Home
Sudan crisis forces South Sudanese refugees back to troubled home
- Details
- Written by northsouth
- Category: Africa
- Hits: 386
By Denis Elamu
RENK, South Sudan - The last place Lina Mijok wanted to go as she fled fighting in Sudan was back to her own country, South Sudan, which she had left as civil war erupted in 2013.
But when Sudan's army started battling the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in the streets around to her home last month, South Sudan was the only place she and her two young children could reach.
"I would not have come back to South Sudan. I would have gone anywhere, but I had no choice," the 26-year-old said.
She had managed to carve out a new life for herself as a housemaid in the city of Omdurman, across the River Nile from Sudan's capital Khartoum.
Then the shots started ringing out and her family had to pack up and leave that behind them - all of them apart from Mijok's husband.
He had to stay behind as they did not have enough money to pay for his place on the trucks and buses that carried Mijok, their son and their daughter to the border, a nerve-wracking two days on bush roads.
They are now among thousands camping out in South Sudan's Renk County, in a dilapidated university campus, its buildings pockmarked by bullets from fighting a decade ago.
The refugees have made basic shelters out of sticks and pieces of fabric. The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, and other aid groups are distributing food, water, buckets, blankets and mats.
"The heat is killing us and some people have gone four days without eating, and there is no place to sleep, and the children are getting sick," Mijok said. She hopes the United Nations will help her move to another country.
'WHAT SHOULD WE DO? WE DON'T KNOW'
The fighting has turned the humanitarian situation on its head.
Up to last month, more than 800,000 South Sudanese refugees lived in Sudan, refugees from decades of conflict.
Since the fighting erupted in Khartoum, the UNHCR has registered more than 30,000 people crossing into South Sudan, more than 90% of them South Sudanese. The true number is likely much higher, it says.
Aid agencies fear the influx will worsen an already dire humanitarian crisis in South Sudan where more than 2 million people are displaced and three quarters of the 11-million-strong population need aid.
South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 after two decades of north-south conflict. Civil war broke out there barely two years later, killing an estimated 400,000 people.
"South Sudan is one of UNHCR’s most underfunded crises already and we are now mobilising to support this new influx," agency spokesperson Charlotte Hallqvist said. "We urge the international community not to forget about South Sudan."
Like Mijok, Suzan William, 36, fled the civil war in 2013 and rebuilt her life in Sudan, working as a nurse in Khartoum. Now she is back in her homeland, camping in Renk with her four children.
"People say there is no stability in South Sudan, so we decided to build houses in Sudan. But now also there is no stability in Sudan. What should we do? We don’t know."
Kenya cult deaths hits 90 as authorities expand operation
- Details
- Written by northsouth
- Category: Africa
- Hits: 382
By EVELYNE MUSAMBI
NAIROBI, Kenya — The death toll at a ranch in coastal Kenya that is owned by a pastor who is accused of leading a religious cult and ordering his followers to starve themselves reached 90 on Tuesday, as the country’s interior minister announced an expanded operation at the site.
The new figure came after police exhumed 17 more bodies. The total number of those rescued while starving at the ranch now stands at 34.
The Kenya Red Cross Society’s latest figure on the number of missing is 213.
Pastor Paul Makenzi, who heads the Good News International Church, is accused of luring his followers to the ranch near the town of Malindi. He allegedly told them to fast to death in order to meet Jesus before burying them in shallow graves spread across his land. He was arrested after police raided the property earlier this month, and he remains in police custody.
Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki said that the security team will “upscale search and rescue missions to save as many lives as possible.”
“The entire 800-acre (320-hectare) parcel of land that is part of the Shakahola ranch is hereby declared a disturbed area and an operation zone,” Kindiki said while visiting the area.
The minister said there would be a turning point on how the country handles threats caused by religious extremism and was looking into another suspected cult in the same Kilifi county.
“We have cast the net wider to another religious organization here in Kilifi. We have opened a formal inquiry on this religious group and we are getting crucial leads that perhaps what was being done by Makenzi is a tip of the iceberg,” Kindiki said.
