Latest Epstein Files Knock White House on Its Heels

The latest revelations stand to further fracture a party that already splintered once this year over the so-called Epstein files — during a much less politically fraught moment.

By Megan Messerly and Adam Wren

11/13/2025 05:50 AM EST

Jeffrey Epstein is back in the news — and it couldn’t have come at a worse time for the president.

Following a brutal week for President Donald Trump during which his party took a beating at the polls, the Supreme Court seemed skeptical of his beloved tariffs and Republicans continued to feud over accusations of antisemitism, the White House had hoped to take a victory lap on ending the 43-day government shutdown.

But on Wednesday, House Democrats released documents revealing that, in the words of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Trump “knew about the girls” the late convicted sex offender was trafficking, the latest blow to a White House already reeling from a series of setbacks in recent days.

One Trump ally said that the latest Epstein discourse has taken “things that are already complicated for the president and brings them to the surface.”

“It’s like adding salt to a dish — the flavors are already there, it just accentuates all of them,” said the person, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about a sensitive issue.

The fresh wave of chaos has knocked the administration on its heels. The president lashed out at Republicans on social media, some House Republicans are under pressure to withdraw from the effort to bring the matter to the floor and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt blamed the media.

“This is another distraction campaign by the Democrats and the liberal media, and it’s why I’m being asked questions about Epstein instead of the government reopening because of Republicans and President Trump,” Leavitt said during a Wednesday press briefing.

Privately, White House aides push back on the idea that this is a particularly bad moment for them or that they have suffered a string of defeats. They never expected to win last week’s elections and that it’s too early to judge the outcome of the tariff case, with justices lobbing tough questions at both sides, said a senior White House official. And they’re characterizing the latest Epstein document release as nothing more than “annoying.”

“I definitely would not say it’s been brutal,” said the senior White House official, granted anonymity to discuss internal thinking. “We are used to waking up every day and not knowing what that day will bring. That’s the nature of working in this job, and nobody tackles these things better than President Trump … We worked for a president who was indicted and almost killed, so almost nothing surprises anybody around here anymore.”

But the latest revelations stand to further fracture a party that already splintered once this year over the so-called Epstein files — during a much less politically fraught moment.

Trump has denied wrongdoing in relation to the Epstein allegations, and no evidence has suggested that Trump took part in Epstein’s trafficking operation. The president also has maintained that he and Epstein had a falling out years ago.

The president, in a post on Truth Social, warned Republicans who are working with Democrats to force a House vote on releasing the Epstein files. A vote on the measure is expected to come to the floor the first week of December, if things go as expected.

“The Democrats are trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax again because they’ll do anything at all to deflect on how badly they’ve done on the Shutdown, and so many other subjects. Only a very bad, or stupid, Republican would fall into that trap,” Trump wrote. “There should be no deflections to Epstein or anything else, and any Republicans involved should be focused only on opening up our Country, and fixing the massive damage caused by the Democrats!”

But Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), the co-sponsor of the bill with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), told reporters Wednesday he believed “40 to 50" Republicans would join Democrats in supporting the bill in the House.

The turmoil echoes the morass the White House found itself in during the summer when high-profile MAGA figures including Steve Bannon, Tucker Carlson and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) fueled a conflagration the White House spent weeks trying to put out after the Justice Department released a memo saying that no files from the Epstein investigation would be made public.

But now, the president is grappling with an economic and foreign policy agenda that stands to be entirely upended. He is confronted with a public that does not believe he has improved their financial situations, the issue on which many of them voted to elect him. And his party is deeply divided over what to do with Carlson’s podcast interview with Holocaust-denier Nick Fuentes — and the defense of it from the leader of the storied Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

“Listen, this is the NFL. When you’re the president of the United States, you take it as it comes,” said David Urban, a former senior Trump adviser. “There are global conflicts that show up on your plate. There’s tumult and controversy in America every day. It comes with the job.”

The Epstein discourse has had little impact on Trump’s poll numbers, and appears to remain a mostly niche conversation on the right while the broader electorate is concerned about more bread-and-butter issues like the cost of living. But amid a fracturing of the GOP coalition, some Trump allies fear people with ulterior motives are using the Epstein conversation for political gain.

“On the right, has his approval rating gone down? I mean, there’s been a bunch of this Epstein shit that’s been happening. Has his general right-wing approval rating gone down? No. It’s actually higher than it was when the Epstein stuff broke,” the Trump ally said. “So I think a lot of this is online chatter, and it’s really being fostered by people who wish to undermine his power, and think they’re doing so by talking about Epstein.”

But the four Republicans who have signed onto a petition to bring the matter to the House floor say what they’re pushing for is accountability. The measure, if passed by the Senate and signed by the president, would require the Justice Department to turn over nearly all of the information in its possession around Epstein and his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, who is now serving a 20-year prison sentence for her part in the sex trafficking scheme, within 30 days.

Russ Vought looks ahead.

Jeffrey Epstein, in newly released email, says Trump ‘knew about the girls’

“I’m certain the House vote will succeed,” Massie recently told POLITICO. “Some Republican members who are not signers of the petition have told me they will vote for the measure when the vote is called. I suspect there will be many more.”

Still, the White House is trying to prevent that from happening, waging a pressure campaign to get at least one of three House Republican women who have signed onto the petition to remove their name.

Far-right activist Laura Loomer in July warned that the Epstein scandal would “consume” Trump’s presidency. In an interview Wednesday, she said she’s been proven right.

“Not because it’s an actual scandal,” she added. “What I said, when I said that it was going to consume his presidency, is that the Democrats were not going to allow for President Trump to have a successful term.”

“I don’t think that it’s consuming his presidency because he’s guilty, but I think that the Epstein files is the next Russia collusion hoax,” she added.

New Foreclosures Jump 20% in October, a Sign of More Distress in the Housing Market

Thu, Nov 13 202512:34 PM EST

Foreclosure starts, which are the initial phase of the process, rose 6% for the month and were 20% higher than the year before.

Competed foreclosures, the final phase, were up 32% year over year.

Florida, South Carolina and Illinois led the nation in state foreclosure filings.

Foreclosure filings climbed again in October, after sitting at historic lows in recent years, according to new data released Thursday.

While the numbers are still small, the persistent rise in foreclosures may be a sign of cracks in the housing market.

There were 36,766 U.S. properties with some type of foreclosure filing in October — such as default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions, according to Attom, a property data and analytics firm. That was 3% higher than September and a 19% jump from October 2024, and marked the eighth straight month of annual increases, Attom said.

Foreclosure starts, which are the initial phase of the process, rose 6% for the month and were 20% higher than the year before. Competed foreclosures, the final phase, jumped 32% year over year.

“Even with these increases, activity remains well below historic highs. The current trend appears to reflect a gradual normalization in foreclosure volumes as market conditions adjust and some homeowners continue to navigate higher housing and borrowing costs,” said Attom CEO Rob Barber in a release.

Florida, South Carolina and Illinois led the nation in state foreclosure filings. On a metropolitan area level, Florida’s Tampa, Jacksonville and Orlando had the most filings, with Riverside, California, and Cleveland rounding out the top five.

Looking specifically at completed foreclosures, Texas, California and Florida had the most, suggesting those states will see more inventory coming on the market at distressed prices. There is still very strong demand for homes, especially in lower price ranges, so it is likely those foreclosed properties will find buyers quickly.

CNBC’s Property Play with Diana Olick covers new and evolving opportunities for the real estate investor, delivered weekly to your inbox.

At the peak of the Great Recession, more than 4% of mortgages were in foreclosure, according to Rick Sharga, CEO of CJ Patrick Co., a real estate market intelligence firm. Today, less than 0.5% are in foreclosure, well below the historic average of between 1% and 1.5%. In addition, 4% of mortgages are delinquent; at the peak of the financial crisis, almost 12% were.

