The United Nations estimated Tuesday that around $1 billion were needed to respond to the humanitarian crisis in northeast, where 5.1 million people are at risk of acute hunger. Despite ongoing military operations to end a decade-long jihadist insurgency, the conflict continues to kill and force people from their homes. “As many as 5.1 million people are threatened by acute hunger during the upcoming lean season – the worst outlook in four years,” the UN’s office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs said in a statement. Nigeria’s humanitarian community, in partnership with the government, launched its Humanitarian Response Plan for 2021, requesting $1.0 billion to provide humanitarian assistance, up from $839 million last year. In 2020, funding was severely affected by the Covid-19...
A West African delegation visiting Mali to push for a speedy return to civilian rule following a coup said it was “very hopeful” on Saturday after meeting with the country’s military junta and the president it ousted. The head of the delegation from the regional Ecowas bloc, former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan, said that detained Malian president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was doing relatively well. “We saw him, he’s very fine,” said Jonathan, who had earlier met for half an hour with the soldiers who seized power on Tuesday, including new strongman Colonel Assimi Goita. Jonathan told AFP that negotiations were going well and he was “very hopeful”. Rebel soldiers seized Keita and other leaders after a mutiny on Tuesday, dealing another deep blow to a country already struggling with a b...
File Photo Relatives of 12 people held for “suspected acts of terrorism” and found dead in their prison cells earlier this month, accused the Burkina Faso security forces of having executed them. The 12 men, among 25 arrested on the same charges, were found dead in their cells at Tanwalbougou, in the east of the country, the local prosecutor announced on May 13. The local gendarmerie has already launched an investigation into their deaths. “All the people were executed in a systematic manner,” said Aziz Diallo on Monday. Diallo’s cousin, 34-year-old Abdoulaye Barry, was one of those who died. “All the witnesses at the cemetery (where the bodies were initially buried) were of the opinion that they had been executed,” he added. “My cousin was executed with a bullet in the head,” said Diallo,...