标签： Africa

On a mid-week day in Dakar, Senegal’s coastal capital, thousands of demonstrators filled the streets to voice growing frustration with the country’s new ruling administration, as a crippling national debt crisis pushes daily living costs to unsustainable levels for ordinary citizens. The demonstration was a coordinated effort between Senegal’s most influential labor unions and the Front for the Defense of Democracy and the Republic (FDR), a major opposition political coalition, bringing together workers, union activists, and government critics from across the political spectrum.

Mody Guiro, leader of the National Confederation of Senegalese Workers — the nation’s largest union body — told reporters the current government has broken a landmark agreement struck one year prior. Under that deal, unions agreed to pause all planned strike action in exchange for commitments to raise public sector wages and improve national working conditions. For its part, the Senegalese government argues that a historic debt crisis inherited from the previous ruling administration has stripped the state of discretionary funding needed to fulfill these pledges.

Many protesters wore identifying red scarves and branded union headwear, carrying hand-painted signs that called for the reinstatement of thousands of laid off public employees and sharp cuts to personal income tax rates. Some groups chanted overt calls for the removal of Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, the country’s second-highest ranking official.

Sonko and President Bassirou Diomaye Faye’s administration took office in April 2024 on a wave of popular support, fueled by campaign promises of sweeping transformative reform. Their platform centered on rooting out systemic corruption, expanding employment opportunities for Senegal’s large youth population, and ensuring the nation captures maximum economic benefit from its abundant natural resource reserves. To date, however, the ruling PASTEF party’s reform agenda has hit significant roadblocks.

A 2025 official government audit confirmed that the previous administration left the country with a total public debt of $13 billion — a figure far larger than had been previously disclosed to the public. That debt burden has pushed Senegal’s debt-to-GDP ratio to approximately 132%, one of the highest debt levels recorded on the African continent. Ongoing negotiations with the International Monetary Fund to secure a new economic bailout program have stalled in recent months as the country’s fiscal outlook continues to deteriorate.

Worsening economic conditions have amplified daily hardship for millions of Senegalese people, with the nation’s youth population bearing the brunt of the crisis. Roughly 75% of Senegal’s total population is under the age of 35, making youth unemployment one of the country’s most pressing social issues. Tensions have already boiled over once this year: in February, student protests over unpaid government financial aid at Senegal’s leading public university were met with a violent crackdown by security forces, which left one student dead.

Speaking at Wednesday’s demonstration, youth activist Mohamed Fall emphasized that widespread frustration has ground daily life across the country to a halt. “The country is at a standstill. It is essential that the government finds solutions to revive Senegal’s economy instead of picking fights everywhere,” Fall said.

For many demonstrators, the anger stems directly from unmet campaign promises. Pape Laobe Samb, a former 12-year veteran employee of the Port of Dakar, is one of more than 700 port workers laid off since the start of 2025 as part of the Faye administration’s push to overhaul bloated state institutions. “This is not what they promised people. They said they were going to create jobs and develop the country but they did the complete opposite,” Samb told the Associated Press in an interview at the protest.

The newly appointed director of the Port of Dakar, who took the post shortly after Faye’s inauguration, has framed the layoffs as a necessary clean-up of irregular, patronage-based contracts left behind by the previous government. Unions push back against this narrative, arguing that nearly all the terminated workers were affiliated with the previous ruling party, and that the mass firings were an unlawful, politically motivated purge rather than a genuine institutional reform.

Almost a decade after former Gambian leader Yahya Jammeh suffered an unexpected electoral defeat that forced him from power after 22 years of authoritarian rule, survivors of his regime’s systematic human rights violations have finally secured a landmark step in their long fight for accountability.

British barrister Martin Hackett, a seasoned international war crimes prosecutor with decades of experience investigating grave atrocities, has been named The Gambia’s inaugural special prosecutor to pursue individuals implicated in the widespread repression, enforced disappearances, and extrajudicial killings that marked Jammeh’s time in office. Jammeh fled to exile in Equatorial Guinea in early 2017, after regional military intervention compelled him to step down following his rejection of the 2016 election results.

