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Sudan conflict: US plans $100 million aid response 

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The United States is set to announce an extra $100 million in aid for the conflict in Sudan as Washington continues its attempts to get the rest of the world to help before Monday, which is the anniversary of the war.

Samantha Power, who is the administrator of the US Agency for International Development, said in a statement on Sunday that the extra fund would be used for emergency food aid, nutrition support, and other life-saving aid.

The statement says that Power will ask the warring sides to stop making it hard for aid workers to get to areas that need it and to take part in “good faith negotiations to reach a ceasefire” so that there is no more hunger and suffering.

“A year ago tomorrow, the people of Sudan awoke to a nightmare,” Power said.

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Army (SAF) went to war on April 15, 2023. More than a million people have fled to nearby countries since the terrible war in Sudan began in April 2023. Of the 48,000 people who had to go back to eastern Chad, about 378,000 are Sudanese refugees.

“The warring sides turned bustling neighbourhoods into battle zones, killing thousands, leaving bodies in the streets, and trapping civilians in their homes without adequate food, water, and medicines.”

On April 15, 2023, war broke out in Sudan between the army and the rebel Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The infrastructure of the country was badly damaged.

There have been thousands of deaths of civilians, but figures of the exact number are very sketchy. Both sides have been charged with war crimes.

Millions of people are now severely hungry because of the war, which has also caused the world’s biggest migration crisis and waves of killings and sexual violence based on ethnicity in the Darfur area of western Sudan.

The news that Washington will provide more help comes before a humanitarian meeting in France which is set for Monday. At the conference, the US asked partners from around the world to put the war in Sudan at the top of their list of priorities and provide more money.

“We call on others to join us in increasing support to the people of Sudan and urgently mobilizing additional support for the Sudanese response,” Power said.

The United Nations says 25 million people, or half of Sudan’s population, need help and 8 million have left their homes. The United States says that both sides of the war have broken the law.

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Politics

Sierra Leone imprisons 11 military, police officers over coup attempt

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Sierra Leone’s high court has sentenced 11 soldiers and police officers to hefty prison terms for their alleged roles in an attempted military coup last year.

On November 26, gunmen in Sierra Leone freed 2,200 detainees and killed over 20 in military barracks, a jail, and other locations.

After the coup attempt failed, 12 individuals were charged with treason in January. On Monday night, a unanimous jury found 11 guilty of 20 counts, including treason, murder, and military uniform use.

Due to health difficulties, the APC’s Bai Mahmoud Bangura, the twelfth accused, is being tried separately.

Amadu Koita Makalo, a retired army major and former bodyguard of ex-president Ernest Bai Koroma, received consecutive 40-70-year sentences for multiple counts.

Two female police officers were sentenced. Ramatu Kamanda Conteh received 30 years of harbouring Koita.

The government attributed the coup attempt to Koroma’s bodyguards, who were ultimately charged with four offences. However, the government let him leave the country on medical grounds.

Ex-president, Ernest Bai Koroma was accused of participating in a botched military coup attempt in November, and on January 3, was charged with four offences. However, a high court decided on Wednesday that Koroma was free to leave the nation.

His lawyers labelled the coup attempt “trumped up” and a “political vendetta” while Koroma condemned it.

Two decades after a 1991-2002 civil conflict that killed over 50,000 Sierra Leoneans, tensions have risen again.

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Politics

Tanzania’s president fires foreign, information ministers

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Tanzania’s President, Samia Suluhu Hassan, has announced the sack of two top officials, including the foreign minister, in a mini-cabinet reshuffle.

Hassan took steps to rebuild international trust in his economic and political reforms, including relaxing restrictions on opposition parties and media, which had been criticized for failing.

The presidency stated late Sunday that Hassan fired January Makamba, minister of foreign affairs and East Africa cooperation, and Nape Nnauye, minister of information, communication, and IT.

They are influential in Chama cha Mapinduzi, the ruling party.

No explanation was offered for their removal. Makamba and Nnauye responded slowly to calls for comment.

Nnauye was fired a week after a video showed him suggesting election results depended on who counts ballots and announces them.

Nnauye later apologized, saying it was a joke, but activists and social media users argued it harmed Hassan’s democracy efforts.

Muhammad Thabit Kombo became the foreign affairs minister and Jerry Silaa information, communication, and IT minister under Hassan.

While Silaa was minister of lands, housing, and human settlements development, Kombo was Tanzania’s ambassador to Italy. Two more ministers and deputy ministers were appointed, the presidency stated.

Since 2021, Hassan’s government has been lauded for rolling back her predecessor’s opposition and civil rights crackdowns. The arrests of a lawyer and an opposition leader last year have cast doubt on her government’s human rights record.

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