“So, no foreclosure tsunami to worry about,” said Sharga. “That said, there are a few areas of concern. [Federal Housing Administration] delinquencies are over 11%, and account for 52% of all seriously delinquent loans; we’re likely to see more FHA loans in foreclosure in 2026.”

He also noted that states where home prices have been falling while insurance premiums have been soaring — Florida and Texas, in particular — are seeing an uptick in defaults. 

While home prices nationally are easing, they remain stubbornly high. Meanwhile, mortgage rates, which were expected to fall more sharply after the Federal Reserve started to cut rates, are still within a percentage point of their recent highs. Some recent buyers who thought they might have been able to refinance to lower rates by now may be feeling pressure, especially with still stubborn inflation.

Consumer debt is at an all-time high, delinquencies are rising in other types of consumer credit and the job market appears to be weakening — all of which could contribute to cracks in the housing market.

“None of these issues have impacted mortgage performance - yet, but it would be unrealistic to assume that these trends, along with slow home sales and declining home price appreciation, won’t lead to at least a slight increase in delinquencies and defaults in the months ahead,” added Sharga.

Ethiopia Investigates Possible Outbreak of New Viral Hemorrhagic Fever After 8 People Are Infected

10:11 AM EST, November 13, 2025

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — African health authorities on Thursday confirmed a possible outbreak of an unidentified viral hemorrhagic fever in southern Ethiopia that is under investigation after eight suspected cases were reported.

Ethiopia’s Health Ministry is expected to announce the results of the ongoing investigation on Friday, according to the Africa CDC, the continent-wide health response body.

Viral hemorrhagic fevers are a group of epidemic-prone diseases and include Marburg and Ebola virus diseases, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever and Lassa fever — all of which have been reported on the continent in recent years.

The World Health Organization said Thursday that it was deploying 11 technical officers to support Ethiopia in the investigation and outbreak response.

“WHO is also providing essential supplies, including personal protective equipment for health workers and infection-prevention supplies, as well as a rapidly deployable isolation tent to bolster clinical care and management capacity,” the U.N. agency said in a statement.

The outbreak has been reported in the southern region of Omo, which borders neighboring South Sudan.

Africa CDC Director-General Jean Kaseya said Thursday that the outbreak was a concern because “South Sudan isn’t far and has a fragile health system.”

Several countries in East and Central Africa have recently experienced outbreaks of various viral hemorrhagic fevers.

Zanzibar’s ‘Solar Mamas’ are Trained as Technicians to Help Light Up Communities

By JACK DENTON

1:21 AM EST, November 13, 2025

ZANZIBAR, Tanzania (AP) — When darkness came, so did the smoke.

Hamna Silima Nyange, like half of the 2 million people in Tanzania’s semi-autonomous archipelago of Zanzibar, did not have a house connected to the electricity grid. After sunset, she would turn to smoky oil lamps that provided the only light for her eight children to study.

”The light was too weak,” Nyange said. “And the smoke from the lamp hurt my eyes.”

Then one day a neighbor, Tatu Omary Hamad, installed solar panels and bulbs that lit her home with help from the strong sunlight along the Indian Ocean coast.

“Today we have enough light,” Nyange said.

Training women to be solar technicians

Hamad is one of dozens of “solar mamas” trained in Zanzibar by Barefoot College International, a global nonprofit, through a program that brings light to rural communities and provides jobs for local women. So far in Zanzibar, it has lit 1,845 homes.

The program selects middle-aged women, most with little or no formal education, from villages without electricity and trains them over six months to become solar power technicians. It is one of a small number of programs in Africa including Solar Sister.

The women return to their communities with at least 50 sets of household solar panel kits as well as the skills and equipment to set them up and keep them running.

Barefoot College International focuses on middle-aged women because they tend to have the strongest links to their communities while not often involved in intensive child care.

“We want to train women who become change makers,” said Brenda Geofrey, the director of Barefoot College International Zanzibar.

The Zanzibar campus is in its 10th year of teaching local women. Before that, it sent women for training in India, where Barefoot College International was founded.

One was Khazija Gharib Issa, who had been an unemployed widow. Now she is a master trainer.

“I got a job. I got a place to stay. Before, I didn’t have one,” Issa said.

The importance of health

Improving health is at the heart of the program’s mission.

Alongside its flagship solar power course, Barefoot College International offers programs for women in tailoring, beekeeping and sustainable agriculture. Every woman who completes a program is trained in general health knowledge that they are expected to take back to their villages.

The “solar mamas” are health catalysts in another way, by replacing harmful light sources like kerosene.

“Using kerosene has many problems,” said Jacob Dianga, a health care worker at a local clinic who is familiar with the group’s work. The fuel can irritate the eyes, while inhaling its smoke can cause long-term lung damage. It’s also a fire hazard in cramped homes and shops, and can poison children who mistake it for a drink.

“Clean energy is very important,” Dianga said. “It helps protect our health.”

Challenges remain

Barefoot College International has scaled up across Africa, with other campuses in Madagascar and Senegal. In recent years, women have been brought to Zanzibar from Malawi and Somaliland, and this year some are being recruited from Central African Republic.

Funding remains a challenge as major donors, notably the United States and European ones, cut foreign aid and projects face more competition for money that remains.

Barefoot College International is run with public and private donations and revenue generated by its social enterprises.

Another challenge is resistance in local communities, where some people find it hard to accept the women technicians in a radical new gender role.

While the solar training program recruits with the approval of village leadership, who put forward candidates, some husbands have stopped their wives from training.

“In most African communities, women are pictured as somebody who is just at home,” Geofrey said.

But the solar mamas say the results often speak for themselves.

“People used to say this work is for men. They were surprised and laughed at me,” Issa said. “But now they see how important my work is. I have become an example.”

Rights Groups Dispute Cameroon’s Death Toll from Postelection Protests and Claim at least 30 Killed

By EMMANUEL TUMANJONG

11:31 AM EST, November 13, 2025

YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AP) — Rights groups in Cameroon disputed Thursday the government’s death toll of 16 killed during protests over the election victory of President Paul Biya last month, claiming the actual figure is nearly double.

Philippe Nanga, coordinator of the rights group A World for the Future, told The Associated Press the official toll is an undercount and expressed concern about the difficulties in accessing the corpses.

“About 30 people were killed and some corpses were removed from hospital morgues by security forces and their whereabouts remain unknown,” Nanga said.

Cameroon’s Interior Minister Paul Atanga Nji had said Wednesday that security forces killed 13 protesters in the economic hub of Douala, and three others in the North Region. It was the government’s first official comment on the death toll since the unrest began.

Nji also said over 800 arrests were made.

Opposition figures estimate the death toll at 55, according to a Human Rights Watch report published Wednesday.

“The violent crackdown on protesters and ordinary citizens across Cameroon lays bare a deepening pattern of repression that casts a dark cloud over the election” Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in the report.

“The authorities should immediately rein in, investigate and prosecute responsible security forces, and all political leaders should call on their supporters to reject violence,” she wrote in the report.

The protests erupted in key opposition strongholds, including Douala and in northern cities like Maroua and Garoua, after the results of the Oct. 12 presidential election were announced.

Paul Biya, 92, who is the world’s oldest president, won the vote and secured his eighth term, according to official results, which were contested by the opposition, including presidential rival Issa Tchiroma Bakary, who claims to have won the election and has called on Cameroonians to reject the official result.

Biya has been in power since 1982, nearly half his lifetime, making him Cameroon’s second president since independence from France in 1960.

He is rarely seen in public and critics say his capacity to govern has been severely limited by his age.

Gabon Court Sentences Former First Lady and President’s Son to 20 Years in Prison

Gabon’s President Ali Bongo Ondimba, right, and wife Sylvia Bongo Ondimba arrive to take their seats inside Westminster Abbey in central London Saturday, May 6, 2023, ahead of the coronations of Britain’s King Charles III and Britain’s Camilla, Queen Consort. (Ben Stansall/Pool photo via AP, file)

By JVES LAURENT GOMA

6:55 AM EST, November 12, 2025

LIBREVILLE, Gabon (AP) — Gabon’s former first lady and her son were sentenced in absentia by a special criminal court to 20 years in prison following a two-day trial in Libreville.

