Information is Power

Opposition leaders arrested . Civil society groups on Friday accused authorities of arresting at least nine opposition leaders, ahead of fresh anti-government protests expected after weekly Muslim prayers. A committee of professional organisations involved in the protests said in a statement that authorities had raided a meeting of opposition leaders in Khartoum. They detained a total of nine people, including Siddiq Youssef, a senior leader of Sudan’s Communist Party, as well as leaders from the pan-Arab Ba’ath and Nasserist parties, the statement said. The raid came after a coalition of opposition groups called for more protests after the weekly noon prayers on Friday. The head of the media office at the National Intelligence and Security Service denied any knowledge of the arrests. Fourteen leaders of one of Sudan’s two main opposition groupings were detained last Saturday and then released some nine hours later. Sudan doubles down on social media amid protests . A digital rights gr...

Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Company of China, will invest $147.2 million to build a copper project in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as it extends the exploration of its mining assets in the country, the company said in a filing to the Shanghai stock exchange on Tuesday. The project will be located in the Lukuni region in the south of DRC, and will have annual electro-deposited copper production capacity of 30,000 tonnes. Electro-deposited copper is a raw material widely used in the electrical equipment and machine manufacturing sectors. Huayou has built two cobalt refineries in the Luiswishi region of DRC after buying copper-cobalt mineral rights from La Generale des Carrieres et des Mines in 2015. The new copper project is expected to launch by September 2019, the company said in the filing, but it also warned it still needs approvals from Chinese authorities. The investment will be made through its subsidiary Congo DongFang International Mining (CDM), which mainly sources copper and...

Qatar has joined the global powers and nations that are working to increase their influence on the African continent, opening its taps for aid and cooperation. The small, but gas-rich nation has increased efforts to show it is a force for good in international security since its Gulf Arab neighbours imposed a diplomatic and economic boycott on it in June 2017, accusing it of supporting terrorism. Qatar is the world’s biggest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter. Qatar sends 24 armoured vehicles to Mali. This week, the rich Gulf nation airlifted 24 armoured vehicles to Mali, in a move it said would help the countries of the African Sahel region combat terrorism. Qatari military planes delivered the vehicles, its foreign ministry said, adding the shipment would help “combat terrorism and establish security not only in the Republic of Mali but also in the African Sahel countries known as the G5.” The G5 of Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mauritania last year created a...

A new opinion poll for the presidential election in Democratic Republic of Congo says opposition candidate Martin Fayulu of the Lamuka coalition, has become the clear favourite to win, ahead of Felix Tshisekedi and the government-backed Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary. Fayulu, a former Exxon Mobil manager, was little known when he was picked as the joint candidate of an opposition coalition in November, but extensive campaigning, including in Ebola-hit eastern regions, has since boosted his profile. The latest election poll by a New York-based research group showed Fayulu leapfrogging from third place in October to the top spot with 44 percent support. He was ahead of the former frontrunner, Tshisekedi, on 23 percent, and the ruling party’s Shadary on 18 percent. Fayulu ... is the clear favorite to win elections if they are free and fair. “The polls reveal an electorate eager for change. A large majority supports the opposition,” Congo Research Group (CRG), which commissione...

The Gabonese president Ali Bongo will address his nation during a New Year’s speech from Rabat where is recovering, according to AFP which cited close sources to the presidency. According to the news agency, Bongo has instructed his Prime Minister to respond to the expectations of the Gabonese people pending his return. This will be Bongo’s first speech since he was hospitalized in Saudia Arabia on October 24 after treatment for what the presidency said was severe fatigue. The Gabonese President was treated in a Riyadh hospital for more than a month before being transfered to Rabat, Morocco. Here, he was first taken to a military hospital, then to a private residence where is currently recuperating. His Vice President, Pierre Claver Maganga Moussavou said Bongo suffered a stroke.

A network of Sudanese journalists went on strike Thursday in the wake of deadly protests sparked by a hike in bread prices, while opposition groups called for further rallies. “We declare a three day strike from December 27 to protest against the violence unleashed by the government against demonstrators,” said the Sudanese Journalists’ Network which advocates free speech. Journalists in Sudan frequently complain of harassment from the authorities, and the African country has a dire rating on international press freedom rankings. Entire print runs of newspapers are often confiscated over articles deemed offensive by the powerful National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), which is spearheading the current crackdown on protesters. Activists and opposition groups have called on people to take to the streets again over the next few days. “We urge the Sudanese people to continue their demonstrations until success is achieved by overthrowing the regime,” ...

The electoral situation in the DRC was at the heart of a summit of Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region held in Brazzaville, Congo. The sub-regional bodies are concerned about the political situation in the country barely a week to an election that has already been postponed for the third time. There was no representative from the Democratic Republic of Congo during Wednesday’s meeting. Brazzaville has every interest in taking this initiative because Brazzaville and Kinshasa are the two closest capitals in the world. You will realize that whatever is happening in DRC has an impact in Brazzaville. I would say Brazzaville is playing it safe. So, as a wise politician, President Sassou Nguesso is playing Congo’s foreign affairs minister, Jean-Claude Gakosso, read out the communique issued at the end of the mini-summit. “The Heads of State called on the political class and civil society to calm down and exe...