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At least 80 people are said to have died in Nigeria’s Christmas bomb attacks and subsequent clashes between armed Christian and Muslim gangs.
A government agency says its figure, more than double that published by police, is based on the number of bodies recovered.
The violence happened in and around the city of Jos, which lies in Nigeria’s volatile “Middle Belt” between Nigeria’s mainly Muslim north and Christian south.
Sudanese army and fighters from the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) released conflicting statements about a second battle took place in North Darfur area of Shangili Tobayi today.
On Thursday, the rebel group attacked the government troops in Dar El Salam, 35k away from Shangili Tobayi. The two locations were controlled by a Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) faction led by the signatory of 2006 peace deal Minni Minnawi who is now “legitimate target” for the Sudanese army.
The Mediators in Doha, Qatar struggle to stop hostilities in the restive region by brokering a ceasefire agreement between the two warring parties. The mediation said a ceasefire should be signed before the 31 December.
“The (Sudan) Armed Forces today evening attacked the so-called (alliance of Justice and Equality Movement and Sudan Liberation Movement Minni Minnawi faction) in Shangili Tobayi area, (North) Darfur,” said a statement released by the Sudanese army spokesperson Al-Sawarmi Khaled.
Guillaume Soro, premier of Alassane Ouattara Government, launched an appeal to international community because adopt use of force against Laurent Gbagbo outgoing president, that doesn’t want leave power in Ivory Coast notwithstanding the defeat at presidential elections on November 28.
‘After all international pressure and sanctions that have not produced any effect on Gbagbo - affirmed Soro - is evident that remains only one solution, using force’.
The two main rebel movements in Somalia have said they plan to merge to defeat the weak, UN-backed government, according to a senior official from one of the groups.
Sheik Mohamed Osman Arus, the Islamic Party’s head of operations, told The Associated Press news agency that his militia will join forces with the al-Qaeda linked al-Shabaab group and fight under al-Shabaab’s name.
Fighters from the Islamic Party have been defeated several times by al-Shabaab, including a battle to control the port city of Kismayo, one of the largest cities in the country, and now a major base for al-Shabaab.
Arus however denied the merger was a face-saving tactic for his group, saying the planned union is “a bonus for the Mujahideen and a bane to the invaders and mercenaries”.
Allies of presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara urged Ivorians to join a new march through Abidjan to seize the state broadcaster’s building on Friday, raising fears of more violence in a dispute over last month’s election.
A failed attempt by Ouattara’s camp to occupy the building on Thursday left at least 10 protesters dead as they clashed with security forces armed with live rounds, while pro-Ouattara forces waged a brief gun battle with forces loyal to incumbent Laurent Gbagbo in central Abidjan.
The United Nations, Washington, African states and others have called on Gbagbo to stand down after the November 28 poll they say was won by Ouattara, but which Gbagbo insists was rigged by rebels who still hold the north after a 2002-2003 civil war.
Minni Minnawi, the only Darfur faction leader to have signed the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) with the Sudanese government, has declared the failure of the 2006 deal. The announcement deals another blow to Khartoum, which faces the possibility of the southern portion of the country seceding in an upcoming poll.
On Sunday, Minnawi accused the government of failing to implement the Darfur agreement, saying that he is ready to do battle.
Minnawi, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) faction leader, secured several official titles after he signed the peace accord with Khartoum.
But he has abandoned his government-allocated office in Khartoum where he had been serving as “senior assistant” to President Omar al-Bashir.
He has since moved to Juba, the capital of the South Sudan, the autonomous part that is hoping to become an independent country in the upcoming referendum on January 9.
The government declared last week that Minnawi, its one-time partner was now an “enemy,” and closed his Khartoum office.
Southerners “reject the policy of this [Khartoum] government” and will choose secession next month, Minnawi predicted, leaving behind northern Sudan as a “failed state.”
Clashes
Two people were killed in fighting between Minnawi’s forces and Sudanese troops in Khor Abeche, a southern Darfur village, on Friday and Saturday.
Kemal Saiki, the spokesman for a joint UN and African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur, said one person was killed and four were wounded in Friday’s fighting.
Still victims in news fights in Mogadishu.
At least 2 people have dead and 5 wounded in clashes occurred in centre, near Bakara market, between al-Shabaab rebels and Africa Union peacekeepers (UA).
One hundred of mothers were in the streets to protest against continuing violences.