Sylvia Bongo and Noureddin Bongo Valentin were convicted of concealment and embezzlement of public funds, money laundering, criminal association and forgery.

The court sentenced the duo late Tuesday, according to a judgement, and also issued an arrest warrant for them. They were ordered to pay millions of dollars in damages for “crimes against the Gabonese state.”

Valentin said the verdict had long been “predetermined” under the office of President Oligui Nguema and called the trial a “simple formality.”

Sylvia Bongo and Noureddin Bongo Valentin were influential during former president Ali Bongo’s 14 years in power of the central African country. Ali Bongo was ousted in a coup in 2023 after winning a disputed election that the military and opposition said was marred by fraud. The coup put an end to the Bongo dynasty’s 56 years in power. Ali Bongo’s father, Omar Bongo, ruled for 42 years.

The prosecutor accused both defendants of manipulating the former president’s health issues to control state funds.

Valentin, who held the position of coordinator of presidential affairs, was described by witnesses during the trial as the main person giving orders at the presidential palace after his father suffered a stroke in October 2018. Following Ali Bongo’s ouster, both Valentin and his mother were detained for 20 months before being allowed to travel out of the country.

The Bongos, who live in London and hold French citizenship, refused to participate in the trial. During the trial, the prosecutor released images of two private jets allegedly procured with laundered money and listed land holdings including a mansion in London and Morocco.

“They reigned unchallenged, and tried to pass themselves off as victims of the system they shaped,” said Eddy Minang, prosecutor general at the Libreville Court of Appeal.

Trial of Former Congolese Rebel Leader Lumbala Over Wartime Atrocities Opens in Paris

By SYLVIE CORBET and MARK BANCHEREAU

10:02 AM EST, November 12, 2025

PARIS (AP) — The trial of Congolese rebel leader Roger Lumbala began Wednesday in Paris over atrocities committed two decades ago during the Second Congo War.

Lumbala has been charged with “criminal conspiracy to prepare crimes against humanity” and “complicity of crimes against humanity” during the conflict from 1998 to 2003.

Lumbala faces a possible sentence of life in prison. A verdict is expected Dec. 19 following the trial at the Paris criminal court.

The 67-year-old led the Congolese Rally for National Democracy, a rebel group backed by neighboring Uganda and accused of atrocities against civilians, particularly targeting the Nande and Bambuti ethnic minorities in eastern Congo in 2002 and 2003.

The group committed widespread torture, executions, rape, forced labor and sexual slavery, according to U.N. reports.

After the war, Lumbala served as minister of foreign trade in Congo’s transitional government from 2003 to 2005 and later as a member of parliament. The Congolese government issued an arrest warrant in 2011 over his alleged support of the M23 rebel group, prompting him to flee to France, where he had previously lived before the war.

Lumbala was arrested in Paris in 2020 and indicted by a French court in 2023.

The trial is possible under a French law that recognizes universal jurisdiction for crimes against humanity. His case marks the first time a Congolese political or military leader has been tried for mass atrocities before a national court under the universal jurisdiction principle.

Daniele Perissi, head of the Democratic Republic of Congo program at TRIAL International, one of the groups representing civil parties, called it a “historic trial.”

“It is an important step in the broader fight against impunity but above all, this trial is about recognition and justice for the survivors,” Perissi told The Associated Press. “After more than 20 years of silence and fear, they will finally be heard.”

Congo has been wracked by deadly conflict in its mineral-rich east since the 1990s with more than 100 active armed groups. The conflict escalated earlier this year when the M23 rebel group seized two key cities with the help of neighboring Rwandan forces.

___

Mark Banchereau reported from Dakar, Senegal.

2 New Malaria Treatments Show Promise as Drug Resistance Grows

By MIKE STOBBE

8:50 PM EST, November 12, 2025

NEW YORK (AP) — Researchers on Wednesday reported two promising new approaches to counteract malaria’s growing resistance to medication — one involving a new class of drugs.

Switzerland-based Novartis released results of what it called a next-generation treatment. A study of its experimental drug in 12 African countries found it works well against the mosquito-borne parasite that causes malaria and seems to block spread.

The drug, called GanLum, is not yet licensed and more than a year away from being available.

It’s needed, said Dr. David Sullivan, a malaria expert at Johns Hopkins University.

The parasite that causes the disease is developing resistance to existing drugs, meaning “the ice is thinning,” Sullivan said. “It hasn’t given way, but we’re concerned.”

GanLum has been given as a packet of tiny powder-like granules, once daily for three days. But getting people to take malaria drugs over several days has been challenging — some stop after one or two doses makes them feel better. Experts say a third or more of malaria patients fail to complete the current standard three-day treatment course, a problem that can encourage drug resistance and allow curable cases to intensify.

In an effort to offer a one-time treatment, another team of researchers said an experiment in West Africa found a single dose of four widely available malaria drugs proved to be an effective cure.

The two studies were presented Wednesday at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene conference in Toronto.

Parasite has repeatedly developed drug resistance

Malaria is caused by a parasite that spreads through mosquito bites. Infected people can suffer fever, chills and flu-like illness that, if left untreated, can lead to severe complications and death. It’s mainly found in tropical and subtropical climates. The largest death toll in recent years has been seen in children in sub-Saharan Africa.

The medical battle against malaria has ebbed and flowed, as new drugs come along, but the parasite gradually develops the ability to resist them.

At the beginning of this century, for example, resistance to the drug chloroquine was widespread and malaria killed more than 1.8 million people per year. But then came a class of drugs known as artemisinins, which worked well and helped drive a dramatic decline in global malaria death rates.

Artemisinin-based compounds remain the first-line treatment in most cases. But signs of partial resistance have been reported, and — for several reasons — malaria death rates have plateaued or even started to rise in some parts of the world.

Study tested 4-drug combo

Dr. Ghyslain Mombo-Ngoma led a study in Gabon in which researchers gave a single-dose treatment combining an artemisinin with three other antimalarial medications — pyronaridine, sulfadoxine, and pyrimethamine.

From May 2024 to October 2025, he and his colleagues treated more than 1,000 patients, half of them younger than 10, who were sick with malaria but not suffering life-threatening symptoms. A little over half got the four-drug, one-time treatment. The rest got a standard, artemisinin-based treatment.

Blood tests 28 days later showed 93% of patients who received the one-time treatment were free of parasites compared with 90% who received the standard three-day course.

Mombo-Ngoma said there are discussions underway with a drug manufacturer to produce a single capsule or packet of pills to help create an inexpensive, easy-to-take cure.

Sullivan, however, noted that resistance is already established to some components of the treatment, meaning it likely will prove to be “a short-term fix.”

Experimental treatment shows promise

Novartis’ GanLum is a combination of a new drug, ganaplacide, and an existing long-acting medication, lumefantrine.

In a study involving about 1,700 adults and children in 12 African countries, GanLum was found to have a cure rate of better than 97%, which was a little higher than a common artemisinin-based treatment. It was also highly effective against mutant malaria parasites with partial drug resistance, Novartis officials said.

Side effects included fever and anemia — similar to what’s seen in patients who take some of the current antimalarials, Novartis officials said. There was a higher level of vomiting right after the drug was given, which company officials say may stem from its taste. The company is exploring flavoring or sweetening, a spokesman said.

Novartis officials said they are working toward regulatory approvals. George Jagoe of the Medicines for Malaria Venture, which collaborated with Novartis, said he hopes to see GanLum begin rolling out to patients within 18 months.

The new treatment approaches can complement other efforts against malaria, including treated mosquito bed nets and new vaccines, said Dr. Andrea Bosman, a malaria expert with the World Health Organization.

