Hundreds of people have been killed and injured in attacks by armed groups.
The Nigerian government says at least 160 people were killed in attacks by armed groups on remote farming communities at the weekend.
It’s the worst violence in the central Plateau state in more than five years.
No group has claimed responsibility but nomadic herders are believed to be responsible.
Herders and farmers have been locked in a decades-long conflict over access to land and water.
Why has the Nigerian government failed to prevent these attacks?
And what does it mean for the country’s wider security problem – as it faces challenges on multiple fronts?
Presenter: Laura Kyle
Guests:
Isa Sanusi – Nigeria country director at Amnesty International and a former journalist
Chris Kwaja – Associate professor at Centre for Peace and Security Studies at Nigeria’s Modibbo Adama University and country director for USIP – the United States Institute of Peace
Musa Ashoms – Commissioner of Information and Communication for the Plateau state government in Nigeria
Abuja, Nigeria – On October 30, oil-rich Rivers State, Nigeria’s oil capital, became the latest hub of political drama in the country following the state parliament’s attempted impeachment of Siminalayi Fubara, who had been governor for only five months.
The impeachment notice was signed by 24 of 32 lawmakers, all loyal to Nyesom Wike, Fubara’s predecessor, who was hitherto seen as his “political godfather”. Wike has accused Fubara of wanting to destabilise the structure that brought him to office.
Since then, a political crisis has unfolded, impeding governance in the state and risking crude production in Africa’s largest oil producer.
The parliament complex was burned down; 27 lawmakers defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress – the opposition at state level but the national ruling party – while the remaining five elected a factional speaker; Fubara presented the 2024 budget to these five lawmakers and nine members of the state cabinet resigned.
The crisis split the parliament into two factions: one backed by Wike, now a federal minister, and the other faction loyal to Fubara. A night before the impeachment attempt, an explosion by unknown arsonists destroyed a section of the legislative complex. During Fubara’s inspection tour of the complex the next day, the police fired tear gas at him.
Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu met with parties involved in the crisis on December 18. After the meeting, the parties involved reportedly signed a resolution stating that court cases instituted by Fubara be withdrawn and the state parliament drop all impeachment proceedings against him.
Confidence MacHarry, a lead security analyst at Lagos-based consultancy SBM Intelligence, says although the move may be in the interests of peace, such intervention could “end badly.”
“That kind of direct intervention of Tinubu sets a dangerous precedent and people in the state are not taking it quite kindly being that the president is not from the region and he is from a different political party [APC],” MacHarry told Al Jazeera.
He explained that because Wike played a critical role in ensuring the president got the majority of votes from the state during the February 25 election and was then appointed a minister, “people do not think the president would be an impartial arbiter”.
Former Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike addresses the Peoples Democratic Party delegates during a special convention in Abuja, Nigeria, on May 28, 2022 [File: Afolabi Sotunde/Reuters]
Risk to the economy
The peace agreement has barely resolved the crisis, creating fears of continued risk to the oil capital, even as Nigeria’s economy, which is overly reliant on oil exports, continues to plummet.
At least 90 percent of the country’s revenue goes to servicing its debt obligations and workers have threatened strikes if there is no pay increase to counter a cost-of-living crisis, worsened by a controversial fuel subsidy ending in May.
For decades, crude oil from the delta has accounted for the majority of the country’s export earnings. Rivers, one of the six states in the region, is home to pipelines that transport crude from other states to its Bonny export terminal. In 2021, the state accounted for 6.5 percent of Nigeria’s entire revenue.
“If the political crisis continues, it could spread to other parts of the Niger Delta which will be more devastating to the economy,” says Gabriel Adeola, a professor of political science specialising in political economy at Crawford University, Ogun State.
Nigeria’s crude production averages 1.25 million barrels per day (bpd), according to data from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Revenue from non-oil outpaced that of oil by 1.5 trillion Nigerian naira ($1.9bn) in 2022, due to factors such as oil theft – which cost Nigeria at least $2bn between January and August 2022 alone and caused oil production to dip.
Still, experts like Peter Medee, associate professor of economics at the University of Port Harcourt, insist that Nigeria cannot thrive on revenue from non-oil sectors alone.
