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

[Plain Jane]

August thread is here :

INTL - Africa: Politics, Economics, Military- August 2021

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Ethiopia conflict: Calls for mediation grow – DW – 08/31/2021

Africans around the world have signed an open letter enjoining the African Union to mediate in the war in Ethiopia. Analysts agree on the need for intervention to end the bloodshed and prevent a major refugee crisis.

www.dw.com

Global calls for mediation grow over Ethiopia's conflict
Africans around the world have signed an open letter enjoining the African Union to mediate in the war in Ethiopia. Analysts agree on the need for intervention to end the bloodshed and prevent a major refugee crisis.





Hoping to increase pressure on the warring parties to end the conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray region, dozens of African scholars and activists around the world took the unusual step of publishing an open letter calling for a negotiated peace.

"Ethiopia is on the precipice," the letter reads, after condemning "the fact that the conflict is affecting ever-increasing numbers of civilians," in a war increasingly characterized by human rights violations.

Mamadou Diouf, cosignatory of the letter and professor of African Studies at the Columbia University in the US, told DW that "the inability to prevent this conflict is a failure of Africa as a whole."

The pan-African call for peace left no doubt about the increasing consternation over a war now entering its ninth month with no solution in sight.

"The conflict in Tigray is deeply concerning to many African countries," Hassan Khannenje pointed out.

The director of the Kenya-based HORN International Institute for Strategic Studies went on to enumerate several reasons, including the fact that the headquarters of the African Union (AU) is in Addis Ababa, and that Ethiopia is the second-largest country in Africa in terms of population.

Analysts warn of a refugee crisis of unprecedented scale

'A refugee crisis like the world has never seen'
"But, critically, it is one of the anchor states in the Horn of Africa," meaning that any instability there is bound to have implications for the whole continent, the analyst told DW.

This is especially true for neighbors Somalia and Kenya, both of which share a long border with Ethiopia.

Crucially, Addis Ababa has already withdrawn troops that were helping to fight al-Shabaab terrorists in Somalia.
"For Kenya, there's a high risk of an influx of refugees to a level that would probably be unsustainable," said Khannenje, warning that a potential disintegration of Ethiopia will mean that "the world is going to see a refugee crisis like no other we have witnessed in recent history."
Increasingly isolated from his allies in the West, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is seeking support among African countries. On Sunday he met with Rwandan President Paul Kagame and their Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni on a quick trip to Kigali and Entebbe.

Erhiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (left) meeting Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni (right)

Peace and mediation may not have been uppermost in Abiy's mind, analyst Khannenje believes: "He is leaning heavily also on the region and other traditional allies to try and shore up support politically, but also, critically, to try and have access to armaments."

Turkey's role
Abiy has also turned to Turkey for support. President Recep Erdogan views Ethiopia as the "keystone to expanding its economic footprint in the greater East Africa region as far south as Kenya and Uganda," researcher Michael Tanchum, of the Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy and a nonresident fellow at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, told DW.

Ankara is not only thinking about access to markets and resources. "By having a strong security relationship with both Somalia and Ethiopia, Turkey seeks to offset the strategic presence of Egypt and the UAE [United Arab Emirates] in the Horn of Africa," Tanchum said.

The vying of outside forces for strategic advantages in the region does not bode well, according to analyst Khannenje. While Turkey might seem a natural ally to Addis Ababa to turn to for financial assistance and military armament "it only complicates the political and security situation in the Horn of Africa."

Already the conflict is spilling over into Sudan, at loggerheads with Addis Ababa over the construction of a Nile dam.

Like many Africans, Mamadou Diouf believes that the Tigray conflict should be solved by Africans, and especially the AU: "We cannot burden the West with our own problem. We have an increase of these situation in Africa, because our institutions are not up to their task," he told DW.

• 

TIGRAY: WAR AT THE EXPENSE OF WOMEN
Hundreds of thousands on the run
The civil war between the Tigray regional government and the central government of Ethiopia under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed continues to escalate. Hundreds of thousands are now on the run, living in hunger and threatened by war crimes. After the self-proclaimed Tigray Defense Forces (TDF) recaptured Tigray's regional capital Mekele, many are fleeing from the contested areas to Mekele.
123456
Warring factions unwilling to end conflict
Last week the AU appointed former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo as a mediator. His chances of achieving peace do not look promising. The Tigray Liberation Front (TPLF) accused the AU of bias towards Abiy.


The prime minister has repeatedly rejected appeals from high-level envoys from the AU for talks with Tigrayan leaders. He insists that the conflict is a "law and order" operation, and thus a domestic issue.

"Both fighting groups believe they may have a military solution to the conflict," Khannenje said.

"There's a stalemate, and this is not very helpful. If both parties aren't assisted in recognizing that there's no military solution to what is, essentially, a political problem, it's going to be a challenge."

African countries, supported by Russia and China, have so far kept the issue from being taken up by the UN Security Council.

But if a major catastrophe is to be prevented, the world must increase pressure on the warring factions, Khannenje said. If needs be, the international community should resort to coercive measures like sanctions: "In the absence of that added pressure, it's going to be difficult and the conflict will prolong probably for many months or even years to come," he said.

Georges Ibrahim Tounkara contributed to this article

 

[Plain Jane]

Nigerian gunmen kidnap over 70 children – DW – 09/01/2021

The attack on a remote village in the northwest of the country comes days after bandits released 90 pupils they had held captive. Police are searching for the perpetrators of the latest crime.

www.dw.com

Nigerian gunmen kidnap over 70 children from village school
The attack on a remote village in the northwest of the country comes days after bandits released 90 pupils they had held captive. Police are searching for the perpetrators of the latest crime.




Police are searching for an armed gang that kidnapped children from a school in Nigeria

Nigerian police are searching for a large group of gunmen that on Wednesday kidnapped 73 students from a school in the northwest of the country, authorities said.

The attackers swooped on the school in the remote village of Kaya, in the Maradun region of Zamfara state on Wednesday morning.

How have the authorities reacted?
"The abduction followed the invasion of the school by large numbers of armed bandits," Zamfara police spokesman Mohammed Shehu said.

"The command... has deployed a search and rescue team that was mandated to work in synergy with the military to ensure the safe rescue of the abducted students," Shehu added.
A staff member told Reuters that 500 pupils were enrolled at the school.

Police reinforced security around Kaya, a village of about 23,000 people, after the bandits fled with the children.


Watch video01:38
Dozens of kidnapped children in Nigeria released
Zamfara state officials ordered all primary and secondary schools to close throughout the state as a result of the kidnapping, in order to guard against any further attacks, Ibrahim Dosara said.

They also imposed road travel restrictions and a night-time curfew on the area.

Are these attacks common?
Armed gangs have snatched over 1,100 students in more than a dozen attacks on schools and colleges in northwestern Nigeria since December 2020.
Typically, they then demand ransoms from parents who often have to sell all they have to get their children back, a head teacher in Niger state told the Associated Press. Some children die or are injured in the ordeals if payments are delayed, the head teacher added.


Watch video02:26
'If no ransom is paid, some students might get killed'
On Friday, 90 pupils were freed from another Nigerian school where children as young as four-years-old were abducted.

Zamfara is one of four states in northwest Nigeria that have taken steps to stop kidnappings taking place in areas where there is not enough police presence. Authorities banned the sale of jerry cans and the transportation of firewood by trucks to stop gangs traveling by motorbike and camping out in the forest.

 

[Plain Jane]

Rebels kidnap 20 in east Congo after ambushing convoy

Rebels in eastern Congo have ambushed a civilian convoy that was under military escort and killed five people.

apnews.com

Rebels kidnap 20 in east Congo after ambushing convoy
By AL-HADJI KUDRA MALIROSeptember 1, 2021


BENI, Congo (AP) — Rebels in eastern Congo ambushed a stalled civilian convoy that was under military escort Wednesday, killing five people and abducting dozens of hostages initially. About 20 people remained missing hours later, the army said.

The attack took place after the convoy had stopped to repair one of the vehicles, Capt. Jules Ngongo, spokesman for the Congolese army in Ituri province, told The Associated Press.

Initially the gunmen kidnapped 80 people but he said the army was able to soon rescue 60 of them.

“We call on people to remain calm and to trust their army because it is difficult to fight the terrorists, but we will fight for peace to return as soon as possible,” Ngongo said.

The latest attack, though, prompted more outcry in eastern Congo, where civilians say the rebel group known as ADF is stepping up its attacks.

“What is the purpose of our army? How can a convoy of civilian vehicles be attacked when they were secured by the army? Without capturing even one rebel?” said Christian Munyanderu, coordinator of a local human rights group.

The ADF, or Allied Democratic Forces rebels, trace their origins to nearby Uganda and have long carried out attacks in eastern Congo, at times bringing gunfire to the city center of Beni.
The ongoing attacks there have repeatedly prompted anger about the inability of the Congolese army and U.N. peacekeepers to stop the violence.

Fears have deepened ever since ADF reportedly pledged its allegiance to the Islamic State organization though the exact ties between the two groups remain murky.

Islamic State’s Central Africa Province claimed a suicide bombing at a busy intersection in Beni earlier this year. The Ugandan man died, but no one else was killed in that blast believed to be the first of its kind in eastern Congo.
___
Associated Press writer Jean-Yves Kamale in Kinshasa contributed to this report.

 

[Plain Jane]

EU, Gambia tussle over expelled migrants – DW – 09/05/2021

The EU could tighten visa requirements for Gambians following Banjul's refusal to accept deportees from Germany. Experts say Gambia's decision to reject its citizens could have wider consequences.

www.dw.com

EU escalates row with Gambia over expelled migrants
The EU could tighten visa requirements for Gambians following Banjul's refusal to accept deportees from Germany. Experts say Gambia's decision to reject its citizens might not be without wider consequences.




Gambian migrants who were deported home from Libya in 2017 — now the EU is also trying to repatriate some
The European Union is mulling over Gambia's decision to deny landing permits to flights carrying Gambian deportees from EU countries — particularly Germany. More than 2,000 Gambian migrants who have exhausted their asylum appeals in Germany are awaiting repatriation.

According to initial plans, the first batch of "failed Gambian asylum seekers" was expected to arrive in Banjul on September 1. But an official from Gambia's Foreign Ministry responsible for diaspora affairs told local media that Gambia's new position is not to accept requests for deportations. Gambia has cited security concerns and the inability to reintegrate as reasons for its decision.

Gawaya Tegulle, a Ugandan expert in international law, said the move is unlawful. He argued that each sovereign state has an obligation to welcome back its nationals to its territory at any time. "Therefore, the action per se by the government of the Gambia has no place under international law," Tegulle told DW. "It is illegal before we start even to list the demerits of the circumstances surrounding the decision."

Tegulle also added, however, that he disagreed with Germany's move to send hundreds of Gambians back home. "We are seeing two wrong decisions. I do not agree that the decision to deport all these people is lawful," Tegulle said.

EU contemplating visa restrictions
The European Union plans to tighten visa requirements for Gambian nationals — a decision that may affect the entire African continent. "Looking at history, I suspect we may be going close to sanctions against government officials of Gambia," Tegulle said, adding that it was now conceivable that there could be wider visa restrictions from the EU and other Western nations affecting not only Gambia, but Africans in general.

"There will be the fear that because Gambia is being seen as defiant, we may see increased visa restrictions against Gambian nationals and also African nationals by the EU and the broader Western community because there is the fear that there are migrants from these countries and they will not be able to get them back," he said.
There are almost 7,000 Gambians without residence rights in Germany alone.
For Tegulle, it is unwise for the EU to deport over 2,000 people back to a country grappling with soaring unemployment. "The Gambians would be more comfortable if their people come back with their arms full of gifts of gold and silver," Tegulle said. Moreover, Tegulle insisted that there is no reason why the EU should be treating people like this in the age of globalization.

"They didn't go to Europe to be deported back to Africa," he said.

With thousands of Gambians set to be deported from Germany, Yahya Sonko, a refugee activist in Germany's state of Baden-Württemberg, said German and Gambian authorities should negotiate a deal and a clear way forward to solve this problem. "Gambia should come up with an official statement that indicates its position in this issue. Then we will use that official position of our government to challenge different courts here, and these people will be free," Sonko told DW.


Watch video01:15
Germany imposes travel restrictions over COVID variants
Playing politics with migrants?
Gambian authorities have avoided making allusions to the political benefits of the move. Instead, they say the refusal to accept migrants is because of their remittances to the country's economy. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Gambians in the diaspora remitted $588 million (€495 million) in 2020, making up for the loss in tourism revenues. Remittances from an estimated 118,000 Gambians living abroad account for over 20% of the country's GDP.

Political observers say that President Adama Barrow could, however, be seeking political capital from his decision not to welcome migrants expelled from the EU. Gambia's presidential election is scheduled for December 2021.

But for some, like Emmanuel Bensah, an ECOWAS and AU policy analyst, several factors, including the pandemic, do in fact need to be considered before taking in the migrants.
"The Gambia's president cannot be sure of the COVID-19 status of those who are being deported. In addition, the Gambia is a small country, and the health system has not been coping so well with COVID-19," Bensah told DW. According to him, the arrival of migrants could be an added burden for the country. "The other thing is that the Gambian government since 2017 has become quite unpopular. The euphoria connected with Barrow winning the presidency when ECOWAS intervened to get rid of [former President Yahya] Jammeh has died down."

The former Gambian ruler was criticized for human rights violations that included the jailing of journalists and political opponents.
When President Barrow was sworn in for the first time on February 18, 2017, Gambians were optimistic that the country would usher in a new era of democracy. But Barrow's decision to stay on for five years instead of the three he had earlier promised dented any hopes that the tiny West African nation would witness genuine democratic reforms.

Experts say Europe and Africa need to have a frank discussion on the migration crisis

Blaming Gambia's government
Most Gambians have accused the government of abdicating its responsibilities. "This government is not serious about the plight of Gambians both at home and abroad," Smith Omar, a young Gambian in Banjul, said.

"On the contrary, to the credit of European institutions, this government has received millions of euros in aid, especially for youth empowerment. But what is the impact of this youth empowerment project?" Omar asked, "It is quite clear that these projects have failed," Omar told DW.

"I think they lost the trust of the people," another Banjul resident told DW. "They [Gambia's government] are doing it for their own benefit. But it is not for the benefit of people who are supposed to be deported."

Is Gambia setting a precedent?
There are fears that Gambia's refusal to welcome home migrants expelled from the EU may become the new normal for African countries.

International law expert Gawaya Tegulle says the recent Gambian decision is not isolated, citing similar incidents involving Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Eritrea. He adds that in 2016, Gambia had taken similar measures, only caving in later after being threatened with sanctions by the West.

But ECOWAS policy analyst Emmanuel Bensah disagrees. He thinks that no African country can copy the Gambian example. "Sometimes these cases are rather isolated," he said, pointing to Uganda that has been very active in receiving migrants from Afghanistan after the Taliban took control. "With what Uganda has done and is doing even for Afghans, I don't foresee that this is going to spark a trend in other African countries."

Bensah also regrets that the standoff between Gambia and the EU is a test to the West African country's diplomacy. "The EU is going to restrict visas for Gambians. That is not a good sign," Bensah said. "But I think if they can appeal such an EU decision through ECOWAS, for example, they can get ECOWAS as an honest broker to help roll back some of the restrictions the EU wants to impose," Bensah said.

Tegulle believes it is high time both parties held a frank discussion over the migration crisis. "This is a very delicate issue that has to be reshaped in a broader and deeper and more sincere conversation. This issue concerns human beings who deserve better than they are getting now," he said.

Watch video08:06
Street Debate: Returnee migrants in The Gambia
Omar Wally in Banjul contributed to this article.

 

[Plain Jane]

Mali's interim govt slams police protest that liberated special-forces commander

Mali's interim government on Saturday condemned an armed police protest that led to the liberation of a special-forces commander detained for allegedly using brute force to quash protests last year.

www.france24.com

Mali's interim govt slams police protest that liberated special-forces commander
Issued on: 05/09/2021 - 09:01

In this July 11, 2020 photo, riot police arrive at Martyrs Bridge in Bamako amid a wave of protests in Mali. © Michele Cattani, AFP
Text by:NEWS WIRES
3 min
Listen to the article
Mali's interim government on Saturday condemned an armed police protest that led to the liberation of a special-forces commander detained for allegedly using brute force to quash protests last year.


In a statement on public television, the government said "uniformed and armed men took to the streets to demonstrate" in a "condemnable" act.

It said the fight against impunity would continue.

Angry police officers marched on a prison in the capital Bamako on Friday, after a special-forces commander was held as part of an investigation into the killings of protesters in 2020.


Detained commander Oumar Samake had been in prison for only a few hours before he was released, in circumstances that remain unclear.

