First Independent Mena Newspaper
The United States and Türkiye have disrupted ISIS’s ability to finance its operations by designating four individuals and two entities of an ISIS financial facilitation network. The US Department of the Treasury said its Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated critical nodes of a key financial facilitation network of the so-called Islamic State of […]
France’s African soldiers, known ‘as Senegalese tirailleurs’ who fought in the world wars and the country’s colonial conflicts, have now won their final battle — the surviving fighters will be able to live out their days with their families back in Africa after a French government U-turn on their pension rights. The decision, made in […]
Kidane Zekarias Habtemariam, an Eritrean fugitive accused of being “the world’s most wanted” people smuggler has been arrested in Sudan in coordination with United Arab Emirates authorities, Interpol announced. The Eritrean national, on Interpol’s radar since 2019, has been accused of being a smuggling kingpin, running a camp in Libya where hundreds of East African […]
France’s foreign ministry is backing its ambassador in Burkina Faso despite a request by authorities there to replace him amid mounting anti-French sentiment in the country. “I would like to express my support and our support for our ambassador and for all the embassy staff, who are doing a remarkable job in conditions which, as […]
Zimbabwe joined gold miners from Indonesia to Peru last year by ratifying the United Nations Minamata Convention on Mercury, an international treaty adopted in 2013, that seeks to phase out the toxic metal to protect human health and the environment. Inhaling fumes or regular contact with mercury during gold mining can each have devastating effects […]
The United States has dropped Burkina Faso from its trade preference program citing deep concerns over “unconstitutional change” in government in the West African country, according to a statement by the office of the US Trade Representative (USTR). The USTR’s office said Burkina Faso had failed to meet the requirements of the African Growth and […]
African politics: the promise and peril of key elections in 2023 African politics and democracy will likely see a busy 2023 year, as many of its countries, notably Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe, Liberia, Gabon and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), will hold high-stakes elections. The February general election in Nigeria has raised a great deal […]
Taleb Ali Abdellah was appointed this Monday director of the Amazigh channels of the National Radio and TV company, the SNRT. He will replace Mamad Mohamed who is retiring this January. Mohamed Mamad put the national Amazigh television channel on the right track since it was set up twelve years ago, establishing a working method […]
The United Kingdom and Mauritius have begun talks on the sovereignty of the disputed Chagos archipelago, the Mauritian prime minister announced Sunday, January1. “The latest developments on the Chagos issue are very encouraging. Negotiations between Mauritius and Britain have begun,” Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth said in a New Year address. Mauritius claims the remote archipelago […]
The jihadist violence, which has wracked much of West Africa’s inland Sahel region for more than the past seven years, is now spreading into the coastal states with Benin having recorded more attacks than any other coastal state in the region, experts say. Violence by extremists linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group in […]