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‘Nothing changes’: Four decades in power, Congo’s Nguesso seeks a new term | Elections News

Mar 11, 2026 News Desk

Brazzaville, Republic of Congo – On main roads and public squares across the Congolese capital, posters are up featuring the seven main candidates vying for president.

But at the Moukondo Market in Brazzaville’s fourth district – between lively discussions, people jostling for space and saleswomen trying to attract customers – many voters are less than enthusiastic about this weekend’s election.

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Fortune, a 27-year-old unemployed university graduate who did not want to give his last name, said he does not expect much to come from the polls.

“When you see how money is spent during the campaign, you wonder if those in power really care about the living conditions of the population,” he said.

While Congo is the third largest oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa, about half the country’s population of about six million people live below the poverty line.

A few metres away, Gilbert, 44, shared similar sentiments. The civil servant explained that his salary is not enough to cover all his household expenses.

“I do odd jobs to supplement my income. At my age, believing that these elections will change our daily lives would be almost suicidal,” he said.

“I’ve known practically the same leader all my life,” Gilbert added. “Some call it stability. Others say that nothing changes.”

It’s a sentiment shared by many in the country: That after 40 years under a single leader, political continuity has become the norm.

President Denis Sassou Nguesso, 82, who is once again standing in the election, first came to power in Congo in 1979. After a period of political transition in the early 1990s, he returned to the presidency in 1997 after a civil war and has ruled the country without interruption ever since.

Two major constitutional revisions have marked his political trajectory. The 2002 constitution and the one adopted in 2015 notably changed certain eligibility requirements, allowing the head of state to continue to run for office.

For Nguesso’s supporters, this political longevity is primarily attributed to the stability the country has managed to maintain in a region often marked by conflict.

Congo’s neighbours include the conflict-racked Central African Republic; Gabon, which witnessed a coup in 2023; and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the government is facing armed groups, most notably M23.

In official discourse, peace and institutional continuity are regularly presented as the main achievements of the Nguesso government.

However, several foreign observers painted a more nuanced picture of the political situation. The pro-democracy organisation Freedom House classified Congo as a “not free” country while the Ibrahim Index of African Governance highlighted limited progress in democratic participation and political accountability.

Sassou Nguesso
Supporters of Nguesso, who is running for re-election, take part in a campaign rally in Brazzaville before the March 15, 2026, presidential election [Roch Bouka/Reuters]

‘Asymmetrical political competition’

In the last presidential election in 2021, the official results gave Nguesso more than 88 percent of the votes cast with a reported voter turnout of 67 percent.

Nguesso is widely expected to win again when the country goes to the polls on Sunday.

Some analysts said the president’s political longevity can be partly explained by the country’s political structure.

Charles Abel Kombo, a Congolese economist and public policy observer, described the political system as a hybrid model.

“The Congolese political system combines formally pluralistic institutions – elections, political parties, parliament – with a high degree of centralisation of executive power,” he explained. “Nguesso’s political longevity can be explained in part by the structure of the institutional apparatus and the predominant role of the executive branch in the management of the state.”

According to him, the continuity of power is also linked to perceptions of stability in a country marked by the conflicts of the 1990s.

“In this historical context, this continuity can be seen as a factor of stability. But it is also accompanied by asymmetrical political competition.” In other words, political change remains theoretically possible but politically difficult.

For the economist, however, the issue goes beyond political change alone.

“The central challenge remains the ability of political actors to propose a credible plan for economic transformation. Countries dependent on natural resources need a strategic state capable of diversifying the economy and guiding productive transformation.”

Other observers took a more critical view of this political longevity.

For economic and political analyst Alphonse Ndongo, the stability often touted by the authorities must be examined with caution.

“There is indeed a stabilising regime because it has succeeded in maintaining peace. This is what is being sold today as the main recipe for success: There is no war, so the country is at peace. But this peace also allows those in power to remain there. We are in a kind of democratic illusion where elections often resemble a deal,” he said.

According to him, the current political architecture makes a change in leadership unlikely in the short term.

“It is difficult for the institutions responsible for managing elections to produce a result that differs from what everyone already expects. Everything is structured, from voter registration to the organisation of the ballot. Under these conditions, a surprising result seems unlikely,” he said.

Congo
A campaign billboard touts candidate Uphrem Dave Mafoula in Brazzaville [Roch Bouka/Reuters]

‘Political alternatives exist’

As the debate continues in Congolese society over whether the country’s political continuity is a mark of stability or a system that is hard to change, the opposition appears fragmented and weakened.

Some established parties are boycotting the vote while some prominent potential ⁠candidates are in prison or exile.

In June, the party of opposition leader Clement Mierassa was removed from the official list of recognised political parties.

For him, the conditions for a truly democratic election are not in place.

“We have always called for essential reforms: a truly independent national electoral commission, reliable voter rolls and a law regulating campaign spending,” he said. “Without these guarantees, it is difficult to talk about free and transparent elections.”

Other political actors, however, have chosen to run in the election.

Christ Antoine Wallembaud, spokesperson for candidate Destin Melaine Gavet, said participation remains a way of defending the political space.

“The electoral system has flaws, but that does not mean that those who participate in it condone fraud. Participating also serves as a reminder of the need for reform and shows that a political alternative exists.”

For many observers, access to the media is also a key issue during election campaigns.

“Access to public media remains a recurring problem for opposition candidates. The ruling party candidate always gets the lion’s share even though the High Council for Freedom of Communication has established a list of appearances on state media so that all candidates can present their programmes,” said a Congolese journalist who requested anonymity.

Faced with these difficulties, opposition candidates often turn to private media outlets to spread their messages.

Congolese authorities, for their part, insisted that civil liberties are fully guaranteed for all.

The prime minister and spokesperson for Nguesso, Anatole Collinet Makosso, recently said freedom of opinion and expression “is doing very well”.

“Freedom of expression is alive and well in Congo. The proof is the multitude of foreign journalists here to cover this election. No journalist has been arrested because of their work or prosecuted,” he said.

For the government, this international media presence is evidence of the transparency of the electoral process and the ability of the media to work freely in the country.

However, some press freedom organisations paint a different picture. In its World Press Freedom Index, Reporters Without Borders regularly highlights the difficulties faced by local journalists, particularly in terms of access to public information, political pressure and economic constraints.

Congo-Brazzaville
People shop at a market in the Republic of Congo days before the 2026 presidential election [Al Jazeera]

Adapting to circumstances

In the working-class neighbourhoods of Brazzaville, reactions to Sunday’s election range from resignation to pragmatism.

In Bacongo, a young man on the street explained that he has learned to adapt to circumstances.

“When the country goes left, we go left. When it goes right, we go right. Doing the opposite can be dangerous,” he said while refusing to give his name.

Beyond the political debate, economic concerns remain central.

The Congolese economy is heavily dependent on oil, which accounts for about 70 percent of its exports and nearly 40 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP), according to the World Bank. This dependence exposes the country to fluctuations in international energy prices.

Public debt has also reached high levels in recent years, exceeding 90 percent of the GDP before being partially restructured under agreements with international creditors.

In this context, several economists said the electoral stakes go beyond the single issue of political change.

Diversifying the economy, creating jobs for a predominantly young population and improving public services are major challenges in the years ahead.

But many Congolese aren’t hopeful that Sunday’s election will make a difference to their material reality because political and economic power will likely remain in the same hands.

“We all understand the system in this country,” Fortune said. “The [economic] crisis doesn’t affect everyone, nor does poverty.”

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South African soldiers deploy in Johannesburg to tackle crime and gangs | Crime News

Mar 11, 2026 News Desk

First troops touch down nearly a month after President Ramaphosa said organised crime threatened country’s democracy.

Published On 11 Mar 2026

Soldiers have been deployed on the streets of South Africa’s biggest city nearly a month after the president announced the army would work alongside the police to tackle high levels of crime.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said in his annual State of the Nation address on February 12 that organised crime was the “most immediate threat” to South Africa’s democracy and economic development.

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On Wednesday, troops touched down on the streets of Eldorado Park, a working class suburb in the country’s economic capital, Johannesburg, that has high levels of crime and gang violence.

Local media published pictures of armoured vehicles rolling into the area, and the Independent Online reported that local councillor Juwairiya Kaldine welcomed their arrival.

Soldiers were also seen in the Johannesburg suburb of Riverlea. Media reports said the soldiers were searching door-to-door.

South Africa’s national police service and the Department of Defence, which oversees the military, did not immediately provide details on the deployment. But the president said last month that the army will help the police service fight gang violence and illegal mining.

South African National Defence Force (SANDF) soldiers search a building during a patrol operation in Riverlea, near Johannesburg, on March 11, 2026.
South African soldiers search a building during a patrol operation in Riverlea, near Johannesburg [AFP]

Ramaphosa said in a notice to the speaker of parliament that 550 soldiers would be involved in an initial deployment in Gauteng province, which includes Johannesburg, to help combat crime and preserve law and order.

That deployment would last until the end of April, he said.

The government plans a wider deployment in five of its nine provinces, according to details submitted by police to parliament.

The deployment will focus on illegal mining in the Gauteng, North West and Free State provinces, and gang violence in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces.

Parts of the national deployment could last more than a year, police officials said.

South Africa has high rates of violent crime. Police reported 6,351 homicides from October to December 2025, an average of nearly 70 a day in a country of about 63 million people.

However, not all residents of crime-affected communities are pleased about the plan to deploy the army.

In the Cape Flats, an impoverished area of the Western Cape with high levels of gang violence, where troops will also likely deploy, people told Al Jazeera last month that the military will not help fix the root causes of the violence or the social ills that make it easy to recruit people into gangs.

“It’s a very dangerous thing to bring the army because there’s an impatience with the fact that the police are not doing their job,” Irvin Kinnes, an associate professor with the University of Cape Town’s Centre for Criminology, told Al Jazeera at the time, calling the move “political”.

“It’s to show that the political leaders have kind of heard the public. But the call for the army hasn’t come from the community. It’s come from politicians,” he said.

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Which countries have seen the highest petrol prices since the Iran war? | US-Israel war on Iran News

Mar 11, 2026 News Desk

Motorists around the globe are already feeling the impact of the United States and Israel’s war on Iran, with fuel prices sharply rising since the war began.

In the US, a gallon of regular petrol that averaged $2.94 in February now costs $3.58, marking a 20 percent increase, according to data from AAA Fuel Prices, a retail fuel price tracker from the American Automobile Association (AAA).

While each US state sets its own petrol prices, several states have surpassed $4 per gallon, with California exceeding $5 per gallon, the highest level it has been in more than two years.

Which countries have the sharpest petrol price increases?

