Global Pulse

标签： Africa

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  • Drone attack caused fire on gas ships at Mediterranean port, Egypt says

    Drone attack caused fire on gas ships at Mediterranean port, Egypt says

    In an incident that has stoked already simmering tensions across the Middle East, a drone strike triggered fires aboard two commercial vessels docked at Egypt’s Damietta Port, a critical Mediterranean hub for liquified natural gas (LNG) trade, Egypt’s cabinet has officially confirmed. As of Thursday, no group has stepped forward to claim responsibility for the Wednesday attack, with local authorities continuing their probe into the assault while implementing urgent security protocols to safeguard Egyptian national interests and strategic assets, according to an official government statement.

    Initial reports and verified open-source footage indicate the drone first struck the Energos Winter, a U.S.-owned floating storage and regasification unit, with the resulting blaze quickly spreading to a nearby Greek-crewed LNG tanker, the GasLog Salem. User-shared videos posted across major social media platforms captured thick plumes of black smoke billowing from the port facility, showing on-site response teams deploying tugboats to douse the flames with continuous streams of water.

    Egyptian officials have confirmed that firefighting crews successfully contained and extinguished the fires, with no fatalities or injuries reported among port personnel or crew members of the two vessels. Authorities added that normal operations at the port have already resumed full capacity as of Thursday. Data from independent global ship-tracking services shows both damaged vessels have since departed the dock and moved to open offshore waters for safety inspections.

    At this stage of the investigation, investigators have not yet determined the origin of the drone or identified the parties behind the attack. Still, regional security analysts note the assault fits a pattern of recent strikes targeting commercial shipping and energy infrastructure carried out by Iranian military forces and Iran-aligned armed groups across the Red Sea, Persian Gulf and surrounding regions. These ongoing attacks have come amid escalating open conflict between the U.S., Israel and Iran, disrupting critical global energy trade routes and pushing international oil prices sharply higher in recent months. Before the Damietta strike, Iran had never launched a direct attack on Egyptian territory, a key U.S. ally in North Africa.

    U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters Wednesday that he had received a full intelligence briefing on the Damietta incident, and publicly hinted that Iran or its regional proxy militias were behind the attack. “It’s a little more of the same. But it’s going to be straightening out,” Trump told reporters, offering few additional details on potential U.S. responses.

    The Damietta drone attack came just hours after the U.S. and Saudi Arabia launched coordinated joint air strikes against Iran-backed militia positions in Iraq. U.S. and Saudi officials stated the strikes were a defensive response to more than 30 recent drone attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure launched by the militias under direct orders from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The Iraqi paramilitary Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), a coalition dominated by Iran-aligned Shia militias, reported that at least 20 of its fighters were killed in the strikes, labeling the action an “extremely serious escalation” of regional conflict. Iran’s foreign ministry also issued a formal condemnation of the U.S.-Saudi strikes, warning that the attack would carry “dangerous consequences” for regional stability.

    Late Wednesday, the U.S. launched a separate, large-scale wave of air strikes on targets inside Iran, characterizing the action as retaliation for an attempted surprise missile attack targeting U.S. military bases in Jordan just days prior.

  • Death toll tops 1,500 in fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in history, Congo says

    Death toll tops 1,500 in fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in history, Congo says

    BUNIA, Democratic Republic of Congo — The world’s most rapidly expanding Ebola outbreak on record has crossed a devastating milestone, with new official data released Thursday confirming more than 1,500 fatalities in eastern Congo. The sharp death toll increase — a 50 percent jump logged over roughly one week — underscores that the spread of the virus continues to outpace international and local response measures.

    Updated statistics from the Congolese government show that as of Tuesday, the ongoing outbreak has recorded a total of 3,442 confirmed and probable cases, with the death count climbing to 1,521. First declared on May 15, this outbreak differs sharply from most prior Ebola events in a key, dangerous way: it is caused by the Bundibugyo strain, for which no specific, fully approved vaccines or antiviral treatments currently exist.

    The speed and mortality of this outbreak have already outstripped every previous Ebola event in recorded history, including the devastating 2014-2016 West African epidemic that long held the title of the world’s worst Ebola outbreak. That crisis, which ultimately killed more than 11,000 people across at least 28,000 recorded cases, took roughly eight months to reach 1,000 deaths. This outbreak has reached 1,500 deaths in a far shorter timeframe.

