Global Pulse

标签： Africa

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  • Ivory Coast into World Cup knockout round for 1st time as Pépé scores twice in 2-0 win over Curaçao

    Ivory Coast into World Cup knockout round for 1st time as Pépé scores twice in 2-0 win over Curaçao

    PHILADELPHIA – In a historic night for West African football, Nicolas Pépé delivered a masterclass performance, scoring in both the first and second halves to lift Ivory Coast to a 2-0 victory over Curaçao on Thursday, punching the Les Éléphants’ first-ever ticket to the World Cup knockout stage.

    This breakthrough marks a milestone for Ivory Coast, which had failed to exit the group stage in its three previous World Cup appearances. The team’s path to the knockout round followed a tense Group E campaign: it opened the tournament with a dramatic 1-0 win over Ecuador at this very same Lincoln Financial Field stadium, then suffered a defeat to Germany in its second group match. Heading into Thursday’s decisive fixture, a draw was all Ivory Coast needed to advance, but the side came out firing from the opening whistle, never letting Curaçao gain a foothold in the match.

    Pépé, currently plying his trade with Spanish La Liga side Villarreal, killed any suspense of a Curaçao comeback just seven minutes into the game. The opening goal came from a Curaçao defensive mistake: the Caribbean side failed to clear a loose ball, which 19-year-old Yan Diomande – a prospect who moved to the United States four years ago speaking no English – intercepted and slotted through to Pépé, who tapped it easily past Curaçao goalkeeper Eloy Room to open the scoring.

    Buoyed by a raucous, home-like crowd at the NFL Philadelphia Eagles’ arena, Ivory Coast held onto its lead through the first half and extended it in the 64th minute. Pépé struck again with a clinical left-footed finish from the far corner of the box, sealing the three points and the historic qualification. Three minutes after his second goal, Pépé was substituted off to rest ahead of Ivory Coast’s upcoming knockout fixture, which is scheduled for June 30 against the runner-up of Group I – either France or Norway. The substitute striker received a standing ovation from the crowd of 68,324 fans, a number that equals roughly 40% of Curaçao’s entire population.

    Curaçao entered the match needing a full victory to advance, and came close to reaching a historic milestone of its own: a win would have made it the smallest nation by population ever to qualify for a World Cup knockout round. The autonomous Caribbean territory within the Kingdom of the Netherlands counts only around 156,000 inhabitants, and its national squad is made up almost entirely of players born and raised in the Netherlands. The Blue Wave came into Thursday’s fixture with momentum, after 37-year-old Room notched 15 spectacular saves against Ecuador to secure a 0-0 draw – the first World Cup point in Curaçao’s history – just three days prior.

    Ivory Coast’s strong connection to the Philadelphia area likely contributed to its warm welcome from the crowd. The team set up its pre-tournament training base in nearby Delaware, held practice sessions at the suburban home of Major League Soccer’s Philadelphia Union, and even played a friendly against the Union’s reserve squad during preparations. This local presence earned the side a growing group of adoptive fans, many of whom packed the stands in Ivory Coast’s iconic orange kit and erupted in celebration after each of Pépé’s goals.

    In team notes, Ivory Coast striker Elye Wahi, who is currently under investigation for alleged betting offenses during his time at French club Nice, came off the bench in the second half after being held out of the starting lineup for the Germany match. When the final whistle blew, Pépé was named Man of the Match for his decisive two-goal performance, capping off a historic night for Ivory Coast football.

  • Kenyans mark two years since Gen Z protests

    Kenyans mark two years since Gen Z protests

    It has been two full years since the wave of Gen Z-led anti-government demonstrations that rocked Kenya in 2024, and on the anniversary, families of the protesters and bystanders killed during the unrest did not stay silent. Grieving relatives gathered together and marched to Kenya’s Parliament building, the center of national political power, to honor the memories of their loved ones who lost their lives in the violent clashes that unfolded during the protests. For these families, the anniversary is not just a moment to grieve: it is a deliberate, public call for accountability that has yet to be delivered. Many of those killed were young people who joined the widespread demonstrations demanding political reform and policy change from the Kenyan government. Two years on, no conclusive legal action has been taken against those responsible for the fatalities, leaving the bereaved in a state of continued uncertainty and anger. By returning to the seat of government, the families are pushing ruling authorities to break the silence around the protest deaths and fulfill promises of justice that have remained unfulfilled for 24 months.

