INTL Africa : Politics, Economics, Military- July 2022

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June's rhread:

Regional Conflict in Mediterranean beginning page 82:
Main Coronavirus thread beginning page 1592:



Sudan: At least 7 dead in mass protests against army rule
Thousands of people are taking part in protests to demand the military hand over power to civilians. At least seven people were killed as security forces moved to quash the demonstrations.



People protesting in the streets of Khartoum
People gathered in the streets in February following the arrest of a senior government official by Sudan's military authorities.

At least seven protesters were shot dead in Sudan on Thursday, medics said, as huge crowds staged rallies against an October military coup.

In the capital, Khartoum, security forces fired tear gas and water cannons in an attempt to push back the demonstrators marching toward the presidential palace, witnesses said. They estimated that the crowds in Khartoum and its twin cities of Omdurman and Bahri numbered in the tens of thousands.

Internet services were suspended after activists called for mass protests to mark the third anniversary of huge demonstrations that led to the overthrow of autocratic ruler Omar al-Bashir. That uprising paved the way for a power-sharing arrangement between civilian groups and the military.

While web blackouts have been one of many tools used by authorities to restrict information flows, it is the first time in months that connectivity has been blocked ahead of demonstrations.

Internet shutdown
Orders to shut down the internet came from authorities, staff at Sudan's two private sector telecoms companies told the Reuters news agency.

Earlier in the day, security forces closed bridges between the capital and its two sister cities and fired large amounts of teargas at the gathering crowds, witnesses reported. Civilians pushed back using stones to barricade key entry and exit points throughout the city.

"June 30 is our way to bring down the coup and block the path of any fake alternatives," said the Forces for Freedom and Change, an alliance of civilian groups whose leaders were ousted in the coup.
A group of pro-democracy protesters in Sudan
Demonstrators also took to the streets earlier in June to demand justice for pro-democracy protesters killed by authorities in 2019

A UN special representativecalled this week on security forces to exercise restraint. "Violence against protesters will not be tolerated," Volker Perthes said in a statement.

Sudan's Foreign Ministry was critical of Perthes' comments, saying they were built on "assumptions" and "contradict his role as facilitator" in dialogue between the country's military leadership and civilian groups.

Protests mark the anniversary of several military coups
Internet access in Sudan was shut down for more than a month in 2019 after activists staged protests against a military coup that had toppled the active civilian-military transitional government.
Thursday's protests also marked the anniversary of the 1989 military coup that crumbled Khartoum's last civilian-elected government.

Foreign governments and aid groups slashed aid to Sudan in response to the new leadership's ascent to power, amplifying the economic crisis that was already present in the country.
The UN, African Union and IGAD attempted to stage negotiations between generals and civilians, but the main civilian factions have refused their efforts.
asw/fb (Reuters, AFP)
 
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Zagdid

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Liberia: 1.5 million Gallons of Diesel Fuel Belonging to Petro Trade Missing from Storage Facility at LPRC
FRONT SLIDERNEWS By Lennart Dodoo
Last updated Jul 1, 2022

MONROVIA –
The Heritage Law Firm representing Petro Trade has written the management of the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company (LPRC) questioning the whereabouts of about 1.5 million gallons of diesel fuel which has reportedly disappeared from their storage facility.

The owners/importers of the missing products are said to be demanding an immediate replacement of their products in order to enable them to remain in business and avert a possible collapse of the sector and a subsequent economic disaster that the country is not prepared for.

It remains unclear what the LPRC did with the automotive gas oil (AGO), but sources within Petro Trade say the LPRC informed them that Aminata has 400,000 gallons of their product while Nexium has 300,000. “How is that possible when we are not informed. Where is the remaining product, then?” the inside source asked rhetorically.

According to the inside source at Petro Trade, their suppliers are now afraid to supply them and they are not going to bring any product into the country for now. This, according to them, might cause an acute shortage on the market and create an unbearable situation for citizens.

FrontPageAfrica could not get comments from LPRC on the missing product. However, FrontPageAfrica has seen a June 17, 2022 communication from the Deputy Managing Director of LPRC, Mr. Adrian Mario, to the CEO of Petro Trade, Mr. Ibrahim Hamdan, informing him that “upon LPRC’s reconciliation of your stocks, our book balance indicates that you have 1,474.576 gallons of AGO”.

The inside source at Petro Trade says their management is now wondering how their product was given out or sold without their consent.

According to the source, the product went missing between April and March despite the LPRC book reconciliation as of June 17 indicating that they had over a million gallons.

Product lifting from the LPRC terminal is subject to effective electricity to run the pumps & loading rack, technical team to open tanks & operate pumps and loading rack, importer or distributor delivery order, LPRC TLO, and security to open gates.

All of the above procedures are under LPRC Operation & Marketing department and are important to be indicated as no one can take 1.3 million gallons by tubes, bottles, or gallons out of the LPRC compound.
 

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Protesters storm Libya's parliament building in Tobruk
Demonstrators in the city of Tobruk broke into the parliament building and set fires in front of it. Libyans have taken to the street to protest electricity cuts.



Libyan security forces stand guard outside the entrance to the conference center in the eastern coastal city of Tobruk, the building used as the parliament. Archive image from March 2021.
The conference center in Tobruk, pictured in this 2021 archive image, is currently used as the parliament of Libya

Libyans in several cities took to the streets on Friday to express their anger with the government over power cuts.

Local television stations reported that protesters broke into the building of the parliament in Tobruk and committed acts of vandalism. Images also showed columns of black smoke coming from outside the building.

Security forces protecting the parliament withdrew from the site, Reuters cited an eyewitness as saying.

Libya's parliament, or House of Representatives, has been based in Tobruk, hundreds of kilometers east of the capital, Tripoli, since an east-west split in 2014 after the uprising and western intervention that ousted longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi three years earlier.
A rival body, formally known as the High Council of State, is based in Tripoli.

Protests across the divided country
In Tripoli's Martyrs' Square, several hundred people gathered to shout slogans demanding electricity, criticizing armed factions and politicians and demanding elections in the capital's biggest protests against the ruling elite for years.
Young people stage a protest demanding the dissolution of the legislative and executive institutions in the country at Martyr's Square in Tripoli, Libya on July 01, 2022.
Libyans also protested in the capital Tripoli on Friday, demanding the dissolution of the legislative and executive institutions

Smaller protests of dozens of demonstrators also took place in each of Benghazi and Tobruk and some smaller towns, showing how anger at the situation extends across the geographical divide between the country's rival forces.

Libya has endured several days of power cuts, worsened by the blockade of several oil facilities against the backdrop of political rivalries.
"We want the lights to work," protesters chanted.

Support from Tripoli
Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah, the head of Libya's Government of National Unity, said he supported the protesters. He called for all institutions to leave including the government, adding that it was only possible through "election."

Dbeibah, the sitting prime minister was appointed by a 2021 UN-backed commission on an interim basis. He has since refused to step down, saying he would only do so for an elected government. His administration is based in the capital of Tripoli.

Fathi Bashagha was appointed prime minister by the country’s eastern parliament, which based in the city of Tobruk, in February 2022. The administration is backed by military commander General Khalifa Haftar.

Both sides are supported by different militias and foreign powers.

Deadlock in Libya
Presidential and parliamentary elections, originally set for December last year, were meant to cap a UN-led peace process following the end of the last major round of violence in 2020.
But the vote never took place due to several contentious candidacies and deep disagreements over the polls' legal basis between rival power centers in the east and west.
The United Nations said on Thursday that talks between the rival Libyan institutions aimed at breaking the deadlock had failed to resolve key differences.
sms, dh/msh (AFP, Reuters)
 

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https://apnews.com/article/africa-france-united-nations-mali-2cc75f283c8fb6064e0b046f434cd33c#

European force battling extremists withdraws from Mali
By ANGELA CHARLTONJuly 1, 2022


FILE - Soldiers from the European Task force Takuba march during the annual Bastille Day parade on the Champs-Elysees in Paris, Wednesday July 14, 2021. A European military task force fighting extremists in Mali has formally withdrawn from the West African country amid tensions with its ruling military junta. The French military spearheaded the Takuba task force, and announced Friday, July 1, 2022 that it officially ended its work. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly, File)

FILE - Soldiers from the European Task force Takuba march during the annual Bastille Day parade on the Champs-Elysees in Paris, Wednesday July 14, 2021. A European military task force fighting extremists in Mali has formally withdrawn from the West African country amid tensions with its ruling military junta. The French military spearheaded the Takuba task force, and announced Friday, July 1, 2022 that it officially ended its work. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly, File)

PARIS (AP) — A European military task force that helped Mali’s government fight Islamic extremists has formally withdrawn from the West African country amid tensions with its ruling military junta.

The French military, which spearheaded the Takuba task force, announced Friday that it officially ended its work Thursday. The move was tied to France’s decision earlier this year to withdraw troops from Mali after nine years helping Malian forces fight violent extremists who had threatened to seize power.

The European departure comes after at least 132 people were killed in several villages in central Mali in recent weeks in attacks blamed on jihadi rebels linked to al-Qaida, and after a contractor for the U.N. peacekeeping force in Mali was killed Thursday.

It also comes as Mali’s junta has grown closer to Russia, as Moscow has looked to build alliances and gain sway in Africa.

The European Takuba force was composed of several hundred special forces troop
s from 10 countries: Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, and Sweden. It aimed at training and protecting Malian combat forces.



Despite the withdrawal, the French military called the force a “strategic and tactical success” and an example of “what Europeans are able to achieve together in complex security environments,” saying that lessons learned from Takuba could be used in future joint operations.
https://apnews.com/article/russia-u...and-politics-a8652c890cc9583840468eafb049175e
In announcing its pullout, France accused Mali’s authorities of neglecting the fight against Islamic extremists. France is maintaining a military presence in neighboring West African nations facing similar threats.

Insurgents remain active in Mali, and extremist groups affiliated with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group have moved from the arid north to more populated central Mali, stoking animosity and violence between ethnic groups in the region.

The recent attacks on villages in central Mali were the deadliest since mutinous soldiers toppled the president in 2020.

Then on Thursday, a Malian contractor for the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali was killed by armed militants on a motorcycle in the city of Menaka. The U.N. force MINUSMA said he was in route to see his hospitalized wife when he was killed, denouncing the killing as a “cowardly and barbaric act.”

The U.N. Security Council voted Wednesday to maintain the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali, while condemning its military rulers for using mercenaries who are accused of committing human rights and humanitarian violations.

The junta has hired mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group, which has been accused by the European Union and human rights groups of violating human rights and international humanitarian law. While the Kremlin denies links to the company, Western analysts call it a tool of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russia and China abstained from the French-drafted U.N. resolution, which extends the mandate of the mission until June 30, 2023, with its current ceiling of 13,289 military personnel and 1,920 international police.

Officials say more than 270 peacekeepers have died in Mali, making it the U.N.’s deadliest peacekeeping mission.
 

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ECOWAS: West African bloc lifts Mali economic sanctions
The sanctions have badly hit Mali, with its economy already under severe strain from military coups and a decade-long jihadist insurgency.



Ghana's President Nana Akufo Addo, ECOWAS Commission President Jean-Claude Kassi Brou and Ivory Coast's President Alassane Ouattara at the ECOWAS summit
ECOWAS leaders met in Ghana's capital Accra to discuss transitions to democracy in Mali,

Burkina Faso and Guinea
Leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Sunday lifted economic and financial sanctions imposed on Mali, after its military rulers agreed to return to civilian rule by March 2024 and published a new electoral law.

ECOWAS Commission President Jean-Claude Kassi Brou told a news conference that the sanctions will be lifted immediately. Borders with Mali will reopen and regional diplomats will return to Bamako.

"However, the heads of state decided to maintain individual sanctions, and the suspension of Mali from ECOWAS, until the return to constitutional rule," Kassi Brou said.

The individual sanctions targeted members of the ruling junta and the transitional council.

Sanctions hit Mali hard
The sanctions have badly hit the country, whose economy is already under severe strain from a decade-long jihadist insurgency.

Mali, which underwent coups in August 2020 and May 2021, has defaulted on over $300 million (€287 million) of its debt due to the sanctions.

The sanctions also cut the conflict-ravaged nation off from the regional financial market and the regional central bank.



Watch video02:08
Malians suffer under strain of economic sanctions
After months of talks, Malian authorities on Wednesday approved a plan to hold presidential elections in February 2024.

The vote will be preceded by a referendum on a revised constitution in March 2023 and legislative elections in late 2023.

What's the decision on Guinea and Burkina Faso?
ECOWAS leaders, who met in Ghana on Sunday, also assessed the political situation in Guinea and Burkina Faso, where military coups took place in September 2021 and January this year, respectively.

