Fresh fighting threatens Sudan's week-long ceasefire

Sporadic clashes between Sudan's army and a paramilitary force spilled over into Thursday, puncturing the relative calm in the capital Khartoum and raising the risk of a week-long truce deal crumbling as concerns grew over a humanitarian crisis.

The ceasefire, monitored by Saudi Arabia and the United States, was reached after five weeks of warfare in Khartoum and outbursts of fighting in other parts of Sudan, including the long-volatile western region of Darfur.

The fighting - centred on a power struggle between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) - has worsened a humanitarian crisis, forced more than 1.3 million people to flee and threatened to destabilise a fragile region.

The U.S. State Department said the ceasefire monitoring mechanism on Sudan had detected possible breaches of the agreement on Wednesday, including observed use of artillery, military aircraft and drones.

Washington also warned that Russia's Wagner mercenary group has been supplying the RSF with surface-to-air missiles to fight Sudan’s army, saying it was "contributing to a prolonged armed conflict that only results in further chaos in the region."

The army relies on air power while the RSF has spread out and taken cover in Khartoum's streets.

It is unclear whether either side has gained an edge in recent weeks. Clashes between the rival factions broke out again on Thursday in Khartoum and neighbouring Omdurman, eyewitnesses said, as well as the strategic city of El Obeid to the southwest.

The health ministry said some 730 people had been killed and 5,454 injured, though the real number is likely much higher.

Militia were also besieging Zalingei, capital of Central Darfur State, U.N. Darfur coordinator Toby Harward said. Telecommunications have been cut off and gangs roaming the city on motorcycles have attacked hospitals, government and aid offices, banks and homes, he added.

The same has happened in the West Darfur State capital El Geneina, where residents have had communication cut off for days after as many as 510 people were killed.

FAILED CEASEFIRE

The ceasefire was agreed on Saturday following talks in Jeddah. Previous truces have failed to stop the fighting. In statements late on Wednesday, the army and RSF accused each other of violating the agreement and launching attacks.

Reuters could not confirm the battlefield accounts.

"We have continued to see violations of the ceasefire," State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said in a briefing, saying the breaches included observed use of artillery and military aircraft and drones, credible reports of air strikes and sustained fighting in the heart of the Khartoum industrial area, as well as clashes in Zalingei.

He said Washington was continuing to engage with both sides and pressing the parties on alleged violations.

"We retain our sanctions authority and if appropriate we will not hesitate to use that authority," Miller said.

World Food Programme Executive-Director Cindy McCain said there was a need for increased public and private sector funding for relief.

"In the meantime, the conflict has to stop and we need help from the world community to make just that happen, otherwise we are going to lose another generation of Sudanese," McCain told journalists in Berlin.

The conflict erupted in Khartoum in mid-April as plans for an internationally backed political transition toward free elections under a civilian government were set to be finalised.

U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA said agencies were ready to deliver aid to more than 4 million people, but bureaucratic blockages and security issues were hampering distribution.

Out of the 168 trucks ready to deliver assistance, just a small number were on the move from Port Sudan to Gadaref, Kassala and Al Gezira, an aid official told Reuters.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement that anaesthesia and antibiotics and other medical supplies it had donated were now being distributed to seven hospitals in Khartoum, where only 20% of facilities are functioning.

"Hospitals also urgently need water, electricity and a safe environment for their patients and staff. We appeal to the parties to respect the work of medical personnel. Lives depend on it," said ICRC Sudan head Alfonso Verdu Perez.

Many residents are struggling to survive as they face prolonged water and power cuts, a collapse of health services and widespread lawlessness and looting.

The International Organization for Migration says more than one million people have been displaced within Sudan and 319,000 have fled to neighbouring countries, some of which are similarly impoverished with a history of internal conflict.

Reuters

After weeks of being at daggers drawn over the results of the last general elections and with only days to the inauguration of a new government on May 29, one of Nigeria’s three biggest pastimes – food – appears to be bringing people together again. 

On a good day, the country swoons over football or music. In the last two weeks, however, Nigerians up and down the food chain have been flocking to the pot of 27-year-old Hilda Bassey Effiong, fondly called Hilda Baci, who is on the verge of confirmation as the new holder of the Guinness World Records for the longest cooking time. 

Nigeria’s president-elect Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the two other leading contestants – former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) – who have not seen eye-to-eye since the February 25 presidential poll, all lined up nicely behind Hilda’s kitchen from May 11 to 15, invoking the national can-do spirit on social media. For a moment, they buried the hatchet. 

