Yaounde — Chad’s President Mahama Idriss Deby has launched a security operation to track and neutralize several hundred Boko Haram fighters who attacked and killed on Sunday more than 40 Chad government troops in the Lake Chad Basin, shared by Cameroon, Nigeria, Niger and Chad. Deby visited the area on Monday and assisted in the burial of his soldiers.

Chad state TV reports that President Mhamat Idriss Deby has ordered that flags be flown at half-mast and that all radio and tv stations in the central African states should play only religious music for three days from October 28 at midnight.

Deby announced on Monday the three days of national mourning after visiting Ngouboua, a western village in Lake Chad, on the island of Bakaram, near the border with Nigeria where Boko Haram fighters killed at least 40 Chad government troops on Sunday night, according to Chad state TV.

Videos of Deby dressed in a military uniform and present at the burial of soldiers killed have been broadcast several times since Monday by local TV stations, including Chad state TV.

After the burials, Deby announced the launch of “Haskanite,” a military operation with fresh troops deployed to Lake Chad, to search out and eliminate members of the terror group hiding in the large area. Deby spoke on Chad state TV.

He said as president of Chad, he is the supreme commander of government troops and guarantor of the security and safety of civilians, and that he has ordered Chad’s military to protect civilians and their property by tracking and eliminating Boko Haram terrorists who committed atrocious acts on government troops and are hiding in the vast Lake Chad.

Chad officials note that Haskanite is a strong and resilient plant that grows in deserts and in the Lake Chad area. The deployed government troops are experienced and have the equipment necessary to defeat the jihadists, Deby said.

Chad military officials say they estimate the number of soldiers in the jihadist attacking force was 300 and that the surprise assault came Sunday at around 10 pm. In addition to the 40 deaths, several dozen government soldiers were injured, they said.

Scores of the attackers were killed and the fighters succeeded to escape with some dead bodies and seized weapons according to Chad’s military. Many civilians either died or were injured in the attack, Chad military says. Deby ordered that all civilians and troops receive medical care free of charge.

Chad’s military says the heavily armed jihadist fighters took control of the garrison before torching vehicles, motorcycles and buildings equipped with heavy arms. The attackers disappeared in the waters of lake Chad and surrounding villages.

Saibou Issa, a conflict resolution specialist at Cameroon’s University of Maroua, says it will be difficult for Chad to singlehandedly fight the jihadists in Lake Chad.

Issa says it is obvious that poverty and hardship push Boko Haram fighters who either surrendered or were weakened by the firepower of forces from Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad and Niger to rejoin smaller jihadist groups in Lake Chad. He says Lake Chad, which serves as a hideout for jihadist groups, is vast and only joint efforts from states that share the lake can stop militants, who are becoming more active.

Issa spoke on Cameroon state Radio on Tuesday. He said the militants attack mainly for supplies and seize weapons from both armed groups and government troops in Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria.

Chad’s government says it has informed the Multinational Joint Task Force of the Lake Chad Basin Commission, or MNJTF — made up of 11,000 troops and rescue workers from Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria — to assist in a renewed push against the terror group. VOA could not independently verify if troops of MNJTF have been deployed, but Cameroon says its military is alert.

The United Nations says over 40,000 people have been killed and 3 million have fled their homes in Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad. since 2009, when fighting between Nigerian government troops and Boko Haram militants degenerated into an armed conflict and spread to Cameroon, Niger and Chad.
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Johannesburg, South Africa — Police in Mozambique killed at least 11 people and injured more than 50 others in violence after a disputed presidential election this month, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Tuesday.   

Protests have rocked the southern African nation since Daniel Chapo, candidate of the ruling Frelimo party that has held power since 1975, was announced winner of the October 9 election.  

Hundreds of opposition supporters took to the streets last week, leading to clashes with riot police.  

“Mozambique security forces killed at least 11 people,” HRW said in a statement, adding that “over 50 people suffered serious gunshot wounds” on October 24 and 25.   

Eight police were also reportedly injured, the rights group said.   

HRW said it interviewed 22 people, including victims, witnesses, physicians, journalists, government officials and civil society groups.   

“Many, including children as young as one year old, inhaled tear gas that the police fired indiscriminately into residential areas,” the rights group said.  

HRW said it had been told by one doctor that he treated dozens of injured people and one victim had “a bullet in his spine.”  

“Mozambican authorities should promptly and impartially investigate alleged misuse of force and hold those responsible accountable,” said Allan Ngari, Africa advocacy director at HRW.  

