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Anti-LGBTQ+ laws are on the rise across west Africa, campaigners warn

A growing number of west African countries are implementing or strengthening anti-LGBTQ+ laws, amid local political pressures and a global pushback against LGBTQ+ rights. In March, Senegal doubled the maximum prison sentence for gay sex to 10 years and criminalised the “promotion” of homosexuality. Niger criminalised “sexual relations with a person of the same sex” in February, the first time same-sex intimacy had been outlawed in the country. Mali and Burkina Faso, which neighbours Niger, also criminalised same-sex relations for the first time in the last two years. All three are ruled by military juntas. In June, Ghana, which already outlaws gay sex, passed a law criminalising LGBTQ+ “activities”. The bill, which hasn’t been signed into law by the president, is the latest iteration of a bill that was first introduced in 2021. “What I see in all of them is a political opportunism,” said Anthony Oluoch of Pan Africa ILGA, a continental LGBT+ rights campaign group. In some countries, he said, the new or harsher laws had been backed by religious groups and campaigns for “family values”, while in Burkina Faso, whose population is predominantly Muslim, the law was framed as boosting its sovereignty in opposition to the west. “Underneath that all, there’s a lot of transnational reinforcement,” Oluoch added. LGBTQ+ people “are the easiest scapegoats to maintain their power”, said an activist in Burkina Faso, who could not be named for her security. The impact on the community, even before the law was implemented, has been devastating, activists said. Thirteen transgender women were detained without trial from June to November last year, a HIV worker said, with the women reporting they had been beaten by a military unit that imprisoned them. After the law was passed, there have been at least two sets of convictions. Police are entrapping LGBTQ+ people on social media and demanding they denounce other community members, said the HIV worker, who fled the country in May after he was named by someone who had been arrested. Despite military president Ibrahim Traoré’s anti-western rhetoric, Burkina Faso has also caught the eye of anti-LGBTQ+ campaigners that include conservative, western Christian groups. The African Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Family Values and Sovereignty, a forum that many argue has influenced anti-LGBTQ+ laws on the continent, will be held in Burkina Faso and then Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) next year, it was announced this year. The first three conferences were held annually in Uganda, in east Africa, beginning in 2023. Uganda imposed the death penalty for some same-sex sexual acts that year. According to US-based international reproductive rights organisation Ipas, the annual gatherings are supported by Family Watch International (FWI), an Arizona-based Christian campaign group that opposes abortion and comprehensive sex education (CSE). Also in attendance has been Dutch-founded lobby group Christian Council International, which promotes similar views. At this year’s conference, hosted by Ghana’s parliament in June, the draft African Charter on Family Sovereignty and Values treaty was drawn up. It condemns abortion and CSE, states that gender is either male or female, and asserts that parental rights supersede children’s. A draft copy was published on FWI’s website. The anti-LGBTQ+ bill passed by Ghana’s parliament is a “very effective political tool”, supported by powerful religious organisations in the country, said Amanda Odoi, a researcher at the University of Cape Coast. Nonetheless, Odoi added: “These international actors were very key in empowering, supporting, funding, financing and giving voice to the anti-LGBT campaign.” She noted the Ghana bill’s similarity to Uganda’s law, as well as its “alphabet soup” – the bill uses the acronym “LGBTTQAP+” – that includes words like “questioning” not commonly used in Ghana. Bringing this year’s African parliamentary conference to Ghana was a deliberate decision due to the country’s influence on the continent, said Ebenezer Peegah, executive director of Rightify Ghana, an NGO that supports LGBTQ+ people. “Ghana has a lot of credentials that Uganda does not have … some clout that other countries in Africa do not have,” said Peegah, listing Ghana’s stable democracy, free and fair elections and relative press freedom. Across west Africa, LGBTQ+ people are suffering the consequences of the new and harsher laws. In Senegal, the law is also hindering HIV prevention for men who have sex with men and transgender women, who have higher rates of HIV prevalence, as well as lawyers representing LGBTQ+ people, said Marame Kane, a French-Senegalese activist based in Paris. About 100 Senegalese people fled to the Gambia this year, although most had to return to Senegal as they had no money, according to a Gambian HIV worker. Same-sex relations are already punishable with up to life in prison in the Gambia, while transgender women are criminalised by a cross-dressing ban. However, the HIV worker worried that the government could strengthen the laws, making HIV services even harder to provide. The crackdown in Senegal had also increased homophobia in the Gambia, he said, adding, “Gambia and Senegal share the same culture, the same religion, literally everything.”

