Pakistan is conducting the mass repatriation of Afghan refugees through coercion, threats and abuse, Human Rights Watch said in a scathing report Monday, accusing the UN refugee agency of complicity in promoting the exodus. Hundreds of thousands of Afghans have been forced to return to their homeland, which is racked by conflict, poverty and unemployment, … Read more
Al-Qaeda’s North African affiliate says a group linked to it carried out the suicide attack that killed at least 50 people in northern Mali. A vehicle packed with explosives detonated at a camp housing soldiers and members of rival armed groups in the region’s main city, Gao. Mali’s northern desert region has been restive since … Read more
Musa Saidykhan still feels the ache in the scars knotting across his back when the temperature drops every winter in his two-storey home in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The father of four, then the editor of the widely read Independent newspaper, fled The Gambia in 2006 after he was tortured by agents of President Yahya Jammeh’s … Read more
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for a pardon for a soldier convicted of manslaughter for killing a wounded Palestinian. Elor Azaria, 19 at the time, shot Abdul Fatah al-Sharif, 21, in the head while he was lying immobile on a road. A military court convicted the soldier after dismissing his assertion that the … Read more
The Catholic Church in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has appealed for a resolution to the ongoing political standoff over the future of current President Joseph Kabila. The call by the church comes after 34 people were reportedly killed and 45 others wounded in clashes between police and protesters who took to the streets … Read more
Ethiopian authorities have clarified that leading opposition figure and Chairman of the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), Dr Merera Gudina is in detention for flouting state of emergency rules. The specific provision he is said to have flouted related to an alleged meeting with a terrorist group during his visit to Brussels. The authorities said investigations … Read more
By the time Charlotte “lip gloss” Osei, Ghana’s electoral Commissioner conceded defeat to the NPP and Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo on Friday the 9th of December, we already knew what the results were and were simply waiting for the lady to commit “hari-kari” by trying to rip the “pink sheets” apart. Throughout the year, … Read more
Gambia’s President-elect Adama Barrow has told the BBC he will declare himself president on 18 January regardless of President Yahya Jammeh’s rejection of the election result. Mr Barrow said his team was preparing for the event despite security concerns: “Our position is very very clear. I’m President-elect, we advise the president to cooperate. We have … Read more
I have always been one to reserve judgement about the Legacy of Yaya Jammeh of The Gambia. But no more! He is the megalomaniac and erstwhile President of the smallest country in Mainland Africa, until December 2 of 2016 when he was ‘soundly’ and ‘clearly’ defeated by a little known Real Estate Developer name Adama … Read more
The gray, concrete building looms over the street in central Beijing. Completely unmarked aside from a street number, its entrance is buttressed by barriers and fencing. Inside lies an organization that strikes terror into the hearts of some of China’s most powerful people, and oversees a sprawling network of secret prison where experts say torture … Read more
Africa or African states largely have reasonable cause to reconsider their membership of the International Criminal Court, even if it means reversal of their Rome Statute ratification. My stance is not against the backdrop of the supposed unfair treatment by the ICC of African personalities. Personally, I believe the ICC often gets it right with … Read more
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau must have been feeling the heat. Mr Trudeau will not attend Fidel Castro’s funeral in Cuba this week, despite the decades-long friendship between his father and the former Cuban communist leader. Canada will be represented by Governor General David Johnston at a memorial service in Havana on Tuesday. Mr Trudeau’s … Read more
South Africans are divided over the country’s decision to pull out of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Last month, South Africa wrote to the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, advising him of the country’s intention to withdraw from the ICC. The withdrawal will take effect one year after the secretary general receives notification. Justice … Read more
Myanmar is seeking the ethnic cleansing of the Muslim Rohingya minority from its territory, a senior UN official has told the BBC. Armed forces have been killing Rohingya in Rakhine state, forcing many to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh, says John McKissick of the UN refugee agency. The government of Myanmar, also known as Burma, has … Read more
The Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh has warned his supporters that violence was like “bushfire” that could destroy the country, as he called for peaceful campaigning ahead of highly anticipated elections in which he is seeking a fifth term, AFP news agency reports. In a speech broadcast on state media, Mr Jammeh said: Our campaign is … Read more
In early 2011, as the Arab Spring was moving across North Africa and the Middle East, small groups of nonviolent activists in Syria, which has been under martial law since 1963, started protesting against the brutal dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad and demanding democratic reforms, the release of political prisoners, an increase in freedoms, abolition of … Read more
Islamic State has summarily killed 21 civilians in Mosul it accused of collaborating with U. S.-backed security forces, which said their offensive to recapture the city from the jihadists had made further advances. The killings, reported on Tuesday by a medical source, indicate that the ultra-hardline group has maintained its ability to police Mosul, more … Read more
The Robert Mugabe regime says it is sorry for killing many Chiadzwa diamond field victims. The government has come out to apologise and say of the Marange atrocities, “things that happened in Chiadzwa in the past were wrong. We deeply regret it.” Diamonds, soldiers, smugglers, helicopter gun ships, child labor, torture, rape, and more than … Read more
A high-level Chinese police official has been elected president of Interpol, the international police organisation, angering rights advocates concerned over abuses and lack of transparency within China’s legal system. Meng Hongwei, vice public security minister, was named on Thursday as the first Chinese to hold the post at the Interpol general assembly on the Indonesian … Read more
Police in the north-eastern Nigerian state of Borno say they have deployed 100 female officers to camps for those who have fled Boko Haram’s insurgency. The female officers will ensure the protection of women, said state police commissioner Damian Chukwu. A Human Rights Watch report last week alleged that several women had been sexually abused … Read more