These posts began circulating after Sudan claimed in early August that it had killed Colombian fighters in Al-Fashir, a city controlled by the Rapid Support Forces, and accused the UAE of involvement in the conflict.

In response, the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on 5 August rejecting those Sudanese allegations that it had supported any armed groups. In a formal statement to Reuters by email on 29 August, the UAE foreign ministry said it supports the Sudanese people’s pursuit of peace and stability, and described the mounting allegations as “false claims as part of a systematic campaign by what is known as the ‘Port Sudan authority.’ … These baseless claims are part of a deliberate approach to evade responsibility and shift blame to others.”

The video shows soldiers boarding one by one into a military vehicle in which a person wearing military fatigues fires ordnance. The individual inside can be heard saying “Ready, fire” in English.

A Facebook account shared this video with a caption reading: “The Janjaweed violations and assault on unarmed citizens. Watch how the Colombian mercenaries throw [explosives] at the people of Al-Fashir.

The UAE is killing Sudanese, the UAE is supporting Colombian mercenaries to kill the Sudanese.” In fact, the circulating video is part of a live-fire exercise conducted in Estonia in July 2025.

The original, longer clip was released on 29 July by the U.S. Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS), which said it was filmed on 24 July near Tapa Camp, Estonia, and featured U.S., British, Canadian, and Estonian military units.

According to a statement published on 18 August by the U.S. Fifth Corps (V Corps) based in Poland, the exercises took place from 21 to 25 July and included mortar and live-ammunition fire to assess the combat readiness of participating units.

Additionally, the military uniform of the person inside the vehicle—as well as one of the soldiers firing the ordnance—bears the insignia of the U.S. Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, which did take part in these joint Estonia-based drills.

On 16 August, Sudanese Prime Minister Kamel Idris—speaking in Spanish in a statement reviewed by Reuters—called on Colombia to “immediately halt the recruitment and deployment of mercenaries in Sudan” and to side with the Sudanese government.

The following day, Colombian President Gustavo Petro, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), addressed Colombians: “Do not die in foreign conflicts.” Reuters contacted the Colombian and Sudanese foreign ministries, but neither responded to requests for comment.

This is not the first time Sudan has accused the UAE of supporting foreign fighters. In May, Sudan said it would cut ties with the Gulf state after accusing Abu Dhabi of supplying advanced and strategic weaponry to the Rapid Support Forces.

Source: Reuters

Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia is on a working visit to the Northern European country, which has carved a niche for itself as a global leader in digitalisation with 99% of its public services delivered online, including an incredible 98% of online banking transactions.

Ghana, in the past seven years, has also become a reference point for digitalisation in Africa, having built digitalisation networks, with a digital national identity system, a nationwide property address system, as well as an interoperable database and financial sector, to underpin the delivery of many public services online.

During meetings with high-ranking officials of Estonia, Ghana’s remarkable digitalisation story was discussed at length and hailed for its impact within a short period.

“It has taken us over 20 years to get to where we are now, but you have done so well and you have achieved a lot in seven years,” said Estonia’s Chief Government Information Officer, Luukas Ilves. who

Luukas Ilves is also the Undersecretary for Digital Transformation expressed surprise when Vice President Bawumia told him that all of Ghana’s digital platforms were built by local talents from Ghana.

“The talent is local. It is right in Ghana. Everything we have done has been done by young, talented Ghanaians back home and they have been so efficient that I could call them at midnight for a discussion on projects,” Dr Bawumia said.

Despite the long gap in years of implementation; over 20 years for Estonia and 7 years in Ghana, Estonia’s digitalisation framework and output, are similar to Ghana’s as both are anchored on a digital national identity system.

In Estonia, every digital initiative operates on the national identity card, managed by the Civic Registry, just as Ghana’s digital interventions are operated through the Ghana Card, managed by the National Identification Authority.

Again, Estonia’s unique national identification number, also serves as tax identification, social security, driver’s license, and other national identification numbers, just as the Ghana Card number serves as identification numbers for SSNIT, health insurance, and others.

Ghana has also achieved the convergence of public services online through the Ghana.Gov, just like Estonia, whose online public service delivery is called e-Government

However, contrary to Ghana’s digitalisation initiative, which has faced pessimism from a section of the public, as it gets rid of corrupt practices, the situation is different in Estonia as their digital journey has received support, especially from the private sector.

“We have received tremendous support in this mission, especially from the private sector,” said the Chief Government Information Officer, also adding that the banks supported them so much for online banking when they sensed they could be out of business. As a result, about 98% of banking transactions in Estonia are now done online.

Dr Bawumia is leading a Ghanaian delegation for a three-day working visit to Estonia.

On the first day of his visit on Wednesday, January 24, 2024, he held bilateral discussions with the President and Prime Minister of Estonia.

The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner becomes the first Argentina player to score five in a game since Jose Manuel Moreno against Ecuador in 1942.

Messi scored his first goal of the evening at Estadio El Sadar in Pamplona, Spain from the penalty spot in the eighth minute, firing his spot-kick into the bottom corner.

Argentina continued to dominate against the side positioned 110 in FIFA world rankings and Messi grabbed his second on the stroke of half-time.

The PSG forward latched onto a pass from Papu Gomez and rifled his shot into the top corner from close range.

Two minutes into the second half and Messi sealed a hat-trick with another simple finish as he met right-back Nahuel Molina’s cross and turned in from point-blank range.

Messi’s fourth came in the 71st minute, rounding goalkeeper Matvei Igonen before slotting his finish away.

The 34-year-old then finished off his evening in style by scoring Argentina’s fifth and final goal of the night five minutes later when firing in a rebound after Paulo Dybala had seen a shot blocked.

Messi’s 86 goals for Argentina makes him the fourth highest goalscorer in the history of men’s international football.

He overtakes Hungary’s Ferenc Puskas (84 goals) and only trails Malaysia’s Mokhtar Dahari (89), Iran’s Ali Daei (109) and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo (117).

The result caps off a productive week for Argentina who beat European champions Italy 3-0 in Finalissima at Wembley Stadium on Wednesday.