News Briefs 7 July 2023
Southern Africa Focus
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe’s opposition says 8 held after campaign rally ban
Zimbabwe’s leading opposition said on Thursday that police arrested eight of its supporters after banning a campaign rally, in a move the party denounced as part of an escalating crackdown ahead of national elections.
The southern African country, where the ruling Zanu-PF party has been in power since 1980, is bracing for what is expected to be a tense vote on 23 August.
On Wednesday, police fired teargas and clashed with supporters of the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) in the southeastern town of Chiredzi, after the party was prevented from holding a campaign event. CCC’s spokeswoman Fadzayi Mahere told AFP that at least eight people were held.
“ZANU-PF can never win a free and fair election which is why they’re resorting to rally bans and abusing the police service to try and stop our campaign activity,” she said.
News24 6 July 2023
Zimbabwe presidential advisor Kuda Tagwirei unmoved by money laundering claims
Zimbabwean presidential advisor and businessman Kudakwashe Tagwirei is unmoved by an investigation unit’s exposé that he allegedly used fronts and fake invoices to buy nickel and gold mines with a combined value of R431 million in 2019.
Two US investigation units, The Sentry and Open Secrets, released a report titled “Fronts, Fakes, and Façades: How South African and Mauritian Enablers Helped Move Millions from Zimbabwe to Britain”.
In response to inquiries by News24, Tagwirei said: “I know that you already know that I don’t comment on such distractions.” In 2020, the US imposed sanctions on Tagwirei who they referred to as “a notoriously corrupt Zimbabwean businessman”.
The sanctions were for “materially assisting senior Zimbabwean government officials involved in public corruption”.
News24 6 July 2023
Eswatini
Ramaphosa arrives in eSwatini for SACU summit
President Cyril Ramaphosa has arrived in eSwatini for the Southern African Customs Union Summit.
He’s been received by eSwatini Prime Minister Cleopas Dlamini.
The eighth Heads of State and Government Summit will look at ways to strengthen ties in the region through trade and resource mobilisation.
SACU is the world’s oldest customs union and was created in 1910.
eNCA 29 June 2023
A new Eco-green City planned with the support of the African Development Bank’s UMDF
The African Development Bank’s Urban and Municipal Development Fund is partnering with the Eswatini Water and Agriculture Development Enterprise on a new urban planning project, closely linked with the development of a transformative agro-industrial hub which will boost economic activities and to attract tens of thousands of workers.
The Fund approved a grant of $400,000 to the “Eswatini New Eco-Green City Masterplan” on 8 June this year. The grant will support the planning of a new urban area in the Shiselweni region of the country, where population and economic activities are expected to grow quickly over the next few years.
The project includes the setting up of a special agro-processing zone, to be undertaken by the Eswatini Water and Agriculture Development Enterprise (ESWADE), as a public-private partnership. The project will generate approximately 100, 000 jobs for workers, creating the need for housing, health and education services for workers and their families.
African Development Bank 19 June 2023
Democratic Republic of Congo
DR Congo And South Africa Plan Security Pact
Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi said on Thursday that he was planning sign a security agreement with South Africa, as militias continue to occupy swathes of turbulent eastern Congo.
In a news conference with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, in the capital Kinshasa, Tshisekedi explained that the accord could take the form of a mutual-defence pact.
The Congolese president highlighted the mutual defence pact of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) as a potential model, without going into details.
“We’ll know more in the days or weeks to come,” Tshisekedi said.
EWN 6 July 2023
Ramaphosa visits DRC as Kinshasa seeks support against rebels
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday arrived in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for a two-day official visit where he will hold talks with his host, President Felix Tshisekedi.
The South African leader was expected to meet with Tshisekedi at the Palais de la Nation, the official Presidential residence in the capital Kinshasa where they were expected to hold a working lunch and discuss ongoing initiatives to improve relations.
Top on the agenda, officials said is security and trade, with the visit coming at a time Kinshasa is preparing for General Election amid security problems at home, in the east of the country.
The East African 6 July 2023
East Africa and the Horn
Somalia
Kenya to delay re-opening Somali border over “wave of attacks”
Kenya will delay re-opening its border with Somalia because of a “wave of attacks” it blames on al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab militants, interior minister Kithure Kindiki said on Wednesday.
In May the two governments agreed to reopen within 90 days several border posts including Mandera, Liboi, and Kiunga, which have been closed since 2011 when Kenya sent its forces into southern Somalia to help fight al Shabaab.
More than a dozen people have been killed along their shared border in the last month, part of what security analysts say are ongoing efforts by al Shabaab to pressure Kenya into withdrawing its troops from peacekeeping missions in Somalia.
“The government will delay the planned phased-out reopening of the Kenya-Somalia border points to facilitate comprehensive and conclusive handling of the recent wave of terror attacks and cross-border crime,” Kindiki wrote on Twitter.
Reuters 5 July 2023
Somali Official Says Drawdown of AU Force Hasty, Ill Conceived
As the African Union Transition in Somalia force, known as ATMIS, reduces troop numbers, a Somali official is warning the plan is ill-conceived and raises the risk of al-Shabab militants retaking areas they lost.
