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☆ Mali’s PM fired after criticizing prolonged junta rule, state TV says
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-20 | by ( Story Reuters | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

BAMAKO, Mali Reuters —Mali’s Prime Minister Choguel Maiga has been fired, state television ORTM said on Wednesday of the civilian who criticized the ruling junta’s failure to organize elections within a promised 24-month transition back to democracy. “It’s all happening in total secrecy, without the prime minister’s knowledge,” Maiga told reporters on Saturday. His comments sparked tensions with the junta, forcing it to postpone a ministerial council meeting planned for Wednesday, a source close to Maiga told Reuters. Maiga had fervently defended Mali’s junta as West African neighbors and international allies criticized its military cooperation with Russian mercenaries and repeated election delays. Before being named prime minister in 2021, Maiga served as Mali’s commerce minister under former President Amadou Toumani Toure and as digital economy minister under former President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.

Persons: Choguel Maiga, ORTM, Maiga, ” Maiga, Assimi Goïta, Amadou Toumani Toure, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, Keita Organizations: Mali Reuters — Mali’s, Reuters, Russian Locations: BAMAKO, Mali, West

The military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, giving rise to intensified fighting with long-established armed groups associated with Myanmar’s ethnic minority groups, and prompting the formation of new pro-democracy militias. Two weeks later the Arakan Army launched attacks in its home western state of Rakhine, and since then other militia groups and PDFs have joined in around the country. But at the same time, resistance groups are closing in on Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city in the center of the country. The Tatmadaw has been accused of deliberately targeting civilians in retribution for perceived support for the resistance militias, something it denies. Should the Tatmadaw fall, that could lead to the fragmentation of Myanmar unless the groups work hard to resolve political and territorial differences.

Persons: Aung, Suu Kyi, Alliance —, ”, Connor Macdonald Organizations: Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, Arakan Army, National Liberation Army, Alliance, Council, United Nations ’ Office, Human Rights, Army, Institute for Strategy Locations: BANGKOK, Myanmar, Russia, China, Suu, Shan, Rakhine, Kayah, Naypyidaw, Yangon, Mandalay, Myanmar’s, Chin, Paletwa, Syria, Beijing

☆ Myanmar’s internet freedom is now as bad as China’s, report finds
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-17 | by ( Helen Regan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —For the past decade, China has consistently ranked last in the world for internet freedom due to its all-pervading online surveillance and content control system dubbed the “Great Firewall.”But a new report out Wednesday shows that internet freedoms in China’s neighbor Myanmar are now just as lacking. The report from Freedom House, a US government-funded NGO, found that global internet freedom has declined for the 14th consecutive year. In a record 43 countries, people were physically attacked or killed in retaliation for their online activities, the report found. The Central Asian nation Kyrgyzstan showed the biggest drop in internet freedoms, according to the report, as President Sadyr Japarov ramped up efforts to silence digital media and suppress online organizing. The report also covers online disinformation campaigns and political interference in the run-up to elections, including harassment of independent researchers and fact checkers.

Persons: ”, Mao Ning, Sadyr Japarov, Kloop, “ Organizations: CNN, Freedom, Trust, United Nations, UN, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ”, Central, US Locations: China, China’s, Myanmar, Central Asian, Kyrgyzstan, Iceland, United States, ’

CNN —Up to 600 people were shot dead in a matter of hours by al Qaeda-linked militants in an August attack on a town in Burkina Faso, according to a French government security assessment that nearly doubles the death toll cited in earlier reports. A series of coups across Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger led to the departure of French and American forces. The Russian mercenaries summoned by the juntas to bolster their grip have instead left a vacuum in which jihadists have thrived, says the assessment, given to CNN by a French security official. A view of the town of Barsalogho, Burkina Faso, where up to 600 people were killed by al Qaeda-linked militants in an August attack, according to a French government security assessment. CNN has reviewed videos of the alleged cannibalism that seem to show Burkina Faso soldiers dismembering and holding up body parts of apparent dead jihadists.

