Crypto News: Next Africa: Finding the source

Welcome to Next Africa, a daily newsletter on where the continent stands now — and where it’s headed. Sign up here to have it delivered to your email. In today’s edition, we look at the arms sales fueling Sudan’s civil war. And:

Heads of state hold an emergency meeting as Ebola spreads
Zimbabwe becomes the first to cut rates after US-Iran truce
Scientists say there’s hope for the planet’s coral reefs

Fueling War

With Sudan’s rebel militia encircling the strategic southern city of El-Obeid, the North African nation’s bloody civil war shows no sign of ending.

The devastating conflict has already killed more than a hundred thousand people, with weapons flowing into Sudan from abroad ensuring the fighting continues.

Allegations over arms sales have been rife since the war erupted between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in April 2023.

Now, global efforts are building to expose the networks accused of fueling what’s been dubbed the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

TOPSHOT - A displaced woman rests in Tawila, in the country's war-torn western Darfur region, on October 28, 2025, after fleeing El-Fasher following the city's fall to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Fears mounted in Sudan on October 28, three days after paramilitaries seized the key city of El-Fasher, amid reports of mass atrocities and the killing of five Red Crescent volunteers in Kordofan. The capture of El-Fasher, the historic heart of Darfur, has sparked fears of mass killings reminiscent of the region's darkest days. (Photo by AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images) Photographer: -/AFP — People displaced in Tawila, western Darfur, on Oct. 28.

Bipartisan legislation currently going through the US Congress calls for another sanctions strategy to deter war crimes and genocide. It also urges the US to identify countries backing the army or the RSF through military supplies or resources, from drones to armored vehicles.

The European Union, too, is debating widening its own sanctions and recently advocated expanding a United Nations arms embargo in Darfur to the whole country.

Sudan’s military, human rights groups and UN experts have alleged the United Arab Emirates backs the RSF. Abu Dhabi vehemently denies that, saying it supports neither side and urges an immediate ceasefire. Equipment from Turkey, China and Iran has been found inside Sudan.

Iranian drones used by Sudan’s army are in focus this week, with Bloomberg reporting the generals are curbing their links with Tehran to win US support in future peace talks.

That assistance has become a liability for the military, as has its alliance with an Islamist brigade Washington says has received Iranian training.

The US State Department says both the rebels and army have used foreign-provided weapons against civilians. Naming and shaming the suppliers would certainly up the ante. — Simon Marks

TOPSHOT - A fighter loyal to the army patrols a market area in Khartoum on March 24, 2025. For nearly two years, Sudan has been ravaged by a war between the regular army and the RSF, a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people, uprooted over 12 million more and created the world's largest hunger and displacement crises. (Photo by AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images) Photographer: -/AFP — A damaged market area in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, in March 2025.

What Everyone’s Reading

Ebola treatment centers in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are becoming overwhelmed as confirmed cases surge past 800 and health workers struggle to track transmission chains, aid groups warned ahead of an emergency summit of African leaders. Uganda has confirmed 19 infections.

Family members cry upon the arrival of the casket containing the body of a relative who died from Ebola in Congo in June. — Family members mourn an Ebola victim in eastern Congo.

Zimbabwe’s central bank became the first in the world to cut interest rates since the US and Iran said they’d reached an interim peace deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, an announcement that drove down oil prices. The reduction marks “a realignment of the policy rate to the structural shift in inflation dynamics,” the central bank chief said.

US President Donald Trump keeps repeating that the Strait of Hormuz — through which one fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies normally flow — will reopen by Friday. But it’s clear that his European allies don’t share his optimism.

Taiwan criticized Kenya for detaining a scholar for 20 hours at the urging of China, underscoring Beijing’s escalating efforts to isolate the self-run island. The student was due to attend an oceans conference in Mombasa, Taiwan’s Ocean Affairs Council said in a statement.

Nigeria’s annual inflation rate rose less than expected and may ease in coming months as the Hormuz waterway reopens, reviving the case for a drop in borrowing costs. Policymakers held the benchmark rate at 26.5% in May to assess the war’s impact on inflation and will give their next decision on July 21.

Flutterwave operates in 35 African nations. Photographer: Patrick Meinhardt/Bloomberg

Ripple Acquires Stake in Flutterwave Valuing It at $3.3 Billion

Flutterwave, one of Africa’s most valuable financial-technology startups, sold an equity stake to Ripple, as it seeks to accelerate growth through payments expansion and strategic partnerships.

Nigeria’s ADC Taps Ex-Minister as Abubakar’s Running Mate

African Democratic Congress, one of Nigeria’s major opposition parties, selected former Transport Minister Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi as the running mate to its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

What to Know

Opinion

Congo’s Ebola Outbreak Is a Warning

Ebola is spreading rapidly through parts of central Africa. By the time the outbreak was confirmed in mid-May, hundreds of potential cases had been identified, suggesting the strain had been circulating for months undetected. Although the US’s retreat from global health initiatives isn’t directly to blame for this crisis, depleted resources are making things worse.

Last Word

New research has found that some coral reef ecosystems have a far greater chance of surviving the effects of climate change than previously understood, offering a chance to protect them. Roughly 60% of the climate-resilient reefs are in Australia, the Bahamas, Cuba, Indonesia and the Philippines, with some better positioned because they are in rare cool spots in the ocean, scientists said in the paper outlined at a summit in Mombasa, Kenya.