SUDAN: Darfur rebel-faction leader killed in Chad
The leader of a breakaway faction of Darfur's main rebel and his deputy along with five other members of the rebel group and a Chadian security officer were killed after an attack inside Chad near the border with Sudan. Mohamed Bashar and his deputy Suleiman Arko were killed during fighting with the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), Sudan's intelligence agency announced on Sunday. JEM fighters aboard a 30-vehicle convoy reportedly attacked Bashar's group while they were having lunch, just a few kilometres from the Sudanese border.
According to Nahar Osman, an adviser of Bashar, the main body of JEM rebels appears to have been angry with Bashar for co-operating with the Sudanese government. Bashar's rebel faction had signed a peace deal in Doha on April 6 with the Sudanese government to halt 10 years of fighting in Darfur. Last April, JEM fighters killed a deputy commander of the breakaway faction allied to Bashar.
The death of Bashar and his deputy, according to Nahar, is a serious blow to the peace process and could also raise serious questions about the security arrangement between Sudan and Chad. The death of the two top rebel leaders will also put on hold the peace agreement already signed in Doha by the rebels and the government of Sudan.
MALI: Donors pledge over $4bn for Mali recovery
International donors have pledged more than $4.22bn to help Mali recover after a conflict with al-Qaeda-linked fighters. The sum exceeds the goals of Mali which had asked donors for $2.57bn for this year and next. The donors' conference, held on Wednesday in Brussels, was organised by French President Francois Hollande and Dioncounda Traore, Mali's interim President and attended by international delegations from 103 countries including ten heads of state and government.
Officials in Mali have come up with a $5.58bn multifaceted plan for what EU officials are calling "a total re-launch of the country". The plan includes rebuilding government institutions and the military, staging elections in July, holding dialogues with rebels in the north, rebuilding roads and schools and reviving the economy. According to Traore, presidential vote would take place on July 28, and neither he nor any member of the transitional government would be a candidate for the presidency.
France and the EU led the drive for funding to rebuild Mali and halt a resurgence of al Qaeda-linked fighters who were driven out of the major northern towns by a French-led offensive.
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: UN envoy says CAR in 'state of anarchy'
The UN representative to the Central African Republic has accused a rebel coalition known as Seleka of plunging the Country into "a state of anarchy" since it seized power on March 24. Margaret Vogt, the UN representative to the Central African Republic, told the Security Council on Wednesday 15 May, that there are indiscriminate and often targeted killings, rampant rapes and assaults on the innocent population, flagrant recruitment of children as soldiers, looting of homes, not just of the rich but even of already struggling citizens.
Regional leaders set up a peace plan that was accepted by Seleka, but according to Vogt, Michel Djotodia, who named himself president after the coup that ousted President Francois Bozize, has gone against the accords. Nicolas Tiangaye, CAR's interim Prime Minister, repeated calls for France to send an intervention force to the country. Tiangaye was named interim Prime Minister before the rebels took over and has kept a precarious hold on his post. Other African states already have a small force in the country and have promised to boost it to 2,000 troops but Vogt said more is needed.