The recapture of Kurmuk is imperative for the army to restrict the RSF’s supply from Ethiopia and check its advance in Blue Nile State, which will secure a gateway to central Sudan.

This is not the first attack on the strategic airport in the northeastern city of Kisangani, capital of the Tshopo province bordering the Kivu region, where the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group is waging a war for mineral wealth.

Financed by surpluses generated when international mineral prices rise above the state-set benchmark, the fund will not be used for short-term budgetary expenditure, but ring-fenced for long-term, strategic infrastructural and industrial projects.

While Western media continues to describe hit-and-run attacks on civilian fuel tankers by Al-Qaeda fighters who cannot hold positions as a “blockade”, a much more complex struggle for and against Mali’s sovereignty unfolds on the ground.

After blockading the state highway for 30 hours on the 426th day of the protest, farmers continue agitations against the acquisition of 9,600 acres of fertile, irrigated land to expand Bangalore city, capital of the southern Indian state of Karnataka.

Two weeks before, the armed forces had fought off the highly-coordinated attacks on six cities by about 12,000 jihadist and separatist fighters on April 25.

Alleging that UAE-supplied drones taking off from an Ethiopian airport have attacked Sudan four times since March 1, the Sudanese government has recalled its ambassador, and threatened an “open confrontation” with Ethiopia “if it becomes necessary.”​

While Western media continued prophesying the fall of the popular, sovereignist government that expelled French troops, the cabinet met on April 29 to push forward with developmental projects.

Reproductive rights advocates warn that the ruling spells grave danger for both doctors and pregnant women, thousands of whom die of unsafe abortions every year in Kenya.

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te complained that China’s “authoritarian regime” stopped him from joining the celebration to mark 40 years of rule by Africa’s last absolute monarchy that has banned all political parties.

Recalling the sacrifices made by Cubans alongside the combatants of the liberation movements in Africa, protesters expressed unconditional solidarity with Cuba, and condemned the illegal US blockade choking the small island nation.

While the ruling ANC condemned the campaign against Malema by the “grandchildren of Apartheid”, its ruling coalition partner has welcomed the sentence, in a case by a far-right lobby which concocted the narrative of “White Genocide” that Trump used against South Africa.