NEWS - The African Mirror

Feb

18

2023

U.N. seeks $1.3 billion for Nigerians affected by insurgency

NEWS

THE United Nations appealed for $1.3 billion to provide assistance to six million Nigerians who are suffering the impact of a long-running Islamist insurgency in the northeast of the country. The militant Boko Haram group and its offshoot, Islamic State West Africa Province, have been fighting Nigerian security forces in the northeast for over a decade, displacing more than 2 million people and killing hundreds of others, aid agencies say. Matthias Schmale, the U.N. resident and humanitarian coordinator for Nigeria said the "large-scale humanitarian and protection crisis shows no sign of abating". The number of children suffering from acute malnutrition…

Feb

18

2023

By The African Mirror

Guinea protests leave at least two killed, many wounded, opposition says

NEWS

SAMB SALIOU AT least two people were shot dead and scores wounded or detained at an anti-government protest in Guinea's capital Conakry that started late on Wednesday and continued into Thursday, an opposition coalition said. This time demonstrators erected roadblocks in several locations in Conakry and threw stones at security vehicles, Chief of Police Abdoulaye Sampil said in a statement that made no mention of civilian casualties. He said seven members of the security forces were wounded. A senior police official later said one protester was wounded. But the National Front for the Defence of the Constitution (FNDC), a coalition…

Feb

18

2023

By The African Mirror

Al Qaeda’s new leader Adel has $10 million bounty on his head

NEWS

MICHAEL GEORGY SEIF al-Adel, a former Egyptian special forces officer who is a high-ranking member of al Qaeda with a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head, is now the "uncontested" leader of the militant group, according to a new U.N. report on the organisation. Al Qaeda has not formally named a successor for Ayman al-Zawahiri, who was believed to have been killed in a U.S. missile strike in Kabul last year, dealing a blow to the organisation since its founder Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011.Advertisement · Scroll to continue Although a U.S. intelligence official said in January that Zawahiri's succession remained…

Feb

16

2023

By The African Mirror

73 presumed dead after shipwreck off Libyan coast

NEWS

AT least 73 migrants were reported missing and presumed dead following a shipwreck off the Libyan coast on Tuesday, the official Twitter account of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Libya said. Seven survivors made it to shore from the boat, which was carrying around 80 people, who had reportedly departed from Qasr Alkayar, east of Tripoli, to head to Europe, the IOM added. So far, 11 bodies have been retrieved by the Libyan Red Crescent and the local police, while the seven survivors are in hospital, the IOM said. Libya has become a major launching point for migrants…

Mar

14

2023

By The African Mirror

Kagame looking at ‘resolving’ detention of ‘Hotel Rwanda’ hero Rusesabagina

NEWS

RWANDAN President Paul Kagame said there were discussions about "resolving" the fate of Paul Rusesabagina, who was portrayed as a hero in the Hollywood film "Hotel Rwanda" and is serving a 25-year sentence in Rwanda on terrorism charges. Rusesabagina was sentenced in September 2021 over his ties to an organization opposed to Kagame's rule. He denied all the charges and refused to take part in the trial that he and his supporters called a political sham. Washington has designated him as "wrongly detained", partly because of what it called the lack of fair trial guarantees. Rusesabagina has U.S. permanent residency…

Mar

14

2023

By The African Mirror

Gabon ferry tragedy: 31 missing

NEWS

GABONESE authorities were searching on Monday for 31 people still missing after a ferry sank last week just off the coast of the central African country, killing six people. The Esther Miracle ferry was carrying 161 passengers from Libreville to Port-Gentil when it sank on March 9 close to the coastal village of Nyonie. "We have not stopped the search operations, we have continued them since the first day. As we speak, a boat is at the area with diving teams which are locating the shipwreck," Gabon's Prime Minister Alain-Claude Bilie By Nze told state broadcaster Gabon 1ere on Sunday.…

Feb

16

2023

By The African Mirror

Egypt’s model prison rife with abuses, inmates’ families and activists say

NEWS

FARAH SAAFAN and AIDAN LEWIS A new prison which Egypt touted as a model for reform and which holds some of its most prominent prisoners denies inmates healthcare and subjects them to punitive treatment including isolation, relatives of those inside and rights groups say. Many of the inmates now in Badr prison on the outskirts of Cairo were moved from Tora, an older facility in a southern suburb of the city that held prisoners including leaders of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and other political activists. Rights groups estimate tens of thousands of people have been jailed for political dissent under…

Mar

14

2023

By The African Mirror

Egypt withholding identity papers from dissidents abroad- rights group

NEWS

EGYPTIAN authorities have been systematically refusing to provide or renew identity documents to dissidents, journalists and activists abroad in a crackdown on opposition that extends beyond Egypt's borders, Human Rights Watch said. The U.S.-based group said it had interviewed 26 Egyptians living in countries including Turkey, Germany, Malaysia and Qatar last year, and had reviewed documents relating to nine of them. Egypt's state press centre and foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment. "By arbitrarily depriving its citizens abroad from obtaining valid passports and other identity documents, the Egyptian authorities are violating both the constitution and international…

Feb

15

2023

By The African Mirror

South Africa declares national state of disaster over floods

NEWS

SOUTH African President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared a national state of disaster to enable an intensive response to widespread flooding that has affected seven of the country's nine provinces. Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape have been most affected by the floods, which were brought on by heavy rainfall as a result of the La Nina weather phenomenon, according to a statement from the office of the presidency on Monday. Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, the Northern Cape, and North West have also experienced flooding. Invoking the national disaster act gives the government additional powers, including in the procurement and delivery of goods and services…

Mar

14

2023

By The African Mirror

Mauritania says three fugitives killed after prison break

NEWS

THREE escaped detainees in Mauritania have been killed and one other detained after a shootout with security forces, the Mauritanian authorities said. Earlier this week, the four inmates escaped the central prison in Mauritania's capital, Nouakchott, during a breakout in which two soldiers were killed by gunfire, according to the interior ministry. In a joint statement, the defence and interior ministries said three of the four fugitives were killed when shooting broke out during a search operation conducted by the army and counter-terrorism forces. One officer was killed during the operation, the statement said. The authorities have not shared the identities of…