Month: August 2024

Tunisian opposition politician, Abdellatif Mekki, will be allowed to resume his bid for the presidency after the country’s administrative court on Tuesday upheld his appeal.

The electoral commission had excluded the prominent politician from the race saying there was a lack of popular endorsements for his candidacy.

But the court’s decision means Mekki, who leads the Action and Achievement Party, will now be added to the list of accepted candidates.

He founded the organisation in 2022 after leaving the Islamist Ennahda party and still enjoys widespread support among its followers.

Mekki’s campaign manager, Ahmed Nafati, says Tuesday’s decision highlights the integrity of the administrative court.

Opposition parties, politicians, and human rights groups have accused the authorities of using “arbitrary restrictions” and intimidation to help ensure the re-election of incumbent President Kais Saied.

They say the electoral commission is not neutral and is seeking to eliminate all serious competitors to pave the way for Saied’s victory, an accusation the body denies.

In 2021, Saied dissolved parliament and took control of all powers in a move described by the opposition as a coup.

The presidential poll is expected to take place on 6 October.

Nigerian-born Napoli striker, Victor Osimhen’s future is still uncertain as rumours swirl about where he will move to next.

After four seasons at Naples it appears that top clubs are not rushing to sign him up despite expectations that they would queue up to nab him.

With the transfer deadline day in sight … there is still talk about the possibility of a move to Chelsea.

The British club had baulked at the idea of paying the about 130 million dollars demanded by Napoli’s owner.

But at least one English newspaper is reporting that talks appear to be ongoing still between the two clubs.

To complicate matters, the Saudi Pro League club Al-Ahli  reportedly submitted a close to 73 million dollar offer on Sunday.

And it’s being reported that Paris Saint Germain are also part of discussions to get the 25-year-old player.

But they also don’t agree on the financial terms demanded by Napoli’s owner who has been adamant about receiving the full amount of the Nigerian’s release clause.

With an exit expected shortly, Osimhen, has not been playing for Napoli so far this season.

Thousands of migrants have attempted to cross the border from Morocco to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in the last few days, including hundreds of youth who tried to swim their way around controls, Spanish authorities said Monday.

Videos broadcast on Spanish media over the weekend showed Spanish police intercepting migrants in the water at night amid a thick fog but also in broad daylight, struggling to separate the new arrivals from crowds of beachgoers.

Cristina Pérez, the Spanish government’s representative in Ceuta told journalists Monday that since Aug. 22 an average of 700 people had attempted to breach the border daily, with a peak of 1,500 attempts Sunday.

Pérez did not disclose how many had successfully reached Ceuta but Pérez explained that following Spanish law that allowed for “border rejections” authorities were sending back to Morocco between 150 and 200 people a day. She thanked Moroccan authorities for their “loyal cooperation.”

Ceuta and Melilla two tiny Spanish territories in North Africa bordering the Mediterranean have long been targeted by migrants and refugees seeking better lives in Europe. Many attempt to climb over barbed wire fences encircling the autonomous cities or reaching the exclaves by sea.

Due to geography, Spain relies largely on Morocco’s goodwill to control those borders and keep migrants out. In 2021, following a diplomatic spat between the two nations, thousands of people, including many unaccompanied Moroccan children poured into Ceuta in a matter of days overwhelming Spanish authorities.

While Spain and Morocco have since normalized their relations and have been working together to tackle irregular migration, authorities in Ceuta say they are again under pressure this year. There have been 1,622 migrant arrivals to Ceuta from January to mid-August compared with just 620 in the same period last year, according to statistics released by the Spanish interior ministry.

In February, residents of the nearby Moroccan town of Belyounech attempted to swim to Ceuta after the Moroccan government demolished unauthorized beachside homes for new development.

While the number of migrants to reach Ceuta represents just a tiny fraction of the more than 31,000 irregular arrivals to Spain this year, Pérez said the 18.5 square kilometers (7.14 square miles) territory was under “extreme migratory pressure.”

The U.N. health agency on Monday launched a six-month plan to help halt outbreaks of mpox transmission.

The plan includes ramping up staffing in affected countries and boosting surveillance, prevention and response strategies.

