Eighteen civilians in Niger have been killed in a militant attack in the west of the country, the government says.
It said armed bandits on motorbikes attacked a truck transporting people between two villages in the Tillaberi region.
Western Niger – like neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso – has for years faced militant attacks, despite the efforts of international forces deployed to the wider Sahel region to fight the Islamist insurgents.
Both Niger’s neighbours now have military governments after army chiefs ousted civilian administrations, saying they had failed to tackle insurgencies.
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Somalia’s IMF funding at risk over poll delays
Issa Abdull
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) may cease its support programme to Somalia in the next three months if scheduled elections face further delays.
An essential military wages funding deal could also be on the chopping board.
The debt relief programme needs to be reviewed by 17 May by a new government, according to IMF’s mission chief for Somalia, Laura Jaramillo Mayor.
The deal will see Somalia’s debt fall to $560m (£400m) from $5.2bn in 2018.
In the first phase of the programme in 2020, the debt was reduced to $3.7bn
It’s expected the debt reduction would allow the country to attract more funding and aid from international partners to develop its private sector.
Elections in Somalia are long overdue – they were initially slated for November 2020, but have since been postponed twice due to disagreements on the mode of conducting the polls.
‘Enormous’ damage risk over fresh Madagascar cyclone
A tropical cyclone Emnati made a landfall in south-western Madagascar on Tuesday night with winds of 135 km/h (84 mph), raising fears of continued destruction on the already devastated island.
Emnati is the fifth extreme weather event and the fourth major storm to make landfall on the Indian Ocean island nation over the past month.
Previous storms have displaced thousands and killed hundreds since mid-January.
The UN on Tuesday said that communities hardest hit by the previous cyclone Batsirai in early February were likely to be affected again.
The authorities fear that heavy rains, flooding and strong winds in areas already battered could lead to “enormous and widespread damage”.
The southern African nations of Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia have been experiencing extreme weather as a result of tropical cyclone Dumako over the past week.
Source: BBC
