Sudan Paramilitary Leader Plans to Attend Cease-fire Talks in Switzerland Hosted by US, Saudi Arabia
Sudan’s paramilitary leader has announced plans to attend cease-fire talks in Switzerland next month arranged by the United States and Saudi Arabia…The office of the spokesperson for the Sudanese army, which is led by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, told The Associated Press that no decision has been made on whether it will send a delegation to the talks. The U.S. State Department said the talks will aim to build on discussions between the two sides that broke down late last year in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It said the African Union, Sudan’s neighbor Egypt, the United Arab Emirates — which has been accused of supporting Dagalo’s forces with weapons, a claim UAE officials have denied — and the United Nations would act as observers…Last week, the U.N. secretary-general’s envoy for Sudan hosted a series of indirect talks in Geneva between the two sides centering on issues of humanitarian aid and the protection of civilians across Sudan. AP
In Sudan, Host Families Take the Strain of the World’s Largest Displacement Crisis
Over 10 million Sudanese, roughly 20% of the population, have been uprooted since the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the regular army began fighting in April 2023. Almost eight million have been internally displaced and the rest have fled abroad. A large proportion of the internally displaced people are not staying in camps or informal settlements but with host families, little-heralded frontline humanitarian responders who are sharing everything they have with friends, family, and strangers…Hosts said new groups of displaced people have been arriving in recent months as the RSF expands its territories from west to east. They fear that their places of refuge will soon be on the front lines, and that they will need accommodating themselves…Sudanese communities have shouldered the burden of the humanitarian response over the past year, forming mutual aid groups that draw from a rich heritage of social solidarity, best represented in the local tradition of nafeer (“a call to mobilise”). Grassroots groups have set up community kitchens, alternative education programmes, and women’s cooperatives that are serving millions of people in conflict-affected areas that international aid agencies have failed to consistently access. Host families have meanwhile opened their doors to just over 50% of displaced households, according to the International Organization for Migration. The rest are in camps, public buildings, informal settlements, and in privately rented houses. The New Humanitarian
Attacks on Civilians in Burkina Faso Force Thousands into Neighbouring Niger
Renewed attacks on civilians in eastern Burkina Faso by non-State armed groups have forced thousands to flee to neighbouring Niger in search of safety, amid a deepening emergency, UN humanitarians have warned. In an alert, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said that previous attacks in recent weeks along Burkina Faso’s border with Niger had already led to a “surge” of displaced people into the Nigerien city of Téra, Tillabéri region, despite the “already dire” humanitarian situation there…The development follows years of insecurity in Burkina Faso where more than a third of the country operates outside the control of the country’s military, which seized power in 2022…According to UNHCR, Tillabéri is now home to at least 223,400 internally displaced people from Niger and at least 36,500 Burkinabé asylum seekers. In addition to the latest arrivals from Burkina Faso, an additional 1,186 Nigerien nationals have also been displaced within Tillabéri, the UN agency noted. UN News
Kenya’s Turmoil Widens as Anti-government Protesters Clash with Emerging Pro-government Group
Anti-government protesters in Kenya’s capital clashed with an emerging pro-government group on Tuesday, with hundreds swarming and burning a motorcycle belonging to people who expressed support for the country’s president. The military made a rare deployment as the protests focused on the country’s main airport. The weeks of turmoil in East Africa’s economic hub have led to dozens of deaths, the firing of most Cabinet members and calls for President William Ruto’s resignation…The pro-government movement has emerged to counter the youth-led anti-government one. In Nairobi on Tuesday, the pro-government group took to the streets ahead of the latest anti-government demonstration…It was not immediately clear who was behind the pro-government movement. AP
Court Charges at Least 42 Ugandan Youths over Anti-graft Protest
A Ugandan magistrate’s court has charged at least 42 youths for offences allegedly committed during a banned anti-corruption protest on Tuesday, and remanded them in custody. Protesters marched on different streets in the capital Kampala on Tuesday shouting slogans and holding placards denouncing corruption by lawmakers…The charges outlined various offences including being “idle and disorderly” and being a “common nuisance”, the charge sheet produced in court said. They pleaded not guilty and were ordered to return to court at different dates between July 30 and August 6. Reuters
Nigeria’s Police Chief Warns against Kenyan-style Protests
Nigeria’s police chief warned against Kenyan-style protests on Tuesday after frustrated citizens used online platforms to call for demonstrations against poor governance and a cost of living crisis. In what could be President Bola Tinubu’s biggest challenge, Nigerians have taken inspiration from young Kenyans – whose protests forced a government U-turn on tax hikes – and are using X and Instagram platforms to call for peaceful protests from August 1…Under the theme “End Bad Governance in Nigeria,” the protesters seek to force the government to reverse petrol and electricity price hikes, offer free education, declare a state of emergency on inflation and disclose lawmakers’ pay, among other demands. Reuters
Cameroon Opposition, Civil Society Condemn Government Threats toward Biya Opponents
