News That Matters To Africa©️
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Book markets in Iraq leave books on the streets at night because they say “the reader does not steal and the thief does not read.”
HIGHLIGHTS
Ethiopia warns against invasion
Floods in West Africa displace nearly 1 million people
SAfrica’s minister denies corruption allegations
Tebboune is re-elected in Algeria
the China/Africa Summit.
TOP NEWS
Eastern Africa
Congo receives long-awaited mpox vaccine doses
Vaccinations against Mpox in Congo will begin next month, authorities say
Epidemic-battered DRC declares new ‘war’ on Mpox
Prison break deaths reveal congestion problem in Congolese jails
Ethiopia warns against invasion amid regional tensions
Ethiopia releases opposition politicians from prison
Fire kills 17 pupils at primary boarding school in Kenya
Fire breaks out at Kenya girls’ school days after inferno killed 21
Domestic violence aggregations shake Kenyan athletics
Haiti: Plans for UN Force to replace Kenya-led police force
Kenya suffers second major blackout in week, 70% of power restored
UN official says Sudan’s war has killed at least 20,000 people
U.N. Panel Calls for International Peacekeeping Force in Sudan
Podcast: On the ground in Sudan, an ‘apocalyptic’ situation
Middle East majors make Horn of Africa playfield
OpEd: No, the Horn cannot afford another conflict
OpEd: The Maasai’s struggle for land rights and dignity
West Africa
Floods in West Africa displace nearly 1 million people
Why Nigeria’s ‘Mr Flag Man’ has waited a year to be buried
Southern Africa
Botswanan police, protesters clash over executive powers bill
South Africa’s justice minister denies corruption allegations
Zambia and Zimbabwe could face dark days due to hydropower plant shutdown
North Africa
President Abdelmadjid Tebboune is re-elected in a landslide in gas-rich Algeria
Olympic Gold sparks Boxing boom among Algerian girls
Egyptian archaeologist calls on Berlin to return Nefertiti bust
Morocco stops 45,000 migrants from crossing to Europe in 2024
Morocco’s High Atlas marks one year since record earthquake
AFRICA-GENERAL NEWS
THE WEEK AHEAD
EASTERN AFRICA
DRCONGO
MPOX & DRC:
Congo receives long-awaited Mpox vaccine doses
Democratic Republic of Congo received its first batch of mpox vaccines on Thursday, which health authorities hope will help curb an outbreak that has prompted the U.N. to declare a global public health emergency. Congo is the epicentre of the outbreak, which has spread to neighbouring countries and elsewhere, but a lack of vaccines in Africa has hampered efforts to stop the spread of the sometimes deadly disease. A plane carrying doses manufactured by Bavarian Nordic and donated by the European Union touched down in the capital Kinshasa around 13:00 local time (12:00 GMT), reporters at the airport said. Congo’s health minister, Samuel Roger Kamba Mulamba, reported that the newly arrived vaccine had already proved its worth in the United States and would be rolled out to adults in Congo. This first delivery amounts to 99,000 doses and a further delivery on Saturday will take the total to 200,000 doses, said Laurent Muschel, the head of the EU Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA). Overall, Europe aims to deliver 566,000 doses to wherever needs are greatest in the region, Muschel told Reuters. “Based on the number of cases, the next country (for deliveries) should be Burundi, but the country’s medical agency must authorise it.”
Vaccinations against Mpox in Congo will begin next month, authorities say
A vaccination campaign against mpox in Congo will begin Oct. 2, authorities said Saturday, with workers focusing on the three most affected provinces first.
Adults in Equateur, South Kivu and Sankuru provinces will be vaccinated first, according to Cris Kacita Osako, coordinator of Congo’s Monkeypox Response Committee. Earlier this week, the first batch of mpox vaccines arrived in the capital of Congo, the center of the outbreak. The 100,000 doses of the JYNNEOS vaccine, manufactured by the Danish company Bavarian Nordic, were donated by the European Union through HERA, the bloc’s agency for health emergencies. Another 100,000 were delivered on Saturday. The 200,000 doses are just a fraction of the 3 million doses authorities have said are needed to end the mpox outbreaks in Congo, the epicenter of the global health emergency. The European Union countries pledged to donate more than 500,000 others, but the timeline for their delivery remained unclear. Since the start of 2024, there have been 5,549 confirmed mpox cases across the continent, with 643 associated deaths, representing a sharp escalation in both infections and fatalities compared to previous years. The cases in Congo constituted 91% of the total number. Most mpox infections in Congo and Burundi, the second most affected country, are in children under age 15.