A prison official told AFP that guards had stepped aside when the policemen arrived at the prison.

However, a justice ministry official who requested anonymity said that the government had ordered his release "for the sake of peace".

The affair has generated outrage in Mali, where a leading human rights group said it constituted an "attack on democracy and the rule of law," and former prime minister Moussa Mara stated he was "scandalised".

Mali's government stressed that the investigation into the 2020 protester killings was ongoing, and urged security forces to "respect the authority of the state".

Samake had been detained for his alleged role in lethal clashes between security forces and opponents of former president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita last year, in a wave of protests that eventually led to Keita's overthrow.

One such protest on July 10, 2020 sparked several days of deadly unrest.
Mali's political opposition said at the time that 23 people were killed; the UN reported 14 protesters killed, including two children.

Political instability
One year on, the scandal involving Samake's detention underscores Mali's deep political instability.

The military deposed Keita in August 2020 after weeks of protests fuelled by grievances over corruption and Mali's long-running jihadist conflict.

Army officers then installed a civilian-led interim government to steer Mali back towards democratic rule.

But military strongman Colonel Assimi Goita deposed these civilian leaders in May in a second coup.

Goita has pledged to restore civilian rule and stage elections in February next year.
There are doubts about whether elections can be held within such a short time.

Mali has been struggling to quell a brutal jihadist insurgency which emerged in 2012 and left swathes of the vast nation outside of government control.
(AFP)

 

[jward]

The Cavell Group
@TCG_CrisisRisks
5m

Guinea: Reports of a possible coup attempt in the Guinea capital with significant small arms fire near the Presidential palace and reports of an army unit firing on security.

Guy Elster
@guyelster
19m

It looks like a coup is underway in Guinea

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1434457358357475330

View: https://twitter.com/guyelster/status/1434457358357475330?s=20

#BREAKING Heavy gunfire in #Guinea capital, near the Presidential palace, the situation is unclear

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1434458845208850433

View: https://twitter.com/guyelster/status/1434458845208850433?s=20

 

[Plain Jane]

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

Guinea Rocked By Military Coup As Disheveled President Shown Surrounded By Armed Rebels

BY TYLER DURDEN
SUNDAY, SEP 05, 2021 - 01:00 PM
The West African nation of Guinea has been rocked by a military coup attempt on Sunday, following hours of reported heavy gunfire erupting near the presidential palace in the capital of Conakry.

Video emerged online showing the 83-year old elected president of the country, Alpha Condé, under military detention amid a coup reportedly led by Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, said to be a former French legionnaire who is commander of an elite national army unit.





According to the latest in BBC, "The fate of Guinea's President Alpha Condé is unclear after an unverified video showed him in the hands of soldiers, who said they had staged a coup."
But there's current conflicting reports over the degree to which the military rebels actually control the country. "However, the defense minister has been quoted as saying the attempted takeover had been thwarted," BBC underscores. It remains that all evidence points to the military rebels having de facto control at this point, given Condé has been confirmed under arrest.

The coup leaders announced on state TV they've taken over, dissolved the constitution, and have sealed the country's borders.

Col. Doumbouya announced after seizing a national broadcast headquarters: "The personalization of political life is over. We will no longer entrust politics to one man, we will entrust it to the people," Doumbouya said. "The duty of a soldier is to save the country," he added, while also saying the borders will be closed for at least one week.

International reports say the fate and whereabouts of Conde remain unknown. He was elected to his third term as president in 2020, in an election which saw violent protests resulting in dozens of deaths.

President Conde first came to power in 2010 as the country's first democratically elected leader since independence from France.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1434501768294113284

View: https://twitter.com/farah_elmne/status/1434501768294113284?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1434501768294113284%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fgeopolitical%2Fguinea-rocked-military-coup-disheveled-president-shown-surrounded-armed-rebels


But it was the last election which was most controversial. The Associated Press explains that "Conde has faced mounting criticism ever since he sought a third term in office last year, saying the two-term limit didn’t apply to him because of a constitutional referendum he had put forth." In 2011 there was an attempt on his life in which one of his body guards was killed.

 

[Plain Jane]

Libya frees al-Saadi Gadhafi, son of Moammar, from prison – DW – 09/06/2021

Saadi Gadhafi, once a professional footballer, was cleared of killing a football coach in 2018 and reports say he has flown to Turkey. Libya is looking to hold elections in December.

www.dw.com

Libya frees al-Saadi Gadhafi, son of dictator Moammar, from prison
Saadi Gadhafi, once a professional footballer, was cleared of killing a football coach in 2018 and reports say he has flown to Turkey. Libya is looking to hold elections in December.




Al-Saadi Gadhafi is free from prison after more than seven years behind bars, Libyan authorities said

A Libyan prison has freed al-Saadi Gadhafi, son of the late dictator Moammar Gadhafi who was toppled in 2011, the country's justice ministry said Sunday.

A former professional footballer in Italy, al-Saadi had been held in a Tripoli prison for more than seven years over crimes committed against protesters and for the 2005 killing of Libyan football coach Bashir al-Rayani.

Known as a playboy during his father's 42 years in power, al-Saadi was acquitted on appeal over the murder of Rayani in 2018, and press reports on Sunday said he had already flown to Turkey.

One of eight children
Al-Saadi Gadhafi was one of eight children of former Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi.
In 2011, an uprising in the country saw Gadhafi arrested and killed along with three of his sons. Members of his family fled the country to other parts of the Arab world including Algeria and Lebanon.

Al-Saadi Gadhafi played soccer for AC Perugia before failing a drugs test

Al-Saadi Gadhafi sought refuge in Niger until March 2014 when the country extradited him to stand trial for the 2005 killing of soccer coach Bashir al-Rayani.
The court of appeal cleared him of wrongdoing in April 2018 although he has been kept in a Tripoli prison since then accused of crimes against protesters.
Warring factions
After the death of Moammar Gadhafi the country fell into disarray.
Warring factions vied for power in the oil-rich country until a 2020 ceasefire paved the way for peace talks between the different groups in the east and west of the country.


Watch video02:07
Libyan peace talks held in Berlin
And in a tweet on Sunday regarding al-Saadi's release, Prime Minister-designate Abdul Hamid Dbeibah said: "We cannot move forward without achieving reconciliation or establishing a state without achieving justice, enforcing the law, respecting the principle of separation of powers and following judicial procedures and rulings."

He added: "On this basis, the citizen "Al-Saadi Gaddafi" was released today, in implementation of the release issued against him by the Public Prosecution."

Dbeibah leads a transitional government formed in March that will now oversee national elections set for December.
jc/jsi (AFP, AP)

 

[Plain Jane]

Guinea faces uncertain future after coup – DW – 09/06/2021

The soldiers who ousted Guinean President Alpha Conde have moved quickly to quash any resistance. Guineans have mixed feelings about the coup, while analysts say Conde is partly to blame for the situation.

www.dw.com

Guinea's future uncertain as coup leaders tighten grip on power
The soldiers who ousted Guinean President Alpha Conde have moved quickly to quash any resistance. Guineans have mixed feelings about the coup, while analysts say Conde is partly to blame for the situation.




Coup leader Mamadi Doumbouya pledged to 'rewrite the constitution together' in a televised speech
The morning after the coup, residents of the capital, Conakry, woke up to a new reality which has left Guineans with mixed feelings. "There is a great sense of uncertainty," said DW correspondent Bangaly Conde.

"Today we saw an image of Guinea we are not used to seeing. We are very disappointed with the army," one Guinean told DW.

Not everyone was disappointed. Another resident of the capital said he was very proud, "because the country is doing really badly. People are suffering. I really want something to change soon."

For many citizens feeling overwhelmed by economic hardship, the military takeover came at the right time. "I don't have the words. I'm so happy. There is no water, there is no electricity, and above all, there are no roads. We are tired of all this. He [President Alpha Conde] should go take a rest," one woman said.

Constitution suspended
On Sunday, coup leader Mamadi Doumbouya, head of the Groupement des Forces Speciales (GPS), an elite unit of the Guinean army, suspended the constitution and dissolved the government and parliament, shortly after arresting President Conde. The president had originally formed the GPS for his own protection.

The soldiers have replaced all regional governors with military commanders, imposed a curfew and closed the country's land and air borders.


Watch video01:55
Whereabouts of President Conde unknown
Members of Conde's cabinet faced the threat of being considered rebels if they failed to attend a Monday meeting called by the coup leaders. Ministers were banned from traveling abroad and asked to turn in their passports.

In a communique, the soldiers said "all measures will be taken to ensure the safety of peaceful citizens and their property."

Broad international condemnation
The international community, including the African Union and the United Nations, swiftly condemned the toppling of the elected government. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) joined with demands for a return to democratic rule, threatening sanctions if its calls go unheeded.

Coup leader Doumbouya stood firm as he justified the military takeover. "Poverty and endemic corruption" forced soldiers to oust Conde, he argued.

"We have dissolved the government and its institutions," Doumbouya, a former French foreign legionnaire, announced, adding that a transitional unity government would be installed soon. "We are going to rewrite the constitution together," he said in a televised speech, surrounded by heavily armed soldiers.

According to DW sources, during his time in the French Foreign Legion until 2018, Doumbouya took part in missions in Afghanistan, Ivory Coast and the Central African Republic, among others. He knows the Malian military officer Assimi Goita, who overthrew the democratically elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita from power in 2020 and has himself been interim head of state of Mali since a second coup in May.

Political scientist Doudou Sidibe was skeptical about the condemnation of the Guinean coup by the international community, African organizations and regional organizations.

He told DW that at the start, coups are always condemned. "Then the coup plotters promise democracy, development and free and transparent elections. And then the international community calms down," he said.
As examples, Sidibe mentioned recent military takeovers in Mali, Chad and other countries on the continent.

Many Guineans took to the streets to celebrate Conde's ouster

Guinean analyst Kabine Fofana told DW that, following the coup, he foresaw a dangerous power struggle within the army. "The risk is great. There is no unanimity on this coup d'etat. The question now is how the situation will develop in the coming days," Fofana said.

Is Conde to blame?
Alpha Conde came to power in 2010, after the country's first-ever democratic elections. Shortly after being sworn in, he survived an assassination attempt on his life. For a while Guineans placed high expectations on the former opposition politician.

But the 83-year-old's popularity plummeted when he rammed through constitutional changes last year allowing him to sidestep the country's limit of two presidential terms.

Political scientist Ibrahima Kane of the Open Society Foundations questioned the legitimacy of Alpha Conde's third term. "He really forced this election. And the Guinean army has long been an army that reflects the chaotic situation in the country," he told DW.

Kane blamed Conde for what happened because he surrounded himself with yes-men and lost contact with reality. "They told him that without him, nothing would work. But look at the man: he's 83 years old! That's when we know that he is no longer in full possession of his powers to lead a country as complicated as Guinea," he said.

No foreign interests involved
Kojo Asante, director for advocacy and policy engagement at Ghana Center for Democratic Development, agrees. He rejected rumors that foreign interests may be at play in the coup.

"I will not be in a hurry to put this at the doorstep of foreign powers or other external forces because there have been a lot of issues that have happened in Guinea," he told DW. "We went through almost one year of serious violence, leading up to the election and post-election.
Almost a hundred people died. So, this is a country that has been going through turmoil for a while."

 

[Plain Jane]

Guinea's opposition leader supports military – DW – 09/07/2021

Two days after the putsch in Guinea that ousted President Alpha Conde, his main political opponent, Cellou Dalein Diallo, told DW that he hopes the coup will lead to more democracy.

www.dw.com

Guinea's opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo: Coup is 'a patriotic act'
Two days after the putsch in Guinea that ousted President Alpha Conde, his main political opponent, Cellou Dalein Diallo, told DW that he hopes the coup will lead to more democracy.




The military in Guinea has taken control of the country in a sudden coup

The president of the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UFDG) and Alpha Conde's main challenger in the last presidential election, Cellou Dalein Diallo, explained in an interview with DW why he was willing to trust the military coup leaders, at least for the time being.

Ten months after the closure of your offices and the headquarters of your party, the UFDG, by the toppled government, you were able to go back for the first time on Monday. What state did you find the facilities in?
I was shocked to see that everything had been ransacked. It smacks of the hatred and brutality of Alpha Conde's regime. But I am pleased to have my property back. It will allow my party to meet again. I confess that I do not understand the extent of the hatred and unnecessary destruction. Mr. Alpha Conde did not go through either the justice system or the administration to perpetrate this crime. There was no legal basis for him to ban access to these offices for almost 10 months. But I'm happy to have my offices back. Now I will have a bailiff in to report on what has been destroyed.

Cellou Dalein Diallo is willing to trust the military coup leaders, at least for now
President Alpha Conde was arrested by soldiers at his presidential palace on Sunday. You don't seem opposed to the coup.
Yes, that is the case.

Why do you accept this military takeover?
Obviously, it is against my beliefs. But we are facing a situation where Alpha Conde has seized power by violating the constitution, by violating his oath, by trampling on all the rules and principles of democracy and the rule of law.

We have tried everything else. We called on the international community, but it did not or could not change its position. Peaceful demonstrations on the streets were brutally suppressed. Innocent Guineans were killed simply for exercising their constitutional right to march in public places. They killed nearly 40 people in N'zerekore and buried them in the night. All of these people, all of these citizens, were denied justice, compassion and reparation.

Nothing we tried worked. We tried to take legal action against this, but without success. The judiciary is not independent; it does not dispense justice. Alpha Conde was always right; the opposition was always wrong. Hundreds of thousands of people have been arrested, tried and convicted even though they were innocent. All resistance has been unsuccessful. Now the army, in a patriotic outburst, decides to liberate us from this dictatorship that has no respect for human life, the rights and freedoms of citizens and democracy. We can only recognize that as a patriotic act.

• 
  
  
  GUINEA'S TREASURE: A DAY IN A BAUXITE MINE
  Explosives do the work
  Daily blasts shake the Debele mine in the province of Kindia in western Guinea-Conakry. The workers use dynamite to blow up the quarry rock. The rock is made up of bauxite ore, one of the main components for aluminium production.

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Aren't you afraid the military will try to stay in power?
Yes, of course I am. The military often justifies a violent seizure of power with a desire to fight corruption and pledges to hand over power to civilians after free and transparent elections. But sometimes they have taken much longer than necessary. Sometimes they have [seemingly] ditched the military uniform to stay in power.
But until proven otherwise, I consider this to be a patriotic act and believe in Lieutenant Colonel Mamadi Doumbouya's team. I assume that the military will do everything possible to organize free and transparent elections very quickly so that the people of Guinea can choose their own political leaders.

What will you do to avoid the scenario of 2009, when Captain Moussa Dadis Camara was in power and refused to give it back?
The risk is real. But, for now, I trust Lieutenant Colonel Mamadi Doumbouya and his team. I hope they will not repeat the [2009 scenario], because they know what it cost Guinea: We still remember September 28, 2009 [when more than 150 peaceful protesters died in a stadium because security forces opened fire — Editor's note]. The [legal] dispute about that has not yet been settled. We are still waiting for the judiciary to do its job.

Do you know Lieutenant Colonel Mamadi Doumbouya?
No, I don't know him. I have not met him.


Watch video02:17
Guinea junta tightens grip on power

 

[Housecarl]

Posted for fair use.....

West African regional bloc suspends Guinea after coup

West Africa's main political and economic bloc suspended Guinea's membership on Wednesday following a weekend military coup that ousted President Alpha Conde and dealt the latest in a flurry of setbacks to democracy in the region.

www.reuters.com

September 8, 20212:41 AM PDT
Last Updated 36 minutes ago
Africa
Guinean political prisoners freed, regional bloc to discuss coup
By Saliou Samb

CONAKRY, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Guinea's military leaders have freed scores of political prisoners before a meeting of West African leaders to discuss their response to Sunday's coup that ousted President Alpha Conde.

At least 80 political prisoners detained by Conde were released on Tuesday evening. Some had campaigned against his attempt to stay in power for a third term after altering the constitution to permit it, a move opponents said was illegal.

West African countries have threatened sanctions following Conde's overthrow and a regional bloc, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), was due to convene a virtual summit on Wednesday.

Coup leader Mamady Doumbouya, a former French legionnaire, has pledged to install a unified, transitional government but has not said when or how that will happen.


Doumbouya also met the heads of Guinea's various military branches for the first time on Tuesday, hoping to unify the country's armed forces under the junta's command.

Guinea's main opposition leader, Cellou Dalein Diallo, who finished runner-up to Conde in three successive elections, told Reuters on Tuesday he would be open to participating in a transition back to constitutional governance.