The teams digging at the site have been finding decomposed bodies buried in mass and single graves marked with a cross.
Those believed to be living in mudwalled houses inside the ranch have been fleeing from rescue teams, and mostly those who can’t walk or talk have been rescued so far.
The Mombasa-based Muslims for Human Rights Group called on the government “to consider the option of using aerial surveillance by use of helicopters to rescue more people and make the process quicker.”
The autopsies on the bodies are set to begin on Thursday with local media reporting that government morgues in Kilifi are filled to capacity.
These are Kenya’s worst recorded cult deaths.
The broadcast regulator, Kenya Film and Classification Board, sounded the alarm in 2017 on radicalization-like content by Makenzi on television. The board’s former chairperson, Ezekiel Mutua, told local media that the content was taken off air at the time and law enforcement agencies were notified.
The pastor had been arrested twice before — in 2019 and in March of this year — in relation to the deaths of children. Each time, he was released on bond, and both cases are still proceeding through the court system.
The interior minister likened the cult deaths to one run by U.S. preacher Jim Jones, whose 900 followers took poison in a mass suicide in 1978.
Other cult activities that ended up in mass deaths include Uganda’s Kanungu cult massacre that killed 700 followers in 2000.
How Chinese are financing terrorists to illegally access mineral resources in Nigeria – Report
- Details
- Written by alib
- Category: Africa
- Hits: 425
By Theophilus Adedokun
LAGOS - A British national newspaper, The Times, has reported that Chinese nationals in the mining sector are financing terrorist groups in some parts of Nigeria to gain access to the country’s mineral resources.
The national daily revealed this in an investigation it published on Saturday, April 15.
The Times said that the Chinese nationals are fuelling insecurity and terrorism through illegal transactions, lobbying and bribes.
The newspaper reported, “Beijing could be indirectly funding terror in Africa’s largest economy.”
According to the report, some Chinese who work informally as miners in Zamfara are serving as smugglers for some militant groups in the state and other states in the north-western part of Nigeria.
It noted that Chinese firms constantly negotiate with terrorists and bandits.
“Chinese companies working in parts of Nigeria where attacks are frequent have been striking security deals with insurgents.
“Attacks on Chinese citizens, of whom there are said to be between 100,000 and 200,000 in Nigeria, have become regular occurrences in recent years amid the country’s many conflicts.”
Research shared with The Times from SBM Intelligence, a Nigeria-based analytics company, revealed videos on social media, including WhatsApp, of militant leaders boasting that they are so powerful that Chinese workers wishing to operate in their areas must pay them ‘rent’. They have taken over swathes of northwest Nigeria, turning the region into the country’s bloodiest conflict zone.
“In one pocket of Zamfara, researchers found, interaction with militants runs so deep that some serve as runners for Chinese miners who have spread throughout Nigeria, controlling digs for gold. The country has some of the largest gold reserves in the world.
“Often operating informally in small groups as contractors registered to clearing-house companies, they speak local languages and can stay for years at a time living in remote areas that western companies consider off-limits.”
The report stressed that Chinese mining contractors underpay locals working on their fields.
“Chinese mining contractors, who local communities have accused of abuses and paying pitiful wages, often smuggle minerals out of the country illegally and are sometimes arrested.”
It said that the Chinese who smuggle mineral resources out of the country through illegal routes were sometimes apprehended.
“In 2020, 27 miners, including 17 said to be Chinese, were arrested in Osun state. Last October, a Chinese citizen, Gang Deng, 29, was jailed for five years after being found with 25 tonnes of a mineral thought to be lepidolite, containing lithium, which is used in batteries.”
SBM also found Chinese workers involved in the Boko Haram conflict in Nigeria’s northeast, with a case of a Chinese smuggler being paid to help a jihadist group move metal ore out of the country.
The ICIR had published a two-part investigation on the activities of illegal gold mining in Osun and Ondo states.
