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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NGOZI, Burundi — The hug between the two women looked like it would last forever. A spirited 85-year-old had embraced a younger woman she hadn’t seen for months, and she chanted a number of questions in the peculiar yodeling routine of her ancestors. 

How are you? How is your husband? How are the kids? How are your cows? Are you on good terms with your neighbors? 

And so on. 

Prudencienne Namukobwa paused in the melody to allow the younger woman’s rhythmic affirmation, a pattern she has mastered over the decades. 

“Ego,” Emelyne Nzeyimana replied over and over in the local Kirundi language. “Yes.” 

A group of neighbors watched in amazement. Many were seeing their first performance of the traditional form of musical greeting, known to Burundians as akazehe. It is performed exclusively by women on a range of occasions. 

But akazehe is fading, despite its unique status in this central African country that is better known for its world-famous percussionists. That’s according to cultural officials, teachers and others who say the practice is worth preserving. 

They cited the threat from public health measures that discourage unnecessary contact during disease outbreaks, in addition to the perceived failure to promote akazehe among school-going youth. 

Among young Burundians, it is hard to find people who know what akazehe means and even harder to find someone who can perform it. 

“At a certain time, unfortunately, it was abandoned,” said Sandrine Kitonze, a culture adviser in the office of the governor of Ngozi province. 

She said akazehe and its minutes-long embrace “made you feel that the person who greets you loves you.” 

Some academics have noted akazehe’s potential role in fostering social cohesion in Burundi, which is now largely peaceful after a period of deadly civil war followed by political instability. 

Annonciate Baragahorana, a teacher in the province of Bujumbura, which includes the commercial capital, told The Associated Press that while she was not born in a place where akazehe was widely practiced, she was astonished as a young girl when women embraced and addressed her in the polyphonic way during visits to other regions. 

“The women who often did this lived in the central plateau provinces. When we went there during the holidays, a woman from the interior of the country kissed you strongly while wishing you wonders and she hugged you for a long time,” she said with a chuckle. “I wanted her to finish quickly, even if it was sweet words to hear.” 

Baragahorana said she feared “tenderness in social relationships will disappear” among Burundians amid threats from contagious diseases such as COVID-19 and mpox. 

“People greet each other from a distance for fear of contaminating each other,” she said. “This will contribute enormously to the demise of akazehe.” 

In Ngozi, a hilly province in Burundi’s north, akazehe remains familiar to some locals, and women such as Namukobwa are impressive at performing it. 

She lives in a decaying house set in the side of a verdant hill. One recent morning, she was sitting on a mat outside when she glimpsed Nzeyimana, the visiting daughter of a former neighbor. She overcame her bad hip to rise and welcome the woman, whom she addressed as if she were her biological daughter. 

“I felt that the first love she had when I was just a girl is kept until now,” said Nzeyimana, a broadcaster in Ngozi. “This means that I am still her daughter.” 

Akazehe can seem like a race to perfect accord, a search for harmony, in the interwoven vocalizations. While most questions are routine, some can be unexpected. Nzeyimana said afterward that she had been anxious over possibly facing a question for which she was not ready with a positive response. There was none. 

Serena Facci, an Italian scholar at the University of Rome Tor Vergata who has written about akazehe, said that even by 1993, when she went to Burundi for research in ethnomusicology, “this beautiful female greeting wasn’t very common in the ordinary life.” Its continuing disappearance could be due to changing lifestyles, she said. 

A custom such as akazehe should be preserved at all costs because of its role in protecting families, said Isaac Nikobiba, an anthropologist in Bujumbura. Among communities that practiced it, women could alert mother figures to any turbulence at home, triggering supportive measures from the extended family, he said. 

Nikobiba called the potential disappearance of akazehe symptomatic of wider cultural losses stemming from modernization. 

“Normally, before starting a home in traditional Burundi, the girl would first receive advice from her paternal aunt who would tell her, ‘I will come to greet you after a certain time. If you notice an anomaly in the home, you will have to tell me everything,’” he said. “In short, if she does not find someone to whom she can confide her marital intimacies, she spends all the time in a very bad psychological atmosphere.” 

