Contributions of the Alliance of Sahel States to the African and World Revolutions

Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger are leading the way toward the realization of Pan-Africanism and Internationalism in the 21st century

By Abayomi Azikiwe

Editor, Pan-African News Wire

Saturday October 3, 2026

Geostrategic Analysis

Note: These remarks were delivered at the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) Africa Team webinar inaugurating an annual month of action against the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM). Other panelists were Suad Abdel Aziz, human rights lawyer and Executive Director of Decolonize Sudan along with Blanchard Kiyongo of the League of Young Peasants of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The webinar was moderated by Halle and Josh of BAP.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Three landlocked and mineral-rich states in West Africa: Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have provided hope and political guidance during the third decade of the 21st century.

Since 2020 much has taken place within the African world where on the continent and throughout the Diaspora people have rose up against institutional racism, national oppression, neo-colonialism, fascism and imperialism. From the George Floyd uprising which began in the United States city of Minneapolis and spread throughout the international community to revolutionary developments in what became known as the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).

In Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger during the period since the advent of the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) in 2008 were targeted for imperialist intervention under the guise of strengthening and enhancing the security apparatus of various nation-states on the continent. Yet, what was not revealed by the US and other imperialist states during the period leading up the deployment of AFRICOM troops was that the underdevelopment which existed in the post-colonial period in the Sahel region was a direct result of continuing unequal distribution of wealth and economic power.

All three of these states were colonized by France which has a long history of enslavement and imperialist domination over African and Asian territories. Haiti in the Caribbean was the most profitable slave colony in the world leading up to the revolutionary uprising beginning 1791. Algeria was occupied as a settler-colony from 1830 to 1962 where some of the largest deposits of petroleum and natural gas exists. Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger all have massive resources which are indispensable to the world economic system. 

Transforming the Neo-colonial Economies

Mali has large amounts of mineral and metallic resources most of which remains largely unexploited. Gold is the largest export which brings in foreign exchange. They also have iron, manganese, bauxite, lithium, uranium and other important resources. Approximately 80% of the people are involved in agricultural, fishing and livestock production. Cotton exists in abundance and is a major source of national income.

Burkina Faso is a major source of gold production similar to neighboring Mali. Just recently a gold refinery was opened to generate more national income and to keep the earnings inside the country. 

In a report published by Business Insider Africa, it says of these recent events that:

“President Ibrahim Traoré inaugurated the Raffinerie Nationale d’Or du Burkina Faso in Ouagadougou, saying the country wanted to move beyond extracting minerals and develop the full value chain locally. Built at a cost of about 11 billion CFA francs ($19 million), the state-backed refinery will initially process 164 tons of gold annually. A second phase is expected to increase capacity to 515 tons a year. The facility will handle refining, assaying, certification and secure storage, allowing activities that have largely been carried out outside Burkina Faso to take place domestically. The government expects the refinery to create about 100 direct jobs and more than 5,000 indirect jobs. ‘Our ambition goes beyond gold,’ Traoré said at the inauguration. ‘We want to make the mining sector a driver of industrial transformation.’” (https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/markets/burkina-faso-opens-dollar19-million-gold-refinery-as-traore-pushes-to-keep-mining/d0xl082)

Niger is a major source of uranium internationally ranking as the eight largest deposits in the world. On the African continent it is the second largest deposit of the strategic metal only following behind the Republic of Namibia in Southern Africa. 

At present Niger is restructuring the ownership of its uranium industry. For many years it was controlled by Orano, a French corporation which provided negligible benefits to the people living inside the country. 

In a recent report from mining.com, it emphasized the changes in ownership by noting:

“The decision underscores Niger’s increasingly assertive approach to its uranium industry since soldiers seized power in the West African nation three year ago. It allows mining of the nuclear fuel to continue under the new Nigerien-controlled structure and marks another step in the military government’s push to increase state control of the industry. Niger seized control of Somaïr in June 2025, after accusing Orano of extracting more uranium than an its agreement with the state allowed. Orano has opposed the nationalization of the mine and sued Niger in multiple commercial courts following the takeover.” (https://www.mining.com/web/niger-awards-former-orano-operated-uranium-mine-to-state-company/)

These cursory assessments of the national economies of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) illustrate the role of neo-colonialism in the 21st century. Since the seizure of power by the revolutionary forces in all three states, they signed the Liptako-Gourma Charter in September 2023 aimed at further consolidation of the transformative process. 

During this time period, Niger along with Mali and Burkina Faso were under threat of a western imperialist backed invasion aimed at reimposing governments which are favorable to international finance capital. These threats are continuing on a daily basis.

Efforts aimed at the overthrow of the governments in Mali was exemplified in a combined attack by the JNIM and the FLA. The armed forces fought these rebels to maintain control of the state. 

It was revealed that the imperialist-backed fascist regime in Ukraine provided weapons and logistical support to the attempted coup. The growing cooperation between the Russian Federation and the AES administrations has fueled efforts to undermine and replace the existing AES governments.

There have also been attempts to assassinate the leaders of Burkina Faso and most recently Niger. What was described as a “mutiny” in Niamey recently was aimed at overthrowing the government of the Committee for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP) and therefore reverse the transformation process.

Consequently, the international solidarity movement must amplify its efforts to politically educate people about the processes taking place in the AES region. Organizations and coalitions committed to Pan-African consolidation and the spread of socialism on a global scale must focus on the defense of the AES.

The Founding of a Joint Communications System is Essential

One of the most promising announcements in the recent period is the founding of Tafouk Television jointly owned by Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. Communications remains a key element in maintaining the neocolonial control over Africa, its resources and people. 

These efforts can counter the psychological warfare and misinformation which is designed to foster confusion, inertia and demoralization among the masses of people. African people throughout the continent and across the world must be informed about the revolutionary processes taking place within the AES.

Even Radio France International (RFI) reported recently on the establishment of this Pan-African media outlet saying:

“Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger are stepping up their joint media push with Tafouk TV, a new television channel aimed at challenging Western coverage and promoting the three military-led Sahel states' own account of events. Broadcasting from Bamako and available through Canal+, the channel is part of a wider media network being developed by the Alliance of Sahel States - or AES - as its members deepen ties with Russia and distance themselves from France and other Western partners. ‘We had to strike back... to ensure that these platforms could spread our own narrative,’ Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop said this month. Tafouk TV, whose name means ‘Sun’ in Tamasheq, the language spoken by many Tuareg communities across the Sahel, began official programming on 16 September. Its presentation draws heavily on regional imagery. The opening theme is inspired by the music of traditional Dozo hunters, while the logo of its Communication Intervention Brigade program features a shield incorporating a camera, microphone and pen.” (https://allafrica.com/stories/202609300003.html)

These efforts by the AES are reminiscent of the previous work of networks such as Radio Moscow during the period of the Soviet Union, Radio Havana Cuba, Ghana National Television under the First Republic of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah which was created and directed by Shirley Graham Du Bois, Voice of the Revolution in Guinea under Ahmed Sekou Toure, Radio Freedom in Zambia during the anti-apartheid struggle, and other outlets. It is essential that the revolutionary forces convey their messages clearly on a domestic and international level.

We must spread this information across Africa as well as within the imperialist states. With the crisis of imperialism in the contemporary era, we know that total recolonization and genocide are already being implemented in Palestine and other areas of West Asia. Every state in the Horn of Africa is now under grave threat. 

Consequently, there is a sense of urgency. Let us move scientifically towards the liberation of Africa and all oppressed and working peoples throughout the globe.

El-Alamein Joint Declaration: The Quadrilateral Consultative Summit Between Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea and Somalia

El-Alamein 

4 October 2026

1. Pursuant to the invitation extended by H.E. President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, to H.E. President Isaias Afwerki, President of the State of Eritrea; H.E. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, President of the Federal Republic of Somalia; and General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, Chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council of the Republic of the Sudan, the Presidents convened a quadrilateral summit today, 4 October 2026, in the New El Alamein City. They held intensive fraternal consultations on current regional and international issues, as well as ways to enhance political, trade and economic cooperation among the four countries and strengthen consultation and coordination among them.

