Rebel fighters captured the southern diamond-mining city of Bangassou in the Central African Republic on Sunday, weeks after they were accused of an attempted coup and ahead of partial results from a tense presidential election.

At least five rebels were killed and two army soldiers wounded in the clashes in the Central African city of Bangassou, which lies on the southern border with Democratic Republic of Congo, the UN peacekeeping mission MINUSCA said in a statement.

Rebels, whom the government and UN say are backed by ex-president François Bozizé, launched an offensive last month after the constitutional court rejected Bozizé’s candidacy to challenge President Faustin-Archange Touadera in last Sunday’s vote.

Bozizé’s party officially denies he is working with the rebels, but some in the party have suggested they are working together.

The coalition of armed rebel groups, which control two thirds of the coup-prone country, launched an offensive on December 19 aiming to disrupt last weekend’s elections and “march on Bangui”.

They have been kept away from the capital so far by federal soldiers, UN peacekeepers and reinforcements sent from Russia and Rwanda.

‘They are everywhere’

But the rebels attacked Bangassou, about 750 km (470 miles) from Bangui, at dawn on Saturday.

“The rebels control the town,” Rosevel Pierre Louis, head of the UN peacekeeping force MINUSCA’s regional office in the city, told AFP. “They are everywhere.”

Government troops had “abandoned their position and are at our base”, he added.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said it had transported 15 wounded in the fighting.

Bangassou resident Ismail said Sunday’s attack had been expected locally for around two weeks, and many had fled over the border to DR Congo.

“My children left, I stayed with my wife,” Ismail told AFP as gunshots could be heard over the phone.

Bangassou has previously been the target of brutal assaults.

Trying to ‘suffocate Bangui’

Rebel fighters also attacked Touadera’s hometown of Damara, about 80 km (50 miles) north of Bangui on Saturday, MINUSCA said.

Roland Marchal, a specialist on the Central African Republic at France’s Sciences Po University, said “the rebels thought they could reach Bangui, but they did not expect the arrival of the Russians and Rwandans”.

Conflict analyst Nathalia Dukhan said the rebels have adopted “a long-term strategy by securing the resources to suffocate Bangui”.

The landlocked country is one of the poorest in the world and among the most volatile, suffering coups and wars since independence from France in 1960.

In 2013, it spiralled once more into bloodshed when then-president Bozizé, who had himself seized power in a coup a decade earlier, was ousted by a mainly Muslim coalition called the Seleka.

Five years later,”anti-balaka” militiamen, drawn mainly from Christian communities, attacked the city, slaughtering dozens of Muslim civilians as well as 12 UN peacekeepers.

Country ‘at war’

In a year-end speech on December 31, Touadera said  his country “is at war” and that its “survival is threatened. We are going to win this asymmetrical war,” he added.

The capture of Bangassou comes on the eve of partial results being published for the presidential election.

Lack of security meant that voting did not take place in 29 of the country’s 71 sub-prefectures, while thousands were prevented from casting ballots or never received their voting cards.

Touadera’s party claimed victory, while a coalition of opposition groups called for the election to be annulled, claiming ballot stuffing and electoral rigging.

MINUSCA spokesman Vladimir Monteiro accused the opposition of making “false and baseless” allegations.

“Bizarrely, they don’t say anything about former president François Bozizé, an ally of the armed groups who are responsible for the current violence,” he tweeted.

On Sunday the UN mission said in a statement that the main armed groups “the UPC, the MPC, the 3R, the FPRC, the anti-balakas and former president Bozizé are responsible for these attacks and the grave consequences for the civilian population”.

The definitive results from the first round are not expected before January 18, and if there is no outright winner a runoff will be held on February 14.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and REUTERS)

At least 70 civilians in Niger were killed by suspected militants on Saturday, in the latest attacks to rock the landlocked Sahel nation’s troubled western Tillaberi region, security sources said.

About 49 villagers were killed and 17 people wounded in the village of Tchombangou, said a security source, who requested anonymity.

“The attackers came to surround the village and killed up to 50 people. The wounded were taken to Ouallam hospital,” a local radio station journalist said on condition of anonymity.

A second source, a senior official in Niger’s interior ministry who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said that around 30 other villagers had been killed in the village of Zaroumdareye.

Niger’s government was not immediately available to comment.

The attacks took place as election officials announced results for the first round of Niger’s presidential vote that put ruling party candidate and former government minister Mohamed Bazoum in the clear lead, with a runoff set for next month.

The vast and unstable Tillaberi region is located in the so-called tri-border area, a jihadist-plagued zone where the porous borders of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso converge.

Four thousand people across the three nations died in 2019 from jihadist violence and ethnic bloodshed stirred by Islamists, according to the UN.

Seven Nigerien soldiers were killed in an ambush in Tillaberi on December 21.