Floride Ntakirutimana was among the small group of women who gathered to witness the spectacle of Namukobwa greeting Nzeyimana. She said she grew up in a farming community where no mother could perform akazehe, and only heard of it through radio programs. 

The exchange she watched left her feeling she wanted to learn akazehe herself. 

“I feel better, and I saw that it was good,” Ntakirutimana said.
…

Nairobi, Kenya — Human Rights Watch is calling out the government of Burkina Faso for failing to include human rights violations taking place in the country in a report to the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights.

Burkinabe authorities, security forces and terror groups are all accused of widespread abuses against civilians and restrictions on people’s rights and freedoms.

The commission requires member states to report on the human rights situation in their countries and the measures taken by the authorities to address the abuses. The last report covers 2015 to 2021 and was reviewed Wednesday.

Allan Ngari, HRW’s Africa advocacy director, said Burkina Faso’s reporting does not cover more recent abuses in the country.

“The report falls short of a number of human rights violations that we have been documenting as Human Rights Watch between 2021 to 2024, so this information is not readily available for the commission at this point,” Nagari said, adding that the group has shared reports with the commission to take recent years into consideration.

Local and international human rights groups say widespread human rights violations are taking place in the country as the military government wrestles with insecurity caused by Islamist extremist groups.

The rights groups say abuses by the government and military include arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearance, torture, and interference with the judiciary and media.

The Islamist groups are also accused of serious abuses against civilians, including summary executions, sexual violence, abductions, and besieging towns and villages across the country.

Burkina Faso’s report to the commission says the government has established a panel to investigate and prosecute terrorism acts, observe detainees’ rights and train its security forces in international human rights and humanitarian law to prevent abuse.

Paul Ogendi teaches law at the University of Nairobi and is a human rights expert attached to the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights. He said periodic reporting of the human rights situation in a given country can help the country improve its record and save lives.

“The reporting obligation is very important to help the country adhere to the African charter or comply with the obligation under the African charter,” Ogendi said. “When you do not report, then it’s very hard for the commission through its mandate to help you as a country improve on aspects where there might be weaknesses.”

Ngari said people in Burkina Faso continue to face abuses but there are also other concerns. Those include safeguarding civic space for activists and journalists and political opposition who have been targeted by the state and “disappeared” but were forced to join the front lines of battle against Islamic armed groups.

“People who have no training in military operations and yet are put on the front line,” Ngari said. “So we are urging the commission to take into cognizance these anomalies and violations of the African Charter and to ask the government of Burkina Faso to pursue accountability for serious abuses.”

Ogendi explained which actions the commission can take against a country that fails to comply.

“Most of the action is taken for the head of states to take note of what is happening and perhaps in some cases urge the state to be compliant with the obligations under the African Charter,” Ogendi said. “But I have also seen a situation where the commission can have a mission in those countries or they can have advocacy visits to try to talk to the head of states of those who are responsible.”

Last year, the commission wrote to Burkina Faso following the killing of civilians in Namentenga and Yatenga province to initiate an investigation and ensure the protection of civilians.
…

Kenya’s impeached Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua told reporters Sunday that his security protection team had been withdrawn, and he warned that should anything happen to him, President William Ruto should be held responsible. Juma Majanga reports from Nairobi, Kenya.
…

Tunisian President Kais Saied was inaugurated for a second term following a tumultuous first term in which he suspended parliament, jailed his critics and rewrote the country’s constitution.

In his inaugural address Monday before parliament, Saied called for a “cultural revolution” designed to fight terrorism, reduce unemployment and erase corruption.

“The aim is to build a country where everyone can live in dignity,” he said.

Saied won a little more than 90% of the votes, but that triumph was spoiled by a reported low voter turnout of 28.8%.

