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Ethiopia’s Afar region called Friday on civilians to take up arms against rebels from neighbouring Tigray, signalling a potential escalation in fighting that has already displaced tens of thousands this week.
“Every Afar should protect their land with any means available, whether by guns, sticks or stones,” regional president Awol Arba said in an interview aired by regional state media.
Authorities in Madagascar have said several “foreign and Malagasy” suspects were arrested over a suspected plot to assassinate President Andry Rajoelina.
Attorney General Berthine Razafiarivony said on Thursday the arrests took place on Tuesday as part of an investigation “into an attack on state security”.
The Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) has stepped up security in Zombo district by deploying more personnel.
This comes days after fighters of Co-operation for the Development of Congo (CODECO) group were killed during an attack on an army detach in Zeu sub-county in Zombo.
Two armed men, including one who wielded a knife, attacked Mali’s interim President Assimi Goita on Tuesday in the Grand Mosque of Bamako in the country’s capital, said an Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalist who was at the scene.
The attack took place during prayers for the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha.
Two suspected communist rebels were killed and 12 high-powered firearms were recovered in an encounter with the government troops in Sagñay town in Camarines Sur province on Monday morning.
Captain John Paul Belleza, Philippine Army’s 9th Infantry Division public affairs chief, said the police and the Army’s 83rd Infantry Battalion had a 30-minute firefight with at least 20 members of the New People’s Army in Barangay Bongalon at around 10:45 a.m.