News Briefs 2 June 2023 –
Southern Africa Focus:
Mozambique
Russia’s Lavrov rejects US accusations against South Africa
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, where he arrived on Wednesday for official talks.
Speaking about military cooperation with Mozambique, Lavrov said that Russia is ready to supply military products to the country.
“Building on the good experience we already have here, we will be ready to supply the military products required by our Mozambican friends, including those to ensure defence capability and enhance anti-terrorist potential”, said Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov.
During the visit, Lavrov rejected US accusations against South Africa regarding the supply of weapons to Russia.
“If something seemed (out of place) to the American or any other ambassador overseas, then actually he should mind his own business and not get involved in other people’s affairs. As for the topic of arms supplies, which, as I understand it, you are interested in, I will emphasize once again: we never violate international norms, but our Western colleagues violate them by declaring neutrality regarding the events in Ukraine and pumping this country with a huge number of modern long-range and generally unsafe weapons, including for those who use them, I mean shells with depleted uranium, for example”, added the Russian chief diplomat.
Africa News 31 May 2023
Mozambique cholera: Why outbreaks have sparked unrest
False claims about the spread of a cholera outbreak in northern Mozambique have led to violent protests and deaths, according to health officials.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has highlighted instances in which misinformation about the disease has contributed to the unrest.
Through social media posts and local media reports, we’ve looked into some of these protests to understand what was behind the trouble.
In one recent incident, a man was beaten to death in the town of Gurue in Zambezia province by people who falsely accused him of spreading cholera, according to health officials.
The event was captured in a graphic video seen by the BBC that has been circulating on social messaging apps and shows the body of a man with a large crowd looking on.
BBC News 28 May 2023
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe to hold general elections on August 23
Zimbabwe will hold its presidential and parliamentary elections on 23 August, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said on Wednesday, as the country continues to battle a raging economic crisis.
Mnangagwa, elected president in 2018, will be seeking a second term in office. His election followed a military coup that deposed Robert Mugabe in 2017.
The 80-year-old’s main rival is lawyer and pastor Nelson Chamisa, 45, who leads the newly formed Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC).
The election proclamation comes amid parliamentary debates over electoral reforms.
Chamisa’s party is demanding access to and an audit of the voters’ roll, as well as public media access which it says will help level the playing field ahead of the polls.
Political commentators say failure to implement electoral reforms may set Zimbabwe up for another disputed election.
News24 31 May 2023
Eswatini
Eswatini convicts jailed pro-democracy lawmakers
Two pro-democracy lawmakers in Eswatini were found guilty of murder and “terrorism” on Thursday in a trial stemming from a wave of protests that hit Africa’s last absolute monarchy in 2021.
Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube were convicted by a high court in Mbabane almost two years after the pair were arrested on accusations of having incited unrest.
“I find (the) accused… guilty of all charges preferred against them,” Judge Mumcy Dlamini told the court.
The two, who had pleaded innocent to all counts, face up to 20 years in jail. A sentencing hearing is”a date to be determined,” said Dlamini.
Mabuza and Dube were held in July 2021 during protests calling for democratic reforms. The demonstrations were violently quashed by security forces, with dozens killed.
News24 1 June 2023
US embassy not happy with guilty verdict of Eswatini lawmakers
The US embassy in Eswatini has voiced its disappointment and concern after pro-democracy lawmakers were found guilty of murder and terrorism charges.
Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube were convicted by a high court in Mbabane on Thursday, almost two years after their arrest.
The lawmakers were detained on July 25 2021 on allegations of inciting unrest during protests advocating for political reforms.
The demonstrations, calling for changes to Eswatini’s complex non-party electoral system, were reportedly met with violence from security forces, resulting in the loss of lives.
Following the court’s guilty verdict, the US embassy released a statement drawing attention to the prolonged detention of the two former members of parliament.
The embassy emphasized that the lawmaker’s continued imprisonment hindered their ability to fulfill their roles and represent the concerns of their constituents.
In light of this, the embassy called upon government of Eswatini to uphold transparency in judicial proceedings, protect the integrity of the rule of law, and safeguard human rights.
Sunday World 2 June 2023
Democratic Republic of Congo
East African leaders agree to extend troop deployment in eastern DR Congo
East Africa’s leaders have agreed to extend until September the mandate of a regional military force deployed to quell violence in the strife-torn east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The seven-nation East African Community (EAC) began the deployment last November with Kenyan soldiers arriving in the volatile region, followed this year by Burundian, Ugandan and South Sudanese contingents.
