Global Pulse

标签： Africa

非洲

  • No radiation leak after ‘contamination’ events at Africa’s only nuclear plant, regulator says

    No radiation leak after ‘contamination’ events at Africa’s only nuclear plant, regulator says

    CAPE TOWN, South Africa – Africa’s only operational commercial nuclear power plant, the Koeberg Power Station located off South Africa’s west coast, has been the site of three separate airborne radioactive contamination events in early July, but national regulators have confirmed there is zero risk to the general public and no release of radioactive material into the surrounding environment.

    The National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) released a public statement Thursday detailing the nature of the incidents, which took place on June 30, July 2, and July 7 respectively. All three events stemmed from temporary power outages that knocked out ventilation systems during scheduled maintenance work at the facility, leading to elevated levels of airborne radioactive contamination confined within the plant’s controlled boundaries.

    According to the NNR, all contamination was successfully contained within the power station’s secured structures, with no off-site radiological impact detected. Workers who may have encountered elevated radiation levels during the incidents underwent immediate mandatory screenings, and results showed recorded contamination levels were lower than the radiation exposure a patient receives during a routine dental X-ray, well below international safety thresholds.

    Regulators added that the events do not meet international criteria for classification as a nuclear or radiological incident or emergency, though ongoing supplementary inspections are underway to confirm plant safety and identify root causes for the ventilation failures.

    Located approximately 40 kilometers north of Cape Town, South Africa’s second-largest urban center, Koeberg Power Station first entered service in the 1980s. Operated by South Africa’s state-owned national power utility Eskom, the plant’s two reactors contribute roughly 5% of the country’s total electricity generation. Late last year, the facility secured official 20-year life extensions, approving continued operation through the 2040s.

    The three incidents come as South Africa pursues plans to expand its commercial nuclear energy capacity, a move driven by the country’s long-running unreliable coal-reliant energy grid that has struggled to meet the needs of its growing population. For years, South Africa’s energy supply has been dominated by coal-fired power generation, a source that contributes heavily to carbon emissions and has been plagued by persistent maintenance failures and rolling blackouts.

    South Africa is not alone in shifting toward nuclear power to meet rising energy demands and cut carbon emissions. Despite ongoing safety concerns voiced by anti-nuclear activists, who reference historic disasters including the 1986 Chernobyl explosion and the 2011 Fukushima meltdown, a growing number of nations are expanding nuclear development. Across the African continent, multiple countries are advancing their own first commercial nuclear projects: Egypt, for example, is currently constructing its first nuclear power plant featuring four large Russian-built reactors, which the World Nuclear Association projects will come online around 2030 and supply roughly 10% of Egypt’s total electricity needs.

  • Fraud crackdown on Ghana ID cards makes digital checks compulsory – photocopies banned

    Fraud crackdown on Ghana ID cards makes digital checks compulsory – photocopies banned

    Ghana has implemented sweeping new regulations requiring all businesses and public institutions across the country to verify the Ghana Card, the nation’s official biometric national identity document, through a dedicated mobile biometric scanning application, in a major push to strengthen national security and crack down on widespread identity-related fraud.

    Previously, most organizations relied on superficial visual inspections or simple photocopying of the national ID card to record customer or visitor information. This lax verification system created critical loopholes that allowed criminal actors to successfully carry out identity impersonation, enabling fraudulent activities ranging from financial scams to unauthorized access to public and private services.

    Under Ghana’s national identification framework, all citizens and legal foreign residents are required to hold the plastic biometric Ghana Card, which was rolled out progressively over the past 10 years. Today, the document has become an indispensable part of everyday life for Ghanaians: access to banking services, mobile SIM card registration, passport applications, and driver’s license issuance all require a valid Ghana Card.

    The card stores detailed biometric information collected by Ghana’s National Identification Authority (NIA), including all 10 fingerprints, high-resolution iris scans, a portrait photograph, and the cardholder’s official signature. The new regulation replaces the outdated verification process with a mandatory digital check: any entity processing ID-based transactions must now use the official NIA mobile app to scan the card and cross-validate its embedded biometric data against the card’s presented details.

    In an official statement, NIA Chief Wisdom Yayra Koku Deku confirmed that the old practices of photocopying or visually inspecting Ghana Cards for transaction verification are now criminal offenses. “Biometric verification is now mandatory,” Deku emphasized.

