Courtrooms across the continent are carrying a lot of political weight today, and the biggest case is in Tanzania. The High Court in Dar es Salaam is due to rule on 6 November in the treason case against opposition leader Tundu Lissu, and Africanews notes that the charge could carry a death sentence. In Nigeria, the opposition African Democratic Congress has rejected a judgment that voided Atiku Abubakar's candidacy, and the party has accused the ruling APC of trying to cripple the opposition, according to Channels Television. In Zimbabwe, a son of the late Robert Mugabe faces assault charges linked to a luxury car smuggling case, The Washington Post reports. Press freedom groups have also renewed their pressure on Tunisia, where ARTICLE 19 is calling for journalist Zied el-Heni to be released. Kenya, by contrast, had a good day in international law. The Star explains how Phoebe Okowa won a seat at the International Court of Justice.
Public finances are being argued over just as hard. A parliamentary committee in Senegal has asked for the 2027 budget bill to be withdrawn, the ministry said, as reported by marketscreener.com. Ghana's news is mixed. The IMF has reached a staff-level agreement with Accra on the first review of its 36-month programme, Modern Ghana reports. At the same time, the Ghana Health Service is struggling under a large debt, and Yen News points to reports that its health information systems went offline nationwide over an unpaid cloud hosting bill of about US$64,510, which has pushed facilities back to paper reporting. In Kenya, Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has warned of a Sh15bn shortfall in malaria funding, according to The Star. In Uganda, The Investigator News warns that the state could lose hundreds of billions of shillings it put into Mathias Magoola's pharmaceutical venture.
The day's biggest economic headline comes from Ethiopia, where a GDP rebasing has lifted the official size of the economy by nearly 60 percent. Reuters puts the new figure at $201 billion, though state media have cited a slightly higher number, and some outlets say the revision moves Ethiopia ahead of Morocco among Africa's largest economies. Mining investment is also busy. IntelliNews reports that De Beers is putting $15mn into diamond exploration in Angola and expanding prospecting to 16 areas, and Aya Gold is selling Morocco's Azegour project to Sama Resources, according to Investing.com. Morocco has also opened the first container terminal at Nador West Med, FreshPlaza reports. On the wider picture, Bloomberg looks at what it calls Africa's $4 trillion investment mismatch.
Morocco's diplomacy is keeping it in the headlines. The EU has rejected calls to suspend financial aid to Rabat over the Ceuta crisis, Morocco World News reports. Il Sole 24 ORE describes King Mohammed VI as preparing for a post-MINURSO era, with security and development at the heart of that plan. Relations with Moscow look mixed. Al Arabiya English argues that Morocco is confronting Russia, yet the Russian ambassador still congratulated the kingdom on Unity Day, according to Morocco World News. Egypt has also been busy diplomatically. It has offered Israel fresh assurances about development projects in Sinai, Asharq Al-Awsat reports, and its foreign minister held talks with his Mauritanian counterpart on closer cooperation, according to the Egyptian Gazette.
On security, at least seven people were killed in a Boko Haram attack in Cameroon, according to Latest news from Azerbaijan. In Ethiopia, the army says the country's navy is ready to operate across maritime, air and land domains, Addis Standard reports. Separately, PesaCheck found that an image shared as showing conflict in Moyale this year does not show that.
In football, Morocco has recalled Youssef En-Nesyri and given Oufkir a first call-up for the Niger qualifiers, CAFOnline.com reports, and coach Ouahbi told Morocco World News that the team "never ruled him out."
