A coast guard patrol from the independent Somali region of Puntland on Oct. 14 freed the 11-man crew of a hijacked ship and captured the 10 pirates who seized the vessel last week. Puntland’s special Rescue Commando Forces raided the… Read moreSomalia: Puntland patrol pinches pirates
Around 100 people are believed dead off the coast of Yemen after being forced overboard by smugglers in the Gulf of Aden. Some 47 survivors told the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) that a smuggling boat carrying about 150… Read more100 Somalis dead in smuggler atrocity
More than 35 young women wearing tight trousers were arrested in South Sudan for disturbing the peace, senior police officials said Oct. 7. The arrests in Juba, the capital of autonomous South Sudan, were part of an ostensible campaign against… Read moreSudan: fashion police sweep sexy in south
NATO is sending seven warships to Somalia’s coast, where pirates continue to hold the arms-laden Ukrainian ship Faina—already surrounded by six US warships from the Bahrain-based Sixth Fleet. The Russian Baltic Fleet’s frigate Neustrashimy (The Fearless) is also hurrying to… Read moreNATO sends warships against Somali pirates
Police in Mauritania fired tear gas and beat union members Oct. 7 in the second protest this week against the new military regime. Workers threw rocks at police in running skirmishes around the streets of the capital Nouakchott. Police reportedly… Read moreRepression in Mauritania
The France-based Sudanese opposition website Sudan Tribune reports that the huge arms shipment seized by pirates off Somalia was not ultimately bound for the Kenyan government, as widespread reports had it—but for the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). If true,… Read morePirate-seized arms were bound for SPLA?
Human Rights Watch Oct. 1 called on the Ethiopian government to release rendition victims in custody or prosecute them in an open court. The renditions were the result of the US-backed Ethiopian military intervention in neighboring Somalia in late 2006…. Read moreEthiopia must release rendition victims: HRW
Helicopter-borne Egyptian and Sudanese troops, backed by Italian commandos, rescued the 19-member tour group kidnapped in Egypt and taken by their abductors on a 10-day trek through the Sahara to the border with Chad. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said… Read moreItalian commando in Sudan hostage rescue
Russia has dispatched the warship Neustrashimy to intercept a Ukrainian freighter, the Faina, carrying 33 Russian-built tanks and other war material seized by pirates off Somalia while en route to Kenya for an arms delivery. US naval ships are also… Read moreSomalia: pirate show-down overshadows refugee crisis
At least 30 people were killed in fierce fighting between Islamist rebels and Somali government forces in capital Mogadishu’s main market Sept. 23. Rebels reportedly attacked two African Union peacekeeping bases in Mogadishu and shelled the city’s main airport as… Read moreSomalia: murderous mayhem in Mogadishu market
Reports in the Nigerian press indicate that the European Union, Russia and China are all wooing the government for rights to build the proposed $21 billion Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline project, which would export gas from the Niger Delta to Europe… Read moreEU, Russia, China in race to build Trans-Saharan Pipeline
Nigeria’s main militant group in the Niger Delta declared an “oil war” against foreign-owned companies working in the region in a Sept. 14 statement. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said it had launched an operation… Read moreNiger Delta rebels declare “oil war”
