Sunday, February 8, 2026
South Africa to withdraw troops from UN mission in DR Congo
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa
South Africa has announced the withdrawal of its troops from a United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office said on Saturday that he had informed the UN Secretary‑General, Antonio Guterres, of the decision.
South Africa has supported the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC for 27 years and has more than 700 soldiers deployed there.
The Presidency said Pretoria will work jointly with the UN to finalise the timelines and other modalities of the withdrawal, which will be completed before the end of this year.
It said the decision to leave MONUSCO was influenced by the need to consolidate and realign the resources of the national defence force.
Pretoria said, however, it will maintain close ties with Kinshasa and continue to support regional, continental, and UN efforts to bring lasting peace to the the DRC.
MONUSCO’s mandate is to counter the many rebel groups who have been fighting for decades in eastern Congo, a region that has recently seen an escalation in fighting.
When its mandate was extended in December, it had a total of nearly 11,000 troops and police deployed in the country.
Gazans daily fight for survival
GAZA STRIP, Palestine
Amid the harsh winter weather, life for Palestinians living in Gaza is a daily fight for survival amid the destruction wrought by Israel’s bombardment of the enclave.
Almost four months into a tenuous US-brokered ceasefire, most are still living in makeshift shelters, have little or no income, and struggle to get food and water.
A group of people gathered with their plastic bottles and jerrycans in the Muwasi tent camp in southern Gaza on Friday, to fill them with drinking water.
They routinely have to walk long distances every day to fetch clean drinking water, and then ration each drop until the water trucks arrive again the next day.
“It takes three to four hours to get 100 litres of water. The water suffering is very difficult,” said Mohamed Abu Rabie, who was displaced from Rafah.
As children and adults line up to fill their bottles and jerrycans, patiently waiting for their turn, he said he hoped that someone might provide water trucks near their tents.
Many of people sat atop their jerrycans, taking a quick break before they had to carry the heavy water in a tiresome journey back to their tents.
“Since before the war, Muwasi was a desert area. It did not have any basic necessities,” said Saddam Naji, who had to travel over two kilometres to fetch water. “There is no transportation. We are exhausted.”
Elsewhere in Muwasi, people crowd around a field charity kitchen with pots and plastic bags in the hope of getting some rice.
While some shops and markets have opened with limited supplies, many do not have the money to buy anything.
Tamara al-Masry, who was displaced from Beit Hanoun, said the situation is dire.
”They can't afford it. They come to the charity kitchens, and there's famine. There's food, but people can't buy it. There's no income. I have no income,” she said.
Despite the ceasefire, only small amounts of humanitarian aid are trickling into Gaza, and with sporadic Israeli strikes continuing, many are anxious that the war may start again.
Saturday, February 7, 2026
EACOP operations start in July 2026
By Our Correspondent, DAR-ES-SALAAM Tanzania
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni today met with Tanzanian President Samia Hassan at State House, Dar es Salaam, in a show of the strong ties and mutual respect between the two neighbouring East Africa nations.
“This visit demonstrates how much Uganda values its partnership with our country, built on the foundations of brotherhood, neighbourliness, and mutual respect,” President Hassan said in a post.
The visit by Museveni to Tanzania, on an invitation, comes just days after Uganda’s controversial general elections.
During the meeting, Hassan said they discussed progress on the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP).
The landmark project is expected to begin operations in July this year.
The 1,443 km pipeline will transport Ugandan crude oil from Uganda's Lake Albert oilfields to the port of Tanga in Tanzania for export.
It will be the world's longest heated crude oil pipeline, designed to carry Uganda's waxy crude at around 50°C, with a capacity of up to 230,000 barrels per day.
The first 296 kilometres of the pipeline are in Uganda, while the remaining 1,147 kilometres are in Tanzania.
The 24-inch insulated pipeline will be buried along its entire length, with the top of the pipe being one metre below the surface.
The shareholders in EACOP are affiliates of the three Upstream joint venture partners-the Uganda National Oil Company, TotalEnergies EP Uganda and CNOOC Uganda- together with the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation.
Shareholdings are TotalEnergies 62 per cent, UNOC and TPDC 15 per cent each and CNOOC 8 per cent.
Both presidents highlighted the project as a model of the strong bilateral relations between the two countries.
The talks also covered plans to integrate rail networks through the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), the construction of pipelines for natural gas and petroleum, promoting the use of Tanzanian ports, as well as regional security and trade facilitation.
Tanzania President emphasised the need to remove non-tariff barriers that hinder trade between the two nations, aiming to boost economic growth and cooperation.
“These discussions reflect our shared commitment to regional development and enhancing the prosperity of our people,” she added.
Museveni said they also addressed trade facilitation, improving access to the ports of Dar es Salaam and Tanga, extending railway connectivity, and removing non-tariff barriers.
