The Africa Thread

[EnglishEdward]

One can try to imagine sliding into an alternate reality where the west never colonised Tanzania.

The country of Tanzania would not be there, so arguably this particular issue would not arise

But what would be there? Perhaps a tributary territory to a larger Zulu empire instead.
If not, most likely a mosaic of tribal sites, sometimes at war, sometime at peace.
Without western medicine, there would likely be a higher death rate and a lower
population, but with less pressure on land resources, they might be better fed.

Would they be happier? Maybe, maybe not. I don't know. I don't think it is knowable.

 

[Samson]

One can try to imagine sliding into an alternate reality where the west never colonised Tanzania.

The comparison they are making is closer to if the west colonised Tanzania and set up government institutions more like they did in north america and australasia.

 

[EnglishEdward]

But to do that it would logically have been necessary to either largely replace the native Tanzanians
or more fully colonise Tanzania with a heavy hand and rigorously suppress indigenous ways.

So the downstream paradoxical logic of the argument is that colonisation resulted in better
outcomes where it was most rigorously applied which is hardly an anti-colonisation stance,
and is also incompatible with modern thinking on genocide and cultural genocide.

The Tsetse fly protected the indigenous inhabitants, but it resulted in retaining relative poverty.

 

[Samson]

But to do that it would logically have been necessary to either largely replace the native Tanzanians
or more fully colonise Tanzania with a heavy hand and rigorously suppress indigenous ways.

I do not see that the causality works that way. It was the replacement of the natives that incentivised the setting up of good institutions, rather than allowing it. We could have set up the efficient institutions in Africa, we choose not to as it was in the interest of the powerful colonizers not to. It is that choice that results in responsibility.

 

[Broken_Erika]

Sudanese RSF militia killed many civilians at el-Fasher hospital, WHO chief and doctors say​

The Rapid Support Forces militia reportedly killed hundreds of civilians at the main hospital in el-Fasher, days after it captured the Sudanese city, the head of the UN's health agency says.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the UN health agency was "appalled and deeply shocked" by the reported killing of 460 people at the hospital.

Earlier, the Sudan Doctors' Network said that on Tuesday RSF fighters had "cold bloodedly killed everyone they found inside the Saudi Hospital, including patients, their companions, and anyone else present".

It gave no causality figures, but said medical facilities in the city had been "transformed into human slaughterhouses".

The Sudan Doctors Network has also accused the RSF of kidnapping six medics - including four doctors, a pharmacist and a nurse - and reportedly demanding ransoms in excess of $150,000 (£114,000) for their release.

Tuesday's attack on Saudi Hospital was also reported by the el-Fasher Resistance Committee, a group of local activists, which said there was "a horrifying silence" afterwards.

The city had been the army's last stronghold in the Darfur region, and was captured by the RSF on Sunday after an 18-month siege marked by starvation and heavy bombardment.

• New videos show executions after RSF militia takes key Sudan city
• A simple guide to what is happening in Sudan
• A pregnant woman's diary of escape from war zone

Since the conflict erupted in April 2023, the RSF and allied Arab militia in Darfur have been accused of targeting people from non-Arab ethnic groups - allegations the RSF denies.

With the fall of el-Fasher, the UN, activists and aid agencies have expressed fear over the fate of the estimated 250,000 people trapped in the city, many from non-Arab communities.

A communications blackout has made it difficult to confirm what is happening.

BBC Verify has analysed new videos posted to social media showing RSF fighters executing a number of unarmed people in the last few days.

With the difficulties in getting reports from the ground, aid agencies say the full scale of the devastation in and around el-Fasher is only beginning to emerge.

Some people have managed to make the dangerous journey to the town of Tawila, about 60km (37 miles) west of el-Fasher, and described the extreme violence they faced.

"The shelling was so intense on Saturday that we had no choice but to flee el-Fashir," one man told BBC Arabic's Sudan Lifeline programme.

