The international community is condemning the Aug. 6 military ouster of Mauritania’s President Sidi Mohamed ould Cheikh Abdallahi and Prime Minister Yahya ould Ahmed Waghf. The coup started just hours after a presidential decree that declared the dismissal of Mauritania’s… Read moreCoup d’etat in Mauritania: slave system strikes back?
No, it’s not a football match. Our July issue featured the story “Shake Djibouti: Eritrea Crisis Destabilizes Imperialism’s Horn of Africa Beachhead” by Sarkis Pogossian, on the brief war between the two states in June. Pogossian writes: “While Eritrea increasingly… Read moreEritrea vs. Djibouti: our readers write
From Human Rights Watch, July 21, via Congo Planet: Congo Peace Accord Fails to End Killing of Civilians Brussels — The killing and rape of civilians in the eastern province of North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo continues… Read moreHuman Rights Watch: rapes, killings continue in Congo
The Chinese Railway Engineering Company is rebuilding 2,050 miles of roads in the Democratic Republic of Congo, abandoned in the jungle after the Belgian colonialists pulled out 48 years ago and further shattered by years of war. The vast project,… Read moreChina biggest player in Congo mineral rush
BBC’s Panorama TV crew claims to have uncovered the first evidence that China is providing military aid to Sudan’s Darfur counter-insurgency operations, in violation of an international embargo. The crew, traveling deep in Darfur’s desert with a rebel faction, reportedly… Read moreBBC: China “fueling war in Darfur”
Armed Islamic Courts Union fighters assaulted at “cultural boogie” at El-Ghelle village, Balad district, some 30 kilometers north of Mogadishu in Somalia late June 29, residents said. The fighters reportedly opened fire on a circle where drummers, singers and musicians… Read moreSomalia: Islamists attack traditional dance ceremony
A large percentage of Djibouti’s population could face food shortages due to drought, rising prices, declining earnings, and high levels of livestock deaths, according to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS Net). Some 130,000, including 50,000 in Djibouti’s capital,… Read moreEritrea crisis worsens Djibouti food shortages
The international negotiators appointed to broker peace in Darfur have resigned, admitting that their mission has been a failure. The UN’s Jan Eliasson announced that he and his African Union counterpart, Salim Ahmed Salim, would both step down, citing Sudanese… Read moreDarfur negotiators quit; Israel seeking “foothold”?
At least four Somali government soldiers were killed and four civilians wounded when a roadside bomb hit a military vehicle in Mogadishu June 22. (Xinhua, June 22) Fighting has killed at least 38 since the “peace deal” was concluded in… Read moreSomali PM says peace deal is on —despite continued war
A week after border skirmishes were reported, Djibouti has accused neighboring Eritrea of illegally intruding into its territory. Djibouti’s Foreign Minister Mahmoud Ali Youssef told AlJazeera June 20 that Eritrean troops crossed the border on the strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait…. Read moreDjibouti charges Eritrea in new incursion
In a bizarre irony for a state that rules in the name of Arab nationalism, Mauritanian authorities detained Mohamed Nema Oumar, publisher of Al-Houriya weekly, June 12, holding him for some 30 hours at a police station in the the… Read moreMauritanian journalist jailed —for protesting Israel