The ICIR’s investigations highlighted the implications of illegal mining on the environment and the health of the natives.
The reports revealed that the traditional rulers and native authorities were in connivance with illegal miners.
The ICIR had also reported that Kogi and Osun states banned illegal mining operations in their territories.
The governors of the two states reiterated their commitment to clamping down on all forms of illegal mining in the state within the ambit of the law, while stating the adverse effects of illegal mining on the well-being of residents of the states.
The government of the two states urged legitimate miners whose activities have contributed to environmental degradation and water pollution in the states to retract immediate steps towards remedying the situation.
Nigeria's Tinubu defends win in disputed presidential poll
- Details
- Written by northsouth
- Category: Africa
- Hits: 454
By Felix Onuah and Camillus Eboh
ABUJA - Nigeria's new president-elect, Bola Tinubu, called on citizens to unite around him on Wednesday, as he defended the integrity of the national election he won amid a bitter dispute over the results.
Both of the two main opposition parties have rejected the outcome as fraudulent, and said they would challenge the results in court. The bitter dispute has raised fears of violence in Africa's most populous nation and leading energy producer, which has a long history of electoral violence.
In past polls, street gangs with loyalty to Tinubu in the commercial hub of Lagos have fought pitched battles with gangs loyal to rival parties.
"I am very happy I have been elected the president of the federal republic of Nigeria," Tinubu said to cheers in Abuja. "This is a serious mandate. I hereby accept it."
He now faces a litany of national problems, including Islamist insurgencies in the northeast, armed attacks, killings and kidnappings, conflict between livestock herders and farmers, cash, fuel and power shortages, and deeply entrenched corruption.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said Tinubu garnered 37%, or 8.79 million votes, in the weekend election, ahead of main opposition challenger Atiku Abubakar's 29%, or 6.98 million votes.
Peter Obi, an outsider popular with younger and more educated urban voters, won 25%, or 6.1 million votes.
A candidate can win by getting more votes than any of their rivals, provided they get 25% of the vote in at least two-thirds of the 37 federal territories - that is the 36 states and the federal capital territory of Abuja, which Tinubu managed to do.
LOW TURNOUT, LOW TRUST
With total votes cast at just under 25 million, out of 87 million people with voter identity cards and eligible to vote, turnout was only 29% - low, even by Nigerian standards. The 2019 election saw 35% turnout.
At least some of them were unable to vote due to malfunctioning of voter card reading machines.
Nigeria's election was meant to be its fairest and most open contest to date. But the electoral process encountered problems, owing to new technology that did not function well and seemed to overwhelm Nigeria's notoriously inadequate communications network. That undermined trust in the whole process.
"In the eyes of God, the man (Tinubu) is not the winner," trader Mercy Efong said in Akwa, in Obi's home state of Anambra.
The INEC had promised to upload results from each polling unit to its website in real time, but most units were unable to do so immediately. That was not a legal requirement, but it meant results had to be collated manually inside ward and local government counting centres as in previous polls, reneging on a policy that was meant to improve transparency.
"President Buhari said that he would do free and fair election (but) INEC is now turning everything upside down," said rickshaw driver Nedu Chukwunata, referring to the outgoing president.
"We want justice in Nigeria; we want democracy here in Nigeria ... we want our voice to be heard we are tired of corruption," said Chukwunata, who had parked his yellow rickshaw on a sandy patch of ground in Akwa.
'CREDIBLE ELECTION'
Observer missions have criticised the problems as the result of poor planning.
"I commend INEC for running a credible election no matter what anybody says," Tinubu said. "The lapses that were reported, they were relatively few in number and were immaterial to affect the final outcome of the election."
President Muhammadu Buhari, also from the All Progressives Congress (APC), congratulated his successor.
"Elected by the people, he is the best person for the job. I shall now work with him and his team to ensure an orderly handover of power," he said in a statement.
As Lagos governor, Tinubu won praise for partially fixing some of the cities problems, including reducing violent crime, waste collection and traffic.
