News updates from the African continent for June 18th, 2025:
Mali begins building Russian-backed gold refinery
Mali’s military junta has started building a gold refinery in partnership with a Russian conglomerate, the Yadran Group.
The project would embody the West African nation’s assertion of its “economic sovereignty“, and ensure the nation benefited from its mineral wealth, military leader Gen Assimi Goïta said.
He has strengthened military and economic ties with Russia since seizing power in a coup in 2021, while reducing relations with former colonial power France and other Western nations.
Source: BBC News
Gaza march activists say participants in Egypt beaten, detained
Organisers of a march to the Egyptian border with Gaza said three participants were abducted by plain clothes officers in Cairo, amid a wave of arbitrary detentions, deportations, and abuse by security forces.
Egypt’s interior and foreign ministries did not immediately respond to the allegations.
The Global March to Gaza, launched this month, brought over 4,000 activists from more than 80 countries to Egypt in an attempt to peacefully approach the Rafah border crossing and draw attention to Gaza’s deepening humanitarian crisis.
Source: Reuters
MTN Launches South Africa’s First Telco-Based Credit Score
MTN and its digital platform business, Chenosis, in partnership with TransUnion Africa, has launched TransUnion Telco Data Score, a first-of-its-kind credit scoring solution that uses mobile phone call data records to help millions of South Africans with limited or no formal credit history gain access to financial services.
This alternative data scoring model leverages Call Data Records (CDR), which reflect patterns in mobile phone network usage behaviour and correlates it to an individual’s financial behaviour.
By using telco data as a proxy for financial reliability, the TransUnion Telco Data Score enables lenders to accurately assess New-to-Credit (NTC) consumers and expand access to safe, affordable credit.
Source: Tech Africa News