    Ebola is an uncommon but highly contagious viral illness, transmitted through direct contact with infected bodily fluids including blood, vomit, and semen. The disease it causes progresses rapidly, with severe symptoms that lead to death in a large majority of cases without prompt, specialized care.

  • Veteran Ugandan opposition politician collapses in court and in ICU, his wife says

    Veteran Ugandan opposition politician collapses in court and in ICU, his wife says

    A major political crisis has unfolded in Uganda this week after 70-year-old opposition icon Kizza Besigye collapsed unconscious during a high-profile treason hearing in Kampala, requiring emergency admission to an intensive care unit at the country’s largest public hospital. The long-time political rival of incumbent President Yoweri Museveni has been held in state detention since his dramatic abduction from Kenyan territory in late 2024, facing capital treason charges that he and his co-accused have repeatedly denied.

    Witnesses at Wednesday’s hearing at the Kampala High Court confirmed that Besigye was actively protesting the court’s decision to appoint state-aligned legal representatives to act on his behalf when his health suddenly failed. Eyewitnesses report the visibly frail politician repeatedly shouted demands to halt the proceedings over the disputed legal representation, crying out that he was feeling physically unwell before losing consciousness. Prison security personnel immediately intervened and rushed him by ambulance to Mulago National Referral Hospital, the leading public health facility in the country.

    In a public post on the social platform X, Besigye’s wife Winnie Byanyima – the executive director of UNAIDS, the United Nations agency leading global action against HIV and AIDS – provided a grim update on his condition. She confirmed that her husband remained unconscious, unable to communicate, and did not respond to external pain stimuli immediately after being admitted. Adding to the controversy surrounding the incident, Byanyima noted that Besigye’s sister Olive Kobusingye, a trained medical doctor who was present in the courtroom, was initially blocked by security from providing urgent medical care to her brother after he collapsed.

    Since being admitted, Besigye has refused to accept care from government-employed medical personnel, with Byanyima explaining that the opposition leader will not allow any state official to provide medical treatment. She has publicly demanded that Besigye be transferred to a private clinic to receive care from his own personal physician, a request that has not yet been granted by authorities. As of the latest updates, Kobusingye – who also serves as Besigye’s personal doctor – has been granted access to the ICU, which remains heavily guarded by armed Ugandan security forces.

    The legal team representing Besigye has faced a series of official crackdowns in recent weeks that have compounded the political tension around the case. His lead attorney Erias Lukwago was arrested by the Ugandan army last month and charged with failing to report alleged acts of treason. A second prominent lead lawyer, Kenyan opposition figure Martha Karua, was formally barred from entering Uganda last month when she traveled to the country to represent Besigye in the proceedings.

    Prosecutors from the Ugandan state allege that Besigye and his aide Obeid Lutale – who has been held alongside the opposition leader since his abduction – conspired to overthrow the long-standing Museveni government, a charge that both men reject. Treason is classified as a capital offense under Ugandan law, meaning a guilty verdict could result in a death sentence for the veteran politician, who previously served as Museveni’s personal physician before breaking with the president in 1999 to launch his opposition political career. Besigye went on to challenge Museveni in four separate presidential elections over the course of his political career, and had stepped back from frontline political activity in recent years, choosing not to run in the 2021 national election.

    Besigye’s son, Adam Ampa, has issued a public open appeal to President Museveni and his son Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the chief of the Ugandan army, to grant his father compassionate release on humanitarian grounds. “Regardless of politics, no son should have to witness his father reach such a state while standing before the very law he served and dedicated his life to,” Ampa wrote in the open letter shared widely across Ugandan social media on Wednesday.

    Other opposition figures have also spoken out to condemn the treatment of Besigye. Bobi Wine, a prominent Ugandan opposition politician who fled the country in the wake of January’s presidential election over threats to his safety, called forcing a visibly unwell Besigye to appear in court a “shocking violation of his most basic rights.” The unfolding situation has drawn renewed international attention to political freedoms and human rights in the East African nation, as observers wait for updates on Besigye’s health and the progress of his trial.

  • New dinosaur discovered in Zimbabwe

    New dinosaur discovered in Zimbabwe

    Paleontologists have uncovered a previously unknown dinosaur species on the shores of Zimbabwe’s Lake Kariba, offering groundbreaking new insight into the early diversification of dinosaurs across southern Africa some 210 million years ago. Dubbed *Musango matusadonaensis*, this new find marks only the fifth distinct dinosaur species ever formally named and documented from Zimbabwe, shining a long-overdue spotlight on a region vastly understudied compared to fossil-rich sites in Europe and North America.

