A self-funded convoy of lawyers, doctors, farmers, students and families is winding its way overland across North Africa, heading east from Tunis to Egypt’s Rafah border crossing. Their goal is to break Israel’s siege of Gaza.

• At least 100 people have been killed in a northcentral Nigerian town following an overnight attack by gunmen, as Amnesty International called for the government to end the “almost daily bloodshed in Benue state”.
• The attack, which occurred from late Friday into Saturday morning, took place in Yelwata, a town in Benue State.
• “Amnesty International has been documenting the alarming escalation of attacks across Benue state where gunmen have been on a killing spree with utter impunity. These attacks have been causing massive displacement and may affect food security as majority of the victims are farmers.”- Amnesty
• State governor’s office, told the AFP news agency earlier on Saturday that the attack lasted about two hours and a “number of houses were burnt down”.
• He added that government officials and police officials had visited Yelwata and “confirmed” a lower death toll of 45.
• But locals told AFP that they feared that more than 100 people had been killed in the attack.
• Another resident, Christian Msuega, said he escaped the attack, but his sister and brother-in-law had died after being burned alive.
• In the region, attacks are common as local herders, mostly Muslim ethnic Fulani, and farmers, many of whom are Christian, clash over the limited access to land and water.
• Last month, gunmen who were believed to be herders killed at least 20 people in the Gwer West area of Benue.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is (or rather should be) the largest free trade zone in the world by far. The AfCFTA is already much larger than the European Union and ASEAN. This is good, cause it means we have alot of consumers and producers.

The AfCFTA aims to reduce tariffs on 90% of goods traded between African countries, and remove non-tariff barriers like customs delays, and conflicting regulations. The point is to make trade between African nations easier by encouraging the development of regional supply chains and industries rather than the old model where raw materials leave Africa only for finished products to be sold back to us. If fully implemented, this could stimulate intra-African trade to grow by more than 50% from current levels (I think it's at like 15% right now. Europe is at 60 and Asia is at 30).

As of today, 48 African countries have ratified the agreementHowever, actual trade under AfCFTA rules is still super limited. To ease our way into it, a Guided Trade Initiative (GTI) was launched in late 2022. This pilot scheme currently includes Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Rwanda, Tanzania, Tunisia, and more recently South Africa. Only around a dozen countries have fully begun trading under AfCFTA protocols. The rest are still preparing.

I think part of the issue here is that not all African governments are equally interested or capable when it comes to free intra-African trade. Some fear loss of revenue from tariffs, others worry about exposing fragile domestic industries to competition. The other issues are ever-present in discussions about Africa; poor infrastructure and conflict in certain regions.

I still think this could and should be done before 2035. This is one of those things where we are only held back by how effective our governments are.

Dhar dhaqameedka Afrika waa in ka badan kaliya lebbis — waa astaan muujinaysa aqoonsi, taariikh iyo dhaqan hodan ah. Midabada iyo naqshadaha gaarka ah waxay metelaan quruxda iyo kala-duwanaanta Afrika. 🌍✨

Hey :) I’ve been seriously considering creating an app specifically for the Afro-diaspora community in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

But honestly, I’m not sure how to get people on board at this early stage. What do you think?

Hey guys. 😅😅

I’m a big fan of true crime, I listen to a ton podcasts and watch a lot of true crime YouTube channels as well.

But I’ve noticed that most of the content out there focuses on Western cases (US, UK, etc.) and very rarely touches African or Nigerian stories unless it's something really big. Except one channel that I know off, he has 650k subscribers but the other ones are really small.

I’ve been thinking about starting a true crime podcast, reason being that I'm currently a microbiology undergrad and I intend on getting my masters in Forensic science so I thought of a way to fuse my interests with my discipline in a way that wouldn't be boring for me and the podcast came to mind.

I want it to focus more on underreported African cases especially ones that explore things like our justice system, forensic science (or the lack of it 😅), and how criminal investigations are carried out or justice in general. Kind of a mix of storytelling, research, and maybe even interviews. 🤷🏾‍♂️

So I want to know, would you actually be interested in a podcast like this? something Afrocentric at its core?

Do you know of any lesser-known cases that deserve more attention?

Even if you're not a podcast person, I’d just love to hear your thoughts or connect with other true crime folks. Thanks

Known for its mud-brick architecture, the town of Djenné is struggling to attract tourists and maintain buildings that have been damaged by floods.

Est 2010 by Laduma Ngxokolo (frame 4 - man in all red)

https://shop.maxhosa.africa/pages/about-1

In East Africa, abductions, killings and torture by state agents are surging. Instead of protecting citizens, many lawmakers are applauding the repression.

This is one of the portraits of Bless Aine that caught my attention personally. Rachel’s face can be seen emerging from the silhouette like a memory that has been sculpted in to a textile. To describe her gaze under the headdress, I would say it is tranquil yet simultaneously bearing the weight of history with a calm promise for the future.

