🇳🇬 President Buhari meets governors over cash crisis

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has met the state governors from his ruling All Progressives Congress party over the challenges arising from a scarcity of local currency in the country.

At the meeting the governors expressed their disapproval of the government's policy of redesigning some of the country's currency notes and the consequent scarcity of new notes.

Some of the governors said that they explained to the president the inappropriateness of taking such a step at this time and the problems the measure has caused the nation. They therefore suggested that the president should rethink the policy and allow the new and old naira notes to coexist for some time, to alleviate the sufferings of Nigerians.

#Nigeria

@africaintel

🇨🇩 M23 fighters released a photo of captured weapons from FARDC recently.

Large quantity of AKM/Type 56 rifles, Romanian PM md. 65 rifle, 60mm M57 mortar, RPG-7s with rockets (Type 69-3, PG-7V, OGi-7MA) PKM/Type 80 machine guns can be seen.

#DRC

@africaintel

🇧🇫 Human rights activists accuse Burkina Faso army of killing at least 25 civilians

A human rights NGO in Burkina Faso has accused the army of killing at least 25 civilians, including a woman and a baby, in the east of the country this week. Relatives of victims accused Burkinabe Defence and Security Forces of executions of civilians in the localities of Piega, Sakoani and Kankangou.

Twelve deaths (including three women and a baby) were reported in the village of Sakoani, about 125 km from Fada N'Gourma, the capital of the eastern region, seven (including four women) in the village of Piega, 60 km from Fada N'Gourma, and six in the hamlet of Kankangou in the territory of the village of Sampiéri.

Neither the army nor the Burkinabe government reacted to these accusations.

#BurkinaFaso

@africaintel

🇺🇳🇸🇩 UN rights expert in Sudan urges security reforms

A UN expert on Thursday called for reforms in Sudan's security services and accountability, during a first visit to the country.

Radhouane Nouicer's visit comes more than a month after civilian and military factions agreed on an initial step in a two-phase political process aimed at restoring stability. Nouicer also called on authorities to allow the work of civil society groups who have complained about "mounting restrictions" on their activities.

The UN human rights expert urged authorities to "hold to account" officials who had abused their powers and called for "a clear roadmap for security sector reform". "The immunity from prosecution of members of the security forces implicated in human rights violations must be lifted," he told.

#UN #Sudan

@africaintel

🇿🇦 Blackouts in South Africa put pressure on healthcare

The challenge for South African paramedics is getting harder as worsening power blackouts in the nation further strains the country's health sector.

"We got called to a hospital where the generators stopped working and then it was 18 paramedics and nine ICU ventilator patients. And so it was two paramedics per patient and then nine of us, we had to ventilate them manually for four hours, until their generators were fixed," one of the paramedics said.

Many people are forced to go without the oxygen concentrator helping them breathe. Patients complain that their backup tanks are empty, the 8 to 10 hours with no power have made it too expensive to refill.

Also people are afraid that if there will be a need of an ambulance during the blackout, there would be no way to call one, due to limited battery and no phone service.

#SouthAfrica

@africaintel

🇧🇫 Burkina Faso reconsiders G5 Sahel membership

President Ibrahim Traoré is reportedly considering the value of Burkina Faso's remaining a member of the G5 Sahel (now the G4 given Mali's exit), a group of five Sahelian former French colonies who face common security concerns.

The pro-French G5 has condemned the autocratic and anti-Western turn of Mali and Burkina Faso in recent years. For now, Burkina Faso is placing a higher priority on bilateral relations with Mali alone.

🇲🇿 TotalEnergies' head met Mozambique President

The head of TotalEnergies met Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi on Friday to discuss the humanitarian situation in the Cabo Delgado area, where a 2021 attack on civilians led to a key liquefied natural gas project being halted.

The French company said on Friday that its chairman and chief executive Patrick Pouyanne had visited the Cabo Delgado area to review the security and humanitarian situation, and that Pouyanne had met the Mozambique President during his trip.

The results of the meeting have not been released yet.

#Mozambique

@africaintel

🇳🇬 More than 40 killed in Nigeria during gunmen and vigilantes clash

More than 40 people have been killed in clashes between gunmen and vigilantes in Nigeria’s northern Katsina state.

