Tag: africa

The Congo as a Site of Capital Accumulation: Erik Prince and the Privatization of War

A lot of news has circulated across various global media platforms following reports that militias affiliated with Erik Prince—the U.S. billionaire and founder of the infamous military contractor Blackwater, which has a track record of abuses and killings in several Global South countries—suffered significant field losses in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. This followed an ambush that resulted in the death and injury of at least 20 people, including Tim Kennedy, a famous UFC athlete and former US Army Special Forces soldier.

Erik Prince is a U.S. businessman and former US Navy SEAL who founded Blackwater in 1997, transforming it into one of the world’s most notorious military mercenary companies. He capitalized on the U.S. military’s growing reliance on private military and security firms to provide paid combat and security services. Educated at Hillsdale College, a conservative religious institution, he later served in the US Navy SEALs. His career illustrates the intersection of private capitalist interests and U.S. military expansion, where wars and military interventions become profit-making ventures. After selling Blackwater in 2010, Prince continued his operations through other companies and networks, including Frontier Services Group, which expanded into providing logistical and security services for commercial and mining projects in Africa. In recent years, he branched out through Vectus Global, whose activities in the DRC expanded from collecting mineral resource revenues to providing operational support to the Congolese army.

Under President Felix Tshisekedi, a documented attempt to enlist foreign military contractors (mercenaries) dates back to 2023. At the time, the Rwanda-backed M23 militia was making field advances in North Kivu province, and the government was looking for ways to bolster its military capabilities and secure mining areas in the east. In this context, a plan was revived to bring in about 2,500 military contractors from Colombia, Mexico, and Argentina to halt the rebel advance and secure mineral-rich regions. Preparations included establishing barracks in Mubambiro, near Sake and adjacent to a Congo Protection training camp, to host the first batch in late July 2023. Containers of equipment arrived at the site that same month. Erik Prince spearheaded the negotiations to deploy these foreign contractors, part of a plan heavily promoted by Kahumbu Bula Mandungu, known as “Kao,” an advisor to President Tshisekedi, amid reports linking the scheme to arrangements between Kinshasa and Abu Dhabi. Ultimately, the project stalled, and the Latin American contractors never arrived in the DRC.

Prince returned to the Congolese scene through a seemingly different avenue in late 2024, striking an agreement with the Congolese government to improve public revenue collection from the mining sector and combat mineral smuggling in copper- and cobalt-rich areas. The government signed a five-year deal with Prince through a network of commercial shell entities. In June 2025, Quantum Global Consulting, a UAE-based firm linked to Prince, registered a subsidiary in the DRC, Quantum Global Consulting Africa, to act as its legal representative. This subsidiary then registered Vectus Global as a local legal entity. The contract with the Congolese Ministry of Finance included a financial mandate to increase government revenues from extractive industries while curbing smuggling, corruption, and tax evasion. However, it also contained a secret military component: advising the Congolese Armed Forces, providing aerial capabilities, and recruiting foreign military personnel. The contract was valued at approximately $700 million over five years.

The initial plan involved dispatching about 100 advisors and technical experts to monitor mining operations and revenues, starting with major mines before gradually expanding. The goal was to improve the oversight of production and exports and ensure compliance with the Congolese mining code. The priority was the Katanga region, particularly around the city of Kolwezi, the hub of the copper and cobalt industry. This area was far from the main combat zones where the M23 militia operated in North Kivu.

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Siad Barre, the Somali Dictator Ilhan Omar’s Father Served

Rep. Ilhan Omar describes her late father, Nur Omar Mohamed, as “an educator” in her memoir, according to Snopes. His 2020 Sahan Journal obituary describes a different career. He was a colonel in the Somali National Army who led a regiment in the 1977–1978 war with Ethiopia. His military career ended in 1991, when dictator Siad Barre’s regime collapsed.

A former army comrade told the paper that Nur joined the army after receiving a military education in Russia. The record of the regime he served explains why the distinction matters.

Barre seized power in a 1969 coup and ruled Somalia until 1991, governing it as a one-party state through the Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party. His ruling council aligned itself with the Soviet Union and denounced American policy in Africa as imperialist.

In 1977, Moscow backed Ethiopia in the Ogaden War. That November, Barre abrogated the Soviet friendship treaty, expelled all Soviet military and civilian advisers, and ended Soviet access to Somali military facilities. Nur led his regiment against Ethiopian forces supported by the Soviet Union and Cuba and remained in Barre’s army after the break with Moscow.

