The United Nations has launched its first global panel on artificial intelligence, as concerns grow that the technology could deepen global inequalities – particularly in Africa, where systems are largely imported after being shaped elsewhere. The panel, bringing together around 40 experts from 37 countries, was approved by the UN General Assembly in February and held its first meeting in March. … Among its members is Senegalese researcher Adji Bousso Dieng, who tells RFI that Africa needs to develop its own AI or risk being left dependent on others. … “Today’s most powerful AI systems are trained mainly on Western data, which does not reflect the diversity of populations. We need local AI systems built with local context, so they can solve local problems. … [C]ompanies go to countries like Kenya to label data, which is needed to train AI systems. The working conditions are often not fair, people are not well paid and they can be exposed to traumatic content. There is no proper legal framework. That is a form of digital colonisation. There is also the issue of data sovereignty. Data can be used without compensation, and large companies benefit without paying Africans for their work.”

The House of Peoples’ Representatives has cleared a law that will let private companies, cooperatives, and non-governmental organisations provide agricultural advisory services, a major departure from decades of state-controlled extension.

The decision came during the 14th regular session of the House’s fifth-year term under its sixth legislature, where lawmakers reviewed the Standing Committee on Agriculture’s report on the Pluralistic Agricultural Extension Service and Management Proclamation. Developed by the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Institute (ATI) alongside the Ministry of Agriculture and development partners, the law aims to modernise a system long criticised as rigid, outdated, and unresponsive to the needs of Ethiopia’s increasingly commercial farming sector.

The reform follows the Council of Ministers’ approval of the proclamation on May 21, 2025, after which it was referred to parliament for review. During the same session, the council also examined the Draft Proclamation on Ecosystem Service Payments, which introduces a legal framework for implementing ecosystem service fees.

Police have arrested a man accused of being at the centre of a multi-million-dollar international human trafficking ring that since 2018 has lured thousands of people to Libya, where they hoped to travel on to Europe.

Yetbarek Dawit is alleged to have operated five detention warehouses in Libya, torturing migrants there to try and force their relatives to send extra money.

He was detained along with nine of his alleged accomplices in northern town of Shire, according to police. They are yet to be charged in court.

Police say testimonies collected so far suggest the network has been involved in the deaths of more than 100 people and the sexual abuse of more than 50 women.

The arrests were the result of a complex and cross-border investigation, the police said, involving an organisation called the Regional Operational Centre (Rock) – set up to tackle smuggling networks in East Africa and funded by the European Union.

The National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) has announced that more than 36.9 million voters have registered to take part in the country’s upcoming general election, scheduled for June 1.

The NEBE said that, out of the total registered voters for the East African country’s 7th general election, about 16.84 million are women, while 20.12 million are men, state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporation reported Monday.

Among the registered voters, close to 150,000 people are with disabilities, said the national electoral board. Originally scheduled to conclude in early April, the NEBE has recently extended the registration window to April 22, as preparations advance for the general election.

According to NEBE Chairperson Melatwork Hailu, the voter registration process, which has been conducted through both digital and manual systems, is enabling broader public participation.

The NEBE has previously announced that voter registration has been underway at 46,750 polling stations across the country, with the distribution of election materials largely completed to ensure the smooth conduct of the process.