But the promising news comes at a time when funding from the United States and some other sources is being cut, which could impact the ability of scientists to monitor drug resistance or make prevention and treatments available to people who need them, Bosman noted.

“The eyes on the problem are going to be blinded” as aid to malaria-stricken countries declines, he said.

Algeria Pardons French-Algerian Author Sansal After Yearlong Imprisonment

1:16 PM EST, November 12, 2025

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Algeria ’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune granted a humanitarian pardon to the French-Algerian novelist Boualem Sansal Wednesday, releasing him after a yearlong imprisonment that sparked widespread criticism.

French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed the move on X, writing: “Boualem Sansal is free and soon to return. My deep gratitude goes to (German) President Steinmeier for our fruitful cooperation. I thank President Tebboune for this gesture of humanity.”

The 76-year-old author — whose works have been critical of Islam, colonialism and contemporary Algeria’s leaders — had been imprisoned since being arrested at the airport in Algiers in November 2024 upon his return from France.

He was convicted of undermining national unity and insulting public institutions and was sentenced to five years in prison under Algeria’s anti-terrorism laws in March.

Sansal has cancer, and his attorney said his health was deteriorating.

Sansal’s case became a flashpoint as tensions spiked between France and Algeria last year. French politicians including Macron urged authorities to free him. The European Parliament passed a resolution condemning his arrest. Literary colleagues, including Kamel Daoud, Salman Rushdie and PEN International, published open letters calling for his release.

It was ultimately an appeal from Germany that led Tebboune to act. Two days after German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier asked for Sansal to be pardoned, citing his age and health problems, Tebboune cited humanitarian grounds and Germany’s request in issuing the pardon.

In a statement on Wednesday, Tebboune’s office said Germany would accept responsibility for him and provide medical treatment, without specifying where that would be.

Sansal’s problems with Algerian authorities date back to October 2024. In an interview with the right-wing French media outlet Frontieres he questioned Algeria’s current borders, arguing that France had redrawn them during the colonial period to include lands that once belonged to Morocco.

The remarks came months after France infuriated Algeria by backing Morocco’s plan to maintain sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara. Sansal was arrested the following month and later lambasted by the president in a speech to Algeria’s parliament.

Algeria ignored pleas from French politicians to release Sansal. French commentators described his imprisonment as a political lever deployed against Paris.

French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu on Wednesday said France’s government was relieved that Sansal had been released.

“We hope he’ll be able to rejoin his loved ones as soon as possible and receive treatment,” Lecornu told an applauding audience of lawmakers at the National Assembly.

Sansal’s imprisonment also came during heightened censorship in Algeria. Since pro-democracy protesters forced the military to oust longtime president Abdelaziz Bouteflika in 2019, authorities have clamped down on dissent. Hundreds — including journalists, activists, poets and lawyers — have been detained or imprisoned for speech-related offenses, according to Amnesty International and Algeria’s National Committee for the Liberation of Detainees.

Before his arrest, Sansal’s work faced bans from Algerian authorities but he regularly traveled between Paris and Algiers. His books, written in French, are not widely read in Algeria. However, he has a large following in France, where his novels criticizing the role of Islam in society have endeared him to both the literary elite and far-right leaders.

His novel “2084: The End of the World” won the France’s Grand Prix du Roman in 2015.

Court Hears Case to Disqualify Central African Republic’s President from December Election

Central African Republic President Faustin Archange Touadera addresses the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025, at U.N. headquarters. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith, File)

By JEAN FERNAND KOENA

2:25 PM EST, November 12, 2025

BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — A constitutional court in the Central African Republic on Wednesday began hearings on a petition seeking to disqualify the country’s leader from running in the upcoming December presidential election.

The petition filed by the Observatory for Democratic Governance, a civil society group, argued that President Faustin Archange Touadera should be disqualified on the grounds of not meeting the criteria for running for the presidency.

Elysée Nguimalé, president of the group, challenged the origin of the president’s name, claiming it suggests his family cannot be traced — a lineage requirement under the country’s constitution.

“The name Touadera in his mother tongue means a child abandoned by his maternal uncles,” Nguimalé said in his petition. He noted that the name, under Article 65 of the country’s Family Code, signifies that the father is unknown and that “since his father is unknown, his origin is ambiguous.”

It was not immediately clear whether the court will uphold the argument or how quickly a verdict will be reached.

Territorial Administration Minister Bruno Yapandé dismissed Nguimalé’s petition, calling it a tool intended to “sow confusion among the public.”

The final list of candidates for the election is yet to be published. The president is running for a third term, which would extend his rule into the second decade — a move made possible after scrapping term limits in 2023.

The court case comes as the government has refused to issue opposition leader Anicet Georges Dologuélé a passport, rendering him potentially stateless. The Dec. 28 election will take place while the country grapples with a persistent security crisis and as the president courts Russia for security guarantees.

Democrats Query Millions Trump Paid to Equatorial Guinea to Accept Deportees

Equatorial Guinean president Teodoro Obiang Nguema

Africa News

The U.S. government made a $7.5 million payment to the government of Equatorial Guinea as it seeks to deport people to the West African country and draws closer to heavily prosecuted leaders, according to the top Democratic senator on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said in a letter sent Monday to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and obtained by The Associated Press that “this highly unusual payment — to one of the most corrupt governments in the world — raises serious concerns over the responsible, transparent use of American taxpayer dollars."

Shaheen said in her letter that the $7.5 million payment stood out because it would would “far exceed the amount of U.S. foreign assistance provided over the last 8 years combined” to the country.

The payment, made from a fund for migration and refugee assistance, would be the first government-to-government transfer from that account, which was set up by Congress to respond to humanitarian crises. She questioned whether the payment was a permissible use of the money.

The State Department declined to comment on the details of diplomatic communications, but said, “Implementing the Trump Administration’s immigration policies is a top priority for the Department of State. As Secretary Rubio has said, we remain unwavering in our commitment to end illegal and mass immigration and bolster America’s border security.”

As the Trump administration looks to Africa for further deportations, the payment raised questions about how it is enmeshing its deportation agenda with other foreign policy goals, as well as the international leaders it is willing to trust.

The Trump administration, in aiming to ramp up deportations, has sought to forge agreements with countries to take in migrants who are not their citizens. Immigration advocacy groups have criticized the “third country” policy as a reckless tactic that violates due process rights and can strand deportees in countries with long histories of human rights violations and corruption.

Ethiopia Named as Host for 2027 UN Climate Summit

By Africa News

Ethiopia edged Nigeria to emerge as the host country for the 2027 climate summit.

The east African country also hosted this year's Africa Climate Summit in September.

Dubbed the “Africa COP”, the summit is expected to center Africa's role in advancing climate justice and solutions.

African countries, which are disproportionately affected by climate change despite their negligible contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, have long demanded that developed countries pay more for adaptation and mitigation.

This year's summit - COP30 - opened Monday in Belem, Brazil with a call to world leaders and delegates to confront rising global temperatures and push for urgent, coordinated climate action.

The conference also focuses on enhancing emissions reduction and climate resilience, while promoting an inclusive and equitable transition.

The host for next year's talks is yet to be decided as Australia and Turkey continue to vie for the chance.

UN Agency Warns of Displacement Surge, ‘Mass Killings’ in Sudan’s El Fasher

11 November 2025

Displaced people who fled fighting in El Fasher arrive in Tawila, North Darfur, on Oct. 27, 2025.

November 11, 2025 (GENEVA/PORT SUDAN) – The UN’s migration agency (IOM) warned on Tuesday that mass killings, ethnic violence, and extreme insecurity in El Fasher, North Darfur, have triggered a dramatic surge in displacement and worsened Sudan’s humanitarian crisis.

IOM Director General Amy Pope, beginning a five-day visit to the country, said the crisis in El Fasher was the “direct result of nearly 18 months of siege” that has cut families off from essential supplies.

