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NO HONOUR AMONG THIEVES: KIGALI DEMANDS £50 MN FROM UK

Tensions between Rwanda and the United Kingdom (UK) have ratcheted up another notch - with Kigali now billing London for millions of pounds under a scrapped deal to deport migrants to the East African country.  Rwanda claims the deal was never ‘formally’ ended, and that a previous understanding to waive the payment based on mutual trust and friendship no longer applies, as Britain has been piling coercive diplomatic pressure on Kigali to end its military support for M23 rebels in eastern Congo.  The Rwandan government is accused of using the rebel group as a proxy to destabilise its neighbour and secure mineral riches for Kigali.  M23’s latest offensive has caused thousands of deaths and displaced hundreds of thousands. 

This week’s proverb is a reminder that your actions are what define you the most.  Think of Kenya posing as regional peace broker while giving a platform to the genocidal Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group as it unveiled plans to carve up Sudan. 

Continued....... 

Continued........Our latest Facts of the Week unpack how British governments, corporations and intelligence agencies have consistently undermined Congolese sovereignty for profit and geopolitical interests - be it through colonial-era scheming or modern economic exploitation. 

Like other Western powers, the UK has been deeply involved in destabilising the DRC. 

The UN has issued a warning about the worsening famine conditions in Sudan as the country’s war - fuelled by foreign intervention - rages on.  UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk says there is a growing risk of deaths due to starvation, which will only aggravate Sudan’s already dire humanitarian crisis.

Two major aid organisations recently halted operations in North Darfur’s massive ZamZam refugee camp - reportedly home to half a million people - amid intense fighting in the region, including attacks on the camp itself by the UAE-backed Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary.  The World Food Programme temporarily halted the distribution of food, while Doctors Without Borders says humanitarian efforts have become too difficult for the medical charity.

Famine conditions have already been reported in at least five locations across Sudan, including other displacement camps.  Currently, more than 24.6-million people are facing acute hunger. 

Since April 2023, the Sudanese army and the UAE-backed RSF have been engaged in a proxy war that has caused tens of thousands of deaths - with some fearing the death toll has long exceeded 150,000.

More than 11-million people have been displaced, both internally and abroad, according to the UN and local authorities. 

BATTLE OF ADWA ANNIVERSARY

Following the 1884 Berlin Conference, European powers went on a brutal rampage, claiming African territories for themselves.  Part of Italy’s piece of the pie was modern-day Ethiopia.  However, their colonial onslaught was stopped dead in its tracks after a well-equipped and trained Ethiopian army defeated them on 1 March 1896.  Today, we mark the 129th anniversary of the historic Battle of Adwa. 

While the battle started on 29 February, tensions between the Ethiopians and Italians had simmered for years.  Since the mid-1880s, the budding European colonial power had established a presence in the then-seaside village of Massawa, in modern-day Eritrea.  Once consolidated along the coast, the Italians began occupying inland territories.  By 1890, they had declared Eritrea their own.

With nothing to halt their insatiable desire for more African land, repeated violent incursions took the Italians all the way to Ethiopia.

In 1894, Ras Mangasha, the ruler of the Tigray region, mobilised his people against the invaders.  Unfortunately, Italy’s army subdued his efforts.  The rapid colonial expansion prompted Menilek II, who had been crowned Ethiopian Emperor in 1889, to start mobilising the nation for resistance.

By September 1895, a formidable force of up to 100,000 troops had been assembled.  Marching with purpose and determination, the soldiers began retaking territory - but avoided major confrontations with the invading army.

That changed on 29 February 1896 when General Oreste Baraterie, commander of the occupation force and acting on the orders of Rome, attacked the Ethiopians.

By the afternoon of 1 March, Menelik’s forces had routed Italy’s army.  It was a decisive blow, one that sent Rome’s ambitions retreating back to Eritrea.

Ever since, Ethiopia’s resolute victory has served as a beacon of African resistance to European colonialism. 

This week marks 140 years since European colonial powers divided Africa. For three months, starting on 15 November 1884, colonialists from almost every European country, the Ottoman Empire, and the United States negotiated in Berlin, Germany, over who would control our home continent, with no African voices present to challenge the butchery. 

This notorious event, which finalised on 26 February 1885, carved up 80 per cent of our continent. However, by 1914, only Ethiopia and Liberia remained untouched. The Berlin conference took place after the ‘scramble for Africa’ began and shaped how people today view Africa: As a reservoir of natural resources and our people as sources of labour. Slavery, anyone?