After a 1971 coup attempt, Barre executed members of the three leading clans, including the Majerteen. He made clan membership the organizing principle of Somali politics, according to an account drawing on State Department and Africa Watch reporting.

Barre claimed that Islam and socialism were compatible but did not tolerate religious opposition. When 23 shaykhs protested his 1975 family law, his security forces arrested them. Ten were executed for “acting on behalf of foreign powers,” according to a CIA review.

After Majerteen officers attempted a coup in April 1978, the regime punished the entire clan. Africa Watch documented extrajudicial executions, rape, and the killing of livestock as part of a scorched-earth policy intended to cut off civilian support for Majerteen rebels.

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Ilhan Omar’s Father Was a Colonel Loyal to Brutal Somali Dictator, Served as Senior Officer During Genocide of Isaaq People – Then ‘Misrepresented Himself as a Refugee’

We now know why Ilhan Omar and her family lied on immigration forms and changed their name when they entered the United States.

Between 1981 and 1991, the Somali military in which Colonel Nur Omar Mohamed, Ilhan Omar’s father served as a senior officer, executed a brutal and systematic campaign of genocide targeting the Isaaq people of the modern day Republic of Somaliland.

This was first reported back in July 2025 at the Somaliland Chronicle in July 2025 but received little attention.

The Somaliland Chronicle reported:

This dark chapter in Africa’s history, which was known as the Isaaq Genocide, was a merciless military campaign that resulted in the killing of over 200,000 Isaaq civilians. It also involved widespread forced displacement, scorched‑earth destruction of the second and third largest cities (Hargeisa and Burao), aerial bombardement of almost every other single city, town and village in Somaliland, and two decades of large‑scale red-terror style tactics against the civilian population of Somaliland…

…At the heart of this brutal military regime was Colonel Nur Omar Mohamed, Ilhan Omar’s father. His rank, authority, membership of the regime Daarood clan, and 10+ years of having climbed the hierarchy in Somalia military to the rank of Colonel, placed him squarely in the Somali military’s command hierarchy during and at the height of its Isaaq genocide campaign. Based on his position, loyalty to the regime, and his role in the military, it is virtually certain that he had intimate knowledge of and involvement in the planning, conception, direction and execution of the genocide.

Today the children of former Somali dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, whose brutal regime has been linked to the deaths of as many as 200,000 people, are reportedly living quiet suburban lives in Columbus, Ohio.

According to an investigation by the New York Post, Barre’s son, Ayanle Mohamed Siad, and daughter, Deka Mohamed Siad, settled in the United States after their father was overthrown in 1991. Ilhan Omar’s father was a colonel in his regime.

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You Can’t Make This Up: Supreme Court to Decide If Nigerian Terrorist Group’s Personal Chef Deserves U.S. Asylum and Taxpayer Benefits

Just when you think the radical open-border lobby and activist judges have pushed the legal system to its absolute limit, the United States Supreme Court is now being forced to step in to answer a question that should take precisely two seconds to answer:

Should a man who cooked thousands of meals to sustain members of an armed terrorist organization be granted legal asylum inside the United States?

The case, Blanche v. Ozurumba, involves Izuchukwu Ozurumba, who entered the United States illegally in July 2023 after spending roughly six months in 2022 as a cook for a group known as the “Unknown Gunmen.”

Court records show he prepared three meals a day for 15 to 17 of the group’s leaders at a remote camp outside Lagos, potentially thousands of meals over the period. U.S. officials determined the Unknown Gunmen qualify as a Tier III terrorist organization, The Center Square reported.

An immigration judge and the Board of Immigration Appeals found that this constituted “material support” for terrorism under the Immigration and Nationality Act, rendering him ineligible for asylum. He was later removed to Nigeria.

Ozurumba claims “he was lured” by a job tip, discovered the true nature of the camp, and was forced to continue working (including unpaid for part of the time) under threat before escaping during a grocery run and eventually fleeing to Venezuela and then the U.S. The Board of Immigration Appeals has held that the statute contains no duress exception for providing support to terrorist groups.

A divided panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed in September 2025. Judge Andrew Wynn (an Obama appointee) ruled that Ozurumba’s cooking, using food and supplies provided by the group itself, was not “material” because it did not provide anything the organization could “use or readily divert to plan or carry out its terrorist activities.” The majority described him as a “captive laborer.”

