INTL Africa : Politics, Economics, and Military- March 2021

[Plain Jane]

February's thread is here:

Conflict in Mediterranean thread here beginning page 71:

WAR - Regional conflict brewing in the Mediterranean

Main Coronavirus thread beginning page 1333 is here:

CORONA - Main Coronavirus thread

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDfnkNhpXiw 24:52 min Coronavirus Update 122: The Research So Far on COVID-19 and Vaccines vs. Pregnancy •Feb 15, 2021 MedCram - Medical Lectures Explained CLEARLY Professor Roger Seheult, MD discusses the impacts of COVID 19 on pregnant women, and...

www.timebomb2000.com

Nigerian families await news of 300 kidnapped schoolgirls

JANGEBE, Nigeria (AP) — Families in Nigeria waited anxiously for news of their abducted daughters after more than 300 schoolgirls were kidnapped by gunmen from a government school in the country's north last week, the latest in a series of mass school kidnappings in the West African nation.

apnews.com

Click to copy
Nigerian families await news of 300 kidnapped schoolgirls
By IBRAHIM MANSURyesterday



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Father Aliyu Ladan Jangebe, whose four daughters are among more than 300 girls who were abducted by gunmen on Friday from the Government Girls Junior Secondary School, waits for news in Jangebe town, Zamfara state, northern Nigeria Sunday, Feb. 28, 2021. Families in Nigeria waited anxiously on Sunday for news of their abducted daughters, the latest in a series of mass kidnappings of school students in the West African nation. (AP Photo/Ibrahim Mansur)
JANGEBE, Nigeria (AP) — Families in Nigeria waited anxiously for news of their abducted daughters after more than 300 schoolgirls were kidnapped by gunmen from a government school in the country’s north last week, the latest in a series of mass school kidnappings in the West African nation.

Worried parents on Sunday gathered at the school, guarded by police. Aliyu Ladan Jangebe said his five daughters aged between 12 and 16 were at the school when the kidnappers stormed in. Four were taken away but one escaped by hiding in a bathroom with three other girls, he told The Associated Press.

“We are not in (a) good mood because when you have five children and you are able to secure (just) one. We only thank God ... But we are not happy,” said Jangebe.

“We cannot imagine their situation,” he said of his missing daughters. Residents of a nearby village said the kidnappers had herded the girls through the town like animals, he said.

One resident said the gunmen also attacked a nearby military camp and checkpoint, preventing soldiers from responding to the mass abduction.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said the government’s priority is to get all the hostages returned safe and unharmed. Police and the military have begun joint operations to rescue the girls, said Mohammed Shehu, a police spokesman in Zamfara state.

The girls’ abduction has caused international outrage.

Pope Francis decried the kidnapping and prayed for the girls’ quick release, during his public address in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday.

“I pray for these girls, so that they may return home soon ... I am close to their families and to them,″ Francis said, asking people to join him in prayer.

Last week, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the abductions and called for the girls’ “immediate and unconditional release” and safe return to their families. He called attacks on schools a grave violation of human rights and the rights of children, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

Nigeria has seen several such attacks and kidnappings in recent years. On Saturday, 24 students, six staff and eight relatives were released after being abducted on February 17 from the Government Science College Kagara in Niger state. In December, more than 300 schoolboys from a secondary school in Kankara, in northwestern Nigeria, were taken and later released. The government has said no ransom was paid for the students’ release.

The most notorious kidnapping was in April 2014, when 276 girls were abducted by the jihadist rebels of Boko Haram from the secondary school in Chibok in Borno state. More than 100 of those girls are still missing.

Boko Haram is opposed to western education and its fighters often target schools. Other organized armed groups, locally called bandits, often abduct students for money. The government says large groups of armed men in Zamfara state are known to kidnap for money and to press for the release of their members held in jail.

Nigeria’s criminal networks may plot more such abductions if this round of kidnappings go unpunished, say analysts.

“While improving community policing and security in general remains a mid-to-long-term challenge, in the short term authorities must punish those responsible to send a strong message that there will be zero tolerance toward such acts,” said Rida Lyammouri, senior fellow at the Policy Center for the New South, a Moroccan based think tank.

 

[Plain Jane]

Nigeria: Hundreds of kidnapped students released — governor – DW – 03/02/2021

The governor of Zamfara state has said that 279 girls taken from a school are "now safe." Their abduction was the second mass school kidnapping to take place in Nigeria this year.

www.dw.com

Nigeria: Hundreds of kidnapped students released — governor
The governor of Zamfara state has said that 279 girls taken from a school are "now safe." Their abduction was the second mass school kidnapping to take place in Nigeria this year.



Watch video02:51
Kidnappers release abducted Nigerian schoolgirls
Hundreds of Nigerian students kidnapped from their boarding school in the northern state of Zamfara have been released, state governor Dr. Bello Matawalle said on Tuesday.

"Alhamdulillah! It gladdens my heart to announce the release of the abducted students of GGSS Jangebe from captivity," Matawalle wrote on Twitter. "This follows the scaling of several hurdles laid against our efforts. I enjoin all well-meaning Nigerians to rejoice with us as our daughters are now safe."

Local outlet Premium Times said that the girls were released at around 4 a.m. on Tuesday morning. However, it also reported that 38 of the total 317 abducted from the Government Girls Junior Secondary School in Jangebe were still missing.


Watch video01:27
Over 300 schoolgirls kidnapped in northern Nigeria
Second school kidnapping in 2021
On Friday, armed gunmen kidnapped the students, aged between 12 and 17. It was the second school kidnapping to take place in Nigeria this year, coming just a week after bandits raided a school in the north-central state of Niger and abducted over 40 people.

On Saturday, gunmen released 27 of the teenage boys who were kidnapped from their school on February 17.

Several large groups of armed men operate in Zamfara state, and are known to kidnap for ransom and to push for the release of their members from jail.

Watch video02:38
Hundreds of Nigerian schoolgirls still missing
The Nigerian government has repeatedly denied paying ransoms, but President Muhammadu Buhari issued a statement on Friday in which he urged state governments "to review their policy of rewarding bandits with money and vehicles, warning that the policy might boomerang disastrously."

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the abductions last week, calling for the "immediate and unconditional release" of the students. He also called attacks on schools a grave violation of human rights.

Nigeria has seen several such attacks and kidnappings over the years, most notably in the mass abduction in April 2014 by jihadist group Boko Haram, of 276 girls from a school in Borno state. More than a hundred of those girls are still missing.

 

[Plain Jane]

Morocco cuts contact with German embassy – reports – DW – 03/02/2021

Morocco's Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita has cited "deep disagreements" with Germany over Berlin's stance on Western Sahara, according to local media.

www.dw.com

Morocco cuts contact with German embassy – reports
Morocco's Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita has cited "deep disagreements" with Germany over Berlin's stance on Western Sahara, according to local media.




Morocco has received criticism from the United Nations and the European Union for its annexation of Western Sahara

Morocco is suspending "all contact" with the German embassy in Rabat over Berlin's stance on the Western Sahara region, local media reported late Monday.

In December, Germany criticized then-US President Donald Trump for recognizing Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara.

Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita reportedly asked the government to suspend communications with all German entities in Rabat, citing "deep disagreements" with Berlin.

What has the reaction been in Germany?
German politician Ulrich Lechte of the business-friendly Free Democrats (FDP) told DW that the decision to cut ties would have come from the Moroccan king.

"Exactly what the motivation was first has to be clarified," said Lechte, who is also the deputy head of the parliamentary group on the Mahgreb states.

"We suspect that it is Germany and the European Union's stance on the issue of Western Sahara."

Ulrich Lechte says Morocco's move was clearly meant to send message to Germany

After Trump recognized Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, Germany called a UN Security Council meeting on the issue.

"That, of course, was not in Morocco's interest," Lechte said. "At the moment, Morocco would very much like the European Union and Germany, as one of the strongest states, to simply recognize Trump's measures."

What is the Berlin conference on Libya?
According to media reports, a senior diplomat said that Rabat was also cutting ties in response to not receiving an invitation to an international meeting hosted by Berlin last yearto address the situation in Libya.

Germany invited heads of state from counties involved in the conflict in Libya and representatives of the European Union, the African Union and the Arab League.

Morocco then said it was surprised at not receiving an invitation to the conference. Rabat added that it had played an essential role in the international efforts to end the conflict in Libya.

What is the dispute over Western Sahara?
Morocco has occupied the Western Sahara area on the Atlantic coast of northwest Africa since 1975. It was previously a Spanish colony.

The Polisario Front, an Algerian-backed independence movement, has long called for a vote on Western Sahara's self-determination.

The pro-independence front represents the local Sahrawi population, which has fought Morocco over the territory for years.

A 1991 ceasefire gave the Polisario Front control over a strip in the east and south of Western Sahara that borders Algeria to the northeast and extends to the southwest's Atlantic coast.

The Polisario has declared the area the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).

How has Western Sahara affected Moroccan diplomacy?
Since 2019, Morocco has allowed states to open their diplomatic services in Western Sahara under their mission to Rabat.

In 2018, Morocco cut diplomatic ties with Iran, citing its support for the Polisario Front.
Rabat also expelled at least 70 UN staffers in 2016 after then-Secretary General Ban Ki-moon described Morocco's annexation of Western Sahara as an "occupation."

 

[Plain Jane]

I will have surgery tomorrow and will not be posting for 2 weeks. Others are invited to post in my place. Thanks!

 

[jward]

Senegal protests after opposition leader Ousmane Sonko arrested
Published
5 minutes ago

image copyrightReuters
image captionAt least one person has died as protests hit Dakar and other cities in Senegal
Large protests have hit Senegal for a third day as demonstrators burnt cars and clashed with police after the arrest of an opposition leader on Wednesday.
Ousmane Sonko appeared in court on Friday accused of disrupting public order. He also faces a rape allegation.
He denies the allegations and his supporters say the accusations are politically motivated.
At least one person has died in the rare nationwide unrest.
On Friday police fired tear gas at Mr Sonko's supporters in the capital Dakar where some shops and schools closed during the protests.

• Live updates from Africa

Police also blocked motorbikes and mopeds, which are popular among Mr Sonko's young supporters, from the city's streets.

image copyrightAFP
image captionCars were burnt near the headquarters of a radio station thought to be close to Senegal's government
Demonstrators have gathered in the city's surrounding areas and in the southern city of Bignona, a stronghold of Mr Sonko.
Two private TV channels that covered the protests have been suspended for 72 hours by the government.
On Thursday Internet monitor NetBlocks said access to social media and messaging apps was restricted.
Senegal's government has condemned the protests as a "flagrant violation" of the state of emergency put in place to tackle coronavirus.

image copyrightReuters
image captionThe unrest is rare in the West African country
The United Nations' special envoy for West Africa Mohamed Ibn Chambas has appealed for calm.
Mr Sonko, 46, was accused of rape in February by a woman who worked in a beauty salon.

image copyrightAFP
image captionPolice have used tear gas against protesters in the capital Dakar
Following an investigation he was arrested on Wednesday and taken to court accompanied by a group of supporters.
Police said they then arrested him for disrupting public order when he refused to change his route to the court.
Mr Sonko says the allegations of rape are fabricated. He accuses Senegal's President Macky Sall of trying to remove potential opponents ahead of the 2024 election.
There are reports that Mr Sall may change the constitution to allow him to run for a third term.

image copyrightAFP
image captionOusmane Sonko, 46, is popular among Senegal's youth
Mr Sonko is the president's only remaining serious challenger, the BBC's Ndèye Khady LO in Dakar says.
She explains that the opposition politician is particularly popular with young Senegalese for his promise of radical opposition to what he calls "the system".

In 2014 he founded his own political party, Nastef, and came third in the 2019 presidential election with 15% of the vote.
In a video recorded and shared on social media in 2018, Mr Sonko told activists: "There is enormous potential in this country. It is unacceptable to see suffering of our people" adding "our politicians are criminals. Those who have ruled Senegal from the beginning deserve to be shot."

Senegal protests after opposition leader Ousmane Sonko arrested

Four people are dead in the rare violent protests after the arrest of a popular opposition leader.

www.bbc.com

 

[Plain Jane]

Equatorial Guinea's largest city rocked by explosions – DW – 03/07/2021

A series of explosions has injured hundreds of people in the city of Bata in Equatorial Guinea. Many more are feared to be trapped under the rubble, with officials blaming the blasts on "negligence."

www.dw.com

Equatorial Guinea's largest city Bata rocked by explosions
A series of explosions has injured hundreds of people in the city of Bata in Equatorial Guinea. Many more are feared to be trapped under the rubble, with officials blaming the blasts on "negligence."




People searched through the rubble following explosions at a military base

Equatorial Guinea's largest city and main economic hub Bata was hit by four explosions on Sunday. A fire at a weapons depot is believed to be the source of the blast.

Officials put the initial death toll between 15 to 20, while at least 500 people were injured in the blasts.

Many were feared dead or trapped under the rubble. The Health Ministry said on Twitter that the explosion occurred at a military barracks, where local media reported that thousands of people had been living.

