security forces - The African Mirror

Apr

2024

South Africa’s security forces once brutally entrenched apartheid. It’s been a rocky road to reform

ONE of the important tasks that faced South Africa’s democratic government after 1994 was to reform the apartheid-era security apparatus. The African National Congress (ANC), which was voted into power, had a laudable vision in the 1990s for reforming the police, military and intelligence services. Determined that South Africans would never again be subject to the brutality of the security forces, it ensured that the core principles it stood for were written into the country’s democratic constitution. Putting the vision and principles into practice, however, has not been easy, and fraught with setbacks. Over time, the abuse of power, a…

Feb

2024

By NGOUDA DIONE and COOPER INVEEN

Senegal battles first major wave of unrest over vote delay

NEWS

CLASHES between security forces and protesters gripped Senegal's capital and other cities, the first widespread unrest over the delay of a presidential election that many fear could lead to protracted instability. Less than three weeks before the February 25 vote, parliament voted to push it back to December, sealing an extension of President Macky Sall's mandate that has raised concerns that one of the remaining democracies in coup-hit West Africa is under threat. In the capital Dakar, police in riot gear fired tear gas, stun grenades and what appeared to be rubber bullets at large crowds of protesters who were burning tyres…

Jan

2024

By The African Mirror

Congo governor tells security forces to leave home of presidential runner-up Katumbi

NEWS

AUTHORITIES in the Democratic Republic of Congo ordered security forces to leave the home of main opposition politician Moise Katumbi, which they had surrounded in what the provincial governor called a "faux pas". A spokesman for Katumbi, who came second in disputed presidential elections last month, said earlier on Monday that security forces had surrounded his secondary home in the southern province of Upper Katanga, where the politician is staying, and were preventing him from leaving. Provincial Governor Jacques Kyabula Katwe condemned the incident, saying it was a "faux pas" committed by some law enforcement authorities to protect the property…

Nov

2023

By The African Mirror

Tunisia arrests the five Islamists who escaped from prison last week

NEWS

TUNISIAN security and military forces caught five Islamists who escaped from prison last week, where they were serving time for killing two secular politicians and policemen. The interior ministry said four of the escapees were captured on a mountain near Tunis early on Tuesday, while another was arrested, with the help of citizens, two days ago in the Ettadamen neighbourhood of the capital. Security sources described the five men as "very dangerous terrorists". The government sacked top intelligence officials after their escape, which was seen as a rare security breach. Ahmed Malki, known as "the Somali", was among the five. Malki had…

Jan

2023

By The African Mirror

At least 20 people killed in clashes in Somaliland

NEWS

ABDIQANI HASSANI AT least 20 people have been killed in Somalia's breakaway region of Somaliland in clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces over several days, according to a doctor at a public hospital. For more than a week police and the military have been battling the protesters in Laascaanood, a town in Somaliland's east which is disputed between Somaliland and neighbouring Puntland, one of Somalia's semi-autonomous regions. Mohamed Farah, a doctor at Laascaanood Hospital, a public facility in Laascaanood, told Reuters at least 20 people had been killed and dozens injured. He said he had seen the bodies of…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

LGBT persecution on the rise in Cameroon, Human Rights Watch says

LGBT+

CAMEROON security forces have arrested, threatened or assaulted at least 24 people since February in a ramped-up crackdown on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT+) people, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said yesterday. The rights group said recent documented accounts of abuse, including that of a 17-year old boy, point to an overall rise of police action against LGBT+ people in Cameroon, where same-sex relations are criminalised. Cameroon authorities did not respond to Reuters requests for comments. HRW said it shared its report with Cameroon's justice, and defence ministries, and the head of police. It received no response to a March…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

Myanmar’s junta cracks down on online critics, death toll edges up to 550

WORLD

ATTTEMPTS by Myanmar's military to end dissent are turning to the virtual world with internet blocks and arrest warrants for online critics as big rallies become rare in the face of relentless repression by the security forces. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) activist group said on Saturday the security forces have killed 550 people, 46 of them children, since the military overthrew an elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb. 1. There were two deaths on Friday. Despite the repression, opponents of the coup march every day in cities and towns across the country, often…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

Arbitrary detention and torture in Uganda: the government ignores the law

HUMAN RIGHTS

In Uganda, there have been widespread allegations of arbitrary detention and torture of members of the opposition. Moina Spooner, from The Conversation Africa, asked Jamil Ddamulira Mujuzi, a human rights expert who has been monitoring the situation in Uganda, to provide insights into domestic laws and what they say in relation to detention of civilians by security forces. JAMIL MUJUZI, Professor, University of the Western Cape What is arbitrary detention and what does Uganda’s law say in relation to it? Arbitrary detention is when a person is arrested and detained by a government without due process and without the legal…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

Security forces fire on Myanmar protests after deadliest day since coup

WORLD

MYANMAR security forces fired on pro-democracy demonstrators yesterday, killing six people, media and witnesses said, a day after dozens of protesters were shot dead and attackers torched several Chinese-financed factories in the city of Yangon. Supporters of detained democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi marched again, including in the second city of Mandalay and in the central towns of Myingyan and Aunglan, where police opened fire, witnesses and media reported. "One girl got shot in the head and a boy got shot in the face," an 18-year-old protester in Myingyan told Reuters by telephone. "I'm now hiding." The Myanmar Now…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

Ethiopian rights body says security forces killed at least 76 in summer unrest after musician’s killing

HUMAN RIGHTS

ETHIOPIA’S state-appointed human rights commission says security forces killed at least 76 people and wounded nearly 200 during violent unrest in June and July that followed the killing of a popular singer. The commission also detailed brutality by civilians involved in the clashes, saying some attackers beheaded and tortured people after dragging them from their homes and using ethnic slurs. The "widespread and systematic attack" on civilians by attackers constituted crimes against humanity, the commission said. Its report on the violence, some of the worst in Ethiopia since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office in 2018, said a total of…