Somalia

As France prepares to withdraw its forces from Mali, the way may be open for talks between the Malian government and al-Qaeda-linked militants, a process that could bring the West African nation closer to peace. Mali, a landlocked nation of 21 million people, has fought to curb a brutal uprising that erupted in 2012, before spreading to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger. Thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed and 2 million people displaced by the Sahel-wide conflict, in which Mali is…

MOGADISHU (AXADLE) Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) and Somali Media Association (SOMA) deplore the brutal attack by the Turkish-trained Haramcad police force against journalists covering militant attacks in Mogadishu on Wednesday, February 16, 2022. Around 9am on Wednesday, a group of local journalists went to report car bombing and gunfire at several police stations and security checkpoints in Somalia's capital Mogadishu the night before. According to the journalists and the photos from the…

The growing inequality between vaccines around the world has affected the poorer countries the most, especially the African countries. In an attempt to bridge the gap, Germany's BioNTech, the developers of the first mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 together with Pfizer, announced plans to send mobile vaccine production units to Africa. "The question was, can we make the process compact enough to fit in a container," BioNTech CEO and co-founder Uğur Şahin told Agence France-Presse (AFP) when the company…

France and its allies in a European force announced on Thursday that they would begin withdrawing troops from Mali after nearly 10 years of fighting an extremist uprising. A statement signed by France and its African and European allies said that "several obstacles" from the ruling junta meant that the conditions were no longer in place to operate in Mali. The decision concerns both France's Barkhane force in the Sahel and the European force Takuba, which Paris had tried to create together with its…

Eleven years after the overthrow of dictator Moammar Gaddafi, Libya's transition process continues as Libyans find themselves with two prime ministers, a situation that threatens to unleash a new power struggle in the war-torn nation. Just weeks after national elections scheduled for December 24 were postponed indefinitely, the East-based parliament voted to appoint the influential former Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha to replace the Provisional Unity Government. Incumbent Prime Minister Abdul Hamid…

The appointment of a new prime minister before an official session of the Supreme Council is an "inappropriate move and does not help build trust between the two councils," Libya's president said in an early statement. Wednesday. The High Council of State (HCS) - a Tripoli-based body equivalent to a Senate - competes with the House of Representatives (HoR), based in the eastern city of Tobruk. The HoR this week "unanimously" approved former Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha to lead the government, a…

As the coronavirus pandemic is now in its second year, the growing inequality between vaccines remains a major stumbling block in the fight against covid-19. However, the European Union thinks differently. On Monday, the EU stood firm in its refusal to lift patent protection for covid-19 vaccines, just days before a summit with countries in the African Union that see the issue as a priority.Since October 2020, India and South Africa have been calling on the World Trade Organization (WTO) to temporarily…

Fathi Bashagha, who was recently appointed interim prime minister by Libya's Tobruk-based parliament to lead the country to elections last week, has launched talks to form a new government, he said in a video posted on Facebook on Sunday. In his statement, Bashagha said that he promised not to run as a candidate in the election and that he would transfer power through peaceful and constitutional means. He claimed that his initial talks with the military and security units were positive and that he had…

Leaders and revolutionaries of the force that supports the Libyan army on Saturday condemned the election of Fathi Bashagha as head of the new government, a move that risks triggering a new power struggle in the war-torn nation. In a statement read on Martyrs' Square in the capital Tripoli, they said that the support force condemned "the absurd situation that contradicts the results of the political dialogue forum and wants the country to enter a new transition phase." Decisions taken in the House of…

Libya's western-based upper house on Saturday defended a decision by lawmakers in the country's east to appoint a new prime minister as institutional chaos prevails. The High Council of State (HCS) - a Tripoli-based body equivalent to a senate - usually competes with the House of Representatives (HoR), based in the eastern city of Tobruk. The HoR this week "unanimously" approved former Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha to lead the government, a move that left Libya with two prime ministers and…