Nigeria's security services had a rare piece of good news on Wednesday. Twenty graduates abducted earlier this month have been rescued, as reported by [BBC News](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqm26ee4gl21o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss). The group was kidnapped while travelling for a community service programme, and Channels Television said the 20 corps members and one other person regained their freedom in Imo State. The relief was short-lived, because the northeast saw fresh violence on the same day. Militants affiliated with the Islamic State group attacked a military base and killed several soldiers, according to The Washington Post. Nigerian outlets said the army repelled the assault in Borno and killed 25 attackers. There was also a military plane crash in Ondo State, and afterwards aviation minister Festus Keyamo and the air force chief agreed to close the safety gap between civil and military aviation, TheCable reported. In Kogi, the state electoral commission chairman urged people to avoid violence ahead of local government polls, writes Realnews Magazine.
Egypt spent the day pushing back on several fronts. Cairo called an Israeli minister's remarks about Sinai "empty threats", according to Yeni Şafak English. Separately, the African Union denied that it had blamed Egypt for the crisis in Ethiopia after Cairo objected, as Hiiraan Online reported. Washington approved more than $2bn in weapons sales to Egypt, Kuwait and the UAE, says Middle East Eye. Defence is also on Morocco's agenda. At the Marrakech Airshow, defence official Abdellatif Loudyi described the kingdom's path from arms buyer to arms maker, according to Morocco World News.
Elsewhere on the continent, diplomacy took a more cooperative form. Rwanda and Senegal signed more than ten agreements to strengthen ties, The New Times reported. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa met South Sudan's Salva Kiir and urged him to uphold the 2018 peace deal, according to Africa.com.
In Ghana, the political arguments were mostly about governance. Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu rejected former vice president Mahamudu Bawumia's claim that the Free SHS programme is in crisis. Iddrisu said the policy had been "suffering" under the previous government and that his government had reviewed it, as Modern Ghana reported. President John Mahama ordered sanctions against officials who fail to enforce building safety rules, the same outlet reported separately. The country also lost a veteran of its politics: former NPP chairman and Minority Leader Samuel Arthur Odoi-Sykes has died at 98, according to Graphic Online.
Health systems were under pressure in East Africa. Kenya's health secretary insisted the country is not facing an Ebola outbreak, even after recording its first death from the disease, Africanews reported. Kenya's Social Health Authority also introduced a one-month waiver on five KYC documents, says The Star, Kenya. In Somalia, an emergency funding push kept nearly 600 health facilities open, while famine remains a risk in the south, according to Hiiraan Online. On a broader scale, the Gavi Alliance said immunisation programmes delivered more than $30bn in economic benefits to lower-income countries in 2025, as Peoples Gazette reported.
In the markets, Egyptian fintech MNT-Halan opened a $150m IPO priced at EGP 24.5 a share, and El Sewedy sold 40% of CIRA's Damietta university venture, both reported by Billionaires.Africa (second report). M-KOPA bought Finnish device-locking firm KilpiTek Oy for $8m, according to TechCabal. Tunisia's central bank left its key rate unchanged at 7%, TradingView reported.
Sport closes the day with high stakes. Senegal's appeal against being stripped of the AFCON 2025 title, which stems from its final against Morocco, goes before the Court of Arbitration for Sport on 8 October, according to The Eastleigh Voice and The New Times. South Africa has been named one of seven countries that will make their case in November to host the 2036 Olympics, which would be the first Games held in Africa, Africanews reported. On the field, the Proteas, who hold the World Test Championship, host Australia in Tests for the first time since the 2018 ball-tampering scandal, as Al Jazeera noted.