African Energy Chamber (AEC) (www.EnergyChamber.org) Executive Chairman NJ Ayuk has been selected as one of the world’s leading practitioners in the Who’s Who Legal (WWL): Energy 2024 report. Hosted by global legal intelligence platform Lexology, the WWL: Energy 2024 report is a comprehensive source of international legal updates, analysis and insights on law firms and in-house counsel. Ayuk’s selection not only underscores his expertise in the field of energy but his recognition as an authority in the African energy sector.

The WWL: Energy 2024 report identifies private practice lawyers with a proven track record in representing and advising major and independent energy companies involved in the exploration, production, marketing and transportation of energy. The report highlights experts in the sector using a combination of extensive research, client feedback and expert insight. As such, this recognition underscores Ayuk’s profound impact on the global energy legal sector, specifically in advocating for investment and development across Africa’s evolving energy industry.

Ayuk’s expertise spans various aspects of energy law, including oil and gas, renewables and power projects. Through his work as Founder and Executive Chairman of the AEC – an energy advocacy group which serves as the voice of the African energy sector – Ayuk’s efforts have not only elevated the profile of African energy on the global stage but also paved the way for innovative legal frameworks that support investment and growth in the sector.

In addition to his role at the AEC, Ayuk is the Founder and former-CEO of CLG – previously Centurion Law Group -, a trailblazing legal firm renowned for its innovative and flexible approach to meeting the diverse needs of its clients. His extensive experience and leadership in navigating the complex legal landscapes of the energy sector have been pivotal in driving forward both the AEC and CLG’s mission to promote sustainable and inclusive energy development across the continent.

Ayuk’s inclusion in the WWL: Energy 2024 report highlights his unwavering commitment to fostering a more equitable and prosperous energy future for Africa. This milestone is a testament to Ayuk’s dedication, vision and influential role in the legal field.

“Being acknowledged by my peers in the legal community is a tremendous honor. It reinforces the importance of collaboration and the collective effort of lawyers in shaping the future of the energy sector. Energy is the backbone of economic development and as the sector continues to grow, I am committed to supporting and guiding its progress through sound legal practices and strategic advocacy. Together, we can drive sustainable growth and create opportunities for all,” stated Ayuk.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Energy Chamber.

 Burkina Faso authorities should urgently investigate and publicly report on the whereabouts of a journalist and two prominent critics of the country’s military junta, Human Rights Watch said today.

The abductions since June 18 of Serge Oulon, director of an investigative newspaper, Adama Bayala, and Kalifara Séré, both working as television commentators, raise concerns about enforced disappearances and possible unlawful conscriptions into the armed forces. Their cases appear linked to a wave of repression by Burkinabè authorities, who have severely restricted the rights of activists, journalists, opposition party members, and dissidents.

“Arbitrary arrests, abductions, and enforced disappearances of journalists, activists, and dissidents have become the new normal in Burkina Faso,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Sahel researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The military junta should take immediate action to locate and report on the three missing individuals and release them if they are wrongfully held.”

Adama Bayala, 45, a regular commentator on the private television channel BF1’s show Presse Échos has been missing since he left his office located in the 1,200 Logements neighborhood in the country’s capital, Ouagadougou, at about 1 p.m. on June 28.

Days before Bayala was reported missing, a message posted on the pro-junta Facebook page Anonymous Élite Alpha threatened him, warning him that he “will be next.” The message referred to previous abductions of journalists and dissidents.

“Bayala is one of the few dissenting voices left in Burkina Faso, one who has not spared critical analysis of the decisions and actions of the military authorities,” said a close friend. “We spoke the day of his abduction about the risks he faced. We knew he was in danger.”

On June 24, at 5 a.m., at least nine gunmen in civilian clothes abducted Serge Oulon, 39, director of the bimonthly publication L’Événement (the Event), from his home in Ouagadougou. “They first came with two civilian unmarked vehicles, forced their way in, took Serge, and drove off with him,” Oulon’s brother said. “Later, they came back to Serge’s home, ordered his wife to give them Serge’s phone and laptop. They claimed to be working for the intelligence services.”

In December 2022, Oulon wrote an article denouncing the alleged embezzlement by an army captain of some 400 million CFA (US$660,000) that were part of a budget allocated to support the Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (Volontaires pour la défense de la patrie), civilian auxiliaries of the Burkinabè armed forces. On June 20, 2024, the Superior Council for Communication (Conseil supérieur de la communication), Burkina Faso’s media regulator, suspended L’Évènement for one month after it published another article covering the alleged corruption scandal. 

On June 18, Kalifara Séré, commentator on BFI’s TV show 7Infos, was reported missing after leaving a meeting with the Superior Council for Communication to return to his office in Ouagadougou. People close to Séré told Human Rights Watch that the council questioned him about his June 16 TV commentary, where he had expressed doubts about the authenticity of some photographs showing the head of state. On June 19, the council announced the suspension of 7Infos for two weeks. 

On June 24, 11 Burkinabè media organizations denounced the abductions of Oulon and Séré as “proof that the press in Burkina Faso is the subject to harassment and intimidation … in flagrant violation of the law,” and called on the authorities “to put an end to these practices likely to harm the public’s right to information.”

Relatives and lawyers representing Bayala, Oulon, and Séré said they have searched for them in various police stations and gendarmerie brigades in vain. The authorities have not disclosed any information on their whereabouts. 

“Burkinabè journalists should not live in fear of abduction for doing their job,” said a Burkinabè journalist, whose name has been withheld for security reasons. “The authorities have succeeded in reducing access to public interest information to virtually zero by targeting journalists, limiting their ability to hold powerful actors to account.” 