Niger is also being hammered by jihadists from Nigeria, the cradle of a decade-old insurgency launched by Boko Haram.

Last month 34 villagers were massacred in the southeastern region of Diffa, on the Nigerian border, the day before municipal and regional elections that had been repeatedly delayed because of poor security.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and REUTERS)

Cameroon says hundreds of Central African Republic (CAR) civilians have fled across the border in the past few days to escape election-related violence. Bangui is holding elections later this month and those fleeing into Cameroon say sporadic clashes are already breaking out.

 Local residents say Garoua Boulay’s public square in the past four days has seeing an unusual influx of civilians from neighboring CAR. 

 Gregoire Mvongo, the governor of Cameroon’s East region which includes Garoua Boulay, says about a thousand people have crossed over into Cameroon since Friday to escape violence in the lead-up to the December 27 poll.   

 Mvongo said the situation in the CAR is very troubling.  He said he traveled to Garoua Boulay Sunday and ordered the military to porous border areas to limit the spill-over into Cameroon from the new wave of fighting.  

 Among those who fled the CAR is 32-year-old agricultural engineer Jean Paul Nambobona.  He says he trekked with his wife and two children through the bush before finding transport to Garua Boulay.  He said on the road they saw many people struggling to leave the CAR. He added that he wanted former president Francois Bozize to remember that the CAR has gone through very difficult moments and its civilians want a return to peace.  

 On Saturday, the CAR government accused Bozize of organizing a rebel alliance to attack the capital, Bangui, a week before the election. 

 Bangui said U.N. peacekeepers dispersed armed rebels loyal to Bozize who were occupying areas near the capital.  

 Bozize, whose candidacy for the presidential election was rejected, denied he organized any rebel attack. His opposition coalition on Sunday demanded the election be postponed due to the violence, but the government insisted the vote will go ahead.

 Speaking on Radio RCA, self-declared youth leader Rigobert Ngaissio said that young people should not listen to rebels who call for taking up arms against the state.

 He said he is calling on all Central Africans, especially the youth, to be vigilant and patriotic because the threats to stability are real and serious. Ngaissio said it is imperative for everyone to contribute to stability in the Central African Republic.

 A government spokesman on Monday confirmed reports that Russia and Rwanda had each sent several hundred troops to the country.  

 Rwanda on Sunday said its troops were dispatched in response to rebels supported by Bozize targeting its peacekeeping forces.  

 Russia has been supplying the Central African Republic with arms and security contractors.  

 CAR descended into violence in 2013 when Bozize was ousted by the Séléka, a rebel coalition from the Muslim minority, which accused him of breaking peace deals.

 But Bozize maintains a large following, especially in the army and among the country’s largest ethnic group, the Gbaya.

 The December 27 election is seen as an important step in bringing stability to the CAR.  

 In the past seven years of fighting, close to a million Central Africans have fled to neighboring Cameroon, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria.

Source: VOA

Rebel forces advancing on the Central African Republic’s capital Bangui have been pushed back and the situation is “under control”, a spokesman for UN peacekeeping forces said Sunday, as tensions mount a week before key elections.

The government had alleged an attempted coup when three of the powerful armed groups that control most of the country’s territory began advancing towards the capital along critical main roads, ahead of presidential and legislative elections scheduled for December 27.

Earlier Sunday, the Coalition of the Democratic Opposition (COD-2020) called for the votes to be postponed “until the re-establishment of peace and security”.

Uniting the main parties and movements opposed to President Faustin-Archange Touadera, COD-2020 was until recently led by former president Francois Bozize, who the government said Saturday was at the head of rebel fighters massing not far from the capital.

Vladimir Monteiro, spokesman for the UN’s MINUSCA peacekeeping force, told AFP Sunday that “the armed groups have left the town” of Yaloke, on one of the routes towards Bangui, and that they had given up ground in two other areas.

MINUSCA “sent blue helmets to Mbaiki, where there were clashes on Saturday… to block the armed groups,” Monteiro added, saying “the situation is under control”.

But security and humanitarian sources said that parts of the armed groups were still on the ground around Bossembele — around 150 kilometres (90 miles) from Bangui.

The government had said Saturday that former president Bozize was at Bossembele with fighters from three rebel groups which announced a coalition on Saturday called the Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC).

They urged members to “scrupulously respect the integrity of the civilian population” and to allow vehicles belonging to the United Nations and to humanitarian groups to circulate freely in the former French colony.

In a joint statement, a group known as the G5+ — France, Russia, the US, the EU and the World Bank — urged Bozize and allied armed groups to lay down their arms, calling for the elections to go ahead on December 27.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed for calm and called on all sides to ensure credible elections and peace.

And the 11,000-strong MINUSCA force warned Saturday it would “use all means at its disposal including planes to prevent violence.”

