Egypt deployed three tugboats Sunday to tow away an oil tanker that had broken down and caused brief delays in the Suez Canal, authorities in charge of the vital waterway said.   

Traffic in both directions returned to normal after a brief disruption when the Malta-flagged Seavigour experienced a “machinery malfunction” while en route from Russia to China, the Suez Canal Authority said.   

Three tugboats “successfully towed and moored the ship” at a shipyard where the technical fault will be fixed before the tanker “resumes its crossing,” according to a statement.  

Brief disruptions caused by ships breaking down or running aground are common in the waterway, through which about 10 percent of global maritime trade passes.    

Most are refloated within hours, allowing traffic to resume.  

In March 2021 the giant container ship Ever Given caused a nearly week-long stoppage in Suez traffic after it became lodged diagonally in the waterway.  

The disruption cost billions of dollars in shipping delays, with Egypt losing between $12 million and $15 million for every day of the closure.   

The canal is a major source of much-needed foreign currency for cash-strapped Egypt, earning it $8 billion in transit fees in 2022. 
…

Senegal’s government has cut access to mobile internet services in certain areas because of deadly rioting in which “hateful and subversive” messages have been posted online, it said in a statement on Sunday.

The West African country has been rocked by three days of violent protests in which 16 people have died, one of its deadliest bouts of civil unrest in decades.

Last week, the government limited access to certain messaging platforms, but many were able to bypass the outage with the use of virtual private networks that mask the location of the user. It extended the outage on Sunday to include all data on mobile internet devices in certain areas and at certain times, the statement said.

It did not specify which areas were impacted or at what times, but five Reuters reporters across Dakar were unable to access the Internet without a wifi connection on Sunday afternoon, a time of day when protests have generally started to gather steam.

“Because of the spread of hateful and subversive messages … mobile Internet is temporarily suspended at certain hours of the day,” the statement said.

The catalyst for the unrest was the sentencing on Thursday of popular opposition leader Ousmane Sonko in a two-year-old rape case. His supporters say the prosecution was politically motivated and he has denied any wrongdoing.

On Thursday, he was acquitted of rape but found guilty in absentia of corrupting a minor and sentenced to two years in prison. That sentence could prevent him from running in the February presidential election and protesters have heeded his call to challenge the authorities.

Protesters have also been angered by President Macky Sall’s refusal to rule out running for a third term. Senegal has a two-term presidential limit.
…

Some 54 Ugandan peacekeepers died when militants besieged an African Union base in Somalia last week, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni said, in one of the worst recent attacks by Al-Shabaab jihadists in the war-torn country.

“We discovered the lifeless bodies of 54 fallen soldiers, including a commander,” Museveni said in a Twitter post late Saturday.

The veteran leader was speaking during a meeting with members of his governing National Resistance Movement party, the presidency told AFP on Sunday.

The toll is one of the heaviest yet since pro-government forces backed by the AU force known as ATMIS launched an offensive against Al-Shabaab last August.

It was also a rare admission of a major military death toll by African Union members.

Al-Shabaab, which has been waging a deadly insurgency against Somalia’s fragile central government for more than a decade, claimed responsibility for the May 26 attack, saying it had overrun the base and killed 137 soldiers.

Al-Shabaab is known to exaggerate claims of battlefield gains for propaganda purposes, and the governments of nations contributing troops to the AU force rarely confirm casualties.

The militants drove a car laden with explosives into the base in Bulo Marer, 120 kilometers (75 miles) southwest of the capital Mogadishu, leading to a gunfight, local residents and a Somali military commander told AFP.

Museveni had already said last week that “some of the soldiers there did not perform as expected and panicked” as some 800 assailants attacked. 

That forced a withdrawal to a nearby base some nine kilometers (6 miles) away, he said, deploring “a missed opportunity to annihilate” the Qaeda-linked insurgents.

“The mistake was made by two commanders, Maj. Oluka and Maj. Obbo, who ordered the soldiers to retreat,” Museveni said on Saturday, adding that they would face charges in a court martial.

However, “our soldiers demonstrated remarkable resilience and reorganized themselves, resulting in the recapture of the base.”

ATMIS has so far not disclosed how many people died, but said it sent in helicopter gunships as reinforcement after the pre-dawn raid.

The United States also said it conducted an airstrike near the base a day after it was attacked.

U.S. Africa Command said it “destroyed weapons and equipment unlawfully taken by Al-Shabaab fighters”, without specifying when or where the weapons were stolen.

‘All-out war’

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

Last year, Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud launched an “all-out war” against Al-Shabaab, rallying Somalis to help flush out members of the jihadist group he described as “bedbugs.”

In recent months, the army and militias known as “macawisley” have retaken swathes of territory in the center of the country in an operation backed by ATMIS and U.S. airstrikes.

But despite the gains by the pro-government forces, the militants have continued to strike with lethal force against civilian and military targets.

In the deadliest Al-Shabaab attack since the offensive was launched, 121 people were killed in October in two car bomb blasts at the education ministry in Mogadishu.

In May 2022, the militants stormed an AU base and triggered a fierce firefight that killed around 30 Burundian peacekeepers, a high-ranking Burundian military officer told AFP.

The Somali government and the AU condemned the attack, without disclosing how many people had died.

In September 2015, at least 50 AU troops were reported by Western military sources to have died when Al-Shabaab fighters overran a military base southwest of Mogadishu.

The 20,000-member ATMIS force has a more offensive remit than its predecessor, known as AMISOM.

It is drawn from Uganda, Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya, with troops deployed in southern and central Somalia.

Its goal is to hand over security responsibilities to Somalia’s army and police by 2024.

In a report to the U.N. Security Council in February, U.N. chief Antonio Guterres said 2022 was the deadliest year for civilians in Somalia since 2017, largely as a result of Al-Shabaab attacks.
…

Residents of Sudan’s capital Khartoum reported a sharp escalation of clashes in several areas of the capital on Sunday after the expiry of a ceasefire deal between rival military factions brokered by Saudi Arabia and the United States.

Witnesses also said a military plane had crashed in Omdurman, one of three cities around the confluence of the Nile that make up the greater capital region.

There was no immediate comment from the army, which has been using fighter jets to target the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) spread out across the capital in a conflict that erupted on April 15, triggering a major humanitarian crisis.

Saudi Arabia and the U.S. said they were continuing to engage daily with delegations from the army and the RSF, which had remained in Jeddah even though talks to extend the ceasefire were suspended last week.

