Rising Tensions in Tigray Risk Regional Conflict
Rapidly escalating tensions over the leadership of Tigray’s transitional authority have put the region on edge with worries that the dispute could quickly spiral into a regional conflict. Coming more than 2 years after the ceasefire ending the conflict between the Government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in which an estimated 600,000 people died, Tigray remains highly fragile with roughly 15 percent of the region’s estimated 7 million residents still internally displaced. The current crisis has been building pressure over the past year as a result of rivalries within the TPLF…The trigger for the recent escalation revolves around a dispute over control of the Tigray Defense Forces (TDF)…Given the proximity to Eritrea and reports that Eritrean troops remain in parts of Tigray in violation of the COHA, fears are rising that Eritrea may intervene in the factional battle between Tigrayan leaders. A sudden increase in Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) troop deployments in Tigray could also be seen as a provocation, leading to miscalculation and a wider regional conflict. Eritrea, meanwhile, has signaled to its citizens to be prepared for a potential mobilization. Africa Center for Strategic Studies
African Regional Summit Expands Mediation Team for DRC Conflict
The East African Community (EAC) and Southern African Development Community (SADC) — together comprising 24 countries — came together in early February for a joint peace push after a Rwanda-backed armed group, the M23, seized large swathes of territory in the mineral-rich eastern DRC, triggering fears of a regional war. After another virtual summit of the regional leaders on Monday, a new team of “facilitators” was announced to lead negotiations. Former Kenya president Uhuru Kenyatta and ex-Nigeria president Olusegun Obasanjo remain on the team, while former Ethiopian president Sahle-Work Zewde replaces another ex-Ethiopia leader Hailemariam Desalegn. Former South Africa president Kgalema Motlanthe and ex-Central African Republic president Catherine Samba-Panza were added, enlarging the group to five from three to improve “gender, regional and language inclusivity”, according to a communique issued after the summit. It said the EAC, SADC and African Union would hold another meeting within seven days. Previous peace talks between Rwanda and DRC had been hosted by Angola, but it announced Monday that it was relinquishing its role as a mediator. AFP
Burundi Sees Its Largest Number of Refugees Arriving in Decades during Congo’s Fighting
Burundi is seeing its largest influx of refugees in decades as tens of thousands of people flee the fighting in neighboring eastern Congo, the U.N. World Food Program said Monday. The number of registered refugees who need food assistance has doubled to over 120,000 since January as Congolese government troops fight Rwanda-backed rebels who now hold two major cities, WFP said in a statement. Many of the refugees are women and children. The decades-long conflict in eastern Congo escalated in January, when the M23 rebels seized the strategic city of Goma, followed by the city of Bukavu in February. Bukavu is less than 30 miles from the Burundi border. AP
Chad Condemns Sudan’s Airport Threat as ‘Declaration of War’
Chad has condemned a senior Sudanese general’s threat to target its airports, calling it a “declaration of war”. Its foreign ministry said it would respond according to international law if a “square metre of Chadian territory is threatened”. The warning follows comments from Lt-Gen Yasir al-Atta, the deputy commander of Sudan’s army, who said the UAE was using Chad’s airports to deliver weapons to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The Sudanese army has repeatedly accused the UAE of supporting its rival, the RSF, throughout the brutal two-year civil war, which has created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. UN experts have described accusations of the UAE smuggling weapons to the RSF through Chad as “credible”…Lt-Gen Atta’s comments follow Sudan’s recent decision to take the UAE to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over its alleged support of the RSF. Speaking at a ceremony for an army officer killed in a drone attack by the RSF on Friday while the army was recapturing the presidential palace, he said airports in Chad’s capital N’Djamena and the eastern city Amdjarass were “legitimate targets”. Lt-Gen Atta said “retaliatory action” would be taken against the UAE, South Sudan and Chad’s President Mahamat Déby…”General al-Atta should stop uttering foolish threats and focus on the urgent need for an immediate cessation of hostilities and engage without delay in a constructive dialogue in favour of a peaceful and lasting solution,” said Chad, highlighting that it is hosting hundreds of thousands of Sudanese refugees, mostly from the neighbouring region of Darfur, which is largely under RSF control. BBC
