A Rebel Group Is Advancing on Eastern Congo’s Largest City and over 100,000 People Have Fled
The M23 rebel group’s advance toward eastern Congo’s largest city has displaced over 178,000 people in the past two weeks, the United Nations said, as the fighters closed in on Goma on the border with Rwanda. The M23 has been making significant advances, though it was unclear whether the rebels will try to capture Goma, which they seized in 2012 and controlled for over a week. Congolese authorities said Tuesday its fighters seized the town of Minova, on a key supply route for Goma, a regional hub for security and humanitarian efforts. AP
Chad Opposition Protests Final Election Results Won by Transitional President’s Party
Chad’s Constitutional Council has ignored opposition calls to set aside results of last month’s parliamentary elections for gross irregularities and fraud, and proclaimed the ruling party of Chad’s president, Mahamat Idriss Deby, the winner. Officials said nominations for senatorial elections to end the transition are open, but the opposition insisted another transitional government should be formed and transparent elections organized to end the three-decade Deby family rule…The opposition said the polls, the first in over a decade, should be set aside because most of Chad’s roughly 8.3 million voters heeded opposition calls for a boycott. There were no indications the polls were to be free, fair and transparent as civilians already knew that Deby wanted to confiscate power, Chad’s opposition said…Chad’s Political Actors Consultation Group, or GCAP, a coalition of several dozen political parties, on Wednesday said democracy was stifled during Chad’s three-year transition period. GCAP said Deby, who took power as a military ruler in 2021, persecutes critical opposition leaders to maintain the rule of his father. Idriss Deby spent three decades in power until he died while fighting rebels in April 2021. VOA
South Sudan Suspends Social Media Platforms over Videos of Sudan Killings
South Sudanese authorities have suspended access to social media platforms for a minimum of 30 days after videos depicting the alleged killings of South Sudanese nationals in Sudan’s El Gezira state triggered riots and deadly revenge attacks…Customers of mobile operators MTN South Sudan and Zain would not be able to access Facebook, TikTok and other platforms for a maximum period of 90 days, the companies said in statements issued on Wednesday…At least 16 Sudanese nationals were killed last week when riots erupted in South Sudan’s capital Juba and elsewhere in the country. Youths in several cities looted and vandalized shops owned by Sudanese nationals and burned several homes, police said, in retaliation for what they believed was the involvement of Sudan’s military and allied groups in the killings in El Gezira. Reuters
Sudan’s Lost Treasures: War Fuels Artefact Trafficking
Sudanese officials and government sources have revealed ongoing efforts to track and recover stolen Sudanese artefacts from several museums, particularly those that have passed through South Sudan or across its borders. The extent and value of the stolen artefacts remain unknown due to the difficulty officials face in accessing the National Museum in Khartoum and other museums across the country, all of which are in conflict zones between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)…[Ikhlas Abdellatif, director of museums at the Sudanese National Corporation for Antiquities and Head of the Sudanese Antiquities Recovery Committee] confirmed that the looted artefacts from the [National Museum] were transported by large trucks through Omdurman to western Sudan and from there to the borders, particularly to South Sudan. This comes as private sources in Juba, the South Sudanese capital, confirmed to Sudan Tribune that a group of art dealers from European and African countries are purchasing these artefacts and transporting them out of the country. Sudan Tribune
Mozambique Opposition Leader Says Will Not Join New Govt
Mozambique opposition leader Venancio Mondlane told AFP on Wednesday that he was not interested in joining the new government formed after a deadly months-long dispute over election results. Mondlane, whose claim to have won the October presidential election led the country into weeks of unrest, said he was ready to help find solutions but “not to be part of the government”. Daniel Chapo was sworn in as president a week ago, vowing to unite the country after post-election violence that has claimed more than 300 lives. Mondlane has called for a new round of low-key protests to back his claim that the election was stolen from him, and issued the government with “conditions” for peace to be addressed in Chapo’s first 100 days in office. AFP
Gabon’s Military Government Announces Presidential Election on April 12
Gabon will hold a presidential election on April 12, the council of ministers said. The West African country is currently ruled by the military following a coup in August 2023…The announcement comes after the adoption last Sunday by Gabon’s parliament of a new electoral code, which sets out the rules and conditions for organizing elections in the country. [The legislation] could pave the way for Gen. Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, who led the 2023 coup that overthrew former president Ali Bongo Ondimba, to run for his first presidential term. Gabon’s constitution, which was adopted by referendum in November, sets the presidential term at 7 years, renewable once. AP
