Author: SeeAF

Eswatini seeks to expand Asia ties while navigating tricky China-Taiwan winds

Posted on by SeeAF

Manzini, Eswatini  — Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, is the only country left in Africa that maintains diplomatic relations with Taiwan, which China considers a renegade province. Eswatini is nevertheless a growing trade partner with China, which means the country has to be careful as it reaches out to other nations in Asia for new economic opportunities.

Eswatini’s recent efforts to build stronger ties with South Korea, Singapore and Bhutan could be interpreted as a move away from China, its biggest trading partner in Asia. The kingdom imported more than $109 million in goods from China in 2022.

But government spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo said such a conclusion was presumptive. He argued that diplomacy is a fluid process, driven by a country’s interests, and that Eswatini’s current focus on developing relations with other Asian nations reflected a strategic assessment of what is best for the kingdom.

“We are establishing diplomatic relations with many countries,” Nxumalo said. “Geopolitics is not centered in one position. Geopolitics is controlled and influenced from various corners of the globe. As the kingdom of Eswatini, that’s where we want to make our presence available, and that’s where we want to make our presence felt, where there’s geopolitics activities – whether economical trade or diplomacy or even political processes, we would want to be engaged. …

“So Eswatini is, therefore, according to our cardinal foreign policy, an enemy to none but a friend to all.”

Being friends to all has allowed Eswatini to maintain diplomatic relations with both China and Taiwan, despite efforts by Beijing to persuade Eswatini to cut ties with the self-governing island.

China has threatened various measures against Eswatini but has never carried them out.

Nearly 60% of Eswatini’s population lives in poverty, and its economy was hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic, which was followed by a wave of protests that ruined or damaged many businesses.

Mavela Sigwane, head of transformation at the Federation of Eswatini Business Community, said the outreach efforts to South Korea, Singapore and Bhutan represent more than diplomacy; they hold the potential for significant economic benefits.

“This Korea agreement which has been signed, we are so excited about it,” Sigwane said. “It will open a number of avenues for the local businesses to also tap into the available opportunities in Korea.”

The Korea agreement Signwane referred to is a recent South Korean commitment to spend more than $20 billion in development assistance and investment initiatives in Africa.

Eswatini’s King Mswati commended South Korea for the commitments and invited South Korean businesses to invest in Eswatini.

Political analyst Sibusiso Nhlabatsi said Eswatini’s recent decision to forge economic ties with non-traditional Asian partners illustrated that Eswatini is open to exploring new alliances beyond its historical Western partnerships.

“Swaziland seeks to benefit by positioning itself to be more versatile and a multi-aligned actor in that region of Asia,” Nhlabatsi said. “Of course, there are geographical implications to this, because Swaziland’s balancing act between China and Taiwan, together with its new partners, just demonstrates that this can be a tiny country but it’s still independent on foreign policy causes, rather than automatically deferring to the interests of larger powers.”

Analysts said the expanded trade, increased investment opportunities and shared technology expected from the new alliances could diversify Eswatini’s economy, reducing dependency on any single market.
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Kenya’s media demand better protections covering protest movement

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Attacks, arrests and restrictions on journalists including over coverage of youth demonstrations is causing concern among Kenyan media. Journalists are taking to the streets to protest. Juma Majanga covered the protests and filed this report from Nairobi, Kenya. Camera: Amos Wangwa
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Central African Republic opposition threatens to disrupt local elections 

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Yaoundé — The Central African Republic’s main opposition leader, Anicet Georges Dologuele, says he will disrupt the country’s first local elections in 36 years if the 2023 constitution and electoral laws that he says favor President Faustin-Archange Touadera’s party are not immediately revised. Rebel groups are also threatening to disrupt the polls, which the government insists will be transparent and will help restore peace and stability to the troubled state.

Anicet Georges Dologuele says Central African Republic leaders are not showing any signs they want to organize free and fair elections to end a wave of fighting that has engulfed the central African state for more than a decade.

The leader of the Union for Central African Republic Renewal party, or URCA, spoke in the capital, Bangui, on Thursday during a press conference to mark his party’s 10th anniversary.

Dologuele, a former prime minister, said his party will not take part in the October 2024 local elections, which he accused CAR President Faustin-Archange Touadera of preparing to rig to favor his party, the United Hearts Movement, or MCU.

He says it is undemocratic and unethical for President Touadera to single-handedly appoint six of the eleven members of the country’s elections management body, the National Elections Authority, or ANE. Dologuele says the ANE cannot be seen as credible and transparent when a majority of its members are either loyalist or sympathize with Touadera.

The URCA party also protests rules that bar people with double nationality from running for office. That would ban Dologuele himself, who reportedly has citizenship in another, unidentified country.

Dologuele says Toudera ordered his government to bar CAR civilians who have acquired double nationality in other countries because he knows a lot of politicians who fled from the CAR who are very popular and can beat Touadera and his party in all elections.

Dologuele said if constitutional reforms are not carried out and if the ANE is not made an independent elections management body, his party will disrupt the October local elections, though he did not say how.

However, CAR government spokesperson Maxime Balalou told state TV on Friday that the elections will go forward.