  • Key figure in South Africa police corruption scandal pleads guilty

    Key figure in South Africa police corruption scandal pleads guilty

    South Africa’s high-stakes investigation into systemic police corruption has taken a dramatic turn, with a central figure in the sprawling inquiry agreeing to cooperate with state prosecutors in exchange for a reduced sentence. Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala, a 49-year-old business owner at the heart of the case, has entered guilty pleas to three serious charges: corruption, fraud, and money laundering, as part of a negotiated plea agreement put before a Pretoria court.

    Matlala stands accused of orchestrating bribes paid to senior police leaders to secure a massive 360 million South African rand (equivalent to roughly $22 million) public health tender for his company, Medicare24, back in 2024. According to state advocate Santhos Manilall, the agreement requires Matlala to provide firsthand evidence against multiple high-ranking officials who have been linked to the graft scheme. If the magistrate approves the deal, Matlala will serve an eight-year prison term, a sentence prosecutors argue is a fair trade for unprecedented access to hidden details of the corruption network.

    “For the first time we have an accused who has… given us detail that we would not have been made aware of,” Manilall told the court, noting that it took nearly two months of closed negotiations to finalize the cooperation agreement. The deal mandates that Matlala deliver full, truthful testimony in all upcoming prosecutions connected to the scandal. A final ruling on whether the court will accept the agreement is expected next week.

    Among the prominent figures already facing charges tied to this case is South Africa’s national police chief Gen Fannie Masemola, who has repeatedly denied all wrongdoing. This inquiry is one of multiple parallel probes into alleged criminal infiltration of South Africa’s law enforcement agencies.

    Matlala also faces a separate, unrelated murder charge which he has denied. In addition, a witness testifying before the ongoing Madlanga Commission, the public inquiry into police graft, has named Matlala as a member of a drug trafficking cartel that claims to have deeply penetrated national police ranks. Matlala has not issued a public response to that cartel allegation, though he told a separate parliamentary corruption inquiry last year that he had no personal connections to senior police officers or politicians. He has not yet testified before the Madlanga Commission.

    The Madlanga Commission was launched last September, following a bombshell allegation from senior police officer Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, who claimed last July that well-organized crime groups had successfully infiltrated multiple levels of the South African government. Witness testimony throughout the commission’s proceedings has repeatedly centered on claims of coordinated collusion between underworld criminal leaders and senior law enforcement officials, laying bare long-suspected systemic corruption within the country’s police institutions.

  • Celebrations as South Africa reach World Cup knockout stages for the first time

    Celebrations as South Africa reach World Cup knockout stages for the first time

    Football fans across South Africa and the globe are celebrating a landmark moment in the nation’s sporting history, after Bafana Bafana secured a tight 1-0 win against South Korea to book their place in the knockout stages of the FIFA World Cup for the first time ever.

    For decades, South Africa has worked to build its international football profile, even hosting the 2010 World Cup as the first African nation to welcome the global tournament. But until this decisive group stage match, the side had never advanced past the group phase of football’s biggest competition. The narrow, hard-fought win over South Korea unlocked that long-awaited achievement, sending shockwaves of joy through communities back home and among football supporters worldwide who root for underdog success.

    Match observers highlight that the result was built on disciplined defending and a clinical finish that proved the difference when it mattered most. Unlike many of their previous high-stakes outings, South Africa’s side held firm under repeated attacking pressure from South Korea, capitalizing on their one clear opening to find the back of the net and protect their lead through the final whistle.

    In the hours after the final whistle, celebrations erupted across South Africa, with fans gathering in public spaces, sharing messages of congratulations on social media, and hailing the team for making history. This result not only marks a personal triumph for the current generation of players, who have dedicated years to reaching this stage, but also cements a new milestone for African football on the global stage. As the team prepares for their first knockout round tie, expectations and excitement are at an all-time high, with millions waiting to see how far the historic underdog run can go.

  • Fighting intensifies across multiple fronts in Sudan

    Fighting intensifies across multiple fronts in Sudan

    As the brutal power conflict between Sudan’s two main military factions enters its fourth year, active fighting has ramped up sharply across multiple regions of the country, leaving global aid watchers sounding urgent alarms over a rapidly worsening humanitarian crisis for millions of vulnerable civilians.