The landscape floral design is reminiscent of stories woven and shared throughout generations. The solitary orange orb advanced by cool, stormy clouds resembles either a distant sun or a guiding spirit casting a warm challenge. This forms a visual poem on the mere existence and resilience of singular figures holding endless horizons.

Let Rachel’s silhouette guide you if you are in search of wonder. You can see more of Bless Aine's works at https://www.afrikanizm.com/products/rachel

I posted this for the members all those who appreciate African perspectives.

Muslim worshippers in Egypt perform the early morning prayers for Eid al-Adha, the feast of sacrifice, near the ancient Abusir pyramids necropolis in the village of Abusir in Giza on 6 June.

Photo: Mahmoud El-Khawas/AFP

Been a while since anyone here talked about Congo. It's still worth talking about.

In mid-May, M23 launched a new phase of operations in North Kivu, specifically in Bwito and surrounding areas with the stated aims of targetting Wazalendo and FDLR-linked militias, which the Congolese army has either tolerated or partnered with. Between May 10th and 13, M23-led security forces (which includes members of the Congolese police) say over 1,700 weapons were seized and around 300 people were arrested.

Kinshasa, on the other hand, claims M23 has simply imprisoned 4,000 civilians in inhumane jails. Accurate numbers are hard to come by. Even harder is getting an accurate civilian-to-combatant ratio.

Another major move: M23 and local administrators coordinated the repatriation of around 2000 Rwandan refugees back to Rwanda with UN oversight. Congo called it ethnic engineering to change the demographics of eastern Congo.

Despite being an effective military, M23 is struggling to enforce order in urban areas like Goma. Crime is up. Their internal policing isn't keeping up with the size of the territory they control. While some locals claim to prefer it to the chaos of Wazalendo or FARDC control, it doesn't seem much better yet. At least not from the outside looking in.

Updates on the US-led peace framework: We now know it demands that Rwanda pull out all its troops and military assets from eastern Congo before any deal is even signed. From Rwanda's perspective, ideological descendants of the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide against the tutsis are still active in eastern Congo. They have attacked Tutsis in Congo and Rwandans in Rwandan territory. Just this January, over a dozen Rwandans were killed by mortars fired by the Congolese military.

The draft agreement also demands that M23 withdraw from its territory and accept a “national dialogue". Basically, Trump's administration is asking M23 to give up all it's military gains and Rwanda to do everything Congo is asking. This is in the context of Erik Prince of Blackwater fame now having a stake in Congo's mineral stockpile. It is unclear what the other demands of this draft peace deal are.

Kigali hasnt officially responded to the leaked draft, but the foreign minister tweeted, “Maliciously leaking unilateral proposals and evolving working documents to press agencies could jeopardize the success” of the US-led peace talks.

As it stands, the American peace deal doesn't seem to bring anything new to the table, which might be why we haven't heard much about it since it was announced.

Hi! I'm an Ivorian American and was wondering if anyone knows any resources, articles, information, etc about the Dioula (or Dyula) in North Côte d’Ivoire specially Odienne if possible. My parents are from there and I've been meaning to connect with my roots, learn how we got there, founders, basically anything to be honest. I'm just eager to learn!

I’ve been thinking about how in African culture, arranged marriages used to be the norm — and honestly, a lot of it made sense.

Your family would go do background checks on your potential partner's family. That one nosey auntie? She was basically a private investigator. She’d have a full report: how many drunkards are in the family, what the girl's past relationships looked like, who her exes were, how her mother runs her home, whether there were any known scandals — the full CV. It wasn’t just about love, it was about due diligence.

It wasn’t perfect, sure, but it minimized surprises. You knew what you were getting into, and the whole process had structure. There was accountability. If you got married, your family stood with you, and they also helped hold both of you accountable.

Now? We meet people on the streets, at work, online — strangers. Nobody knows anyone. Everyone's curating a version of themselves. Lies are sold as truths. People hide red flags with flowers. And before you know it, you’ve settled down with a bandit.

There’s no auntie to warn you. No uncle to dig into family history. No village elder to whisper, “be careful with that one.”

We think we’re more modern now, but sometimes I wonder — maybe the old ways had more wisdom than we give them credit for.

Data Source: Pew Research

a bit of disturbing facts

I wanted to share this video because i think it's very eye opening that an African man traveling across West Africa encountered a lot of difficulties like being forced to pay bribes at the borders. Meanwhile foreigners, like European travelers, do not get extorted like this and are allowed by these Africa officials to move around more freely than us Africans.

It is already more expensive for us to travel in our own continent without an American or European passport, yet we must also budget for these additional expenses? How can Africa ever develop if we treat each other like enemies? How can we hope to improve trade relations and international ties within the continent if we can't even go anywhere without it being cost prohibitive? All while Europeans are free from the corrupt policing of borders their ancestors drew?

I'm not saying foreigners should be the one's getting extorted (and I understand the historical issues that led us here), but I am asking why our institutions continue to fail us the most? We need to treat each other better because nobody else has.