标签： Africa

ABUJA, Nigeria – More than 50 days after dozens of students and staff were seized by Islamic militants in southwestern Nigeria’s Oyo State, a successful government operation has freed all surviving captives, senior officials confirmed Friday.

Government spokesperson Bayo Onanuga announced the outcome of the rescue mission, though he did not release an exact figure for the number of rescued students. When the abduction first occurred on May 15, authorities initially reported that over 40 people were taken captive alongside the students, one of whom – a teacher – was executed by the militants just hours after the kidnapping.

In addition to freeing the captives, the operation led to the arrest of eight suspected militants, while an undisclosed number of attackers were killed during the raid, according to Onanuga.

The May kidnapping in Oyo State marked a worrying expansion of Nigeria’s long-running security crisis. For years, mass school abductions linked to militant and criminal groups have been concentrated primarily in the country’s northern region, so the attack in a southern state signaled an escalation of threats to civilian safety across the nation.

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu emphasized in an official statement that the successful military operation has resolved the more than 50-day standoff and siege, delivering long-awaited relief to the entire country and especially to the families of the abducted victims.

The Oyo State abduction was not an isolated incident that week: just days after the seizure in the southwest, dozens more children were kidnapped in Borno State, the long-standing epicenter of Nigeria’s insecurity challenges linked to extremist insurgency.

Mass school abductions have become a persistent and widespread crisis across Nigeria, where militant and criminal groups regularly target educational institutions to pressure the federal government, generate public fear, and extract large ransom payments to fund their operations.

In mid-May, when 43-year-old Nkhoma Blessings, a cost control officer at Zambia’s Chambishi Copper Mine, opened his Google browser, a recommended World Cup-style music video immediately caught his eye. Curious, he clicked the link — only to sit back in stunned delight: the upbeat, stadium-filling anthem blasting from his speakers was created by his own colleagues, performed by a band of fellow mine employees.

Blessings was far from the only person caught off guard by the song’s sudden viral success. Katongo Chipasha, a logistics worker at the mine and the track’s lead vocalist, received an ecstatic phone call from her brother, who had stumbled across the video on YouTube and could barely contain his excitement. “That was an amazing feeling. I am doing something that brings people together,” Chipasha said of the moment.

Released in early May at a company ceremony marking the launch of a new tunnel boring machine (TBM), the self-titled *Chambishi Copper Mine* anthem quickly spread across global social media platforms, racking up hundreds of thousands of likes from listeners drawn to its infectious, high-energy rhythm. Online fans even rebranded it as a playful unofficial World Cup anthem, reworking its chorus to the catchy line “Championship Will Be Mine”.

At the heart of this online sensation is the NFCA Band, a 20-member group made up entirely of non-professional musicians who work across every department of the mine, from heavy-duty underground miners to office-based administrative staff. NFCA, short for NFC Africa Mining Plc, is a China-Zambia joint venture that operates the Chambishi site, founded in 1998 as China Nonferrous Metal Mining Group’s first overseas nonferrous metal investment. The band was formed in 2025, with the company covering all costs for instruments including bass guitars, keyboards and drums to support workers’ shared passion for music.

The idea for the anthem came to NFCA Deputy Manager Xu Laixiang, a self-described lifelong music fan, while he was in his staff dormitory on site. “I looked at the long history of this mine and thought, ‘Why not write our own anthem?’” Xu recalled. With assistance from an AI tool for lyric drafting and arrangement, he composed the track on his office desk, blending the mine’s decades-long legacy with traditional African rhythmic motifs to create a sound that felt both personal and broadly resonant. Originally created only for the TBM commissioning ceremony, the track’s explosive viral success was entirely unanticipated.

The song’s popularity extends far beyond social media, earning acclaim as a powerful grassroots symbol of China-Zambia cooperation. Zambia’s Ambassador to China Ivan Zyuulu praised the track at a recent cultural event, calling it “danceable and engaging” and a powerful testament to collaborative mining partnership and people-to-people exchange between the two nations. “Chinese and Zambian workers worked together to produce the song, which is very informative and encouraging, reflecting the spirit of people-to-people exchanges between China and Africa,” he said.

The anthem’s lyrics carry deep meaning rooted in the mine’s own journey from abandonment to revival: “Chambishi Copper Mine, rise again, rise again; Chambishi Copper Mine, we build, we bend, we mend. Chambishi Copper Mine, from the dark to the shine …” For Stephen Ndegwa, executive director of African think tank South-South Dialogues, these lines strike a profound emotional chord that reflects lived experience, not just rhetoric.