Out of 14 presidential hopefuls, only three ended up on the ballot: One was in prison, one was a close acquaintance of Saied, and the third was Saied.

Saied rose to power in 2019 when he mounted a presidential campaign with very little money and a populist message of rooting out cronyism and returning power to the people, a notion that resonated with an electorate fed up with years of dysfunctional governance.

However, in 2021, Saied suspended parliament, rewrote the North African country’s constitution, increased presidential powers and reduced legislative ones.

A crackdown on the opposition followed. Under his presidency, authorities detained or imprisoned dozens of opposition politicians, activists and journalists, dismissed judges and prosecutors, and weakened free expression and judicial independence. Even though the president also cracked down on corruption, analysts say new forms found root and flourished.

Earlier this year, Tunisia renewed the crackdown on protesters who denounced what they said was their country’s deteriorating economic and political state.

Meanwhile, Bassam Khawaja, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch, said Tunisian officials have “systematically” placed “obstacle after obstacle in the way of a fair election and opposition candidates being able to campaign for president freely.” Khawaja said that “after mass arrests and targeting prospective contenders,” Tunisian authorities changed “the electoral law just days before the election, cutting off avenues for meaningful oversight and appeal.”

On Tuesday, the lawyer for imprisoned opposition presidential candidate Ayachi Zammel told Agence France-Presse that Zammel has received more time, increasing his sentence to more than 30 years.

After Zammel’s arrest, the European Union condemned what it called “a continued limitation of democratic space in Tunisia.”

The EU’s criticism also came after Tunisia’s election board ignored a court decision that granted the appeals of three other presidential candidates to have their names in the race.

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
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Ethiopia’s state-owned telecommunications company has started selling shares to the public, in a move aimed at establishing a new national stock market and giving Ethiopians a stake in the company, one of the country’s largest and most profitable.

Ethio Telecom will be the first company listed on the new Ethiopian Securities Exchange, or ESX, which is set to begin operating in November. It will be the country’s first stock market since the 1970s.

Ethiopia Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said last Wednesday that the 130-year-old Ethio Telecom is offering 10% of its shares to the public, 100 million shares in all.

Investors, who must be Ethiopian nationals, can buy up to 3,333 shares of the company at a price of 300 birr, or about $2.50 per share.  

CEO Frehiwot Tamiru said the company will now be called Ethio Telecom PLC.

“Today marks a significant milestone as we launch the sale of Ethio Telecom shares, an essential step in our ongoing journey from political revolution to evolution over the past six years,” Abiy said in a post on X.

He said offering the shares lays “the groundwork for Ethiopia’s stock market and expanding access to ownership in one of the nation’s leading state-owned enterprises, which has now evolved into a share company.”

Ethiopia, once a communist country aligned with the Soviet Union, has gradually allowed greater foreign investment and has slowly privatized state companies, though the government still owns and controls key banking, telecom and transportation firms.

Not everyone sees the sale of Ethio Telecom shares as a sure winner for the Ethiopian public. Ethiopian economist and the executive director of Initiative Africa, Kibur Gena, is concerned that only wealthy Ethiopians will be able to invest in the company.

“This raises questions, in my opinion, of fairness and inclusivity,” he said.  “Such a move might provide, of course, immediate financial benefits to the government; it could also perpetuate inequalities in wealth distribution and restrict, of course, broader public participation in national assets.”

Kibur argues that this approach to privatization could lead to a “deeper wealth gap” and make it harder for the majority of Ethiopians to gain access to economic opportunities.’

“This would certainly contradict the principles of economic equity, which many argue that, when you sell public assets or public resources, they should be distributed more widely to ensure that economic benefits reach marginalized or less affluent groups.”

Ethio Telecom sees it differently.  To help ensure that the share sale is inclusive, investors can buy as few as 33 shares, purchasable for 9,900 birr ($82), according to a company post on Facebook.

However, many Ethiopians don’t even earn $82 in a month, according to World Bank data.

