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Civilians have fled from SInga and Sennar state as RSF forces have moved in [Getty]

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have taken a key town that edges them closer to Port Sudan, where the Sudanese army and UN are based. Paramilitary forces battling Sudan's regular army for more than a year said on Saturday they had taken a key state capital in the southeast, prompting thousands to flee, witnesses said.

"We have liberated the 17th Infantry Division from Singa," the capital of Sennar state, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) announced on X.

Residents confirmed to AFP: "The RSF have deployed in the streets of Singa", and witnesses reported aircraft from the regular army flying overhead and anti-aircraft fire.

Earlier Saturday, other witnesses said there was fighting in the streets and "rising panic among residents seeking to flee".

Sudan has been gripped by war since April 2023, when fighting erupted between forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the RSF led by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

The conflict in the country of 48 million has killed tens of thousands, displaced millions and triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

The latest RSF breakthrough means the paramilitaries are tightening the noose around Port Sudan on the Red Sea, where the army, government and UN agencies are now based.

The RSF controls most of the capital Khartoum, Al-Jazira state in the centre of the country, the vast western region of Darfur and much of Kordofan to the south.

Sennar state is already home to more than one million displaced Sudanese. It connects central Sudan to the army-controlled southeast.

Posts on social media showed thousands of people fleeing in vehicles and on foot, and witnesses told AFP "thousands of people have taken refuge on the east bank of the Blue Nile" river east of Singa.

RSF forces are also besieging the town of El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state.

On Thursday, a report cited by the United Nations said nearly 26 million people in war-torn Sudan are facing high levels of "acute food insecurity".

The RSF have been implicated in acts of ethnic cleansing against the country's non-Arab population, killing thousands in the western region of Darfur last year. MENA

HE Minister of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dr. Mohammed bin Abdulaziz bin Saleh Al Khulaifi met Saturday with HE State Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Federal Republic of Somalia Ali Mohamed Omar who is on a visit to the country. 

The meeting discussed cooperative relationship between the two countries and ways to enhance them, in addition to the latest developments in Somalia and a range of topics of mutual interest.

HE Minister of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated, during the meeting, the State of Qatar's support for the efforts aimed at strengthening security and stability in Somalia and achieving development and prosperity for the fraternal people of Somalia. Distributed by APO Group 

Haiti has lived through one crisis after another. But the current prolonged crisis in Haiti has brought insecurity and violence, and has contributed to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Haitians. 

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), there has been a 60 percent increase of internally displaced people within the country since March. These people have been displaced by spiraling gang violence, the collapse of the government, and the resulting economic crisis

“The figures we see today are a direct consequence of years of spiraling violence—that reached a new high in February—and its catastrophic humanitarian impact,” Philippe Branchat, the head of the IOM in Haiti, wrote in a press release reporting the increase. “The unending crisis in Haiti is pushing more and more people to flee their homes and leave everything behind. This is not something they do lightly. What’s more, for many of them, this is not the first time.”

In the past, migration out of Haiti has been the primary escape valve for those who are internally displaced. But as the country has seen an increasingly deteriorating situation, this option has been largely cut off by the international community. Migration out of Haiti has been the primary escape valve for those who are internally displaced.

“It’s very very hard to leave Haiti right now,” Nicole Phillips, a lawyer with the Haitian-American Haitian Bridges organization, tells The Progressive. “There aren’t many international flights, and with a Haitian passport, there are very few places that will legally allow you to enter. People are trapped.” 

Haiti has experienced major economic problems, which, along with the rise of gangs taking over neighborhoods, has contributed to massive displacement. Many of those who do manage to flee the capital city find themselves without means to support their families. 

As Haitians struggle, the country’s government has taken steps to stabilize. Earlier this month, the country appointed a new interim prime minister, who took steps to establish a transitional council with the goal of organizing democratic elections.Interim Prime Minister Garry Conille, an academic who previously worked for UNICEF, takes over leadership from Ariel Henry, who resigned in April 2024. Henry had held the office following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021, while delaying elections as Senate term limits expired creating a political vacuum.

But regaining the confidence and economic stability of residents will take time. 

“Haiti has gone through so much in the last couple years, even with the deployment of the police force and the talk of elections, improvements will be so slow,” Phillips says. “It will be a long time before the folks that have been displaced will be in a situation where they can return home or where they can find new homes.” 


As Haiti’s government moves to stabilize, Kenyan police officers have started arriving in the island nation to respond to rampant gang violence.  

On June 25, the first 400 of a planned 1,000 police officers flew to Haiti to begin establishing the international force that is meant to quell gang violence. The people of Haiti are welcoming the deployment with deep-seated wariness due to the recent history of other military deployments.  

The Associated Press reported last month that the deployment of Kenyan police forces was briefly delayed due to the lack of adequate infrastructure, including bases for police units were still under construction and the police units lacked critical resources, including vehicles.


Aprimary promoter of the deployment to Haiti, the Biden Administration anticipates that the force will eventually grow to 2,500 police officers from more than a dozen countries, including Jamaica, Canada, and the United Kingdom. 

