Malian army attacks Islamist rebels in the north

Groups linked to al-Qaida come under fire as observers predict the government will try to regain control

Islamist rebels of Ansar Dine near Timbuktu, in rebel-held northern Mali. Observers believe the government's attacks on rebel forces may be the start of a war to try to regain the north. Photograph: Romaric Ollo Hien/AFP/Getty Images

Islamist rebels in northern Mali are coming under heavy fire from the Malian army, in what some observers say could be the beginning of a war to bring the country back under government control.

Al-Qaida-linked Islamist groups, which have controlled the entire desert in the north of Mali since April last year, were attacked by rocket and artillery fire, sources told the Guardian, after they attempted to advance towards the government-held south.

8 January 2013 Last updated at 09:32 ET

Senegal man dies in Dakar fire protest

 

President Macky Sall took power after elections last year

A Senegalese man has died after setting himself on fire on Monday outside the official residence of President Macky Sall in the capital, Dakar.

Cheikh Mbaye, 32, apparently said that life was better under ex-President Abdoulaye Wade, local media report.

8 January 2013 Last updated at 05:17 ET

Mali army 'fire as Islamists advance'

 

Islamist rebels have been in control of northern Mali since April

Malian soldiers have fired on Islamist fighters in the centre of the country, military sources say.

Details remain sketchy but some sources say the Islamists, who last year seized a vast area of the north, have advanced towards Mopti - the last town under government control.

Congo rebels declare ceasefire

January 8 2013 at 06:35pm
By Elias Biryabarema          

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AFP

This file photo taken on December 1, 2012 shows M23 rebels sitting in the back of a truck as they wait to withdraw from the city of Goma, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Kampala - Congolese rebels declared a unilateral ceasefire on Tuesday ahead of a second round of peace talks with the government, boosting hopes for a negotiated end to their nine-month-old revolt.

The M23 insurgents had already agreed to pull out of Democratic Republic of Congo's eastern city of Goma last month - but a first round of negotiations that followed that withdrawal fell apart amid threats and accusations.

8 January 2013 Last updated at 14:05 ET

DR Congo's M23 rebels declare unilateral ceasefire

 

M23 made rapid gains in eastern DR Congo last year

DR Congo Seeks Democracy

M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo have declared a unilateral ceasefire ahead of a second round of peace talks with the government.

The rebels told a news conference in the Ugandan capital Kampala that they hoped the government would follow suit.

An attempt last month to negotiate an end to the nine-month rebellion in the east of the country failed.

HIV/AIDS deaths decrease in sub-Saharan Africa

Published on January 7, 2013 by Ted Purlain

HIV

A recent study shows a decline in the number of HIV cases and AIDS-related deaths in sub-Saharan Africa.
The Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS reported a sharp drop in the number of new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths in the region from 2004 to 2011. HIV deaths declined by 25 percent and AIDS deaths fell 32 percent.

Africa: President Obama and Sub-Saharan Africa: What's Missing

12 December 2012

analysis

Richard Joseph analyzes the Obama administration's June 2012 policy paper on Africa and provides specific policy recommendations for the President's second term. This article was written as a guest post for John Campbell's 'Africa in Transition' blog on the Council of Foreign Relations' website. It can be read below, or on the Council's website here.

On June 14, 2012, President Obama affixed his signature to the "U.S. Strategy Toward Sub-Saharan Africa." It identified four focus areas: democratic institutions; growth, trade and investment; peace and security; and opportunity and development. The response from the policy community was a shrug. Mwangi Kimenyi of the Brookings Institution claimed that the policy document was neither "new" nor "strategic," and did not establish a "foundation for creative engagement with an emerging Africa."

WHO: Financial Shortfall Threatens Anti-Malaria Fight In Sub-Saharan Africa

 

Mon, 17/12/2012 - 6:20pm | AGENCY REPORT

The WHO World Malaria Report 2012, says financial shortfall threatens progress on malaria deaths throughout sub-Saharan Africa, just as historic gains are being realised.
The WHO said in a statement on Monday that the progress continued in 2012.
It also sounded the alarm on a looming financial crisis that threatened to stall or even wipe out recent gains against the disease.

Grabbing at Solutions: Water for the Hungry First

 

Posted by Sandra Postel of National Geographic's Freshwater Initiative in Water Currents on December 14, 2012

Drip irrigation, shown here in Niger, can help save water, eventually reducing the pressure that drives water grabs. Photo: Bernard Pollack, Worldwatch Institute

 Posted by Sandra Postel of National Geographic's Freshwater Initiative in Water Currents on December 14, 2012
This piece is part of Water Grabbers: A Global Rush on Freshwater, a special National Geographic News series on how grabbing land—and water—from poor people, desperate governments, and future generations threatens global food security, environmental sustainability, and local cultures.

