Global Pulse

标签： Africa

非洲

  • Renewable energy is overtaking traditional power projects across Africa, industry leaders say

    Renewable energy is overtaking traditional power projects across Africa, industry leaders say

    Across the African continent, a profound shift is unfolding in energy infrastructure development, as governments and private investors increasingly pivot away from fossil fuels and large-scale hydropower to prioritize solar, wind, and battery storage projects. This transition is driven by demand for cheaper, more rapidly deployable, and more reliable electricity access to power growing populations and industrial expansion.

    The changing landscape of African energy development came into sharp focus in early May, when China and Zambia announced a $1.5 billion energy package that includes three 300-megawatt projects spanning solar, wind, and coal-fired power. While the inclusion of coal highlights Africa’s ongoing need for consistent baseload power to support unstable grids, the broader trend is clear: countries grappling with soaring fuel import costs triggered by geopolitical tensions like the Iran conflict, inconsistent grid reliability, and rising industrial demand are turning overwhelmingly to renewable energy, which can be brought online far faster and at lower cost than traditional fossil fuel or large hydropower facilities.

    Data from energy research firm Electron Intelligence underscores this momentum. Of the 322 new energy projects announced across Africa in 2025, 173 were solar developments, followed by hydropower at 46, wind at 34, natural gas at 22, and hybrid energy projects at 14. The International Renewable Energy Agency reports that Africa added a record-breaking 11.3 gigawatts of new renewable energy capacity in 2025, three times the volume added in the previous year. South Africa, Egypt, and Ethiopia accounted for the bulk of this growth.

    “Africa is not on the periphery of the global energy transition, it is sitting at its center,” explained Mugwe Manga, climate finance lead at FSD Kenya. “The continent holds the world’s best renewable resources, and the economics have now decisively turned in favor of clean energy.”

    Olamide Niyi-Afuye, CEO of the Africa Minigrid Developers Association (AMDA), noted that the shift goes beyond project numbers to represent a complete strategic rethinking of how energy infrastructure is built. African nations are now prioritizing modular systems that can be deployed quickly and expanded incrementally with flexible financing models, a framework that plays to the strengths of small-scale and distributed solar in particular.

    Plummeting technology costs have been the single biggest driver of this renewable boom. Globally, utility-scale solar costs have fallen by nearly 90% since 2010, while onshore wind costs have dropped roughly 70%. These price declines have made renewables the least expensive option for new electricity generation across most African markets.

    “Renewable energy is now unequivocally the fastest, cheapest, and most bankable way to connect people, companies and economies to the megawatts they need to grow,” said Matt Tilleard, CEO of CrossBoundary Energy, a firm that invests in African renewable projects. Much of the recent growth has come from distributed solar and battery systems, which are installed directly at mines, manufacturing facilities, telecom towers, and residential properties, eliminating the need for connection to overstretched central national grids.

    Official statistics often undercount this distributed growth, Tilleard noted, because traditional counting methods only track capacity connected to main national grids. Data from the Africa Solar Industry Association recorded 23.4 gigawatts of operational solar capacity across Africa by the end of 2025, but Chinese export data shows 58.1 gigawatts of solar panels have been shipped to African countries since 2017, suggesting actual adoption is far outpacing official tracking.

    For investors, renewables hold another key advantage: faster returns on investment and lower exposure to volatile global fossil fuel price shocks. Unlike coal-fired plants, which can take up to 12 years to complete, and large hydropower dams that often require a decade or more of construction, utility-scale renewable projects can generate revenue within 18 months of breaking ground.

    At the Kamoa-Kakula copper complex in the Democratic Republic of Congo, one of Africa’s largest copper mines, CrossBoundary Energy is developing a 233-megawatt solar and battery storage project. Tilleard said the project moved from contract signing to more than 80% completion in just 12 months. “Solar and wind projects are especially attractive at this moment because they combine strong commercial fundamentals with relatively lower investment risk,” Niyi-Afuye added.

    Progressive policy changes across the continent have also accelerated the renewable push. Ethiopia became the first country in the world to ban imports of internal combustion engine vehicles, spurring faster adoption of electric vehicles that in turn drives demand for new clean electricity generation. In South Africa, regulatory changes relaxing caps on private power generation have opened the door to a massive wave of new industrial renewable projects.

    Despite this rapid growth, significant barriers remain. Many African national utilities face deep financial instability, making lenders hesitant to sign onto long-term power purchase agreements. Perceived country risk also pushes financing costs for African renewable projects up to three times higher than costs for similar projects in advanced economies, according to data from the International Energy Agency.