    Penalties for non-compliance are strict: organizations that continue to rely on the old verification methods face prosecution and fines as high as 24,000 Ghanaian cedis, equivalent to approximately $2,100 or £1,550. Individual violators will face fines of up to 6,000 Ghanaian cedis, around $525 or £390.

    The NIA has called on all institutions that have not yet completed onboarding to the official digital verification system to begin the registration and integration process immediately. Deku added that the Ghanaian government will host public briefings in the coming days to outline implementation timelines for the amended regulations and outline support measures to help organizations achieve full compliance.

    This report was supplemented with additional on-the-ground reporting by Thomas Naadi in Accra. For more coverage of news across the African continent, visit BBCAfrica.com, and follow BBC Africa on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

  • ‘Moment of joy’ as Uganda discharges last Ebola patient

    ‘Moment of joy’ as Uganda discharges last Ebola patient

    Uganda has reached a critical milestone in its fight against the ongoing regional Ebola outbreak, with the country’s last confirmed active patient discharged from treatment facilities. No confirmed active infections remain across the nation, officials confirmed, triggering a 42-day mandatory waiting period that will end with an official declaration of Ebola-free status if no new cases are documented.

    The outbreak in Uganda traces back to early May, when health authorities confirmed the first case of the Bundibugyo Ebola strain in a patient who crossed into the country from the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to seek medical care. The DRC has been the epicenter of the current regional outbreak. Over the course of the response, Uganda recorded a total of 20 confirmed cases, the vast majority of which were travelers crossing from the DRC, with just two fatalities reported.

    In contrast, the Ebola outbreak in the DRC has grown far more severe: official government data from the central African nation shows more than 2,000 confirmed infections and 796 deaths to date. Experts warn the actual caseload is likely far higher, with a World Health Organization official noting earlier this week that the true number of infections could be four times the official recorded figure. The virus is also believed to have circulated undetected in DRC communities for months before the outbreak was formally declared just two months ago, leaving authorities playing catch-up in their response.

    Speaking after the discharge of Uganda’s final patient, Health Minister Dr. Chris Baryomunsi called the milestone a momentous occasion. “It demonstrates that with early detection, prompt treatment and a strong health system, Ebola can be defeated,” he said. Despite the positive development, Uganda’s Ministry of Health has urged the public to maintain caution and remain vigilant against a potential resurgence of the virus. In a public statement posted to X, the ministry advised, “If you develop symptoms such as fever, vomiting, diarrhoea or unexplained bleeding, seek immediate medical care.”

    Uganda has built up robust response protocols over the past two decades, having weathered multiple Ebola outbreaks during that period. Current measures include immediate isolation of suspected cases, comprehensive contact tracing to stop chains of transmission, and widespread public outreach to educate communities on symptom recognition and prevention. From the earliest days of the current outbreak, Uganda activated tightened entry screening and other public health protocols to limit the spread of the virus from the DRC, a strategy that public health experts say has contributed to its successful containment so far.

    As Uganda celebrates its progress, the DRC continues to struggle to bring the outbreak under control. The escalating crisis has prompted new travel restrictions from the United States, which recently announced that all U.S. citizens returning home after visiting the DRC must complete a 21-day quarantine in a third country before being allowed entry into the U.S. Previously, travelers from the DRC were able to enter the U.S. through designated airports after passing through routine health screening.

    This new policy has drawn concern from international aid groups. Franklin Graham, CEO of an organization that operates multiple Ebola treatment centers in the region, told Reuters the restriction could discourage U.S. medical workers from volunteering to respond to the outbreak in affected areas, worsening the already strained public health response.

    Ebola is a viral illness that targets the body’s immune system and organs. The virus is naturally hosted by wild animals, most commonly fruit bats, and zoonotic spillovers to humans typically occur when people handle infected animal carcasses. Once established in human populations, the virus spreads exclusively through direct contact with infected bodily fluids such as blood.

  • DR Congo Ebola outbreak spreading faster than reported: UN

    DR Congo Ebola outbreak spreading faster than reported: UN

    Two months after an Ebola outbreak emerged in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United Nations has issued a stark warning that the epidemic is spreading far more rapidly than official tracking has captured, with its true scale potentially reaching two to four times the size of published case counts.

