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

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,…
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Haiti’s neighbours prepare for ‘drastic escalation’ in violence after jailbreak

Haiti’s neighbours prepare for ‘drastic escalation’ in violence after jailbreak

HAITI'S neighbours began shoring up their defences and recalling embassy staff as a gang conflict in the Caribbean nation escalated and thousands fled fresh fighting. On Sunday, Haiti's de facto government issued a 72-hour state of emergency and imposed nightly curfews after armed men busted thousands from prison and a gang leader called for the ousting of Prime Minister Ariel Henry. The Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti and last year deported tens of thousands of Haitians, said on Monday that its defence minister was touring the border to supervise progress on a border fence, while the president ruled out…
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US condemns worsening violence in east of DR Congo, accuses Rwanda

US condemns worsening violence in east of DR Congo, accuses Rwanda

THE United States condemned worsening violence in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), blaming it on M23, an armed group it said is backed by Rwanda. A statement from the U.S. State Department called on M23 to cease hostilities immediately and withdraw from its current positions around Sake and Goma. "The United States condemns Rwanda's support for the M23 armed group," the statement said. It called on Rwanda to immediately withdraw all of its military personnel from the DRC and remove surface-to-air missile systems, saying these threatened the lives of civilians, U.N. and other regional peacekeepers, humanitarian workers and…
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Nigeria mulls state policing to combat growing insecurity

Nigeria mulls state policing to combat growing insecurity

NIGERIA is considering the introduction of state police in its 36 states to bolster its national police force as it struggles to contain widespread violence and insecurity, the information minister said. An Islamist insurgency in the northeast, kidnappings for ransom, deadly farmer-herder clashes in the central belt and separatist and gang violence in the southeast are some of the challenges faced by Nigeria's police force. President Bola Tinubu met the country's state governors to discuss insecurity, which is hurting farmers and contributing to high food prices and inflation. The federal government and the state governments agreed that a state police force was necessary, marking "a significant shift" in…
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Violence in disputed Sudan-South Sudan border area kills 54

Violence in disputed Sudan-South Sudan border area kills 54

MORE than 50 people including women, children and two U.N. peacekeepers were killed in attacks along South Sudan's border with Sudan, officials said, the deadliest in a spate of incidents since 2021 related to a boundary dispute. Armed young men from South Sudan's Warrap State carried out the raids into the neighbouring Abyei region on Saturday, Bulis Koch, the information minister for Abyei, said on Monday. Abyei is an oil-rich area jointly administered by South Sudan and Sudan, which have both staked claims. Koch told Reuters that 52 local people, among them women, children and police officers, were killed during…
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Pockets of violence mar Congo election campaign, threaten vote

Pockets of violence mar Congo election campaign, threaten vote

TWO candidates running for parliament in the Democratic Republic of Congo's December 20 general election were killed in separate incidents, as a rights group warned in a report that electoral violence risks undermining the vote. A candidate for the ruling coalition in the South Kivu province in the eastern Congo region was killed by unknown gunmen while he was returning from a campaign event on Friday evening, a regional government official told Reuters. Another ruling coalition candidate in Beni, in the North Kivu province, also in eastern Congo, died from gunshot wounds late on Friday night after his campaign convoy was ambushed,…
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Humiliation and violence in Kenya’s colonial days – when old men were called ‘boy’ and Africans were publicly beaten

Humiliation and violence in Kenya’s colonial days – when old men were called ‘boy’ and Africans were publicly beaten

WHEN King Charles visited Kenya in November 2023, many Kenyans renewed their demands for an official apology for atrocities committed by the British government during the colonial era. The widespread human rights abuses during the Mau Mau rebellion are the best-known of these atrocities. Yet we should not forget more mundane, everyday acts of domination. BRETT SHADLE, Professor, Virginia Tech I am a social historian who has studied race, violence, colonialism and white settlement in Kenya. From the start of colonialism in 1895 to the drawing down of the Union Jack on December 12 1963, black Kenyans were constantly subjected…
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China kindergarten attack kills six, sparks safety worries

China kindergarten attack kills six, sparks safety worries

A 25-year-old man was suspected of attacking a kindergarten in China's Guangdong province, killing six people and injuring one, triggering an outpouring of concern about violence against children at school. Media reported the attack in Lianjiang county in the southern province was a stabbing. The suspect, with the surname Wu and from Lianjiang, had been detained, police said, adding they were investigating. Some media reported that both adults and children were among the victims. While violent crime is rare in China due to strict gun laws and tight security, incidents of stabbings at pre-schools over the past few years have…
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Ball, Dream, New Life: How soccer freestyling revolutionized a life

Ball, Dream, New Life: How soccer freestyling revolutionized a life

IN the dark alleys of Greyville and the rough neighbourhoods of Eldorado Park, Newclare, and Westbury, Patel Zain’s early life was ensnared in a web of violence, drug abuse, and crime. As he explained in an interview with bird story agency, his rough childhood experiences had a strong influence on the choices that led to his involvement in drug trafficking and crime. But a drug-related conviction in 2009 threatened to define his future. “The conviction was my lowest but being a strong-willed person, I knew I had a chance of turning my life around,” he explained. After serving his prison…
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36 dead in violence in Somalia’s Puntland and Lower Shabelle regions

36 dead in violence in Somalia’s Puntland and Lower Shabelle regions

AT least 36 people died in violence across Somalia that involved heavy fighting in the semi-autonomous state of Puntland and bomb explosions in the country's Lower Shabelle region, witnesses said. In Puntland, heavy fighting broke out early Tuesday in the state capital Garowe as the local parliament debated changes to the voting system. At least 26 people died in that fighting and 16 of those were soldiers, while 30 others were injured, Dr Abdirsak Ahmed, who works at Garowe Public Hospital where some of the bodies were taken, told Reuters. Three other witnesses described heavy fighting that erupted after opposition…
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