Algerian court upholds five-year prison sentence for French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal who was arrested in November for undermining Algeria's territorial integrity by saying in an interview that France unfairly ceded Moroccan territory to Algeria during the colonial era
The Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda sign US-mediated peace deal including US government and American companies access to critical minerals in the region after 30 years of war with millions killed, Rwanda says it is not supporting the M23 rebels and Congo is quoted to hope the US will provide the support to oust them from the region
Rwanda quits the Economic Community of Central African States ECCAS over tensions with the Democratic Republic of Congo, was take over the leadership but the bloc decided to let Equatorial Guinea continue with the role which Kigali condemned as Congo's instrumentalization of the bloc and added that the current functioning runs counter to its founding principles
Former Democratic Republic of Congo Prime Minister Augustin Matata Ponyo sentenced to ten years of forced labor and the central bank's former Governor Deogratias Mutombo sentenced to five years of forced labor for corruption, embezzled 245 million USD from the Bukanga-Lonzo Agro-Industrial Park which was one of Africa's largest ever agricultural investments and intended to provide reprieve to the 28 million people who currently face acute food insecurity in the country
54 Benin soldiers killed in attack by al-Qaeda-linked Jnim near the borders with Burkina Faso and Niger during last week, several jihadist groups operating in the Sahel region where the governments struggle to contain the insurgency which is also spreading to Benin and Togo to the south
The Sudanese army seizes control of the presidential palace in Khartoum that the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces seized in April 2023, has long been on the back foot but has recently made gains and retaken territory in the centre of the country, RSF says it has seized a key base from the army in the western North Darfur region where they have consolidated control and sets up a parallell government, the army says they are moving forward along all fighting axes until victory is complete by cleansing every inch of the country from the filth of this militia
The M23 rebels capture the strategic Congolese town of Walikale and say the Democratic Republic of Congo's and Rwanda's call for an immediate ceasefire does not concern them, the rebels are now within 400 km of Congo's fourth-biggest city Kisangani and repeat an earlier vow to march to Kinshasa
The Congo River Alliance including the M23 rebels pull out of peace talks, say EU sanctions earlier in the day against Rwandan officials and M23 undermine talks, were to meet the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo in Angola for direct negotiations
70 Christians kidnapped and beheaded in a Protestant church in the Democratic Republic of Congo town of Kasanga, IS-linked Ugandan group Allied Democratic Forces suspected to have beheaded the victims with machetes
Uganda military chief General Muhoozi Kainerugaba says during Saturday that Uganda will attack the town of Bunia in neighbouring eastern Congo unless all forces there surrender their arms within 24 hours, said earlier during the day that the Bahima ethnic group is being killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo and that no one on this earth can kill his people and not suffer for it, UN experts say Uganda has backed the Tutsi-led M23 rebels and Kainerugaba has referred to them as brothers
Rwandan-backed M23 rebels seize key DRC airport in Kavumu after a rapid southern advance in recent days, the airport was the last last military obstacle to the rebels before South Kivu province capital Bukavu 27 km to the south
Donald Trump signs executive order to cut financial assistance to South Africa due to the country's unjust racial discrimination” against white Afrikaners and offers the group asylum, adds that South Africa has taken aggressive positions towards the US and its allies including accusing Israel rather than Hamas of genocide, South Africa comments that it is a campaign of misinformation and propaganda
Weeklong Puntland offensive against the Islamic State results in 250 square kilometres captured including 50 bases since December 31 and at least 85 IS terrorist killed in battles over the past two days, Puntland's Information Minister Mohammed Aided says there was no coordination on the operations with the federal government in Mogadishu and calls for foreign support in the international war on terror
South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa contacts Elon Musk hoping to calm a row regarding Donald Trump threatening to cut all future funding to South Africa over new land law which Trump says is confiscating land and "treating certain classes of people very badly", Musk also asked on X why Ramaphosa has "openly racist ownership laws",
Rwanda-backed rebels that recently captured Goma vow to continue all the way to Democratic Republic of Congo capital Kinshasa, Corneille Nangaa who heads the rebel group alliance including the Tutsi-led M23 says the ultimate aim is to topple President Félix Tshisekedi's government, the rebels are said to currently be advancing towards Bukavu which is the second-biggest city after Goma in the mineral-rich east, about 500,000 people forced from their homes according to the UN
