Africa Intel

🇪🇹 Ethiopians Trust the Police, But See Room for Improvement

A recent Afrobarometer survey reveals that while 57% of Ethiopians trust the police "somewhat" or "a lot," concerns about corruption, excessive force, and lack of professionalism persist. Nearly half of Ethiopians (46%) report feeling unsafe in their neighborhoods, and one-third (33%) fear crime in their homes. Among those who interacted with the police, 35% say they had to pay a bribe to get assistance, and 17% paid bribes during other encounters, such as checkpoints or traffic stops.

The survey also highlights that 50% of Ethiopians believe the police use excessive force against suspected criminals, and 43% say the same about their handling of protests. Only 34% of citizens feel the police operate professionally and respect all citizens' rights. Despite government efforts, such as the 2020 Ethiopian Police Doctrine and specialized training programs, public trust remains fragile, particularly in urban areas like Addis Ababa.

🌟 Why This Matters:
The findings underscore the critical need for police reform in Ethiopia to address corruption, improve professionalism, and rebuild public trust. These issues not only impact domestic security but also influence Ethiopia's international reputation and its ability to foster stability in a region marked by political and social challenges. Strengthening the police force is essential for ensuring citizen safety, upholding human rights, and supporting Ethiopia's broader governance and development goals.

#Ethiopia
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🇨🇩 Rebels seize key town in eastern Congo

Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have seized a strategic eastern town near the provincial capital Goma in Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Tutsi-led M23 group has been waging a renewed insurgency in eastern Congo since 2022. Congo and the United Nations accuse neighbouring Rwanda of backing the group with its own troops and weapons. Rwanda says it has taken what it calls defensive measures.

Fighting has flared in recent weeks, leading to territorial gains for M23, which is now in control of Masisi, a town and local administrative centre about 80 km (50 miles) from Goma, provincial parliament member Alexis Bahunga told.

"The government will take measures to restore state authority over the entire territory," he said. Another parliamentary deputy, Jean-Pierre Ayobangira Safari, said Masisi had been taken "for now".

#DRC

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🌍🇫🇷 Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy went on trial on Monday, on charges of having received millions of euros in illegal financing from Libya's late strongman Muammar Gaddafi for his successful 2007 presidential bid.

Sarkozy, who was relaxed and chatting with lawyers and other defendants in the courtroom before the hearing started, has always denied the accusations.

The conservative former leader faces charges of "concealment of embezzlement of public funds, passive corruption, illegal campaign financing and criminal conspiracy with a view to committing a crime," the financial prosecutor's office said.
#Africa #France

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❗️🇲🇱 Gold miner Barrick threatens to freeze Mali operations in row over rules

Canada's Barrick Gold said it would suspend operations in Mali if the country does not lift restrictions on gold shipments within the coming week, as mining companies face an increasingly hostile operating environment in West Africa.

The military governments of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger are trying to renegotiate terms and gain a bigger share of mining revenues after a series of coups that have seen them shift away from their traditional backers France, the United States and the United Nations towards Russia.

The Mali standoff, threats by Burkina Faso's junta to strip permits and the seizure of a French-run uranium site in Niger have unsettled Western miners in the region and could limit further investments, industry insiders say.

Barrick, whose Loulo-Gounkoto mining complex in Mali accounts for around 14% of its 2025 estimated gold output, has been in a dispute since 2023 with the country's government, over a contract based on new mining rules.

#Mali #Canada

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🌍🇫🇷 Still awaiting thanks for stopping Islamists in Sahel, Macron says

France's President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday he was still waiting for Africa's Sahel states to thank Paris for stopping them falling into the hands of militants and he dismissed suggestions his country had been forced out of the region.

Speaking to French ambassadors at an annual conference on foreign policy for 2025, Macron said France had been right to intervene in 2013 to fight Islamist militants even if those same states had now moved away from French military support.

"I think that they forgot to thank us, but that's ok, it will come in time," Macron said ironically.
French troops have in recent years pulled out of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso after successive military coups and are in the process of withdrawing from Chad, Senegal and Ivory Coast.
"None of them would have a sovereign state if the French army had not deployed in this region," Macron said.
Macron dismissed the notion that Paris had been kicked out of the region, saying it had decided to re-organise its strategy.

#Africa #France

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🌍🇨🇳 China's top diplomat began his annual New Year tour of Africa, maintaining a 35-year-long tradition, to quietly advance Beijing's already sizeable influence across the resource-rich continent as Europe's presence wanes and America's wavers.

While global capitals and investors brace for the return of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to the White House, and wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and domestic politics keep German and French ministers occupied, Foreign Minister Wang Yi being in Namibia, the Republic of Congo, Chad and Nigeria highlights the consistency of China's engagement with Africa, analysts say.

#Africa #China

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🇺🇬 Uganda's military head says he wants to behead opposition leader

The head of Uganda's military, who is also the son of longstanding President Yoweri Museveni, said he wanted to behead the country's most prominent opposition leader.

Muhoozi Kainerugaba is widely believed to be the heir apparent to his father, who has governed Uganda since 1986. Kainerugaba routinely makes inflammatory posts on social media, including a threat in 2022 to invade neighbouring Kenya.

