Lakurawa, the new armed group wreaking havoc on the Nigeria-Niger border
A new armed group called Lakurawa is attacking villages in remote corners of northwestern Nigeria and across the border in Niger, posing new threats to two countries that already suffer from protracted conflict involving several other groups, including Boko Haram. In November, the Nigerian army acknowledged for the first time the existence of Lakurawa and said its members were operating from headquarters in the country’s Sokoto and Kebbi states. Attacks by the group have killed dozens of people, and at least nine suspected members are known and have been declared wanted by the Nigerian army. The northern region is one of the hottest beds of violence in Nigeria, with its states experiencing a toxic mix of armed attacks, kidnappings and banditry in recent years. The Nigerian army has also been grappling with a long-running battle with the Boko Haram armed group in the northeast for more than a decade. Strained relations between Nigeria and Niger, stemming from Niger’s coup d’etat in July 2023, have also affected joint military operations and given the Lakurawa group more room to expand, officials say. Advertisement Here’s what to know about the group: Who is Lakurawa? According to Nigerian army officials, Lakurawa fighters are believed to originally be from troubled Mali, a Sahelian country that’s currently under fire from a swarm of transnational armed groups seeking territory to govern. Groups like Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) and ISIL affiliate in the Greater Sahara are some of the armed groups destabilising Mali. Officials in Nigeria say Lakurawa members are affiliated with the Malian groups but have for years settled in communities along the Nigeria-Niger border, marrying local women and recruiting youth. Researchers tracing the origin of the group, however, note that its members have not just begun operating. Originally, Lakurawa members were herdsmen who would carry rifles for protection. They formed an organised armed group after local leaders in rural communities of Gudu and Tangaza, in Nigeria’s Sokoto State, invited them to help tackle armed bandits who were then raiding communities for money and cattle, and who helped prompt a kidnapping crisis in Nigeria. Trucks with goods are seen at the border between Nigeria and Niger. Members of Lakurawa have reportedly settled in border communities [File: Mohammad Babangida/AP] Remote communities in the country are often ungoverned due to the inadequacies of the country’s local and state governments, allowing crime to thrive. The local leaders in Sokoto wanted Lakurawa fighters to battle the bandits and protect the communities. Advertisement Lakurawa members were able to dislodge the bandit threat between 2016 and 2017 and were paid for their work. However, the group’s members soon turned on communities, too. They fell out with one of the local leaders who had invited them and murdered him. Most Lakurawa fighters are believed to be between 18 and 50 and speak Fulfulde, Hausa, and Arabic, according to the think tank, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs. Fulfulde is primarily spoken by the Fulani group whose members are spread across West Africa. The Nigerian military said it had identified some of the group’s leaders: Abu Khadijah, Abdulrahaman (Idi), Dadi Gumba, Muhammed Abu, Usman Shehu, Abu Yusuf, Musa Walia, Ibrahim Suyaka, Ba Sulhu, and Idris Taklakse. What do they want? In its announcement in November, the Nigerian military said Lakurawa’s motivation or ideology is unknown. However, researchers who’ve spoken to communities affected by the violence say the group promotes its own version of Islam and wants to seek a caliphate. In areas they govern, the group is believed to have imposed its own version of Islamic law. What have they done? Members of Lakurawa have been attacking villages in Nigeria and Niger. They are believed to hold territory in several villages, where they also impose taxes on cattle. As a tactic to attract more followers and gain local support, the group is said to be distributing money, farm tools, fertiliser, seeds, and water pumping machines to needy locals. Some estimates put monetary compensation for new recruits at 1 million naira ($645), and about 10,000 naira ($6) for local informants. Advertisement Villagers who don’t cooperate with the group’s leadership face threats and attacks. Lakurawa-related violence has left dozens dead. In one of the latest attacks on November 9, the group’s raid on the Mera community in Nigeria’s Kebbi State left 15 people dead. How is Nigeria responding? Tensions between Nigeria and Niger have hindered a joint and integrated response to Lakurawa and given the group some leeway. Niger’s military seized power in July 2023, but Nigeria, the current leader of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) regional bloc, has taken a hard line with the military, asking for it to return the country to civilian rule and free detained