Month: December 2022

CAMEROON

VIOLENCE DISPLACES MORE THAN 2,600 PEOPLE IN THE MAYO-TSANAGA DIVISION

Following the non-State armed groups (NSAGs) attacks on 7 and 11 December in Tourou, Ldagodja and Watatoufou localities in the Mayo-Tsanaga division, Far North region, more than 2,600 people were reportedly displaced to Mokolo, Ldoubam, Ldingling and Ldamang localities in the same division. An unknown number of people also fled to Nigeria.

The rapid response mechanism reported food, non-food items, shelter and water and sanitation needs as priorities for displaced persons. Consultations are underway to organize a rapid response to these needs.

According to UNHCR, about 7,000 people fleeing insecurity in the Mayo-Tsanaga division have found refuge in border localities in Nigeria since July 2022.

CHAD

INTERCOMMUNAL CONFLICT DISPLACES 1,500 PEOPLE IN THE SOUTH

According to local authorities and humanitarians on the ground, an intercommunal conflict between farmers and herders, which broke out on 17 December, has killed five people and injured several more in the locality of Korbol, in the Moyen Chari province, located in the south of the country.

Two villages were also burned in the process, prompting the movement of 1,500 people, mostly women and children, to three displacement sites several kilometers away.

Intercommunal conflicts between herders and farmers are not uncommon in the country.

Since the beginning of the year, over 24 incidents of clashes between farmers and herders have been recorded, pushing over 8,500 people to flee their homes.

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

MORE THAN 500,000 PEOPLE DISPLACED IN THE COUNTRY

According to the latest figures published by the Population Movement Commission, 518,000 people were displaced in the Central African Republic (CAR) as of 30 November, and 750,000 CAR refugees were registered in neighbouring countries. The overall number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) has increased by 13,057 (2.6 per cent) compared to October 2022. The new displacements occurred primarily in areas affected by violence and abuses by armed groups as well as incidents related to transhumance in the Mbomou (south-east), Kémo (south) and Ouaka (centre) Prefectures. Spontaneous returns of 2,602 people were mainly registered in Kouango (Ouaka Prefecture) following an improvement in the security situation.

DR CONGO

PERSISTING CHOLERA OUTBREAK IN DISPLACEMENT SITES IN NYIRAGONGO

Health authorities have reported at least 1,620 suspected cholera cases, including nine deaths, between 31 October and 25 December at internal displacements in Kanyaruchinya and surrounding areas, north of Goma, North Kivu province. The disease broke out following the outflow of civilians fleeing violence. Humanitarian partners have established cholera treatment centres and are increasing epidemiological surveillance as well as providing potable water to Natural disaster displacement sites.

Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

East African and African Union officials arrived in the Tigray region of Ethiopia to launch a joint monitoring and verification mechanism for a peace deal signed in November to end the two-year war.

The mediating team, led by former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, as well as African Union representatives and diplomats from various countries, arrived Thursday in Mekele, the Tigray region’s capital.

The team that helped broker a peace deal between Ethiopia’s federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front in South Africa is keeping an eye on the cease-fire’s progress.

The warring factions have agreed to a joint African Union monitoring team to ensure that the peace agreement is being implemented and that no cease-fire violations are occurring.

The visiting delegation was welcomed by Tigray region president Debretsion Gebremichael and will be monitoring the full implementation of the peace agreement.

The agreement calls for the restoration of all services, the provision of adequate aid to the needy population, the disarmament of rebel groups, and the withdrawal of foreign forces and other militia groups from the region.

The delegation’s visit comes as the Tigray rebel group prepares to disarm and surrender the region to the federal government. The Tigray rebel group is hesitant to accept the move because they accuse Eritrean troops of attacking the population and obstructing humanitarian aid, as well as the presence of militias from the Amhara and Afar regions.

The government restored telecommunication services to more towns this week, and Ethiopian Airlines flew to Mekele for the first time in nearly two years on Wednesday, allowing families to reconnect.

Source: Voice of America

Across the United States and many other Western countries, the threat from Islamist terror groups has been increasingly overshadowed by the threats from other extremist groups, some of whom have proven to be more deadly in recent years.

But despite a rise in far-right and white-supremacist-driven terrorist threats, counterterrorism officials have been careful not to overlook the still persistent threat from groups such as the Islamic State and al-Qaida.

“Jihadism is, yes, it is the main threat right now still in the Netherlands,” Netherlands Justice and Security Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius said in response to a question from VOA during a visit to Washington in late November.

“Now you see the threat. You see still the ideology,” she said. “But the firm organization and the level of organization, also in Europe and in our country, that’s breaking down.”

Targeting IS and al-Qaida leadership

One reason for the breakdown – both the Islamic State, known as IS, ISIS or Daesh, and al-Qaida suffered significant setbacks in 2022.

“It was certainly a year of decapitations,” Edmund Fitton-Brown, a former senior United Nations counterterrorism official, told VOA.

