Year: 2023

The Malian army claimed on Sunday to have repelled four “terrorist” attacks in four localities in the north of the country, including one in the town of Ménaka, surrounded by Islamic State jihadists.

“The Malian Armed Forces (Fama) successively repelled terrorist attacks against four (military) posts in the localities of Labbezagan, Gossi, Tessalit and Ménaka,” said a press release published Sunday evening.

In Ménaka, an important town in the north-east of Mali close to the Nigerien border, “despite a significant concentration of terrorist fighters determined to do battle with our forces, the Fama inflicted a bloody defeat on them with the neutralization of several dozen terrorists and the arrest of around twenty”, assured the Malian army.

The relay antenna of the Orange-Mali telephone operator in the city was damaged during the attack, according to a governorate official, making communications there very difficult.

The collection and verification of information is complicated by the difficulty of accessing remote sites and independent sources in a generally degraded context.

Since 2012, Mali has been plagued by the actions of groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State organization, violence by proclaimed self-defence groups and banditry. The security crisis is coupled with a profound humanitarian and political crisis.

The north in particular has been plagued by an intensification of military confrontations since August. The withdrawal of the UN mission, pushed out by the ruling junta, triggered a race for control of the territory between the army, jihadists and separatists who have taken up arms against the central state.

The security crisis in this country led by a junta since 2020 has spread to the center as well as to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger, two countries also in the hands of military regimes since coups in 2022 and 2023 respectively.

Border officials in South Africa say they have intercepted dozens of buses carrying more than 400 young children from Zimbabwe without parents or legal guardians in an anti-trafficking operation.

The officials say the children were being “trafficked” into South Africa, although an organization representing foreign nationals living in South Africa says it’s likely the children were being sent to visit their parents, who are working in South Africa, for the end of year holidays. The buses were sent back to Zimbabwe.

More than 1 million Zimbabweans live in South Africa, many of them illegally, having moved to their southern neighbour over the past 15 years to escape Zimbabwe’s economic turmoil.

South African Border Management Agency commissioner Mike Masiapato said Sunday that South African police stopped and searched 42 buses entering from Zimbabwe on Saturday night and found 443 children under the age of 8 travelling unaccompanied.

“We denied them entry and activated the Zimbabwean officials to process them back into Zimbabwe,” Masiapato said.

The buses were allowed through on the Zimbabwean side of the Beitbridge border post, South African border officials said.

Ngqabutho Mabhena, chairperson of the Africa Diaspora Forum, which represents foreign nationals living in South Africa, said his organization believed the buses were carrying Zimbabwean children coming to South Africa to visit their parents, which is a regular phenomenon near the end of the year.

He said it is common that children are sent over the border without proper documentation allowing them to travel as unaccompanied minors.

“We always tell Zimbabwean parents living in South Africa that if they arrange for their children to come to South Africa, they must … arrange all necessary documentation,” Mabhena said. “It is irresponsible for parents to let children travel without passports and to travel with strangers. We have addressed this with parents.”

Around 178,000 Zimbabweans live and work in South Africa legally under an exemption permit, but a 2022 South African census said there were more than a million Zimbabweans in the country. Some estimates say there may be as many as 3 million.

South Africa, which is Africa’s most advanced economy, launched a new border force in October to clamp down on illegal immigration from Zimbabwe and other countries.

In a thrilling encounter in the Saudi League on Thursday, Karim Benzema showcased his goal-scoring prowess, expertly converting a penalty to lead Al Ittihad to a decisive 4-2 victory over Al Khaleej.

The match unfolded with dynamic moments and strategic plays that captivated football enthusiasts.

The early stages of the game witnessed an impressive performance by Igor Coronado, who opened the scoring for the hosts in the 9th minute, setting the tone for an exciting clash. However, it was Benzema who truly stole the spotlight, extending Al Ittihad’s lead with a skillful goal in the 29th minute, showcasing his clinical finishing abilities.

As the first half drew to a close, a pivotal moment unfolded with a penalty opportunity granted to Al Khaleej. Seizing the chance, Khaled Narey capitalized on the penalty, narrowing the gap and injecting fresh intensity into the contest as the clock reached the 45th minute.

The second half continued to provide a rollercoaster of emotions for fans, as another penalty was awarded, this time in favor of Al Ittihad. Abderrazzaq Hamed Allah confidently converted the spot-kick in the 65th minute, further solidifying his team’s lead and leaving the opposition with a challenging mountain to climb.

In the 74th minute, Zakaria al Hawsawi made a significant impact by securing additional points for Al Ittihad. His well-timed contribution heightened the team’s dominance and further demoralized Al Khaleej. The final blow came in the 90th minute, courtesy of Fawaz Al Terais, who skillfully completed the scoreline, sealing a comprehensive victory for Al Ittihad.

The match, punctuated by Benzema’s goal-scoring prowess, Coronado’s early brilliance, and key penalty moments, will undoubtedly be remembered as a thrilling chapter in the Saudi League, showcasing the excitement and skill inherent in football.

At least 17 people died of anthrax in a southern Ugandan district in November, a local official told Africanewsguru.com on Thursday, adding that “the situation is under control”.

The Bacillus anthracis bacterium, which survives for decades in the form of spores in land where animals that have died of anthrax or carried the disease have been buried in the past, is transmissible to humans and potentially fatal in its rarest forms.

In the Kyotera district of southern Uganda, some 180 kilometers from the capital Kampala, “17 people died” in November from anthrax, the district’s health officer, Dr. Edward Muwanga, told Africanewsguru.com. These people “are suspected of having eaten meat from the farm where the animals had contracted the disease”, he added.

