Last week, anti-immigrant protests in South Africa turned violent, with looting, destruction of property, and reports of 24 vehicles being burnt as tensions escalated in Johannesburg and Durban. The unrest followed growing anger over a government directive on asylum applications, which the Department of Home Affairs has since withdrawn. 

The directive, issued on September 28, instructed Refugee Reception Offices (RROs) to process all asylum applications immediately. Massive queues of foreign nationals subsequently formed at immigration offices, which were met with demonstrations and violence from anti-immigrant groups.

Protests were reported in Soweto township, Johannesburg, and Durban, in KwaZulu-Natal province. Demonstrations in Durban continued for a second day, prompting police to strengthen their presence to contain the unrest. However, tensions remained high in the city and in the country.

Government withdraws asylum directive

On October 9, the director-general of the Department of Home Affairs announced the withdrawal of the directive concerning the intake of asylum applications.

The directive had been introduced following a July 7, 2026 Constitutional Court judgment that mandated that individuals could not be barred from accessing South Africa’s asylum system, even if they entered the country irregularly. According to the department, the September directive intended to guide Refugee Reception Offices in implementing the court’s order.

The department said the directive had been issued as an operational measure without the knowledge or involvement of the Minister of Home Affairs or other political office-bearers. It rejected claims that the measure had been politically motivated.

However, the department acknowledged that implementing the judgment had produced consequences that were not anticipated in the court order. These included overcrowding at Refugee Reception Offices within days of the directive’s introduction, risks to the safety of Home Affairs officials and emerging threats to public order.

The director-general said the department would begin a fresh process to determine a more appropriate and sustainable way of complying with the court order, while reaffirming its commitment to the rule of law and the authority of the judiciary.

Home Affairs warns of disinformation

Two days before withdrawing the directive, the Department of Home Affairs issued a statement on October 7 warning of what it described as a coordinated disinformation campaign surrounding the Constitutional Court judgment.

The department said false claims had circulated suggesting that the Minister of Home Affairs or political parties had independently decided to suspend certain asylum procedures. It insisted that the operational directive had been issued to implement a binding court judgment.

The department also rejected claims that the ruling granted citizenship to asylum seekers or automatically legalized all foreign nationals living in the country.

It warned that misinformation intended to inflame tensions and incite violence threatens public stability, urging South Africans to verify information before sharing it.

The subsequent withdrawal of the directive, however, does not reverse the Constitutional Court’s judgment. Home Affairs has said it will develop a new operational approach that complies with the ruling while addressing the challenges faced by refugee reception offices.

Anti-immigrant tensions continue to escalate

Last week’s violence is the latest in a wave of anti-immigrant and xenophobic mobilization that has built steadily since the start of the year. Protests broke out across Johannesburg, Durban and Pretoria in April, and anti-immigrant groups, led by the March and March movement, set June 30 as a deadline for undocumented migrants to leave the country.

On that day, police arrested hundreds during nationwide marches, and one person was shot dead in Johannesburg’s Alexandra township as residents looted spaza shops owned by foreign nationals. In the following weeks, protesters in Johannesburg went door to door, seizing foreigners from their homes, with many fleeing for safety.

Burkina Faso has begun reviewing its history, geography and civic education curricula. The government says the aim is to “decolonize” the country’s schools by removing colonial-era portrayals of African history and giving more space to national history, African resistance, cultural values, and local knowledge.

Speaking during a meeting with education officials in Ouagadougou, Secondary Education Minister Moumouni Zoungrana criticized the language used in school textbooks to describe European colonialists.

“Those who came to conquer Africa are called explorers, conquerors. Were they conquerors? They were spies…. They were invaders,” the minister said, according to APA News.

The minister said certain terms in the current materials serve to “infantilize” and “animalize” Africans in the teaching of their own history. “We have made a firm resolution to reread these curricula, to reread the content and to remove the words that are infantilizing and animalizing us,” he said.

He added that the reform would go beyond removing offensive language. “We have made the same decision to add other chapters that promote our values and eliminate the chapters that are dragging us down,” he said.

Further, during the second phase of Burkina Faso’s National Days of Patriotic Commitment and Citizen Participation (JEPPC), where officials presented education reforms and responded to concerns raised by citizens. It was emphasized that beyond the revision of historical narratives, the reforms seek to make education more responsive to Burkina Faso’s sociocultural and environmental realities. Measures include strengthening civic and moral education, introducing English progressively from the second grade, expanding instruction in national languages, and promoting bilingual education and cultural activities in schools.

“The logical continuation” of decolonizing reforms

Souleymane Kimbié Armel, of the Comité international Mémorial Thomas Sankara, told BreakThrough News that the curriculum overhaul follows directly from the country’s wider political project.

Armel said the reforms sought to decolonize the minds of younger generations, arguing that previous curricula glorified European colonialists while presenting African societies through degrading descriptions.

He cited the expression “the flight of the Moogho Naaba,” referring to the Mossi king of Ouagadougou at the arrival of invading forces, as an example of terminology that requires critical examination.

“The change in the curriculum is the logical continuation of reforms aimed at decolonizing mindsets, beginning with the youngest members of society,” Armel said.

He also challenged what he described as the longstanding portrayal of Burkina Faso as an inherently poor country, arguing that such narratives obscure the country’s capacities and resources.

According to Armel, the educational system has historically failed to recognize the value of Burkina Faso’s cultural diversity, sometimes presenting ethnic differences as a source of division rather than a strength.

Instead, he said, the reforms aim to restore popular confidence and pride by helping students understand their own histories, cultures and collective capacities.

“All these reforms aim to restore the people’s pride and confidence in their own abilities,” he said.

The emphasis on national history and indigenous knowledge is therefore intended not only to change what students learn but also to challenge inherited assumptions about African societies and their capacity for self-directed development.

Liberation struggles key to the new curriculum

Liberation struggles are at the centre of the new curricula, Armel said. “African states and countries of the Global South have always fought for their emancipation. The history of these struggles must be known by present and future generations,” he said. “It is in this spirit that the Haitian Revolution, the Chinese Revolution, and Thomas Sankara’s revolution are being taught.”