Balalou says President Touadera has instructed his government to ignore opposition threats and continue educating people that the October 2024 local elections will mark a return to democracy and governance and civilians will be able to participate in local development. He says the elections are part of several requests made by the people of the Central African Republic during the National Reconciliation Dialogue that was held in March 2022.

Balalou said the CAR government will not accept calls to change a constitution backed by 95% of voters in a June 2023 referendum.

In that referendum, voters also approved scrapping the constitution’s two-term limit for presidents and extended the length of a president’s term from five to seven years.

Opposition parties say the 67-year-old president is preparing to hold on to power for many years to come.

Over 2,000 seats in 180 local councils will be at stake in the October polls. The elected councilors will then elect mayors for each of the 180 districts.

Security remains fragile as the elections draw near, as rebels and armed groups loot communities for survival, raping women and girls and creating chaos in towns and villages across the country, according to opposition groups.

CAR government officials and the United Nations insist the October elections will help restore democracy and peace to the troubled state.

The central African state descended into violence and chaos in 2013, when rebels forced then-president Francois Bozize from office.

Since then, fighting and chaos has forced close to a million Central Africans to flee to Cameroon, Sudan, and other nearby countries.
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Ruto falsely accuses Ford Foundation of funding violence in Kenya

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There is no evidence that the Ford Foundation has been sponsoring protests, but there is ample evidence that it has sponsored human rights groups, journalists and government officials to address Kenyan issues.
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African female athletes aim for Olympic medals in Paris

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nairobi, kenya — The 2024 Olympics begin Friday, with more than 10,000 athletes gathering in Paris dreaming of winning gold, silver or bronze. Among them will be dozens of women from African countries, many of whom have overcome major social and economic challenges to get to Paris.

For the first time in history, the International Olympic Committee, or IOC, said it achieved full gender parity on the field of play at this year’s Olympics.

Female athletes, who once made up only about 2% of Olympic competitors, are now present in the same numbers as men. They accounted for 48% of the athletes at the Olympics in Tokyo three years ago, which was delayed a year because of COVID.

Several dozen African women are among those who will compete. One is Esti Olivier, a member of South Africa’s canoe team. She will compete at the Olympics for the first time after missing the Tokyo Games because of physical and mental health problems.

“It’s about keeping focus now and not being overwhelmed by the enormous atmosphere that the Olympics brings but enjoying small increments and moments every step of the way for me at this stage,” Olivier said. “We still [have] two weeks before we compete and I am sure the closer I get to that, the more the nerves will kick in. But at this stage it is just excitement to get to Paris.”

Canoeing is not a popular sport in Africa. However, canoe teams from Angola, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa and Tunisia will represent the continent at the Olympics.

Olivier said training for the sport is tough on women.

“Much of this journey I’ve done by myself and because there are so few females participating in canoe sprints in South Africa,” she said. “I’ve always had to train among men. So, it’s definitely a challenge. The lack of support is a challenge. And just juggling private life with sports, you know, just because we can’t only focus on being an athlete. As a woman, I have to also be a wife.”

Despite the progress made by female athletes, many of the challenges that slow women’s progress in sports still persist, including lack of equal pay, discrimination and poor training conditions.

Middle-distance runner Lilian Odira of Kenya, 25, who is competing in the 800 meters, said it was a long journey to get to Paris, but one that was worth the effort.

“Sports opened so many doors for me,” she said. “It’s given me the confidence to be who I am. It’s given me the confidence to speak out against injustices that I might witness at any point in time.

“It’s given me the opportunity to be an absolute role model to young girls wanting to achieve something big in their lives, showing them that even with controversy in difficult times or various roles that you have to put on, it’s still possible to chase your dream. If you really put your mind to it, it’s possible.”

Besides winning a medal, Odira wants to break her personal best time of 1 minute, 59 seconds.

She said she enjoys being an Olympic athlete.

“All over the world, everyone knows you, so I think it is an advantage,” she said. “When it comes to finance and so many things, we know how to tackle and handle it. Healthwise, everybody wants to be healthy. Sports is a nice career.”

Kenya is sending about 20 female athletes to Paris, second only to South Africa, which is sending 24.

African women won 17 medals in Tokyo three years ago and hope to collect even more in France.
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UN says Ethiopia landslide death toll could reach 500

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Kencho Shacha Gozdi, Ethiopia — The death toll from landslides in a remote region of southern Ethiopia has risen to 257, the United Nations said Thursday and the number could soar up to 500.

Rescuers pressed on with the grim search for bodies and survivors in Kencho Shacha Gozdi, with crowds of distraught people digging through mud, often using just their bare hands and shovels.

Solomon Tsoma told AFP that 13 of his family had died, including his uncle’s seven children his brother’s infants. “We have recovered 12 bodies but haven’t been able to find my sister’s body,” he said.

The U.N. humanitarian agency, OCHA gave the new toll of 257 dead, citing local authorities. “The death toll is expected to rise to up to 500 people,” it added.

OCHA said more than 15,000 people need to be evacuated because of the risk of further landslides, including at least 1,320 children under the age of 5 and 5,293 pregnant women or new mothers.

Aid has begun arriving in the isolated area, including four trucks of supplies from the Ethiopian Red Cross Society, it said.

