Nigeria gunmen attack Abuja Sars police HQ

Two police officers have been killed when a "large number of gunmen" attacked a Nigerian police base in the capital, Abuja, enabling five suspected robbers to escape, police say.

A police statement said the attack was repelled but that 30 detainees escaped, 25 of whom were recaptured.

Suspected robbers and militants from the Boko Haram Islamist group are often held at the police base.

No group has said it carried out the attack

Boko Haram wants to establish Islamic law in Nigeria and has killed hundreds of people this year, mostly in the mainly Muslim north.

DR Congo: M23 rebels set conditions for Goma pull-out

Rebel forces have set out conditions for their withdrawal from the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo city of Goma, which they captured last week.

Analysts say the demands, including the release of political prisoners, seem impossible for the government to meet.

Earlier Uganda's defence chief said the M23 rebels' commander had agreed to leave as ordered by regional leaders.

The Red Cross in DR Congo told the BBC 62 bodies had been found in Goma since the rebels seized the city.

UN officials said prisoners in Goma were at large and threatening people - and there were robberies and abductions at night.

Cops shoot dead 7 robbers in South Africa

An elite South African police unit shot dead seven men who tried to rob a cash depot in western Johannesburg on Saturday evening, a spokesman for the unit said.
Nine others were injured and under police guard in hospital, a spokesman of the unit known as Hawks told Reuters.

DR Congo crisis: M23 rebel leader 'flies to Uganda'

The military commander of the M23 rebels is reported to have joined negotiations to end the fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Sultani Makenga has flown to the Ugandan capital, Kampala, a rebel spokesman said.

The militia is refusing to end its occupation of the eastern city of Goma, hours before the expiry of a deadline for them to leave.

A regional summit at the weekend told the rebels to leave Goma by Monday.

About 500,000 people have been displaced by the rebellion since it began in April, with the formation of M23 after a mutiny in the army.

The presidents of Uganda, DR Congo, Tanzania and Kenya, together with the Rwandan foreign minister, issued a statement calling on M23 to "stop all war activities and withdraw from Goma" and "stop talk of overthrowing an elected government".

Nigeria gunmen attack Abuja Sars police HQ

Two police officers have been killed when a "large number of gunmen" attacked a Nigerian police base in the capital, Abuja, enabling five suspected robbers to escape, police say.

A police statement said the attack was repelled but that 30 detainees escaped, 25 of whom were recaptured.

Suspected robbers and militants from the Boko Haram Islamist group are often held at the police base.

No group has said it carried out the attack

Boko Haram wants to establish Islamic law in Nigeria and has killed hundreds of people this year, mostly in the mainly Muslim north.

How will oil affect Madagascar's environmental riches?

 

Amid the hills of western Madagascar, villagers have long been aware of a thick sticky substance naturally seeping out of the ground.

But it is only recently that these unconventional oil deposits in the region of Melaky have attracted the attention of investors.

The rising prices of oil on world markets, coupled with new technologies aim to turn the Indian Ocean island - famous for its unique habitat and wildlife - into a significant oil producer.

Tsimiroro is extremely remote - even by the vast island's standards - and most of Madagascar Oil's estimated 100 employees are flown by small plane from the capital, Antanarivo, 300km (about 185 miles) to the east of the oil field.

"Currently I work three weeks on the site and get one week off," says a 48 year old oil worker as he arrives at Tsimiroro airstrip after a week in Antananarivo with his wife in children.

THAT OTHER WAR...PART 3 

The international community has historically chosen to take Rwanda's side in its vehement denials of interference in Congo, continuing to send almost $1 billion each year to Rwanda's government, which depends for almost half its budget on foreign aid.

In July, however, several Western governments suspended foreign aid payments to Rwanda after reports emerged that it was arming the rebellion in Congo. The United States led the way, suspending a symbolic $200,000 in military assistance (a tiny percentage of its real support to Rwanda). But several of Rwanda's biggest financiers -- including the European Union, the World Bank, and the African Development Bank, many of which channel money directly to the Rwandan treasury -- have continued to gift and loan the government money and have refused to publicly condemn Rwanda's support to the rebels, despite the mounting evidence.

22 November 2012 Last updated at 12:13 ET

Simone Gbagbo arrest warrant issued by ICC

Simone Gbagbo, a politician in her own right, campaigned for her husband

The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Simone Gbagbo, the wife of Ivory Coast's ex-President Laurent Gbagbo.

She is wanted for alleged crimes against humanity committed in the wake of disputed presidential elections in 2010.

