Regional News
15 dead, 23,000 affected as floods hit Niger Republic | Dailytrust
Flooding and landslips have so far left 15 people dead and affected more than 23,000 others in the Niger Republic. The civil protection services disclosed this on Thursday.
The worst-hit regions are Zinder in the south of the arid Sahel state, followed by Maradi and Diffa, also in the south.
Niger, the world’s poorest country by the benchmark of the UN’s Human Development Index, is often hit by floods when the badly-needed rains arrive.
The season, which runs from June to August or September, has become deadlier in recent years, including in Niger’s desert north.
Counter insurgency forces supporting the return of internally displaced persons (IDP) to their communities have recovered over 150 landmines and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) planted by insurgents in Nigeria’s northeastern state of Borno, according to the commander of the operation Major General Chris Musa.
According to the Army General, the biggest challenge in the ongoing return of IDPs and refugees to their respective communities is the safety of the routes and surrounding areas where the returnees are headed.
“We have recovered well over 150 IEDs in different parts of Borno state between March and July,” Adding that the IEDs recovered were capable of destroying a truck and ten men.
General Musa made the disclosure during the handing over of hospital equipment donated to the Army’s 7 Division hospital by the Northeast Development Commission (NEDC), saying the army needs more support to tackle the menace of IEDs.
Africa – The latest news from TRT World
Armed bandits have killed 17 people including five policemen in separate attacks in northwest Nigeria’s Katsina state in the latest wave of violence in the region, police and a local official said.
A group of around 300 bandits on motorcycles attacked a police post near Gatakawa village in Kankara district, killing five policemen, local police spokesperson Gambo Isah said on Thursday.
“We lost five policemen in (a) gunfight with the bandits in an effort to prevent them from raiding Gatakawa village,” Isah said.
The attackers also killed three civilians from the village, he added.
Separately, at least nine people died between Tuesday and Wednesday in attacks on four villages in neighbouring Faskari district blamed on the same gang, local official Musa Ado said.
“Four villages were attacked and a total of nine people were killed, with Ruwan Godiya village losing six people,” Ado said.
Cameroonians queue for fuel as shortages hit the capital | Africanews
Scenes like this of people lining up at gas stations in Cameroon’s capital, jerrycans in hand are becoming commonplace.
Most fuel stations have run out of diesel in recent days and those that have are now rationing it.
“You line up for 4 hours, 5 hours, I’ve been here since 6 o’clock,” said Nkeudeu, a transporter.
“There is already no fuel at other stations and where we find a little bit of petrol, we are told we can’t fill our tanks,” said Moffo Koumeni, a cab driver.
In the wake of scarce supplies of diesel, transporters have increased fares. Prices of goods too are shooting up.
“While the fuel shortage situation is becoming untenable for motorists in the city of Yaoundé and surrounding towns, experts believe that this is a way for the authorities to prepare Cameroonians for a possible increase in fuel prices”, said our correspondent Joel Kouam in Yaounde.
On the international market, oil prices have soared and the state is finding it hard to continue subsidizing fuel.
“The lines you find in the gas stations is an impact. … It is a psychological moment, it is necessary to prepare the Cameroonian citizen for an increase in prices”, said Dr. Youmssi Bareja, an oil and mining expert.
Fuel subsidies cost the Cameroonian state over $1.2 billion a year and Yaounde has come under pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to stop them.
Attack on Mali military base repelled, situation under control: Army (trtworld.com)
Gunmen have attacked the main military base where Mali’s interim president lives outside the capital Bamako, but the armed forces said they repelled the assault and brought the situation under control.
Groups linked to Al Qaeda and Daesh have repeatedly attacked army bases across Mali during decade-long violence concentrated in the north and centre but never so close to Bamako in the south.
Heavy gunfire rang out for about an hour early on Friday at the Kati camp, about 15 kilometres (10 miles) from Bamako.
A convoy carrying the leader of Mali’s junta, Colonel Assimi Goita, later sped away from his house in Kati in the direction of Bamako, according to Reuters news agency.
Cameroon Troops Kill Separatist Leader, Leke Olivier – HumAngle Media
The Cameroon army has announced that its troops had killed notorious Anglophone separatist fighter, ‘Field Marshall’ Leke Olivier Fongunueh, leader of the Red Dragons of Lebialem in the Southwest region.
According to a statement by the Cameroon army, Field Marshall was killed on Tuesday, July 12, in an ambush by Cameroonian defence and security forces with the collaboration of the local population.
The commander of the Red Dragons has been in the crosshairs of the Cameroonian military for the past five years. He is one of the most feared separatist fighters in the English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions.
Fongunueh was suspected to be the mastermind of several murderous attacks, including the burning down of schools and attacks on teachers and school children to enforce a Boko Haram-style school boycott.
