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People followed by mourners carry the coffins of Azerbaijani brothers Huseyn and Ziyaddin Safarov, who died in Russian police custody, to a cemetery in Hacibedelli, Azerbaijan, on July 1, 2025, in this still image from video.
Hard Numbers: Russia and Azerbaijan tensions rise, Americans hit the road in record numbers, & More
2: Russia-Azerbaijan ties are fraying after the South Caucasus country said two Azeri brothers died last week after being tortured in Russian police custody. In retaliation, Azerbaijan has arrested half a dozen Russian state journalists working in the capital, Baku. The two former-Soviet countries generally get along but have had frictions over Azeri migrant labor in Russia, an Azerbaijan Airlines plane that was shot down over Russian airspace, and Moscow’s backing for Armenia in that country’s decades long conflict with Azerbaijan. The Kremlin said Azerbaijan was being “extremely emotional.”
87.1%: In the latest blow to free movement in Europe, Poland has introduced checks along its borders with Germany and Lithuania, partly a response to the surging number of people seeking first-time asylum in the country – the amount increased 87.1% from 2023 to 2024, more than any other country in Europe. The move is also a tit-for-tat measure, after Berlin introduced its own checks at the Polish-German frontier.
500: The war is going from bad to worse for Ukraine: After Russia launched over 500 drones and other missiles into its cities over the weekend, the United States halted a weapons shipment that was headed to Ukraine. The White House said it was putting its own interests first after lending military support to other countries.
14: With international demand for customer service centers soaring, is Africa ready to answer the call? Experts think so, predicting that the “Business-Process Outsourcing” industry will grow 14% annually on the continent in the coming years, nearly twice the global average. Anglophone African countries are particularly well positioned – the industry is growing nearly 20% per year in Kenya.
72.2 Million: A record 72.2 million Americans are set to travel domestically during the upcoming Fourth of July holiday weekend, according to the AAA, a nationwide motorists’ group. More than 60 million of them will be taking trips by car, driven – as it were – by the lowest summer gas prices since 2021 (and some fight delays).
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with Democratic Republic of the Congo's Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner and Rwanda's Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe on June 27, 2025.
Mining for peace: can a US-brokered deal end the conflict in the DRC?
On June 27, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda signed a US-mediated peace accord in Washington, D.C., to end decades of violence in the DRC’s resource-rich Great Lakes region. The agreement commits both nations to cease hostilities, withdraw troops, and to end support for armed groups operating in eastern Congo within 90 days.
But the deal also includes a critical minerals partnership with the United States, granting it privileged access to the region’s vast cobalt, lithium, tantalum, and coltan reserves. These essential components of electric vehicles, semiconductors, and defense applications have come increasingly under Chinese control due to Beijing’s backing of Rwandan mining and refining operations, something Washington wants to change.
So is this deal about ending conflict – or countering China? Will it hold? And do peace pacts now always come with a price?
A conflict rooted in ethnic strife and resource competition
Tensions between the DRC and Rwanda date back to the 1994 Rwandan genocide, in which the country’s Hutu majority killed as many as 800,000 people in the Tutsi minority. Many of the Hutu militias responsible for those crimes then fled to eastern Congo, sparking regional wars that killed millions more.
In the past year, the M23 militia, a Tutsi-linked group reportedly backed by Rwanda’s current Tutsi-led government, seized key mining territory in the DRC’s North Kivu province, displacing over 450,000 people. The United Nations and human rights groups say Rwanda is using M23 to plunder Congolese minerals, a charge the Rwandan government denies. The conflict has killed thousands and displaced as many as 2 million people.
What’s in the peace deal – and what isn’t
The agreement includes a framework titled “Critical Minerals for Security and Peace,” which allows US companies to invest in Congolese mining and processing under joint governance with Rwanda. The region’s mineral wealth is estimated at $24 trillion.
Human rights watchdogs warn, however, that the deal lacks enforcement and oversight. It also doesn’t include provisions for accountability over war crimes, sexual violence, or illegal mining.
