Along the East African Rift, the African plate is slowly separating into two pieces, the Somali plate and the Nubian plate, moving apart at roughly 8 millimeters a year, about the speed your fingernails grow.
Some headlines claim Africa is splitting into two continents and forming a new ocean. Over the very long term that is possible, but the timescale is tens of millions of years, with some areas perhaps flooding into a new sea in 5 to 10 million years or more. In 2018, a large crack opened in Kenya and many reports blamed the continent tearing apart. Geologists gave a more careful explanation: the region is tectonically active, but that specific crack was most likely caused by heavy rain and erosion in soft volcanic soils, not the plates ripping open at that moment.
Scientists also note Africa may not fully split, since the forces could be too slow or could stall. The reasonable reading separates three things: a real, slow, measurable process now, a possible dramatic outcome far in the future, and sensational framing that makes it sound like it is happening this year.