Its future had been in question, with DR Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi this month accusing troops of “cohabitation” with rebels and hinting the regional force could leave by the end of June.
But at a summit in Burundi on Wednesday, the EAC agreed to keep their troops on the ground until September 8 to consolidate “gains” made.
“The summit reiterated its call to all parties to de-escalate tensions and to use established regional, continental, international mechanisms to resolve any disputes in the implementation of peace in eastern DRC,” said a statement.
France24 1 June 2023
Shaky M23 ceasefire stokes fears of further conflict in eastern DR Congo
Rebels from the M23 armed group have pulled back from some of the areas they occupied in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo as part of a regional ceasefire initiative supposed to halt a conflict that has displaced nearly a million people.
But while fighting has eased in recent months, the rebels remain active and the government is reluctant to negotiate with them, a position that risks entrenching the conflict, even as it stirs regional tension and diverts focus from other insurgencies.
Congolese analysts and residents who spoke to The New Humanitarian said they fear a new round of fighting may soon break out. Tensions rose earlier this week as the army accused the M23 of preparing an attack on Goma, the largest city in the east.
“The ceasefire risks failing because we have belligerents who are not [acting] in good faith,” said Stewart Muhindo, a researcher and activist affiliated with LUCHA, a leading civil society group in DRC.
The New Humanitarian 31 May 2023
East Africa and the Horn
Somalia
Shabaab storms army base in central Somalia
Just days after Shabaab, al Qaeda’s branch in East Africa, overran a Ugandan military base in southern Somalia, its men again raided another major outpost in central Somalia. Targeting a Somali special forces base in the central Galguduud Region, the assault targeted newly deployed troops freshly trained in Eritrea.
On Tuesday, Shabaab launched a major suicide assault on the Somali military base in the town of Masagaway in Galguduud. The jihadists began the raid with at least one suicide car bomb before the much larger assault team stormed the base. However, exact details then vary on what exactly occurred next. According to the Somali government, the soldiers fought back, killing at least 30 Shabaab fighters before forcing the jihadis to withdraw.
Unsurprisingly, Shabaab has painted an entirely different picture. According to its media, it initially claimed to have killed at least 73 Somali soldiers while also capturing copious amounts of weapons, equipment, and vehicles. It has since raised its tally to more than 149 troops killed. Undercutting the Somali government’s claims, it also released photos that appear to confirm many elements of its story including that the attack was not easily repulsed.
Long War Journal 1 June 2023
Millions of Somalis uprooted due to conflicts and climate change
Amina Jamaa Hussein fires off a flurry of questions on the phone as she sits cross-legged on a plastic mat in a camp at Garowe, the capital of Somalia’s Puntland province.
“’Where are you now? Are you all right? Is the fighting still going on?” she asks, worried about her family in the city of Las Anod, capital of the Sool region in nearby Somaliland.
The camp is a collection of shacks made of tarpaulins and corrugated iron. As far as the eye can see there is not a single patch of green. A five-year drought has left this land scorched, and at the height of this rainy season, the clouds hanging low above the camp carry little promise of rain.
Together with four of her children and five grandchildren, Hussein abandoned her house and all her belongings and fled Las Anod. The family left after they awoke to terrifying sounds of shelling and gunfire in February as Somaliland’s army fought with local clan militia.
“We ran with only the clothes on our backs and left the house open. We didn’t even lock the door,” Amina says.
Aljazeera 31 May 2023
Central African Republic
Russian mercenaries exploit a war-torn African nation as they lead Putin’s fight in Ukraine
President Faustin-Archange Touadéra says he called in the Russians because he was stuck.
It was 2016, soon after his election, and rebels had overrun swaths of the resource-rich country, which is among the world’s poorest nations. Former colonial power France announced it would withdraw its soldiers; the backbone of a United Nations force aimed at quelling the country’s civil war.
And Touadéra’s army and militia didn’t have enough weapons to defeat fighters threatening the capital, Bangui, because the Central African Republic was under a U.N. arms embargo put in place after a previous rebel takeover.
So, the former mathematics professor turned to Moscow. While Russia received approval from the U.N. Security Council to deploy military trainers to assist the central African country’s government, Moscow sent in the infamous Wagner Group.