Ukraine war briefing: Strikes on three Russian oil refineries and sanctioned ship

Ukrainian drones struck three oil refineries in the Russian republic of Bashkortostan, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday. The refineries “process millions of tonnes of oil each year” and are located nearly 1,600km (994 miles) from Ukraine, Ukraine’s president said. The Russian online news outlet Astra reported Saturday that a Ukrainian drone set on fire an oil refinery in Ufa, the capital of Bashkortostan. A sanctioned Russian container ship, the Yanina, sank in the Black Sea after being hit by Ukrainian drones, Zelenskyy said, listing the ship as among “facilities that sustain the war effort”. Russia’s state nuclear energy company, Rosatom, whose shipping subsidiary FESCO operates the vessel, claimed the ship was carrying “civilian goods” such as frozen food and construction materials. The ⁠International Atomic Energy ⁠Agency (IAEA) ⁠said on Saturday that Ukraine’s ⁠Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant ⁠lost off-site ‌power ‌for nearly two hours – the 23rd ‌time it has happened since the full-scale Russian invasion. The plant is illegally occupied by Russia and not operating, but needs power supplied from outside to power cooling systems that maintain the safety of its nuclear materials. Ukraine’s campaign to cut off illegally occupied Crimea from Russia has led to people having to queue in the streets for hot meals due to power cuts, Reuters reports. It caught up with residents waiting in the town of Massandra for food being cooked in huge pots. Standing beside boiling vats of buckwheat, later to be added to plates of reheated tinned beef, Massandra town administration head Oksana Madyud said her workers were serving roughly 200 people per day, “as under the current circumstances not everyone has the means to cook hot food on electric hobs”. Ukraine says it is “bringing the war back home to ‌Russia” by striking deep inside the country, as well as hitting territory the invader controls and has sought to populate with Russian immigrants. One local woman, Marina, said a bad leg made the climb down from her 10th-floor apartment difficult, but the lack of electricity had sent her hunting for a gas cooker and ⁠some cylinders. Another older resident, Alexandra, said she had been lured down by the smell of the ‌lunch after going without electricity for 10 days. “They turned it back on today, at 4 o’clock” in the afternoon, but she wasn’t sure the lights would still be on when she returned home, she added. Lithuania’s foreign minister said on Saturday that its embassy in Kyiv was damaged when Russian missiles struck nearby. The Lithuanian foreign ministry said there were no injuries but embassy windows broke, solar collectors were damaged and the yard was scattered with debris. The minister, Kestutis Budrys, said: “Today we will summon the Russian embassy representative to protest. We understand this won’t stop this madness and ⁠aggression against Ukraine. What might stop it is continued support to Ukraine, raising its resilience and piling ‌pressure on Russia through sanctions so it finally sits at the negotiation table.” Recovery efforts continued in Kyiv after a Russian missile and drone barrage killed at least nine people and wounded 33 civilians over Friday night and into Saturday. A five-story residential building in the city’s Solomianskyi district was damaged and a fire broke out. Rescue workers evacuated 35 people from the upper floors of the building and two people died, with eight reported injured, including two children, according to Ukraine’s state emergency service. In the Darnytskyi district of Kyiv, seven people were killed and another 14 injured after the attack caused fires and damage to houses, vehicles, an administrative and non-residential building, the emergency services said. Elsewhere, emergency workers extinguished a fire in a non-residential building in the capital’s Shevchenkivskyi district. There was no additional information about earlier reports by the district mayor that people were trapped in another residential building. A Russian airstrike killed one person and wounded five more in the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine, local officials said on Saturday. Zelenskyy posted a further plea for Patriot missiles. “Every package of ballistic missile interceptors saves the lives of our people. And every night without them results in more casualties.” Due to the air defence shortages, Ukraine was only able to shoot down one out of the 27 ballistic missiles in Friday night’s barrage, Zelenskyy said.

