Africa
Two years of war in Sudan: international conference aims to bring relief to suffering population
Diplomats and aid officials from around the world met Tuesday in London to try to ease the suffering from the 2-year-old war in Sudan, a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced 14 million and pushed large parts of the country into famine.
The African Union, which co-hosted the one-day conference with Britain, France, Germany and the European Union, called for an “immediate cessation of hostilities.”
But UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy acknowledged that achieving peace would take time, renewed international effort and “patient diplomacy.”
The main aim of the conference was not to negotiate peace, but to relieve what the United Nations calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Attendees included officials from Western nations, international institutions and neighboring countries – but no one from Sudan. Neither the Sudanese military nor the rival paramilitary it is fighting has been invited.
Lammy told delegates that “many have given up on Sudan,” concluding that continued conflict is inevitable. He said a “lack of political will” is the biggest obstacle to peace.
“We have got to persuade the warring parties to protect civilians, to let aid in and across the country and to put peace first,” Lammy said.
Two years of hunger, fighting and destruction
Sudan plunged into war on April 15, 2023, after simmering tensions between the Sudanese military and a paramilitary organization known as the Rapid Support Forces. Fighting broke out in the capital, Khartoum, and spread across the country, killing at least 20,000 people – though the number is likely far higher.
Last month the Sudanese military regained control over Khartoum, a major symbolic victory in the war. But the RSF still controls most of the western region of Darfur and some other areas.
More than 300 civilians were killed in a burst of intense fighting in Darfur on Friday and Saturday, according to the U.N.
The war has driven parts of the country into famine and pushed more than 14 million people from their homes, with more than 3 million fleeing the country, to neighboring countries including Chad and Egypt. Both sides in the war have been accused of committing war crimes.
The World Food Program says nearly 25 million people — half of Sudan’s population — face extreme hunger.
Aid agency Oxfam said the humanitarian catastrophe risks becoming a regional crisis, with fighting spilling into neighboring countries. It said that in South Sudan, itself wracked by recent war, “the arrival of people fleeing Sudan’s conflict has put more pressure on already scarce resources, which is deepening local tensions and threatening the fragile peace.”
The electoral process for Gabon’s local and legislative elections is officially underway.
The timetable for the September 27 vote has been announced and members of the national election commission have been sworn in by the Constitutional Court.
The revision of electoral rolls across the country begins on July 14 and continues until August 12. This will ensure new voters are added and deceased or ineligible voters removed from the rolls. It will also register any changes of voting centre and update personal data.
People aged 18 and over with a Personal Identification Number (PIN) are automatically registered and need only choose their polling center.
Local electoral commissions will be set up by July 26 and deployed across the country and abroad.
Nominations for the legislative and local elections are open from July 27 to August 7.
Fifth Republic
The Ministry of the Interior and national election commission reaffirmed their commitment to ensuring “credible, transparent and peaceful” elections, and called on citizens to play an active part in building the Fifth Republic.
Last week, two years after seizing power in a coup, President Brice Oligui Nguema unveiled a new political party, the Democratic Union of Builders, or UDB. Oligui secured nearly 95 percent of the vote in April’s presidential election.
The launch of the UDB appears to signal Oligui’s intent to transition from military leader to long-term political figure. While he initially presented himself as a reformer leading a transitional government, the creation of a political party gives structure to his leadership and a platform for future governance.
Scheduled to take place for the first time in almost forty years, local and municipal elections in the Central African Republic have been once again postponed.
Initially planned for the end of August, officials say the vote will now be held in December, in conjunction with the legislative and presidential elections.
President Touadéra, who has been in office since 2016, launched a biometric voter registration exercise last year to update the electoral roll.
Authorities say the postponement is due to a delay in mobilizing funds as well as technical and organizational hiccups.
Members of the opposition BRDC are calling for an overhaul of the electoral authority and a dialogue with President Touadéra.
CAR has been battling conflict since 2013 when predominantly Muslim rebels seized power and forced the then-president from office. The United Nations has said the elections represent a ”crucial opportunity” to strengthen democratic governance, promote reconciliation and consolidate stability.
The landlocked country is one of the poorest in the world, despite having significant natural resources, including uranium, oil, gold and diamonds.
After 10 days of negotiations, including a final overnight marathon, France has reached an agreement with New Caledonia. The deal grants the South Pacific territory more autonomy — but stops short of the independence sought by many indigenous Kanaks.
President Macron hailed the deal as historic but it still needs final approval in New Caledonia. If passed, it would create a state of Caledonia within the French Republic incscribed in the French constitution and a Caledonian nationality alongside French nationality.
The talks stemmed from deadly rioting last year prompted by proposed changes to electoral rules that pro-independence groups said would marginalize Indigenous voters.
The territory has held three referenda on the question of independence, with voters each time opting to remain with France.
A special congress will be held to finalize next steps. Media reports say they could include more sovereignty for New Caledonia over international affairs, security and justice.
The accord could also eventually allow New Caledonians to change the territory’s name, flag and hymn.
Negotiators stressed the importance of rehabilitating and diversifying New Caledonia’s indebted economy, which depends heavily on nickel mining, and making it less reliant on the French mainland.
France colonized the Pacific archipelago in the 1850s, and it became an overseas territory after World War II, with French citizenship granted to all Kanaks in 1957.
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