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Published 17th March 2022

Vol 63 No 6

Sudan

The junta runs out of bread and road

Abdel Fattah al Burhan. Pic: Romain Gaillard/ Abaca Press / Alamy
Abdel Fattah al Burhan. Pic: Romain Gaillard/ Abaca Press / Alamy

General Hemeti's trip to Moscow seems to have produced little more than a spate of reports about Khartoum's gold smuggling

Spiralling wheat prices and the crashing Sudanese pound are firing up still more determined protests against the military regime, testing the unity of the junta's component parts, particularly between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Over 85 civilians have been killed since the military seized power last October.

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Tshisekedi helps Gertler in fight with US

Dan Gertler. Pic: @Presidence_RDC
Dan Gertler. Pic: @Presidence_RDC

An accord with Kinshasa allows the sanctioned businessman to control cash from what Washington officials label as 'opaque and corrupt' deals

In a dramatic about-turn, President Félix Tshisekedi is offering to help one of his predecessor's closest business allies currently under United States sanctions for obtaini...

Chief Justice Zondo takes centre stage

Chief Justice Raymond Zondo. Pic GCIS (CC BY-ND 2.0)
Chief Justice Raymond Zondo. Pic GCIS (CC BY-ND 2.0)

Rejecting the advice of the Judicial Services Commission, Ramaphosa has picked his own man as top judge as well as top corruption-buster

In appointing Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo as the new Chief Justice, President Cyril Ramaphosa used his constitutional powers to trump a populist cabal in the 23-person Judic...

BLUE LINES
THE INSIDE VIEW

European states are competing to offer the most generosity to the more than 3 million refugees who have fled Ukraine since Russia's invasion. But it has prompted some activists and officials to look more closely at the plight of the thousands of Africans and Arabs still awaiting decisions on their asylum and immigration status. Ukrainian refugees are getting approval immediately and the right to work for at least three years.

Some areas are reporting resentment among non-Ukrainian ref...

European states are competing to offer the most generosity to the more than 3 million refugees who have fled Ukraine since Russia's invasion. But it has prompted some activists and officials to look more closely at the plight of the thousands of Africans and Arabs still awaiting decisions on their asylum and immigration status. Ukrainian refugees are getting approval immediately and the right to work for at least three years.

Some areas are reporting resentment among non-Ukrainian refugees. According to the Asylum Unit at the Finnish Immigration Service, 2,300 asylum seekers were waiting for residence permits and other decisions before Russia's invasion. The asylum application process in the country lasts for around ten months on average, though many people have been waiting for years.

Reports circulated several weeks ago, which Polish officials dismissed as Russian disinformation, that many Africans in Ukraine attempting to flee were turned back at the border. African diaspora organisations reported that some students were forced back into danger zones in Ukraine.

With several European governments creating 'hostile environments' for immigrants and asylum seekers, the situation raises awkward questions. Selective application of a more liberal approach to refugee rights will sound alarms for African and Asians amid the sharpening geopolitical schisms.

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Danger looms for the UN in Mali

The future of the UN peacekeeping mission is in question – European troops are leaving and evidence is emerging of abuses by the national army and Wagner

A cloud of anxiety hangs over the leaders of the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali as they navigate a hostile military government, tumultuous developments in the Sahel and the geopol...

Weah slaloms through the opposition

Regardless of mounting scandals, broken promises and economic woes the President is set to win another term in next year's elections

As AC Milan's top striker in the 1990s, George Weah once ran through the opposing team to score a spectacular goal. As his country's President he plans to repeat the feat electoral...

UN clashes with Wagner worsen

Moscow's surrogates are undermining the international peacekeepers but diplomats hope a new UN mission chief can stabilise the operation

The Russian-inspired detention of four French soldiers in February at Bangui airport, and the imminent departure of Mankeur Ndiaye, the Senegalese head of the UN's mission to Centr...

Rivals set out their minimum conditions

The federal government and Tigray agree on the urgency of substantive negotiations but still lack the political will to start them

Addressing an emergency session of Parliament in late February, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was clear: 'There has been no negotiation [with the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front] as...

Brussels eyes African energy as it bars Moscow

Pledge to wean the EU from Russia's gas by 2030 will mean changing policy and stepping up investment in Africa

The launch of the European Union's master plan for energy on 9 March was delayed for a week as the war raging in Ukraine forced officials to rethink their goals. Initially, Brusse...

President Tshisekedi cuts a deal with Dan Gertler

A pact to take back tainted mining assets could be part of wider damage-limitation by a notorious fixer and his partners

A multi-billion dollar corruption scandal over some of the world's most prized copper and cobalt mines is heading towards dénouement, after Congolese authorities signed what...

Grand diplomacy on tour

Overseas trips by the two leading presidential contenders have done little to calm foreign nerves about prospects for the August elections

Kenyans have been given a short break from the day-to-day drama of election rallies and media debates as presidential candidates Deputy President William Ruto and ex-Prime Minister...

Pragmatism rules as African states navigate Cold War II

Moscow's clash with the west benefits authoritarians but economic mayhem could trigger a wave of mass protests

Beyond the sweeping international criticism in the UN and other fora of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, African officials fear their region will suffer most from the economic blight ...

Pointers

Unmanned by drones

The vulnerability of expensive armour and military aircraft to Turkey's Bayraktar drones and cheap anti-tank missiles in the Ukraine conflict is causing a drastic rethink in the Al...

Barrick in the dock

A group of seven Tanzanians will have their day in the High Court in London on 17 March when subsidiaries of Canada-based Barrick Gold face allegations of unlawful killings and ass...

A bigger piece of the potash

Russia's 40% market share in global production and export of potash fertiliser is threatened after the west imposed sanctions on Moscow and Belarus. Sanctions by the United States ...

Not by bread alone

African states are among those hit hardest by spiralling prices and the supply chain disruption to wheat shipments following Russia's invasion of Ukraine and swingeing western sanc...

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