THIS WEEK

 

7: Hamas negotiators are due back in Egypt after ceasefire talks again stalled, with each side blaming the other. Negotiators met on Sunday without an Israeli delegation present. Qatari, Egyptian and US mediators had proposed a 40-day pause in the fighting and an exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners, according to details released by Britain (Cairo).

 

7: Launch of 2024 Africa month celebration. The 10th edition of Africa Month is celebrated under the theme: ‘Celebrating 30 Years of Freedom: Building a Better Africa and a Better World’’. May marks Africa Month – a moment for the continent to pause, reflect, and celebrate our unique African identity and cultural expression. This launch serves as a precursor for the Africa Day event celebrated annually to commemorate the founding of the OAU on 25 May 1963 (Bloemfontein).

 

7: Chad is set to become the first of Africa's current junta-led states to move to democratic rule with todayu’s presidential vote. It will end a three-year transition imposed after the sudden death of long-serving leader Idriss Deby Itno while fighting rebels.

  

7-8: The West African Regional Stock Exchange (BRVM) is launching its third BRVM Investment Days at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). This investment tour, part of the BRVM’s development strategy, is also a way to attract international investors. It aims to foster a strategic dialogue between players in the West African Economic and Monetary Union regional financial market and international investors on investment opportunities in West Africa. Côte d’Ivoire is the guest country, and the West African Development Bank is the guest institution.

  

8: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have accepted an invitation to visit Nigeria to meet Service members and attend various cultural activities. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s visit to the West African country will take place after Harry visits the UK, where he will attend numerous events related to the Invictus Games Foundation to celebrate the games' 10th anniversary.

  

8-10: AllAfrica Media Leaders' Summit. The summit will feature innovations to leverage the ever-changing media landscape revolutionised by emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and virtual reality.  Global media leaders, development experts, academics and corporate titans will share best practices to elevate ethics and combat information manipulation to advance Africa's economic transformation and human development (Nairobi).

  

10: Independent Electoral Commission’s appeal against the Electoral Court order clearing former President Jacob Zuma to stand for Parliament in the 29 May national elections. Zuma wants those justices who sentenced him to 15 months' imprisonment for contempt of the apex court’s order for him to answer to the State Capture Inquiry recused from deciding on his parliamentary future (Bloemfontein).

 

OTHER

 

* Prosecutors in France have opened an investigation into TotalEnergies to establish whether the energy giant can be charged with involuntary manslaughter linked to an Islamist militant attack on its facilities in Mozambique. It follows a legal complaint lodged by survivors and relatives of people who died in the attack. They accuse the company of failing to protect subcontractors and not adequately assisting with evacuations – claims the company categorically rejects.

  

* Kenya said Sunday that the death toll from weeks of devastating rains and floods had risen to 228 and warned that there was no sign of a let-up in the crisis. Weeks of heavier than usual seasonal rains, compounded by the El Nino weather pattern, have wreaked chaos in many parts of East Africa, a region highly vulnerable to climate change.

  

* The US House of Congress Foreign Affairs Committee has requested the Speaker to invite President William Ruto to address a joint session on his official visit to the US this month. It was requested via a letter dated 30 April, and addressed to Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson by members of the committee. Ruto would be the first Kenyan President to address a joint session of Congress, and the first African head of state to address Congress since former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, 18 years ago.

 

* Applications are open for the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders in June. The flagship programme of the Young African Leaders Initiative, empowers young African leaders through academic coursework, leadership training, mentoring, networking, professional opportunities, and local community engagement. The fellowship, which is in its 10th year, brings 25 to 35-year-old innovators and leaders from sub-saharan Africa to the US for training. The six-week programme will give participants the opportunity to interact with US leaders in business, government and non-profit organisations, and network with other young leaders from sub-saharan Africa and the US.

 

* The Government of Burundi and the UN have launched an appeal for financial aid to cope with the ‘devastating effects’ of months of relentless rainfall that has displaced nearly 100 000 people. East Africa has been experiencing torrential rains in recent weeks that have cost the lives of at least 58 people in Tanzania in the first half of April, and 13 people in Kenya.

 

* Scholarship opportunities have become available for young lawyers to attend the International Bar Association (IBA) 2024 Annual Conference, taking place in Mexico City from 15-20 September. The scholarships include waived registration for the IBA Annual Conference; accommodation while attending the Conference; contribution towards travel costs to attend the Conference; and two years' free membership of the IBA. The scholarships are available to anyone up to and including the age of 35 at the time of the Conference who is: a fully qualified lawyer; licensed/registered to practice as a lawyer with the relevant professional regulatory body; or undertaking the qualification process. Applications must be by 30 April.