Asked why the privatization of state companies have been slow in Ethiopia, Kibur said it can be seen as a “pragmatic strategy to protect national development goals” and “maintain economic sovereignty.”

“In many ways, privatization may eventually happen and it is happening,’’ he said. ‘’Many economists would argue that it should be done gradually with strong regulatory frameworks in place so that it can ensure that it contributes to long-term development and social stability rather than short-term market efficiency.”

Abiy said Ethio Telecom generated about $829 million in revenue and $239 million in profit during 2023, noting the amount is the most income generated for the state, compared to all other domestic and foreign companies operating in Ethiopia, including commercial banks, combined.

“We are doing this so that people could have confidence in it and join the stock market but it would have continued to be profitable even if we didn’t sell shares,” the prime minister said.

Abiy hinted the government may offer more stakes for sale.

“The sale of shares that we started with Ethio Telecom may continue with Ethiopian Airlines, with hotels and other sectors,” he said.

This story originated in VOA’s Horn of Africa Service. 
…

Washington — Global internet freedom has declined for the 14th straight year, according to Freedom House’s Freedom on the Net 2024 report. VOA’s Philip Alexiou spoke with Elizabeth Sutterlin, a researcher at the advocacy group, on October 21. Sutterlin outlined the various tactics used to crack down on online publishing, including imprisonment and violence. The interview centers on how these issues impact Africa. It has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Elizabeth Sutterlin: This continuing decline in global Internet freedom is largely driven by a worldwide assault on freedom of expression. We saw people face arrest for expressing themselves online in three-quarters of the countries that we cover in the project. And this year, we also saw a record high in people facing physical violence in retaliation for their online activity.

VOA’s Philip Alexiou: Does this sort of thing happen more during election season, or is it always ongoing?

Sutterlin: I think this is always an ongoing issue. But this year, our report really honed in on the rapid series of elections taking place around the world, including in Africa, in places like South Africa and Zimbabwe. And we really observed that these elections have been deepening this crisis. False and misleading claims have sought to undermine the integrity of elections themselves. And there have been efforts to de-legitimize independent fact checkers who are doing essential work to make sure that people who are voting have reliable information to make informed choices about their future.

VOA: What are these countries doing? You look at Zimbabwe, like you mentioned, South Africa. I know you studied a number of other countries in Africa. What are some of the tactics being used and how are people being targeted?

Sutterlin: We’ve seen really a range of tactics deployed to restrict people’s access to information online. Arrests and imprisonment is a really common one in all but one of the countries that we cover in Africa during this year. We saw people arrested or imprisoned for their online expression. One example of this, last October in Angola, an influencer was sentenced to two years in jail and handed a hefty fine for insulting the president in a TikTok video.

But increasingly, during the project, we’ve seen an uptick in the manipulation of the online information space through the use of pro-government commentators and others pushing online narratives. Zimbabwe’s a prominent example of this, as during their elections last August, state media really amplified narratives that discredited both domestic civil society election observers and international groups who reported on the conduct of the elections.

VOA: But there’s also been some improvement by some countries and Zambia, in Africa at least, was one of them. And when you look at that country or some other countries, what are they doing to actually make things better in cutting down on censorship and control?

Sutterlin: Zambia, as you said, saw one of the region’s largest improvements; actually the largest improvement globally this year. And this was really driven by space opening up for online activism. So, although there’s certainly a lot further to go, we continue to see some concerning arrests of people for insulting the president and for other concerning issues. Zambian civil society has really led the way in pushing back against repressive measures. They’ve advocated for the reform of problematic cybercrime laws and took the regulator to court recently after instituting new requirements to collect facial photos and SIM card registration. Civil society’s advocacy and mobilization online has really been a driver of these improvements.

VOA: And when it comes to generative AI, I know we spoke with Freedom House earlier, and the idea was that, at least in the United States, it really wasn’t a problem, even though people used it, it didn’t have much of an influence or much of an effect on people. But is that the case in other countries who try to use generative AI?

