Category World News

According to official reports from both sides, fighting broke out between the long-ago armies of Uganda and the neighboring South Sudan, which are both long-time allies.

Thousands of civilians have since been displaced in affected areas as people fled to safety amid the rare outbreak of violence.

A gunfight broke out on Monday as South Sudan, one of the youngest nations in the world, resumed fighting due to a government fracturing that has prompted fighting between South Sudanese troops and a rebel-armed group.

By deploying troops to support Kiir’s forces, Uganda has played a key role in containing that issue. However, the latest conflict between the two countries ‘ armies is raising questions regarding the state of that alliance.

What has occurred?

There are conflicting accounts of the events that began at about 4: 25pm local time (13: 25 GMT) on Monday, making it hard to pinpoint which side struck first.

Although the two parties acknowledge that the location of the fighting is their own, each party asserts that the location is unique.

Major-General Felix Kulayigye, a spokesman for the Ugandan military, claimed that fighting broke out when West Nile state soldiers entered Ugandan territory and set up camp there. The South Sudanese soldiers refused to leave after being told to do so, Kulayigye said, resulting in the Ugandan side having “to apply force”.

According to Kulayigye, a Ugandan soldier was killed in the skirmish that followed, and the Ugandan side then retaliated and opened fire, killing three South Sudanese soldiers.

However, Major-General Lul Ruai Koang, a spokesman for the South Sudanese military, reported earlier on Tuesday that the “two sisterly republics” had engaged in combat on the South Sudanese side in Central Equatoria’s Kajo Keji County. Both sides suffered casualties, he said, without giving more details.

In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Kajo-Keji County’s Wani Jackson Mule added that Ugandan forces had launched a “surprise attack” on South Sudanese territory to support this claim. Five South Sudanese officers’ bodies were reportedly counted by local authorities, according to Mulle.

Kajo-Keji County army commander Brigadier General Henry Buri, in the same statement as Mule, said the Ugandan forces had been “heavily armed with tanks and artillery”, and that they had targeted a joint security force unit stationed to protect civilians, who are often attacked by criminal groups in the area. Two South Sudanese soldiers, two police officers, and one prison officer were among the deceased men, according to the army general.

Residents who spoke to the media claimed that the fighting had affected border villages and that panic was eerily present when people fled the area and loaded their belongings quickly onto their backs. Children were lost in the chaos. As local priests supervised the removal and transportation of remains, photos of crowds gathered on social media.

What is the border conflict about?

Although there have been few such instances of conflict between Uganda and South Sudan, their previous clashes have been minor. The fighting frequently features tension and violence, just like the Monday clash. However, heavy artillery fighting, which occurred on Monday, is rare.

The border disputes date back to the delimitations made during the British colonial period between Uganda and Sudan, which South Sudan was once a part of. The two nations have failed to come to terms on border points despite establishing a joint demarcation committee (unknown when).

In November 2010, just months before an anticipated South Sudanese referendum on independence from Sudan, clashes erupted after the Ugandan government accused the Sudanese army of attacking Dengolo village in the West Nile district of Moyo on the Ugandan side in multiple raids, and of arresting Ugandan villagers who were accused of crossing the border to cut down timber.

A representative of the South Sudanese army refuted the allegations and suggested the forestry commission was responsible for the attack. A few days later, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni and South Sudan’s Kiir met and promised to work through the border dispute, but that was a foregone conclusion.

Little was reported on the matter for several years after that, but in October 2020, two Ugandan soldiers and two South Sudanese soldiers were killed when the two sides attacked each other in Pogee, Magwi County of South Sudan, which connects to Gulu district of northern Uganda. Territories in the region are at odds with. Three South Sudanese people were reported dead, according to some reports. Each side blamed the other for starting the fight.

The Ugandan parliament urged the government to speed up the demarcation process in September 2024, noting that in parts of rural Uganda, insufficient clarity was preventing Ugandan forces from successfully pursuing criminal cattle rustling organizations operating in the border region.

The nations have pledged to form a new joint committee to investigate the clashes following the most recent uprising this week, according to South Sudan’s military spokesman General Koang in a statement on Tuesday. The committee will also investigate any recurring issues along the border in a bid to resolve them, the statement read.

