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Sudan Rejects Ruto’s Chairmanship In Peace Talks Committee
Sudan Thursday rejected Kenya’s leadership of a delegation set up by a regional bloc, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad), to mediate in the fighting.
“We informed IGAD that we rejected the chairmanship of Kenya in the Sudan crisis committee because Kenya was not neutral,” the foreign ministry said.
The pan-Arab Al Arabiya TV channel quoted Sudan’s foreign ministry as saying, “The statements of senior Kenyan officials and the behavior of its government confirmed that it adopts the positions of Rapid Support Forces (RSF), shelters its members and provides them with various types of support”.
Kenya said it was yet to receive a formal communication of the rejection.
Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’oei said the appointment of Kenyan President William Ruto to lead the team “was arrived at by the IGAD summit and can only be vacated by the summit”.
Igad appointed Ruto as its delegation’s chairman, which also has representation from Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Djibouti, during the bloc’s summit on 12 June.
Ruto has been critical of the war in Sudan, once saying that the rival generals should “stop the nonsense”.
He has met envoys of both the Sudanese army and RSF in Nairobi.
Amhara and Tigray leaders embrace dialogue
The leaders of Ethiopia’s Amhara and Tigray regions Monday expressed a commitment to resolve their differences through dialogue.
Amhara regional governor Yilkal Kefale and Tigray’s interim leader, Getachew Reda, pledged during talks in Amhara’s capital, Bahir Dar.
Getachew led a Tigrayan delegation to the Amhara region for the first time since a deadly civil war erupted in northern Ethiopia in November 2020.
The war ended in a peace deal last November.
The two leaders said they would work towards reopening road transport between Tigray and Amhara, which offers the shortest route between Tigray and Addis Ababa.
Currently, road travel between Addis Ababa and Tigray is primarily through the north-eastern Afar region, which is longer and costlier.
However, the two leaders did not address the thorny issue of land disputes between their two regions.
Europe gives Tunisia $1bn to tackle migration
A delegation of European leaders Monday promised over $1bn to Tunisia to tackle migration.
The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the prime ministers of Italy and the Netherlands – Giorgia Meloni and Mark Rutte – have been talking with President Kais Saied.
Ms von der Leyen said the EU would provide Tunisia with over $100m this year for border management, search and rescue, and returning migrants.
Nigeria’s President Tinubu Assents University Loans Bill
Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu Tuesday passed a student loan bill financially supporting poorer students in universities and colleges.
Students in universities, colleges, and polytechnics will qualify for interest-free loans from the Nigerian Education Loan Fund to cover tuition fees.
In November, parliament passed legislation establishing a national education bank to offer student loans.
However, former President Muhammadu Buhari failed to pass the bill before he left office. He did not explain why he declined to assent to the bill.
Benin recruits soldiers to fight the militia
Benin Tuesday announced it would recruit an additional 5,000 soldiers to counter and neutralize a surge in militant attacks on its northern border with Burkina Faso.
The recruits must know at least one of the languages spoken in the region and be given six months of training.
John Fru Ndi, Cameroon’s democracy icon, dies
John Fru Ndi, the man regarded as Cameroon’s champion of democracy, died Wednesday aged 81.
Fru Ndi was born in the village of Baba II, near Bamenda, in 1941, when the area was administered by British colonialists.
As a child, he had ambitions to be a pilot, and his family decided to send him to Nigeria to stay with relatives to finish his schooling aged about 16.
But he played truant from his studies, ending up making a living by doing odd jobs, only returning to Cameroon several years after independence in 1961, when the former British and French parts of Cameroon had unified.
His family felt, with Nigeria’s political upheavals, he was better off back home, fearing he might want to become involved in the civil war that had broken out there.
Starting as a small-time street vendor, he became a successful businessman, setting up the Ebibi Bookshops, with branches in Bamenda and Mamfe.
He also made a name for himself on the football pitch, becoming goalkeeper for PWD Bamenda FC.
He became a hero to many in the 1990s for his bravery in taking on the one-party state that brutally dealt with those challenging its rule.
A former bookseller and a great orator from the English-speaking area of Cameroon, he founded the opposition Social Democratic Front (SDF) in 1990.
His popularity led the regime to accept that a multi-party system was inevitable.
In fact, his party believed he won the 1992 presidential election, but the Supreme Court judge that heard its petition alleging fraud said his “hands were tied” – and let the official results granting victory to incumbent Paul Biya, with 40% of the vote, stand.
This caused a great upset with SDF supporters, and their leader was put under house arrest for three months in his home in the economic hub, Bamenda, and a state of emergency was declared.
Still, the US must have given credence to his claim to the presidency, inviting him and his wife to the inauguration of Bill Clinton in January 1993.
Fru Ndi, popularly known as “The Chairman” after he launched the SDF, while always campaigning for the rights of English-speaking minority who felt marginalized by the country’s French-speaking majority, wanted a federal, unified Cameroon.
His campaign rallies were always big events – pulling huge crowds nationwide, not just in Anglophone areas.
They were regarded as great entertainment and a rare opportunity to hear someone seeming to speak truth to power.
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