Monitor Accuses Sudan Army of Major Strike on Darfur Market
A Sudanese monitor accused the army Tuesday of conducting an air strike on a rebel-held town’s market, in what would be one of the deadliest single attacks in the country’s nearly two-year war. Both the Emergency Lawyers group of volunteer legal professionals and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces said the attack in the western region of Darfur caused hundreds of casualties. It comes days after the army reclaimed the presidential palace in Khartoum — a major victory against the RSF. The lawyers, who document atrocities on both sides of Sudan’s war, said army warplanes carried out “an indiscriminate air strike on Tora market in North Darfur, killing hundreds of civilians and seriously wounding dozens”…A spokesperson for the Emergency Lawyers, requesting anonymity for their safety, told AFP an exact toll was not immediately possible “due to the large number of charred bodies” being counted and identified. AFP could not independently verify a toll or reach local medics due to a telecommunications blackout in Darfur. AFP
South Sudan: NSS Arrests Key Machar Allies in Rumbek as Tensions Rise
South Sudan’s National Security Service (NSS) arrested the deputy governor of Lakes State, Isaiah Akol Mathiang, and several other officials on Monday in a move targeting allies of First Vice President Riek Machar, sources said. Dr. Akol, who chairs Machar’s opposition party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO), in Lakes State, was detained a day after condemning airstrikes by South Sudanese and Ugandan troops in Upper Nile State. Those arrested included state lawmaker Ater Akolde, state Minister of Animal Resources Gai Magok, and the SPLM-IO youth league chairperson in Lakes State, Mandela Machiek, according to multiple sources who spoke anonymously for security reasons…An SPLM-IO official linked the arrests to a statement Akol issued on Sunday, in which he accused the government of violating the 2018 peace deal and denounced Ugandan military involvement. Radio Tamazuj
How Al-Shabaab Fighters Attacked Police Camp in Kenya
Somalia-based Al-Shabaab fighters used a ‘guerilla-like’ approach when storming a police base in Kenya, on Sunday, killing at least six officers attached to the National Police Reservists, who are a crucial backup to security forces in terror and bandit-prone regions. The base, located in the Fafi constituency, was hosting reservists who are integral in the fight against the militants who control large swathes of rural central and southern regions in the Horn of Africa nation. Garissa County Commissioner Mohamed Mwabudzo told the BBC the style of the attack followed a pattern of raids by the Somali-based Islamist militant group al-Shabab. The militants often sneak from Somalia to launch attacks in Kenya. According to him, the attackers ambushed the officers on Sunday morning just as the security officers were preparing for morning prayers. Four officers were critically injured and are currently receiving treatment. Garowe Online
Somali Journalist Killed in Al-Shabaab Bombing, at Least 22 Others Arrested for Reporting Attack
Mohamed Abukar’s body was found in a collapsed building, where he is reported to have lived, near the attack site. He worked with Risaala Media Corporation until 2023, and had recently been publishing his journalism on Facebook and the YouTube news channel Sirta Waraka, Risaala’s director Mohamed Abduwahab Abdullahi told CPJ. Armed police raided Risaala’s offices about 20 minutes after it broadcast footage of the explosion site, ordered its radio and television channels off air, and arrested reporters Ali Abdullahi Ibrahim and Hamda Hassan Ahmed; camera operators Mohamed Said Nur and Abdullahi Sharif Ali; and technician Liban Abdullahi Hassan, according to Mohamed Abduwahab, who is also secretary general of the Somali Media Association, and a statement by the Somali Journalists Syndicate rights group. The journalists were detained for about two hours at a police station, where they were warned not to broadcast such content, and released without charge. Risaala had resumed operations by the evening. Police also briefly detained at least 17 other journalists at the attack site and questioned them at a local station about their coverage. CPJ
The ‘Ghost Reporters’ Writing Pro-Russian Propaganda in West Africa
