Sudan crisis: Five children among 17 killed in air strikes

Seventeen people - five children - have been killed in an air strike in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, officials say.

Twenty-five homes were destroyed in Saturday’s strike in the densely populated Yarmouk district.

It came a day after a top army general threatened to step up attacks against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

Fighting between the Sudanese army and the RSF broke out midApril as a result of a vicious power struggle within the country’s military leadership.

In early June, the RSF claimed full control of Yarmouk, an area of the capital which houses an arms manufacturing facility.

Later on Saturday the warring factions agreed a 72-hour ceasefire starting at 06:00 (04:00 GMT) on Sunday. It was announced by Saudi and US mediators. Similar ceasefires in the past have not been observed.

Precise figures on the number of people killed in the fighting are difficult to establish, but it is believed to be well over 1,000, including many civilians caught in the crossfire.

Roughly 2.2 million people have been displaced within the country and more than half a million are sheltering in neighbouring countries, according to the UN.

Several ceasefires have been announced to allow people to escape the fighting but these have not been observed.

The recent attack targeted civilians in Mayo, Yarmouk, and Mandela areas, according to the RSF. The army has not commented.

Since the hostilities began, tens of thousands of civilians have fled across the border into neighbouring Chad.

Doctors and hospitals there have been overstretched and struggling to cope.

The war in Ukraine must end, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has told Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin.

Mr Ramaphosa’s remarks came as he met Mr Putin in St Petersburg on Saturday as part of a peace mission with six other African countries.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the delegation on Friday that he would not enter talks with Russia while they occupied Ukrainian land.

Mr Putin told the African leaders Ukraine had always refused talks.

At the meeting in St Petersburg, Mr Ramaphosa also called for both parties to return their prisoners of war, and said children removed by Russia should be returned home.

Mr Putin has been charged with war crimes by the International Criminal Court over the forced removal of hundreds of Ukrainian children from their families during Russia’s occupation of Ukraine.

As the African delegation called for the return of children to their families, Mr Putin interrupted their speech and claimed Russia was protecting them.

“Children are sacred. We moved them out of the conflict zone, saving their lives and health”, he said. The UN said they have evidence of the illegal transfer of hundreds of Ukrainian children to Russia.

Mr Ramaphosa also warned Mr Putin of the impacts of the war on Africa, and said it should be settled by diplomacy.

“The war cannot go on forever. All wars have to be settled and come to an end at some stage,” he said. “And we are here to communicate a very clear message that we would like this war to be ended.”

The war has severely restricted the export of grain from Ukraine and fertiliser from Russia, which has affected African countries in particular and intensified global food insecurity.

But Mr Putin blamed the West for the grain crisis - not the war in Ukraine - as he said only 3% of the grain exports permitted under a UN-sponsored deal to ensure its safe passage through the Black Sea had gone to the world’s poorest countries.

Russia has repeatedly complained that Western sanctions are restricting its own agricultural exports. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there were “no grounds for extending” the grain deal, because “so far what we were promised has not been done”.

Mr Putin praised what he described as Africa’s balanced position on the war, which Russia continues to call a “special military operation”.

The African delegation, made up of representatives from South Africa, Egypt, Senegal, CongoBrazzaville, Comoros, Zambia, and Uganda has been specifically designed for breadth and balance, with members from different parts of Africa with different views on the conflict.

South Africa and Uganda are seen as leaning towards Russia, while Zambia and Comoros are closer to the West. Egypt, Senegal and Congo-Brazzaville have remained largely neutral.

African countries have primarily seen the conflict a confrontation between Russia and the West.

The delegation also met with Ukrainian leaders on Friday, where Mr Ramaphosa warned the war in Europe was affecting between 1.2 and 1.3 billion people in Africa.

Nearly 40 pupils have been killed at a school in western Uganda by rebels linked to the Islamic State group (IS).

Five militants attacked the Lhubiriha secondary school in Mpondwe at around 23:30 (20:30 GMT) on Friday.

They entered dormitories, setting fire and using machetes to kill and maim the pupils, officials said.

The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) - based in the Democratic Republic of Congo - have been blamed and a manhunt is under way.

• Warning: Some people may find details in this story distressing.

More than 60 people are educated at the school, most of whom live there.

Uganda’s information minister said 37 students were confirmed to have been killed, but did not give their ages.

Twenty of them were attacked with machetes and 17 of them burned to death, Chris Baryomunsi told the BBC.

The Ugandan army said the rebels had also killed a school guard and three members of the local community.

Survivors said the rebels threw a bomb into the dormitory after the machete attack. It is not clear if this resulted in a fire in the building which was reported earlier.

Six students were also abducted to carry food that the rebels stole from the school’s stores, he added. The militants then returned across the border into the DR Congo.

Some of the bodies are said to have been badly burnt and DNA tests will need to be carried out to identify them.

Eight people remain in a critical condition after the attack.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemned the “appalling act” and called for those behind it to be brought to justice.

Soldiers are pursuing ADF insurgents towards the DR Congo’s Virunga national park - Africa’s oldest and largest national park which is home to rare species, including mountain gorillas.

Militias including the ADF also use the vast expanse, which borders Uganda and Rwanda, as a hideout.

“Our forces are pursuing the enemy to rescue those abducted and destroy this group,” defence spokesperson Felix Kulayigye said on Twitter.

The Ugandan army has also deployed helicopters to help track the rebel group over mountainous terrain.

The two neighbours have held joint military operations in the east of DR Congo to prevent attacks by the ADF.

Security forces had intelligence that rebels were in the border area on Congolese side for at least two days before Friday night’s attack, Maj Gen Olum said.

But local residents have criticised the authorities for not being prepared for an attack.

“If they are telling us the borders are secure and security is tight, I want the security to tell us where they were when these killers came to kill our people,” one resident told reporters.

The deadly episode follows last week’s attack by suspected ADF fighters in a village in DR Congo near to the Ugandan border. More than 100 villagers fled to Uganda but have since returned.

The attack on the school, located less than 2km (1.25 miles) from Congolese border, is the first such attack on a Ugandan school in 25 years.

In June 1998, 80 students were burnt to death in their dormitories in an ADF attack on Kichwamba Technical Institute near the border of DR Congo. More than 100 students were abducted. BBC