Africa

The continued recruitment and presence of mercenaries in Libya is impeding “progress in the peace process” and an obstacle to upcoming elections, independent UN human rights experts said on Friday, calling for their “long overdue” departure..

“Nine months after the ceasefire agreement calling for withdrawal of foreign forces and mercenaries from Libya, mercenaries and private military and security contractors continue to operate in the country” said the chair of the UN’s Working Group on the use of mercenaries, Jelena Aparac.

Awoken by gunshots in the middle of the night, Fatima Amadou was shocked by what she saw among the attackers: children.

Guns slung over their small frames, the children chanted “Allahu akbar,” as they surrounded her home in Solhan town in Burkina Faso’s Sahel region. Some were so young they couldn’t even pronounce the words, Arabic for “God is great,” said the 43-year-old mother.

Début juin, dans la région du Sahel au Burkina Faso, le village de Solhan était victime d’une attaque meurtrière perpétrée par un groupe armée. Ce groupe était majoritairement composé d’enfants et d’adolescents âgés entre 12 et 14 ans.

Les profils de la violence perpétrée par les groupes islamistes militants d’Afrique évoluent. Ils continuent néanmoins de semer le chaos à un niveau record, causant, en moyenne, 14 évènements violents par jour.

Un examen des données sur les évènements violents attribuables aux groupes islamistes militants en Afrique pendant le premier semestre de 2021 et leur évolution au cours de la dernière décennie met en relief la menace grandissante qu’ils posent. Cependant, il existe des différences considérables dans les niveaux et les types de violences perpétrés. Voici des points clés à retenir :

On 17 December 2010 a young Tunisian, Mohamed Bouazizi, immolated himself as a sign of protest in the small town of Sidi Bouzid. This dramatic, isolated act led to mass protests across Tunisia and much of North Africa, Yemen and Syria, eventually dubbed the ‘Arab Spring’.

Ten years on, several leaders have been ousted, but the hopes of those who joined the mass protests are shattered. The political and economic gains from the Arab Spring have been far fewer than initially expected. A striking example is the 25 July move by Tunisian President Kais Saied to dismiss the prime minister and suspend Parliament for a month. The decision came in the wake of widespread protests leading to clashes with security forces.

Guerilla fighters from the Islamic State group attacked a checkpoint in the northern Sinai Peninsula on Saturday, killing at least five Egyptian troops, government officials said.

The 57 migrants who drowned off the coast of Libya on Sunday added to the toll of nearly 1,000 lives lost in the Mediterranean Sea this year alone, the UN agency International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has revealed.

In addition to the 57 who drowned on Sunday when their boat sank, there are at least 20 women and two toddlers missing from the sinking, while 18 were rescued, according to the IOM.

The United Nations children’s agency said on Friday that more than 100,000 children in Ethiopia’s northern region of Tigray could suffer life-threatening malnutrition in the next 12 months, a 10-fold increase to normal numbers.

UNICEF spokesperson Marixie Mercado said that one-in-two pregnant and breastfeeding women screened in Tigray were acutely malnourished.

En 2011, la Tunisie est devenue le berceau du bouleversement connu sous le nom de Printemps arabe – une série de protestations et de soulèvements en faveur de la démocratie qui se sont répandus comme une traînée de poudre dans une grande partie du monde arabe et ont fait tomber les régimes de la région en l’espace de plusieurs mois.