Ivory Coast asks French troops to leave, the latest African country to do so

Ivory Coast asks French troops to leave, the latest African country to do so
Ivory Coast announced on Tuesday that French troops will leave the country after a decadeslong military presence, the latest African nation to downscale military ties with its former colonial power. (AP/File)
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Updated 01 January 2025
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Ivory Coast asks French troops to leave, the latest African country to do so

Ivory Coast asks French troops to leave, the latest African country to do so
  • France has suffered similar setbacks in several West African countries in recent years, including Chad, Niger and Burkina Faso

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast: Ivory Coast announced on Tuesday that French troops will leave the country after a decadeslong military presence, the latest African nation to downscale military ties with its former colonial power.

Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara said the pullout would begin in January 2025. France has had up to 600 troops in Ivory Coast.

“We have decided on the concerted and organized withdrawal of French forces in Ivory Coast,” he said, adding that the military infantry battalion of Port Bouét that is run by the French army will be handed over to Ivorian troops.

Outtara’s announcement follows that of other leaders across West Africa, where France’s militaries are being asked to leave. Analysts have described the requests for French troops to leave Africa as part of the wider structural transformation in the region’s engagement with Paris.

France has suffered similar setbacks in several West African countries in recent years, including Chad, Niger and Burkina Faso, where French troops that have been on the ground for many years have been kicked out.

Several West African nations — including coup-hit Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger — have recently asked the French to leave. Among them are also most recently Senegal, and Chad, considered France’s most stable and loyal partner in Africa.

The downscaling of military ties comes as France has been making efforts to revive its waning political and military influence on the continent by devising a new military strategy that would sharply reduce its permanent troop presence in Africa.

France has now been kicked out of more than 70 percent of African countries where it had a troop presence since ending its colonial rule. The French remain only in Djibouti, with 1,500 soldiers, and Gabon, with 350 troops.

Analysts have described the developments as part of the wider structural transformation in the region’s engagement with Paris amid growing local sentiments against France, especially in coup-hit countries.

After expelling French troops, military leaders of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso have moved closer to Russia, which has mercenaries deployed across the Sahel who have been accused of abuses against civilians.

However, the security situation has worsened in those countries, with increasing numbers of extremist attacks and civilian deaths from both armed groups and government forces.


Afghan women turn to online courses as the Taliban bans education

Afghan women turn to online courses as the Taliban bans education
Updated 4 sec ago
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Afghan women turn to online courses as the Taliban bans education