In a statement on Tuesday evening, Conde's party said it "noted the advent of new authorities at the head of the country" and called for Conde's rapid and unconditional release.

Since the putsch, life in the streets of Conakry appears to have returned to normal, with some military checkpoints removed.


Fears the power struggle could hinder Guinea's production of bauxite, a mineral used to make aluminium, have begun to ease. The country's largest foreign operators continued to operate without disruption on Tuesday.

Aluminium hit a fresh 10-year high on Monday after news broke of unrest in Guinea, which holds the world's largest bauxite reserves. Doumbouya has pledged that mining will continue unhindered.

Writing by Cooper Inveen, Editing by Hereward Holland and Timothy Heritage

 

[Housecarl]

Posted for fair use.....

Tigray forces killed 120 civilians in village in Amhara - Ethiopia officials

Rebellious forces from the Tigray region killed 120 civilians over two days in a village in Ethiopia's Amhara region, local officials told Reuters on Wednesday.

www.reuters.com

September 8, 20213:13 AM PDT
Last Updated 11 minutes ago

Africa
Tigray forces killed 120 civilians in Amhara village - Ethiopia officials
Reuters

ADDIS ABABA, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Rebellious forces from the Tigray region killed 120 civilians over two days in one village in Ethiopia's Amhara region, local officials told Reuters on Wednesday.

The killings happened in a village 10 km (six miles) from the town of Dabat on Sept. 1 and 2, according to Sewnet Wubalem, the local administrator in Dabat, and Chalachew Dagnew, the spokesperson of the nearby city of Gondar.

A spokesperson for the Tigrayan forces did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"So far we have recovered 120 bodies. They were all innocent farmers. But we think the number might be higher. There are people who are missing," Sewnet, the local administrator, told Reuters by phone.


War broke out 10 months ago between Ethiopia's federal troops and forces loyal to the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which controls the Tigray region.

Thousands have died and more than two million people have been forced to flee their homes. Fighting spread in July from the Tigray region into the neighbouring regions of Amhara and Afar, also in the country's north.

Reporting by Addis Ababa newsroom Writing by Maggie Fick; Editing by Jon Boyle

 

[jward]

Always in our <3s & Thoughts...love this arrangement;
Teddy is actually flowers : ))

 

[Plain Jane]

West Africa economic bloc suspends Guinea after coup – DW – 09/09/2021

The ECOWAS bloc called on Guinea to return to "normal constitutional order" after President Alpha Conde was deposed in a coup by special forces.

www.dw.com

West Africa economic bloc suspends Guinea after military coup
The ECOWAS bloc called on Guinea to return to "normal constitutional order" after President Alpha Conde was deposed in a coup by special forces.




ECOWAS is not only a political and economic union, but also a peacekeeping force in the West Africa region

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) suspended Guinea's membership in the bloc on Wednesday after a military coup this past weekend.

The move comes amid fears of a deterioration of democracy in West African countries, and drawing parallels with recent coups in Mali.

What did ECOWAS say?
ECOWAS "has decided to suspend Guinea from all of its decision-making bodies," Burkina Faso's Foreign Minister Alpha Barry said after the leaders from the 15-member bloc discussed the crisis in a video summit.

Barry said the bloc called on the coup leaders to release detained President Alpha Conde.
The bloc urged Guinea "to put in place a process that will allow a rapid return to normal constitutional order."

ECOWAS is expected to send a mediation mission to Guinea's capital, Conakry, on Thursday.
The United Nations and African Union have also condemned the military coup.



Watch video02:17
Guinea junta tightens grip on power
What happened during the military takeover?
Special forces led by Lieutenant Colonel Mamady Doumbouya arrested Conde on Sunday.
Doumbouya announced the dissolution of the government during a televised broadcast and the closing of the country's borders.

Doumbouya slammed Conde's government and said there was "poverty and endemic corruption" under his leadership. He accused Conde's administration of "trampling on citizens' rights."

The ruling military junta calls itself the National Committee of Reconciliation and Development.

The address came after shots were fired near the presidential palace in Conakry. Guinea's Defense Ministry insisted that the situation was under control and claimed government forces "contained the threat."

Watch video00:27
Guinea coup leader says president 'taken', constitution 'dissolved'
Conde, the country's first democratically-elected leader, came into office in 2010.
He won a third term in the October 2020 presidential election, with the opposition claiming fraud and violent protests occurring after the results.

The putschists have released a group of "political detainees" who were held in prison under Conde's government.

Guinea gained independence from France in 1958. Although the country is mineral rich and one of the world's top suppliers of bauxite, an ore used to make metals, much of its population lives in poverty.
wd/rs (Reuters, AFP)

 

[Plain Jane]

Moroccan voters hand stinging defeat to governing Islamists

RABAT, Morocco (AP) — A Moroccan party run by a billionaire considered close to the monarchy won the most seats in legislative elections, while the Islamist party that has been in power for a decade suffered a stinging defeat, according to results announced Thursday.

apnews.com

Moroccan voters hand stinging defeat to governing Islamists
By TARIK EL-BARAKAHyesterday



1 of 5
Moroccan business man and agriculture minister Aziz Akhannouch of the RNI party, holds a rally in Rabat, Morocco, Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021, days before the upcoming legislative and regional elections. Millions of Moroccans head to the polls on Sept. 8 to cast ballots in pivotal legislative and regional elections amid strict safety guidelines as the north African country is grappling with a new wave of COVID-19, driven mainly by the Delta variant. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

RABAT, Morocco (AP) — A Moroccan party run by a billionaire considered close to the monarchy won the most seats in legislative elections, while the Islamist party that has been in power for a decade suffered a stinging defeat, according to results announced Thursday.
With nearly all the votes counted, the Interior Ministry said the National Rally of Independents, or RNI, took 97 out of 395 seats in the lower house of parliament. The Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD), which has led the government since 2011, won only 12 seats, down from 125 in the last elections in 2016.

RNI leader Aziz Akhannouch — considered by Forbes to be the richest person in Morocco — called the result “a victory for democracy, its spirit and its rules.”

His party has promised to create 1 million jobs to boost the economy after the pandemic, expand health insurance to all Moroccans, increase teacher salaries and provide a guaranteed pension for the elderly.


Under the country’s constitution, the king appoints the prime minister from the party which wins most seats, who will then proceed to form a government. Overall, the role of lawmakers is limited by the powers of King Mohamed VI, who oversees strategic decision-making in Morocco, an important ally of the West in efforts to fight extremism and stem migration from Africa to Europe.

The PJD didn’t just suffer defeat, but a “resounding fall,” said Abderrahim Elaalam, a constitutional law professor at Al Cadi Ayad University in Marrakech.

“The party’s loss cannot be isolated from the international context, which is witnessing the decline of political Islam in general, but this fall was not expected at all, both from the party itself and even from its fiercest opponents,” he said.

Morocco bans opinion polls around elections, so the outcome had been especially hard to predict.

Elaalam said voters grew disillusioned with the PJD because it seemed increasingly disconnected from Moroccans’ daily struggles, and failed to take strong positions on major recent debates, such as over Morocco’s decision to normalize ties with Israel or plans to legalize cannabis.

It remains unclear whether the PJD will be part of the upcoming governmental coalition, or move back into the opposition ranks for the first time in more than a decade.

RNI’s likely coalition partner, the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), came in second with 82 seats, while the Istiqlal (Independence) Party finished third, netting 78 seats.

RNI leader Akhannouch has close ties with the monarchy. He is also the agriculture minister.
PAM was formed in 2008 by Fouad Ali El Hima, a personal friend of King Mohammed VI and one of his close advisers.

“The citizens showed a great desire for change,” after 10 years with the Islamist party in power, Elaalam said. “They expressed their dissatisfaction with the lack of major changes and the continued dwindling of their purchasing power and the suffering of large segments of (the population) from poverty.”

The Interior Ministry said 50% of the electorate had turned out to vote in Wednesday’s legislative, regional and municipal elections.

The PJD said there were voting irregularities and excessive use of money to buy candidates and the media, and said that its candidates were pressured, especially in rural areas, not to run.

Thousands of Moroccan and international election observers who monitored the vote were to present reports on their findings at a later date.

The RNI had won only 37 seats in the 2016 elections. It has been part of a coalition with the PJD in the two previous governments, leading key and influential ministries, including finance, tourism and trade.

The elections were held in the shadow of the pandemic. Candidates promised to create jobs and boost Morocco’s economy, education and health care.

 

[Plain Jane]

The comeback of Gambia's dictator – DW – 09/09/2021

Rights groups in the Gambia are up in arms about the potential return of former dictator Yahya Jammeh to the West African country ahead of crucial December elections.

www.dw.com

The comeback of Gambia's dictator
Rights groups in the Gambia are up in arms about the potential return of former dictator Yahya Jammeh to the West African country ahead of crucial December elections.




Gambia's former dictator Yahya Jammeh (left) and current President Adama Barrow (right)

Human rights groups in the Gambia have decried the possible return of former President Yahya Jammeh, who ruled the Gambia from 1994 until he was forced into exile after refusing to accept defeat in the 2016 elections.

Jammeh is accused of human rights violations and killings of political opponents during his 22-year reign.

Ahead of upcoming presidential elections in December, President Adama Barrow's National People's Party (NPP) announced a merger with Jammeh's Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC).

"Our objective is for former president Jammeh to return to this country peacefully and in dignity," APRC secretary-general Fabakary Tombong Jatta told a press conference in the capital, Banjul.

Jatta did not offer further details about the conditions of the agreement with Barrow's party.
However, some have interpreted his comments as meaning that the merger agreement may allow for Jammeh to return from exile without facing prosecution if Barrow wins the election.

The rule of Yahya Jammeh, seen here after voting in 2016 elections, was marked by widespread abuses

Strong feelings over alliance
Human rights groups and victims' associations in the Gambia have characterized the alliance as a betrayal.

"Adama Barrow, by all indications, he is a traitor. He is a huge disappointment to the people of the Gambia. I can say that — this is the greatest betrayal of the century," the chairman of the Gambia Center for Victims and Human Rights Violations, Sheriff Kejira, told DW.

"It is quite shocking and despicable for the victims and very depressing. So many victims of Yahya's brutality couldn't sleep when his party announced the merger with Barrow," Kejira said.
Many ordinary Gambians are also disappointed in the political alliance.

"For me, the merger is a betrayal to the Gambian people. So, I am disappointed like many Gambians," Banjul resident Essa Barry told DW.

Banjul resident Abubacar Saidykhan warned that Barrow shouldn't be surprised if he lost the upcoming election because of the alliance with Jammeh's party.

However, in a tweet, Jeffrey Smith, the founder of Vanguard Africa, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting democracy in sub-Saharan Africa, emphasized that the informal alliance is between political parties and not between Barrow and his former arch-rival Jammeh.

Political tactics
Political scientist Ensa Njie sees the NPP-APRC union as a strong team but adds it is still too early to evaluate if the political tactics of forming an alliance will pay off in the December 4 election.

"APRC-NPP alliance will be a formidable team but it also depends on how the Gambians will perceive the alliance," Njie told DW. "It might be premature for us to say that the APRC-NPP alliance will emerge victoriously."

Instead, the 2021 presidential elections could see a similar situation to 2016, when seven parties formed a coalition to run against Jammeh, said Njie, a political science lecturer at the University of the Gambia.

"So the dynamics may change in the coming days or weeks."

Jammeh's defeat by Adama Barrow in 2016 elections came as surprise

Jammeh's reign of terror
Jammeh seized power in 1994 as part of a bloodless military coup. He then ruled with an iron fist until January 2017, when he fled to Equatorial Guinea after losing presidential elections to Barrow, who was relatively unknown at the time.

The Gambia's government subsequently established a Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) to investigate the litany of abuses allegedly committed under his 22-year rule.

The panel has heard chilling testimony about state-sanctioned torture, death squads, rape,
and witch hunts.

It is due to hand a report on its findings to President Barrow later in September.

While the truth commission has no power to convict, rights groups are highly anticipating its report to see whether it will recommend pursuing criminal charges against Jammeh.


Watch video01:55
DW Exclusive interview: President Adama Barrow
Sankulleh Janko in Banjul contributed to this report.

 

[Plain Jane]

https://apnews.com/article/africa-education-united-nations-nigeria-west-africa-419047696cc8b36cbb5bf907bb11dec

Click to copy
Nigeria threatened by school abductions, says UN official
By CHINEDU ASADUSeptember 10, 2021


LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Mounting school abductions in Nigeria have disrupted the educations of more than 1.3 million children in Africa’s most populous country, where 10 million children are not attending school, the United Nations says.

“Children are traumatized. Parents are scared. Teachers and school administrators are afraid. Attacks on schools are gradually spreading to areas not known to insurgencies. With education under attack, the collective future of Nigeria is under threat,” U.N. resident coordinator in Nigeria Edward Kallon said.

The West Africa nation has seen at least 10 abductions in the past 12 months in which 1,436 students have been taken, according to U.N. Children’s Agency Nigeria Representative Peter Hawkins.

About 200 students are still being held and 16 children have died in the attacks, he added.
“From September 2020 to June/July 2021, up to 1.3 million children in total have been affected at some point during the academic year or learning interrupted at some point,” Hawkins told The Associated Press.


School kidnappings by gunmen — whom analysts identify as mostly young, former nomadic cattle herders — have taken place in nine different states, and targets have included everyone from preschoolers to university students.

The military is now carrying out special operations in Zamfara state to root out the attackers, known as bandits, from their hideouts.

Schools are set to open and begin the academic year this month, but many educational facilities have been shut by some governors in the northwest and central parts of Nigeria amid efforts to contain the security challenge.

Last week, as news broke of the abduction of 73 students in Zamfara, authorities closed down all primary and secondary schools across the state and three days later, local media reported that the telecommunications access in the state has been blocked.

Some of the freed schoolchildren have told AP that they were warned not to return to school or they would face further violence.

“They asked us not to go back to school, that they will make sure they shut down all the schools in Kaduna state,” said 20-year-old Victory Sani, who was one of the nearly 40 students who were held by gunmen in a forest for seven weeks after they were kidnapped in Kaduna State.

Nineteen-year-old Loveth Daniel, who was also abducted in that attack in Kaduna in March this year, told AP that she does not plan to return to school again in Nigeria. “If God opens the way for me, seriously, I don’t wish to go to any school as far as it is (in) Nigeria,” she said. “I am not going to any school in Nigeria again.”


The health of the freed students is also a source of concern. Some of those who have been seized from their schools are as young as 4, and parents have told the AP that after selling off most of what they have to pay for ransoms demanded by the gunmen, they now don’t have enough to pay their children’s medical bills.

“We struggled in prayer to rescue them (and) we have to struggle hard to improve their health,” said Saidu Tegina, whose two children were among the 91 pupils kidnapped in Niger State.

Nigeria’s federal and state governments should “do more” to protect schools from attacks, said U.N. coordinator Kallon. That’s a challenging task for Nigerian security forces who have multiple security challenges in various parts of the country.

In Kankara in Katsina state where more than 300 schoolchildren were kidnapped from a boarding school in December before they were later released, the government closed down the facility and transferred the remaining students to another school.

Musbau Murnai, whose 12-year-old son was among those kidnapped and later released, told AP that his son will remain at home until the security situation improves.

“You cannot go anywhere (in the community) because of fear of attack,” he said, describing how a teacher at a nearby school was recently abducted.

 

[Plain Jane]

A comeback for Moammar Gadhafi's family in Libya? – DW – 09/12/2021

The children of the country's brutal and erratic former dictator are getting more popular as elections approach. They could benefit from an increasingly fragmented political scene.

www.dw.com

Libya: Could Moammar Gadhafi's family stage a comeback?
The children of the country's brutal and erratic former dictator are getting more popular as elections approach. They could benefit from an increasingly fragmented political scene.




After almost 42 years in power, Moammar Gadhafi's reign ended in 2011

This week, the Gadhafi name was in the headlines again. Saadi Gadhafi, the third son of former Libyan dictator, Moammar Gadhafi, was released from prison on Sunday. Reports indicated he left the country for Turkey immediately after his release.

Saadi had been held in a prison in Tripoli for seven years, charged with crimes against protesters during the country's 2011 uprising that toppled his father's regime and also of the 2005 murder of a popular Libyan soccer player, Bashir al-Rayani, who had been openly critical of the Gadhafi regime. A court of appeal had already acquitted Saadi, who played football professionally, of the latter in 2018.

According to agency reports, Saadi, 47, was only released last week because of negotiations between senior tribal figures, the country's interim prime minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah and Fathi Bashagha, a former interior minister, who has a chance of becoming the country's prime minister after elections in late December.