    The ongoing confrontation, which first erupted in April 2023, pits the official Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), with violence now spreading simultaneously across the southeastern Blue Nile region and the western regions of Darfur and Kordofan.

    On Tuesday, the SAF confirmed it had intercepted and downed a hostile drone north of Al-Tuwaysha town in North Darfur State. This confrontation marks just the latest in a growing string of aerial skirmishes, where uncrewed aerial vehicles have emerged as a primary weapon for both warring factions over the past several months.

    Further east, in the Blue Nile region, the SAF’s 4th Infantry Division announced it had secured new territorial advances following a large-scale offensive across multiple eastern districts of the state. The military command confirmed in an official statement that operations pushed past the Abu Dugla and Ashambo areas, concluding with the full seizure of the Al-Bar district from forces it labeled “rebel elements.”

    According to the statement, government troops captured stockpiles of weapons, military hardware, and a number of enemy combatants during the operation. Military officials added that offensive operations will continue in the region to secure Sudan’s border and protect civilian populations. After months of relative quiet, Blue Nile has reemerged as a key conflict zone as the SAF works to retake control of Kurmuk, a strategically critical border town.

    Independent military observers note that the renewed push in Blue Nile forms part of a broader strategic shift by the SAF: expanding military operations beyond the long-standing conflict hotspots of Darfur and Kordofan to reassert state control over vulnerable border regions.

    In western Sudan, however, the humanitarian outlook in North Darfur continues to deteriorate at an alarming rate. RSF-linked social media accounts published video footage Tuesday confirming RSF fighters had entered the Ambro area of North Darfur, just days after drone strikes hit the zone and drove displaced residents to seek shelter there from nearby conflict zones.

    The North Darfur Coordination of Resistance Committees confirmed that thousands of civilians have fled the Orshi area for Ambro in search of safety, adding that targeted violations against civilian populations in the western parts of the state continue without interruption. The committee stressed that displaced residents are surviving in catastrophic conditions in makeshift camp sites, and has called for expanded independent humanitarian monitoring and urgent international intervention to address the growing crisis.

    To the south in North Kordofan State, human rights organization Emergency Lawyers reported that repeated RSF drone strikes on the major city of El Obeid last week destroyed the city’s central power substation. The attack triggered widespread blackouts that cut off access to clean water, disrupted critical health care services, and halted local public transport. The group warned that continued attacks on civilian and critical infrastructure will speed up mass displacement from the city, and raise the risk of a full-scale humanitarian catastrophe in one of western Sudan’s largest urban hubs.

    Current United Nations estimates place the total death toll from the 3-year conflict at more than tens of thousands of people, with over 7 million people displaced internally across Sudan and an additional 1.5 million fleeing to neighboring countries to seek safety. International aid organizations have repeatedly warned that access to food, clean water, and medical care is severely limited across most conflict zones, with the risk of mass famine and preventable disease outbreaks growing by the week.

  • Police seal off key roads in Nairobi as Kenya braces for Gen Z protests

    Police seal off key roads in Nairobi as Kenya braces for Gen Z protests

    Nairobi, Kenya – As the second anniversary of the 2024 Gen-Z-led anti-government protest approaches, Kenyan authorities have implemented a sweeping security lockdown on major arteries leading into central Nairobi, triggering widespread disruption to daily life across the country ahead of planned nationwide demonstrations.

    The original 2024 unrest was a defining moment for Kenyan politics: thousands of young people poured into the streets to oppose a controversial proposed finance bill that included steep new tax hikes. The demonstrations grew increasingly heated, culminating in protesters storming the national parliament building, and ultimately forcing the government to withdraw the unpopular legislation. But the crackdown that followed left a bitter, unresolved legacy: more than 80 people were killed and dozens more injured during the 2024 protests and last year’s anniversary gatherings. This year’s demonstrators say their core demand is simple: justice for those killed and harmed.

