Theme: Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa's liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports are set to grow nearly 175% to 98 billion cubic meters in 2034 from 35.7 billion in 2024, according to Fitch, as buyers flee the Strait of Hormuz. The African Energy Chamber projects about US$ 40 billion a year in exploration and production investment through 2030, lifting the continent's hydrocarbon output to 12.5 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. In Mozambique, TotalEnergies' US$ 20 billion LNG project, with capacity of 13.1 million tonnes per year, resumed construction in January after the end of a four-and-a-half-year force majeure and is about 45% complete.

About 1,800 industrial facilities have been damaged in Sudan’s war, including 650 factories completely destroyed, according to the country’s Ministry of Industry. A sweets factory in Khartoum has resumed production but is operating at 40% of its previous capacity, and its owner, Mansour Gaily, estimates losses at $1 million. Reopening is hampered by electricity shortages, a damaged transport network and rising import costs, as well as the destruction or looting of raw materials and equipment.

South Africans voted on Wednesday in local elections that will decide who leads the country’s eight main city municipalities as well as its 44 district and 205 local councils, a contest expected to be a tough test for the African National Congress (ANC). A record 29.2 million people are registered to vote at 23,696 voting stations, according to the Electoral Commission of South Africa, and more than 1.4 million special votes were cast on Monday and Tuesday. Polls showed the ANC getting less than a third of the vote, down from 45.6% at the last municipal elections, in 2021, and 40.2% in 2024’s national elections. In total, 546 political parties were vying for votes, and final results are expected on Sunday. The outcome is expected to shape the race to succeed Cyril Ramaphosa as ANC leader at the party’s conference in December 2027.

The World Health Organization (WHO) approved clinical trials for two new Ebola vaccines on Wednesday, as an outbreak in Africa has killed more than 5,300 people. The candidates are ChAdOx1 BDBV, developed by the University of Oxford with the Serum Institute of India, and Moderna’s mRNA-1469, both designed specifically for the Bundibugyo virus. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the trial that began last month with the Ervebo vaccine does not cover the Bundibugyo virus and that the agency’s expert groups now recommend adding the two candidates to the study. The National Institute for Biomedical Research of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) leads the trial, backed by partners including WHO. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said on Monday that the epidemic had killed more than 5,300 people, the majority in the DRC, with 10,444 confirmed cases and a fatality rate above 50 percent.

The World Health Organization (WHO) approved clinical trials for two new Ebola vaccines as part of the effort to control an outbreak that has killed more than 5,300 people in Africa. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the two candidates are ChAdOx1 BDBV, developed by the University of Oxford with the Serum Institute of India, and Moderna's mRNA-1469, developed specifically for the Bundibugyo virus. The National Institute of Biomedical Research of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is leading the trial, with support from partners including WHO; in October a trial had already begun with the Ervebo vaccine, approved for Ebola virus but not for Bundibugyo. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said on Monday that the epidemic had killed more than 5,300 people, the vast majority in the DRC, with 10,444 confirmed cases and a fatality rate above 50%.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), thousands of people are displaced in the city of Debre Berhan, in the Amhara region, and in Shire, in northwestern Tigray. UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said families who had recently returned to the district of Diabo, in northwestern Tigray, were forced to flee again because of renewed military activities. OCHA and humanitarian partners are preparing to scale up assistance, but insecurity is restricting movement along the roads connecting Gonder with Debark and Metema, in Amhara. Fighting in the country's north, in Tigray, Amhara and Afar, resumed in late September, nearly four years after the November 2022 Pretoria Agreement ended the two-year war between federal forces and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF). World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reported civilian deaths, including children and a newborn, in attacks in northern Ethiopia and said the region's health system is approaching collapse.

Aliko Dangote on Wednesday broke ground for a planned fuel storage site in Namibia, which will serve as a fuel distribution hub in southern Africa, in an OilPrice report based on Bloomberg’s reporting. The project, expected to cost $2.5 billion, includes a fuel depot outside the main port of Walvis Bay and a 1,700-kilometer pipeline to bring fuels to Botswana and South Africa, and potentially to other countries. “We want to heavily invest so that most of the landlocked countries will be able to access petroleum products at a cheaper price,” Dangote said at the event. The initial public offering of a minority stake in Dangote’s refinery could raise as much as $2.1 billion if the company exercises its greenshoe option.

Recent discoveries of methamphetamine laboratories in Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya and Mozambique have fueled concerns that Africa is becoming a significant production hub for synthetic drugs. In Nigeria, an operation in Ogun State led to the arrest of 10 suspects, including three Mexican nationals whom the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said had been brought into the country to help manufacture the drug. The agency’s chairman, Mohamed Buba Marwa, said officers seized more than 2.4 metric tons of methamphetamine, precursor chemicals and other materials with an estimated international market value of about $363 million.

The African Group of Negotiators says the UN climate convention has no agenda item that provides space to discuss public financing and wants one created under Article 9.1 of the Paris Agreement, the 2015 provision that obliges developed countries to provide financial resources to developing ones. The group’s chair, Nana Antwi-Boasiako Amoah, said wealthy countries are likely to oppose the adoption of the agenda because of that item. The summit, hosted by Türkiye with Australia leading the negotiations, opens on November 9 and runs to November 20.

South Africans voted in local elections on Wednesday amid deep discontent over water outages, power cuts and crumbling infrastructure, with the African National Congress (ANC) on course for a bruising result. Polls show the ANC getting less than a third of the vote, down from 45.6% at the last municipal elections in 2021 and 40.2% in the 2024 national elections. Polling stations opened at 7:00 a.m. and closed at 9:00 p.m. local time (0500 and 1900 GMT). Parties are battling for control of major cities in a contest expected to offer a measure of the national mood before the next national polls.

Denise Brown, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, said that there has been an intense pattern of drone strikes over the past couple of weeks against civilian infrastructure, with sources of energy and fuel apparently systematically targeted. At a hospital just outside Khartoum, the power went out and stopped treatment for 25 patients who needed dialysis; the hospital has no generator and no solar panels. Hundreds of aid trucks are stuck for lack of fuel, and there are queues kilometers long for fuel in the capital. The World Food Programme has recorded seven hits on its convoys this year and 20 over the past two years. Brown said she did not know where the strikes originate and called for the message that they must stop to reach whoever needs to hear it.

Ethiopia’s Media Authority announced on November 2 the indefinite suspension of the print and online licenses of the Reporter, the country’s last privately owned Amharic newspaper, accusing it of violating media laws and ethics and publishing content against the national interest; in October, undercover police detained journalists Samuel Getachew and Amanuel Gebremedhin, jailed for eight days, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW), in a text republished by AllAfrica.

In a follow-up to the South African municipal elections, polls put the African National Congress (ANC) below one-third of the vote, down from 45.6% in 2021 and 40.2% in 2024, with fragmentation potentially costing it control of municipalities even as it remains the largest party, and in eThekwini uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) is polling above 40%. The electoral commission has one week to announce the final result, and parties will then have two weeks to form councils and elect mayors.

South Africa is holding municipal elections, and the African National Congress (ANC) is trying to prove it still has what it takes to govern after losing its parliamentary majority in the 2024 national election. Poor governance and voter apathy are eroding ANC support in townships such as Alexandra, northeast of Johannesburg. An Ipsos poll puts the Democratic Alliance party at 25 percent support in this election, up from 22 percent last time.