Persons: al, Nusrat al, JNIM, ”, jihadists, “, I’m, Fear, Ibrahim Traore, Zero ”, Burkina Faso’s, Traore, –, Wagner, group’s, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Donat Sorokin, ‘ Organizations: CNN, Getty, United Nations, Reuters, “, Burkina Faso’s, Civil Service, Labs Inc, Rapid Locations: al Qaeda, Burkina Faso, Barsalogho, Africa, Islam, Mali, Sahel, West Africa, United States, jihadists, Niger, Tawori, Bamako, Burkina, France, Moscow, Ukraine, Ouagadougou, Russian, Russia, Saint Petersburg, BIR, Togo, Kompienga, Togolese, Qaeda

“They are using food as a weapon,” a senior aid official told CNN. “No official travel authorization has been granted to humanitarian partners to implement activities outside of Sittwe township since November 2023,” a senior aid official told CNN. The UN aid officials made clear in their meetings, which have not been previously reported, that the status quo is unacceptable, the sources said. A World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse in Maungdaw was looted and burned in June, depriving that community of urgently needed food aid. A senior UN aid official in Myanmar blamed the funding shortfall in part on international apathy.

Persons: CNN — Khin Mar Cho, Soldiers, Byine Phyu, Khin Mar Cho, ” Khin Mar Cho, “, —, ”, Myint Kyaw, Sen, Min Aung, Mohammed, ” Mohammed, Shayna Bauchner, we’ve, OCHA, Sai Aung, Rakhine —, Ejaz, Jamila, Bangladesh Azim Khan Ronnie, Buthidaung, drenching, ” Jamila, ULA, ” Sajjad Mohammad Sajid Organizations: CNN, United Nations, Arakan Army, AA, UN, Myanmar’s Ministry of Information, AFP, Getty, Partners Relief, Development, Human Rights, ” Aid, SAC, Administration Council, Food, UN Office, Humanitarian Affairs, UN Security Council, European Union, Aid, Human Rights Watch, Solent, Myanmar, Development Coordination, United League of, Programme, Junta Locations: Myanmar, Byine, Rakhine, Sittwe, Rakhine State, Myanmar’s, Yangon, “, Sai, AFP, China, Buthidaung, Bangladesh, Cox’s Bazar, Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh Tanbirul Miraj Ripon, Kutupalong, Tanbirul Miraj Ripon, Arakan, Maungdaw, ULA, Gaza, Ukraine

☆ Myanmar: Hundreds of fleeing Rohingya reportedly killed in drone strikes as fears mount of ethnic cleansing
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-12 | by ( Avery Schmitz | Helen Regan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

CNN —Renewed fears of ethnic cleansing against the stateless Rohingya Muslim community are mounting after reports that hundreds of people, including women and children, were killed by drone strikes while fleeing violence in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state last week. Witnesses and Rohingya activists told CNN that a series of drone strikes on August 5 hit civilians fleeing fighting and violence in their villages in Maungdaw, northern Rakhine. The displaced families had been waiting to cross the river to Bangladesh at the time of the attack, they said. Forced recruitment of Rohingya men and boys is stoking religious tensions between the Rohingya Muslim and Rakhine Buddhist communities, the report said. “Ethnic Rohingya and Rakhine civilians are bearing the brunt of the atrocities that the Myanmar military and opposition Arakan Army are committing,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

Persons: Rohingya, “, ”, –, …, Orla Murphy, Hasan, Rehman Asad, Mohammad Elias, Elias, ” Elias, Elaine Pearson Organizations: CNN, Arakan Army, AA, Myanmar, United Nations, International Court of Justice, Free Rohingya Coalition, Resource Management, Sans, MSF, “, ” CNN, Bangladesh’s Border Guard Force, Human Rights, Human Rights Watch Locations: Rakhine, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Ma, Maungdaw, Myanmar’s, Muangdaw, Lwin, Rohingya, Cox’s Bazar, Ukhia, Cox's Bazar, “, Buthidaung, Arakan, Asia