"Along the way, the RSF filmed us and we were beaten and insulted - and they stole what we had on the journey. A number of people were captured and ransoms were demanded for their release.

"Some of those who were taken were later executed. During the journey, many people were arrested, and we suffered greatly from hunger and thirst."

Jan Egeland, a former top UN humanitarian official, told the BBC the situation was catastrophic.

"We have had massacres on top on all of those months of deprivation, starvation, no medical care," he said.

"I think this is the worst place on Earth now; it's the biggest humanitarian emergency on Earth and it happens in the dark, really - there has been far too little attention to what's happening in Sudan."

Dr Tedros said prior to the Saudi Hospital attack, the WHO had verified 185 attacks on health care facilities since the start of the war, resulting in 1,204 deaths.

"All attacks on health care must stop immediately and unconditionally. All patients, health personnel and health facilities must be protected under international humanitarian law. Ceasefire!" he said.

The capture of el-Fasher effectively splits the country, with the RSF now in control of most of Darfur and much of neighbouring Kordofan and the army holding the capital, Khartoum, central and eastern regions along the Red Sea.

The two warring rivals had been allies - coming to power together in a coup in 2021 - but fell out over an internationally backed plan to move towards civilian rule.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c364jgkge46o

 

[Birdjaguar]

Then there was no need for you to ask the colonial discussion to be split off from the UK thread.

Other than it had grown to over 30 posts and derailing the UK thread completely. I did not split it off because of his request; I did so because it was needed.

 

[Broken_Erika]

At least 240 charged with treason after Tanzania election violence​

A Tanzanian court has charged at least 240 people with treason following last week's deadly election protests.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan was declared the winner of the election with 98% of the vote, but the opposition - which was barred from contesting - denounced the poll as a sham.

Security forces clashed with those protesting against the vote and, according to various sources, hundreds were killed. The authorities have downplayed the scale of the violence and maintained the election was free and fair.

Many people were arrested and have now been charged with treason at a court in the economic capital of Dar es Salaam. They were not been asked to enter a plea in court.

According to a charge sheet seen by the BBC, the defendants are accused of inciting demonstrations with the intention of obstructing the election.

The defendants could receive the death penalty if found guilty. However, in Tanzania, the majority of those sentenced to death eventually have their sentence commuted to life in jail.

The East African nation's last execution took place in the 1990s.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgz2vzlyzpo

 

[Broken_Erika]

US calls for international action to cut weapons supply to Sudan paramilitaries​

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has called for international action to cut off the supply of weapons to Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who are accused of mass killings in el-Fasher.

At the end of a G7 foreign ministers meeting in Canada, Rubio said the RSF had committed systematic atrocities, including murder, rape and sexual violence against civilians.

Sudan's army accuses the United Arab Emirates of propping up the RSF with weapons and mercenaries sent via African nations. The UAE has repeatedly denied these allegations.

The RSF has been fighting the Sudanese army since April 2023, when a power struggle between their leaders erupted into all-out civil war.
Rubio's comments are some of the most outspoken so far by the Trump administration about the war in Sudan and the actions of the RSF, but it is not clear how much impact they will have.

A previous US-backed proposal for a humanitarian ceasefire in Sudan has already been violated by the RSF, even though they agreed to it last week.

El-Fasher was captured last month by the RSF after an 18-month siege, meaning they now control all of the cities in the vast western Darfur region.

Only a small fraction of the population has managed to flee the city, where massacres are said to have take taken place. Piles of bodies on the ground and blood-stained earth are visible from space in satellite imagery.

Non-Arab groups in the wider Darfur region are being systematically targeted by the RSF in what amounts to genocide, according to the US and humanitarian groups.

At the talks near Niagara Falls on Wednesday, America's top diplomat said women and children had been targeted in acts of the most horrific kind by the RSF in el-Fasher.

Rubio told reporters: "They're committing acts of sexual violence and atrocities, just horrifying atrocities, against women, children, innocent civilians of the most horrific kind. And it needs to end immediately.