The police deployment to Haiti is already being met by doubt, in part due the sordid history of the previous United Nations’ Peacekeeping force known as The United Nations

Stabilization Mission in Haiti, or MINUSTAH. During the peacekeeping force’s nearly thirteen-year existence, soldiers were accused of numerous human rights violations, including massacres and introducing cholera to the island following the January 2010 earthquake that devastated the country.

“[MINUSTAH] casts an enormous shadow,” Phillips says. “[MINUSTAH left] a legacy of sexual exploitation, abuse, and not protecting the people they were supposed to protect.”

The threat of new human rights violations in Haiti by security forces is worsened by the agreement between Haiti and Kenya for the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSSM), which grants Kenyan personnel blanket immunity. 

“Here we go again in terms of immunity for human rights abuses,” Phillips says. “Which, sadly, we anticipate.” By , The Progressive Magazine

Keeping distressed firms is becoming difficult because of massive debts that cannot be repaid within the ‘administration period. PHOTO | SHUTTERSTOCK

Kenya’s financially distressed companies are grappling to secure a lifeline through administration, owing to their huge debts and late implementation of recovery measures, which have ended up pushing them into liquidation.

An administration process involves appointing an administrator to run a distressed firm for one year, with a possibility of extension by the court or sold as a going concern to enhance value for the benefit of its creditors.

Placing a firm under administration helps to regain control when it has serious cash flow problems, is insolvent, and facing serious threats from creditors. This helps to rescue the company, making it achieve better results for creditors or control, and then sell off its property. 

Data by the Office of the Official Receiver, Kenya shows petitions for company liquidations are on the rise and have hit 30 since July 2023, highlighting the extent of financial distress facing businesses due to economic downturn and governance-related issues.

Read: Kenya facing a serious liquidity crisis, treasury says

Administrators say keeping distressed companies is becoming difficult because of massive debts that cannot be repaid within the ‘administration period’ of up to 18 months, citing the collapsed retail chain Nakumatt that went under with an estimated Ksh38 billion ($292.6 million) worth of claims.

Liquidation (or winding up) is the process by which a company's existence is terminated by selling its assets to pay off its debts. Any monies remaining after all debts, expenses, and costs have been paid off are distributed amongst the company's shareholders.

Since the introduction of the administration process in 2015, Nakumatt Holdings Ltd, ARM Cement Plc and Deacons Plc were the first to go through the process, with hopes that their recovery would set a positive trend for other companies likely to undergo the same process.
But these companies failed to survive the administration process paving the way for their liquidation.

“These companies are heavily indebted and they can’t come out of that big hole so what we have been basically doing is to try to sell those assets to somebody who can buy them and put them to better use because you find that by the time the company has gone that route, it can take them long to recover. 

I give an example of Nakumatt with Ksh38 billion ($292.6 million) debt, you can’t expect to recover that and no bank will give you more money to pay that,” says Peter Kahi, a partner at PKF Consulting (K) Ltd, a consultant firm in Nairobi.

“So, basically, we look at options. The first option is to see whether we can rescue that company, the second option is to try and maximise the returns for all creditors so that at least they get something, and if you can’t achieve that the third option is to sell the assets to pay for preferential creditors and other claims. Basically, most administrators have been going for option two or option three.”

The number of petitions for liquidation of companies presented to court has more than doubled in the last nine years, even after the new Insolvency Act (2015) introduced a provision for an ‘administration process’ to give a chance to financially troubled firms to put their houses in order and revert to the recovery path.

Petitions for liquidations by the court rose to 30 in the 2023/2024 fiscal year, from 13 petitions in the 2015/2016 fiscal year while the number of companies pushed into voluntary liquidation increased to nine from five in the same period. 

Some 22 companies were put under liquidation through direct appointment in the 2023/2024 financial year, according to the Office of the Official Receiver.

“I can say these companies don’t go into liquidation but somebody else comes to make better use of their assets because if you continue running that company, how many years will it take you to pay off ($292.6 million) debt because the administrators’ period is 12 months, with the first extension of maybe six months, that is what the law says,” Mr Kahi says.

Ken Gichinga, a Chief Economist at Mentoria Economics says recovery of companies under administration requires a combination of administration and managerial expertise, to be able deal with problems related to the weak macroeconomic environment and the ‘trust deficit’ reputation crisis occasioned by the “receivership” tag.

Read: Cross-listed firms hard-hit by drop in trade volumes

“Companies in receivership have to fight two battles which are a weak economic environment and the trust deficit battle associated with the high risk profile of companies in receivership. So you will find that the appointed administrators of these companies (in administration) end up fighting two battles instead of one battle and that is the reason it has been hard to revive these companies,” says Mr Gichinga.

“From the word ‘administrator, the administrators’ main concern is to keep the companies in administration as a going concern, but what these companies really need is almost a double level of management trend, to be able to navigate this weak macroeconomic environment and to win the confidence of the customers. What we need is administrators working together with management gurus to revive these companies.”

