flees

Andry Rajoelina’s announcement on Monday followed reports that he had been evacuated by a French aircraft on Sunday.

President Andry Rajoelina has fled Madagascar to protect his life amid nationwide protests, which began late last month.

Rajoelina confirmed in a live Facebook address on Monday that he had travelled to a safe location following reports and rumours that he had been flown out of the country on Sunday.

The 51-year-old did not disclose his whereabouts.

Rajoelina had been due to give a television address on Monday afternoon, but the speech was delayed after “a group of armed forces threatened to take control of the state-owned media”, Rajoelina’s office said on Facebook.

On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron expressed concern over the situation in his country’s former colony, where the United Nations says at least 22 people have been killed in clashes between protesters and security forces.

Speaking from a summit in Egypt, Macron refused to comment on whether Rajoelina had been evacuated by France.

“I will not confirm anything today,” he said. “I just wish to express our great concern.”

A military source told the Reuters news agency that Rajoelina left Madagascar on Sunday on board a French Army Casa aircraft, after being brought to the Sainte Marie Airport by helicopter.

The president’s reported departure came after army units defected on Saturday, with Rajoelina condemning the move as “an attempt to seize power illegally and by force”.

Hours after his comments, the army’s elite CAPSAT unit, which played an important role in first bringing Rajoelina to power in a 2009 coup, said it had taken control of the country’s military. Earlier, it had announced that it would “refuse orders to shoot” demonstrators.

Protests in Madagascar began on September 25 over water and power outages, but they soon gave rise to wider grievances over the cost of living, poverty and alleged government corruption, with many demanding Rajoelina’s resignation.

On Monday, hundreds of protesters – joined by soldiers and security forces – gathered outside the city hall in Antananarivo, Madagascar’s capital, waving flags and chanting slogans.

One of the protesters, 24-year-old Finaritra Manitra Andrianamelasoa, told the AFP news agency that he hopes the president “will apologise and genuinely announce his resignation”.

“Afterwards, we can consider organising elections and determine who will be suitable to take the leadership role,” Andrianamelasoa added.

The demonstrations in Madagascar follow a global trend of Gen Z protest movements, including in Nepal, which led to the removal of Nepalese President KP Sharma Oli in early September.

The population of Am Dafock, situated on the border between  Sudan and the Central African Republic (CAR), have been forced to abandon their homes and take refuge in the camp of the United Nations Multidimensional Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) following an attack early this morning of Monday, Sept. 22, by unidentified assailants from Sudan.

This attack is suspected to be a reprisal, happening three days after the killing of four Sudanese Arabs by Russian mercenaries on Sept. 16, in Am Dafock, and marks an escalation of violence on the border between Sudan and CAR. The attack happened in a village seven kilometres from Am Dafock on the  CAR side of the border. The Sudanese conflict has been spilling into the country for some time now. 

“Today’s attack was concentrated in the Bilibili zone, where clashes took place between youths and yet to be identified assailants. Several victims were recorded, but the casualty figure remains unknown due to the confusion that currently reigns in the area,” an anonymous military source told HumAngle. 

Zachir Eric Takiya, former president of the youth prefectural council in Vakaga, has confirmed the ‘attack by Sudanese aggressors’, adding that it resulted in deaths and injuries within the local population, but no exact numbers of casualties were confirmed.

“Faced with this new wave of violence, the population of Am Dafock have massively fled from their homes in search of places of refuge, with most of them going to the MINUSCA base in the town. This collective escape is proof of the terror that has seized the inhabitants who are now convinced that their security can no longer be ensured by their national army,” opined an anonymous civil society activist. 

“The behaviour of the national army, popularly known by the acronym FACA, deployed in the zone has been contributing to the confusion, visiting the local population. The behaviour of the FACA forces is proof of the fact that they are incapable of facing the attackers,” the activist added. 

Am Dafock is currently in a state of total paralysis. This situation is proof of the collapse of state authority in this strategic border region.

This new escalation in violence confirms the analysis by Zachir Eric Takiya, who had alerted the authorities to the porous situation of the CAR border with Sudan during the national dialogue in 2022. According to him, the border resembles “two passageways which enable Sudanese and Chadians to enter and go as they like in the Central African Republic territory. These foreign populations, most times, know the terrain more than the Central African Republic natives themselves.” 

“The contrast between the reality lived by the populations and the official version of events is becoming more and more difficult to decipher,” declared another anonymous civil society activist.

The Am Dafock crisis demonstrates the total failure of the security strategy based on the use of Russian mercenaries. Their initial attack against innocent herders has sparked off a cycle of reprisals which have spiralled out of control. 

The rights group Cristosal says it has evacuated staff from El Salvador amid pressure from President Nayib Bukele.

The El Salvador human rights and anti-corruption watchdog Cristosal says it has relocated its operations outside the country, as the government of President Nayib Bukele intensifies its crackdown on dissenting voices.

Cristosal said on Thursday that it has suspended work in El Salvador and relocated its staff out of the country, where the group plans to continue its work in exile.

“When it became clear that the government was prepared to persecute us criminally and that there is no possibility of defence or impartial trial, that makes it unviable to take those risks anymore,” Noah Bullock, executive director of Cristosal, told the news agency Reuters, speaking from Guatemala.

The Bukele government has stepped up its targeting of organisations and figures that scrutinise the government’s record on issues such as corruption and security, threatening rights groups and independent media with what critics say are fabricated legal challenges.

