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South African President Cyril Ramaphosa dismissed claims that white people are being persecuted in the country, calling it a "completely false narrative" in his latest attempt to refute allegations from US President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and some white minority groups in South Africa. Elon Musk, born in South Africa, has frequently accused the country's Black-led government of being anti-white. Over the weekend, he reiterated a claim on social media that some South African political figures are “actively promoting white genocide.” South African NGOs fear HIV treatment disruptions amid Trump’s aid freeze In his weekly address, Ramaphosa urged South Africans not to let external events divide them. He particularly emphasized the need to challenge the "completely false narrative" that the country is targeting individuals of a specific race or culture for persecution. Though Ramaphosa did not name names, his statement appeared to be a direct response to accusations made by Trump and others that South Africa is deliberately mistreating the white Afrikaner minority by encouraging violent attacks on their farms and introducing a law to seize their land. These allegations were central to an executive order Trump issued last month, which cut funding to South Africa’s government while offering refugee status to Afrikaners in the U.S. Afrikaners, descendants of Dutch and French colonial settlers, played a key role in South Africa’s apartheid government, which oppressed non-white populations. However, since apartheid ended in 1994, South Africa has made significant progress in reconciling its racial groups. Musk, in his social media post on X, referred to a rally in South Africa where leaders of a far-left opposition party, the Economic Freedom Fighters, sang a song with the lyrics “Kill the Boer, the farmer.” The term "Boer" refers to Afrikaners. South African miner recalls horrors of months spent underground “Very few people know that there is a major political party in South Africa that is actively promoting white genocide,” Musk wrote, linking to a video of the rally. The Economic Freedom Fighters, South Africa's fourth-largest party in Parliament, opposes Ramaphosa's African National Congress. It received 9.5% of the vote in last year’s elections and has been criticised for inflaming racial tensions, particularly for singing the song, which was used during apartheid as a call to resist oppression. The song's modern-day use has sparked controversy in South Africa. While some parties and groups, including an Afrikaner association, challenged its use in court, it was ruled as hate speech and banned more than a decade ago. However, in 2022, a court determined that it was not hate speech and protected under free speech as it did not incite violence. Since Trump's executive order, the South African government has been working to correct what it says is misinformation surrounding the issue of white farmers, who sometimes fall victim to violent attacks. While the government condemns these attacks, experts argue there is no evidence of widespread targeting of whites. They suggest that such attacks are part of South Africa's broader violent crime rates, which affect all races. The Afrikaner group has claimed that farm homicides have been underreported by the police. For instance, it reported eight farm homicides in the three-month period between October and December last year, while the police recorded only one. During the same period, South Africa's police reported a total of 6,953 homicides nationwide.

A jihadi group’s assault on a village in western Niger has resulted in the deaths of 44 civilians, according to the country's Interior Ministry. The attack occurred on Friday afternoon in Fambita, a village within the rural commune of Kokorou, near the tri-border area with Mali and Burkina Faso, the ministry stated. It attributed the attack to the Islamic State in the Great Sahara (EIGS). At least 10 Nigerian soldiers are killed in an ambush, the army says The Associated Press was unable to contact EIGS for comment. "Around 2 p.m., while Muslim worshippers were engaged in Friday prayers, these heavily armed terrorists surrounded the mosque and carried out their massacre with exceptional brutality," the statement said. The gunmen also set fire to a market and homes before withdrawing, it added. According to the ministry, at least 44 civilians were killed, while 13 others sustained severe injuries. It declared three days of national mourning. For more than a decade, Niger and its neighbouring countries, Burkina Faso and Mali, have struggled against an insurgency waged by jihadi groups, some of which are affiliated with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. Following military coups in all three nations in recent years, the ruling juntas expelled French forces and sought security assistance from Russian mercenary units. The three countries have pledged to enhance their cooperation through the establishment of a new security alliance, the Alliance of Sahel States. Death toll from Nigerian gasoline tanker explosion rises to 86 However, analysts say the security situation in the Sahel—a vast region on the edge of the Sahara Desert—has deteriorated significantly since the juntas took control, with a surge in attacks and an increasing number of civilian casualties inflicted by both Islamic militants and government forces.