Sutterlin: It’s a really important question. In our research this year, we did see generative AI being used frequently to create false or misleading content around elections in particular. We had an example, examples, in South Africa of deepfake videos of celebrities endorsing particular political parties. But one really important caveat in talking about generative AI and its impact on elections is that we just don’t yet understand the technologies’ impact and whether it is making influence operations more persuasive. There’s still a major research gap in this area in how we can assess and study the effectiveness and social impact of these campaigns.

VOA: Is there any one group that tends to be in danger more than the other, or not?

Sutterlin: Yeah, I mean, I think journalists and activists and human rights defenders just doing their work, holding powerful people to account, can definitely put them at risk. But more and more, as countries are continuing to tighten controls on and restrict freedom of expression, we’re seeing this impact on ordinary users. In one example from this year, a teacher in Kenya who made a post in a Facebook group about just the quality of roads in his county was later abducted and beaten. And just really goes to show the brutal consequences that can come from these global trends and that really anyone is at risk.

This story originated in VOA’s English to Africa Service.
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Kampala, Uganda — A Ugandan military tribunal Monday convicted 16 members of an opposition party of “illegal possession of explosive devices and treachery,” according to a defense lawyer, who said the proceedings were suspect.

The prosecution alleged that the 16 members of the National Unity Platform, as well as others still on the run, were found in possession of explosives between November 2020 and May 2021, while elections were under way.

“Circumstances surrounding their plea of guilty to the charges they had denied previously was questionable,” Shamim Malende, a defense lawyer, told AFP.

Former singer and opposition figure Bobi Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, claimed the group had been forced to plead guilty and seek a presidential pardon.

Journalists were barred from attending the session.

The 16 have spent four years in jail, and will appear in court Wednesday for their sentencing.

Uganda has been ruled since 1986 by Yoweri Museveni.

The last presidential elections in 2021 were marred by fraud, and demonstrations against yet another arrest of Bobi Wine were violently repressed by the police, resulting in at least 54 dead.

“Whatever Museveni’s government is doing, one day all those under him including himself will be called to account,” Bobi Wine told AFP, saying the accused had been “blackmailed by state agents.”
…

harare, zimbabwe — Some former commercial farmers in Zimbabwe who were kicked off their land 20-plus years ago say a government offer of compensation is woefully inadequate, and only desperate people will take the offer.

Mthuli Ncube, Zimbabwe’s finance minister, said the government is starting to compensate white commercial farmers whose land was taken during the regime of longtime President Robert Mugabe.

Ncube said $20 million would be shared by 94 foreign investors whose farms were seized in what Mugabe described as land reforms.

The government has promised to pay another $3.5 billion to white Zimbabwean farmers.

“Both payments will start in earnest, and this is a multiyear program, it’s not for one year,” Ncube said. “So every year we have an allocation so that we make payments [to] fulfill the constitutional requirements.”

In the early 2000s, Black farmers displaced about 4,000 white commercial farmers with the blessing of the government, which said the takeovers were meant to correct colonial era imbalances.

In 2013, Zimbabwe enacted a constitution calling for the government to pay the displaced farmers for land improvements. Farmers and the government reached a deal four years ago setting the amount of compensation at $3.5 billion.

Zimbabwe Farmers Union Secretary-General Paul Zakariya said the government should make that promise a reality.

“Now the critical factor remains: Is the money available?” Zakariya said. “And if it is not available, what is being done to ensure that we follow through on the provision of the constitution, as well as the provision of the global compensation agreement?”

Graham Rae, who is now based in Zambia, lost his farm in Zimbabwe. He said he has no faith in Zimbabwe’s promises of compensation, partly because the payment would come in the form of government bonds, which he says have little value.

“My advice to farmers who can hold on to their deeds, hold on to your title deeds,” Rae said. “Your title deeds are legitimate anywhere in the world. We also feel the compensation for just improvements is very, very low.”

Another displaced farmer, Ben Freeth, is also skeptical.