According to data analysed from Global Petrol Prices, a data platform that tracks and publishes retail energy prices across approximately 150 countries, at least 85 countries have reported increases in petrol prices following the initial attacks on Iran by the US and Israel on February 28. Some nations announce price changes only at the end of each month, so higher prices are expected for many others in April.

Vietnam recorded the highest petrol price increase of nearly 50 percent, rising from $0.75 per litre of 95-octane on February 23 to $1.13 on March 9. Laos follows with a 33 percent increase, then Cambodia at 19 percent, Australia at 18 percent, and the US at 17 percent.

The table below shows the countries that have increased petrol prices at the pumps.

Asian countries pay the biggest price

Asia is disproportionately dependent on the Strait of Hormuz for the delivery of its oil and gas, which has been effectively closed since the start of the war. The strait joins the Gulf – also referred to as the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Gulf – to the Gulf of Oman and is the only passage for the region’s oil producers to the open ocean.

INTERACTIVE - Strait of Hormuz - March 2, 2026-1772714221

Japan and South Korea are among the most vulnerable, importing 95 percent and 70 percent of their oil from the Gulf, respectively.

Both East Asian nations have enacted emergency measures to stabilise their energy markets. On March 8, Japan instructed its oil reserve sites to prepare for a potential release of strategic reserves. The next day, South Korea introduced a maximum price cap on petrol and diesel for the first time in 30 years.

In South Asia, the impact of the war is more severe than in East Asia because countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh have much thinner financial buffers and smaller strategic reserves.

In an attempt to conserve energy, Bangladesh‘s government has ordered all public and private universities to close immediately. In Pakistan, government offices will now operate a four-day workweek, while schools have closed, and a 50 percent work-from-home policy has been enacted to save fuel.

In Europe, the Group of Seven finance ministers convened an emergency meeting to discuss rising prices, with French President Emmanuel Macron raising the possibility of releasing 20-30 percent of emergency strategic reserves to ease the pressure on consumers.

How high oil costs drive up the price of food

Oil prices and food prices move in lockstep, with energy prices affecting every stage of the food supply chain, from the fertilisers used in the fields to the trucks that carry food from field to supermarket shelf.

Rising oil prices also directly affect shipping and the cost of transport.

“The lifeblood of the global economy is transport,” economist David McWilliams told Al Jazeera. “It’s getting stuff from A to B – it’s a logistics problem, a supply chain problem, and ultimately transportation is the energy of the global economy.”

Fears of stagflation – increasing inflation and rising unemployment, which major oil shocks have historically summoned – are rising. Economists point to the crises of 1973, 1978 and 2008 as evidence that every significant spike in oil prices has been followed, in some form, by global recession.

In lower-income countries, where populations spend a far greater share of their income on food and import large quantities of grain and fertiliser, rising oil prices could rapidly translate into food shortages.

Interactive_Cost_OilPrices_Food-1773140062

What products are made from oil and gas?

Oil and gas are used for far more than just fuel. They are raw materials for thousands of everyday products.

Plastics, including water bottles, food packaging, phone casings and medical syringes, are all derived from crude oil.

Crude oil is also the hidden ingredient in synthetic fabrics such as polyester, nylon and acrylic, which are used to make everything from sportswear to carpets. It also underpins the cosmetics industry, as it is used to make products such as petroleum jelly (Vaseline), lipsticks and concealers.

Household items also rely on oil-based ingredients, with laundry detergents, dishwashing liquids, and paints all derived from petroleum products.

The global food supply is essentially built on natural gas in the form of fertilisers, used to enhance crop yields and ensure that food production can meet demand.

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ICC rejects bias claims from stranded South Africa, West Indies cricketers | ICC Men’s T20 World Cup News

Mar 11, 2026 News Desk

Frustrated players say they were left in the dark for days over their travel while England flew out within two days.

Published On 11 Mar 2026

Cricket’s governing body has rejected suggestions of unequal treatment after the West Indies and South Africa squads were stranded in India for more than a week following their exit from the T20 World Cup, while England flew out in less than two days.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has been accused of giving preferential treatment to one team over the other two amid the travel chaos resulting from airspace closures and rerouted flights because of the war in the Middle East.

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However, the ICC said on Wednesday it “rejects any suggestion that these decisions have been driven by anything other than safety, feasibility and welfare”.

“We understand that players, coaches, support staff and their families who have completed their ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 campaigns are anxious to return home,” it said in a statement.

Cricket West Indies said on Tuesday its squad had waited nine days for a charter flight that was “repeatedly delayed”, calling the uncertainty “increasingly distressing”.

West Indies ‌players were leaving India on commercial flights in batches 10 days after their scheduled departure, which led to frustrated players airing their thoughts in social media posts.

The ICC said nine West Indies players and staff members were already travelling to the Caribbean, with the remaining 16 booked on flights departing India within 24 hours.

Indian media reported that a charter flight for the West Indies and South ⁠Africa Twenty20 World Cup teams scheduled to fly to Johannesburg before continuing on to Antigua was cancelled earlier on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, South Africa, who have been stranded in ⁠India since March 4, will begin to fly home on Wednesday, with the entire contingent ⁠departing in the next 36 hours, the ICC said.

England flew home ‌less than two days after being beaten in the semifinals, prompting criticism of the ICC from the South African and West Indian camps.

Darren Sammy, head coach of West Indies, began venting his frustration on social media on the fifth day since his team’s exit from the T20 World Cup.

“I just wanna go home,” he wrote on X, followed by another tweet requesting an update after being left in the dark for five days.

Three days after South Africa were knocked out, in the first semifinal, their players Quinton De Kock and David Miller said the team had heard nothing from the ICC regarding their departure while England, who were eliminated a day later in the second semifinal had already left.

“England are leaving before us somehow?! Strange how different teams have more pull than others,” De Kock wrote in an Instagram story.

Miller, commenting on a post announcing England’s departure, said: “It doesn’t take the ICC long to organise England charter. WI have been waiting for 7 days for a charter and SA coming on 4 days now. And yet we still wait.”

The ICC said the criticism was “incorrect” and that there was no comparison between arrangements for South Africa and the West Indies and those made for England, “which arose from separate circumstances, routing options and different travel conditions”.

“Throughout this period, the ICC’s overriding ⁠priority has been the safety and welfare of everyone affected,” the sport’s global governing body said.

“We will not move people until we are satisfied that the travel ‌solution in place is safe, and that commitment will not change.”

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MONEY

Sustainable Finance Awards 2026: Africa

Mar 10, 2026 Finance Desk



Sustainable Finance Awards 2026: Africa | Global Finance Magazine




























Home Awards Award Winners Sustainable Finance Awards 2026: Africa

Banks in Africa — including Absa, RMB, Nedbank, KCB, and Standard Bank — are driving critical SDG-focused projects.

Even though Africa is home to some of the world’s fastest-growing economies, the continent faces a funding gap as the 2030 target approaches to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations and tailored to the African Union’s Agenda 2063.

The SDGs aim to improve living standards for the African population by addressing issues such as hunger, education, clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy, inequality, and infrastructure.

While scrutiny of sustainability has increased, the African sustainable-finance market has continued to grow over the past two years. Debt volumes have been rising, for example, reaching a record of almost $13 billion in 2024, according to S&P Global.

However, the volume of sustainable bonds issued is less than 1% of the global total, which is insufficient to address Africa’s infrastructure and development needs. To meet these needs, Africa would need to close a funding gap between $670 billion and $762 billion per year by 2030, according to the UN Economic Commission for Africa and the African Development Bank, with the majority of the gap concentrated in the continent’s less developed countries.

This equates to a need for about $1.3 trillion in funding per year to fully achieve Africa’s SDGs. Despite these challenges, there have been significant advances in Africa as a direct result of efforts by African banks. Most importantly, this work has facilitated dramatic improvements in health outcomes over the past decade that are well above progress made elsewhere in the world.

Kenya Commercial Bank

Best Bank for Sustaining Communities

Sustainability is the Kenya Commercial Bank’s foundation for inclusive growth and economic resilience, and the bank’s success directly influences the health of the communities in which it operates. Through the KCB Foundation,

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the bank invests in education, climate adaptation, and inclusion. The foundation’s 2Jiajiri program has created almost 61,000 jobs and provided support through vocational training and financial access to about 37,000 businesses. A collaboration with the Mastercard Foundation expanded access to finance and training to entrepreneurs.

KCB also prioritizes community investment projects for water security, education, sustainable agriculture, and inclusion for vulnerable groups. These projects include five community boreholes in Marsabit, Kenya, that provide water to about 27,000 households and 95,000 livestock animals; scholarships that end poverty for families; financing and equipment for about 3,400 livestock farmers and 15 producer groups; and cash-transfer programs for 22,000 refugees.

Absa

Best Bank for Sustainable Finance

Best Impact Investing Solution

Best Bank for Sustainable Infrastructure/Project Finance

Best Bank for Green Bonds

Absa is committed to building a sustainable future in Africa by financing projects that drive positive change, support the continent’s transition to clean energy, and nurture equitable, resilient, and future-focused communities. The bank is working to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. To work toward this goal, Absa has facilitated and arranged over 29.1 billion South African rands ($1.8 billion) in sustainable-finance transactions in 2025.

The bank contributed 1.6 billion rand as part of a larger 3.8 billion rand debt-financing package to support power producer Red Rocket’s 150-megawatt (MW) wind project. The project will supply 100% renewable energy to Discovery Green, which in turn provides it to medium-and large-sized companies. The package will fund the project’s full life cycle, from design through construction to operations and maintenance.

Absa also contributed 50% of the 9.4 billion rand debt package for the Red Sands Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) through project-finance lending, hedging, guarantees, and agency and account bank services. Once operational, this landmark transaction under South Africa’s Battery Energy Storage Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme will be the largest standalone BESS in Africa. To reduce operational risk, the revenue model is based on availability and not dispatched energy. The project provides environmental and grid benefits through load shifting—energy is stored during the day and dispatched during peak periods—to create greater grid stability and capacity for additional renewable-energy projects.

Rand Merchant Bank

Sustainable Finance Deal of the Year (British International Investment Transition Finance Facility)

Best Bank for Social Bonds

Best Bank for Transition/Sustainability-Linked Loans

Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) has been actively tackling climate resilience and a just transition to a low-carbon world. To accomplish this, the bank incorporates climate factors into its capital allocation, risk appetite, portfolio monitoring, and reporting.

In 2025, the bank completed several landmark transactions, such as FirstRand Bank’s first social-bond issuance for female-owned businesses, totaling 2.5 billion rands. This bond directly addresses barriers to financial inclusion, economic participation, and job creation for women by providing capital to women entrepreneurs.

