Sudan’s Transitional Government Dissolved, New Administration Awaited
Sudan’s newly-appointed Prime Minister Kamil Idris has dissolved the government, tasking the secretary-generals and undersecretaries of ministries with continuing governmental duties until a new administration is formed, the official news agency SUNA reported. The announcement followed a Sunday evening meeting between Idris and his cabinet…In an address to the Sudanese before the meeting, Idris outlined the government’s priorities, which include launching a comprehensive dialogue and eradicating the rebellion, referring to the RSF. He declared six urgent national priorities to the Sudanese people, foremost among them “national security and state prestige by eliminating the rebellion and all forms of rebellious militias.” Idris called on countries supporting “militias” to cease what he described as criminal operations, including those involved in planning, financing, and assisting in their implementation…Idris said his priorities include initiating a Sudanese-Sudanese dialogue that excludes no party, pledging to maintain an equal distance from all political forces…Idris’s appointment as prime minister has been met with objections from some political forces, saying it could legitimize military rule and prolong the ongoing conflict. Sudan Tribune
UN Security Council Renews South Sudan Arms Embargo
The U.N. Security Council on Friday extended for one year an arms embargo and individual sanctions imposed on South Sudan, where recent violent clashes have raised fears of a new civil war…A fragile peace was established through a 2018 power-sharing agreement between rival factions. However, clashes in recent months have erupted between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and supporters of his rival, First Vice President Riek Machar, who was placed under house arrest on March 26. South Sudan’s government opposed the arms embargo, and six Security Council members abstained from the vote. The measure passed with nine votes in favor—the minimum required for adoption—extending the embargo until May 31, 2026. The African members of the Security Council — Algeria, Sierra Leone, Somalia — abstained, along with China, Pakistan and Russia. The resolution also extends the mandate of the Panel of Experts, which assists the work of the South Sudan Sanctions Committee, until July 1, 2026. Radio Tamazuj
Mali Rejects Appeals Against Junta Ban of Political Parties
Malian justice has rejected several appeals that sought to overturn the military government’s decision to ban political parties, according to a statement sent Friday by members of the dissolved parties. The junta, led by General Assimi Goita, announced on May 13 the dissolution of all political parties and organisations, as well as a ban on meetings. Members of the parties filed appeals to several courts in Bamako, seeking to challenge the legality of the presidential decree enacting their dissolution and its consequences…They have “already approached” the Supreme Court and “the battle will continue in Mali as well as internationally,” the statement read. The parties maintain that the ban constitutes a serious infringement of the freedom of association, assembly and right to participate in public life… [The dissolution] is the latest in a series of restrictions on freedoms taken by the military, which came to power in back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021. At the end of April, a junta-led national consultation recommended the dissolution of political parties and tougher rules for their creation. It also recommended making General Goita president for a renewable five-year term, despite a pledge to hand back power to civilians by March last year. AFP
Insurgents Overrun Mali Base, Killing Dozens of Soldiers, Sources Say
The jihadist group, Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), said in a statement on Sunday that it had seized the base in Boulkessi in central Mali, near the border with Burkina Faso. The Malian army said it had been forced to pull back…A spokesperson did not respond to a question about the toll, but two security sources said more than 30 soldiers had been killed. A municipal source at Mondoro, near the base, said the insurgents “cleared the camp” and that there were many dead…JNIM has claimed responsibility for a host of recent attacks in the region. On May 24, it said it had attacked a base in Dioura, central Mali, killing 40 soldiers. Last Friday, it said it had seized a base in Sirakorola in southwestern Mali, although the army said it had repelled the attack. It did not provide a toll for that incident either. In neighbouring Burkina Faso, JNIM claimed attacks on military positions and the town of Djibo in mid-May in which it said it had killed 200 soldiers. And in Niger, more than 100 soldiers were killed in two attacks in the Tahoua region on May 24 and the Dosso region on May 26, security sources said. Reuters
Nigeria Detains Troops, Police for Alleged Sale of Weapons to Armed Groups
