Tripoli, Libya | AFP | The United Nations expressed “grave concern” Friday over the breakdown in a deal to allow thousands of displaced to return to a town that backed Libya’s leader Moamer Kadhafi in its 2011 revolution. “For too many people displacement becomes more protracted every day, as insecurity …
Read More »‘Militia coordinator’ elected to African football’s executive board
Casablanca, Morocco | AFP | A controversial former minister who coordinates armed groups in conflict-hit Central African Republic was on Friday elected to the governing board of Africa’s top footballing body. Patrice Edouard Ngaissona, who is Central Africa’s football chief, was elected following a vote in Casablanca among delegates at …
Read More »Turkey says France ‘cannot give lessons’ over Syria
Istanbul, Turkey | AFP | Turkey on Thursday told France to refrain from giving “lessons” over its campaign in Syria, where Ankara is pressing a fierce offensive against Kurdish militia. The warning from Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu came a day after French President Emmanuel Macron told Ankara that it …
Read More »UN launches appeal for over 200,000 displaced by Boko Haram
Niamey, Niger | AFP | The UN refugee agency appealed on Wednesday for $157 million (126 million euros) to help over a quarter of a million people affected by the insurgency led by the militant Islamist group Boko Haram. The UNHCR, acting with more than 40 other agencies, said it …
Read More »UN to slap sanctions for hate speech in C. Africa
United Nations, United States | AFP | The UN Security Council on Tuesday maintained an arms embargo on the Central African Republic and added incitement to hatred as well as attacks on aid workers as criteria for sanctions. The council unanimously adopted a French-drafted resolution that would pave the way to …
Read More »Colombia freezes peace talks with rebels after attacks
Bogota, Colombia | AFP | Colombia’s president on Monday froze peace negotiations with the ELN rebel group after weekend bomb attacks blamed on the guerrillas killed seven police officers. The developments threw into peril efforts to definitively end Colombia’s half century of conflict that recently had looked close to resolution. …
Read More »AU chief says time for South Sudan sanctions
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | AFP | African Union chief Moussa Faki Mahamat said Sunday that “the time has come” to slap sanctions on those blocking peace in South Sudan, one of the most intractable wars facing African leaders as they meet in Ethiopia. At the opening of the 30th annual …
Read More »Do not ‘squander’ S.Sudan peace push, mediators told
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | AFP | African nations mediating South Sudan’s peace efforts must not “squander” the opportunity of a renewed push to end the country’s war, the head of an international ceasefire monitoring team said Saturday. Festus Mogae, a former president of Botswana who leads the Joint Monitoring and …
Read More »US military probes purported Niger ambush video
Washington, United States | AFP | The US military has opened an investigation after images surfaced online this week that appear to have been taken from the helmet camera of one of the US soldiers killed in an ambush in Niger. Grainy photographs posted and circulated on Twitter purportedly show …
Read More »Erdogan vows no let-up in Syria campaign as US tensions rise
Antakya, Turkey | AFP | President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday vowed Turkey’s campaign against a Kurdish militia in northern Syria would press on for as long as required, after telephone talks with Donald Trump failed to douse soaring tensions with Washington. The six-day campaign against the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection …
Read More »