Africa

Last week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi completed a tour of Eritrea, Kenya and Comoros, continuing a tradition dating back three decades by which Chinese foreign ministers open the diplomatic year with a trip to Africa. The visit—which comes just over a month after the conclusion of the eighth Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, or FOCAC, held late last year in Dakar, Senegal—illustrates how China’s engagement with African countries is evolving. Beijing is apparently ready to play a bigger role in mediating some of the region’s conflicts. Whether those efforts will pay off is an open question for both China and its partners on the continent.

South Sudan President Salva Kiir has lauded the Sudanese military leadership’s decision to return the country to civilian rule.

Sudan’s military leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on Monday called on political forces to agree on a civilian transitional government without them, further stressing the need to establish a national security council.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and rebel group Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) are blaming each other’s military forces after an unconfirmed number of civilians were killed Monday in the country’s Oromia region.

French forces in the Sahel will switch operating mode after they leave Mali, acting more “in support” of local forces rather than substituting for them, their commander says.

The United States’ top general for Africa has warned of “violent extremism” and the threat of Russian mercenaries in the Sahel region, speaking as war games wrapped up in Morocco.

European governments have been alarmed by a Russian disinformation campaign that seeks to deflect criticism that President Vladimir Putin’s war with Ukraine risks leaving millions of people in Africa facing famine.

La République centrafricaine (RCA) est confrontée à des « besoins humanitaires sans précédent et à une détérioration de la sécurité alimentaire », a averti mardi le Programme alimentaire mondial (PAM) indiquant qu’il s’attendait à une dépendance continue à l’égard de l’aide humanitaire en 2022 et 2023.

L’efficacité et la gestion de plusieurs initiatives de sécurité et de défense commune sont mises en cause, alors que sont discutées de nouvelles missions militaires en Afrique.

Au moins 160 000 personnes ont fui les combats dans le Nord-Kivu. Une tentative de médiation entre Kinshasa et Kigali doit se tenir, le 6 juillet, à Luanda.

Les coups de feu l’ont réveillé en pleine nuit. Dans son village de Buhumba, situé dans la province du Nord-Kivu, l’armée congolaise faisait face, fin mai, aux insurgés du Mouvement du 23-Mars (M23). « Au matin, les soldats avaient disparu. Il ne restait plus que les rebelles. Je suis parti immédiatement », raconte Harerimana, debout au milieu de nattes étalées sur le sol en guise de lit.

We know that counterterrorism programs are not helping, but some of the non-military plans long abandoned by the US could work.

Mass atrocities now occur regularly in the Sahel. The names of towns, villages, and districts in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger become infamous one after the next: Moura, Seytenga, and Bankass. The perpetrators are often jihadists — namely, an al-Qaida affiliate called the Group for Supporting Islam and Muslims (known by its Arabic acronym JNIM) and its rival, the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, or ISGS.