Thursday briefing: the fight against Houthi rebels
The US is considering retaliation after the Houthi attacks
The US and its allies are trying to figure out how to stop attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on commercial ships in the Red Sea. This comes after US and British forces said yesterday they intercepted one of the largest barrages of missiles and drones yet.
Iran supports the Houthi rebels in Yemen. The attacks, which stand in solidarity with Hamas in its war against Israel, have forced major shipping companies to divert their ships away from the Red Sea, a key shipping corridor. They have caused delays and led to higher prices for oil and other goods.
The Biden administration has said it will hold the Houthis responsible for the attacks. That warning suggested the US could consider retaliatory strikes on Houthi territory in Yemen, officials said. Britain said it was also considering military action if the attacks did not stop.
A Houthi spokesman said Tuesday’s attack was in response to a US Navy attack 10 days ago that sank three Houthi boats, killing their crews. He added that the group would continue the attacks “until the aggression stops and the siege of our steadfast brothers in Gaza is lifted.”
The state of emergency in Ecuador
President Daniel Noboa of Ecuador declared a state of emergency for 60 days amid a wave of violence following the disappearance of a top gang leader from prison. Noboa imposed a nationwide curfew and authorized the military to patrol the streets and take control of prisons.
Explosions, looting and gunfire have been reported riots in various prisons. Gunmen stormed a TV studio during a live broadcast. Noboa declared that an internal armed conflict was underway and ordered the military to “neutralize” twenty gangs, which he said were terrorist organizations.
Background: Adolfo Macías, or ‘Fito’, led the Los Choneros gang from behind bars. The government recently ordered that high-profile convicts be transferred to a high-security facility, which could have led to his escape and sparked the uprisings. Some experts believe that gangs control a quarter of Ecuador’s prisons.
The attacker in Seoul planned to block a presidential bid
The man who stabbed South Korea’s main opposition leader Lee Jae-myung last week wanted to kill him ending his presidential bid, the police said. Lee, 59, was released from a hospital in Seoul yesterday.
Police said the 66-year-old man had written an eight-page manifesto and planned the attack for months. The stabbing was the worst act of violence against a South Korean politician in nearly two decades and drew attention to hostility between conservatives and liberals, which appeared to be deepening ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for April.
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A year of crucial elections
Africans inside this year at least 17 countries will cast their votes to elect a president or a national legislature. In West Africa, Senegal and Ghana, islands of stability in a region ravaged by coups, will hold elections. In East Africa, the world’s youngest country, South Sudan, will also go to the polls, while in Southern Africa a new generation of voters will test the parties that led the continent’s fight for independence.
Here’s a look at the elections that will test democracy in Africa.
Can liberation movements survive? A new generation of voters will test liberation-era parties in South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique and Botswana. South Africa is the most watched match. There, thirty years after Nelson Mandela became president, the ruling African National Congress is facing widespread discontent.
Will a military junta hand over power? After successive coups, Mali’s ruling junta has promised to return power to a democratically elected government, but the generals responsible have already postponed elections scheduled for February without announcing a new date.
Will a strong man prevail? President Paul Kagame, who has been in power since 2000, is once again vying for leadership of Rwanda. Human rights groups have accused him of abuses, but Kagame points to the country’s relative economic successes since the 1994 genocide as he consolidates his power.