“Oil is the nerve centre of [Nigeria’s] economy … If anything happens to oil production, it means that 60 percent of revenue is gone,” Medee told Al Jazeera.
‘Recipe for disaster’
There are also fears that the political crisis could eventually snowball into an ethnic crisis because of the identity of the main actors. Fubara is Ijaw, Nigeria’s fourth largest ethnicity and spread across the delta while Wike is Ikwerre, the largest ethnic group in Rivers.
Zoning and rotation of positions is an often unwritten rule in Nigerian politics, ostensibly to ensure equality in what is a very diverse society. Until Fubara’s election victory in March, no Ijaw had become governor since the return to democracy in 1999; all three of his predecessors in that time have been Ikwerre.
Already, Ijaws have started drumming support for the governor.
Jonathan Lokpobiri, president of the nationalist Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), said his people were already “worried about the catastrophic effect this crisis may have on Rivers State and the spiral effect it will have on the entire Niger Delta”.
The current developments, Lokpobiri told Al Jazeera, have so far “undermined and insulted the sensibilities of the Ijaw people”.
He said a lack of a fair and lasting solution could force the people to deploy different means in showing support for the governor, warning that interested parties could “go destructive which tends to get attention faster and better”.
“The president’s [actions and inactions] can be a recipe for disaster not just in Rivers State but the Niger Delta,” he warned. “If this issue is not managed and the president thinks it does not affect him, it will affect the oil industry.”
This could lead to an armed revolution, says Medee.
“People revolt in their area of advantage and one of their [Ijaw people] area of advantage is the oil pipeline that carries crude from other parts of the state through Ogoniland in Rivers …they could cut it off,” he told Al Jazeera.
A man throws dead fish back into a polluted river in Ogoniland, Rivers State, Nigeria, on September 18, 2020 [File: Afolabi Sotunde/Reuters]
‘A multiplier effect’
In the early 2000s, Niger Deltan youths, aggrieved by the economic marginalisation and environmental degradation of the region despite being the source of oil wealth, banded together into armed groups. They infamously destroyed oil pipelines and abducted oil companies’ employees. These attacks reduced oil production significantly, costing Nigeria a fifth of its production.
This continued for years until a 2009 presidential amnesty directive granted unconditional pardons and gave cash payments to rebels who agreed to turn in their arms.
“If the [rebels] boys start again, it will hamper oil production and our calculation will fall short of expectation,” Adeola said.
Since the amnesty, the armed struggle in the delta has quietened partly because of surveillance deals granted to some former rebel leaders but also because of illegal small-scale refineries operated in parts of the region.
But experts like Obemeata Oriakpono, a reader in environmental health and toxicology at the University of Port Harcourt, say the political crisis could reignite that conflict and cause environmental damage that “cannot be quantified”.
“If the conflict degenerates more, it will be a multiplier effect,” he said.
Meanwhile, oil spillage resulting from sabotage could compound a continuing cleanup in Ogoniland, an area of 1,000sq km (385sq miles), which has historically been the epicentre of oil spills in the delta.
So Lokpobiri hopes the crisis is resolved permanently. “Our goal is not victory over one but a peaceful reconciliation,” he said, but warned that “[the] Ijaw nation will never allow [the governor] to be impeached. He must complete his [four-year] tenure.”
Millions of Chadians voted for a controversial new draft constitution last week, despite resistance from critics of the military government which accuse it of perpetuating itself in power.
According to the National Commission Charged with the Organisation of the Constitutional Referendum (CONOREC), 86 percent of voters chose “yes”. The turnout for the December 17 referendum, in which 8 million people were eligible to vote, was 64 percent.
The referendum is the second part of a three-step process for the return of the landlocked Central African country to democratic rule following the death of former long-term ruler Idriss Deby Itno who was succeeded by his son Mahmat Idriss Deby in 2021.
The new constitution, like the one it replaced, entrenches a unitary system that has been in place since independence in 1960.
Ahead of the referendum, opposition parties called for an outright boycott of the process, with a major point being the campaign for a federal system instead, to devolve powers from the centre.