former President Mohamed Bazoum. Before Niger’s 2023 coup, both countries’ armies maintained joint border patrol operations. That action is believed to have helped disperse the group in 2020. However, amid the tensions that followed the coup, joint operations between the two countries were disrupted. Authorities in Nigeria say that was about the same time the group’s members re-grouped and began attacking communities again, taking advantage of the security vacuum as relations broke down further. Joint border patrols have since resumed. In late 2024, Nigeria launched operations against the group. The military has conducted air strikes on targets believed to be Lakurawa members in the northern states affected, and ground assaults on the group’s camps. Nigeria’s military acknowledged in December that it mistakenly killed 10 civilians after an air strike on the group’s munition hideout in the villages of Gidan Bisa and Gidan Runtuwa, Sokoto State, caused secondary explosions. The villages were a high concentration for the group, an army spokesperson said. Advertisement What about Niger? Niger’s government has not revealed whether it has conducted special operations targeting the group, and it’s unclear what parts of Niger are affected. In an interview with local reporters in December, military leader General Abdourahamane Tchiani blamed the group’s emergence on Nigeria and said Abuja and France were sponsoring
Real Madrid defeats Mallorca to set up Supercopa final against Barcelona
European and LaLiga champions Real Madrid crush Mallorca 3-0 and will now play archrival Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup final on Sunday. Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo struck to earn Real Madrid a 3-0 win over Mallorca and set up a Spanish Super Cup final clash with rivals Barcelona. Madrid have the chance to earn revenge for their heavy Clasico defeat in LaLiga in October after Bellingham’s clinical second-half strike sent them on their way to victory on Thursday in Saudi Arabia. Backed heavily by fans in Jeddah, Madrid never looked like letting the advantage slip and a stoppage-time own goal by Martin Valjent secured their win, with Rodrygo adding a late third from close range. Madrid coach, Carlo Ancelotti, was full of praise for the way his side claimed control of the match as an attacking force in the second half. “When those up front activate, anything can happen,” he said of his front three attackers and Bellingham. “The four [forwards] are very dangerous. That’s quite evident. Everyone can see it, the quality they have.” Real Madrid made the early running against last season’s Copa del Rey runners-up, with Lucas Vazquez and Rodrygo Goes coming close in the opening stages. Advertisement Kylian Mbappe appealed for a penalty after going down under pressure from Dani Rodriguez, but it would have been soft. Kylian Mbappe has endured a difficult start at Real Madrid after joining from Paris Saint-Germain at the end of last season [Yasser Bakhsh/Getty Images] Jagoba Arrasate’s Mallorca found their footing and did well to restrict the Spanish and European champions to no further clear chances in the first half. Madrid lost Aurelien Tchouameni early in the second half after he hurt his head in a challenge with Cyle Larin, although he appeared frustrated to be withdrawn. Madrid broke the deadlock in the 63rd minute through Bellingham after the post, and Mallorca goalkeeper Dominik Greif kept Rodrygo and Mbappe at bay. A blistering Madrid move bore fruit when Rodrygo’s header from Vinicius Junior’s cross hit the upright and Mbappe’s effort was parried by the scrambling Greif. Bellingham was in the right place at the right time to carefully slot home the rebound past defenders on the goal line, continuing a stunning run of individual form. Jude Bellingham, right, was a stand-out performer as Real Madrid lifted the domestic and European double last season [Pedro Nunes/Reuters] The England international has eight goals for Madrid in his last 10 games across all competitions. “Jude is a phenomenal player. He helps us win games all the time, with goals, assists or just his work,” Bellingham’s fellow midfielder Tchouameni remarked afterwards, adding that he was unharmed by the head collision that saw him withdrawn from the game. Advertisement Mallorca struggled to find a way back in and ended up contributing to Madrid’s second goal when Valjent stretched to cut out a pass but slid the ball into his own goal. Rodrygo wrapped up the win late on to set up a repeat of last season’s final, won by Super Cup holders Madrid. Madrid must wait on the availability of Luka Modric for Sunday’s final after the midfielder fell ill and missed Thursday’s match. “Our player Luka Modric is out of the game against Mallorca because of a viral illness,” said the Spanish champions in a statement only hours before the semifinal. Croatian midfielder Modric, 39, became Madrid’s oldest goalscorer when he netted last week against Valencia in LaLiga. Adblock test (Why?)
