THIS WEEK

24-28: The US and Botswana will co-host the 2024 African Chiefs of Defence Conference, bringing together top military leaders from across Africa to exchange knowledge, encourage partnerships, and foster collaboration toward addressing shared security and stability challenges (Gaborone).

25: Kenyan protesters have called for a national strike from today over government’s proposed tax increases. Organised on social media and led largely by youths who have live-streamed the demonstrations, the protests have caught the government off-guard, as discontent mounts over his economic policies.

25: South Africa’s Electoral Court has directed the IEC and other respondents to file answering affidavits to the MKP's application to set aside the recent elections today. The court on Friday also directed the MKP to file its replying affidavit by 27 June. The court reserved ‘the right to dispose of this matter on the papers without referral to oral hearing’, said the directive. The MKP has asked the Electoral Court to declare the recent national and provincial elections were not free and fair and were therefore invalid, and to set aside the results. It has asked the court to order the President to proclaim a new election date within 90 days of the court's order.

25-26:  The 10th International Primakov Readings Forum is expected to be a monumental event with over 40 foreign guests from 18 countries. The theme of this year's conference, 'Russia in the Global Context,' aims to dissect the repercussions of Western sanctions and the increasing solidarity amongst the nations of the Global South and Brics (Moscow).

25-27: Libya’s Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture to host a conference ‎covering the construction, education, textile and clothing renewable energies, fishing, ship manufacturing and maintenance, metal welding, and training and consultancy sectors (Bizerte).‎

25-27: Africa Agri Tech 2024 will focuse on the intersection between agriculture, science and technology and serves to connect the Southern African agricultural, scientific and technology communities (Pretoria).

26: UN International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking

27-29: The Visions of Freedom Film Festival will commemorate the class of 1976 who protested in the uprising. The festival is part of Basha Uhuru Freedom Festival (Soweto).

OTHER:

* Top comedian-turned-politician Micheal Usi has been sworn as Malawi’s Vice-President at a ceremony held in Parliament in the capital, Lilongwe. The 55-year-old replaces Saulos Chilima, who died in a plane crash earlier this month, along with eight other people.

* South African printing and publishing group Caxton plans to take Media24 to the Competition Commission over ‘serious competition and public interest concerns’ following the announcement of a major restructuring that could cost 400 jobs. Last week, Media24 announced it had accepted an offer to sell its distribution business, On the Dot, as well as its community newspaper portfolio, to Novus Holdings. The deal needs approval from the Competition Commission. The media group is also considering closing the print editions of five newspapers due to a ‘devastating decline’ in circulation and advertising. The group plans to go ‘fully digital’. 

* The 2024 Young African Leaders Initiative of the Mandela Washington Fellowship begins. It hosts young African leaders to the US for six weeks for academic coursework and leadership training.

* The UN has warned of the risk of famine in Sudan. The war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has killed civilians and devastated livelihoods on a massive scale. Around 18m people are already acutely hungry, including 3.6m children who are acutely malnourished.

* Themes of displacement, loss and resilience, which are deeply ingrained in South Africa's history, resonate through the Encounters SA International Documentary Festival. Underway in Cape Town and Johannesburg, the festival showcases films that explore the ongoing struggles of the Palestinian people. The films delve into historical events such as the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in the 1980s. During this period, Israeli forces are reported to have confiscated a significant archive of photographs and films from Palestine Research Centre in Beirut.

* South African artist Zanele Muholi, whose work prominently features the lives of black South Africans in the LGBTQ+ community, has returned to the Tate Modern after being cut short by the Covid-19 pandemic. The revived exhibition features over 300 photographs representing their career to date, from their first images to their more recent works. The exhibition is on until January 2025 (London).

* Namibia has opened a three-month voter registration period, ahead of 27 November elections. The registration period for the presidential and National Assembly elections is due to run until 1 August.  For the first time since independence, the ruling party, the Swapo will have a female presidential candidate, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah.

* Somalia will expel thousands of Ethiopian troops stationed in the country to help with security by the end of the year unless Addis Ababa scraps a disputed port deal with the breakaway region of Somaliland, a senior Somali official said last week. Security experts and foreign diplomats said the move risks further destabilising Somalia as local forces would be unable to fill the security vacuum, which would likely be exploited by fighters from al Shabaab, an affiliate of al Qaeda. At least 3 000 Ethiopian soldiers are stationed in the Horn of Africa country as part of an AU peacekeeping mission fighting al Shabaab, which controls large portions of Somalia.