Africa

U.K. prosecutors have told Swiss authorities they have proof of an alleged money-laundering ring spanning from Africa to Europe that paid almost $380 million in cash bribes to authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Companies repeatedly bribed officials to further their business interests in the mineral-rich nation, according to the Swiss court judgment that cited information from U.K. prosecutors. Congo is Africa’s biggest producer of copper and supplies about 70% of the world’s cobalt, a critical input for the batteries that power electric vehicles.

Plus de 237.000 personnes ont été contraintes de fuir leurs localités depuis le début de l’année au Burkina Faso, pays qui fait face à des attaques jihadistes meurtrières, portant le nombre total de déplacés à plus de 1,3 million a annoncé mercredi le gouvernement burkinabè.

Dans un rapport publié jeudi, Amnesty international (AI) tire la sonnette d’alarme sur le traitement des migrants interceptés en Méditerranée qui sont envoyés de force dans des centres de détention en Libye, avec l’aide “honteuse” des Européens.

En République centrafricaine après l’offensive menée en début d’année par la coalition rebelle de la Coalition pour le changement (CPC) et repoussée aux portes de Bangui, la capitale, c’est désormais la moitié de la population qui se trouve en situation d’insécurité alimentaire, soit un tiers de plus que l’année précédente.

Dans l’est du Soudan, les jeunes Tigréens qui ont fui le nord de l’Éthiopie, en proie à une guerre civile, n’hésitent plus à prendre la route de la Libye.

Dans l’est du Soudan, sur la route qui mène au camp de réfugiés d’Um Rakuba, cinq jeunes garçons marchent. Ils ont un petit sac à la main et traversent à pied cette vaste étendue de brousse sous une chaleur écrasante. Le thermomètre affiche 40 °C. « Ils s’échappent », commente notre chauffeur. La loi soudanaise interdit aux réfugiés de se déplacer sans autorisation. Mais certains arrivent à se soustraire à la vigilance des forces de sécurité pour aller travailler dans les fermes voisines, se rendre en ville, ou prendre la route vers de nouvelles destinations.

Rwanda has rattled southern African governments by beating them to the frontline against insurgents in northern Mozambique. A standby force from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) is meant to start deploying in Mozambique’s violent Cabo Delgado province on July 15, 2021. But as of July 9, 2021 Mozambique had still not given official clearance for the deployment. SADC’s deployment also seems to have been complicated by a dispute within SADC about which country should lead the SADC standby force. It was originally supposed to be South Africa, but this now seems to be in doubt, Peter Fabricius writes for Daily Maverick.

French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to end Operation Barkhane, the French mission to fight jihadism in the Sahel, bears some resemblance to the ongoing removal of American troops from Afghanistan.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced yesterday that Operation Barkhane, the French counterterrorism force fighting jihadis in the Sahel, will end in the first quarter of 2022. This follows a recent announcement that the French president plans to cut in half the French presence in the Sahel and reorganize what will remain as specialized regional forces, while also contributing to Task Force Takuba, the recently established EU force with a remit similar to that of Barkhane. These developments provide the occasion to look at the French military trajectory since 2013. So, too, does the fact that today is Bastille Day, the French national holiday.

The security situation in the Horn of Africa is growing more unstable as major powers rush to establish a military presence in the strategic region.

This has drawn renewed attention to the reality of widespread foreign military operations in Africa.

A senior US military commander recently warned of what he termed as “wildfire of terrorism” sweeping across Africa at the conclusion of massive US-led war games in the continent.

The African Lion war games, which lasted nearly two weeks, stretched across Morocco, a US ally, with smaller parts held in Tunisia and Senegal.

The rise of farmer-herder violence in Africa is more pernicious than fatality figures alone since it is often amplified by the emotionally potent issues of ethnicity, religion, culture, and land.