Tag: Sahel

North Africa
JNIM

Mali: now a three-way war —or four?

border wallA US district judge granted a temporary restraining order enjoining the federal government from interfering with fencing erected by Texas state authorities at the US-Mexico border. As part of Operation Lone Star, the Texas Military Department has deployed concertina wire fencing to deter illegal crossings at the border. The suit, brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, alleged that federal agents have implemented a policy of destroying the state-erected fencing, and providing support to those attempting to cross after swimming the Rio Grande. Judge Alia Moses found that "the balance of interests favors granting an injunction, but just barely." The decision weighed Texas' interest in deterring unlawful activity and avoiding the costs associated with repairing broken fencing, against US Customs & Border Protection's interest in "allowing [Border Patrol] agents to address medical emergencies." The order includes an exception to permit CBP agents to continue cutting the concertina wire to aid individuals in medical distress. (Photo: Christoph Buchel via Radical History Review)

Watching the Shadows
neo-Nazis

State Department sees global ‘white supremacist’ threat

detention facilityThe US government announced that it will settle a 2018 class-action lawsuit that challenged the Trump administration's family separation practice at the US-Mexico border. The proposed settlement would create a process to reunify families who were separated. Additionally, the government is to provide health services and housing support for affected families, and arrange legal services through the Executive Office for Immigration Review. Another provision of the deal bars the federal government from immigration policies that separate parents from children for eight years. The settlement does not provide any monetary relief for affected people. (Photo: BBC World Service via Flickr)

Planet Watch
Idlib displaced

UN: world refugees break record —again

EsraAmnesty International condemned the conviction in Turkey of environmental activist Esra Işık. The activist was convicted of "resisting a public official to prevent performance of duty" and "insulting a public official," and sentenced to two years and one month in prison. Işık was detained in March following participation in demonstrations against an extraordinary "urgent" land expropriation decision by the Turkish government, in which over 600 parcels in the Akbelen Forest area were to be seized for expansion of a coal mine. (Photo: Cumhuriyet)

Africa
Coalition for the Sahel

France prepares more troops for Sahel

WagnerAmnesty International condemned the Malian Armed Forces (FAMa) and its partners from the Russian private military company Wagner Group for perpetration of war crimes, including the murder and torture of civilians. Summary executions and massacres appear to have targeted ethnic Fulani men, in what is described as a campaign of ethnic cleansing. A landmark human rights case has been filed before the African Court on Human & Peoples' Rights (ACtHPR) by TRIAL International, the Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) against FAMa and Wagner for their role in repeated atrocities and massacres, most famously that at Moura in March 2022. (Photo via Lansing Indstitute)

Africa
Darfur

New ethnic conflagration in Darfur

LebanonLebanese firefighters, residents, and environmental groups have accused the Israeli military of deliberately lighting wildfires across the areas of southern Lebanon it occupies, with some labelling it "ecocide." According to the reports, up to 40% of the land in areas close to the front line has been burned by Israeli drones, flares and munitions since June, with firefighters in some cases attacked as they attempted to respond. (Image via Flickr)

Africa
minusma

Insurgency mounts on Mali-Burkina borderlands

MINUSMAAt least 25 Malian soldiers are dead and more than 60 others missing after two assaults on bases in central Mali, near the border with Burkina Faso. Jihadist forces simultaneously targeted a Malian army base and a G5 Sahel force camp. The G5 Sahel group includes Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad and Mauritania, and receives logistical support from the UN Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA). Malian officials say the insurgents used "heavy weapons" in the assaults, and that at least 15 militants were killed. Local reports indicate the militants were able to briefly hold the bases and capture large amounts of weapons and equipment. Mali has now launched a joint operation with Burkina Faso and French forces in the region to hunt down the militants. (Photo:  UN News)