Rebel group M23 claims to have captured the Congolese city of Goma together with Rwandan forces, the city with a population of 2 million is a key location in the mineral-rich North Kivu, Rwanda's Ministry of Foreign Affairs accuses Congo of threatening Rwanda's security and territorial integrity by failing to enter a dialogue with the rebels which forced Rwanda's sustained defensive posture
Large numbers of Rwandan troops moving towards the Democratic Republic of the Congo to help the M23 rebels seize the North Kivu regional capital of Goma before UN security council emergency meeting about the crisis on the Sunday, 13 UN peacekeepers killed battling the rebels outside the city during the Saturday
South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa signs law that allows the state to expropriate land without compensation where it is "just and equitable and in the public interest" to do so, frustration in the country regarding white people owning the majority of the farmland
At least 86 dead and 55 injured after a gasoline tanker explosion in Nigeria, the blast happened after individuals attempted to transfer gasoline from a crashed oil tanker into another truck using a generator, the high victim due to a crowd gathering to scoop gasoline and take pictures, Hussaini Isah of the National Emergency Management Agency says people were burnt to ashes so they won't know the exact figure without forensics
Rwanda-backed M23 rebels capture the town of Masisi in the mineral-rich North Kivu province east of the Democratic Republic of Congo the day after it captured the nearby town of Katale, the Tutsi group that was formed in 2012 has been accused of being used by Rwanda to loot DR Congo of minerals such as gold and tantalum
Mali accuses Algeria of fuelling Sahel insecurity and hindering the fight against islamist terrorism by supporting Tuareg rebels, the Berber Tuareg people took up arms in 2012 seeking independence or autonomy for the Azawad region which constitutes a large part of Mali
Ivory Coast asks French forces to leave the country, follows similar orders from Senegal and Chad recently, French troops now only present in Djibouti and Gabon
Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko announces imminent closure of foreign military bases located in the country, the action is in line with President Bassirou Diomaye Faye's stance on reevaluating Dakar's relations with Paris and particularly the 2012 treaty that allows France to maintain 350 soldiers in the country, Sonko also outlines a diplomatic policy shift where strengthening ties with other African nations will be prioritized
At least 30 police officers and 53 civilians killed by the armed Somaliland forces in clan-related clash over grazing lands the last week, other sources say the attacks claimed more than 200 lives, senior officers have met to discuss the matter where Somaliland officials consider it a clan clash while Ethiopian officials see it as a clear infringement of sovereignty
33 dead and 1,534 people managed to flee the jail after riot in Mozambique's capital Maputo on Wednesday, 150 of the prisoners recaptured, the riot follows unrest where at least 21 people were killed nationwide after Mozambique's top court confirmed the controversial election victory where the Frelimo candidate Daniel Chapo won by a landslide, the socialist Frelimo party has governed the country since its indepencence in 1975
Children mass executed with for instance mortar and pestle and women mass raped in front of their families by the Rwanda-backed M23 militia in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, UN employees say security services are intimately aware of the situation and that Rwanda might be planning to annex the broader Kivu area
Ghana's Supreme Court unanimously dismisses two legal challenges to new anti-LGBT legislation passed by lawmakers, the bill imposes three years in prison for people identifying as LGBT and five years for forming or funding LGBT groups, the finance ministry has warned that Ghana could lose USD 3.8 billion in World Bank funding over the next five to six years if the bill is signed into law
Turkey builds a site for launching space rockets and testing missiles in Somalia, has been planning rocket launches for several years but been hampered by its geographical location, the USD 6 billion investment builds on the strong relationship between the two nations where Turkey has established its largest overseas military training base in Mogadishu and partnered with Somalia on energy exploration projects
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan offers Sudanese Armed Forces' General Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan to mediate civil war negotiations with the allegedly UAE-backed rebels, the offer follows Erdoğan successfully negiotiating an agreement between Ethiopia and Somalia, widespread hunger and disease in the country with nearly 15 million Sudanese having fled their homes
Somalia and Ethiopia appreciative towards Turkey for helping to sign peace deal, dispute between the countries since the beginning of 2024 when Ethiopia reached an agreement with Somaliland to use its Red Sea port of Berbera, the deal presented at a media summit in the Turkish capital Ankara conducted by Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan along with Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed
Burkina Faso's ruling military leader Ibrahim Traoré dismisses Prime Minister Apollinaire Joachim Kyelem de Tambela and dissolves the government, Kyelem de Tambela was formerly the head of all three governments since the military coup in October 2022
Niger's military junta takes operational control of French nuclear group Orano's uranium mining unit, comes as Niger downgrades links with France while strengthening ties with Russia and Iran, recently invited Russian firms to invest in uranium and other natural resource production in the country
Kismayo Mayor Omar Abdullahi Mohamed accuses Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of treason and the president's images is removed from public buildings in Jubaland, the accusation follows Somalia requesting Interpol to issue a Red Notice for Jubaland President Ahmed Madobe on accusations of conspiring with foreign entities and undermining national security and Jubaland issuing an arrest warrant for Mohamud on accusations of treason and incitement to rebellion, underlying the dispute are long-standing disagreements where the semi-autonomous Jubaland has resisted centralization
The Botswana Democratic Party is no longer in power in Botswana for the first time since the country's independence in 1966 after challenger Duma Boko from the coalition Umbrella for Democratic Change won Wednesday's presidential election
The Muslim organization Boko Haram kills 40 troops of the Chadian military in the village of Ngouboua at Lake Chad on Sunday, President Mahama Idriss Deby launches Operation Haskanite with the aim of eliminating Boko Haram
Nigerian activist Leo Igwe with the organization Advocacy For Alleged Witches works to support those accused of witchcraft in several African countries, 33-year-old man Jude has received support after being accused of the disappearance of a 15-year-old boy's penis and thus lost his job at a bank
In order to operate in South Africa, Starlink needs to be 30 percent owned by "historically disadvantaged groups", which includes blacks, women, youth and disabled, the service can be accessed from most parts of the world but for the delivery of necessary products to customers, permission from the states is required
Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine seriously injured after being shot in the leg by police outside the capital Kampala on Tuesday, street confrontations between him and the police is not unusual and in this case police say he had to no avail been advised against holding a street procession when he left a private event
Germany ends its military presence in Niger in Africa as the last 60 soldiers and equipment leaving, but the countries write in a joint statement that their military cooperation will not end, since 2016, 3,200 German soldiers served on air bases in the region
More cases so far in 2024 of people infected with monkeypox in Africa compared to all of 2023 and the World Health Organization calls for a meeting of its Emergency Committee, a new deadlier and more infectious strain of the virus is said to have been discovered in April in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Burkina Faso's military government, which seized power in a military coup two years ago, has announced that military rule will be extended for another five years after first promising civil rule from July 1 this year, arguing that elections are not a priority as long as jihadists still control territory
Mahamat Idriss Deby is sworn in as president of Chad after winning elections with 61 percent of the vote after three years as a leader under military rule following the assassination of his father who ruled the country since a military coup in the early 90s, present at the installation was, among others, the minister of foreign trade of France and the international cooperation organization for French-speaking countries and areas, Francophonie
Congo-Kinshasa's army says the stopped failed coup attempt in capital Kinshasa following a shootout with three dead and says several foreigners among those arrested
Liberia's president Joseph Boakai decides to set up the country's first war crimes court more than 20 years after end of civil war that killed 250,000 people for which no one has been brought to justice in the country but former president Charles Taylor is serving a 50-year prison sentence in Britain for war crimes but that for his role in the conflict in neighboring Sierra Leone
South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa says during speech in Cape Town, in regards to apartheid, that they still need to address high unemployment and to remove the barriers that kept black South Africans from full participation in the economy, that they must undo the effects of Bantu education, transform our schools completely, end illiteracy, and help people find decent work
Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi says in response to German authorities' proposal to limit the import of hunting trophies that they would like to offer 20,000 elephants to Germany and will not take no for an answer, says the number of elephants has increased explosively as a result of conservation efforts and that the country had to pay the price