“When Zambian workers sing about rising again, they are singing their own history. These are the lived experiences of workers who have watched a dormant mine come back to life through their own sweat and cooperation,” Ndegwa explained.

Chambishi’s story is one of dramatic transformation. First discovered in the late 19th century, the mine was abandoned by Western operators decades ago, after they pulled out due to insurmountable technical challenges and financial struggles. In the years that followed, equipment rusted away, thousands of local miners lost their jobs, and hope faded across surrounding communities.

The turning point came in 1998, when China Nonferrous Metal Mining Group acquired the idle site. After five years of rehabilitation work, the silent tunnels roared back to life in 2003, when the mine produced its first batch of copper concentrate following its restart. Today, Chambishi is a global leader in innovative mining, and the recent launch of Africa’s first ultra-small turning-radius TBM for underground mining marked a major milestone for Zambia’s entire mining sector.

Zambian Minister of Mines and Minerals Development Paul Kabuswe noted at the TBM launch ceremony that the new technology represents a critical step forward for Zambia’s goal of building an “intelligent and green” mining industry. The advanced equipment, custom-built for Chambishi’s geological conditions, has an excavation diameter of 5.63 meters and a minimum turning radius of 50 meters, operating three times more efficiently than traditional drill-and-blast excavation methods. The technology is core to Zambia’s national target of producing 3 million metric tons of copper by 2031, while also improving local livelihoods and driving broad economic growth.

Chambishi is now the site of Africa’s first fully digital intelligent mine, developed through China-Zambia collaboration. Remote control systems, real-time smart monitoring, and automated safety warning technologies have been fully deployed, cutting down on high-intensity, high-risk manual labor and revolutionizing traditional mining operations through Chinese technical expertise.

For local workers, the mine’s revival has transformed personal as well as economic prospects. More than 6,000 jobs have been created at Chambishi, with over 90 percent of the workforce drawn from local Zambian communities. Runny Kaunda, a 30-something housekeeper who has worked at NFCA for two years and is one of the band’s lead vocalists, says the mine pulled her out of hardship. “There is a line in the lyrics that encourages me — ‘there are some scars that turn into sweets’. Before I joined NFCA, my life was difficult. After joining NFCA, my life has improved,” she said.

Daniel Mukulumoya, a 38-year-old materials coordinator with seven years at the company, says the line “we build, we bend, we mend” echoes both his professional work and personal journey. The song, he argues, is far more than a mining anthem: “It shows how NFCA’s copper production has transformed lives, not just inside the mine, but also in surrounding communities.”

That community impact extends well beyond job creation. NFCA has invested heavily in local social infrastructure, supporting local schools with supplies, assisting orphanages and medical facilities, and upgrading public services. In late May, new sanitation facilities donated by the company were commissioned for the Fitanda community, and recent corporate social responsibility projects include a new girls’ dormitory for a local boarding school, new classrooms for a primary school, and a new water well for a secondary school. Local community representative Bertha Mulenga noted that the company has built housing, churches, schools and clinics across the region, and addressed chronic local water shortages by drilling new wells, installing pumping infrastructure, and providing fuel to guarantee consistent daily water access.

The Chambishi investment has also catalyzed broader regional development: it helped lay the foundation for the Zambia-China Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone, China’s first overseas economic and cooperation zone in Africa. According to Zambia’s *Daily Nation*, by 2025 the zone had attracted more than $2.7 billion in total investment, hosted nearly 100 enterprises, and created more than 10,000 local jobs. Ndegwa notes that the “anchor investment” model pioneered at Chambishi has been replicated across the African continent, from Kenya’s Standard Gauge Railway, which revolutionized freight logistics and created thousands of engineering jobs, to Nigeria’s Lekki Deep Sea Port, which is reshaping regional trade routes.

Ndegwa pushed back against Western narratives that frame Chinese investment in Africa as a form of neocolonialism, arguing that the colonial model was defined by extractivism and inequality, where foreign powers pulled resources out while leaving local communities marginalized and excluded. “The viral song performed by proud, joyful Zambian workers is human testimony that carries a different kind of persuasive force,” he said.

For Xu, the most meaningful moment of the entire experience was watching Zambian workers dance and sing along to the anthem he composed. It was, he said, the most profound experience he has had of the shared future that binds China and Africa together, rooted in daily grassroots cooperation rather than formal diplomacy. Local worker Blessings Kamanga, a 30-year-old mechanical fitter and amateur singer, says he feels lucky to work at a mine that supports workers’ creative passions — even singing verses of the anthem during underground breaks, where the tunnel’s natural acoustics create the perfect backing echo.

