Day: July 13, 2022

Ivory Coast released a written statement demanding the immediate release of 49 soldiers arrested at Bamako’s airport Sunday, claiming they were “unjustly arrested.” Mali’s military government has called the soldiers “mercenaries.”

The Ivorian statement also denied allegations by Mali’s military government that the soldiers were armed and arrived in Mali without authorization, and said both Mali’s minister of foreign affairs and the Malian army’s chief of staff received copies of the soldiers’ mission order.

Both the U.N. mission in Mali and the Ivorian government’s statement have said that the soldiers were sent to Mali as support for a U.N. Mission contingent.

The U.N. mission in Mali, MINUSMA, recently renewed its mandate, with Mali’s U.N. representative voicing the government’s refusal to allow the U.N. to carry out human rights investigations during a June 29 Security Council meeting.

The U.N. has carried out a number of human rights investigations in Mali in recent years, including events that implicate the French army as well as Islamist militants. The U.N. sought access to the town of Moura in Mali, which was the sight of what many witnesses said was a massacre by the Malian army working with Russian mercenaries. Witnesses say the alleged massacre was carried out over five days.

The Malian government has continually denied access to the town of Moura, saying the government itself would carry out an investigation.

The regional bloc, the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, which includes neighbor Ivory Coast, sanctioned Mali in January over delayed elections but lifted sanctions this month after the government proposed a 2024 election plan.

Source: Voice of America

Authorities in South Africa have arrested the owner of a bar and two employees in connection with the deaths of 21 teenagers, who lost their lives at a tavern last month under mysterious circumstances. Vicky Stark reports from Cape Town, South Africa.

A team of detectives working on the case made the arrests.

Officials say the three suspects face charges of violating the liquor act, while a forensic investigation into the cause of the deaths continues.

The two employees, ages 33 and 34, have been fined $118, while the owner must appear in court for his alleged role in selling alcohol to minors.

The 21 youths, the youngest of whom was just 13 years old, died in the early hours of Sunday, June 26. Some had been celebrating the end of mid-year exams. There is speculation they ingested something poisonous or were the victims of a gas leak.

Others at the tavern made it to a hospital, where they were treated for headaches and vomiting and discharged after observation.

Police have appealed for patience as the investigation continues.

The 52-year-old bar owner will appear in the East London Magistrate’s Court in Eastern Cape Province on August 19.

Source: Voice of America

Tunisian opposition lawmakers are in Paris to lobby against a controversial constitutional referendum taking place later this month, which they argue risks plunging the fragile Arab Spring democracy back into dictatorship.

For years, Tunisia’s bickering parties delivered gridlock in parliament and mounting public anger. So today, it’s strange to see onetime political foes here in Paris, united against one man — Tunisian President Kais Saied — and his new draft constitution.

“The international community hasn’t to recognize the Saied process in Tunisia because it’s not a legitimate process…,” said Makhloufi.

Sofiane Makhloufi is a member of parliament from Tunisia’s Tayyar party — which once supported Kais Saied. That was before Tunisia’s president dismissed his government, suspended parliament and seized wide-ranging powers in July 2021.

Now, President Saied wants Tunisians to vote on a new draft constitution in a July 25 referendum. The United States and European Union have called for an inclusive democratic process—one, critics say, that guided Tunisia’s last 2014 constitution, but not this one. Even the legal expert behind the new charter has disavowed it, saying it’s not what his committee originally drafted.

“He didn’t respect the (2014) constitution (but) he has been elected by the constitution. I think everybody in the world, and Tunisians, must not recognize the legitimacy Saied is (trying to get) for himself,” said Makhloufi.

In April, Makhloufi’s Tayyar and four other opposition parties formed a new opposition alliance, the National Salvation Front. It’s calling on Tunisians to boycott the referendum.

The opposition alliance includes the Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party, that retains fading but still sizable popular support. Ridha Driss is advisor to Ennahdha’s leader Rached Ghannouchi. He warns President Saied is bent on one-man rule and will ensure the constitution is passed, one way or another.

