Will African nations ever be able to repay their debt?
Africa's external debt climbed to more than $650bn last year.
More than half of African countries are either in debt distress or teetering on the edge. But credit restructuring is painstakingly slow, and many governments end up spending more on servicing their debt than on healthcare or education.
The debt problem has plunged many nations into economic crisis with rising unemployment and poverty.
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Al Jazeera
7 days ago
- Al Jazeera
US sanctions DR Congo armed group over illicit mining, ceasefire tested
The United States has sanctioned an armed group accused of illicit mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), as both the army and the Rwandan-backed M23 rebel group traded accusations of violating a recently reached US-mediated ceasefire deal by attacking each other's positions. The US Department of the Treasury said on Tuesday that it was blocking all interests and restricting transactions with Pareco-FF, an armed group that it said controlled the key coltan mining site of Rubaya from 2022 to 2024, and which has opposed the M23 group. The administration of President Donald Trump has been pushing for US access to the region's minerals, as it has done in other parts of the world, including Ukraine. It also slapped sanctions on the Congolese mining company CDMC, saying it sold minerals that were sourced and smuggled from mines near Rubaya and two Hong Kong-based export companies, East Rise and Star Dragon, which have been accused of buying minerals from the armed group. 'The United States is sending a clear message that no armed group or commercial entity is immune from sanctions if they undermine peace, stability or security in the DRC,' State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a statement. Rubaya is currently under the control of the M23 group, which is already targeted by US sanctions. The mine there produces 15 to 30 percent of the world's supply of coltan, a mineral used in electronics such as laptops and mobile telephones. Many Pareco rebels integrated into the DRC military in 2009, but Pareco-FF emerged in 2022 in response to the M23 gains. The sanctions come as Congolese army spokesman Sylvain Ekenge said in a statement that the M23 group's 'almost daily' attacks constitute an 'intentional and manifest violation' of the declaration of principles, which the two parties signed in mid-July in Doha, whose terms include a 'permanent ceasefire'. It followed a separate peace deal between the Congolese and Rwandan governments, signed in Washington, DC, the previous month, which also helped the US government and US companies gain control of critical minerals in the region. The Congolese army said it was ready to respond 'to all provocations from this [M23 group] coalition, accustomed to violating agreements', the statement said. M23 spokesman Lawrence Kanyuka said in a post on X on Monday that DRC's government was continuing 'its offensive military manoeuvres aimed at full-scale war'. The eastern DRC, a region bordering Rwanda with abundant natural resources but plagued by non-state armed groups, has suffered extreme violence for more than three decades. A new surge of unrest broke out early this year when the M23 group captured the key cities of Goma and Bukavu, setting up their own administrations, with thousands killed in the conflict. Violence has continued on the ground despite the US and Qatar-brokered peace deal, with fighting becoming more intense since Friday around the town of Mulamba in South Kivu province, where the front line had been relatively stable since March. The M23 attacked positions between Friday and Monday held by pro-Kinshasa militia and army forces, and pushed them back several kilometres, after clashes using light and heavy weapons, local and security sources said. The DRC government and the M23 rebels have agreed to sign a permanent peace deal by August 18, but the renewed fighting has threatened this effort.