“Those discussions are focused on facilitating humanitarian assistance and reaching agreement on near-term steps the parties must take before the Jeddah talks resume,” the two countries said in a joint statement.

The ceasefire deal started on May 22 and expired on Saturday evening. It had led to some decrease in the intensity of fighting and limited humanitarian access, but like previous truce deals it was repeatedly violated.

Among the areas where fighting was reported on Sunday were central and southern Khartoum, and Bahri, across the Blue Nile to the north.

“In southern Khartoum we are living in terror of violent bombardment, the sound of anti-aircraft guns and power cuts. We are in real hell,” said 34-year-old resident Sara Hassan.

Beyond the capital, deadly fighting has also broken out in the remote western region of Darfur, already scarred by a long-running conflict and huge humanitarian challenges.

The seven-week conflict has displaced some 1.2 million people within the country and caused another 400,000 to flee into neighboring countries.
…

Air raids, artillery fire and explosions rocked Sudan’s capital Saturday, as fighting between warring generals entered its eighth week.

Witnesses told AFP of “bombs falling and civilians being injured” in southern Khartoum, while others in the city’s north reported artillery fire, days after a U.S.- and Saudi-brokered cease-fire collapsed.

Residents reported that warplanes of the army led by General Abdel-Fattah Burhan targeted positions of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who responded with anti-aircraft fire.

Since the fighting between Sudan’s warring generals erupted on April 15, volunteers have buried 102 unidentified bodies in the capital’s Al-Shegilab cemetery and 78 more in cemeteries in Darfur, a Sudanese Red Crescent statement said.

Both Burhan and his deputy-turned-rival Dagalo have pledged repeatedly to protect civilians and secure humanitarian corridors.

But civilians reported escalated fighting after the army quit cease-fire talks on Wednesday, including one army bombardment that a committee of human rights lawyers said killed 18 civilians in a Khartoum market.

Both sides have accused the other of violating the cease-fire, as well as attacking civilians and infrastructure.

Washington sanctioned the warring parties Thursday, holding both responsible for provoking the bloodshed.

In negotiations in Saudi Arabia last month, both parties had agreed to “enable responsible humanitarian actors, such as the Sudanese Red Crescent and/or the International Committee of the Red Cross to collect, register and bury the deceased.”

But volunteers have found it difficult to move through the streets to retrieve the dead because of security constraints, the Red Crescent said.

Aid corridors that had been promised as part of the truce never materialized, and relief agencies say they have managed to deliver only a fraction of what is needed, while civilians remain trapped.

The mission of the security forces is “to protect — not endanger — their fellow citizens,” a U.S. Embassy statement said Saturday.

More than 700,000 people have fled Khartoum to other parts of Sudan that have been spared the fighting, in convoys of buses that regularly make their way out of the city.

But on their return, bus drivers were shocked to find they “were not allowed into the capital,” one told AFP on Saturday, with others confirming authorities had blocked access since Friday, ordering the drivers to turn around.

On Friday the army announced it had brought in reinforcements from other parts of the country to participate in “operations in the Khartoum area.”

That sparked fears it was planning “a massive offensive,” Sudan analyst Kholood Khair said.

So far neither side has gained a decisive advantage. The regular army has air power and heavy weaponry, but analysts say the Rapid Support Forces paramilitaries are more mobile and better suited to urban warfare.

The RSF announced Saturday that their political adviser, Youssef Ezzat, had met Kenyan President William Ruto in Nairobi, as part of his visits to several “friendly countries to explain the developing situation in Sudan.”

“We are ready to engage all the parties and offer any support towards a lasting solution,” Ruto said on Twitter.

More than 1,800 people have been killed in the fighting, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.

Entire districts of Khartoum no longer have running water, electricity is only available for a few hours a week and three-quarters of hospitals in combat zones are not functioning.

The situation is particularly dire in the western region of Darfur, which is home to about one-quarter of Sudan’s population and has never recovered from a devastating two-decade war that left hundreds of thousands dead and more than 2 million displaced.

The RSF is descended from the Janjaweed, a militia armed in 2003 to quash ethnic minority rebels in Darfur.

Witnesses reported renewed clashes on Saturday in the North Darfur town of Kutum.

Amid what activists have called a total communications blackout in huge swaths of the region, hundreds of civilians have been killed, villages and markets torched, and aid facilities looted, prompting tens of thousands to seek refuge in neighboring Chad.

According to aid group Doctors Without Borders, those crossing the border report horrific scenes of “armed men shooting at people trying to flee, villages being looted and the wounded dying” without medical care.

The U.N. says 1.2 million people have been displaced within Sudan and more than 425,000 have fled abroad, more than 100,000 west to Chad and 170,000 north to Egypt. 
…

The number of people killed in days of clashes between Senegalese police and supporters of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko has now risen to 15, including two security officers, the government said Saturday. 

Clashes continued in pockets of the city Friday evening with demonstrators throwing rocks, burning cars and damaging supermarkets as police fired tear gas and the government deployed the military in tanks. 

Sonko was convicted Thursday of corrupting youth but acquitted on charges of raping a woman who worked at a massage parlor and making death threats against her. Sonko, who didn’t attend his trial in Dakar, was sentenced to two years in prison. His lawyer said a warrant hadn’t been issued yet for his arrest. 

Sonko came in third in Senegal’s 2019 presidential election and is popular with the country’s youth. His supporters maintain his legal troubles are part of a government effort to derail his candidacy in the 2024 presidential election. 

Sonko is considered President Macky Sall’s main competition and has urged Sall to state publicly that he won’t seek a third term in office. 

The international community has called on Senegal’s government to resolve the tensions. France’s ministry for Europe and foreign affairs said it was “extremely concerned by the violence” and called for a resolution to this crisis, in keeping with Senegal’s long democratic tradition. 

Rights groups have condemned the government crackdown, which has included arbitrary arrests and restrictions on social media. Some social media sites used by demonstrators to incite violence, such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter have been suspended for nearly two days. 

Senegalese are blaming the government for the violence and the loss of lives. 

One woman, Seynabou Diop, told The Associated Press on Saturday that her 21-year-old son, Khadim, was killed in the protests by a bullet to the chest. 

“I feel deep pain. What’s happening is hard. Our children are dying. I never thought I’d have to go through this,” she said. 

This was the first time her son, a disciplined and kind mechanic, had joined in the protests, rushing out of the house as soon as he heard Sonko was convicted, she said. 

“I think Macky Sall is responsible. If he’d talked to the Senegalese people, especially young people, maybe we wouldn’t have all these problems,” Diop said. The Associated Press cannot verify the cause of death. The family said an autopsy was underway. 

