Tag: West Africa

Africa
IS Sahel

Niger: mounting atrocities by ISIS franchise

Human Rights Watch (HRW) stated that the armed group Islamic State in the Sahel Province (IS Sahel) is escalating attacks on civilians, reporting that since March the group has illegally executed 127 people in western Niger. HRW documented five armed attacks by the group in Tillabéri region during that time frame. The group killed 70 worshipers at a mosque in a mass execution in June. In May, IS Sahel attacked villages and burned at least a dozen homes, the report found. HRW stated that these attacks constituted war crimes. (Photo: Aharan Kotogo via Wikimedia Commons)

Africa
Mali

UN rights chief warns of growing repression in Mali

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker TĂĽrk warned of a deteriorating rights situation in Mali amid a growing atmosphere of repression. The high commissioner urged the military junta to promptly rescind legal changes that have “slammed the door shut” on a return to democratic rule, and called for the unconditional release of all wrongly detained persons. TĂĽrk stated: “The laws enacted in recent months risk undermining respect for human rights in Mali for a protracted period. I urge the transitional authorities to take immediate and concrete steps to revoke the problematic laws.” (Map: PCL)

Africa
Fulani

Mali: Fulani face ‘disappearance,’ summary execution

Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that Mali’s armed forces and allied Russian mercenaries have carried out numerous “summary executions and enforced disappearances of ethnic Fulani men.” HRW documented that since January the Malian army and Wagner Groupmercenaries have executed “at least a dozen Fulani men and forcibly disappeared at least 81” during joint operations targeting Islamist armed groups. The rights group said that the insurgents have focused their recruitment efforts on the Fulani, and that “successive Malian governments have conflated the Fulani community with Islamist fighters, putting them at grave risk.” (Photo of Fulani elder via IRIN)

Africa
Senegal

France withdraws last troops in Senegal

France officially transferred control of its last military installations in Senegal to local authorities in a ceremony, bringing to an end the permanent deployment of French troops in the country since Senegal gained independence in 1960. The withdrawal of over 350 troops marks the completion of a process initiated in March, when France began handing over multiple military sites. Unlike in other West African countries, where French forces were expelled amid political tumult, the withdrawal from Senegal was peaceful and coordinated, reflecting France’s broader re-orientation away from its traditional “Françafrique” military footprint. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)

Africa
Ogoni

Nigeria: pardon for Ogoni Nine ‘far short of real justice’

Amnesty International said that the Nigerian government’s pardon for the Ogoni Nine falls “far short of real justice.” The rights group published the statement in response to the government’s decision to posthumously exonerate the Nine. The Ogoni Nine were a group of environmental activists who campaigned against Shell oil company and the Nigerian central government for the destructive impacts of oil production in the Ogoniland region of the Niger Delta. After brutally suppressing protests in the region, the government accused the Ogoni Nine of murder. The nine men were convicted after what rights groups called an unfair trial and executed in 1995. Amnesty International Nigeria welcomed the decision to pardon the activists but noted that much more needs to be done for the local communities, asserting that Shell’s activities in the region have left toxic pollution, affecting the health and livelihoods of many of the 30 million people living in the Niger Delta. (Photo: 101LastTribes)

Africa
Togo

Protests rock Togo after ‘constitutional coup’

At least seven have been killed and many more injured in anti-government protests that broke out in Togo’s capital, LomĂ©. The demonstrations were called over recent constitutional reforms that could cement President Faure GnassingbĂ©’s long hold on power. GnassingbĂ©, who has ruled since his father’s death in 2005, was sworn in last month as president of the Council of Ministers, a powerful new post without term limits, allowing him to be re-elected by Parliament indefinitely. GnassingbĂ©’s family has ruled Togo since 1967, and the new “Hands Off My Constitution” movement denounces the government reform as a “constitutional coup.” (Photo via Twitter)