Niger suspends, with immediate effect, its military cooperation with the United States which allowed US military and personnel to operate and maintain an airbase in the country, comes after US officials visited Niger to discuss so-called democratic transition
UN peacekeeping forces withdraw from Mali after ten years, operation Minusma was the UN's second deadliest operation with 310 dead soldiers, in September Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso created a defense pact called the Alliance of Sahel States
The muslim militia Boko Haram killed 20 people with a roadside bomb on their way back from the burial of former victims in Yobe state in Nigeria on Tuesday and on Monday the shot dead 17 people in the village of Gurokayeya who, according to the police, refused to pay a special tax
Egypt bans girls from wearing the niqab in school following Education Minister Reda Hegazy's statement that covering the hair is optional but not the face
Air attack by the country's military on Sudan's capital Khartoum, which the paramilitary group RSF controls, kills at least 20 people, the country's military and RSF have been fighting since April for control of the capital
Gabon military proclaims coup d'état immediately after President Ali bongo wins his third election and coup leader and ousted president's cousin, Brice Clothaire Oligui Nguema, who bought properties worth USD 1 million for cash, is now believed to be taking over the country
The coup plotters in Niger say they have reason to prosecute ousted president Mohamed Bazoum for high treason and the pan-African organization Ecowas is gathering forces to intervene if a peaceful solution cannot be achieved
The opposition leader in Senegal, Ousmane Sonko, who has been on hunger strike since his arrest in late July has been hospitalized, he has been in conflict with the authorities since 2021
France supports the pan-African organization ECOWAS in their ambition to find a solution in Niger after the coup d'état, according to French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna who believes that Niger's apparently ousted president Mohamed Bazoum is the only legitimate leader of the country
At least four murders of farmers in South Africa after communist leader Julius Malema sang about killing Boers in front of an audience of nearly 90,000, in 2023 farms have been attacked 96 times and 29 people have died
Senegal shuts down the internet after opposition leader Ousmane Sonko was arrested for planning a rebellion, according to Communications Minister Moussa Bocar Thiam, who justified the decision by saying hateful and subversive messages had been spread on social networks
The transitional governments of Burkina Faso and Mali say in a joint statement that a military intervention in Niger is a declaration of war against their countries and that they will withdraw from the economic cooperation between African countries, ECOWAS, unless the sanctions are lifted
Military leader Abdourahamane Tchiani proclaims himself on national television as the head of state in Niger after the coup d'état and says that they can no longer continue in the same way with the risk of witnessing the country's gradual and inevitable downfall and therefore they decided to intervene and take responsibility
George Orwell's book Animal Farm is translated into Shona, one of the local Bantu languages in Zimbabwe, by the author Petina Gappah who believes that there is something in the story that speak so much about the reality of the country, the book became popular in Zimbabwe two decades ago when it was published as a series in newspaper The Daily News which was later banned
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announces that his party ANC wishes to leave the International Criminal Court in Hague, which last month issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin, which means that the African country had to arrest the Russian upon his arrival during the upcoming summit with Russia, Brazil, India and China
At least 56 killed in clashes in Sudan between the army and paramilitary RSF whose leader Mohamed Dagalo claims to have captured most of the capital Khartoum while the country's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan disagrees, both sides cooperated during the 2021 military coup but have since competed for power
Zambian opposition leader Brian Mundubile thanks Zambians for stopping US Vice President Kamala Harris from commenting on LGBTQ issues during visit which he believes is due to pressure from the opposition, the church and ordinary Zambians, also thanks visitors from the US for their respect since they made statements on the subject in other countries in the region
22 percent of the population in sub-Saharan Africa use mobile internet services by the end of 2021, the lowest usage in South Sudan at 6 percent and the highest in South Africa at 53, according to a report by the World Bank that believes it is important for Africa to increase the use of
Ruling party candidate Bola Tinubu wins Nigerian presidential election, runner-up Atiku Abubakar and third-place Peter Obi call for recount, first time a president takes office with less than 50 percent of the vote
The government declares a State of Disaster in South Africa due to power shortages and the US embassy warns that power outages could potentially increase crime and asks its citizens to prep, be aware of the surroundings and avoid demonstrations
