TUNIS, Tunisia — The official start of the presidential campaign season in Tunisia began on Saturday, a day after Tunisians took their anger to the streets of the capital to decry what protesters say is the deteriorating state of the country.

In what appeared to be the largest protest since authorities began a monthslong wave of arrests earlier this year, hundreds of Tunisians marched peacefully on Friday and called for an end to what they called a police state.

“We’re here to say no and show that we don’t all agree with what’s really happening in the country,” Khaled Ben Abdeslam, a father and urban development consultant, told The Associated Press.

In 2011, longtime Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was toppled by nationwide protests that unleashed revolt across the Arab world.

More than a decade later, Ben Abdelslam said he was worried about the growing number of political figures who’ve been thrown in jail under President Kais Saied and said he wants to ensure Tunisia “turns the page” for the good of his kids.

“Nobody dares to say or do anything anymore today,” he said as protesters neared Tunisia’s powerful Interior Ministry.

He and other demonstrators slammed both Tunisia’s economic and political woes, carrying signs that grouped together the growing costs of staple items and growing concerns about civil liberties.

“Where is sugar? Where is oil? Where is freedom? Where is democracy?” signs read.

Some carried posters telling the government that “human rights are not optional” while others revived the popular slogans that mobilized Tunisia’s masses against Ben Ali.

This time though, they directed scorn toward Saied.

The protests capped off a week in which the North African country’s largest opposition party, Ennahda, said its senior members had been arrested en masse, at a scale not previously seen.

The arrests come as Saied prepares to campaign for reelection on October 6, when he will ask voters to grant him a second term.

When first elected in 2019, Saied used anti-corruption promises to win over people disillusioned with the political controversies that plagued Tunisia’s young democracy in the years that followed the Arab Spring.

Since taking office, the 66-year-old former law professor has gone to lengths to consolidate his own power, freezing the country’s parliament and rewriting the constitution. Throughout his tenure, authorities have arrested journalists, activists, civil society figures and political opponents across the ideological spectrum.

And though he promised to chart a new course for the country, its unemployment rate has steadily increased to one of the region’s highest at 16%, with young Tunisians hit particularly hard.

The economy continues to face significant challenges, yet Saied has managed to energize supporters with populist rhetoric, often accusing migrants from sub-Saharan Africa of violence and crime and aiming at changing the country’s demography.

In the months leading up to his reelection bid, the political crackdown has expanded.

His opponents have been arrested, placed under gag order or faced criminal investigations that observers have called politically motivated. Figures who said they planned to challenge him have been sentenced for breaking campaign finance laws. Others have been ruled ineligible to challenge him by Tunisia’s election authority.

Even those whom the authority approved have later faced arrest.

Ayachi Zammel, a businessman planning to challenge Saied, was promptly arrested after being announced as one of the two candidates approved to appear on the ballot alongside Saied. His attorney, Abdessattar Messaoudi, told The Associated Press that she feared a court may bar him from politics for life as it had done to other Saied challengers.

The Tunisian Network for the Defense of Rights and Freedoms — a newly formed coalition of civil society groups and political parties — organized Friday’s protest to draw attention to what it called a surge of authoritarianism.

Outrage swelled among many members of the network after the country’s election authority — made up of Saied appointees — dismissed a court ruling ordering it to reinstate three challengers to Saied.

The authority has defied judges who have ruled in favor of candidates who have appealed its decisions and pledged not to allow Mondher Zenaidi, Abdellatif El Mekki and Imed Daimi to appear on the ballot alongside Saied next month.

Hajer Mohamed, a 33-year-old law firm assistant said that she and her friends are terrified about the direction Tunisia is heading in ways they couldn’t have imagined when people rejoiced the freedoms won 13 years ago.

“We never thought that after the 2011 revolution we’d live to see the country’s suffocating situation,” she said. “Even under former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the situation wasn’t as scandalous as it is today.” 
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ABUJA, Nigeria — Nigerian troops have rescued 13 hostages who were kidnapped by an extremist group in the northwestern state of Kaduna, the country’s army said on Saturday. 

The army said in a statement that “the troops successfully overwhelmed the terrorists, forcing them to abandon their captives.” 

Several kidnappers were killed, and others were captured, the military added. It didn’t specify which armed group the kidnappers belonged to. 

The rescued hostages were taken to a military facility for a medical assessment before being reunited with their families. Weapons, ammunition, solar panels and cash were also discovered during the rescue operation. 

Kidnappings have become common in parts of northern Nigeria, where dozens of armed groups take advantage of a limited security presence to carry out attacks in villages and along major roads. Most victims are released only after the payment of ransoms that sometimes run into the thousands of dollars. 

At least 1,400 students have been taken from Nigerian schools since the 2014 kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls by Boko Haram militants in the village of Chibok in Borno state shocked the world. 

Boko Haram, Nigeria’s homegrown jihadi rebels, launched its insurgency in 2009 to establish Islamic Shariah law in the country. At least 35,000 people have been killed and 2.1 million people displaced due to the extremist violence, according to United Nations agencies in Nigeria.  
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Port Sudan, Sudan — Heavy fighting on Saturday shook a Sudanese city besieged by paramilitaries, witnesses told AFP, as U.S. researchers reported unprecedented and escalating combat in the North Darfur state capital.

El-Fasher is one of five state capitals in Sudan’s western Darfur region and the only one not in the hands of the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, who have been battling the regular army since April 2023.

The United Nations says the war across much of Sudan has created the world’s largest displacement crisis, with millions uprooted, and has led to famine at a displacement camp near El-Fasher.

Darfur has seen some of the war’s worst atrocities, and the RSF has besieged El-Fasher since May.

“Neighborhoods are completely deserted and all you can hear are explosions and missiles,” Ibrahim Ishaq, 52, told AFP.

“The central market area has become unlivable because of the intensity of the explosions,” said Ishaq, who fled westward from the city on Friday.

Witnesses reported army bombardment south and east of the city on Saturday and said they heard air-defense batteries firing.

The Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab said in a report Friday that its analysis confirmed “unprecedented large-scale combat operations” in El-Fasher within the previous 10 days, “with significant escalation in the past 36 hours” involving the army and the paramilitaries.

It cited reports that describe “a major multidirectional RSF attack from the northern, eastern, and southern directions” on Thursday.

Reduced to rubble

Darfur Governor Mini Minawi had on Thursday said on social media platform X that the army had repelled “a large attack” by the RSF. The paramilitaries, however, said they seized military sites in El-Fasher.

Using satellite imagery and other data, the Yale researchers said they found munition impacts “likely related to high-tempo aerial bombardment” from the regular army, but they said other structural damage resulted from “RSF bombardment” and combat activity by both sides.

Whatever the battle’s ultimate outcome, current levels of fighting “are likely to effectively reduce what is left of El-Fasher to rubble,” the Yale study said.

The United States special envoy for Sudan, Tom Perriello, on Saturday said on social media platform X: “We are extremely concerned about the RSF’s renewed attacks.”

He urged the RSF “to stop its assault.”

It was not immediately possible to determine the number of victims.

Sudan’s war has already killed tens of thousands of people, with some estimates as high as 150,000, according to Perriello.