One party, Les Transformateurs, claimed removing the unitary system would allow for progressive democracy and spur economic development. But those in favour of retaining the old system – including supporters of the transitional government – say a federalist system will lead to disunity. Protests by the party led to its ban and mass arrest of its members.
The transitional government made some concessions by inserting the creation of local governments and local legislatures in the new draft, with the people allowed to vote for their representatives. But the opposition said this was not enough.
Experts say the referendum committee comprised mostly Deby allies and offered the opposition no real chance of success or a compromise. When the vote happened last Sunday, the options were simply “yes” or “no” for a unitary constitution.
And the debate that began before the referendum, has continued within and outside the country.
“When you look at how the referendum process has been conducted, there are a lot of signs that indicate the transition authority intends to keep hold on power as this has always been the case,” Remadji Hoinathy, a Chad-based expert at the Institute of Security Studies, told Al Jazeera.
‘Long-term play’
Upon assumption of power in an April 2021 coup, Deby, now 38, promised to return to democracy within 18 months. After that timeline expired, a national dialogue committee gave the military an extra 24 months and excised a constitutional provision precluding Deby’s participation in the 2024 elections.
In October 2022, opposition parties and pro-democracy protesters took to the streets to demand elections but were shot at by the military. Dozens of people were killed, with several others wounded and arrested.
Deby has not yet said if he will run or not, but that remains a possibility.
Despite the Deby dynasty being in power for over three decades, there has not been a corresponding economic development in the Central African nation.
According to the World Bank, extreme poverty has been on the rise yearly and 42.3 percent of the country’s 18 million people live below the national poverty line. The country is also beset by conflicts, primarily driven by multiple armed groups.
Experts say the referendum had a predetermined outcome as part of a plan for Deby to stay longer in power.
“Deby’s ‘long-term play’ … is to entrench himself at the top of an autocratic political system dominated by the military,” Chris Ogunmodede, a foreign affairs analyst who has worked in African diplomatic circles, told Al Jazeera.
Ogunmodede says Deby is using the same playbook as his father, a wily ruler who changed the constitution twice to evade term limits while repressing dissent from opposition and civil society.
Yet there remains opposition to his government from multiple rebel groups. Even during the older Deby’s rule, rebels using Libya and Sudan as their base had repeatedly challenged the government, raising possibilities of a bigger fallout from the referendum from aggrieved parties.
“In any case, the current trajectory bodes poorly for the establishment of ‘peace’ in Chad, however, that word is defined. It is possible that this ‘referendum’, to the extent that it offers any real choices, might trigger a chain of events that creates another major dilemma in that country,” Ogunmodede said.
Members of the security forces patrol Chad’s capital N’Djamena following the battlefield death of President Idriss Debyin N’Djamena, Chad April 26, 2021 [Zohra Bensemra/Reuters]
France’s backing
In recent years, there has been increased pushback against French influence in its former colonies. This has resulted in coups in Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Guinea.
But unlike in those countries where relations between military governments and the French have deteriorated, Deby has embraced Paris and is helping repress any threat to France’s continued influence in the country.
In 2021, Paris backed his rise to power and has been quiet about state tactics to stall a credible return to democracy, a different stance compared to its criticism of coups elsewhere in the Sahel
Analysts like Hoinathy say due to Chad’s strategic position in regional security as the last bastion of France’s military presence in the Sahel, Deby is now seen as a key ally for Paris. In turn, France has helped prop up the Chadian elite.
“The big difference is that the leaders in power are the ones leading on this anti-France movement [in Sahel],” Hoinathy said. “While in Chad, the leaders in power remain very strong partners with France and they know that this relationship with France is key for them to remain in power because they receive military and diplomatic support.”
Double-faced Deby?
Even as Deby continues to navigate the internal strife in Chad, attention is now turning to the geopolitical fireworks that some of his actions have sparked abroad.
In neighbouring Sudan, the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been at war since April. The former has accused Deby of allowing the use of the Amdjarass airport in its north for channelling weapons to the latter by the United Arab Emirates.
Chad – which has also been a part of an international coalition to end the conflict and has taken in millions of Sudanese refugees – and the UAE have denied this accusation, but the diplomatic rift continues to deepen, with Sudan and Chad mutually expelling diplomats.