US House votes to advance bill to sanction ICC over Israel arrest warrants
The United States House of Representatives has voted in favour of a bill to sanction the International Criminal Court (ICC) in retaliation for its arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the country’s former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. Legislators in the lower chamber of the US Congress passed the “Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act” by an overwhelming margin, 243 to 140, on Thursday in a signal of strong support for Israel. Forty-five Democrats joined 198 Republicans in backing the bill. No Republicans voted against it. The bill now heads to the Senate, where a Republican majority was sworn in earlier this month. The legislation proposes sanctions for any foreigner who helps the ICC in its attempts to investigate, detain or prosecute a US citizen or citizen of an allied country that does not recognise the authority of the court. Neither the US nor Israel are parties to the Rome Statute, which established the ICC. The sanctions would include the freezing of property assets, as well as the denial of visas to any foreigners who materially or financially contribute to the court’s efforts. Advertisement “America is passing this law because a kangaroo court is seeking to arrest the prime minister of our great ally, Israel,” Representative Brian Mast, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a speech before Thursday’s vote. The vote, one of the first since the new Congress was seated last week, underscored strong support among President-elect Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans for Israel’s government, despite its ongoing war in Gaza. That conflict has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians since it began in October 2023, many of them women and children. United Nations experts have denounced Israel’s methods in Gaza as “consistent with the characteristics of genocide”. That prompted ICC prosecutors last May to issue the arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant. In response, US legislators threatened retaliation against the ICC. In a letter sent to outgoing US President Joe Biden in May, dozens of human rights groups urged him to reject calls for punitive action. “Acting on these calls would do grave harm to the interests of all victims globally and to the US government’s ability to champion human rights and the cause of justice,” the groups wrote at the time. This week, another group of human rights organisations issued another letter ahead of Thursday’s vote, denouncing the House bill as an attack on an “independent judicial institution”. Sanctioning the court, they wrote, will “jeopardize the ability of desperate victims across all the court’s investigations to access justice, weaken the credibility of sanction tools in other contexts, and place the United States at odds with its closest allies”. Advertisement The letter warned that imposing “asset freezes and entry restrictions” on ICC allies would bring the US “the stigma of siding with impunity over justice”. Nevertheless, the US Senate, under Majority Leader John Thune, has promised swift consideration of the act so Trump can sign it into law after he takes office on January 20. In 2020, during his first term in office, Trump sanctioned senior ICC leaders over the court’s investigations of US crimes in Afghanistan and Israeli crimes in occupied Palestinian territory. President Biden later lifted those sanctions. The ICC, based in The Hague, is a permanent court that can prosecute individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression. The State of Palestine has been a member since 2015, and the court first announced an investigation of crimes committed there by both Israeli and Hamas officials in 2019. Though Israel is not party to the ICC, the court has jurisdiction over crimes committed on a member state’s territory, regardless of the nationality of those committing them. The US has supported the court at times, for instance, when the ICC’s top prosecutor sought an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over alleged war crimes in Ukraine. Russia, like Israel and the US, is not a member of the court. Karim Khan, the prosecutor who issued the arrest warrant against Netanyahu and Gallant, has said that his decision is in line with the court’s approach in all its cases, and he indicated that the warrants could prevent ongoing crimes. Advertisement Adblock test (Why?)
