A group of Libyan officials, including military chief Mohammed Ali Ahmed al-Haddad, were honored in a military ceremony in Turkiye in honor of their tragic deaths earlier this week in a plane crash over Turkish territory.
Al-Haddad and four other military officers who were in Turkiye for high-level defense discussions before the crash on Tuesday were honored at the ceremony, which took place on Sunday at Murted Airbase outside the capital, Ankara.
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Selcuk Bayraktaroglu, the country’s military chief, and Yasar Guler, the country’s defense minister, were present at the ceremony. An official funeral will be held there after the Libyan officials’ remains are brought back home.
Following what Libyan officials described as a technical malfunction, the plane carrying the Libyan delegation crashed shortly after taking off from Ankara on Tuesday. Three crew members and all the passengers on board died.
Libya’s highest-ranking military officer, Al-Haddad, played a significant role in the UN-brokered efforts to unite the country’s divided armed forces. Even the opposing factions expressed condolences for his passing.
Al Jazeera’s Malik Traina, a journalist from Misrata, Libya, al-Haddad’s hometown, reported that the strong, charismatic leader “always]sought] peace in the country.” He was a peaceful man who enjoyed respect from allies in the nation.
Those who expressed sympathy included Khalifa Haftar, the head of the rival government in eastern Libya, whose forces al-Haddad opposed during a 2019 advance against western Libya.
Haftar expressed “deep sorrow over this tragic loss” in a statement, and he also expressed condolences to the entire Libyan population.
“Big shoes to fill,”
Five coffins adorned with Libyan national flags were loaded onto a plane for repatriation to Libya following the ceremony in Turkiye. Bayraktaroglu, Turkey’s military chief, was also on the aircraft, according to state-run news agency TRT.
After the country’s 2011 uprising, Muammar Gaddafi, a long-time ruler, was toppled and killed, Libya became a rogue state. The east and west have rival governments, supported by a number of rogue militias and various foreign governments, and the country is divided.
Although Turkiye has long supported Libya’s west-based government, she has recently begun to strengthen ties with the administration in the east.
Sudan’s brutal civil war, according to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, has slammed for an immediate ceasefire.
The UN Security Council on Monday received a peace initiative from Sudan’s Prime Minister Kamil Idris, which demanded that the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) be disarmed.
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The RSF deemed the idea “wishful thinking” and rejected the plan.
The Sudanese army and the RSF paramilitary group engaged in a power struggle in April 2023, which sparked a conflict. According to UN figures, 30.4% of Sudanese people now require humanitarian assistance, while 9.6 million internally displaced and 4.3 million forced to flee to neighboring countries.
Fears of intensifying fighting during the dry season have been confirmed, according to UN Assistant Secretary-General Mohamed Khaled Khiari, who addressed the UNSC this week.
He claimed that “each day brings shocking levels of violence and destruction.” “Civilians are enduring enormous, unimaginable suffering without a cure in sight.”
Sudan’s central Kordofan region, where the RSF seized the key Heglig oilfield on December 8, has recently seen a shift in the conflict. South Sudanese forces entered Sudan to defend the infrastructure, which Khiari argued reflects “the conflict’s growing regional dimensions and its increasingly complex nature.”
In addition to attacking towns in the Dar Zaghawa region close to the Chad border since December 24, the RSF has launched a final push to regain full control of North Darfur state. The last escape route for civilians fleeing the country to Chad is being threatened by the offensive.
Two Chadian soldiers were killed in a drone attack at a military camp in Tine, which spread across Sudan’s borders on Friday.
Sudanese drone was reported to have come from Sudan, but it’s not clear whether it was launched by the army or the RSF, according to a Chadian military intelligence officer. If the strike is determined to be deliberate, the Chad air force is on high alert and will “exercise our right to retaliation.”
The UN made a remarkable breakthrough by conducting its first assessment mission to El-Fasher since the city fell to the RSF, which came on Friday in a rare development.