    As of July 11, official data logged nearly 2,000 confirmed infections and more than 700 deaths across five affected provinces, already ranking this event as the third-largest recorded Ebola epidemic in history and the fastest-growing outbreak the global health community has faced in modern history. Chikwe Ihekweazu, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, confirmed the alarming acceleration following a visit to the outbreak’s epicenter in Bunia, Ituri Province, telling reporters in Geneva that the past month has seen the sharpest single-month case growth of any Ebola outbreak the WHO has ever responded to.

    In recent days, Ihekweazu noted, the outbreak has hit some of its highest single-day infection peaks, with more than 80 new confirmed cases recorded in a single 24-hour window. The most worrying trend, health officials emphasize, is that a large share of new fatalities are occurring in community settings, with patients dying before they can reach formal treatment facilities. Caused by the Bundibugyo Ebola strain – for which no approved vaccines or targeted treatments currently exist – the outbreak has already spread beyond its original Ituri Province epicenter to neighboring Haut-Uele and Tshopo provinces. While roughly 95 percent of cases remain concentrated in Ituri, hidden, untraced transmission chains are driving the epidemic’s expansion.

    WHO epidemiological modeling estimates that the true caseload is vastly undercounted. “You have to imagine that this is a fire. There’s something driving the fire in its heart, and it’s also expanding at the same time,” Ihekweazu said. Even with improvements to diagnostic testing and disease surveillance, roughly 80 percent of new confirmed cases are not linked to already known contact chains, confirming that large portions of transmission remain undetected by response teams.

    The outbreak has also taken a heavy toll on the frontline workforce: the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has confirmed at least 112 infections and 35 deaths among healthcare workers responding to the crisis. For aid organizations operating on the ground, rapidly shifting outbreak dynamics have made containment efforts far more challenging. Frederick Lai Manantsoa, emergency coordinator for Doctors Without Borders in DR Congo, explained that persistent insecurity, large-scale population movement and internal displacement have made routine surveillance and contact tracing increasingly difficult. “The success of the response depends on how quickly we can identify suspected cases, isolate them and cut the chain of transmission,” Manantsoa said. “There are several dynamics of the outbreak which make surveillance and contact tracing extremely complex.”

    Despite the grim outlook, global and local health authorities have recorded important progress toward addressing the outbreak. This week marked the launch of new clinical trials focused on developing effective treatments and preventive interventions for the Bundibugyo strain, marking a new phase in the global response. The EBO-PEP platform trial, based in Ituri Province, aims to recruit nearly 1,000 high-risk contacts across DR Congo and neighboring Uganda to test whether antiviral medications can prevent infection after exposure to the virus.

    Africa CDC has pledged $1 million to support the trial, while the governments of DR Congo and South Africa have committed an additional $5 million in combined funding. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called the trial a potential turning point for Ebola response, noting that the research could create a “game-changing approach” for preventing infection among exposed people and improve global capacity to bring future outbreaks under control quickly.

  • Eleven people die in fire at Algerian foster care home

    Eleven people die in fire at Algerian foster care home

    A devastating fire that broke out at a foster care facility in central Algiers, the capital city of Algeria, has claimed 11 lives and left 19 others hurt, according to the country’s General Directorate for Civil Protection. As of 6:50 a.m. local time on Thursday morning – which translates to 5:50 a.m. GMT – emergency response teams and firefighters were still on site working to fully extinguish the blaze and secure the area.

    In an official statement released Thursday, the civil protection department confirmed that five people with special needs were successfully evacuated from the burning structure and moved to a secure location, where they are now receiving care. At the time of this report, local authorities have not released further details about the age ranges of the deceased or injured, nor have they shared preliminary information about the possible cause of the fire.

    This is an active, developing breaking news story. Additional updates will be published as more official information becomes available to the public. For more coverage of news across the African continent, audiences can visit BBCAfrica.com, and follow BBC Africa’s social media channels on Twitter at @BBCAfrica, Facebook at BBC Africa, and Instagram at bbcafrica.

