First Independent Mena Newspaper
President Andry Rajoelina’s call for national dialogue fell flat on Wednesday (8 Oct) as thousands of protesters, led by Madagascar’s Gen Z movement, boycotted the talks and vowed to escalate demonstrations unless demands are met. More than 1,500 representatives from civil society — including church leaders, academics, unions, and entrepreneurs — attended the presidential palace […]
South Africa has dispatched a five-member elite investigative team to Paris following the sudden and controversial death of its ambassador to France, Nathi Mthethwa. The 58-year-old former cabinet minister was found dead last Tuesday (30 Sept) morning after falling from the 22nd floor of the Hyatt Regency Paris Étoile. Led by Major General Bongani Maqashalala, […]
Two major Africa-focused events — Global Africa Forum 2025 (GAF) and GABI 2025: Unstoppable Africa — held during the recent UN General Assembly in New York, showcased a bold shift in Africa’s global posture: from aid dependence to self-driven growth, investment, and innovation. At GAF 2025, convened by the Africa Prosperity Network, leaders rallied behind […]
Intelligence agencies from Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso are reportedly set to release names of senior Nigerian political figures allegedly financing terrorism and aiding arms trafficking in West Africa, according to multiple regional sources. The unprecedented move follows coordinated security operations under the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), a bloc formed by the three countries […]
More than 42 million people across six East and Horn of Africa countries are facing acute food insecurity in 2025, according to a grim new report from the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). The Regional Focus of the 2025 Global Report on Food Crises, released Tuesday (16 September), reveals that Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, […]
At least 60 people were killed in a brutal machete attack at a funeral in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Monday (8 September) night, in one of the deadliest recent assaults linked to the Islamic State-affiliated Allied Democratic Forces (ADF). The victims were attending a mourning ceremony in the village of Ntoyo, […]
West Africa faces a deepening humanitarian crisis as the fallout from armed conflict in the Central Sahel region continues to spill into neighboring Gulf of Guinea countries, according to a new UNICEF report. In the first half of 2025, escalating violence in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger has displaced more than 515,000 people into coastal […]
West Africa is becoming a central node in global cocaine trafficking, as powerful criminal groups from the Western Balkans expand their footprint across the region, a new report has revealed. Once operating largely behind the scenes, Albanian- and Slavic-speaking networks have now entrenched themselves in countries like Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, and Cape Verde. These […]
Kenya has become the latest African country that has hired lawyers or lobbying firms with ties to President Donald Trump’s associates to advocate for their interests in Washington, D.C. Kenya has signed a $175,000-a-month lobbying contract with Continental Strategy LLC, a U.S. firm led by ex-Trump official Carlos Trujillo, aiming to boost its influence in […]
Interpol has announced the arrest of over 1,200 suspected cybercriminals across 18 African nations and the United Kingdom as part of a sweeping three-month operation targeting cyber fraud, cryptocurrency scams, and transnational crime. Dubbed Operation Serengeti 2.0, the crackdown ran from June to August 2025 and resulted in the dismantling of more than 11,000 cybercrime […]