Ceasefire ends in Sudan with more fighting and no route for aid

 My update on the crisis in Sudan for RFI English:

SUDAN CRISIS

Ceasefire ends in Sudan with fresh fighting and no route for aid

With a humanitarian ceasefire set to expire on Monday evening, fighting had already resumed in Sudan. International agencies are still struggling to deliver aid despite the week-long truce.

Issued on: 29/05/2023 - 18:09

Smoke billows over buildings in southern Khartoum on 29 May 2023, the last day of a frequently breached ceasefire, amid ongoing fighting in Sudan. © AFP

Residents reported gunshots in the capital, Khartoum, hours before the ceasefire was set to run out at at 9:45 pm local time.

Locals told AFP they could hear street battles and artillery fire.

The city has been turned into a war zone, with thousands of families left short of food, water and electricity.

The United States and Saudi Arabia, which brokered the the seven-day truce, called for it to be extended to allow the delivery of urgent aid.

But after repeated breaches by both sides, they said in a joint statement, no humanitarian corridors had been secured. 

Fighting spreads to Darfur

In six weeks of fighting between Sudan’s military and a rival paramilitary force, hundreds of thousands of people have fled the capital for the rest of the country or into neighbouring Egypt, Chad, Central African Republic and South Sudan.

The violence has also spread to other states, including Darfur, on the western border with Chad.

The governor of Darfur, a former rebel leader allied with the military, on Sunday called on civilians to take up arms.

This came after calls from the army for reservists and pensioners to arm themselves, stoking fears of an escalation into civil war.

• Sudan ceasefire breached as fears grow of ‘ethnicisation’ of the conflict

According to Toby Harward, principal situation coordinator in Darfur for the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR, continued fighting in the region "blatantly disregards ceasefire commitments".

In El Fasher in North Darfur, intermittent fighting between Sudanese armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has seen civilians killed over the last few days, Harward said.

Homes have been looted and tens of thousands newly displaced in the already war-ravaged region.

Humanitarian crisis

The persistent fighting has impeded the delivery of essential humanitarian aid, upon which 25 million people – over half the population – now rely to survive, according to the UN.

The UN sounded the alarm again on Monday, saying Sudan has become one of the highest-alert areas for food insecurity and requires "urgent" action from the international community.

• Sudan humanitarian crisis deepens as aid facilities become targets

The International Organisation for Migration says the conflict has displaced more than a million people inside Sudan, with a further 319,000 people seeking refuge over the border in Egypt, South Sudan and Chad.

At the Chadian border, UNHCR reported that the number of refugees arriving had now surpassed 90,000. 

South Sudan refugees forced to return

More than 72,000 refugees from South Sudan have also been forced to leave Sudan and return to the country they had fled.

"From Khartoum, I wanted to go and study medicine in Cairo," 20-year-old Bolis David told RFI's reporter Florence Miettaux in the South Sudanese border town of Renk.

"But because of the crisis, I was forced to come here and change my plans. I want to go to Malakal [in South Sudan] and then go to university in Juba."

"When I was in Khartoum I was a student and I had ambitions," said another returnee, 25-year-old Charles Williams.

"If only the government could look after us, I could pursue my dreams."

Aid agencies have warned that with the rainy season approaching in June, parts of Sudan will become inaccessible, while the risk of cholera, malaria and waterborne diseases will rise.

Facing severe shortages of supplies and staff, Doctors Without Borders said that they might be forced to suspend "life-saving activities" if humanitarian corridors do not materialise.

At least 1,800 people have been killed in the conflict since 15 April.

(with AFP)

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Sudan humanitarian crisis deepens as aid facilities become targets

 

Fighting eased in Sudan this week as a week-long humanitarian ceasefire allowed civilians to venture out. Yet for displaced people and refugees, humanitarian groups report a catastrophic situation.

Sudanese refugee children in Koufroun, Chad. © REUTERS - ZOHRA BENSEMRA

Issued on: 28/05/2023 - 14:13

Text by:Melissa Chemam with RFI

Sporadic fighting has spread from the capital Khartoum to other parts of Sudan, with humanitarian work becoming increasingly difficult. 

The International Organisation for Migration says battles have displaced more than a million people inside Sudan, with a further 319,000 people seeking refuge over the border in Egypt, South Sudan and Chad.

At the Chadian border, the UN's refugee agency, the UNHCR, reported that the number of refugees arriving in Chad from Sudan had now surpassed 90,000. 

Refugee influx

Agency spokeswoman Eujin Byun, who worked at the border for 10 days, told RFI that Chad had received 27,000 new refugees from Sudan in less than a week.

New refugee needed to be urgently moved to safer camps further from the border, Brun said, adding this was made difficult by the fact most refugees were women and children awaiting other family members.

