First Independent Mena Newspaper
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 […]
Ghana has joined a growing list of African nations cooperating with the United States in its controversial immigration enforcement policy, accepting 14 West African deportees recently removed from the U.S. President John Dramani Mahama confirmed that the arrivals — mostly Nigerians and one Gambian — landed in Accra and were swiftly assisted in returning to […]
The World Food Programme (WFP) and UNICEF have announced the mobilization of $65 million under the Joint Resilience Project Phase II to support nearly one million vulnerable people in South Sudan. The initiative will cover urban and peri-urban communities in Juba, Torit, Yambio, and Aweil, focusing on critical areas such as food security, education, healthcare, […]
Uganda has confirmed a temporary agreement with the United States to accept third-country nationals denied asylum in the U.S., marking a significant shift in migration policy that has sparked controversy both at home and across the continent. The deal, confirmed last week (21 August) by Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary Vincent Bagiire Waiswa, excludes individuals with […]