NEWS - The African Mirror

Feb

21

2026

Epstein’s Africa connections: A palace in Marrakesh and a trail across a continent

NEWS

IN the final days before his arrest, disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein was attempting to purchase one of North Africa's most opulent properties - a gilded Moroccan palace - even as American authorities were closing in on him. The financial manoeuvring behind that doomed transaction, now revealed in documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice, offers a window into a web of African connections that stretched from the Atlas Mountains to the East African coast. The Morocco Deal Reuters reports that Charles Schwab wired approximately $27.7 million on behalf of Epstein to a realtor in Morocco in the ten days…

Feb

20

2026

By OWN CORRESPONDENT

SUDAN: How the military, paramilitary cornered food supply chains — and why that helps explain the conflict

NEWS

THE two armed factions devastating Sudan built sprawling business empires in the country's food and agricultural sectors before their war broke out in April 2023, according to new research that argues economic rivalry over those assets was a significant driver of the conflict now threatening to become the world's largest hunger crisis. Writing in The Conversation, researchers from CGIAR — the global agricultural research network — describe how both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) systematically embedded themselves in key agricultural industries, from livestock exports to wheat milling to horticulture, in the years preceding…

Feb

20

2026

By OWN CORRESPONDENT

From hiding, Bobi Wine takes Uganda’s crisis to the world – and indicts the West

NEWS

HE spoke from an undisclosed location, hunted by his own country's military. Yet when Ugandan opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi - known globally as Bobi Wine - addressed the 18th Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy this week, his message reached far beyond the hall of delegates. It was a dual indictment: of Yoweri Museveni's regime, and of the Western governments that have, in Wine's telling, long furnished it with political cover and financial oxygen. The address, delivered via live video broadcast, was both a political intervention and a stark demonstration of Uganda's crisis. That one of Africa's most prominent…

Feb

20

2026

By The African Mirror

Mugabe’s son arrested in South Africa after allegedly shooting gardener at luxury Johannesburg home

NEWS

CHATUNGA Bellarmine Mugabe, the youngest son of the late former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe, was arrested Thursday morning after allegedly shooting a 23-year-old gardener at his luxury residence in Hyde Park, one of Johannesburg's most upscale suburbs. South African Police Service spokesperson Colonel Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi confirmed that two suspects - Mugabe and a companion - were taken into custody at the property and are likely to face charges of attempted murder. Chatunga Bellarmine Mugabe Police were alerted to the incident after private security flagged them down and reported that a shooting had taken place on the property. The gardener was…

Feb

19

2026

By OWN CORRESPONDENT

Anti-LGBTQ+ crackdowns intensify across West Africa as Senegal arrests 12 men under colonial-era laws

NEWS

SENEGALES police have arrested 12 men in the capital Dakar, charging them under laws that criminalise same-sex conduct and the alleged intentional transmission of HIV — the latest in a series of escalating crackdowns against LGBTQ+ communities across West Africa. The men face charges including "acts against nature" under Article 319 of Senegal's Penal Code, a provision rooted in colonial-era legislation. If convicted, they could face up to five years in prison and fines ranging from 100,000 to 1,500,000 CFA francs — approximately $180 to $2,700 — with additional sentences of up to ten years on HIV transmission charges. Human…

Feb

19

2026

By OWN CORRESPONDENT

Nigerian serving an 11-year sentence for rape, probed for abuse of 21 women at Irish nursing home

NEWS

EMMANUEL ADENIJI walked into a 73-year-old dementia patient's room at 3 a.m. on April 3, 2020. CCTV captured what followed. The woman, confined to her bed under Covid-19 lockdown restrictions that had effectively sealed Ireland's nursing homes from outside scrutiny, had no meaningful way to seek help. By morning, the staff found her distressed. DNA evidence would later seal Adeniji's fate. But that conviction, which earned him an 11-year sentence in 2020, may represent only a fraction of his offending. Irish health authorities now believe he sexually abused and raped as many as 21 other female residents at the same…

Feb

19

2026

By OWN CORRESPONDENT

Kenya security forces foil Al-Shabaab attack on Nairobi, seize weapons cache from Dadaab

NEWS

KENYAN counter-terrorism officers have disrupted a major Al-Shabaab plot targeting the capital, Nairobi, recovering a weapons cache that included pistols, grenades, explosives and 600 rounds of ammunition following months of covert surveillance inside the Dadaab refugee complex in northeastern Kenya, authorities announced Wednesday. Counter Terrorism Policing Kenya (CTP-Kenya) said the operation - the result of sustained intelligence gathering on a terror network embedded within the sprawling Dadaab camps - intercepted arms and drugs that had been destined for use against targets in Nairobi. The suspects had allegedly timed the attack to coincide with the holy month of Ramadan, and were…

Feb

18

2026

By OWN CORRESPONDENT

Kagame’s audacious gambit: Rwanda’s bold sprint to become Africa’s sports capital

NEWS

WHILE most heads of state spend their weekends navigating diplomatic corridors or presiding over state functions, President Paul Kagame was courtside at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles this past weekend, watching LeBron James and the NBA's finest at the 2026 All-Star Game. It wasn't a vacation. It was business - the business of rebranding a nation through the universal language of sport. The image is striking: the leader of a landlocked East African nation of 13 million people, sitting among Hollywood celebrities and Silicon Valley billionaires, discussing partnerships with LA Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver.…

Feb

18

2026

By The African Mirror

UGANDA CRISIS: Opposition leader wine in hiding as military occupies family home

NEWS

UGANDAN opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi, known as Bobi Wine, remains in hiding weeks after disputed presidential elections, as military forces have taken control of his family residence in Magere, Wakiso District, according to statements from the National Unity Platform (NUP) and international human rights observers. The situation escalated following a January 23 raid during which Wine alleges soldiers broke into his home, damaged property, and held his wife, Barbara "Barbie" Kyagulanyi, at gunpoint. General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Uganda's Chief of Defence Forces and President Yoweri Museveni's son, later posted a photograph on social media showing Barbie Kyagulanyi seated on the floor…

Feb

18

2026

By OWN CORRESPONDENTS

World leaders honor Rev. Jesse Jackson as tributes pour in from across globe

NEWS

A torrent of tributes from world leaders, American presidents, civil rights champions, and his own grandchildren flooded social media and news channels Tuesday following the death of the Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson, whose 84 years left an indelible mark on the fight for justice across continents. From the White House to South Africa's Union Buildings, from Capitol Hill to the streets of Chicago where Jackson made his home, political figures across ideological divides united in mourning a man they described as a moral giant, a tireless advocate for the marginalised, and a prophet who never stopped demanding America live up…