Saadi Gadhafi, who was released from a Tripoli prison on Sunday, seen here in 2015

Some locals in the city of Tripoli were skeptical about the motivations of those who had arranged Saadi's release. "In my opinion, all of this is because of political agreements between those people who are close to the presidency," Abdellatif Dakdak, a fuel engineer, told pan-African broadcaster, Africanews.

Political ambitions
Long-time Libya observers believe those dubious locals may have a point: As the country's December 24 election nears, the Gadhafi name is likely to become increasingly important.
Moammar Gadhafi ruled Libya for over four decades until his regime was brought down by a revolution in 2011. Of his seven sons, three were killed during the violent uprising that followed.

Afterwards, remaining members of his family — sons Mohammed and Hannibal, daughter Aisha and wife Safia — were granted asylum in Oman. Hannibal, 45, is thought to be in custody in Lebanon after being arrested there in late 2015, on charges related to the case of a Lebanese cleric who disappeared in Libya in 1978. Hannibal's wife and children apparently have refugee status in Damascus in neighboring Syria.

Saif al-Islam withdrew from Libyan politics in 2008, saying he was frustrated with the pace of change

But perhaps the most significant scion of the Gadhafi family today is 49-year-old Saif al-Islam, the only family member who has political ambitions at the moment, sources said.

After the uprising Saif was captured by tribal militias in Zintan, in northwestern Libya. He was released by them in 2017 and is thought to still be living among his former captors. In July, in an interview with the New York Times, the first he had given a Western publication for years, Saif hinted at a presidential bid this year.

Potential comeback
It may sound strange to international observers but there is a genuine chance for the son of Moammar Gadhafi, a ruler renowned for his eccentricity and brutality, to make some kind of political comeback in Libya.

Mostly this is due to the increasingly fragmented nature of the Libyan political scene at the moment.

In the recent past, the country's various factions were more easily classified. For example, in 2011, they were either pro-revolutionary or pro-Gadhafi. Over the past few years as civil war broke out, they could be split into eastern or western factions, as the two major groups fighting for control of the country had strongholds at either end of the nation. Rebel military commander Khalifa Haftar was based in the east and Fayez al-Sarraj headed an internationally recognized government in the west.

Libya's interim prime minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah (center left) in Berlin in June

"There is no actor or group that can clearly dominate the Libyan political scene," confirmed Tim Eaton, a senior researcher at Chatham House and the author of a report on the evolution of Libya's war economy.

"It has become very complicated and very localized. It's like a game of 3D chess with different leaders and networks trying to forge alliances, or perhaps working on certain things together but on a limited basis."

For example, as Eaton wrote in a detailed analysis of the Libyan military, Haftar has tried to integrate Gadhafi loyalist officers into his own senior leadership since 2016 "in an attempt to expand his military alliance."

No ideology
"The Libyan political landscape is really fragmented on a cellular level and incredibly politically fluid," added Mohamed Omar Dorda, one of the co-founders of for-profit consultancy Libya Desk, which has worked with German think tanks, including the Konrad Adenauer and Friedrich Ebert foundations, and is well networked inside the country and with the former regime.

"Traditional alliances are a thing of the past. Now everyone is talking to everyone and people who were arrested back in 2011 and completely sidelined, are starting to look like they could become a go-to alliance," Dorda told DW.

Dorda believes the negotiations around the recent release of prisoners like Saadi Gadhafi are part of that alliance-building. These political mergers are no longer ideological, he noted, they're purely transactional and about political power. Which is where the Gadhafi family comes back into it.

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi at a press conference in Paris in 1973

President Gadhafi?
They are still popular with some Libyans and could make for potential allies too, even for those who previously considered them enemies. "There are people in Libya who would agree that, given the events of the past few years, the country was better off under Gadhafi," Eaton explained.

"Some of these are the same people who would explain the troubles of the past few years as being caused by terrorists or by foreign interference. There are people in Libya who never abandoned the Gadhafis and places right across the country still flying the green flag," he said, referring to the fact that Moammar Gadhafi chose green for the Libyan flag in 1977.

Saif al-Islam (left on poster) was seen by some as a potential reformer in his father's regime
"There is certainly a constituency for Saif," Eaton said.

Dorda argues that Saif "has a good chance of performing well in elections or, if he were not to run and took up a kind of kingmaker role where he supports another candidate, he's all but guaranteed a position of power."

Eaton is a little more skeptical. "Although you need to be careful of the sources, some polling certainly suggests he's the most electable name – and he [Saif] would draw a lot of confidence from that," Eaton conceded.

"But it's difficult to see how he could rise back to prominence," the Chatham House analyst argued. "He can't operate out in the open and is not able to move freely around Libya, nor does he have any armed forces loyal to him. It seems a bit far-fetched to me."

 

[Plain Jane]

Burkina Faso: Attack on convoy kills 6 as violence surges – DW – 09/14/2021

A convoy of gendarmes returning from a gold mine was attacked by unidentified armed men. Jihadists linked to al-Qaeda and the "Islamic State" (IS) often carry out violent acts in the country, displacing thousands.

www.dw.com

Burkina Faso: Attack on convoy kills 6 as jihadist violence surges
A convoy of gendarmes returning from a gold mine was attacked by unidentified armed men. Jihadists linked to al-Qaeda and the "Islamic State" (IS) often carry out violent acts in the country, displacing thousands.




Several members of Burkina Faso's gendarmerie were killed in the attack

At least six people were killed in Burkina Faso after an attack on a convoy of gendarmes over the weekend, Burkinabe authorities said Monday.

What do we know so far?
The convoy was escorting vehicles returning from a gold mine in eastern Burkina Faso on Sunday when it was ambushed by a group of unidentified armed men.

"The ambush began with the detonation of an improvised explosive device as the convoy passed, followed by heavy gunfire," the gendarmerie said in a statement.

At least seven people were also wounded in the attack. Authorities said the convoy was on a stretch of road between the Sakoani and Matiacoali village in the Est Region when the incident occurred.

The attacks are frequently carried out by perpetrators linked to jihadist groups such as al-Qaeda or the "Islamic State." No group has yet claimed responsibility for the ambush.

Watch video02:05
The fight against Islamic extremism in West Africa
Thousands displaced by renewed violence, NGO says
The rising death toll from the attack comes after the Norwegian Refugee Council NGO said on Monday that 275,000 people had been displaced because of a recent uptick in violence in the West African country.

The violence has prompted an average of 13,000 people a week to leave their home since April, the group said, with nearly 500 having died.

"Despite soaring conflict, the humanitarian operation to assist people in need is falling far behind. A critical shortage in aid funding, combined with a lack of capacity from local authorities, is preventing relief agencies like ours from responding in time," the NGO's Burkina Faso director Manenji Mangundu said in a statement.

The NGO called on the government to speed up its humanitarian response and appealed to authorities "to let us step in and support."

The group said many vulnerable families in Burkina Faso were forced to search for food, putting them at risk from an armed attack.

Watch video01:49
Mali: France ends 'Operation Barkhane'
Burkina Faso's security forces have struggled to tackle the violence, with demonstrations taking place in recent months calling for a more effective government response against terrorism.

Other countries in West Africa are also facing instability due to terrorism and war. The three-border area connecting Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger — also known as the Liptako Gourma region — has seen increased violence in recent years, fueled in part by an armed insurgency in Mali that intensified in 2012.
wd/msh (AFP, Reuters)

 

[Plain Jane]

Reports of Russian mercenary deal in Mali trigger French alarm

French ministers warned Mali on Tuesday against striking a deal with Russian private security group Wagner amid claims the West African country's military junta is close to hiring 1,000 mercenaries from…

www.france24.com

Reports of Russian mercenary deal in Mali trigger French alarm
Issued on: 14/09/2021 - 16:58

Malians hold a photograph with an image of Colonel Assimi Goita, leader of Mali's military junta, and Russia's flag during a pro-Malian Armed Forces (FAMA) demonstration in Bamako, Mali, May 28, 2021. © Amadou Keita, REUTERS
Text by:FRANCE 24Follow
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French ministers warned Mali on Tuesday against striking a deal with Russian private security group Wagner amid claims the West African country's military junta is close to hiring 1,000 mercenaries from the controversial firm.
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Diplomatic and security sources say Mali's military rulers are nearing a deal with the Russian paramilitary group, underlining Moscow's growing influence in the region and triggering fierce opposition from former colonial power France, which has spent eight years fighting terrorism in the troubled Sahel.

Asked by lawmakers about the reports, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said: "Wagner is a militia that has shown itself in the past in Syria and Central African Republic to have carried out abuses and all sorts of violations that do not correspond with any solution and so it is incompatible with our presence."

"I am saying this so that it is heard," Le Drian added.

Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly told a separate hearing that she was "extremely concerned" by such a deal.

Mali reportedly hired Russian private security firm Wagner

02:00
A European source who tracks West Africa and a security source in the region told Reuters that at least 1,000 mercenaries could be involved. Two other sources believed the number was lower, but did not provide figures.

Four sources said the Wagner Group would be paid about 6 billion CFA francs (€9m/$10.8m) a month for its services. One security source working in the region said the mercenaries would train Malian military and provide protection for senior officials.

If the sources are correct, it would be a “bombshell revelation”, said FRANCE 24's senior reporter Cyril Payen.

“The French are receding, they’re leaving, especially northern Mali; this is Operation Barkhane [which has] more than 5,000 troops in Mali – so the game is between superpowers where let’s say Moscow is sending these guys on the ground when France is leaving,” Payen continued.

“This is exactly the same experience in the Central African Republic at the border with Chad and the mercenaries of Wagner," said Payen. "They are renowned because they are working in Ukraine, in Sudan and many places where they train in secrecy, they live in secrecy... It’s extremely difficult to talk to these people to know exactly who they are and what is their purpose – and they also die in secrecy.”
What is the Russian Wagner Group?

01:16
Potential threat to counter-terrorism
France's diplomatic offensive includes enlisting the help of partners such as the United States to persuade Mali's junta not to press ahead with the deal, and sending senior diplomats to Moscow and Mali for talks.

The French foreign ministry's top Africa diplomat, Christophe Bigot, was dispatched to Moscow for talks on September 8 with Mikhail Bogdanov, Putin’s point person on the Middle East and Africa. France's foreign ministry has declined to comment on the visit.

French diplomats have warned that the presence of Russian mercenaries presence would jeopardise Mali's funding from its international partners and allied training missions that have helped rebuild Mali's army.

Paris is worried the arrival of Russian mercenaries will undermine its decade-old counter-terrorism operation against al Qaeda and Islamic State group-linked insurgents in the region at a time when it is seeking to draw down its 5,000-strong Barkhane mission to reshape it with other European partners.

Speaking to Reuters, a French diplomatic source criticised interventions by the Wagner Group in other countries.

"An intervention by this actor would therefore be incompatible with the efforts carried out by Mali’s Sahelian and international partners engaged in the Coalition for the Sahel for security and development of the region," the source said.

Malian sources, meanwhile, have not denied the talks with Wagner, though stressing that no decision has been made yet.

"Mali intends to diversify its relationships in the medium term to ensure the security of the country," a spokesperson for the Malian defence ministry told AFP on Tuesday. "We haven't signed anything with Wagner, but we are talking with everyone."

Franco-Russian rivalry in Africa
Having Russian mercenaries in Mali would strengthen Moscow’s push for global prestige and influence, and be part of a wider campaign to shake up long-standing power dynamics in Africa.

More than a dozen people with ties to the Wagner Group have previously told Reuters it has carried out clandestine combat missions on the Kremlin’s behalf in Ukraine, Libya and Syria. Russian authorities deny Wagner contractors carry out their orders.

As relations with France have worsened, Mali's military junta has increased contacts with Russia, including Defence Minister Sadio Camara visiting Moscow and overseeing tank exercises on September 4.

A senior Malian defence ministry source said the visit was in "the framework of cooperation and military assistance" and gave no further details. Russia's defence ministry said deputy defence minister Alexander Fomin had met Camara during an international military forum and "discussed defence cooperation projects in detail as well as regional security matters related to West Africa". No further details were released.

“[The Russians] try to fill the gap to counter geopolitically French influence in West Africa,” said FRANCE 24's Payen. “In the [neighbouring] Central African Republic, there is really a proxy war in the field because Wagner is taking care of the presidential security against the French, so it’s contaminating the relations between the two countries.”

“It’s turned very nasty on the ground between Russian and French diplomats,” Payen continued. “The idea is just to grab power for not too much because Wagner is used to, for example, taking care of mining companies to get money from the governments and France is not doing the same.”
(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS)

 

[Plain Jane]

French troops kill leader of Islamic State group in Sahel, Macron says

The head of Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, who was wanted for deadly attacks on US soldiers and foreign aid workers, has been killed in an operation by French troops.

www.france24.com

TERRORISM

French troops kill leader of Islamic State group in Sahel, Macron says
Issued on: 16/09/2021 - 01:18

A French soldier from the Barkhane operation stands in Timbuktu on September 9, 2021. © Maimouna Moro, AFP
Text by:NEWS WIRES
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The head of Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, who was wanted for deadly attacks on US soldiers and foreign aid workers, has been killed in an operation by French troops.

Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi was “neutralised by French forces”, President Emmanuel Macron tweeted early Thursday.

“This is another major success in our fight against terrorist groups in the Sahel,” Macron said, without giving the location or details of the operation.

The jihadist leader was behind the killing of French aid workers in 2020 and was also wanted by the United States over a deadly 2017 attack on US troops in Niger.


Islamic State in the Greater Sahara is blamed for most of the jihadist attacks in the Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso region.

The flashpoint “tri-border” area is frequently targeted by ISGS and the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (GSIM).

ISGS has carried out deadly attacks targeting civilians and soldiers in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.

The United States had offered a $5 million reward for information on the whereabouts of Sahrawi, who was wanted over an October 4, 2017 attack in Niger that killed four US Special Forces and four Niger troops.

August 9, 2020, in Niger, the head of ISGS personally ordered the killing of six French aid workers and their Niger guides and drivers.

Sahrawi was formerly a member of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and also co-led Mujao, a Malian Islamist group responsible for kidnapping Spanish aid workers in Algeria and a group of Algerian diplomats in Mali in 2012.

>> Three prominent jihadists dominate Sahel after death of al Qaeda leader
The French military has killed several high-ranking members of ISGS under its strategy of targeting jihadist leaders since the start of its military intervention in Mali in 2013.

In June this year, Macron announced a major scaleback in France’s anti-jihadist Barkhane force in the Sahel after more than eight years of military presence in the vast region to refocus on counter-terrorism operations and supporting local forces.

“The nation is thinking this evening of all its heroes who died for France in the Sahel in the Serval and Barkhane operations, of the bereaved families, of all its wounded.

“Their sacrifice is not in vain. With our African, European and American partners, we will continue this fight,” Macron added in another tweet.
The north of Mali fell under jihadist control in 2012 until they were pushed out of the cities by France’s military intervention in 2013.

But Mali, an impoverished and landlocked nation home to at least 20 ethnic groups, continues to battle jihadist attacks and intercommunal violence, which often spills over to neighbouring countries.
(AFP)

 

[Plain Jane]

Berlin and Paris concerned over Russian mercenaries in Mali – DW – 09/16/2021

The Russian mercenary group "Wagner" is notorious; among other things, it has been accused of war crimes in Syria. Now it's allegedly set be deployed in Mali. Germany and France are threatening to withdraw their troops.

www.dw.com

Berlin and Paris concerned over Russian mercenaries in Mali
The Russian mercenary group "Wagner" is notorious; among other things, it has been accused of war crimes in Syria. Now it's allegedly set be deployed in Mali. Germany and France are threatening to withdraw their troops.




Malian army soldiers in Gao - will they soon be supported by Russian mercenaries?

The situation is explosive: There are indications that the government in Mali is discussing a paramilitary operation with the Russian mercenary force "Wagner". Malian and Russian authorities are said to be on the verge of signing an agreement to this effect. This was revealed by the Reuters news agency at the beginning of the week, causing a stir in European diplomatic circles.

Mali reacted promptly: The government wants to expand its relations to ensure the security of the country — nothing has yet been signed with Wagner, a spokesperson for the country's Defense Ministry said according to media reports. Not only are several thousand French soldiers stationed in Mali, but 1,000 Bundeswehr troops are also stationed in the country to combat Islamist extremists.

Military cooperation is not new
Mali and Russia have worked together in the past: In 1961, after France's withdrawal, the first Malian president Modibo Keita turned to the former Soviet Union, among others, with the request to train and equip the Malian army. This military cooperation continued until the early 1990s.

Around 1000 members of the German armed forces are involved in the UN Minusma mission in Mali

"Most of the military in power in Mali were trained in Russia and are close to the Kremlin," analyst Mahamadou Konaté tells DW. He warns: "We should be careful not to send these mercenaries into action, also because of the risk that they could commit massive human rights violations."