    Multilateral development finance institutions, including the African Development Bank and the International Finance Corporation, have stepped in to bridge this gap, offering concessional loans, credit guarantees, and risk-sharing frameworks to de-risk private investment. Manga argues that the main obstacles to faster expansion are no longer technological or cost-related.

    “What remains is not a question of technology or cost,” he said. “It is a question of finance, political will and preparing bankable projects that will drive demand for power on the continent.”
    This reporting from The Associated Press on climate and energy transition is supported by funding from multiple private foundations, with the AP retaining full editorial control over all content.

  • LEGO Foundation donates $97 million to bring play-based learning to more children in conflict zones

    LEGO Foundation donates $97 million to bring play-based learning to more children in conflict zones

    As rising global conflicts — from the political instability in South Sudan to ongoing tensions across the Middle East — push millions of vulnerable children into further hardship, a new partnership between two humanitarian actors is stepping in to address one of the most chronically underfunded needs in crisis response: access to high-quality, trauma-informed education. Announced publicly this Wednesday, the $97 million commitment from the LEGO Foundation will scale up programming run by the International Rescue Committee (IRC), which uses playful learning to help conflict-affected children heal from trauma and build foundational learning skills.

    “Children born into conflict have their childhood stolen from them,” IRC President David Miliband shared in an interview with the Associated Press. “But what makes children so remarkable is that when you give them even a small piece of their childhood back, they turn it into extraordinary opportunity. This partnership is about returning that core childhood experience to those who need it most.”

    The five-year collaborative initiative aims to reach 5 million children across East Africa and the Middle East, with flexible targeting that adjusts as conflict dynamics shift. LEGO Foundation Chief Executive Sidsel Marie Kristensen emphasized that the program will prioritize children living in the most severe humanitarian contexts, with current candidate countries including Ethiopia, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Uganda.

    Unlike traditional fixed-location grants that can become outdated as crises evolve rapidly, this partnership relies on a truly agile funding model that can redirect resources wherever the need is greatest at any given time. “In the world we live in today, no one can honestly say what will happen tomorrow or even two months from now,” Kristensen noted. “That adaptability is exactly what we need in modern humanitarian response.”

    The funding will expand the IRC’s existing PlayMatters program, which trains educators working with children aged 3 to 12 to integrate playful learning techniques into their daily instruction. Rather than mandating a rigid curriculum, the program empowers teachers to tailor their teaching to the specific needs of students who have experienced crisis-related trauma. Program leaders also engage in national policy advocacy, working with local government officials to embed these trauma-informed approaches into national public school curricula.

    On-the-ground results from the program have already shown significant impact. At a primary school serving refugees in Uganda’s Nakivale refugee settlement in western Uganda, teacher Sister Kasingye Secunda credits PlayMatters with cutting student absenteeism dramatically. Before the program, low attendance was a persistent problem, compounded by language barriers: many refugee students struggle with both the local language and English, the official language of instruction.

    Through play-based activities, students build skills and confidence incrementally: for example, children learn color recognition through a game where they sort and share locally common fruits like mangoes and bananas with classmates. They build public speaking confidence through low-pressure class presentations and develop leadership skills by taking turns guiding small group activities. “Learners actually enjoy the lessons now,” Secunda said. “They are eager to come to school every day.”

    PlayMatters also leverages digital and multimedia tools to reach children in hard-to-access areas. A multi-language radio show featuring culturally familiar characters helps children identify and process their emotions across remote communities in Ethiopia and Tanzania, and it reaches flood-prone regions of South Sudan where half the year roads are impassable and in-person schooling is interrupted. Project Director Martin Omukuba says the program is actively expanding these remote delivery models to reach more cut-off communities.

    The flexible funding model from the LEGO Foundation allows the IRC to adapt to sudden shifts in crisis contexts, such as when a refugee classroom unexpectedly grows from 25 students to 150, creating unplanned needs for sanitation, nutrition, or other non-education basics that are critical to keeping children in class. Omukuba noted that the foundation trusts the IRC to reallocate funds quickly during emergencies, rather than requiring strict adherence to original budget plans. “We first need to make sure that children are alive,” he said. “We can introduce education once they are stabilized.”

    This is not the first collaboration between the two organizations: the LEGO Foundation first partnered with the IRC in 2019 with a $100 million commitment to *Ahlan Simsim*, a co-production with Sesame Workshop that supports children displaced by the Syrian and Rohingya refugee crises. The Denmark-based foundation, which focuses on global early childhood development, has been steadily scaling its investments in conflict-affected contexts. Most recently, it announced a separate $30 million partnership with global funding collaborative Co-Impact to support locally led solutions for learning and wellbeing among crisis-impacted children.

    Kristensen says she hopes the new $97 million commitment will inspire broader cross-sector collaboration between governments, civil society organizations and the private sector. That collaboration is increasingly critical as international development aid declines, driven by funding cuts from the United States and multiple European nations, she explained.