Why does Uganda support President Kiir of South Sudan militarily?

Uganda’s Museveni has been a staunch ally of South Sudan’s independence leader, Kiir, and his Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) party for many years.

Following allegations of collusion between former Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel group that was established in Uganda but regularly attacks both Ugandan and South Sudanese locations as part of its efforts to overthrow the Ugandan government, Museveni backed South Sudan’s liberation struggle.

In January 2011, South Sudan was granted independence. In 2013, Uganda sent troops to support Kiir after a civil war broke out in the new country.

Before and after independence, Riek Machar, Kiir’s longtime rival, and the two parties’ allies, had engaged in conflict over allegations that Machar planned a coup.

The tensions were also exacerbated by ethnic differences between the two (Makar is Nuer and Kiir is Dinka). Machar fled the capital, Juba, to form his own Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO).

Before coming to a peace agreement in August 2018, the SPLM and SPLM-IO fought for five years. In the war, 400 000 people were killed, or so. Uganda deployed troops to fight alongside Kiir’s SPLM, while the United Nations peacekeeping mission (UNMISS), which was in place following independence, worked to protect civilians.

However, a power-sharing agreement that the government claims is supported by Machar has been broken, and fighting has erupted between South Sudanese forces and the White Army, an armed group in Nasir County, northeast of the nation.

As fears of a new civil war grew, Uganda once more deployed special forces to fight alongside Kiir’s forces in March. Kiir ordered Machar to be placed under house arrest and also detained several of his allies in the government.

Are there concerns about South Sudan’s influence from Uganda?

Some South Sudanese who support Vice President Machar, who is still under house arrest, are opposed to Uganda’s deployment of troops in the country, and say Kampala is overreaching.

Some South Sudanese have taken to Facebook to criticize the army for not condemning alleged territorial violations committed by Ugandan soldiers and mock the spokesman Koang for calling the countries “sisterly.”

One poster wrote, “I wish the escalation would continue.” “The reason why South Sudan is not peaceful is because of Uganda’s interference in our country’s affairs”.

What did South Sudan anticipate when they subsided with Uganda’s cheap sale of their sovereignty? Added a second commenter.

Since joining forces to fight the rebel White Army, South Sudanese forces and the Ugandan Army have been accused by Machar and local authorities in Nasir State of using chemical weapons, namely barrel bombs containing a flammable liquid that they say has burned and killed civilians. The UN mission’s head, Nicholas Haysom, confirmed that the bombs had been used in airstrikes. Uganda has, however, refuted these claims. The South Sudan army has not commented.

The White Army and other Machar-area forces have been accused of also attempting to kill civilians. Since March, at least 100, 000 people have fled northeastern South Sudan and died.

According to law enforcement, Shane Tamura, a Las Vegas man suspected of killing four people on July 28 in a Manhattan office building, had a history of mental illness, which raised questions about his access to weapons.

Four people were killed, including a police officer who worked for a corporate security detail, and then himself when Tamura, 27, was identified as the shooter who opened an M4 rifle in the building where the NFL headquarters is located. Former high school football player Tamura, according to reports, had a note claiming to have CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which is thought to be related to head trauma.

On July 28, Las Vegas police commissioner Jessica Tisch told them about Tamura’s history of mental illness. No more details were provided by her.

In Nevada in 2022 and 2024, according to news reports citing unnamed law enforcement sources, Tamura had two mental health crisis “holds” that allow for a person to be held illegitimately for evaluation and treatment for up to 72 hours.

Tisch claimed Tamura used an AR-15-style assault rifle while possessing a Nevada gun license. According to Tisch, Tamura was able to purchase a revolver with his concealed carry card in June. Tamura’s 2022 permit was captured by CBS and CNN, along with other photos of it.

Before a violent act occurs, “Red flag” laws are intended to remove weapons from insular individuals. Sometimes the laws go by different names, such as “high risk protection orders” or “extreme risk protection orders” in Nevada.

A high-risk protection order is not made by the state attorney general as a result of a mental health crisis hold. In Nevada, law enforcement or family members have the right to request that a court grant a person’s request to temporarily revoke their firearms or the right to keep a gun if they pose a threat to themselves or others.

No response was provided when we inquired about the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s response to whether Tamura had reacted to the law in order to grant the department’s request to use it.