Strikes near Khartoum

In the capital, Khartoum, on Saturday, about 800 kilometers from El-Fasher, witnesses reported heavy explosions and strikes to the city’s south.

Independent United Nations experts earlier this month appealed for deployment of an “impartial force” to be urgently deployed in Sudan for civilian protection.

Sudan’s foreign ministry, loyal to the army, rejected the idea.
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ALGIERS, Algeria — Algeria’s constitutional court on Saturday certified the landslide victory of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune in last weekend’s election after retabulating vote counts that he and his two opponents had called into question.

The court said that it had reviewed local voting data to settle questions about irregularities that Tebboune’s opponents had alleged in two appeals Monday.

“After verification of the minutes of the regions and correction of the errors noted in the counting of the votes,” it had lowered Tebboune’s vote share and determined that his two opponents had won hundreds of thousands more votes than previously reported, said Omar Belhadj, the constitutional court’s president.

The court’s decision makes Tebboune the official winner of the September 7 election. His government will next decide when to inaugurate him for a second term.

The court’s retabulated figures showed Tebboune leading Islamist challenger Abdellali Hassan Cherif by around 75 percentage points. With 7.7 million votes, the first-term president won 84.3% of the vote, surpassing the 2019 win by millions of votes and a double-digit margin.

Cherif, running with the Movement of Society for Peace, won nearly 950,000 votes, or roughly 9.6%. The Socialist Forces Front’s Youcef Aouchiche won more than 580,000 votes, or roughly 6.1%.

Notably, both challengers surpassed the threshold required to receive reimbursement for campaign expenses. Under its election laws, Algeria pays for political campaigns that receive more than a 5% vote share. The results announced by the election authority last week showed Cherif and Aouchiche with 3.2% and 2.2% of the vote, respectively. Both were criticized for participating in an election that government critics denounced as a way for Algeria’s political elite to make a show of democracy amid broader political repression.

Throughout the campaign, each of the three campaigns emphasized participation, calling on voters and youth to participate and defy calls to boycott the ballot. The court announced nationwide turnout was 46.1%, surpassing the 2019 presidential election, when 39.9% of the electorate participated.
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MORONI, COMOROS — Comoros President Azali Assoumani is “out of danger” after he was injured on Friday in a knife attack by a 24-year-old police officer who was found dead in his cell a day later, officials said Saturday.

The attack occurred around 2 p.m. Friday in Salimani Itsandra, a town just north of the capital, Moroni.

“The president is doing well. He has no health problems; he is out of danger. A few stitches were given,” Energy Minister Aboubacar Said Anli said at a press conference in Moroni on Saturday.

Azali was attacked as he attended a funeral, according to the presidency. The motive for the attack has not yet been determined.

The attacker, Ahmed Abdou, went on leave Wednesday before orchestrating the attack on Friday.

Abdou was placed in a cell after he was taken into custody. However, “this Saturday morning, when investigators went to see him, they found him lying on the ground, his body was lifeless,” Ali Mohamed Djounaid, Comoros’ public prosecutor, said at a separate press conference.

He added that an investigation was being conducted to determine the motive of the attack and the cause of his death.

In May, Assoumani was sworn in for a fourth term in office following a tense January election, which his opponents claim was tainted by voter fraud. Officials deny the allegations.
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BANGUI, Central African Republic — Hours after Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin rebelled against his country’s top military leaders, his private army’s biggest client in Africa panicked, turning for help to his foe in the West. 

Officials from Central African Republic, where some 1,500 of Prigozhin’s Wagner Group mercenaries were stationed, wrote a letter that day, requesting to “rapidly” arrange a meeting with a private U.S. security firm to discuss collaboration. 

Dated June 23, 2023, the day Prigozhin launched the armed rebellion, the letter sparked a series of meetings, culminating in a deal with the central African nation and Bancroft Global Development. That sparked backlash from Russian mercenaries, according to a dozen diplomats, locals, and analysts. 

The tensions in Central African Republic are a window into a larger battle playing out across the continent as Moscow and Washington vie for influence. 

The Russian mercenaries — using success in staving off rebels in this impoverished nation as a model for expansion — have long been accused by locals and rights groups of stripping natural resources such as minerals and timber and are linked to the torture and death of civilians. In the wake of Prigozhin’s rebellion and suspicious death in a plane crash, the Russians are recalibrating their Africa operations. The United States, which has been largely disengaged from the region for years, is attempting to maintain a presence and stymie Russian gains as it pushes African countries to distance themselves from the mercenaries. 

U.S. officials blame Russia for anti-American sentiment in the region and say they’re trying to shift the narrative. 

“If the U.S. can’t regain a foothold, it could give Russia greater economic and political leverage,” said Samuel Ramani of the Royal United Services Institute, a defense and security think tank. “If Russia loses Central African Republic, its flagship model on the continent, there could be a domino effect in other countries.” 

Russia’s influence 

In recent years, Russia has emerged as the security partner of choice for a growing number of governments in the region, displacing traditional allies such as France and the U.S. 

Moscow expanded its military cooperation by using mercenaries like Wagner, which since around 2017 has operated in at least half a dozen countries by protecting African leaders and in some cases helping fight rebels and extremists. 

They’re also plagued by their human rights record. Two years ago in Mali, Wagner and the army were accused of executing about 300 men — some suspected of being Islamist extremists, but most civilians — in what Human Rights Watch called the worst single atrocity reported in the country’s decade-long armed conflict. And in Central African Republic, mercenaries train the army on torture tactics, including how to tburn people alive, according to watchdog The Sentry. 

Central African Republic 

Central African Republic was one of the first places the mercenaries entered. The country has been in conflict since 2013, when predominantly Muslim rebels seized power and forced the president from office. Six of the 14 armed groups that signed a 2019 peace deal later left the agreement. Locals and the government credited Wagner with fighting back rebels who tried to overtake Bangui, the capital, in 2021. The Russians soon expanded to Burkina Faso and Niger, and have ambitions for further growth. 

Russia is refurbishing a military base some 80 kilometers from Bangui. Alexander Bikantov, Russia’s ambassador to Central African Republic, said the base will improve the country’s security. 

Fidele Gouandjika, adviser to President Faustin-Archange Touadera, said the base aims to have 10,000 fighters by 2030 to engage with more African nations. 

Touadera’s office didn’t reply to written requests for comment for this story. His adviser to the country’s spy agency declined to be interviewed. 

Pressure from United States 

The U.S. had been pushing Central African Republic to find an alternative to Wagner for years. A more assertive U.S. approach came as it faced new setbacks and tried to rework agreements in the region. Its troops left Chad and Niger, where they were no longer welcome. 

Still, the State Department said in a statement this year that it wasn’t involved in the decision to establish Bancroft Global Development’s presence in Central African Republic. 

But Washington could deny such contracts if it wanted, said Sean McFate, a former contractor in Africa and author of “The New Rules of War.” 

The U.S. has used private military companies to reduce American “boots on the ground” in Africa, McFate said, and companies like Bancroft have to play by Washington’s rules if they want future government work. 

