<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="521" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/VAGF6LRYTJKJVDACZLYJPDJUT4-820x521.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-413612" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/VAGF6LRYTJKJVDACZLYJPDJUT4-820x521.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/VAGF6LRYTJKJVDACZLYJPDJUT4-300x191.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/VAGF6LRYTJKJVDACZLYJPDJUT4-142x90.jpg 142w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/VAGF6LRYTJKJVDACZLYJPDJUT4-768x488.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/VAGF6LRYTJKJVDACZLYJPDJUT4.jpg 960w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>A view shows part of a construction site of the Nairobi Expressway, undertaken by the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis, along Uhuru Highway in Nairobi, Kenya October 17, 2021. Picture taken October 17, 2021. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya</figcaption></figure>



NAIROBI, Nov 22 (Reuters) &#8211; Deep in Kenya&#8217;s Great Rift Valley, members of the National Youth Service tirelessly swing machetes to clear dense shrubs obscuring railway tracks more than a century old.



It&#8217;s a distinctly low-tech phase for China&#8217;s Belt and Road drive in Africa to create the trade highways of the future.



There&#8217;s not enough money left to complete the new 1,000-km super-fast rail link from the port of Mombasa to Uganda. It ends abruptly in the countryside, 468 km short of the border, and now Kenya is resorting to finishing the route by revamping the 19th-century colonial British-built tracks that once passed that way.



China has lent African countries hundreds of billions of dollars as part of President Xi Jinping&#8217;s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) which envisaged Chinese institutions financing the bulk of the infrastructure in mainly developing nations. Yet the credit has dried up in recent years.



On top of the damage wrought to both China and its creditors by COVID-19, analysts and academics attribute the slowdown to factors such as a waning appetite in Beijing for large foreign investments, a commodity price crash that has complicated African debt servicing, plus some borrowers&#8217; reluctance to enter lending deals backed by their natural resources.



&#8220;We are not in the go-go period anymore,&#8221; Adam Tooze, a Columbia University historian, said about China&#8217;s overseas investment projects. &#8220;There is definitely a rebalancing from the China side,&#8221; said Tooze, whose new book Shutdown examines how COVID-19 affected the world economy, adding that Beijing&#8217;s current account surplus was &#8220;dwindling somewhat&#8221;.



Chinese investments in the 138 countries targeted by BRI slid 54% from 2019 to $47 billion last year, the lowest amount since the BRI was unveiled in 2013, according to Green BRI, a China-based think-tank that focuses on analysing the initiative.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2021/in-pitch-to-africa-blinken-vows-cleaner-business-deals/">In pitch to Africa, Blinken vows cleaner business deals</a></h3>



In Africa, home to 40 of those BRI nations, Chinese bank financing for infrastructure projects fell from $11 billion in 2017 to $3.3 billion in 2020, according to a report by international law firm Baker McKenzie.



This is a blow for governments who were anticipating securing Chinese loans to build highways and rail lines linking landlocked countries to sea ports and trade routes to Asia and Europe. The continent is facing an estimated annual infrastructure investment deficit of around $100 billion, according to the African Development Bank.



&#8220;The pandemic has actually made things worse. Those numbers will go up,&#8221; said Akinwumi Adesina, the president of the bank, citing the need for additional infrastructure to support health services.



Hold-ups have hit some other BRI projects across the continent, such as a $3 billion Nigerian rail project and a $450 million highway in Cameroon.



China&#8217;s ministry of foreign affairs did not respond to a request for comment.



Beijing officials have said that the two sides have a mutually beneficial and cooperative relationship and that lending is done openly and transparently.



&#8220;When providing interest-free loans and concessional loans, we fully consider the debt situation and repayment capacity of the recipient countries in Africa, and work in accordance with the law,&#8221; Zhou Liujun, vice chairman of China International Development Cooperation Agency told reporters in late October.



Another Chinese official, who declined to be named as they are not authorised to speak to the media, said Beijing always intended to implement BRI gradually to manage debt default risks by countries or projects.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-railway-will-be-built">&#8216;RAILWAY WILL BE BUILT&#8217;</h2>



Officials in Kenya said its rail route were long-term projects that would be seen through over time, without giving any specific timeframe. The COVID-19 has presented the world with unforeseen and unprecedented challenges, they added.



&#8220;Eventually, this standard gauge railway will still be complete because it is part of what we call the Belt and Road Initiative,&#8221; said James Macharia, Kenya&#8217;s transport minister.



The government has already spent about $5 billion on its new rail link, and can&#8217;t currently afford the additional $3.7 billion needed to finish it. The last station hooked up is only accessible by dirt roads.



Hence engineers in the Rift Valley are no longer building new infrastructure, but rather shoring up colonial-era viaducts and bridges in an operation that the government estimates will cost about 10 billion shillings ($91 million).



There are knock-on effects and, over the border in Uganda, construction on a modern railway line has been delayed because it&#8217;s supposed to link to the Kenyan one.



That has been one factor in the hold-up in a $2.2 billion loan from the Export-Import Bank of China (Exim Bank), David Mugabe, spokesperson for Uganda&#8217;s Standard Gauge Railway project, told Reuters.



In Nigeria, the government turned to London-headquartered Standard Chartered Bank this year to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/nigeria-railway-funding-idUKL5N2OE43A">finance the $3 billion railway project</a> initially slated to receive Chinese backing. Standard Chartered declined to comment on the deal, citing confidentiality agreements.



In Cameroon, the $450 million highway linking the capital Yaounde and the economic hub of Douala, whose funding was secured from China&#8217;s Exim Bank in 2012, stalled in 2019 as the bank stopped disbursing further tranches of the loan.



Exim Bank did not respond to a request for comment on its loans to Uganda and Cameroon.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">MALAYSIA TO BOLIVIA</h2>



Zhou Yuyuan, Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for West Asian and African Studies at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, said the COVID-19 crisis had strained Chinese lending institutions and African finances alike.



In future, he added, Beijing was likely to encourage more corporate Chinese investment in the continent, to fill the role of state-backed financing. &#8220;Once the pandemic is over, Africa&#8217;s economy is likely to recover,&#8221; he said. &#8220;That could drive China&#8217;s corporate investment.&#8221;



The pandemic has added to the obstacles facing President Xi&#8217;s self-described &#8220;project of the century&#8221;. After peaking at $125.25 billion in 2015, Chinese investments into BRI nations have dropped every year, apart from 2018, when they edged up 6.7%, the Green BRI data showed.



In 2018, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pakistan-silkroad-railway-insight-idUSKCN1MA028">Pakistan balked at the cost and the financing terms of building a railway</a>. The previous year, there were signs of growing problems for BRI, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sri-lanka-china-insight-idUSKBN15G5UT">after China&#8217;s push in Sri Lanka sparked protests</a>.



AidData, a research lab at the College of William and Mary in the United States, said in a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinas-belt-road-plans-losing-momentum-opposition-debt-mount-study-2021-09-29">study at the end of September that $11.58 billion in projects in Malaysia had been cancelled over 2013-2021</a>, with nearly $1.5 billion cancelled in Kazakhstan and more than a $1 billion in Bolivia.



&#8220;A growing number of policymakers in low and middle-income countries are mothballing high-profile BRI projects because of overpricing, corruption and debt sustainability concerns,&#8221; said Brad Parks, one of the study&#8217;s authors.



China&#8217;s foreign ministry said in response to the AidData report that &#8220;not all debts are unsustainable&#8221;, adding that since its launch the BRI had &#8220;consistently upheld principles of shared consultation, shared contributions and shared benefits&#8221;.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">&#8216;RESOURCES ARE FINITE&#8217;</h2>



A key problem is debt sustainability.



Copper producer Zambia became Africa&#8217;s first pandemic-era sovereign default last year after failing to keep up with payments on more than $12 billion of international debt, for example. A recent study suggested more than half of that burden is owed to Chinese public and private lenders.



In late 2018, Beijing agreed to restructure billions of dollars in debt owed by Ethiopia.



Some African governments are also growing more reluctant to take out loans backed commodities such as oil and metals.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2021/climate-and-security-to-dominate-u-s-secretary-of-states-maiden-africa-tour/">Security, climate dominate as U.S. Secretary of State kicks off Africa tour</a></h3>



&#8220;We can&#8217;t mortgage our oil,&#8221; Uganda&#8217;s works and transport minister Katumba Wamala told Reuters, confirming the country had refused to pledge untapped oil in fields in the west to secure the railway loan.



The finance squeeze means African governments must make more strategic investment decisions in terms of debt sustainability, said Yvette Babb, a Netherlands-based fixed income portfolio manager at William Blair.



&#8220;There is no infinite amount of capital,&#8221; she said.



