Category: Africa

Blinken Announces 72-Hour Ceasefire in Sudan

The ongoing violent conflict in Sudan between the army and a paramilitary group will be paused temporarily after both sides agreed to a three-day ceasefire, the U.S. State Department said on April 24. The nationwide ceasefire between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) will begin at midnight local time and follows “intense negotiations over the…


Death Toll in Kenyan Starvation Cult Rises to 73: Police

NAIROBI—Kenyan police have recovered 73 bodies, mostly from mass graves in a forest in eastern Kenya, thought to be followers of a Christian cult who believed they would go to heaven if they starved themselves, a police officer said on Monday. The death toll, which has repeatedly risen as exhumations have been carried out, could…


US Facilitating Land Evacuation of Private Citizens in Sudan

WASHINGTON—The White House said Monday the United States is helping from afar as thousands of Americans left behind in Sudan seek to escape fighting in the east African nation, after the U.S. Embassy evacuated all of its diplomatic personnel over the weekend and shut down. President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, defended the…


US Helping From Afar as Americans Flee Fighting in Sudan

WASHINGTON—The White House said Monday the United States is helping from afar as thousands of Americans left behind in Sudan seek to escape fighting in the east African nation, after the U.S. Embassy evacuated all of its diplomatic personnel over the weekend and shut down. President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, defended the…


Foreigners Airlifted Out; Sudanese Seek Refuge From Fighting

KHARTOUM, Sudan—As foreign governments airlifted hundreds of their diplomats and other citizens to safety, Sudanese on Monday desperately sought ways to escape the chaos, fearing that the country’s two rival generals will escalate their all-out battle for power once evacuations are completed. In dramatic evacuation operations, convoys of foreign diplomats, teachers, students, workers, and families…


Battle Lines Forming in Nigeria as Humans and Animals Compete for Space and Resources

At six o’clock every morning, 55-year-old Sunday Abang rides on a motorcycle from his house in Boki, a farming community in Cross River state in southeast Nigeria. It takes him at least two hours before he gets to his destination, his cocoa farm, where he spends most of his day carefully cutting down pods and…


Judges in Rwanda Deportations Case Showed ‘Excessive Deference’ to Home Office, Court of Appeal Told

Two High Court judges who dismissed a series of legal challenges against the government’s planned deportations to Rwanda showed “excessive deference” to the Home Office and the guarantees it had received from the Rwandan government, the Court of Appeal has heard. In December, Lord Justice Lewis and Mr. Justice Swift ruled the policy of deporting asylum…


UK Exploring ‘All Routes’ to Evacuate Britons Trapped in War-Torn Sudan

The UK government is exploring “all routes” in an attempt to get British nationals out of Sudan, Downing Street has said. More than 420 people have been killed in a bloody conflict between the Sudanese army and a powerful paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces, which broke out nine days ago. Prime Minister…


British Diplomats Evacuated From Sudan in ‘Complex and Rapid’ Operation, Sunak Says

The British military has evacuated UK diplomats and their families from war-torn Sudan in a “complex and rapid” operation, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said. Hundreds have died in a bloody conflict between the Sudanese army and a powerful paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces, which broke out eight days ago. In a…


Governments Race to Rescue Diplomats, Citizens From Sudan

KHARTOUM, Sudan—The U.S. military airlifted embassy officials out of Sudan on Sunday and international governments raced to evacuate their diplomatic staff and citizens trapped in the capital as rival generals battled for control of Africa’s third-largest country for a ninth day. Fighting raged in Omdurman, the city across the Nile from Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, residents…