The A in AI stands for African

Last week, I joined one of Germany's biggest podcasts to talk about Sudan (it was their first time doing so). Smart questions, intentional conversation, and I still walked away frustrated. Not at them, but I sense a bigger problem: I get the impression that Sudan overwhelms many here in the West. The scale, the long history, all of it seems very demanding. If you understand German, listen to the conversation and tell me where it failed or worked. I actually want your critique.

This issue:
Yes, there's a lot going on in the Western world at the moment, but this doesn't mean that the rest of the world stops moving. Something very serious is going on the border between Burundi and eastern DRC right now, and Rwanda has got everything to do with it (allegedly). At a bird's-eye view, it's got a lot to do with the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. History has a long memory in the Great Lakes region, and it is shaping today's violence more than most articles make it seem.

I'm also revisiting AI in Africa, but from a different angle. This time, it's Chinese tech companies. Fewer press releases, fewer ethics pledges, more informal hiring. Young Kenyans doing demanding data work with little protection, and a government that looks the other way at the moment.

Also in this issue: A documentary about Eritrean and Ethiopian communities in Italy, Gorillaz and Syria, the sad story of chocolate, and more stories that deserve attention even when the algorithm says otherwise.

Trump's 'historic' peace deal between Rwanda and the DRC is basically done

Refresher:
U.S. President Trump wanted the DRC and Rwanda to get along so bad (so that, "everybody will make a lot of money"). The U.S. recently brokered a peace deal between the two, and both signed in Washington, D.C. The whole thing was framed as "historic". The main promises included that the DRC deals with the FDLR militia (more on this in a bit), and that Rwanda pulls back militarily. It also included shiny extras, such as future cooperation on minerals, energy, infrastructure, and more US investment. Days later, said peace deal poof disappeared.

What happened last week
The armed group M23 said it "fully liberated" Uvira, a strategically very important city in the South Kivu province in eastern DRC.

Why this matters:
The civilian toll is huge. More than 400 people were killed, and around 200,000 civilians were forced to flee their homes across South Kivu. Nothing has returned to normal in the city. According to AP, streets in Uvira are reportedly empty and tense, with banks closed and M23 fighters patrolling key areas, making everyday life unsafe and unpredictable.

Tell me more:
The DRC, the U.S., and European countries believe Rwanda is behind this military offensive. Rwanda has denied the allegations, but some say the fact that Rwanda even showing up for the peace deal signing is a subtle acknowledgement that it does have influence over the M23. The group is estimated to have thousands of fighters, but it seems that they've received some help from the up to 4,000 Rwandan troops in the area for this recent Uvira enterprise. Officially, the M23 was not part of this particular peace deal in Washington, D.C., but it's been taking part in another one led by Qatar (but that one's sort of on hold right now).

Why did the M23 take the city now?
Uvira, home to around 700,000 people, is the gateway from eastern DRC into Burundi and a key economic bottleneck for trade with Tanzania and access to the Indian Ocean. More concretely, whoever controls Uvira controls a border crossing, a lake route, and a supply line. That means that all supply routes for the Congolese army and the roughly 10,000 Burundian troops stationed in the country are now effectively cut off. As for 'why now?', Farouk Chothia for the BBC talked to Professor Jason Stearns, and he says, "this is power politics." The M23 wants leverage because Rwanda (who allegedly supports the M23) does not trust the DRC to follow through with the peace deal, and taking Uvira gives the M23 more negotiating power (the offensive apparently started a few days before the two presidents flew to the U.S.). The group might even want to establish a parallel administration in the city.

What is this conflict about?
A lot of what happened back then with the genocide in Rwanda in 1994 is the basis of what's happening in the region today. Rwanda believes the DRC is working with genocidaires, and says, "the real threat is the FDLR for us". The FDLR is a (Hutu) militia that is linked to the 1994 genocide; the DRC integrated FDLR fighters into its army in 2022, and that definitely crossed a line for (Tutsi-led) Rwanda. Burundi (whose ruling party is a former Hutu movement) is allegedly hosting previous heads of the same militia that committed the genocide in Rwanda (the infamous General Omega is allegedly coordinating with parts of the Burundian army there).

Zoom out:
It's getting more and more difficult for Burundi to justify why it's got so many troops engaged in this war. The violence in the DRC is definitely spilling over into the country. Burundi is already economically stretched to its limits, without enough fuel, making transport and food prices very expensive. This directly affects an already poor population. Around 160,000 refugees from the DRC are living in border camps there, with minimal supplies and aid organizations struggling to keep up. More people continue to cross over. Aid agencies...