RMB also arranged for the refinancing of Mediclinic’s 9 billion rand sustainability-linked loan across four lenders in what is currently one of the largest syndicated sustainable-finance transactions in South Africa. Mediclinic operates private hospitals that provide multidisciplinary acute care in South Africa and Namibia.

The bank has also developed a new transition-finance asset class and associated framework for allocating funds to projects facilitating emissions reductions. RMB served as the transition-finance adviser to FirstRand in the 2.6 billion rand facility from British International Investment, the UK’s development finance institution and impact investor. This facility mobilized international capital for Africa’s climate goals by funding transition loans across South Africa and the broader continent to support the decarbonization of hard-to-abate sectors, such as industrials, energy, and cement. The facility also creates a blueprint for how private and development finance can work together to advance the energy transition in emerging markets.

Nedbank

Best Platform/Technology Facilitating Sustainable Finance

Best Bank for Sustainability Transparency

Nedbank is working toward having the entirety of its lending and investment portfolio support a net-zero carbon economy by 2050. The bank’s strategy supports clients and communities while focusing on scalable sustainable-development finance that advances economic decarbonization and inclusive growth.

The bank incorporates transparency into its energy policy so that stakeholders can better understand and monitor its progress. Nedbank tracks and reports its environmental impact, to include exposure to thermal coal, oil, gas, and power generation. Along with Nedbank’s energy policy and nature-position statement, the bank produces glide paths with a framework for its net-zero transition. Position statements on climate change and nature address related risks and opportunities and provide thought leadership on sustainability issues and financing.

Nedbank also leverages technology and analytical tools that provide integral insight into its sustainable financings. The bank’s Climate Risk Tool analyzes how various climate events affect financed properties. The bank captures data not native to its existing systems and uses these in combination with existing data to estimate and report financed emissions that align with accounting methodologies.

Nedbank’s Building Efficiency Scale captures water and energy efficiencies in buildings, and the inhouse EDGE certification tool democratizes green-building certifications to address the low number of green-certified buildings in South Africa.

Standard Bank

Best Bank for Sustainability Bonds

Best Bank for ESG-Related Loans

Standard Bank has made sustainability a strategic priority and uses an approach that maximizes the positive impact while successfully managing risk. The bank focuses on business growth and job creation, infrastructure development, climate mitigation and adaptation, and financial health and inclusion.

The bank served as sole arranger and sustainability coordinator for the Industrial Development Corporation’s inaugural 2 billion rand sustainable bond and 1.4 billion rand private placement. These bonds were listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange Sustainability Segment and are helping advance South Africa’s transition to a more inclusive, low-carbon economy. The bonds will fund projects in renewable energy; energy efficiency; sustainable water management; clean transport; socioeconomic advancement; and MSME financing. They will also support initiatives for grid decarbonization and the growth of independent power producers.

Standard Bank also delivered a 6.1 billion rand debt package to the NOA Group to design, construct, commission, and operate the 505 MW Khauta solar photovoltaic (PV) facility in South Africa. This landmark project includes plans to build a BESS and connect an existing substation to the province’s strong grid via overhead lines. In addition to reducing carbon emissions, this green project will create jobs during construction and operation.


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One ‘party state’: Guinea dissolves main opposition parties | Military News

Mar 8, 2026 News Desk

Decree strips parties of legal status and assets, as opposition leader calls on Guineans to resist

By AFP and The Associated Press

Published On 8 Mar 2026

Guinea’s government has dissolved 40 political parties, including the country’s three main opposition groups, in a move critics say marks the final step towards a one-party state under President Mamady Doumbouya.

The Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation issued the decree late on Friday, citing the parties’ failure to meet their legal obligations.

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Beyond stripping them of their legal status, the order froze their assets and banned the use of their names, logos and emblems, with a government-appointed curator assigned to oversee the transfer of their holdings.

The three most prominent parties dissolved are the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UFDG), the Rally of the Guinean People (RPG) – the party of ousted former President Alpha Condé – and the Union of Republican Forces (UFR).

All three had already been suspended last August, weeks before a constitutional referendum that cleared the way for Doumbouya to stand in December’s presidential election.

UFDG leader Cellou Dalein Diallo, speaking from exile, accused Doumbouya of dismantling democratic life to entrench his grip on power. In a video posted to Facebook on Sunday, he said the dissolution was part of a deliberate drive to build a “party-state” and urged supporters to “rise as one” against a government that had lasted “far too long”.

He said that dialogue and legal routes had been exhausted, while his party’s communications coordinator went further, describing the decree as “the final act of a true political farce” aimed at cementing single-party rule.

Ibrahima Diallo, a leader in the pro-democracy National Front for the Defence of the Constitution, said the move had “formalised a dictatorship” and warned that Guinea was sinking into “profound uncertainty”.

The crackdown is the latest in a sustained campaign against dissent under Doumbouya, who seized power in a 2021 coup before winning a presidential election in December, a vote from which all major opposition figures were barred.

Since taking power, his government has shut down media outlets, banned protests and arrested or driven into exile scores of opposition figures and civil society activists.

Several relatives of prominent dissidents have also been abducted, and two well-known pro-democracy activists have been missing since July 2024.

Wave of coups

A wave of coups has brought military leaders to power in Africa, across a belt stretching from the Atlantic through the Sahel region to the Red Sea since 2020, while an attempted coup in Benin failed in late 2025.

The development has led to what analysts have described as a “coup belt“.

Madagascar’s and Guinea-Bissau’s armies most recently removed civilian leaders in their respective countries from power in late 2025, underscoring growing discontent with elected governments.

Although often carried out with popular backing, the military takeovers have also seen civil liberties clawed back.

A 2025 study found that while military takeovers have declined globally, the risk of coups in Africa remains comparatively high.

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Thousands flee Akobo after South Sudan army issues forced evacuation order | Conflict News

Mar 8, 2026 News Desk

Thousands of civilians have fled an opposition stronghold in eastern South Sudan after the army ordered evacuations to clear the way for a military offensive, the latest sign that the country’s fragile peace is unravelling, as fears of a return to all-out civil war haunt the world’s youngest nation.

The town of Akobo, near the Ethiopian border, was almost completely emptied by Sunday after the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces issued an ultimatum on Friday demanding that civilians, aid workers and United Nations peacekeepers leave ahead of a planned assault.

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“The town is now almost empty,” said Nhial Lew, a local humanitarian official. “Women, children and the elderly have left and crossed into Ethiopia.” By Sunday evening, he could hear the conflict closing in. “We are hearing the sound of machine guns approaching,” he told the Associated Press news agency.

The army’s deadline was set to expire Monday afternoon.

The order extends a government counteroffensive, launched in January and dubbed Operation Enduring Peace, that has already displaced more than 280,000 people across Jonglei state since December, when opposition forces began seizing government positions.

The UN’s Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan warned of a possible “return to full-scale war” if the country’s leadership didn’t take the challenges it faces more seriously.

“Preventing further mass atrocity crimes, institutional collapse, and the destruction of South Sudan’s fragile transition requires urgent coordinated national, regional and international re-engagement,” the report said.

Akobo, which had been considered a relatively safe haven and sheltered more than 82,000 displaced people, is one of the last remaining strongholds of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition, or SPLM-IO, the armed movement loyal to South Sudan’s detained former vice president, Riek Machar.

Two UN flights evacuated most humanitarian staff on Sunday, though the International Committee of the Red Cross had not yet pulled its personnel from a surgical unit it runs at the local hospital, where wounded patients were still being treated.

“We are worried for our patients,” said Dual Diew, the county health director. “We tried to make a plan to take them to a safer location, but we don’t have enough fuel.”

The offensive comes amid a wider breakdown of the 2018 peace agreement that ended a civil war between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and those backing Machar, a conflict that killed an estimated 400,000 people and forced millions from their homes.

Machar has been under house arrest in the capital, Juba, since March 2025, facing charges of treason and murder that his supporters say are politically motivated.

His detention coincided with a sharp rise in armed opposition activity, and a UN inquiry has since found that South Sudan’s leaders have been “systematically dismantling” the accord.

Conflicts have taken place across the country among groups associated with the two factions, said Jan Pospisil, a South Sudan researcher who spoke to Al Jazeera.

Dozens killed in the north

On Sunday, at least 169 people were killed, among them 90 civilians, including women and children, when armed men stormed a village in Abiemnom county in the country’s north.

The local administrator blamed the attack on elements of the White Army, a militia historically allied to Machar, alongside SPLM-IO-affiliated forces. The group denied any involvement. More than 1,000 people sought shelter at a UN base in the area.

“Such violence places civilians at grave risk and must stop immediately,” said Anita Kiki Gbeho of the UN mission in South Sudan.

Aid organisations operating in the conflict zone have also been targeted, with Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials, MSF, saying on Monday that 26 of its staff remain unaccounted for, a month after a government air strike destroyed its hospital in the town of Lankien and a separate facility in Pieri was looted.

Staff who had been reached described “destruction, violence and extreme hardships”. It was the 10th attack on an MSF facility in 12 months.

“Medical workers must never be targets,” said Yashovardhan, the charity’s head of mission in South Sudan, who uses only one name.

Pospisil said the crisis had exposed the fragility of Kiir’s hold on power.

“The state is literally falling apart,” Pospisil said, referring to the convergence of conflict in the country and the elderly state of the president, whose condition has raised questions.

Pospisil added that the outcome of Machar’s ongoing trial would likely shape what comes next.

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TOP NEWS

Nigeria: ‘Renewed Hope’ or ‘Hopelessness’? | Mehdi Hasan and Daniel Bwala | TV Shows

Mar 6, 2026 News Desk

Nigeria’s Bola Tinubu was elected on promises to tackle the nation’s widespread violence and address two of its root causes: Poverty and corruption. But with the country going to the polls next year, has he delivered on his “Renewed Hope” agenda?

Mehdi Hasan goes head-to-head with Daniel Bwala, Tinubu’s once staunch critic-turned-Special Adviser on Media and Policy Communications, on the administration’s record in office and where he stands on his past accusations against his current boss.

Joining the discussion are:
Ayisha Osori – Director, Open Society Foundations Ideas/Workshop Lab
Aanu Adeoye – Journalist, Financial Times
Tunde Doherty – UK chairman, All Progressives Congress

Published On 6 Mar 2026

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SPORT

Lewis Hamilton wants grand prix in Africa before retiring

Mar 5, 2026 Sports Desk

Before the first race of the season in Australia the weekend, Hamilton said he has “rediscovered” himself after a difficult first season at Ferrari last year.

Amid a series of poor performances in 2025, Hamilton made a series of negative comments about his own performances, including that he was “useless” and was “not looking forward” .

He said he spent the winter cultivating a “positive mental attitude”.

“The break was really positive,” he said. “It was my surroundings. It was the people that I was with. It’s not my first rodeo. So it’s understanding how to flip things. And it’s not that easy to do each time.

