LAGOS AUGUST 23RD (NEWSRANGERS)-France’s army on Tuesday denied it had asked Algeria to use its airspace for a military operation in Niger after an Algerian state radio report late on Monday said such permission had been refused. Algerian state radio, which usually reflects official thinking, had reported the alleged request adding the North African state…
LAGOS OCTOBER 23RD (NEWSRANGERS)-Former OPEC president Diezani Alison-Madueke has been charged with bribery offences relating to her time as Nigeria’s oil minister, the UK National Crime Agency said on Tuesday. Alison-Madueke, 63, has been on bail since first being arrested in London in October 2015. She will appear in court in the British capital on…
LAGOS AUGUST 23RD (NEWSRANGERS)-A West African bloc mediator sent to meet Niger’s junta leaders following a July 26 coup says a peaceful way out of the crisis remains possible. Last week’s visit to Niger “has opened an avenue to start talking,” Abdulsalami Abubakar, a former Nigerian president, told reporters in the capital, Abuja. “Hopefully diplomacy…
LAGOS AUGUST 22ND (NEWSRANGERS)-The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) has confirmed that a shooting incident which occurred at a Base Ammunition Depot at Michel Camp on Saturday morning which resulted in the death of a solider was accidental. “Preliminary investigative report indicates the soldier was seen sitting on his bed, waiting to relieve his colleague at…
LAGOS AUGUST 22ND (NEWSRANGERS)-The crisis in Niger, whose president was overthrown on July 26, is amplifying risks for millions of vulnerable youngsters, the UN’s children’s fund said. “The current situation is of great concern and adds a heavy burden to an already dire humanitarian landscape,” UNICEF’s Niger representative, Stefano Savi, said in a statement. “At…
LAGOS AUGUST 21ST (NEWSRANGERS)-The Economic Community of West African States has rejected the Niger junta’s objective for a transition of power presumably to a democratic government within three years. “Our ambition is not to confiscate power,” the Head of the military junta, General Abdourahamane Tiani said in a televised address. Any transition of power “would…
LAGOS AUGUST 21ST (NEWSRANGERS)-The Kremlin’s first mission to the Moon for nearly 50 years has crashed into the surface, destroying Vladimir Putin’s ambitions of winning a new space race. Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, said that it lost contact with the uncrewed Luna-25 as it was orbiting the Moon ahead of a planned landing. The…
LAGOS AUGUST 21ST (NEWSRANGERS)-Saudi border guards fired rockets at migrants crossing from Yemen in a campaign of barbaric killings, a major new investigation has found. Crowds of migrants fleeing turmoil in the Horn of Africa were allegedly shot with rifles and blown up with rocket launcher-like weapons as they sought to cross by land into…