Afghan women turn to online courses as the Taliban bans education
  • One young woman found a free coding course taught in a local language by an Afghan refugee in Greece
  • The young man started Afghan Geeks to help women in his homeland by teaching coding and offering mentorship
KABUL: One after the other, the opportunities vanished. Like so many other Afghan women, Sodaba could do little but watch as her country’s new Taliban government imposed a stranglehold on women’s lives.
The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 2021, and quickly set about implementing a dizzying array of restrictions for women: No visiting parks or gyms, no eating in restaurants, no working, except in very few professions.
But one of the cruelest blows for the pharmacology student was the ban on education beyond primary school.
Pushed by necessity, she went online. And there, she found hope: a free computer coding course for women in Afghanistan. Taught in her own language, Dari, by a young Afghan refugee living half a world away, in Greece.
“I believe a person should not be (bowed) by circumstance, but should grow and get their dreams through every possible way,” Sodaba said. She began learning computer programming and website development.
The new skills “helped me regain my confidence and clarity in my direction,” said the 24-year-old, who asked to be identified by her first name only for safety reasons due to the education ban. “I am so happy to be part of this journey.”
The courses are part of Afghan Geeks, a company created by Murtaza Jafari, now 25, who arrived in Greece on a boat from Turkiye years ago as a teenage refugee.
‘I had no idea … Like zero zero’
While living in a shelter in Athens after he arrived, Jafari received help from a teacher to enroll in a computer coding course. He knew nothing about computers — not even how to switch one on — didn’t know what coding was and didn’t speak a word of English, essential for computer programming.
“I had no idea about English. No idea, like zero zero,” he said. “And I was trying at the same time to learn Greek, learn English and then also learn computer. … It was super difficult for me.”
But several months later, he earned his certificate.
Coding opened up a new world. A couple of years ago, he set up Afghan Geeks.
Paying it forward
Jafari said he started providing online courses last December to help women in his homeland, and as an expression of gratitude for the help he received as a youngster alone in a foreign country.
“The main goal was to give back to the community, especially to the Afghan women, what I had received from the other people for free,” he said, sitting in his sparse one-room flat in downtown Athens.
“I think … sharing knowledge is what makes a real difference to someone,” he said. “And if I share it, it just goes and expands, and then there’s more people to learn things.”
Jafari now has 28 female students in Afghanistan in three classes: beginner, intermediate and advanced.
Aside from teaching, he also mentors his students in finding online internships and jobs using their new skills. For women in a country where nearly all professions are banned, the opportunity for online work is a lifeline.
The most qualified join his team at Afghan Geeks, which also offers website development and chatbot creation services. He now has several clients, he said, from Afghanistan, the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe.
“Those clients were happy that they are contributing in a meaningful goal. So the goal was to support women. … And that’s why they keep coming back for other projects that they have,” Jafari said.
Although he’s been teaching his students for seven months, Jafari has never seen their faces. He asks how they are and what the situation is in Afghanistan, “but I’ve never asked them to open their cameras or to share their profile, to share the image. I’ve never done that. I don’t want to do it, because I respect their culture, their choice.”
The online academy
With the Taliban government’s restrictions increasingly confining women to their homes, and going as far as officially banning women’s voices and bare faces in public, the web has opened a new world of possibilities for women in Afghanistan.
A year and a half ago, Zuhal, a young Afghan woman whose dream of going to university was shattered, partnered with a university professor to launch an online academy for women.
What began as a team of five people now has a crew of 150 teachers and administrators, and more than 4,000 students, she said.
“We are all working voluntarily with no salary, no support,” said the 20-year-old, who uses a nickname for fear of reprisals after receiving threats over the academy. “Our only aim or goal is to provide free education for girls and to enhance research in Afghanistan.”
The academy, Vision Online University, now runs courses in a range of subjects, from psychology and foreign languages to Qur’anic studies, nursing and public speaking, among others.
When the education ban came into effect, “I was depressed because nothing was available. There was no school, no university, no courses. And that really affected me,” said Zuhal.
“Then I thought (to) myself that this is not the solution. If I get depressed, that will not be helpful, not for me and not for other girls.” She decided “that I shouldn’t give up. I should do something for girls of my country.”
Now she also pursues a degree in computer science through an American online university, the University of the People.
It’s tough, she said. With no funding, the academy for women can’t pay for premium online services that allow large group meetings. She herself often struggles to afford her Internet service.
“But I’m doing it because I have a goal,” she said. “And my goal is to support girls. If I stop it, more than 4,000 or 5,000 girls will be depressed again.”

Witkoff to meet with Russian leadership in Moscow on Wednesday, source says

Witkoff to meet with Russian leadership in Moscow on Wednesday, source says
Updated 05 August 2025
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Witkoff to meet with Russian leadership in Moscow on Wednesday, source says

Witkoff to meet with Russian leadership in Moscow on Wednesday, source says
  • Officials in Washington provided few details of Witkoff’s schedule
  • “Witkoff will be traveling to Russia this week,” Bruce said

WASHINGTON: US special envoy Steve Witkoff will be in Moscow on Wednesday to meet with Russian leadership, a source familiar with the plan said on Tuesday.

Officials in Washington provided few details of Witkoff’s schedule.

“The president has noted, of course, that Special Envoy Witkoff will be traveling to Russia this week, so we can confirm that from this podium,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters.

“What that will entail, I have no details for you.”