    Miliband echoed that concern, noting that these cuts have severely stretched the capacity of the global humanitarian system over the past year. He pointed to the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as a clear example of the short-sightedness of cutting funding for programs that are often labeled as marginal. In the DRC’s Ituri province, the epicenter of the current Ebola emergency, critical sanitation and handwashing programs lost U.S. funding last year during the Trump administration’s restructuring of international development efforts. “We warned at the time what the risk was,” Miliband said. “And sure as night follows day, we end up with an under-detected Ebola outbreak.”

    IRC experts frame early childhood development and education not as a luxury for crisis contexts, but as a necessary intervention to counteract toxic stress from trauma that can permanently alter brain development and delay long-term learning. Even before wealthy nations cut their international aid budgets, education was consistently underfunded in humanitarian responses, explained Patty McIlreavy, president and CEO of the Center for Disaster Philanthropy. Too often, “life-saving” assistance was narrowly defined to only cover immediate physical needs, she said, excluding life-sustaining long-term investments like children’s education.

    McIlreavy pointed to the new LEGO-IRC partnership as a model for private donors, who often ask how they can make a meaningful impact in complex, protracted conflicts with no clear end in sight. “It’s not our role as philanthropy to fix what’s broken in a country, that’s a political challenge that goes far beyond what we can do,” she said. “But there is so much we can accomplish — even just providing six months or a year of safe, supportive education can change a child’s trajectory.”

    This Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits is supported through AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP retains sole responsibility for all content.

  • In Congo displacement camp, fighting Ebola with sand, oatmeal and one thermometer but no water

    In Congo displacement camp, fighting Ebola with sand, oatmeal and one thermometer but no water

    In the heart of eastern Congo’s Ebola outbreak zone, the grim reality of public health failure is on full display at the ISP displaced persons camp in Bunia, where 10,000 people forced from their homes by years of regional conflict are trapped with almost no tools to stop the spread of the deadly virus.

    Against a backdrop of persistent armed violence that has shattered local healthcare infrastructure, this overcrowded settlement has just one handwashing station and a single infrared thermometer to guard against a raging epidemic declared a global public health emergency. Camp organizers have issued guidance to wash hands before meals, but the harsh reality means only a small fraction of residents can access soap. Those without are instructed to use sand or oatmeal as a poor substitute.

    “My fear is that we are here with nothing to protect ourselves. We have no protection, no water or soap, and we live near garbage,” Francine Leve Janguzi, a long-term camp resident, told the Associated Press beside an empty water tap amid a sea of tarpaulin temporary shelters. Janguzi, who has lived in the camp for eight and a half years after fleeing militia attacks in Djugu territory, added: “Look at the state of where we’re sleeping. We don’t have any help whatsoever. We don’t have soap or water, yet we’re told to wash our hands regularly and be clean.”

    Nearly one million people have been displaced by ongoing conflict across Ituri province, the epicenter of the current outbreak, according to United Nations figures. While international aid organizations and public health teams have rushed emergency supplies to the region to contain the virus, frontline responders warn that overcrowded displacement camps like ISP are the most vulnerable points for catastrophic spread.

    “Eastern DRC’s years of conflict and displacement have left health systems on their knees, and that makes containing this outbreak all the harder,” explained Heather Kerr, country director for the International Rescue Committee in Congo. Gabriela Arenas, regional coordinator for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, echoed that assessment, noting the outbreak is “unfolding in communities already facing insecurity, displacement and fragile healthcare systems.”

    Most ISP camp residents were displaced by violence from the CODECO armed group, one of dozens of active militant factions operating in eastern Congo. The region has been mired in instability for decades: Rwandan-backed M23 rebels control large swathes of territory, while the Ugandan Islamist Allied Democratic Forces, linked to the Islamic State group, carries out frequent deadly attacks on civilian targets across Ituri. Even before the Ebola outbreak, humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders documented worsening insecurity that had driven medical staff to flee, leaving health facilities overwhelmed and in many areas facing “catastrophic conditions.”

    Compounding the risk is the nature of the specific virus circulating: this is the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, which has no approved vaccine or targeted treatment and circulated undetected for weeks before being identified. Standard diagnostic tests also struggle to detect the strain, leading experts to warn that official case counts are a significant underrepresentation of the true scope of the outbreak.

    As of Tuesday, official records counted more than 1,000 suspected cases and at least 220 deaths, including seven confirmed cases that have already spread across the border to Uganda. The World Health Organization and on-the-air aid groups confirm the actual number of infections is far higher. Ebola is a highly contagious pathogen spread through contact with infected bodily fluids including blood, vomit and semen, causing a severe, often fatal illness marked by fever, muscle pain, weakness, gastrointestinal distress and abnormal bleeding.

