Daily News on the Issues Affecting Africa for April 22nd

Continue reading for a summary of recent news stories relating to some of the most pressing issues on the continent. We draw on a wide range of respected news sources, both from Africa itself and around the world. The themes of today's In the News post are updates on the brutal massacre in South Sudan, war and starvation in South Sudan, political violence in Somalia, Boko Haram in Niger, Nigerian schoolgirls' kidnapping, turmoil in Burundi, and Oman's involvement in Africa.

A massacre in South Sudan and the limits of UN peacekeeping
A rebel contingent, known as SPLA in Opposition, captured the city on Tuesday. They began systematically targeting certain ethnicities, including members of their own ethnic group whom they deemed not sufficiently supportive. A grim press release from the UN Mission in South Sudan details what happened next. Many of those who survived this assault have taken refuge at a nearby UN base, which has become a de-facto IDP camp. There are now over 22,000 people sheltering at the UN camp in Benitu. – UN Dispatch
To read more, please visit the UN site here.

Juba on brink of collapse as war rages with millions staring at starvation
When not plotting military strategy to seize South Sudan's crucial oil fields, sacked vice-president turned rebel chief Riek Machar spends time reading the economic and political history "Why Nations Fail". Cynics might argue he would do better to simply look around his basic bush camp, where mutinous soldiers and an allied ethnic militia crammed with child soldiers ready themselves to attack government forces, as a brutal four-month-long civil war in which thousands of people have already been killed intensifies. "I didn't want to fight any more war again," Machar told AFP in a recent interview at his rebel hideout, saying people had had enough of fighting during Sudan's long civil war, in which he was a guerrilla commander. It was that war, which lasted more two decades, that paved the way for South Sudan's independence from the north. – The East African
To read more, please visit the East African site here.

Second Somali MP killed in Mogadishu in two days
Unknown gunmen shot dead a Somali lawmaker on Tuesday in Mogadishu, capital of Somalia, who was the second Somali member of parliament (MP) killed in 24 hours, Radio Mogadishu reported. – Xinhua News
To read more, please visit the Xinhua News site here.

Killings continue at Canadian-owned mine in Tanzania
Kibwabwa Ghati was a Tanzanian farmer. According to his mother, Wankrugati Malembela, he was shot to death on November 6, 2012, while herding cattle. Ghati and his dogs, she says, were trying to coax the slow-moving animals back to his family compound near a hill that served as the perimeter of an operation known as the North Mara Gold Mine. He was almost home when suddenly a group of young men came scrambling down the hill above him. Some were carrying the machete-like blade known in East Africa as a panga, but most had only hammers and buckets-the tools of their illicit trade. – Vice
To read more, please visit the Vice site here.

BBC meets gang 'paid to join Boko Haram' in Niger
Members of a gang in Niger have told the BBC that they collaborated with radical Islamist group Boko Haram in return for money. Nigeria's neighbouring countries - Niger, Cameroon and Chad - are fearful that the group's insurgency may spill over to their borders. – BBC
To read more, please visit the BBC site here.

234 girls missing from Nigeria school, officials 'ignoring' parents' list
Some 234 girls are missing from the northeast Nigerian school attacked last week by Islamic extremists, significantly more than the number reported by education officials, parents told the state governor. –Times Live
To read more, please visit the Times Live site here.

Why we ought to start paying attention to Burundi
Rarely does the small Central African country of Burundi get much international attention. However recent developments aimed at restricting political freedom ahead of scheduled national elections next year highlight not only the need for international attention, but greater international engagement if Burundi is to escape the cycle of civil wars and ethnic politics that has defined much of its history since independence. Much like its northern neighbor Rwanda, Burundian politics have been shaped by ethnic divisions and the legacy of bad colonial policies since independence. However, while in Rwanda the majority Hutu maintained power and control over the minority Tutsi, in Burundi the opposite took place with the minority Tutsi holding onto power through the military and oppressing the majority Hutu.  – UN Dispatch
To read more, please visit the UN site here.

Oman in East Africa: Gingerly coming back
Last September, a conspicuous group of visitors mingled with tourists in Zanzibar. A small horde of Omani diplomats, ministers and academics came for a three-day symposium, ostensibly on the history of Islam in east Africa. Most of the visitors, many from Sultan Qaboos University, focused on the strength of Omani influences in Zanzibari culture and civic institutions. In years past, this might have been an uncomfortable subject for Omanis and Zanzibaris. Although Oman played a major role in the development of east African Islam, its citizens also acted as colonists and slavers. This led to ethnic violence in 1964 and decades of mutual silence, even after other Gulf countries began exploring African trade deals and investments. – The Economist
To read more, please visit the Economist site here.