Month: January 2024

The president of Chad Idriss Deby met with Russian president Vladimir Putin on Wednesday in Moscow.

The Russian leader congratulated Deby on his success in stabilizing Chad, saying that Russia was closely monitoring the country’s security situation.

“We are glad that it was possible to hold a referendum on the constitution,” Putin said during the brief televised meeting. “I am confident that the elections will be held at a high level in the near future. We are glad that you have managed to stabilise the situation in the country.”

For his part, Deby offered his condolences to Putin following a plane military plane crash earlier on Wednesday in the Belgorod region of Russia near Ukraine.

The plane was carrying 74 people on board, including 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war due to be swapped. All were killed, according to the governor of the Belgorod region Vyacheslav Gladkov.

“I would like, on my own behalf and on behalf of the people, to express my sincere condolences for these deaths and those of the soldiers,” said Deby.

Deby has led Chad since 2021, when he took power in a coup, following the death of his father, long-serving president Idriss Deby.

While Chad has been seen to be a last bastion of French influence in the region, against a trend of growing Russian influence, the meeting in Moscow is a sign that Putin may be moving to build ties with the Sahelian country.

The meeting comes a week after Niger’s prime minister visited Moscow, resulting in an agreement to develop military ties.

The U.S. and British militaries bombed multiple targets in eight locations used by the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen on Monday night (Jan. 22).

According to officials, the U.S. and U.K. used warship- and submarine-launched Tomahawk missiles and fighter jets to take out Houthi missile storage sites, drones and launchers.

Al-Masirah, a Houthi-run satellite news channel, said there were raids on three areas of Sanaa, the capital: al-Dailami Air Base just north of the capital, Sarif, northeast of the city center, and al-Hafa, which is south of Sanaa.

Britain’s Ministry of Defense confirmed that four Royal Air Force Typhoon jets struck “multiple targets at two military sites in the vicinity of Sanaa airfield” with precision-guided bombs. The strikes, said Defense Secretary Grant Shapps, were “aimed at degrading Houthi capabilities” and would “deal another blow to their limited stockpiles and ability to threaten global trade.”

The latest barrage of allied attacks marks the eighth time the U.S. has conducted strikes on Houthi sites since Jan. 12. And it follows an almost-daily assault on Houthi missile launchers by U.S. fighter jets and ship-based Tomahawks over the past week. The rapid response missions, which officials said go after launchers that are armed and ready to fire, demonstrate the military’s increasing ability to watch, detect and strike militant activities in Yemen.

In a joint statement, The US, the UK, Australia, Bahrein, Canada and the Netherlands said they aimed to de-escalate tensions and restore stability in the Red Sea.

The Biden administration has also put the Houthis back on its list of specially designated global terrorists.

For months, the Houthis have attacked ships in the region’s waterways that they claim are either linked to Israel or heading to Israeli ports. They say their attacks aim to end the Israeli air-and-ground offensive in the Gaza Strip that was triggered by the Palestinian Militant group Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel.

The joint operation comes about 10 days after U.S. and British warships and fighter jets struck more than 60 targets.

The Houthis, meanwhile, have made it clear that they have no intention of scaling back their assault. In the wake of the first U.S. and British joint attack, Hussein al-Ezzi, a Houthi official in their Foreign Ministry, said, “America and Britain will undoubtedly have to prepare to pay a heavy price and bear all the dire consequences of this blatant aggression.”

The ongoing violence in the Red Sea has prompted companies to reroute their ships, sending them around Africa through the Cape of Good Hope instead a much longer journey.

Nigerian singer Damini Ogulu, known as Burna Boy, will perform at the 2024 GRAMMYs on Sunday, February 4 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, US.

The Recording Academy announced on Monday, January 22, that the ‘City Boy’ crooner Burna Boy, will share the Grammy stage with notable artists such as Luke Combs and Travis Scott.

The Recording Academy shared the exciting news on their official X handle, stating, “Attention: African Giant @BurnaBoy will take the #GRAMMYs stage on Sunday, February 4th at 8 PM ET / 5 PM PT on @CBS.”

https://twitter.com/RecordingAcad/status/1749260994252099859?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1749260994252099859%7Ctwgr%5E0c70a391a632eda59b25c1af0862a1c7a955679b%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.africanews.com%2F2024%2F01%2F23%2Fburna-boy-to-perform-at-2024-grammys%2F

Burna Boy received three nominations at the 66th Grammys. His nominations include Best Melodic Rap Performance for ‘Sittin’ On Top Of The World,’ Best Global Music Performance for ‘Alone,’ and Best African Music Performance for ‘City Boys.’

This is the first year that the Grammys will award an artist for Best African Music Performance, highlighting the growing influence of music from across Africa.