2. The Summit addressed the need to uphold the fundamental principles and pillars of international law as the basis for regional stability and cooperation, particularly respect for the sovereignty, stability and territorial integrity of the countries of the region; upholding the principles of good-neighboring; rejecting interference in the internal affairs of the countries of the region under any pretext; and working to support national institutions and promote political and peaceful solutions to conflicts.

3. The Summit discussed the coordination of joint efforts to achieve regional stability, create a conducive environment for shared and sustainable development, and advance economic, trade and cultural relations, in a manner that contributes to economic integration and connectivity, promotes sustainable development, and strengthens ties among the peoples of all participating countries, taking into account their common objectives and shared destiny.

4. The Summit addressed the following issues, on which the participating leaders agreed on:

a. Supporting the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of the Sudan and its national institutions; rejecting the establishment of any parallel entities; encouraging the resumption of a political process that is Sudanese-owned and Sudanese-led; supporting national institutions; and categorically rejecting any support to mercenaries.

b. Supporting the unity and sovereignty of the Federal Republic of Somalia and rejecting any interference aimed at undermining them, particularly recognition of what is referred to as “Somaliland.”

c. Supporting the efforts of the Federal Republic of Somalia in combating terrorism and enabling state institutions to extend their authority over the entirety of the country, and calling upon regional and international partners to provide adequate, sustainable and predictable funding to the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM), enabling it to carry out its mandate.

d. Affirming the principle of freedom of navigation and that the governance of the Red Sea is the exclusive responsibility of the littoral states.

e. Affirming the importance of respecting international law governing transboundary rivers, including the Nile River, particularly the principle of non-harm, and the obligation to cooperate through prior notification, consultation and consensus, while categorically rejecting any unilateral measures that adversely affect the existing water uses of the two downstream countries of the Nile.

f. Continuing to further strengthen consultation and coordination among the four countries.

5. The leaders agreed to establish a mechanism for follow up on the outcomes of this Consultative Summit, which will be held periodically and whenever necessary to enhance consultation and coordination among them.

6. The Presidents of Eritrea, Sudan and Somalia expressed their sincere thanks and appreciation for hosting this Consultative Summit.

President Isaias Afwerki on Working Visit to Egypt

On Oct 3, 2026

Asmara, 03 October 2026 – At the invitation of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, President Isaias Afwerki departed for Egypt on a working visit early this morning.

During the visit, President Isaias will participate in the Summit of Heads of State on collective security, stability and partnership.

The summit is a continuation of periodic forums held through various platforms to discuss issues concerning the wider neighbourhood, encompassing the Red Sea region, the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Gulf and the Nile Basin.

President Isaias Afwerki and President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi will also discuss ways to further strengthen bilateral ties during the visit.

President Isaias Afwerki Holds Talks with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi

Oct 3, 2026

Asmara, 03 October 2026 – President Isaias Afwerki and President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi held extensive talks in New Alamein City earlier today on the enhancement of bilateral ties, regional and international developments and trends, and other matters of mutual interest.

President Isaias Afwerki underlined the convergent positions of Eritrea and Egypt on regional matters, particularly regarding the cardinal principles of respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of nations and non-interference in their internal affairs.

President Isaias further expressed appreciation for President el-Sisi’s efforts to strengthen bilateral cooperation in various sectors and for Egypt’s goodwill and readiness to bolster these ties for the benefit of both peoples and countries.

President el-Sisi, for his part, highlighted the profound historical and strategic ties between the two countries and reaffirmed Egypt’s readiness to further deepen the existing warm bilateral relations through the implementation of economic partnership projects and programmes in priority sectors.

President Isaias will participate in the Summit of Heads of State on collective security, stability and partnership, which will be convened in Alamein tomorrow.

At the invitation of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, President Isaias Afwerki departed for Egypt in the early morning hours today for a working visit.

Senior Eritrean Delegation Participating in Alamein Business Forum

On Oct 3, 2026

Asmara, 03 October 2026 – A senior Eritrean delegation composed of Mr. Hagos Gebrehiwet, Head of Economic Affairs, and Mr. Nesredin Mohammed Saleh, Minister of Trade and Industry, is participating in the Alamein Business Forum, hosted by Egypt from 2 to 3 October.

Participants in the forum include Heads of State, government representatives, senior leaders from leading international and regional financial institutions, and key actors driving transformative change across Africa’s most critical sectors, including infrastructure, trade, critical minerals, digital innovation, health markets and emerging industries.

The senior Eritrean delegation also met yesterday with Dr. George Elombi, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank). The discussions centred on existing financial services between Eritrean banks and Afreximbank.

At the meeting, the two sides agreed to expand and strengthen their ongoing cooperation and introduce new financial services for various projects.

Semantic Shifts and Strategic Deceptions: The Prosperity Party’s Rhetorical Pivot on the Red Sea

General

On Oct 4, 2026

In just the past week, the internal security landscape in Ethiopia has dramatically escalated into a profound structural crisis. Major war has erupted in the Tigray Region while the simmering conflicts in the Amhara, Oromia, Afar and other hotbeds of perennial military confrontation continue with varying intensities.

Faced with this compounding domestic failure, the PP regime has simultaneously escalated its external hostility against Eritrea, combining renewed threats of invasion under the fallacious rubric “of self-defense” with an unprovoked diplomatic assault. The PP has expelled all Eritrean diplomats as persona non grata, including officials specifically accredited to the African Union (AU) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). By taking this reckless step, the PP has flagrantly disregarded the 2008 AU Headquarters Agreement and the 1958 UN-Ethiopia Agreement, both of which legally guarantee the immunity and protection of diplomats accredited to regional and international organizations.

The upsurge on military confrontations confirms that the Prosperity Party (PP) regime in Addis Ababa had merely been preparing the ground for expanded wars. Over the past month, it has noticeably shifted its rhetoric on international platforms, including the UN General Assembly and the BRICS Summit. The previously aggressive, coercive demands for a “maritime imperative” and “sovereign access to the sea” had increasingly been replaced by more polished, diplomatic language calling for “equitable access to the sea” through “reliable and dependable” arrangements.

While the PP framed this semantic shift as a “commitment to peaceful dialogue”, the reality reveals a calculated diplomatic deception designed to mislead the international community and mask an ongoing campaign of regional destabilization and territorial expansion now unfolding on the ground.

The fundamental question is why the PP shifted its parlance at this particular juncture. This change in wording is a direct response to the international pushback, weak as it is, that Addis Ababa faced after openly trampling on the territorial integrity of Horn of Africa nations. For the past three years, senior Ethiopian officials have used aggressive, unprovoked rhetoric, to delegitimize Eritrean statehood and to claim as their own sovereign Eritrean territory, particularly the Port of Assab.

This repackaging cannot and should not mislead anyone, as the real intent of the PP still remains on public record. In fact, just a month prior to these recent shifts in diplomatic tone and language, senior civilian and military officials within the PP establishment were actively propagating war timelines. They openly boasted that a military strike against Eritrea was well within their capabilities and could be concluded by October 2026. Prominent regime voices, including Ambassador Dina Mufti and General Bacha Debele went to the extreme. They argued that a military strike on Eritrea would fundamentally dissolve the regional order, in essence declaring that following their intervention, there would be no borders, no frontiers, and no administrative boundaries separating the two sovereign nations. This extreme rhetoric exposes an agenda that goes far beyond commercial port access; It envisions the total erasure of an internationally recognized borders through military force.

Therefore, the recent shift to softer terminology and couch the PP’s war agenda as “reactive and in self-defense” is merely a sinister tactical camouflage. The regime continues to employ a dangerous dual-track propaganda strategy:

Domestically, the regime continues to stoke expansionist sentiments and military timelines to distract from internal political failure.