“We’ve heard it all before that government is going to pay out the commercial farmers whose farms were taken over,” Freeth said. “But we realized that government is not in a position to pay out, firstly, but doesn’t really have the will to pay out. … Paying out in government bonds, if that is what they’re going to do, are going to be worthless anyway, and very few people in their right minds will take such payments.”

Kudzai Mutisi, an independent but pro-government commentator, said the government’s decision to compensate the former commercial farmers is wrong.

“There is no justification whatsoever for compensating the former commercial farmers because for decades, they made huge amounts of money from that land,” Mutisi said. “And that land, they acquired these through colonization. They never bought the land. It is something that they acquired through use of brutal force.

“But here we are: A Black government trying to compensate the abuser. It is irrational, it is bizarre and it should be stopped immediately.”

The government says compensating the farmers might help improve relations with Western nations who imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe, in part, because the farmers’ land was confiscated.
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Johannesburg — South Africa’s decision to further downgrade relations with Taiwan, comes as the dominant political party, the African National Congress, or ANC, strives to reassure longtime ally Beijing after the formation of a coalition government, analysts tell VOA.  

South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation confirmed last week it had asked Taiwan to move its unofficial embassy – called the Taipei Liaison Office – out of the capital Pretoria.

In a statement, the department said the liaison office would be rebranded as a trade office and moved to the economic hub of Johannesburg, which would “be a true reflection of the non-political and non-diplomatic nature of the relationship between the Republic of South Africa and Taiwan.”

“This also aligns with standard diplomatic practice that capital cities are the seats of Foreign Embassies and High Commissions,” the statement said. It said the Taiwanese had been given six months to move.

Like most countries, including the U.S., as well as international bodies like the U.N., South Africa does not officially recognize democratically ruled Taiwan, which China’s communist party considers a breakaway province — to be retaken by force if necessary.   

However, Taiwan has had its offices in Pretoria since the late 1990s, which deal with trade and visas. Similar offices in the U.S. and U.K. are both based in those countries’ capitals.

Taiwanese officials told the island’s government-funded Central News Agency, CNA, that they believe South Africa is acting under Chinese pressure, and that they hope the South African government will reconsider. They said they had been directed to move by the end of October.

Officials from the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs also said they would consider reciprocal measures should South Africa insist. Those could include asking South Africa to move its own offices out of Taipei, stricter visas for South Africans, and the suspension of educational exchanges, CNA reported.

For its part, China welcomed the move.

“We commend South Africa’s right decision to move the Taipei Liaison Office in South Africa outside the administrative capital Pretoria,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning. “’Taiwan independence’ finds no support from the people and will only fail.”

Political change

Paul Nantulya, a political analyst with the Africa Center for Strategic Studies in Washington, told VOA he thought there were several reasons for South Africa’s decision.  

In May, the most pivotal elections since the end of apartheid 30 years ago saw the ANC lose their absolute majority for the first time. The liberation party — which had Chinese support during its fight against white minority rule — was forced to form a Government of National Unity with opposition parties that did not necessarily share its relationship to Beijing or its foreign policy objectives.

The ANC has been at pains to “reassure the Chinese side that relations between the ANC and the CCP would continue, regardless of the drastically changed political environment in South Africa,” Nantulya said.

“So we’ve seen the ANC really, really pushing to preserve that relationship, to persuade the Chinese that it is still a reliable partner,” he said.

A South African delegation that went to a major China-Africa forum in Beijing last month included members of the Democratic Alliance, or DA, which used to be South Africa’s main opposition but has since joined the ANC in the unity government.  

The DA had been critical of South Africa’s close relations with China in the past, chastising China over human rights and expressing support for Taiwan.

However, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said after the forum that one of his ministers “who initially was not so well disposed to [the] one-China policy, having visited China for the very first time… publicly said that he now subscribes and embraces a one China policy.”

“And President Xi Jinping was rather pleased with that,” said Ramaphosa, who did not name the minister but was widely believed to be referring to DA leader John Steenhuisen.

