Both government and rebels in South Sudan carried out war crimes against civilians and should face justice, an African Union human rights inquiry has said.

The AU's Commission of Inquiry on South Sudan lists a string of abuses, including forced cannibalism and dismemberment, in its report, published late Tuesday.

Sudan's Interior Minister Ismat Abdul Rahman said Monday that 70 young Sudanese have joined the Islamic State group since the jihadist organization’s emergence, traveling to Syria and Libya.

Several groups of students from Sudan -- some holding western passports -- are thought to have traveled to Syria via Turkey to join the IS group, but this is the first time Khartoum has given a figure.

One South African peacekeeper was killed and four wounded when a convoy they were escorting came under fire in Sudan's Darfur region, the U.N.-African Union peacekeeping mission said on Monday.

The attack took place on Sunday near Mellit, in North Darfur state, and resulted in an exchange of fire, the mission said.

South Sudan's army said Friday it was preparing bases outside the capital ahead of a pullout from Juba as part of a peace deal to end a 21-month civil war.

"The bases are being prepared outside Juba, as per the peace agreement, ahead of the army moving there in the days ahead," army information chief, Brigadier General Malak Ayuen, said Friday, although adding the sites currently have "no water and no shelter."

South Sudan's army used helicopter gunships to pound rebel positions, military monitors said Thursday, their first report detailing ceasefire violations since a peace deal was signed.

The army and rebels have repeatedly traded blame accusing each other of breaking an August 29 ceasefire deal, the eighth such agreement to have been signed since civil war broke out in December 2013.

Imprisoned by gunmen and sexually abused for two months, South Sudanese teenager Evalina has finally escaped the conflict wracking her country for her birthplace Khartoum.

Once the city where she spent a happy childhood, she has returned as one of some 190,000 South Sudanese seeking shelter in Khartoum from their country's brutal civil war.

Rebels in Sudan's conflict-hit Darfur region have released 18 people they were holding prisoner, the International Committee for the Red Cross said on Thursday.

The ICRC said it "assisted in the transfer of 13 Sudanese Armed Forces personnel, three policemen and two civilians released by the Sudan Liberation Army–Abdul Wahid," a Darfur-based rebel group.

Chinese President Xi Jinping lauded his country as a major power and a force for world peace Thursday as he presided over a spectacular military parade marking the 70th anniversary of Japan's defeat in World War II.

With concerns rife over China's rise, Xi announced that the People's Liberation Army -- the world's largest military -- would be reduced by 300,000 personnel, although the defense ministry said the cuts would mainly fall on outdated units and non-combat staff.

More than 13 million children are being denied an education by Middle East conflicts, the U.N. said Thursday, warning "the hopes of a generation" would be dashed if they cannot return to classrooms.

In a report on the impact of conflict on education in six countries and territories across the region, the United Nation's children fund UNICEF said more than 8,850 schools were no longer usable due to violence.

South African President Jacob Zuma Tuesday escaped a bid in parliament to impeach him over the government's refusal to arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on genocide charges brought by the International Criminal Court.

Zuma was saved partly by widespread resentment of the ICC's perceived focus on prosecuting African leaders while countries such as the United States have failed to place themselves under the control of the Hague-based institution.