State broadcaster TVGE reported that practically all of the houses in the military zone, as well as most of the houses nearby, had been damaged by the explosion. Reporters on the ground also reported seeing hospitals full with many wounded women and children
The health department told medical workers to head to hospitals, which were reportedly overwhelmed.

What we know so far

• There were four explosions at an army barracks in the major city of Bata
• The initial explosion happened at 1 p.m. local time (1200 UTC/GMT)
• At least 20 people have died and at least 600 have been injured, according to the defense ministry
• The country's president put the death toll lower at 15, with 500 injured
• A fire near a weapons depot at the barracks is believed to have caused the blast
• The explosions caused widespread damage
• Overwhelmed hospitals have been pleading for blood donations
• Phone lines and internet are largely down in the city

Practically every house in a military housing estate was reportedly destroyed

President calls for international support
Longterm president of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, released a statement that was read over the state television channel TVGE. He said that the accident had been caused by "negligence and inattention" which led to the explosion of military explosives and munitions.

In a communique, the president said the explosion may have been caused by residents burning the fields near the barracks.

He confirmed that the blasts had affected almost all of the buildings in the city.

Obiang announced the launch of an investigation into what happened and also called on the international community to aid with the costly reconstruction at a time when the country is suffering from low petroleum prices and the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

Bodies pulled from rubble
Local television showed people pulling bodies from rubble, some of which were carried away wrapped in bed sheets.

Phone lines and internet were reportedly down, but some people were able to share unverified images of the destruction on social media.

Another user shared an unverified video that they described as "images of the military barracks of Nkoantoma, Bata, epicenter of the explosion which rocked Bata this afternoon.

A further unverified video, shared on Twitter, showed extensive scenes of destruction and debris in a residential district of the city.

An eyewitness in the city told the Spanish news agency EFE that there had been "a huge explosion, it opened all our windows … We saw a pillar of smoke and then suddenly there was a second explosion and then shortly after, another."

"We don't quite know what happened, but there are soldiers on the street and now we cannot make calls, only those with internet, which is almost nobody here, are connected over WhatsApp," the witness said.
ab/aw (EFE, Reuters, dpa)

 

[Plain Jane]

5 surprising facts about Equatorial Guinea – DW – 03/08/2021

The deadly blasts that rocked Equatorial Guinea on Sunday have shone a spotlight on a country that rarely makes the news. Here are five things you might not have known about the Central African nation.

www.dw.com

5 surprising facts about Equatorial Guinea
The deadly blasts that rocked Equatorial Guinea on Sunday have shone a spotlight on a country that rarely makes the news. Here are five things you might not have known about the Central African nation.




Equatoguinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema (left) is the world's longest-serving president. His son, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, is vice president.

Family dynasty
Since August 3, 1979, Equatorial Guinea has been ruled by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema. The 78-year-old leader, who is constitutionally allowed to rule by decree, became the country's second president after overthrowing his uncle, Macias Nguema. Despite more than a dozen attempts to topple him, President Obiang has clung to power for more than 40 years and earned the title of Africa's and the world's longest-serving president.

Equatorial Guinea boasts the highest adult literacy rate in sub-Saharan Africa

President Obiang's son, Teodoro Nguema, is the country's vice president. Another son, Gabriel Obiang Lima, is the minister for mines and hydrocarbons.

While the country allowed a multi-party system in 1992, Obiang's Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea has won over 90% of votes at every election.

The opposition has boycotted some of the polls. In the last election in 2016, he scored 93.7% of the vote, according to the electoral commission, his worst result so far.

High literacy rate
Equatorial Guinea boasts the highest adult literacy rate in sub-Saharan Africa. According to UNESCO, the nation of approximately 1.4 million has an average literacy rate of 95%.

Oil wealth has benefited the country's elite. President Obiang is one of the world's wealthiest heads of state

Crude wealth
Considered one of Africa's richest countries, Equatorial Guinea is home to huge minerals and oil reserves. In the mid-1990s, US oil companies discovered massive deposits off the coast of Equatorial Guinea. Since then, billions of dollars have been generated from the production and sale of crude oil.

However, the money has not benefited the ordinary Equatoguinean, as the country's elites pocket most of the profits. According to Forbes Magazine, President Obiang has a net worth of $600 million (€506 million), making him one of the world's wealthiest heads of state.

The 2020 UN Human Development Index (HDI) — which measures average achievement in key dimensions of human development, such as long and healthy life, being knowledgeable, and having a decent living standard — ranks Equatorial Guinea 145 out of 189 countries: the world's largest gap between per capita wealth and human development score.

Spanish-speaking
Equatorial Guinea is the only African nation to have Spanish as an official language. Spain colonized the country on two separate occasions: first between 1778–1810 and then from 1844–1968.

Due to Spain's long historical influence, Spanish has remained an important language. However, the country also uses French and Portuguese as its official languages.

Green symbolizes the country's natural resources, blue represents the sea connecting the islands to the mainland, white stands for peace, and red represents the fight for independence

Worst human-rights record
The current and former governments have been accused of gross violations of human rights, mismanagement of public funds, and high-level corruption. Human Rights Watch (HRW) says there is a repression of civil society groups and opposition politicians.

HRW alleges that critics have been tortured and that the country conducts unfair trials. In one such example, police arrested 147 members of the political party that held the sole opposition seat in parliament following a confrontation with police officers. A court later sentenced 28 of the party members to 30 years in prison and ordered the party's dissolution.

 

[Plain Jane]

France shifts policy on aid to Africa to counter rising Chinese influence

France is looking to reform its policy on aid to Africa – making it both more generous and more efficiently targeted – as part of a strategy to counter China’s rising geopolitical influence.

www.france24.com

France shifts policy on aid to Africa to counter rising Chinese influence
Issued on: 06/03/2021 - 17:56

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian (L) during an official visit with the interim President of Mali, Bah Ndaw, in Bamako on October 25, 2020. © AFP
Text by:Grégoire SAUVAGE
5 min
France is looking to reform its policy on aid to Africa – making it both more generous and more efficiently targeted – as part of a strategy to counter China’s rising geopolitical influence.


Africa’s booming economies and population have created lucrative opportunities for international players, making the continent a hotbed of geopolitical competition over the past decade. The International Monetary Fund found in 2019 that Africa had become the world’s fastest-growing region, with the World Economic Forum predicting its population would double to around 2.2 billion by 2050.

China is Africa’s biggest bilateral trading partner, having surpassed the US in 2009. Before the coronavirus crisis hit the world economy, the value of Sino-African trade reached €161 billion ($192 bn) in 2019.

“Right now you could say that any big project in African cities that is higher than three floors or roads that are longer than three kilometres are most likely being built and engineered by the Chinese,” Dave Roggeveen, the founder of specialist publication MORE Architecture, told Forbes in 2018.


As well as infrastructure, China has invested massively in media in Africa – with state-run Xinhua News Agency developing the continent’s biggest network of correspondents. Nairobi is at the centre of China’s African media presence, with Xinhua moving one of its headquarters from Paris to the Kenyan capital in 2006.

France is now also seeking to make new inroads on the African continent by tweaking its strategy towards developing nations. Paris has managed to increase its global aid budget even amid the coronavirus crisis, with development spending rising from €10.9 billion in 2019 to €12.8 billion in 2020.

On March 2, French MPs approved a bill increasing France’s aid budget to 0.55 percent of GDP by 2022. President Macron's government is also stepping up efforts to ensure the aid money is effective. The draft law enshrines five key objectives – “to fight against poverty, to counter climate change, to bolster public health, to expand education services and to achieve gender equality” – focused on Sub-Saharan Africa and also Haiti.

“International solidarity has never been more necessary than it is now,” said Louis-Nicolas Jandeaux, a spokesman for Oxfam France. “The Covid-19 pandemic shows us how so many major challenges – like fighting poverty and protecting public health – are connected. Given that France is a leader on these multilateral issues, and given that French President Emmanuel Macron has spoken so much about boosting international co-operation, France really has to set a good example on issues like aid spending.”

The bill also seeks to give France more bang for its aid buck by merging its two development agencies. The French Development Agency – which bestows loans and grants – will be merged with France Expertise – which focuses on the nitty-gritty of development project logistics. This merger will allow French aid workers to “respond better and more directly to the needs of the countries we’re working in”, said Jérémie Pellet, director of France Expertise.

The law includes a plan to repatriate “ill-gotten” assets the French justice system has confiscated from foreign leaders. France has made efforts to go after corrupt politicians who have stashed millions on French soil. In 2020 a Paris court sentenced Teodorin Obiang, vice president of Equatorial Guinea, to three years in prison and a €30 million fine for laundering money through French properties.

Redirecting illicit money back to the people is also part of a diplomatic strategy to boost France’s image in Africa.

“This aspect seems so morally sound that it’s almost impossible to be against it,” said Magali Chelpi-den Hamer, the head of the humanitarian and development programme at Paris-based think-tank IRIS (the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs). “However, the volume of money concerned will be relatively low.”

Avoiding the debt trap
France has had a long and complicated relationship with Africa. It gained control of vast swaths of the continent – mainly by seizing most of western Africa – in the competitive conquest of the continent launched by European powers from the 17th century.

After a wave of successful independence movements in the 1950s and 1960s, France maintained close relations with many Francophone ex-colonies in a policy that came to be known as Françafrique. Advocates of this approach saw France as a guarantor of stability on the continent, but critics saw France as loath to give up its colonial-era influence and continuing to play a clientelist role.

The French state’s focus on Africa waned in the 1990s as it turned its attention toward European integration. But France has once again set its sights on the continent to counter China’s rising influence.

And this time France seeks to ensure that its activities on the continent do not carry any reminiscence of neo-colonialism, with a new aid policy favouring grants over loans.

Analysts have become increasingly concerned about China creating debt traps with its hefty loans to African countries, for which it is the biggest bilateral lender. Chinese loans to underdeveloped countries are even bigger than indicated by the official figures: around half of them are not reported to the International Monetary Fund or World Bank, a report for German think-tank the Kiel Institute for the World Economy found in 2019.

Until now, France has not had a stellar record on loans either: in 2018, half of its development aid was in loans instead of grants, according to Oxfam. Nevertheless, while “Western countries also use debt to gain influence in African countries, unlike China they’re very keen to avoid setting debt traps,” said IRIS’s Chelpi-den Hamer.

“We’re fighting China in a battle for influence – and a battle over what system of government countries should see as their model,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told France Inter radio last month.

China’s increasing involvement in Africa threatens to “end up being negative over the medium to long term”, Macron warned at a press conference in Djibouti on his 2019 African tour.
“I wouldn’t want a new generation of international investments to encroach on our historical partners’ sovereignty or weaken their economies,” he added.

France’s aid reform bill now goes to the Senate and is expected to become law this summer.
This article was translated from the original in French.

 

[Plain Jane]

Death toll from explosions in Equatorial Guinea rises to 98

The government of Equatorial Guinea says the death toll from a series of explosions at a military barracks has risen by dozens to at least 98 killed after more bodies were recovered.

apnews.com

Click to copy
Death toll from explosions in Equatorial Guinea rises to 98
By CARLEY PETESCHyesterday



1 of 2
This TVGE image made from video shows smoke rising over the blast site at a military barracks in Bata, Equatorial Guinea, Sunday, March 7, 2021. A series of explosions killed at least 20 people and wounded more than 600 others on Sunday, authorities said. (TVGE via AP)
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) —
The death toll from a series of explosions at a military barracks in Equatorial Guinea rose by dozens to at least 98 killed after more bodies were recovered, the government said Tuesday.

The blasts on Sunday in the Mondong Nkuantoma neighborhood of the coastal city of Bata also wounded at least 615 people, authorities said. The government said that 316 of the injured have been discharged and 299 remain in care in various hospitals in the city.

More than 60 people were also rescued from under the rubble by the civil protection corps and fire service, the government said.


President Teodoro Obiang Nguema said the government will hold an emergency meeting to look into how victims can quickly receive aid from Equatorial Guinea before international aid arrives.

Investigations into the blast have begun, he said in a Tuesday statement.

The president initially the explosion was due to the “negligent handling of dynamite” in the military barracks and the impact damaged almost all the homes and buildings in Bata.

The vice president, who is also charged with defense and security, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, said Tuesday that investigations so far showed the fire may have begun when a farmer set fire to his plot to prepare it for food production and a breeze spread the flames to the nearby barracks where the high-caliber ammunition was stored.

Images shown on state TV showed plumes of smoke rising above the explosion site as crowds fled. Roofs of houses were ripped off.

Equatorial Guinea, an oil-rich West African country of 1.3 million people located south of Cameroon, was a colony of Spain until it gained its independence in 1968. Bata has roughly 175,000 inhabitants.

 

[Plain Jane]

Somalia's worsening security – DW – 03/10/2021

The political impasse over when and how the next Somalian election will be conducted, coupled with the increasing number of attacks from the Islamist terrorist group, al-Shabaab, has put Somalia on an unpredictable path.

www.dw.com

Somalia's security situation in crisis amid political uncertainty
The political impasse over when and how the next Somalian election will be conducted, coupled with the increasing number of attacks from the Islamist terrorist group, al-Shabaab, has put Somalia on an unpredictable path.




