标签： Africa

More than a decade of rolling insurgency has reached a new brutal peak in central Mali, after coordinated simultaneous attacks on two rural villages left dozens of civilians and militiamen dead this week — marking the deadliest single assault since jihadist and separatist groups launched a nationwide coordinated offensive last month.

The al-Qaeda-affiliated militant group Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) has officially claimed responsibility for the Wednesday night raids on the villages of Korikori and Gomossogou, located in Mali’s volatile central Mopti Region. Initial casualty counts from sources quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP) put the death toll at 30, but separate accounts from diplomatic and humanitarian sources speaking to Reuters and regional security journalism collective West African Network for Peace and Security (WAMAPS) have revised the provisional number of fatalities to at least 50. Multiple residents and local sources confirm that while most victims were members of local self-defense militias, the death toll also includes teenage civilians and young children, with an unknown number of residents still unaccounted for in the wake of the assault.

Local witnesses describe attackers entering the villages under cover of night, opening indiscriminate fire on residents, ransacking and looting residential and community structures, and setting multiple properties ablaze. A security source told AFP the attacks were carried out in retaliation for recent operations by Dan Na Ambassagou, a community-organized self-defense militia formed to counter years of persistent militant violence in central Mali.

Mali’s military junta, led by General Assimi Goïta — who seized power in a 2020 coup — has responded to the assault with immediate counteroperations. Military officials confirmed that a “targeted strike” was launched in the attack area, with roughly a dozen jihadist fighters “neutralized” in the operation. Bandiagara Region Governor condemned the violence in an official Thursday statement, labeling the coordinated assaults “despicable and inhumane acts.” A subsequent military update clarified that nearly 10 additional “terrorist” fighters were killed and an insurgent logistical base was destroyed during further counteroffensive actions.

The latest attack comes against a backdrop of rapidly escalating instability that has gripped Mali since April, when an alliance of jihadist militants and separatist rebels from the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) launched a coordinated nationwide offensive aimed at ousting Goïta’s military regime. That opening wave of attacks included a suicide truck bombing targeting the residence of Malian Defense Minister Sadio Camara near the capital Bamako that killed the top security official. Just this week, Goïta announced he would fill the vacant defense minister post, with support from army chief of staff General Oumar Diarra.

Speaking at a Wednesday press briefing in the capital, Malian army commander Djibrilla Maiga acknowledged that insurgent groups have been working to regroup and rearm in the weeks following the April offensive, warning that “the threat is still present” and confirming that military forces are working to disrupt further militant advances.

Unlike previous deployments, when Mali relied on United Nations peacekeepers and French counterinsurgency forces, Goïta’s junta has partnered with the Russia-linked Africa Corps, a paramilitary force that grew out of the now-fractured Wagner Group, to combat the insurgency. Even with this support, the FLA-led offensive has forced Russian fighters to withdraw from the key northern city of Kidal, which is now fully under separatist control. The FLA has since announced plans to advance on other northern population centers and issued an explicit demand for the full withdrawal of Africa Corps forces from all Malian territory. Beyond territorial gains, insurgents have also tightened a blockade on Bamako, establishing a network of checkpoints on all major road arteries leading into the capital to cut off supply lines.

Mali’s ongoing crisis traces its roots back to 2012, when a Tuareg separatist rebellion in northern Mali evolved into a full-scale Islamist insurgency that has since spread to central and eastern regions of the country. Today, large swathes of northern and eastern Mali remain completely outside of government control. When Goïta’s junta first seized power, it held broad popular support on a promise to end the decade-long security crisis. Following the coup, however, the new regime expelled UN peacekeeping forces and French counterinsurgency troops that had been deployed to stem the insurgency, clearing the way for the current surge in violence that has pushed the country to the brink of state collapse.

Two years after Sudan’s brutal civil war drove him from his small family farm, Omer al-Hassan finally made the journey back to his land in Omdurman, clearing weeds, plowing dry soil, and preparing to plant for the first time since he fled. But a new wave of unrest sweeping the Middle East has now derailed his hopes, sending critical agricultural input prices soaring and pushing him and millions of other Sudanese farmers further into financial ruin and food insecurity.

Al-Hassan and thousands of small-scale producers across Sudan are now bracing for one of the costliest planting seasons in recent memory. Many have already announced deep cuts to planned production, while some vulnerable smallholders have opted to skip planting entirely—a devastating development for a nation already grappling with three straight years of armed conflict that has left more than half its population facing acute hunger.