The landslide is the deadliest on record in Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous nation which is often battered by climate-related disasters.

Bodies wrapped in shrouds

Officials said most of the victims were buried when they rushed to help after the first landslide, which followed heavy rains Sunday in the area roughly 480 kilometers (270 miles) from the capital Addis Ababa.

Resident Getachew Geza said he and his son rushed to help after hearing two houses had been buried. “When we got there …a massive mudslide overwhelmed everyone, including my son.”

In one graphic scene shown on social media by the local authority, dozens of men surrounded a pit where human limbs were exposed in the mud.

Other villagers carried bodies on makeshift stretchers while in a nearby tent women wailed as they sat near a row of bodies wrapped in shrouds being prepared for burial.

OCHA said 12 people who sustained injuries had been taken to a local hospital, while at least 125 are displaced. The number of missing is not known.

Guterres ‘deeply saddened’

U.N. chief Antonio Guterres sent his condolences over the disaster, with his spokesman Stephane Dujarric saying he was “deeply saddened.”

“U.N. agencies are dispatching food, nutrition, health and other critical supplies to help people affected by the landslides,” Dujarric said.

Senait Solomon, head of communications for the South Ethiopia regional government, told AFP on Wednesday that the landslide site was sloped and “prone to disasters,” adding that conservation work to protect the area, including tree planting, had been under way at the time of the landslides.

More than 21 million people or about 18 percent of the population rely on humanitarian aid in Ethiopia as a result of conflict, flooding, drought and other natural disasters.

OCHA said this week that that a similar landslide in May in the same area killed more than 50 people.

Seasonal rains in South Ethiopia state between April and early May had caused flooding, mass displacement and damage to livelihoods and infrastructure, it had said in May.

In 2017, at least 113 people died when a mountain of garbage collapsed in a dump in the outskirts of Addis Ababa.

The deadliest landslide in Africa was in Sierra Leone’s capital in Freetown in August 2017, when 1,141 people perished.

Mudslides in the Mount Elgon region of eastern Uganda killed more than 350 people in February 2010.
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Kenyan entrepreneur enables the paralyzed to commute with ease

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A Kenyan entrepreneur is helping people in wheelchairs get around in a country that is hard for people with disabilities to navigate. Through his company, Ace Mobility, users can hail cars and drivers equipped to accommodate disabled passengers. Victoria Amunga reports from Nairobi.
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Nigerian authorities hold emergency meeting on planned protests

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abuja, nigeria — Nigerian government officials held an emergency meeting Wednesday in response to nationwide protests planned next month over governance issues and the cost of living.

The meeting came a day after President Bola Tinubu made a public appeal through his information minister, Mohammed Idris Malagi, asking citizens not to go through with the protests and urging them to be patient with the government.  

More than 40 cabinet members attended the meeting, including the secretary to the government, the national security adviser and ministers.

Malagi told journalists after the meeting that authorities were working hard to address the grievances of the people but that the government would need more time. 

“The issue of the planned protest – Mr. President does not see any need for that,” Malagi said. “He’s asked them to shelve that plan and await government’s response to all their pleas, and a lot is happening. The young people out there should allow the president more time to see to the realization of all the goodies he has for them.”

The plans for protests follow weeks of demonstrations in Kenya that were sparked by proposed tax hikes and outrage over high-level corruption. The demonstrations resulted in a tax hike bill being withdrawn and Kenyan President William Ruto dissolving his cabinet.

As in Kenya, organizers of the planned Nigerian protests have been faceless, calling for the protests using online platforms like Instagram and X.

In Nigeria, the main complaint concerns the soaring cost of living, which many Nigerians blame on government economic policies.

Tinubu last year scrapped a popular fuel subsidy and sharply devalued the local currency, the naira, causing food and commodity prices to spiral upward.

Nigeria’s overall inflation is at its highest level in 28 years – more than 34 percent. Food inflation is much higher.

To make matters worse, widespread insecurity and climate change are affecting the ability of farmers to grow food.

Human rights activist Zariyi Yusuf says the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party has been making empty promises for years.

“What exactly would the government want time for, considering what they have done for the past decade?” Yusuf said. “They thrived primarily on protests, and they got into power from the streets, regardless [of] the flaws in the electoral process. I’ve never looked at Tinubu separately from the shadow of [former President Muhammadu] Buhari. I deal with them as the APC, and as far as that’s concerned, what time could the APC need?”

Earlier this month, authorities suspended taxes on certain food imports, including wheat, in an effort to lower prices.

This week, the National Assembly passed a new national minimum wage into law after months of disputes with workers’ unions.

Meanwhile, lawmakers pledged to slash their salaries by half and donate the rest for social intervention projects on food.

Yusuf said the main issues still need attention.

“The key things people are talking about – which is bad governance, which reflects in security, [and] very embarrassing economic policies – should be addressed,” he said. “The first step would be to reverse the pump price to where it was.” 

In October 2020, Nigerian youths led massive protests against police brutality that ended in bloodshed after security forces opened fire on protesters.

On Tuesday, Nigeria’s police chief said the police would intervene if the August 1 protests become violent.

