The Africa Edition©️Wednesday 16 July 2025
The Africa Edition: News That Matters to Africa - “Overlooked and Misunderstood”©️
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“The powerful punishing those who speak for the powerless, is not a sign of strength, but of weakness...and guilt.”
TOP NEWS
EASTERN AFRICA
WEST AFRICA
SOUTHERN AFRICA
NORTH AFRICA
CENTRAL AFRICA
AFRICA-WIDE ISSUES
UN-AFFAIRS
EASTERN AFRICA
DR CONGO
Trump’s push for peace in the DRC – Video
The peace agreement between the DRC and Rwanda is staggering in its ambition. The peace deal has been signed – again – between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, this time in Washington DC, with president Donald Trump watching closely. But can it succeed where others have failed? And is it designed to save lives or to exploit the DRC’s mineral wealth?
ETHIOPIA
Ethiopian troops 'executed' aid workers in Tigray war, MSF says
Ethiopian government forces "executed" three employees of medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) while they were on a humanitarian mission in Ethiopia's war-hit northern Tigray region four years ago, a senior MSF official has reported. Raquel Ayora's comments came as MSF released its findings into what it called the "intentional and targeted" killing of the three - a Spanish national and two Ethiopians - at the height of the now-ended Tigray conflict. "They were executed," said Ms Ayora, MSF Spain's general director. "They were facing their attackers [and] were shot at very close range... several times." MSF said it was releasing its findings as the government had failed to provide a "credible account" of the deaths despite 20 face-to-face meetings over the last four years. Thirty-five-year-old Spaniard María Hernández Matas, along with 32-year-old Yohannes Halefom Reda and 31-year-old Tedros Gebremariam, were killed on 24 June 2021 while travelling in central Tigray to assess medical needs. She added that the three were fully identifiable in MSF vests and their vehicle had the charity's flag and logos on either side when they were shot. "So, they [Ethiopian troops] knew that they were killing humanitarian aid workers," she said, adding that the team's travel route had also been shared in advance with fighting groups. The killings took place at a time when the conflict was intensifying, and Ethiopian and Eritrean troops were becoming increasingly hostile towards aid workers in the region, MSF said in its report.
Live Aid at 40: Hope, hype and hard questions
"It's 12 noon in London, 7 a.m. in Philadelphia, and around the world it's time for Live Aid." This television announcement on July 13, 1985, heralded over 16 hours of music broadcast from Wembley Stadium in London and John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia that united close to 2 billion people across more than 100 countries. Live Aid was no ordinary gig. With the primary aim of raising funds for famine relief in drought-stricken Ethiopia, it was the largest satellite linkup and television broadcast of its time. It featured an unprecedented lineup of music's biggest names across diverse genres, featuring luminaries who performed for free. Conceived and executed by Irish musician Geldof and Ultravox's Midge Ure, Live Aid was put together at astonishing speed, the momentum having come from the 1984 Band Aid single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" — a now-contentious song that the artists co-wrote. Though many boomers and Gen Xers may recall Live Aid fondly as a unique moment of global unity before social media, in retrospect it wasn't without its flaws. Especially when viewed through the lens of diversity and representation. Despite being a benefit for Africa, no African performers were featured on stage in 1985. Ditto female representation, where aside from Sade, Tina Turner, Madonna and Patti LaBelle, the line-up was overwhelmingly white and male...Moky Makura, executive director of Africa No Filter, was in her late teens when she watched the original concert. She wrote in The Guardian in 2023, "Live Aid remains the unfortunate and inadvertent poster child for a development approach to Africa that still drives much of the sector today — the desire to identify and fix the challenges of poor countries and the belief that money is the primary solution." Live Aid did raise millions for famine relief, with some political ripple effects. It inspired the set-up of the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in 2003. The program was recently gutted following Trump's financial cuts. A current documentary, "Live Aid at 40: When Rock 'n' Roll Took On The World," also reveals how Geldof's, and fellow Irishman Bono's, relentless lobbying of G8 leaders saw them eventually agree to cancel $40 billion of debt owed by 18 of the world's poorest countries after Live 8, and promise to increase aid to developing nations by $50 billion a year by 2010.
KENYA
Govt says 1500 arrests for ‘terrorism’ over GenZ protests
Is William Ruto the most disliked president in Kenya's history?
