French prosecutors said Wednesday they were seeking a three-year jail term and a 30 million euro ($34 million) fine for Equatorial Guinea’s Vice President Teodorin Obiang, on trial in absentia for embezzlement. The 48-year-old son of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema is charged with using money plundered from his country’s state coffers to fund a jet-set … Read more
Paris prosecutors said Wednesday they were seeking a three-year jail term and a 30-million-euro ($34 million) fine for Equatorial Guinea’s Vice President Teodorin Obiang, on trial in absentia for embezzlement. The 48-year-old son of President Teodoro Obiang is charged with using money plundered from his country’s state coffers to fund a jet-set lifestyle in France. … Read more
Teodorin Obiang, Equatorial Guinea’s vice president and son of its leader, denounced a French legal case against him Thursday as a fabricated vendetta designed to damage the country’s government. The 47-year-old, known for his taste for fast cars, luxury homes and bespoke suits, is charged with plundering Equatorial Guinea’s coffers to fund a jetset lifestyle … Read more
Chad President Idriss Deby said Sunday his country had been “irresponsible” in striking oil for cash deals with Swiss commodities giant Glencore, given the subsequent slump in crude prices “We thought it was opportunity — but it was a fool’s bargain,” Deby said in an interview with Radio France International, Le Monde and broadcaster TV5 … Read more
France has asked the UN Security Council to authorise the deployment of a five-nation African military force to fight jihadists and criminality in the Sahel region, with a vote expected as early as next week. What are the origins of the force composed of troops from Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, and why … Read more
The EU is giving 50 million euros to set up a joint African military force in the Sahel region to fight jihadists, the bloc’s foreign affairs chief said Monday. The funds will help pay for the troops to fight terrorism, cross-border crime and illegal immigration, European Union diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini said in the Mali … Read more
A French mineworker who was kidnapped in Chad and taken to neighbouring Sudan has been freed after more than six weeks in captivity, French and Sudanese officials said on Sunday. Thierry Frezier, 60, was freed after collaboration between Sudanese, Chadian and French intelligence services, a member of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) told … Read more
A desert warfare specialist, Chad’s Hissene Habre seized power in 1982 and quickly embraced the role of ruthless dictator, with brutal atrocities the hallmark of his eight-year reign of terror. Often dressed in combat fatigues that complemented his “desert fighter” nickname, Habre fled to Senegal after he was ousted by current Chadian President Idriss Deby … Read more
UN envoys on a mission to the Lake Chad region said Saturday that a conference would soon be held in Paris aimed at easing the humanitarian crisis gripping Chad. The country is one of several battling the Boko Haram jihadist insurgency, which has driven thousands from their homes and plunged areas into hunger and poverty. … Read more
It is the morning after the night before and the cold chill of the night have lifted. At the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa it’s post mortem time and everyone is asking one question: how did the favourites, Amina Mohamed, of Kenya, and Abdoulaye Bathily, of Senegal, lose? Their people had walked around the … Read more
N’Djamena (AFP) – Nigeria’s Boko Haram jihadists have killed four Chadian soldiers in a cross-border raid in the volatile Lake Chad region, a security source told AFP on Sunday. “Around 8:00 pm (1900 GMT) on Saturday night, Boko Haram members attacked the Djoroye border post near the Niger border in the Lake Chad region killing … Read more
N’Djamena (AFP) – Four Chadian soldiers have been killed after a mine planted by Boko Haram Islamists destroyed their vehicle, a security source said on Saturday. “An army car hit a mine planted by Boko Haram at Kaiga Kindji, near the border of Chad and Niger. There were four dead and a dozen wounded,” said … Read more