"And we're going to do everything we can to bring it to an end, and we've encouraged partner nations to join us in this fight."

However, Rubio stopped short of publicly criticising Abu Dhabi, in spite of evidence that the Gulf state is the RSF's main arms supplier, presented in investigations by the international media that the UN has found credible.

The Trump administration is working for an end to the war together with the UAE, as well as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, who are allies of Sudan's military-led government, collectively known as the "Quad".

"I don't want to get into calling anybody out at a press conference today, because what we want is a good outcome here," Rubio said on Wednesday, but added pointedly: "We know who the parties are that are involved [in weapons supply]... That's why they're part of the Quad along with other countries involved."

In September, the Quad jointly proposed a three-month humanitarian truce, followed by a permanent ceasefire and a nine-month transition to civilian rule.

The RSF waited until it had captured el-Fasher before announcing that it was agreeing to the truce. Sudan's army says it objects to the UAE's presence in the Quad but will still consider the proposal.

In the meantime, there has been no let-up in the fighting.

The secretary of state rejected the paramilitary group's attempt to blame the killings on rogue elements, saying this was false and the attacks were systematic.

Asked by the BBC about his assessment of the likely scale of atrocities, he said the US feared that thousands of people who had been expected to flee el-Fasher were either dead or too malnourished to move.

He said the RSF, lacking its own arms manufacturing facilities, relied on outside support, and called for countries supplying weapons to stop.

The joint G7 statement also condemned surging violence in Sudan, saying the conflict between the army and the RSF had triggered "the world's largest humanitarian crisis".

To date, more than 150,000 people have been killed and about 12 million have had no choice but to flee their homes.

The flow of weapons into the country during this two-year-long civil war has been analysed by various experts.

Amnesty International says it has found evidence of weapons manufactured in Serbia, Russia, China, Turkey, Yemen and UAE being used in Sudan.

The smuggling route is often via the UAE, through to Chad, then into Darfur - according to a leaked report by UN experts.

The UAE in particular is accused of providing arms and support to the RSF, who in turn are accused of using the UAE as a marketplace for illicit gold sales.

On Wednesday, Rubio pointedly said assistance to the RSF "isn't just coming from some country that's paying for it - it's also coming from countries that are allowing their territory to be used to ship it and transport it".

He also said he did not want to "diminish" the involvement of other actors in the conflict, saying "that includes potentially the Iranians, at least money and weapons being flown into the other side", meaning to the Sudanese army.

All parties deny these allegations.

A fortnight ago, the UK government came under fire from its own lawmakers following allegations that British-made weapons were ending up in the hands of the RSF, who were using them to commit atrocities.

In response to one MP's demand to "end all arms shipments to the UAE until it is proved that the UAE is not arming the RSF", Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said at the time: "The UK has extremely strong controls on arms exports, including to prevent any diversion. We will continue to take that immensely seriously."

There has been a UN arms embargo on the RSF's stronghold of Darfur since 2004, but it has not been extended to the rest of the country despite calls from human rights groups.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c17p1nwy7q8o

 

[Samson]

US calls for international action to cut weapons supply to Sudan paramilitaries​

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has called for international action to cut off the supply of weapons to Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who are accused of mass killings in el-Fasher.

At the end of a G7 foreign ministers meeting in Canada, Rubio said the RSF had committed systematic atrocities, including murder, rape and sexual violence against civilians.

Sudan's army accuses the United Arab Emirates of propping up the RSF with weapons and mercenaries sent via African nations. The UAE has repeatedly denied these allegations.

The RSF has been fighting the Sudanese army since April 2023, when a power struggle between their leaders erupted into all-out civil war.
Rubio's comments are some of the most outspoken so far by the Trump administration about the war in Sudan and the actions of the RSF, but it is not clear how much impact they will have.

A previous US-backed proposal for a humanitarian ceasefire in Sudan has already been violated by the RSF, even though they agreed to it last week.

El-Fasher was captured last month by the RSF after an 18-month siege, meaning they now control all of the cities in the vast western Darfur region.