Tourist plane crashes during flight over Peru’s Nazca Lines, killing 13

Police in Peru report that 13 people, among them foreign tourists, have been killed in a plane crash in southern Peru, near the Nazca Lines. Local authorities in Nazca confirmed that 11 tourists and two pilots died when the Cessna Grand Caravan crashed in Pueblo Viejo, approximately 4 miles (6km) from the city of Nazca and roughly 12km from the Nazca Lines site. The passengers were identified as seven Italians, two Germans – believed to be a couple – and two Spanish people. The pilot and copilot were named as Americo Salazar Cuellar and Irenka Del Carpio respectively. The plane had departed the nearby city of Pisco at about 1pm local time (7pm BST) to fly over the Nazca Lines, but minutes later lost contact with the control tower and crashed at 1.20pm, police reported. The cause of the crash is as yet unknown, and the local authorities have launched an investigation. “We have information that 11 passengers and two crew members have died,” Police Major Jorge Andrade told reporters at the crash site. “Given the severity of the accident, there are no survivors. We have recovered four bodies so far,” Andrade added. The Guardian has seen video footage which showed firefighters and police working amid the smouldering wreckage of the plane in the desert. Images appeared to show bodies on the sand. This deadly plane crash is far from the first at the Unesco world heritage site, which attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists every year. Several operators compete to offer overflights of the iconic lines which date to AD200-700, amid serious concerns about the safety and maintenance of the aircraft. In 2022, a small plane crash killed seven people, including two Chileans and three Dutch nationals. In October 2010, four British tourists and two Peruvian crew members were killed when a small plane operated by AirNasca crashed after flying over the lines. Earlier in the same year, three Chileans and four Peruvians died when a Cessna 206 crashed. In April 2008, five French tourists were killed in another crash, but the pilot survived. “The investigation of the accident and the oversight of aviation operations are the responsibility of the competent authorities, who will determine the causes and assign liability in accordance with the law,” the municipality of Nazca said in a statement on Saturday. Peru’s tourism ministry expressed “deep sorrow over the tragic deaths of tourists and crew members” in a statement. The mysterious etchings in the desert, which include vast hummingbird, monkey and whale figures, are only fully visible from the air.

