Welcome to Foreign Policy’s Africa Brief.

The highlights this week: Protesters take to the streets in Tunisia and Libya, Chad withdraws from the International Criminal Court amid U.S. pressure, and a new political party is launched amid a power struggle in Senegal.

Welcome to Foreign Policy’s Africa Brief.

The highlights this week: Protesters take to the streets in Tunisia and Libya, Chad withdraws from the International Criminal Court amid U.S. pressure, and a new political party is launched amid a power struggle in Senegal.

Anti-government protests erupted in Tunisia and Libya over the weekend in response to power cuts amid a severe heat wave. These are the latest in a trend of youth-led mobilization against systemic government mismanagement across the continent.

Starting on Sunday, hundreds of demonstrators have blocked major roads in Libya’s capital of Tripoli to protest rising oil prices and daily 14-hour power cuts as temperatures in parts of the country soared to 122 degrees Fahrenheit.

Although a petrostate, Libya is experiencing an electricity crisis driven by years of underinvestment in critical infrastructure. The country often implements load shedding to cope with aging infrastructure, but the frequency of power cuts increased in June. Public frustration over the cuts has tipped into broader anti-government sentiment.

The protests only took place in western Libya, but demonstrators called for the removal of both the eastern and western rival governments, chanting, “The people want justice that punishes those who squander the people’s money,” and “Electricity—where have the billions gone?”

Libyan protesters shut down branches of the country’s central bank and forced the Mellitah Oil and Gas complex west of Tripoli to briefly suspend operations. According to the Libya Herald, they also tipped trucks full of soil and rubble to block entrances to government buildings as well as the state television channel and the state telecommunications company.

Meanwhile, thousands of Tunisians demonstrated in the capital of Tunis on Saturday to mark five years since President Kais Saied staged a power grab and suspended parliament. On July 25, 2021, Saied declared a national emergency and began to rule by decree, ostensibly to fight other politicians’ “hypocrisy, treachery, and robbery.”

The demonstrations followed several protests in Tunisian cities last week amid rolling blackouts and water cuts as temperatures also reached above 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Between 150 and 200 people have been reported dead since power cuts began on July 12, according to the Organisation of Young Doctors in Tunisia. Extreme heat triggered at least 900 wildfires across the country in a three-day period last week.

Demonstrators over the weekend demanded Saied’s resignation and........

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