[This Day] The 5th edition of the Nigeria Women's Invitational T20 International (WT20i) will kickoff today at the Tafawa Balewa Square Cricket Oval, Lagos, with hosts Nigeria taking on Zimbabwe in the second match of the day.

[ANGOP] Luanda -- Luanda's First Instance Court on Thursday convicted 21 defendants and acquitted 6 in the case of the General Tax Administration (AGT) of 2025, after a three-month trial, with prison sentences ranging from three to nine years and six months.

[allAfrica] Rwanda is improving its surgical care with the opening of a newly renovated surgical department at Kibungo Level Two Teaching Hospital, previously known as Kibungo Provincial Referral Hospital - a milestone that brings critical services closer to the community.

[RFI] Rwanda is seeking more than £100 million it says the United Kingdom still owes from a scrapped 2022 deal to deport migrants, in a case that opened on Wednesday at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.

[Dabanga] El Tina / N'djamena / Mabrouka -- Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Déby has ordered the immediate closure of Chad's 1,300-kilometre border with Sudan and placed the military on maximum alert following a deadly drone strike on a border town, yesterday.

[New Times] The Minister of Sports, Nelly Mukazayire, on Monday, March 18, met with Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, delivering a message from President Paul Kagame.

[New Times] The arbitration case between Rwanda and the United Kingdom, which went underway on Wednesday at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, should never have reached this point. This is more than a legal dispute over an abandoned migration deal. It is a test of whether a powerful country will honour obligations it willingly undertook when political winds later change. Rwanda did what it was asked to do. The UK must now pay its dues.

[New Times] On International Women's Day, a message circulated on social media from Congolese Tutsi-Banyamulenge women gathered in Nairobi: «Across the world, Banyamulenge women are mourning and peacefully protesting, standing in solidarity with their sisters in the highlands of Minembwe, victims of atrocities carried out by the Congolese and Burundian military forces, supported by Wazalendo militias and the FDLR.»

[RFI] The Republic of Congo's President Denis Sassou N'Guesso has been re-elected with nearly 95 percent of the vote, according to provincial results, extending his nearly 42-year rule over the Central African oil-rich country.

[New Times] Assia Ufitese from Kicukiro District was only 17 when she became pregnant in 2023, forcing her to drop out of secondary school and putting her dreams of higher education on hold. Her story reflects a growing challenge in Rwanda, where teenage pregnancy has risen from 5% in 2020 to 8% in 2025.

[RFI] A Brussels court is to decide Tuesday whether a 93-year-old former Belgian diplomat should stand trial over the 1961 killing of Congolese independence icon Patrice Lumumba.

[RFI] A Brussels court has ordered a 93-year-old former Belgian diplomat to stand trial over the 1961 killing of Congolese independence icon Patrice Lumumba.

[ANGOP] Talatona -- Ambassadors from European countries accredited to Angola on Monday reaffirmed their commitment to supporting the development of the blue economy in the country, within the framework of the project «Initiative for a Sustainable and Strategic Blue Economy in Angola», financed by the European Union.

[New Times] All roads lead to BK Arena this Tuesday, March 17, as Kigali hosts the third edition of Move Afrika, the touring concert series led by Global Citizen.

[Shabelle] Washington -- The United States has this week invited senior officials from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda to participate in discussions aimed at easing violence in eastern DR Congo, diplomatic sources said.

[ANGOP] Luanda -- Angolan Minister of Telecommunications, Information Technologies and Social Communication, Mário Oliveira, stated on Monday in France that the start of the ANGEO-1 project represents a decisive step in consolidating the Angolan space program.

[RFI] Congo-Brazzaville holds elections Sunday in a vote expected to extend 82-year-old President Denis Sassou Nguesso's more than four decades in power in the oil-rich central African country. Observers say voter turnout could reach a record low.

[New Times] Cricket action returns this weekend at Gahanga Cricket Stadium with both the men and women competitions taking place on March 13-14.

[New Times] A new National Insurance Strategy aimed at transforming the insurance sector by addressing long-standing challenges such as low insurance penetration, limited public awareness, and slow claims processing has been unveiled.

[New Times] François Twagirumukiza, a businessman and shareholder in CHIC Ltd, has been elected as Chairperson of Rwanda's Private Sector Federation (PSF).

[ISS] A four-part plan could enable both countries to deal with the artisanal gold mining economy that is fuelling border crime.

[New Times] Rwandan rally drivers have expressed optimism ahead of the 2026 WRC Safari Rally Kenya, scheduled for March 12-15 in Naivasha, Nakuru County.

[New Times] The National Bank of Rwanda (BNR) and the Central Bank of Kenya have signed the Kigali Declaration on Fintech License Passporting, a move expected to make it easier for payment service providers and fintech companies to operate across both countries.

[Unicef] New York -- "UNICEF is devastated and outraged that our colleague Karine Buisset was killed in a reported drone strike on a building housing aid workers in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo.

[New Times] Kigali, Rwanda - March 12, 2026 -- The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and Impact Hub Kigali (IHK) have launched the fourth edition of the IGNITE Challenge. The IGNITE Challenge 4.0 will support ventures with innovative solutions that strengthen food systems and improve food security, with a focus on job creation and job improvement, especially for young women.

[ISS] The growing pool of disaffected youth could test the ruling party's grip on power, especially as succession questions loom.

[New Times] Four to five decades ago, Rwanda's Eastern Province had significant forest cover. Once characterised by rolling hills, plains, savannahs, wetlands and grasslands, the region has since experienced widespread deforestation as communities cleared land for agriculture and relied heavily on charcoal, firewood, and timber for construction.

[New Times] Rwanda's new law on competition and consumer protection has introduced provisions aimed at ensuring that public subsidies are transparent, justified, and do not unfairly distort market competition.

[The Conversation Africa] Countries in west and central Africa are facing a food crisis with multiple causes. Estimates in late December 2025 suggested that 41.8 million people were already in crisis or worse in October-December 2025. The number was expected to rise to 52.8 million in June-August 2026. Researchers Kirui Oliver Kiptoo and Chibuzo Nwagbosu explain how serious the situation is.

[Agenzia Fides] Kinshasa -- «The US sanctions on Rwanda do not affect the Congolese who are recruited by the M23,» local sources from South Kivu province in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, occupied by the Rwandan-backed M23 guerrilla fighters, told Fides. On March 2, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on the Rwandan army and four high-ranking military officials from Kigali, accusing them of supporting the M23 rebels in eastern DRC (see Fides, 5/3/2026).

[HRW] New Legislation Undermines Freedom of Association, Expression

[Vanguard] The British government announced Tuesday that it would stop issuing education visas to nationals from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan and work visas for Afghans as part of its broader clampdown on asylum seekers.

[RFI] Belgian authorities detained three people on Tuesday after four arrests in an investigation targeting a Cameroonian secessionist group over possible war crimes and crimes against humanity.

[allAfrica]

[RFI] A new secretary-general of the United Nations will be appointed on 1 January, 2027 to succeed Antonio Guterres, with three current nominations on the table - former Senegalese president Macky Sall, plus former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet and the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Argentine Rafael Grossi.