Epidemic-battered DRC declares new ‘war’ on Mpox
The Democratic Republic of Congo has battled all manner of deadly virus outbreaks: Ebola, Covid-19, cholera, measles, all which killed hundreds, if not thousands and scarred the country. Now it is in a new fight against Mpox. This week, Kinshasa received the first batch of Mpox vaccine. Some 100,000 doses arrived in on Thursday. Another batch of 200,000 doses was due to arrive at the end of the week. According to a government’s dispatch schedule, some doses would be sent to Lubumbashi in the south of the country, some will be held in Kinshasa for transport to the central parts of the country, and others will go to Goma, in North Kivu. Dr Roger Kamba, Minister for Health, labelled this a new “health war.” In the DRC, children aged between 0 and 14 years are the most affected. Dr Kamba encouraged the public to get vaccinated, and take preventive measures such as washing hands regularly to reduce the spread of the disease…In every province, dealing with the resurgence of this disease is an emergency. But this urgency is even more pressing in North Kivu, where people displaced by the wars there are already living in overcrowded camps. MSF’s Dr. Tejshri Shah, director-general of medical charity MSF, and a paediatrician specialising in infectious diseases, who recently completed assignment working among displaced communities in North Kivu, in despair said: “How can we expect families living in tiny shelters, without adequate water, sanitation facilities, or even soap, to implement preventive measures? How can malnourished children have the strength to ward off complications? And how can we expect this variant, which is notably transmitted through sexual contact, not to spread in displacement sites given the dramatic levels of sexual violence and exploitation affecting girls and women living there?”
Prison break deaths reveal congestion problem in Congolese jails
The Makala prison in Kinshasa was the scene of an unprecedented tragedy at 2am on Monday, when 24 prisoners initially died in an escape attempt after they were shot by guards. But the number had climbed to 129 by Tuesday morning. But one horror in the melee was that some women were sexually assaulted although officials did not give a number nor indicate whether the prisoners had a role in the violation. Jacquemain Shabani Deputy Prime Minister for Interior and Security said the 24 who were shot defied orders to stop and return to the premises while dozens others died from ‘suffocation’ in a stampede that ensued. Some 59 others were injured “and are currently being treated by the government for appropriate care,” he said. In the DRC, however, prisons tend to be overcrowded which makes them a ticking time bomb for stampedes. On this specific incident, the Deputy Prime Minister said a special commission has been set up to continue the investigations into what he called deplorable and “unfortunate incidents.” Yet even the figures of death were confusing. After the incident on Monday, the government said two people had died. Then videos of the dead started circulating on social media. There were more bodies than the figure given by the government. Like elsewhere in Africa, Makala is overcrowded. In the DRC, however, a sluggish justice system means more people also spend months, or years, waiting to have their cases concluded. Built for 1,500 prisoners, it currently holds almost 15,000 inmates.
ETHIOPIA
Addis warns against invasion amid regional tensions
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister has warned that anyone planning on invading his country should “think 10 times” before doing so because, he said, any attack would be repelled. Abiy Ahmed did not direct his comments at any particular nation, but they come at a time of rising tensions with neighbouring Somalia and Egypt. Somalia has described a maritime pact that Mr Abiy’s government signed with the self-declared republic of Somaliland in January as an act of “aggression”, and has responded by forging closer military ties with Egypt. Somaliland broke away from Somalia more than 30 years ago, but Mogadishu regards it as part of its territory. Egypt has been involved in a long-running dispute of its own with Ethiopia over Addis Ababa’s decision to build a large dam on a tributary of the River Nile. It is reportedly planning to send troops to Somalia following the signing of a military pact between the two governments last month. Egypt reportedly plans to send up to 5,000 soldiers to join a new-look African Union (AU) force in Somalia at the end of the year, with another 5,000 to be deployed separately. In a televised address marking Ethiopia’s Sovereignty Day, Mr Abiy said the east African nation had no intention of creating conflict. However, he said that “those who are afar and nearby” should know that “we usually embarrass and repel those who dare try to invade us”. “Anyone intending to invade Ethiopia should think not just once but 10 times because one great thing we Ethiopians know is [how] to defend ourselves,” Mr Abiy added. Somalia has been angered by landlocked Ethiopia’s decision to reach a deal with Somaliland to give it access to a port. Somaliland has also said that it could lease a section of the coast to Ethiopia’s navy, in exchange for Mr Abiy’s government becoming the first to recognise it as an independent state.
Opposition politicians released from prison
The Ethiopian government has freed seven Oromo Liberation Front, or OLF, members who have been in prison for more than four years. A spokesperson for OLF Lemi Gemechu said that the seven were released on Thursday from the different prisons where they had been held. He identified the seven as Abdi Regassa, Dawit Abdeta, Lammi Begna, Michael Boran, Kenessa Ayana, Gada Gabisa and Gada Oljira. Abdi is a prominent member of the OLF who once was the commander of the military wing of OLF. Some of the released detainees are members of the executive committee while others are central committee and executive members of the OLF. Lemi said they welcomed their release and congratulated their supporters and those who advocated for their release. The opposition members were detained in 2020 for what rights groups at the time described as “purely political” reasons. Human Rights Watch had been calling on the Ethiopian authorities to release the seven senior members of the opposition political party. Meanwhile, the family of Taye Dendea, the detained former Ethiopian state minister of peace, has expressed their disappointment with the Supreme Court’s decision to deny him bail. Taye’s wife, Sintayehu Alemayehu, said that she is sad because of the decision of Ethiopia’s federal Supreme Court. The court on Wednesday upheld the decision by a lower court to reject the bail request by Taye.
