Somalia

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Thursday that her office had confirmed serious violations that could constitute "war crimes and crimes against humanity" in Ethiopia's Tigray region, including by Eritrean troops. In a statement, Michelle Bachelet stressed the urgent need for an independent inquiry into the situation in Tigray, which has been shaken by months of fighting. Her office had "managed to confirm information about some of the events that occurred in November last year,…

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) says at least 20 migrants have been killed after smugglers threw 80 overboard during a trip from Djibouti in East Africa to Yemen. A statement said that "smugglers started shouting that there were too many on board" after the boat with 200 migrants, including children under 18, got off on Wednesday. IOM says five bodies have been recovered and survivors are being treated in Djibouti. This has happened in the past when thousands of migrants continue to…

More African countries received the long-awaited first deliveries of COVID-19 vaccines on Wednesday, with Kenya and Rwanda benefiting from the global COVAX initiative aimed at securing doses for the world's low- and middle-income countries. African and other health officials have been frustrated by the sight of a handful of rich countries rolling out vaccines after taking large quantities for themselves. "We will be known as the continent COVID" if Africa does not quickly reach its goal of vaccinating…

Libya's newly elected interim government on Tuesday called on UN experts to publish a report accusing them of buying votes during world - led peace talks. A UN panel had in a confidential report, seen by Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Sunday, stated that at least three participants were offered bribes of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The administration of the caretaker Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah on Tuesday issued a statement demanding that UN experts "publish their report on allegations of…

Extremists, government forces and a "private militia" supporting authority have indiscriminately killed hundreds of civilians in Mozambique's troubled northeastern region, Amnesty International said in a report on Tuesday. Violence perpetrated by armed Islamists in the gas-rich province of Cabo Delgado has left at least 2,600 people dead since 2017, about half of them civilians, according to a non-governmental organization called Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED), Agence France- Press (AFP)…

A British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) journalist was arrested by the Ethiopian military in the Tigray region, the British broadcaster said on Monday. The BBC quoted witnesses who saw Girmay Gebru imprisoned by soldiers in military uniform in the regional capital Mekelle. The public broadcaster said it had expressed concern about Ethiopian authorities. The Financial Times reported that a translator working for the newspaper and another working for the Agence France-Presse (AFP) were also arrested by…

Nearly 300 girls, who were abducted from a boarding school in the northwestern Nigerian state of Zamfara on Friday, have been released by gunmen, the governor said in a tweet on Tuesday. An armed gang had abducted the girls from the GGSS school (Government Girls Science Secondary) in the city of Jangebe. A rescue operation was underway to get the girls back to safety. A teacher at GGSS, who asked to remain anonymous, had said that the attack occurred around 1 o'clock (12 GMT) but did not provide…

At least three participants were bribed to vote for the newly elected caretaker Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah at UN-led peace talks in Libya, experts from the world body found in a report to the Security Council, seen by Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Sunday. Dbeibah was selected earlier this month during Libya's Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF), which began in Tunisia in November, the UN's latest attempt to save the country from a decade of conflict and fragmentation. In a report to be submitted to…

Pro-independent rebels fighting Morocco for Western Sahara said on Saturday that the UN was responsible for "political stalemate" over the disputed territory, on the 45th anniversary of their unilateral declaration of independence. The Algeria-backed Polisario Front controls about one-fifth of Western Sahara's large, arid territory and demands a promised UN-led referendum on self-determination. Morocco has offered autonomy but claims that the territory is a sovereign part of the empire. "We call on…

Security forces continue to search for 317 girls who were abducted on Friday, just a day before an armed gang released 27 teenage boys who had been abducted from their school in the northern state of Niger last week. Schools have become the target of mass kidnappings of rapists in northern Nigeria by armed groups, many of whom carry weapons and bicycles. On February 17, gunmen killed a boy and kidnapped 42 people - 27 students, three employees and 12 members of their families - in an attack on the…