The World Health Organization said it expects the plan from September through February next year will require $135 million in funding and aims to improve fair access to vaccines, notably in African countries hardest hit by the outbreak.

“The mpox outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighbouring countries can be controlled, and can be stopped,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a statement

The agency is “significantly scaling up staff” in affected countries, it said. In mid-August, WHO classified the current mpox outbreak as a global health emergency.

Also Monday, German government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit said Germany is donating 100,000 doses of mpox vaccine to affected countries from stocks held by its military, German news agency dpa reported.

Last Tuesday, Congo the hardest-hit country reported more than 1,000 new mpox cases over the previous week.

In its latest update on the outbreak, the African Centers for Disease Control reported that as of Thursday, more than 21,300 suspected or confirmed cases and 590 deaths have been reported this year in 12 African countries.

Mpox belongs to the same family of viruses as smallpox but typically causes milder symptoms like fever, chills and body aches. It mostly spreads through close skin-to-skin contact, including sexual intercourse. People with more serious cases can develop lesions on the face, hands, chest and genitals.

Germany will donate 100,000 mpox vaccine doses from its military reserves to help address the outbreak in Africa, a government spokesperson announced on Monday. The donation aims to provide immediate assistance to the affected countries.

In addition, Germany will offer financial support to the World Health Organization (WHO) through various mechanisms to combat mpox and assist its African partners via the GAVI vaccine alliance, the spokesperson stated.

Germany currently has about 117,000 doses of the Jynneos vaccine, which were acquired in 2022 and are being stored by the military.

A portion of this stock will be retained for the protection of officials travelling abroad, according to a defense ministry spokesperson. Any decision on replenishing the stock will be made separately, he added.

The WHO has declared mpox a global public health emergency following an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that spread to neighbouring countries. A new strain of the virus, clade Ib, has raised concerns due to its rapid transmission.

Germany is working to expedite the delivery of the vaccines to the most affected regions, primarily the DRC, Burundi, and other East African nations, a foreign ministry spokesperson noted.

Denmark said it will close its embassies in Mali and Burkina Faso as part of its new strategy for cooperation with Africa.

The Foreign Ministry said on Monday that military coups in both countries had limited “the scope for action in the Sahel region”.

Instead, it plans to open new missions in Senegal, Tunisia, and Rwanda, and increase its diplomatic workforce in its embassies in Egypt, Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, and Ghana.

Copenhagen said that following the closures in Bamako and Ougadougou, it will appoint a special representative for the Great Lakes and Sahel region.

Relations between the two African countries and the West have deteriorated since Mali’s coup in 2020 and in Burkina Faso in 2022.

Both have turned to Russia and its Wagner mercenary group for support since then.

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Danish Foreign Minister, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, said his country’s reorganisation of its African priorities comes as the European Union aims to be the continent’s “preferred partner”.

He said the EU must demonstrate that it offers an attractive alternative to increasing Chinese and Russian influence in Africa.

Denmark’s new strategy will focus heavily on increase trade and development assistance for water initiatives.

Armed men killed at least 13 farmers during an attack in north-central Nigeria, a local official said Thursday.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the killings that took place on Wednesday in the state of Niger.

Akilu Isyaku, a local government official, told the local radio station Crystal FM that herders and kidnappers are suspected in the attack. He suggested the farmers were killed for providing information to intelligence agencies about the movements of the gunmen.

North-central Nigeria has been plagued by fights for control over water and land between nomadic herders and rural farmers. The violence has killed hundreds in the region so far this year.

Once armed with sticks, the two sides now fight with guns that have been smuggled into the country. Both accuse the government of injustice and marginalization, but the clashes have also taken on a religious dimension, giving rise to militias that side with the herders, who are primarily Muslim, or the farmers from Christian communities.

The area is also known as a place of frequent kidnappings. Last week, gunmen abducted at least 20 students during an ambush in Benue state.

Armed groups take advantage of a limited security presence to take people during attacks on villages and along major roads. Most victims are released only after the payment of ransoms that sometimes run into the thousands of dollars.

Attacks can go on for hours with the assailants fleeing before security forces arrive on the scene and arrests are rare.

In December, assailants killed at least 140 residents during an attack that targeted more than a dozen communities over two days.