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Chad Election 2024: What to Know
  + stars: | 2024-04-30 | by ( Ruth Maclean | ) www.nytimes.com   time to read: +1 min
Chad’s election on May 6 appears to offer voters a choice. But it’s been masterminded, analysts say, to produce a single outcome: to rubber-stamp the rule of the incumbent, Mahamat Idriss Déby, who is seeking to transform himself from military leader to civilian president. Mr. Déby seized power three years ago after his father, Idriss Déby, who ruled Chad with an iron fist for three decades, was killed — apparently on the battlefield, fighting rebels trying to overthrow his government. Chad is a landlocked, arid country of 18 million people in Central Africa. Chad is also part of a belt of African countries to have experienced coups in the past four years, stretching from coast to coast.
Persons: it’s, Mahamat Idriss Déby, Déby, Idriss Déby, Locations: Chad, country’s, Central Africa, Sudan
On a cold spring day last month, Mohsen, a 36-year-old from Iran, woke before dawn and was hurried by smugglers onto a rubber boat on the coast of France. The water was calm and the sky clear, but he knew the risks of the journey he was about to make, he said. Since 2018, at least 72 people have drowned in the Channel while attempting crossings, according to the International Organization for Migration. He fled Iran, he said, because police officers came to his home last year threatening to arrest him after he took part in anti-government protests. And he boarded the boat even though he knew about the British government’s plan to deport some asylum seekers to the central African country of Rwanda, which was first announced in 2022.
Persons: Mohsen Organizations: Channel, International Organization for Migration Locations: Iran, France, Britain, Rwanda
The Pentagon will withdraw dozens of Special Operations forces from Chad in the next few days, the second major blow in a week to American security and counterterrorism policy in a volatile swath of West and Central Africa, U.S. officials said on Thursday. The decision to pull out about 75 Army Special Forces personnel working in Ndjamena, Chad’s capital, comes days after the Biden administration said it would withdraw more than 1,000 U.S. military personnel from Niger in the coming months. The Pentagon is being forced to draw down troops in response to the African governments’ demands to renegotiate the rules and conditions under which U.S. military personnel can operate. Both countries want terms that better favor their interests, analysts say. The decision to withdraw from Niger is final, but U.S. officials said they hoped to resume talks on security cooperation after elections in Chad on May 6.
Persons: Biden Organizations: Pentagon, Operations, Special Forces Locations: Chad, West, Central Africa, U.S, Ndjamena, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, United States, Russia, Moscow
The exact number of US troops in the country is not clear but one US official said there are fewer than 100 troops there. But the official said Chad’s threat to terminate the SOFA agreement blindsided US officials. The move comes at a critical time for US interests in Africa, as American officials have warned that Russian influence is expanding across the continent. While in the country, Langley met with Chadian military leaders including Gen. Abakar Abdelkerim Daoud, Chad’s Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, according to an AFRICOM press release at the time. Langley said in the release that AFRICOM “remains dedicated to building enduring partnerships with Chad and other African nations.”
Persons: Chad’s, Michael Langley, ” “, ” Langley, Langley, , AFRICOM’s, Michael Woods, Abakar Abdelkerim Daoud Organizations: CNN, Forces Agreement, Operations Task Force, US Special Operations Forces, Marine Corps, US Africa Command, Senate Armed Services Committee, Russian Federation, House Armed, Committee, Central, Chadian, Staff, Armed Forces Locations: Chad, Russia, N’Djamena, Niger, Africa, Russian, Libya, Maghreb, Morocco, , China, Chad’s
Even as Russian bombs pound Ukraine, Moscow's mercenaries and spies are busy trying to set much of the rest of the world afire. To Russia, the conventional warfare waged in Ukraine, and unconventional "gray zone" warfare waged around the world, are two sides of the same coin. Human intelligence operations are used to attempt elite capture through the offer of assistance to politicians who support Russian interests. "As the war in Ukraine protracts, Russia has an interest in creating crises further afield," said RUSI. "As a lot of Russia's unconventional operations are self-defeating, countering Russian unconventional warfare must be premised on careful, selective, and intelligence- driven targeting," the study emphasized.
