A man seen holding gun at an unknown cattle camp in South Sudan. [Photo via Radio Tamazuj]
Kuajok — At least three people have been killed and six others injured following a deadly cattle raid on Thursday in Twic County of Warrap State in South Sudan, official said.
John Mabior, Acting Commissioner of Twic County, told Sudans Post on Friday that the incident occurred at 11 AM on Thursday when suspected armed youth from Mayom County of Unity State attacked cattle camps at Kuec-Amuool and raided hundreds of cows.
“This came from the side of Mayom County in the wee hours of Thursday. They attacked herders and made it away with the cattle towards Unity State,” said Mabior.
Mabior revealed that undisclosed number of cows were raided by the raiders who attacked three cattle camps in Turalei Payam Twi County.
He claimed young people from Twic County pursued the assailants to retrieve the stolen cows.
“Attempts were made by the rescuers, but they could not get most of the cattle back. As three casualties were incurred during the clash, and still the boys could not retrieve back the cows in large numbers.”
He emphasized the necessity of starting a peace discussion between communities in order to restore peace and stability.
Attempts to reach out to the Mayom County authorities for comment were unsuccessful. Sudans Post
- Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko took stock of his official visits to Uganda and Qatar, BelTA has learned.
“We are preparing seriously for every visit, whether we go on a visit or we host foreign delegations. We try to customize our proposals using a scientific approach. We should know what our partners need, what capabilities, priorities and interests they have, who our competitors are and who we work with. In fact, each country is a unique quest that we need to go through. In order to obtain the result, we need to prepare properly,” Roman Golovchenko emphasized.
According to the prime minister, the visits to Uganda and Qatar differed from each other in terms of goals, objectives and content. “The focus of our work in Uganda was absolutely clear to us. We just presented to the leadership of the country all our best practices and proposals. We established contacts with the people who are in charge of these projects, who have been tasked with studying them and finding solutions acceptable to all,” the Belarusian head of government said.
Roman Golovchenko pointed out that the case with Qatar is different. “This country is very familiar to us. We have been working here for many decades, successfully cooperating. The leaders of our countries have very warm relations. In general, I hear only positive feedback about Belarus from Qataris. But the purpose of this visit is quite clear: to restore the previous level of our relations and, probably, and to finalize the work on the proposals and projects which we had discussed earlier,” the prime minister summed up.
Sudanese General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo (left) and Foreign Affairs PSKorir Sing'oei. [File, Standard]
Dear Government of Kenya: It gets to a point...
It has been an exasperating week to be Kenyan—at least for those who care about diplomacy and foreign policy. One diplomatic misstep after another has left many wondering: When will it stop?
First came the baffling decision to host Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Nairobi.
The militia group, accused of committing atrocities—including mass killings, rape, and other war crimes—has been trying to establish a parallel government in Nairobi, while waging a war in Sudan.
"Kenya has a long history of providing platforms for peace negotiations without taking sides. We strongly believe the crisis in Sudan can only be resolved through dialogue, not military force,” said Foreign Affairs CS Musalia Mudavadi in a terse statement on Wednesday.
But the damage was already done.
The backlash was swift, and meetings involving the RSF in Nairobi were postponed, with an anticipated press briefing on Thursday abruptly cancelled.
Then came the blunder that turned Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary, Korir Sing’oei, into the punchline of an international joke.
“For the fake analysts who doubt the good faith of Kenya’s peace diplomacy, here is a cogent assessment by CNN’s Foreign Policy expert, Fareed Zakaria,” wrote Singoei on X.
But the video was a deepfake—a manipulated piece of misinformation. For a senior diplomat to share it without verifying its authenticity was not just careless; it was embarrassing. Worse still, this came amid growing scrutiny over Kenya’s handling of the Sudan conflict.
The Sudanese Sovereignty Council’s vice president, Malik Agar, issued a scathing rebuke in an open letter to President William Ruto yesterday.
“It is essential to remind President Ruto that his own country, to whom he owes a duty of care, faces numerous internal challenges, including poverty, youth unemployment and demands for transparency- issues that require his utmost attention. How can he claim to mediate Sudanese affairs when he has never experienced the scale of violence currently unfolding in Sudan?” he posed.
“The trail of actions taken by President Ruto represents an alarming trend of external interference that threatens to divide Sudan. Moreover, the backing of RSF by the Kenyan government is both morally questionable and legally indefensible,” the Vice President added. By Betty Njeru, The Standard
The President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Felix Tshisekedi, on Saturday, announced sweeping changes, including forming a “government of national unity” to prevent the security crisis in the eastern part of the country from spiralling into a broader regional war.
