Ugandan King Oyo Nyimba, who had long been the youngest king in the world, was buried today, Saturday, in the tombs of his royal ancestors, at a time when the Toro Kingdom seeks to turn the page on a bitter succession struggle.
His designated successor, newscaster Edward Rukidi Kiganangoma, threw nine coffee beans into the grave at the Karambi Royal Tombs, a move that symbolized the formal transfer of power in the western Ugandan kingdom.
Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Ijoro Rukidi IV made international headlines in 1995 when he ascended the throne at the age of three.
He died last month at the age of 34 in the United States, where he was receiving treatment for cancer.
Although Uganda is a country led by an elected president, it still retains a number of pre-Britannico kingdoms that are bastions of traditional identity and heritage.
Members of the royal guard, wearing orange shawls on their shoulders, drove the car carrying Oyo's coffin through the streets of Fort Portal, the capital of the kingdom, towards the royal tombs, and thousands of mourners joined the procession on foot.
The burial ceremony, which was held exactly 31 years to the day of Oyo's coronation, came in the wake of days-long disagreements within the royal family, which is known for its divisions.
A committee including members of the royal family announced on Wednesday the selection of Oyo's cousin, Edward Rukidi Kiganangoma, a broadcaster and news editor with the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation, to take the throne.
But the immediate family of the late king said that his son, whose identity has not yet been revealed, is the one who should succeed him according to his will. Oyo never married and it was not known that he had children, until the Kingdom's Prime Minister announced that he had a son in the statement announcing his death.
Supporters of Kejananguma's accession to the throne say the Oyo family has been unable to provide basic information about the alleged son.
The late King Oyo established close relations with Muammar Gaddafi, and appointed him as a special advisor to the king. Gaddafi donated a sum of money to renovate the royal palace.
On Saturday, Eritrea accused its neighbor Ethiopia of “destabilizing the Horn of Africa” in general, and supporting the “Rapid Support Forces” in Sudan in particular, in light of the tense relationship between the two countries and growing fears of a new conflict between them.
Eritrea, the former Italian colony that Ethiopia gradually annexed to its territory in the 1950s, officially gained its independence in 1993, after decades of armed conflict with Addis Ababa.
The two neighboring countries faced off in a war between 1998 and 2000 over border disputes, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands, and strained relations for 18 years.
Eritrea and Ethiopia normalized their relationship after Abiy Ahmed came to power in 2018. The Ethiopian Prime Minister won the Nobel Prize the following year. In appreciation of the efforts he made to achieve this rapprochement.
The Eritrean forces then supported the Ethiopian federal army in its war in Tigray, but since the end of the conflict in November 2022, relations have become tense again, with Asmara accusing its neighbor, which does not have a sea port, of having ambitions in the Eritrean port of Assab.
A statement issued by the Eritrean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the ruling “Prosperity” party headed by Abiy Ahmed “is working to destabilize the Horn of Africa.”
The statement continued: “While Eritrea is arming itself with strategic patience, Addis Ababa has, for more than three years, continuously escalated its warlike rhetoric, putting international treaties to the test, in addition to harboring, training, and financing subversive, subversive and sectarian groups with the explicit aim of changing the regime in Eritrea.”
Eritrea, which has been headed since its independence by Isaias Afwerki with an iron fist, accused Ethiopia of “harboring, supporting and strengthening” the “Rapid Support Forces” in its war with the Sudanese army since 2023.
For its part, Ethiopia denies harboring “Rapid Support” fighters on its territory, but local sources report that the borders, which are difficult to control, constitute an important way to supply these forces and their allies.
In February, Ethiopia ordered its Eritrean neighbor to “immediately withdraw its forces” from its territory, denouncing “incursions” and “joint military maneuvers” with rebels fighting federal forces.
The head of the ruling military junta in Niger, General Abderrahmane Tiani, has appointed a new chief of staff of the armed forces who will assume command of the army, two weeks after a military rebellion shook Niger and almost destroyed the rule of the military junta.
The military rebellion showed the extent of the rift within the ranks of the military establishment in Niger, as violent confrontations broke out between a special forces unit that had just returned from confronting terrorist groups, and the Presidential Guard forces, which are equipped with equipment and weapons and are responsible for protecting the president.
Elements of the Presidential Guard were able to suppress the rebellion and control it with the support of the Russian African Corps forces present in Niger under a security and military cooperation agreement between the two countries, which the two parties signed in 2024.
Two weeks after the military mutiny, the head of the military junta, General Abdurrahman Tiani, signed a decree appointing General Mamman Sani Kyaw as Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, succeeding General Musa Salou Barmo, who was dismissed without assigning any duties to him.
General Kyaw had been serving as Chief of Staff of the Ground Forces since the July 2023 coup that overthrew elected President Mohamed Bazoum at the hands of the current military junta. General Kyaw was succeeded as Commander of the Ground Forces Staff by General Abdul Rahman Abu Zatka.
General Kyaw is described as a “seasoned field man,” as he particularly led operations to combat terrorist groups in the Tillaberi region, located in western Niger, near Mali and Burkina Faso, and led other operations in the Diffa region, in the southeast on the border with Nigeria and Chad.
General Kyaw is 54 years old. He began his military training in the mid-nineties of the last century in Burkina Faso, then in Ivory Coast, before traveling to China at the beginning of the third millennium, where he received basic training to graduate as an infantry officer, and concluded his training course in France by obtaining a certificate of postgraduate military studies, in 2014.
During his military career, Kyaw worked in all hotspots of tension in Niger. In western Niger, he faced Al-Qaeda, represented by the Group to Support Islam and Muslims. He also faced ISIS in the Greater Sahara, and in the southeast he fought Boko Haram and ISIS in West Africa. These are the most prominent terrorist groups active in West Africa and the Sahel.
In addition to his field experience in the war on terrorism, sources indicate that General Kyaw led the talks that led to the departure of French forces from Niger after the 2023 coup, and his name also appeared in 2024 within the joint withdrawal committee between Niger and the American Africa Command (AFRICOM), to begin the withdrawal of American forces.
Recently, Nigerien official media reported that General Kyaw concluded a tour of the country's main military garrisons in order to "restore cohesion among the ranks of soldiers," a mission the junta seeks to heal the wounds of the recent military rebellion.
With General Kyaw assuming leadership of the military institution, unifying the ranks of this institution and achieving successes in the war on terrorism is one of the most important challenges that awaits him, as he has extensive field experience in sensitive areas of operations, which gives him credibility in front of the forces deployed in the field.
General Kyaw is also betting on field missions that he recently carried out in military garrisons in various regions of Niger in order to “restore cohesion,” in which he adopted the methodology of directly listening to soldiers, conveying the directives of the supreme command, strengthening discipline, and combating rumours.
His previous role in negotiations for the withdrawal of foreign forces may enhance his image as a unanimous figure in the military establishment, and demonstrate his ability to deal with sensitive strategic files. However, his actual ability to unify the institution is still being tested in a very volatile country full of surprises.
