Category Archives: Africa

Niger: thousands gather for rally to cheer generals who led coup

Posted on by

Supporters wave Niger and Russia flags as Ecowas deadline for military to cede power approaches

Thousands of coup supporters in Niger gathered on Sunday for a rally to cheer on the generals claiming power, as a deadline set by the west African bloc for the military to relinquish control or face possible armed intervention was due to elapse.

The Ecowas bloc, chaired by regional military powerhouse and Niger’s neighbour Nigeria, had given the troops that toppled President Mohamed Bazoum on 26 July a week to return him to power.

Continue reading...

Kenya’s offer to send police to Haiti sparks human rights concerns

Posted on by

Groups say move could worsen country’s security crisis given police force’s poor human rights record

An offer from Kenya to dispatch police officers to Haiti has been welcomed by officials in the embattled Caribbean nation – but prompted concern among human rights groups who say the move could worsen the country’s security crisis.

Haiti’s prime minister, Ariel Henry, requested international support from the UN last year when gangs began taking control of much of the country, engulfing the nation in chaos as they fought pitched street battles.

Continue reading...

West African bloc prepares for military action as Niger coup deadline looms

Posted on by

Defence chiefs deliver ultimatum for Sunday after mediation fails to reinstate elected president

West African defence chiefs have drawn up a plan for military action if Niger’s coup is not overturned by Sunday, the regional bloc said, after mediation failed in a crisis that threatens regional security and has drawn in global powers.

The Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) has given Niger’s coup leaders until Sunday to step down and reinstate the elected president, Mohamed Bazoum.

Continue reading...

Ethiopia declares a state of emergency in Amhara amid increasing violence

Posted on by

Clashes between the army and a regional militia threaten public security and are causing ‘serious economic and humanitarian damage’, said officials

Ethiopia’s council of ministers has declared a state of emergency in the Amhara region after its leader said he was no longer able to contain a surge in violence between a local ethnic militia and the army.

The office of the prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, announced the emergency on Friday, saying attacks by “armed extremist groups” posed an increasing threat to public security and were causing significant economic damage.

Continue reading...

Diplomatic mission to Niger fails to secure release of ousted president

Posted on by

Delegation from Ecowas leaves early, having failed to meet detained president or coup leader

A west African diplomatic mission to Niger to seek the release and reinstatement of the country’s president, Mohamed Bazoum, after a coup has failed, raising the risk of a military intervention.

The delegation, which had flown to the Nigerien capital, Niamey, left on Thursday, earlier than planned, without having met Bazoum or the coup leader, Gen Abdourahamane Tchiani.

Continue reading...

Zimbabwe opposition supporter dies in ambush on way to election rally

Posted on by

Information ministry calls for calm after attack by suspected supporters of country’s ruling Zanu-PF party

A Zimbabwean man has died after he and other opposition party supporters were ambushed by suspected supporters of the country’s ruling party on their way to a campaign rally west of the capital, Harare, stoking fears of growing violence three weeks before elections.

Police confirmed the death and said two suspects had been arrested, as the country’s information ministry called for calm.

Continue reading...

Will Ghana’s gas gamble perpetuate a cycle of fossil-fuel related debt?

Posted on by

West African country is enduring hard times – and critics say plan to import liquefied natural gas will only make things worse

John Gakpo has milled corn to make kenkey – a cornmeal dumpling and Ghana’s staple food – in a dimly lit wooden shack in a suburb of the capital, Accra, for 15 years.

In the past, his earnings have been sufficient to provide for his family – but not any more.

Continue reading...

Nigeria-led regional bloc ready to flex its muscle in Niger

Posted on by

Coup leaders and Russia are attempting to frame takeover as anti-neocolonialism after misjudging reaction from Ecowas

In the square in central Niamey on Thursday, the anniversary of Niger’s independence from France, the mainly young men who gathered to demonstrate in favour of the military coup against President Mohamed Bazoum brought with them Russian flags and anti-French slogans.

It remained unclear whether the demonstration was spontaneous or organised to coincide with a speech by the coup leader Gen Abdourahmane Tchiani in which he decried the threat of interference by the west and regional powers led by Nigeria.

Continue reading...

