Rwanda Exercises Command and Control over M23 Rebels, Say UN Experts
Rwanda has exercised command and control over M23 rebels during their advance in eastern Congo, gaining political influence and access to mineral-rich territory, according to a confidential report by a group of United Nations experts. The report obtained by Reuters details training which the experts say Rwanda has provided to M23 recruits and military equipment they say Rwanda has deployed – notably “high-tech systems capable of neutralizing air assets” – to give the rebels “a decisive tactical advantage” over Congo’s beleaguered army…The U.N. report said Rwanda has hosted leaders of a rebel coalition that includes M23 at its Gabiro Training Centre and also used military centres in Nasho and Gako to train M23 recruits. Rwanda also “drastically increased” the number of Rwandan troops in eastern Congo ahead of M23’s advance, according to the experts, who offered “a conservative estimate of 6,000” Rwandan troops active in Congo’s North and South Kivu provinces. The U.N. experts also accused Rwanda of “flagrant and systematic violations” of an arms embargo, and said a likely missile attack in January on an armoured personnel carrier carrying U.N. peacekeepers – killing one and injuring four others – appeared to have been fired from a Rwandan military position. An estimated 1,000 to 1,500 Rwandan troops were still active in M23-held territory when the report was drafted, and “several thousand” remained along the border ready to deploy, said the report, which covers investigations conducted up to April 20. Reuters
Jihadist Group Harbours Political Ambitions in Troubled Sahel
In Africa’s turbulent Sahel region, the JNIM jihadist group is expanding its influence by repeated massacres, food distribution and signing pacts with local authorities to position itself as a key political player…JNIM has become the most influential jihadist group and, according to the United Nations, the most significant threat in the Sahel, using weapons and politics to weaken states and position itself as a credible alternative. A coordinated attack on several military installations in western Mali early on Tuesday, bears the group’s hallmarks. The JNIM on Tuesday afternoon claimed responsibility for the strikes in seven towns…The JNIM does not have the capacity to govern large cities like the Sahelian capitals. However, it governs villages indirectly through local agreements tailored to the area. Such agreements allow the group to impose Islamic law on local communities, prohibit them from cooperating with national armies and generate revenue by imposing Islamic taxes. AFP
‘Even the Birds Have Fled’: In Mali, Entire Villages Wiped off the Map by Jihadists
[In Mali, entire villages in the north and centre are being emptied out, their residents forced to leave.] In Koro district, near the Burkinabe border, two villages have been ’emptied’, according to an aid worker who asked not to be named. ‘There’s no one left in Kassa Saou or Kassa Berda,’ he says. ‘These were villages that had existed for generations. But what can people do? They can’t live at gunpoint.’ In this part of the country, the list of abandoned villages is endless…Around Diafarabé, where a massacre by the army on 12 May was followed by a jihadist blockade, the inhabitants of Darou, Tielembéya, Barké Daga and Kara were also forced into exile. Closer to Bamako, in the Ségou region, several villages in the Tominian district…exist now in name only’, according to a local source. The pattern is always the same: armed men appear, accuse the villagers of collaborating with the army, and order them to leave. Out of fear, many give in. Then comes the exodus…Beyond the human tragedy, Mali’s entire territorial structure is at risk of collapse. ‘When a commune loses half its villages, it becomes administratively unviable,’ said a civil servant based in the Timbuktu region. In these areas beyond state control, JNIM and ISGS enforce their own systems: governance structures, tax circuits and parallel justice. The Africa Report
UN Pushes for El Fasher Truce as Sudan Crisis Deepens
The United Nations is urging Sudan’s warring factions to agree to a humanitarian pause in the besieged city of El Fasher, a UN spokesman said on Tuesday, though the effort appears stalled after the army agreed to a truce that its paramilitary foes rejected. The UN’s top humanitarian official, Tom Fletcher, spoke with senior figures from both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) this week to press for the pause, spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said. The diplomatic push follows Sudan’s army chief, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, agreeing last week to a one-week truce for El Fasher during a call with U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres. However, the RSF did not formally respond, and a senior advisor, Elbasha Tbaeq, rejected the proposal as an attempt to rearm besieged army militias. The conflict has created a massive displacement crisis…Compounding the crisis is the onset of the rainy season, which typically lasts through October. The UN’s humanitarian office (OCHA) warned that potential flooding could block aid delivery and heighten the risk of disease outbreaks. Last year, floods affected nearly half a million people in Sudan. Sudan Tribune
