Africa

• क्रेमलिन-नियंत्रित अर्धसैनिक बलों ने यह भी आरोप लगाया कि उन्होंने नागरिक हताहतों से बचाते हुए विद्रोहियों को 'अपूरणीय क्षति' पहुँचाई है। • रूस के रक्षा मंत्रालय ने दावा किया है कि उसके Africa Corps — जो पूर्व Wagner भाड़े के समूह का उत्तराधिकारी है — ने सप्ताहांत में माली में एक तख्तापलट को रोका, जिससे बड़ी संख्या में नागरिक हताहत होने से बच गए और विद्रोही हमलावरों को "अपूरणीय क्षति" पहुँचाई गई। • एक बयान में कहा गया कि अल्जीरियाई सीमा के पास रेगिस्तानी शहर Kidal में तैनात उसके सैनिकों ने पूरी तरह से घिरे होने और संख्या में बहुत कम होने के बावजूद 24 घंटे से अधिक समय तक लड़ाई लड़ी।

• सत्ताधारी सैन्य शासन को रूसी समर्थन के बावजूद विद्रोही लड़ाकों ने हाल के दिनों में महत्वपूर्ण हमले किए हैं। • जब माली के सैन्य शासन के नेता असिमी गोइता ने पिछले साल गर्मियों में क्रेमलिन में रूसी राष्ट्रपति व्लादिमीर पुतिन के साथ मुलाकात की, तो इसने पश्चिम की कीमत पर माली पर मास्को के दबदबे का प्रतीक बनाया। • जब ये दोनों व्यक्ति बात कर रहे थे, तब करीब 3,500 मील दक्षिण में, साहेल क्षेत्र में प्रभाव बढ़ाने के मास्को के व्यापक प्रयास के हिस्से के रूप में, लगभग 2,000 रूसी सैनिक इस भूधस्त रेगिस्तानी देश में शासन को समर्थन दे रहे थे।

• The African Union convened emergency sessions Friday in Addis Ababa to address military coup concerns in three Sahel nations and coordinate response to deteriorating security conditions affecting 180 million people across West Africa. • Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger have experienced military takeovers since 2020, with suspended AU memberships and international sanctions creating governance vacuums exploited by extremist groups and destabilizing the entire region. • The AU proposed conditional reinstatement frameworks for suspended nations contingent on democratic transition timelines, though France and Western partners expressed skepticism about implementation feasibility given entrenched military leadership.

Leader of leftwing Economic Freedom Fighters was convicted last year for firing rifle in the air at 2018 rallyThe South African leftwing politician Julius Malema has been sentenced to five years in prison for firing a rifle in the air at a political rally in 2018.Lawyers for the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters, South Africa’s fourth largest political party, immediately sought leave to appeal. Legal arguments are ongoing. Continue reading...

Appointment of Roelf Meyer seen as attempt to improve relations amid false US accusations of genocide against AfrikanersSouth Africa has appointed a former apartheid government chief negotiator during the talks that ended white rule in the 1990s as ambassador to the US, in what is seen as an attempt to improve the deeply strained diplomatic relationship between the two countries.Roelf Meyer replaces Ebrahim Rasool, who was expelled in March 2025 after he criticised the Trump administration. Continue reading...

Pontiff makes first papal visit to country as he starts 11-day tour that will also include stops in Cameroon and AngolaPope Leo XIV arrived in Algeria on Monday for the first papal visit to the country, calling for peace on the opening stop of a tour of Africa that signals the continent’s growing importance to the Catholic church.The 11-day trip, which will include stops in Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea, is the longest by Pope Leo since being elected to the papacy in May last year. Continue reading...

Presidential elections in Djibouti and Benin at the weekend highlighted how a costly electoral system is reshaping democracyAlexis Mohamed would have loved to stand against his former boss. A longtime adviser to Djibouti’s president, Ismail Omar Guelleh, Mohamed resigned last September, citing democratic regression in the country.But at the election at the weekend, Mohamed was not on the ballot. Now outside the country, he says he cannot return home to file nomination papers or campaign freely without credible security guarantees. Even if he were allowed to compete, nomination costs would still loom as a steep barrier in a political environment many critics describe as ceremonial, with Guelleh the habitual winner. Continue reading...