This development has complicated the disastrous conflict in Sudan, which has killed more than 10,000 people in nine months.
“[Deby’s support] makes it very dangerous not just during the war but in the post-war period as well,” said Cameron Hudson, a senior associate in the Africa programme at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
“If the Sudanese army wins, the Sudanese army is going to remember for a very long time that their neighbour helped their enemy to try to defeat them,” he added. “People forget that 15-20 years ago, there was a series of coups d’etat launched by Chad and Sudan against each other. The two countries have a long history of meddling in the internal affairs of the other.”
But the other outcome of the war is also laced with dangerous possibilities for Deby – and Chad. Deby is from the Zaghawa ethnic minority in Chad which has accused the RSF of assassinating some of its notable kin in Darfur. Some Zaghawa have been fighting against the RSF and experts say this is indicative of the dangerous dilemma Deby is in and the weakness of his leadership.
And the complications arising from that situation could lead to fresh bouts of conflict in an already volatile region.
“If Chad were to fall into a period of prolonged fighting and instability, it would spread that fighting and instability across an already very unstable region,” Hudson said.
An Al Jazeera series: Leaving two children behind, a pregnant Sierra Leonean mother pins her hopes on crossing to Europe.
Tunis, Tunisia — Standing in the drizzle outside the Tunis office of the International Organization for Migration, Saffiatu Mansaray is staring down at her swollen stomach.
On the other side of the alley, her husband works alongside other undocumented people, building a plastic-covered wooden shelter for refugees whose stay in Tunis is continuing with no end in sight.
The couple have come to Tunisia from Sierra Leone and are hoping to get to Europe. But the longer they remain stuck here, the more anxious Saffiatu, 32, is growing about her pregnancy.
“I am seven months gone,” she says, one hand resting protectively on her belly. “I have been here since February.”
Before embarking on a journey she knew could be lethal, she left two children in Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, with an aunt. The memory is still fresh in her mind.
Saffiatu and her husband have found other difficulties in Tunisia. They were living in the port city of Sfax until a couple of months ago when the police came for them. She’s not sure when that was exactly.
“The police catch us and take us to the desert,” she says. “They will come again.”
That was the second time Saffiatu found herself on the Tunisian-Algerian border after crossing from Sierra Leone, which she left with her husband in November.
This time, she, her husband and the others who were herded onto a bus by the Tunisian security services in Sfax found themselves alone and vulnerable to gangs of “bad boys” she says operate in the forest near Tunisia’s northern border with Algeria. These gangs prey on refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, stealing their phones and any money or valuables they have with them.
“We walked back by foot [from the Algerian border]. Some people die. Some people get sick,” she says with a passive shrug. She describes how the group was later intercepted on their journey by the police before being returned to the border. “I got sick,” she says. “I had pains all over, under my stomach. This was three weeks ago. It was cold.”
Saffiatu’s parents still live in Freetown. Her father, who is 70, is too frail to work in construction any longer. Saffiatu says she would like to send money back, but with no work available to her or her husband in Tunis and a baby on the way, there is none to spare. “I sit over there and beg. Every day I beg. I will tell them, ‘Mon ami, ca va?’ [‘How are you, my friend?’] Some people give me one dinar, some two dinars [33 or 65 United States cents]. So for the day, I survive.”
On the other side of the alley, a rough shelter is beginning to take shape. The wood has been salvaged from construction sites and repurposed pallets and is being wrapped in thick black plastic that those living in the cold alley have pooled their meagre resources to buy.
“If God grants me the wish, I will continue to Europe. There is no work for any of us here,” Saffiatu says. “Up until now, I see no doctor, no nurse, nothing. I just sit and hope.”
This article is the first of a five-part series of portraits of refugees from different countries, with diverse backgrounds, bound by shared fears and hopes as they enter 2024.
Nigerian authorities say armed groups known as ‘bandits’ hit 20 communities and injure more than 300 people.
Armed groups have killed more than 100 people in a string of attacks targeting towns across central Nigeria, another deadly episode in a region with persistent religious and ethnic tensions.