Internationally, it uses terms like “strategic priority,” “economic imperative,” “regional integration” to project a false image of a peaceful, rule-abiding state.

This diplomatic exercise cannot erase years of threats, open hostility, and institutionalized revisionism aimed at the occupation as well as the annexation of sovereign Eritrean territory.

In this vein, the PP’s new mantra revolves around incriminating Eritrea for Ethiopia’s severe internal security crises. The compounding conflicts with the potential to fracture the Ethiopian state, are entirely self-inflicted, and stem from structural mismanagement and the regime’s failure to handle the political transition following its rise to power in 2018.

The numerous internal armed conflicts tearing through Ethiopia are the direct manifestation of the current government’s own policy choices. For instance:

The severe instability across the Amhara region erupted directly after the Federal Government attempted to forcibly disarm the Amhara region special forces known as the Fano militia, which had previously fought alongside federal forces. The Fano militia, citing existential threats facing the Amhara population rejected the disarmament, and the ensuing confrontation metastasized into a broader armed conflict, with serious consequences for civilians as well as domestic and regional stability.

Likewise, ongoing political and security crises in Oromia, Tigray, and other parts of Ethiopia are structural consequences of a government that has consistently mismanaged domestic transitions; inter alia power struggles, popular expectations, and who relied on military coercion rather than inclusive political consensus.

These developments within Ethiopia should be examined on their own merits rather than attributed externally whenever they become politically inconvenient.

While the PP accuses Eritrea of fostering a hostile regional alliance, the actual record proves that Addis Ababa has been the primary sponsor of proxy subversion in the region for a long time. The incumbent ruling party actively provides financial, military, and logistical support to various anti-Eritrean ‘color-revolution” fringe groups and sectarian factions harboring an explicit regime-change agenda targeted against the government of the State of Eritrea.

The PP has granted these subversive groups platforms on Ethiopian state-owned media outlets to broadcast their anti-Eritrea hostile propaganda. Recent investigative reports, including findings published by Haaretz, establish that the PP regime has permitted these factions to use Ethiopian territory as an active staging ground for planned military operations against Eritrea (Shimoni, 2026). The dangerous, criminal nature of these exact proxy networks has been explicitly confirmed by European law enforcement.

For instance, Germany’s Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office officially classified the anti-Eritrean network, German Branch of an obscure and self-styled BNH Group, as a domestic terrorist organization. The Prosecutor’s Office latest press statement reveals that the cell’s internationally networked goal is the violent overthrow of the sovereign Eritrean government. Furthermore, the Prosecutor’s Office detailed a horrific track record of crimes, including orchestrating mass, heavily armed riots at Eritrean diaspora cultural festivals in cities across Germany, using iron bars, rocks, smoke bombs, and similar other weapons to inflict injury on peaceful Eritrean nationals attending the cultural events.

In a further extension of this hostile campaign, senior PP officials and co-opted think-tanks continue to increasingly question Eritrea’s ability to safeguard the safety and security of the Red Sea, particularly against the backdrop of the ongoing geopolitical volatility across the water in Yemen. Eritrea occupies a strategically important position along the southern Red Sea and has consistently attached great importance to the security of its territorial waters, including freedom of navigation. It has also maintained that the security of the Red Sea must be addressed collectively only by the littoral States themselves, with full respect for their sovereignty and without attempts by non-littoral states to transform their economic interest into claims of strategic entitlements.

Nonetheless, the record shows that Eritrea remains an exemplary nation in the Horn of Africa enjoying complete domestic peace, stability, and internal cohesion. Despite working with modest resources, Eritrea has consistently secured the southern corridor of the Red Sea through its own self-reliant defense capabilities. Furthermore, Eritrea remains an active bastion for genuine stability across the wider Horn of Africa. Thus, for the PP government that relies heavily on foreign aid and which cannot even secure its own regional states: to question Eritrea’s strategic capacity is a bizarre inversion of reality, designed solely to justify an unlawful maritime overreach.

Additionally, the PP’s claims of pursuing peaceful diplomatic options are contradicted by its historical record of wartime duplicity. A concrete example occurred in 2022, during the height of the Northern Ethiopian conflict.

According to statements made by Getachew Reda – who was involved in the negotiations, the Prosperity Party had secretly met twice with representatives of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in the Seychelles and Djibouti prior to the Pretoria Agreement. The objective of these secret meetings was to entice the TPLF into a joint military alliance with the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) to launch a coordinated attack against Eritrean forces, which the PP tried to portray as the “ultimate enemy of both the PP and the TPLF”. This episode illustrates that the PP’s visceral war agenda against Eritrea which precedes the “sovereign sea access” discourse flaunted later.

Thus, the PP’s hostile posture toward Eritrea is part of a broader expansionist foreign policy that has destabilized the Horn of Africa on multiple fronts including:

The PP has pursued a persistent campaign of denigrating Eritrean statehood and advancing expansionist claims over sovereign Eritrean territories.

The PP’s hypocrisy is stark; it exploits the fact that AU is headquartered in the Ethiopian capital for purposes of continental diplomacy. At the same time, it bypassed international protocols by signing a unilateral, unlawful Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Somaliland, directly violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Somalia.

Furthermore, the PP regime has aggravated the catastrophic civil war in Sudan by hosting a UAE-financed military training facility, which serves as an active staging ground for cross-border drone strikes, weapon trafficking networks, and the recruitment of Mercenaries to reinforce the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), thereby catalyzing widespread regional destabilization.

In conclusion, irrespective of the shifting terminology, the sanitized packaging, or the diplomatic arenas chosen by the Prosperity Party to provide a veneer of validation for its “maritime imperative” and/or “self-defense”, the legal reality remains unchanged.

Despite these adverse realities, the Government of Eritrea has maintained a consistent, principled position: Eritrea’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are absolute and non-negotiable. Its internationally recognized borders are not subject to revision through coercion, military threats, political pressure, or manufactured historical narratives.

In the event, the international community must look past the changing parlance of the PP regime and address its underlying expansionist policies, which lie at the root of the current instability in the Horn of Africa.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Eritrea

Research and Documentation Division

4 October 2026

Ethiopia’s Regional Rivals Urge ‘Peaceful’ Solutions to Disputes at Egypt Summit

Left to right: General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan of Sudan, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, and Hassan Somalia’s President Sheikh Mohamud. (Egyptian Presidency handout photo)

https://arab.news/zx6eg

4 October 2026 19:46

AFP

October 4, 2026

Egypt, Eritrea, Somalia, and Sudan convened in El-Alamein, Egypt, amid concerns over escalating violence in Ethiopia

Tensions recently escalated after Ethiopia accused Egypt, Sudan, and Eritrea of backing Tigray rebels, a charge all 3 countries deny

CAIRO: Ethiopia’s regional rivals Egypt, Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan met in the Egyptian coastal city of El-Alamein on Sunday, calling for regional disputes to be resolved through “peaceful means.”

The gathering comes as concerns grow that the escalating violence in Ethiopia could spill across borders.

The mini-summit brought together Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, Somalian President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan.

The leaders called for “respecting the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of states” and “rejecting interference in their internal affairs,” according to a statement from the Egyptian presidency.

They also stressed the importance of “international law governing transboundary rivers,” including the Nile, and rejected “any unilateral measures” that could harm downstream states, read a joint statement after the talks.

The four countries have had strained relations with landlocked Ethiopia in recent years.

Egypt and Sudan remain at odds with Ethiopia over its giant Nile dam, which they fear could threaten their share of the river’s waters.

Sudan’s army has also accused Ethiopia of involvement in its war against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), an allegation Addis Ababa denies.

Relations between Somalia and Ethiopia have likewise been strained since Ethiopia signed an agreement with Somaliland, Somalia’s breakaway region, in 2024.

Tensions have mounted further this month after Ethiopia accused Egypt, Sudan and Eritrea of backing Tigray rebels, a charge all three countries reject.