☆ Many dozens of Rohingya, including children, killed in drone attack while fleeing Myanmar, witnesses say
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-10 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

A drone attack on Rohingya fleeing Myanmar killed many dozens of people, including families with children, several witnesses said, describing survivors wandering between piles of bodies to identify dead and injured relatives. Four witnesses, activists and a diplomat described drone attacks on Monday that struck down families waiting to cross the border into neighboring Bangladesh. Three of the witnesses told Reuters on Friday that the Arakan Army was responsible, allegations the group denied. One witness, 35-year-old Mohammed Eleyas, said his pregnant wife and 2-year-old daughter were wounded in the attack and later died. He was standing with them on the shoreline when drones began attacking the crowds, Eleyas told Reuters from a refugee camp in Bangladesh.

Persons: Mohammed Eleyas, Eleyas, “, ” Organizations: Arakan Army, Reuters Locations: Myanmar, Bangladesh, Rakhine, Arakan, Maungdaw

☆ Myanmar junta says senior officers held as rebels seize major base
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-06 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Myanmar’s junta has lost communications with senior officers at a major military base near the Chinese border, in a rare admission of battlefield failure after rebels announced they had taken control of the key regional army headquarters. Junta troops have been unable to contact an undisclosed number of officers at the besieged northeastern regional command, military spokesman Zaw Min Tun said Monday, following weeks of intense fighting in and around the town. “The rapid fall of the Myanmar army’s Northeastern Command makes it fully clear to the ranks of the resistance and to neighboring countries just how weak the Myanmar military has become,” said Jason Tower at the United States Institute of Peace. “For Min Aung Hlaing, the implications are existential,” he said, referring to the embattled junta chief. “We will also continue to fight as allies until the military falls,” said the statement from the Kachin, Karen and Chin groups.

Persons: Zaw Min Tun, ”, Myanmar’s, “ MNDAA, Lashio, Jason Tower, Aung, “, Chin Organizations: Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, Junta, Northeastern Command, Myanmar, United States Institute of Peace, Sunday Locations: Lashio, “, Shan, Beijing, China, Myanmar, Thai, Kachin

☆ Bombs Rain Down in Myanmar as Junta Evades Sanctions to Buy Jet Fuel
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-03 | by ( Richard C. Paddock | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

U Har San and his wife crawled under a table, and their daughter, eight months pregnant, hid under a bed. Bombs rained down, he said, even though no rebel fighters were in their village. One bomb killed the mother-to-be, Ma Zar Zar Win. “She was our only daughter, and now our family line has been cut off,” Mr. Har San said. The airstrikes have also taken a heavy toll on resistance fighters.

Persons: Zar Zar, ” Mr, Har Locations: Myanmar, Har San, Lat Pan, Shan State, Rakhine State

☆ Battle for Lashio: Civilians caught in the crossfire as rebels claim major victory over Myanmar’s junta
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-02 | by ( Helen Regan | Angus Watson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

Displaced people fleeing fighting in Lashio try to cross the flooded road to Taunggyi in Myanmar's northern Shan state on July 9, 2024. For Lashio to fall, “it basically eliminates the junta as an effective organized force from a huge part of the country,” Ruser said. The road on the way was badly damaged,” he said as he traveled to Taunggyi, the Shan state capital some nine hours south of Lashio. People queue for food at a monastery turned temporary shelter for internally displaced people in Lashio, Shan state on November 15, 2023. There were also reports in local media that the junta had ordered its staff to leave Lashio as fighting got closer.

