Somalia

The mass of Abidjan is coming to an end. On Saturday, March 12, the Art and Entertainment Market will close its doors. The last day of Masa is an opportunity for many spectators to express their views on…

MOGADISHU (AXADLE) Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) and Somali Media Association (SOMA) condemn the restrictions and blockade of independent media and journalists seeking to observe and report on the process of indirect elections in Somalia; and expresses serious concern at the repression and threats against journalists dealing with allegations of irregularities, harassment of candidates and looting of seats in Mogadishu and in the federal Member States. Journalists in Mogadishu, Hirshabelle,…

Libya's war - torn parliament rejected all "interference" in its work, its spokesman told UN envoy Stephanie Williams on Monday after she offered to mediate in an election press when the country was torn between two prime ministers. Williams had on Friday offered to host talks between the eastern legislator and the institutions in the western capital Tripoli in a push for far-delayed votes. She has also warned of an "escalation" after parliament appointed a new prime minister in an attempt to oust the…

On Monday, the UN's top official for Libya demanded that the production blockade at two oil fields, including the country's largest, be lifted, as the price of oil soared to more than $ 130 per barrel. Stephanie Williams, the UN's special adviser to Libya, said that blocking oil production from the Sharara and el-Feel fields "deprives all Libyans of their great source of income." "The oil blockade should be lifted," she said on Twitter. The closures have caused Libya's daily oil production to fall by…

Libya's interim prime minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah has called on his government to continue working in the midst of the eastern parliament's decision to appoint Fathi Bashagha as prime minister. Dbeibah told ministers they should ignore rumors circulating on social media and reiterated the idea that he will only hand over power to a government through elections. He referred to the government of the East-based parliament led by Bashagha as a parallel structure. "The National Unity Government is still…

In tonight's edition: About 600 Nigerian students return home after being evacuated from Romania and Poland. They had studied in Ukraine until the Russian invasion. Many recount the difficulties they faced in leaving the country due to discrimination at the…

UN envoy Stephanie Williams on Friday offered to mediate between political rivals in Libya as two rival governments claim power after tentative steps towards unity over the past year. Williams, the UN Special Adviser in Libya, invited lawmakers to appoint 12 members to a committee to work to overcome the political stalemate. "The solution to Libya's crisis is not to form rival administrations and perennial transitions," Williams tweeted. "Libyans must agree on a consensual path forward that…

The UN expressed concern on Thursday after Libya's eastern parliament voted to install a government that replaces the unity government, a move that threatens to create violence between the two sides and return to the territorial division. An e-mail from the UN Secretary-General's spokesman said that there were reports that the vote did not meet the standards of transparency and procedure and that there were intimidation acts before the session. The UN is instead focused on renewing its aspirations…

As global plastic waste has increased many times over the past decade, Africa has gradually become the world's dumping ground for discarded plastic. To address the growing plastic waste problem, UN members will next week hold a three-day meeting on the earth's environmental problems. From Antananarivo to Dakar via Nairobi and Conakry, African cities are scarred by huge landfills where plastic waste is measured in thousands of tonnes. The landfill is foul-smelling and dangerous and emits smoke and…

Large parts of the country, stretching from southern Ethiopia to northern Kenya and Somalia, are in the grip of a severe drought that has left 13 million people hungry. Everywhere in these regions, where people support themselves mainly on agro-pastoral activities, the three rainy periods since the end of 2020 have been characterized by low rainfall, exacerbated by a grasshopper invasion that devastated the harvests between 2019 and 2021. "Hornet's population makes up only 4% of the global population,…