Lagos, Nigeria| AFRICAN ARGUMENTS| Last week, Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, issued a stern warning to soldiers to stay out of politics, raising alarm of a potential coup plot. His statement claimed that individuals had been approaching army officers for political reasons, and cautioned: “Any officer or soldier …
Read More »‘Executed’ Gambian coup plotters exhumed
jamm Banjul, Gambia | AFP | The bodies of three Gambian coup plotters, including a former US war veteran, have been found using intelligence from members of former leader Yahya Jammeh’s death squad, police told AFP on Saturday. Colonel Lamin Sanneh, who served in Jammeh’s presidential guard, Alagie Nyass and …
Read More »Gambia’s Barrow allows coup plotters back into army
Banjul, Gambia | AFP | Gambian President Adama Barrow has allowed six soldiers convicted of plotting a coup against former leader Yahya Jammeh back into the armed forces, a military source told AFP Saturday. Jammeh survived several coup attempts in his 22-year rule, with one of the most serious arising …
Read More »Rwanda court blocked as UN judge caught in Turkey coup probe
Istanbul, Turkey | AFP | Aydin Sefa Akay is one of over 41,000 people arrested and awaiting trial in Turkey in the wake of the unsuccessful July 15 coup plot to unseat President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. But Akay is no ordinary prisoner. A former Turkish ambassador, he is a top …
Read More »Burkina Faso calls on army to remain ‘neutral’ after coup attemp
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso | AFP | Burkina Faso President Roch Marc Christian Kabore on Tuesday implored the country’s army to respect the “rule of law”. The impoverished, landlocked west African country has been blighted by numerous coups and mutinies since gaining independence from France in 1960. Ten days ago the …
Read More »Turkey fires another 10,000 civil servants in post-coup purge
Istanbul, Turkey | AFP | Turkish authorities have fired over 10,000 more civil servants, as the government presses a crackdown over the failed July coup, the official gazette said. A total of 10,131 government employees have been removed, mainly from the education, justice and health ministries, according to announcements published …
Read More »Turkey parliament to consider death penalty for coup plotters
Istanbul, Turkey | AFP | Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday said his government would ask parliament to consider reintroducing the death penalty as a punishment for the plotters behind the July coup bid. “Our government will take this (proposal on capital punishment) to parliament. I am convinced that …
Read More »Burkina Faso govt says it has thwarted coup plot
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso | AFP | Burkina Faso said Friday it thwarted a “vast conspiracy” earlier this month by forces loyal to ousted leader Blaise Compaore, which aimed to seize power in the impoverished Sahel state. The plot called for attacking the presidential palace and detaining “certain authorities”, said Interior …
Read More »Turkey to disband presidential guard after post-coup detentions
Ankara, Turkey | AFP | The Turkish authorities will disband the elite presidential guard after detaining almost 300 of its members in the wake of the failed coup, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Saturday. “There will no longer be a presidential guard, there is no purpose, there is no …
Read More »Turkey’s Erdogan tells French FM to ‘mind own business’
Tayyip Erdogan declares a three-month state of emergency emergency in Turkey in order to hunt down all those deemed to be behind an attempted coup. Ankara, Turkey | AFP | Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday told French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault “to mind his own business” after he warned …
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