Protest Takes in Place in DRC Ahead of President Emmanuel Macron’s Slated Visit
A few dozen Congolese demonstrated Wednesday in front of the French embassy in Kinshasa to reject the planned visit of French President Emmanuel Macron, reports say. The protesters chanted “Macron assassin” or “Macron get out”, some waving Russian flags. “Rwanda, a country which has been attacking us for more than 25 years, leaving over forty million people dead; and France did not intervene. And then Today Mr Macron would like to come here to sympathize with us? To weep crocodile tears?” the coordinator of the Sang-Lumumba citizens’ movement asked. “We refuse the arrival of Emmanuel Macron, the French president in our country. Since he is accompanying Rwanda, the country that is slaughtering us, the country that is killing us day and night. It is he who supports Rwanda. We do not want his arrival here in our Congo,” another demonstrator said. President Macron commenced Wednesday an African tour to take him to four African countries including DRC where is expected to be later this week. North Africa Post
Why Nigeriens Are Protesting Against France’s Anti-Jihadist Campaign
French President Emmanuel Macron is visiting several African countries this week in an attempt to reverse his country’s waning influence on the continent as key allies eye up partnerships with other global powers, including Russia. This intervention is unlikely to convince Nigerien civil society groups who have been hitting the streets in recent months as their country – a former French colony – becomes the new hub for France’s much-criticised Sahelian anti-jihadist operation. “Colonisation is an unhappy memory that pushes many people to revolt against the French and France,” Amadou Oumarou, a lecturer at the Abdou Moumouni University of Niamey, in the capital city, told The New Humanitarian. Macron is not visiting West Africa’s Sahel region – which includes Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger – as part of his tour, though anti-French sentiment has been spreading there as a decade-long French intervention fails to quash spiralling jihadist insurgencies. New Humanitarian
Burkina Scraps 1961 Military Aid Pact With France
Burkina Faso has scrapped a 1961 agreement on military assistance with France, a move that comes only weeks after it told the French ambassador and troops supporting its anti-jihadist campaign to quit the country…The accord was forged between the newly independent Republic of Upper Volta, as Burkina Faso used to be called, and its long-time colonial power…The move marks a further downward spiral in relations since the military toppled Burkina’s elected president last year. The breakdown mirrors to a large degree a bust-up between France and neighbouring Mali, which is also junta-ruled. Both nations have been battered by a long-running jihadist insurgency that in Burkina alone has killed thousands and forced more than two million people to flee their homes. AFP
Nigeria’s Labour Party To Challenge Presidential Election Result in Court
Nigeria’s opposition candidates for president say they will challenge the results declaring the ruling party candidate the winner. Saturday’s election was marred by technical and staff problems that saw voting delayed by a day or more at some polling stations. The Labour Party met with journalists and supporters Wednesday afternoon, hours after the electoral commission declared Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the candidate for the ruling All Progressives Congress party, as the winner of Saturday’s election. Labour’s presidential candidate Peter Obi did not attend Wednesday’s meeting but his deputy told reporters he and Obi will challenge presidential results in court. Yusuf Datti-Ahmed, Labour’s vice presidential candidate, also called on party members and supporters to be calm…Another major contender in the election, the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, is also challenging the results. The PDP and Labour held a joint briefing Tuesday calling the result a sham hours before Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, declared Tinubu winner. Voice of America
Nigeria Election: INEC Yet To Upload 28,000 Results After Declaring Tinubu Winner
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, is yet to upload the results of more than 28,000 polling units where Nigeria’s presidential election was conducted. INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, in the early hours of Wednesday, declared All Progressives Congress, APC, candidate Bola Tinubu the winner. There are 176,846 polling units across the 774 local government areas in the country but the outcomes of voting in 15 percent of those locations remain unknown…INEC faces criticisms over the elections marred with malfunction of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), over-voting, thugs’ attacks on venues, officials and electorates. Daily Post
Ivory Coast and Guinea To Repatriate Nationals From Tunisia
Two West African states are repatriating their citizens from Tunisia following inflammatory remarks by President Kais Saied last week. Mr Saied said that migration was a “plot” to change the country’s demographic profile, blaming “traitors who are working for foreign countries.” Dozens of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa have since been detained. Ivory Coast and Guinea said they were sending specially charted planes to bring back their nationals. “The most urgent thing is to save lives, to prevent injuries,” Ivory Coast’s government spokesman Amadou Coulibaly was quoted as saying by AFP news agency. BBC