That Other War... continued 

The bloody conflict you didn't read about this week is in Congo, and it threatens to redraw the map of Africa

The situation closely resembles another attack on Goma, four years ago, by Laurent Nkunda, a rebel also backed by Rwanda who led M23's predecessor group and who told me that he hoped to create a new country in eastern Congo called the "Republic of Volcanoes." Some 200,000 people had been displaced in that battle as fighting came right up to the city. In the end, Nkunda chose not to take Goma, and during the negotiations that followed his forces agreed to disband and join Congo's national army. This spring, however, some ofthose same fighters declared that the Congolese government had reneged on its promises and formed the M23 rebellion.

That Other War

The bloody conflict you didn't read about this week is in Congo, and it threatens to redraw the map of Africa.

BY ANJAN SUNDARAM | NOVEMBER 20, 2012

KIGALI, Rwanda — One of Congo's biggest eastern cities fell to a powerful rebel force on Tuesday, Nov. 20, in a war that may redefine the region but has produced little political action by the United Nations, the United States, and international powers that heavily support neighboring governments -- notably Rwanda, a Western darling and aid recipient -- that are backing the violence, according to U.N. experts. The fighting has displaced nearly 1 million people since the summer, and the battle for the city of Goma marks the latest episode of a long struggle by Rwandan-backed rebels to take control of a piece of the Democratic Republic of the Congo -- a struggle the rebels are now decisively winning. The fighting has also highlighted the ineptitude of the United Nations mission, one of the world's largest and most expensive, charged with keeping Congo's peace.

25 November 2012 Last updated at 10:34 ET

Nigeria blasts: Eleven dead at Kaduna barracks church

  

Suicide bombers have attacked a church inside a military barracks in Kaduna state in northern Nigeria, killing 11 people and injuring 30, officials say.

A military spokesman told the BBC two vehicles were driven into the barracks in Jaji in what he described as "surprising and an embarrassment".

22 November 2012 Last updated at 15:20 ET

Nigeria riot over 'blasphemy' against Islam's prophet

Christian and Muslim leaders are encouraging inter-faith dialogue in Nigeria

A rumour that a Christian man blasphemed against Islam has sparked a riot in the northern Nigeria town of Bichi, police have said.

Residents said four people were killed and shops were looted.

The riot came on the day the incoming head of the Anglican Church, the Rt Rev Justin Welby, launched an initiative to promote religious tolerance in Nigeria.

Congo Rebels, After Victory, Vow to Take the Capital

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Phil Moore/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Residents of Goma listened as a rebel spokesman addressed them at a stadium on Wednesday. The rebels have seized the city.

By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN

GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo — No visa is necessary to cross this border anymore. Nor do red-eyed soldiers hang around reeking of home-brew. Gone, too, are many of the quasi-government officials who used to buzz around this border post harassing travelers and squeezing out bribes, including one little man who claimed to be a health officer and had “Doc” scribbled in Magic Marker on his coat.      

Congo at the crossroads: after Goma where next?

The rebel triumph leaves sub-Saharan Africa's largest country contemplating further upheaval and even possible disintegration

Congolese flee the eastern town of Sake, near Goma. Photograph: Jerome Delay/AP

A crowd gathers around four bodies strewn over hardened volcanic rock. Children pull T-shirts to their noses and mouths so they don't retch but cannot resist peering at the slain young men. Two are sealed inside green body bags but the job was left half-done, exposing a face and uniformed arm bearing the Congolese national flag.

Latest update: 22/11/2012  

Congo's M23 rebels hold Goma despite army offensive

M23 rebels stayed entrenched in Goma on Thursday as they faced an offensive by the Congolese army and despite calls from the UN and African leaders to withdraw. The rebels say they will not retreat until President Joseph Kabila holds talks with them.

Latest update: 23/11/2012 

Congo suspends army chief for arming rebel groups

Congolese President Joseph Kabila suspended the army’s chief of staff on Friday following a UN report accusing Gen. Gabriel Amisi of overseeing the selling of arms to rebel groups as tens of thousands of refugees fled the rebel-held city of Goma.

Latest update: 25/11/2012     

Congo refuses talks with rebels unless they quit Goma

The Congolese government said Sunday it would not negotiate with M23 rebels until they pulled out of Goma. The statement comes a day after an urgent summit in Uganda where regional leaders gave the rebels 48 hours to quit the eastern city.

Regional leaders urge DR Congo rebels to ‘stop war’

Regional leaders meeting in Kampala on Saturday urged DR Congo rebel group M23 to “stop all war activities” and retreat from the key eastern town of Goma after a rampant advance displaced thousands of civilians and sparked fears of a wider conflict.

 

Regional leaders called on DR Congo rebel group M23 Saturday to end hostilities and leave a key eastern town they seized in a rampant advance that has sparked fears of a wider conflict.
The meeting of east African heads of state went forward without a key player -- Rwandan President Paul Kagame, whose country the United Nations accuses of backing the rebels -- and wrapped up after less than an hour.