African Union condemns Tunisia's Kais Saied’s comment that the undeclared goal of the successive waves of illegal immigration is to consider Tunisia a purely African country that has no affiliation to the Arab and Islamic nations, the AU expresses deep shock and reminds the country that all
Burkino Faso orders French troops to depart the country within a month, the decision comes five months after France left neighboring Mali after falling out with its authorities, analysts comment that the announcement adds to growing concerns over a rise in Islamist insurgency
Six state broadcaster journalists arrested over footage of 71-year-old South Sudan president Salva Kiir urinating on himself during the national anthem at an official event, debate in the country regarding the president's health as well as over the ethics of posting such footage on social
32 Cameroonian Under-17 football players disqualified from the national team in the last month due to failed MRI age tests, the scans ordered by Cameroonian Football Federation President Samuel Eto'o in an attempt to deal with the rising problem of age fraud in the country
Zimbabwe bans export of raw lithium, says batteries should be developed in the country and that it expects to meet 20% of the world's total lithium demand when all known resources are fully exploited, Chinese companies Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, Sinomine Resource Group and Chengxin Lithium Group
International Monetary Fund lends $3 billion to Ghana to bring the country's public debt under control as the country faces mounting debt and inflation of more than 40 percent, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta says he is praying this is the last support needed
About 300 killed in attacks on Congolese villages last week, five days after a ceasefire was reached between the M23 rebel group and government forces, the rebels who deny the charges were first blamed for killing 50, then more than 100 to now be around 300
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa faces threat of impeachment after undeclared cash is stolen from president's farm and the theft was not reported to police, independent panel appointed by parliament claims gross misconduct and a breach of the constitution
Ugandas first satellite will among other things carry out 3D printing of human tissue in space and investigate how weightlessness affects the function of the ovaries, PearlAfricaSat-1, which is a joint project with the Japanese university Kyushu Institute of Technology, was postponed on November 7th from NASA facility in Virginia, USA
Cameroon's President Paul Biya celebrates 40 years in power but has not appeared in public since July this year, the second longest-serving leader in Africa after Equatorial Guinea's Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo who has been in office since 1979
Ethiopian government forces have reached a ceasefire with regional forces from Tigray, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken praises the efforts of African Union mediators and the hosting of South Africa and US Special Envoy Mike Hammer, the conflict has been ongoing for two years
63-year-old man in Zambia stoned to death on suspicion of being a sorcerer, found partially burned in a pool of blood with deep wounds on his face, ten arrested, six of whom women
At least 100 people killed and 300 injured after twin car bombings in Mogadishu, death toll expected to rise, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud says Somalia's winning war with al-Shabaab remains, al-Shabaab says it is committed to fighting until the country is ruled by Islamic law and asks civilians to stay away from government areas
Misuzulu kaZwelithini, 48, crowned new king of the Zulu people, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa hands over formal certificate during ceremony at football stadium in Durban, has no formal power, first coronation in South Africa in more than 50 years
Peace talks between the Ethiopian government and regional forces from Tigray take place in South Africa, comes are after two years of war which has left thousands dead, the delegation from Tigray arrives in a US military plane along with the US special envoy to the Horn of Africa
At least 220 dead in two days of tribal fighting between the Hausa and Berta tribes in Sudan on the border with Ethiopia and South Sudan, fighting reignited earlier in October over a land dispute, the provincial government has declared a 30-day ban on gatherings
Cough syrup linked to 66 deaths among children in The Gambia, four different medicines produced in India contaminated and causing acute kidney damage according to WHO
More than 50 killed in airstrike in northern Ethiopia's Tigray region, school building sheltered by war-displaced people hit, one of the deadliest attacks in the two-year civil war
The people of Wuru Community, Ghana used to pay tax to the Tumu Municipal Assembly but had to stop because they saw no reason for the payment, Mr Harduna Atiah, a businessman and caretaker of the community say that there are no roads to link Wuru to other Ghanaian communities, no transportation, no health facilities, poor educational infrastructure and no means of modern technology for farming