Tension is mounting in Somalia after the president's mandate expired with no election date in sight

In Somalia's capital Mogadishu, no one seems to know where the next terror attack will come from. On Friday, 25 people were killed and many others injured when al-Shabaab militants targeted a popular restaurant. Before that, suspected al-Shabaab insurgents stormed the central prison in Bosaso city in Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland region. At least eight soldiers were killed, and more than 400 inmates were released from captivity.

Puntland's military officials later said they had recaptured 87 of the hundreds of inmates that the armed Islamist extremists had freed.

"When you look at the atrocities perpetrated by terrorist groups in Mogadishu, it is very obvious al-Shabaab is taking advantage of the political unrest and the election impasse, Abdullahi Hashi, a Somali security expert, told DW.

"If this is not addressed urgently, jihadists will continue to launch deadly attacks"

Watch video42:35
Somalia: A Country in Free-Fall - Living with Terror and Violence
Political standoff continues
Tensions are still running high among the central federal government, two federal member states, and various opposition groups. Somalian President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed's mandate ended on February 8.

The need for a fresh elections and new leadership is urgent, opposition presidential candidate Omar Abdulkadir said: "The mandate of government institutions, both the executive and the legislative, have expired. What we are witnessing now is uncertainty," Abdulkadir told DW.

"We all need to know how long the outgoing administration will be in power and when the election will take place."

Many Somalis are caught between the deadlock pitting the opposition and the central government

No more US drone strikes?
On Monday, the United States military announced that US President Joe Biden had suspended drone strikes in Somalia, stopping military offences in countries where the US is not militarily engaged. Consequently, any such operation outside Afganistan, Iraq, or Syria would now have to get approval from the White House.

Former US President Donald Trump had largely left the decision on drone attacks to commanders on the ground. According to the New America Foundation, during Trump's four-year-tenure, the US unleashed a total of 208 drone strikes in Somalia. Trump's predecessor, President Barack Obama, had ordered only 43 airstrikes against al-Shabaab.

Human rights organizations have frequently criticized the US, saying the drone attacks had killed many innocent lives in the process.

Searching for solutions
Somali civil society groups and the country's international partners, including the US and UN, are now pushing for renewed talks between Somalia's warring clans. "The people of Somalia desperately need peace, prosperity, and development," Abdi Dahir, a civil society activist, told DW.

"The opposition groups and the government should come together at the soonest and resolve the issues surrounding the national elections through dialogue," Dahir added.

Since Somalia's former dictator Siad Barre was overthrown in January 1991, Somali leaders have been warring with various clans in the countryfor more than three decades now. The main issues between the governments and the clans are the distribution of resources, military and political power.

The UN, AU, and other international partners have been seeking to bring stability to the war-torn nation for years -- with little success.


Watch video02:14
Mogadishu tries to rebuild after years of war
Mohamed Odowa contributed to this article

 

[Plain Jane]

US blacklists deadly militias in DR Congo, Mozambique linked to IS group

The United States onWednesday blacklisted two Islamist extremist groups in theDemocratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique as foreign terroristorganizations over accusations of links to Islamic State…

www.france24.com

US blacklists deadly militias in DR Congo, Mozambique linked to IS group
Issued on: 12/03/2021 - 08:50

Residents fleeing the scene of an attack allegedly perpetrated by members of the rebel group Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) in the Manzalaho village near Beni on February 18, 2020. © Alexis Huguet, AFP
Text by:NEWS WIRES
3 min
The United States onWednesday blacklisted two Islamist extremist groups in theDemocratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique as foreign terroristorganizations over accusations of links to Islamic State (ISIS).


The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) in Congo and its leader Seka Musa Baluku and Mozambique's Ahlu Sunnah Wa-Jama and its leader Abu Yasir Hassan were also named "specially designated global terrorists."

The designations prevent travel by members to the United States, freeze any U.S.-related assets, ban Americans from doing business with them and make it a crime to provide support or resources to the movements.

The United States dubbed the groups ISIS-DRC and ISIS-Mozambique.


"The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) announced the launch of the Islamic State Central Africa Province (ISCAP) in April 2019 to promote the presence of ISIS associated elements within Central, East, and Southern Africa," the State Department said in a statement.

"Although ISIS-associated media portray ISCAP as a unified structure, ISIS-DRC and ISIS-Mozambique are distinct groups with distinct origins," it said. "These groups have committed or pose a significant risk of committing acts of terrorism."

The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan insurgent faction active in eastern Congo since the 1990s, has committed a spate of brutal reprisal attacks on civilians since the army began operations against it in late 2019.

The ADF has been blamed for the killing of over 140 people since the start of the year, in almost weekly attacks in Congo’s restive east. The group killed around 850 people last year, according to U.N. figures.

Islamic State funding and recognition has driven the ADF into a new phase of deadly expansion, said Laren Poole from the Bridgeway Foundation, a U.S. based thinktank.

"We believe that targeting the group's financial and recruitment networks will provide the most effective way to reduce the Islamic State in DRC's capacity for violence," Poole told Reuters.
Some analysts, though, have questioned links between the ADF and Islamic State.

"These new sanctions probably won't have much effect on the ground, just as the sanctions on ADF in 2014 changed nothing," said Dan Fahey, a former member of an independent group of experts charged with monitoring U.N. sanctions on DRC.

"It is a symbolic act, and a bit surprising because the group of experts has consistently downplayed the nature and strength of the ISIS influence in Congo," he added.

Ahlu Sunnah Wa-Jama, known in Mozambique as Al-Shabaab, staged its first attack in 2017. First known mainly for beheadings, the fighters declared allegiance to Islamic State in 2019 and have since increased attacks in scale and frequency.
(REUTERS)

 

[jward]

UN urges Somalia to organize elections without delay
AP NEWS

UN urges Somalia to organize elections without delay

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council urged Somalia’s government on Friday to organize elections “without delay” in a resolution that stressed the pressing threat to the country’s security from al-Shabab and armed opposition groups.

apnews.com

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Related topics

• Africa
• Elections
• United Nations
• Somalia

UN urges Somalia to organize elections without delay
By EDITH M. LEDERERan hour ago

Security forces block a street with an armored personnel carrier during protests against the government and the delay of the country's election in the capital Mogadishu, Somalia Friday, Feb. 19, 2021. Security forces in Somalia's capital fired on hundreds of people protesting the delay of the country's election on Friday as at least one explosion was reported at the international airport and armored personnel carriers blocked major streets. (AP Photo)
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council urged Somalia’s government on Friday to organize elections “without delay” in a resolution that stressed the pressing threat to the country’s security from al-Shabab and armed opposition groups.
The resolution, which was adopted unanimously, authorized the African Union to maintain its nearly 20,000-strong force in Somalia until the end of the year with a mandate to reduce the threat from the extremist groups to enable “a stable, federal, sovereign and united Somalia.”
The U.N.’s most powerful body said its objective is to transfer security to Somali authorities, with the aim of Somalia taking the lead in 2021, and achieving full responsibility by the end of 2023.

It emphasizes the importance of building the capacity of Somali forces and institutions so they are able to manage current and future threats, and authorizes the AU force, known as AMISOM, to support the transfer of its security responsibilities to the government.
The resolution’s adoption came amid growing pressure on Somalia’s President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed after scheduled elections on Feb. 8 failed to take place because of the lack of agreement on how the vote should be carried out. Two regional states have said they would not take part without a deal.
Critics accuse Mohamed, who is seeking a second four-year term, of delaying the election to extend his current mandate. The president has blamed unnamed foreign interventions.

The Security Council expressed concern at the delays in finalizing arrangements for elections this year. It urged the federal government and regional states “to organize free, fair, credible and inclusive elections” in line with a Sept. 17, 2020, agreement.
Three decades of chaos, from warlords to al-Qaida affiliate al-Shabab to the emergence of an Islamic State-linked group, have ripped apart the country that only in the past few years has begun to find its footing.
The Security Council welcomed “progress achieved so far” but also stressed the immediate threat from al-Shabab and other extremist groups. It condemned their attacks in Somalia and beyond “in the strongest possible terms.”
Council members welcomed the government’s commitment to conduct joint operations with AMISOM “in order to become the primary security provide in Somalia.”

But they said “Somalia is not yet in a position to take full responsibility for its own security and that degrading al-Shabab and armed opposition groups and building and sustaining peace will therefore require continued regional and international collaboration and support.”
While the British-drafted resolution was adopted unanimously, the council’s three African members -- Niger, Tunisia and Kenya -- and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines objected to the way negotiations were conducted, saying they weren’t properly consulted.

Niger’s U.N. Ambassador Abdou Abarry said “the African Union must play a leadership role in determining the future of its mission to Somalia throughout the transition.”
“It is our sincere hope that the implementation of this resolution will be marked by meaningful participation, cooperation and collaboration between the council, the AU and other partners in the common endeavor to stabilize Somalia by systematically degrading terrorist groups to allow peace and security to the people of Somalia,” Abarry said.

UN urges Somalia to organize elections without delay

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council urged Somalia’s government on Friday to organize elections “without delay” in a resolution that stressed the pressing threat to the country’s security from al-Shabab and armed opposition groups.

apnews.com

 

[Plain Jane]

Nigeria: Gunmen abduct dozens of students – DW – 03/12/2021

The attack on the school in northwestern Nigeria is the fourth of its kind since December. It is thought around 30 students have been kidnapped.

www.dw.com

Nigeria: Gunmen abduct dozens of students
The attack on the school in northwestern Nigeria is the fourth of its kind since December. It is thought around 30 students have been kidnapped.




Gunmen broke through a perimeter fence at the college to gain access to the students inside

Nigerian gunmen have kidnapped around 30 students from a forestry college in northwestern Kaduna state.

It is the fourth mass kidnapping from a school in Nigeria since December and the third this year.

What we know so far

• The armed attack took place at around 9:30 p.m. (2030 UTC) on Thursday.
• Students were abducted from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Mando, Kaduna state.
• The Nigerian army rescued 180 people, who were initially taken, in the early hours of Friday.
• Both male and female students are thought to have been originally abducted from the co-educational college.
• Students attending the college are mostly aged 17 years or over.

How have authorities responded?
The military engaged the attackers and were able to take 180 staff and students to safety.
An unspecified number of the students were injured and are receiving medical attention at a military facility.

Security forces "are conducting an operation to track the missing students,'' Kaduna state's security commissioner, Samuel Aruwan, said.



Watch video03:11
Latest Nigeria kidnapping 'indication of the growing insecurity'
Which group is behind the abduction?
Aruwan said the attack was carried out by a large group of "armed bandits."

Nigerian authorities have previously used the term bandits to describe the people behind an earlier abduction of 279 schoolgirls late last month in the country.

The term is used to describe groups of armed men who kidnap for money or to press for the release of jailed members of their groups.

The Islamic extremist group Boko Haram, which is also active in the country as well as several other countries in the region, is also known to kidnap young women and force them into marriage.

Were only female students taken?
DW correspondent Uwaisi Idris reporting from capital city Abuja, Nigeria said that it is believed attackers only took female students to the bush: "They [the students] were abducted at night and picked out the female students."

It is "surprising" that the attackers' interests appear to have "only been in the female students," Idris said.

"The latest information we have is that the headcount [of those missing] is still going on to know the exact number of female students taken from the school," he added.

But Aruwan, in a statement, said "about 30 students, a mix of males and females, are yet to be accounted for."



Watch video02:37
Boko Haram attacks force Cameroon school closures
A timeline of abductions
In December 2020, hundreds of schoolboys were seized in Katsina, President Muhammadu Buhari's home state while he was on a visit.

In mid-February 2021, gunmen seized 42 people, including 27 students from an all-boys boarding school in central Niger state.

A week later, on February 27, gunmen abducted 279 schoolgirls in nearby Zamfara state.
All school students were eventually released.



Watch video02:34
Joy and anger as kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls return
Frustration at Nigeria's mass kidnapping crisis
The kidnappings are an indication of the growing insecurity in Nigeria, DW's Idris said. He added that bad governance and poverty were also factors.

"Frustration and anger" is growing among Nigerians, who are asking "why is it happening again?" But so far, Idris said that people felt the government had failed to provide a practical solution.

According to Idris, strong emotions were compounded by the coronavirus pandemic: schools had recently reopened after COVID restrictions were lifted, but now many in northern Nigeria had shut again due to the frequent kidnappings. Children's education was suffering as a result, Idris said.
kmm/rt (Reuters, AFP)

 

[Plain Jane]

Ethiopia denies 'ethnic cleansing,' is open to outside probe

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — The Ethiopian government is disputing charges of ethnic cleansing in the Tigray conflict, calling allegations by the United States “unfounded." “Nothing during or after the end of the main law enforcement operation in Tigray can be identified or defined by any standards as...

apnews.com

Click to copy
Ethiopia denies ‘ethnic cleansing,’ is open to outside probe
By RODNEY MUHUMUZAyesterday


KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — The Ethiopian government is disputing charges of ethnic cleansing in the Tigray conflict, calling allegations by the United States “unfounded.”

