Practical Lessons to Improve Stabilization Operations in Somalia
Offensives in recent years by the Somali National Army (SNA), supported by local militias, have delivered substantial territorial gains for the government in its battle with al Shabaab. Yet, the militant Islamist group remains a potent force and has regularly proved its capability to reverse some of these gains and reach into areas ostensibly under government control. This pattern of progress and setback continues to prevail across parts of Somalia, resulting in a constantly shifting patchwork of territories controlled by the government. In the past year alone, Somalia experienced nearly 4,500 fatalities linked to militant Islamist violence…This persistent insecurity inhibits the return of internally displaced populations, the provision of services, commerce, investment, and job creation that can sustainably stabilize these territories. The gaps between the “clear” and “hold” stages of the stabilization continuum in Somalia are often linked to a lack of understanding of the tasks involved and inadequate coordination between military and civilian authorities. Strengthening these connections is a vital element in the effort to consolidate Somalia’s gains in its fight against al Shabaab. Africa Center for Strategic Studies
Convicted War Criminal Lubanga Announces New Rebel Group in East Congo
A convicted war criminal based in Uganda has announced a new rebel movement intent on toppling the government in eastern Congo’s Ituri province, creating another potential security threat in the war-scarred region. The formation of the Convention for the Popular Revolution (CPR) by Thomas Lubanga, an Ituri native, comes as Congo’s army faces an unprecedented advance by Rwandan-backed M23 rebels elsewhere in eastern Congo. The International Criminal Court secured its first conviction against Lubanga in 2012 on charges of recruiting child soldiers and sentenced him to 14 years in prison. He was released in 2020 and President Felix Tshisekedi appointed him to a task force to bring peace to Ituri. But in 2022 he was taken hostage for two months by a rebel group, which he blames on the government, and is now based in Uganda. In written responses to questions from Reuters, Lubanga said the CPR had both political and military elements, including armed men in three areas of Ituri…It is unclear how many combatants Lubanga might control. U.N. experts last year accused him of mobilising fighters to support a local militia and M23. Reuters
New Images Reveal Extent of Looting at Sudan’s National Museum as Rooms Stripped of Treasures
Videos of Sudan’s national museum showing empty rooms, piles of rubble and broken artefacts posted on social media after the Sudanese army recaptured the area from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in recent days show the extent of looting of the country’s antiquities. Fears of looting in the museum were first raised in June 2023 and a year later satellite images emerged of trucks loaded with artefacts leaving the building, according to museum officials. But last week, as the RSF were driven out of Khartoum after two years of war, the full extent of the theft became apparent…The museum held an estimated 100,000 artefacts from thousands of years of the country’s history, including the Nubian kingdom, the Kushite empire and through to the Christian and Islamic eras. It held mummies dating from 2500BC, making them among the oldest and archaeologically most important in the world…The theft includes not only items on public display but those held inside a fortified room, including gold, which it is feared have been smuggled out of the country for sale abroad…Many view it as a tragedy emblematic of the loss the country has suffered since the war started in 2023. The Guardian
World Court to Hear Sudan Genocide Case against United Arab Emirates
The World Court said on Friday it would hear a case brought by Sudan demanding emergency measures against the United Arab Emirates and accusing the Gulf state of violating obligations under the Genocide Convention by arming paramilitary forces. Sudan has accused the UAE of arming the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) which have been fighting the Sudanese army in a two-year-old civil war – a charge the UAE denies but U.N. experts and U.S. lawmakers have found credible…Sudan has asked for the court to impose emergency measures to order the Emirates to prevent genocidal acts in Darfur. The court said it would hear Sudan’s request on April 10. As cases before the ICJ can take years to reach a final conclusion states can ask for emergency measures which are meant to ensure the dispute between the states does not escalate in the meantime. Reuters
South Sudan: Military Officers Allied to Machar Defect to Kiir
