Sudan: ‘Hallmarks of Genocide’ Found in El Fasher, UN Investigators Detail Mass Killings and Ethnic Targeting
In a report released on Thursday, the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan said the evidence establishes that at least three underlying acts of genocide were committed: “killing members of a protected ethnic group; causing serious bodily and mental harm; and deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the group’s physical destruction in whole or in part.” “The scale, coordination, and public endorsement of the operation by senior RSF leadership demonstrate that the crimes committed in and around El Fasher were not random excesses of war,” said Mohamed Chande Othman, Chair of the mission. “They formed part of a planned and organized operation that bears the defining characteristics of genocide.” … ” Genocidal intent, the mission said, was “the only reasonable inference” from the RSF’s “systematic pattern of ethnically targeted killings, sexual violence, destruction, and public statements explicitly calling for the elimination of non-Arab communities.”UN News
Sudan’s Historic Acacia Forest Devastated as War Fuels Logging
Vast stretches of a once-verdant acacia forest south of Sudan’s capital Khartoum have been reduced to little more than fields of stumps as nearly three years of conflict have fuelled deforestation. What was once a 1,500-hectare natural reserve has been “completely wiped out”, Boushra Hamed, head of environmental affairs for Khartoum state, told AFP. Al-Sunut forest had long served as a haven for migratory birds and a vital green shield against the Nile’s seasonal floods. “During the war, Khartoum state has lost 60 percent of its green cover,” Hamed said, describing how century-old trees “were cut down with electric saws” for commercial timber and charcoal production. … Experts say that the economic hardship caused by the war combined with a lack of enforcement has encouraged logging. AFP
Somali Militias Terrorise Locals After Driving Out Al-Shabaab
Al-Shabaab runs a parallel state in many parts of Somalia, collecting taxes, running courts and public services. They are often brutal to those who oppose them, and the Hawadle clan who dominate Hiiraan enthusiastically joined the government’s offensive in 2022 and 2023, helping drive Al-Shabaab out of dozens of towns and villages. … [The Hawadle clan] formed militias known as Macwiisley after the traditional sarongs they wore, and were showered with weapons and logistical support by the government. Arming the Hawadle yielded vital local intelligence, manpower and legitimacy to the government, but pushed rival clans further into the arms of Al-Shabaab, and gave the Macwiisley free rein over the local population. … In February 2025, the head of the military court in Mogadishu told local reporters that rights abuses by the Macwiisley, including killings and sexual violence, now dominated its caseload. And when Al-Shabaab launched a counter-offensive last year, the government did little to help, having shifted the focus of its military strategy to other regions. AFP
Suspected Lakurawa Militants Kill 34 in Coordinated Attacks on Nigerian Villages
At least 34 people were killed on Tuesday when suspected Lakurawa Islamist militants launched coordinated attacks on multiple rural villages in Nigeria’s northwestern Kebbi state, a security report seen by Reuters said on Thursday. Lakurawa, a new insurgent group, operates mainly in Kebbi and Sokoto states in northwestern Nigeria. … The new assaults mirrored previous Lakurawa raids in Kebbi, where armed groups hit small villages with simultaneous strikes to swamp local defences and force residents to flee, the report said. The gunmen swept through villages in the remote border district, opening fire in what survivors described as highly organised, indiscriminate attacks. The dead included 16 in Mamunu, five in Awashaka, three in Masama and two each in five other villages, the security report said. … Security forces have moved into the area to protect communities, aid survivors and cut off the militants’ escape routes, with tracking operations under way, the report said. Reuters
A Deadly Attack Shows Nigeria’s Security Crisis Is Worsening
The biggest threat facing Nigerians in the north-west and increasingly in the central regions is still the hundreds of armed groups known as bandits. Motivated by money rather than ideology, they find willing recruits in the abjectly poor communities they terrorise and have little to fear from law enforcement in areas that are barely governed. Their business is evolving, too. Traditionally, they have focused their attentions on stealing cattle and crops. But many have become more directly involved in illegal gold mining, especially in Zamfara state, which has made them richer, better armed and more violent. All this has also intensified traditional dynamics between bandits and jihadists. One way jihadists are able to gain influence is by offering protection to communities menaced by bandits. But where the grip of bandits proves too strong, civilians are less likely to be “protected” and more likely to end up in the crossfire. There is a small chance that both types of groups run out of steam as they move ever farther south. Jihadist groups rely on ethnic and kinship networks to recruit their rank and file, which will be harder the farther they veer from traditional strongholds. Bandits, who thrive on weak governance, will struggle to deepen their influence in the more urban and better governed south. But that will not help anyone they are currently terrorising. The Economist
Gabon Suspends Access to Social Media as Critics Accuse Its Leader of Crackdown on Dissent
Gabon has suspended access to social media and digital platforms throughout the central African nation until further notice, the authorities said as critics accuse the country’s leader of crackdown on dissent. … Social media platforms — including Meta and TikTok — were severely impacted on Wednesday. The two, along with WhatsApp, the messaging service owned by Meta, are the most widely used by Gabonese citizens. WhatsApp calls were also experiencing significant disruptions on Wednesday. The country’s leader, Gen. Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema had toppled President Ali Bongo Ondimba, who was accused of irresponsible governance. Last year, Oligui Nguema won the presidential election, raising hopes for a return to constitutional democracy. However, critics say he has been increasingly clamping down on critical voices, targeting independent media and trade unionists. A journalist and two trade unionists were imprisoned last year. AP
African Recruits Fighting in Ukraine: Where’s the AU?
