Global Pulse

标签： Africa

非洲

  • Ghana delays visit by South African president amid row over anti-migrant protests

    Ghana delays visit by South African president amid row over anti-migrant protests

    A deepening diplomatic dispute between Ghana and South Africa, sparked by violent anti-foreign xenophobic protests in South Africa, has led Ghana to postpone a planned state visit by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa that was intended to ease cross-border tensions.

    Ramaphosa had scheduled the high-profile visit for the first week of August, a trip widely viewed as an opportunity to open dialogue and repair frayed relations between the two African nations following weeks of unrest targeting foreign residents. But Ghanaian officials concluded that proceeding with the visit amid widespread public anger over the treatment of Ghanaian citizens in South Africa would likely trigger large-scale disruptive protests, leading to the decision to delay the trip indefinitely for the time being.

    “We sent them a communication indicating that it would be best to defer the visit in view of the present climate around xenophobia,” Ghanaian government spokesman Felix Kwakye Ofosu confirmed to the BBC in a statement Tuesday.

    In response, South African presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya reaffirmed the country’s continued commitment to strengthening bilateral ties, framing the two nations as sister partners aligned on advancing shared pan-African goals. “The two countries will continue to engage through diplomatic channels to identify a mutually convenient date,” Magwenya noted, downplaying the severity of the current rift.

    Tensions began to spike earlier this year after a graphic video of a Ghanaian resident in South Africa being harassed and ordered to leave the country went viral across social media, sparking outrage across West Africa. Since the unrest erupted, Ghana has already repatriated more than 900 of its citizens from South Africa, with a final group of more than 900 additional Ghanaians expected to be brought home in the coming weeks.

    Ghana is not alone in its response to the anti-immigrant unrest. Other African nations including Nigeria, Malawi, and Kenya have also organized repatriations for their citizens who felt unsafe amid the protests. Local anti-immigration groups gave undocumented migrants a deadline of June 30 to leave South Africa, and United Nations data indicates that roughly 25,000 foreign migrants have been repatriated to their home countries across the continent so far.

    The dispute escalated dramatically last week over conflicting accounts of a Ghanaian national’s death in Cape Town’s Khayelitsha suburb. Ghanaian authorities allege that 40-year-old Bahiru Isak was killed during anti-immigration protests held on June 30, a claim South African officials have outright denied. South African authorities confirm only one Ghanaian fatality, 35-year-old Kwabena Boagen, and insist his death was not connected to the xenophobic demonstrations. This disagreement led South Africa’s Justice Minister to accuse Ghana of spreading deliberate misinformation about the unrest and irregular migration.

    A core point of contention also remains over the immigration status of repatriated Ghanaians: Ghana claims nearly all of its citizens residing in South Africa held valid legal residency documentation, a claim Pretoria has rejected. Neither side has yet released public evidence to back up their opposing assertions.

    Back in May, Ghana submitted an official petition to the African Union calling for a formal fact-finding mission and urgent intervention to address the recurring waves of xenophobic violence in South Africa. Ghanaian officials argue that attacks on foreign African residents directly contradict the core principles of the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement, which aims to facilitate free movement of people and goods across the continent.

    Regional political analysts warn that if South Africa does not take urgent, concrete action to address the anti-immigrant violence and resolve ongoing diplomatic tensions, it faces growing political isolation across the African continent.

    Xenophobic sentiment targeting foreign residents is not a new issue in South Africa. For decades, some native South Africans have blamed undocumented and documented foreign migrants alike for high levels of domestic unemployment and rising crime rates. But many citizens of other African nations have pushed back on this narrative, reminding Black South Africans of the widespread cross-border solidarity and support their countries provided during the anti-apartheid struggle that led to South Africa’s transition to multiracial democracy.

    Additional reporting for this article was contributed by Khanyisile Ngcobo and Natasha Booty. More coverage of African political and social developments is available at BBCAfrica.com.

  • Kenya, Tanzania suppress protests with heavy police deployments

    Kenya, Tanzania suppress protests with heavy police deployments

    On Tuesday, a date carrying deep symbolic weight for both East African nations of Kenya and Tanzania, large-scale deployments of security forces successfully prevented planned opposition protests from going forward in both countries’ capitals.

    July 7 holds distinct historical meaning for each neighbor. For Kenya, the date marks the 1990s pro-democracy movement that fought to establish multiparty rule, a landmark moment in the country’s democratic journey. For Tanzania, the date commemorates the 72nd founding anniversary of the organization that eventually became its current ruling party.