“The conflict linked to Iran has upended every part of our agricultural work,” al-Hassan told the Associated Press during an interview as he and his crew harvested onions from his recently cleared plot. After two months of backbreaking work to restore the overgrown land, he said, “We put our faith in God, but even after all that struggle, we still go without meals some days. We simply can’t keep up with the costs.”

Along with the 10 seasonal workers who help tend his farm, which also produces potatoes and tomatoes, al-Hassan says the group cannot cover operating costs without government financial support. That has already forced them to slash planted acreage and ration fertilizer use across the property. Another local farmer, Mohammed al-Badri, confirmed he can only afford to plant half of his arable land this season, leaving the rest uncultivated: “The other half is just wasted. We can’t do anything with it.”

The root of this new crisis lies in disruptions to global trade chokepoints tied to Middle East tensions. More than half of Sudan’s imported fertilizer arrives by sea through the Gulf region, where hundreds of commercial vessels have been stranded for weeks amid heightened tensions around the Strait of Hormuz. The resulting supply crunch has pushed up domestic fuel prices by roughly 30% nationwide, with fertilizer costs skyrocketing even faster.

Those increases have in turn driven sharp spikes in retail food prices across Sudan, hitting already cash-strapped households the hardest. The nation’s core staple crops—sorghum, millet, and sesame—are now at severe risk of production shortfalls this growing season. Farmers already reeling from the ongoing internal conflict between Sudan’s military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces now face cascading cost increases for fertilizer, gasoline for farm tractors, and diesel to power irrigation pumps.

Abdoun Berqawi, a farmer in Gezira, Sudan’s most productive agricultural heartland, described the situation as a “dangerous reality” that will collapse small-scale farming without urgent government intervention. He shared data showing the cost of a 50-kilogram bag of urea fertilizer has jumped from $11 a year ago to roughly $50 today, while tractor fuel has surged from $2.50 to $8 per gallon over the same period. Officials from Sudan’s Ministry of Agriculture have not yet responded to requests for comment on what steps the government is taking to address the emergency.

Melaku Yirga, regional vice president for the international aid organization Mercy Corps, who recently traveled to Sudan’s key agricultural states of Kassala and Gedaref, warned the timing of the crisis could not be worse. The Middle East tensions have triggered a “dangerous chain reaction” just as farmers begin preparing for planting, he explained. “People are already buying less food, cutting or skipping meals entirely, selling off critical household assets, and taking dangerous risks just to put food on the table,” Yirga said. “Mothers are forced to make impossible choices about which of their children get to eat the little food available, and some families are even eating wild leaves or animal feed to stay alive.”

For farmers who borrowed money from banks to cover planting costs, poor harvests this year could lead not just to bankruptcy but jail time for unpaid debts, said Merghany Omar, a farmer based in al-Matammah, River Nile province. He added that even onion farming, a reliable cash staple for smallholders in the area, no longer generates enough revenue to cover basic input costs.

Samy Guessabi, country director for Action Against Hunger in Sudan, noted this new crisis is layered on top of pre-existing systemic vulnerabilities, including dramatic currency depreciation that has already eroded purchasing power across the country. The hardest-hit communities are in remote agricultural regions including Kordofan, White Nile, Darfur, and Blue Nile, Guessabi said, where “farm zones are cut off from major markets and have very poor transport connections.”

Even in Sudan’s urban centers, retail prices for fresh vegetables and dairy products have risen by roughly 40% in recent weeks, driven directly by fuel price increases. Before the latest crisis sparked by Middle East tensions, the ongoing civil war had already pushed millions of Sudanese into hunger. The United Nations World Food Program currently estimates 19 million Sudanese face acute food insecurity, with millions more on the edge of famine. Famine was officially declared in two major regions, Darfur and Kordofan, last year.

The emergency has also severely disrupted international humanitarian aid efforts already stretched thin by the conflict. WFP says food assistance shipments bound for Sudan are now forced to travel more than 5,500 additional miles to reach their destinations, adding massive extra costs and weeks of delays. That diversion is largely a result of commercial vessels avoiding the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea, another critical global shipping chokepoint, where Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have threatened commercial traffic.

Mubarak al-Nour, a veteran farmer and former parliamentarian in Gedaref, said even when farmers do manage to secure fertilizer, ongoing shipping delays mean many will miss the critical June-to-November planting window entirely. In response, some producers have already shifted away from high-value, fertilizer-intensive crops like corn and sesame, switching to lower-yield crops that require little to no chemical fertilizer.