The 70-year-old has, however, sometimes appeared frail in public, slurring his speech, answering questions with platitudes and skipping several campaign events, leaving some to doubt how effective or dynamic he will be as leader.
Main News
latest news
- UN says it has no more food or tents for nearly 2m people in Gaza
- facial recognition cameras trial catches 100 alleged offenders
- Palestinians mark their original 'catastrophe' with eyes on the war in Gaza
- Magician David Copperfield accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women
- Zelensky cancels all foreign trips as Ukraine pulls back troops
- Slovakia PM shooting - in life-threatening condition
- EU to extend Mozambique military mission despite setbacks
- ‘No water, food, health care, toilet’: Desperation deepens in Gaza
- France: Manhunt after two prison officers killed in ambush to free drug dealer
- Biden sharply hikes US tariffs on an array of Chinese imports
- Orcas sink sailing yacht in Strait of Gibraltar
- Israeli forces back in old Gaza battlegrounds as doubts over war aims grow
- US is still falling behind on electronic warfare, special operators warn
- How to connect Africa’s universities to its tech ecosystems
- Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks hit 'stalemate', Qatar says
- 'Outrage’: US condemns Israeli settlers’ attack on Gaza aid trucks
- MERA25 parties launch European Elections campaign on Nakba Day in Athens
- Palestinians mark 76 years of dispossession as catastrophe unfolds in Gaza
- Calls for sustained peace efforts in Yemen as cholera outbreak worsens
- Misinformation and politicisation of migration is ‘clouding public discourse’
- Complementary admissions for refugees reach record highs: UNHCR report
- Rights experts urge Iran to revoke death sentence against activist
- Fighting in Eastern DR Congo has reached new heights
- UN security staff killed in Gaza; Guterres calls for probe
- OpenAI just made ChatGPT cheaper and twice as fast
Europe
facial recognition cameras trial catches 100 alleged offenders
Zelensky cancels all foreign trips as Ukraine pulls back troops
Slovakia PM shooting - in life-threatening condition
France: Manhunt after two prison officers killed in ambush to free drug dealer
Orcas sink sailing yacht in Strait of Gibraltar
MERA25 parties launch European Elections campaign on Nakba Day in Athens
Russia says it downs 16 Ukraine-launched missiles, 31 drones
West not doing enough to push Israel to agree on truce, Erdogan says
German-African Energy Forum in Hamburg 15-16 May
Firmly committed to two-State solution: UK, France
Sweden has more billionaires per capita than the US and here’s why
Most British people regret Brexit
Deserted islands
Orban Meets With Xi, Calls China 'One Of The Pillars Of New World Order'
How countries rank by military spending
Pro-Palestinian protests set for Eurovision final after Israel qualifies
David Cameron says UK will not withhold arms sales to Israel
Protesters rally in Sweden against Israel’s participation in Eurovision
EU deal will release £2.6bn frozen Russian assets to Ukraine yearly
Pro-Palestine student protests turn spotlight on EU research funding for Israel
Yanis Varoufakis sues the German state
EU Commission hosts antisemitism seminar as Israel launches Rafah offensive
Russia launches 'massive' missile and drone attack on Ukraine's energy facilities
Ukraine’s parliament approves plan to recruit prisoners to fight Russia
Russian defence attaché to be expelled from Britain for spying
Asia
Hundreds killed in flash floods in northern Afghanistan
Indian court grants temporary bail to opposition leader Kejriwal to campaign in elections
China's third aircraft carrier completes first sea trial
Asia is heating up faster than the global average
Scientist who gave world the Covid sequence is locked out of his lab by Chinese
Philippines accuses China of damaging its vessel in disputed South China Sea shoal
Indian Authorities Stop Australian Journalist from Covering Elections
China's Xi to visit France, Serbia and Hungary, aims to boost EU ties
Five killed as tornado strikes Guangzhou in southern China