Kassi Brou said the leaders accepted a pledge from the junta, that seized power in Burkina Faso in January, to restore constitutional order within 24 months.

Economic and financial sanctions on Burkina Faso were also lifted, he said.

But ECOWAS rejected a three-year transition proposed by coup leaders who seized power in Guinea in September. The leaders called on Guinea's junta to propose a new timeline by the end of July or face economic sanctions.
sri/jsi (AFP, Reuters)
 

ghost

Veteran Member
June's rhread:

Regional Conflict in Mediterranean beginning page 82:
Main Coronavirus thread beginning page 1592:



Sudan: At least 7 dead in mass protests against army rule
Thousands of people are taking part in protests to demand the military hand over power to civilians. At least seven people were killed as security forces moved to quash the demonstrations.



People protesting in the streets of Khartoum
People gathered in the streets in February following the arrest of a senior government official by Sudan's military authorities.

At least seven protesters were shot dead in Sudan on Thursday, medics said, as huge crowds staged rallies against an October military coup.

In the capital, Khartoum, security forces fired tear gas and water cannons in an attempt to push back the demonstrators marching toward the presidential palace, witnesses said. They estimated that the crowds in Khartoum and its twin cities of Omdurman and Bahri numbered in the tens of thousands.

Internet services were suspended after activists called for mass protests to mark the third anniversary of huge demonstrations that led to the overthrow of autocratic ruler Omar al-Bashir. That uprising paved the way for a power-sharing arrangement between civilian groups and the military.

While web blackouts have been one of many tools used by authorities to restrict information flows, it is the first time in months that connectivity has been blocked ahead of demonstrations.

Internet shutdown
Orders to shut down the internet came from authorities, staff at Sudan's two private sector telecoms companies told the Reuters news agency.

Earlier in the day, security forces closed bridges between the capital and its two sister cities and fired large amounts of teargas at the gathering crowds, witnesses reported. Civilians pushed back using stones to barricade key entry and exit points throughout the city.

"June 30 is our way to bring down the coup and block the path of any fake alternatives," said the Forces for Freedom and Change, an alliance of civilian groups whose leaders were ousted in the coup.
A group of pro-democracy protesters in Sudan
Demonstrators also took to the streets earlier in June to demand justice for pro-democracy protesters killed by authorities in 2019

A UN special representativecalled this week on security forces to exercise restraint. "Violence against protesters will not be tolerated," Volker Perthes said in a statement.

Sudan's Foreign Ministry was critical of Perthes' comments, saying they were built on "assumptions" and "contradict his role as facilitator" in dialogue between the country's military leadership and civilian groups.

Protests mark the anniversary of several military coups
Internet access in Sudan was shut down for more than a month in 2019 after activists staged protests against a military coup that had toppled the active civilian-military transitional government.
Thursday's protests also marked the anniversary of the 1989 military coup that crumbled Khartoum's last civilian-elected government.

Foreign governments and aid groups slashed aid to Sudan in response to the new leadership's ascent to power, amplifying the economic crisis that was already present in the country.
The UN, African Union and IGAD attempted to stage negotiations between generals and civilians, but the main civilian factions have refused their efforts.
asw/fb (Reuters, AFP)
GODS army may be afoot?
 

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Burkina Faso: Dozens killed in militant violence
Multiple violent attacks during the weekend attributed to Islamist militants have claimed over 30 lives in the West African country.



Police officers drive on a vehicle during a protest against the security situation on July 3
Repeated violence in Burkina Faso is part of a broader chain of terror that's plagued the Sahel region

Islamist militants killed at least 22 people and injured several others in Burkina Faso, a government official said.

"The cowardly and barbaric attack" occurred late Monday in several villages in the northwestern Kossi province, regional governor Babo Pierre Bassinga said in a statement.
Bassinga said children were among the victims.

A security official told AFP news agency that armed men attacked the village of Bourasso in Kossi overnight.

Military forces have been deployed to the area and hosts are being organized to take care of people who fled to nearby cities, the statement added.

In another attack on Saturday in northern Burkina Faso, 12 people died in Namissiguima commune in Yatenga province, another security source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Islamist violence on the rise
Burkina Faso's military ousted Burkina Faso's democratically elected president, Roch Marc Christian Kabore, this January, accusing him of not doing enough to stem growing militant Islamist violence.

Even though a new government was formed this March, the violence has only increased.
At least 135 people were killed in 12 militant attacks during the first two weeks of June, the Associated Press reported, citing an internal security report for aid workers.

Burkina Faso's military recently said it would create two military zones to check violence.
Burkina Faso has been batting an Islamist insurgency since 2015, led by by groups like al-Qaeda and the "Islamic State."

Since 2015, thousands of people have been killed and nearly 2 million displaced, according to the United Nations.


0 , AFP, AP)
 

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Ethiopia says Sudan agrees to border dispute 'dialogue'
The Ethiopian and Sudanese leaders met on the sidelines of a regional conference to discuss the long-running, often violent, clashes at their border.



 Workneh Gebeyahu with Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Abiy Ahmed
Al-Burhan (center) met with Ahmed (right) at a regional conference

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Sudan's military leader, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, met in Nairobi, Kenya on Tuesday to settle a border dispute that has led to violent clashes in recent weeks.

"We both made a commitment for dialogue (and) peaceful resolution to outstanding issues," Abiy tweeted after the meeting on the sidelines of a summit for the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), an eight-member regional bloc for the horn of Africa and neighboring states.

Burhan, who took power after a military coup last year, said the IGAD meeting gave them an opportunity "to take stock of the response" to challenges in the region, but he did not elaborate.

"We are happy to convene in a very short time to discuss matters of great importance," he said. Sudan's ruling sovereign council said only that there had been a "closed-door meeting" between Burhan and Abiy.

Trading accusations
The longtime dispute between the two countries over the fertile border region of al-Fashqa. The region, which lies close to Ethiopia's war-torn Tigray, has long been cultivated by Ethiopian farmers but is claimed by Sudan, fueling a surge in tensions that has sometimes turned violent.

Most recently, Sudan said that seven of its soldiers and a civilian were killed on June 22 after Ethiopian forces took them captive on the Sudanese side of the border and then brought them back into Ethiopia. Ahmed's government has denied responsibilty, blaming the killings on a local militia.

The two nations traded accusations again the next day, with an Ethiopian official saying Sudan's armed forces had fired heavy artillery in the disputed area.



Watch video02:05
Food shortages hit Sudan's Darfur region hard
es/rt (AFP, Reuters)
 

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Congo, Rwanda agree to 'de-escalate' tensions
Relations between the Democratic Republic of Congo and neighboring Rwanda hit an all-time low as each blamed the other for escalating violence in the region. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced by fighting.



People walk on the road near Kibumba, north of Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, as they flee fighting between Congolese forces and M23 rebels in North Kivu, Tuesday May 24, 2022.
The vast mineral-rich Congo is struggling to contain dozens of armed groups in the volatile east

The Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda have agreed to a "de-escalation process" to curb the fighting and violence along their shared eastern border, the Congolese presidency said Wednesday.

The outcome was the result of talks hosted by Angola that offered to mediate between the two feuding African nations.

Angolan President Joao Lourenco said he was pleased to announce that both countries had "agreed on a ceasefire, among other measures," without sharing any details.

A 'roadmap' to restore diplomatic ties
The AFP news agency reported that a roadmap toward normalizing diplomatic ties between Congo and Rwanda included ending hostilities between rebel groups of Congo, M23 and the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, known by their French initials FDLR.

Their roadmap established a six-goal method of de-escalating violence, AFP reported. Other measures involved setting up a joint DRC-Rwanda committee.

The committee is set to hold its first meeting in the Angolan capital, Luanda, on July 12, the news agency said.



Watch video02:45
Border violence between DRC, Rwanda revives animosities
AFP specified some goals of the roadmap, with one of them being: "Defeat FDLR and its splinter groups which are at the origin of tensions between Rwanda and DRC and play a major role in the insecurity of the DRC in order to ensure that the threat to security ceases completely."

The Congolese presidency asked that the M23 cease hostilities under the roadmap, saying the "exploitation of natural resources in the region must be done in strict respect of the sovereignty of states," AFP reported as being another goal.

Tensions between DRC and Rwanda
Tensions especially flared in March 2022 in eastern DRC after M23 rebels, after a decade of relative calm, attacked Congolese army positions near the border between Uganda and Rwanda.

Congo saw people fleeing to its towns for safety, with the government in Kinshasa blaming Rwanda for aiding M23 rebels, a largely ethnic Tutsi group that accuses the Congolese government of not incorporating more fighters in the Congolese army as part of a 2009 agreement.

Tensions kept rising as M23 rebels kept up their offensive in weeks that followed, either encircling key cities like the provincial capital Goma or capturing strategic towns like Bunagana on the Congolese-Uganda border.

Rwanda has denied claims of aiding M23 rebels and has accused Congo's army of fighting alongside the FDLR, an armed group mainly comprised of ethnic Hutus who fled Rwanda after the 1994 genocide.

In May, Congo suspended RwandAir flights and summoned Rwanda's ambassador to express disapproval. At the end of May, Rwanda's foreign minister told reporters it would "not sit idly by" if attacks continued along the border.

At the end of June, the United Nations Security Council also released a statement and said that the alarming resurgence of armed groups was "threatening the security and stability of the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo."
rm/sms (AFP, AP)
 

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Nigeria: Rebels attack prison, free all Boko Haram suspects
A group of attackers used bombs to breach the walls of the Kuje prison near Abuja in a targeted attempt to free Boko Haram militants, according to a senior Interior Ministry official.


Watch video03:22
Mass prison break-out in Nigeria: Uways Idris reports from Abuja
Gunmen ambushed Kuje prison near Nigeria's capital city of Abuja, freeing around 600 of the nearly 900 inmates late Tuesday. Bandits attacked the maximum-security prison with guns and high-grade explosives. One security officer was killed during the raid and three others were injured.
Half of the escaped prisoners are now back in police custody, according to officials.
"They have reported themselves to the police, some we have successfully retrieved from the bushes where they were hiding, and (as of) now we have retrieved about 300 out of about 600 that got out of the jail cells," said Shuaib Belgore, who serves as the permanent secretary at Nigeria's Interior Ministry.
A security officer with a sniffer dog stands near the wreck of a burning car
Charred vehicles were seen outside of the prison on Wednesday morning

Belgore pointed to Boko Haram as collaborators in the attack and said that the gunmen came "specifically for their co-conspirators."

"Some of them are in the general (prison) population so they broke out and other people in that population escaped as well but many of them have returned," Belgore said. Kuje prison housed 64 suspected members of the Boko Haram extremist group — all of whom are still on the run.

While the Kuje prison raid was the first to occur in the capital, rebels have conducted several similar jailbreaks in northeastern Nigeria.

Rebels attack presidential convoy
The attack occurred around the same time as an ambush carried out by rebels on a presidential convoy. The motorcade was en route to the hometown of President Muhammadu Buhari in northern Nigeria. Buhari was not present at the time.

"Attackers opened fire on the convoy from ambush positions but were repelled by the military, police and security personnel accompanying the convoy," a presidential spokesman said in a statement.

The two incidents underscore growing security concerns in Nigeria. Extremist violence is a primary security challenge for Africa's most populous country. Violence carried out by Boko Haram and an off-shoot group calling itself "Islamic State Central African Province" has caused more than 35,000 deaths and displaced over 2 million people in Nigeria, according to the UN.
asw/dj (Reuters, AFP, AP)
 

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https://apnews.com/article/africa-r...-abiy-ahmed-16cef83f823be6f0d485d9e8eddd4792#

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Ethiopia’s leader admits military losses in insurgencies
Associated PressJuly 7, 2022


Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed addresses lawmakers at the parliament in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Thursday, July 7, 2022. Abiy said Thursday his government's police and soldiers are dying on a daily basis as the country grapples with insurgencies in Oromia and elsewhere. (AP Photo)
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Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed addresses lawmakers at the parliament in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Thursday, July 7, 2022. Abiy said Thursday his government's police and soldiers are dying on a "daily" basis as the country grapples with insurgencies in Oromia and elsewhere. (AP Photo)

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Ethiopian police and soldiers are dying on a “daily” basis as the country grapples with insurgencies in Oromia and elsewhere, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said Thursday.

Abiy in a parliamentary address repeated a vow to destroy the Oromo Liberation Army, a rebel group his government blames for two recent massacres targeting members of the Amhara ethnic group.

“As a government, the fact we are not able to prevent the acts they committed, we feel quite sad,” Abiy said. “Daily police officers die, security forces die” while fighting the Oromo rebels, he said.