Local officials on Monday said the toll of the weekend attacks by armed groups, sometimes called “bandits”, has risen to 113, increasing sharply from the government’s initial count of 16.
“As many as 113 persons have been confirmed killed as Saturday hostilities persisted to early hours of Monday,” Monday Kassah, head of the local government in Bokkos in Plateau State, told the Agence France-Presse news agency.
Kassah said the “well-coordinated” attacks, which also injured more than 300 people, targeted at least 20 communities across the region.
“Proactive measures will be taken by the government to curb ongoing attacks against innocent civilians,” said Gyang Bere, a spokesperson for Plateau Governor Caleb Mutfwang.
Kassah did not say who was responsible for the attacks but noted that the injured were taken to hospital.
Plateau is one of several states that make up the ethnically and religiously diverse Middle Belt in Nigeria, where climate change and expanding agriculture has strained communities and increased tensions between Muslim herders and Christian farmers.
Hundreds of people have been killed in cases of intercommunal violence in recent years.
After the weekend attacks, the rights group Amnesty International said authorities in the West African nation “have been failing to end frequent deadly attacks on rural communities of Plateau state”.
Conflict has continued to roil the country’s northern and central regions, where armed groups are active and government forces have been accused of committing abuses.
This month, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu ordered an investigation after a military drone strike killed 85 civilians gathered for a religious celebration.
Tinubu lamented what he called the “bombing mishap”.
Kaduna Governor Uba Sani said at the time that the civilians were mistakenly killed by a drone targeting “terrorists and bandits”.
The Nigerien military government has disengaged from multiple foreign partners since the coup in July.
Niger has suspended all cooperation with the International Organisation of Francophone nations (OIF), its military leaders said, as it progressively severs ties with former colonial ruler France.
The 88-member body “has always been used by France as an instrument to defend French interests”, a spokesperson for Niger’s military government said on national television late on Sunday.
The military seized power in a coup in July which was strongly condemned by France and other Western allies. It soon kicked out French troops which had been helping to fight a decade-old armed rebellion in the West African country.
The OIF had already suspended most cooperation with Niger last week because of the coup but said it would maintain those programmes “directly benefiting civilian populations, and those contributing to the restoration of democracy”.
The organisation’s stated mission is to promote the French language, support peace and democracy, and encourage education and development in Francophone countries around the world, many of which are former French colonies.
“The government of Niger calls on the African people to decolonise their minds and promote their own national languages in accordance with the ideas of the founding fathers of Pan-Africanism,” said the government’s statement.
The government said in a separate statement on Sunday that it had not yet decided how long it would hold on to power, but that the length of the transition would be determined after an inclusive national dialogue. It did not say when the dialogue would take place.
The United States-led multinational naval force that was to protect and secure maritime traffic through the Red Sea from attacks by Yemeni Houthi rebels appears significantly weakened – even if not quite dead in the water – before it ever sailed together.
Less than a week after the announcement of Operation Prosperity Guardian (OPG), France, Italy and Spain have pulled out of the nearly fully-created force touted to include warships from more than 10 nations.
The decision to cobble together what is essentially an anti-Houthi coalition was almost forced on Washington. In early November, a US destroyer shot down several missiles fired from Yemen but the US tried to maintain a business-as-usual pose and not advertise that it was engaging the Yemeni group.
As long as the combative Houthis tried, unsuccessfully, to lob missiles at Israel, a country attacking Yemeni’s Arab and Muslim brethren, the US could maintain that the whole affair was not a serious regional escalation. But when their repeated attacks on ships headed to and from the Suez Canal threatened the security of international maritime routes, the US was forced to act.
The US Navy already has a huge number of ships in the region, so why would it need to ask friendly nations to contribute more?
One reason is that even with such a large force, the US cannot spare many ships for the task. The other is political unwillingness to be the only nation attacking Yemen as it would likely be interpreted, especially in the Middle East, as direct military action in aid of Israel.
US political and military dilemmas are largely conditioned by geography and Yemen’s control of the strategically important choke point where the Indian Ocean funnels into the Red Sea. The Bab el-Mandeb passage is only 29km (16 nautical miles) wide at its narrowest point.