“Development that does not produce human connection remains fragile. Cooperation that produces a band of miners singing proudly about their workplace is cooperation with roots. It cannot easily be disrupted by geopolitical winds or hostile media narratives, because it lives in people’s memories and identities,” Ndegwa said.

2026 marks a landmark year for China-Africa relations: it is the China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges, and the 70th anniversary of formal China-Africa diplomatic relations. Over seven decades, formal diplomatic ties have built the framework for cooperation, investment and infrastructure development across the continent. For the NFCA Band, the viral success of their anthem has brought an exciting new opportunity: the group has been invited to perform on a Chinese television program later this year, with many members set to visit China for the first time.

Ndegwa summed up the deeper meaning of the Chambishi story: “The Chambishi song reveals that beneath that scaffolding, something more intimate has been quietly growing — a genuine mutual curiosity and respect between ordinary people on both sides, and a durable bond built not only in conference rooms, but also in shared daily experience. That is the lesson Chambishi offers at 70 years.”

A high-profile Ghanaian social media creator, known publicly as Abu Trica and legally named Frederick Kumi, has been transferred into U.S. custody to stand trial on allegations that he led a transnational romance fraud ring that stole more than $8 million from vulnerable elderly American citizens. Kumi has formally pleaded not guilty to all criminal charges brought against him.

Federal prosecutors in the U.S. allege that Kumi leveraged artificial intelligence technology to build convincing fake digital personas, which he then used to connect with potential targets on major social media platforms and popular dating websites. Over time, prosecutors claim he gained the trust of his victims before coercing them into sending large sums of money. If convicted on the two core charges—conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering—Kumi faces a maximum sentence of 20 years behind bars.

The extradition, which was completed on a Delta Airlines flight Thursday, has sparked significant political and legal controversy in Ghana. Kumi’s defense attorney, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, told reporters that he appeared in a Ghanaian court on Thursday to file a formal challenge to the extradition, only to discover that authorities had already removed Kumi from the country hours before the court could issue a ruling. Barker-Vormawor has accused the Ghanaian government of bypassing required judicial oversight, arguing that the rushed extradition raises serious unresolved constitutional questions about the separation of powers in the West African nation. As of Monday, the Ghanaian government has not issued any public response to these allegations.

Long before his arrest, Kumi drew public suspicion for his habit of showcasing extravagant wealth to his more than 100,000 Instagram followers. He regularly posted photos of high-end luxury vehicles, stacks of cash, and upscale properties, which led many observers to question the legitimacy of his income sources—a question that U.S. authorities have now formally answered with fraud charges.

According to the prosecution’s narrative, the scam followed a well-documented pattern: Kumi and his co-conspirators would initiate frequent, emotionally intimate conversations with victims through online platforms, gradually building romantic connection. Once trust was established, the group would request money or high-value goods under false pretenses—often claiming the funds were needed for emergency medical care, travel costs to visit the victim, or to secure a fake high-return investment opportunity. All funds and valuables were routed to third-party accounts controlled by co-conspirators, after which Kumi allegedly split the illicit proceeds between his network of partners in both the U.S. and Ghana.

A native of the southern Ghanaian town of Swedru, Kumi was first taken into custody last year during a coordinated operation carried out jointly by Ghanaian and U.S. law enforcement. There remains a minor discrepancy over Kumi’s age: his legal team says he is 28, while U.S. prosecutors list his age as 31.

The prosecution of Kumi’s case is being carried out under the U.S. Elder Abuse Prevention and Prosecution Act, a federal law designed to increase penalties and priority for crimes targeting older adults. This extradition is the latest in a series of coordinated law enforcement actions by U.S. authorities cracking down on cross-border fraud networks based in West Africa that target elderly U.S. citizens. Just last week, another extradited Ghanaian fraudster, Joseph Kwadwo Badu Boateng—better known by his online alias Dada Joe Remix—pleaded guilty in a U.S. court to running romance and inheritance fraud schemes that stole from American victims. In December of last year, a U.S. court sentenced Nigerian fraud ringleader Oluwaseun Adekoya to 20 years in prison for his role in running a nationwide bank fraud and money laundering conspiracy that laundered more than $2 million in stolen funds.

DAKAR, Senegal – Migrants deported from the United States and detained in an Equatorial Guinean hotel are sounding an urgent alarm: authorities have placed at least one suspected Ebola patient under quarantine in the same facility, according to statements from the detainees and the legal team representing them, released publicly Thursday.