Persons: , RUSI, Vladimir Putin, Jack Watling, Oleksandr Danylyuk, Nick Reynolds, Britain —, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Putin, Ramzan Kadyrov, Kadyrov, Michael Peck Organizations: Service, Britain's Royal United Services Institute, Business, Kremlin, Soviet Union, NATO, Directorate, Staff of, Armed Forces, Getty, Russian, Central African, Wagner, GRU Expeditionary Corps, Convoy, Defense, Foreign Policy, Rutgers Univ, Twitter, LinkedIn Locations: Ukraine, Russia, Europe, Africa, Central Asia, Soviet, Montenegro, Moscow, Moldova, Russian, Britain, Ukraine protracts, Balkans, Russia's, Libya, Mali, Sudan, Central African Republic, Chechnya, Forbes
Not long ago, the handful of African immigrants in Rouyn-Noranda, a remote city in northern Quebec, all knew one another. There was the Nigerian woman long married to a Québécois man. And, of course, the doyen, a Congolese chemist who first made a name for himself driving a Zamboni at hockey games. A couple from Benin has taken over Chez Morasse, a city institution that introduced a greasy spoon favorite, poutine, to this region. And women from several corners of West and Central Africa were chatting at the city’s new African grocery store, Épicerie Interculturelle.
Persons: Chez, Interculturelle Locations: Rouyn, Noranda, Quebec, Nigerian, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Congolese, Africa, Benin, West, Central Africa
The intensifying military cooperation between Russia and Niger is central to the dispute between the US and the Nigerien junta, officials said. Russia and Niger agreed to strengthen their military ties in January, Russia’s Defense Ministry said at the time. If the US were forced to withdraw, counterterrorism efforts across the region could take a hit, officials said. In return, Russia is profiting off the region’s natural resources, another official said, including the gold mines in Niger. Several European countries shared this goal, offering a measure of support to the junta, the official noted.
Persons: Michael Langley, Celeste Wallander, Col, Maj, Amadou Abdramane, Langley, Matthew Miller, ” Miller, what’s, Nusrat al, Organizations: CNN, US Africa Command, Air Base, American, Nigerien, Russia’s Defense, EU, Pentagon, Kremlin, West, Russian Federation, National Council, Wagner, US Locations: Africa, Russia, Africa . Niger, Niger, United States, America, Nigerien, Sahel, stoking, China, Russian, Central Africa, , Niamey, US, Agadez, Mali, Burkina Faso, Abdramane, Western Africa, Northwest Africa
“Everything he is saying isn’t true,” Democratic Republic of Congo spokesperson Patrick Muyaya Katembwe told CNN in a text message on Thursday. Facts First: Trump’s claims are baseless. And federal figures show that there is no “very big” influx of Congolese migrants of any kind, let alone former prisoners in particular. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, keeps making claims about emptied Congolese prisons as he criticizes President Joe Biden’s handling of immigration. Official federal data shows that Congolese migrants in general, not ex-prisoners in particular, represent a tiny fraction of overall arrivals.
Persons: Donald Trump’s, Patrick Muyaya Katembwe, , ” Serge Mombouli, , Joe Biden’s, Trump, “ I’ve, ” Lewis Mudge, Abdoulaye Diarra, Mark Krikorian, Michelle Mittelstadt scoffed Organizations: Washington CNN, Democratic, CNN, PAC, Trump, Fox News, Human Rights, Amnesty International, Patrol, US Customs, Center for Immigration Studies, Policy Institute Locations: Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic, Republic of, Republic of Congo, , United States, Central Africa, Congolese, America, , Mexico, South America
“If you have minerals or oil under the ground, how do you come up with a price for a long-term contract? The shift to renewable energy and electric vehicles has caused a spike in the demand for critical minerals, driving these kind of loans. Adesina, whose Abidjan, Ivory Coast-based institution helps finance development in African countries, said these arrangements come with a litany of problems. Photos You Should See View All 60 Images“These are the reasons I say Africa should put an end to natural resource-backed loans," Adesina said. After Chad, Angola and the Republic of Congo approached the IMF for support, the multilateral lender insisted on the renegotiation of their natural resource-backed loans.