[Video] As reports grow of Africans lured into the Russia‑Ukraine conflict under false promises, civil society groups are pressuring the African Union to move beyond statements of concern and take concrete action to protect vulnerable citizens. DW
‘Pay Or He Dies’, Families Told as More Egyptians Risk Mediterranean Crossing
[Last year, a rising exodus made Egyptians the top African and second-largest global group of irregular migrants to Europe.] More than 17,000 Egyptians reached Europe via the Mediterranean last year, while 1,328 people of all nationalities died or disappeared on the world’s deadliest migration route, according to Frontex and the UN. In recent years, a currency collapse and soaring inflation have deepened poverty nationwide, leaving much of Egypt’s more than 50 million people under 30 feeling they have no future at home. … After Egypt curbed irregular departures from its own shores in 2016, routes shifted west through Libya, where smugglers move migrants across the desert in minibuses and pickup trucks — a journey Nour Khalil of the Egypt Refugees Platform calls “more dangerous”. The UN says Egyptians rely on “well-established smuggling networks” that charge high fees while survivors report “arbitrary detention, torture, rape, sexual slavery, starvation and forced labour”, according to French charity SOS Mediterranee. AFP
Migrants and Refugees in Libya Subjected to ‘Systematic’ Abuse: UN Report
Migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers in Libya are enduring ruthless and systematic human rights violations, including killings, torture, sexual violence and trafficking, according to a new report published [this week] by the UN human rights office, OHCHR. Covering the period from January 2024 to December 2025, the report documents what it calls an “exploitative model preying on migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees in situations of heightened vulnerability”, describing it as a “brutal and normalised reality” that has become business as usual in Libya. Based on interviews with nearly 100 migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees from 16 countries across Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, the report details harrowing accounts of abduction, arbitrary detention and extreme abuse. … According to the findings, migrants are rounded up by criminal networks – often with ties to Libyan authorities – and transferred to detention facilities without due process. Many experience slavery, forced labour, forced prostitution, extortion, and the confiscation and re-sale of their belongings and identity documents. UN News
Prominent Angolan Journalist Targeted with Predator Spyware
A phone used by prominent Angolan journalist Teixeira Candido was infected with surveillance software from spyware vendor Intellexa for a brief period in May 2024, Amnesty International said in a report published on Tuesday. Candido was the head of the Syndicate of Angolan Journalists when his phone was targeted with a series of WhatsApp messages starting in April 2024, according to the report. He appears to have clicked a link in one of the messages on May 4, which triggered the Predator infection, giving whoever targeted him full access to the contents of his phone, according to the report. Intellexa’s spyware has been linked to a string of privacy abuses in recent years, according to researchers and the U.S. government. Amnesty International, which said it was the first confirmed case of Predator’s use in Angola, did not attribute the targeting to a specific government customer. … A [2024] Treasury Department notice described the business as “a complex international web of decentralized companies that built and commercialized a comprehensive suite of highly invasive spyware products” that had been used to target government officials, journalists, policy experts and opposition politicians. Reuters
Sierra Leone Honours Nigeria’s Military Chief with National Award
President Julius Bio of Sierra Leone has conferred the prestigious Grand Commander of the Order of the Rokel on Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, Olufemi Oluyede, an army general. … The decoration was performed during a colourful parade marking the 17th Armed Forces Day of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces in Freetown. … Speaking on the award, Mr Bio said it was in recognition of Mr Oluyede’s service under the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), as well as the sacrifices of Nigerian officers and soldiers who played critical roles in ending Sierra Leone’s civil war. In his citation, the Sierra Leonean authorities noted that Mr Oluyede served as a Platoon Commander at the residence of the then Head of State between 1992 and 1994, where he demonstrated exemplary leadership, professionalism and commitment to the protection of government institutions. … “The honour further underscores the enduring military and diplomatic ties between Nigeria and Sierra Leone, as well as Nigeria’s leadership in regional peace support operations,” [Nigeria’s Director of Defence Information Samaila Uba] said. News Agency of Nigeria
Kenya Unveils Digital Trade Hubs to Drive AfCFTA Deals
Kenya has unveiled two new digital trade platforms, BiasharaLink and Deal House, to be rolled out across its diplomatic missions in support of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The initiative aims to transform embassies into hubs for trade and investment, marking a new phase of digitally driven economic diplomacy across the continent. Unveiled at a high-level reception in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the landmark project is a significant step towards operationalising the AfCFTA by transforming how trade deals are originated and executed. … BiasharaLink, a digital system, will allow diplomatic missions, exporters, investors and market actors to formally capture, structure and track trade and investment opportunities aligned with AfCFTA priorities. Deal House will serve as the execution layer: opportunities generated through BiasharaLink are validated, matched with credible counterparties, connected to financing and progressed towards contract execution. … The innovative technology marks the first coordinated effort between policymakers and private sector leaders to unlock the untapped commercial potential of African embassies, translating the ambitions of the AU Agenda 2063. The East African