  • New monkey species with orange lips found ‘hiding’ in DRC forest

    New monkey species with orange lips found ‘hiding’ in DRC forest

    Deep in the dense tropical tree canopy of central eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s Lomami National Park, an elusive, black-furred monkey with eye-catching pinkish-orange lips has been formally confirmed as a species new to global science. Only the fifth new African monkey species identified in the last 75 years, this discovery marks a major milestone for primate research and highlights the unstudied biodiversity remaining in one of the world’s most intact tropical forest ecosystems.

    Local communities have long recognized the shy primate, calling it ‘Likweli’, but it took nearly 15 years of collaborative work between researchers from the DRC, the United States, and Germany to formally confirm it as a genetically distinct species. Conservation teams working in the park first documented an unusual primate matching Likweli’s description back in 2008, but only captured one low-resolution, blurry photograph that was insufficient for formal classification. A second confirmed sighting a decade later gave the international research team the opening they needed to launch a targeted study, combining field observations, audio recording of the monkey’s distinctive calls, high-resolution photography, and in-depth genetic analysis to prove the species was previously unknown to science.

    Junior Amboko, a PhD candidate at Florida Atlantic University who led the field work for the project, described the moment of seeing the little-known primate clearly as an ‘amazing feeling’. Unlike many new species discoveries that find entirely unknown organisms in remote regions, this confirmation formalizes what local people already knew, but it fills a major gap in scientific understanding of African primate evolution.

    Formally named *Colobus congoensis* by the research team, to honor the DRC’s extraordinary natural biodiversity, the new primate belongs to the colobus monkey group, a set of distinctive African primates defined by their lack of thumbs. As canopy-dwelling herbivores, these monkeys play a critical ecological role: they process tree seeds and support forest regeneration through their feeding habits, making them key to maintaining the health of the tropical forest ecosystem.

    Lead researcher Professor Kate Detwiler, also of Florida Atlantic University, notes that the species’ unique bright pink-orange facial markings likely serve an important social function, acting as a visual signal to help individual monkeys identify one another or attract potential mates. Like many canopy primates, *Colobus congoensis* is more often heard than seen: it produces a distinctive, resonant roaring call that allows researchers to detect its presence, even when the shy animals remain hidden high in the treetops.

    Field interviews with 52 local villages near the monkey’s range illustrate just how elusive the species is: only residents of eight villages reported ever having seen a Likweli monkey. Researchers currently believe the new species is rare, with a limited range restricted to a specific section of forest that provides the specialized habitat and food sources it requires. The species is also at risk from subsistence hunting for bushmeat, so the formal classification as a distinct species is a critical first step toward securing official protected status for the population.

    The research team’s findings were published this week in the peer-reviewed journal *PLoS One*. Much remains unknown about this secretive new primate, and the team plans to conduct follow-up surveys to estimate the total population size and observe the species’ social and feeding behavior in its natural habitat.

  • Zambia’s Guy Scott, who was Africa’s first white head of state in decades, has died at 82

    Zambia’s Guy Scott, who was Africa’s first white head of state in decades, has died at 82

    Zambian government has confirmed the passing of veteran politician Guy Scott, who made history as Africa’s first white head of state in over 20 years during his three-month tenure as acting president. He was 82 years old at the time of his death.

    Scott breathed his last on Wednesday at his personal farm located in Lusaka, Zambia’s capital, according to an official statement released by the administration. Current Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema has granted Scott the honor of a state funeral, though organizers have not yet finalized and announced a formal date for the memorial service.

    Born to European parents with Scottish and English ancestry, Scott built a decades-long political career in Zambia following the southern African nation’s independence from British colonial rule in 1964. He first won a seat in Zambia’s National Parliament in 1991, marking the start of his years in public service. He later took on the role of Minister of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, where he focused on policy related to the country’s key agricultural sector, before being appointed vice president in 2011. That appointment made him the first white politician to hold the vice presidency in Zambia’s post-independence history.

    Scott stepped into the acting presidency in 2014, following the sudden death of sitting president Michael Sata while he was still in office. Over the subsequent three months, Scott served as interim head of state, a role that carved out his unique place in African political history. Before Scott, the last white head of state to hold office on the continent was F.W. de Klerk, the final South African leader under the apartheid system. De Klerk left office in 1994 after South Africa’s first multiracial democratic election, which brought anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela to power, meaning 20 years passed between de Klerk’s exit and Scott taking the interim presidency.

