Metro

Renewed tribal clashes claim 168 in Sudan’s night of horror

Published

1 year ago

April 25, 2022

Not less than 168 people were killed in what the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), described as tribal clashes between Arabs and non-Arabs in Sudan’s Darfur province on Sunday night.

The bloody clashes which is one of the deadliest bouts of violence in the war-ravaged country in recent years, took place in the West Darfur province, and is coming at a time Sudan has been plunged into serious turmoil since a military coup last year.

The military coup which ended the country’s transition to democracy after a popular uprising forced the removal of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir in April 2019, has also led to street protests which has seen close to 100 people killed.

The Sunday night killings further raises questions over the ability of the military leaders to bring security to the troubled Darfur, a region that has been wracked by years of civil war.

Spokesman for the General Coordination for Refugees and Displaced in Darfur, Adam Regal, who confirmed the fighting in a statement on Monday, said Sunday’s fighting in West Darfur’s Kreinik area also wounded 98 people.

“The fighting grew out of the killing of two people by unknown assailants on Thursday,” he said.

“On Sunday, large numbers of people armed with heavy weapons launched a major attack on Kreinik, torching and looting properties. The fighting lasted for several hours and forced thousands of people to flee their homes,” Regal added.

According to Regal whose group provides food and other assistance to displaced people in the region, the clashes eventually reached Genena, where militias and armed groups attacked wounded people while they were being treated at the city’s main hospital.

“The area was burned down, and many people were killed. There was no intervention from the local government to stop the fighting,” d Salah Saleh, a doctor and former medical director at a local hospital also said.

The Darfur has been an epicenter of deadly fighting between rival tribes in recent months as the country remains steeped in a wider crisis following the October coup, while Kreinik was also the scene of clashes in December that killed at least 88 people.

At least 168 people killed in tribal clashes in Sudan's war-scarred Darfur region – local aid group pic.twitter.com/CjSvtkgRjw

— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) April 25, 2022

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Metro

South Africa slams 54 fraud, immigration charges on Rwandan genocide suspect

Published

20 hours ago

June 9, 2023

Akanimoh Etim

One of the most wanted Rwandan Genocide suspects, Fulgence Kayishema has been slammed with a 54-count charge by South African prosecutors, including fraud and immigration charges.

Kayishema, an ex-Rwandan police officer who is wanted internationally over his alleged role in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, was arraigned at a Cape Town court on Friday.

After being on the run for over two decades, Kayishema was arrested on May 24 on a grape farm in South Africa where he had been hiding under a false name, according to a prosecutor, who said refugees working in the farm gave him up.

Spokesperson of the South African prosecutors, Eric Ntabazalila, who addressed a press conference outside the court, said the fugitive now faced 54 separate charges relating to fraud and immigration offences, up from five previously preferred against him.

“Kayishema had been a fugitive from justice since 2001, when the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) indicted him for genocide for allegedly ordering the massacre of 2,000 people hiding in the Nyange Catholic Church,” Ntabazalila told journalists.

Some of the charges could see Kayishema imprisoned for up to 15 years, said Ntabazalila.

South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) also allege that Kayishema used a false identity to apply for asylum and refugee status in South Africa.

The case was adjourned to June 20 to allow Kayishema’s defence team to consult, at which point he could apply for bail, while he is also expected to face extradition to Rwanda to be tried over the ICTR genocide indictment.

With Kayishema’s arrest, there are only three indicted fugitives still on the run after a sweeping indictment by the international tribunal.

Metro

US, WFP, USAID suspend food aid to Ethiopia

Published

20 hours ago

June 9, 2023

Akanimoh Etim

The United States along with the World Food Program (WFP) and the USAID have suspended food aid to Ethiopia following allegations of theft and diversion by government officials.

The WFP and the USAID announced the suspension on Friday, a day after the US government announced that it was suspending the programme due to the same reasons.

WFP Executive Director, Cindy McCain, who made the announcement early on Friday, said the suspension was temporary, until a full investigation was conducted by the Ethiopian government.

“We will temporarily cease food aid in Ethiopia, but nutritional assistance to children, pregnant and lactating women, school meals programs and activities to strengthen farmers and herders in the face of external shocks will continue without interruption,” McCain said in a press release.

“Diversion of food is absolutely unacceptable. The Ethiopian government’s commitment to investigate and hold those responsible accountable is welcomed.

“WFP is working closely with its UN partners, humanitarian organizations and local actors to reform the way aid is distributed across Ethiopia,” she added.

On Thursday, the US government’s international aid agency, USAID, had announced the suspension of its food aid to Ethiopia, while denouncing a “widespread and coordinated operation to divert.”

“USAID intends to immediately resume food aid as soon as we have confidence in the integrity of the distribution systems to get aid to its intended recipients,” the agency had said.

In a joint statement with the USAID, Ethiopian authorities assured that a joint investigation was underway “so that the perpetrators of these hijackings are accountable.”

According to the UN humanitarian agency (OCHA), more than 20 million people of the 120 million Ethiopian population, about 16%, depend on food aid due to conflicts or recurring drought in the region which has also displaced 4.6 million people in the country.