Despite concerns about a possible IS resurgence, the United States dealt the terror group a “significant blow” when its leader, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, blew himself up following a nighttime raid by U.S. special forces.

Less than eight months later, IS was hit again, losing Abu Ibrahim’s replacement, Abu al-Hassan, after a raid by rebels with the Free Syrian Army.

In between, a series of operations by the U.S., partners such as the Syrian Democratic Forces, and allies such as Turkey, kept the pressure up, contributing to the death or capture of at least 10 key IS leaders in 2022.

Already, the U.S. appears to be cracking Islamic State’s defenses, with officials telling VOA they have information on the group’s new leader, known only by the nom-de-guerre, Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi.

Should the U.S. be able to track him down, the impact could reverberate across the jihadi world.

“That starts to look like they have a real problem,” Fitton-Brown, the former counterterrorism official, told VOA.

“It’s as if the thread of wool (is) just being pulled and pulled and the sweater is coming to pieces, and they can’t seem to stop it,” he said. “At what point does this actually sort of weaken the brand to the point where … it’s where people, that people cease to actually want to identify with it because it starts to stink of failure?”

Setback for Al-Qaida

Al-Qaida also was dealt a considerable setback in August, when a U.S. drone strike killed its leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri in his residential compound in Kabul, Afghanistan.

“Justice has been delivered,” U.S. President Joe Biden said, announcing al-Zawahiri’s death to the world. “No matter how long it takes, no matter where you hide, if you are a threat to our people, the United States will find you and take you out.”

Since then, al-Qaida leadership has been somewhat quiet, its succession plans strained, with al-Zawahiri’s likely successor stuck in Iran.

And Western fears about the terror threat emanating from Afghanistan have yet to materialize, with top U.S. counterterrorism officials saying that the IS affiliate there, IS-Khorasan, like al-Qaida, has been sufficiently weakened that it cannot make good on its desire to launch attacks against the West.

Instead, the nexus of the jihadi terror threat continues to shift elsewhere.

Countering terror threat from Africa

U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a forum in California earlier this month that the al-Qaida affiliate in Yemen, known as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, (AQAP) remains the most dangerous and the most capable of attacking the West.

Not far behind is al-Qaida’s Somali affiliate known as al-Shabab, which has been financially supporting al-Qaida’s core leadership, and which has long harbored a desire to strike at U.S. and Western targets in Africa and beyond.

“The number one I would say probably that we’re most concerned about is the threat of al-Shabab in East Africa,” Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for African Affairs Chidi Blyden told VOA during a virtual briefing this month with the Defense Writers Group in Washington.

“We have partnered with the Somalis to ensure that we are trying to degrade their capability to hurt the partners in the region, as well as their intent or capability to be able to have attacks outside of their current location,” Blyden said.

To help counter al-Shabab, the U.S. earlier this year decided it was necessary to keep a “small, persistent presence” of about 500 U.S. troops in Somalia – a move welcomed by the new Somali government.

But other terror groups, including al-Qaida and IS affiliates the Sahel have also made gains.

“There’s a conglomeration of violent extremist organizations that are in the Sahel that are also of concern to us,” Blyden said. “Their impact on populations in the Sahel and surrounding coastal West African countries is something that we are working with our partners to try and understand more.”

The past year also saw some countries, such as France, begin pulling some of their counterterrorism forces out of the region.

Some experts fear, as a result, more problems are likely.

“The probability that an al-Qaida group conducts an international terrorist attack continues to rise as the regional branches strengthen and counterterrorism pressure lifts,” Katherine Zimmerman, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, told VOA via email.

“Even with the intelligence capabilities the U.S. has—and they are many—the risk that such an attack slips through is slightly higher because of shifts in counterterrorism resources as the global terrorism threat has changed,” she said. “It seems as the U.S. footprint shrinks in counterterrorism theaters, so too, does the visibility.”

Source: Voice of America

LAGOS– Nigerian police killed two suspected kidnappers, in the latest crackdown on criminals, in the southern state of Delta, a police spokesperson said, yesterday.

The suspects were killed on Sunday, as they tried to escape custody, in the city of Warri, said Bright Edafe, the police spokesman in Delta, at a press conference.

A police patrol team arrested the suspects on Saturday in Warri, after three live cartridges were found in a tricycle used by the suspects, Edafe said, adding that, interrogation found they were part of a five-person kidnapping gang in the area.

On Sunday, the suspects led police to their hideout in the area, where two guns and two machetes were recovered, he said.

On their way back to the police station, the two suspects jumped out of the moving police vehicle, in an attempt to escape and were seriously injured by the police, leading to their death, while being taken to hospital.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

Three months into Iran’s crackdown on coverage of widespread protests, media analysts remain troubled by the dozens of journalist arrests and reports of abuse in detention centers.

