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☆ She Was Kidnapped a Decade Ago With 275 Girls. Finally, She Escaped.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-14 | by ( Ismail Alfa | Ruth Maclean | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The girls’ boarding school in Chibok, miles behind them, had been set on fire. Then she noticed that some girls were jumping off the back of the truck, she said, some alone, others in pairs, holding hands. They ran and hid in the scrub as the truck trundled on. But before Ms. Dauda could jump, she said, one girl raised the alarm, shouting that others were “dropping and running.” Their abductors stopped, secured the truck and continued toward what, for Ms. Dauda, would prove a life-changing nine years in captivity. “If she hadn’t shouted that, we would have all escaped,” Ms. Dauda said in a series of interviews this past week in the city of Maiduguri, the birthplace of Boko Haram’s violent insurgency.

Persons: Saratu Dauda, Dauda, hadn’t, ” Ms Locations: Nigeria, Chibok, Maiduguri

☆ Africa’s Youngest President Takes Office, Promising ‘Systemic Change’
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-02 | by ( Ruth Maclean | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Still reeling from a whirlwind campaign, young people in Senegal threw jackets over their worn election T-shirts on Tuesday to attend the inauguration of an opposition politician who went from political prisoner to president in less than three weeks. Their new leader, Bassirou Diomaye Faye — at 44, Africa’s youngest elected president — took the oath of office promising “systemic change,” and paying homage to the many people killed, injured, and imprisoned in the yearslong lead-up to the West African country’s election. “I will always keep in mind the heavy sacrifices made so as to never disappoint you,” Mr. Faye said, addressing a vast auditorium in which African heads of state and dignitaries sat at the front. From the back, hundreds of supporters of Mr. Faye and his powerful backer, the opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, shouted for joy. It was the culmination of months of drama, after the former president, Macky Sall, canceled the election with just weeks to go, citing irregularities at the constitutional council — and then, under intense domestic and international pressure, agreed to hold it after all.

Persons: Bassirou Diomaye Faye —, Africa’s, —, “, Mr, Faye, Ousmane Sonko, Macky Sall Organizations: West Locations: Senegal

☆ From Village to Prison to Africa’s Youngest Elected President
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-28 | by ( Ruth Maclean | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The first election that Bassirou Diomaye Faye ever won was the one that just made him the president-elect of Senegal. Before his victory in the election last Sunday, 10 days after he was released from jail, Mr. Faye had only ever run for mayor of his hometown, Ndiaganiao — a small settlement on a sandy track, crisscrossed by horse carts carrying women and their wares to the market. He lost that election, in 2022, to the ruling party’s candidate. Few in Senegal know the remarkable journey of the 44-year-old tax inspector who rode a wave of youth discontent to become — once inaugurated — Africa’s youngest elected president. Provisional results officially released on Tuesday showed he won with 54 percent of the vote.

Persons: Bassirou Diomaye Faye, Faye, Ndiaganiao, —, — Africa’s Organizations: Provisional Locations: Senegal, Ndiaganiao

☆ Young Opposition Candidate Wins Senegal’s Presidential Election
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-25 | by ( Ruth Maclean | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

With the concession of his main rival, a young political outsider backed by a powerful opposition figure has won a surprise outright victory in Senegal’s presidential election only 10 days after being released from jail. Bassirou Diomaye Faye is the anointed candidate of Senegal’s popular and controversial opposition politician Ousmane Sonko. Mr. Faye’s main rival, the governing party candidate Amadou Ba, conceded in a statement congratulating his rival on Monday for winning in the first round. Mr. Faye, who celebrated his 44th birthday on Monday, will become the West African country’s youngest ever president. “I wish him a lot of success, for the well-being of the Senegalese people,” Mr. Ba said in a statement released Monday afternoon that addressed Mr. Faye as president.