    In Tanzania, the planned protests had two core demands: sweeping democratic reforms in the wake of a deeply contested October 2024 general election, and the immediate release of prominent opposition leader Tundu Lissu, who remains in custody on charges of treason that critics call politically motivated.

    In Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s bustling commercial hub, joint units of uniformed police and military personnel were positioned across key urban areas ahead of the scheduled protests. By the end of the day, no assembled protesters had been spotted in public spaces, and the city’s annual trade fair operated as scheduled under heavy armed guard.

    Speaking to reporters ahead of the protest date on Monday evening, Tanzania’s Home Affairs Minister Patrobas Katambi made clear the government’s hardline stance. “Tanzania is not a country where any group can unilaterally dictate when and where protests will be held,” Katambi said, adding that state security forces were fully prepared to act against any action that threatened public order.

    Political analysts note that the Tanzanian government has maintained an elevated state of alert ever since the disputed October election, when post-vote protests and a subsequent government crackdown left hundreds of people dead across the country.

    Wade Green, a threat analyst at Aldebaran Threat Consultants, explained that for any protest movement to successfully challenge the current security posture, organizers would need to catch state forces off guard. “Right now, security forces are on extremely high alert across the country,” Green noted. “Unless opposition protesters are exceptionally well-organized and numerically overwhelming, they have no way to counter the lethal force that Tanzanian security forces deployed last year, and are fully prepared to use again.”

    In Kenya’s capital Nairobi, the security response was equally robust. Police cordoned off the country’s parliamentary buildings with rolls of barbed wire, blocked access to major arterial roads, and took a small number of people into custody. Most businesses across the capital remained shuttered for the day as a result of the security buildup.

    Senior Kenyan opposition politician James Orengo condemned the heavy police deployment, framing it as a deliberate campaign to intimidate ordinary citizens. “This is exactly what a police state looks like,” Orengo said. “Police are deployed en masse even when there is no unrest, no march, no active demonstration; roads are emptied of traffic, and even holding a simple press conference becomes nearly impossible. But we will not be deterred.”

  • Violence escalates in South Sudan as a government commissioner is killed

    Violence escalates in South Sudan as a government commissioner is killed

    JUBA, South Sudan — Fresh political violence has shattered the fragile calm in South Sudan’s oil-rich Jonglei State, where a government-named county commissioner for a key opposition-held area was assassinated by opposition forces, national government officials confirmed late Monday. The killing has intensified ongoing clashes in the region, raising grave new concerns about the viability of the 2018 peace agreement that was meant to end years of civil war ahead of the country’s long-delayed first post-independence elections scheduled for December.

    Strategically located Akobo County has long been a flashpoint for competing political claims, with both the ruling party under President Salva Kiir and the main opposition bloc led by imprisoned former vice president Riek Machar appointing separate officials to the county’s top administrative post. According to officials from both sides of the conflict, the slain official, James Kueth Makuach, was killed Sunday when opposition fighters launched an coordinated assault on Walgak, a sparsely populated remote area in Akobo West.

    Makuach’s path to the role underscores the deep political divisions that continue to plague South Sudan a decade after it gained independence from Sudan. Earlier this year, he was removed from the position by the opposition’s acting leadership, prompting him to defect to Kiir’s ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in April. Shortly after his defection, the national government appointed him to the county commissioner post — a move that directly violates the power-sharing terms laid out in the 2018 peace accord, which reserves the Akobo County commissioner seat for Machar’s opposition party. Machar, who has been Kiir’s main political rival for decades, remains in custody in Juba facing national treason charges.

    In an official statement released after the killing, Kiir’s ruling party issued a harsh condemnation of what it called the “brutal killing” of Makuach, announcing it would convene an emergency legislative session to discuss a formal response to the violence. John Wiyual Lul, the governor of Jonglei appointed by Machar’s opposition bloc, confirmed that opposition fighters temporarily seized control of the Walgak area before pulling back after government reinforcements arrived to retake the territory. Lul also added that multiple senior government army officers were among the dead in the clash, though full casualty counts have not been compiled.

    Nyamar Lony Thichiot, spokesperson for the Jonglei State government, told the Associated Press Monday evening that the exact number of people killed or injured in the recent surge of fighting remains unknown, due to the remote location of the conflict zone and restricted access for humanitarian and verification teams. This latest round of clashes is not an isolated outbreak: fighting first erupted in Akobo County back in March, when opposition forces launched an attack on a major government military base. By June, the United Nations made the decision to withdraw its peacekeeping force from a civilian protection base in the county, leaving local residents without international protection.

