标签： Africa

LAGOS, Nigeria — For exiled Equatorial Guineans who fled systemic political repression, Pope Leo XIV’s high-profile visit to their West-Central African homeland is not a cause for celebration — it is a public relations opportunity that longtime authoritarian ruler Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo will weaponize to whitewash his regime’s global image.

Guti Bae Tongala, a 59-year-old former cook from the remote Annobon Island who sought asylum in Spain in 2002 after escaping what he describes as targeted abuse of minority communities by the government, is among the critics speaking out against the trip. The visit marks the final stop on Pope Leo’s four-nation African tour, following stops in Algeria, Cameroon, and Angola. Vatican data shows Equatorial Guinea boasts one of the highest Catholic population shares on the continent, with roughly 75% of citizens identifying as Catholic, a legacy of decades of Spanish colonial rule.

During his time in the country, Pope Leo has publicly condemned the neocolonial extraction of Africa’s mineral resources, decried global political leaders’ “lust for power”, and publicly called on Equatorial Guinea’s government to advance greater justice and close the stark economic divide between the country’s tiny ruling elite and its majority disadvantaged population. But exiled dissidents and human rights activists argue these calls for reform will ultimately work to Obiang’s advantage.

Obiang, Africa’s longest-serving sitting head of state who has held uninterrupted power since seizing control in a 1979 coup, stands accused by global rights organizations of running one of the world’s most repressive regimes. For exiles like Tongala, the papal visit is a perfect gift for a leader eager to gain international legitimacy. “Obiang knows very well that the pope’s visit comes like a ring on his finger,” Tongala told the Associated Press in an interview from Spain. “Obiang will use the pope’s presence to clean up his image.”

Tutu Alicante, executive director of U.S.-based human rights organization EG Justice, notes that papal outreach is just the latest in Obiang’s long-running strategy to polish his global standing through high-profile international events. The Equatorial Guinean leader has already hosted two editions of the continent’s top football tournament, the Africa Cup of Nations, in 2012 and 2015, in a similar push to gain global acceptance.

Though Equatorial Guinea is legally a secular state, the Catholic Church remains deeply embedded in the nation’s political and social fabric, a holdover from Spanish colonial rule. Churches run much of the country’s educational and healthcare infrastructure for its population of nearly 1.9 million, and all major state events — from presidential inaugurations to Independence Day celebrations — open with a Catholic Mass. In 2011, Obiang was even inaugurated for another term at the sprawling neo-Gothic Basilica of Immaculate Conception in his hometown of Mongomo, a structure modeled after Vatican City’s St. Peter’s Basilica that ranks as the second-largest religious building in all of Africa, second only to the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in Côte d’Ivoire.

Alicante argues that the relationship between church hierarchy and the Obiang regime is deeply intertwined. “The church leaders are very much interconnected intrinsically with the government,” he explained. “Part of it is the fear the government has instilled in everyone, including the church, and part of it is the monetary gains that the church derives from this government.” Neither local Catholic officials nor the Equatorial Guinean government responded to AP requests for comment on allegations of ongoing human rights abuses in the country.

Vatican representatives, however, defend the church’s approach to engaging with controversial political regimes. The Rev. Fortunatus Nwachukwu, second-in-command at the Vatican’s missionary evangelization office, told the AP that the church must navigate fraught civic spaces rather than withdraw or enter outright conflict. “Should the church go to war against the government? Surely no,” Nwachukwu said. “Should the church swallow everything as if it were normal? No. The church has to continue preaching justice, always in defense of life, human dignity and the common good.”

The Catholic Church’s relationship with political power in Equatorial Guinea has long been complicated. Former ruler Francisco Macias Nguema — Obiang’s uncle, whom he overthrew in 1979 — brutally persecuted Catholics, shuttered houses of worship, and banned the church entirely in 1978 in a push to sever remaining ties to former colonial power Spain. After seizing power, Obiang immediately reversed the ban, transitioned to civilian rule in 1982, and hosted Pope St. John Paul II on a visit the same year. He has remained in power ever since, winning six consecutive widely disputed elections marred by allegations of fraud and voter intimidation.