Hackett will lead a purpose-built new office tasked with adjudicating cases from the Jammeh era, a period that documentation has confirmed was rife with systematic human rights abuses. His appointment comes years after the West African nation established the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC), a transitional justice body created to map the full scale of alleged violations committed under Jammeh’s rule. The TRRC collected harrowing firsthand testimony from hundreds of victims, former state security agents, and other witnesses before delivering its final report to current President Adama Barrow in 2021. In that report, the commission explicitly named the individuals most responsible for abuses and formally recommended criminal prosecution, while also stressing the urgent need for reparations for survivors—warning that inaction would cement a culture of impunity in The Gambia.

To date, the TRRC has begun rolling out phased compensation disbursements, starting with victims of abuses that took place in the immediate aftermath of the 1994 coup that brought Jammeh to power. Yet for the vast majority of survivors, financial reparations remain a secondary priority to holding perpetrators legally accountable for their crimes.

The TRRC’s investigation highlighted dozens of high-profile atrocities, among them the 2004 assassination of independent journalist Deyda Hydara, a killing that drew international condemnation of press freedom violations in The Gambia. Another of the most shocking cases uncovered was the execution of more than 50 mostly West African migrants, who were killed by state security forces on false charges of plotting a coup against Jammeh.

Before Hackett’s appointment, a small number of lower-level perpetrators had already faced conviction outside The Gambia under the principle of universal jurisdiction. Multiple former members of the Junglers—Jammeh’s notorious paramilitary death squad—have been sentenced to prison in Germany and the United States for their roles in atrocities.

Hackett brings extensive international credibility to the new role, having previously served with the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon and led investigations into war crimes committed by senior military commanders during the Kosovo conflict. Legal and transitional justice observers widely view his appointment as a definitive turning point toward establishing full domestic accountability for decades of abuse.

Gambian Attorney General Dawda Jallow confirmed that Hackett was selected from a large pool of qualified applicants and will serve a four-year mandate in the role. Jammeh, now 60 years old, has repeatedly denied all allegations of wrongdoing during his rule. He refused to cooperate with the TRRC’s investigation and remains in exile in Equatorial Guinea, beyond the reach of Gambian judicial authorities for the time being.

Seventeen years after the Boko Haram insurgency first ignited in Nigeria’s northeast, the West African nation has launched one of the largest mass terrorism prosecutions in its history, moving to try more than 500 people linked to widespread militant violence that has torn through communities across the country.

For decades, a glaring gap in Nigeria’s counterterrorism efforts has left families and affected communities frustrated: despite thousands of deaths and widespread displacement from bombings, raids, and ransom kidnappings, very few people accused of involvement in militant attacks have ever faced legal prosecution. Many detained suspects have spent years behind bars without ever appearing in court, fueling public anger and persistent rumors that accused militants are often quietly released to return to violent activity.

That long-standing inaction took a sharp turn on Tuesday, when the mass trial opened at Nigeria’s capital Abuja’s High Court. According to federal Attorney General Lateef Fagbemi, 227 suspects were formally arraigned before a panel of 10 judges on the opening day, with the full proceedings set to unfold in successive phases. Extraordinary security measures were put in place for the session: suspects were transported in heavily armored convoys escorted by a combined force of military personnel, police officers, and intelligence agents, while international observers, representatives from human rights organizations, and members of the Nigerian Bar Association were granted access to monitor the process.

The charges brought against the defendants cover a wide range of alleged ties to militant activity. While most of the accusations are linked to direct participation in attacks across northern Nigeria, other suspects face counts of facilitating terrorism through financing militants, trafficking illegal arms, and providing critical logistical support. In an early development, five of the accused have already received prison sentences ranging from seven to 20 years after entering guilty pleas, admitting to crimes including selling livestock, supplying food, and sharing intelligence with militant networks.