Also, celebrities riven by partisan politics, friends and family, and ordinary folks, defied at least two nights of heavy downpour in Lagos to cheer Hilda. A country deeply divided by the outcome of the elections appears to have found a common ground in Hilda’s recipe. 

After four days of dicing, marinating, boiling, frying, baking and grilling, Hilda toppled the 87 hours 45 minutes individual cooking record set by Indian chef, Lata Tandon, three years ago. The Nigerian set a new record of 100 cooking hours, with 55 recipes and more than 100 meals. 

Yet, when Hilda first announced she was going to challenge the record it sounded like a joke, even to her. “I’ve been obsessed about the Guinness Book of Records,” she told TVC, a Nigerian TV station. “It was out of obsession that I randomly asked my brother about five years ago who the holder of the world’s longest cooking record was.”

In a country where four in ten are poor, attempting a record in most fields is a long shot. Hilda had seen misery upfront, especially during Covid-19 when she supported less privileged communities in Lagos with 3,000 meals at her own expense and came down with the virus. She certainly does not belong in the class once controversially described by President Muhammadu Buhari as “lazy youths.”

Her mother, Lynda Ndukwe, eked out a living from selling food in open space before she later started “Calabar Pot”, a makeshift eatery in Abuja’s middle-class working area. 

Mrs. Ndukwe struggled to put her children through school and by the time they finished, she had barely enough left in the tank. All she could offer any adventurous child at this time were her prayers and best wishes, though once when Hilda competed for a beauty pageant, her mother parcelled traditional costumes to her over hundreds of miles. 

Though Hilda had tried to make a career as supporting actor, TV presenter, restaurateur, and Big Brother Africa left-out, if she was ever going to get a shot at her dream of toppling Tandon, the cook-a-thon record holder, she needed to be in form, a far cry from where she was two years ago.

She was having weight problems and had undergone liposuction, a process which she later described as one of the darkest periods of her life. To come through that period and announce a plan to challenge the world’s record holder, a task that would test even the very fit seemed like a bridge too far.

Yet, Hilda was willing to try. Before her surgery that year, she competed in the continent’s hottest culinary warfare – that triangular title race among Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria over a dish of long-grain rice mixed with spicy stew aptly named the Jollof Face-off Competition. 

Hilda, representing Nigeria, beat Ghana’s Leslie Kumordzie to win the prize money of $5,000, which seeded her dream for a modest online restaurant service, “@Myfoodbyhilda”, with the tagline, “Made with love”.

But love alone won’t pay bills. Or make dreams happen. Hilda took her fate in her own hands and left Abuja, her comfort zone where she had been with her mother, on a journey to the unknown. 

“Moving to Lagos was definitely a turning point for me,” she told The Nation newspaper in an interview shortly before she announced her cook-a-thon date. “The challenges I faced pretty much prepared me for this point. I did a nine-to-five and worked two jobs at a point. I worked as a cook. When I quit, I started my own show on DSTV. It was called ‘Dine on a Budget.’”

Lagos, Nigeria’s hustle capital described in local folklore as the teaching place of the laggard and slothful, taught Hilda more than how to dream big. It instilled in her the appetite to pursue her dream and also opened her up to a wider network. 

After operating from a tiny restaurant in the first two years, using mainly home delivery service, she opened her first big spot in 2022 with four staff and kept her fire burning by offering online culinary lessons. She even awarded cash prizes to the best performing students. 

By March this year when Hilda officially announced her intention to challenge Tandon’s record, she had amassed both a culinary army of supporters and some experience for the task. She also spent hours in mental and physical drills. But as she would find when the cook-a-thon started, the taste of a marathon is in the grind.

“I almost gave up six hours after I started,” Hilda told LEADERSHIP. “I was tired and couldn’t go on. But I was encouraged by my mother who stood by me for 14 hours and gave me strength.”

Her mother and the country were rooting for her. In five days, her Instagram followers grew from 50k to 1.2m. In the days after she reached the 100 hours mark, the accolades and offers of endorsement have not stopped coming. 

“One of my biggest goals is that I want Nigerian recipes to be propagated across the world,” she said. “I want it to be a normal thing to make Egusi (melon) soup in an American environment, to walk into any random supermarket and find Nigerian ingredients. I also want to inspire young people, especially girls.”

Yet, even before her dish is cold or her record is confirmed by Guinness World Records, which sometimes takes up to 12 weeks, competitors are snapping at her heels. 

Two chefs – Liberian Wonyean Aloycious Gaye, and Kenyan chef Maliha Mohammed (who twice broke the cooking marathon record), have signalled they would challenge Hilda, drawing Nigerian trolls who are angry that competitors can't wait to rain on Hilda’s parade.

