GABORONE, BOTSWANA — Six southern African countries have voiced disappointment with new efforts by the British Labour Party government to introduce a bill that seeks to ban the importation of wildlife trophies from Africa. Representatives from the six nations have now requested a meeting with British government officials to discuss the issue.

The Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Bill was among a list of proposed laws that went for a first reading in the House of Commons in October. The second reading is in January.

The Labour Party came into power this year promising to eliminate hunting in the United Kingdom within five years.

Steve Reed, the secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, introduced the bill that had collapsed under the Conservative government.

Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe requested an urgent meeting with Reed.

In a letter addressed to him on Monday, the countries’ envoys want to know if the government will support the bill.

U.K.-based Adam Hart, professor and conservation scientist at the University of Gloucestershire in England, says the reintroduction of the bill is counterproductive.

“It is disappointing that the government are bringing the bill back. It is going to waste more parliamentary time,” said Hart. “If it is passed, it will have no conservation benefits whatsoever as has been shown in recent analysis. No hunted species is threatened by trophy hunting. In fact, trophy hunting is instrumental in protecting the habitat and their species in many cases.”

The southern African countries are concerned that a group of animal welfare organizations, some from Africa, support the proposed ban. The nations argue the lobby undermines their position on hunting as the affected countries.

Hart said the meeting between the nations’ representatives and Reed is important.

“It is also disappointing that the government doesn’t seem to want to listen to nations that are much more successful than the U.K., and they are not willing to take the advice of those people or even listen to them,” said Hart. “So hopefully, they will take this meeting, and they will consider what is going on in the nations that the largely populist agenda is going to affect.”

Conservationists opposed to animal hunts argue the killings could drive endangered species to extinction.

Botswana-based conservationist Neil Fitt supports trophy hunting but says it should be done ethically.

“Trophy hunting is a viable contributor to ecosystem management from financial and animal numbers point of view,” said Fitt. “It is definitely a tool which is in the toolbox for management and needs to stay there, provided quotas are issued on a scientific basis. Not all have been in the recent past, and that hunting is undertaken ethically.”

Botswana, with the largest elephant herd in the world at more than 130,000, has been at the forefront of a campaign against efforts by the United Kingdom and other European nations to ban hunting trophies from Africa.

Southern Africa is home to some of the world’s largest wildlife populations, including more than 230,000 elephants.

Fitt said it is up to the southern African countries to convince the U.K. and the rest of the world that trophy hunting is sustainable.

“Should Britain and/or others stop the importation, to be honest, that is absolutely up to them as a sovereign state,” said Fitt. “We as an independent sovereign state do not like to be told what we can do. What we need to do is demonstrate — which I hope the people are trying to do — the viability of it, the ethics and the sustainability for the whole environment of our country and other countries.”

With more than 6.4 million hunters, Europe is a major importer of hunting trophies from Africa.
…

OSHAKATI, Namibia — Namibia’s Vice President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah could become the country’s first female president if she wins the presidential election Wednesday.

At least 1.4 million people, or about half of the population, have registered to vote in the elections, with 15 political parties running for president and seats in the National Assembly.

Results from special early polls held for Namibia ‘s foreign missions, seamen and security services announced by the Electoral Commission of Namibia this month indicate Nandi-Ndaitwah and her party, the South West Africa People’s Organization, or SWAPO, are in the lead.

SWAPO has governed the southwest African country since its independence from South Africa’s apartheid minority government in 1990.

But in 2019, the party lost its two-thirds majority in the National Assembly for the first time since 1994. Its dismal electoral performance has been widely attributed to allegations of corruption and money laundering in the Namibian fishing industry. Two cabinet ministers were arrested, and businessmen connected to the ministers were also convicted and imprisoned.

Political analyst Henning Melber, a professor at the University of Pretoria and the University of the Free State, believes SWAPO and Nandi-Ndaitwah must take the 2019 election results as a warning even though they appear favored to win the elections.

Melber said the party needs to attract support from younger voters who do not feel a link to the party’s history of liberation struggles — a challenge also shared by Africa’s other former liberation movements, such as South Africa’s African National Congress.

“It looks like there is no way back to regain such dominance. The process of erosion of legitimacy as a former liberation movement has advanced too much,” he said.

He added that the “born-frees” — a term for children born after their country’s liberation — will not vote based on emotions like the older generations did, but will do so based on delivery and governance.

Nandi-Ndaitwah, 72, has promised to create more jobs and tackle the 20% unemployment rate for young people and graduates. She has pledged to spend approximately $4.7 billion over the next five years to create more than 500,000 jobs, a goal that her critics call unrealistic.

Issues affecting women, including reproductive rights, equal pay and healthcare, are also likely to rank high for voters.

If she becomes president, Nandi-Ndaitwah would follow in the footsteps of Liberia’s Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who made history when she became the continent’s first elected female president in 2005, as well as Malawi’s Joyce Banda and Samba Pranza of the Central African Republic.

Erika Thomas, a political science lecturer at the University of Namibia, said should Nandi-Ndaitwah be elected as president of Namibia, she must strive to be independent, transparent and accountable.

“She must also try to push for policies and legislation frameworks for women participation and to bring more women into the political structures,” Thomas said.