($1 = 110.2500 Kenyan shillings)



(Additional reporting by Joe Bavier in Johannesburg, Elias Biryabarema in Kampala, Kevin Yao and Ella Cao in Beijing; Editing by Katharine Houreld, Karin Stohecker and Pravin Char)

VAGF6LRYTJKJVDACZLYJPDJUT4

African nations mend and make do as China tightens Belt and Road

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="548" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/6BVDF5M3RNNJ7PZB4HG6YQ3M3M-820x548.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-412985" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/6BVDF5M3RNNJ7PZB4HG6YQ3M3M-820x548.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/6BVDF5M3RNNJ7PZB4HG6YQ3M3M-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/6BVDF5M3RNNJ7PZB4HG6YQ3M3M-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/6BVDF5M3RNNJ7PZB4HG6YQ3M3M-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/6BVDF5M3RNNJ7PZB4HG6YQ3M3M.jpg 960w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>Sudan&#8217;s new Prime Minister in the transitional government Abdalla Hamdok, speaks during a Reuters interview in Khartoum, Sudan August 24, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/Files</figcaption></figure>



KHARTOUM, Nov 21 (Reuters) &#8211; Sudan&#8217;s military reinstated Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok on Sunday and promised to release all political detainees after weeks of deadly unrest triggered by a coup, although large crowds took to the streets to reject any deal involving the army.



Under an agreement signed with military leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Hamdok, first appointed after the overthrow of autocrat Omar al-Bashir in a 2019 uprising, will lead a civilian government of technocrats for a transitional period.



The deal faces opposition from pro-democracy groups that have demanded full civilian rule since Bashir&#8217;s ouster and have been angered by the deaths of dozens of protesters since the Oct. 25 coup.



A hero for the protest movement, Hamdok quickly became the villain for some.



&#8220;Hamdok has sold the revolution,&#8221; protesters chanted after the deal was announced. The Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), a leading protest group, called it &#8220;treacherous&#8221;.



Tens of thousands of people joined scheduled rallies in the capital, Khartoum, and its twin cities of Omdurman and Bahri. Security forces fired bullets and tear gas to disperse them, witnesses said. A 16-year-old protester in Omdurman died from a bullet wound, the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors said.



&#8220;Hamdok has disappointed us. Our only option is the street,&#8221; said Omar Ibrahim, a 26-year-old protester in Khartoum.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2021/sudans-burhan-says-army-ousted-government-to-avoid-civil-war/">Sudan’s Burhan says army ousted government to avoid civil war</a></h3>



The United States, Britain, Norway, the European Union, Canada and Switzerland welcomed the reinstatement of Hamdok and in a joint statement urged the release of other political detainees. The United Nations also welcomed Sunday&#8217;s deal



Western powers had condemned last month&#8217;s takeover and suspended economic assistance to Sudan, which has been trying to recover from a deep economic crisis.



The coup triggered mass demonstrations against the military, and medics aligned with the protest movement say security forces have killed 41 civilians in increasingly violent crackdowns.



Hamdok said he agreed to the deal to prevent more casualties.



&#8220;Sudanese blood is precious. Let us stop the bloodshed and direct the youth&#8217;s energy into building and development,&#8221; he said at a signing ceremony broadcast on state television.



Burhan said the deal would be inclusive. &#8220;We do not want to exclude anyone except, as we&#8217;ve agreed, the National Congress Party,&#8221; he said, referring to Bashir&#8217;s former ruling party.



But the agreement made no mention of the Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC), the civilian coalition that shared power with the military before the coup. A number of people at the signing ceremony had political ties to Bashir.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-no-legitimacy">&#8216;NO LEGITIMACY&#8217;</h2>



The FFC said it did not recognise any agreement with the military. The Sudanese Congress Party, a leading FFC member, several of whose leaders are detained, described Hamdok joining the deal as &#8220;illegitimate and unconstitutional&#8221; and providing political cover for the coup.



Several of the resistance committees that have been organising protests also put out statements rejecting any deal with the military.



<a href="https://reut.rs/30OSWQ7">Hamdok</a> was placed under house arrest when the military seized power, derailing a transition towards elections in 2023.



The military dissolved Hamdok&#8217;s Cabinet and detained a number of civilians who held top positions under the power-sharing deal agreed after Bashir was toppled.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2021/sudan-faces-military-coup-detainees-should-be-freed-information-ministry/">Sudan military seizes power, dissolves transitional government</a></h3>



Politicians Omer Eldigair, Yasir Arman, Ali Alrayah Alsanhouri and Siddig al-Mahdi would be released on Sunday night, a government source said. Only Arman is among the former sitting officials, many of whom had engaged in a war of words with military leaders before the coup.



Under Sunday&#8217;s deal, a constitutional declaration struck between the military and civilians in 2019 will remain the foundation in further talks.



&#8220;The next government will focus on limited issues, chiefly the democratic transition,&#8221; Al Jazeera quoted Hamdok as saying in an interview. Hamdok said elections would take place before July 2023, the channel added.



(Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz, Nafisa Eltahir and Nadine Awadalla; Writing by Michael Georgy and Aidan Lewis; Editing by David Clarke, Angus MacSwan and Peter Cooney)

6BVDF5M3RNNJ7PZB4HG6YQ3M3M

Sudan military reinstates prime minister, but protests continue

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="518" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/PQHLJ43INFM65G5WGL52ZUKEHM-820x518.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-413422" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/PQHLJ43INFM65G5WGL52ZUKEHM-820x518.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/PQHLJ43INFM65G5WGL52ZUKEHM-300x189.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/PQHLJ43INFM65G5WGL52ZUKEHM-143x90.jpg 143w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/PQHLJ43INFM65G5WGL52ZUKEHM-768x485.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/PQHLJ43INFM65G5WGL52ZUKEHM.jpg 960w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>Sudan&#8217;s Sovereign Council Chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan addresses delegates after signing a declaration of principles between Sudanese Transitional government and the Sudan People&#8217;s Liberation Movement &#8211; North, in Juba, South Sudan March 28, 2021. REUTERS/Jok Solomun/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



CAIRO, Nov 12 (Reuters) &#8211; General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has turned Sudan&#8217;s fortunes upside down twice in as many years, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/sudan-bashir-idUSL8N2AB5KP">first helping remove veteran autocrat Omar al-Bashir in 2019</a> then halting a democratic transition by ousting a civilian government.



A career soldier who served Bashir loyally for decades, Burhan rose through the ranks in wars in South Sudan and Sudan&#8217;s Darfur region before participating in a coup against the Islamist leader following an uprising against his 30-year rule.



The general, in his early 60s, then placed himself at the heart of his country&#8217;s <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/what-is-happening-sudan-2021-10-25">political and economic crisis by becoming Sudan&#8217;s de facto leader</a>, entering a fragile power-sharing deal with civilians that put Sudan on a three-year path to democracy.



That arrangement ended abruptly on Oct. 25 when Burhan dissolved government and arrested top civilians, throwing the transition into turmoil. <a href="http://himself in https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/sudanese-judge-urges-end-post-coup-internet-blackout-2021-11-11">On Thursday he swore as head of a new ruling council</a>, shrugging off domestic and international pressure to reverse the takeover.



Burhan becomes the latest in a long line of military coup leaders who have ruled Sudan for most of its history since independence from Britain in 1956.



<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/sudans-military-leaders-could-face-isolation-after-coup-2021-11-01">His leadership could now face isolation </a>as it tightens its grip, challenged by opposition from a determined protest movement and cut off from cooperation by Western states that had invested in a democratic transition, analysts and diplomats say.



Critics say Burhan&#8217;s actions reflect disdain for street protests and civilian politicians, as well as a pragmatic recognition that his junta lacks a political base inside Sudan.



In response, Burhan has said the army had no choice but to sideline politicians whom he accused of inciting Sudanese against the military. He denied accusations by rights groups that the army was responsible for killing protesters and insisted its takeover, including the removal of civilian Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, was not a coup.



&#8220;What the country is going through now is a real threat and danger to the dreams of the youth and the hopes of the nation,&#8221; he said after seizing power, promising to hold elections in July 2023 and hand over to an elected civilian government then.



Ahead of naming the new ruling council, which excludes the civilian coalition that had been sharing power with the military, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/sudans-military-rulers-draw-bashir-era-veterans-tighten-grip-2021-11-11">Burhan began to draw on officials who served for decades under Bashir </a>for key posts in the state bureaucracy.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-service-in-darfur">SERVICE IN DARFUR</h3>



Born in 1960 in a village north of Khartoum neighbouring Bashir&#8217;s home village, Burhan studied at a Sudanese army college, then in Jordan and at Egypt&#8217;s military academy.



