Algeria’s Military Deployment to Niger
Algeria’s parliament has approved a proposal to deploy troops to neighbouring Niger, in a major shift in the North African nation’s noninterventionist military doctrine. Algeria’s lower house, the People’s National Assembly, ratified the deployment on Sunday after the upper house, the Council of the Nation, unanimously approved the proposal earlier in the day. Details about the number of soldiers and when they will be deployed have yet to be made public. It comes nearly two months after Algeria dispatched four Russian-made Sukhoi Su-30 jets, a transport aircraft and an aerial refuelling aircraft to Niamey, following what Algerian authorities described as an attempt to destabilise Niger’s military-led government. … “We are not sending our soldiers to wage war in Niger, but for a mission to secure economic infrastructure,” Senator Boulghiti told reporters after the vote. “It is simply an adaptation of our doctrine to evolving circumstances so we can rise to the new challenges imposed by the situation in the Sahel region.” Al Jazeera
Sudan Paramilitary Drone Strikes Cause Mass Power Cuts in Eastern States
Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have launched a coordinated drone attack against five power stations, causing mass power outages across the country’s east, a government official said. The drones hit two power stations each in the states of Al-Jazira and Gedaref and one in White Nile state, “resulting in power outages across large parts of these three states”, the official said on condition of anonymity. All three states are controlled by the Sudanese army, which has been at war with the RSF, its former ally, since April 2023. The United Nations has repeatedly warned that regular attacks on power stations threaten health and services for millions of people who are already facing the world’s largest hunger crisis. Guardian
UN Human Rights Chief: ‘Sudan Drone Strikes Killed 306 in Three Weeks’
The UN Human Rights Office documented hundreds of deaths and injuries in October, with attacks attributed to both sides hitting displacement sites, markets, hospitals, and vital infrastructure. The UN Security Council has separately condemned deadly drone strikes in Abyei. The UN human rights chief, Volker Türk, has condemned a sharp escalation in drone strikes across Sudan after the UN Human Rights Office documented at least 306 deaths and hundreds of injuries during the first three weeks of October. … The UN Human Rights Office has documented numerous drone strikes on displacement sites where people who had fled fighting had sought shelter, resulting in a sharp increase in casualties among internally displaced people. … The UN Human Rights Office said attacks on gold-mining areas were linked to the war economy sustaining the conflict and raised serious concerns about the deliberate targeting of sites with economic value to the opposing side. Radio Dabanga
At Least 9 Killed in Clashes in Ethopia, Driving More Than 2,000 to Flee to Kenya
Deadly fighting between ethnic communities in southern Ethiopia has driven more than 2,000 people to seek refuge in neighboring Kenya, with at least nine deaths reported as violence continued, officials said Friday. Stanley Kamande, the commissioner for Kenya’s Marsabit County, told reporters that thousands of Ethiopians had crossed the border into the town of Moyale after armed confrontations erupted on the Ethiopian side of the frontier on Wednesday. The Kenya Red Cross said Thursday it was providing emergency assistance to displaced families, initially targeting 1,000 households. AA
Ebola Vaccine Trial Begins in DR Congo
The first clinical trial of an Ebola vaccine in the outbreak gripping the Democratic Republic of Congo began Friday, October 23, the head of the World Health Organization said. The DR Congo’s worst-ever Ebola outbreak has passed the 9,700-case mark, with the number of deaths exceeding 4,600. Among the many challenges facing the response is the lack of any approved vaccines or treatments for the Bundibugyo species of Ebola behind the epidemic. Ervebo, a vaccine approved for use against the more common Zaire strain of Ebola, will be put through a full-scale human trial in the DRC to see if it offers any cross-protection against Bundibugyo. “Science gives us hope. Today, in Bunia DRC, the first participants were vaccinated in a new Ebola vaccine trial called Tumaini, which means ‘hope’ in Swahili,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X. Le Monde with AFP
Ebola: Uganda Introduces 21-Day Quarantine for People Entering From DRC
Ugandans returning home from DR Congo — which has been hit by its worst ever Ebola outbreak — will be required to spend 21 days in quarantine, the health ministry said Sunday. The DRC, which shares a border with Uganda, has recorded more than 4,600 deaths since it declared its 17th Ebola outbreak in May. The virus has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa over the last 50 years. In August, the World Health Organization officially declared Uganda Ebola-free after 20 cases, including two deaths, on its territory, almost exclusively among people coming from visits to DRC. africanews
Mystery Over Source of Ebola Infection in Nigeria Fuels Concern About Spread of Virus
Health officials across Africa are racing to determine how Nigeria’s first Ebola patient in more than a decade became infected, amid fears the outbreak could spread further after reaching a fourth African country. The Swiss foreign ministry said on Friday the patient in Nigeria, the Ugandan-born wife of a Swiss diplomat based in Abuja, had not travelled to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the outbreak was first detected in mid-May before spreading to Uganda, Kenya and now Nigeria. The woman was believed to have contracted Ebola while travelling with her husband in Uganda, the ministry added. The new information contradicts accounts from Uganda, which previously said the woman had travelled to eastern DR Congo, and will raise concerns about the ability of authorities to contain the outbreak, which is already the most geographically widespread in history. Guardian
Nigeria: Death Toll in Taraba Attack Rises to 48
Not fewer than 48 bodies, including those who died in a boat accident while fleeing, have been found and handed to their families for burial following an attack by suspected bandits last Friday at Binnari community in Kalim-Lamido Local Government Area of Taraba State. The spokesman of the Taraba State Police Command, Mr. Victor Msherizar, said apart from the 33 people who were killed by the suspected bandits who invaded the community on Friday, 15 others who were fleeing for safety through River Benue drown, after their boat capsized. Nation
Nigerian President Launches Reelection Bid During a Cost-of-Living Crisis and a Fractured Opposition
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu launched his reelection bid Saturday, campaigning at a rally for a second presidential term during a cost-of-living crisis and a fractured opposition. The presidential election will be held in January against the backdrop of a worsening economy that has caused anger among voters against Tinubu’s government, but which Tinubu blamed on opposition parties. … Tinubu is being challenged by over a dozen opposition candidates, but analysts predict a three-man race between Tinubu and the two contenders he defeated in 2023. They are former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the African Democratic Congress, or ADC, a serial presidential candidate, and Peter Obi of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, or NDC, a former state governor who blew the last race wide open with his mass appeal to Nigeria’s youth. AP
Dangote Plans $1.5B Kenya Pipeline Investment
Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote plans to invest $1.5 billion to expand a pipeline network in Kenya, the Financial Times reported. Dangote’s company bought a 25% stake in the Kenya Pipeline Company, a strategic move that underscores the industrialist’s plan to expand his oil and gas unit into a pan-African operation. Dangote’s conglomerate was built on cement and food products, but the ongoing expansion of its Lagos refinery and the recent groundbreaking for a second on Kenya’s coast have seen the group emerge as an influential player in Africa’s energy sector. The oil price shock caused by the Iran war has placed pressure on East African countries that rely on Middle Eastern imports, raising demand for Dangote’s fuel products. The Kenya pipeline expansion is part of Dangote’s plan to own a distribution network that includes regional tank farms and other pipelines that will connect the group’s refineries to prospective markets across the continent. Semafor