Global rights and economic data back up dissidents’ claims of systemic inequality and abuse. The World Bank estimates that more than half of Equatorial Guinea’s population lives in poverty, despite the country’s vast oil and mineral wealth, which rights groups say is almost exclusively siphoned off to enrich Obiang’s extended family. One of the president’s sons, current Vice President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, was convicted of money laundering and embezzlement by French courts and sanctioned by the United Kingdom for similar corrupt activities. A second son, Carmelo Ovono Obiang, was opened for investigation by Spain’s High Court in 2024 over allegations he ordered the kidnapping and torture of two opposition leaders holding Spanish citizenship. A 2024 Amnesty International report documented widespread, routine arbitrary arrests, torture, and other cruel treatment of political dissidents across the country.

In 2023, the AP confirmed that the Obiang government imposed a months-long total internet shutdown on Annobon Island to suppress protests against abusive practices by a state-linked construction company. The country has also been accused of accepting millions of dollars in under-the-table payments from the U.S. to accept deported migrants who are not citizens of Equatorial Guinea, in a controversial deal that has drawn widespread global criticism.

Many exiled Equatorial Guineans are calling on Pope Leo to use his global platform to explicitly condemn the Obiang regime’s ongoing human rights violations. “I would like the pope to speak out in defense of the Christians who live in Equatorial Guinea and who have to endure the abuses of human rights that occur day by day at the orders of Obiang Nguema,” said Jorge Awal, a 27-year-old exiled Equatorial Guinean now working in Spain’s private sector.

This reporting is part of the Associated Press’ ongoing religion coverage, supported through a collaboration with The Conversation US via funding from the Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP retains full editorial control over all content.

In a high-profile ruling that has reignited debates over free expression in Algeria, exiled French-Algerian writer Kamel Daoud announced Wednesday that an Algerian court has sentenced him to three years in prison and imposed a $38,000 fine over his 2024 Goncourt Prize-winning novel *Houris*. Daoud, who resides permanently in France, shared the news of Tuesday’s conviction via the social platform X, revealing the legal penalty handed down by a court in the coastal Algerian city of Oran.

Daoud’s acclaimed work centers on the forgotten victims of Algeria’s brutal 1990s internal conflict, widely known as the “Black Decade.” The decade-long violence erupted in 1991, when the military-backed Algerian government canceled the second round of national legislative elections after an Islamist party won a clear majority in the first round. The ensuing insurgency and government crackdown killed an estimated 200,000 people over 10 years of conflict.

The conviction was rooted in the 2005 Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation, a national policy approved via public referendum that granted blanket amnesty to both Islamist insurgents and state security forces involved in the civil war. Daoud sharply criticized the law and its application in his case, noting that the charter effectively criminalizes any open public discussion of the civil war and its legacy. “Ten years of war, nearly 200,000 dead according to estimates, thousands of terrorists granted amnesty … and only one guilty party: a writer,” Daoud said in his statement.

This is not the only legal pressure facing Daoud. Since May 2025, Algerian authorities have issued two international arrest warrants for the author, and they are also moving to revoke his Algerian citizenship. The case is not an isolated incident: another prominent French-Algerian critic of the Algerian government, author Boualem Sansal, faced similar legal repercussions in recent years. Sansal, whose work critiques political Islam, French colonialism, and current Algerian leadership, was convicted of undermining national unity and insulting public institutions, receiving a five-year prison sentence under Algeria’s anti-terrorism legislation. After serving one year in prison, he was granted a humanitarian pardon following a diplomatic appeal from Germany’s president, and returned to his residence in France in 2024.

The conviction has drawn new attention to longstanding concerns about restrictions on free speech and historical memory in Algeria, as writers and activists continue to push for open discussion of the legacy of the Black Decade decades after the conflict ended.

LAGOS, NIGERIA – In a targeted special operation carried out on the continent, Russia’s Africa Corps has successfully liberated two foreign nationals who were held captive for months by an al-Qaida-linked armed faction in the Sahel, the Russian Defense Ministry announced publicly this Tuesday.

The two freed individuals have been formally identified as Oleg Gret, a Russian national working for a Russian geological exploration firm, and Yuri Yurov, a Ukrainian citizen. Both hostages had first appeared in a video released by Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), the terrorist group that seized them in an abduction operation in Niger back in July 2024.

According to the official statement issued by the Russian Defense Ministry, the rescue mission was executed within the borders of the neighboring Republic of Mali, where the hostages were being held after their abduction. “As a result of a special operation conducted by the Africa Corps in the Republic of Mali, employees of a Russian geological exploration company captured in July 2024 in Niger by the terrorist group Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin were freed,” the statement reads.

