🇲🇺 Government weighs terror law against the rioters as the nights quiet down

Government weighs terror law against the rioters as the nights quiet down

PM Ramgoolam told the country on Thursday afternoon that his government is weighing charges against the rioters under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, the law written for terrorists. He led with the better news first: the night before had passed far more calmly, with 26 arrests across about ten localities and, this time, not a single minor among those held.

Thirteen people now stand before the Port Louis court on a provisional charge of breaching the curfew order. The curfew has gripped roughly a third of the island since Tuesday, and PM Ramgoolam thanked the Mauritians who kept to it in order and discipline.

Turning anti-terror powers on people who burned tyres and emptied shelves is a heavy instrument to reach for. It widens what the state may do and shrinks what a protester can expect. The real test comes next week, on the charge sheet, not in the threat.

An audit finds Rs 30 billion spent and the keys still missing

An audit the Ministry of Housing commissioned in 2025 has finally landed, and it reads like a charge sheet. New Social Living Development Ltd promised 12,000 homes for about Rs 12 billion. The figure committed is now close to Rs 30 billion, and thousands of families are still waiting on their keys.

That is more than double the original budget for a programme that has still not housed the people it promised. Where the extra billions went, and who signed off, is the question the report now leaves on every unopened doorstep.

Travel warnings put the tourist season on edge

Mauritius sells itself as a calm, luxury escape, so the unrest has rattled the one industry that cannot afford a bad headline. At least three foreign governments have now issued travel advisories over the curfews and the violence.

Tourism operators fear cancellations through the peak season and lasting harm to the island's safe name. A beach brochure survives a lot, but it does not survive a curfew on the evening news.

Rodrigues finally gets water from the sea

After years of dry taps, Rodrigues finally has water from its new Pointe-Coton desalination plant, switched on Sunday at 3,000 cubic metres a day. Tankers fanned out on Monday, some selling water, others giving it free to most vulnerable. Deputy Chief Commissioner Johnson Roussety opened the taps himself.

Charge children at 12? A rights group says no

The government wants to drop the age of criminal responsibility from 14 to 12, a response to the minors caught up in this week's unrest. The rights group DIS-MOI says no, firmly, warning that charging children as criminals treats a social failure as a policing problem. Lower the age and you widen the net; you do not fix what put the children on the street.

Shorts

A school defies the security shutdown order – Northfields International kept classes running despite the closure, and the PSEA stepped in.

175 nurses train in newborn care – An Australian programme is training 175 Mauritian staff in neonatal care for island's babies.

A boy of 16 held with cannabis – Police at Plaine-Verte held a boy of 16 found with presumed cannabis.

Metro Express may roll again next week – With the curfew easing, Metro Express hopes to restart next week while buses cover the gap.

Suspend every water right, says Dowarkasing – Amid the shortage, Sunil Dowarkasing urges suspending all water rights to ration supply fairly.

USD 15m

The Bank of Mauritius pushed that much onto the local market on Thursday, steadying the rupee as importers chase scarce hard currency.

USD 700m

Africa's disease control agency says donor money earmarked for the Ebola fight across DR Congo cannot be traced, and its chief has ordered a forensic audit.

20 teams

Burkina Faso's junta leader has launched a national football league spanning every region, pitching sport as a badge of sovereignty.

Guinea-Bissau's junta purges another Embaló man

Guinea-Bissau's new military rulers are still clearing the decks. General Horta N'tam has dismissed another senior officer seen as close to Umaro Sissoco Embaló, the president the junta pushed out last month.

Each sacking tells you the same thing, the men who seized power are more worried about the barracks than the ballot box. Loyalty, not competence, is the test now.

A fresh graft charge for Samuel Eto'o

Cameroon football chief Samuel Eto'o faces a fresh embezzlement charge, accused of pocketing public funds for match costs already paid by organisers.

Bali runs dry at the pumps

On Bali, disrupted fuel deliveries sent drivers into hours-long queues and panic buying, a reminder that island supply lines snap fast.

At least 32 pupils die in a Peshawar school collapse

A school roof in Peshawar, northwest Pakistan, collapsed on Thursday and killed at least 32 pupils and a teacher. Officials said the structure was already weak and that building work overhead had piled on too much load.

Police have arrested the owner and opened an investigation, with hard questions over who approved extra floors on a failing roof.

China and North Korea open a border bridge at last

China and North Korea opened a new road bridge across the Yalu river at last, twelve years after work stalled, giving two heavily sanctioned neighbours a fresh trade link.

Pope Leo XIV is recovering after lung surgery

Pope Leo XIV is recovering at Rome's Gemelli hospital after surgeons removed a cancerous tumour from his lung, with doctors reporting normal progress.

The group chat behind the fires

What turns a grievance into a nationwide riot? A phone, perhaps. Police are combing a WhatsApp group called "The Burning Paradise", more than 630 members strong, that they believe helped steer this week's violence.

A riot once needed a street corner. This one, investigators suspect, lived in a group chat, which is a harder thing to put under curfew.

🙏 Merci, à demain! 👋

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