    The specimen dates back to the Late Triassic period, a critical evolutionary era when dinosaurs were first expanding their range across the globe, millions of years before they rose to become Earth’s dominant terrestrial vertebrates in the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. At the time of *Musango*’s existence, modern-day Zimbabwe sat within the massive supercontinent Gondwana, a landmass that also incorporated what is now South America, India, Australia and Antarctica.

    This international research effort, a collaborative project between teams from the United Kingdom, South Africa and Zimbabwe, has yielded a fossil assemblage including key bones from the dinosaur’s spine, forelimbs and feet. Analysis of these remains confirms the individual was nearly fully grown at the time of its death, at approximately eight years of age, measuring 4.5 meters in length — roughly the size of a medium passenger vehicle.

    *Musango matusadonaensis* is classified as a sauropodomorph, an early ancestral relative of the massive long-necked sauropods that would later evolve, such as *Diplodocus*. Unlike its four-legged descendants, this early species walked on two legs. Researchers also concluded it was an omnivore, feeding on a mixed diet of plants and meat that likely included crocodile-like phytosaurs, lungfish and smaller contemporary dinosaur species.

    Lead study author Professor Paul Barrett of London’s Natural History Museum, whose findings are published in the *Journal of Systematic Palaeontology*, noted that long-standing scientific consensus assumed dinosaur communities across southern Africa were largely homogeneous. “However, these discoveries are showing that this part of the ancient supercontinent Gondwana was actually made of a series of smaller ecosystems — each with a different cast of characters,” Barrett explained. This new find adds crucial data to the sparse fossil record of Late Triassic African dinosaurs, helping paleontologists piece together a more accurate picture of how early dinosaur communities diversified and spread across the globe.

  • My son’s not just a champion swimmer – he made me change my life

    My son’s not just a champion swimmer – he made me change my life

    Fourteen years after his name became a global sporting headline for upsetting swimming icon Michael Phelps to claim Olympic gold, South African swimmer Chad le Clos has etched his name deeper into the history books, becoming the most decorated athlete in the entire history of the Commonwealth Games.

    The 34-year-old swimmer reached the unprecedented milestone of 21 Commonwealth Games medals at the 2026 Glasgow Games this week, breaking the previous record held by Australian swimming great Emma McKeon. His historic bronze in the men’s 4x100m medley relay on Wednesday capped a run of three medals at the Games: it followed an earlier bronze in the 4x100m freestyle relay that earned him his 19th career Commonwealth medal, and a silver in the mixed 4x100m medley relay. As he celebrated the 19th medal, an emotional Chad called the moment a landmark for both himself and his family, expressing deep gratitude for the journey that brought him to that point.

    For anyone who knows Chad’s story, that journey has always been intertwined with his father, Bert le Clos, who became a household name in his own right after his unbridled, viral post-gold interview with the BBC’s Clare Balding immediately after Chad’s stunning 2012 London Olympic win. That electrifying reaction, where Bert exclaimed the moment felt like “dying and going to heaven”, turned him into an overnight celebrity, a status Chad has often joked means his father is more famous than he is.

    In a new wide-ranging interview with BBC Scotland from Glasgow, 69-year-old Bert opened up about the decades of behind-the-scenes growth, struggle and joy that led to this latest historic milestone, revealing how Chad not only built a legendary athletic career, but completely transformed Bert’s own life.

    The elder le Clos, born in Mauritius one of 10 children and raised in Durban, South Africa from age six, recalled how a 12-year-old Chad changed his path forever when he asked his father to give up smoking as his Christmas gift, instead of requesting a toy or present. Bert has not touched a cigarette since that day. He also overhauled other harmful habits: at the time he weighed 140kg and drank daily, but he cut out alcohol and dropped 41kg, a change he says saved his life. “I would probably be dead now if I had continued the way I was. That’s a good lesson for other parents,” Bert said.