KENYA
Kenya School Fires:
Fire kills 17 pupils at primary boarding school in Kenya
At least 17 pupils have been confirmed dead and 14 others seriously injured following a tragic dormitory fire tragedy at a primary boarding school in central Kenya. The blaze occurred at the Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri at night. National Police Service Spokesperson Dr Resila Onyango confirmed the tragic incident, and said teams had been dispatched to the school in Nyeri. At least 16 of them were confirmed dead on the spot, and one more died on arrival at the hospital, Dr Onyango said. “The 16 children are burnt beyond recognition, while one died on the way to the hospital,” the police spokesperson told media…the school had a total enrolment of 824, with 156 boys and 160 girls as boarders while the rest were day scholars. All the 156 boys boarders were accommodated in the ill-fated dormitory, which it has been established, was semi-permanent with the walls built mainly out of wood and held by stone.
Firefighters were battling a blaze at a girls’ school in central Kenya, just two days after an inferno killed 21 boys at another school. The latest inferno, reported on Saturday evening, took place at Isiolo Girls High School, in Isiolo County in central Kenya. Kenya’s Star news outlet reported that Saturday’s inferno “caused panic among parents and guardians even as locals rushed to the rescue of the students and property”. The school lies about 140km (90 miles) to the northeast of the Hillside Endarasha Academy, where flames tore through a dormitory full of sleeping boys on Thursday night.
Domestic violence aggregations shake Kenyan athletics
Kenya’s athletics community is grappling with cases of domestic violence against female athletes. Recent deaths and injuries at the hands of abusive partners have amplified demands for justice, and calls for authorities to curb the worrying trend. Ugandan marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei, 33, this week succumbed to injuries sustained after her former boyfriend allegedly doused her in petrol and set her on fire. The incident took place at her home in Endebess, western Kenya. Her alleged killer, a Kenyan man called Dickson Ndiema Marangach, was taken to hospital with burns from the incident. He is yet to face criminal charges. According to Cheptegei’s family, she had been troubled for months before her death. They blamed the police for failing to take action early, saying they filed a report when Ndiema followed her on a trip to Uganda. Cheptegei’s tragedy was the latest in a growing list of deadly cases of domestic violence against female athletes in the country. In October 2021, star distance runner Agnes Tirop was killed in Iten, a high-altitude athletics training hub in western Kenya. She broke the world 10 kilometer women’s record just a month before her death. Her husband Ibrahim Rotich was eventually arrested and charged with murder. The case is yet to be concluded, with Rotich out on bail since November last year. Just six months after Tirop’s death, another gruesome death rocked the athletics community. Kenyan-born runner Damaris Muthee, who competed for Bahrain, was found dead in a house in Iten after being strangled. Police launched a manhunt for her alleged killer, her Ethiopian partner Eskinder Hailemariam Folie, who allegedly fled with her ID and bank documents. Other Kenyan female runners, including Ruth Bosibori and Joan Chelimo, have come out publicly to reveal that they escaped abusive relationships. The financial success of top women athletes on the world stage makes them especially vulnerable to abusive partners looking to control their funds, careers and assets, experts have warned…Despite these murders of female athletes in Kenya in recent years, not a single conviction has so far been secured against the killers. Securing justice for innocent victims of domestic violence is key to curbing this tragic trend.
Haiti: Plans for UN Force to replace Kenya-led police force
The United States of America and Ecuador circulated a draft resolution on Friday asking the United Nations to begin planning for a U.N. peacekeeping operation to replace the Kenya-led mission now in the Caribbean nation. The U.N.-backed mission has seen almost 400 Kenyan police deploy since June. On Thursday already, the US top diplomat said a U.N. peacekeeping force was an option to address a funding crisis for the Kenya-led mission, which depends on voluntary contributions. The U.S. and Canada have provided the bulk of funds so far. Peacekeeping operations, by contrast, are funded from a special U.N. budget. If the proposed Security Council resolution mentions “gains” made by the U.N.-backed multinational mission, its is yet to be a game changer. Haiti last week expanded its state of emergency to cover the entire nation’s territory. The last UN operation in Haiti left the island in 2017. It was blamed for dumping infected sewage into a river, causing a cholera outbreak…Haiti asked for an international force to combat gangs in 2022, and U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres appealed for months for a country to lead the force before the Kenyans came forward and pledged 1,000 police. They are expected to be joined by police from the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Chad and Jamaica, bringing the multinational force to 2,500 personnel. They would be deployed in phases that would cost roughly $600 million a year. Currently, the U.N. has $85 million in pledges for the mission, out of which $68 million has been received.
Kenya suffers second major blackout in week, 70% of power restored
The second major blackout in a week on Friday was caused when a transmission line tripped at a substation, followed by a second trip on the Ethiopia-Kenya high voltage transmission line, Energy Minister Opiyo Wandayi said in a statement. “The loss of 488MW, accounting for 27.3% of the total generation, resulted in cascade failure and a partial collapse of the grid,” Wandayi said. “What we are witnessing today has built up over time and is a result of sub-optimal investment in infrastructure.” The outage, which affected several regions of East Africa’s biggest economy, followed another hours-long blackout on Aug. 30. Kenya has suffered a series of blackouts over the last year, including one that plunged Nairobi’s main airport into darkness.
