Juba, South Sudan | AFP | A South Sudan military court on Tuesday opened the trial of 13 soldiers accused of raping foreign aid workers and murdering a local journalist during fighting in Juba last July. The chilling attack cast a spotlight on atrocities by government troops but also led …
Read More »Yemen rebel missile shot down near Saudi capital ahead of Trump arrival
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | AFP | Saudi Arabia said it shot down a ballistic missile, fired by Yemeni rebels, southwest of the capital Riyadh late Friday, ahead of US President Donald Trump’s arrival in the Sunni-led kingdom. Air defence units “intercepted a ballistic missile that was launched by Huthi militias”, …
Read More »Three Somali soldiers killed defusing bomb
Mogadishu, Somalia | AFP | At least three members of the Somali security forces were killed Wednesday as they tried to defuse a bomb inside a vehicle in the capital Mogadishu, police said. “The vehicle was seized and the security forces were trying to defuse the bomb inside when it …
Read More »Sacked South Sudan army chief Malong returns to Juba
Juba, South Sudan | AFP | Sacked South Sudanese army chief Paul Malong, returned to the capital Juba on Saturday claiming he had been asked to return by the authorities and insisting that he’d never had any intention of rebelling. “If I want to rebel I can rebel here (in …
Read More »Kiir seeks to assert South Sudan authority after sacking army chief
Juba, South Sudan | AFP | South Sudan’s president insisted Friday that the security situation was “normal” and that people had no reason to worry, three days after dismissing powerful army chief Paul Malong. President Salva Kiir’s dismissal of Malong on Tuesday night has raised concern among the population who …
Read More »Somalia strikes new international pact to stabilise ravaged state
London, United Kingdom | AFP | Somalia struck a new stability pact with the international community on Thursday, aimed at steadying the fragile state by bolstering its security, staving off famine and rebooting its economy. New President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed hailed a “historic day for Somalia” after concluding the pact …
Read More »Erdogan urges US to ‘immediately’ reverse decision on arming Syrian Kurds
Ankara, Turkey | AFP | Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday called on the United States to immediately reverse a decision on arming Syrian Kurdish fighters considered by Ankara to be a terror group. “I hope very much that this mistake will be reversed immediately,” Erdogan said after Washington …
Read More »South Sudan President Kiir sacks controversial army chief Gen. Malong
Juba, South Sudan | AFP | South Sudan President Salva Kiir sacked his powerful, hardline army chief Paul Malong on Tuesday, a government spokesman said. General Paul Malong, long regarded as an ethnic nationalist of Kiir’s majority Dinka tribe, was replaced by General James Ajongo Mawut, a career soldier. South …
Read More »Car bomb attack kills six in Mogadishu
Mogadishu, Somalia | AFP | At least six people were killed and about 10 injured Monday in a car bomb attack in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, a police officer on the scene told AFP. The car exploded next to an Italian cafe on a key thoroughfare in the centre of the …
Read More »ANALYSIS: First US military death in Somalia since ‘Black Hawk Down’
Mogadishu, Somalia | AFP | An American soldier has been killed in a night-time raid in Somalia, in what is believed to be the first US military death in combat there since the infamous events of “Black Hawk Down” 24 years ago. The death occurred three weeks after the US …
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