The abductions of Bayala, Oulon, and Séré come amid growing reports that Burkinabè security forces have intimidated, arbitrarily detained, forcibly disappeared, and unlawfully conscripted journalists, human rights defenders, political opponents, and dissidents.

In February, Human Rights Watch reported on six other cases of abductions of activists and opposition party members. They are Rasmané Zinaba, Bassirou Badjo, both members of the civil society group Balai Citoyen; Guy Hervé Kam, a prominent lawyer and coordinator of the political group Serve and Not be Served (Servir Et Non Se Servir); Ablassé Ouédraogo, chair of the opposition party Le Faso Autrement (the Alternative Faso); Daouda Diallo, a prominent human rights activist and secretary-general of the Collective against Impunity and Stigmatization of Communities (Collectif contre l’Impunité et la Stigmatisation des Communautés, CISC); and Lamine Ouattara, a member of the Burkinabè Movement for Human and Peoples’ Rights (Mouvement Burkinabè des Droits de l’Homme et des Peuples). At least four of them appeared to have been unlawfully conscripted. 

While governments have the authority to conscript members of the civilian population age 18 and over for national defense, conscription should be authorized and in accordance with domestic law. The conscription law needs to be carried out in a manner that gives the potential conscript notice of the duration of the military service and an adequate opportunity to contest being required to serve at that time. Conscription also needs to be carried out according to standards consistent with nondiscrimination and equal protection under law. The use of conscription for politically motivated purposes violates international human rights protection standards.  

Burkina Faso is party to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. Enforced disappearances are defined as the arrest or detention of a person by state officials or their agents followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or to reveal the person’s situation or whereabouts. Families of people who have been forcibly disappeared live with the uncertainty of not knowing whether their loved ones are safe and their conditions in captivity.

Since the military coup in September 2022, the junta has increasingly suppressed media freedom and access to information. In April 2024, Burkina Faso’s media regulator suspended the French news network TV5 and several other media outlets for two weeks after they reported on a Human Rights Watch report finding the military committed crimes against humanity against civilians in the Yatenga province. The regulator also blocked the Human Rights Watch website in the country. 

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, based in Banjul, Gambia, has held four ordinary sessions between August 2023 and June 2024 without adopting one resolution on the deteriorating human rights situation in Burkina Faso. 

“The African Commission should break its inexplicable silence on the Burkina Faso junta’s deepening assault on media freedom,” Allegrozzi said. “The commission should urgently issue a resolution calling on the military authorities to uphold the rights of journalists and critics in line with their obligations under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.”

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Human Rights Watch (HRW).

Amid the widespread civilian suffering in Sudan, the fate of over one million refugees living in Sudan when the conflict erupted is often overlooked.

In recent weeks, Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacked towns across Sennar state, which neighbors Gedaref state and where more than 40,000 refugees from Ethiopia are currently hosted. In Kassala state, further east, Eritreans fleeing repression and indefinite forced conscription at home continue to arrive in the camps.

“If the fighting approaches Gedaref and Kassala, we will not be safe,” an Ethiopian refugee told me last month; these fears are now even more justified.

Since conflict erupted in Sudan, Ethiopian refugees, mainly hosted in Gedaref, have been raising very real concerns about their safety and the lack of humanitarian support. Some have independently sought ways to leave the camps, but many thousands remain.

Without a clear protection or evacuation strategy, those in the camps could face violence or targeted attacks by warring parties, especially following accusations by the RSF that Tigrayan forces were fighting alongside Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). Refugees also face the risk of mass arrests by SAF-aligned authorities in towns in Gedaref state, with reports that some Ethiopians have already been detained.

Some Ethiopian refugees understandably fear returning home as the real risk of violence or persecution that made them refugees may still persist. The majority in Gedaref’s two camps, and some in Kassala, are from Ethiopia’s Western Tigray Zone and fled a brutal ethnic cleansing campaign against Tigrayans during Ethiopia’s two-year conflict. Those responsible for these crimes still control the area, and Human Rights Watch continues to receive reports of forces forcefully expelling Tigrayans, with Ethiopian military complicity, to other parts of Tigray. Here they join hundreds of thousands of other internally displaced people facing dismal conditions.

Ethiopian authorities have reportedly formed a committee to return refugees in Sudan to Ethiopia, but refugees inside the camps need travel permits from the Sudanese authorities. It is critical that United Nations agencies work with Sudanese and Ethiopian authorities to assist refugees seeking to leave with safe, dignified, voluntary, and organized pathways, while ensuring that no one is coerced or forced to return to locations where they would face serious risks. Organizations and the international community should consider all possible means of support, including cash and transport, to ensure that refugees are moved out of harm’s way.

Ethiopian and Eritrean refugees in Sudan have been forgotten for too long; now is the time to act.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Human Rights Watch (HRW).

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message for the Nelson Mandela International Day, observed on 18 July:

Nelson Mandela showed us the extraordinary difference one person can make in building a better world.

And as the theme of this year’s Nelson Mandela International Day reminds us:  combating poverty and inequality is in our hands.  Our world is unequal and divided.  Hunger and poverty are rife.  The richest 1 per cent are responsible for the same quantity of planet-wrecking greenhouse gases as two thirds of humanity.

These are not natural facts.  They are the result of humanity’s choices.  And we can decide to do things differently.  We can choose to eradicate poverty.  We can choose to end inequality.

We can choose to transform the international economic and financial system in the name of equity.  We can choose to fight racism, respect human rights, combat climate change and create a world that works for all humanity.

Every one of us can contribute — through actions large and small.  I join the Nelson Mandela Foundation in urging everyone to perform 67 minutes of public service on Nelson Mandela International Day — one minute for each year he fought for justice.

Together, let’s honour Madiba’s legacy and turn our hands towards building a better world for all.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of United Nations Secretary-General.