Gunmen attacked two ships off the coast of Nigeria's oil-rich southern delta Aug. 4, killing two naval troops protecting the vessels and seizing four foreign workers before fleeing.  Six naval troops were aboard the vessel, which belongs to the Sea Truck oil services company. The Nigerian navy has dispatched boats and a helicopter to the area. Sporadic attacks on oil infrastructure in the Niger Delta have continued despite a 2009 amnesty for militant groups. (AP, Radio Netherlands, Aug. 4)

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Aug. 3 urged Sudan to initiate an investigation into allegations of excessive force by government security forces against protesters in Darfur four days earlier resulting in eight deaths and more than 50 injuries. The OHCHR urged the government to "promptly launch an independent and credible investigation into the violence and the apparent excessive use of force by security forces" and noted that international standards must be respected in order to provide civilians the freedom of speech and assembly. During the July 31 protest more than 1,000 people, mostly students, blocked roads in market area of Nyala, the biggest town in Darfur, to express their opposition against fuel price increases. The OHCHR stated that it received eye witness reports that security forces used tear gas as well as live bullets against protesters.

Gunmen killed 17 people and wounded dozens in gun and grenade attacks on two churches in the Kenyan town of Garissa near the border with Somalia on July 1. Wearing balaclavas, the attackers killed two police posted outside churches following previous attacks before bursting inside to target worshippers as they held prayer services. Witnesses said bodies lay scattered on the floor inside the churches—one Roman Catholic, the other of the nondenominational Africa Inland Church. At least 40 were rushed to the hospital, several in a critical condition, the Kenyan Red Cross said. Three children are reported to be among the dead. Later, the Twitter site Al-Kataib, maintained by supporters of Somalia's Shabaab rebel movement, boasted of a "successful operation in Garissa." (NAU, July 1)

In comments June 25 before the Pentagon's Africa Center for Strategic Studies, Gen. Carter Ham of US Africa Command warned of growing coordination between three major terrorist networks across the African continent: al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), al-Shabaab in Somalia, and Boko Haram in Nigeria. "Each of these organizations is, by itself, a dangerous and worrisome threat," Ham said. "But what really concerns me is that the three organizations are seeking to coordinate and synchronize their efforts."

After more than a week of student anti-austerity demonstrations in Sudan, President Omar al-Bashir finally responded to the movement on June 24, telling a gathering of students affiliated to his ruling National Congress Party (NCP) in Khartoum that the protesters are "bubbles and aliens" who will be "dealt with." He urged students not to listen to the "conspirators, traitors and collaborators"—words usually used to describe armed rebels in Darfur and South Kordofan. He also implied the protesters are tools of the US: "We are not afraid of being overthrown by anybody. Not America or anyone else because it is Allah who gives the rule." In comments the next day, Finance Minister Ali Mahmoud said the government had no choice but to cut spending in response to a budget gap. "If international oil prices go up, we'll increase fuel prices," he told reporters in Khartoum. "We will not retreat from the decision to lift the subsidies."

The Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) on April 26 convicted Liberia's former president Charles Taylor on all 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during Sierra Leone's decade-long civil war. Trial Chamber II found unanimously that Taylor aided and abetted Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) forces. Taylor is the first head of state to be tried and convicted by an international tribunal. The verdict was welcomed by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 16, and sentencing will take place May 30. The court may not impose the death penalty or a life sentence. Both the prosecution and the defense will have the opportunity to appeal within 14 days of the sentence.

Released on the eve of a World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty, a new report reveals widespread rights violations and environmental destruction from a "land grab" initially funded by the World Bank in Uganda. The Friends of the Earth Uganda report provides first-hand accounts from communities forced to give up their livelihoods, food supply and access to water.

South Sudanese forces retreated from the oil-producing enclave of Heglig on April 20, as northern forces moved in. Khartoum portrayed it as a military victory, while South Sudan said it has ordered its forces out. "The Republic of South Sudan announces that SPLA troops have been ordered to withdraw from Panthou [Heglig]," said South Sudan's information minister, Barnaba Marial Benjamin. "An orderly withdrawal will commence immediately, and shall be completed within three days." In the wake of the fighting, Sudanese President Omar Bashir announced that he will not allow the South to export any oil through the cross-border pipeline. "We don’t want fees from the oil of South Sudan and we will not open the pipeline," Bashir told thousands of supporters at a Khartoum rally. "There is no oil from South Sudan that will pass through our pure land, so that not one dollar goes to these criminals." Referring to the South Sudanese as "insects," he accused them of backing rebel movements in the north's territory: "We tell the president of insects Salva Kiir, your forces left through force and did not withdraw from Heglig and our men entered it by force and your aggression is continuing in Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan..." (Sudan Tribune, April 21)