Dozens injured after protesters storm Eritrean festival in Stockholm

Posted on by

Opponents of Eritrean government tore down tents and set cars on fire, with ‘around 100’ people arrested

More than 50 people have been injured and dozens detained in Stockholm after opponents of the Eritrean government stormed an event in the Swedish capital organised by regime supporters.

About 1,000 anti-government demonstrators who had been authorised to hold a protest nearby broke through a police barrier, tearing down festival tents and setting booths and vehicles on fire.

Continue reading...

Niger junta cancels France military ties as Biden calls for Bazoum’s release

Posted on by

US statement comes as ousted president says he is being held hostage and calls on international community to restore order

Joe Biden has called for the immediate release of Niger’s elected president and for the country’s democracy to be restored, in the highest profile statement by the US since the coup that removed Mohamed Bazoum from power, as Senegal also ramped up the pressure by saying its troops would join a a military intervention if necessary.

“I call for President Bazoum and his family to be immediately released, and for the preservation of Niger’s hard-earned democracy,” the US president said in a statement on Thursday, the 63rd anniversary of Niger’s independence. “In this critical moment, the United States stands with the people of Niger to honour our decades-long partnership rooted in shared democratic values and support for civilian-led governance.”

Continue reading...

Kenya halts Worldcoin data collection over privacy and security concerns

Posted on by

Issues raised include use of eye scans to prove ‘humanness’ and financial inducements to sign up

The Kenyan government has barred the eyeball-scanning Worldcoin cryptocurrency project from recruiting new customers as it investigates data privacy and security concerns.

Kenya’s interior ministry said the venture must stop collecting user data after raising a number of issues including: concerns over the secure storage of data that includes scans of a user’s iris; that offering crypto in exchange for data “borders on inducement”; inadequate information on cybersecurity safeguards; and placing large amounts of private data in the hands of a private business.

Continue reading...

Niger: US and UK evacuate embassy staff as coup leaders double down

Posted on by

Staffing levels reduced as US says White House is committed to restoring president after last week’s coup

The US and UK have ordered the evacuation of some staff from their embassies in Niger after last week’s coup, as the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said the White House was committed to restoring the stricken country’s government.

Niger is a key western ally in the fight against Islamist insurgents in the region. Foreign powers have condemned the takeover, fearing it could allow the militants to gain ground.

Continue reading...

Ken Elliott: kidnapped Australian surgeon says he had scurvy and was close to death during seven years in Africa

Posted on by

The missionary, who was taken by an al-Qaida-linked group in Burkina Faso in 2016, tells how God and meditating on scripture sustained him

An Australian surgeon who was held captive by militants in Africa for more than seven years has spoken publicly about the toll of the ordeal, saying he became so malnourished he got scurvy and was close to death.

Ken Elliott and his wife, Jocelyn, were in their 80s when they were kidnapped by an al-Qaida-linked group in Burkina Faso, a landlocked country in the Sahel region that is experiencing increasing unrest.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Meta, Google and YouTube ‘profiting’ off posts for bogus women’s health cures in Kenya

Posted on by

Tech firms permit ads for potentially harmful products including vaginal ‘cleanse’ balls and useless herbs for infertility, according to an investigation

Meta, YouTube and Google are profiting from posts promoting harmful and useless health products to women in Kenya, according to an investigation.

Researchers from the media collective Fumbua have accused big tech firms of amplifying content that promises unproven cures for infertility and herbs that can stave off cancers on their networks.

Continue reading...

Vladimir Putin aiming for ‘global catastrophe’, says Volodymyr Zelenskiy

Posted on by

Russian drone attacks hit Ukrainian port, halting loading of ships for food exports and causing spike in grain prices

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has accused Vladimir Putin of trying to trigger a “global catastrophe” and the collapse of global food markets after Russian night strikes against a grain silo and loading facilities at an inland port on the Danube river.

Drone attacks early on Wednesday hit Izmail, Ukraine’s main inland port which is across the Danube from Romania, triggering a spike in global grain prices. Several buildings in Izmail were destroyed, halting the loading of ships that were being used to sidestep a de facto blockade on Ukrainian food exports Russia imposed in mid-July, when Moscow left a UN-brokered grain export arrangement and started targeting Ukrainian grain storage and export infrastructure.

