Groups warn of ethnic cleansing in Central African Republic
DAKAR, Senegal — Tens of thousands of Muslims are being forced by Christian militias to flee the Central African Republic in what human rights groups and a top U.N. official characterized Wednesday as de facto ethnic cleansing.
Bodies of dozens of migrants found in Niger’s desert
DAKAR, Senegal — The decomposing bodies of 87 migrants from the impoverished West African nation of Niger were discovered in the Sahara this week just a few miles from a well, apparently stranded after a desperate search for water, said the head of a local humanitarian organization who helped bury many of the bodies.
Nigeria’s politicians profit from ‘industrial scale’ oil theft, report says
DAKAR, Senegal — Oil is being stolen on an “industrial scale” in Nigeria, the world’s 13th-largest producer, and the country’s politicians and security officials are among those profiting, according to a new report from a prominent British research group.
US indicts Guinea-Bissau’s military chief in drug case
DAKAR, Senegal — The head of Guinea-Bissau’s armed forces, Gen. Antonio Injai, has been indicted by federal prosecutors in New York on cocaine and weapons-trafficking charges, the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan said Thursday, part of an ambitious U.S. operation targeting some of the most powerful figures in a country long considered a major haven for drug smuggling.
Mali Islamists dig in for a long military struggle
BAMAKO, Mali — In the face of fierce, all-night bombardment by the French military, Mali’s Islamist insurgents have hunkered down to fight again.
Loyalist soldiers in Mali appear to seek countercoup
BAMAKO, Mali — Gunfire rang out over this West African capital Monday night as soldiers loyal to the president who was deposed in a coup in March appeared to be attempting a countercoup against the ruling military junta.
Gbagbo, leader of Ivory Coast, seems poised to fall
DAKAR, Senegal — The end of Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo’s rule appeared to be nearing Thursday as his rival’s troops approached the country’s main city of Abidjan, his own army chief of staff abandoned his post, and his opponents claimed substantial defections of his troops and police officers.
Nigerians raise death toll from ethnic violence to 500
DAKAR, Senegal — Officials and human rights groups in Nigeria sharply increased the count of the dead after a weekend of vicious ethnic violence, saying Monday that as many as 500 people — many of them women and children — may have been killed near the central city of Jos, long a flashpoint for tensions between Christians and Muslims.
Supreme Court Ruling Prompts Stay of Execution in Alabama
Amid renewed questions by many states about the future of lethal injection in capital punishment, Alabama ordered a rare stay in an execution that had been scheduled for Thursday night.