Katsina state police spokesperson said on Friday that an armed gang, known locally as bandits, attacked a village in Katsina’s Bakori local government area and had rustled cattle and sheep before fleeing into the bush.

A local vigilante group mobilised and pursued the gunmen, which led to the deadly clash and large loss of life.

“A joint security operations is currently ongoing with a view to bringing the perpetrators to book,”spokesperson said.

#Nigeria

@africaintel

🇧🇫 Burkina Faso leader gives assurances over relations with France

Burkina Faso's military leader, Ibrahim Traoré, has said there has been no break in diplomatic relations with France. Traoré insisted diplomatic relations were unharmed. "The French embassy is here," He said. "French nationals are here, just as ours is there, so diplomatically nothing has changed.

Traoré also denied Wagner group troops were active in the country. He said: "We've heard everywhere in the press that Wagner is in Ouagadougou. That's also how we heard about it. I've asked some people who say, 'Oh really? Where are they?' "We've since heard that they're even in a hotel somewhere, we're surprised to hear about that," he added.

#BurkinaFaso

@africaintel

🇻🇦🇸🇸 Pope calls on church leaders in South Sudan to challenge injustice

Pope Francis has been trying to console people of South Sudan as he opened his first full day in the country on Saturday.

Meeting with bishops, priests and deacons at St Theresa's Cathedral in Juba, he asked people to challenge injustice amid an ethnic conflict .

He also added that deceit and injustice crushes people and condemned what he called "the use of violence to conduct business in the shadow of conflict."

#Vatican #SouthSudan

@africaintel

🇪🇹 Shots fired during church protest in Ethiopia

At least 2 people died as a result of the use of weapons by Oromia State police during rally of supporters of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in the town of Shashamane in Oromia State, say witnesses.

Previously this week the Holy Synod of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church issued ultimatum to the government "to carry out the responsibilities assigned by the constitution by upholding the institutional supremacy of the Church, the rights and interests given to it by law, and by giving appropriate correction to the illegal actions" by the breakaway Archbishops, and alternatively, threatened to call for a worldwide protest if corrective measures were not to be taken.

#Ethiopia

@africaintel

🇨🇩 East African regional leaders demand ceasefire in eastern Congo

East African regional leaders on Saturday renewed their call for an immediate ceasefire by all sides in the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

At a summit in Burundi's capital Bujumbura, the leaders of the regional East African Community (EAC) bloc called for an "immediate ceasefire by all parties," according to a communique issued at the end of the meeting. "The summit reiterated its call to all parties to de-escalate tensions," the communique read.

EAC also demanded the withdrawal of all foreign and armed groups from DRC and asked regional military chiefs to meet within one week and set a timeframe for the withdrawal.

#DRC

@africaintel

🇨🇮 A mysterious disease kills 20 in Ivory Coast

The mysterious illness that has struck a village in central Ivory Coast since December 2022 has killed twenty people, mainly children.

"We recorded twenty deaths, including two adults " said the president of a youth association in the village of Kpo-Kahankro. It is specified that "the age of the child victims varies between 1 and 8 years", the children suddenly begin to stiffen up and to vomit. The adults who died were women aged 60 to 70, both of whom died in a hospital "after showing the same symptoms as the first deaths, namely vomiting and diarrhea".

On January 31 the Minister of Health went to the village to assess the situation. So far, it has not been possible to find out what this disease is.

#IvoryCoast

@africaintel

🇧🇾🇷🇺🌍 Belarus expects to participate in the second Russia-Africa Forum

"There is a willingness of the Russian side to help us, there is our interest to be represented at this forum primarily in the business and humanitarian segments. Because it is a good option to establish new contacts and strengthen the existing ones," said the Head of the Africa and Middle East Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus Yury Nikolaychyk.

"Now Belarus has five foreign offices in African countries. They are Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Zimbabwe," he added.

The second "Russia-Africa" summit and economic forum will take place on July 26-29.

#Belarus #Russia

@africaintel

🇨🇦🇨🇩 Canadian company begins exploration of lithium deposit in southern DR Congo

The Canadian company AJN Resources Inc. received a 75% stake from a Congolese company to explore a lithium deposit near the town of Lubumbashi in southern DR Congo.

The Company already mobilized an exploration team.

#Canada #DRC

@africaintel