Africa
ISWAP

Resurgent jihadist violence in northeast Nigeria

The so-called Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) insurgent group has launched its most successful military campaign to date in northeast Nigeria’s Lake Chad Basin. Throughout May, ISWAP raided a series of supposedly impenetrable army bases, forcing the military’s withdrawal and the displacement of civilian communities—some of whom had been recently resettled by the Borno State government following its closure of IDP camps in state capital Maiduguri. This renewed campaign highlights the major challenge posed by Islamic State and Qaeda-linked extremist groups across West Africa: insurgents who are now better equipped, including with armored vehicles looted from the military, and utilizing new innovative tactics, such as near-simultaneous attacks on disparate sites. (Photo via TNH)

Africa
Mali

Mali: mass execution of Fulani detainees

Human Rights Watch called on the government of Mali to “credibly and independently” investigate the apparent extrajudicial execution of 22 men who were detained by the army in the town of DiafarabĂ©, in the central Mopti region. The victims were ethnic Fulani men  who were trading at the town’s cattle market. Witnesses from the town believe soldiers targeted local Fulani men on suspicion of collaborating with fighters of Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wa al-Muslimeen (JNIM), who have a strong presence in the region. (Map: PCL)

Africa
Togoland

Ghana to pay for unlawful detention of Western Togoland activists

The Court of Justice of the West African regional bloc ECOWAS ordered the government of Ghana to pay $75,000 in damages to 30 members of the Homeland Study Group Foundation (HSGF) over their prolonged unlawful detention. The court, based in Nigeria, found that Ghanaian authorities violated the applicants’ human rights by detaining them for extended periods—some for over a year—without trial or due process. The HSGF members were arrested in May 2019 under Ghana’s Prohibited Organizations Decree, which outlaws groups deemed a threat to national security. The HSGF advocates for the independence of Western Togoland, an ethnically distinct region that was separated from what became the adjoining nation of Togo at the end of the colonial era and attached to Ghana. (Photo: ISS Africa)

Africa
Cameroon

Cameroon: peace activist sentenced to life term

Amnesty International condemned the life sentence handed down by a military court in Cameroon against activist Abdu Karim Ali, calling it an “affront to justice” and demanding his immediate and unconditional release. According to Amnesty, Ali was arrested without a warrant and arbitrarily detained after he produced a video exposing torture carried out by the leader of a pro-government militia in Cameroon’s conflicted Southwest Region. Cameroon’s Southwest and Northwest regions have been experiencing an armed conflict since 2016 in what is known as the Anglophone crisis. Demonstrations for greater linguistic rights in the Anglophone regions were met with repression by the Francophone central authorities, leading to an initiative to secede from Cameroon as the “Federal Republic of Ambazonia.” Ali had advocated for a Swiss-led mediation process to resolve the conflict. (Map: TNH)

Africa
Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso junta accused in mass atrocities against Fulani

Human Rights Watch accused the military of Burkina Faso of orchestrating massacres of Fulani civilians under the auspices of a counter-terrorism operation against Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wa al-Muslimeen (JNIM)—which reportedly retaliated through the targeted killings of civilians viewed as supportive of the military. The military operation took place in Banwa and Sourou provinces, with interviewees quoted by HRW stating that women, children and the elderly were often targeted. The operation appears to have resulted in the displacement of most Fulani people from Banwa province. The Fulani have repeatedly come under attack, and are evidently being collectively blamed for violence perpetrated by JNIM and other affiliated Islamist groups. (Map: Perry-Castañeda Library)

Africa
Mali

UN experts condemn enforced disappearances in Mali

UN human rights experts condemned the enforced disappearance and apparent summary execution of some 100 members of Fulani people in Mali. The experts stated that the unlawful killings and disappearances, carried out with the participation of Russian mercenaries, may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity. The experts found that the Malian authorities have violated the right to life by failing to conduct proper investigations. The statement urged “Malian authorities to conduct prompt, effective, thorough, independent, impartial and transparent investigations into these killings and enforced disappearances, in accordance with international law.” (Map: PCL)