Persons: Khin, ” Khin Swe, ”, “, Lashio “, Zaw Min Tun, Lashio, Stringer, Nathan Ruser, ” Ruser, Swe, Khin Swe, –, Arakan Army –, “ They’re, Miemie Winn Byrd, Daniel K, Inouye, ” Byrd, “ I’m, Min Aung, I’m, they’re Organizations: CNN, Northeastern Military Command, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, Junta, Getty, Analysts, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, “ Artillery, Facebook, Rebels, Three Brotherhood Alliance, People’s Defence Force, National Liberation Army, Arakan Army, US Army, Pacific Center for Security, Brotherhood Alliance Locations: Myanmar, Lashio, Shan, Zaw, Taunggyi, AFP, Zin Ann, Hsipaw, Mandalay, Arakan, Inouye Asia

☆ Putin's Wagner Group mercenaries got thrashed in the African desert — and Ukraine says it helped
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-30 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Read previewUkraine's defense intelligence claimed a role in a recent battle in Africa — where separatist rebels destroyed a detachment of Russian Wagner Group mercenaries fighting overseas. The paper published a photograph of Malian separatist forces holding up a Ukrainian flag, an apparent expression of solidarity with the country. The battle killed Wagner Group commander Sergei Shevchenko, Razguzra Vagnera said. The separatist group that claimed responsibility for the attack is the Permanent Strategic Framework for Peace, Security and Development, or CSP-PSD, the BBC reported. The CSP-PSD opposes Mali's junta, which has been propped up by the Wagner Group for several years.

Persons: —, Andriy Yusov, Razgruzka, Wagners, Wagner, Sergei Shevchenko, Razguzra Vagnera, Nikita Fedyanin, Nusrat al, Muslimin, Assimi Goïta, Goïta, ACSS, Yevgeny Prigozhin Organizations: Service, Russian Wagner Group, Main Intelligence, Kyiv Post, Business, Wagner, Malian, BBC, Russian Telegram, Astra, BI, Telegram, Wagner Group, Peace, Security, PSD, Mali's, Pentagon, Africa Center, Strategic Studies, Group Locations: Africa —, Ukraine, Kyiv, Russia, Tinzaouaten, Mali, Russian, Islam, Africa

☆ Myanmar junta leader assumes presidential powers as president takes ‘sick leave,’ state media reports
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-22 | by ( Michael Mitsanas | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —General Min Aung Hlaing, leader of Myanmar’s military junta, became the country’s interim president on Monday after figurehead leader Myint Swe was placed on medical leave, state media reported. “The Interim President’s Office has sent a letter to the State Administration Council Office notifying it to delegate the responsibilities,” government broadcaster MRTV said Monday, referring to the junta council that governs Myanmar, which is chaired by Hlaing. On Friday, the state-owned Global New Light of Myanmar reported that 73-year-old Swe has been suffering from “psychomotor retardation” and “malnutrition” since early 2023. The junta first promised to hold elections within two years after seizing power – a deadline that has been repeatedly extended. At least 18.6 million people in Myanmar today need urgent humanitarian assistance, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Persons: Min Aung Hlaing, Myint Swe, “, MRTV, Hlaing, —, Nobel, Aung, Kyi —, Tom Andrews Organizations: CNN, Interim, Administration, Office, “, Pro Tem, Administration Council, Information, UN, Rights, United Nations Office, Humanitarian Affairs Locations: Myanmar

☆ Mali junta lifts suspension on political party activities
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-11 | by ( Story Reuters | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

Reuters —Mali’s military junta has lifted a suspension on political party activities meant to safeguard public order, the council of ministers said late on Wednesday. “By taking this deterrent measure, the government was able to contain all the threats of public disorder that hung over this major event,” the council said in a statement. Given the focus was now on implementing the recommendations of the April 13-May 10 peace dialogue, the government will allow political parties to resume their activities, it said. Mali’s junta, which seized power in a second coup in 2021, reneged on a promise to hold elections in February, postponing the vote indefinitely for technical reasons. Political parties and civil society groups at the time reacted with anger to the junta’s decision not to hold the vote and called for a return to constitutional order.

