Category Archives: Africa

Niger coup leaders accuse France of plotting military intervention

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Junta that seized power claims Paris is aiming to reinstate deposed president as regional tensions grow

The military junta that seized power in Niger has accused France of plotting military intervention to reinstate the deposed president, Mohamed Bazoum, as tensions in the region continued to grow in the wake of the coup.

The junta said on national TV that France was searching “for ways and means to intervene militarily in Niger” and had held a meeting with the chief of staff of Niger’s national guard “to obtain the necessary political and military authorisation”.

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Four Tunisians arrested for piracy over engine thefts from migrant boats

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Men held in Sicily accused of intercepting vessels and demanding cash, phones and vital engines

Police in Italy have arrested four Tunisians on charges of piracy, accusing them of intercepting migrant boats in the central Mediterranean and stealing their engines, leaving the vessels adrift.

Investigators said the four men would identify boats carrying asylum seekers to Europe and, with the help of other vessels, blockade them in international waters off the Tunisian coast, before boarding them to rob the passengers of money and phones and the boat of its valuable engine.

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First image of Niger’s ousted president appears online

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Mohamed Bazoum, pictured with president of Chad, believed to be being held at presidential residence

The first image of Niger’s ousted president has been published online after an attempted coup, showing the leader smiling broadly and appearing to be in good health during a meeting with the president of neighbouring Chad.

Mahamat Idriss Déby, the president of Chad, travelled to Niger as a diplomatic envoy to speak to the country’s democratically elected president, Mohamed Bazoum – who is believed to be being held at the presidential residence – and the coup leaders.

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Twenty years ago, Africa’s women’s treaty set a path to equality. We must be ready for the next steps

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The landmark Maputo protocol has led to huge gains in women’s rights, from abortion access to equal pay. But to go further will require political will and action

Signed 20 years ago, in the Mozambique city that bears its name, the Maputo protocol was a landmark treaty in the progress towards gender equality across Africa.

It promises equality and non-discrimination to women and girls in civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.

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Niger coup: Britain cuts aid and neighbours ‘may use force’ to restore president

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Ecowas bloc issues one-week ultimatum, warning it will take ‘all measures necessary” to restore order

The British government has announced it will be halting “long-term development assistance” to Niger in the wake of the coup that deposed the president last week.

A powerful bloc of west African states has suspended ties with Niger after the coup and authorised the possible use of force if the country’s democratically elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, is not released and reinstated within a week.

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Niger coup leaders warn against military intervention as west African leaders set to meet

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Heads of state will meet in Nigeria on Sunday where they will decide on further actions to pressure army leaders to restore constitutional order

Military leaders in Niger have warned against any armed intervention in the country, as west African leaders were set to meet on Sunday for an emergency summit to decide on further actions to pressure the army to restore constitutional order after a coup last week.

The heads of state of the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and the eight-member West African Economic and Monetary Union are set to meet in Nigeria, where they could suspend Niger from their institutions, cut off the country from the regional central bank and financial market, or close borders.

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Niger coup: US offers ‘unflagging’ support to ousted leader as sanctions threatened

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UN, US and France all call for a return to order after Gen Abdourahamane Tchiani declares himself the new head of state

The United States will work to ensure full restoration of constitutional order in Niger after the military takeover, the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, told the ousted president, Mohamed Bazoum, in a phone call late on Friday, offering him his “unflagging support”.

The US is communicating with “a broad array” military leader in Niger, the state department said, after coup leaders declared Gen Abdourahamane Tchiani – the Nigerien military leader behind the detention of the country’s democratically elected president – the new head of state.

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Egypt calls on Vladimir Putin to revive Black Sea grain deal

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Abdel Fatah al-Sisi tells summit it is ‘essential’ to revive deal, as Kenya calls Moscow’s exit ‘a stab in the back’

Egypt’s leader, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, has urged Vladimir Putin to return to the Black Sea grain deal during a Russia-Africa summit in St Petersburg marked by concerns about the global economic fallout from the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.

In a speech during a plenary session of African delegations attended by the Russian president, al-Sisi said it was “essential to reach agreement” on reviving the deal, which had allowed 33m tons of Ukrainian grain to reach markets, many in developing countries in Africa.

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‘Our biggest challenge is simply to exist’: atheist society fights for legal recognition in God-fearing Kenya

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Non-believers say their civil liberties are at stake in a court battle against a bishop who wants to strip them of legal recognition

Kenya’s first atheist group is battling to keep legal recognition in a case filed by a Christian bishop seeking to suspend its registration.

The Atheists in Kenya Society (AKS) said basic civil liberties hung in the balance as it prepares to file a submission on Monday in response to a petition presented against the group and the Kenyan registrar of societies by Stephen Ndichu.

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Niger coup leader calls for support amid claims he is now head of state

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Gen Abdourahamane Tchiani appeals to governments who backed democratically elected Mohamed Bazoum

Gen Abdourahamane Tchiani, the Nigerien military leader behind the coup against the country’s democratically elected president, has been declared head of state by soldiers backing him as he made a televised address calling for support.

Tchiani, the head of Niger’s presidential guard, which first acted against President Mohamed Bazoum on Wednesday, identified himself as the leader of the group of soldiers behind the coup.