Corrupting young people, which includes using one’s position of power to have sex with people younger than 21, is a criminal offense in Senegal, punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $6,000. 

Under Senegalese law, Sonko’s conviction would bar him from running in next year’s election, said Bamba Cisse, another defense lawyer. However, the government said that Sonko could ask for a retrial once he was imprisoned. It was unclear when he would be taken into custody. 

If violence continues, it could threaten the country’s institutions, analysts say. 

“Never in their worst forms of nightmare (would) Senegalese have thought of witnessing the prevailing forms of apocalyptic and irrational violence,” said Alioune Tine, founder of Afrikajom Center, a West African think tank. 

“The most shared feeling about the current situation is fear, stress, exhaustion and helplessness. Thus what the people are now seeking for is peace,” he said. 

The West African country has been seen as a bastion of democratic stability in the region. 

Sonko hasn’t been heard from or seen since the verdict. In a statement Friday, his PASTEF-Patriots party called on Senegalese to “amplify and intensify the constitutional resistance” until President Sall leaves office. 

Government spokesman Abdou Karim Fofana said the damage caused by months of demonstrations had cost the country millions of dollars. He argued the protesters themselves posed a threat to democracy. 

“These calls (to protest), it’s a bit like the anti-republican nature of all these movements that hide behind social networks and don’t believe in the foundations of democracy, which are elections, freedom of expression, but also the resources that our (legal) system offers,” Fofana said. 
…

Pretty Peter flipped through frantic messages from friends at home in Uganda.

The transgender woman is relatively safe in neighboring Kenya. Her friends feel threatened by the latest anti-gay legislation in Uganda prescribing the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality.”

Frightened Ugandans are searching for a way to get out like Pretty Peter did. Some have stayed indoors since the law was signed Monday, fearing that they’ll be targeted, she said.

“Right now, homophobes have received a validation from the government to attack people,” the 26-year-old said, standing in a room decorated with somber portraits from a global project called “Where Love is Illegal.”

“My friends have already seen a change of attitude among their neighbors and are working on obtaining papers and transport money to seek refuge in Kenya,” she said.

That’s challenging: One message to Pretty Peter read, “Me and the girls we want to come but things a(re) too hard.” Another said that just one person had transport, and some didn’t have passports.

New anti-gay law

Homosexuality has long been illegal in Uganda under a colonial-era law criminalizing sexual activity “against the order of nature.” The punishment for that offense is life imprisonment.

Pretty Peter, who wished to be identified by her chosen name out of concern for her safety, fled the country in 2019 after police arrested 150 people at a gay club and paraded them in front of the media before charging them with public nuisance.

The new law signed by President Yoweri Museveni has been widely condemned by rights activists and others abroad. The version signed did not criminalize those who identify as LGBT+, following an outcry over an earlier draft. Museveni had returned the bill to the national assembly in April asking for changes that would differentiate between identifying as LGBTQ+ and engaging in homosexual acts.

Still, the new law prescribes the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality,” which is defined as cases of sexual relations involving people infected with HIV, as well as with minors and other categories of vulnerable people. A suspect convicted of “attempted aggravated homosexuality” can be imprisoned for up to 14 years. And there’s a 20-year prison term for a suspect convicted of “promoting” homosexuality, a broad category affecting everyone from journalists to rights activists and campaigners.

After the law’s signing, U.S. President Joe Biden called the new law “a tragic violation of universal human rights.” The United Nations human rights office said it was “appalled.” A joint statement by the leaders of the U.N. AIDS program, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and the Global Fund said Uganda’s progress on its HIV response “is now in grave jeopardy,” as the law can obstruct health education and outreach.

Legal challenges

While a legal challenge to the new law is mounted by activists and academics seeking to stop its enforcement, LGBTQ+ people in Uganda have been chilled by the growing anti-gay sentiment there.

The new law is the result of years of efforts by lawmakers, church leaders and others. Scores of university students marched Wednesday to the parliamentary chambers in the capital, Kampala, to thank lawmakers for enacting the bill, underscoring the fervency of the bill’s supporters.

The new bill was introduced in the national assembly in February, days after the Church of England announced its decision to bless civil marriages of same-sex couples, outraging religious leaders in many African countries. Homosexuality is criminalized in more than 30 of Africa’s 54 countries.

The top Anglican cleric in Uganda, Archbishop Stephen Kaziimba, has publicly said he no longer recognizes the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury as spiritual leader of the Anglican communion.

In a statement issued after the bill was signed, Kaziimba spoke of “the diligent work” of lawmakers and the president in enacting the law. However, he added that life imprisonment is preferable to death for the most serious homosexual offenses.

Warning signs

There were signs a new anti-gay bill was coming in late 2022. There had been widespread concern over reports of alleged sodomy in boarding schools. One mother at a prominent school accused a male teacher of sexually abusing her son.

Even some signs of solidarity or support with LGBTQ+ people have been seen as a threat.

In January, a tower in a children’s park in the city of Entebbe that had been painted in rainbow colors had to be reworked after residents said they were offended by what they saw as an LBTGQ+ connection. Mayor Fabrice Rulinda agreed, saying in a statement that authorities “need to curb any vices that would corrupt the minds of our children.”

In Kenya, Pretty Peter has watched the events closely.

“Ugandans have in recent days been fed with a lot of negativities towards the LGBT, and the government is trying to flex its muscles,” she said of the administration of the 78-year-old Museveni, who has held office since 1986 as one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders.

Pretty Peter said Kenya, a relative haven in the region despite its criminalization of same-sex relationships, is not as safe as she and fellow LGBTQ+ exiles would like it to be. Still, Kenya hosts an estimated 1,000 LGBTQ+ refugees and is the only country in the region offering asylum based on sexual orientation, according to the United Nations refugee agency.
…

Shelling rocked greater Khartoum on Friday as fighting between Sudan’s warring generals intensified, despite U.S. sanctions imposed after the collapse of a U.S.- and Saudi-brokered truce.

Witnesses reported “artillery fire” in eastern Khartoum and around the state television building in the capital’s sister city Omdurman, just across the Nile.

For nearly seven weeks, fighting between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has gripped Khartoum and the western region of Darfur, despite repeated efforts to broker a humanitarian cease-fire.

The army announced it had brought in reinforcements from other parts of Sudan to participate in “operations in the Khartoum area.”

Sudan analyst Kholood Khair said the army was “expected to launch a massive offensive” to clear the paramilitaries from the city’s streets.

