Africa

Uncertainty continues to surround the whereabouts of President Roch Kaboré after the Burkinabe leader was deposed in a coup over the weekend. A former prime minister and one-time president of the National Assembly, Kaboré had been in power since 2015, the second civilian to hold the country’s highest office following the collapse of Blaise Compaore’s twenty-seven-year dictatorship and his flight into exile in October 2014. But now, even as the overall situation in the country remains fluid, it seems safe to say that the military is back in the saddle in Burkina Faso. The Patriotic Movement for Safeguard and Restoration (MPSR)-led takeover makes the poor West African country the fourth in the region to fall under the military’s jackboots in less than two years. Mali reopened the floodgates in August 2020 (again in May 2021), with Chad and Guinea following suit in April and September 2021, respectively.

UN official says the body is investigating the incident involving CAR troops and ‘other security personnel’.

The United Nations is investigating the alleged killing of dozens of people in the Central African Republic last week by CAR forces and mercenaries with the Russian private military company Wagner.

At least 46 villagers were killed within a week after bandits launched a punitive expedition against two Kebbi villages.

On January 14, a band of heavily armed men stormed Dankade town in Danko Wasagu Local Government Area of Kebbi State, killing at least 17 residents and abducting many more in a punitive expedition.

Yasir Arman, SPLM-N Deputy Chairman Saturday said that peace in Sudan requires defeating the coup carried out by General al-Burhan on October 25, 2021.

In a talk show with Al-Jazeera Live, Arman said that the coup had plunged the country and the peace process in a big dilemma, pointing out that the peace agreement is closely linked to the democratic transition and the constitutional declaration.

Burkina Faso’s army said on Monday it had ousted President Roch Kabore, suspended the constitution, dissolved the government and the national assembly, and closed the country’s borders.

The announcement cited the deterioration of the security situation and what the army described as Kabore’s inability to unite the West African nation and effectively respond to challenges, which include an Islamist insurgency.

Eastern Africa continues to be the origin of most African refugees, with the region producing more than five million displaced people in 2020, a new report by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has revealed.

Terrorism, armed conflict and extreme weather events such as floods, cyclones, droughts, storms and locust outbreaks have damaged livelihoods across the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes region, resulting in large displacements of people.

In November 2020, the Moroccan government sent its military to the Guerguerat area, a buffer zone between the territory claimed by the Kingdom of Morocco and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR). The Guerguerat border post is at the very southern edge of Western Sahara along the road that goes to Mauritania. The presence of Moroccan troops “in the Buffer Strip in the Guerguerat area” violated the 1991 ceasefire agreed upon by the Moroccan monarchy and the Polisario Front of the Sahrawi. That ceasefire deal was crafted with the assumption that the United Nations would hold a referendum in Western Sahara to decide on its fate; no such referendum has been held, and the region has existed in stasis for three decades now.

L’envoyé spécial du secrétaire général des Nations unies pour le Sahara occidental, Staffan de Mistura, a terminé le 19 janvier sa tournée dans la région pour tenter de relancer le dialogue entre les parties prenantes du conflit. Le bilan de ces échanges est mitigé, tant les protagonistes algérien et marocain campent sur leur position.

Quatre Tunisiens, dont une fillette, ont péri et sept autres sont portés disparus après le naufrage d’une embarcation de migrants au large de la grande ville tunisienne de Sfax (centre-est), a appris vendredi l’AFP auprès des garde-côtes.

“L’embarcation partie des côtes tunisiennes a coulé dans la nuit de mercredi à jeudi, devant les îles de Kerkennah”, situées au large de Sfax, la deuxième ville du pays, a indiqué à l’AFP Houssem Eddine Jebabli, porte-parole de la garde nationale.

Le président tunisien Kais Saied s’est insurgé contre les manifestations qui ont eu lieu dans le pays. Il a répété son engagement à garantir l’égalité de tous devant la loi en recevant le ministre de l’Intérieur Taoufik Charfeddine.

Plusieurs personnes étaient dans les rues de Tunis la semaine dernière, une manifestation qui avait été interdite par les autorités dans le cadre des restrictions contre le Covid-19.