In a rare admission of government losses, Abiy also said that “hundreds” of district officials have been killed in attacks.

The increase in violence in Oromia comes as the 20-month-long conflict with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front appears to be reducing. Last month Abiy revealed a committee has been set up to negotiate with the TPLF, but if the talks fail he suggested his government is ready to renew military efforts.


“The unity and the interests of our country, if it becomes difficult to secure it peacefully, we will pay sacrifices with our lives,” Abiy told lawmakers. “Outside of that, we believe there is hope. Our door will remain open for peace.”

In Oromia, the latest killings occurred on Monday, resulting in the deaths of an unknown number of civilians in the unstable West Wellega area. It followed a separate attack in the region last month that witnesses said killed hundreds.

The Oromo Liberation Army, or OLA, an outlawed group that the government refers to as Shene, denies carrying out the killings.

In response to the violence, regional and federal forces have stepped up their offensive against the OLA. Abiy said counterinsurgency efforts have been “95%” successful in saving civilian lives and compared the recent ethnic-based killings to gun violence in the United States.

“The security forces serve the country at a high cost, so the parliament should recognize their efforts,” Abiy said, describing the mass killings as “inhumane acts” perpetrated by “destructive, evil forces.”

On Wednesday Ethiopia’s parliament set up a special body to investigate the killings in Oromia, where regional government forces have also been accused of human rights abuses.
Human Rights Watch in a statement this week said a “culture of impunity” has “emboldened unaccountable security forces” that it says are responsible for a spate of extrajudicial killings in Oromia.

The killings are putting pressure on Abiy’s government to do more to protect civilians as waves of ethnic unrest persist in Africa’s second-most populous country with a population of 115 million people. Ethiopia has more than 90 different ethnic groups, according to its census. The Oromo are the largest group with an estimated 34% of the population followed by the Amhara with 27%.

Violence between various ethnic groups has increased in recent years as a result of longstanding rivalries.

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https://apnews.com/article/migratio...nd-politics-ac9566f5c4bfd5305cc4184d80581ed2#

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Italy relocates migrants after Lampedusa center overwhelmed
yesterday


ROME (AP) — The Italian navy on Saturday began relocating the first 600 migrants from the Sicilian island of Lampedusa after its refugee identification center became overwhelmed with new arrivals and photos circulated of filthy conditions.

July has seen a sustained uptick in daily migrant arrivals in Italy compared to recent years, according to Interior Ministry statistics. Overall, migrant arrivals are up sharply this year, with 30,000 would-be refugees making landfall so far compared to 22,700 in the same period in 2021 and 7,500 in 2020.

Lampedusa, which is closer to North Africa than mainland Italy, is often the destination of choice for Libyan-based migrant smugglers, who charge desperate people hundreds of dollars apiece to cross the Mediterranean Sea on packed, dangerous dinghies and boats.
The Italian navy’s San Marco ship was taking an initial 600 migrants from Lampedusa to another center in Sicily and from there they were be distributed elsewhere in Italy. the ministry said the transfers would continue Sunday.



Lampedusa’s former mayor, Giusi Nicolini, posted what she said were photos and videos taken in the center in recent days, showing new arrivals sleeping on the floor on pieces of foam and bathrooms piled high with plastic bottles and garbage.

https://apnews.com/article/nato-rus...weden-moscow-002d36695a2e29f1d70d2c85faee225c
“There are 2,100 people packed in the Lampedusa welcome center,” which has beds for 200, she wrote on Facebook. “These could be photos from Libya, but no, it’s Italy. And these are the ones who survived.”

Right-wing lawmakers were quick to seize on the overcrowding, blaming the left-wing parties in Italy’s government for being too soft on migration.
“And this would be the left’s famous humanitarian model?” Georgia Meloni of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, tweeted along with the images. “Saying no to mass illegal immigration also means saying no to this.”
___
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South Africa: 19 killed in bar shootings
Gunmen opened fire in two bars in what appeared to be random shootings, police said. President Cyril Ramaphosa called for improving social and economic conditions to stem gun violence.



A team of from the forensic pathology service carry on a stretcher a victim's body towards their vehicle at a crime scene in Soweto, South Africa, on July 10, 2022.
A group of men opened fire at the Soweto township bar, shooting scores

A shooting attack targeted a bar in South Africa's Soweto township, west of Johannesburg, late on Saturday, killing 15 people and critically injuring others.

It came just hours after four people were killed and eight were injured when two men fired at customers in a bar in the eastern city of Pietermaritzburg, in the KwaZulu-Natal province.

'Random' shootings
In Soweto, Police reports indicate that a group of men arrived in a minibus taxi and started firing at the bar, prompting those inside to attempt to flee.

A police commissioner Elias Mawela told the AP news agency that the police believed it was a group who attacked the premise from the number of cartridges found on the scene.

"You can see that a high caliber firearm was used and it was shooting randomly. You can see that every one of those people was struggling to get out of the tavern," Mawela told AP.


Watch video01:52
Gunmen kill 19 people at two bars in South Africa
Police said in a press release that 23 people were shot in Soweto. They urged members of the public to come forward with any information on "unknown suspects following an apparent random shooting incident."

Those killed in the Pietermaritzburg shooting were aged between 30 and 45, according to police spokeswoman Nqobile Gwala.

Two men drove up a bar, went inside and "fired random shots at the patrons" before fleeing, Gwala said.

"Every week we get news of people that have just been shot at randomly," said local Mayor Mzimkhulu Thebola.

Ramaphosa denounces 'unacceptable and worrying' violence
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa condemned the two bar shootings.
"As a nation, we cannot allow violent criminals to terrorize us in this way, regardless of where such incidents may occur," Ramaphosa said in a statement.

"As government, citizens and structures of civil society we must all work together even more closely to improve social and economic conditions in communities, reduce violent crime and stamp out the illicit circulation of firearms," he said.

Gun crime in South Africa
Gun crime in South Africa is relatively common by international standards, with the country suffering a similar number of fatalities each year as a share of its population as the US does.
Furthermore, in South Africa's case, a far higher proportion of these deaths are murdered and a much smaller proportion are suicide than in the US.

The country's overall homicide rate is also among the highest in the world, at 33 people per 100,000 inhabitants in 2020, according to the World Bank.

Saturday's shooting comes shortly after the mysterious death of 21 young people at a township bar in the coastal South African town of East London.

The cause behind their deaths, which prompted much mourning and uproar, remains unknown. Investigators ruled out a shooting or a stampede as the cause.




Watch video02:22
South Africans gather to mourn deaths of 21 teens
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Mali arrests nearly 50 soldiers from Ivory Coast
By BABA AHMEDtoday


BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Malian authorities arrested nearly 50 soldiers from Ivory Coast who came to Mali to work for a contracting company of the United Nations mission in Mali. The government made the announcement Monday calling the Ivorian soldiers “mercenaries,” in a move that could raise tensions between the two West African countries.

Two aircraft arrived at Mali’s international airport Sunday with the 49 soldiers “with their weapons and ammunition of war, as well as other military equipment,” said Malian government spokesman Col. Abdoulaye Maiga. They “were illegally on the national territory of Mali,” and the transitional government considers them mercenaries, he added.

U.N. mission spokesman Olivier Salgado said these Ivorian soldiers “are not part of one of the MINUSMA contingents, but have been deployed for several years in Mali as part of logistical support on behalf of one of our contingents.” He said that their arrival as relief would have been communicated beforehand to the national authorities. They are working for a German company that is contracted by the U.N. mission known as the Sahelian Aviation Services.



Government spokesman Maiga said they would put an end to the protection activity of the Sahelian Aviation Services by foreign forces and demand their departure from Malian territory. The government invited “the airline “ Sahelian Aviation Services “to henceforth entrust its security to the Malian defense and security forces,” he said.

Mali’s transitional government affirmed in June that it will not authorize the U.N. mission to investigate ongoing human rights violations in Mali, adding to further tensions as France also withdraws its forces.



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Ivory Coast demands release of soldiers arrested in Mali
Mali's authorities arrested 49 Ivorian soldiers and labeled them "mercenaries" who allegedly planned to stage a coup. Neighboring Ivory Coast says the soldiers were working with a UN peacekeeping mission.



Ivorian soldiers attend the opening ceremony of Flintlock 2022 at the international Academy for combating terrorism in Jacqueville in Ivory Coast
Malian forces have captured soldiers from Ivory Coast

Ivory Coast's National Security Council on Tuesday called on the Malian authorities to immediately release 49 Ivorian soldiers detained in Mali.

Mali's military government said on Monday that its forces had captured 49 soldiers who had come into the country from the neighboring Ivory Coast with the intent to stage a coup.
Terming the soldiers "mercenaries," the Malian authorities said they had landed in Bamako, the capital, on Sunday without permission. The soldiers were carrying weapons, ammunition and other military equipment, according to the government statement.

The soldiers had "forced their way into Malian territory illegally," the military government said.

But Ivory Coast contested Mali's claims. "No Ivorian soldier from this contingent was in possession of weapons and ammunition when he got off the plane. The weapons of the contingent, as authorized by the United Nations for personal protection and self-defense cases and according to the procedures in the matter, were in a second plane," Ivory Coast's statement said.

Ivory Coast says soldiers were with peacekeeping mission
According to the Ivory Coast, the soldiers were deployed as part of a security and logistics support contract signed with the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, MINUSMA, in July 2019.
They were the eighth rotation sent to Mali under the convention, and their mission order had been sent to both airport authorities and the junta before arrival, Ivory Coast's national security council said in a statement.

UN mission spokesman Olivier Salgado confirmed that the soldiers were working for a German company contracted by MINUSMA.

Since 2012, there have been three coups in Mali, a country of about 20 million people. The country has been ruled by a transitional military government since the last coup in May last year. It is reported to enjoy close links with Russia.

The military government has pledged to hold elections by March 2024.
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South Africa's many illegal guns a factor in bar shootings

South Africa’s many illegal guns a factor in bar shootings
By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME and SEBABATSO MOSAMOyesterday


Police patrol an area in Soweto, South Africa Tuesday, July 12, 2022 in search of illegal firearms following the weekend shooting in a bar which claimed 16 people. South African police are searching for illegally-held guns in patrols of Johannesburg's Soweto township, following a spate of bar shootings that have rocked the nation. (AP Photo/Shiraaz Mohamed)
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Police patrol an area in Soweto, South Africa Tuesday, July 12, 2022 in search of illegal firearms following the weekend shooting in a bar which claimed 16 people. South African police are searching for illegally-held guns in patrols of Johannesburg's Soweto township, following a spate of bar shootings that have rocked the nation. (AP Photo/Shiraaz Mohamed)

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African police are patrolling the streets of Johannesburg’s Soweto township, following a spate of bar shootings that have rocked the nation.
The country’s abundance of guns held illegally is partially to blame for the shootings in which 22 people were killed at three different taverns this past weekend, community activists said.

At least 16 people were shot dead at a tavern in the township of Soweto while four others were killed in Pietermaritzburg and two were shot dead in Katlehong, east of Johannesburg. One of those wounded in the Soweto shooting died in hospital on Tuesday, raising the death toll in that incident to 16.

It’s not known if the different shootings are linked but regional and ethnic rivalries, an organized crime extortion ring, competition between bar owners and political enmities are all possible motivations for the shootings, say analysts.

In all three incidents, the suspects opened fire on patrons before speeding off in their vehicles and notably the attackers did not rob the victims.


According to police, the gunmen in the Soweto shooting used high-caliber rifles including AK-47s, leaving 137 empty cartridges found on the scene. This has raised concerns about how criminals are able to access such high-powered weapons.confirmed chief in years
Dettelbach becomes head of ATF, 1st confirmed chief in years

Biden celebration of new gun law clouded by latest shooting
The illegal guns circulating in South Africa contributes to the country’s high crime rate, according to activists. An average of 23 people are shot and killed in South Africa daily, according to the country’s annual crime statistics.

Many of the weapons used by criminals have been stolen from police and private security firms, according to Gun Free South Africa. More than 12,900 people were arrested for possession of illegal firearms and ammunition in 2020/2021, according to official statistics.

More than 3,400 police firearms had been reported stolen or unaccounted for in the last five years, according to the country’s official opposition, the Democratic Alliance. In January this year, the country’s parliamentary committee on policing heard that 158 guns went missing at the Norwood police station in Johannesburg.

“The most effective way to reduce gun deaths is to reduce gun availability. Right now we have guns flooding into the legal market, and then they move into the illegal market,” said Gun Free South Africa director Adele Kirsten.