    The Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission, the independent body tasked with overseeing compliance with the 2018 peace agreement, issued a formal statement Monday warning that the renewed violence directly undermines ongoing efforts to implement the power-sharing deal and puts thousands of civilian lives at severe risk. Civil society leaders across South Sudan have sounded the alarm that growing political gridlock between Kiir and Machar’s factions is once again escalating into open armed conflict, just months before the country is set to hold its first national elections since independence in 2011.

    “This is an unfortunate relapse into violence and a clear threat to civilians, their property and humanitarian operations,” said Bol Deng Bol, a prominent Juba-based civil society activist. Fellow activist Edmond Yakani called on both the ruling government and opposition blocs to immediately recommit to the permanent ceasefire laid out in the 2018 agreement, urging political leaders to resolve their disputes through dialogue rather than armed confrontation. With elections just months away, analysts warn that rising violence across Jonglei and other contested regions could derail the vote and push South Sudan back into full-scale civil war.

  • Zimbabwean football star survives gun attack in South Africa

    Zimbabwean football star survives gun attack in South Africa

    A shocking incident has shaken the southern African football community, after Zimbabwean and Mamelodi Sundowns defender Divine Lunga survived a targeted gun attack in Johannesburg, South African law enforcement officials have confirmed.

    The 31-year-old athlete, who holds starting roles for both his club side and Zimbabwe’s senior national men’s football team, was travelling through Hillbrow, an inner-city suburb of Johannesburg, on Sunday when an unidentified gunman opened fire on the vehicle he was driving, according to multiple on-the-ground reports. Contrary to early fears for his safety, Lunga escaped the attack without any injuries.

    Local South African outlet The Citizen has shared additional context on the incident, reporting that Lunga was travelling to a church service alongside his younger brother when the shooting occurred. Initial investigative findings suggest the gunman may have targeted Lunga in a case of mistaken identity, misidentifying the footballer as an undercover police officer.

    South African Police Service spokesperson Captain Tintswalo Sibeko confirmed that authorities have opened an attempted murder investigation into the attack. As of the latest updates, no suspects have been taken into custody, and police have not released further details about the ongoing probe to the public.

    The attack comes amid longstanding widespread public concern over violent crime in South Africa, which consistently registers one of the highest annual murder rates across the globe. Hillbrow, the suburb where the incident took place, has long been flagged as an area with elevated levels of violent and property crime by local security officials.

    The football community has not yet issued an official statement on the incident, with fans across southern Africa expressing widespread relief that Lunga escaped unharmed and calls for a swift conclusion to the police investigation.

  • Why some African nations are turning down Trump aid money

    Why some African nations are turning down Trump aid money

    Since dissolving the United States’ longstanding foreign aid body, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), last year, the Trump administration has rolled out a new approach to global health assistance, pushing direct bilateral agreements with individual nations across Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. While the administration frames the strategy as a fix for the inefficiencies and dependency created by traditional aid models, it has sparked sharp pushback from multiple African governments over its transactional terms, threats to national sovereignty, and ties to U.S. strategic and commercial priorities.

    The framework was launched in December 2023 with a landmark $2.5 billion health partnership with Kenya, where the U.S. pledged $1.6 billion in funding over five years, and the Kenyan government committed $850 million of its own funds. Speaking at the signing, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio hailed Kenya as an ideal first partner and expressed optimism that up to 50 nations would join the initiative. The deal survived a high-profile court challenge from Kenyan activists concerned about patient privacy and finally won cabinet approval last month, but it set the tone for widespread controversy that would follow.

    Under the new strategy, the U.S. has walked away from the multilateral global health system anchored by the World Health Organization (WHO), withdrawing from the body earlier this year over claims the organization mismanaged the COVID-19 pandemic, lacked transparency, and gave other nations an unfair funding advantage at U.S. expense. Unlike previous aid models that channeled most funding through non-governmental organizations, the new framework centers direct partnerships with national governments, requiring them to increase domestic health spending to build self-sustaining health systems. The administration argues this cuts wasteful overhead, eliminates donor-led dependency, and empowers local leaders to shape their own health outcomes.

    “Our aid to those countries will not just be dollars distributed to an NGO who then will go into the country and impose programmes,” Rubio told a congressional committee last month. “Not only are we treating the acute situations on the ground of people that are sick, we are helping them build the capacity and the capability to do this for themselves.”

