The Rwandan-backed #AFC/M23 rebel group has withdrawn from several key positions in #Congo's eastern South Kivu province over the weekend, the Congolese army and a rebel official said on Monday, marking the first significant battlefield shift in months.

#Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye sent back to parliament for reconsideration a set of electoral law amendments that may clear the way for Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko to run in the 2029 presidential election

#China’s financial regulator advised its largest lenders to temporarily suspend new loans to five private refineries recently sanctioned by the US over their ties to Iranian #oil

#SouthAfrica: Broke and busted: Godongwana nixes Joburg’s R10.3bn wage hike and says it broke the law

Troops of Operation Hadin Kai rescue six abducted victims as offensive targets #BokoHaram hideouts in Borno State.

#World Relays showdown brewing: Neighbours #SA and #Botswana qualify for #Gaborone finals

#RDC : Les mercenaires colombiens, des “produits très demandés” D’anciens militaires reconvertis en barbouzes se retrouvent désormais au Soudan et sont signalés au Congo.
Le phénomène n’a rien de neuf. Les militaires colombiens à la retraite ou qui ont préféré quitter les rangs de l’armée nationale ont régulièrement constitué un important vivier pour les recruteurs de mercenaires aux quatre coins du monde.

Plus de trente ans que des “affreux” sont signalés sur de nombreux théâtres militaires. Des Colombiens avaient ainsi été identifiés dans les années 90 en Afghanistan ou dans les Balkans. On a aussi signalé leur présence un peu plus tard en Haïti, au Yémen ou en Irak, et ces derniers temps, de plus en plus souvent, en Ukraine, au Soudan et, dernièrement, en République démocratique du Congo.

La tendance ne semble donc pas devoir fléchir, à tel point que le président colombien Gustavo Petro a lancé un appel public sur X le 17 août dernier : “Jeunes vétérans et anciens sous-officiers et officiers, ne vous vendez pas : combattez pour votre patrie, ne mourez pas dans des guerres étrangères”. Le message du président colombien répondait à celui du Premier ministre soudanais Kamil Idriss qui avait appelé, quelques jours plus tôt, à la fin de la présence des mercenaires colombiens dans la province du Darfour et, plus généralement, dans tout le Soudan.

Les gros bras colombiens sont très prisés parce qu’ils disposent d’une bonne formation, d’une expérience certaines sur différents types de terrain, sont roués aux activités de contre-guérillas, disposent de capacités d’organisation logistiques et tactiques et sont moins “gourmands” que la plupart de leur confrères. “Ici, en Colombie, le salaire d’un sous-officier tourne autour de 600 euros par mois. Il peut multiplier ce salaire par 6 s’il signe un contrat pour aller combattre en Afrique”, explique un Colombien qui a longtemps vécu en Belgique. “Sans oublier qu’il peut disposer d’une assurance-vie et d’une couverture pour leur famille.”

Police in #Kenya exhume at least 33 bodies from a mass grave.

KERICHO, Kenya — Authorities in western Kenya said Thursday they have exhumed at least 33 bodies from a mass grave, and the remains were believed to have been transferred there from a hospital morgue.

Homicide detectives exhumed the remains of eight adults and 25 children as well as dismembered body parts packed in gunny sacks from a mass grave at a church-owned cemetery in the town of Kericho, according to authorities.

“We were able to establish that these were bodies transferred from Nyamira District Hospital to a private cemetery in Kericho,” Mohamed Amin, the head of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, told reporters.

Amin said detectives want to find out whether the bodies were disposed legally after being removed from a morgue.

Under Kenyan law, hospitals and morgues are required to dispose bodies that are unclaimed for more than 14 days. The process requires authorization by court order.

Government pathologists conducted autopsies on Thursday to determine the cause of death. The bodies’ identities have not been revealed.

At least two people have been arrested.

Local media reported that unidentified people brought the bodies from elsewhere in a vehicle belonging to the government and hurriedly buried them. Some of the gravediggers are said to have alerted the police.

“We need authorities to conduct a thorough investigation,” said resident Brian Kibunja.

Another local, Samuel Moso, said authorities should “reveal if the government was involved or if a different group of people was behind the mass burial.”

This is the third major mass-grave incident in Kenya over the last three years.

In 2023 police uncovered hundreds of bodies buried in a forest in the Kenyan coastal region of Kilifi. The bodies were exhumed from mass graves linked to a religious leader who starved his followers to death.

In 2024, authorities recovered 9 bodies from a dumpsite in Nairobi, the capital.

The latest discovery coincides with growing concern among some Kenyans over rights abuses allegedly perpetrated by the police.

Missing Voices, a human rights group, has documented 125 extrajudicial killings and 6 enforced disappearances over the last year in Kenya. The number of reported extrajudicial killings was 104 the previous year.

Nicholas Komu and Andrew Kasuku, The Associated Press

BRAZZAVILLE, Republic of Congo — Ballot counting began Sunday after polls closed in The Republic of Congo, where President Denis Sassou N’Guesso is seeking a fifth consecutive term. Results are expected within two weeks.

The elections were marked by a low turnout, as locals said they did not believe the election would result in a change in leadership from Sassou N’Guesso, who has ruled for 42 years. Opposition parties called for a boycott of the election.

Six other candidates challenged the 82-year-old for the top job in the Central African country that boasts one of the largest oil reserves in sub-Saharan Africa. But analysts say none of them can mount a significant challenge against the incumbent.

The internet was shut down across the country as usual during the presidential election and traffic was restricted across the capital.

“Everyone knows that, faced with his six inexperienced opponents, President Denis Sassou-Nguesso will be reelected with a high score as usual. Since the election is not a big issue, we shouldn’t cut off communication,” Clarisse Massamba, a teacher who voted at the Lycée Javoueh in Brazzaville, told The Associated Press.

The campaign period showed a vast mismatch between Sassou N’Guesso and his opponents, with the incumbent being the only candidate to travel around the country to canvass for votes. Roads in the capital city, Brazzaville, were paved with Sassou N’Guesso’s effigies.

Two other major parties boycotted the elections over allegations of unfair electoral practices.

Sassou N’Guesso, running for the Congolese Party of Labor, first came to power in 1979 and ruled until 1992 when he organized the country’s first multi-party elections. He returned to power as a militia leader following a four-month civil war in 1997.

A constitutional referendum in 2015 removed presidential age and term limits, allowing him to run again.

The country is struggling with high international debt, which stands at 94.5% of its gross domestic product, according to the World Bank, and skyrocketing unemployment rates for young people. More than half the country’s 5.7 million population lives in poverty and 47% of the country’s population is under 18.

The election is the latest in a trend of octogenarian African leaders clinging to power. Sassou N’Guesso is the third-longest-serving #African president, only behind Cameroon ’s Paul Biya and Equatorial Guinea ’s Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.

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Louis Okamba, The Associated Press

A large immigration detention camp in Texas is closed to visitors amid measles outbreak