The Africa Energy Bank, a US$ 5 billion institution set up by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the African Petroleum Producers’ Organization (APPO), was established to finance oil and gas projects across Africa, according to OilPrice. Oil and gas investment in Africa fell from US$ 68 billion in 2016 to about US$ 37 billion in 2025. The Independent Petroleum Producers Group (IPPG) estimates that Africa needs US$ 200 billion in annual energy investment, and around 600 million people across the continent lack access to electricity. S&P Global says the bottleneck is turning investor appetite into bankable projects and that US$ 5 billion covers only a sliver of the gap.

The Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (ARDA) has delivered more than 187,000 metric tons of summer cereals and 60,529 metric tons of winter wheat to the Grain Marketing Board, according to 263Chat, in a report republished by AllAfrica. The authority also aims to cultivate 100,000 hectares in the 2026/27 summer season. Agriculture Minister Anxious Masuka said Zimbabwe is “almost 100 percent certain” to have below-normal rainfall, and that the warming of the central South Pacific associated with El Niño is expected to exceed three degrees Celsius.

UK funding for the Commonwealth nations that previously had bilateral aid programs will be cut from £546m in 2024-25 to £131m in 2028-29. Of that total, £68m will go to Nigeria, leaving £63m for other countries. Sierra Leone will see its aid cut from nearly £30m to £5m, Rwanda from nearly £30m to £5m and Tanzania from £60m in 2025-26 to £5m in 2028-29. At least 26 Commonwealth countries have been prevented from receiving funds under the longstanding Darwin funding stream, worth about £40m a year for nature projects.

Egypt and Sudan reaffirmed in a joint statement on November 2, after the third round of their “2+2” consultation mechanism bringing foreign and irrigation ministers together in Cairo, that Ethiopia’s operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) without a binding agreement threatens downstream water security, according to Egyptian local media. The 1959 agreement invoked by the two countries allocated 55.5 billion cubic meters a year to Egypt and 18.5 billion to Sudan, while making no provision for Ethiopia, which was not a party to the treaty. The dam, built through domestic financing, has an installed generation capacity of approximately 5,150 megawatts and a reservoir capacity of about 74 billion cubic meters, making it Africa’s largest hydroelectric project.

The Ebola outbreak has killed 5,376 people — 5,372 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and two each in Kenya and Uganda, with 10,414 confirmed cases in the country as of October 30. The current outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain, with no known vaccine or treatment.

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the African Petroleum Producers' Organization (APPO) have formally launched the Africa Energy Bank, a financial institution focused on oil and gas projects across the continent, with authorized capital of US$5 billion. The bank will support projects across the energy value chain, from exploration and production to transportation, processing, refining and distribution, and has a mandate to reduce reliance on imported petroleum products and promote intra-African trade in energy goods. The new lender is private-sector-led, with majority ownership held by APPO and Afreximbank. Its inaugural general meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, on October 31 appointed Helmy Ghazi as president and formed its first board of directors, with members from the public and private sectors and policy institutions.

Zambian police and military forcibly disappeared, arbitrarily detained, beat and threatened opposition members and supporters, as well as lawyers, journalists and government critics, in the days before and after the August 2026 general elections, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). The report documented 14 cases of apparent enforced disappearance involving opposition members and supporters, as well as 61 cases in which detainees, their lawyers or relatives alleged beatings or other violent abuse during arrest and detention. The group called on Zambian authorities to halt the clampdown on the political opposition launched after Hakainde Hichilema’s victory in disputed elections in August.

Human Rights Watch accused Zambia of a violent post-election crackdown on the opposition. The group’s report documented 14 cases of apparent enforced disappearance involving opposition members and supporters and 61 cases in which detainees, their lawyers or relatives alleged beatings or other violent abuse during arrest and detention.

Israel’s first ambassador to Somaliland presented his credentials to the president of the breakaway territory, who formally accepted them at a ceremony in Hargeisa, where officials also laid the cornerstone for an Israeli embassy.

Uganda has begun withdrawing its troops from Somalia after nearly two decades of military involvement in the country, according to the BBC. The withdrawal is being carried out in phases and is expected to be completed in August 2027.

The president of the Central African Republic, Faustin-Archange Touadera, said that pressure and attempts to discredit his country's cooperation with Russia will not change its course, in an interview with the Russian state news agency TASS. According to him, the course is based on real security and development needs, not on momentary considerations.

The Central African Republic (CAR) Army and Russian military specialists thwarted a large-scale operation by a coalition of armed groups in the Nabagai-Tissi area of Vakaga on October 10, according to TASS. The opposing force numbered about 1,300 fighters and had planned an offensive against Vakaga and Bamingui-Bangoran for the second half of October; more than 60 militants were neutralized and Western-made weaponry was seized, the agency added.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned of the risk of an escalation of hostilities in Western Sahara after the end of a 35-year peacekeeping mission, Al Jazeera reported. The departure of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) “does not abrogate” the people’s “inalienable right to self-determination”, the UN said. At the Security Council, Russia vetoed the resolution despite support from 11 of the 15 members, including permanent members France and the United Kingdom.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned of potential military escalation across Western Sahara following the termination of the body’s 35-year-old peacekeeping mission in the disputed territory, according to TRT World. The UN said the departure of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) “does not abrogate” the territory’s people’s “inalienable right to self-determination”.

Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadera told TASS in an interview that relations with Russia are based on the principle of full partnership in security, the economy, and personnel training.

Drones belonging to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) struck the Haya electrical transformer station and a nearby oil pumping station on Saturday in eastern Sudan, setting fires and damaging the facilities. The oil facility sits on the pipeline transporting crude to the Bashayer port on the Red Sea coast. Early this Sunday, a drone strike hit the Abu Hamad power station in River Nile State in northern Sudan, setting off a fire and loud explosions, according to eyewitnesses cited by Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency.

Health authorities in Nigeria are investigating two suspected Ebola cases in the country’s northeast, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) said on Saturday. The two individuals have been isolated while officials carry out contact identification, listing and laboratory testing, the agency said in a post on X.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed put cabinet ministers and other senior government officials through military training at the Hurso center, saying armed forces discipline can help build stronger leaders, the BBC reported. Those taking part include the speaker of the House of Federation, Muferiat Kamil, the finance minister, Fitsum Assefa, and the health minister, Mekdes Daba. The training comes as Ethiopia faces multiple security challenges, including continued fighting in parts of the northern Tigray region, conflict in Amhara and insecurity in Oromia.

Rwanda has released at least 533 people convicted of crimes during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi after they completed their prison sentences, Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe said on Friday. National Unity and Civic Engagement Minister Jean Damascene Bizimana said the group underwent rehabilitation training before release to prepare them for reintegration into society. More than 100,000 people were convicted of crimes committed during the 1994 genocide, according to TRT World.

The Ebola death toll in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has passed 5,000, according to government data cited by Al Jazeera, in an outbreak declared in May that is already the country’s deadliest on record. More than 10,000 people have been infected, and there are no approved treatments or vaccines against the rare Bundibugyo strain.

The Kremlin said that about 150 documents were signed at the Russia-Africa summit, according to the Sputnik news agency. According to AFP, in a text republished by BSS News, delegations from 48 African countries took part in the meeting, 22 of them represented by their leaders.