SUDAN
UN official says Sudan’s war has killed at least 20,000 people
More than 16 months of war in Sudan has killed more than 20,000 people, a senior United Nations official said Sunday, a grim figure amid a devastating conflict that has wrecked the northeastern African country. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization, gave the tally at a news conference in Sudan’s Red Sea city of Port Sudan, which serves as the seat of the internationally recognized, military-backed government. He said the death toll could be much higher. “Sudan is suffering through a perfect storm of crisis,” Tedros said as he wrapped up his two-day visit to Sudan. “The scale of the emergency is shocking, as is the insufficient action being taken to curtail the conflict.” Sudan was plunged into chaos in April last year when simmering tensions between the military and a powerful paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces, exploded into open warfare across the country. The conflict has turned the capital, Khartoum, and other urban areas into battlefields, wrecking civilian infrastructure and an already battered health care system. Without the basics, many hospitals and medical facilities have closed their doors. The conflict has created the world’s largest displacement crisis. More than 13 million people have been forced to flee their homes since fighting began, according to the International Organization for Migration. They include over 2.3 million who have fled to neighboring countries as refugees. The fighting has been marked by atrocities including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, according to the U.N. and international rights groups. On Friday, U.N.-backed human rights investigators urged the creation of an “independent and impartial force” to protect civilians, blaming both sides for war crimes including murder, mutilation and torture.
U.N. Panel Calls for International Peacekeeping Force in Sudan
A United Nations fact-finding mission on Friday called for an international peacekeeping force to protect civilians in Sudan, where a brutal civil war has caused the world’s largest displacement crisis, leaving millions of people homeless and starving. Both sides in the 17-month conflict — the Sudanese army and its rival, the Rapid Support Forces paramilitaries — have killed, mutilated and tortured people, including children, the three-person mission said in a report that they will present next week to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. “Given the failure of the warring parties to spare civilians, it is imperative that an independent and impartial force with a mandate to safeguard civilians be deployed without delay,” Mohamed Chande Othman, the panel’s chairman and a former chief justice of Tanzania said Friday in a news conference releasing the report. The war in Sudan, a giant nation on the Red Sea in Africa’s northeast, has threatened to destabilize its neighbors, and has drawn in other countries. The United Arab Emirates has been supplying weapons to the Rapid Support Forces, though it has denied doing so. Egypt is a longtime supporter of the Sudanese army. “Fighting will stop once the arms flow stops,” the report says. The panel warned that states supplying arms could find themselves complicit in international war crimes. The panel’s repeated requests to visit Sudan went unanswered by the Sudanese authorities. The report relied on direct interviews with 182 people, including refugees in neighboring countries, and interaction with regional bodies and multilateral agencies. The panel did not propose a specific approach to international intervention in Sudan, but said its findings should “serve as a wake up call” on the need for urgent action to protect Sudan’s civilians.
Middle East majors make Horn of Africa playfield
Egypt and Turkey may have had difficult times in the past decade, but they are both allies of Somalia, with which they have signed defence co-operation agreements. That is why when Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi toured Ankara this week — marking the first time such a visit has happened in 12 years — it signalled something beyond their bilateral ties. The two sides had had animosity, but their leaders, Al-Sisi and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, were now talking of raising trade and working on regional issues, including Gaza conflict. Yet, looking at Middle Eastern countries merely as enemies or allies may be misleading.
OpEd: No, the Horn cannot afford another conflict
WEST AFRICA
West Africa
Floods in West Africa displace nearly 1 million people
Heavy rains and floods across Mali, Nigeria and Niger have forced nearly 950,000 people from their homes. NGO Save the children alerted Friday (Sep. 06) about the risk of disease, hunger from crop destruction, and disruption to education that the situation incurs to the hundreds of thousands of children now displaced. While this is normally the rainiest time of the year in West Africa, this year’s rains have been more severe than usual. Widespread flood have affected 29 of the Nigeria’s 36 states. The torrential rainfall has led to the overflowing of dams and rising water levels of the two largest rivers, the Niger and the Benue. Three Malian regions in the west and Gao in the northeast have been hit. In neighboring Niger, flooding has affected all 8 regions and floods beginning in May washed away houses and leaving behind a thread of destruction. The Maradi region in the country’s south which was mostly hit, accord to Save the Children. At least 460 people have been killed in the three countries.
NIGERIA
Why Nigeria’s ‘Mr Flag Man’ has waited a year to be buried
The family of the man who designed Nigeria’s national flag have told the BBC they have given up waiting for a promised state funeral, a year after he died.