“We are working with teams from the Ministry of Health in Kampala and the World Health Organization (WHO) who are on the ground to help contain the situation and it is under control,” said Mr. Muwanga.

Four members of the Nigerian security forces were killed Tuesday in an ambush set by jihadists in northeastern Nigeria, anti-jihadist militias said on Wednesday.

The jihadists, affiliated with the Islamic State in West Africa (ISWAP), attacked a team of soldiers and anti-jihadist militiamen who were heading on motorbikes towards the town of Monguno, located 140 km from the capital Maiduguri of Borno State, two militias said.

“ISWAP terrorists ambushed the patrol team and opened fire on them in Lingir village, leading to a shootout. There were so many of them that the team had to flee,” it said. Musa Kaka, leader of an anti-jihadist militia in Monguno.

“Two soldiers and two anti-jihadist militiamen were killed in the fighting and several were injured,” he added.

The jihadist insurgency which has lasted for 14 years in Nigeria is one of the main security challenges facing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who came to power last May and who notably promised to put an end to this violence in the northeast.

Even if the intensity of jihadist abuses has gradually decreased in recent years, ISWAP, which seceded from Boko Haram in 2016, still remains active in the Lake Chad region where it regularly clashes with its former group.

ISWAP regularly carries out attacks in rural areas on the Maiduguri-Monguno highway, killing and kidnapping motorists, as well as periodic deadly incursions into Monguno against soldiers and anti-jihadist militias.

In recent days, its fighters have ordered residents of villages along the highway between the towns of Gubio, Damasak, Layi, Jamu, and Kinsari to leave their homes, according to Musa Kaka.

The jihadist insurgency in Nigeria has left 40,000 dead and more than two million displaced.

More than a million people have been displaced by flooding caused by heavy rains that have been affecting Somalia for several weeks, the Somali president announced on Wednesday evening.

The Horn of Africa is facing torrential rains and floods linked to the El Nino weather phenomenon, which have claimed dozens of lives and caused large-scale displacement, particularly in Somalia, where the massive rains have destroyed bridges and flooded residential areas.

“Our country is in a critical state and our people have been affected by the floods everywhere,” President Hassan Sheikh Mohamad said in an address, adding that the floods had displaced over a million people and killed 101 in Somalia, which has a population of around 17 million.

The head of state also warned against the proliferation of disease.

The authorities in Mogadishu declared a state of emergency on November 12 in response to the scale of the disaster.

The Horn of Africa is one of the regions most vulnerable to climate change, and extreme weather events are becoming increasingly frequent and intense.

At least 120 people have been killed by flooding in Kenya, and 57 in Ethiopia.

“It’s a disastrous situation. Regions that were struggling to recover from the economic and environmental impacts of a prolonged drought are now doubly hit by floods”, deplored the NGO Action Contre la Faim in a statement on Wednesday.

The region is emerging from its worst drought in forty years, following several disappointing rainy seasons that have left millions in need and devastated crops and livestock.

El Niño, generally associated with rising temperatures, droughts in some parts of the world, and heavy rains in others, is set to continue until April.

This meteorological phenomenon has already wreaked havoc in East Africa. Between October 1997 and January 1998, gigantic floods fueled by the torrential rains it caused claimed more than 6,000 lives in five countries in the region.

A 70-year-old Ugandan woman has given birth to twins, “an extraordinary feat”, her doctor told Africanewsguru.com on Thursday.

“It’s an extraordinary feat to give birth to twins” for a 70-year-old mother, Dr. Edward Tamale Sali, who supervised her pregnancy and delivery, told Africanewsguru.com.

The mother, Safina Namukwaya, described the birth of the twins, a boy and a girl, on Wednesday as a “miracle”.

Both mother and babies are in good health and are still under observation at a facility in the capital Kampala, continued Edward Tamale Sali. Safina Namukwaya usually lives in rural Masaka, some 120 kilometers west of the capital.

Only three years ago, the septuagenarian gave birth to a daughter, after being described as a “cursed woman” for not having been able to have children before.

With her first husband, who died in 1992, she had no children of her own. Ms. Namukwaya’s current partner, whom she met in 1996, did not attend the birth, much to her dismay.

“Maybe he’s not happy that I gave birth to twins for fear of the responsibilities that entails,” she said.

Moroccan justice on Monday sentenced an internet user to three years in prison on appeal for insulting the king, after publications on social networks in 2020 criticizing the normalization of relations between Morocco and Israel.

Saïd Boukioud, born in 1975, received a five-year prison sentence in August for insulting the monarchy for publications on Facebook, which have since been removed from the platform.

On Monday, the Casablanca Court of Appeal reclassified the facts as an offense against the person of the king and reduced the sentence to three years’ imprisonment, his lawyer, Me El Hassan Essouni, told Africanewsguru.com.

Under the terms of the Constitution, Morocco’s foreign policy is a prerogative of the monarch, in this case Mohammed VI.

Mr. Boukioud “never had” the intention of offending the king but “wanted to draw attention to the fact that normalization was not good for Moroccans, nor for the Palestinian cause, nor for anyone” , explained his lawyer to Africanewsguru.com.

He considered that the new sentence was “very excessive” and said he intended to appeal to the Court of Cassation.

The Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) indicated in August that it had identified, in two years, “dozens of legal proceedings” following in particular publications criticizing the authorities on social networks.

This legal decision comes against the backdrop of the war in the Gaza Strip between Palestinian Hamas and Israel, which has given new impetus in recent weeks to the pro-Palestinian mobilization in Morocco.

On Sunday, there were tens of thousands in the streets of Casablanca demanding the suspension of bilateral relations and a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, while a truce came into force on Friday.