Persons: Akinwumi Adesina, paydowns, Adesina, ” Adesina, Glencore, Trafigura, , Mao Ning Organizations: African Development Bank, Associated Press, International Monetary Fund, IMF, Chartered, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China Railway Group, Gecamines, Alliance for Green Infrastructure Locations: Lagos, NIGERIA, China, Congo, Nigeria, Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Africa, Chad, Angola, Republic of Congo, Guinea, Ghana, Beijing, Nigerian, AP.org
Ibogaine, a formidable hallucinogen made from the root of a shrub native to Central Africa, is not for the timid. It unleashes a harrowing psychedelic trip that can last more than 24 hours, and the drug can cause sudden cardiac arrest and death. It quells the agony of opioid withdrawal and cravings and then gives patients a born-again-style zeal for sobriety. “My biggest frustration is that more people don’t have access to it.”That’s because ibogaine is illegal in the United States. Patients have to go abroad for ibogaine therapy, often at unregulated clinics that provide little medical oversight.
Persons: Ibogaine, ibogaine, “ It’s, , Jessica Blackburn, Locations: Central Africa, United States
The main opposition leader in the central African nation of Chad was killed on Wednesday in a shootout at his party headquarters in the capital, the country’s prosecutor has announced. Heavy gunfire was heard in Ndjamena on Wednesday, and the internet was cut off. A landlocked, desert country surrounded by neighbors battling insurgencies, plagued by coups or at war, Chad has long been seen as a linchpin for stability and is an important U.S. ally in the region, despite its political travails. After its longtime president Idriss Déby was killed on the battlefield in 2021, his son took power in what analysts agree was a coup d’état. But Western nations did not condemn the move to the same extent that they did coups in neighboring Niger and Sudan.
Persons: Yaya Dillo, insurgencies, Idriss Déby Locations: Chad, Ndjamena, U.S, Niger, Sudan
Nairobi CNN —Tensions were high in the Central African country of Chad on Wednesday after several people were killed following an alleged attack on the country’s intelligence services was foiled overnight, the government said. CNN has reached out to the leader of the party, Yaya Dillo, about the accusations. Dillo said in a Facebook post on Wednesday morning that the military had surrounded him and others at the party’s headquarters. It’s not clear if it was a separate incident or the court president was in the security agency’s office during the attack. “It is important to highlight that every person searching to disrupt the democratic process underway in the country will be taken to court,” the government warned.
Persons: , Yaya Dillo, Dillo, It’s, General Mahamat Idriss Deby, Netblocks Organizations: Nairobi CNN —, Socialist, National State Security Agency, CNN Locations: Nairobi, Central, Chad
OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso - Jan. 20, 2023: A banner of Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen during a protest to support the Burkina Faso President Captain Ibrahim Traore and to demand the departure of France's ambassador and military forces. Russia's military intelligence service is offering African governments a "regime survival package" that provides military and diplomatic support in exchange for access to strategically important natural resources, according to a new report. Russia's Defense Ministry was not available to comment on the report's findings when contacted by CNBC. Wagner has for many years been a key component of the Kremlin's efforts to grow its influence in politically unstable countries across central Africa and the Sahel, including the Central African Republic, Mali, Burkina Faso and Sudan. The report's authors Jack Watling, Oleksandr V Danylyuk and Nick Reynolds explained that the GRU chose to divide Wagner's activities in two.