Washington slapped sanctions on the warring parties Thursday, holding them both responsible for provoking “appalling” bloodshed.

The U.S. Treasury placed two major arms companies of the Sudanese Armed Forces, Defense Industries System and Sudan Master Technology, on its blacklist.

It also placed sanctions on gold mining firm Al Junaid Multi Activities Co and arms trader Tradive General Trading, two companies controlled by RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo and his family.

The State Department meanwhile imposed visa restrictions on both army and RSF officials, saying they were complicit in “undermining Sudan’s democratic transition.” It did not name them.

Washington announced Friday that Secretary of State Antony Blinken will next week travel to Saudi Arabia where he will discuss “strategic cooperation on regional and global issues.”

His trip follows efforts by both countries to broker a durable cease-fire in Sudan.

Shot while fleeing

Analysts question the efficacy of sanctions on Sudan’s rival generals, both of whom amassed considerable wealth during the rule of longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir, whose government was subjected to decades of international sanctions before his overthrow in 2019.

So far neither side has gained a decisive advantage. The regular army, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has air power and heavy weaponry, but analysts say the paramilitaries are more mobile and better suited to urban warfare.

After the army announced it was quitting the cease-fire talks on Wednesday, troops attacked key RSF bases in Khartoum.

One army bombardment hit a Khartoum market, killing 18 civilians and wounding 106, a committee of human rights lawyers said.

The army will want to make “some military gains before committing to any future talks in order to improve their bargaining position”, said Khair, founder of Khartoum-based think tank Confluence Advisory.

On Friday, the army said it was “surprised” by the U.S. and Saudi decision to “suspend the talks” without responding to an army proposal.

After its own representatives decided to “suspend the negotiations,” they had “remained in Jeddah with the hopes that the mediators will take a fair and more effective position that will guarantee commitment” to the cease-fire, an army statement said.

Since fighting erupted on April 15, more than 1,800 people have been killed, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.

The U.N. says 1.2 million people have been displaced within Sudan and more than 425,000 have fled abroad.

Conditions are especially dire in Darfur, where those fleeing the violence told Doctors Without Borders (MSF) of “armed men shooting at people trying to flee, villages being looted and the wounded dying” without access to medical care, the aid group said Friday.

UN mission renewed

Later Friday, the U.N. Security Council extended for just six months the global body’s political mission in Sudan, after Burhan accused its envoy, Volker Perthes, of stoking conflict.

The mission was previously renewed for one-year durations, its newly shortened time frame underscoring the country’s delicate situation.

When the fighting began, Perthes had been focused on finalizing a deal to restore Sudan’s transition to civilian rule, which was derailed by a 2021 coup by Burhan and Daglo.

Growing differences between them were supposed to be ironed out in U.N.-backed talks on the day they turned Khartoum into a war zone.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres repeated his “full confidence” in Perthes. Several other Council members also voiced support for the envoy.

“There needs to be regional and continental leadership to resolve this” conflict, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s William Carter said.

Current council president the United Arab Emirates and its three African members — Gabon, Ghana and Mozambique — “have exceptional leverage on whichever direction the Council takes on this issue,” he wrote on Twitter.

The 15 council members also resolved to “condemn the attacks against the civilian population,” U.N. personnel and humanitarian actors, as well as the looting of humanitarian supplies.

Some 25 million people — more than half Sudan’s population — are now in need of aid and protection, according to the U.N.

Aid corridors that had been promised as part of the abortive humanitarian truce never materialized, and relief agencies say they have managed to deliver only a fraction of the needs.

Humanitarian agencies have repeatedly warned of the rainy season set to start this month, when the already difficult conditions “will worsen and rivers will flood, complicating movement and supplies,” said MSF’s emergency coordinator Christophe Garnier.
…

The U.N. Security Council called Friday for an immediate cease-fire in Sudan to be followed by a permanent halt to hostilities and fresh efforts to reach a lasting democratic political settlement in the conflict-wracked country.

The U.N.’s most powerful body strongly condemned all attacks on civilians since fighting between rival generals vying for power broke out in mid-April.

The conflict has led to hundreds of civilian deaths and the flight of almost 1 million people from their homes to try to escape the violence, according to the U.N.

The press statement from the council was issued ahead of a vote later Friday to extend the U.N. political mission in the country for six months, instead of a year, to give the council time to consider its future.

On Wednesday, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres asked to brief the council behind closed doors for only the fifth time since he took office in January 2017 about the impact of the ongoing conflict on the U.N. mission known as UNITAMS. It was established by the council on June 3, 2020, to provide support to Sudan during its political transition to democratic rule.

After his briefing, the U.N. chief told the 15 council members it’s up to them to decide whether to continue the political mission to Sudan or whether “it’s time to end it.”

After the ouster of Sudanese strongman Omar al-Bashir in 2019, Sudan embarked on a shaky democratic transition led by civilian and army leaders. But the generals seized complete power in a coup in October 2021, before turning against each other.

Sudanese leader General Abdel-Fattah Burhan and General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, who heads the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), agreed to restore the transition but clashed over the terms of the RSF’s merger into the army, a disagreement that exploded into open conflict on April 15.

A week ago, Burhan demanded in a letter to Guterres that the U.N. special envoy to Sudan, Volker Perthes, be removed, saying his approach in pre-war talks between the generals helped inflame the conflict and accusing him of “being partisan.” The U.N. chief was “shocked” by the letter.

After Wednesday’s meeting, Guterres said he reaffirmed to the council “my full confidence in Volker Perthes.”

In Friday’s statement, the Security Council reaffirmed support for UNITAMS, which Perthes leads, and underlined the need “for strengthened international coordination and continued collaboration.”

Late Thursday, the United States and Saudi Arabia announced that they were suspending peace talks with representatives of the two generals that had been taking place in the Saudi city of Jeddah since late May. Sudan’s military had suspended its participation in the talks Wednesday, citing “repeated violations” by RSF forces of a U.S.-Saudi brokered humanitarian cease-fire, including their continued occupation of hospitals and other civilian infrastructure in the capital, Khartoum. The RSF said it “unconditionally backs the Saudi-U.S. initiative.”

The U.S.-Saudi joint statement said the talks were being suspended “as a result of repeated serious violations of the short-term ceasefire and recent ceasefire extension” on Monday.
…

Nigeria’s main labor union said Friday it plans to go on strike from Wednesday to protest a tripling of fuel prices in what would be the first big test for new President Bola Tinubu after he scrapped a costly fuel subsidy. 

