NEWS - The African Mirror

Feb

16

2021

Nigeria’s president calls for calm

NEWS

NIGERIA’S president has appealed for calm following reports of intercommunal violence between ethnic groups at a market in the southwestern state of Oyo. Clashes between traders from the Yoruba and Hausa ethnic groups broke out on Saturday at Shasha market in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo, the state governor's spokesman said. Most Yoruba live in southwestern Nigeria, while the Hausa are concentrated in northern states. Tensions have increased in southwestern states in recent weeks amid claims by public figures that nomadic cattle herders from the mainly northern Fulani ethnic group are carrying out violent crimes, which the pastoralists have denied.…

Feb

16

2021

By The African Mirror

Ex-soccer executive on trial at ICC for C.A.R

NEWS

STEPHANIE VAN DER BERG TWO men accused of leading Christian-dominated militias in widespread attacks on Muslims in the Central African Republic (CAR) go on trial today at the International Criminal Court. Prosecutors say that Patrice-Edouard Ngaissona, a former top African football executive, was a senior leader and national coordinator of the so-called anti-Balaka militias in 2013 and 2014. Ngaissona, 53, has been charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, rape, persecution and torture. Co-accused Alfred Yekatom, 46, a former militia commander also known as "Rambo", faces similar charges to Ngaissona with additional counts for his alleged use…

Feb

16

2021

By The African Mirror

Congo’s Tshisekedi appoints new PM

NEWS

STANIS BUJAKERA CONGO President Felix Tshisekedi yesterday appointed the head of the state mining company Sama Lukonde Kyenge as the new prime minister, capping a series of victories for Tshisekedi over his once-dominant predecessor Joseph Kabila. Sylvestre Ilunga Ilunkamba, a close confidant of Kabila, resigned from the post on January 28 following a vote of no confidence in the Democratic Republic of Congo's parliament. The appointment of Lukonde, director general of Gecamines and an ally of the president, should help Tshisekedi install a more loyal cabinet to push through his agenda. In December, Tshisekedi announced he wanted to break free…

Feb

16

2021

By The African Mirror

Ebola vaccination campaign begins in Democratic Republic of Congo

NEWS

AN Ebola vaccination campaign has begun in the city of Butembo, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a tweet. Health workers at Matanda health centre, where the first Ebola patient was treated, were the first to be vaccinated, the WHO said. Congo has confirmed four cases of Ebola since a resurgence of the virus was announced on Feb. 7 in Butembo, the epicentre of a previous outbreak that was declared over last June. On Friday, 1,200 doses of Ebola vaccine and cold chain equipment arrived in the city, according to the WHO.…

Feb

16

2021

By The African Mirror

Guinea tracks potential Ebola contacts, says can overcome new outbreak

NEWS

SALIOU SAMB GUINEA is tracking down people who potentially came in contact with Ebola patients and will rush out vaccines to the area as soon as it can get them after three people died of the disease, Health Minister Remy Lamah said on Monday. Lamah said that unlike during the deadliest known outbreak, which tore through West Africa in 2013-2016, Guinea now had the means to halt the resurgence of the disease. "In 2013, it took us months to understand that we were dealing with an Ebola epidemic, while this time, in less than four days, we were able to…

Jul

27

2021

By The African Mirror

Tunisian in turmoil, govt sacked, parly suspended

NEWS

TAREK AMARA and ANGUS McDOWALL TUNISIA is facing the worst crisis in its decade of democracy after President Kais Saied ousted the government and suspended parliament with help from the army, a move denounced as a coup by the country's main parties, including Islamists. He extended some existing measures aimed at countering the pandemic, including a curfew and internal travel bans, but which would also have the effect of dampening street opposition. Saied's action followed months of deadlock and disputes pitting him against Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi and a fragmented parliament as Tunisia descended into an economic crisis exacerbated by…

Jul

27

2021

By The African Mirror

Equatorial Guinea to close embassy in London

NEWS

EQUATORIAL Guinea will close its diplomatic mission in London, the country's foreign minister has said, after Britain last week sanctioned the son of its president for misappropriating millions of dollars. "The first decision that the Malabo executive has taken is the total closure of our diplomatic headquarters in London," Foreign Minister Simeon Oyono Esono said on state television. "Equatorial Guinea will not accept interference in the internal affairs of the country, which violates the principle of international law," Esono said. Equatorial Guinea's Second Vice-President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue addresses attendees during the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly…

Jul

27

2021

By The African Mirror

Nigerian bandits abduct negotiator over ransom to free students

NEWS

Armed bandits in Nigeria have seized a negotiator who had been sent to pay ransom money to secure the release of 136 students kidnapped two months ago from an Islamic school in the north of the African nation, the school and parents said. Abubakar Alhassan, director of the Islamic school, said the school and parents have been negotiating with the kidnappers who demanded 30 million naira ($72,993) to release the students from the school in Nigeria's Niger state. Alhassan said the school had contributed to a ransom and some parents sold property to raise cash but they said the negotiator,…

Jul

27

2021

By The African Mirror

Reactions to Tunisia’s democratic crisis

NEWS

TUNISIAN President Kais Saied has sacked the prime minister and froze the activities of parliament, leading his opponents to accuse him of a coup. This is a selection of what significant players in and outside Tunisia, where regional opinion was often split between states that are friendly or hostile to Islamist ideology, had to say. Tunisian President Kais Saïed. Photo source: Wikipedia THE PRESIDENT Saied said his actions were in line with the constitution, a response to "hypocrisy, treachery and robbery of the rights of the people" by the political class and denied conducting a coup. He warned that violent…

Jul

27

2021

By The African Mirror

Young men mobilise against Tigray forces

NEWS

MAGGIE FICK and DAWIT ENDESHAW RESIDENTS of Ethiopia's Amhara region said some young men were responding to a weekend call to arms by their president, as Amhara's government denied that forces from neighbouring Tigray had advanced further into the region. An eight-month-old war between Ethiopia's central government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), the party that controls Tigray, has spread to neighbouring parts of northern Ethiopia, risking further destabilisation of Africa's second-most populous nation. On Sunday Agegnehu Teshager, president of the Amhara regional government had called on "all young people" to take up arms against TPLF fighters, who say…