    For camp residents and community leaders, the lack of basic resources and treatment options has created a climate of pervasive fear. “I’ve learned that there’s no cure, which is why it scares me. … Our government should also do everything possible to find a solution to this disease,” said Gérard Maki, a community leader at the ISP camp.

    This reporting was contributed by Pronczuk from Dakar, Senegal, and AP writer Jean-Yves Kamale from Kinshasa, Congo. The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation, and maintains full editorial control over all content.

  • PSG’s Hakimi in Morocco squad despite injury

    PSG’s Hakimi in Morocco squad despite injury

    As Morocco finalizes its preparations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the North African side has made a headline-grabbing selection call: star captain Achraf Hakimi will be part of the Atlas Lions’ tournament squad, despite being sidelined with an injury picked up months earlier in the UEFA Champions League semi-finals.

    The 27-year-old Paris Saint-Germain full-back, who boasts 95 senior international caps for Morocco, has not featured in competitive action since his side’s first-leg victory over Bayern Munich on 28 April. However, recent images of Hakimi taking part in full team training on Tuesday, ahead of PSG’s upcoming Champions League final against Arsenal, have given Moroccan football officials enough confidence to include the influential right-back in their 26-man roster.

    Hakimi is far from the only high-profile name to earn a spot in Walid Regragui’s squad. The call-up list features a host of top talent plying their trade across Europe’s biggest leagues: Manchester United defender Noussair Mazraoui, West Ham United centre-back Issa Diop, Crystal Palace defender Chadi Riad, Sunderland young winger Chemsdine Talbi, and Real Madrid attacking midfielder Brahim Diaz all secured places. Former Manchester United holding midfielder Sofyan Amrabat, now at Real Betis, Olympique de Marseille defender Nayef Aguerd, and VfB Stuttgart playmaker Bilal El Khannouss were also included in the final selection.

    In a surprising omission, former Chelsea winger Hakim Ziyech did not make the cut for the Atlas Lions, ending his hopes of featuring in a third consecutive World Cup tournament.

    Currently ranked eighth in the official FIFA Men’s World Rankings, Morocco enters the 2026 tournament on a wave of historic momentum. The side made history as the first African nation to reach a World Cup semi-final at the 2022 edition in Qatar, where they fell to eventual champions France in a tightly contested match. More recently, Morocco secured a controversial Africa Cup of Nations title in 2025, when their final victory was reinstated after an initial walk-off declaration awarded the win to Senegal, which was later overturned by confederation officials.

    Drawn into Group C for the 2026 World Cup, Morocco will face tough competition from Scotland, five-time champions Brazil, and CONCACAF side Haiti. Their opening group match is scheduled for 19 June against Steve Clarke’s Scotland side, as both teams look to kick off their tournament campaigns with three crucial points.

    Below is the full roster selected by Morocco for the 2026 FIFA World Cup:
    **Goalkeepers**: Yassine Bounou (Al Hilal), Munir Mohamedi (RS Berkane), Ahmed Tagnaouti (Royal Armed Forces)
    **Defenders**: Noussair Mazraoui (Manchester United), Anass Salah-Eddine (PSV Eindhoven), Youssef Belammari (Al Ahly), Nayef Aguerd (Marseille), Chadi Riad (Crystal Palace), Issa Diop (West Ham United), Redouane Halhal (KV Mechelen), Achraf Hakimi (Paris St-Germain), Zakaria El Ouahdi (Genk)
    **Midfielders**: Samir El Mourabet (Strasbourg), Ayyoub Bouaddi (Lille), Neil El Aynaoui (Roma), Sofyan Amrabat (Real Betis), Azzedine Ounahi (Girona), Bilal El Khannouss (Stuttgart), Ismael Saibari (PSV Eindhoven)
    **Forwards**: Abdessamad Ezzalzouli (Real Betis), Chemsdine Talbi (Sunderland), Soufiane Rahimi (Al Ain), Ayoub El Kaabi (Olympiacos), Brahim Diaz (Real Madrid), Yassine Gessime (Strasbourg), Ayoub Amaimouni-Echghouyabe (Eintracht Frankfurt)

  • South African president mounts legal challenge against report that could lead to impeachment

    South African president mounts legal challenge against report that could lead to impeachment