“Our teams are responding, but insecurity and depleted supplies mean we are only reaching a fraction of those in need,” Pope said in a statement. “Without safe access and urgent funding, humanitarian operations risk grinding to a halt.”

In the last two weeks, heavy shelling and ground assaults have displaced nearly 90,000 people from El Fasher. Tens of thousands more remain trapped inside the city facing “famine-like conditions” as hospitals and water systems collapse, the IOM said.

The violence is also spreading, with an estimated 38,990 people fleeing fighting in North Kordofan between October 26 and November 9, many travelling on foot and sleeping outdoors.

The agency noted increasing reports of “alarming protection risks,” including arbitrary detention, looting, and gender-based violence.

Humanitarian operations are now “on the brink of collapse,” the statement warned, with warehouses nearly empty and aid convoys facing significant insecurity and access restrictions.

Despite the challenges, the IOM said a convoy was on its way to Tawila, North Darfur, with shelter and other items for 7,500 people. Its local partners are also implementing emergency projects for 60,000 people across North and South Darfur.

The IOM urged donors and the international community to act immediately to prevent further loss of life and ensure safe humanitarian access.

RSF Detains Women, Children in West Kordofan, Accusing Relatives of Army Ties

11 November 2025

A woman displaced by RSF attacks on the Zamzam camp prepares food in Tawila, North Darfur, on April 16, 2025.

November 11, 2025 (BABANUSA) – The Sudan Doctors Network revealed on Tuesday that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) arrested children and women near the city of Babanusa, West Kordofan state, accusing their relatives of belonging to the army.

The RSF has sent additional reinforcements to the areas around the besieged Babanusa in preparation for an attack, after previous attempts to seize the city failed.

The network said in a statement that “an RSF-affiliated force detained seven civilian families, including women and children, in the areas surrounding Babanusa city, accusing their relatives of belonging to the armed forces, continuing its approach of arbitrary detention and collective punishment against civilians.”

The network condemned this behavior, stressing that it represents a clear violation of international humanitarian law and a breach of the principles of protecting civilians in times of conflict.

It stated that targeting families based on suspicion or affiliation constitutes a war crime.

The network held the RSF responsible for the safety of the detainees, calling on human rights and UN organizations to intervene immediately to secure their release and to ensure such violations against civilians are not repeated.

However, an advisor to the RSF commander, Al-Basha Tabeeq, denied that the RSF had detained the families in Babanusa.

In a post on the “X” platform, he claimed that Babanusa city has been devoid of civilians since the middle of last year, accusing the Sudan Doctors Network of spreading “rumours to mislead public opinion,” according to the post.

The RSF has been besieging Babanusa from all directions since January 2024, having launched violent attacks aimed at controlling the army command there, but without success in the face of the armed forces’ fierce defence of the city.

The RSF controls most areas of West Kordofan, including the state capital Al Fula, and the cities of Muglad, Meiram, Lagawa, Al-Khawi, Al-Nuhud, and Wad Banda. Meanwhile, the army controls Babanusa and some oil fields in Heglig, adjacent to South Sudan.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Visits Sudan, Says Country Backs Comprehensive Settlement

11 November 2025

Head of the Sudanese Sovereign Council meeting visiting Egyptian Foreign Minister on Nov 11, 2025

November 11, 2025 (PORT SUDAN) – The President of the Sovereignty Council and Army Commander, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, held a meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel-Aty in Port Sudan, eastern Sudan, during which they discussed ways to support bilateral relations.

Abdel-Aty said in a press statement that “Egypt is in contact with all regional and international parties to enhance efforts aimed at reaching a comprehensive settlement of the Sudanese crisis, in a way that preserves the capabilities of the Sudanese people and achieves their aspirations for security and stability.”

He noted that his country is actively engaged in efforts aimed at a ceasefire, whether bilaterally or in regional and international forums, foremost among them the Quad mechanism.

The Quad mechanism, comprising Egypt, the United States, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, aims to resolve the conflict in Sudan. On September 12, it proposed a roadmap based on securing humanitarian aid for three months, followed by a ceasefire and entry into a political process.

The Sudanese government presented its vision on the truce proposal, welcoming what it calls efforts to end the suffering of the Sudanese people, but stressed at the same time the continuation of general mobilization and mobilization to “defeat the Rapid Support Forces militarily.”

The Egyptian Foreign Minister stated, in a press release published by the Sovereignty Council, that he conveyed a message of support and solidarity from President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

He reported that the meeting with al-Burhan addressed bilateral relations and ways to support and develop them in the political, economic, and commercial fields, as well as the common destiny that unites the two countries, especially in the field of water security.

He pointed out that the two countries’ positions are identical regarding the issue of water security, considering it an existential issue for the peoples of both countries.

Abdel-Aty mentioned that he listened to a briefing from the President of the Sovereignty Council on the field conditions on the ground and the humanitarian situation, stressing his country’s support for Sudan and its national institutions, including the armed forces.

He stressed that his country’s principled position supports the unity and sovereignty of Sudan.

Egypt is considered one of the strongest supporters of the Sudanese government and the army in the conflict it has been waging against the Rapid Support Forces since April 15, 2023.

Sudan Shuns ‘Quad’ Mechanism Over UAE Role

11 November 2025

Sudan's FM (C) meets Egyptian counterpart (L) and UN humanitarian chief in Port Sudan on Nov 11, 2025

November 11, 2025 (PORT SUDAN) – Sudanese Foreign Minister Muhieldin Salim confirmed that the government “does not deal officially” with the “Quad” mechanism, explaining that it “was not issued by a decision from the Security Council or any international organization.”

Salim added: “We deal with our brothers in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and with friends in the United States in bilateral capacities… and we coordinate with them as happened in our coordination today with Egypt and the United Nations.”

The Sudanese government objects to the presence of the UAE in the Quad mechanism, which also includes Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United States. It accuses Abu Dhabi of supporting the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in its war against the Sudanese army. Khartoum says the UAE should not play the role of mediator while it is fuelling the conflict by supporting the other side.

The Sudanese minister’s statements regarding the Quad came after a joint tripartite meeting held in Port Sudan on Tuesday, which included Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher.

The tripartite meeting focused on the need for the international community to fulfill its humanitarian responsibilities in Sudan.

The talks come amid the severe deterioration of the humanitarian situation in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, since the RSF took control of it on October 26.

Reports indicate the displacement of large numbers of the population amid reports of thousands being subjected to serious violations, while international humanitarian organizations demand to be allowed entry to deliver aid, without success so far.

Salim said the talks focused on “the situations that have arisen after the entry of the rebellious militia into El Fasher city and the subsequent displacement of large numbers of citizens,” using the description the government uses for the RSF.

He added that the meeting “discussed in detail the humanitarian conditions experienced by the displaced in the areas of Al-Dabba and Tawila, as well as the situations of those besieged in Babanusa, Kadugli, and Dilling.”

The Foreign Minister affirmed that opinions “were in complete agreement during the tripartite meeting on the necessity of the international community fulfilling its responsibilities and putting pressure on the rebellious militia and the countries supporting it.”

Salim also noted that the meeting addressed what he described as the “file of mercenaries recruited by the militia,” calling for it to be dealt with “as required by the texts of international law,” and stressing that what is happening is a “direct invasion.”

Sudan Relief Operations Are on the Brink of Collapse, UN Agency Warns

A Sudanese who fled el-Fasher city, after Sudan’s paramilitary forces killed hundreds of people in the western Darfur region, ties her tent at her camp in Tawila, Sudan, Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohammed Abaker)

By NOHA ELHENNAWY

10:34 PM EST, November 11, 2025

CAIRO (AP) — The U.N. migration agency warned on Tuesday that humanitarian efforts in Sudan’s war-torn North Darfur region might come to a complete halt unless immediate funding and safe delivery of relief supplies are ensured.

“Despite the rising need, humanitarian operations are now on the brink of collapse,” the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in a statement. It added: “Warehouses are nearly empty, aid convoys face significant insecurity, and access restrictions continue to prevent the delivery of sufficient aid.”

