Somalia

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…

Thousands of anti-government protesters took to the streets of Algeria's capital on Friday as the Hirak movement regained momentum after a year-long hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic. Despite a ban on gatherings over COVID-19, crowds gathered in several districts of Algiers in the early afternoon and marched towards the city center, say journalists from Agence France-Presse (AFP). "It's amazing. It's like the big Friday Hirak is protesting," a protester said. Also known as the Revolution of…

Eritrean soldiers fighting across the border in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region killed hundreds of people in a massacre last year in a likely crime against humanity, Amnesty International said on Friday. The rights guard spoke to survivors of the atrocities and used satellite images to bring together the bloody events of November last year in the ancient city of Axum in a new report. "The evidence is convincing and points to an incredible conclusion. Ethiopian and Eritrean troops committed several…

The storm in February is unforgivable and violently shakes humanitarian rescue ships as they try to revive a faulty engine and rescue African migrants drifting in the Mediterranean after fleeing Libya on unsafe boats. Not only must the brave 70 km / h winds and 4 meter (13 foot) waves, but also win the race against the Libyan Coast Guard, which has been trained and equipped by Europe to keep migrants away from its shores. In recent days, Libyans had already countered eight rescue attempts by the Open…

Kenya is battling some of the worst grasshoppers in decades, but start The Bug Picture hopes to turn pests into profits and give "hope to the hopeless" who ...

An Italian Carabinieri unit is expected in Congo on Tuesday to investigate the murder of the Italian ambassador to Congo, a Carabinieri officer and their driver in the country's troubled east. Congolese authorities and members of the UN mission in Congo are also expected in Goma, in eastern Congo, to investigate the killings. Luca Attanasio, the Congolese ambassador since 2017, Carabinieri officer Vittorio Iacovacci and their driver Moustapha Milambo were killed in an ambush on Monday as their world…