A local NGO, the Centre for Democracy and Human Rights (CDD), also counted at least 11 people killed in the violence, including six in Nampula province.  

More than 450 people were arrested, including 370 in Maputo, CDD said in a statement on Sunday, adding that at least 85 had since been released.   

Police have not commented on the reports by CDD and HRW but previously said that 20 people had been injured in the protests.   

Police also told AFP that one person had been killed in Nampula while another died in Niassa, without giving further details.  

Mozambique’s electoral commission said Chapo won the presidential election with 71 percent of votes, while the main opposition candidate Venancio Mondlane, backed by the small Podemos party, received 20 percent.   

On Monday, Podemos filed a lawsuit demanding a recount of votes.  

Election observers noted serious flaws before, during and after the vote.   

European Union election observers were among those who noted “irregularities during counting and unjustified alteration of election results at polling station and district level.” 
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Experts say small modular reactors, called SMRs, are bringing affordable nuclear energy to less wealthy countries. But what are SMRs and why are proponents so excited about them? VOA reporter Henry Wilkins explains
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The United States and Germany have launched a $40 million joint initiative, the Coastal States Stability Mechanism, across five West African states, focusing on countering terrorism and extremism. Unlike past military-driven efforts, this program emphasizes community-led developmental approaches to address the root causes of instability and promote good governance and economic development. Senanu Tord reports from Yendi in Ghana.
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N’Djamena, Chad — An attack by jihadist group Boko Haram on the Chadian army killed around 40 people overnight near the Nigerian border, the government and local sources said Monday.

“A garrison housing more than 200 soldiers was targeted by members of Boko Haram” late on Sunday, a local source told AFP.

The presidency said in a statement that the attack struck near Ngouboua in the west of the country, “tragically leaving about 40 people dead.”

Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno visited the scene early on Monday and launched an operation “to go after the attackers and track them down in their furthest hideouts”, the statement added.

The attack struck at 10:00 pm local time (2100 GMT), local sources told AFP.

“Boko Haram members took control of the garrison, seized the weapons, burnt vehicles equipped with heavy arms, and left,” said one local source, who asked not to be named.

A vast expanse of water and swamps, Lake Chad’s countless islets serve as hideouts for jihadist groups, such as Boko Haram and its offshoot Islamic State in West Africa (ISWAP), who make regular attacks on the countries’ army and civilians.

Boko Haram launched an insurgency in Nigeria in 2009, leaving more than 40,000 people dead and displacing two million, and the organization has since spread to neighboring countries.

In March 2020, the Chadian army suffered its biggest ever one-day losses in the region, when around 100 troops died in a raid on the lake’s Bohoma peninsula.

The attack prompted then-president Idriss Deby Itno — the current president’s father — to launch an anti-jihadist offensive.

In June, the International Office for Migration (IOM) recorded more than 220,000 people displaced by attacks from armed groups in Lake Chad province.
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Cairo — Fighters from the notorious paramilitary Rapid Support Forces ran riot in east-central Sudan in a multi-day attack that killed more than 120 people in one town, a doctors group and the United Nations said.  

It was the group’s latest attack against the Sudanese military after suffering a series of setbacks, losing ground to the military in the area. The war, which has been going on for more than a year and a half, has wrecked the African country, displacing millions of its population and pushing it to the brink of a full-blown famine.  

RSF fighters went on a rampage in villages and towns on the eastern and northern sides of the province of Gezira between Oct. 20-25, shooting at civilians and sexually attacking women and girls, the United Nations said in a statement Saturday, adding that they looted private and public properties, including open markets.  

The attack displaced more than 4,000 people in the city of Tambiuk and other villages in eastern Gezira, according to the International Organization for Migration’s Tracking Matrix.  

“The killings and appalling human rights violations in Gezira province intensify the unacceptable human toll this conflict has taken on the people of Sudan,” IOM Director General Amy Pope told The Associated Press ahead of her trip to the country next week.  

She called for concerted international efforts to stop the conflict, saying: “There is no time to lose. Millions of lives are in the balance.”  

“These are atrocious crimes,” Clementine Nkweta-Salami, U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, said in a statement on Saturday. “Women, children, and the most vulnerable are bearing the brunt of a conflict that has already taken far too many lives.”  

She said the attacks resembled the horrors committed during the Darfur genocide in the early 2000s, including rape, sexual violence, and mass killings.  

The RSF was born out of Arab militias, commonly known as Janjaweed, mobilized by ex-Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir against populations in Darfur that identify as Central or East African. At the time, the Janjaweed were accused of mass killings, rapes and other atrocities, and Darfur became synonymous with genocide. Janjaweed groups still aid the RSF.  

