African nations facing critical challenges rarely rank well in the annual World Happiness Report, but there are variations – including a drop in happiness measures across the Middle East and North Africa, and West Africa as home to the most-improved country. The annual report released Wednesday evaluates happiness on the…
Cameroon, Nigeria and South Sudan are all on the list of conflicts that bear watching in 2019, according to the International Crisis Group. “The international order as we know it is unraveling, with no clear sense of what will come in its wake,” said Robert Malley, CEO of the organization…
The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) is acting to stop a troubling trend in sexual attacks on women and girls travelling from villages to the town of Bentiu in the Unity region of the country. Approximately 125 women and girls have sought medical treatment after having been raped…
It’s less than a week until South Sudan plans a peace celebration in Juba with both President Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar expected to attend. Yet there’s little to celebrate for thousands of civilians still fleeing violence, and there’s evidence that the latest “peace on paper” isn’t reaching…
Five years of war in South Sudan has likely led to nearly 400,000 excess deaths, about half of them directly because of the violence, according to a new report by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. The research team used census and migration data to estimate population figures, and…
A Nepalese peacekeeper serving with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) was shot and wounded by a government soldier near the town of Yei at the weekend, raising questions over the country’s fragile new peace agreement. The convoy was travelling from the UN base in Yei to collect water,…
South Sudan’s oil production is recovering from years of conflict, according to Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth, the country’s Minister of Petroleum, but many obstacles remain even as oilfield operations come back online. Security was top of mind as South Sudan took the spotlight during the Africa Oil & Power conference in…
South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir promised more than once to release political detainees, most recently in June when signing a peace agreement in Khartoum. Yet South Sudanese are still arbitrarily arrested, detained and tortured, according to an Amnesty International report released Tuesday. Most recently, Dr. Peter Biar Ajak, a prominent…
While some observers noted celebration in the streets of Juba following news of a South Sudan peace deal Sunday night, others are more cautiously optimistic on whether this power-sharing agreement will hold. Among them would be opposition leader Riek Machar himself, who acknowledged there was still much work to do…
A report issued Tuesday by the United Nations human rights agency documents grisly attacks on South Sudanese civilians that appeared to be the work of government forces and groups aligned with them. The 14-page report, which records incidents in southern Unity state in April and May of this year, lists…
The opposing factions in South Sudan’s civil war traded accusations on Saturday over violations of a ceasefire agreement that was supposed to be in force beginning at midnight. The spokesman for the SPLA IO said government forces working with militia groups launched an attack against the opposition in Wau state…
The long-awaited meeting between President Salva Kiir of South Sudan and his exiled rival, Riek Machar, appeared to go well on Wednesday but few details have yet been released about the substance of their talks. Kiir and Machar, the former vice president who broke away from the administration and formed the…
Egypt is ranked the safest country on the African continent, while six of the 11 least safe countries listed in the 2018 Gallup Global Law and Order report were in sub-Saharan Africa. The annual rankings measure how much people trust their police force, whether they feel safe walking at night…
In South Africa, exiled South Sudanese opposition leader Riek Machar acknowledged meeting with former Kenyan presidential candidate Raila Odinga, but it remains to be seen if Machar will participate in direct peace negotiations with President Salva Kiir. “I have had a fruitful discussion with Hon. Raila Odinga in the quest…
Opposition leaders in South Sudan have rejected a peace proposal introduced by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the East African regional body that’s so far failed to broker an agreement to end the conflict between President Salva Kiir’s government and rebel group leaders. Mabior Garang, the SPLM-SPLA IO spokesman,…