“Nothing during or after the end of the main law enforcement operation in Tigray can be identified or defined by any standards as a targeted, intentional ethnic cleansing against anyone in the region,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement Saturday.

“That is why the Ethiopian government vehemently opposes such accusations.”

Allegations of ethnic cleansing amount to “a completely unfounded and spurious verdict against the Ethiopian government,” it said, accusing Washington of “overblowing things out of proportion.”



U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken asserted Wednesday that ethnic cleansing has happened in western Tigray, the first time a top official in the international community has openly described Tigray’s alleged atrocities as such.

Blinken told the foreign affairs committee of the U.S. House of Representatives that the U.S. is “seeing very credible reports of human rights abuses and atrocities that are ongoing” in Tigray, a region in the north of Ethiopia that is the base of a party that dominated Ethiopian politics for decades before the rise of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

The leaders of that party, known by its initials TPLF, are in hiding as federal forces and their allies — including fighters from Eritrea — hunt down fighters loyal to the local administration in Tigray.

The conflict began in November, when Abiy sent government troops into Tigray after an attack there on federal military facilities.

No one knows how many thousands of civilians have been killed in the conflict.

While Ethiopia’s government says a federal investigation of the alleged crimes is underway, critics say the government cannot effectively investigate itself. They want an international probe, ideally led by the United Nations. The latest government statement suggested an openness to a probe featuring outside groups.

If necessary, the statement said, the government will “conduct joint investigations with the relevant bodies” from the international community, including the African Union.

Blinken has urged Abiy, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for his efforts to make peace with neighboring Eritrea, to end hostilities in Tigray. Eritrean troops as well as fighters from Amhara, an Ethiopian region bordering Tigray, “need to come out,” Blinken said in his testimony Wednesday, adding that the region needs “a force that will not abuse the human rights of the people of Tigray or commit acts of ethnic cleansing, which we’ve seen in western Tigray. That has to stop.”

Accounts of atrocities by Ethiopian and allied forces against residents of Tigray have been detailed in reports by The Associated Press and by Amnesty International. Ethiopia’s federal government and regional officials in Tigray both maintain that each other’s governments are illegitimate after the pandemic disrupted elections.

Humanitarian officials have warned that a growing number of people might be starving to death in Tigray. The fighting erupted on the brink of harvest in the largely agricultural region and sent an untold number of people fleeing their homes. Witnesses have described widespread looting by Eritrean soldiers as well as the burning of crops.

The humanitarian situation in Tigray “remains extremely concerning, with conflict continuing to drive population displacement and reports of some villages being completely emptied,” the U.N. humanitarian office said in its latest assessment. “Disruptions in basic services, such as communications, banking services and electricity, continue to pose serious challenges to humanitarian efforts, while putting people further at risk.”

 

[Plain Jane]

Group reports health facilities looted in Ethiopia's Tigray

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Health facilities in Ethiopia’s embattled region of Tigray have been “looted, vandalized and destroyed in a deliberate and widespread attack on health care," the humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders said Monday.

apnews.com

Click to copy
Group reports health facilities looted in Ethiopia’s Tigray
By RODNEY MUHUMUZA29 minutes ago



1 of 5
In this photo released by Medecins Sans Frontieres, a damaged operating theater is seen through broken glass at a hospital in Sheraro, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, in this undated photo taken in 2021. Health facilities in Ethiopia's embattled region of Tigray have been "looted, vandalized and destroyed in a deliberate and widespread attack on health care," the humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders said Monday, March 15, 2021. (Medecins Sans Frontieres via AP)
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Health facilities in Ethiopia’s embattled region of Tigray have been “looted, vandalized and destroyed in a deliberate and widespread attack on health care,” the humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders said Monday.

Nearly 70% of 106 health facilities surveyed from mid-December to early March had been looted and more than 30% had been damaged. Only 13% were functioning normally, the group said, citing destroyed equipment and smashed doors.

“The attacks on Tigray’s health facilities are having a devastating impact on the population,” said Oliver Behn, Doctors Without Borders general director. “Health facilities and health staff need to be protected during a conflict, in accordance with international humanitarian law. This is clearly not happening in Tigray.”


The findings deepen concern for the wellbeing of Tigray’s 6 million people. Ethiopia’s federal government and regional officials in Tigray both maintain that each other’s governments are illegitimate after the pandemic disrupted elections. Fighting persists as government forces and their allies hunt down the region’s fugitive leaders.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed faces pressure to end the war as well as to institute an international investigation into alleged war crimes, ideally led by the United Nations. The government’s critics say an ongoing federal probe simply isn’t enough because the government can’t effectively investigate itself.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last week that some of the atrocities in Tigray amount to “ethnic cleansing,” charges dismissed by Ethiopia as unfounded.

Blinken has urged Abiy, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for his efforts to make peace with neighboring Eritrea, to end hostilities in Tigray. Eritrean troops as well as fighters from Amhara, an Ethiopian region bordering Tigray, “need to come out,” Blinken said on Wednesday, adding that the region needs “a force that will not abuse the human rights of the people of Tigray or commit acts of ethnic cleansing, which we’ve seen in western Tigray. That has to stop.”

According to Doctors Without Borders, health facilities in most areas of Tigray “appear to have been deliberately vandalized to render them nonfunctional.” One-fifth of the health facilities were occupied by soldiers and few health facilities now have ambulances after most were seized by armed groups.

In the past four months, the group said in a statement, “few pregnant women have received antenatal or postnatal care, and children have gone unvaccinated, raising the risk of future outbreaks of infectious diseases.”


The group’s staff in rural areas have heard of women who died in childbirth because they were unable to reach a hospital amid insecurity on the roads and a nighttime curfew, it said.
Accounts of atrocities by Ethiopian and allied forces against residents of Tigray have been detailed in reports by The Associated Press and by Amnesty International.

Humanitarian officials have warned that a growing number of people might be starving to death in Tigray. The fighting erupted on the brink of harvest in the largely agricultural region and sent an untold number of people fleeing their homes. Witnesses have described widespread looting by Eritrean soldiers as well as the burning of crops.

 

[Plain Jane]

Stability at risk in Somalia-Kenya border spat – DW – 03/15/2021

A dispute between Kenya and Somalia over an oil- and gas-rich area in the Indian Ocean is unlikely to spark an armed conflict. But it may have ramifications for fishing communities, as well as the wider region.

www.dw.com

Stability at risk as Somalia and Kenya spat over sea border
A dispute between Kenya and Somalia over an oil- and gas-rich area in the Indian Ocean is unlikely to spark an armed conflict. But it may have ramifications for fishing communities, as well as the wider region.




Fishermen go about their day on the Kenyan port of Lamu Island, which lies near the disputed area

The ongoing standoff between Kenya and Somalia over a sizable area of the Indian Ocean has sparked concern among hundreds of thousands of people who depend on the region's rich fishing grounds for survival.

"We are really worried," the Kenyan fisherman Adam Lali told DW. "If the border issues are not handled well, they will bring us problems. This will rob us of our fishing areas and will also cause tensions between us and Somali communities."

The disputed area stretches over 160,580 square kilometers (62,000 square miles). Somalia, which lies northeast of Kenya, wants to extend its maritime frontier with Kenya along the line of the land border, in a southeasterly direction. Kenya, however, wants the border to head out to sea in a straight easterly line, which would give it more maritime territory. As well as being an important fishing ground for both countries, the area is also rich in gas and oil.

Kenya backs out of court hearing
After Somalia first brought the case to the table in 2014, the UN's International Court of Justice (ICJ) was scheduled to begin the public hearing in The Hague on Monday. The proceedings were expected to run until March 24.

Before proceedings could begin, Kenya's government announced its intent to withdraw from the case and present its complaints to the UN Security Council, of which it is currently a nonpermanent member.
Based on international maritime law, the court was widely expected to rule in Somalia's favor.
"Possibly the Kenyans withdrew also because of an expectation that they might just lose," the political scientist Stig Jarle Hansen, from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, told DW.

• 

No chance for a dialogue
Some Kenyan observers such as Mustafa Ali, an expert on conflict resolution and national security at the HORN Institute for Strategic Studies, do not believe that the ICJ was the best place to settle the dispute in the first place.

"There are so many alternative mechanisms that could be much more effective and would deliver results," Ali told DW. "One is the Africa Union border mechanism. The second is direct bilateral negotiations between Kenya and Somalia. Which, in my view, would be the best solution."

Such dialogue is unlikely to take place anytime soon. Relations between Kenya and Somalia, which are no strangers to border disputes, have become increasingly fractured. Tensions spiked after Somalia's government severed diplomatic ties with Kenya in December, after accusing Nairobi of meddling in its affairs.


Somali President Mohamed, AKA Farmajo, seems unlikely to step down
Kenya's meddling in the spotlight
Decades-old resentments have recently come to the fore, including Kenya's support for the semiautonomous Somali state of Jubaland.

"There is a large conflict within Somalia between the opposition and President [Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed] Farmajo," Hansen said. "And one of the most crucial actors is the Juba state."

Many international observers agree with the accusations from Somalia's government. In January, at least nine people were killed in fighting in Jubaland. Somalia blamed the deaths on Kenyan troops and militias backed by Nairobi. Kenya currently has a contingent of almost 3,500 troops in the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM), deployed to fight the terrorist group al Shabaab.

A fragile state weakened further
Kenya's government has denied any wrongdoing, accusing Mogadishu of seeking a scapegoat for domestic problems.

Hansen said there could be some truth to that. "I think there is a greater will now to face off with Kenya to distract from the country's internal strife," he said.

Last year's removal of Somali Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire, who was in the middle of successful negotiations with Kenya, fits this hypothesis, he added.

Tensions have also been rising within Somalia, as Farmajo continues ignore calls to step down and hold elections that were originally scheduled for 2020 and later rescheduled for February 2021.

A constitutional crisis is now unfolding in the fragile state. Last Friday, the UN Security Council urged Somalia's government to organize elections "without delay'' in a resolution that stressed the pressure al-Shabaab and armed opposition groups were placing on the country's already-poor security.


Al Shabaab could seek to profit further from Somalia's current domestic and international conflicts

A win for al-Shabab?
The militant group al-Shabab is capitalizing on the situation by focusing its propaganda on attacks against the president. There are also concerns that the resources meant to combat terrorist groups will be redirected toward resolving internal political frustrations.

"We've seen that already with the Somali special forces being deployed inside Mogadishu," Hansen said. "And so there will be much less pressure on al-Shabab, which will give it the possibility of further expansion."

Potential for regional disruption
Hansen said there was the potential for further political turmoil in the wider region, where many conflicts are deeply intertwined.

Ethiopia, where Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is currently fighting a war in the Tigray region, supports Farmajo's government and has offered to train his troops. .

Sudan and Egypt are joining forces to oppose Ethiopia's building of a giant dam along the Nile. There's also the possibility that Sudan could intervene in Tigray.

"So you have a strange conflict brewing from Cairo in the north to Kenya in the south, which can create a lot of trouble for the world in the near future," Hansen said.

Andrew Wasike contributed to this article

 

[Plain Jane]

Niger: 58 dead in 'barbarous' attack – DW – 03/17/2021

The victims had been returning home from a market near the Malian border. The incident highlights the enormous security challenges in the region.

www.dw.com

Niger: 58 dead in 'barbarous' attack in border area
The victims had been returning home from a market near the Malian border. The incident highlights the enormous security challenges in the region.




Security around the borders between Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso has been torrid for years
Fifty-eight civilians were killed by gunmen on motorcycles in a volatile corner of Niger, the government said Tuesday.

On Monday afternoon, "groups of armed, still unidentified individuals intercepted four vehicles carrying passengers back from the weekly market of Banibangou to the villages of Chinedogar and Darey-Daye," the government said in a statement read out on public television.

"The toll from these barbarous acts [is] 58 dead, one injured, a number of grain silos and two vehicles burned and two more vehicles seized," it added.

A local resident told the AFP news agency that the raids began with an attack on a bus in which "around 20 people were killed."

Just a few kilometers from the Malian border in the major market town, people were killed while shopping, another resident told AFP.

No one has claimed responsibility for the massacre. The government announced three days of national mourning from Wednesday.

Niger's military often sustains heavy casualties in the region

Security challenges
The Tillaberi region, where the attack took place, is located in the "tri-border area" where the frontiers of Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali converge.

The region is plagued by jihadist activity which is made worse by counterterrorism offensives that help give rise to ethnic militias, analysts say. Particularly near the border between Mali and Niger, intercommunal tensions have been aggravated as a result.

The attack on civilians brought back memories of a massacre that left 100 dead in two villages in January.

The void in security has led to numerous killings in the Tillaberi region. Extremists staged attacks on Niger's military, killing more than 70 in 2019 and more than 89 in Januray 2020.



jm/msh (AP, AFP)

 

[jward]

Unseen for two weeks, Tanzanian leader sends 'greetings': deputy
By Reuters Staff
2 Min Read


FILE PHOTO: Tanzania's President John Magufuli addresses a news conference during his official visit to Nairobi, Kenya October 31, 2016. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Tanzania’s leadership appeared to play down rumours about President John Magufuli’s health on Wednesday when the vice president sent greetings to a coastal region from the head of state, absent from public view for more than two weeks.

