Daily News on the Issues Affecting Africa for January 15th

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 food crisis in South Sudan, the continued Central African turmoil, foreign aid cuts affecting millions in Zimbabwe and Malawi, unclear rebel actions in the Congo, French educational aspirations on the continent, speculation on the future of post-war Mali, and the Nigerian stance against homosexual activity.

S. Sudan facing food crisis as fighting disrupts agriculture: UN
The United Nations warned this week that ongoing conflict in South Sudan threatens to increase hunger and unravel the modest gains made in food security in the two years since the country seceded from the north. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Monday that fighting has thrown the agricultural sector into turmoil at a time when preparations should be underway for plantings or harvests, "generating an alarming risk of food insecurity and malnutrition." – Sudan Tribune
To read more, please visit the Sudan Tribune site here.

Human rights situation in CAR remains dire: OHCHR
The violations of human rights in Central African Republic (CAR) remained dire, said the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Tuesday. The preliminary findings of the OHCHR revealed a cycle of widespread human rights violations and reprisals, including extra judicial killings, sexual violence, mutilations, enforced disappearances, ill-treatment, rape and the deliberate targeting of civilians based on their religion. – Xinhua
To read more, please visit the Xinhua site here.

UN cuts food aid for one million Zimbabweans
About one-million Zimbabweans may go hungry after the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday it was cutting food rations due to a shortage of cash. "We'd been hoping to have scaled up our seasonal relief operations ... in the coming months with distributions of food and, in some areas, cash," Tomson Phiri, WFP spokesperson in Zimbabwe, said as the country enters the peak of the so-called hunger season. – Mail & Guardian
To read more, please visit the Mail and Guardian site here.

Malawi aid freeze could hit health and education sectors
A freeze on all direct British financial aid to Malawi after reports of high-level corruption could have huge adverse effects on health and education, an aid expert has warned. The Department for International Development (DfID) suspended aid to Malawi, where 40% of the national budget comes from donors, in November after the so-called "cashgate" scandal. – The Guardian
To read more, please visit the Guardian site here.

DR Congo M23 rebels deny UN accusations of fresh recruitment
The Democratic Republic of Congo's M23 rebel movement on Tuesday denied UN accusations that it was seeking to rebuild from the ashes of its defeat in November. The UN mission chief in the DRC, Martin Kobler, said on Monday there were "credible reports that the military recruitment of the M23 did not cease" after a December peace pact.  The M23, an ethnic Tutsi rebel group described as a Rwandan proxy force, officially laid down its arms after suffering a crushing military defeat at the hands of the UN-backed Congolese army in November. – The East African
To read more, please visit the East African site here.

Africa: French Universities go online with MOOCS
France's higher education system is going online with an extra eight million euros being invested in Massive Open Online Courses (Moocs). France is targeting Africa with the planned programme. "African people are very creative and they are very familiar with the oral tradition," she said. "They also have very large countries with not very many campuses. So it is very well adapted to the African culture. We want to be more connected to the African development via Moocs. – allAfrica
To read more, please visit the allAfrica site here.

Restive North languishes in post-war Mali
A year after Mali's civil war came to an end, experts here are increasingly concerned that the country risks an eventual return to violence, particularly as Malian authorities continue to marginalize the restive north while neglecting to pursue meaningful political and economic reforms.  Indeed, a lack of equitable opportunity across Mali has caused northern Tuareg separatists to cite political and economic marginalization as their reason for rebelling in the first place. – IPS News
To read more, please visit the IPS News site here.

Spate of anti-gay arrests spreads fear in Nigeria
There were varying accounts of how many arrests were made in Nigeria's Bauchi state, and a local law enforcement official denied that anyone was tortured. Nevertheless, the aggressive police action shows that Africa's most populous country is attempting to enforce anti-gay measures that are becoming increasingly common throughout the continent. – Japan Times
To read more, please visit the Japan Times site here.