More than a few African entities are represented on a list of 636 fossil fuel lobbyists attending the COP27 climate conference in Egypt, a number that the anti-corruption Global Witness organization, publishers of the list, say is more than 25% higher than a year ago in Scotland. The names were…
Violence in Chad, sparked by postponed elections and a crackdown on opposition political parties, has led to a call for human rights protections and a full inquiry into the deaths of at least 50 people last week in N’Djamena. Although Prime Minister Saleh Kebzabo, speaking on behalf of the transitional…
The African nation of Chad has one of the world’s lowest rates for electricity access, but new investment in renewables is expected to reverse the situation, beginning with a solar plant expected to be fully operational in early 2023. Just 8% of Chad’s population had electricity in 2019, with access…
Senegalese foreign minister Aissata Tall Sall recently called on China to become more involved in the Sahel region, specifically expressing a hope that Beijing will be a “strong voice” in combatting the rising tide of terrorism in the region. The appeal certainly has its logic, given Beijing’s expanding influence in…
Transitional president Bah N’Daw has resigned, according to Malian news sources. The resignation was presented to Assimi Goïta, the transitional vice president, during an emergency meeting with former Nigerian president Jonathan Goodluck and his delegation from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Bah N’Daw has reportedly dissolved his…
Mahamat Idriss Déby, the head of Chad’s Transitional Military Council (CMT), scored another political endorsement last week, with a visit to Abuja earning him the support of Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari. Nigeria follows in the footsteps of France and the USA, who have also given their backing to Déby’s running…
Another 35 people have died in Chad following clashes in Salamat Province in the southeastern part of the country, a development that follows on this week’s regional security summit among the five Sahel nations and France. The communal fighting between farmers and herders began with an attack at a roadblock,…
Social media provocations have been blamed for a spike in clashes among the Zaghwa people living in eastern Chad, causing at least 8,300 people to flee into Darfur regions of neighboring Sudan, according to UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency. The Zaghwa live in a region that stretches across the…
Leaders of the G5 Sahel nations meeting in Niamey this weekend vowed to continue their fight against extremists, while appealing to the international community for financing and support in the effort. The extraordinary summit was hosted by President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger, who welcomed his counterpart Roch Marc Christian Kaboré…
The nation of Chad began a 21-day state of emergency period on Tuesday in the provinces of Ouaddaï, Sila and Tibesti, after at least 50 people have died in recently escalating communal conflict. The time period announced by senior official Kalzeubé Payimi Deubet is shorter than a three-month state of…
Leaders of the Convergence for Social Democracy (CPDS) in Equatorial Guinea say that Andrés Esono Ondo, the party’s general secretary, has returned home after two weeks of detention in neighboring Chad. He was flown to Cameroon from N’Djamena by Chadian authorities who, according to the CPDS account, determined there was…
Members of the Convergence for Social Democracy (CPDS) in Equatorial Guinea continue appeals for the release of their leader, Andrés Esono Ondo, who was arrested April 11 in Chad while meeting with that nation’s opposition party, the National Union for Development and Renewal (UNDR). They’re now getting some response from…
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that a controversial travel ban affecting citizens of Libya and Somalia hoping to enter the U.S. will stand, despite legal challenges dating to the first days of President Donald Trump’s administration. The 5-4 ruling keeps in place a reworked version of the ban…
Funeral services were held Monday in Paris for Gaëtan Mootoo, a well-respected French Mauritanian researcher for Amnesty International in West Africa who died on May 25. So many people attended the memorial at the Père Lachaise cemetery that some stood in the rain, crowded around the entrance, according to France’s Liberation….
The global human rights community was in mourning Sunday after hearing the news that Gaëtan Mootoo, a well-respected French Mauritanian researcher for Amnesty International in West Africa, has died. The 65-year-old Mootoo died at the weekend in Paris, according to Amnesty International Benin. His cause of death was not immediately…