Analysts say his attitudes to governing were shaped by his 41 years of army service. For much of that time, Sudan was a pariah to the West and on a U.S. terrorism list under Bashir, who hosted Osama bin Laden in the 1990s and is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes.



During a war against rebels in Darfur, Burhan held the rank of brigadier general and worked in a district that saw fierce fighting. Burhan came to know Mohamed Hamadan Dagalo, a commander of militias accused of rights abuses in Darfur who is now his powerful deputy. The government denied the accusations.



At Bashir&#8217;s overthrow in April 2019, Burhan was the fourth most senior figure in the military, holding the administrative position of inspector general. He has said he was among the military figures who gave Bashir news of his overthrow.



&#8220;I went to see him and informed him,&#8221; he told the BBC after he was named head of a transitional military council. &#8220;I told him the leadership of the armed forces had decided the situation was getting out of hand and therefore he should step down.&#8221;



In Bashir&#8217;s final years in power, Burhan began developing ties with states that have worked against Islamists in the region, notably the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The Gulf states provided Khartoum with significant aid.



Burhan cultivated Gulf support by helping supply soldiers to a Saudi-led military coalition fighting in Yemen. In March 2021, he received Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Khartoum.



Later he was at the forefront of tentative moves to normalise ties with Israel, meeting then Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Uganda in a surprise move in February, 2020.



The transitional authorities dissolved by Burhan&#8217;s coup had pledged to cooperate with the ICC, which has issued arrest warrants for Bashir. But the pursuit of justice over Darfur became a point of tension between the army and civilians.



The transitional administration had begun to pull Sudan out of decades of isolation, enacting economic reforms and striking a deal for debt relief that has now been thrown into doubt.



(Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz; Writing by William Maclean; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)

PQHLJ43INFM65G5WGL52ZUKEHM

Coup leader pushes Sudan off post-Bashir path to democracy

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/B5SFRXGBOJMV3M2N7XX2EW6QSQ-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-413416" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/B5SFRXGBOJMV3M2N7XX2EW6QSQ-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/B5SFRXGBOJMV3M2N7XX2EW6QSQ-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/B5SFRXGBOJMV3M2N7XX2EW6QSQ-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/B5SFRXGBOJMV3M2N7XX2EW6QSQ-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/B5SFRXGBOJMV3M2N7XX2EW6QSQ.jpg 960w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks about infrastructure investment at the University of Maryland&#8217;s A. James Clark School of Engineering in College Park, MD, U.S., August 9, 2021. Patrick Semansky/Pool via REUTERS </figcaption></figure>



WASHINGTON, Nov 11 (Reuters) &#8211; U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Kenya, Nigeria and Senegal from Nov. 15-20, the State Department said on Thursday.



In Nairobi, Blinken will meet with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta to discuss topics including cooperation on ending the COVID-19 pandemic and regional security issues such as Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, the department said in a statement.



Blinken will travel next to Abuja to meet with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari to discuss cooperation on global health security, expanding energy access and revitalizing democracy, it said.



In Dakar, Blinken will meet with Senegalese President Macky Sall &#8220;to reaffirm the close partnership between our two countries,&#8221; the statement said.



This is a developing story&#8230;



(Reporting by Eric Beech Editing by Chris Reese and Cynthia Osterman)

B5SFRXGBOJMV3M2N7XX2EW6QSQ

U.S. top diplomat Blinken to visit Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal next week

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/VCTE7SV4YJMSHII5GXWNXJE5TE-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-413381" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/VCTE7SV4YJMSHII5GXWNXJE5TE-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/VCTE7SV4YJMSHII5GXWNXJE5TE-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/VCTE7SV4YJMSHII5GXWNXJE5TE-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/VCTE7SV4YJMSHII5GXWNXJE5TE-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/VCTE7SV4YJMSHII5GXWNXJE5TE.jpg 960w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>Protesters carry a banner and national flags as they march against the Sudanese military&#8217;s recent seizure of power and ousting of the civilian government, in the streets of the capital Khartoum, Sudan October 30, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin/File Photo </figcaption></figure>



CAIRO, Nov 10 (Reuters) &#8211; Sudan&#8217;s main civilian political coalition rejected any negotiation with the military on Wednesday, holding to its position at its first press conference since a coup on Oct. 25 led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.



A statement read at the press conference attributed to spokesman Alwathiq Elbereir said the Forces of Freedom and Change, which had signed a 2019 power-sharing agreement with the military following the ouster of dictator Omar al-Bashir, rejected the coup and had not met with the military.



The coalition said it supported Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, who is under house arrest, but had not met with him, and joined him in demanding a return to pre-coup conditions.



&#8220;We did not break the partnership &#8230; and we must return to the constitutional document,&#8221; said another FFC spokesman, adding that the coup happened after civilians brought certain contentious issues to the table.



&#8220;The coup does not represent the military institution,&#8221; the spokesman added, saying the coalition would not accept the return of Burhan in the head of state position he held before the coup.



Several civilian politicians and officials were arrested following the coup, and Elbereir said they were facing pressures that were endangering their lives.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-read-more-sudan-internet-cuts-complicate-civil-disobedience-campaign-against-coup">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2021/sudan-internet-cuts-complicate-civil-disobedience-campaign-against-coup/">Sudan internet cuts complicate civil disobedience campaign against coup</a></h3>



Mediation attempts since the takeover have stalled, and while lower-level appointments have been made, neither a cabinet or head of state Sovereign council have been named.



Burhan has said he is committed to the democratic transition and elections in July 2023.



Burhan is under international pressure to reverse his actions. The U.N. Security Council will be briefed on Sudan by U.N. special envoy Volker Perthes during a closed-door meeting on Thursday, diplomats said.



Resistance committees have called for &#8220;marches of millions&#8221; on Nov. 13 and 17 which the FFC said it supported. The committees are organising under the slogan: No negotiations, no partnership, no legitimacy.



The committees, although struggling under an internet blackout, brought out hundreds of thousands of people in an anti-military protest on Oct. 30. They have also threatened a campaign of general strikes and civil disobedience.



The Coordinating Committee for Refugees and Displaced People announced that camp residents in Darfur and southern regions of the country would be joining the Nov. 13 protests.



On Wednesday, the Sudanese Teachers Committee said 13 teachers had been arrested in South Darfur, joining others arrested earlier this week in Khartoum. 



(Writing by Nafisa Eltahir; additional reporting by Michelle Nichols; editing by Grant McCool)

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Sudan’s civilian coalition rejects negotiations with military

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/BF5BWXSG65MGVEOG7HSXOXTBEQ-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-413297" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/BF5BWXSG65MGVEOG7HSXOXTBEQ-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/BF5BWXSG65MGVEOG7HSXOXTBEQ-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/BF5BWXSG65MGVEOG7HSXOXTBEQ-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/BF5BWXSG65MGVEOG7HSXOXTBEQ-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/BF5BWXSG65MGVEOG7HSXOXTBEQ.jpg 960w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>Protesters carry a banner and national flags as they march against the Sudanese military&#8217;s recent seizure of power and ousting of the civilian government, in the streets of the capital Khartoum, Sudan October 30, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



KHARTOUM, Nov 7 (Reuters) &#8211; Sudanese pro-democracy groups on Sunday launched two days of civil disobedience and strikes in protest against last month&#8217;s military coup, although participation appeared to be limited by interruptions to internet and phone connections.



In a sign of the potential for the coup to unravel efforts to end decades of internal conflict, armed rebel factions that signed a peace deal last year rejected the coup and called for the ending of a state of emergency.



The commander of the powerful Rapid Support Forces, who is the No. 2 man in Sudan&#8217;s military, came out in support of the takeover in a midnight speech posted on Facebook.



General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan&#8217;s moves &#8220;came to correct the course of the people&#8217;s revolution, and preserve the security and stability of the country,&#8221; said General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, Burhan&#8217;s deputy on the now-dissolved Sovereign Council.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2021/sudan-faces-military-coup-detainees-should-be-freed-information-ministry/">Sudan military seizes power, dissolves transitional government</a></h3>



Local resistance committees and the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), which led demonstrations in an uprising that toppled long-serving autocrat Omar al-Bashir in 2019, are organising a campaign of protests and barricades to try to reverse the military takeover.



People were out on the streets on Sunday in the centre of the capital, Khartoum, although there was less traffic than usual, residents said.



A teachers union said security forces used tear gas at the Education Ministry building for Khartoum State to break up a sit-in staged to oppose any handover to military appointees. Some 87 people were arrested, it said.



In several areas in eastern Khartoum, across the river in the Ombada area of Omdurman, police also used tear gas to break up protests, witnesses said. On one major Khartoum street, security forces in civilian clothing were seen alongside police, they said.