EU to hold urgent meeting of interior ministers on Tuesday over Ceuta crisis

The EU is to hold an urgent meeting of interior ministers on Tuesday amid continued divisions in the bloc over the arrival of more than 50,000 migrants in the Spanish territory of Ceuta in north Africa. The decision was taken by officials representing EU member states and Frontex border agency experts at what was described as a “sobering” meeting on Saturday. Spain confirmed at least 67 people had died in the attempted crossing. Some drowned, while others were crushed as they tried to cross a breakwater barrier. The decision to call a summit of ministers was unanimous as EU leaders seek to heal divisions in the bloc and restore a unified approach to migration. Spain said migrant crossings into Ceuta had stopped overnight, as police began installing a 500-metre (1,640ft) floating barrier off its border ‌with Morocco. Andy Burnham, the British prime minister, said on Saturday: “I have been in touch with the Spanish prime minister and [we are] providing what help we can.” Italy and Denmark, with some support from Poland and Sweden, used the meeting on Saturday to criticise Spain for what had happened. In a furious letter on Saturday, Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sánchez hit out against “fake news” and “disinformation”, pointing out that “virtually all” migrants had been returned to Morocco after the army intervened on Friday, “preventing any unauthorised onward movement towards continental Europe”. It is understood suspected Russian attempts to spread disinformation to sow dissent within the EU was also discussed at the meeting on Saturday. There is frustration in Spain that previous incidents of this scale, such as mass arrival of migrants on the border of Belarus and Poland or Russia and Finland, were labelled as “hybrid attacks” , and met with solidarity from the rest of the EU. Although more than 48,000 people had voluntarily returned to Morocco by 6pm on Friday, the influx triggered a political crisis for the Madrid government and led some fellow EU countries to call for Spain to be suspended from the Schengen free-movement zone. Juan Jesús Vivas, the president of Ceuta, said that while many people had returned to Morocco, not all those who had crossed into the city had left. “We’re not back to normal because there are several thousand people who need to be returned, and there is still an atmosphere marked by unease and concern,” he said. He also called for “all the security measures deployed” in Ceuta to remain in place to guarantee the safety of the population. Sánchez asked for the meeting after what appeared to be a breakdown of EU unity on external border policy, with Italy attacking Spain. Italy announced on Friday evening that it would suspend its Schengen arrangements with Spain for a month, even though Ceuta – and Spain’s other north African territory, Melilla – are subject to special Schengen rules that prevent onward movement within the zone. Italy’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, blamed the situation in Ceuta on the Sánchez government’s decision to offer a now-closed scheme to regularise the status of more than 1 million undocumented migrants and asylum seekers. He said the programme had incentivised human trafficking and was “profoundly wrong”. Sánchez was forthright in a letter sent to the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, the European Council president, António Costa, and Micheál Martin, the prime minister of Ireland, which holds the EU presidency. Sánchez said that while most EU countries had expressed support and solidarity over events in Ceuta, others had chosen to attack Spain. “Such an attitude – driven by prejudice, fake news, ignorance or political interest – is … contrary to European law, humanitarian law and the principles of solidarity that bind us together,” he said. In a pointed rebuke to Italy, he noted that Spain was “according to Frontex, one of the least porous external borders of the European Union, with a number of irregular entries that is half that recorded, for example, in Italy in recent years (2021–26)”. Senior EU officials met on Saturday in a “political crisis response team” convened by Ireland’s presidency. Ireland’s prime minister, Micheál Martin, said on Saturday that, as the holders of the EU presidency, “Ireland will convene a meeting on Tuesday of the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council, chaired by Jim O’Callaghan [justice minister], to discuss developments in Ceuta. “We remain in close contact with all member states and the institutions and continue to monitor the situation,” he said in a social media post. O’Callaghan, who is leading the meetings on behalf of the EU, said he had been in touch with Spain’s interior minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, to express his solidarity and support. In remarks that appeared to respond to Sánchez’s criticisms, von der Leyen said she welcomed his suggestion of a video conference “to take stock of what has happened”, adding: “Fighting illegal migration requires solidarity and a united European response.” France’s interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, said his country would not be seeking Spain’s suspension from Schengen rules. “It’s absolutely not on the table,” he said on Saturday. “We have great cooperation with Spain.” Many of the remaining people who crossed into Ceuta returned to Morocco on Saturday morning amid a reinforced Spanish police and military presence. “We hope to go to Europe to work and earn a living – that’s it,” Souleil Boyan, a 19-year-old from Senegal, told Agence France-Presse outside a migrant centre in Ceuta where dozens of other people from sub-Saharan Africa were waiting for officials. “We all know that in Africa there isn’t much opportunity,” he added. The Spanish government said in a statement on Saturday that the situation in Ceuta remained calm and quiet. It said containment barriers were being installed at the Tarajal beach breakwater, including a 500-metre-long inflatable barrier and a line of anchored buoys. This week’s mass crossing dwarfs the last similar event in May 2021, when Morocco loosened its border controls, allowing about 10,000 people to enter the territory over two days. That crossing came amid heightened tensions between Madrid and Rabat over Spain’s decision to allow the leader of the Western Sahara independence movement, the Polisario Front, to be treated for Covid-19 in Spain. Morocco and the Polisario Front both lay claim to Western Sahara, which was under Spanish rule until 1975, when colonial authorities handed the territory to Morocco and Mauritania. That diplomatic crisis ended in 2022 when Madrid reversed its longstanding policy of neutrality and backed Morocco’s plan for Western Sahara, a move that caused a rift between Spain and Algeria, which had supported the Polisario group. Sánchez visited Algiers on 20 July – the first visit by a Spanish head of government in four years – marking a thaw in relations with Algeria. The Spanish government has attributed the latest influx to “human-trafficking mafias” that have taken advantage of a decision by Spain’s supreme court, which recently ruled that those intercepted at sea while trying to enter Ceuta or Melilla could not be summarily returned under special rules. But some migration experts have expressed doubts about that explanation. Mauricio Valiente, the director general of the Spanish Refugee Aid Commission, said the route into Ceuta was very different from the Atlantic route from Africa to the Canary Islands, which is often operated by people smugglers. “Unlike what happens in the Canary Islands, these aren’t people who have to get into a small boat,” he told elDiario.es. “This is a matter of being just metres from a land border, jumping into the sea and trying to get around a breakwater, which makes it much easier to do, even with all the risks.” Valiente said there had been a steady increase in arrivals to Ceuta this year, even before the supreme court ruling. “The causes are complex, and there are surely many reasons,” he said. “But to simplify it by referencing the court ruling or organised crime – to say there’s a direct cause-and-effect relationship – is completely unfounded.” Reform UK’s home affairs spokesperson, Zia Yusuf, visited Ceuta on Saturday and said he had spoken to migrants there. “I have spoken to a number of them who made it quite clear they intend to make it to Britain,” he said.

