South Sudan - The African Mirror

Mar

2024

New flare-up of local violence in S. Sudan kills 15

YOUNG men shot dead 15 people in South Sudan's eastern Pibor region, including a county commissioner, a senior official said, amid a rise in local conflict ahead of a national election due at the end of the year. A civil war that erupted two years after the country won independence from Sudan caused hundreds of thousands of deaths between 2013 and 2018. A tenuous peace has held between the main belligerents since then, but clashes continue among a patchwork of armed groups. Some activists say they believe a recent rise in killings is at least partly connected to the vote,…

Feb

2024

By EDGAR GITHUA

South Sudan: some spoilers want peace to fail, putting 2024 elections at risk

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

SOUTH Sudan is expected to hold its first general election in December 2024. It became an independent state in 2011. The long overdue election is one of the pillars of a peace agreement signed in 2018. It helped end the 2013-2018 civil war that killed nearly 400,000 people and displaced millions. EDGAR GITHUA, Lecturer in International Studies, Strathmore University Since then, the country has progressed in relative peace, with fewer incidences of conflict reported between 2018 and 2023. However, UN experts have voiced concerns about the likelihood of elections being held within agreed timelines. The election has been slated for…

Jan

2024

By AIDAN LEWIS

Agencies consider new aid route into Sudan as humanitarian crisis worsens

NEWS

AID agencies are looking at delivering aid to Sudan on a new route from South Sudan as they struggle to access much of the country, a senior U.N. official said, nine months into a war that has caused a major humanitarian crisis. The war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has left nearly half of Sudan's 49 million people requiring aid. More than 7.5 million people have fled their homes, making Sudan the biggest displacement crisis globally, and hunger is rising. Aid supplies have been looted and humanitarian workers attacked, while international agencies and NGOs have long complained about bureaucratic obstacles…

Jan

2024

By WAAKHE SIMON WUDU

Six killed in disputed region bordering Sudan, South Sudan

NEWS

SIX people including a senior local administrator were killed in an ambush by armed men in the Abyei region claimed by both Sudan and South Sudan, local officials said. The oil-rich region experiences frequent bouts of violence, where rival factions of the Dinka ethnic group - Twic Dinka from South Sudan's neighbouring Warrap State, and Ngok Dinka from Abyei - are locked in a dispute over the location of an administrative boundary. Abyei Deputy Chief Administrator Noon Deng and his team came under attack along the road from Abyei to Aneet town when they were returning from an official visit…

Nov

2023

By BONFACE ORUCHO, BIRD STORY AGENCY

NBA App gets a boost in Africa with new docuseries

BASKETBALL

NBA Africa's first original docuseries, dubbed 'Born & Bred', a five-part documentary telling the stories of five NBA prospects from Africa, has premiered on the NBA App. The series tells the stories of NBA prospects from Angola, Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal, and South Sudan and it features exclusive footage and interviews with the prospects, family members, friends, and coaches. According to Franck Traore, NBA Africa Head of Basketball Operations, the series showcases "the inspirational stories of prospects from across the continent who have come to NBA Academy Africa to take the next step in their basketball development journeys and lives.” NBA…

Oct

2023

By The African Mirror

South Sudan president fires another central bank governor

NEWS

SOUTH Sudan's President Salva Kiir has sacked central bank governor Johnny Ohisa Damian and other senior finance officials, state television announced, the second time he has removed a central bank chief in just over a year. The announcement made late on Monday did not give a reason why Kiir was removing Damian and appointing James Alic Garang, an advisor to the International Monetary Fund, in his place. Kiir also replaced the central bank's two deputy governors, the head of the government's revenue authority and other senior officials in the finance and trade ministries. Abrupt changes to the leadership of the…

Oct

2023

By PHILIP PULLELLA

Pope Francis appoints three African cardinals, cements legacy

NEWS

POPE Francis further cemented his legacy, by elevating 21 prelates to the high rank of cardinal and significantly raising the percentage of electors chosen by him who will have the right to vote for his successor. At a ceremony in St. Peter's Square known as a consistory, Francis "created" 21 new cardinals, the red-hatted "princes of the Church" who are his closest advisers at the Vatican and around the world. There are now 137 cardinal electors, about 73 percent of them chosen by Francis. This increases - but does not guarantee - the possibility that the next pope will share…

Sep

2023

By The African Mirror

African Basketball News: Senegal season wraps, South Sudan ranked top in Africa and Mills heads to Central Africa

BASKETBALL

WITH the Road to BAL qualifier fixtures recently released, the conversation moves to transfers - including technical teams and players. One notable move is the appointment of trailblazing Australian basketball coach, Liz Mills, to lead Central African Republic’s Bangui Sporting Club. Mills, who has worked with African men’s basketball for many years, including a stint with Ivory Coast’s ABC Fighters, who she led to the 2023 BAL quarterfinals, expressed her excitement at the new challenge. “It’s all about creating the right environment to be successful and I think that starts at the top…creating an honest, trustworthy, and transparent environment, that’s…

Jun

2023

By EMMA FARGE

Over 1 million may flee Sudan conflict, UN refugee agency says

NEWS

THE U.N. refugee agency warned that an earlier projection that conflict in Sudan would prompt 1 million people to flee across its borders is likely to be surpassed. So far, the conflict between warring military factions that began in mid-April has caused nearly 600,000 people to escape into neighbouring countries including Egypt, Chad, South Sudan and Central African Republic. "Unfortunately, looking at the trends, looking at the situation in Darfur, we're likely to go beyond 1 million," Raouf Mazou, UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Operations, said in response to a question about its estimate in April for the coming six…

May

2023

By The African Mirror

Sudan’s conflict will have a ripple effect in an unstable region – and across the world

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

SUDAN, Africa’s third largest country by land mass, shares borders with seven countries in an unstable region. This means that Sudan’s current conflict will have economic, social and political ripple effects across a number of countries, including the Central African Republic, Egypt, Libya, Chad, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea. Author JOHN MUKUM MBAKU, Professor, Weber State University The conflict might also affect countries further afield, including the US, Russia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia, which have close economic ties with Sudan. It could destabilise the Sahel region and the Horn of Africa and jeopardise US interests in…