Drones hit the Sudanese city of al-Gadaref on Tuesday, eyewitnesses and the local governor said, bringing the country’s devastating war to a calm farming state where almost half a million displaced people have taken refuge. Gadaref is the capital of al-Gadaref State that has remained under military control as the war between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces nears the one-year mark. The RSF has taken control of the capital Khartoum, neighbouring Gezira state as well as most of the Darfur and Kordofan regions in the west, while the army holds the north and east of Sudan including its main Red Sea port. Eyewitnesses said at least two drones had targeted military installations in Gadaref, which is located just to the east of Gezira, on Tuesday morning. They said they heard explosions as well as anti-aircraft missiles being fired from the ground. (Reuters)

Attacks on shipping in the Red Sea by the Houthi militia in Yemen have exposed the vulnerability of African maritime security. Since November 2023, there have been 133 reported incidents, including 14 vessels struck by missiles or drones and 18 vessels hijacked by Somali pirates. The disruptions caused by nonstate actors unbounded by international law and with access to stocks of standoff armaments pose fundamental challenges to Africa’s security and economic development…In short, it is African citizens who are paying the price of delays, more expensive consumer goods, disruption to local economic entities, and polluted waterways…The Red Sea maritime crisis demands a recalibration of African maritime security efforts to help keep the routes of trade open, safeguard undersea communications cables, and protect the rule of law. (Africa Center for Strategic Studies)

African ICT Ministers, policymakers and stakeholders have been urged to institute policy reforms within Africa’s ICT sector with a view toward the harmonization of better ICT policies for the continent’s digital economy.

According to Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Information, Communication and Digital Economy, Eliud Owalo, outdated policies are limiting investment in the continent’s ICT sector. The Cabinet Secretary has singled out policies such as the 30% local shareholding rule for foreign companies to invest in Kenya’s ICT sector as a hindrance to foreign direct investment.

“In Kenya, for example, we have managed to waive the 30% local content requirements that necessitated that ICT companies must have 30% local ownership. What is the purpose of having a law that impedes foreign direct capital investment? That is the direction that we need to go as Africa, making sure that there is foreign direct capital investment while at the same time also protecting our own local interests as Africa.” said the CS. (Press release)

Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) called for an investigation into the killing of a prominent opposition figure recently released from prison. Bate Urgessa was gunned down on Tuesday night in his hometown of Meki in Oromia, Ethiopia’s biggest region, according to the Oromo Liberation Front, or OLF. He was a political officer with the OLF, a legally registered opposition group that boycotted elections in 2021. The OLF said it has information indicating that Bate “was shot dead,” adding that it’s investigating…An outspoken critic of the government, Bate spent several stints in prison over the years…In February, he was arrested alongside Antoine Galindo, a French journalist, as the two met at a hotel in Addis Ababa. They were accused of working with rebel groups in a “conspiracy to spread chaos.” Galindo was released after one week, and Bate was released a few days later. (AP)