In response to AP questions, the U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity said it uses private contractors in Africa to help countries operate more effectively, with U.S. government oversight to ensure accountability. The official said the State Department has overseen Bancroft’s work in Somalia but not Central African Republic or elsewhere. 

Bancroft’s background 

Washington-based Bancroft is a nonprofit working in nine countries — five in Africa. Its involvement in Central African Republic has been shrouded in secrecy since signs emerged of its presence last fall. 

During an AP visit months later, rumors swirled about Bancroft’s activities, fueling speculation the U.S was bringing its own Wagner to oust Russia. 

But according to Bancroft founder Michael Stock, the group entered at Bangui’s behest. 

Stock received the letter from the presidency within a day of Prigozhin’s mutiny, and the two signed a deal in September, he said. 

Fewer than 30 Bancroft personnel work there, Stock said, helping Central African Republic with intelligence systems, interagency cooperation and law enforcement. 

Bancroft has invested some $1.4 million there, Stock said. 

Much of Bancroft’s funding has come from U.S. and United Nations grants. From 2018 to 2020, it received more than $43 million from the U.S., according to audits required as part of tax forms. 

Amal Ali, a former U.S. intelligence analyst, is among critics who say that despite its yearslong presence in Somalia, Bancroft hasn’t contributed to any eradication of terrorism. 

Stock dismissed such comments as uninformed and said the Somali and U.S. governments “agree Bancroft has done a great deal to damaging illegal armed groups and developing the capacity of the government to perform its national defense functions professionally.” 

Backlash on the ground 

Rights groups say a lack of transparency about Bancroft’s operations has fostered an atmosphere of distrust in a country already rampant with armed actors. Wagner, a U.N. peacekeeping mission and Rwandan troops are all on the ground to try to quell violence. 

“Operating in a vague and nontransparent way in the Central African Republic only leads to suspicion,” said Lewis Mudge, of Human Rights Watch. 

Stock defended Bancroft’s work and policies. “It is perfectly normal for a government not to publicize how it is defending the people and the state,” he told AP. 

Unclear future 

As the U.S. and Russia jockey for power, African governments say they want to make their own choices. 

Central African Republic officials approached Bancroft, which shows that these governments haven’t become Russian puppets, said Jack Margolin, an expert on private military companies. 

But, he added, Russia’s reaction to Bancroft could hurt Moscow’s standing with other nations. 

After Prigozhin’s death, Russia moved quickly to take control of Wagner’s assets, and the defense ministry told countries where Wagner operated that it would take over. The country and its military intelligence arm have taken a more direct role in Africa operations, deploying more official detachments from its army. 

In Central African Republic, it’s unclear how much sway the Russian state has with the mercenaries, who are beloved by many. For most people here, there’s little interest in squabbles among foreign nations. 

“There are problems between the Americans and Russians, but that doesn’t matter to us,” said Jean Louis Yet, who works at Bangui’s market. “We are here working, trying our best to make a living. All we want is security.” 
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JUBA, South Sudan — The government in South Sudan has postponed elections scheduled for December for two years citing the need to complete processes such as a census, the drafting of a permanent constitution and the registration of political parties.

The Presidential Adviser on National Security Tut Gatluak on Friday said the extension would provide an opportunity to complete critical processes before the new election date of December 22, 2026.

This is the second time the country, which gained independence in 2011, is postponing elections and extending a transitional period that started in February 2020.

President Salva Kiir and his former rival turned deputy, Riek Machar, signed a peace agreement in 2018 that ended a five-year civil war in which more than 400,000 people died.

Cabinet Affairs Minister Martin Elia Lomuro said the extension followed recommendations from both electoral institutions and the security sector.

Last month, the chairperson of National Election Commission, Professor Abednego Akok, told The Associated Press the country was behind the electoral calendar, which required voter registration to have started in June but was still pending due to a shortage of funds.

The country is going through an economic crisis that has seen civil servants go unpaid for almost one year, after it’s oil exports were affected by a damaged pipeline in war-torn neighboring Sudan through which it exports.

The Tumaini initiative peace talks that have been going on in neighboring Kenya, believed to provide a foundation for the inclusion of non-signatory groups to sustain peace, have also stalled.

A new security act that allows for warrantless detentions became law in August despite concerns from human rights groups that it would create fear in the runup to the elections.

Andrea Mach Mabior, an independent political analyst, warned that any sham elections may result in a waste of resources and chaos.

“Going for elections that do not meet international standards will be a waste of money,” Mabior told the AP.

But others like Edmund Yakani, executive director of the Community Empowerment Progress Organization, said delays to the elections or any extension of the transitional period would create a possibility of violence erupting across the fragile country.

“If we fail to conduct the elections in December 2024 the chance of the country turning into violence is higher than if we go for the elections,” Yakani told the AP in August.

The country, which has gone through the shocks of civil war and climate change is in need of humanitarian aid with an estimated 9 million people — 73% of the country’s population — projected to be in need of humanitarian assistance during 2024, according to the 2024 UN Humanitarian Needs Overview for South Sudan.
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Severe flooding in northeastern Nigeria has killed at least 30 people and affected more than 1 million others, according to national emergency officials. Meanwhile, there’s desperation in camps housing hundreds of thousands of displaced people. Timothy Obiezu reports from Maidgurui.
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Blantyre, Malawi — Malawi is recording new cases of cholera two months after it declared the end of the country’s worst cholera outbreak, which began in March 2022 and killed nearly 2,000 people.

New cases have been reported in Chitipa district in northern Malawi and Machinga district in the south.

Records from Chitipa District Health Office, released Friday, show the district has recorded 22 cases of cholera, with one death, since the onset of the new outbreak last week. That includes nine new cases registered Friday, with eight people hospitalized.

Cholera is an acute diarrheal disease that can kill within hours if left untreated.

Machinga district hospital in southern Malawi registered its first cholera case in the new outbreak this week.

“It has been three days now since we registered that case,” said Wongani Nyirenda, the hospital’s spokesperson. “However, we are doing everything to make sure that people are using safe water. We have given them some chlorine and a water guard to treat their water.”

He said health surveillance assistants are also on the ground educating people about good hygiene practices.

The resurgence of cholera cases comes two months after Malawi declared the end of the country’s worst cholera outbreak, which began in March 2022 and killed nearly 2,000 people.

Government authorities told VOA in July that they had stopped the outbreak by increasing access to safe water and administering an oral cholera vaccination campaign that began in December 2022.

George Jobe, executive director of the Malawi Health Equity Network, is concerned about the resurgence.

“It is worrisome,” he said. “Our hope and expectation was that we would have a breather. A longer breather, especially considering that in 2022 we had a big suffering from cholera which took us over a year. So, we wouldn’t want to go back to such a bad experience.”

Jobe believes the resurgence means Malawi is still struggling to address the challenges of making safe water available. He said water contaminated by sewage is the main cause of cholera.

“We have issues to do with behavioral change where hygiene issues should be borne in mind, like washing hands with soap, having pit latrines and good waste management,” he said.

The co-chairperson for the presidential task force on COVID-19 and cholera in Malawi, Dr. Wilfred Chalamira Nkhoma, did not respond to calls and texts from VOA seeking comment on the new outbreak.