The IOM said more funding is needed to ease the humanitarian impact of the war between the Sudanese army and its rival, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The agency warned of “an even greater catastrophe” if its appeal went unheeded.

“Our teams are responding, but insecurity and depleted supplies mean we are only reaching a fraction of those in need,” IOM Director General Amy Pope said in a statement.

Pope is in Sudan and U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher arrived Tuesday in Port Sudan where he met with authorities, the U.N.'s humanitarian partners and the diplomatic community, U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.

The RSF’s recent capture of North Darfur’s capital, el-Fasher, left hundreds dead and forced tens of thousands of people to flee reported atrocities by the paramilitary force, according to aid groups and U.N. officials. The IOM said nearly 9O,000 people have left el-Fasher and surrounding villages, undertaking a perilous journey through unsafe routes where they have no access to food, water or medical assistance.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warned that the situation in North Darfur “remains volatile” following the RSF takeover, stressing that while large-scale clashes have subsided, “sporadic fighting and drone activity persist, leaving civilians at risk of looting, forced recruitment and gender-based violence,” Haq said.

Tens of thousands have arrived at overcrowded displacement camps in Tawila, about 70 kilometers (43 miles) from el-Fasher. In the camps, the displaced find themselves in barren areas with few tents and insufficient food and medical supplies.

‘The displaced are too many’

“We have been getting little food from community kitchens here; we only get lunch meals,” Sohaiba Omar, 20, told The Associated Press from a shelter in Diba Nayra camp in Tawila. “We also need a nearby source of water and toilets. Disposing of our wastes in the open can make us fall sick and catch diseases like cholera.”

Batoul Mohamed, a 25-year-old volunteer at the camp, said, “The displaced are too many. They are also hungry. It is very difficult to have people come up to us saying that they could not eat because there not was not enough food.”

Aid group Doctors Without Borders warned that malnutrition in displacement camps has reached “staggering” rates. Over 70% of children under the age of 5 who reached Tawila between the fall of el-Fasher at the end of October and Nov. 3, were acutely malnourished, and more than a third experienced severe acute malnutrition, the group said Tuesday.

“The true scale of the crisis is likely far worse than reported,” it said.

The violence has spread to other parts of Sudan including the regions of Western Darfur and Kordofan, forcing more people to flee. Nearly 39,000 people fled North Kordofan between Oct. 26 and Nov. 9, according to the IOM.

The war between the RSF and the military began in 2023, when tensions erupted between the two former allies that were meant to oversee a democratic transition after a 2019 uprising. The fighting has killed at least 40,000 people, according to the World Health Organization, and displaced 12 million. Aid groups say the true death toll could be many times higher.

Nations press on with ceasefire efforts

Also on Tuesday, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty met with Sudan’s army chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan in Port Sudan on the Red Sea as global efforts to reach a ceasefire and avert a humanitarian disaster in Sudan gathered pace.

Abdelatty expressed Egypt’s unequivocal support for Sudan’s armed forces and condemned the atrocities in el-Fasher.

“Standing by Sudan is a matter of principle,” he told reporters in a news conference after the meeting, adding that Egypt supports all of Sudan’s “national state institutions including the armed forces”.

He stressed the need to commit to the peace plan announced in September by a quartet including the U.S., Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, according to a statement issued by Egypt’s Foreign Ministry. The plan envisages a three-month humanitarian truce, followed by a nine-month political process.

The RSF said last week it agreed to the quartet’s humanitarian truce. The army said it welcomes the proposal, but will only agree to it if the RSF withdraws from civilian areas and gives up its weapons.

—-

Edith M. Lederer contributed to this report from the United Nations

Thousands of Africans Returned Home Through an EU Program

The European Union has given a U.N.-affiliated body hundreds of millions of dollars to help thousands of African migrants return from failed journeys to Europe and support them back home. But The Associated Press interviewed several of the returnees and saw a WhatsApp group of dozens more who say they’ve received little or nothing.

By MONIKA PRONCZUK

5:57 AM EST, November 11, 2025

CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — When Oumar Bella Diallo boarded a plane home to the West African nation of Guinea in July, the weary 24-year-old thought his migration ordeal was over.

He had spent almost a year trying to reach Europe. He said he was attacked by police and scammed for money as he crossed Mali, Algeria and Niger, at one point limping past corpses in the desert. After seeing fellow migrants die from hunger and exhaustion, he gave up.

He is among tens of thousands of Africans returning home with the help of the International Organization for Migration, as Europe spends millions of dollars to deter migrants before they reach its shores. The European Union-funded IOM program pays for return flights and promises follow-up assistance.

But migrants tell The Associated Press that promises by the United Nations-affiliated organization are not fulfilled, leaving them to face trauma, debt and family shame on their own. Desperation could fuel new migration attempts.

The AP spoke to three returnees in Gambia and four in Guinea, and was shown a WhatsApp group of over 50 members founded around returnees’ frustration with the IOM. They described months of reaching out to the IOM with no reply.

Diallo said he told the IOM he wanted to start a small business. But all he has received is a phone number for an IOM counselor and a five-day orientation course on accountability, management and personal development. He said many returnees had trouble grasping it because of low education levels.

“Even yesterday, I called him,” Diallo said. “They said for the moment, we have to wait until they call us. Every time, if I call them, that’s what they tell me.” He said he asked for medical help with a foot injured on his migration attempt but was told it was impossible.

As the oldest child of a single mother, the responsibility for supporting relatives weighs heavily.

“If there’s not so much money, you’re the head of the family too,” he said.

Millions spent but little scrutiny

The IOM program is financed almost completely by the EU and was launched in 2016. Between 2022 and 2025, it repatriated over 100,000 sub-Saharan migrants from north Africa and Niger.

Of the $380 million budget for that period, 58% is allocated for post-return assistance, the IOM said.

Francois Xavier Ada with the IOM regional office in West Africa told the AP that over 90,000 returnees have started, and 60,000 completed, the reintegration process “tailored to individual needs.” Ada said that can “support anything from housing, medical assistance or psychosocial services to business grants, vocational trainings and job placement.”

Migrants told the AP they had not received any of those.

Ada said the IOM was ”concerned” to learn of people kept waiting and “happy to look into these cases.” He added that delays can occur due to high caseloads or incomplete documentation, and medical assistance is not guaranteed.

Experts said there is little insight into how the EU money helps returnees. The European Court of Auditors, an EU body, audited the program’s first phase between 2016 and 2021 and said it failed to demonstrate sustainable reintegration results, monitoring was “insufficient to prove results” and the EU “could not prove value for money.”

“The EU policy is obsessed with returns,” said Josephine Liebl with the Brussels-based European Council on Refugees and Exiles. “The question of how this support actually helps people in very vulnerable situations receives very little public scrutiny, which is due to the fact that there is such a lack of transparency and accountability of how EU funding works outside the EU.”

The EU did not respond to questions on the details of the budget beyond repeating IOM statements.

Moustapha Darboe, a Gambian journalist who interviewed over 50 returnees for an investigation into the IOM program, said they had to wait a long time, often almost a year, and support they eventually received did not match their skills and ambitions.

“The IOM is donor-based,” he told the AP. “Their primary focus is not to help these people, their primary focus is to tick their box.”

Haunted by shame and stigma

The IOM program has coincided with Europe’s other efforts to deter migration, including paying some African governments to intercept migrants, an approach denounced by human rights groups that accuse African authorities of being complicit in abuses.

Europe’s efforts appear to be working. In the first eight months of 2025, it recorded 112,000 “irregular” crossings, over 20% less than the same period last year, and a drop of over 50% from two years ago.

Experts say that while the IOM’s return program helps to extract people from inhumane treatment, the promised follow-up support is often impossible to deliver as most migrants’ home countries have poorly functioning state services.

