoc in other parts of the country. 

In a separate incident on Friday, at least 27 people including children were killed and more than 50 were injured in a massive blast from unexploded ordinance in the village of Muraale, located between Qoryooley and Jannaale districts. 

“Some individuals had retrieved unexploded explosives from a nearby field and used it for fire to cook food, but tragically, the device exploded, resulting in the deaths of 27 people, including children, mother, father, and youths,” Abdirahman Yusuf Abdinur, the mayor of Jannaale, told Somalia state media agency.  

Earlier on Friday, Somalia announced its readiness to take over security responsibilities from the African Union (AU) peacekeeping mission in the country, with 2,000 AU troops set to leave Somalia by the end of June, in line with U.N. Security Council Resolutions 2628 and 2670. 

Somalia’s Ministry of Defense said in a statement that it has recruited enough security forces who will assume control of the security responsibilities currently handled by the outgoing AU troops. 

The AU peace mission is expected to fully exit Somalia by December 31, 2024. 

This story originated in VOA’s Somali Service.  
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The two warring factions in Sudan entered into a cease-fire 6 a.m. Saturday, local time.

There are apprehensions that the 24-hour deal will collapse before it ends; a number of other truces have already failed.

U.S. and Saudi mediators have warned they may pull out of mediation efforts if Saturday’s cease-fire collapses.

“A one-day truce is much less than we aspire for,” Khartoum North resident Mahmud Bashir told Agence France-Presse. “We look forward to an end to this damned war.”

The hourslong deal opens the opportunity for humanitarian assistance.

Fighting erupted in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, and surrounding locations, in mid-April, between two rival generals – Abdel Fattah al-Burhan from Sudan’s army and Burhan’s former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Da, who leads the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The fighting has also spread elsewhere.

Close to 2,000 people have been killed in the fighting, while nearly 2 million have been displaced.
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In the heart of Maryland, the Frederick Keys baseball team introduced its newest player last week, one unlike any other the team has seen in its 35-year history.

Dennis Kasumba, 18-year-old catcher. From Uganda.

Kasuma recently turned what seemed like an impossible dream into a reality, making the leap from the rough fields of his home country to the manicured grass of American professional baseball stadiums. For those following his journey, he stands as a symbol of resilience.

Just three days after flying to the U.S., Kasumba took his first official steps onto an American baseball diamond on June 1 with the Keys. Batting in the ninth inning, he struck out on three pitches, but was able to make contact on the first pitch, fouling it off.

The young player who once honed his skills on muddy streets using old tires and oil drums in Uganda, now finds himself playing high-quality amateur league baseball, one step below the professional minor leagues.

“My first game was very, very good because I faced a pitcher who threw 95 [miles per hour – about 153 kph], yeah. And I hit it,” Kasumba told VOA. “I need to hit because I am here to hit, to show my skill, I am ready to hit. I want to show I can hit. I want to show them I can throw.”

Kasumba’s story extends beyond his on-field skills. His journey from Uganda to the U.S. has captured the imagination of thousands on social media who have marveled at his intense workouts. In one, he practices his catching drills with a tire strapped to his back.

One of these admirers was Joshua Williams, an American attorney and baseball enthusiast who helped make Kasumba’s dream a reality.

“It all just started because I saw a video of him hitting off of a tire, hitting a baseball off of the tire with a Coke bottle,” Williams said. “So, I reached out to him on Facebook, started talking to him. We talked about his dreams and aspirations.”

It took Kasumba almost two years to get a contract with an American team and several attempts at the U.S. Embassy in Uganda to secure a travel visa.

Williams and some friends intensified their efforts after his third visa request was denied.

“We started making our application a lot stronger. Several immigration attorneys at my firm jumped in and they were like, ‘Let’s figure this out,’” Williams told VOA. “And so, we just kind of put our heads together. So, he was denied on Friday. And on Tuesday we got a call from the embassy, and they said, ‘Be there Thursday at 2 o’clock.’”

Kasumba is not the first Ugandan to try his hand at baseball. Last year, the Los Angeles Dodgers signed two Ugandans, Umar Male and Ben Serunkuma, to contracts. Both have played some games in the low minor leagues.

In his debut, Kasumba showed that he too may have a future in baseball, and also underscored his desire to learn.

“When I saw my pitchers throwing in 88, 95, 98. I thought, ‘Can I hit these guys? They are faster.’ But when I got to my first batting, in my heart I said, ‘I can hit, because I believe in myself,’” he said.

For Frederick Keys Manager Rene Rivera, Kasumba is already giving the team a jolt.