The deputy president of Jubaland, a region where Kenyan and Ethiopian troops operate, told VOA Somali that it will be “difficult” for Somali forces to secure areas being vacated by the AU troops.
“There is going to be a danger from there,” Mohamud Sayid Aden said Tuesday. “The enemy is going to get [an] advantage. The civilians who relied on the Somali and ATMIS forces will face revenge [from al-Shabab militants].”
The AU peacekeeping mission in Somalia has completed handing over six military bases to Somali forces last week. A seventh base was closed down.
Voice of America 4 July 2023
Central African Republic
Rwanda’s Growing Role in the Central African Republic
What’s new??Rwanda has become highly influential in the Central African Republic (CAR). The main provider of blue helmets for the UN mission in the country, Kigali has also dispatched soldiers under a bilateral agreement. It is helping strengthen CAR’s institutions, while securing mining concessions and land for agricultural projects.
Why does it matter??The CAR-Rwanda partnership has brought positive results but also risks. Central Africans support the presence of Rwandan troops but see Kigali’s business ventures as unfair competition. Rwanda could also wind up at odds with the Russian Wagner Group, CAR’s other major security partner.
What should be done??Both CAR and Rwanda would benefit from making the agreements underlying their partnership more transparent. Kigali should redouble efforts to revive the moribund peace process between CAR’s government and insurgencies. Bangui should seek to defuse tensions between Kigali and Wagner.
Crisis Group 7 July 2023
UN finds ‘credible evidence’ of sexual abuses by peacekeepers in Central African Republic
The United Nations will send home a unit of 60 Tanzanian peacekeepers over allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse in the Central African Republic, the UN announced on Friday. A preliminary investigation found “credible evidence” that eleven members of the unit were involved in sexual exploitation and abuse of four victims, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
Two of the alleged victims are children, according to UN figures. Investigators also identified a breakdown in commanders’ authority and management of staff, according to a press release by the UN’s mission in the country. The victims have received care from humanitarian groups working with the UN, according to their “medical, psychosocial and protection” needs, it said.
The UN has had a mission in the conflict-torn Central African Republic since 2014, where thousands of peacekeepers have been deployed.
CNN 7 July 2023
Sudan
Sudan war approaches its third month with no end in sight
Fierce battles break out in Sudan as the army tries to cut off militia supply lines. Many people remain cut off from essential humanitarian assistance due to the conflict. Sudan’s war is approaching its third month with no end in sight. See our coverage here.
Last week, the United Nations revised its earlier estimate of one million Sudanese refugees based on continuing violence. Over two million people are displaced within the country, and “refugees from Sudan have been going in every direction,” says Arne*.
Arne oversees unfolding Word’s translation work in the region. unfolding Word equips local church planters to do Bible translation in minority languages. More about that here.
“The church network in Chad is reaching out, trying to meet the needs of the refugees as they come in,” Arne says. Believers make Christ’s love tangible as they meet basic needs like food and shelter. “It is a nasty situation as [Sudanese people] consider this thing called Islam that they thought they [were] part of,” Arne explains.
Missionary Networks News 6 July 2023
Darfur tribes pledge allegiance to RSF in conflict-torn Sudan
A dozen Arab tribal leaders from Sudan’s western region of Darfur have pledged allegiance to paramilitaries fighting with the army — a move analysts warn could tip the scales in the months-long conflict.
The war between army chief Abdel Fattah al Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, has wreaked havoc on Darfur, where experts fear a widening ethnic divide could spell more violence.
In a video released on Monday, leaders from seven of South Darfur state’s main tribes urged their members to desert the army and fight instead for the rivalling RSF.
“This announcement will have a massive impact” on the conflict in Sudan, which has killed nearly 3,000 people, said veteran local journalist Abdelmoneim Madibo.
TRT World 6 July 2023
South Sudan
South Sudan’s Kiir to run in first-ever presidential election
President Salva Kiir says South Sudan’s long-delayed elections will happen in 2024 with him on the ballot for the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement party.
Kiir, who has led South Sudan since it became independent from Sudan in 2011, accepted the endorsement of the ruling party at a stadium event on Tuesday in Bahr el Ghazal. The election would be the first national vote ever held in South Sudan.
“I am deeply touched by your endorsement and your continued support to our historic party,” Kiir told tens of thousands of supporters at the Wau Stadium.
“As party members, let us work on the basis that there will be no extension of the transitional period and we have to go for the elections,” he said.
Aljazeera 5 July 2023
South Sudan president persuades SPLM-N al-Hliu to refrain from attacking Sudanese army
President Salva Kiir of South Sudan revealed on Tuesday that he has successfully persuaded the leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), Abdel Aziz Adam Al-Hilu, to cease recent attacks on the Sudanese army.
Taking advantage of the ongoing conflict between the Sudanese army and paramilitary forces in Khartoum and other parts of the country, the SPLM-N launched a series of attacks in the capital of South Kordofan, Kadougli, as well as in Diling and Kurmuk towns in the Blue Nile region.
During a meeting with governors and heads of the infantry division command in Wau and Wunyiik, Aweil, Kiir shared that he had been receiving daily reports about the fighting in the Two Areas and had received a message from Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of the Sovereign Council in Sudan, regarding the attacks.
Sudan Tribune 5 July 2023