Philippines
Voting has begun in the southern Philippines’ Muslim-majority Bangsamoro region in a historic poll seen as a test of long-lasting peace after years of secessionist conflict. The parliamentary election is the culmination of a 2014 peace deal that ended a war between Manila and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which fought a decades-long campaign for an independent Muslim state in the mostly Catholic nation. A subsequent law granted more autonomy and economic powers to the region, and a transitional parliament was appointed in 2019. More than 120,000 people are estimated to have been killed in the conflict.
More from Reuters here.
Niger
Niger’s ruling junta has appointed a new military chief two weeks after a deadly mutiny shook a government already pressed by an escalating insurgency. In a decree read on state television, junta leader Gen. Abdourahamane Tchiani named Brig. Gen. Mamane Sani Kiaou, who previously led the army, chief of staff of the armed forces. Presidential guard troops struggled to put the 24-hour mutiny down until Russia’s Africa Corps intervened with air and ground support. The mutineers were angered by growing violence in the war against the rebel groups and conditions in the army. Tchiani justified the 2023 coup that brought him to power by criticizing the then civilian government’s failure to defeat the insurgents, but the situation has deteriorated since the junta took over.
More from AP here.
Libya
Libyan authorities have seized around 100,000 ecstasy pills shipped from Europe, which were imprinted with the face of former leader Muammar Gaddafi, according to a government security agency in the capital Tripoli. Photographs were released showing sacks of brown pills fashioned into the shape of the late ruler’s head and shoulders, with his distinctive face and robes pressed into the surface. Libya, which has been in chaos since Gaddafi was toppled in 2011 and currently has two rival administrations, is a major transit point for synthetic drugs and other narcotics that are smuggled in for both local consumption and onward shipment to North African countries and the wider continent.
More from The Libya Observer here.