Category: World News

A security officer stands guard on the street following the attempted coup Russia has said its forces helped to repel Saturday's attempted coup in Niger. Explosions and gunfire rang out across capital, Niamey, early in the morning, including at a key military airbase and the presidential palace.

Nigerien forces had repelled the attack "with the assistance of servicemen of the African Corps of the Russian Ministry of Defence", the foreign ministry in Moscow said on Sunday. The ministry also said it would continue to support Niger in its fight against "extremists", but that the situation was now under the control of the legitimate authorities headed by President [Gen Abdourahmane] Tiani".

Russia's African Corps has become a key security partner for multiple military governments in the Sahel, who have been struggling to contain long-running jihadist insurgencies. War ‘tour’, football and graffiti: How Russia is trying to influence Africa The Alliance of Sahel States – composed of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso – said the attempted coup was "a betrayal by a group of soldiers involved in an attempt at destabilisation".

The authorities have not said how many soldiers were involved in the attempted coup, nor how many casualties there were. Niger's military ruler, Gen Tiani, who was sworn in as its president last year after he deposed its elected leader, has also not publicly addressed the incident. The nation's state broadcaster showed footage of several alleged mutineers being arrested by the Presidential Guard.

On Sunday, Niger Press Agency reported that commercial activity was returning to normal, with petrol stations, shops and other businesses reopening. Supporters of the government gathered at a public square in central Niamey in support of the security forces and Tiani's government.

Opposition candidate Brian Mundubile had gone into hiding at a United Nations building in Zambia's capital Zambian opposition leader Brian Mundubile has been charged with treason, his lawyer has said amid heightened political tensions in the country. Mundubile was arrested on Thursday, after a deadly raid by the authorities led the opposition politician to go into hiding.

He had disputed the results of the country's recent presidential election, which saw incumbent President Hakainde Hichilema securing a second term. The authorities then accused Mundubile's NRPUP party of planning an armed insurgency, which it denied. On Saturday night, Mundubile's lawyer Milner Katolo announced that his client had been charged with treason. The opposition leader looks forward to answering the accusation in court, Katolo told the Zambian Eye, external.

The lawyer said 17 others, including Mundubile's running mate Makebi Zulu, had also been charged with treason. Mundubile gained 38% of the vote in the 13 August election, while Hichilema secured 60%, official results show. The day after the poll, security forces raided a property in the capital, Lusaka, linked to Mundubile, killing a former cabinet minister and arresting a number of other politicians.

Following the raid, Mundubile and Zulu took refuge at a United Nations building in the city. The pair were detained after the president put pressure on the UN to hand them over. The opposition was unable to mount a legal challenge to the election outcome as the courts were sealed off by the authorities on Monday, the final day that a case could be filed.

Hichilema is due to be sworn in for a second term on 1 September. Regional and international observers described the election day as largely peaceful, but Zambia's Human Rights Commission has called for accountability over people whose whereabouts remain unknown following arrests and security operations

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said he was not ruling out foul play after 100 wildfires were recorded Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has said he wants to reinstate the death penalty for arsonists, following a wave of forest fires that have killed at least 12 people. The president ordered the justice ministry to introduce changes to the criminal law introducing capital punishment for arsonists.

Capital punishment remains in the country's penal code for some offences, but no execution has been carried out since 1993. More than 100 wildfires have been recorded in recent days in the north-east of the country, most of which have been extinguished. The Algerian president said necessary investigations would be carried out especially in view of the intensity of the fires.

On Sunday, he gave a 15 September deadline for amendments to provide for the death sentence for anyone convicted of intentionally starting a fire in forested areas. Under the current law, deliberately starting forest fires is punishable by up to 30 years in prison, or life imprisonment in certain cases. Deadly blazes swept through large swathes of northern Algeria last week, causing widespread destruction, injuring dozens and displacing thousands of people.

The fires erupted amid an intense heatwave in northern Africa, with Algeria and Tunisia particularly affected.

Algerian civil authorities were on Sunday afternoon still battling to battle some of the fires, with the Algerian Press Service noting that 18 out 19 fires that had broken out in the previous 24 hours had been extinguished The Algerian president ordered that compensation be paid to the families who have been affected, as well as repairs to damaged homes and essential services.

