North Africa

Firefighters, troops and civilian volunteers fought fires in forests in northern Algeria on Wednesday when the country killed at least 65 people in the latest forest fires that hit the Mediterranean. Soldiers deployed to support the overcrowded rescue services are fighting the outbreak of more than 50 fires that broke out on Tuesday and accounted for 28 of those killed, state television reported. Authorities say they suspect widespread arson after so many fires broke out in such a short time. They…

Sudan will hand over longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir to the International Criminal Court along with other officials called for the Darfur conflict, Foreign Minister Mariam al-Mahdi said on Wednesday. "The Cabinet decided to hand over wanted officials to the ICC," Mahdi was quoted as saying by state media. Bashir, who ruled Sudan with an iron fist for three decades before being ousted from popular protests in 2019, is charged with genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. The UN says 300,000 people…

A tablet provided by a mercenary for the Russian Wagner group in Libya provides evidence of the mercenaries' involvement in mining and booby trapping of civilian areas and other possible war crimes, BBC News reported on Wednesday. The investigation, mostly conducted through evidence from the tablet's contents, has revealed the extent of operations by the shadowy Russian mercenary group in Libya's civil war, which include links to war crimes and the Russian military. As the BBC reported, they also managed to gain rare…

In a celebration marking the 81st anniversary of the establishment of the Libyan army, with an unmistakable reference to an unsuccessful attack from April 2019 on the capital Tripoli by the Putis general Khalifa Haftar's militia, Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Mohammed Dbeibah said on Tuesday that national armies are to protect their capitals, not storm them. "Capitals are precious pearls, and armies were founded to protect them, not to storm them, terrorize their people and destroy their property,…

As forest fires blown by windy temperatures and dry-dry conditions flame through Algeria's Kabylie region, the death toll has risen further. At least 65 people, including 25 soldiers, have died in fires that broke out east of the Algerian capital Algiers, state television reported on Wednesday. Prime Minister Ayman Benabderrahmane had previously revealed that the death toll was 42 on Tuesday. He also told state television that the government had asked for help from the international community and was…

Sudan said on Sunday it had ordered its envoy to Ethiopia's home for consultation after a government spokesman in Addis Ababa rejected a Sudanese initiative to mediate a ceasefire in the Tigray War, accusing it of occupying Ethiopian territory. The move announced in a statement from the Foreign Ministry was the latest sign of deteriorating relations between the African neighbors. Tensions began after Sudan deployed troops to the fertile border area of ​​Al-Fashaga at the end of last year, which it says…

Libyan authorities unearthed 10 bodies from a mass grave in the city of Tarhuna, south of the capital Tripoli, reported on Sunday. The mass grave was discovered on Saturday in a large agricultural area called Mashrou 'Alrabet in the city, Lutfi Tawfiq, head of the General Authority for Research and Identification of Missing Persons, told Anadolu Agency (AA). He said the tomb is the second to be discovered in the city in the last ten days. In March, the authority said it had lists of 3,650 missing…

On Tuesday, the East African country of Sudan took the first step towards joining the International Criminal Court. The country's cabinet's decision to join the Rome Statute is a step forward in the long-awaited trial of suspected war crimes and genocide suspects in the Darfur conflict, including former President Omar al-Bashir. However, the bill still needs to be ratified by a joint meeting of Sudan's sovereign council and cabinet. Together they function as an interim parliament. The Cabinet did not…

Khalid al-Mishri was re-elected chairman of Libya's top government for a four-year term on Tuesday. Al-Mishri won 73 of the 128 votes in the vote in the capital, Tripoli, Council spokesman Mohamed Nasser told Anadolu Agency (AA). He noted that al-Mishri's victory came "during the second ballot" in which he defeated his rival Salah Mito. Saeed Kula also ran for the position in the first round but received the least number of votes, forcing him out of the second round. Following his re-election,…

Tunisia's parliamentary speaker Rached Ghannouchi was discharged from hospital after undergoing medical checks, his party in Ennahdha said in a statement on Sunday. The party said Ghannouchi was admitted to hospital on Saturday after feeling unwell. Ghannouchi "left the hospital after undergoing medical check-ups and receiving treatment," the statement said. His adviser, Maher Medhioub, also confirmed on Twitter that Parliament's speakers were in good health, but gave no further details. Last month,…