WINDHOEK — A high court in Namibia on Friday declared unconstitutional two colonial-era laws that criminalized same-sex acts between men, in a landmark win for the LGBTQ community in the southern African nation.

The case was brought by Namibian activist Friedel Dausab with the support of UK-based non-governmental organization Human Dignity Trust.

Dausab told Reuters after the court’s decision he was “just happy”. “It’s a great day for Namibia,” he said. “It won’t be a crime to love anymore.”

Rights campaigners say that while convictions under the laws on “sodomy” and “unnatural sexual offences” were relatively rare, they have perpetuated discrimination against the LGBTQ community and made gay men live in fear of arrest.

Namibia inherited the laws when it gained independence from South Africa in 1990, though same-sex acts between men were initially criminalized under colonial rule.

South Africa has since decriminalized same-sex sexual activity and is the only country on the African continent to allow LGBTQ couples to adopt children, marry and enter civil unions.

Last year, Uganda enacted one of the world’s harshest anti-LGBTQ laws, which included the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality”, despite widespread condemnations from the West.
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MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somalia’s government is seeking to slow the withdrawal of African peacekeepers and warning of a potential security vacuum, documents seen by   Reuters show, with neighboring countries fretting that resurgent al-Shabaab militants could seize power.

The African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS), a peacekeeping force, is committed to withdrawing by Dec. 31, when a smaller new force is expected to replace it.

However, in a letter last month to the acting chair of the African Union Peace and Security Council the government asked to delay until September the withdrawal of half the 4,000 troops due to leave by the end of June. The letter has not been reported before.

The government had previously recommended, in a joint assessment with the AU in March, reviewed by Reuters, that the overall withdrawal timeline be adjusted “based on the actual readiness and capabilities” of Somali forces.

The joint assessment, which was mandated by the U.N. Security Council, warned that a “hasty drawdown of ATMIS personnel will contribute to a security vacuum.”

“I’ve never been more concerned about the direction of my home country,” said Mursal Khalif, an independent member of the defense committee in parliament.

The European Union and United States, the top funders of the AU force in Somalia, have sought to reduce the peacekeeping operation due to concerns about long-term financing and sustainability, four diplomatic sources and a senior Ugandan official said.

Negotiations about a new force have proven complicated, with the AU initially pushing for a more robust mandate than Somalia wanted, three of the diplomatic sources said. A heated political dispute could lead Ethiopia to pull out some of the most battle-hardened troops.

Somalia’s presidency and prime minister’s office did not respond to requests for comment.

Mohamed El-Amine Souef, AU special representative to Somalia and head of ATMIS, said there was no definitive timeline for concluding negotiations but that all parties were committed to an agreement that helps achieve sustainable peace and security.

“The AU and Somalia’s government have emphasized the importance of a conditions-based drawdown to prevent any security vacuum,” he told Reuters.

The Peace and Security Council is due to meet on Somalia later on Thursday to discuss the drawdown and follow-up mission.

As the drawdown proceeds, with 5,000 of around 18,500 troops leaving last year, the government has projected confidence. It has said the new force should not exceed 10,000 and should be limited to tasks like securing major population centers.

The call for a smaller force likely reflects views of nationalists who oppose a heavy foreign presence in Somalia, said Rashid Abdi, an analyst with Sahan Research, a Nairobi-based think-tank focused on the Horn of Africa.

Worried neighbors

Uganda and Kenya, which contributed troops to the departing mission, are also worried.

Henry Okello Oryem, Uganda’s state minister of foreign affairs, said that despite intensive training efforts, Somali troops could not sustain a long-term military confrontation.

“We do not want to get into a situation where we are fleeing, the kind of thing that we saw in Afghanistan,” he told Reuters.

Oryem said Kenya accepted the drawdown requested by the U.S. and EU but that the concerns of countries with forces in Somalia should be heard.

Kenyan President William Ruto told reporters in Washington last month that a withdrawal that did not account for conditions on the ground would mean “the terrorists will take over Somalia.”

In response to questions, an EU spokesperson said it was focused on building domestic security capacities and supported in principle a Somali government proposal for a new mission that would have a reduced size and scope.

A U.S. State Department spokesperson said the force should be large enough to prevent a security vacuum. Washington has supported all requests submitted by the AU to the U.N. Security Council to modify the drawdown timeline, the spokesperson said.