“Right now is probably the worst time to ever be a journalist in Iran,” said Sherif Mansour, Middle East and North Africa program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

Data released by CPJ in December showed Iran as the top jailer of journalists globally, with 62 reporters — 24 of whom are women — currently in prison.

More than 20 other journalists have been arrested since September, but released on bail.

The numbers are the highest on record in the 30 years since the New York-based nonprofit began tracking arrests there.

Nearly all those detained were arrested in connection to their coverage of protests that began in September, following the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman who died while in state custody. Thousands of protesters are also being held.

Some face charges that could result in a death penalty. Iran earlier in December executed two protesters.

In the past, groups like the CPJ and Coalition For Women In Journalism (CFWIJ) have been able to evacuate journalists in danger, but travel bans and closed borders have made that impossible.

“There is no way out,” said Mansour.

Iran’s Mission at the U.N. did not respond to VOA’s request for comment.

Protest crackdown

CPJ and other watchdogs documenting arrests found that more than 20 of the journalists imprisoned over protest coverage are women.

By comparison, after the 2009 protests over a disputed presidential election, only four of the 47 journalists arrested were women.

The higher number in 2022 hints at the “role women are playing” in the protests, according to Mansour.

The rallies have been women-led, advocating not just an end to compulsory hijab, but an end to policies by the Iranian regime that have restricted women’s rights in Iran since 1979.

But while the arrests are linked to protest coverage, Mansour points out that authorities in many cases detained the journalists at their homes.

“The majority of them were arrested violently in front of their families and neighbors, which shows that the government knew where they lived,” said Mansour.

CPJ’s research has found instances of journalists held in solitary confinement for weeks at a time, detained in overcrowded cells or denied access to medical care.

Others have been forced to appear on camera and “confess to crimes they never committed” including espionage, anti-state charges, and moharebeh — enmity against God, Mansour told VOA.

But with access to internet and social media restricted, and government surveillance high, working to verify cases can be hard.

Media watchdogs, including CPJ, speak with journalists, lawyers and human rights activists inside the country to gather and verify information.

The accounts they hear are disturbing.

While both men and women have faced abuse, female journalists are subjected to additional “gendered violations,” according to Kiran Nazish, founding director of CFWIJ.

The organization, which works with women and LGBTQ journalists globally, has seen a similar pattern in other countries.

“We have been told by journalists and lawyers, that in some instances police or prison guards have indulged in straightforward sexual acts, including touching their genitalia,” Nazish told VOA via email. “We don’t see male journalists treated in the same way.”

Iran’s prison service in early December denied any women are sexually assaulted while detained, Agence France-Presse reported.

Minorities under pressure

Also targeted by authorities in recent months are Kurdish journalists, according to both CFWIJ and CPJ. Nine of those currently detained in Iran are Kurdish.

“The retaliation by the IRGC, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in Kurdish areas was a lot more militarized” than in other cities, Mansour said, adding that curfews were put in place.

Kurdish women journalists have been “intimidated more openly,” and arrests without warrants are also more common in Kurdish areas, said Nazish.

“The most vulnerable women in the media come from remote areas and smaller cities,” she told VOA, adding that those individuals often lacked support or resources at national or international levels.

“Authorities and governments know this very well, and hence we see a greater number of smear campaigns, legal harassment and arrests in the smallest cities,” she said.

Tehran’s response to protests and unrest extends beyond media.

The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), a non-governmental organization that monitors human rights violations in Iran, estimates more than 18,000 people have been arrested since protests broke out.

Trials involved an “extremely quick and non-transparent judicial process” where those charged were denied access to chosen lawyers, HRANA has reported.

“The lack of due process should be condemned in the strongest terms,” Skylar Thompson, senior advocacy coordinator for HRANA, told VOA via email. “The arbitrary approach of the judiciary is of absolute alarm — we are facing a system that is not even following its own laws. This is happening systemically and, in some instances, appeals are not being allowed.”

Iran executed two protesters — Mohsen Shekari and Majidreza Rahnavard — who were convicted of moharebeh after allegedly injuring and killing paramilitary volunteers. Rahnavard was hanged from a construction crane in front of a crowd of people.

At least 58 others in detention have either been sentenced to death or are “at risk of receiving a death sentence,” according to HRANA.

All journalists who have been arrested, including those released on bail, “could be subjected to the same politically motivated trials,” Mansour told VOA.

Despite the risks, many journalists in Iran continue to cover protests and connect with sources on the ground.

“Lack of … accurate information on Iran can critically impact some big issues, including foreign policy of our governments toward Iran to any actions by the U.N. that can be taken to support Iranians calling for justice,” Nazish told VOA.

“Media and free media is the thread that connects our global reality to intricate stories and lives in Iran,” Nazish said. “This is why many of the women journalists we speak to repeatedly say something along the lines of, ‘journalism is not a job, it’s a duty.'”

Source: Voice of America