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A new dawn: African football’s bold leap forward

A new dawn: African football’s bold leap forward

THE winter sun cast long shadows across the ornate halls of Rabat as history rewrote itself on the most symbolic day imaginable. Saturday, December 20, 2024 - the very day before the Africa Cup of Nations would kick off in Morocco, the continent's premier football tournament was about to captivate millions across Africa and the world. What emerged from that executive committee meeting wasn't just a scheduling change - it was a declaration of independence, a blueprint for prosperity, and a bridge between two worlds that had too often pulled African footballers in opposite directions. The timing was everything: on…
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UN appeals for millions as DRC violence forces mass exodus into Burundi

UN appeals for millions as DRC violence forces mass exodus into Burundi

AS families across much of the world prepare for Christmas celebrations, the United Nations refugee agency has issued an urgent appeal for nearly $50 million to assist hundreds of thousands of people for whom the festive season is a distant thought - families fleeing escalating violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The UN High Commissioner for Refugees warned Thursday that a humanitarian crisis has reached a critical point in Burundi, where more than 84,000 DRC refugees have arrived since early December alone, fleeing intense fighting in the eastern DRC's South Kivu province. "Women and children are particularly…
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African leaders intensify push for UNSC reform as Egypt joins global demand for continental representation

African leaders intensify push for UNSC reform as Egypt joins global demand for continental representation

EGYPT has added its voice to a swelling chorus of nations demanding fundamental restructuring of the United Nations Security Council, with President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi calling for immediate reforms to grant Africa permanent representation at the world's preeminent decision-making table. Speaking at a Russia-Africa partnership conference at the weekend, attended by foreign ministers from more than 50 African nations, el-Sissi delivered an unequivocal message: the current UNSC structure, frozen since 1945, no longer reflects global realities and systematically excludes 1.4 billion Africans from decisions that directly affect their security and future. "The voice of Africa should be present and influential in…
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Morocco turns up the volume: when AFCON meets showbiz

Morocco turns up the volume: when AFCON meets showbiz

FORGET the gentle build-up. Morocco isn't tiptoeing into the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations - they're arriving with French Montana, Davido, and enough musical firepower to wake up the entire continent. Before the Atlas Lions face Comoros on Sunday in the tournament opener, they're throwing what CAF, TotalEnergies and the Kingdom of Morocco are billing as one of the most ambitious entertainment spectacles in AFCON history. The OLM Souissi Fan Zone will host a star-studded concert on Saturday evening that looks less like a warm-up act and more like a statement of continental intent. When the music starts at 18:00…
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US-SA diplomatic crisis deepens amid Trump’s condemnation, Pretoria’s sovereignty call

US-SA diplomatic crisis deepens amid Trump’s condemnation, Pretoria’s sovereignty call

RELATIONS between the United States and South Africa have deteriorated sharply following the brief detention of US officials and the arrest of seven Kenyan nationals allegedly processing refugee applications for Afrikaners seeking relocation to America, marking the latest flashpoint in what analysts describe as the most serious bilateral crisis since the end of apartheid. The incident has exposed the Trump administration's controversial effort to facilitate mass migration of white South Africans based on claims of racial persecution - assertions Pretoria vehemently rejects as both false and inflammatory. Two US Citizenship and Immigration Services refugee officers were briefly detained during a…
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Autocracies in transition: In 2025, Cameroon, Tanzania rulers clung to power

Autocracies in transition: In 2025, Cameroon, Tanzania rulers clung to power

AUTOCRATIC leaders in Africa like their numbers to be in the high 90s, it appears. In October, Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan won a highly dubious 98% of the presidential vote, perpetuating the ruling party’s grip on power for 60 years. During the same month, Cameroonian President Paul Biya, who has ruled the country since 1982, secured an unprecedented eighth term in office. It will allow him to serve until he turns 99. In neither case were elections deemed free or fair, and in both cases, protests and severe government crackdowns followed. Yet, while the outcome was ultimately the survival…
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African internet shutdowns double since 2016, new book documents

African internet shutdowns double since 2016, new book documents

AFRICAN governments imposed 193 internet shutdowns across 41 countries between 2016 and 2024, with annual incidents doubling from 14 in 2016 to 28 in 2024, according to a new open-access book that provides the first comprehensive analysis of digital blackouts on the continent. The research, published by digital rights activist Felicia Anthonio and digital researcher Tony Roberts writing in The Conversation, examines how African states use internet disruptions to suppress political opposition and prevent online reporting of events. Ethiopia has experienced the most internet shutdowns in Africa, with 30 in the last decade, primarily targeting the Oromo and Amhara regions.…
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Nigeria school kidnapping exposes security system failures

Nigeria school kidnapping exposes security system failures

THE November abduction of more than 300 children and staff from a Nigerian school has laid bare the country's inability to protect rural communities from armed groups, with analysts pointing to systemic failures that allow insurgents to operate with impunity. Gunmen attacked Saint Mary's Catholic School in Papiri, Niger State's Agwara district, on November 21, making it the single largest school kidnapping in Nigeria to date. While 100 hostages were released on December 7, another 153 students and 11 staff members remain in captivity. The attack forms part of a broader kidnapping crisis that has seen at least 816 pupils…
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HISTORIC: CAF secures record European broadcasting deal ahead of Morocco 2025 kickoff

HISTORIC: CAF secures record European broadcasting deal ahead of Morocco 2025 kickoff

WITH just two days remaining before the opening whistle of Africa's most prestigious football spectacle, the Confederation of African Football has sealed an unprecedented broadcasting triumph that will beam the continent's finest talent into living rooms across Europe like never before. CAF announced Wednesday a record-breaking 20 media partnerships spanning more than 30 European territories for the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2025, marking the tournament's most expansive European reach in its storied history. The landmark deals ensure that when Morocco's stadiums roar to life on Sunday, 21 December, millions of football fans across the continent—including vast African…
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Eswatini banker files $9.9m defamation suit against independent media

Eswatini banker files $9.9m defamation suit against independent media

THE founder of Eswatini's Farmers Bank has launched a nearly $10 million defamation lawsuit against an independent news outlet, according to a report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). According to ICIJ, John Asfar and Farmers Bank are seeking damages from Swazi Bridge, a news outlet operating in exile, over articles published between 2023 and 2025 that detailed alleged irregularities in the bank's license acquisition. The plaintiffs claim the outlet published defamatory content "with absolutely no evidence" and "without hearing the Plaintiffs' side," ICIJ reports. John Asfer ICIJ notes that Asfar, a real estate developer and former owner…
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