“The major missing piece is the support for the returnees to get reintegrated, have access to social protection and to labor markets,” said Camille Le Coz, director of the Brussels-based Migration Policy Institute.

Kabinet Kante, a 20-year-old from Guinea who dreamed of being a footballer in Germany, spent almost two years trying to reach Europe. He said he was intercepted at sea and dumped in the desert, and still wakes at night screaming.

He returned to Guinea in July with the IOM’s help. He said he wanted to learn how to drive a bulldozer but the IOM has ignored his calls, and when he went to their office, they told him to stop calling.

He set up the WhatsApp group for over 50 other returned and frustrated migrants. He also records TikTok videos warning against the treacherous route to Europe.

But he has no way to pay back his parents, who supported his journey by sending money to pay smugglers and bribe officials.

“Right now, I am doing nothing,” he said, head bowed with embarrassment.

‘Going on an adventure’

Like many sub-Saharan African countries, Guinea has rich natural resources, including the world’s largest iron ore deposits. But experts say bad governance and exploitation by foreign companies have left most of the population destitute.

Over half of Guinea’s population of 15 million is experiencing “unprecedented levels of poverty,” according to the World Food Program, and cannot read or write. The official monthly minimum wage is less than $65. Most people work in the informal economy and earn even less.

“Those with degrees work as taxi drivers here,” Diallo said. “If there were, like elsewhere, job opportunities in the country, everyone would stay here.”

Diallo and Kante said they are not planning on “going on an adventure” any time soon — a term used widely to describe the migration route to Europe.

But that’s mostly because they don’t have money. They dream of working in Europe legally, but the visa process can cost hundreds of dollars, and applicants from sub-Saharan countries have a high rejection rate.

Elhadj Mohamed Diallo, director of the Guinean Organization for the Fight Against Irregular Migration, is a former migrant who reached Libya before turning back. He now works with the IOM on reintegration activities but indicated doubt about their ability to prevent returnees from migrating again.

He said he doesn’t blame them as life at home becomes more difficult.

“We aren’t helping them so that they can stay. We are helping them so they can take control of their lives again,” he said. “Migration is a natural thing. Blocking a person is like blocking the tide. When you block water, the water will find its way.”

Takeaways from an AP Report on a Europe-funded Program Returning African Migrants

By MONIKA PRONCZUK

11:50 PM EST, November 10, 2025

CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — The European Union has given the International Organization for Migration hundreds of millions of dollars to help tens of thousands of African migrants return from failed journeys to Europe and support them back home.

But The Associated Press interviewed several of the returnees in Gambia and Guinea and saw a WhatsApp group of dozens more who say they’ve received little or nothing of the promised economic and other support.

Migration experts assert that the IOM, a United Nations-affiliated organization, isn’t giving enough help to people who are often traumatized by migration attempts. Desperation could fuel new attempts. The IOM says it is concerned to hear that people are left waiting but can’t speak about individual cases.

The EU didn’t provide details about where the money goes. The European Court of Auditors, an EU body, audited the program’s first phase between 2016 and 2021 and said the EU “could not prove value for money.”

Here’s what to know.

Aiming to keep migrants out of Europe

The EU-funded IOM program was launched in 2016 and pays for return flights for African migrants and promises follow-up assistance back home. Between 2022 and 2025, it repatriated over 100,000 sub-Saharan migrants from north Africa and Niger.

Of the $380 million budget for that period, 58% is allocated for post-return assistance. The IOM says it can “support anything from housing, medical assistance or psychosocial services to business grants, vocational trainings and job placement.”

The IOM program has coincided with Europe’s other efforts to deter migration, including paying some African governments to intercept migrants, an approach that human rights groups have criticized. Europe’s efforts appear to be working. In the first eight months of 2025, it recorded 112,000 “irregular” crossings, over 20% less than the same period last year, and a drop of over 50% from two years ago.

What returnees say

Returnees tell the AP that IOM promises of support back home are not fulfilled, leaving them to face trauma, massive debt and family shame on their own.

The AP spoke to three returnees in Gambia and four in Guinea, and was shown a WhatsApp group of over 50 members founded around returnees’ frustration with the IOM. They described months of reaching out to the IOM with no reply.

Kabinet Kante, a 20-year-old from Guinea, spent almost two years trying to reach Europe. He said he was intercepted at sea and dumped in the desert, and still wakes at night screaming.

He returned to Guinea in July with the IOM’s help. He said he wanted to learn how to drive a bulldozer but the IOM has ignored his calls, and when he went to their office, they told him to stop calling. He set up the WhatsApp group for over 50 other returned migrants in a similar situation.

He has no way to pay back his parents, who supported his journey, sending money to pay smugglers and bribe officials.

“Right now, I am doing nothing,” he said, head bowed with embarrassment.

What the IOM and EU say

Francois Xavier Ada with the IOM regional office in West Africa told the AP that over 90,000 returnees have started, and 60,000 completed, the reintegration process “tailored to individual needs.”

Ada said the IOM was ”concerned” to learn of people who were kept waiting and “happy to look into these cases.” He said delays can occur due to high caseloads or incomplete documentation. Medical support is provided based on “assessed needs.”

The IOM’s country office in Guinea said it could not speak of individual cases because they were confidential.

The EU did not respond to questions beyond repeating IOM statements.

What experts say

Josephine Liebl with the Brussels-based European Council on Refugees and Exiles said that “the question of how this support actually helps people in very vulnerable situations receives very little public scrutiny, which is due to the fact that there is such a lack of transparency and accountability of how EU funding works outside the EU.”

Experts say that while the IOM’s return program helps to extract people from inhumane treatment, the promised follow-up support is often impossible to deliver as most migrants’ home countries have poorly functioning state services.

“The major missing piece is the support for the returnees to get reintegrated, have access to social protection and to labor markets,” said Camille Le Coz, director of the Brussels-based Migration Policy Institute.

Elhadj Mohamed Diallo, director of the Guinean Organization for the Fight Against Irregular Migration, works with the IOM on reintegration activities. He said he doesn’t blame returnees who try to migrate again.

“We aren’t helping them so that they can stay. We are helping them so they can take control of their lives again,” he said. “Migration is a natural thing. Blocking a person is like blocking the tide. When you block water, the water will find its way.”

European Union and Indian Navies Take Over Ship Used by Pirates off Somalia to Seize Tanker

By JON GAMBRELL

8:36 PM EST, November 11, 2025

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The European Union and Indian navies have taken over a ship used by pirates off the coast of Somalia to seize a Malta-flagged tanker, the EU force said Wednesday.

The Iranian fishing vessel called the Issamohamadi had been abandoned off the coast of Somalia following their seizure last week of the Hellas Aphrodite, which had been carrying a load of gasoline from India to South Africa. The pirates used the Issamohamadi, a type of traditional ship known across the Persian Gulf as a dhow, as a “mother ship” for a series of assaults capped by their taking of the tanker.

A team from the ESPS Victoria, a Spanish frigate, boarded the dhow and said the Issamohamadi’s original crew on board were in “good condition, safe and free.” Iran has not acknowledged the seizure of the ship.

The pirate group “operating in the area has been definitely disrupted,” the EU naval force’s Operation Atalanta said in a statement. EU forces “have gathered evidence and intelligence of the incident that together with the evidence collected on board Merchant Tanker Hellas Aphrodite, will be submitted to support the legal prosecution of the perpetrators.”

Piracy off the Somali coast peaked in 2011, when 237 attacks were reported. Somali piracy in the region that year cost the world’s economy some $7 billion, with $160 million paid out in ransoms, according to the Oceans Beyond Piracy monitoring group.

The threat was diminished by increased international naval patrols, a strengthening central government in Somalia, and other efforts.

However, Somali pirate attacks have resumed at a greater pace over the last year, in part due to the insecurity caused by Yemen’s Houthi rebels launching attacks in the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. The Houthis have signaled they’ve stopped their attacks as a shaky ceasefire holds in Gaza.