Many will be watching to see how authorities respond to demonstrations – and whether the protests can change the policies of Nigeria’s government.
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Malawi welcomes first fuel train in two decades

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Blantyre, Malawi     — A trainload of diesel fuel has arrived in Malawi for the first time in 21 years, signaling the end of fuel shortages.

Malawian authorities said the arrival Tuesday marked the beginning of regular fuel transport to the country on a newly refurbished rail line from the Indian Ocean port of Nacala in Mozambique.

The change is also a cost-cutting measure for Malawi, which has long transported fuel by road.

Clement Kanyama, chief executive officer of the National Oil Company of Malawi, spoke as local television broadcast images of the train, carrying 580,000 liters of fuel, as it was arriving in Lilongwe, Malawi’s capital.

“This is an organized form of transport with fixed routes and schedules contributing to the speedy delivery,” Kanyama said. “Once the train departs, there is nothing that delays the train until it stops” in Malawi.

This was the first arrival of fuel by train in Lilongwe since 2003, following repairs to Malawi’s rail system by Central East Africa Railways early this year.  

“We are even going to have more than this,” said Chandra Mohan Singh, general manager for Nacala Logistics, a company that operates the country’s railway infrastructure. “In fact, next week we are expecting to bring a much longer train transporting approximately 2 million liters at this very same place. At Nacala Logistics, we have the capacity to transport 4 million tons of goods.” 

Economist Adam Chikapa Guys told VOA that the restoration of railway services from Mozambique to Malawi was probably the best news for Malawi’s transport sector, which he said has been spending a lot of money to move fuel by road.

“And this means that the money that was used for transportation for the fuel is now going to be used for other things that are equally important in this country as far as development is concerned,” he said.

Chikapa said he doubted public expectations that the move would also lead to the reduction of fuel pump prices in Malawi. 

Malawi’s minister of trade and industry, Sosten Gwengwe, said the move would help lower the cost of production of various goods, saying manufacturing industries would be able to work in a more affordable manner than before.
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Uganda charges dozens of anti-graft protesters

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Kampala, Uganda — Dozens of people who joined scattered anti-corruption rallies in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, on Tuesday in defiance of an official ban have been charged and held behind bars, their lawyers said.

About 60 people, including a prominent TV and radio presenter and three young protest leaders, were hurriedly brought before the courts and remanded into custody on charges including being a “common nuisance,” they said.

President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled the East African country with an iron fist for almost four decades, had warned over the weekend that the demonstrators were “playing with fire.”

Riot police were out in force across Kampala, manning roadblocks especially near the business district, while officers sealed off roads to parliament.

Police spokesman Kituuma Rusoke had said the authorities would not allow any demonstration that threatened Uganda’s “peace and security.”

The call to action over corruption was organized by young Ugandans online, with colorful posters urging people to march on parliament, drawing inspiration from neighboring Kenya’s mostly Gen-Z-led anti-government protests.

Graft is a major concern in Uganda, with several high-profile scandals involving public officials, and the country is ranked a lowly 141 out of 180 countries on Transparency International’s corruption index.

“We are tired of corruption,” protester Samson Kiriya shouted from between the bars of a police van as he was arrested.

About 60 people who were detained during the rallies were brought before the courts in separate hearings, their lawyers said.

They included well-known television and radio presenter Faiza Salima as well as a social media influencer and a doctor, lawyer Ashraf Kwezi told AFP.

“The three were charged with a flimsy offense of being a common nuisance … and disorderly after they participated in the protest today, but they denied the charges,” he said.

Three protest organizers identified as George Victor Otieno, Kennedy Ndyamuhaki and Aloikin Praise Opoloje were arrested as they marched to parliament and have also been charged.

Bernard Oundo, president of the Uganda Law Society, told AFP that 50 people were charged at one hearing in a Kampala court and are to reappear between July 30 and Aug. 8.

Another five were charged in a separate hearing at another court, their lawyer, Patience Muwanguzi, said.

“This was a rushed trial. They were arrested and taken to court in a very short time and remanded to prison without securing them bail,” she told AFP. “We will ensure these people receive justice.”

Human Rights Watch Uganda researcher Oryem Nyeko condemned the multiple arrests and said they were “a reflection of where Uganda is at the moment as far as respect for those rights is concerned.”

On the eve of the rally, Ugandan authorities besieged the headquarters of the opposition National Unity Platform of former presidential candidate Bobi Wine and arrested three of his party’s MPs.

A heavy police presence remained in place around the offices in a Kampala suburb on Tuesday, an AFP journalist said.

“Salutations to all who have courageously marched and are still marching against corruption and misrule — even in the face of very brutal actions by the military and police!” Wine posted on X. His real name is Robert Kyagulanyi.

Ugandan authorities have frequently cracked down on the NUP and Wine, a popstar turned politician who challenged Museveni unsuccessfully in the last elections in 2021.

Corruption is endemic in Uganda, where several high-profile figures have recently come under the spotlight in graft scandals.

Earlier this year, the United States and Britain sanctioned several Ugandan officials including parliament speaker Anita Among and three former or current ministers for alleged involvement in corruption.