India’s Modi Visits Ghana En Route To BRICS Summit
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is due in Ghana on Wednesday, the first Indian leader to visit the cocoa-rich country in three decades as the Asian nation competes with China and Russia for economic influence in Africa. He is scheduled to hold bilateral trade and cooperation talks with Ghana’s President John Mahama, who has been in power since January. Modi is also due to address the Ghanaian parliament in the capital, Accra, and meet members of the Indian community in the largest gold-producing country in Africa. Accra is the first stop in a tour that will take the Indian premier to Caribbean and South American countries…Last month, the Indian leader attended the G7 summit in Canada, demonstrating his determination to carry the voice of the “Global South”, acting as a “bridge” between various players on the international scene, his foreign minister told AFP. Modi will remain in Accra until midday on Thursday, before flying to Trinidad and Tobago, then on to Argentina and Brazil. He will attend a summit of the BRICS group of emerging economies in Rio de Janeiro on July 6 and 7…India is one of Ghana’s main trading partners and is the leading destination for Ghanaian exports, primarily due to Indian gold imports. AFP
India Sends Geologists to Zambia to Explore Copper and Cobalt Deposits, Sources Say
India has dispatched a team of geologists to Zambia to explore copper and cobalt deposits, two Indian government sources said, as New Delhi steps up efforts to secure critical mineral supplies essential to its energy transition. The Zambian government this year agreed to allocate 9,000 square km (3,475 square miles) to India for the exploration of cobalt – a key component in batteries for electric vehicles and mobile phones – as well as for scouting copper, which is widely used in power generation, electronics, and construction. The exploration project will last for three years and most of the analysis will be done in laboratories in India, one of the sources said. The team is expected to make multiple visits over the course of the entire project, said the sources, who declined to be identified because the information is not public. After assessing the mining potential, the Indian government will seek a mining lease from the Zambian government and may also invite private-sector companies to participate in the project, the sources said…New Delhi has been in talks with several African countries to acquire critical mineral blocks on a government-to-government basis, while also exploring opportunities in Australia and Latin America. Reuters
Zimbabwe Party Loses Bid to Block Mugabe-era Massacre Hearings
A Zimbabwean court rejected Tuesday a bid by an opposition party to block government-called hearings into a 1980s massacre of thousands of people by elite troops during former president Robert Mugabe’s long and repressive rule. The court challenge to call off the process was led by a son of the late Joshua Nkomo, Mugabe’s bitter rival during the Rhodesian war of independence when two rival parties — Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and Nkomo’s Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) emerged to challenge the colonial government. Nkomo’s supporters were brutally targeted in the so-called Gukurahundi massacre by North Korean-trained soldiers sent by Mugabe to quell a rebellion. The repression included torture and rape. An estimated 20,000 people were killed in Matabeleland, Nkomo’s power base and heartland of the Ndebele people…President Emmerson Mnangagwa announced the hearings a year ago, apparently in a bid to settle longstanding grievances and tensions over the killings in a region that feels marginalised by Harare and the ethnic Shona majority. AFP
France Returns Military Base to Senegal as Part of Broader Withdrawal
France handed over to Senegal a military base used by its army on Tuesday, as part of a broader withdrawal of French troops from the west African country. Senegal’s President Bassirou Dioumaye Faye annouced late last year that former colonial power France would have to close its military bases in Senegal by 2025 — a process that began in March with the first handovers to Senegalese authorities. France returned on Tuesday a military communications centre located in Rufisque, near Dakar, the French embassy in Senegal said in a statement. The station had been “responsible for communications on the southern Atlantic coast since 1960”, the statement read…[A]ll Senegalese staff working for French troops in Senegal were to be dismissed starting on July 1. AFP
Uganda: New Opposition Coalition Set to Be Unveiled Wednesday
