Sudanese Paramilitary Force Abducting Children in Darfur, Witnesses Say
Paramilitary fighters kidnapped children during their takeover of the Sudanese city of al-Fashir in October and in other attacks in the Darfur region over the course of Sudan’s civil war, in some cases killing their parents first, witnesses say. The descriptions, based on Reuters interviews with more than two dozen witnesses, included four accounts of fighters from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) telling families the children would be used as slaves, to herd animals. … While human rights groups have reported alleged war crimes by both sides including the recruitment of child combatants, the abduction and enslavement of children by the RSF and allied militias has not been previously reported by other media. The 26 witnesses spoke to Reuters in person or by phone after fleeing to the North Darfur town of Tawila or to eastern Chad. … In most cases, the witnesses described RSF fighters taking children whose parents had recently been killed, at gunpoint or after beating the children. In some cases, six witnesses said, the children had seen their parents being killed. Reuters
Niger’s Junta Leader Accuses France, Benin, and Ivory Coast of Being Behind Airport Attack
Niger’s military leader has accused the presidents of France, Benin and Ivory Coast of supporting armed groups that attacked an air force base in the capital, wounding four soldiers and damaging an aircraft. … He didn’t provide any evidence to back up his accusation. … Niamey’s airport is a strategic hub that hosts military bases, the headquarters of the Niger-Burkina Faso-Mali Joint Force, and a large uranium stockpile at the center of a dispute with French nuclear company Orano. … Since seizing power, Niger’s military rulers — along with those in neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso — have cut ties with France and other Western powers and turned to Russia for military support to fight insurgencies. The juntas regularly accuse the presidents of Benin and Ivory Coast, two West African countries that maintain close relations with France, of acting as proxies for Paris. Under the military juntas, Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso have seen a surge in attacks and have become more vulnerable to the armed groups, experts say. AP
Burkina Faso Military Government Dissolves Political Parties
Burkina Faso’s military-led government has dissolved all political parties and scrapped the legal framework governing their operations, according to a decree approved by the West African nation’s council of ministers on Thursday. The decision by the military rulers who seized power in September 2022 is the latest move to tighten control following the suspension of political activities after the coup. … Before the coup, the country had over 100 registered political parties, with 15 represented in parliament after the 2020 general election. The decree disbands all political parties and political formations. A law repealing the statutes and regulating party financing, and the status of the opposition leader, will be sent to the current transitional council, according to minutes of the cabinet meeting. All the assets of the dissolved parties will be transferred to the state. Reuters
South Sudan: Guterres Presses Juba to Halt Military Action
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has urged South Sudan’s government and opposition forces to immediately halt all military operations, warning that escalating violence is deepening civilian suffering and worsening an already dire humanitarian crisis. The army last week launched a major offensive in Jonglei State against forces loyal to the Sudan People’s Liberation Army-in-Opposition (SPLA-IO), ordering civilian evacuations and telling aid agencies to leave areas where military operations are ongoing. In a Thursday statement attributed to his spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, Guterres said he was “deeply concerned” by the continued escalation of violence, most recently in Jonglei, where fighting has caused many deaths and injuries and displaced a reported 180,000 civilians. He said he was alarmed by inflammatory rhetoric targeting specific communities and by the announcement of expanded military operations, warning that such actions would further harm civilians already in a highly vulnerable situation. Radio Tamazuj
South Sudan: MSF Faults Juba Government for Blocking Humanitarian Access to Opposition Areas
Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has denounced the restrictions on humanitarian access that the government of South Sudan has imposed exclusively in parts of the opposition-held areas of Jonglei State. According to a Friday press release extended to Radio Tamazuj, these restrictions limit MSF’s ability to deliver essential medical assistance for communities, which can have particularly dangerous consequences for children, pregnant women, and people living with chronic or life-threatening conditions. … On 29 January, MSF’s team in Pieri was also forced to leave the facility, due to the imminent danger of armed conflict. We had to discharge most of our patients, grab emergency kits, and flee the town along with the local community,” the statement said. MSF said it is the only health provider serving about 250 thousand people in Lankien and Pieri, and another 112 thousand in Akobo. This means that almost 400,000 people will be left without any healthcare if the government refuses to grant MSF access and we are forced to leave the area. Radio Tamazuj
Congo’s Regime Hounds Its Opponents
Early in the morning on January 18th security officers arrived at Aubin Minaku’s home in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and took the opposition politician away. He has not been heard from since. On January 5th masked men dragged Nathanaël Onokomba out of a talk he was giving in Kinshasa. His lawyer says the activist was subsequently held incommunicado for five days, beaten and denied food. The two men are the latest victims of a widening crackdown on Congo’s opposition. … The rise in repression looks like an attempt to distract from the government’s inability to restore control over eastern Congo. … All major opposition parties have recently complained about arbitrary arrests; most of their leaders are in exile. … Congo is hardly known for its thriving political freedoms, but human-rights groups say the recent wave of arrests is remarkable for its breadth. It is unclear how many have been arrested, but it may be hundreds. High-profile cases are handled by the CNC, a shadowy, relatively new agency that reports directly to the president. More people are being held incommunicado without access to lawyers or regard for due process. Sometimes, humiliating videos of detainees asking for forgiveness turn up on social media. The Economist
Tigray Opposition Parties Urge International Mediators to Intervene as Tensions Raise Fears of Renewed War
