January 9, 2022 – Djibouti News Gazette

January 9, 2022

30 More Kidnapped Nigerian Students Freed: Official

Gunmen in northwest Nigeria’s Kebbi state have freed 30 students and a teacher after seven months of captivity, according to a local official.

More than 1,400 children were abducted in Nigeria last year according to the United Nations, mostly during attacks on schools and colleges by gunmen known locally as “bandits.”

Students are often quickly released after ransom payments but 200 were still missing in September, the U.N. added.

Thirty students of Federal Government College and one teacher have arrived in Birnin Kebbi “following their release,” Yahaya Sarki, a spokesman for the Kebbi state governor, said late Saturday.

“They shall undergo medical screening and support while being reunited with their families,” he added in a statement.

It was unclear if ransom was paid for the release of the students or if any others were still in captivity.

Last June, gunmen stormed the college in the town of Yauri, seizing 102 students and eight staff according to the school.

The attack was confirmed by police but they would not say how many students or teachers were taken.

Security personnel rescued eight of the kidnapped students and a teacher while bodies of three students were found in the bush.

The kidnappers freed 27 students and three staff in October, while an unspecified number were released after their parents negotiated with the captors.

Clashes between herders and farmers over access to land has plagued northwest and central Nigeria for years, with some groups evolving into criminal gangs who now terrorize local communities.

Since last year, gangs have intensified highway kidnappings and mass abductions of students.

On Wednesday, the Nigerian government issued an official gazette declaring activities of bandits as “acts of terrorism.”

President Muhammadu Buhari, a former army general, is also battling a more than decade long jihadist insurgency in the northeast and separatist tensions in the country’s southeast.

Source: Voice of America

January 9, 2022

West African Regional Leaders Impose New Sanctions on Mali

West African regional leaders imposed new sanctions Sunday on Mali, suspending most commerce and financial aid to the country after its military rulers said they would stay in power for four more years instead of holding an election next month as promised.

In a veiled threat at possible military pressure, the regional bloc known as ECOWAS activated its standby force, saying it “will have to be ready for any eventuality.”

The sanctions mark the steepest consequences for Mali to date and include land and air border closures with other countries belonging to ECOWAS, according to a statement released after a day-long meeting in Ghana’s capital.

The junta led by Col. Assimi Goita initially had agreed to hold a new election in late February, 18 months after it first seized power. The military leadership now says the next presidential election will take place instead in 2026, giving Goita four more years in power.

In a statement, regional leaders called this timeframe “totally unacceptable” and said it “simply means that an illegitimate military transition government will take the Malian people hostage during the next five years.”

The business sanctions won’t apply to essentials like pharmaceuticals, and medical supplies and equipment to fight COVID-19. Petroleum products and electricity are also excluded, the regional bloc said.

But all of Mali’s financial assets held in the regional bloc’s central bank and other commercial banks will be blocked. And ECOWAS will suspend its financial aid to Mali. Previous sanctions had only targeted junta leadership with travel bans and asset freezes.

After overthrowing Mali’s democratically elected president, coup leader Goita had promised to swiftly return the country to democratic rule. Doubts deepened about his intentions, though, after he effectively launched a second coup nine months later, forcing out the chosen transitional civilian leaders and becoming president himself.

Mali’s junta maintains that elections can’t be held because of deepening insecurity across the country, where Islamic extremists have been fighting a decade-long insurgency. They also say it’s essential to draft a new constitution and put it before voters in a referendum, a lengthy endeavor that would pave the way for new local and legislative elections before any presidential vote.

The French military, which helped push the militants from power in northern Mali in 2013, is now in the process of drawing down its troop presence in Mali. Many fear their departure will only deepen the crisis despite the presence of U.N. peacekeepers and regional forces bolstering Malian troops’ efforts.

Critics of the junta fear that the political turmoil will further undermine the Malian military’s response to Islamic extremist attacks at a time when they will increasingly be bearing the responsibility for fighting militants.

Source: Voice of America

January 9, 2022

Authorities: Death Toll Surpass 200 in Attacks in Nigeria’s North

Nigerian authorities on Sunday said the death toll from attacks by armed groups in northwest Zamfara State this past week has risen to more than 200. The attacks which began Tuesday lasted until Thursday across nine villages. Authorities say many more villagers remain unaccounted for.

Zamfara state residents say the attacks were retaliation for last week’s military raid against the bandits.

Military airstrikes last Monday around the armed men’s hideout in the Gusami forest hideout as well as in Tamre village in Zamfara reportedly killed more than 100 bandits, including two of their leaders.

Large numbers of angry motorcycle-riding bandits hit back at local communities in reprisal for days, shooting people on sight and burning down houses.

State authorities initially said 58 people were killed but authorities on Saturday said more than 200 bodies were buried and scores of other people were missing.

Last week’s attacks are among the deadliest seen in the region in years. Authorities say up to 10,000 people were displaced and too afraid to return to their homes.