Administrators say that normally they are called upon when companies are in the intensive care unit with nothing to salvage as most assets have been stripped by the directors.

These companies are going through a crisis; they cannot meet their debt obligations, salaries are in arrears, auctioneers are calling at the doors, the tax man is calling and critical supplies like electricity have been disconnected.

“There are three objectives of any administration. Reviving a company is the first and depends to a large extent on the state of the company at the point of the intervention,” George Weru, a business recovery partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said in an earlier interview.

“If the intervention is too late when the distress is very significant this is not practical. The administrator proceeds to the next objective which is to sell the business as a going concern. This ensures continuity of the business and saves jobs which to me is still a success.”

Under the Insolvency law, a company is deemed unable to pay its debts if it fails to pay a debt of Sh100, 000 or more after 21 days of a written demand being served upon it.

According Maina & Onsare Partners Advocates LLP, the process of administration is intended to offer breathing space for insolvent companies while availing better returns and packages for creditors which are not ordinarily available in liquidation.

“It also gives companies going through financial turmoil an opportunity to put their acts together. This allows them to continue operating instead of the earlier practice of abruptly killing them as was the case in the previous statutes (now repealed),” the law firm says on its website.

“It is an alternative rescue process which leads to a stay of past and future legal proceedings as envisaged by Section 560 & 561 of the Insolvency Act hence making it cheaper for the company.”

Up until 2015, a company in financial distress was met often with the liquidation culture triggered voluntarily or by a creditor or subject to the court’s supervision.

A company that was unable to pay its debts but did not want to ascribe to the liquidation culture had the option of either compromising with its creditors and/or undergoing reconstruction through amalgamation or merger with another company and the liabilities duly transferred. By JAMES ANYANZWA, The East African

Uganda has started local production of the Tornado 4x4 wheeled armored vehicle, thanks to a partnership with UAE-based Streit Group. According to information published by "Military Africa," this collaboration marks a major milestone in Uganda's quest for self-reliance in defense manufacturing.

The Tornado is a 4x4 APC Armored Personnel Carrier fully designed and developed by the UAE-based company Streit Group. (Picture source: Streit Group)


President Yoweri Museveni inaugurated the joint venture, NEC-Streit Uganda Ltd., on July 27, 2022. The manufacturing facility, located in Nakasongola, near Lake Kyoga, represents a strategic alliance between the National Enterprise Corporation (NEC), the commercial arm of the Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF), and Streit Group, one of the world's largest manufacturers of armored vehicles. NEC was established in 1989 by an Act of the Parliament of Uganda.

The new facility is dedicated to assembling vehicles and full-scale manufacturing, ensuring that the products are truly "Made in Uganda." It is equipped to produce a variety of armored vehicles for the military, police, VIP protection, and other security applications. This local production capability is expected to significantly reduce Uganda's dependence on imported armored vehicles, fostering economic self-sufficiency and technological advancement.

The partnership was first announced in late 2021, with the establishment of NEC-Streit Uganda Ltd. dedicated a year later. This venture is part of a broader initiative to strengthen Uganda's defense industry, providing a range of security solutions that include technology transfer. The collaboration also envisions the production of additional security equipment such as unmanned aerial vehicles, armored boats, and advanced communication systems.

President Museveni's opening of the NEC-Streit facility underscores the importance of this project in enhancing Uganda's defense capabilities and economic development. The factory is not only expected to create numerous employment opportunities but also significantly contribute to the local economy, fostering economic self-sufficiency and technological advancement.

This development aligns with Uganda's broader strategy to increase its self-reliance and bolster its defense industry. By integrating advanced technologies and local expertise, the NEC-Streit partnership is set to position Uganda as a key player in the regional defense market, providing robust security solutions to meet both local and international demands.

The Tornado, a 4x4 Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle, features a classic body-on-frame design with a V-shaped armored hull that provides exceptional mine protection. It offers advanced protective features, superior off-road mobility, and is capable of operating in urban, mountainous, and challenging rural terrains. Conceptually similar to the Streit Typhoon, the Tornado benefits from the same advanced design and testing, ensuring the highest level of security.

Engineered to withstand ballistic arms fire, mine blasts, IEDs, and other emerging threats, the Tornado’s V-shaped hull is designed to deflect blast waves and debris away from the crew compartment. Its superior mobility ensures that troops can traverse dangerous terrain under the riskiest conditions, making it highly effective against IEDs. The vehicle features a tire inflation system controlled by the driver on the move, capable of maintaining tire pressure even with up to four bullet punctures.

The standard seating configuration includes positions for the driver, commander, gunner, and seats for eight additional crew members. The Tornado provides protection against both blast and ballistic threats up to STANAG 4569 Level 3. It is equipped with proven rigid axles, ensuring simple and economical maintenance when sophisticated repair facilities are unavailable.

Primarily designed as a mounted infantry troop carrier, the Tornado 4x4 is also suitable for military convoy protection, border patrol, counterinsurgency operations, troop transportation, medical evacuation, command and control, or as a forward observation platform (FOO). Global Defence News

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