LAGOS MAY 4TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Two weeks after veteran Chadian leader Idriss Deby Itno was mortally wounded fighting a rebel force, one of his predecessors, ex-president Goukouni Weddeye, has called for inclusive dialogue to “save Chad”. Goukouni, who ruled the turbulent Sahel country from 1980 to 1982, urged “reconciliation to end our quarrels,” in a process that…
LAGOS APRIL 18TH (NEWSRANGERS)-The State Department on Saturday ordered non-essential diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Chad to leave the African nation due to potential insurgent attacks on the capital. In addition to non-essential embassy staff, the department also ordered the families of American personnel stationed there to leave because armed groups appear to be…
LAGOS APRIL 12TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno has said his country’s troops, who have been deployed to fight jihadists in the Lake Chad region and the Sahel, will no longer take part in military operations outside national borders. “Our troops have died for Lake Chad and the Sahel. From today, no Chadian soldiers will…
LAGOS APRIL 2ND (NEWSRANGERS)-Nigeria on Thursday said it had launched a “massive” joint offensive with troops from Chad and Niger against jihadists waging a decade-long insurgency in the region. The announcement comes after Chad’s defence minister said Tuesday his country had deployed forces across its neighbours’ borders to battle insurgents who killed almost 100 Chadian soldiers last month. Nigeria’s…
LAGOS FEBRUARY 17TH (NEWSRANGERS)-No fewer than twenty people, many of them women and children, were trampled to death on Monday in a stampede for food and money for refugees in southeast Niger, sources said. “We have a provisional toll of 20 dead,” a medical source said. Aid workers confirmed the account and said about 10…
LAGOS JANUARY 4TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Suspected Boko Haram militants have killed at least 50 people on an island on Lake Chad, bordering Cameroon and Chad, a local official told the BBC. The militants, disguised as traders, attacked fishermen, local mayor Ali Ramat said, quoting a survivor. The attack happened on 22 December, 2019, but news from the…
LAGOS DECEMBER 16TH (NEWSRANGERS)-As the crisis in Anglophone Cameroon persists, the United States (US), has asked President Paul Biya of Cameroon to “immediately and unconditionally” pull out the military from Southern Cameroun territory. The 72-hour ultimatum followed US congress approval in a resolution of an Act, authorising President Donald Trump and US Department of Defence…
LAGOS OCTOBER 25TH (NEWSRANGERS)-WHAT kind of President is Muhammadu Buhari? In moments of national crisis, he abandons his duty post in preference for foreign trips of dubious value. Showing scant interest in domestic affairs, the President has embarked on another international trip, this time, to Sochi, Russia, for a three-day summit on gas and trade….