“The objective is to sow the seeds of revolution among young students,” he said. He noted that the Ministry has developed teaching modules and curricula and distributed them to teachers.

He added that the reforms are not limited to political education. “Beyond teaching these revolutions, the transformation also involves technical and scientific education, with the aim of ensuring that young Burkinabè are both politically conscious and technically competent.”

Armel linked the reforms to economic sovereignty, drawing on the South African anti-apartheid leader Steve Biko. “As Steve Biko rightly said, what the master has conquered in the colonized is their mind. No development can take place without the decolonization of mindsets,” he said. “This will help prevent the economy from being outward-oriented and dependent on external forces. It will also help stem the brain drain to Western countries.”

“Teaching in national languages and incorporating indigenous knowledge will contribute to achieving political sovereignty,” he continued. “In a context where the people must remain continuously mobilized, the education system should enable them to rely on their own capabilities to take charge of their country’s development.”

Challenges ahead

Armel acknowledged that implementing the reforms will be difficult. “Implementing these curricula also presents challenges, including the need to train teachers in the new concepts and ideas being introduced. This will enable teachers to understand and teach in the spirit of these changes,” he said. “In addition, textbooks and teaching materials for both teachers and students must be developed to support the reforms and improve their effectiveness.”

He also pointed to political opposition. “As with any reform, there is resistance from Francophiles who are ardent supporters of the French system. These groups represent obstacles that must be taken seriously,” he said. “Ultimately, the state must provide teachers with training and greater motivation so that they can sustain the revolution within the school system.”

Mali’s armed forces have recaptured the northern city of Kidal following a large-scale military offensive conducted alongside Russia’s Africa Corps. It is a major development in the government’s efforts to restore state control over territory held by armed groups.

The Malian Armed Forces (FAMa) announced that their troops consolidated their operational deployment in Kidal on October 7, 2026, under Operation Dougoukoloko, following several days of airstrikes and coordinated air and ground operations against the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) and Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an armed group affiliated with al-Qaeda.

In a statement, the military said the operation had weakened the armed groups’ fighting capacity and disrupted their logistical networks.

“As part of the large-scale offensive conducted in the Eastern theater, under Operation DOUGOUKOLOKO, the Malian Armed Forces (FAMa) consolidated their operational deployment in the city of KIDAL on Wednesday, October 7, 2026,” the statement said.

The military added that the offensive followed an intense air campaign and several air-ground operations that had “neutralized several elements belonging to the FLA-JNIM terrorist coalition” and inflicted significant damage on their logistical capabilities.

According to the statement, the operation was conducted by Malian forces and their partners, referring to Russia’s Africa Corps, which has supported Mali’s military authorities in security operations.

The military said the offensive aimed to strengthen security for communities in northern Mali, ensure the free movement of people and goods, reinforce border security, and disrupt the criminal economic activities of armed groups.

“Through this operational dynamic, the FAMa continue their sovereign mission of securing the national territory and protecting civilian populations and their property against abuses by Armed Terrorist Groups,” the statement added.

A strategic city in the conflict

Kidal, long a stronghold of Tuareg separatism, has been at the center of the conflict in northern Mali since 2012. The Malian army first retook the city on November 14, 2023, after more than a decade with almost no state presence there.

That control ended in April 2026. On that day the FLA and JNIM launched near-simultaneous assaults on several cities, including the capital, Bamako, as well as Kati, Mopti, Gao and Kidal. The attacks targeted military installations and strategic sites. Defense Minister General Sadio Camara was among those killed. Malian troops and Africa Corps forces subsequently withdrew from Kidal.

For the transitional government led by General Assimi Goïta, which has made territorial sovereignty its central promise, the recapture is a major symbolic victory.

Mali’s sovereignty and regional security

The recapture comes as Mali continues to pursue a security strategy centered on strengthening its armed forces and working with external partners, particularly Russia, following the deterioration of its relations with several Western governments and the expulsion of French forces.

For the Malian government, securing Kidal is more than a military objective but also a question of national sovereignty. Control of the city would strengthen the state’s position in the north.

In its statement, the military said the operation was intended to provide lasting security for the population, protect civilian property, and restrict the activities of armed groups operating in the region.

The recapture of Kidal does not by itself resolve Mali’s broader security crisis. The Alliance of Sahel States (AES) broadly continues to face security threats and destabilization campaigns from adversaries in its fight to assert sovereignty.

A new war of words has broken out between Egypt and Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). It comes as renewed fighting in northern Ethiopia pulls the country’s long-running disputes with its neighbors back into the open.

Ethiopia’s government has blamed neighboring states for the escalating conflict in the north. The government has accused Eritrea, Sudan, and Egypt of backing armed opposition groups, raising fears that the conflict could expand regionally. Birhanu Jula, Ethiopia’s army chief, stated that the Tigray People’s Liberation Front has clearly needed outside support and supplies from Egypt, Sudan, and other foreign powers to sustain its campaign. 

Cairo rejected the claim. Foreign Ministry spokesman Nader Zaki said Egypt’s foreign policy rests on respect for the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of other states and on staying out of their internal affairs, adding that claims to the contrary had no basis in fact. 

Tension over Ethiopia minister’s remarks

The dispute quickly returned to the Nile. On Saturday, Ethiopia’s minister of Water and Energy, Habtamu Itefa, published a social media post, later deleted, comparing the GERD to Egypt’s Aswan High Dam. “Before criticizing Ethiopia, Egypt should explain why it built the Aswan High Dam without Ethiopian consent.”

Cairo responded the same day. A source at the Egyptian Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation called the post “shameful” and said it reflected political confusion.

“Responding to such nonsense and the political confusion reflected in the post would be nothing more than a waste of time,” the source said. The source called the post “a desperate attempt to divert attention from the core dispute: Ethiopia’s continued unilateral actions over its illegal dam, which violate international law.”