Persons: Reuters — Organizations: Reuters, “, Islamic Locations: West, Central Africa, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, al Qaeda, Islamic State

☆ Thailand is now the Myanmar junta’s favored banking destination as military attacks ramp up, UN expert says
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-27 | by ( Helen Regan | Kocha Olarn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Hong Kong/Bangkok CNN —International banks are playing a significant role in the Myanmar military junta’s ability to carry out its systematic and deadly assault on its people, a new United Nations-backed report has found. Athit Perawongmetha/ReutersThe Thai connectionSingapore-based entities were Myanmar’s third largest source of weapons and military materials. In 2022, Singapore-based banks facilitated more than 70% of the junta’s purchases passing through the banking system. Looking for other financial institutions, the junta found neighboring Thailand. “Our banking and financial institutions follow banking protocols as any major financial hub.

Persons: Tom Andrews, ” Andrews, Banks, ”, Athit Perawongmetha, “ Organizations: Bangkok CNN — International, United Nations, UN, Administration Council, SAC, “ Banking, Military Junta, States, Karen National Liberation Army, Siam Commercial Bank, CNN, Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Economic Bank Locations: Hong Kong, Bangkok, Myanmar, Singapore, Myawaddy, Thailand, Thai, Siam

☆ His Photos Exposed a Bloody Crackdown, but His Identity Was a Secret
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-21 | by ( Choe Sang-Hun | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It is an iconic image — a black-and-white photo of a blood-splattered student being clubbed by a paratrooper medic. It was the first photo to slip through the military cordon around Gwangju, South Korea, in 1980, exposing the brutal suppression of what would be known as the Gwangju Democratization Movement. But for years, the identity of the photographer — an unassuming man named Na Kyung Taek — remained a secret. Mr. Chun’s rule ended in 1988, and now many in South Korea support a Constitutional revision to sanctify Gwangju’s role in the country’s democratization. But he was still haunted by what he saw that fateful spring.

Persons: —, Na, Chun, Chun’s Locations: Gwangju, South Korea, South

☆ US begins pulling military equipment from Niger ahead of withdrawal deadline
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-08 | by ( Anneclaire Stapleton | Oren Liebermann | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

The US priority was first to remove sensitive equipment from Niger, a source familiar with the matter said. Much of the US military and equipment has been in Niamey at what’s known as Base 101. A source confirmed this flight was to withdraw military equipment and some personnel. The relationship between the US and the military junta grew increasingly strained as Biden administration officials called for a clear path to free and fair elections. The US was also forced to wait for the Nigerien military junta to approve flight clearances to withdraw personnel and equipment, an agreement which was only reached last month.

Persons: Sergey Lavrov, Michael Langley Organizations: CNN, US Department of Defense, Department of National Defense of, Nigerien, US, Biden, Russia’s Defense, Russian, US Africa Command Locations: Niger, Republic of Niger, Niamey, what’s, US, West African, Kremlin, Russia, Burkina Faso, Mali

☆ Sudan’s government accuses militia of killing scores in massacre
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-06 | by ( Hamdi Alkhshali | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Mini Arko Minawi, the governor of Sudan’s Darfur province said that at least 150 people were killed in the Wednesday attack. Another video allegedly shows the RSF militia firing heavy and medium weapons towards the village. The Transitional Sovereignty Council condemned the RSF’s actions, describing them as part of a systematic campaign of violence against civilians. “This heinous crime is added to the series of crimes committed by this rebel militia in many states of Sudan. Allegations of massacresSince the conflict started, both the Sudanese army and the RSF have faced damning accusations of civilian massacres.