Fiery Tanzanian Politician Tundu Lissu Elected to Head Opposition Party
Prominent Tanzanian politician Tundu Lissu has been elected chairman of the main opposition party Chadema, ousting long-running leader Freeman Mbowe in an intense race. Lissu campaigned for changes in the party leadership while criticising the way it was being run, amid heated exchanges that were seen as exposing internal divisions. He accused Mbowe of having changed, and being too reconciliatory towards the CCM party that has been power since independence, which he said had made people lose trust in Chadema. Mbowe, the party’s chairman for more than 20 years, campaigned on grounds that he still had more work to do to strengthen the party. He accused Lissu of making accusations against him without providing any evidence. The party’s elections, which concluded on Wednesday morning, were seen as defining the party’s direction, with presidential elections due in October this year. BBC
Disinformation Fuels Ethnic Tension In Ethiopia
Supporters of Ethiopia’s warring factions are exploiting increasingly advanced technology and poor media literacy to spread disinformation that provokes anger between ethnic groups, risking fresh violence, experts warn…[False claims] have ranged from misleadingly edited speeches by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to a false announcement that a rebel leader had died. A lack of media literacy is “aggravating pre-existing conflicts” and “giving rise to new socio-political challenges,” said journalism lecturer Workineh Diribsa of Jimma University…AFP Fact Check investigations have found that all sides spread disinformation to stir tensions and malign opponents…”The warring parties in Ethiopia are fighting to control information on social media with increasingly sophisticated disinformation tactics and poor media literacy has made the situation worse,” [said Norwegian journalism lecturer Terje Skjerdal, who has extensively researched Ethiopia’s media landscape]. AFP
Swazi Human Rights Lawyers Live in Fear after Thulani Maseko Assassination — ICJ Report
The unsolved assassination of top Swazi human rights lawyer and political activist Thulani Maseko two years ago this week has had a “chilling effect” on the independence of lawyers in Eswatini “and their ability to practice without fear of threat or reprisal”. This is one of the main findings of a major report by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) investigating the independence of judges and lawyers in Eswatini, with a particular focus on the experiences of lawyers handling public interest and human rights cases…The report found that many lawyers fear the same sort of “extrajudicial killing” which befell Maseko, the country’s leading human rights lawyer and political activist, who was shot dead through a window of his home near Mbabane on the night of 21 January 2023. No one has been arrested for his murder. Daily Maverick
Nigeria Hikes Mobile Phone Tariffs By 50 Percent
Mobile telephone and data subscribers in Nigeria will now have to pay more after the government approved a 50-percent increase in tariffs, as the country battles one of its worst cost-of-living crises in decades. The industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), said earlier this week that it approved the tariff hike “in response to prevailing market conditions”. The tariffs have remained the same in Africa’s fourth-largest economy since 2013, the regulator said. The hike will heap more pressure on Nigerians already grappling with inflation that sits at a near 30-year high of 34.8 percent…Telecommunications companies in the west African country had initially proposed a 100-percent tariff increase in the face of rising operational costs. Operators, however, accepted the government’s proposed prices, Gbenga Adebayo, chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria, said. AFP
UN Seeks $910 Million for Humanitarian Crisis in Nigeria’s Northeast
The United Nations will this week appeal for $910 million to help tackle a humanitarian crisis in northeastern Nigeria, which has been in the grip of an Islamist insurgency since 2009 and was hit by flooding last year, documents showed on Wednesday. The UN documents seen by Reuters showed that 7.8 million people need help in the three northeastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, and the UN aims to help 3.6 million of them. At $910 million, it is the most expensive humanitarian crisis in West and Central Africa, ahead of Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, the documents showed…A joint report by the government and UN in November said Nigeria faces one of its worst hunger crises with more than 30 million people expected to be food-insecure this year. Reuters
Botswana Closes Doors on Foreign Teachers, Truck Drivers
A Botswanan official said this week the nation will no longer issue work permits to foreign teachers and truck drivers in order to protect local jobs. Minister of Labor and Home Affairs Pius Mokgware told a group of unemployed teachers protesting in Gaborone that the government already has stopped issuing permits to foreign educators and truck drivers…In neighboring South Africa, clashes between migrants and locals have often turned deadly, with citizens arguing foreigners are taking their jobs…Botswana’s stable economy has attracted migrant workers, the majority fleeing hardship in neighboring Zimbabwe. According to figures from the government office Statistics Botswana, there are 4,581 holders of foreign work permits in Botswana, with teachers comprising 18% of the total. VOA