He said there would be investigations into the extent of the damage and losses caused by the fires.

A South African airline has defended itself against some criticism of a dramatic stunt that saw two of its aircraft in close formation fly reportedly within feet of the top of a stadium. The jets roared over Cape Town's DHL Stadium, filled with more than 50,000 fans, as smoke flares shot up before the start of a rugby match featuring fierce rivals South Africa and New Zealand.

As videos of Saturday's aerial feat were shared, some labelled the startling manoeuvre reckless, while others have praised the precision and expertise required to pull it off. In response, Airlink said it was carefully planned with the support of the aviation authorities. The planes – one green, one black – flew over the stadium shortly before the start of the South Africa-New Zealand match "Planning. Precision.

Performance," was the airline's message in social media posts, external accompanied by the footage. In a statement reproduced on a government news site, external, Airlink went into more detail. "The two aircraft were flown by highly experienced crew, with each comprised of three senior captains operating in the roles of commander, co-pilot and safety/technical officer," the airline said.

It added that the flights were performed with the "approved and rehearsed safety altitude and speed limits for the flypast". The flight tracking website Flightradar24, external said that according to its analysis "the lead aircraft passed less than 50 feet (15 metres) above the top of the stadium".

Questions have been raised over the risk and potential for disaster involving two planes and a packed stadium, but many South Africans have responded with expressions of national pride that its country's pilots could pull this off. "It's a well known fact that we have the best pilots in the world, that was spectacular," Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie wrote on X,

Hundreds of passengers were stranded at Kenya's main airport in the capital, Nairobi, as flight disruptions continued for the second day amid a workers' strike. On Sunday, the airports authority and the national carrier, Kenya Airways, warned departing flights may be delayed. A new round of talks between unions and airport managers was due to take place on Monday, although discussions broke up a day earlier without agreement.

Aviation sector workers are on a nationwide go-slow strike to demand better working conditions and the implementation of a previously agreed deal. Those hoping to get on a flight have been stuck at JKIA, with some spending the night in and around the check-in areas waiting for news.

Kenya Airways said in its latest update that due to "the industrial action by air traffic control workers", it is experiencing delays of more than six hours, and the flight backlog has forced it to cancel some departures. It has apologised for the disruption and said passengers who would like to change or reschedule their flights could do so without a penalty. Flight tracking website Flightradar24 showed a host of delayed, cancelled or diverted flights.

RwandAir said on Monday that it had cancelled two flights due to the ongoing "operational constraints affecting air traffic control services" at the airport. This followed earlier cancellations on Sunday. Mendel Goldman, who was travelling to a wedding in Florida, told the Reuters news agency that his flight had been cancelled, after several delays. "The earliest flight they can get us is only tomorrow night, so we've got to wait.

"We're going to try and make most of it, but in the meantime, I've been here for 12 hours now, waiting in the airport," he said.

Pirates manage to board ships operating a long way from the coast and then guide them closer to the shore A surge in piracy near Somalia has increased threats to shipping already under pressure from maritime blockades and conflict due to the US war with Iran.

Two cargo vessels were seized in the Gulf of Aden within four days last week, rising to at least 13 the number of ships attacked since the start of the year and triggering unprecedented drone strikes against the pirates. It is the biggest escalation in hijackings in more than a decade, renewing concern about security in this region vital to international trade.

"Piracy is always a crime of opportunity," says Omar Mahmood, a senior Somalia analyst for the International Crisis Group (ICG), "and right now the pirates see an opportunity." That opportunity comes from the impact of the war on regional waterways further north. Iran and the US continue to battle over control of the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

And Tehran's Houthi allies in Yemen have imposed a targeted blockade in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which controls access to the Red Sea. This is focused on a dispute with Saudi Arabia but heightens insecurity for international shipping.

"I guess the pirates believe that with those two external events in Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab, they believe that the international forces will be dedicated to those crises instead of looking for pirates," says Vice-Admiral Ignacio Villanueva Serrano, operation commander for the European Union's naval force that protects shipping off Somalia's coast.

The MV Lutuf, seen here near the Turkish port of Güllük last year, was hijacked on 17 August Among the latest vessels hijacked by the pirates was a Cameroon-flagged ship, the MV Lutuf, which was attacked off the coast of Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland region on