However, Ministry of Health officials told local media this week that Malawians should not panic, saying the government is putting measures in place to control the spread of the disease.
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MORONI — Comoros President Azali Assoumani was slightly injured in a knife attack on Friday, the archipelago nation’s government spokesperson said, adding that the attacker has been taken into custody.

The incident occurred around 2 p.m. local time in Salimani Itsandra, a town just north of the capital, Moroni, a local source told Reuters.

“President Azali Assoumani was slightly injured with a knife during the funeral of a great sheik of the country. His injuries are not serious, and he has returned home,” government spokesperson Fatima Ahamada told Reuters.

The motive for the attack was not immediately clear.

The source from the town of Salimani Itsandra added that the attacker is a former policeman in his 20s.

In May, Assoumani was sworn in for a fourth term in office following a tense January election which his opponents claim was tainted by voter fraud.
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Johannesburg — While the U.S. was forced to downsize and pull its troops out of Niger this year, China is increasing its military cooperation on the continent, recently announcing a plan to spend $140 million to train 6,000 military personnel — a move, a U.S. defense official said Friday, was for China’s “own economic growth and benefit.”

Among the many ways that the U.S. and China are competing for influence in Africa, analysts say military cooperation on the continent is one that is seeing rising rivalry between the two superpowers.

At a summit that focused on China-Africa cooperation last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping made the pledge to train the 6,000 military personnel. He also invited 500 African officers to visit China.

‘Most explicit’ pledge

China has been cooperating with Africa in several areas of security for years, including participating in U.N. peacekeeping missions, holding joint military drills, and providing training and education for officers. However, analysts said the latest announcement was particularly noteworthy.

“This year’s military pledge was by far the most explicit,” Lauren Johnston, associate professor of China studies at the University of Sydney, told VOA. “Never seen anything so measured and direct.”

Asked by VOA about whether Xi’s pledge means China is outperforming the U.S. when it comes to security cooperation on the continent, a spokesperson for U.S.-Africa Command, or AFRICOM, said: “We recognize that the PRC is adept at creating opportunities to expand influence on the continent.”

The PRC is the acronym for China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China.

“Its long-term vision for Africa is tied to its own economic benefit and growth,” said the spokesperson, Kelly Cahalan. “The PRC is the second-largest arms supplier in Africa after Russia, with defense exports of small arms, missile systems, aerial munitions, naval vessels, combat aircraft, infantry vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles.”

However, the AFRICOM spokesperson added that the U.S. “would welcome the PRC’s cooperation on issues such as climate change, global health security, arms control and non-proliferation.”

Niger exodus

In a blow to Washington earlier this year, the U.S. military was forced to pull troops out of Niger, after the junta there demanded the U.S. close its $100 million airbase combatting extremist groups in the Sahel region.

Since then, the U.S. has been in talks with other West African nations, including Ivory Coast, Ghana and Benin “as we start to reset and recalibrate some of our assets,” General Michael Langley commander of U.S.-Africa Command, or AFRICOM, told journalists in an online press briefing Thursday.

Langley was speaking from Kenya, after also visiting Somalia to speak with the government about counter-terrorism efforts against al-Shabab. He has spent a lot of time on the continent recently, having also visited a number of North African countries earlier this year.

Asked in the press briefing about China’s influence in Africa, General Langley said the choice lay with African governments.

“When we have engaged with our African partners, we don’t give them an ultimatum of who to choose for a security partner,” he said. “All our activities and our partnership-centric type approach should be African-led and U.S.-enabled.”

Darren Olivier, director of the conflict research consulting firm African Defense Review, said the U.S. is trying to shore up support after the blow it received in West Africa.

“The U.S. was clearly shaken by the junta takeovers in Sahelian countries like Burkina Faso & Niger and their subsequent ending of security cooperation and basing agreements,” he said in a written response to VOA, noting that the U.S. had been criticized for not being consultative enough with its African partners.

“General Langley’s tour therefore appears to be not just about shoring up support for new cooperation agreements and basing locations, but to reinforce the U.S.’s new message of listening first and advising second,” Olivier added.

Playing the long game

Efforts by the U.S. in Africa come as China is working to grow its ties as well.

Jana de Kluiver, an analyst with the Institute for Security Studies based in South Africa, said China was looking to foster long-term connections with the people who will go on to become Africa’s military top brass and political elite.

“The 6,000 military personnel trained by China will later on become higher ranking figures in their respective countries, enhancing Beijing’s soft power across the continent,” she told VOA.

In 2022, China launched what it called the Global Security Initiative, or GSI, as a counterpoint to the U.S.-led security order. One of the main tenets of the initiative is China’s principle of non-interference.

“As Chinese economic interests expand across the continent, the need for a stable security environment becomes critical. However, Beijing is careful to avoid appearing too assertive, as its broader narrative seeks to contrast with the perceived interventionism of the West,” said the Institute for Security Studies’ de Kluiver.

African Defense Review’s Olivier said it will be interesting to see how African nations that are used to Western military support and training now juggle their options.

If they opt for Chinese training, they could then choose to “silo their armed forces into units trained by Western countries and units trained by China, which will have its own impacts from incompatible doctrines and standards,” he told VOA.

China always positions itself as a no-strings attached ally of Africa and Olivier said it would also depend where China placed any pre-conditions on military cooperation.

“Western countries are traditionally skittish about training units that might commit human rights violations,” he said. “This might provide the opportunity for some countries frustrated with those restrictions to turn to Beijing for training instead.”

Base concerns

Washington has also long been concerned about the possibility that China is looking to establish a second permanent base in Africa. Beijing already has one on the continent’s east coast, in Djibouti, and is said to be seeking a foothold in West Africa.

That would give Beijing a military presence across the Atlantic from America’s East Coast, a move that analysts say would be perceived by the U.S. as a threat to national security.

China was believed to be looking to Equatorial Guinea, but those talks have reportedly stalled.

Last week Bloomberg reported the U.S. is assembling a $5 million security package, including special forces training, for Gabon. The report quoted unnamed sources, but said the deal was aimed at preventing China from establishing a base in the country.

 
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Gaborone, Botswana — Botswana’s former president, Ian Khama, has made a surprise return to the country after a nearly three-year self-imposed exile. Khama, who faces criminal charges, fled the southern African country in 2021, saying his life was in danger after a fallout with President Mokgweetsi Masisi. 

Khama appeared Friday in a Gaborone court, where his lawyers asked that a warrant of arrest against him be dropped. He faces 14 charges, which include illegal possession of firearms and money laundering. 

His lawyer, Unoda Mack, told reporters outside court that the warrant of arrest has been set aside. 

“They wanted him, we brought him. The warrant has been set aside. He will appear in court, he will be coming. He brought himself,” Mack said.  

Khama, who leads a splinter opposition party, the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF), has denied the criminal charges and says they are part of persecution by Masisi. 

Khama handpicked Masisi to succeed him in 2018. 

BPF Secretary General Lawrence Ookeditse said Khama, who led Botswana between 2008 and 2018, is back to fight the “bogus” charges. 

“He went to the magistrate court to try to get the bogus warrant of arrest that was brought on him quashed,” Ookeditse said.  