“But I always talk about cultivating a positive mental attitude. And that’s what I focus on the winter doing.

“A lot of it came from training. Training hard on Christmas Day. Also knowing that I find it hard.

“I believe in myself that I’ve put more work in than anyone around me. And I believe in myself. Rediscovering myself was really a big part of it as well.

“As I said in one of my [Instagram] posts, I kind of lost sight for a second of who I was. And that person’s gone. You won’t see that person again.”

Hamilton said he felt more settled with Ferrari after a season’s experience of the “very different culture” at the team from what he knew at Mercedes and McLaren.

“It’s massively different to the first year,” he said. “And it’s a much nicer feeling coming, having spent a year with the team, understanding the culture, understanding ways, finding ways of working together.

“We’re in a good place now together as a team. And I feel very gelled with the team today. I’m much happier.”

Ferrari failed to win a race in 2025 but are optimistic they start this season in a more competitive position as F1 introduces its biggest regulation change in history.

Hamilton said: “We’re leaving behind the bad and taking the head, moving forward with the good. We’re sharp, prepared and we know what we need to do.

“But we also know there are massive challenges for all of us with the new rules and regulations.”

Team-mate Charles Leclerc said: I prefer to be in a position where we have to calm the expectations down rather than having to manage a lot of negativity around the team. That’s always a bit of a better situation to be in.

“But in both ways I don’t think that this is something that needs to change our own mood inside the team.”

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TOP NEWS

New Zealand annihilate South Africa to reach T20 World Cup final | ICC Men’s T20 World Cup News

Mar 4, 2026 News Desk

Finn Allen hits fastest century at a T20 World Cup as New Zealand crush South Africa by nine wickets to reach final.

Published On 4 Mar 2026

New ⁠Zealand stormed into the Twenty20 World Cup final ⁠with a nine-wicket demolition of South Africa in ⁠the first semifinal at the Eden Gardens.

Put into bat, South Africa recovered ‌from a precarious 77-5 to post a competitive 169-8 after Marco Jansen led their recovery with a belligerent 55 not ⁠out.

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Finn Allen smashed an ⁠unbeaten 100 off 33 balls, however, and shared a 117-run ⁠opening stand with Tim Seifert (58) as ⁠New Zealand romped ⁠to their target in only 12.5 overs.

Allen’s achievement was the fastest century scored at a T20 World Cup.

“We wanted to start well and put them on the back foot early,” Allen said. “It is easy for me when Tim [Seifert] is going like that. The way he batted got us off to an absolute flyer.

“It is easy in semifinals to stay up for the fight and with Tim [Seifert] we keep each other in it, and we enjoy it out there together.”

Earlier Jansen’s fifty came in response to Kiwis spinners Rachin Ravindra and Cole McConchie took two wickets each before Tristan Stubbs and Jansen put on 73 to rescue the innings at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens.

Stubbs (29) and Jansen, who hit two fours and five sixes in his 30-ball knock, helped set New Zealand a target of 170 to reach the final.

India successfully chased 196 against the West Indies on Sunday on the same ground.

South Africa were the only unbeaten team in the tournament, while New Zealand had edged into the semifinals on net run-rate.

McConchie struck first in the second over with his off-spin to send back Quinton De Kock for 10 and Ryan Rickelton next ball, but Dewald Brevis avoided the hat-trick.

Aiden Markram was reprieved on three when Ravindra dropped him at midwicket off pace bowler Lockie Ferguson.

Left-arm spinner Ravindra made amends when he had the South Africa captain caught in the deep by Daryl Mitchell for 18.

David Miller was dropped on three by Glenn Phillips but fell for six to Ravindra five balls later, with Mitchell again taking the catch at long-on.

South Africa had lost half their side in 10.2 overs when Jimmy Neesham cut short Brevis’s knock on 34.

Ferguson bowled Stubbs but Jansen hit him for six to reach his fifty.

Pace bowler Matt Henry, who arrived back only on Tuesday night after going home for the birth of his child, took 2-34.

The bowling figures for South Africa will be ones to quickly forget, as the figures to focus on – and the moment to remember – belonged to Allen.

“You take the positives from this game, celebrate little moments of success,” Allen added “Then we have a final to play on Sunday and we look forward to that.”

Defending champions India take on ‌twice champions England in the second semi-final in Mumbai ‌on ‌Thursday, ahead of Sunday’s final.

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TRAVEL

UK man, 55, killed in paragliding accident in South Africa

Mar 4, 2026 Travel Desk

Laurence’s partner had been due to join him for a holiday, but instead she flew out to retrieve his body

Neil Shaw Assistant Editor (Money and Lifestyle)

14:05, 04 Mar 2026

The mother of a UK paraglider who died in a devastating accident in South Africa has paid tribute to her much-loved son and said the thought of him flying free brings his family comfort. Laurence Higham, 55, crashed in the mountains near Porterville in the Western Cape on the last day of an advanced paragliding event

A fellow paraglider scaled a high mountain ridge, clambering through rocks, thorns and thickets to find him. A rescue helicopter also arrived but it was too late. Laurence’s partner Victoria Turner had been due to join him for a holiday, but instead she flew out to retrieve his body.

His mother Lesley said: “Laurence was our light and inspiration. He was a highly experienced paraglider pilot and always very well prepared. His adventures and flying trips were planned meticulously. He wanted to develop and challenge himself. He was a pioneer.

“He got the most out of life in every way. Everything was an adventure. That is what I will take from his life. Our enduring desire is for him to ‘fly free’ without earthly constraints.”

Laurence spent most of his childhood in Stortford, Hertfordshire, and read business studies at Middlesex University before attending the University of California. When he returned to the UK he settled in Muswell Hill, north London.

His parents had run a travel company for schools and this inspired him to set up his own successful business, Varsity Travel Ltd, which ran European courses in languages, history and art.

Fluent in French, Spanish and Italian, he enjoyed history and philosophy. He was also a cook who delighted in creating feasts for friends and family, inspired by his travels.

When the Covid-19 pandemic began, he decided that the time was right to move out of London and return home to Stortford.

He started a new phase of life with partner Victoria and divided his time between his home and Victoria’s house in Norfolk.

Lesley said: “Laurence was very funny. He lit up any room. He was incredibly entertaining, but I knew of a side that was very contemplative, studious and curious about the world around him. He was very well read.”

Laurence and his brother Richard, four years his junior, were inseparable and Lesley said the tragedy had left her younger son absolutely devastated. “I told him to take Laurence’s courage and his sense of adventure to strengthen his heart, not break it,” Lesley said.

She added he was a “hugely fun, devoted and inspiring” uncle to his brother’s children Deen and Katherine. Laurence, a previously fearsome squash player, was a long-term member of Bishop’s Stortford Lawn Tennis Club.

Manager Natalie Dwyer said: “Laurence was a fantastic club member and will be remembered fondly by all who had the pleasure of meeting and playing with him. He would light up the court with his positive attitude and gregarious nature. Win or lose, Laurence was always smiling and showed a love for the sport. He will be sadly missed by everyone at the club.”

Laurence’s family and friends said goodbye at a funeral service at St Michael’s Church, in Broome, Norfolk, last week, which celebrated his thirst for adventure and how he lived for the joy of exploring a beautiful world. Lesley said the family was deeply grateful for the wonderful and inspiring life of their darling boy, adding: “Fly free, beloved Laurence.”

They have asked for donations to the RSPCA in his memory, which can be made by visiting https://laurencehigham.muchloved.com/.

In South Africa an investigation into the circumstances of his death continues and an inquest is expected to take place in due course.

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TRAVEL

‘I drove in 35 African countries – there was only one I felt relieved to leave behind’

Mar 3, 2026 Travel Desk

YouTuber Dan Grec has travelled across five continents and 65 countries, including the legendary 19,000-mile Pan-American Highway from Alaska to Argentina and 35 countries in Africa

A globe-trotting YouTuber who abandoned his office job to pursue life on the road in 4×4 vehicles has identified an African nation he was relieved to leave behind in his “rear view mirror”. Dan Grec, an adventurer from Australia, chose to quit his job and chase his dream of experiencing “all the adventures that are possible out there,” journeying across five continents and 65 countries—including the iconic 19,000-mile Pan-American Highway from Alaska to Argentina.

He also explored 35 nations across Africa, an expedition that spanned three years as he drove around the entire coastline of the continent, where he created “thousands of unforgettable memories”.

Among the highlights were “hearing lions roar” whilst sitting outside his Jeep, being invited into people’s homes to share meals, observing a family of giraffes, and even “petting a cheetah”.

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It wasn’t entirely without challenges, though, as Dan also confessed there was one country where he “didn’t feel safe”.

Dan, who has also written a book about his travels, stated: “On all my travels to date, the only country I didn’t feel safe in and was happy to see in my rear view mirror was Ethiopia.

“At the time of my visit, it was a complicated place politically, and there was a lot of unrest and anger towards tourists because all the tourist money was going to tour guides from the big city, not the rural areas where the tourists were actually visiting.”

He clarified that he doesn’t want to give the country a “bad wrap”, though, and is eager to return to experience the nation properly, mentioning that he knows plenty of people who “love it”.

Dan said: “I know tons of people really love the country, so I feel bad giving it a bad wrap. I really want to go back sometime so I can properly enjoy it.”

A landlocked East African nation sharing borders with Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti and Eritrea in the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia is the continent’s oldest independent country.

A rugged and diverse nation regarded as the cradle of mankind, it is believed that Ethiopia’s history could stretch back to the earliest hominids. Its population speaks an impressive 82 languages, with more than 200 dialects.

Unfortunately, however, potential travellers need to be mindful of some possible dangers. The Foreign Office has issued travel warnings for parts of Ethiopia, advising against all travel to certain areas, and all but essential travel to others.

In its safety and security section, the Foreign Office warns that terrorists are “very likely” to attempt attacks in Ethiopia, stating that they could be indiscriminate and take place in “places visited by foreign nationals”.

It has also noted that tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea are high, with a possibility that the security situation in the north could deteriorate rapidly.

Other potential risks include civil unrest, arbitrary detentions (this has occurred with British nationals in a limited number of cases), mugging, theft near Bole International Airport, kidnapping in some areas, and landmines.



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TOP NEWS

T20 World Cup semifinal: Unbeaten South Africa ‘fresh’ for New Zealand | ICC Men’s T20 World Cup News

Mar 3, 2026 News Desk

South Africa captain Aiden Markram says his team’s win over New Zealand in the group phase will count for nothing in the T20 World Cup semifinal, which will be a “completely fresh start”.

The two teams clash at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens in the first semifinal on Wednesday, with both having never lifted a cricket World Cup in either the 20-over or 50-over formats.