Only a small fraction of the population has managed to flee the city, where massacres are said to have take taken place. Piles of bodies on the ground and blood-stained earth are visible from space in satellite imagery.

Non-Arab groups in the wider Darfur region are being systematically targeted by the RSF in what amounts to genocide, according to the US and humanitarian groups.

At the talks near Niagara Falls on Wednesday, America's top diplomat said women and children had been targeted in acts of the most horrific kind by the RSF in el-Fasher.

Rubio told reporters: "They're committing acts of sexual violence and atrocities, just horrifying atrocities, against women, children, innocent civilians of the most horrific kind. And it needs to end immediately.

"And we're going to do everything we can to bring it to an end, and we've encouraged partner nations to join us in this fight."

However, Rubio stopped short of publicly criticising Abu Dhabi, in spite of evidence that the Gulf state is the RSF's main arms supplier, presented in investigations by the international media that the UN has found credible.

The Trump administration is working for an end to the war together with the UAE, as well as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, who are allies of Sudan's military-led government, collectively known as the "Quad".

"I don't want to get into calling anybody out at a press conference today, because what we want is a good outcome here," Rubio said on Wednesday, but added pointedly: "We know who the parties are that are involved [in weapons supply]... That's why they're part of the Quad along with other countries involved."

In September, the Quad jointly proposed a three-month humanitarian truce, followed by a permanent ceasefire and a nine-month transition to civilian rule.

The RSF waited until it had captured el-Fasher before announcing that it was agreeing to the truce. Sudan's army says it objects to the UAE's presence in the Quad but will still consider the proposal.

In the meantime, there has been no let-up in the fighting.

The secretary of state rejected the paramilitary group's attempt to blame the killings on rogue elements, saying this was false and the attacks were systematic.

Asked by the BBC about his assessment of the likely scale of atrocities, he said the US feared that thousands of people who had been expected to flee el-Fasher were either dead or too malnourished to move.

He said the RSF, lacking its own arms manufacturing facilities, relied on outside support, and called for countries supplying weapons to stop.

The joint G7 statement also condemned surging violence in Sudan, saying the conflict between the army and the RSF had triggered "the world's largest humanitarian crisis".

To date, more than 150,000 people have been killed and about 12 million have had no choice but to flee their homes.

The flow of weapons into the country during this two-year-long civil war has been analysed by various experts.

Amnesty International says it has found evidence of weapons manufactured in Serbia, Russia, China, Turkey, Yemen and UAE being used in Sudan.

The smuggling route is often via the UAE, through to Chad, then into Darfur - according to a leaked report by UN experts.

The UAE in particular is accused of providing arms and support to the RSF, who in turn are accused of using the UAE as a marketplace for illicit gold sales.

On Wednesday, Rubio pointedly said assistance to the RSF "isn't just coming from some country that's paying for it - it's also coming from countries that are allowing their territory to be used to ship it and transport it".

He also said he did not want to "diminish" the involvement of other actors in the conflict, saying "that includes potentially the Iranians, at least money and weapons being flown into the other side", meaning to the Sudanese army.

All parties deny these allegations.

A fortnight ago, the UK government came under fire from its own lawmakers following allegations that British-made weapons were ending up in the hands of the RSF, who were using them to commit atrocities.

In response to one MP's demand to "end all arms shipments to the UAE until it is proved that the UAE is not arming the RSF", Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said at the time: "The UK has extremely strong controls on arms exports, including to prevent any diversion. We will continue to take that immensely seriously."

There has been a UN arms embargo on the RSF's stronghold of Darfur since 2004, but it has not been extended to the rest of the country despite calls from human rights groups.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c17p1nwy7q8o

Is this the US getting back at us for calling out their murder in the Caribbean?

Military equipment sold to the UAE has been discovered in combat zones in Sudan. This includes British engines, made by Cummins Inc found in armoured vehicles and British-made small weapons target devices made by Militec. Militec was granted an export licence to UAE for the same equipment that was found in Sudan in each of 2013, 2014, and 2015.

