‘Hunger Never Leaves Us’: Conflict Leads to Starvation in DRC
Southern Lubero was once considered fertile territory — despite its poverty and political instability. Now, this onetime breadbasket faces famine, a brutal and omnipresent legacy of the brutal conflict between DRC’s military and the Rwanda-sponsored M23 armed group. Access to fields has become perilously difficult…Recurring clashes have forced thousands of Lubero residents to abandon their villages, homes and farms. Access to certain fields is outright forbidden; others are riddled with unexploded ordnance. Fields remain uncultivated for fear of brutal reprisals, exacerbating a desperate humanitarian situation, and the violence has shaken many organizations that once supported the agricultural sector. Ten million people in the eastern provinces face acute food insecurity due to the conflict, according to the World Food Programme…DRC’s military set up camp in Anita Kavugho Sikulivalama’s bean field and left her crops to rot. Now, she struggles to feed five children. When the army left, she wanted to cultivate the field but had no seeds. She managed to sow potatoes, but when the M23 clashed with Wazalendo self-defense groups nearby, those rotted, too. “There is,” she says, voice breaking, “no freedom.” Global Press Journal
Mali Dissolves All Political Parties as Opposition Figures Disappear
Mali’s military government has shut down all political parties and banned their activities across the country…The announcement was made on state television on Tuesday. It followed an emergency government meeting where officials also scrapped the national charter on political parties…Officials who were appointed to jobs through political parties can stay in their posts, but they can no longer speak or act on behalf of those parties. Political groups had been warning for weeks that the move was unconstitutional and a threat to democracy. In early May, protests began – a rare show of public resistance in Mali. But in the days that followed, several opposition leaders were taken by state security forces…Some political figures may try to take legal action, but because the parties are now dissolved, they cannot act in their own names. Public protest now also carries more risk. Three opposition leaders are now feared to have been abducted. Abba Alhassane, secretary general of the opposition party CODEM, was arrested last week by “masked gunmen claiming to be gendarmes”, said Human Rights Watch. That same day, “unidentified men” reportedly seized El Bachir Thiam, leader of the Yelema party, in the town of Kati near Bamako. On Tuesday, a CODEM member told Reuters that the party had not heard from youth leader Abdoul Karim Traoré for two days and believed he had also been taken. RFI
Malian Authorities Ban French TV Channel over Its Coverage of a Pro-democracy Protest
Mali’s media regulatory body said it is banning a French television channel in the country due to “defamatory remarks” it made about a pro-democracy demonstration in the capital earlier this month. The High Authority for Communication said in a letter published on Tuesday that it was cutting the signal of French channel TV5 Monde after a news anchor remarked that “hundreds of security forces were mobilized to prevent demonstrators from accessing” the Palais de la Culture during a May 3 protest. The authority said this was incorrect and that “the forces of law and order were present at the Palais de la Culture to secure the demonstrators.” …The decision was the latest move by Malian authorities that targeted media outlets. The signals of France 24 and Radio France Internationale (RFI) have been blocked for three years, and Mali’s private TV channel, Djoliba TV News, had its signal cut off for six months last December over a debate questioning the official version of a thwarted coup attempt in neighboring Burkina Faso. Like Burkina Faso and Niger, Mali is ruled by military regimes that took power following coups. The regimes have formed an alliance called the Alliance of Sahel States and have severely restricted freedom of expression by cutting off media signals and arresting journalists, political figures, and civil society leaders. AP
Guinea’s Prime Minister Announces Elections in December 2025
The prime minister of junta-ruled Guinea announced a new date of December 2025 for elections, seeking to reassure investors in a speech at an African business forum on Monday. Guinea is ruled by military leader Mamady Doumbouya, who seized power in a coup in September 2021, and in 2022 proposed a two-year transition to elections but then did not take steps to organise a vote. The junta later set and missed a deadline of December 31, 2024 for a return to a civilian administration. Prime Minister Amadou Oury Bah announced the new date on Monday at the Africa CEO Forum in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, while speaking about the West African country’s Simandou iron ore project. The announcement comes a month after the government set September 21, 2025, as the date for a constitutional referendum, which authorities have said would be a precursor to any election and a return to constitutional rule…In July 2024 the junta presented a draft of a new constitution which may allow Doumbouya to participate in the next presidential election. Guinea’s two former ruling parties are currently suspended. The other major opposition party, the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea, has been placed under surveillance. Reuters
The Taliban and Burkina Faso Ambassadors Pledge New Trade and Mining Cooperation