Signals are already coming from France about a possible troop withdrawal from Mali. Involvement of the private Russian company Wagner in Mali would be "incompatible" with maintaining a French force, according to Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian. The German Foreign Office also expressed great concern.

German troops in Mali — how much longer?
Germany's Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU) wrote on Twitter that such agreements between Mali and Russia would contradict "everything that Germany, France, the EU, and the UN have been doing in Mali for eight years," and also indirectly threatened to withdraw troops as well.

"Russia's interest in further arms sales is of course great," Christoph Hoffmann, a member of the Bundestag representing the FDP, told DW. He added that the German government must now maintain intensive contacts with Mali in order to salvage the situation. He added that Germany would not continue to be involved in the EU mission if there was a real commitment from the Wagner Group. Katja Keul, a member of the Green Party, also considers this "out of the question".

Denis Tull, a researcher with the Foundation for Science and Politics in Berlin, also expressed concern, saying that if the partnership with Mali is confirmed, it would be a "considerable gamble." When the Central African Republic called in Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group to help in 2018, Paris immediately suspended its activities in the country, he said.

According to Tull, the Malian government's current talks with Russia could also be an attempt to increase pressure — just weeks before the Africa-France summit scheduled for October — and to show France that other alliances are also possible.

Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer threatens the withdrawal of the Bundeswehr troops if Russian mercenaries operate in Mali

In Mali's capital Bamako, Thomas Schiller, head of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, has called for a dialogue between the countries concerned. At the same time, however, he emphasized that Mali and other African countries are sovereign states. "It is not our job to tell Africans what is good for them. It is up to them to define that, and to reform their political system and their army," Schiller told DW.

Kremlin denies mercenary deployment
He said he was not surprised: there have long been rumors of greater Russian involvement in Mali, especially in the area of security training for the armed forces, possibly also through arms deliveries. The problem, he said, is that these claims have never been verified.

Russian mercenaries in the Central African Republic as life guards for President Faustin Archange Touadéra

Reuters reported an agreement to send up to a thousand Russian mercenaries to Mali. When DW approached the Kremlin for confirmation, this report was denied by Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov. Reports surfaced on some Russian websites that claimed that more than 1,200 Russian mercenaries are already in Mali. However, these media platforms are considered dubious and, according to DW research, are apparently controlled by Yevgeny Prigozhin — a close confidant of Vladimir Putin — who is said to head the Wagner Group.

UN accuses Wagner of war crimes
UN experts accuse the mercenaries from Russia of committing war crimes in Central African Republic (CAR). They recently submitted their report to the UN Security Council. In July, an investigation by "The Sentry" — an activist group that investigates money flows related to atrocities — and CNN revealed possible war crimes by mercenaries in CAR. The Russian mercenary group is also active in Libya and Syria. At least in Syria, it is also accused of serious human rights violations.

 

[northern watch]

South Africa: Top court upholds ex-president's jail sentence
South Africa’s highest court has denied an application by former president Jacob Zuma to rescind his sentence of 15 months in jail for contempt of court
By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME Associated Press
17 September 2021, 04:53

The Associated Press
FILE - In this Sunday, July 4, 2021 file photo, former President Jacob Zuma addresses the press at his home in Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. Zuma has been granted medical parole, after serving two months of a 15-month sentence for contempt of court. (AP Photo/Shiraaz Mohamed, File)

JOHANNESBURG -- South Africa's highest court on Friday denied an application by former president Jacob Zuma to rescind his sentence of 15 months in jail for contempt of court in a ruling viewed as a stern test of the country's resolve to hold powerful figures to account.

The Constitutional Court judgment upheld its own ruling that Zuma should go to prison for refusing to testify at a commission of inquiry into widespread corruption in government and at state-owned companies while he was president of South Africa from 2009-2018.

Zuma, who was forced to resign as president in 2018 amid corruption allegations, still has significant support in parts of South Africa and within the ruling African National Congress party.

He was jailed in July after a long-running dispute with the judicial commission of inquiry, which saw him walk out midway through testimony and refuse to appear again.

The 79-year-old Zuma has since been granted medical parole for an undisclosed illness after serving two months of his sentence. His release from prison has been questioned by opposition parties who say procedure wasn't followed.

The latest judgment doesn’t affect Zuma’s parole, although South Africa's main opposition party and at least two other organizations have indicated they will challenge that in court as well after the head of the department of corrections said he overruled a decision by the parole board and authorized Zuma's release himself. That will put the judiciary back in the spotlight.

Justice Sisi Khampepe read out Friday's judgment at the Constitutional Court in Johannesburg and said it was a majority decision of 7-2 judges to uphold Zuma's sentence. Zuma argued his sentence was improper because, among other things, he had been jailed without trial and the sentence was delivered in his absence.

In their ruling, the seven judges said Zuma refused to participate in the Constitutional Court proceedings that led to him being sentenced and then attempted to reopen the case after it was concluded.

“The hands of the Constitutional Court are bound and Mr. Zuma himself bound them," Justice Khampepe said.

Zuma's imprisonment sparked violent riots and looting in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal and the Gauteng province, South Africa's economic hub, in one of the country's most uncomfortable moments since the end of apartheid in 1994. More than 300 people died, malls were looted and factories and warehouses were burned in what current President Cyril Ramaphosa described as an orchestrated attempt to destabilize Africa's most developed economy.

The riots raised concerns Zuma might be spared jail and the justice system overridden to appease his supporters.

Zuma, a contentious figure for much of his political career, also faces corruption charges in a separate case, where he is accused of taking bribes in connection with South Africa's $4 billion arms deal in 1999 with French manufacturer Thales. His corruption trial, which opened in May, is due to resume next week.

Both cases against Zuma have tested South Africa's resolve to bring an influential figure to justice after years of allegations of wrongdoing.

Ramaphosa, who succeeded Zuma, made a drive to root out corruption the centerpiece of his presidency. Ace Magashule, another powerful figure and the ruling ANC party's secretary general, also faces corruption charges and will go on trial.

Zuma is currently being treated at a hospital, according to his foundation, which has refused to disclose his whereabouts, when he will be discharged or if he will attend court for the scheduled resumption of his corruption trial.


South Africa: Top court upholds ex-president's jail sentence - ABC News (go.com)

 

[northern watch]

Somalia accuses Djibouti of detaining ex-intelligence chief
A tense political dispute between Somalia’s president and prime minister threatened to broaden into a regional crisis on Friday after the president accused neighboring Djibouti of unlawfully detaining his former national intelligence chief

By CARA ANNA Associated Press
17 September 2021, 08:04

NAIROBI, Kenya -- A tense political dispute between Somalia's president and prime minister threatened to broaden into a regional crisis on Friday after the president accused neighboring Djibouti of unlawfully detaining his former national intelligence chief.

Djibouti’s foreign minister, Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, quickly denied Somalia’s statement in a social media post, calling the claim fake news that tried to “create confusion and drag Djibouti into Somalia internal challenges.” He asserted that a Turkish Airlines flight to Somalia's capital with former intelligence chief Fahad Yasin aboard didn’t take off from Djibouti because a pilot didn’t have special authorization to land in Mogadishu, and that all passengers would return to Istanbul for another flight.

Yasin is a close ally of Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed who has been accused by critics of trying to extend his stay in power after national elections set for last February were delayed.

Tensions between the president and Prime Minister Hussein Roble, tasked with leading election preparations, have risen sharply in recent days over the high-profile case of a missing intelligence agent, Ikran Tahlil Farah. The prime minister suspended Yasin after the intelligence agency asserted that the al-Shabab extremist group had killed the agent - an allegation that al-Shabab denied.

On Thursday, Somalia’s president suspended the prime minister’s powers to hire and fire, leading to a new outcry.

The international community has urged calm amid fears of a return to open gunfire in the streets of Mogadishu over heightened political tensions.

Somalia accuses Djibouti of detaining ex-intelligence chief - ABC News (go.com)

 

[Plain Jane]

Guinea says it won't let detained ex-president leave country

CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — Guinea's junta leaders vowed Friday that deposed President Alpha Conde would not be allowed to seek exile, saying they would not cave to mounting pressure from regional mediators who have imposed targeted sanctions after this month's coup.

apnews.com

Guinea says it won’t let detained ex-president leave country
By BOUBACAR DIALLO and KRISTA LARSONyesterday



1 of 3
People wait for a meeting with the Military junta led by Col. Mamady Doumbouya, at the people's palace in Conakry, Guinea Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2021. Guinea's junta is expected to face more pressure to set a timeframe for new elections Tuesday as the military rulers open a four-day series of meetings about the West African nation's future following the president's overthrow in a coup just over a week ago. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — Guinea’s junta leaders vowed Friday that deposed President Alpha Conde would not be allowed to seek exile, saying they would not cave to mounting pressure from regional mediators who have imposed targeted sanctions after this month’s coup.

The statement came just hours after leaders from the West African regional bloc known as ECOWAS met with junta president Col. Mamady Doumbouya in Guinea’s capital. The military rulers dismissed rumors that the West African neighbors were negotiating a way for Conde to leave the country.

“Conde is and will remain in Guinea,” the junta said following the conclusion of the talks. “We will not yield to any pressure.”

ECOWAS and other members of the international community have called for Conde’s immediate release ever since he was detained in the Sept. 5 coup that overthrew him after more than a decade in power.


By Thursday, the bloc pressed ahead with targeted sanctions after the junta failed to meet the demand. The regional bloc put travel bans into effect for the leaders of the Sept. 5 coup and their families, and also froze their financial assets.

Friday’s delegation to Guinea was led by Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the current chair of ECOWAS, along with Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara.

Conde came to power in 2010 during the country’s first democratic elections since independence from France in 1958. At the time, there were hopes that his presidency would turn the page after decades of dictatorship and corrupt rule in Guinea, home to mineral riches including the world’s largest reserves of bauxite.

However, Conde pressed for a constitutional referendum last year that paved the way for him to seek a third term in office. His bid to extend his rule sparked violent demonstrations by those who said he had bended the rule on term limits to his benefit.

He ultimately won another five-year term in October, only to be toppled by the coup 10 months later.
___
Larson reported from Dakar, Senegal. Associated Press writer Toussaint N’Gotta in Abidjan, Ivory Coast contributed.

 

[Plain Jane]

France and Russia make a stand over which country will have the greater influence in Mali

According to reports, the Malian junta and Wagner, a militia with close ties to the Russian President Vladimir Putin, are nearing a deal that would send mercenaries to train Malian troops and provide…

www.france24.com

France and Russia make a stand over which country will have the greater influence in Mali
Issued on: 18/09/2021 - 18:19

Protesters in Bamako wave Russian and Malian flags during a protest against French influence in the country, May 27, 2021. © Michelle Cattani, AFP
Text byavid RICH
5 min
Listen to the article
According to reports, the Malian junta and Wagner, a militia with close ties to the Russian President Vladimir Putin, are nearing a deal that would send mercenaries to train Malian troops and provide security for high-ranking officials. Understandably, France is less than happy with the situation.

The presence of Russian paramilitaries in the country is "absolutely irreconcilable” with that of French troops, said France’s foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, reacting on September 15 to the news of the possible agreement between Mali and the Russian private security firm Wagner.

The forging of new ties between Russia and Mali is a reminder of the close diplomatic relations between the two countries during the Soviet era.

Moscow ‘a long-held dream in Mali’
On October 23, 2019, 43 African heads of state gathered in Sochi for a Russia-Africa Summit, which President Putin planned to use as an opportunity to renew Russia’s presence on the African continent. The then-President of Mali, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, launched a charm offensive, telling Putin, “We need to see proof of your friendship in a sector that everyone knows you are the champion of: the fight against terrorism. You said yourself that you are qualified in this domain, President Putin. We need this expertise now.”

Mali has been battling an insurgency in the country since 2012. In recent years, the security situation has deteriorated even further, despite France’s anti-terrorist military operation in the Sahel, Operation Barkhane.

Every now and then, there are public demonstrations calling on French troops to leave – with protesters sometimes in favour of Russian military intervention instead.

"There’s a long-held dream in Mali, currently propounded by so-called patriots, of seeing the country break off ties with France and cooperate instead with Moscow,” explains Niagalé Bagayoko, a political scientist and an expert on security in French-speaking Africa. “This dream harks back to a fantasy of the relationship the country used to have with the USSR and the Soviet bloc, particularly in terms of military cooperation. That relationship was nurtured by the then-President Modibo Keïta and then continued by his successor Moussa Traoré. France is also guilty of spreading this idea, constantly saying that Russia is trying to muscle in and take its place.”

At the start of the 1960s, which marked the end of the colonial era for many African countries, the USSR began its strategy of forging alliances in Africa. The Soviet bloc found itself an ideal ally in the form of the first Malian president, Modibo Keïta: a socialist keen to cut ties with its old colonial power. The USSR took up the search for mineral resources – hitherto led by France – and started to funnel equipment into the country and carry out military training.

“The USSR, with its enormous, resource-rich territory, had little economic interest in Africa. Any investment in the continent had the primary aim of using Africa as a political instrument in the context of the Cold War with the West,” explains Anastasiya Shapochkina, a professor at Sciences Po University in Paris and a specialist on Russia. The USSR’s investments in Mali, as in other African countries, were a loss-making enterprise for the Soviets.

The Russians are back
After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia was in financial ruin. During the decade that followed, it refocused its energies on its immediate sphere of influence: former Soviet countries. It was only in 2012, when Mali began its war with Islamist terrorists that had taken control of the north of the country, that Bamako started to re-establish military ties with Moscow.

The government first of all signed an agreement with the Russian arms exporter Rosoboronexport to buy 3,000 Kalashnikov guns for over a million euros, according to BBC Africa. Bamako wanted to update Russian military equipment it had acquired during the Soviet years and as a result negotiated new deals with Moscow.

In 2016, after Russia’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mikhaïl Bogdanov’s visit to Mali, Moscow gifted two helicopters to the Malian army, adding that “other equipment will follow”.
In June 2019, President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta signed a military defence pact with Russia. “The intensification of military ties is in the interest of our two countries,” announced Sergueï Choïgou, Russia’s defence minister, saying that Moscow wanted to help to create “conditions for durable peace and stability”.

Tensions with France
France, meanwhile, was watching these renewed ties with apprehension, but chose not to wade in. French President Emmanuel Macron said that Russia was no longer an “enemy”, and the priority was fighting against international terrorism.

Until now. The involvement of Russian mercenaries is a red line for France’s foreign ministry. “Wagner is a militia that has shown itself in the past in Syria and Central African Republic to have carried out abuses and all sorts of violations that do not lead to any solution,” said Jean-Yves Le Drian, hinting at a possible withdrawal of all French troops from Mali.

“In my opinion, this reaction indicates a sense of power that is more concerned with controlling its territory than with the fight against terrorism,” Niagalé Bagayoko told FRANCE 24. “On the side of the Malian junta, however, it’s a master stroke, allowing it to appease public opinion while also affirming its own independence. In this context, where France is planning a gradual military withdrawal anyway, Mali is playing France and Russia off against each other to raise the stakes. That said, I think this strategy does have its limits because Russia has nothing to gain by going to fight terrorists in the Sahel.”

Anastasiya Shapochkina agreed. "Despite all the political rhetoric, Africa is a marginal partner for Russia and Putin has no desire to make the same past mistakes. By sending a militia to French-speaking Africa, he above all wants to send a message to France not to meddle in its domestic affairs. That’s why Russia is using a group like Wagner, which is controlled by the Kremlin but has no traceable ties to the authorities. The West is quite right to be suspicious of Wagner, because it’s a mafia motivated solely by money and which has a questionable track record in the fight against terrorism.”

Russia has responded to the furore by choosing its words carefully.

“There is no representative from the Russian armed forces there, and no official negotiation currently under way,” Dmitri Peskov, a spokesperson for President Putin, told journalists on September 16.

France has since begun a diplomatic offensive with Malian authorities and has softened its position.

“Our priority is to be able to continue the fight against terrorism and we hope that the conditions in which we began the campaign won’t be different in the future,” the French Minister of Defence Florence Parly said.

This article has been adapted from the original in French.

 

[Plain Jane]

Gunmen release 10 Nigerian students after collecting ransom

An official says gunmen have released 10 more students abducted earlier in July in north-central Nigeria.

apnews.com

Gunmen release 10 Nigerian students after collecting ransom
By CHINEDU ASADUyesterday


LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Gunmen in northern Nigeria have released 10 more students after a ransom was paid, but 21 others remain in captivity despite a pledge to release them all, officials said Sunday.

The Rev. John Hayab, the chairman of the local Christian association, said the kidnappers had collected money three days ago. The 10 freed students were returned to their parents Saturday night, he said.

