confidentially speaking
The Africa Confidential Blog
Rights abusers in governments and armies shielded by global impunity
Blue Lines
The alarming volume of human rights abuses and the impunity enjoyed by many governments and their armed forces was underscored in the latest Amnesty International global report. The Sudan Armed Forces and its rival, the Rapid Support Forces, have repeatedly flouted international humanitarian law, killing and starving civilians while they and their sponsors such as Egypt, Turkey, Iran and the United Arab Emirates face no accountability for war crimes.
Instead of cooperating with regional efforts to convene talks for a ceasefire, Sudan's rival generals are intensifying fighting around El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur. The UN is warning of ethnic violence and humanitarian catastrophe as refugees flood into Chad.
Amnesty also describes how Facebook's algorithms were weaponised to pit communities against each other, contributing to ethnic violence in Ethiopia in recent months.
In a separate report published this week, Human Rights Watch reported that Burkina Faso's military massacred at least 223 civilians, including at least 56 children, in two villages on 25 February in the northern Yatenga province. HRW urged Burkinabè authorities to investigate, with support from the AU and the UN. But Colonel Ibrahim Traoré has flatly ignored previous reports documenting abuses by the army, including kidnappings and indiscriminate drone strikes. His junta faces little prospect of being held accountable.