Russia’s state-run TASS news agency, quoting aviation sources, said an aircraft believed to have Witkoff on board, had already left the United States.

US President Donald Trump, who has signaled frustration with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin in recent weeks, has given him until this Friday to make progress toward peace in Ukraine or face tougher sanctions.


Cameroon court rejects opposition leader’s presidential candidacy: lawyer

Cameroon court rejects opposition leader’s presidential candidacy: lawyer
Updated 05 August 2025
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Cameroon court rejects opposition leader’s presidential candidacy: lawyer

Cameroon court rejects opposition leader’s presidential candidacy: lawyer
  • The Constitutional Council ruled that the candidacy of Maurice Kamto, a high-profile critic of the longtime president, “cannot be valid”
  • Biya, 92, has been in power since 1982 and is seeking an eighth term in office in the October 12 contest

YAOUNDE: Cameroon’s constitutional court on Tuesday rejected the candidacy of President Paul Biya’s main opponent in October’s presidential election, the contender’s lawyer said.

The Constitutional Council ruled that the candidacy of Maurice Kamto, a high-profile critic of the longtime president, “cannot be valid and the immediate consequence is that he will not participate in the presidential race,” Hippolyte Meli Tiakouang told reporters after the hearing.

Biya, 92, has been in power since 1982 and is seeking an eighth term in office in the October 12 contest.

Kamto, 71, who resigned from the MRC at the end of June, came second to Biya in the 2018 presidential election.

He sought to run this time as the candidate for the African Movement for New Independence and Democracy (MANIDEM) and had officially submitted his candidacy last month.

In the 2018 election, Kamto stood for the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (MRC) but under the electoral code, parties wanting to run in the presidential election must have MPs in parliament or deputies in municipal councils.

The MRC boycotted the last legislative and municipal elections in 2020.

Constitutional Council president Clement Atangana ruled Kamto’s appeals were admissible for the court to hear but then judged them “unfounded.”

Another MANIDEM candidate submitted his candidacy, but that was also rejected.

After the ruling, Kamto did not comment.

MANIDEM president Anicet Ekane called it “a political decision. We take note of it.

“For the time being, we will not make a statement. We are reflecting on the decision and will decide,” said Ekane.

No media outlet was authorized to broadcast the Constitutional Council’s debates and decisions live.

The ministry of territorial administration announced the arrest of several people accused of disturbing public order near its premises.

Cameroon’s opposition is struggling to challenge the Biya administration.

On Saturday, a group of representatives from several parties published a statement in which they committed “to the choice of a consensus candidate around a common program” without any name being put forward.

In the run-up to Kamto’s exclusion, Human Rights Watch had warned that not allowing him to stand would raise concerns about the credibility of the electoral process.

“Excluding the most popular opponent from the electoral process will leave a shadow over whatever results are eventually announced,” warned Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Africa researcher at HRW.

The NGO warned that the move reflected “the government’s long-standing intolerance of any opposition and dissent, and comes amid increased repression of opponents, activists, and lawyers since mid-2024.”

So far, Cameroon’s Election Commission has approved 13 out of 83 prospective candidates,including Biya and former government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary.


German hesitation on Gaza could encourage atrocities, Israeli academics say

German hesitation on Gaza could encourage atrocities, Israeli academics say
Updated 05 August 2025
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German hesitation on Gaza could encourage atrocities, Israeli academics say

German hesitation on Gaza could encourage atrocities, Israeli academics say
  • The letter was addressed to senior Social Democrat lawmakers Rolf Muetzenich and Adis Ahmetovic
  • The two MPs have called for Germany to impose sanctions against Israel and a suspension of weapons deliveries

BERLIN: More than 100 Israeli academics have warned in a letter that a failure by Germany to put pressure on Israel could lead to new atrocities in Gaza.

“Further hesitation on Germany’s part threatens to enable new atrocities — and undermines the lessons learnt from its own history,” the academics wrote in the letter, addressed to senior Social Democrat (SPD) lawmakers Rolf Muetzenich and Adis Ahmetovic and seen by Reuters on Tuesday.

