Africa News and Discussions

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DR Congo's government to ban protests against election 'irregularities'

Five opposition presidential candidates called the joint demonstration in the capital Kinshasa over alleged election irregularities.

But on Tuesday the government said it would ban the event, saying it did not have a legal basis and aimed at undermining the electoral process while the CENI election commission was still compiling results.

"No government in the world can accept this, so we will not let it happen," Vice Prime Minister Peter Kazadi told a press conference.

The protest's organisers did not immediately respond to the ban – which could exacerbate tension surrounding the Dec. 20 presidential and legislative vote that will determine whether Tshisekedi gets a second term.

https://www.france24.com/en/africa/2023 ... gularities

[firestar464]

Worth noting the DRC is rated as one of the most authoritarian countries in the world by the Economist Democracy Index

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Sierra Leone Charges Ex-President Koroma with Treason Over Failed Coup
January 3, 2024

Introduction:

(Al Jazeera) Sierra Leone’s ex-President Ernest Bai Koroma has been charged with four offences including treason for his alleged role in a failed military attempt to topple the West African country’s government in November, a court in the capital Freetown has said.

The court’s decision on Wednesday could escalate tensions in the country coming after the attempted coup and a contentious election in which President Julius Maada Bio was re-elected for a second term in June 2023.

Frictions have been on the rise in the country, which is still recovering from a 1991-2002 civil war that killed more than 50,000 people.

The result of the election was rejected by the main opposition candidate, and questioned by international partners including the United States and the European Union.

Gunmen on November 26 attacked military barracks, a prison and other locations in Sierra Leone, freeing about 2,200 inmates and killing more than 20 people.

Read more here: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/ ... led-coup


Sierra Leone

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Ethiopia’s Deal with Somaliland Upends Regional Dynamics, Risking Strife Across the Horn of Africa
by Alemayehu Fentaw Weldemariam
January 13, 2024

Introduction:

(The Conversation) The Horn of Africa ushered in the new year with news of a deal that would ensure that diplomatic relations in the region got off to a bumpy start in 2024. Ethiopia, it was announced on Jan. 1, had signed a memorandum of understanding with the breakaway region of Somaliland, opening the door to an agreement to exchange a stake in flagship carrier Ethiopian Airlines for access to the Gulf of Aden.

Such transactions of economic reciprocity are generally routine, as scholars of international relations and law like myself are aware.

But this deal has another element. It intertwined sea access with Ethiopia’s formal recognition of Somaliland – and this has sparked quite a diplomatic stir. Ethiopia’s neighbor Somalia has demanded that the agreement be immediately retracted. In Somaliland itself, the deal has been greeted by protest and the defense minister’s resignation.

Prior to the memorandum of understanding with Somaliland, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed had signaled his intention to gain Red Sea access for his landlocked country – a bid observers warned could have a destabilizing effect in the region.

Ethiopia is reeling from an intense and bloody two-year war within its own borders, coupled with ongoing strife among different ethnic groups. As a result of the violence, Ethiopia is currently experiencing massive internal displacement and famine.

Read more here: https://theconversation.com/ethiopias- ... ca-220617

[caltrek]

UN Says All Peacekeepers Will Leave Democratic Republic of the Congo by End of 2024
January 13, 2024

Introduction:

(Al Jazeera) The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which has helped in the fight against rebels for more than two decades, will completely withdraw from the country by December.

“After 25 years of presence, MONUSCO will definitively leave the DRC no later than the end of 2024,” Bintou Keita, head of the mission known as MONUSCO said at a media briefing in the Congolese capital Kinshasa on Saturday.

The announcement comes after the Congolese government – which was just re-elected in a disputed vote – called for the UN mission to leave the country, saying it had failed to protect civilians from armed groups.

Numerous armed groups, including the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) and M23, are active in restive eastern areas such as North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri provinces, where civilians face violence and displacement.

The withdrawal will take place in three phases.

Read more here: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/ ... -of-2024

[Powers]

As the UN ever been actually useful in solving military conflicts?

[caltrek]

Sudan in Crisis
by Violet Ikong
January 12, 2024

Introduction:

(Amjambo Africa!) Eight months have passed since violence erupted in Sudan. The conflict so far has claimed over 9,000 lives and has displaced millions of people who are now living on the edge, either within or outside Sudan. With no end in sight, fear, hunger, and illness plague the population. At a time like this, healthcare is an essential need. Yet the medical system in Sudan is broken.

“It’s a disaster. Hospitals are down. The few ones that are still functional have limited staff and resources. It’s also difficult to import drugs, medical supplies, and machines into the country due to the conflict,” said Maram Saeed, a layperson working with the U.S.-based nonprofit Sudanese American Physicians Association (SAPA).