The isolated facility, a hotel located on a lush tropical island off Equatorial Guinea’s mainland coast, is owned by the country’s long-ruling, powerful president Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. It currently holds 17 migrants originating from a range of African nations including Angola, Mauritania and Ethiopia, placed there under a little-known, non-transparent third-country deportation agreement struck with the former Trump administration.

Details of the dangerous co-location emerged from both a formal statement released by an international coalition of human rights lawyers and on-the-record interviews with two of the detained migrants, who spoke only on condition of anonymity over fears of violent retaliation from Equatorial Guinean authorities. According to their accounts, last week medical personnel wearing full hazmat suits brought a man suspected of carrying the Ebola virus to the hotel and quarantined him on a floor directly below the section where migrants are being held.

An ongoing rare Ebola outbreak is currently ravaging the central African nation of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the outbreak was first declared in May and has already claimed more than 600 lives to date. While a small number of confirmed cases have been recorded in neighboring Uganda, Equatorial Guinea – which shares no border with Congo and sits roughly 1,885 kilometers away from the outbreak’s epicenter – has not reported any confirmed or even suspected Ebola cases of its own until this reported incident.

Despite that lack of prior risk, the two deportees told the Associated Press that an English-speaking doctor explicitly informed them the man being brought into the hotel was a suspected Ebola case and that they should take precautions. No further information about the patient’s status or risk mitigation steps for detainees was provided after that initial warning.

The legal coalition’s statement echoed the detainees’ accounts, confirming that the group had received “disturbing reports from multiple detained individuals that a person with a suspected case of Ebola was recently brought under quarantine into the same hotel complex where they are being held.” One detainee added that a second suspected Ebola patient, a woman, was transported to the same quarantine floor of the hotel this past Sunday, also identified by arriving medical staff as a potential Ebola case.

The Associated Press has reviewed video footage that appears to show medical workers clad in full protective biohazard gear transporting individuals into the hotel, which previously functioned as an isolation and quarantine center for COVID-19 patients during the height of the global pandemic.

“Things are getting worse every day,” one anonymous detainee shared in an interview. “It’s very confusing, no one is coming to talk to us. No one is informing us of anything. The hygiene is unimaginable.” Beyond the lack of information, neither masks, disinfectant spray, nor other basic protective supplies to reduce the risk of viral exposure have been provided to the 17 detainees, and no public health safety measures have been communicated to them, according to both legal representatives and the detainees themselves.

The detentions in Equatorial Guinea are part of a broader, largely secretive immigration policy enacted by the Trump administration, which entered into undisclosed third-country deportation agreements with nearly 24 nations. Under these deals, thousands of people deemed to be in the U.S. illegally are deported to countries that are not their countries of origin, as part of a sweeping crackdown designed to deter future unauthorized immigration. Immigration advocates and lawyers note that this policy acts as a legal loophole, allowing the U.S. to indirectly force asylum seekers back to their home countries even when their asylum claims would otherwise qualify for protection.

Equatorial Guinea is one of at least eight African nations that have signed onto these third-country deportation agreements with the U.S. After a $7.5 million deal was struck between the two governments, Obiang repurposed a family-owned hotel on Bioko Island, near the capital of Malabo, into an immigration detention facility for deported migrants. Legal representatives confirm that 13 men and 4 women are currently being held at the site, and all of them had received formal orders from U.S. immigration judges that should have prevented their removal to their home countries.

Earlier this month, the same coalition of international rights lawyers filed a formal legal complaint against Equatorial Guinea before the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the continent’s top human rights oversight body. The complaint accuses the central African nation of forcibly deporting U.S.-deposited migrants back to their home countries, a move that violates core international human rights protections for asylum seekers.

In Thursday’s updated statement, the legal coalition added that they have also received repeated reports that multiple detainees with pre-existing serious medical conditions are being denied access to adequate medical care while in government custody.

Rich in oil reserves, Equatorial Guinea is counted among the wealthiest countries in Africa by per capita GDP, but it is also widely criticized for systemic rampant corruption and routine human rights violations, according to assessments from U.S. government officials. Independent political opposition and critical public discourse are virtually non-existent in the country, where the Obiang regime has been repeatedly accused by human rights organizations and the U.S. State Department of arbitrary detention, torture, and extrajudicial killing of political dissidents and activists who speak out against the government.

Notably, U.S. companies are the largest foreign investors in Equatorial Guinea’s oil sector, and the country’s military receives funding for training and equipment from the U.S. government.