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FILE PHOTO: Members of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) stand guard against the M23 rebel group in Lubero, North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo October 27, 2024.
Rwanda-backed rebels seize towns in Congo
The rebel March 23 Movement, aka M23, reportedly supported by Rwanda,captured the strategic town of Masisi in the Democratic Republic of Congo's North Kivu province from the army and pro-government militias on Saturday. Masisi, population 40,000, sits just 50 miles north of Goma, the provincial capital, home to two million Congolese — and is a key sanctuary for refugees.
The takeover comes just two days after M23 captured Katale, another town in North Kivu. Since 2021, the group has occupied vast areas of eastern Congo, displacing hundreds of thousands of refugees, and local leaderswarn of an escalating humanitarian crisis.
The Congo accuses Rwanda of using the rebels to loot its minerals including gold, cobalt, and tantalum, a charge Kigali denies. In December, Congo announced it was suing Apple for using such “blood minerals.” In response, Apple has stopped accepting tin, tantalum, tungste, and gold from both countries.
Meanwhile, talks between DRC President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagamewere canceled on Dec. 15 over disagreements about the terms of a proposed peace deal, and there is no sign they are resuming. We’re watching how far M23 goes, as even the scant attention paid to central Africa in Western capitals may diminish under a tumultuous Trump administration.
US President Joe Biden shakes hands with Angolan President João Lourenço at the Presidential Palace in Luanda, Angola, on Dec. 3, 2024.
Why is Joe Biden in Angola?
There’s also a security angle here. Angola isn’t just oil-rich; it has large reserves of copper and is home to large deposits of critical minerals, like the lithium and cobalt needed to make batteries for electric vehicles. That’s an arena of intense US-China competition.
The main focus for Biden this week is his proposed 835-mile rail line to connect the cobalt, lithium, and copper mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the copper-belt region of Zambia with the Angolan port of Lobito on the Atlantic, from which these increasingly precious commodities can be exported to the US and Europe. Construction of the so-called Lobito Corridor is not yet underway.
Angola and many other sub-Saharan African countries have an angle here too. Lourenço knows that competition among China, the US, Russia, Japan, Europe, and others for African resources and infrastructure projects can give African leaders a negotiating leverage they don’t yet have.
Lourenço and Biden can both hope that incoming US President Donald Trump will see the value of these projects as new investment opportunities that score points against China.
A person holding smartphone
Will AI help or hurt Africa?
AI technology might be able to help poorer nations “leapfrog” entire development phases, the Financial Times wrote this week — just like how some nations skipped mass landline adoption and went straight to mobile phones in the last two decades.
AI startups are popping up across Africa, trying to tackle problems in health care, education, and language and dialect differences. And foreign firms are starting to invest too: Microsoft and the UAE-based fund G42 announced a $1 billion investment in Kenya to build data centers, develop local-language AI models, and offer skills training to people in the country. Amazon has said it’s investing $1.7 billion in Amazon Web Services cloud infrastructure across the continent. For its part, Google has begun developing African-language AI models and given $6,000 microgrants to Nigerian AI startups.
But there’s also concern that AI could deepen existing digital divides — especially if popular large language models aren’t developed with Africa in mind, don’t support local languages, or if the continent lacks the infrastructure to run high-powered models efficiently.
UN Security Council: Liberia’s top diplomat joins calls for Africa’s representation
Will Africa's push for permanent representation on the UN Security Council succeed? Liberia’s Foreign Minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti echoed the region’s calls for reform, challenging the council’s control by wealthy nations.
The UN Security Council was originally set up post-WWII when many African nations were still under colonial rule, but today they feel sidelined in global governance.
“Many African countries have had different experiences that have led many of us to believe that the current configuration for global governance on peace and security is no longer fit for purpose. The needs of countries during conflict, post-conflict for reconstruction, are not being met in line with the expectations,” Nyanti told GZERO at the SDG Media Zone during the 79th UN General Assembly in New York City. Nyanti echoed recent calls for African countries to be granted permanent seats on the Security Council. “It needs to happen,” she said, emphasizing that Africa is the source of “most of the resources of the world” and “critical to global governance.”
Sara Beysolow Nyanti, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Liberia, delivers a speech at the high-level panel discussion on ''Education in Peril: The Human Cost of War'' during the opening session of the 5th Observance of the UN International Day to Protect Education from Attack at Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC) in Doha, Qatar, on September 9, 2024.
Liberia’s top diplomat calls for “total overhaul” of UN Security Council
UNITED NATIONS – African countries are ramping up calls for permanent representation on the UN Security Council, contending that it’s a paralyzed institution dominated by a few wealthy countries and in desperate need of reform.
When the Security Council was first established in the aftermath of World War II, many African countries were still under colonial rule. In the time since, the framework of the Security Council has largely remained the same, but the world it represents has changed dramatically.
“Many African countries have had different experiences that have led many of us to believe that the current configuration for global governance on peace and security is no longer fit for purpose. The needs of countries during conflict, post-conflict for reconstruction, are not being met in line with the expectations,” Liberian Foreign Minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti told GZERO at the SDG Media Zone during the 79th UN General Assembly in New York City.