Will the deal last?
There are roadblocks ahead. The M23 group itself was not party to the agreement, and has rejected its terms. And neither Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi nor Rwandan President Paul Kagame were present at the signing ceremony, sending their foreign ministers instead; the two leaders will reportedly meet later with US President Donald Trump. Qatar, which hosted talks between the DRC and M23 in early June, did attend the signing ceremony and has pledged to continue diplomatic efforts in the region.
According to Tresor Kibangula, a political analyst at Congo's Ebuteli research institute, the deal imparts "a strategic message: securing the east also means securing investments.” But in a conflict with such deep roots, he questions whether the “economic logic” alone will suffice to bring a lasting peace.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio boards a military airplane on March 12, 2025.
Out of Africa? US may be planning to pull diplomats
The Trump administration may be planning the most far-reaching overhaul of the US State Department in generations. A leaked draft executive order obtained by The New York Times outlines a sweeping restructuring plan that would prioritize “transnational threat elimination,” downsize the foreign service, and hire personnel who are in “alignment with the president’s foreign policy vision.” Climate, refugee, democracy, and public diplomacy offices would be eliminated, as would diversity-based fellowships. And instead of regional bureaus, America’s foreign service would be divided into four specialized “corps” regrouping the major regions of the world.
Except Africa, that is. The draft proposes to eliminate the Bureau of African Affairs and replace it with a “special envoy” focused solely on counterterrorism and resource extraction. Nearly all American embassies and consulates in sub-Saharan Africa would reportedly be shuttered by Oct. 1, with diplomats dispatched only for “targeted, mission-driven deployments.”
US diplomats were alarmed by the report, with one telling Politico that the plan was “bonkers crazypants.” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the story “fake news,” but he didn’t deny the document’s existence. The NYT issued a disclaimer that “It was not immediately clear who had compiled the document or what stage of internal debates over a restructuring of the State Department it reflected.”
If implemented, however, it would mark not just a reordering – but a retreat – from America’s diplomatic footprint on the continent and beyond, potentially opening the door for countries like China and Russia to fill the breach.Members of the M23 rebel group stand guard as people attend a rally addressed by Corneille Nangaa, Congolese rebel leader and coordinator of the AFC-M23 movement, in Bukavu, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, on Feb. 27, 2025.
Could peace finally come to the DRC?
Representatives of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the M23 rebel group held peace talks in Doha, Qatar, last week to resolve the armed conflict that has engulfed eastern DRC since January. Qatari mediators began facilitating private discussions ahead of the first formal meeting between the two groups, planned for April 9. It is the second such attempt since March, and a source close to the negotiations described the talks as “positive,” as evidenced by the M23’s withdrawal from the town of Walikale as a gesture of goodwill.
What’s behind the conflict? Hostilities stem from the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide and competition for the DRC’s extensive mineral resources. The M23, an ethnic Tutsi-led rebel group formed in 2012, is allegedly funded by Rwanda – a charge Kigali denies.
There were supposed to be peace talks in Angola three weeks ago, but those collapsed after the European Commission sanctioned Rwandan officials for plundering mineral wealth in the DRC. The decision prompted Rwanda to expel Belgian diplomats and raised fears of a greater regional war.
Over 7,000 people have died in the DRC since January, and hundreds of thousands have been displaced, including 35,000 people who have fled to Burundi and 487,000 who have sought refuge in Uganda, straining resources in neighbouring states – an outcome next week’s talks are designed to head off.
FILE PHOTO: Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan arrives at Beijing Capital International Airport before the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Summit, in Beijing, China September 3, 2024.
US sanctions Sudanese leader
The United States on Thursday imposed financial sanctions on Sudan's army chief, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. The move came a week after Washington imposed similar sanctions on the leader of the rebel Rapid Support Forces, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, whose militia has been warring with government forces for the past 18 months, in a conflict that has killed up to 150,000 people, displaced 11 million, and caused 26 million to go hungry.