The Taliban’s acting ambassador to Iran has met with his Burkina Faso counterpart in the Iranian capital Tehran as part of a broader outreach effort by the West African country to win new trade partners, according to Taliban-controlled media. During the meeting between acting Ambassador Maulvi Fazl Mohammad Haqqani and Ambassador Mohammad Kabura, both parties pledged to cooperate on trade, mining and vocational training…Both ambassadors also pledged Monday to have private sector delegations visit soon as part of the plan to develop trade between Afghanistan and Burkina Faso. The meeting comes less than a week after the Commander General of Iranian law enforcement and security forces visited neighboring Niger and announced new areas of cooperation and training for the Niger Police and National Guard, including training at the Iranian Police University. AP
Sudan: El-Fasher Residents Say Life ‘Unbearable’ as RSF Siege, Shelling Deepen Crisis
Local residents in El-Fasher, North Darfur, told Sudan Tribune on Tuesday that life has become “unbearable” as worsening humanitarian conditions grip the city due to intensified indiscriminate attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) targeting markets and water sources. Markets are out of service due to RSF shelling, and obtaining essential goods is extremely difficult amid soaring prices, with one resident saying a pound of sugar now costs between 15,000 and 17,000 Sudanese pounds. The city faces an acute fuel crisis, forcing people to use animal-drawn carts for transport and to move the injured. Goods are smuggled in, significantly inflating their cost. The situation in El-Fasher, besieged by the RSF for a year, significantly worsened after RSF fighters seized control of the nearby Zamzam camp for displaced people last month. The camp had been a key hub for consumer goods. Dozens were killed and hundreds displaced when the RSF overran it, according to reports at the time. Perilous attempts to flee the city continue, with some individuals reportedly facing kidnappings and abuses by RSF elements and allied militias, an eyewitness told Sudan Tribune. “Basic services are completely non-existent, and the shelling is relentless,” a female resident identified only as “M.” told Sudan Tribune. “We are now living in trenches.” Sudan Tribune
UN Experts Decry ‘Systematic’ Sexual Violence in Sudan
Amid the carnage [in Sudan], women and girls are particularly vulnerable and face escalating risks of gang rape, sexual slavery, trafficking and forced marriage, warned a group of nine independent United Nations experts…The experts, including the special rapporteurs on violence against women and girls, on torture and on contemporary forms of slavery, noted that so far this year at least 330 cases of conflict-related sexual violence had been documented. The real number is surely far higher, they said, warning that a number of traumatised victims were known to have committed suicide…The experts, who are mandated by the UN Human Rights Council but who do not speak on behalf of the United Nations, said such “harrowing accounts underscore the scale of the mental health crisis among women and girls”. They also reflect the “lack of access to attention and support and impunity that perpetrators enjoy, particularly in areas where support systems have completely collapsed”, they said. The experts also pointed to reports of surging enforced disappearances of women and girls in areas controlled by the RSF, “with many believed to have been abducted for sexual slavery and exploitation”. AFP
Uganda’s Parliament Introduces Bill to Let Military Courts Try Civilians
The Ugandan government introduced a bill in parliament on Tuesday that would allow military tribunals to prosecute civilians, months after the country’s Supreme Court ruled the practice unconstitutional. The top court’s January verdict forced the government to transfer the trial of opposition politician and former presidential candidate Kizza Besigye to a civilian court, where state prosecutors have charged him with several crimes including treason. Political allies and lawyers for Besigye, who has lost to President Yoweri Museveni in four elections, say the accusations are politically motivated. Minister of Defence Jacob Marksons Oboth introduced the “Uganda People’s Defence Forces Bill, 2025” on the floor of the House on Tuesday, where it was referred to a House committee for scrutiny. Civilians may be tried under military law in exceptional circumstances, such as when they are in “unlawful possession of arms, ammunition or equipment ordinarily being the monopoly of the defence forces,” according to the draft law seen by Reuters. Besigye was forcefully removed from the Kenyan capital Nairobi in November, and presented in a military court in neighbouring Uganda a few days later, where he was charged with offences including the illegal possession of firearms…The new bill also includes crimes of abetting or aiding a soldier to commit crimes including treason, murder and aggravated robbery, among others. Human rights activists and opposition politicians have long accused Museveni’s government of using military courts to prosecute opposition leaders and supporters on politically motivated charges. Reuters
Tanzania Arrests Opposition Official Travelling to Political Conference