There were protests too in the cities of Medani, Nyala and Atbara, where hundreds protested the reappointment of Bashir loyalists in local government, witnesses said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-internet-disruption">INTERNET DISRUPTION</h2>



Some hospitals and medical staff in Khartoum were working normally, while others were on strike.



&#8220;A number of people did not know about the call for civil disobedience because of the internet cut,&#8221; said one resident of central Khartoum, who asked not to be identified.



Internet services have been almost completely disrupted since the Oct. 25 coup, and phone coverage remains patchy. Daily life came to a near standstill after the takeover, but shops, roads and some banks have since reopened.



The coup halted a power-sharing arrangement between the military and civilians that had been agreed after Bashir&#8217;s overthrow and was meant to lead to democratic elections by late 2023.



Top civilians including several ministers were detained, and Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok was placed under house arrest.



Mediation efforts involving the United Nations have sought the release of detainees and a return to power sharing, but sources from the ousted government say those efforts have stalled.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/?p=412261">Sudan says coup thwarted, accuses Bashir loyalists</a></h3>



Since Bashir was toppled, Sudan had been emerging from decades of isolation and internal wars. A peace agreement signed last year with rebel groups was intended to end several of those long-running conflicts.



The Sudanese Revolutionary Front, which said it rejected the coup, includes rebel groups led by three men who had sat on a military-civilian ruling council dissolved during the takeover, Elhadi Idris and Altahir Hajar from Darfur and Malik Agar of the southern SPLM-N.



Two other major rebel groups that did not sign the peace agreement have also rejected the coup. Some signatories of the peace deal, including Darfur rebel group leaders Jibril Ibrahim and Minni Minawi, had aligned with the military in the weeks leading up to the coup.



On Sunday, an Arab league delegation met Hamdok and Burhan, and stressed the importance of dialogue in order to return to a civilian-military partnership, it said in a statement.



Activists demanding that the military exit politics have announced a schedule of protests leading up to mass rallies on Saturday, under the slogan: &#8220;No negotiation, no partnership, no compromise&#8221;.



Hundreds of thousands took to the streets against military rule in two huge demonstrations before and after the coup.



Western powers have paused economic assistance to Sudan and say that relief on tens of billions of dollars of foreign debt is at risk unless there is a return to a democratic transition. 



(Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz, Nafisa Eltahir; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Gareth Jones, Peter Graff and Peter Cooney)

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Sudan internet cuts complicate civil disobedience campaign against coup

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/NLEVFGM2PZITNIXZE4XJHAJNMM-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-412979" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/NLEVFGM2PZITNIXZE4XJHAJNMM-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/NLEVFGM2PZITNIXZE4XJHAJNMM-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/NLEVFGM2PZITNIXZE4XJHAJNMM-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/NLEVFGM2PZITNIXZE4XJHAJNMM-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/NLEVFGM2PZITNIXZE4XJHAJNMM.jpg 960w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>Sudanese military stand guard as military-aligned demonstrators gathered in numbers, chant &#8220;Down with the government of hunger&#8221; in front of the Presidential palace in Khartoum, Sudan, October 16, 2021. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig</figcaption></figure>



UNITED NATIONS, Oct 28 (Reuters) &#8211; The U.N. Security Council on Thursday expressed &#8220;serious concern about a military takeover in Sudan&#8221; and urged Sudan&#8217;s military authorities to restore the civilian-led transitional government.



In a statement, agreed by consensus, the 15-member body urged all parties to exercise maximum restraint and engage in dialogue without pre-conditions. The council also called for the immediate release of all those who have been detained by the military authorities.



This is a developing story&#8230;



(Reporting by Michelle Nichols)

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U.N. council urges Sudan military to restore civilian-led government

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="544" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/QQRQMGG6ZNP4BEEYVTWALDDPAQ-820x544.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-413068" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/QQRQMGG6ZNP4BEEYVTWALDDPAQ-820x544.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/QQRQMGG6ZNP4BEEYVTWALDDPAQ-300x199.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/QQRQMGG6ZNP4BEEYVTWALDDPAQ-136x90.jpg 136w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/QQRQMGG6ZNP4BEEYVTWALDDPAQ-768x510.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/QQRQMGG6ZNP4BEEYVTWALDDPAQ.jpg 960w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>A protester waves a flag during what the information ministry calls a military coup in Khartoum, Sudan, October 25, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah</figcaption></figure>



KHARTOUM, Oct 27 (Reuters) &#8211; State oil company workers and doctors in Sudan said on Wednesday they were joining protests against the military coup that has derailed the country&#8217;s planned transition to democracy.



Thousands of people have taken to the streets since Monday&#8217;s takeover led by armed forces chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and several have been killed in clashes with security forces.



A group of neighbourhood committees in the capital Khartoum has announced plans for further protests leading to what it said would be a &#8220;march of millions&#8221; on Saturday.



In one Khartoum neighbourhood on Wednesday, a Reuters journalist saw soldiers and armed people in civilian clothes removing barricades erected by protesters.



A few hundred metres away, youths came out to build barricades again minutes later. One of them said: &#8220;We want civilian rule. We won&#8217;t get tired.&#8221;



Burhan on Tuesday defended the military&#8217;s seizure of power, saying he had ousted the government to avoid civil war.



He has dismissed the joint civilian-military council that had been set up to steer the country to democratic elections following the overthrow of long-ruling autocrat Omar al-Bashir in a popular uprising in April 2019.



Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok was returned to his home under tight security on Tuesday after being held at Burhan&#8217;s house.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2021/sudan-faces-military-coup-detainees-should-be-freed-information-ministry/">Sudan military seizes power, dissolves transitional government</a></h3>



Workers at state oil company Sudapet on Wednesday came out in support of the ousted government.



&#8220;We announce (we are) joining the civil disobedience in support of the people’s decision backing the civil democratic transformation and until this demand is achieved,&#8221; Sudapet said in a statement carried by the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), an activist alliance.



Doctors also said they would go on strike.



&#8220;As we promised and previously announced we would enter a general strike across Sudan in the event of a coup, we are keeping to our word and timing completely,&#8221; the Unified Doctors&#8217; Office, which is made up of different unions, said.



The doctors&#8217; unions were one of the earliest and key driving forces behind the 2019 uprising that brought down Bashir. Other striking groups, including the oil workers and central bank employees, could help bring the country&#8217;s economy to a standstill.



Civilian groups have accused the military of scheming for weeks to seize power.



Speaking on Tuesday at his first news conference since announcing the takeover, Burhan said the army had no choice but to sideline politicians who he said were inciting people against the armed forces.



The military&#8217;s action did not amount to a coup, he said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-serious-risk">SERIOUS RISK</h2>



Events in Sudan &#8211; Africa&#8217;s third largest country &#8211; mirror those in several other Arab states where the military tightened its grip following uprisings.



Willow Berridge, a Sudan expert at Newcastle University, said it would be difficult for Burhan and the army to suppress street mobilisation against the takeover because of the presence of resistance committees in many neighbourhoods.



&#8220;My greatest fear is that he will fall back even further on the only legitimacy he can depend on – violence. It is a very serious risk,&#8221; Berridge said.



Burhan has close ties to states that worked to roll back Islamist influence and contain the impact of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.



While Western countries have denounced the takeover in Sudan &#8212; which has a history of military coups &#8212; those Arab countries have mainly called for all parties to show restraint.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2021/sudans-burhan-says-army-ousted-government-to-avoid-civil-war/">Sudan’s Burhan says army ousted government to avoid civil war</a></h3>



&#8220;They (The Sudanese military) misunderstand the will on the street quite to their detriment. I think they are badly advised by regional powers supportive on this and uneasy by the prospect of transition,&#8221; said Jonas Horner of International Crisis Group.



Burhan has also been at the forefront of Sudan&#8217;s steps to normalise relations with Israel.



Sharon Bar-Li, deputy director-general for Africa at the Israeli Foreign Ministry, told Kan radio on Tuesday it was still too early to know if developments in Sudan will have consequences for the issue of normalisation.



The African Union has suspended Sudan&#8217;s participation in all activities until the restoration of the civilian-led authority it said in a communique dated on Tuesday.



On Tuesday evening, the SPA said it had reports of attacks by &#8220;coup forces&#8221; on protester sites in Khartoum and other cities. It said they had fired shots and tried to break through barricades.



&#8220;Right now, because the military now has power, they have halted the path and taken us back to square one, but that doesn&#8217;t work for us,&#8221; said Sudanese citizen Mohamed Ali. 



