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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Port Sudan, Sudan — Sudan’s de facto leader, army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, received an Iranian ambassador Sunday and sent his own to Tehran, the government said, cementing a rapprochement after an eight-year rupture.

Sudan and Iran agreed last October to resume diplomatic relations, as the army-aligned government scrambled for allies during its war with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). 

The Sudanese government, loyal to the army in its 15-month fight against the RSF, announced in a statement that Burhan had received Tehran’s new ambassador Hassan Shah Hosseini in Port Sudan. 

The Red Sea city has become Sudan’s de facto seat of government since Khartoum became wracked by fighting. 

This is “the beginning of a new phase in the course of bilateral relations between the two countries,” foreign ministry undersecretary Hussein al-Amin said as Burhan sent off Sudan’s new ambassador to Iran, Abdelaziz Hassan Saleh. 

Sudan broke off relations with Iran in 2016 in a show of solidarity with Saudi Arabia, after the kingdom’s embassy in Tehran was attacked following the Saudi execution of a prominent Shiite cleric. 

Several Saudi allies in the region also cut ties with Iran at the time. 

In March 2023, however, Riyadh and Tehran announced the restoration of their relations following an agreement brokered by China. 

Iran has since moved to cement or restore relations with neighboring Arab countries.  

Since Sudan’s war began in April 2023, several foreign powers have supported rival forces.  

In December, Sudan expelled diplomats from the United Arab Emirates on allegations that the Gulf state was funneling weapons to the RSF. 

The UAE has denied taking sides in the conflict. 

Egypt and Turkey have backed the army. 

The United States in February voiced concern at reported arms shipments by Washington’s foe Iran to Sudan’s military. 

Around that time, the army recovered some territory after months of defeats at the hands of the RSF. 

Sudan has also recently drawn closer to Russia, which experts say has reconsidered its previous relationship with the RSF, with which it had links through the mercenary Wagner group. 

Sudan under former strongman Omar al-Bashir, who was toppled in 2019, developed close relations with Iran’s clerical state. 

The war in Sudan has killed tens of thousands of people, with some estimates placing the death toll as high as 150,000, according to the U.S. envoy to Sudan, Tom Perriello. 

It has also created the world’s worst displacement crisis — with more than 11 million uprooted, according to the United Nations — and brought the country to the brink of famine. 
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