Yesterday in Dakar, the capital of Senegal, “police engaged in running battles with protesters…as they attempted to stamp out a planned protest against President Abdoulaye Wade’s third term bid.”
Meanwhile, IRIN writes that there is “no end in sight” to the conflict in the southern Senegalese region of Casamance.
Nigeria is reorganizing its police. Attacks by Boko Haram continue: over one hundred inmates escaped in a prison-break the group staged in Kogi State on Wednesday, though twenty-five prisoners have reportedly been recaptured. A small attack by unknown gunmen also occurred this week in Niger State.
VOA reports on human displacement in the Afgooye corridor southern Somalia, where government and African Union forces are attempting to take territory from the rebel group Al Shabab.
Sudanese police arrested hundreds of students in a pre-dawn raid on a major university’s dormitories on Friday, activists said, in a crackdown on a campus that has been at the centre of recent anti-government protests.
The University of Khartoum in the Sudanese capital has been closed for about two months after students staged demonstrations over rising prices, unemployment and other issues.
IRIN details the tough conditions faced by Southern Sudanese nationals who are still residing in (North) Sudan.
AP: “Mali’s army is going on the offensive against Tuareg rebels after a number of strategic retreats during the first weeks of fighting, the president of the Malian parliament said Thursday.”
Amnesty International decries the “human rights crisis” that it says has resulted from the rebellion in Mali.
Niger’s food crisis continues.
What are you reading today?
Please read this: http://zainabusman.wordpress.com/2012/02/17/a-people-in-terminal-decline/#comment-1527
You make an interesting comparison with Iran.
I hadn’t seen that blog before, I’ll bookmark it.
I really wanted you to read the blog posting not my comment.
Don’t worry I read the post also.
On a more serious note, don’t you think it was one of the most important articles coming out from Northern Nigeria (or even Nigeria) this year?
Also spend some time reading Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed’s blog.
Please also read this: http://www.punchng.com/editorial/tackling-extreme-poverty-in-the-north/
This is why I disagree with Ambassador Campbell’s central thesis – that power should be handed over to the North. What Nigerian needs is not power rotation but competent leadership.
A strange thing about Somalia is that the forces opposed to Al-Shabaab are making at least some gains against it but we don’t seem to be seeing a growth in TFG power. Maybe the 15th century Italian wars are a good comparison of a weak government guarded by foreign arms.