The Sudanese Doctors’ Union said in a statement that at least 124 people were killed and 200 others were wounded in the town of Sariha, adding that the group rounded up at least 150 others. It called on the U.N. Security Council to pressure the RSF to open “safe corridors” to enable aid groups to reach people in impacted villages.  

“There is no way to help the injured or evacuate them for treatment,” the statement said.  

Footage circulating online, some shared by RSF fighters themselves, showed members of the paramilitary group abusing detained people. One video showed a man wearing a military uniform grabbing an old man by the chin and dragging him around as other armed men chanted in the background.  

The RSF didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.  

The Coordination of Civilian Democratic Forces, an alliance of pro-democracy parties and groups, also accused the RSF of storming villages, and opening fire on civilians as well as rounding up and mistreating “a large number of residents.”  

In a statement, the alliance held the RSF “responsible for these massive violations,” and called for holding the preparators accountable.

The attack on Gezira came as the military had successfully taken back areas held by the RSF.  

In September, the military launched a massive operation in and around the capital city of Khartoum, reclaiming large swaths of areas from the RSF. Also, earlier this month, it seized control of Jebel Moya, a strategic mountainous area in Gezira province, as well as areas in Gezira and nearby Sinnar province, driving out RSF forces.  

In October, a top RSF commander, Abu Aqlah Keikel, the de facto ruler of Gezira, defected and surrendered himself to the military.  

That prompted RSF fighters to attack villages and towns in Gezira seen as loyal to Keikel, according to local reports.  

The war in Sudan began in April 2023 when simmering tensions between the military and the RSF exploded into open fighting in Khartoum, before spreading across the country.

The war has been marked by atrocities such as mass rape and ethnically motivated killings. The U.N. and international rights groups say these acts amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, particularly in the western region of Darfur, which has been facing a bitter onslaught by the RSF.

The conflict has killed more than 24,000 people so far, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, a group monitoring the conflict since it started.
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Merzouga, Morocco — In Morocco’s southeastern desert, a rare downpour has brought lakes and ponds back to life, with locals — and tourists — hailing it as a gift from the heavens. 

In Merzouga, a tourist town about 600 kilometers southeast of the capital, Rabat, the once-parched golden dunes are now dotted with replenished ponds and lakes. 

“We’re incredibly happy about the recent rains,” said Youssef Ait Chiga, a local tour guide leading a group of German tourists to Yasmina Lake nestled amid Merzouga’s dunes. 

Khalid Skandouli, another tour guide, said the rain has drawn even more visitors to the tourist area, now particularly eager to witness this odd transformation. 

With him, Laetitia Chevallier, a French tourist and regular visitor to the region, said the rainfall has proved a “blessing from the sky.” 

“The desert became green again, the animals have food again, and the plants and palm trees came back to life,” she said. 

Locals told AFP the basin had been barren for nearly 20 years. 

But this September, torrential rains triggered floods in southern parts of Morocco, killing at least 28 people, according to authorities. 

The rare heavy rains come as the North African kingdom grapples with its worst drought in nearly 40 years, threatening its economically crucial agriculture sector. 

Last year was Morocco’s driest in 80 years, with a 48% drop in rainfall, according to an October report from the General Directorate of Meteorology. 

Neighboring Algeria saw similar rain and flooding in early September, killing six people. 

North African countries currently rank among the world’s most water-stressed, according to the World Resources Institute, a nonprofit research organization. 

The kingdom’s meteorological agency described the recent massive rainfall as exceptional. 

It attributed it to an unusual shift of the intertropical convergence zone, the equatorial region where winds from the northern and southern hemispheres meet, causing thunderstorms and heavy rainfall. 

“Everything suggests that this is a sign of climate change,” Fatima Driouech, a Moroccan climate scientist, told AFP. “But it’s too early to say definitively without thorough studies.” 

Experts say climate change is making extreme weather events, such as storms and droughts, more frequent and intense. 

In Morocco’s south, the rains have helped partially fill some reservoirs and replenish groundwater aquifers. 

But for those levels to significantly rise, experts say the rains would need to continue over a longer period of time. 

The rest of the country is still grappling with drought, now in its sixth year and jeopardizing the agricultural sector that employs more than a third of Morocco’s workforce. 

Jean Marc Berhocoirigoin, a 68-year-old French tourist, said he was surprised to find Yasmina Lake replenished. 

“I felt like a kid on Christmas morning,” he said. “I hadn’t seen these views for 15 years.” 