“We know that the majority of these move from the hands of the private security industry and from fraud and corruption in the police,” said Kirsten.

Addressing the Soweto community this week South Africa Police Minister Bheki Cele said police would search houses to find the illegal guns that were used to terrorize the community.

“We have heard that illegal guns are everywhere in this community, we will be deploying the police here,” said Cele.

Soweto residents have decried the abundance of illegally held guns in the area, with some telling The Associated Press that they often hear gunshots at night.

“The reason why we don’t feel safe is because we don’t know whether the people responsible for the shooting are still in our township or not,” Anele Msompi said in the Xhosa language. “We are not safe. We can’t walk in the street, or even go to the shops without feeling nervous, anxious. We are afraid because these people could still be here with us.”


Another resident of the Nomzamo part of Soweto, Nkosimpendulo Mbhele, called on police to do more to reduce the number of guns in the area

“I would like for our government could go door-to-door and collect all the illegal firearms, and arrest those found with illegal firearms,” said Mbhele. “They must operate during the day and at night, and go through all these shacks and houses here, because we often get mugged. You can’t even walk through this veld (field) because you may bump into thugs who will rob you at gunpoint.”

In a separate development, police arrested the owner of Enyobeni Tavern in East London where 21 teenagers were found dead last month. The owner was arrested on Saturday and two of his employees were arrested on Tuesday and will face charges for violating liquor trading laws and selling alcohol to children, according to the police.
 

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Mali orders suspension of all new UN peacekeeping rotations
The move comes amid tensions over Mali's arrest of nearly 50 Ivorian soldiers, who the Ivory Coast said were working with the UN peacekeeping mission.



Members of the United Nations Police Force UNPOL in Mali operating within MINUSMA secure a delegation during a working mission in downtown Timbuktu
MINUSMA has some 13,000 soldiers and nearly 2,000 police in Mali

The Malian government on Thursday said it would suspend troop rotations by the UN peacekeeping mission in its territory.

Known as the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), it was created in 2013 to help the West African nation cope with a bloody jihadist campaign.

Mali's ruling junta, which seized power in a coup in August 2020, has been subject to EU sanctions and condemnation over election delays. It has also been criticized for its security cooperation with Russian mercenaries.

The decision to suspend MINUSMA also includes rotations that have already been scheduled, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The suspension will last until a meeting is held to "facilitate the coordination and regulation" of the rotation of these contingents, the statement read.

But the statement provided no date for the meeting to discuss the MINUSMA rotations.

UN urges 'urgent settlement'
The UN responded to Mali's announcement by calling for an "urgent settlement" to the dispute.

"Rotation of contingents is crucially important for the mission's operational effectiveness and the safety and security of personnel," deputy UN spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters in New York.

"All efforts must be made for an urgent settlement, especially since some of the staff concerned should have been relieved several months ago," Haq said.

Tensions over Ivorian soldiers
Thursday's announcement comes just four days after authorities in Mali arrested 49 Ivorian soldiers, whom officials later described as "mercenaries" that sought to topple the country's military-led government.

The soldiers were arrested after arriving at Bamako airport aboard a special flight. The Ivory Coast said these soldiers comprised the fifth MINUSMA rotation.

UN mission spokesman Olivier Salgado confirmed that the soldiers were working for a German company contracted by MINUSMA.

Mali is currently battling an Islamist insurgency that emerged after an uprising in 2012 and has since spread to neighboring countries, killing thousands and displacing millions across West Africa's Sahel region.

France and Germany have also lent their support in the fight against Islamists in Mali. But France's mission is expected to pullout of the country in the coming weeks after relations between Paris and Bamako worsened.

Earlier this year, however, the German Bundestag voted to increase German participation in MINUSMA.
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Egypt to suspend its peacekeeping role in Mali, UN says
By BABA AHMEDyesterday


FILE - United Nations armored personnel vehicles are stationed with an ambulance outside a tourist resort near Bamako, Mali, June 18, 2017. The United Nations mission in Mali said Friday July 15, 2022 that Egypt will suspend its participation in the peacekeeping force in the West African country by mid-August citing deadly attacks against its troops. Seven Egyptian peacekeepers have been killed in Mali so far this year. (AP Photo/Baba Ahmed, File)

FILE - United Nations armored personnel vehicles are stationed with an ambulance outside a tourist resort near Bamako, Mali, June 18, 2017. The United Nations mission in Mali said Friday July 15, 2022 that Egypt will suspend its participation in the peacekeeping force in the West African country by mid-August citing deadly attacks against its troops. Seven Egyptian peacekeepers have been killed in Mali so far this year. (AP Photo/Baba Ahmed, File)
BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — The United Nations mission in Mali says that Egypt will suspend its participation in the peacekeeping force in the West African country by mid-August, citing deadly attacks against its peacekeepers.

Seven Egyptian peacekeepers have been killed in Mali so far this year, according to officials.
Olivier Salgado, the spokesman of the U.N. mission in Mali, on Friday confirmed that Egypt will suspend its activities in Mali.

“We confirm that Egypt, through its Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York, expressed its concern at the beginning of the week at the increase in attacks against its peacekeepers who escort the convoys supplying our bases in the center and northern Mali. These attacks have caused the death of 7 Egyptian soldiers since the beginning of the year,” he said in a statement. “We have been informed that as a result, the Egyptian contingent will temporarily suspend its activities within MINUSMA as of August 15.”



The U.N. said that the safety of its peacekeepers is a priority.
U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said later at U.N. headquarters in New York: “We respect and deeply appreciate the service and significant sacrifice by Egypt and other countries contributing uniformed personnel to our missions, which operate in extremely difficult and often dangerous conditions.”

He said the U.N. is also dealing with the Mali government on a number of issues including its suspension of rotations in the U.N. peacekeeping mission, known as MINUSMA.

Egypt currently contributes about 1,030 troops and 24 staff officers to the U.N. Mali mission.
Mali has struggled to contain an Islamic extremist insurgency since 2012. Extremist rebels were forced from power in Mali’s northern cities with the help of a French-led military operation, but they regrouped in the desert and began attacking the Malian army and its allies. Insecurity has worsened with attacks in the northern and central regions on civilians and U.N. peacekeepers.

The U.N. force has said more than 250 of its peacekeepers and personnel have died since 2013, making Mali the deadliest of the U.N.’s dozen peacekeeping missions worldwide.



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Dozens dead in Sudan tribal clashes
A nighttime curfew was ordered in Blue Nile state after days of violence between the Berti and Hausa tribes. The military coup in October is blamed for a security vacuum that has reignited long-standing disputes.



Sudanese security forces ensure security in al-Geneina, the capital of the West Darfur state, on April 2, 2016
Security forces have been deployed to an area of Blue Nile state to restore order following the tribal clashes

At least 31 people were killed and 39 injured during several days of tribal clashes in the southeastern region of Sudan close to the border with Ethiopia, officials said Saturday.
A statement from Blue Nile state's regional government described how the clashes spread in several towns, with 16 shops set ablaze.

Security forces made several arrests and brought the situation under control, the statement added.

Clashes sparked by killing of farmer
Some residents have blamed the violence, between the Berti and Hausa tribes, on the killing of a farmer earlier this week.

A prominent Hausa member told the AFP news agency on condition of anonymity that the Berti tribe had rejected a Hausa request to create a "civil authority to supervise access to land."

But a senior Berti member said the tribe was responding to a "violation" of its lands by the Hausa.



Watch video01:39
Sudan food crisis aggravated by Russian invasion of Ukraine
AFP cited witnesses as saying that clashes had resumed Saturday close to the state capital, Al-Damazin.

"We heard gunshots," resident Fatima Hamad told AFP from the city of Al-Roseires, across the river from Al-Damazin, "and saw smoke rising" from the south.

Al-Damazin resident Ahmed Youssef said "dozens of families" crossed the bridge into the city to flee the violence.

Authorities have declared an overnight curfew in two towns and banned protests for the next month.

Coup created security vacuum
Sudan has seen mass protests and a violent clampdown by authorities since the military removed a transitional government in October.

Until the coup, the country was moving toward democracy following the overthrowal of autocrat Omar al-Bashir in 2019.

Experts say the putsch created a security vacuum that has sparked a resurgence in tribal violence over land, livestock, and access to water and grazing areas.
In April, tribal clashes killed more than 200 people in war-ravaged Darfur.
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Moroccan soldiers, firefighters battle fires in the north
July 15, 2022


Fire fighting planes drop water to put out a forest blaze in Laarache, northern Morocco, Friday, July 15, 2022. Fires fanned by strong winds and extreme temperatures have spread across hundred of hectares in North Africa since Thursday evening. (AP Photo)
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Fire fighting planes drop water to put out a forest blaze in Laarache, northern Morocco, Friday, July 15, 2022. Fires fanned by strong winds and extreme temperatures have spread across hundred of hectares in North Africa since Thursday evening. (AP Photo)

RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Firefighters and the military struggled on Friday to contain three wildfires in northern Morocco that has killed at least one person as hundreds of residents evacuated their homes because of flames that ravaged large swaths of pine forests.

Efforts to extinguish the blazes have been hampered by high temperatures and strong winds in the North African country. The interior ministry said that one person has died in the fires, and more than 1,500 hectares (3,700 acres) of forest have been destroyed.

In the Laarach area, 1,100 families have had to evacuate because of two fires that have since been put out. The fire destroyed 900 hectares (more than 2,000 acres) of land and damaged many homes, according to the interior ministry.

Firefighters were still trying to put out fires in several areas of northern Morocco, including in Tetouan, Taza, and Ouzzane. They are using trucks, bulldozers and water-dumping planes, the interior ministry said.

Morocco has been in the grip of an heat wave for a week, with temperature soaring over 40 C (104 F). Strong winds are in the forecast for the coming days, complicating efforts to contain fires, according to the national meteorology agency.

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European leaders ink energy deals in bid to sidestep Russia
By FRANCES D'EMILIO and THOMAS ADAMSONyesterday


FILE - Italian Premier Mario Draghi addresses the Senate in Rome, Tuesday, June 21, 2022. Pleas were piling up in Italy on Sunday, July 17, 2022 aimed at persuading Draghi to stay in office instead of resigning as he tried to do last week after being betrayed by a major coalition partner. (Roberto Monaldo/LaPresse via AP, File)
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FILE - Italian Premier Mario Draghi addresses the Senate in Rome, Tuesday, June 21, 2022. Pleas were piling up in Italy on Sunday, July 17, 2022 aimed at persuading Draghi to stay in office instead of resigning as he tried to do last week after being betrayed by a major coalition partner. (Roberto Monaldo/LaPresse via AP, File)

ROME (AP) — European leaders ramped up their push to secure alternative energy supplies Monday as fears escalate of a complete natural gas cutoff by Russia, with the leaders of Italy, France and the European Union sealing deals with their counterparts in Algeria, Azerbaijan and the United Arab Emirates.

With his government’s fate in limbo back home, Italian Premier Mario Draghi visited Algeria’s capital of Algiers, seeking to cement the North African country’s role as a preeminent regional partner. Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said a $4 billion deal would be signed Tuesday to supply “a significant quantity of gas.”

“Algeria is a very important partner for Italy, in the energy sector, in the industry and business fields, in the fight against criminality, and in the search for peace and stability in the Mediterranean,” Draghi said.

Also Monday, France and the United Arab Emirates signed an agreement on energy cooperation to ensure oil and natural gas supplies from the Gulf country. The French economy ministry didn’t release details on the deal as President Emmanuel Macron hosted Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Paris.
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The same day, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was in Azerbaijan to clinch a deal with President Ilham Aliyev on increased gas supplies from the former Soviet republic.

With the tentative agreement, the EU wants to double the gas imports from Azerbaijan within half a decade. The bloc said the agreement also has guarantees for green energy supplies.

“This is good news for our supplies of gas this winter and beyond,” von der Leyen said.
Europe has been scrambling to secure alternative energy sources as Russia’s war in Ukraine and Moscow’s drawdown or cutoff of natural gas flows to a dozen EU countries have
triggered soaring energy prices, inflation and growing expectations of a recession. The 27-nation EU now is bracing for the possibility of a complete Russian cutoff of natural gas that powers industry, generates electricity and heats homes in winter.

Leaders have been pushing to fill underground gas storage to try to avert a worsening energy crisis when the cold months arrive. There are fears a major pipeline between Russia and Germany that closed for scheduled maintenance last week will not turn back on in retaliation for sanctions over the war.

In Algeria, several Italian ministers signed a series of memos of understanding in areas ranging from pharmaceuticals, research, anti-corruption efforts, security as well as energy sectors.

