Tag Archives: WAFR

World

West African regional bloc suspends Guinea after coup

Leave a comment

CONAKRY, Sept 8 (Reuters) – West Africa’s main political and economic bloc suspended Guinea’s membership on Wednesday following a weekend military coup that ousted President Alpha Conde and dealt the latest in a flurry of setbacks to democracy in the region.

During a virtual summit, leaders from the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) demanded a return to the constitutional order and Conde’s immediate release, and also agreed to send a high-level mission to Guinea as soon as Thursday, said Burkina Faso’s Foreign Minister Alpha Barry.

“At the end of that mission, ECOWAS should be able to re-examine its position,” Barry told reporters.

He did not announce any immediate economic sanctions against Guinea, as ECOWAS imposed against Mali following a coup there in August 2020.

Some experts say ECOWAS’s leverage with Guinea could be limited, in part because the country is not a member of the West African currency union and not landlocked like Mali.

The economic bloc’s response is being closely watched amid criticism from pro-democracy advocates that it has not stood up robustly enough in recent months against democratic backsliding in West Africa.

ECOWAS remained silent last year as Conde and Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara sought third terms after changing constitutions that would have forced them to step down, moves denounced as illegal by their opponents.

Activists say this has contributed to West Africans’ loss of faith in democracy and made military coups more likely.

Mali’s military staged a second coup in May this year. ECOWAS said on Tuesday it was concerned transitional authorities there had not made sufficient progress toward organising elections next February as promised. read more

Special forces members take position during an uprising that led to the toppling of president Alpha Conde in Kaloum neighbourhood of Conakry, Guinea September 5, 2021. REUTERS/Saliou Samb

Read More

PRISONER RELEASES

Guinea’s coup leader, Mamady Doumbouya, a former French legionnaire, has pledged to install a unified, transitional government but has not said when or how that will happen.

In an apparent gesture to Conde’s civilian opponents, at least 80 political prisoners detained by the president were released on Tuesday evening, many of whom had campaigned against his constitutional change.

Doumbouya also met the heads of Guinea’s various military branches for the first time on Tuesday, hoping to unify the country’s armed forces under the junta’s command.

Guinea’s main opposition leader, Cellou Dalein Diallo, who finished runner-up to Conde in three successive elections, told Reuters on Tuesday he would be open to participating in a transition back to constitutional governance.

In a statement on Tuesday evening, Conde’s party said it “noted the advent of new authorities at the head of the country” and called for the president’s swift and unconditional release.

Since the putsch, life in the streets of Conakry appears to have returned to normal, with some military checkpoints removed.

Fears that the power struggle could hinder Guinea’s production of bauxite, a mineral used to make aluminium, have begun to ease. The country’s largest foreign operators say they have continued to operate without interruption.

Aluminium hit a fresh 10-year high on Monday after news broke of unrest in Guinea, which holds the world’s largest bauxite reserves. Doumbouya has pledged that mining will continue unhindered.

Additional reporting by Christian Akorlie in Accra; Writing by Cooper Inveen and Aaron Ross, Editing by Hereward Holland, Timothy Heritage and Gareth Jones

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Read original article here

World

Guinea military consolidates takeover, opposition leader signals openness to transition

Leave a comment

CONAKRY, Sept 7 (Reuters) – Guinea’s main opposition leader said on Tuesday he was open to participating in a transition following a military coup over the weekend, as the soldiers who seized power consolidated their takeover.

West African countries have threatened sanctions following the overthrow of President Alpha Conde, who was serving a third term after altering the constitution to permit it.

His opponents said the change was illegal and frustration boiled over into deadly protests last year. Eighty political prisoners detained by Conde’s government, including a number who had campaigned against his third term, were released on Tuesday evening, said Hamidou Barry of the Guinean Organisation of Human Rights.

Regional leaders will meet to discuss Guinea on Wednesday – not Thursday, as suggested in a previous staff memo.

Coup leader Mamady Doumbouya, a former officer in the French Foreign Legion, has promised a transitional government of national unity and a “new era for governance and economic development”. But he has not yet explained exactly what this will entail, or given a timeframe.

Guinea’s main opposition leader, Cellou Dalein Diallo, told Reuters on Tuesday he had not yet been consulted about the transition but was ready to participate.

“We would send representatives, why not, to participate in the process to bring the country back to constitutional order,” said Diallo, a former prime minister who finished runner-up to Conde in three successive elections, most recently last October.

Sunday’s uprising, in which Conde and other top politicians were detained or barred from travelling, is the third since April in West and Central Africa, raising concerns about a slide back to military rule in a region that had made strides towards multi-party democracy since the 1990s.

Conakry was calm for a second day after the putsch, with some military checkpoints removed. Traffic was normal on Tuesday in the capital’s administrative centre, the Kaloum peninsula.