A spontaneous, largely under-the-radar blue revolution is gaining steam in sub-Saharan Africa and has the potential to boost food security and incomes for tens of millions of the region’s poorest inhabitants.
Small-scale irrigation techniques with simple buckets, affordable pumps, drip lines, and other equipment are enabling farm families to weather dry seasons, raise yields, diversify their crops, and lift themselves out of poverty.

DR Congo gov't, M23 rebels start talks in Uganda

KAMPALA, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- Talks aimed at ending fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Sunday opened in the Ugandan capital Kampala with warring parties, government and M23 rebels committing themselves to peace.

Insight: Congo army debacle at Goma raises specter of betrayal

 

By Jonny Hogg and Ed Stoddard

GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo | Mon Dec 10, 2012 8:08am EST

GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) -

When Congo's government army retreated in panic from the eastern city of Goma last month, many observers blamed the poor morale and leadership, ill discipline and corruption that have sapped its fighting capacity for years.In the hours before Goma fell to M23 rebels on November 20, drunk and terrified Congolese soldiers roamed the streets or huddled in doorways before melting away, witnesses said.
M23's 11-day occupation of the city was one of the worst battlefield defeats for Democratic Republic of Congo's armed forces (FARDC), which at 150,000-strong are among the largest in Africa. They are also backed by 17,000 U.N. peacekeepers.

M23 rebels threaten to take back Congo’s city of Goma if government doesn’t negotiate

 

By Associated Press,

Dec 02, 2012 05:17 PM EST

AP Published: December 2

GOMA, Congo — Rebels believed to be backed by Rwanda said Sunday they would take back Congo’s city of Goma if the government does not agree to negotiate with them by Monday.
The M23 rebels completed their withdrawal from the strategic eastern city on Saturday, in compliance with an agreement reached between the rebel group and a regional body.

“It pained us to withdraw from Goma after having lost men on the battlefield to conquer the city. But if it is the price for peace, we accept it,” said Bertrand Bisimwa, the spokesman for M23’s political branch. “There was no external pressure. Friends of Congo have advised us to give negotiations a chance.”
The M23 rebels took the capital of North Kivu on Nov. 20, after battling the Congolese army for nearly a day. The group had defied two earlier ultimatums to leave Goma, raising the possibility they did not intend to leave and giving credence to a U.N. report accusing Rwanda of using the rebels as a proxy to annex territory in the mineral-rich eastern Congo.
The eight-month-old M23 rebellion is led by fighters from a now-defunct rebel group, who agreed to lay down their arms on March 23, 2009, in return for being allowed to join the ranks of the Congolese army. The rebellion, which takes its name from that accord, began in April when hundreds of soldiers defected from the military, saying that the terms of the agreement had not been respected.
Bisimwa said that by Sunday the rebels have not received information on whether the government had decided to negotiate.
“If negotiations have not started by tomorrow at 2 p.m. , 48 hours since our withdrawal, or if there are attacks on citizens in Goma, we will take back the city,” he said. “We know that President Kabila is not trustworthy, but we want to give a chance for our friends to realize that too.”
Despite the rebels’ retreat from Goma, which was a pre-requisite set by the Congolese government for negotiations, President Joseph Kabila has not yet made clear if the government will negotiate.
“The head of state said that he will listen to the M23’s grievances and re-evaluate the 2009 peace agreement, and then he will give an answer,” said the spokesman for the government Lambert Mende. “No one will give them the chance,” to return to Goma, he told The Associated Press.
The rebels have demanded the implementation of the 2009 accord that oversaw their integration in the army and the recognition of their ranks, and also positions in the government. Following their seizure of Goma, the rebels have also added a list of demands meant to re-establish good governance in Congo, such as the liberation of all political prisoners, the dissolution of the current electoral commission who was in charge during fraudulent elections in 2011, and the opening of negotiations inclusive of the civil society, the opposition and the diaspora.
But most analysts believe the origin of the rebellion is a fight over Congo’s vast mineral wealth, a good chunk of which is found in the North Kivu province where Goma is the capital. Starting this spring, the fighters seized a series of small towns and villages in North Kivu, culminating with the capture of Goma, a population hub of 1 million and a key, mineral trading post.
“It’s a vicious cycle in which these people rebel and then they are rewarded with high-ranking positions in the army and they can exploit our resources,” said Thomas d’Acquin, the president of the civil society in North Kivu.
In Goma, people were worried that violence may flare up again soon if a compromise is not reached.
“We live in fear, it’s unbearable,” said 38-year-old resident Anatole Bilemba. “The M23 comes, they leave, the Congolese army will come back and then the M23 says they will too. How do we do anything?”
A security vacuum followed M23’s departure from Goma, which has not yet been filled by the Congolese army. Only several hundred policemen are securing the city.
In Mugunga, a camp outside Goma, the U.N. confirmed that armed men raped six women and looted displaced people’s belongings last night.
___
Associated Press reporter Saleh Mwanamilongo in Kinshasa, Congo contributed to this report.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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.

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.