Khama’s return comes just weeks before Botswana holds its general election on October 30. 

Ookeditse said the former president will participate in campaigns for his party.  

“We have been very consistent and General Khama has also been very consistent to the effect that we are going to cause an upset in these elections and he is going to be on the ground campaigning for the BPF, as we are going to do all we can to effect regime change in a democratic way in Botswana,” Ookeditse said. 

President Masisi has previously said Khama must return to face the law, and denied accusations of persecuting his predecessor. Khama will be back in court on September 23. 
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Harare, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe’s government said Thursday it is considering a proposal to cull its elephant population to address food shortages and reduce the effects of an El Nino-induced drought.

“Zimbabwe has more elephants than our forests can accommodate,” said Sithembiso Nyoni, Zimbabwe’s minister of environment, climate, and wildlife. “We are having a discussion with ZimParks [Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority] and some communities to do like what Namibia has done, so that we can cull the elephants and mobilize the women to maybe dry the meat, package it, and ensure that it gets to some communities that need the protein.”

Zimbabwe is one the five countries in southern Africa that the World Food Programme said has been hit hard by El Nino drought, leaving millions of people food-insecure. The proposal to cull elephants in Zimbabwe follows Namibia’s recently announced plans to cull 723 wild animals — including 83 elephants — to mitigate the effects of the drought and distribute the meat to communities facing food shortages.

Much as Namibia’s decision attracted condemnation from conservationists, Zimbabwe’s proposal to cull elephants will paint the country in a bad light, said Farai Maguwu of the Center for Natural Resource Governance.

“Elephants are protected by international conventions, such as CITES [the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species]. They are in a world heritage,” said Maguwu. “So, one does not just decide to say, ‘I want to slaughter them.’ They are not like goats, which a person can just say, ‘I want to slaughter a goat and feed my family.’ There are rules and procedures.”

Maguwu said officials in Harare have long fought to change those rules.

“Zimbabwe has always been pushing for the right to kill elephants,” said Maguwu. “We all know when you look at how our natural resources are being plundered right now, like minerals, the whole idea is to sell ivory. It’s not even about the communities there.”

Maguwu also said that “there is a lot that government can do to cushion the people from the impacts of drought rather than killing elephants. I think they should stop that move.”

Zimbabwe said it has about 100,000 elephants against its carrying capacity of about 45,000 and has not been able to sell some of the jumbos because of CITES.

Minister Nyoni said Zimbabwe’s culling would fall within the confines of the country’s law.

“If Zimbabwe had a way, we would sell our elephants for ivory yesterday,” said Nyoni. “The people who prevent us from selling our ivory are people who have already finished and killed off their own animals. They don’t have elephants. And they don’t have the experience of this human wildlife conflict that we are facing. And those are people who influence the decision of CITES. So, it is a problem that Zimbabwe is facing. … There is a thinking that we move out of CITES and then do our own thing. There are consequences for doing that. Zimbabwe would like to be independent; we would like to take charge of our own animals. But we can’t because we are part of the global village.”

Nyoni added that Zimbabwe would continue to negotiate with other CITES members so that Harare is allowed to trade in ivory and elephants by CITES.

Efforts to reach CITES for comment did not yield results Thursday.
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Nairobi, Kenya — A U.S. Marine Corps general who commands forces in Africa says stability and support programs for Somalia are in the works as the country prepares for the withdrawal of African Union troops in December.

General Michael Langley, head of the U.S. Africa Command, said that after meeting this past weekend with Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and his top military official, Major General Ibrahim Sheikh Muhyadin Addow, he’s confident the country can manage its own security after the December withdrawal of the African Union Transitional Mission in Somalia, known as ATMIS.

Langley’s remarks, in a virtual briefing to reporters Thursday, came 2 1/2 years after the multidimensional mission was authorized by the U.N. Security Council, in part to help stabilize the country following years of insurgency by the militant group al-Shabab.

Langley said that Somali authorities have told him military operations in the southern and central parts of the country are focused on liberating some areas from the militants and stabilizing others.

“The operations are ebbing and flowing,” Langley said. “I’ll just use some of their narratives. They have a young army, it’s a building army, so there are some successes and some setbacks, but I think the morale across the forces is building and they are very enthusiastic they’re going to be able to keep al-Shabab back on their heels going forward in future operations.”

In a briefing to the Security Council in June, Mohamed el-Amine Souef, head of ATMIS, told the council that the threat posed by al-Shabab remains unpredictable. Citing a recent attack on Somali security forces in the Galmudug region, and a mortar attack on the ATMIS camp in Baidoa, he said the group still retains the ability to conduct devastating assaults.

Although Somali forces supported by ATMIS have achieved significant gains in the fight against al-Shabab, support from international partners is essential to maintain the momentum, he said.

After visiting Somalia, Langley arrived in Kenya, which contributes troops to ATMIS, where he said he plans to engage with the Kenyan military leadership to explore future prospects on how to help the Somali army hit its operational objectives.

“They have been a tremendous partner with the Somali national army, institutionalizing, professionalizing, helping them to be able to operate in various areas, collaborating along the border to ensure the defeat of al-Shabab,” Langley said.

In West Africa, U.S. troops recently withdrew from Niger, where they were ordered to leave after a military junta took power. Juntas that took power by force also rule Mali and Burkina Faso.

Langley said the way forward on security cooperation across the Sahel is still to be determined, but added that U.S. forces will stay engaged.

“In the interim, yes, we are pivoting to some degree on like-minded countries with democratic values and shared objectives and shared challenges across the coast of West Africa,” he said. “So yes, we are in talks with Cote D’Ivoire, in talks with Ghana and Benin, as well as we start to reset and calibrate some of our assets.”

He said those countries are facing threats from terrorist groups like al-Qaida and Islamic State, which initially operated in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, but are now moving toward other countries across the region.
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Gaborone, Botswana — Botswana and an American biotech firm, Ginkgo Bioworks, have partnered to conduct pathogen surveillance at the country’s entry points. Health officials say the proactive move is meant to safeguard public health as the world faces emerging disease threats.

Botswana introduced mpox screening last month for travelers at its entry points.

In a statement Wednesday, Ministry of Health spokesperson Christopher Nyanga said a pathogen-monitoring program is critical to detecting similar emerging health threats.

Dr. Mbatshi Mazwiduma, a public health expert, said the pathogen-surveillance program will complement existing strategies to prevent disease threats.

“The initiative by the Ministry of Health is a very welcome development in the sense that it is at least demonstrating that they are both embracing traditional methods of surveillance and disease detection plus at the same time, they are looking at other innovative ways of disease detection,” he said.

Through the collaboration, Boston-based Gingko Bioworks will work with the Ministry of Health to collect and monitor travelers’ samples. Nasal swabs will be used to collect the samples.

Nyanga said testing will be done on a voluntary, anonymous basis.

“Although participation in this initiative is entirely voluntary, travelers are encouraged to participate because this early detection of pathogens is meant to safeguard the health of all citizens, visitors and residents of this country,” he said. “The samples collected will be kept anonymous. The data collected from the samples will be vital in strengthening the country’s robust health system and response to public health threats and emergencies.”