Speculation in East Africa is rife that Magufuli, 61, a vocal COVID-19 sceptic, is ill with the coronavirus, though government officials have said Magufuli is working normally and citizens should ignore rumours from outside the country.

Speaking on a visit to the coastal Tanga region, Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan said Magufuli had asked her to remind them to maintain peace and develop the region.


“...I would like to send you greetings from our president who has asked me that when I’m in Tanga I should remind you to continue maintaining peace and tranquillity and work hard to fast track your regional development so that investors can stay here forever,” said Hassan, according to state television.

She also said the president had asked her to thank the people for voting for him in last year’s election. Hassan did not specifically mention the president’s health in her remarks.

Magufuli was last seen in public at an event in Dar es Salaam on Feb.27. On Tuesday, an opposition leader urged the government to tell the public about the president’s health, saying citizens had the right to know about his condition.


Some Tanzanians have told Reuters on condition of anonymity that fear and anxiety are widespread in the country due to the unknown status of the president. Police have arrested four people in the country since last week for allegedly spreading false information about the sickness of political leaders.

The president has denounced measures to stop the spread of the virus and called vaccines a Western conspiracy, frustrating the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Reporting by Nairobi newsroom; Writing by Maggie Fick, Editing by William Maclean and Howard Goller
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Tanzania's President John Magufuli dead at 61

Tanzania's President John Magufuli, one of Africa's most prominent coronavirus sceptics, has died aged 61, Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan said on Wednesday after a more than two-week absence from public life that led to speculation about his health.

www.reuters.com

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++





AFP News Agency
@AFP
14m

#BREAKING Tanzanian President John Magufuli is dead: vice-president

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1372288028765458435

View: https://twitter.com/AFP/status/1372288028765458435?s=20

 

[Plain Jane]

Dozens of soldiers killed in attack on northern Mali army base

At least 31 soldiers were killed in an attack in northern Mali this week, an army officer said Wednesday, in one of the deadliest assaults on the military this year.

www.france24.com

Dozens of soldiers killed in attack on northern Mali army base
Issued on: 17/03/2021 - 14:15

This photograph taken on November 3, 2020 shows the France-led special operations logo for the new Barkhane Task Force Takuba, a multinational military mission in sub-Saharan Africa. © Daphne Benoit, AFP
Text by:NEWS WIRES
2 min
At least 31 soldiers were killed in an attack in northern Mali this week, an army officer said Wednesday, in one of the deadliest assaults on the military this year.


Dozens of assailants on motorbikes and pickup trucks on Monday stormed a military post southwest of the town of Ansongo, near the borders with Burkina Faso and Niger, the army said on social media.

An initial statement said two soldiers had been killed and eight wounded, but late on Tuesday the army gave the higher casualty figures, specifying 11 dead and 14 injured with 11 still missing.

But on Wednesday, a Malian army officer, who declined to be named, said the death toll had further risen to 31.

He added that the bodies of 13 assailants were found after the clash.
It remains unclear how many soldiers are still missing.

Mali was plunged into conflict in 2012 when local Tuareg radicals supported by jihadists revolted in the north.

France intervened to crush the rebellion, but the jihadists scattered and regrouped, taking their campaign into central Mali in 2015 and then into neighbouring Niger and Burkina Faso.

In Mali alone, thousands of civilians and troops have died and hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes.

The so-called three-border zone was the scene of a military offensive from early last year by the French Barkhane force and its regional allies, especially against the jihadist Islamic State in the Greater Sahara group (EIGS).

Militants frequently target Mali's army -- which is largely poorly equipped and underfunded -- in attacks.
(AFP)

 

[Plain Jane]

Samia Suluhu Hassan sworn in as Tanzania's first female president

Tanzania's Samia Suluhu Hassan made history on Friday when she was sworn in as the country's first female president after the sudden death of John Magufuli from an illness shrouded in mystery.

www.france24.com

Samia Suluhu Hassan sworn in as Tanzania's first female president
Issued on: 19/03/2021 - 10:29

Tanzania's new President Samia Hassan Suluhu and former president John Magufuli on July 24, 2019. © Ericky Boniphace, AFP
Text by:FRANCE 24Follow
5 min
Tanzania's Samia Suluhu Hassan made history on Friday when she was sworn in as the country's first female president after the sudden death of John Magufuli from an illness shrouded in mystery.

Hassan, 61, a soft-spoken Muslim woman from the island of Zanzibar and vice president since 2015, will finish Magufuli's second five-year term, set to run until 2025.

Wearing a bright red headscarf, Hassan was sworn in as the country's sixth president, at a ceremony in Dar es Salaam, where neither she nor the majority of attendees wore a mask, in the Covid-sceptic nation.

"I, Samia Suluhu Hassan, promise to be honest and obey and protect the constitution of Tanzania," said the new president, as she took the oath of office before inspecting troops at a military parade and receiving a cannon salute.


She becomes the only other current female head of state in Africa alongside Ethiopia's President Sahle-Work Zewde, whose role is mainly ceremonial.

Hassan was little known outside Tanzania until she appeared on state television on Wednesday night to announce that Magufuli had died from a heart condition after a mysterious three week absence from public view.

But questions have been raised over the true cause of his death, after multiple rumours that Magufuli – one of the world's most fervent Covid-sceptic leaders – had caught the virus and had sought treatment abroad.

Tanzania's main opposition leader Tundu Lissu insisted his sources said Magufuli had Covid-19 and had actually died a week ago.

Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper, which last week reported an "African leader", in clear reference to Magufuli, was in a Nairobi hospital, on Friday gave more details of his illness. The report also indicated that Magufuli had in fact died last week.

Citing sources, the paper said Magufuli was discharged from Nairobi Hospital on life support after it was determined he could not be resuscitated, and returned to Dar es Salaam where he died last Thursday.

The paper detailed his initial evacuation to Nairobi on March 8 in a medical plane, as he suffered "acute cardiac and respiratory illnesses".

In her brief and sombre address, Hassan called for unity. "This is a time to bury our differences, and stand united as a country," she said. "This is not a time for finger pointing, but it's a time to hold hands and move forward together," she said, addressing a crowd of current and former officials that included two former presidents and uniformed military officers.

The main question hanging over the new president is whether she will usher in a change in leadership style from her predecessor, a brash populist nicknamed the "Bulldozer" for muscling through policies and who drew criticism for his intolerance of dissent.

'A new chapter'
Magufuli leaves behind a complex legacy, after a swing to authoritarianism which saw him crack down on the media, activists and free speech, while refusing to take any measures against Covid-19.

He called for prayer instead of face masks, refused to publish case statistics or implement lockdown measures, and championed alternative medicines.

In May last year he revealed a papaya, quail and goat had tested positive for the virus in a secret operation, proving "sabotage" at the national laboratory.

However by February, as cases soared and the vice president of semi-autonomous Zanzibar was revealed to have died from Covid-19, Magufuli conceded the virus was still circulating.
The opposition and rights groups have urged Hassan to change course.

"As we continue mourning, let us use this period to open up a new chapter for rebuilding national unity and respect to freedom, justice, rule of law, democracy and people-centred development," said Freeman Mbowe, the chairman of opposition group Chadema, in a statement Thursday.

He urged Hassan to "lead the nation towards reconciliation".

Meanwhile Human Rights Watch said in a statement that the new government "has a chance for a fresh start by ending problematic past practises."

'Hold your breath'
However analysts say Hassan will face early pressure from powerful Magufuli allies within the party, who dominate intelligence and other critical aspects of government, and would try and steer her decisions and agenda.

"For those who were kind of expecting a breakaway from the Magufuli way of things I would say hold your breath at the moment," said Thabit Jacob, a researcher at the Roskilde University in Denmark and expert on Tanzania.

Hailing from Zanzibar, the semi-autonomous island in the Indian Ocean, Hassan rose through the ranks over a 20-year political career from local government to the national assembly.

A ruling party stalwart, she was named Magufuli's running mate in the 2015 presidential campaign. The pair were re-elected in October last year in a disputed poll marred by allegations of irregularities.

Hassan must consult the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) about appointing a new vice president. The party is set to hold a special meeting of its central committee on Saturday.

Tanzania is observing a 14-day mourning period and details on Magufuli's funeral have yet to be announced.

Magufuli is the second East African leader to die under mysterious circumstances.
Burundi's equally Covid-sceptic leader, Pierre Nkurunziza, died from "heart failure" last June after his wife was flown to Nairobi to be treated for coronavirus.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and REUTERS)

 

[ShadowMan]

WHAT A FRIGGEN MESS!!

 

[Plain Jane]

Are other nations involved in the war in Tigray? – DW – 03/19/2021

The Ethiopian government has warned multiple times that the international community must not interfere in its handling of the war in Tigray, claiming it is solely a domestic matter. But that's not the case.

www.dw.com

Fact check: Are other nations involved in the war in Tigray?
The Ethiopian government has warned multiple times that the international community must not interfere in its handling of the war in Tigray, claiming it is solely a domestic matter. But that's not the case.




A member of the Afar Special Forces in front of the debris of a house in Tigray Region on December 9, 2020

According to various reports and claims on social media, three additional nations are allegedly involved in the fighting in Ethiopia's northern region Tigray: Eritrea, Somalia, and the United Arab Emirates. DW Fact Check examines the claims.

1. Eritrea: Invited or not?
The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) accused neighboring Eritrea of deploying troops in support of Ethiopia's military campaign intended "to restore the rule of law" in the region.
In July 2018, Ethiopia and Eritrea signed a peace agreement and planned to promote "intimate cooperation". Following the rapprochement, the relationship between Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the TPLF, and the regional administration of Tigray sharply deteriorated.

In the early days of the conflict, which broke out in November 2020, both Eritrea and Ethiopia denied that Eritrean troops were involved. "There is no reason for the army to request additional support from outside," said Ethiopian Defense Minister Kenea Yadeta in a press briefing in November, adding that "the army will not fight its own country collaborating with an outside force."

Eritrea's Foreign Minister Osman Saleh Mohammed told Reuters, "This is an internal conflict. We are not part of the conflict."

Photos and video footage published on social media, however, described the presence of Eritrean troops. On March 11, a video began circulating that shows two military tanks crossing through a town. In the footage, soldiers follow with a caravan of donkeys and mules, some shouldering rifles, others dangling yellow jerrycans with their hands.

DW verified that this video was indeed filmed in Adigrat, the second-largest town in Tigray, on a highway that heads from the Eritrean-Ethiopian border to the regional capital Mekelle. The federal government seized Adigrat during the third week of conflict.

But it remains unclear when exactly the footage was shot and whom it depicts. Activists and locals who circulate similar images claim they can identify Eritrean troops by their military camouflage clothing, also known as "six-color desert," and sandal-like plastic shoes known as shida.

The differences in the Ethiopian and Eritrean army clothing can be seen in another picture shared on social media as alleged proof of Eritrea's engagement in the war in northern Ethiopia. When compared with news agency photos of the Ethiopian and Eritrean military respectively, the uniforms appear similar. But the arm and chest areas of the uniform, which usually bear military insignia, have been digitally obscured in this image.


However, DW could not independently verify or debunk claims that the images were altered to amplify an outcry. Pro-government forces have accused TPLF of taking to such measures in the past.


Confirmation from officials
Two officials within Tigray's interim administration strayed from the official line of the central government in Addis Ababa and spoke out, saying Eritreans were present in the region and participating in the conflict.

DW has confirmed that at least two officials of the interim administration were dismissed over comments on the presence of Eritrean troops in Tigray.

The chief executive of the interim administration, Mulu Nega, and the communication head, Etenesh Nigussie, declined to comment.

At the beginning of March, Dina Mufti, spokesperson of the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), told journalists in a press briefing that there was no "official invitation" from his government extended to Eritrea to engage in the conflict. "As a sovereign country, you can invite Eritrea, Somalia, and Sudan. But what we are saying is that there is no situation where the Eritrean government, the Eritrean troops, are officially invited," Mufti said.

• 
  
  
  ETHIOPIA'S TIGRAY REGION: IMAGES OF A HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
  Hundreds of patients with little medication
  The war in Ethiopia's Tigray region has been going on since November 2020. This referral hospital in Tigray’s capital Mekele has received hundreds of patients with bullet or blast injuries. Doctors are working tirelessly but with limited means. There are frequent power cuts, and many hospitals lack medication and other supplies.

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But according to Mufti, who did not deny the existence of Eritrean soldiers in Tigray, there is a possibility. "Because the border is long and porous, they (Eritrean soldiers) could be seen at the border area. They could enter here (Ethiopia) during the chaos," Mufti said.

International pressure
Despite denials from Addis Ababa and Asmara, diplomatic pressure calling for the withdrawal of Eritrean troops is mounting.