Al Jazeera
08-08-2025
- Al Jazeera
Canada sheds tens of thousands of jobs as Trump tariffs hit
The Canadian economy lost tens of thousands of jobs in July, sending the share of people employed to an eight-month low as the labour market gave back the gains seen in the prior month. The economy shed 40,800 jobs in July, compared with a net addition of 83,000 jobs in June, taking the employment rate, or the percentage of people employed out of the total working-age population, to 60.7 percent, Statistics Canada said on Friday. The unemployment rate, however, remained steady at a multiyear high of 6.9 percent. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast the economy would add 13,500 jobs and the unemployment rate would tick up to 7 percent. 'Canada's labour market snapped back to reality in July,' Michael Davenport, senior economist at Oxford Economics, wrote in a note. United States President Donald Trump's sectoral tariffs on steel, aluminium and cars have hit the manufacturing sector hard and reduced the hiring intentions of companies, the Bank of Canada has previously said. The number of people employed in manufacturing shrank by close to 10,000 in July on a yearly basis as sectors linked to steel, aluminium and carmaking curtailed hiring and experienced layoffs. Marty Warren, the United Steelworkers' national director for Canada, told Reuters that about 1,000 members have been laid off. Oxford Economics's Davenport predicts more layoffs in the coming months, forecasting about 140,000 lost jobs and an unemployment rate rising to the mid-7 percent range later this year. Employment in some areas has held up well despite tariffs, the data showed. Overall, there has been little net employment growth since the beginning of the year, StatsCan said. The layoff rate was virtually unchanged at 1.1 percent in July compared with 12 months earlier. The bulk of the job losses in July occurred among workers aged between 15 and 24 – that group's unemployment rate edged up to 14.6 percent, the highest since September 2010, excluding the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021. Policy rate The youth unemployment rate is usually higher than the country's average. The employment rate for this group, which accounts for about 15 percent of the total working-age population, sank to 53.6 percent, the lowest level since November 1998 if the pandemic years are excluded. The Bank of Canada kept its key policy rate unchanged last week, partly due to a strong labour market, but indicated it might reduce lending rates if inflation stays under control and economic growth weakens. 'We are now a bit more confident in our view that the Bank of Canada will resume cutting next month, although a surprisingly strong CPI [Consumer Price Index] print next week could prompt another pause,' said Alexandra Brown, North America economist at Capital Economics. Money market bets show the odds of a rate cut at the next monetary policy meeting on September 17 at 38 percent, up 11 percentage points from Thursday. The information, culture and recreation sector lost 29,000 jobs last month, marking the biggest decline, followed by 22,000 lost jobs in construction and 19,000 in business, building and other support services. The average hourly wage of permanent employees – a gauge closely tracked by the Bank of Canada to ascertain inflationary trends – grew by 3.5 percent in July to 37.66 Canadian dollars ($27.4) per hour, against a 3.2 percent increase in the prior month.
Al Jazeera
08-08-2025
- Al Jazeera
Bayern Munich veers from Rwanda sponsorship after criticism
Bayern Munich has signalled it will cut down on 'Visit Rwanda' branding as it moves 'away from a commercial sponsorship' with the African nation facing a backlash over alleged support for rebels in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Bayern dismissed allegations of 'sportswashing' when it signed a five-year deal with Rwanda in 2023. It included advertisements in the stadium and what Bayern called events 'to promote tourism and investment opportunities in Rwanda'. At the time, it replaced a sponsorship deal with Qatar. Rwanda has similar sponsorships with European football giants like Paris Saint-Germain, Arsenal and Atletico Madrid. Some Bayern fans displayed a large banner at a game in February protesting against the deal amid accusations from the United Nations that Rwanda has backed rebels in the DRC. Now the German football champions say they have reached a new deal with Rwanda that turns the existing sponsorship into a three-year agreement focusing on developing young football players at a Bayern-affiliated academy in the country. 'In constructive talks about our future direction, we agreed that a very special part of our relationship with [the Rwanda Development Board (RDB)] was the developmental nature of our work in Kigali through the FC Bayern Academy,' Bayern Chief Executive Jan-Christian Dreesen said on Friday in a statement. 'We are therefore transforming our commercial partnership into a talent programme and expanding the FC Bayern Academy in Kigali together with the RDB as both a football and social initiative. This remains perfectly aligned to our strategic objective of developing playing talent in Africa.' Bayern didn't specify how soon it would drop 'Visit Rwanda' branding as part of the move, which it described as a transition. As of Friday afternoon, the branding was still displayed under a section of the Bayern website listing club sponsors and partners. RDB Chief Executive Jean-Guy Afrika was quoted by Bayern as saying the changes to the partnership aimed to 'accelerate sports development', adding: 'This continued partnership with FC Bayern helps ensure that talent development remains anchored in our broader vision to position Rwanda as a global hub for tourism, investment, and high-performance sport.' Rwanda's presence in European football has grown steadily since 2018 when it first partnered with Arsenal to put 'Visit Rwanda' branding on the London club's shirt sleeves. An agreement with PSG was signed in 2019 and renewed in April this year. It covers branding in the stadium and included shirt-sleeve sponsorship at the Club World Cup. A three-year deal to sponsor Atletico was agreed in April, including branding on training and warm-up shirts. Rwanda is accused of supporting the M23 rebel group, the strongest of more than 100 armed groups vying for dominance in the mineral-rich eastern DRC just across the border from Rwanda. Rwanda also has been accused of exploiting the eastern DRC's minerals, used in smartphones, advanced fighter jets and much more. Rwandan authorities alleged that some of the people who participated in the 1994 Rwandan genocide fled to the DRC and are either working with or are being protected by the Congolese army. They have denied involvement in the DRC's minerals sector and said any security action taken is to protect its own territory.
