Login to BlackFacts.com using your favorite Social Media Login. Click the appropriate button below and you will be redirected to your Social Media Website for confirmation and then back to Blackfacts.com once successful.
Enter the email address and password you used to join BlackFacts.com. If you cannot remember your login information, click the “Forgot Password” link to reset your password.
February 2, 2025 (EL FASHER) - Forces allied with the Sudanese army said on Sunday they had repelled an attack by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, as fighting intensified despite renewed calls from the UN Security Council for a ceasefire. Ahmed Hussein Mustafa, a spokesman for the joint force of armed groups fighting alongside the army, said the RSF attacked El Fasher from three directions, targeting a reservoir, residential areas, and camps for displaced people. He said the attackers were met with strong resistance from the joint force, the army, and local defence groups. Mustafa claimed 140 RSF fighters and foreign mercenaries were killed, 43 military vehicles destroyed, and 12 captured. Reuters could not independently verify the claims. The RSF has been trying to seize El Fasher, the army's last major stronghold in Darfur, since May 10. The UN Security Council on Saturday called for an immediate halt to RSF attacks on the city and an end to the months-long siege. Mustafa said RSF fighters were increasingly appearing on foot, some using donkeys and horses, and many appeared to be under the influence of drugs. He asserted that the RSF was disintegrating …
The post Darfur Joint Force says they repelled RSF attack on El Fasher appeared first on Sudan Tribune.
In May, Burundi held a presidential election which was won by Evariste Ndayishimiye, candidate of the ruling National Council for the Defense of Democracy - Forces for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) party.
Ndayishimiye was hurriedly sworn in after the untimely death of president Pierre Nkurunziza in June.
Rights violations continue
The Council encouraged donor countries which had suspended aid to Burundi to continue dialogue towards resumption of development assistance.
A report by a UN watchdog in September said human rights violations were still being committed in Burundi, including sexual violence and murder.
The country was plunged into a crisis in April 2015 when Ndayishimiye’s predecessor Pierre Nkurunziza decided to run for a controversial third term, which he ultimately won in July 2015.
His candidature, which was opposed by the opposition and civil society groups, resulted in a wave of protests, violence and even a failed coup in May 2015.
Hundreds of people were killed and over 300,000 fled to neighboring countries.
[Radio Dabanga] Mershing -- Seven students died and 12 others were injured in a tragic traffic accident in Mershing, north of South Darfur's capital Nyala yesterday. The students were on their way to an examination centre to take the exams needed to obtain their Secondary School Certificate.
[Vanguard] Popular video vixen, actress and reality star Beverly Osu has revealed why she prefers to date older men. Reason: \"I don't want to be another woman's sadness. I have always wanted to date people who could control me.\" Beverly made this startling revelation, while featuring in this week's episode of #WithChude.
[AI London] The UN Security Council must extend the mandate of the peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) by at least six months in light of failure by government security forces to protect civilians in recent months, said Amnesty International, with weeks left to the end of the mission's mandate.
The many conflicts, war, and rebellions that have occurred in Africa are sort of forgotten by most of the world. Everyone knows Vietnam and World War II, but ask about a war that occurred in Africa and most people might simply be able to name the Sudan, without really knowing what the war was about. Unfortunately, that means that a great many African conflicts such as the Rwandan genocide, Dafur, the war against apartheid in South Africa, or any number of civil wars are overlooked in place of films about white people using Africa merely as a setting. Setting out to make a list involving the best and worst war films about conflict in Africa, I discovered that the list contains two types of films: Movies with white heroes using Africa as an exotic backdrop and documentaries about Africans committing horrible atrocities against one another in various civil wars.
This 1963 Michael Caine film is more about the British Empire than Africa, the residents of which, in this film, are simply nameless barbaric hoarders coming to evict the British out of their small frontier outpost in South Africa. With a force of thousands bearing down on them, the British, who only number a few hundred and have few defensive preparations, are forced to prepare for the oncoming onslaught, their anxiety growing as the clock ticks down. And when the Zulu do finally arrive, their marching can be heard from miles away, so strong are their number. The second half of the film is a massive battle where, surprisingly, the British end up surviving. I would consider it a very unrealistic film except its based on a true story. One of the all time great Final Stand war films, where a small force is required to fight a much larger army. For the foot soldiers in the British garrison force, its a classic case of being forced to fight for a piece of land of little value for little other than the pride of British military officers.
[UN News] Military officers from Libya's warring parties have agreed practical steps towards implementing a ceasefire agreement, following the signing of an historic accord in Geneva last month, the UN mission in the country, UNSMIL, has reported.