Despite the UK government knowing that the UAE has diverted arms exports from other countries to the RSF, the UAE remains one of the UK’s biggest arms customers. In the past three years, the UK has exported £417 million worth of arms exports to the UAE. This includes £113m worth of aircraft and their components, £111m of target acquisition, weapons control systems, and related countermeasures and components, £110m of military electronic equipment, and £32m of bombs, missiles, grenades etc. and related countermeasures and components.

 

[Broken_Erika]

Russian mercenaries accused of cold-blooded killings in Mali - BBC speaks to eyewitnesses​

A shopkeeper has told the BBC how Russian mercenaries fighting jihadists in Mali carried out the cold-blooded murder of two men in front of him and then threatened to chop off his fingers and kill him too.

This is one of several similar testimonies collected by the BBC showing the tactics used by the Russian fighters as they waged a brutal counter-insurgency operation against Islamist militants in the West African nation - methods widely condemned by human rights groups.

A military junta seized power in Mali in 2021, forcing French troops to leave after accusing them of failing to stem the insurgency. The junta pivoted towards Russia, enlisting the help of the Wagner mercenary group, which was at the time linked to the Kremlin.

Wagner has since pulled out of the country, and its operations have been taken over by Africa Corps, which falls under Russia's defence ministry.

Some of the Wagner mercenaries highlighted their atrocities on an invitation-only Telegram group until it was shut down in the middle of this year, said a report released by the European Council on Foreign Relations last month.

They "regularly shared photos and videos of murder, rape, torture, cannibalism and desecration of corpses against alleged insurgents and civilians", the report added.

In June, the Africa Report publication said it had "infiltrated" the Wagner-linked Telegram channel, finding 322 videos and 647 photographs of atrocities, including severed heads and gouged-out eyes, and posts "laced with racism".

The shopkeeper we spoke to has fled Mali and is now living in a refugee camp across the border in Mauritania. We have named him Ahmed, and have changed the names of all the victims quoted in this article for their own safety.

He told the BBC his ordeal started when the Wagner combatants drove up to the big store that he ran in the central town of Nampala in August 2024.

Despite being regular customers, the Wagner fighters wanted to detain his boss, and accused him of colluding with the jihadists who have a strong presence in the region, Ahmed said.

"They took me to the vehicle and pushed me inside and tied my hands," he added.

"A Wagner soldier took a knife and placed it on my finger, and asked me: 'Where is the shop owner?' I told him he is in [the capital] Bamako, but he replied: 'Wrong answer'."

Ahmed said the Wagner men, who spoke through an interpreter, then took him to a well-fortified Malian military base, and put him in a hangar.

"I and three Wagner guys were in the hangar. They filled a tank with water and asked me to take off my clothes. I did. They dipped my head in the water until I was almost suffocating and I fell. Then they put their feet on my chest and I started to breathe [heavily].

"Then they dipped my head in the water again and asked me for the second time about the shop owner and I told them he is in Bamako," Ahmed said, adding that the torture was repeated for a third time, and he gave the same answer.

After this ordeal, Ahmed said he was thrown into a small toilet block, where there were other local people he knew - including Hussein, who had been so badly beaten that he could not recognise him at first.

"About 40 minutes later, they brought Umar [another acquaintance]. He too was in a terrible situation. They had tortured him. We slept in that toilet and the next morning they brought a piece of bread and a small cup of coffee," Ahmed said.

He said he was taken back to the hangar, where the Russian fighters wrapped a bandage around his face and head.

"I couldn't see. I couldn't talk. I couldn't hear. They put a knife on my throat and told the interpreter to tell me that this is the last chance. If I didn't tell them the truth, they would behead me. I told the interpreter I had given them all the information I had."

Ahmed said his Russian interrogators then removed the bandage and threw him into a kitchen where he spent the night with two strangers - an ethnic Tuareg man who told him he had been detained without being told why while grazing cattle, and an Arab man who said he was picked up while looking for his camels.