In response to a question about Ethiopian forces, the spokesperson said it was critical to avoid security gaps or unnecessary expenses “incurred by swapping out existing troop contributors.”

Setbacks

Two years ago, an army offensive in central Somalia initially seized large swathes of territory from al-Shabaab.

In August, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamed declared his intention to “eliminate” the powerful al-Qaida offshoot within five months.

But just a few days later, al-Shabaab counter-attacked, retaking the town of Cowsweyne. They killed scores of soldiers and beheaded several civilians accused of supporting the army, according to a soldier, an allied militiaman and a local resident.

“This broke the hearts of Somalis but gave courage to al-Shabaab,”  Ahmed Abdulle, the militiaman, from a clan in central Somalia, said in an interview in April.

The Somali government has never publicly provided a death toll for the Cowsweyne battle and didn’t respond to a request for a toll for this story.

“There were enough troops in Cowsweyne, over a battalion, but they were not organized well,” said a soldier named Issa, who fought in the battle there last August.

Issa said car bombs had blasted through the gates of Cowsweyne army camp on the day of the attack, citing a shortage of defensive outposts to protect bases from such attacks.

Ten soldiers, militiamen from local clans and residents in areas targeted by the military campaign reported no army operations in the past two months following additional battlefield setbacks.

Reuters could not independently establish the extent of the territorial losses to al-Shabaab. Somalia’s national security adviser said on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) this week that the army had held most of its gains.

The peacekeepers’ withdrawal could make it more difficult to hold territory. While analysts estimate Somalia’s army at around 32,000 soldiers, the government acknowledged, in the assessment with the AU, a shortage of some 11,000 trained personnel due to “high operational tempo” and “attrition.”

The government has said its soldiers are capable of confronting al-Shabaab with limited external support.

Somalia has defied gloomy predictions before and has expanded its security forces in recent years.

Residents of the seaside capital Mogadishu – whose ubiquitous blast walls testify to the threat of Shabaab suicide bombers and mortars – say security has improved. Once quiet streets bustle with traffic, and upscale restaurants and supermarkets are opening.

An assessment published in April by the Combating Terrorism Center at the United States Military Academy said an Afghanistan-like collapse was unlikely, helped by ongoing external support.

The United States, for instance, has about 450 troops in Somalia to train and advise local forces, and conducts regular drone attacks against suspected militants.

But the assessment’s author, Paul D. Williams, a professor of international affairs at George Washington University, said the militants’ estimated 7,000-12,000 fighters would nevertheless be “slightly militarily stronger” than Somali forces because of superior cohesion and force employment.

International support

Somalia’s security has been underwritten by foreign resources since Ethiopia invaded in 2006, toppling an Islamist-led administration but galvanizing an insurgency that has since killed tens of thousands of people.

The U.S. has spent more than $2.5 billion on counterterrorism assistance since 2007, according to a study last year by Brown University. That number does not include undisclosed military and intelligence spending on activities like drone strikes and deployments of American ground troops.

The EU says it has provided about $2.8 billion to ATMIS and its predecessor since 2007. Turkey, Qatar and other Middle Eastern countries also provide security assistance.

But resources are under strain. The EU, which pays for most of ATMIS’s roughly $100 million annual budget, is shifting toward bilateral support with an eye toward reducing its overall contributions in the medium-term, four diplomatic sources said.

Two diplomats interviewed by Reuters, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe private negotiations, said the U.S. and EU want to scale back peacekeeping operations because of competing spending priorities including Ukraine and Gaza and a sense Somalia should take responsibility for its own security.

Some European countries would like to see the new mission financed through assessed contributions of United Nations member states, which would increase the financial burden on the United States and China, the four diplomatic sources said.

The State Department spokesperson said the U.S. did not believe such a system can be implemented by next year but said there was strong international consensus to support the follow-on mission. The EU didn’t address questions about the financing of the replacement mission.

Financing for the new mission can only be formally addressed once Somalia and the AU agree on a proposed size and mandate.
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NORTH SOUND, Antigua — South Africa had to work hard to earn an 18-run win over the fast-improving United States in the opening game of the Super Eight at the Twenty20 World Cup on Wednesday.

Co-host the West Indies also lost it first match in the Super Eight stage Wednesday, beaten by eight wickets by defending champion England. Jack Salt scored 87 runs to lead England.