“This summit also confirms Algeria as our preferred partner in the energy field. In these (last) months, Algeria has become the leading supplier of gas to our country,” Draghi said.
Tebboune, the Algerian leader, said that signed Tuesday would be “an important agreement between the companies Occidental, Eni and Total for a value of $4 billion which allows the supplying of a significant quantity of gas.”

He stressed his nation’s desire to ensure that Algeria will supply solar and conventional energy to Europe.


When Draghi visited Algeria three months ago, a major agreement was reached between Algerian energy giant Sonatrach and Italian energy company Eni to increase gas exports. A pipeline running through Tunisia and under the Mediterranean to Sicily is a key conduit in this strategy.

Referring to that deal, the Italian premier expressed satisfaction that there has been “an acceleration of what was predicted” for Algerian-Italian energy cooperation.

“That bodes well for more cooperation in the years to come,″ Draghi said, adding that the two nations also saw prospects for working together on renewable energy.

Such deals are “fundamental for the European Union as well as Italy,” Draghi said. Italy also has been reaching out to other energy-producing nations to secure alternate sources, including Azerbaijan, Qatar, Congo, Angola and Mozambique.

Draghi had planned to spend two days in Algeria. He reduced the visit to Monday only as his government’s fate hangs in the balance after the defection last week of a key coalition member on an energy costs relief bill.

Prior to the war, Russia provided Italy about 29 billion cubic meters of gas per year, compared with about 23 billion from Algeria. Already this year, Algeria has delivered 13.9 billion cubic meters to Italy via the Trans-Mediterranean pipeline, a 113% rise over forecasts, according to Algerian energy giant Sonatrach.

Algeria on Friday announced a 4 billion cubic-meter increase in planned supplies for the months ahead.
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Adamson reported from Paris. AP reporters Raf Casert in Brussels; Barbara Surk in Nice, France; and Masha Macpherson in Paris contributed.

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Moroccan court sentences 33 migrants to jail over crossing

Moroccan court sentences 33 migrants to jail over crossing
yesterday


Migrants climb the fences separating the Spanish enclave of Melilla from Morocco in Melilla, Spain, Friday, June 24, 2022. Dozens of migrants stormed the border crossing between Morocco and the Spanish enclave city of Melilla on Friday in what is the first such incursion since Spain and Morocco mended diplomatic relations last month. (AP Photo/Javier Bernardo)

Migrants climb the fences separating the Spanish enclave of Melilla from Morocco in Melilla, Spain, Friday, June 24, 2022. Dozens of migrants stormed the border crossing between Morocco and the Spanish enclave city of Melilla on Friday in what is the first such incursion since Spain and Morocco mended diplomatic relations last month. (AP Photo/Javier Bernardo)

RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Nearly three dozen migrants were sentenced in Morocco on Tuesday for attempting to scale a border wall last month separating the north African country from the Spanish enclave of Melilla.

The court in Nador sentenced 33 people to 11 months in prison, in a decision that was criticized by rights groups.

Hundreds of migrants tried to cross the border between Morocco and Melilla on June 24. At least 23 people died in the attempt — which Moroccan authorities have called a stampede.
On Tuesday, the 33 migrants were accused of “disobedience,” “armed gathering,” “violence against public officials,” and “illegal entry into Moroccan territory.” Authorities say the migrants were all from sub-Saharan Africa, with the majority having traveled from Sudan and Chad.

In addition to the prison time, the court also ordered the accused to each pay fines of 500 dirhams ($49), along with paying 3,500 dirhams ($340) to settle civil rights claims from members of the public services.


Nongovernmental organizations have decried the decision, with the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) calling it “very harsh,” and calling for the court of appeal to overturn it. The organization will present the results of their investigations into the events in Nador on Wednesday.

Studies: France is a melting pot but discrimination lurks
In June, a total of 133 migrants breached the border between Morocco and Spain, the first such mass crossing since the two countries mended diplomatic relations in May. A spokesperson for the Spanish government’s office in Melilla said at the time that about 2,000 people attempted to cross, but many were stopped by Spanish Civil Guard police and Moroccan forces on either side of the border fence.

Morocco’s Interior Ministry said in a statement that the casualties occurred when people tried to climb the iron fence.
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Methanol in blood of teens who died in South African tavern
By MOGOMOTSI MAGOMEJuly 19, 2022


FILE - A body is removed from a nightclub where 21 teenagers died in the early hours of the morning, in East London, South Africa, Sunday June 26, 2022. The toxic chemical methanol has been identified as a possible cause of the deaths of 21 teenagers at a bar in the South African city of East London last month, authorities said at press conference in East London Tuesday. July 19, 2022.  (AP Photo/File)
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FILE - A body is removed from a nightclub where 21 teenagers died in the early hours of the morning, in East London, South Africa, Sunday June 26, 2022. The toxic chemical methanol has been identified as a possible cause of the deaths of 21 teenagers at a bar in the South African city of East London last month, authorities said at press conference in East London Tuesday. July 19, 2022. (AP Photo/File)

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The toxic chemical methanol has been identified as a possible cause of the deaths of 21 teenagers at a bar in the South African city of East London last month.
Methanol was found in all of their bodies and investigations are continuing to determine whether the levels of the toxic chemical were enough to have killed them

“Methanol has been detected in all the 21 individuals that were there, however there is still progressive analysis of the quantitative levels of methanol and whether it could have been the final cause of death,” Dr. Litha Matiwane, Eastern Cape provincial deputy director for clinical service, said at press conference in East London Tuesday.

Authorities are still awaiting the conclusive results which are being conducted at a laboratory in the city of Cape Town, he sai

Methanol is a toxic form of alcohol that is used industrially as a solvent, pesticide or an alternative source of fuel. It is not used in the production of alcohol sold for human consumption.


It is yet not known how the youngsters ingested the methanol.
Alcohol poisoning and inhalation of carbon monoxide have both been ruled out as possible causes of death although traces of both were detected in the bodies of all 21 victims, said Matiwane.

The teenagers died at the Enyobeni tavern in East London’s Scenery Park township in the early hours of June 26, shocking the country and resulting in several investigations by the police and liquor license authorities.

Many of the teens, ranging in age between 13 and 17, were found dead in the tavern, with their bodies strewn across tables and couches. Others died after they were rushed to nearby health facilities.

South Africa’s police will be guided by the final results of the toxicology analysis to determine whether anyone will face criminal charges for the 21 deaths, national police minister Bheki Cele has said.

The owner of Enyobeni tavern and some employees were arrested and are currently out on bail as they face charges related to the violation of liquor trading laws, including the sale of liquor to children.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa spoke at a mass funera l for the teens and vowed his government would take action to prevent alcohol from being served to children under the legal drinking age of 18.

The deaths of the young people at the bar in East London are separate from the shootings at three bars in South Africa earlier this month in which a total of 22 people were killed. In all three incidents, the suspects opened fire on patrons before speeding off in their vehicles and notably the attackers did not rob the victims. In the worst incident, gunmen burst into a bar in Johannesburg’s Soweto township and opened fire, killing 16 people.
 

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https://apnews.com/article/islamic-...west-bamako-91420672b66570cd73e66edfddfb8f04#

Explosions, gunfire at a military base near Mali’s capital
By BABA AHMED26 minutes ago


BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Explosions and gunfire were heard early Friday morning in the area of the Kati military base on the outskirts of Mali’s capital city Bamako, according to local residents, in a suspected attack by Islamic extremists.

The military has cordoned off the roads to Kati, about 15 kilometers (10 miles) northwest of Bamako.
The leader of Mali’s ruling junta Lt. Col. Asimi Goita frequently stays at the Kati camp, where he launched the 2020 coup that brought him to power.

Jihadi rebels linked to al Qaida and the Islamic State group have been fighting an insurgency in the West African country for more than 10 years. Their attacks have mostly been in northern Mali but recently the extremists have moved into central Mali. In recent weeks that have moved closer to the capital.

Last week gunmen attacked an army checkpoint about 60 kilometers outside Bamako, killing at least six people and wounding several others, officials said.


No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but it appears to be by the al-Qaida-linked rebel group known as JNIM that has carried out several other attacks around Bamako.

The attacks show “how the al-Qaida affiliate Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin continues to expand its operations outside its traditional strongholds in northern and central Mali,” said Héni Nsaibia, a senior researcher at The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.

https://apnews.com/article/islamic-...lah-abdeslam-2bbd2e29dcc542513f381fa898294f82
“As in other Sahelian countries such as Burkina Faso and Niger ... major cities including the capitals themselves, are increasingly surrounded by a steady spread of Islamist militancy that poses an ever-increasing risk and challenge to the security environment.”

Mali has struggled to contain an Islamic extremist insurgency since 2012. Extremist rebels were forced from power in Mali’s northern cities with the help of a French-led military operation, but they regrouped in the desert and began attacking the Malian army and its allies. Insecurity has worsened with attacks in the northern and central regions.








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Libya: Militia shootout in Tripoli leaves a dozen dead
Renewed clashes in the center of the Libyan capital have killed several civilians, including a child. The violence comes amid tense political rivalries in the divided country.



Libyan army forces and vehicles are stationed in a street in the country’s capital of Tripoli
Several hundred people were also forced to flee due to the violence

Fighting between rival militias in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, on Friday killed at least 13 people, the city's emergency services said

Three of the victims, including a 12-year-old child, were civilians, said emergency services spokesperson Osama Ali. Another 30 people were wounded.

It was the second day of violence in the city and came shortly after one of the country's competing governments called for the clashes to stop.

The North African country has been experiencing a period of relative peace following almost a decade of violent civil war.

It was not clear if the fighting was connected to the ongoing political rivalries between the two governments and their associated militias.

Hourslong firefight
The clashes broke out in a central district where several government buildings, diplomatic missions and international agencies are located, before spreading to other areas.

The shooting began in the middle of the night and lasted for hours. The violence led to Mitiga airport to suspend flights over safety concerns.

The Libyan Presidential Council had called on all forces involved in fighting on Thursday to withdraw and return to their bases

Reuters news agency reported that the main groups that had been part of the fighting were, however, connected to the council, including the powerful RADA force.

A country divided
Libya has been split into two regional administrations between the east and west for years. Each has its own loyal militias and foreign state supporters.

The country has been beset by turmoil ever since the NATO-backed uprising against former dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.




Watch video01:48
Tensions as Libya grapples with two prime ministers
Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, based in the western city of Tripoli, threw the country's democratic transition into chaos last year by not holding an election to choose a successor for the interim administration that he heads up.

Rival lawmakers in the eastern city of Sirte then elected their own prime minister, Fathi Bashagha, in response.

An earlier attempt by Bashagha to establish his government in Tripoli ended with him withdrawing after clashes that killed one person.
ab/wd (AP, Reuters)
 

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Veteran Member

Russian Arctic nickel might be shipped to Africa
Mining and metallurgy company Nornickel considers to develop a transshipment hub in Northern Africa that will allow it to circumvent European ports.

By Atle Staalesen
July 23, 2022

The world’s biggest producer of nickel is preparing alternative export routes, Ravil Nasybullov, Director of Nornickel’s logistics department, confirmed during this week’s Eastern Economic Forum.

That includes plans for possible transshipment of ore to North African ports, he explained.

The new shipping routes can be applied if Europe closes its seaports and its market to Russian nickel, Nasybullov said.

The powerful company that is owned and managed by Vladimir Potanin has its biggest mines and processing plants in the remote Arctic and is heavily dependent on smooth shipping to the EU. Today, the nickel is shipped with ice-class carriers from the Taymyr Peninsula to Murmansk and from there to Rotterdam and other European ports.

Nornickel now fears that the current export route ultimately might run into trouble.

In its latest market analysis on developments trends for platinum metals, the company warns against consequences of the current sharp increase in geopolitical tensions and economic sanctions.

According to the company, it today increasingly looks towards Asian markets, and east-bound shipments on the Northern Sea Route is seen as prospective export route.

The world’s biggest producer of nickel is preparing alternative export routes, Ravil Nasybullov, Director of Nornickel’s logistics department, confirmed during this week’s Eastern Economic Forum.

That includes plans for possible transshipment of ore to North African ports, he explained.

The new shipping routes can be applied if Europe closes its seaports and its market to Russian nickel, Nasybullov said.

The powerful company that is owned and managed by Vladimir Potanin has its biggest mines and processing plants in the remote Arctic and is heavily dependent on smooth shipping to the EU. Today, the nickel is shipped with ice-class carriers from the Taymyr Peninsula to Murmansk and from there to Rotterdam and other European ports.

Nornickel now fears that the current export route ultimately might run into trouble.

In its latest market analysis on developments trends for platinum metals, the company warns against consequences of the current sharp increase in geopolitical tensions and economic sanctions.