Military officers and 222 other members of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-In Opposition (SPLM-IO), led by First Vice-President Riek Machar, have defected to the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF) and other government security services. The defectors, from SPLM-IO Integrated Forces stationed in Gutmakur, Muni, Luri, Rejaf, and Rambur, were under the command of eight officers…[Colonel Joseph Amanda Alias, a defector, said the group included police, wildlife officers, National Security Service personnel, and prison service officers. Radio Tamazuj
South Sudan: Political Activist Agel Ring Arrested in Juba
The former press secretary in the office of Vice President Gen. Taban Deng Gai, who resigned his position and became a political activist, was arrested by soldiers from the Tiger Division, which protects President Salva Kiir, early on Sunday evening in Juba. Agel Ring Machar, who is a former president South Sudan National Youth Union, is also the husband of the immediate former National Health Minister, Yolanda Awel. Jesus Deng Atem, a friend of Ring and a senior SPLM-IO member and former lawmaker in the National Legislature representing Jonglei State’s Twic East County, told Radio Tamazuj on Monday by phone that Ring has been writing about Vice President Benjamin Bol Mel and the ongoing crisis in the country…“Ring has been very vocal about the ongoing clashes in the country, so, to me, his arrest is politically motivated and is being harassed because of his opinion, his wife, and his affiliation with some of his friends in the opposition,” Deng stated. Radio Tamazuj
Burkina Junta Leader Pardons 21 Soldiers For 2015 Failed Coup
The head of the junta in Burkina Faso has pardoned 21 soldiers convicted of involvement in a failed coup in 2015, according to an official decree seen by AFP on Monday. The troubled west African country has been run since September 2022 by military leaders following a coup headed by Captain Ibrahim Traore. Traore announced an “amnesty pardon” in December last year for several people convicted over the 2015 attempt to overthrow the transitional government in place after the fall of former president Blaise Compaore…Six officers, including two former unit commanders of the former presidential guard, are on the list alongside 15 non-commissioned officers and rank and file soldiers. They were convicted at a military tribunal in Ouagadougou in 2019 for “harming state security”, murder or treason…The 21 soldiers pardoned will rejoin the army, which has been fighting [jihadist groups] for more than 10 years. But the decree stipulates that they will not be eligible for compensation or career progression. AFP
Parliament Amends Law Enabling One-year Extension for Tigray Interim Admin
The House of People’s Representatives on Tuesday amended a proclamation allowing interim administrations to be extended twice, each for up to one year. This change enables the Tigray Interim Administration, whose mandate recently expired, to be extended for an additional year…Approved by a majority vote, the amendment also shifts the authority to extend interim administrations from the House of Federation to the Speaker of the House…It has been two years since the Tigray Interim Administration was established as part of the Pretoria Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (COHA), signed between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and the federal government in November 2022. The federal government appointed Getachew Reda as the president. However, since June 2024, a rift within the TPLF between Debretsion Gebremichael (PhD) and Getachew has disrupted the administration’s operations. Addis Standard
Zimbabwe’s Leader Faces Call for Removal from Within His Own Party
Battling a yearslong economic crisis and persistent accusations of corruption, Zimbabwe’s president faces the greatest threat to his power since taking office in a coup nearly eight years ago, with members of his own party calling for his resignation. The president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, has vowed to crack down on dissent, saying in a speech at a meeting of his party, ZANU-PF, that calls for him to step down were a “treasonous” plot driven by “chameleon-like characters.” The tensions over the president’s future have pushed this southern African nation, which has suffered decades of political and economic instability, to the brink of yet another crisis, with many anxious residents bracing for potential violence…Those leading the charge against Mr. Mnangagwa accuse him of trying to extend his rule beyond the end of his second term in 2028. His opponents say he previously promised to hand over power to his vice president, Constantino Chiwenga…Mr. Chiwenga, a decorated army general, was an architect of the coup that toppled Mr. Mugabe. He is now the man whom Mr. Mnangagwa’s opponents want to replace him. He has not publicly commented on the upheaval caused by ZANU-PF allies. The effort to oust Mr. Mnangagwa has been led by Blessed Geza, a liberation war veteran and former senior ZANU-PF member. Mr. Geza went into hiding this month after party officials accused him of treason. The New York Times
