Civilians in Sudan’s El Obeid Trapped between Drones and Incarceration
Civilians in Sudan’s El Obeid live in constant fear of drone attacks by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and of a wave of arbitrary arrests by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), UN-appointed independent investigators said on Wednesday. They warned that the war is becoming more geographically extensive, technologically sophisticated and increasingly dangerous for civilians. “Thousands have been arrested by SAF security cells, detained and tortured in unofficial locations and in El Obeid Central Prison, kept under appalling conditions,” said Mona Rishmawi, an expert member of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan, during a press briefing. … The [mission’s new] report found that RSF drone strikes continue to kill and injure civilians in El Obeid, damaging homes, schools, displacement sites and electricity and water systems, and may amount to war crimes. … At the same time, SAF-affiliated security actors have intensified surveillance and targeted people engaged in humanitarian, human rights and peace work. El Obeid Central Prison reportedly holds some 2,000 people against a capacity of about 450, with one former detainee describing up to 40 people confined in a cell measuring roughly 2.5 by 2 metres. UN News
Sporadic Gunfire Sends Ethiopians Fleeing into Kenya as Trucks Remain Stuck at Border
Sporadic gunfire could be heard coming from the Ethiopian border town of Moyale on Friday as Ethiopian civilians continued fleeing into Kenya to escape violence stemming from a regional dispute. Cargo trucks were stranded on both sides of the border as tensions persisted between leaders of the Oromia and Somali regional states of Ethiopia. An Associated Press reporter in Moyale, Kenya, recorded gunfire coming from the Ethiopian side of the border and reported hearing sporadic gunfire daily since Oct. 22. Up to an estimated 50,000 people have crossed into Kenya, the U.N. refugee agency said Wednesday, citing local authorities, up from 36,000 reported Tuesday. … The fighting is rooted in a longstanding boundary dispute between the Borana, who are Oromo, and the Garre, who are Somali, according to ACLED’s senior East Africa analyst, Jalale Getachew Birru. AP
Ethiopia’s Russian Fighter Jets Raise Stakes in Eritrea Standoff
Speaking during the Russia-Africa summit in Moscow on Wednesday, 28 October, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said Ethiopia had acquired 12 Su-35 fighters, with four batteries of S-400 surface-to-air missiles to follow. … The deal marks a substantial advance in Ethiopia’s military modernisation. Addis Ababa took delivery of Russian Su-30 fighters and Turkish Bayraktar Akıncı attack drones in 2024, supplementing its existing Su-27 fleet and other foreign-made drones. This January, it displayed Russian Yak-130 trainers, which could prepare pilots to fly more advanced fighters. Drones helped the federal army reverse rebel gains during the devastating 2020-22 Tigray war. The Su-35s and S-400s serve a different purpose: contesting control of the skies and defending strategic infrastructure against another state’s air force. Whether Ethiopia can integrate the systems, train crews and maintain them remains an open question. Another open question: who is paying the bill? Abiy has disclosed neither the contract value nor its financing. The Africa Report with AFP
France and Chad Rebuild Military Ties with Planned Air Force Training
Two French fighter jets and a transport aircraft will soon make a stopover in Chad and carry out “training activities”, the French army has said, as the two countries seek to rebuild ties. The stopover will take place as part of a joint military exercise involving the armed forces of Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon and France in November. … Relations between France and Chad began to deteriorate in mid-2024. They reached breaking point when Chad’s leader Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno formally terminated his country’s military cooperation agreement with France in November 2024. The move led to the complete withdrawal of French troops from the country in early 2025. … France and Chad have since sought to revive their ties, while expanding them to include economic and cultural cooperation as well as military assistance. … President Emmanuel Macron hosted Déby for talks in mid-October as part of ongoing efforts to rebuild the relationship. It followed another visit in January. During Déby’s most recent trip, France and Chad signed a declaration of intent to renew their defence cooperation. RFI
Somalia Faces Security Vacuum as AU Troops Prepare to Leave Key Military Bases
Some African Union forces stationed in Somalia’s Lower Shabelle region are expected to vacate four key positions next week as part of a planned reduction in the mission’s troop strength, informed sources said. The withdrawal comes amid funding constraints affecting the African Union mission, with December 2026 reportedly providing an additional year for the process of reducing its troop numbers. The planned departure could create a significant security vacuum in Lower Shabelle, a strategically important region that serves as a defensive buffer for the Somali capital, Mogadishu. Somali government forces have limited capacity to take over and hold the positions expected to be vacated, the sources said, raising concerns about the potential consequences of the withdrawal. Garowe Online
CAR Tightens Border Checks as DR Congo’s Ebola Cases Rise
As the number of Ebola cases in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo hits over 10,000, the Central African Republic has stepped up screening along the river border between the two countries. At the M’Poko Bac pier frontier post, in the south-west of the capital, Bangui, which sits on the banks of the waterway, health workers are raising awareness among local communities. “Passengers arriving by canoe dock at the entry point. Then they disembark one at a time,” explained Maldiana Bagalama, tasked with health screening at the site. “One of our colleagues is there to direct them to the hand-washing station. Next, we brief them on the situation, then direct them to the tent for temperature checks and registration,” she said. … [T]he DRC and CAR share a porous and largely unmonitored frontier stretching for more than 1,500 kilometres. … In addition to those checks, the authorities have launched awareness-raising campaigns. Neighbourhood chiefs, community leaders and religious figures are being drafted in to pass on prevention guidelines to residents. Africanews