“The President of the Republic announces that he is certainly moving towards a Congolese national unity government and changes within the leadership of the Sacred Union,” a presidency spokesperson said on X, without giving further details.
On Saturday, the Congolese president met with members of the Sacred Union, the ruling parliamentary coalition composed of Tshisekedi’s Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) and allied parties.
The meeting focused mainly on the security situation, marked by advances of the March 23 Movement (M23) rebels. The rebel force has captured numerous cities and townships, including Goma and Bukavu, the capital cities of North Kivu and South Kivu provinces, respectively.
Tshisekedi said changes are necessary at both the political and military levels, mentioning a “complete overhaul” of the army to address security challenges and “internal betrayals.”
“The fight will be tough, but we will not give up. We must dismantle this system,” the DRC president said during Saturday’s meeting while rejecting any possibility of direct negotiation with the M23 rebels.
On Friday, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution calling on M23 rebels to immediately cease their offensive in eastern DRC and demanding that Rwandan forces stop supporting the armed group and withdraw from the country.
The DRC accuses Rwanda of supporting M23, while Rwanda says that the Congolese army has allied with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, a Rwandan rebel group accused of participating in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi ethnic group.
“We are certainly making diplomatic gains, but we must remain vigilant and active,” said Tshisekedi.
Diplomatic efforts have been launched at both the international and regional levels, most recently at the 38th African Union (AU) Summit, which called for an “immediate and unconditional” ceasefire and the “immediate withdrawal” of M23.
However, efforts to broker peace have repeatedly stalled. In December, an AU-led summit planned as part of the Luanda Process peace initiative aimed to bring Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame to the negotiating table, but it was abruptly cancelled.
UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix warned on Friday that the conflict in the DRC could spiral into a broader regional crisis. “The potential for regional spill over from the conflict in the DRC is a reality,” Lacroix said on social media platform X, echoing concerns shared by several international and regional leaders.
“A regional escalation must be avoided at all costs,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at the AU summit in Addis Ababa. “There is no military solution. The deadlock must end, and dialogue must begin.”
The mineral-rich eastern DRC remains a key conflict factor as various groups compete for control over resources such as coltan, tin, tantalum and gold.
More than 400,000 Congolese, mainly women and children, have arrived in Burundi since February for international protection, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees reported on Friday. In North Kivu, over 500,000 people were forced to flee their homes in January alone. Xinhua News Agency
Speaking to catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need,the source, who asked to remain anonymous because of fear of reprisals, corroborated reports that at least 70 trussed up corpses were discovered in North Kivu Province last week.
“Many of them had been bound and some beheaded. Among the victims were women, children and the elderly.”
According to the source, last weekend terrorists from Islamist group Allied Democratic Forces seized around 100 people in Maiba village in North Kivu’s Lubero region.
The source said: “It is likely that these victims were unable to resist or endure the forced march, because when the rebels take hostages, they make them travel with them, either as reinforcements for their group or as forced labour for the war effort.
“When there is loot, they need people to carry it. If you get tired on the way, you’re done. I believe that is what happened to these 70 people.”
The dead bodies were discovered in the Evangelical church in Kasanga just “just a few kilometres away from Maiba”.
The source added: “The Islamic groups have stepped up their attacks and raids in remote villages, killing thousands of Congolese civilians.
“Before they used to be in other areas, but now it is Lubero which is being attacked.”
“It is thought that the terrorists have local collaborators who facilitate their operations and that is what is really frightening.”
This mass killing follows heavy fighting between the M23 rebel militia, supported by neighbouring Rwanda, and Congolese Armed Forces.
M23 has taken key cities such as Goma and Bukavu, forcing half a million civilians to flee their homes in North Kivu since December 2024, according to UNHCR figures.
ACN’s source also expressed fears that M23 will take Butembo, North Kivu’s second largest city, following its seizure of Goma, the provincial capital, and Bukavu, capital of South Kivu.
The source said: “We are living through very, very difficult times. We are expecting the rebels to enter the city any moment now, as they are only 70km [43 ½ miles] away from here.
“There is a lot of psychological suffering in Butembo, because the war is literally at our door.
“We have seen how other regions were overrun by chaos and now it seems it is our turn.”
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