For almost two years internet and phone has been shutdown in Tigray, the most northern region in Ethiopia, since fighting erupted between Tigrayan rebels and government forces in November 2020, the head of WHO Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who hails from Tigray, said he had been unable to reach his relatives back home or send them money, the government, who last year said that they were developing a home-grown social media platform to replace Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp, says shutdowns are needed to curb violence, but critics accuse authorities of using them as a weapon of war
Burkina Faso's President Paul-Henri Damiba deposed in the country's second coup in a year, new leader Ibrahim Traore says a group of officers decided to remove Damiba due to his inability to deal with a worsening armed islamist uprising, all borders closed indefinitely, all political and civil society activities suspended and a curfew from 9pm to 5am has been announced
Long-time spokesman Chris Anu elected president of Cameroon's self-declared Republic of Ambazonia, the separatist movement is said to currenty be losing support due to allegations of infighting, corruption and human rights abuses
Amnesty International calls for an investigation into the Ethiopian June 18th ethnic massacre where the Oromo Liberation Army killed more than 450 Amhara civilians, burned down buildings and looted, government forces arrived hours after the attack ended despite early emergency calls
Zimbabwe's central bank says that gold coins will be issued as legal tender in late July to act as a store of value and reduce the demand for US dollars, inflation rate in the country more than doubled last month to 191%, economist Prosper Chitambara says that the measure will not fix the inflation problem as that is caused by money supply growth
Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa says his ruling Zanu-PF will never surrender its authority to the opposition, comments that they already defeated whites after a protracted war of independence and that the remnants who want to ferment violence and chaos in the country will be dealt with, the comments follow a time of increasing politically motivated violence countrywide with four opposition supporters killed since March
At least 35 teenage girls rescued from baby factory hotel in south-eastern Nigeria where they were used as sex slaves and their babies sold on the black market, three suspects arrested accused of abducting the teenagers, engaging in sexual slavery and prostitution, and operating a baby factory
Nigeria bans bushmeat sales to stop the spread of monkeypox, six cases detected in the country this month of the infection that is endemic in the country
South Sudanese ram sentenced to three years at a military camp for killing a woman, the ram's owner is referred to as innocent by the major but a local court has ruled that he is to hand over five cows to the victim's family as compensation, the ram is also to be transferred to the victim's family after its three-year sentence according to local laws
24-hour curfew imposed with immediate effect in Nigerian state of Sokoto after hundreds protested to demand the release of suspects accused of stoning and burning the Christian student Deborah Samuel, Samuel was accused of making a social media post that blasphemed Prophet Muhammad, Kaduna state 500 kilometers from Sokoto bans protests related to religious activity citing moves to organize a similar demonstration
Ethiopia starts generating power from the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, the 84% finished dam is expected to double the nation's electricity output, Egypt and Sudan critical and vying for a deal with Ethiopia over the filling and operation of the dam as they fear for their Nile water
Nigeria declares a national emergency on ritual killings, bans movies on the popular theme, Deputy Minority Party leader Toby Okechukwu expresses concern that some youths in Nigeria seem stuck in the belief that sacrificing human blood is the surest route to wealth and safety
South African doctor Angelique Coetzee who was one of the first scientists to discover the Omicron strain criticizes the widespread attempts to pressure her into describing the virus as more dangerous than what she could observe, says she could not understand why politicians refused to listen to her first hand experience
White engineers and technicians leave South African electricity public utility Eskom due to affirmative action and a lack of career prospects, Eskom COO Jan Oberholzer said in October that he was absolutely horrified by the loss of experienced staff and particularly alarmed that employees resigned without having alternative employment to go to Europe or the Middle East, trade union Solidarity has highlighted the problem since 2008 blaming affirmative action for the skills shortage
Mali gives French ambassador Joël Meyer 72 hours to leave the country as the relation between the military junta and France worsens further due to French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian calling the junta illegitimate and irresponsible, relations between the countries deteriorated sharply this month when the junta went back on an agreement to organize elections in February and proposed holding power until 2025