The price increase has led to a sharp rise in transport fares and Estonian ride-hailing and food delivery startup Bolt said it had hiked its prices in Nigeria, citing increased operating costs due to higher fuel prices. 

Nigeria’s fuel subsidy cost the government billions of dollars annually but was popular as it helped keep prices low in Africa’s biggest oil producer, which is still grappling with high poverty rates among residents. 

The Nigerian Bureau of Statistics says 63% of people living in Nigeria are poor while the World Bank said in a report last year that as many as four in 10 Nigerians live below the national poverty line. 

The government said lifting the subsidy — which caused prices to rise to 557 naira per liter from 189 naira at the petrol pumps — will help alleviate a government funding crisis. 

But Nigerian Labor Congress (NLC) president Joe Ajaero, after an emergency meeting of the union’s executive council in Abuja, said the state oil company NNPC should reverse the price hike. 

“The Nigeria Labor Congress decided that if by Wednesday next week that NNPC, a private limited liability company that illegally announced a price regime in the oil sector, refuses to revert itself for negotiations to continue, that the Nigeria Labor Congress and all its affiliates will withdraw their services and commence protests nationwide until this is complied with,” Ajaero said. 

In 2012, a wave of strikes ensued when Nigeria tried to introduce a similar measure, with authorities eventually reinstating some subsidies. Tinubu, then in the opposition, was among those who opposed ending the subsidies. 

On Friday, the president said Nigeria needs to review its minimum wage of 30,000 naira ($65).  

“We need to do some arithmetic and soul searching on the minimum wage,” he told the ruling party state governors at his offices in Abuja, adding that revenue collection should be strengthened. 
…

Army troops were deployed to parts of the Senegalese capital Dakar on Friday as the city braced for more unrest after a jail sentence for opposition leader Ousmane Sonko sparked one of the deadliest days of violence in the country’s recent memory.

Nine people were killed in clashes between riot police and Sonko supporters on Thursday after he was sentenced to two years for corrupting youth. The opposition says the verdict, which could prevent Sonko from running in elections next year, was politically motivated.

Security forces patrolled streets, which were quiet on Friday but strewn with burned cars, rocks and broken glass and lined with damaged residences and businesses. Large groups of students were bused out of the university campus.

The army was deployed to reinforce security, government spokesperson Abdou Karim Fofana said.

Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar was the epicenter of Thursday’s violence, with protesters setting buses alight and throwing rocks at riot police, who responded by firing tear gas.

One student, Alioune Ndiaye, said he planned to travel hundreds of miles to his home in eastern Senegal to escape the violence.

“Yesterday was difficult and violent,” he said, heading for the campus gate with a backpack full of belongings. The bitter stench of tear gas still hung in the air.

“My main concern is that the school year could be canceled.”

Thursday’s riot was the latest bout in months of protests in Senegal, long considered one of West Africa’s strongest democracies, sparked by Sonko’s court case but also over concerns that President Macky Sall will try to bypass the two-term limit and run again in February elections.

Sall has neither confirmed nor denied this.

Sonko’s PASTEF party has called in a statement for citizens to “stop all activity and take to the streets.”

Internet cuts

Several social media and messaging platforms were still restricted on Friday as the government sought to limit online communications. Authorities in Dakar outlawed motorbikes for the next two days.

Normal life resumed tentatively in the Ouakam neighborhood. Shops reopened and people queued for bread.

A gang had tried to pillage shops in the area, said Mouhamad Diouf, a business owner. He and others defended their stores before security forces intervened.

“We thought they were going to burn down the shop,” said Diouf, 40.

Sonko, 48, was accused of raping Adji Sarr, a woman who worked in a massage parlor in 2021, when she was 20, and making death threats against her.

A criminal court cleared Sonko of rape, but found him guilty of an offense described in the penal code as immoral behavior towards individuals younger than 21.

He denies wrongdoing.

Many, especially the young, strongly support him. Cheikh Hann, a tailor, predicted that the unrest would continue.

“Young people are motivated, they will not let this go,” he said. “The government cannot eliminate opponents.”
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A prominent traditional leader in Cameroon’s troubled Northwest region has been freed after 18 months of being held captive by separatists. Government officials say Cameroon’s military rescued Fon Kevin Shumitang in battles with separatist fighters, but the fighters insist that they set the traditional ruler free.

Cameroon government officials say the central African state’s military freed Shumitang from a separatist camp in Bui, in the Northwest region on Thursday morning.

Government officials say several fighters were killed in the encounter but gave no further details.

Deben Tchoffo, the governor of the region, says the traditional leader’s release shows authorities are gradually restoring order after years of separatist unrest.  

“I would like to congratulate military men that carried out the operation, said Tchoffo. “They have been able to take back the Fon of Bambalang. Indeed, it is coming to confirm that things are coming back bit by bit normally in almost all the major parts on the Northwest region.”

Tchoffo says Shumitang will be presented to civilians at his palace after undergoing a medical examination. 

Images shared on social media and broadcast over local TV stations showed Shumitang unkempt but not looking thin or unhealthy.  

Shumitang was kidnapped from his palace in the town of Bambalang by separatist fighters led by self-proclaimed General No Pity on December 7, 2021, according to the military.

The military says it took a long time to free Shumitang because the government wanted him alive.

Capo Daniel is leader of the Ambazonia Peoples Rights Advocacy Platform, one of Cameroon’s separatist groups. 

He says the separatists released Shumitang after five months of negotiations.

“The Cameroon government arrested 15 family members of No Pity and transferred them to Yaounde,” said Daniel. “Both of them were used to pressurize No Pity to come to a compromise to release the Fon of Bambalang. That is exactly what happened. There was no military operation. The Fon was released and then handed over to the Cameroon authorities.

Daniel says the separatists expect officials to release No Pity’s family members in the days ahead as agreed during negotiations.

Cameroon’s military says the allegation that Shumitang’s release was negotiated is unfounded. 

The government has not said whether No Pity’s relatives were arrested to force the self-proclaimed general to release Shumitang.

Shumitang is the president of the Northwest region’s House of Chiefs and vice President of the Northwest Regional Assembly. Both structures are elected organs that discuss community development. 

Shumitang was elected during Cameroon’s first-ever regional elections in 2020. Separatists say he was abducted for participating in the House of Chiefs, a structure they say does not represent the aspirations of English speakers.

Cameroon’s English-speaking separatists launched their rebellion in 2017 after what they say was years of discrimination by the country’s French-speaking majority.