But Mazwiduma said voluntary participation in the pathogen-monitoring program could hinder effective disease detection.

“Perhaps if non-invasive, non-intrusive, the technique should be compulsory because it ensures that the number of people who comply to sample acquisition is increased and, therefore, you can actually rapidly achieve suitable sample sizes for you to be able to ensure that you do not miss any patients, but also more importantly that it allows you to improve your validation of these particular technologies,” Mazwiduma said.

Botswana and Gingko Bioworks previously collaborated in a 2022 pathogen-monitoring program to detect new and emerging COVID-19 variants.

During the same year, Botswana was credited with the discovery of COVID-19 variant omicron.
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Abuja, Nigeria — The two-day pan-African AI conference co-hosted by the United States concluded Wednesday in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial hub.

Hundreds of delegates including public officials, tech leaders, policy makers academics and entrepreneurs attended the conference to hold talks about the development and use of safe, secure and trustworthy AI systems in Africa.

The U.S. deputy secretary of state, Kurt Campbell, spoke at the summit about the opportunity at hand.

“A global technology revolution is well under way — the race to develop and deploy new technologies, including artificial intelligence, is already shaping everything about our lives,” said Campbell. “We aim to foster collaborations between the United States and Africa AI researchers, policy makers and industry leaders, so that we can work together to drive innovation and address common challenges. This will enable us to share the benefits of AI globally.”

The conference is a significant step in Africa’s technological future.

Campbell said artificial intelligence can be used to address problems like global health, food security, education, energy and climate change, and asserted the conference has provided the ground for African voices in AI to shape emerging global AI systems.

“I cannot overstate Africa’s growing importance in the global technology landscape,” said Campbell. “By developing human capital and strengthening research and innovation ecosystems and building and AI ready institutional and regulatory environment, we can help AI work for Africa. The African Union’s landmark AI strategy sets the roadmap for African countries to harness AI’s potential to achieve developmental aspirations in education, health, agriculture, infrastructure, peace and security and good governance.”

In July, the African Union launched the continent’s Artificial Intelligence Strategy, saying AI is pivotal in transforming Africa into a global technology hub, and it called on member states to adopt the strategy.

On Tuesday, Nigeria’s minister of communication, innovation and digital economy, Bosun Tijani, announced a $61,000 grant for Nigeria’s brightest AI startups.

“For us to truly harness artificial intelligence for our collective benefits, we must be deliberate and collaborative in our approach,” said Tijani. “We just ensure that our digital transformation journey is inclusive, equitable and human focused.”

Africa currently represents 2.5% of the global AI market, according to the Artificial Intelligence for Development Africa, or AI4D.

But analysts say with more talks about safe use, AI applications could boost Africa’s economy by $2.9 trillion by the year 2030 with Kenya, South Africa and Nigerian markets taking the lead.
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United Nations — The U.N. Security Council unanimously renewed for another year an arms embargo on parties in the Darfur region of Sudan, where the war between rival generals has intensified in recent months, exacerbating a dire humanitarian crisis.

Sudan’s envoy welcomed the extension but urged the council to go further and sanction the entire Rapid Support Forces militia, the rival of the government-backed Sudanese Armed Forces.

“The militia, in its entirety, really needs to be listed, because it fulfills all the conditions,” Ambassador Al-Harith Idriss Al-Harith Mohamed said. “There also needs to be an end to the financing of the militia.”

The RSF as it is known, has captured most of Darfur, and a battle has been going on since May over North Darfur’s capital, El Fasher, which is the only Darfuri regional capital not to have fallen to the RSF.

Sudan’s military has repeatedly accused the United Arab Emirates of supplying the RSF with arms and ammunition smuggled in through neighboring Chad. The UAE strongly denies the accusations.

A report by a United Nations panel of experts earlier this year said there was substance to media reports that cargo planes originating in the UAE capital had landed in eastern Chad with arms, ammunition and medical equipment destined for the paramilitary group.

At the meeting, Sudan’s envoy accused the UAE of profiting from his nation’s natural resources, including gold and uranium, and he urged the Security Council to act.

“We are calling for clear measures to be taken against those who seek to sabotage the Sudanese economy — namely businesses and companies whose headquarters are in the UAE,” Mohamed said.

“The repetition of baseless allegations does not make them true,” Emirati Ambassador Mohamed Abushahab told the council. He urged the army, known as the SAF, to show “political courage” and participate in peace talks to end the war.

The SAF sat out U.S.- and Saudi-brokered talks in Geneva in August because the UAE was invited to participate.

The United States led the negotiations in the council on the renewal of the Darfur arms embargo, which was first put in place in 2004 during the genocide carried out by Arab Janjaweed fighters against non-Arab ethnic groups in Darfur. Janjaweed fighters make up elements of today’s RSF.

“Renewing the sanctions measures will restrict the movement of arms into Darfur and sanction individuals and entities contributing to, or complicit in, destabilizing activities of Sudan,” U.S. envoy Robert Wood said. “All of this is critical to helping end the escalating conflict, alleviate humanitarian catastrophe and put Sudan back on the path to stability and security.”

The U.S. also has proposed that the Security Council sanction two RSF commanders, but their designation remains in limbo after Russia put a hold on it on August 31.

Rights groups said the embargo renewal did not go far enough and should include the whole of Sudan.

“The council should correct this failure as soon as possible and expand the arms restrictions to cover all of Sudan, to limit the flow of arms and curb widespread atrocities being committed in the country,” said Human Rights Watch’s Jean-Baptiste Gallopin.

Sudan is facing a massive humanitarian crisis as a result of the war between the rival generals that began in April 2023. More than 10 million people have fled their homes in search of safety, and last month, international monitors confirmed famine in North Darfur. Across the country, the United Nations says, 26 million people are in crisis levels of hunger.

Human rights violations are also rife. In June, the RSF and SAF were added to an annual U.N. blacklist for perpetrators of grave violations against children. They were named for violations committed last year, including the killing and maiming of children, for attacking schools and hospitals, and in the case of the RSF, for sexual violence and recruiting and using children in their ranks.
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Nairobi, Kenya — Kenya’s airport workers’ union has called off a strike that grounded flights in the country’s main airport on Wednesday over awarding the contract for its modernization and operations to an Indian firm.

The decision came after daylong talks between the union leaders and the government.

The workers were protesting a build-and-operate agreement between the Kenyan government and India’s Adani Group that would see the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport modernized, with an additional runway and terminal constructed, in exchange for the group running the airport for 30 years.

The union wrote on X that a return-to-work agreement had been signed and union secretary general Moss Ndiema told journalists and workers that the union would be involved in every discussion moving forward.

“We have not accepted Adani,” he said.

Transport Minister Davis Chirchir told journalists that the government would protect the interests of Kenyan citizens during the quest to upgrade and modernize the main airport.

Hundreds of workers at Kenya’s main international airport demonstrated on Wednesday as planes remained grounded, with hundreds of passengers stranded at the airport.

Kenya Airport Workers Union, in announcing the strike, said that the deal would lead to job losses and “inferior terms and conditions of service” for those who will remain.

