Togo: the Gnassingbe regime clamps down on opposition

a Togolese human rights activist sheds new light on how West Africa’s oldest autocracy uses modern surveillance techniques to further strengthen its control. A 2018 investigation by Citizen Lab, a cybersecurity research group based at the University of Toronto, uncovered the use of a spyware program known as Pegasus to attack the electronic devices of Togolese dissidents. Sold by the NSO Group, an Israeli company, to aid in the fight against terrorism and crime, it also enables authoritarian, poor human right record regimes to abuse its powers and oppress activists, journalists and other civil society leaders.

Read more on The New York Times

 

Weekly Update

In Niger, under cover of Covid-19 restrictions, journalists are imprisoned for doing their job. And France is accused of turning a blind eye.
Read more on Liberation

Guinée: faut-il supprimer les forces de défense et de sécurité?

Aliou Barry discusses the current security situation in Guinea, arguing that due to their behaviour, security and defence forces need to be replaced with an entire new structure.

Read more on WATHI

The COVID-19 Pandemic and Democracy in Sub-Saharan Africa

Elena Gadjanova argues that COVID-19 will accelerate processes of divergence and heterogeneity, impacting aspects such as democratization, civil society and media environments, electoral management institutions but also intra-African integration and cooperation.

Read more on Pandemipolitics