Burkina Faso putschists come under stinging criticism for failing to reverse insecurity and violent extremism
Three months after the putsch in Burkina Faso, the junta that pushed President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré out of power is coming under searing criticism for failing to reverse growing insecurity and incidents of violence that have become a daily occurrence. Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) figures...
UN experts worry South Sudan is on brink of civil war after peace accord became ‘lucrative venue for elite power politics’
Many political leaders and civilians in South Sudan are “deeply sceptical” a 2018 peace agreement can deliver stability to the world’s newest nation and worry it may be heading back into conflict, UN experts said in a report circulated Monday. The experts pointed to political disputes between former rivals now...
Military budgets shoot up as Kenya, Uganda and Angola top Africa against backdrop of terrorism, extremism
Total world military expenditure increased fractionally in 2021 to reach $2,113 billion, surpassing the $2 trillion mark for the first time, new research by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has revealed. Military spending also increased in Africa. SIPRI on April 25 said 2021 saw the seventh consecutive year...
Public fetes for Uganda President Museveni’s son send clearest signal he’s preparing to succeed his father
Public fetes celebrating the son of Uganda’s leader are raising concern that he is aiming for the presidency after years of apparently being groomed to succeed his father, President Yoweri Museveni, who has held power since 1986. Three events marking Lt-Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba’s 48th birthday have been held in recent...
Organised crime: New report says West Africa now a major corridor for cocaine from South America to Europe
Cabo Verdean police intercepted a boat in early April suspected to be involved in international drug trafficking. The Brazilian boat contained more than 5 tons of cocaine. The operation, which included help from the United States Drug Enforcement Agency, US Navy, Brazilian Federal Police and the National Crime Agency of...
Resentment of Chinese citizens in Africa peaking as incidents of human rights abuses rise
An irate Chinese boss is screaming at his African workers as they take a lunch break, urging them to work harder or else the company would not make any money. While intended to be funny, the new Egyptian TV commercial – since pulled down for fear of offending Beijing –...
Ukrainian forces reportedly hit and destroy a second Russian naval ship in the Black Sea
Another Russian naval ship in the Black Sea was hit and left burning by the Ukrainian military, according to unconfirmed reports. The Admiral Makarov, a 409-foot Russian frigate, was sailing close to Snake Island in the Black Sea, off the coast of the Ukrainian port city of Odessa, when it...
East African Community intervention in DRC raises fears over ‘legitimate and illicit’ interests of Congo’s neighbours to the east
Will the East African Community’s (EAC) gambit to try to bring peace to the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s chronically turbulent east succeed where others have failed? After a false start the week before, last week representatives of some 23 of the eastern DRC’s countless armed rebel groups concluded five...
Doubts persist about Somali MPs’ readiness to elect new government despite picking a presidential election office
Somalia is expected to have a new president on May 15 – ten days after 34 members of the upper and lower houses of Parliament met in the capital Mogadishu to set the date for the process that has been delayed for almost two years. The unorthodox method of choosing...
Odds stacked against Russia as Western countries ship heavy arms to beleaguered Ukraine
As Western countries ship increasingly heavy arms to a beleaguered Ukraine, one of the most important transfers so far is an arsenal’s worth of field howitzers. Unlike the Ukrainian army’s existing big guns, these artillery pieces come in Nato calibres and are the key to unlocking the West’s precision-guided artillery...