    By early Thursday morning, security forces had already erected concrete and vehicle roadblocks across key routes into the city centre, including the busy Thika Super Highway, Mombasa Road, the Nairobi-Namanga Highway in Athi River, Kenyatta Avenue, Waiyaki Way, and Jogoo Road. The lockdown left thousands of commuters stranded, unable to reach their workplaces or homes. In response to the security deployment and expected unrest, dozens of businesses and schools across Nairobi and other major urban centres opted to close for the day.

    Organisers have mobilised the new wave of protests largely through social media platforms, and demonstrations are planned in major population centres across the country, including the coastal hub of Mombasa and multiple regions in central Kenya. Security agencies have heightened digital and physical surveillance across all major urban areas, with a heavy, visible police deployment planned for central Nairobi and critical state infrastructure installations.

    The run-up to the protests has exposed deep political and social divisions across the country. President William Ruto, who took office in 2022, has acknowledged that Kenyans hold a constitutional right to peaceful assembly, but issued a stern warning last week that any person “mobilised to destroy property or cause chaos” would face the full force of the law. Authorities have also issued a formal appeal to demonstrators to refrain from violence, looting, and the destruction of public or private property.

    In a surprise move ahead of the anniversary, Ruto announced last week a nearly $15 million compensation fund for almost 2,000 victims of protest-related human rights abuses that occurred between 2017 and 2025, a list compiled by independent Kenyan rights groups. Ruto stressed that the fund was not intended to act as a “price for life, pain or loss,” nor should it be interpreted as a reward for violence or criminal activity. Despite this gesture, the plan has been widely rejected by domestic human rights organisations, which cite critical flaws: the exclusion of dozens of known victims, inadequate individual compensation amounts, and a total lack of transparency around how the fund will be administered.

    Political factions are also split on the protests. Multiple opposition political leaders, domestic civil society coalitions, and regional and international human rights groups have publicly expressed support for peaceful demonstrations, framing the gatherings as a legitimate exercise of democratic expression explicitly protected under Kenya’s constitution. But Rigathi Gachagua, Ruto’s former deputy who is now one of the president’s most high-profile bitter rivals, has taken an unusual stance: he has urged Gen Z activists to avoid taking to the streets, warning of a high risk of the protests descending into violence. Instead, Gachagua has called on Kenyans to stay home as a quiet, symbolic act of dissent against the government.

    With the 2027 general election just over a year away, Ruto is facing growing public discontent over his administration’s performance. Critics across the political spectrum accuse the president of failing to deliver on the majority of key campaign promises that got him elected. Ruto has forcefully rejected these claims, insisting that his government has delivered on most of its pledges, and that he is prepared to defend his administration’s record as he seeks a second term in office.

  • Kenyan police block roads around the country’s capital ahead of anti-government protest

    Kenyan police block roads around the country’s capital ahead of anti-government protest

    NAIROBI, Kenya – Two years after a wave of deadly anti-government unrest left at least 60 people dead and saw protesters storm Kenya’s national parliament, authorities have sealed off the capital Nairobi ahead of a planned demonstration demanding accountability and fair compensation for victims’ families.

    The June 2024 protests erupted when thousands of young Kenyans marched on parliament to push legislators to reject a controversial finance bill that would have raised new taxes amid a sustained cost-of-living crisis. Security forces responded with live fire outside the legislative building, killing dozens of unarmed demonstrators. Today, families of those killed still say they are waiting for justice, and are criticizing the national government for rampant delays and a lack of transparency in its promised victim compensation program.

    Last week, Kenyan President William Ruto sought to balance competing priorities, stating that demonstrators would be allowed to exercise their constitutional right to protest, but warning that the government would not allow action that disrupts daily life, including children’s access to school and workers’ ability to reach their jobs. He explicitly cautioned against any attempt to “shut down the country.” Ruto also framed the ongoing compensation initiative as a formal acknowledgment by the state that harm was done to civilians, but clarified it does not constitute a legal admission of government guilt, and should not be interpreted as a reward for unrest.

    A day before the scheduled protest, Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen added that police would provide a formal escort for peaceful demonstrators, but pledged to block any criminal elements that attempt to infiltrate the march to damage or raid private businesses. By early Thursday morning, those security measures had transformed the capital: police had erected concrete and vehicle roadblocks on every major highway leading into Nairobi, cutting off vehicle access to the city center. Parliament buildings remained heavily barricaded, and most private businesses across the capital chose to close their doors for the day ahead of the demonstration.