Persons: Vladimir Putin, Captain Ibrahim Traore, Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Jack Watling, Oleksandr V Danylyuk, Nick Reynolds Organizations: Royal United Services Institute, Wagner Group, Russia's Defense, CNBC, Central African, Volunteer Corps, Russian Military of Defense Locations: OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso, Africa, Central African Republic, Mali, Sudan, Ukraine
CNN —The Russian Ministry of Agriculture said Tuesday it had shipped 200,000 tons of grain in humanitarian aid to six African nations, fulfilling the Kremlin’s pledge to the continent last July. Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev said late Tuesday that Burkina Faso, Mali, Eritrea, and Zimbabwe each received 25,000 tons of grain while the Central African Republic and Somalia got 50,000 tons each, Russian state news agency TASS reported. Somalia and Eritrea had previously sourced 90-100% of their grain needs from both Russia and Ukraine before the conflict, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). ‘A strategic donation’The Kremlin’s grain initiative has been described by analysts as a “strategic” move as Putin’s African alliance broadens. So, it’s contestation.”Many African states took a neutral stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in perceived loyalty to the Kremlin.
Persons: Dmitry Patrushev, Vladimir Putin, , ” Patrushev, , Godfrey Kanyenze, Kanyenze, they’ve Organizations: CNN, Russian Ministry of Agriculture, Central African, United, Agriculture Organization, FAO, Labor and Economic Development Research Institute of Zimbabwe Locations: Burkina Faso, Mali, Eritrea, Zimbabwe, Central African Republic, Somalia, United Nations, Turkey, Africa, St . Petersburg, Russia, Ukraine, rocketing
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Authorities in Rwanda on Monday rejected U.S. calls for the withdrawal of troops and missile systems from eastern Congo, saying they are defending Rwandan territory as Congo carries out a "dramatic military build-up” near the border. The U.S. State Department in a statement Saturday criticized the worsening violence caused by M23, describing it as a “Rwanda-backed” armed group. That statement also urged Rwanda “to immediately withdraw all Rwanda Defense Force personnel from the (Congo) and remove its surface-to-air missile systems." M23 is one of more than 100 armed groups active in eastern Congo, seeking a share of the region’s gold and other resources as they carry out mass killings. After being largely dormant for a decade, M23 resurfaced in late 2021 and has since captured wide parts of eastern Congo.
Persons: FLDR, Rwanda “, U.N, Goma Organizations: , Monday, Rwanda's Foreign Ministry, Rwandan, U.S . State Department, Rwanda Defense Force, Rwandan Foreign Ministry Locations: KAMPALA, Uganda, Rwanda, Congo, Congolese, United States, Africa's Great Lakes, Congo’s North Kivu’s, Goma
“Climate and conflict are two leading drivers of (our) global food crisis,” the secretary-general said. And in Myanmar, prospects of ending hunger have gone into reverse because of conflict and instability, he said. Simon Stiell, the United Nations climate chief, told the council that climate change is contributing to food insecurity and to conflict. Framework Convention on Climate Change said the Security Council “must acknowledge more can be done rather than hoping the problem will go away — which it won’t.”The U.N.’s most powerful body should be requesting regular updates on climate security risks, he said. But climate change, environmental and security pressures have led to increased tensions and competition between herders and farmers for scarce resources including water and land, she said.
Persons: Antonio Guterres, , , Guterres, Simon Stiell, ” Stiell, Beth Bechdol, ” Bechdol, Bechdol, Mohamed Irfaan Ali, ” Ali, U.N, Vassily Nebenzia, Nebenzia Organizations: UNITED NATIONS, United Nations, , . Security Council, Security, Agriculture Organization Locations: Russia, , Gaza, Syria, Myanmar, United, Food, Central Africa, Africa, Haiti, United States, Yugoslavia, Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq, Russian
Natalia Kolesnikova | Afp | Getty ImagesWagner Group has been replaced by a new entity known as Russia's Africa Corps across its key strongholds in the continent, its new leader has confirmed. The new entity has been subsuming operations in Mali and Libya for several months, and negotiations to establish a Russian military base in the CAR are reportedly underway. watch now"The Africa Corps consists of mercenaries and volunteers, and does not form part of the Russian Armed Forces. It began recruiting in December 2023, and has also included job offers for former Wagner Group mercenaries; it may also recruit local residents," they explained. Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-bek Yevkurov oversaw the creation of the Africa Corps, which is expected to be fully completed by this summer.