Special forces members take position during an uprising that led to the toppling of president Alpha Conde in Kaloum neighbourhood of Conakry, Guinea September 5, 2021. REUTERS/Saliou Samb/File Photo

Read More

Moving to consolidate their power, the soldiers that led the coup have installed army officers at the top of Guinea’s eight regions and various administrative districts.

BAUXITE

The coup raised concerns about supplies of bauxite, the main aluminium ore, from Guinea, a leading producer.

The benchmark aluminium contract on the London Metal Exchange remained near a 10-year high on Monday.

However, mines have not reported any disruption. State-run Chinese aluminium producer Chalco’s (601600.SS), bauxite project in Guinea said it was operating normally.

The Australian-listed bauxite and gold exploration firms Lindian Resources (LIN.AX) and Polymetals Resources (POL.AX) also said on Tuesday that their activities were unaffected.

The Kremlin said it was closely following the political situation and that it hoped Russian business interests, which include three major bauxite mines and one alumina refinery, would not suffer.

During his decade in power, Conde steered Guinea through economic growth, but unemployment remained high.

Surveys by Afrobarometer suggest the majority of Guineans think the level of corruption has increased, while dissatisfaction with the economy and personal living conditions has also risen.

Diallo said corruption became endemic under Conde.

“An elite that enriched themselves in an insolent way, while poverty was rising and the country’s infrastructure was crumbling. There was also a general malaise in the country,” he said.

Additional reporting by Hereward Holland and Bate Felix
Editing by Kevin Liffey and Grant McCool

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Read original article here

Technology

Policy groups ask Apple to drop plans to inspect iMessages, scan for abuse images

Leave a comment

Aug 19 (Reuters) – More than 90 policy and rights groups around the world published an open letter on Thursday urging Apple (AAPL.O) to abandon plans for scanning children’s messages for nudity and the phones of adults for images of child sex abuse.

“Though these capabilities are intended to protect children and to reduce the spread of child sexual abuse material, we are concerned that they will be used to censor protected speech, threaten the privacy and security of people around the world, and have disastrous consequences for many children,” the groups wrote in the letter, which was first reported by Reuters.

The largest campaign to date over an encryption issue at a single company was organized by the U.S.-based nonprofit Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT).

Some overseas signatories in particular are worried about the impact of the changes in nations with different legal systems, including some already hosting heated fights over encryption and privacy.

“It’s so disappointing and upsetting that Apple is doing this, because they have been a staunch ally in defending encryption in the past,” said Sharon Bradford Franklin, co-director of CDT’s Security & Surveillance Project.

An Apple spokesman said the company had addressed privacy and security concerns in a document Friday outlining why the complex architecture of the scanning software should resist attempts to subvert it.

Those signing included multiple groups in Brazil, where courts have repeatedly blocked Facebook’s (FB.O) WhatsApp for failing to decrypt messages in criminal probes, and the senate has passed a bill that would require traceability of messages, which would require somehow marking their content. A similar law was passed in India this year.

“Our main concern is the consequence of this mechanism, how this could be extended to other situations and other companies,” said Flavio Wagner, president of the independent Brazil chapter of the Internet Society, which signed. “This represents a serious weakening of encryption.”

Other signers were in India, Mexico, Germany, Argentina, Ghana and Tanzania.

Surprised by the earlier outcry following its announcement two weeks ago, Apple has offered a series of explanations and documents to argue that the risks of false detections are low.

Apple said it would refuse demands to expand the image-detection system beyond pictures of children flagged by clearinghouses in multiple jurisdictions, though it has not said it would pull out of a market rather than obeying a court order.

Though most of the objections so far have been over device-scanning, the coalition’s letter also faults a change to iMessage in family accounts, which would try to identify and blur nudity in children’s messages, letting them view it only if parents are notified.

The signers said the step could endanger children in intolerant homes or those seeking educational material. More broadly, they said the change will break end-to-end encryption for iMessage, which Apple has staunchly defended in other contexts.

“Once this backdoor feature is built in, governments could compel Apple to extend notification to other accounts, and to detect images that are objectionable for reasons other than being sexually explicit,” the letter says.

Other groups that signed include the American Civil Liberties Union, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Access Now, Privacy International, and the Tor Project.

Reporting by Joseph Menn; Editing by Edwina Gibbs

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Read original article here

World

Nigeria says killing of Muslim travellers was ‘prearranged’

Leave a comment

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari.
Ludovic Marin/Pool via REUTERS

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria Aug 15 (Reuters) – The killing of 23 people returning from a Muslim festival in Nigeria was a premeditated ambush for which suspects have already been arrested, authorities said on Sunday.

