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Sudan coup protest turns bloody as soldiers kill protester

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A Sudanese protester was on Thursday, shot dead by soldiers during a rally against the 2019 military coup in the country which had led to serious hardship and economic meltdown.

Thousands of Sudanese protesters had once again, gathered in the capital Khartoum, to rally against last year’s military coup and worsening living conditions, when the soldiers opened fire on them.

The victim, a 23-year-old protester, was killed after he took “a live bullet to the chest by coup forces during Thursday’s demonstrations,” according to a report by Central Committee of Sudan Doctors (CCSD).

According to the report, the killing of the young man was the 93rd of such brutal killings by the country’s forces since a crackdown on mass protests following the coup on October 25, 2021, led by army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

The military takeover had thrown the country into chaos with daily protests and international condemnation as it ended a much welcome transition to civilian rule that had followed the ouster of longtime leader Omar al-Bashir, in 2019.

Since the coup, Sudan’s economy has taken a serious nosedive as Western donors and allies have cut crucial aid to the country pending the restoration of a transition to civilian rule.

Sudan has yet to appoint a prime minister since the January resignation of Abdalla Hamdok, who was also ousted in the coup before briefly coming back to office.

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Kenya: Senior ICC prosecutor drops probe into 2007 post-election violence

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A senior official of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Nazhat Shameen Khan has announced an end to all further investigations into crimes committed in Kenya relating to violence that erupted following elections in 2007.

The ICC Deputy Chief Prosecutor said the 13-year legal saga, which involved senior Kenyan politicians, had been dropped

“I have reached this decision after considering the specific facts and circumstances of this situation,” she said in a statement.

“Accordingly, the Office will not pursue additional cases into the alleged criminal responsibility of other persons.”

Prosecutors claim that during the nation’s post-election violence in 2010, some 600,000 people were left homeless, and 1,300 people killed in a case in which suspects included former and current Kenyan presidents, Uhuru Kenyatta and President William Ruto. The Hague-based tribunal began looking into the incident in 2010. Six suspects were initially charged with crimes against humanity, which included deportation and murder.

However, in 2014, former chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda dropped the charges against Kenyatta, and in 2016, the prosecution’s case against Ruto was also dropped due to insufficient evidence. The lack of evidence caused the case against all six to fall apart.

Prosecutors opened a new investigation into witness intimidation and bribery after Bensouda claimed that an unrelenting campaign of intimidation against victims and witnesses prevented a trial.

Decades after the “third wave of democratisation,” widespread violence still occurs in sub-Saharan Africa after elections. Nigeria, Ivory Coast, and Zimbabwe, among others, have had their share of election conflicts.

Kenya is still not free from election disturbances, as levels of violence also played out during and after the 2022 elections.

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Sierra Leonean govt finally labels weekend attack ‘failed coup’

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The Sierra Leonean government has finally labelled attacks on several locations in the capital, Freetown, on Sunday as failed attempt to overthrow the government, having previously refraining from so classifying it.

Authorities in the West African nation said that gunmen stormed a military barracks, a prison, and other locations on Sunday, freeing roughly 2,200 prisoners and leaving over 20 people dead. On Monday, everything had returned to normal.

“The incident was a failed attempted coup. The intention was to illegally subvert and overthrow a democratically elected government,” said President Julius Bio.

“The attempt failed, and plenty of the leaders are either in police custody or on the run. We will try to capture them and bring them to the full force of the laws of Sierra Leone.”

The tense situation in Sierra Leone, which is still recuperating from a civil war that claimed over 50,000 lives between 1991 and 2002, has persisted since Bio was re-elected in June.

International allies, such as the US and the EU, questioned the outcome, and the major opposition candidate rejected it.

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