Persons: Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Natalia Kolesnikova, Dmitry Utkin, Anton Yelizarov, Ibrahim Traoré, Piotr Żochowski, Miłosz Bartosiewicz, Yunus, bek Yevkurov, Yevkurov Organizations: Afp, Getty, Wagner, Africa Corps, Central African, Russian National Guard, Russian Federation, Telegram, Centre, Eastern Studies, CAR, Africa, Russian Armed Forces, Wagner Group, CES Locations: MOSCOW, Moscow, Central African Republic, Libya, Mali, Sudan, Burkina Faso, Belarus, Russia, Cossack, Sahel, Russian, Warsaw, Algeria, Africa, Ouagadougou
CNN —Thousands of people are seeking shelter inside an “overwhelmed” hospital amid an escalation of fighting in North Kivu province in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warned on Thursday. At least 2,500 people, including children, are currently sheltering in Mweso Hospital, around 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the provincial capital Goma. “The hospital is overwhelmed, with thousands of people crowded inside, trying to find some protection from the fighting. In recent years, protesters have taken to the streets to demand the withdrawal of UN forces for failing to rein in rebel groups, including M23. The M23 group was named after a March 23, 2009, peace deal, which it accused the government of violating.
Persons: , Çaglar Tahiroglu, Jean, Pierre Lacroix, Felix Tshisekedi Organizations: CNN, Democratic, MSF, Ministry of Health, United Nations, UN, Rwandan Locations: North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, Mweso, Goma, Congolese, Rwanda
UN Appeals for $4.1 Billion to Help War-Torn Sudan, Refugees
  + stars: | 2024-02-07 | by ( Feb. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com   time to read: +1 min
GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations appealed on Wednesday for $4.1 billion to meet the humanitarian needs of civilians caught up in the war in Sudan, as well as those who have fled to neighbouring countries. A ten-month war in Sudan between its armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has devastated the country's infrastructure, prompted warnings of famine and displaced millions of people inside and outside the country. The U.N. refugee agency asked for $1.4 billion to support nearly 2.7 million people in five countries neighbouring Sudan as part of the appeal. War in Israel and Gaza View All 194 Images"Ten months of conflict have robbed the people of Sudan of nearly everything: their safety, their homes and their livelihoods," U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths said. This year, we must do better and with a heightened sense of urgency."
Persons: Martin Griffiths, Gabrielle Tétrault, Farber, Sharon Singleton Organizations: United Nations, Rapid Support Forces, Central African, UNHCR, United Nations Office, Humanitarian Affairs Locations: GENEVA, Sudan, Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Israel, Gaza
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken wrapped up a four-nation tour through Africa on Thursday with a visit to Angola, an oil-rich former Cold War battleground that has become the site of a struggle for 21st-century economic influence. During his visit to the coastal capital, Luanda, Mr. Blinken spotlighted major American investments in Angola, including more than $900 million for solar energy projects and $250 million to upgrade a rail corridor that carries critical minerals, including cobalt and copper, from central Africa to Angola’s Atlantic port of Lobito. Those solar investments help to advance President Biden’s climate agenda while the transportation improvements further his goal of diversifying American supply chains — in part to reduce U.S. dependence on Chinese control of the vital ingredients for a modern economy. Just over 20 years since the end of Angola’s civil war, which left perhaps as many as one million people dead, the country has rebuilt, modernized and developed friendly relations with Washington, which once funded rebels against a government backed by the Soviet Union and Cuba.