The International Monetary Fund IMF projects Burundi’s economy to expand 4.3% this year from 2.7% in 2023.

In a statement released by the fund on Monday, the IMF said “growth is projected to accelerate . supported by strong agricultural production, productive investment, and the ongoing reforms”. The fund added that fuel shortages had hampered economic activity in 2023.

Burundi with a population of 12 million relies heavily on agriculture revenues, especially from tea and coffee.

The east African nation’s economy had experienced a shortage of hard currency after a 2015 political crisis that prompted donors to suspend aid. While in 2022 the economy was affected by the inflationary consequences of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, which resulted in soaring food and fuel prices.

The European Union then agreed to resume financial support, while United States also pledged aid.

By the end of 2023, Burundi’s foreign exchange reserves stood at $96.4 million, or 0.8 months of import cover

Inflows from remittances, and gold exports gave some relief, according to the IMF.

Nigeria’s Lagos State has announced a ban on the usage and distribution of styrofoam and other single-use plastics with immediate effect.

The Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab announced on Sunday, January 21 adding that the decision was reached, following the menace which the single-use plastics, especially the non-biodegradable Styrofoam, were causing on the environment.

He said most drainage channels in the state were daily clogged up by styrofoam through indiscriminate distribution and usage, despite the regular cleaning and evacuation of the drains.

Commissioner Wahab directed the State Waste Management Authority, LAWMA, and the Kick Against Indiscipline, KAI, to immediately commence implementation of the ban.

He asked the two agencies to clamp down on all the production companies and distribution outlets for styrofoam in the state to prevent further distribution.

The commissioner advised producers, distributors, and end-users of styrofoam packs to take the ban seriously and find alternatives or risk heavy fines, and other penalties, including sealing of their premises.

He warned that they could also be made to bear the costs of the daily cleanup of their products from roads and drainage channels which runs into tens of millions of naira daily.

“Our state cannot be held hostage to the economic interests of a few wealthy business owners, compared to the millions of Lagosians suffering the consequences of indiscriminate dumping of single-use plastics and other types of waste,” he stated.

He advised consumers and residents to boycott styrofoam packs and single-use plastics and imbibe the practice of using reusable food containers and water bottles for their food and drinks.

A second day of unrest in the Indian Ocean island nation of Comoros on Thursday (Jan. 18) left one person dead and at least six others injured, a health official said.

The protests came after incumbent President Azali Assoumani was declared the winner in an election held over the weekend that was denounced by the country’s opposition parties as fraudulent.

The announcement late Tuesday that Assoumani had won a fourth term triggered violent protests that started Wednesday, when a government minister’s house was set on fire and a car at the home of another minister was burned.

People also vandalized a national food depot. Several roads in and around the capital, Moroni, were barricaded by protesters who burned tires. Riot police clashed with the demonstrators.

On Thursday (Jan. 18) a curfew was in force from 7PM-6 AM in Moroni (the capital), the Bambao region and Itsandra. In the rest of the country it was from 10 PM-6AM.

The person who died was a young man, said Dr. Djabir Ibrahim, the head of the emergency department at the El-Maarouf Hospital in Moroni. He said that the man likely died of a gunshot wound. One of the injured was in a serious condition, he said.

U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk appealed for calm and urged authorities to allow people to protest peacefully. His office said that it received reports of security forces firing tear gas at peaceful protesters, including on a march by a group of women earlier this week. Türk also said that he was concerned with repression in Comoros in recent years.

Opposition parties have claimed that Sunday’s vote was fraudulent and say the national electoral commission is biased toward Assoumani, a former military officer who first came to power in a 1999 coup. The opposition has called for the election results to be canceled.

Protesters arrested

Comoros has a population of around 800,000 spread over three islands.

Assoumani, 65, was reelected with 62.97% of the vote after changing the constitution in 2018 to allow him to sidestep term limits. He has been accused of cracking down on dissent and previously banned protests. He chairs the African Union, where his one-year largely ceremonial term will end next month.

The government said that a number of protesters were arrested, without offering specifics, and accused the opposition of finding “it difficult to accept defeat” and inciting the unrest.

“We know the instigators,” government spokesperson Houmed Msaidie said. “Some of them are in the hands of law enforcement. We will continue to look for them, because there is no question of the state giving way to violence.”

A coalition of opposition parties denied the accusations, saying the unrest shows that people are “fed up” with the government.

When Assoumani changed the constitution in 2018, the move triggered mass demonstrations across the nation and an armed uprising on one of the islands that was quelled by the army.

After taking power in a coup, Assoumani was first elected president in 2002. He stepped down in 2006, but returned to win a second term in 2016.