‘Why take up arms?‘

Meanwhile, Bozize’s KNK party denied the former leader wanted to carry out a putsch.

“We categorically deny that Bozize is at the origin of anything,” Christian Guenebem, a spokesman for his KNK party, told AFP.

“The government has always wanted to undermine the physical and political integrity of Bozize.”

“Why take up arms against your countrymen?” Touadera asked at a rally in Bangui Saturday.

“The national election authority and Constitutional Court have guaranteed that the elections will be held as scheduled,” added the president, who is widely expected to win re-election.

Bozize, back after years in exile, has been barred from running in the election by the coup-prone country’s top court, as the CAR had sought him with an international arrest warrant on charges including murder, arbitrary arrest and torture.

The 74-year-old, who came to power in a coup in 2003 before himself being overthrown in 2013, said last Tuesday that he accepted the court’s decision.

The CAR spiralled into conflict when Bozize, a Christian, was ousted as president by the Seleka, a rebel coalition drawn largely from the Muslim minority.

That coup triggered a bloodbath between the Seleka and so-called “anti-Balaka” self-defence forces, mainly Christian and animist.

France sent its army to intervene, and after a transitional period, elections were staged in 2016 and won by Touadera.

Source: AFP

Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum, on Thursday, received a delegation of the Cameroonian military at the Government House in Maiduguri, the state capital.

At the meeting, the governor tasked the Cameroonian delegation on the need for Nigeria and Cameroon to team up to defeat the Boko Haram terrorists.

The Cameroonian military delegation was led by the 4th region joint military commander, General Saly Mohammadou. He was accompanied by Commander Sector 1 Multinational Joint Task Force, General Bouba Dobekreo; Commander Fourth Gendarmerie, Brigadier General Essoh Jules-Cesar; GOC 7 Div Bridgdier, Gen. AK Ibrahim, among others.

Zulum in a statement said the Cameroonian military was in Nigeria to share experience and improve collaboration between forces of the two countries in the fight against insurgency in the Lake Chad region.

He said, “Cameroon and Nigeria, most of our people shares the same tradition and culture. Though the insecurity has affected all the countries in the Lake Chad region, all our economies have been affected. Therefore, there is need for us to come together and fight this insurgency.

“The issue of trans-border trade is very important, all of us know Banki. We are doing everything possible to reopen Banki market, we are planning to reopen Bama-Banki road. Let us support the security architectures, so that we can ensure free movement of our people.”

Source: The Punch

The Nigerian military and Cameronian Defences Forces have resolved to collaborate in border patrol and counter-terrorism operation. To clear Boko Haram from the border area.

Theatre Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole, Maj Gen Farouk  Yahaya disclosed on Wednesday while briefing newsmen after the visit of the Cameronian defence forces led by Commander of Operation Emergence 4, Gen Saly Muhamadou and troops of Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTK) at the Theatre Command Maiduguri.

“This is a visit by our counterparts in the Multi National Joint Task Force (NNJTF)  from Cameroonian defense forces. We had a fruitful discussion on how best to enhance our operations to end Boko Haram insurgency at our borders and within our countries,” Hahaha disclosed.

He said the meeting with the Cameroon forces was aimed at improving collaboration and synergy, as members of the MNJTF. “This is not the first time we are having joint operations that concerns our border and fight against terrorism,”Gen Yahaya said.

He said  the visit would further cement the relationship between the countries in the operations against “common enemy,  the Boko Haram insurgents.”

 Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon are members of the MNJTF Lake Chad Commission.

Source: Sunnewsonline

The special envoy of the African Union to Mali and the Sahel, Pierre Buyoya has resigned from his post.

The former Burundian simply confirmed to the AFP that he had submitted his resignation, without further details or reason for the resignation.

Buyoya was sentenced to life imprisonment in his country in October for the 1993 assassination of his predecessor Melchior Ndadaye.

He denounces a “political trial” and said he would appeal the ruling.

A senior AU official told AFP on condition of anonymity that ‘Mr. Buyoya resigned because he wants to “devote all his time and energy to his defense and wants to avoid a situation in the AU that would become embarrassing for a member state.’’

Another senior official who also spoke on condition of anonymity added that Buyoya’s resignation “was accepted with gratitude for the excellent work done in Mali on behalf of the AU.”

The African Union has not made any comment on Buyoya’s conviction since the verdict was announced on October 20 in Bujumbura.

The Burundian judiciary convicted Mr. Buyoya, along with about twenty of his relatives, for “attacking the head of state, attacking the authority of the state, and attack tending to bring about massacre and devastation”.

Mr. Buyoya’s name had already been mentioned in connection with the assassination of President Ndadaye, without any proof being provided.

Source: Africa News

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has chosen a new leader to replace Abdelmalek Droukdel, who was killed in June by French forces, the SITE monitoring group reported Saturday.