In June 2000 the World Bank agreed to provide more than $200 million to build a $3.7-billion pipeline connecting the oil fields in Chad to those in Cameroon. Oil revenues are estimated to earn $2.5 billion over the next 30 years. Human rights groups were concerned that the project would only benefit the oil companies and the political elite in Cameroon and Chad. The World Bank, however, forced Chad to agree to spend 80% of the resulting oil revenues on education, health, infrastructure, and other social welfare projects desperately needed by this impoverished country. The deal was hailed as a novel approach to ensuring that developing countries with authoritarian governments manage to spend revenues to alleviate the poverty of their people rather than enrich its elite. (In 2005, Transparency International listed Chad as the worlds most corrupt country.) Over the next 25 years, Chad is expected to make $80 million per year, increasing the government treasury by 50%. But in 2006, after the pipeline was completed, Déby reneged on the deal with the World Bank, saying he would spend the oil revenues to finance the military, to buttress his nearly insolvent government, and to shore up his fragile hold on power. In response, the World Bank suspended its loans and froze Chads bank accounts. In May, the World Bank and Chad reached a compromise: Chads government would receive 30% of the oil revenues, instead of the 10% originally agreed to, and the remaining 70% of revenues would be spent exclusively on programs to alleviate the countrys poverty.
By 2006, about 250,000 Sudanese refugees had fled to Chad to escape the fighting in Sudans Darfur region, where they face hunger and disease in desperately under supplied refugee camps.
In April 2006, a coup to oust Déby was averted with the help of French troops stationed in the country. Opposition parties boycotted the May presidential elections, and Déby retained the presidency.
Prime Minister Pascal Yoadimnadji died in February 2007. President Déby named Delwa Kassire
The family, relatives, and friends of Helen Lucille Phillips Curl recently helped her celebrate her…
The post Helen Lucille Phillips Curl Celebrates 100th Birthday in Style appeared first on Forward Times.
U.S. Department of State Background Note
A wide variety of ethnic groups live in The Gambia with a minimum of intertribal friction, each preserving its own language and traditions. The Mandinka tribe is the largest, followed by the Fula, Wolof, Jola, and Serahule. Approximately 3,500 non-Africans live in The Gambia, including Europeans and families of Lebanese origin.
Muslims constitute more than 95% of the population. Christians of different denominations account for most of the remainder. Gambians officially observe the holidays of both religions and practice religious tolerance.
More than 63% of Gambians live in rural villages (1993 census), although more and more young people come to the capital in search of work and education. Provisional figures from the 2003 census show that the gap between the urban and rural populations is narrowing as more areas are declared urban. While urban migration, development projects, and modernization are bringing more Gambians into contact with Western habits and values, the traditional emphasis on the extended family, as well as indigenous forms of dress and celebration, remain integral parts of everyday life.
The Gambia was once part of the Empire of Ghana and the Kingdom of the Songhais. The first written accounts of the region come from records of Arab traders in the 9th and 10th centuries A.D. Arab traders established the trans-Saharan trade route for slaves, gold, and ivory. In the 15th century, the Portuguese took over this trade using maritime routes. At that time, The Gambia was part of the Kingdom of Mali.
In 1588, the claimant to the Portuguese throne, Antonio, Prior of Crato, sold exclusive trade rights on The Gambia River to English merchants; this grant was confirmed by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I. In 1618, King James I granted a charter to a British company for trade with The Gambia and the Gold Coast (now Ghana).
During the late 17th century and throughout the 18th, England and France struggled continuously for political and commercial supremacy in
Ms Gadaheldam has been an almost permanent fixture on the sides of President Museveni in regional meetings to deal with relations with Sudan under former President Omar-al-Bashir and current military leader Gen Abdel Fatah al-Burhan.
Najwa Gadaheldam, a senior adviser to Sudan's leader, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, died Wednesday, about 24 hours after the plane that had intended to transport her back to Israel for treatment landed in the Arab country.
Times of Israeli in a lead article titled; 'Israeli MDs fly to enemy Sudan in failed bid to save diplomat behind secret ties', said despite the two countries still being technically at war, Israeli officials went to great length to send \"a plane with medical staff and equipment to Sudan in an attempt to save the life of a diplomat sick with Covid-19, who managed the clandestine ties between Jerusalem and Khartoum\".
The controversial Uganda link
Ms Gadaheldam was said to have first met President Museveni in Vienna, Austria at the UN conference on water in early 2000s when the relations between Uganda and Sudan were fragile.
Ms Gadaheldam's last 'official' function involving Uganda was said to have been on February 22 in Juba, where she attended a meeting between Lt Gen al-Burhan, the chairman of the Sovereign National Council of Sudan, and Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda, who was representing President Museveni at the inauguration of the new government of national unity of South Sudan.
[Radio Dabanga] Kereinek -- An as yet unknown number of people have been killed and two others were injured as a result of and attack launched by armed men on Kereinek in West Darfur on Sunday. People from Kereinek said that the attackers surrounded the town from the early morning and launched an attack with heavy weapons, and burned the Abuja camp for the displaced and a number of northern and western neighbourhoods.
[Radio Dabanga] Tawila / El Fasher -- A farmer was killed and four others were injured on Sunday, when gunmen opened fire in the Gallab area in Tawila, North Darfur, in a continuation of the violence at the weekend that displaced hundreds of people.
Harris County, Texas, teacher, Kedria Grigsby, was arrested and charged April 8 for allegedly helping her son, Roger Magee, orchestrate a prostitution ring.