Sudan’s military stated on Friday that it had regained control of the Republican Palace in Khartoum, the last heavily fortified stronghold of rival paramilitary forces in the capital, following nearly two years of conflict. Videos shared on social media depicted soldiers inside the palace, mentioning the 21st day of Ramadan, the Muslim holy fasting month, which coincided with Friday. In the footage, a Sudanese military officer, identified by his captain’s epaulettes, confirmed the troops’ presence within the compound. Can technology help more sexual assault survivors in South Sudan? The palace appeared to be partially destroyed, with soldiers stepping on shattered tiles. Armed with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers, they chanted, “God is the greatest!” Khaled al-Aiser, Sudan’s information minister, announced in a post on the social platform X that the military had retaken the palace. “Today, the flag is raised, the palace is reclaimed, and the journey continues until complete victory,” he wrote. The Palace's Fall: A Symbolic and Strategic Shift The capture of the Republican Palace, a complex along the Nile River that served as the government's seat before the war and is featured on Sudanese banknotes and postage stamps, marks another significant military gain for Sudan’s armed forces. Under the leadership of army chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, they have made steady progress in recent months. This development signifies that the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, have been largely expelled from Khartoum since the conflict erupted in April 2023. Sporadic gunfire was heard throughout the capital on Friday, though it was unclear whether it was due to ongoing clashes or celebratory gunfire. The RSF did not immediately acknowledge the loss, and the battle is unlikely to end, as the group and its allies still control territory in other parts of Sudan. On Thursday night, the RSF claimed it had seized al-Maliha, a strategically important desert city in North Darfur near the borders of Chad and Libya. Sudan’s military confirmed that clashes had occurred in the area but did not state that it had lost control of the city. Al-Maliha is located approximately 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of El Fasher, which remains under the control of the Sudanese military despite frequent RSF attacks. The head of the U.N. children’s agency has described the war as having created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. More than 28,000 people have been killed, and millions have been displaced. Some families are resorting to eating grass as famine devastates parts of the country. Other estimates suggest an even higher death toll. The Republican Palace has historically been a centre of power, serving as the seat of government during Sudan’s British colonial period. It was also where Sudan’s independent flag was first raised in 1956. Before the conflict, it housed the offices of the president and other top officials. The Sudanese military has long targeted the palace and its surroundings, subjecting it to shelling and heavy fire. UN halts food aid to famine-hit Sudan displacement camp Sudan’s Long History of Unrest and Conflict Located in northeastern Africa, Sudan has faced persistent instability since a popular uprising led to the ousting of longtime autocratic President Omar al-Bashir in 2019. A brief transition to democracy was halted in 2021 when Burhan and Dagalo orchestrated a military coup. The RSF and Sudan’s military eventually turned against each other in 2023. Since early this year, Burhan’s forces—including Sudan’s military and allied militias—have advanced against the RSF, recapturing a crucial oil refinery north of Khartoum before launching attacks on RSF positions around the capital. The conflict has resulted in a growing number of civilian casualties. Al-Bashir faces charges at the International Criminal Court for orchestrating a genocidal campaign in the early 2000s in the western Darfur region, using the Janjaweed militia, the RSF’s precursor. The U.N. and human rights organisations accuse the RSF and allied Arab militias of targeting ethnic African communities in the current war. Both the Sudanese military and the RSF have been accused of human rights violations since the conflict began. Before leaving office, U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration declared that the RSF was committing genocide. Both sides deny any wrongdoing.

