Cyclone Chido Killed at Least 34 People as It Swept across Mozambique
Cyclone Chido claimed at least 34 lives after sweeping across Mozambique, the National Institute of Risk and Disaster Management announced Tuesday, December 17. The cyclone first hit the country on Sunday at the Cabo Delgado province, where 28 people were killed…Three other people died in Nampula province and three in Niassa, further inland, it said. Another 319 people were reported injured by the cyclone, which brought winds of around 160 miles an hour and heavy rainfall of around 10 inches in 24 hours, the center said. Nearly 23,600 homes and 170 fishing boats were destroyed and 175,000 people affected by the storm, it added. Chido struck a part of northern Mozambique that is regularly battered by cyclones and is already vulnerable because of conflict and underdevelopment. [The cyclone] moved to Malawi on Monday and was expected to dissipate Tuesday near Zimbabwe, which had also been on alert for heavy rains caused by the storm. Le Monde with AFP
Clashes in Eastern DRC Day after Aborted Peace Summit
The Congolese army lost territory Monday in fighting with Rwanda-backed rebels in eastern DR Congo, military and local sources said, a day after a peace summit between the presidents of the two countries was cancelled…DRC armed forces lost control of Matembe, a town in North Kivu province located on the road to the key commercial hub of Butembo, after clashes broke out Sunday with the M23, according to the local and military sources…Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame were due to meet Sunday, hosted by Angolan President Joao Lourenco, the African Union mediator to end the conflict. But the summit was abruptly cancelled after talks between delegations from both sides stalled overnight. The Congolese presidency said that negotiations had hit a deadlock over a Rwandan demand that the DRC hold direct dialogue with the M23 rebels. The Africa Report
Senior Sudan Officials Latest Hit by EU Sanctions
The EU Council announced [yesterday] that it approved “additional restrictive measures” against four Sudanese officials “in view of the gravity of the situation in Sudan”. The sanctioned are: former Military Intelligence chief Salah Gosh, RSF operations chief Osman ‘Operations’ Hamid, West Darfur governor Tijani Karshoum, and SAF military intelligence director Mohamed Ali. This is the latest in a series of sanctions imposed by the EU on individuals and entities believed to fuel the ongoing war in Sudan…According to the press release, the four targeted individuals each played a pivotal role in actions undermining Sudan’s transition to civilian rule and enabling widespread violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. Dabanga
Burkina Faso: Security Strategy of Recruiting Cheap Militiamen Backfires
To beef up the ranks of his embattled military, Captain Traoré’s government recruited tens of thousands of men into a civilian militia, known as the Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland. The militia was created by a previous leader to protect communities against the insurgents. But under Captain Traoré, it has spread unchecked violence and pitted local populations against each other, with minority ethnic groups being brutally targeted in what some analysts fear will lead to a civil war. Acts of violence against local populations involving militiamen have more than doubled since Captain Traoré’s coup, according to data compiled by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project. The militiamen have carried out executions, forced disappearances or looting every six days on average, the data shows…Fulani civilians have often been accused of collaborating with the jihadists and are disproportionately targeted by the militia. The New York Times
Barrick Gold Threatens to Suspend Mali Operations in Stand-off with Government
Canada’s Barrick Gold on Monday said it might have to suspend its operations in Mali amid a dispute that has led to the detention of four employees and the issue of an arrest warrant for its chief executive. The threat to halt operations is the latest development in a stand-off between the Malian government and international miners as the government seeks to gain a larger share of revenues from the country’s natural resources…One person familiar with the company’s operations said the blocking of shipments would be a “red line” for Barrick. Even when there had been a coup in 2012 and other trade was blocked, Barrick successfully applied for special permission to continue gold shipments. Financial Times
Almost 800 Arrested over Nigerian Crypto-romance Scam
Nigeria’s anti-graft agency said it had arrested 792 suspects in a raid on a building believed to be a hub for fraudsters who lured victims with offers of romance, then pressed them to hand over cash for phoney cryptocurrency investments. The suspects, including 148 Chinese and 40 Filipino nationals, were detained on Dec. 10 at the seven-storey Big Leaf Building in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission spokesperson Wilson Uwujaren said…”Nigerian accomplices were recruited by the foreign kingpins to prospect for victims online through phishing, targeting mostly Americans, Canadians, Mexicans and several others from European countries,” Uwujaren said. “Once the Nigerians are able to win the confidence of would-be victims, the foreigners would take over the actual task of defrauding the victims,” he said. Uwujaren said the Commission was collaborating with international partners and would look into potential links to organised crime. Reuters
