Politics

Ousted Guinea president, Alpha Conde returns home after UAE medical trip

Published

3 years ago

April 9, 2022

Former president of Guinea, Alpha Conde, who was ousted in a military coup in September 2021, has returned to the country on Friday after a trip to the United Arab Emirates for a medical check-up.

The interim government made the disclosure in a late-night statement read on national television. “The former president will remain in Guinea for as long as his health permits … his integrity and dignity will always be respected.” The statement revealed.

President Alpha Conde was ousted in September after heavy gunfire rang out near the presidential palace in the capital, and he was detained before an announcement on state television that the government had been dissolved in an apparent coup.

84-year-old Conde, who was placed on house arrest after the coup but is allowed to receive visitors, left the West African nation in January after the junta allowed him to travel on medical grounds.

The Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) announced sanctions on Guinea and Mali following the military takeover in the West African countries in a statement in “conformity with the decision taken on 16th September 2021, the Authority decides to impose sanctions with immediate effect against individuals and groups who have been identified, including the entire transition authorities and the other transition institutions.”

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Politics

Ivory Coast: Ex-minister challenges ex-Credit Suisse boss Thiam for presidency

Published

59 mins ago

October 26, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Jean-Louis Billon, the former commerce minister of Ivory Coast, announced on Friday that he would challenge party head and former CEO of Credit Suisse, Tidjane Thiam, for the opposition PDCI party’s candidacy in the country’s 2025 presidential election.

The PDCI party, which dominated Ivory Coast from independence until the late 1990s but has had difficulty regaining power because of internal strife, may become even more divided due to Billon’s choice to run.

Thiam just won the PDCI leadership contest and returned to the country that produces the most cocoa worldwide.

His triumph stoked rumours that he may challenge or succeed President Alassane Ouattara. Neither man has made an official announcement about his plans.

Historically, the PDCI’s presidential candidate has been the organization’s leader.

The 59-year-old Billon was Ouattara’s trade minister and the former head of SIFCA, Ivory Coast’s leading agro-industrial organisation. In order to fairly choose the party’s presidential candidate, he demanded that a PDCI convention be held.

“I hope that this convention will be democratic, honest, and transparent, with no tricks or favouritism, no violence, and free from any tribal bias,” Billon said in a statement

Politics

Sources suggest Sahel jihadis finding safety in Ghana

Published

2 days ago

October 24, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

According to seven sources cited by Reuters, Islamist militants in Burkina Faso are covertly utilising Ghana’s north as a medical and logistical rear camp to maintain their insurgency. This could allow them to increase their presence in West Africa.

According to the sources, which include regional diplomats and Ghanaian security officials, Ghanaian authorities seem to be largely ignoring the insurgents who are crossing over from neighbouring Burkina Faso to obtain food, fuel, and even explosives, as well as to receive medical attention for wounded fighters.

However, they said that strategy runs the risk of enabling terrorists to establish themselves in Ghana and recruit in some marginalised local areas, even though it has so far spared the country from the kind of devastating Islamist attacks that have afflicted its neighbours.

Ghana and Burkina Faso, which is at the centre of an insurgency that has killed thousands, displaced millions, and, according to some experts, made the Sahel region the epicentre of global terrorism as groups loyal to al Qaeda and Islamic State increase their presence, share a 600-kilometre (372-mile) border.

With the rise of JNIM, a pro-al Qaeda organisation, Burkina Faso has lost control of more than half of its territory. This week, a JNIM senior told French station RFI that the organization’s goal was to expand into Ghana, Togo, and Benin. Unlike Benin and Togo, Ghana has not experienced a significant attack.

Ghana’s ambassador to Burkina Faso, Boniface Gambila Adagbila, told Reuters that the militants were exploiting Ghana’s open borders and viewed the country as a “haven.”

However, he refuted claims that the government had inadvertently reached a non-aggression pact with the jihadists.

According to him, Ghana and Burkina Faso were collaborating to “flush them out”.

Since the beginning of October, attacks on companies have resulted in at least three fatalities and four injuries, according to an official.