“This guy has so much energy, he brings so much to the other guys, you know, he’s hardworking,” Rivera said. “We all saw some of his videos on Instagram, the passion he puts behind him so he can be good. And I think that the players already see that, they come and work.”

Kasumba, who grew up an orphan in Wakiso, Uganda, is determined to make the most of the opportunity.

“There are a lot of kids, uh, people calling my name, my jersey number: Kasumba! Kasumba! Kasumba! This is my first time, to have someone asking me for a signature, photos,” he said. “I was so surprised. It makes me feel very, very good. I think I am blessed.”

The months ahead will bring challenges and opportunities alike for Kasumba. And to face these head-on, the young man has a few people he can count on, starting with his manager.

“We helped him come over here. And now he’s here,” Rivera told VOA. “So, I think that my job is to be his role model, to show him what I know and what I know from many years playing baseball, help him get to the next. I think that’s my main goal right now.”

Catching is baseball’s most complicated and physically arduous position, but Rivera can teach Kasumba a lot – he spent 13 years as a catcher in the major leagues.

As Kasumba steps onto the field, bat in hand, he believes he’s not just playing for the Frederick Keys — he’s playing for his country, his thousands of online supporters around the world and every dreamer who’s ever dared to dream big.
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The archbishop of Canterbury has written to Ugandan Archbishop Stephen Kaziimba to express his “grief and dismay” at the Church of Uganda’s support of the African country’s anti-LGBT law.

“Within the Anglican Communion we continue to disagree over matters of sexuality, but in our commitment to God-given human dignity we must be united,” Justin Welby said in a statement Friday.

The Ugandan law, approved by President Yoweri Museveni, is severe.  Under the law, gay sex is punishable by life in prison. “Aggravated homosexuality,” which includes transmitting HIV, is punishable by death.

Kaziimba has said he welcomes the new law, saying that homosexuality was being pushed on Ugandans by “foreign actors.”

“This is not about imposing Western values on our Ugandan Anglican sisters and brothers,” Welby said in his statement.  “It is about reminding them of the commitments we have made as Anglicans to treat every person with the care and respect they deserve as children of God.”
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Attackers killed one U.N. peacekeeper and seriously injured eight others Friday in Mali’s Timbuktu region, an area where extremists continue to operate, the United Nations said. 

The peacekeepers were part of a security patrol that was targeted first by an improvised explosive device and then by direct fire in the town of Ber, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. 

The United Nations joined the head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali, El-Ghassim Wane, in strongly condemning the attack, Dujarric said. 

Mali has been ruled by a military junta since a 2020 coup against an elected president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. It has faced destabilizing attacks by armed extremist groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group since 2013. 

In 2021, France and its European partners who were engaged in the fight against extremists in Mali’s north withdrew from the country after the junta brought in mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group. 

The United States warned Mali’s military government in April that it would be “irresponsible” for the United Nations to continue deploying its more than 15,000 peacekeepers unless the western African nation ended restrictions, including on operating reconnaissance drones, and carried out political commitments toward peace and elections in March 2024. 

The warning came as the U.N. Security Council considers three options proposed by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for the peacekeeping mission’s future: increase its size, reduce its footprint, or withdraw troops and police and turn it into a political mission. Its current mandate expires on June 30. 

Dujarric said the peacekeeper killed on Friday was the ninth to die in Mali this year. 

“This tragic loss is a stark reminder of the risks that peacekeepers in Mali and other places around the world face while tirelessly working to bring stability and peace to the people of Mali,” he said.
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Somalia security forces are trying to neutralize al-Shabab militants who attacked a beachfront hotel in Mogadishu on Friday evening.

Witnesses told VOA’s Somali Service that the assault began with at least two explosions outside the Pearl Beach Hotel, followed by gunmen storming the hotel.

Gunfire was heard with an unknown number of people trapped inside the building, witnesses said, while others escaped through the back doors and windows.

“Special elite forces gained access to the entry into the upper floors of the hotel,” one witness told VOA Somali.

The Al-Shabab group, affiliated with al-Qaida, claimed responsibility for the attack.

“The mujahedeen managed to enter the Pearl Beach Hotel and are still fully in control,” the group said in a statement.

Abdikadir Abdirahman, director of the Aamin ambulance service, told local media that they had received more than six people who were wounded in the attack.

The hotel at the center of the attack is near Lido Beach, a popular destination for politicians and members of the Somali diaspora visiting the capital.

