Tag Archives: unrest

Port Harcourt, Nigeria | AFP | Gunmen kidnapped 19 bus passengers near Nigeria’s southern oil hub, Port Harcourt, police said on Friday, in the latest of a series of abductions in recent weeks. Rivers state police spokesman Nnamdi Omoni said the attack happened on Thursday and that police had so far …

Mogadishu, Somalia | AFP |  Football fans in Mogadishu were preparing Friday to cheer on their teams in the first night-time match since chaos descended on the Somali capital nearly three decades ago. The tournament for 16- and 18-year-olds at the Konis Stadium, renovated by FIFA, will be played under …

  Lagos, Nigeria | AFP |  Poverty, marginalisation and bad governance are more important factors in the radicalisation of young Africans than religion, according to a new study published on Thursday. The UN came to the conclusion after interviewing 495 former members of organisations such as Nigeria’s Boko Haram, the …

Lesotho’s army chief shot dead by rival soldiers Maseru, Lesotho | AFP | Lesotho’s army commander was shot dead by rival officers at a military barracks on Tuesday, an official told AFP, in an apparent assassination set to revive instability in the mountainous African kingdom. “The commander (Khoantle Motsomotso) has been …

Bujumbura, Burundi | AFP | Burundi has since April 2015 been rocked by a deadly political crisis born of President Pierre Nkurunziza’s divisive bid for a third term, which he secured in July of that year. Between 500 and 2,000 people have been killed in the violence, according to sources such …

Katiola, Ivory Coast | AFP | Authorities in Ivory Coast speculated Monday that a guard may have allowed nearly 100 inmates to escape a prison in the west African country, the latest in a string of jail breaks. “It’s incomprehensible,” Coulibaly Ouamien, deputy mayor of Katiola, where the escape took place, …

Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | UN investigators on Monday accused Burundi’s government of crimes against humanity, including executions and torture, and urged the International Criminal Court to open a case “as soon as possible”. The United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Burundi said it had “reasonable grounds to believe that crimes …

Mogadishu, Somalia | AFP | More than 10 soldiers died on Sunday and several others were wounded when Al-Qaeda-aligned Shabaab militants stormed a base in southern Somalia, security sources said. The militants drove a truck loaded with explosives to the main entrance of the base in Bulogadud, about 70 kilometres (40 …

Maputo, Mozambique | AFP | Mozambique’s opposition chief Afonso Dhlakama said Friday he expected to sign a peace deal with President Filipe Nyusi by November, as the two sides look to end years of unrest. The two men met last month in the remote Gorongosa mountains, where Dhlakama retreated in …

United Nations, United States | AFP | UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Friday of a looming humanitarian catastrophe in western Myanmar and urged the country’s security forces to show restraint after 400 people — most of them Rohingya Muslims — died in communal violence. “The secretary-general is deeply concerned by …