NEWS - The African Mirror

Jun

05

2023

Nigeria: Gunmen kill dozens, abduct children

NEWS

GUNMEN in Nigeria have killed dozens of people and kidnapped a number of children in separate attacks in two northern states, police and residents said, the latest incidents in a region dogged by armed violence. Armed gangs on motorbikes frequently take advantage of thinly stretched security forces in the region to kidnap villagers, motorists and students for ransom. Residents said armed men had attacked Janbako and Sakkida villages in northwestern Zamfara state on Saturday, killing 24 people. The gunmen also abducted several children who were collecting firewood in a forest in neighbouring Gora village. Hussaini Ahmadu and Abubakar Maradun, local…

Jun

05

2023

By SONIA ROLLEY

DRC-UAE 25-year gold export deal raise questions

NEWS

A 25-year deal published this week by the Congolese government hands a little-known UAE firm exclusive rights to export artisanal gold at preferential rates, prompting criticism it will solve none of the issues it was meant to address. Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo had touted the deal, signed in late 2022, and made public on Monday, as a way to clean up the country's informal, or artisanal, mining sector where smuggling has led to the loss of millions of dollars in tax revenue each year and helps to fund armed groups destabilising Congo's mineral-rich eastern provinces. The new…

Jun

05

2023

By The African Mirror

Senegal riots: Govt cuts mobile access

NEWS

SENEGAL'S government has cut access to mobile internet services in certain areas because of deadly rioting in which "hateful and subversive" messages have been posted online, it said in a statement on Sunday. The West African country has been rocked by three days of violent protests in which 16 people have died, one of its deadliest bouts of civil unrest in decades. Last week, the government limited access to certain messaging platforms, but many people were able to bypass the outage with the use of virtual private networks that mask the location of the user. It extended the outage on Sunday to…

Jun

05

2023

By The African Mirror

Fighting escalates in Khartoum after ceasefire expires

NEWS

FIGHTING intensified in several areas of Khartoum, residents of Sudan's capital reported a day after the expiry of a ceasefire deal between rival military factions brokered by Saudi Arabia and the United States. The ceasefire had started on May 22 and expired on Saturday evening. It calmed the fighting slightly and allowed limited humanitarian access, but like previous truces were repeatedly violated. Talks to extend the ceasefire broke down on Friday. The deadly power struggle which erupted in Sudan on April 15 has triggered a major humanitarian crisis in which more than 1.2 million people have been displaced within the country and…

Jun

06

2023

By The African Mirror

Zanzibar bids to host Africa’s 1st Formula One race

NEWS

BIRD STORY AGENCY SIX decades after gaining independence, the island of Zanzibar is on the cusp of making motorsport history by ensuring that Tanzania becomes the second African country after South Africa, to secure the coveted rights to host Formula 1. According to Sportface.it, an Italian sports platform, the semi-autonomous island province has been diligently pursuing admission as one of the Formula 1 calendar's venues, for the past five years - and is now being taken seriously. Leading the charge is the Zanzibar Investment Promotion Authority, which has tenaciously championed the cause. Undeterred by the substantial financial commitments required, the…

Jun

04

2023

By The African Mirror

Tunisia: President wants to tax the rich

NEWS

TUNISIAN President Kais Saied suggested raising taxes on richer people could be an alternative to socially painful reforms as a means to secure an international financial rescue package. Tunisia's government negotiated a preliminary agreement in October with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a $1.9 billion loan in return for cuts to subsidies and the public sector wage bill and reform of state-owned companies. Credit ratings agencies have warned that Tunisia faces a possible default on sovereign debt without the loan, which is also expected to unlock more bilateral financing. The IMF has said Tunisia needs to put its finances…

Jun

06

2023

By The African Mirror

Senegalese riots victim warned of gun violence

NEWS

EDWARD MCALLISTER and DIADIE BA ELHAJI Cisse was busy on Friday, the day he was killed, tweeting hundreds of times as riots erupted beyond the walls of his compound in a busy suburb of Senegal's capital Dakar. In one post, the 26-year-old student warned his 1,700 followers about security forces firing live rounds at protesters. In another, he shared first aid tips for people wounded on the streets. Offline he helped too, showing elderly neighbours how to ease their discomfort from inhaling mouthfuls of tear gas, said his younger brother Djimbala Ba. "He spent his time in the service of…

Jun

03

2023

By PAP SAINE and EDWARD MCALLISTER

Cough syrup deaths: Gambia mulls legal action

NEWS

GAMBIA has hired a U.S. law firm to explore legal action after a government-backed investigation found that contaminated medicines from India were "very likely" to have caused the deaths of children last year, the justice minister told Reuters. At least 70 children in Gambia, most under 5 years old, died from acute kidney injury between June and October. Local doctors suspected cough syrups imported from India were the likely culprit, Reuters reported earlier this year, and tests by the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed the presence of lethal toxins, sparking a global hunt for contaminated medicines. Gambian Justice Minister Dawda Jallow…

Jun

03

2023

By NELSON BANYA

EU chases mineral deals with Africa

NEWS

THE European Union is in negotiations with the Democratic Republic of Congo, a leading source of battery minerals, and aims for talks with other African countries to shore up its supplies of critical raw materials, an EU official said on Wednesday. As part of efforts to reduce dependency on China, which dominates supplies of minerals needed for a transition to a lower carbon economy, the EU's Critical Raw Materials Act, which has yet to enter force, established targets to develop alternative sources. So far the EU has signed partnerships with countries such as Canada, Kazakhstan, Namibia and Ukraine, and said deals…

Jun

04

2023

By SOFIA CHRISTENSEN, DIADIE BA and NGOUDA DIONE

Fresh protests rock Senegal as death toll climbs

NEWS

FRESH clashes broke out between opposition supporters and Senegalese police in parts of the capital Dakar, the third day of protests in the West African nation sparked by the prosecution of an opposition leader. Protesters took to the streets in the evening, setting up barricades and burning rubbish in the HLM district. Police there and in the Ngor residential neighbourhood fired tear gas in an effort to disperse angry crowds. Gas stations and a supermarket were looted overnight and several districts were strewn with rubble and burned tyres. "The police couldn't do anything... The police had to leave after several…