Authorities in Mauritania ordered the country's five privately owned news stations off the air. The move is the latest sign of a crackdown on the independent press following a controversial referendum called by President Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz in August. The opposition-boycotted vote abolished Mauritania's Senate after it blocked an expansion of presidential powers.
The International Criminal Court found that a former Malian jihadist militant is liable for 2.7 million euros in reparations for overseeing the destruction of Muslim shrines in Timbuktu. In its order, the ICC stressed the importance of cultural heritage, calling the destruction of the shrines “an irreplaceable loss that negates humanity.”
Amnesty International accuses Cameroon of torturing suspected supporters of Boko Haram in its military campaign against the jihadist group. According to the human rights organization, hundreds of suspects have been "subjected to severe beatings, agonizing stress positions and drownings, with some tortured to death" at the hands of government authorities.
The International Criminal Court ruled that South Africa violated its treaty obligations by failing to arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir when he visited the country in 2015.
Niger's army killed 14 displaced peasants who were apparently mistaken for jihadists in a "free-fire zone" in the restive southeast, where Boko Haram militants stage regular attacks.
Armed groups continue to commit war crimes with impunity in the Central African Republic, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch, calling for international efforts to bring perpetrators to justice.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization warned that the Middle East and North Africa risk becoming uninhabitable in a few decades, with water reserves falling dramatically.
Trump has restored the CIA's authority to conduct secret drone strikes, reversing the Obama policy of transfering responsibility to the Pentagon in the interest of greater transparency.
Shops and homes belonging to Shi'ite Muslims in Nigeria's Kaduna state were destroyed by rampaging Sunni mobs in a wave of attacks that spread across several towns.
The US is investing at least $50 million in a military air base in Niger that will be capable of deploying drones to police the greater Sahara and Sahel regions.
Amnesty International claims "horrific evidence" of repeated chemical weapons attacks carried out by Sudanese government forces against civilians, including young children.
A court in Senegal convicted Chad's former dictator Hissène Habré of crimes against humanity committed during his rule, and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