Tanzanian authorities arrested a senior opposition official as he was departing for a political conference in Belgium, his party said on Tuesday, as fears grow of an escalating crackdown ahead of an October election. While President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who plans to seek reelection, says the government is committed to respecting human rights, a recent string of high-profile arrests has thrust her record into the spotlight. Amani Golugwa, a senior member of Tanzania’s main opposition CHADEMA party, was arrested at Julius Nyerere International Airport in the capital Dar es Salaam on Monday, his party wrote on X. Tanzanian police confirmed his arrest in a post on their Instagram account, writing that Golugwa “has a trend of leaving and returning to the country without following legal procedures.”…Golugwa had been due to represent his party in Brussels at a forum organised by the International Democracy Union, a grouping of centre-right parties that CHADEMA belongs to and which also counts the British Conservatives and U.S. Republicans as members…Police arrested Tundu Lissu, CHADEMA’s leader and Tanzania’s main opposition figure, last month. Lissu, who was shot 16 times in a 2017 attack and came second in the last presidential poll, was subsequently charged with treason over what prosecutors said was a speech calling upon the public to rebel and disrupt the elections…Days after Lissu’s arrest, the election commission disqualified CHADEMA from participating in the polls over its refusal to sign a code of conduct. Reuters
Boko Haram, ISWAP Insurgents Attack Four Nigerian Military Bases within 24 Hours
Tension is rising in Borno State after Boko Haram and ISWAP insurgents attacked four military bases, killing soldiers and stealing military vehicles, between Monday and Tuesday in the state. PREMIUM TIMES reported Tuesday morning how suspected members of ISWAP attacked a military base in Marte late Monday night, killing seven soldiers and seizing three gun trucks. Less than 24 hours after that attack on Marte, the insurgents attacked three more military bases in Dikwa, Rann, and Gajiram. Suspected members of ISWAP carried out the first attack on the Forward Operation Base, 153 Battalion, located in Marte Local Government Area, minutes before 3 a.m. on Monday. Sources who spoke to this reporter said the insurgents infiltrated Marte on foot from different directions, cordoned off the area and forced the soldiers to withdraw to Dikwa, a neighbouring community. Premium Times
Stability Holds in Mauritania as Jihadists Ravage Sahel
From 2005 to 2011, the Islamic Republic of Mauritania was targeted by jihadist groups with attacks on military personnel, foreign embassies, and the killing and kidnapping of Westerners. In response, Mauritania implemented a comprehensive strategy, beginning in 2008, to strengthen its security apparatus. It created Special Intervention Groups (GSI), highly mobile military units capable of operating in the desert, supported by light aircraft…The iconic meharists — desert patrol officers on camels — are tasked with gathering intelligence in the desert region in the east of the country and maintaining a state presence among nomadic populations. “Mauritania has maintained an effective human intelligence network, particularly notable in the eastern border region known as the Hodh Ech Chargui,” the US Department of State said in its 2023 terrorism report. As part of its security strategy, checkpoints are scattered across the country. The northeastern region of Mauritania, which is mostly uninhabited, has been a restricted military zone since 2008, to help surveillance and prevent it from becoming a safe haven for jihadists. Mauritania has also engaged in a theological debate to stop its citizens from becoming radicalised…Following a government-led dialogue in 2010, dozens of radical Islamists in detention signed a “renouncement of violence”. AFP
South Sudan: SSPDF Takes Control of Border with Ethiopia
The governor of Upper Nile State, Gen. James Koang Chuol, confirmed Tuesday that the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) have taken full control of areas in Nasir County near the border with Ethiopia, previously held by the White Army, a loose band of armed Nuer youths. Speaking to Radio Tamazuj, Chuol said the border areas, including the payams of Jikmir and Burebiey, were brought under SSPDF control Monday. He stated that troops from Nasir town captured the last remaining villages along the border, cutting off supply routes from Ethiopia to Akobo and Nasir…Gen. James Tongyik Wang, an opposition commander who was near the South Sudan-Ethiopia border, confirmed to Radio Tamazuj that the SSPDF controlled Burebiey and Jikmir payams and the border with Ethiopia…Conflicts in eastern parts of Upper Nile State began last year between the SSPDF and the White Army but intensified earlier this year. Radio Tamazuj
Fresh Gunbattles Rock Libya Capital After Brief Lull
Fresh gunbattles have erupted in the Libyan capital between two powerful armed groups, a security official said Wednesday — just a day after authorities declared the fighting over. Clashes flared between the Radaa force and the 444 Brigade in key areas of Tripoli, including the port, the source said. There were no immediate reports of casualties. The official described the fighting as “urban warfare”, with intermittent clashes in residential areas involving light and medium weapons. In other areas, heavy weapons were being used to target rival positions…On Monday night, heavy arms fire and explosions rocked several Tripoli districts, killing at least six people, according to authorities. Reports said Abdelghani al-Kikli, leader of the Support and Stability Apparatus which controls the southern district of Abu Salim, had also been killed at a facility controlled by the 444 Brigade. Fighting now extended in southern and western Tripoli as Radaa and “groups supporting it came as reinforcements against the 444 Brigade”, the interior ministry source said. Another source told AFP groups were moving into the capital from neighbouring Zawiya in support of Radaa. The 444 Brigade controls parts of southern Tripoli and is aligned with Dbeibah, whereas Radaa controls parts in the capital’s east and holds several key state facilities. AFP