"There is still fighting near the border; we need to relocate the refugees because of insecurity," Byun said. "We have 13 existing camps inside of Chad, and they are better equipped."

She also recalled that before the conflict erupted, Chad was already hosting 600,000 refugees, including 400,000 Sudanese from western Darfur.

Humanitarian aid at risk

The NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF) also denounced what it called the "unacceptable harassment" of its staff and the "violent looting and occupation" of its medical premises and supported facilities in Sudan.

“We are experiencing a violation of humanitarian principles and the space for humanitarians to work is shrinking on a scale I've rarely seen before,” said Jean-Nicolas Armstrong Dangelser, MSF's emergency coordinator in Sudan. 

Staff and patients were repeatedly facing the trauma of armed groups entering and looting MSF premises with medicines, supplies and vehicles being stolen all over the country, Dangelser added.

MSF, which runs projects in 10 states across Sudan, has been trying to scale up its activities since intense fighting broke out between the Sudanese military and the Rapid Support Forces on 15 April.

• World 'failing' to protect civilians caught in conflicts, UN chief says

These efforts have been continually hampered by violence, armed incursions, looting and logistical challenges. 

"This shocking disregard for humanitarian principles and international humanitarian law has impeded our ability to provide healthcare to people at a time when it is desperately needed," Dangelser said.

UN warehouses had been repeatedly attacked and looted, the UN's humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, Abdou Dieng, told RFI.

"We found the fridges unplugged and open with medicine that needed to be under controlled temperatures left completely unusable," he said.

Dieng called on those on both sides of the fighting to respect their commitment to humanitarian workers.

Conflict in sixth week

Sudan has endured more than five weeks of fighting that has claimed more than 1,800 lives, figures released Wednesday by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project show.

Violence between rival Sudanese forces also broke out in the western region of Darfur.

The conflict erupted after Sudan's de facto leader, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, clashed with his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

Burhan and Daglo had in 2021 staged a coup that unseated a civilian transitional government but later fell out in a bitter power struggle.

Africa Day: Celebrate the 60 years of the African Union

 

African Union celebrates 60 years of unity on Africa Day, despite huge challenges

The African continent this Thursday marked the 60th anniversary of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which became what is today known as the African Union (AU). The date has become Africa Day, celebrated in Africa and in the diaspora. But if the Union helped achieve a lot, many outline its shortcomings too.

The AU says that the organisation is celebrating the OAU/AU 60th Anniversary with “commemorative event featuring an opening ceremony, leadership statements, and a tribute to the founding fathers of the OAU.” 

It also focuses on the role of women in particular, with lots of posts on their website and social media. "This Africa Day,” it posted on Twitter, “we remember the often-forgotten women of Africa’s independence movement instrumental in fighting apartheid, to end colonial rule, and  encourage you to learn more about them."

Activities are marking the "historical moment", commemorated all over the African continent by the 55 member-countries of the AU.

They are expected, among other things, to "showcase major successes, milestones, challenges, and way forward under Agenda 2063."

The organisation "invites all African citizenry on the continent and in the diaspora to join in commemorative activities that reflect on the spirit of pan-Africanism," in celebrating 60 years of the continental organisation.

The AU encourages people in Africa, the diaspora and among allies to "use hashtag #OurAfricaOurFuture on social media to share images, videos and knowledge materials that showcase Africa driving it’s own development agenda and pride in our culture and herniate."

An organisation proudly responsible in helping with decolonisation and regional cooperation

The AU gathers 48 countries on the area of mainland Africa, plus six island nations considered as part of the continent. The organisation represents 1.3 billion people speaking 3,000 languages.

The first steps leading to the union began with the First Congress of Independent African States, held in Accra, Ghana on 15 April 1958. It was convened by Prime Minister of Ghana Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the first African country to get its independence from the British Empire, in 1987.

The Congress welcomed representatives from Egypt (then a constituent part of the United Arab Republic, with Syria), Ethiopia, Liberia, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, the Union of the Peoples of Cameroon and of the host country Ghana. The Union of South Africa was not invited.

The conference showcased progress of liberation movements on the African continent in addition to symbolising the determination of the people of Africa to free themselves from foreign domination and exploitation.

On this anniversary day, Kwame’s daughter, Samia Nkrumah, a politician herself, told RFI that the AH “should rejoice”. She added: “I am an optimist. I also think that there is enough material in favour of this African unity. If we look at Ghana's proposal in 1963, when Kwame Nkrumah addressed African leaders and urged them to unite, not only economically but also politically, he spoke of the need for us to achieve a continental union, not to be satisfied with ratifying trade agreements, but to have a common vision, a common political basis to advance this unity. If it took us so long, it is because we did not focus on this common political vision.” 