Habtamu made the same argument. He said it was shameful to hear Egyptian politicians demand that Ethiopia obtain their consent for dams that do no significant harm, and argued that Egypt had not consulted Ethiopia when it built Aswan. He described Cairo’s insistence on prior consent as an outdated approach rooted in colonial-era arrangements. 

The $5 billion GERD sits on the Blue Nile, about 14 kilometers from the Sudanese border. It is 1.8 kilometers wide and 145 meters tall, with a design capacity of 5,150 megawatts. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed inaugurated it on September 9, 2025. Egypt and Sudan, the downstream states, have long demanded a legally binding agreement on how it is filled and operated. The United States has also stepped back, in a January 2026 letter to President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, US President Donald Trump offered to restart US-led mediation between Egypt and Ethiopia on Nile water-sharing. 

The El Alamein declaration

The leaders of Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, and Somalia met in El Alamein and issued a joint declaration covering both the Red Sea and the Nile, and among other things. On the question of the Red Sea, the four states affirmed “the principle of freedom of navigation and that the governance of the Red Sea is the exclusive responsibility of the littoral states.” 

Regarding the Nile, the declaration emphasized “the importance of respecting international law regarding transboundary rivers including the Nile River particularly the principle of ‘no harm’ and the obligation to cooperate through prior notification, consultation, and consensus.” It also categorically rejected “any unilateral measures that harm the existing water uses of the two downstream Nile states.” The four countries pledged to keep strengthening “consultation and coordination among the four countries and other sisterly African nations.”

“Realities cannot be altered by political rhetoric”

Ethiopia issued its own statement in response to the El Alamein declaration, arguing, “Ethiopia is the source of the Abay River, commonly known as the Blue Nile. Virtually all of the Blue Nile originates in the Ethiopian highlands, and the Abay contributes about 85% of the Nile River’s total flow. Any discussion concerning the utilization and management of the Abay River should be informed by these fundamental realities.”

Insisting that, “Despite changes in political boundaries over time, Ethiopia remains closely connected to the Red Sea, with its nearest border lying barely 30 miles from the coast. Accordingly, any serious discussion of regional maritime affairs and security architecture must account for Ethiopia’s legitimate interests and its enduring connection to the Red Sea.”

It added, “These geographic and historical realities cannot be altered by political rhetoric, coercive measures, or acts of destabilization. Actions taken through proxies or acts of aggression will not change the facts on the ground, nor will they diminish Ethiopia’s legitimate interests, role, and responsibilities in the region.”

Reaffirming that it “stands ready to defend its sovereignty, territorial integrity, and core national interests,” Ethiopia urged regional actors to pursue “constructive dialogue, partnership, and adherence to the principles of good neighborliness rather than confrontation and zero-sum approaches.”

With fighting is spreading in Ethiopia’s north and rival blocs are forming along the Red Sea, the Nile dispute could be tied into a wider regional confrontation.

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Ghana has rejected a proposed health compact with the United States that would have provided an estimated $109 million in US health funding over five years, with President John Dramani Mahama saying the agreement raised serious concerns over health data, financing obligations, and Ghana’s regulatory authority.

The decision places Ghana among a few African countries that have pushed back against new US health agreements introduced as Washington restructures its foreign assistance following the dismantling of USAID. Zimbabwe has also rejected a similar agreement, while Zambia has raised concerns over provisions in its negotiations with the United States.

Ghana raises concerns over health data

Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on September 25, Mahama said the proposed compact was presented to Ghana as a replacement for health funding previously provided through USAID.

He said Ghana’s Ministry of Health reviewed the document before preparing a Cabinet Information Paper.

“Ghana is a sovereign nation, and we have our own processes. We are a democratic country,” Mahama said.

According to the President, the Cabinet identified several provisions that raised concerns, particularly those relating to Ghana’s health information.

“One, it says that we shall give the United States our pathogen profile,” he said, adding that the agreement also required Ghana to provide medical records.

“It also says we should give our medical records. I mean, who takes another country’s medical records? And so that was strange.”

Concerns over health-data sharing have been central to resistance to the new US health agreements in several African countries. 

No FDA inspection

Mahama also raised concerns about the treatment of medicines and other medical products supplied under the proposed arrangement.

He said Ghana would have been required to contribute funding to the program while, according to his account of the compact, the country’s Food and Drugs Authority would not have been able to inspect medicines or other medical products entering Ghana under the program.

“And then it also says that any medications or any medical products that shall be brought into our country, our Food and Drugs Administration has absolutely no right to inspect,” Mahama said.

“I mean, it was humiliating.”

Ghanaian officials had previously cited concerns about the proposed handling of sensitive health information as a reason for rejecting the agreement. Reporting on the negotiations also indicated that the proposed arrangement would have required additional investment from Ghana alongside the US contribution.

Cabinet rejected the agreement

Mahama said the proposal was rejected after the Health Ministry presented its assessment to the Cabinet.

He described the decision as unusually swift.

“It was the compact that was thrown out in record time in our Cabinet. I’ve never seen anything thrown out as fast as that.”

He said the government subsequently instructed the Health Minister to communicate Ghana’s position to the US ambassador.

“And so, of course, we rejected it. And we asked the health minister to inform the US ambassador that we didn’t need it. We’ll manage ourselves.”

The proposed agreement would have provided Ghana with about $109 million in US health assistance over five years. The negotiations had begun in late 2025.

A wider concern over health sovereignty

Ghana’s decision comes as the United States seeks to shift its approach to global health cooperation. The new US strategy places greater emphasis on recipient countries taking responsibility for financing and delivering health programs, while Washington reduces its traditional aid commitments.

Kenya became the first African country to sign the agreement which was challenged in court, followed by similar arrangements with Rwanda, Liberia, Uganda, Lesotho and Eswatini, among other countries. Ravi Ram from the People’s Health Movement (PHM) East and South Africa, told BreakThrough News in December 2025, that  “Bilateral agreements between the US and Kenya and other African countries are meant to limit the ability of any one ‘partner’ country to challenge the terms of implementing the agreement, due to the unequal power relations.”

