Inside Congo’s killing fields, sickly and exploited artisanal miners slave away for world’s indifferent tech economies
Josaphat Musamba, a Congolese researcher and PhD student at Ghent University in Belgium, said suppressing the militia would be a tall order for the DRC’s military, which is no longer present in large swathes of M23-controlled territory.
Cry, the beloved country: How Congo’s mines power world’s tech industry that reciprocates with guns and bombs
According to a December UN report, the scale of the trade reached new heights after the capture of Rubaya by M23. The rebels went on to establish a parallel administration controlling mining activities, trade, transport and the taxation of the minerals produced there, the UN reported.
Timbuktu’s historical manuscripts return home after 13 years in ‘exile’ in Mali’s capital Bamako
Still, 13 years after the occupation of Timbuktu, the security situation in Mali remains precarious and analysts say it has worsened in recent months. Although the city is back under government control, militants continue attacking its surroundings, including as recently as last month.
South African court orders body of former Zambian president returned home for state burial
Edgar Lungu died in June, aged 68, at a South African hospital following an undisclosed illness.
DStv’s acquisition by French television firm Vivendi sounds like Africa’s unending tale of lost independence
The immediate concern for many African subscribers is affordability. Already, DStv has faced criticism for high prices in lower-income nations. Canal+ past pricing models in Francophone Africa haven’t been cheap – and this raises fears of further rate hikes.
State capture: Role of South African Black police and ministers in crime questions ruling ANC’s credibility to confront lawlessness
In early July 2025, Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, the commissioner of police in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, made some startling claims. He called a press conference and, wearing camouflage uniform, he implicated the minister of police, Senzo Mchunu, together with the deputy national commissioner for crime detection, in a scheme to close down investigations into political assassinations in the province.
Africa pulls ahead of the world as the epicentre of terrorism with Burkina Faso perched at the top
In a speech to the High-Level African Counter-Terrorism Meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat called for a new approach to addressing the “destructive phenomenon [that] is ravaging human lives, infrastructure and institutions.”
South African defence crisis: One of Africa’s strongest militaries faces internal fragmentation, credibility, deterrence and maritime neglect
Irregular warfare in the South African context refers to decentralised, asymmetric conflict carried out by non-state actors who use criminal violence, coercion and subversion to undermine state authority. These include armed illegal mining groups, organised criminal groups, smuggling syndicates and extremist insurgent militias. They do not engage in direct, conventional combat.
After months in exile Sudanese refugees return home and Egypt is providing free train rides
Sudan has been in the throes of civil war since April 2023. The battle for power between the military and the RSF has caused a humanitarian crisis. Over 40,000 people have been killed and the war has caused one of the world’s largest displacement emergencies.
Nigerians remember former President Buhari, who died on Sunday aged 83 as a divisive dictator and democrat
Former President Muhammadu Buhari, first took power in Africa’s most populous nation in 1983, after a military coup, running an authoritarian regime until fellow soldiers ousted him less than 20 months later. When he was elected in 2015 on his fourth attempt, he became the first opposition candidate to win a presidential election there.