Ethiopia and Eritrea severed diplomatic ties, while Cairo and Addis Ababa expelled members of each other’s diplomatic missions.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty told state-linked media on Sunday that Cairo has “absolutely nothing to do” with events in Ethiopia, describing the unrest as a “domestic crisis” rooted in ethnic and political divisions.

Renewed fighting in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region has revived fears of a return to the country’s 2020-2022 civil war.

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) launched attacks on federal forces last month. Ethiopian troops were reported on Sunday to have taken full control of Mekelle, the regional capital.

New Interim Administration to Be Established in Tigray Region

Addis Ababa, October 4, 2026 (ENA)— Preparations are underway to establish a new interim administration in the Tigray Region and pave the way for regional elections within a few months, Abraham Belay, former President of the Tigray Interim Administration, revealed.

Speaking in an interview on current affairs, Abraham said the Federal Government is working to establish a new administrative structure that will enable the people of Tigray to govern themselves, helping to restore peace and stability to the region.

Abraham noted that the Ethiopian National Defense Force is currently conducting operations to clear illegal armed forces from the region.

Following these operations, new administrative structures will be organized from the kebele level upward with direct community participation. 

He further emphasized that preparations are accelerating to complete the transition quickly and hold regional elections within months. 

Abraham also called on all Ethiopians to support federal efforts to conclude the transitional phase and allow the people of Tigray to fully participate in national development.

Addressing the broader security situation, he stated that both internal and external actors are attempting to destabilize Ethiopia.

He specifically noted that Eritrean forces had participated in the conflict alongside the TPLF and other groups he characterized as "anti-peace forces."

However, he asserted that national security institutions are decisively countering these threats through military discipline, advanced technological capabilities, and strong operational readiness. 

Furthermore, he highlighted growing local opposition to these destabilizing forces, stating that the people of Tigray have rejected destructive political paths.

Ethiopians Prove They Can Bridge Differences Through Civilized Dialogue: Chief Commissioner

Addis Ababa, October 3, 2026 (ENA)—Ethiopians have demonstrated that they can engage in civilized dialogue, bridge differences and build consensus around shared national concerns, Chief Commissioner of the Ethiopian National Dialogue Commission (ENDC) Professor Mesfin Araya said.

Professor Mesfin made the remarks today as the ENDC formally handed over its consolidated agenda items and recommendations to the House of People’s Representatives, the Federal Government and Regional Governments.

The handover ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, senior federal and regional officials, members of the diplomatic community and representatives of international organizations.

In his briefing, Professor Mesfin said the Commission, established under Proclamation No. 1265/2021, was mandated to help address Ethiopia’s longstanding historical grievances and differences through inclusive, peaceful and structured dialogue.

Since its establishment, the Commission conducted a nationwide consultation across Ethiopia’s 12 regional states and the two city administrations of Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa, gathering more than 2,000 agenda submissions from citizens.

The submissions were subsequently consolidated into eight major thematic areas to provide a framework for national dialogue and consensus-building.

The process culminated in a national conference in Addis Ababa that brought together 4,000 delegates representing different sections of Ethiopian society, including women, youth, elders, religious leaders, political parties, members of the diaspora and persons with disabilities.

According to Professor Mesfin, the conference demonstrated that Ethiopians with different views can come together, engage in respectful and constructive discussions, and identify common ground on issues of national importance.

He said the successful completion of the consultative and deliberative phase was made possible by broad public participation and political commitment, which he identified as the two key pillars of an effective national dialogue.

The Commission has now submitted its consolidated recommendations to the House of People’s Representatives, the House of Federation, federal institutions, and the 12 regional and two city administrations for further consideration and action.

Professor Mesfin stressed that implementation is now the critical next step, calling on responsible institutions at federal, regional and local levels to translate the recommendations into concrete policies and actions.

He expressed appreciation to citizens, government institutions, civic organizations and other stakeholders for their contributions to the national dialogue process, emphasizing that its lasting impact will depend on sustained commitment to implementing its outcome

Ethiopia Exercising Rights to Build Dams for Irrigation and Water Supply Purposes, Says Water Minister

Addis Ababa, October 4, 2026 (ENA)— Ethiopia, consistent with its sovereign right and water policy as well as international laws, is completing a big dam on Magech River for irrigation and water supply purposes, Water and Energy Minister Habtamu Itefa told ENA.

“It is shameful to hear Egyptian politicians say that Ethiopia should get consent from them to build dams that do not have significant harm on the country,” he added.

Egyptian policymakers should revisit the history of the Aswan High Dam and consider whether Ethiopia was consulted before its construction.

“If so, they should have consulted Ethiopia when they built Aswan Dam. But they didn’t.”  

Habtamu argued that the Nile cannot be treated as the exclusive preserve of downstream countries, stressing that Ethiopia, as an upstream riparian state, has the right to develop its water resources.

Egypt’s continued insistence on prior consent reflects an outdated approach to Nile governance and a lingering reliance on arrangements established during the colonial era, the Minister stressed.

“They say, ‘We belong to the Nile, the Nile belongs to us.’” the Minister said, adding that such a view overlooks the interests of Ethiopia’s population and the country’s contribution to the Nile system.

The Minister also rejected the argument that Ethiopia’s water-development projects amount to “abstraction” of Abay (Nile) water, saying the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) was primarily constructed for hydropower generation.

 Megech is also an indirect tributary of the Nile that causes no significant harm on Egyptians.

“Ethiopia has the right to use irrigation as well,” he said, adding that the country would continue developing water infrastructure according to its national priorities.

He cited the ongoing development of the Magech project as an example of Ethiopia’s exercise of its sovereign development rights.

“Ethiopia is a sovereign country. We do have our system, we do have our policy, we do have our government,” Habtamu said.

At the same time, the Minister stressed that Ethiopia’s position does not amount to hostility toward downstream populations.

“We consider our brothers on the downstream side. Egyptians, and particularly Sudanese, are our brothers,” he said, adding that Ethiopia maintains close social, cultural and historical ties with Sudan and South Sudan.

Ethiopia’s approach is therefore based on development alongside consideration for downstream countries, he noted, rejecting the “colonial mentality” and “hydro-hegemony.”

The Minister also argued that opposition to Ethiopia's water-development projects has persisted for decades, including during different political periods in Ethiopia.

Egypt had opposed Ethiopian water projects as far back as the 1950s and 1960s and linked such opposition to instability surrounding earlier development initiatives. 

Habtamu said Ethiopia’s response should be continued development rather than abandoning its water-development ambitions.

“As the Minister of Water and Energy, and as a citizen and a professional, the only thing we do is keep developing, keep moving.” 

The Minister's remarks come amid Egyptian officials saying Ethiopia can’t build additional dam without their consent.

For instance, the Ministry of Water and Energy recalled the recent statement of Egyptian Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation suggesting that Ethiopians lack education, which is a manifestation of crude colonial mentality that defines Cairo’s policy in its relations with African states.

Ethiopia maintains that it has a sovereign right to develop its water resources under the principle of equitable and reasonable utilization. ENA reported on October 3 that Habtamu also criticized the historical legacy of the Aswan High Dam, saying it was constructed without Ethiopia’s consent.

The 1959 Nile Waters Agreement was concluded between Egypt and Sudan and provided for the allocation of Nile waters between the two countries, while Ethiopia was not a party to the agreement.

Ethiopia has repeatedly challenged the relevance of arrangements that exclude upstream Nile Basin states and has asserted its right to equitable and reasonable utilization of the river.

The remarks also follow Ethiopia’s announcement that it had established a national committee to assess economic losses and foregone development opportunities associated with more than 22 water projects that the government says were blocked or obstructed by Egypt.

