First Independent Mena Newspaper
South Sudan announced, on Thursday, 11 December, that it has secured a tripartite agreement with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to protect the Heglig oil field, after the RSF seized the site earlier in the week. Information Minister Ateny Wek Ateny said in Juba that the accord was reached […]
President Salva Kiir convened, on 10 December 2025, a rare gathering of South Sudan’s political leaders in Juba to recalibrate the final phase of the country’s long-delayed transition. Officials confirmed that the parties agreed to amend several provisions of the 2018 ‘Revitalized Peace Agreement’, aiming to clear obstacles to the December 2026 elections. The adjustments, […]
A gunman who seized control of a small humanitarian aircraft in South Sudan on Tuesday, December 2, was apprehended hours later after the pilot executed an unscheduled landing in the northern town of Wau, Police confirmed. The incident ended without injuries, and authorities have launched a full investigation. The Cessna Grand Caravan, owned and operated […]
South Sudan has confirmed it requested $2.5 billion in oil-backed loans from two international firms, exceeding the country’s annual budget of less than $2 billion. The Petroleum ministry said on Thursday that the requests, sent in late October, were preliminary and intended solely for official Government purposes. The loans comprise $1 billion from ONGC Nile […]
South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir Mayardit has dismissed Vice President Benjamin Bol Mel and removed him from his leadership role in the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) party, according to presidential decrees broadcast on SSBC State television on Wednesday. Bol Mel was also demoted from general to private in the National Security Service. The […]
A senior United Nations official has warned Wednesday that the ongoing war in Sudan is worsening South Sudan’s fragile economy and humanitarian conditions along their shared border. Guang Cong, the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General to the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), told the UN Security Council that fighting between the Sudanese Armed […]
The defense team for South Sudan’s suspended First Vice-President, Riek Machar, has challenged the legality of the special Court handling his trial, arguing that its mandate expired last week. Lead defense lawyer Dr. Geri Raimondo Legge told the Special Court for the Nasir Incident that the ministerial order establishing the tribunal only authorized it to […]
More than 42 million people across six East and Horn of Africa countries are facing acute food insecurity in 2025, according to a grim new report from the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). The Regional Focus of the 2025 Global Report on Food Crises, released Tuesday (16 September), reveals that Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, […]
South Sudan’s First Vice President, Riek Machar, is facing charges of treason, murder, terrorism, and other grave offences, the Justice ministry confirmed, raising fears of renewed conflict in the fragile nation. Machar, who has been under house arrest since March 2025, was suspended by President Salva Kiir after being accused of orchestrating subversive activities against […]
The number of aid workers kidnapped in South Sudan has more than doubled in 2025, raising fears that abductions for ransom are becoming a new tactic in the conflict-torn nation. Over 30 aid workers have been abducted so far this year, compared with fewer than half that figure in 2024, according to humanitarian officials. Some […]