27 May 2021
Rwanda: Relations between Rwanda and France seem to be on the mend. Paul Kagame has shown a lot of good will since the publication, in March, of an official French report absolving France of direct complicity but saying it bore serious and overwhelming responsibility for not foreseeing the killings of the Rwandan 1994 genocide. During his visit, Emmanuel Macron will visit the Kigali genocide memorial and deliver a speech there.
BBC Africa Live 27 May 2021. 5:05
Congo-Kinshasa: 22 villagers are reported to have been killed and several others abducted in an overnight raid in Beni (North Kivu, eastern RDC) by militants armed with knives and machetes allegedly belonging to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan militia active in eastern DR Congo since the 1990s.
BBC Africa Live 27 May 2021. 5:33
Mozambique: A SADC “technical team has recommended that SADC deploys a 3 000-strong robust intervention force comprised of land, air and naval assets to help quell the insurgency” in Cabo Delgado. The intervention risks being controversial, messy and expensive. “To succeed, SADCS’s intervention in Mozambique will require extensive investment in time, human resources and money.” But will Mozambique accept a big intervention at all? Also, the country will need to invest in reconstruction of destroyed infrastructure and will have to assist the more than 700,000 internally displaced.
https://theconversation.com/delay-in-sending-regional-forces-to-mozambique-could-exact-a-high-price-159753
Mozambique: Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders meet today in Mozambique to discuss the insurgency in Cabo Delgado (north of the country). Maputo has so far resisted almost all attempts at military assistance from abroad.
BBC Africa Live 27 May 2021. 7:05
Mozambique: Frelimo’s bad governance and an absent state are the roots of the problem which “will require a people- rather than security-centric strategy” for solving. The security personnel that will have to take care of the security side of things will have to strictly operate within the law – or it’ll provide new reasons for supporting or joining the insurgents. A disarmament, demobilisation, rehabilitation and reintegration programme will also be necessary. SADC military aid alone will not help.
https://issafrica.org/iss-today/what-would-it-take-to-stabilise-cabo-delgado?utm_source=BenchmarkEmail&utm_campaign=ISS_Weekly_du_27_mai_2021&utm_medium=email
Mozambique/South Africa: The former finance minister Manuel Chang is unlikely to be properly prosecuted in Mozambique, but Frelimo is putting a lot of pressure on South Africa to have him extradited to Maputo and not Washington. Ramaphosa is facing a dilemma.
https://issafrica.org/iss-today/chang-extradition-dilemma-paralyses-sa-president-ramaphosa
Mali: After resigning yesterday, interim ex-President Bah Ndaw and ex-Prime Minister Moctar Ouane have been freed at 1:00 a.m. local time.
BBC Africa Live 27 May 2021. 7:47
Somalia: Mohamed Hussein Roble, the prime minister, and the presidents of the regional states have signed a deal to start the process of presidential elections within 60 days: clan elders will choose MPs who will elect the president.
BBC Africa Live 27 May 2021. 15:37
Angola: President Lourenço has apologised and asked for forgiveness on the government’s behalf for the May 1977 massacre where between 30,000 and 90,000 were killed following a split in the governing People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA).
BBC Africa Live 27 May 2021. 12:31
26 May 2021
“A woman who needs to borrow a calabash cannot count on going early to the stream”
BBC Africa Live 26 May 2021. Our proverb of the day. An Igbo proverb sent by Chukwuemeka Ekere and Thank-God Eboh, both from Nigeria.
Burundi: Four grenades have exploded in the country’s former capital Bujumbura, the first one in a bus park. Several people were killed and dozens wounded. “Following the fallout of a failed coup attempt in 2015, Burundi has continued to grapple with sporadic incidents of violence, most of which are ethnic-based or carried out by the youth wing of the ruling party, Imbonerakure.”
BBC Africa Live 26 May 2021. 11:36
South Africa: Jacob Zuma has pleaded not guilty to 16 counts of racketeering, corruption, fraud, tax evasion and money laundering in relation to events that are more than 20 years old. The former president continues to insist that he is the victim of a huge conspiracy.
BBC Africa Live 26 May 2021. 9:40
Somalia: According to the Somali government, federal and regional leaders have made progress in election talks in Mogadishu and should be ready to sign an agreement tomorrow, Thursday.
BBC Africa Live 26 May 2021. 6:13
Nigeria: At least four police officers were killed in a gunmen attack in Enugu State in the country’s south-east. “So far around 20 police officers have been killed in recent weeks in a wave of violence sweeping across the south-eastern region.” On Tuesday, attacks had been reported from three different states.
BBC Africa Live 26 May 2021. 5:46
Nigeria: According to Folahanmi Aina, an expert on Boko Haram and security in the Lake Chad Basin region, the possible death of Abubakar Shekau at the hands of the Islamic State West Africa Province could be the consequence of that Boko Hara! breakaway faction’s increasing dominance and its conquest of the strategically important Sambisa forest. The Islamic State West Africa Province has in 2016 paid allegiance to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). With Islamic State West Africa Province consolidating its dominance in the region, this could imply a more consolidated ISIS presence. “Since ISIS Core was dismantled in the Middle East, its remnants have sought a new haven.” Funding and more sophisticated weaponry could be coming for Islamic State West Africa Province and the war against the Nigerian state could get tougher.
https://theconversation.com/abubakar-shekau-battle-for-supremacy-among-islamist-groups-bodes-ill-for-the-sahel-161456