Mali Rebels Target Army Bases, Prison in Fresh Attacks
Insurgents attacked several towns in northern, central and southern Mali on Saturday, targeting army bases and a prison near the capital, Bamako. The assaults involved the Tuareg separatist group FLA, which seeks an independent Azawad state in northern Mali and JNIM, which aims to impose strict Islamic rule. The violence, along with attacks in April, reveals the huge security problem facing Mali’s military leaders, who staged coups in 2020 and 2021 promising to end what is now a more than decade-long uprising. … The army said attacks took place in Gao, a major city in the northeast, Aguelhoc and Anefis in the remote, far-north Kidal region and Sevare, a central town with a big army base. There was also fighting near Kenioroba prison, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) southwest of Bamako. … Saturday’s attacks followed a major coordinated offensive in late April by the same groups. The rebels seized the northern city of Kidal and killed Defense Minister General Sadio Camara, a key figure in the military junta. Security has deteriorated since the coups, after which the junta turned away from French military support toward Russia and promised a return to stability. But analysts say the recent attacks show the rebels are bolder and more coordinated than before. DW
As Sahel States Withdraw From ICC, NGOs Warn of ‘Impunity’ Over War Crimes
In a statement published on Wednesday, the International Criminal Court (ICC) confirmed that Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger had initiated the one-year process of withdrawing from the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC. The West African countries, which are all led by military juntas following a series of coups between 2020 and 2023, first announced their withdrawal from the ICC last September… According to Amnesty International, the move “consecrates impunity and threatens to deny victims of war crimes justice and reparations”. Marceau Sivieude, the NGO’s regional director for West and Central Africa, said in a statement that this decision “threatens to deny thousands of victims the possibility of truth, justice and reparations.” Amnesty has documented crimes under international law committed against civilians during conflicts in each of the three countries, and says many of these could fall within the jurisdiction of the ICC. RFI
UN Rights Council Orders Urgent Inquiry Into Sudan’s al-Obeid
The U.N. Human Rights Council on Monday passed a motion condemning the escalating violence committed by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan’s al-Obeid and setting up an urgent inquiry into alleged abuses there. Britain, which brought the motion alongside 14 other states, has previously warned of the risk of large-scale atrocities as the RSF massed forces around one of Sudan’s largest cities, a siege that recalls the takeover of al-Fashir in North Darfur last year. Others, like South Africa’s ambassador Zaheer Laher, backed the move, calling the situation a “red alert as the Rapid Support Forces are drawing from the very same genocidal playbook they used in al-Fashir.” The U.N. human rights chief warned on Friday that a “catastrophe” was unfolding around al-Obeid, and that his office had documented patterns of summary executions, abductions, torture and sexual violence in the surrounding region. Reuters
Residents in Eastern Congo Cling to Hope as a New Ebola Treatment Trial Begins
Residents at the epicenter of Congo’s Ebola outbreak are pinning their hopes on experimental treatments after researchers began a highly anticipated study in early July of two possible Ebola treatments in hopes of fighting the still-growing outbreak. At the Ebola treatment center inside Bunia’s Evangelical Medical Center, in eastern Congo’s Ituri province, the launch of the research was marked by urgency rather than ceremony on Thursday. As ambulances continued arriving and healthcare workers disappeared behind layers of protective equipment into isolation wards, the research effort unfolded quietly alongside the daily struggle to keep patients alive. The virus causing this outbreak, called Bundibugyo, is less common than others that cause Ebola disease and there are no specific treatments or vaccines for it. Already more than 1,400 people have been diagnosed and 438 have died, the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said Thursday. AP
Hunger in Northern Nigeria Reaches Worst Levels in Nearly a Decade, WFP Says
