U.S. Troops Withdraw From Strategic West African Base as Militant Threat Grows
The withdrawal of the U.S. forces, which had numbered 1,100 in Niger at their peak, follows more than a decade of investment in Niger — and months of fruitless efforts to put the country back on a democratic path after its military seized power in a coup a year ago. … Last year, about 11,600 fatalities were linked to Islamist extremists, more than a threefold increase since 2020, according to the Washington-based Africa Center for Strategic Studies. In Niger, the Africa Center projects 1,230 deaths related to Islamist violence this year, more than double the total in 2020. … Ekman said the U.S. government faces a growing challenge monitoring extremist activities because Mali, Burkina Faso and now Niger have expelled most Western forces, including the French military, as well as U.N. personnel. “We don’t know what we don’t know,” he said. “We want indications and warnings, and we are losing them over time.” … The U.S. military is committed to the region, Ekman said, “and is not retrenching — but will be listening carefully to what kind of partnerships West African nations want to have with the U.S. military.” … The threat is already being felt in the coastal West African countries, said Daniel Eizenga, a research fellow focused on the Sahel at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies. He said that over the past two years, violence within coastal countries and just over their borders has increased by 250 percent. Among coastal countries, Benin and Togo have experienced the most attacks. Washington Post
Tunisia Court Jails Potential Presidential Candidates and Bars Them From Upcoming Election
A Tunisian court has sentenced a number of potential presidential election candidates to prison and banned them from running for office, according to local media, politicians, and a lawyer, in a move critics say is aimed at excluding serious competitors to President Kais Saied in October’s vote. A court decision was issued on Monday against prominent politician Abdel Latif Mekki, activist Nizar Chaari, Judge Mourad Massoudi and another candidate, Adel Dou, according to lawyer Mokthar Jmai who spoke to Reuters. All four were sentenced to eight months in prison and banned from running for office on a charge of vote buying. Another court late on Monday sentenced Abir Moussi – who is also a staunch critic of president Saied – to two years in prison, on a charge of insulting the election commission, local Mosaique radio reported. Moussi, a key opposition figure, has been jailed since October, according to Agence France-Presse. Guardian
Tunisia’s President Kais Saied Buries the Democratic Progress Deeper and Deeper
With act after act, Tunisia’s President Kais Saied is trampling underfoot all the achievements of the democratic transition that followed the 2011 revolution. The latest symbol is the detention of Sihem Bensedrine, one of the country’s leading figures in the fight for human rights, on Thursday, August 1. At 73, Bensedrine has been caught up in the justice system for her role as president of the Truth & Dignity Commission (IVD), which she held from 2014 to 2018. This independent body had been created as part of the 2011 post-revolution transitional justice process to shed light on human rights violations under the regimes of Habib Bourguiba and Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. The former head of the body is accused of “obtaining unjustified advantages,” “causing prejudice to the State” and “falsification” for changes made to the IVD’s final report, before its official publication. She faces life imprisonment. Le Monde
Kremlin-Backed TV Channel Woos Africa
Billboards and videos popping up in several African cities show 20th-century independence leaders and anti-colonial quotes as part of a drive to promote the Kremlin-backed outlet RT. What they don’t advertise is that the Russian outlet being promoted has been largely blocked in the West for being part of Putin’s propaganda network and for pushing disinformation, including about the war in Ukraine. The ad campaign seeks to tap into Africa’s colonial past — another tactic that disinformation experts say Russia regularly uses to try to sow division. … Media watchdogs and disinformation analysts have long pointed to how Russia and China seek to gain a foothold in Africa, using free content and funding with local media as a sweetener. And Russia is the leading source of disinformation on the continent, the Africa Center for Strategic Studies said. Its March 2024 report found a nearly fourfold increase in disinformation campaigns targeting African countries, with an aim of “triggering destabilizing and antidemocratic consequences.” … “There is a huge irony in RT promoting itself as a voice of anti-colonialism at a time when Russia is increasing its influence on the continent in ways that could be described as neo-colonial. One thing we know about RT is that it is not an African voice, but Putin’s outlet, there to serve him and his country,” [Anton Harber, a former journalism professor at Johannesburg’s University of the Witwatersrand] said. “So, it is dressing up its ambitions for influence in, with a paternalistic anti-colonial rhetoric.” VOA
Nigeria: Plateau State Sees Inspiring Interfaith Solidarity During Protests
Hundreds of residents in Jos, North-central Nigeria, gathered at the Old Airport Junction last Thursday to join the nationwide #EndBadGovernance protests. The demonstration, driven by frustrations over poor governance and the escalating cost of living, witnessed an extraordinary scene: Muslims among the crowd paused to observe their afternoon prayers while Christians respectfully stood by. This powerful image quickly went viral, starkly contrasting with the city’s history of ethno-religious conflict. … Between 1994 and 2021, the Plateau Peace Building Agency recorded at least twelve outbreaks of ethno-religious violence within the metropolis, resulting in numerous casualties. Despite attempts to rebuild trust, mutual suspicion lingers. … “The protest in Jos is not just to end bad governance but to promote unity,” said Solomon Dalung, Nigeria’s former minister of youth and sports, as protesters chanted Bob Marley’s One Love. HumAngle
Uganda Charges Opposition Lawmakers, Supporters Over Protest