    South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has launched a formal legal challenge to overturn a parliamentary-commissioned investigative report that has cleared the path for lawmakers to reopen impeachment proceedings against him, marking the latest twist in the years-long political scandal dubbed ‘Farmgate’ by local media. The controversy first emerged in 2020, when an alleged theft of $580,000 in foreign currency from a sofa at Ramaphosa’s private Phala Phala game farm in Limpopo province came to light. In 2022, an independent advisory panel assembled by parliament concluded there was credible evidence suggesting Ramaphosa may have committed severe misconduct and violated his presidential oath of office over the incident, opening the door for potential impeachment. Ramaphosa has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, stating the seized cash was legitimate revenue from the sale of buffalo on his farm, in line with his previous public statements. The case has taken on new urgency following a landmark Constitutional Court ruling earlier this month, which found that parliament acted unconstitutionally back in 2020 when it voted down a motion to launch a formal impeachment inquiry after the panel released its initial findings. At the time of that 2020 vote, Ramaphosa’s long-ruling African National Congress (ANC) held an absolute parliamentary majority that allowed the party to block the inquiry from moving forward. However, the political landscape shifted dramatically after South Africa’s 2024 general election, when the ANC lost its decades-long parliamentary majority for the first time, forcing Ramaphosa to lead a fragile multi-party coalition government. In his court filing submitted Tuesday to the Cape Town High Court, Ramaphosa argued the 2022 independent panel fundamentally overstepped its authority, misinterpreted evidence presented during its investigation, and wrongly characterized the four core charges ranging from constitutional violations to official misconduct brought against him. In his submission, Ramaphosa emphasized that he did not bring the legal action lightly, and is seeking to have the controversial report entirely set aside, which would nullify the newly revived impeachment process. The South African parliamentary speaker has already moved forward to assemble a 31-member impeachment committee, with representatives drawn from 16 different political parties across the country’s ideological spectrum. The governing coalition’s lead party, the ANC, has nine seats on the committee. The panel’s primary mandate will be to assess whether there are sufficient legal and factual grounds to proceed with full impeachment proceedings against the sitting president. South African law imposes strict regulations on holding foreign currency, requiring any amount of foreign exchange to be deposited with a registered authorized dealer such as a commercial bank within 30 days of being acquired, a rule that lies at the heart of the allegations against Ramaphosa. As the legal process unfolds, the outcome of this challenge will not only determine Ramaphosa’s political future but also shape the stability of South Africa’s first post-majority coalition government, a pivotal shift in the country’s post-apartheid political landscape.

  • Southampton pay tribute as Udoh dies aged 21

    Southampton pay tribute as Udoh dies aged 21

    The global football community is in mourning after the announcement of the sudden passing of 21-year-old rising talent Victor Udoh, who previously played for the academies of both Southampton FC and Royal Antwerp. The Nigerian left-winger, whose promising career was just getting off the ground, leaves behind shocked teammates, coaches and fans across three European countries where he played.

    Udoh began his European youth career with Belgian Pro League side Royal Antwerp, joining the club’s academy setup in 2023. He quickly made an impression with the club’s youth development squad, Young Reds, netting 12 goals in 27 appearances to force his way into first-team contention. By the end of his first season at the club, he had earned his senior debut, and went on to rack up 28 first-team appearances before moving on.

    In February 2025, Udoh made the move to England to join Southampton’s prestigious academy, where he spent six months developing his game. During his time on the south coast, he featured eight times for the club’s under-21 side in the competitive Premier League 2 competition, and scored two goals for the young Saints side.

    After leaving Southampton that September, Udoh continued his professional journey by signing with Ceske Budejovice, a club competing in the Czech second tier, where he had been playing up until his passing.

    Both former clubs have released official statements paying tribute to the young player, expressing their deep sorrow at his death. “We are devastated by the tragic passing of former player Victor Udoh at the age of 21,” Southampton FC shared in a post on X. “The thoughts of everyone at the club go out to Victor’s loved ones at this extremely difficult time.”

    Royal Antwerp echoed the sentiment, writing: “With great dismay, RAFC has learned of the passing of former player Victor Udoh. Our thoughts are with Victor’s family, friends, and loved ones. We wish them much strength, support, and warmth during this particularly difficult time.”

    No cause of death has been announced publicly by the clubs or Udoh’s family at the time of publishing.

  • Partey in preliminary Ghana squad for World Cup

    Partey in preliminary Ghana squad for World Cup

    One of Ghana’s most high-profile football stars, former Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey, has been selected for the West African nation’s preliminary squad ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, a decision that comes as the 32-year-old prepares to stand trial on multiple sexual offense charges next year.

    Partey, who currently plies his trade for Spanish La Liga club Villarreal after leaving Arsenal this past summer when his contract at the North London side expired, has formally pleaded not guilty to seven counts of rape and one additional count of sexual assault. The charges stem from allegations made by four separate women dating back to incidents between 2020 and 2022. His trial is scheduled to get underway in 2026.