    Bert, a serial entrepreneur who has built careers in butcheries and horse racing bookmaking, also shared the gentle parenting philosophy that he credits for allowing Chad to thrive still in the pool at 34, long after many of his peers have retired. When Chad first joined a local swimming club at age eight, Bert intentionally delayed pushing him into a gruelling six-day, 4:45 a.m. training routine, pushing back against the common trend of forcing young children into elite-level training too early. “A lot of parents and coaches they push the kids too hard too soon. Why would you want your 11 or 12-year-old doing as much mileage as an Olympic champion? That’s why Chad is still swimming at 34,” he explained. Bert added that he never forced Chad into swimming, letting the sport choose his son, who also played provincial-level football and rugby growing up. No matter how Chad performed in any race, Bert always celebrated him with a “man of the match ice cream”, focusing on encouragement over pressure.

    That patience paid off even after an early setback: when 13-year-old Chad finished second-last and third-last in his first international competition finals in Sheffield, Bert worried his son would never make it as an elite swimmer – but his coach insisted Chad had real potential, and just three years later, Chad was named junior swimmer of the year at the junior Commonwealth Games, racing the same competitors.

    Chad made his senior Commonwealth Games debut in Delhi 2010 at age 18, immediately claiming five medals, and two years later he delivered the upset that shook the global swimming world: at the 2012 London Olympics, he beat Phelps – who had not lost the 200m butterfly since 2001 and was already a 14-time Olympic gold medallist – by just 0.05 seconds to take gold. The moment left a stunned Chad staring at the scoreboard in disbelief, and a euphoric Bert celebrating wildly in the stands.

    The path to this week’s historic milestone has not been without hardship: in the lead-up to the 2016 Rio Olympics, both Bert and his wife Geraldine, Chad’s mother, received cancer diagnoses. Despite the immense stress, Chad still won two silver medals in Rio, becoming the most decorated South African Olympian in history. Later, ahead of the Covid-delayed Tokyo Olympics, Chad struggled with a severe spiral in his mental health, a challenge Bert said the family faced together with love and resilience. Today, after competing at the 2024 Paris Olympics, 34-year-old Chad has his sights set on qualifying for a fifth Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028.

    Off the pool deck, Chad has built a legacy beyond competition: he launched his own foundation focused on water safety education and life-saving swimming skills for vulnerable communities. For the le Clos family, the Commonwealth Games have always held a special place, dating back to Chad’s 2010 debut. Bert recalled the 2014 Glasgow Games as one of the family’s brightest highlights, when Chad won seven medals to equal Ian Thorpe’s record for the most medals in a single Games. When the 2026 Games lost their original Australian host to cost overruns, Glasgow stepped in to host for a second time, and Bert said even with a scaled-back format, the quality of competition remains world-class.

    Reflecting on his son’s 18 years of elite competition, 21 Commonwealth medals and a list of records that stretches from the Olympics to the world stage, Bert called the entire journey simply unbelievable. “How lucky am I? Do you think as a father I could imagine that this little rabbit could get all these accolades? Absolutely not. It has been beautiful. What a journey,” he said.

  • The Mediterranean’s warming waters are drawing hundreds of invasive species

    The Mediterranean’s warming waters are drawing hundreds of invasive species

    The crystal-clear waters and vibrant marine ecosystems that sustained ancient civilizations and generations of coastal communities across the Mediterranean have been permanently altered by human-caused climate change, leading marine scientists have confirmed. Driven primarily by greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas, rapidly rising sea temperatures are reshaping the iconic sea, triggering a surge in destructive invasive species that are wiping out native marine populations and threatening the livelihoods of millions of people who depend on traditional fishing.

  • Boxer Abdul – grandson of dictator – disqualified for headbutt

    Boxer Abdul – grandson of dictator – disqualified for headbutt

    The 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow has been gripped by a boxing controversy following the disqualification of Ugandan super-heavyweight competitor Aziz Abdul, the grandson of former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. The 25-year-old fighter was ejected from his third-round bout against England’s Damar Thomas after referees ruled he intentionally headbutted Thomas in the chin during a grappling exchange.

    Abdul had picked up two formal warnings for rule violations in the opening two rounds of the match, and was trailing on all three judges’ scorecards heading into the third round. The controversial disqualification handed Thomas an automatic walkover win, guaranteeing the English fighter at least a bronze medal, and ended Abdul’s bid to make history for his country: a win would have secured Uganda’s first Commonwealth boxing medal since the 1990 Auckland games.

    Speaking to BBC Sport immediately after the decision, Abdul rejected the referees’ call, claiming the head movement was accidental, and accused officials of systemic bias against him as a Black African athlete competing on British soil. He insisted Thomas had used illegal elbow strikes against him unpenalized, and that judges refused to count his clean, heavy landed punches before penalizing him for an accidental clash.