Ethiopia’s Government Retakes Mekelle After Opposition Fighters Withdraw from Tigray Capital

By RODNEY MUHUMUZA and KHALED KAZZIHA

9:42 AM EDT, October 4, 2026

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Government-allied fighters entered Mekelle, the capital of Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, a witness said Sunday, after the rebel Tigray People’s Liberation Front announced its withdrawal following renewed fighting.

The TPLF last month seized the Mekelle airport and the city, one of Ethiopia’s largest. In a statement Saturday, it said its forces had pulled out. They had done so in the previous two-year war, which ended with a peace agreement in 2022, apparently to spare the city from destruction.

Ethiopian Airlines had suspended flights to Mekelle and the Tigrayan cities of Axum and Shire after the rebels seized the airport. The African Union urged restraint, warning that renewed tensions threatened the 2022 agreement.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has tried and failed to subdue Tigray’s rebellious leaders in recent months, with TPLF Chairman Debretsion Gebremichael openly challenging him. Debretsion said Thursday that the fighting was a “continuation of the previous war” and that his fighters would keep attacking and defending Tigray from its enemies.

Residents report looting and entry of government-allied fighters

After federal troops take control of Mekelle, Abiy is very likely to leave regional security in the hands of the Tigray Peace Force, which comprises former members of the TPLF armed wing, Tigray Defense Forces, according to Jalale Getachew Birru, an analyst of Ethiopia for ACLED, an independent global monitor that collects, analyzes and maps data on conflict.

The Tigray Peace Force is fighting alongside federal troops against the TPLF.

Severe disruptions to internet and cellphone networks have made gathering and verifying information from Tigray difficult, although some connectivity was reported Sunday. Residents of Mekelle told The Associated Press on Saturday that federal forces had retaken the airport, although details were scanty.

Civilians looted government offices and hauled away equipment from police headquarters in Mekelle as TPLF-allied fighters withdrew, a local business owner, who witnessed the departures and looting, said Sunday. The looting targeted the TPLF administration office, the regional police headquarters and some shops, Filmon Equar Hailu said.

Speaking by phone from Mekelle, Filmon said he saw some TPLF-allied fighters with light weapons leaving the city, some on foot. Departures began in small groups about three days ago and continued through Saturday afternoon, he said.

Small groups of fighters from the Tigray Peace Force entered Mekelle, Filmon said, adding he heard celebratory gunfire overnight into Sunday morning.

The TPLF is one of seven opposition groups that declared an alliance late last month whose objective is to remove Abiy. He rose to the premiership in 2018, and was reelected earlier this year. In addition to once being Tigray’s ruling party, the TPLF was the dominant group in a coalition that ruled Ethiopia between 1991 and 2018.

The fighting has brought renewed hardship to civilians still recovering from the previous war. Residents have described fears of renewed isolation following the suspension of flights. They also reported that roads connecting Tigray and Afar had been closed to civilian traffic.

Renewed fighting has regional implications

The conflict is also testing regional alliances, with Ethiopia charging that the TPLF is likely getting support from Eritrea and Egypt. Relations between Ethiopia and Egypt have been cold in recent years because of a large power dam on the Nile River that is opposed by Cairo over concerns it could diminish the amount of water received in Egypt.

Abiy also angered Eritrea over his stated wish for Ethiopia to gain sovereign access to the Eritrean Red Sea port of Assab.

Ethiopia on Thursday closed its embassy in Eritrea and ordered 10 Eritrean diplomats to leave Addis Ababa, the federal capital, citing their alleged “involvement in activities that pose a direct threat to Ethiopia’s national security.” Eritrea retaliated by saying it was cutting diplomatic ties with its neighbor.

Egypt denies supporting the TPLF, and Eritrea says Abiy is trying to externalize an internal conflict.

Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki traveled to Egypt on a working visit at the invitation of his counterpart there, Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel said Saturday.

Afwerki and President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi would “discuss further enhancement of bilateral ties during the visit,” Yemane said on social platform X.

____ Kazziha reported from Nairobi, Kenya.

Ethiopian Federal Forces Retake Mekelle Airport from Tigrayan Fighters, Residents Say

By RODNEY MUHUMUZA and AMIR AMAN KIYARO

6:09 PM EDT, October 3, 2026

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Ethiopian federal forces have taken the airport in Mekelle, the capital of the northern Tigray region, according to people in the city who spoke to The Associated Press on Saturday, reversing a takeover by Tigrayan fighters that prompted the suspension of commercial flights last month.

It wasn’t immediately clear when federal forces recaptured Alula Aba Nega Airport. Those who provided the information declined to be identified for fear of retribution amid uncertainty over who controlled the city.

Severe disruptions to internet and cellphone networks have made gathering and verifying information from Tigray difficult. Details of how the airport changed hands, including whether fighting took place there, remained unclear.

“The military is in full control of the airport. That much I can confirm,” an Ethiopian general said on condition of anonymity.

Neither the Ethiopian government nor the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, or TPLF, had issued an official statement on the airport’s reported capture. It wasn’t clear who controlled Mekelle itself. An AP contributor in the city said residents feared looting amid the uncertainty.

“Many reports indicate that the government and allied forces have begun to control Tigray’s capital,” said Jalale Getachew Birru, an Ethiopia analyst for ACLED, an independent global monitor that collects, analyzes and maps data on conflict.

TPLF fighters seized the airport on Sept. 23, prompting Ethiopian Airlines to suspend flights to Mekelle and the Tigrayan cities of Axum and Shire. The African Union urged restraint, warning that renewed tensions threatened the peace agreement signed in 2022.

Federal troops are fighting alongside allied Tigrayan forces against the TPLF. The AP previously reported that the Tigray Peace Force, a breakaway faction of the Tigrayan rebels, was operating alongside federal forces in the neighboring Afar region.

The reported change in control follows a sharp deterioration in relations between Ethiopia and neighboring Eritrea. Ethiopia on Thursday ordered 10 Eritrean diplomats to leave and announced the closure of its embassy in Eritrea. Eritrea said that it would sever diplomatic ties.

Ethiopian authorities have accused Eritrea of supporting the TPLF, an allegation Eritrea has denied.

The U.S. State Department in a statement Saturday urged Ethiopia and Eritrea to show restraint and return to talks.

“Increasing cross-border tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea have the potential to affect the entire region,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said. “The Horn of Africa cannot sustain another military conflict and humanitarian crisis. A conflict jeopardizes ongoing U.S. collaboration on shared interests with both countries.”

The government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, if it takes control of Mekelle, is very likely to leave regional security in the hands of the Tigray Peace Force, which comprises former members of the Tigray Defense Forces, Birru said.

Abiy has tried and failed to subdue Tigray’s rebellious leaders in recent months, with TPLF Chairman Debretsion Gebremichael openly challenging him. Renewed fighting has shattered a 2022 peace deal that ended a devastating two-year war between federal troops, backed by Eritrea and allied militias, and the TPLF.

“This is an extraordinary and largely unexpected turn in a war whose direction looked very different only days ago,” Getachew Temare, an independent attorney and human rights defender who is from Ethiopia, said of the possible fall of Mekelle in an analysis posted on X. “But the most consequential question is not whether Mekelle falls. It is what this fall means politically.”

He said the emergence of the Tigray Peace Force makes the current conflict different from the previous one. When Mekelle fell to federal forces in November 2020, the TPLF “retained something far more important. A substantial political and social constituency for armed resistance remained intact. Within months, Tigrayan forces returned to Mekelle and the military balance was dramatically reversed.”

The fighting has brought renewed hardship to civilians still recovering from the previous 2020-2022 war. Residents of Mekelle told the AP earlier this week that communications, banking and other essential services had been disrupted.

In September, residents described fears of renewed isolation following the suspension of flights. They also reported that roads connecting Tigray and Afar had been closed to civilian traffic, although the AP couldn’t independently verify the closures.

