Africa

ECOWAS declares regional state of emergency

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) announced a state of emergency following a wave of coups and attempted coups that have struck several member states of the regional bloc. The declaration was made during the 55th session of the ECOWAS Security Council in Abuja, Nigeria, by the president of the bloc, Gambian diplomat Omar Touray. Since 2020, several military coups d’etat have taken place in West Africa, including Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. A coup attempt was launched days before the ECOWAS declaration in Benin, but was thwarted by Nigerian military intervention. A regional crisis is driven by armed insurgencies, economic hardship, and weak institutions, creating viable ground for military rule. (Map: World Sites Atlas)

Planet Watch

Deadly strikes on hospitals: the new norm?

On World Humanitarian Day in August, World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus released a statement calling attention to intensifying attacks on healthcare workers and facilities, which constitute war crimes under international humanitarian law. “We must stop this becoming the norm,” he wrote. The events of the past weeks suggest such attacks are now already the norm. In Sudan, the WHO reported that over 100 people, including 63 children, were killed when drone strikes attributed to the Rapid Support Forces hit a kindergarten and nearby hospital in South Kordofan. In Burma’s Rakhine state, a military airstrike destroyed the Mrauk-U general hospital, killing at least 31 people and wounding dozens more. It was the 67th attack on a healthcare facility in Burma this year, according to the WHO. Attacks on healthcare facilities killed a record 3,600 people in 2024, mainly in Gaza, Ukraine, Lebanon, Burma and Sudan. This year is on course to surpass that toll. In Gaza alone, at least 917 people were killed by Israeli attacks on healthcare facilities between Oct. 7. 2023 and June of this year. (Photo: Myanmar Now)

Africa

ICC asked to investigate Tanzania killings

A coalition of local and international human rights groups has asked the International Criminal Court to open a case against Tanzanian President Samia Hassan and senior members of her government over killings by the security forces during post-election unrest in October. How many people died in the protests over the “sham” elections is still unknown. Hassan’s government has remained silent on an official death toll, but the opposition—who were effectively barred from the polls—claims thousands were shot by the police and Ugandan special forces. Gruesome images were shared online of armed men firing indiscriminately into crowds, and of overflowing morgues. A CNN investigation found that satellite imagery suggests the existence of mass graves. (Photo: Tanzania Daily News via AllAfrica)

Africa

Guinea-Bissau: narco-plot behind latest African coup?

UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the military coup in Guinea-Bissau that took place just days after national elections, saying that it gravely violates constitutional order and democratic principles. The African Union similarly condemned the coup, while the West African regional bloc ECOWAS suspended Guinea-Bissau until there is a full restoration of constitutional order. This latest military takeover reflects a pattern of instability in Guinea-Bissau since the country gained independence from Portugal in 1974, and follows a long string of coups and coup attempts. Guinea-Bissau also ranks first among African countries in the cocaine trade, a reality that looms ever larger over national politics. In his inaugural speech, transitional president Maj-Gen. Horta Nta Na Man justified the military takeover as necessary to thwart a plot by “narco-traffickers” to destabilize the country. Government efforts to crack down on the narco trade are believed to have prompted previous coups d’etatin Guinea-Bissau. (Map: PCL)

Africa

Sudan: hollow truces, blood theft

In a move that will shock absolutely nobody following the war in Sudan, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) declared a three-month unilateral humanitarian truce—and then promptly broke it with an attack on an army position in the West Kordofan town of Babanusa. RSF leader Hemedti billed the pause as a first step towards a political solution, but it looks like just another attempt to con mediators and journalists. As ever, those attempts have been drowned out by a stream of grim revelations, including reports that RSF fighters forcibly took blood from civilians fleeing El Fasher—prompting one commentator to label them “literal vampires.” A Doctors Without Borders update found that many of the 260,000 civilians still alive in El Fasher before the RSF takeover in October are now dead, detained, trapped, or unable to access lifesaving aid. (Map: PCL)

Africa

ISIS franchise in new DRC attacks

The UN decried a new attack on civilians by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) armed group in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The UN described the incident as “one of the most appalling attacks” ever recorded in the country, and indicated that it may constitute a war crime. According to information gathered by the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO), a series of deadly attacks took place across several localities in Lubero territory, North Kivu province, resulting in the deaths of 89 civilians, including 20 women and an unknown number of children. These attacks included a raid on a healthcare center where 17 patients were killed. Assaults on healthcare facilities are strictly forbidden under international humanitarian law, which mandates that medical units be respected and protected in all circumstances. Despite its unassuming name, the ADF is integrated into the Islamic State Central Africa Province (ISCAP). (Map: PCL)