(Reporting by Alaa Swilam; additional reporting by El Tayeb Siddiq in Khartoum and Tom Perry in Beirut, writing by Nadine Awadalla and Michael Georgy; editing by Angus MacSwan)

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Doctors, oil workers to join disobedience movement against Sudan military takeover

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/NLEVFGM2PZITNIXZE4XJHAJNMM-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-412979" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/NLEVFGM2PZITNIXZE4XJHAJNMM-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/NLEVFGM2PZITNIXZE4XJHAJNMM-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/NLEVFGM2PZITNIXZE4XJHAJNMM-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/NLEVFGM2PZITNIXZE4XJHAJNMM-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/NLEVFGM2PZITNIXZE4XJHAJNMM.jpg 960w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>Sudanese military stand guard as military-aligned demonstrators gathered in numbers, chant &#8220;Down with the government of hunger&#8221; in front of the Presidential palace in Khartoum, Sudan, October 16, 2021. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig</figcaption></figure>



KHARTOUM, Oct 26 (Reuters) &#8211; Sudan&#8217;s armed forces chief defended the military&#8217;s seizure of power, saying he had ousted the government to avoid civil war, while protesters took to the streets on Tuesday to demonstrate against the takeover after a day of deadly clashes.



The military takeover on Monday brought a halt to Sudan&#8217;s transition to democracy, two years after a popular uprising toppled long-ruling Islamist autocrat Omar al-Bashir.



On Tuesday evening, the Sudanese Professionals Association group of trade unions said it had &#8220;reports of retaliatory attacks by coup forces on protesters&#8217; gathering sites&#8221; in the capital Khartoum and other cities, &#8220;using bullets, and attempts to break through barricades&#8221;.



The Facebook page for the office of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, apparently still under the control of Hamdok loyalists, said a number of ministers and civilian politicians were still detained in unknown locations. Witnesses said unidentified people arrested Faiz al-Salik, a former media adviser to Hamdok.



U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Hamdok on Tuesday, welcoming his &#8220;release from custody&#8221; and reiterating a call for the Sudanese military to release all civilian leaders in detention, the State Department said.



Speaking at his first news conference since announcing the takeover, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said the army had no choice but to sideline politicians who were inciting against the armed forces. He said the military&#8217;s action did not amount to a coup.



&#8220;The dangers we witnessed last week could have led the country into civil war,&#8221; he said, an apparent reference to demonstrations against the prospect of a coup.



Hamdok, who was arrested on Monday along with other members of his Cabinet, had not been harmed and had been brought to Burhan&#8217;s own home, the general said. “The prime minister was in his house. However, we were afraid that he’d be in danger so he has been placed with me in my home.&#8221;



Later on Tuesday, a source close to Hamdok said he and his wife were at their home and under tight security. Family sources said they were unable to reach Hamdok or his wife by phone.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2021/sudan-faces-military-coup-detainees-should-be-freed-information-ministry/">Sudan military seizes power, dissolves transitional government</a></h3>



Burhan had appeared on TV on Monday to announce the dissolution of the Sovereign Council, a body set up after Bashir&#8217;s overthrow to share power between the military and civilians and lead Sudan to free elections.



Siddig Alsadig Almahdi of the Umma Party, which had a representative on the Sovereign Council, was arrested at his home, and activist Ismail Al-Tag, a lawyer who was active in the 2019 anti-Bashir protests, was also arrested, Foreign Minister Mariam Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi told Al Jazeera TV.



Hamdok remains &#8220;the executive authority recognised by the Sudanese people and the world&#8221;, the Facebook post said, adding that there was no alternative other than protests, strikes and civil disobedience.



Sudanese ambassadors to 12 countries, including the United States, United Arab Emirates, China, and France, have rejected the military takeover, a diplomatic source said on Tuesday.



Ambassadors to Belgium and the European Union, Geneva and U.N. agencies, China, South Africa, Qatar, Kuwait, Turkey, Sweden and Canada also signed on to the statement, which said the envoys backed popular resistance to the coup.



U.S. President Joe Biden&#8217;s administration is looking at a full range of economic tools to respond to the military takeover and has been in close contact with Gulf countries, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.



Western countries have denounced the coup, called for the detained Cabinet ministers to be freed and said they will cut off vital aid if the military does not restore power-sharing with civilians. The German mission to the United Nations said on Twitter that it was suspending aid until further notice.



The U.N. Security Council met on Sudan but there was no immediate statement, diplomats said. U.N. chief Antonio Guterres on Tuesday decried &#8220;an epidemic of coup d&#8217;états&#8221; as Sudan is the latest in a series of military takeovers in Myanmar, Mali and Guinea and attempted coups in several other countries.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-shops-shut-protests-flare-in-capital">SHOPS SHUT, PROTESTS FLARE IN CAPITAL</h3>



A health ministry official said seven people had been killed in clashes between protesters and the security forces on Monday.



Khartoum and its twin city Omdurman across the Nile River were partly locked down on Tuesday with shops shut and plumes of smoke rising from where protesters burned tyres. Calls for a general strike were played over mosque loudspeakers. Streets and bridges were blocked by soldiers or protester barricades.



The only people in the streets apart from protesters were security forces heavily deployed around the presidential palace and ministry of defence.



Banks and cash machines were also closed. Mobile phone apps widely used for money transfers could not be used.



&#8220;We are paying the price for this crisis,&#8221; a man in his 50s looking for medicine at one of the pharmacies where stocks have been running low said angrily. &#8220;We can&#8217;t work, we can&#8217;t find bread, there are no services, no money.&#8221;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2021/sudan-capital-locked-down-after-coup-triggers-deadly-unrest/">Sudan capital locked down after coup triggers deadly unrest</a> </h3>



A group of neighbourhood resistance committees in Khartoum announced a schedule of further barricades and protests leading to what it said would be a &#8220;march of millions&#8221; on Saturday.



Images on social media showed renewed street protests on Tuesday in the cities of Atbara, Dongola, Elobeid and Port Sudan.



The military appeared to have underestimated civilian opposition on the street, according to Jonas Horner of the International Crisis Group.



&#8220;They haven&#8217;t learned their lesson,&#8221; he said. &#8220;As we saw post the revolution and post-Bashir, the streets were determined and civilians were willing to die for this.&#8221;



(Reporting by Nadine Awadalla, Nafisa Eltahir and Nayera Abdallah; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Mark Heinrich, Grant McCool and Howard Goller)

Sudan’s Burhan says army ousted government to avoid civil war

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/NLEVFGM2PZITNIXZE4XJHAJNMM-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-412979" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/NLEVFGM2PZITNIXZE4XJHAJNMM-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/NLEVFGM2PZITNIXZE4XJHAJNMM-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/NLEVFGM2PZITNIXZE4XJHAJNMM-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/NLEVFGM2PZITNIXZE4XJHAJNMM-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/NLEVFGM2PZITNIXZE4XJHAJNMM.jpg 960w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>Sudanese military stand guard as military-aligned demonstrators gathered in numbers, chant &#8220;Down with the government of hunger&#8221; in front of the Presidential palace in Khartoum, Sudan, October 16, 2021. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig</figcaption></figure>



KHARTOUM, Oct 25 (Reuters) &#8211; Sudan&#8217;s military seized power in a coup on Monday, arresting members of a transitional government that was supposed to guide the country to democracy following the overthrow of long-ruling autocrat Omar al-Bashir in a popular uprising two years ago.



Gunfire was heard as opponents of the takeover took to the street and medics said several people had been hurt in clashes.



General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who headed the Sovereign Council that had shared power between the military and civilians, said the council had been dissolved.



He announced a state of emergency, saying the military needed to protect the country&#8217;s safety and security.



&#8220;We guarantee the armed forces&#8217; commitment to completing the democratic transition until we hand over to a civilian elected government,&#8221; he said, setting elections for July 2023.



&#8220;What the country is going through now is a real threat and danger to the dreams of the youth and the hopes of the nation.&#8221;



Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok was detained and taken to an undisclosed location after refusing to issue a statement in support of the takeover, said the information ministry, which was still apparently under the control of Hamdok&#8217;s supporters.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-read-more-sudan-says-coup-thwarted-accuses-bashir-loyalists">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2021/sudan-thwarts-attempted-coup-situation-under-control-army-says/">Sudan says coup thwarted, accuses Bashir loyalists</a></h3>



The ministry called Burhan&#8217;s announcement a military coup and urged resistance. It said tens of thousands of people opposed to the takeover had taken to the streets and had faced gunfire near the military headquarters in Khartoum.



At least 12 people were injured in clashes, a doctors&#8217; committee said, without providing further details.



In Khartoum&#8217;s twin city Omdurman, protesters barricaded streets and chanted in support of civilian rule.



&#8220;We will defend democracy until the end,&#8221; said one protester, 21-year-old Iman Ahmed.



