Sudan braces for fresh protests against bloody coup

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Written by northsouth

Category: Africa

Published: 30 October 2021

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KHARTOUM - Sudanese anti-coup protesters plan to flood the streets Saturday to demonstrate against a military takeover that has derailed the country's transition to civilian rule and triggered deadly clashes.

The military on Monday detained Sudan's civilian leadership, dissolved the government and declared a state of emergency, leading to a chorus of international condemnation.

Street protests erupted against the coup, triggering a crackdown by the security forces that has left dead at least eight demonstrators and wounded around 170.

Despite the bloodshed, the protesters remain defiant, with organisers hoping to stage a "million-strong" march against the military's power grab on Saturday.

"We will not be ruled by the military. That is the message we will convey" at the protests, said Sudanese rights activist Tahani Abbas.

"The military forces are bloody and unjust and we are anticipating what is about to happen on the streets," Abbas said. "But we are no longer afraid."

Monday's takeover was led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan - Sudan's de facto leader since the 2019 ouster of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir after huge youth-led protests.

Several pro-democracy activists have been arrested.

On the eve of Saturday's rallies, a US official put the death toll at between 20 and 30, adding the protests would be a "real test" of the intentions of Sudan's military.

"We call on the security forces to refrain from any and all violence against protesters and to fully respect the citizens' right to demonstrate peacefully," the official in Washington said on condition of anonymity.

Phone lines were largely down by Saturday morning, as security forces deployed in large numbers on the streets and blocked bridges connecting the capital, Khartoum, with neighbouring cities.

Security forces set up random checkpoints on main roads, randomly frisking passers-by and searching cars.

Britain's special envoy for Sudan and South Sudan Robert Fairweather urged Sudan's security forces to "respect freedom and right of expression" for protesters.

"Peaceful protest is a fundamental democratic right. The security services and their leaders will bear responsibility for any violence towards any protesters," he said on Twitter.

'Grave setback'

Sudan has been led since August 2019 by a civilian-military ruling council, alongside Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok's government, as part of the now stalled transition to full civilian rule.

Hamdok himself was briefly detained before he was released and placed under effective house arrest. Other civilian leaders and ministers are still being held.

Days of unrest have rocked Khartoum and other cities.

Protesters have barricaded roads with rocks, debris and burning tyres.

Shops have largely been shuttered, and government employees have refused to work as part of a campaign of civil disobedience.

"The Sudanese people are determined to... win back the gains of the December 2018 revolution" against Bashir, said Abdelgelil al-Basha from the capital's twin city of Omdurman.

Burhan, a senior general under Bashir's three decades of iron-fisted rule, has insisted the military takeover "was not a coup" but only meant to "rectify the course of the Sudanese transition".

The move triggered a wave of international condemnation and several punitive measures, with the World Bank and the United States freezing aid - a heavy blow to a country already mired in a dire economic crisis.

US President Joe Biden has called the coup a "grave setback", while the African Union has suspended Sudan's membership for the "unconstitutional" takeover.

On Friday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on the military to show restraint as he reaffirmed his "strong condemnation" of the coup.

"People must be allowed to demonstrate peacefully," Guterres said.

Monday's power grab was the latest coup to hit impoverished Sudan, which has enjoyed only rare democratic interludes since independence in 1956 and spent decades riven by civil war.

France kills Islamic State leader

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Written by northsouth

Category: Africa

Published: 17 September 2021

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France says that the leader of ISIL (ISIS)-affiliated Islamic State in Greater Sahara (ISGS) group, known for its deadly attacks in the so-called tri-border region of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, has been killed by French forces.

“[Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi], leader of the terrorist group Islamic State in the Greater Sahara was neutralised by French forces,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in a tweet on Thursday.

“This is another major success in our fight against terrorist groups in the Sahel,” Macron added, without providing details or location of the operation.

Rumours of the ISGS leader’s death had circulated for weeks in Mali, though authorities in the region had not confirmed it.

In another tweet, French Defence Minister Florence Parly said al-Sahrawi died following a raid by France’s Barkhane force – a 5,100-man operation active in the Sahel region for more than eight years.

“It is a decisive blow against this terrorist group,” she tweeted. “Our fight continues.”

The armed group’s leader was behind the killing of French aid workers in 2020 and was also wanted by the United States over a deadly 2017 attack on US troops in Niger.

ISGS, formed by al-Sahrawi in 2015, has been blamed for most of the attacks in recent years on civilians and soldiers in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.

The flashpoint area has frequently come under attack by ISGS and the al-Qaeda-affiliated Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (GSIM).

The US had offered a $5 million reward for information on the whereabouts of al-Sahrawi, who was wanted over an October 4, 2017 attack in Niger that killed four US Special Forces and four Niger troops.

On August 9, 2020, in Niger, the ISGS head personally ordered the killing of six French aid workers and their Niger guides and drivers.

In late 2019, the group carried out a series of large-scale attacks against military bases in Mali and Niger.

A former member of Western Sahara’s Polisario Front independence movement, al-Sahrawi joined al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and had also co-led the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa or Mujao, a Malian armed group responsible for kidnapping Spanish aid workers in Algeria and a group of Algerian diplomats in Mali in 2012.

The French military has killed several high-ranking members of ISGS under its strategy of taking out fighters since the start of its military intervention in Mali in 2013.

In June this year, Macron announced a huge scaling back of France’s Barkhane force in the Sahel after more than eight years of military presence in the vast region to refocus on supporting local forces.