Historians say Jimmy Carter’s human rights legacy includes grim failures
In South Korea, as well, historians say that Carter adopted the messaging of a military government facing human rights criticism. In May 1980, a student-led pro-democracy uprising in the South Korean city of Gwangju was met with a brutal crackdown. In a single day, 60 people were killed and hundreds injured. Journalist Timothy Shorrock, who has been reporting on US-South Korea relations for decades, said that the Carter administration was wary of losing a useful Cold War ally and, therefore, threw its weight behind the military government. He explained the US supported the South Korean leadership by freeing up military resources that allowed troops to put down the uprising. “Knowing that [military leader General Chun Doo-hwan’s] forces had murdered 60 people the day before, they still believed this uprising was a national security threat to the United States,” Shorrock said of the Carter officials. Antigovernment protesters carrying South Korean flags sit behind a city bus, used as a barricade in Gwangju on May 27, 1980 [AP Photo] He added that when a US aircraft carrier was sent to the region, some protesters convinced of US rhetoric on democracy and human rights believed that the US was coming to intervene on their behalf. Instead, the carrier had been deployed to bolster the US military presence so that South Korean troops at the demilitarised zone with North Korea could be reassigned to put down the uprising. Shorrock says that contingency plans even included the possible use of US forces if the unrest in Gwangju spread further. While there is no universally accepted death toll for the uprising, the official government figure is that more than 160 people perished. Some academic sources put the death toll at more than 1,000. Asked by a reporter if his actions had been at odds with his professed commitment to human rights, Carter said that there was “no incompatibility”. He asserted that the US was helping South Korea maintain its national security against a threat of “communist subversion”, mirroring the rhetoric of the country’s military leadership. It was the kind of rhetoric that South Korean leaders had long used to justify repressive and antidemocratic measures. When South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol declared martial law in December 2024 in the name of combating “antistate forces”, many drew parallels to the traumatic events of Gwangju. “What he was saying at the time was what General Chun Doo-hwan was saying, characterising this as a communist uprising, which it was not,” said Shorrock. “He never apologised for that.” Adblock test (Why?)
South Africa’s sports minister joins calls for Afghanistan cricket boycott
McKenzie urges his country’s cricket governing body not to honour the Champions Trophy fixture against Afghanistan on February 21. South Africa’s Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie has given his support to calls for a boycott of Afghanistan at the ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan, adding his voice to those of British politicians who have called on England not to play the South Asian nation at the tournament next month. “Cricket South Africa, the federations of other countries and the ICC (International Cricket Council) will have to think carefully about the message the sport of cricket wishes to send the world, and especially the women in sports,” he said in a statement on Thursday. “It is not for me as the sports minister to make the final decision on whether South Africa should honour cricketing fixtures against Afghanistan. If it was my decision, then it certainly would not happen.” England and South Africa share the same group with Afghanistan in the one-day international (ODI) competition and are under pressure to boycott the fixtures in response to the Taliban government’s crackdown on women’s rights since returning to power in August 2021. Advertisement South Africa are scheduled to open their Champions Trophy schedule against Afghanistan in Karachi on February 21 but McKenzie urged his country’s cricket governing body not to honour the fixture. “As a man who comes from a race that was not allowed equal access to sporting opportunities during Apartheid, it would be hypocritical and immoral to look the other way today when the same is being done towards women anywhere in the world,” he added. More than 160 British politicians have signed a cross-party letter to the England and Wales Cricket Board, calling for a boycott of England’s fixture against Afghanistan in Lahore on February 26. ECB chief executive Richard Gould responded by calling for a uniform approach from all member nations towards Afghanistan’s participation in international cricket. Australia are the other team scheduled to take on Afghanistan, in Lahore on February 28. Cricket Australia indefinitely postponed a bilateral men’s Twenty 20 series against Afghanistan last March citing “deteriorating human rights for women and girls in the country under Taliban rule” but they did play them at the World Cup in India in late 2023 and at the T20 World Cup last June. Cricket Australia chairman Mike Baird last month said he was “very proud of the position we’ve taken” after they were accused of hypocrisy. “We’ve taken a position, and we’re proudly standing up where we think we should,” he said. Adblock test (Why?)
Scenes of destruction from Los Angeles wildfires
[unable to retrieve full-text content] A drive along streets in the US state of California shows the kind of destruction left by several wildfires.
How big are the California wildfires – and why did they spread so fast?
