This archive report was first published on 1 July 2019.
Regional Developments ¶
Switzerland is working with opposition groups in Cameroon to facilitate an inclusive dialogue with President Paul Biya's government on resolving the crisis in Western Cameroon.
According to a statement from Switzerland's Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, the country held discussions with opposition groups between Wednesday and Friday last week in partnership with the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue.
President Biya has been in Switzerland since June 23, when he left Cameroon for a brief stay in Europe.
Meanwhile, ECOWAS has allowed President Jose Mario Vaz of Guinea-Bissau to remain in office as a figurehead until elections in November, preventing a lengthy power vacuum in the country.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said Vaz would stay in office, but the management of government affairs would be under a Cabinet appointed by Prime Minister.
Additionally, a top Sudanese general claimed that a third force was active in the protests to demand civilian rule, shooting at least five civilians and three members of a paramilitary force.
General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the RSF's commander and deputy chief of the ruling military council, said, "There are snipers who are firing on people, they shot three members of the Rapid Support Force and five or six citizens."
He added that the "infiltrators" were people who wanted to jeopardise progress.
Furthermore, more than 2,000 people protested in the northern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, calling for a ban on the anti-Boko Haram CJTF militia they accuse of abuses.
"We want the CJTF to be banned from the city because of the abuses we suffer in their hands," said Suleimanti resident Bukar Saleh.
The protest erupted hours after a rickshaw driver was shot dead near a militia checkpoint, apparently after he failed to stop during night-time curfew.
Algerian authorities have also arrested a well-known veteran of the war of independence against France, Lakhdar Bouregaa, 86, after he reportedly criticised military chief Ahmed Gaid Saleh.
Democratic Republic of Congo's President Felix Tshisekedi has warned opposition leaders not to "confuse democracy with anarchy" after they insisted on organising a banned march in Kinshasha and Goma.
The protests were aimed at instability in the restive east, where ethnic clashes between Djugu and Mahagi have led to large-scale operations ordered by Tshisekedi.
Finally, a planned common currency for 15 western Africa states boasting a market of 385 million people will be known as the ECO, with the single currency expected to boost cross-border trade between member states.
The Bank of International Settlements has also called on countries to conserve fuel in case of more serious economic downturns ahead, citing ongoing trade tensions between the US and China as the main factor slowing growth, followed by swelling debt levels.