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Putin promises free grain to six African nations after collapse of Black Sea deal

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President says Russia will replace blocked Ukrainian exports after it abandoned pact on passage of ships

Vladimir Putin has promised free grain supplies to six African nations as Moscow seeks to capitalise on the collapse of the Black Sea grain deal.

Speaking on the first day of a Russia-Africa summit in St Petersburg, the Russian president claimed his country would be able to replace Ukrainian grain exports blocked by Moscow’s decision to abandon the UN-brokered arrangement which had allowed the export of grain and other products from Ukraine through the Black Sea to markets, many of them in Africa.

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China may be planning overseas naval bases in Asia and Africa, say analysts

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Beijing believed to be aiming to rival US’s global maritime power and defeat western sanctions, report concludes

China’s military may be planning to build a host of overseas naval bases, as it hopes to protect shipping routes and strengthen its ability to resist sanctions from the US and its allies, analysis has found.

Hambantota in Sri Lanka, Bata in Equatorial Guinea and Gwadar in Pakistan are the three most likely locations for a Chinese naval base to be established in the next two to five years, according to an analysis by AidData, a US-based research institute, published on Wednesday. The report’s authors considered the amount of development financing issued by Chinese state-owned banks to port projects, the strategic value of existing infrastructure and strong relationships with host country governments, among other factors, to come up with a list of eight leading options for future Chinese naval bases.

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Niger soldiers announce coup and president’s removal on national TV

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Military group declares ‘end to the regime’, citing ‘deteriorating security situation and bad governance’

Soldiers in Niger say they have removed President Mohamed Bazoum from power, after armed troops earlier blockaded the presidential palace in Niamey, the capital in one of the world’s most unstable nations.

A group of soldiers appeared on the west African country’s national television late on Wednesday, a few hours after the president had been detained.

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Ghana abolishes death penalty, with expected reprieve for 176 condemned prisoners

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Country joins growing list of African nations free of capital punishment, but execution remains for high treason

Ghana has become the 29th country in Africa to abolish the death penalty in a move hailed by human rights activists.

The decision means that the 176 people currently on death row, including six women, are likely to have their sentences commuted to life imprisonment.

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Spot the difference: why drongos are likely to clock African cuckoo eggs 94% of the time

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Zambia study finds egg variability and random nest selection by cuckoos helps fork-tailed drongos rumble impostors

Cuckoos might be the ultimate avian con artists, laying lookalike eggs in the nests of other birds to avoid raising their own young, but researchers say at least one potential victim is remarkably good at rumbling the fraud.

Scientists studying the African cuckoo have revealed that while the birds are able to produce almost identical-looking eggs to those of the fork-tailed drongo, the latter is likely to reject an impostor egg about 94% of the time.

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UK inaction let Wagner group flourish and grow, say MPs

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Foreign affairs select committee condemns government’s ‘dismal lack of understanding’ about group’s hold in Africa

A decade-long failure by the British government has allowed the Wagner network to grow, spread its tentacles deep into Africa and exploit vulnerable countries, according to a highly critical report from the UK’s foreign affairs select committee.

It called on the government to proscribe the Wagner group in the UK and to make a far more concerted effort to stop it using the City of London as a financial centre.

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At least 18 die in attack in Sudanese city of Omdurman

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Dozens also injured as army shells three neighbourhoods in city close to capital, Khartoum

At least 18 people have been killed in the Sudanese city of Omdurman as the war between the national army chief and his former deputy continues.

Dozens of people were also injured when the army shelled three neighbourhoods in the city, which lies next to the capital, Khartoum, residents said.

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Algeria wildfires kill dozens of people including 10 soldiers

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About 7,500 firefighters trying to bring blazes under control and 1,500 people evacuated as heatwave spreads

Thirty-four people including 10 soldiers have been killed by wildfires in the mountainous Béjaïa and Bouïra regions of Algeria, as a heatwave spreads across north Africa and southern Europe.

About 8,000 firefighters were trying to bring the flames under control, authorities said, adding that about 1,500 people had been evacuated.

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The RSF are out to finish the genocide in Darfur they began as the Janjaweed. We cannot stand by | Kate Ferguson

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Peace between Hemedti’s RSF and Sudan’s army will not end war crimes. As UN security council president, Britain must act

As conflict in Sudan escalates, it is becoming clear that the Rapid Support Forces has returned to Darfur to complete the genocide it began 20 years ago. The RSF is the Janjaweed rebranded, the “devils on horseback” used by the Sudanese government from 2003 to implement widespread and systematic crimes against non-Arab communities across Darfur. The RSF was, and still is, commanded by Gen Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo.

In recent weeks, what we knew was coming has been confirmed. Yale University’s Conflict Observatory, which uses a combination of satellite imagery, Nasa thermal-detection data and open-source analysis, found evidence of the “targeted destruction of at least 26 communities” by the RSF between 15 April and 10 July. Mass graves have been discovered, and satellite imagery shows entire urban neighbourhoods and villages have been burned down.

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Sudan: Attacks on health workers jeopardise remaining hospitals operating in Khartoum

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A rise in violence towards staff has led Médecins Sans Frontières to rethink its presence in the Sudanese capital as intense fighting continues

Increased violence against health workers in Khartoum is endangering the few hospitals still open in the Sudanese capital, the medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said after its employees were beaten and whipped by armed men on Thursday.

The MSF team was attacked 700 metres from the Turkish hospital, one of only two operating in southern Khartoum after others were forced to close during almost 100 days of fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

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