Five years after the congress, on 25 May 1963, representatives of thirty African nations met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, hosted by Emperor Haile Selassie, to create a regional body: the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). 

The charter was signed by all attendees, with the exception of Morocco, due to the attendance of Mauritania and the ongoing border dispute between the two nations.

By then more than two-thirds of the continent had achieved independence, mostly from imperial European states. And the OAU was founded to encourage the decolonisation of Southern Rhodesia, Angola, and Mozambique, and the end of apartheid in South Africa. Which eventually happened between the 1960s and early 1990s. 

Later, in 2002, the OAU was replaced by the African Union, with headquarters still based in Addis Abeba in Ethiopia.

Since, two states joined the union: South Sudan, which seceded from Sudan on 9 July 2011, on 27 July 2011, and Morocco, on 31 January 2017.

Yet, the AU has faced many challenges and in the past few years powerlessness more conflicts.

Africa Day is celebrated all over the world

Since 1963, Africa Day has been celebrated both in Africa and around the world, on 25 May, with themes are set for each year's Day.

The AU says it's a day to "promote the use of culture and arts to demystify & de-stereotype narratives about Africa and to promote the authentic history of Africa and African life", notably through "exhibitions and galleries or museum on the history of the continent," but also to "combat stereotypes and harmful social norms", to support African women and to highlight African success.

Beyond public and international organisations, Africa Day can be celebrated by anyone, including many sport and youth organisation.

In Uganda, for instance, the city of Jinja invites people to gather to 'The Dining Area' of the Railway Museum, "for an evening of Afro beverages, snacks, a quiz & a pan-Africanist biopic screening". 

Russian authorities published a statement claiming that their country "share with the peoples of the African countries the joy of celebrating the date that marks the anniversary of the liberation of the African continent from the colonial yoke," and that "the Russian Federation, a continuation State of the Soviet Union, played its role in the process of decolonisation."

And in France, cities likes Clermont-Ferrand offers a special programme for Africa Days 2023, including dinners with African food and film screenings.

Even companies joined in, like Google, which didn't miss the opportunity to create a special playlist and tweet it...

The Afro-Arab Youth Council (AAYC) tweeted that they celebrate Africa Day tomorrow by remembering "the African leaders that were created this day."

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), based in Paris, also celebrates Africa week, a series of a flagship events from its Africa Group, a body that "brings together the Member States of the African continent." The celebrations take place from 25 to 29 May. 

NB. My friends from the Africa Centre in London also wrote:

The Africa Centre

@TheAfricaCentre

·

3h

Today marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the Organisation of African Unity now the African Union. We join the world in promoting and raising awareness of the values, vision, missions and Pan-African ideals of the continental organisation. Happy #AfricaDay2023!

Bristol: Forty Years of Graffiti Arts - Part 1/3 - Where It All Began

A three-part series of articles on Bristol street art history for the excellent New-York-based UP Magazine

- part I: https://upmag.com/bristol-history/

Bristol: Forty Years of Graffiti Arts

Melissa Chemam May 23, 2023

As the Saatchi Gallery in London celebrates four decade of Graffiti history, Melissa Chemam retraces the history of the artists who emerged from Bristol, in this three-part series.

 

Bristol: Forty Years of Graffiti Arts - Where It All Began

Being based between Paris, London and Bristol since 2014, I’ve been working at
re-tracing the evolution of graffiti into street art, through the experience of artists
from the three cities.

These include Inkie, Banksy, Nick Walker, Goldie, eL Seed, and Robert Del Naja,
aka 3D, whose work at the centre of my book on Bristol, Out of the Comfort Zone 
(Anne Carrière, 2016, and Tangent Books, 2019). He was the first graffiti artist in
Bristol and one of the first in the UK.

To me, it’s obvious that Bristol had a key role in building up a platform for street
artists and for graffiti art from the early days, in 1983.

Since, the city’s artists contributed really interestingly to the scene, up to the making
of the most famous and most anonymous street artist in the world: Banksy.

If Banksy is the most talked about, and 3D the pioneer, Bristol never stopped
providing new graffiti writers and street artists.

In this series of three articles, I’m going to retrace the journey of this scene, through
their work of artists.

 

3D – Photo by Beezer

Thanks to UP Magazine.

Melissa Chemam is a writer and journalist, author of a book on Bristol’s music
and art scene, Massive Attack – Out of the Comfort Zone, published in March 2019
by Tangent Books.

She worked as a reporter from Europe, the Americas and Africa, for the BBC World
Service, DW, CBC, RFI, Art UK, Skin Deep, and more recently the New Arab.

Instagram: @melissaontheroad

Website: https://sites.google.com/view/melissachemam