Forces loyal to Vice President Riek Machar and a splinter group have clashed in South Sudan, but the two sides gave conflicting reports on Saturday - with each claiming to have killed dozens of soldiers from the other side.

The latest clashes, threatening the country’s fragile peace process, occurred in Magenis in the Upper Nile region, between forces loyal to Machar and those backing First Lieutenant General Simon Gatwech Dual.

[Read more…]

Rebels from Ethiopia’s war-hit Tigray region on Thursday seized Lalibela, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the neighbouring Amhara region famed for its 12th-century rock-hewn churches, residents told AFP.

“They came in the afternoon, and there was not any fighting. There were no security forces around. The TPLF forces are in the town now,” said one resident, referring to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.

[Read more…]

Violence, previously confined to the Tigray region, is spreading westwards into Amhara and other areas

Three thousand Ethiopian asylum-seekers crossed into Sudan late Monday, according to a government report seen by AFP, hailing from the Amhara region which borders the conflict-hit Tigray region.

[Read more…]

Ethiopia’s Afar region called Friday on civilians to take up arms against rebels from neighbouring Tigray, signalling a potential escalation in fighting that has already displaced tens of thousands this week.

“Every Afar should protect their land with any means available, whether by guns, sticks or stones,” regional president Awol Arba said in an interview aired by regional state media.

[Read more…]

Authorities in Madagascar have said several “foreign and Malagasy” suspects were arrested over a suspected plot to assassinate President Andry Rajoelina.

Attorney General Berthine Razafiarivony said on Thursday the arrests took place on Tuesday as part of an investigation “into an attack on state security”.

[Read more…]