Several Tigray-based opposition political parties have issued separate open letters warning of an imminent risk of renewed conflict in the region and calling on international mediators and guarantors of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CoHA) to take urgent preventive action. Salsay Weyane Tigray (SaWeT) and the Tigray Independence Party (TIP), in letters addressed to the United Nations, the African Union (AU), the United States, the European Union, and other guarantors and facilitators of the Pretoria peace agreement, expressed deep concern over what they described as escalating political and military tensions that could unravel the fragile peace in Tigray. … Both parties stressed that another war in Tigray would be catastrophic for a population already exhausted by years of conflict, mass displacement, and economic devastation. They described renewed fighting as avoidable and called for immediate, impartial, and decisive action by international stakeholders. … Meanwhile, Tigray Democratic Solidarity (Simret), in a separate statement, called on the international community to exert what it described as comprehensive pressure to ensure the full implementation of the Pretoria peace agreement. Addis Standard
U.S. and AU Agree to Create Task Force to Bolster Relations
Officials from the U.S. and African Union met in Addis Ababa on Wedesday to discuss ties. Together they green lighted a deal to create a task force between the two sides, in order to boost infrastructure and investment. For the chairperson of the African Union commission, it’s a win win. Mahmoud Ali Youssouf said, “we live in a globalised world. I believe that we all need each other. The United States needs Africa for its resources, wealth, etc. And Africa also needs the United States for its expertise, technology and investment. … Africa considers its partnership with the United States to be a strategic one.” A sentiment shared by Christopher Landau, US Deputy Secretary of State, who said, ”it’s in our interest to have a stable and prosperous Africa. Africa presents many economic and commercial opportunities.” A joint statement noted that the task force seeks to enhance economic partnerships between the U.S. and Africa, shore up economic security and help job creation. The statement also stressed that the creation of high quality infrastructure that helps trade is key to boosting Africa’s economy. Africanews
Chad, France Eye Economic Cooperation as They Reset Strained Ties
Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron have agreed to renew relations between the two countries that were strained after Chad abruptly broke off military cooperation. The two leaders met in Paris late Thursday and agreed plans for a “revitalised partnership” with a focus on economic ties, the Elysee said. The largely desert country had been a key link in France’s military presence in Africa and its last foothold in the wider Sahel region after the forced withdrawal of French troops from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger in the wake of military coups. But in a surprise move, Deby ended military cooperation with its former colonial ruler in November 2024 and French troops began leaving the following month. … “Revitalising economic cooperation is a priority,” the Chadian presidency said in a statement after the two leaders’ talks at the French presidential palace. … The French presidency, for its part, said: “The focus is no longer on security but on the dynamics of investment and cultural exchanges.” AFP
How Proxies of the Chinese State Gained Control of a Strategic Rare-Earths Mining Licence in Malawi, but Left the Land to Rot
More than eight years ago, Mawei, then a privately controlled company, announced it had found a treasure trove of minerals in … central Malawi. Surveys found more than 350-million tonnes of ore in the area, including zircon, titanium, ilmenite, magnetite, and rare earth-bearing monazite. Mawei pledged to spend some $40-million on the first phase of construction, projecting the start of operations by early 2020. Malawi’s government stood to make millions in taxes and fees from the 20-year project to extract that mineral wealth. … Today, the patch of earth that once held so much promise looks abandoned. … An investigation by the Platform for Investigative Journalism and Finance Uncovered found ownership of Mawei has shifted twice since 2023 – and without the legally required approval from the Malawian government. Through a game of corporate pass-the-parcel, the Mawei licence ultimately came to be controlled by regional state authorities in China. … A World Bank study of Malawi’s extractives sector, published in May, offers an unflinching assessment. The country’s official licence register is neither up to date nor fully digitised. Regulatory authorities lack the staff, resources, and equipment to effectively monitor mining sites. The country also has no accredited minerals lab, so every sample must be sent abroad to be tested. In a system in which the regulator can neither inspect nor consistently publish contracts, foreign firms face little pressure to operate transparently. The Continent
Ivory Coast: Government Launches Cocoa Buyback Scheme
Ivory Coast’s Coffee and Cocoa council has launched its initiative to buy beans so producers can get paid. Cocoa stocks have been piling up in co operatives in the country, with several factors leading to a crisis in the sector. Yves Brahima Koné, director general of the Coffee and Cocoa Council, said “the first factor is the logistics problem in the ports, the fact that ships coming into the port of Abidjan are not arriving on time to collect the production that is available. Secondly, there is the liquidity problem. Once there is a liquidity problem, you understand that within the commercialisation chain, there is a payment problem. These two factors combined have led to a slowdown in commercialisation within the country.” Exporters have refused to purchase beans following a drop in global cocoa prices. The government’s buyback scheme seeks to stave off a social crisis, as many in the country depend on cocoa as a source of income. Koné insisted “we therefore now have the assurance that growers will receive the official price set by the government.” Africanews
Nigerian Afrobeat Legend Fela Kuti Becomes First African to Receive Lifetime Grammy
Thirty years after his death, Nigerian Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti is set to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s Grammys. He’ll be the first African to achieve the honour since the award was introduced in 1963. Kuti pioneered the Afrobeat style in the 1960s and ’70s with drummer Tony Allen, fusing influences from West African music with American soul, funk and jazz. Across an almost 30-year career, Kuti released more than 50 albums until his death in 1997 at the age of 58. … Alongside his music, Kuti was a committed political activist, supporting Pan-Africanism and socialism, as well as the Black Panther movement in the United States. Much of his music directly challenged the Nigerian authorities and he was arrested dozens of times. Kuti’s family and friends will attend Sunday’s Grammy ceremony to accept the award. Other artists being recognized for their lifetime work include Carlos Santana, Chaka Khan, Whitney Houston, Cher and Paul Simon. Africanews and Agencies