South Africa is hosting a summit for participants in the U.S. government’s duty-free Africa Growth and Opportunity Act from November 2 to 4 as the act comes up for renewal. Kate Bartlett spoke to the owners of one South African company about how the trade initiative — which benefits more than 30 countries on the continent — helped them grow their business and enter the U.S. market. VOA footage by Zaheer Cassim.
…

your ad here

The World Health Organization reported Monday that progress was being made in efforts to prevent and respond to cases of sexual misconduct but acknowledged that abuse by WHO staff remained problematic.  

   

“For the past two years, WHO has intensified our work to prevent and respond to any form of sexual misconduct, sexual exploitation, sexual harassment, said Gaya Gamhewage, director of prevention and response to sexual misconduct at WHO.

“However, the numbers are still going up for the simple reason, I believe, that all the cases have not surfaced yet. So, the numbers will keep going up for some time. But this does not mean that what we are doing is not having any effect. In fact, what we are doing is surfacing this issue, as well,” she said.

The numbers would seem to bear this out. Over the past 12 months, the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services, or IOS, reports it has investigated 287 allegations of sexual misconduct in all WHO regions.

Gamhewage said, “WHO is working on preventing and responding to sexual misconduct related to its own workforce—our staff, our contractors, our implementing partners.  This does not include numbers for peacekeepers.”

Approximately 83 of these cases are related to the 10th Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with 25% of that number pertaining to alleged abuse by WHO personnel.  

According to a WHO press release, the remaining allegations were related to other agencies operating during the outbreak. The WHO received investigation reports related only to accusations against people associated with the WHO, including consultants and other contractors.

“Since 2021, we have entered the names of 25 alleged perpetrators of sexual misconduct into the U.N. Clear Check database to prevent future employment within the U.N. system,” said LisaMcClennon, IOS director.

“Several have been dismissed, including five staff members related to findings of sexual conduct during the period. And several former personnel were informed that their actions would have led to termination had they still been in service.”

The Democratic Republic of Congo announced its 10th Ebola outbreak on August 1, 2018, in the country’s volatile Eastern provinces, claiming 2,299 lives by the time WHO declared the epidemic over on June 25, 2020.

WHO created a special unit in November 2021 to address sexual misconduct to rid the organization of exploitative behavior.  This was triggered by a sexual scandal which erupted during the Ebola epidemic involving many responders including peacekeepers, U.N. personnel, and contractors.

McClennon said the 83 alleged perpetrators identified in the report are connected to that 2018-2020 mission in the DRC.

“WHO has been taking required follow-up action for each of these cases, including information shared with the national authorities, referral to other U.N. agencies and issuing case closure letters to the alleged subjects,” McClennon said. “While reports are confidential, we are taking disciplinary action in the substantiated cases.”

WHO reports that the highest number of alleged sexual perpetrators are found in Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean.

“We do not like to reveal which countries because we can identify alleged perpetrators and it can actually interfere with the investigation,” Gamhewage said.

The WHO official said she believed populations in these regions are highly vulnerable to sexual abuse due to the large number of countries affected by health emergencies and humanitarian crises, explaining that the large U.N. presence in these countries was in response to the enormous needs.

“We know sexual misconduct happens when there is a power differential, and that power differential is used for sexual exploitation. And this used to happen with impunity.

“But with the work we are doing, we are getting complaints and concerns raised. So, I think we should not expect numbers to go down any time soon,” Gamhewage said. “What we want is to surface all of the numbers, so Lisa [McClennon] and her team can assess which ones need to be investigated.”

Gamhewage said it was important to listen to the testimony and experience of any victim or survivor.

“What we need to do is understand there could be a risk there, and then we can start preventive action,” she said.

Since it was unlikely that sexual misconduct could be completely eradicated, Gamhewage said, “What we are looking for is zero tolerance, not for zero cases.”
…

your ad here

Edmund Wessels, a South African biomedical engineer, has been awarded the 2023 Royal Academy of Engineering Africa Prize for his invention, the FlexiGyn. This handheld device helps gynecologists to diagnose and treat uterine problems without the need for anesthesia or expensive equipment. Zaheer Cassim has more from Cape Town.
…

your ad here

Malawi has made its first successful large-scale harvest of wheat after years of attempts to find a variety of grain suitable for its soil. Wheat farming is seen as a solution to mitigate the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on grain imports to the African continent.

Ronald Ngwira, chief executive officer of Malawi-registered U.S. company Pyxus Agriculture Limited, which operates a farm in central Malawi for the diversification of wheat seeds, said about four varieties of wheat have been found suitable for Malawian soil out of about 80 varieties which had been tried since 2019.