Water has also returned to other desert areas such as Erg Znaigui, about 40 kilometers south of Merzouga, AFP reporters saw. 

Last week, Morocco’s meteorological agency said such downpours could become increasingly frequent, “driven partly by climate change as the intertropical convergence zone shifts further north.” 
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KAMPALA, UGANDA — A Ugandan court sentenced former Lord’s Resistance Army commander Thomas Kwoyelo to 40 years in prison on Friday.

In August, the Ugandan International Crimes Division found Kwoyelo guilty on 44 charges, including murder, pillaging, inhumane acts and gender-based violence such as rape. Lawyers for Kwoyelo, 50, said he is going to appeal the sentence.

Francis Okello Oloya, a psychologist and head of a comfort dog project in Gulu for LRA war survivors, was blinded by a bomb blast at the age of 12 during Uganda’s war against the rebels. He told VOA that he welcomes the court process but that the sentence doesn’t satisfy him or other survivors.

“The perpetrator needed to ask for forgiveness and reconciliation with his heart,” Oloya said, adding, “He will be serving his jail terms, but what benefits will the victims get?”

In reading out the sentence, Justice Duncan Gaswaga emphasized that there is no chance Kwoyelo will be released early on parole. “This sentence also excludes a possibility of rehabilitation, reconciliation and reform of the convict, and concentrates on punishment, retribution and deterrence,” he said.

The judges also highlighted Kwoyelo’s guilt on the rape charges.

Susan Aceng Oroma, the project officer for the Foundation for Justice and Development Initiative, a nongovernmental organization that works to promote justice and economic recovery in northern Uganda, said she was happy to hear the judges focus on gender-based violence.

“Looking at the magnitude of the offenses he committed, he deserved the sentencing,” she said.

However, Angelo Izama, a Ugandan international crimes analyst, argued that Kwoyelo should not have been put on trial.

He said that the best method to resolve Kwoyelo’s case would have been to put him under the local Matoput process. That would have led to reconciliation and forgiveness, which he said cannot be achieved by law or force of arms.

“Kwoyelo has been sort of a stand-in character for the northern Uganda conflict,” Izama said. “He is the most visible remaining member of the LRA to be put forward to answer for the crimes of that organization. But you have to recall that the conflict in the north took place over 20 years. And the atrocities were on all sides of that conflict.”

Meanwhile, LRA leader Joseph Kony remains wanted by the International Criminal Court on dozens of war crimes charges but has not been confirmed alive for years.
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Yaounde — Officials in Chad are stepping up efforts to connect the central African state to a regional fiber-optic network after cable breakages caused by flooding in neighboring Cameroon caused a protracted internet blackout.

Authorities in the country have been unable to reestablish internet connections since the blackout began 10 days ago. 

The central African state lost internet access when fiber-optic cables in Cameroon, the southern neighbor via which landlocked Chad is digitally networked, saw cables washed out by flooding. 

Chadian officials told VOA on Friday that European Union and African Development Bank officials this week agreed to intensify efforts to get Chad hooked up to the trans-Saharan fiber-optic network via Niger, Cameroon’s neighbor to the west. 

Brahim Abdelkerim, secretary general of Chad’s ministry of telecommunications, said that by February 2025, there will no longer be frustrations as a result of regular internet disruptions that paralyze businesses in Chad. He said Chad and Niger governments have made firm commitments to supervise the project to completion. 

Speaking with VOA Friday by messaging app from Chad’s capital, N’djamena, Abdelkerim said Chad will lay some 500 kilometers of cable from N’djamena to the Niger border. 

The ADB said the EU will give 31.4 million dollars and the ADB will provide the other 55 million needed to complete the project.  

Chad was already projected to be a part of the trans-Saharan fiber-optic network, more than 1,500 kilometers long, that will eventually stretch through Chad, Algeria, Niger and Nigeria. 

The four countries say the project will create jobs and opportunities to generate income and reduce chronic rural poverty, especially among youths. 

Sona Jarosova, head of the EU political mission to Chad, said Friday on Chad state TV that connecting Chad to the Trans-Saharan fiber-optic network will reduce or stop regular blackouts caused by disruptions in Cameroon, which is the only country that connects landlocked Chad to the internet. She said the alternative connection will remove Chad from its present digital isolation. 

Jarosova said improved internet development will support the economy by improving infrastructure, trade and connectivity between North, West and Central Africa, and eventually the entire African continent. 