Nigeria’s military said troops backed by air support repelled attacks by Islamist fighters on military positions in the northeastern Borno and Yobe states and killed 48 insurgents, according to Reuters. In the same military statement, one soldier was killed and two others wounded during the counteroffensive, and troops seized 52 firearms from the ISWAP fighters, according to Xinhua.

The death toll from the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has surpassed 5,000, government data showed on Friday, Reuters reported.

Russia and the United States vetoed each other’s rival Western Sahara resolutions at the Security Council on Friday, leaving the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission there without a renewal a day before its mandate expires, according to Reuters, in a text republished by The Star. The US-drafted resolution would have cemented Morocco’s autonomy plan as the only basis for talks and scaled back the military component of the mission. The Russian-drafted resolution, which would have extended the mandate for another year without changes, was vetoed by the United States.

Switzerland's Supreme Court upheld on Friday the 20-year prison sentence of former Liberian rebel commander Alieu Kosiah for war crimes, but overturned his conviction for crimes against humanity, according to Al Jazeera.

More than 1,400 Africans have been enlisted since 2023 to fight for Russia in Ukraine, an issue notably absent from the official agenda of the Russia-Africa summit, according to France 24. In Tunisia, the families of several men who traveled to Russia for work or study are still searching for answers about the fate of their loved ones.

Mozambique’s President Daniel Chapo invited Russian companies to invest in the country’s economic development and build sustainable partnerships, speaking at the plenary session of the Russia-Africa summit, according to the Russian state agency TASS. According to 360 Mozambique, Chapo listed mechanized agriculture, industry, infrastructure, transport, logistics, energy, tourism, digital transformation and the blue economy among the priority areas for cooperation.

US President Donald Trump said Morocco had named the highway between Tiznit and Dakhla after him, a 1,055 km road in operation since January after a decade of construction; Rabat has not commented on the tribute, according to Al Jazeera. The road links southern Morocco with Mauritania and crosses Western Sahara, a territory the UN classes as non-self-governing, which Rabat calls its southern provinces and which the Polisario Front disputes, according to Le Monde.

President Vladimir Putin will hold more than 10 bilateral meetings with the leaders of African states after the Russia-Africa summit, according to TASS. The summit brought together delegations from 48 African countries, 22 of them headed by their leaders, and Putin said Russia was “prepared to further expand the geographical reach of our agricultural product shipments”, according to Africanews.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) foreign minister told AFP on Thursday that US sanctions on Rwanda were justified, because Kigali had failed to withdraw its troops from Congolese territory as pledged, in an article republished by the Hindustan Times. The United States imposed sanctions on Wednesday on Rwanda’s defense ministry and a financial institution in the country over their alleged ties to the armed group M23 fighting in the DRC.

The third Russia–Africa Summit, in the Kremlin, adopted the Declaration of the 3rd Russia–Africa Summit, the declaration on cooperation in the civilian application of artificial intelligence technologies and the partnership forum action plan for 2027–2029, according to the Kremlin. The joint declaration provides for energy sovereignty and security, reform of the United Nations (UN) Security Council to reflect current geopolitical realities and wider use of national currencies in mutual payments, according to Sputnik Africa.

Alexander Novak named agriculture, transport, mineral resources mining and electric power as key areas for cooperation with African nations, according to TASS. He cited oil, gas, gold and uranium in particular and said Russian expertise could be valuable in that area: “Our expertise can be valuable here as well.”

Operation Serengeti III, coordinated by the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), led to the arrest of 1,462 suspects and the recovery of 105 million dollars, according to Kaspersky, in a text published by AllAfrica. The action brought together 20 African countries and the United States and ran from June 29 to August 31, 2026. Financial investigators estimate losses linked to those criminal activities at 385 million dollars and identified nearly 66,000 targeted victims, with almost 11,000 malicious networks neutralized.

Vladimir Putin is expected to hold more than 20 bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the Russia-Africa Summit, attended by representatives from 48 African countries, according to Sputnik. Putin said Russia-Ethiopia trade topped $1.3 billion in January-September, more than double the whole of 2025.

Nyala Teaching Hospital, supported by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), received 36 bodies after the Sudanese Armed Forces drone strike on Dumaya market, at about 8 p.m. on Monday, 21 of them wearing civilian clothing, according to MSF. The health ministry of the Tasees government, for its part, put the toll at 188 killed and 356 injured in the attack on the market in Nyala, according to Dabanga Sudan.

More than 100 people were killed in a Sudanese military drone strike on a busy market in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur province, on Monday, with 113 wounded, according to the Associated Press (AP), which cites the Emergency Lawyers group. The Doctors Without Borders (MSF) hospital in Nyala received 36 bodies and treated 150 wounded in its emergency room after the strike, according to NBC News.

Trade between Russia and African nations has grown 1.5 times since 2022 and passed 27 billion dollars, Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, according to TASS. The Russia–Africa summit in Moscow gathered delegations from 48 countries, with 22 leaders attending, to discuss trade, security, arms and grain, according to France 24. Putin said Russia had supplied 13 million metric tons of agricultural products to Africa in the first nine months of the year.

Fighting in southern Ethiopia has pushed some 50,000 people across the border into Kenya since clashes erupted last week, the United Nations said, citing local authorities. Fatima Mohammed-Cole, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) representative for Kenya, said up to 50,000 people have crossed into Kenya, according to local authorities. The clashes pit the armies of the Somali and Oromia regions against each other.

Russia is discussing the creation of a port and logistics hub on Africa's east coast as part of the International North-South Transport Corridor, Ryabkov said, according to TASS. “In particular, we are discussing establishment of a Russian port transport and logistics hub on the east coast of Africa as part of the International North-South Transport Corridor,” he said.

Tanzania announced the discovery of 223 billion cubic feet (6.3 billion cubic meters) of natural gas in Mnazi Bay, in the south of the country — the first such find in a decade, according to the BBC. The Kasa-1X ST2 well, owned by state-run Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) and French firm Maurel & Prom, is expected to start production early next month. Energy Minister Juma Homera called the discovery a “major milestone” for the country's oil and gas sector.

Mozambique and China signed a supplementary framework agreement to restructure Mozambique's public debt with the Chinese government, according to AllAfrica. It follows a partial Chinese forgiveness of 204 million yuan (1.9 billion meticais) in interest-free loans that were due to mature in December 2024.

At the plenary session of the Russia–Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum, Vladimir Putin said that vile and cynical means of every kind are used, including tariff wars, illegitimate sanctions, economic diktat, blackmail and interference in internal affairs, according to Sputnik. Russia exported 13 million metric tons of agricultural products to African countries in the first nine months of this year, according to TASS, citing Putin. Sputnik also reported that Putin said Russia–Africa trade exceeded US$ 27 billion last year.

Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo recorded 10,060 confirmed Ebola cases, including 4,887 deaths, as of October 25, with a fatality rate of 48.6 percent, according to a report cited by Xinhua. The outbreak involves the Bundibugyo virus, with no approved vaccine or specific treatment, and was described as the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in history by the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to the agency. Kenya confirmed nine infections, including two deaths, after a patient traveled from DR Congo through Uganda to Nairobi, according to AllAfrica.

A drone strike on a crowded market in Nyala, South Darfur, killed more than 100 people and injured 113 on Monday evening, according to rights groups and local officials cited by The Associated Press and Radio Tamazuj, in a report published by the Times of India. Emergency Lawyers, a rights group tracking violence in Sudan, said in a statement on Tuesday that the strike hit Tanqong Market in the Dumaya neighborhood of Nyala, a city controlled by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said 36 bodies had arrived at its hospital in Nyala and that its emergency room had treated 150 injured people.

