The authorities in South Sudan have said at least 169 people, including senior officials, were killed on Sunday when a group of unidentified men launched an assault on an area in the north of the country. Describing the attack as carried out by dozens of armed youth, Ruweng Administrative Area’s Information Minister James Monyluak Mijok alleged that they came from neighbouring Unity state and were linked to the Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO). The SPLA-IO has denied any involvement in the attack, accusing the Unity state authorities of politicising the violence. The UN has repeatedly warned that the…
Author: Montage Africa
By Rédaction Africanews and Agencies Benin’s Republican Police issue wanted notice for suspected coup leaders and hefty reward for information to help locate them. Almost three months after an attempted coup in Benin, the alleged ringleaders now have a price on their head. Beninese authorities have issued a wanted notice for nine people, including the operation’s suspected mastermind. Information that leads to their location carries a reward of more than €30,000. The failed coup targeted President Patrice Talon and his government who the rebels accused of mismanaging the security situation in Benin’s north. The army has suffered major losses at…
The US has imposed sanctions on the Rwandan army and four of its senior commanders, accusing them of fuelling the conflict in neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo. Fighting has persisted despite a US-brokered peace deal in December between the Congolese and Rwandan governments aimed at ending the long-running conflict in eastern DR Congo. The US treasury department accused the Rwandan army of undermining the peace deal by training, equipping and fighting alongside the M23 rebel group. Rwanda swiftly rejected the accusations, saying the sanctions had unfairly targeted one side and “misrepresent the reality and distort the facts of the…
By Rédaction Africanews and Agencies African nationals were among those injured in an Iranian missile strike on the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi’s Ministry of Defence said in a statement published on social media. Three people from Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh were killed in the weekend attack, the ministry said, and 58 others sustained minor injuries. They include people from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Uganda, Egypt, and a number of Asian countries. Iran has launched dozens of ballistic missiles towards the UAE since Saturday, when Israel and the United States began their joint bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic. Tehran has retaliated…
By Agencies Congo-Brazzaville’s 82-year-old President Denis Sassou Nguesso says he is preparing the ground for a new generation of leaders as he seeks re-election in the March 15 presidential poll. In an interview in the southern city of Dolisie, Sassou Nguesso said the current leadership is laying the foundations for young people to eventually take over. “We want young people to understand that all the work we are doing is also to prepare the conditions for their arrival, because we will not remain in power forever and their turn will come,” he said. “We were young as well, like them.…
By Rédaction Africanews with AFP Amid growing concern among European leaders about wavering US commitments to help defend the continent, France said it will increase the size of nuclear arsenal for the first time in decades. Speaking at a submarine base in Brittany on Monday, President Emmanuel Macron said faced with geopolitical upheaval “fraught with risks”, it will also intensify nuclear weapons cooperation with eight European allies. Macron added that France will no longer disclose figures relating to its nuclear arsenal, unlike what may have been done in the past. “So, to be free, one must be feared, and to…
By Africanews Large crowds of Iranian people gathered at Tehran’s Enqelab Square on Sunday morning to mourn Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in U.S.-Israeli attacks on Saturday. The Iranian government announced a 40-day mourning period after the country’s state media confirmed the leader’s death on Sunday. Several Iranian senior officials, including Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Abdolrahim Mousavi, Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh, Secretary of the Defense Council Ali Shamkhani, and Mohammad Pakpour, chief commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, were also killed in the strike. The mourners, some crying, were in grief and…
US actor Michael B Jordan has scored a surprise win at the Actor Awards, formerly known as the Screen Actors Guild Awards, giving him a surge of momentum in the final weeks before the Oscars. He was named best actor for his role in vampire horror Sinners, which also scored the top prize of the night – best ensemble cast. “I don’t even know where to begin, I wasn’t expecting this at all,” Jordan said in his speech, adding that he felt “so honoured and privileged” to have been nominated. Accepting the best ensemble prize, his co-star Delroy Lindo said…
Paul Battison Kenya’s Brigid Kosgei set a new course record with a commanding victory at the Tokyo Marathon. The 32-year-old finished in 2:14:29 – more than two minutes ahead of Ethiopia’s Bertukan Welde, who was second in 2:16:36. Welde’s Ethiopian compatriot Hawi Feysa came third in 2:17:39. The previous course record was 2:15:55 – set by two-time Tokyo winner Sutume Asefa Kebede in 2024. Kosgei, who won marathon silver for Kenya at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, is planning to represent Turkey at the 2028 Los Angeles Games. “We have a lot of athletes in Kenya,” said Kosgei. “I want…
At least 55 Ghanaians have been killed fighting in the war in Ukraine, with two others currently held as prisoners of war, Ghana’s foreign affairs minister says. On a trip to Kyiv, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said that about 272 Ghanaians are believed to have been lured into the conflict since 2022, citing Ukrainian authorities. Ablakwa described the figures as “depressing and frightening,” saying Ghana “cannot turn a blind eye to these heartbreaking statistics”. He did not say whose side the Ghanaians had been fighting on but Ukraine’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that more than 1,700 people from 36 countries…