The nomadic Tuareg and Arab communities who roam the vast deserts of northern Mali are often treated with suspicion, especially since a Tuareg separatist uprising more than a decade ago was hijacked by jihadist groups, who now operate mainly under the banner of an al-Qaeda affiliate, Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM).

After spending the night with them, Ahmed said he was taken back to the hangar.

"They brought the two men [the Tuareg and Arab] and beheaded them in my presence," Ahmed said.

Looking terrified, Ahmed tried to beat back tears as he told the BBC what happened next.

"They brought one of the bodies closer to me to smell the fresh blood, and said: 'If you don't tell us the whereabouts of the shop owner, you will suffer a similar fate.'"

Ahmed said his life was only spared after a Wagner commander made a call to a Malian army officer, who assured him that the shop owner was not colluding with the jihadists.

Ahmed said the commander then went to the base to release him, as well as another shop owner and Umar.

"I spent 15 days there. Then I decided to leave for Mauritania with my wife and children," Ahmed said.

The BBC has approached Russia's and Mali's defence ministries for comment, but they have not yet responded.

The Sentry, a campaign group co-founded by actor George Clooney and former US government official John Prendergast, said in a report released in August that Wagner fighters had not only carried out abuses against civilians, but it had also created "chaos and fear" within the Malian military hierarchy, forcing commanders to remain silent.

It quoted a Malian official as saying that Wagner operatives were "worse than the French. They think my men are more stupid than them. We have gone from the frying pan to the fire."

Declaring its mission "accomplished" despite the worsening security situation, Wagner announced its withdrawal from Mali in June this year, with analysts saying that most of its fighters had been absorbed into Africa Corps.

The Senegal-based Timbuktu Institute think-tank estimates that 70 to 80% of Africa Corps fighters were formerly in Wagner.

"In reality, Africa Corps inherits Wagner's legacy of human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings and acts of torture," it said in a report released in July.

However, violence-monitoring group Acled said that early trends suggested that the conduct of Africa Corps was "less predatory" than Wagner's.

"The number of incidents involving deliberate civilian killings or mass atrocities has fallen noticeably," Acled's senior West Africa analyst Héni Nsaibia told the BBC.

The conflict has forced nearly 50,000 people to flee to M'berra refugee camp in Mauritania, according to the UN refugee agency.

They include Bintu, who told the BBC she ran away from her village last year with her five children after her husband's bullet-riddled body was dumped in a river. Local people told her that he had been repeatedly shot while riding his horse.

"Who is going to look after my children? Who is going to look after me?" she asked as she swept the small plot of land outside her home at the camp.

"When I hear the name Wagner, I feel traumatised. I feel afraid. I hate the word Wagner because they have brought sadness to me."

Wearing a navy blue outfit and white turban, another refugee, Youssouf, was sitting under a shed, his eyes reflecting the trauma of his experiences, when the BBC met him.

He recalled that he and his friends had been herding cattle near the Mauritanian border, and had stopped by a well to get fresh water when they saw a cloud of dust in the distance.

Youssouf said a vehicle raced towards them, and it turned out to be Wagner fighters, who started beating them for no apparent reason - an experience several refugees recounted to the BBC.

Youssouf recalled that one Wagner fighter "grabbed me and threatened to throw me into the well", but another intervened to prevent him from doing so.

He said he and his friends were then bundled into different vehicles, each carrying three Wagner operatives.

"While they drove, they beat me the entire way, kicking me, pressing their boots into my face and head, and hitting me in the chest. I don't know what happened to our cattle."

Along with his friends, he was taken to a military camp north of the town of Léré, where he says they were tortured.

"A man came with a metal rod. He beat us so badly I felt like I was going to die. They tied our arms apart so we couldn't move, hitting us hard on our thighs and legs to stop us from escaping."

Youssouf said they were then dragged into an office, with the beatings continuing until they fainted.