South Africa Blocks Anti-foreigner Protests Ahead of Elections
South African police have secured a temporary ban on protests by an anti-foreigner movement ahead of next week’s local elections, after uncovering an alleged plot by the movement’s supporters to burn down a refugee centre. The March and March movement has held months of protests calling for tougher action against illegal immigration — including mass expulsions — tapping into frustration over jobs, crime and struggling public services. … The unrest has intensified ahead of polls on November 4, prompting President Cyril Ramaphosa this week to confirm he had deployed some 500 soldiers to KwaZulu-Natal province — home of the region’s biggest port and the central flashpoint of violence. The Durban High Court on Wednesday granted a ban against March and March demonstrations until Friday, when it will decide whether to extend the prohibition further — and whether to directly clamp down on the movement’s leaders. Financial Times
South Africa: Sinkholes, Scarred Land and Scapegoats: The Scourge of Illegal Gold Mining in Johannesburg
South Africa’s police regularly trumpet their success in tackling illegal mining. On 19 October, they said they had arrested 71 suspected zama zamas [the name given to illegal miners in South Africa] across the country in the previous week. However, researchers put the number of illegal miners in the tens of thousands. In 2019, Marcena Hunter, a researcher at the Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime, estimated that a tenth of South Africa’s gold production, worth about $1bn, was being exported illegally. Police operations have also led to tragedy. In 2025, 93 bodies were pulled from a mine shaft in Stilfontein, after officers blocked food and water from being delivered underground. Meanwhile, there is no end in sight to the dynamics driving illegal mining, including the high price of gold, poverty, unemployment, corrupt politicians and police profiting, and the failure of mining companies to fulfil their legal obligation to seal mining shafts when they cease operating. The Guardian
Cameroonian Opposition Parties Condemn the Suspension of Issa Tchiroma’s Party
Cameroonian opposition parties condemned the three-month suspension of Issa Tchiroma Bakary’s political party, the National Salvation Front of Cameroon. The party has been banned from operating nationwide for three months, a decision announced on Tuesday by the Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji. Authorities cite calls for insurrection, serious threats to public order and the fact that one of the party’s leaders is living abroad. Several opposition parties have described the decision as political. MANIDEM called it an “unjust” measure and a “blatant manoeuvre”. The Front for Change in Cameroon also said the suspension threatens a fair electoral contest. Another opposition party, the Democratic Union of Cameroon, has called for elections that are as inclusive as possible. The suspension comes just months before legislative and municipal elections scheduled for early 2027, amid an already tense political climate following the October 2025 presidential election. Africanews
US Convicts Rwandan Man Who Hid Genocide Role for Decades
A Rwandan man has been convicted in the US of lying under oath about his involvement in the 1994 genocide during the trial of a former university classmate. A federal jury in Boston found Eric Nshimiye, 54, guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice charges stemming from his testimony in the 2019 immigration fraud trial of Jean Leonard Teganya, who was also accused of participating in the atrocities. Nshimiye fled Rwanda for Kenya in 1994 and was admitted to the US as a refugee the following year. About 800,000 people, mostly from Rwanda’s minority Tutsi community, were killed by ethnic Hutu extremists during the 100-days genocide. Prosecutors said he concealed his involvement in the genocide to secure entry into the country. Evidence presented at Nshimiye’s trial showed that, while a student at the University of Rwanda in Butare, he took part in attacks of the Tutsi people, including by striking them on the head with a club. … He is due to be sentenced on 26 January 2027. BBC
Tanzania and Angola Agree to Link Ocean Corridors by Rail
Tanzania and Angola have agreed to connect their Indian Ocean and Atlantic Ocean transport corridors with a railway link via Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan said. The Benguela railway in Angola will join the Tanzania-Zambia Railway line to Tanzania’s port of Dar es Salaam, linking the Lobito corridor on the Atlantic coast with the central corridor on the Indian Ocean coast. Hassan gave no date for completion of the initiative in comments to reporters on Thursday. In 2025, China signed a $1.4-billion pact with Zambia and Tanzania to modernise the TAZARA railway, which it had financed in the 1970s to facilitate copper exports and fuel imports. Reuters
Africa Ready for Olympic Debut with Dakar Youth Games
Senegal is the first African country to host an Olympic sporting event, with the Youth Games opening on Saturday with the participation of almost 2,700 athletes, aged 14-17, from 204 national Olympic committees. The Games, running to November 13, were initially set for 2022 but had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. … Humphrey Kayange, the IOC’s coordination commission chair for the Games, said the impact of the Youth Games could be wider. Africa has never hosted the summer Olympics despite bids from several countries in the past. On Thursday Durban was named as South Africa’s candidate for either the 2036 or 2040 Olympics. “Seeing it (Dakar) come together has been great,” Kayange said. “What it leaves behind is legacy, infrastructure, venues, personnel. We hope the ripple effect does not die. There is a lot of potential and opportunity for it to be a shining start.” Reuters