Ruth Lopez, a prominent anti-corruption and justice advocate with Cristosal, was arrested on corruption charges in May and remains in detention. Her arrest has been denounced by organisations such as Amnesty International and the United Nations.

Bukele also announced a new law in May requiring non-governmental organisations that receive support from outside the country to register with the government and pay additional taxes.

Cristosal has operated in El Salvador for 25 years and has become a target of ire for Bukele with investigations into government corruption and reports on the human toll of El Salvador’s campaign of mass arrests and suspension of key civil liberties in the name of combating gang activity.

“Under a permanent state of exception and near-total control of all institutions, El Salvador has ceased to be a state of rights,” the group said in a statement on Thursday. “Expressing an opinion or demanding basic rights today can land you in jail.”

The Bukele government declared a “state of exception” in March 2022, granting the government and security forces exceptional powers and suspending key civil liberties. The government’s push has substantially reduced the influence of powerful gangs that had previously smothered life in Salvadoran cities with exploitation and violence.

Those successes have won Bukele widespread popularity, but come at a steep cost: scores of people swept into prisons without charge, held in abysmal conditions and with no means of contesting their detention. Bukele himself has also faced accusations of coordinating behind the scenes with powerful gang leaders.

While the government has boasted that violent crime has fallen to record lows and the gangs have been smashed, it has continuously renewed the exceptional powers under the state of emergency, which dissidents say are being used to target and harass human rights advocates and critics of the government.

In April 2023, the investigative news outlet El Faro also stated that it would relocate its administrative and legal operations outside the country over fears of legal harassment and surveillance, while its reporters would continue to work in El Salvador.

Former Love Island star Patsy Field has told fans that she is now ‘scared’ to walk around her local area in London after fearing that she was being followed by a man recently

A former Love Island star has said that she is “scared” to walk around her local community after an experience just days ago whilst out at night on her own. She has expressed concern that she was being followed by someone.

Patsy Field, 30 – who appeared on the ITV2 show last year – said in a video on TikTok recently that she had been walking alone in Bromley one evening when a man seemingly started to follow her. She said that after both crossing the road a few times, she ended up screaming and running away.

The reality TV star shared her concern in a four-minute video that she uploaded to the platform three days ago. In the video, Patsy asked her followers if she was “overthinking it” or was justified to have felt “scared” for her life.

She asked: “Do you think I’m overreacting or not? Basically something happened to me yesterday that has just never happened to me before and it freaked me out and now I’m scared to like walk around in my local area.”

Patsy said that she had been out for a meal in London with her family before deciding to “walk it all off” after getting home. She suggested it was around 8pm and said she’s “never had any issues” in the area that she’s from in Bromley.

She told fans that she had been wearing a gym outfit, which she said “maybe is a bit revealing”. Patsy added in the video message on her account: “I’ve never had any issues before [though]. Always felt like quite safe where I’m from.”

The former islander said she had headphones on which are “quite noise cancelling”. She added: “Walking for about 10 minutes up the road and I just get the urge to just turn around. […] There’s a man walking like one or two steps behind me.”

She said that he “startled” her and she initially felt “panic,” but Patsy told fans that she encouraged herself not to overthink the situation. She added: “He was very close and he was like making eye contact with me when I turned around.”

Patsy said that she then decided to cross the road. She said that, after taking a couple of steps on the other side of the road, she decided to look back. “Turn around, he’s crossed the road. He’s on the other side of the road as well,” she said.

She questioned if it was a “weird coincidence” and said that she had noticed some cars lined-up on that side of the road, suggesting that she wondered if he was going to one of them. She said that she decided to cross the road again though.

Patsy said that she thought at the time: “This is gonna be really awkward but now I’m gonna cross the road back over again just to get away from him for sure and make sure I know that he’s definitely not following me.”

She continued: “Cross the road, back over to the original side that I was on, I look over across the road and he’s crossing back to the original side that we were both on.” She added: “Now we’re both back on the other side of the road so I just thought ‘oh my God, what do I do?'”

The content creator appeared to say that she then “stopped dead in [her] tracks”. Patsy said that she decided to stand still and suggested to viewers: “If he’s got somewhere to be, he’s gonna carry on walking isn’t he?”

She then appeared to tell fans that he carried on walking towards a zebra crossing at the end of the road. She said that he crossed the zebra crossing, adding: “Just as he’s about to go out of sight, like away, he stops, he turns back around and he just starts walking back towards me.”

“So he’s on the other side of the road but he’s walking towards me and looking at me so I’m still stood where I stopped,” she said. Patsy added: “As he gets closer to me, he just starts crossing the road back towards me and then I thought ‘run’. I literally started screaming.”

Patsy said that she then called her mother and told her that someone was “following” her. She added: “So I run as fast as I can out of the way and he doesn’t follow me, as far as I’m aware.” She appeared to say: “I didn’t look back I just kept f***ing running.”

She said that her mum came and got her. Patsy said that what happened felt like “too much of a coincidence, adding: “Now I’m scared to walk in my own area which is a shame cause I’ve never had an issue before.” Warning others, she said shortly before ending the video message: “Stay safe girls.”

Patsy’s post has more than 40,000 likes on the platform. Fans shared supportive messages in the comments section, with the reality TV star receiving well wishes and advice from some of her followers on TikTok after posting the video.

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