In 2024, there were seven reported incidents off Somalia, according to the International Maritime Bureau. So far this year, multiple fishing boats have been seized by Somali pirates. The Hellas Aphrodite represents the first commercial ship seized by pirates off Somalia since May 2024.

JON GAMBRELL

Gambrell is the news director for the Gulf and Iran for The Associated Press. He has reported from each of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Iran and other locations across the world since joining the AP in 2006.

Somalian Forces Kill Senior Al-Shabaab Commanders in Bakool, Bay

By Al Mayadeen English

10 Nov 2025 14:24

Somali forces killed senior Al-Shabaab commanders in Bakool and Bay regions, seizing weapons and disrupting terror plans.

The Somali National Army announced on Sunday that it has killed several senior Al-Shabaab leaders in coordinated operations in the Bakool and Bay regions, delivering a significant blow to the terror group.

The Ministry of Defense confirmed that Mohamed Abdi Mohamed Noor, also known as “Gofu,” who was responsible for multiple attacks on civilians, was killed in a precision operation in Abal village, a strategic settlement 21 kilometres south of Hudur, Bakool’s capital. During the operation, Somali forces also seized weapons and documents detailing terror attack plans.

In a separate engagement, two other senior Al-Shabaab members, including Yahya, known as Abu Khalid, a key organizer of attacks, and Sharif Amir, who later succumbed to severe injuries sustained during the clash, were eliminated.

“The Somali Army will continue operations against Al-Shabaab and will not allow safe havens for its members or remnants,” the ministry said. “These operations aim to restore security and stability across Somalia and will continue until all threats are removed.”

Intensified military campaigns

The latest operations come amid an intensified military campaign by Somali forces that began earlier this year. Since February 2025, over 220 raids and airstrikes have targeted Al-Shabaab positions, resulting in more than 860 militant casualties.

Operations have focused on southern and central provinces, as well as Puntland and the northeastern Bari region, with coordination and logistical support from international partners. Somali forces have also strengthened local security presence in recovered areas to prevent the resurgence of Al-Shabaab elements.

Strengthening Somali state authority

By targeting terror leaders and disrupting operational planning, the Somali Army aims to secure strategic locations and prevent attacks on urban centres, including Mogadishu.

“The operations in Bakool and Bay show that the Somali security forces can effectively dismantle Al-Shabab’s networks while safeguarding civilian populations,” the ministry added.

Al-Shabaab, affiliated with al-Qaeda, has waged a sustained insurgency against the Somali state. The group seeks to impose extremist ideology, destabilize governance, and maintain control over rural areas. It has repeatedly targeted civilians and security forces, exploiting weak state presence and local grievances to sustain its operations.

Intense Fighting in Central Sudan Displaces 2,000 People in Just Days, a UN Agency Says

By FATMA KHALED

10:42 AM EST, November 10, 2025

CAIRO (AP) — Intense fighting in central Sudan displaced some 2,000 people over the past three days, the U.N. migration agency said Monday, the latest in a war that has convulsed the country for more than two years and killed tens of thousands.

The International Organization for Migration said the displaced fled from several towns and villages in the area of Bara in North Kordofan province between Friday and Sunday.

Kordofan has been one of two areas, along with the western Darfur region, that recently became the epicenter of the war between the Sudanese army and its rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

The RSF capture of the key city of el-Fasher left hundreds dead and forced tens of thousands to flee to overcrowded camps to escape reported atrocities by the paramilitary force, according to aid groups and U.N. officials. The IOM said nearly 92,000 people have left el-Fasher and surrounding villages.

The war between the RSF and the military began in 2023, when tensions erupted between the two former allies that were meant to oversee a democratic transition after a 2019 uprising. The fighting has killed at least 40,000 people, according to the World Health Organization, and displaced 12 million. However, aid groups say the true death toll could be many times higher.

In late October, RSF fighters launched attacks in the town of Bara in North Kordofan, killing at least 47 people, including women and children, the local aid group Sudan Doctors Network said at the time.

The IOM estimated that nearly 39,000 people had fled several villages and towns in North Kordofan since Oct. 26. They were mostly headed north, toward the Sudanese capital of Khartoum and the adjacent Omdurman region, as well as Sheikan in North Kordofan.

Also Monday, the RSF claimed its fighters entered the town of Babanusa in West Kordofan province and were heading toward the army headquarters.

Salah Semsaya, a volunteer with the local group Emergency Response Rooms, told The Associated Press that other volunteers from the town of Babanusa working with charity kitchens in the area reported a decline in the number of families coming to get food — apparently an indication that many had left or fled the area. Definitive figures could not be confirmed.

Darfur atrocities

In Darfur meanwhile, Sudan Doctors Network reported on Sunday that the RSF collected hundreds of bodies from the streets of el-Fasher and buried some in mass graves while burning others.

The RSF was acting in a “desperate attempt to conceal evidence of their crimes against civilians,” the network said.

Satellite images analyzed last week appeared to show the RSF disposing of bodies after they seized and rampaged through el-Fasher. Images by the Colorado-based firm Vantor show a fire at the Saudi hospital in el-Fasher on Thursday, near a collection of white objects seen days earlier in other Vantor photos.

The Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab described the images as showing the “burning of objects that may be consistent with bodies.”

FATMA KHALED

Khaled is based in the Middle East region. She covers humanitarian crises, conflict, among other news beats for The Associated Press.

South Africa’s Apartheid-era Crimes Inquiry is Delayed Over Legal Objections

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa attends the 17th annual BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro, Sunday, July 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, file)

By MICHELLE GUMEDE

1:00 PM EST, November 10, 2025

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — An inquiry into allegations that South Africa’s Black-led governments interfered with investigations into apartheid-era crimes was postponed on its first day Monday over objections to one of the inquiry’s lawyers.

President Cyril Ramaphosa ordered the inquiry in April after decades of pressure from families of victims who say post-apartheid governments have failed them by not prosecuting those responsible. The country’s racist system of apartheid officially ended in 1994.

The National Prosecuting Authority on Monday argued that Ishmael Semenya, the inquiry’s chief evidence leader, was compromised because he previously advised on a former prosecuting policy for apartheid-era crimes that was declared unconstitutional.

The inquiry’s head, Judge Sisi Khampepe, ordered the NPA and others backing the objection, including South Africa’s justice department, to file any application for Semenya’s recusal by Wednesday. The judge ordered the inquiry to continue on Nov. 26, when the application would be considered. Semenya did not comment.

Around 150 cases of apartheid-era crimes had been recommended for prosecution by South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was established by then- President Nelson Mandela in 1996 and aimed at documenting the era’s abuses.

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That commission offered some perpetrators amnesty in exchange for their confessions, but many did not ask for or receive amnesty, and the lack of prosecutions has long been a grievance for many South Africans.

Mandela’s African National Congress party was pivotal in ending apartheid, but ANC-led governments since then have been criticized for failing to ensure abuses were investigated.

In 2008, a court in the capital, Pretoria, criticized a National Prosecuting Authority policy as “absurd and unconstitutional” and said it did not prioritize prosecutions for apartheid-era crimes. Semenya advised on that policy.

In January, more than 20 families of apartheid-era victims sued Ramaphosa and his government, seeking around $9.7 million in damages and an independent inquiry into possible interference in investigations.

Ramaphosa ordered the inquiry as part of the settlement in that case. Damages are still being considered by a court.

South Africa’s government has moved to confront the legacy of apartheid this year by ordering new inquiries into the killings of several prominent figures by apartheid security forces, some of them over a half-century later.

Last month, a new inquest found that then-ANC leader Albert Luthuli was beaten to death in 1967 and did not die after being hit by a freight train, as an original inquest by apartheid authorities found. Luthuli’s family had called for his death to be investigated.

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MICHELLE GUMEDE

Gumede is a Johannesburg-based text news reporter for The Associated Press. She covers a wide range of news topics, including health, climate change, and politics in South Africa.