In this week’s top news, the foreign ministry of theEthiopia has formally applied to join the countries BRICSthus joining Algeria and Egypt among the African countries that have already submitted applications to join the group. A particularly intense activity that can be explained, writes Nigrizia, also with the perspective of next summit BRICS, from 22 to 24 August, which will be held right on the African continent, in Johannesburg, in South Africa.
In Sierra LeoneInstead, the Electoral Commission stated that Julius Maada Biothe incumbent president and candidate of the Sierra Leone People’s Party, won his second five-year term in the Presidential Elections of 24 June. Nigrizia recounts how Bio obtained 56.17% of the preferences, while the opposition candidate, Samura Kamara, of the All People’s Congress (APC), stopped at 41.16%: however, rejecting the electoral result and denouncing possible fraud and police violence.
On the subject of elections, in Mali The results have been announced constitutional referendum carried out on 23 June 2023: the Yes has imposed itself, unsurprisingly, with 97% of the votes, despite a very low turnout (39.4%). Africa24Tv also notes the non-participation of the region of left-handed and other areas due to the climate of insecurity: in this region, still controlled by armed groups, the vote essentially did not take place. The new Constitution will allow for the strengthening of powers of the presidentdespite mixed opposition to the project.
Wagner’s operations in Africa
In a piece published on France Inter and translated for Italy by Internazionale, Pierre Haski continues to deepen the link between the Wagner Brigade and the African continent. After Prigozhin’s march, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov declared, also in order to reassure Moscow’s allies, that the group of mercenaries will “certainly” continue its commitment in Mali e Central African Republic. A presence that however leaves behind a “trail of destruction”as Neil Munshi and Max Seddon write in the Financial Times.
On Nigrizia, Bruna Sironi dwells on the African countries in which Wagner is involved. Sudan, for example, Moscow’s real gateway to the continent for primarily military purposes: between 2003 and 2007, in fact, Russia supplied the Sudan 87% of its conventional armaments. But the benefits are not only related to political influence, but also to exploitation of resources of the countries where the Wagner group operates: in several countries military actions are linked to contracts to extract minerals, as in Central African Republic e Mozambique.
Of note, there is also the reaction of United States to Russian expansionism in Africa. Nigrizia writes about it: Washington would have sanctioned the head of the Wagner group for Mali, Ivan Aleksandrovich Maslovfurther accusing the paramilitaries of having provided missili alle Rapid Support Forces engaged in conflict Sudan. The US also speaks of the Group’s efforts to acquire military equipment for use in Ukraineworking through Mali and other countries where it has a foothold.
The difficulties of Tunisia, two important sentences for Rwanda and South Africa
Ilaria De Bonis for Nigrizia deals with the economic difficulties she is experiencing there Tunisia: Four years of government by the president-despot Kais Saied they plunged the country into a economic and social crisis which seems to have no end. The population suffers but disillusionment and distrust in politics prevail over the desire for rebellion. And whoever can takes it way of the seadespite Europe’s efforts to limit departures, without however dwelling on the context that generates emigration.
According to the London Court of Appeal, the British government’s plan to ship in Rwanda asylum seekers arriving through the English Channel is illegal, says Nigrizia. The ruling holds that the asylum system of the country governed by Paul Kagame is somewhat deficient and affirms that asylum seekers, once they arrive in Kigali, risk being sent back, at their own risk, to their countries of origin. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced that he will appeal before the Supreme Court.
In South Africafinally, the Pretoria High Court ruled that the decision of the South African government not to renew the temporary residence permit in 180 thousand immigrants Zimbabweans and “illegal, unconstitutional and invalid”. Nigrizia reports how South Africa, the continent’s leading industrial power and grappling with an unemployment rate of over 30%, has tightened the mesh of immigration laws also on the impetus of protests from sectors of public opinion and xenophobic groups.
Cover photo EPA/PARKER SONG / POOL