Category: General

The United States says it will review its support for an elite unit of the Somali National Army following its participation in a battle against a former ally in the fight against al-Shabab extremists.

An official at the U.S. embassy in Mogadishu spoke to VOA's Somali service following reports that U.S.-trained elite Somali forces known as Danab, or "lightning," took part in this week's fighting in the central Somali town of Guriel.

The fighting pits government troops and Galmudug regional forces against the militias of Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama'a (ASWJ). The moderate Islamist group is a rival to al-Shabab, which the United States considers the major militant threat in the region.

A Danab commander, Major Abdilatif Ahmed Ali Fayfle, was among those killed in the fighting.

The U.S. official in Mogadishu, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the embassy is aware of the reports that Danab forces were involved in the fighting and of the death of the Danab commander.

The official said the support would be reviewed as a result of that involvement.

"The United States provides training and support coordination to Somali National Army Danab Brigade units to advance our shared objective of defeating al-Shabab," said the official. "As a result of this incident, we will be reviewing the support we provide to ensure it is being used appropriately and consistent with U.S. policy and objectives."

VOA Somali tried unsuccessfully to contact the commander of Somali national forces, General Odawaa Yusuf Rageh, who was in the Guriel area this week.

The fighting in Guriel, which started on Saturday, has claimed the lives of dozens of people, injured scores of others, and displaced about 100,000 Somalis, according to local officials and health workers.

ASWJ militias were ousted from the area in early 2020 following the formation of a new administration for Galmudug state. The group's leaders fled the area at the time.

Earlier this month, the group suddenly remerged ahead of planned parliamentary elections, sparking the current armed conflict against the federal government and Galmudug forces.

The official said the U.S. extends condolences to the families and loved ones of all those affected.

"We call on all sides to cease military operations and engage in political dialogue towards peaceful resolution," said the official.

The U.S. has been training and providing support to Danab since 2013. Danab, which is currently about 1,400 military personnel, has bases in southern and central Somalia. In addition to training the Danab soldiers, the U.S. has been carrying out airstrikes against al-Shabab militants in support of the Somali government.

Source: Voice of America

Journalists in the Nigerian capital are demanding authorities probe the disappearance of a colleague who has been missing for two weeks and have held a protest calling for his release.

Tordue Salem, a parliamentary reporter with the independent Vanguard newspaper in Abuja was last seen on October 13 after leaving the national assembly building.

Efforts by family, friends and colleagues to locate the reporter have been unsuccessful.

The reasons for Salem's sudden disappearance were not immediately clear, but many cities, including Abuja, have seen a surge in criminal abductions for ransom in recent months.

No group has claimed responsibility for the journalist's disappearance but his colleagues said they feared the security forces may be to blame.

On Monday, Abuja-based journalists staged a protest in the capital to demand his release.

Dressed in black, the protesters carried placards with inscriptions such as "Journalism Is Not a Crime," "Free The Press," and "Cease Attacking Journalists".

They marched to the gate of the police headquarters where they demanded urgent action on the missing reporter.

"After having reviewed the disappearance and the seeming foot-dragging of the police, we are persuaded that he was targeted," Abuja journalist union leader Emmanuel Ogbeche told AFP.

"It wasn’t a random act," he said.

Ogbeche said another journalist, Jones Abiri, detained for more than two years by state security services without trial was released only after pressure by local and international rights groups.

Nigeria's national police said they were doing everything to find the missing journalist.

"We have commenced an investigation and we have done everything humanly and technologically possible to ensure he is found," national police spokesman Frank Mba said.

Source: Voice of America

Police in Uganda are investigating two explosions in Kampala. A blast targeting a bus killed one person on Monday, and an explosion Saturday at a bar in the capital that left one person dead and several others injured. Police blamed both attacks on the rebel Allied Democratic Forces, an affiliate of Islamic State, and said arrests have been made.

At a news conference Tuesday, Ugandan police spokesperson Fred Enanga said the commander of the Allied Democratic Forces, or ADF, Muhammed Nkalubo, coordinated the bombings. Enanga also said police have caught three men involved in setting up the attacks.

"So far, we've managed to arrest three collaborators who were receiving money from the ADF sources and distributing it to their recipients, to their operatives and agents in the country."

He said the suspects, identified as Abdulrahman Waibi, Sanyu Nakitende and Aisha Katushabe, distributed $114,000 in connection with the attacks.

Great Lakes Region security analyst Dismas Nkunda said it would not be surprising if the reports about the ADF are true, considering the group is based in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The group has been operating in the DRC for the past 20 years after being pushed out of Uganda. Authorities say the group is expanding to other countries in the region

Nkunda says the bombings could show new aggression on the part of the ADF.

