Burkina Faso's military rulers abolish electoral commission
The AFP news agency quotes Territorial Administration Minister Emile Zerbo as saying that the electoral commission was "subsidised" with around $870,000 (£650,000) a year.Abolishing the commission would "reinforce our sovereign control on the electoral process and at the same time limit foreign influences", he added.
How an al-Qaeda offshoot became one of Africa's deadliest militant groupsWhy Burkina Faso's junta leader has captured hearts around the worldHow 'blood gold' is fuelling conflict in West Africa
After coming to power three years ago amid criticism that the civilian authorities were failing to deal with a growing Islamist insurgency, the military leaders have rejected the assistance of former colonial power France in favour of Russia.Rights groups have since accused the army of targeting civilians in its attempt to quash the militants, as well as suppressing political activity and the freedom of expression.There are also question marks over the effectiveness of the military operation. In the first half of 2025, jihadist group JNIM said it had carried out over 280 attacks in Burkina Faso – double the number for the same period in 2024, according to data verified by the BBC.Additional reporting by BBC Monitoring and David Bamford.
Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
UK's aid cuts ‘will hit children's education and raise risk of death'
Labour's deep aid cuts will hit children's education and increase the risk of disease and death in some African countries, according the government's own impact assessment. Keir Starmer announced earlier this year that he would reduce the aid budget to 0.3% of national income, from 0.5%, to fund increased spending on defence. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) published its 'equality impact assessment' of the policy on Tuesday, as MPs prepared to leave Westminster for the summer recess. Based on spending allocations for the current year, 2025-6, in which the first stage of the cuts has started to be implemented, the analysis paints a stark picture of the potential effects. The government has prioritised spending through multilateral agencies such as the World Bank's development arm, the International Development Association (IDA), and the global vaccines initiative, Gavi. It has also continued to fund humanitarian support. The impact assessment said these and other key decisions had 'protected against disproportionate impacts on equalities'. However, it highlighted the fact that bilateral projects in a string of countries face cuts, including on education and health. 'In Africa, spending is reduced in women's health, health systems strengthening, and health emergency response, eg in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia,' the impact assessment said. As an example, it warns that cuts to the budget of the 'Ending Preventable Deaths Support Programme' will result in the 'reduction and prioritisation' of support across 11 countries. The assessment concludes: 'Overall, any reductions to health spending risk an increase in disease burden and ultimately in deaths, impacting in particular those living in poverty, women, children and people with disabilities.' On education, it finds 'in-year reductions to education spend are envisaged in Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and in Zimbabwe, and a girls' education programme in DRC will close early in 2025 to 2026'. It adds: 'Adverse impacts on children will be likely, including the most vulnerable and children with disabilities, eg the early closure of the DRC education programme will have negative impacts on 170,000 children in post-conflict rural Kasai.' The impact assessment also pointed out that 11 of the 13 current or future programmes which have been earmarked for closure were 'equalities focused'. The slashing of the UK development assistance budget comes as Donald Trump's administration institutes its own sweeping cuts to US aid, which, among other crushing effects on the world's poorest people, have resulted in abrupt halts to life-saving HIV drug programmes in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa. The FCDO assessment was published alongside the department's annual report, which set out more details of how the diminished aid budget will be spent. Lisa Wise, director of global policy at Save the Children UK, said: 'The government has confirmed our worst fears – significant reductions in aid spending will result in deaths of the world's most vulnerable, including children.' She welcomed the confirmation that the government will meet its promise of funding to the World Bank, but added: 'International spending must be part of a genuine strategic approach – where the needs of people facing inequality and at risk of crisis are at the heart of development, not one driven by balancing the books.' Gideon Rabinowitz, director of policy and advocacy at Bond, the umbrella group for development NGOs, said: 'The world's most marginalised communities, particularly those experiencing conflict and women and girls, will pay the highest price for these political choices.' He added that the impact assessment only covers the current year, and urged the government to repeat the exercise, as the cuts continue to bite. 'Without this, we only have a very limited picture of what the real impact is going to be on the areas facing the brunt of the cuts,' he said. Lady (Jenny) Chapman, the development minister, said: 'We are modernising our approach to international development. Every pound must work harder for UK taxpayers and the people we help around the world and these figures show how we are starting to do just that through having a clear focus and priorities. 'The UK is moving towards a new relationship with developing countries, becoming partners and investors, rather than acting as a traditional aid donor.' She has previously described an aid budget of 0.3% of national income as the 'new normal'. The previous Labour government adopted a target of 0.7% of national income for aid spending, which subsequently won cross-party support – but Rishi Sunak cut it to 0.5% during the Covid pandemic.