  • Amazon to launch its satellite internet in South Africa, seemingly beating out Musk in his homeland

    Amazon to launch its satellite internet in South Africa, seemingly beating out Musk in his homeland

    In a landmark move that marks the tech giant’s entry into the African satellite internet market, Amazon announced Wednesday during a public event in Cape Town that its low-orbit satellite internet service Amazon Project Kuiper (branded as Amazon Leo for local rollout) is scheduled to go live in South Africa in 2027, putting it on track to beat rival SpaceX-owned Starlink to operational launch in Africa’s most industrialized economy.

    The Seattle-based e-commerce and space technology firm founded by Jeff Bezos has entered a partnership with local South African internet service provider Herotel to roll out the new connectivity service across the nation of 62 million people. This agreement stands as Amazon’s first official satellite internet partnership on the African continent, though no financial terms of the deal were disclosed to the public at the time of the announcement.

    The announcement comes amid a high-profile public standoff between Starlink CEO Elon Musk, a South Africa native, and the South African government over the country’s regulatory requirements. Musk, the world’s wealthiest individual, has publicly claimed that South African regulations have blocked Starlink’s entry solely because he is white, leveling unsubstantiated accusations of institutional racism against the national government. Musk’s complaints center on the country’s long-standing affirmative action policies, which mandate that foreign firms operating in the communications sector allocate a minority share of their local operating entities to Black and other previously disadvantaged non-white South African owners as a condition of securing an operating license.

    These policies were crafted to redress the systemic economic exclusion that non-white South Africans endured under decades of apartheid white minority rule, a system that stripped Black and indigenous communities of access to business ownership, economic opportunity and basic infrastructure. In a show of official support for Amazon’s deal, South African Communications Minister Solly Malatsi joined representatives from Amazon and Herotel for the official announcement, signaling the government’s backing for the project that complies with national regulatory frameworks.

    Beyond the South African launch, Amazon confirmed that this agreement is just the opening phase of a broader continental rollout strategy. The company has also announced a separate partnership with Vanu Inc., a Lexington, Massachusetts-based firm that specializes in expanding mobile connectivity access across developing nations, to support its expansion across other African markets in coming years.

    SpaceX’s Starlink, which pioneered modern low-orbit satellite internet, launched its first operational satellites back in 2019 and currently operates more than 10,000 satellites in orbit, with active service already rolled out in roughly two-dozen other African countries. However, Musk’s refusal to comply with South Africa’s affirmative action ownership rules has left Starlink locked out of the South African market, creating a window of opportunity for Amazon to establish an early foothold.

    Amazon entered the low-orbit satellite race later than Starlink, launching its first batch of operational satellites just last year, but has already built up a constellation of more than 390 operational satellites in low Earth orbit, with thousands more scheduled for launch in the coming years to deliver global coverage.

    The African continent represents a massive untapped market for satellite internet providers, with a total population of more than 1.5 billion people. A large share of the population lives in rural and underserved remote areas where traditional fixed-line broadband infrastructure has never been built out, creating widespread unmet demand for reliable high-speed internet connectivity.

  • Special police team to investigate killing of an anti-migrant leader in South Africa

    Special police team to investigate killing of an anti-migrant leader in South Africa

    South African law enforcement has deployed a specialized multidisciplinary investigative team to probe the fatal shooting of a senior provincial leader from one of the country’s most active anti-undocumented migrant groups, a killing that comes at a moment of surging national tension over immigration policy and xenophobic violence.

    Andile Mvuyelwa Somgxada, who led the Gauteng province chapter of the nativist group March and March, was gunned down in the driveway of his residence east of Johannesburg earlier this July. He succumbed to his injuries and died in a local hospital several days after the attack.

    Per Sandile Dube, national spokesperson for March and March, the group is convinced the assassination was a deliberate retaliatory attack tied directly to the organization’s high-profile campaign to force all undocumented migrants to exit South Africa. Dube confirmed that multiple senior leaders across the group, which has organized widespread anti-migrant protests across every major region of the country, have received formal threats and warnings of violence in recent weeks. Describing the killing as a coordinated, professional hit, Dube told the BBC that authorities must move quickly to unmask those responsible and end the pattern of intimidation targeting movement members.

