Combat Resumes between Congolese Army and M23 Rebels despite Peace Treaty
Violent combat has broken out between the Congolese army and the M23 armed group in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo despite a peace treaty, security and local sources told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Monday, August 11. Kinshasa and the M23 signed a declaration of principles on July 19, in which they committed to a permanent ceasefire, following the signing of a peace agreement between the DRC and Rwanda in late June. However, these accords have not stopped the violence, and fighting between Rwanda-backed M23 and local groups affiliated with Kinshasa has intensified since Friday around the town of Mulamba, in South Kivu province. The M23 pushed back militiamen and Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC) soldiers present in the area after clashes involving heavy and light weapons, according to local and security sources. On Sunday, both sides sent in reinforcements, the sources reported. Fighting was still ongoing Monday around Mulamba, a town located about 80 kilometers southwest of Bukavu, the provincial capital. Le Monde with AFP
More than 40 Displaced Were Killed in Sudan’s El Fasher, Activists Say
More than 40 displaced people were killed and over 19 others were wounded on Monday in an attack by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on the Abu Shouk camp in El Fasher, the capital of Sudan’s North Darfur state, local activists said. The deaths occurred as heavy fighting broke out across the city between the Sudanese army and its allied armed movements against the RSF. A joint army-allied force later said it had repelled the attack. El Fasher is the last major city in the vast Darfur region not under RSF control, and the fighting has exacerbated a dire humanitarian crisis. Residents face severe shortages of food and medicine, which local groups attribute to a tight siege imposed by the RSF. “More than 40 people were killed today, between stray bullets and the direct liquidation of citizens inside their homes and in the streets,” the Abu Shouk Camp Emergency Room, a volunteer group, said in a statement. The group’s statement said RSF troops entered the camp from the north after launching attacks in the city, committing “widespread violations against civilians, including summary executions.” Sudan Tribune
Sudan Refugees Face Cholera Outbreak with Nothing but Lemons for Medicine
Cholera is ripping through the camps of Tawila in Darfur, where hundreds of thousands of people have been left with nothing but the water they can boil, to serve as both disinfectant and medicine. “We mix lemon in the water when we have it and drink it as medicine,” said Mona Ibrahim, who has been living for two months in a hastily-erected camp in Tawila. “We have no other choice,” she told AFP, seated on the bare ground…The first cholera cases in Tawila were detected in early June in the village of Tabit, about 25 kilometres south, said Sylvain Penicaud, a project coordinator for French charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF). “After two weeks, we started identifying cases directly in Tawila, particularly in the town’s displacement camps,” he told AFP. In the past month, more than 1,500 cases have been treated in Tawila alone, he said, while the UN’s children agency says around 300 of the town’s children have contracted the disease since April. Cholera is a highly contagious bacterial infection that causes severe diarrhoea and spreads through contaminated water and food…MSF has opened a 160-bed cholera treatment centre in Tawila, with plans to expand to 200 beds. A second unit has also been set up in Daba Nyra, one of the most severely affected camps. But both are already overwhelmed, said Penicaud. Meanwhile, aid convoys remain largely paralysed by the fighting and humanitarian access has nearly ground to a halt. AFP
South Sudan: Peace Monitors Urge AU to Step up Engagement
A peace monitoring body for the 2018 peace agreement has called for intervention by African Union (AU) leaders to resolve the country’s escalating political crisis, citing rising tensions between rival factions. A high-level delegation from the African Union Peace and Security Council (AUPSC) arrived in Juba on Sunday for a three-day mission, meeting with civil society groups and stakeholders to address political and security challenges…The 2018 deal, signed by President Salva Kiir, opposition leader Riek Machar, and other parties, ended a five-year civil war and established a unity government. However, key tasks—including drafting a constitution, unifying armed forces, and preparing for elections—remain incomplete nearly seven years later. Tensions flared in March when Machar, the First Vice President, was placed under house arrest. In a briefing to the visiting AUPSC delegation, Ambassador Berhanu Kebede, Chief of Staff of the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (RJMEC), urged the AU and its High-Level Ad Hoc Committee for South Sudan (AU C5) to push for dialogue and de-escalation. Radio Tamazuj