The journalist Lina Attalah was released from custody after the payment of a three million Egyptian pound (US$53,400) fine, her lawyer, Hassan al-Azhari, said, according to Le Monde. An Egyptian court ordered the closure of Mada Masr and fined Attalah three million Egyptian pounds (US$53,400) for running a website without a license, Al Jazeera reported. During the release procedures, she learned that she had been sentenced in absentia in 2024 to one year in prison, on charges of publishing false news and running an unlicensed website.

At least 62 people were killed in a gun attack attributed to armed criminals locally known as “bandits” in northeastern Nigeria, the country’s emergency agency said on Tuesday, according to the Times of India. According to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the gunmen attacked Binnari community in the Karim-Lamido local government area of Taraba State on October 24.

South Africa halted a new directive for processing asylum applications after violent protests broke out in Johannesburg and Durban, according to DW. The suspension of asylum applications followed recent unrest, France 24 reported.

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has topped 10,000 confirmed cases, government data showed Tuesday, as health authorities race to slow the spread of the disease in several African countries, according to AP, in a text published by NBC News. It is the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in history, and nearly half of the 10,060 people confirmed to have the virus have died, according to data from Congo's Ministry of Health.

The third Russia-Africa Summit will take place in Moscow on October 28-29, chaired by Russian President Vladimir Putin and AU chair Évariste Ndayishimiye, president of Burundi, according to the Kremlin. Representatives of almost 50 African countries will take part, including heads of state and government and leaders of the continent’s integration associations, the Kremlin said. Russia’s foreign ministry says the summit will lead to major decisions and outcomes, according to Sputnik.

At least 60 Orthodox Christians were killed in separate attacks on October 20 and 24 in Ethiopia’s Oromia region — 14 people on the 20th in Gora Silingo, in Merti, and another 46 on the 24th in Tereta, Chole and Birbo, in Shirka — according to Ethiopian Orthodox Church officials. The attacks were blamed by a local official on a newly formed rebel coalition, the Alliance for Survival, which includes the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), which has not commented but has denied previous attacks against civilians, according to the BBC.

Trade officials told Al Jazeera that the US-Israel war on Iran is driving up fuel and fertiliser costs across Africa and threatening the continent's food security. According to the outlet, the sharp rise in fertiliser prices has led many countries to cut back on its use, which is expected to affect next year's crops and the availability of food.

Algeria is to send troops to Niger, its first foreign deployment since sending forces to Egypt during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, the BBC reported. Algeria's upper house of parliament approved the move at an emergency session on Sunday, with 148 of 174 senators in favour, and the lower house backed it later, according to AFP. The troops are expected to protect energy facilities in northern Niger, near the Libyan border, including a planned pipeline that would carry Nigerian gas to Algeria. The timing and number of soldiers have not been announced.

Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) launched a coordinated drone attack on Monday against five power stations, causing mass power outages across the east of the country, a government official told AFP. The drones hit two power stations each in Al-Jazira and Gedaref states and one in White Nile state, leaving large parts of the three states without power, the official said on condition of anonymity.

Residents and the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) conflict monitor told AFP that at least 43 people were killed and 18 wounded when an unidentified armed group attacked villages in the Shirka district of Oromia, around 270 kilometres south of Addis Ababa, in a text republished by Punch. The attack on Orthodox Christian churches and homes in Ethiopia’s central state of Oromia happened on Saturday and killed more than 40 people, residents and the ACLED conflict monitor told AFP, in a text republished by CP24.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said President Vladimir Putin will hold 24 bilateral meetings during the week of the Russia-Africa summit, five of them on Tuesday, October 27, Sputnik reported. Ushakov said Putin will meet the Egyptian president, the Ethiopian prime minister and the president of the Republic of Congo on Wednesday.

Ebola deaths in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have reached 4,803 and infections 9,876, with a fatality rate of 48.6%, according to TASS. As of October 25, the death toll was double that of the 2018–2020 outbreak, according to Yonhap.

Ugandan Vice President Jessica Alupo arrived in Moscow on Monday to attend the Russia-Africa summit, according to Sputnik; she will lead Uganda’s delegation to the Third Russia-Africa Summit scheduled for October 28–29 in Moscow, a top foreign affairs official said on Friday, according to New Vision.

The UK and partners published a joint ministerial statement on the risk of famine in Sudan estimating 19.5 million people facing acute food insecurity, including 5 million at emergency levels, according to the British government. Conflict remains the main driver of the crisis, with millions displaced, critical infrastructure damaged and food production, supply chains and markets disrupted, according to AllAfrica.

Police in Taraba state said unknown gunmen raided the village of Binnari in northeast Nigeria on Friday, killing at least 10 people, looting shops and setting houses ablaze, the BBC reported. Police said they recovered 10 bodies with gunshot wounds and warned the death toll could still rise as officers kept searching the nearby bush. Survivors who spoke to Agence France-Presse (AFP) said they had counted at least 20 dead. Amnesty International's Nigeria director, Isa Sanusi, told the BBC that bereaved families the organisation spoke to said up to 50 people had died, and that the initial funeral had 37 people.

Gabon’s government said it has lifted a ban on social media imposed eight months ago, a move that triggered widespread criticism at the time, according to the BBC.

The Prospector 5 rig, of Borr Drilling, sank during jacking operations off the coast of Gabon as it was preparing for a drilling campaign, Reuters reported on Sunday. Five of the 115 people on board remain unaccounted for, according to Reuters.

Gabon restored social media on Saturday, October 24, after more than eight months of suspension, in an announcement by the Higher Authority for Communication (HAC), according to Le Monde. Facebook and TikTok, the most used networks in the country of nearly 3.5 million inhabitants, as well as YouTube and Instagram, were cut off for eight months, while WhatsApp worked partially.

Nigerian police said on Saturday that 10 bodies had been recovered as of Friday evening after a large group of gunmen on motorcycles attacked Binnari village in Taraba State in eastern Nigeria. Survivors told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency that at least 20 people were killed, and Amnesty International said in a statement on Saturday that the death toll was 40.

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced the start of the first clinical trial of an Ebola vaccine in the outbreak that began in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to Al Jazeera. Trial participants were vaccinated with the Ervebo vaccine in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province and the epicenter of the outbreak. The DRC declared its 17th and worst-ever Ebola outbreak in May and has since reported more than 9,700 cases, with deaths exceeding 4,600.

UN human rights chief Volker Türk condemned on Friday an escalation in drone strikes across Sudan this month that killed at least 306 people and injured hundreds more in the first three weeks of October alone, according to AllAfrica. The strikes, attributed to both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), hit homes, markets, hospitals, displacement sites, power stations and water sources in Kordofan, Darfur, Blue Nile, Khartoum and other states, according to the UN human rights office (OHCHR).

The population of El-Fasher, in Sudan, has dropped to about 7 per cent of last year’s high, according to Amnesty International, as reported by Middle East Eye.

The Ebola outbreak killed nearly 4,700 people and led Nigeria to record its first case in more than a decade, according to AllAfrica — a woman who returned to Abuja from Uganda on October 3, after staying in Kampala, without passing through the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The World Health Organization (WHO) said 44 contacts had been identified and were being monitored.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with Constant-Serge Bounda, Minister of Foreign Affairs, La Francophonie and Congolese Abroad of the Republic of the Congo, on Thursday in Beijing, according to the Xinhua news agency. Wang said the Republic of the Congo is the first African country to join China in signing the Early Harvest Arrangement for the Agreement on Economic Partnership for Shared Development, the Chinese state news agency reported.

