African News Today

Soldiers Charged With Killing Nine Civilians In Cameroon

8Jun

By Chukwuebuka FestusNo Comments

Armed Forces, Cameroon, Crime, Human Rights, News, Security

Soldiers Charged With Killing Nine Civilians In Cameroon

The army in Cameroon has confirmed that soldiers have killed nine civilians, including an 18-month-old girl. An army spokesman said a group of soldiers opened fire when they encountered hostile villagers in Missong, in the country's North-West region, earlier this month. The spokesman described the use of weapons as "inappropriate and manifestly disproportionate". Cameroon's ministry of defence says four soldiers have been arrested following the shooting. Read Also: Drunk Soldiers Kill 15 in DR Congo An investigation has been launched into the killings. In the same region two years ago, 21 civilians including 13 children and a pregnant woman were killed by Cameroonian soldiers in the village of Ngarbuh. Two soldiers and a gendarme were later charged with murder, a...

Suspected Islamists Kill At Least 18 In East Congo Attack

6Jun

By Chukwuebuka FestusNo Comments

Armed Forces, Congo, News, Rwanda, Security, Terrorism, Uganda

Suspected Islamists Kill At Least 18 In East Congo Attack

Suspected Islamists killed at least 18 people in a village raid in eastern Congo on Sunday night, local sources said, while fighting resumed with the M23 rebel group in a neighbouring province. Fighters believed to be from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) killed residents and burned down houses in the village of Otomabere, in Irumu territory, Ituri province, said a witness, a local chief and a local human rights group. Congolese army spokesman Jules Ngongo confirmed the ADF attack without giving a death toll, and said Congolese forces were in pursuit of the assailants. The ADF is a Ugandan militia that moved to eastern Congo in the 1990s. The group carries out frequent attacks and killed more than 1,300 people between January 2021 and January 2022, according to a United ...

Clashes Between Chad Gold Miners Leave 100 Dead

31May

By Chukwuebuka FestusNo Comments

Armed Forces, News, Violence

Clashes Between Chad Gold Miners Leave 100 Dead

Fighting between informal gold miners in a remote part of northern Chad has left around 100 people dead and 40 injured, the government says. What began as a "mundane dispute between two individuals... degenerated", Defence Minister Daoud Yaya Brahim told the AFP news agency. The mountainous Kouri Bougoudi district near the Libyan border attracts miners from across Chad and its neighbours. The clashes occurred last week but details are only emerging now. Some groups have put the death toll higher than the authorities, and have blamed the security forces for a number of the deaths. Read Also: Two More Miners Found Dead In Flooded Burkina Faso Mine The government sent a mission to the affected area - about 1,000km (620 miles) north-east of the capital, N'Djamena - wh...

Sudan Lifts State Of Emergency Imposed Since Coup

30May

By Chukwuebuka FestusNo Comments

African Development, Armed Forces, News, Security, Sudan

Sudan Lifts State Of Emergency Imposed Since Coup

Sudan's military government has lifted a state of emergency which it imposed after seizing power in a coup six months ago and recommended freedom for people detained under an emergency law. The decision by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head of Sudan’s ruling sovereign council, came hours after the Security and Defense Council, Sudan’s highest body that decides on security matters suggested. The news came the same day as the U.N. envoy for Sudan regretted the killing of 2 anti-coup protestors in Khartoum Saturday. The two were killed in during protests in Khartoum’s Kalakla neighborhood. One was shot dead by security forces and the other suffocated after inhaling tear gas, according to the Sudan Doctors Committee, which is part of the pro-democracy movement. "Calling...

Thousands Abandon Their Homes Amid DR Congo Battles

28May

By Chukwuebuka FestusNo Comments

Armed Forces, Congo, News, Rwanda, Safety, Security, Terrorism

Thousands Abandon Their Homes Amid DR Congo Battles

More than 37,000 people have been forced from their homes in the Democratic Republic of Congo over the last four days of fighting, according to aid agencies. Local media report that the national army has retaken some areas that had been seized by the M23 rebels in recent days. But the main road between Rutshuru and the North Kivu regional capital, Goma, remains blocked by the M23. The DR Congo government has again accused Rwanda of supporting the rebels, which the government in Kigali denies. Earlier this week, Rwanda called for a regional investigation into how some artillery fire crossed into its territory, injuring some Rwandans. Read Also: Over 50 Villages Vacated Due to Bandits’ Attacks in Niger – Gov Bello On Wednesday, a police chief in Goma asked locals to ta...