Sensitive Data Leaked after Namibia Ransomware Hack
Namibia’s state-owned telecoms company has fallen victim to what is known as a ransomware attack resulting in the leak of sensitive customer data, including reportedly information about top government officials. Telecom Namibia said the data had been released after it refused to engage with a group of hackers known as Hunters International. The company said that it is now investigating how such a massive breach of its system occurred…Local media reported that the hackers stole nearly 500,000 pieces of information including personal and financial data belonging to ministries, senior government officials and other company clients. In a statement on Monday, Telecom Namibia said that it only discovered last Friday that some of its customers’ data had been leaked onto the dark web. BBC
Ghana’s President-elect Plans to Reform Cocoa Sector, Restructure Regulator
Ghana’s president-elect, John Dramani Mahama, has pledged to revamp the cocoa sector and reorganise the state-run regulator, aiming to stimulate growth and improve efficiency in the world’s second-largest cocoa producer…Ghana’s cocoa production hit its lowest level in decades last season, dragged down by climate change, tree disease and wildcat gold mining. COCOBOD’s spending…Mahama blamed what he described as COCOBOD’s wasteful spending for depleting cocoa production funds and depriving farmers of optimal prices, leading many to turn to illegal mining or seek alternative livelihoods. His proposed reforms aim to increase efficiency across the cocoa sector’s value chain, with the farmer as the primary beneficiary, not the bureaucracy. Reuters
West African Bloc Pins Hopes on Ambitious Superhighway from Ivory Coast to Nigeria
West Africa is poised to start work on a 1,028km highway from Ivory Coast’s main city Abidjan – through Ghana, Togo and Benin – to Nigeria’s biggest city Lagos…The plan to build a modern transport corridor along the West African coast was originally approved eight years ago…Construction of the proposed four-to-six lane motorway is forecast to create 70,000 jobs, with completion ambitiously targeted for 2030. And the plan is to acquire a sufficiently broad strip of land along the route to later accommodate a new railway line, linking the big port cities along the Gulf of Guinea. Existing rail routes extend inland, but there is no rail line along the coast. The road will connect many of West Africa’s largest cities…Several of the cities are key gateway ports for the flow of trade in and out of the region. BBC
Uganda Court Orders Government to Pay Compensation to LRA Victims
A court in Uganda has ordered the government to pay $2,740 dollars to each victim of Lord’s Resistance Army commander, Thomas Kwoyelo. In October, he was sentenced to 40 years in prison for war crimes, the first senior member of the feared rebel group to be convicted. Kwoyelo had been found guilty on 44 charges, including murder, rape, enslavement, pillaging, torture, and kidnapping. The court on Monday found that Kwoyelo was unable to pay the compensation due to what it described as his “indigent” status. As a result, it said the government should foot the bill saying the sheer scale of the atrocities he had committed was such that they amounted to a failure on its part. The court also awarded additional cash compensation of varying amounts to the victims of other harm caused by Kwoyelo, including property destruction and theft. Africanews
Mauritius Police Issue Arrest Order for Former Central Bank Governor
Police in Mauritius have issued an order for the arrest of the Indian Ocean islands’ former central bank governor, in connection to an inquiry into a conspiracy to defraud case. The action, by the police anti-money laundering unit, is the first significant one from the government of Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam, who said last week the outgoing government had falsified the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), budget deficit and public debt figures for years. The former central bank governor, Harvesh Kumar Seegolam, was out of the country and would be arrested as soon as he returned, police said in a notice in Mauritius newspapers on Sunday. They provided no more details on the nature of the case. Reuters
UN Announces Initiative to Overcome Political Deadlock in Libya
The U.N. deputy special envoy for Libya, Stephanie Koury, told the U.N. Security Council that as a first step, the U.N. political mission in Libya known as UNSMIL intends to establish an advisory committee, with a deadline to develop options to resolve outstanding electoral issues and a road map for holding an election. “The committee will be composed of experts and respected personalities, who are reflective of the spectrum of Libyan political forces, social, cultural and geographical components,” she said. Koury stressed that the committee isn’t “a dialogue group to take decisions,” but to generate options for follow-on action by Libyan decision-makers. AP