    Critics point out that the restructuring of U.S. aid has already created immediate gaps in frontline health response. Most notably, the current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) — one of the first African nations to sign on to the new framework — has exposed severe disruptions from USAID cuts. Amadou Bocoum, country director for the humanitarian organization Care in the DRC, told reporters his team was forced to lay off 36 workers, a third of his staff, including specialists focused on Ebola prevention and community outreach. When the new outbreak emerged, prepositioned emergency supplies were gone, and understaffing delayed the response by 10 critical days. Jeremy Konyndyk, who led USAID’s response to the 2014 West African Ebola epidemic, noted that the dismantling of longstanding U.S.-funded health programs left critical gaps in outbreak detection, arguing the previous network would have caught the spread of the virus far earlier. The Trump administration disputes these claims, pointing to its $270 million donation for the outbreak response and saying the new structure is more aligned with U.S. priorities and more effective.

    By mid-May, 32 countries across the Americas, Caribbean and Africa had signed the proposed health memoranda of understanding, but at least three African nations — Ghana, Zimbabwe and Zambia — have openly rejected the deals, citing a range of sovereignty and economic concerns. In Zambia, the government pushed back against U.S. attempts to tie health aid to a separate critical minerals agreement that would grant Washington preferential access to the country’s natural resources. Zambian Foreign Minister Mulambo Haimbe said his government wanted to negotiate the two deals separately on their own merits, rather than accepting them as a bundled package. A State Department spokesperson did not explicitly confirm the linkage but affirmed the administration’s “America First” approach, noting U.S. foreign assistance is “strategic capital” designed to advance American interests, and that recipient nations are expected to prioritize U.S. strategic and commercial goals.

    The most widespread point of contention across countries that rejected the deals is data and biosecurity sovereignty. Ghana rejected a proposed $109 million bilateral health deal in April specifically over data protection concerns. Arnold Kavaarpuo, executive director of Ghana’s Data Protection Commission, said the deal required Ghana to share a broad scope of domestic health data, including patient information and disease-causing pathogen samples, with U.S. authorities, with no reciprocal protections for Ghanaian data or guarantees that Ghana would retain control over the information once it left the country. Zimbabwe similarly rejected a deal over data access concerns, noting that the agreement did not guarantee that local populations would get access to drugs or vaccines developed from their country’s pathogen samples — pointing to the existing, equitable data sharing framework already in place through the WHO.

    The U.S. maintains that the data it requests is the same aggregated, de-identified data that has been used for global infectious disease research for decades through previous programs like USAID and PEPFAR, and that sharing is critical to advancing global scientific progress. But global health governance experts say the context of the data requests has changed dramatically. Nelson Aghogho Evaborhene, a PhD fellow at Denmark’s Roskilde University, noted that while past data sharing relationships were unequal, they could be framed to domestic populations as altruistic efforts to improve public health. Today, he argues, the arrangement is clearly a transactional form of leverage that prioritizes U.S. interests.

    Many African nations also draw lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, when African countries held large amounts of valuable pathogen data but were left struggling to access vaccines developed from that data. More than 50 African civil society groups have signed an open letter warning that the new U.S. terms do not align with African national or regional interests, a position echoed by South Africa’s government. South Africa has already seen the U.S. withdraw all funding for its national HIV/AIDS programs over what Washington called Pretoria’s failure to meet unconnected policy requests, including a debunked claim that the country is carrying out a “white genocide” against the Afrikaner community. “Frankly speaking, no nation on Earth that respects itself should accede to [these requests],” South African Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi told the BBC, noting the U.S. seeks permanent access to local pathogen genome data in exchange for just five years of funding.

    Public health experts warn that the shift to a purely bilateral approach to global health ignores the transnational nature of pandemic and disease response. “Global health, by definition, is transnational, crosses borders, does not concern just one country,” said Dr. Kevin DeCock, a former director at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control who spent decades leading infectious disease response efforts. “Global health problems require global approaches, and no country can go it alone.”

    A small number of policy analysts argue the new strategy deserves a chance to prove its effectiveness. Writing for the conservative American Enterprise Institute, analysts Brett Schaefer and Roger Bate acknowledged the risks of walking away from the multilateral system, particularly the withdrawal from WHO, but argued the shift is not the end of U.S. global health leadership. Instead, they frame it as a test of whether conditional, results-driven bilateral partnerships deliver better outcomes than reliance on a multilateral institution that has repeatedly failed to reform itself.

