Michela Wrong

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M23 rebels near Rumangabo military base, Congo, January 2023. Guerchom Ndebo / AFP / Reuters

MundoÁfrica,

The speech was vintage Paul Kagame. Addressing a group of foreign ambassadors in Kigali in February 2023, the Rwandan president complained bitterly of being hounded about his country’s involvement in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo, where he stands accused of backing a rebel group that is rapidly gobbling up land and whose members are mostly ethnic Tutsis, like Kagame.

Instead of acknowledging Rwanda’s support for the M23 Movement—named after a March 23, 2009, peace accord its fighters say the Congolese government violated—Kagame reminded his audience about another rebel group operating in eastern Congo, this one led by those responsible for Rwanda’s 1994 genocide.…  Seguir leyendo »

Abiy Ahmed, the newly elected chairman of the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front, in April. Credit Mulugeta Ayene/Associated Press

MundoÁfrica, ,

If nature abhors a vacuum, politics abhors a military standoff, especially between two nations in one of the poorest, most volatile and most strategically sensitive regions of the world.

And so there was much excitement when the government of Ethiopia announced on Tuesday that it would fully accept the ruling of an international tribunal in the country’s boundary dispute with Eritrea — some 16 years after the judgment was issued.

In 2002, a special international commission delineated the border between the two countries, as they had agreed in the peace deal that ended their 1998-2000 war. Demarcation on the ground was expected to start swiftly, allowing cross-border trade and cooperation to resume.…  Seguir leyendo »

A mortuary attendant closing the door of an ambulance carrying the coffin with the body of Christopher Chege Musando. Credit Daniel Irungu/European Pressphoto Agency

MundoÁfrica

This city’s traffic jams may be the stuff of legend, but it’s surprisingly easy to get around these days. Journeys that usually involve hours stuck at gridlocked roundabouts, with police officers facing down honking matatu buses, now take a snappy half-hour. Kenya’s capital is gearing up for elections on Tuesday and for many residents, that means getting out of town.

Ever since 2007-8, when more than 1,100 people died in election-related violence and the country hovered on the brink of civil war, this jittery exodus has become a routine. In the run-up to each ballot, the interwoven strands that make up this diverse nation’s ethnic fabric are carefully unpicked, and residents head for the safety of their ancestral homelands.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoÁfrica,

Each morning Wambui Kamau, the personal assistant to a Nairobi-based entrepreneur, boards a matatu taxi bus to get to the city centre. This morning, like every other, it is flagged down at a police checkpoint, where the driver hands an officer 100 shillings.

At lunchtime, Wambui heads to the Ministry of Immigration to pick up a new passport. It miraculously surfaces when she offers the clerk 100 shillings. Heading home, the matatu is stopped at the same checkpoint and another bribe paid.

Bad news awaits. A deed allowing the family to sell part of a plot has not materialised. The certificate costs 500 shillings, but Wambui has spent six months and paid 10,000 shillings in bribes trying to extract it from Nairobi city council.…  Seguir leyendo »