The concerns among health activists and concerned Africans is the ability of African states to determine their own health priorities, regulate medicines, control sensitive health information, and collectively negotiate the terms of international health cooperation.

A proposed R114 million wall along Cape Town’s N2 has sparked protests, with residents and civil society groups accusing the city of investing in a barrier that could deepen the divide between poorer communities and surrounding suburbs.

Residents marched on September 25 to oppose the N2 Edge project, a planned 9-kilometer wall development that the city says is aimed at improving safety and security along the highway.

But protesters say that the wall risks reproducing the spatial divisions created under apartheid, saying public money should instead be spent on housing, public services and opportunities for communities that have been pushed to the margins.

Movement for CARE, which was among those involved in organizing the protests, had criticized the project, saying;

“Instead of investing in dignified housing, safe neighborhoods, quality public services, and opportunities for communities that have been pushed to the margins for generations, the city wants to invest millions in a barrier that deepens exclusion and reinforces the geography of apartheid.”

The organization said from the beginning when the news about the proposal was announced, that Cape Town does not need more walls but rather affordable housing close to work and economic opportunities, as well as greater investment in communities.

“We need investment in communities, not their isolation. We need a city that brings people together instead of driving them further apart,” it said.

The Movement for CARE described the proposed structure as an “Apartheid Wall,” arguing that the first step towards justice is refusing to normalize and hide existing inequalities.

City defends the R114 million project

The City of Cape Town has defended the project as a safety intervention. In January, Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said the city’s adjustment budget had committed “R114m to the N2 Edge project.”

The investment “will make a positive difference to the safety of every motorist along that stretch, and reduce pedestrian fatalities,” Hill-Lewis said.

He said the project would repair safety barriers and introduce other safety improvements for communities along the N2.

Hill-Lewis also said that a small number of “criminal elements” were affecting the safety of hundreds of thousands of daily N2 users.

According to the mayor, the N2 Edge project would be accompanied by increased highway patrols, with more than 40 new Metro police officers deployed to the N2, supported by CCTV cameras, automatic number plate recognition and digital coordination for rapid response.

Despite the widespread backlash, the city maintains it will continue with the project.

Abahlali baseMjondolo backs the protest

Abahlali baseMjondolo also supported the protests, saying in a post that the project would deepen racial and economic divisions in the city.

“The City of Cape Town continues to entrench neo-apartheid laws in post-apartheid South Africa by building a wall that segregates and hides the poor from the rich along the N2,” the organization said.

Adding that the project shows that the Democratic Alliance-led City does not recognize the needs of poor communities, particularly Black communities.

Read more: “A declaration of war against the poor”: AbM leads resistance against South Africa’s anti-occupation bill

The organization said it supported the struggles of residents in Khayelitsha, Langa, Dunoon, Gugulethu and Mitchells Plain who continue to face what it described as segregation and racism.

The protests have raised questions over whether the R114 million allocated to the N2 Edge project represents the right priority for Cape Town. With the protesters arguing that public resources should instead be directed towards reducing inequality, improving services and providing better housing and opportunities for communities living along the N2, instead of separating communities and concealing poverty.

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Fear and anger are growing in South Africa after the bodies of nine women were discovered across the Ekurhuleni municipality, east of Johannesburg, over the past two months, with police investigating whether the deaths are connected, a 10th body was confirmed this week. Three suspects have been arrested, and police have acknowledged a possible connection between some of the killings. What is not in dispute is the scale of the crisis the discovery has exposed, and the outrage it has provoked, protests against femicide have been held in the country in the weeks since.

Four of the nine women have so far been publicly identified, Elizabeth “Tsontso” Moselakgomo, 38, a mother who vanished during her regular afternoon run and was found days later behind a hotel in Rhodesfield; Itumeleng Kekana, 32, missing since July and found in August with multiple stab wounds; Dineo Evelyn Motapane, 38, found in KwaThema; and Gracious Nkomo, 28, a lodge worker in Kempton Park missing for more than two weeks before she was found. 

Anger over the response

The deaths have triggered protests and renewed criticism of the country’s response to gender-based violence. Residents and women’s rights campaigners have questioned why women are repeatedly advised to change their behavior, avoid isolated areas, walking alone or running alone, rather than placing greater emphasis on preventing perpetrators from committing violence.

The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) has been among the sharpest voices responding to the killings. In a statement condemning the deaths, the union insisted the killings should not be treated as a “crime wave” or a mystery, describing them instead as femicide and, more precisely, a war being waged against women. NUMSA’s argument is that this is not an aberration but the visible edge of something structural. The union points to police figures showing at least 569 women murdered nationally between April and June 2026 alone, by the verified count, with an unverified estimate closer to 892, roughly six women killed every day. Against this, nine deaths in one metro over two months is, in the union’s words, closer to the ordinary condition of the country, made visible only because the fear of a serial killer has made it a story the wider public can imagine touching them.

The statement also pushes back on the instinct to treat this primarily as a street-level danger. Of thousands of rape cases registered by police in the same quarter, the majority occurred in a residence, not a public place. The killings that draw headlines, a body beside a highway, represent a fraction of a type of violence whose center of gravity is the home.

The economics underneath the violence

NUMSA also refuses to treat gender-based violence as an individual pathology alone. It traces a line from the colonial and apartheid-era migrant labor system, which depended on women’s unpaid domestic and reproductive labor to keep wages artificially low through to the present, where South African women remain disproportionately unemployed (an official rate near 37.5%, against 44.9% for men) and disproportionately head of household. Over four in ten nationally, and closer to half in rural areas. Close to two million employed women work informally, without pensions, medical aid, or written contracts. When a woman who is also a breadwinner is killed, the union argues, it is not only a life lost but a household’s income and caregiving capacity lost with her.

Gender-based violence and femicide were declared a national disaster in South Africa in November 2025. Nearly a year on, the killings in Ekurhuleni are evidence, in the union’s reading, that the declaration has not translated into protection.

