Violent Criminal Gangs Displace and Disrupt North West Nigeria
The violence perpetrated by these criminal gangs, known locally as “bandits,” is on pace to make 2024 the worst year of insecurity in the region’s recent history. The 1,380 violent events and 3,980 fatalities projected for the year exceed the record levels observed in 2022, following declines in 2023. Fatalities linked to criminal gangs in the North West region now exceed those tied to militant Islamist groups in the North East region, a shift observed since 2021…Motivated by the aim of controlling revenue flows, these violent criminal groups threaten communities through robberies and extortion along roads, kidnapping for ransom, cattle rustling, and exploitative agriculture and mining activities…Roughly 700,000 people in the North West region have been displaced due to this insecurity. Africa Center for Strategic Studies
Police in Mozambique Fire Tear Gas at Opposition Politician as Post-election Tensions Soar
Police in Mozambique fired tear gas at the country’s leading opposition politician and supporters as he spoke with reporters Monday, forcing them to run for cover. The nation remains on edge following a disputed election and the slaying of two prominent opposition figures. Venancio Mondlane, the main challenger to the decades-long governing party in the Oct. 9 presidential election, was giving interviews on a road in the capital, Maputo, near the spot where his lawyer and a senior opposition party official were killed in their car by unidentified gunmen Friday night…Mondlane previously called for a nationwide shutdown and urged people to stay away from work on Monday in protest at what he and other parties have called fraudulent elections. He and some supporters had planned to gather near the site of the killings to protest. AP
Tunisia’s President Is Inaugurated for a Second Term following a Crackdown on His Opponents
Tunisia’s President Kais Saied has been inaugurated for a second term, following a monthslong crackdown and string of arrests against his political opponents…[T]he 66-year-old former law professor in his inauguration speech Monday called for a “cultural revolution” to combat unemployment, fight terrorism and root out corruption…Saied’s Oct. 7 re-election came after a turbulent first term during which he suspended the country’s parliament, rewrote its post-Arab Spring constitution and jailed dozens of his critics in politics, media, business and civil society…Though Saied proclaimed a commitment to respecting freedoms, many journalists were prevented from covering his swearing-in on Monday, leading to a rebuke from the National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists, which expressed “its firm condemnation of the ongoing blackout policy and restrictions on journalistic work” in a news release on Monday. AP
Uganda Condemns 16 Opposition Members for ‘treachery’
A Ugandan military tribunal Monday convicted 16 members of an opposition party of “illegal possession of explosive devices and treachery,” according to a defense lawyer, who said the proceedings were suspect. The prosecution alleged that the 16 members of the National Unity Platform, as well as others still on the run, were found in possession of explosives between November 2020 and May 2021, while elections were under way. “Circumstances surrounding their plea of guilty to the charges they had denied previously was questionable,” Shamim Malende, a defense lawyer, told AFP. Former singer and opposition figure Bobi Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, claimed the group had been forced to plead guilty and seek a presidential pardon. Journalists were barred from attending the session. The 16 have spent four years in jail, and will appear in court Wednesday for their sentencing. AFP
Botswana’s Advance Voting Marred by Ballot Paper Shortages
Early voting in Botswana Saturday was marred by irregularities, including a lack of ballot papers, forcing the electoral body to order a re-run in some voting areas. The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has been criticized for mishandling the voting process as concerns mount ahead of the October 30 general election. Advance voting was open to more than 12,000 polling officers, plus thousands of police officers and army personnel. Jefferson Siamisang, secretary of the IEC, said his office did not anticipate the large turnout, which he said caused ballot papers to run out. In some of the 61 constituencies, Siamisang said there were irregularities to do with the ballot papers and voter roll. In these areas, re-runs have been ordered for next weekend. VOA
Despair in Chad Camps as Violence and Hunger in Sudan Drive 25,000 across Border in a Week
About 25,000 people – the vast majority women and children – crossed into eastern Chad in the first week of October, a record number for a single week in 2024. Chad, one of the world’s poorest countries, hosts 681,944 Sudanese refugees – the highest number globally. Conditions are particularly difficult at the Farchana camp, say refugees who were moved there earlier this year from the Adré camp on the border. The new arrivals joined Sudanese people who have lived in the camp since the genocide in Darfur in the 2000s…[I]n Farchana, El-Tayeb Zakria is still coming to terms with his life as a refugee. In Sudan he had served as an adviser to the West Darfur state governor Khamis Abakar, who was assassinated in June 2023 in an attack blamed on the RSF. The Farchana camp, he said, lacked basic services, with no clinic or even wells for water. “Living here feels like a gradual death.” The Guardian