On July 22, the two men, whose party is in the ruling coalition, had called for Germany to join an international coalition pushing for an immediate end to the war in Gaza, sanctions against Israel and a suspension of weapons deliveries.

The German government — comprising the conservative CDU/CSU bloc and the SPD — has sharpened its criticism of Israel over the manmade humanitarian catastrophe visited on Gaza’s 2 million people, but has yet to announce any major policy change.

Israel denies having a policy of starvation in Gaza, and says the Hamas militant group, responsible for an operation that killed 1,200 people in Israel in October 2023 and took hundreds more hostage, could end the crisis by surrendering.

Critics argue that Germany’s response to the war has been overly cautious, mostly owing to an enduring sense of guilt for the Nazi Holocaust, weakening the West’s collective ability to put pressure on Israel.

“If over 100 Israeli academics are calling for an immediate change of course ... then it’s high time we took visible action,” Ahmetovic told the public broadcaster ARD.

Britain, Canada and France have signalled their readiness to recognize a Palestinian state in Israeli-occupied territory at the United Nations General Assembly this September.


Govt urged to bring relatives of Afghans to UK after data breach

Govt urged to bring relatives of Afghans to UK after data breach
Updated 05 August 2025
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Govt urged to bring relatives of Afghans to UK after data breach

Govt urged to bring relatives of Afghans to UK after data breach
  • Charities ask home secretary to ‘prevent the worst possible consequences … becoming a dire reality’
  • Thousands of Afghans who helped Britain remain in their country despite their information being leaked in 2022

LONDON: A group of more than 50 charities and lawyers has urged the UK government to let Afghans granted asylum bring their families with them after their identities were revealed in a data breach.

The leak in February 2022 saw the details of more than 100,000 Afghans who worked with the British accidentally shared online by a Ministry of Defence employee.

They included people who had worked as interpreters for the British Army, and others who applied for asylum under the UK’s Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy.

The leak was hidden by the government through a legal mechanism called a superinjunction, making reporting it in the press illegal. The superinjunction was lifted by a court last month.

ARAP and the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme do not allow applicants to sponsor relatives to come to the UK.

The group of charities, including Asylum Aid and modern slavery charity Kalayaan, wrote to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper asking her “to prevent the worst possible consequences of the data leak becoming a dire reality” and help take the relatives of those whose identities were leaked out of Afghanistan.

“The UK government has a moral responsibility to the Afghan people who continue to suffer, including now as a result of the data leak and have no choice but to seek safety elsewhere.

“The 2022 data breach directly exposed Afghans still in the country to a risk of reprisals they were not even aware of, and the High Court, in lifting the superinjunction, recognised that its imposition may have increased the risks these people face.”

The signatories added: “Poor decision-making could yet again have exposed Afghans to serious harm, with many of these people having clear UK family ties.”

They said: “It is essential that those who were resettled under ARAP and ACRS are able to live in safety and are given a fair opportunity to reunite with their families.”

Some routes are open to resettled Afghans to reunite in the UK with relatives, but the signatories said these involve “extremely costly application fees and require copious, specific documentation.”

Wendy Chamberlain MP, the Liberal Democrat chair of the all-parliamentary group for Afghan women, told The Independent: “There is already anecdotal evidence of reprisals on family members by the Taliban — the Home Office has no time to waste if the government wants to prevent the worst possible consequences of the data leak becoming a dire reality.

“The Home Office desperately needs to take a pragmatic and compassionate approach to allowing Afghans resettled in the UK to be reunited safely with their families.

“It is clear that these schemes have been seriously mis-handled, culminating in the recent exposure of the 2022 data leak.”

James Tullett, CEO of the charity Ramfel, said: “The government has acknowledged that the people they have resettled need protection, and yet this offer of support comes with the heavy price of separation from family.

“Allowing Afghan families to reunite won’t solve all the problems associated with the data leak, but it will make a monumental difference for the affected families.”