The World Health Organization (WHO) classified the Ebola outbreak in Africa as complex after the disease spread to Nigeria, according to AFP. In its latest weekly bulletin, WHO Africa reported 9,637 confirmed cases and 4,646 deaths, a crude fatality ratio of 48.2% — an increase of 572 cases and 265 deaths since External Situation Report #22.

Drone strikes killed at least six schoolchildren and wounded more than 20 at a primary school in Ethiopia, according to preliminary reports. The strike hit Sana Elementary School in Dera Woreda, in South Gondar Zone of Amhara, on Tuesday, October 20, between 10:00 and 11:00 a.m., according to Addis Standard, in a text republished by AllAfrica. In a separate strike in Finaruo village, Saharti Samre Woreda, in Tigray's Southeastern Zone, four people were killed and six wounded as they loaded livestock onto a truck, local residents said. Addis Standard said it could not independently establish the circumstances of either strike or obtain a response from the Ethiopian military.

Nigeria confirmed one imported case of Ebola Bundibugyo virus disease in the Federal Capital Territory, becoming the fifth country to detect the virus since an outbreak was declared in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on May 15, 2026, the World Health Organization (WHO) said. According to the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, the patient is a woman with a recent travel history to Uganda. Her symptoms began on October 7, four days after her arrival in Nigeria; she sought care at a private health facility in Abuja on October 11, and a laboratory test confirmed the Bundibugyo virus on October 20. She is in isolation and receiving medical care. The ministry said 44 contacts had been identified and were being monitored.

Nigeria has confirmed one imported case of Ebola Bundibugyo virus disease in the Federal Capital Territory, the World Health Organization (WHO) said. The patient is a woman with a recent travel history to Uganda, and her symptoms began on 7 October, four days after her arrival in the country. According to the WHO, 44 contacts have been identified and are being monitored as efforts are intensified to find other people who may have been exposed.

Nigeria's national grid crashed 81% to 675 megawatts (MW), with nine plants off, according to Vanguard, in a text republished by AllAfrica.

Kenya’s health authorities have confirmed an eighth Ebola case in the country, a 49-year-old patient attendant, according to Chinese state agency Xinhua. Of 38 people tested on Sunday, one came back positive for the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, the agency reported. The United States (US) raised its travel advisory for Kenya as cases reached eight, according to AllAfrica.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unveiled an expanded map of the Middle East showing Israel and the United Arab Emirates aligned with the RSF, a Sudanese paramilitary accused of committing genocide in Darfur, and with separatists in Libya, Yemen and Somaliland, according to Middle East Eye. The map was part of Netanyahu’s unveiling on Sunday of a new security doctrine that emphasizes preemptive strikes and the creation of “buffer zones” on Israel’s borders.

A drone strike near a market in al-Dibab, in West Kordofan, killed 80 people on Sunday evening, most of them commuters catching rides home, according to The Guardian. A witness told the newspaper the drone struck twice at the transport hub in al-Dibab, one of the deadliest single attacks of the war.

Robert Kabera, a former sergeant major in the Rwandan army who became an outspoken critic of President Paul Kagame, was found beheaded in neighbouring Uganda, the BBC reported. The remains of Kabera, who served in the Rwandan army before fleeing in 2020, were discovered on Saturday in a bush in the Kamengo area, according to the Associated Press, in text republished by CP24.

The Ebola outbreak in Congo has reached the country’s eighth province, Nord-Ubangi, on the border with the Central African Republic, where the Health Ministry recorded two cases, one of them fatal, in men in their 20s in the Wapinda health zone, according to the Korea Herald. Since the outbreak was declared in mid-May, authorities have recorded at least 9,400 cases and more than 4,500 deaths, the deadliest toll in Congo’s history.

Sudan’s army said it struck Rapid Support Forces (RSF) command centers in South Darfur, but the RSF and its allies say a crowded livestock market was hit. A drone strike on a cattle market in Nyala killed 30 people on Friday, the Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported. In a statement, the paramilitary group said the strike targeted a densely populated civilian area and that preliminary reports indicated 17 women and five children were among the dead.

Kenya confirmed four new cases of the Ebola Bundibugyo virus, bringing the total to seven, including one death, and three of the new cases are health workers who treated the country’s first patient, according to Kenya’s Ministry of Health in a statement posted on X on Saturday. All four were in quarantine when they developed symptoms and were quickly isolated.

Cameroon’s President Paul Biya, 93, returned to the country on August 20 after spending about 10 weeks abroad. His prolonged absence fueled speculation about his health and whereabouts, including unverified claims that he had died, according to Al Jazeera. His return raised expectations of a government reshuffle, but no new government had been appointed by October 6, and the vice presidency, restored through a constitutional amendment in April, remained vacant, according to the same report.

An Ebola death in Kenya last week is highlighting the urgency of Africa’s public health emergency preparedness, with governments across the continent committing their national budgets to the health sector, according to Inter Press Service (IPS), in a text republished by AllAfrica. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warned that the current Ebola strain was spreading so fast that, for emergency health workers, “it was like fighting a megafire.”

Ethiopia’s federal government has established a six-month caretaker administration for the Tigray region, tasked with restoring security, rebuilding damaged infrastructure and organizing elections, according to AllAfrica. The government said repeated efforts to resolve the conflict in Tigray under the Pretoria peace agreement have failed, blaming the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) for obstructing implementation.

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday put forward four principles for the constructive participation of all parties in the settlement of hotspot issues in Africa, according to Xinhua. The first principle is Africa-led leadership, with the African people at the center of regional affairs, and Xi said wars and unilateral sanctions cannot fundamentally resolve conflicts between countries.

Former president Joseph Kabila announced on October 12, in Goma, a new political-military alliance with the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group, according to France 24. The deal was presented at a joint press conference at his residence in Goma, a city under the group’s control since January 2025, and Kabila leads the Front for the Refoundation of the Nation (FRN), according to Deutsche Welle.

Ethiopia accused Eritrea of an “all-out invasion” of its northern Tigray region and warned it will defend itself, according to the BBC. In a letter to the UN Security Council, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedion Timothewos called the troop entry a “blatant act of aggression” and said Eritrean forces had advanced up to 60km into Tigray; Eritrea responded that it faces an “unprovoked war of aggression” from its neighbour. For The New York Times, the two countries, once allies, are edging toward war.

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he recognizes the breakaway republic of Somaliland as “a totally different country”, according to Middle East Eye.

Former Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila has been named the leader of a new rebel coalition seeking to oust the government, according to the BBC. The Front for the Refoundation of the Nation (FRN) said it aims to coordinate “resistance forces” to end “tyranny” in the country and will pursue the goal “by all means, including force”. The coalition was announced at a press conference at Kabila’s residence in Goma, the largest city in eastern DR Congo, which has been under the control of the M23 since last year.