Mali: Situation ‘under control’ after jihadists target key military base | Africanews
Explosions and gunfire were heard on Friday morning, as jihadi rebels attacked Mali’s Kati military base on the outskirts of the capital city Bamako. Friday’s attack follows a coordinated series of insurgent attacks Thursday.
Jihadi rebels have attacked Mali’s Kati military base on the outskirts of the capital city Bamako, the ruling junta confirmed Friday. It’s the first time Kati, Mali’s largest military base, has been targeted by extremist rebels in the more than 10-year insurgency in the West African country.
Two vehicles loaded with explosives detonated at the camp at about 5 a.m., according to a statement issued by the military. According to the statement, the Malian Armed Forces killed two attackers.
Nigerian Military Running Out Of Space For Holding Boko Haram Defectors – HumAngle Media
Authorities are running out of space for accommodating and processing over 67,000 persons associated with Boko Haram after their surrender to counter-insurgency forces in Northeast Nigeria.
The commander of the operation in the region, Major General Chris Musa, disclosed the situation during a recent briefing on operations and challenges, including the threat of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs).
Since the death of Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau and the conquest of the group’s stronghold of Sambisa forest, tens of thousands of people, including combatants and civilians, have fled hinterland areas and surrendered to authorities.
From a few hundred, the number had rapidly grown to nearly 70,000. Many defectors are housed in three government facilities in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital, and Bama town in the central part of the State.
Over 30 villagers killed in Cameroon | Africanews
A rival ethnic group has killed at least 30 villagers including women and children in western Cameroon in an attack. Some were burnt while others were beheaded.
The massacre was carried out on Saturday and Sunday in the village of Bakinjaw in the Akwaya commune, a few kilometres from the Nigerian border, Reverend Fonki Samuel Forba, spokesman for the Presbyterian Church of Cameroon, told AFP by telephone. “More than 30 people were killed,” he added.
The tragedy, between the Oliti and Messaga Ekol ethnic groups, took place in the South West region, one of Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions where a deadly conflict has been raging for more than five years between armed separatist groups and the police, with civilians being the main victims.
Separatists Abduct Cameroon’s Football Club President – HumAngle Media
Anglophone separatist fighters have abducted the president of Cameroon’s club side, Rangers of Bafut, Neba George kidnapped, HumAngle can report.
The separatists abducted George on the eve of a soccer match between his side and Gazelle FC of Garoua in Bertoua.
The football match was scheduled for Monday, July 18, 2022, but did not hold.
In a message to the national community and the Cameroon Football Federation, FECAFOOT, the Rangers of Bafut declared: “Our president, Mr Neba George, has been kidnapped by separatists in Bafut.”
Ansaru Radicalising Communities In Northwest Nigeria – HumAngle Media
Ansaru, an Al-Qaeda affiliate group in northwestern Nigeria, is exploiting the absence of the State and security flaws in the Birnin Gwari Local Government Area (LGA) of Kaduna State, where the group protects against violent attacks from terror groups notorious for storming communities in the region. This situation has created valuable opportunities for recruitment and winning the hearts and minds of the local population.
Recently, as part of activities commemorating the Eid festival, the group, formally known as Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimin Fi Biladis Sudan (Vanguards for the Protection of Muslims in Black Africa) reportedly preached against democracy and formal education, and made other anti-government rhetorics in the villages of Damari, Unguwar Gajere, Kakini, Kuyello, and Kwasa Kwasa. The group was said to have offered the locals protection.
Communities in the Northwest and neighbouring Niger State are frequently invaded by terror groups affiliated with the herder community. The groups kill and abduct villagers and commuters intercepted at checkpoints. The violence is part of complex insecurity with several elements, including communal clashes, criminality, revenge attacks, and failure of governance.
In July, Ansaru distributed leaflets in the native Hausa language urging people in the areas under its sphere of influence to join them. “The only way we can bring about change is through armed Jihad, but we have abandoned the divine way and followed the satanic and Jewish way,” the leaflet concludes, after mentioning the region’s security issues.
Peace and Security
Africa: the new ground zero for jihadi terror groups? | Africanews
The day terror group the Islamic State (IS) self-proclaimed caliphate in Syria and Iraq is long gone. However, today, the jihadist powerhouse is surviving in the Levant but expanding in Africa, where its affiliates promote a deadly and thriving modus operandi.
Two new official IS provinces (“wilayas”) were created in March in the Sahel and in May in Mozambique. Soon after, an editorial in the infamous publication al-Naba which backs jihadi propaganda. The IS weekly encouraged Muslims to join Africa, before videos from Syria and Iraq praised fighting brothers in Africa.