Even if agricultural supplies do reach Sudan in time for planting, the challenges do not end there. Mathilde Vu, advocacy manager with the Norwegian Refugee Council, explained that fuel shortages in many parts of the country are also worsened by warring factions blocking supply routes, while local fuel markets have been heavily damaged by bombing in recent months amid a sharp escalation of drone attacks across the nation.

Reporting for this story was contributed by Khaled from Cairo. The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The AP maintains full editorial independence over all content.

The sudden death of 48-year-old Rwandan singer, academic and government critic Aimable Karasira on the cusp of his prison release in Kigali has triggered deep controversy and demands for a transparent, independent investigation into the circumstances of his passing. According to official statements from the Rwanda Correctional Service (RCS), Karasira suffered a fatal overdose of his prescription medication while being escorted out of prison Wednesday afternoon, between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. He was rushed to Nyarugenge Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. RCS spokesperson Hillary Sengabo confirmed that Karasira had been living with chronic conditions including diabetes, high blood pressure, and unaddressed mental health struggles, and announced that an official post-mortem examination would be conducted to determine the exact cause of death.

Karasira was no stranger to public life in Rwanda before his arrest in 2021. A trained computer scientist, he worked for years as a lecturer at the University of Rwanda until his dismissal, a move the university framed as a response to “disciplinary faults” rather than retaliation for his outspoken anti-government views. He rose to wider prominence through his popular YouTube channel Ukuri Mbona, which translates to “The Truth As I See It,” where he regularly published criticism of President Paul Kagame and the long-ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) party. He also appeared as a guest commentator on other independent platforms, drawing a large audience of Rwandans seeking alternative perspectives to the government’s official narrative.

In 2025, Karasira was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of inciting ethnic division, after a Rwandan high court acquitted him of more serious counts including inciting public disorder, genocide justification and genocide denial. This release, planned for earlier this week, would have been the first step in his return to public life after five years behind bars.

The official account of Karasira’s death has been immediately met with skepticism from opposition figures, human rights activists, and other critics of the Kagame government, who have pointed to a long pattern of suspicious deaths involving detained government opponents in Rwanda. Denise Zaneza, a Rwandan human rights activist based in Belgium, wrote in a public post on X that the timing of Karasira’s death — just as he was set to regain his freedom after years of detention — raised urgent, unaddressed questions. Citing Rwanda’s well-documented history of political repression, lack of judicial transparency, and a string of suspicious deaths of dissidents in custody, Zaneza called for an international independent investigation to uncover the truth of what happened.
“After years of persecution and imprisonment, the authorities announce your death just as you were supposed to regain your freedom,” Zaneza wrote, praising Karasira for his courage to speak openly about experiences that many Rwandans are too afraid to share publicly. Karasira, an ethnic Tutsi who lost his parents in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, broke with the RPF’s official narrative of the genocide by publicly blaming RPF fighters for his family’s killings, claiming the rebel group suspected his family of sharing intelligence with the opposing Hutu regime. The RPF, which was founded by current President Paul Kagame and other Tutsi exiles to overthrow the Hutu government that orchestrated the 1994 genocide that killed an estimated 800,000 mostly Tutsi people, has dismissed these claims. The Rwandan government has pursued a policy of national reconciliation that discourages public discussion of ethnic identity, asking citizens to identify simply as Rwandan rather than along ethnic lines, and has a widely recognized reputation for cracking down on all forms of political dissent.

This is not the first time a high-profile Rwandan dissident and genocide survivor has died in state custody under suspicious circumstances. In 2020, gospel singer and prominent government critic Kizito Mihigo was found dead in his prison cell; Rwandan authorities ruled his death a suicide, a conclusion that was also rejected by independent rights advocates. The international human rights organization Human Rights Watch has repeatedly called on Rwandan authorities to open independent investigations into the suspicious deaths, disappearances, and arbitrary detentions of opposition members, journalists, civil society leaders, and government critics, following the 2021 arrests of Karasira and other outspoken dissidents. To date, no high-level Rwandan official has been held accountable for the deaths of detained opponents, a reality that has fueled ongoing distrust of official government accounts.

Across major urban centers of South Africa, thousands of demonstrators have gathered in recent days to stage coordinated protests against undocumented immigration, a demonstration of public frustration that has ignited sharp diplomatic friction between Pretoria and several other African nations. The unrest stems from circulating online video footage, first shared roughly two weeks ago, that appears to capture vigilante groups targeting and harassing individuals they identify as undocumented migrants. One widely shared clip reportedly shows a Ghanaian national being confronted over his immigration status and ordered to return to “fix his own country.”