The culinary queen is obviously offering her cheerleaders what is absent in the menu of politicians. And they’re not in a hurry to leave her table.

** Ishiekwene is Editor-In-Chief of LEADERSHIP

Entrepreneurs tend to have common personality types. Entrepreneurs are known for their go-get-em attitude, for looking before they leap, and for taking risks!  With big risks come big successes, but also major failures. 

So what happens after we fall? How do we keep our entrepreneurial drive intact and take another swing at a potential home run? Let's face it, failing is hard, and it's even harder when what failed was something that matters to you. We all know our businesses are our babies! 

So yes, any career setback is like taking a punch to the gut. Whether it is a small project that didn't do as well as we'd projected, a new office remaining in a weakened state, or an entire business tanking, it qualifies as a hit – and one we won't want to take quietly. 

So here is a list of ideas to help you stay positive, keep that fire in your belly, and stay motivated to try again. 

Don't beat yourself up 

First, don't beat yourself up. Now is not the time to feel ashamed, resentful, or even regretful. Now is the time to focus, analyze the situation, get the right people in place to help you, and turn things around. The reality is, we've all been there. 

When no matter how hard you try, and how many paths you seek out, you just fall short of success. Life, and business, are a series of peaks and valleys, of wins and losses. If you had never tried, you wouldn't have failed - that may be true. However, I can guarantee that you would also have never moved forward. 

The simple fact is you can't be good at everything. You need practice. You need trial and error. You need to fail to grow. So instead of thinking of it as an embarrassing situation, think of it as an invaluable lesson that you would never have learned otherwise.  

Keep it in perspective 

Look at the big picture here, even if this failure affects your entire career, keep it in the category it belongs in. Contrary to most entrepreneurs' beliefs, work is not life. There is an opportunity here to highlight, flag, and memorize this fact. 

This failure does not define you. In fact, it may just be the kick you need to get yourself to the next level. Tough times are part of the deal. This is a journey in which the most valuable lessons are hard-earned. And this allows you to...

Celebrate the good moments. Draw on the feeling of when you first started this adventure of entrepreneurship. Does this disappointment take away all of the small victories? Savor those feelings for when you fail again because let's be honest, none of us have only had one setback. 

Get back on track

So what's next? What are you going to do to not let this happen again? Where do you see yourself at this time next year? Allow the time to grieve, to examine the details, to allow questions to bubble up, and then once you have a sense of closure, it's time to get back on track. 

Here is the part where you pick yourself up and dust yourself off. Even if all you can plan is one step at a time, you need to move in the right direction. Take this as the opportunity it is. Maybe you need to merge onto a different highway right about now. 

Perhaps it's time to invest in yourself and find a mentor, take a course, or learn a new skill. Who knows when the next idea will strike and you will be on the road to your own entrepreneurial success story. Make space for that idea to flourish and then do what we do best, go for it!

Inc

Central Bank of Nigeria raised its main interest rate by another 50 basis points to 18.50% on Wednesday, and its governor promised to sustain rate hikes for as long as price pressures remained elevated in Africa's biggest economy.

Inflation struck a more than 17-year high of 22.22% in April versus 22.04% in March, despite a CBN hiking cycle stretching back to May 2022. Including Wednesday's hike, the bank has now raised rates by 700 basis points.

CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele told a news conference that the monetary policy committee saw the continued rise in inflation as still "the biggest challenge confronting macroeconomic stability in Nigeria".

He said policy rate hikes had prevented inflation rising by about 8 percentage points over the past year.

"The MPC (Monetary Policy Committee) therefore opted to tighten, though moderately, to indicate (its) conviction that current policy stance is moderating the rising inflation," Emefiele said.

Double-digit inflation, which has eroded savings and wages, is one of the biggest issues that will confront president-elect Bola Tinubu when he is sworn into office on Monday.

Tinubu has promised to remove a popular but costly petrol subsidy and let the market determine the exchange rate, among other policies.

"The increasing likelihood of fuel subsidy cuts and a devaluation of the naira under the incoming Tinubu administration means that the risks are tilted towards further tightening in the coming months," said Jason Tuvey, deputy chief emerging markets economist at Capital Economics.

Statistics agency data showed earlier on Wednesday that first-quarter economic growth in Nigeria slowed to about 2.3%, hurt by a government plan to swap old banknotes for newly designed ones which disrupted trade and payments.

Reuters

President Muhammadu Buhari has said he looks forward to welcoming ministers who would not see Daura, his hometown in Katsina, as a long distance after May 29.