    Opposition political leaders have publicly thrown their support behind the protest, joining calls for full transparency in how the government allocates compensation to families of victims of human rights abuses committed during the 2024 unrest. For many families, the frustration runs deep: two years on, most have yet to receive any form of payout, even after submitting all required documentation to the Kenya Human Rights Commission.

    Edith Wanjiku, a mother whose 19-year-old son Ibrahim Kamau was killed by two gunshot wounds to the neck during the 2024 unrest, described the devastating emotional toll the loss and ongoing delay have had on her family. “We’ve really suffered emotionally for the last two years,” Wanjiku told the Associated Press. She confirmed that her family completed all required paperwork months ago, but has received nothing from the compensation fund. “Only two out of 10 families whose children were shot that day near Parliament have been compensated and we are wondering what criteria the government is using,” she said.

  • Who is the African World Cup goalscorer older than Ronaldo and Messi?

    Who is the African World Cup goalscorer older than Ronaldo and Messi?

    As the 2026 FIFA World Cup unfolds, modern football legends Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi continue to add new chapters to their already unparalleled legacies, breaking countless tournament records along the way. Yet one iconic all-time record still remains out of their reach, held decades ago by Cameroonian football great Roger Milla.

    Ronaldo made history when he netted the opening goal in Portugal’s second group-stage clash against Uzbekistan, becoming the second-oldest goalscorer in the 96-year history of the men’s FIFA World Cup. Scoring at 41 years and 138 days, the Portuguese superstar edged Argentina’s Lionel Messi, who turned 39 just two days before his 2026 tournament goal, down from third to fourth place on the exclusive list of the tournament’s oldest goalscorers. Messi scored against Austria at 38 years and 363 days, still far ahead of other veterans but short of both Milla and Ronaldo’s benchmarks.

    At the very top of the ranking remains Roger Milla, whose record has stood for more than 30 years. Milla, who made his first World Cup appearance at the 1982 Spain finals, catapulted to global fame at Italia 1990, when he scored four goals to lead the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon to the quarter-finals — the first African men’s team ever to reach that stage of the World Cup. His iconic corner flag celebration dance became a global football trademark, cementing his status as a trailblazer for African football.

    Four years later, at the 1994 World Cup hosted by the United States, Milla extended his historic record. He found the back of the net against Russia from 8 yards out at 42 years and 39 days, a mark that has never been beaten in the three decades since. Even with his landmark 2026 goal, Ronaldo still sits more than 200 days younger than Milla’s record, leaving the Cameroonian icon’s place at the top untouched for now.

    The 2026 tournament has already seen a wave of veteran players climb the rankings, with several stars still in contention to overtake Messi’s current fourth place. Bosnia-Herzegovina striker Edin Dzeko and Croatian midfield maestro Luka Modric are both 40 years old, and either would jump above Messi with a single goal in the remaining matches. Japan centre-back Yuto Nagamoto is nine months older than Messi, though he has yet to make an appearance at this year’s tournament. Even a handful of veteran goalkeepers are older than Messi, including Germany’s Manuel Neuer, Cape Verde’s Vozinha and Uruguay’s Fernando Muslera. However, no goalkeeper has ever scored in the 22 editions of the World Cup held since the inaugural tournament in 1930, making a breakthrough from that group highly unlikely.

    Austria’s 37-year-old Marko Arnautovic has already secured his spot in the top 10, thanks to a late match-winning penalty against Jordan in the group stage. His strike at 37 years and 58 days puts him eighth on the all-time list.

    For now, Milla’s long-standing record looks likely to remain intact for the foreseeable future. The only chance it could fall in the coming years would be if Ronaldo or Messi choose to extend their careers all the way to the 2030 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by their home nations of Portugal and Argentina, alongside Morocco and Spain. Given the two superstars’ relentless dedication to the game few would count them out from making one more run at history.