The abduction marked a notable security setback for Russia’s expanding influence across the Sahel, a region where Moscow has steadily displaced long-standing Western and European partners in recent years. Russia has strategically capitalized on widespread local discontent with France, the region’s former colonial power, and growing public anxiety over rising insurgent attacks from extremist groups to grow its military and political footprint across the Sahel.

The Africa Corps, a Russian state-aligned paramilitary formation, was established to take over Moscow’s continental military operations after the restructuring of the infamous Wagner Group, the private mercenary force that previously led Russia’s engagements across Africa.

Following the successful rescue, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that the two freed hostages will be flown to Moscow aboard a Russian military transport plane, where they will receive specialized medical treatment and psychological rehabilitation to address the trauma of their months in captivity.

Against a global backdrop of surging unilateralism and rising protectionist barriers, China and African nations have reaffirmed their longstanding, close diplomatic and economic partnership, making formal pledges to deepen cross-sector cooperation and uphold collective solidarity rooted in the principle of mutual respect. The landmark commitment was announced during the inaugural China-Africa Entrepreneurs Summit, held Tuesday at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a gathering that brought together business leaders, policymakers and diplomatic representatives from both sides to chart a new course for bilateral collaboration.”China and Africa form a community of shared future, bonded by consistent mutual support,” stated Jiang Feng, head of China’s mission to the African Union and representative to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, during his opening address. “China has never wavered in viewing Africa as a sincere friend and a most reliable cooperative partner.”Jiang noted that 2026 marks the opening year of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan, a development blueprint that prioritizes further expansion of high-standard opening-up policies. This policy direction, he emphasized, creates unprecedented conditions for deeper collaboration between Chinese and African private and public sector enterprises. The decades-long economic partnership between the two sides has already reached historic milestones: China has held the position of Africa’s largest trading partner for 17 consecutive years, with bilateral trade volume hitting a new record high of $348 billion in 2025, marking an nearly 18 percent year-on-year increase. Beyond trade, Chinese firms lead as the largest foreign investors and primary infrastructure contractors across dozens of African nations, delivering critical projects in transportation, energy and communications that have expanded connectivity across the continent.With Africa holding untapped development potential and China boasting a complete, competitive industrial chain with strong growth momentum, Jiang pointed out that cooperation opportunities span an incredibly broad range of sectors, including agriculture, manufacturing, renewable energy, the digital economy, mineral development and financial services. He encouraged enterprises from both sides to leverage existing trade and investment facilitation frameworks, most notably China’s expanding zero-tariff policy, to unlock new collaborative opportunities.As a key measure to remove barriers for African exporters accessing the world’s second-largest consumer market, China will implement full zero-tariff treatment on all product categories from the 53 African countries that maintain diplomatic relations with Beijing, a policy set to take effect on May 1. “This policy will pave the way for turning the vast Chinese market into a transformative growth opportunity for high-quality African exports,” Jiang added.Ethiopian President Taye Atske Selassie, who also addressed the opening session, commended China’s longstanding critical role in supporting development and economic transformation across Ethiopia and the entire African continent. He called for expanding cooperation beyond traditional trade and investment to include joint technological research and development that drives local innovation.Speaking to the challenging global context, Selassie noted that the summit convenes at a moment of growing geoeconomic uncertainty, shaped by unrestrained competition for strategic minerals driven by narrow self-interest that often disregards Africa’s long-term sustainable development goals. “Against this reality, China and Africa are demonstrating an exemplary commitment to revitalizing collective, mutually beneficial strategic cooperation,” he said.The Ethiopian president also welcomed China’s new full zero-tariff policy, noting it will accelerate the continent’s export-led growth strategy. “This initiative benefits not only China and Africa; it will make an immense contribution to global trade at a time when the global economy faces severe supply chain disruptions and fragmentation,” he added.AU Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf reaffirmed the African Union’s unwavering commitment to deepening comprehensive cooperation with China, urging African nations to draw on China’s decades of experience in rapid development and industrialization to advance their own economic agendas.”Africa must learn from the success of China’s development experience,” Youssouf said, adding that modern technological advances now create a unique opening to accelerate the continent’s economic transformation. “It is in this respect that the Chinese development miracle should guide our forward steps.”Amid widespread global economic uncertainty, Youssouf emphasized that consolidating China-Africa cooperation is more essential than ever, and extended the AU’s gratitude to the Chinese government for rolling out the expanded zero-tariff treatment. He also called on Chinese enterprises to increase investment across African markets and partner with local stakeholders to build integrated regional value and supply chains, fostering a mutually beneficial win-win partnership.Song Shangzhe, deputy director-general of the China International Import Expo Bureau, noted that the CIIE has long served as a key gateway for African goods to access Chinese consumers, and the bureau will continue supporting African enterprises to enter the Chinese market and expand their export volumes.”The CIIE embodies China’s sincere commitment to open its market to Africa and the entire world,” Song said. “Over the eight years since its launch, the expo has showcased high-quality African products, driven booming China-Africa economic and trade cooperation, and helped African enterprises tap into the enormous consumer demand of the Chinese market.”