According to the company, it today increasingly looks towards Asian markets, and east-bound shipments on the Northern Sea Route is seen as prospective export route.

“All our production is [today] delivered to European markets. What concerns the eastern [shipping] corridor, it is currently not very relevant, but considering the situation I do not exclude that our goods traffic ultimately will shift towards the East,” Nasybullov said.

The statements at the Eastern Economic Forum are quoted by news agency PortNews.

Unlike most of Russia’s biggest companies, Nornickel is not on international sanctions lists. But the tense international situation following Russia’s attack on Ukraine is increasingly affecting also the powerful nickel producer.

Among the challenges is a growing logistics problem, spurred by the EU’s 5th package of sanctions. The measure introduced in April includes a ban on Russian vessels in European ports.
 

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Al-Qaeda affiliate claims attack on Mali's largest military base
The militants claim the attack was in response to Mali's collaboration with Russian mercenaries. The Malian army has ramped up its anti-jihadi operations with the help of Moscow.



Malian soldiers are cheered by the population as they enter a military camp in Kati
The Malian army has intensified its anti-jihadist operations in recent months

Militants linked to al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for a deadly attack against the country's main military base outside the capital, Bamako.

On Friday, attackers set off two car bombs near the military base in Kati, killing one soldier.
Mali's military said six people were wounded, seven assailants were killed, and eight were arrested.

It was the closest attack to the city by extremist rebels in an insurgency that has been going on for over a decade.

Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM) said its Katiba Macina branch had carried out the attack in response to the presence of mercenaries from Russia's Wagner Group in Mali.
"We say to the Bamako government: if you have the right to hire mercenaries to kill the defenseless innocent people, then we have the right to destroy you and target you," JNIM said, according to jihadist monitor SITE Intelligence Group.

The Malian army has recently intensified its anti-jihadi operations, relying on what it describes as Russian instructors.
A soldier of the Malian army is seen during a patrol on the road between Mopti and Djenne, in central Mali
Mali has been battling a decade-long insurgency that has also engulfed other countries in the Sahel region

Who is Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen?
JNIM is the dominant jihadist alliance in the Sahel and is linked to al-Qaeda.
It's made up of several groups, including the Katiba Macina, and operates mainly in Mali and Burkina Faso.

The alliance is directly competing for dominance with the IS affiliate Islamic State in the Greater Sahara.
Infografik Karte Sahelzone EN

The European Council on Foreign Relations describes JNIM as "one of the most active jihadist armed groups in Mali."

The US said the group is "almost exclusively responsible for the near doubling of violent activities and associated fatalities" in the Sahel every year since 2016.

Mali has been battling various jihadist groups in its northern and central regions.
It has had to rely on French troops and UN peacekeepers to keep the militants from taking control but the relationship between Bamako and troop-contributing countries have turned sour since a military coup last year.


Watch video01:59
Mali seeking closer ties with Moscow
lo/wd (AFP, Reuters)
 

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Tunisia votes in referendum on controversial constitution
Tunisians have started voting in a plebiscite on a draft constitution that critics say would hand the country's president wide powers. With major parties boycotting the vote, analysts are expecting a low turnout.



People cast their ballots at a polling station during a referendum on a new constitution in Tunis, Tunisia
A voter casts his ballot at a polling station in Tunis during a referendum on a new constitution in Tunisia

Polling stations opened in Tunisia on Monday as the country votes in a referendum on whether to grant the president sweeping powers. Critics fear the referendum could deal a major blow to democracy in the country that was the birthplace of the 2010-11 Arab Spring revolts.

Polling opened at 6:00 am local time (0500 GMT) at around 11,000 voting sites across the North African nation, with polls expected to close at 10:00 pm.

The plebiscite comes exactly a year after a dramatic seizure of power that saw President President Kais Saied unseat the government and freeze the parliament as Tunisia battled a coronavirus surge amid political and economic crises.

What to expect from the vote
Monday's ballot is being seen as a vote on Saied's popularity.
Nearly 9.3 million out of Tunisia's 12 million population — of civilians aged above 18 — have opted in or been automatically registered to vote, as per the ISIE electoral commission.
The figures include about 356,000 voters registered overseas, for whom polling began on Saturday.

Opposition parties and civil society groups have called for a boycott of the referendum and accused Saied of attempting to turn Tunisia into an autocracy — a decade after the country became the sole success story in pro-democracy uprisings across the region.




Watch video04:21
Tunisia's democracy in crisis: Analyst Mariam Salehi speaks to DW
Why is the draft constitution controversial?

Saied had been working on the new constitution for several months. A draft was published in the country's official gazette earlier in July.

The proposed constitution hands the president the authority to name and sack the government without the approval of the parliament as well as appointing judges, among other powers.

With the new text, the president could present draft laws to parliament, which would be obliged to give them priority.

The charter would also place the head of state in supreme command of the army.
Saied's draft would also make it nearly impossible to remove him from office before the end of his five-year tenure in 2024.

If approved by the majority of cast votes, the draft constitution would replace a 2014 constitution that curtailed the president's powers in favor of parliament and the prime minister.

The country's 2014 charter was a hard-won compromise between Islamist-leaning and secular forces, agreed on after three years of political upheaval.
dvv/rs (AFP, dpa)
 

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Lavrov tours Africa amid diplomatic isolation
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is visiting Africa as part of a push by Moscow to strengthen ties with the continent. Russia aims to confront the West by building its reputation as a defender of Africa.



Sergei Lavrov (left) and Sameh Shoukry
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is on an Africa trip this week. His itinerary includes Egypt, the Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Ethiopia.

Lavrov met with Congo's President Denis Sassou N'guesso and Foreign Minister Jean-Claude Gakosso. Lavrov's visit is the first to the country by Russia's top diplomat.

In Egypt on Sunday, Lavrov told his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry that Russia would meet grain orders.

On Friday, Russia and Ukraine signed a deal with the United Nations and Turkey aimed at relieving a global food crisis caused by blocked Black Sea grain shipments.

Many African nations are heavily dependent on imports of wheat and other grains from Russia and Ukraine, but supplies have been badly disrupted by the war in Ukraine, exacerbating the risk of hunger.

In June, African Union Chairman Macky Sall told Russian President Vladimir Putin that even though Africa was far from the theater of war, African people are "victims of this economic crisis."

Yet it is in the field of security where Russia seems to be trying to truly make its mark on the African continent.

Military support for Africa
Lavrov's visit is being seen as a push to rally the support of African nations, many of whom have strong historical ties with Russia, amid strong Western condemnation of the war in Ukraine.

In the months before his visit, Russia signed various political and military deals on the continent.

In early January, hundreds of Russian military advisors were deployed to Mali. Contractors from the controversial Russian military group Wagner Group were invited to "help Mali train its security forces," according to the Malian army.

This raised a few eyebrows: The assignment was previously the job of the European Training Mission to Mali (EUTM). After Colonel Assimi Goita overthrew late President Ibrahim

Boubacar Keita in the 2020 Malian coup — and was later sworn in as president following a second coup in May 2021 — he faced regional and international sanctions for extending a proposed timeline for presidential elections.

The junta regime responded by banning German military planes from Mali's air space, expelling the ambassador of former colonial power France and calling for the immediate withdrawal of Danish forces.

Mali's southern neighbor Burkina Faso witnessed its own coup in January. Like its counterparts in Mali, the Burkinabe military has defied calls to hand over power to a civilian government. It, too, has oriented itself toward Moscow.
Malick Diaw smiles at a crowd of supporters in Bamako, Mali
One of the leaders of Mali's military junta, Malick Diaw, received training at the Moscow Higher Military Command School

A link between foreign training and coups
Sudan, Chad, Guinea Conakry and Guinea Bissau have also experienced coups in the past year. One thing they all have in common: Most of the soldiers behind the coups had received military training sponsored by Russia.

"The qualities that recommend them for foreign training are the same ones that make them effective coup leaders," Judd Devermont, the director of the US-based think tank Africa Program for Center for Strategic and International Studies, told DW in late 2021.

The two Malians believed to be the chief architects behind the 2020 coup, Malick Diaw and Sadio Camara, each spent about a year at the Moscow Higher Military Command School. These same soldiers also took part in training missions organized by the US and the EU.
Following the coup, Kelly Cahalan, media operations branch chief for AFRICOM, told DW: "The mutiny act in Mali is strongly condemned and inconsistent with US military training and education."

Moscow reviving old Soviet ties
According to Irina Filatova from the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, Russia aims to gain a foothold on the continent as a security broker in order to "confront the collective West" and project the image of a "defender of Africa" — an objective the West has seemingly failed to achieve.

It's far from the first time Russia has dabbled in African affairs: In the 1950s, the Kremlin backed liberation movements across the continent. At the time, Russia's main export was light-to-medium-range arms and ammunition.
Data visualization EN Map African importers of Russian arms

And Moscow's influence was welcomed by many. "Without the firm stand of the Soviet Union during the Cold War and the heyday of the anti-colonial struggle, many of our countries would never have seen the light of independence," Obadiah Mailafia, a former deputy governor of Nigeria's central bank, told DW.

This support waned following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. But over the past two decades, current President Vladimir Putin has tried to revive those independence-era connections and act as a foil-of-sorts to the West's neocolonial policies.

"Now that Russia is in a fairly strong position, Africa can benefit from mutually beneficial investments and trade cooperation," said Mailafia.

Russia has officially remained silent on its policies for Africa. But, as Filatova sees it, Moscow is relying on private military companies like the Wagner Group to act as "door-openers."

"Officially, [the military groups] are not incorporated in the strategy at all. But what we see is that they always come first when there's some instability, and then they help secure those in power who have built relationships with Russia," she told DW.
Data visualization: Arms export volume to Africa over time

The Wagner Group is also active in the Central African Republic (CAR), where it has been accused of serious human rights violations. The paramilitary fighters most notably drew attention after they starred in a locally produced film acting as defenders of the nation against CAR rebels. Thousands of people flocked to the main stadium in the capital Bangui to catch a glimpse of the premiere in May 2021.

Before this episode, the Wagner fighters had kept a comparatively low profile in theaters of war on the African continent.

Back in business
For the most part, Moscow has been able to fly under the radar for the past two decades, quietly cutting nuclear power and arms export deals.

Russia is currently the largest exporter of weapons to the African continent. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute's (SIPRI) annual 2020 report, arms exports to Africa accounted for 18% of all Russian arms exports between 2016 and 2020.
Russian President Vladimir Putin with Namibian President Hage Geingob at the 2019 Russia-Africa Economic Forum in Sochi
Russian President Vladimir Putin with Namibian President Hage Geingob at the 2019 Russia-Africa Economic Forum in Sochi

The first arms deal to be made public took place in April 2020, when Russia's only state-owned arms seller, Rosoboronexport, announced the sale of a Russian-made assault boat to an unnamed sub-Saharan African country.

A few months earlier, in 2019, the first-ever Russia-Africa Economic Forum was held in Sochi, with many big names in African politics in attendance. Russia used the occasion to elegantly tout its track record in Africa. By then it had made a name for itself as an ally of multiple nations as they battled relentless insurgencies: In 2018, Mali, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mauritania all appealed to Moscow for help combating the so-called Islamic State and al Qaeda.
A man holds a Russian flag on his rooftop in Bamako, Mali
After the 2021 coup in Mali, Bamako residents raised Russian flags on their rooftops
Beyond military services, Moscow has also carved a niche selling nuclear technology to developing nations. Zambia, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Egypt and Nigeria are among those in the market for Russian-built nuclear power plants.

While the details of its various policies and deals remain in the dark, at least one thing is clear: Russia is back in Africa — and it means business.
Edited by: Ineke Mules and Kate Hairsine
 

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Macron in Cameroon offers look at past, help for future
French President Emmanuel Macron began a three-country African tour Tuesday. He promised more defense cooperation and an honest look at the past.



French President Emmanuel Macron (l) and Cameroonian President Paul Biya (r) shake hands in the capital Yaounde as two uniformed men stand behind them
French President Macron (l) and Cameroon's President Biya (r) addressed the past but are interested in forging a future

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday began a three-country West African tour that kicked off in Cameroon and will continue in Benin and Guinea-Bissau Wednesday.
Macron traveled to Africa in hopes of resetting France's often difficult relationships with former colonies.

Macron invites historians to shed light on 'painful' colonial past
That was very much part of Macron's message in Cameroon, where he promised to open up France's archives "in full" so that historians could shed light on "painful moments" of the past.