President William Ruto is facing a dramatic collapse in public support, with growing numbers of Kenyans—particularly youth—turning against him less than three years into his presidency. Once elected on a populist “hustler” platform promising economic relief for ordinary citizens, Ruto now stands accused of betraying those very voters through painful tax hikes and a perceived lavish lifestyle. The controversial Finance Bill 2024 became a flashpoint, triggering widespread protests and revealing a deep sense of frustration with worsening economic conditions. Many aggrieved Kenyans now want him gone – amid unrelenting protests with rallying calls of "Ruto must go" and "Ruto Wantam" (Ruto for one term). These protests, largely led by Generation Z and coordinated online, have evolved into a sustained and leaderless movement demanding Ruto’s resignation. The government's harsh response—marked by police violence, abductions, and the killing of dozens of protesters—has only deepened public anger. Ruto has vowed to use "whatever means necessary" to maintain peace and stability. He called on the police to shoot in the legs protesters who were targeting businesses, rather than killing them. His remarks sparked more outrage and mockery. While previous Kenyan presidents have experienced periods of unpopularity, analysts say Ruto's fall from grace has been unusually rapid and widespread. Public sentiment is shifting beyond anger at specific policies to broader questions about his legitimacy as a leader. A newspaper splashed a headline asking whether Ruto was "Kenya's most hated president"...marking an extraordinary change in Kenyan politics, often shaped by ethnic allegiances and class divisions. Ruto’s administration is at risk of becoming a cautionary tale in how quickly popular mandate can dissolve under pressure from economic hardship, state violence, and a mobilized youth.
SOUTH SUDAN
Ongoing politically motivated violence is not justified; it is a betrayal – Catholic Bishops
The Catholic Bishops of the Ecclesiastical Province of South Sudan have said that the ongoing violence across the country is indefensible because it is politically driven and a betrayal by the leaders…“It is with heavy hearts of grief that we are now conveying our dismay about what we have been confronting on daily basis: reports of aerial bombardments and shelling, armed ambushes on roads, rivers and highways, military confrontations, shrinking of civic space and media restrictions, deadly clashes at cantonment sites and villages, abductions and rapes, devastating raids at community levels, detentions and alarming hostilities and insecurity across South Sudan,” the Bishops said in a written message… They urged South Sudan’s leaders to remember the words of late Pope Francis during his historic pilgrimage of peace to South Sudan in February 2023, when he pleaded with them: “Brothers and sisters, it is time for peace! … No more bloodshed, no more conflicts, no more violence and mutual recriminations about who is responsible for it; no more leaving your people athirst for peace…. it is time to turn the page.”
SUDAN
RSF forces kill almost 300 in North Kordofan, activists say
The Sudanese Emergency Lawyers human rights group said in a statement on Monday that the RSF had attacked several villages on Saturday around the city of Bara, which the paramilitary controls. In one village, Shag Alnom, more than 200 people were killed via arson or gunshot. Looting raids of the other villages killed 38 civilians, they said, while dozens of others had gone missing. The next day, the group said, the RSF attacked the village of Hilat Hamid killing 46 people, including pregnant women and children. More than 3,400 people were forced to flee, according to the United Nations. The RSF has been fighting the Sudanese army in that area, one of the key frontlines of a civil war that has raged since April 2023. The army has taken firm control of the center and east of the country, while the RSF is working to consolidate its control of western regions, including North Kordofan. "It has been proven that these targeted villages were completely empty of any military objectives, which makes clear the criminal nature of these crimes carried out in complete disregard of international humanitarian law," Emergency Lawyers said, placing the responsibility with RSF leadership. The United States and human rights groups have accused the RSF of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Its soldiers have carried out a series of violent looting raids in territory it has taken control of across the country. The RSF leadership says it will bring those found responsible for such acts to justice.
Sudan has become a 'case study' for the impact of USAID cuts, aid worker says
Humanitarians in Sudan, where a two-year civil war has given rise to the world’s most acute needs and made assistance increasingly difficult, warn that a vacuum left by cuts to U.S. funding for aid programs cannot be filled. The U.S. shuttered its arm for foreign assistance at the beginning of July, formerly the U.S. Agency for International Development, folding it under the State Department in a move Secretary of State Marco Rubio said marked the end of an “era of government-sanctioned inefficiency.” And the U.S. Senate could vote on legislation proposed by the Trump Administration as soon as this week to claw back over $8 billion in funding due to be dispersed for USAID in the remainder of the fiscal year. The British medical journal Lancet found that in the absence of USAID’s funds and works, 14 million more people would die in the next five years, a third of those children under 5. In the world’s most dire humanitarian crisis, where access for emergency food and medical workers has been made increasingly difficult by warring parties, people are fleeing violence on foot, children are malnourished, and Sudanese are dying from treatable conditions. Pietro Curtaz, an emergency logistics coordinator for Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders, or MSF) said children he sees crossing Sudan’s border are malnourished at a rate of 29%. The cuts to USAID -- and the chaos that followed -- have “come with a body count” in Sudan said Tom Perriello, the U.S. special envoy to Sudan in the last year of the Biden administration from 2024 to 2025.