Last week, after visiting the war-torn region up in northern Ethiopia, the Addis Ababa-based diplomats of Germany, Sweden, and the EU took their call to Twitter. For the European Union delegation to Ethiopia, which participated in the Tigray interim administration's briefing, the "withdrawal of Eritrean army" is among its priorities. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on March 10, in testimony to Congress, spoke about the presence of Eritreans in Ethiopia. "We have, as you know, forces from Eritrea over there and we have forces from an adjoining region, Amhara, that are there. They need to come out..."
The German Embassy, in a Twitter statement, said: "We call anew for their [Eritrean troops] withdrawal, full humanitarian & media access, and independent investigations of human rights violations & war crimes."

International medical organization Medecins Sans Frontieres issued a statement on March 15: "In Mugulat in east Tigray, Eritrean soldiers are still using the health facility as their base." Thus, the presence of Eritrean soldiers in the northern region of Tigray can be asserted with some degree of certainty — despite government denials.

2. Somalia: Where are the missing soldiers?
Unconfirmed reports that Somali soldiers were in Eritrea for military training and sent to fight in Tigray first made their rounds in January.

Fadumo Moalim Abdulle wants to know where her 20-year-old son is who has been sent to Eritrea for a military training

Mothers and families have protested in Somalia, demanding information on their loved ones. Some families say they haven't heard from them in over a year.

"Some of them were told that their boys have died,'' one opposition presidential candidate, Abdurahman Abdishakur Warsame, told the Associated Press at that time. "According to the information we're receiving, those boys were taken to the war in northern Ethiopia."
Somalia's information minister, Osman Abokor Dubbe, denied that Somali soldiers who had been outside the country for training were involved in the Tigray conflict. He called such allegations "propaganda."

Eritrea's President Isaias Afwerki (l), Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Somalia's President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed back in 2018 during the inauguration of a hospital in Bahir Dar, northern Ethiopia

"There are no Somali troops requested by the Ethiopian government to fight for them and fight in Tigray,'' he said.

In January, Ethiopia issued a similar statement denying reports claiming the presence of Somali troops in Tigray.

Shortly after the rapprochement of Ethiopia and Eritrea, the two countries began working closely together with Somalia on several topics. Among their goals were "consolidating peace, stability, and security," according to a statement released by Eritrea's Ministry of Information.

The head of the Somalian parliamentary committee on foreign affairs, Abdulkadir Osoble Ali, in a letter, asked the Somali president to clarify how many troops are in Eritrea, when will they return, and the location of the missing soldiers.

DW reached out to both Somali lawmaker Osoble and opposition presidential candidate Abdishakur for more information on their statements. Neither has responded to DW's requests for an interview.

In social media networks, lists with names of people who have allegedly received military training in Eritrea, disappeared, or were even killed in Tigray are circulating. DW tried to match these names with social media profiles. Neither could the Facebook accounts in question be clearly put in connection with to the Somali army, nor to fighting in Tigray. However, some of the profiles have not been updated publicly for months or even years.

3. United Arab Emirates: Support with drones?
In the very early days of the conflict, the Tigrayan side claimed that the United Arab Emirates was assisting the Ethiopian army with drones dispatched from an airbase in Eritrea.

Wim Zwijnenburg has been looking into these claims. His work focuses on humanitarian disarmament for the Dutch peace organization PAX — and he is an expert on armed drones. After looking into satellite imagery and cross-checking other information at hand, Zwijnenburg concludes: "In sum, the claims made by the Tigray forces are not impossible, but so far they seem improbable."

In an interview with DW, Zwijnenburg explains that direct evidence to verify such claims was lacking, such as footage of flying drones, independent eyewitnesses, or remnants of weaponry. "The only weapon remnants that were found were bombs and missiles fired by aircraft that the Ethiopian Air Force had access to," Zwijnenburg tells DW.

After his publication, some people sent pictures to prove a drone strike, Zwijnenburg says. "But that was easily disproven because [...]the weapons being used were actually artillery weapons because you could still see the shells on the ground."

The Ethiopian army itself is indeed using drones, as Major General Yilma Merdasa, Commander of Ethiopian Air Force, told state broadcaster ETV in an interview published in November. However, these are commercial drones, not combat drones, as Zwijnenburg explains. Usually, these are used for intelligence and surveillance.

What can we conclude?
Claims that Somali and UAE troops intervened in Tigray cannot be independently verified — and there is little information available to corroborate the allegations.
The presence of Eritrean soldiers in Tigray, however, remains probable.

 

[The Mountain]

WHAT A FRIGGEN MESS!!

C'est l'Afrique

Seriously, this is how it always is there. The only real change is that now the combatants have access to more sophisticated weapons and more money.

 

[Plain Jane]

Ethiopian leader warns fugitive Tigray leaders to surrender

HAMDAYET, Sudan (AP) — Ethiopia’s prime minister issued a “final notice” Friday to the fugitive leaders of the country’s embattled Tigray region, saying they should surrender peacefully to avoid “severe punishment” and prevent the “misery of their people.” At the same time, Prime Minister Abiy...

apnews.com

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Ethiopian leader warns fugitive Tigray leaders to surrender
By CARA ANNAMarch 19, 2021



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The banks of the Tekeze River, on the Sudan-Ethiopia border after Ethiopian forces blocked people from crossing into Sudan, in Hamdayet, eastern Sudan, March 16, 2021. Ethiopia is at right, and Sudan is on the left. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

HAMDAYET, Sudan (AP) — Ethiopia’s prime minister issued a “final notice” Friday to the fugitive leaders of the country’s embattled Tigray region, saying they should surrender peacefully to avoid “severe punishment” and prevent the “misery of their people.”

At the same time, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed urged the untold hundreds of thousands of ethnic Tigrayans who have fled their communities over the past four months of fighting to return to their homes within a week and resume “normal lives.” Abiy’s notice alleges that some civilians took up arms, perhaps under threat of force, but said they “are not the main culprits.”

The new warning came as people described seeing a larger presence of Ethiopian forces on the way to the place that Tigrayans have used to flee the region, the border crossing into the remote town of Hamdayet in Sudan. Ethiopian and allied forces for months have allegedly blocked people from crossing, though more than 60,000 have made it into Sudan.

Abiy’s new statement does not say what exactly will happen if Tigray’s fugitive political and military leaders do not turn themselves in. It reminds them to “do their part by learning from the devastation and damage so far” and preventing further bloodshed.

No one knows how many thousands of civilians or combatants have been killed since months of political tensions between Abiy’s government and the Tigray leaders who once dominated Ethiopia’s government exploded in November into war. The region remains largely cut off from the world, with few journalists allowed in, and only now are steps being taken to allow the United Nations human rights office into Tigray to help investigate allegations of atrocities.

Meanwhile, civilians have suffered. Witnesses in Hamdayet and elsewhere have told The Associated Press of widespread killing and looting by soldiers from neighboring Eritrea, a longtime Tigray enemy which is accused of teaming up with Ethiopia in the conflict. Ethiopia’s government has denied their presence.

Witnesses also have described being stripped of possessions and forced from their homes by forces from the neighboring Amhara region, another ally of the Ethiopian government in the war.

For the refugees in Hamdayet, there is little hope of going home or even having one to return to, no matter what the prime minister is now urging.

“There is no point in going back,” 58-year-old Belaynesh Beyene told the AP as her children and grandson sheltered in a makeshift house of rough straw to keep out the dust.

Their home in the Tigray region’s Dansha community has been taken over by members of an Amhara youth militia, she said, and when she spoke with friends this week, they said they were leaving too, weary of the death threats against Tigrayans.

Ethiopia’s government has bristled at allegations of ethnic cleansing, including by the United States government, and denied them. But witnesses and humanitarian workers have described scenes where Ethiopian federal authorities are hardly present or stand by, watching, as Tigrayans are targeted.

To make her way to Sudan safely, Belaynesh said, she hid her ethnic Tigrayan identity by speaking Amharic.

“I don’t know why they’re doing this,” she said of Ethiopia and its allies. “It’s a nightmare.”

 

[Plain Jane]

Congo presidential challenger dies of COVID amid election – DW – 03/22/2021

Congolese opposition candidate Guy-Brice Parfait Kolelas has died of COVID-19, the day after presidential elections in which he was the main challenger.

www.dw.com

Congo presidential challenger dies of COVID amid election
Congolese opposition candidate Guy-Brice Parfait Kolelas has died of COVID-19, the day after presidential elections in which he was the main challenger.





Republic of Congo opposition leader Guy-Brice Parfait Kolelae died of coronavirus while he was being transferred to France for treatment, his campaign director said Monday.
The news came a day after presidential elections in which he was the main challenger.
Kolelas "died in the medical aircraft which came to get him from Brazzaville on Sunday afternoon," his campaign manager Christian Cyr Rodrigue Mayanda told the AFP news agency.

The 61-year-old tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday afternoon, and could not host his last campaign meeting in Brazzaville.

The presidential election had been boycotted by the main opposition and took place under an internet blackout.

Mayanda called on Kolelas' supporters to rally at 11 a.m. local time on Monday. "We'll continue to count the ballots," he said. "He was ahead in a number of areas."

Critics had voiced concerns about the transparency of polls, which were seen as tilted in favor of veteran leader Denis Sassou Nguesso.

Kolelas was the main rival to Sassou Nguesso, who has been the Republic of Congo's leader for total of 36 years since 1979.

On Saturday, the challenger had posted a video after being taken ill, declaring he was "battling against death."

"Rise up as one person... I'm fighting on my deathbed, you too fight for your change," he urged his supporters. Kolelas added that the election was "about the future of your children".

Although provisional election results are not expected for days, Sassou Nguesso is widely predicted to be the winner.

rc/aw (AFP, Reuters)

 

[Plain Jane]

Niger: Suspected jihadi attack kills 'at least 137' – DW – 03/22/2021

Gunmen, believed to be jihadis, have raided villages near Niger's border with Mali shooting "at everything that moved," local officials have said.

www.dw.com

Niger: Suspected jihadi attack kills 'at least 137'
Gunmen, believed to be jihadis, have raided villages near Niger's border with Mali shooting "at everything that moved," local officials have said.




The government has little control over the desert areas outside the cities, a situation exploited by jihadi groups

The death toll in an attack on villages in southwestern Niger has risen to at least 137 people, a government spokesman said Monday.

The attack constitutes the deadliest suspected jihadi massacre to hit the African nation in recent times.

"In treating civilian populations systematically as targets now, these armed bandits have gone a step further into horror and brutality," government spokesman Zakaria Abdourahamane said in a statement on public television.

The government has revised the death toll of the attack, which was previously estimated to be 60.

What happened in the attack in Niger?
Armed men on motorbikes struck the villages of Intazayene, Bakorat and Wistane near the border with Mali, shooting "at everything which moved," a local official said.

"The government condemns these brutal acts perpetrated by individuals who know neither faith nor the law," the government spokesman said.

He also announced three days of national mourning starting Tuesday, adding that the government vowed to reinforce security in the region and bring "the perpetrators of these cowardly and criminal acts" to justice.

Rising extremist attacks
The massacre comes amid an escalation in attacks following the election of President Mohamed Bazoum in late February. His election was confirmed by the country's constitutional court on Sunday.

Last week, 66 people were killed in a similar attack in the Tillaberi region, a "tri-border area" where the frontiers of Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali converge.

President Bazoum offered his condolences to the family of the victims in a tweet on Monday, calling out the "barbaric way" in which the "terrorists struck the peaceful civilian populations."

The attack also brought back memories of a January massacre that left 100 people dead in two villages in the Mangaize district of Tillaberi.

The region is plagued by jihadi activity which, according to analysts, is made worse by counterterrorism offensives that help give rise to ethnic militias.

Niger is battling the spread of deadly extremist violence, with jihadi insurgencies that have spilled over from Mali and Nigeria.
adi/rt (AFP, AP)

 

[Plain Jane]

Congo: President Sassou Nguesso wins by landslide – DW – 03/24/2021

The longtime president of the Republic of Congo is set for another five-year term after getting over 88% of the vote. The election day was marred by the death of his main opponent, Guy Brice Parfait Kolelas.

www.dw.com

Republic of Congo: President Sassou Nguesso wins by landslide
The longtime president of the Republic of Congo is set for another five-year term after getting over 88% of the vote. The election day was marred by the death of his main opponent, Guy Brice Parfait Kolelas.




Activists reported an internet blackout during Congo's election day

Despite an ongoing economic crisis in the Republic of Congo, the country's veteran President Denis Sassou Nguesso has been reelected with more than 88 percent of the vote, official results showed on Tuesday.

"By this vote, the people in their majority responded and said that we had the capacity to bounce back, to recover our economy, and to move towards development," Sassou Nguesso said in a brief victory speech.

The landslide victory for SassouNguesso had been widely expected, given the 77-year-old's strong grip on state institutions.

The ballot on Sunday saw a 67.55 percent voter turnout. Voting was largely boycotted by the main opposition and took place under an internet blackout.

What happened to the president's main rival?
The election day was overshadowed by the death of Guy Brice Parfait Kolelas, the president's main rival in the race.

Kolelas was initially believed to have had malaria but tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday afternoon.

He was being flown to Paris for treatment but died aboard a medical plane just hours after polling closed, his campaign director Christian Cyr Rodrigue Mayanda told news agency AFP.
The challenger received less than 8 percent of the vote, according to results announced by the interior minister citing figures from the electoral commission.

