BOORSEE

DAKAR, SENEGAL — Senegal’s Court of Auditors released a long-awaited review of the country’s finances on Wednesday that confirmed the previous government misreported key economic data including debt and deficit figures.

Senegal’s sovereign Eurobonds tumbled following release of the report.

“The work carried out by the Court shows that outstanding debt is higher than that shown in the reporting documents,” the court’s report said.

The court’s report confirmed an audit that had been ordered by President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who took office in April 2024.

At the end of 2023, the total outstanding debt represented 99.67% of gross domestic product, the court’s report said. That compared with a previously recorded figure of 74.41%.

The audit ordered by Faye had revealed that Senegal’s debt and budget deficit were much wider than former President Macky Sall’s administration had reported.

As a consequence of the audit, Faye’s government decided in June not to present a request for further disbursement under its three-year $1.8 billion credit facility with the International Monetary Fund.

The IMF had suspended the program pending the Court of Auditors’ review.

The IMF said on Wednesday that it would analyze the report and initiate consultations with authorities to address issues raised.

“The IMF remains committed to supporting the authorities moving forward,” an IMF spokesperson said via email.

The court’s report, which covers public finances from 2019 to March 2024, said it detected other anomalies and data discrepancies between the reported and the actual numbers.

“The deficit calculated and reported to the IMF for the period under review is very far from its real value, if the exact volume of project loan disbursements is taken into account,” the court said in the report.

The reviewed budget deficit for 2023 stood at 12.3% of GDP compared with 4.9% reported by the previous administration, the court said.

Leo Morawiecki, associate investment specialist for emerging market debt at Abrdn, an investment company, said the debt-to-GDP ratio for 2024 was likely to be in excess of 110% given the large deficit being run.

“In response, the IMF will almost certainly move Senegal from moderate to high risk of debt distress,” he said in a note, adding that the government seemed committed to fiscal consolidation and an IMF program.

In a note to investors after the report’s release, Senegal’s finance ministry said it would centralize management of its public debt and implement strict controls over projects financed from external resources.

The ministry will shortly organize a call with global investors, the note said.
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Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo — Fighting erupted Tuesday in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, three days after a call by African leaders for a ceasefire and a brief lull in the conflict.

M23 fighters attacked Congolese army positions in South Kivu province at dawn, local and security sources told AFP. The DRC government has designated the M23 rebel group as a terrorist organization, while the United Nations and the United States classify it as an armed rebel group. Congo accuses Rwanda of supporting the rebels, a charge that Rwanda denies.

The resurgence comes after east and southern African leaders called on their general staff to propose a plan for implementing an “unconditional” ceasefire by Thursday, in a conflict which has killed thousands and driven vast numbers from their homes.

The M23 has in recent months swiftly seized tracts of territory in mineral-rich east DRC after again taking up arms in late 2021, in a country plagued by numerous conflicts for decades. 

The armed group began advancing in South Kivu after taking control of Goma, the capital of neighboring North Kivu province that borders Rwanda, at the end of last month.

Clashes took place Tuesday near the village of Ihusi, around 70 kilometers (43 miles) from the provincial capital Bukavu and 40 kilometers from the province’s airport, according to security sources.

Several local sources reported “detonations of heavy weapons”.

Kavumu airport is used by the Congolese army to transport reinforcements of troops and equipment to the region and its main military base is located nearby.

Bukavu has been preparing for an M23 offensive for several days, with schools shuttering in the city Friday as residents began to flee and shops closed over fears of an imminent attack.

Banks were still shut in the city Tuesday.

The capture of Bukavu would give full control of Lake Kivu to the M23 and Rwandan troops.

Almost 300 Congolese soldiers are currently on trial in a military court in the city, for charges including rape, murder and looting.

The M23, which claims to want to “liberate all of Congo” and oust President Felix Tshisekedi, has attempted in recent days to advance into the highlands overlooking the main road to Bukavu to cut off the DRC army’s supply lines.

But Burundian soldiers, who are in east DRC to support the Congolese army, stopped the M23 advances, security sources said.   

Around 10,000 Burundian soldiers are deployed in South Kivu, according to a security source.

Bujumbura sent at least one additional army battalion to the area Friday, a security source told AFP.

The M23 has begun setting up its own administration in Goma, a city of 1 million people, launching recruitment campaigns, including to create a police force.

The humanitarian situation in Goma is worsening with no running water in large parts of the city and residents forced to take water from Lake Kivu, where bodies were recovered after the fighting.