A bus overturned on a highway Tuesday and passengers were thrown out of it, killing at least 12 people and injuring 45 in the South African city of Johannesburg, emergency services said. Emergency crews were trying to lift the bus back onto its wheels to see if any more victims were trapped underneath it, said William Nthladi, a spokesperson for the city’s Ekurhuleni Emergency Management. “On arrival we found patients lying across the road," Nthladi said. The early-morning crash happened on a highway near Johannesburg’s main O.R. Tambo International Airport. The bus was lying on its side near the edge of the highway. It had been transporting people from the township or Katlehong, east of Johannesburg, officials said. Nthladi said 12 people were declared dead at the scene of the crash by paramedics. South Korean fighter jet accidentally drops bombs, reportedly injuring 7 people Nthladi said he also couldn’t give exact details on the extent of the injuries but said they ranged from serious to critical. The driver was among those taken to the hospital. No other vehicle was involved in the crash and officials weren’t yet able to determine the cause. Police are investigating and the crash was being treated as a crime scene because of the fatalities, Nthladi said.

The United Nations’ food agency says it has temporarily paused aid distribution in Sudan’s famine-hit Zamzam displacement camp of a half-million people as fighting intensifies between the country’s warring sides, and it warns that thousands could now starve. The World Food Program said Wednesday that fighting in the past two weeks between the military and a paramilitary group in Sudan's civil war has forced its partners to leave the camp in western Darfur for safety. “Without immediate assistance, thousands of desperate families in Zamzam could starve in the coming weeks,” said the agency's regional director, Laurent Bukera. Bukera urged the warring sides to stop fighting and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid. “We must resume the delivery of life-saving aid in and around Zamzam safely, quickly and at scale,” she said. WFP has been feeding about 300,000 camp residents, but it and partners reached only 60,000 people this month amid intensified shelling. One attack destroyed the camp’s central open market, pushing residents farther from essential food and supplies, the agency said. Earlier this week, the Doctors Without Borders medical charity said it paused its operations, including its field hospital, in the camp due to intensified attacks. Famine was announced in the Zamzam camp in August and spread to two other camps for displaced people in Darfur and the Western Nuba Mountains. Sudan’s military breaks paramilitary group's siege of crucial city The camp is 12 kilometers (6.5 miles) south of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, which the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group, or RSF, has been trying for months to take. The RSF has been at war with the Sudanese military since April 2023. The conflict has been marked by atrocities including ethnically motivated killing and rape, according to the UN and rights groups. The International Criminal Court is investigating alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. Aid groups have made pleas for access for months in Zamzam and elsewhere, with little success. The UN’s top humanitarian official in Sudan, Clementine Nkweta-Salami, has accused the RSF of preventing life-saving aid from reaching many in Darfur. The RSF and allied militias control most of that region.

Sudan’s military on Sunday broke a more than yearlong siege on the crucial city of Obeid, restoring access to a strategic area in the south-central region and strengthening crucial supply routes in its nearly two years of war against a notorious paramilitary group, officials said. The military also kicked the Rapid Support Forces from its last stronghold in the White Nile province in another setback to the notorious group, military spokesman Brig. Gen. Nabil Abdullah said in a statement. Sudan was plunged into chaos in April last year when simmering tensions between the military and the RSF exploded into open warfare across the country. The fighting, which wrecked the capital, Khartoum, and other urban areas has been marked by atrocities including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, especially in the western region of Darfur, according to the United Nations and international rights groups Abdullah, the spokesman, said military troops in the al-Sayyad axis managed to reopen the road to the city of Obeid and break the RSF siege on the city which serves as the provincial capital of North Kordofan province. The city hosts a sprawling airbase and the military’s 5th Infantry Division known as Haganah. A commercial and transportation hub, Obeid is located on a railway linking Khartoum to Nyala, the provincial capital of South Darfur province. It was besieged by the RSF since the onset of the ongoing conflict in April 2023. Finance Minister Jibril Ibrahim hailed the military’s advances in Obeid as a “massive step” to lift the RSF siege on el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur province, as well as delivering humanitarian aid to the Kordofan area. Corruption Index reveals worst scores in over a decade, South