Instead Taiwo Michael Akinkunmi, who died a year ago aged 87, is going to be buried this week in Oyo state, where he lived. Akinkunmi, known by many as “Mr Flag Man” and whose house was painted in the distinctive green and white colours of the national flag, was a humble man. But his son hopes that during his send-off, which Oyo state has agreed to fund, he will be remembered for the design that became a symbol of a united Nigeria. “We have to give him the befitting burial he deserves,” his son Akinwumi Akinkunmi told the BBC Focus on Africa podcast. Taiwo Akinkunmi always said he was an unlikely flag designer. He entered a competition for a new design ahead of Nigeria’s independence from the UK in October 1960. At the time he was studying electrical engineering in London and had spotted a newspaper advert about the competition. But Akinkunmi’s was a simple affair, with equal green-white-green vertical stripes – and it replaced the colonial flag that had included the British union jack and a six-pointed green star under a red disk. After Akinkunmi’s death last year, a senator sponsored a successful motion that he be given a state burial. However, no plans have ever been made and as they waited, Akinkunmi’s family have been paying 2,000 naira ($1.30; £1.00) a day to keep the body at a morgue. The flag designer’s son said that in June they found out that the arts ministry’s National Institute for Cultural Orientation (Nico) had been directed to sort out the state funeral. But apart from one phone call, he said the institution had failed to communicate any further. He feels waiting any longer would just sully his father’s name. This is when the Oyo state government decided to step in to fund the burial rites for the flag designer.
SOUTHERN AFRICA
BOTSWANA
Police, protesters clash over executive powers bill
Police and protesters clashed outside Botswana’s National Assembly in Gaborone as members of parliament voted on a bill that would have given the president sweeping powers to appoint civil servants holding key positions. Opposition members of parliament boycotted the vote, while protesters, waving placards, protested the bill outside. Members of the remaining ruling party failed to raise enough votes to pass the bill. Opposition party leader Dithapelo Keorapetse said the bill, if it had been approved, would have given too much power to the president. “Today was a momentous day in that the evil constitution amendment bill, which sought to clothe the president with enormous powers to appoint the chief justice, to appoint the court of appeal president, to appoint the secretary of the IEC [Independent Electoral Commission], died,” Keorapetse said. Minister for State President Kabo Morwaeng blamed the opposition and civil society organizations for misleading the nation on what he called a progressive bill. He said the bill contained clauses that would have improved citizens’ lives, including provisions on health rights, the right to strike and workers’ rights. Motheo O Mosha, a nongovernmental organization, was behind Wednesday’s protests. Chairperson Morena Monganja said some members were hurt during clashes with the police.
SOUTH AFRICA
Justice minister denies corruption allegations
South Africa’s justice minister on Friday denied corruption allegations against her related to a mutual bank scandal in which thousands of retirees lost their life savings. VBS Mutual Bank, which held the savings of retirees mostly from the northern Limpopo province and also unlawfully secured investments from local municipalities, was declared insolvent and bankrupt in 2018 after it emerged that more than 2 billion rand ($112 million) had been stolen from the bank. Police investigations showed that money held by the bank was used to purchase luxury houses and vehicles, among other things, and to distribute financial gifts to various people and organizations, including political parties. Justice Minister Thembi Simelane was only appointed to her position in June in the country’s newly-formed government of national unity, after the former ruling African National Congress party lost its parliamentary majority in the May 29 election. She is alleged to have received a “loan” to purchase a coffee shop from a company accused of receiving kickbacks for brokering unlawful investments for VBS from South African municipalities, including the Polokwane municipality where she was mayor at the time. There have been calls from various quarters for Simelane to be removed from her position as justice minister, where she provides political oversight of the National Prosecuting Authority, which is trying corruption cases related to VBS. Responding to questions in Parliament, Simelane insisted that the the loan she received was above board and that she had paid it back with interest. Simelane also denied that the loan was in anyway related to the municipality she was in charge of investing into the bank.
ZAMBIA/ZIMBABWE
Zambia and Zimbabwe could face dark days due to hydropower plant shutdown
Zambia and Zimbabwe are facing the unprecedented prospect of having to shut down their major hydropower plants as the El Nino-induced drought takes its toll on the two economies. The drought, caused by climate change, has led to a significant drop in water levels at Kariba Dam — the world’s largest man-made lake and a shared source of hydropower between the two countries. The Zambezi River Authority (ZRA), a bi-national body that manages the water resources of the shared lake, said this week that as of August 26, the water available for power generation had dropped to just eight percent of normal levels. “The lake level is steadily decreasing due to low inflow, closing the period under review at 476.76 metres (8.71 percent usable storage on August 26, 2024,” ZRA said in its latest weekly report. Zambia immediately announced that the hydropower plant on its side of the lake would be shut down on September 14, which would see households and businesses only getting three hours of electricity supply per day. Zimbabwe for its part, said it might be forced to turn off the turbines at its hydropower station on the southern side of the lake in December, when it expects to have exhausted its quota of water allocated for electricity generation. Harare has already reduced its power generation from Kariba to 214MW from an installed capacity of 1,050MW. Experts say significant inflows into the lake will be recorded at the start of the southern African winter around May next year, which might mean months of prolonged power cuts for the two countries. Zambia will be the hardest hit by the suspension in power generation at Kariba Dam because of its overreliance on hydropower, while Zimbabwe has benefited from the recent development of thermal power stations by China.
