Africa Update Report with Advocate Sipho Mantula, Researcher: Thabo Mbeki African School of Public & International Affairs: Unisa

10 March 2026

1.    Kenya – Mara and Talek River

Kenya evacuates tourists as death toll from flooding rises

Tourists and staff were airlifted from a national reserve in Kenya following severe flooding in the east African country.

“A few days ago we had the Mara River and the Talek River also burst their banks… So a lot of the tourists and camp staff had already evacuated the camps,” Marc Goss explained, the CEO of Mara Elephant Project Trust.

2.    UN – Senegal 

Senegal is divided over former president Macky Sall's candidacy for UN chief

Macky Sall to succeed United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres? Not everyone in Senegal likes the idea. Victims of the violence in 2021 and 2024 under the former president’s regime are strongly opposed. So are some of ruling majority, including this Member of Parliament for PASTEF.

Sall’s candidacy was put forward by the President of Burundi, the current chair of the African Union. But at home, he's still awaiting support from Senegalese authorities.

3.Iran – Afrika 

Iran war sends shockwaves through African fuel market and economies

Africa imports most of the petroleum products it consumes, leaving many economies highly vulnerable to supply disruptions tied to tensions in the Middle East, a region central to global oil flows.

Surging oil prices triggered by the war with Iran are rippling across African economies, threatening higher fuel costs, rising inflation and renewed pressure on currencies across the continent.

4.In our historical archives, it was on this day, 10 March 1994, when former and late president of Bophutswana, Lucas Manyane Mangope, retreated from the capital, Mmabatho, due to the people’s uprising.

President Lucas Mangope, the leader of the apartheid homeland Bophuthatswana, retreated from the capital, Mmabatho, in the face of a popular uprising after he had tried to boycott participation in South Africa's first democratic elections.