In a statement ahead of the proceedings, Attorney General Fagbemi emphasized that the unprecedented scale of the trial demonstrates the Nigerian federal government’s unwavering commitment to ending decades of unaddressed militant violence. “The federal government is committed to ensuring that due process is followed while bringing those involved in terrorism to justice,” he said.

The opening of the trial comes as Nigeria continues to grapple with near-daily militant violence. Just one day after the proceedings began, gunmen suspected to be linked to local kidnapping gangs and Islamist militant networks raided rural villages in Shiroro district of Nigeria’s western Niger State, killing at least 20 residents, according to local witnesses and AFP reporting. Since the Boko Haram insurgency first emerged in 2009, insecurity has spread far beyond the northeast, leaving vast rural areas across the country vulnerable to frequent attacks, kidnappings for ransom, and gang violence that has killed hundreds of people just in 2026 alone.

Security analysts have broadly welcomed the mass trial as a turning point in Nigeria’s long fight against insurgency. Retired army major Bashir Galma, a leading Nigerian security expert, told the BBC that the proceeding marks a “positive development” and a “significant milestone” for the country’s counterterrorism efforts. He noted that for years, Nigerians have repeatedly raised demands to resolve the backlog of unprosecuted terror suspects held in long-term detention. “This will bring some level of peace for people whose loved ones were killed or injured,” Galma said, adding that the trial also addresses long-circulating rumors that suspects are regularly released to resume their terrorist activity.

Even with this progress, Galma cautioned that some defendants may still be released in the coming months, as many of the suspects were arrested years ago, a legal circumstance that judges are required to consider during sentencing.

The ongoing conflict in Ukraine has taken on a new, underreported dimension with the confirmation that dozens of citizens from across the African continent have died after being recruited to fight alongside Russian forces, sparking growing outcry over deceptive recruitment practices and government inaction.

For Cameroon, the development marks the first implicit confirmation of its nationals’ involvement in the war, after a diplomatic source verified to the BBC the authenticity of a leaked foreign ministry note that acknowledged 16 Cameroonians had been killed while serving as military contractors for Russia. The leaked document, dated March 5 and addressed to the Russian Embassy in Cameroon, has not been addressed publicly by Russian officials, as multiple attempts to secure comment from the embassy went unanswered.

Cameroon’s government has faced sharp public criticism for its months-long silence on the issue, and has yet to issue a formal public statement acknowledging the deaths. In a low-key development on Monday, the country’s foreign ministry sent a brief statement to state-owned broadcaster CRTV that listed the names of 16 Cameroonians said to be resident in Russia. The broadcast, which aired Monday evening, only asked relatives of the listed individuals to contact authorities for an urgent matter, offering no further context that would confirm the deaths.

This quiet confirmation aligns with earlier findings from All Eyes on Wagner, an independent research group that tracks global mercenary activity, which estimated that 94 Cameroonians had died in the conflict between 2023 and 2025. Internal government documents obtained by Reuters also reveal that Cameroon’s defense ministry raised alarm over the issue as early as March 2025, when the defense minister issued a memo expressing concern over active-duty soldiers leaving the country to enlist in the war, and ordering unit commanders to step up monitoring of personnel.

The crisis stretches far beyond Cameroon’s borders. Ukrainian intelligence officials estimate that more than 1,700 individuals from 36 different African countries have been recruited to fight for Russia in Ukraine. Multiple African governments have already documented deaths, missing persons, and deceptive recruitment rings targeting their citizens.

Ghana, another West African nation that has been heavily impacted, has publicly called on Russia to halt all recruitment of its citizens, confirming that at least 55 Ghanaians have been killed in the conflict. In Kenya, authorities have cracked down on criminal recruitment networks that lured job seekers with false promises of well-paying work abroad. Kenya’s foreign ministry confirmed in February that more than 600 suspect recruitment agencies have been shut down, with official data showing 16 Kenyans remain missing in Russia and 47 have returned home after escaping deployment to the front lines in Ukraine.