Andries Gous made an unbeaten 80 off 47 balls for the U.S. — against the country of his birth — to move atop the batting charts at the World Cup before South Africa restricted the Americans at 176-6.

Fast bowler Kagiso Rabada claimed 3-18 and spinner Keshav Maharaj got the prized wicket of U.S. captain Aaron Jones for a duck — no runs — to finish with 1-24.

Quinton de Kock had earlier made a rampant 74 off 40 balls and Heinrich Klaasen provided the perfect finish with 36 not out in the South African total of 194-4 after Jones won the toss and elected to field.

“Pretty happy with the performance as a whole,” South Africa captain Aiden Markram said. “A couple of overs here and there we need to tidy up … but the wicket definitely changes and gets a bit slower.”

De Kock and Markram (46 off 32 balls) dominated both spinners and the pacers as they raised a solid 110-run stand after Saurabh Netravalkar (2-21) had provided the early breakthrough by getting the wicket of Reeza Hendricks in his second over.

“We’ve had some tricky wickets so it was nice to spend some time in the middle today,” de Kock said. “The USA put us under pressure towards the end. It was a great game.”

Netravalkar, who bowled a sensational Super Over in the United States’ historic win over heavyweights Pakistan in the group stage, struck immediately in his return spell when Markram was brilliantly caught by diving Ali Khan at deep backward point off a full-pitched ball.

But Klaasen used all his T20 experience in the last five overs and struck three sixes while Tristan Stubbs also hit two fours in his 16-ball unbeaten 20 which lifted the South Africa total.

“Hard to take a defeat after coming so close,” Jones said. “We did lack discipline in the bowling at times, (but) once we play good cricket we can beat any team in the world. We need to be a lot more disciplined.”

England beats the West Indies

At Gros Islet, St Lucia, Salt carried his bat for 87 and Jonny Bairstow made an unbeaten 48 as defending champion England beat the West Indies by eight wickets in a match between two-time World Cup champions.

It was the West Indies’ first loss of the tournament and their first defeat in eight Twenty20 internationals.

The West Indies made 180-4 batting first on the same pitch on which they made 218-5 against Afghanistan in the final match of the group stage on Monday.

The fireworks came at the end and from England as Salt made his 87 runs from 47 balls with seven fours and five sixes and Bairstow added his 48 from 26 deliveries. England reached 181-2 with 15 balls to spare.

Salt provided a solid foundation for the England run chase, initially in a 67-run opening partnership with Jos Buttler.

Salt scored 30 runs — three sixes and three fours — from the 16th over bowled by Romario Shepherd.

“I’m not looking too far ahead at the minute, just glad that I could contribute to a good team win,” Salt said. “It was a little bit tougher in the middle overs with the spin.”

The pitch may have been a little slower than on Monday but England captain Buttler also used his bowlers well and the West Indies innings included 50 dot balls.

A capacity crowd in the first night match of the Super Eight stage was out to party but the match really didn’t come alive until the end.

The West Indies started well but were disrupted in the six-over power play by the loss of Brandon King who retired hurt after 4.3 overs with a side or groin strain. King had just hit the first six of the match, a 103-meter (338-foot) blow that flew over the grandstand and out of the stadium.

He made 23 from 13 balls and was setting the early pace of the innings when he was forced to retire with the West Indies at 40-0. There was no immediate word on the seriousness of King’s injury.

“Credit has to be given to the England bowling unit. You can see they had clear plans and executed them well,” West Indies captain Rovman Powell said.
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United Nations — Filippo Grandi, the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, on Wednesday urged an end to the war in Sudan, where hunger and violence have driven millions from their homes.

“They are fleeing horrible violence, very severe violations of human rights,” Grandi told VOA in an interview from Juba, South Sudan, after field visits to Renk in South Sudan and across the border in Kosti, a city in Sudan’s White Nile state.

Thursday is World Refugee Day, and Grandi hopes to put this neglected crisis in the global spotlight.

The United Nations has warned that 5 million Sudanese are on the brink of famine. Millions more are severely food insecure. Harvests have been lost, markets looted and burned, and humanitarians obstructed from delivering adequate aid.

“But increasingly they are also fleeing deprivation — and in particular food insecurity, and in some cases, hunger,” Grandi said. “So you have a multiplication of factors that are all generated clearly by this insane war that doesn’t seem to end.”