An eruption of crude oil and gas in Niger was classified by the Ministry of Petroleum as an environmental incident of exceptional gravity, characterized by the projection of large quantities of crude oil and gas to more than ten meters high, according to Le Monde. According to the ministry, the eruption, the first of its kind in the country, occurred on September 25 in Niger’s eastern desert, caused no deaths, but two employees were hospitalized and treated for injuries. The incident took place at the Goumeri W8 well, in the Agadem oil block, about 1,700 km from Niamey, operated by CNPC Niger Petroleum S.A., a local subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).

Conflict and drought are increasing the risk of famine across Sudan’s Darfur and Kordofan regions, warned the global food crisis monitor (IPC), which says food insecurity, acute malnutrition and excess mortality will likely intensify. In May, nearly 19.5 million people, more than 40% of the population, were facing high levels of acute food insecurity, according to the Associated Press, which also reports a severe El Niño-linked drought affecting more than half of Sudan, causing localized crop failures.

Former Democratic Republic of the Congo president Joseph Kabila will lead a new political-military movement with the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group, according to France 24. The alliance was presented at a joint press conference at Kabila’s residence in Goma. The Associated Press reported that Kabila launched on Monday a new political and military coalition of groups opposed to the current government.

An air strike killed at least 72 civilians who had been prospecting for gold in a border region of Sudan, the BBC reported. The attack occurred hundreds of miles from the front lines of Sudan’s devastating civil war, according to The New York Times. The Khartoum-based rights group Emergency Lawyers accused the Egyptian military of targeting civilian miners in the North Wadi area of Jabal al-Uqaydat, according to Al Jazeera.

Intercommunal clashes killed about 71 people in South Sudan’s town of Rumbek, in Lakes State, according to the caretaker government. A statement from South Sudan’s interim Ministry of Information said about 71 people were reportedly killed, including four soldiers, and that the exact number of fatalities has yet to be verified. Witnesses told AFP that a group of people from outside Rumbek tried to take control of the town and briefly succeeded; the attackers withdrew when police and military reinforcements arrived.

72 civilian miners died in a Saturday airstrike on the Egypt-Sudan border, according to preliminary information from the Emergency Lawyers organisation, cited by AFP, in a text republished by France24, with the casualty count still being verified. The organisation blamed the Egyptian Air Force for the attack, and AFP said it could not independently confirm the account.

At least 139 people, including children, died after a boat carrying 305 migrants capsized off the coast of Djibouti, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which released the toll on Sunday, in information from the Associated Press (AP) republished by NBC News. At least 84 people remained missing, in one of the deadliest crossings from the Horn of Africa to the Arabian Peninsula.

The Emergency Lawyers group accused the Egyptian air force of a strike on Saturday that killed 72 civilian miners at a gold mine on the Sudan-Egypt border, according to the group's preliminary information, which said documentation and verification efforts were ongoing. Sudan Tribune reported that at least five strikes hit the Al-Uqaydat mine, near the Al-Ansari trading market in River Nile state, according to Mirghani Malik, an artisanal miner in the area. The outlet said it could not independently verify the casualty toll or identify the aircraft.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said the Alimbongo health zone, in North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), reported ebola cases for the first time, with four confirmed cases and two deaths as of October 6, according to Al Jazeera. The WHO also recorded 8,728 confirmed cases and 4,205 deaths in the DRC as of October 6. The same day, Kenya confirmed its first imported case of Bundibugyo virus disease, also according to the WHO.

Drones attributed to Ethiopian government forces struck Eritrean troops, vehicles and ammunition near the northern Ethiopian town of Adigrat between Wednesday night and Thursday morning, according to The Media Line, in a text published by the Jerusalem Post. In an October 8 letter to the United Nations (UN) Security Council, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedion Timothewos accused Eritrea of invading Ethiopian territory and demanded that its troops withdraw. Eritrea on Saturday asked the council to condemn Ethiopia’s “declaration of war”, warning it could destabilise the region, according to AFP, in a text published by LBC.

The United Nations (UN) Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2830, extending the arms embargo in Darfur until December 11, to allow more time for negotiations. The text also extended the mandate of the panel of experts monitoring the sanctions until January 11, 2027. A United States proposal to widen the embargo to the entire Sudanese territory was not approved, after opposition from Russia and China, according to Al Jazeera.

Erik Prince signed a wide-ranging contract in late 2024 to provide security and mining services to the government of Democratic Republic of the Congo President Félix Tshisekedi, according to The New York Times.

A drone strike in Sudan’s Blue Nile state killed at least 30 displaced people, including women and children, and wounded dozens, according to Al Jazeera. The governor of Wad al-Mahi, Mahjoub Al-Sheikh, said the drone belonged to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and hit the centre of the province, killing 26 women and four children, according to AFP.

Ethiopia and Eritrea each accused the other of starting a war of aggression on Friday, as an internal Ethiopian conflict threatened to escalate into a regional war, according to France 24, in a text with AFP. A foreign security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP they estimated 5,000 to 8,000 Eritrean soldiers were present in Tigray. Witnesses told AFP that the rebels had lost two other cities in the region, Shire and Adigrat.

Anti-migrant protests turned violent in Soweto, Johannesburg, and Durban on Thursday, with dozens of cars set ablaze and foreign-run businesses forced to close, according to police. Acting national police commissioner Puleng Dimpane said 10 vehicles were torched in Johannesburg and 14 in Durban, where three people were arrested. The protesters oppose a July Constitutional Court decision that removes procedural barriers to seeking asylum, including for people who entered South Africa irregularly. Government spokesperson William Baloyi attributed the violence to deliberately false information about the ruling and said it does not automatically grant refuge, permanent residence or rights to undocumented migrants.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) says the deportation of migrants from the US to third-party African countries is against the law and exploits suffering to deter migration, according to the BBC. Since Donald Trump returned to the White House in 2025, more than 500 people have been sent to African countries where they are not citizens, the group says, citing US data. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said “third country removals are an essential public safety tool that remove the most dangerous criminal illegal aliens from our streets”.

Eritrean troops have entered Ethiopia, raising fears of a direct confrontation with Addis Ababa, according to Le Monde. In recent days, the troops have deployed around a town in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, a local official and residents said, after two weeks of internal conflict threatening a wider regional war, according to AFP, in a report published by Modern Ghana.

Mali’s army, supported by Russian paramilitary forces, re-entered the northern town of Kidal, forcing Tuareg separatists to withdraw, according to Deutsche Welle. The Azawad Liberation Front said it decided to carry out a strategic and controlled withdrawal from Kidal, without direct fighting, citing disproportionate use of air power by Russian mercenaries of the Africa Corps. Mali’s transitional government said, in a statement read on state TV, that the retake was carried out by air and ground forces with the support of Russia’s Africa Corps, according to the Associated Press.

The eastern-based House of Representatives elected Al-Salhin Abdulnabi as speaker on Tuesday, replacing Aguila Saleh after nearly 12 years in the post, and elected Tarek al-Ashtar and Mesbah Douma as first and second deputy speakers, respectively, according to Reuters. The 170-member parliament voted to replace Saleh with Al-Salhin Abdulnabi, with the spokesperson’s announcement on X, according to Al Jazeera.

Kenya announced on Tuesday the country’s first death from Ebola, according to DW. The patient travelled overland to Kampala, Uganda’s capital, and then took a flight to Nairobi on October 3. The health minister said 28 people who came into contact with the patient, including relatives and health workers, had been identified and would be quarantined. The case makes Kenya the fourth country to record an Ebola case in the current outbreak, declared in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in mid-May.

The Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) announced a strategic and controlled withdrawal of its forces from the city of Kidal, in northern Mali, according to AFP, in a text republished by Arab News. Kidal had been captured by the Tuareg separatists in April, alongside allied jihadists, in attacks aimed at weakening Mali’s junta rulers. Mali’s armed forces announced large-scale operations in the region.

Kenya has confirmed its first case of Ebola, a Kenyan citizen who had been living in the Democratic Republic of Congo for the past seven years, the BBC reported. The patient died days after arriving in Nairobi. Health Minister Duale said 28 contacts have been identified so far, including family members and health workers. The DRC has recorded more than 8,000 cases and over 4,000 deaths, according to The Guardian.

US envoy Massad Boulos met on Saturday, October 4, with Sudanese General Abdel-Fattah Burhan at a luncheon hosted by the Egyptian president, according to the AP in a text republished by The Hindu, and said the efforts aim to restore security and stability and begin reconstruction and development through an inclusive Sudanese-owned national dialogue.

Ethiopian federal forces were in full control of Mekelle, the Tigray rebels' regional capital, according to a local journalist, on Sunday, as Ethiopia's regional rivals gathered in Egypt. The presidents of Egypt, Somalia, Sudan and Eritrea, all with difficult relations with Ethiopia, were set to meet in Alamein on Sunday to discuss the conflict, according to AFP. The People's Liberation Front of Tigray (TPLF) said it had temporarily moved out of Mekelle to operate from somewhere else, according to Al Jazeera.

Federal forces took control of Mekelle, the regional capital of Tigray, after leaders and troops of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) abandoned the city without a fight on Saturday, according to AFP, in a text published by The Hindu. The presidents of Egypt, Somalia, Sudan and Eritrea, all of whom have difficult relations with Ethiopia, were set to meet in the Egyptian city of Alamein on Sunday to discuss the conflict. Ethiopia has accused Eritrea of directly backing the Tigray rebels, with the added support of Sudan and Egypt, which all three countries deny.

Ethiopia’s government forces said they seized Mekelle from Tigray fighters after a week of intense battles. The federal army and pro-government fighters recaptured the main airport in the capital of the northern Tigray region, with the rebels seen leaving the city, according to unnamed sources. One source with knowledge of events in the city and a humanitarian source told Reuters that the Ethiopian National Defence Forces regained control of Alula Aba Nega Airport in Mekelle.

Algeria sent fighter jets to Niger in late August to help thwart a coup attempt in Niamey, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said, according to Al Jazeera. Algeria’s Defense Ministry said that two patrols of Su-30 jets landed at Niamey airport, accompanied by a tanker, at the request of Nigerien authorities, according to AeroTime.

Explosions sounded this week in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, a city rarely under direct attack, according to The Washington Post. Clashes between government troops and rebel groups have killed scores of civilians in the north in recent days and are spilling south toward the pilgrimage site of Lalibela, according to The Washington Post.

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said the country will not accept an Israeli presence “under any circumstances” and will resist any attempts to be pulled into the Middle East’s crises, according to Al Jazeera. Israel plans to establish a naval base in Berbera, on the Gulf of Aden, and is seeking access to the city’s airport, according to Ahram Online. Berbera is a port city on the Gulf of Aden coast in Somaliland, the self-declared republic in northwestern Somalia that Israel recognised last year and that Mogadishu claims, according to Al Jazeera.

Ethiopian federal forces and pro-government fighters recaptured the main airport in Mekelle, the capital of the northern Tigray region, with rebels seen leaving the city, according to unnamed sources cited by Reuters and AFP in a text published by Al Jazeera. The airport is about 10 km from the centre of Mekelle and was one of three airfields seized by the rebels at the start of the fighting, on September 23. Al Jazeera notes that it could not independently confirm the reports, with media access heavily restricted in Ethiopia and significant communications blackouts.

Ethiopia’s army is advancing toward the Tigrayan capital as fighting intensifies, according to France24. The African Union urged all sides to show restraint amid the escalation. Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) Vice President Amanuel Assefa said the situation is now one of “full-blown war”, according to AFP, as reported by the Council on Foreign Relations.

Leonie von Braun, senior trial lawyer at the International Criminal Court (ICC) and lead investigator in the Kony case, told France24 that the latest information indicates the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) is still alive, active and present within the group, today on a much smaller scale than in the 2000s; given his age, he is probably not on the front lines of operations. In the Central African Republic, authorities report a resurgence of attacks in the east and southeast of the country, with at least 25 children abducted in several raids on villages, in attacks attributed to Kony's militia.

The Sudanese army says it has taken control of al-Mazroub in North Kordofan state following fierce battles with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), according to Al Jazeera. A Sudanese army source told Al Jazeera that al-Mazroub was the RSF's largest stronghold in North Kordofan.

Ethiopia ordered the closure of its embassy in Eritrea and gave 10 Eritrean diplomats 48 hours to leave the country, according to ChimpReports. On Thursday, Eritrea said it was breaking diplomatic ties with Ethiopia, in response to the earlier expulsion of its diplomats from Addis Ababa, according to AFP, in a text published by Ahram Online. Eritrea's foreign ministry said it had no option but to reciprocate and sever all diplomatic ties: “Eritrea has no option but to reciprocate in kind and sever all diplomatic ties with Ethiopia with all the negative corollaries that this entails,” the ministry said in a statement on X.

Blasts were heard overnight in Addis Ababa, hours after the Ethiopian capital instituted a ban on drone-flying in the city and surrounding areas, three diplomatic sources told Reuters. A source linked to the Ethiopian Peoples’ Forces Alliance for Survival told Al Jazeera the alliance had carried out several drone strikes in the capital, including some targeting the military’s headquarters. On the ground, government forces advanced from Amhara deep into Tigray, reaching within about 40 kilometres (25 miles) of Mekelle, according to Al Jazeera’s Muhammed Taha Tawakel, reporting from Afar on Wednesday.

The Trump administration will end health funding to Zimbabwe on Wednesday, including support for efforts to fight HIV and other infectious diseases, The Washington Post reported. The cut, at the end of September, follows the collapse of negotiations over a bilateral US-proposed deal, derailed by a data-sharing clause, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

Fighting between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and Ethiopia’s federal government, led by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, resumed on Wednesday, raising fears of a return to the 2020-2022 civil war, in which an estimated 600,000 people died. Sudan’s military denied in a statement on Sunday the accusations by Ethiopia’s army commander that Sudan and Egypt back armed groups fighting Ethiopian troops in the north of the country, calling them “baseless”, according to Al Jazeera.

Ethiopia’s army chief accused Egypt and Sudan of supporting a new alliance of armed groups trying to remove Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, according to Euronews. Marshal Birhanu Jula said that neither Eritrea nor the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) could achieve anything alone without external support, according to France 24. The accusation comes as fighting has resumed in northern Ethiopia, according to Euronews.

A vessel carrying fish traders capsized in Lake Kivu in eastern Congo, killing at least 12 people and leaving dozens missing, authorities said on Sunday. The vessel was carrying more than 50 people when it capsized on Saturday night near Idjwi Island in South Kivu province; about 15 people were rescued, according to Félix Habiragi, chief of the nearby village of Kisheke.

Ethiopia’s Army Chief of Staff Field Marshal Berhanu Jula said the army was responding with “wisdom and restraint” to what he called provocations from the Tigray front, according to Al Jazeera. The fighting has spread from Tigray into neighbouring Afar and Amhara regions after seven armed groups announced an alliance committed to removing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government.