The ministers are on trial accused of stealing iron sheets destined for the poor under a government-funded project and redirecting them to politicians and their families, but no charges have been laid against the speaker.

Four legislators from Uganda’s ruling party and two senior civil servants are also in custody for allegedly embezzling large sums of money meant to compensate farmers who lost property during the 1980s bush war that brought Museveni to power.
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US invites Sudan’s warring parties for talks in Switzerland in August

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WASHINGTON — The United States has invited the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces for U.S.-mediated cease-fire talks starting on August 14 in Switzerland, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday. 

The talks will include the African Union, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and the United Nations as observers, Blinken said in a statement. Saudi Arabia will be a co-host for the discussions, he added.  

“The scale of death, suffering, and destruction in Sudan is devastating. This senseless conflict must end,” Blinken said, calling on the Sudanese Armed Forces, or SAF, and Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, to attend the talks and approach them constructively. 

The war in Sudan, which erupted in April 2023, has forced almost 10 million people from their homes, sparked warnings of famine and waves of ethnically driven violence blamed largely on the RSF. 

Talks in Jeddah between the army and RSF that were sponsored by the United States and Saudi Arabia broke down at the end of last year. 

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters on Tuesday that the goal of the talks in Switzerland was to build on work from Jeddah and try to move the talks to the next phase. 

“We just want to get the parties back to the table, and what we determined is that bringing the parties, the three host nations and the observers together is the best shot that we have right now at getting the nationwide cessation of violence,” Miller said.
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ECOWAS counterterrorism force not ready for action, analysts say

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Abuja, Nigeria — Regional analysts have voiced skepticism about a so-called standby counterterrorism force announced Sunday by West African bloc ECOWAS. The critics say despite the comments from Nigeria’s president suggesting the force is ready for deployment, ECOWAS has not provided any details about its size, base, funding or mode of operation.

Nigerian President and ECOWAS chair Bola Tinubu announced what he called the “activation” of a standby force on counterterrorism while addressing African leaders during an African Union meeting in Ghana on Sunday.

The force, first proposed in August 2023 after a coup in Niger, is projected to consist of military, police and civilian components and be jointly sponsored by ECOWAS members.

However, ECOWAS members have yet to decide which countries will contribute the personnel and from where they will operate. 

Tinubu told leaders at Sunday’s summit that ECOWAS is exploring options for funding the force.

His comments came two weeks after three of the bloc’s former members — Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger — announced a confederation, signaling their exit from ECOWAS was permanent.

All three countries withdrew from ECOWAS after being suspended from the bloc following military takeovers of their governments. 

Security analyst Senator Iroegbu says creating a joint ECOWAS force to fight terrorism is a good idea but questions the regional bloc’s readiness.

“With Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso pulling out and forming their own [confederation], it tends to dilute whatever arrangement, because these three countries are actually the epicenters of the terrorism we’re talking about,” he said. “This ECOWAS standby force, where’s it going to operate? Is it in Nigeria that already has its own arrangement?”

ECOWAS said it will continue to dialogue with the military leaders of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso and plans to convene a special summit on the future of the bloc.

In April, ECOWAS held a counterterrorism summit in Abuja to strategize on combating terrorism affecting its remaining member states.

Sub-Saharan Africa has become an epicenter of terrorism, accounting for more than half of the global terror-related deaths according to the 2023 Global Terrorism Index report. 

Burkina Faso suffered the highest number of deaths, with Mali, Nigeria and Niger not far behind.

Ahmed Buhari, a political affairs analyst, says he is skeptical about the success of the ECOWAS force amid uncertainty and instability within the region.

“I do not see anything new with what ECOWAS is reiterating,” he said. “This is what we’ve been hearing for the past 15 years or so. It’s been in the conversation. The terror hasn’t declined. As a matter of fact, it looks like the terrorists are seemingly gaining ground and becoming more daring.” 

Iroegbu said ECOWAS countries should focus more on improved governance if they want to address the causes of terrorism. 

“More than setting up a force on counterterrorism, other aspects of non-kinetic measures are needed,” he said. “If you check, the root cause of these [problems] are non-kinetic issues like issues of good governance, development, inclusiveness, sound electoral process. These are issues that once they’re in place even terrorists will find it hard to thrive in such environment.”

It’s not clear when ECOWAS will hold the summit on its three former member states.

Analysts say the chances of successful dialogue among the West African states are slim but it is not impossible.
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Kenya’s turmoil widens as anti-government protesters clash with emerging pro-government group

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NAIROBI, Kenya — Anti-government protesters in Kenya’s capital clashed with an emerging pro-government group on Tuesday, with hundreds swarming and burning a motorcycle belonging to people who expressed support for the country’s president. The military made a rare deployment as the protests focused on the country’s main airport. 

The weeks of turmoil in East Africa’s economic hub have led to dozens of deaths, the firing of most Cabinet members and calls for President William Ruto’s resignation. Protests began with Kenyans’ rejecting a proposed bill to impose more taxes as millions in the country barely get by amid rising prices. 

The pro-government movement has emerged to counter the youth-led anti-government one. In Nairobi on Tuesday, the pro-government group took to the streets ahead of the latest anti-government demonstration. 