The United Nations says the 14-month-long war between rival generals has internally displaced more than 6 million people on top of the nearly 4 million who were displaced before the current conflict. Another 2 million have fled to neighboring countries, including Chad, South Sudan and Ethiopia.

“Let’s not forget that these people are coming, like here in South Sudan, to countries that are already very fragile — they have huge challenges of their own in terms of security, political fragility, governance, economic problems and so forth,” Grandi said, praising them for keeping their borders open and offering shelter.

A U.N. panel of experts said earlier this year that external actors are fueling Sudan’s conflict by providing the warring generals with weapons and ammunition.

“My appeal is really to everybody who has any influence on the parties in this conflict: Push them not towards the battlefield, but to the negotiating table,” Grandi said. “This is what is most needed: a cease-fire first and then the possibility that there is a political solution. Without that, I am afraid we will see more refugees and more suffering.”

The head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has been locked in an armed power struggle with the head of the Sudanese Armed Forces for the past 14 months. The fighting has spread from Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, to other parts of the country, leaving death, destruction and a humanitarian catastrophe in its wake.
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N’DJAMENA, Chad — Nine people were killed and more than 40 injured when a fire set off explosions at a military ammunition depot in Chad’s capital, an official said Wednesday.

Government spokesperson Abderaman Koulamallah said 46 people were being treated for various injuries after the explosions jolted residents from their sleep late Tuesday in the Goudji district of N’Djamena. The situation has been brought under control, Koulamallah said.

The explosions lit up the sky as thick smoke covered the clouds in the West African nation, setting off frantic efforts to extinguish the fire as residents fled their homes for safety.

The cause of the fire was not immediately clear, and President Mahamat Deby Itno said an investigation would be conducted.

“Peace to the souls of the victims, sincere condolences to the bereaved families and quick recovery to the injured,” Deby said on Facebook. He later visited the accident scene and hospitals where the injured were treated.

People living in the area panicked, thinking the explosion was an armed attack, resident Oumar Mahamat said.

Local media reported the blasts started just before midnight as nearby buildings shook and ammunition was thrown from the depot with explosive force.

Authorities called on residents to stay out of the area, which was taken over by security forces gathering the scattered artillery shells.

Allamine Moussa, a resident, called on the government to “come to our aid urgently” after he and other residents fled their homes.

“Many families have recorded deaths, and it’s sad,” Moussa said.

Chad, a country of nearly 18 million people, has been reeling from political turmoil before and after a controversial presidential election that resulted in Deby Itno’s victory.

He had led the country as interim president during the period of military rule that followed the death of his father in 2021.

Cameron Hudson, an Africa expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the explosions might not be entirely coincidental and “feels more like a message” to the government, which has been embroiled in internal political tensions and as well as regional tensions over the war in neighboring Sudan.

Recent claims about Chad’s alleged involvement in the war in Sudan create an untenable position at home for Deby Itno, said Hudson, a former U.S. official. “A house divided cannot stand.”
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GENEVA — Independent investigators have accused Sudan’s warring parties of driving the country into a humanitarian abyss by blatantly disregarding fundamental human rights and international humanitarian law. 

The three-member International Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan presented its first oral update Tuesday and Wednesday at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.  

The investigators told the council that the lack of concern for the suffering of millions of Sudanese civilians by the warring parties has led to killings, looting, mass displacement, rape and other forms of sexual violence, “and resulted in a grave humanitarian crisis.” 

They accused the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of preventing humanitarian aid from reaching millions of people who are at risk of famine. 

Citing the World Food Program, they warned that around 18 million people deprived of sufficient food will face acute hunger, with 5 million on the brink of starvation. 

The U.N. reports that rampant violations and abuses, along with the deprivation of essential lifesaving aid, have led to the mass displacement of nearly 9 million people inside Sudan, as well as to more than 1.8 million people fleeing to neighboring countries. 

Since the conflict began in April 2023, other armed groups have sprung up to support the two main military forces. Fact-finding mission chair Mohamed Chande Othman said the deadly conflict “now involves multiple actors within and outside Sudan and has spread from Khartoum and Darfur to most of the country.” 

“We are deeply concerned that the fighting persists with tragic consequences and enormous suffering of the civilian population,” he said.  