Assailants had stormed the Bethel Baptist High School on July 5, seizing at least 120 of the students from their hostels. Various batches of the students have been released since then and the last group was freed on Aug. 27.

“These bandits are torturing us emotionally, psychologically, physically, financially. They are putting us under serious pressure,” he said of the gunmen. “The moment they release a number (of students), it is because they want to ask for fresh money.”

About 1,400 children have been abducted from their schools over the last year and nearly 200 of them have yet to be released. Sixteen children have died in the attacks, UNICEF Nigeria Representative Peter Hawkins told The Associated Press.

As schools are set to reopen across Nigeria, UNICEF has also said at least 1 million children are afraid to return to their classrooms because of insecurity. That aggravates the education crisis in the West African country where more than 10 million children are already out of school.

Moreover, some of the freed captives have told the AP of how they continue to face trauma weeks after their freedom. Some of them have also said they won’t return to school. Victory Sani, 20, who was abducted from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization in Kaduna and later freed, said the gunmen “asked us not to go back to school, that they will make sure they shut down all the schools in Kaduna state.”
___
Associated Press writer John Shiklam contributed to this report from Kaduna.

 

[Plain Jane]

Sudan military says a 'failed' coup attempt is under control – DW – 09/21/2021

Troops and armored vehicles were deployed on the streets of the capital Khartoum. All the military officers involved in the alleged coup are reported to have been arrested.

www.dw.com

Sudan military says a 'failed' coup attempt is under control
At least 40 military officers are reported to have been arrested in connection with the alleged coup.




Sudanese soldiers patrolled major intersections in Khartoum on Tuesday

Sudanese state TV announced on Tuesday that there had been a "failed" coup in the country, adding that there had been an attempt to take control of the public media building in Omdurman, across the river Nile from the capital Khartoum.

The country's sovereignty council said that the situation had been handled and that law enforcement would begin questioning suspects immediately. Soon thereafter, Sudan's military confirmed the earlier reports.

State-run news agency SUNA quoted Brigadier Al-Tahir Abu Haja, a spokesman for military, as saying that the armed forces "thwarted the attempted coup and that all is completely under control.''

All soldiers who had taken part in the would-be power grab had be detained, he added.
Army vehicles could be seen partrolling the streets of Khartoum on Tuesday morning.

The Omdurman Bridge on the White Nile river in Khartoum was temporarily closed during the attempted coup

What is the political situation in Sudan?
Sudan saw a successful coup just two years ago, when longtime strongman Omar al-Bashir was ousted. Since then, Sudan has been ruled by a transitional government council that contains both civilian and military members.

However, the council has been unable to reconcile the deep political divisions that have existed since the Bashir era.

Moreover, they have overseen harsh economic reforms in order to qualify forInternational Monetary Fund loans that have met with resistance from the Sudanese people.

Information Minister Hamza Baloul said that the coup leaders had been "from the remnants" of Bashir's regime.

 

[Plain Jane]

Namibia debates German genocide deal – DW – 09/21/2021

The opposition has accused the ruling SWAPO party of pushing through a joint agreement with Germany over an apology for colonial-era atrocities against the Nama and Herero people. They have called for reparations.

www.dw.com

Namibia debates German genocide deal
The opposition has accused the ruling SWAPO party of pushing through a joint agreement with Germany over an apology for colonial-era atrocities against the Nama and Herero people. They have called for reparations.




Protesters marched on Namibia's parliament, angry at the proposed agreement with Germany

Namibia's parliament on Tuesday resumed debate around the signing of a joint declaration with Germany regarding the former colonial power's recognition that it perpetrated genocide in the early 1900s.

Parliamentary debates in June had been suspended as Namibia battled a devastating wave of COVID-19 infections, which delayed the National Assembly in agreeing to Berlin's offer in May of a formal apology for committing genocide in Namibia between 1904 and 1908 against the Nama and Herero people.

The apology is tied to an aid deal worth €1.1 billion ($1.34 billion), to be paid out over 30 years.


Watch video02:55
Germany's genocide deal with Namibia
Disagreement over aid money
The Namibian government initially hailed the agreement with Germany, with President Hage Geingob saying the apology was "a step in the right direction."

Zedekia Ngavirue, who had led negotiations for the Namibian government since 2015, told DW before his death in June of COVID complications that the Namibian side had reached its key objectives of "acknowledgment of genocide, apology and payment of reparations."

However, Germany said explicitly that any payments to Namibia should not be understood as reparations in a legal sense.


Watch video06:02
Nama spokesman rejects German compensation offer
This fact was interpreted by some Namibians as a sign Germany was not completely ready to be held fully accountable for the actions of German soldiers and military commanders during the colonial period. The final monetary sum also received fierce criticism, with the Council of Chiefs for Nama and Herero people branding the amount "an insult" and "unacceptable."

Claims of exclusion persist
Germany is set to make funds available for reconstruction, reconciliation and development projects. But some Herero and Nama leaders have from the outset rejected the Namibian government's negotiations with Germany, saying they have been excluded from decisions affecting them. Namibian Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila, however, has pushed back on those claims.

On Tuesday, hundreds marched to the Namibian parliament to hand over a petition calling on the government not to push the joint agreement through parliament.


Demands for equal treatment
"We have the feeling our government is not supporting us. You hear government-to-government, but where are we?" asked Esther Muinjangue, leader of the National Unity Democratic Organisation (NUDO), who has also represented affected communities.

"We want to be treated equally, like other victims of genocide that Germany has paid out and said sorry to," said Vipuakuje Muharukua, a lawmaker representing the Popular Democratic Movement, who is a descendant of genocide victims.

"A government should govern for all people. We do not need a government that will budge to the demands of Germany, regardless of the fiscal situation. We have history on our side. We Namibians will accept nothing less than just reparations."

Since negotiations started in 2015, Germany sought, and eventually received, a bilateral agreement with the Namibian government as opposed to negotiating with individual Herero and Nama groups.

Watch video02:57
Mixed reactions to compensation deal with Germany
Meanwhile, local media reported the opposition Landless People's Movement (LPM) expressing concern that the ruling SWAPO party would use its parliamentary majority to push the joint agreement through parliament.

"I am calling on the consciences of SWAPO that they do not use their two-thirds majority to push through a deal that all parties are not satisfied with. Politics is about consensus and compromise," said Henny Seibeb, deputy head of the LPM.

McHenry Venaani, leader of the Popular Democratic Movement, spoke at the protest in Windhoek on Tuesday

If the motion to sign the joint agreement with Germany gets through the National Assembly, analysts say the main challenge for the Namibian government will be to convince the Nama and Herero communities to accept the terms of the agreement.

Deaths of key figures
The delay in accepting Berlin's offer came as COVID-19 gripped Namibia and caused parliament to delay its decision. The pandemic also affected key politicians, including lead negotiator Ngavirue and President Geingob, who was forced to isolate after contracting the virus. The leader of the Herero community, Vekuii Rukoro, also succumbed to the virus.

Namibian diplomat Zedekia Ngavirue, who negotiated with German counterpart Ruprecht Polenz, died in June

What crimes did Germany commit in Namibia?
The German Empire was the colonial power in what was then called German South West Africa from 1884 to 1915.

During that time, its military forces brutally put down several rebellions, killing tens of thousands of people.

German General Lothar von Trotha, who was sent to quell a Herero uprising in 1904, was particularly known for his extreme ruthlessness.

Herero people were driven off their lands by German settlers, and when captured were sent to concentration camps
Historians have generally accepted that up to 65,000 of roughly 80,000 Herero people living in the area at the time were killed, along with least 10,000 of the roughly 20,000 Nama people.

 

[Plain Jane]

Tunisia’s Saied strengthens presidential powers in decrees

Tunisian President Kaïs Saied has issued presidential decrees bolstering the already near-total power he granted himself two months ago.

apnews.com

Tunisia’s Saied strengthens presidential powers in decrees
By BOUAZZA BEN BOUAZZA49 minutes ago

Tunisian President Kais Saied waves to Tunisian citizens as he delivers a speech during his visit to Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia, Monday, Sept. 20, 2021. Tunisia's president has announced plans to draft a new electoral code and appoint a transitional leadership and to hang on to the exceptional powers that he seized in July, throwing the country's young democracy into question. (Slim Abid/Tunisian Presidency via AP)

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Tunisian President Kaïs Saied issued presidential decrees bolstering the already near-total power he granted himself two months ago.

Wednesday’s decrees include the continuing suspension of the Parliament’s powers and the suspension of all lawmakers’ immunity from prosecution. But the text published in the official gazette went even further — now freezing lawmakers’ salaries.

They also state Saied’s intention from now on to rule by presidential decree alone and ignore parts of the constitution. Laws will not go through the parliament, whose powers are frozen, granting him near-unlimited power.

On July 25, Saied sacked Tunisia’s prime minister, suspended parliament and assumed executive authority, saying it was because of a national emergency. His critics called it a coup.

For law professor Mouna Kraiem, the new emergency measures amount to “the establishment of a dictatorship in the full sense of the word.”

Saied has denied wanting to be a dictator, saying that he eventually aims to put his political reforms to the public in the form of a nationwide referendum. But his political critics remain skeptical of this intention.

The July event came after years of economic sluggishness, but were triggered by a day of violent protest and a rise in coronavirus cases.

 

[Plain Jane]

France and Russia make a stand over which country will have the greater influence in Mali

According to reports, the Malian junta and Wagner, a militia with close ties to the Russian President Vladimir Putin, are nearing a deal that would send mercenaries to train Malian troops and provide…

www.france24.com

France and Russia make a stand over which country will have the greater influence in Mali
Issued on: 18/09/2021 - 18:19

Protesters in Bamako wave Russian and Malian flags during a protest against French influence in the country, May 27, 2021. © Michelle Cattani, AFP
Text byavid RICH
5 min
Listen to the article
According to reports, the Malian junta and Wagner, a militia with close ties to the Russian President Vladimir Putin, are nearing a deal that would send mercenaries to train Malian troops and provide security for high-ranking officials. Understandably, France is less than happy with the situation.


The presence of Russian paramilitaries in the country is "absolutely irreconcilable” with that of French troops, said France’s foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, reacting on September 15 to the news of the possible agreement between Mali and the Russian private security firm Wagner.

The forging of new ties between Russia and Mali is a reminder of the close diplomatic relations between the two countries during the Soviet era.

Moscow ‘a long-held dream in Mali’
On October 23, 2019, 43 African heads of state gathered in Sochi for a Russia-Africa Summit, which President Putin planned to use as an opportunity to renew Russia’s presence on the African continent. The then-President of Mali, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, launched a charm offensive, telling Putin, “We need to see proof of your friendship in a sector that everyone knows you are the champion of: the fight against terrorism. You said yourself that you are qualified in this domain, President Putin. We need this expertise now.”

Mali has been battling an insurgency in the country since 2012. In recent years, the security situation has deteriorated even further, despite France’s anti-terrorist military operation in the Sahel, Operation Barkhane.

Every now and then, there are public demonstrations calling on French troops to leave – with protesters sometimes in favour of Russian military intervention instead.

"There’s a long-held dream in Mali, currently propounded by so-called patriots, of seeing the country break off ties with France and cooperate instead with Moscow,” explains Niagalé Bagayoko, a political scientist and an expert on security in French-speaking Africa. “This dream harks back to a fantasy of the relationship the country used to have with the USSR and the Soviet bloc, particularly in terms of military cooperation. That relationship was nurtured by the then-President Modibo Keïta and then continued by his successor Moussa Traoré. France is also guilty of spreading this idea, constantly saying that Russia is trying to muscle in and take its place.”

At the start of the 1960s, which marked the end of the colonial era for many African countries, the USSR began its strategy of forging alliances in Africa. The Soviet bloc found itself an ideal ally in the form of the first Malian president, Modibo Keïta: a socialist keen to cut ties with its old colonial power. The USSR took up the search for mineral resources – hitherto led by France – and started to funnel equipment into the country and carry out military training.

“The USSR, with its enormous, resource-rich territory, had little economic interest in Africa. Any investment in the continent had the primary aim of using Africa as a political instrument in the context of the Cold War with the West,” explains Anastasiya Shapochkina, a professor at Sciences Po University in Paris and a specialist on Russia. The USSR’s investments in Mali, as in other African countries, were a loss-making enterprise for the Soviets.

The Russians are back
After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia was in financial ruin. During the decade that followed, it refocused its energies on its immediate sphere of influence: former Soviet countries. It was only in 2012, when Mali began its war with Islamist terrorists that had taken control of the north of the country, that Bamako started to re-establish military ties with Moscow.

The government first of all signed an agreement with the Russian arms exporter Rosoboronexport to buy 3,000 Kalashnikov guns for over a million euros, according to BBC Africa. Bamako wanted to update Russian military equipment it had acquired during the Soviet years and as a result negotiated new deals with Moscow.

In 2016, after Russia’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mikhaïl Bogdanov’s visit to Mali, Moscow gifted two helicopters to the Malian army, adding that “other equipment will follow”.
In June 2019, President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta signed a military defence pact with Russia.

“The intensification of military ties is in the interest of our two countries,” announced Sergueï Choïgou, Russia’s defence minister, saying that Moscow wanted to help to create “conditions for durable peace and stability”.

Tensions with France
France, meanwhile, was watching these renewed ties with apprehension, but chose not to wade in. French President Emmanuel Macron said that Russia was no longer an “enemy”, and the priority was fighting against international terrorism.

Until now. The involvement of Russian mercenaries is a red line for France’s foreign ministry. “Wagner is a militia that has shown itself in the past in Syria and Central African Republic to have carried out abuses and all sorts of violations that do not lead to any solution,” said Jean-Yves Le Drian, hinting at a possible withdrawal of all French troops from Mali.
“In my opinion, this reaction indicates a sense of power that is more concerned with controlling its territory than with the fight against terrorism,” Niagalé Bagayoko told FRANCE 24. “On the side of the Malian junta, however, it’s a master stroke, allowing it to appease public opinion while also affirming its own independence. In this context, where France is planning a gradual military withdrawal anyway, Mali is playing France and Russia off against each other to raise the stakes. That said, I think this strategy does have its limits because Russia has nothing to gain by going to fight terrorists in the Sahel.”

Anastasiya Shapochkina agreed. "Despite all the political rhetoric, Africa is a marginal partner for Russia and Putin has no desire to make the same past mistakes. By sending a militia to French-speaking Africa, he above all wants to send a message to France not to meddle in its domestic affairs. That’s why Russia is using a group like Wagner, which is controlled by the Kremlin but has no traceable ties to the authorities. The West is quite right to be suspicious of Wagner, because it’s a mafia motivated solely by money and which has a questionable track record in the fight against terrorism.”

Russia has responded to the furore by choosing its words carefully.

“There is no representative from the Russian armed forces there, and no official negotiation currently under way,” Dmitri Peskov, a spokesperson for President Putin, told journalists on September 16.

France has since begun a diplomatic offensive with Malian authorities and has softened its position.

“Our priority is to be able to continue the fight against terrorism and we hope that the conditions in which we began the campaign won’t be different in the future,” the French Minister of Defence Florence Parly said.
This article has been adapted from the original in French.

 

[Housecarl]

Posted for fair use.....

Al-Shabaab and Chinese Trade Practices in Mozambique - War on the Rocks

In 2020, eight Mozambican public officials and one Chinese national named Zhao were arrested for illegally harvesting and exporting timber from Cabo

warontherocks.com

AL-SHABAAB AND CHINESE TRADE PRACTICES IN MOZAMBIQUE
HENRY TUGENDHAT AND SÉRGIO CHICHAVA
SEPTEMBER 23, 2021
COMMENTARY

In 2020, eight Mozambican public officials and one Chinese national named Zhao were arrested for illegally harvesting and exporting timber from Cabo Delgado — Mozambique’s northernmost province — to China. According to local reports, five of the Mozambicans are awaiting trial while Zhao and three Mozambicans have been released, and the seized wood was returned to Zhao personally.

Chinese manufacturing firms’ appetite for commodities drives people like Zhao to seek their fortunes in vulnerable communities around the world. Frequently, local elites find it in their interest to enable these firms’ engagement in illegal business practices. During a fieldwork visit to the region in July, for instance, local officials in Cabo Delgado’s district of Montepuez described how Chinese timber traders flouted local laws with impunity. This type of sentiment can be found not just across the rest of Mozambique, but across Africa and around the world.