One protester, Charles Onyango, questioned why police were not confronting the pro-government demonstrators yet again dispersed those calling for change. 

“Police are just standing by and letting these [suspected] hired goons to disrupt our protests and cause chaos,” Onyango said. 

It was not immediately clear who was behind the pro-government movement. 

Kenya’s main airport was meant to be the site of the latest protest, and anti-government demonstrators lit bonfires in a suburb along the highway that leads to it. Airport officials asked travelers to arrive early, and flights continued. 

Police hurled tear-gas canisters at hundreds of protesters who blocked another road that leads to the airport, and the military was deployed to the Pipeline area east of the capital. 

Protests also were reported in Kenya’s second largest city, the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa, as well as the city of Kisumu on Lake Victoria and Migori. 

Kenya’s anti-government protests are in their fifth week. Under pressure, Ruto declined to sign the bill imposing new taxes and dismissed almost all Cabinet ministers, but protesters continue to call for his resignation. 

At least 50 people have died and 413 others have been injured in the protests since June 18, according to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights. The political opposition is demanding that families of those killed be compensated and that charges against those arrested during protests be dropped. 

Police have stopped saying how many arrests they make in the protests. Rights groups, opposition figures and family members for weeks have expressed concern about alleged abductions by officers. 

Police last week banned protests in Nairobi, citing the movement’s lack of clear leadership to coordinate with authorities to ensure safety and security. But the high court issued an order suspending the ban on protests. Kenya’s constitution guarantees the right to peaceful protest. 

Still, the acting police head, Douglas Kanja, on Tuesday asserted that Kenya’s main airport was a “protected area” and “out of bounds to unauthorized persons.” 

Police in Kenya — hundreds of them newly deployed in Haiti to lead a United Nations-based multinational force to curb deadly gang violence — have long been accused by activists and civil society groups of violence toward demonstrators. 

Opposition leader Raila Odinga, who earlier called for talks to calm the unrest, denied allegations that he had been bribed to join Ruto in forming a broad-based government and expressed his support to protesters. 

Some protesters on Tuesday vowed to keep at it. 

“[Everything] that is happening in our day will continue happening,” Julius Kamau Kimani said.
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Uganda police out in force ahead of anti-graft rally

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Kampala, Uganda — Police were out in force on the empty streets of the Ugandan capital Kampala on Tuesday ahead of a planned anti-corruption rally that has been banned by the authorities.

President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled the East African country with an iron fist for almost four decades, had warned the demonstrators at the weekend they were “playing with fire.”

Three opposition lawmakers were remanded in custody late Monday, police said, after opposition leader Bobi Wine said his National Unity Platform (NUP) headquarters was “under siege” by police and army officers.

The call to action over corruption has been organized online, drawing inspiration from the mostly Gen-Z led anti-government protests in neighboring Kenya that have roiled the country for a month.

“We are the youths and heart of our country and we are not letting down our country,” leading Ugandan protester Shamim Nambasa told AFP on Monday.

Posters shared online ahead of the rallies urged demonstrators to “march on parliament.”

But police spokesman Kituuma Rusoke said the authorities will “not allow a demonstration that will risk peace and security of the country.”

In the capital, AFP journalists said there were roadblocks on mostly quiet streets, especially near Kampala’s business district, heavily manned by officers in anti-riot gear with some wearing camouflage uniforms.

A heavy police presence also remained in place around the NUP headquarters, an AFP journalist said.

On Monday three lawmakers with the opposition group were detained by police on “various offenses and remanded to prison,” according to the police spokesperson who did not give further details on the charges.

Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, had made calls on Monday to support the rallies.

“We want a country where we all belong not for the few in power,” he said.

A NUP spokesperson confirmed three legislators, named as Francis Zaake, Charles Tebandeke and Hassan Kirumira, along with seven others connected to the party, had been detained.

Tuesday’s march has been organized on social media by young Ugandans with the hashtag #StopCorruption.

Graft is a major issue in Uganda, with several major scandals involving public officials, and the country is ranked a lowly 141 out of 180 countries on Transparency International’s corruption index.
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South Africa presses to maintain preferred trade status with US

Posted on by SeeAF

Johannesburg — Some members of the U.S. Congress have called for South Africa to be excluded from the African Growth and Opportunity Act, a U.S. program that grants duty-free access to the enormous U.S. market for many South African exports. South Africa presses to remain eligible for the trade program and its evolving relationship with the U.S.

Sonwabile Ndamase remembers when U.S. President Bill Clinton came to Soweto in 1998. Ndamase, a fashion designer who created the iconic “Madiba” shirts worn by then-South African President Nelson Mandela, got a last-minute request from Mandela’s office.

“[T]hey wanted to give something as a gesture and as a gift to President Bill Clinton and then they called me. They said, listen, you need to do something — the president, Bill Clinton, would be coming in. So I had to go to the house of late President Nelson Mandela and deliver the shirt,” he said.

That was during a period of good relations between the U.S. and Africa as a whole and the U.S. and South Africa in particular. In 2000, Clinton initiated the African Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGOA, allowing duty-free access to the U.S. market for most agricultural and manufactured products from eligible African countries.

