In whatever form it manifests, whether it’s distaste for foreigners, refugees and asylum seekers, a nationalistic economic policy or flag-waving patriotism, tribal nationalism is a cancer upon the world. Violent, ugly, and often deadly, it creates and strengthens divisions, often resulting in war, one after another after another throughout history.
On February 24, the first anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin failed to commemorate the occasion with a speech.
There wasn’t much for Putin to celebrate. The invasion had failed to dislodge the government of Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv or incorporate all of Ukrainian territory into greater Russia.
Twenty years ago, state security service operatives conspired with gangsters and policemen to assassinate Serbia’s liberal-democratic Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic – and court documents show how a corrupted law enforcement system made it possible.
On February 19, 2003, three men met in a café near the famous Atelje 212 Theatre in Belgrade city centre.
The 25th Arabian Gulf Cup football tournament, held in January 2023 in Basra, Iraq, sparked diplomatic tensions between Iraq and Iran by reigniting the old argument over the use of the name Arabian Gulf, favored by Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries, as opposed to Persian Gulf, which is favored by Iran. The tournament – which the Arab media refers to simply as the Khaliji (i.e., Gulf) tournament – has been held since 1970, usually once in two years, with the participation of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries (Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait), as well as Iraq and Yemen. This year, as in the past, many called it by its official name, the Arabian Gulf Cup, which angered Iran.
Iran is ready for a new round of fence-mending talks with Saudi Arabia in the Iraqi capital city of Baghdad.
This is according to Iran’s Nour News on Wednesday, adding that the country is determined to strike an agreement.
On February 8, Pulitzer Prize-winning U.S. journalist Seymour Hersh published an articledetailing the role of the U.S. and Norway in the September 26, 2022, Nord Stream gas pipeline explosions. U.S. officials denied the findings, while Russia, which previously blamed the UK for the attack, hailed the article as proof of Western involvement.
Implications for human rights in Africa
Terrorism and the ‘war’ on it have been at the centre of international politics for the past 20 years. Terrorism was a reality in Africa long before it shot to the top of the international agenda with the 9/11 attacks on the United States in 2001 and it constitutes a far more serious threat today. In the intervening period, laws, policies, practices and institutions have proliferated around the world and across the continent, with the stated objective of countering ‘terrorism’, ‘extremism’ and an ever broader range of related threats.
Civilian Targeting Trends in the Central African Republic and Mali
Introduction
On 30 March 2022, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the UK Parliament launched an inquiry into states’ use of private military contractors (PMC), drawing particular attention to the prominent Russian PMC known as the Wagner Group (UK Parliament, 30 March 2022). The decision to launch the inquiry came as Wagner Group forces deployed to Ukraine, and a series of reports emerged implicating Wagner mercenaries in human rights violations in Mali.
The war in Ukraine has not stopped Russia’s activities in Africa. Over the past year, the Wagner Group, in particular, has taken advantage of France’s and other Western countries’ worsening relations with Sahelian states.
Mercenaries have been a fixture in Africa since the second half of the 20th century. They have been used to protect incumbent leaders or install new ones in conflict zones.
Their offering – guns for hire – has remained essentially the same for decades. However, they’ve recently undergone an evolution that forces countries to look more closely at their roles – which range from technical advisers to frontline combatants.