“I couldn’t sit idly by. I asked all my friends, including in the United States, including France,” Touadéra, 66, said during an exclusive interview with NBC News last week.
NBC News 1 June 2023
C.Africa president calls referendum on new constitution
President Faustin Archange Touadera of the Central African Republic said Tuesday that he would call a referendum on a new constitution that would allow him to seek a new term.
“I have decided… to submit this project for a new constitution to a referendum,” he said in an address to the nation posted on Facebook, without saying when the vote would take place. Touadera’s opponents have already accused him of seeking to extend his rule despite constitutional limits.
Touadera was elected in 2016 and was returned for a second term in 2020, despite widespread accusations of electoral flaws. In October, he removed the country’s top judge, Daniele Darlan, in what critics denounced as a “constitutional coup d’etat” after she opposed presidential decrees aimed at revising the constitution.
Currently a president can serve only two terms.
Africa News 31 May 2023
Sudan
US warns it will only mediate Sudan truce once the warring parties get ‘serious’
The United States said on Thursday it will only be ready to mediate a truce between Sudan’s warring parties when they get “serious”, after the army left negotiations and the latest ceasefire unravelled.
The army on Wednesday blasted bases of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) after pulling out of the truce talks in the Saudi city of Jeddah, accusing its rival of breaching the ceasefire meant to bring in aid.
The US said there had been “serious violations of the ceasefire by both sides”.
“Once the forces make clear by their actions that they are serious about complying with the ceasefire, the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are prepared to resume facilitation of the suspended discussions to find a negotiated solution to this conflict,” a State Department spokesperson said.
“These violations have led us as a facilitator of these talks to seriously question whether the parties are ready to take the actions needed to meet the obligations they have undertaken on behalf of the Sudanese people,” he said.
News24 1 June 2023
US imposes first sanctions over Sudan conflict
The United States has imposed the first sanctions related to the conflict in Sudan, warning that it will “hold accountable” all those undermining peace in the northeast African country.
Thursday’s sanctions targeted two firms associated with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and two others linked to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The White House also said it was imposing visa restrictions “against actors who are perpetuating the violence”, but did not identify them.
“Despite a ceasefire agreement, senseless violence has continued across the country – hindering the delivery of humanitarian assistance, and hurting those who need it most,” US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement.
“The scope and scale of the bloodshed in Khartoum and Darfur, in particular, is appalling.”
Aljazeera 1 June 2023
North Africa and the Sahara
Western Sahara
Algeria FM: Africa cannot turn page on colonialism except through independence of Western Sahara
Algerian Foreign Minister, Ahmed Attaf, stated on Tuesday that “Africa cannot completely turn the final page of its colonial history without enabling the Sahrawi people to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination.”
During his address commemorating Africa Day, which marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the Organisation of African Unity (currently the African Union), the Minister clarified, “Today, we celebrate our collective achievements in promoting peace, security and enhancing economic integration within the framework of activating the African Continental Free Trade Area, which is the focal point of the current African Union session.”
The Minister emphasised, “It is incumbent upon us, on this occasion, not to forget our sisters and brothers in the last African colony, specifically in Western Sahara, who await our support and solidarity to exercise their inalienable and non-negotiable right to self-determination.” According to him, this allows Africa to “completely turn the final page of its abhorrent colonial history, heinous occupation and shameful exploitation of its resources.”
Middle East Monitor 30 May 2023
Western Sahara Autonomy Proposal: 12 Month Assessment
The meeting between United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita of the Kingdom of Morocco on the 21st of March, 2023, confirmed the course of the US-Morocco partnership over the matter of Western Sahara. Western Sahara’s position as the UN’s most populated non-self-governed territory continues to degrade, as diplomatic capital collects behind Morocco’s planned reorganisation of the region as an autonomous part of Morocco. Support continues to grow for Morocco’s Western Sahara Autonomy Proposal plan.
Key Judgement 1. Within the next 12 months, Israel is likely to support Morocco’s Western Sahara Autonomy Proposal in the United Nations.
Key Judgement 2. It is unlikely that an armed Algerian-Moroccan conflict will break out over Western Sahara within the next 12 months.
Key Judgement 3. Leaders of the Polisario Front are unlikely to agree to meet with Moroccan leadership to discuss the Western Sahara Autonomy Proposal within the next 12 months.
Grey Dynamics 28 May 2023