UN agency joins US in suspending food aid to Ethiopia after diversions

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday it was suspending food aid in Ethiopia due to the widespread theft of donations, a day after the United States announced it was doing the same.

More than 20 million people need food assistance in Africa’s second most populous nation, largely due to the Horn of Africa’s worst drought in decades and a two-year conflict in northern Ethiopia that left tens of thousands dead.

Rebel mobilisation in southern Sudan raises fears of conflict spreading

Residents of Sudan’s South Kordofan State reported mobilisation by a large rebel force on Thursday, raising fear that internal conflict could spread in the country’s southern regions.

The rebel force, the SPLM-N, is led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu, and is estimated to contain tens of thousands of men as well as heavy weaponry.

Khartoum under siege as fighting spreads across Sudan

Battles have been raging in Sudan’s war-torn capital of Khartoum since last Tuesday with no sign of the violence abating. Other regions are also experiencing prolonged battles, especially Darfur.

Witnesses described “the sound of heavy artillery fire” in northern Khartoum, and “clashes with various types of weapons” in south Khartoum.

Islamic State women use children as ‘sex tools,’ Syrian Kurdish officials say

Officials in northeast Syria tell Al-Monitor that women in Islamic State internment camps are forcing young boys to impregnate women as part of an alleged IS campaign to “go forth and multiply.”

Sitting on a classroom chair, his fingers drumming nervously on a tablet, a young boy slowly raises his head to reveal a pair of pale green eyes, high cheekbones and a chiseled jaw.

US Sees Islamic State Affiliates Pooling Resources, Growing Capabilities

U.S. officials tasked with tracking Islamic State are seeing worrisome signs that the terror group’s core leadership is strengthening control over its global network of affiliates despite a series of key losses.

Specifically, the United States is raising concerns about the group’s General Directorate of Provinces, a series of nine regional offices set up over the past several years to sustain the group’s reputation and global capabilities.

Will Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham reshape Syria’s north?

When the forces of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an armed Islamist group which is a successor to the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra, rolled into Afrin in northern Syria earlier this month, the primary reaction was one of confusion.

HTS had for some time functioned as an unwilling but significant part of the uneasy administration of the country’s north – much of which is administered with the help of Turkey and its intelligence services, the National Intelligence Organization (MIT).