An increase in cholera cases has been seen in the region, particularly among people displaced by the conflict, UN humanitarian agency, OCHA, said.

The city’s airport also remains closed despite a United Nations appeal last week to try allow for the transport of humanitarian aid and the wounded.

The crisis in east DRC is set to be discussed at an African Union meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Friday.

With the recent intensification of the conflict, calls for de-escalation from the international community have increased amid fears the fighting could lead to a regional war.

But diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict that has lasted for more than three years have so far been unsuccessful.

The DRC has called for “targeted sanctions” against Rwanda but with little effect.

Kinshasa accuses Kigali of wanting to plunder natural resources in the DRC, such as tantalum and tin used in batteries and electronic equipment, as well as gold.

Rwanda denies this, saying it wants to remove armed groups it believes pose a permanent threat to its security, notably the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), created by former Hutu leaders of the 1994 genocide against Tutsis in Rwanda.

To add to Kinshasa’s woes, an attack by a militia from the Lendu ethnic group in the northeastern Ituri province killed 51 people, local and humanitarian sources told AFP on Tuesday.

Members of the Cooperative for the Development of Congo (CODECO) killed 51 mostly displaced people in three adjoining areas of Ituri province on Monday, humanitarian sources and a local community leader, Jules Tsuba, said.

CODECO was a peaceful agricultural cooperative before transforming into an armed rebel movement fighting the rival Hema community. Monday’s raid was allegedly a response to a strike by a Hema militia earlier in the same area.

Different conflicts and rebellions have plagued the country for more than 30 years.
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WASHINGTON — The main target in a series of U.S. airstrikes against the Islamic State terror group in Somalia earlier this month is dead, according to the most recent assessment by military officials.

U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) announced late Tuesday that Islamic State attack planner Ahmed Maeleninine was killed along with 13 other high-ranking operatives in the Feb. 1 operation, run in coordination with the Somali government.

In a statement, AFRICOM described Maeleninine as a “recruiter, financier, and external operations leader responsible for the deployment of jihadists into the United States and across Europe.”

Officials did not provide additional information on Maeleninine’s exploits.

Assessing the success of the U.S. strikes was delayed due to the location of the targets and the terrain — a series of cave complexes in the Cal Miskaad area of Somalia’s Golis Mountains.

At the time, a Somalia commander told VOA the U.S. strikes had targeted at least 10 locations.

Residents in Qandala, a small town in the Bari region of Puntland not far from the site, told VOA that they could see plumes of smoke and flames, and that they heard at least seven explosions.

Islamic State, also known as IS or Daesh, has increasingly played a key role in the terror group’s operations in Africa and beyond.

Since 2022, Somalia has been home to al-Karrar, one of nine regional Islamic State offices established to help sustain the terror group’s capabilities. As a result, IS-Somalia has become a key cog in the IS financial network, funneling money to affiliates in Afghanistan and elsewhere in Africa.

IS-Somalia has simultaneously become more influential under the leadership of Abdulkadir Mumin, a former militant with al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab, who is thought to now head IS’s directorate of provinces, overseeing the terror group’s affiliates in Africa.

Some U.S. officials worry Mumin has risen even higher, perhaps acting as Islamic State’s top emir. Others disagree, but there is consensus that Mumin is nonetheless a pivotal figure.

The U.S. previously targeted Mumin in May 2024.

Recent intelligence assessments have further warned IS-Somalia has more than doubled in size over the past year and may now have as many as 1,600 fighters, bolstered by an influx of fighters from Ethiopia, Morocco, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania and Yemen.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth earlier on Tuesday warned that Washington would not hesitate to take action against IS in Somalia and beyond.

“Where we see those growing, plotting or planning with increased capabilities, we will strike,” he said during a visit to AFRICOM headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany.

He also said the U.S. is open to keeping in place about 500 special operation forces currently stationed in Somalia.

“I want to listen to the commanders on the ground, first and foremost,” Hegseth said. “The president, he’s charged me with, give me your best advice but also keep your ear to the ground of what’s most effective.”

U.S. President Donald Trump, toward the end of his first term in office in January 2021, withdrew U.S. forces from Somalia. Former President Joe Biden reversed the decision in May 2022, sending about 500 U.S. special operation forces to help Somali forces counter IS and al-Shabab.

Harun Maruf, Mohamed Olad contributed to this report.
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