Somalia’s Supreme Court on Monday annulled the results of parliamentary and local council elections in Galmudug and ordered a fresh vote, ruling that serious violations had undermined the legality and integrity of the July 30 polls. Chief Justice Bashe Yusuf Ahmed said the simultaneous elections for the Galmudug House of Representatives and local councils did not comply with Somalia’s constitution and electoral law. … The decision followed complaints from political organisations that contested the July 30 vote, with some alleging irregularities, interference and restrictions on their representatives at polling stations. Election officials had acknowledged problems at some voting centres and investigated reported violations during the counting process. The commission later excluded votes from two polling stations. … President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s Justice and Solidarity Party, or JSP, emerged as the dominant force when the electoral commission announced the results. … The Supreme Court ruling erases those results and requires political organisations that take part in the rerun to return to the electorate. (Somalia Today)

The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) – an African Union-backed initiative – will launch a continent-wide credit ratings agency in October, a senior adviser at the AU said on Wednesday, as it seeks to tackle high borrowing costs. Paul Sikazwe, technical adviser on debt to the African Union Commission, said the ratings agency created for Africa will be launched in Mauritius on October 5. “This is a sign of progress in our ambition to provide momentum for the reform of the international financial architecture,” said Sikazwe, speaking during a conference on debt and development in the Kenyan capital hosted by campaign group AfroDad. The APRM has been working for years on the launch of an agency that assesses the creditworthiness of African sovereigns as governments seek an alternative to ratings from the dominant global ratings firms such as Fitch, Moody’s and S&P Global. … Debt issues in Africa have risen to the fore in recent years after heavy borrowing, economic mismanagement and external shocks pushed countries including Zambia, Ghana and Ethiopia into sovereign defaults in recent years. The AU is also forging ahead with a push to take common action on debt by its 54-member states, Sikazwe said, including the inauguration of an African Monetary Institute in Abuja in late October, which is designed to serve as a precursor to a regional central bank. (Reuters)

Sudan asked a 29-member coalition led by China on Wednesday to help block a draft resolution seeking to renew the mandate of the U.N. Human Rights Council’s fact-finding mission. Britain is expected to lead Western efforts during the council’s 63rd session, scheduled from Sept. 7 to Oct. 7, to extend the mission’s mandate. Sudan has repeatedly refused to cooperate with the investigators or allow them entry into the country. Sudan’s permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Hassan Hamid Hassan, addressed an ambassadorial meeting of the Like-Minded Group at the Palais des Nations in Geneva ahead of the session. Hassan urged member states to back Khartoum against the anticipated British draft resolution, according to the state-run SUNA news agency. … The Human Rights Council established the independent Fact-Finding Mission in October 2023 to investigate alleged human rights abuses and violations, including those committed against refugees, and has renewed its mandate annually. The mission is tasked with collecting and analyzing evidence, identifying responsible individuals and entities, and recommending accountability measures. (Sudan Tribune)