Its approaches are bristling with warships: More than 35 from at least 12 nations that do not border the Red Sea are now in positions from which they could reach the strait in less than 24 hours. Nations along its African and Arabian shores have at least as many in their harbours.
Many of these ships were already in the region before 7 October. The northwestern parts of the Indian Ocean leading into the Gulf of Aden and the Bab el-Mandeb are probably the most notorious pirate-infested waters of the 21st century.
The civil war and breakdown of Somalia’s central government created maritime piracy on an unprecedented scale. Somali pirates venture out to sea in fast small boats, armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades and intercept commercial shipping heading towards and from Bab el-Mandeb in three directions: from the Far East, passing south of India; from the Gulf, sailing around the Arabian Peninsula; and north to south along African shores.
Shipping companies demanded protection and the international community, aware of the need to keep shipping lanes open and secure, provided it. Every month, 200 ships cross the Suez in each direction carrying no less than 3 million containers.
Since 1990, the Combined Task Force 150 (CTF-150) had been engaged in anti-piracy missions. More than 30 nations, mostly Western but also including Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Thailand, Singapore and Turkey, took part and usually kept at least four warships on station, rotating every three to four months.
In 2022, a new force, the CTF-153, took over. When the latest war in Gaza started, the force was comprised of US destroyers USN Carney and USN Mason, Japanese destroyer JDS Akebono and a South Korean one, ROKS Yang Man Chun.
In anticipation of the arrival of stronger assets, the US ships immediately moved into the Red Sea, and both have on several occasions intercepted Houthi missiles and drones. The US Navy hurriedly deployed two aircraft carrier task groups – which include anti-aircraft and anti-submarine cruisers and destroyers, helicopter carriers, assault ships and other offensive and defensive assets – to the wider region.
It is almost certain that the White House did not immediately have a concrete action plan for involvement in the Gaza conflict, but the decision to deploy to the region naval and air power capable of taking on all potential adversaries was militarily prudent.
Meanwhile, the White House also engaged in diplomacy. The US and Iran exchanged indirect statements, assuring each other they did not seek confrontation. Iran announced that it had not been informed of the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, and the US did everything to avoid alienating Iran. In return, Tehran nudged the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah into refraining from a full-scale offensive. The de-escalation seemed to be working.
But then the Houthis, considered to be an Iranian proxy in much the same way as Hezbollah, decided to attack in the Red Sea, demanding Israel end its war on Gaza. They launched long-range missiles at Israel and naval missiles at US Navy destroyers that had entered the Red Sea.
Both operations failed, with all missiles and drones being on several occasions intercepted and shot down. The US Navy was convinced that its two destroyers could handle the situation, possibly being reinforced in time by a couple more.
But when tankers and container ships in the Red Sea started taking hits almost daily, the escalation was undeniable. Many of the world’s biggest shipping companies shifted from going through the Suez Canal to the longer and more expensive route around Africa. Commercial carriers now introduced a $700 surcharge on each container sailing the longer route.
Counting just those laden with Asian manufactured goods heading to Europe, the additional cost is a staggering $2bn per month. That increase gets passed on to the final customers – leading to inflation. In addition, the longer travel will soon cause distribution delays, shortages and general disruption of the economy, which every nation will feel.
The markets demanded action and the US optimistically believed it could assemble a robust force of up to 20 participating nations to carry out Operation Prosperity Guardian. Within days, high hopes were drowned in refusals. The Pentagon believed that China, a country with major interests in keeping open the sea lanes that take its exports to Europe, would join in, especially as it already has a self-supported task force of one destroyer and one frigate in the western Indian Ocean.
But Beijing replied that it had no interest in joining the OPG. Refusals also came from major Arab navies straddling Red Sea shores: Saudi Arabia and Egypt. They hinted that they did not want to be seen engaging an Arab country in this situation. The US apparently showed understanding for their position, confident that it will have no problem in attracting enough ships.
Meanwhile, France, Italy and Spain have indicated they will not join a mission under US command – only if it is a European Union or NATO force. That leaves the US with the United Kingdom, Norway, the Netherlands, Greece, Canada and Australia as nations that are still, officially, on board with the OPG.