At least five people have been killed and thousands of homes have been gutted in wildfires that have ravaged multiple parts of Los Angeles in California – the most populous state of the United States. More than 130,000 residents in different neighbourhoods of Los Angeles city have been ordered to evacuate as the fires, which erupted on Tuesday, continue to rapidly spread, fuelled by high winds. So how big are the fires at present, and how did they begin? What started the California wildfires? The first fire started in the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood of Los Angeles at 10:30am (18:30GMT) on Tuesday, according to California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire). Investigators are still trying to find out the exact trigger for the worst firestorm in recent memory, but a combination of factors might have created conditions optimal for a fire. California generally experiences wildfires during June and July, and they can run until October, but the blaze has defied the calendar this year, erupting in January – the coldest of the winter months. Advertisement Southern California, the site of the fires, has been experiencing drought conditions and had not seen significant rainfall for months. Last year less than four percent of California was affected by drought compared with nearly 60 percent this year, according to the US drought monitor. Climate change has contributed to an increase in the frequency, season length and burned area of wildfires, according to a report by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). So, dry conditions aided by Santa Ana winds – dry and hot winds common in the area – most likely caused the wildfires. The dry desert air moves from the interior of the region towards the coast and offshore. It contributes to wildfires because it significantly reduces humidity in the environment due to its dry nature. This causes vegetation to become very dehydrated and susceptible to fire. Under these circumstances, any spark can start a fire, be it from a cigarette butt, vehicle or power line. Gusts up to 100mph (160km/h) were recorded at higher elevations on Tuesday night, according to AccuWeather meteorologist Danielle Ehresman. Besides dry vegetation, Los Angeles has other flammable materials such as low-hanging power cables and wooden telephone polls. Santa Ana winds have been associated with extreme wildfires in California in the past, including the Woolsey fire in November 2018, which killed three people and razed 1,600 structures. Experts, however, warn that weather conditions are dire this year. “We really haven’t seen a season as dry as this one following a season as wet as the previous one – all of that extra abundant growth of grass and vegetation followed immediately by a wind event of this magnitude while it’s still so incredibly dry,” Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at University of California, Los Angeles, said on a livestream on Monday. Advertisement How big are the California wildfires? Rapid spread The fire started in Palisades located on the Pacific Ocean, and from there the blaze spread rapidly to other neighbourhoods. The second fire broke out in Eaton at about 6pm (02:00 GMT) on Tuesday. A third fire also broke out the same day in Sylmar, in the San Fernando Valley northwest of Los Angeles, called the Hurst fire. Five more fires broke out in California on Wednesday: the Lidia, Sunset and Woodley fires in Los Angeles; the Olivas fire in Ventura and the Tyler fire in Riverside. (Al Jazeera) Amount of land burned According to Cal Fire, here is the current status of the major fires as of Wednesday night: Palisades: At least 6,970 hectares (17,234 acres) Eaton: At least 4,290 hectares (10,600 acres) Hurst: At least 346 hectares (855 acres) Lidia: At least 140 hectares (348 acres) Sunset: At least 17 hectares (43 acres) The Woodley fire burned 30 acres (12 hectares) of land while the Olivas and Tyler fires both burned 11 acres (4.5 hectares) each. Here is a comparison of aerial images of the Pacific Coast highway before and after the Palisades fire. And here is Altadena before and after the Eaton fire. Containment The containment percentage of a fire refers to the perimeter or containment line established around the fire by firefighters to prevent it from spreading further. A containment line can be any physical barrier around the fire, such as a shallow trench dug into dirt. The fires in California are barely contained, which means there is no prevention from them spreading further. The Palisades, Eaton and Sunset fires are all zero percent contained, while the Hurst fire is 10 percent contained and the Lidia fire is 40 percent contained. Advertisement The Woodley, Olivas and Tyler fires are 100 percent contained, according to Cal Fire. The first major US wildfire of 2025 is burning across multiple fronts in Los Angeles city and county, covering an area nearly twice the size of Manhattan [Al Jazeera] What has the government’s response been? The scale of the fires has gotten out of hand, according to the local firefighting department. California Governor Gavin Newsom said in an X post on Wednesday night that 7,500 firefighting personnel are currently on the ground. US President Joe Biden cancelled an upcoming Italy trip to focus on the federal response to the fire, the White House said. Biden posted on his X account that his team has provided 5 air tankers and 10 firefighting helicopters. However, the strong winds have hindered aerial rescue efforts. Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone told a news conference that firefighters from six other states including Nevada were being rushed to California. Additionally, 250 engine companies with 1,000 personnel were being moved from Northern California to Southern California. But resources are running thin. Water shortages in the Palisades have dried out some fire hydrants. Janisse Quinones, the chief executive of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, told a media conference that Pacific Palisades depends on three tanks containing about a million gallons (3.78 million litres) each. Quinones added that the demand
Clashes in Mozambique as main opposition leader Mondlane returns from exile
Injuries reported as police fire tear gas and live ammunition as Venancio Mondlane lands in Maputo after disputed election. Police have fired live ammunition and tear gas to prevent supporters of Mozambique’s main opposition leader Venancio Mondlane from reaching the airport to greet him following his return from self-imposed exile. Live images from capital Maputo broadcast by Al Jazeera on Thursday showed police chasing down protesters, some of whom responded by throwing rocks, as they attempted to breach the main highway leading to the city’s Mavalane International Airport. Al Jazeera’s Fahmida Miller, reporting from the site of the clashes in Maputo, said some of Mondlane’s supporters were injured in the clashes. “Police have been pushing back at protesters, firing tear gas. We also heard live ammunition being used,” she said. “The protesters are trying to reach the airport to greet Mondlane, and they can’t. So they are increasingly agitated. There has been a back and forth between the police and protesters.” The number of injuries could not be immediately determined. Mondlane’s supporters tend to a man allegedly shot in the head by police at a checkpoint near the Maputo international airport on Thursday [Amilton Neves/AFP] Mondlane, who was met by a large group of journalists after exiting the airport building, claims the October 9 election was rigged in favour of the candidate of the ruling Frelimo party, Daniel Chapo, who is due to be sworn in on January 15. Advertisement Mondlane went into hiding more than two months ago fearing for his life after two senior members of his party were killed in their car by unknown gunmen in the aftermath of the election, which also killed dozens of others. “I am here in the flesh to say that if you want to negotiate … I am here,” Mondlane told reporters outside the airport. The election dispute unleashed waves of violence that have left about 300 people dead, including protesters killed in a police crackdown, according to a tally by a local rights group. Authorities say police officers have also been killed and there has been looting and vandalism. A decision by Mozambique’s top court, the Constitutional Council, to validate the election results triggered more demonstrations. There were fears that Mondlane could be arrested on his return, including on charges related to the weeks of protests by his supporters, many of them young Mozambicans desperate for change after 50 years under the ruling Frelimo. Frelimo, which has ruled Mozambique since the end of the war against Portuguese colonial rule in 1975, denies opposition accusations of electoral fraud. Western observers have said this year’s election was not free and fair. Al Jazeera’s Miller said the government is blaming Mondlane for “inciting” the unrest across the country in recent weeks. “They also said that he should pay for the damages caused in Mozambique during that time. The question now is, how will the government now respond?” Mondlane’s supporters say his return from a two-month exile gives people hope. “We young people are here fighting for our tomorrow,” said Fatima Pinto, 20, who trained as a general medical technician. Advertisement Adblock test (Why?)
‘For Ethiopia’s heritage’: Family fights to reclaim war hero’s stolen medal
Amaha Kassa’s grandfather was the last remaining commander who bravely rallied troops and fought back when the Italians invaded and briefly colonised Ethiopia in 1935. Four decades earlier, the Italians initially attempted to annex the country but were soundly defeated. This time though, the story would be different. Armed with rifles and spears, the Ethiopians were no match for the new machineguns the Italians carried, and the aircraft that sprayed deadly chemicals from the sky. Although Kassa’s grandfather, Ras (Prince) Desta Damtew, fought long and hard, he was eventually caught and executed in 1937. Tens of thousands more Ethiopians would be killed during the seven-year occupation, including civilians and Red Cross aid workers – a memory still raw for many in the country. Imperial Order of the Star of Ethiopia [Courtesy of La Galerie Numismatique] So it was with shock and anger that Kassa and his siblings discovered in November that a gold medal Damtew owned was set to be auctioned by an art gallery in Switzerland. The piece