Sudan falls to bottom Sunday’s RSF defeats were the latest in a series of setbacks for the notorious group that started in September when the military launched an offensive aiming at recapturing the Great Khartoum area — Khartoum and its two sister cities of Omdurman and Khartoum North, or Bahri. The military has since captured strategic areas including its own main headquarters and is now close to recapturing the Republican Palace which RSF fighters stormed in the first hours of the war in an attempt to kill military chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan. The RSF has also suffered multiple battlefield setbacks elsewhere in the country. It lost control of the city of Wad Medani, the capital of Gezira province, and other areas in the province. The military also regained control of the country’s largest oil refinery. The developments on the ground have given the military the upper hand in the war, which is approaching its 2-year mark with no peaceful settlement on the horizon. International mediation attempts and pressure tactics, including a U.S. assessment that the RSF and its proxies are committing genocide, have not halted the conflict. The RSF and its allies, meanwhile, signed a charter that paved the way for the establishment of a parallel government to challenge the military-backed administration. The move has raised concerns about a potential split of the country. Cholera spreading to another city Cholera has spread to Rabak, the provincial capital of White Nile province, according to health authorities in the province. The disease first hit Kosti, another White Nile city, before reaching Rabak, the health ministry said. A total of 68 people died from cholera in the two cities between Thursday and Sunday, according to the health ministry. More than 1,860 others were diagnosed with the disease, it said. An anti-cholera vaccination campaign in Kosti and Rabak reached 67% of its targeted people in the last two days, according to the ministry. The outbreak was blamed mainly on contaminated drinking water after Kosti’s water supply facility was knocked out during an attack by the RSF, the health ministry said. The facility was later fixed as part of the government's efforts to fight the disease. Sudan: Paramilitary attack on market kills 54, injures scores Cholera is a highly contagious disease that causes diarrhea leading to severe dehydration and can be fatal if not immediately treated, according to the World Health Organization. It’s transmitted through the ingestion of contaminated food or water. Cholera outbreaks are not uncommon in Sudan. The disease killed more than 600 and sickened over 21,000 others in Sudan between July and October last year, mostly in the country’s eastern areas where millions of people displaced by the conflict were located.

In a remote village in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province, 19-year-old Nozuko Majola worries about affording the hour-long trip to collect her essential HIV medication, usually delivered to her inaccessible home via untarred roads. Majola is among millions of South Africans impacted by U.S. President Donald Trump’s freeze on foreign aid, sparking fears of widespread treatment interruptions, rising infection rates, and increased fatalities. A 2024 report from the Human Sciences Research Council revealed KwaZulu-Natal had the country's second-highest HIV prevalence at 16%, with around 1,300 new infections weekly among young people. In 2022, the province recorded the highest number of HIV-positive individuals — approximately 1.9 million — contributing to South Africa’s total of over 7.5 million cases, the highest globally. Trump’s suspension of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which annually provides over $400 million (17% of South Africa’s HIV funding), has placed the treatment of 5.5 million South Africans on antiretroviral therapy at risk. Since its inception in 2003, PEPFAR has saved at least 26 million lives worldwide, according to the U.N. AIDS agency. A federal judge recently ordered a temporary lift on the freeze, and the U.S. Embassy in South Africa announced the resumption of PEPFAR projects under a limited waiver. However, several HIV-focused NGOs have already shut down, leaving patients to seek care at overwhelmed public clinics, while PEPFAR-funded vehicles sit idle. NGOs, which supplement government healthcare services, have been crucial for patients like Majola in Umzimkhulu, where high unemployment forces many to depend on subsistence farming and welfare. Majola expressed concern that many patients would miss their treatment due to transport challenges and infrequent mobile clinic visits. The funding halt has also displaced nearly 15,000 PEPFAR-funded health workers, adding strain to the healthcare system. In Umgungundlovu, the district with the country’s highest HIV cases, counselors and clinic managers are struggling with administrative burdens left by departing PEPFAR staff. Long-time HIV patient Nozuko Ngcaweni, who lost a child to the virus, lamented the impact of the aid suspension, fearing it threatens the goal of an HIV-free generation by 2030. Mzamo Zondi, provincial manager of the Treatment Action Campaign, warned that the aid freeze jeopardizes efforts to curb new infections, calling it “a matter of life and death.”