    Across his five-year tenure with Arsenal between 2020 and 2025, Partey earned 167 appearances across all domestic and European competitions for the Gunners. Capped 58 times for Ghana to date, the midfielder currently serves as vice-captain of the national team, a status the Ghana Football Association has reaffirmed in the wake of the charges.

    “Thomas is our vice-captain. He is one of the top midfielders in the world and we stand by him shoulder to shoulder,” GFA President Kurt Okraku told BBC Sport in a public statement confirming the association’s support for the player.

    Ghana head coach Carlos Queiroz named Partey as part of his 28-man preliminary group for a pre-World Cup training camp, which will be capped off with a friendly fixture against Wales in Cardiff on June 2. Queiroz is required to cut his final roster down to the 26-player limit mandated by FIFA before the tournament kicks off.

    Alongside Partey, other notable call-ups include Manchester City forward Antoine Semenyo, Coventry City striker Brandon Thomas-Asante, and Leicester City pair Jordan Ayew and Abdul Fatawu. Five goalkeepers were included in the preliminary squad, among them Joseph Anang, who currently plays for League of Ireland Premier Division side St Patrick’s Athletic. The only major absentee from the group is Tottenham Hotspur winger Mohammed Kudus, who has not featured since January due to a persistent quad injury.

    Ghana will kick off their Group L campaign at the 2026 World Cup against Panama in Toronto on June 17, before subsequent group stage matches against England in Foxborough and Croatia in Philadelphia respectively.

  • Rights group accuses UAE of being transit point for mercenaries on way to Sudan

    Rights group accuses UAE of being transit point for mercenaries on way to Sudan

    Two years into Sudan’s devastating civil war, a damning new investigation from global human rights watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) has uncovered an elaborate cross-border network that recruited Colombian former soldiers to fight alongside the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the paramilitary group accused of widespread war crimes across the conflict-torn nation. The report directly ties the recruitment operation to a company based in the United Arab Emirates, with mercenaries transiting and training at official UAE military facilities before being deployed to frontline combat zones where mass atrocities have been documented.

    Sudan’s conflict ignited on April 15, 2023, when long-simmering tensions between the RSF, led by Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, and the country’s official national army boiled over into open armed conflict. Since fighting began, UN and independent estimates place the death toll at more than 150,000 people, with over 12.9 million Sudanese displaced from their homes—millions of whom have fled across international borders into neighboring countries such as Chad to escape the violence. The RSF has seized control of large swathes of western Sudan’s Darfur region and made major territorial gains in other parts of the country, including the key city of el-Fasher, which fell to RSF forces last year amid reports of systemic mass killing.

    HRW’s investigation, carried out between March and September 2025, drew on first-hand interviews with multiple Colombian mercenaries who participated in the deployment, alongside forensic analysis of social media content, videos, and photos to verify travel routes, locations, and military equipment. The findings align with earlier research published last month by independent security analysis firm Conflict Insights Group, which first flagged the presence of Colombian mercenaries in RSF-controlled Darfur.

    According to mercenary testimonies collected by HRW, the recruitment network targeted retired Colombian army personnel with deceptive job advertisements offering work as drone pilots in Africa. Once recruited, fighters traveled through a string of transit airports across the UAE, Libya, Chad, and Somalia, before heading to Darfur frontlines. Multiple mercenaries described off-the-books travel through Abu Dhabi, with no entry stamps placed in their passports, before being transferred directly to UAE military bases for training. “They didn’t stamp our passports,” one unnamed mercenary told HRW. “We went in and went out and there was a bus waiting for us to take us to a military base.”

    The report confirms that recruits received tactical and technical training at two UAE military facilities in Ghiyathi and Al Wathba, run by the Abu Dhabi-based firm that organized the operation. Once deployed to Sudan, the Colombian contractors filled a range of combat roles for the RSF, serving as infantry troops, artillery operators, drone pilots, vehicle crew, and combat instructors for RSF fighters. Crucially, HRW has documented multiple eyewitness accounts placing Colombian mercenaries in el-Fasher during the mass killings that followed the RSF’s capture of the city in 2025. The UN Human Rights Office has confirmed that more than 6,000 civilians were killed in just the first three days of the RSF’s offensive on the city.

    Six el-Fasher residents interviewed by HRW in late 2025 confirmed they observed men they believed to be Colombians operating alongside RSF fighters during the October 2025 mass killings. One survivor detained by RSF forces told investigators he saw foreign fighters standing by silently as RSF fighters opened fire on unarmed civilian crowds. Another witness reported seeing white fighters alongside RSF militants who killed three civilians, noting: “They were there when the executions happened, but they didn’t execute.” After international outcry over the el-Fasher atrocities, RSF leader Dagalo announced a domestic investigation into alleged violations by his fighters, but no independent accountability has been delivered to date.

