First Independent Mena Newspaper
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 […]
South Sudan’s political stability faces renewed strain after General Khamis Abdel-Latif Chawul Lom urged President Salva Kiir Mayardit to replace First Vice President Riek Machar with Stephen Par Kuol, leader of a breakaway SPLM-IO faction. Machar, a key architect of the 2018 peace accord, has been under house arrest since March over an ongoing criminal […]
Renewed violence in South Sudan is threatening to plunge the country — and its neighbors — into deeper instability, UN officials warned this week. Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, Martha Pobee, told the UN Security Council that South Sudan’s fragile peace process is unraveling, with escalating clashes between government forces and rival militias eroding the 2018 […]
South Sudan’s government has firmly denied reports of discussions with Israel regarding the possible relocation of Palestinians from Gaza to its territory, following widespread media coverage and public outcry. The denial follows an Associated Press report that cited unnamed sources claiming that Israel and South Sudan were engaged in talks over forcibly transferring Palestinians as […]
The Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (RJMEC) has called on African Union (AU) leaders to step up direct engagement to defuse South Sudan’s deepening political crisis. Speaking in Juba Monday during a visit by a high-level AU Peace and Security Council (AUPSC) delegation, RJMEC Chief of Staff Ambassador Berhanu Kebede urged the AU and […]