Kenya Airways on Wednesday announced there would be flight delays and possible cancellations because of the ongoing strike at the airport, which serves Nairobi.

The strike affected local flights coming from the port city of Mombasa and the lake city of Kisumu, where delays have been reported by local media.

At the main airport, police officers had taken up security check-in roles with long lines seen outside the departure terminals and worried passengers unable to confirm if their flights would depart as scheduled.

The Kenya Airports Authority said in a statement that it was “engaging relevant parties to normalize operations” and urged passengers to contact their respective airlines to confirm flight status.

The Central Organization of Trade Unions’ secretary-general, Francis Atwoli, told journalists at the airport that the strike would have been averted had the government listened to the workers.

“This was a very simple matter where the assurance to workers in writing that our members will not lose jobs and their jobs will remain protected by the government and as is required by law and that assurance alone, we wouldn’t have been here,” he said.

Last week, airport workers had threatened to go on strike, but the plans were called off pending discussions with the government.

The spotting of unknown people moving around with airport officials taking notes and photographs raised concerns that the Indian firm officials were readying for the deal, local media outlets reported last week.

The High Court on Monday temporarily halted the implementation of the deal until a case filed by the Law Society and the Kenya Human Rights Commission is heard.
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LONDON/DAKAR — Among the dozens of Wagner mercenaries presumed dead after a lethal battle with Tuareg rebels during a desert sandstorm in Mali in July were Russian war veterans who survived tours in Ukraine, Libya and Syria, according to interviews with relatives and a review of social media data.

The loss of such experienced fighters exposes dangers faced by Russian mercenary forces working for military juntas, which are struggling to contain separatists and powerful offshoots of Islamic State and Al Qaeda across the arid Sahel region in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

The Mali defeat raises doubts over whether Moscow, which has admitted funding Wagner and has absorbed many of its fighters into a defense ministry force, will do better than Western and U.N. troops recently expelled by the juntas, six officials and experts who work in the region said.

By cross-referencing public information with online posts from relatives and fighters, speaking to seven relatives and using facial recognition software to analyze battlefield footage verified by Reuters, the news agency was able to identify 23 fighters missing in action and two others taken into Tuareg captivity after the ambush near Tinzaouaten, a town on the Algerian border.

Several of the men had survived the siege of Bakhmut in Ukraine, which Wagner’s late founder Yevgeny Prigozhin called a “meat grinder.” Others had served in Libya, Syria and elsewhere. Some were former Russian soldiers, at least one of whom had retired after a full-length army career.

Grisly footage of dead fighters has now circulated online, and some of relatives told Reuters the bodies of their husbands and sons had been abandoned in the desert. Reuters could not confirm how many of the men it identified were dead.

Margarita Goncharova said her son, Vadim Evsiukov, 31, was first recruited in prison where he was serving a drug-related sentence in 2022. He rose through the ranks in Ukraine to lead a platoon of 500 men, she said. After coming home, he worked as a tailor but struggled with survivor’s guilt and secretly traveled to Africa in April to join his former commander, she said.

“He wanted to fly to Africa many times. I discouraged him as much as I could,” Goncharova said in an interview with Reuters. “I told him ‘fate has given you a once-in-a-million chance. You can start your life again; you’ve won such a crazy lottery’.”

The Russian Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Wagner did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

After Prigozhin died in August last year, Wagner employees were invited to join a newly created group called the Africa Corps, under the defense ministry, “to fight for justice and the interests of Russia,” according to the Africa Corps channel on social-media platform Telegram.

On the channel, Africa Corps says about half its personnel are former Wagner employees who it allows to use Wagner insignia. Wagner’s social media channels remain active.

The Russian government has not publicly commented on the Tinzaouaten battle.

Mali’s armed forces-led government said the defeat had no impact on its goals. The Malian Armed Forces “are committed to restoring the authority of the state throughout the country,” army spokesman Colonel Major Souleymane Dembele told Reuters.

Wagner has acknowledged heavy losses in the Mali ambush but gave no figure. The Malian army, which fought alongside the Russians, also did not give a toll. Tuareg rebels, who are fighting for an independent homeland, said they had killed 84 Russians and 47 Malians.

Reuters could not independently establish how many were killed in battle. One video, out of more than 20 sent to Reuters by a Tuareg rebel spokesman, showed at least 47 bodies, mostly white men, in military-style uniforms lying in the desert. Reuters verified the location and date of the video.

Mikhail Zvinchuk, a prominent blogger close to the Russian defense ministry, said on social media platform RuTube in August that the defeat showed Wagner fighters who arrived from Ukraine had underestimated the rebels and the Al Qaeda fighters.

Missing in action

Wagner-linked Telegram accounts named two of the dead as Nikita Fedyakin, the administrator of The Grey Zone, a popular Wagner-focused Telegram channel with over half a million subscribers, and Sergei Shevchenko, who the accounts described as the unit commander. Reuters could not verify the identity of Shevchenko.

Reuters separately identified 23 Wagner operators missing in Mali via relatives who posted in an official Wagner Telegram chat group, checking the names against social media accounts, publicly available data and facial recognition software. All the relatives received calls from Wagner recruiters on Aug. 6 to notify them their men were missing in action, they said in the chat group.

Lyubov Bazhenova told Reuters she had no idea her son Vladimir Akimov, 25, who had briefly served in Russia’s elite airborne forces as a conscript, had signed up. She was angry with Wagner for sharing no further information about his fate or the whereabouts of his body. She said letters to the prosecutor’s office, defense ministry and foreign ministry had gone unanswered.

Facial-recognition software was used to identify another two men captured by Tuareg fighters, based on photographs and videos of the ambush site published by Tuareg sources. The Tuareg rebels posted videos and photos of the two captives on social media. Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane, a spokesman for the rebel alliance, confirmed the men were in rebel captivity as of late August.

One of the missing fighters, Alexei Kuzekmaev, 47, had no military experience, his wife Lyudmila Kuzekmaeva told Reuters.

“Neither my hysterics, nor tears, nor persuasion – nothing helped. He just confronted me a month before he left home. He said ‘I bought a ticket and will be leaving.'”

Among the most experienced men was Alexander Lazarev, 48, a Russian army veteran who served in wars against Chechen separatists in the 1990s and 2000s, according to his wife’s posts in the Wagner channel.

She declined to comment. Lazarev appears in many photos on the Russian Facebook equivalent VKontakte wearing military uniform, with symbols linked to several army subdivisions.

Parastatal mercenary force

Democratic governments in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger were overthrown since 2020 in a series of coups driven by anger with corrupt leaders and a near decade of failed Western efforts to fight insurgencies that have killed thousands and displaced millions.

The military juntas have kicked out French and U.S. troops and U.N. peacekeepers.

In Africa, Wagner emerged in Sudan in 2017 as the deniable face of Russian operations. Its enterprises soon ranged from protecting African coup leaders to gold mining and fighting jihadists. Wagner is also active in Central African Republic. It first appeared in Mali in late 2021.