Britain, amongst the principal colonisers of Africa, claimed an almost continuous stretch of land from the Cape of Good Hope to Cairo, controlling what is now South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, ‘British East Africa’ (now Kenya, Uganda, and Zanzibar [now part of Tanzania]), Sudan, South Sudan, and Egypt. Britain also controlled areas now known as Nigeria and Ghana (then dubbed the ‘Gold Coast’), Sierra Leone and the Gambia.

France claimed vast territories stretching from Mauritania to the Central African Republic (then called ‘French West Africa’), along with Gabon and the Republic of Congo (‘French Equatorial Africa’). It also controlled the Indian Ocean archipelagos of Madagascar and Comoros.

Under King Leopold II, Belgium ruled the Democratic Republic of the Congo (‘Belgian Congo’), while Portugal established its presence in Mozambique, Angola and Guinea-Bissau. 

Italy's territories included Somalia (‘Italian Somaliland’), while Germany controlled Tanganyika (now part of Tanzania), Namibia (‘German Southwest Africa’) and Tanzania (‘German East Africa’). Spain, with the smallest claim, took Equatorial Guinea (‘Rio Muni’), plus what is now Western Sahara and a sliver of Morocco.

Perhaps it is time for a Pan-African conference to eliminate colonial borders, paving the way for a future in which we can reclaim our identity, agency, and land. 

Niger is reclaiming control over its natural resources by granting mining permits to two local companies, the Research and Exploitation Mineral Company (Comirex SA) and Aïr Mining Company (Cominair SA). 

Both are public-private partnerships, with the government owning 40 per cent of Comirex SA and 25 per cent of Cominair SA.

In June 2024, Niger nationalised the Imouraren and Somaїr uranium mines upon revoking the licence of French-state-owned mining giant Orano. 

Niger was the world's seventh-largest supplier of uranium and France’s second-largest supplier in 2022. On average, 70 per cent of France's yearly electricity supply comes from uranium-derived nuclear energy. Meanwhile, under 20 per cent of Niger's population has access to electricity, making it one of the least electrified countries worldwide. As nationalisation just occurred in 2024, we have yet to see its impact on Niger, France and the world.

Neighbouring Burkina Faso has nationalised multiple gold mines in recent years and next-door Mali has been battling foreign gold mining companies to reclaim a greater share of the profits. 

Together, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger are members of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), a confederation established on 6 July 2024 that is delinking from neo-colonialism and laying down the planks to ensure their sovereignty. The AES aims to create a federated state without colonial borders. 

POLISARIO FRONT & ALGERIA SLAM FRENCH MEDDLING

Over the past two weeks, two French officials visited the disputed territory of Western Sahara as guests of Morocco, enraging many, including the Algerian government and the Sahrawi-led Polisario Front liberation movement, amidst Morocco’s occupation of the territory.

The indigenous Sahrawi people claim Western Sahara as their homeland.

On 17 February, Rachida Dati, France’s culture minister of Algerian and Moroccan parentage, visited the disputed Western Sahara, launching a French cultural mission in Laayoune alongside Moroccan Culture Minister Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid. A week later, on 24 February, French Senate President Gérard Larcher paid a similar visit to the city to affirm France’s support for Morocco’s claim over the disputed territory of Western Sahara. 

Algeria, which hosts Sahrawi refugee camps as it supports the liberation movement, slammed the visit, calling it ‘objectionable on multiple levels.’

Many also considered French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit in July 2024 a turning point in bilateral relations, reinforcing the former coloniser’s influence in the territorial dispute.

Accordingly, the Algerian-backed Polisario Front, a Sahrawi-led political party that claims governance over Western Sahara, has also condemned the visits, viewing them as complete disregard for international law. In a statement on social media, the Algerian foreign ministry said the move 'reinforces Morocco’s fait accompli in Western Sahara, a territory where the decolonisation process remains incomplete and the right to self-determination unfulfilled.' The visits spotlight coloniser France’s struggle to maintain its waning influence in Africa by directly supporting Morocco’s occupation.

On 30 July 2024, France became one of the few countries to recognise Morocco's annexation of Western Sahara.

The UN has classified Western Sahara as a non-self-governing region. While Algeria insists on a referendum in Western Sahara that the UN has called for since 1991, Morocco has continued denying the Sahrawi people their right to vote as it occupies the land. In October 2024, the UN Security Council called for parties to reach a ‘lasting and mutually acceptable solution.’