Senegal MPs To Examine Fiercely Debated Amnesty Law Revision
Senegal’s parliament on Wednesday will debate a proposed revision of a law granting amnesty for deadly political violence passed by the former president, in a move prompting fierce public debate. The amnesty was granted just before March 2024 elections as president Macky Sall sought to calm protests sparked by his last-minute postponement of the vote. Critics said the move was designed to shield perpetrators of serious crimes committed during three years of political tensions between February 2021 and February 2024. But it also allowed the popular opposition figure Ousmane Sonko, who is now prime minister, to stand in the elections after court convictions had made him ineligible, as well as Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who went on to win the presidency…In December, Sonko promised that his government would repeal the law “so that light may be shed and responsibilities determined on whatever side they may lie”…However, lawmakers on Wednesday will consider draft legislation to “interpret” the amnesty law rather than to repeal it, which if adopted will exclude murder, killings, torture and forced disappearance from amnesty. AFP
Kenyan Police in Haiti Suffer More Casualties in Clashes with Gangs
Two Kenyan police officers in Haiti have been seriously injured in clashes with gangs over the past week, three officers told Reuters, adding to the mission’s growing list of casualties as it comes under increasingly frequent attack. Kenya first deployed officers last June to the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission, which currently has around 1,000 security personnel, about three-quarters of them from Kenya. The mission, aimed at restoring enough security for Haiti to hold elections by February 2026, has faced morale issues almost from the start and uncertainty about its possible expansion amid escalating gang violence. It suffered its first fatality in February, and the MSS reported another Kenyan officer missing last week…The three officers said the gangs were attacking them on an increasingly regular basis and complained that their equipment was inadequate. They said one of the officers was shot in the head after a bullet pierced his helmet and the other was hit in the ear when a gunshot penetrated the walls of an armoured vehicle. Twenty armoured vehicles have been grounded since this weekend after officers refused to use them, complaining that this was the second time a vehicle had failed to stop a bullet, the three officers said. Reuters
Uganda Signs Deal with UAE Investment Firm over Oil Refinery
Uganda on Saturday signed an oil refinery agreement with UAE-based Alpha MBM Investments for a 60% stake in crude oil refinery in Kabaale, Hoima District, President Yoweri Museveni’s office said in a statement. The country’s state-run Uganda National Oil Company will retain the remaining 40% stake in the 60,000-barrel-per-day refinery, according to the statement. Earlier this year, Uganda’s energy minister said the country was in negotiations to develop a planned $4 billion oil refinery with Alpha MBM Investments. The UAE-based investment firm’s website says it is led by Sheikh Mohammed bin Maktoum, a member of Dubai’s royal family…The 60,000-barrel-per-day refinery is a cornerstone of Uganda’s emerging hydrocarbons industry, playing a vital role in the country’s energy strategy. Reuters
Abu Dhabi’s XRG Invests in Mozambique Gas
XRG, the international investment arm of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., has acquired a 10% stake in a liquefied natural gas project in Mozambique, expanding an LNG portfolio that includes assets in Azerbaijan, Egypt, and the US. Mozambique discovered substantial gas reserves in the deepwater Rovuma Basin in 2010 and began exporting fuel last year. XRG’s acquisition is in the Area 4 concession, which is being developed by ExxonMobil and Eni. Mozambique has attracted some of the largest energy investments in Africa. Another LNG project — stalled since 2021 due to militant attacks — is likely to resume soon after the Trump administration approved a $4.7 billion loan from the US Export-Import Bank. XRG plans to double its assets over the next decade by capitalizing on the energy transition and fast-growing power demand driven by artificial intelligence. Semafor