What’s being demanded

NUMSA has rejected the idea of policing alone and the state’s response so far has leaned on a security “lockdown” of Kempton Park to answer a crisis this size. Its demands include full funding of the national plan on gender-based violence and femicide, functioning forensic and mortuary capacity so victims can be identified quickly, safe transport for workers on early and late shifts, and the implementation of the ILO Convention 190 on violence and harassment in the workplace, which South Africa has ratified but not fully enforced. Alongside state accountability, the union is calling for community-based structures, street and area committees, explicitly modeled on the civic organizing of the anti-apartheid period to accompany women, support survivors, and track cases through the courts.

Investigations continue, but the fear, concern and anger surrounding the killings remain. The deaths of the women in Ekurhuleni have already forced a public reckoning with the scale of violence against women in South Africa and the urgent need for stronger action to protect women and hold perpetrators accountable.

At least 82 bodies had been recovered, according to local officials and activists, while dozens of other miners were feared trapped or missing. The latest figure represents an increase from the 67 deaths earlier reported by the Sudan Doctors Network as rescue operations continued.

The collapse occurred in an area controlled by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has been fighting Sudan’s military since April 2023. The continuing war has severely weakened state institutions and access to basic services across large parts of the country.

Limited rescue efforts

In a statement, the Sudan Doctors Network said they lacked basic safety and protective measures required at mining sites. It said search and rescue operations were continuing to locate survivors and people trapped beneath the rubble, warning that the death toll could rise.

The network called out the negligence that had exposed miners to grave risks and called on the authorities controlling the area to protect mining workers, provide medical and logistical support, and prevent unregulated mining activities from continuing without adequate safety measures.

Rescue operations have themselves been severely constrained. Murtada Ahmed, spokesman for the Kordofan Human Rights Observatory, told Radio Dabanga that the operation was progressing slowly because almost no specialized equipment was available. Local residents and miners have largely been forced to rely on their own efforts and basic machinery to recover bodies and search for people trapped underground.

A wider artisanal mining crisis

The disaster in Sudan comes only weeks after another major artisanal mining tragedy in the Central African Republic, where more than 100 people were killed when an artisanal gold mine collapsed following a landslide in the western part of the country.

Informal and small-scale mining provides a livelihood for millions of people and remains an important source of income in communities where formal employment opportunities are limited. At the same time, miners frequently work in dangerous conditions, with limited regulations, protective equipment, geological assessments, and emergency rescue capacity.

In Sudan, gold mining has become particularly important following the country’s economic collapse and war. The sector includes thousands of small-scale and informal operations, while gold-producing areas have also become economically and strategically important to the rival forces fighting for control of the country.

Disaster as Sudan’s war continues

The mine collapse is taking place as the war that has devastated Sudan since 2023 continues, producing widespread displacement, hunger, and the breakdown of essential services.

Read more: The Blue Nile front: Sudan’s war intensifies along Ethiopia’s border

West Kordofan is among the areas affected by the conflict between the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces. The control of mining areas by armed actors has added another layer of vulnerability for workers and surrounding communities.

Protests rocked the Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday, September 15, as opposition supporters took to the streets in Kinshasa and several other cities to oppose proposed constitutional changes that they say could allow President Félix Tshisekedi to seek a third term.

The demonstrations were called by the opposition coalition C64 (Coalition Article 64), which has campaigned against changes to the Constitution and what it considers an attempt to remove the existing two-term presidential limit.

The demonstrations were also reported in several cities. In Kinshasa, hundreds of protesters gathered around the Limete area before the march was disrupted by clashes involving demonstrators and people identified as members of the Force du Progrès, a group affiliated with Tshisekedi’s ruling UDPS party. Police used tear gas and warning shots to disperse the crowd. At least 10 people were arrested in Kinshasa.

Opposition accuses authorities of an “ambush”

Martin Fayulu, leader of the Engagement for Citizenship and Development (ECiDé) and a leading C64 figure, accused authorities of deliberately allowing pro-government militants to attack the opposition march.

In a post following the confrontation, Fayulu said the C64 had agreed on its route with Kinshasa’s city authorities before the march. He alleged that protesters were then confronted in Limete by armed members of the Force du Progrès while police used tear gas against the marchers.

Fayulu wrote that the C64 had been “the victim of an ambush” and accused the authorities of using a political militia alongside security forces. He called on Kinshasa’s city authorities and the national government to explain what happened.

Read more: Lithium mining in the DRC: A new mineral rush spearheaded by the US, EU, and other major powers

The confrontation prevented the C64 march from reaching its planned destination and from delivering its memorandum to the authorities at the People’s Palace.

Opposition resistance has been building 

Tuesday’s demonstrations were the latest escalation in an opposition campaign that has been building since June, when there were protests after Congo’s parliament approved legislation allowing constitutional amendments to be submitted to a referendum.

The National Assembly and Senate have both backed the referendum legislation. Critics argue that the process could eventually open the way for amendments to the presidential term-limit provisions.

Tshisekedi was first elected president in 2018 and re-elected in 2023. Under the current Constitution, the president serves a maximum of two five-year terms. His current term runs until 2028.

The proposed constitutional changes have therefore become a major point of confrontation between the government and opposition. The C64 says it is defending the existing constitutional order and has rejected any change that could enable Tshisekedi to seek another term.

The protests and the crisis is happening as the government faces other major challenges, including conflict in eastern Congo and an Ebola outbreak.

Read more: Ebola spreads to 60 health zones in eastern DRC; UN warns of funding shortfall

Abahlali baseMjondolo has secured another court order preventing the forced relocation of residents of an informal settlement in Shaka’s Head, KwaZulu-Natal, until the Municipality complies with the conditions previously set by the Pietermaritzburg High Court.

On Friday, September 11, the Pietermaritzburg High Court issued a consent order directing the KwaDukuza Municipality to comply with an October 2025 court order before it can relocate residents in Shaka’s Head, on the Dolphin Coast.

The latest order was agreed to by both parties and effectively maintains the conditions imposed by the court last year. Residents will remain in the occupation until the municipality provides the basic services and meets the other requirements ordered by the court.