Persons: Bassirou Diomaye Faye, Ousmane Sonko, Faye’s, Amadou Ba, Faye, “, Ba Organizations: African country’s

☆ Senegal Votes in an Election That Almost Didn’t Happen
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-24 | by ( Ruth Maclean | Mady Camara | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

She had badgered her friends and family to persuade them to vote for a major change of government. “They’re the only ones saying they’re going to change the system,” said Ms. Faye, a college student. The West African nation of Senegal votes for a new president Sunday, in an election that many young people see as a chance to overhaul the political and economic order. Last month, the incumbent president, Macky Sall, had called off the election with only three weeks to go. And suddenly, last week, he released from jail the pugnacious opposition figure many see as his nemesis — Ousmane Sonko — along with the man Mr. Sonko is backing for president, Bassirou Diomaye Faye.

Persons: Aminata Faye, —, “, ”, Faye, Macky Sall, — Ousmane Sonko —, Sonko, Bassirou Diomaye Faye Locations: Senegal, Mbour

☆ Senegal Election 2024: What You Need to Know
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-19 | by ( Ruth Maclean | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Senegal, with a ticking economy, is seen as a stable, safe country — no small feat in western Africa, where coups, crises and insurgencies abound. But then the president, Macky Sall, blew up any chance of a mundane election. He went on state television and canceled the vote, alleging corruption in the way candidates were approved by constitutional court. And then, in a dramatic move, he released the leading opposition candidate and the leader of the opposition party from prison. Then there are 17 other candidates, among them former mayors and prime ministers.

Persons: Macky, Sall backtracked, Amadou Ba, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, He’s, Ousmane Sonko Locations: Senegal, Africa

☆ Gambia and the Campaign Against Cutting
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-19 | by ( Ruth Maclean | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Yesterday, lawmakers in Gambia voted to advance legislation that would legalize female genital cutting. Yet genital cutting is still on the rise. Today, 230 million women and girls around the world have been cut, a 15 percent rise from 2016. In Africa and the Middle East, several countries still permit the practice, and in many others, laws are erratically enforced. In today’s newsletter, I’ll explain why cutting — which for most communities means removing the clitoris and the labia minora, or almost sealing up the vagina — has been so hard to stamp out.

Locations: Gambia, Africa, Somalia, Guinea, Egypt, Sudan, Djibouti, Mali, Sierra Leone, Iraq, Yemen, Indonesia, Malaysia

☆ Niger Orders American Troops to Leave Its Territory
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-17 | by ( Ruth Maclean | Eric Schmitt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Niger said it is revoking its military cooperation deal with the United States, ordering 1,000 American armed forces personnel to leave the country and throwing the United States’ strategy in the region into disarray. The announcement by the West African nation’s military junta on Saturday came after meetings last week with a delegation from Washington and the top U.S. commander for Africa, Gen. Michael E. Langley. The move is in keeping with a recent pattern by countries in the Sahel region, an arid area south of the Sahara, of breaking ties with Western countries. American officials also voiced alarm in the meetings about several other issues, including whether Niger’s military government was nearing a deal to give Iran access to Niger’s vast uranium reserves, a concern that was reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal. Niger’s rejection of military ties with the United States follows the withdrawal from Niger of troops from France, the former colonial power that, for the past decade, has led foreign counterterrorism efforts against jihadist groups in West Africa, but which has lately been perceived as a pariah in the region.

Persons: Michael E Organizations: West African, Wall Street Locations: Niger, United States, States, Washington, Africa, Sahel, Russia, Iran, France, West Africa

☆ Opposition Leader in Chad Is Reported Killed in a Shootout
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-29 | by ( Ruth Maclean | More About Ruth Maclean | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

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

Ghana’s Parliament on Wednesday passed a bill that imposes jail terms on people who identify as L.G.B.T.Q. or organize gay advocacy groups, measures that Amnesty International called among the harshest on the African continent. issues could get five years, and those who engage in gay sex would receive five years instead of the three years under previous legislation. The bill is the latest in a wave of anti-gay legislation passed in Africa: Tanzania, Niger and Namibia have tightened such laws in recent years, while Uganda has adopted an anti-gay law that includes the death penalty. Many have experienced a surge in homophobic attitudes, behaviors and rhetoric in recent years, the rights group said in a report last year.