    “How can I headbutt someone? I would not. He was the person they wanted to win. He was the winner before the fight even started,” Abdul said. “I knew going in if I did not get a knockout, I could not win this fight. The decision is not right, I am not happy.”

    Abdul had previously drawn international attention ahead of the bout for echoing his grandfather’s infamous 1976 declaration, telling reporters he aimed to become the “new King of Scotland” during the games. The elder Amin, a one-time amateur boxer himself, was a controversial figure with a long-held fascination for Scotland, developed during his service in the King’s African Rifles in his 20s. After seizing power in a 1971 military coup, he led a brutal eight-year regime responsible for the deaths of an estimated 500,000 Ugandans, earning him the nickname “The Butcher of Uganda.”

    At the height of his rule, Amin regularly wore kilts and played bagpipes, and famously declared himself the “King of Scotland” in 1976, a moment that later became the core premise of the Oscar-winning 2006 drama *The Last King of Scotland*, starring Forest Whitaker as the dictator. Aziz Abdul, who never met his grandfather, has previously stated he draws inspiration from Amin, though he has declined to confirm whether that inspiration relates to Amin’s history as a boxer or his political rule. When asked if he was proud to be related to a figure of such a notorious, sinister reputation, Abdul declined to comment.

    Thomas, for his part, acknowledged the win came in unsatisfying fashion, saying it was “not the way” he wanted to advance in the tournament. “I can’t change what happened today but I can control how I box on Friday,” he added, referencing his upcoming semi-final bout. BBC Sport has reached out to both Commonwealth Games organizing officials and World Boxing for comment on Abdul’s allegations of bias, and had not received a response as of publication.

  • Hundreds of migrants are swimming from Morocco to the Spanish territory of Ceuta

    Hundreds of migrants are swimming from Morocco to the Spanish territory of Ceuta

    CEUTA, Spain — The small Spanish autonomous territory of Ceuta, nestled on Morocco’s northern coast, is grappling with an extraordinary crisis of irregular migration, as hundreds of migrants have taken to swimming across the short strait separating Morocco from the enclave, stretching local border security and reception infrastructure to its breaking point, local government officials confirmed Wednesday.

    While summer months typically bring an uptick in maritime migration attempts due to calm, favorable weather conditions, Ceuta’s leadership says the current volume of people attempting the dangerous swim is far outside normal patterns. Over the past several days alone, more than 1,500 migrants — including both adults and unaccompanied minors — have successfully reached Ceuta’s shores via the crossing, Juan Jesús Vivas, the president of Ceuta’s regional government, told reporters. The territory’s dedicated migrant reception centers are already completely overwhelmed and operating far beyond their designed capacity, he added, with hundreds of new arrivals forced to sleep outside the facility’s walls.

    Vivas also noted the deadly risks inherent in this crossing attempt: over the past year alone, at least 60 bodies of migrants who died attempting the journey have been recovered from the surrounding waters.

    Spain’s national interior ministry, which holds federal oversight of border management and irregular migration tracking, declined to immediately confirm the total number of crossings or successful arrivals, instead directing media requests to the ministry’s upcoming bimonthly migration report, scheduled for public release on August 3. Speaking in an interview with Spanish broadcaster laSexta, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska acknowledged the crisis qualifies as an “extraordinary, exceptional situation,” but stressed that authorities are responding with all permanent resources already deployed to the enclave. Spain’s Civil Guard, national Maritime Rescue Service, and the Red Cross have all been mobilized to intercept swimmers in open water and transport them to shore for processing.

    Local and migrant rights activists report the vast majority of those attempting the crossing are Moroccan nationals, with a smaller contingent of Algerian migrants who had previously been residing in Morocco while organizing their journey to the European Union.

    To date, there is no clear consensus on what has driven this sudden massive surge in crossings. Vivas pointed to a recent ruling from the Spanish Supreme Court, issued earlier this month, that bars authorities from immediately turning back sea arrivals without first conducting formal due process — a different standard than that applied to migrants who cross the land border by scaling Ceuta’s perimeter fence. But that explanation is disputed by independent migrant rights advocates.