Zimbabwe has also reported 15 of its citizens killed after being recruited, with more than 60 still trapped in active combat zones. Earlier this year, South Africa successfully repatriated 17 of its citizens who told officials they had been tricked into deploying to Ukraine’s Donbas region to fight for Russia, and were left stranded after being pushed to the front lines.

The widespread recruitment of African nationals has prompted growing regional concern, with governments scrambling to crack down on illegal networks and hold those responsible accountable for the deceptive tactics that have left hundreds of families facing grief and uncertainty over missing loved ones.

In north-central Nigeria, a pre-dawn coordinated attack on two rural communities has left local officials and residents at odds over the number of casualties, deepening concerns over the West African nation’s worsening security crisis. Multiple local witnesses confirmed the assault unfolded in the early hours of Tuesday, targeting the villages of Bagna and Erena in the Shiroro district of Niger state, roughly 250 kilometers — a four-hour drive — from the country’s capital Abuja.

Jibrin Isah, a long-time Erena resident, described the chaotic, sudden nature of the incursion. “They arrived on motorbikes and immediately opened fire,” Isah said. “It was a total surprise; most people were still asleep in the early hours when the attack began.”

Accounts of the death toll diverge sharply between local communities and law enforcement officials. Residents put the confirmed death count at no fewer than 20 people, with an unknown number of additional civilians still unaccounted for in the attack’s aftermath. Muhammad Tukur, another Erena resident, confirmed the community’s count to the Associated Press, stating that the final number of fatalities would likely exceed 20.

However, local police have released a far lower casualty count. In an official statement, Niger state police spokesperson Wasiu Abiodun confirmed three security-linked deaths: two volunteer vigilante members and a driver assigned to the area’s joint security task force. Abiodun added that several other people were wounded during the hours-long operation.

Witnesses reported that the gunmen held control of the two villages for multiple hours, looting residential properties and forcing hundreds of local residents to abandon their homes and seek refuge in safer adjacent communities.

As Africa’s most populous nation, Nigeria has grappled with an interconnected, multi-front security crisis for more than a decade, particularly across its northern and north-central regions. Long-running insurgent activity in the country’s northeast has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions, according to United Nations estimates. Beyond insurgent violence, the region also faces frequent outbreaks of violence rooted in long-simmering resource disputes: conflicts over land and grazing access between mostly Muslim Fulani herding communities and largely Christian farming populations regularly escalate into deadly mass clashes. Criminal gangs focused on ransom kidnapping also operate widely across rural north-central and northwestern states, taking advantage of weak security presence to target communities.