Persons: ” Minawi, General Abdel Fattah al, Burhan, Omar al, Bashir, Tahir Ibrahim Al, Khair, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, ” CNN’s Avery Schmitz Organizations: CNN, Sudanese Transitional Sovereignty, Rapid Support Forces, Sudanese Congress Party, Sudanese Army, SAF, Rapid Support, Sovereignty, Sudanese, SUNA, UN’s, Organization for Migration, UN, Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations, UN Security Council Locations: Sudan, Sudanese, Al, Jazira State, Jazira, Sudan’s Darfur, Sudan’s, Darfur

☆ Russia will increase the number of military instructors in Burkina Faso, foreign minister says
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-05 | by ( Anneclaire Stapleton | Sebastian Shukla | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Russia will increase the number of military instructors in Burkina Faso, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday during a trip to the West African nation. “Here, Russian instructors are working; their number will increase.”Russia furthermore intends to supply Burkina Faso with military products to strengthen the country’s defense capability, he said. Burkina Faso is currently under military rule after a junta staged a coup d’état in July 2022. Engulfed in violence, Burkina Faso has been named the world’s most neglected displacement crisis for the second year, by the NRC. Burkina Faso was the first country to do this quickly and effectively,” he said.

Persons: Sergey Lavrov, ” Lavrov, Lavrov, Ibrahim Traoré, Yevkurov, Traoré, Thomas Waldhauser, ” Organizations: CNN, Russian, Russian Federation, Russian Deputy Defense, Norwegian Refugee Council, NRC, US Africa Command, Africa Command Locations: Russia, Burkina Faso, West African, Russian, Ouagadougou, “, China, Africa, Ukraine, ”

☆ A Myanmar Rebel Group Is Accused of Persecuting Rohingya
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-03 | by ( Verena Hölzl | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

International courts are still investigating the Myanmar military’s slaughter of the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority in 2017 that the United States has called a genocide. Now a new threat to the group is looming, this time at the hands of a powerful rebel force. That force, the Arakan Army, has won control of large parts of Rakhine State in Myanmar over the past few months, most recently the northern section where many Rohingya still live. The Arakan Army has rejected these allegations. Formed roughly 15 years ago, the Arakan Army claims to be 40,000 people strong and has fought Myanmar’s military for years.

Persons: Rohingya Organizations: Arakan Army Locations: Myanmar, United States, Bangladesh, Arakan, Rakhine State, Rakhine

☆ Buthidaung: Fires rage as Rohingya caught up on the front lines of Myanmar’s civil war
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-23 | by ( Helen Regan | Avery Schmitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

This satellite image shows Buthidaung, Myanmar, on January 17, 2024. © 2024 Maxar Technologies This satellite image shows Buthidaung, Myanmar, on May 18, 2024. This satellite image shows a damaged bridge in Buthidaung, Myanmar, on May 18, 2024. Warnings of further atrocitiesAn immediate concern is a humanitarian crisis in Rakhine state, with newly displaced residents unable to access food or clean water. The Myanmar military has blocked all access,” said Nay San Lwin.

Persons: Farooq, ”, Young, Volker Türk, Kyaw, –, Buthidaung –, “, John Quinley, Khaing, Lwin, Rohingya, Pan, Matthew Miller Organizations: CNN, Arakan Army, AA, Resource Management, Free Rohingya Coalition, International Court of Justice, Council, Myanmar, UN Human Rights Council, National Unity Government, Free Rohingya Coalition –, Maxar Technologies, “, ” CNN, Bangladesh, Labs, Medecins, Rakhine . State Department, Unity Government Locations: Myanmar’s, Myanmar, Rakhine, Arakan, Bangladesh, Buthidaung, Lwin, Indonesia, San Lwin, Rakhine State

☆ Kenyan President’s State Visit: An Antidote to U.S. Troubles in Africa?
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-22 | by ( Declan Walsh | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

As other African nations move away from the United States, disillusioned with democracy or lured by rival powers, President William Ruto of Kenya arrives in Washington on Wednesday for a three-day state visit intended to showcase a stalwart American ally on the continent. Relations with once-firm American allies like South Africa and Ethiopia are decidedly cool. Mr. Ruto, the Biden administration hopes, is the antidote to those troubles. Since he came to power two years ago, Mr. Ruto, 57, has pulled Kenya, the economic powerhouse of East Africa, ever closer to the United States. His visit is just the sixth state visit hosted by the Biden administration, and the first for an African president since 2008.