REGION
Conflicts in Kenya, Sudan, DRC to harm regional businesses
Ugandan financial services group Dfcu Ltd has raised the red flag over the growing wave of unrest in Kenya, the civil conflict in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo saying that these conflicts are poised to affect various aspects of life and business including disrupting trade and reducing export volumes while exacerbating humanitarian crises linked to the influx of refugees and internally displaced persons. DRC is currently going through a protracted civil conflict, particularly in its eastern region that is rooted in decades of instability involving various armed groups, including the M23 rebel group, and is fueled by competition for resources, ethnic tensions, and political power struggles. On the other hand, Kenya is facing a spate of countrywide anti-government protests led by the youth largely fueled by concerns over increased corruption in the public sector, inequality in resource distribution, poor governance... (Any) renewed optimism will likely be short-lived due to the renewed outbreak of deadly protests. Time and again, protests of this magnitude have dealt a heavy blow to business and investor confidence,” the economic advisory firm Oxford Economics says. Sudan is also currently in the midst of a civil war that began on April 15, 2023, between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
WEST AFRICA
GHANA
Ukraine Ready to Help Ghana Secure Its Borders – Zelenskyy
Ukraine is prepared to extend its hard-earned expertise and advanced technologies to help Ghana bolster its border security, a critical need for the West African nation facing regional instability. This commitment emerged from a significant conversation between President John Dramani Mahama and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday, July 11…This offer of support comes at a crucial time for Ghana, which shares over 2,000 kilometres of land borders with Togo, Côte d’Ivoire, and Burkina Faso. The northern frontier with Burkina Faso, in particular, has become a significant security concern. The Sahel region, bordering Ghana to the north, has witnessed a severe escalation of extremist violence and instability since 2020, with jihadist groups expanding their influence southward. Countries like Benin and Togo have already experienced spillover attacks, increasing Ghana’s vulnerability…Ukraine’s offer of assistance, particularly in drone technology, is highly relevant to Ghana’s security challenges…This combat-proven technology could significantly enhance Ghana’s border surveillance capabilities, enabling real-time monitoring of remote areas and rapid response to illicit activities or incursions…In June 2025, officials from both countries also agreed to deepen cooperation in cybersecurity, digitalization, and information technologies.
EQUATORIAL GUINEA
Obiang urges UN court to block the sale of a Paris mansion
Lawyers for Equatorial Guinea accused France of “neo-colonial” behavior on Tuesday, urging United Nations judges to block the sale of a mansion on one of Paris’ poshest avenues in the latest instalment in a long-running legal tug-of-war over the multimillion-dollar property. The African country filed a case at the International Court of Justice in 2022, alleging France is violating international law by refusing to return assets seized during a corruption investigation into Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, the son of Equatorial Guinea’s long-serving president. France’s approach “may be described as paternalistic and even neo-colonial. We cannot accept such disdain for our sovereignty from France,” Guinea’s agent, told The Hague-based court. Equatorial Guinea has asked the court for a series of urgent orders, known as provisional measures, to return the swanky mansion on one of Paris’s most prestigious streets, Avenue Foch, and to prevent France from selling the building. Lawyers for France strongly rejected the need for provisional measures, telling judges no sale was imminent and the dispute should be resolved via negotiation. Obiang was convicted in 2017, and given a three-year suspended sentence for embezzling millions of dollars in public money. French authorities seized money, luxury vehicles and the building, which boasts a hammam, a cinema and a night club. The 57-year-old has faced scrutiny for corruption in other countries as well. In 2021, he was sanctioned by the United Kingdom for misappropriating public funds, including spending $275,000 on the bejeweled glove that Michael Jackson wore on his “Bad” tour. Switzerland and Brazil have also opened investigations into his finances.