This incident occurred during a period of relative calm for Mogadishu after the government in mid-April deployed newly trained military police in and around the city. However, violence by the group has wreaked havoc in other parts of the country.

In a separate incident on Friday, at least 27 people including children were killed and more than 50 were injured in a massive blast from unexploded ordnance in the village of Muraale, located between Qoryooley and Jannaale districts.

“Some individuals had retrieved unexploded explosives from a nearby field and used it for fire to cook food, but tragically, the device exploded, resulting in the deaths of 27 people, including children, mother, father and youths,” Abdirahman Yusuf Abdinur, the mayor of Jannaale, told Somalia’s state media agency.

Earlier on Friday, Somalia announced its readiness to take over security responsibilities from the African Union peacekeeping mission in the country, with 2,000 AU troops set to leave Somalia by the end of June, in line with U.N. Security Council Resolutions 2628 and 2670.

Somalia’s Ministry of Defense said in a statement that it had recruited enough forces who will assume control of the security responsibilities currently handled by the AU troops.

The AU peace mission is expected to fully exit Somalia by December 31, 2024.

This story originated in VOA’s Somali Service.  
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Amnesty International on Friday called on Zimbabwe’s president not to sign into law the so-called “Patriotic Act” that lawmakers approved this week.

The government says the proposed law, which would authorize penalties against people found guilty of damaging Zimbabwe’s sovereignty and national interests, is justified and must be enacted. Critics say the law will curb freedom of expression during the August elections.

Amnesty International urged President Emmerson Mnangagwa not to sign the measure, known officially as the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Amendment Bill 2022.

The bill, if made law, would authorize jail terms of up 20 years against those found guilty of “willfully injuring the sovereignty and national interest of Zimbabwe.”

It would also allow the death penalty for a person found to have advocated for international sanctions that harm the country or its people.

Amnesty said the proposed law would effectively give authorities greater power to unduly restrict human rights and silence those perceived as being critical of the government, such as political activists, human rights defenders, journalists, civil society leaders, opposition parties and whistle-blowers.

Lucia Masuka, Amnesty’s executive director in Zimbabwe, said her organization was deeply concerned by this week’s passing of the bill by the Senate.

“The weaponization of the law is a desperate and patent move to curtail the rights to freedom of expression and to public participation in elections due in August this year,” she said. “The bill’s deliberately vague and overly broad provisions on damaging Zimbabwe’s interest and sovereignty, including by calling for economic sanctions, flies in the face of Zimbabwe’s international human rights obligations. All laws must be defined precisely, allowing people to know exactly which acts will make them criminally liable.”

But Ziyambi Ziyambi, Zimbabwe’s justice minister, said the proposed law would target only citizens who plan on harming the nation with the help of foreigners.

“The provision says this: If you go and meet a foreign government or an agent of a foreign government, and [the intention of the meeting] is to ensure that particular country imposes a trade embargo on Zimbabwe or sanctions, and you fully participate and you urge them to do that, knowing fully well that your action will injure the sovereignty of the country, you are guilty of an offense,” Ziyambi said. “Are you saying it is good?”

He added that even if the measure was enacted, Zimbabweans would still be allowed to say anything and even criticize Mnangagwa.

“The law has nothing to do with Mnangagwa,” Ziyambi said. “You can insult him as long as you do not infringe on existing laws; you won’t be arrested. We are saying we can disagree, but not to the extent of advocating for the generality of the population to suffer.”

Musa Kika, a constitutional lawyer who heads the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, said enactment of the legislation would be unfortunate.

“The government has committed itself to certain governance reforms in light of arrears and debt clearance process,” Kika said. “Under governance there are issues to do with constitutionalism and civic space, et cetera. This kind of law takes back or takes away whatever commitments it has made in that process. This is an unconstitutional law – it infringes on all sorts of civil and political rights that the constitution gives.”

He added that the bill could be struck off Zimbabwe’s statutes if challenged in court.

But Rutendo Matinyarare, chairman of the Zimbabwe Anti-Sanctions Movement, disagreed.

“Amnesty International is not a multilateral human rights institution,” Matinyarare said. “So they do not qualify to speak on human rights issues. That is the prerogative of the U.N. Human Rights Council. Secondly, Amnesty International is paid, so it is not an independent institution; it is an institution paid to advance American and Western interests over Third World interests and African interests.

“On the issue of the Patriotic Bill, they have not given any evidence how the Patriotic Bill is going to close down dissent, because there is nowhere in the Patriotic Bill that it says Zimbabweans are not allowed to criticize their government.”

Mnangagwa has not said when or whether he will sign the bill into law.
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