EU offered Spain support ‘from first moment’ of Ceuta crisis, says von der Leyen, after Sánchez hits out – Europe live

As EU officials meet to discuss a joint response to irregular arrivals in Ceuta, it is worth remembering that the Spanish prime minister’s ire appears to be directed at Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, who has reacted by closing the Schengen border with Spain despite repeated statements that virtually all the arrivals have returned. On Friday evening, Pedro Sánchez underlined Spain’s efforts at stemming migration by publishing a league table, based on Frontex figures, of irregular arrivals in the EU. In a post on X, he wrote: Solidarity and empathy are optional. Respect for European treaties and data is not. Number of irregular entries between 2021 and 2026 according to Frontex: Via Italy: 478,600 Via the Western Balkans: 340,600 Via Greece: 259,800 Via Spain: 234,760 Via the eastern border: 48,000 This is not the time to divide. It is the time to continue building a strong and united EU. In the past, the EU has called events like Ceuta a “hybrid attack” with “instrumentalisation” of migration for political purposes, as has occurred on the border between Belarus and Poland and Russia and Finland.

Dozens injured as earthquake hits near Naples in seismic swarm

At least 26 people have been injured after a 4.7-magnitude earthquake rocked a region near Naples, in southern Italy. The quake, which occurred at 7.46pm on Friday night, caused power outages, disrupted public transport and damaged a pier in Campi Flegrei, the site of Europe’s largest volcanic crater. It is the strongest tremor to hit the region in the past 40 years and caused part of a cliff and several unoccupied buildings to collapse. At least five of those injured were taken to hospital and about 300 people were evacuated from their homes in the city of Pozzuoli, near the epicentre of the quake, after it triggered landslides. Many residents spent the night on the streets, afraid their buildings would be damaged or collapse. One person was only “alive by a miracle”, a rescuer told Reuters, as Italy’s civil protection minister, Nello Musumeci, urged caution and warned that the volcanic activity was not yet over. The quake – which had a depth of 3km and was felt across Naples and the island of Ischia, and as far away as the Sorrento peninsula – was part of an ongoing seismic swarm, Italy’s national institute of geophysics and volcanology said. After it struck, seismographs registered about 60 more tremors, with one 3.1-magnitude quake at 5.47am being felt by residents of Bacoli and Pozzuoli as well as Naples. “There is a risk that the mountain could continue to collapse, so it is dangerous,” the rescuer said. “What makes us angry is that this situation was foreseeable, because there had already been problems with the mountain for a year and a half … The municipality knew about the situation and did nothing – perhaps if they had acted sooner, this could have been avoided.” The heaviest damage was reported in Pozzuoli, where a building partly collapsed and large chunks of rubble crushed parked cars but did not cause any injuries. Nine buildings have been deemed unsafe as buildings inspections continue. “We were afraid,” one resident said. “We all ran out of our homes because it was impossible to stay inside. It lasted a long time and was very powerful, and we no longer know what we are supposed to do. We have been left here in the middle of the street, and no one has come to check on us or tell us what to do. We are here with very young children.” Firefighters said they received reports of lifts being stuck and of a high-voltage pylon supplying electricity to the Agnano area of Naples having partly collapsed, causing disruption for 100,000 households. The port authority said the Pozzuoli pier was unusable, and ferry and hydrofoil services to the islands had been suspended. High-speed train passengers were experiencing delays of up to six hours, with some being rerouted.