He added that when he regained consciousness, he found his hands tied to the motionless hands of one of his friends.

"They then brought a motorbike close to my face, revved the engine, and blew exhaust into my nose to wake me up fully. They did the same to my friend, but he didn't respond. That's when they realised he was dead."

Youssouf said he did not know what happened to his friend's body, but he and his other friends were released - again, with no explanation.

Ahmed, the former shopkeeper, said that before his own torturous experience, he saw how Wagner was committing atrocities on a mass scale, once placing the entire town of Nampala and surrounding villages under siege.

He said he was among residents who were forced to gather on a football field, with the mercenaries trying to identify the person whom, they alleged, was using a satellite phone.

"They called Sikou Cissey. He was just a random man wearing a traditional hat. They took off his clothes and filled a barrel with water and held him by the legs. They then dipped his head in the barrel until he was unable to breathe," Ahmed said.

With Malian soldiers looking on, the Wagner fighters later brought shovels and pickaxes to the football field to scare people into thinking they were going to dig their own graves unless they pin-pointed the person whom they alleged was using the satellite phone, Ahmed added.

He said that after being in the scorching sun the whole day, the residents were released - except for one who was taken away by the mercenaries and whose fate he does not know.

Ahmed said he wanted the Wagner fighters to be brought to justice, and to be held accountable for their atrocities.

"The experience haunts me. It gives me nightmares," he said as he sat in his all-black outfit at the camp, unsure whether he would ever return to his ordinary life as a shopkeeper.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crmx7x3yjyko

 

[amadeus]

Wagner has since pulled out of the country, and its operations have been taken over by Africa Corps

Wagner? Afrika Korps?

Rommel, you magnificent bastard I read your book!

Fun fact: Rommel’s book was actually about infantry attacks. It was called Infantry Attacks.

 

[Samson]

Guinea-Bissau soldiers say they have taken power after reports of president's arrest

A group of military officers say they have seized control of Guinea-Bissau amid reports that the president, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, has been arrested.

Shortly after gunshots were heard in the capital, Bissau, government sources told the BBC that Embaló had been detained.

Military officers then appeared on state TV, saying they had suspended the electoral process and would be in charge until further notice.

The West African nation had been awaiting the outcome of Sunday's presidential election, in which the main opposition candidate had been disqualified from running.

The results were expected on Thursday - both Embaló and his closest rival Fernando Dias have claimed victory.

Late on Wednesday afternoon, Embaló told France 24 in a phone call: "I have been deposed."

Witnesses in Bissau heard gunfire earlier on, at around 13:00 GMT, but it was not immediately clear who was involved in the shooting or if there were any casualties.

Hundreds of people on foot and in vehicles fled, seeking shelter as the shots rang out, the AFP news agency reported.

Later on, General Denis N'Canha, head of the military household at the presidential palace, read out a statement declaring a takeover.

He said officers had formed "the High Military Command for the Restoration of Order" and closed the border.

Guinea-Bissau, one of the poorest countries in the world, has seen nine coups or attempted coups since 1980.

 

[danjuno]

I watched helplessly as gunmen snatched my son, says father after Nigerian school kidnapping​

2 days ago


Madina MaishanuBBC Africa, Papiri

Gift Ufoma / BBC
Some of the children were seized from the dormitories where they slept
A father has told the BBC he felt powerless as he witnessed gunmen on motorbikes abduct dozens of children, including his son, after storming a Catholic boarding school in northern Nigeria in the early hours of Friday.

The father said he was asleep when he was awoken by the noise of the gunmen as they went past his home with the children they had seized from St Mary's school in Papiri village in Niger state.

"They [the children] were being trafficked on foot the way shepherds control their herds. Some children were falling and the men would kick them and instruct them to stand up.

"The gunmen were on about 50 motorcycle bikes while controlling them," said the father, whose name we have changed to Theo for his safety.

Speaking to the BBC in the dormitory where his son used to sleep, Theo said he was in no position to stop the abduction.

