South Sudan is buckling under a fresh wave of violence and displacement, after attacks and looting halted a major UN food convoy in restive Upper Nile state and clashes continue to spread in neighbouring Jonglei.
Tag Archives: Looting
‘A war of atrocities’ – UN human rights investigators warn Sudanese civilians are paying the highest price
As the nearly 30-month-long conflict in Sudan between rival militaries grinds on, looting, burning, and shelling continues to destroy livelihoods and hope.
For too long, ‘unbound horrors’ have unfolded in Sudan
Hostilities continue to escalate across Sudan’s North Darfur and Kordofan regions, with reports of civilian casualties, sexual violence, abductions and looting, the UN human rights chief warned on Friday, describing the consequences as disastrous.
Iran’s president says U.S. ‘looting’ planet, spreading insecurity
Iran’s president on Thursday reacted to comments by Donald Trump during his visit to the region, accusing him of plundering the planet.
He made the comments during a visit to the western city of Kermanshah.
On Tuesday Trump said Iranian leaders were “focused on stealing their people’s wealth to fund terror and bloodshed abroad”.
Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran was seeking peace and calm. His foreign minister has held 4 meetings with a Trump special envoy, seeking to reach a nuclear deal.
Trump on Wednesday said he wants “to make a deal,” but Tehran must end its support of proxy groups throughout the Mideast as part of any potential agreement.
The U.S. and Iran brokered a nuclear deal in 2015, during Democrat Barack Obama’s administration, in which Iran agreed to drastically reduce its stockpile of uranium and only enrich up to 3.67%. But that deal was scrapped during the first Trump administration.
Today, Iran enriches up to 60%, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels, and has enough stockpiled for multiple nuclear bombs should it choose to build them.
Dwindling humanitarian supplies in South Sudan put 60,000 malnourished children at risk
Along the White Nile River in South Sudan, children are desperately hanging on to dwindling humanitarian supplies.
More than 60,000 malnourished children in Upper Nile State now risk plunging into deeper malnutrition, the United Nations World Food Programme and UNICEF warned last Thursday.
The White Nile River is the main humanitarian supply corridor into Upper Nile but intensified fighting means no food aid has reached the area in almost a month.
WFP and UNICEF expect to exhaust their nutrition supplies by the end of May without urgent action.
“Children are already the first to suffer during emergencies, if we can’t get nutrition supplies through, we are likely to see escalating malnutrition in areas already at breaking point”, said Mary-Ellen McGroarty, WFP Representative in South Sudan.
In the past weeks, boats carrying thousands of metric tonnes of food and nutrition supplies have been forced to turn away due to security concerns.
“We have reluctantly taken the unprecedented step of holding back supplies for fear that they will not reach the children that so desperately need them, due to the ongoing fighting, looting and disruption of the river route”, said Obia Achieng, UNICEF Representative ad interim in South Sudan.
The two UN agencies have called for safe access to deliver treatment supplies.
Upper Nile state has some of the highest malnutrition rates in South Sudan, with over 300,000 children affected by moderate or severe malnutrition in the past year. The area also has to handle an outbreak of cholera.
Since February 2025, a surge of violence in the region has increased the number of displaced families and heightened food insecurity.
The escalation comes amid growing tensions between South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and his political rival First Vice President Riek Machar, jeopardising the fragile 2018 peace agreement that put an end to the country’s civil war.
Thousands of people rally in support of Burkina Faso’s transitional president
Thousands of people rallied in Burkina Faso’s capital, Ougadougou, on Wednesday in support of transitional President Captain Ibrahim Traoré.
With placards in hand and whistles blowing, they were angry over remarks made by the head of United States’ military in Africa, General Michaël Langley.
Earlier this month, he accused Traoré of using the country’s mining resources to benefit the junta instead of the people.
Burkinabé musician, Ocibi Joan, who came to the protest said Langley and especially “the predators” should stop lying.
“Burkina Faso is not against anyone, but we will no longer tolerate looting. The general is a liar. We own it, we use it whenever we want, and sell it to whomever we want,” he said.
Demonstrator Haroun Sawadogo said that “if they want to eliminate Captain Traoré, they should eliminate the people first”.
“What we experienced in the 1987 [assassination] will not be repeated. What happened to Captain Sankara will not happen to Captain Traoré. We will go all the way to defend our President.”
The rally comes days after the military authorities said they’d uncovered what they described as a “plot” to overthrow the government.
Several members of parliament attended the gathering including Prime Minister Jean Emmanuel Ouédraogo.
He told the crowd that the time had come to “never again kneel before the world”.
“May the people of Burkina Faso free themselves once and for all, and may the people of the Sahel free themselves permanently,” he said.
The demonstrators came from across the country in what was the biggest show of support for the junta since Traore seized power in a September 2022 coup.
South Africa: Military deployed amid deadly unrest over Zuma’s jailing
Soldiers have been deployed to areas in South Africa where deadly protests have continued to take place over the jailing of former president Jacob Zuma.
The government is hoping the soldiers can quell the deadly unrest that sparked looting of shops and setting of buildings on fire on Monday.
At least six people have been killed and 200 arrested since the unrest began last week.
This is the first time such pro-Zuma protests are taking place on the streets after the former leader was processed for prison last Wednesday.
He handed himself over to the police and was admitted to prison to serve his 15-month sentence for being in contempt of court.
– –
But police the protests are now being infiltrated by criminals who are taking advantage of the chaos.
[WATCH] Brookside Mall in Pietermaritzburg is on FIRE 🔥 . This is a developing Story #KZNshutdown #FreeJacobZuma #FreeZumaNow #shutdownkzn #ShutdownSA pic.twitter.com/AChYhHiJSV
— Free State Central News (@fscentralnews) July 12, 2021
Live visuals coming from Point Rd Shoprite in Durban CBD. Non stop looting throughout the night into the morning. No police presence.
(Visuals sped up) #ShutdownSA pic.twitter.com/E8E1liGELl— Leanne Manas (@LeanneManas) July 12, 2021
The protests first started from Zuma’s home province of KwaZulu-Natal, then to Johannesburg, in Gauteng.
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday appealed for calm saying that “there are those who may be hurt and angry”, but “there can never be any justification for such violent, destructive and disruptive actions”.
– –
On Monday soldiers were seen patrolling the streets of Pietermaritzburg.
“The South African National Defence Force has commenced with pre-deployment processes and procedures in line with a request for assistance received… to assist law enforcement agencies deployed in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces respectively to quell the unrest that has gripped both Provinces in the last few days,” it said in a statement.