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South Africa are the only unbeaten side in the last four, and are trying to rid themselves of a reputation for choking in the final stages at World Cups.

They have been the team to beat in this edition and got the better of New Zealand by seven wickets in a group game in Ahmedabad on February 15.

“We had a good run against them in the group stages, but both teams have played a lot of cricket since then,” Markram told reporters on Tuesday.

“It’s a completely fresh start [on Wednesday] and it being a semifinal, which is exciting as well.

“I don’t think it’s as straightforward as just being able to repeat that. We’ll try to bring our best game to the front again.”

South Africa suffered a heartbreaking defeat in the 2024 T20 World Cup final against India in Barbados, when they needed 30 off 30 balls with six wickets and lost by seven runs after a clatter of wickets.

The Proteas beat India and the West Indies in the Super Eight to have many marking them down as the favourites to lift the trophy.

“With regards to being favourites or not, that’s all different people’s opinions,” said Markram.

“Us as a team really just try to focus on putting good games of cricket together and playing that exciting brand that we’ve been trying to play for the last 18 months or so.”

Markram has led South Africa from the front with 268 runs, including three half-centuries and a top score of 86 not out in seven matches.

He holds an impressive captaincy record of 15 wins in 16 T20 World Cup matches, with the only defeat in the 2024 final.

“The senior guys in the team, we lean on them a lot. They help guide you and lead you when you have a few doubts,” said Markram.

“I think because of that and a really strong group of players over the years, we’ve developed that. Fortunately, it reflects well, but it’s definitely a reflection on the group as a whole.”

New Zealand ‘back themselves’ as outsiders for T20 World Cup

Underdogs New Zealand, meanwhile, back themselves against anyone in “one-off games”, according to captain Mitchell Santner.

Santner admitted that Markram’s unbeaten South Africa were “very good”.

New Zealand have lost twice at this edition, also falling to England in the Super Eight, and squeaked into the semifinals on net run-rate ahead of Pakistan.

“Whether you want to call us the underdogs or not, I think for us it is everyone’s goal throughout the tournament to get to this stage,” Santner told reporters at Eden Gardens.

“We are here now, and we back ourselves on one-off games against most teams, being able to adapt as quick as we can to what’s in front of us.

“South Africa look like a very good outfit as they have shown.

“I guess they are in the same boat as us now, it is one game, and you are into the final,” said the left-arm spinner.

New Zealand will be playing their fourth semi-final in the last five T20 World Cups. They reached the final in 2021 but lost to Australia.

“It is probably two teams that have been in and around it for a long time. We know the heartbreak of South Africa two years ago,” Santner added.

“It is whoever turns up on the day, whoever sees the conditions the best.”

New Zealand are the only semifinalist to lose more than once in the tournament and defeated only two Test-playing nations on the way to the last four – Afghanistan and cohosts Sri Lanka.

“We haven’t played the perfect game throughout this tournament,” said Santner.

“That’s a good thing for us. If we can put it all together, it can put us in a pretty good position.

“There is no real hiding or secrets about what South Africa are going to bring.

“We know they are probably going to roll out the same team and a very good team.”

New Zealand fast bowler Matt Henry returned home for the birth of his second child after the defeat to England in Colombo on Friday.

Santner said the bowler would arrive back later Tuesday night.

“He’ll obviously have a little run around in the morning to see if he’s ready to go.”

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TOP NEWS

US sanctions Rwandan army and top officials for supporting M23 in DRC | Conflict News

Mar 3, 2026 News Desk

Kinshasa welcomed the sanctions while Kigali said the US move ‘unjustly’ targets Rwanda.

Published On 3 Mar 2026

The United States has imposed sanctions on Rwanda’s military and four of its top officials for “direct operational support” of the M23 rebel group that has seized large swaths of territory in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Rwanda has long rejected allegations from DRC, the United Nations and ⁠Western powers that it backs M23 and its affiliated Congo River Alliance (AFC), which captured key cities in the mineral-rich east, including the capitals of North and South Kivu provinces last year.

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The US Department of the Treasury said on Monday that the rebels’ gains would not have been possible without Rwandan backing.

The US State Department separately added that M23 continued to capture territory even late last year “in clear violation” of a US-mediated agreement.

US President Donald Trump in December brought together the leaders of Rwanda and the DRC to sign a peace deal, predicting a “great miracle”.

But just days afterwards, the State Department noted, the M23 captured the key Congolese city of Uvira.

The Treasury Department said those included in Monday’s sanctions are Vincent Nyakarundi, the Rwandan Defence Force (RDF) army chief of staff; Ruki Karusisi, a major-general; Mubarakh Muganga, chief of defence staff; and Stanislas Gashugi, special operations force commander.

The US said they were critical to M23’s gains.

“M23, a US- and UN-sanctioned entity, is responsible for horrific human rights abuses, including summary executions and violence against civilians, including women and children,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement.

“The continued backing from the RDF and its senior leadership has enabled M23 to capture DRC sovereign territory and continue these grave abuses,” he added.

‘A strong signal’

Rwandan government spokesperson Yolande Makolo said in a statement that the sanctions “unjustly” target Rwanda and “misrepresent the reality and distort the facts of the conflict” in eastern DRC.

She accused DRC of violating the peace agreement by allegedly conducting “indiscriminate” drone attacks and ground offensives.

Rwanda’s government also told the Reuters news agency that Kigali was “fully committed to disengagement of its forces in tandem with the DRC implementing their obligations” under US-led mediation, but accused DRC of failing to keep promises such as ending support for militias.

The Congolese government, however, said it welcomed the sanctions, describing them as “a strong signal in support of respect” for its territorial integrity and ⁠sovereignty.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement that the department “will use all tools at its disposal to ensure that the parties to the Washington Accords uphold their obligations”.

“We expect the immediate withdrawal of Rwanda Defence Force troops, weapons and equipment,” Bessent said.

Fighting continues in eastern DRC on several fronts, despite the accord signed between Kigali and Kinshasa in Washington, and a separate peace deal signed between M23 and the Congolese government in Qatar last year.

Though M23 later pulled out of Uvira under US pressure, the rebels still hold other key Congolese cities, including Goma and Bukavu. The US Treasury Department said on Monday that M23’s continued presence near Burundi’s border “carries the risk of escalating the conflict ‌into a broader regional war”.

M23 is the most prominent of about 100 armed factions vying for control in eastern DRC, near the border with Rwanda. The conflict has created one of the world’s most significant humanitarian crises, with more than seven million people displaced, according to the UN agency for refugees.

M23 are already under US sanctions since 2013.

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NEWS TODAY

Reflecting on Six Years of Conflict Reporting in Africa

Mar 2, 2026 News Desk

Every March 2, HumAngle Media marks its anniversary. This year, the award-winning newsroom turns six, a milestone for a publication that has dedicated itself to covering conflict, humanitarian crises, and development challenges across Africa.

This year’s anniversary is marked by reflection and knowledge-sharing activities. On Monday, award-winning Irish investigative journalist Sally Hayden attended HumAngle’s editorial meeting, where she met the newsroom team. During the session, she described herself as “a big follower of the work” and added, “I’m star-struck,” expressing admiration for the organisation’s impact and growth over the years.

Founded in March 2020 by Ahmad Salkida, HumAngle was born out of a determination to report on conflict and terrorism with nuance, depth, and humanity. Over the years, Ahmad’s work – and that of the newsroom he built – has shaped both local and global understanding of crises across Nigeria and the wider Lake Chad region.

“HumAngle stands as one of the most consequential media institutions covering conflict, displacement, extremism, governance failures, and community resilience in Nigeria and the Lake Chad Basin,” he said. 

Three people sitting in a room; a woman smiling and two men beside her, with one using a smartphone, and a laptop in the foreground.
Sally Hayden and Ahmad Salkida during HumAngle’s editorial meeting on Monday, March 2, in Abuja, Nigeria. Photo: Al’amin Umar/HumAngle.

From the outset, the newsroom set itself apart by centring people rather than power. Its investigations and analyses prioritise lived experiences, while holding authorities accountable. Through solutions journalism, HumAngle not only documents harm but also explores pathways to peacebuilding and conflict resolution across the continent. 

A HumAngle investigation on the social media interactions fuelling the ethno-religious violence crisis in Plateau State, North Central Nigeria, was recently shortlisted in the Outstanding Contribution to Peace Category of the 2025 Festisov Journalism Awards. 

For the editorial team, the past six years have been defined by innovation, resilience, impact, creativity, and challenge.

Mansir Muhammed, Senior Specialist in GIS, open-source intelligence, and emerging technology, describes the journey as deeply impactful. In 2023, he collaborated with HumAngle’s former investigations editor, Kunle Adebajo, on an investigation that uncovered mass graves in Nigeria’s North East.

“We had access to knowledgeable fixers who took our reporter close to these scenes. We then took pictures and collected supplementary information. We further probed the coordinates using open-source intelligence and geospatial tools, including satellite imagery and data, alongside contextual information,” Mansir wrote in a reporter’s diary. 

The investigation went on to win the Sigma Award for Outstanding Data Journalism in 2024, a recognition of the newsroom’s growing strength in digital and data-driven reporting.

“The award showcases the kind of work we have been doing with digital journalism and geographic information systems,” he said. He urged the public to look out for more innovations and impressive output from the newsroom. 

The Sigma Award is only one of several recognitions HumAngle investigations have received. Beyond accolades, however, the team points to something more important: measurable impact on communities whose stories might otherwise have gone unheard. 

Most recently, an investigation by Hauwa Shaffii Nuhu, the Managing Editor, won the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) Media Africa Award. The story explored the life of Modu Bakura, a 30-year-old resident of Bama, northeastern Nigeria, whose house was robbed in 2022, his wife killed, and his source of livelihood taken away. 

In its citation, the jury reflected on the story’s lasting power:

“There are some stories, even great stories, that one reads and immediately forgets. And then there are the stories that stay with you, that you think about days, weeks or even months later. Hauwa Shaffii Nuhu’s fascinating and heartbreaking profile of Modu Baraka – a trader in northeastern Nigeria whose life was unravelled by a robbery – is in the latter category.”

A woman in a green headscarf smiles while seated in front of a partially visible sign, with a blue circle in the background.
Hauwa Shaffii Nuhu leading the weekly editorial meeting on March 2. Photo: Al’amin Umar/HumAngle.

For Ibrahim Adeyemi, Investigations Editor, HumAngle’s defining feature is its editorial culture.

“We don’t tell basic stories. We ask critical questions which make our work distinct,” he said, adding that the most interesting thing about working with HumAngle is that every reporter is encouraged to think like an investigative journalist: to dig deeper, question assumptions, and follow evidence wherever it leads.