    Omar Naji, president of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights in Eastern Morocco, argues that most migrants planning the crossing would not have been aware of the nuanced legal ruling, making it an unlikely trigger for the surge. Naji instead drew a parallel to the 2021 Ceuta border crisis, when more than 8,000 migrants entered the enclave over just 48 hours. That event came shortly after a high-level diplomatic meeting between Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, mirroring the timing of the current surge.

    The 2021 crisis was widely linked to a diplomatic dispute between Spain and Morocco: at that time, Morocco was accused of intentionally relaxing its border controls to allow mass crossings after Spain allowed Brahim Ghali, leader of the Polisario Front — the pro-independence movement seeking sovereignty for the disputed territory of Western Sahara — to enter Spain for medical treatment. That incident triggered a major diplomatic rift between Madrid and Rabat that lasted for months.

    This week, however, Grande-Marlaska struck a positive note regarding relations with Morocco, saying Moroccan authorities are actively cooperating with Spanish efforts to manage the crisis. “Our relationship with the kingdom is close and based on loyalty,” he told laSexta, adding that “they are also limiting irregular departures” from their coast.

    Reporting from Casablanca, Morocco, contributed by AP journalist Akram Oubachir.

  • The fastest growing Ebola outbreak is worsening hunger in eastern Congo, a UN agency chief warns

    The fastest growing Ebola outbreak is worsening hunger in eastern Congo, a UN agency chief warns

    During an official visit to conflict-ravaged Ituri Province — the epicenter of the most rapidly expanding Ebola outbreak in recorded history — the acting executive director of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), Carl Skau, sounded an urgent alarm this week over a cascading humanitarian catastrophe that is pushing thousands more Congolese people into acute food insecurity.

    Eastern Congo has long been a region mired in persistent armed conflict and violent competition over valuable mineral deposits. Long before the first Ebola case was confirmed, millions of residents already faced catastrophic levels of hunger. Today, Skau framed the current crisis as a ‘crisis on top of a crisis’ that has drastically worsened already untenable living conditions. According to WFP data, the years-long violence across eastern Congo has forced nearly 10 million people into crisis or emergency-level hunger. Ituri alone accounts for 1.9 million food-insecure residents, out of more than 5 million people across the country already facing emergency food insecurity before the outbreak began.

    Declared in mid-May, this outbreak has already outpaced every previous Ebola event in its speed of spread. It took just over two months for the death toll to hit 1,000 — a milestone that took roughly eight months to reach during the 2014–2016 West Africa outbreak, long considered the worst in global history. As of the latest official update, the outbreak has recorded 3,360 confirmed cases and 1,487 total deaths, with 50 new fatalities reported in the 24-hour period before Skau’s briefing.

    Combatting the outbreak has been made uniquely challenging by the strain of virus responsible: the Bundibugyo virus, which has no approved vaccines or specific antiviral treatments, unlike strains involved in most of Congo’s previous Ebola outbreaks. While clinical vaccine trials are currently ongoing, UN senior Ebola coordinator Julien Harneis, who accompanied Skau on the Ituri visit, confirmed that a widely deployable vaccine is still months away from reaching affected communities. The UN and Congolese government are currently working with local community leaders to build public trust and encourage people with early symptoms to seek care quickly — a step Harneis says drastically improves a patient’s chance of survival.

    Public health measures implemented to slow transmission, including localized movement restrictions, border closures and bans on large public gatherings, have had severe unintended consequences for local livelihoods. Markets have been disrupted, key supply routes have been cut off, and food and fuel prices have spiked sharply across affected regions. For mining and farming communities that rely on daily informal work to feed their families, these restrictions have pushed already vulnerable households over the edge. In Mongbwalu, a mining town 43 miles from Ituri’s capital Bunia, local residents described how the crisis has made it nearly impossible for many families to feed their children. Forty-year-old mother of six Kahambu Deborah told reporters she had already been blocked from accessing her farmland by rebel violence, and Ebola-related restrictions have made her family’s food insecurity even more desperate. ‘Sometimes, because of the insecurity, we can’t even go to our fields, and our children are suffering as a result,’ she said.

    Across 48 affected health zones, WFP data shows more than 2.7 million people now face acute food insecurity, including 628,000 people in the most severe emergency category. Local hospital leadership confirms rising rates of malnutrition across the region, even among patients receiving Ebola treatment. ‘We are seeing more malnutrition cases in the region, compared to before the outbreak, even at the Ebola treatment center,’ said Dr. Richard Lokudu, director-general of Mongbwalu General Hospital. WFP’s targeted food aid has already helped reduce unnecessary population movement as people search for food, which in turn helps slow Ebola transmission, according to agency staff. The organization has so far delivered more than 160,000 hot meals to patients, contact tracing teams and frontline health workers across 17 treatment and isolation centers.

