International Pressure
More than 90 killed in Myanmar in one of bloodiest days of protests
Security forces killed more than 90 people across Myanmar on Saturday in one of the bloodiest days of protests since a military coup last month, news reports and witnesses said. The lethal crackdown came on Armed Forces Day. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the junta leader, said during a parade in the capital Naypyitaw to mark the event that the military would protect the people and strive for democracy. State television had said on Friday that protesters risked being shot “in the head and back”. Despite this, demonstrators against the Feb. 1 coup came out on the streets of Yangon, Mandalay and other towns. The Myanmar Now news portal said 91 people were killed across the country by security forces. A boy reported by local media to be as young as five was among at least 29 people killed in...
South Sudan rivals face fresh feud over control of states
South Sudan’s main rivals were at loggerheads Friday over who will control the country’s 10 internal states, an issue that analysts and diplomats worried could jeopardise a power-sharing deal reached earlier this year. President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar, old foes whose fallout in 2013 sparked a civil war, agreed on February to form a new government after intense international pressure to deliver lasting peace to the conflict-torn country. But while they managed to name a cabinet in March, they have yet to strike a deal on who can appoint governors to the states. On Thursday night Kiir announced a breakthrough on the state’s issue, saying his party would appoint six governors while Machar’s would appoint three. The remaining state would be governed by the South Sudan Oppositi...