Sudan: One Killed in Latest Anti-Junta Protest
A Sudanese protester was killed, Tuesday (Feb. 28) after being shot at by security forces, a medical group said. The man was taking part in an anti-government protest in the East Nile area, located just outside of Khartoum. Hundreds of people protested against a deal struck by the junta and the main pro-democracy group. The march was the latest in a series of near- weekly protests. “We went out today to say no to the framework agreement because the framework agreement gives immunity to the military instead of accountability. We tell them that the dispersal of the sit-in will not pass, the blood of the martyrs will not pass without punishment and accountability,” a protestor belonging to Khartoum Resistance Committees said. AfricaNews with AP and AFP
Chances of Ending Sudan’s Coup Are Slim, Says Political Leader
A leading member of the Coordination of Forces Signatories to the Framework Agreement accused the military of obstructing the political process in Sudan, adding that the chances of ending the coup are slim. Three months after the signing of the Political Framework Agreement, the gaps grew between the civilian and the military signatories, particularly after the murder of a protester. Before that the Sudanese general surprised the public opinion by their repeated calls to integrate the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and to add more political forces to the forces indicated in the deal. Sudan Tribune
Tanzania Opposition Figure Godbless Lema Returns From Exile
Tanzanian opposition politician Godbless Lema returned home from exile in Canada to a cheering crowd on Wednesday as the country hopes to turn the page on years of authoritarian rule. A former lawmaker from the main opposition Chadema party, Lema fled the East African nation in November 2020, citing threats to his life following a disputed election. Lema said he “wept” upon seeing such a large crowd to greet him at the airport. “I have come back from a better place to fight for my country,” he told a rally of supporters in Arusha. North Africa Post
Tanzania Joins Kenya, Rwanda in Africa50 Shareholding
Tanzania has become the fourth country in the region to be a shareholder of the Pan-African infrastructural financier Africa50, expanding the institution’s pool of investors to 34 and widening its access to capital for projects. Tanzania’s Finance and Planning Minister Mwigulu Nchemba on Tuesday signed the share subscription agreement in Casablanca, Morocco, making Dar the 34th shareholder of the continental financier, joining — among others — Kenya, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo…Africa50 Chief Executive Alain Ebobissé said the institution also “looks forward” to supporting Dar’s infrastructural projects “with our project development and finance expertise”, while calling on more African countries to join the institution’s investors. “There is an urgent need for African countries to increase investments in sustainable infrastructure to support economic development,” Ebobissé said. East African
Uganda Set To Begin Oil Drilling After French Court Dismisses Case Against TotalEnergies
A French court has dismissed a landmark lawsuit against controversial TotalEnergies projects in east Africa, which was filed by six French and Ugandan activist groups in 2018, using a 2017 law on multinationals operating outside France. This was the first time that NGOs tried to halt an oil project through a Paris courthouse. As Uganda looks to drill its first of more than 400 oil wells and build a 1,400-kilometer pipeline, part of the massive Tilenga project in Uganda, critics have said the government and its French and Chinese partners are damaging the environment and impeding wildlife migration. North Africa Post
South Sudan’s Kiir To Attend Russia-Africa Summit in July
The Russian’s leader Vladimir Putin has invited his South Sudanese counterpart, Salva Kiir for the Russia-Africa summit. This year’s summit, a Russian envoy said, will take place at St. Petersburg in July. On Wednesday, Russia’s non-residence ambassador to South Sudan, Vladlen Semivolos extended Putin’s invitation letter to President Salva Kiir. Both leaders also discussed bilateral relations between the two countries…Last year, South Sudan supported the African Union’s condemnation of Russian’s invasion of Ukraine. Sudan Tribune
Launched last year, the all-woman operation has a team of six female journalists. “[Bilan] has gained a huge local audience and broken new ground on subjects like HIV, autism and women’s health, spurring public debate and calls for policy change,” Few told VOA. The outlet produces text, radio and TV stories, which are distributed locally by one of the country’s leading media houses, Dalsan. “They have also been commissioned by international media like The Guardian, BBC and El Pais, demonstrating that Somali women journalists can compete at the highest level and [blaze] a trail for other Somali women in the media,” Few said. Voice of America.