Saved from Militants, Timbuktu’s Famed Manuscripts Return Home after 13 Years in Mali’s Capital
The Malian military government on Monday started returning home the historic manuscripts of Timbuktu, which were spirited out of their fabled northern city when it was occupied by militants more than a decade ago. [Militant Islamists] destroyed more than 4,000 manuscripts, some dating back to the 13th century, after they seized Timbuktu in 2012, according to the findings of a United Nations expert mission. They also destroyed nine mausoleums and a mosque’s door — all but one of the buildings on the UNESCO World Heritage list. The majority of the documents dating back to the 13th century — more than 27,000 — were saved by the devotion of the Timbuktu library’s Malian custodians, who carried them out of the occupied city in rice sacks, on donkey carts, by motorcycle, by boat and four-wheel drive vehicles…The manuscripts, which UNESCO has designated as part of the World Cultural Heritage, cover a myriad subjects, from Islamic theology and jurisprudence, astronomy, medicine, mathematics, history, and geography. They are a testimony to the rich cultural heritage of the Mali and Songhai empires in West Africa…Still, 13 years after the occupation of Timbuktu, the security situation in Mali remains precarious and analysts say it has worsened in recent months. Although the city is back under government control, militants continue attacking its surroundings, including as recently as last month. AP
Nigerian Military Kills More Than 100 ‘Bandits’ in Northwest Raid
The Nigerian military killed more than 100 members of a criminal gang in an air and ground raid over the weekend, according to a conflict monitoring report produced for the United Nations and seen by AFP on Monday. Armed groups called “bandits” by locals have for years been terrorising communities in northwest and central Nigeria, raiding villages, kidnapping residents for ransom and burning homes after looting them. The military raid in the restive northwestern state of Zamfara was launched “in the early hours” Sunday in the Bukkuyum local government area, where fighter jets in coordination with ground troops pounded a gathering of more than 400 bandits in their Makakkari forest camp. The military’s attack “may have occurred in response to consecutive banditry, especially kidnapping, in the state in the previous month”, the report said, noting a link between a recent decrease in military operations in the state and a spate of bandit attacks. The military’s attack “may have occurred in response to consecutive banditry, especially kidnapping, in the state in the previous month”, the report said, noting a link between a recent decrease in military operations in the state and a spate of bandit attacks. AFP
Several Ivory Coast Opposition Figures Charged With ‘Terrorist’ Offences
Prosecutors in the Ivory Coast said Monday they have charged 11 people, including members of the opposition party of ex-president Laurent Gbagbo, with alleged “terrorist” offences linked to unrest earlier this month. On the night of August 1, a public transport bus was set on fire and a police car attacked in an Abidjan suburb “by a horde of hooded individuals holding machetes, clubs, firearms, and incendiary cocktails,” prosecutor Oumar Braman Kone said in a statement. An investigation led to the arrest of nine people, several of whom are members of Gbagbo’s African Peoples’ Party – Cote d’Ivoire (PPA-CI), which denies any involvement. “During the various hearings, they cited Lida Kouassi Moise, former defence minister, and Kone Boubakar, retired ambassador, as the instigators of this violence,” the prosecutor continued. Police took those two men into custody over the weekend…The 11 were charged with “terrorist acts, conspiracy against state authority, participation in an insurrection, wilful damage to a vehicle, and arson of a vehicle belonging to others,” Kone added. On Sunday, the PPA-CI denounced “an operation of intimidation and repression” and “judicial and political harassment”, but Kone insisted there was no political motive to the arrests. The West African country is facing a tense political climate less than three months before the October 25 presidential election, particularly due to court rulings barring several opposition figures from the election, including Gbagbo. AFP
Uganda: Gen Z Presidential Hopefuls Step Forward to Challenge Museveni’s near 40-year Rule
More than 50 Ugandans, including almost 10 members of Generation Z, have collected presidential nomination papers in a move aimed at challenging Museveni’s near four-decade rule through next January’s election. The Electoral Commission (EC) on Monday began issuing the forms, the first official step for registered voters intending to run in the 2026 election. Museveni, who turns 81 in September, has ruled Uganda since 1986 and is widely expected to seek another 5-year seventh term…The youngest aspirant so far is 20-year-old Jorine Najjemba, a former secondary school student on a gap year, running under the slogan “Open Door New Uganda for Everyone.” …Several others in their 20s, many still at university, listed corruption, inequality, and poor services as their main grievances…Most young aspirants admitted they lack the personal resources to meet campaign costs, estimated at more than one billion shillings, and said they would rely on public donations. Monitor