    Months after the first deal was signed in Kenya, adoption of the new framework across Africa remains patchy and deeply divisive. While Tanzania has recently joined the partnership, the growing number of African nations rejecting the terms leaves the future of the Trump administration’s reshaping of global health aid far from certain.

  • The wrong man (of the match) – De Allende picks up Willemse’s award

    The wrong man (of the match) – De Allende picks up Willemse’s award

    An awkward administrative mix-up overshadowed an otherwise landmark day for South African rugby in Johannesburg, as two-time world champions the Springboks claimed a victory over England at Ellis Park, and the wrong player was incorrectly awarded the man of the match honor.

    The standout performance of the match belonged to Damian Willemse, who was marking his 50th test cap appearance for the Springboks. Playing at full-back, Willemse delivered a masterclass for the home crowd: he dominated aerial battles, landed a clinical, game-changing 50:22 kick, gained more attacking meters than any other South African player on the pitch, and consistently anchored the world champions’ offensive structure to great effect.

    Supersport, South Africa’s leading local sports broadcaster, had internally selected Willemse as the rightful recipient of the player of the match award. But a critical breakdown in communication between the commentary team and on-pitch presentation staff at Ellis Park led to the honor being mistakenly awarded to his teammate, Damian de Allende – himself a double Rugby World Cup winner with the Springboks, who went on to pose for the official presentation photos and completed the required post-award interviews before the error came to light.

    Remarkably, the mix-up did little to dampen the Springboks’ post-victory celebrations, with the two Damians posing together for photos to formally celebrate Willemse’s 50th cap milestone, a lighthearted moment that softened the impact of the on-field mistake.

    Looking ahead to the next round of the international rugby series, South Africa is set to host Scotland in Pretoria this coming Saturday. For that fixture, Willemse will shift position to take over de Allende’s spot at inside centre, after the double world cup winner was rested for the match. BBC Sport has confirmed it reached out to Supersport for official comment on the award error, with no response published as of yet.

  • Ebola deaths in Congo top 500 as health workers threaten to strike

    Ebola deaths in Congo top 500 as health workers threaten to strike

    A rapidly spreading Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has crossed a grim threshold, with official data confirming more than 500 fatalities from over 1,500 confirmed infections, even as the response effort faces a fresh crisis: frontline workers battling the outbreak have threatened to suspend work over unmet pay and unsafe working conditions.

    Congo’s Ministry of Health released the updated statistics in a Sunday night briefing, reporting that since the outbreak was first declared on May 15, a total of 1,561 confirmed cases have been documented, with 506 people succumbing to the virus. Current data shows the virus’ transmission continues to outpace the ability of response teams to contain it, according to the official update.

    The strike threat was issued Sunday by frontline teams deployed in Ituri province, the geographic epicenter of the current outbreak. Workers gave authorities a 24-hour deadline to address their grievances, warning that work would stop if demands were not met. The vast majority of these frontline staff are local health professionals, who have worked for months with minimal rest while navigating two extraordinary additional challenges: violent attacks from hostile local communities, and deep-rooted public skepticism about the existence of the virus.

    A copy of the workers’ formal notice to the national government, obtained by the Associated Press, details multiple long-running grievances. Workers both inside hospital facilities and out in the community conducting contact tracing and testing report they have not received earned hazard benefits since the outbreak was declared, and still lack sufficient basic supplies to carry out their high-risk work. Additional complaints include chronically low base salaries, disrespectful treatment from elite response teams deployed from the capital Kinshasa, a pattern of bringing in outside labor from other provinces instead of prioritizing hiring of local Ituri workers, and persistent shortages of adequate personal protective equipment and other critical medical gear.

    The timing of the strike threat has amplified concerns among public health officials, as it comes just days after enrollment opened for experimental clinical trials for Ebola treatments in the region. A work stoppage would not only derail the trial process, but also significantly slow broader efforts to curb transmission of the virus, which has already spread beyond Ituri to two additional eastern provinces: North Kivu and South Kivu.

    Response efforts have been complicated from the start by key biological characteristics of the current outbreak: this event is caused by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, for which there are no currently approved vaccines or specific antiviral treatments. By contrast, Congo’s 16 previous Ebola outbreaks were almost all caused by the more common Zaire strain, for which an effective, widely deployed vaccine already exists.

    Public health officials also still face major gaps in basic investigation of the outbreak: investigators have not yet identified patient zero, the initial case that sparked the current transmission chain, and are still working to trace tens of thousands of potential contacts who may have been exposed to infected people, a core step to stopping further spread. The World Health Organization has already warned that the first month of this outbreak was the worst on record for early Ebola spread in Congo.