Speaking at a valedictory session of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Wednesday, Buhari said he would have enough time to tend to his cattle when his eight-year administration expires on May 29, 2023.

He said he would be excited to devote time to many things he has not been able to do since he assumed office in 2015.

“I also thank God for the strength and for keeping us together,” Buhari said.

“I look forward to many of you, disproving that Daura has not become too distant because I am no longer Mr President.

“I will also be happy to do the many things that I have not been able to since May 29th, 2015, one of such is my favourite pastime of taking care of my cattle.

“I wish all of us the best and hope to hear good news whenever any of our names are mentioned. Thank you and God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“I am proud to say we gave our best”, urging support for the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, who is to be inaugurated as substantive president in a few days.

The President, however, commended his ministers for working closely together, despite many odds and challenges and sustaining the synergy that translated into his feats.

Buhari who also met with the members of staff of the State House, appreciated both the senior and junior workers for supporting his administration for eight years.

He stressed that his government had stretched to accommodate the views of workers and to meet some of their needs, within the available resources.

Daily Trust

A popular Television preacher and motivational speaker, Mike Ochigbo, has been kidnapped by gunmen in Adamawa State.

Ochigbo, who is the General Overseer of Freedom Power Chapel, was forced at gunpoint out of his home in the wee hours, of Wednesday, from his residence located in Nyibango.

Similarly, one Pastor John Moses was also reportedly kidnapped the same night.

A resident of the area, Joseph Kuna, who pleaded anonymity, said, he learnt, Wednesday, that gunmen, invaded the residence of the Pentecostal pastor, around 2 am, and whisked him away after firing sporadically into the air.

The incident is the latest of several underreported security breaches of kidnapping for ransom in the area, which lies along the same satellite corridor with the Gibson Jalo Military Cantonment, hosting the 23rd Armoured Brigade.

One in particular, the gruesome killing of Hinjari Yoila, a popular philanthropist and pastor, of a New Generation Church, earlier in the year, drew attention, to the plight of residents, and to insecurity in an area that has assumed notoriety.

The resulting official response after the death of Hinjari, saw, the setting up of a military-monitored checkpoint along that corridor by the military authorities but this from all accounts has not deterred the daredevil gunmen.

Spokesperson for Adamawa State Police Command, Suleiman Nguroje, said operatives have been deployed to rescue those abducted.

According to him, the state Commissioner of Police, Afolabi Babatola, has deployed operatives of the Command drawn from the Special Rapid Response Team (SRRT), Crack Squad and other Tactical Squads to carry out a tactical and intelligence-driven 24/7 operation on Criminal Hideouts and Black Spots to rescue the Kidnapped, Ochigbo and another Pastor, Moses, who was also kidnapped by gunmen. His abductors have yet to contact his family.

Punch

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Leader of cross-border raid warns Russia to expect more incursions

The Russian commander of a militia that conducted a raid on a Russian border region this week said on Wednesday his group would soon launch more incursions into Russian territory.

Denis Kapustin, who described himself as the commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC), spoke to reporters on the Ukrainian side of the border with Russia a day after Moscow said it had repelled the raid on the Belgorod region.

Kyiv has said the attack was carried out by Russian citizens, casting it as homegrown, internal Russian strife. Two groups operating in Ukraine - the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC) and Freedom of Russia Legion - have claimed responsibility.

The Russian military said it had routed the militants, who carried out their attack using armoured vehicles, and pushed those who survived back into Ukraine.

Kapustin said two of his fighters had been "lightly wounded", and that total losses on his side for the operation were two killed and 10 wounded. Moscow claimed it killed over 70 'Ukrainian nationalists'.

Kapustin also said the fighters had taken a Russian armoured vehicle and anti-drone gun as trophies.

"I think you will see us again on that side," said Kapustin, who introduced himself by his call-sign White Rex. "I cannot reveal those upcoming things, I cannot even reveal the direction. The ... border is pretty long. Yet again there will be a spot where things will get hot."

He was asked repeatedly about Western media reports that his militia had used U.S. military equipment that was meant to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia's invasion, but declined to answer directly.

"I know exactly where I got my weapons from. Unfortunately not from the Western partners", he said.

He also suggested that Western military equipment had been captured by Russia in the battle for Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine and that such equipment could be bought on the black market.

"I think I explained that the Western military aid unfortunately goes back and forth, being raided. In Bakhmut for instance I know that a lot of armoured vehicles, American armoured vehicles, got raided by the Russian forces," he said.

Kapustin said Ukraine only supported the RVC with information, petrol, food and medicine.

