TikTok may contain keylogger; FTC sues data broker; SMIC creates 7-nm microchip; Montenegro hit by major ransomware attack; U.S. halts GPU exports to China.

Major powers are ever-more aware of Congo’s importance as they jockey for access to Congolese minerals vital to a clean energy transition and wake up to the global importance of Congo’s carbon sinks. But the will of the Congolese people—and their ability to determine the course of their country—remains stifled.

A looming crisis of succession in several African countries indicates a troubling persistence of ego-driven political paternalism.

Following anti-racism protests in Belgium, King Philippe, in a letter to Felix Tshisekedi, president of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), expressed his "regret" over his country’s exploitation of DRC.

In the daily Africa in Transition blog, on February 6, 2019, Ambassador Michelle Gavin, a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations Africa Program, harshly criticized the United States government’s policy toward the December 2018 presidential election in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.