In a video message posted on Saturday, Kolelas declared he was "battling against death."
"Rise up as one person... I'm fighting on my deathbed, you too fight for your change," he urged his supporters, adding that the election was "about the future of your children."

Two other rivals of Sassou Nguesso were convicted of crimes after the last election in 2016.

Who is Denis Sassou Nguesso?
The African leader is one of the world's longest-serving presidents, earning him the nickname "emperor." He has led Congo for a total of 36 years and is now poised for another five-year-term.

The former paratrooper first became president in 1979 and remained in power for three consecutive terms.

He lost the country's first multi-party elections in 1992, but he returned to office in 1997 after a civil war.

In 2015, a constitutional amendment lifted the ban on presidential candidates over the age of 70, and removed the two-term limit, allowing him to run again the following year.




Watch video01:13
Meet the artist who tells Congo’s history on jute
Sassou Nguesso has long been accused by critics of authoritarian rule and turning a blind eye to corruption, poverty, and inequality despite the country's oil wealth.

The former French colony, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, has been facing an economic crisis since 2014 when oil prices collapsed, leading to mounting external debt.

The coronavirus pandemic made matters worse for the Congolese economy, which contracted by 8% in 2020 and is expected to grow by less than 1% this year.
adi/dj (AFP, Reuters)

 

[Plain Jane]

MSF: Ethiopian troops stopped buses to execute men – DW – 03/25/2021

The medical charity Doctors Without Borders says it witnessed Ethiopian soldiers executing at least four men in the country's Tigray region. The troops reportedly killed the men after forcing them off civilian buses.

www.dw.com

MSF: Ethiopian troops stopped buses to execute men
The medical charity Doctors Without Borders says it witnessed Ethiopian soldiers executing at least four men in the country's Tigray region. The troops reportedly killed the men after forcing them off civilian buses.




Units of Ethiopian army patrol the streets of Mekelle city of the Tigray region

Doctors Without Borders, usually referred to by its French initials MSF, said in a statement that its staff had seen Ethiopian soldiers kill four men in a summary execution.

The testimony comes as Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said atrocities have been reported in Tigray province, his first public acknowledgment of possible war crimes there.

What did MSF staff witness?
Three staff members were traveling ahead of two public mini-buses that were stopped by soldiers on the road from Mekele, the regional capital, to the city of Adigrat.

"The soldiers then forced the passengers to leave the mini-buses," Karline Kleijer, head of emergency programs for the charity, said in the statement. "The men were separated from the women, who were allowed to walk away. Shortly afterward, the men were shot."



Watch video03:34
Mekelle residents reel from drawn-out war in Tigray
Before the MSF team was allowed to leave the scene it saw the shooting victims' bodies on the side of the road, the group said.

The MSF vehicle was again stopped by soldiers not long after and their driver was beaten with a gun and threatened.

"Eventually, the driver was allowed to get back into the vehicle and the team could return to Mekele," Kleijer said.

Ethiopia's army could not be immediately contacted for comment on the statement.

What is happening in the Tigray?
The latest hostilities began after government troops entered the region in November 2020. The offensive came after the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), the ruling party in the semi-autonomous region, attacked the army's Northern Command.



Watch video03:01
Rape survivors battle trauma in Tigray
Since then, concerns have been growing over the humanitarian situation in the region that is home to 6 million of Ethiopia's more than 110 million people.

The United States has characterized some abuses in Tigray as "ethnic cleansing," charges dismissed by Ethiopian authorities.

Eritrean troops are in the Tigray
Prime Minister Abiy on Tuesday admitted, after repeated denial by authorities, that troops from neighboring Eritrea had gone into Tigray, where their presence has inflicted "damage" on the region's residents.

"Battle is destructive, it hurts many, there is no question about it. There have been damages that happened in Tigray region..." he added.

Ethiopia's rights body on Tuesday supported studies by international rights groups that Eritrean soldiers carried out a bloody massacre in the historic town of Axum in November.
kmm/rc (AP, AFP)

 

[Plain Jane]

Ethiopian PM: Eritrean troops to leave Tigray – DW – 03/26/2021

Eritrean troops have faced increasing pressure to leave the Tigray region after accusations of serious rights abuses. After denying reports of their presence for months, Ethiopia has now said troops will be leaving.

www.dw.com

Ethiopian PM: Eritrean troops to leave Tigray
Eritrean troops have faced increasing pressure to leave the Tigray region after accusations of serious human rights abuses. Ethiopia has announced an agreement.




Ethiopian and Eritrean troops have both been accused of carrying out human rights abuses in Tigray

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced in a statement on Friday that neighboring Eritrea would pull its troops out of the conflict-ridden Tigray region.

Abiy's statement followed a visit to the capital of Eritrea, Asmara. Troops from both the Ethiopian and Eritrean military forces have been accused of carrying out abuses against the civilian population in the border region.

In his statement published on Twitter, Abiy said that following his discussions on Friday with Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, "the government of Eritrea has agreed to withdraw its forces out of the Ethiopian border."

Abiy first acknowledged the presence of Eritrean forces in the region on Tuesday after months of rejecting reports from residents, diplomats and even some military officials.

What were Eritrean troops doing in Tigray?
Abiy sent troops into Tigray on November 4, after accusing the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) of attacking an Ethiopian military camp.

The TPLF was once the dominant party in Ethiopia and carried out an extended war with neighboring Eritrea. Abiy in 2018 brokered a peace deal with Asmara, an act for which he won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Abiy has since been accused of siding with Eritrean forces to pursue the now fugitive leaders of the TPLF.

Witnesses claim that Eritrean troops were present in Tigray from the start of the conflict, contradicting Abiy's account.



Watch video02:42
Reports of new atrocities emerge from Tigray
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have both accused Eritrean soldiers of carrying out a massacre of hundreds of Tigrayans in the town of Axum.

Ethiopian forces have also been accused of abuses. Doctors without Borders claimed that soldiers had carried out summary executions in Tigray.

Some 6 million people in the Tigray region have been largely cut off from the world during the conflict. The UN human rights office said it was only recently allowed back in to support investigations into human rights abuses.

Biden pushes to end the conflict
Abiy claimed victory over the TPLF in December, but the US and UN have both reported continued clashes.

The US has been calling on Eritrean troops to leave the area for weeks and Joe Biden's administration ramped up the pressure by dispatching Senator Chris Coons to Ethiopia around a week ago for talks with Abiy.

• 

Abiy did not say how many Eritrean troops had been present in Tigray, but witnesses estimated that the number to be in the thousands.

The Ethiopian prime minister's statement concluded by promising to "continue strengthening [the] bilateral relations and economic cooperation ambitions" between Eritrea and Ethiopia, as well as "restoring trust-based people-to-people relations among our citizens in the Tigray region."

 

[Plain Jane]

Over 180 trapped in Mozambique hotel after attack – DW – 03/27/2021

As militants launched an attack on Mozambique's Palma, workers are seeking refuge at the Amarula hotel. An operation is underway to rescue the workers, said the government.

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Multiple people trapped in Mozambique hotel after militant attack
As militants launched an attack on Mozambique's Palma, workers are seeking refuge at the Amarula hotel. An operation is underway to rescue the workers, said the government.




More than 180 are trapped in the besieged city.

More than 180 people are trapped inside a hotel in a town in northern Mozambique, as it has been under siege by insurgents for the last three days. Those trapped include expatriate workers.

Militants launched an attack on Wednesday afternoon, forcing locals to flee into surrounding forest areas.

The attacks occurred after French energy giant Total announced that work would gradually resume at the liquified natural gas project. Total is the principal investor in the region, with other firms such as ExxonMobil also involved in the area.

Rescue operation in progress
Some people have reportedly been killed, according to witnesses and rights groups, after the attack in Palma near a liquified natural gas site in Cabo Delgado province. Workers from the LNG site sought refuge in a local hotel. The military was trying to airlift workers from the hotel.

"Almost the entire town was destroyed. Many people are dead. As locals fled to the bush, workers from LNG companies, including foreigners, took refuge in hotel Amarula where they are waiting to be rescued," a worker told the AFP news agency, on the condition of anonymity.

An unverified video on social media showed an unidentified man filmed the hotel lobby showing several people milling around the patio. He described the situation in Palma as "critical" and added, "We don't know if we will be rescued."

He said the hotel had run out of food but still had water. The buzzing of a chopper could be heard in the background.



Watch video02:23
Civilians caught between rival forces in Mozambique
Who is responsible
The government of Mozambique said soldiers launched an offensive on the militants. The forces were "working tirelessly to re-establish security and order as fast as possible," said Ministry of Defense spokesman Col. Omar Saranga at a press conference on Thursday. He added that they will "do everything to guarantee the security."

Rights group Human Rights Watch said on Friday, "Several witnesses told Human Rights Watch that they saw bodies on the streets and residents fleeing after the Al-Shabab fighters fired indiscriminately at people and buildings."

According to the AP news agency, hundreds have sought refuge in Quitunda, a village near the Total project.

Palma had largely been cut off from the rest of the province, as insurgents made road travel unsafe, leaving only the airport and seaport as modes of transport.

Militants affiliated with the so-called Islamic State group have attacked several towns and villages in the region, causing nearly 700,000 to flee their homes.

According to the US-based data collecting agency Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED), the violence has caused the death of more than 2,600 people. Half of those killed have been civilians.

 

[Plain Jane]

Dozens killed as militants seize town for fifth day – DW – 03/28/2021

Jihadis have seized a town and a convoy of fleeing civilians, including foreign workers, as fighting continued in the gas-rich region. French energy giant Total has evacuated 1,000 of its staff.

www.dw.com

Mozambique: Militants seize town, Total halts LNG operations
Jihadis have seized a town and also allegedly attacked a convoy of fleeing civilians, including foreign workers, as fighting continued in the gas-rich region.




Fighting in the region began on Wednesday

Islamist militants have seized control of the town of Palma in Mozambique's northern province of Cabo Delgado, killing several people, including a foreign worker.

They also allegedly attacked a convoy of fleeing civilians. At least one person was killed and a number wounded in the attack.

Nearly 200 people had been sheltering in the Amarula Palma hotel during the attack, three diplomats and one of the organizations with people inside told Reuters news agency.

Around 80 people were taken away from the hotel in military trucks on Friday, but some of the vehicles were ambushed, an official from a private security firm involved in the rescue operation, told AFP news agency.

It was not immediately clear how many people, if any, remained in the hotel and how many were missing.

Most means of communication with Palma are down.

Security concerns in the region
Fighting in the region began on Wednesday, hours after the French energy giant Total announced that it would gradually resume work at its $20 billion (€16.9 billion) project in the area after halting operations in January due to security concerns.

Human Rights Watch said witnesses had spoken of seeing "bodies on the streets and residents fleeing after the ... fighters fired indiscriminately at people and buildings."
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

But recent attacks have increasingly been claimed by the Islamic State Central Africa Province (ISCAP), affiliated with the "Islamic State" group.



Watch video02:25
Mozambique: Islamist terror on the Indian Ocean
What did Total say?
Total said on Saturday it had postponed the restart of work at its site near Palma, a logistics hub adjacent to gas projects worth $60 billion.

No project staff members were among the victims of the fighting, it added.

But the company "has decided to reduce to a strict minimum level the workforce on the Afungi site."

"Total trusts the government of Mozambique whose public security forces are currently working to take back the control of the area," it said.

Efforts to rescue foreign nationals
Portugal's Foreign Ministry said one of its nationals had been injured in the fighting but did not specify the circumstances.

The person had since been rescued, and its embassy in Maputo was working to identify other Portuguese nationals who needed support, the ministry said.

South Africa's Foreign Ministry said some of its citizens had been affected by the attacks on foreign nationals. It did not elaborate.

Meanwhile, Spain's Foreign Ministry confirmed there had been a Spanish citizen in Palma who managed to flee the town


Watch video02:33
Tourism crisis in northern Mozambique
Restoring order in Palma a huge challenge
Mozambique's government said on Thursday that security forces were working to restore order in Palma.

In a statement, the country's Defence Ministry said the group had "attacked simultaneously from three directions" including from the local airfield.

The extremists have since October 2017 raided villages and towns across Mozambique's north, causing nearly 700,000 to flee their homes.

Beheadings have been a hallmark of attacks by the jihadis.

The violence has left at least 2,600 people dead, half of them civilians, according to the US-based data collecting agency Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED).
sri/sms (AFP, Reuters)

 

[Plain Jane]

Rebels besiege town in northern Mozambique for fifth day

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Rebels fought the Mozambican army Sunday for the fifth straight day for control of the strategic northern town of Palma, as reports came in that dozens of civilians have been killed and bodies were littering the streets.

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Rebels besiege town in northern Mozambique for fifth day
By ANDREW MELDRUMyesterday

Map locates Palma, Mozambique. Fighting raged for the fifth day Sunday in northern Mozambique as rebels fought the army for control of the strategic town of Palma.

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Rebels fought the Mozambican army Sunday for the fifth straight day for control of the strategic northern town of Palma, as reports came in that dozens of civilians have been killed and bodies were littering the streets. The fate of scores of foreign energy workers was also unknown.

