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Hundreds of people gathered Saturday in Vogan, a town roughly 60 kilometers south of Lomé, to protest against Togo's 2024 constitutional reform , which opposition groups and civil society organizations call an illegal power grab by President Faure Gnassingbé. People protest against Togo's longtime leader, Faure Gnassingbe, in Lome, Togo June 26, 2025. What Happened in Vogan The rally, organized by opposition parties and civil society groups including the Cadre national de concertation pour le changement, opened with a traditional libation ceremony before opposition leaders joined supporters in singing Togo's national anthem. The gathering drew participation from prominent figures, among them lawyer Dodji Apévon, activist Eric Dupuy, and professors Aimé Gogué and David Dosseh . David Dosseh, spokesperson for the civil society group Front Citoyen Togo Debout, called the 2024 changes completely illegal, describing them as a constitutional coup that Togolese people will never...

  South Africa has entered a new political era with the formation of a Government of National Unity (GNU) comprising ten political parties . This coalition, resulting from the African National Congress (ANC) losing its parliamentary majority, signifies a break from the ANC’s traditional dominance. The ANC leads the coalition with 40.2% of the vote, followed by the Democratic Alliance (DA) with 21.8%. Coalition Composition The coalition includes the Inkatha Freedom Party, Patriotic Alliance, Freedom Front Plus, United Democratic Movement, Rise Mzansi, GOOD party, and Pan Africanist Congress of Azania, among others. Together, these parties control 287 of the 400 parliamentary seats, ensuring a strong foundation for the government. Exclusion of Leftist Parties Notably absent from the coalition are leftist parties such as the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and former President Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe party, which collectively garnered about a quarter of the votes. Despite t...

Tundu Lissu, a well-known Tanzanian opposition politician and vice chairman of CHADEMA, was briefly detained on suspicion of organizing an illegal meeting. He was, however, released on bond a few hours later. Lissu, who has been critical of President Samia Suluhu Hassan's governance and had previously stood for president, was imprisoned at a hotel in northern Tanzania with other party leaders. A social media message from Lissu's party confirmed their release. After six years in Belgium, Lissu returned to Tanzania in January. He took part in political rallies, primarily against President Hassan's human rights record and an unpopular port management agreement. Former Tanzanian President John Magufuli, who served from 2015 to 2021, had a regulation banning elected officials from holding rallies outside of their districts. Such events, he argued, were a detriment to progress. The restriction eventually became a total ban on political meetings, and opposition requests for protes...