Roughly 20,000 people have been detained by Nigeria’s military over the past decade, leaving their families fraught with anxiety
It was on a chilly morning in October 2011 that Hajja Gana Suleiman’s world began to unravel.
The news came that her son had been arrested by military men. Mustapha “Saina” Abdulkareem had been saying his morning prayers at a nearby mosque when he was taken away.
Continue reading...Islamist parties that supported the Bashir regime are now facing challenges
As members of Sudan’s Islamist Popular Congress party arrived for a meeting in Khartoum one Saturday afternoon, they were greeted by abuse from groups of young protesters and chants of “no to Islamists”.
In the scuffles that followed, both sides threw stones. Dozens were injured and more than a hundred were arrested.
Continue reading...John and Susan Cooper did not die in Red Sea resort from natural causes, court told
A British couple who died on holiday at a hotel in Egypt may have suffered the effects of an infectious biological agent or toxic chemicals, a coroner’s court has heard.
John Cooper, 69, and his wife, Susan, 63, died suddenly on 21 August last year after becoming ill while staying at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic hotel in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada.
Continue reading...Judges order oil firm to release confidential documents as wives of late Nigerian activists get go-ahead to pursue claim
A Dutch court has ruled that it has jurisdiction to determine whether Royal Dutch Shell was complicit in the Nigerian government’s execution of the Ogoni Nine, environmental protesters who fought against widespread pollution in the Niger Delta.
In a 50-page ruling hailed by campaigners as an “important precedent” for global human rights cases, judges at The Hague’s district court said on Wednesday that they would allow the case to go forward, also indicating that the claimants – widows of four of the activists – would be able to bring further evidence to prove their case.
Continue reading...Despite Omar al-Bahir’s fall, most know their revolution is unfinished and still vulnerable
On the day in late March when Habeb Ali Yousif was released from three months in detention, his jailers dragged out the process.
When he eventually arrived back home, the Sudanese democracy activist discovered why: his wife, Sulaf Osam Baloul, had been seized.
Continue reading...Judicial harassment and rise in arrests under anti-sodomy law add to climate of tension and fear
One of the Arab world’s most visible advocacy groups defending the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people is facing closure following legal threats by the government.
Association Shams has been officially operating in Tunisia since 2015, helping the country’s LGBT community repeal article 230 of its penal code, a French colonial law, which criminalises homosexuality with up to three years in jail.
Continue reading...Fierce fighting for control of Libya’s capital that has already displaced tens of thousands of people threatens to create a greater humanitarian crisis, a senior UN official has warned
Continue reading...Divided party faces ‘deep moral crisis’ despite anticipated victory in election in May
Major Mgxaji, a retired union official in the poor township of Khayelitsha near Cape Town, was repeatedly jailed and tortured by apartheid authorities for his political activism with the ANC in the 1970s and 80s.
“It is not the same party as back then,” the 67-year-old said in an interview in Khayelitsha, where rolling power cuts in recent months have been widely blamed on corruption at the national electricity provider. “The ANC people have developed the struggle of the belly instead of the struggle to better the lives of our people. That is very dangerous.”
Continue reading...The US president has gone from urging a ceasefire in Tripoli to threatening to veto such calls in the UN
Egyptian and Emirati influence on Donald Trump has thrown US policy on Libya into turmoil at a moment when Tripoli is under attack and the country is on the brink of a full-scale war once again.
The state department went from encouraging a UN security council resolution calling for a ceasefire and an end to an offensive on the capital by the eastern Libyan warlord, Khalifa Haftar, to threatening to veto the same resolution a few days later.
Continue reading...Ghassan Salamé makes strongest attack yet on military leader hoping to seize power
The UN envoy for Libya has made his strongest attack yet on the military strongman Khalifa Haftar as his forces intensify their assault on the capital, Tripoli.
In comments in Paris, where the French president, Emmanuel Macron, is seen as Europe’s biggest supporter of Haftar’s attempt to control Libya after eight years of chaos that followed the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi, Ghassan Salamé said Haftar was no democrat and had little support in Tripoli.