Illegal Chinese business practices in Cabo Delgado are making the province less safe. Cabo Delgado is home to an Islamist insurgency known as al-Shabaab (or Ahlu-Sunnah Wa-Jama, not to be confused with the al-Shabaab in Somalia) that has killed at least 3,000 people since October 2017. The illegal timber trade is exacerbating the conflict because it provides a valuable source of income to the insurgency, and it fuels discontent in the surrounding areas that the insurgency can feed off — namely labor abuses, lost livelihoods from deforestation, and increased vulnerability to severe weather.

Cabo Delgado is an acute and instructive example of the nexus among insecurity, corruption, and corporate malfeasance that may arise again unless Chinese officials take greater action.

Cabo Delgado Timber Trade
Illicit trade and corruption have long bedeviled Mozambique. Its timber reserves were first plundered during the Portuguese colonial period, but illegal trade in endangered species, narcotics, and gemstones has flourished since independence up to the present day. For decades, Cabo Delgado has acted as a hub for illicit trade between Asia and Africa.

This unaddressed illegal trade is partially related to the fact that Mozambique’s civil war, which began in 1977, did not truly end with the 1992 General Peace Agreement. Mozambican independence from Portugal in 1975 created a power vacuum that was filled by Frente de Libertação de Moçambique (commonly known as FRELIMO). Previously, FRELIMO had fought Portuguese colonialism with Soviet and Chinese support. Almost as soon as FRELIMO emerged as the leading power in Mozambique, however, a rival party named Resistência Nacional Moçambicana (known by its acronym, RENAMO) launched a civil war that ended in the uneasy truce of 1992.

Despite the peace, RENAMO contested that national elections were not free and fair, so continued to pose a military threat. As such, meager state resources were overstretched, including in Cabo Delgado. It was only in 2017 that an indefinite truce was signed between the two parties — the same year that the Islamic insurgency broke out. However, RENAMO now has a splinter group of dissidents who do not recognize their new party’s leader elected after the death of Afonso Dhlakama. They call themselves the Junta Militar da RENAMO and they are still fighting the Mozambican state, mainly in the provinces of Sofala and Manica.

Furthermore, the collusion of powerful Maputo-based elites is a long-running problem for the country. FRELIMO has long had factions within its ranks who corruptly accumulated wealth and leveraged their political position to sell resources internationally. In the 1990s, high-profile murders around the privatization of banks were a common occurrence, and more recently there has been a spate of violence around ruby mining in Cabo Delgado. Illegal logging is therefore just another chapter in FRELIMO’s inability to root out damaging rentier activities from their ranks. But unlike endangered species, gemstones, or narcotics, timber is more easily disguised as a legally sourced commodity in global value chains.

Consequences of Inaction
The al-Shabaab insurgency will continue to profit from the illegal timber trade if no action is taken, and the human, economic, and environmental situation in the rest of the province will deteriorate further.

A study published in 2019 estimated that al-Shabaab gains 125 million meticais ($2 million) per month from illegally extracted timber. A local expert on Mozambique’s timber trade stated that “we were unable to link Chinese traders directly with al-Shabaab … but we know that the timber harvested in areas controlled by the militants was sent to China and Vietnam.” He explained that al-Shabaab recruits many Tanzanians and Mozambicans who make sales in safer port towns like Mtwara and Pemba. It is likely here that Chinese traders are engaged.

Even outside areas controlled by al-Shabaab, logging activities have been linked with human trafficking, child labor, health risks, excessively long hours, abuse, and wage withholding.

The sheer scale of deforestation in Mozambique has also meant that hurricanes have wrought more damage on populations than they otherwise would. Deforestation has also led to a loss of traditional livelihoods, which could make it easier for al-Shabaab to recruit new members to its ranks.

Lastly, the proliferation of illegal trade also represents valuable income that the local authorities are losing to criminals in the form of lost taxes. Notwithstanding the risk of embezzlement, this revenue could be spent on building local infrastructure, including schools and hospitals, and enhancing security against al-Shabaab.

So far, Maputo has largely addressed the insurgency as a security issue to be dealt with militarily. Western and African allies have been forthcoming with military assistance in light of the natural gas interests that are under threat, and they have made great strides in recent weeks. But even if they successfully quash al-Shabaab, inaction on the illegal timber trade risks allowing grievances to fester and conflict to reemerge.

Chinese Demand and Chinese Traders
Given the size of China’s market and the influence of Chinese firms, any solution to Mozambique’s illegal timber trade depends on Chinese action.

In 2017 the Mozambican government placed a ban on the export of unprocessed logs in a bid to encourage the growth of more value-generating industries locally, increase local employment opportunities, and address deforestation. But despite these laws, the majority of timber products leaving Mozambique for China are unprocessed logs; Mozambique is believed to be the largest exporter of illegal timber to China on the whole continent. According to Mozambique’s deputy director of forestry, the whole country’s timber trade is “dominated by Chinese people who go to the bush and convince the poorest people to cut the logs.” In 2020, an estimated 99 percent of the country’s total timber exports were destined for China.

Continiued.....

 

[Housecarl]

Continued.....

As scholars working on Chinese-African relations for several years, we have witnessed and documented many ways in which Chinese engagements have contributed to economic development goals in Africa. In fact, even in the case of Chinese loggers in Cabo Delgado, it is not a uniform story. According to the Mozambican historian Yussuf Adam, al-Shabaab attacked and destroyed a Chinese sawmill called Mr. Forest in Mocímboa da Praia in August 2020. That same sawmill was cited by the International Institute for Environment and Development, a U.K.-based research institute, for its positive contributions to the local economy in 2017. Thus, while some Chinese traders are colluding with al-Shabaab, others appear to be running afoul of them.

However, such legal investors are currently overshadowed by the much larger cohort of illegal traders intent on profiting in this largely unregulated space. Like many Chinese migrants in Africa, these illegal traders almost certainly operate on the fringes of the Chinese authorities’ awareness. Chinese embassies realistically do not have the capacity to oversee their nationals engaged in such activities, and often their only interaction is to take them off the hands of local police forces (if caught) and send them home.

Confronting Elite Protections
Even if Chinese officials sought to crack down on their citizens from engaging in illegal practices in Mozambique, local elites who have a stake in these illicit trades will work to protect the Chinese traders who enrich them.

Chinese traders have been operating in the region since long before al-Shabaab arrived, and Chinese officials have previously recognized their responsibility for Mozambique’s deforestation. For instance, in 2013 the forestry administrations of China and Mozambique co-created a two-day workshop in Pemba for Chinese logging companies to learn about local laws. More recently, in January 2020 China legislated a ban on buying, processing, or transporting illegally sourced timber.

China’s collaboration with Mozambican authorities were even heralded as a success in August 2020 when they exchanged information on illegal traders smuggling 82 containers out of Cabo Delgado. Local authorities subsequently recovered 66 containers in January 2021, and nine people were arrested.

But given the scale of the illegal timber trade, recovering 66 containers is a drop in the bucket. Cabo Delgado’s provincial prosecutor, Octávio Zilo, identified the total quantity of recovered timber as 2,032 cubic meters. Mozambican sources report that in 2018, 600,000 cubic meters were exported in the first trimester alone — the returned containers represent no more than half a day’s work based on those numbers.

Powerful Mozambican officials who protect Chinese traders operating illegally present possibly the greatest challenge to addressing this crisis. Indeed, the decision to release Zhao from custody in February 2021 was made by the Mozambican authorities. Chinese authorities could still have issued a warrant for his arrest and trial in China if he was guilty enough for them to return those 66 containers, but they did not do so.

If anything, the amount of media attention around these 66 containers is a distraction that makes Chinese and Mozambican authorities seem to be doing something while masking the true scale of the tragedy.

Shutting down supply lines to China is no panacea. Parallel markets may still arise in their wake. But as long as China is importing over 90 percent of Mozambique’s timber, it has an unquestionably important role to play. Thus, China should enforce legislation to address these supply chains.

Monitoring and Enforcement
Even if some Mozambican elites obstruct meaningful attempts to address the crisis, the Chinese government still has the power to create and destroy markets for these illicit goods. Monitoring and enforcement are key in this regard.

On Sept. 14, the Chinese foreign ministry’s director general of African affairs stated that some Chinese firms involved in illegal mining activities in the Democratic Republic of Congo “will be punished and sanctioned by Chinese government” [sic]. This is a very positive signal, and it will be instructive to see how these penalties are applied in practice.

However, these mining firms were already arrested and investigated by local authorities, according to the Chinese official. There is therefore no guarantee that China will behave similarly in situations where local elites protect Chinese traders.

In the absence of Mozambican support, China can still enforce dissuasive penalties for Chinese firms that do not comply with its Guide on Sustainable Overseas Forest Management. Moreover, Chinese authorities could ensure compliance with Mozambican law such that any unprocessed timber that arrives in China — even if it is not illegal in China — should be assumed to be illegally extracted unless proven otherwise.

And if there is cooperation on the Mozambican side then more is possible. For instance, civil society groups have called for forest inventories, a moratorium on new forestry concessions, and improved monitoring and enforcement of timber transports at strategic checkpoints. Internet-based timber-tracking technologies have also emerged in recent years, which would allow for greater coordination between Chinese and Mozambican customs officials.

Lastly, Western consumers are not absolved of responsibility for these supply chains either. Chinese furniture makers and other manufacturers buy this timber with a view to selling their goods internationally. Western companies have supply chains that run through Chinese factories, past the customs officials in China and Mozambique, and right down to the communities in Cabo Delgado discussed in this piece. Thus, authorities in the United States and Europe need to improve tracking and enforcement over the source of finished timber products from China.

Nevertheless, for all the negative impacts of illegal timber trading, there are also local livelihoods that depend on it. It is therefore not the wholesale disengagement with these commodities that will make a difference, but rather a more conscious and regulated approach to ensure that lives are not exploited or destroyed by these greater economic forces.

Looking Ahead
As long as political and business elites in Mozambique benefit from illegal trade practices, there will be voices that dissuade Chinese officials from doing anything about the corrupt practices of Chinese firms in the timber trade. Despite both sides stating that they wish to end the violence in Cabo Delgado, they have so far failed to significantly thwart the illegal timber trade that fuels the region’s insecurity both directly and indirectly. And as long as China remains the world’s manufacturing powerhouse, its demand for primary commodities will risk creating similar circumstances in other regions affected by conflict.

China often prides itself for its policy of non-intervention and its principle of “developmental peace” by which economic engagements may drive peacebuilding. But in places like Cabo Delgado, China’s limited action and inability to control the economic engagements of its nationals are fundamentally destabilizing a state that needs more support.

Although the recent military intervention by African partners (e.g., the Southern African Development Community’s standby force, and the Rwandan army) offers hope that the conflict with al-Shabaab may end soon, resolving the multiple crises of insecurity and violence in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado region is going to take more than firepower and added personnel.

BECOME A MEMBER

Sérgio Chichava is the director of the Instituto de Estudos Sociais e Económicos in Maputo, Mozambique and co-editor of the book China and Mozambique: From Comrades to Capitalists.
Henry Tugendhat covers China-Africa and China-Latin America peace and security engagements at the United States Institute of Peace and is a Ph.D. candidate at Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies.

Image: Voice of America (Portuguese)

 

[Plain Jane]

August proves deadliest month for migrants braving Atlantic

The International Organization for Migration says migrant deaths along the Atlantic route from West Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands reached a record high last month with 379 lives lost at sea.

apnews.com

August proves deadliest month for migrants braving Atlantic
By CARLEY PETESCHyesterday

FILE - In this Oct. 16, 2020 file photo, a wooden boat used by migrants from Morocco sits on the shore on the coast of the Canary Island of Gran Canaria, Spain. Migrant deaths along the Atlantic route from West Africa to Spain's Canary Islands reached a record high last month with 379 lives lost, the International Organization for Migration said Friday Sept. 24, 2021.

Those deaths account for nearly half the total number of casualties for all of 2021, 735 adults and 50 children, according to the United Nations agency's Missing Migrants Project. (AP Photo/Javier Bauluz, File)

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Migrant deaths along the Atlantic route from West Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands reached a record high last month with 379 lives lost, the International Organization for Migration said Friday.

Those deaths account for nearly half the total number of casualties for all of 2021 — 735 adults and 50 children — according to the United Nations agency’s Missing Migrants Project.

More than 9,300 people have arrived in the Canary Islands by sea in the first eight months of 2021, a significant increase from 2020 when 3,933 arrived. The Atlantic route is one of the most dangerous sea crossings to Europe.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the measures taken to counter it have added to the many other reasons for people to risk migrating by sea: conflict, poverty and limited legal migration channels.

Many survivors describe conditions that suggest the voyage from West African shores is becoming more risky, with more people cramming aboard ships that often run out of gas, food and water.

Some told the IOM of desperate situations where the bodies of people who died on boats were thrown overboard, or passengers went mad from lack of food and water and leapt into the sea. The remains of some have been brought up by fishing vessels.

“Invisible shipwrecks, in which there are no survivors, are believed to be frequent occurrences on this route but are nearly impossible to verify,” said Frank Laczko, Director of the IOM’s Global Migration Data Analysis Center. “The lack of concerted efforts to recover migrant remains on this and all routes means that hundreds of families are left bereaved.”

It’s likely the death toll for those making this difficult journey is significantly higher, Laczko said.

The Spanish civil society organization Caminando Fronteras estimates that 36 boats have disappeared without a trace in the first six months of 2021 along the Atlantic route.

“Ending this senseless loss of life on all maritime migration routes to Europe requires a comprehensive response, enhanced state-led search and rescue capacities and pathways for safe, orderly and regular migration,” Laczko said.
___
Follow AP’s global migration coverage at Migration

 

[jward]

Status-6
@Archer83Able

#BREAKING: Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov says Mali authorities asked Russia's private military company (not specified but likely meant Wagner) to support Mali in fight against terrorism. (RIA)

12:00 PM · Sep 25, 2021·Twitter for Android

 

[Plain Jane]

8 dead as al-Shabab claims blast in Somalia’s capital

Police said a vehicle laden with explosives rammed into cars and trucks at a checkpoint leading to the entrance of the Presidential Palace, killing at least eight people.

apnews.com

8 dead as al-Shabab claims blast in Somalia’s capital
By HASSAN BARISEyesterday



1 of 6
Medical personnel carry a body after a car bomb attack at a Presidential Palace checkpoint in Mogadishu, Somalia, Saturday Sept. 25, 2021. Police said a vehicle laden with explosives rammed into cars and trucks at a checkpoint leading to the entrance of the Presidential Palace, killing at least eight people. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — A vehicle laden with explosives rammed into cars and trucks at a checkpoint leading to the entrance of the Presidential Palace in Somalia, killing at least eight people, police said Saturday.

The checkpoint is the one used by Somalia’s president and prime minister on their way to and from the airport in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu.

Nine other people were wounded in the bombing, police spokesman Abdifatah Adam Hassan said.

The al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group has claimed responsibility. The group often carries out such attacks in the capital.

 

[Plain Jane]

Gunmen release 10 more Nigerian students after fresh ransom

Gunmen have released 10 students in Nigeria's north nearly three months after they were abducted from their school in the state of Kaduna.

apnews.com

Gunmen release 10 more Nigerian students after fresh ransom
By CHINEDU ASADUyesterday


LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Gunmen in Nigeria on Sunday freed 10 students abducted in the northwest Kaduna state after collecting a ransom, a school official told The Associated Press.

The Rev. John Hayab said the students were released on Sunday afternoon, nearly three months after they were seized by the gunmen in Kaduna. Their release comes about a week after 10 of their other schoolmates were also released.

Eleven of the 121 students of the Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna are still being held, Hayab said, expressing frustration at the refusal of the gunmen to release all the students at once.

“If we have the power, we would have brought them,” he told AP when asked why the gunmen held back 11 students. “The bandits are the ones in control, we now have to play along softly and get our children back.”

He was referring to the gunmen who have abducted at least 1,400 schoolchildren in Nigeria in the last year, according to the U.N. children’s agency.


“Our anger is not with the bandits as it is with the government, because we can’t have a government that is supposed to protect us and the bandits are having a field day. There is no day they have ever released one child for free,” the official added.

In the wake of increasing school attacks in the northwest and central parts of Nigeria, some governors have temporarily shut down schools and imposed phone blackouts in their states as they struggle to contain security challenges in Africa’s most populous state.

The first mass school abduction in Nigeria was carried out by the Boko Haram extremist group in 2014. But the West African nation has witnessed more than 10 other attacks on schools in the last year, a sudden spike that authorities have blamed on outnumbered security operatives in remote communities where the affected schools are mostly located.

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari, who rode to power in 2015 on a wave of goodwill after promising to end the country’s security challenges, has come under growing pressure over the security crisis, especially regarding the gunmen abducting schoolchildren and the Boko Haram extremists.

Security analysts have told the AP the gunmen and the extremists might be working together.