&#8220;Burhan cannot deceive us. This is a military coup,&#8221; said another young man who gave his name as Saleh.



Sudan &#8211; which has a history of coups &#8211; has been on edge since a failed plot last month unleashed recriminations between military and civilian groups sharing power uneasily following Bashir&#8217;s overthrow.



Tensions had built as a coalition of rebel groups and political parties aligned themselves with the military and called on it to dissolve the civilian government, while several cabinet ministers took part in huge protests in Khartoum and other cities against the prospect of military rule.



The director of Hamdok&#8217;s office, Adam Hereika, told Reuters the military had mounted the takeover despite &#8220;positive movements&#8221; towards an agreement with Hamdok following meetings with U.S. special envoy Jeffrey Feltman.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">&#8216;RAISE OUR VOICES&#8217;</h2>



Joint forces from the military and from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces were stationed in the streets of Khartoum.



The information ministry said troops had arrested civilian members of the Sovereign Council and government figures. It called on Sudanese to oppose the military attempt &#8220;to block the democratic transition&#8221;.



&#8220;We raise our voices loudly to reject this coup attempt,&#8221; it said in a statement.



The military was meant to pass leadership of the Sovereign Council to a civilian figure in the coming months. But transitional authorities had struggled to move forward on issues including whether to hand Bashir over to the International Criminal Court, where he is wanted for war crimes.



In recent weeks, civilian officials had claimed credit for some tentative signs of economic stabilisation after a sharp devaluation of the currency and the lifting of fuel subsidies.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-read-more-mass-protests-in-sudan-against-prospect-of-military-rule">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2021/mass-protests-in-sudan-against-prospect-of-military-rule/">Mass protests in Sudan against prospect of military rule</a></h3>



Burhan said it was incumbent on the armed forces to act after infighting between some political forces and &#8220;the striving for power&#8221; and &#8220;incitement to chaos and violence&#8221;.



U.S. envoy Feltman, who visited Sudan on Saturday and Sunday, said a military takeover would put U.S. aid at risk. The U.S. Embassy urged those disrupting the transition to democracy to stand down and let the civilian-led government continue its work.



The United Nations, Arab League and African Union all expressed concern. Sudan&#8217;s political leaders should be released and human rights respected, AU Commission Chair Moussa Faki Mahamat said in a statement.



Military forces stormed Sudanese Radio and Television headquarters in Omdurman and arrested employees, the information ministry said on its Facebook page. Two major political parties, the Umma and the Sudanese Congress, condemned what they called a coup and campaign of arrests.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">POPULAR TECHNOCRAT</h2>



Hamdok is an economist and former senior U.N. official appointed as a technocratic prime minister in 2019. He had struggled to sustain the transition amid splits between the military and civilians and the pressures of a deep economic crisis.



Family sources told Reuters military forces had also stormed the house of Hamdok&#8217;s media adviser, a senior civilian figure and former minister, and arrested him.



The Sudanese Professionals Association, an activist coalition in the uprising against Bashir, criticised Burhan and called for a strike.



&#8220;His reckless decisions will increase the ferocity of the street&#8217;s resistance and unity after all illusions of partnership are removed,&#8221; it said on its Facebook page.



Elsewhere in Africa this year, soldiers have staged coups in Mali and Guinea, while in Chad, the military took power after the death of a long -ruling autocrat. Niger also thwarted a coup attempt in March.



(Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz, Nafisa Eltahir, Moataz Abdelazim, Enas Alashray, Nadine Awadalla, and Daniel Moshashai; Writing by Aidan Lewis, Michael Georgy; Editing by Christopher Cushing, Robert Birsel, Peter Graff and Angus MacSwan)

Sudan military seizes power, dissolves transitional government

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="615" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/R7KIUU2GMNL2PF7WCIIVAICWTA-820x615.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-412934" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/R7KIUU2GMNL2PF7WCIIVAICWTA-820x615.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/R7KIUU2GMNL2PF7WCIIVAICWTA-300x225.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/R7KIUU2GMNL2PF7WCIIVAICWTA-120x90.jpg 120w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/R7KIUU2GMNL2PF7WCIIVAICWTA-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/R7KIUU2GMNL2PF7WCIIVAICWTA.jpg 922w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>Smoke billows from the scene of an air strike, in Mekelle, the capital of Tigray region, Ethiopia October 20, 2021. REUTERS/Stringer NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES.</figcaption></figure>



KHARTOUM, Oct 21 (Reuters) &#8211; Huge crowds of people marched in different parts of the Sudanese capital and other cities on Thursday in demonstrations to reject military rule as the crisis in the country&#8217;s troubled transition from authoritarian rule deepened.



The military has shared power with civilians in a transitional authority since the removal of President Omar al-Bashir in 2019 in a popular uprising after three decades in power.



A coalition of rebel groups and political parties have aligned themselves with the military, which has accused the civilian parties of mismanagement and monopolising power, and are seeking to dissolve the cabinet.



Civilian leaders say this would amount to a coup and say the military aims to install a government it can control.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-read-more-sudan-says-coup-thwarted-accuses-bashir-loyalists">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2021/sudan-thwarts-attempted-coup-situation-under-control-army-says/">Sudan says coup thwarted, accuses Bashir loyalists</a></h3>



Thursday&#8217;s protest took place on the anniversary of the 1964 October Revolution and was preceded by days of smaller neighbourhood protests.



Reuters journalists estimated the number of participants to be in the hundreds of thousands, making it the biggest demonstration of the transition.



Plumes of smoke could be seen as protesters burned tires and waved Sudanese flags.



Many chants were critical of head of the ruling Sovereign Council, General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, accusing him of being loyal to Bashir. Some demanded he hand over leadership to civilians and others demanded his removal.



&#8220;The government is ours, and our government is civilian,&#8221; one chant said.



Several government ministers were seen marching in different parts of Khartoum.



&#8220;October 21 is a lesson for any tyrants, loyalists, or opportunists deluded into thinking they can turn back the hands of time,&#8221; wrote Sovereign Council member Siddig Tawer, one of several civilian officials who endorsed the protests.



Neighbourhood resistance committees said in a statement they were protesting the entire power-sharing agreement and demanded sole civilian rule.



Many businesses in central Khartoum were closed in anticipation of the protest and there was an extensive police presence.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2021/u-n-urges-ethiopia-egypt-and-sudan-to-recommit-to-dam-talks/">U.N. urges Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan to recommit to dam talks</a></h3>



The military says it is committed to the transition to democracy and elections at the end of 2023.



Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, who leads the cabinet under a military-civilian power-sharing agreement, remains popular despite an economic crisis. He has said he is speaking to all sides in the crisis in order to find a solution.



Military-allied groups led by former rebel leaders and current government officials Minni Minnawi and Jibril Ibrahim have held a sit-in in front of the Presidential Palace since Saturday.



Protest routes were planned in different areas away from the downtown area to avoid confrontation with the pro-military sit-in.



&#8220;We encourage demonstrators to be peaceful and remind them of the strong U.S. support for Sudan&#8217;s democratic transition,&#8221; the U.S. Embassy said in a tweet.



(Additional reporting and writing by Nafisa Eltahir; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Smoke billows from the scene of an air strike, in Mekelle

Mass protests in Sudan against prospect of military rule

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="523" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/KOACMJWI3NJFFEORESV3CN5CQM-820x523.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-412832" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/KOACMJWI3NJFFEORESV3CN5CQM-820x523.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/KOACMJWI3NJFFEORESV3CN5CQM-300x191.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/KOACMJWI3NJFFEORESV3CN5CQM-141x90.jpg 141w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/KOACMJWI3NJFFEORESV3CN5CQM-768x490.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/KOACMJWI3NJFFEORESV3CN5CQM.jpg 960w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>Cape Verde&#8217;s Prime Minister Jose Maria Neves speaks during a news conference with his Portuguese counterpart Pedro Passos Coelho (not pictured) at the Necessidades palace in Lisbon December 17, 2014. REUTERS/Rafael Marchante/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



PRAIA, Oct 18 (Reuters) &#8211; Opposition candidate and former prime minister Jose Maria Neves won Cape Verde&#8217;s presidential election on Sunday, as his main rival, the ruling party&#8217;s flagbearer Carlos Veiga, conceded defeat.



Neves, 61, who served as prime minister from 2000-2016, will inherit responsibility for stabilising the Atlantic archipelago nation&#8217;s tourism-driven economy after the COVID-19 pandemic drove it deep into recession.



President Jorge Carlos Fonseca is stepping down after serving the maximum two five-year terms allowed by the constitution.



Neves had 51.7% of the vote based on official results from 99.4% of polling stations, ahead of Veiga with 42.4%. Five other candidates all won less than 2% each.



