Simon Marks

Senior Reporter @BloombergAfrica | Previously @nytimes + @Politico | [email protected] | Follow me on

[Simon Marks @MarksSimon]

Could two of Sweden's top oil bosses go to jail for crimes that occured in Sudan between 1999 and 2003. @jacoblorinc and I spent months investigating the allegations and uncovered cases of threats made against witnesses in the landmark trail.
https://t.co/wT53e5J8kb

[Simon Marks @MarksSimon]

U.S. @SecRubio warns Ethiopia’s PM Abiy Ahmed not to enter Eritrea amid concerns Ethiopia is eyeing up access to the Red Sea.

[Reuters Press Team @ReutersPR]

Statement from Reuters Editor-in-Chief Alessandra Galloni

[Simon Marks @MarksSimon]

Riyadh has grown frustrated with the assistance from Western allies, according to people familiar with the matter. Britain provided an air-refueling aircraft, but Saudi requests for additional defensive support in recent weeks have yet to be approved. https://t.co/iusTnUSnvK

[Simon Marks @MarksSimon]

The number of nationalities identified among people winding up in scam centers stands at 89, according to previously unpublished figures provided by Interpol, a more than fivefold increase since early 2023.

[Simon Marks @MarksSimon]

🧵AI is supercharging a global scam economy worth more than the cocaine trade. Our @business investigation traces how criminal networks are spreading across Africa and the world, using AI, crypto and human trafficking to industrialize fraud.
https://t.co/URWgBol50u

[Simon Marks @MarksSimon]

In Nairobi, a bust on the 18th floor of a modern apartment building found nearly 20 suspects who ran a fake investment scheme targeting accounts in China, Hong Kong and Malaysia, laundering millions of shillings through Kenya’s banks, according to police investigators.

[Simon Marks @MarksSimon]

Eritrea increasingly sees the war in northern Ethiopia as the initial phase of a larger plan in Addis Ababa to take control of the port of Assab on the Red Sea, as seen in this letter sent to the UNSC.

[Simon Marks @MarksSimon]

With much of the world’s focus on the war in Iran, another war has broken out in Ethiopia, which threatens to upend Red Sea politics. @b_muzz and I talk to @jennzaba about why it matters and what’s at stake. https://t.co/1BxlUzoeC0

[Simon Marks @MarksSimon]

Sudan has demonstrated how external intervention can prolong a war and devastate a country. Ethiopia’s renewed fighting risks turning that model into a regional disaster. https://t.co/yCYKgAyGXD

[Simon Marks @MarksSimon]

Read our explainer to understand why Ethiopia is again on a precipice and what it could all mean for the region and shipping on the Red Sea. https://t.co/ZWVy9n73i2

[Simon Marks @MarksSimon]

Eritrea, meanwhile, won't be drawn on the accusation and instead accuses Ethiopia of laying the groundwork for a war aimed at seizing the strategic Red Sea port of Assab.

[Simon Marks @MarksSimon]

🚨Ethiopia has accused Eritrea of sending troops into its territory and demanded their immediate withdrawal as tensions escalate between the two countries amid renewed conflict in the Horn of Africa nation.
https://t.co/eegjCzbAPX

[Cameron Hudson @_hudsonc]

Tigray rebel groups ‘forcibly recruiting boys as young as 15’ as fighting spreads. Child recruitment is a key sign of desperation, not strength. https://t.co/o7b0kXxEEe

[Simon Marks @MarksSimon]

In a recent briefing note @ACAPSproject said the law “has limited humanitarian or other
organisations from openly commenting on displacement figures or other narratives on humanitarian conditions in the country. https://t.co/kG6p8ObaTE

[Simon Marks @MarksSimon]

One big hurdle in this conflict in Ethiopia will be access to information amid widespread fear in the humanitarian sector. The Ethiopian Disaster Risk Management Commission proclamation
published in 2025 now criminalises the sharing of “false information” on humanitarian crises.

[Simon Marks @MarksSimon]

Ever wondered why so much gold leaves Uganda for the UAE despite the Afican country producing very little gold itself, our @business's latest investigation with @mjkcongo @hongjinshan @WTBClowes & @hellococomo

[Michael J. Kavanagh @mjkcongo]

Last year we noticed data showing enormous increases in gold exports from Africa to the UAE, particularly from countries adjacent to war zones in places like Congo & Sudan. Since then we've been flying around the world to follow the supply chain & crunching the numbers 🧵

[Simon Marks @MarksSimon]

A fascinating glimpse inside Eritrea by @giuliaparavicin — one of the world’s most isolated nations. Read to understand the complexities at the heart of its struggle to survive a hostile region and the looming threat of Ethiopia.
https://t.co/0x2tDTwxif

[Simon Marks @MarksSimon]

TPLF leaders leaving Mekelle echoes the opening of Ethiopia’s last war in 2020, when federal forces seized the capital and the group’s leadership fled to the mountains. That retreat didn’t end the war. The TPLF regrouped, rebuilt and returned to Mekelle.
https://t.co/2CGU7ZZJt3

[Michael J. Kavanagh @mjkcongo]

Our most specific finding: Uganda is exporting shocking amounts of gold -- $8.9 billion worth in 12 months thru June -- & a firm called Thaba Investments is responsible for nearly half. 🧵

[Simon Marks @MarksSimon]

The proxy lines around Ethiopia’s war are becoming clearer — and they’re showing up in the diplomatic record. Ethiopia expels Eritrean diplomats. Eritrea cuts diplomatic ties. Addis expels an Egyptian diplomat. And Cairo retaliates.
https://t.co/jeLAN06vUJ