Burkina Faso suspends BBC, VOA radio broadcasts over killings coverage
Reuters Burkina Faso has suspended the radio broadcasts of BBC Africa and the US-funded Voice of America (VOA) for two weeks over their coverage of a Human Rights Watch report accusing the army of extrajudicial killings, authorities said late on Thursday. In the report based on its own investigation, the watchdog said that the West […]
Burkina Faso army executed over 220 villagers in February, HRW says
Dakar, Senegal Reuters Burkina Faso’s military in February summarily executed about 223 villagers, including at least 56 children, as part of a campaign against civilians accused of collaborating with jihadist militants, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday. The watchdog made the assertions in a report based on its own investigation into the reported execution of […]
Human Rights Watch reports new evidence of Ukrainian use of banned landmines
Washington DC, US Reuters Human Rights Watch said on Friday that it uncovered new evidence of the indiscriminate use by Ukrainian forces of banned anti-personnel landmines against Russian troops who invaded Ukraine in 2022. The group called on Ukraine’s government to follow through with a commitment made earlier this month not to employ such weapons, […]
Mass graves found in east Congo village after M23 rebel retreat, HRW says
Reuters Democratic Republic of Congo’s M23 rebels allegedly executed scores of villagers and militia members between November and April and buried their bodies in mass graves, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday, accusing Rwanda of backing the group. The Tutsi-led M23 staged a major offensive in Congo’s restive east last year, triggering an armed response […]
Human Rights Watch documents “apparent war crimes” by Russia in Ukraine
A leading human rights watchdog said on Wednesday it had documented further cases of “apparent war crimes” by Russian troops in two regions in Ukraine. Human Rights Watch said in a report that Russian forces controlling much of the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions from late February through March had subjected civilians to summary executions, torture […]
Malian, foreign soldiers allegedly killed hundreds in town siege – rights group
Dakar, SenegalReuters Malian troops and suspected Russian fighters allegedly executed around 300 civilian men over five days during a military operation in a central Mali town, Human Rights Watch said in a report on Tuesday, which the country’s army refuted. The killings took place between 27th and 31st March in Moura, a rural town of […]
“My flesh was burning”: Uganda accused of torture again
Kampala, Uganda Reuters Ronald Ssegawa said Ugandan security agents pulled him off the streets in January last year, burned him and pulled out his fingernails. His crime: supporting the opposition. The 22-year-old is one of hundreds of government critics and opposition supporters detained and tortured in the last three years, especially around the 2021 presidential […]
Updated: At least 23 killed in armed clashes in Colombia’s Arauca, government says
Updated: 12.30pm (AEDT)Bogota, ColombiaReuters Twenty-three people have been reported killed so far in Colombia’s Arauca province amid fighting between illegal armed groups, Defense Minister Diego Molano told a news conference late on Monday. Fighting broke out over the weekend in Arauca – which sits on the border with Venezuela – as members of the National […]
Rights groups report wave of abuses against Tigrayans in Ethiopian region
Addis Ababa, EthiopiaReuters Armed forces from Ethiopia’s Amhara region have stepped up killings, mass detentions and expulsions of ethnic Tigrayans in neighbouring western Tigray, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said on Thursday. Separately, Tigrayan television reported that air raids by the Ethiopian military on the town of Alamata, in southern Tigray, had killed 28 […]
Human Rights Watch says Cameroonian separatists target schools
Dakar, SenegalReuters An international human rights group on Thursday accused separatist fighters in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions of systematically targeting schools, students and teachers during a civil war that has killed thousands of people. The attacks have forced two out of every three schools in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions to close, denying over 700,000 students access to […]