Martin Plaut

South Africa, the Horn of Africa. Fellow, Institute of Commonwealth Studies. Made in 🇿🇦🇪🇺🇬🇧

[Martin Plaut @martinplaut]

Eight candidates vie to become UN special rapporteur on human rights in Eritrea. As the vote approaches to renew a mandate Asmara has been lobbying to abolish, the deadline for applications to succeed Sudan's Mohamed Abdelsalam Babiker had to be extended to 18 June.

[Martin Plaut @martinplaut]

Somalia peacekeeping mission at risk as US blocks UN support, sources say - https://t.co/J33c973JoC

[Martin Plaut @martinplaut]

EEPA Situation Report, Horn of Africa, No. 741, 2 July 2026
https://t.co/ev6Da83yWg

[Zenaida Machado @zenaidamz]

Last night, the Mozambican 1st lady offered dinner to the Malawians fleeing anti-migrants protests in South Africa, who are using Maputo as a point of transit to travel back home, She appealed Maputo residents to show solidarity with the Malawian travelers.

[Cameron Hudson @_hudsonc]

Eritrea requiring all citizens to deposit all cash into state banks before end of month suggests a struggling state economy. https://t.co/VomYiEa1WO

[Kenneth Roth @KenRoth]

The Rapid Support Forces paramilitary, armed and supplied with mercenaries by the United Arab Emirates, "committed crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing during its campaign to capture El Fasher” in Sudan, Amnesty International reports. https://t.co/3hXloYg3p7

[Abdirisak Turyare @Tuuryare_Africa]

UPDATE: The U.S. says it will end support for the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia when its mandate expires in December 2026, citing Somalia’s failure to make enough progress against Al-Shabab group and take over security responsibilities.

[Crisis Group @CrisisGroup]

The Somali jihadist group Al-Shabaab, an Al-Qaeda affiliate, have made major advances in 2025, erasing government gains from two years prior.

Political fragmentation and a drop in foreign assistance is fuelling fears that the government could be overrun in the future. 🧵1/9

[Martin Plaut @martinplaut]

Nigeria to seek compensation for property abandoned by citizens fleeing South Africa https://t.co/QdbPGpfC0N

[eNCA @eNCA]

Nigeria is demanding compensation from South Africa for its nationals who fled the country. It claims many were forced to abandon businesses, homes and other property.

https://t.co/bf73W80Ixo

[Martin Plaut @martinplaut]

European MPs demand EU action to fight transnational repression.
“For many people living in exile in Europe, distance doesn’t guarantee safety. Authoritarian regimes actively seek to silence critics beyond their own borders."
https://t.co/koIgEmYmoe

[Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus @DrTedros]

I read these words with a heavy heart. When we call human beings “invaders,” we strip them of their faces, their names, their stories, and history teaches us where that road leads.
The people arriving on Europe’s shores are not an army. They are families fleeing war, hunger, and despair. Among them are Christians and Muslims alike, mothers carrying children, young people who buried their dreams to survive. To reduce them to a plot against a continent is to deny both the evidence and their humanity.
Europe’s Christian heritage is not defended by fear. It is defended by living it. “I was a stranger and you welcomed me” is not a political slogan; it is the Gospel itself. A faith confident in its own truth does not tremble before the stranger at the door; it opens it.
None of this means borders don’t matter or that communities’ concerns should be dismissed. Migration must be managed with order, fairness, and honesty about its pressures. But there is a difference between managing migration and demonising migrants. The first is policy; the second is a wound to our shared humanity.
I will keep saying it: compassion is not weakness, and fear is not faith. May we choose to see people, not plots.

[Zenaida Machado @zenaidamz]

Thousands of Malawians seek transport in Maputo after being forced to leave South Africa as result of anti-migrant protests
https://t.co/NQFw4P4Ev2

[(fan) Trey @UTDTrey]

CONGO APPRECIATION TWEET

[Radio Okapi @radiookapi]

⚽️🏆Coupe du monde FIFA 2026
RDC vs Angleterre: la joie des congolais au premier but des Leopards dans une fanzone de la ville de Kananga

[Martin Plaut @martinplaut]

If the leaders of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front in Mekelle conclude that the external balance is turning against them, US coercion might push them to take a harder line – raising the risks of a return to fighting."

[Martin Plaut @martinplaut]

Africa Confidential: "Washington’s latest intervention in Ethiopia is designed to show that it holds Tigray’s hardliners responsible for raising the risk of renewed conflict. 1/3

[Martin Plaut @martinplaut]

Yet the move comes at a moment when AU envoy Olusegun Obasanjo is trying to revive dialogue, and when Eritrea, Egypt and Gulf powers are all recalibrating their positions in the Horn. 2/3

[Yasmine Ahmed @YasmineAhmed001]

🚨 New @amnesty ground breaking report on Sudan: RSF atrocities in El Fasher ‘a stain on the conscience of humanity’. RSF committed multiple crimes against humanity.

Int'l community MUST act now to prevent further atrocities incl in El Obeid

https://t.co/IdoUurHyeQ

[ESPN Africa @ESPNAfrica]

DR CONGO FANS IN LONDON GO CRAZY AFTER GOING 1-0 UP VS. ENGLAND!! 😮😮😮