  • Tanzanian authorities arrest dozens ahead of anti-government protests

    Tanzanian authorities arrest dozens ahead of anti-government protests

    DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania — Tanzanian security forces have detained dozens of opposition-aligned activists in the lead-up to a scheduled series of anti-government demonstrations, launching a preemptive crackdown on growing calls for sweeping democratic changes and the release of jailed opposition leader Tundu Lissu. The planned protests, called by youth activist groups for Tuesday, are intentionally timed to coincide with two major events in the country: the 72nd founding anniversary of Tanzania’s long-ruling political party, and the opening of the 50th annual Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair, widely known locally as SabaSaba — one of the East African nation’s largest recurring commercial gatherings.

  • Ebola deaths in DR Congo top 500 amid continued community transmission

    Ebola deaths in DR Congo top 500 amid continued community transmission

    KINSHASA, July 6 — The ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has reached a grim new milestone, with the total number of fatalities surpassing 500, national health authorities announced in an official update released Sunday.

    As of the latest data compilation, the outbreak has recorded 1,561 laboratory-confirmed Ebola infections, of which 506 have resulted in death. So far, 254 patients have successfully recovered from the virus, while 628 confirmed cases are currently receiving care in isolation facilities or hospital settings. Health officials are also investigating 354 additional suspected cases, which have already been linked to 110 deaths.

    The outbreak has spread across 36 separate health zones distributed across three DRC provinces, and transmission trends continue to move in a worrying direction. Official epidemiological data shows weekly confirmed case counts have kept climbing, with the 25th and 26th epidemiological weeks of the outbreak marking the highest infection levels recorded since the event began. Each of these two weeks reported more than 300 new confirmed cases, providing clear evidence that sustained community transmission is still ongoing across affected regions.

    In response to the growing public health crisis, the World Health Organization announced Thursday that a new clinical trial has begun recruiting patients in the DRC to test promising candidate treatments for the current strain of the virus. The ongoing outbreak is caused by Bundibugyo ebolavirus, a pathogen for which no approved vaccine or specific, standardized treatment currently exists. The trial is being hosted at the CME Ebola treatment center located in Rwampara health zone, Ituri Province — the geographic epicenter of the current outbreak.

  • More than 300 children killed or injured in Sudan war in 6 months, UNICEF says

    More than 300 children killed or injured in Sudan war in 6 months, UNICEF says

    CAIRO – In a stark new assessment released Monday, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has revealed that more than 300 children have been killed or injured across Sudan over the past six months, with the vast majority of these casualties linked to increasingly widespread drone strikes across the war-torn nation.

    Sudan’s brutal internal conflict, which pits the country’s official military against the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has stretched on since April 2023, leaving the nation fragmented and its population in crisis. Today, the heaviest fighting is concentrated in three key regions: Kordofan, Darfur, and Blue Nile states. According to UNICEF’s casualty analysis, drone attacks account for 60 percent of all child harm recorded in the latest six-month period.

    International bodies and major global powers including the United Nations, the United States, and the United Kingdom have raised urgent alarm over reports of potential mass atrocities as both factions battle for control of el-Obeid, a strategically critical city in North Kordofan. The battle for this urban center has worsened already desperate conditions for civilians trapped in the crossfire.

    The full scale of the conflict’s human cost is staggering. Official estimates place the total death toll at no less than 59,000 people, while more than 13 million Sudanese have been forced from their homes to escape violence. Large swathes of the country are now on the brink of famine, and more than 30 million Sudanese – nearly two-thirds of the nation’s population – require life-saving humanitarian aid to survive.

    Indiscriminate drone strikes and artillery shelling have repeatedly targeted civilian infrastructure that communities depend on, including schools, public markets, fuel depots, and water distribution stations. UNICEF estimates that these deliberate attacks have put more than 500,000 civilian lives at direct risk, and residents across contested areas have endured nearly a year of conditions that amount to a de facto siege, cutting them off from basic supplies and emergency care.

    “Children are being caught in a relentless cycle of violence, displacement and deprivation,” said Sheldon Yett, UNICEF’s top representative for Sudan. In line with the agency’s statement, the United Nations has issued a formal call to both warring parties, demanding that they uphold international humanitarian law by protecting civilians and civilian infrastructure, grant unimpeded, rapid, and safe access for humanitarian aid convoys, and take every possible measure to shield children from the harm of ongoing conflict.