Renewed Fighting in Ethiopia Could Reshape Its Military Role in Somalia
Ethiopia is preparing to withdraw more than 3,000 troops from Somalia as renewed fighting inside Ethiopia puts pressure on Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government to shift military resources toward the growing conflict at home, people familiar with the matter said. The troops could leave Somalia in the coming days or weeks, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the plans who were not authorized to speak publicly. It was not immediately clear whether the reported withdrawal would include Ethiopian troops serving with the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM), forces deployed under bilateral security agreements with Mogadishu, or both. … Ethiopia has thousands of troops in Somalia and is a key security partner of the federal government in its fight against Al-Shabaab. Ethiopian forces have operated in several parts of Somalia for years, including areas close to the two countries’ long border. … Ethiopia has previously moved troops out of Somalia when fighting intensified inside the country. During the two-year Tigray war that began in 2020, Ethiopian forces were reportedly redeployed from Somalia to support military operations at home. Garowe Online
Pope Leo Urges Dialogue as Fighting Intensifies in Northern Ethiopia
Pope Leo XIV has called on all parties involved in renewed fighting in Ethiopia’s Tigray region and neighboring Afar and Amhara regions to pursue dialogue, as clashes continue to raise humanitarian concerns. Speaking during his General Audience at the Vatican on Wednesday, the Pope said he was following the situation “with deep concern” and urged all sides to abandon armed confrontation. He also called on the international community to provide timely humanitarian assistance to people affected by the renewed hostilities. … The renewed fighting comes nearly four years after the November 2022 Pretoria peace agreement ended the two-year Tigray war. Tensions have since persisted, while Ethiopian authorities and neighboring governments have traded accusations over alleged external support for opposing forces. Addis Standard
Sudan Military Gives Initial Approval for Bashir Medical Travel, Lawyer Says
Sudan’s military authorities have granted initial approval for ousted former president Omer al-Bashir to travel abroad for medical treatment, though the decision has yet to be carried out, a lawyer on his defence team said on Wednesday. Bashir, 82, who was deposed during a popular uprising in 2019, has been held under preventive detention since war erupted across the country in mid-April 2023. …[Lawyer Mohamed El-Hassan El-Amin] said any medical release or foreign travel remains subject to final sign-off from top military and political leaders, adding that Bashir’s legal team continues to press for permission. … In September 2024, military authorities moved Bashir, former first vice president Bakri Hassan Saleh, former defence minister Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein, and retired brigadier general Yousif Abdel Fattah from the Wadi Sayidna military area in Omdurman to a hospital in the northern town of Merowe due to failing health. Saleh and Abdel Fattah were freed on medical grounds in April 2025. Sudan Tribune
Mali Army and Russian Fighters Accused of Killing Dozens of Civilians
At least 34 civilians were killed in seven locations in the central Ségou and Mopti regions and northern Timbuktu region between June 2023 and December 2025, Amnesty said. None of those killed was directly participating in hostilities at the time, the rights organisation said. Some were shot while attempting to flee or after being arrested, while others had their throats slit or were burnt alive or after their deaths. … The vast majority of the victims identified by Amnesty came from Fulani, Arab and Tuareg pastoral communities living in areas affected by fighting between government forces and armed groups. Many live in sparsely populated areas near Mali’s border with Mauritania, where military operations have intensified since renewed hostilities began in August 2023, Ousmane Diallo of Amnesty International told RFI. RFI
Exiled Burkina Publisher Tells RFI of Repression and Fear Four Years after Coup
Inoussa Ouédraogo, who now lives in exile, was the publishing director of the weekly Bendré and presided over the Society of Private Press Publishers of Burkina Faso. He says that while Traoré’s new economic projects are seen as a positive development, they act as a distraction to the diminishing human rights. … RFI: The first four years of Captain Traoré’s regime have been marked by numerous repressive measures. However, the regime maintains that this is justified by the fight against the jihadist threat. What is your take on this? IO: I believe it is simply a pretext to hold onto power for as long as possible. For these military figures, war has become a sort of business – akin to the coffee and cocoa trade. It is possible to fight terrorism without sacrificing the people’s rights. My thoughts go out to all the women and children whose loved ones have been abducted. Among the missing are journalists, doctors, lawyers, religious leaders, and even military personnel. I am thinking of a colleague who disappeared over two years ago. I am thinking of another person, who is ill and – according to the information we have – has requested medical treatment without success. I am thinking of Imam Mahmoud Diallo, a man nearly 80 years old; he vanished without a trace. We established an organisation called the Anti-Putschist Front, which has documented over 200 people abducted, held captive, and tortured by this regime. It is truly regrettable. The fight against terrorism cannot justify all of this. RFI
Nigeria: COAS Seeks Stronger ECOWAS Military Cooperation Against Cross-Border Threats
