May 14, 2013 (JUBA) - A soldier in South Sudan’s Western Bahr el Ghazal state opened fire at Wau Teaching Hospital on Monday afternoon, killing a medical practitioner and wounding three others.

Wau’s Municipal Mayor, Michael Gebba, said the attacker was the husband of a woman believed to have died at the hospital after an operation. The man, he revealed, last week opened a case at Wau Police station against the hospital.

The case is still under investigation.

May 12, 2013 (KHARTOUM) - A former Darfur rebel faction has announced the death of its leader Mohamed Bashar and his deputy, Suleiman Arko, saying they were killed during an attack carried out by the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) inside Chad near the Sudanese border.

Bashar, who led a splinter JEM faction, was returning to Darfur from the Chadian capital before heading to Khartoum to start the implementation of a peace deal he signed with the government in Doha on 6 April.

May 11, 2013 (JUBA) – The Republic of South Sudan has established a Commission for Refugee Affairs (CRA) as hundreds of thousands of refugees have entered the new republic from the neighbouring countries.

Most of the refugees fled from the neighbouring Republic of Sudan due to the conflicts in Darfur, Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile states.

Others come from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Central African Republic (CAR), Ethiopia and Uganda.

By Bonifacio Taban Kuich

May 6, 2013 (BENTIU) - Unity state authorities have removed 27 children from South Sudan’s national army this week as part of the implementation of a series of agreements inked by military and the United Nations on 20 November 2009.

The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) is mandated to facilitate the process in terms of funding South Sudan’s Disarmament Demobilization Reintegration Commission (DDR), which identifies children that may be associated with the armed forces and finds ways to remove and place them back into civilian life.

April 30, 2013 (JUBA) - The Ministry of Health has declared an outbreak of Meningitis in South Sudan’s Upper Nile, after the disease reportedly killed two people in its Malakal county.

At least 38 suspected cases, the ministry said in a release, have so far been recorded since the first patient was admitted in Malakal teaching hospital on 15 April.

The most affected patient, it added, are between the ages 18-20 years.

April 25, 2013 (JUBA/KHARTOUM) – South Sudan joined in global commemorations on Wednesday marking World Malaria Day, with the government saying it was confident of eradicating the killer disease.　 Malaria has brought “incredible destruction” to South Sudan, accounting for two in every 10 deaths in the country. It is also the leading cause of illness and death in children under the age of five.

April 23, 2013 (JUBA) - South Sudan’s army has successfully brought a conflict over cattle raiding in Eastern Equatoria State to an end, despite coming under sharp and sustained criticism from residents and local officials from the area over the approach it used to separate the two rival groups, the state government said Tuesday.

At least eight people, including government soldiers were killed when security forces clashed with cattle raiders, sparking a gun battle that threatens to set alight worrying security situation.

April 22, 2013(JUBA) – South Sudan security forces have tightened security on roads leading to the capital, Juba, after two separate attacks on civilians and vehicles along its major highways. South Sudan Police on patrol (UN) Police spokesman, James Monday Enoka, said the security committee has imposed tight security measures along the Juba-Nimule and Juba-Torit roads.

Both attacks, he stressed, occurred very close to one another.

By Bonifacio Taban Kuich

April 21, 2013 (NYAL) – At least 15 people have died from hunger in South Sudan Unity state’s Payinjiar county following last year’s heavy floods and poor harvests, local officials said.

Throughout their daily lives, parents and their children reportedly comb through the bushes in search for tree leaves and roots, while others traverse existing rivers looking for fish and water lilies.