Africa

Introduction

Non-state armed groups (NSAGs) pose a thorny policy dilemma for US and European officials trying to stabilize fragile states.1 NSAGs are far from homogenous in their motivations, tactics, and structure, resulting in highly varied roles in either perpetrating or mitigating violence, with many playing a part in both. On one side, NSAGs can create instability by using violence to advance a range of interests, from political influence and financial gain to challenging a central government’s legitimacy or territorial control. Many NSAGs are directly responsible for civilian harm, including perpetrating targeted violence, persecuting, killing and committing brutal abuses against citizens.2 There is no shortage of examples of NSAGs that fit this mold. From Boko Haram in Northeast Nigeria to Katibat Macina in Mali, armed groups have wreaked havoc on the lives of civilians as well as US and European security interests.

Dix ans après l’adoption de sa dernière résolution sur les actes de piraterie et les vols à main armée commis dans le golfe de Guinée, le Conseil de sécurité, à l’initiative du Ghana et de la Norvège, a souhaité mardi relancer les efforts régionaux et nationaux de lutte contre ce fléau.

Alors que la situation en Ukraine a rendu incertains les approvisionnements énergétiques du Vieux Continent, le projet de gazoduc entre le Nigeria et le Maroc obtient un soutien de poids.

La construction du futur gazoduc qui doit relier l’Afrique à l’Europe a franchi une nouvelle étape mercredi 1er juin. Le Nigeria a en effet donné le feu vert à sa compagnie pétrolière publique NNPC pour signer un protocole d’accord avec l’organisation régionale ouest-africaine Cedeao dans le cadre du projet de construction du gazoduc avec le Maroc. Une décision qui intervient alors que l’approvisionnement de l’Europe en gaz africain gagne en importance, la guerre en Ukraine laissant peser des incertitudes sur les exportations énergétiques russes. L’Algérie a déjà accepté d’augmenter son approvisionnement vers l’Italie.

Médecins sans frontières dénonce les traitements inhumains infligés aux migrants refoulés d’Algérie et de Libye. Selon Jamal Mrrouch, chef de mission de MSF au Niger, quelque 70% des migrants recueillis par MSF ont subi des violences physiques.

Le président sénégalais Macky Sall, président en exercice de l’Union africaine, s’entretient vendredi avec son homologue russe Vladimir Poutine à Sotchi. Les deux dirigeants doivent discuter de la guerre en Ukraine, notamment du blocage des exportations de céréales de ce pays vers l’Afrique.

Libyans could be forgiven for feeling an uneasy sense of déjà vu in recent months. Last year many had hoped the country was finally moving on from a long struggle between rival authorities. But the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity, or GNU, that was established in 2021 as part of the United Nations-led political process has been challenged since March by a rival government appointed through a disputed parliamentary vote.

Libya faces a serious security threat from foreign fighters and private military companies, especially Russia’s Wagner Group which has violated international law, U.N. experts said in a report obtained by The Associated Press.

The experts also accused seven Libyan armed groups of systematically using unlawful detention to punish perceived opponents, ignoring international and domestic civil rights laws, including laws prohibiting torture.

We were handcuffed, and a bandage was placed over our eyes so we could not see anything. Then the buses moved towards Palestine. Next to me was sitting an Egyptian named Gamal. He had nothing on his eyes, perhaps being Egyptian and a kind of courtesy to Egypt, which had signed a peace treaty with the Zionist state in 1979.

Measles is so contagious that a single case in close living conditions like refugee camps can activate an outbreak response. That’s expected to happen more often than usual this year.

The World Health Organization (WHO) found that there were 23 million more babies under one year old who missed their routine vaccinations in 2020 than in 2019—including the first of two measles vaccine doses that are recommended for children by the WHO. That number hasn’t been this high since 2009 and is thought to have contributed to the current massive spike in cases worldwide.

In May 2021, Mali suffered its second coup in the space of a year, both of which were perpetrated by the same group of colonels. While the first coup, in August 2020, followed a recognizable script of quickly standing up a civilian-led transitional government with the task of guiding the country to democratic elections, the second has upended that “business-as-usual” approach to post-coup transitions.