This week, [Cameroon] government spokesperson Rene Emmanuel Sadi said it was unacceptable for people to use irreverent language about the 91-year-old president. Before Sadi’s statement, Emmanuel Mariel Djikdent, a top local government officer in the unit where Yaounde is located, announced he would expel anyone from the capital who insults Biya or state institutions. On Tuesday, Human Rights Watch said Djikdent’s announcement should be revoked to ensure the right to freedom of expression. The rights group says it is becoming increasingly difficult to speak freely in Cameroon…Opposition groups were angered earlier this month when Biya ordered his majority Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement or CPDM party to pass a government bill extending terms for all 180 lawmakers by 12 months, into 2026. The law makes it hard for main opposition leaders…to gain the legislative seats they need to be eligible to run against Biya in the next presidential election…Biya is Africa’s second-longest serving leader after the president of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has been in power since 1979. VOA
Sierra Leone Court Finds 11 Involved in Alleged Coup Guilty. Leader Sentenced to Almost 200 Years
A Sierra Leone court found 11 people guilty of treason and other offenses following what authorities have called an attempted coup, with their leader sentenced to almost 200 years in prison, a judiciary spokesman said Tuesday. In November, dozens of gunmen broke into the country’s armory and into a prison where the majority of the more than 2,000 inmates were freed. The clashes left 18 security forces dead. Authorities at the time said they arrested around 80 suspects, and a dozen were charged in January, including former president Ernest Bai Koroma, later granted medical leave. The man accused of leading the attack, Amadu Koita Makalo, was sentenced Monday to 182 years in prison on charges of treason, murder and shooting with intent to murder, the judiciary’s spokesperson, Moses Lamin Kamara, told the Associated Press. Makalo is an ex-bodyguard of Koroma and has been a vocal critic of the current President Julius Maada Bio on social media. AP
They Turn Our Farms into Rape Centres’: Russian Mercenaries Accused of Abuse in Central African Republic
Allegations of rape by Russian mercenaries, who have a large presence in CAR’s restive north-west region, have escalated in recent months. Women and girls are avoiding going to the fields and markets, and food shortages are being reported as a result. In and around Bouar, a market town lying on the main road from the country’s capital, Bangui, to the border with Cameroon, traders who buy crops directly from farmers say they have listened to numerous young women tell how they were raped in farms by “white soldiers”, as locals call the Russian mercenaries…Sexual violence is growing in CAR, a country blighted by years of conflict and instability. Last year, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), reported that between 2018 and 2022 it took care of more than 19,500 survivors of sexual abuse across the central African nation. During the same period, the UN documented close to 15,000 other cases of sexual violence in the country. During 11 years of conflict, armed groups have used rape and sexual slavery as a tactic of war across the country. Now the Russian soldiers, a de facto unit of Moscow’s intelligence services, have become notorious for the abuse of CAR’s women and children. The Guardian
Illicit Banknotes in East Libya, Some Made by Russia, Hit Dinar
Unofficial Libyan banknotes have been exchanged for real dollars and contributed to the dinar’s devaluing, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, adding that some notes were printed by Russia and exported to eastern Libya this year while others were printed illicitly within Libya. The new banknotes have been described as counterfeit by the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) in Tripoli but are being changed into hard currency on the black market or through local banks, according to a source in Libya’s eastern government, a Libyan banking source, and a diplomatic source. The money has been used to fund infrastructure projects in the east following last year’s devastating floods, the eastern government source and the banking source said. The money may also be used to finance Russian mercenary activity in Libya and the Sahel, the diplomatic source said. Russia’s role in the infusion of new banknotes into Libya was flagged to Reuters by The Sentry, an international investigative and policy group focused on corruption and war crimes. Reuters
Children at Risk as Mpox Variant Hits Congo Displacement Camps
Local doctors say they have seen 130 suspected mpox cases, almost entirely in children and adolescents, in the last four weeks at a nearby facility that treats displaced people from the camps in the last four weeks. The current mpox outbreak in Congo has already seen around 27,000 cases, and claimed more than 1,100 lives, most of them children, since the beginning of 2023. It began with the spread of an endemic strain, known as Clade I. But the new variant, known as Clade Ib, appears to spread more easily through routine close contact, as seems to be the case among children. Reuters
Experts Say a Twice-yearly Injection that Offers 100% Protection against HIV Is ‘Stunning’
Twice-yearly shots used to treat AIDS were 100% effective in preventing new infections in women, according to study results published Wednesday. There were no infections in the young women and girls that got the shots in a study of about 5,000 in South Africa and Uganda, researchers reported. In a group given daily prevention pills, roughly 2% ended up catching HIV from infected sex partners…The shots made by U.S. drugmaker Gilead and sold as Sunlenca are approved in the U.S., Canada, Europe and elsewhere, but only as a treatment for HIV. The company said it is waiting for results of testing in men before seeking permission to use it to protect against infection. The results in women were published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine and discussed at an AIDS conference in Munich. AP