The 44-year-old president called for French and Cameroonian historians to establish "responsibilities" through investigation. One particularly dark chapter, for instance, was the intense repression meted out on Cameroonian nationalists before independence in 1960.
During that time the French army killed tens of thousands of supporters of the Union of the Peoples of Cameroon (UPC).

On Monday, politicians in Cameroon called for Macron to address the "crimes" France committed while a colonial power.

In 2015, Macron's predecessor Francois Hollande acknowledged "tragic" moments in France's colonial past. And Macron himself commissioned Algerian-born French historian Benjamin Stora to compile a report on France's colonial history in Algeria, but stopped short of delivering any apologies.

Macron said France "looked our past in the face," and recognized its own use of colonial power as "a crime against humanity."

France also returned looted historical artifacts to Benin in 2021. The objects had originally been taken in 1892.



Watch video00:11
Macron: France doesn't share 'strategy and hidden aims' of Mali's ruling junta
Looking into the future of the Chad Basin

But Macron is also in the region with an eye to the future, not just the past. In meetings with President Paul Biya in Cameroon's capital Yaounde, the two discussed counterterrorism and security cooperation in Western Africa's Chad Basin.

Cameroon requested France's cooperation. The request runs counter to recent French experiences in Africa, specifically in Mali, where a military junta working with Russian mercenaries told France its forces were no longer welcome in the country after nearly a decade of fighting Islamist terrorists.

In a trend that worries Western observers, Russia has increasingly swelled the continent with mercenaries offering muscle and influence in exchange for natural resources.

Macron is expected to engage in further talks addressing issues such as supply chain bottlenecks and food security fears as the war in Ukraine impacts countries much farther afield.

"European economic sanctions on Russia that are now affecting Africa are intended to stop Russia's attack of Ukraine's sovereignty and not to punish Africans," Macron said in Yaounde. "France will assist African countries to face the shocks caused by the war by encouraging local investments in agriculture to increase food production."





Watch video01:59
Mali seeking closer ties with Moscow
js/jsi (AFP, AP, dpa)
 

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Mali: 15 soldiers, 3 civilians killed in Islamist attacks
The unstable Sahel state has long been a target of militants linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State who have repeatedly raided bases across the country.



Malian soldiers are cheered by the population as they enter a military camp in Kati, Mali
In Wednesday's coordinated attacks, three military bases were targeted

15 soldiers and three civilians were killed in two coordinated attacks by Islamists in southwest Mali on Wednesday, the army said.

This was the third attack in a week after al-Qaeda-linked militants set off two car bombs targeting Mali's main military base outside the capital, Bamako, on Friday, a day after a series of insurgent attacks

In Wednesday's coordinated attacks, three military bases were targeted, according to the army statement.

The assault on a military camp in Sonkolo killed six soldiers and wounded 25 others, five of them seriously.

In an early morning attack on a camp in Kalumba, nine soldiers and three civilians died.
Another military base in the central town of Mopti was also struck. There were no reported casualties.

The army said in a statement that 48 militants were killed in Sonkolo

Mali increasingly under attack
The unstable Sahel state has long been a target of militants linked to al-Qaeda and Islamic State who have repeatedly raided bases across the country.p

In June, 132 civilians were killed in the Bankass area by fighters of the Macina Katiba of Amadou Kouffa, an organization affiliated with al-Qaeda.

The Malian army has intensified its anti-jihadist operations in recent months, relying on what it describes as Russian instructors.

Despite a deteriorating security situation, the junta turned its back on France and its international partners. It is instead leaning on Russia to stem the threat posed by Islamists.
ss/sri (Reuters, AFP)
 

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DR Congo: Death toll from deadly anti-UN protests rises
The death toll from protests in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has risen to 22. People in the DR Congo's east are angry with the UN's MONUSCO mission for failing to keep them safe.



Protesters walk the streets of Goma
Protesters in Goma call for UN MONUSCO forces to leave. The sign reads "MONUSCO no more"

Calm had returned to the streets of Goma on Thursday after three days of violent anti-UN demonstrations in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The regional governor banned protests in the North Kivu regional capital after gunfire echoed through the streets as demonstrators barricaded roads with burning car tires, hurled stones and petrol bombs, and looted stores in recent days.

The violence started on Monday in Goma, when several hundred people stormed and vandalized the headquarters and a supply base of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, known as MONUSCO.
The unrest spread to nearby towns and cities, including Butembo, where attackers fired upon UN personnel at the base there, killing three mission members.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement that the forcible entry and looting of UN bases across the region "may constitute a war crime."

The protesters, many of whom have carried signs saying "Bye bye MONUSCO" or "MONUSCO must leave now," want UN peacekeepers out of the country.

They accuse the UN peacekeepers, who have been deployed in eastern Congo for over 20 years, of failing to protect them from deadly attacks by the myriad armed groups active in the region.
Map: Democratic Republic of the Congo in the context of Africa, with Goma highlighted

Rising death toll
The death toll from the demonstrations has now risen to 22, government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya said on Wednesday. This includes at least 16 civilians, a Congolese army officer, one peacekeeper from Morocco and two UN police officers from India.
Muyaya said a further 67 people had been injured, some seriously.

Doctors told the AFP news agency that Goma's Ndosho Hospital was treating 36 people for gunshot wounds on Tuesday.

Questions over who shot whom
There is disagreement over the cause of the deaths and how they unfolded.
Mapendo Kusudi, a human rights activist, told DW on Monday that the UN was responsible for some of the deaths after shooting into the crowds at protests in Goma.

"Some elements of MONUSCO fired live ammunition at demonstrators," he said.
The Reuters news agency also reported that witnesses said peacekeepers had used live rounds to quell demonstrations.

According to MONUSCO, however, the gunfire came from protesters, some of whom "violently snatched weapons" from Congolese police and fired at peacekeeping forces.
Demonstrators holding guns gather in the town of Sake
Demonstrators face police during anti-UN protests in North Kivu province

At a virtual press conference on Wednesday, the acting head of MONUSCO, Khassim Diagne, said the UN would investigate the killings of the three members of the peacekeeping mission and seek to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Diagne said the UN had seen reports of MOSUSCO troops firing at civilians but had no evidence of it.

He said the UN was calling for a joint investigation of the civilian deaths along with the Congolese government, including an examination of the bullets.

Goma-based journalist Jack Kahorha told DW that it was "not clear who exactly shot."
"Some sources say MONUSCO contingent shot the protesters," he said. "Other sources say the DRC police and the army shot protesters."

Kahorha said many in Goma were outraged by the government's plans to arrest the protest ringleaders. People in North Kivu feel the government in Kinshasa isn't taking seriously their concerns about the deteriorating security situation in the region, he said.

Resurgence of armed rebels
Although militia violence has raged in mineral-rich eastern DR Congo for decades, the past months have seen a spike in civilian massacres, abductions, looting and burning of homes.
According to the UN Refugee Agency, 97 civilians were killed in attacks in eastern DR Congo in June alone while about 700,000 people have been displaced in the region since the beginning of 2022.
Displaced people wait for food in a camp in Goma
Thousands have fled the violence in the east of DR Congo

This week's protests were organized after Senate President Modeste Bahati Lukwebo told supporters in Goma on July 15 that MONUSCO should "pack its bags" because it is unable to end the violence in eastern DR Congo despite 22 years of peacekeeping.

The demonstrations also coincide with the resurgence of M23 — an armed group that lay mostly dormant for years before resuming fighting in November.

Adding to the population's frustration is a recent statement by a top MONUSCO official saying M23 is too well-equipped for DR Congo's armed forces and the UN mission to defeat.
"That statement added oil to the burning fire," said North Kivu's military governor, Constant Ndima.

Peacekeepers in DRC since 1999
MONUSCO is one of the world's largest peacekeeping missions, with more than 16,000 uniformed personnel currently deployed in Congo.

The United Nations has made plans to wind down in its peacekeeping force and eventually withdraw from DR Congo. It has already reduced the number of provinces it operates in from 10 to three, namely North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri province.

MONUSCO faces some serious operational challenges, said Nick Elebe, the DR Congo country manager for the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, who is based in the capital, Kinshasa.
A UN tank drives down a dirt road
UN peacekeepers patrol areas affected by the recent attacks by M23 rebels in North Kivu

Elebe said there would need to be greater collaboration between Congolese organizations and UN authorities in order for it to be more effective.

"It's important to deal with security situation as holistically as possible. Different actors should be involved, discussing issues from development to security to military, reparation and justice," he said.

Elebe doesn't believe that MONUSCO should pull out abruptly.
A withdrawal would "leave a vacuum when it comes to security framework in the region," he said. "I don't think they can just leave: It should be progressively, with a plan."

East African troops
Politician Jean Baumbilia, who hails from the city of Beni in East Kivu, told DW that regional African forces should be involved in finding a solution to the Kivu conflict.

"I am among those who made a suggestion about the Uganda People's Defence Force coming here and that they should do something," he Baumbilia, referring to the hundreds of Ugandan soldiers who started fighting in eastern DR Congo in December 2021, alongside the military.

"When they entered, we started to see some success," Baumbilia said. "What is needed now is to evaluate the work done so far and give them new instructions."

A regional approach, however, would also include neighboring Rwanda, with which the DR Congo has been in constant conflict. The countries are trading blame for the poor security situation in the region, with DR Congo accusing Rwanda of backing M23, something Rwanda denies.



Watch video02:45
Border violence between DRC, Rwanda revives animosities
John Kanyunyu in Beni, Zanem Nety Zaidi in Goma and Eddy Micah Junior contributed to this article.
Edited by: Kate Hairsine
 

Plain Jane

Just Plain Jane

Algeria, Nigeria, Niger sign MOU on gas pipeline to Europe
To move away from relying on Russian energy, the European Union are increasingly turning to Africa for natural gas imports — and Algeria, Niger and Nigeria are looking to cash in.



Algerian BP workers in the gas complex of Tiguentourine, In Amenas, 1600 km southeast of Algiers, Algeria
Africa is endowed with vast natural gas reserves but lacks the infrastructure to export it
Algeria, Niger and Nigeria signed a memorandum of understanding on Thursday to build a 4,000-kilometer (2,500-mile) Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline.

Algeria's Energy Ministry said the natural gas pipeline would stretch across the Sahara desert.

It is estimated that, once the $13 billion (€12.75 billion) pipeline is complete, it will transport up to 30 billion cubic meters (1 trillion cubic feet) of gas annually from Nigeria, in West Africa, north through Niger and on to Algeria.

From there, it could be pumped through the undersea

Trans-Mediterranean Pipeline to Europe or loaded onto Liquefied Natural Gas tankers for export.
Timipre Sylva, Nigerias Minister of Oil Resources, Mohamed Arkab, Algeria's Minister of Energy and Mines and Sani Mahamadou, Nigers Minister of Energy and Renewable Energy shake hands after signing a MoU on the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline
Nigerian, Algerian and Nigerien energy ministers signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the implementation of the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline

Gas pipeline in the works for a while
The idea was first proposed over 40 years ago, but progress stalled.
The new momentum comes as the European Union seeks to wean itself off Russian gas during the war in Ukraine.

The security situation in the Sahel region and tensions between the governments in Algiers and Niamey also delayed the project.

It wasn't until 2021, when Algeria and Niger reopened their border, that discussions to construct the pipeline restarted.
Earlier this week, EU member states agreed to reduce gas consumption as concerns grow that Russia might cut off already decreasing deliveries.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had said the deal to reduce gas use was about preventing the Kremlin from being able to blackmail the EU with gas deliveries: to stop "Russia using gas as a weapon," as she put it.
lo/msh (AFP/Reuters)
 

Zagdid

Veteran Member

July 29, 2022

Mozambique: Russia willing to trade using rubles, meticals
By LUSA

Russia’s ambassador to Mozambique said on Thursday that his country wanted to use the ruble and metical to maintain trade transactions with the African country in the face of sanctions it faces internationally.

“The ruble and the metical are worthy currencies that can be used and do not require the benevolence of some other countries that control the international system,” said the Russian ambassador to Mozambique, Andrey Kemarsky, after a meeting with the CTA – Confederation of Economic Associations of Mozambique in Maputo.

According to the diplomat, Russia is willing to strengthen cooperation with Mozambique and, using the two countries’ currencies, it is possible to boost the partnership, ensuring that Mozambique achieves results in its efforts towards industrialisation.

“Russia is open to support Mozambique, both concerning cereals, fertilisers or machinery that can strengthen its industrialisation,” the diplomat added.

Andrey Kemarsky recalled that Russia and Mozambique had scheduled an intergovernmental meeting in Moscow in the coming months, discussing aspects of bilateral cooperation.