"It would be a new chapter in understanding how the conflict in Uganda is going to be, if it's a terrorist institution that is bent on causing maximum harm."

The ADF, which opposes President Yoweri Museveni's government, has been affiliated with Islamic State since 2016, when Nkalubo pledged allegiance to the militant group.

On its Telegram page Monday, Islamic State claimed responsibility for the bombing at the bar, claiming members and spies of the Ugandan government were gathered there.

That evening, the bomb on the bus exploded as the vehicle headed to the Bushenyi district in western Uganda. One person was killed. The dead man was identified as Isaac Matovu, whom the police suspect was transporting the bomb.

No one has claimed responsibility for that attack.

Source: Voice of America

Sudanese military chief General Abdel-Fattah Burhan said Tuesday the army's overthrow of the country's transitional government was necessary to avoid a civil war.

"The whole country was deadlocked due to political rivalries," Burhan said at a televised news conference in Khartoum. "The experience during the past two years has proven that the participation of political forces in the transitional period is flawed and stirs up strife."

Deposed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and his wife, who had been detained Monday, were allowed to return to their home late Tuesday but were "under close surveillance," a statement issued by his office reported.

Burhan also acknowledged that "we arrested ministers and politicians, but not all" and said that some would face trial for allegedly inciting a rebellion within the county's military.

The U.N. Security Council met privately Tuesday to discuss the situation. The United States, along with council members Britain, Estonia, France, Ireland and Norway, called for the session. U.N. Special Representative for Sudan Volker Perthes briefed them from Khartoum.

Before the meeting, several council members reiterated their government's condemnation of the coup and the need for an end to violence against protesters.

"Two years ago, the people of Sudan put their lives on the line for democracy, and they should not have to do so again," British Ambassador Barbara Woodward told reporters.

Military chief Burhan declared a national emergency Monday and announced the end of the joint civilian-military Sovereign Council that had run the country since August 2019, shortly after the ouster of longtime autocrat President Omar al-Bashir.

He pledged the military would turn power over to a civilian government in July 2023 after general elections are held.

Demonstrators remained in the streets of Sudan's capital, Khartoum, to protest the arrest of Hamdok and other officials of the Sovereign Council.

The Sudan Doctors Committee said at least four people were killed and 80 injured Monday when security forces opened fire on demonstrators.

Despite the violence, protesters were on the streets of Khartoum again Tuesday, condemning the coup and shouting "no to military rule."

The U.S. Embassy in Sudan has warned Americans in the country to shelter in place.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the African Union and the Arab League were among those alarmed and dismayed Monday at the latest events in Sudan, and they called for the country to stay on a path toward civilian rule.

Guterres also expressed concern about the growing number of coups worldwide. "We are seeing a multiplication of coup d'états" that are the result of "strong geopolitical divides," he said.

There have been coups this year in Myanmar and in the African nations of Niger, Chad, Mali and Guinea.

He told reporters Tuesday that the Security Council's "difficulties" in taking strong measures have created an atmosphere in which some military leaders feel they can act with "total impunity."

"My appeal, obviously, is for — especially the big powers — to come together for the unity of the Security Council in order to make sure that there is effective deterrence in relation to this epidemic of coup d'états," Guterres said.

The White House said it was "alarmed" by the developments, while the U.S. State Department said it was suspending $700 million in financial assistance to the country.

A joint statement issued by the United States, Britain and Norway through the State Department condemned the coup and called on Sudanese security forces to immediately release all people "unlawfully detained."

"The actions of the military represent a betrayal of the revolution, the transition, and the legitimate requests of the Sudanese people for peace, justice and economic development," the statement read.

In a statement Tuesday, Sudan's ambassador to the U.S., Nureldin Satti, condemned the coup "that has put an end to the civilian democratic transition in Sudan."

"I am heartened to see that my colleagues in Brussels, Paris and Geneva, and New York have followed suit and condemned the military coup," Satti added. "We shall work with other colleagues in the diplomatic service and in the diaspora to resist the military coup in support of the heroic struggle of the Sudanese people to achieve the objectives of the December 19, 2018, revolution."

Hamdok, an economist and diplomat who has worked for the U.N., was named the country's transitional prime minister in August 2019. The transition received strong support from Western countries, including the United States, which removed Sudan from its state sponsors of terrorism list.

But Hamdok faced stiff resistance from elements of Sudan's military. On September 21, forces still loyal to al-Bashir used tanks to block a key bridge and attempted to seize power. The coup was put down, and dozens of soldiers were arrested.

Thousands took to the streets last week to protest the prospect of a return to military rule.