Three years into Sudan’s devastating civil war between the regular national army and the powerful Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group, a groundbreaking new investigation has delivered the first definitive proof of direct United Arab Emirates (UAE) backing for the RSF through a network of Colombian mercenaries. A new report by the Conflict Insights Group (CIG), an independent security analysis organization, ties this mercenary network directly to the RSF’s brutal 2025 capture of the strategic North Darfur capital el-Fasher — a turning point in the conflict that triggered some of its worst atrocities.

CIG director Justin Lynch emphasized that while the organization has long tracked growing evidence of extensive Emirati military support to the RSF, this investigation marks the first time that link has been proven beyond doubt. “We are making public what governments have long known — that there is a direct, operational link between Abu Dhabi and the RSF’s war effort,” Lynch said in the report’s introduction.

To build its case, CIG combined multiple open-source intelligence methods, most notably tracking more than 50 mobile phones belonging to Colombian mercenary operatives active across Sudan between April 2025 and January 2026. The tracking relied on commercially available location technology originally built for targeted advertising, supplemented by flight logs, satellite imagery, social media content, and peer-reviewed academic research. The team traced mercenary movements through a clear logistical and training pipeline originating in Colombia and routed through UAE-controlled facilities.

One of the most striking pieces of evidence comes from the devices themselves, which were overwhelmingly configured to Spanish, Colombia’s official language. Investigators traced one device from Colombia to Abu Dhabi’s Zayed International Airport, then to a dedicated Emirati military training facility in Ghayathi, where four other Spanish-language devices were also detected. Two of these devices later traveled to Sudan’s South Darfur state, with one moving on to Nyala, the RSF’s de facto capital in the region. While in Nyala — already identified by analysts as a key hub for RSF drone operations and Colombian mercenary activity — the device connected to public Wi-Fi networks explicitly named “ANTIAEREO” (Spanish for “anti-aircraft”) and “AirDefense.” In total, CIG documented more than 40 Spanish-language devices linked to mercenaries across the Nyala area.

In another high-profile case, CIG tracked a Colombian mercenary’s device directly to el-Fasher during the final weeks of the RSF’s 18-month siege, which ended with the group seizing the city in October 2025. While operating inside el-Fasher, the device connected to a Wi-Fi network named “ATACADOR” — Spanish for “attacker.” Multiple other Colombian-linked devices were also detected in the city during the takeover, the report confirms.

The mercenary network operates under the banner of the Desert Wolves brigade, with fighters serving as drone pilots, artillery operators, and combat instructors for the RSF. Multiple devices linked to brigade members connected to Wi-Fi networks named “DRONES” and “LOBOS DEL DISIERTO” — a Spanish spelling of “Desert Wolves.” According to Colombian digital outlet La Silla Vacía, the brigade is led by retired Colombian army Colonel Alvaro Quijano, who is based in the UAE and already subject to U.S. and UK sanctions for his role recruiting Colombians to fight in Sudan. The CIG report confirms the Desert Wolves are employed and funded by a UAE-based company with documented direct ties to senior Emirati government officials, matching evidence obtained by La Silla Vacía.

Beyond Sudan, CIG also detected Spanish-language mercenary devices at two key regional logistics hubs tied to the UAE: a port in Somalia and a town in southeastern Libya that analysts have long identified as a key transit point for weapons flowing to the RSF, allegedly facilitated by the Emirates.

The capture of el-Fasher stands as one of the bloodiest episodes of Sudan’s three-year civil war, which has already spawned the world’s worst active humanitarian crisis. Tens of thousands of people have been killed across the country, and more than 10 million have been forced to flee their homes. After the fall of el-Fasher, International Criminal Court prosecutors categorized the accompanying mass violence as war crimes and crimes against humanity, while United Nations investigators found the atrocities bore the “hallmarks of genocide.”

