Nichola Mandil
BBC News, Juba

South Sudan's Catholic bishops are calling for urgent intervention by the international community to help resolve the conflict in neighbouring Sudan and to provide humanitarian assistance to the needy people.

A letter signed by eight bishops addressed to the government of South Sudan, the international community and humanitarian agencies, called for provision of aid – both within Sudan and in South Sudan – and in other neighbouring countries which are hosting Sudanese refugees.

They said in order to reduce the suffering of the people of Sudan, the way forward is a peace process not war.

“We are deeply concerned about the regional and international components to the conflict [in Sudan]. The conflict is destabilising the region which is already fragile and weakened by internal conflicts,” the bishops said.

A joint effort by the US and Saudi Arabia to broker ceasefires has had limited success. A regional African mission to find peace has so far not made any progress.

Over 130,000 people have fled the fighting and crossed into South Sudan. Most were returning citizens but among them are 10,000 Sudanese refugees, according to a UN estimate.

Most Sudanese refugess have gone to Egypt and Chad.

BBC Arabic's Sudan Lifeline radio

Image source, Reuters

There has been a rise in the number of measles cases in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, because the ongoing conflict is preventing vaccinations, a paediatrician has told the BBC.

Speaking to the Sudan Lifeline programme, Dr Mohamed al-Taher, who is based in Khartoum, said there was a shortage of vaccines, which could lead to the outbreak of diseases among children.

"Vaccination is the responsibility of the ministry of health, yet the ministry cannot carry out its role as regards the vaccination process," he said..

"There is a shortage in the measles vaccine and a number of cases have already occurred among children and they are expected to be very severe... it will be very severe because their bodies will not be resisting it."

With frequent aerial bombardment and clashes in densely populated urban areas, it's extremely dangerous to try to reach clinics.

Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has warned that as people flee their homes there are increasing cases of measles and malnutrition in camps in White Nile state, south of the capital.

MSF says communities have reported a rise in child mortality much of it due to suspected cases of measles.

Additional reporting by Will Ross.

Image source, EPA

More than 10 bodies from the dozens of people who died in a road accident in Kenya on Friday are yet to be identified, with some having been badly damaged.

County authorities have told local media that they are expecting a pathologist from the national government to help identify the bodies.

At least 50 people died when a lorry carrying a shipping container lost control at the Londiani junction near the western town of Kericho. Forty-one bodies have been identified and some released to families.

The lorry hit several public service and private vehicles at the busy junction before it landed in a ditch.

Transport Minister Kipchumba Murkomen over the weekend issued orders for markets on the side of the road at the site to be relocated following the crash.

He said the relevant agencies would revise speed limits in the area and provide speed bumps and road signs.

He also said the road safety authority would install speed cameras and designate the area as a dangerous section in order support the enforcement of traffic laws.

The measures come amid criticism that the government has not been doing enough to curb road accidents.

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

Three Chinese military ships are in Nigeria on a rare visit which officials say is aimed at improving maritime security.

The arrival of the fleet - which is led by a destroyer - comes six months after a new billion-dollar deep sea port was opened in Lagos.

It was Chinese-built and China has retained a majority shareholding in the company that runs the facility.

Correspondents say the port and naval visit are further signs of China's growing presence in Africa.

Nigeria is a major oil supplier to China.

In a statement, China's ambassador in Nigeria Cui Jianchun described the event as a major move in China-Nigeria relations saying it "demonstrates the high degree of political mutual trust between the two countries which will have a profound impact on development".

The Nigerian navy led by Rear Admiral JD Akpan expressed "willingness to work with China to tackle maritime security threats and maintain stability in the Gulf of Guinea".

Last year US defence officials expressed concern that America's national security could be under threat if China sets up a military base on the West African coastline.

In 2017, China opened its first overseas naval base in Djibouti on the East African coast.

Additional reporting by Azeezat Olaoluwa.

Image source, EPA

Kenya's Beatrice Chebet led an African top three in the women's 3000m at the Diamond League meeting in Stockholm, Sweden on Sunday.

In difficult weather conditions she recorded her season's best time of 14 minutes 36.52 seconds. Ethiopia's Lemlem Hailu and Medina Eisa came second and third

Ethiopia monopolised the medals in the women's 1500m, with Freweyni Hailu leading the three with a time of 4:02.31.

"The victory is great but the competition was not ideal due to the weather. But we have to adapt to all conditions," Hailu is quoted by the Reuters news agency as saying.

Other African success included:

• South Africa's Akani Simbine winning the men's 100m
• South Africa's Zakithi Nene inning the men's 400m
• Algeria's Djamel Sedjati winning the men's 800m
• Nigeria's Tobi Amusan winning the women's 100m hurdles

One of the surviving sons of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, has reportedly been moved from a Lebanese prison, where he has been on a hunger strike, to hospital in “critical condition”

The Reuters news agency quotes the Dubai-based Al-Hadath TV as reporting that he had suffered a sharp drop in his blood sugar level.