Most already have ships either in the Indian Ocean or in eastern Mediterranean and could reach the Red Sea within a few days, enabling the OPG to take charge and start escorting commercial shipping before the New Year.
The first reaction of the merchant marines came on Sunday when the Danish shipping major Maersk announced that its vessels would resume transit through the Red Sea under OPG escort. If OPG can provide safe passage, it would boost its support could influence conteiner companies like MSC and CGN, petroleum giant BP and others to return to the shortest route. But Maersk made it clear that it could return to the longer route around Africa depending on how safety conditions evolve.
Regardless of the number of participating countries, Operation Prosperity Guardian will not be just a simple act of escorting ships through the southern Red Sea. In the last few days there have been several worrying signs of a potential major escalation that could easily open another front involving major regional actors.
Referendum held earlier this month has been approved by 86 percent of voters, say the officials.
Chadians have voted in favour of a new constitution that critics say could help consolidate the power of military leader Mahamat Idriss Deby.
The referendum held earlier this month was approved by 86 percent of voters, the government commission that organised it said on Sunday.
Voter turnout was about 64 percent, it said.
Chad’s military authorities have called the vote a vital stepping-stone to elections next year – a long-promised return to democratic rule after they seized power in 2021 when former President Idriss Deby was killed on the battlefield during a conflict with rebels.
The new constitution will maintain a unitary state, which Chad has had since independence, while establishing autonomous communities with local assemblies and councils of traditional chiefdoms among other changes.
But some of its opponents had called for the creation of a federal state, saying it would help spur development in the oil-producing, yet impoverished country.
Several opposition groups called for a boycott of the vote, saying the military had too much control over the referendum process, and calling it “a farce” for the military leadership to hold on to power.
Supporters argued the new constitution does offer more independence as it allows Chadians to choose their local representatives and collect local taxes for the first time.
“These people talking about a federation simply want to divide Chadians into micro-states and fuel hatred between communities,” said Haroun Kabadi, coordinator of groups voting “Yes”.
The army had suspended the constitution after Deby’s death and dissolved the parliament.
Deby’s son, Mahamat Idriss Deby, was then installed by the military as interim president at the helm of a Transitional Military Council.
Decades of instability since Chad’s independence in 1960 have hampered development in the central African country, where nearly 40 percent of its 16 million people are dependent on humanitarian aid.
Cricket’s whirlwind year began as South Africa lit up a home Women’s T20 World Cup with a stunning run to the final, only to come up against the mighty Australians who crushed the home crowd’s hopes and walked away with a record-extending sixth title.
And 2023 ended in a similar manner: India hosted the men’s 50-over World Cup and the home favourites charted a blistering undefeated run to the final at the sport’s biggest stadium in Ahmedabad but were handed a shock six-wicket loss by five-time champions Australia.
Between the two tournaments, plenty of news, action and big results shook the cricket world. Al Jazeera looks at the 10 biggest moments in the sport in 2023:
1. Australia repeat a three-peat of T20 titles
The ninth women’s T20 World Cup opened with Sri Lanka’s thrilling win over hosts South Africa but the Proteas soon bounced back and reached the final after a win over mighty England.
The Australian juggernaut, led by Meg Lanning – powered by Beth Mooney’s 53-ball 74 and their experienced bowling unit’s controlled performance – beat the hosts by 19 runs in a closely-fought final in Cape Town.
Australia won their sixth ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa [Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters]
2. Women’s Premier League takes off in India
On March 4, India launched its women’s version of a lucrative T20 franchise league amid fanfare. Top players from across the world were pitted against each other in five teams a week after the T20 World Cup.
More than $580m was spent on acquiring the five franchises and broadcasting rights were sold for $117m over a five-year period.
India and Mumbai captain Harmanpreet Kaur lifted the inaugural trophy after her side beat Lanning’s Delhi by seven wickets in the final. The league has been touted as a game-changer in women’s cricket, much like its men’s version, the Indian Premier League.
3. South African legend Shabnim Ismail retires
The fastest woman in cricket called time on her 16-year international career, which began as an amateur player in 2007. Ismail went on to play 241 international matches for South Africa and is their all-time leading wicket-taker in international matches with 317 scalps to her name.