On Saturday, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said in a statement, “The latest attacks on innocent people by the bandits is an act of desperation by mass murderers, now under relentless pressure from our military forces.”

Security analyst Kabiru Adamu said security forces have been making progress and gives a reason.

“One of the key bandits by the name Bello Turji, wrote a letter last month where he indicated his willingness to [as it were] end what he’s doing. The letter was very clear,” said Adamu.

Zamfara state police spokesperson Shehu Mohammed said authorities were gathering intelligence on the attacks from the villages and victims and would aid future operations.

“The information we got will surely assist the security agencies in trying to record more successes in subsequent operations,” he said.

Northwest and north-central Nigeria are recording spikes in attacks on communities, looting and mass kidnappings for ransom that began in late 2020.

The government has repeatedly promised to address the issue.

Source: Voice of America

January 9, 2022

Sudan Security Forces, Anti-Government Protesters Clash

Sudanese security forces fired tear gas and stun grenades Sunday at thousands of protesters marching against the country’s military rulers, with medics reporting that one demonstrator was killed.

The protesters marched from Omdurman to Bahri, two cities adjoining the capital Khartoum, chanting slogans assailing military leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who took power in an Oct. 25 coup that upended a transitional power-sharing deal with civilians.

One man was killed after being hit in the neck by a tear gas canister, according to a Sudanese doctors’ association aligned with the protest movement, although it did not say where the death took place.

That raised the number of civilians killed by security forces to 62 since the coup, according to the doctors, who have also accused the military of repeatedly raiding medical facilities treating injured protesters and attacking staff.

The military has justified the coup as a “correction” needed to stabilize the transition to elections from a power-sharing arrangement the military and civilians struck following the toppling of former President Omar al-Bashir in 2019.

It has said that peaceful protests are permitted and that those responsible for causing casualties will be held accountable.

The United Nations said on Saturday it would attempt to resolve the crisis, inviting military leaders, political parties and other groups to take part in talks.

On January 2, Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok resigned, citing a

failure to reach a compromise between the generals and the country’s

pro-democracy movement. He was ousted in the coup but reinstated a month later following a deal with the military that was meant to calm tensions and anti-coup demonstrations.

Source: Voice of America

January 9, 2022

Protesters Denounce Mali Government’s 5-Year Transition

Mali’s military government proposed in December a 5-year extension of the transition to civilian rule, after originally agreeing to a period of 18 months. Protesters gathered Saturday in Bamako to call for a return to democracy, ahead of an ECOWAS meeting about Mali Sunday in Accra. This is the first public demonstration since the government’s announcement of a 5-year plan, a contrast to the many pro-military demonstrations that have been held this year.

About 100 protesters gathered Sunday afternoon at Bamako’s Martyrs monument to demand a swift return to civilian rule, after Mali’s military government proposed a 5-year transition plan in December with the next presidential elections in 2026.

The Martyrs Monument commemorates March 26, 1991, when government soldiers fired on pro-democracy protesters, killing many.

This assembly marks the first anti-transition demonstration since the government announced the 5-year plan.

Ibrahim Kalilou Thera, one of the demonstration organizers, said military leaders proposed a 5-year transition period without consulting the people.

“In reality, if they had proposed at least a transition of a short period of six months, the people could have understood,” he said. “But we can tell that these people don’t have the will to organize elections. Not for February, because they could have organized for February. But there weren’t prior arrangements, there weren’t preparations, there wasn’t the political will.”

Sina Thera, 23, a student at the University of Bamako, originally was in support of the military government when they first took power in August 2020 in a coup d’Etat that ousted President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.

The August 2020 coup followed months of anti-government protests in Bamako, some that ended in the killing of protesters by security forces.

When the current military leaders first came to power, they were met by large crowds and widespread support in the streets of Bamako.

He says that before, he supported them a lot, because they came to finish the fight started by the Malian population. “Once the fight is done, though, and the fight was victorious … it’s time. The promise they made is very sacred. They set a deadline,” he said.

A coalition of major political parties rejected the military government’s 5-year transition proposition earlier this week.

Mohamed Ag Assory, a political analyst and consultant, says it’s not so important whether or not the march Saturday has a large number of people, because for months there was a complete lack of opposition.

“Some time ago, there were only supporters of the transition that could be seen here and there. There’s now an emergence of a new pole, a new opposition that’s organizing itself, and people listen to what they’re saying, it’s just the beginning. There have been press conferences, now they’re starting to demonstrate on the ground, and I think there will be more actions in the future in this sense,” he said.

He adds that everything will depend, however, on what happens this Sunday when the Economic Community of West African States —ECOWAS, a 15-nation regional bloc with a mandate to promote economic integration — will be holding an extraordinary summit on Mali in Accra January 9, which may lead to an agreement between ECOWAS leaders and Mali’s military government on a shortened transition period.

Source: Voice of America