China and Russia on Friday rejected calls from European and African countries to freeze the planned shutdown of a peacekeeping mission to Sudan's Darfur region.

Britain, France, Germany and the African countries on the Security Council told the group that the decision on closing the joint UN-African Union mission should be put on hold while Sudan is engulfed in crisis.

The council is scheduled to vote on the mandate of the mission, known as UNAMID, on June 27.

"The situation has evolved, the situation is not the same in the center, and we cannot proceed as if nothing has happened," said South Africa's Ambassador Jerry Matjila.

Russia and China however said the drawdown must continue as planned with a view to end operations in 2020.

"The Sudanese government has the capacity to maintain peace and security in Darfur on its own," said China's Deputy Ambassador Wu Haitao.

China, Sudan's major trading partner, has long supported Khartoum's view that the conflict in Darfur was winding down and that peacekeepers were no longer needed.

After a series of phased drawdowns, about 7,200 troops and police remain in Darfur from the 16,000 deployed at the height of the conflict.

More than 300,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced in the violence, according to the United Nations.

Russian Deputy Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy said the council was right to pull out peacekeepers and warned against any "outside lecturing" to Khartoum.

Sudan has been led by a military council since generals ousted Omar al-Bashir on April 11 after months of nationwide protests against his three-decade rule.

Protesters remained encamped outside the military headquarters in Khartoum for weeks afterwards demanding civilian rule, until a June 3 crackdown that left scores dead.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have said the instability has an impact on Darfur and that peacekeepers should remain.

UN human rights official Andrew Gilmour said there have been increased reports of killings, abduction and sexual violence in Darfur in recent months.

Over the past two months, 47 people have been killed in Darfur, he said.

Sudan's military rulers have issued a decree ordering UNAMID to hand over all of its camps in Darfur to the Rapid Support Forces, which led the crackdown on protesters.

But UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix said plans to turn over the camps to Sudanese forces as part of the drawdown have been suspended.

Benin police open fire on protesters, kill two: mayor
Save, Benin (AFP) June 15, 2019 - Benin security forces killed two protesters Saturday in the city of Save while breaking up a demonstration by people who erected barricades and blocked the national road for days, the mayor said.

This followed days of demonstrations over controversial April 28 parliamentary elections in the West African country.

"This morning, a contingent of the republican police came to clear the roadblocks," said Timothee Biaou, mayor of the central town of Save.

"Gunfire was exchanged between police and masked individuals. Seven civilians were taken to hospital and there were also two deaths."

A witness to the confrontation, who asked not to be named, also said two people were killed, one a motorbike taxi driver and the other a teenager.

"The road has been unblocked but it is total panic. Many people have fled, others are staying at home," said the witness.

AFP reporters witnessed deserted streets, an abandoned market, and closed shops and businesses.

On Friday, soldiers opened fire on protesters with live ammunition, witnesses alleged.

One told AFP that two people were killed Friday but this could not be independently confirmed.

The region where protesters have amassed is the home base of former president Thomas Boni Yayi, an outspoken critic of the government.

The demonstrators demand the lifting of a police cordon around Boni Yayi's house in the country's economic capital Cotonou. He has been under effective house arrest since the polls.

The crisis has stoked concerns of an authoritarian turn in a country once seen as a democratic example in the region.

The poll took place without any opposition candidate, and all 83 members of parliament come from the only two parties allowed to take part, both allied to President Patrice Talon.

Changes to electoral rules had effectively barred opposition parties from fielding candidates.

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Zimbabwe demands right to sell $300 mn of ivory to fund game reserves
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Zimbabwe has demanded the right to sell its stockpile of ivory to raise money for conservation, wildlife authorities said Tuesday, joining other southern African nations in calling for the global ban on the trade in tusks to be relaxed. Wildlife authorities in the cash-strapped nation estimate the country's decades-old hoard of ivory is worth around $300 million, which they say would help plug funding gaps for game reserves. The proposal has put it on a collision course with the Convention on In ... read more