DR Congo Peace Plan Shared with Government, M23 Militia: Qatari Official
A draft agreement to end fighting between the Democratic Republic of Congo’s army and the Rwanda-backed M23 militia has been shared with the government in Kinshasa and the armed group, a Qatari official with knowledge of the negotiations said Sunday. The official involved in mediation efforts announced the “preparation and sharing of a draft peace agreement with both parties as part of the ongoing Doha process”, with Doha set to host “an important round of negotiations” soon. The Congolese government and the M23 signed a declaration of principles on July 19 in Qatar, aiming to ink a peace deal by August 18. The Qatari official said that timeline had not been met but “both parties have responded positively to the facilitator and expressed a willingness to continue negotiations”.”We recognise the challenges on the ground and hope they can be overcome promptly through dialogue and genuine commitment,” the official added. Since taking up arms again at the end of 2021 the M23 armed group has seized swathes of land in eastern DRC with Rwanda’s backing, triggering a spiralling humanitarian crisis. AFP
Paramilitary Group in Sudan Shells Famine-stricken Camp in Darfur, Killing 31 People
A paramilitary fighting against Sudan’s military shelled a famine-stricken displacement camp in the western region of Darfur Saturday, killing at least 31 people, including seven children and a pregnant woman, a medical group said, in a second attack on the camp in less than a week. The Rapid Support Forces artillery shelling of the Abu Shouk camp outside el-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur province, also wounded 13 others, the Sudan Doctors Network said in a statement. The Resistance Committees in el-Fasher, a grassroots group tracking the war, said RSF launched an hours-long “extensive artillery shelling” on the camp. It said in a Facebook post that the attack also resulted in severe damage to private properties and the camp’s infrastructure. The RSF attacked Abu Shouk last week and killed more than 40 people, as the paramilitaries have tried to seize el-Fasher, the military’s last stronghold in Darfur. Abu-Shouk is one of two camps for displaced people outside el-Fasher. They have repeatedly been attacked by the RSF and their Janjwaeed allies, including a major offensive in April which killed hundreds of people and forced hundreds of thousands others to flee. Both camps Abu Shouk and Zamzam have been hit by famine. AP
Sudan Army Torturing People to Death, Says Rights Group
A prominent Sudanese human rights group has accused the country’s army and security forces of torturing people to death and operating “execution chambers”. The Emergency Lawyers group said it had documented hundreds of arrests in the capital Khartoum. It said that in the “worst cases”, some captives had later been found dead with evidence of torture. The Sudanese army recaptured the city from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in March, against which it is fighting a bitter civil war that has killed tens of thousands in two years…Throughout the war, the Emergency Lawyers group has documented atrocities by both the army and the RSF…”Their fates range from continued detention in inhumane conditions, trials conducted by security agencies that lack the most basic standards of justice, or release in poor health,” the statement said. “In the worst cases, some are found dead after being killed or declared dead as a result of torture.” The use of torture was common during the oppressive rule of president Omar al-Bashir. Throughout the current war, the RSF have also been found to have abused and executed prisoners. The UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan said in March that both sides were responsible for “a widespread pattern of arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment of detainees”. It said both both the RSF and the army had used “rape and other forms of sexual violence, arbitrary arrest and detention, as well as torture and ill-treatment”. BBC
Nigeria Arrests Leaders of High-Profile Jihadist Group
Nigerian officials said Saturday they had arrested the alleged leaders of a jihadist group accused of several high-profile attacks including a 2022 brazen jailbreak in the capital Abuja that temporarily freed hundreds of inmates. Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, told journalists that Mahmud Muhammad Usman and Mahmud al-Nigeri had been captured during a “targeted operation” between May and July. He said they were the leaders of Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimina fi-Biladis Sudan — commonly known as Ansaru. President Bola Tinubu’s spokesman Bayo Onanuga described the capture in a social media post as a “significant breakthrough in the war against terrorism”. The group was also accused of blowing up rail tracks and raiding a train travelling from the capital Abuja to the northwestern city of Kaduna also in 2022. Eight people were killed and dozens more kidnapped and held for months…”They jointly spearheaded multiple attacks on civilians, security forces, and critical infrastructure,” [Ribadu] added…The arrests mark a breakthrough in the West African nation’s decade-and-half long battle against jihadists in the northeast — and, more recently, against criminal gangs behind kidnappings for ransom in central and northwestern regions. Ribadu said the two had been involved in several high-profile kidnappings in the regions. AFP