Persons: Antony J, Blinken Organizations: Mr Locations: Africa, Angola, Luanda, Lobito, Washington, Soviet Union, Cuba
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A rhinoceros is pregnant through embryo transfer in the first successful use of a method that conservationists said might later make it possible to save the nearly extinct northern white rhino subspecies. “The successful embryo transfer and pregnancy are a proof of concept and allow (researchers) to now safely move to the transfer of northern white rhino embryos — a cornerstone in the mission to save the northern white rhino from extinction,” the group said in a statement. Political Cartoons View All 253 ImagesRoughly 20,000 southern white rhinos remain in Africa. However, the northern white rhinoceros subspecies has only two known members left in the world. The last male white rhino, Sudan, was 45 when he was euthanized in 2018 due to age-related complications.
Persons: Organizations: Pejeta Conservancy, Central African Locations: NAIROBI, Kenya, Pejeta, Africa, Sudan, Chad, Uganda, Congo, Central African Republic, africa
The bus station in Agadez, a remote city of low mud-brick buildings in the West African nation of Niger, is buzzing again. For years, this portal was closed, at least officially. The country’s government, friendly to Europe, outlawed migration out of Agadez, and in exchange the European Union poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Niger’s coffers and the local economy. But last summer, after generals in Niger seized power in a military coup, the European Union suspended financial support to the government — and in response, the generals severed the migration arrangement with the European Union in November. The gate is once again open, and a fresh flock of hopeful migrants is once again passing through, to the relief of many locals.
Organizations: European Union Locations: Agadez, West African, Niger, West, Central Africa, North Africa, Europe
ABUJA/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday said the United States is determined to remain a strong security partner for Nigeria, whose military is backed by the U.S., Britain and other allies in a long war against Islamist insurgents. "The United States is determined to be and remain a strong security partner for Nigeria," Blinken told reporters. Blinken added that he discussed how it is vitally important there be a focus on ensuring civilians are protected and humanitarian considerations. The coup in Niger was one of a series of military takeovers or attempted power grabs that occurred in West and Central Africa over the past three years. So far, about $2 billion of the backlog across sectors such as manufacturing, aviation, and petroleum have been paid, CBN spokesperson Hakama Sidi Ali said in a statement.
Persons: Antony Blinken, Blinken, Bola Tinubu, Mohamed Bazoum, Hakama Sidi Ali, Chijioke Ohuocha, Felix Onuah, Daphne Psaledakis, Humeyra Pamuk, Simon Lewis, Ismail Shakil, Mark Porter, Daniel Wallis Organizations: Islamist, European Union, France, Central Bank of Nigeria Locations: ABUJA, WASHINGTON, United States, Nigeria, U.S, Britain, Niger, West, Central Africa, Abuja, Africa, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Angola, Jan, Africa's, Washington
Cameroon will be the first country to routinely give children a new malaria vaccine as the shots are rolled out in Africa. Gavi said it is working with 20 other African countries to help them get the vaccine and that those countries will hopefully immunize more than 6 million children through 2025. Political Cartoons View All 253 ImagesCameroon will use the first of two recently approved malaria vaccines, known as Mosquirix. That vaccine is cheaper, requires three doses and India’s Serum Institute said they could make up to 200 million doses a year. Neither of the malaria vaccines stop transmission, so other tools like bed nets and insecticidal spraying will still be critical.
Persons: Aurelia Nguyen, Gavi, Gavi's Nguyen Organizations: World Health Organization, GlaxoSmithKline, GSK, Oxford University, WHO, Serum Institute, Associated Press Health, Science Department, Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science, Educational Media Group, AP Locations: Cameroon, Africa, Central Africa, Oxford
Reading, Writing, Math … and Climate Change?
  + stars: | 2024-01-22 | by ( Hilary Howard | ) www.nytimes.com   time to read: 1 min
Third graders at Public School 103 in the north Bronx sat on a rug last month while their teacher, Kristy Neumeister, led a book discussion. The book, “Rain School,” is about children who live in a rural region of Chad, a country in central Africa. Every year, their school must be rebuilt because storms wash it away. “And what’s causing all these rains and storms and floods?” asked Ms. Neumeister. “Carbon,” said Aiden, a serious-looking 8-year-old.
Persons: Kristy Neumeister, , Neumeister, Aiden Organizations: Public, Rain Locations: Chad, Africa
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