The conflict has killed more than 6,000 people and displaced more than 760,000 others, according to the International Crisis Group. 
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Nine people were killed in clashes in Senegal on Thursday, after protests erupted following the sentencing of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko.

Interior Minister Antoine Diome said on national television, “We have noted with regret violence that has led to the destruction of public and private property and, unfortunately, nine deaths in Dakar and Ziguinchor.”

On Thursday, a court in Senegal acquitted Sonko on charges of rape but sentenced him to two years in prison for corrupting youth, disqualifying him, for now, from participating in next year’s presidential elections.

The 48-year-old Sonko, leader of the PASTEF-Patriots party, has maintained the charges were politically motivated since they were first made in 2021 and did not attend the court hearing Thursday. He had been accused of raping a massage parlor worker in 2021 and of making death threats against her.

Though a lesser charge than rape under Senegalese law, the conviction for “Corrupting youth,” which is defined as immoral behavior or encouraging such behavior of a person under the age of 21 — his accuser was 20 when he was charged — disqualifies Sonko from running for office.

Sonko’s attorneys told reporters outside the court Thursday the conviction was designed to prevent him from running against current President Macky Sall in 2024. It is unclear if Sonko can appeal the verdict.

Sonko has been an outspoken critic of the current president and is widely viewed as Sall’s most competitive opponent in the upcoming election.

Earlier this week Sonko, who is popular with Senegalese youth, called for mass protests in response to the case brought against him. Agence France Presse reported Thursday demonstrations and fires set in the streets of the capital, Dakar.

The French news outlet also reports that security forces fired tear gas toward journalists staked out near Sonko’s residence. On its website, the news agency published video of a reporter and camera crew fleeing a cloud of gas.

The case against Sonko has raised tensions in the usually stable West African country. Last week, a “freedom caravan” led by Sonko from his hometown in southern Senegal to the capital led to clashes with security forces, and one person was killed.

On Wednesday, a day before Sonko’s sentencing, Sall launched a “national dialogue” he described as part of an effort to ease tensions, involving political forces, civil society, religious leaders and trade unions. The talks are scheduled to last about two weeks, with a large part of the opposition boycotting them.

Some information for this report was provided by the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France Press. 
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Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi faces an uphill battle in his promise to overhaul what he says is an unfair minerals-for-infrastructure deal with China before the resource-rich but conflict-plagued country’s December elections, analysts said after the African leader’s visit to Beijing the past week.

While Tshisekedi’s spokesman told reporters that negotiations over the restructuring of the deal went “wonderfully” when Tshisekedi met with counterpart Xi Jinping, and a revised agreement should be complete by the end of the year, nothing concrete was actually mentioned in a post-meeting press release.

Tshisekedi has long said the multibillion-dollar deal made by his predecessor — which gave China 68% of a major mining stake in exchange for Chinese partners promising to build roads, hospitals and schools — unfairly benefits China more than the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The DRC government earlier this year released a report saying the country had not received nearly as much infrastructure as it should have from the $6.2 billion deal.

Kinshasa now wants to rewrite the agreement so it gets a larger share of the mining output.

“Tshisekedi is facing tremendous pressure from his political opponents ahead of the December elections,” Paul Nantulya, a research associate at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, told VOA.

“China and this particular deal has become a major issue in this campaign,” he added. “It is perceived as patently unfair because obviously the Congolese side could have gotten a lot more.”

DRC is home to huge copper reserves as well as the world’s largest reserves of cobalt, a mineral essential to the batteries in electric vehicles, which are in high demand both in China and the West.

At the U.S.-Africa Summit in Washington in December, the DRC, the U.S., and Zambia — another major source of minerals — signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a supply chain for the electric car batteries, in what was widely considered by analysts as a move to counter China in the region.

Outcomes of state visit

After Tshisekedi’s pomp and ceremony-filled meeting with Xi, a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement said the two committed to strengthening bilateral relations but didn’t mention negotiations around the divisive mining deal, saying Beijing will “support the DRC’s industrialization strategy, strengthen cooperation with the DRC in such fields as energy, minerals, agriculture, infrastructure and manufacturing.”

In what appeared to be a slight dig at Congo, the press release said “China hopes that the DRC will provide policy support and convenient services to Chinese enterprises investing and doing business in the DRC, and foster a fair, just, and safe business environment.”

“Obviously, China is not happy about the one-sided evaluation that was made by the Congolese government” regarding how much infrastructure Congo has got from the deal, said Christian Geraud Neema Byamungu, francophone editor at the China Global South Project, a media organization focusing on Chinese international policies.

“Overall, Tshisekedi didn’t get what he wanted, at least what media were saying he wanted to get,” he told VOA.

“Both parties will have to meet and work together on evaluating the contract. It’s only from there that we will know if renegotiation will happen. It’s obvious that it won’t be an easy or quick process,” Neema Byamungu added.

Nantuyla echoed this, saying: “How are the Chinese partners likely to respond to this? … I think it’s fair to say that they’re going to try and keep their piece as big as possible.”
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Zimbabwe’s government has instituted several measures it says will increase demand for the local currency and raise its value, as well arrest demand for the U.S. dollar. But as Columbus Mavhunga reports from Harare, economists say the new measures will not work as Zimbabweans have lost faith in the local dollar which continues sliding against the greenback. Videographer: Blessing  Chigwenhembe     
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Almost two dozen people have died from cholera just outside South Africa’s capital, Pretoria, over the past two weeks, and hundreds have been hospitalized. VOA spoke to residents who have been affected and officials who are still searching for the source. Kate Bartlett reports from Hammanskraal, South Africa. Camera: Zaheer Cassim.
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The United States said Thursday it is ready to facilitate discussions between Sudan’s warring sides if they show a commitment to abiding by a U.S.-Saudi-brokered cease-fire.

“Once the forces make clear by their actions that they are serious about complying with the ceasefire, the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are prepared to resume facilitation of the suspended discussions to find a negotiated solution to this conflict,” a State Department spokesperson said.

The statement came a day after Sudan’s military broke off talks and accused rival paramilitary forces of repeatedly violating the truce.

The two sides signed a seven-day cease-fire May 20 intended to allow for the delivery of humanitarian assistance.  They agreed to a five-day extension on May 29.

The United States and Saudi Arabia are monitoring implementation of the cease-fire and have said both sides have violated it.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council met Wednesday in a 90-minute-long, closed-door session at the request of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. It is only the fifth time in his more than five-year tenure that he has requested such a meeting.

“We are facing a dramatic situation in Sudan, both on the political and the humanitarian end, and the secretary-general wanted to share some thoughts that he has with council members,” his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, told reporters.

Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, has been mired in violence since April 15, when fighting broke out between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces after relations broke down between military leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF chief General Mohamed Hamdan Degalo.

The two generals are former allies who together orchestrated an October 2021 military coup that derailed a transition to civilian rule following the 2019 ouster of longtime leader Omar al-Bashir.

Tensions between the generals had been growing over disagreements about how the RSF should be integrated in the army and who should oversee that process. The restructuring of the military was part of an effort to restore the country to civilian rule and end the political crisis sparked by the 2021 coup.

UN role

Despite the insecurity, the U.N. and its aid partners have been delivering assistance where they can. Between May 24 and 30, 100 aid trucks were deployed. The World Food Program has reached more than 782,000 people with food and nutrition support over the past four weeks, and the U.N. Population Fund has started to provide vital medicines and reproductive health supplies to the maternity hospital in Wad Medani in Al Jazirah state.

The U.N. also has a political mission in Sudan, known as UNITAMS, which is mandated to assist with the transfer to a civilian-led government. A diplomat with knowledge of the council discussions told VOA that Guterres expressed his frustration over the lack of public support for the mission, which is up for renewal by Saturday.

“It is up to the Security Council to decide whether the Security Council supports the continuation of the mission for another period or whether the Security Council decides that it is time to end it,” Guterres told reporters of the mission during brief remarks after the meeting.

Council diplomats said a six-month technical rollover of the mission’s mandate is likely to be voted on later this week.

Guterres also expressed his “full confidence” in his envoy, Volker Perthes. Last week, Burhan wrote to Guterres calling for Perthes to resign.

The war has killed hundreds of civilians and left more than 1.2 million others internally displaced, with about 350,000 escaping to neighboring countries. Khartoum has been forced to endure frequent power cuts, with many areas without running water, and most of the hospitals out of service.

Margaret Besheer at the United Nations contributed to this report. Some information came from Reuters, The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
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Namibia’s president recently signed a projected $10 billion deal that calls for Namibia and the German company Hyphen Energy to produce “green hydrogen,” a clean energy source that advocates see as the fuel of the future.

Hyphen Energy last Friday concluded a multibillion-dollar agreement with the Namibian government to construct the project in the Tsau Khaeb National Park.

If a study finds the project to be feasible, Hyphen will build factories, pipelines and ports with the goal of producing 2 million tons of ammonia by 2030.

The ammonia, which could be used as fuel, would be produced using renewable energy sources like solar and wind power. The project would also produce oxygen and electricity for local consumption.

Speaking to the Voice of America, Namibia’s green hydrogen commissioner and economic adviser to the president, James Mnyupe, said Hyphen Energy has made agreements with companies from Germany, England, South Korea and Japan that will ensure buyers for the company’s main products.

The green hydrogen project, he said, will be vertically integrated.

“In other parts of the world you might get one player developing the port, another player developing the pipelines, another player developing the renewable energy and so on and so forth, whereas this project, we are envisioning to do all of that under one umbrella and that is what a vertically integrated project looks like,” he said.

Hyphen’s chief executive officer, Marco Raffinetti, said securing funding for green hydrogen projects is a massive undertaking but the investments are necessary if the world is to reduce the carbon output from fossil fuels which drive climate change.

Raffinetti said alternative sources of power, such as solar energy, were very expensive 20 years ago but have gradually become cheaper. He said green hydrogen might follow the same trajectory.

Namibian political commentators have raised red flags, however, regarding the speedy adoption of the project that is being spearheaded by the presidency. They question whether the project actually has national buy-in.

Speaking to VOA, political analyst Pendapala Hangala expressed some reservations about the project.

“This is a 45-year project, and a 40-year project, and … I don’t think it went through the right due process, and it is not clear what is going on because we are also looking at critical raw material…. It’s a comprehensive project, which is being fast tracked, that is my concern,” he said.

This green hydrogen project is touted as the largest of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa.

Other countries such as Morocco are also embarking on green hydrogen projects, and Namibian commentators question what competitive advantage Namibia would have with exports over countries in closer proximity to Europe, which is viewed as the main buyer.
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In 2019, Nigeria enacted a disability law to promote inclusivity, but rights groups say the law hasn’t altered the status quo and many people still feel marginalized. One Nigerian newspaper has created a way to reach more visually impaired Nigerians. Timothy Obiezu reports from Abuja.
…

The Kenyan government says it has entered or plans to enter labor agreements with Canada, Germany, the United States, and certain Persian Gulf nations. The agreements aim to ease the path for Kenyans to work overseas. But advocates for workers’ rights say such agreements, especially with Gulf nations, leave workers vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. Mohammed Yusuf reports.
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Officials in northern Cameroon have in a crisis meeting on Wednesday requested more troops from Cameroon, Nigeria and Chad to be deployed to their common border after fresh Boko Haran attacks killed at least 12 people including six soldiers on Tuesday. The officials say several hundred heavily armed Islamist extremists have infiltrated the volatile Lake Chad region attacking, looting and causing panic. 

Cameroon military and government officials in the central African state’s northern border with Nigeria say they held a crisis meeting on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after a fresh wave of deadly Boko Haram attacks were reported.

Midjiyawa Bakari is the governor of Cameroon’s Far North region that shares a border with Chad and Nigeria. Bakari spoke on Cameroon state broadcaster CRTV on Wednesday.

Bakari said Cameroonian President Paul Biya ordered officials and troops in Cameroon’s Far North region to hold an emergency crisis meeting and make sure armed Islamist extremists who infiltrate the volatile Lake Chad region are stopped. He said Biya ordered the crisis meeting after several hundred militants killed three soldiers, two customs officers and two civilians in surprise attacks on Cameroon government troops stationed in the northern towns of Mora and Zigague on Tuesday.

Mora and Zigague are towns in Cameroon’s Far North region that share a border with Nigeria and Chad.

Bakari said Boko Haram is weakened but still very actively attacking communities to kill their opponents and to steal cattle, food and money.

The Cameroon military on Wednesday said troops found five other civilian corpses in the bush near Zigague and several dozen houses and government buildings were destroyed by the insurgents.

Military officials say soldiers killed several insurgents along the border with Nigeria and Chad but gave no details.

Government officials say villagers who escaped to the bush should return and be protected by the Cameroon military.

Bakari said civilians should help stop the new wave of attacks by reporting suspected militants to military officials. He said local chiefs and community leaders should reactivate militias to assist government troops in fighting the militants.

Hamidou Aladji is a community leader in Mora.