Also, part of the alliance is Ennahdha’s once-staunch enemy, the Qalb Tounes, or “Heart of Tunisia” party. Lawmaker Oussama Khlifi says his party is calling for national unity, as the only way to save Tunisia.

The tiny, North African country has faced a rocky ride toward democracy since its 2011 revolution that kicked off the wider Arab Spring revolt. Tunisia’s economy has stumbled, and politics have been marred by paralysis and corruption.

Many Tunisians hailed Saied’s unlikely presidential win in 2019. They cheered when the former law professor seized wide-ranging powers last year. But today, public support is fading and disenchantment growing as the country battles a mounting economic crisis. Experts predict low voter turnout for this upcoming referendum.

For his part, President Saied denies authoritarian goals and says he’s committed to political freedoms. He sees this new draft constitution, which among other things, strengthens presidential powers and waters down legislative ones, as correcting a dysfunctional system.

If the constitution is passed, the opposition fears more unrest and troubled times for Tunisia in the weeks and months ahead.

Source: Voice of America

Authorities in Togo are working to prevent their small, West African nation from becoming the next country in the region to struggle with a violent, spreading, Islamist insurgency.

Saturday’s deadly explosion could mark a turning point if it’s confirmed that the seven minors killed were the first civilian casualties in the conflict.

Togo’s military did not immediately confirm the cause but local media reported the victims were killed when an improvised explosive device went off.

In June, Togo declared a state of emergency in its northern Savanes Region after Islamist militants attacked near the border with Burkina Faso in May, killing eight troops and wounding 13.

They were the first recorded deaths from terrorism in Togo, a country of 8 million people wedged between Ghana and Benin on the West African coast.

An al-Qaida-affiliated group fighting in Burkina Faso and Mali claimed responsibility for the attack.

Recruiting

But Togo authorities are also concerned that Islamists are recruiting disaffected youth for domestic terrorism and have formed the Inter-ministerial Committee for the Prevention and Fight Against Violent Extremism (CIPLEV).

Ouro-Bossi Tchacondoh, the committee’s rapporteur, said the group exists to capitalize on the thoughts and requests of the local population. He said it centralizes information and sends it to a committee of ministries that analyzes it and delivers its conclusions to the government. He said his group aims to find and study the vulnerabilities that can attract citizens or, more specifically, young people to violent extremism.

While there are no confirmed reports of Togolese being recruited by insurgents, analysts say dealing with the emergence of terrorism means going beyond security operations.

Michel Douti, an independent security expert working with Togo’s committee against extremism, said Togolese security forces have the men and the women necessary for the fight against violent extremism. But no country in the world is immune to this phenomenon, Douti said. More important, he said, is the collaboration between security forces and the local population.

Aid groups, including religious ones, are also looking at ways to prevent Togolese youth from being recruited.

Initiatives for youths

Stanislas Namitchougli, who is with the Episcopal Council for Peace and Justice in Dapaong, northern Togo, said the council has initiatives that help young people avoid being influenced by extremist groups. He said they are working with the U.S.-based Catholic Relief Services on a study that shows how youth might join these groups because of lack of jobs or education.

Namitchougli said they are also trying to build some basic infrastructure like markets and schools to give economic opportunities to youth considered prone to violent extremism.

Security experts on Africa’s Sahel region note that Islamist violence has been spreading, despite security crackdowns, including by neighboring military governments in Burkina Faso and Mali.

Jeannine Ella Abatan, a researcher on violent extremism and security in the Sahel at the Dakar office of the Institute for Security Studies, said, “This already shows the capacity of violent extremist groups to actually stage attacks in those countries to instrumentalize the porosity of borders to go to those countries but also pose explosive devices.

“In Benin we have a number of attacks with improvised explosive devices. But beyond these attacks, at the ISS, what we’ve been doing is actually to look at the extension of violent extremism beyond what we see as attacks, because for us that is only the tip of the iceberg.”

The Togolese government is also working with Western partners and Gulf states to train their military and fund projects to help locals.

Source: Voice of America