According to UN Humanitarian Coordinator Denise Brown, “months of intense fighting, siege, and widespread violations against civilians and humanitarian workers” followed, and “hundreds of thousands of civilians have been forced to flee El-Fasher and surrounding areas.”
A report from Yale University earlier this month revealed systematic mass killings by the RSF in El-Fasher, with satellite imagery demonstrating widespread human remains burning and burial.
Last week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated at a press conference that “everyone involved is going to look bad and the story of what actually happened is going to be known.”
There is no compelling evidence that any significant progress has been made, despite Rubio’s claim that he desired the end of the conflict before the new year.
In accordance with Prime Minister Idris’ peace plan, a full withdrawal of the RSF from Sudan, which it controls, is required immediately. However, Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo’s advisor, Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti,” called the idea “closer to fantasy than politics.”
According to the country’s immigration agency, a former Brazilian police chief was detained in Paraguay after being found guilty as an accomplice in the far-right ex-President Jair Bolsonaro’s plot to overthrow him.
The Paraguayan National Migration Directorate (DNM) announced in a statement posted on its website that Silvinei Vasques had been detained on Friday at the Silvio Pettirossi International Airport in Asuncion, Paraguay.
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After “attempting to evade immigration controls by impersonating a Paraguayan citizen,” Vasques was detained for “identity theft.”
According to the DNM statement, Vasques was detained as he attempted to board a plane to Panama, declaring El Salvador as his final destination.
According to DNM, the wanted police chief “clandestinely” entered Paraguay “as he evaded justice in his home country.”
Vasques’s arrest and identification were depicted in an image that Paraguayan immigration authorities published on X.
At the Friendship Bridge border crossing, which connects Brazil’s Foz do Iguacu and Paraguay’s Ciudad del Este, Vasques was shown being turned over to Brazilian federal police in a separate video clip posted on the same account.
Silvinei Vasques was expelled from the nation by the National Directorate of Migration (DNM). Silvinei Vasques (50) was recently expelled from the nation and handed over to Brazilian Federal Police at the Friendship Bridge border crossing.
Former Brazilian highway police chief Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is now president and former president of Brazil, was charged with employing officers to obstruct voters in left-leaning regions from casting ballots in the 2022 elections.
In 2023, he was detained and placed under observation while awaiting trial for his electronic ankle monitor. He was placed on house arrest for more than 24 years earlier this month. Soon after, he fled Brazil.
Vasques drove across the border to Paraguay after breaking his ankle monitor, according to Brazilian media.
According to Reuters news agency, Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes cited a court document and information from two people with knowledge of the situation as a precautionary measure on Friday.
Vasques’s lawyer, who was reached by Reuters, declined to comment on the client’s evasion attempt.
Vasques is not the first official to attempt to flee Brazil after being found guilty of the coup attempt in 2023. Alexandre Ramagem, a former director of the intelligence agency, left the country in September and has since settled in the US. The Supreme Court issued an arrest warrant in November.
After the former president attempted to remove his court-ordered ankle monitor using a soldering iron in what the court perceived as an escape from justice, Justice Moraes also issued an order that same month for Bolsonaro to be detained.
After being found guilty in September of plotting to stop Lula from taking office, Bolsonaro, 70, is currently serving a 27-year sentence in prison.
According to reports, a new “whole of society” approach to national defense that aims to increase recruitment among young people will offer teenagers in the United Kingdom paid “gap years” with the armed forces.
As Europe’s tensions rise, the UK’s Ministry of Defense reported on Friday that the government hopes the program will increase the number of military careers for British youth.
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Beginning in early 2026, the program will be accessible to about 150 applicants between the ages of 18 and 25; however, according to British radio LBC, ministers hope to expand it to more than 1, 000 young people annually in response to demand.
Russia’s threat to its citizens is growing, and European nations have turned to national service for young people as a way to bolster their ranks. This year, France, Germany, and Belgium announced plans.
Although pay has not been confirmed, the UK’s LBC news organization reported that it is expected to match basic recruit salaries, which are typically around 26, 000 pounds or $35, 000. Recruits to the UK scheme are not expected to deploy to active military operations.