"This country is ours, and our government is civilian," protesters chanted.

Source: Voice of America

Sudanese protesters demonstrated into the night Monday after the military seized power in an apparent coup.

Security forces opened fire on protesters earlier Monday, killing three demonstrators, according to the Sudan Doctors Committee. The group said at least 80 people have been injured.

Sudan's military chief, General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, declared a nationwide state of emergency Monday and announced the end of a joint civilian-military council that ran the country for the past two years.

The general made a televised address after military forces arrested Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and other officials of the Sovereign Council.

Burhan said he dissolved the council and the government due to "political quarrels that were threatening the security of the country" and announced that a "new government of technocrats will soon be appointed."

Journalist Michael Atit, who is in the Sudanese capital, told VOA's South Sudan in Focus that thousands of protesters flooded the streets of Khartoum following reports of Hamdok's arrest. Atit reported hearing gunfire and seeing tires burned in the streets.

Atit said most telecommunications in Khartoum have shut down, including the internet and radio stations. Only a state-owned television station was on the air, broadcasting patriotic music.

U.N. Special Representative for Sudan, Volker Perthes, said the military "took control of Khartoum, closing the entrances and the bridges, and closing down the airport and also taking control of state TV."

He briefed reporters in New York virtually from Khartoum, saying that as night fell in the city, he could see from his location barricades still burning and could hear occasional gunshots. He described the situation as "fluid."

The events were a sharp turnaround from what many had hoped would be a transition toward a civilian-led, democratic government in Sudan, where former President Omar al-Bashir ruled with an iron fist during 30 years of rule that ended with his ouster by the military in April 2019.

"Those in support of a military takeover will argue that this is a 'correcting' of the path of the revolution, but I think many who have had their hearts set on a transfer of power to a full civilian rule will see this definitely as a setback," said Isma'il Kushkush, an independent journalist and former East Africa reporter for The New York Times.

"I see this as a setback for the transition into a democracy," Kushkush told VOA.

Hamdok, an economist and diplomat who has worked for the U.N., was named the country's transitional prime minister in August 2019. The transition won strong support from Western countries, including the United States, which removed Sudan from its state sponsors of terrorism list.

But Hamdok faced stiff resistance from elements of Sudan's military. On September 21, forces still loyal to al-Bashir used tanks to block a key bridge and attempted to seize power. The coup was put down, and dozens of soldiers were arrested.

U.S. embassy, AU Commission react

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the African Union, and the Arab League were among those expressing alarm and dismay Monday at the latest events in Sudan and called for the country to stay on a path toward civilian rule.

The White House said it was "alarmed" by the developments, while the U.S. State Department said it was suspending $700 million in financial assistance to the country.

"In light of these developments, the United States is pausing assistance from the $700 million in emergency assistance appropriations of economic support funds for Sudan," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.

"We reject the actions by the military and call for the immediate release of the prime minister and others who have been placed under house arrest. The actions today are in stark opposition to the will of the Sudanese people and their aspirations for peace, liberty and justice," said principal deputy White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

The U.S. Embassy in Khartoum warned Americans in the city to shelter in place.

The U.N. Security Council is set to meet Tuesday to discuss the situation.

Last week, thousands of protesters took to the streets to voice concern about the prospect of a return to military rule.

"This country is ours, and our government is civilian," protesters chanted.

'Major blow' to democracy in Sudan

The Sudanese Professionals Association, an organization made up of trade unions instrumental in organizing the protests, called on the public Monday to go out and occupy the streets to protect the transitional government.

"It is a major blow to the democratic experiment in Sudan," said Cameron Hudson, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Africa Center, an expert on Sudan and a former White House Africa director.

The apparent coup comes a day after U.S. Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman concluded two days of meetings in Sudan to underscore U.S. support for Sudanese democracy.

Hudson said Feltman received assurances from military leaders that they were committed to the work of the transitional government.

"The U.S. has invested more diplomatically in Sudan than almost anywhere else in the world in trying to prove that countries can move from autocracy to democracy," Hudson told VOA. "This is a setback to transitions in Chad, Mali and Guinea where the stakes are high, but which had not received nearly as much U.S. diplomatic attention as Sudan."

Kushkush said there had been other attempts at military intervention leading up to the coup Monday. However, despite earlier coup attempts and support for a military takeover, Kushkush said, there were also thousands of Sudanese in several cities and throughout the diaspora voicing support of the democratization process.

"From Day One of [the ousting of] al-Bashir, the greatest fear that many Sudanese had was that the fate of the Sudanese revolution will be similar to that of the similar uprisings in the region and perhaps that the greatest fear is unfolding as we speak," Kushkush said.

Source: Voice of America