Nigeria’s China-funded Bullet Train Plans Move Forward
Nigeria’s $60 billion bullet train project moved a step closer to approval. The 4,000km high-speed rail network has been a decade in the making: Billed as a key project to connect Nigeria’s western and eastern corridors from Lagos to Port Harcourt, the construction will be led by De-Sadel Nigeria, an Abuja-based logistics firm, with China Liancai Petroleum Investment Holdings as the lead financier, according to the Nigerian government. Both companies made a formal presentation of a $60 billion proof-of-funds for the project [last] week, the government said. De-Sadel, which is also involved in a proposal to convert some of Nigeria’s diesel-powered trains to run on liquefied and compressed natural gas, plans to open completed sections of the rail line in three years. Nigeria’s junior petroleum resources minister pledged to supply gas to the contractor for the project. Semafor
‘Armed Bandits’ Said to Have Killed 20 Civilians in West Niger
Armed men killed 20 civilians travelling on a truck in a western region of Niger where jihadist groups are active, locals said Saturday. The attack occurred Thursday near the town of Komabangou, according to residents and media reports. The truck, coming from the market town of Mehanna, was intercepted by “armed bandits” near the Komabangou gold mine, a local resident reported. The attackers “made all the passengers get off, put nineteen men on one side, for no reason, made them lie on the ground, and riddled them with bullets,” said the source, adding that the driver was also killed and the truck set on fire. Women were spared and two other passengers managed to escape, the local said…Despite a massive army deployment, violence attributed to jihadists continues in the region, targeting civilians and military personnel alike. AFP
At Least 35 Migrants Dead Trying to Cross Niger Since January: NGO
At least 35 migrants have died attempting the dangerous crossing of the Niger desert to Libya or Algeria on their way to Europe, a campaigning group said Saturday. “Based on our own information, 35 to 40 migrants have died between January and August while crossing the desert,” Aziz Chehou of the Niger NGO Alarme Phone Sahara told AFP. Among the tens of thousands of people hoping to reach the North Africa coast for smuggling boats to Europe, many die after being abandoned by smugglers or after their vehicles break down en route…Thousands of others are stranded in the desert after being turned back by border police in Libya or Algeria. Last year, Algeria expelled more than 31,000 migrants into Niger, according to Alarme Phone Sahara…Niger’s authorities have said that around 16,000 people have been expelled between January and June this year. AFP
South Sudan: SPLM-IO Condemns Kiir’s Unilateral Removal of Its Officials from Government, Demands Reinstatement
The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-In Opposition (SPLM/A-IO) has strongly condemned the recent unilateral removal of its members from key government positions by President Salva Kiir’s administration, calling the actions a blatant violation of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS). In a press statement issued on August 14, 2025, signed by Eng. Joseph Malwal Dong, Chairperson of SPLM/A-IO’s National Committee on Foreign Affairs, after a meeting of the Political Bureau of SPLM (IO), the group demanded the immediate reinstatement of its ousted officials and warned that such one-sided moves risk plunging the country back into conflict. On August 13, 2025, several decrees issued by President Salva Kiir removed SPLM/A-IO members from the Transitional National Legislature, Executive, and Upper Nile State Legislative Assembly without consultation…Kiir has often unilaterally taken positions allocated to the SPLM-IO and other parties to the peace agreement and filled them with members of his SPLM Party, in contravention of the peace agreement…The SPLM-IO Political Bureau called for dialogue between Machar and Kiir to salvage the stalled peace process and urged to International Community, regional bodies (IGAD, AU), and global partners (UN, EU, TROIKA) to intervene. Radio Tamazuj
South Sudan’s Youth Swept up in Gang Culture and Street Violence amid Wider Conflict
