South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has said South Sudan’s 2018 peace agreement remains the country’s “paramount legal instrument”, as regional leaders urged all parties to comply with the deal ahead of elections due in December. Ramaphosa made the remarks on Tuesday while closing a virtual summit of the African Union’s High-Level Ad Hoc Committee on South Sudan, known as the C5, which also involved members of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the African Union (AU). South Africa chairs the C5, which comprises South Africa, Algeria, Chad, Nigeria and Rwanda. The committee supports efforts to advance peace and the implementation of South Sudan’s Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS), signed in 2018. … The regional leaders urged the South Sudanese government to release people arbitrarily detained on political grounds, while respecting the country’s sovereignty and judicial processes, and to guarantee the rights, humane treatment and due process of people facing judicial proceedings.

(Radio Tamazuj)

Sudan’s military leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan spoke by telephone on Tuesday with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, voicing support for Riyadh following a surge in attacks by Yemen’s Houthi movement, officials said. Cross-border strikes against Saudi targets have escalated this month after the Iran-aligned Houthis announced in July what they termed a maritime blockade on the kingdom, claiming several drone and ballistic missile launches against Saudi territory and vessels. Burhan, who heads Sudan’s Transitional Sovereign Council and commands the armed forces, condemned the strikes and backed security measures Riyadh took to safeguard its borders, the council said in a statement. … Ties between Riyadh and Khartoum have grown closer in recent years as Saudi Arabia has maintained diplomatic and political backing for the military-led government as Sudan’s recognized authority. (Sudan Tribune)

Five crew members of an oil tanker seized by pirates off the coast of Somalia were killed before local security forces retook the vessel, a senior regional official has told the BBC. Puntland Deputy Information Minister Bile Qabowsade said the five were killed by pirates before regional forces boarded MT Hoarner 25. He said the dead included three Pakistani nationals, one Indian and one national of Myanmar. Four other crew members were injured, including three Pakistanis and one Indian. The tanker, which was carrying about 18,500 barrels of oil destined for the Somali capital, Mogadishu, was seized in April by six armed men while sailing off the coast of Somalia. Sixteen suspected pirates have been arrested, while others escaped and were being pursued, officials said. (BBC)

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