Wagner’s fortunes rose and fell last year. In May, the group led Russia to its first significant Ukrainian battlefield victory in almost a year with the capture of Bakhmut. But after his criticism of Russian military leaders and his effort to lead a rebellion weeks after the Bakhmut victory, Prigozhin died in a fiery plane crash in August. The Kremlin has rejected as an “absolute lie” U.S. officials’ claim that Putin had Prigozhin killed.

Eric Whitaker, the top U.S. envoy to Burkina Faso until retiring in June, who previously served in Niger, Mali and Chad, said the Putin administration has achieved complete control over the Wagner brand in the post-Prigozhin era.

“Africa Corps earns (the Russian government) hard-currency payments from host governments for its services and also gains a significant sources of revenue from gold derived from its activities in the Sahel,” he said.

Russian mercenary activity soared in Mali after Africa Corps was formed, according to data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), a U.S.-based crisis-monitoring group. Based on media reports and social media documenting, the data shows violent events linked to Russian mercenaries rose 81% and reported civilian fatalities rose 65% over the past year, compared to the year before Prigozhin’s death.

Wagner does not publish recruitment figures. Jędrzej Czerep, an analyst at Warsaw-based think tank Polish Institute of International Affairs, estimated that around 6,000 Russian mercenaries serve in Africa, while three diplomatic sources said about 1,500-2,000 were in Mali.

“When Africa Corps started to promote and recruit, they were flooded with applications,” said Czerep.

“Being sent to one of the African missions was seen as far safer than Ukraine,” he said.

Tuareg spokesman Ramadane said the rebel alliance was preparing for more clashes.

Further losses could eventually drive Russia out, said Tibor Nagy, the top U.S. envoy to Africa in 2019, when Wagner withdrew from northern Mozambique months after around a dozen of its men were killed during a conflict with an Islamic State affiliate.

“They were out of there very quickly,” said Nagy.

Wagner has not publicly commented on its plans in Mali.

 
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Abuja, Nigeria — The Nigerian secret police released labor union leader Joe Ajaero on Tuesday after hours of interrogation over alleged terrorism financing.

Ajaero’s arrest Monday sparked criticism about what critics see as a government crackdown on dissent.

Ajaero, was released by the Department of State Services, or DSS, after he was arrested at the Abuja airport while on his way to the United Kingdom to attend a labor conference.

He said Tuesday that DSS kept his passport.

He said the police questioned him for hours about alleged terrorism financing involving British national Andrew Wynne and last month’s anti-government protests in Nigeria.

Ajaero is a prominent critic of the Nigerian government and has led many demonstrations to denounce reforms introduced by President Bola Tinubu last year.

Hamisu Santuraki, the spokesperson of the United Action Front of Civil Society, a coalition of civil society groups, said the government should have asked Ajaero to come in for questioning.

“It’s not done anywhere — arresting somebody without sending him an invitation, it is wrong, they should’ve sent him a letter,” Santuraki said. We just want them to release his passport, so we’re having a meeting. Nigeria is our country.”

Later Tuesday, a government spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, said Ajaero was invited to speak to a law enforcement agency and was stopped from traveling abroad because he “snubbed” that invitation.

In a statement released on X, Onanuga also said Nigeria “categorically denies any human rights abuse.”  

Santuraki said the coalition and the Labor Congress are deciding on what steps to take.

The Nigerian government is facing a wave of criticism from rights groups who accuse it of trying to stifle dissent and free expression. Investigative journalist Isaac Bristol was recently detained on charges of leaking classified and restricted documents, sedition, and tax evasion, among other allegations.

Another journalist, David Hundeyin, was declared wanted by the police last week.

Ajaero’s arrest came days after he criticized a decision by Nigerian officials to increase the gasoline price by 39 percent.

Nigerian authorities said global oil market forces determined the new pump price of refined petrol, which had more than quadrupled in Nigeria since President Tinubu scrapped fuel subsidies last year.

On Monday, the Socio-Economic Rights Accountability Project, or SERAP, said state operatives also raided their offices. The group this week called for a probe of the national oil company.

“We consider this an act of aggression, intimidation and harassment by the government, and it might not be unconnected with the statement that SERAP had issued over the weekend calling on the president to direct the NNPC to reverse the price of petroleum,” said Kolawole Oluwadare, a deputy director at SERAP. “We consider this as an instance of the escalation of attacks against the civic space and this of course is not acceptable in a democracy.”

Ajaero was also arrested in November by police in southeastern Imo state, moments before he was to lead a rally.
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Mekelle/Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — The leader of Tigray People’s Liberation Front Debretsion Gebremichael has reported previously undisclosed talks between his region and the leaders of Eritrea.

Speaking at a press conference in the regional capital Mekelle, Ethiopia, on Tuesday, Debretsion said the first round of talks took place about six months ago in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

He told reporters that Getachew Reda, the president of the Tigray Interim Regional Administration, represented the TPLF at the talks in Dubai.

Without indicating venue and date, Debretsion also said there have been subsequent meetings with the Eritrean leaders after the initial meeting in Dubai.

“This was decided by the TPLF Executive Committee,” he said. “Accordingly, President Getachew Reda has engaged with Eritrea’s leaders. This is something that I know and my party’s Executive Committee knows.”

He said the talks, which were aimed at creating peace between the two sides, had a positive result.

“The abduction of citizens, looting and other activities by the Eritrean forces has improved and eased as a result,” he said.

He said the TPLF party’s intention is to “make peace with all our neighbors, including the Fano forces and the Eritrean government.”

“Based on this principle, Getachew met with the Eritrean leaders, which is known by the honorable prime minister and my part. But this is for a good cause and for peace,” he said.

Debretsion indicated that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has been encouraging them to engage in the talks. He adds that Getachew has also briefed the Ethiopian leader about the talks.

There has been no immediate reaction from Ethiopia prime minister’s office, Eritrea and from IRA leader Getachew.

VOA’s Horn of Africa Service has reached out to the Ethiopia prime minister’s office and government communication service but has not received a response. Also, repeated attempts to get reaction from the Eritrea’s ministry of information were not successful.

The governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea were allies during a deadly two-year war in Tigray that killed thousands. Human rights organizations and the United States have accused Eritrean and Ethiopian forces of committing war crimes during the war in Tigray, a charge the two governments denied.

In November 2022, the Ethiopian government and TPLF signed the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement in Pretoria, South Africa, committing to a permanent ending of fighting.

Tigray regional officials allege that Eritrean troops remain in parts of their region despite the Pretoria agreement’s call for the withdrawal of foreign forces. The agreement called for the withdrawal of all foreign forces and non-Ethiopian National Defense Forces, referring to the Eritrean forces and Ethiopian militias allied with the Ethiopian government.

During his visit to Ethiopia, Hammer will review the implementation of the Pretoria Cessation of Hostilities Agreement on northern Ethiopia with the signatories, the State Department said in a statement. 

“The United States remains committed to supporting the Ethiopian government and the Tigray Interim Regional Administration to achieve lasting peace, including through effective disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration for ex-combatants; an orderly and peaceful return of internally displaced persons; and advancing transitional justice and accountability,” the statement read.

Hammer will also discuss with Ethiopian officials their efforts to advance dialogue to end violence in the Amhara and Oromia regions, it added.
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