The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. Gen. Waidi Shaibu, has called for stronger regional security cooperation and defence partnerships among Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) member states to address contemporary and emerging security threats across the subregion. Shaibu made the call on Wednesday, September 30, 2026, when the Chief of Staff, ECOWAS Standby Force, Brig. Gen. Sheik Massaquoi, led a delegation on a courtesy visit to Army Headquarters in Abuja. The COAS said the increasingly complex, interconnected and transnational nature of security threats required greater collaboration among countries within the region. He identified terrorism, violent extremism, transnational organised crime and other cross-border threats as challenges that could not be effectively tackled by individual countries acting in isolation. PR Nigeria
Kenya: Clergy Raise Alarm over Rising Political Tensions, Corruption and Ethnic Division
The House of Bishops and Pastors Association has raised concerns over rising political temperatures, intolerance, misinformation, corruption, misappropriation of public funds and resources, and negative ethnicity in Kenya. Speaking during a press briefing on Wednesday, the clerics said they were deeply concerned about the rising culture of intolerance, character assassination and the rapid spread of misinformation, disinformation and malinformation. They said politics had changed and become increasingly toxic, with leaders increasingly speaking to one another as enemies, while condemning profiling and other forms of division among Kenyans. The clerics also expressed concern over what they described as the re-emergence of hired crowds allegedly armed and mobilised to disrupt meetings, beat, maim, kill and destroy property in the name of political supremacy. They called on relevant institutions to take action against such groups. The Standard
Egyptian Police Arrest All Six Journalists of Investigative Outlet
Egyptian police arrested six journalists from a fact-checking and investigative media outlet, accusing them of spreading misinformation on behalf of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, which the publication denied. The arrests comprised the entire newsroom of Matsaddash, a digital platform that has operated since 2018, according to the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), which is providing the journalists with legal representation. According to the EIPR, plainclothes security personnel had started raiding the journalists’ homes on Monday evening and confiscated electronic devices. … Egyptian journalists and activists have frequently been arrested on charges of spreading false news and rumours, and many independent outlets say they struggle to operate under restrictive conditions. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 19 journalists are currently detained in Egypt. Reuters
Uganda Law Society to Petition UN over Missing Activist Sam Mugumya
Barely a day after a video appearing to show People’s Front for Freedom (PFF) mobiliser and activist Sam Mugumya went viral, the Uganda Law Society (ULS) has said it will engage the United Nations (UN) to force the State to produce him before court. ULS Vice President Anthony Asiimwe said in a September 30 statement that they are closely following developments concerning his continued disappearance, including circulation of video footage that has heightened public concern about his welfare. … Mugumya, a former FDC mobiliser, was reportedly abducted on August 26, 2025, while having breakfast at NIM Hotel in Nyamitanga, Mbarara City, and it is now more than a year since the search for him began. Witnesses said armed men believed to be security operatives bundled him into a drone vehicle and drove away. His family has since pursued habeas corpus applications, but authorities have neither produced him in court nor publicly acknowledged holding him. His disappearance came less than three years after his return from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where he spent more than eight years in detention after his 2014 arrest on allegations of plotting rebellion. He was never formally tried and was released in October 2022. Monitor
Uganda: Japan Eyes China’s Lunch in Northern Corridor Projects
Japan has pledged financing for the reconstruction of the $150 million strategic Karuma Bridge in northern Uganda with a $33 million grant from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). … The Karuma bridge is one of the major Japanese-supported transport network projects linking Uganda to South Sudan and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, while connecting the landlocked country to the Indian Ocean through Kenya’s section of the Northern Corridor. But Japan’s role is only one part of a much bigger infrastructure push on a corridor where China has emerged as another major partner — particularly in large road and expressway projects. … Japan’s emerging footprint therefore sits within a much larger infrastructure ecosystem—one in which Chinese construction companies, Japanese ODA, multilateral lenders and African governments are all working to shape how goods move from Mombasa into the Great Lakes region. The East African
Namibia’s President Eyes Local Mineral Processing
Namibia’s president has a message for foreign investors eyeing the country’s critical minerals: build processing plants at home, or look elsewhere. “When you are coming to Namibia, you don’t want to be a briefcase business,” Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah told Semafor at an Invest Africa event on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly [last] week. “You have to put up a processing plant in our country.” Namibia is a mining-based economy, she said, whose minerals have for too long been exported raw and shipped back as finished goods. The country is a major uranium producer with deposits of lithium, rare earths, copper and graphite. In exchange for processing at home, she offered investors a long-term partnership and a stable place to do business, pointing to 36 years of peace since independence. She also wants foreign firms to team up with local entrepreneurs, “so that you become part and parcel of us.” … Nandi-Ndaitwah is also going further than many peers on ownership. Asked whether local partnership would be mandatory for foreign investors, she told Semafor: “In fact, we are putting it in the law.” Semafor