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Thousands of Sudanese celebrate 3 years of al-Bashir fall, protest against Fattah al-Burhan reign

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Thousands of Sudanese on Wednesday, dared the weather, police tear gas, and hunger from their Ramadan fast for a protest march in the capital Khartoum and more towns across the country to mark the third anniversary of the fall of former President Omar al-Bashir and against the current military reign of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

Security forces fired tear gas at protesters in the capital Khartoum, its twin city Omdurman, and Wad Madani in the south of the country.

Reuters reports that many were injured in the mass action and that a 19-year-old protester was shot and killed by security forces in the Sharg al-Nil area of Bahri, across the Nile from Khartoum.

Sudan is currently led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan after coming to power through a coup on 25 October 2021, thus disrupting a period of political transition and damaging the economy of one of the world’s poorest countries.

Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has however promised that the army will leave politics after elections that are scheduled for 2023 but that seems a long wait for Sudanese who also protested against the military rule.

“We came out despite the heat and despite fasting to regain our civilian government and bring down the coup,” said protester Mayada Kheiry.

The Northeast African country has a long history of military coups and unrest that dates back to 1957. More recently, the country experienced a coup in 2019 that ousted the military junta of Omar-al-Bashir which had been in power for over 30 years. There was also a report of an aborted coup in September 2021 and a “self-coup” later in October of the same year that brought in Head Sovereignty Council, Lieutenant-General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan.

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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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