“These issues will be discussed in this joint commission. We are just waiting for Mozambique’s response regarding dates,” said the diplomat, who sees the African country as a reliable partner in Moscow’s strategy to strengthen its presence on the African continent.

Mozambique was among the countries that abstained on two resolutions that went to a vote at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly: one condemning Russia for the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine due to the war and the other suspending Moscow from the Human Rights Council.

The Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo, the ruling party since independence) was an ally of Moscow during the time of the former USSR, receiving military support during the struggle against Portuguese colonialism and economic aid after independence in 1975.

According to data from the CTA, the annual economic transactions between Mozambique and Russia was estimated to be at least 100 million dollars (€98.5 million at the current exchange rate).
 

Plain Jane

Just Plain Jane

Russia looms large over Emmanuel Macron's Africa trip
French President Emmanuel Macron's visits to Cameroon, Benin and Guinea Bissau were aimed at redefining relations, but simultaneous Russian overtures mean there's stiff competition for international influence.



Emmanuel Macron shakes hands with Paul Biya in front of two military officials wearing face masks
Presidenta Emmanual Macron, of France, and Paul Biya, of Cameroon, during the former's Africa trip

According to French presidential officials, President Emmanuel Macron's three-country visit to Africa earlier this week was aimed at redefining relations with former French colonies. The trip, which lasted from July 25 to 28, took him to Cameroon, Benin and Guinea-Bissau.

But Macron was not the only foreign politician making overtures on the African continent: By the time Macron touched down in Cameroon's capital, Yaounde, late Monday, a Russian diplomatic charm offensive was in full swing. Over the course of the week, Moscow's top diplomat, Sergey Lavrov, jetted from Egypt to the Republic of Congo, Uganda and Ethiopia.
The overlapping visits reflect tensions between the long-standing ties certain African nations have to France, due to the legacy of French colonialism, and the more recent investment and involvement by Russia that has made it an attractive international partner.
Sergey Lavrov and Yoweri Museveni hold up a red folder between them
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni met in Entebbe on Tuesday

Russia: 'One of the last colonial, imperial powers'
Macron focused many of his remarks on Africa's stance towards Russia.
"I'm telling you here in Africa, a continent that has suffered from colonial imperialism: Russia is one of the last colonial, imperial powers," Macron said in Benin. He also accused Russia of using food as one of its "weapons of war."

Macron also criticized African leaders who have largely failed to strongly and openly condemn Moscow for invading Ukraine.

"The choice that has been made by the Europeans, first of all, it is not to participate in this war, but to recognize it and name it. But I see too often hypocrisy, especially on the African continent," he said.

Presidents Paul Biya of Cameroon, Patrice Talon of Benin and Umaro Sissoco Embalo of Guinea-Bissau discussed the Ukraine conflict in private with their French counterpart.

Embalo, who has been in office since 2020, spoke out against Russia. "Effectively, Guinea-Bissau, despite being a non-aligned country, condemns this aggression against Ukraine. I think that, in the 21st century, we cannot accept war, especially between neighbors," he said.
President Emmanuel Macron walks next to Umaro Embalo down a red carpet as a band playa brass instruments in the background
Umaro Embalo, of Guinea-Bissau, spoke out against the war in Ukraine during Macron's visit

Russia 'not a common enemy'
According to Caroline Roussy, a senior research fellow at the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs (IRIS), Macron's visit was rather futile if he had intended to persuade African leaders to side with the West.

"President Macron thought he could read the situation well, that everyone would be behind him. African presidents have other preoccupations," Roussy told DW. "Right now, African countries don't want to engage a country like France. Russia is not a common enemy."

She thinks it would have been wiser for Macron to concentrate on mutual matters: "There is big French-bashing in Africa now."

Tighisti Amare, deputy director of the Africa Programme at Chatham House, shared a similar perspective.

"Macron's comments are a reflection of this growing concern and an attempt to win Africa's support for France's position on the war in Ukraine," she said.

"While Macron efforts to reboot relations with the continent are commendable, unsurprisingly changes have been much harder to achieve. Building a long-term political partnership based on mutual interests will take time," she added.

The French president signaled to African countries France's intent to help increase food production in Cameroon and Guinea Bissau, as well as other countries on the continent. Macron also pledged military support to Cameroon and Benin to fight militant extremists.

Africans pivoting away from France
However, France's desire for a reset with Africa is not exclusively related to Russia, nor is it entirely a recent development.

Macron's first trip outside the EU after initially becoming president, in 2017, was to Mali.
"French presidential visits have traditionally been an important way of signaling that Africa remains a political priority for France," Amare explained. "Macron has made a number of efforts to revitalize France's relation with countries across Africa."

But much has changed in Africa since Macron's first term. The former French colonies are pivoting away from France. The recent coups in Mali, Chad and Burkina Faso are also seen to have hurt relations with France. For instance, this past spring, Mali withdrew from its military pacts with France.

Some countries where France once had strong influence now openly favor Russia and China.
Experts agree that having Russia, and China, on the scene has made the political and diplomatic competition for influence more intense for Macron.

Patrice Talon's holds Emmanuel Macron's wrist and gestures as the two stand on stairs
Beninese President Patrice Talon freed 30 jailed opposition supporters during President Macron's visit

No criticism of Biya over Anglophone crisis
One topic was noticeably absent from public remarks: While in Cameroon, Macron mostly avoided mentioning the drawn-out Anglophone crisis that threatens stability in the country. He also did not meet with Maurice Kamto, of the opposition.

Some Cameroonians had predicted that that would be the case. Emmanuel Simh, one of the vice presidents of Kamto's Movement for the Rebirth of Cameroon (MRC), told DW that he had not had expectations for Macron's visit anyway.

However, a representative of one separatist groups, told DW they had hoped Macron would urge President Biya to stop the use of force in the English-speaking regions.

"Other movements will be watching this event with the hope that Emmanuel Macron will be pushing Paul Biya to choose the path of peaceful resolution of the war, " Capo Daniel, the deputy defense chief of the Ambazonia Defense Forces, said.

Biya, meanwhile, confirmed to journalists covering Macron's visit that his government renewed an existing military agreement with Russia in April.




Watch video04:50
GirlZOffMute: Cameroon's Anglophone crisis put kids' right to education at risk
Aid upon specific request

In Benin, Macron and Talon discussed security and the possibility of help from Paris in the form of advanced weaponry or military training. Jihadi extremists are active in the north of the country.

The French leader was keen to emphasize that when it comes to matters such as fight terrorism, his government's approach in African countries was to intervene at the specific request of countries.

With Macron's trip now over, experts will be looking to see whether any groundwork for a relationship reset was successfully laid. Going forward, however, it will be important for western powers to recognize that their own interests and those of African countries, who are now are diversifying international partnerships, won't always align, said Chatham House's Amare.

Moki Kindzeka, Iancuba Danso and Etienne Gatanazi contr
ibuted to this article
.
Edited by: Kate Hairsine and Cristina Burack
 

Plain Jane

Just Plain Jane

Madagascar: At least 32 killed as bandits set homes on fire
Residents and criminal gangs in the country often engage in violence towards one another, often sparked by cattle theft. Security forces have been deployed to search for the culprits.



An image of buildings in Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar
The killings took place in a district that's about 75 kilometers north of the capital Antananarivo

At least 32 people were killed in Madagascar after local bandits set homes on fire, according to the African country's Defense Ministry.

The killings took place in the Ankazobe district, about 75 kilometers (47 miles) north of the capital Antananarivo overnight into Friday.

"People here experienced a real tragedy ... many lives were lost. 32 people died. It is a crime perpetrated by ruthless

dahalo (bandits) who burned alive even women and children," Defense Minister General Richard Rakotonirina said in a video

posted on the ministry's Facebook page late on Saturday.

The "dahalo" are organized criminal gangs in parts of Madagascar. They steal cattle from community members and engage in other various forms of banditr

What's the reason behind the attack?
Residents and criminal gangs in the island nation often engage in violence towards one another, often sparked by cattle theft.
Authorities said the attack on the area was likely an act of revenge against the community for collaborating with security forces during previous operations against them.
Police said they were looking for the perpetrators.

"We will hunt down those who committed this crime and their accomplices," Rakotonirina said.
tg/sri (dpa, Reuters)
 

Plain Jane

Just Plain Jane

EU sanctions on Russia haven't slowed invasion of Ukraine
In a recent interview, the EU's foreign policy chief told DW that sooner or later Russia will crumble. Many international researchers also say the sanctions will eventually work. Others are less convinced,



Red fireworks over the Kremlin, Moscow
How long can Russia survive without links to the West?

The European Union has adopted six packages of sanctions against Russia since the invasion of Ukraine at the end of February. Economic exchange between Russia and the European Union has almost completely halted, with the exceptions of gas and oil, which continue to be piped into the EU, and food, crops and certain fertilizers, which are not covered by the sanctions.

According to the Council of the European Union, which represents the 27 member states, sanctions now apply to 1,212 individuals — including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavorv, several top oligarchs and 108 entities. Half of the Central Bank of Russia's reserves have been frozen, and Russian banks have been cut off from the SWIFT international payment system. Exports of EU technology, aeronautical engineering, electronics and luxury goods are banned. More than 1,000 Western companies have pulled out of Russia.

The US, Canada, Japan, Switzerland and the UK have also imposed sanctions on Russia. In its live tracker of the sanctions, the German nonprofit investigative newsroom Correctiv found that, as of July 30, 6,891 measures had been imposed since February. There have never been so many sanctions against a single country.
Josep Borrell in front of the EU eymbol
Josep Borrell says the West needs to be patient and Russia will be isolated

Russia hit 'hard'
On Friday, Josep Borrell, the EU's foreign policy chief, told DW that sanctions are hitting Russia "hard."

"The Russian economy is decreasing by 10%," Borrell said. "They will suffer the biggest recession since the World War or the end of the Soviet Union." He acknowledged that the European Union remains dependent on energy supplies from Russia, but said that would change in the coming months. EU member states are still buying gas from Russia, he said, "but we have reduced to half the amount of imports — we cannot do miracles." He said the Kremlin could no longer use the income to shop in the European Union, meaning that EU technology for Russian tanks was now off limits. "They have the money," he said, "but they cannot buy anything."
Protesters demand that Russia be cut off from SWIFT in Geneva
Russia was eventually cut off from the international SWIFT payment system

Several studies by renowned universities and economic research institutes on the possible impact of the sanctions on Russia — and on the countries that have imposed them — are now available. They all project a drastic decline in Russia's economic output in 2022. The International Monetary Fund, for example, estimates a 15% drop.p

The economic researcher Maria Shagina, from the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, projects a drop of 6%. "Russia continues selling oil and gas at record high prices, and it accumulated this war chest, this fortress Russia, that it used to have before the war," Shagina told DW. "So we have this unique situation where on the surface Russia is not very affected by sanctions. But, if we look at the microeconomic level, and in particular at the automotive industry and the aviation sector, the sales in those sectors have dropped by more than 80-90%. In the long term, we're talking about Russia's structural transformation because it can no longer accrue this Western capital and access Western technology, and it will go through a reverse industrialization. How quick can Russia solve it and come up with a new economic model or team up with China, India? Who can provide this is a big question mark.

Russia 'suffering massively'
Julian Hinz, from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, said trade statistics showed that the sanctions have worked. "The Russian economy is suffering massively under these sanctions — way more than the European economies are," he said. "There's really just no comparison."

Hinz said it would be difficult for Russia to produce domestic alternatives to imported goods because the national industry needed preliminary products and technical know-how from abroad. He said the Kremlin would struggle to find buyers for the oil and gas no that are longer going to the EU and the US. "The pipelines are not there," Hinz said. "There's some pipeline capacity going to China, but that is just roughly about 10% of what could be sent to Europe at the same time. None of that, in terms of capacity, is able to replace the pipeline capacity going to Europe."

Borrell said Russia would end up isolated. "A modern economy cannot work if the link with the rest [of the] economic powers, technological powers is cut. This will damage the Russian economy a lot — not tomorrow: The war will continue, unhappily continue. But the economy will suffer a lot."

"Putin has to choose if he wants to have guns or wants to have butter for his people," Borrell said. "I know he does not care much about his people."

The crucial question, then, is whether the economic sanctions will eventually help to change the political will of the authoritarian regime in Moscow. Alexander Libman, a professor of Russian and East European politics at the Free University of Berlin, is skeptical. He recently told the German public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk that Vladimir Putin is not impressed by damage to the Russian economy.

"Sanctions will not change anything within weeks or months," Libman said. "One must be honest: Sanctions are an instrument — there is quite a lot of research on this — that generally does not work. In most cases, sanctions have not influenced the behavior of the sanctioned states."
This article was translated from German.
 
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