NORTH AFRICA
ALGERIA
President Abdelmadjid Tebboune is re-elected in a landslide in gas-rich Algeria
President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has been named the winner of Algeria’s presidential election, granting him another term leading the gas-rich North African nation five years after pro-democracy protests led to the ouster of his predecessor. In a result that surprised few observers internationally or in Algeria, the country’s independent election authority on Sunday announced that Tebboune had won 94% of the vote, far outpacing his challengers Islamist Abdelali Hassani Cherif, who received only 3% and socialist Youcef Aouchiche, who got just 2.1%. Election officials reported less than six million of the country’s 24 million voters had turned out to vote on Saturday, perpetuating the low voter turnout rates that marred Tebboune’s first term and raised questions about his popular support. Tebboune’s total vote share was far more than the 87% that Vladimir Putin won in Russia’s March elections and the 92% that Ilham Aliyev got in Azerbaijan’s February contest. Independent observers were not permitted in either Russia or Algeria. Tebboune’s margin of victory far outpaces his 2019 victory, when he won 58% of the vote and his closest challenger nabbed 17%. Throughout the campaign, activists and international organizations, including Amnesty International, railed against the campaign season’s repressive atmosphere and the harassment and prosecutions of those involved in opposition parties, media organizations and civil society groups. Some denounced this election as a rubber stamp exercise that can only entrench the status quo.
(Earlier):
Algerian president seeks re-election with low turnout seen
Algerians voted on Saturday in an election in which military-backed President Abdulmadjid Tebboune is widely expected to win a second term, but early turnout figures suggested little enthusiasm among voters. By 5.00 p.m. (1600 GMT) only 26.5% of registered voters had cast ballots, the electoral commission said, announcing that polling stations would remain open until 8.00 p.m., an hour later than planned, to allow more people to vote. Tebboune, who has used higher gas revenues to splurge on social benefits in his first term of office, faces no serious rivals. Two other candidates are running, but neither opposes the military establishment that has called the shots since the 1960s. Preliminary results may be announced late on Saturday, though final official results are not expected to be declared until in the coming days. A Tebboune victory would mean Algeria keeping policies aimed at strengthening the country’s energy exports and enacting limited pro-business reforms while upholding lavish subsidies and keeping a tight rein on internal dissent. However, many Algerians will be watching to see whether turnout will exceed the 40% registered in 2019’s election, held amid the mass ‘Hirak’ protests that forced Tebboune’s predecessor Abdulaziz Bouteflika from power.
Imane Khelif’s Olympic Gold sparks Boxing boom among Algerian girls
In the weeks since Algeria’s Imane Khelif won an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing, athletes and coaches in the North African nation say national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women.
Khelif’s image is practically everywhere, featured in advertisements at airports, highway billboards, and boxing gyms. The 25-year-old welterweight’s success in Paris has vaulted her to national hero status, especially after Algerians rallied behind her amid uninformed speculation about her gender and eligibility to compete. Algerians from all walks of life flocked to squares in the country’s major cities to watch Khelif’s matches broadcast on projectors. Khelif’s story endeared her to the majority of the conservative country’s population, although a few prominent imams and Islamist politicians have criticized the example she sets by wearing her boxing uniform and not a headscarf. Algerians rallied behind Khelif in the face of criticism from Donald Trump, Elon Musk, J.K. Rowling and others who falsely claimed she was transgender. They largely interpreted attacks on her as attacks on their nation itself. Boxing coaches and administrators said Khelif’s rise from a poor child in rural central Algeria to worldwide fame has made her an inspirational figure. Mourad Meziane, head of the Algerian Boxing League, expects a huge spike in registration among young women at the start of this school year in mid-September.
EGYPT
Egyptian archaeologist calls on Berlin to return Nefertiti bust
Prominent Egyptian archaeologist and former antiquities minister Zahi Hawass has launched a petition for the return to Egypt of the pharaonic bust of Queen Nefertiti from the Neues Museum in Berlin. Nefertiti’s famous painted limestone bust was uncovered at Tell el-Amarna, around 300 km (185 miles) south of Cairo, in 1912 by a German archaeological mission, which shipped it to Berlin the following year. Amarna was the short-lived capital of Nefertiti’s husband, the 18th dynasty Pharaoh Akhenaten, who reigned until about 1335 B.C. Akhenaten, called the heretic king, was notorious for promoting the worship of the god Aten to the exclusion of Egypt’s other gods. His reign also introduced a radical change in Egyptian art. In his petition launched on Saturday, Hawass asked for the return of the bust, saying it was removed from Egypt illegally after its discovery. “We announce today that Egypt – this is the national committee, it is not a government committee – asks for the return of the bust of Nefertiti,” Hawass said. “What I need from everyone here is to go to my website… hawasszahi.com, and you will sign, one signature, to show that you would love for this bust to come back.” Hawass said he is not calling for the repatriation of artefacts taken out of Egypt legally. His campaign is focused on repatriating “three main beautiful objects” including the bust of Nefertiti, the Rosetta Stone and the Dendera Zodiac.