As part of a two-year placement, army recruits would complete 13 weeks of basic training. According to reports, the Royal Air Force (RAF) is still considering options while the navy scheme would last a year.
According to UK Defence Secretary John Healey, “This is a new era for defense, and that means opening up new opportunities for young people.”
The UK’s Air Chief Marshal Richard Knighton, the chief of the defense staff, earlier this month, made remarks that the program follows. According to the Press Association, the UK’s “sons and daughters” should be “ready to fight” and defend the nation in the face of Russian aggression.
Hybrid threats are becoming more common, according to Knighton, even though it’s unlikely that Russia would attack the UK directly.
He made reference to a recent incident involving a Russian spy ship that is suspected of mapping underwater cables near UK waters.
We are aware that Russian agents are attempting to sabotage and kill on our shores every day, according to Knighton, who noted that Russia’s military has developed into a “hard power [which is growing quickly]”.
The highly contentious presidential and legislative elections in the Central African Republic (CAR) will be held on Sunday in a first-ever election that will extend President Faustin-Archange Touadera’s term beyond two terms.
Touadera, who helped put his country on the map when he adopted Bitcoin as one of its legal tenders in 2022, had earlier pushed through a referendum abolishing presidential term limits. Some opposition groups have boycotted the vote, calling it a “sham,” as well as significant delays that almost upturned the confirmation of two significant challengers.
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CAR will also hold local elections for the first time in 40 years, after a long period of destabilising political conflict, including an ongoing civil war between the predominantly Muslim Seleka rebel movement and the largely Christian Anti-balaka armed groups, which has led to the displacement of one million people. There are concerns that a vote of this magnitude won’t be conducted by the electoral body of the nation.
The landlocked nation is sandwiched between several larger neighbours, including Chad to the north and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to the south. About 5.5 million people live there, with the national languages of Sango and French, making up the majority of the country’s roughly 5.5 million people.
Although rich in resources like crude oil, gold and uranium, persistent political instability since independence from France in 1960, and the ongoing civil war (2013-present) have kept CAR one of Africa’s poorest nations. To protect major cities from rebels, CAR is increasingly reliant on Russian assistance for security.
Citizens of CAR are referred to as Central Africans. Bangui, the country’s largest city and capital, is named after the Ubangi River, which serves as the DRC’s natural border. The country exports mainly diamonds, timber and gold, but much of the population depends on subsistence agriculture, and economic activity is limited.
In Bangui, Central African Republic, on February 12, 2016, supporters of presidential candidate Faustin-Archange Touadera react in a campaign video [File: Siegfried Modola/Reuters]
Here’s what we know about Sunday’s election:
How does voting work and who can vote?
About 2.3 million Central Africans over the age of 18 are registered to vote for the country’s next president. Since the previous election in 2020, there have been new registrations of 749, 000 of these.
They’ll also be voting for national lawmakers, regional and, for the first time in about 40 years, municipal administrators. According to the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), the average turnout in previous years was about 62 percent. There are about 6, 700 polling units across the country.
The National Elections Authority initially planned to hold municipal elections in August, but the organization moved them to December, citing insufficient funds as well as technical and organizational difficulties. The decision has added to concerns among election observers and opposition politicians about how prepared the electoral body is.
The president’s rallies were first staged on December 13, but opposition groups claim that the president’s rallies have been hampered by delays in including Touadera’s biggest rivals.
The presidential candidate with an absolute majority is declared the winner, but if there is no outright winner in the first round, a second run-off vote will determine the victor.
A contentious 2023 referendum removed term limits and made each term renewable to seven years, replacing the previous two- and five-year terms that presidents were previously limited to.
Who is running for president?
Touadera, an ex-Prime Minister Henri-Marie Dondra, and five others were given the go-ahead by the nation’s constitutional court, who were also included in the prominent opposition leader Anicet-Georges Dologuele.
However, delays in approving the two major opponents and concerns around the readiness of the electoral body have led an opposition coalition, the Republican Bloc for the Defence of the Constitution (BRDC), to boycott the election. Therefore, no candidate has been submitted by the group.