Uganda: Kony’s Absence Leaves Defence Lawyers in a Fix
Defence lawyers in the International Criminal Court (ICC) case against Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) leader Joseph Kony say they face a major challenge in contacting their client, barely a month before a hearing to confirm charges against him…Lead defence counsel Peter Haynes said they are not taking any direct instructions from Kony, making the process extremely difficult. “We are facing a challenging situation because we have never been in touch with the suspect,” he said…On December 12, 2024, ICC Pre-Trial Chamber III rescheduled Kony’s confirmation of charges hearing to September 9, 2025, in his absence, to give both the prosecution and defence more preparation time. Under the Rome Statute, such a hearing can proceed without the accused if they “cannot be found” under Article 61(2)(b). The purpose is to determine if sufficient evidence exists to believe the accused committed the alleged crimes. The case can only move to trial if the accused is present before the Trial Chamber…Joseph Kony has been a fugitive since July 8, 2005, when the ICC issued an arrest warrant against him—later unsealed in October that year. He faces 12 counts of crimes against humanity, as well as 21 counts of war crimes such as murder, attacks on civilians, pillaging, and the forced enlistment of children. The charges stem from atrocities committed in 2003 and 2004 in northern Uganda. Monitor
Migrants Swim from Morocco to Ceuta as Officials Say Enclave ‘Overwhelmed’
About 100 people, including several children, risked their lives by trying to swim from Morocco into Spain’s north African enclave of Ceuta early on Saturday morning, as the territory’s authorities warned that its overwhelmed reception system was close to collapse. Recent weeks have seen a rise in the number of people trying to reach Ceuta, with more than 50 children swimming across from Morocco on 26 July alone. In the latest attempt, on Saturday morning, dozens of people were intercepted as they attempted to enter the enclave. Seven children reached the shore, where they were handed over to the regional authorities…Four months ago, Spanish MPs approved a decree to redistribute the 4,400 foreign minors in the Canary islands, Ceuta and Spain’s other north African enclave of Melilla, across other regions…According to the UN’s International Organization for Migration, 572 people died or went missing last year trying to reach Spain from north Africa, while 155 people have lost their lives so far this year, seven of them children. The Guardian
Sierra Leone: Taking the Farm Road to Self‑Sufficiency
Since Sierra Leone’s civil war ended in 2002, leaving 50,000 dead and displacing over half the population, agriculture has slowly recovered. The agriculture ministry lost nearly all infrastructure, and the transition back to self-reliance has been rocky, compounded by Ebola and Covid-19…There are sparks of promise. “Even the price of imported rice is continuously falling, implying that the majority of people are focusing on domestically produced rice,” says [Bambay Tisseh, Port Loko district secretary]…Feed Salone is the agriculture ministry’s flagship programme that aims to secure the country’s food supply…The government enrolls smallholder and larger farmers to grow crops to supply Feed Salone, paying for their crops…Market access remains challenging, says district official Ibrahim Bangura, with farmers forced to sell at low farmgate prices due to poor road infrastructure…“We continue battling food insecurity,” [Edward Conteh, head of programmes at MADAM, a local NGO,] says. “However, if we compare the periods immediately after the war and during Ebola to today, we see improvements. Progress is slow, but tangible.” The Africa Report
African Banks Look to AI to Personalize Services
African banks view the use of artificial intelligence and cloud computing to improve efficiency as their top priority, according to a new survey. The need for more extensive AI use has been spurred by increased customer demand for personalized banking services, the survey by African Banker magazine and Dutch banking software company Backbase found. African lenders are now exploring the use of customer data to build personalized offerings, while offering support augmented by AI. But digital illiteracy still constrains African banks’ ability to serve their customers, according to nearly 8 in 10 respondents, made up of 203 senior banking executives from 40 African countries. The report predicts, however, that the falling cost of internet access and smartphones, along with broader electrification, will improve access to digital financial services in the near future. Semafor