“This is no doubt another victory for Abahlali bakwaDukuza and all people facing evictions in South Africa,” Abahlali baseMjondolo said following the court proceedings.

Read more: “A declaration of war against the poor”: AbM leads resistance against South Africa’s anti-occupation bill

The movement has opposed attempts to evict residents from the settlement since the municipality initiated the process. The dispute has also involved the Dolphin Coast Residents’ Association, representing affluent homeowners in the area.

Court blocks eviction without basic services

The latest development follows a landmark ruling by the Pietermaritzburg High Court in October 2025, when the court halted the municipality’s attempt to forcibly evict hundreds of residents from Erf 1410.

The court found that the municipality could not proceed with the relocation unless it first met a number of conditions designed to ensure that residents would not be moved to an area without adequate services and facilities.

Among the requirements was that the municipality provide basic services, including roads, sanitation, waste removal, water, and temporary electricity.

The municipality was also required to demarcate individual stands for households and ensure that the relocation site had access to essential facilities, including schools, healthcare, and public transport.

The court ultimately adopted a draft order prepared by Abahlali’s legal team rather than the municipality’s proposed order, effectively preventing the eviction until the conditions had been fulfilled.

Municipality pursued eviction despite outstanding conditions

According to Abahlali baseMjondolo Secretary-General Thapelo Mohapi, speaking to BreakThrough News, the municipality had not fulfilled the requirements imposed by the October 2025 judgment.

Thapelo said the municipality had instead sought to proceed with eviction proceedings despite not providing the basic services required at the proposed relocation site.

“Only when they have provided those basic services, only then the people of Shaka’s Head will be relocated to the new piece of land,” Thapelo said.

He said that because the municipality had not yet provided the required services, residents would remain in the occupation.

The organization has long framed the dispute as part of a broader struggle over access to urban land and housing, particularly for working-class and Black residents living alongside more affluent communities.

Thapelo accused the municipality and sections of the area’s affluent residents of seeking to remove working-class people from areas close to economic opportunities and relocate them to the urban periphery.

The September order follows an earlier setback for the municipality in March 2025, when another attempt to advance the eviction process was blocked.

Read more: Abahlali baseMjondolo secures victory against forced evictions

For now, the position established through the court proceedings is that residents cannot be relocated until KwaDukuza Municipality complies with the requirements contained in the October 2025 order.

Tanzanian small-scale farmers’ organizations and civil society groups are raising concerns over the proposed East African Community (EAC) Seed and Plant Varieties Bill of 2025, warning that the legislation could marginalize farmer-managed seed systems unless specific protections and exemptions are introduced.

In a submission to public hearings on the proposed bill, the Mtandao wa Vikundi vya Wakulima (MVIWATA) called for the legislation to explicitly recognize and protect farmer-managed seed systems (FMSS), arguing that the current draft is largely designed around commercial and certified seed systems.

MVIWATA, established in 1993, which has more than 500,000 smallholder farmer members across Tanzania, has previously participated in discussions on seed legislation and harmonization at both national and regional levels, including the earlier draft EAC Seed and Plant Varieties Bill of 2018.

The organization says the 2025 draft is an improvement over the 2018 version, but argues that gaps remain, particularly regarding the recognition of farmer-managed seed systems and the rights of farmers to save, use, exchange, share, and sell their own seed.

According to MVIWATA, the draft bill is primarily oriented towards commercial seed, with requirements such as registration, certification, variety release, and quality assurance. The organization warns that applying these requirements broadly could inadvertently place farmer-managed seed systems under the same regulatory framework as commercial seed.

MVIWATA says this is particularly problematic because farmer-managed seed systems are a major source of seed for farmers in Tanzania and across East Africa.

The organization maintains that farmer seed systems should instead be explicitly excluded from commercial seed regulations, including formal registration, certification, variety release, and other requirements designed for commercial seed. It proposes the development of alternative, farmer-centered, and community-led mechanisms at the national level.

Sabrina Masinjila, senior program officer at the Society for International Development (SID), told BreakThrough News the concerns raised by MVIWATA were driven by the continued lack of policy recognition of farmer-managed seed systems at both national and regional levels.

She said the concern was also heightened by the possibility that legislation regulating commercial seed systems could contain provisions that inadvertently affect farmers’ traditional practices, including the sale and exchange of seed.

“The aim for seeking changes was to ensure that farmer seed and systems are exempted from any regulation including registration, certification and variety release that apply to commercial seed,” Masinjila said.

But she stressed that simply exempting farmer seed from regulation would not be enough.

“Exemptions are not sufficient as farmer seed systems still need enough support for their continued development, maintenance, conservation and protection,” she said.

According to Masinjila, the push is therefore for the bill to go beyond exemptions and create policy space for an alternative framework that can support farmer seed systems.

“We sought to establish not just clauses that exempt small-scale farmers from the Bill but also clauses that will start to provide opportunities to develop an alternative framework for farmer seed systems which will ensure they are conserved, maintained, protected and even supported for multiplication and distribution,” she said.

Such a framework, she argued, would have wider implications for agroecology, agricultural biodiversity, climate resilience, dietary diversity and nutrition.

MVIWATA makes a similar argument in its submission, saying farmer-managed seed systems play an important role in food security, nutrition, biodiversity conservation, and farmers’ livelihoods. The organization says recognition should not mean forcing farmer seed into the same regulatory system as commercial seed, but should acknowledge the contribution of farmers to the conservation and development of genetic resources.

Farmers’ rights at the center of debate

The debate is also closely linked to farmers’ rights under international agreements. MVIWATA points to the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), particularly Article 9, which addresses Farmers’ Rights. Its submission also cites the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP), including provisions relating to farmers’ rights to seed.

MVIWATA argues that the EAC Bill should therefore be aligned with these commitments and explicitly recognize farmers’ rights to save, use, reuse, conserve, multiply, develop, exchange, share, and sell farmer-managed seed.