Why sanction both sides? US officials said Thursday that the Sudanese army deployed chemical weapons against the RSF at least twice, and there are concerns they may use them in populated areas in the capital, Khartoum. They have also committed humanitarian violations and used starvation as a weapon of war.
As for the RSF, on Jan. 7, Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused the group of perpetrating a genocide against the non-Arab Masalit people, killing boys and men and committing sexual violence against women and girls because of their ethnicity.
Washington doesn’t want to pick sides but to pressure them into a ceasefire. The RSF currently controls half of Sudan, including almost all of Darfur, Khartoum, and southern regions, and there are concerns that a partition of the country would lead to “state disintegration,” provoking an even greater humanitarian catastrophe.
FILE PHOTO: Members of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) stand guard against the M23 rebel group in Lubero, North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo October 27, 2024.
Rwanda-backed rebels seize towns in Congo
The rebel March 23 Movement, aka M23, reportedly supported by Rwanda, captured the strategic town of Masisi in the Democratic Republic of Congo's North Kivu province from the army and pro-government militias on Saturday. Masisi, population 40,000, sits just 50 miles north of Goma, the provincial capital, home to two million Congolese — and is a key sanctuary for refugees.
The takeover comes just two days after M23 captured Katale, another town in North Kivu. Since 2021, the group has occupied vast areas of eastern Congo, displacing hundreds of thousands of refugees, and local leaders warn of an escalating humanitarian crisis.
The Congo accuses Rwanda of using the rebels to loot its minerals including gold, cobalt, and tantalum, a charge Kigali denies. In December, Congo announced it was suing Apple for using such “blood minerals.” In response, Apple has stopped accepting tin, tantalum, tungste, and gold from both countries.
Meanwhile, talks between DRC President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame were canceled on Dec. 15 over disagreements about the terms of a proposed peace deal, and there is no sign they are resuming. We’re watching how far M23 goes, as even the scant attention paid to central Africa in Western capitals may diminish under a tumultuous Trump administration.
US President Joe Biden shakes hands with Angolan President João Lourenço at the Presidential Palace in Luanda, Angola, on Dec. 3, 2024.
Why is Joe Biden in Angola?
There’s also a security angle here. Angola isn’t just oil-rich; it has large reserves of copper and is home to large deposits of critical minerals, like the lithium and cobalt needed to make batteries for electric vehicles. That’s an arena of intense US-China competition.
The main focus for Biden this week is his proposed 835-mile rail line to connect the cobalt, lithium, and copper mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the copper-belt region of Zambia with the Angolan port of Lobito on the Atlantic, from which these increasingly precious commodities can be exported to the US and Europe. Construction of the so-called Lobito Corridor is not yet underway.
Angola and many other sub-Saharan African countries have an angle here too. Lourenço knows that competition among China, the US, Russia, Japan, Europe, and others for African resources and infrastructure projects can give African leaders a negotiating leverage they don’t yet have.
Lourenço and Biden can both hope that incoming US President Donald Trump will see the value of these projects as new investment opportunities that score points against China.
A person holding smartphone
Will AI help or hurt Africa?
AI technology might be able to help poorer nations “leapfrog” entire development phases, the Financial Times wrote this week — just like how some nations skipped mass landline adoption and went straight to mobile phones in the last two decades.
AI startups are popping up across Africa, trying to tackle problems in health care, education, and language and dialect differences. And foreign firms are starting to invest too: Microsoft and the UAE-based fund G42 announced a $1 billion investment in Kenya to build data centers, develop local-language AI models, and offer skills training to people in the country. Amazon has said it’s investing $1.7 billion in Amazon Web Services cloud infrastructure across the continent. For its part, Google has begun developing African-language AI models and given $6,000 microgrants to Nigerian AI startups.
But there’s also concern that AI could deepen existing digital divides — especially if popular large language models aren’t developed with Africa in mind, don’t support local languages, or if the continent lacks the infrastructure to run high-powered models efficiently.