NIGER
France signals willingness to discuss reparations for colonial massacres in Niger
More than a century after its troops burned villages and looted cultural artefacts in the quest to include Niger in its west African colonial portfolio, France has signalled willingness over possible restitution, but is yet to acknowledge responsibility. France’s response on 19 June response was given to a letter dated two months earlier from a UN special rapporteur working on a complaint by four Nigerien communities representing descendants of victims of the 1899 Mission Afrique Centrale (MAC), one of the most violent colonial campaigns in Africa. In 1899, French officers led by the captains Paul Voulet and Julien Chanoine marched tirailleurs – as the African soldiers under their command were known – through communities in present-day Niger. They killed thousands of unarmed people and looted supplies, terrorising local people into compliance. The next year, Niger became officially absorbed into French west Africa. “I have come to establish an empire,” Voulet reportedly said, “If I must kill, I will kill. If I must burn, I will burn. Every means is justifiable.” In Birni-N’Konni alone, an estimated 400 people were massacred in a day. Entire villages along the mission’s path – including Tibiri, Zinder and smaller communities – were burned and looted, with corpses hung at their entrances. Some survivors fled to neighbouring Nigeria and never returned. When Paris dispatched Col Jean-François Klobb to replace Voulet in July that year and end the bloodletting, the superior officer was shot to death by soldiers acting on the latter’s instructions. In recent years, France has begun to engage with its historical wrongdoings in Africa even as anti-French sentiments soar across the continent. In 2021, President Emmanuel Macron admitted France’s responsibility in the Rwandan genocide. A year later, Paris acknowledged the 1945 massacre of tens of thousands of Algerian civilians in Sétif. In May 2023, it issued a formal apology for the brutal repression of the 1947 Malagasy uprising. Still, there has been a reluctance to acknowledge the Voulet-Chanoine mission, which is largely absent from French schoolbooks and only faintly remembered in Niger’s national curriculum. Instead, there was a bureaucratic cover-up and accounts of survivors’ descendants have been weak or subdued, often due to decades of silence and trauma.
NIGERIA
Muhammadu Buhari to be buried in hometown
Former President Muhammadu Buhari, who died in a London clinic on Sunday aged 82, will be buried in his northern home state of Katsina on Tuesday, the state governor said. Buhari, a former military ruler after a coup in the 1980s, returned to frontline politics to become the first Nigerian president to oust an incumbent through the ballot box in 2015. He was re-elected for a second term four years later. Buhari earned a devoted following for his brand of anti-corruption conviction politics, especially in Nigeria's largely Muslim north. He referred to himself as a "converted democrat" and swapped his military uniform for kaftans and prayer caps. After leaving office in 2023, Buhari spent most of his time in his hometown, Daura, away from the public eye. His successor Bola Tinubu inherited a country grappling with double digit inflation, foreign exchange shortages, economic hardship, low oil production and insecurity that had spread to most parts of Nigeria. Buhari's supporters, however, viewed him as Nigeria's conscience because he had a reputation for shunning the corruption and ostentatious lifestyles often associated with the country's political elites. To his critics, Buhari was "an absentee landlord — a leader who governed by delegation, who disappeared for long stretches (often to London for medical treatment), and whose aloofness felt like abandonment," the local BusinessDay newspaper said.
TOGO
Togo’s Security Forces cast early votes ahead of high-stakes municipal elections
The atmosphere was calm and disciplined on Monday, July 14, 2025, in Lomé, as Togo’s security and defense forces, including paramilitary units and members of the operational reserve, cast their ballots in early voting ahead of the municipal elections…This early vote marks the official kickoff of a highly anticipated municipal election, watched closely by both the political class and a public caught between hope and caution. On the ground, the campaign is in full swing. Political parties and independent candidates are making rounds to win over voters. Supporters of the ruling party, UNIR, are focused on consolidating progress…Still, the apparent calm masks underlying tensions. Civil society groups have called for days of mourning on July 14 and 15, while web activists from the M66 movement have announced protests for July 16 and 17, the day of the vote. With just hours left before polls open for the general public, the streets are watching, uncertain. Togo’s democracy is facing another major test, under close watch.
SOUTHERN AFRICA
MALAWI
Nation starts official campaign period ahead of September 16 elections
The official campaign period for Malawi’s September 16 general election was launched on Monday, amid escalating politically orchestrated violence. According to the Malawi Electoral Commission, around 7.2 million eligible Malawians have registered to vote in the seventh general election since the southeastern African nation reverted to plural politics in 1993 after 30 years of one-party rule. Speaking at the launch in the capital Lilongwe, Malawi Electoral Commission Chairperson Annabel Mtalimanja assured that the commission “is committed to delivering a free, fair and credible election to Malawians.” Recently, several political parties and civil society organisations accused the electoral body of bias toward the governing Malawi Congress Party, charges the commission has consistently denied. For about two weeks, a group of civil society organisations under the umbrella Concerned Citizens for Credible Elections took to the streets demanding that Mtalimanja and Chief Elections Officer Andrew Mpesi step down “for working against the opposition.” President Lazarus Chakwera, one of 17 presidential candidates, warned during a prayer service on Sunday that political violence could undermine the democratic gains made over the years. In recent weeks, the country has seen a rise in politically-motivated violence between rival parties, resulting in injuries and damage to public and private property.