“The scale of atrocities and the prolonged siege of el-Fasher would not have been possible without the specialized drone operations that these Colombian mercenaries provided to the RSF,” Lynch said, noting the mercenary network also directly supported the siege operation. The CIG report concludes that both the UAE and the Colombian mercenary network share responsibility for the war crimes committed in el-Fasher.

The UAE has long rejected all claims that it provides military backing to the RSF, describing previous allegations as “false and unfounded” and condemning el-Fasher atrocities in the strongest terms. The BBC has requested comment from the Emirati government on the CIG’s new findings, and no response has been issued as of publication.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has previously condemned the recruitment of Colombian citizens to fight in Sudan, calling the mercenaries “spectres of death” and framing the recruitment network as a form of human trafficking. Estimates place the total number of Colombian mercenaries fighting for the RSF in the low hundreds. U.S. authorities have already imposed sanctions twice on Colombian nationals and linked firms for mercenary recruitment activity in Sudan — most recently just last week — and have confirmed Colombian fighters supported the RSF’s el-Fasher capture, but have not yet drawn a direct official link to the UAE.

Independent analysts have long agreed that sustained foreign military and financial support for both the RSF and Sudan’s regular army has been the single most critical factor allowing the civil war to continue and expand over the past three years.

Diplomatic friction between the United States and South Africa has escalated into a cross-bloc controversy ahead of the 2025 G20 summit hosted by the U.S., with France publicly backing South Africa’s right to participate as a full, voting member of the bloc.

In a press briefing held in Johannesburg on Tuesday, French Ambassador to South Africa David Martinon made clear Paris’s official position: as a founding G20 member, France recognizes South Africa as a fully fledged member of the bloc, and thus it deserves a seat at all G20 proceedings, including this December’s summit scheduled at Trump National Doral Miami, U.S. President Donald Trump’s golf resort in south Florida.

The dispute traces back to 2024, when Trump announced he would not extend an invitation to South Africa — the only African nation with permanent G20 membership — for the upcoming U.S.-hosted summit. The exclusion comes amid already strained bilateral relations between Washington and Johannesburg, sparked by the Trump administration’s unsubstantiated criticism of South Africa’s Black-led government, which it has labeled anti-white and anti-American. Trump has repeatedly pushed baseless claims that South Africa is orchestrating a coordinated campaign of violence against its white minority farming population, claims that have been thoroughly debunked by independent fact-checkers and South African officials.

South African authorities have confirmed that beyond the main December summit, they have already been blocked from participating in the routine working-level G20 meetings held throughout the year leading up to the top-level leadership gathering. The South African government has described Washington’s exclusion as a punitive measure rooted entirely in false and misleading information.

This is not the first rift between the two nations tied to G20 governance. Last year, when South Africa made history as the first African country to host the G20 summit, the U.S. boycotted the event. tensions boiled over during the traditional host handover ceremony ahead of the 2025 summit: the U.S. sent low-ranking embassy officials to accept the handover from South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, a move that South African officials deemed a deliberate insult, and they refused to proceed with the ceremony under those terms.

Trump’s proposed exclusion of South Africa has already drawn pushback from across the G20 bloc, which operates on the core principle of consensus-based decision-making. Multiple member states have argued that no single country holds the authority to bar a full, standing member from official summit proceedings.

The controversy also spilled over into preparations for the upcoming June G7 summit, which France is hosting this year in the alpine resort town of Évian-les-Bains. Last month, Ramaphosa’s spokesperson initially claimed that a personal 2024 invitation to Ramaphosa to attend the G7 as a guest had been rescinded by French officials, who cited pressure from the Trump administration to block South Africa’s participation. Ramaphosa later walked back his spokesperson’s comments, stating he was not aware of any U.S. pressure, a move widely interpreted as a diplomatic effort to de-escalate rising tensions.

Addressing the G7 dispute on Tuesday, Martinon reiterated France’s official account: no invitation was ever retracted under U.S. pressure. Instead, France opted for a more streamlined guest list for the 2025 summit, extending guest invitations to the leaders of India, Brazil, Kenya and South Korea rather than adding additional non-member attendees. Quoting Ramaphosa’s own recent remarks, Martinon noted that South Africa is not a formal G7 member, so it cannot be uninvited from a forum it does not officially belong to.

As the only African permanent member of the G20, South Africa’s exclusion would mark an unprecedented break with the bloc’s founding norms of inclusive representation, raising questions about the future of consensus governance in the grouping ahead of the December summit.