was going for between 60,000 and 90,000 euros ($61,800 and $92,700). Its description or provenance stated blatantly that the medal came from the estate of an Italian soldier who “was present at the capture of the prince”, and painted details of Damtew’s killing. “They were not in any way attempting to hide the provenance of this item, and were even using the personal circumstances of his death and execution as a selling point,” Kassa, who runs African Communities Together, a New York-based activist organisation, told Al Jazeera. Advertisement “I just can’t imagine that this would be a Nazi-era object and that something like this would happen. There’s a way that people have not come to think of African issues as being worthy of respect,” he said. The case has kickstarted an international quest for the medal to be returned. It also shines a light on a pressing, ongoing conversation across Africa, as governments and individuals from Kenya to Cameroon push for the return of thousands of antiquities looted by colonising Western powers. In Ethiopia, hoards of artefacts were looted, first by the British, and later, by the Italians. Although the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty required that Italy return all of the art and religious objects stolen during its brief occupation, and pay $25m in reparations within 18 months, that treaty has not fully been enforced. “The Vatican Library has more than 300 Ethiopian manuscripts, most of which were looted during the occupation,” Alula Pankhurst, the country director of Oxford University’s Young Lives Ethiopia project, told Al Jazeera. While some items have been returned, Italy has continued to hold on to hundreds of other items like crowns, royal regalia, and paintings, said the veteran professor of Ethiopian studies. Members of the Ethiopian Patriotic Association, whose purpose is to honour resistance fighters in Italian East Africa during the second world war, parade at an event to commemorate Arbegnoch Qen, or Ethiopian Patriots’ Victory Day, in the capital, Addis Ababa, on Thursday, May 5, 2022. The event marks the anniversary of when Emperor Haile Selassie returned to Addis Ababa in 1941, ending the five-year Italian occupation of the city during the war [AP Photo] Symbol of African resistance Ras Desta Damtew was executed by the Italian army in February 1937, at age 44. His was a long life of service to the then-Ethiopian Empire. His father died commanding soldiers in the iconic Battle of Adwa in 1896 when Ethiopian forces humiliated Italian invaders in their initial attempt at conquest. It was the first time an invading European power lost to an African force. Advertisement Damtew too fought for various monarchs. He helped Emperor Haile Selassie attain the throne and later married Leult (Princess) Tenagnework, the emperor’s eldest child. “I didn’t grow up with personal memories of him, but I certainly heard a lot about him,” Kassa said, sharing that his mother, Princess Seble – one of the couple’s eight children – was only a child when Damtew died. “He was this kind of legend. There’s a tremendous sense of pride in the sacrifices that he made, but then there’s also a sort of sadness to it as well.” In old newspaper articles, Damtew is described as stoic, handsome and intelligent, with a mastery of French. Grainy black and white photos show him in full royal regalia: heavily decorated mid-length robes and shiny leather shoes. In one, a star-shaped brooch is pinned on his right chest – likely the Imperial Order of the Star of Ethiopia – a medal of pure gold that signified a rare military honour conferred for service to the crown, and the artefact at the centre of the current uproar. As a special ambassador of Ethiopia, the prince visited the United States in July 1933 decked in flowing robes and bearing gifts including lion manes and photos of the emperor. He was feted by President Franklin Roosevelt in Washington. Two years later in October 1935, the Italians, under fascist leader Benito Mussolini, invaded and seized Addis Ababa. From left to right standing: Princess Tsehai; the Crown Prince of Ethiopia, Asfaw Wossen; the Ethiopian princess – wife of Ras Desta; Ras Desta, son-in-law of the emperor, married to the eldest daughter; the crown princess; Princess Thahai; Prince Makonnen; (seated in front) the emperor and empress with the two children of Ras Desta and the eldest daughter of the Emperor Haile Selassie, shown on August 20, 1935 [File: AP Photo] With their “deadly rain” of sulfur and machineguns, the 100,000-plus Italian army decimated Ethiopia’s defences, even though the local forces outnumbered the invaders eight to one. To clamp down on a budding civilian resistance, the Italians massacred people in their thousands, while also pillaging Ethiopia’s cultural objects. At least 100,000 Ethiopians were killed by the end of the occupation in 1941. Advertisement Damtew’s battalion spent two years holding the fort even as Emperor Selassie fled into exile. By the time the prince was caught, he had been wounded in the fighting. Some accounts
19 killed in assault on Chad presidential complex
[unable to retrieve full-text content] At least 19 people have been killed in Chad where security forces said they had prevented an attack by armed fighters.