In response to the outcry that followed the spread of the footage, South African officials have pushed back forcefully, condemning what they describe as manipulated and false visual content designed to damage the country’s global standing. During a press briefing Thursday following a weekly cabinet meeting, Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni told reporters that the discredited clips and images serve a deliberate purpose: to undermine South Africa’s international reputation and derail its regional agenda focused on advancing a more integrated, prosperous Africa. Ntshavheni clarified that while South Africans hold a constitutional right to protest the growing challenges of uncontrolled illegal immigration, the violence that marred past anti-immigration demonstrations will not be tolerated. She also stressed that there are no targeted xenophobic attacks currently occurring in the country, noting that any violence against foreign nationals can be attributed to general criminal activity that law enforcement is already addressing, not organized xenophobic aggression.

Presidential spokesperson for Cyril Ramaphosa echoed this position earlier this week, emphasizing that South Africa remains a welcoming nation, and its people are open and warm, rejecting all attempts to label the country or its population as inherently xenophobic. Ntshavheni added that South Africa has “nothing to hide” regarding the current situation and is committed to transparency with regional partners.

Unlike previous waves of anti-immigrant unrest that included deadly attacks and looting of foreign-owned businesses, the current wave of protests has remained largely peaceful, with no official reports of widespread violence against undocumented migrants or attacks on foreign-owned properties. South African protesters argue that high levels of undocumented immigration have placed unsustainable pressure on domestic access to jobs, affordable housing, and public safety, driving the recent demonstrations.

Despite the South African government’s reassurances, multiple African nations have raised urgent alarms over the safety of their citizens residing in the country. Ghana became the first country to escalate the issue to the African Union, submitting an official letter requesting the pan-African body open formal discussions on the matter. Ghana’s government argues that the alleged rise in xenophobic violence poses a direct threat to the safety and well-being of all Ghanaian and African citizens in South Africa, and runs counter to core shared principles of African solidarity, fraternity, and continental unity. Ghana is pushing for the AU to deploy an independent fact-finding mission to South Africa to investigate the situation on the ground.

Nigeria has echoed Ghana’s concerns, announcing it stands ready to facilitate the repatriation of any Nigerian nationals who wish to leave South Africa amid safety fears. Kenya, Malawi, Lesotho, and Zimbabwe have all issued official travel advisories to their citizens currently residing in South Africa, urging them to remain vigilant and avoid areas at high risk for potential attacks.

As regional pressure builds, the South African government has ramped up targeted diplomatic outreach across the continent to ease growing anxiety over rising anti-immigration sentiment. The current dispute brings renewed attention to longstanding challenges around xenophobia in South Africa, where intermittent outbreaks of deadly anti-foreigner violence have occurred for decades, testing the commitment to regional integration enshrined in the African Union’s founding principles.

ABUJA, NIGERIA – In a recent operational breakthrough announced Thursday, Nigeria’s military has recovered nine additional hostages kidnapped by armed gunmen during a raid on an unlicensed orphanage in the country’s north-central region last month. The rescue operation, carried out in a dense forest within Kogi State, brings the total number of freed captives to 22, with one child still unaccounted for following the April 26 attack.

The assault targeted an Islamic orphanage operating without official authorization in a remote outskirts of Lokoja, Kogi’s state capital. When gunmen stormed the facility, they abducted 23 pupils in total. Local security forces managed to free 15 of the captured children immediately after the attack, leaving eight captives still held by the assailants.

Army spokesperson Hassan Abdullahi detailed the outcome of the follow-up mission in a statement dated Wednesday, which was publicly released one day later. According to Abdullahhi, troops intercepted the hostage group in the forest and successfully rescued all nine people held there. “The rescued victims comprised five boys, two girls, and two adult females, believed to be the wives of the proprietor of the orphanage,” the statement read.

The recovery of these nine hostages leaves one remaining pupil unaccounted for, though the official military statement did not explicitly address the outstanding missing person or provide updates on efforts to locate the child. It also did not release information on any casualties among the attacking gunmen or Nigerian security personnel during the rescue operation.

To date, no armed organization has publicly claimed responsibility for the orphanage attack. Security analysts who track kidnapping trends in Nigeria note that targeted assaults on educational and childcare facilities have become a common tactic for criminal armed groups in the region. Schools and orphanages are seen as high-value targets because abductions of children generate widespread public and government attention, creating leverage for groups to demand and extract massive ransom payments. Over recent years, hundreds of students have been kidnapped in coordinated attacks across different regions of Nigeria, creating ongoing national security concerns.