Speaking during the start of the first large-scale harvest over the weekend, Ngwira said the wheat farming will help Malawi save millions of dollars spent on wheat imports.

“Malawi imports 200,000 tons of wheat at $48 million. To get there, it could take us four years to produce enough wheat in Malawi to satisfy ourselves,” Ngwira said. “Four years might be seen as a long time, but we are already there and will have the seed available.”

Agriculture experts in Malawi say wheat farming is expected to produce about 90 metric tons, which is 50 percent of the country’s wheat consumption.

Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera witnessed the harvest Friday at Mpale farm in Dowa district.

“Wheat farming can enable Malawi to be self-sustaining. But this will require each one of us to work hard to achieve the desired results. Let us all make a move toward that goal by even using modern technology,” Chakwera said.

Malawi has long been heavily dependent on imported wheat, and the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine has disrupted food supply chains. According to the United Nations, Africa takes up 12.26% of grain imported from Ukraine.

A U.N. report notes that the Russian invasion of Ukraine triggered a shortage of about 30 million tons of grain on the continent, along with a sharp increase in cost.

“If we can find markets, it can be another source of forex in the country,” said Wisdom Mgomezulu, an agricultural economist and lecturer at Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences. “Because, as you know, wheat is among those high-value cash crops that are highly demanded in the world.”

Mgomezulu said to achieve this, Malawi needs to find more sustainable production technologies that can give a comparative advantage, considering that there are already big players in the market.

“We need more investment in research. Let’s look for more funds and donor partners to finance agronomists and researchers who are trying their best to breed varieties that can be grown here in Malawi. But for that to be done, we need to research more investment and maybe get a share of the export market,” Mgomezulu said.

In the meantime, Ngwira of Pyxus said they are planning to plant 15,000 hectares of seed in December to prepare farmers for mass wheat production next year. 
…

your ad here

Nigeria has recorded more than 800 incidents of extrajudicial killings across the country in the last three years, according to the international human rights group Global Rights. 

The Mass Atrocities Casualties report published by Global Rights says 848 extrajudicial executions took place in Nigeria between 2020 and June 2023, with 127 cases in the first half of this year alone. The human rights group said Nigerian citizens have been living in fear of brutality from law enforcement agents as a result.

“Since 2018, we have kept a tab on the mass atrocities across Nigeria,” said Abiodun Baiyewu, executive director of Global Rights. “It cuts across issues like casualties of terrorist attacks, cult killings, communal clashes, extrajudicial killings; so, what you’re seeing is the extraction of the number of people who have died through extrajudicial killings. And those were the least numbers, numbers we were able to verify.”

Baiyewu says authorities must be held accountable.

“We seem to be running roundabout the same figures every year, with the exception of 2020 and 2022. But when you think about 127 people killed in the first half of 2023, and you think about the number of officers who have been sanctioned for these killings, then you know we’re still very way off from the way things need to be dealt with,” Baiyewu said.

The rights group said 271 and 253 people were killed in 2020 and 2022 respectively — the highest numbers in the period reviewed.

The release of the report coincided with a three-year remembrance of the victims of police brutality in Nigeria.

In October 2020, thousands of people across Nigeria marched in protests known as the #EndSARS movement against the activities of the now-disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad, a unit accused of police brutality, including torture, killings and extortion.

The protests went on for days, until security forces cracked down on demonstrators at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos. Global Rights’ report said 123 people were killed.

Nigerian authorities deny the numbers, but promised to investigate and punish offenders.

Aminu Hayatu, a conflict and crisis researcher at Amnesty International, says despite the government often denying casualty numbers, an attempt by Lagos state authorities in July to bury more than 100 people who died during the protests gives credence to the claims.

“There are a lot of issues happening underground which are not visible in the public spaces. This is a semblance of the truth of the matter,” Hayatu said. “Amnesty International has written letters to the Lagos state government to conduct an investigation and bring out [a] report and respond to these allegations.”

Amnesty initially said 12 protesters were killed at the toll gate.

This month, a Lagos state court sentenced a police officer to death by hanging for killing a lawyer during a patrol on Christmas Day. Activists welcomed the ruling and said it will serve as a deterrent to security agents.

Hayatu says police brutality has never stopped.

“The police are still responding to the cases of protests negatively. Amnesty International is still working and conducting a study on the state of human rights in Nigeria, which will be released at a later time. It will definitely reveal the nitty-gritty of some of these human rights issues,” Hayatu said.
…

your ad here