Before the conflict between the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces began in April 2023, the country’s healthcare system was already in a poor state. The crisis has made it much worse, with 70% of hospitals in the country no longer functional as of November. “Prior to the conflict, the healthcare sector was already in a bad state. There were challenges providing quality healthcare to people in the country, because of recurring issues like extreme tribal conflicts and political instability,” Anmar Homeida, a medical doctor with SAPA, told Amjambo.

In June, the United Nations reported that 11 million people in Sudan were in need of urgent healthcare. Humanitarian organizations are trying to provide healthcare assistance, but funding is inadequate, and conditions are challenging.

Founded in 2019, SAPA escalated the level of its work in Sudan on April 20, five days after the conflict broke out, and has been helping to meet the health needs of internally displaced persons in Sudan ever since. SAPA’s network includes over 50 medical doctors and over 200 laypeople who are working in places like Darfur, Khartoum, White Nile, Al Jazirah or Gezira, and Sudan’s Northern State. They are also working with refugees who have fled the country to neighboring Chad.

Read more here: https://www.amjamboafrica.com/sudan-in ... onflict/


Sudan

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Félix Tshisekedi Sworn in for Second Term as Democratic Republic of Congo President After Disputed Election
January 20, 2024

Introduction:

(The Guardian) Félix Tshisekedi, the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, has been sworn in for a second five-year term after a landslide victory his opponents have refused to recognise owing to widespread irregularities in the December general election.

Further extract:

With armed military police deployed throughout the capital, there was no immediate sign that opposition supporters had heeded a call from two of Tshisekedi’s main opponents to protest against his re-election.

In the eastern city of Beni, protesters set up makeshift barricades in the early hours and burned tyres – a demonstration that police dispersed without major incident. Similar small-scale protests broke out in the eastern city of Goma and other urban centres, but were contained by the mass deployment of security forces.

Congo’s largest election-monitoring group, the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENCO), this week called the presidential and legislative polls an “electoral catastrophe”, citing its own observations of fraud, mishandling of election materials, parallel voting and other issues.

The country’s electoral commission has said such infractions were limited in scale and did not affect the outcome of the elections, which they say were ultimately free and fair.

Read more here: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024 ... president


Democratic Republic of the Congo

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‘We Cannot Trust the Janjaweed’: Sudan’s Capital Ravaged by Rapid Support Force Rule
by Mat Nashed
January 20, 2024

Introduction:

(Al Jazeera) Nine months of civil war between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese army have turned Sudan’s capital Khartoum into a plundered, lawless and bloodied shell of its historic self, according to current and former residents.

For months now, the RSF has controlled most of the city, looting markets, homes, warehouses and vehicles. It has also set up hundreds of checkpoints and contributed to reducing entire neighbourhoods to rubble by embedding its fighters in residential areas, which are then indiscriminately shelled and bombed by the army.

“[The checkpoints] have led to a general state of fear and most people are afraid to leave their houses. There’s also a curfew that starts right after sunset,” said Mabrooka Fatma*, a Sudanese activist in the city.

In the weeks after a bitter political dispute between the RSF and the army erupted into war in April 2023, hundreds of thousands of people fled the capital to nearby cities under the latter’s control, but not everybody followed. Some were too poor to leave, while others feared that the RSF would confiscate and loot their homes if they fled. Dozens of activists also stayed behind to help communities affected by the war.

Read more here: https://www.aljazeera.com/features/202 ... -rsf-rule

[caltrek]

Comoros: Election Rigging Claims Spark Turbulence
by Peter Fabricius
January 22, 2024

Introduction:

(Eurasia Review) Africa’s 2024 election season – comprising 19 presidential and general polls – got off to an unpromising and alarming start this past week. After the re-election of President Azali Assoumani to an effective fifth term, violent protests against the result broke out in Moroni, the capital of Comoros.

The government responded by imposing a night-time curfew and deploying the army on the streets. The United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights appealed for calm and for the authorities to show restraint in dealing with the protests.

‘Comoros is experiencing an insurrectionary situation,’ the five losing presidential candidates said in a joint statement. This was ‘fuelled by a spontaneous reaction of indignation’ among young people against Assoumani’s perceived rigging of his victory. The candidates called for nationwide protests on 19 January after prayers.

The riots were sparked when the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) announced on Tuesday that Assoumani had won 62.97% of votes in the first round, avoiding a run-off. The most astonishing statistic was that only 16.3% of registered voters turned out to elect a president. So Assoumani will assume a mandate to govern with just 33 209 of his people formally backing him.

The excuses offered included tropical cyclones and general voter apathy. But these did not explain why the turnout in the simultaneous vote for the three island governors had, on average, been over 50%.

Read more here: https://www.eurasiareview.com/22012024 ... nalysis/


Comoros


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