Deadly violence is common around Africa’s most populous nation, with roads becoming particularly dangerous as armed attackers and kidnappers target travellers. read more

In a statement, President Muhammadu Buhari condemned Saturday’s ambush in central Plateau state of buses returning from a religious festival in nearby Bauchi state. read more

Though details of the attack in state capital Jos were unclear, some media suggested a Christian militia was to blame.

“It is clear this was a well-conceived and prearranged assault on a known target, location and religious persuasion of the travellers, not an opportunist ambush,” Buhari said.

“A direct, brazen and wickedly motivated attack on members of a community exercising their rights to travel freely and to follow the faith of their choosing.”

Plateau state governor Simon Lalong said security agencies had arrested 20 suspects and imposed a 6 a.m.-6 p.m. curfew in the area due to fear of reprisals.

“This is purely a criminal conduct and should not be given any ethnic or religious colouration,” he said.

Nigeria has been plagued by violence in recent years: conflicts between farmers and cattle herders have killed thousands, while a 12-year war against Islamist militants has led to an estimated 350,000 deaths. read more

Reporting by Maiduguri newsroom and Tife Owolabi in Yenagoa, writing by Libby George, editing by Andrew Cawthorne

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Read original article here

World

Second Nigerian “Chibok girl” freed in a week seven years after abduction

Leave a comment

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria Aug 14 (Reuters) – A second young woman abducted seven years ago from the town of Chibok by Boko Haram militants was freed this week, Borno state’s governor said on Saturday.

The kidnappings of some 270 teenagers in the northeastern town in 2014 sparked an international outcry and a viral campaign on social media with the hashtag #bringbackourgirls.

The army handed over Hassana Adamu, along with her two children, to Governor Babagana Zulum on Saturday, one week after his office announced that another of the victims had been freed and reunited with her parents. read more

Adamu, like the other of the recently freed “Chibok girl”, as the victims became known, “presented herself to the Nigerian army”, the governor’s office said.

Photos shared by his office showed a shell-shocked looking young woman, in a pink striped hijab, speaking to the governor with her two small children, flanked by military officers.

Eighty two of the victims were freed in 2017 after mediation, adding to 24 who were released or found. A few others have escaped or been rescued, but just over 110 remain missing.

Earlier this week, the army said that more than 1,000 Boko Haram members and their families had recently surrendered “due to the intense pressure from troops’ sustained offensive actions”.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau died in May following a battle with rival Islamist group Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). read more

ISWAP, the regional affiliate of Islamic State, has since sought to absorb Shekau’s fighters and unify the groups which during Shekau’s tenure fought one another for control of territory in northeast Nigeria and around Lake Chad.

Reporting by Maiduguri newsroom; Writing by Libby George;
Editing by Alison Williams

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Read original article here

World

Britain sanctions Venezuelan President Maduro’s envoy Saab

Leave a comment

LONDON, July 22 (Reuters) – Britain on Thursday sanctioned one of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s envoys, Alex Saab, in connection with an allegedly corrupt deal to obtain supplies for Maduro’s government-run food subsidy programme.

Saab, a Colombian national, is currently detained in Cape Verde facing extradition to the United States, which accuses him of helping Maduro’s government skirt U.S. sanctions imposed in 2019. read more

Britain said Saab had been sanctioned along with his associate Alvaro Pulido for exploiting two of Venezuela’s public programmes which were set up to supply poor Venezuelans with affordable foodstuffs and housing.

“They benefited from improperly awarded contracts, where promised goods were delivered at highly inflated prices,” the UK Foreign Office said in a statement. “Their actions caused further suffering to already poverty stricken Venezuelans, for their own private enrichment.”

Saab’s lawyers could not immediately be contacted but have previously called the U.S. charges “politically motivated.”

Venezuela’s foreign ministry responded in a statement that Britain was presenting itself as an “anti-corruption judge for the world, while acting as one of the main responsible parties for the theft of assets belonging to all Venezuelans.”

That was a reference to the Bank of England’s refusal to hand over nearly $1 billion in gold to Maduro’s government due to a dispute over whether the gold should go to opposition leader Juan Guaido, who Britain recognises as Venezuela’s legitimate president. read more

Saab was arrested last June in Cape Verde after Interpol issued a so-called red notice.

At the time of his arrest, Saab was en route to Iran to negotiate shipments of fuel and humanitarian supplies to Venezuela, his lawyers previously told Reuters. His plane had stopped in the archipelago nation off the coast of West Africa to refuel.

Also on Thursday Britain sanctioned Teodoro Obiang Mangue, the son of Equatorial Guinea’s president, for misappropriating millions of dollars which London said was spent on luxury mansions, private jets and a $275,000 glove worn by Michael Jackson. read more

Additional reporting by Brian Ellsworth in Caracas; Editing by William Maclean and Chris Reese

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Read original article here