"And, of course, the Ukrainian military took our wounded. But anything more than this would make things difficult."

"Every decision we make ... beyond the state border is our own decision. Obviously we can ask our (Ukrainian) comrades, friends for their assistance in planning," he said.

The RVC says it is made up of Russians fighting for Ukraine, and against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"Our future plans are new territories of the Russian Federation, which we will definitely enter... You should be a just a little bit patient, and wait just a couple of days," Kapustin said.

The U.S.-based Anti-Defamation League has described Kapustin as "a Russian neo-Nazi who lived in Germany for many years".

Kapustin said his group was right-wing, and when asked if he was minded being labelled a Nazi, he said he didn't "think it's an insult."

But he added: "I have my set of views, it's a patriotic set of views, it's a traditionalist set of views, it's a right-wing set of views. You know, you'll never find me waving a flag with a swastika, you'll never find me raising my hand in a Hitler sign. So why would you call me that?"

** Zelenskiy to Iran: Why support Russia and terror?

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged Iranians on Wednesday to reconsider the supply of deadly drones to Russia in order to stop their slide into "the dark side of history."

Iranian-made Shahed drones supplied to Moscow have played a major role in Russia's attacks on cities and infrastructure, though Zelenskiy said Kyiv's air defences were now skilled at downing them - about 900 of 1,160 aimed at Ukrainian targets.

"The simple question is this: what is your interest in being an accomplice to Russian terror?" Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.

"What is the benefit to Iran of such cynical killing? By Russian hands, but with your weapons, your weapons...Your Shaheds, which terrorise Ukraine every night, mean only that the people of Iran are being driven deeper and deeper into the dark side of history."

Russia has boosted its military cooperation with Iran since it launched its invasion of its neighbour in February 2022.

Iran initially denied supplying Shahed drones to Russia but later said it had provided a small number before the conflict began.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russia opposes ‘freezing’ Ukraine conflict – Kremlin

Russia and the West are “in solidarity” to the extent that the conflict in Ukraine cannot be frozen, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with Russia’s TASS news agency on Wednesday.

Asked whether Russia was considering putting the fighting on hold, Peskov stated that Moscow is only considering the option of “completing the special military operation,” which means securing Russia’s interests and achieving its goals either through military, or other available means.

The spokesperson noted that it is premature to talk about a peaceful resolution to the Ukraine conflict, as there are no prerequisites for such an outcome yet.

“It is unlikely that we can talk about real negotiations with any of the representatives of the current Kiev authorities, because there [in Ukraine] any negotiations with the Russian Federation are simply prohibited now,” Peskov explained.

Earlier, German chancellor Olaf Scholz stated that any peace talks on the situation in Ukraine cannot aim to freeze the conflict. “Russia must withdraw its troops,”  he insisted on the sidelines of the G7 summit on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the US is reportedly seeking to stretch out the conflict for years or even decades. According to the Politico news website, Joe Biden’s administration has been considering freezing the fighting instead of pushing for Ukraine’s victory, with the goal of achieving a situation similar to that between North and South Korea.

“A Korea-style stoppage is certainly something that’s been discussed by experts and analysts in and out of government,” a source told the outlet. “It’s plausible, because neither side would need to recognize any new borders, and the only thing that would have to be agreed is to stop shooting along a set line.”

The benefit of such a scenario for the US would be that it would cost less for Western nations to support Ukraine, draw less public attention, and reduce the pressure to assist Kiev. Additionally, it would allow Ukraine to continue switching its military to NATO standards, in the hope of joining the military alliance.

Russia, meanwhile, has repeatedly criticized NATO’s expansion into Europe and its attempts to build a presence in Ukraine without the country’s formal accession. Moscow has cited such moves as one of the key reasons for launching its military offensive in February 2022.

** Zelensky’s penthouse seized in Crimea

The Crimean parliament has unanimously voted to nationalize the assets of Ukrainian oligarchs and politicians on the peninsula, RIA Novosti news agency reported on Wednesday, citing the State Council’s press service.

Among the assets is an apartment belonging to Elena Zelenskaya, wife of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, Crimean Governor Sergey Aksyonov announced on Telegram.

More than 130 properties have reportedly been confiscated, among them a cinema, factories, shopping malls, wineries, and banking structures.

Last February the Crimean parliament also voted to nationalize about 500 properties belonging to Ukrainian politicians and businessmen.

Zelenskaya’s three-room penthouse on the Black Sea coast near the resort city of Yalta is estimated to be worth $800,000. It was bought from a business tycoon in 2013 for just under $164,000. After Zelensky won the presidential election in April 2019, Reuters reported that the price paid for the property was at least 50% lower than the market rate.

