Musings From Abroad

UN calls for probe into Tripoli shooting deaths

Published

9 months ago

February 20, 2024

The United Nations mission in Libya has urged the authorities to look into the incident at a Tripoli suburb where ten people were shot dead.

According to municipal security officers, two of the fatalities were members of a significant armed group.

“Prevent any actions that could lead to escalation and further violence,” the United Nations stated in a statement posted on social media.

“This incident highlights concerns repeatedly raised by (the U.N. envoy to Libya) about the serious risks posed by rivalries between security actors that continue to threaten the fragile security in Tripoli,” the U.N. mission said.

Since an uprising supported by NATO in 2011, Libya has had little peace. The country fragmented in 2014, with competing factions seizing control of various regions. A truce in 2020 put an end to serious conflict, although separate factions continue to hold power over different security and government agencies.

Since then, there have been several flare-ups of violence in Tripoli. These have been short-lived confrontations between opposing factions, occasionally connected to the nation’s larger political struggle for eventual control of the government.

Elections to replace governing bodies that were last elected ten years or more ago have been the focus of diplomatic efforts to end Libya’s crisis, but political groupings cannot agree on how such a vote might be conducted.

Related Topics:Featured Libya United Nations

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Musings From Abroad

Nigeria, India to strengthen counterterrorism, maritime security cooperation

Published

2 days ago

November 18, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

During a state visit to Nigeria on Sunday, Indian Prime Minister, Narendra, Modi reached an agreement, on behalf of his country, to strengthen cooperation in counterterrorism, intelligence, and maritime security.

President Bola Tinubu invited Modi to visit Nigeria, the first Indian prime minister to do so in 17 years.

Tinubu is looking for investments from some of the largest economies in the world.

In addition to discussing economic development, defence, healthcare, and food security, Modi and Tinubu met at the presidential mansion on Sunday after arriving in the capital, Abuja, on Saturday night, according to a joint statement.

The two nations decided to work together to protect maritime trade routes and fight piracy in response to the mounting risks in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Guinea.

The most populous country in Africa, Nigeria, is looking to attract more Indian investment and lower-cost credit lines in order to strengthen its economy and generate employment.

Nigeria announced last year that it had obtained about $14 billion in pledges from Indian businesses, including Jindal Steel and Power, which promised to spend $3 billion in Nigeria’s steel industry, during the G20 conference.

Over 200 Indian businesses are present in Nigeria.

Modi was scheduled to go to Brazil for this year’s G20 conference after Nigeria.

Nigeria and India have a long-standing and cordial bilateral relationship. Nigeria, home to more than 200 million people, and India, home to 1.3 billion people, are both sizable emerging nations with multilingual, multiethnic, and multireligious communities.

Musings From Abroad

Military advisors from Russia arrive Equatorial Guinea

Published

2 days ago

November 17, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Russian military advisors are in Equatorial Guinea training indigenous soldiers.

Anonymous sources cited by Reuters during the week claim that between 100 and 200 Russian instructors are training with elite guards in charge of guarding the President and the first family.

The males had been seen in Malabo, the country’s capital, and Bata, its second city. Reports of Russian forces stationed in the nation initially appeared in August.

Oil-rich Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo has maintained close relations with Moscow.

Nguema travelled to Moscow in September to attend the Russian Energy Week International Forum.

Russia has strengthened military connections with African countries, sending advisors and combat soldiers to the Central African Republic, Mozambique, Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso.

Faced with an Islamist terrorist insurrection, three Sahel countries have turned to Moscow for support, expelling French and American troops.