SOUTH AFRICA
Ramaphosa removes police minister over criminal link allegations
President Cyril Ramaphosa placed police minister Senzo Mchunu on immediate leave of absence on Sunday, following accusations by a top police official that he had colluded with a criminal syndicate and interfered in high-profile investigations. Mchunu denied the allegations by Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, police commissioner of KwaZulu-Natal province, at a media briefing last Sunday. He said the accusations were baseless and in a statement issued by his spokesperson last week said he was committed to upholding the rule of law. Ramaphosa, whose rise to the highest office was built on promises to fight corruption, has been under pressure to act swiftly as political parties and citizens said the allegations called into question the integrity of the criminal justice system. Ramaphosa said he will appoint law professor Firoz Cachalia as acting minister of police. Mchunu is a senior figure in Ramaphosa's African National Congress (ANC) party, and political analysts have said he could run for a leadership position at the ANC's next elective conference in 2027. Citing digital evidence such as WhatsApp messages, Mkhwanazi's allegations included that Mchunu had disbanded a police unit tasked with investigating politically motivated killings to protect politicians, police officers and other people linked to a criminal syndicate. Mkhwanazi said more than 100 case files were taken away from the political killings task team and have not been investigated further since. The Democratic Alliance party, the ANC's main coalition partner, called for a parliamentary inquiry into the allegations against Mchunu. At least one opposition party has called for his suspension.
A venerable AIDS activist returns to battle
Zackie Achmat, once at the center of South Africa’s push for lifesaving H.I.V. treatment, has come out of retirement as U.S. funding cuts and his own government’s inertia revive old fears. It had been a while since Zackie Achmat confronted his government about matters of life and death. Twenty-five years ago, Mr. Achmat co-founded what became the most powerful social movement in post-apartheid South Africa. He led a showdown against the government that won lifesaving medical treatment for millions of people with H.I.V. — and nearly killed him. Until just a few months ago, Mr. Achmat, 63, thought those days were well behind him. As for H.I.V., the issue that once dominated his life, he hardly thought about it. He didn’t need to, so robust was the national treatment program that grew out of the victories that Mr. Achmat and his colleagues won two decades ago. Then came January, and the Trump administration’s decision to slash its foreign assistance, including funding for the President’s Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR. As part of an overall reduction in funds sent overseas, which Mr. Trump has called wasteful and a misuse of taxpayer dollars, PEPFAR’s budget has been sharply reduced. South Africa received $440 million from PEPFAR each year, which paid the salaries of thousands of nurses, data managers and others who worked on the H.I.V. program. All of it was eliminated. The clinic in Cape Town were Mr. Achmat collected his medication closed overnight. If any country is able to maintain H.I.V. services without U.S. help, it is South Africa. It has the continent’s most developed economy, and its government purchases most of its own H.I.V. treatment. But in an eerie echo of history, the government has been near-silent about its plans, an approach that has stirred an old anxiety in Mr. Achmat and others, and spurred them into action once again.
US no-show, BRICS tensions set to cast shadow over Durban G20 meeting
Another no-show by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Donald Trump's tariff threats and rising tensions between Washington and BRICS countries all look set to overshadow this week's meeting of G20 finance chiefs in Durban, South Africa. Several key officials including Bessent skipped February's Cape Town gathering of finance ministers and central banks in the grouping, already raising questions about its ability to tackle pressing global challenges. Trump has implemented a baseline 10% tariff on all U.S. imports, with punitive rates targeting specific countries and products - including steel and aluminum at 50%, autos at 25%, and threatened levies of up to 200% on pharmaceuticals. Extra tariffs on 25 countries are set to take effect on August 1. His threats to impose His further tariffs on BRICS countries adds complexity, given that eight G20 members - including host South Africa - belong to the expanded BRICS grouping. The overlap hints at the emergence of competing forums as Western-led institutions face credibility challenges. The G20 has its origins in past crisis fire-fighting and really took off as countries around the world saw a need to coordinate policies to emerge from the global financial crisis of the late 2000s. "The G20 was built around a presumption that all the world's major economies shared a common interest in a stable, relatively open global economy," said Brad Setser of the Council on Foreign Relations. "But Trump doesn't really care about stability and wants a more closed global economy." The Durban gathering of finance chiefs on Thursday and Friday also unfolds against a backdrop of mounting economic pressures, particularly for African economies. Sub-Saharan Africa's external debt has ballooned to $800 billion, or 45% of GDP, according to Goldman Sachs, while traditional funding sources are drying up. Chinese lending has slowed to a trickle after years of expansion, leaving an $80 billion financing gap. As the continent's most developed economy, South Africa faces pressure to champion African interests while navigating great power rivalries. The National Treasury said it was "premature to comment" on specific goals for the gathering, however.