Persons: William Ruto, Ruto, Biden Locations: United States, Kenya, Washington, American, Russia, China, Niger, South Africa, Ethiopia, Senegal, East Africa

☆ US reaches agreement with Niger to withdraw military forces by September 15
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-19 | by ( Oren Liebermann | Anneclaire Stapleton | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —The US has reached an agreement with Niger to withdraw its military forces from the African nation by September 15, according to the US Defense Department and the Nigerien Ministry of National Defense. Niger’s military government announced in March that it had ended an accord with the US that allowed military personnel and civilian staff from the Department of Defense to operate in the country. The US delegation met with Niger’s ruling military junta last week to try to reach an agreement that would allow for the secure withdrawal of US forces and for clearances for military flights. The delegations also established procedures to facilitate the entry and exit of U.S. personnel, including overflight and landing clearances for military flights,” the joint statement said. Rebuffing the calls, the military junta instead began partnering more with Russia, whose forces are now operating at the same base from which US forces are withdrawing.

Persons: Balima, Chris Meier, Mamane Sani Kiaou, Biden, ” Organizations: CNN, US Defense Department, Nigerien Ministry of National Defense, Department of Defense, Getty, Nigerien Locations: Niger, Niamey, Anadolu, Russia, US, United States

☆ US hopes to maintain some forces in Niger as talks on withdrawal continue, officials say
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-10 | by ( Haley Britzky | Katie Bo Lillis | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Officials said a US delegation will travel to Niger over the weekend to discuss how it will be carried out. “Niger is pretty profound in the decision of the government there … to have us depart or at least go to very low numbers,” Maier said. Since the coup in July, airspace has been closed over Niger to foreign militaries who have all had to submit individual requests for airspace to conduct military flights, one US official told CNN. A US military official explained that the withdrawal will come in phases over a period of months. The footprint will continue to shrink in phases as equipment and personnel not deemed necessary are moved out of country.

Persons: “ We’ll, ” Chris Maier, ” Maier, Michael Langley, ”, — Organizations: CNN, Pentagon, US Africa Command, Russian Federation Locations: Niger, West African, “ Niger, Africa, Russia, United States, Chad, Russian, China, Israel

In flip-flops and shorts, one of the finest soldiers in a resistance force battling the military junta in Myanmar showed off his weaponry. Nearby, electrical innards foraged from Chinese-made drones used for agricultural purposes were arrayed on the ground, their wires exposed as if awaiting surgery. Other parts needed to construct homemade drones, including chunks of Styrofoam studded with propellers, crowded a pair of leaf-walled shacks. Despite the ragtag conditions, rebel drone units have managed to upend the power balance in Myanmar. By most measures, the military that wrested power from a civilian administration in Myanmar three years ago is far bigger and better equipped than the hundreds of militias fighting to reclaim the country.

Persons: Ko Shan Organizations: Karenni Nationalities Defense Force Locations: Myanmar

☆ The Bleak Life of a Deposed President and His Wife, Held Captive
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-04 | by ( Elian Peltier | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Held captive by his former security guards in an isolated wing of his house, the deposed president of Niger paces a bedroom with no direct daylight, cut off from the world and unable to talk to his lawyers, according to people with direct knowledge of the conditions of his detention. Nine months since he was toppled in one of the coups that have recently wracked West Africa, Mohamed Bazoum is lingering in detention with no end in sight. The military junta that deposed him is seeking to strip him of presidential immunity, paving the way for him to be prosecuted on charges such as treason, for which the penalty could be life imprisonment, his lawyers said. His only visitor is a doctor, who brings him food once a week. Many of Mr. Bazoum’s closest allies — his cabinet members and advisers — have been thrown into jail or forced to flee Niger.

Persons: Mohamed Bazoum, Hadiza, Bazoum’s, — Locations: Niger, West Africa

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