Africa Media Review for October 10, 2024

Mozambique Counts Votes in Its Presidential Election as Opposition Alleges Fraud
Mozambique began counting votes late Wednesday in a presidential election that is expected to extend the ruling party’s 49 years in power, though the opposition was already alleging fraud and manipulation. … The full results must be delivered to the Constitutional Council within 15 days of polls closing to be validated and formally declared. The credibility of the election was expected to come under scrutiny. Frelimo was accused of ballot-stuffing and falsifying results in previous votes, including last year’s local elections. … Teams of regional and international election observers are in Mozambique, including from the European Union and African Union. … Renamo is contesting this election and party leader Ossufo Momade, a military commander in the civil war, is its candidate for president. The peace between Frelimo and Renamo has been fragile, with an outbreak of more fighting in 2013. Momade and outgoing President Nyusi signed another peace deal in 2019. Tensions remain, although the AU has said that this is the first election in Mozambique without the presence of armed groups connected to political parties after a successful process to disarm Renamo militias. AP

Africans Recruited to Work in Russia Say They Were Duped Into Building Drones for Use in Ukraine
The social media ads promised the young African women a free plane ticket, money and a faraway adventure in Europe. Just complete a computer game and a 100-word Russian vocabulary test. But instead of a work-study program in fields like hospitality and catering, some of them learned only after arriving on the steppes of Russia’s Tatarstan region that they would be toiling in a factory to make weapons of war, assembling thousands of Iranian-designed attack drones to be launched into Ukraine. In interviews with The Associated Press, some of the women complained of long hours under constant surveillance, of broken promises about wages and areas of study, and of working with caustic chemicals that left their skin pockmarked and itching. To fill an urgent labor shortage in wartime Russia, the Kremlin has been recruiting women aged 18-22 from places like Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, South Sudan, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, as well as the South Asian country of Sri Lanka. AP

Over 500 Sudanese Killed in Air Strikes
Emergency Lawyers condemned the continued aerial bombardment by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) forces on areas occupied by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in El Gezira, Sennar, White Nile state, North Kordofan, and West and North Darfur, which killed hundreds of civilians in the last week, estimated to be over 500. … Yesterday morning, warplanes launched airstrikes on the Fur Market in Hasaheisa in El Gezira, killing and wounding more than 100 people, including children. The Darfur Bar Association (DBA) strongly condemned the airstrike. “The violations taking place amount to genocide,” the DBA said in a statement. … El Fasher is the last of the five Darfur state capitals not under RSF control. Residents fear that full RSF control of the city could ignite strife between Arab tribesmen supporting the RSF and the Zaghawa from which most fighters of the North Darfur rebel movements hail. Dabanga

South Sudan Holdout Groups to Sign Peace Deal Next Month
The parties to the South Sudan high-level mediation in Nairobi, often referred to as the hold-out groups, are expected to sign the final agreement in November following the completion of nine protocols touching on key agenda items. The revelations from the mediation team signal a revival of the final stages of the talks, which had appeared suspended for the past two months after the government delegation went to Juba for consultations. In an interview with The EastAfrican, the chief mediator, Lt-Gen (Rtd) Lazarus Sumbeiywo, said that negotiations on all but one of the protocols had been completed, indicating that the one on Responsibility Sharing (power sharing) remained unfinished. The mediator said the remaining part should be completed in the next week. … Mogga Loyo, a South Sudanese political analyst, said that the people are hoping that the Tumaini Initiative will not only focus on interest groups but engage the citizens in every step of the negotiations. EastAfrican