That philosophy has culminated in the development of the HumAngle Investigations Handbook, a practical guide designed to support reporters in producing rigorous, groundbreaking work.

Innovation at HumAngle extends beyond investigations.

“I’m proud to say that HumAngle is six. It’s been really fun watching HumAngle grow,” said Damilola Lawal, Creative and Innovation Manager at HumAngle. Working across animation, multimedia, motion graphics, and virtual reality, she has helped shape the newsroom’s visual and immersive storytelling. She describes her work as exciting. 

Looking ahead, she plans to push those boundaries even further. “I’m going to be diving into immersive storytelling and also look at creative and impressive ways that we can apply virtual reality,” she noted. 

HumAngle’s sixth anniversary will be marked with a week-long programme of activities, including editorial sessions and workshops with Sally Hayden. The sessions are aimed at strengthening capacity, refining processes, and scaling impact. 

In the years ahead, HumAngle plans to expand its investigative and storytelling capacity, strengthen digital security and newsroom resilience, and broaden its fellowships and capacity-building initiatives. Ahmad said that HumAngle remains committed to documenting Africa’s most complex conflicts, not only with rigour and courage, but with empathy, accountability, and an unwavering belief in journalism’s power to serve the public good.

HumAngle Media celebrated its sixth anniversary, marking its dedication to conflict, humanitarian, and developmental stories in Africa.

Founded in 2020 by Ahmad Salkida, the platform emphasizes people-centered reporting with solutions journalism, which holds authorities accountable while exploring peace pathways.

The newsroom, known for its investigative depth, was recently acknowledged with prestigious journalism awards. Notable works include investigations on ethno-religious violence and mass graves, showcasing their expertise in digital and data-driven reporting.

The anniversary aligns with reflection and innovation, with editorial meetings featuring Sally Hayden.

HumAngle plans to expand its investigative efforts, enhance digital security, and build on creative storytelling techniques like virtual reality, maintaining its mission to document Africa’s complex conflicts with empathy and rigor.

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NEWS TODAY

Nigerians mourn killing of Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei | Israel-Iran conflict

Mar 2, 2026 News Desk

NewsFeed

Members of Nigeria’s Shia Muslim community are mourning Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who was killed by a US-Israeli attack in Tehran. Demonstrators carried his portrait and waved Iranian flags while they dragged American and Israeli flags along the ground.

Published On 2 Mar 2026

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TRAVEL

African island with 30C February weather where beer costs as little as £2.50

Feb 28, 2026 Travel Desk

This stunning island off the east coast of Africais known for its budget-friendly prices and being the birthplace of Freddie Mercury.

Temperatures are beginning to rise across the UK, prompting many Brits to start planning their summer getaway, and jetting off to somewhere tropical doesn’t have to break the bank. One destination worth considering is Zanzibar Island, also called Unguja, a beautiful island situated off Africa’s eastern coast, just above Tanzania.

Zanzibar Island is renowned for its coastline, where the sand is remarkably fine, making it ideal for anyone simply seeking a sunny spot to unwind. Paje beach has earned recognition as one of the world’s finest beaches, thanks to its landscape featuring swaying palm trees, shimmering azure waters and a spectacular sunset vista across the Indian Ocean.

Yet Zanzibar offers far more than just beaches, particularly for wildlife enthusiasts, as it’s home to Jozani Forest, a national park sheltering creatures found nowhere else on Earth.

The red colobus monkey exists exclusively on Zanzibar and is recognised by its distinctive red-striped coat and vocal nature; you’ll frequently hear it communicating with fellow group members.

Visitors can encounter numerous wild species, including blue monkeys, bush babies, elephant shrews, and an array of exotic birdlife, reports the Express.

Zanzibar’s eastern shoreline is also famous for hosting a substantial population of vibrant starfish, and boat excursions are available for snorkelling alongside these remarkable marine animals. It’s an outstanding destination for snorkelling and scuba diving enthusiasts, as coral reefs line much of the island’s shores, teeming with parrotfish, clownfish, angel fish and occasionally even reef sharks.

Plenty of travellers also relish hiring transparent kayaks, allowing you to glide around the island whilst capturing photographs of the stunning azure waters.

Zanzibar has earned the moniker Spice Island, being amongst the world’s leading clove producers, whilst also cultivating cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, mace and black pepper.

Visitors can explore spice plantations to witness the island’s verdant crop gardens and join guided tours where you’ll sample fresh spices straight from the plants.

It’s equally worthwhile simply strolling through Stone Town, the capital, which holds UNESCO World Heritage status thanks to its distinctive Swahili architecture, shaped by Indian, Arab and European influences.

Stone Town is renowned for its bustling markets, narrow alleyways and exquisitely carved wooden doors adorning the structures. It’s also Freddie Mercury’s birthplace, and you can tour his childhood residence and discover a museum celebrating the legendary performer.

Countless visitors adore Zanzibar for its sweltering climate, and during this period temperatures typically hover around 30C, dropping to 25C after dark.

Nevertheless, many holidaymakers favour Zanzibar because it’s considered remarkably affordable, with TripAdvisor users reporting it’s perfectly feasible to dine out for just a few quid. One holidaymaker reported: “A local beer is about £2.50 in a nice bar. A glass of wine (always South African) is a bit more. Soft drinks are fairly cheap. The local ginger beer (Tangawizi) is worth experiencing.”

Another traveller commented: “My experience is that for dinner and drinks (a two course meal, a glass of wine and lots of bottled water) one would expect to pay around £10 per head in Zanzibar, including Stone Town.”

A third visitor noted: “In the very local style places we are eating: large bottles of water for $1.50, Sprite/Coke $2, juice $3, beer and Savannah cider $3 and a glass of wine $3-$4.”

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British tourist ‘wishes he knew reality’ before visiting popular holiday hotspot

Feb 28, 2026 Travel Desk

Ruben Chorlton-Owen, 24, from North Wales, visited the popular destination with his partner, Amber. He admitted he wishes he knew what it was really like before visiting the hotspot

09:08, 28 Feb 2026Updated 09:20, 28 Feb 2026

Holidays are meant to be one of life’s greatest pleasures, but sometimes the reality can be vastly different from expectations, with certain mishaps leaving travellers utterly floored. Ruben Chorlton-Owen, 24, recently jetted off to a sought-after travel destination hoping to bask in the sunshine and escape the daily grind.

Unfortunately, things didn’t pan out quite as smoothly as he’d anticipated, with several surprises along the way, and one particular episode left him genuinely shocked. Despite the country’s growing reputation as a trending holiday hotspot, he insists there are important warnings potential visitors should heed before booking their trip, describing the travel advice as absolutely essential.

Ruben, hailing from North Wales, recently recounted his experiences in detail. He’s far from the first traveller whose holiday has taken an unexpected turn either.

He explained: “I paid £170 each for a sunrise hot air balloon ride while in Morocco, and there’s one thing they don’t really tell you beforehand. The flight itself was smooth and the views were incredible, but the landing was something else entirely.

“The basket slammed into the ground three times before tipping over. A woman next to me hit her head, my partner did too, and I hurt my back slightly, although thankfully we were all ok.

“Afterwards, I found out that this type of hard landing can sometimes be considered ‘normal’, depending on wind conditions, but that’s not something clearly spelled out to tourists before they go up. In the air, it feels calm and controlled, so the impact comes as a real shock.”

However, this wasn’t the sole disappointment during his trip, as he revealed he encountered several other “issues” whilst there. The travel enthusiast warns that visitors really need to exercise caution when travelling to the destination.

“Seemingly friendly people approach tourists offering to ‘guide’ them near the markets ‘souk’ before demanding a lot of money,” he explained. “I fell for this myself.

“[There were] suggestions to use illegal taxi apps involving drivers who are not licensed nor vetted, and strict Moroccan currency rules which mean you can’t get dirhams in the UK before you travel, and to exchange back you must keep bank receipts etc. A lot have been caught out on this.”

For those unfamiliar with the country, Morocco is an incredibly popular African holiday destination. It attracted more than 17.4 million international tourists in 2024 alone, according to reports.

The North African nation is renowned for its easy accessibility from Europe, rich culture, varied landscapes and budget-friendly, genuine experiences. Popular destinations include locations such as Marrakech and Chefchaouen.

This may explain why Ruben was eager to visit. He travelled with his partner, Amber, earlier this month, and it was actually her suggestion to go.

Their expectations of the trip were vastly different. Nevertheless, he maintained they had an enjoyable time, though he believes travellers need to remain vigilant when visiting.

When questioned about why he chose Morocco, Ruben revealed: “It was my partner’s idea, but something I’ve always wanted to do on my bucket list too. A lot of people do it (the balloon ride) unless they’re afraid of heights.

“I wouldn’t say Morocco itself is a holiday from hell, but there are a few things people should be cautious about. It’s quite up and coming, and I think more people are starting to go there.

“Morocco is somewhere I would go back to. It’s not that Morocco is necessarily a bad place. We stayed at a hotel near the beach and all the staff were really friendly, really helpful and couldn’t do enough.

“People just need to stay safe on holiday. There are a few things you should be cautious about.”

Regarding the balloon rides, however, it’s reported they frequently involve bumpy landings. Hard landings (referred to as a “British landing” or a controlled drag) are considered normal and commonplace for hot air balloons in Morocco, particularly when wind speeds are elevated or when touching down on uneven, desert terrain.

Although they are often characterised as “crash” or bumpy landings, they can be fairly routine. It’s regarded as a safe and anticipated procedure to bring the balloon to a halt.

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Did Epstein help Israel push for a security deal with Ivory Coast? | Cybersecurity News

Feb 27, 2026 News Desk

The latest tranche of documents released by the United States Department of Justice on the convicted sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein has caused an uproar and a slew of resignations by senior officials and businesspeople across the US and Europe.

In Africa, the more than three million emails, photos, and videos released on January 23 are also causing some aftershocks as they reveal the extent of Epstein’s connections with prominent African figures, though appearing in the Epstein files does not automatically indicate a crime or wrongdoing.

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According to the documents, Epstein had ties with former South African President Jacob Zuma; Karim Wade, a politician and son of Senegal’s ex-president Abdoulaye Wade; and deceased Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.

The new files also shed more light on Epstein’s connections to a relative of Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara, who appeared to connect the two men. This connection reportedly opened the door for a friend of Epstein’s, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, to propose a mass surveillance system to Ouattara that would work in the West African country. It is unclear if such a system is in place now.

Epstein’s possible fixing role culminated in a formal 2014 security deal between the two countries, although the details of it are scant.

The revelations, in general, underscore the range of Epstein’s influence on powerful figures across continents.

Epstein, who was first convicted in 2008 on charges of sex trafficking, was found dead by suicide in his prison cell in 2019 while awaiting a trial on sex trafficking charges. His ex-girlfriend and co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, was convicted and sentenced in 2021.