The Nigerian military has detained more than 30 soldiers and police officers for allegedly stealing weapons from its stockpiles and selling them to armed groups including jihadists in the country. The country is battling a more than 15-year jihadist insurgency in the northeast, as well as a farmer-herder conflict in the north-central region, violent secessionist agitation in the southeast and rampant kidnap-for-ransom in the northwest. A spokesman, Ademola Owolana, said the army launched an operation in August 2024 as a “response to incessant cases of arms and ammunition theft”. “So far, a total of 18 soldiers, 15 mobile policemen and eight civilians, including a traditional ruler, have been arrested,” Owolana said at a Wednesday briefing whose recording was accessed by AFP on Friday…Raids on military bases have provided jihadists in the Sahel countries with at least 20 percent of their weapons, according to the UK-based Conflict Armament Research (CAR), which has studied jihadist weapons sources for a decade. AFP
Death Toll Reaches at Least 200 in Nigerian Town Submerged in Floods as Rescue Efforts Halted
The death toll from devastating flooding in a market town in Nigeria’s north-central state of Niger rose to at least 200 on Sunday, a local official said. Torrents of predawn rainfall early Thursday unleashed the devastating flood on Mokwa, nearly 380 kilometers west of Abuja and a major trading and transportation hub where northern Nigerian farmers sell beans, onions and other food to traders from the south. The deputy chairman of Mokwa Local Government, Musa Kimboku, confirmed the updated fatality count to The Associated Press on Sunday. He said rescue operations have been called off, as authorities no longer believe there are any survivors. To prevent the outbreak of disease, officials are currently exhuming bodies buried beneath the rubble, Kimboku added. On Saturday, the spokesperson for the Niger State emergency service, Ibrahim Audu Husseini, said an additional 11 people were injured and more than 3,000 people were displaced. At least 500 households across three communities were affected by the sudden and intense flood that built rapidly in about five hours, leaving roofs barely visible and surviving residents waist-deep in water, trying to salvage what they could and rescue others…Flooding is common during Nigeria’s wet season…But this flood has been particularly deadly in Mokwa, a farming region near the banks of the River Niger. AP
Somalia’s President Announces New Political Forum Amid NCC’s Collapse into Ruling Party Bloc
The President of the Federal Republic of Somalia, H.E. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, has officially announced a national political consultative forum scheduled to take place in Mogadishu on June 15, 2025. The forum is expected to bring together politicians, community leaders, and key political stakeholders from across the country…The announcement comes at a politically sensitive time, following a joint statement by opposition leaders who rejected Villa Somalia’s proposed electoral roadmap. With less than a year remaining in President Hassan Sheikh’s term, critics have accused him of attempting to orchestrate a term extension through unilateral decision-making…Once a vital platform for dialogue between the federal government and member states, the NCC is now widely seen as defunct after three of the five federal member states aligned politically with the ruling party led by President Hassan Sheikh. This consolidation of political power under a single bloc has intensified concerns over the inclusivity and neutrality of the upcoming forum. Garowe Online
African Court Votes for New President
The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (AfCHPR) is expected to have a new president on Monday, June 2, when the Court’s panel of judges convenes to elect new leadership. The election will take place during the Court’s 77th Ordinary Session. The current president, Justice Imani Daud Aboud of Tanzania, will officially conclude her four-year tenure at the helm of the Court, while her deputy, Justice Modibo Sacko of Mali, will also step down after completing two consecutive two-year terms. Justices Aboud and Sacko were first elected to their respective leadership roles in 2021 during the Court’s 61st Session. They completed their first terms in 2023 and were re-elected for a final term, in accordance with the Court’s rules, which limit leadership to a maximum of two terms. Justice Aboud is the first woman from East Africa to serve as president of the Court. She succeeded Justice Sylvain Oré of Côte d’Ivoire, while Justice Sacko took over from Justice Ben Kioko of Kenya. The East African
Tanzania: CCM Continues to Defy African Court – Chadema
Tanzanian opposition party Chadema this week officially launched its “No Reforms, No Election” campaign in the northern regions, reiterating its position that it will not participate in any elections without comprehensive reforms to the country’s electoral laws and systems. The launch on May 28, at Soko Kuu’ grounds in Arusha, marked the beginning of a series of public rallies led by deputy chairperson, Mainland, John Heche, secretary-general John Mnyika, Central Committee member Godbless Lema and veteran opposition figure Dr Wilbrod Slaa. Speaking during the event, Mr Mnyika said Arusha was chosen due to its historical significance and the tragic loss of lives during past elections…He lamented the government’s failure to act on key rulings by the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which found Tanzania’s electoral laws in violation of human rights…Mnyika said Chadema would rather see the upcoming elections postponed than participate in a process they believe is structurally flawed. The East African
Tanzanian Politician’s Lawyers Ask UN to Declare His Detention Arbitrary
