Africa

1. DRC and Rwanda eye peace
2. Travel bans threaten deals
3. Ruto pushes labor exports
4. Anger over blogger’s death
5. More nations in power talks
6. East Africa’s longest bridge
7. Hotel chains plan expansion
8. Weekend Reads

The recordings of African World War I prisoners.

DRC, Rwanda move peace deal forward

DR Congo and Rwanda agreed to a provisional deal to end fighting in eastern Congo in a pact brokered by the US and Qatar. The agreement, negotiated in Washington, will be signed by ministers on June 27. The pact includes commitments on disarmament, territorial integrity, the integration of non-state armed groups, and the return of refugees and humanitarian access in a region where fighting has displaced hundreds of thousands of people this year.

Eastern Congo has been a site of conflict for decades, with various armed groups battling for access to valuable natural resources, such as coltan and cobalt. But fighting escalated at the start of the year when the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group captured Goma, the largest city in the area. Rwanda denies supporting M23, despite evidence from the United Nations and others.

The White House’s senior advisor for Africa Massad Boulos has focused on trying to reach an agreement to bring peace and also enable US-backed mining companies and investors to gain access to mineral supply chains that have been dominated by Chinese players over the last two decades.

Trump undermines mineral hopes

West Africa’s willingness to strike mineral deals with the US could be scuttled by the Trump administration’s travel restrictions on the continent, Nigeria’s foreign minister warned.

“We would like to do deals with the US, but visa restrictions are non-tariff barriers to deals,” said Yusuf Tuggar, who also chairs a body for West African foreign ministers, according to Reuters. A visa ban that affects the region would be “most unfortunate if it comes to pass,” he said, because energy resources from West Africa could be good alternatives for the US to not rely on “more distant and politically divergent” sources.

US President Donald Trump this month imposed travel restrictions on nationals from 10 African countries as part of his immigration crackdown. Further restrictions reportedly under consideration could affect as many as 25 African countries, with West Africa’s largest economies Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, and Côte d’Ivoire named on the reported blacklist.

Kenya doubles down on labor export plan

Kenya’s government is doubling down on its labor-export program, despite growing criticism from lawmakers and young people concerned about its socio-economic implications.

Since 2022, President William Ruto’s administration has signed a handful of overseas labor partnership agreements in a bid to cut soaring youth unemployment and drive up foreign remittances. The program has enabled 400,000 Kenyans to take jobs in countries including Qatar, Poland, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom, where they have plugged critical worker shortages in sectors such as domestic work and social care.

The government is now trying to widen the program by negotiating new labor agreements meant to grow the number of jobs secured abroad to 1.76 million. At a religious forum in Nairobi this month, Ruto called upon church leaders to encourage youth members to take up overseas job opportunities, part of a wider strategy to meet Nairobi’s official target of sending one million Kenyans overseas each year.

Person of Interest: Albert Ojwang

Kenyans have taken to the streets of the country’s largest cities to protest the mysterious death of a 31-year old teacher and blogger, Albert Ojwang, while in police custody. Ojwang was arrested on June 7 after he posted criticism of a police chief. He was taken from his home town in western Kenya to Nairobi, nearly 350 kilometers away, and declared dead hours later. Police told Ojwang’s father that his son had taken his own life. But right from the start, that claim was questioned based on the injuries he sustained.

A preliminary investigation has already prompted the resignation of deputy police chief Eliud Lagat, who filed the original complaint that triggered the arrest. And President William Ruto has described the incident as “heartbreaking and unacceptable.” This has not satisfied young Kenyans who are furious with a culture of extrajudicial brutality from Kenyan police. Instead, the demonstrations have provided further evidence of reckless police violence with the near-fatal shooting of a protester on Tuesday.

More countries in energy initiative talks

Twenty more African countries are in talks to join a World Bank and African Development Bank initiative that aims to provide electricity to 300 million people on the continent by 2030, a senior figure involved in the project told Semafor.

A dozen countries have already committed to reforming their utilities and embracing renewable energy as part of Mission 300, which aims to connect half of the 600 million Africans who currently lack electricity. Andrew Herscowitz, CEO of the Mission 300 Accelerator, a unit that works with development partners, said the 20 countries were at different stages. “By September, we hope to have another large cohort of countries,” he said, following talks this week at the Africa Energy Forum conference in Cape Town.

Herscowitz previously headed Power Africa, a US government-led initiative to improve energy access in sub-Saharan Africa. The program, launched in 2013 by the Obama administration, was shut down this year by the Trump White House as part of cuts to USAID, Washington’s main development agency. He said the cuts reinforced the understanding of African governments that they need to find their own solutions. “Countries have to commit to putting in their own resources, and they’re realizing that,” he said.

— Alexis Akwagyiram

Tanzania opens region’s longest bridge

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan this week inaugurated a bridge across Lake Victoria which aims to boost trade in the region. The 3-kilometer bridge, which was built for around $270 million, will be the longest in East and Central Africa. It is named after the president’s predecessor, John Magufuli, who oversaw the start of its construction in 2020 before he died in 2021.

The bridge was built by two Chinese firms in collaboration with Tanzanian engineers. It is part of a wider drive to improve and expand railway, port, and air travel infrastructure. The opening comes in the tense run-up to a general election in October, the first time President Samia is running for the presidency: she took over the role following Magufuli’s death. In recent months her administration has faced allegations of violence and mistreatment of opposition leaders and activists.