    HRW investigators also recovered unused UAE armed forces munitions from locations where Colombian mercenaries were captured inside Sudan. While the weapons were originally manufactured in Serbia and Bulgaria, HRW confirmed they had been purchased by the UAE prior to being diverted to RSF forces in Sudan.

    The UAE has repeatedly and forcefully denied all allegations of state backing for the RSF or enabling mercenary recruitment through its territory. In an official statement to the BBC, the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: “The UAE does not permit its territory to be used for the recruitment, training, financing or transit of foreign fighters to any conflict, including Sudan.” The government added that relevant Emirati authorities have opened investigations into all public claims of involvement by Emirati-based entities, noting that any unauthorised support for armed non-state groups violates UAE law and would result in criminal prosecution. The UAE also reaffirmed its public commitment to facilitating a lasting ceasefire in Sudan and supporting an inclusive transition to a civilian-led government to end the country’s suffering.

    International action on the issue has already begun: in December 2025, the United States imposed targeted sanctions on a network of Colombian individuals and entities that US authorities confirmed were recruiting and training former Colombian soldiers to deploy to Sudan. HRW is now calling on the United Nations, African Union, and the governments of the US and UK to publicly condemn the alleged UAE role in the conflict and hold all actors accountable for facilitating atrocities in Sudan. Colombian President Gustavo Petro has previously condemned the cross-border mercenary trade, calling Colombian fighters deployed to foreign conflicts “spectres of death” and describing their recruitment as a “form of human trafficking”.

  • Why a scandal involving money in a couch has South Africa’s president facing possible impeachment

    Why a scandal involving money in a couch has South Africa’s president facing possible impeachment

    For South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, a two-year-old corruption scandal known locally as ‘Farmgate’ has unexpectedly resurfaced, bringing with it the very real threat of impeachment proceedings that could cut short his final term in office. The controversy centers on an unreported 2020 theft of roughly $580,000 in hidden U.S. cash found stashed inside a sofa at Ramaphosa’s private Phala Phala game ranch, a property the president owns outside the capital.

    The scandal first came to public light in 2022, when a former director of South Africa’s State Security Agency filed an official police report revealing the theft and levying serious accusations against Ramaphosa, including money laundering, improper conduct, and a deliberate cover-up. According to the accuser, Ramaphosa deployed his personal security detail to hush up the 2020 incident to hide the existence of the undeclared cash, rather than reporting the crime through official law enforcement channels.

    Ramaphosa has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, offering his own account of the origin of the funds. A prominent wealthy businessman before entering politics, with a long-documented passion for game and livestock breeding, the president says the cash came from the private sale of buffalo from his ranch to foreign buyers. He explained that a staff member had stashed the money under the sofa cushions out of concern that the property’s shared safe was accessible to multiple on-site workers, adding that he had notified the head of his official presidential police protection unit immediately after the theft was discovered.

    Following the 2022 public revelations, South Africa’s Parliament appointed an independent investigative panel to probe the allegations. The panel’s final report concluded that there was credible preliminary evidence of serious misconduct by Ramaphosa. It noted that the president failed to officially report the theft through standard legal channels, that the source of the large cache of foreign cash had not been properly verified, and that the total sum involved could be far larger than the $580,000 Ramaphosa has acknowledged. The report also added that Ramaphosa allegedly exploited his presidential office by contacting then-Namibian President Hage Geingob to help secretly track a theft suspect who had fled across the border into the neighboring country. The panel formally recommended that Parliament launch a full impeachment inquiry.

    Ramaphosa survived the first attempt at impeachment in late 2022, when his party, the African National Congress (ANC), held an outright parliamentary majority and voted as a bloc to reject the panel’s findings and dismiss calls for an inquiry. But two major opposition parties immediately challenged the parliamentary vote in the Constitutional Court, South Africa’s highest judicial body, arguing that the process violated constitutional procedure and that the panel’s evidence mandated the formation of a special impeachment investigation committee.

    Earlier this month, the Constitutional Court ruled in favor of the opposition, overturning the 2022 parliamentary vote and clearing the way for impeachment proceedings to move forward. Parliament has already confirmed it will establish the required investigative committee as ordered by the court.

    The president has moved quickly to push back against the revived proceedings. State broadcaster SABC confirmed this week that Ramaphosa has formally filed court documents challenging the independent panel’s findings, which he says contain “grave flaws.” He has repeatedly stated he has no intention of resigning from office.

    Under South Africa’s constitution, removing a sitting president via impeachment requires a two-thirds majority vote from the 400-seat National Assembly. While the ANC lost its absolute parliamentary majority in the 2024 general election, the party still holds enough seats to unilaterally block any impeachment motion against Ramaphosa. The 73-year-old president is currently serving his final allowed term, which is scheduled to conclude in 2029.

