Search Results for: Mali

The European Union (EU) has further broadened its sanctions targeting Russia to increase pressure on its government, as the fall of its ally in Syria weakens Moscow’s geopolitical position. EU ministers have now sanctioned Chinese suppliers of the Russian invasion in Ukraine, Russian crude oil suppliers and an airline, as well as companies alleged to be spreading disinformation in Africa and elsewhere.…

Niger’s military government is insisting it has maintained higher education services despite international sanctions imposed on the west African country since the coup d’état of last July (2023). This has ruptured relations with western and some neighbouring countries, prompting concerns that Nigerien students might struggle to continue their studies abroad.…

A Financial Action Task Force (FATF) paper has warned that governments are failing to increase AML/CFT controls on virtual assets and virtual asset service providers (VASPs), with only 25% of those surveyed fully or largely compliant with FATF guidance (1).

Of these 130 jurisdictions assessed under the latest mutual evaluation reports and follow up checks, the 75% proportion of those partially or not compliant with FATF recommendation 15 on VASPs and other new tech, “is identical to that of April 2023…and shows negligible improvement,” said FATF.…

An ongoing insurgency of armed Islamist groups is affecting educational and research activities in the northern regions of Mali, particularly Timbuktu and Gao. Since last August (2022), Timbuktu and Gao, two large cities in northern Mali, have been under a blockade imposed by the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM – le Groupe de soutien à l’Islam et aux Musulmans), affiliated with Al-Qaeda.…

The Great Lakes region in cenztral and eastern Africa is exceedingly resource rich, and being beset by instability and conflict, it is highly attractive for illicit trade and financial crime fuelling money laundering. A new European Union (EU) Great Lakes Strategy is trying to promote the rule of law in the region – notably Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – but faces major challenges.…

Students in Burkina Faso and Niger blocked from attending courses in France through that country’s withdrawal of visa facilities are being urged to consider alternative higher education options for the upcoming academic year.

With the French government standing firm over its closure of consular services in these countries, and neighbouring Mali, all run by military governments having poor relations with Paris, their students are running out of time to take-up places in France universities.…

Humanitarians have claimed that sub-Saharan university students were part of mass border expulsions by Tunisian security forces in July as universities within the north African country note reduced registrations by black African students.

Tunisian humanitarian association Enfants de la Lune’s https://www.facebook.com/XPtunisie…

A new Central University Library of Mali, serving higher education institutions across this Sahel and Sahara country, will house thousands of ancient Islamic texts, including some removed from Timbuktu in 2013, to save them from destruction at the hands of Islamist militants.…

Students from sub-Saharan African countries in Tunisia say that they are being discriminated against in the country’s banks and post offices, preventing them from receiving international money transfers to pay for essentials, including food.

They and executives of the Association for African Students and Stagiaires in Tunisia (AESAT – Association des Étudiants et Stagiaires Africains en Tunisie) told UWN that many banks and branches of La Poste Tunisienne are refusing to hand over the money sent by their parents and blocking them from opening personal bank accounts if they lack a full residency permit – a ‘carte de séjour définitif’.…

Students from sub-Saharan African countries are warning they are ready to abandon degree courses in Tunisian universities and colleges, fleeing this north African country in the wake of mass arrests of compatriots and racial violence this month.

Christian Kwongang, president of the Tunisian Association of Sub-Saharan Students (Association des Étudiants et Stagiaires Africains en Tunisie – AESAT) said that as of March 7, at least 400 sub-Saharan African students had been arrested in immigration sweeps by police, and there had been more than 30 racially motivated physical attacks by the against black African students over the past year.…