Reuters
3 hours ago
- Reuters
Platinum gives South Africa fiscal boost ahead of budget, says Old Mutual
JOHANNESBURG, July 22 (Reuters) - A platinum price rally and increased mining royalties should ease the pressure on South Africa's fragile coalition government ahead of its October budget, Old Mutual Investment Group, one of the country's largest institutional investors, said on Tuesday. The government, led by the African National Congress and the Democratic Alliance, is trying to balance competing interests across parties and political analysts say painful tradeoffs, such as higher taxes or spending cuts, could fracture the coalition. South Africa is, however, the world's largest producer of platinum group metals - including palladium and other precious metals as well as platinum - that have rallied this year, meaning increased mining royalties could provide relief for the government ahead of its mid-term budget. "Given the role that PGMs play in revenue collection ... this could be a bit of a gift horse windfall to the government of national unity," Meryl Pick, portfolio manager at Old Mutual Investment Group, said during a briefing. She said a repeat was possible of South Africa's mining tax windfall in 2021 when revenue collections exceeded budget projections by 100 billion rand ($5.7 billion), helping to narrow the fiscal deficit. Spot platinum prices touched their highest levels since August 2014 earlier this month, extending a record second quarter rally fueled by a rise in demand and drop in supply. Some analysts have said the rally might not be sustained, given global economic uncertainty that may affect demand. But Old Mutual Investment Group analysts said prices were likely to keep rising on the basis of slower adoption of electric vehicle adoption in Western markets, steady demand for hybrid cars, and constrained mining supply due to years of underinvestment. One of the major uses for platinum and palladium is to curb emissions from vehicles that run on fossil fuels. Old Mutual has more than 400 billion rand of assets under management and its funds have a significant allocation to resources and mining shares. The commodity rally has also buoyed South Africa's other markets. South Africa's MSCI index is up more than 32% since the start of the year - double the around 16% gain in the wider MSCI EM index. (.MIZA00000PUS), opens new tab (.MSCIEF), opens new tab ($1 = 17.5475 rand)
Reuters
4 hours ago
- Reuters
South African rand edges up after coalition partner backs budget bill
JOHANNESBURG, July 22 (Reuters) - The South African rand was slightly stronger on Tuesday after the second-biggest party in the coalition government said it would vote in support of the last major piece of budget legislation. The Democratic Alliance (DA) said it would back the Appropriation Bill in parliament on Wednesday after President Cyril Ramaphosa acceded to one of its demands by firing a minister it had accused of misconduct. The budget has been held up for months by wrangling between the DA and Ramaphosa's African National Congress party. At 1515 GMT the rand traded at 17.6050 against the dollar , up 0.1% on Monday's closing level. Morgan Stanley said it had turned more bullish on South African government debt in the wake of the minister's removal, which it said had opened the door for political tensions to ease. South Africa's benchmark 2035 government bond gained on Tuesday, as the yield fell 14 basis points to 9.845%. Markets reacted little to a decline in a central bank business cycle indicator that gauges the local economic outlook. The leading indicator (ZALEAD=ECI), opens new tab fell 1.3% month-on-month in May, following a 0.6% decrease in April. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange's Top-40 index (.JTOPI), opens new tab closed down 0.4%.
