International News
DR Congo In Second Day Of Voting After Chaotic Start
Voting in the Democratic Republic of Congo extended into Thursday, after general elections that began the day before saw some polling stations never open due to logistical problems.
And even as people in some parts of the country were finally voting, elsewhere the count had already begun, with the first results expected to be announced on Friday.
The impoverished but mineral-rich central African nation held four concurrent elections on Wednesday — to pick a president, national and regional lawmakers, as well as local councillors.
President Felix Tshisekedi, 60, is running for a second term in office against a backdrop of years of economic growth but little job creation and soaring inflation.
Wednesday’s voting was marked by massive delays nationwide, as the electoral commission struggled to deliver materials to voting stations long after polls were meant to have opened.
In some cases, polling stations never opened.
Denis Kadima, the head of the electoral commission, Ceni, declared on Wednesday night that people in places where casting ballots had proved impossible would vote on Thursday.
It was not clear how many polling stations that involved, but AFP reporters witnessed voting in cities in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, in the southeastern city of Lubumbashi, and in the capital Kinshasa.
– Final result January –
In Goma, an eastern commercial hub, a young woman with a baby swaddled to her back had left a polling station the previous evening without being able to vote.
“This morning I came to vote. I returned because I am Congolese,” said Clarice Bintu. “By voting I hope for change”.
Problems and delays affected polling booths nationwide, Ceni chief Kadima told reporters on Wednesday. He estimated that 70 percent of voters had been able to cast ballots.
The DRC is one of the poorest countries in the world despite its vast reserves of copper, cobalt and gold.
Around 44 million Congolese in the nation of 100 million are registered to vote, and more than 100,000 candidates are running for various positions.
Ceni will begin to publish initial results from the presidential election on Friday, one of its top officials said.
The Constitutional Court is then expected to announce definitive results on January 10.
– Logistical problems –
Staging elections in a country roughly the size of continental western Europe, with very few roads, posed a daunting logistical challenge.
There had long been concerns that the electoral commission was unprepared, which proved valid on polling day.
By Wednesday afternoon, an influential election observer mission by a union of Congolese Catholic and Protestant churches indicated the scale of the voting problems.
Nearly a third of polling booths in the country had not opened, they said, and about 45 percent of voting machines had suffered technical problems.
There was little sympathy from leading opposition politicians, who described the process as chaotic.
The main opposition candidates — gynaecologist Denis Mukwege, 68, the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize laureate; 58-year-old business magnate and ex-provincial governor Moise Katumbi; and 67-year-old ex-oil executive Fayulu — all complained of irregularities.
Five opposition presidential candidates, including Fayulu and Mukwege, later rejected the vote extension, arguing that it was illegal.
In a joint statement, they called for fresh elections.
– ‘Foreign candidates’ –
Tshisekedi, who took office in 2019 and faces 18 challengers, says he wants a second term to “consolidate his gains”.
He is considered the frontrunner in the single-round presidential vote, though his record, as he himself has acknowledged, is mixed.
Throughout the campaign, Tshisekedi also poured scorn on what he termed “foreign candidates” — suggesting that his opponents had dual loyalties and lacked the will to stand up to Rwanda, which the DRC accuses of funding rebel groups on its soil.
Katumbi, a former governor of mineral-rich Katanga province and chairman of the country’s leading football club, Tout Puissant Mazembe, was the main target of such attacks.
– Violence-wracked east –
Armed conflict in eastern DRC also overshadowed much of the electoral campaign.
Militias have plagued the troubled region for decades, a legacy of regional wars that flared in the 1990s and 2000s.
Tensions have ratcheted up further since the M23 group began capturing swathes of territory in late 2021.
Rwanda has been accused of supporting the rebels, which Kigali denies.
Clashes with M23 fighters have subsided in recent weeks but they continue to hold sway over large parts of North Kivu province, where voting was impossible.
AFP
Saudi Arabia has updated its tourist eVisa programme for 2026, limiting eligibility in Africa to only three countries as part of its list of 66 nations whose citizens can apply through the Kingdom’s online visa platform.
The move leaves most African countries, including Nigeria, outside the simplified entry scheme.
The electronic visa allows eligible travellers to visit Saudi Arabia for tourism, leisure activities, family visits and Umrah, excluding the annual Hajj pilgrimage. Applications are completed online, eliminating the need for embassy visits and lengthy visa processing.