Size of Nigeria Armed Forces, Police Inadequate – Osinbajo

21May

By Obiajulu Joel NwoluNo Comments

Armed Forces, Elections, News, Nigeria, Security

Size of Nigeria Armed Forces, Police Inadequate – Osinbajo

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, on Friday, said to effectively secure the country, more people should be recruited into the police and the military. Osinbajo said this in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, during his engagement with delegates ahead of the presidential primary of the All Progressives Congress. Answering questions from the delegates and party leaders during the consultation, Osinbajo, who had earlier visited the Ataoja of Osogbo, Oba Jimoh Oyetunji, said apart from engaging more hands, the country must also expand its capacity to produce weapons locally. He said, “The size of the Armed Forces is too low for the population of Nigeria. A local government in Niger State, Mashegu, has the land mass the size of South-East states and Lagos State with about a 100 p...

Mali Withdraws From Regional Anti-jihadist Force

16May

By Chukwuebuka FestusNo Comments

Armed Forces, Mali, News, Security

Mali Withdraws From Regional Anti-jihadist Force

Mali said Sunday it was withdrawing from a west African force fighting jihadists to protest its being rejected as head of the G5 regional group, which also includes Mauritania, Chad, Burkina and Niger. "The government of Mali is deciding to withdraw from all the organs and bodies of the G5 Sahel, including the joint force" fighting the jihadists, it said in a statement. The G5 Sahel was created in 2014 and its anti-jihadist force launched in 2017. A conference of heads of state of the G5 Sahel scheduled for February 2022 in Bamako had been due to mark "the start of the Malian presidency of the G5." But nearly four months after the mandate indicated this meeting "has still not taken place," the statement said. Bamako "firmly rejects the argument of a G5 member state whic...

Thousands Protest Against Military Rule In Sudan

13May

By Chukwuebuka FestusNo Comments

African Development, Armed Forces, News, Sudan

Thousands Protest Against Military Rule In Sudan

Thousands Protest Against Military Rule In Sudan Sudanese demonstrators are back on the streets to protest against the military in power and ask for the implementation of a civil government. Large crowds could be seen around the presidential palace in Khartoum responding to calls from several dissident groups on May 12. This is the most important turnout since the holy month of Ramadan. "All we are asking now is for the military council to step down and hand the state over to a civilian government in order to save the state, because Sudan is now collapsing, there is no justice, there is no freedom, and there is no peace.", says Abd El-malik Ibrahim a protester in Khartoum. Read Also: Guinea To Move To Civilian Rule In Three Years Activists have often...

Guinea To Move To Civilian Rule In Three Years

1May

By Chukwuebuka FestusNo Comments

African Development, Armed Forces, Elections, Guinea, News

Guinea To Move To Civilian Rule In Three Years

The military leader of Guinea, Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, announced a 39 month transition period before the country returns to civilian rule. Speaking on television, Col Mamady Doumbouya, said the proposal would now be put to Guinea's parliament. His army ousted the elected president in a coup last year - a move many Guineans initially welcomed. But there has been growing discontent as the military junta failed to hand over power to civilian rule. The announcement came after the regional bloc of West African nations, ECOWAS, set last Monday as a deadline for the army to give its timeline - or face immediate sanctions. The deadline was missed but the junta asked for more time and said it was considering a transition period of between 18 and 52 months. On Saturday, Col Doum...

19Apr

By Chukwuebuka FestusNo Comments

Armed Forces, Congo, News, Security, Violence

Drunk Soldiers Kill 15 in DR Congo

Two soldiers have shot dead 15 people in separate attacks in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the victims were almost all civilians. This comes after six people were wounded when soldiers threw a grenade into a crowd whilst trying to carry out an arrest. An official in South Kivu province said a drunk soldier on a boat on Lake Tanganyika killed eight passengers including children before he was arrested. Read also: Seven Die as Train Derails in DR Congo On Sunday another soldier shot dead a colonel, his bodyguard and five civilians in Ituri province. The killer, also said to have been drunk, was shot dead by a colleague as he fled. For more than two decades people across eastern DR Congo have endured frequent attacks by dozens of armed groups. President F...