President Biya Returns to Cameroon amid Health Speculation
Cameroonian president Paul Biya landed on Monday, October 21, at the capital Yaounde’s international airport, after several weeks out of the country amid rumors about his health, state broadcaster CRTV showed…Questions about Biya’s health and whereabouts grew when he disappeared from public view after leaving Beijing at the beginning of September following a China-Africa cooperation summit…On October 8, after consistent rumors about Biya, the government released a statement saying he would be back in the country in the next few days. Then the government formally banned local media from discussing the state of his health. Le Monde with AFP
Somali Security Agents Arrest Journalist in Night-time Raid
A Somali journalist was abducted from his home by intelligence agents early on Friday, according to press freedom campaigners. The journalists’ union Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) said the detention of Abduqadir Mohamed Nur was a “brazen attack” on the reporter and his news outlet, Risaala Media Corporation, for critical reporting of state security forces. Abdalle Ahmed Mumin, the union’s secretary general, called for the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) to release Nur, who SJS said was taken to a detention facility known for torture…SJS said…that this followed the arrest of other Risaala employees, who have reported critically on the security forces under President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. The Guardian
Macron to Visit Morocco Next Week
French President Emmanuel Macron will head to Morocco next week for a three-day state visit, the Moroccan royal palace said Monday, October 21, following years of strained relations…Tensions between Paris and Rabat have risen in recent years over France’s ambiguous stance on the disputed Western Sahara and Macron’s quest for a rapprochement with Algeria. A statement by the European Parliament in 2023 condemning a rollback in the kingdom’s freedom of the press also ramped up tensions, with some blaming Paris. The two countries were also at odds after France in 2021 halved the number of visas it granted to Moroccans – a decision that was revoked the following year. Le Monde with AFP
Ghana Loses Historic Forts along Its Coastline to Climate Change
It is estimated that Ghana loses an average of two meters of coastline annually to coastal erosion, with some areas having experienced as much as 17 meters of losses in all, according to a study by the Institute for Environment and Sanitation Studies. Rising sea levels, driven by climate change, are not only threatening the livelihoods of low-lying communities but also posing a significant threat to the country’s historic slave forts and castles…According to James Ocloo Akorli, [the caretaker of the 240-year-old Fort Prinzenstein in Keta], about two-thirds of the fort now lies beneath the ocean…Efforts to combat this coastal erosion include the construction of the 8.3-kilometer Keta Sea Defence Wall, a project that began over a decade ago with funding from the United States Export-Import Bank (EXIM Bank) at a cost of $94 million (90 million euros). In addition, the West Africa Coastal Areas Resilience Investment Project, Ghana 2, has been launched. This initiative aims to strengthen the resilience of Ghana’s coastline while restoring and protecting critical coastal ecosystems. RFI
How Tigray War Rape Victims Turned to Rwandan Genocide Survivors to Heal
At least 120,000 women and girls were raped [in Tigray] during what regional health authorities say was a systematic campaign of sexual violence used as a weapon of war…[A] small group of women in and outside Tigray tried to come up with a plan [to help the survivors.]..Some of these women had heard of a grassroots approach, called HAL (helpful active listening) circles, which had helped Rwandan genocide survivors to heal, and thought that this method might help Tigrayan women as well…It involves training some women from the community, who seem more resilient, to provide basic psychosocial support to other survivors in women-to-women circles…The core group contacted two Rwandan women who were involved in the Rwandan HAL project. Over the following months, they learned from them how the HAL circles worked, how to develop the programme and training material, and how to adapt the Rwandan model to the Tigrayan context. They first shared knowledge online and then in person when it was safer to travel. Al Jazeera
Europe Is Not Paradise’: One Man’s Mission to Stop Senegal’s Youth Dying at Sea
[VIDEO] The migration route from Africa to the Spanish Canary Islands is one of the world’s deadliest, with young people often attempting the journey in flimsy fishing canoes. Moustapha Diouf, a Senegalese fisher, once tried to make the voyage himself, seeking a better life in Europe for his family, but catastrophe struck and he lost several friends on the way. Now back in Dakar, he is trying to persuade young fishers not to make the same journey, helping them instead to set up small businesses. But with fish stocks dwindling due to EU trawlers operating off Senegal’s coast, work has evaporated and many are increasingly desperate, with more and more choosing to risk it all for the chance of a better life. The Guardian