The final tally from today’s protests in #Kenya. All killed or injured by the police. (KNCHR is the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights).

China's ambassador to Kenya, seeking to capitalize on US policy changes under the Trump Administration:

The U.S. Institute of Peace - USIP - is back online: www.usip.org

Kenyan President William Ruto's recent visit to China was not well received in the U.S., where powerful lawmakers are now calling for Washington to review its ties with Kenya.

And update: Uganda's Human Rights Commission has ordered Uganda's military chief, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, to release of Bobi Wine's bodyguard.

Uganda is not in a good place right now.

Over on X, Uganda's military chief appears to be drunk-posting about his detention and possible torture of opposition poltiician Bobi Wine's bodyguard (a civilian).

#Sudan Doctors' Network: At least 31 people, including minors, executed by Rapid Support Forces (RSF) Graphic videos shared by RSF on social media. Via Hiba Morgan on @aljazeeraenglish.bsky.social #KeepEyesOnSudan #Omdurman youtu.be/FHOm3vZJboc?...

Africa’s forcibly displaced population has doubled since 2018 to over 45 million people. 3/4 of these are internally displaced. The leading drivers of African displacement are conflict and repressive governance. africacenter.org/spo...

But hey, if the US is pulling out of the UN, it doesn't matter how all those countries vote

Clear language from the UN Acting Special Adviser on the Prevention of #Genocide: “We have warned before & keep warning: the risk of genocide & other atrocity crimes remains a stark reality in #Sudan, especially in the conflict in the #Darfur region” “Further #atrocities can & must be prevented”

Per this report, some of the last remaining USAID humanitarian assistance for Afghanistan, Somalia, Syria and Yemen (and for refugees in Jordan & Lebanon) has been cut. apnews.com/article/usai...

South Sudan's govt refutes the US claim that it refused to accept the return of one of its citizens - they say he is a Congolese national and assert that both the 🇺🇸&🇸🇸 govts have access to records on this, incl. DHS docs on his 2003 entry to the US as a DRC citizen www.facebook.com/share/v/1A76...

The regime in South Sudan is not a transitional government - it is a dictatorship that represses its critics and manipulates ethnic divides to maintain its hold on power. This arbitrary action will do nothing to change that - it will punish people who have no say over how their country is governed.

Sacked Kenyan minister says "I've no bitterness," then proceeds to share a story about President Ruto directing him to take 💰 from Russian oligarchs in Dubai for a 🌳 planting scheme.

Can confirm that termination notices were sent out. There are court battles already looming over whether Trump/DOGE can do this to an organization that insists it’s not a federal agency.

"The idea that the SPLM/A-IO was responsible for Nasir proved the rhetorical foil for a move against the South Sudanese opposition as such." Highly informed piece on the background to the current escalations in #SouthSudan. @joshuacraze.bsky.social africanarguments.org/2025/03/what...

Uganda's military chief has had a busy Sunday of tweeting, declaring that his forces are deliberately killing Nuer in South Sudan and announcing that Museveni has ordered the seizure of Kisangani, DRC

USIP's website has been taken down.

USIP's website, for the moment, remains up. www.usip.gov www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

After breaking into the US Institute of Peace (USIP) Monday, DOGE members immediately got to work taking down signs to erase the independent agency. Photos taken yesterday shared directly with me:

The White House claims USIP Acting President George Moose was removed by USIP'S board - but only 3 of the 15-member Senate-confirmed board are listed below. Per law, USIP's meetings must be open to the public - there appears to be no record of a meeting on March 14.

BREAKING—The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) office was just on lockdown for close to an hour while members of the DOGE team tried to enter the building, multiple people have told me. Security has now escorted out remaining staffers who’ve been told to telework until further notice.

"Amid broad regional & international disorder, the deterioration of the political & security situation in Tigray is dry tinder waiting for a match that could ignite an interstate war between Ethiopia & Eritrea." And reports from Tigray suggest a match has been lit. foreignpolicy.com/2025/03/12/e...

An important intervention from Ethiopia's former army chief, warning of a coming war between Ethiopia and Eritrea -- now dangerously close -- and that a faction within Tigray might side with Eritrea against the federal government in Addis Ababa www.theafricareport.com/378644/tigra...

