JUBA, June 10 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan and Malawi on Thursday signed a trade agreement that will see Lilongwe export its surplus food to Juba to help ease the widening cereals deficit in the east African nation.

Kuol Athian, minister of Trade and Industry, revealed that the deal will allow Malawian businesses to export food to South Sudan which is facing this year's highest cereals deficit estimated at 465,600 metric tons.

"There is shortage of food in the country (South Sudan), we have been importing from neighboring countries but our friends from Malawi government have seen our suffering and want to rescue us," Athian told journalists in Juba.

Sosten Gwengwe, Malawian minister of Trade, disclosed that his country is looking forward to exporting food to offset this year's cereals surplus estimated at 1.2 million metric tons.

"We produced 4.2 million metric tons of maize, the country consumed about 3 million and we still have 1.2 million that we can export to other countries," said Gwengwe.

Athian said that they would issue Letters of Credit to South Sudanese to facilitate them to import food from Malawi.

Meanwhile, Malawi said it expects to import refined petroleum products from South Sudan to cut costs of importing from the Arab world.

South Sudan is soon to complete its Tharjath refinery in Unity state that will boost its capacity to export to its neighbors like Ethiopia and Sudan.

"This MOU we signed today will allow us (Malawi) to get what we are lacking from South Sudan, and South Sudan will be getting what they are lacking from Malawi," said Gwengwe. - Xinhua

Photo DailyTrust

Nigeria and Burundi are set to sign bilateral agreements on trade, investment, education, technology and tourism.

The Head of the Nigerian Mission in Burundi, Amb Elijah Onyeagba, announced this in a statement.

He said the inaugural session of the Nigeria-Burundi Joint Commission is slated to hold in Bujumbura, Burundi from 5th -10th July, 2021.

Onyeagba said on the top on the agenda of the Joint Commission are Education Cooperation, Political Consultation and Technical Aid Corps.

The statement read, “The Nigerian Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Burundi, Amb. Elijah Onyeagba PhD, is optimistic that this Joint Commission will revolutionalize trade and investment, improve the standard of living of both countries and create a multiplier effect towards economic rejuvenation of both countries.”

However, during the session Nigeria is expected to sign a Bilateral Agreement on AfCFTA, Agricultural Research/Development, ICT, Tourism, Creative industry and Security.

The statement added that the Nigerian envoy will be led by the Honourable Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, H.E, Amb. Zubairu Dada; while the Burundian Delegation will be led by H.E, Amb. Albert Shingiro – Honourable Minister for Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation.

Others in the Nigerian delegation include members of the Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Nigeria Investment Promotion Council (NIPC). - Abdulyassar Abdulhamid, DailyTrust

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A Somali mother and her child were killed and four others injured when a Kenyan warplane bombed two towns in southern Somalia, the woman’s husband said on Monday.

The bombing by the Kenyan plane occurred last Thursday night in two towns in the Gedo area in Somalia’s semi-autonomous state of Jubbaland.

The Somali government on Friday condemned what it called “indiscriminate air strikes” in El Ade and Hisa-u-Gur towns carried out by Kenyan forces.

A contingent of the Kenyan military is part of the African Union-mandated peacekeeping force AMISOM stationed in Somalia to help defend the government from the al Qaeda-linked insurgent group al Shabaab.

Ali Ahmed Sheikh, the woman’s husband, told Reuters on Monday he had been out of the house when the warplane struck his family home in El Ade and that of a neighbour on Thursday night.

“I found my house destroyed, my wife Sahra Aden and the baby she suckled dead,” Sheikh told Reuters from Erdogan Hospital in the Somali capital Mogadishu.

He was there attending to his children - two boys and two girls - who were injured in the attack.

He said that in the raid, the Kenyan planes had also bombed other villages and destroyed telecommunications masts of Hormud Telecom, a Somali telecoms firm.

A Somali government statement said the air strikes had resulted in death and injury of civilians including women and children, but it gave no specific details about the victims.

Zipporah Kioko, spokesperson for the Kenyan military, referred Reuters back to AMISOM for comment on the incident.

In a statement on Saturday, AMISOM said it was gathering information on the reported incident.

Al Shabaab is seeking to topple the government and establish its own rule in Somalia based on its own strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law. - Abdi Sheikh, Reuters