Former Somali presidents Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo and Sharif Sheikh Ahmed are showing rare unity as the country debates how to write its new constitution. On Saturday, they converged in Garowe town, the capital of Puntland, one of the Somalia’s Federal Member States. The two former leaders held meetings with Puntland President Said Abdullahi Deni and other politicians including legislators from the bicameral parliament in Mogadishu. The move was significant especially since they were on opposing sides during the 2022 presidential election in Somalia…After the meeting, Farmaajo and Ahmed issued a nine-point statement on Sunday, expressing firm opposition to current Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. They blame his administration of initiating changes to the provisional constitution without consulting…Farmaajo and Ahmed saw security as the most pressing issue for Somalia, especially in the face of feared terrorists. (The EastAfrican)

A prominent Tunisian journalist was put under pre-trial detention on a judge’s order after a Tuesday hearing in which he dangled the prospect of publishing reporting on corruption and the misuse of public funds by several ministers and public institutions. Mohamed Boughalleb’s court hearing came four days after he was arrested in Tunis on suspicion of insulting a public official on social media. As Tunisia heads to a presidential election later this year, Boughalleb’s arrest was the latest to earn condemnation from free speech advocates in the country where pro-democracy demonstrators sparked the Arab Spring last decade…His arrest is the latest example of officials in Tunisia referring complaints to public prosecutors using a controversial 2022 law that free expression and civil liberties advocates have said is increasingly being misused to silence journalists and opponents of the government. The law, known as Decree 54, was intended to combat cybercrime but rights activists say it has been used to prosecute high-profile journalists and opposition figures. (AP)

A new electoral regulation in South Sudan has received harsh criticism from opposition parties that see the move as a way to lock them out of the forthcoming general election that will be a first for the world’s youngest nation. Key opposition parties in South Sudan have termed a contentious electoral law as a scheme by the government to keep them out of upcoming elections in December. The Coalition of Opposition Parties presented a petition to the country’s Political Party Council Monday demanding revocation of the $50,000 registration fee imposed on parties seeking to field candidates in the upcoming polls…[P]arties like the People’s Progressive Party, SSOA, Coalition of Opposition Parties and United People’s Party now see the newly registration fee as an attempt by the government to stifle democracy and restrict the participation of opposition parties in the polls. (VOA)

The United Nations children’s fund says there is a “dire situation” in several eastern and southern African countries, where at least 45 million children are dealing with severe food insecurity made worse by climate change. In a statement, Eva Kadilli, the UNICEF director for eastern and southern Africa, said millions of people are living through multiple and often overlapping crises intensified by the 2023-24 El Nino weather phenomenon, one of the strongest on record. Christiane Rudert, a nutrition adviser for UNICEF in eastern and southern Africa, told VOA that many countries in her region have very high rates of child stunting or acute malnutrition. She said the rates are getting worse because of extreme weather patterns, such as a prolonged heat wave and drought, associated with climate change. (VOA)