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Nigerian Man Accused of Running Fake Government Agency with Federal Budget

An enterprising Nigerian named Adeniyi Adeyemi is facing charges in the capital of Abuja for creating and running a fake government agency for over a year, complete with about $1 million in funding from the Nigerian federal government.

According to prosecutors, Adeyemi created an agency called the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) in 2024 and installed himself as director-general. He kept the phony agency going until he was arrested in October 2025.

Adeyemi was somehow able to secure office space for his fake agency inside the Federal Secretariat office complex in Abuja, along with a million dollars of funding. He got his hands on some presidential stationery and used it to request cooperation from other government agencies – and evidently some of his requests were taken seriously, although prosecutors have not yet indicted any other government officials for colluding with him.

Police investigators said they have traced a total of 34 bank accounts to Adeyemi, including nine of them that were opened in the name of various government agencies. According to prosecutors, Adeyemi even recruited staffers to work for his fake agency.

The ersatz Director-General of the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) also forged a realistic-looking letter of appointment from President Bola Tinubu, purportedly signed by presidential chief of staff Femi Gbajabiamila.

Gbajabiamila was the official who filed a petition to arrest Adeyemi, who faces eight counts of conspiracy, forgery, and impersonation alongside two accomplices known as “Femi” and “Anu,” who remain at large.

The Premium Times of Nigeria reported that Adeyemi appeared before the Federal High Court in Abuja for his arraignment on Wednesday “after several failed attempts to bring him before the court.”

Those previous attempts were unsuccessful “for various reasons,” including based on requests by his lawyers, his absence from court and the judge’s official engagement elsewhere. A judge swore out a bench warrant for Adeyemi’s arrest after he failed to appear for a July arraignment, and he was arrested within 12 hours, but it still took a surprisingly long time to get him into court.

Adeyemi said through his lawyers that he skipped out on his July arraignment because he “feared for his life” and had written an open letter to President Tinubu asking for protection. The Premium Times observed that he did not look particularly fearful when he finally made it to the courtroom on Wednesday, strolling cheerfully into chambers wearing a baseball cap and a white traditional robe known as a kaftan.

Adeyemi pleaded not guilty to all eight of the charges against him and was remanded to custody in the Kuje Correctional Center by the judge. He has claimed in media interviews that his PFIPC was a legitimate agency and he was working to bring foreign investment into Nigeria.

The case has become a hot topic among Nigerians, who have long complained about corruption and incompetence in their government, but are still shocked that a random con artist could create and operate a phony high-level government agency for months without being detected.

Some critics of the Tinubu government have postulated that Adeyami could only keep his scam running for so long if he was paying off legitimate government officials to evade oversight.

Adeyemi himself has claimed he paid Gbababiamila, the presidential chief of staff, a fee of 400 million Nigerian nairas (about $300,000) to help him forge his fake presidential appointment document. Adeyemi has asked Tinubu to establish an independent anti-corruption panel to investigate his case.

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“Extraordinary Rendition All Over Again”: U.S. Deportees Sent to Equatorial Guinea Beaten, Imprisoned

Two men deported from the United States to Equatorial Guinea were arrested by local police forces and transferred to a prison earlier this month, in apparent retaliation for speaking out about conditions they faced in the Central African country. Samson Birhane, who is from Eritrea, and Ahmed Soliman, a gay asylum seeker from Egypt, were both deported by the Trump administration despite U.S. immigration courts granting them protections.

On September 11, police forces arrived at Hotel Bamy in the city of Malabo, where more than two dozen people have been confined after their deportation from the United States to Equatorial Guinea, a country they have no ties to, as part of President Trump’s secretive “third-country” agreements. Birhane and Soliman say they were arrested and taken to prison for speaking out about the inhumane conditions endured by U.S. deportees at the hotel and threats by armed forces. While confined at the hotel, U.S. deportees have decried denial of medical care and legal assistance, and abuses they’ve described as psychological torture.

“Starting in November 2025, … the United States started this horrendous policy of sending immigrants not from Equatorial Guinea to Equatorial Guinea, a country that the U.S. knows very, very well that is a human rights violator,” says human rights lawyer Tutu Alicante. “The State Department reports that the U.S. has been putting out for the last three decades are consistent about the fact that Equatorial Guinea uses torture, uses incommunicado detentions, and often extrajudicial killings of people that it keeps in prison.”

