Africa

‘Kush’ is lethal and affects almost every part of the user’s body, a Sierra Leonean psychiatrist told RT ©  Getty Images / Juanmonino Sierra Leonean authorities have launched an operation titled ‘Kush Must Go’ to fight substance abuse among the country’s youth. The move comes in response to protests in the capital Freetown earlier this week over rampant drug use and addiction issues. Mental health practitioners and advocates have raised concerns about the negative impact of Kush, a cheap new drug, on the impoverished West African nation’s young people. Mabinty Kargbo, the mother of a Kush user, told RT that the hallucinogenic substance has “destroyed” Sierra Leoneans, including her family. “I’m in distress because of Kush. My marital home is shattered because ...

Washington can’t sever relations with the post-coup government lest it lose the basis for its military presence in the African country Scott Ritter is a former US Marine Corps intelligence officer and author of 'Disarmament in the Time of Perestroika: Arms Control and the End of the Soviet Union.' He served in the Soviet Union as an inspector implementing the INF Treaty, in General Schwarzkopf’s staff during the Gulf War, and from 1991-1998 as a UN weapons inspector.  @RealScottRitter@ScottRitter Victoria Nuland ©  Sarahbeth Maney - Pool / Getty Images Last week, Acting Deputy Secretary of State for the United States Victoria Nuland made her third visit to Niger in the past two years. This time, Nuland was in the African country to resp...

The West African authority says it has directed defense chiefs to prepare troops while the bloc seeks diplomatic solutions Mohamed Toumba, one of the leading figures of the National Council for the Protection of the Fatherland, attends the demonstration of coup supporters and greets them at a stadium in the capital city of Niger, Niamey on August 6, 2023. ©  Balima Boureima/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has ordered the mobilization of a standby force for possible use in Niger, where the military seized power more than two weeks ago. Leaders of the regional bloc reached the resolution at a summit in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja on Thursday, saying they remain committed to “the restoration of constitutional ord...

Critics say former South African leader Jacob Zuma’s release is an “elaborate scheme” that helps him avoid accountability South African President Jacob Zuma attends a service at Bryanston Methodist Church during a national day of prayer, on December 8, 2013 in Johannesburg, South Africa © Getty Images / Christopher Furlong/Getty Images Jacob Zuma, the 81-year-old former president of South Africa, has avoided having to spend more time in prison, as part of a government-approved ‘special remission’ pardon scheme that has granted release to thousands of non-violent inmates and aimed to ease overcrowding concerns in its jails. “This decision is aimed at alleviating the overcrowding in the prison services across the country,” South Africa’s justice minister Ron...