ZAMBIA
Canadian miner shifts focus to Zambia with $2 billion investment deal amid Mali tensions
Canadian mining giant Barrick Gold Corporation is ramping up its investment in Zambia with a $2 billion expansion plan, a move seen as a strategic pivot amid escalating tensions with Mali’s military-led government. Barrick has launched an international arbitration case, accusing Mali of violating investment treaties in a case that underscores rising resource nationalism across military-led African states. The expansion into Zambia, already under way, aims to double annual copper output at Lumwana to 240,000 tonnes, using a new processing plant that can handle 50 million tonnes of ore annually... Since taking over Lumwana, Barrick says it has contributed over $4 billion to the Zambian economy through taxes, wages, and local business contracts. In just the first quarter of 2025, 81% of the mine’s spending, about $177 million went to Zambian suppliers. Nearly all the mine’s 12,000 workers are Zambian, and almost half come from nearby communities. The project also includes new electricity lines being built with Zambia’s national power company. Barrick Gold's investment in Zambia underlines Africa’s growing importance in the global energy transition as copper becomes increasingly vital for electric vehicles and green technologies.
ZIMBABWE
Lithium smuggling rampant as Zimbabwe fails to end corruption
Zimbabwe, which boasts Africa’s largest lithium reserves, is poised to help meet global demand in the race to secure green energy and develop advanced technology. Its production pales in comparison to powerhouses like Australia and Chile, but the country is still among the top-eight producers of the mineral, producing 1,200 tons in 2021 alone. But as demand grows, so does illegal trading. In Zimbabwe, some companies mislabel shipments or underreport the quality and quantity of lithium exports. Border officials — either unaware or complicit — allow the shipments to slip through, undermining efforts to regulate one of Zimbabwe’s most valuable exports...Most of the product ends up in China, which controls 90% of Zimbabwe’s mining sector. Exporters exploit the regulatory gaps, Gorden Moyo [director of the Public Policy and Research Institute of Zimbabwe] says. “While corruption is punishable by law in China, when they operate abroad, they act with impunity.” The government hasn’t helped. Contracts between the state and investors are not accessible to the public, according to a report by the Africa Policy Research Institute. It erodes public trust, says Tafara Chiremba, an environmentalist at the Zimbabwe Environmental Lawyers Association. Because of the smuggling, Chiremba says, it’s China, not Zimbabwe, that benefits from the country’s wealth of lithium.
NORTH AFRICA
ALGERIA
Algeria’s Western Sahara anti-colonial stance is getting unstuck
The UK’s recent backing of Morocco’s Western Sahara autonomy plan deepens Algeria’s isolation, with the U.S., France, and UK now supporting Rabat. Shifting Alliances: Algeria sees the UK move as a blow to its decades-long support for Sahrawi independence. Morocco’s normalization with Israel (via the Abraham Accords) earned U.S. recognition and fueled Algeria’s anger. The UAE opened a consulate in Western Sahara, backed a massive $25B gas pipeline through Morocco and is now building a drone factory there. Fallout with France: Macron’s pivot to Morocco led Algeria to recall its ambassador, freeze security cooperation and cancel a state visit. The feud deepened over migration tensions and the jailing of a French-Algerian author. Regional pressure builds: Russian mercenaries in the Sahel have weakened Algeria’s southern influence. Algiers lashed out on state TV at the UAE, calling it a “factory of division” and “artificial statelet.” Bottom line: Algeria’s regime is sticking to its principled, anti-colonial stance but finds itself increasingly boxed in—outpaced by Morocco’s diplomacy and surrounded by assertive rivals.
EGYPT
Egypt asks US to pressure Libya's Haftar not to back Turkey maritime deal
Egypt has asked the United States to intervene to prevent Libya's eastern parliament from ratifying a maritime deal with Turkey, multiple regional officials have said. An Egyptian official reported that Cairo is concerned that if Libya's eastern parliament ratifies the deal, initially inked by eastern Libya's rival western government in 2019, it could spark tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean at a time when Egypt grapples with the fallout from the wars in Gaza and Sudan. One Egyptian official and one official in the region disclosed that Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty raised the topic of US intervention in a phone call with Massad Boulos, the US’s senior adviser on Africa, last month. They said that Boulos said he would call Khalifa Haftar, the de-facto ruler of eastern Libya, to discuss the issue. Several Libyan media outlets have reported that the country's eastern parliament could ratify the 2019 maritime agreement in the coming weeks, which would recognize Turkey's claim to an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) over a wide-swath of the Eastern Mediterranean.