Admin. official Pete Marocco told the US district court on 2/26 that Rubio had terminated nearly 5800 awards at USAID - per Rubio's post now, appears roughly 600 have since been restored. Reports suggest many life-saving programs were initially canceled. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

NEW: The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) has filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration, alleging that it is unlawfully withholding NED’s congressionally appropriated funding. Read the complaint: www.documentcloud.org/documents/25...

"Show more gratitude/deference" may not play well with the Global South

Dean Karlan, Chief Economist at USAID, has resigned www.npr.org/sections/goa...

AFRICOM's AOR was, prior to 2008, split among 3 COCOMs (EUCOM, CENTCOM & PACOM). Making it a subunified command under EUCOM would put responsibility for 53 countries (& surrounding waters) under a COCOM already covering 51 countries, incl. Ukraine & Russia. That's... a lot.

On the weekend, the RSF, armed movements and other political groups signed a "political declaration" for a parallel government in #Sudan. A few comments. 1/

"We’re just keeping everybody alive, and Sudan is on the verge of an outbreak of famine… A week of not finding food would actually mean a lot of death.” “I’m not sure who the United States is. At this point it’s hard for me to tell.”

"There is a huge liquidity crisis... Even if you have a waiver, there is limited money to pay for warehouses, guards or trucks. You risk a situation where thousands of bags of food can’t be distributed and will sit there, rotting or at risk of being looted" www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

Apparently US foreign assistance for civil society and democracy promotion - which have long had bipartisan congressional support - has been deemed not to align with US foreign policy under the America First agenda. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

NEW: Donald Trump's effort to gut foreign aid programs and sideline thousands of USAID workers have now both been halted — at least temporarily — by judges who say the rush to implement them may have violated laws. w/ @joshgerstein www.politico.com/news/2025/02...

🚨🇸🇩Action is needed NOW by #UNSC, #AU & member states to end the #RSF's apparent continuation of ethnic cleansing non-Arab communities in #NorthDarfur, potentially amounting to genocide in #Zamzam IDP camp. See our urgent alert on #Sudan ⬇️ www.globalr2p.org/publications...

Can confirm this is true: www.cnn.com/2025/02/11/p...

The Inspector General for USAID has been fired, per CNN, following the release of this report: oig.usaid.gov/node/7439

This has been repeated by the White House & others as a justification for freezing foreign aid & shutting down USAID - now Musk says some of the things he says are "incorrect":

NRC, re: the US foreign aid freeze: "We, for the first time in our history, will have to suspend ongoing and urgent humanitarian work for hundreds of thousands of people in nearly 20 countries affected by wars, disasters, and displacement." www.nrc.no/news/2025/fe...

Over at X, Russian accounts are enthusiastically contributing to the anti-USAID campaign. A quick search for USAID & Sputnik (🇷🇺 state media) produces a flood of posts with disinformation, like this one, targeting US humanitarian aid

Over on X, it is being reported that the State Dept has approved the resumption of US-origin food aid shipments and *may* be allowing NGOs to distribute the US-grown food aid sitting in US & global ports. State hasn't commented yet. Many Qs.

Surreal to consider that the decision to put 1000s of USAID staff on leave and call almost all overseas staff back to the US was made *before* asking embassies whether they were needed and why. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/u...

EXCLUSIVE: USAID was always going to be a target for Trump/Musk. But a seemingly routine $153M payment made it enemy No. 1. My colleague Robbie Gramer & I with the backstory: www.politico.com/news/2025/02...

Afrikaner lobby group: “We did not accuse the government of large scale land grabs. We were not aware that Mr. Trump would issue this order…. We will urgently request a meeting with President Ramaphosa… we want to solve our problems within South Africa.” x.com/afriforum/st...

The federal government of Somalia, of which Puntland is part and which does not have relations with Israel, has expressed strong views on the situation in Gaza, as have many Somalis. This seems unlikely to be popular in Somaliland either. m.jpost.com/breaking-new...

The USG v China on South Africa, which recently became the first African country to hold the rotating G20 presidency

I have no particularly strong feelings about USAID but I do wonder if Trump knows that in Kenya alone this means that at least 35,000 people are now unemployed. Is this a story about aid dependency? Absolutely. I just wonder if he knows it might end up destabilising some of his putative allies.

The answer is yes. Ditto East Africa. Now ask the question about the impact on strategic competition with China in Africa.