In the Canary Islands, off the coast of Morocco, the coronavirus pandemic isn’t the only crisis that 2020 will be known for. Over the course of the year, more than 23,000 migrants arrived in the Spanish archipelago by boat from Africa—8,000 of them in November alone—while some 500 died attempting the journey.
The European Migrant Crisis of 2015 has long since abated, but European nativist and populist parties continue to attempt to stoke the popular backlash against immigrants to fuel their rise. Italy’s Matteo Salvini, the golden boy of Europe’s anti-immigrant populists, even rode the issue into government in 2018, before marginalizing himself with a bid to force early elections in 2019 and, more recently, misplaying the politics of the COVID-19 crisis. Nevertheless, Europe’s other far-right populists, like France’s Marine Le Pen, continue to hammer on anti-immigrant sentiment, hoping it will remain a potent issue in upcoming elections.
Depuis le 20 avril et l’annonce du décès d’Idriss Déby Itno, le Tchad est dirigé par un conseil militaire de transition conduit par Mahamat Idriss Déby. Le fils du président défunt est entouré de quatorze généraux. Des fidèles de la famille Déby aux technocrates de l’ombre, J.A. fait les présentations.
Que s’est-il passé ?
Selon des sources officielles, le président tchadien Idriss Déby Itno est décédé mardi 20 avril vers 1 heure du matin, à la suite de combats entre l’armée tchadienne et la rébellion du Front pour l’alternance et la concorde au Tchad (FACT), non loin de Mao dans la région du Kanem, au centre du pays. Au pouvoir depuis 30 ans, Déby venait tout juste d’être réélu pour un sixième mandat consécutif. Sa mort a été annoncée à 11 heures du matin, sur l’antenne de la télévision nationale, par le porte-parole de l’armée, le général Azem Bermandoa. Certains observateurs émettent des doutes sur cette version des faits et présentent d’autres hypothèses, non confirmées, sur les circonstances de sa mort, notamment celle d’une réunion de négociations avec des membres du FACT qui aurait tourné à la fusillade.
Introduction
On April 14, 2021, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA, or the Afghan Taliban organization) announced that it would not participate in the Istanbul conference on the future of Afghanistan. The Istanbul conference, which was set to begin on April 24, is led primarily by the United States, with other partners being Turkey, Qatar, and the United Nations.[1]
Muhammad Naeem, the spokesman of the Islamic Emirate’s Political Office in Doha, tweeted: “Until all foreign forces completely withdraw from our homeland, the Islamic Emirate will not participate in any conference that shall make decisions about Afghanistan”; “The IEA performs its work with consultations [i.e., shura or the shari’a-based executive council] according to the guidance of the noble religion of Islam and then adopts the stance whatsoever is decided in the result of the consultation [shura].”[2]
The United Nations said Wednesday a multi-nation conference that the organizers had hoped would “add momentum” to the faltering peace talks between Afghanistan’s warring parties has been postponed.
Turkey, Qatar and the U.N. had planned to convene the 10-day event, proposed by the United States, in Istanbul starting this Saturday.
The Czech Republic has warned Moscow that it will expel more Russian diplomats unless Czech Embassy staff ejected from Russia are allowed to return to work by noon on April 22.
In a dispute over Russia’s alleged role in a deadly 2014 explosion at a Czech arms depot, 18 Russian diplomats identified by Czech intelligence as being intelligence operatives left their posts in Prague on April 19 as 20 Czech Embassy employees in Moscow also were forced to leave.
President Vladimir Putin thundered about Russia’s “red lines” in warnings aimed westward, extolled the virtues of parenthood, elaborately hailed the country’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and called for cash support for citizens struggling with stagnant incomes.
His April 21 state-of-the-nation address came at a precarious moment: Putin now has the right to seek to remain president until 2036, but basement ratings for the ruling party could pose trouble in a September parliamentary vote. More Russian troops are deployed on the border with eastern Ukraine than at any time since 2014, and the plight of imprisoned Kremlin foe Aleksei Navalny is one of many factors drawing the opprobrium of the West.
The armed forces of Mali are responsible for dozens of cases of killings, mistreatment, and disappearances during counterterrorism operations in the country’s central Mopti region, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday.
In a press release, the international nongovernmental organization claims that Malian soldiers have taken the lives of at least 34 villagers, caused the disappearance of more than 16 people, and severely mistreated several detainees.
The U.N. refugee agency reports renewed fighting between government forces and rebel groups in Central African Republic has sent more than 2,000 refugees fleeing for their lives to neighboring Chad this past week.
Newly arriving refugees have been telling aid workers in Chad of the mayhem engulfing their region. The refugees, who come from CAR’s northern Kaga-Bandoro region describe shocking acts of violence, looting and extortion by rebel groups as government forces were closing in on them.