Tag: Africa

Africa

Congo warlord gets life for crimes against humanity

A military court in the Democratic Republic of Congo sentenced Frederic Masudi Alimasi to life in prison after a two-month trial. Alimasi, AKA Kokodikoko, was head of the Raia Mutomboki, one of the most powerful militias operating in the Eastern DRC. He was arrested in April on multiple charges including murder, rape and enslavement committed against the civilian populations of two villages in 2018. The case saw the use of mobile courts, conducting hearings where the victims live. This relieved them of the burden of travel, and enabled victims who had not been able to take part in the initial investigation to appear and have their testimony entered into the record. (Photo: JusticeInfo.net)

Africa
Guinea

Guinea: deadly repression amid fear of power-grab

A new Amnesty International report warns of rising political violence in Guinea amid growing public concern that President Alpha Condé will amend the constitution to run for a third term. Nine protestors were killed last month alone, and scores arrested, inlcuding leaders of pro-democracy movements. Dozens of protesters have been sentenced to a year in prison for attending an “illegal assembly.” (Map: Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection)

Africa
Uganda protests

Uganda: military crackdown on student protests

Ugandan police and military troops have responded harshly to students protesting fee increases at Makerere University in Kampala. Human Rights Watch reports that troops have “fired tear-gas into student residences, raided dormitories, and beaten and arrested students.” Security forces have also been arresting journalists and detaining students for days without charge. The military says a board of inquiry has been set up to look into the campus violence, but HRW demanded a full and transparent investigation. (Photo: Nile Post, Kampala)

Africa
Oromo protest

Protests, ethnic violence rock Ethiopia’s Oromia

Nearly 70 people have been killed in Ethiopia’s central Oromia region following a week of unrest and ethnic violence. The eruption began after Jawar Mohammed, prominent advocate for the Oromo people, posted on social media about an imminent attempt on his life by security forces. Supporters surrounded his house and police retreated, but violence quickly spread. The army has now been deployed to put down the protests. Illegal sales of traditional Oromo lands to facilitate urban expansion on the outskirts of Addis Ababa has long been a grievance of the Oromo people. But anger has been unleashed on ethnic minorities in Oromia. In Sebeta, a town within the Oromia Special Zone surrounding the capital, eight members of Gamos people were killed, apparently by a mob of Oromo youth. Followers of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church as well as Muslims have also been targeted, with both churches and mosques attacked. (Photo of gathering outside Jawar Mohammed’s home via Twitter)

Africa
Nuba protest

Anti-mining protests in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains

For the past several weeks, residents of Sudan’s conflicted Nuba Mountains have waged a protest campaign demanding the closure of unregulated gold mines in the region. Villagers from the communities of Talodi and Kalog, South Kordofan, have been holding a sit-in outside one of the facilities, where they charge cyanide is contaminating local water sources. The mining operation is said to be protected by fighters from the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary headed by warlord Mohammed Hamdan Dagolo AKA “Hemeti,” who is owner of the facility. Twelve people were killed by security forces at another gold mine near Talodi in April. The sit-in has won the support of the Sudanese Professionals Association, the main force behind nationwide protests that toppled strongman Omar Bashir earlier this year. Sit-ins have also spread to other areas affected by gold mining, including Sudan’s Northern State. (Photo: Radio Dabanga)

Africa
minusma

Insurgency mounts on Mali-Burkina borderlands

At 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)

Africa
Giwa barracks

Nigeria: army runs ‘child detention camp’

Human Rights Watch reports that the Nigerian military has been arbitrarily detaining thousands of children, some as young as five years old, for suspected involvement with the armed group Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, commonly known as Boko Haram. According to HRW, the military often detains children based on little or no evidence. Many children were arrested after fleeing Boko Haram attacks on their villages, or while seeking refuge. Some of the detained girls had been abducted or forced to become Boko Haram “wives.”  Based on interviews with former child detanees, HRW reports that conditions at Giwa military barracks, the main detention facility, are inhumane, with detainess subject to severe overcrowsing and extreme heat. (Photo: Nigeria Today)

Planet Watch
Africa fires

Central African forests burning faster than Amazon

Central Africa’s rainforests are currently being consumed by a vast system of forest fires dwarfing even those that are ravaging the Amazon. Hundreds of thousands of hectares have been engulfed by flames over the past weeks—to comparatively little notice in the world media. French newspaper La Voix du Nord states, “In Angola, the Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania and Zambia, thousands of fires consume phenomenal amounts of vegetation.” Since the beginning of 2019, it is the DRC that has recorded the most fires, far ahead of Brazil. NASA attributes the fires to “widespread agricultural burning,” as farmers employ slash-and-burn methods to clear land for crops. (Photo: FIRMS)

Africa

Land defender slain in Democratic Republic of Congo

A Congolese environmental and human rights activist was killed by a security guard of the Canadian palm-oil company Feronia Inc, near the company’s Boteka plantation in Eqauteur province, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The killing follows months of intimidation directed at local communities that have filed a grievance against the company for its occupation of their lands. Joël Imbangola Lunea operated a motor-boat to transport people and goods between local villages. He was also a community leader and member of the NGO Information & Support Network of the DRC (RIAO-RDC), and was involved in mediating land disputes. He was killed when his boat, filled with passengers and luggage, was approached by a security guard who accused him of transporting stolen palm oil from the plantation. He was beaten and finally strangled to death, his body thrown into the Moboyo River. (Photo of Lunea at mediation session via RIAO-RDC)

Africa

Congo rebel leader convicted of war crimes

The International Criminal Court (ICC) convicted Bosco Ntaganda, a notorious Congolese rebel commander known as “The Terminator,” of 18 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. These crimes were committed in Ituri, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), from 2002 to 2003. Ntaganda was found guilty of “murder and attempted murder, rape, sexual slavery, persecution, forcible transfer and deportation” of populations, along with war crimes such as “intentionally directing attacks against civilians.”  His conviction marks the third standing conviction by the ICC—all of defendants from the DRC. (Photo via UN News)

Africa

Darfur at issue in Sudan transition talks

A new agreement between Sudan’s opposition coalition, the Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC), and the ruling Transitional Military Council provides for power to be shared through a joint Sovereign Council. Among the FFC’s constituent groups are two armed rebel factions active in the conflicted Darfur region. After the new transition deal was announced, these two groups both issued statements denying Sudanese media reports that they had dropped out of the FFC—claims that may originate in a regime stratagem to remove the Darfur question from the opposition agenda. Having long receded from world headlines, the situation in Darfur is again escalating. Last month, the joint African Union-UN Mission in Darfur suspended the handover of camps for displaced civilians to the Sudanese military, due to new attacks in the region. Amnesty International, citing satellite imagery, charges that a new “scorched earth” campaign is underway in Darfur. (Photo: UN News)

Africa

Sudan protesters defy massacre, net silence

Sudan’s opposition coalition, the Forces for Freedom and Change, has renewed its call for the Transitional Military Council to hand power to a civilian-led authority, and announced a general strike to press this demand starting July 14. The call was issued a day after the “Millions March” demonstrations of June 30—which again saw security forces firing on protesters, leaving seven dead and more than 180 wounded. The TMC has formed an investigative commission into the June 3 attack on a pro-democracy sit-in outside the army headquarters, in which over a hundred were killed. Protesters continue to mobilize despite the TMC having cut off Internet access, returning to such methods as passing out leaflets at markets and transit stops. (Photo via Geeska Africa Online)