But times have changed. As U.S. lawmakers consider whether to extend AGOA past its September 2025 expiration date, there are calls in Washington to exclude South Africa due to its geopolitical stance on key issues, such as its refusal to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and calling Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide.

Political analyst Daryl Glaser from the University of Witwatersrand said tension has existed between the United States and South Africa’s longtime ruling African National Congress party since 2000.

“Yeah, there has always been a tension at the heart of ANC foreign policy between, on the one hand, a kind of human rights focus and a desire to appear to the West a human rights and democracy champion, and on the other side what you might call anti-imperialism or anti-Western imperialism, in particular combined with a kind of loyalty to the countries that supported South Africa during the anti-apartheid struggle,” he said.

Those countries include Soviet-era Russia.

Despite the tension, South Africa has sent a delegation to Washington to advocate for its continued participation in AGOA.

According to U.S. Census Bureau data from 2020, South Africa has become America’s largest trading partner in Africa, with over $20 billion in two-way trade volume.

Economist Dawie Roodt said South Africa cannot afford to lose AGOA, given the country’s high unemployment rate and slow economic growth.

He thinks a new coalition government, the result of inconclusive May elections, will help the country’s cause.

“I think what is important, what happened in South Africa in the last couple of weeks, South Africa now has a national government of unity and that’s the message that we need to send. Basically, it’s a coalition between the ANC and the DA, a political party slightly to the right. We’ve got a government now that is not a left-leaning government — it’s a government that is forming a coalition with a more business-friendly alliance partner,” he said.

If its status in AGOA is revoked, South Africa can still trade with the United States, but it won’t receive the preferential rates enjoyed by other African nations.
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Kenyans say Biden pulling out of presidential race was the right move 

Posted on by SeeAF

Nairobi — Kenyans watching the U.S. presidential race say they agree with President Joe Biden’s decision to not seek a second term. But some say that choosing a replacement capable of defeating his opponent, former president Donald Trump, is going to be a big task for the Democratic Party.

On the streets of Nairobi, many people told VOA that while Joe Biden’s decision to step out of the race must not have been easy, it was the right decision for him to make.

James Owor said he was expecting Biden to step out of the race.

“A bit unsurprising just based on what I’ve seen in the news. He was obviously not very well. It might not be such a bad idea to take a back seat. He didn’t seem to have the energy he had,” he said.

Biden’s announcement Sunday followed a rising chorus within the Democratic Party urging him to “pass the torch” amid his declining national poll numbers and concerns raised by his shaky performance in the debate against Trump last month.

Brenda Okwaro said what President Biden has done is commendable because he put the needs of his country and party ahead of his need to retain power.

“This is a move that should be emulated by our African presidents. You don’t have to come to the race a second time and you know you are not going to deliver the expectations of the people who elected you. But if you feel you’ve done your best in your first term, you can just get out of the race, go home and rest and focus on other things. You can even give advice to people who are in leadership,” she said.

Africa is home to some of the longest-serving presidents in the world, several of whom, like Biden, are in their 80s. Cameroon’s Paul Biya is 91.

Martin Andati said he believes that if Biden had stayed in the race, it would’ve been difficult for him to beat Republican nominee Donald Trump.

“Biden had to drop out because all the odds are against him, he can’t beat Trump. So, to salvage the image and give the Democratic Party an opportunity, he had no choice but to exit the race,” he said.

President Biden’s announcement comes a little more than three months before the U.S. elections. Andati said he believes the Democrats still have a chance, but it all depends on who they pick to replace Biden, who has endorsed his vice president, Kamala Harris.

“The only challenge is that he exited and endorsed Kamala Harris. The numbers are not in favor of Kamala Harris. The question is do they retain Harris or what happens, those are the issues the Democratic party will have to grapple with,” he said.

Macharia Munene, a professor of history and international relations at United States International University in Nairobi, said that while it took Biden a little longer to drop out of the race, it was expected. 

“The signs were that he was not up to par, and it took time before his friends and people he respects to come and tell him [it’s] in the best interest of the country and himself, his own image was to step aside so that he’s not embarrassed in November,” said Munene.

The friends who persuaded Biden to step aside reportedly included Kenya’s favorite former U.S. president, Barack Obama. Obama is not eligible for a comeback because of the two-term limit in the U.S. Constitution.

Munene said he believes Democrats will nominate Harris.

“The question will be who’ll be her running mate in the hope they will make a dent on Trump’s bandwagon. For Harris, it’s a good opportunity if she does not win, she will not lose very badly. Then, it’s a preparation for a future encounter in case she doesn’t make it, she would’ve created a base for herself for the next time to run, maybe in 2028,” said Munene.

Democratic lawmakers, governors and financial donors have already expressed their support for Harris, who says she will work to earn the trust and backing of democratic delegates. The party’s candidate will be formally approved late next month when the party hosts its national convention.
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Police, troops block Ugandan opposition headquarters ahead of protests

Posted on by SeeAF

Kampala, Uganda — Soldiers and police sealed off the headquarters of Uganda’s biggest opposition party on Monday in what a police spokesperson called a precautionary move ahead of anti-government protests planned for Tuesday despite a ban.