"On peace and security, we discussed joint efforts for stability in the Great Lakes Region. Africa’s prosperity lies in production, value addition and strategic security," he said.
The meeting comes amid increasing collaboration between Uganda and Tanzania on strategic infrastructure projects that are expected to strengthen economic integration in East Africa.
The two nations have deep-rooted connections dating back to 1960s when both countries gained independence from British colonial rule.
Drought in Kenya spreads beyond arid north
NAIROBI, Kenya
After one of the driest rainy seasons on record at the end of 2025, drought is spreading in Kenya. This time, it is also affecting areas that are usually less prone to droughts than the country's north.
Once more, the rain was insufficient.
The WHO said that the 2025 short rains between October and December delivered only "30 to 60 percent of the long-term average in most areas".
According to the organisation, this led to the driest season on record since 1981 in parts of eastern Kenya.
The result is a drought that has this time gone beyond the north of the country, historically most prone to such events.
Ten counties are affected, including some further central and south in Kenya. Among them are Wajir, Garissa, Kilifi, Marsabit, Kitui, Kwale, Kajiado, Isiolo, and Tana River.
These were categorised in the "alert phase" at the end of January, while Kenya declared a drought emergency for Mandera county, placing it in the "alarm stage".
Among those most affected are herder communities like the Massai pastoralists. Many have already lost considerable parts of their livestock of cows and goats to the drought.
Neighbouring countries are also concerned by the situation. Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda are also seeing their population at risk of food insecurity and malnutrition due to similar weather patterns
Friday, February 6, 2026
Trump signs executive order threatening tariffs for countries trading with Iran
By Tobby Wilson, WASHINGTON United States
United States President, Donald Trump, has said he could impose additional tariffs on countries that continue to trade with Iran, in an executive order signed on Friday.
The order does not specify the rate that could be imposed, but uses 25% as an example, and says it will apply to goods imported into the US from any nation that "directly or indirectly purchases, imports, or otherwise acquires any goods or services from Iran".
Trump has not directly commented on the order, but reiterated "no nuclear weapons" for Iran when speaking from Air Force One on Friday night.
It comes amid ongoing talks between senior US and Iranian officials in Oman, following several weeks of threats from both sides.
Trump threatened a 25% tariff of countries doing business with Iran earlier this year, in a post to Truth Social.
On 12 January, he wrote: "Effective immediately, any country doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran will pay a tariff of 25% on any and all business being done with the United States of America."
At the time, no further detail was provided on how the tariffs would work in practice.
The White House said that this latest executive order reaffirmed the "ongoing national emergency with respect to Iran", and noted that the president may modify it of circumstances change.
It read: "The President is holding Iran accountable for its pursuit of nuclear capabilities, support for terrorism, ballistic missile development, and regional destabilization that endanger American security, allies, and interests."
There has been no immediate comment from Iran.
Kagame criticises international "threats" against Rwanda as US sanctions loom
KIGALI, Rwanda
Rwandan President Paul Kagame urged his country to be more self-reliant on Thursday, as calls mount in the United States to impose more sanctions over its involvement in the conflict in DR Congo.
The tiny Great Lakes nation has come under increasing international pressure over its support for the M23 armed group, which last year captured vast swathes of the neighbouring eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
A peace deal between Rwanda and the DRC, brokered by US President Donald Trump, was signed in Washington late last year - but only days later, the M23 seized another major city, Uvira.
There was bipartisan support at a US House of Foreign Affairs subcommittee on January 22 for more sanctions on Rwanda. Speaking at an event in the Rwandan capital Kigali on Thursday, Kagame appeared to respond with an insistence on the country's autonomy.
We have "committed ourselves to be self-reliant... so that our existence would not depend on luck, or on the goodwill of others who might choose to help us today and withdraw tomorrow", said Kagame, who often speaks in a very roundabout manner.
"Self-reliance, therefore, is our main priority," he said, in a clip shared on the official presidency's X account.
Rwanda insists it is only involved in the eastern DRC to help protect against an enemy militia formed from the remnants of those who committed the Rwandan genocide in 1994, denying direct military involvement despite considerable evidence from United Nations observers and others.
Kagame appeared to tacitly admit to a Rwandan presence in the conflict-wracked DRC.
"When they ask you if you are in the Congo, either you say 'no', and the question of defensive measures we took are... seen as if they are not there. "And if you say 'yes', that becomes the only problem in the world to deal with," Kagame said.
Rwanda's ambassador to the US did, for the first time, admit to a direct "security coordination" with the M23 and its political arm, the Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC), at the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing on January 22.
"Rwanda does engage in security coordination with AFC/M23. I state this clearly to build trust through transparency," Mathilde Mukantabana said.
She said this was "to prevent another genocidal cross-border insurgency, like in the late 1990s, that could threaten Rwanda's very existence".
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