Some of the dead had been beheaded, according to Human Rights Watch. An attempt by expatriate workers to flee to safety came under heavy fire, causing many deaths, according to local reports.

The battle for Palma highlights the military and humanitarian crisis in this Southern African nation on the Indian Ocean. The three-year insurgency of the rebels, who are primarily disaffected young Muslim men, in the northern Cabo Delgado province has taken more than 2,600 lives and displaced an estimated 670,000 people, according to the U.N.

The attacks in Palma started Wednesday just hours after the French energy company Total announced that it would resume work outside the town on its huge natural gas project at Afungi, near Mozambique’s northeastern border with Tanzania. Earlier rebel attacks prompted Total in January to suspend work on the project to extract gas from offshore sites.

The Mozambican army has been fighting the rebels in several locations to regain control of Palma, Col. Omar Saranga, a Ministry of Defense spokesman, said Sunday in the capital of Maputo.

Hundreds of Palma residents, both local and foreign, have been rescued, he said, adding that the defense forces are battling “to contain the criminal attacks of terrorists and restore normality in Palma.”

Most communications in recent days with Palma and the surrounding area have been cut off by the insurgents, although some residents got messages out using satellite phones.

“(They said) they had seen bodies lying on the streets, that the sound of gunfire was ongoing. In fact, gunfire was recorded on the background as we spoke with them. And they were telling us that they were running for safety,” Zenaida Machado, the Human Rights Watch representative in Mozambique, told The Associated Press.

Many Palma residents ran into the dense tropical forest surrounding the town to escape the violence. But a few hundred foreign workers from South Africa, Britain and France clustered at hotels that quickly became targets for the rebel attacks.

An estimated 200 Mozambicans and foreign workers sheltered at the Hotel Amarula. On Friday, a band of them in 17 vehicles drove together to the beach, where they hoped to be rescued, but the convoy came under heavy fire. Only 7 vehicles reached the beach, according to local reports and messages sent by survivors.

Seven people in the convoy had been killed, the military spokesman confirmed Sunday.

The beach remained under insurgent fire, preventing rescue efforts from air or sea, according to the reports. The Hotel Amarula remained under attack and it’s not known what happened to those in the 10 vehicles that did not reach the coast.

A ship that left Palma earlier carrying hundreds of people arrived Sunday in Pemba, the provincial capital about 100 miles south.

The fresh rebel violence brings into question the fate of Total’s gas project, one of Africa’s biggest private investments. Total paid nearly $4 billion for a 26.5% stake in the project in 2019. It had planned to start gas shipments in 2024 but the deteriorating security situation has made that goal unlikely.

Total issued a statement Saturday saying due to the latest rebel attack it had “obviously” suspended all its operations in the Afungi peninsula. It said none of its staff at the Afungi site were victims of the attack.

“Total expresses its sympathy and support to the people of Palma, to the relatives of the victims and those affected by the tragic events of the past days,” said the statement. “Total trusts the government of Mozambique whose public security forces are currently working to take back the control of the area.”

Mozambique’s rebels already hold the port town of Mocimboa da Praia, 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Palma, which they captured in August.

Mozambique’s insurgents are known locally as al-Shabab, although they do not have any known connection to Somalia’s jihadist rebels of that name. The rebels have been active in Cabo Delgado province since 2017 but their attacks became much more frequent and deadly in the past year.
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AP journalist Tom Bowker in Uzes, France, contributed.
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This story has been corrected to show that the convoy of 17 vehicles left the Hotel Amarula on Friday, not Saturday.

 

[Plain Jane]

Mozambique's escalating extremist violence – DW – 03/29/2021

In just three years, an Islamist insurgency in northern Mozambique has killed an estimated 2,600 people. Last week's attack on the town of Palma, which lasted days, should concern neighboring countries, experts say.

www.dw.com

Mozambique's escalating extremist violence a concern for neighbors
In just three years, an Islamist insurgency in northern Mozambique has killed an estimated 2,600 people. Last week's attack on the town of Palma, which lasted days, should worry neighboring countries, experts say.




The Mozambican army has been battling the Islamist insurgents since 2017

On October 5, 2017, armed men carried out a pre-dawn attack on three police stations in Mocímboa da Praia, a district in Mozambique's northern province of Cabo Delgado. The attackers killed 17 people and made away with guns and ammunition. They reportedly told the villagers that they don't believe in western education and would not pay taxes.

Since that first ambush, the attacks have spread to several districts in the region and have become more frequent. The attack last Wednesday claimed dozens of lives and lasted several days. Three years later, the mystery surrounding the identity and motivation of this group persists. Locally, they are known as al-Shabab (the youth), but the group has no known connection to the Somalia's jihadi group with a similar name.

According to Sergio Inacio Chichava, a senior researcher at the Institute of Social and Economic Studies (IESE) in Mozambique, by now, the country's authorities must be aware of who these attackers are. "The government has enough intelligence to say who the group that is attacking Cabo Delgado is and what their intentions are," Chichava said.

"This group has never hidden, from the beginning, that it intends to impose sharia," Chichava told DW.

Attacks by the extremist roup have become frequent

Who are Mozambique's Islamist insurgents?
"That is the million-dollar question," Adriano Nuvunga, executive director of the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) in Mozambique, said. "Everyone has been asking for the past three years who these people are. There is an understanding that local grievances drive this conflict, and it might have been hijacked by international terrorist dynamics," Nuvunga told DW.

Nuvunga, a human rights activist, blamed marginalization and extraction of natural resources by the elites without local development as a critical source of the conflict. French energy giant Total has invested $20 billion (€16.9 billion) into extracting liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Cabo Delgado.A network of illicit economic activities, including drug trafficking, brutality, and violation of human rights by different interests of politically exposed people, might also have contributed.

There was talk of radical Islamist groups in Mozambique as early as 2016, Chichava said. However, some experts believe they had started mobilization a decade earlier.

Around 2007, local Muslim leaders said they had noticed a "change" in the behavior of some Muslim youth. The group started practicing a different form of Islam, drinking alcohol and entering the mosque with shoes. Later the disenfranchised young men formed Ansar al-Sunna and quickly adopted a stricter version of Islam.

According to military intelligence sources on the ground, the group currently has about 4,500 members, 2,000 carry arms, AFP reported. It is also believed that foreign fighters from Tanzania and Somalia are part of the group, but their role is unclear.

After the October 5, 2017 attack, the group released a video stating their intention of turning the gas-rich Cabo Delgado region into a caliphate.

Mozambique plans to start exporting natural gas from Cabo Delgado as early as 2022. But the growing military presence of insurgents poses a severe threat to megaprojects. The violence has claimed at least 2,600 people, half of them civilians, according to the US-based data-collecting agency Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED). More than 700,000 have fled their homes.

Cabo Delgado's crisis has forced 700,000 people to flee their homes

Government's confusing explanations
Maputo has sought to explain the identity and objectives of the brutal attackers by issuing four different hypotheses. At first, the government admitted that the "insurgents" were individuals aiming to install an Islamic State. In 2019, the main Ansaru al-Sunna extremist group declared their allegiance to the so-called Islamic State (ISIS).

Authorities then changed their story and pointed the finger at former miners from Montepuz, who foreigners from Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo were allegedly manipulating. The authorities reportedly expelled the foreigners from the mines for conducting illicit operations. Another explanation was that a group of Mozambican businessmen in Beira allegedly financed the insurgents because they were supposedly unhappy with the government's fight against the illegal timber trade. Lastly, they said this was a "war waged by external forces in collusion with some Mozambicans."



Watch video02:03
Terror survivor narrates ordeal in the hands of Mozambique's Islamists
Researcher Eric Morier-Genoud believes that there is still "a lot of silence" from the authorities. "It would be good for the government, the army, and the police to give a substantial official explanation of what is happening in Cabo Delgado and to do regular briefings on the situation," Morier-Genoud told DW. "This way, the government could control the narrative, while the people would be more enlightened and more reassured," the academic, based at Queen's University Belfast, added.

Threat to neighboring countries
Mozambique's violence has sent jitters to neighboring Tanzania, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. "There is already some overspill into Tanzania," Alex Vines, head of the Africa program at Chatham House, said.

Earlier this month, the United States designated ISIS Mozambique a foreign terrorist organization. The US named Abu Yasir Hassan — a Tanzanian national — as leader of the group. The US this month started training Mozambican forces in counterinsurgency operations.

"It is important to remember that although this is a Mozambican problem at the core, it is also a regional issue," Vines said, adding that coordination and cooperation between Mozambique and Tanzania on this particular issue has improved. "

However, Jasmine Opperman, a researcher at ACLED, sees US support as a "real step towards expanding its influence and presence" in the region. "It is a clear attempt by the US to ingratiate itself in Mozambique and various countries in Africa," Opperman told DW. She said she was concerned by "the internationalization of Cabo Delgado that may, in turn, ignore the local roots of the problem. "It gives the Islamic State a status in Mozambique that it does not have."

Mozambican security forces are now receiving special training from the US

'SADC has been silent'
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has remained largely silent on Mozambique's security challenges. "There is a disappointment on how SADC has been silent," rights activist Nuvunga said. "Not only its inability to act proactively in supporting Mozambique to fight extremist violence in northern Mozambique but also the mere silence when it comes to solidarity."

Alex Vines said he thinks military advisers from SADC members South Africa, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe could be embedded with Mozambican forces. "A full force would struggle. This is not the sort of conflict that SADC has a lot of experience in confronting," Vines said.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the fiscal challenges that have hit SADC countries make it difficult for the regional body to assemble a united force.

Nuvunga said it was unfortunate that regional bloc had failed to amplify Mozambique's voice in mobilizing the international community to support its fight. "I think it is frightening," the Mozambican activist said.


Watch video02:01
A new home for Mozambique's displaced
Antonio Cascais, Jane Nyingi, Nadia Issufo, and Madalena Sampaio contributed to this article.

 

[Plain Jane]

Portugal to send troops to Mozambique after brazen Palma attack by Islamic insurgents

Portugal will dispatch soldiers in the first half of April to Mozambique where they will train local troops following an attack by Islamist insurgents on the town of Palma, Lusa news agency said on Tuesday,…

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Portugal to send troops to Mozambique after brazen Palma attack by Islamic insurgents
Issued on: 30/03/2021 - 14:06

File photo of Portuguese troops serving under the NATO Kosovo Force (KFOR) in Pristina, Kosovo in January 2015. © Visar Kryeziu, AP (illustration)
Text by:FRANCE 24Follow
3 min
Portugal will dispatch soldiers in the first half of April to Mozambique where they will train local troops following an attack by Islamist insurgents on the town of Palma, Lusa news agency said on Tuesday, citing a defense ministry source.


The Portuguese news agency said a bilateral agreement calling for a total of 60 special forces troops to Mozambique was being finalised.

Portuguese Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva also told the state TV channel RTP late Monday that a team of "around 60" soldiers were "getting ready" to be sent to Portugals's former colony "in the coming weeks".

The team would "support the Mozambican army in training special forces," he said.

In a dramatic escalation of an insurgency launched in 2017, jihadists last Wednesday attacked the northern town of Palma, located just 10 kilometres (six miles) from the site of a planned multi-billion-dollar gas project.

On Monday, the IS group claimed it conducted the three-day raid against military and government targets and said it had seized control of the town.

The Mozambican government has said dozens of people died in the raid, but the exact toll in the remote northern town was not known.

Survivors arrive in provincial capital
Palma was almost completely deserted on Monday following the deadly raid, which forced its residents to flee by road, boat or on foot.

It was the biggest and closest raid to a multi-billion-dollar gas project being built on a peninsula just 10 kilometres (six miles) away, by France's Total and other energy giants.
Many survivors said they had walked for days through forest to seek refuge in Mueda, 180 kilometres (112 miles) to the south, where they arrived limping on swollen feet.

Thousands of escapees arrived on boats in Pemba, the provincial capital around 250 kilometres to the south, according to sources there. Up to 10,000 others were awaiting evacuation, according to aid agencies.

Pemba is already packed with hundreds of thousands of other people displaced by the Islamist insurgency, which has uprooted nearly 700,000 from their homes across the vast province.

The attack forced expatriate workers and locals to seek refuge temporarily at a heavily guarded gas plant located on the nearby Afungi peninsula.

"A significant number of civilians rescued from Palma are also being transported to Afungi site, where they receive humanitarian and logistical support," Total revealed in a statement released Monday.

Helping governments that fail to address social problems
The insurgents are known locally as al-Shabab, although they are not believed to have links with the Somali jihadist organisation by that name.

The US State Department earlier this month said the group reportedly pledged allegiance to IS group in April 2018. It named its leader as Abu Yasir Hassan, and declared him a global terrorist.

On Monday, the US said it was "committed to working together with the government of Mozambique" to counter terrorism and defeat the IS group.

Critics have, however, slammed the international community for once again focusing on a counterterror strategy in yet another African country that involves cooperating with and propping up governments that fail to provide for their marginalised citizens.

Mozambique became independent from Portugal in June 1975 following a prolonged war that ended centuries of colonisation.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and REUTERS)