Veiga, who served as prime minister from 1991-2000 and represents Fonseca&#8217;s centre-right Movement for Democracy (MpD), conceded defeat late on Sunday.



&#8220;The will of the people was heard and the will of the people was granted,&#8221; he said in a statement. &#8220;I want to offer my congratulations to Jose Maria on his election as president of the republic.&#8221;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-read-more-cape-verde-s-ruling-party-maintains-majority-in-parliamentary-elections">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2021/cape-verdes-ruling-party-maintains-majority-in-parliamentary-elections/">Cape Verde’s ruling party maintains majority in parliamentary elections</a></h3>



Neves, of the leftist African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV), said he wanted to be a president &#8220;who unites, protects and cares&#8221;.



&#8220;I must say that it is a great responsibility to preside over the Cape Verdean nation in these difficult times, and I receive this victory with the great humility that has always characterised me,&#8221; he told supporters.



The transfer of power will be the fourth between the MpD and PAICV since independence from Portugal in 1975, consolidating Cape Verde&#8217;s status as one of Africa&#8217;s most stable democracies.



Neves will have to work with a prime minister from the MpD after the party maintained its parliamentary majority in an April election.



His first challenge will be the economy, which contracted 14% in 2020 as border closures caused by the pandemic cut off Cape Verde&#8217;s beaches and mountains from tourists. It is expected to bounce back this year with growth of nearly 6%. 



(Reporting by Julio Rodrigues Writing by Aaron Ross Editing by Peter Graff)

KOACMJWI3NJFFEORESV3CN5CQM

Opposition candidate Neves wins Cape Verde election

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="525" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/GPHN553MPBO2FLF7ULTSHLN3R4-820x525.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-412736" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/GPHN553MPBO2FLF7ULTSHLN3R4-820x525.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/GPHN553MPBO2FLF7ULTSHLN3R4-300x192.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/GPHN553MPBO2FLF7ULTSHLN3R4-140x90.jpg 140w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/GPHN553MPBO2FLF7ULTSHLN3R4-768x492.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/GPHN553MPBO2FLF7ULTSHLN3R4.jpg 960w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>A general view of people on the Liido beach in Mogadishu, Somalia October 12, 2021. REUTERS/Feisal Omar</figcaption></figure>



THE HAGUE, Oct 12 (Reuters) &#8211; The top U.N. top court ruled on Tuesday largely in favour of Somalia in its dispute with Kenya, setting a sea boundary in part of the Indian Ocean believed to be rich in oil and gas.



Somalia said the ruling was a result of &#8220;sacrifice and struggle&#8221; by the Horn of Africa country.



A new boundary drawn by the International Court of Justice was closest to a line proposed by Somalia, attributing to it several offshore oil blocks claimed by Kenya.



The revised maritime border along the exclusive economic zones for the continental shelves of Somalia and Kenya &#8220;achieves and equitable solution&#8221;, Judge Joan Donoghue said.



Kenya, which did secure some territory beyond the Somali claim, had failed to prove there was an established sea boundary between the states, which would have given it a greater portion of the disputed territory, the court found.



&#8220;I thank Allah for&#8230; for the fruit of the long struggle made by the Somalis in preventing Kenya&#8217;s desire to claim ownership of part of Somalia&#8217;s sea,&#8221; Somalia&#8217;s President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed said in a broadcast on his office&#8217;s Facebook page.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-read-more-somalia-reviving-ties-with-kenya-after-nearly-six-months"> Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2021/somalia-reviving-ties-with-kenya-after-nearly-six-months/">Somalia reviving ties with Kenya after nearly six months</a></h3>



The ruling came after Nairobi last week said it had revoked recognition of the court&#8217;s jurisdiction. No one for Kenya was officially present either in court or via video link.



The court has said Kenya&#8217;s withdrawal is not retroactive and does not affect Tuesday&#8217;s judgement.



Somalia filed the case in 2014 at the United Nations&#8217; highest court dealing with disputes between states.



The case at the ICJ, also known as the World Court, concerned a boundary dispute over more than 100,000 sq km (nearly 40,000 sq miles) of sea floor claimed by both countries. 



(Reporting by Stephanie van den Berg, Additional reporting by Abdi Sheikh in Mogadishu and George Obulutsa in Nairobi Editing by Anthony Deutsch, Peter Graff, Chizu Nomiyama, Mark Heinrich and Giles Elgood)

GPHN553MPBO2FLF7ULTSHLN3R4

World Court sides mostly with Somalia in border dispute with Kenya

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="571" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/BPFUIINCWFOAXHCBX6CEJBULYY-820x571.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-408789" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/BPFUIINCWFOAXHCBX6CEJBULYY-820x571.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/BPFUIINCWFOAXHCBX6CEJBULYY-300x209.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/BPFUIINCWFOAXHCBX6CEJBULYY-115x80.jpg 115w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/BPFUIINCWFOAXHCBX6CEJBULYY-768x535.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/BPFUIINCWFOAXHCBX6CEJBULYY.jpg 960w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>The Blue Nile River is seen as the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam reservoir fills near the Ethiopia-Sudan border, in this broad spectral image taken November 6, 2020. NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Space Systems, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team/Handout via REUTERS</figcaption></figure>



July 6 (Reuters) &#8211; The United Nations called on Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt on Tuesday to recommit to talks on the operation of a giant hydropower dam, urging them to avoid any unilateral action, a day after Ethiopia began filling the dam&#8217;s reservoir.



The U.N. Security Council will likely discuss the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) this week after Arab states requested the 15-member body address the issue.



Ethiopia says the dam on its Blue Nile is crucial to its economic development and to provide power. But Egypt views it as a grave threat to its Nile water supplies, on which it is almost entirely dependent. Sudan, another downstream country, has expressed concern about the dam&#8217;s safety and the impact on its own dams and water stations.



U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres backs the role of the African Union in mediating between the countries, Guterres&#8217; spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York.



&#8220;What is also important, that there be no unilateral action that would undermine any search for solutions. So, it&#8217;s important that people recommit themselves to engage in good faith in a genuine process,&#8221; Dujarric said on Tuesday.



<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/egypt-informs-ethiopia-its-categorical-refusal-second-gerd-filling-statement-2021-07-05">Egypt&#8217;s irrigation minister said</a> on Monday he had received official notice from Ethiopia that it had begun filling the reservoir behind the dam for a second year. Egypt said it rejected the measure as a threat to regional stability.



The U.S. State Department on Tuesday said Ethiopia&#8217;s filling of the GERD had the potential to raise tensions, as it also urged all parties to refrain from unilateral actions on the dam.



State Department spokesman Ned Price said the United States called for all parties to commit themselves to a negotiated solution acceptable to all sides.



Solutions needed to be guided by example, said Dujarric.



&#8220;Solutions… have been found for others who share waterways, who share rivers, and that is based on the principle of equitable and reasonable utilization and the obligation not to cause significant harm,&#8221; he said. 



(Reporting by Doyinsola Oladipo; Additional reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Michelle Nichols, Bill Berkrot and Rosalba O&#8217;Brien)

BPFUIINCWFOAXHCBX6CEJBULYY

U.N. urges Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan to recommit to dam talks

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/un-820x547.png" alt="" class="wp-image-407588" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/un-820x547.png 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/un-300x200.png 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/un-120x80.png 120w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/un-768x512.png 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/un.png 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>Photo via Wikipedia</figcaption></figure>



Sudan asked the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday to meet and discuss a dispute over a giant dam being built by Ethiopia on the Blue Nile, a government statement said.



Ethiopia is pinning its hopes of economic development and power generation on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), while the two downstream countries &#8211; Egypt and Sudan &#8211; are concerned about it and seeking a binding agreement on the filling and operation of the dam.



Egypt relies on the Nile River for as much as 90% of its fresh water and sees the dam as an existential threat. Sudan is concerned about the operation of its own Nile dams and water stations.



Sudan&#8217;s Foreign Minister Mariam Sadiq al-Mahdi called on the Security Council to hold a session as soon as possible to discuss GERD and &#8220;its impact on the safety and security of millions of people&#8221;, the government statement said.



In a letter to the council head, she called on him to urge Ethiopia to stop the &#8220;unilateral&#8221; filling of the dam &#8220;which exacerbates the dispute and poses a threat to regional and international peace and security&#8221;, the statement added.



Ethiopian officials did not immediately return messages seeking comment.



Sudan and Egypt had already agreed this month to work together on all levels to push Ethiopia to negotiate &#8220;seriously&#8221; on an agreement, after African Union-sponsored talks remained deadlocked. The two countries called on the international community to intervene.



