NEWS - The African Mirror

Oct

24

2025

By SEBASTIAN VAN BAALEN and JESPER BJARNESEN

Côte d’Ivoire’s elections have already been decided: Ouattara will win and democracy will lose

NEWS

EVEN before the ballot, the 25 October presidential polls in Côte d'Ivoire can already be described as a loss to democracy and democratic values. Incumbent president Alassane Ouattara is running for a fourth term. With his two main contenders barred from participating, the president will most likely win by a landslide. Ouattara has previously claimed three electoral victories. The first, in 2010, was marred by widespread violence and a re-escalation of armed conflict that led to the loss of more than 1,500 lives. His second electoral victory, in 2015, was carried on the back of a broad coalition that later…

Oct

23

2025

By OWN CORRESPONDENT

Another fuel tanker inferno claims lives in Nigeria’s deadly pattern

NEWS

THE acrid smell of burning fuel and charred flesh hung over a stretch of highway in Niger state on Tuesday, where at least 35 people perished in yet another fuel tanker explosion—a tragedy that has become grimly routine in Africa's most populous nation. The disaster unfolded when a petrol tanker skidded off the road, overturned, and spilt its volatile cargo across the asphalt. Within moments, the fuel ignited, engulfing the vehicle and the surrounding area in flames that would claim dozens of lives. "The tanker lost control and spilt its contents," said Aishatu Saádu, sector commander for the Federal Road…

Oct

23

2025

By OWN CORRESPONDENT

UN warns of critical humanitarian crisis as violence against women escalates in eastern DRC

NEWS

WOMEN and girls in the Democratic Republic of Congo face one of the world's worst humanitarian crises as conflict-related sexual violence has surged 33 percent compared to last year, UN officials warned Tuesday. Shoko Arakaki, Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Humanitarian Response Division, said she witnessed devastating conditions during a recent visit to Kinshasa and Goma, where women and girls are being raped and abused in camps, during transit, and in their own communities. "Even before current escalations, three women died every hour from pregnancy and birth-related complications in DRC," Arakaki said at a press briefing in…

Oct

23

2025

By SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

The absentee emperor: How a 92-year-old pulled off democracy’s greatest disappearing act

NEWS

THE tear gas canisters arced through the Yaoundé sky like falling stars, their acrid smoke mixing with the fury of protesters who refused to accept what seemed inevitable: Paul Biya, at 92 years old, had done it again. From his European sanctuary - thousands of miles from the chaos engulfing Cameroon's streets - the world's oldest head of state had somehow secured an eighth presidential term without breaking a sweat. He barely campaigned. He hardly appeared. Yet as partial results trickled in from the October 12 election, the impossible became reality: the absentee emperor had won the right to rule…

Oct

22

2025

By OWN CORRESPONDENT

Dawn Carnage: 63 Dead as Highway Horror Unfolds in Uganda’s Deadliest Crash

NEWS

THE pre-dawn darkness on the Kampala-Gulu Highway erupted into a scene of twisted metal and shattered lives early Wednesday morning, as a catastrophic chain-reaction collision claimed 63 lives in one of Uganda's worst road disasters. The tragedy struck at 00:15 local time when two buses, barreling toward each other in opposite directions, collided head-on as both drivers attempted to overtake slower vehicles on the nation's busiest highway. What followed was a nightmare cascade of destruction that would leave families across Uganda grieving and emergency responders confronting carnage on an unprecedented scale. According to the Uganda Police Force, the fatal sequence…

Oct

22

2025

By OWN CORRESPONDENT

Tanzania elections risk becoming ‘procedural exercise devoid of legitimacy’ amid crackdown, amnesty warns

NEWS

TANZANIA'S general elections on 29 October risk becoming nothing more than "a procedural exercise devoid of legitimacy," conducted in an environment where fear, violence and exclusion have replaced open political participation, Amnesty International warned. The stark assessment comes as the human rights organisation released a damning briefing documenting widespread abductions, extrajudicial killings, torture and arbitrary arrests of opposition figures, journalists and activists under President Samia Suluhu Hassan's administration. "Without sustained pressure from Tanzania's regional and international partners to reverse the clampdown on freedom of expression and human rights generally, the 2025 elections risk becoming a procedural exercise devoid of legitimacy,"…

Oct

22

2025

By STAFF REPORTER

US pursues aggressive critical minerals strategy across Africa, challenging China’s dominance

NEWS

THE United States is mounting an aggressive diplomatic and economic offensive across Africa to secure access to critical minerals essential for advanced technologies, clean energy, and national security, positioning resource deals at the centre of its engagement with some of the continent's most unstable regions. The strategy, driven by the Trump administration's determination to counter China's entrenched dominance in global mineral supply chains, has seen Washington broker peace agreements, dispatch Cabinet-level officials, and promise billions in investment across mineral-rich African nations - from war-torn eastern Congo to West African coastal states. At the heart of the campaign is the Democratic…

Oct

23

2025

By AFRICAN MIRROR CORRESPONDENT

Madagascar’s new military leader faces first crisis as Gen Z movement rejects prime minister pick

NEWS

JUST four days into his presidency, Colonel Michael Randrianirina confronts his first major political crisis after the youth movement that toppled his predecessor rejected his choice for prime minister, threatening to resume the street protests that have already brought down one government. The 48-hour-old controversy erupted Monday when Randrianirina appointed businessman Herintsalama Rajaonarivelo as prime minister, a decision that immediately drew fierce condemnation from Gen Z protest leaders who warned the military leader's grip on power now depends on meeting their demands for genuine reform. "We will not allow old practices to be passed off as something new," Gen Z…

Oct

22

2025

By OWN CORRESPONDENT

Ghana to establish specialised courts in major crackdown on illegal mining and environmental crime

NEWS

PRESIDENT John Dramani Mahama has announced the establishment of specialised financial courts to prosecute environmental criminals and those implicated in the Auditor General's reports, marking a significant escalation in Ghana's fight against the devastating illegal mining crisis known locally as galamsey. The announcement follows a high-level meeting with Acting Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, Attorney General Dr Dominic Ayine, and Auditor General Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu at the presidency, signalling a coordinated government response to environmental degradation that threatens the nation's ecological future. The new courts will hold circuit sessions nationwide to prosecute offenders, while the Auditor General will exercise constitutional powers…

Oct

21

2025

By OWN CORRESPONDENT

President Ruto dedicates Mashujaa Day to late former prime minister Raila Odinga

NEWS

PRESIDENT William Ruto on Monday dedicated Kenya's Mashujaa Day celebrations to the late Raila Amolo Odinga, honoring the former Prime Minister as "a towering statesman, a resolute patriot, and a quintessential hero" one day after his state funeral. Speaking at Ithookwe Stadium in Kitui County during the national Heroes' Day commemorations, Ruto led the nation in a moment of silence for Odinga, who was buried Sunday following a funeral attended by political leaders from across Kenya and Africa. "This is the man, the legend, the pan-Africanist, to whom we dedicate this Mashujaa Day," Ruto said, announcing that he had posthumously…