RUFISQUE – Ibrahima Mar first lost his livelihood then lost his son when the fish off Senegal’s coast began to disappear, rupturing a way of life that had sustained his family for generations. Industrial and illegal fishing, among other factors, have contributed to a sharp decline in the region’s fish stock, robbing the west African...
ADDIS ABABA – Ethiopia will prioritise vehicles transporting essential goods and those in the public transport sector at fuel stations as the country grapples with shortages caused by the war in the Middle East, authorities said on Tuesday. The effective blockade of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran, through which a fifth of the world’s...
NAIROBI – At least several dozen people were killed after multiple explosions ripped through a military arsenal in the Burundian city of Bujumbura late on Tuesday, security sources told AFP yesterday. The explosions began at the main ammunition depot of the Burundi National Defence Force (FDNB) in Musaga, in the southern suburbs of Bujumbura, the...
One of the more idealistic ambitions of the last Soviet leadership was the simultaneous dissolution of both Cold War blocs, NATO and the Warsaw Pact. Only half of that vision came to pass. The Warsaw Pact disappeared in the spring of 1991. NATO didn’t. Instead, it endured and expanded. Over the following decades, the alliance...
Geneva – More than 200 000 people have fled Lebanon for Syria since fighting resumed a month ago between Israeli forces and Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, the United Nations’ refugee agency said on Tuesday. Lebanon was pulled into the Middle East conflict in early March when Israeli-US strikes killed Iran’s supreme leader and Tehran-backed Hezbollah responded...
BEIJING – Beijing expressed “gratitude” yesterday for coordination that enabled three Chinese ships to transit the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial waterway which Iran has all but closed during the war in the Middle East. Two of the vessels, belonging to state-owned shipping giant Cosco, passed through the strait while exiting the Gulf on Monday...
TEHRAN – US-Israeli strikes yesterday hit one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in Iran which produces anaesthetic and cancer drugs, the Iranian government said.“During the US and Zionist regime attacks on civilian centres, on the morning of Tuesday, one of the largest companies producing anti-cancer, anaesthetic and specialised medicines was damaged and the drug production...
NAIROBI – Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and allied militias are using sexual violence as a “weapon of war” in Darfur to control civilians, medical charity Doctors Without Borders said yesterday. The Sudanese army and RSF have been locked in a brutal conflict since April 2023 that has killed tens of thousands, displaced around 11...
ABIDJAN – The presidential term of Niger’s overthrown leader Mohamed Bazoum officially ends tomorrow, but he faces little prospect of freedom from detention or even a trial, making what comes next uncertain. Bazoum, 66, was sworn in as president on 2 April, 2021 after democratic elections in which he won 55% of the vote.He has...
TEHRAN – Israel and Iran exchanged more missile fire yesterday as concerns that the United States might escalate the Middle East conflict by launching ground raids against the Islamic Republic’s Gulf islands sent oil prices soaring. Iran also launched new strikes on a water desalination plant in Kuwait, after its own electrical facilities came under...