Niger has officially submitted its request to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), nine months after announcing its intent to leave.

In September 2025, Niger, along with allies Mali and Burkina Faso – which are all under military rule – issued a joint statement saying they would not recognise the ICC’s authority, calling it an “instrument of neo-colonialist repression”.

The court said it had received an “instrument of withdrawal” on 18 June, according to a statement seen by the AFP news agency. Withdrawal takes effect one year after notification.

The ICC added that Niger must honour its obligations to the court until that date.

The ICC – based in The Hague in the Netherlands – was set up in 2002 to pursue cases of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and aggression.

The court’s statement on Tuesday did not make any mention of Mali or Burkina Faso.

When announcing their withdrawal, the three Sahel states said they wanted to set up “indigenous mechanisms for the consolidation of peace and justice”.

Last year, Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso also simultaneously withdrew from the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas), the regional bloc, and created the Confederation of Sahel States for the three nations.

Juntas have been in control of the countries following coups in the early part of this decade.

Their armies have faced accusations of crimes against civilians, as violence has escalated in the region against jihadist groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.

In recent years, the three countries, which are former French colonies, have increasingly become isolated from the West and strengthened their ties to Russia.

There is an outstanding ICC-issued arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over alleged war crimes in Ukraine.

Russia, as well as countries such as the US, Israel and China, are not part of the court’s 125 member states. Niger will be the third country to leave the ICC after the Philippines and Burundi.

There have been a number of false dawns when it comes to elections in South Sudan, but the authorities have said the long-delayed first-ever vote will take place in December.

The leaders of the world’s youngest country have not been tested at the ballot box since independence in 2011 and President Salva Kiir has been in office for 15 years.

According to the original plan, the general election was supposed to have happened in 2015 but a civil war meant that had to be postponed.

The 2018 peace deal, which created a unity government with Kiir at its helm and rival Riek Machar as his deputy, envisioned an election in 2022 but the vote was never organised amid tension between the country’s leaders.

Continued issues between the two men could yet delay the vote further.

Machar was sacked as vice-president and arrested earlier last year and charged with murder, treason and crimes against humanity, which he denies. He has been under house arrest in the capital, Juba, since March last year as fighting persists in some areas of the country.

There have been warnings, including form the UN that the violence could once again spill over into full-scale civil war.

When announcing the 22 December date for the vote, electoral chief Abednego Akok Kacuol acknowledged that unresolved legal amendments and persistent funding gaps continued to hamper poll preparations.

“The political will is not ours; it lies with the government,” he said.

Asked what would happen if funds were not secured within six months, Kacuol said his commission would continue planning while adjusting toward a “realistic electoral timeline”.

In a statement on Monday, the presidency said Kiir was committed to implementing the 2018 peace agreement and keeping South Sudan on track toward peaceful, democratic elections.

It said preparations for inter-party dialogue on election-related issues were progressing and would provide a platform for building consensus among political stakeholders.

But opposition groups and civil society organisations have raised concerns over security conditions, political freedoms and electoral readiness.

The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO), the party of Machar, warned about the poll preparations, saying holding elections remained a “dangerous” matter.

“Anyone coming to register voters and campaign in territories controlled by the mighty SPLM-IO, you will be a prisoner of war,” Nathaniel Pierino, acting chairperson of the group, said in a post on Facebook.

“Be reminded, the country is at war,” he added.

Guinea has banned the export of unrefined gold in an effort to promote domestic processing of the precious metal.

The policy – effective immediately – comes after Guinea’s President Mamadi Doumbouya met industrial and artisanal gold producers and buyers, and aims to boost the economy and create more jobs.

“Guinea will now require its gold to be processed within its own borders.

Guinea is Africa’s sixth largest gold producer, according to the World Gold Council.

Other African nations have taken similar steps to increase domestic processing and value addition in the mining sector in recent years.

In Tanzania and Uganda, the export of unprocessed minerals and metals such as gold and copper is already banned, while Ghana is set to ban raw gold exports by 2030.

Africa’s top lithium producer, Zimbabwe, has banned concentrate exports of the metal used to make batteries from 2027.

Gold is one of Guinea’s main exports, shipping more than 22 tonnes of the metal in the first quarter of this year, according to the authorities.

A new refinery is near completion in the capital, Conakry, where the country’s gold will be sent before processing and export. It has a reported capacity of 250 tonnes a year so should be able to handle the country’s current production.

Foreign companies operating in the country have been warned that they risk losing their licenses and having their mining contracts terminated if they violate the directive.

Guinea is also the world’s largest producer of bauxite, used to make aluminium.