First Independent Mena Newspaper
The M23 rebels, backed by Rwanda, have seized control of Bukavu, the second-largest city in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), raising fears of a regional escalation. Their rapid advance through the South Kivu region, after an earlier lightning-speed offensive on Goma in neighboring North Kivu, marks a significant escalation in the ongoing conflict. […]
Leaders from the East African Community (EAC) and Southern African Development Community (SADC) have called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), following the ongoing violence fueled by the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels. In a joint summit held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on 8 February, leaders from both EAC […]
The UN chief has issued yet another appeal for peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where escalating violence between Rwanda-backed rebels and government forces has left nearly 3,000 people dead, displacing hundreds of thousands more. The fighting, particularly around the eastern city of Goma, has intensified in recent weeks, with rebels from the […]
A new wave of violence erupted in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as Rwanda-backed M23 rebels launched an offensive just days before the presidents of both East African countries are set to meet for a crisis summit in Dar es Salaam. The renewed clashes come days after the M23 group declared a unilateral ceasefire […]
Nigerian naira, Malawian kwacha and Rwandan franc have been named the worst-performing African currencies against the US dollar in 2024, according to a latest report, having faced an array of challenges, from persistent trade imbalances, dwindling foreign reserves, to political instability. Some African nations strengthened their currencies, while others faced worsening exchange rates in 2024. […]
Leaders from Congo and Rwanda canceled a much-anticipated meeting in Angola intended to ease the crisis caused by the M23 rebel insurgency. Observers had hoped these face-to-face talks would produce a breakthrough. Instead, the latest setback suggests that efforts to quell the nearly three-year conflict in eastern Congo continue to falter, leaving more than 1.9 […]
The number of African countries offering e-visas has risen from 9 in 2016 to 26 in 2024, the latest addition of the Africa Visa Openness Index (AVOI) has revealed, with Benin, The Gambia, Rwanda and the Seychelles ranked the highest in visa openness, with Africans requiring no visas to enter these countries. The 2024 Africa […]
The Court of Appeals in Brussels has ruled that Belgium must pay reparations to five women who were forcibly taken from their mothers and put in orphanages in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) when it was still a Belgian colony because they were victims of “systematic kidnapping” by state. The appellate judges thus overturned […]
The latest East African Community (EAC) summit at the weekend focused, among other issues, on the resolution of two conflicts that are threatening the stability of the region — the dispute between Ethiopia and Somalia and the unabated violence by rebel groups in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Kenya’s President William Ruto has said […]
OCP Africa, a subsidiary of Morocco’s OCP Group, recently launched an Agricultural Service Centers project in Rwanda, with a view to supporting small farmers and boosting productivity in this East African country. This transformative initiative was launched in partnership with the Rwanda Fertilizer Company (RFC) and the international NGO Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture (CNFA). […]