A general strike shut down Tunisia’s Sidi Bouzid region—birthplace of last year’s uprising—to demand the release of detainees and the resignation of the governor.
As West African powers mull whether to invade Mali’s Islamist-held north or work out a power-sharing deal, young Malians are forming ad hoc militias to “liberate the north.”
Hundreds of nomadic Fulani pastoralists in central Mali are trapped between floodplains to the south and armed Islamist rebels to the north, and fear their way of life faces extinction.
Amnesty International warned after a visit to Mali July 31 that the country is slipping into “human rights chaos,” with abuses documented in the government-controlled south as well as the rebel-held north. Amnesty documented at least one incident in the… Read moreMali sliding into ‘human rights chaos’
Islamist factions pushed secular Tuareg rebels out of their last foothold in breakaway northern Mali. With a sharia state now in place, the UN Security Council is weighing a request for military action by West African nations.
With elections underway in Libya, “federalists” demanding a greater share of power in the east of the country are blocking roads and oil terminals to enforce their call for a boycott—bringing oil exports nearly to a halt.
A lawyer for the International Criminal Court who was recently released from detention in Libya stated that she did not believe Libya could hold a fair trial for Saif al-Islam Qaddafi, the son of former leader Moammar Qaddafi.
The Libyan government released four International Criminal Court staff members who had been detained for nearly four weeks, accused of spying and attempting to smuggle documents to the imprisoned Saif al-Islam Qaddafi.
Islamist fighters have pushed Tuareg rebels of the MNLA out of Timbuktu and Gao. A convoy of Islamist forces is now headed for Kidal, the remaining town in Mali’s breakaway north where the MNLA maintains a foothold.
US Africa Command chief Gen. Carter F. Ham said the Pentagon is entering a “new military-to-military relationship” with Libya—while hundreds remain detained without charge since the fall of Qaddafi last year.
New French president François Hollande warns that Mali’s breakaway north is harboring “terrorists.” He spoke in a meeting with Niger’s President Mahamadou Issoufou—who says he will seek UN approval for military action.
With the International Criminal Court and new Libyan regime at odds over the fate of Saif al-Islam Qaddafi, four ICC staff members were arrested on suspicion of espionage while attempting to visit the late dictator’s son.