Africa

Chad: herder-farmer clashes amid climate crisis

Amnesty International denounced authorities in Chad for their failure to protect victims of armed clashes between herders and farmers. The group documented seven instances of herder-farmer violence in four provinces since 2022, which resulted in 98 people dead, at least 100 injured, and 600 left without homes or sources of income. The clashes, concentrated in southern Chad, are said to be driven by climate change, population growth, and an influx of weapons and support from armed groups in the neighboring Central African Republic. Researchers stated that higher temperatures, desertification, and shrinking pasturelands in the center of the country have led herders to travel longer distances and settle in southern provinces where conditions are more conducive to livestock grazing. (Photo: European Commission/DG Echo via NASA Earth Observatory)

Africa

Sudan: atrocities as North Kordofan city falls to RSF

Summary executions of civilians by fighters of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are being reported from Bara city, in Sudan’s North Kordofan state, after it was captured by the paramilitary army following a major offensive. The victims were apparently accused of supporting the Sudanese Armed Forces in its defense of the city. Reports indicate that dozens of civilians have been killed, according to the UN Human Rights Office. A local medical group describes horrific conditions in the taken city. “Dozens of bodies are piled up inside homes after the RSF prevented the victims’ families from burying them, leaving the dead trapped in their houses while the living are surrounded by fear, hunger, and thirst,” the Sudan Doctors Network said in a statement. (Map: Displacement Tracking Matrix)

Africa

Trump threatens Nigeria with military action, aid cut

US President Donald Trump said that he has ordered the Pentagon, or “Department of War,” to prepare contingency plans for potential military action in Nigeria. Trump alleged that the Nigerian government has failed to protect Christian communities from violent extremist attacks. The comments follow Trump’s declaration designating Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” (CPC) for religious-freedom violations, citing what he described as an “existential threat” to Christianity. (Map: PCL)

Africa

Podcast: Darfur again —a genocide foretold

Throughout the 18-month siege of El Fasher, capital of Sudan’s North Darfur state, international human rights observers had been warning that the city’s residents faced a general massacre when it eventually fell to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Yet nothing was done, apart from ineffectual Great Power diplomacy that had zero impact on the ground. Now that the foretold massacre is underway—with hundreds killed, thousands missing, and no end in sight—calls are at last emerging for boycott, divestment and sanctions against the United Arab Emirates, the apparent underwriter of the genocidal RSF. In Episode 302 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg notes the contrast with the situation 20 years ago, when #SaveDarfur was a cause célèbre—and asks what has changed. (Photo: Roman Deckert via Wikimedia Commons)

Africa

Post-electoral violence rocks Tanzania

Protests have escalated in Tanzania following elections widely viewed as a sham. Violence erupted on polling day over the exclusion from the ballot of President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s two biggest challengers, and increasing government repression. The protesters defied a heavy security presence to target polling stations, police vehicles, and businesses connected to the ruling party, some chanting “We want our country back!” An unknown number of people were shot dead, and Amnesty International has called for an investigation. Protests continue despite an internet blackout and the deployment of soldiers to enforce a lockdown. (Photo via Twitter)

Africa

Post-electoral violence sweeps Cameroon

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concern over the protests and repression that have swept Cameroon following contested presidential election results. Demonstrators immediately defied a ban on public gatherings to support the opposition after the election, but the situation escalated after the Constitutional Council announced five days later that long-ruling President Paul Biya had won. The opposition rejected the results and proclaimed their candidate, Issa Tchirola Bakary, as the legitimate winner, urging citizens to demonstrate peacefully. Thousands took to the streets demanding recognition of an opposition victory, to be met with repression; clashes between protesters and security forces led to fatalities and numerous arrests. The protests have shaken the capital, Yaoundé; the economic capital, Douala; and the northern towns of Garoua and Maroua. Local jails are filled with opposition supporters who accuse Biya of rigging the polls. Biya is now to assume his eighth term in office as the world’s oldest president at age 92, having ruled Cameroon for 43 years. (Photo: Twitter via Peoples Dispatch)