NEWS - The African Mirror

Mar

04

2024

Burkina Faso prosecutor says around 170 ‘executed’ in attacks on villages

NEWS

AROUND 170 people were "executed" in attacks on three villages in northern Burkina Faso a week ago, a regional prosecutor said in a statement. The attacks by unknown assailants were carried out on the villages of Komsilga, Nodin and Soro in the Yatenga province, the statement dated March 1 said, adding that an investigation had been launched. The West African Sahel nation has been struggling to contain violent Islamist insurgencies linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State that have spread from neighbouring Mali over the past decade, killing thousands and displacing more than two million.

Mar

02

2024

By The African Mirror

About 20 migrants die in shipwreck off Senegal’s coast

NEWS

ABOUT 20 migrants died this week when their boat capsized off the coast of northern Senegal, Prime Minister Amadou Ba said. The migrant support service Alarm Phone said on X that the boat had been carrying around 300 people before it capsized on Wednesday near the city of Saint-Louis and that some made it to shore while others were still missing. Thousands of people leave the coast of West Africa every year on a perilous journey to try to reach Europe, and the full number of deaths at sea is unknown. Senegal mourned several deadly incidents last year, including one…

Mar

04

2024

By COOPER INVEEN

Ghana LGBTQ activist says friends in hiding after crackdown bill passes

NEWS

GHANAIAN trans woman and activist Angel Maxine fled to Berlin before parliament passed an anti-LGBTQ bill. She fears for the safety of the friends she has had to leave behind. Lawmakers on Wednesday unanimously passed the legislation that will intensify a crackdown on the rights of LGBTQ people and those accused of promoting lesbian, gay or other minority sexual or gender identities in the West African country. "I needed a safe place to continue my work as an activist," said Maxine, who left the country last week. "The threats were just so much and I had to just find a way…

Mar

02

2024

By CLAUDE MUHINDO SENGENYA and JACOB GOLDBERG

GiveDirectly cash aid fraud led to broken families and mounting debts in DR Congo

NEWS

ViVICTIMS of a $1.2 million fraud scheme perpetrated by staff at cash aid NGO GiveDirectly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo say their lives were upended by debts and broken promises, and remain so long after the fraud was discovered in January 2023. “This fraud has complicated the lives of many residents,” said one mother of six who enrolled in the aid programme but received no payments, speaking on condition of anonymity out of fear she could be disqualified from any future assistance. “Many have plunged themselves into debt that they should have avoided, believing they would pay it…

Mar

03

2024

By MAHAMAT RAMADANE

Chad’s interim leader Deby confirms plan to run for president

NEWS

CHAD'S interim President Mahamat Idriss Deby said he plans to run in this year's long-awaited presidential race. Deby's confirmation came at the end of a chaotic week in which opposition politician Yaya Dillo was shot and killed in the capital N'Djamena. Dillo's death on Wednesday in disputed circumstances has further exposed divisions in the ruling elite at a politically sensitive time as the Central African country prepares for the promised return to democratic rule via the ballot box. Advertisement · Scroll to continue The Chadian government has said Dillo was killed in an exchange of gunfire with security forces and has accused members of his party…

Mar

01

2024

By The African Mirror

Mozambique president Nyusi has immunity in London ‘tuna bond’ case, court rules

NEWS

MOZAMBICAN President Filipe Nyusi cannot be sued in Britain over allegations he accepted unlawful payments as part of Mozambique's litigation over the decade-long "tuna bond" scandal, London's Court of Appeal ruled. Emirati-Lebanese shipbuilder Privinvest wanted to drag Nyusi into a $3.1-billion lawsuit brought by Mozambique, which accuses it of paying bribes to officials and Credit Suisse bankers. London's High Court has yet to rule on the case following a trial last year. Mozambique settled with Credit Suisse's new owner UBS on the eve of the trial in October. Shortly before last year's trial began, the High Court ruled that Nyusi had not been properly served…

Mar

01

2024

By The African Mirror

Death toll in Mali bus accident rises to 40

NEWS

THE death toll in a bus accident near the southern Malian town of Kenieba on Tuesday has risen to 40, Burkina Faso's government said in a statement, adding that its citizens were among the dead. Mali's transport ministry said that at least 31 people were killed when a bus bound for Burkina Faso plunged off a bridge over a river.

Mar

02

2024

By JASON STEARNS and JOSHUA Z. WALKER

DRC-Rwanda crisis: what’s needed to prevent a regional war

NEWS

IN the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), South African, Burundian and Tanzanian troops are fighting against the Rwandan army, which has deployed in support of the rebellion by the March 23 Movement, or M23. Soldiers from South Africa and Burundi, as well as from the United Nations peacekeeping mission, have recently suffered casualties. In the crossfire, civilians have fled: seven million Congolese are now displaced due to this and multiple other crises in the DRC. Diplomats are concerned: the conflict in the eastern DRC was the subject of a special meeting at the United Nations Security Council on…

Mar

02

2024

By The African Mirror

Ethiopian police release French journalist after a week, employer says

NEWS

FRENCH journalist Antoine Galindo was released by Ethiopian police on Thursday after a week, his employer said. He was arrested last Thursday while on assignment in the country's capital Addis Ababa on charges of "conspiracy to create chaos". Galindo has left for France and is due to arrive on Friday, the publisher of Africa Intelligence, Quentin Botbol, said in an emailed statement. Human rights activists have repeatedly criticized Ethiopia's restrictions on press freedom, particularly in response to critical coverage of conflicts and security crises. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said at least eight Ethiopian journalists have been detained since August.…

Mar

02

2024

By AUGUSTINE ABOH

Nigeria’s security problems deepen as Anglophone insurgency in Cameroon spills across border

NEWS

OVER the past two decades, Nigeria has grappled with multiple and complex national security threats, each posing a significant challenge to its stability. The nation finds itself fighting a violent militancy in the Niger Delta, conflicts between farmers and herders across multiple regions, terrorism and insurgency in the northeast, banditry in the northwest and secessionist campaigns by groups such as the Indigenous People of Biafra in the southeast. AUGUSTINE ABOH, PhD candidate in Global Governance and Human Security, University of Massachusetts Now a new layer of complexity has emerged in the form of the Ambazonian secessionist group from Cameroon. This…