A growing number of state laws aim to stop gun injuries and deaths, including Nevada’s high-risk protection orders.

Since enacting in 2020, the Nevada law has not been very widely used. According to experts, states typically put their red flag laws slowly, with some exceptions, into effect. For instance, Florida issued roughly 2,500 orders in the first 18 months of its 2018 law, according to University of California, Davis assistant professor Veronica Pear, an expert on violence prevention.

What laws have red flags?

Since 1999, 21 states and Washington, DC, many of which have Republican support, have passed red flag laws.

Who can begin a civil petition process to remove or restrict access to weapons is defined by state laws. Some states permit requests for orders from only law enforcement. Other states permit petition filing by relatives or close friends, such as coworkers or teachers. Law enforcement files the majority of petitions, and courts typically grant them.

Nevada law enforcement uses a detailed description of conduct and high-risk behavior as well as a question to the petitioner about having a firearm.

Orders are issued for longer-term and weeklong periods in Nevada. Following a hearing where only one party’s cause for action was presented, the seven-day order is issued. Up to a year can be placed in an extended order.

Former President Joe Biden signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act in 2022, which provided funding for states to implement red flag laws.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, these laws can save lives when properly implemented. Additionally, the organization claimed that linking mental illness with violence is a harmful stereotype.

People who commit violent crimes, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression, account for 3 to 5 percent of violent crimes. More frequently than the general population, those who have a mental illness are victims of violence.

Nevada’s red flag law

Nevada’s 2020 law was sponsored by Democratic State Representative Sandra Jauregui, who was present at a 2017 music festival where a gunman killed 58 people.

Former Governor Steve Sisolak, a Democrat, signed the legislation, which Republicans opposed. Former Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo, the current Republican governor, campaigned in 2022 on a promise to “remove antiquated laws”, including Nevada’s red flag law. But the law remains on the books with Democrats controlling the Legislature.

According to Everytown for Gun Safety, these laws have been used nationwide more than 49, 000 times up to 2023.

How frequently do red flag laws be used can depend on how well-versed in law enforcement is in them. Every year, orders are filed in Florida, New York, California, and Connecticut.

Nevada started out slowly, but it has since increased its legal usage.

In 2024 and 2023, there are 28 high-risk protection orders listed on the website of the Nevada attorney general. According to a spokesperson for the office, there have been six orders so far in 2025.

How effective are red flag laws?

There are varying opinions on whether red flag laws actually work.

In July 2024, The Rand Corp., a nonprofit public policy research organization, reviewed studies on red flag laws. According to researchers, there was little evidence of the laws’ impact on mass shootings and violent crime, and it was limited to suicide.

It’s difficult to predict the effects of the laws because most of them have been implemented in the last ten years, according to Rand. There are also differences between the frequency of use of the laws in states and cities.

Other researchers point to studies that demonstrate how red flag laws can help stop crime or, perhaps, suicide.

According to a study conducted in August 2024, Florida’s red flag gun law, which was passed in response to the 2018 Parkland mass shooting, was linked to an 11 percent decrease in firearm homicide rates between 2019 and 2021. One of the authors demanded further investigation because the study did not show a significant reduction in gun suicide.

One significant law in a network of laws aims to stop access to firearms by professor Pear of the University of California, Davis, according to a statement made by PolitiFact in 2022 is called “extreme risk protection orders.” However, there are other laws that can be supported by evidence, such as those that forbid the purchase and possession of firearms following a violent misdemeanor conviction, waiting periods, and laws governing firearm licensing.

The Gaza Strip is awash with starvation, and the only organization in charge of providing food aid is accused of committing grave human rights violations and systematically aiming at civilians.

After Israel lifted its total blockade of the Strip, the contentious United States-backed GHF, which was supported by Israel and GHF, took control of Gaza aid distribution in May.

More than 1,300 Palestinians have died trying to get food since then, according to the UN.

According to testimony from whistleblowers who were interviewed by GHF, many have been purposefully shot by Israeli soldiers or US security personnel.

Despite their daily frenzied efforts to survive, thousands of Palestinians brave the GHF sites every day in an effort to get as much food as they can.