He said Tuesday’s attack on civilians and government troops in Mora indicate that Boko Haram is still a nuisance with an ability to create surprises. He said while the military is protecting civilians, it is imperative for community leaders and the clergy to assist in stopping or reducing terrorist attacks by reporting strangers in their communities to the military.

The Cameroon government says Boko Haram fighters crossed into the central African state from Nigeria in large numbers on Sunday and Monday evening before carrying out the attacks.

Military officials say the vast Lake Chad basin that stretches across the borders of Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad is infiltrated by the militants who want to reestablish bases on the lake’s many small islands.

In June 2022, the Multinational National Joint Task Force of the Lake Chad Basin said 3,000 troops it deployed killed more than 800 extremists in about two months of fighting in the volatile Lake Chad region.

The force is made up of 11,000 troops from Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad.

Officials at the crisis meeting ordered by President Paul Biya on Wednesday in Maroua, the capital of Cameroon’s Far North region, requested that troops from Cameroon, Nigeria and Chad be deployed to stop militants from reconstituting groups and advancing.

VOA could not independently verify if Chad and Nigeria have agreed to deploy troops to the three nations’ common border.

Boko Haram attacks escalated in northern Nigeria in 2009 before spreading to neighboring countries.

The United Nations says more than 36,000 people have been killed, mainly in Nigeria, and three million have fled their homes. 
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The Sudanese military has broken off negotiations with the country’s paramilitary forces over a new cease-fire agreement.

Agence France Presse quotes an anonymous Sudanese official who said the government walked away from the talks “because the rebels have never implemented a single one of the provisions of a short-term ceasefire,” including the withdrawal from hospitals and residential buildings, and accused the paramilitary forces of repeatedly violating the truce.

In a statement late Tuesday reported by Reuters the paramilitary forces said they were committed to the cease-fire “despite repeated violations” by the army.

Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, has been mired in violence and chaos since April 15, when fighting broke out between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces after relations between military leader General Abdel Fattah Burhan and RSF chief General Mohamed Hamdan Degalo ended in rancor.

The two generals are former allies who together orchestrated an October 2021 military coup that derailed a transition to civilian rule following the 2019 ouster of longtime leader Omar al-Bashir.

Tensions between the generals have been growing over disagreements about how the RSF should be integrated in the army and who should oversee that process. The restructuring of the military was part of an effort to restore the country to civilian rule and end the political crisis sparked by the 2021 military coup.

The two sides have been involved in continuous cease-fire talks overseen by the United States and Saudi Arabia in the Saudi port city of Jeddah, but both sides have repeatedly violated every agreement. Mediators said Monday the army and the RSF had agreed to extend a cease-fire that would allow humanitarian aid into Sudan for five days.

The war has killed hundreds of civilians and left more than 1.4 million others internally displaced, with about 350,000 escaping into neighboring countries. Khartoum has been forced to endure frequent power cuts, with many areas totally without running water, and most of the hospitals out of service.

Some information for this report came from Reuters, Agence France-Presse.
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Nigeria’s National Petroleum Company NNPC Ltd. has backed the country’s new leader’s decision to stop paying long-standing petrol subsidies. Nigerian President Bola Tinubu made the announcement during his inauguration Monday in the capital, Abuja. Nigeria spends billions of dollars annually to keep fuel affordable at the pumps, and previous administrations’ efforts to stop the subsidies often led to street protests. Timothy Obiezu reports from Abuja.
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Intense clashes could be heard in Sudan’s capital on Tuesday, residents said, after military factions battling for more than six weeks agreed to extend a cease-fire aimed at allowing aid to reach civilians.

The army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) agreed to extend a week-long cease-fire deal by five days just before it was due to expire late on Monday.

The truce was brokered and is being remotely monitored by Saudi Arabia and the United States, which say it has been violated by both sides but has still allowed for the delivery of aid to an estimated 2 million people.

“We hope this truce succeeds even if only to stop the war a little and that we can return to our normal lives. We have hope in the truce, and we don’t have other options,” said Hind Saber, a 53-year-old resident of Khartoum.

Hours before the cease-fire extension was signed, residents reported intensive fighting in all three of the adjoining cities that make up Sudan’s greater capital around the confluence of the Nile: Khartoum, Omdurman and Bahri.

Clashes resumed late on Tuesday on the outskirts of the cities.

In a statement, the RSF accused the army of violating the cease-fire, saying that it defended itself against an attack and took over an army base.

The war has caused nearly 1.4 million people to flee their homes, including more than 350,000 who have crossed into neighboring countries.

Areas of the capital have been hit by widespread looting and frequent cuts to power and water supplies. Most hospitals have been put out of service.

The United Nations, some aid agencies, embassies and parts of Sudan’s central government have moved operations to Port Sudan, in Sudan’s Red Sea state, the main shipping hub, which has seen little unrest.

Curfew declared in Port Sudan 

On Tuesday, the state’s security committee said it had caught several “rebellious” sleeper cells that it said had sneaked in from outside and warned that they were planning activities.

“We thank the citizens of Red Sea state for their total cooperation and for immediately reporting the presence of these rebellious elements and their agents within their neighborhoods,” it said, without specifying their identity.

The committee later extended a state of emergency and declared a curfew from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. in Port Sudan.

The conflict erupted on April 15 over internationally backed plans for a transition to elections under a civilian government.

Leaders of the army and the RSF had held the top positions on Sudan’s ruling council since former leader Omar al-Bashir was toppled during a popular uprising in 2019.

They staged a coup in 2021 as they were due to hand leadership of the council to civilians, before falling out over the chain of command and restructuring of the RSF under the planned transition.

Army leader General Abdel-Fattah Burhan appeared in a video on Tuesday greeting troops. He said that the army had agreed to the cease-fire extension to ease citizens’ access to services.

“The army hasn’t used its full deadly power, but it will be forced to do so if the enemy does not obey or listen to the voice of reason,” he said in a statement.

Millions need humanitarian aid

The United Nations children’s agency UNICEF said more than 13.6 million children in Sudan, a country of 49 million people, were in urgent need of lifesaving humanitarian support.

The U.N. World Food Program, which expects up to 2.5 million people in Sudan to slip into hunger in coming months, said that 17,000 metric tons of food had been looted since the conflict began.

WFP said on Monday that it had begun to distribute food in parts of the capital for the first time since the outbreak of fighting.

U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk warned on Tuesday that fighting in Khartoum, which has spread to the war-weary Darfur region, could take on an “inter-ethnic dimension, which would be terrible.”
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