The East African Community (EAC) Council of Ministers is meeting in Arusha this week to discuss issues affecting the region, including the deteriorating security situation in eastern Congo and budgetary constraints hampering the operations of the Secretariat. The ministers are expected to review the interventions of the joint EAC-SADC (Southern African Development Community) initiatives to restore peace, security and stability in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. A paper from the Secretariat notes that since the start of the year, more than 700,000 people have been displaced in the Congolese provinces of North and South Kivu due to the resurgence of the M23 armed group…The ministers will also review the bloc’s financial situation, which has affected the implementation of its mandate and the payment of statutory obligations, including staff salaries. (The EastAfrican)

South Sudan’s opposition accused government forces of attacking one of its military positions near the capital on Tuesday as a fragile power-sharing agreement unravelled further. The southern state of Central Equatoria, which includes the capital Juba, was split into areas controlled by government and opposition forces under a 2018 deal that ended South Sudan’s five-year civil war, in which an estimated 400,000 people died. The agreement brought President Salva Kiir and his long-time rival, Vice-President Riek Machar, together in a unity government. But the deal has become threatened in recent months as Kiir moves to sideline Machar, who was placed under house arrest last month…Facing sustained attacks, the opposition forces commander directed his troops to prepare for conflict, according to another statement by Gabriel on Tuesday. (AFP)

Since fighting erupted between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in April 2023, at least 28 reporters have been killed, according to Sudan’s journalist union. Dozens more have been detained and tortured, while many have been displaced and cut off from electricity, water and internet…According to Reporters Without Borders, since the start of the war more than 400 journalists have fled the country…Yet some remain on the ground, working in secret with nothing to their name…In the North Darfur town of Tawila, where the UN says 180,000 survivors of nearby RSF attacks are sheltering, 30-year-old photojournalist Ibrahim works undercover to report on those trapped between famine and brutal violence…Last July, RSF fighters detained him in El-Fasher and accused him of being an army spy. He said they tortured him for five days and confiscated his equipment, documents and money. Since then, he has sent his family out of Darfur and relocated to Tawila, leaving his cameras behind. His mobile phone is all he has left…Still, Ibrahim continues, turning a coffee shop in Tawila — powered by a single public solar panel — into a makeshift newsroom. “Who else will tell the world what’s happening in Darfur if we leave?” he told AFP… “No one else will tell these stories. No one can imagine the atrocities happening here.” (AFP)

Nominal is a common financial term with several different meanings. In the first, it means very small or far below the real value or cost. In finance, this adjective modifies words such as a fee or charge. A nominal fee is below the price of the service provided or presumably easy for a consumer to afford, or a fee that is small enough that it does not have any meaningful impact on one’s finances. Nominal may also refer to a rate that’s been unadjusted for inflation.