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US Pledges $267 Million More In Ebola Aid To Congo

The United States is sending another $267 million to fight the Ebola outbreak in Congo, bringing total U.S. aid for the outbreak to $887 million, the State Department announced Wednesday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.

The outbreak, first detected in Congo’s Ituri province in May before spreading to Uganda, has killed at least 3,700 people as of the U.N.’s Sept. 22 count. That makes it the second-deadliest Ebola outbreak on record, behind the 2014-2016 epidemic in West Africa.

The new money fulfills a G7 pledge of up to an additional $500 million, and it came with a message for everyone else. The State Department urged other “capable nations to increase burden sharing to meet the urgency of the moment.” The U.N.’s $2.13 billion response plan is only 48 percent funded, leaving a gap of roughly $1.1 billion.

As The Epoch Times notes further, the $887 million in direct aid for the Ebola outbreak is on top of existing U.S. contributions to international aid through the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Since the start of the second Trump administration, U.S. contributions to OCHA’s aid programs across 21 key countries have reached $3.8 billion.

A $2 million first tranche contribution was agreed to in December 2025 when the Trump administration outlined its “Humanitarian Reset” framework agreement following the U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) and cuts to its funding.

A second tranche of $1.8 billion was made to OCHA on May 14. Part of this includes $350 million in aid to Congo, Uganda, and South Sudan, the department said.

In addition to aid contributions to the United Nations, the United States, under the Trump administration’s America First Global Health Strategy, has been outlining bilateral global health agreements with partner countries. In February, Washington and Congo signed a five-year health memorandum of understanding under that strategy, with the United States intending to provide up to $900 million to support HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, maternal and child health, and disease surveillance.

The current Ebola outbreak began in Ituri province in northeastern Congo. It quickly spread to Uganda. On May 17, the World Health Organization declared the spread of the virus a public health emergency of international concern.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a press conference on Sept. 16 that transmission is declining in the most affected areas of the outbreak epicenter, with the epidemic mostly contained to northeastern Congo.

But he warned that more work was needed. He said the situation wasn’t a single epidemic to manage, but rather “many outbreaks in many places.”

According to the CDC’s situation page, no Ebola cases associated with this outbreak have been reported in the United States, and the overall risk to the U.S. public and travelers remains low.

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Ilhan Omar Has Been Cleared of Misconduct Accusations, but Something Doesn’t Add Up

Sometimes things just don’t make sense. Especially when someone like Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) is concerned.

She’s been a controversial figure in the past, especially when it came to her “Somalia first” statements that she’s made – something that doesn’t reflect well on someone of her stature. But it’s her most recent case surrounding a mysterious increase in funds that I feel needs a bit more attention – especially considering the result.

See, there was a financial disclosure with Omar’s personal records a while back, indicating that her and her husband’s assets were between $6 million and $30 million. That’s a far cry from the salary of $174,000 that she makes with her current position.

Many believed that she was taking advantage of local Minnesota businesses with this – myself included. After all, a huge increase in cash like that doesn’t just appear magically. So, yes, I fully supported the investigation into the case, because we deserve answers.

But apparently the Office of Congressional Conduct felt that there was no wrongdoing. Last month, it noted that any misconduct charges against Omar were cleared. “From day one, we have been clear: the Congresswoman is not a millionaire.” This is in spite of the statistics that previously told us otherwise.

And the reason for the mistake? Get this. Her husband’s accountant reportedly listed gross business values for firms such as Rose Lake Capital without subtracting liabilities.

Does that sound like a legal excuse to someone else?

Apparently they were quick to cover up this “error” of theirs, filing a new report in April 2026 to show an actual household value between $18,000 and $95,000. That’s a stark difference from those previous numbers. Like, nearly night and day.

The Office of Congressional Conduct voted 5-1 to dismiss these allegations, stating that they believe she did not “knowingly” file false information. But I’m not so sure.

I think there should be some form of a secondary investigation to look more closely into Omar’s business dealings. And her husband as well. I have a hard time believing that a professional accountant would make such a blunder to report such inflated numbers as an “error.”

