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Sudan: Berlin Confab Delivers €1.5bn in Aid But Ceasefire Remains Elusive

The Third International Sudan Conference in Berlin, co-hosted by Germany and the African Union, together with the European Union, France, the United Kingdom and the United States, mobilised historic levels of humanitarian funding and gave Sudanese civilian voices their biggest international platform yet. But with neither warring party present, a durable end to the world’s worst humanitarian crisis remains as …

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Spain: Amnesty Programme Offers Legal Status to 500,000 Migrants

By Felix Dappah, The African Courier  In a move that has set Spain apart from virtually every other government in Europe, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s administration has formally launched a mass regularisation programme for undocumented migrants, opening application windows on 16 April 2026 for online submissions and 20 April for in-person filings. The application period runs until 30 June 2026. …

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Nollywood Goes Francophone as Canal+ distributes Nigerian film in 60 countries

Following its HBO Max debut in Europe, a Nigerian psychological thriller continues its international march — now heading to French-speaking audiences across Africa and beyond Just weeks after The Weekend made history as the first independently produced Nigerian thriller to stream on HBO Max in Central and Eastern Europe, the film has secured another landmark deal. Trino Motion Pictures has …

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Return With Dignity: Nigerian Delegation in Germany to Reshape Voluntary Repatriation of Citizens

A high-level Nigerian government team visited Berlin and Munich in March to strengthen a pioneering EU-funded programme that offers rejected asylum seekers and undocumented Nigerians in Germany a structured, supported path home rather than the sudden trauma of forced deportation. For Nigerians living in Germany without secure residency — including those whose asylum applications have been refused — the threat …

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Iran War Sends Shockwaves Through African Economies

A war thousands of kilometres from Africa is threatening to push millions of the continent’s people deeper into poverty. Four leading multilateral institutions have issued a joint warning that the ongoing conflict between the United States, Israel and Iran poses a serious economic threat to African countries — and that the damage could worsen significantly the longer the fighting continues. …

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Germany Records Sharp Drop in New Asylum Claims

Germany saw a steep fall in first-time asylum applications in the opening quarter of 2026, even as a separate category of claims — follow-up applications from Afghan nationals — jumped to extraordinary levels, according to new data from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF). Between January and March, a total of 21,617 refugees submitted an initial asylum application …

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Editorial: What the Berlin Conference Must Deliver for Sudan

On the third anniversary of the outbreak of the Sudanese civil war on 15 April, the German government will host an international conference on Sudan in collaboration with France, the United Kingdom, the United States, the European Union (EU), and the African Union (AU). Representatives of the United Nations, humanitarian organisations and Sudanese civil society are expected to attend the …

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Berlin Hosts International Conference on Sudan War

– SPECIAL REPORT – Three years after the guns first sounded in Khartoum on the morning of 15 April 2023, the Sudanese people remain trapped in what the United Nations has declared the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. On its anniversary on 15 April 2026, the German capital is playing host to the third International Ministerial Conference on Sudan — an …

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Germany Signals Renewed Africa Engagement As Merz Meets AU Chief

Germany is sending an important diplomatic signal on its future engagement with Africa as Chancellor Friedrich Merz is set to receive Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission, at the Federal Chancellery on 14 April. The planned meeting, which precedes a major international conference on Sudan in Berlin the following day, is being closely watched by business …

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Pope Leo embarks on landmark Africa tour, spotlighting continent’s challenges and promise

A sense of anticipation is building across Africa as Pope Leo XIV prepares to embark on his first major international journey since becoming pontiff last year — a multi-country visit that is already being seen as both symbolic and strategic. The visit, scheduled from 13 to 23 April, will take the pontiff to four countries — Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and …

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UN Vote on Slave Trade Sparks Renewed Reparations Debate

The United Nations General Assembly has taken a significant symbolic step in confronting one of the darkest chapters in human history. On 25 March 2026, the Assembly adopted a resolution recognising the transatlantic slave trade as “the gravest crime against humanity,” a move widely welcomed by advocates of historical justice and reparative action. The occasion was the UN Plenary to …

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End of Passport Stamp: What Europe’s New Digital Border System Means for Travellers

From 10 April, the EU’s Entry/Exit System becomes fully operational across 29 European countries. Every non-EU national will now have their biometric data registered at the border instead of receiving an ink stamp. Here’s what you should know about the new system For decades, the ink stamp in a passport was the universal marker of arrival in Europe. A border …

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Key Changes Taking Effect in Germany in April 2026

A package of legislative and regulatory changes come into force in Germany in the new month, affecting everything from how much you pay at the petrol station to how you cross the EU’s external borders. For Africans living in Germany, several of these changes are directly relevant. Fuel Prices: One Rise Per Day, at NoonAs from 1 April, German petrol …

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Recognition Without Responsibility? The UN Slavery Resolution and the Limits of Western Moral Politics

COMMENTARY By Amal Abbass* On 25 March 2026, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution recognizing the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans and racialized chattel enslavement as the “gravest crime against humanity.” Though non-binding, the resolution explicitly links historical recognition to reparative justice, including apology, restitution, compensation, institutional reform and the return of cultural property. This article argues that …

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Germany Approves Tougher EU Asylum Rules

Germany’s upper house has approved legislation to implement the EU’s reformed Common European Asylum System, bringing faster border procedures, stricter Dublin transfers, and new detention-like centres for migrants who must leave Germany — with rights organisations warning of serious consequences for vulnerable people. Germany has taken a decisive step towards one of the most significant tightenings of European asylum law …

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Lured Into War: How Russia Recruits Africans to Fight against Ukraine

A growing number of African nationals are being drawn into Russia’s war against Ukraine. What investigators, journalists and governments have pieced together is a troubling picture of systematic deception. Young men targeted in countries where unemployment is high and poverty is prevalent are lured with the promise of well-paid civilian jobs and then coerced into military service on some of …

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Nigeria signs agreement for easier removal of citizens from UK

Signed on the margins of President Tinubu’s state visit to London, one landmark agreement on migration and two MoUs on organised crime and business visas carry real implications for Nigerians at home and in the diaspora During President Bola Tinubu’s two-day state visit to the United Kingdom (on 18 and 19 March 2026), both countries signed an agreement establishing a …

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Opinion: TIME FOR NIGERIA TO RISE TOGETHER

Victor Oladokun*, a renowned Nigerian media professional and strategic communications expert, has used the occasion of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s historic visit to the UK to make a clarion call to his countrymen and women to unite. Here’s why he believes that now more than ever, the citizens of Africa’s most populous nation should choose unity over division. Victor Oladokun/Photo: …

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