The International Telecommunications Union reports that the internet penetration rate in Africa was less than 40% in 2023, with sub-Saharan Africa — where Chad, Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon are located — suffering regular internet blackouts due to old equipment and electricity outages.
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Many Nigerians are objecting to a bill that would create an armed unit for the Federal Road Safety Corps. The FRSC says the bill, if passed, would ensure the security of its facilities and officers, and that members of the squad would not be deployed on traffic patrols. But rights activists are calling for the bill to be rejected saying it could lead to intimidation, extortion, and brutality. Timothy Obiezu reports from Lagos.
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Nigeria has released on humanitarian grounds an American citizen held for the past eight months on cryptocurrency money laundering accusations.

“I am pleased that American citizen and former U.S. law enforcement official Tigran Gambaryan has been released on humanitarian grounds by the Nigerian Government and is on his way back to the United States so that he can receive needed medical attention,” U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement.

“I am grateful to my Nigerian colleagues and partners for the productive discussions that have resulted in this step and look forward to working closely with them on the many areas of cooperation and collaboration critical to the bilateral partnership between our two countries.”

Gambaryan was the chief compliance officer for Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.

Nigeria accused Gambaryan and Binance of using Binance’s platform to launder as much as $35 million, something Gambaryan and Binance have denied.

Earlier this week, a prosecuting lawyer with Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission told Nigeria’s Federal High Court that the government was ending the case against Gambaryan after “taking into consideration some critical international and diplomatic reasons.”

Gambaryan’s health declined in the months following his arrest. Reuters reports that his wife, Yuki, was concerned that his deteriorating condition could “leave permanent damage and affect his ability to walk.”

Binance is facing additional charges, including suspicion of tax evasion and operating without a license.

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press and Reuters.
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LUSAKA, ZAMBIA — Critics are accusing Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema of interference after he fired three constitutional court judges on Sunday over a 2016 ruling that favored a political opponent.

Hichilema fired the judges on the recommendation of a judicial commission that enforces a code of conduct for judges. Hichilema alleged that the judges engaged in misconduct over a ruling they made when he was opposition leader in 2016.

Back then, Hichilema had run for president but lost to a sworn rival, Edgar Lungu. Hichilema contested the outcome. Judges Mungeni Mulenga, Palan Musonda and Annie Sitali rejected the legal challenge.

The now-dismissed judges also issued a ruling allowing Lungu to run again in 2021, despite his having served twice as president. Lungu was president from 2015 to 2016, then served a full term from 2016 to 2021.

Zambian presidents are limited to serving two five-year terms.

The decision to fire the judges sparked controversy as it comes ahead of the 2026 general elections. Hichilema and Lungu are expected to face each other for a fourth time.

Laura Miti, a human rights activist and political commentator, told VOA the president’s decision to fire the judges raises questions as to why he waited until now to act. Miti said disciplinary action should have been taken much earlier to avoid accusations of interference in the judicial system.

“The position people are taking depends on their political leanings,” she said. “There are those who say it’s legal, the president has not broken any rules or any laws in firing these judges.

“On the other hand, there are those like myself who feel that because he is the person against whom this judgment went, using executive powers for what is [his] personal interest, is problematic,” Miti said.

During an interview with the state broadcaster, former Zambian Vice President Nevers Mumba defended the dismissals of the constitutional court judges.

“None of us is exempted from scrutiny, and if we see that some people have questions that they must answer, I think that the president has the responsibility to release that information,” Mumba said.

But Makebi Zulu, who is Lungu‘s lawyer, condemned the firing of the judges, describing it as illegal.

“The executive cannot be seen to be wanting to correct judgments of the courts,” Zulu said. “They have no such jurisdiction because our legal system is created in such a way that there has to be consistency in the decisions that are being made. Decisions have to be consistent for the purposes of inspiring hope, inspiring trust in our judicial system.”

In an interview with VOA, presidential aide Clayson Hamasaka defended the dismissal of the judges, citing constitutional powers granted to the president.

The judges have not yet commented on the matter publicly.

Zambia‘s chief government spokesperson, Cornelius Mweetwa, told VOA that while the judiciary in Zambia enjoys a measure of independence, such autonomy comes with limits.

“The president is acting within the precincts of the law because the constitution provides that upon recommendation from the Judicial Complaints Commission, the president shall remove the judges,” he said. “That is exactly what he has done. It is upholding the rule of law and nothing to do with undermining judicial independence.”

Zambia’s Judicial Complaints Commission enforces the code of conduct for judges.

Under Zambia’s constitution, all judges, including the chief justice, are appointed by the president upon the recommendation of the Judicial Service Commission and with the approval of the National Assembly.
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