Police arrested 14 Ugandan opposition officials and supporters on Monday as they marched through their capital towards the Kenyan embassy to protest against Nairobi’s decision to detain and deport a group of their colleagues, local media said. The arrests and last month’s deportations come as both Kenya and neighbouring Uganda have been rocked by anti-government demonstrations by youth and opposition activists – though the streets of Uganda’s capital were otherwise quiet on Monday. Kenyan authorities on July 23 detained 36 members of Uganda’s opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) who had travelled there for a training course, lawyers for the group said. They were deported to Uganda where they were charged with terrorism-related offences last week – charges they denied, their lawyers added. Reuters
Hundreds Gather at Somalia Beach to Condemn Attack That Killed 37 and Demand Stronger Security
Hundreds gathered Monday at a Somalia beach hotel, the site of an attack claimed by al-Qaida’s East Africa affiliate that left 37 people dead and dozens wounded, to condemn the violence and demand stronger security measures. Al-Shabab said on its radio station that its militants carried out Friday’s attack at the popular Lido beach in the capital, Mogadishu. Witnesses said they saw an attacker wearing an explosive vest moments before he blew himself up. Security forces said they killed four other militants. Adar Sabriye, who lost her son in the attack, joined the protest to call on authorities to ensure public safety. … A survivor of Friday’s attack, Omar Elmi, was also at the beach to mourn those who died and show solidarity with the victims’ families. “We, politicians and ordinary Somalis from all walks of life, are here to show that we cannot be deterred. We will soon resume our happiness and tourism activities in the area,” he said. AP
Chad’s Military Was Responsible for Deaths of Detainees After Protests in 2022, a Rights Group Says
Chad’s military was responsible for the deaths of several detainees arrested following protests in October 2022, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday. At least four people died en route to Koro Toro prison and six others died there, and it was not clear where another man died, the group said in its report, adding that the real toll was likely much higher. At the time, security forces in the central African nation fired live ammunition, killing at least 60 people during demonstrations against interim leader Mahamat Deby Itno’s two-year extension of power. … Human Rights Watch called on Chadian authorities, the African Union and United Nations bodies to investigate what it called unlawful detentions, ill treatment at the prison, and deaths in custody. … Chad is a part of an African region rocked in recent years by military coups. The current president, Deby Itno, was elected May 6 in a long-delayed vote marred by allegations of the elimination of political opponents. AP
ICC Prosecutor Khan: Terror ‘Has Become Common Currency’ in Sudan
The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, announced yesterday that he hopes to soon issue arrest warrants for those responsible for the current ‘nightmare’ experienced by the population of Darfur. Darfur lawyers and rebel leader Abdelwahid Nur blame him for not insisting on the extradition of former Sudanese officials indicted more than 12 years ago. In his briefing on Sudan, and in particular on Darfur, to the UN Security Council in New York yesterday, Khan deplored a “further deterioration” of the situation in Sudan’s war-torn western region and urged the international community to tackle “the climate of impunity that is fuelling mass violence in Sudan.” … “Terror has become a common currency” in Sudan, Khan told the UN Security Council yesterday. During his semi-annual briefing to the Council, he detailed human rights abuses, including rapes and crimes against children, and noted “the provision of arms, financial support and political triangulations enabling this.” Dabanga
Ukraine Denies Involvement in Mali Attack, Says Cutting of Ties ‘Short-Sighted’
Ukraine on Monday denied any involvement in northern Mali fighting that led to the death of Malian soldiers and Wagner fighters in July, describing Mali’s decision to sever diplomatic ties over the incident as “short-sighted and hasty.” … Ukraine’s foreign ministry on Monday expressed regret over the decision made by Mali’s transitional government, saying that it was done without a thorough study of the incident’s facts and circumstances. “Ukraine unconditionally adheres to the norms of international law, the inviolability of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other countries,” it said in a statement. … Mali’s northern Tuareg rebels said they killed at least 84 Russian Wagner mercenaries and 47 Malian soldiers over days of fierce fighting in the north of the West African country in what appears to be Wagner’s heaviest defeat since it stepped in two years ago to help Mali’s military authorities fight insurgent groups. Reuters
Tanzania Wants to Evict Maasai for Wildlife – but They’re Fighting Back
Officials say the evictions are to protect wildlife, but Maasai members have accused park rangers and security forces of intimidation and rights abuses, including killings, sexual assaults and livestock seizures. … “We go to the courts, we go to the media because we have few alternatives,” said Oleshangay, who works with Tanzania’s Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC). “But we also go to the people we think have a say. We tell them – we don’t have a problem with conservation, but when you give the government more money, it means you are financing the displacement of all these people. It has nothing to do with nature, it is all business.” … Land in Tanzania belongs to the government, meaning officials can legally relocate people but with their prior consent. Over the years, however, attempts to evict Maasai have become common – without dialogue or agreements, members say. Al Jazeera
Commodities Giant Glencore is Ordered to Pay Over $150m in Wake of Congo Mining Bribery Case
Federal prosecutors in Switzerland said Monday they have found Glencore’s international unit “criminally liable” and ordered the commodities giant to pay over $150 million in fines and compensation after ending a probe of bribery in connection with Congo’s mining industry over a decade ago. The Swiss attorney general’s office said Glencore International AG failed to take adequate measures to prevent bribery of a Congolese public official by a business partner over its purchase in 2011 of minority stakes in two companies from the central African country’s state mining company. Glencore did not admit to the findings but said it would not appeal. … Glencore already reached a deal in 2022 with Congo’s government to pay $180 million over bribery allegations spanning from 2007 to 2018. AP