The seizures come in response to a law introduced in Ukraine last year making it legal to confiscate the assets of Russian citizens and businesses without compensation. In August, Kiev approved confiscations of more than 900 Russian-owned properties in the country, reportedly worth $765 million.

Russia has seen its state and private assets worth billions of dollars frozen or confiscated in Western countries since the start the military operation in Ukraine. The US and its EU allies have since been looking for ways to give the assets to Ukraine for reconstruction.

The Crimean Peninsula was part of Ukraine until 2014, when it voted in a referendum to join Russia after the Maidan coup resulted in the overthrow of the democratically elected government in Kiev.

Profits from the sales of the nationalized assets, including Zelensky’s apartment, will be used to help the families of soldiers killed in the military operation in Ukraine, the speaker of the Crimean Parliament, Vladimir Konstantinov, was quoted as saying by Russia’s TASS news agency.

Reuters/RT

Clashes in Sudan's capital shatter lull brought by ceasefire deal

Clashes between rival military factions broke out on Wednesday in Sudan's capital Khartoum, residents said, threatening to shatter a fragile ceasefire designed to allow for the delivery of aid and create conditions for a more lasting truce.

The ceasefire deal, which is being monitored by Saudi Arabia and the United States as well as the warring parties, was reached after five weeks of warfare in Khartoum and outbursts of violence in other parts of Sudan, including the western region of Darfur.

The fighting pits Sudan's army against the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and has worsened a humanitarian crisis, forced over 1.3 million people to flee their homes and threatened to destabilise the wider region.

The ceasefire had brought a relative lull in fighting in Khartoum on Tuesday, although little sign of a rapid increase in humanitarian relief.

Witnesses reported clashes in several areas of the capital on Wednesday afternoon.

West of central Khartoum columns of black smoke could be seen rising into the air, and there was shelling near an army camp in southern Khartoum, they said.

In Bahri, one of the three cities around the confluence of the Blue Nile and White Nile rivers that make up Sudan's greater capital, the sound of clashes and artillery fire could be heard.

Earlier, residents reported artillery fire near the Wadi Sayidna military base on the outskirts of Omdurman, the third city.

The ceasefire was agreed to on Saturday following talks in Jeddah mediated by Saudi Arabia and the United States. Previous ceasefire announcements have failed to stop the fighting.

In statements late on Wednesday, the army and RSF accused each other of violating the agreement.

The RSF said it was forced to defend itself against land, artillery and air strikes by the army. The army in turn accused the RSF of attacks on the country's mint, army airbases and several cities west of the capital.

Witnesses in Omdurman reported that an army fighter plane had been shot down, and videos posted on social media appeared to show the incident. The footage could not immediately be verified.

The army said the plane had malfunctioned, while the RSF said it had brought down the plane.

'TERRIFIED'

In Nyala, the capital of South Darfur State, days of clashes between the army and the RSF had left most of the main market burned down, two residents said.

"We're in a very difficult situation. We feel emotionally broken and terrified," said resident Malak Ibrahim, adding that her family hadn't had regular access to water for two weeks.

Activists in Zalingei, the capital of Central Darfur State, said RSF-backed militias had surrounded the city and started looting homes and businesses. Zalingei and West Darfur State capital El Geneina, where hundreds have been killed since last month, both appeared to be cut off from phone networks.

The conflict in Sudan erupted in mid-April as plans for an internationally backed political transition toward elections under a civilian government were set to be finalised, bringing sustained air strikes and ground fighting to Khartoum for the first time. Many residents are struggling to survive as they face prolonged water and power cuts, a collapse of health services and widespread lawlessness and looting.

The United Nations human rights chief called the situation in Sudan "heartbreaking" and said there were "very deeply troubling" accounts of sexual violence in Khartoum and Darfur with at least 25 cases reported so far and the real number likely much higher.

REFUGEES

Aid workers said many of the supplies and staff arriving at Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast have been awaiting security permits and guarantees.

U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA said agencies were ready to deliver aid to more than 4 million people.

"I therefore urge the relevant authorities to take all steps possible to ensure they provide the security environment and (ease) bureaucratic impediments at local and national level," Abdou Dieng, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, said in a statement.

Sudan was facing severe humanitarian pressures even before the conflict broke out.

More than 1 million people have been displaced within Sudan and 319,000 have fled Sudan to neighbouring countries, some of which are similarly impoverished and have a history of internal conflict, according to the International Organization for Migration. Many have crossed into Chad and Egypt in the last few days, said Filippo Grandi, head of the U.N. refugee agency.

