Niamey, Niger | AFP | A total of 141 civilians in Niger were killed, kidnapped or wounded by the Boko Haram jihadist group last year, a sharp fall compared with 2016, the UN said on Wednesday. The toll in 2016 was 227 after 214 in 2015, the Office for the Coordination …
Read More »Nigeria, neighbours in joint op against Boko Haram leaders
Kano, Nigeria | AFP | Four west African states have launched a major offensive against the Boko Haram jihadist group in Nigeria, the military said on Tuesday. Soldiers from Nigeria and the neighbouring countries of Cameroon, Chad and Niger are targeting a Boko Haram faction led by Abubakar Shekau in the …
Read More »Almost a week of deadly protests in Iran
Tehran, Iran | AFP | Violent demonstrations have rocked Iran for almost a week, leaving at least 21 people dead, with the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Wednesday declaring the “end of the sedition”. The protests that started over the economy before turning against the Islamic regime as a …
Read More »Two Christians killed in New Year attack on Egypt liquor store
Cairo, Egypt | AFP | A gunman killed two Copts celebrating the New Year in an Egyptian alcohol shop early on Monday, judicial and security sources said, the latest deadly violence against the Christian minority. The shooting came just three days after a gunman, identified as a wanted jihadist, killed nine …
Read More »COMMENT: Fight over Migingo
What dispute over the world’s tiniest disputed island, tells us about international law COMMENT | CHRISTOPHER R. ROSSI | For as far back as anyone could remember, Migingo was nothing more than an uninhabited pinprick on Lake Victoria. One of three small islands in the eastern waters that make up an …
Read More »Mali president eyes amnesties under ‘national consensus’ law
Bamako, Mali | AFP | Mali will adopt a law on “national consensus” that may amnesty rebels who took part in a revolt in 2012, President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita said in a New Year’s speech. Keita, in a nationwide message late Sunday, said the law would draw on a so-called …
Read More »UN urges DR Congo leader to keep promise to step down
United Nations, United States | AFP | UN chief Antonio Guterres has urged Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila to abide by an agreement to leave power, after at least eight people died in protests against his rule. Kabila, in power since 2001, signed a deal with opposition groups …
Read More »Deadly crackdown on anti-president protests in DRC, soldiers storm church
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Eight people were killed Sunday and dozens arrested as security forces in DR Congo cracked down on Catholic worshippers who gathered at churches across the country to demand President Joseph Kabila leave power, a UN source said. Despite appeals notably from the United Nations …
Read More »DR Congo arrests suspected mastermind of UN experts’ murder
Kananga, DR Congo | AFP | A village chief believed to have ordered the killing in March of two UN experts in the Democratic Republic of Congo was arrested Saturday, a Congolese military spokesman said. Congolese authorities have from the start said the suspect, Constantin Tshidime Bulabula, was behind the …
Read More »Boko Haram kills four loggers in NE Nigeria
Kano, Nigeria | AFP | Boko Haram fighters opened fire on a group of loggers in a remote village in northeast Nigeria on Saturday, killing four people, a survivor and a militia leader said. Gunmen on motorcycles attacked the loggers while they were loading firewood into pickup vans at Maiwa village, …
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