France’s ambassador to Niger landed in Paris on Wednesday after leaving Niamey following weeks of tensions between Paris and the post-coup regime in the West African country, the foreign ministry told AFP. The return of the ambassador, Sylvain Itte, comes two months after a coup in Niger ousted its pro-Paris …
Read More »Niger demands ‘negotiated framework’ for France withdrawal
Niger’s military government has demanded a “negotiated framework” for the French troop planned pull-out from the West African country. In a statement released overnight, the government said the timeframe for the pull-out “must be set out in a negotiated framework and by mutual agreement.” The statement came after French President …
Read More »Morocco rescuers race to find survivors as earthquake toll nears 2,500
Rescuers raced against time on Monday to find survivors in the rubble more than 48 hours after Morocco’s deadliest earthquake in over six decades, with nearly 2,500 killed in a disaster that devastated villages in the High Atlas Mountains. Search teams from Spain, Britain and Qatar were joining efforts to …
Read More »Children among 46 killed in attack in east DR Congo
Congolese militia group, the Cooperative for the Development of the Congo (Codeco), has killed at least 46 people, half of them children, in a new wave of terror in Djugu, Ituri, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The bloody attack occurred on Sunday night, according to local sources who …
Read More »Twenty-two killed in ordnance blast in Somalia
Twenty-two people, including two children, died in southern Somalia when mortar shells exploded, a local district official said on Friday. Abdi Ahmed Ali told a press conference that a blast “caused by unexploded mortar shells” occurred near the town of Qoryoley, around 120 kilometers (75 miles) south of the capital, …
Read More »Saudi Arabia, US announce 24-hour ceasefire in Sudan between SAF, RSF
Saudi Arabia and the US announced Friday that the rival Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) will observe a 24-hour country-wide ceasefire. The ceasefire between the warring factions would begin on June 10 at 6:00 a.m. local time, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in …
Read More »Fighting rages in Darfur as Sudan mediators claim progress
Fierce fighting between rival Sudanese forces on Friday rocked the western region of Darfur, witnesses said, as US and Saudi observers noted “improved respect” for a fragile ceasefire now in its fourth day. Within minutes of the ceasefire taking effect late Monday, witnesses in the capital Khartoum reported air strikes …
Read More »Most wanted Rwandan genocide suspect Kayishema arrested in South Africa
Kayishema was accused of orchestrating the killing of approximately 2,000 Tutsi refugees during the 1994 Rwanda genocide. One of the world’s most wanted genocide fugitives Fulgence Kayishema has been arrested in South Africa after being on the run for decades, authorities said on Thursday. Kayishema, who is accused of orchestrating …
Read More »At least 12 civilians killed in Burkina Faso extremist attack
At least twelve civilians were killed in an attack by suspected extremists in an area of western Burkina Faso bordering Mali, a local official and residents told AFP on Saturday. The village of Kie was attacked by “unidentified armed individuals on Friday evening,” a local official said on the condition …
Read More »One dead, 30 injured in new wave of unrest in Senegal
Protesters have taken to the streets in capital Dakar against what they call an increasingly repressive state. Violence during protests in the Ngor neighbourhood of the Senegalese capital, Dakar, has killed one teenager and wounded 30 people as young protesters took to the streets against an increasingly “repressive state”. The …
Read More »Tunisia synagogue attack toll up to 6, local media says
A Tunisian security officer who was wounded in Tuesday’s shooting attack outside a synagogue on the Tunisian island of Djerba has died, hospital sources said, bringing the death toll to six including the shooter. The attacker, a National Guard member, killed a colleague at a naval installation, then travelled to …
Read More »Sudan deepens crisis in Africa as UN sees 5 million more needing aid
When a power struggle between Sudan’s rival military leaders shattered a tenuous peace in her village in Sudan’s western region of Darfur, Halime Yacoub Issac’s first instinct was to take her five children and run. But four days after seeking refuge in neighbouring Chad – a country with its own …
Read More »Death toll from east DR Congo floods more than doubles to over 400
The death toll from floods that devastated two villages in east Democratic Republic of Congo last week has more than doubled to 401, the provincial governor said on Monday, making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in the country’s recent history. More bodies were being recovered on Monday, adding …
Read More »DR Congo floods death toll surpasses 200
Authorities say 287 were killed and 167 others missing after heavy rains caused rivers to burst their banks in South Kivu province. The death toll following flooding and landslides in the Democratic Republic of Congo this week has risen to at least 287, according to the government of South Kivu …
Read More »Fighting rages in Khartoum, civilians say they have been forgotten
Heavy gunfire echoed around Khartoum again on Friday as civilians trapped in the Sudanese capital said the army and rival paramilitary forces were fighting on and ignoring their plight. “It’s been four days without electricity and our situation is difficult… We are the victims of a war that we aren’t …
Read More »Heavy Fighting In, Around Khartoum Despite Cease-Fire
In Sudan, heavy fighting was reported in and around the capital Khartoum early Thursday, despite a weeklong cease-fire agreed to by both sides in the conflict. Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Defense Forces each appeared to be trying to push the other out of central Khartoum and control areas …
Read More »Sudan fighting continues despite theoretical truce agreed by warring generals
Air strikes and gunfire around the Sudanese capital Khartoum continue despite a fresh, week-long truce between the warring military forces. South Sudan’s foreign ministry announced in a Tuesday statement that mediation efforts by the country’s President Salva Kiir had led the both sides to agree to a 7-day truce that …
Read More »Sudan crisis: Fighting enters third week as UN warns country falling apart
Fighting among Sudan’s armed forces has entered its third week as the UN warns that the country is collapsing. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Saturday that the power struggle between the two top commanders of Sudan’s main armed forces, the official army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) also …
Read More »Air strikes hit Khartoum, envoy sees sides more open to talks
Air strikes and artillery rocked Khartoum on Saturday as Sudan entered a third week of fighting between rival military forces despite a ceasefire, prompting more civilians to flee and renewed warnings of wider instability if the war is not stopped. As dark smoke rose over Khartoum, a U.N. envoy offered …
Read More »Tunisia retrieves bodies of 41 drowned refugees
Morgues and hospitals in the city of Sfax are full, officials say, as the death toll from refugee shipwrecks soars. Tunisian coastguards have retrieved 41 bodies from Tunisian waters, a national guard official has said, raising the number of victims of refugee shipwrecks off the country’s coast to 210 in …
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