    The full top 10 list of the oldest goalscorers in FIFA World Cup history is as follows:
    1. Roger Milla (Cameroon): 42 years 39 days, vs Russia, 28 June 1994
    2. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal): 41 years 138 days, vs Uzbekistan, 23 June 2026
    3. Pepe (Portugal): 39 years 283 days, vs Switzerland, 6 December 2022
    4. Lionel Messi (Argentina): 38 years 363 days, vs Austria, 22 June 2026
    5. Gunnar Gren (Sweden): 37 years 236 days, vs Germany, 24 June 1958
    6. Cuauhtemoc Blanco (Mexico): 37 years 151 days, vs France, 17 June 2010
    7. Felipe Baloy (Panama): 37 years 120 days, vs England, 24 June 2018
    8. Marko Arnautovic (Austria): 37 years 58 days, vs Jordan, 17 June 2026
    9. Obdulio Varela (Uruguay): 36 years 279 days, vs England, 26 June 1954
    10. Martin Palermo (Argentina): 36 years 227 days, vs Greece, 22 June 2010

  • Banned swimmer’s daughters to realise family’s Commonwealth Games dream

    Banned swimmer’s daughters to realise family’s Commonwealth Games dream

    Forty years after political upheaval stole her chance at a Commonwealth Games gold medal, Annette Cowley Nel is set to watch her twin daughters step onto the very Scottish stage she was never allowed to compete on, closing one of sport’s most emotional chapters of generational healing.

    In 1986, Edinburgh played host to the Commonwealth Games that would become far more remembered for political protest than sporting glory. Thirty-two nations across Africa, Asia and the Caribbean boycotted the event to oppose then-UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s refusal to impose economic sanctions on South Africa’s brutal apartheid regime, which enforced state-led racial segregation and barred South African athletes from most international competition.

    Then 19-year-old Annette Cowley, a South African native who qualified to compete for England through her mother’s heritage, was already a British champion and one of the clear favorites to take gold in the 100m freestyle. A rising talent who split her time studying in Texas, U.S. and racing across the U.K. in the summer, she had done everything required to earn her spot at the Games. But as the boycott pushed the event to the brink of financial collapse, and media tycoon Robert Maxwell stepped in with controversial backing to rescue the competition, pressure mounted on organizers to appease protesting nations.

    In a move widely seen as a political concession, officials banned Cowley and fellow white South African athlete Zola Budd from competing, citing technical residency rule violations despite Cowley being a legal British citizen. On the eve of her race, police escorted her out of the athletes’ village, and her lifelong dream of a Commonwealth Games medal ended before it began. She watched from the stands as Canadian Jane Kerr won gold with a time slower than Cowley had posted in qualifying. The disappointment left her disillusioned with competitive swimming; when apartheid ended and she sought selection for South Africa at the 1992 Olympics, she was passed over because of her prior representation of England.

    Looking back on the era, Cowley Nel calls apartheid a “terrible time” for South Africa, and says she personally supported equality for all. While she acknowledges the enormous positive progress the country has made in the decades since apartheid fell, she still expresses frustration that all South African athletes of the era were lumped together and punished regardless of their individual beliefs. That youthful hardship, though, shaped her resilience: “I had a lot to deal with at a young age, and that stood me in good stead for life,” she said.

    Now, four decades on, the 2026 Commonwealth Games return to Scotland, this time hosted in Glasgow. When the Games open next month, they will fall on the 24th birthday of twins Georgia and Olivia Nel, Cowley Nel’s daughters, who have both been named to South Africa’s official swimming team. For the Nel family, the moment is a full-circle emotional reckoning decades in the making.

    Olivia, who already has 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games experience under her belt, says the family history adds extra meaning to the moment. “I do it for myself, I do it for my family, but having that history really makes me so much more inclined to want to do it and represent my country and to do well,” she said, noting that holding the Games in Scotland makes the moment “quite special.”

    For Georgia, it will be her first appearance at the Commonwealth Games. She called the opportunity to compete alongside her sister, and step into the spot their mother was forced to leave empty, “a really unique opportunity.” “I’m very grateful not only to represent South Africa, but to represent her at these Commonwealth Games,” she said, adding that she often gets emotional thinking about her mother’s hard work cut short by politics.

    The sisters could even share the pool together, with a strong chance both will compete in the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay. Annette Cowley Nel and her husband Jeremy will be in the Glasgow stands to watch, and she says the moment is beyond anything she could have imagined four decades ago. “It is incredibly special that they have both made the Commonwealth Games,” she said. “It will be quite an emotional moment.”