 

[Plain Jane]

Russia roasts West over Mali, Afghanistan – DW – 09/26/2021

At the UN General Assembly, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov hit out at France for opposing the deployment of Russian mercenaries in Mali, and slammed the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.

www.dw.com

Russia roasts West over Mali, Afghanistan pullout
At the UN General Assembly, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov hit out at France for opposing the deployment of Russian mercenaries in Mali, and slammed the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.




Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov criticized the US and France at the UN General Assembly

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday criticized France as he confirmed that Mali sought the help of a private Russian military company.

Mali's government has recently faced a backlash from Western European countries over reports that it was hiring mercenaries from the controversial Russian private security firm known as the Wagner Group.

What did Lavrov say about Mali?
"They are combating terrorism, incidentally, and they have turned to a private military company from Russia in connection with the fact that, as I understand, France wants to significantly draw down its military component which was present there," Lavrov said.

"To say, 'I was there first, get out,' it's insulting, first of all for the government in Bamako which invited foreign partners," he told reporters on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.


Watch video01:49
Mali: France ends 'Operation Barkhane'
During his UN General Assembly address, Mali's Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga accused France of abandoning his country with the "unilateral" decision to withdraw troops.
Maiga said his government was justified to "seek other partners" to boost security and slammed a "lack of consultation" by the French.

The current Malian government is a transition authority, the result of a second coup within a matter of months, and is facing increasing regional and international isolation since the power grab.

French soldiers are due to leave some bases in Mali by the end of the year, and French troops in the Sahel should fall from around 5,000 currently to 2,500 or 3,000 by 2023.

What about Afghanistan?
Lavrov also criticized the US for its hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan.

He said the troop pullout was carried out "without any consideration of the consequences ... that there are many weapons left in Afghanistan."


0 seconds of 0 second


Watch video00:42
Blinken defends US withdrawal from Afghanistan
Still, Lavrov said Russia, China, Pakistan and the US were working together to ensure that Afghanistan's new Taliban rulers form a representative government and prevent the spread of extremism.

"The question of international recognition of the Taliban at the present juncture is not on the table," Lavrov said.

His remarks came after the Taliban nominated a UN envoy, setting up a showdown over Afghanistan's seat at the world body.



0 seconds of 0 second

Watch video02:02
One month of Taliban rule in Afghanistan
Criticism goes on
Besides Lavrov's criticism of the US and France over troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and Mali, the top Russian diplomat had more to say.

Speaking to reporters, Lavrov expressed "great concern" at the rising tensions between the US and China, saying Washington's strategies in the Indo-Pacific region included "deterring China's development."

In his assembly speech, Lavrov accused Washington and its Western allies of "persistent attempts to diminish the UN's role in resolving the key problems of today or to sideline it or to make it a malleable tool for promoting someone's selfish interests."

Moscow has been lobbying recently for a summit of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — Russia, China, the US, France and the UK — arguing that Western members are seeking to undermine the body's influence. However, with each of the five permanent members holding effective veto rights, agreement at the Security Council can be notoriously hard to come by.

As examples, Lavrov cited Germany and France's push for an Alliance For Multilateralism, "even though what kind of structure could be more multilateral than the United Nations?"

 

[Plain Jane]

Mali junta’s sovereignty push arouses hope, fear amid troubled anti-jihadist struggle

Mali’s military-dominated government has vociferously emphasised its national sovereignty in recent days, lambasting France’s military strategy in the region and dismissing the election timetable set…

www.france24.com

Mali junta’s sovereignty push arouses hope, fear amid troubled anti-jihadist struggle
Issued on: 29/09/2021 - 18:56

Malian Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga addresses the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly on September 25, 2021 in New York. © AFP
Text byavid RICH
9 min
Listen to the article
Mali’s military-dominated government has vociferously emphasised its national sovereignty in recent days, lambasting France’s military strategy in the region and dismissing the election timetable set by West African regional bloc ECOWAS. Some Malians are enthusiastic about this approach – but others are fearful of jeopardising alliances while jihadist violence continues to rack the country.

Tensions between France and Mali heated up at the UN General Assembly on September 25, when Malian Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga told delegates that France was abandoning his country with a “unilateral” decision to withdraw troops.

Two days later, French Defence Minister Florence Parly hit back at Maiga’s accusations, describing them as “indecent” and “unacceptable” at a Paris conference.

“When you have thousands of troops on the ground [...] and deploy brand-new tanks in the Sahel, that is hardly the attitude of a country that is looking for a way out,” Parly said.


Row over Russian mercenaries
This follows weeks of discord between Paris and Bamako over reports of Mali negotiating a deal for Russian private security group Wagner to supply mercenaries.

Paris sees a Russian paramilitary presence as incompatible with France’s military engagement in the vast, semi-arid Sahel region just south of the Sahara Desert.

>> France and Russia make a stand over which country will have the greater influence in Mali
France has been fighting jihadist groups in the troubled Sahel since 2013 – when Mali asked it to help regain territory seized by Islamist extremists who had hijacked a Tuareg rebellion the previous year.

The French military succeeded in this mission, known as Operation Serval. It then morphed into a longer-term counter-terrorism campaign, Operation Barkhane. But jihadist insurgencies spread throughout Mali and across the border to Niger and Burkina Faso – despite the presence of some 5,000 French troops under the Barkhane banner.

The current friction between France and Mali follows President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement in June that France will merge Barkhane into a broader international operation and move French troops to Niger – seen as a more reliable ally – after the Malian military ousted the country’s civilian rulers the previous month, the country’s second coup d’état in the space of a year.

Now, as France bridles at the potential Russian deal, the Malian junta wants to show that it can pick and choose the country’s military alliances as it sees fit. Mali has the right to “seek other partners”, Maiga put it at the UN.

The Malian government also rejects what it sees as external interference from its West African neighbours. The transitional government appointed after the first military coup, in August 2020, pledged to hold elections within 18 months. But Maiga told FRANCE 24 on Monday that the elections could be delayed by several months. The Malian PM suggested that the deadline set by the regional bloc the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was unrealistic.

Second coup a ‘turning point’
Franco-Malian relations had been frayed long before this month’s reports of a deal with Russia’s Wagner group. Many Malians have criticised Operation Barkhane for failing to stop the inexorable deterioration of the Malian security situation. Anti-French demonstrations flared several times during the presidency of Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, Mali’s last democratically-elected civilian leader who was ousted in the August 2020 coup after a wave of protests calling for him to leave office. Macron even convened a summit of Sahel leaders in January 2020 to express his dismay over the anti-French protests.

Analysis: France rejects Mali 'abandonment' claim

03:34
In this context, France was wary of getting involved when the military ousted Keita. While unhappy about the coup, Paris declined to put pressure on the junta – preferring to focus on the fight against terrorism. But the second coup in May 2021 upset this fragile balance, when the military removed the civilian-led transitional government they themselves had put it place.

“The military officers were political novices when they first came to power in August 2020, so they felt the need to bow to the international community’s demands,” said Mohamed Ag Assory, a Malian political analyst and founder of advisory firm Tidass Strategies Consulting.

“The second coup marked a real turning point with the accession of [military officer] Assimi Goita to the presidency and Maiga’s appointment as PM. Maiga is well-known for his Malian patriotism and a leading figure in the demonstrations against Keita, in a protest movement largely ignored by the international community,” Assory explained.

But now Maiga has come to power, and that can be seen as a kind of “revenge” against Mali’s allies who paid little attention to that wave of protests, Assory added.

Distrust among allies
Although democratic backsliding elsewhere in West Africa – notably in Chad earlier this year and Guinea earlier this month – may embolden Mali’s military-dominated government, it still arouses distrust among its neighbours.

In particular, Niger’s Foreign Minister Hassoumi Massaoudou sharply criticised the possibility of a Malian deal with the Wagner group in an interview with FRANCE 24’s sister service RFI this month – as well as calling on Malian leaders to respect the deadlines ECOWAS has set for the transition back to civilian rule. The Malian government responded with a statement denouncing Massaoudou’s criticism as “unacceptable, unfriendly and condescending”.

The military officers running Mali do not accept such criticism because “they think the country’s recent experiences show elections are not conducive to solving Mali’s problems”, said Aly Tounkara, a sociologist and head of the think-tank the Centre des études sécuritaires et stratégiques au Sahel (Centre for Security and Strategic Studies in the Sahel). The Malian military “seeks legitimacy through the effectiveness of its actions, unlike Mali’s allies, who think democratic elections must take place to legitimate political reforms”.

After its suspension from both ECOWAS and the African Union, Mali now faces the possibility of economic sanctions. In response to the first coup, ECOWAS imposed a trade embargo that severely affected the Malian economy. Analysts say the regional bloc may well impose an embargo again to punish the Malian government for postponing elections.

“So far, ECOWAS has refrained from taking that step again, because the embargo attracted a lot of criticism, as West Africa’s economies are quite independent – which led to negative repercussions for several countries,” Assory said. “But it remains a threat – and the junta is playing with fire by mooting plans to delay the elections.”

A risky political calculation?
Although the Malian government’s emphasis on national independence has gone down poorly with its foreign allies, many Malians have responded enthusiastically – notably on social media and on the streets of the capital. Indeed, thousands of people demonstrated in Bamako on September 22 in support of the military and against perceived foreign interference.

“The desire for sovereignty and the intensifying distrust of Mali’s foreign allies are real phenomena,” Assory noted. “However, it’s important to underline that these ideas are mainly coming from Malians living in urban areas, who have been far less affected by the security crisis than the 80 percent of Malians who live in rural areas and lack the means to make their voices heard. So one does wonder whether the junta’s emphasis on national sovereignty reflects the wishes of the people as a whole.”

“Many Malians believe that, firstly, their country has been left out of counter-terrorism decision-making and, secondly, the state must reconquer Malian territory from insurgents,” Tounkara said. “The junta thinks that tackling these two issues would allow it to show over the long term that it’s an essential political actor – as well as allowing it to downplay the importance of elections.”

“But even though many Malians like the emphasis on national sovereignty, they are also concerned about where it may lead,” Tounkara continued. “If private security companies and Malian troops achieve military victories, that may well strengthen anti-French sentiment. On the other hand, if Bamako cuts ties to France and to its regional allies, it risks finding itself ostracised in the anti-jihadist struggle in the Sahel, without reliable partners to support it. That would be enormously disappointing to the Malian people.”
This article was translated from the original in French.

 

[Plain Jane]

5 years of violent civil war in Cameroon – DW – 10/01/2021

A civil war has been raging in Cameroon since 2016. Separatists in Anglophone regions want their own state, called Ambazonia.

www.dw.com

Separatism in Cameroon: 5 years of violent civil war
A civil war has been raging in Cameroon since 2016. Separatists in Anglophone regions want their own state, "Ambazonia."




Many Anglophones in Cameroon want their own state

Five years ago, angry protests against Francophone dominance in Cameroon escalated — and soon led to armed clashes between various Anglophone separatist groups and the central government.

The conflict between the French-speaking majority state and the smaller English-speaking parts of the country has been simmering for decades.

Conflict rooted in colonialism
Cameroon was under German colonial rule from 1884 to 1916. After the German Empire was defeated in World War I, the League of Nations handed one portion of Cameroon over to France, the other to Britain.

French-administered Cameroon gained independence in 1960. In 1961, a referendum was held in British-ruled Cameroon over whether to join the newly independent Cameroon or Nigeria. The option of independence was not on the ballot. The territory's northern half opted to join Nigeria, whereas the south chose to merge with Cameroon. Since then, Cameroon has been split between a French-speaking eastern and an English-speaking western half.

Here is a timeline of the country's tumultuous since 2016
October 2016: Anglophone Cameroonians launch wildcat strikes, demanding equality. Judges, lawyers and teachers demand the English language be given full recognition in public adminstration, the judiciary and the education and health care sector, as guaranteed by the constitution. They want to see the systemic discrimination of Anglophone Cameroonians end.


Watch video00:53
Protests turn violent in Cameroon
Protesters criticize that English-speaking regions of Cameroon are far less developed than French-speaking parts. They also take issue with crude oil extraction off the country's southwestern coast, arguing the proceeds only benefit Cameroon's Francophone central government. Teachers and judges complain that English speakers are underrepresented in parliament, the government, public administration and universities.

Thousands of French-speaking judges and teachers were dispatched to Anglophone Cameroon at the start of the 2016 school term. Cameroon's central government has been working to supplant the region's British-style legal and education system with the French model. Anglophone Cameroonians complain that those French-speaking judges and teachers are undermining the region's English-language culture.

November 2016: The central government first remains silent on the situation, then suppresses the Anglophone protest movement. Subsequently, tension escalate, with English-speaking Cameroonians variously calling to reestablish a federal system, or split from Francophone Cameroon. Elements within the separatist movement now regard English-speaking Cameroon as an independent state, calling it "Ambazonia."

A whole range of different, Anglophone separatist groups emerge, who total some 4,000 members altogether. They are supported by Cameroon's diaspora. The most influential separatists organizations are the Ambazonia Defence Forces, Ambazonia Self-Defence Council, African People's Liberation Movement and its armed wing, the Southern Cameroons Defence Forces. The secessionist movement is riven by ethnic rivalries, lacking overall military and political leadership.

South Cameroonians, seen here at a demonstration in Berlin in 2018, have celebrated Ambazonia's 'Independence Day'

December 2016: Several persons are shot and killed by security forces in the city of Bamenda, in Cameroon's northwestern Anglophone region. Dozens are wounded in the clashes. The army fails to bring the situation under control.

January 2017: Cameroon's central government launches a concerted campaign to weaken Anglophone separatist groups. English-speaking Cameroon is cut off the internet from January to April 2017. Relatives of Anglophone activists are arrested. Cameroon's army and police force crack down on renewed protests staged by English-speaking teachers and lawyers. Separatist groups like the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium subsequently call on all English-speakers to participate in general strikes every Monday, bringing public life to a standstill.


Watch video02:34
Is a Biya political dynasty taking shape?
October 2017: Separatist leader Ayuk Tabe declares the Republic of Ambazonia an independent state on October 1, a national holiday officially celebrated as Unification Day. Several regions fall under control of armed separatist groups. President Paul Biya, meanwhile, continues downplaying and suppressing the conflict.

International organizations become increasingly aware of the conflict. Human Rights Watch (HRW) reports 4,000 people have died in clashes, with some 60,000 forced to flee to neighboring Nigeria. It says about 850,000 children are unable to attend school due to the ongoing conflict. Some 2,3 million out of the 5 million Anglophone Cameroonians depend on humanitarian aid, according to HRW.

October 2018: President Paul Biya, in office since 1982, is reelected with 71,28% of the vote. The election is, however, marred by allegations of fraud. Political and ethnic tensions between Biya supporters and the opposition intensify.

Paul Biya was reelected in October 2018

February 2019: Maurice Kamto, who heads the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (MRC) opposition party, is sentenced to eight months behind bars for inciting violence. Kamto is has repeatedly protested against systemic discrimination.

September 2019: President Paul Biya announces though state-run media outlets that a grand national dialogue will be held on September 10 to resolve the country's protracted conflict. Talks are planned from September 30 until October 4. The governing Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (RDPC) party, several religious organizations and civil society actors support Biya's imitative. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomes the step.
Most opposition parties, however, reject the format, as key separatist leaders remain in jail. They also criticize the summit will neither address a potential return to federalism, nor possible independence for English-speaking regions of Cameroon.

Mediation efforts by the UN, African Union (AU) and Catholic Church are dismissed by President Biya.

Opposition leader Maurice Kamto was released from prison on October 5, 2019

December 2019: President Biya ratifies several laws designed to promote bilingualism and decentralization in Cameroon. Opposition figures, however, decry the move as "window dressing" to keep Biya in power.

February 2020: Maurice Kamto's MRC party boycotts the parliamentary and municipal elections. The ruling RDPC party wins the vast majority of votes. Voter turnout, however, has reached a historic low.

March 2020: Attacks by radical Islamic terror group Boko Haram on northeastern Cameroon intensify. Incursions are launched from Nigeria and Chad, where Boko Haram are based. The campaign brings further instability to Cameroon.

March 2020: Amid the COVID pandemic, the separatist militant group Southern Cameroon Defence Forces declares a cease-fire from March 29, 2020, following a call by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The largest separatist militant group, the Ambazonian Defence Forces (ADF), declines to take part in the cease-fire. The attacks continue.

September 2021: Deadly attacks by various separatist groups on military posts and vehicles of the Cameroonian army continue to be a daily occurrence. Cameroonian security forces are readying for robust clashes on October 1, which officially marks the founding of the Cameroonian state. On the same day, separatists celebrate the proclamation of the independent "Republic of Ambazonia" in 2017.
This article was translated from German.