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Added on the 13/03/2020 23:15:45 - Copyright : AFP EN
South Sudan's President Salva Kiir pledges he would not return the country to war, in a speech marking 10 troubled years of independence. The world's newest nation, South Sudan declared independence from Sudan on July 9, 2011. Just two years later it was plunged into a devastating civil war that claimed almost 400,000 lives and displaced four million people. SOUNDBITE
South Sudan President Salva Kiir replaces his vice president and rival Riek Machar, a move that could potentially undermine last year's peace deal and reignite war in Africa's youngest nation.
The United States says that Sudan's rival forces have both committed war crimes in their brutal conflict, accusing the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces of ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. The two sides "must end this brutal conflict... must comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law, international human rights law," says State Department spokesman Matthew Miller. SOUNDBITE
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa accuses Israel of war crimes and "genocide" in Gaza, as he chaired an extraordinary summit of the BRICS group of nations on Tuesday. Pretoria is hosting a virtual meeting of BRICS, a group of major emerging economies that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, aimed at drawing up a common response to the Israel-Hamas conflict. IMAGES
Sudan's army chief warns at the United Nations that months of war could spill over in the region as he urged international pressure on the paramilitary unit he is fighting. SOUNDBITE
A Russian missile struck a residential building in the central city of Dnipro on Friday injuring at least nine people, Ukraine's interior minister said. Video shows smoke billowing from the top floors of a residential building that had been badly damaged. IMAGES ++ COMPLETES WITH VIDI_33Q97L6 ++