  • South African civil groups warn of dire impact as US phases out HIV program funding

    South African civil groups warn of dire impact as US phases out HIV program funding

    JOHANNESBURG – A sweeping rollback of U.S. foreign assistance spearheaded by the second Trump administration is pushing South Africa’s long-running fight against HIV/AIDS into uncharted crisis, with civil society groups warning that adolescent girls and women — already among the nation’s most at-risk populations for HIV infection — are bearing the earliest and most severe brunt of the cuts.

    The program facing elimination is the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, better known globally as PEPFAR, a landmark U.S. initiative that has backed South Africa’s HIV response for two decades. PEPFAR is widely celebrated by global public health experts for saving more than 20 million lives across the world since its launch, with South Africa — home to the world’s largest HIV-positive population — as one of its core beneficiaries. The program delivers more than $400 million in annual support to the country’s public health infrastructure for HIV care and prevention.

    The U.S. State Department confirmed it is implementing a phased drawdown of most PEPFAR activities in South Africa, with full wind-down of core programming scheduled for completion by the end of September 2025. Only limited critical personnel support will extend through March 2026, officials confirmed.

    The aid cut comes as part of broader global foreign aid reductions outlined in a January 2025 executive order from President Donald Trump, who issued a full halt on all U.S. financial assistance to South Africa the following month. The Trump administration has justified the freeze by citing a slate of political disagreements with the South African government: the country’s Black Economic Empowerment policies, its controversial land expropriation legislation, and South Africa’s prominent legal case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, where Pretoria has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. The administration also amplified widely disputed claims that white Afrikaner minority communities face systemic genocide in South Africa.

    Israel has forcefully denied South Africa’s genocide allegations, countering that the October 7, 2023, cross-border attack by Hamas-led militants that killed approximately 1,200 people in southern Israel itself constitutes an act of genocide. A State Department spokesperson confirmed to the Associated Press this week that PEPFAR withdrawal was conditional: South African leaders were told the funding would be pulled unless they addressed U.S. demands, including a requirement that senior government officials more frequently and unequivocally condemn what the U.S. frames as race-based incitement to violence, specifically the anti-apartheid struggle song “Kill the Boer,” which some critics interpret as a call for violence against white Afrikaner farmers.

    Official data from South Africa puts the nation’s HIV-positive population at roughly 8 million people — 12.7% of its total 63-million population. PEPFAR funding accounts for approximately 17% of the South African government’s overall budget for HIV programming. Importantly, the funding does not cover the bulk of antiretroviral drug purchases: 90% of the country’s ARV supply is self-funded, with the remaining 10% covered by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Even so, the withdrawal has already inflicted tangible damage across 27 South African districts, where community HIV support facilities have shuttered and hundreds of frontline workers and outreach volunteers have been laid off.

    South Africa’s national health department has been preparing for the aid cut since the initial January 2025 freeze on U.S. foreign assistance and cancellation of USAID grants, spokesperson Foster Mohale told reporters. The government launched a self-reliance plan to mitigate the impact of the withdrawal, and allocated $45 million in emergency funding last year to fill gaps left by the lost PEPFAR support. But civil society groups that have conducted on-the-ground impact assessments in high-prevalence districts say emergency funding has not been enough to offset the loss, especially for prevention services.

    Section27, a leading South African civil society organization focused on health rights, recently assessed the cuts in three high-burden districts and found prevention programming has been hit hardest. As public health systems face strained resources, authorities have shifted priorities to maintaining existing treatment access for people already living with HIV — a necessary shift that comes at the cost of stopping new infections, explained Tendai Mafuma, senior legal researcher at Section27.

    The Anova Health Institute, one of the largest organizations that delivered PEPFAR-funded programming in the country, has already wound down all PEPFAR-supported activities and laid off approximately 3,000 health workers since 2024. Dr. Kate Rees, a public health medicine specialist at Anova, said community-based delivery of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) — a critical medication that prevents HIV transmission — and other prevention services have been gutted by the cuts.

    “Community delivery of prevention is important to reach the people that need it most,” Rees said. Along with adolescent girls and young women, Rees added, the groups most impacted include children, young people, and key at-risk populations such as men who have sex with men and people who use drugs — groups that rely heavily on outreach services to access life-saving care.