“We have received credible accounts of indiscriminate attacks against civilians and civilian objects, including through airstrikes and shelling in heavily populated residential areas, as well as ground attacks against civilians in their homes and villages,” he said. He added that in the capital, Khartoum, and in nearby towns, killings, looting and sexual violence have “forced many to leave their homes and property to seek refuge in other locations.” 

The investigators expressed particular concern about the situation in the Darfur region, especially the siege of the capital, El Fasher — the last stronghold of the SAF, where 1.5 million inhabitants and some 800,000 internally displaced people are in great danger. 

“Already, heavy fighting between the warring parties in different parts of the city has led to significant civilian casualties, damaged homes and caused mass displacement,” Othman said. “The attack on one of the main and last functioning hospitals in the city on June 8 led to its closure, leaving the civilian population without access to lifesaving medical care.” 

The fact-finding mission said it is investigating earlier large-scale attacks against civilians based on their ethnicity in other areas of Darfur. These, said Othman, “have included killings, rape and other forms of sexual violence, torture, forced displacement and looting.” 

The investigators said they also have received credible reports of rampant sexual violence, including rape and gang rape, and that they are investigating reports “of sexual slavery and sexualized torture in detention facilities, including against men and boys.” 

Othman said the mission has received worrying reports about the “widespread recruitment and use of children at checkpoints to gather intelligence, as well as to participate in direct combat and commit violent crimes,” thereby putting the lives and future of many children at risk. 

A June 3 report from U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on children and armed conflict ranks Sudan among the countries with the highest number of “grave violations against children” in the world.  

The fact-finding mission to Sudan is calling for an immediate cease-fire, without which, it said, “it is hard to see the human rights and humanitarian situation in Sudan improving.” 

Following the presentation of the report, Yassir Bashir Elbukhari Suliman, the chief prosecutor of Sudan, spoke as the representative of the concerned country. He accused the RSF of multiple crimes and atrocities against unarmed civilians, without assigning any blame to the SAF for the commission of similar acts. 

Commanders of the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces have previously denied committing war crimes as they battle for control of the country. 

Commenting on the situation in Sudan last month, Guterres accused both warring factions of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.
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PRETORIA — South Africa put on a display of pomp and ceremony on Wednesday for Cyril Ramaphosa’s inauguration as president for a second term that will see his African National Congress share power with other parties after it lost its majority in parliament.  

African heads of state and dignitaries gathered outside the Union Buildings in Pretoria, seat of the South African government, to watch Ramaphosa’s motorcade arrive with a guard of honor on horseback.  

Ramaphosa will head what he calls a government of national unity with five other parties, including the ANC’s largest rival and virulent critic, the pro-business Democratic Alliance.

While investors have welcomed the inclusion of the DA, which wants to boost growth through structural reforms and prudent fiscal policies, analysts say sharp ideological divisions between the parties could make the government unstable.  

Just before the election, Ramaphosa signed into law a National Health Insurance bill that the DA says could collapse a creaking health system. It was unclear what would happen to that law under the new government.  

The DA advocates scrapping the ANC’s flagship Black economic empowerment program, saying it hasn’t worked — a highly contentious topic in a nation grappling with huge inequalities, some inherited from apartheid.  

Ramaphosa has yet to announce the make-up of his new government, which he will have to negotiate with members of the new alliance.  

“The president does not want the country to go through a prolonged period of uncertainty,” his spokesman Vincent Magwenya told state broadcaster SABC.

“This time around, there is a small layer of complexity in that he has to consult with the various parties that form part of the government of national unity. Those consultations have been underway. They will continue, even tonight,” he said. 

A former liberation movement, the ANC came to power under Nelson Mandela’s leadership in the 1994 elections that marked the end of apartheid. Once unbeatable, it has lost its shine after presiding over years of decline.  

It remains the largest party after the May 29 election, with 159 seats out of 400 in the National Assembly, but lost millions of votes compared with the previous election in 2019. The DA’s vote share remained stable and it has 87 seats.  

Voters punished the ANC for high levels of poverty, inequality and unemployment, rampant crime, rolling power cuts and corruption in party ranks. 
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United Nations — The representatives of Sudan and the United Arab Emirates clashed Tuesday at the U.N. Security Council over Khartoum’s accusations that Abu Dhabi is providing arms and other support to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, fueling a brutal war in Sudan.  