Hannibal Gaddafi has been detained in jail in the country for more than eight years.

He went on hunger strike last month in protest against his prolonged detention without trial.

He has been held in the country since he was captured in Syria where he had fled after the killing of his father by rebels in 2011.

DJ Edu
Presenter of This Is Africa on BBC World Service

Image source, Khaligraph Jones

Khaligraph Jones is an award-winning rapper from Kenya who has stood by his genre despite all the other musical trends making waves on the continent - and it has paid off.

He was born Brian Ouko Omollo and raised in the Kayole neighbourhood of Nairobi and says he was attracted to hip hop music from an early age.

But his success did not come easily.

People used to ask him why he didn’t just switch and do “Kenyan music”.

“I don’t know what kind of a sound they thought I was fit for, but consistency is key and we kept on pushing until they finally accepted me,” he says.

He first came to people’s attention by winning a high-profile freestyle competition.

He says his development as an artist has been a gradual process. He began building his reputation by featuring on tracks by other artists such as Kristoff and Stella Mwangi.

At the time he was also working as a bouncer because he couldn't depend on music to sustain himself. In 2013 he quit bouncing "because people started to recognise my face".

In 2018 he released his first solo album entitled Testimony 1990, a reference to the year of his birth. That same year he won best rap act of the year at the Afrimma Awards, and in 2020 he won best hip hop artist.

His second album Invisible Currency was released last year and achieved one million streams in six days.

Khaligraph Jones now feels he has paved the way for other rappers to come to the fore.

“After I did it I’ve seen dozens of others being able to also rise and also do their thing."

So how did he come up with his stage name Khaligraph Jones?

“I used to do graffiti when I was in school, but graffiti with calligraphy. And I was also a big fan of the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment). There was this big guy who used to go by the name of The Great Khali from India.

"He was a big, tall guy. I used to like The Great Khali. And because I was doing graffiti with calligraphy, I thought let me put this together and remove the y. Khaligraph! And I added Jones to it”.

Khaligraph Jones believes he has finished with phase one of his development as an artist.

“The first phase was take over Kenya, take over East Africa and get that continental recognition. Now the mission is to get more cross over collaborations and that’s what we’re working on right now.”

To hear the full interview listen to This is Africa here.

Image source, AFP

South Africa's main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA), along with six other parties, have announced that they will hold talks to outline a pact that they hope will unseat the ANC from government at next year's elections.

The group does not include the country's third largest political force - the Economic Freedom Fighters - which is to the left of the ANC.

The ANC - the party that led the struggle against apartheid and in power for nearly three decades - has seen a gradual slide in its support in recent years.

At the last municipal elections in 2021 - the most recent nationwide vote - it recorded a total vote share of less than 50%.

The seven opposition parties hoping to agree on a pact have said in a joint statement that "the incumbent governing party is set to lose its majority when voters go to the polls next year".

With this in mind they want to present a united front that is "stable, viable and effective" and plan to meet for two days next month to hammer out a deal.

But without the participation of the EFF, which secured a 10% share in the 2019 general election, winning more than half the votes next year may be a tall order.

Read more on the challenges facing the ANC government:

• Load-shedding could switch South Africans off the ANC

Nicolas Negoce
BBC News, Dakar

Image source, Getty Images

The Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko has called on the public to "come out en masse" to protest against President Macky Sall seeking a third term.

The incumbent is scheduled to give a speech later to announce whether he will run for president in 2024 - something most legal experts say would violate the Senegalese constitution.

Last month, thousands of protesters took to the streets of various Senegalese cities after Sonko was sentenced to two years in prison for the crime of "corrupting youth".

Sonko's supporters and some political observers say the case was an attempt to block him from running in next year's presidential election.

The clashes were the deadliest in recent memory.

Sonko also said on Sunday that if the president announces a third-term bid it was "incumbent on all the Senegalese people to stand up, to face him".

The constitution limits presidents to two terms in office but Mr Sall's supporters argue that this should be reset because a new constitution was adopted in 2016.

An attempted third-term bid by then President Abdoulaye Wade in 2012 plunged the country into violence, leading to 12 deaths.

Image source, Getty Images

Kenya's President William Ruto has lifted a ban on logging imposed six years ago.

The president said the move was "overdue" citing the need to create jobs and open up sectors in the economy that depend on forest products.

Concerns over the impact of logging on the environment and climate change prompted the ban in 2018.

But speaking on Sunday in Molo in the Rift Valley region, Mr Ruto defended the lifting of the ban, saying the moratorium on logging had been "foolish".

"Trees are decaying in the forest while people are struggling to get timber. Do you see the foolishness?" he asked.

He said the government had imposed taxes on anyone importing timber and furniture in the recent budget "because we want all that to be made by the Kenyan people".

The ban on logging has affected some areas where many people depended on logging as the source of their livelihoods.

The lifting of the ban comes as the government pushes on with its plan to plant 15 billion trees over 10 years to increase the country's tree cover.

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