    In an official statement released Tuesday evening, acting South African Police Service Lieutenant General Puleng Dimpane confirmed the formation of the cross-functional investigative task force, emphasizing that law enforcement views the case as an urgent priority. “We are committed to conducting a thorough investigation to establish the circumstances surrounding this murder and to ensure accountability,” Dimpane said.

    Immigration policy, particularly the presence of undocumented foreign-born residents, has emerged as one of the most divisive political issues in contemporary South Africa. Anti-migrant activists and organizers have repeatedly claimed that undocumented migrants strain overstretched public services and contribute to rising national crime rates, claims that remain contested by independent researchers and government officials. Ahead of the current wave of protests, March and March set an unofficial 30 June deadline for all undocumented migrants to leave the country voluntarily, and has pledged to hold weekly demonstrations until its policy demands are met.

    Since launching a national “migration management” crackdown five weeks ago, the South African government confirms it has deported or repatriated more than 53,000 foreign nationals. As Africa’s most economically developed nation, South Africa has long drawn migrants from across the continent seeking improved employment and livelihood opportunities, but xenophobic sentiment and violence have persisted as a long-running societal challenge. The current wave of anti-migrant demonstrations has already been marked by widespread reports of violence, intimidation against foreign-owned businesses, and looting.

    In a separate incident this week, law enforcement in Limpopo province arrested five people accused of impersonating official immigration officers to harass foreign nationals and force them to leave the country. The suspects allegedly targeted a Nigerian citizen who was residing in South Africa on valid legal documentation, forcing him to close his small business under threat of harm. Lt Gen Dimpane used the arrest to issue a sharp public rebuke to vigilante groups targeting migrants. “The law applies equally to everyone,” he said. “No individual or group has the authority to conduct immigration inspections, verify legal status, or remove people from communities.”

    When asked about incidents of violence linked to the group’s demonstrations, spokesperson Dube emphasized that March and March rejects all illegal activity and violence, stating the movement only pursues its goals through peaceful protest.

    Official government data puts the number of legally documented foreign nationals residing in South Africa at more than 3 million, a figure that does not include the unknown population of people living in the country without valid immigration status. In response to the recent wave of unrest and intimidation, several African nations that are major sources of migration to South Africa—including Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, and Uganda—have organized special repatriation flights and bus convoys to help their citizens return home voluntarily in recent weeks.

  • Sierra Leone drops treason charge against ex-president over attempted coup

    Sierra Leone drops treason charge against ex-president over attempted coup

    Nearly three years after he was first arrested on charges tied to a failed coup attempt, the government of Sierra Leone has formally dismissed all criminal charges against Ernest Bai Koroma, the West African nation’s former head of state. The 72-year-old ex-president, who has maintained his innocence in the case, has been living in exile in Nigeria since early 2024 after a regional mediation deal allowed him to leave the country for medical care. Now, the office of Sierra Leone’s attorney general confirmed Tuesday that all legal barriers have been lifted, clearing the way for Koroma to return to his home country whenever he chooses.

    The charges against Koroma, which included the grave offense of treason, stemmed from the November 2023 attempted uprising that shook the nation just months after a deeply contentious general election. On the day of the coup attempt, armed assailants stormed a military armoury and multiple correctional facilities across the country, enabling the escape of close to 2,000 incarcerated people. The violent unrest left roughly 20 people dead before government forces quelled the uprising.

    The botched coup followed a tight re-election victory for current President Julius Maada Bio, who first defeated Koroma in the 2018 national vote to end the former president’s 11-year tenure in office. Bio’s narrow second-term win was immediately disputed by Koroma’s All People’s Congress, the main opposition political party. International election observers also issued public criticism of the poll, pointing to widespread gaps in transparency during the vote-counting process that fueled widespread public distrust in the results.

    In an official statement responding to the dismissed charges this week, Koroma reaffirmed his long-held belief that peaceful resolution, justice and national reconciliation will always overcome political hardship and division. He also extended explicit public gratitude to three key actors for their role in facilitating the outcome: sitting Sierra Leonean President Julius Maada Bio, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, who hosted his exile, and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the regional bloc that negotiated the initial agreement to allow Koroma to leave Sierra Leone for exile and medical treatment. To date, the Sierra Leonean government has not offered any public explanation for its decision to drop the full set of charges against the former president.