Africa Media Review for December 7, 2022

Sudan: Non-Signatories Say Framework Agreement Will Not Bring Stability, Might Lead to Separation
The leaders of a coalition opposed to the framework agreement renewed their rejection of the deal describing it as an exclusionary pact that will not achieve stability and may lead to a new secession in Sudan. Minni Minnawi leader of the Sudan Liberation Movement and Gibril Ibrahim of the Justice and Equality Movement denounced the Political Framework Agreement signed by the forces of the revolution and transition and the military component…For his part, Minnawi said this agreement would split Sudan as it was the case for the Addis Ababa agreement between the Sudanese government and the former Southern Sudanese rebel Ananya group in 1972. Sudan Tribune

News: Ethiopia Reconnects Tigray’s Capital to National Power Grid
Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP), state owned electric provider has said Mekelle, the capital city of the war torn Tigray region, is re-connected to the national power grid after more than one year of total blackout since 28 June 2021. Communications Director at Ethiopian Electric Power, Moges Mekonen told Addis Standard that, “power is now being supplied to Mekelle from the national grid”. He added that re-connecting the city to the national power grid will enable EEP to centrally control power supply to and from Mekelle. A resident of the city told the BBC that “electricity has been everywhere in the city since yesterday (Tuesday).” In October this year, the BBC published Nasa’s satellite images mapping the power blackout over the span of two years, which showed how the capital Mekelle “disappear[ed]from Nasa satellite photos.” Addis Standard

Tanzania Scraps Independence Celebration, Diverts Funds to Kids
Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan has cancelled Independence Day celebrations scheduled for Friday and directed that the budget instead be used to build dormitories for children with special needs. The 61st Independence Day event was to cost $445,000, money that will be used to build eight dormitories in primary schools around the country. Tanzania’s Minister of State, George Simbachawene, on Monday said the money had been disbursed. He said that instead of having parades and other national celebrations, the East African country will commemorate Independence Day by having public dialogues on development. Al Jazeera

M23 Rebels Insist on Meeting DRC President Felix Tshisekedi, EAC Facilitator Uhuru Kenyatta
M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have reiterated their call for a meeting with former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta and have vowed to continue to respect a two-week-old ceasefire. Kenyatta is the East African Community (EAC) facilitator in the Nairobi-led peace talks that are aimed at ending hostilities in the eastern parts of the DRC. In the middle of the year, M23 revived fighting against the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC), the government’s army. News24

DR Congo Leaders and Rebels to Meet in January – EAC
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s government will hold its next round of peace talks with rebels under the aegis of the East African Community in January in the eastern DRC, the seven-nation bloc has announced. The EAC statement came on Tuesday as the bloc wrapped up eight days of discussions in Kenya’s capital Nairobi that involved the representatives of around 50 armed groups active in the volatile, mineral-rich eastern DRC. AFP

DRC Urges International Criminal Court to Investigate as Priority Crimes in Eastern Region
DRC’s Justice minister Rose Mutombo took part Tuesday (Dec. 6) in the 21st session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). During the meeting in the Hague, Netherlands, Mutombo called on the prosecutor of the ICC to investigate alleged massacres in Kishishe last week. The Congolese government accuses M23 rebels to have raided the village located about 70 kilometers from Goma and killed over 200 people. Government spokesman said Monday an official inquiry into what happened would be opened. AfricaNews

Somalia Forces and Allies Retake Key Town from Al-Shabab
Government forces and allied militias in Somalia have recaptured a strategic town that the al-Shabab armed group had controlled for six years. Pro-government forces entered the town of Adan Yabal in Hirshabelle, about 220km (140 miles) northeast of the capital Mogadishu, after the al-Qaeda-affiliated fighters withdrew without resisting, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said in a televised address on Tuesday…“Adan Yabal was very important for al-Shabab because it is the heart that connects the central regions and the south of Somalia. It was also their main base from which they manage the central regions,” Mahamud said. ATMIS said al-Shabab had used Adan Yabal as a training base. The force welcomed its return to Somali government control. Al Jazeera

Russian Mercenary Outfit Confirms Recruiting Zambian Student from Prison
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Russian mercenary outfit Wagner Group, confirmed that Lemekhani Nathan Nyirenda was recruited from prison to fight in Russia’s war in Ukraine.  Nyirenda died on the front lines in August, but the circumstances of his death — and how he came to be in Ukraine — were not conveyed to his family, which only learnt of his death in November…Nyirenda’s family were not available for comment. Zambia’s ministry of foreign affairs told The Continent that it had not yet received official confirmation from the Russian government about what happened to Nyirenda, or details on the eventual repatriation of his remains. Mail & Guardian

Ex-Mozambique President’s Son Gets 12 Years in Jail for Graft
Ndambi Guebuza, the son of Mozambique’s former president Armando Guebuza will serve 12 years in jail after he was convicted in a $2 billion corruption case, a court ruled Wednesday. The scandal emanated from loans to three state-owned companies — Indicus, Ematum and Mam — meant to finance a fishing project. President Guebuza ruled Mozambique between 2005 and 2015 and the loans were secretly endorsed by the ruling Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo) government, led then by him, without the knowledge of parliament and the Administrative Court. East African

Tunisians Dream of Moving to Germany as Crisis Bites
Germany is becoming a key destination for disillusioned young Tunisians. Europe’s biggest economy, with its low birth rate, is crying out for labour, and many Tunisians, exhausted by years of economic crisis, see an opportunity for a legal path to emigration. Numbers are small but rising fast. Germany granted 5,474 work permits to Tunisians from January to October — up from 4,462 in the whole of last year. The trend has been stimulated by the fact Germany has no quota restrictions for countries of origin and increasingly recognises foreign diplomas. AfricaNews with AFP

Nigeria: Civil Society Groups Ask CJN to Resign
The CJN, who recently visited Port Harcourt, Rivers State, reportedly said he was happy that Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State was part of the G5. Addressing newsmen in Kaduna, yesterday, Secretary General of the coalition, Muhammad Bn-Ahmad, said “the CJN has set a poor precedence” for others and ought to have the decency to step down, as most honest people do for less evident reasons. He stated: “Nigeria is a democratic society and one that allows for free speech. The constitution has made that a reality and, as Nigerians, we are free to speak on issues of national interest, but in a guarded way. But, a thing of note is that as much as we have been licensed by the constitution to freely speak, people in certain situations or offices must be extremely careful of what to say, particularly as regards ethno-religious affiliations. Guardian Nigeria