Here’s what we know about the Ivory Coast deal and his ties to Africa’s political elite:

Ivory Coast
A balloon bearing the image of President Alassane Ouattara floats above supporters during a campaign rally in Koumassi, Abidjan, Ivory Coast, before the 2025 election [File: Misper Apawu/AP]

Israel and Ivory Coast: The context

Discussions between Ouattara and Barak appeared to start in mid-2012, after the Ivorian president travelled to Jerusalem for talks with Israeli leaders, presumably in hopes of striking a security agreement. Ouattara met Barak, who was then the Israeli defence minister, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Five days before the trip, on June 12, 2012, exiled military officials linked to the Ivory Coast’s former president had attempted to overthrow Ouattara’s government.

Ouattara’s predecessor, Laurent Gbagbo, had refused to hand over power to Ouattara, and a civil war that killed at least 3,000 people ensued. The fighting had only ended about a year before when UN and French forces intervened and arrested Gbagbo.

Ouattara’s son, Dramane, and niece, Nina Keita, also met Epstein in New York on the same day, according to the Epstein files. It’s unclear what the parties discussed.

Keita, a former model, was friends with Epstein and travelled regularly on his private jet, according to the documents. She appeared to have connected Epstein with her uncle, as well as other highly placed Ivorian politicians, according to the documents.

The files showed that on September 12, three months after Epstein met Ouattara’s son, he again met Keita in New York.

He met Barak immediately after in a private meeting at the Regency Hotel in New York, according to a schedule published in the files. It’s not known what was discussed.

In November, Drop Site News reported that Epstein referred to a trip to the Ivory Coast, Angola and Senegal in a note to his assistant, but that there are no flight records to confirm the travels.

What did Israel propose to Ouattara?

A month after Ouattara’s travel to Jerusalem, an Israeli delegation visited Abidjan.

At the meetings, Ouattara reportedly asked about Israeli defence systems to overhaul security in his country, according to reporting by Calcalist, an Israeli publication that covered the exchanges at the time.

In late 2012, Ivorian Interior Minister Hamed Bakayoko travelled to Tel Aviv for a meeting with Barak, where they discussed a cybersecurity deal, Drop Site News found.

Then, in spring 2013, Barak, who had now left office as defence minister, travelled to Abidjan himself to converse with Ouattara in what would be their second meeting.

Barak presented an expensive security defence plan to the president, Calcalist reported. The $150m proposal encompassed border security, army training, and strategic military consulting, the publication said.

Drop Site News, in an investigation in November, added that the proposal included a mobile and internet surveillance centre, as well as a video monitoring centre.

The publication cited two sets of documents: an archive of leaked emails released by the Handala hacking group and hosted by nonprofit whistleblower site, Distributed Denial of Secrets, as well as earlier Epstein-linked documents released by the US House Oversight Committee in October 2025.

Barak’s surveillance centre was to be developed by the French-Israeli private security company, MF-Group, which specialises in surveillance systems, and was to be located in Abidjan, Drop Site News reported.

Email logs showed Epstein introduced Barak to Ouattara’s chief of staff later in September 2013, and planned a meeting in New York where the two men met.

Although Ouattara was pleased with the plan, he ultimately did not sign the deal because of the price tag, Calcalist reported.

Barak, in a response to Calcalist at the time, denied that he offered to build the Ivory Coast an intelligence apparatus. “The claims about establishing an intelligence apparatus and price offers are incorrect. These are private conversations, and the public has no interest in them,” he was quoted as saying.

ouattara
Ivory Coast’s President Ouattara being sworn in for another term at the Presidential Palace in Abidjan on December 8, 2025 [File: Sia Kambou/ Reuters]

What was the final agreement?

Although the plan appeared to be rejected, both countries continued to forge friendly ties.

In June 2014, then-Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman was welcomed in Abidjan on a state visit.

Liberman had travelled to the country along with 50 Israeli businesspeople who were interested in investing in the Ivory Coast.

In a news release at the time, the Ivorian government said two agreements were signed: “One concerning regular consultations between the two countries and the other on defence and internal security.”

No details were provided. It is not known if Abidjan is using Israeli surveillance security systems.

Nevertheless, the Israeli-Ivorian security relationship has continued, with the latter buying military vessels, aircraft, and armoured tanks from Israeli weapons companies.

In 2016, a United Nations report found that Israeli firm Troya Tech Defence had sold weapons and night vision goggles to Ivory Coast in 2015, violating a UN arms embargo that was in place at the time.

In 2018, an investigation into Israeli spyware Pegasus, developed by the NSO Group, revealed that the malware had targeted journalists’ phones in the Ivory Coast. Pegasus, believed to be used by governments, was found to be operating in 45 countries.

In March 2023, privately owned Israel Shipyards, which builds naval vessels, delivered two offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) to Abidjan.

Critics of President Ouattara say the Ivory Coast has slid further from democracy under his rule and point to incidents like the Pegasus scandal, among other issues.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak gestures after delivering a statement in Tel Aviv, Israel June 26, 2019. [Corinna Kern/Reuters]
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak in 2019 [Corinna Kern/Reuters]

Did Epstein and Barak strategise about other African countries?

Barak also tried to leverage the Boko Haram crisis in Nigeria for a security deal, according to Drop Site News, citing the new documents.

Epstein was aware of Barak’s business deals and advised him on doing business in Nigeria between 2013 and 2020, according to email exchanges.

Both saw the escalating violence in the West African nation not as a humanitarian crisis, but as a business opportunity, the publication found.

In June 2013, Barak attended a cybersecurity conference in Abuja, which organisers said privately was a pretext to meet Nigeria’s then-President Goodluck Jonathan.

It came after Nigeria awarded Israeli firm, Elbit Systems, a controversial contract to surveil digital communications in the country. Public outrage caused Jonathan to consider cancelling the project, but the government never announced that it was withdrawn.

Barak continued leveraging his access in Nigeria to promote Israeli products and services. In 2015, he facilitated the sale of Israeli biometric surveillance equipment to a private Christian university in Nigeria, Drop Site News found. The university, in a statement, denied the sale.

In 2020, the World Bank selected Barak’s intelligence firm, Toka, and the Israeli National Cyber Directorate to advise Nigeria on designing its national cyber-infrastructure.

Epstein, meanwhile, also facilitated high-level access for Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, ex-chairman of the Emirati firm DP World. In 2018, Epstein connected bin Sulayem with Jide Zeitlin, then-chair of Nigeria’s sovereign investment fund, for discussions on securing port ownerships in Lagos and Badagry.

Bin Sulayem, last March, visited Nigeria and proposed that DP World establish industrial parks at Nigerian ports. The proposal has not been approved.

Jacob Zuma
Former South African President Jacob Zuma in 2025 [File: Rogan Ward/Reuters]

Jacob Zuma

The new files revealed that Epstein had some relations with former South African President Jacob Zuma, who led the country from 2009 until 2018.

Epstein appeared to arrange a “small dinner” on behalf of Zuma in March 2010 at the Ritz Hotel in London.

It’s unclear what the purpose of the dinner was, but emails released as part of the Epstein files seemed to show that a Russian model was invited. The model was told her presence would “add some real glamour to the occasion”, according to emails sent by Epstein’s planner, whose name was redacted in the files.

In a different email, Epstein appeared to share that information with British politician Peter Mandelson, who is now under investigation for his links to Epstein. A host, whose name was redacted “is having dinner for zuma tomorrow night at the ritz„ i have invited a beautiful russina named (redacted) to attend,” he wrote.

It’s unclear if Mandelson responded.

After the dinner appeared to have taken place, one email sender whose name was redacted wrote to Epstein: “(Redacted name) was a delight last night and enchanted all those she met…By the way, Jacob Zuma was much more impressive and engaging than I thought he would be!”

Karim Wade

Politician and son of Senegal’s ex-President Abdoulaye Wade, Karim Wade’s name appeared 504 times in the released files.

Wade, under his father, was a minister with an open-ended portfolio, and was so powerful that he was nicknamed “minister of heaven and earth”.

His relationship with Epstein began in 2010, according to an investigation by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which cited the newly released files.

In an email to an unnamed contact in November of that year, Epstein wrote: “the President of Senegal is sending his son to see me in paris,” the publication noted. Over the years, they planned trips in Africa along with Emirati businessman, bin Sulayem. They also discussed business ideas, the files showed.

In 2015, after Wade was convicted on corruption charges by a new administration, records show Epstein approaching Norwegian leader of the Council of Europe, Thorborn Jagland, to ask about possibly filing an appeal at the European Court of Human Rights. Wade’s lawyers regularly updated Epstein on efforts to free him, according to OCCRP.

Senegal pardoned Wade in 2016, after which he went into exile in Qatar. Keita, niece to Ivory Coast’s President Ouattara, who appeared to play some role in the efforts to free Wade, texted Epstein: “Thank you for everything you have done for him!!!!”

Robert Mugabe

The Epstein documents revealed that the sex trafficker planned to meet then-President Mugabe to propose a new currency for Zimbabwe amid that country’s hyperinflation crisis.

In email exchanges back in 2015, Japanese financier Joi Ito recommended to Epstein that they both approach Mugabe to discuss the currency after the Zimbabwean dollar lost its value. It’s unclear if the meeting ever took place.

Released along with the emails were FBI documents from 2017, which appeared to show unverified testimony from a “confidential source” who said Epstein was a wealth manager for Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as Mugabe.

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‘A dangerous thing’: S Africa’s gang-ridden townships fear army deployment | Military News

Feb 27, 2026 News Desk

Cape Town, South Africa – Two ominous letters are spray-painted on a wall at the entrance to Tafelsig, a township in Mitchells Plain on the outskirts of Cape Town: HL – the insignia of the Hard Livings gang, which has threatened communities there for five decades.

It’s a February day soon after the president’s state of the nation address, in which Cyril Ramaphosa boldly announced he’d be deploying the army to communities across South Africa to tackle the growing crisis of crime, drugs and gangs. But in Tafelsig, which will likely be part of the new military operation, most people seem unbothered by the news.

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Mitchells Plain is on the Cape Flats – a series of densely populated, impoverished townships about 30km (19 miles) southeast of the wealthy city centre where the president made his speech. While the city boasts hordes of tourists and some of the most expensive real estate on the continent, the Cape Flats accounts for the highest rate of gang-related killings in the country.

“When it was at its worst, [there was a shooting] almost every day,” said Michael Jacobs, the chairperson of a local community police forum.

“Whether it’s day or whether it’s night, they’re shooting somewhere on the Cape Flats,” he added on a drive through the settlement of run-down houses and corrugated iron shacks.

