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DR Congo announces new government after months of delay

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The Democratic Republic of Congo announced a new government on Wednesday, ending more than five months of political uncertainty since the reelection of President Felix Tshisekedi.

The new Cabinet is composed of 54 ministers versus 57 in the last government, including Prime Minister Judith Sumonwa Tuluka, Congo’s first female prime minister who was appointed in early April.

At the Interior Ministry, the president appointed Jacquemain Shabani, his strongman former electoral campaign director who was already his main adviser on political and electoral matters.

Constant Mutamba, leader of the Congo Dynamic Progressive Revolutionary Opposition platform, was appointed justice minister, while Jean-Piere Bemba was replaced at the Defense Ministry by Guy Kabombo.

At the Foreign Ministry, Tshisekedi appointed a woman, Therese Kayiwamba, who replaced Christophe Lutundula.

Kizito Kapinga was appointed to the Mines Ministry, in charge of the Central African country’s globally significant reserves of coltan, copper, and other minerals.

The new government that has 16 women ministers came after more than five months of negotiations between new allies of the president, who control the parliament with 95% of National Assembly seats since the last election in December 2023.

The army claimed last week to have foiled a coup attempt in the capital Kinshasa, arresting several people involved in the plot.

The government’s immediate tasks include ending the M23 rebellion in the volatile east and improving the living conditions of ordinary citizens who live on less than $2 a day.

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Ugandan leader Yoweri Museveni, 80, seeking reelection in 2026

Museveni said he is seeking reelection to grow the country to a “$500 billion economy in the next five years.”

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• Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni/ Reuters

KAMPALA, June 29 (Reuters) – Ugandan leader Yoweri Museveni has confirmed he intends to contest in next year’s presidential election, potentially extending his rule in the east African country to nearly half a century.

In a post on the X platform late on Saturday Museveni said he had “expressed my interest in running for… the position of presidential flag bearer,” for his ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party.

The 80-year-old has been ruler of Uganda since 1986 when he seized power after leading a five-year guerrilla war.

The ruling party has changed the constitution twice in the past to allow Museveni to extend his rule, and rights activists have accused him of using security forces and patronage to maintain his grip on power.

He denies the accusation.

Museveni said he is seeking reelection to grow the country to a “$500 billion economy in the next five years.”

Uganda’s GDP currently stands at about $66 billion, according to the finance ministry.

The country will hold its presidential election next January, when voters will also elect lawmakers.

Museveni’s closest opponent will be pop star-turned-politician Bobi Wine who came second in the last presidential election in 2021 and has already confirmed his intention to run in 2026.

Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, rejected the 2021 results, saying his victory had been stolen through ballot stuffing, intimidation by security forces and other irregularities.

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South African Court Halts Burial of Former Zambian President Mid-Ceremony

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In a dramatic turn of events, a South African court has intervened to halt the burial of a former Zambian president, president Edgar Lungu, temporarily suspending the proceedings mid-ceremony.

Lungu, who died on June 5 while seeking medical care in South Africa, was a rival of President Hakainde Hichilema, who wanted to lead a state funeral for his predecessor in Zambia.

Lungu’s family opposed the plans and blocked his body from being repatriated, saying he would not have wanted Hichilema at his funeral.

Zambia in turn filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the burial in South Africa.In a ruling delivered as Lungu’s widow and other mourners were already gathered in the church, a Gauteng region High Court judge said that, after an agreement between the parties, “respondents undertake not to proceed with the funeral or burial of the late president”.

The case will be heard on August 4, he said, in a decision that was carried by national broadcaster SABC — which also showed live images of people gathered for the service for Lungu, president from 2015 to 2021.

The adjournment “is extending the pain, the grief, that the family and the people are going through”, Zambian lawmaker Chanda Katotobwe, part of the delegation present at the memorial service, told SABC News.

The cause of the former president’s death at age 68 was not announced. He had been receiving specialised treatment in a clinic in Pretoria, his Patriotic Front party said.

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Cargo ship carrying 3,000 vehicles, including 800 EVs, sinks in the Pacific Ocean

The shipping company said that the cargo ship had sunk on June 23.

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A cargo ship that caught fire earlier this month in the Pacific Ocean has sunk, its manager has said.

MINT reports that The Morning Midas, which was left abandoned as it caught fire, was carrying about 3,000 vehicles, among which around 800 were electric vehicles.

Electric vehicles contain lithium-ion batteries, which are generally safe but can overheat and ignite if damaged.

The shipping company said that the cargo ship had sunk on June 23.

Zodiac Maritime in a statement further said that the damage caused by the fire was compounded by heavy weather, and subsequently water entered inside the vessel, causing it to sink.

Credit: MINT

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