Persons: Nana Akufo Organizations: Amnesty Locations: Africa, Tanzania, Niger, Namibia, Uganda

☆ Senegal Must Hold Election After All, Top Court Rules
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-15 | by ( Ruth Maclean | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Senegal’s constitutional court ruled on Thursday that a national election that had been postponed by the president must take place as soon as possible, throwing the West African country’s political future into fresh doubt. The court, the country’s highest, said that while it is now impossible to hold an election in 10 days’ time — the vote had initially been planned for Feb. 25 — the balloting should be held by the earliest feasible date. Less than two weeks ago, President Macky Sall issued a decree indefinitely postponing the balloting, pending an investigation into corruption allegations in the constitutional court. Just a couple days later, the country’s Parliament decided to delay the vote by nearly 10 months, setting Dec. 15 as the date. But the court’s ruling on Thursday declared the law passed by Parliament to be against the Constitution and ordered that Mr. Sall’s decree delaying the election be canceled.

Persons: Macky Sall, Sall’s

☆ Senegal’s President Calls Off a National Election. His Critics Call It a Coup.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-03 | by ( Ruth Maclean | Mady Camara | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Senegal’s president has canceled the election for his replacement three weeks before voting was set to take place, saying that a dispute between the legislative and judicial arms of government over accusations of corruption needed to be resolved first. Speaking on Saturday afternoon from the presidential palace in Dakar, Senegal’s capital, his words live-streamed on his social media platforms, President Macky Sall said that the dispute between the West African country’s national assembly and its constitutional court had reached a crisis point, and that he was repealing the decree convening the electoral body, effectively postponing elections. But his opponents said he was essentially carrying out a coup d’état, and accused him of treason. “For the first time in its history, Senegal has just suffered a coup d’état,” Ousmane Diallo, a researcher with Amnesty International, posted on X. After the country’s constitutional council published lists of approved candidates for the election, some of them were found to have been approved despite holding dual nationality, something presidential candidates are not allowed in Senegal.

Persons: Macky Sall, “, ” Ousmane Diallo Organizations: West African, Amnesty International Locations: Dakar, Senegal’s, Senegal

Many professional hunters argue that safari hunting promotes conservation because it gives communities a financial interest in protecting animals. But some people living around the park say they protected the animals, and yet see little of the promised revenue. He tried to upgrade his hut to a three-room house, but could afford only enough bricks to get to knee height. He said he does not want to let down his former adversaries the Owenses, and Mr. Owens in particular. “If he hears I’ve gone back to poaching,” Mr. Mutondo said, “he’ll be disappointed.”

Persons: Mulenga, Owens, ”, Bernard Mutondo, wouldn’t, I’ve, Mr, Mutondo, “ he’ll

☆ No Shame. No Sorrow. Divorce Means It’s Party Time in Mauritania.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-04 | by ( Ruth Maclean | Laura Boushnak | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Under a sliver of brightening moon, the young woman, Iselekhe Jeilaniy, sat gingerly on a mat, careful that the wet henna on her skin would not smudge, just as she had on the eve of her wedding day. But she was not getting married. She was getting divorced. The next day would be her divorce party. She was busy posting henna pictures on Snapchat — the modern version of a divorce announcement.

Persons: Iselekhe Jeilaniy, Iselekhe, Jeilaniy’s, “, ” Ms, Jeilaniy Locations: West African, Mauritania

☆ Thousands Flee to Sudan’s Main Seaport, Seeking Ships to Safety
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Ruth Maclean | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Thousands of people have descended on a port city in eastern Sudan in recent days, fleeing the violence in the capital and trying to secure their escape aboard vessels heading over the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia. The coastal city of Port Sudan — the country’s biggest seaport — has been transformed into a hub for displaced people, with people stringing together makeshift tents, packing an amusement park for shelter and waiting for help in three-digit heat. The true number of casualties is likely much higher. A three-day extension to the latest cease-fire was also announced on Sunday, but heavy fighting was still reported in the capital, Khartoum, including an accusation from the R.S.F. that the army was shelling its positions.

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