Rwanda-backed rebels reached the center of east Congo’s second largest city, Bukavu, on Sunday morning and took control of the South Kivu province administrative office after little resistance from government forces, many of whom fled the rebels' advance. Scores of residents cheering on the M23 rebels in central Bukavu on Sunday morning as they walked and drove around the city center after a dayslong march from the region's major city of Goma 63 miles (101 kilometers) away, which they captured late last month. Several parts of the city, however, remained deserted with residents indoors. The M23 rebels are the most prominent of more than 100 armed groups vying for control of Congo’s mineral-rich east, and are supported by some 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, according to the U.N. Armed fighters have raped scores of children in eastern Congo, UNICEF says It was not clear if the rebels had taken decisive control of the city of about 1.3 million people. Their presence in central Bukavu is an unprecedented expansion of the rebels' reach in their yearslong fighting with Congolese forces. Unlike in 2012 when they only seized Goma in the fighting connected to ethnic tension, analysts have said the rebels this time are eyeing political power. Many Congolese soldiers were seen on Saturday fleeing the rebels’ advance into Bukavu alongside thousands of civilians amid widespread looting and panic. Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi held a security meeting in the faraway capital of Kinshasa, where officials noted that Bukavu was “briefly” invaded by M23 but remains under the control of the Congolese army and allies from local militia, the presidency said on X. There were no signs of fighting or of Congolese forces in most parts of Bukavu on Sunday. Tshisekedi has warned of the risk of a regional expansion of the conflict. Congo's forces are being supported in Bukavu by troops from Burundi and in Goma by troops from South Africa. Burundi's president, Evariste Ndayishimiye, appeared to suggest his country will not retaliate in the fighting. In a post on X he said that “those people who were ready to get profit of the armed attack of Rwanda to Burundi will not see this.” The Congo River Alliance, a coalition of rebel groups that includes M23, said it was committed to “defending the people of Bukavu” in a Saturday statement that did not acknowledge their presence in the city. “We call on the population to remain in control of their city and not give in to panic,” Lawrence Kanyuka, the alliance’s spokesperson, said in a statement.

The UN children’s fund on Thursday accused armed men, likely on both sides of the conflict in eastern Congo, of raping scores of children over the past weeks as rebels expand their footprint and push government forces out. The accusation came as the conflict in the mineral-rich region shows no signs of abating. UNICEF cited reports of the abuses, saying the offenders were apparently from among both the M23 rebels and the government forces fighting them. "In the North and South Kivu provinces, we are receiving horrific reports of grave violations against children by parties to the conflict, including rape and other forms of sexual violence at levels surpassing anything we have seen in recent years,” UNICEF's Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement. “One mother recounted to our staff how her six daughters, the youngest just 12 years old, were systematically raped by armed men while searching for food," Russell added. Health facilities in the restive region reported during the week from Jan. 27 to Feb. 2 a total of 572 rape cases — more than a fivefold increase compared to the week before, Lianne Gutcher, UNICEF's communication chief in Congo, told The Associated Press. Of those, 170 of those treated were children, she added. US aid freeze halts NGO support for displaced Somalis Armed men perpetrated the rapes but it was unclear what specific armed group or army they belonged to, Gutcher said. “It is suspected that all parties to the conflict committed sexual violence,” she added. The Rwanda-backed M23 rebels are the most prominent among more than 100 armed groups vying for control of Congo’s mineral-rich east in a decades-long conflict that has created one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. In late January, the rebels captured Goma, the region’s largest city, in a major escalation of the fighting. Last week, the United Nations Human Rights Council launched a commission that will investigate atrocities, including rapes and killings akin to “summary executions” committed by both the Congolese army and the M23 rebels in the region since the beginning of the year. On Monday, 84 Congolese soldiers accused of murder, rape and other crimes in the country's east went on trial in the city of Bukavu. The city is under the control of government forces but the rebel offensive has inched closer to it recently. Congo's Health Minister Roger Kamba, meanwhile, said 143 patients who were being treated for mpox fled from Goma’s hospitals as the rebels pushed into the city. Some were found or came back on their own but 110 have not returned. The minister said the city has also recorded nearly 100 cases of cholera since the rebel offensive started. Goma is now fully under rebel control. Kamba added that Congolese authorities, with the help of aid groups, were able to send vaccines, medical supplies and medicines to Goma through a humanitarian corridor via neighboring Kenya and Rwanda. He did not provide details. On Thursday, Congolese musician Delcat Idengo was killed in Goma in what authorities described as an “assassination.” Congo's government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya blamed his death on “Rwanda and its accomplices.” The Associated Press was not able to independently verify the circumstances surrounding the death of the artist, known for his politically charged songs.