As spillover effects from the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran continue to roil global energy markets, the Indian Ocean island nation of Madagascar has implemented a 14-day nationwide state of energy emergency to address crippling fuel shortages that threaten public order and critical infrastructure. The presidential office confirmed the measure was approved during a cabinet meeting Tuesday, prompted by growing concerns that unaddressed supply gaps could spark widespread civil unrest. Unlike many larger economies, Madagascar generates the vast majority of its electrical power from petroleum-fueled plants, and relies almost entirely on fuel imports from the Middle East – a supply chain that has been severely disrupted by regional conflict, even after the announcement of an overnight two-week ceasefire between warring parties. The ongoing instability has already put Madagascar in a precarious position: just last year, prolonged outages of power and clean water access fueled youth-led demonstrations that escalated into broad political unrest, ultimately culminating in a military takeover of the country. As of this report, the Malagasy government has not released a full list of specific policy actions it will implement under the new emergency powers, but officials note the declaration grants expanded authority to stabilize the national power sector, reduce the impact of ongoing disruptions, regulate consumer fuel use, and guarantee that core public services remain operational. So far, official fuel prices have not been raised since the supply crisis began, but widespread shortages have become commonplace, with local media documenting drivers waiting in multi-hour queues to access petrol stations. News of the state of emergency triggered panic buying at multiple retail fuel locations across the country Wednesday, with some stations reportedly implementing temporary customer fuel rationing to stretch limited existing supplies. The majority of Madagascar’s crude oil and fuel imports originate from Oman, located adjacent to the Strait of Hormuz – the world’s most critical chokepoint for global energy shipping, which has faced persistent disruption since the outbreak of expanded regional conflict in late February. Even with the recent ceasefire announcement, global crude prices remain significantly higher than pre-conflict levels, and energy analysts warn that repairing damaged supply infrastructure and production capacity in the Middle East could take months, or even multiple years, to complete. Madagascar is far from alone in grappling with this crisis across the African continent: multiple other African nations have rolled out urgent policy measures in recent weeks to offset the economic impact of disrupted energy supplies. Policy responses across the region have ranged from adjusting fuel pricing through subsidies or rate hikes to mandatory national electricity rationing. Most recently, The Gambia announced an immediate halt to all non-essential official travel for government employees, a policy that was first implemented just days earlier by Senegal. To the south, Zambia has temporarily eliminated all import taxes on petrol and diesel shipments, while Botswana moved to scrap national fuel levies for six months to ease cost burdens for consumers. As regional governments scramble to mitigate the fallout, the ongoing energy crisis continues to test the stability of import-dependent economies across the African continent, with Madagascar’s emergency declaration marking the most high-profile response to date.

After 22 months of detention on controversial national security charges, a foreign aid worker has been freed from custody in the Central African Republic (CAR), his family has confirmed to the Associated Press. Joseph Figueira Martin, a dual Belgian-Portuguese national working as a consultant for U.S.-based development organization FHI 360, was released from detention on Tuesday, according to his immediate family. His brother told reporters that early confirmation of the release is solid, and the freed aid worker was expected to touch down in Lisbon, Portugal’s capital, within hours of the announcement.

Figueira Martin was first taken into custody in May 2023, not 2024 as initially cited in some early official statements, during a security sweep in Zemio, a remote southeastern CAR town that has been trapped in chronic interethnic and anti-government violence for more than a decade. The CAR prosecutor’s office leveled serious allegations against the aid worker, including claims of espionage, unlawful collaboration with armed rebel factions, plotting to overthrow the sitting government, and endangering the country’s national sovereignty. Held in a maximum-security military prison, Figueira Martin previously launched a hunger strike to draw attention to poor and abusive conditions during his detention.

As of Tuesday evening, CAR’s presidential administration and national law enforcement bodies had not issued an official confirmation of the aid worker’s release, nor had they offered any public comment on the future of his outstanding legal case.

While cases of foreign aid workers being detained on national security charges remain uncommon in the country, the CAR government has ramped up regulatory and security scrutiny of international non-governmental organizations operating in conflict zones where state military forces are battling insurgent groups. In the wake of Figueira Martin’s arrest, national authorities issued a public warning that all foreign NGO personnel must avoid any activities deemed to threaten national security, or they would face formal legal prosecution.

The release comes amid more than a decade of ongoing instability in CAR, a resource-rich central African nation that plunged into full-scale civil conflict in 2013, when a coalition of mostly Muslim rebel groups seized the capital and ousted sitting president François Bozizé. The subsequent counteroffensive by mostly Christian anti-rebel militias spiraled into widespread ethnic violence that has killed thousands and displaced millions. A 2019 nationwide peace agreement between the government and major armed factions reduced large-scale clashes, but six of the 14 original signatory armed groups have since withdrawn from the deal, restarting insurgent activity across large swathes of the countryside.

Currently, CAR’s President Faustin-Archange Touadéra, who has held office since 2016, relies on military support from the Russian private mercenary group Wagner to hold off insurgent offensives and maintain government control over key national territory.