Earlier this month, Arab states called on the Security Council to discuss the dispute and Ethiopia&#8217;s plans to go ahead with the second filling of the dam this summer even without an agreement with Sudan and Egypt.



Ethiopia rejected the Arab League resolution in its entirety, its Foreign Ministry said.



Arab League envoy to the UN, Maged Abdel Fattah, said on Tuesday evening that Sudan and Egypt are working on a draft resolution to the Security Council on GERD if Ethiopia doesn&#8217;t reach a deal.



Arab states will lobby for the draft resolution to be approved, he told the Egyptian private TV channel Sada Elbalad, adding that he doesn&#8217;t expect world powers to block it.



Ethiopia previously rejected calls from Egypt and Sudan to involve mediators outside the African Union.



Sudan said earlier in June that it was open to a partial interim agreement on the multibillion-dollar dam, with specific conditions. (Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz and Mahmoud Mourad; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Richard Pullin)

Sudan asks U.N. Security Council to meet over Ethiopia’s Blue Nile dam

Some of the world’s richest men — Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Warren Buffett, Carl Icahn, Michael Bloomberg and George Soros — pay just a tiny fraction of their increasing wealth in taxes, and in some cases pay no taxes in a given year,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/the-secret-irs-files-trove-of-never-before-seen-records-reveal-how-the-wealthiest-avoid-income-tax" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according to a report Tuesday.</a>



<a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/the-secret-irs-files-trove-of-never-before-seen-records-reveal-how-the-wealthiest-avoid-income-tax" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ProPublica, citing confidential IRS data it obtained on thousands of wealthy people</a>, reported that the 25 richest Americans “saw their worth rise a collective $401 billion from 2014 to 2018.”



But those people paid a total of just $13.6 billion in federal income taxes for those five years, which “amounts to a true tax rate of only 3.4%,” the article noted.



In contrast, the median U.S. household in recent years earned around $70,000 annually and paid 14% of that in federal taxes. Couples in the highest income tax rate bracket paid a rate of 37% on earnings higher than $628,300, the report said.



ProPublica pointed out that billionaires, unlike most other people whose earnings come from conventional wage income, often benefit from “tax-avoidance strategies beyond the reach of ordinary people.”



And their wealth is often largely based on the rising value of stock and real estate that is not considered taxable unless those assets are sold, the report noted.



ProPublica did not disclose how it obtained the tax information cited in the article, but did say that the outlet “went&nbsp;to considerable lengths to confirm that the information sent to us is accurate.” CNBC has not independently verified the information in the report.



The article said that according to ProPublica’s calculations, Buffett’s “true tax rate” was just 0.1%, or $23.7 million in taxes he paid on wealth growth of $24.3 billion, during the five-year time frame.



During that period, Buffett, CEO of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/BRK.A" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Berkshire Hathaway</a>, reported legally taxable income of $125 million.



Bezos, who as founder of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/AMZN" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Amazon</a>&nbsp;has become the world’s richest person, paid slightly less than 1% in ProPublica’s true tax rate, or $973 million, on wealth growth of $99 billion during the five-year period. Bezos’ actual taxable income during that time was $4.22 billion, the report said.



In 2007, Bezos “did not pay a penny in federal income taxes,” and he also avoided any federal income tax liability in 2011, the article said.



The world’s second-richest person,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/TSLA" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tesla</a>&nbsp;CEO Elon Musk, paid a 3.27% true tax rate, or $455 million, on wealth growth of $13.9 billion, ProPublica said.



Musk, who had an actual taxable income of $1.52 billion during the five-year period, paid no federal income taxes in 2018, according to ProPublica.



Bloomberg, former New York City mayor and founder of Bloomberg LP, paid a 1.3% true tax rate, or $292 million, during the time period looked at by ProPublica. His actual taxable income was $10 billion, the report said.



Soros, an investor, paid no federal income taxes between 2016 and 2018, which was a result of him losing money on his investments, his spokesman told ProPublica.



Icahn, another investor, paid no federal income tax in 2016 and 2017, years in which his total adjusted gross income was $544 million, the article said.



Icahn told ProPublica that he registered tax losses in both of those years as a result of taking deductions worth hundreds of millions of dollars due to the interest he paid on loans.



Asked whether it was appropriate that he had paid no income tax in certain years, Icahn said he was perplexed by the question, ProPublica reported.



“There’s a reason it’s called income tax,” Icahn was quoted as saying in the article. “The reason is if, if you’re a poor person, a rich person, if you are&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/AAPL" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Apple</a>&nbsp;— if you have no income, you don’t pay taxes.”



He added: “Do you think a rich person should pay taxes no matter what? I don’t think it’s germane. How can you ask me that question?”



White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki on Tuesday was asked about the leak of tax information to Pro Publica.



“Any unauthorized disclosure of confidential government information by a person with access is illegal, and we take this very seriously,” Psaki told reporters at a news conference.



“The IRS commissioner said today that they are taking all appropriate measures, including referring the matter to investigators and Treasury and the IRS are referring the matter to the office of the inspector general, the Treasury inspector general for tax administration, the FBI and the US attorney’s office for the District of&nbsp;Columbia,&nbsp;all of whom have independent authority to investigate



“So obviously, we take it very seriously,” she added.



Psaki also said that she would not comment on the specific data in the article, but also said, “Broadly speaking, we know that there is more to be done to ensure that corporations and individuals at the highest income are paying more of their fair share.”

benzo

Bezos, Buffett, Bloomberg, Musk, Icahn and Soros pay tiny fraction of wealth in income taxes, report reveals

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="677" height="453" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/namibian-flag.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-405300" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/namibian-flag.jpg 677w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/namibian-flag-300x201.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/namibian-flag-150x100.jpg 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 677px) 100vw, 677px" /><figcaption>Namibian National Flag: Image from <a rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:National_Flag_Namibia.JPG">Wikimedia Commons</a> </figcaption></figure>



Germany apologised on Friday for its role in the slaughter of Herero and Nama tribespeople in Namibia more than a century ago and officially described the massacre as genocide for the first time, as it agreed to fund projects worth over a billion euros.



Namibia&#8217;s President Hage Geingob welcomed the &#8220;historic&#8221; move, but Herero paramount chief Vekuii Rukoro dismissed a deal agreed by the two governments as &#8220;an insult&#8221; because it did not include payment of reparations.



Instead Germany will fund 1.1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) of reconstruction and development projects in Namibia, which German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said would directly benefit the genocide-affected communities.



&#8220;That&#8217;s a black cat in the bag instead of reparations for a crime against humanity,&#8221; Rukoro told Reuters.



&#8220;No self-respecting African will accept such an insult in this day and age from a so-called civilized European nation.&#8221;



German soldiers killed some 65,000 Herero and 10,000 Nama people in a 1904-1908 campaign after a revolt against land seizures by colonists in what historians and the United Nations have long called the first genocide of the 20th century.



While Germany has previously acknowledged &#8220;moral responsibility&#8221; for the killings, it had avoided making an official apology for the massacres to avoid compensation claims.



In a statement announcing an agreement with Namibia following more than five years of negotiations, Maas said the events of the colonial period should be named &#8220;without sparing or glossing over them&#8221;.



&#8220;We will now also officially call these events what they were from today&#8217;s perspective: a genocide,&#8221; he added.



&#8220;In light of Germany&#8217;s historical and moral responsibility, we will ask Namibia and the descendants of the victims for forgiveness.&#8221;



Namibian media reported on Thursday that the funds promised by Germany would support infrastructure, healthcare and training programmes over 30 years.



Namibia&#8217;s president Geingob welcomed the move as a &#8220;step in the right direction&#8221;, his spokesman told Reuters.



&#8220;The apology on the part of Germany and acceptance there was a genocide is in itself historic and speaks to the moral responsibility Germany has towards Namibia and the communities affected by the first genocide of the 20th century,&#8221; Alfredo Hengari told Reuters.



HUMAN DIGNITY



Germany, which lost all its colonial territories after World War One, was the third biggest colonial power after Britain and France. However, its colonial past was ignored for decades while historians and politicians focused more on the legacy of Nazi crimes, including the Holocaust.



Sima Luipert, 52, who identified herself as of Namibia&#8217;s Nama people, said Germany should not have directed its apology to the Namibian state, which did not exist at the time of the genocide and was given no mandate to speak to Germany on behalf of traditional authorities.



&#8220;Germany must come to the Nama people, and to the Herero people, and to ask for forgiveness,&#8221; she said. &#8220;It is up to us to decide if that apology is genuine or not.



&#8220;This is not about money, it is about the restoration of human dignity.&#8221;



($1 = 0.8203 euros)



 (Reporting by Caroline Copley in Berlin and Nyasha Francis in Windhoek; Editing by Robert Birsel and Catherine Evans)

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