"We need more resources, urgently, to support countries hosting refugees," he said on Twitter.

The U.N. says that the number of people requiring aid within Sudan has jumped to 25 million, more than half the population.

Reuters

Even the most ardent supporter of President Muhammadu Buhari must be happy to see him pack his nuisance and return to Daura (or Niger, wherever) come Monday. If there is a regime in this world on which the sun cannot set fast enough, it is Buhari’s. He rode into the presidency in 2015 with his babariga pockets filled with tokens of goodwill and high expectations of renewal. Eight years later, he had bankrupted everything with his sadism and indolence. He came into power in a blaze of glory but his departure will be accompanied with deep sighs of “good riddance.” One good thing about his sociopathic nature is that he will not even be moved to care how much he has let down everyone who once took him seriously.

As much as the buck stops at his table, he could not have been the kind of failure he was without his enablers. They are many, but the most vociferous of these minions was his media team. For a collective that never advanced an original thought or devised any meaningful strategy of public engagement, they had a larger-than-life reach. From buffering Buhari from reasonable public opinion to obfuscating serious issues, they enabled his apathetic stance while the nation faltered under his watch. If they had summoned their will to a higher moral resolve, perhaps Buhari would not be leaving so much wreckage and carnage behind.

If there was something that quickly defined the Goebbelsian ethos of the Buhari regime at its inception, it was the number of media aides recruited. For a man who would not even appoint his federal ministers, he was rather quick to inaugurate a whole nest of media howlers. Close to hand, he had people like Femi Adesina, Garba Shehu, Bashir Ahmed, Tolu Ogunlesi, and Lauretta Onochie. Some of them were accomplished professionals before they took up the job of image laundering for the presidency, but you can hardly look back at key moments during their term and cite instances when they had a shining moment of professional management of public relations and communication. By May 29, when the sun sets on their time, they would all have been indistinguishably diminished by the multi-dimensional failings of the government they served.

At the back end, the administration also maintained a troll farm. There, they had tucked the rabble-rousers, whose job was to loiter around the highways and byways of the internet, defending Buhari against every reasonability and generally darkening counsel with words without knowledge. Partly due to the redundancy of these associates and perhaps too, because of the lack of any apparent strategic thought that went into planning the information management aspect of the Buhari presidency, what the bloated media team ended up delivering was eight years of cacophonous public communication. On his own, Buhari is sure to fail at any leadership role. With the choir he appointed, his shortcomings got more loudly amplified.

To be fair, media managers in the new media age face a peculiar dilemma in managing public relations and communication. Now that virtually anyone for whom the odds align can sidestep the traditional media gatekeepers and reach an indeterminate public directly, responding to the public can be vertiginous. Media aides to non-performing politicians like Buhari have it far worse—for good reasons. They must confront and control public perceptions and sentiments that can be so powerful they trump objective reality. Also, considering how more easily information can be released into the public sphere to stir mischief these days, media aides to politicians find themselves working in a permanent crisis zone where they are putting out either series of small fires or a conflagration (or both at the same time). Continuously being in a self-defence mode can do things to one’s cerebral capacities, and the frequent misspeaks and missteps that typified these aides’ jobs since 2015 is proof that the aides’ wit became addled over the years of managing Buhari’s crisis-prone government. The highest they achieved was a raucous and rancorous engagement with Nigerians whom—judging from their frequent putdowns—they passionately despise.

Yes, one must admit that being a media aide to a Nigerian politician is unenviable responsibility. We live in a polity where poverty is endemic, political promises are aplenty, and people confront their leaders with a sense of urgency that can be incompatible with the slow-paced nature of democratic deliberations. You cannot blame people jaded by the persistent failures of leadership for wanting quick-fire solutions. Sadly, the cohort of mostly myopic leaders that Nigeria is plagued with can hardly envision solutions to what bedevils us. Consequently, our interactions with them cannot but be defined by antagonisms, bitter exchanges, and mutual frustrations. That is why media aides to politicians turned their social media handles into workstations where they engage the public in crass and classless exchange of clap backs and other claptrap.

When leaders have nothing to show as solid achievements, their media aides must justify their existence by becoming one-trick ponies whose expertise begins and ends with fighting random people online. Aides managing a truant boss like Buhari have had it really hard. They spent the eight years inventing stories, deflecting questions bordering on accountability to the public, punching down at political opponents and their supporters, pandering to their current paymasters while putting up a grand show for prospective ones, and generally maintaining a facade of government functionality. While it must have been exhausting work for them, many of those activities are ultimately useless because neither their approach nor the substance of their communication advanced the course of democracy (or even our national values).