Kainerugaba later apologised for that threat and sometimes says that certain posts are meant ironically.

In a post on X on Sunday evening, Kainerugaba said his father, whom he referred to by the honorific Mzee, was the only person protecting opposition leader Bobi Wine from him.

"If Mzee was not there, I would cut off his head today," Kainerugaba posted.

Bobi Wine, whose legal name is Robert Kyagulanyi and who finished second to Museveni in the 2021 presidential election, responded on X that he did not take the threat lightly, saying there had been several previous attempts on his life.

#Uganda

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🇨🇳🇹🇿 Opposition to Chinese-Funded Oil Pipeline Grows in East Africa

East African activists and communities have intensified their opposition to the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), denouncing reports of possible Chinese financial support.

Protesters in Kampala and Dar es Salaam have demanded that Chinese embassies support renewable energy investments instead of EACOP, emphasizing the devastating impacts on communities and ecosystems. Activists are calling on Chinese institutions to reject the project.

I wonder who's funding them. Let me see. Have you heard anything about the eco-protests against the American Lobito Corridor project? Or against oil production by American companies? Neither have I.

#China #Tanzania

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🇺🇬 Uganda's court orders government to pay LRA war crime victims

A Ugandan court has ordered the government to pay up to 10 million Ugandan shillings ($2,740) to each victim of Lord's Resistance Army commander Thomas Kwoyelo, the first senior member of the rebel group to be convicted by Uganda's judiciary.

In October, Kwoyelo, a mid-level commander in the LRA, was sentenced to 40 years in prison for war crimes including murder, rape, enslavement, torture and kidnapping.

According to the court ruling, Kwoyelo was found unable to pay any compensation to the victims due to his "indigent" status, leading the court to order the government to bear the cost.

The scale of Kwoyelo's atrocities, according to the ruling, was such that they amounted to "a manifestation of failure on the part of the government that triggers a responsibility on the state to pay reparations to the victims," the ruling said.

#Uganda

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🇳🇬 Almost 800 arrested over Nigerian crypto-romance scam

Nigeria's anti-graft agency said it had arrested 792 suspects in a raid on a building believed to be a hub for fraudsters who lured victims with offers of romance, then pressed them to hand over cash for phoney cryptocurrency investments.

The suspects, including 148 Chinese and 40 Filipino nationals, were detained on Dec. 10 at the seven-storey Big Leaf Building in Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission spokesperson Wilson Uwujaren said.

The luxury building housed a call centre mostly targeting victims from the Americas and Europe, he added.

Staff there would make contact with people through social media and messaging platforms, including WhatsApp and Instagram, them seduce them online or offer them apparently lucrative investment opportunities.

Once victims were hooked, they were pressured to transfer money for fake cryptocurrency schemes and other non-existent projects.

#Nigeria

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🇳🇬 Oil spill occurs at Shell terminal in Nigeria

An oil spill has occurred at the Shell loading terminal in Nigeria's Delta region after a pipeline ruptured, Nigeria's maritime agency said.

The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) said the spill which occurred on Saturday at the Bonny terminal has reached shoreline and that it was actively monitoring the situation.

NIMASA added that it was also working with Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and other stakeholders to assess the extent of the spill and follow-up actions.

#Nigeria

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🇳🇪 Niger says 39 civilians killed in militant attacks

Suspected jihadists killed 39 civilians, including women and children, in two separate attacks in western Niger's conflict-torn borderlands in recent days, the defence ministry said.

The attackers struck the communities of Kokorou and Libiri, it said, without giving further details on the date of the bloodshed.

#Niger

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🇳🇪🇲🇱🇧🇫 West Africa bloc offers junta-led states six months to rethink exit

Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger will have a six-month grace period after their scheduled exit from West Africa's main political and economic group next month during which the ECOWAS bloc will try to persuade them to stay.

The summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was seen as a chance to address the impending withdrawal of the three countries on Jan. 29, a year after they jointly announced they would leave in a reversal of decades of regional integration.

ECOWAS has so far failed in its goal to push them to reconsider, while the three countries in the insurgency-torn central Sahel region have set up their own alliance, sought ever-closer alignment in defence and other areas and mooted abandoning the West African currency union.

While Jan. 29 remains the official withdrawal date, the effective date for their departure has been extended to July 29 - a transition period during which mediators from the bloc will seek "to bring the three member countries back to ECOWAS without prejudice," commission president Oumar Touray said at the end of the summit.

#ECOWAS #Mali #BurkinaFaso #Niger

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🇲🇺 Mauritius police issue arrest order for former central bank governor

Police in Mauritius have issued an order for the arrest of the Indian Ocean islands' former central bank governor, in connection to an inquiry into a conspiracy to defraud case.

The action, by the police anti-money laundering unit, is the first significant one from the government of Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam, who said last week the outgoing government had falsified the country's gross domestic product (GDP), budget deficit and public debt figures for years.

The former central bank governor, Harvesh Kumar Seegolam, was out of the country and would be arrested as soon as he returned, police said.

#Mauritius

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