Hilton and Marriott expand in Africa

US hotel chains Hilton and Marriott will expand their footprint into more African countries amid a boom in the continent’s hospitality industry.

Marriott will add 50 new properties and more than 9,000 rooms in Africa by the end of 2027, the company said in a statement. The expansion will see it operate for the first time in Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, DR Congo, and Madagascar, growing an African presence that currently comprises nearly 150 properties and 26,000 rooms in 20 countries. Hilton plans to triple its Africa portfolio to more than 160 hotels, with new properties in Angola, Benin, and Ghana, alongside a return to Madagascar and Tanzania. TUI Group, a German brand, also said it plans to open “more than 20 hotels” in Africa “in the coming months and years.”

About 104,000 rooms across 577 African hotels and resorts were under construction in 2024, according to advisory company W Hospitality Group, the highest number in the past four years.

Weekend Reads

• What is the future of Nollywood? Ahmad Adedimeji Amobi asks in a piece for The Republic. Nigeria’s film industry has faced recent setbacks. The projected success of Nollywood’s debut on Netflix “has not yet materialized,” writes Amobi, and Amazon Prime announced cuts for Nigerian films last year. Several filmmakers say this could mean moving away from streaming platforms and finding new ways to “break the gap” between the Nigerian industry and global markets.

• Wagner Group will be replaced by Africa Corps in Mali, ushering in a new era for Russian paramilitaries in the West African country. Russia has long used militias to increase its influence in the Sahel, writes Niko Vorobyov in Al Jazeera. The change reflects a formalizing of Moscow’s presence: Africa Corps operates more closely under the Russian defense ministry. As political instability persists in Mali, this means Moscow will likely be seen to bear “much more responsibility” for any future violence, argues Vorobyov.

• A group of Chinese fans launched a campaign to investigate the killing of one of their favorite Kenyan lions, Lorkulup, whom they had watched online for more than a year. Chinese outlet Sixth Tone reports on the campaign in a feature exploring a niche online world. Authorities said that Lorkulup, distinctive for his perpetual runny nose, had died in a hunt and was then scavenged by hyenas. But fans claimed this was part of a cover-up of something more sinister: human violence.

• As Mozambique prepares to mark 50 years of independence, what exactly should it be celebrating? That is the question posed by Marílio Wane in Africa Is A Country. Mozambique’s liberation was achieved by the same Frelimo party that remains in power half a century later. Inertia has yielded poor living conditions, violent political repression, and, more recently, the party’s alienation from longtime allies, observes Wane, labelling the malaise a “mid-life crisis.”

Business & Macro

🇿🇦 South Africa’s Standard Bank obtained a license to process interbank transactions between Africa and China using the Chinese renminbi currency on China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System.

Climate & Energy

🇳🇬 Nigeria’s oil regulator is set to impose a new real-time tracking system that will require oil producers to provide more comprehensive information on their export cargo.

Geopolitics & Policy

🌍 The Trump administration’s plan to halve funding to the President’s Malaria Initiative could see more than 13 million extra malaria cases in Africa in 2025, a study published in The Lancet said.

🇿🇦 Julius Malema, leader of South Africa’s hard left Economic Freedom Fighters party, has been barred from entering the UK for being “non-conducive to the public good.”

🇨🇩 DR Congo’s Justice Minister Constant Mutamba, under investigation for allegedly embezzling $19 million, resigned but blamed Rwanda for his legal troubles.

🇷🇼 Rwandan opposition leader Victoire Ingabire was arrested by the government for allegedly “engaging in acts that incite public disorder.”

Tech & Deals

🇿🇦 Africa Data Centres entered a commercial partnership with South African tech company Blue Turtle to deploy colocation and cloud computing services in Cape Town and the Midrand district of Johannesburg.

🌍 Africa-focused stablecoins startup Yellow Card and US card payments provider Visa will jointly explore stablecoin use cases in emerging markets with a view to enabling faster digital payments.

Thousands of African men enlisted to fight for France and Britain during World War I were captured and held as prisoners in Germany. Knowing by Ear, a new book, delves into rare audio recordings of stories and songs by these prisoners in their native languages while held in captivity. In many cases it was the first time German researchers, with the help of translators, could understand what was being said as recordings featured a range of African languages from present-day DR Congo, Senegal, Somalia, and Togo, among others. The 450 recordings often featured stark descriptions of the prisoners’ conditions as many speakers felt safe to say things that their captors could not understand. “The words and songs have traveled decades through time yet still sound fresh and provocative,” says author and Cologne University researcher Anette Hoffman.

MAGA loyalists trying to deter President Donald Trump from bombing Iran this week are at a disadvantage: They have only three real Republican allies in Congress, and Trump hasn’t been listening to them, reported Semafor’s David Weigel.

“Unconditional surrender — that means I’ve had it,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday as he acknowledged he’s openly wrestling with whether to directly strike Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility. “I give up, no more. Then we go blow up all the nuclear stuff that’s all over the place there.”

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— Alexis Akwagyiram, Preeti Jha, Alexander Onukwue, and Yinka Adegoke.