MOROCCO
Morocco stops 45,000 migrants from crossing to Europe in 2024
Morocco has stopped 45,015 people from illegally migrating to Europe since January and busted 177 migrant trafficking gangs, Morocco’s state news agency MAP reported on Friday, citing interior ministry data. It did not give comparative data for the same period in 2023 and the interior ministry did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. Last year, Morocco stopped 75,184 people from illegally crossing to Europe, up 6% from a year earlier, government data showed. The Moroccan navy has also rescued 10,859 migrants at sea so far this year, MAP said, citing the interior ministry data. The North African country has for long been a major launch pad for African migrants aiming to reach Europe through the Mediterranean, the Atlantic or by jumping the fence surrounding the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla. Morocco and Spain have strengthened their cooperation in addressing illegal migration since they patched up a separate diplomatic feud in 2022.
Morocco’s High Atlas marks one year since record earthquake
A year after nearly 3,000 people died when a record earthquake shook communities throughout Morocco’s High Atlas, it still looks like a bomb just went off in villages like Imi N’tala, where dozens of residents died after a chunk of mountainside cracked off and flattened the majority of buildings. Broken bricks, bent rods of rebar and pieces of kitchen floors remain but have been swept into neater piles alongside plastic tents where the displaced now live. Some await funds to reconstruct their homes. Others await approval of their blueprints. The region shaken by the earthquake is full of impoverished agricultural villages like Imi N’tala, accessible only via bumpy, unmaintained roads. Reporters revisited half a dozen of them last week ahead of the first anniversary. In some places, residents who say they’re awaiting governmental action have begun reconstructing buildings on an ad hoc basis. Elsewhere, people tired of the stuffiness of plastic tents have moved back into their cracked homes or decamped to larger cities, abandoning their old lives. Streets have been neatly swept in towns like Amizmiz and Moulay Brahim, although cracked buildings and piles of rubble remain, much as they were in the days after the quake…Anger has mounted against local authorities in towns like Amizmiz and villages like Talat N’Yaqoub, where residents have protested against their living conditions. They have criticized the slow pace of reconstruction and demanded more investment in social services and infrastructure, which has long gone neglected in contrast with Morocco’s urban centers and coastline.
AFRICA-GENERAL NEWS
The China-Africa Summit:
China stops short of Africa debt relief as it pledges more cash
China stopped short of providing the debt relief sought by many African countries this week, but pledged 360 billion yuan ($50.7 billion) over three years in credit lines and investments. The Forum for China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) launched in 2000 took on an enhanced role after the 2013 inception of President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which aims to recreate the ancient Silk Road for the world’s second largest economy and biggest bilateral lender to Africa. The new financial pledge is more than what Beijing promised at the last FOCAC in 2021, but below the $60 billion of 2015 and 2018, which marked the peak of lending to Africa under the Belt and Road Initiative. During those peak years, Beijing bankrolled the construction of roads, railways and bridges. But a drying up of funds since 2019 has left Africa with stalled construction projects. The new funds will go towards 30 infrastructure projects to improve trade links, China said, without giving details. The 54-nation continent of more than 1 billion people has an annual infrastructure funding deficit estimated at $100 billion, and needs transport links to make a new giant pan-African trade bloc (AfCFTA) a reality. Beijing has in recent years cut funding for such projects as it shifted focus to “small and beautiful” projects, mainly due to its own domestic economic pressures and an increase in debt risks among African countries.
China shifts gear in Africa as it looks to a green future
Pulling power. That is what China still has across Africa. While the influence of others on the continent is questioned – for instance, France and the rest of the EU are being shunned by the Sahelian military juntas, and Russia’s mercenary-security “offer” is regarded with deep mistrust by pro-Western African governments – China has navigated a middle way. Delegations from more than 50 states from across the African continent decided it was worth making the trip to Beijing for the latest China-Africa summit – known as the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation (Focac) – this week. Dozens of leaders turned up – as well as UN chief António Guterres. Alongside veterans such as Congo-Brazzaville strongman Denis Sassou-Nguesso, this was a first such gathering for the new Senegalese head of state Bassirou Diomaye Faye – rewarded with a front-row place next to President Xi Jinping in a family photo of leaders and their spouses. For African governments resentful of the pressure to take sides in international disputes, China now appears as a refreshingly reliable partner, ready to collaborate without discrimination both with the allies of Moscow and with civilian-ruled states that are closer to Europe and the US. Beijing certainly strikes a hard bargain in pursuit of its economic self-interest and need for natural raw materials, in return for development support, especially the construction of heavy infrastructure.
