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Jet fighters and military helicopters roared in the skies above Sudan’s capital and residents sheltered at home from gunfire and explosions, as a lethal power battle between the country’s top generals dragged into a third day Monday. The Committee of Sudanese Doctors, a medical union, said its members had counted at least 97 civilians killed and nearly 1,000 people injured across Sudan since Saturday, when tensions that had been building for weeks between Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the country’s de facto head of state, and his deputy, Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo , erupted into warfare.

Smoke rises from the tarmac of Khartoum International Airport in an image from a video. Jet fighters and military helicopters roared in the skies above Sudan’s capital and residents sheltered at home from gunfire and explosions, as a lethal power battle between the country’s top generals dragged into a third day Monday. The Committee of Sudanese Doctors, a medical union, said its members had counted at least 97 civilians killed and nearly 1,000 people injured across Sudan since Saturday, when tensions that had been building for weeks between Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the country’s de facto head of state, and his deputy, Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo , erupted into warfare.

☆ Sudan Rivalry Between Powerful Generals Erupts in Warfare
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-15 | by ( Nicholas Bariyo | Gabriele Steinhauser | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Smoke rises during clashes Saturday between the Paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Omdurman, Sudan. Heavy fighting broke out in Sudan’s capital between the national army and a powerful militia—a dangerous escalation of tensions between the country’s top two generals, who worked together to oust the longtime dictator, Omar al-Bashir , in 2019. In competing statements, the army, commanded by Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, the leader of Sudan’s military junta, and the Rapid Support Forces, a state-sponsored militia led by Gen. Burhan’s deputy, Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo , blamed each other for starting the conflict.

☆ Power Struggle Between Sudan’s Top Two Generals Turns Deadly
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Gabriele Steinhauser | Nicholas Bariyo | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Heavy fighting in Sudan between rival factions of the armed forces raged for a second day Sunday, with local doctors reporting that at least 56 civilians had been killed in a lethal power battle between the country’s two top generals. In the capital Khartoum and other cities, residents sought shelter in their homes as Sudan’s military and the Rapid Support Forces, a state-sponsored militia, exchanged gun- and artillery fire, with frequent explosions ringing out across the city.

Paul Rusesabagina’s detention had been condemned by the U.S. State Department. Rwanda’s justice minister on Friday commuted the 25-year prison sentence of Paul Rusesabagina, who inspired the movie “Hotel Rwanda” about the 1994 genocide and later used his Hollywood fame to criticize President Paul Kagame . A Belgian citizen and U.S. green-card holder, Mr. Rusesabagina was convicted by a Rwandan court in 2021 on a string of charges including terrorism, the financing and founding of armed groups, murder, arson and conspiracy to involve children in militancy. Rwandan authorities say Mr. Rusesabagina for years funded the National Liberation Front, the alleged armed wing of his opposition group, the Rwandan Movement for Democratic Change.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to arrive in Ethiopia’s capital Tuesday to meet with the country’s leadership. The U.S. is seeking to grow more involved in African countries facing conflict, debt and hunger, boosting its presence in an effort to counter diplomatic inroads from China and Russia. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is visiting Ethiopia and Niger this week, in the latest swing by Biden administration officials through Africa.

☆ Uganda, Other African Nations Push for Fossil-Fuel Projects
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( Nicholas Bariyo | Photographs Badru Katumba For The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

MURCHISON FALLS NATIONAL PARK, Uganda—A herd of elephants stomped through savannah grasslands to the throbbing sounds of bulldozers preparing oil wells that will soon start feeding a 900-mile pipeline from this wildlife and nature reserve. The $10 billion project has become a flashpoint in the global battle against climate change, as some African governments with unexplored natural resources seek to resist a global push to limit investment in new fossil-fuel projects.

Pope Francis fell to his knees and kissed the feet of rival leaders of South Sudan in 2019, imploring them to keep building peace and end a devastating civil war. The pope, who now uses a wheelchair because of problems with his knee, is expected to repeat the substance if not the form of that appeal on a trip to the country and the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. The Catholic Church exercises outsize influence in both countries, whose populations are each about half Catholic, and where church officials and institutions fill some of the gaps left by weak governments and civil society. The results of the church’s political interventions have been mixed, however. The pope this week is making common cause in his campaign for peace and democracy-building with other faith leaders, two of whom will join him for part of his travels.