Around him, residents made their way to a home-grown tuck shop, known as a spaza, or sat on street corners while toddlers ran about.

“How is this conducive to raising children?” he asked, recounting the horrors of life in Mitchells Plain.

In the past week, four people, including a nine-month-old, had been shot and killed in a drug den in Athlone, about 17km (10 miles) away.

A beloved Muslim cleric who is rumoured to have angered a gang leader over a personal dispute was also shot dead on the first day of Ramadan as he was leaving the Salaamudien Mosque on a nearby street.

As Jacobs spoke, reports of other shootings filtered through on the many crime groups he is part of on WhatsApp. A few days later, he shared with Al Jazeera a video of two schoolgirls and a taxi driver shot outside a school in Atlantis, about 40km (25 miles) north of Cape Town. One of the girls died.

cape town
The Salaamudien Mosque, where a cleric was gunned down on the first day of Ramadan [Otha Fadana/Al Jazeera]

Tafelsig residents now await the probable arrival of uniformed soldiers and armed vehicles in their neighbourhood, but have little hope that it will make a difference.

Despite his weariness with the violence, Jacobs is far from enthusiastic about a decision to deploy the army.

Other critics of the government’s decision said it is window dressing more than a real solution while some question the wisdom of such a drastic step in a country where the military has a history of brutality and where recent explosive allegations about police corruption at the highest levels have surfaced.

‘Do our lives not matter?’

In his speech on February 12, Ramaphosa said he would deploy the army to the Western Cape, the province that includes the Cape Flats, and Gauteng, home to the country’s largest city, Johannesburg, to tackle gang violence and illegal mining. On February 17, Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia announced that the Eastern Cape would be added to the list and a deployment would take place in 10 days – although no soldiers have so far been deployed.

The president’s decision followed pressure from civil society groups and the Democratic Alliance (DA) party, which runs the Western Cape, to take drastic action to curb widespread gang-related violence in the three provinces.

A day before its province was added to the deployment schedule, the DA joined residents in Gqeberha, the largest city in the Eastern Cape, for a “Do Our Lives Not Matter?” protest to demand that Ramaphosa take urgent action.

In Gauteng, neighbourhoods surrounding the province’s once-lucrative abandoned mines have often been turned into battlegrounds, resulting in shootouts between police and illegal artisanal miners, known as zama zamas.

Gauteng and the Western Cape frequently appear at the top of the country’s organised crime lists while the Eastern Cape made headlines last year for a series of killings linked to extortion syndicates.

In the latest crime statistics, police announced the arrests of 15,846 suspects nationwide and the seizure of 173 firearms and 2,628 rounds of ammunition from February 16 to Sunday alone.

Gauteng took up the most space in the police’s crime highlights, which included a 16-year-old arrested in Roodepoort for possession and distribution of explosives and the seizure of counterfeit clothing and shoes worth 98 million rand ($6.1m).

Overall, South Africa has some of the world’s most violent crime with an average of 64 people killed every day, according to official statistics.

The three provinces selected for military deployments have a turbulent history with the armed forces, not least during the apartheid era when the regime used soldiers to unleash deadly crackdowns on antiapartheid activists.

“They were the enemy,” Jacobs said, recalling his own arrest in September 1987 during a student protest on the Cape Flats opposing the racist government, which was replaced in the country’s first democratic elections in 1994.

Cape Town
Michael Jacobs at his office in Cape Town [Otha Fadana/Al Jazeera]

Today after three decades of democracy, poverty, unemployment and violent crime remain a major challenge in the area.

But Jacobs, like other critics of the military police, believes the new move will do little to cure the ills that he said gangs exploit to increase their influence. Children as young as eight years old are recruited into their ranks.

The Town Centre, a shopping mall that was once a hub of economic activity, has been reduced to a ghost town where the drug trade thrives despite the fact that it is right next to a police station, according to Jacobs.

For him, there is a direct link between the country’s economic decline and the flourishing of gang activity over the past decade on the Cape Flats, where working-class people have seen their livelihoods stripped away as the manufacturing sector shrank.

On an average weekday when children should be at school, he said, you see children and even women in their 60s in Mitchells Plain digging through rubbish bins to find glass, plastic or other things they can recycle and turn into income. “At least it will put something on the table.”

Plugging a ‘haemorrhage’

Social issues and not simply military intervention should be put at the heart of government anticrime efforts, analysts say.

“There’s no other way to describe it other than plugging a hole that is haemorrhaging at the moment with regards to these forms of organised crime,” said Ryan Cummings, director of analysis at Signal Risk, an Africa-focused risk management firm.

Irvin Kinnes, an associate professor with the University of Cape Town’s Centre for Criminology, pointed out that constitutionally the army is limited in the duties its members may perform among the civilian population. Their role will be largely to support police, who will retain control of all operations.

He fears the government has not learned lessons from previous army deployments in South Africa’s democratic era.

The army was dispatched to the Western Cape in 2019 during a previous spike in gang violence and was again sent in to help with the enforcement of COVID-19 restrictions the following year.

“It’s a very dangerous thing to bring the army because there’s an impatience with the fact that the police are not doing their job. And so they come in with that mentality and want to beat up everybody and break people’s bones,” Kinnes said.

“We saw what happened in COVID. They killed people as the army. It’s not as if the police don’t kill people, but the point is, you don’t need the army to do that.”

To the government’s detractors, summoning the army is nothing more than an attempt at political heroics before local elections due to be held this year or in early 2027.

Kinnes pointed out that, according to police statistics, crime has been decreasing without the help of the army.

“It’s very much political. It’s to show that the political leaders have kind of heard the public. But the call for the army hasn’t come from the community. It’s come from politicians,” he said.

Residents look on as police stand guard while South African President Cyril Ramaphosa visits crime ridden Hanover Park to launch a new Anti-Gang Unit, in Cape Town, South Africa November 2, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings
Police stand guard while South African President Cyril Ramaphosa visits crime-ridden Hanover Park in Cape Town in 2018 [File: Mike Hutchings/Reuters]

‘The military is ready’

Ramaphosa, who has yet to reveal details of the military deployment, has defended his decision. On Monday in his weekly newsletter, the president sought to separate the South African armed forces from their troubling past, listing several operations that benefitted communities, such as disaster relief efforts and law enforcement operations at the border.

He made it clear that the army’s role would merely be a supporting one “with clear rules of engagement and for specific time-limited objectives”.

Its presence may free up officers to focus on police work and would take place alongside other measures, such as strengthening antigang units and illegal mining teams, he said.

“Given our history, where the apartheid state sent the army into townships to violently suppress opposition, it is important that we do not deploy the [military] inside the country to deal with domestic threats without good reason,” Ramaphosa wrote.

Cummings said it was clear the president’s hand was forced amid an unrelenting wave of violence. “The rhetoric of the president up until now suggests that this was a directive that he was not necessarily too keen on implementing.”

On the ground, soldiers appear equally reluctant about their pending engagement.

Ntsiki Shongo is a soldier who was deployed in 2019 and during the COVID-19 pandemic. He told Al Jazeera, using a pseudonym, that any operation involving the police was almost certainly doomed.

“We [in the army] become so negative when we are working with them [the police] because always we don’t get what we need,” he said.

“We know how easy it is to get these gangsters, to get these drug lords, but unfortunately, the police, they are not cooperating with us because some of them are in cooperation with these criminals,” he charged. “Maybe they are scared for their lives because they are staying in the same areas with them.”

Shongo referred to an ongoing commission investigating police corruption that has implicated senior government officials and led to the suspension of national Police Minister Senzo Mchunu.

“So this operation, … is it going to be a success? I don’t know. It all depends on the police,” he said, adding that he and his fellow soldiers long for the day the government lets the military solve the problem on its own.

“Even when we are just sitting having lunch as soldiers, we talk about the police. We pray that one day the state can say, ‘Let’s take the military inside the country and clean out all these weapons, all these guns, all these gangsters,’” he said.

“The military is ready, and they want to prove a point because we’ve been hungry for these things.”

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T20 World Cup: South Africa stay unbeaten with nine-wicket win over West Indies

Feb 26, 2026 News Desk

Aiden Markram smacked 82 not out off 46 balls as South Africa beat West Indies by nine wickets to maintain their unbeaten record at the 2026 T20 World Cup.

South Africa’s captain struck seven fours and four sixes as South Africa chased 177 with 23 balls to spare to move two points clear at the top of Group 1 in the Super 8s and put one foot in the semi-finals.

The 31-year-old, who brought up his half-century off 27 balls, shared a 95-run opening stand with Quinton de Kock (47 off 24) before the wicketkeeper was removed by Roston Chase in the eighth over. Ryan Rickelton chipped in with a quickfire 45 not out off 28 at number three.

Markram sealed South Africa’s fifth win of the tournament in Ahmedabad with his 11th boundary.

The victory puts the Proteas on the verge of the semi-finals without making them mathematically sure. They will go through if India beat Zimbabwe in Thursday’s other game. West Indies play India in their final match of the group knowing a defeat will likely eliminate them.

South Africa, finalists in 2024, should have been chasing a significantly lower total after taking four wickets in the powerplay and later reducing West Indies to 83-7.

However, the two-time champions fought back through Romario Shepherd and Jason Holder, who put on 89 (57) for the eighth wicket to drag West Indies beyond 170.

After smacking spinner Keshav Maharaj’s opening over for 17, West Indies, who piled on 254-6 against Zimbabwe in their Super 8 opener on Monday, lost four wickets in 11 balls to slump from 29-0 to 43-4 inside four overs, with Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi collecting two wickets apiece.

Sherfane Rutherford, who couldn’t capitalise on being dropped on three, Rovman Powell, and Matthew Forde joined the procession back to the dressing room before Shepherd and Holder came together in the 11th over.

After rebuilding steadily, the pair burst into life from the 15-over mark, Shepherd accelerating from 21 (17) to finish unbeaten on 52 (37) and Holder reaching 49 (31) before being run-out off the penultimate ball of the innings.

They added 58 runs off the final five overs, including Holder taking the 18th, bowled by Marco Jansen, for 23.

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Has Trump’s trade strategy lost leverage? | Business and Economy

Feb 26, 2026 News Desk

A Supreme Court setback on tariffs challenges Trump’s protectionist trade strategy.

Tariffs: The most beautiful word in the dictionary, as Donald Trump says, or unlawful?
The Supreme Court has ruled that the president cannot use emergency powers to impose them.
It’s a significant check on his power and a major setback to his second-term agenda.
But despite the ruling, Trump has already found new ways to keep his trade barriers in place.
Tariffs remain central to his economic policy, both to boost US manufacturing and generate revenue.
The court may have disarmed one of Trump’s trade weapons, but the turn towards protectionism is far from over.

Published On 26 Feb 2026

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