South Sudan’s Economic Crisis Is So Bad It’s Taxing Its Only Lifeline
The East African country, which broke off from Sudan in 2011 after decades of civil war, is battling severe floods, a collapsing currency and a catastrophic falloff in revenue from oil, its main export. While many countries are in fiscal trouble, South Sudan’s woes are at a whole other level. Civil servants haven’t been paid in a year. Authorities have canceled a presidential election, saying they don’t have enough cash to register voters. Unpaid soldiers are abandoning outposts in the countryside and flocking to towns in search of food. Police have walked off the job, allowing criminals to run rampant. Public-school teachers and health workers have been on strike for months. Desperate for revenue, the government has imposed a $300 levy on every international aid truck as it enters the landlocked country, and again as it leaves. Aid agencies say the truck tax adds $339,000 a month to the cost of keeping impoverished South Sudanese alive. The government is also now taxing vehicles and supplies belonging to the 14,000-strong United Nations peacekeeping force stationed in the country. WSJ

Congo Wants To Pivot Away From China’s Dominance Over Its Mining
Democratic Republic of Congo’s top mining official said the country is courting new investors for its world-class deposits of key metals as it looks to diversify ownership in its industry, which is currently dominated by China. The plan includes streamlining processes to pay customs and taxes, along with a partnership with the United Arab Emirates, Mines Minister Kizito Pakabomba said in an interview. The nation is also planning to revamp a railway that can be used to transport minerals so cargoes can be more easily exported from a port along the Atlantic Ocean, positioned closer to US and European markets, he said. … The government is evaluating how to improve a railway from the mining hub of Kolwezi to Congo’s border with Angola, which would then connect to a line terminating at the port of Lobito on the Atlantic Ocean, Pakabomba said. The US has already committed $553 million to refurbish the Angolan section of the railway. Bloomberg

Man Charged in South Africa Mass Shooting That Left 18 Dead
Weeks after the mass shooting of 18 members of one family in South Africa left a town reeling, prosecutors charged one man with the murders on Wednesday. The shooting, which took place on Sept. 28 in a rural village in the Eastern Cape Province, brought to the fore an increasing number of mass shootings in South Africa. The country has for years recorded high rates of violent crime, but in recent years, gunmen have started targeting taverns, family gatherings and even a birthday party, in assassination-style hits. … In the past four months, the police have seized more than 430 illegal firearms, including automated rifles, most of them confiscated in the Eastern Cape, the police minister said. New York Times

Zimbabwe: After Her Arrest, a Young Activist Holds Onto Her ‘Why’
A year ago, during the 2023 Democracy Forum in Athens, Namatai Kwekweza was awarded the Kofi Annan NextGen Democracy prize for her pro-democracy and feminist advocacy in Africa. Last week, as the forum again met in Greece, Ms. Kwekweza was dealing with repercussions of that activism: her recent arrest in Zimbabwe and pending trial. On July 31, Ms. Kwekweza, who is the founder and director of Zimbabwe’s youth leadership development and advocacy organization WELEAD Trust, boarded a domestic flight from Harare, the capital, to the city of Victoria Falls to attend a conference on philanthropy. While on the tarmac with the engines running, Ms. Kwekweza, 25, along with Robson Chere and Samuel Gwenzi — activists who were also traveling to the conference — was escorted off the plane. … They were beaten and tortured for several hours, she said, before finally being taken to a police station… New York Times

UN Calls for Safer Migration From Horn of Africa to Gulf Countries
The head of the U.N. International Organization for Migration, or IOM, is calling for safe migration to and from the Gulf countries as the dangerous eastern Horn of Africa route claims more lives. The so-called eastern route runs from the Horn of Africa to Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf by way of Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia and Yemen. Migrant workers, mainly from Ethiopia but also from other East African countries, travel over the route in search of jobs and economic opportunities. At least 48 people died and 75 others were missing or presumed dead after smugglers forced migrants off two boats on October 1 in the Red Sea, off the coast of Djibouti. Almost all of the migrants were Ethiopians. VOA