☆ Eritrean Troops Endanger Ethiopian Peace Deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( Nicholas Bariyo | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A peace accord meant to end Ethiopia’s civil war is hitting a stumbling block, as troops from neighboring Eritrea who had been fighting on the side of the federal government have failed to withdraw, local and international officials say. Two-and-a-half months after rebel leaders from Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region and the federal government signed a cessation-of-hostilities agreement on Nov. 2, Eritrean soldiers still control more than a dozen towns across Tigray, where they have continued to kill and abduct civilians and block aid for millions of people, local and international officials say.

☆ Uganda Declares End of Deadly Ebola Outbreak
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Nicholas Bariyo | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

KAMPALA, Uganda—Uganda’s Ebola outbreak is over, the country’s health ministry said Wednesday, capping a nearly four-month struggle to contain a rare strain of the highly contagious virus for which there are no proven vaccines or antiviral treatments. Uganda’s Health Ministry said 42 days had passed since the last known patient diagnosed with the Sudan strain of Ebola was discharged from a hospital, taking the country beyond twice the virus’s maximum incubation period. Fifty-five people are confirmed to have died from the virus since September in the second-deadliest known Ebola outbreak in Uganda’s history, while at least 142 were infected. The ministry said another 22 people are believed to have died from the virus as far back as early August, but were never tested.

☆ Heaviest Fighting in Years Breaks Out in Congo as Rivals Seek Control of Minerals
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Nicholas Bariyo | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Long-simmering ethnic tensions in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo—fed at times by its neighbors—have erupted into the most intense clashes in a decade as warring militias fight for control of the region and its mineral riches. In recent days, the M23 rebel group has advanced to within 12 miles of the city of Goma, pushing United Nations-backed Congolese government forces from several surrounding towns. More than two million people are suffering shortages of food and fuel as a result of the fighting.

☆ Uganda Struggles to Contain Its Second-Deadliest Ebola Outbreak
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Nicholas Bariyo | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Uganda is struggling to contain an Ebola outbreak that has already infected at least 156 people and killed 74, including in the capital Kampala. The outbreak, first detected on Sept. 20 in a small farming town in central Uganda, is caused by a relatively rare strain of the virus for which there are no proven vaccines or antiviral treatments. It has since spread to eight districts throughout the East African country, including Kampala, a crowded city of around five million people, prompting warnings from the World Health Organization that neighboring countries should prepare for imported infections.

Members of a government-aligned militia earlier this year on the outskirts of Abala, a town near the rebel-held city of Mekelle, the capital of the Tigray region. Cross-border fighting has flared again in the bloody conflict pitting Ethiopia and its allies against rebels from the country’s Tigray region, threatening to destabilize a swath of East Africa as U.S. diplomats push to restart stalled peace negotiations. Tens of thousands of soldiers from Eritrea, which is backing Ethiopia’s government, have opened three new fronts in recent days, according to diplomats and analysts. Aid agencies say the fighting in the northern region of Tigray is the heaviest since hostilities resumed in August, with artillery and drone strikes destroying civilian infrastructure and cutting off deliveries of food to more than five million people.

☆ Deadly Ebola Outbreak Spreads to Uganda’s Capital
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Nicholas Bariyo | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

KAMPALA Uganda—A deadly outbreak of the Ebola virus has spread from rural Uganda into the capital, Kampala, the country’s Health Ministry said Wednesday, raising further fears of a wider spread of the deadly Sudan strain for which there are no proven vaccines or antiviral treatments. Nineteen people are confirmed dead from the hemorrhagic fever since Ugandan health authorities announced that a 24-year-old man was killed by the relatively rare Sudan strain of Ebola last month. Nineteen others, including six members of the man’s family, are also believed to have died as far back as early August, but were never tested, the health ministry said.

☆ Outbreak of Rare Ebola Strain Declared in Uganda
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Nicholas Bariyo | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Diana Atwine, permanent secretary at Uganda’s health ministry, said a 24-year-old man was found to have been infected with the Sudan strain of Ebola. KAMPALA, Uganda—Uganda declared an outbreak of a relatively rare strain of the Ebola virus on Tuesday, raising concerns of a wider spread because existing vaccines haven’t yet been tested against this version of the virus. A 24-year-old man who died Monday in central Uganda was found to have been infected with the Sudan strain of Ebola, said Diana Atwine, permanent secretary at Uganda’s health ministry.

Few African regions have the nerve to say no to China. Independence-minded Somaliland is one. “We’re not going to allow anyone to dictate who we can have a relationship with,” said its foreign minister.

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