The Sudanese military said Jan. 30 that it had "liberated" 14 of the 29 Chinese road workers abducted by guerillas in in an attack on an encampment in the oil-rich border state of South Kordofan. But Chinese state news agency Xinhua quoted embassy officials in Khartoum as saying all the workers were still missing. There is also dispute as to the nature of the attack in which the workers were taken. A spokesman from the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) rebels told the AFP news agency that the workers were captured together with nine Sudanese soldiers when fighters attacked a military convoy. Wang Zhiping, a senior executive of the Power Construction Corporation that employed the workers, told Xinhua the rebels had attacked the workers at their camp. Together, more than 70 road workers, Chinese and Sudanese, were taken. The Chinese firm is building a road into a remote area of the state, despite charges by human rights groups that the Sudanese government is using such infrastructure to rush in troops to crush a growing insurrection.

South Sudan, at an impasse in talks with Khartoum over terms for use of the pipeline linking the two countries, has ordered oil companies to shut down oil production within two weeks. Landlocked South Sudan's President Salva Kiir accuses Sudan of having stolen $815 million worth of the south’s oil. Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir can no longer tolerate South Sudan exporting its oil for free while the two governments are at odds. Sudan has publicly proposed $36 per barrel, while South Sudan has listed figures under $1 per barrel. Efforts to mediate by Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, current chair of the African Union, have been fruitless. When South Sudan seceded last year, it took with it about 75% of Khartoum's 500,000 barrels per day of oil production. The shutdown could lead to a tightening of the world’s oil supply and cause prices to rise. (Sudan Tribune via AllAfrica, Jan. 27; AP, Jan. 23)

Riot police cordoned off streets in Dakar on Jan. 28 after a night of violent protests that erupted after the Constitutional Council cleared octogenarian President Abdoulaye Wade to seek a third term and opposition leaders vowed to force him from power. As the decision was announced, youths set fire to tires and threw stones at riot police, who responded with tear gas. At least one police officer was reported killed. Reports from the central town of Kaolack said the local headquarters of Wade's Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) was burned down. Riots were also reported in Thies and Mbour, outside Dakar. "Abdoulaye Wade has declared war on the people," said Amath Dansakho, leader of the leftist Party of Independence and Labor (PIT) and a member of the M23 opposition coalition. "The decision that we have just made will prove to Wade that this is a country of free people. We will render the country ungovernable." Wade responded by telling his opponents to stop their "displays of petulance" and "temper tantrums."

The Ethiopian government under its "villagization" program is forcibly relocating approximately 70,000 indigenous residents from the western Gambella region to new villages that lack adequate food, farmland, healthcare, and educational facilities, Human Rights Watch said in a report Jan. 16. State security forces have repeatedly threatened, assaulted, and arbitrarily arrested villagers who resist the transfers. "The Ethiopian government’s villagization program is not improving access to services for Gambella's indigenous people, but is instead undermining their livelihoods and food security," said Jan Egeland of Human Rights Watch. "The government should suspend the program until it can ensure that the necessary infrastructure is in place and that people have been properly consulted and compensated for the loss of their land."

After a week of "Occupation" protests paralyzed the country's cities, Nigeria's government slashed fuel prices on Jan. 15. Fuel prices had jumped to $3.50 a gallon after President Goodluck Jonathan lifted subsidies, sparking the protest wave. But Jonathan said he will reduce the price only to about $2.75 a gallon—not the $1.70 Nigerians had been paying before the government eliminated subsidies on Jan. 1. Popular leaders say they will maintain their protests, and talks between the government and labor unions have failed to reach an accord. The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has not withdrawn its threat to shut down oil production in the country. Tens of thousands took to the streets in cities across the country for five consecutive days last week, and three were killed in clashes with police in Kano City.

The Oromo Support Group reports that authorities in the de facto state of Somaliland are forcibly repatriating asylum-seekers from oppressed ethnic groups to Ethiopia, where they face persecution. Last week, Somaliland deported more than 20 Ethiopian nationals, handing them over to Ethiopian forces at the border town of Wachale—in violation of the international principle of "non-refoulement." Many more have been "refouled" in recent weeks—principally members of the Oromo and Ogadeni peoples. While political asylum applies only to those who can prove a well-grounded fear of persecution, non-refoulement is a generic ban on repatriation of refugees into war zones or disaster areas. (Press Enza, Dec. 29)

At least 52 people, including women and children, have been killed in clashes over a land conflict between the Ezza and Ezilo ethnic groups in southeastern Nigeria's Ebonyi state over the weekend. The fighting came just a state of emergency was declared by President Jonathan in the north-central states of Plateau, Niger, Yobe and parts of Borno, in response to a wave of attacks by Islamist group Boko Haram. (PTI, The Telegraph, Jan. 1) The country's worst oil spill in a decade has meanwhile struck southern Delta state, with over a million gallons of crude washing up on local beaches. Villagers and fishermen say the oil is coming from a loading accident at Royal Dutch Shell's offshore Bonga facility last month—a claim the company denies. Shell says five ships were used to disperse and contain the spill, preventing the crude from washing ashore. (Reuters, Jan. 1; FSRN, Dec. 30) Ironically, the spill comes as the Nigerian government has dropped fuel subsidies as an austerity measure—prompting trade unions to call for a repeat of the strikes and street protests that thwarted previous attempts to end the subsidy program. (Reuters, Jan. 1)

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir arrived in Washington DC Dec. 14 to meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, World Bank president Robert Zoellick and international investors at a two-day conference. Simultaneously, California-based Oakland Institute issued a report, based on on-the-ground-research, warning of a scramble for the new nation's land as foreign agribusiness interests move in. "As South Sudan opens for business, foreign companies are flocking to invest in the new country and buy up land," said David Deng, author of the report looking at land deals covering an estimated 5.15 million hectares. " For a school, a health centre, some vague promises of employment opportunities, or a couple of thousand dollars in annual lease payments, companies are given long-term leasehold rights of up to 99 years, often without the knowledge of the local populations living on the land."