  • DR Congo seeks World Cup ticket refunds after Ebola outbreak

    DR Congo seeks World Cup ticket refunds after Ebola outbreak

    Fifty-two years after their last appearance at football’s global showcase, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s men’s national team – known affectionately as the Leopards – is set to make a historic return to the FIFA World Cup this summer. But a rapidly spreading Ebola outbreak centered in the Central African nation has thrown a wrench into plans for hundreds of home fans, who are now barred from entering the United States to cheer on their side, prompting the country’s football governing body to push FIFA for full ticket refunds.

    The World Health Organization designated the ongoing Ebola outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on May 16, triggering sweeping travel restrictions from the United States, one of three co-hosts for the 2026 tournament alongside Canada and Mexico. As of late May, regional health officials have recorded more than 900 suspected Ebola cases and 223 suspected deaths across Central and East Africa, over 90% of which are concentrated in DR Congo. In response to the public health crisis, the U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa has suspended routine visa processing, and Washington has implemented an entry ban barring all non-U.S. citizens who have traveled to DR Congo, Uganda or South Sudan within the prior 21 days.

    While the WHO has refrained from issuing official recommendations for cross-border travel restrictions, the U.S. policy has effectively locked hundreds of DR Congo-based fans out of matches scheduled on U.S. soil. Veron Mosengo-Omba, president of the Fédération Congolaise de Football (Fecofa), told BBC Sport Africa that the federation has formally asked FIFA to issue refunds for hundreds of tickets purchased by fans who now cannot travel. Ticket prices for the 2026 World Cup are already exponentially higher than the 2022 edition in Qatar, reaching up to seven times the cost due to FIFA’s controversial dynamic pricing model.

    “They are punished because they cannot get to see the World Cup (in the USA) to support their team,” Mosengo-Omba said. “We don’t want our supporters who love football, who love the World Cup, to lose everything.”

    FIFA, the global governing body for football, told reporters it will review Fecofa’s request in due course. Under the organization’s standard ticketing policy, refunds are only issued in exceptional cases such as match cancellations, with fans typically limited to reselling or transferring tickets to other attendees. It remains unclear whether the organization will grant an exception for the affected DR Congo fans.

    The timeline of the tournament puts additional pressure on stakeholders: the Leopards kick off their Group K campaign against Portugal in Houston on June 17, meaning fans traveling from DR Congo would have needed to depart by the end of May to meet the 21-day entry requirement. Following their opening match, DR Congo will face Colombia in Guadalajara, Mexico, and most displaced fans have already shifted plans to attend that fixture, which is not subject to U.S. entry rules. If the Leopards advance to the round of 16 as group runners-up, their next match would be held in Toronto, Canada, which currently does not enforce the same entry restrictions as the United States.

    Notably, the DR Congo national squad itself remains unaffected by the travel ban. All 26 players in head coach Sebastien Desabre’s squad and nearly all technical staff are based at clubs outside DR Congo. The few Fecofa officials traveling with the team from the country departed weeks ago to satisfy the 21-day waiting period, and the federation canceled a planned pre-tournament training camp in Kinshasa, opting to assemble the squad in Belgium for warm-up friendlies before moving to their tournament base in Texas.

    For DR Congo, this World Cup marks more than just a football competition: it is the first time the nation has qualified for the tournament since 1974, when it competed as Zaire, making it the first sub-Saharan African nation to ever compete at the World Cup. Mosengo-Omba, who was elected Fecofa president earlier this May after stepping down from his role as secretary general of the Confederation of African Football, called the long-awaited return a “resurrection” of Congolese football.

    “This is the resurrection of football in this country,” he said. “People forget their problems now they are following the Leopards. The team need to go to the second round (at the World Cup). With the new leaders, we bring the football of this country to the very highest level. We are not saying that we will win the Afcon or World Cup, but we will build a solid foundation for the future.”

    Mosengo-Omba also pushed back against widespread global anxiety over Ebola, noting that the outbreak is concentrated in rural eastern regions of the large country, and that DR Congo has far more experience containing the virus than any other nation. However, public health experts warn that this outbreak presents unique challenges: it is caused by the rare Bundibugyo strain, which has not circulated globally in more than a decade, and no licensed vaccine is currently available for the variant. Containment efforts have also been hampered by armed conflict in eastern DR Congo that has displaced tens of thousands of people, and widespread community distrust of public health workers.

    FIFA added that it remains in close contact with Fecofa, the three host governments, and global health authorities to ensure full compliance with all medical and security protocols for the tournament.