“It's important that voices are heard. We talk about leaving no one behind. And if the countries that are affected don’t feel they have adequate and just and equitable representation, then there’s a problem,” Nyanti added.
Nyanti echoed recent calls for African countries to be granted permanent seats on the Security Council. “It needs to happen,” Nyanti said, emphasizing that Africa is the source of “most of the resources of the world” and “critical to global governance.”
“You cannot have a rules-based world order that does not reflect all of the world's people adequately,” Nyanti said.
On Wednesday, during an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, many African countries, including Sierra Leone, Algeria, and Mozambique, pointed to the council’s ineffective response to the spiraling situation in the Middle East as evidence of the need for reform.
“Increasing geopolitical competition has increasingly turned this chamber into a battleground,” said Manuel Gonzalez, Vice Minister of Mozambique’s Foreign Affairs, referring to Russia’s backing of Iran — which supports Hezbollah — while the US stands alongside Israel. “The security council must restore its relevance and impartiality, therefore Mozambique reiterates its calls on the need for Security Council reform which also takes into consideration the African common position.”
The US recently endorsed granting permanent seats to two African countries but without the veto power wielded by the original five members: the US, Russia, China, France, and the UK. When asked whether permanent seats without veto power would effectively be symbolic, Nyanti said, “I think just talking about veto or non-veto is not the issue. It's about overhauling the entire system.”
“I believe very, very strongly that we need to go back to the beginning, go back to the foundation, look at what’s there, and look at what needs to be totally overhauled and reformed,” she said.
Watch John Haltiwanger's full interview with Foreign Minister Nyanti here.
Chinese honor guard stand in formation as the plane carrying Kenya's President William Ruto arrives at the VIP terminal of the Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, China, September 2, 2024, ahead of the China Africa Forum.
African leaders gather to hear Beijing’s pitch
Leaders from 50 African nations are expected to gather in Beijing on Wednesday for the 9th triennial China-Africa Cooperation summit — aimed at deepening strategic coordination between China and Africa – but China’s ongoing economic woes have shifted the tone considerably.
The background: These fora used to be an opportunity for Beijing to splash the cash about, but spending peaked after the 2015 summit, which promised some $60 billion in loans and investments over 3 years. By comparison, Chinese loans in Africa totaled just $4.61 billion in 2023 — and Beijing’s guests will want to hear why pledges from the 2021 summit to buy $300 billion in goods from Africa have gone unfulfilled.
Beijing will also need to reassure its partners about several incomplete infrastructure projects, including a major rail project to link East African population and industrial centers.
What’s the pitch? Beijing wants to sell a vision of a green economy future powered by African minerals supplying Chinese manufacturers. But Beijing isn’t alone: Africa’s role in the global economy is only set to grow more important in the 21st century, and the US, UK, South Korea, Italy, and Russia have all set up African summits in recent years. We’re watching how China’s overtures are received.Pro-reform protesters participate in an anti-government demonstration over what organisers say are tax hikes, bad governance, constitutional violations, extra-judicial killings and cost of living, in Nairobi, Kenya, August 8, 2024.
Kenya set to reintroduce tax hikes. Will protests follow?
The Kenyan government is reintroducing the controversial tax plan that fueled young Kenyans’ protests earlier this summer. President William Ruto scrapped the $1.2 billion plan at the end of June after demonstrations turned deadly, but the government faced a funding shortfall as a result, downgrading its credit rating over concerns about Kenya’s ability to service its $78 billion public debt.
When he ditched the bill, Ruto vowed to address the concerns of young Kenyans, who have struggled to find jobs in an economy failing to keep up with population growth. They argued that rather than increase taxes, the government should crack down on corruption.
Disillusioned youth are increasingly inciting civil unrest across Africa, where by 2030, 42% of the world’s young people will reside. Youth-led protests were also seen in Uganda and Nigeria this summer, and last week, more than 400 young people gathered at the UN offices in Nairobi for the Africa Youth Forum 2024 where they expressed their discontent with leaders they feel are denying them political and economic opportunities.
We will be watching to see whether reintroducing the tax plan reignites protests in Kenya, and whether young people across Africa can turn their discontent into political change.
A permanent Security Council seat for Africa?
Guterres offered few specifics on how Africa should be represented. That appears to be a question for the African Union. For now, the 15-member Security Council consists of five permanent members with veto power – China, France, Russia, the US, and the UK – and 10 nonpermanent seats allocated regionally, including three seats for African states, two for Asia-Pacific, two for Latin America and the Caribbean, two for Western Europe and other states; and one for Eastern Europe.
UNSC permanent members have a veto over votes of the Council. Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio told the Council on Monday that Africa should have two permanent seats and added that “Africa wants theveto abolished. However, if UN member states wish to retain the veto, it must be extended to all new permanent members as a matter of justice.”
Guterres said in January that all five current permanent members favored greater African representation, though they will certainly haggle over the details of reform. But for now, the number of voices in favor, at least in principle, continues to grow.