insert_link Africa U.S. Sanctions Sudanese RSF Commander Over Human Rights Abuses in West Darfur The United States imposed sanctions on Abdel Rahman Juma Barkalla, a commander of Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, citing his involvement in human rights abuses in West Darfur. Reuters says the U.S. Treasury Department reported that Barkalla led RSF operations in the region, marked by credible allegations of severe human rights violations, including civilian targeting, conflict-related sexual violence, and ethnic violence. todayNovember 13, 2024 3
insert_link Africa Dozens detained in Kampala anti-corruption protest There's heavy police and military deployment in Uganda's capital Kampala, ahead of a planned anti-corruption protest. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has warned he will 'crush the protests' if demonstrators go ahead with their plans. Isabel Nakirya reports. Ugandan security forces detained dozens of young people on Tuesday, a rights group said, as they took part in a banned protest rally in downtown Kampala against official corruption and alleged […] todayJuly 23, 2024 45
insert_link Environment Allegations widen against Indonesian palm oil giant Astra Agro Lestari By Hans Nicholas Jong ,via Mongabay Subsidiaries of Indonesia’s second-biggest palm oil company, PT Astra Agro Lestari (AAL), are running illegal plantations, grabbing community land, and intimidating critics, according to a new report by NGOs. The report is a follow-up to a 2022 report by Friends of the Earth, and identifies at least 1,100 hectares (2,718 acres) of the subsidiaries’ concessions that lie inside forest areas that should be […] todayJuly 9, 2024 39
insert_link Business / Economics World Bank’s IFC under fire over alleged abuses at Liberian plantation it funded An investigation into the International Finance Corporation’s handling of human rights abuses at a project it financed in Liberia, the Salala Rubber Corporation, is expected to severely incriminate the World Bank’s private lending arm. The World Bank’s Compliance Advisory Ombudsman investigated whether the IFC did enough to address allegations of gender-based violence, land grabbing and unfair compensation by its client, Socfin, between 2008 and 2020. It’s anticipated that […] todayApril 8, 2024 35
insert_link Africa US imposes new sanctions on Zimbabwe The US has imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa for corruption and human rights abuses. The order, according to the BBC, also affects other senior leaders in the country - blocking their assets in the US and barring them from unofficial travel there. The new sanctions replace a broader programme that was introduced two decades ago. The White House said, “We continue to witness gross abuses of political, economic, […] todayMarch 5, 2024 49
insert_link Africa DRC elections: three factors that have shaped Tshisekedi’s bumpy first term as president By Reuben Loffman, Queen Mary University of London Africa’s second-largest country by land mass, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), is scheduled to go to the polls on 20 December 2023. President Felix Tshisekedi will be seeking re-election. However, his first tenure has been decidedly mixed. Tshisekedi’s first term has been defined by three major factors: questions over the legitimacy of his 2019 election victory, violence in eastern DRC and the […] todayDecember 7, 2023 8