The newly formed People’s Front for Freedom (PFF) is set to unveil a coalition with the Alliance for National Transformation (ANT) ahead of the 2026 general elections. According to multiple sources familiar with the matter, leaders of the two Opposition parties are finalising a cooperation agreement to combine strategies and present a united front against President Museveni’s four-decade rule. Today, the PFF is expected to formally receive a delegation led by Buikwe South MP Dr Lulume Bayiga from the Democratic Party (DP) before signing a coalition agreement later in the afternoon at the PFF headquarters on Katonga Road, Kampala…About two months ago, Daily Monitor reported that PFF had entered advanced talks with NUP to form a joint Opposition front for 2026, including fielding single candidates across all levels…Efforts to unite Opposition forces are not new. In the run-up to the 2021 elections, several meetings took place under the “United Forces of Change” banner, involving Bobi Wine and Dr Besigye. The two held joint events, including a 2020 press conference in Wakiso District during the Covid-19 pandemic, pledging to work together. However, tensions later emerged, particularly after Dr Besigye was heckled by youth in People Power gear outside CBS radio studios. Monitor
Notorious Poaching Gang Leaders Pardoned in Malawi
The leaders of a prolific Chinese wildlife trafficking gang have been pardoned in Malawi, sparking concern that renewed poaching will help spread diseases including coronaviruses. Lin Yunhua and his wife Qin Hua Zhang, who led the notorious Lin-Zhang syndicate that operated across southern Africa, were among 15 people sentenced to jail as part of a major crackdown on ivory trafficking…Prosecutors described the Lin-Zhang network as a “dangerous syndicate” that funded and organised wildlife crime across the region, with smuggling routes stretching to China and other illegal market hubs…While great progress was being made to combat poaching in Malawi and southern Africa, traditional Chinese medicine has only continued to grow in popularity. Ivory remains in high demand, as do pangolin scales…The pardons have also raised public health concerns, particularly that a revival of the illicit trade in animals and their body parts will lead to the spread of diseases carried by animals, including coronaviruses…The convictions of the Lin-Zhang syndicate leaders were hailed by conservationists as a “game-changer” in efforts to dismantle international trafficking networks and curb demand for illegal traditional medicine ingredients…The landmark case helped remove Malawi from CITES’ list of countries of “primary concern” for wildlife trafficking, thanks to legal reforms and targeted enforcement. But the pardons now threaten Malawi’s international reputation as a leader in fighting wildlife crime. The Telegraph
French-Algerian Writer Sansal’s Five-year Prison Sentence Upheld by Appeals Court
An Algerian court on Tuesday, July 1 upheld a five-year prison sentence against dual-national author Boualam Sansal, whose case has strained ties with France. Sansal, 80, was first sentenced to five years behind bars on March 27 on charges related to undermining Algeria’s territorial integrity over comments made to a French media outlet. The appeals court confirmed the sentence after prosecutors sought to double his jail term, an AFP journalist reported from the hearing. Sansal was informed he has eight days to file a further appeal before Algeria’s supreme court. His newly appointed French lawyer, Pierre Cornut-Gentille, said he would consult with his client before deciding whether to pursue another legal challenge…A prize-winning figure in North African modern francophone literature, Sansal is known for his criticism of Algerian authorities as well as of Islamists. The case against him arose after he told the far-right outlet Frontières that France had unjustly transferred Moroccan territory to Algeria during the colonial period from 1830 to 1962 – a claim Algeria views as a challenge to its sovereignty and that aligns with longstanding Moroccan territorial assertions. Le Monde with AFP
Tunisia Court Sentences Sonia Dhamani, a Lawyer Critical of the President, to 2 Years
A Tunisian court on Monday sentenced Sonia Dhamani, a prominent lawyer and critical voice of President Kais Saied, to two years, lawyers said, in a case rights groups say marks a deepening crackdown on dissent in the North African country. Dhamani’s lawyers withdrew from the trial after the judge refused to adjourn the session, claiming Dhamani was being tried twice for the same act. The court sentenced Dhamani for statements criticizing practices against migrants from sub-Saharan Africa. Lawyer Bassem Trifi said that the court sentenced Dhamni two years calling the verdict “a grave injustice”. “What’s happening is a farce. Sonia is being tried twice for the same statement.”, lawyer Sami Ben Ghazi, another lawyer for Dhamani, told Reuters. Dhamani was arrested last year after making comments during a television appearance that questioned the government’s stance on undocumented African migrants in Tunisia. The case was brought under Tunisia’s controversial cybercrime law, Decree 54, which has been widely condemned by international and local rights groups. Most opposition leaders, some journalists, and critics of Saied have been imprisoned since Saied seized control of most powers, dissolved the elected parliament, and began ruling by decree in 2021, moves the opposition has described as a coup. Reuters