Eye on Africa

Nigeria became independent from Britain on October 1, 1960, and today has Africa's largest economy. FRANCE 24's Nicolas Germain looks at how the newly independent state was soon entangled in a devastating civil war in the eastern Biafra region that would claim nearly two million lives. Africa's most populous nation became…

MOGADISHU, Somalia - A female suicide bomber killed a senior intelligence official after blowing herself up in Mogadishu early Thursday, a police officer said in an attack attributed to al-Shabaab jihadists. The woman detonated a bomb strapped to her waist at the Black Sea Crossing aimed at commonly dressed agents working for the National Intelligence and Security Agency and killed the secret unit commander. Giant smoke birds rippled from the area as ambulances rushed the injured to a nearby hospital for medical…

This report documents the responsibility of the Security Forces to suppress demonstrations against constitutional reforms. Movements that have killed at least 50 people a year, according to Amnesty International, which shows a number of killings of protesters and arbitrary arrests. This study focuses in particular on the demonstrations that took place in March last year, on the sidelines of the legislative and referendum polls in March last year. According to Amnesty, defense and security forces used firearms illegally in…

MOGADISHU, Somalia - The race to expand the democratization space in Somalia was markedly strengthened on Wednesday following the recent launch of a political party that would allow people to express their wishes and interests as planned in the country's interim constitution. Somalia has struggled to install discipline in its key institutions for three decades after Siad Barre's ouster, but recent developments give at least a glimmer of hope to a country also bedeviled with clan clashes and the Al-Shabaab threat. .…

The month of October has arrived with a series of news for the Afro Club, whose hit of turntables consists this week of Nutty O, Vegedream & Tayc, P. James, Mr. Leo, AliKiba, Wizkid & HERE and finally Yaknou. In Nigeria, Wizkid explodes the counters with the single Smile as a prelude to his album Made in Lagos. It is on September 16 that Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun alias Wizkid set fire to the net by announcing the upcoming arrival of his new album Made In Lagos. Previously expected until July 16, Wizkid suffered a…

Ten years ago today, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights published his "Mapping" report on the most serious crimes committed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) between 1993 and 2003. This unprecedented investigation was to put an end to more than a decade of impunity and had in one year registered 617 war crimes, crimes against humanity and possible genocide crimes. But since then, none of these crimes have been tried, and its recommendations remain a dead letter condemned by more and more voices in the Congo,…

The institutional crisis has run a little deeper in Côte d'Ivoire with the decision of the second deputy chair of the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI), Alain Dogou, of the FPI, to suspend its activities within the central body of the institution. It is the same for Yapi Yapo Daudet (LMP, League for the Movement for Progress), representative of the opposition within the CEI Central Commission. It's a new battle for CEI who sees its legitimacy crumble even more and its function seizes upon. Of the four seats allocated…

Having verified that no action has been taken by the investigating judge, in the sense of extending their mandate, the law is clear in the case, we can not detain defendants, citizens, without any legal title or judicial. Therefore, we issued a press release, which certainly got their statutory release. However, we can say that we are half satisfied, because today our customers are free from their movements, but on the other hand, what is to be regretted is not necessary in a state governed by the rule of law, in a…

MOGADISHU, Somalia - The United Kingdom joined other international partners to welcome Mohamed Hussein Roble's endorsement of Somalia's new Prime Minister of the country's parliament last week. Roble, a Swedish-educated engineer, worked with the International Labor Organization in Nairobi for years before his surprising appointment. He was not a politician, but is said to have broad international relations that can help the country restore its long-lost stability. He replaced Hassan Ali Khaire, a man who had…

The presidential campaign on October 18 opened two weeks ago amid a climate of concern after months of tension caused by the inclusion of the established Alpha Condé for a controversial third term. In Labé then in Dalaba, the convoy of the Prime Minister, campaign director of Condé, Kassory Fofana, was thrown from stone, the government said in a statement. What the UFDG, the main opposition party for Cellou Dalein Diallo, denies. Right in his shoes, Security Minister Albert Damantang Camara says the procession of Prime…