Politics

Sit-tight Tunisian leader, Kais Saied, expels European trade union chief over protest

Published

1 year ago

February 19, 2023

Following her reported involvement in an anti-government protest, Tunisia on Saturday expelled the head of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC).

The said protest was organised by the country’s powerful trade union UGTT union, which said the expulsion was “shocking” and opened up a confrontation with labour unions around the world.

The Tunisian government said Lynch’s participation in the protests and remarks she made were a “blatant interference in Tunisian affairs.”

Tunisian President Kais Saied declared the ETUC’s Esther Lynch “persona non grata” and said the Irish citizen must leave the country within 24 hours.

Last week, the spokesperson of the United States Department, Ned Price revealed that the US was “deeply concerned” by the reported arrests of political figures, business leaders, and journalists in Tunisia in recent days.

The UGTT has more than 1 million members and has brought the country to a virtual standstill during strikes, has said the government is trying to stifle freedom of expression in a bid to deflect attention from the country’s economic troubles.

Since the beginning of his sit-tight reign, President Saied has sacked the government, suspended parliament, and seized a string of powers in July 2021. He seized most powers and moved to rule by decree before writing a new constitution, said this week that authorities do not target freedoms, but seek to hold everyone equally accountable.

Related Topics:Featured President Kais Saied Tunisia

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Politics

Burkina Faso investigating reports of northern killings

Published

9 hours ago

April 28, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

A government spokesman has revealed that Burkina Faso is looking into reports that 223 people were killed by the Burkinabe army in two villages in the north in February.

The killing was first reported by the Human Rights Watch (HRW), causing a rift between the junta-led West African state and some foreign media that published the report. The HRW report released on Thursday said that the military had executed residents of Nodin and Soro, including at least 56 children, as part of a campaign against civilians suspected of working with jihadist terrorists. The report was based on interviews with witnesses, members of civil society, and other groups.

Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo, a spokesman for the government, said that HRW’s claims were “peremptory” and that the junta was not unwilling to look into the claimed crimes.

“An investigation has been launched into the killings in Nodin and Soro,” Ouedraogo said in a late-evening statement, quoting a statement from a regional prosecutor on March 1.

Since Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger’s militaries took over in a series of coups from 2020 to 2023, violence in the area has gotten worse. This is because of the ten-year fight with Islamist groups related to Al Qaeda and Islamic State.

Attacks on Burkina Faso got much worse in 2023, with more than 8,000 people killed, according to the U.S.-based crisis-monitoring group ACLED.

Politics

S’Africa lengthens troop deployment in Mozambique, Congo DR

Published

3 days ago

April 26, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a speech that South Africa’s military would keep sending troops to Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which are both in the middle of wars.

The extension will leave 1,198 members of the South African National Defense Force (SANDF) in eastern Congo for an unknown amount of time. They are there as part of a United Nations peacekeeping force helping Congo fight rebel groups.

The statement also said that 1,495 members of the SANDF would keep working in Mozambique, where they have been since 2021 helping the government fight dangerous extremism in the north.

After two SANDF troops were killed and three were hurt by a mortar bomb in Congo in February, South Africa’s military operations abroad have been looked at more closely at home this year.

Meanwhile, the major opposition party in South Africa, the Democratic Alliance, said that Ramaphosa sent troops into a war zone without being ready.
Under the supervision of the UN, the SANDF has taken on many dangerous and difficult peacekeeping tasks over the years to help war-torn African countries stay stable and peaceful.

In 2003, South Africa was one of the first countries to send troops to Burundi to help the peace process. During the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) peacekeeping mission in 2000, the SANDF led attempts to stabilize the country’s politics, rebuild and improve infrastructure, and train DRC troops.