The organization has proposed that the bill state explicitly that it applies to commercial seed systems and does not prohibit or restrict the saving, use, exchange, sharing, or reuse of farmer seed and non-commercial varieties.

Masinjila said the protection of farmers’ rights was inseparable from the wider discussion around seed regulation.

Adding that clauses should be included to protect farmers’ rights as recognized under the ITPGRFA and UNDROP, where access to and control over seed is connected to broader human rights.

“Without these changes, small-scale farmers and their seed system will continue to be neglected, marginalized and criminalized. And this is why we needed to intervene,” she said.

Concerns over the 2018 bill

The current debate is not entirely new. MVIWATA says it was strongly involved in discussions around the 2018 draft EAC Seed and Plant Varieties Bill, raising concerns about several provisions. The organization says its review of the 2025 version found improvements compared with the earlier draft.

Masinjila said one difference is that the previous bill contained provisions that were compliant with the 1991 Act of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), a plant variety protection regime that civil society and farmer organizations have criticized for being restrictive of farmers’ rights.

“The previous bill contained clauses that were compliant to UPOV 1991. A restrictive Plant Variety Protection regime which has been rejected by CSOs and farmer organizations globally as it undermines farmers rights,” she said.

However, she said concerns around regional harmonization remain under the current EAC Bill, particularly because legislation at EAC level is legally binding on partner states.

MVIWATA also warns that a binding regional framework could reduce the ability of individual countries to develop alternative approaches for farmer seed systems.

The organization is calling for the explicit recognition of farmer-managed seed systems, it has also proposed that farmer varieties should not be subjected to mandatory commercial registration or certification, while alternative mechanisms should be developed in consultation with smallholder farmers, pastoralists, and farming communities.

On seed marketing, MVIWATA wants the bill to make clear that farmers can sell and exchange farmer varieties at the national level and facilitate limited cross-border seed exchange among farmers within the EAC.

The organization is also seeking safeguards against the appropriation of farmers’ genetic resources, including requirements for the disclosure of origin, as well as free, prior, and informed consent from communities. Lastly, they want benefit-sharing agreements where genetic resources are acquired from farming communities.

Fear and uncertainty spread among foreign traders in Kenya after President William Ruto directed authorities to move against small businesses operated by foreign nationals. The move triggered a scramble among some immigrant communities to seek protection, regularize their status, or leave the country.

The directive, announced earlier this month, has particularly unsettled Burundian traders, many of whom operate small informal businesses in Nairobi and other urban centers. Hundreds of Burundians sought assistance and travel documentation from their embassy in Nairobi in fear that the government’s new policy could lead to deportations or further harassment.

The government has since moved to soften the impact of the initial announcement by providing a 90-day window for undocumented foreign nationals to regularize their status, following pressure from Kenyans who said it could lead to xenophobia.

But the clarification was perhaps too late, as isolated incidents of violence and looting involving businesses operated by Burundians were already registered, including reports of traders having goods taken or destroyed occurred.

For lawyer Waringa Wahome, the issue is not just about immigration compliance or competition between traders. She argues that the language used by political leaders can have direct consequences for vulnerable communities.

“What are the risks of presidential rhetoric targeting foreign traders particularly Burundians, Rwandans, and other East Africans, and could such statements contribute to xenophobia, ethnic profiling, harassment or violations of migrants’ rights?” Wahome asked.

“The rhetoric creates a target on their backs”

Wahome, an advocate of the High Court and community legal advocate, told BreakThrough News, that the consequences were already visible in Nairobi’s informal settlements.

She pointed to incidents reported in Mathare, where foreign traders were allegedly attacked and their goods taken or destroyed.

“In Mathare, the morning of 8 September smelled of the horrific incidents of the night,” Wahome said. “On one hand, a hardworking Rwandese had all his chapati and flour for his chapati business violently taken away. For others it was an opportunity to loot from the Ugandan and Rwandese run businesses.”

“The rhetoric against the traders creates permanently a target on their backs exposing them to risk and violating their freedoms,” she said.

Wahome argued that the situation should be understood against the wider vulnerability of Kenya’s working class.

Describing the conflict as “horizontal violence” between economically insecure Kenyans and equally vulnerable migrant workers, warning that ethnic profiling and discrimination could deepen existing social divisions.

“This horizontal violence among this section of an unsecure working class of Mathare was sparked by a sweeping presidential rhetoric calling on the crackdown, mass expulsion and criminalization of the foreign traders specifically running small businesses,” Wahome said.

She also questioned whether targeting small traders addresses the underlying causes of Kenya’s economic difficulties.

“The majority of the Kenyan youth is poor, unemployed and hopeless,” she said, pointing to rising living costs, widening inequality, shrinking civic space, and concerns over corruption and public resources.

“In that context,” Wahome says “a sweeping rhetoric such as that made by President Ruto can only be seen as a statement meant to deflect attention from the structural economic plunder.”

What does the law protect?

The legal questions are significant. Kenya has the power to regulate immigration, employment, and business activity by foreign nationals. The government says its current exercise is designed precisely to establish who is legally entitled to work or conduct business in the country and to give those who are not compliant an opportunity to regularize their status.

But Wahome argues that enforcement cannot become collective punishment.

“The law protects a human being first for being a human being and therefore they have inviolable rights including the right to dignity and to be treated with dignity,” she said.

Kenya ratified the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights in 1992. Article 2(6) of the Kenyan Constitution provides that treaties and conventions ratified by Kenya form part of Kenyan law. Wahome points specifically to the African Charter’s protections of human dignity and its restrictions on the expulsion of non-nationals.

Even where a migrant’s documentation is irregular, enforcement should be individualized and lawful.

“States are obligated to ensure that all migrant workers and members of their families in an irregular situation have non-discriminatory and effective access to such regularization procedures and that the procedures are not applied in an arbitrary manner,” Wahome said.

She added that the 90-day window must not simply become a countdown to mass enforcement.

“Every case must be treated on its own in a fair process which respects the fundamental rights of the migrant workers.”

