NEWS - The African Mirror

Feb

23

2024

Burkina Faso suspends export permits for small-scale gold production

NEWS

BURKINA Faso's military junta has suspended the issuance of export permits for artisanal and semi-mechanised gold and other precious commodities with immediate effect, it said. "This suspension follows the need to clean up the sector and reflects the government's desire to better organise the marketing of gold and other precious substances," it said in a statement dated February 20. It did not say how long the suspension would be in place. It added that Mining groups with material to export are invited to reach out to the National Society for Precious Commodities (SONAP) for compensation. Gold is Burkina Faso's main…

Feb

21

2024

By STEPHANIE VAN DEN BERG

South Africa asks World Court to find Israeli occupation illegal

NEWS

SOUTH Africa urged the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to issue a non-binding legal opinion that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal, arguing it would help efforts to settle. Representatives of South Africa opened the second day of hearings at the ICJ, also known as the World Court, in the Hague. The hearing follows a request by the U.N. General Assembly for an advisory or non-binding, opinion on the occupation in 2022. More than 50 states will present arguments until February 26. On Monday, Palestinian representatives asked the U.N.'s highest court to declare Israel's occupation of their territory illegal, also…

Feb

21

2024

By The African Mirror

UN earmarks $100 mln for poorly funded humanitarian crises

NEWS

THE United Nations said that it was allocating $100 million to support poorly funded humanitarian crises in seven countries, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Sudan and Syria. The funding, drawn from the United Nations' Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), is among the smallest in recent years as aid organisations are grappling to attract donations amid a flurry of humanitarian crises. "This reflects the reduced funding that CERF received in 2023, its lowest since 2018, and the dire reality that donor funding is failing to keep up with soaring humanitarian needs," the U.N. Office for the Coordination of…

Feb

22

2024

By ANAIT MIRIDZHANIAN

South Africa to hold national and provincial elections on May 29

NEWS

SOUTH Africa will hold national and provincial elections on May 29, President Cyril Ramaphosa's office said. The elections are expected to be the most competitive since the end of the apartheid system. Political analysts widely predict that the governing African National Congress (ANC) party will lose its parliamentary majority for the first time since 1994, with record power cuts, poor service delivery and high levels of unemployment among voter complaints. South Africans will elect a new National Assembly as well as the provincial legislature in each of the country's nine provinces before the National Assembly elects the president. Ramaphosa, 71,…

Feb

22

2024

By BIRD STORY AGENCY

Diaspora institutions are charting new courses for diasporic African youth

NEWS

THE desire for knowledge about Africa and a growing sense of African pride among African youths living in an increasingly discriminatory diaspora has fueled a surge in institutions promoting African identity. A new Africa No Filter report, "Being African: How African Youth Experience the Diaspora," finds that African diaspora youth maintain their African identity and seek cultural exchange and information from Africa and fellow Africans even while abroad. “Speaking or knowing an African language, learning about African history and current affairs, eating African food, wearing African clothes and hairstyles, and enjoying the cultural and sporting achievements of the continent are…

Feb

22

2024

By The African Mirror

Russia says it shipped 200,000 tonnes of free grain to six African countries

NEWS

RUSSIA'S agriculture minister said that Moscow had completed its initiative of shipping 200,000 metric tonnes of free grain to six African countries, as promised by President Vladimir Putin in July. Russia shipped 50,000 tonnes each to Somalia and the Central African Republic and 25,000 tonnes each to Mali, Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe and Eritrea, Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev told Putin during a meeting, according to a transcript on the Kremlin's website. Putin had promised to deliver free grain to the six countries at a summit with African leaders in July, soon after Moscow withdrew from a deal that had allowed Ukraine to ship grain from…

Feb

21

2024

By The African Mirror

Guinea junta temporarily dissolves government, presidency says

NEWS

GUINEA'S self-appointed military leaders have dissolved the government and will appoint a new one, the presidency's secretary general said in a filmed statement. The West African country has been under military rule since a junta seized power in a September 2021 coup. The region's main economic and political bloc, ECOWAS, has been pressuring the junta, one of several in West Africa, to hold elections within an acceptable delay and restore civilian rule. Both parties agreed on a 24-month transition timeline in October 2022. The presidency's secretary general, Amara Camara, unexpectedly announced on Monday that the government had been dissolved. Without providing a…

Feb

20

2024

By AHMED KINGIMI

Nigeria police repel attack by gunmen, one officer dies

NEWS

A group of armed men attacked a police division in Zurmi town, in Nigeria's northwest Zamfara state, but were repelled by officers with casualties recorded on both sides, the police said. Gangs of heavily armed men referred to as bandits by locals have wreaked havoc across Nigeria's northwest in the past three years, kidnapping thousands, killing hundreds, and making it unsafe to travel by road or to farm in some areas. Zamfara police spokesperson Yazid Abubakar said suspected bandits wielding sophisticated weapons attacked the division late on Sunday, killing a senior officer and wounding two others. "The policemen on duty…

Feb

20

2024

By The African Mirror

Niger names new ministers of mining and energy in reshuffle

NEWS

NIGER'S military government has named new ministers of mining and energy in a government reshuffle, splitting up the previous ministry of mines, petrol and energy into three posts, it said. Mahaman Moustapha Barke Bako, previously minister of mines, petrol, and energy, will now be minister of petrol. Professor Amadou Haoua was named the new minister of energy and Colonel Ousmane Abarchi was named minister of mines, according to a decree read out on state television, that did not give a reason for the reshuffle. All three are strategically important sectors for the West African country, where military officers overthrew the…

Feb

20

2024

By The African Mirror

U.N. in Libya urges probe into Tripoli shooting deaths

NEWS

THE United Nations mission in Libya has urged authorities to investigate the shooting deaths of 10 people in a Tripoli neighbourhood, with city security chiefs saying the victims included two members of a powerful armed faction. The U.N. said in a statement released on social media that the authorities should "prevent any actions that could lead to escalation and further violence". Libya has had little peace since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising and it split in 2014, with rival factions taking over different parts of the country. Although major warfare has paused since a 2020 ceasefire, different groups still wield control…