Continue reading...

Military intervention in Niger is ‘last resort’, says west African bloc

Posted on by

Defence chiefs demand reinstatement of president after coup, which triggered exodus of foreign nationals

Defence heads from west Africa’s regional political and security bloc have said a military intervention in junta-ruled Niger was “the last resort”, as European countries continued to evacuate foreign nationals after last week’s coup against its democratically elected president.

The 15-nation regional bloc Ecowas – the Economic Community of West African States – has threatened to use force to put down the coup in Niger after giving an ultimatum to those behind it to restore Mohamed Bazoum as president and reinstate the constitution and democratic institutions.

Continue reading...

Women’s health at risk from UK aid cuts, Foreign Office warned

Posted on by

Thousands more women will be forced into unsafe abortions and die in pregnancy and childbirth, ministers told

Hundreds of thousands more women will face unsafe abortions and thousands will die in pregnancy and childbirth as a result of UK aid cuts in 2023-24, Foreign Office ministers were warned in an internal assessment.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) published its programme allocations for the next two years last month, showing that official development assistance (ODA) spend is due to rise marginally in 2023-24 and then increase by 12% in 2024-25 to £8.3bn.

Continue reading...

France begins evacuating its citizens and other Europeans from Niger

Posted on by

Airlift follows coup that toppled President Mohamed Bazoum, as tensions grow between the two countries

France has started evacuating its citizens and other Europeans from Niger, days after a junta toppled the president, Mohamed Bazoum, and seized power in the west African country.

Tensions between Niger and former colonial power France have escalated after the coup on 26 July overthrew one of the last pro-western leaders in Africa’s Sahel region. France’s decision to swiftly evacuate its citizens goes further than its reaction to putsches in recent years in the other former French colonies of Mali and Burkina Faso, where French citizens were not evacuated after military coups.

Continue reading...

Tuesday briefing: The global fallout from Niger’s coup

Posted on by

In today’s newsletter: The country has been considered stable in an unstable region. So what sparked a coup – and what effects will it have?

• Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First Edition

Good morning.

Just a few months ago, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, visited Niger and called it a “model of democracy” in the region. Last week those words seemed rather foolhardy, as reports began to emerge of a military coup under way. On Wednesday morning, the country’s presidential guard, a group who were supposed to protect democratically elected leader President Mohamed Bazoum, blockaded the presidential palace. Soldiers appeared on state TV to announce they had removed the president from power, seized control of the government and suspended the constitution. And on Friday, the commander of the guard, Gen Abdourahmane Tchiani, declared himself the leader of Niger in a televised address.

Climate crisis | Rishi Sunak has pledged to “max out” the UK’s oil and gas reserves as he revealed a new round of intensive North Sea drilling, which experts said could be catastrophic for global heating.

War on Ukraine | Within the last few hours Russian air defences shot down “several” drones again targeting the Moscow region, mayor Sergei Sobyanin said, with one hitting a tower that had also been struck on Sunday.

Asylum | The Home Office has been forced to delay moving people seeking asylum on to a controversial giant barge in order to carry out last-minute fire safety checks amid concerns the vessel has not received approval from inspectors.

Land rights | Wild camping is once again allowed on Dartmoor after the national park won a successful appeal against a ruling in a case brought by a wealthy landowner.

Television | Angus Cloud, the actor best known for his role on HBO’s teen drama Euphoria, has died aged 25, his family confirmed on Monday. Cloud died on Monday at his family home in Oakland, California. No cause of death was given. His father had recently died, the statement said, and the actor “intensely struggled with the loss”.

Continue reading...

Senegal authorities arrest opposition frontrunner, ban his party and cut internet

Posted on by

Supporters say string of charges are intended to prevent Ousmane Sonko and his Pastef party challenging President Macky Sall

Senegal’s government has dissolved a major opposition party within hours of the party’s popular president and opposition leader saying a judge had ordered his arrest.

Ousmane Sonko, a charismatic opposition figure widely supported by Senegal’s youth, was in prison on Monday as he awaited trial on new criminal charges, said his party’s communications director, El Malick Ndiaye.

Continue reading...