Record Number of Africans Flee to Yemen
A record number of African refugees and migrants have arrived in Yemen this year. Most are from Ethiopia. U.N. refugee agency spokesman Andrej Mahecic says more people are crossing the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden to get to Yemen. “There are now more than 43,000 people – migrants and refugees – from the Horn [...]
Mauritius, Somalia in deal to prosecute pirates
Mauritius said on Friday it has agreed to prosecute Somali pirates, helping overcome one of the hurdles to cracking down on the wave of piracy that has hit international shipping. The island nation said it had reached agreement with Somalia, and the semi-autonomous regions of Somaliland and Puntland, to accept suspected pirates for prosecution and [...]
South Africa signs Djibouti Code of Conduct anti-piracy agreement
South Africa has become a signatory to the International Maritime Organisation’s Djibouti Code of Conduct concerning the repression of piracy and altarmed robbery of ships in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden, becoming the 19th country to sign the agreement. South African High Commissioner Dr Zola Skweyiya signed the Code of Conduct on behalf [...]
Deserting Refugees in the Sahara
As dusk settles over the isolated Saharan town Kufra, young guards order a few hundred migrants lined up at a detention centre to chant “Libya free, Chadians out”, before they kneel down for evening prayers. Most of the prisoners in the small, squalid compound called the Freedom Detention Centre – run by Kufra’s military council [...]
NGO opposes deployment of S. Leone troops in Somalia
Nairobi (Alshahid)-A Sierra Leonean NGO, Pan-African Community Movement, has opposed the pending deployment of the West African nation’s troops in Somalia. About 850 Sierra Leonean troops are at an advanced stage of preparation for deployment in restive southern Somalia as part of the UN-backed African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). The Pan-African Community Movement (PACM), [...]
South African minister dies in Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa (Alshahid)- A South African Cabinet minister died while attending an African Union meeting in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian government said Saturday. South Africa’s Public Service and Administration Minister Padayachie, 62, collapsed at Addis Ababa airport Friday and died later in the Sheraton hotel, Ethiopian foreign ministry spokesman Dina Muti said. Padayachie had been [...]
US special forces aid in search for notorious Kony
Kampala (Alshahid)-The lush, green forests of central Africa has long been the playground and refuge of the continent’s most-notorious warlord, Joseph Kony. Obo was the first place in the Central African Republic that Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army attacked in 2008; today, it’s one of four forward operating locations where US special forces have paired up [...]
SA, SADC Partnering to Combat Piracy
Government is looking at enhancing cooperation with its SADC neighbours along the Indian Ocean shoreline, especially the island states of Mauritius, Seychelles and Somalia, to safeguard the sea routes from pirate attacks. “We firmly believe that the solution to this problem lies on land and therefore our enhanced political strategy on Somalia will seek to [...]
Report: Al Qaida Finding Fertile Ground in Africa
London (Voice of America)-From eastern shores of Somalia to western borders of Mali, there has been an upsurge in Islamist violence across Africa. A new report from Britain’s Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) cites growing evidence that al-Qaida is expanding its reach via a network of affiliates and partnerships across the continent. According to London-based [...]
Egypt hopes to mediate Khartoum, Jubba crisis
Khartoum (Alshahid)-Egypt is hoping to mediate in the crisis between Sudan and South Sudan, as the most serious border clashes erupt since the South’s independence. Egypt’s top diplomat, Mohammed Kamel Amr Sunday met Sudan’s President Omar Al-Bashir and delivered a message from Egypt’s military ruler Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi. “I came here to listen to [...]