Saudi authorities said the eVisa forms part of ongoing efforts to expand tourism, attract international visitors and simplify travel procedures through a fully digital application system. The visa is available only to citizens of approved countries and territories listed on the Kingdom’s official tourism portal.
Below is the list of African countries eligible for Saudi Arabia’s eVisa.
1. Mauritius
2. Seychelles
3. South Africa
The South African government says more than 53,000 foreign nationals have been deported or repatriated since launching a “migration management” campaign five weeks ago.
Most were from Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique, officials say, and the number is likely to rise as repatriations and deportations continue.
South Africa is carrying out one of its biggest crackdowns on undocumented migrants in years, following weeks of anti-immigration protests that have seen violence, intimidation and looting.
Protesters have been demanding tighter border controls and mass deportations, accusing migrants of contributing to high unemployment, rising crime rates and collapse of public services.
The UN has warned against using migrants as scapegoats for South Africa’s socioeconomic challenges.
Anti-migrant activists have threatened to stage weekly protests to pressure the government until their demands are met, and there are fears the protests could turn violent.
The demonstrators had set an “unofficial deadline” of 30 June for all undocumented migrants to leave the country, which has seen many foreigners leave to escape violence and intimidation.
Several countries, including Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya, have flown their citizens home in recent weeks.
Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi announced on Sunday that 53,499 foreign nationals have been processed for deportation and repatriation, “which is dominated by the Malawians, followed by Zimbabweans and Mozambicans”.
“We are striving to achieve an orderly and regular migration which is mindful and sensitive to the concerns raised by our people, while observing human rights and dignity of all people in our country, irrespective of their citizenship and immigration status,” Kubayi told a news conference in Pretoria.
She said the repatriation and deportation process has helped them catch people who were wanted by the police for alleged criminal activity.
Authorities will continue to enforce its immigration laws, she added, but warned that protesters should not conduct unauthorised searches of homes and businesses that are suspected of sheltering undocumented migrants.
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has acknowledged public concerns about immigration but has condemned attacks against migrants, warning citizens against taking the law into their own hands.
South Africa is the continent’s wealthiest nation and has long attracted migrants searching for better economic opportunities, some of whom enter the country illegally.
‘
Plans for a 64-team men’s World Cup are set to be assessed after the 2026 tournament, with Fifa boss Gianni Infantino saying the event needs to be “for the whole world”.
The proposal for an expanded tournament was put forward last year, and Infantino says the success of the expanded 48-team tournament means Fifa should look at how a 64-team World Cup could work.
“These are all issues that we will be examining after the World Cup,” Infantino told Swiss broadcaster Blue Sport, external when asked if the tournament could grow to 64 teams.
“When organising a World Cup, it’s important to organise it for the whole world – not just Europe and South America, but effectively the entire world. Every nation should be allowed to dream of participating in the World Cup.
“You can see that the quality of the teams is extremely high, and it’s getting higher and higher, all over the world. If you don’t give smaller countries a chance to participate in the World Cup, they’ll lack the incentive to keep improving.”
Infantino said that the first 48-team World Cup has been “a huge success”, citing the progression of nine out of 10 African teams to the knockout stages.
“At the last World Cup, there were only five teams from Africa,” he said. “That just goes to show how important it is to include all teams – to give them this opportunity to participate.”
The Fifa council approved the expansion of the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams in 2017.
An official proposal to boost the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams was put forward by South American governing body Conmebol in April 2025, but no decision has been reached.
The 2030 edition will be mainly co-hosted by Spain, Portugal and Morocco, with the three opening matches to be hosted by Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay to celebrate the centenary of the competition. Uruguay hosted the first World Cup, in 1930.
Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin is among those to have dismissed the 64-team proposal, with the Slovenian saying it is a “bad idea” for both the tournament itself and the qualifying process.
Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa agreed, saying further expansion would bring “chaos”.
Victor Montagliani, president of the governing body for football in North and Central America and the Caribbean (Concacaf), said the suggestion “doesn’t feel right” and he believes the expansion would damage “the broader football ecosystem”.
However, Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House’s World Cup task force, said the United States could consider making a bid to host the 2038 World Cup and would be able to “handle it” if expanded to 64 teams.
Fifa’s official position has always been it will discuss expansion ideas with stakeholders and it is duty bound to consider any proposals from council members.
The Fifa council would make the ultimate decision, but there are no signs it is something expected to happen imminently.
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