The European Union (EU) announced on Saturday a 710 million euro package for people hit by crises, natural disasters or conflict, most of it for Africa, according to Le Monde. Of the total, 380 million euros go to sub-Saharan Africa for protecting vulnerable migrants, supporting voluntary return and reintegration, strengthening migration governance and responding to forced displacement. Another 252 million euros come from the emergency aid reserve for conflict, forced displacement, epidemics and natural catastrophes, including people in sub-Saharan Africa, the Palestinian territories, Lebanon and Ukraine to prepare for the coming winter.

At least 30 men have been executed in eastern Libya since late August after being sentenced to death in secretive military trials, and at least 50 others remain at imminent risk of execution. According to Amnesty International, forces loyal to Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar resumed executions on 23 August, the first in Libya since 2010, in trials marked by torture.

Africa’s campaign for permanent representation on the United Nations (UN) Security Council is back at the centre of the 81st General Assembly, according to Al Jazeera. Nigeria’s Vice President Kashim Shettima, who delivered President Bola Tinubu’s national statement, called for at least two permanent seats for the continent, with veto powers for as long as the veto exists. Changing the permanent membership requires an amendment to the UN Charter: under Article 108, that requires approval by two-thirds of the General Assembly.

A plane travelling from Kikwit to Kinshasa crashed while trying to land in Kenge, in Kwango province, after a technical fault, according to Al Jazeera. Everyone on board died — 12 bodies were burned beyond recognition and the pilot’s lifeless body was found outside the aircraft. Fourteen people died, including two senior military officials, according to The Hindu. An investigation has been opened into the cause of the accident.

Fighting has erupted again in Tigray, in northern Ethiopia, between regional forces and the national army. Tigrayan forces seized control of the airports in Mekelle, Axum and Shire, according to the United Nations, in a Reuters report republished by CNBC Africa. The African Union (AU) called for an immediate cessation of hostilities and a return to direct talks.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday, September 25, 2026, that the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has reached two new health zones: Bulu, in South Ubangi governorate, on the border with the Central African Republic, and Dungu, in Haut-Uele province, on the border with South Sudan. The additional cases bring the number of affected health zones to 63 across seven provinces, as authorities struggle to control the outbreak. As of September 23, the DRC had reported 7,890 confirmed cases and 3,799 deaths, according to the WHO.

More than 55,000 Sudanese refugees have fled to Chad this year, with arrivals through the border areas of Adre and Tine rising to 400 people a day, about 20 times the daily rate of previous months, according to the United Nations (UN) refugee agency (UNHCR), cited by Al Jazeera. The UN says it has received only 20 percent of the $1.6 billion needed for the response, a gap of $1.28 billion, Al Jazeera reports.

African leaders returned to the 81st United Nations (UN) General Assembly to demand a Security Council reform that would grant the continent permanent seats, PBS News reports. From the podium, Kenya’s presidency put the contradiction bluntly: “every nation is sovereign and equal under the Charter, yet on the gravest question of war and peace, five nations possess a permanent power that the other 188 do not,” according to PBS News. The New York Times also recorded the appeal.

Telecom and internet networks stopped working in Tigray on Friday, 25 September 2026, amid the escalation of fighting in northern Ethiopia. Services run by state-owned Ethio Telecom were completely cut, the BBC reported, and internet monitor NetBlocks detected a disruption corresponding to reports of a telecoms blackout in the region, Al Jazeera reported.

Donald Trump’s Africa envoy, Massad Boulos, said each side in Sudan’s war believes it can secure a decisive military victory, in an interview with France 24. The United States says it is working with regional and international partners on a diplomatic push to secure a humanitarian truce in the country, The National reported.

Ethiopia’s army said it repelled attacks by Tigrayan forces and their allies in parts of the north of the country, its first military statement since fighting resumed on September 24, 2026, according to the BBC. On Wednesday, September 23, 2026, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which dominates the region, seized control of three airports from federal police, including the one in Mekelle, and Ethiopian Airlines cancelled flights to Tigray, the BBC reports. Residents of Mekelle said the city is calm but tense, with fighting outside the city limits and the risk of communications being cut and of cash shortages, according to the BBC.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Uganda at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly for erecting a statue of his brother Yonatan at the place in Entebbe where he was killed, according to the speech transcript. The monument was unveiled on August 1 at Entebbe’s old terminal by Uganda’s military chief, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the Associated Press (AP) reports. Netanyahu spoke on September 24 before a hall largely emptied by delegations walking out, according to Pulse Uganda.

Rebels in Ethiopia’s Tigray region seized local airports and launched attacks into the neighbouring Afar and Amhara regions, saying they were once again in “full-blown war” with the federal government, RFI reports, citing AFP. Ethiopian forces battled overnight to repel an assault in the Afar region, while monitor NetBlocks recorded an internet disruption in the north of the country, consistent with a telecoms blackout in Tigray.

Young men in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region say they are leaving because they fear being forcibly recruited to fight as political and military tensions rise, according to Al Jazeera; Human Rights Watch reported in July 2026 that Tigrayan authorities and forces had forcibly recruited civilians, including children as young as 15, since at least April 2026; the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) disputes the allegations, saying young people are joining voluntarily, the outlet reports.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow expects the national leaders of the Sahel to attend the Russia-Africa summit, scheduled for 28 and 29 October in Moscow, according to the state news agency TASS. Russia’s foreign ministry says the dialogue with the Confederation of Sahel States is moving fast and cites the consultations held on 8 July in Niamey.

South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir dissolved the Transitional Government of National Unity on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, and appointed a caretaker administration to lead the country to the December 22 election, the first since independence in 2011. The decree, read out by the state broadcaster, removed all vice presidents, ministers and local administrators and dissolved the national and state assemblies; the judiciary and security institutions remained in place, and Kiir stays in office “during the election period until the next elected president assumes office”, according to Al Jazeera. The move came a day after parliament passed amendments to the National Elections Act that unlinked the vote from the completion of a permanent constitution and a census, changes Kiir signed late on Monday and that the South Sudan Opposition Alliance rejected, according to Reuters, saying they were made without adequate consultation among the parties to the 2018 peace deal. Kiir’s longtime rival Riek Machar, who leads the main opposition party, has been under house arrest since March 2025 and is on trial on charges including treason and murder, which he denies. A permanent constitution, voter registration and the unification of armed forces loyal to rival parties all remain outstanding. Amnesty International called the decree a step toward the vote and urged conditions for people to vote and stand; analysts cited by Agence France-Presse said the amendments concentrate power in the president. The civil war that ended in 2018 killed about 400,000 people and displaced millions, according to the United Nations.

Armed men stormed a house in the KwaMakhutha township, about 30 kilometers south of Durban, on the night of Tuesday, September 22, 2026, and killed at least 11 people attending a party, including a woman believed to be pregnant; three others were wounded, according to South African police cited by The Hindu and Al Jazeera. KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thamsanqa Ntuli said the assailants entered shortly before 11 p.m. (UTC-4) and that the motive is not known; local broadcaster eNCA reported that the victims were forced into a single room before the shooting. Police said some of the dead were already on the crime intelligence radar over suspected illegal activities and that a feud between rival groupings cannot be ruled out. South Africa has one of the world’s highest murder rates, with an average of about 60 killings a day in a population of roughly 62 million, according to Al Jazeera.