"I felt like going [to help] but I thought better of it. Even if I did go, what could I do? I couldn't do anything," he told the BBC, adding that he called the police but it was too late by the time they arrived.

The Christian Association of Nigeria has said that 303 students and 12 members of staff were abducted from the school, while 50 children managed to avoid being taken away and have been reunited with their families.

The school is run by the chairman of the association's Niger chapter, Bishop Bulus Bawa Yohanna, who has shared a list of those abducted with the BBC.

However, the police said they were only aware of a few children escaping on the night of the abduction.

The Niger state governor, Umar Bago, told local media that the number of abducted students had been exaggerated, and it was "far, far below" 303.

The governor blamed the school authorities for opening the establishment despite threats by unknown gunmen four years ago, and again two months ago.

"The schools in that area have been closed for four years now. I was surprised to learn the school is still open," Bago said.

He also insisted that the attack was just a "scare" and that all students would be rescued sooner or later.

Gift Ufoma / BBC
Items belonging to the pupils remain strewn around the school
The bishop said that no security agencies have been deployed in the community since the abductions.

Along with some other parents, Theo has been camping outside the school, angry with the government's response.

"Our children were kidnapped but the government doesn't seem to pay attention to it," said Theo.

He said he was frustrated that the state governor had not visited the school, and only went to a nearby community to speak to security agencies and local leaders.

"We have concluded that the government is not concerned about us - we feel like we are not part of the country, they have abandoned us."

The pain being endured by the parents of those children who are still missing is all too evident.

"I am sad, my whole life is filled with sadness," said a mother, whose son was among the children taken by the gunmen.

"He's my only son, he's my first-born, please help us," she said.

Another parent, Lucas, told the BBC that two of his children had been abducted, but the youngest one, a six-year-old boy, was lucky and managed to avoid falling into the clutches of the kidnappers.

"When I saw him, I was so excited. I called him by name, he turned and ran to me. I hugged and embraced him," he said.

The northern part of Niger where Papiri is located has recently become a hot-spot for kidnappings for ransom.

The payment of ransoms has been outlawed in an attempt to cut the supply of money to the criminal gangs, but to little effect.

The BBC team drove about 500km (310 miles) to Papiri from the Niger state's capital, Minna and was advised several times not to take certain routes and, for periods, was escorted by police.

Many blame the crisis on the size of the state. In terms of landmass, Niger is the largest state in Nigeria, and larger than European countries like Denmark and the Netherlands.

It also has a lot of forests, which criminal gangs, referred to locally as bandits, use as camps and routes to connect to other states in Nigeria, as well as neighbouring countries.

The abduction at the school was the third to hit Nigeria in a week.

Last Monday, more than 20 schoolgirls, who the BBC has been told are Muslim, were kidnapped from a boarding school in Kebbi state, which borders Niger.

A church was also attacked further south in Kwara state, with two people killed and dozens of worshippers abducted.

President Bola Tinubu cancelled his trip to the G20 summit, held in South Africa at the weekend, to deal with the crisis.

He posted on social media on Sunday that all the 38 worshippers abducted in Kwara state had been rescued.

"Let me be clear: I will not relent. Every Nigerian, in every state, has the right to safety - and under my watch, we will secure this nation and protect our people," Tinubu said.

The spate of abductions has forced the closure of many boarding schools across Nigeria, with parents rushing to collect their children.

The government is under pressure from US President Donald Trump, who warned earlier this month that he would send troops to Nigeria with "guns a-blazing" if it "continues to allow the killing of Christians" by Islamist militants.

The Nigerian government has said claims that Christians are being persecuted is "a gross misrepresentation of reality" as "terrorists attack all who reject their murderous ideology - Muslims, Christians and those of no faith alike".

While some kidnappings are carried out by Islamist militant groups, many are carried out for ransom by criminal gangs, highlighting the deep security crisis in the country.

Additional reporting by Abayomi Adisa and Gift Ufoma

It happened again. Though the upshot appears to be generic criminals rather than Boko Haram.