LIBYA
More than 100 migrants freed in Libya after being held captive by gang
More than 100 migrants, including five women, have been freed from captivity after being held for ransom by a gang in eastern Libya, the country's attorney general said on Monday. "A criminal group involved in organising the smuggling of migrants, depriving them of their freedom, trafficking them, and torturing them to force their families to pay ransoms for their release," a statement from the attorney general said. Many migrants desperate to make the crossing to Europe have fallen into the hands of traffickers. The freed migrants had been held in Ajdabiya, some 160 km (100 miles) from Libya's second city Benghazi. The attorney general and Ajdabiya security directorate posted pictures of the migrants on their Facebook pages which they said had been retrieved from the suspects' mobile phones. They showed migrants with hands and legs cuffed with signs that they had been beaten.
OpEd: From free to fallen: The mysterious death of a Libyan activist
TUNISIA
Tunisian jailed after refusing to watch president on tv: Lawyer
A Tunisian inmate was sentenced to six months in prison after he was reported to authorities for refusing to watch a TV news segment about President Kais Saied, his lawyer and an NGO said Friday. The inmate’s lawyer, Adel Sghaier, said his client was initially prosecuted under Article 67 of the penal code, which covers crimes against the head of state, but the charge was later revised to violating public decency to avoid giving the case a “political” dimension. The local branch of the Tunisian League for Human Rights in the central town of Gafsa said that the inmate had “expressed his refusal to watch (coverage of) presidential activities” during a news broadcast that was playing on TV in his cell. He was reported by a cellmate, investigated and later sentenced to six months behind bars, the NGO said, condemning what it called a “policy of gagging voices that even extends to prisoners in their cells”.
CENTRAL AFRICA
CENTRAL AFRICA REP. (CAR)
Rebel groups lay down their arms as new peace deal begins
General Sembé Bobo, head of the Union for Peace (UPC), and Ali Darassa of Return, Reclamation and Rehabilitation (3R), confirmed the disbanding of their political and military wings during [a ceremony in Bangui] on Thursday…The laying down of arms follows a ceasefire agreement signed between Bangui, UPC and 3R on 19 April in N’Djamena, with Chadian mediation…In February 2019 Bangui signed the Political Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation in the Central African Republic (APPR-RCA) in Khartoum with 14 armed groups, but attempts at integrating rebel factions into state structures failed and the main ones withdrew. The agreement was revived after lengthy negotiations between Bangui, the 3R and UPC, brokered by Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, and signed on 19 April. It sets out a detailed process to incorporate rebel fighters into the army and security forces. Fighters from the UPC and 3R have already been relocated to five cantonment sites in rebel strongholds in the east and north-west of the country, and registered. They will then be disarmed. Former rebels deemed fit for service will begin training, with a view to joining the Central African Armed Forces (FACA) or one of the other branches of the country’s defence and security forces, as pledged by the government. Fighters deemed unfit will benefit from the country’s Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration programme (DDR).
AFRICA-WIDE ISSUES
Rebel groups lay down their arms as new peace deal begins
General Sembé Bobo, head of the Union for Peace (UPC), and Ali Darassa of Return, Reclamation and Rehabilitation (3R), confirmed the disbanding of their political and military wings during [a ceremony in Bangui] on Thursday…The laying down of arms follows a ceasefire agreement signed between Bangui, UPC and 3R on 19 April in N’Djamena, with Chadian mediation…In February 2019 Bangui signed the Political Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation in the Central African Republic (APPR-RCA) in Khartoum with 14 armed groups, but attempts at integrating rebel factions into state structures failed and the main ones withdrew. The agreement was revived after lengthy negotiations between Bangui, the 3R and UPC, brokered by Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, and signed on 19 April. It sets out a detailed process to incorporate rebel fighters into the army and security forces. Fighters from the UPC and 3R have already been relocated to five cantonment sites in rebel strongholds in the east and north-west of the country, and registered. They will then be disarmed. Former rebels deemed fit for service will begin training, with a view to joining the Central African Armed Forces (FACA) or one of the other branches of the country’s defence and security forces, as pledged by the government. Fighters deemed unfit will benefit from the country’s Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration programme (DDR).