Africa records 57% drop in HIV infections

AS nations approach the 1,000 day deadline to achieve global AIDS targets, African countries have made the most significant reduction in the rate of new Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV)/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) with an average of 57.4 per cent reduction in the rate.
A new World AIDS Day report released Wednesday by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), showed that more than 50 per cent reduction in the rate of new HIV infections has been achieved across 25 low- and middle-income countries – more than half in Africa, the region most affected by HIV.
According to the report, in some of the countries, which have the highest HIV prevalence in the world, rates of new HIV infections have been cut dramatically since 2001; by 73 per cent in Malawi, 71 per cent in Botswana, 68 per cent in Namibia, 58 per cent in Zambia, 50 per cent in Zimbabwe and 41 per cent in South Africa and Swaziland.
The UNAIDS report noted that in addition to welcome results in HIV prevention, sub-Saharan Africa has reduced AIDS-related deaths by one third in the last six years and increased the number of people on antiretroviral treatment by 59 per cent in the last two years alone.

Telecoms expansion projects in Ghana, Nigeria, and others gulp $16.5 bilion in 5 years

BETWEEN 2007 and 2012, investment profile in various telecommunications’ network expansion in Nigeria, Ghana and three other countries in the sub-Saharan Africa rose to $16.5 billion.
The other three countries are Tanzania, South Africa and Kenya. Investment in the five countries was put at $2.8 billion in 2011, due to increase in the number of their Base Tranceiver Stations, which were said to have increased by 250 per cent.

Ivory Coast military guilty of 'mass arrests and torture'

A new report released by Human Rights Watch on Monday accused Ivory Coast's army of carrying out mass arrests and beatings on perceived supporters of former president Laurent Gbagbo in response to last year's post-election violence.

AFRICA

13 November 2012 Last updated at 15:58 ET

Uganda to pass anti-gay law as 'Christmas gift'

Uganda will pass a new law against homosexuality by the end of 2012 as a "Christmas gift" to its advocates, the speaker of parliament has said.

The AP news agency quoted Rebecca Kadaga as saying that Ugandans were "demanding" the law.

Homosexual acts are already illegal in Uganda, but the bill which is before parliament proposes tougher sentences for people convicted.

Foreign donors have threatened to cut aid if gay rights are not respected.

Nigerian youths 'executed' in Boko Haram stronghold

At least 30 people were killed when Nigerian troops carried out raids targeting the militant Islamist sect Boko Haram, officials reported on Friday, as a prominent ex-general was gunned down in his home by suspected insurgents.

By FRANCE 24  (text)

 

Nigerian troops shot dead at least 30 people during raids in the northeast city of Maiduguri, bastion of the radical Islamist sect Boko Haram, witnesses and hospital staff said on Friday.

In a separate incident on Friday, unknown gunmen shot dead a prominent ex-general at his home in an attack which had the hallmarks of Boko Haram.

Nigeria church attack prompts sectarian reprisals

At least eight people were killed and more than 100 injured Sunday when a suicide bomber drove an explosive-laden vehicle into a Catholic church in northern Nigeria. At least two more people were killed in reprisal attacks against Muslims.

 

Libya assembly approves new cabinet

Libya’s national assembly on Wednesday gave its approval to a cabinet line-up proposed by Prime Minister-designate Ali Zeidan, state media reported, a day after protesters prevented a first attempt to vote on the new cabinet.

Libya's national assembly gave its approval on Wednesday to a cabinet line-up proposed by prime minister designate Ali Zeidan, a day after protesters derailed a vote, state media reported.
"The General National Congress gives its confidence to the government of Ali Zeidan," the official LANA news agency reported.

Nigeria 'committing human rights abuses' in fight against Islamists

Amnesty International claimed on Thursday Nigerian security forces are committing brutal human rights abuses in the battle against Islamist insurgents Boko Haram. Amnesty said the abuses, including executions, are merely fuelling the conflict.

Human rights abuses committed by Nigeria’s security forces in their fight against Islamist sect Boko Haram are fuelling the very insurgency they are meant to quell, Amnesty International said on Thursday.

Nigerian 'youths executed' in Boko Haram stronghold

Dozens of young men have been shot dead in Nigeria by the military in Maiduguri, residents in the north-eastern city have told the BBC.

An imam told the BBC about 11 youths from his street alone were killed, including four of his own sons.

The alleged extrajudicial executions happened as Amnesty International accused the security forces of abuses in its crackdown on Islamist militants.

A military spokesman in Maiduguri said he was not aware of the incident.

But Lt Col Sagir Musa told the BBC investigations would be made.

Maiduguri is the stronghold of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, which is fighting to impose Islamic law across Nigeria.

Improved Business Environment in Africa – World Bank

A new joint report by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the World Bank was released today, measuring business regulations in 183 worldwide economies. Doing Business in a More Transparent World 2012 is a sage look at economic global developments, and revealed that a number of countries across the African continent are emerging business environments.