In case you missed it a while back, Omar was involved in another controversy during the COVID era. Back then, she had involvement with the MEALS Act, calling to ensure children would receive food during pandemic school closures. Sounds innocent enough, right? Only it was a scheme that ended up creating a $250 to $300 million fraud scheme for “Feeding Our Future.” I mean, kids?! Really? And we’ve seen three people already pleading guilty to this, though Omar, as usual, denied being involved.

“Any claim that I had knowledge of this scheme is flat-out false,” she stated earlier this year when asked about the program. “I have always championed feeding kids and will continue to ensure our children do not go hungry.”

Not to mention, with 9/11 coming around again this past week, her thoughts on “some people did something” still linger. “Some people”? No wonder that drew the backlash that came from it. It was one of the most harrowing events that took place in U.S. history, but she dismissed it like it was nothing.

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Telecom Company in Africa Gets $100 Million U.S. Loan to Compete with China’s Huawei

The Trump administration announced on Friday that Africell, the only American-owned telecommunications company in Africa, will receive a $99.6 million loan from the Export-Import Bank (EXIM) to help it compete with Chinese telecom giant Huawei.

The loan from EXIM was intended to “boost the telecommunications sector in Angola and strengthen American technology leadership abroad” by helping Africell acquire the latest American and European mobile phone technology.

“Africell’s fast growth in Angola and DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo), and our long-term market leadership in Sierra Leone and The Gambia demonstrate the unique benefits that high-class American technology, skills and investment can bring to Africa,” said Africell CEO Ziad Dalloul.

“We are pleased to be working with EXIM to introduce more trusted communications infrastructure to our operating markets,” he said. “In doing so, we are flying the flag for American technology leadership and creating secure pathways for future American and allied digital technologies to be deployed in sub-Saharan Africa, including in the Lobito Corridor region.”

“The quality and results achieved through partnerships with the United States and American companies speak for themselves. This is a win for both our countries: American technology and a more prosperous, more connected Angola,” said Shannon Nagy Cazeau, charge d’affaires of the U.S. Embassy to Angola and Sao Tome and Principe.

While these statements did not directly mention China, Reuters noted on Friday that the Trump administration has been working on a “clean network” initiative to get security-threatening Chinese telecom and network equipment out of the U.S. and allied nations, particularly equipment from Huawei. 

The U.S. government has slapped Huawei with heavy sanctions for allegedly spying on users, a charge the company denies, even though Chinese law explicitly requires all companies to hand over information about their customers upon demand from Chinese Communist intelligence services. Huawei has also been implicated in Communist China’s human rights abuses, such as the surveillance and oppression of the Uyghur Muslims of Xinjiang province.

Huawei currently has about 52% of the 5G mobile data market in Africa, a grip the Trump administration seeks to loosen. Africell, a company that started up in 2001 with a data center in Angola, received a $100 million loan in 2018 from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, which has since been renamed to the International Development Finance Corporation (DFC). Africell used the funds to expand into the DRC, Gambia, and Sierra Leone. Africell repaid the loan three years ahead of schedule.

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Children of the Somali Dictator Responsible for the Deaths of 200,000 People Quietly Living Off American Taxpayers in Ohio Suburbs Alongside Victims of His Regime

The children of former Somali dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, whose brutal regime has been linked to the deaths of as many as 200,000 people, are reportedly living quiet suburban lives in Columbus, Ohio.

According to an investigation by the New York Post, Barre’s son, Ayanle Mohamed Siad, and daughter, Deka Mohamed Siad, settled in the United States after their father was overthrown in 1991.

Their presence has reportedly caused deep pain within Columbus’ Somali community, which includes refugees and families who suffered under Barre’s 21-year military dictatorship.

“Siad Barre and his men committed so many war crimes, so I was shocked to see his son in the mosque enjoying his freedom,” Ali-Guban Mohamed, whose family members were reportedly executed by Barre’s forces, told the Post.

Barre seized power in a 1969 coup and ruled Somalia through repression, political persecution, and military violence. His regime’s campaign against the Isaaq people in northern Somalia included mass killings, destroyed cities, poisoned wells, and widespread displacement. Estimates of those killed range as high as 200,000.

Ayanle, 61, has been described by historian Mohamed Haji Ingiriis as his father’s “right-hand man.” Ingiriis told the Post that Ayanle exercised significant power during the final years of the dictatorship and at one point acted as the de facto ruler while his father was incapacitated.

“He was so powerful that he was able to appoint and dismiss regime authorities on behalf of his father,” Ingiriis said.

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