Algerian Abu Obaida Yusuf al-Annabi, the head of AQIM’s “Council of Dignitaries”, was named as Droukdel’s successor, SITE said.

Al-Annabi has been on the American “international terrorist” blacklist since September 2015, according to the Counter Extremism Project.

He has regularly appeared in the group’s propaganda videos, and in 2013 famously demanded that Muslims retaliate against France’s intervention in Mali.

AQIM also confirmed the death of Swiss national Beatrice Stoeckli, who was abducted in Timbuktu while working as a missionary in 2016.

It blamed her death on an attempt by “French crusaders” to free her.

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb emerged from a group started in the late 1990s by radical Algerian Islamists, who in 2007 pledged allegiance to Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network.

The group has claimed responsibility for numerous attacks on troops and civilians across the Sahel region, including a 2016 attack on an upmarket hotel and restaurant in Burkina Faso that killed 30 people, mainly Westerners.

France has more than 5,000 troops deployed in its anti-jihadist Barkhane force in the Sahel.

Source: AFP

Ethiopian government forces have reportedly liberated two towns in the rebel-held northern region of Tigray and are further advancing to retake the regional capital, Mekelle, as violence continues to rage in the East African country for a second week.

Redwan Hussein, a spokesperson for the state of emergency task force, told CNN on Wednesday that the government forces had retaken the towns of Shire and Alamata and “are closing in [on Mekelle] but it will take about 100-200 km from several directions.”

The embattled leader of Ethiopia’s Tigray region has confirmed the losses, which he called a “temporary setback,” vowing to defeat the government.

Debretsion Gebremichael, leader of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), said his forces were inflicting “heavy defeats on all fronts” against Ethiopian forces, calling on all Tigrayans to mobilize and join the “struggle.”

Ethiopian officials have accused the TPLF of destroying four bridges on the road to Mekelle in an effort to stop government forces from advancing. The group has denied the claim.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has vowed the mission would “save the country and the region from spiraling into instability.”

Abiy said on Tuesday that a three-day deadline given to rebel forces in Tigray to lay down their arms had ended, warning of a final push to retake Mekelle.

Source: Presstv

Governance progress slowed across Africa for the first time in a decade, even before the coronavirus pandemic hit, with commitment to democracy and civil rights faltering, a major report said Monday.

The Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance, published every two years, gives each country’s government a score according to criteria including anti-corruption measures, protection of civil liberties and caring for the environment.

More than 60 percent of Africans live in countries that made progress in good governance over the period 2010 to 2019, this year’s report said.

But progress has slowed in the last five years and this year, for the first time in the last 10 years, the combined score for all the countries fell year-on-year, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation added.

The foundation, set up in 2006 to focus on the need for good political leadership and public governance in Africa, cited growing curbs on people’s ability to exercise their democratic rights and take part in civil society.

The results use data from last year and do not therefore include the impact of coronavirus.

Since the pandemic began, some elections have been postponed while “the continent had been going through a deterioration of civil society space, participation and rights long before Covid-19,” the report said.

There is “an increasingly precarious environment for human rights and civic participation” as well as a “deteriorating security situation,” it added.

– ‘Worrying declines’ –

Also this year, the incumbent presidents of Guinea and Ivory Coast succeeded in pushing through constitutional changes allowing them to stand for a third term, sparking deadly unrest while adding their names to a long list of leaders with similar playbooks.

Post-election clashes have claimed scores of lives in Ivory Coast and at least 21 in Guinea, where several opposition figures are in police custody over the violence.

In Nigeria, largely peaceful youth-led protests against a hated police unit spilled over into looting and violence.

The UN last week called for urgent measures to protect civilians in Mozambique’s northeastern Cabo Delgado province, where jihadists are wreaking havoc, warning that the population was “desperate”.

Since 2015, countries’ scores for security and rule of law and participation have slowly worsened while scores for rights and inclusion have fallen more sharply, the report said.

Only one country, Ethiopia, has made progress across all areas measured over a decade, the report said — but the continent’s second most populous country is now embroiled in a military conflict pitting the federal government against the dissident northern region of Tigray.

Across Africa, progress in some areas such as economic opportunity has come alongside “worrying declines in participation, rights, inclusion, rule of law and security,” the report said.

– Covid inequality –

Coronavirus threatens gains in economic opportunity, “worsening an already alarming situation,” it added.

For the first time, the report looked at new areas such as digital rights and inclusiveness as well as environmental sustainability.

South Africa, ranked sixth, has declined over the decade, falling more steeply since 2015, and is on a “concerning trajectory,” the report found.

The country’s former president, Jacob Zuma, was forced out by the ruling African National Congress (ANC) over a slew of corruption scandals.

ANC secretary general Ace Magashule was charged last Friday with multiple counts of fraud, corruption and money laundering allegedly committed under Zuma.

Source: Africa News