Her 191 one-day international (ODI) wickets are second only to India’s Jhulan Goswami, while her participation in all eight T20 World Cups and four 50-over World Cups is a testament to her legendary status in the game.
Ismail cited a desire to “spend more time with my family, particularly my siblings and parents as they get older” as the deciding factor but said she will continue to play league cricket.
SHABNIM ISMAIL RETIRES 🚨
Legendary fast bowler Shabnim Ismail has announced her retirement from all forms of international cricket for the Proteas Women with immediate effect to focus on her family 🏏
After months-long deliberations and discussions, India refused to play its 2023 Asia Cup matches in host nation Pakistan and more than half of the fixtures were moved to Sri Lanka.
The hotly-anticipated India-Pakistan group A match was washed out by heavy rain in Kandy, prompting fears of a similar scenario in their Super Four clash. With more rain forecast in the capital Colombo, tournament organisers added a reserve day for the marquee fixture, prompting criticism from fans who termed it a financially-motivated decision given the interest in the match. The reserve day did come into play and India walked away with a huge 228-run win. They lifted the trophy a few days later with a 10-wicket win over Sri Lanka.
India vs Pakistan trumped every other match at the Asia Cup [File: Hafsa Adil/Al Jazeera]
5. World Cup opens to empty stadium
The men’s 50-over ICC Cricket World Cup was meant to attract millions of fans in cricket-mad India to the 10 stadiums across the country. However, a glaringly empty Narendra Modi Stadium in the tournament’s opening match at Ahmedabad left fans shocked and set the tone for all matches not involving the host nation.
While all India matches saw fans pack the venues in a sea of blue shirts, others were far from being filled, leaving fans to question ticket sales, tournament scheduling and marketing.
6. Afghanistan go from minnows to contenders
Afghanistan opened their World Cup campaign poorly, with losses at the hands of Bangladesh and India, but picked themselves up to beat England, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Netherlands to give themselves a shot at a semifinal spot.
Their top-order batters combined their skills with quiet confidence, while the Rashid Khan-led spin bowling sent their opponents reeling. Despite not being able to qualify for the last four, the team left India with their reputation changed from minnows to world beaters.
Afghanistan players applaud fans after beating Pakistan [File: Samuel Rajkumar/Reuters]
7. Cricket gets Olympic nod
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) added cricket, among five sports, to the 2028 Los Angeles Games after a request by the host city in October.
Cricket last appeared at an Olympic Games in 1900. The Los Angeles Games are likely to feature six teams – for both men and women – playing the T20 version of the game.
8. Maxwell magic lights up Mumbai
Australia were staring in the face of defeat against a rising force in the shape of Afghanistan when Glenn Maxwell walked onto the pitch at 91-7 and hobbled off it having won the match for his side.
Maxwell’s 201 runs were littered with fours and sixes hit with minimal foot movement as he struggled with cramps all over his body. Nevertheless, his big-hitting and a 202-run partnership with captain Pat Cummins took them over the line and broke Afghan hearts.
When India began their World Cup campaign, Virat Kohli was on 47 ODI centuries, two behind his idol Sachin Tendulkar’s record. As the tournament progressed and Kohli took up an anchor’s role, it became evident that breaking the record for him was only a matter of time.
Every match brought his fans to the edge of their seats but the former India captain made them wait until his birthday on the day of the semifinal against New Zealand, with Tendulkar in attendance to mount the summit.
Virat Kohli celebrates after reaching his 50th century [File: Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters]
10. Australia stun India to lift sixth title
After a stunning 10-match unbeaten run through the group stages and the semifinal, it seemed only a matter of time before India would lift their third World Cup title at home to delight the nearly 100,000 Indian fans in Ahmedabad.
But Australia had other plans in mind when they stepped onto the field at a surprisingly slower pitch at the final’s venue. From stemming the flow of runs to grabbing impossible catches, the five-time champions had India in trouble by dismissing them for 240 runs.
Despite an initial stutter, the experienced Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne took the team in green and gold home with seven overs and six wickets to spare.
The shock and agony on the faces of the Indian players and fans told the story of a scarcely believable ending to what was meant to be the crowning glory for Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and company.
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