Category Archives: The Sisters and Brothers

RAF C17 cargo plane set to help French operation

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An RAF C17 cargo plane is set to leave the UK on Sunday to help French efforts to contain rebels in Mali, Ministry of Defence sources say. (from bbc.co.uk)

The first of two planes will leave RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire later and load up with equipment in Paris before flying to Mali on Monday.

France has attacked militants in Mali to support the Malian government in recent days.

Downing Street said no UK troops would be deployed in a combat role.

The first plane is due to arrive at the French Evreux airbase, where it will be loaded with French armoured vehicles and other equipment before flying to Bamako. It will make just one trip.

A second C17 is due to arrive and will shuttle between Mali and France for the next few days.

The Minister for Africa, Mark Simmonds, indicated British personnel could play a role in training the Malian army through the European Union.

He said the UK was providing “only very limited strategic tactical support” in the form of the two C17 transport planes, in response to a French request.

“There are no plans to extend the UK’s military involvement at the moment,” Mr Simmonds told the BBC News Channel.

Justifying the government’s decision to help, he told Sky News there was a “thoroughly unpleasant regime” in the north of the country with “raping and sexual violence taking place” and children being forced into the military.

The move to transport foreign troops and equipment was agreed in a phone call between Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande on Saturday night, Downing Street said.

“The prime minister spoke to President Hollande… to discuss the deteriorating situation… and how the UK can support French military assistance provided to the Malian government to contain rebel and extremist groups in the north of the country,” a spokeswoman said.

Spirit Child

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An investigation into the ritual killing of disabled Ghanaian children deemed to be possessed by evil spirits. (from aljazeera.com)

Every year an unknown number of children – most of them disabled in some way – are murdered in northern Ghana because of the belief that they are in some way possessed by evil spirits set on bringing ill fortune to those around them.

The practice is the consequence of ancient traditions and customs and is shaped by poverty and ignorance in remote and often marginalised communities. But it is still infanticide and no less horrifying than the killing of children anywhere. For years NGOs and the Ghanaian authorities have tried advocacy and education in an attempt to eradicate the practice but with only marginal success. Well into the 21st century, Ghana’s so-called spirit children are still being killed because they carry the blame for the misfortunes of everyday life.

Award-winning Ghanaian investigative reporter Anas Aremeyaw Anas is determined to do something to stop this senseless slaughter. In his shocking and remarkable film for People & Power he sets out to track down and identify some of those responsible and to bring them to justice.

Two French citizens kidnapped in Mali

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Two French geologists were taken hostage at gunpoint early on Thursday after an armed gang stormed their hotel in the Mali desert. The abduction bore similarities to other Al-Qaeda linked kidnappings in the region. (from france24.com)

A gang kidnapped two French nationals at gunpoint from their hotel in the Malian desert early Thursday, local security sources said, the latest abduction of foreigners in the troubled region.

The two geologists were seized from the village of Hombori, which lies in eastern Mali between Mopti and Gao near the border with Niger, in an assault bearing the hallmark of Al-Qaeda linked Islamist militants.

A Hombori municipality source said seven armed men entered the hotel at about 1:00 am (0100 GMT) and made off with their hostages to the north of the country, a hotbed of Al-Qaeda militants.

The latest kidnap brings to six the number of French hostages in the Sahel area, with the group known as Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb still holding four nationals abducted in Niger in September 2010.

Northern Mali is home to a number of AQIM bases used to launch attacks and kidnappings in the Sahel region on the southern side of the Sahara that includes Mali, Algeria, Niger and Mauritania.

The two geologists, who were working for a cement works in the region, were seized a day after a former French military official involved in efforts to free the hostages in Niger was shot and wounded in the shoulder.

An Italian and two Spaniards kidnapped in Algeria in October are also believed to be held by AQIM, although the group has not claimed responsibilty.

French troops arrive in Mali to stem rebel advance

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François Hollande responds to Malian president’s plea for help, as UN calls for swift deployment of international force (from guardian.co.uk)

French troops have arrived in Mali amid a rapid escalation of international efforts to intervene in the country, where Islamist groups are continuing to clash with the army for control of the desert north.

The French president, François Hollande, announced on Friday night that French armed forces had come to the aid of Mali troops on the ground. He said the operation would last as long as necessary and the French parliament would sit to debate the move on Monday.

The French foreign office has advised ex-pats to leave Mali because of the security situation.

French media quoted Malian officials as saying European military were present on the ground, namely at Sévaré.