China skips red-carpet welcome for Blinken
India's poll panel seeks responses to complaints against Modi, Rahul Gandhi
Amid China tensions, India delivers supersonic cruise missiles to Philippines
Asia is most climate disaster-impacted region, UN
India's Modi accused of anti-Muslim campaign hate speech
Nature-based solutions for flood management in Asia and the Pacific
Gunmen kill 7 customs officials in western Pakistan in two attacks
In Modi’s India, opponents and journalists squeezed ahead of election
Vietnamese billionaire sentenced to death for $44 billion fraud
People blown from apartments as typhoon-like winds ravage southern China
North Korea says it tested a new hypersonic intermediate-range missile
Strongest earthquake in 25 years rocks Taiwan, killing 9 people
India rejects China's renaming of 30 places in Himalayan border state
An Indian court sends opposition leader, Arvind Kejriwal, to jail until April 15
Pakistan court grants Imran Khan appeal of graft conviction, sentence suspended
India's Modi questions rival Congress about island ceded to Sri Lanka
Africa
EU to extend Mozambique military mission despite setbacks
How to connect Africa’s universities to its tech ecosystems
Fighting in Eastern DR Congo has reached new heights
Africa CEO Forum in Kigali 16-17 May
First UN civil society forum held in Africa heralds ‘inclusive’ Summit of the Future
Unprecedented flooding displaces hundreds of thousands across East Africa
EU opens data pact talks with Kenya, in first for Africa
Niger joins Africa’s oil producer club
Mozambique’s ruling party picked Daniel Chapo as candidate for president
Mali: Armed Groups, Ethnic Militias Commit Atrocities
Chad to hold presidential election Monday
UN agencies warn of imminent starvation risk in Sudan’s Darfur region
Attacks on civilians in DR Congo
Niger: Russian military deployed at airbase housing American troops
The world needs Africa’s critical minerals
Kenya’s president is under pressure over flood response
East and Southern Africa: Journalists targeted amid ongoing crackdown on media
US losing influential edge to China in Africa, poll
DR Congo conflict could spell catastrophe
Ecobank Group reports profit before tax of $581 million
AI in Africa opens up new battlefront for China, US
TotalEnergies CEO says Namibia could be next Guyana
Dubai Firm Pledged $13 Billion for 20 Years of South Sudan Oil
IDA Africa lifeline
Namibia's NAMCOR signs deal with Chevron to develop offshore block
Americas
Magician David Copperfield accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women
Biden sharply hikes US tariffs on an array of Chinese imports
US is still falling behind on electronic warfare, special operators warn
Wildfires rage in British Columbia
Blinken delivers strongest public criticism of Israel’s conduct of war in Gaza
UN expert raises alarm over unfair treatment of pro-Palestinian student protesters in US
Campus protesters are being silenced – where are the ‘free speech’ defenders now?
Israel may have broken International Law in Gaza, State Dept. Says
Another climate record: Extreme heat, hurricanes, droughts ravage Latin America and Caribbean
US paused bomb shipment to Israel over concerns of Rafah assault
Mexico is heading towards its most violent election ever
UNDP's Achim Steiner on why the G20 should care much more about debt
Democratic lawmakers tell Biden evidence shows Israel is restricting Gaza aid
Fresh chaos, arrests on US college campuses as police flatten camp at UCLA
Biden cancels $6.1 billion in debt for 317,000 students
Over 2,000 pro-Palestinian protesters arrested across US campuses
2024 US-Africa Business Summit in Dallas 6-9 May
Chinese-owned fintech sees valuation rise
Most Americans see TikTok as a Chinese influence tool, Reuters/Ipsos poll
Police arrest dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University
Pro-Palestinian supporters and counter-protesters clash on UCLA campus over Gaza
Alarming rise in enforced disappearances ahead of Venezuela poll
Ottawa negotiations bring global plastics treaty one step closer
Dozens arrested at Columbia University as New York police disperse Gaza protest