Under pressure

However, after last week’s announcement that South Africa had ordered Taiwan to move its liaison office, the DA put out a statement expressing concern.  

“We have not been provided with any motivation that justifies a unilateral change to the terms of our bilateral framework with Taiwan,” the DA said.

“It is clear that pressure is being brought to bear on Pretoria by external actors in the context of both broader geopolitical tensions, and the newly formed Government of National Unity (GNU),” the statement added.

For decades Chinese pressure on the African continent to adhere to the One-China policy has yielded results. Now only one country in the region supports Taiwan: the small kingdom of Eswatini.

“What we are seeing is China flexing its might and actually pushing… one could say they are bullying African countries towards not recognizing Taiwan,” Sanele Sibiya, an economics lecturer at the University of Eswatini, told VOA.

Sibiya noted South Africa was not the first country to push Taiwanese officials out of its capital.  

Another African economic powerhouse, Nigeria, ordered Taiwan to move out of the capital Abuja in 2017, reportedly under pressure from China. The office was moved to economic hub Lagos, despite protests from Taipei.

China is Africa’s biggest trade partner and has invested heavily in the continent since the advent of Xi’s global infrastructure policy the Belt and Road Initiative over a decade ago. At the September forum Xi pledged $51 billion in funding to Africa.   

Recently, China has been flexing its muscles regarding Taiwan. Last week it deployed fighter jets and warships to encircle the island as part of military drills that were condemned by the U.S. as “disproportionate.”
…

Female banana farmers in northern Malawi have found a creative solution to combat the impacts of climate change, which have recently devastated their crops. They are making wine from overripe bananas that go bad because of extreme conditions. With support from the COMSIP Cooperative Union, the initiative serves as a unique example of how communities in Malawi are innovatively addressing the effects of climate change. Lameck Masina reports from Karonga district in northern Malawi.
…

Somalia’s Information Ministry said Saturday the country’s military is targeting al-Shabab militants in the Galmudug region of central Somalia and is making progress in eroding the group’s operational effectiveness. 

In a coordinated military operation, the Somali National Army, or SNA, supported by Galmudug State forces and pro-government local clan militias, killed 30 al-Shabab militants and injured dozens more, according to a government statement released Saturday.   

“The Somali National Army killed 30 al-Shabab militants and injured 40 others after conducting an operation at the Qeycad location in the southern Mudug region for the past 48 hours,” the statement reads. 

Somali authorities say the operation was conducted after the army received intelligence regarding al-Shabab militants’ maneuvers in the region. 

The government says three of its soldiers were injured during the operation.   

Witnesses in Qeycad, near Ba’adweyn town in the Mudug region, said an intense gunbattle between the two sides lasted several hours, inflicting substantial damage on the militants.   

“The fight lasted for hours, and the terrorists were heavily damaged, and the Somali National Army took over the area, and the group’s strongholds in the area were also destroyed during the operation,” the government statement said.   

During the engagement, several al-Shabab commanders surrendered to the SNA. Among those were two significant militant leaders, “Mohamed Bashir Muse and Madey Fodey,” according to the government report. 

This military action follows an incident two days prior when a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vest outside a crowded restaurant in Mogadishu, resulting in the deaths of at least seven people.

The operation also occurred concurrently with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s official visit to Kampala, Uganda, where he aimed to strengthen bilateral relations and enhance regional security cooperation with President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. 

“The president will discuss with his counterpart, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, focusing on strengthening bilateral relations between Somalia and Uganda, fostering enhanced regional security and stability cooperation,” a brief Somali National News Agency announcement stated.   

As Somalia navigates ongoing diplomatic disagreements with Ethiopia — particularly regarding a maritime agreement signed with Somaliland, a breakaway region — its government has sought closer ties with Egypt and Eritrea, both of which have historical disputes with Ethiopia.  

Earlier this month, leaders from Egypt, Somalia, and Eritrea convened in Asmara, reinforcing what analysts describe as an emerging “axis against Ethiopia.” 
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