Colonel Abdrahmane Baby, a military operations adviser for the foreign affairs ministry, told Associated Press that French troops were in the country but gave no details about how many or what they were doing.

The announcement confirmed reports from residents in central Mali who said they had seen western military personnel arrive and that planes had landed there throughout the night.

Earlier, Hollande said France was “ready to stop the terrorists’ advance if it continues”. In a speech to the country’s diplomatic corps, he said: “I have decided that France will respond, alongside our African partners, to the request from the Malian authorities. We will do it strictly within the framework of the United Nations security council resolution.

The tough-talking announcement by Hollande came after a plea for assistance from Mali’s embattled president, Dioncounda Traoré, who has been under growing pressure in Mali to fight back against Islamist control of the north. The UN called for the swift deployment of an international force to Mali.

On Thursday rebels captured the town of Konna, less than 40 miles from the strategic city and army base of Mopti. The situation in Konna is described as complicated, with army personnel still in the town but rebels now in control.”There are Islamists controlling Konna, but they are integrated into the population, it is very difficult for the army to fight them,” said Boubakar Hamadoun, editor of the Bamako-based newspaper Mali Demain, who has reporters based in the north. “It is a very complicated situation.”

The renewed fighting follows the disintegration of a ceasefire between one of the Islamist groups, Ansar Dine, and the government. It has sparked panic in Mopti and other towns south of the de facto border between government and Islamist control, and prompted concerns in the international community that the Islamist groups – who operate a drug trafficking and kidnap economy in northern Mali and other Sahelian countries – could capture more ground.Hollande’s announcement marked a radical departure from recent agreements that limited the role of French and other international forces to providing Mali’s army with training and logistical support.

France, the former colonial power in Mali and other countries in the Sahel region, has hundreds of troops stationed across west and central Africa. This month it declined to provide a military intervention to another former colony, the Central African Republic, whose government is also under threat from rebel groups.

A UN security council resolution has been passed, paving the way for military intervention in Mali, but the UN’s special envoy for the Sahel, Romano Prodi, said in November there would be no deployment until September.

Congo-Kinshasa: Does DRC Need Surveillance Drones?

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As efforts towards a negotiated solution to the crisis in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) continue, the UN is pushing for deployment of surveillance drones in the area. (from allafrica.com)

In a closed meeting on Tuesday, UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous asked the Security Council to support deployment of surveillance drones in the east of the DRC, purportedly to improve the UN peacekeeping mission’s ability to protect civilians.

Brieuc Pont, the spokesperson of the French Mission to the UN, also tweeted that “the UN in Congo needs additional and modern assets, including drones, to be better informed and more reactive.”

Congo-Kinshasa: DR Congo Soldiers Attack Radio Tujenge Kabambare

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Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo should bring to account soldiers involved in a raid on a radio station in the eastern town of Kabambare, and the arbitrary detention and beating of two of the station’s journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. (from allafrica.com)

Soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (known by the French acronym FARDC) stormed community station Radio Tujenge Kabambare on January 2 and ransacked its studios and confiscated equipment, including computers, generators, solar panels, mobile phones, and recorders, according to the station’s director and the Congolese press freedom group OLPA.

The soldiers detained the head of programs, Senghor Fundi Kamulete, and technician Shabani Bin Shabani for a few hours in a military camp, where they were beaten with rifle butts, OLPA said. Fundi and Shabani are hospitalized and being treated for injuries to the head, chest, and arms, the station’s director, Gekalom Kalonda Mukelenge, told CPJ.

Mukelenge said another group of soldiers raided his home, which is near the station, and accused him of hiding a member of the M23 rebel group. The soldiers assaulted members of his family and ransacked the house, he said.

The reason behind the attacks was not immediately clear. Mukelenge could not point to any sensitive recent stories, but said the station has in the past aired reports critical of the military, including interviews with local citizens accusing soldiers of extortion at arbitrary checkpoints.

“We condemn the attack on Radio Tujenge Kabambare and its journalists, who have a right to cover the military’s activities without obstruction or intimidation,” said CPJ Africa Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita. “We call on Congolese authorities to hold their soldiers fully accountable under the law.”

Congolese government spokesman Lambert Mende told CPJ he received information about the attacks today and that an investigation was under way. “I have addressed an urgent note to my colleague, the minister of defense. Tomorrow, I will have an idea of measures to take,” he said. “This is not acceptable. The army is not tasked with leading police operations. We will shed light on this.”