In a desolate makeshift camp on the fringes of Somalia's capital, tens of thousands of internally displaced people sit under the baking sun not sure if they can have access to food rations and medication following U.S. President Donald Trump's decree to freeze most of his country's foreign aid. Trump’s decision, which will remain in force for 90 days following his Jan. 20 executive order, threatens to collapse the humanitarian aid economy that sustains the livelihoods of some of the world’s most vulnerable people. The U.S. provides more foreign aid globally than any other country, budgeting about $60 billion in 2023, or about 1% of the U.S. budget. Somalia, a Horn of Africa nation that struggles with a homegrown Islamic extremist insurgency, depends almost entirely on foreign aid to look after people displaced by armed conflict, amounting to 3 million, according to the UN refugee agency. The east African country also grapples with the effects of natural disasters, particularly drought, and food insecurity. The United States Agency for International Development, or USAID, spent $369 million in Somalia in 2021, supporting everything from sanitation programs to emergency nutrition with funds channeled through government and non-governmental groups. Ayan Ali Hussein, chairwoman of the Dooxdoox IDP camp on the outskirts of Mogadishu, said Trump’s order provoked almost immediate stop-work orders addressed to USAID partners, shutting down basic services. Suddenly “there are no facilities to treat malnourished children,” she said. “Women who had experienced gender-based violence once had access to care, counseling, protection, medication, financial support, and clothing, none of which are available anymore.” Hussein’s camp looks after eight sites, home to nearly 8,000 households of internally displaced Somalis who will “lack basic items like plastic sheets” for temporary shelter. The suspension of USAID, “left a huge void in our lives” she said. One of the camp's residents, an 85-year-old mother of eight, Ruqiya Abdulle Ubeyd, said she was shocked by Trump’s decision and asked "the U.S. government to restore the aid it used to give to vulnerable people,” she said. Hamas' threat to delay the next release of Israeli hostages raises fears for Gaza ceasefire The fund freeze has also caused major concern among those in need of urgent medical care, including people with HIV, as it disrupted the work of almost all NGOs in Somalia. One of the hard-hit organizations is the Somali Young Doctors Association, or SOYDA, a key provider of medical assistance in the camps. Its founder, Dr. Abdiqani Sheikh Omar, previously a top official in Somalia’s health ministry, said the abruptness of Trump’s announcement has destabilized their programs. In 2025, Somalia was to receive $125 million in USAID support for programs that could now become “null and void,” he said. To cope with funding shortages, his group decided to prioritize critical nutrition and hygiene programs. Many of his workers also face immediate job losses, and the organization is “engaging our volunteer health professionals to cover this emergency staff funding gap through part-time shifts,” he said. SODYA also provides medication for people who can’t afford it. “Previously, whenever our children got sick, we would come straight to (the SODYA) center for help,” said Hussein Abikar, a father of five who lives in the camp with his family. “There is no other place where we could find such support,” Abikar said.