Our relationship with our leaders has ontologically been acrimonious, and they lack the political savviness to redefine it meaningfully. Our leaders probably cannot function without antagonising Nigerians, and their public relations managers too cannot act outside that frame. The conception of their professional responsibility is locked into that debilitating cycle such that they can hardly imagine public interaction without slap downs and punch downs. Even if they discern that the irascibility some people display online is borne of frustration with a polity where nothing ever happens, they still cannot demonstrate empathy. They must necessarily antagonise their fellow citizens. Once behind the high walls of Aso Rock, they can no longer afford to see humans whose survival is threatened by the cluelessness of their employers and who have every reason—and right—to make demands on the government. All they see are pesky irritants who will not let them eat in peace. Their revert is duplicity, deceit, and the shallow-mindedness that suffuses every part of their communication.

Looking at the spin they put out during those times Buhari was hospitalised outside of the country, you saw people in whom there is no truth. You assess how they dragged the presidency on social media like a rag cloth, and you see professional misfits. You consider the childishness of those who classified a section of Nigerians that refuses to drool before them into “wailers,” and what you see are small-minded bigots in high places. When you recall how these people poorly responded to the serious issues of insecurity that imperilled many Nigerian lives, you see people drained of their humanity. When you evaluate their double-fanged responses to the problems of corruption and its consequent denudation of the Nigerian value system, you see a bunch of frauds who add a lack of reflexivity to their hypocrisy. When your measure their dismissive attitude toward the economic hardship that Nigerians suffered under the watch of their inhumane principal, you see people shorn of their capacity to be reasonable humans.

On Monday, they will exit their respective offices (save for those lucky to be reabsorbed by the incoming administration). We will not miss them. Goodbye to their játijàti!

Punch

12 years ago, Gert-Jan Oksam was in a biking accident. He emerged alive, but unable to use his legs due to a spinal cord injury. 

Today he can walk about 100 meters — or just over 300 feet— all on his own. Essentially, he's taught his spinal cord to work again thanks to some small implants in his back and brain, which have rehabilitated the connection between his legs and his mind.

"I'm not walking to the grocery market yet, but I can for sure stand way better now," the 40 year old patient said during a press conference on Tuesday.

At home, he can stand up to paint. When out and about, he can rise to the bar for a beer with friends. 

"It's still hard to walk," he said. "But I'm very happy I've achieved what I achieved."

A mind-reading brain-to-computer interface makes it easier to walk smoothly 

Oksam is able to walk thanks to a "brain-to-computer interface," or BCI, a cutting edge technology that is currently used by just a few dozen people worldwide. Essentially, Gert-Jan thinks of walking, stimulates his own spine to move, and retrains himself to walk again by reinforcing the key connection between his mind and his legs. 

Researchers at NeuroRestore in Switzerland, a "research, innovation, and treatment center" where Oksam was treated, call his system a "digital bridge" between the brain and the spine. Detailing their work in the journal Nature on Wednesday, they describe how surgically-implanted electrodes placed just inside his skull send his thoughts out to an antenna headset he wears. Those ideas are then processed in a backpack he's wearing, turning the ideas into a command. Finally, his intentions are translated into movement, as spinal stimulation.

And, because he's doing this all through a BCI, the movements have become far more human and less robotic than the kind of rehab that other, external spinal cord stimulation could provide.

"The introduction of the BCI has enabled this thought-controlled walking, which is smoother, more natural," Dave Marver, CEO of Onward — the company working to commercialize NeuroRestore's research — told Insider. "He's able to pause, he's able to traverse more complex terrain, he's able to climb stairs."

The system isn't something anyone could just pick up and try. In addition to the brain surgery, it takes many hours of training to calibrate this kind of BCI system to a person's unique thought processes. 

"It's fighting, it's sometimes being patient," Oksam said of the process during the press conference. "You need to have time to fix and solve some problems." 

Over the next 18 months, Marver says, the team is planning to implant four more patients with similar systems to Oksam's. Two have spinal cord injuries, and two will be hoping to "move their hands and arms again," he said.

"You're going to see improvements relatively quickly," Marver said of Oksam's somewhat cumbersome system, which includes a backpack plus an antenna headset he needs to wear when he's doing the stimulation.

Other BCI companies, including Elon Musk's Neuralink, have really only used BCI technology to control things, like keyboards, or computer mice. One of the most advanced systems around is Brooklyn-based startup Synchron's tiny brain implants, which help paralyzed patients use computers independently. Musk, on the other hand, has yet to implant his tech in people. 

Business Insider