    But chronic underfunding has forced the agency to drastically scale back its reach in Congo. Skau confirmed that WFP has cut the number of people it assists from 3 million in 2023 to just 1 million this year. The overall $2.1 billion UN humanitarian appeal for Congo is only 45% funded, Harneis added, and the separate Ebola response appeal is being revised upward to cover four affected provinces — double the original number the appeal was designed to support.

    Speaking to UN correspondents during a video press briefing after his visit, Skau emphasized that the rapidly escalating crisis demands far greater global attention and immediate financial support. ‘My number one message is that this situation requires much, much more attention,’ he said. ‘This is the fastest growing Ebola crisis ever.’ Calling on international donors to step up, Skau added: ‘The World Food Program needs resources (and) donors to step up so that we can do more, to alleviate the pressures on the people here in Ituri.’

  • Ugandan opposition figure Besigye collapses in the dock during treason trial

    Ugandan opposition figure Besigye collapses in the dock during treason trial

    In a dramatic turn of events that has intensified scrutiny of Uganda’s polarizing political landscape, veteran opposition figure Kizza Besigye collapsed backward in the defendant’s dock Wednesday during an ongoing high-stakes treason trial in Kampala, Uganda’s capital. The 69-year-old four-time presidential candidate, who has been held without bail for months, repeatedly shouted the word “stop” before losing consciousness, prompting an immediate halt to court proceedings as prison medics rushed to provide care.

    Besigye, who faces a potential death sentence if convicted on the current charges, has been repeatedly denied release on bail throughout his detention. His lead legal counsel, Erias Lukwago, has also been taken into custody, facing accusations of failing to report suspected treasonous activity — a move that critics say is part of a broader crackdown on political opposition in the East African nation.

    In recent weeks, state prosecutors have begun presenting evidence they claim confirms allegations that Besigye and co-accused individuals conspired to overthrow the long-ruling government of President Yoweri Museveni. Besigye’s wife, Winnie Byanyima, who serves as UNAIDS Executive Director, and members of his political party, the People’s Front for Freedom, have sounded the alarm over his declining health, launching an international campaign to draw attention to his case.

    Supporters pushing for Besigye’s release on compassionate grounds argue he is being denied the right to consult an independent physician of his own choosing, instead only having access to medical staff appointed by the government at the maximum-security prison where he is held. In a recent statement, the People’s Front for Freedom emphasized that Besigye’s health condition is already critical, noting that no prison medical personnel were even present in the courtroom when he collapsed on Wednesday.

    Once Museveni’s closest personal ally, Besigye fought alongside the current president during the 1980s guerrilla war that brought Museveni to power, even serving as his personal doctor and military assistant. He broke with Museveni decades ago, however, emerging as the president’s most prominent vocal critic, condemning what he calls a deliberate descent into authoritarianism that betrays the democratic promises of Museveni’s early rule. Under Museveni’s leadership, constitutional term and age limits for the presidency have been fully eliminated, allowing him to extend his decades-long hold on power.

    Besigye last contested the presidency in 2016, after which he publicly stated that competitive elections are meaningless under an authoritarian leader that relies heavily on military backing to maintain control. His current legal troubles date back to November 2024, when he went missing during a stay in Nairobi, Kenya, before ultimately being transferred into Ugandan military custody and charged with threatening national security before a military tribunal. The case was later moved to the civilian court system and upgraded to a treason charge, which carries capital punishment under Ugandan law.

    Museveni, who secured a controversial seventh consecutive term in office after January 2024 general elections widely criticized by international observers for irregularities, has said Besigye must face full accountability for the “very serious offenses” he is accused of planning, and has called for an accelerated trial to “bring the facts to light.” The country’s top military commander, Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba — who is also Museveni’s son and widely seen as his likely political successor — has gone even further, claiming Besigye plotted to assassinate his father and previously labeling the opposition leader “a dead man walking.”

    Bobi Wine, Museveni’s main challenger in the January 2024 election, has already fled into exile, citing credible threats to his personal safety. The latest developments in Besigye’s trial have amplified international concern over the shrinking space for political opposition in Uganda, as Museveni enters his sixth decade in power.