Here is what we know about the candidates who are standing:
Faustin-Archange Touadera
Touadera, 68, is a mathematician and former vice chancellor of the University of Bangui. He is a candidate for the United Hearts Movement (MCU), which is in power.
He served as the country’s prime minister from 2013 to 2015 under President Francois Bozize. Although opposition groups fought the election, he was elected president twice in 2016 and again in 2020.
Touadera, who is the favourite to win in these polls, has campaigned on promises of peace, security and new infrastructural development in the country.
The president’s legacy is ambiguous after ten years in office. His administration has been dogged by accusations of suppressing the opposition and rigging elections.
Without Touadera, who prevented the passage of the 2023 referendum, Touadera would no longer be able to run. He sacked a chief judge of the constitutional court in October 2022, after she ruled that his referendum project was illegal.
The Touadera camp received more “yes” votes from opposition members who boycotted the referendum. Although a civil society group launched a legal challenge against his candidacy before the polls, the constitutional court threw out the suit.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and President of the Central African Republic Faustin-Archange Touadera smack hands as they meet in Moscow, Russia, on January 16, 2025.
Touadera is credited with spearheading some economic development, compared with his predecessors. Although the World Bank still rates CAR’s economy as “stagnant,” new roads and highways have been constructed where there were previously no.
Touadera has also been praised for achieving relative stability in the conflict-affected country where armed groups hold swaths of territory, especially in the areas bordering Sudan.
Recent years, Russian Wagner mercenaries, Rwandan troops, and United Nations peacekeeping forces have all contributed to lessening violence.
CAR was the first country to invite the Russian mercenary group to the continent in 2018 in a security-for-minerals deal, before other countries, including Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, also secured security contracts.
CAR’s military alliances and aid budgets were initially closer to those of the former colonial power France, but Paris suspended them in 2021 as a result of Russian cooperation.
At a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2023, Touadera praised Russia for saving CAR’s democracy. In January 2025, the two parties reconnected.
In advance of the elections, Touadera has also signed a series of peace accords with some armed groups active in the country, although there are fears that the agreements will only hold until after the polls.
In 2022, the president made CAR the second nation to legalize Bitcoin, following El Salvador. The idea drew scepticism, as less than 10 percent of Central Africans can access the internet, and was ultimately abandoned after a year.
The $CAR meme coin, which the government claimed is an experiment, was introduced by CAR in February 2025.
This week, Touadera’s government signed a new contract with Elon Musk’s Starlink to expand internet services to rural and remote regions.
Henri-Marie Dondra
The 59-year-old is a career banker and former finance minister. He is attempting to run for Republican Unity (UNIR), a party that does not belong to the opposition. He served as prime minister under Touadera between 2021 and 2022 but was fired, likely because of his strong pro-France tendencies at a time when the administration was turning towards Russia, according to reporting by French radio, RFI.
After Touadera accused him of having Congolese citizenship, which he denied, Dondra’s candidacy was not approved until November 14. The accusations raised fears that he would be barred from the vote. Before the vote, Dondra informed Human Rights Watch that two of his brothers had reportedly been detained and arrested without being charged.
A campaign billboard of presidential candidate Anicet-Georges Dologuele, of the Union for Central African Renewal (URCA), stands before the presidential election scheduled for December 28, in Bangui, Central African Republic, December 24, 2025]Leger Serge Kokpakpa/Reuters]
Anicet-Georges Dologuele
The main opposition leader of the Union for Central African Renewal (URCA) party broke from the boycotting opposition coalition in order to run in these elections. Some analysts believe that Dologuele’s candidacy has sparked xenophobic comments from Touadera’s supporters.
The 68-year-old dual citizen French-CAR politician first ran for the top job back in 2015 and was the runner-up in the 2020 presidential race. His third application for citizenship was challenged. The 2023 referendum limited candidates to CAR citizenship only, and derisive comments from some in the governing camp have suggested some opposition candidates are not “real Central Africans”.