Columbia protesters barricade themselves inside university building
Australia & Pacific
Australia’s 2024 National Defence Strategy
Sydney rocked by second mass stabbing as knifeman attacks bishop
Three dead, 1,000 homes destroyed in Papua New Guinea quake
Australia and UK sign defense and security treaty
Australia tightens student visa rules as migration hits record high
Global food crisis and the effects of climate change need urgent action, IFAD
Indonesia, Australia to sign defence pact within months
Australia to ban doxxing after pro-Palestinians publish information about hundreds of Jews
Australia launches inquiry into why Cabinet documents relating to Iraq war remain secret
Australia says AI will help track Chinese submarines under new Aukus plan
China warns Australia to act prudently in naval operations in South China Sea
Christopher Luxon sworn in as new prime minister of New Zealand
Australian Intelligence Report Identifies China as Major Backer of Cyber Crime
Thousands in Australia join pro-Palestinian march over Gaza
Australia rejects Indigenous referendum in setback for reconciliation
Qatar Airways CEO says Australian decision to block flights ‘very unfair’
Moroccan Othmane El Goumri wins Sydney marathon
More than half of Australians oppose Indigenous panel in constitution, poll
Three US Marines die in 'tragic' Australia helicopter crash
Australian bus carrying wedding guests rolls over killing 10 and injuring 25
Guam, where America’s next war may begin
Women most victims of islamophobia in Australia
Time to step up investments in rural communities in the Pacific islands
Australia’s ‘quiet diplomacy’ approach to human rights in India has failed
Public support high in Australia and NZ to accept more Rohingya
MENA
UN says it has no more food or tents for nearly 2m people in Gaza
Palestinians mark their original 'catastrophe' with eyes on the war in Gaza
‘No water, food, health care, toilet’: Desperation deepens in Gaza
Israeli forces back in old Gaza battlegrounds as doubts over war aims grow
Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks hit 'stalemate', Qatar says
'Outrage’: US condemns Israeli settlers’ attack on Gaza aid trucks
Palestinians mark 76 years of dispossession as catastrophe unfolds in Gaza
Calls for sustained peace efforts in Yemen as cholera outbreak worsens
Rights experts urge Iran to revoke death sentence against activist
UN security staff killed in Gaza; Guterres calls for probe
Israel moves deeper into Rafah
Nearly 360,000 people forcibly displaced from Rafah, UNRWA says
Hundreds protest in Tunisia demanding date for fair presidential elections
Egypt to join South Africa's ICJ genocide case against Israel
Donors pledge $2 billion for Gaza at Kuwait conference
Fighting rages across Gaza as death toll passes 35,000
Israeli strikes Bureij refugee camp
Four people, including a child, killed in Rafah attack
Gaza health services could collapse 'within days' as fuel runs out
Palestinian public sector salaries squeezed as Israel withholds tax revenue
UNRWA staff ‘not going anywhere’ despite forced closure of East Jerusalem compound
UNGA presses SC to give ‘favourable consideration’ to full Palestinian membership
Israel orders central Rafah residents to evacuate as major offensive looms
Palestinian civilians in Rafah ‘awaiting execution’
Palestinian prisoners strapped down, blindfolded, held in diapers: whistleblowers
Videos
-
Future of car-plane, see it to believe it
-
Mehdi Hasan: Islam is a peaceful religion
-
Python swallows antelope whole in under an hour
-
Sangoku dance
-
flying 3 kites wonder!
-
Korea has talent
-
Paul Potts sings Nessun Dorma
-
Susan Boyle - Britain's Got Talent
-
Twist and Pulse - Britain's Got Talent
-
Shaheen Jafargholi (HQ) Britain's Got Talent
High-Quality clip of 12-year-old singer Shaheen Jafargholi auditioning on Britain's Got Talent 2009. First he sings Valerie by The Zutons, as performed by Amy Winehouse, but, after Simon interrupts him and asks for a different song, he just blew everyone away. -
David Calvo juggles and solves Rubik's Cubes
-
Outdoor 'bubble pod' hotel unveiled