Continue reading...Flawed legal systems mean two-thirds of the world’s population are deprived of justice
Across the world, an estimated 5.1 billion people – two-thirds of the global population – are being failed by the justice system, a study has found.
But providing universal access to basic justice could save the global economy billions of dollars every year, as lost income and stress-related illness due to seeking legal redress can cost countries up to 3% of their annual GDP, according to a report published today by the Task Force on Justice.
Continue reading...Trip gives foreign secretary chance to push Tory leadership claims and speak up for Brexit
Jeremy Hunt is to start a five-day, five-nation tour of Africa that will give the foreign secretary a chance both to push his personal agenda ahead of an expected Conservative leadership election and try to convince Africa that Brexit will bring trade benefits.
Hunt will begin his tour on Monday in Senegal before travelling to Ghana, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Kenya, which have five of the fastest-growing economies on the continent.
Continue reading...Five people are dead and aid workers have reported scenes of destruction in the wake of Cyclone Kenneth, the second tropical cyclone to lay waste to swathes of Mozambique in five weeks. Rescuers have moved in to help people trapped by rapidly rising flood water in the northern city of Pemba, a United Nations spokesman said, as the storm dumps more rain on the region
Continue reading...People trapped by rising flood water as Cyclone Kenneth dumps more rain on the region
Five people have died and aid workers have reported scenes of destruction in the wake of Cyclone Kenneth, the second tropical cyclone to lay waste to swathes of Mozambique in five weeks.
Rescuers have moved in to help people trapped by rapidly rising flood water in the northern city of Pemba, home to 200,000 people, a United Nations spokesman said, as Kenneth dumped more rain on the region.
Continue reading...Role of military remains sticking point amid fears of former regime loyalists retaining power
Sudan’s powerful generals and opposition leaders have agreed in principle to the formation of joint civilian-military council to lead the country’s political transition following three decades of autocratic rule by former president Omar al-Bashir.
However, in the latest evidence of the sharp challenges facing Sudan, the two sides failed to agree on how big a role the generals would have on the new council.
Continue reading...In Sudan’s fresh minted revolution it is not only the country’s old military guard, once associated with the deposed former president Omar al-Bashir, whom protesters view with deep suspicion.
Last week the Egyptian embassy in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, was also the scene of protests and chants aimed at President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. “Tell Sisi,” the crowd shouted. “This is Sudan! [Egypt’s] borders stop at Aswan!”
Continue reading...Court had agreed to return Hashem Abedi, younger brother of the bomber, to UK
Plans by Libya to extradite the brother of the Manchester Arena suicide bomber to Britain have been put on hold while Tripoli remains under attack, the country’s interior minister has said.
Fathi Bashagha said a Libyan court had agreed to return 21-year-old Hashem Abedi – the younger brother of the bomber Salman Abedi – because he was a British citizen.
Continue reading...Remnants of former Bashir regime face a street movement demanding real change
Salah Elsir came to the protest camp outside Sudan’s military headquarters in Khartoum three days ago, riding the “freedom train” from Atbara, the birthplace in December of the country’s revolution against the regime of the former dictator, Omar al-Bashir.
A 28-year-old artist from a family of railway workers, Elsir’s brother Elshazli was one of the organisers of the train that rolled slowly into the city centre on Tuesday, its roof crowded with banner-waving activists to a reception both tearful and joyous.
Continue reading...A sedate Wednesday morning press conference for this weekend’s London marathon appeared to be over when Mo Farah suddenly raised his hand and began to speak. Clearly Britain’s four-time Olympic champion had something to get off his chest. “Training has gone well, and everything else,” he said, “but there was a slight problem with my hotel in Ethiopia.”
Continue reading...Still reeling from Cyclone Idai, country hit by its strongest ever recorded storm
The destruction caused by Cyclone Kenneth, the strongest storm on record to hit Mozambique, may require another massive aid effort in a country still reeling from the year’s first tropical cyclone, the UN has said.
With high winds and torrential rain, Kenneth made landfall in the country’s north on Thursday night, five weeks after Cyclone Idai devastated its centre.
Continue reading...