Al Jazeera finds that an influence campaign using nonexistent writers is spreading anti-France sentiment across West and Central Africa…The I-Unit identified more than 15 [nonexistent] writers and at least 200 articles published since early 2021…Most of the writers call themselves freelance journalists in their newspaper bios with some self-identifying as analysts or experts. However, for each of them, there is no employment history and, in many cases, no social media profile or other evidence to indicate they are a real person…Most of the articles Al Jazeera analysed were not only critical of France’s role in its former colonies but also remarkably positive about Russia. Each of the countries where the articles appeared has seen an increased Russian presence, and some are led by military governments favourable towards Moscow…[A] regional vacuum is creating an opportunity for Russia to make inroads and increase its influence, such as its involvement in mining in CAR and security in Mali and Burkina Faso. At the same time, it looks to be finessing its image through media influence campaigns like the one identified by Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera
Mother of Activist Imprisoned in Egypt Threatens to Go Back on Hunger Strike
The mother of the jailed British-Egyptian human rights activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah has said she will go on hunger strike again by the end of the month if no substantive progress is made to release her son…She collapsed a fortnight ago after being on hunger strike for 150 days and was admitted to Charing Cross hospital in London. During her hunger strike, which began on 29 September last year, she had consumed only herbal tea, black coffee and rehydration salts…In hospital doctors warned her she was close to death, while she herself wrote a letter to the Egyptian ambassador in London asking for her daughters to be given permission to take her body back to Cairo to be buried close to her deceased husband…There is still hope that Fattah could be freed as part of a wider amnesty linked to the end of Ramadan on 30 March. He has served more than his five-year sentence, but was not released last September on completion of his sentence because the Egyptian authorities chose to ignore the two years he spent in detention before his case was heard…Fattah himself went on hunger strike in prison on 1 February after hearing news of his mother’s hospitalisation. The Guardian
Separatist Kanu Faces New Trial in Nigeria under Fourth Judge
Separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu pleaded not guilty to seven counts of terrorism and treason charges in a new trial in Nigeria on Friday, with a fourth judge now presiding over the case. Kanu, a British citizen who leads the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) movement, was first arrested in 2015 but disappeared from Nigeria while on bail in 2017. He was subsequently arrested in Kenya in 2021 and charged in Nigeria with seven counts of terrorism. Kanu has pleaded not guilty. Judge James Omotosho, the new presiding judge, set April 29, May 2 and May 6 as trial dates. Kanu’s trial has been plagued by repeated delays, judicial recusals and two denied bail applications, prompting him to seek negotiations with the Nigerian government. Kanu Agabi, a senior lawyer who now leads Kanu’s defence, apologised to Judge Binta Nyako, who recently recused herself, and to prosecutor Adegboyega Awomolo and Kanu’s lawyer Alloy Ejimakor for past courtroom outbursts by the defendant. Kanu’s IPOB campaigns for the secession of southeastern Nigeria, where the majority belong to the Igbo ethnic group. Nigerian authorities have labelled IPOB a terrorist organisation. More than a million people perished in a three-year civil war that began in 1967, the year Kanu was born, when the region attempted to secede as the Republic of Biafra. Reuters
How Nigeria Lost Its Textile Market to Chinese Imports
In the 1990s, the textile industry in Nigeria was a key driver of the economy, providing employment to hundreds of thousands in Africa’s most populous country…Today, however, only a few factories remain, and even those are struggling amid the influx of cheap textiles from abroad — particularly from China. Nigeria still boasts domestic cotton farms. However, its textile manufacturers need to procure dye, chemicals, starch and synthetic fibers from other countries. In contrast, China’s textile industry benefits from an integrated supply chain, where all the necessary goods and even machinery are available domestically…Another obstacle for Nigeria’s textile industry is the depreciation of the country’s currency, the naira. In 2023, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ended measures that kept the naira at a fixed value and instead let the value be determined by supply and demand for foreign exchange. The currency has since dropped, driving up the cost of importing raw materials and spare parts…The lack of reliable electricity supply has also affected textile production in Nigeria…This has made it even harder for local manufacturers to compete with countries like China, where power supply is more stable. Last summer, the Nigerian government signed a deal to take out a loan of some $3.5 billion (€3.2 billion) with pan-African African Export–Import Bank to revive the textile industry. DW