“The nation is thinking this evening of all its heroes who died for France in the Sahel in the Serval and Barkhane operations, of the bereaved families, of all its wounded,” Macron added in another tweet after al-Sahrawi was killed.

“Their sacrifice is not in vain. With our African, European and American partners, we will continue this fight.”

What caused South Africa’s week of rioting?

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Written by northsouth

Category: Africa

Published: 20 July 2021

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By ANDREW MELDRUM

JOHANNESBURG — South Africa has been rocked by the worst violence since the nation achieved democracy in 1994. Here is a closer look at the unrest.

WHAT TRIGGERED THE VIOLENCE?

The unrest began on July 8 when former President Jacob Zuma started serving a 15-month prison sentence for contempt of court. Supporters in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal set up roadblocks on major highways and burned about 20 trucks. The protests closed the N3 and N2 highways, which link the Indian Ocean ports of Durban and Richard’s Bay to the industrial hub of Johannesburg and to Cape Town.

The unrest spread within KwaZulu-Natal, where shopping malls and centers were ransacked by mobs that took food, electronics, clothes and liquor. Attacks on retail centers also spread inland to Gauteng province, to Johannesburg, the country’s largest city, and to Pretoria, the capital. In Durban and Pietermaritzburg, crowds attacked warehouses for major retailers and factories, which were set alight. Several burned until their roofs collapsed. The unrest lasted for a week until 25,000 army troops were deployed.

HOW BAD WERE THE RIOTS?

At least 215 people died in the unrest, and more than 2,500 were arrested on charges including theft and vandalism, according to government figures updated Monday.

The unrest was largely limited to the KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces, which together account for nearly 50% of South Africa’s GDP. The violence did not spread to South Africa’s other seven provinces.

Extensive damage was done to 161 malls and shopping centers, 11 warehouses, eight factories and 161 liquor stores and distributors, according to the government. An estimated 10 billion rand ($680 million) was lost in stolen goods, burned trucks and destroyed property, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit.

South Africa’s economy may sustain longer-term damage if domestic and international investors view the unrest as a sign that the country is not a safe destination for their capital. South Africa’s economy was already in recession, and the instability is expected to cause the economy to contract even further. The hardest hit will be South Africa’s poor, many of whom will not be able to buy food at competitive prices at the township shopping centers that have been closed or burned. People receiving monthly government grants, especially the elderly, will not be able to get them at centers that have been closed.

WHAT CAUSED THE DEATHS?

Police and government officials say many of the deaths were caused when people were crushed in stampedes during the chaotic ransacking of shops. At least 20 deaths occurred in the Phoenix area of KwaZulu-Natal, where residents were protecting their neighborhood from suspected intruders, according to Police Minister Bheki Cele. It is not known how many deaths were caused by police shooting at rioters.

Human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, are investigating the deaths.

WAS THE RIOTING SPONTANEOUS?

After Zuma entered prison, numerous posts on social media encouraged protests, including attacks on highways and on retail centers. Six people have been arrested on charges of inciting violence, the government announced Monday without disclosing their identities. One of those arrested has been released on bail. Five are still in custody.

“The unrest was orchestrated, instigated and planned ... It almost brought our country to its knees,” said acting Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has also stated that the violence was planned. The police have said they have discovered large caches of ammunition.

The extent of the rioting exposed South Africa’s underlying economic problems, including high rates of unemployment and poverty. Unemployment is more than 32%, and it is above 64% for those under the age of 35, according to South African government statistics. More than half of the country’s 60 million people live in poverty, and more than 20% are food insecure. The country is one of the most unequal in the world, and that inequality has increased since apartheid ended in 1994, according to the World Bank.

WHY HAS ZUMA BECOME THE FOCUS FOR SO MANY LEGAL CASES?

Zuma, who has been a controversial figure for years, went to prison for contempt of court because he refused to testify before a judicial commission investigating allegations of corruption during his time as the country’s president from 2009 to 2018. The commission has heard damning testimony from former Cabinet ministers and top executives of state-owned corporations that Zuma allowed members of the wealthy Gupta family to influence his Cabinet appointments and the awarding of lucrative state contracts.

The 79-year-old Zuma also faces separate charges of corruption. He’s accused of receiving bribes from the French arms manufacturer Thales related to the country’s controversial 1999 arms procurement contracts. At that time, Zuma was a high-ranking official in the ruling African National Congress party and a provincial minister in KwaZulu-Natal. He is alleged to have received the bribes through his former financial advisor, Schabir Shaik, who was convicted on related charges in 2005, sentenced to prison and later released on medical parole.

Zuma was forced by his ANC party to step down as president in 2018 because of the growing allegations of corruption, but he still has a considerable following within the party, including other top ANC officials who are also facing corruption charges. Before he was imprisoned, Zuma made inflammatory speeches to his supporters in KwaZulu-Natal.

Human rights groups have welcomed his imprisonment. When he entered prison, the Nelson Mandela Foundation said it was pleased to see Zuma in custody and criticized him for “a pattern of disregard for the rule of law and for our constitutional democracy.”

The foundation said it was “profoundly disturbed” by Zuma’s willingness “to court public violence and lawlessness in support of political and personal agendas.”

WHAT WILL MAINTAIN STABILITY IN SOUTH AFRICA?

The deployment of 25,000 army troops to assist police has succeeded in establishing an uneasy calm over the country. The highways have reopened, and no violent incidents were reported Monday. Volunteer groups are helping to clean up trashed retail centers. It was not clear how long the military would be needed on the streets.