The latest food security analysis showed the number of people facing crisis, emergency or catastrophic hunger had risen by almost two million from previous projections, the World Food Programme (WFP) said in a statement published Thursday. The findings underline the deepening humanitarian cost of insecurity in Africa’s most populous country, where Islamist insurgents in the northeast and armed gangs in parts of the north have displaced communities, kept farmers from their fields and restricted aid access. The crisis is worsening during the lean season, when households typically exhaust food stocks before the next harvest. … WFP said it can support fewer than half of the 1.3 million people it was able to assist last year in three northeast states, where 6.2 million are suffering from acute hunger – nearly 13 percent more than a year ago. In some areas, the WFP has already recorded phase 5, the most critical level in the hunger classification system. RFI
Nigeria Condemns Deaths of 2 Nationals in S. Africa Protests
Nigeria on Sunday denounced the deaths of two of its nationals in South Africa, warning that foreign nationals are being “unduly targeted” amid anti-migrant protests. In recent weeks, South African cities and towns have seen large turnouts for the marches — some of which turned violent — demanding that migrants be sent home. Nigeria’s Foreign Ministry said the pair were killed on June 28. One of the men, Emeka Charles Iroegbu, was allegedly killed by police officers in Sunnyside, Pretoria. … A growing wave of anti-immigrant sentiment has swept across South Africa in recent months, sparking widespread protests that blame foreigners for high unemployment, crime and pressure on public services. On June 30 alone, over 120 marches took place nationwide, with thousands participating in major cities like Johannesburg and Durban. The demos have sometimes turned violent — on one day, more than 900 people were arrested. In response, Nigeria, Ghana, and Malawi have repatriated many of their citizens and summoned South African diplomats. DW
The African Fishermen Who Blame Chinese Trawlers for Their Woes
Shore fishing like this is a tradition on Sierra Leone’s Sherbo Island in West Africa, some 75 miles (120km) south of the capital Freetown. But the locals say that catches have fallen in recent years, and they all blame the same thing – large, foreign fishing ships. … Fisherman Musa Gassimo even alleges darker actions. “We cast our nets in the evening and return to shore. In the night, the trawlers have come and [deliberately] cut the lines.” He points out towards the large, foreign ships on the horizon. He says the nets are costing them up to $250 (£189) every time to replace. … Steve Trent, CEO and co-founder of global campaign group Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), says the vast majority are from China. “In the past, we’ve seen South Korean vessels there, we’ve seen Taiwanese, we see European vessels there doing bad things. But now when you look across that region, it is overwhelmingly Chinese.” … Trent from the EJF says the Chinese government is adopting a head-in-the-sand approach. “It’s simply not credible for them to carry on in this way. China, to date, still is not doing nearly enough to control its fleet. In fact, I would say they’re enabling it, through subsidies, through a lack of oversight and control.” BBC
‘They Sing Mostly About Cows … and Peace’: How Social Media Is Driving a Maasai Music Revival
As the sun sets, a goat’s leg sizzles on the fire in Kenya’s Mau Forest, a bumpy three-hour drive from the nearest Tarmac road. “Nowadays, Maasai shoot with cameras, not spears,” the manager says as he watches a Maasai musician looking at himself on a smartphone screen. Julius Kesier, alias Kamurar Maasai, a musician and influential community mentor, is being filmed at his manyatta settlement. The spear he carries is purely for show. In recent years, Maa-speaking peoples such as the Maasai and Samburu, boosted by improved internet access in remote areas and more affordable smartphones, have been bringing their music to social media. A new generation of musicians is wielding unprecedented cultural power, updating traditional patterns and reclaiming a sense of pride in symbolic spaces. Technology has been used for activism – such as AI and satellite imagery to document illegal evictions via the Maasai Skywatch platform – and for pastoralism, with apps such as Afriscout, which helps to coordinate herd mobility across changing landscapes. Now, it is being used to craft, share and archive contemporary traditional music, tying together isolated Maa-speaking communities spread between the Tanzanian border in the south and Lake Turkana in the north. Guardian
Cape Verde’s World Cup Team Returns Home to a Hero’s Welcome
Cape Verde’s World Cup team returned to a hero’s welcome on Sunday, as thousands of fans gathered in the capital Praia to cheer them on. The Blue Sharks made history by qualifying for their first-ever World Cup. Once there, they reached the round of 32 and took Argentina into extra time. The tiny nation of half a million people secured a tie against European champions Spain and another against Uruguay. Cape Verde is one of the smallest African countries and one of the least populous to have qualified for a World Cup. Africanews and AP