Al Jazeera spoke with mothers, fathers, and children who claimed they witnessed soldiers igniting aid seekers in the chaos of the streets as hungry people frantically searched for flour and milk.

How can I help? ’

One Palestinian woman, who we are not naming for her safety, described the struggle to get food from a GHF-run distribution point in Gaza as “a death journey.

The mother of two, the woman, said, “I need to provide for my girls. I can’t depend on anyone to support me. ”

She travels to the aid organizations out of desperation.

Only those who dare to push deep into the crowd there come back with anything during the aid retrieval process, she said.

Men come in and steal it from children who worked hard to get the aid, they say. ”

The woman claimed that she left the aid facility with only rice, cooking oil, and a can of tomatoes after risking herself.

Despite having suffered an injury to her arm in the crowd, she continued, “it’s a blessing from God.”

According to a young person who spoke to Al Jazeera, going to a GHF site was the only option he had.

I’m going to bring my siblings food. My father died for his own sin. My siblings would die from hunger if I didn’t go to get it. How do I proceed? He inquired.

He claimed that he witnessed hundreds of starving Palestinians being shot dead at the distribution center, though.

Shooting, killing, and dying

Ibrahim Mekki, a Palestinian resident at the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, claimed he had to wait at least six hours before being shot by Israeli forces and ended up with a few bags of pasta.

He described the scene as “shooting, killing, death, destruction, and martyrs.” And why? just to get some food.

It’s a trap, a game, that lets you move slowly before starting to fire. ”

Mekki claimed that there were “enormous” crowds at the aid facility where he went, but that only 5% of them managed to retrieve valuable items.

What did I receive when you looked at me? He then revealed two small bags of bulgur and pasta, respectively.

It won’t be enough to feed the kids for a single day. Every day, I must go back to try again. ”

He “died in my arms,” I said.

Rakan Jneid, a different man, claimed to have witnessed people running toward aid trucks close to a distribution point and running over some of them.

People started fighting over the milk as of today, according to Jneid. The Israelis “opened fire to exploit the circumstance,” they said. ”

Another Palestinian, Muhannad Abu Jarad, also referred to the Israeli army as “shooting at us.”

A mother of eight separately reported to Al Jazeera that her five-month-old daughter is malnourished because she was unable to eat enough during pregnancy.

According to her, she had already lost her fourth child to malnutrition.

As dusk settles over the stark mountains of India’s remote Ladakh region, Tsering Dolma escorts a dozen yaks into a stone-walled corral with her one-year-old son strapped to her back.

Only a few herders tending their livestock in the sparsely grassed, wind-swept plains that are able to escape the harsh solitude.

Herders like Dolma have depended on mountain snowmelt to provide for the high-altitude pastures where their animals graze for generations. Herders now report that the grass on their yaks has become less predictable as a result of changing precipitation patterns.

The 32-year-old claims that the weather used to be snow and rain but has since decreased significantly. Even the winters are becoming more pleasant than they were.

Women still primarily manage the herding, milking, and wool gathering in Ladakh, a region close to Tibet that was once a part of the ancient Silk Route.

Kunzias Dolma, 73, spins her Buddhist prayer wheel while making yak milk tea in a nearby valley and inspects her yak butter while also making yak milk.

She has dedicated her life to working with yaks, making products from their milk and making wool blankets from their wool, unrelated to Tsering Dolma.

She claims that “we wake up every day at around 5am.” “Up until about lunch, my husband and I milk the yaks and do the rest of the yak-related work.” Then we take a break in the evening to return to our jobs. This is something we have done our entire lives.

This traditional way of life is now threatened by both younger generations seeking alternative livelihoods and climate change, making Ladakh more unaffordable for yaks.

The shaggy, cold-adapted animals are now more physically stressed out as a result of rising temperatures and inconsistent rainfall, making nutritious vegetation less plentiful. According to research, Ladakh’s average temperature has increased by 3 degrees Celsius (5. 4 degrees Fahrenheit) over the past four decades, resulting in more severe heatwaves and unpredictable precipitation patterns.

Scientists believe that yak populations are significantly in decline because it is still difficult to precisely assess how climate change will affect them. According to government data, Ladakh’s yak population decreased from nearly 34, 000 in 2012 to fewer than 20 000 by the most recent year, according to data.