Top mountaineer Nirmal Purja confirmed dead after 11 hit by avalanche in Pakistan

A world-renowned Nepali mountaineer and former UK Special Forces member has died after being among 11 climbers caught in a deadly avalanche on Pakistan’s Broad Peak. Nirmal Purja was killed leading an expedition of 10 other people on the world’s 12th-highest mountain when an avalanche struck at around noon on Thursday. Elite Exped, the company Purja co-founded, said in a statement: “Today it is with profound sadness and immense heartbreak that we confirm that Nirmal ‘Nimsdai’ Purja tragically lost his life following the avalanche on Broad Peak.” “We have also received confirmation that other members of the expedition sadly did not survive,” it said, without further detail. Purja made history in 2019 after climbing all 14 of the world’s peaks over 8,000 metres in just over six months. He later led the first team to summit K2, the world’s second-highest mountain, in winter. “Records are made to be broken,” the former Gurkha and UKSF member told the Guardian in 2019. “Someone one day will come along and be stronger. People are only limited by their imagination. If you don’t dream, then you won’t do it. Human beings are capable of doing amazing things.” The expedition included five Nepali climbers, as well as US, Pakistani, Omani and Chinese nationals. Another foreign climber was also part of the group, said Karrar Haidri, the vice-president of the Alpine Club of Pakistan. Elite Exped also confirmed the deaths of other expedition members, including his climbing partners and guides, Pur Bahadur Gurung (Yukta), a Nepali citizen, and Nima Sherpa. “Our deepest thoughts, prayers and heartfelt condolences are with their families, friends and loved ones,” the Elite Exped statement said. “No words can erase the pain of this unimaginable loss, and we ask that everyone respects their privacy as they grieve.” On Friday, rescuers had said that four bodies had been found and efforts were under way to retrieve them despite the harsh weather. Among the victims were Nadhira Alharthy, the first Omani to climb Everest, and a US climber, Mallory Geis. Trackers carried by the climbers showed a rapid loss of altitude, suggesting the team had been caught in an avalanche. Purja’s tracker, however, shifted location after the initial rapid descent. The GPS data suggested the avalanche occurred close to 9am local time at 6,579 metres (21,585ft), between camps two and three on the west ridge of the 8,047-metre mountain, the most popular ascent route. The British adventurer Bear Grylls said the news of Purja’s death was “heartbreaking for so many climbers around the world who had a relationship with this remarkable and unique man”. In the 2023 documentary Finding Michael, Purja and Grylls were enlisted to recover the body of Michael Matthews, the youngest Briton to climb Everest, who disappeared on the mountain in 1999. Purja served in the British military for 16 years, 10 of them in the special forces. In 2018, he was awarded an MBE by the queen for his achievements in extreme high-altitude mountaineering. He also drew plaudits for twice risking his life to help others. The first time was while descending from Annapurna, when he led a rescue of fellow climber Chin Wui Kin, who had been separated from an accompanying expedition and left without food, water or oxygen for 40 hours. He later died in hospital. Less than a month later, Purja and his team rescued two climbers from a height of 8,400 metres, sacrificing their own supplementary oxygen to the climbers in need. “For me it’s not about ego,” he previously told the Guardian. “It’s about principles. You can’t call yourself a climber and not help in that situation.” The Prince of Wales said he was “truly saddened to hear of the tragic death” of Purja, adding that he “served with distinction” before “becoming one of the world’s greatest mountaineers”.

Italy says it’s temporarily suspending EU Schengen arrangement with Spain after 60,000 migrants reach Ceuta – as it happened

Just as we closed the blog, Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni has confirmed the move to suspend the free movement with on air and sea borders with Spain. She said it was “an extraordinary measure, adopted to safeguard national security and prevent possible repercussions for our nation.” In another sign that it may stop short of full border control for all arrivals from Spain (19:19), she said “the measure will be kept in force only for the time necessary, with particular attention to limiting any impact on summer tourist flows.” She added that “Italy is ready to support every European initiative to assist Spanish institutions as needed to restore full control of the Union’s external borders and to address the ongoing situation with determination.” “Defending borders means defending the safety of citizens, combating irregular immigration, and striking at the criminal networks that traffic human beings,” she said.