___

Kiyaro reported from Hamburg, Germany. Associated Press writers Khaled Kazziha in Nairobi, Kenya and Matt Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

Akuapem People in Ghana Celebrate 200th Anniversary of a Victory Over the Ashanti Empire

By DENNIS NIPAH and EDWARD ACQUAH

4:53 AM EDT, October 4, 2026

AKROPONG-AKUAPEM, Ghana (AP) — The Indigenous Akuapem people in eastern Ghana celebrated this week their military victory over the Ashanti Empire 200 years ago, a vast, sprawling and powerful 18th-century West African state.

The battle helped reshape the area into what has become part of modern Ghana.

The empire might be long gone, but the battle has not faded from memory. Two centuries later, the Akuapem people still come together to honor their victory by reenacting the war.

The festival, called Akuapem Odwira, is also a means of purification, spiritual renewal and thanksgiving, they say.

The two-week-long celebration, which started on Sept. 21, has featured an array of pageantry, a re-enactment and a durbar, or ceremonial gathering.

Both royalty and subjects engaging in the festivities were draped in traditional Kente cloth. Gold ornaments glinted in the afternoon sun as drums rolled through the streets and the chiefs arrived on decorated palanquins carried by attendants. Praise singers and dancers performed around the clock in the streets.

On the 10th day of the celebration, young men dressed as warriors marched from the palace into the hills and forest for the re-enactment of the battle, fought on Aug. 7, 1826.

The performers climbed a steep mountain into the forest, following the route toward the area where the battle is believed to have taken place. At a stream, libations were poured and other rituals performed.

Some participants, acting as captured enemy soldiers, were chained and led back toward the community, where crowds gathered to receive them before they were presented to the chief.

Nanahemaa Adwoa Awindor, the Queen Mother in charge of developmental activities, said the bicentennial anniversary was important because it showed how culture can survive across generations.

“Two hundred years of Odwira represents far more than the passage of time. It is a remarkable testimony to the resilience of the people, the continuity of tradition, and the enduring power of culture to bind generations together,” she said.

For younger generations, the anniversary has also become a means to reconnect with a heritage they say is too easily overlooked.

Kingsley Ketegu, a 36-year-old Akuapem resident who took part in the celebrations, said young people should use such occasions to learn about their history.

“As young people, we should embrace this and learn our culture,” he said. “Odwira is a very big festival. Very, very big. But we have underrated it.”

Inside the Study for a Remedy to Fight DR Congo’s Deadliest Ebola Outbreak

A doctor collects an enrolled patient's blood for Ebola testing during clinical trials attempting to stop the rare Bundibugyo virus, amidst a deadly Ebola outbreak, in Rwampara Hospital in Ituri, Congo, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Dieudonne Dirole)

By CONSTANT SAME BAGALWA and EVE BRENNAN

RWAMPARA, Congo (AP) — More than 250 participants have been enrolled in a trial for a drug that could stop them from contracting Ebola in Congo, in what experts have described as a critical step to try to fight the deadliest outbreak of the disease in the Central African country.

The drug is targeted at Bundibugyo virus, which is responsible for the fast-moving outbreak and is without an approved vaccine or treatment. The trial began in July and is one of several studies launched to find some protection and another way of at least slowing the outbreak.

The Associated Press spoke this week to participants and doctors at the health center where the trial is taking place in the eastern province of Ituri, the epicenter of the outbreak. The participants include people who have been exposed to the disease in this outbreak, among them health workers and patients’ relatives.

At least 8,300 confirmed cases, including 4,000 deaths, have been recorded since this Ebola outbreak was declared in mid-May in eastern Congo. It has spread to seven provinces and continues to outpace efforts to track and slow it, authorities say.

The trial is testing Gilead’s experimental antiviral pill, called obeldesivir, which is given soon after suspected contact with the virus to prevent the disease from developing. That approach is called post-exposure prophylaxis, or PEP.

The drug aims to stop the disease before it spreads

One participant in the trial known as EBO-PEP told AP that she enrolled in the study in August after her husband tested positive for Ebola. She says so far no one from her family developed symptoms.

She and other trial participants requested anonymity to protect their privacy due to the sensitive nature of the Ebola outbreak and the medical protocol involved.

“I realized that if I even touched my husband — and I did touch him, his vomit, everything — (it meant that) I was a direct contact. I could have also passed on this contagious disease. I could have been contaminated,” the participant said.

She said she knew of entire households which had become infected after a family member tested positive for Ebola. But so far no one from her family has developed symptoms, she says.

Ebola disease only spreads once symptoms begin. People exposed to infected patients have to wait to see if they get sick. Finding people at high risk of incubating the Bundibugyo virus — also known as contact tracing — has proved difficult in Congo.

Another participant said two of their family members had caught Ebola, and one of them had died. “This disease is killing. It’s better to take precautions,” he said.

How the trial works

The trial, coordinated by ALIMA, a medical nonprofit, aims to recruit nearly 1,000 adults or children over the age of 12 who have come into contact with a confirmed case within the last five days but have no symptoms. Half will get a placebo.

Participants are monitored in person every day for 21 days, with a final phone call after 42 days, according to Dr. Godefroid Basara, who is working on the trial.

ALIMA said that if trial participants begin to develop symptoms, they will immediately receive supportive treatment, which has been shown to be helpful when symptoms are caught early.

If the pill proves effective, it could help break the infection chain.

“It differs from a vaccine, which may take days or weeks to provide protection. It is also different from curative treatment because it is intended for people who are not yet showing symptoms,” ALIMA research coordinator Dr. Guilavogui Jean Paul Yassa said.

Dr. Jacques Zawadi, an investigating physician working with ALIMA at the trial center, said most participants are happy to take part in the study, but it had been challenging encouraging some people who live far from the center to sign up.

He said the study is sometimes disrupted when participants find out their family members have died from the disease.

“This is the biggest challenge we face. When a person is emotionally affected, it is not easy to reason with them and ensure they return to the study,” he said.

The trial partners also include Congo’s National Institute of Biomedical Research and the French institute ANRS Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Front-line health workers are also at high risk

As new vaccines are under development elsewhere, Congo started vaccinating health workers with the Ervebo vaccine which was effective during previous Ebola outbreaks caused by a different, more common virus. Authorities have said Ervebo could offer some protection against Bundibugyo, but whether the vaccine can actually prevent illness is still being studied.

On Thursday, humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders said a staff member had tested positive for Ebola and was being evacuated to the Netherlands. In June, a humanitarian physician with ALIMA also tested positive after returning to France from one of the virus hot spots.

The World Health Organization has said the outbreak continues to outpace efforts to track and slow the spread, and is set to exceed West Africa’s regional outbreak between 2014 and 2016 — the deadliest on record — which killed 11,000 people.

___

Brennan reported from Dakar, Senegal. Lauran Neergaard contributed from Washington, D.C.

Suspected Boko Haram Militants Kill at Least 15 in Nigeria’s Borno State, Police Say. 3 Missing

By HARUNA UMAR

5:24 PM EDT, October 2, 2026

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — Suspected Boko Haram militants killed at least 15 farmers and firewood gatherers in the Marte local government area of Nigeria ‘s northeastern Borno State, police and human rights officials said Friday.

The attack, apparently carried out by the prominent Islamic militant group, took place late Wednesday and early Thursday in the villages of Ala, Gummna and Musune in Marte, located approximately 130 kilometers (80 miles) northeast of Maiduguri, the state capital.

Borno state police spokesperson Nahum Daso confirmed the violence and added that security forces are working to account for the whereabouts of three other residents who remain missing.

Community members retrieved the bodies from the surrounding bushland and buried the 15 victims Thursday evening in accordance with Islamic rites. Residents said the victims, who included young men and village elders, were ambushed, bound and executed at close range while gathering firewood and tending their crops.

Amnesty International condemned the attack in a statement, calling the targeting of civilians a grave violation of international humanitarian law and urging Nigerian authorities to bolster protection for vulnerable rural communities in the northeast.

