Syria, Burkina Faso, Ecuador.

Today's three stories you should know.

Apr 02, 2023

Syria

Relations between Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad and the rest of the Arab world, on ice since civil war broke out in his country more than a decade ago, have been steadily thawing for a while. But it seems he is now set to fully come in from the cold. Three sources have told the Reuters news agency that Saudi Arabia plans to invite him to an Arab League summit in Riyadh this May. The move would formally end Syria’s isolation after it was suspended from the Arab League in 2011. The war in Syria is now at a stalemate and Assad’s forces are back in control of most of the country thanks to support from Russia and Iran. More than 300,000 civilians have been killed and more than half the population have been forced from their homes.

Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso has expelled two French journalists - the latest in a series of moves aimed at snubbing its former colonial power. Sophie Douce of Le Monde and Agnès Faivre of Libération were given 24 hours to leave after Libération published an investigation into a video which showed children being executed in a military base. Burkina Faso was long a close ally of France but it has been cutting ties with Paris and building a closer relationship with Russia. The government asked French troops, who had been helping it fight Islamist rebels, to leave in February. French influence over several of its former colonies in West Africa has been waning in recent years.

Ecuador

Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso has authorized civilians to carry and use guns as the country continues to grapple with rampant gang violence. Drugs gangs have been going to battle both in the streets and in the country’s prison system, in which hundreds of inmates have been killed in pitched battles between rival groups. Lasso also declared a state of emergency in the city of Guayaquil and the neighboring towns of Duran and Samborondon, as well as the provinces of Santa Elena and Los Rios.