China is not pushing Africa into debt trap, South African president says
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Thursday that he did not believe Chinese investments in Africa were pushing the continent into a “debt trap” but were instead part of a mutually beneficial relationship. Ramaphosa made the remarks on the sidelines of a China-Africa summit in Beijing, where delegates from more than 50 African nations gathered this week. “I don’t necessarily buy the notion that when China (invests), it is with an intention of, in the end, ensuring that those countries end up in a debt trap or in a debt crisis,” Ramaphosa said, when asked by reporters about China’s pledge at the summit of $51 billion in new funding for Africa. In addition to the financial support over three years, China promised to carry out three times as many infrastructure projects across resource-rich Africa, which in recent years has become the focus of intense geopolitical competition between global powers like China, Europe and the United States. Without providing details, Ramaphosa also said South Africa had reached agreement with China on aspects of its energy security. He said South Africa could learn from China on reforming its energy sector. “They already have done exactly what we are seeking to do. So there are lessons for us to learn from China and how to do it,” he said.
Debt relief an “urgent imperative” for Africa, says AU chair
The chair of the African Union Commission said on Thursday debt relief was an “urgent imperative” for many African states and called for more diversity in the destination of investment. “For many African states, debt relief is an urgent imperative to give debtor countries’ economies a vital economic breathing space,” Moussa Faki Mahamat said in his speech at the opening ceremony of the China-Africa Summit in Beijing. Dozens of African leaders have descended on Beijing for a summit that signals China’s influence in a continent that it hopes will be a key ally in pushing back against a U.S.-led global order. Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed to the assembled leaders Thursday that relations with all African countries that have diplomatic ties with China be elevated to the “strategic” level. He proposed ten action plans to further deepen cooperation in industry, agriculture, infrastructure and other areas and further open its market — in part by eliminating tariffs on products from most of the world’s poorest countries, including 33 in Africa and provide RMB360 billion yuan (50.7 bn US dollars) of various financial support. China has become a major player in Africa since the forum was founded in 2000. Its companies have invested heavily in mining for the resources Chinese industry needs and its development banks have made loans to build railways, roads and other infrastructure under Xi’s Belt and Road program.
OpEd: China reaps most of the benefits of its relationship with Africa: what’s behind the imbalance
OpEd: Economic diplomacy at the centre of renewed China, Africa relations
Indonesia woos Africa using ‘big boys’ script
Indonesia this week hosted a gathering of African leaders in Bali, trying its luck and following the script of the big boys such as China. But the timing was poor, either by design or default, and saw fewer African heads of state and government attend, as more than 50 of them attended a similar but bigger forum in China. The 2nd Indonesia-Africa Forum (IAF) 2024 meeting ended on Tuesday, September 3. Rwandan President Paul Kagame was the most notable attendee from the East African Community. Indonesia, not normally among the ‘big boys’ club of China, US, India, UK, France, Turkey, South Korea or Russia, has been trying to get a slice of business from Africa using the old tools of aid, security cooperation, business, and Africa summits…It says its development cooperation has expanded to 23 of 54 countries in Africa or 42 percent of the countries in the region since then. In June, Rwanda and Indonesia signed an MoU on political consultation, coming in the wake of intensified security cooperation. The two countries had been discussing cooperation between Indonesia and Rwanda National Police on combating transnational organised crime and enhancing capacity building, according to a dispatch from both sides. The latest forum targeted the ‘Bandung Spirit for Africa’s Agenda 2063,’ combining the famous South-South discussions with Africa’s ambition to prosper.
$24bn windfall in Africa’s transition minerals
African countries could raise their GDP by at least $24 billion annually and create 2.3 million jobs through manufacturing and creating favourable trade policies, by investing more in the production of transition minerals. This is according to new economic modelling from civil society network Publish What You Pay. Transition minerals are touted to help industries move away from fossil fuels, because they are useful in the construction of green energy tools and power sources. East African Community member countries have many of those –copper, lithium, nickel, and cobalt– found in Uganda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania. Based on governments’ current stated policies, demand for key transition minerals that Africa produces is expected to rise rapidly. Yet the continent is stuck at the bottom of energy transition value chains while most of the profits are made elsewhere in the world…Moreover, the vast majority of Africa’s transition minerals are destined for manufacturing outside the continent. Demand for the continent’s transition minerals has significantly increased over time, following the arrival of modern renewable energy as countries transition to low-carbon economies. Transition minerals are essential for technologies such as solar panels, wind turbines and electric vehicles. They are core components of batteries, like those that power electric vehicles. Rare earth elements are part of the magnets that turn wind turbines and electric motors. Across Africa, transition mineral production is currently dominated by DRC, Zambia and South Africa. But there are concerns that their extraction is limited due to a combination of factors, including the technical knowhow.
THIS WEEK AHEAD
Sept. 8 — Algeria’s presidential election results will be announced after voting on Sept. 7.
Sept. 11 — Nigeria’s High Court will rule on allowing bail for 10 protesters charged with treason and conspiring to incite the military to mutiny following last month’s nationwide protests against economic hardship.
Sept. 11 — West Africa’s central bank, the BCEAO, will announce its interest rate decision.
Sept. 12 — South Africa’s largest gathering of retailers and ecommerce entrepreneurs will take place in Johannesburg.
Sept. 13 — A court in DR Congo is expected to announce a final verdict on an alleged coup attempt by around 50 men in May.
Sept. 15 — Nigeria’s statistics office will release the latest inflation data as fuel price rises exacerbate tough times.
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