“The UAE must stay away from Sudan!” Sudan’s ambassador, Al-Harith Idriss Al-Harith Mohamed, told the council. “That is the first requirement that will allow for stability in Sudan. It must stop its support.” 

Mohamed accused the UAE of assisting RSF forces through militias in Chad, southern Libya and central Africa, adding that Sudan has submitted copies of a half dozen UAE passports found on the battlefield in Khartoum to the council to back up their claims of Emirati interference. He also said, without providing evidence, that wounded RSF fighters are being airlifted to Dubai for medical treatment. 

Emirati Ambassador Mohamed Abushahab, who was seated beside his Sudanese counterpart at the 15-nation council’s horseshoe-shaped table, during the meeting on the situation in Sudan, called the allegations “ludicrous.” 

“We see this as a shameful abuse by one of the warring parties of Sudan of this Council — using this platform to spread false allegations against the UAE to distract from the grave violations that are happening on the ground,” the Emirati ambassador said. 

The UAE has repeatedly denied sending arms to the RSF, but Tuesday was the first time their envoy had responded in person to the accusations at a council meeting. 

A report by a U.N. panel of experts earlier this year said there was substance to media reports that cargo planes originating in the UAE capital had landed in eastern Chad with arms, ammunition and medical equipment destined for the paramilitary group. 

Sudan’s envoy asked the council to act. 

“I ask your esteemed council to speak bravely and to take the last required step, which is to openly mention and condemn the UAE so that it would stop this war,” Ambassador Mohamed said. 

The United States has expressed concern about regional and international interference in Sudan. 

“We must also continue calling on external actors to stop fueling and prolonging this conflict, and enabling these atrocities, by sending weapons to Sudan,” Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said at Tuesday’s meeting. 

On Friday, she told reporters on a conference call to announce an additional $315 million in humanitarian support for Sudan, that there is no military solution to the conflict. She criticized countries that are supporting the rival generals with arms and ammunition and said she had spoken with the UAE about Sudan’s allegations. She also noted that Russia and Iran are providing support to the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). 

“We have been very, very clear with those actors, that they should cease their support for this war,” she said Friday of all external actors. “It is only exacerbating and prolonging the conflict, and it is making the situation more dire for the people of Sudan.” 

Battle for El Fasher 

Meanwhile, the situation on the ground in the North Darfur capital of El Fasher remains dire. The RSF has surrounded the city, burning and looting communities in its vicinity. They have advanced on the city, where an SAF infantry division is outnumbered and surrounded. 

“The Sudanese Armed Forces will defend El Fasher to the last soldier,” Ambassador Mohamed told reporters after the meeting. 

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says El Fasher is presently the epicenter of Sudan’s humanitarian nightmare. 

“Amid unrelenting violence and suffering, the lives of 800,000 people — of women, children, men, the elderly and people with disabilities — these lives hang in the balance,” Edem Wosornu, OCHA’s director of Operations and Advocacy, told the council. 

Without immediate decisive action, she said, the international community risks bearing witness to a repeat of the well-documented atrocities perpetrated in West Darfur’s capital, El Geneina, when the city fell to RSF troops last year. 

Human rights groups say thousands of people, mostly ethnic Masalit and members of other non-Arab communities, were massacred by the RSF, even after the city fell to the paramilitary. 

Today’s RSF has elements of the Arab Janjaweed fighters who carried out the genocide against African Zaghawa, Masalit, Fur and other non-Arab ethnic groups in Darfur in the early 2000s. 

On Thursday, the U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution demanding the RSF halt its siege and de-escalate the fight for El Fasher and that both sides allow aid in. The resolution has so far been ignored. 

RSF chief Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo has been locked in an armed power struggle with SAF General Abdel-Fattah Burhan for the past 14 months. The fighting has spread from Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, to other parts of the country, leaving millions displaced and in dire need of food, shelter and medical care.
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NAIROBI, Kenya — More than 200 protesters have been arrested in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, in ongoing protests against proposed tax hikes in a finance bill that is due to be tabled in parliament. 

Civil society groups said that demonstrations and a planned sit-down outside parliament buildings will continue despite the arrest of 210 protesters. 

Nairobi Police Commander Adamson Bungei on Tuesday said that no group had been granted permission to protest in the capital. The right to peaceful protests is guaranteed in the Kenyan Constitution, but organizers are required to notify the police beforehand. Police generally give a go-ahead unless there are security concerns. 