“The victims, who were local residents venturing into the surrounding bush to gather firewood to earn a living or cook for their families, were ambushed and targeted by a suspected Boko Haram group,” Amnesty said.

Islamic militants have been attacking residents and military targets in the region for more than a decade.

Morocco: Whistleblower Reveals How Authorities Used a Web of Surveillance to Silence Journalists and Activists

Amnesty International

Whistleblower reveals how authorities used a web of surveillance to silence journalists and activists.

1 October 2026

Amnesty International (London)

Ex-security agent provides rare first-hand insight into how Morocco surveillance system works from the inside.

Intelligence services conspired with phone shop owners to sell phones pre-infected with spyware

Authorities in Morocco operate an expansive and vast surveillance apparatus that combines digital and analogue tools to track, monitor and ultimately silence journalists, activists and other critical voices, Amnesty International said in a new report.

We start with the verdict: Inside Morocco's surveillance machine reveals how Moroccan authorities use unlawful surveillance to target human rights defenders, journalists and other dissenting voices and subject them to criminal prosecutions, judicial harassment and other forms of repression in violation of their rights to privacy, liberty, and freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.

"Morocco has wholly embraced techno-authoritarian practices, acquiring a wide range of surveillance technologies to establish and enable a repressive system specifically designed to instill fear among human rights activists and journalists, silence their voices and obstruct their work inside and outside Morocco," said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International's Secretary General.

Morocco has repeatedly denied using spyware to spy on its citizens. However, new evidence obtained by Amnesty International including whistleblower testimony, leaked surveillance data, government spyware targeting records and material from companies selling surveillance tools proves the opposite. Drawing on this evidence, the organization documents not only the range of tools and techniques used to target dissent, but the web of international vendors providing them.

"Our report provides the most detailed picture to date of the tools deployed by the Moroccan authorities, such as high-tech spyware, audio bugging systems and trackers to spy on journalists, human rights defenders and other individuals. Morocco's surveillance tools are purchased from corporate actors based in Israel, the EU and the United States of America, and including NSO Group, the now defunct Italian spyware company Hacking Team, now known as Memento Labs, and the British-German network of companies Gamma Group and FinFisher. Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International's Secretary General

"This is another demonstration of a global economy of techno-oppression, enabled by companies and States failing to uphold their obligations under international law.

"This repressive ecosystem makes it difficult, and dangerous for people in Morocco to exercise their rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly. Even after they have been released from prison, they continue to live under the shadow of surveillance and are subject to smear campaigns with private details that can only be obtained through surveillance. Moroccan authorities must immediately end the unlawful surveillance of human rights defenders and journalists," said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International's Secretary General.

Forensic evidence unearthed by Amnesty International demonstrates how human rights defenders were targeted using multiple infection methods, including physical infection of devices; 1-click attacks, which typically rely on the victim clicking on a malicious link; zero-click attacks, which can infect a target without them having to click a link, or take any action; and network injection attacks, delivered via the state-owned Maroc Telecom network.

A whistleblower at the heart of Morocco's surveillance system

Amnesty International had previously published the first ever forensic evidence confirming Pegasus spyware infections of the mobile phones of human rights defenders and activists in Morocco.

This new report now identifies the Direction Générale de la Surveillance du Territoire (DGST), as the entity responsible for the deployment of Pegasus spyware in Morocco, and the extensively documented abuses of Pegasus against activists and journalists between 2017 and 2021 despite previous denials by Moroccan authorities.

A whistleblower, known by the pseudonym Safir, is a former DGST employee. In multiple interviews conducted over several years, he described the inner operations of the DGST and detailed the wide range of surveillance tools and techniques used by the agency. Amnesty International corroborated key aspects of Safir's testimony with independent sources, technical evidence and interviews with human rights defenders.

By combining the first-hand accounts of the DGST insider with digital forensics research, interviews with ten targets of surveillance, and leaked data on both surveillance operations in Morocco and range of surveillance technology suppliers, Amnesty International is able to provide one of the most detailed and revealing accounts of state surveillance operations, while contextualizing spyware abuses as one tactic situated inside a wider system of surveillance and control.

Safir described how personal devices are compromised. Targeted individuals are secretly filmed and audio recorded while in detention, in their offices and cars, at cafes, and even inside their bedrooms. Phone calls are routinely intercepted. Location data is tracked, exposing the daily movements of activists and their associates. Safir described how phone shops were co-opted to sell mobile phones pre-infected with spyware by DGST agents, and how neighbours of targeted human rights defenders are recruited as informants.

These tactics do not only affect the targeted activists, but also extend to families, friends and professional networks. Agents operate without judicial oversight or accountability and target activists in secrecy and with impunity.

"The tools they use are wide-ranging, but the goal is clear: to blackmail, discredit, shame and, if necessary, unjustly imprison those who speak out in defence of human rights in Morocco, Rebecca White, Amnesty International Security Lab Researcher.

"Ultimately, for human rights defenders in Morocco, there is virtually nowhere to hide and no way to escape the state's all-encompassing web of surveillance, which even extends beyond Morocco's borders."

How the DGST targets activists

Morocco's surveillance operations are primarily executed by the DGST. While many advanced digital surveillance techniques can be conducted remotely, the DGST has also relied on physical infection of devices as a key surveillance method against journalists and activists.

In his testimony, Safir said these methods were routinely deployed against individuals transiting through Morocco's airports, as well as through arrangements to covertly supply "new" devices to targeted individuals via secondhand phone vendors. These phones appear new and unused, but when activated give authorities full access to the individual's entire communications.

"We infected so many internet cafés with Remote Controlled Spyware (RCS). The field agents tell us which cybercafé the target is visiting, and we had visibility on what they were doing because we had previously infected all the machines there," Safir said.

RCS spyware allows the operator to track calls, read messages, access photos and record audio.

Once a person is marked as a surveillance target, the DGST has an array of tools at its disposal, including advanced digital targeted and mass surveillance technologies. Beyond telephone surveillance, authorities covertly planted microphones and other recording devices in private spaces to capture conversations.

Journalist Omar Radi, who faced years of harassment and later imprisonment because of his work on corruption and human rights violations, was targeted using this method. Safir described them as small microphones operating wirelessly via encrypted radio transmission, implanted in his apartment's light fixtures.

Human rights defenders also face surveillance, criminal prosecution and smear campaigns based on information they believe has been obtained through surveillance. These campaigns are deployed through state-aligned media platforms, often meant to delegitimize or stigmatize activists in Moroccan society.

"As soon as I speak in public, as soon as I write a Facebook post, as soon as I put something out on Instagram, they scrutinize my every move, they insult me. They're not media - they're tools of terror," Omar Radi.

The suspicion that private and domestic spaces have been intruded has a profound psychological impact on human rights defenders.

In 2021, veteran human rights activist Fouad Abdelmoumni was covertly filmed at home with his fiancée and the video circulated on WhatsApp.

"When I saw the videos of me and my partner in bed, the location and angle of the recording were clearly visible. It must have been the air-conditioning unit. I went to look but I didn't find anything, so I deduced that they'd been able to easily install and remove it. The quality of the image and sound was very good, despite the fact it was dark, so the equipment must have been very sophisticated," he said.

Safir confirmed Abdelmoumni's testimony describing it as a "textbook case" of DGST's surveil and clean-up operation designed to leave no trace.

The investigation was conducted as part of a collaboration with 14 media organizations coordinated by Forbidden Stories and builds on the work of Moroccan investigative journalist Hicham Mansouri - himself a victim of Morocco's surveillance machine and now exiled in France. In 2015, he was imprisoned under trumped-up charges of "adultery" and "sexual exploitation" after a trial which did not meet international standards. He told Amnesty International how surveillance leads to self-censorship.