Dologuele claimed in September that he had given up his French citizenship, but a Central African court in October revoked his CAR citizenship, citing a provision in the previous constitution that forbids dual citizenship. Dologuele reported the issue as a violation of his human rights to the UN human rights agency. Although it’s not clear what course of action the organization took, Dologuele’s name appears to be associated with his reinstatement of citizenship on the final candidates list.
Dologuele served as prime minister in the 1990s, under President Ange-Felix Patasse, before joining the Bank of Central African States and later heading the Development Bank of Central African States.
Some associate him with previous government failures, but others view him as having experience. Dologuele is promising stronger democratic institutions and better international alliances.
other well-known candidates
Aristide Briand Reboas – leader of the Christian Democratic Party, the 46-year-old was a former intelligence official and the sports minister until 2024. He is relying on promises of better amenities, including water and electricity. He previously ran in 2020.
Serge Djorie, a former government official until 2024, is running for the new Central African Republic party under the name Collective for Political Change. The medical doctor and published researcher has campaigned on public health reforms, poverty reduction and more pan-Africanism. In the 2020 elections, Jorie ran.
Eddy Symphorien Kparekouti – The civil engineer helped draft the new constitution that was controversially adopted in 2023. The independent candidate has put a focus on reducing poverty in his campaigns to combat political insecurities and other development issues.
What are the key issues for this election?
Armed organizations
Protracted political conflict in CAR has continued for more than a decade, with many Central Africans saying they want a leadership that can bring peace.
Following a coup led by the predominantly Muslim Seleka rebel alliance, which overthrew President Francois Bozize in March 2013, trouble started to develop. In retaliation, Bozize assembled Christian and animist rebel armed groups, known as the Anti-balaka. Rights groups have accused both sides of killing civilians and of committing war crimes. Bozize, who continues to lead a rebel coalition, is now in exile in Guinea-Bissau. Touadera’s Russian mercenaries defrained his 2020 attempts at attacking him.
However, killings, kidnappings and displacement continue in many rural communities in the country’s northwest, northeast and southeast regions, despite recent peace deals signed with some groups. Russian mercenaries have played a key role in securing significant areas, but they are also accused of carrying out mass killings and other human rights violations, and opposition politicians have criticized the reliance on foreign fighters.
A 17, 000-strong UN peacekeeping force, MINUSCA, has been extended until November 2026, although the move faced resistance from the US, which wants CAR to handle its own security going forward. This year alone, the force has lost at least three lives in deadly attacks. There are also fears about the security of voters in rural areas, about 800 voting units were forced to close in the last elections due to rebel violence.
Poverty
More than 60% of the world’s population lives in poverty, according to the World Bank, making CAR one of the poorest nations in the world.
Most people live in rural areas and survive on subsistence farming in the absence of any state-propelled industry.
The rate of economic growth is slow, growing on average yearly by 1.5 percent. Only 16 percent of citizens have access to electricity, and only 7.5 percent have access to the internet.
Economic activity is hampered by persistent fuel shortages.
The country ranked 191st of 193 countries in the 2022 Human Development Index.
Divisive politics
The country’s turbulent political history and the present landscape of deeply divided political groups have failed to deliver a unified opposition coalition that can challenge Touadera and enshrine a functioning democracy.
More than 100 people have been killed and more than half a million civilians have been forced to flee their respective countries, according to Thailand and Cambodia, who announced they have signed a ceasefire agreement to put an end to weeks of bloody fighting along their border.
The Thai and Cambodian defense ministers said in a statement released on Saturday that “Both parties agree to an immediate ceasefire.”
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The ministers stated that “Both sides agree to maintain the current troop deployments without further movement.”
The ceasefire, which begins at noon local time (05:00 GMT), covers “all types of attacks on civilians, civilian objects, infrastructures, and military objectives of either side, in all cases and all areas.”
The agreement, which was signed by Thai Defense Minister Natthaphon Narkphanit and his Cambodian counterpart Tea Seiha, brings an end to 20 days of conflict between the two Southeast Asian neighbors.