Police hurled tear gas canisters at hundreds of demonstrators on Tuesday, forcing businesses to temporarily close because of fears over looting. 

A lawyer, Wanjohi Gachie, said that he was protesting on behalf of all Kenyans who would be potentially burdened by the tax hikes. 

“I’m requesting the police not to arrest or beat us, because we are fighting for their rights as well,” he said. 

Some major tax proposals in the bill were dropped after a Tuesday morning meeting between ruling party lawmakers and President William Ruto. 

The chairperson of the finance committee, Kuria Kimani, said the proposal to introduce a 16% value-added tax on bread had been dropped. 

Other levies that had prompted debate and have been amended include a proposed 2.5% motor vehicle annual tax that was to be placed on insurance. 

A proposed tax on goods that degrade the environment will also be amended to apply only to imported goods to encourage local manufacturing. 

Rights group Amnesty Kenya said that its staff members observing the protests were arrested. 

“We demand the immediate and unconditional release of all arrested protesters and observers,” the group said. 

Kenya Law Society President Faith Odhiambo said that police used tear gas on lawyers at a Nairobi police station as they sought to see their clients. 

Ruto last month defended the proposed taxes, saying the country must be financially self-sustaining. 

“The whole principle is that you must live within your means,” he said. “I persuaded and I made a case to the people of Kenya that we must begin to enhance our revenue.” 

Opposition leader Raila Odinga urged legislators to scrutinize the bill and vote to remove clauses that would burden the poor. 

“It is worse than the one of 2023, an investment killer and a huge millstone around the necks of millions of poor Kenyans who must have hoped that the tears they shed over taxes last year would see the government lessen the tax burden in 2024,” he said in a statement in early June.

Opposition figure Kalonzo Musyoka said that weekly protests would resume if the finance bill is approved as proposed. 

Legislators are due to debate the bill starting Wednesday with a vote scheduled for Monday. 

Last year’s finance law introduced a 1.5% housing tax on gross income for salaried individuals, despite concerns that it would further burden Kenyans already struggling under a high cost of living. The law also doubled VAT on petroleum products from 8% to 16%.
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One of the chief obstacles for Sudanese refugees trying to build new lives in Uganda is the language barrier. Some of the estimated 40,000 people who arrived in recent months had limited English skills but not enough to hold jobs or move easily through Ugandan society. A women’s empowerment group in central Uganda is trying to change that. Halima Athumani and Mukasa Francis report from Mukono district
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Goma, DRC — A Romanian “mercenary” and two Congolese soldiers were killed, and a U.N. peacekeeper was wounded in three separate incidents in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, several sources said Sunday.

A security official in the east of the country told AFP on the condition of anonymity that a private military contractor was killed, and three others wounded Saturday by a missile strike on a Congolese army base around 10 kilometers (6 miles) north of Goma.

The origin of the strike was not confirmed.  

The capital of North Kivu has been surrounded to the north and west by the Rwandan army and M23 rebels for several months.

Fighting regularly takes place against the Congolese army on the outskirts of the city, while the rebels, backed by Kigali, continue to extend their hold in the east of the country.

The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Sunday that the deceased and two injured people were Romanian nationals, and that the fourth injured person was of another nationality.

Several Romanian television channels — including the state-owned TVR Info — described the dead fighter as a “Romanian mercenary” under contract to the Congolese army.

Around 200 kilometers north of Goma, in Butembo, at least two soldiers were killed in an ambush, local administrator Colonel Alain Kiwewa told AFP.

He said he did not yet have any details of the identity of the assailants and that an investigation had been opened.

But Kiwewa said the slain soldiers had been supplying others fighting against the ADF rebels.

Since the start of the moth, around 150 people have been killed in attacks attributed to the ADF, which originated in neighboring Uganda and most of whose members swear allegiance to the Islamic State Group.

Also, around Butembo, a MONUSCO (U.N. mission in the DRC) convoy was attacked by unidentified armed men Saturday evening as it returned from a mission.

One peacekeeper was shot in the leg during the attack.

Vivian van de Perre, second-in-command of the U.N. mission, condemned “the violence perpetrated against peacekeepers” and reiterated the need for “unhindered access for the protection of civilians.”  

On Sunday, Pope Francis deplored the surge in violence in eastern DRC and appealed to the national authorities and international communities to “safeguard the lives of civilians.”
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