In posts on social media platform X, National Unity Platform party chief Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine, said security personnel had surrounded NUP headquarters in the capital Kampala, barring anyone from entering or exiting.

Wine said several NUP leaders had been “violently arrested” and also showed pictures of military personnel at the premises alongside parked army trucks.

“The military and police have raided and surrounded the National Unity Platform offices …” he said. “The cowardly regime is so afraid of the people because they know how much they have wronged them!”

Police spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke did not immediately respond when sought for comment about the reported arrests.

Wine, 42, a pop star turned politician, has in recent years emerged as the biggest challenger to veteran President Yoweri Museveni, 79, who has led the East African nation since 1986.

Ugandan youth who have spearheaded recent protests are planning to march to parliament on Tuesday in defiance of a ban on the demonstration, which is intended to denounce alleged widespread corruption and human rights abuses under Museveni’s long-time rule.

Wine said his party was not organizing Tuesday’s protests, but it supported them.

Rusoke said security forces had taken precautionary steps against what he called NUP “mobilization for the protest.”

“We have been monitoring (this). Their activities raised a red flag and we took precaution measures,” he said.

Protests are constitutionally legal in Uganda but organizers must secure permits in advance from police, which are only rarely granted.

Opposition leaders and rights activists say embezzlement and misuse of government funds are widespread in Uganda and have long accused Museveni of failing to prosecute corrupt top-level officials who are politically loyal or related to him.

Museveni has repeatedly denied tolerating corruption and says whenever there is sufficient evidence, culprits are prosecuted, for example lawmakers and even ministers.

Museveni on Monday directed the Criminal Investigations Directorate “to arrest and prosecute all government officials linked to ghost civil servants on the payroll,” his government announced on X.

In a speech on Saturday, he warned Ugandan youth against the planned protests, alleging they were sponsored by foreigners.

“Some elements, some of them from the opposition, are always working with the foreigners to foment chaos in Uganda – riots, illegal demonstrations, illegal and inconsiderate processions, etc. These people … should check themselves or we shall have no alternative but to check them,” he said.
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Flooding drives Liberia to mull capital city move

Posted on by SeeAF

Monrovia, Liberia — Severe flooding in Liberia has led a group of senators to propose relocating the capital city away from overcrowded and poorly managed Monrovia, a suggestion met with a mixture of enthusiasm and hesitancy in the West African country.

Flash floods triggered by torrential rains between the end of June and early July left nearly 50,000 Liberians in urgent need, the national disaster management agency said.

The flood-prone capital was particularly badly hit, owing in part to overpopulation, a poor sewage system, and a lack of building regulation.

Meeting to discuss the persistent flooding problem, a senate joint committee in early July suggested establishing a new city to replace Monrovia.

“It’s a good idea because our current capital city is a mess,” said Chris Kpewudu, a young motorbike driver in the capital.

“There is garbage all over the city and also when it rains, there is flooding everywhere, but with a new city, it will be well laid out and our capital city could look like, or more than, Abuja,” he added.

Nigeria’s Abuja is one of a handful of planned capital cities on the African continent.

Tanzania’s capital Dodoma and Yamoussoukro in Ivory Coast were also established as administrative capitals towards the end of the 20th century, with all three cities occupying geographically central positions in their respective countries.

Monrovia is home to 1.5 million people and lies on the Atlantic coast of Liberia, one of the poorest countries in the world.

The city is the economic, political, and cultural hub of the country, with the Freeport of Monrovia providing a gateway for Liberian exports including iron ore, rubber, and timber to reach the United States and Europe.

But the city’s poorly functioning infrastructure can barely keep up with its ever-expanding population.

The Ministry of Public Works told AFP it was carefully reviewing the proposal, adding that the the plan did not yet include an exact location for the move, and that any decision would come down to economic viability.

“Having a new city is capital-intensive,” said T. T. Benjamin Myers, the ministry’s communications director.

“As a country, our national budget is still around $600 million… so having a new city will require a lot of technical, financial, and economic factors to be seriously considered,” he added.

‘Not a quick fix’

The proposal to replace the capital is not a new one in Africa’s oldest republic.

In 2012, then-president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf suggested relocating Monrovia to a new city called Zekepa in the center of the country.

“We were all enthusiastic and looking forward to that,” Marayah Fyneah, the national program officer of the Liberian Women’s Legislative Caucus, told AFP.

“But unfortunately, we did not even see a plan to show what the city would look like,” she added.

Fyneah said she was skeptical that a new Liberian capital would ever materialize in her lifetime, given the failure of the previous attempt.

Some residents interviewed by AFP were also hesitant and said the government should first prioritize improving infrastructure and tackling poverty before searching for a new capital.

“Our lawmakers are forgetting the issues that we have on hand as a country. Even the city of Monrovia is poorly managed in terms of sanitation and a lot more,” said one commentator, the journalist Princess Elexa VanjahKollie.

Experts have also warned of the extensive urban planning needed to create a viable new capital.

“To establish a new city is not a quick fix,” Christopher Wallace, an economics lecturer at the University of Liberia, told AFP.

“You want to consider the economic activities that would make the economy vibrant in that area, and you must have done zoning to have a clear layout of what such a city will look like,” he added.
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