A test for East African integration

The controversy has also exposed a difficult contradiction within East Africa’s regional integration project. Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda are members of the East African Community, whose Common Market framework provides for the free movement of people, workers, services and capital, as well as rights of establishment and residence. The EAC says its Common Market is based on principles including non-discrimination on grounds of nationality and equal treatment of nationals of other Partner States.

The right to establish a business, however, is not an unlimited license to ignore national laws. The EAC itself states that citizens have the right to establish businesses in another Partner State in accordance with the national laws of that state.

Kenya can enforce its immigration and licensing laws. The question is whether it can do so without turning the enforcement exercise into a campaign against an entire nationality or category of African migrants.

Wahome sees the danger as extending beyond individual traders.

“The small-scale traders represent the majority of the youth population of Africa,” she said, describing them as university and technical-school graduates who have been unable to find formal employment or obtain capital to establish businesses.

“They are the children of the working class of Kenya, East Africa and Africa,” she added.

Further describing the reported violence as “manufactured violence targeted at the poor,” arguing that the businesses at the center of the dispute, selling tea, mandazi and other basic goods have little capacity to determine the structural direction of Kenya’s economy.

“The President is creating a false enemy and fracturing pan-African solidarity,” Wahome said, arguing that poor Kenyans were being encouraged to view small East African traders as the reason for unemployment and the rising cost of living.

The political movement Kongamano la Mapinduzi, issued a statement too,

“Kongamano la Mapinduzi strongly condemns William Ruto’s recent remarks that essentially ordered a crackdown on foreigners running small businesses in Kenya,” the statement said.

“We at Kongamano la Mapinduzi wish to make it clear that an African head of state should be uniting Africans, not turning African people against one another.”

The movement framed the dispute within the longer Pan-African project of removing barriers between African peoples.

“While our shared Pan-African struggle has always envisioned a united Africa without borders, Ruto’s remarks have today set Kenya along the dangerous path of criminalization and harassment of African traders in the name of protecting local businesses,” the statement said.

The United Nations General Assembly has backed an African-led initiative calling for a more accurate representation of the world’s continents, particularly Africa, in maps used in education, public communication, and other areas.

On September 4, the General Assembly adopted the resolution titled “Correct the Map: Rebalancing Global Cartographic Representation and Promoting Equitable Representation of the World’s Regions, Particularly Africa.” The resolution was sponsored by Togo on behalf of the African Group and passed by an overwhelming 164 votes to one, with six countries, Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, Serbia, and Ukraine, abstaining. The United States was the only country to vote against it. Speaking before the vote, Yaryna Ferencevych, deputy US representative to the UN Economic and Social Council, dismissed the initiative as an “ideological project” rather than a meaningful priority for the United Nations.

The vote represents an important moment in a campaign arguing that the maps through which generations have learned about the world have not always provided an accurate picture of the relative size of continents.

Introducing the resolution, Togo’s minister for foreign Affairs, Robert Dussey, argued that the issue was not simply about replacing one map with another. It was about looking at how humanity has been taught to see the world.

“Maps shape our understanding of the world,” Dussey told the General Assembly. “They guide education, nourish the imagination and influence collective perceptions.”

For the African states behind the initiative, the question was therefore not just technical. The way the world is represented, he argued, influences how people understand the relative importance, size and place of different regions and peoples.

What the resolution asks for

Beyond encouraging member states and international organizations to adopt more accurate cartographic representations, he pronounced that the purpose is strictly cartographic, scientific, and educational. “What we are doing here is promoting a more accurate representation of the relative sizes of the world’s regions. I would like to reassure everyone that what we are discussing is fundamentally a matter of science.”

Stressing that the text invites UN entities, regional organizations, academia, think tanks, and technology companies “to cooperate in order to build national capacities, support research and innovation,” with particular attention to developing countries and African countries in map-making, geography, and geospatial technology.

Adding that the resolution “fully respects existing mandates,” creates no new financial obligations, and does not establish any new institutional mechanism at the UN. Education is nonetheless central to it, the text encourages a more critical approach to how maps are taught in school curricula, including an explanation of projection methods, their characteristics, their limits, and their appropriate uses.

Why this matters for Africa

The debate centers largely on the widespread use of the Mercator projection, developed by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569.

The Mercator projection was designed primarily for maritime navigation. Its ability to preserve directions made it particularly useful to sailors navigating long distances. But that advantage comes with significant distortions in the relative size of landmasses.

The further a territory is located from the Equator, the larger it appears on the map. Greenland, for example, can appear roughly comparable in size to Africa, even though Africa is around 14 times larger. Africa covers approximately 30.4 million square kilometers and is the world’s second-largest continent.

The result is a world map in which countries and regions in northern latitudes appear disproportionately large, while Africa and other areas closer to the Equator appear relatively diminished.

Togo’s foreign minister tied the resolution directly to several ongoing African-led initiatives: the Decade for African Roots and the African Diaspora (2021–2031), the Second International Decade for People of African Descent (2025–2034), and the final declaration of the Ninth Pan-African Congress. Correcting “disproportionate cartographic representations” of the continent, he said, is part of ensuring Africa is “appropriately recognized on the international sphere” and of “restoring the dignity of the continent and its diasporas” by correcting “historic distortions that we have inherited from our past legacies.”

Adding, “By adopting this resolution, we’re not just correcting a map, we are contributing to correcting our perception,” he said, adding that knowledge “should elevate,” should “bring us closer, not divide us,” and should reflect the world “in all of its diversity, its truth, and its dignity.”

He rejected the idea that this was a symbolic gesture, “Correcting the map is not simply an aesthetic or symbolic issue, but rather, it is a demand for scientific accuracy and educational accuracy.” Each region, he argued, matters and each people “deserves to be seen as they are” with Africa, “like all other regions,” belonging in humanity’s “universal consciousness,” recognized “in its full reality, its contributions, and its future” rather than “diminished by distortions from the past.”

The overwhelming support for the resolution has been met with broad and positive reception across Africa and in many parts of the world.