With Roads Often Blocked by Rebels in Congo, Boats — the Only Alternative — Have Become Death Traps
The overcrowded boat that capsized in eastern Congo last week killed eight members of Serge Nzonga’s family along with 70 others. Days later, he was back on the same route that claimed their lives in yet another boat lacking safety measures. Nzonga and hundreds of other passengers, including Associated Press journalists, lined up at the seaport in Goma, eastern Congo’s largest city, getting ready to board a locally made boat bound for Bukavu city on the other side of Lake Kivu, a perilous journey they would rather undertake than travel Congo’s treacherous roads. … The capsizing of overloaded boats is becoming increasingly frequent in this central African nation as more people are abandoning the few available roads for wooden vessels crumbling under the weight of passengers and their goods. The roads are often caught up in the deadly clashes between Congolese security forces and rebels that sometimes block major access routes. AP

Nigeria to Punish Musk’s Starlink for Unauthorised Price Hike
Nigeria began a process to sanction Starlink after the satellite-internet service owned by billionaire Elon Musk increased its prices without approval from the regulator. SpaceX’s Starlink unit recently nearly doubled its monthly subscription rate to 75 000 naira (R1 400) from 38 000 naira citing “excessive inflation,” while there was a 34% hike in equipment charges to 590 000 naira. Nigerian law requires telecommunication licence holders to obtain approval from officials before they raise tariffs or charges. The regulator said in a statement late Tuesday that it has “commenced pre-enforcement action on the licensee” since October 3, following Starlink’s decision to hike prices without approval. “The decision by Starlink to unilaterally review its subscription packages upwards did not receive the approval” of the regulator, it said. Bloomberg

African Creatives Cash in on Tiktok’s Explosive Growth
Africa is becoming a key market for social media companies amid a surge in engagement by young, tech-savvy users. Thanks to favourable demographics, rising internet penetration, and promising economic prospects, the continent’s advertising and consumer markets are poised for strong long-term growth. … Notably, TikTok has become one of the leading sources of news and entertainment for African social media users. … TikTok provides African creative talent with opportunities to monetise their work. … Daniel Obura, senior program manager at Digitribe – a collaborative initiative between Ogilvy and East African Breweries Ltd (EABL) … offers valuable insights into what distinguishes successful influencers. “Gone are the days when brands focused solely on follower count. Today, creativity, authenticity, engagement rate, audience demographics, content quality, reputation, and most importantly, brand alignment are what truly matter,” Obura told African Business. … “It’s not always about signing up new clients but about maintaining authenticity. Promoting content that doesn’t align with an influencer’s values can damage their reputation and audience trust. Influencers should be very selective with the brands they choose to work with,” he advises. AFrican Business

Intra-Africa Trade Could Double in Next Five Years, Says Secretary General of African Continental Free Trade Area
Africa is home to the world’s largest free trade agreement, in terms of number of countries, territory, and population – the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Fifty-four of 55 African Union member countries have signed up to the deal which covers a market of 1.3 billion people and a combined GDP of $3.4 trillion. It aims to boost economic growth, intra-African trade and investment across the continent, but although it was established in February 2020, implementing the agreement has been slow. According to the Economic Commision for Africa, African countries continue to trade with the rest of the world more than among themselves. Inadequate infrastructure, a lack of finance, and weak governance are often to blame. This week, leaders from Africa’s private and public sector will meet in Kigali, Rwanda, for Biashara Afrika, the second edition of the AfCTFA Business Forum, to discuss the challenges and opportunities of the free trade area. CNN

Namibia’s President ‘Committed to Green Hydrogen Program’
DW: Your country is currently facing a devastating drought. Are you surprised by how devastating it has been in the region? President Nangolo Mbumba: Yes, truly devastated. Usually, we have drought because lack of grains, lack of food. But this time, it is strongly indicating how parched, how dry the soil has become. The only way left was to make sure that we deliver water by trucks. That is the driest type of drought you can have when you can no longer deliver water to your people. DW: One of the responses to climate change has been developing green hydrogen projects, like the Hyphen Project you are developing in Namibia with Germany. How do you respond to critics who say the project creates new problems, including environmental ones? President Nangolo Mbumba: We need to decarbonize the world. How? By using the available energies from the sun and wind. We have the highest rate of sun rays because we have a desert country. We have water. We have harbors and companies. … We are committed to this program. DW