Lawyers for Tanzania’s jailed opposition leader Tundu Lissu filed a complaint on Friday to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in a bid to ramp up international pressure for his release. Lissu, chairman of Tanzania’s main opposition party and runner-up in the 2020 presidential election, was arrested [in April] and charged with treason, a capital offence, over comments he is alleged to have made calling on supporters to prevent national elections in October from going ahead. Tanzania’s government spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. While President Samia Suluhu Hassan has won plaudits for easing political repression, she has faced questions about unexplained abductions of government critics in recent months…Lissu, who was shot 16 times in a 2017 attack for which no one has ever been charged, will appear in court on Monday. Before he appeared in court last week, authorities detained a Kenyan and a Ugandan rights activist who had come to attend the hearing. They were abandoned several days later near the borders of their home countries, and the Kenyan activist, Boniface Mwangi, said both were badly tortured while in custody. RFI with Reuters
Ivory Coast Coalition Calls for Election Talks at Launch Rally
Thousands rallied in Ivory Coast on Saturday at the first gathering of an opposition coalition, demanding political dialogue ahead of a presidential vote from which authorities have banned four prominent candidates. Tensions are high in the French-speaking country ahead of the October 25 election, with memories still fresh of the 2010–2011 crisis that killed around 3,000 people after then-president Laurent Gbagbo refused to concede defeat to current leader Alassane Ouattara. The 24-party coalition is calling for a revision of the electoral register before the polls, to allow the barred candidates to be registered and for a reform of the electoral commission…Tidjane Thiam, the head of the main opposition party who is barred from running in the vote due to a dispute about his nationality, addressed the crowd via livestream from abroad, where he has been for over two months. AFP
Tunisia Row Over ‘Repressive’ Transfers of Political Detainees
Several jailed Tunisian opposition figures have been transferred without prior notice to prisons far from their families in a move their lawyers and relatives on Friday denounced as “repressive”. At least seven political figures were moved on Thursday from Mornaguia prison near Tunis to remote facilities, lawyer Dalila Msaddek told AFP. Prominent figure Issam Chebbi was taken to a jail in Tunisia’s northernmost city of Bizerte, while Ridha Belhaj was moved to Siliana some two hours south of Tunis…She called the transfers “a form of harassment” aimed at making it harder for their Tunis-based families and lawyers to visit. Weekly prison visits in Tunisia allow families to bring prisoners baskets of food to last them through the week. Msaddek said some prison inmates resisted the move but were forcibly transferred…”What is happening today is a desperate attempt to silence free voices and intimidate anyone who dares to say ‘no’ to injustice and tyranny,” [Belhaj wrote in a letter posted to social media]…All of the transferred prisoners were defendants in a mass trial last month that saw around 40 public figures, some staunch Saied critics, sentenced to long terms on charges including plotting against the state. AFP
Libya Protesters Call on PM To Quit in Third Weekly March
Hundreds of protesters gathered in central Tripoli on Friday for the third week in a row to demand the resignation of UN-recognised Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah following recent clashes in Libya’s capital. Demonstrators chanted “Dbeibah out”, “the people want the fall of the government”, and “long live Libya”. At least 200 people had assembled by late afternoon, with several hundred more following suit later…The recent unrest came after deadly clashes between armed groups controlling different areas of Tripoli killed at least eight people, according to the UN. The clashes were sparked by the killing of an armed faction leader by a group aligned with Dbeibah’s government — the 444 Brigade which later fought a third group, the Radaa force that controls parts of eastern Tripoli and the city’s airport. The fighting broke out also after Dbeibah announced a string of executive orders seeking to dismantle Radaa and dissolve other Tripoli-based armed groups but excluding the 444 Brigade. AFP
Mother of Jailed British-Egyptian Activist Hospitalised after 242 Days on Hunger Strike
The mother of the imprisoned British-Egyptian human rights activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah has been admitted to hospital after spending more than 240 days on hunger strike. Laila Soueif’s family said she had been admitted to St Thomas’ hospital in London on Thursday night with dangerously low blood sugar levels, but continues to refuse medical intervention that would provide her with calories. Soueif has been on hunger strike for 242 days in protest against the imprisonment of her son, who has been in jail in Egypt since September 2019…In December 2021, Abd El-Fattah was sentenced to five years in prison for “spreading false news” and should have been released last year. His mother has not eaten any food since 29 September 2024, the date her son’s prison sentence was due to end. She had been surviving on herbal tea, black coffee, rehydration salts and 300-calorie liquid supplements. She resumed her full hunger strike on 20 May, saying: “Nothing has changed, nothing is happening.” UN investigators have declared Abd El-Fattah’s imprisonment in breach of international law. AFP