South Africa closed its border with Mozambique shortly after opening it on Thursday as post-election violence in the neighboring country escalated, leading to clashes between protesters and the police.

Amnesty International said that at least 20 people have died and hundreds more were injured and arrested since the beginning of the protests. It described the government’s reaction as the country’s worst crackdown on protests in years.

The State Department spokesperson’s comments came in response to questions about continued UAE military and logistical support for the paramilitary RSF despite allegations of war crimes. The UAE has denied these accusations, maintaining its aid is solely humanitarian.

The al-Qaeda affiliate JNIM released a statement afterward declaring the attack that killed 77 people had been driven by vengeance — for “slaughters committed by this ruling clique and its Russian allies against our Muslim people,” referring to Russia’s Wagner Group.

Sudan’s devastating civil war is being fueled in part by weapons secretly supplied to both sides by foreign countries, including munitions and drones from the United Arab Emirates and Iran, according to confidential assessments, a State Department funded report and evidence collected from captured weapons in Sudan.

The legislation would require the State Department to regularly report to Congress on whether the human rights violations committed by the Sudanese army and the rebel paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have risen to the level of genocide, war crimes, or crimes against humanity.

The Sudanese army accuses the UAE of supporting the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which the UAE denies. The two countries also expelled each other’s diplomats earlier this year.

The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously Monday to extend for another year the mandate of the armed security mission helping Haiti fight armed gangs.

More than 100 people from 17 African countries visited Vicenza for a four-day annual planning event that included Army experts.

Severe rains bucketed down on central Europe, Africa, Shanghai and the U.S. Carolinas this week, underscoring the extreme ways in which climate change is altering the weather.