"It's very violent. A friend told me that, after years of this, the day he went into prison, it was a kind of relief," said Mansouri

In October 2019, Amnesty International forensically documented the first Pegasus infection attempts in Morocco, targeting Abdessadak El Bouchattaoui, a human rights lawyer involved in defending Hirak El-Rif movement protesters. Pegasus Project records show that his phone number was entered into Morocco's Pegasus system on 19 September 2017 and repeatedly selected for spyware targeting on multiple occasions, including on 23 October 2017, shortly before he received an SMS infection link. This confirms that Morocco's Pegasus spyware operations were fully operational by October 2017.

Pegasus spyware evolution and use against human rights defenders and journalists

Based on analysis of legal documents, leaked surveillance records, open-source intelligence and Safir's testimony, the report provides further evidence that from September 2017, the DGST began deploying and using Pegasus, with NSO Group staff conducting demonstrations or dry runs of the system during visits to Morocco. NSO Group develops the notorious and highly invasive Pegasus spyware.

Further evidence, drawn from previously unpublished internal NSO Group materials disclosed as part of a long-running US civil court case against the company initiated by WhatsApp and Meta, indicates that NSO staff conducted trainings and performed tests demonstrating new capabilities of their spyware product for the benefit of Moroccan authorities, a customer who NSO Group internally codenamed Morgen.

An analysis of all target phone numbers entered in the Moroccan Pegasus system between September and December 2017 by Amnesty International provides further evidence that human rights defenders and independent journalists were the DGST's priority targets.

Amnesty International matched 103 Moroccan phone numbers to specific individuals selected as potential Pegasus targets. Sixty-five were identifiable as civil society members (including 34 human rights defenders, 22 journalists and media workers, five lawyers, and four academics), 25 were political representatives or officials, and five were diplomats or representatives of international organizations. The remaining eight included business people, religious figures and others whose identity or categorization was unclear.

"These records show the phone numbers of prominent human rights defenders and journalists were among the first to be entered into the Pegasus system, indicating that this was the priority purpose for which the DGST had acquired the highly invasive spyware system, Donncha Ó Cearbhaill, Head of Amnesty International's Security Lab.

"The report also evidences and forensically attributes numerous cases of Pegasus abuses to the DGST based on technical analysis of Pegasus attacks. Together, these findings provide strong evidence that Morocco was responsible for an extensive cross-border Pegasus surveillance campaign against critical journalists, activists, lawyers and politicians."

Four weeks prior to publication of its report, Amnesty International wrote to Moroccan authorities but did not receive any response.

Prior to publication, Amnesty International wrote to the companies featured in the report with our key findings related to their operations.

Verint replied to stating that "Verint divested this line of business on Feb. 1, 2021. Media inquiries should be referred to Cognyte Software Ltd."

Memento Labs stated that "We can confirm to you that there isn't any active contract with any Morrocan Agency," adding that "Memento Labs in the last years has dramatically changed the way of doing business and has already implemented an Internal Compliance program in order to carefully monitor Countries' situations."

Amnesty International did not receive a reply from any of the other companies.

For the purposes of our report, Amnesty International considers surveillance to be unlawful where it is conducted in violation of domestic laws and procedures governing the use of surveillance. Surveillance may also be unlawful even when undertaken in accordance with domestic legal procedures if it is used in ways that contravene international human rights law and standards.

Morocco's surveillance practices and many of the tools it uses violate international human rights law and standards. Morocco must urgently cease the surveillance of human rights defenders and journalists lawfully exercising their human rights. Moroccan judicial authorities must ensure an independent and effective investigation into all reported cases of unlawful surveillance by the DGST.

States must stop the export of spyware, digital forensics tools, and other privacy-invasive technology to Morocco until there's a system of human rights safeguards in place capable of preventing human rights abuses in practice.

Read the original article on AI London.

 Nigeria Independence Anniversary: Tinubu Compares His Tough Policies to Painful Cancer Treatment

Président Bola Ahmed Tinubu

1 October 2026

Premium Times (Abuja)

By Mariam Ileyemi

"Nigeria was like a sick patient who receives the terrible news that he has cancer."

President Bola Tinubu on Thursday compared his tough policies to the essential cancer treatment a patient needs.

The Nigerian leader, in a televised address marking the country's 66th Independence Anniversary, said the situation inherited in 2023 warranted tough decisions that economists argue have caused Nigeria's worst cost of living crisis in a generation.

"Nigeria was like a sick patient who receives the terrible news that he has cancer. His doctor explains that the treatment will be difficult and painful, but that it offers a strong prospect of recovery. The patient has a choice. He can begin treatment, endure its discomfort and fight the disease. Or he can ask only for morphine, dull the pain and leave the cancer to spread.

"For too long, Nigeria's leaders chose morphine while praying for a miracle that never came," he said.

Mr Tinubu said previous administrations had focused on the symptoms of the country's economic problems while allowing the underlying issues to worsen.

"When this administration assumed office, we resolved to do things differently. We chose to excise the cancer. The reforms that followed were difficult. The side effects were real. Yet, we must never confuse the medicine with the disease," he said.

The President's comparison comes at a time when cancer remains a major health burden in Nigeria, with many patients diagnosed late and facing difficult treatment.

Cancer burden

The latest estimates from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) show that Nigeria recorded an estimated 152,261 new cancer cases and 90,795 cancer deaths in 2024.

Breast cancer accounted for the highest number of new cases, followed by prostate and cervical cancers.

The figures highlight the scale of a disease that continues to claim thousands of lives in Nigeria each year, particularly where patients present late or are unable to access timely treatment.

Nigeria's 2025 Cancer Control Capacity and Needs Assessment also found that more than 70 per cent of cancer patients in the country present with advanced disease.

The National Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment (NICRAT) conducted the assessment with support from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The report identified late presentation as one of the major challenges affecting cancer outcomes in the country.

A 2025 study involving 264 cancer patients in Kano and Ibadan also found significant delays in diagnosis.

Researchers reported a median period of 12 months between patients first noticing symptoms and receiving a cancer diagnosis, with patients visiting a median of three health facilities before receiving a formal diagnosis.

Chemotherapy, other treatments can be difficult

Chemotherapy, one of the major treatments used for cancer, can cause side effects including severe tiredness, nausea and vomiting, hair loss, mouth sores and reduced blood-cell counts, depending on the drugs used and the individual patient.

Other treatments, including surgery and radiotherapy, can also be physically demanding and may require repeated hospital visits over weeks or months.

In Nigeria, access to these treatments remains a challenge. The 2025 national cancer-control assessment estimated that more than 120 radiation machines would be needed to adequately treat the country's cancer patients, but only 13 functional radiation machines were available at the time of the assessment.

It also found that patients often have to travel long distances to access radiotherapy.

The report further identified shortages of oncology specialists. It estimated that Nigeria had about 0.03 oncologists per 100,000 people and noted that skilled oncology staff were inadequate for the country's population.

Read the original article on Premium Times.

Botswana Criticised for Slaughtering 23 Elephants for Independence Celebrations

Desert elephants in the Huab River

1 October 2026

allAfrica.com

Botswana has authorised the killing of 23 elephants and other wildlife for meat as part of celebrations marking the country's 60th anniversary of independence, drawing criticism from animal rights and conservation groups.

The government had approved the culling of 23 elephants ahead of the celebrations, with the meat to be distributed across eight districts. The programme also included the hunting of other wildlife species such as kudu, impala and wildebeest.

The Elephant Protection Society warned that using elephants for celebratory feasts could undermine conservation efforts and encourage poaching.

The decision has also sparked concerns over hygiene and disease amid a foot-and-mouth outbreak. Local officials are calling for the meat to be processed and distributed more safely.

Botswana has more than 130,000 elephants and defends regulated hunting as a way to manage human-wildlife conflict and generate funds for communities and conservation.

The government's stance on hunting is controversial. Supporters of Botswana's hunting policy, however, said that international criticism fails to fully account for the challenges faced by rural communities living near large elephant populations.

They said elephants could destroy crops and property and endanger people, especially as expanding human settlements push communities closer to wildlife.