Trump administration has floated deporting third-country nationals to Africa. Here’s what we know
South Sudan has accepted eight third-country deportees from the U.S. and Rwanda says it’s in talk with the administration of President Donald Trump on a similar deal, while Nigeria says it’s rejecting pressure to do the same. The United States has sent hundreds of Venezuelans and others to Costa Rica, El Salvador and Panama but has yet to announce any major deals with governments in Africa... While proponents see such programs as a way of deterring what they describe as unmanageable levels of migration, human rights advocates have raised concerns over sending migrants to countries where they have no ties or that may have a history of rights violations. Earlier this week, Trump held a summit with five West African leaders in the White House, which highlighted the new transactional U.S. policy towards the continent. Trump discussed migration with the leaders of Liberia, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania and Gabon, including the need for countries to accept the return of their nationals who do not have the right to stay in the U.S., as well as the possibility of accepting deported nationals of third countries... Experts say some African countries may seek to facilitate U.S. deportation programs in order to earn good will in negotiations over tariffs, cuts in U.S. aid or visa restrictions that have hit several African countries in recent months.
The startups helping African countries capture the value of their mineral exports
When Nigeria’s mining regulators cracked down on illegal diggers in 2023, it was an early sign the government had tired of being a raw material economy locked out of the most profitable parts of the minerals value chain. Even though hundreds of miners were arrested, many more were incentivized to form cooperatives as the authorities built digital registries to formalize local supply chains. By the end of 2024, mining revenues jumped more than 500% to $24 million, and this year two Chinese-backed lithium processing plants worth over $600 million are expected to open. These policy shifts in Nigeria are part of a wider trend across the continent to create more value from African minerals at home beyond simply extraction. At the forefront of this shift are a new wave of African startups that are building trust in mineral and raw material supply chains, turning informal trade into something global buyers can verify. These companies are offering audit trails and compliance platforms, local reagent plants, and data-backed logistics services. If they’re successful, they could play a crucial role in helping African countries capture more value from the minerals they export. Lagos-based Sabi, initially focused on digitizing the back-end of informal retail, and is now using the same software infrastructure to verify commodity exports. In Botswana, Calisto Radithipa is helping cut cobalt refining delays by building modular chemical plants through Kemcore. And at Matta, Mudiaga Mowoe is quietly digitizing the procurement supply chain for manufacturers across West Africa. None of these companies own any mines or farms, but all three want to be indispensable in the next phase of Africa’s commodity supply chain story.
DP World plans logistics parks across Africa to cut transport costs
Dubai-based giant DP World is exploring the development of logistics parks across Africa as part of a strategy to reduce transport costs and unlock growth, Mohammed Mahomedy, head of infrastructure and rail for sub-Saharan Africa, tells The Africa Report in an exclusive interview…DP World, one of the world’s largest port operators, has signalled plans to establish an industrial park in Nigeria. The announcement followed a visit by DP World’s chairman, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, to Minister of Marine and Blue Economy Adegboyega Oyetola in March. The company has footprints in 48 sub-Saharan African countries, including Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, the Horn of Africa, Kenya, Senegal, Angola, the DRC, and the Copperbelt…Africa’s logistics ecosystem has witnessed rapid expansion in recent years on the back of a rapidly rising population, fast-growing consumer markets and expanding manufacturing industries, but it is faced with significant challenges, particularly inadequate infrastructure…[DP World] said in May that it would invest $2.5bn this year on major infrastructure projects, including three in Africa, to expand its global logistics network.
UN-AFFAIRS
More than 14 million children unvaccinated in 2024: report
The WHO and UNICEF have warned that widespread misinformation and severe international aid cuts are widening coverage gaps, putting millions of children at risk. More than 14 million children remained completely unvaccinated in 2024, the UN said on Tuesday. 9 countries — Nigeria, India, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Angola — accounted for over half of the world's unvaccinated children. "Millions of children remain without protection against preventable diseases," UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement. "That should worry us all." According to the UN, vaccines prevent 3.5 million to 5 million deaths a year.
Prioritizing African publishing could double its value, UNESCO report says
Africa’s $7 billion book industry could be worth $18.5 billion if governments invested in local publishing and reduced their reliance on foreign players, a UNESCO report argued. Educational publishing is particularly lucrative in countries such as Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa, UNESCO said. The continent could also better reflect Africa’s linguistic diversity by prioritizing local publishing houses over European ones, the authors wrote. Their argument echoes the stance of legendary Kenyan author Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, who championed writing in African languages and died in May, aged 87. In recent years there has been growing financial interest in developing Africa’s publishing industry. In 2023, for instance, the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) introduced the CANEX Book Factory, a digital platform, to highlight Africa’s book value chain alongside launching the CANEX Prize for Publishing in Africa.