Street gangs have proliferated since South Sudan’s independence in 2011 and the five-year civil war that followed. Thefts of handbags or phones by teenage boys on speeding bodas, the small motorcycles common in east Africa, have become commonplace across the country, especially in Juba, and it is not unusual to see street battles involving knives and machetes between rival crews. But families say young people with no criminal links were caught up in the police crackdown, and parents were reported to be unable to locate their children at detention facilities, as allegations surfaced of forced conscription into the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces, the government army that is at war with rebel forces in parts of the country…During a plenary session of the national parliament on 28 July, Samuel Buhari Loti, an MP from Eastern Equatoria state, expressed alarm that the “so-called crackdown … has gone beyond gangs”. “Now, our young people are being harassed, arrested, and some even killed. Many are disappearing … and later appear in Malakal [capital of Upper Nile] as soldiers,” he says. The Guardian
Guinea-Bissau Expels Portuguese Media Outlets
The government of Guinea-Bissau said it was expelling two major Portuguese news agencies from the country Friday in a move swiftly condemned by Lisbon. The Portuguese-speaking west African nation gave no further explanation for the move, which it said would affect news agency Lusa and public broadcaster RTP. Their programming is suspended and their representatives were told to leave the country by Tuesday, according to a note from the ministry seen by AFP. Guinea-Bissau’s President Umaro Sissoco Embalo, who was supposed to be in Lisbon Monday for a ceremony marking his tenure as the rotating president of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP), will no longer attend, according to the Guinea-Bissau chapter. Condemning the expulsions, the Portuguese government said that “within the framework of bilateral relations, such a decision appears highly reprehensible and unjustifiable”…Among the world’s poorest countries and with a reputation for rampant corruption, Guinea-Bissau has laboured under a succession of coups since independence from Portugal in 1974. Embalo was originally elected in December 2019 for a five-year term and had stated that he would only serve once. But he ultimately postponed the election date until November of this year, eliciting months of turmoil and accusations of clinging to power well beyond the end of his mandate. AFP
SADC Leaders Vow to Expand Manufacturing, Trade at Madagascar Summit
Held under the theme “Advancing Industrialisation, Agricultural Transformation, and Energy Transition for a Resilient SADC,” the summit in Antananarivo Sunday focused on accelerating regional integration through strengthening industrial capacity, modernizing agriculture, and promoting an inclusive energy transition. Madagascar’s President Andry Rajoelina, who assumed the rotating SADC chairmanship from Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa, called the summit “historic”. It is the first time the Indian Ocean island country was hosting the meeting since joining the bloc 20 years ago. Rajoelina stressed the need to accelerate industrialisation and expand intra-regional trade. SADC wants manufacturing to make up 30 percent of its GDP by 2030. The sector’s share currently stands at 11% with South Africa being the bloc’s manufacturing powerhouse. Africanews
How Benin’s President Plays Passport Politics with American Stars like Spike Lee
New museums, an ancient religion revived, and carefully selected stars – everything is being done to reposition Benin on the global map of tourism and culture…In July, [Benin President Patrice Talon] appointed American filmmaker Spike Lee and his wife, Tonya Lewis Lee, as thematic ambassadors to the African-descendant diaspora in the US…Talon went even further during a visit to Brasília at the end of May, offering his Brazilian counterpart, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the chance to acquire Beninese nationality. “From now on, Mr. President, you will be Beninese!” he told him. Cotonou has been granting nationality to certain African descendants reconnecting with their land of origin since 2023…Heritage is no longer seen simply as a legacy, but as a political and economic tool, as Benin is in the process of building or renovating four major museums…To capture international attention, Benin is playing the soft power card. The exhibition Revelation! Contemporary Art of Benin is travelling to Martinique, Morocco, and then the United States after stints in Paris and Cotonou…Beyond honouring the duty of memory, Benin hopes to attract investment, develop memorial tourism and improve the country’s international image. While tourism currently accounts for 6% of GDP, the government aims for 13.4% by 2030, two million visitors a year and thousands of jobs created. The Africa Report