In 2021, al-Naba has devoted 28 out of 52 issues to Africa, he said. Now, the majority of IS’s provinces, seven out of 13, are based on the continent.
Beyond recall of retired military personnel | Dailytrust
Penultimate Friday, two former chiefs of Defence Staff, Gen Martin Luther Agwai (rtd) and Admiral Ola Sa’ad Ibrahim (rtd), expressed support for the
recall of retired personnel to join in the fight against security challenges ravaging the country.
General Agwai stated that retired officers, having been trained at huge cost to the nation to defend its territorial integrity, cannot afford to stay aloof and watch the security situation degenerate.
Admiral Ibrahim, on his part, added that retired officers must deploy their knowledge in arms and combat both individually and collectively in the nation’s interest when called upon to do so.
Both former defence chiefs spoke at the Post-Career Awareness Seminar and Retirement Dinner organised by the 36 Regular Course of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) in Abuja.
Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, and the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Faruk Yahaya, had at several meetings with retired senior military officers, urged them to be on stand-by despite retirement as current and emerging security threats had made it inevitable that their services would still be required in certain aspects.
Cameroon’s Vigilante Group Receive Motorbikes To Boost Patrols Against Separatists – HumAngle Media
The elites of Babadjou, a town on the border between the Western Region of Cameroon and the restive English-speaking Northwest Region, have offered four motorcycles to the town’s vigilante committee to facilitate its members’ mobility in their fight against Anglophone separatists.
The separatists have been making incursions into the town and killing people while destroying properties and infrastructures.
“Henceforth, members of the vigilante committee can use the motorcycles to quickly rush to gendarmerie or police posts to alert the security forces on imminent incursions by the Anglophone separatists,” one of the donors of the motorbikes who did not want to be identified told HumAngle in Babadjou.
Since the onset of the Anglophone crisis five years ago, Vigilante committees have become essential knots in the fight against separatists as they serve as sentries and alert the administrative and security authorities on the activities of the separatists in their various localities
Zamfara Emir Confers Traditional Title On Terror Leader – HumAngle Media
Aliyu Garba Marafa, the first Emir of Yandoto in Zamfara State, Northwest Nigeria, has conferred on Ado Aleru (Alieru), a terror leader, the title of ‘Sarkin Fulanin ‘Yandoton Daji (King of Fulanis).
The event took place on July 16 at about 2:30 p.m. WAT at Yandoto Emirate Council’s chamber.
“I Aliyu Garba Marafa, the first Emir of Yandoto, do hereby confer and declare Ado Aleru as the new Sarkin Fulanin Yandoton Daji in accordance with the cultural requirements of the Emirate.
“Your appointment and subsequent turbaning today is in line with the demand for peace and reconciliation efforts highly needed for our people in our Emirate, Tsafe local government area, Zamfara State and Nigeria as a whole,” Emir Marafa declared.
Drone Sighted Before Deadly Ambush On Security Forces In Northeast Nigeria – HumAngle Media
A drone was observed over the position of counter insurgency forces before a fierce encounter on Monday, July 18, with Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) insurgents led to death of five members of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF), a government-backed militia in northeast Nigeria, according to sources familiar with the incident.
Residents of Gubio town, about 96km northwest of Maiduguri, the Borno state capital, woke up on Monday to the news of the ambush and the death of five group members, including the leader Bukar Mandama.
“It was sad for us when we woke up to the news this morning that Boko Haram killed our CJTF Chairman, Alhaji Mandama and other members in an ambush along the Gubio highway,” lamented the Chairman of the Gubio local government council, Bukar Sulum-Zowo.
The combined military and militia team were on an ambush operation against a group of insurgents sighted earlier by locals before encountering the insurgents on their way back to Gubio.
Humanitarian
25 Million Children Missed Out On Immunisation In 2021- Report – HumAngle Media
The World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have raised the alarm over a global decline in childhood vaccination in 2021, with 25 million children missing out on vital vaccines.
The WHO and UNICEF released official global vaccination data on Friday, July 15, showing that the COVID-19 pandemic caused the most significant drop in childhood vaccination in some 30 years.
The percentage of children who received three doses of diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (DPT3) vaccine decreased by five per cent between 2019 and 2021, reaching 81 per cent.
The DPT3 vaccine protects young children from all forms of respiratory diseases and other diseases considered a marker for vaccination at the national and international levels.
A new report has shown that international development projects in Nigeria, Kenya, and Bangladesh are increasing, while funding for projects targeting women’s economic empowerment has remained the same since 2015.
According to the findings by Publish What You Fund, the global campaign for aid and development transparency, projects aiming to improve income-earning among women, such as those supporting financial services and banking, received the least funding.
Despite limited funding, these projects are vital to improving gender equality, the report stressed.
The organisation tracked international and national funding for Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) in Nigeria.