SWAPO will face competition from the Independent Patriots for Change, led by former dentist Panduleni Itula, and university professor Job Amupanda’s Affirmative Repositioning party.

Political parties contesting the elections wrapped up their campaigns with final rallies this weekend.

Elections in southern Africa this year have delivered ground-breaking changes to the region’s political landscape, with the ANC in South Africa losing its 30-year parliamentary majority and Botswana’s Democratic Party getting unseated after 58 years in power.

In Mauritius, considered one of the most stable democracies in Africa, the opposition won recent elections by a landslide.

Disputed election results in Mozambique, which saw the ruling Frelimo party declared the winner, have led to ongoing protests that have seen at least 30 people killed.
…

NIAMEY, Niger — Thousands from the junta-led countries in Africa’s Sahel region gathered this week in the Nigerien capital of Niamey, with music and cultural displays, to condemn what they called the West’s imperialist agenda and to drive support for their military regimes. 

Delegates from Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali took part in the three-day conference that ended on Thursday. The junta leaders of the three countries are seeking greater popular support after they deposed democratically elected governments and severed ties with longstanding Western partners such as France, their former colonial ruler, with Russia the new preferred partner. 

All three nations are nearing the end of their one-year withdrawal process from the West Africa regional bloc known as ECOWAS, which they accuse of being influenced by France in sanctioning them for the coups and of failing to help address the extremist violence rampant across their shared borders. 

Conference delegates – including pro-junta youth, women and civil society groups as well as allies from across West Africa and beyond — discussed their countries’ sovereignty as well as economic and security partnerships being forged under the bloc of the three junta-led countries known as the Alliance of Sahel States, or AES. 

Major highlights were the three countries’ colors and cultures depicted in the attires and just about everything else as well as music performances and songs, beginning with a pro-junta rendition by Nigerien artiste Idi Sarki, who flashed back to the July 2023 coup in the country. 

“Nigeriens, wake up, we don’t want the French army on our land anymore,” sang Sarki, referring to the French troops asked to leave in the wake of the military takeover in Niger and other countries in the region. 

“After the colonization, it’s recolonization … We’ll have to intervene one way or another if we want our energy and economic sovereignty — we need raw materials from sub-Saharan Africa,” he sang as the ecstatic crowd chorused and waved flags of the three coup-hit countries. 

A women’s music group also performed a song dedicated to African youth. 

“After so many years of suffering, the youths rise today in an awakening of conscience for a fight towards hope and freedom,” said the lead performer, wearing with others a white-and-grey traditional gown and scarf. 

Since the coups, the militaries in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso have promised to help address shortcomings that they said inspired them to take over power, such as the deadly violence and economic hardships faced by their citizens. 

But the problems have persisted, even worsening in some cases. And in Mali where the junta seized power in 2020, the civilian prime minister appointed by the military was fired on Wednesday after he criticized delays in the election that was to usher in a new government. 

Some at the conference, however, expressed optimism that the militaries would deliver long sought-after democratic dividends. 

“How can we live under a so-called democracy, when there are no schools?” asked Ali Moussa, who came from the Central African country of Gabon, where a military junta is also in power. “We think that times have changed, it is no longer the time to talk about democracy,” he said. 

The campaign for sovereignty and anti-imperialism should also extend to other African countries, said Inem Richardson, who came from Burkina Faso where she runs a pan-African library called the Thomas Sankara Center, named for a Marxist military officer who took power in a 1983 coup. 

“All of Africa needs to unite … the masses should be 100% engaged,” Richardson said. 
…

BAKU, AZERBAIJAN — United Nations climate talks adopted a deal to inject at least $300 billion annually in humanity’s fight against climate change, aimed at helping poor nations cope with the ravages of global warming in tense negotiations in the city where industry first tapped oil.

The $300 billion will go to developing countries who need the cash to wean themselves off the coal, oil and gas that causes the globe to overheat, adapt to future warming, and pay for the damage caused by climate change’s extreme weather. It’s not near the full amount of $1.3 trillion that developing countries were asking for, but it’s three times a deal of $100 billion a year from 2009 that is expiring. Some delegations said this deal is headed in the right direction, with hopes that more money flows in the future.

It was not quite the agreement by consensus that these meetings usually operate with and developing nations were livid about being ignored.

COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev gaveled the deal into acceptance before any nation had a chance to speak.

When they did, they blasted him for being unfair to them, the deal for not being enough, and the world’s rich nations for being too stingy.

“It’s a paltry sum,” India negotiator Chandni Raina said, repeatedly saying how India objected to rousing cheers. “I’m sorry to say we cannot accept it.”

She told The Associated Press that she has lost faith in the United Nations system.

Nations express discontent

A long line of nations agreed with India and piled on, with Nigeria’s Nkiruka Maduekwe, CEO of the National Council on Climate Change, calling the deal an insult and a joke.

“I’m disappointed. It’s definitely below the benchmark that we have been fighting for for so long,” said Juan Carlos Monterrey, of the Panama delegation. He noted that a few changes, including the inclusion of the words “at least” before the number $300 billion and an opportunity for revision by 2030, helped push them to the finish line.

“Our heart goes out to all those nations that feel like they were walked over,” he said.

The final package pushed through “does not speak or reflect or inspire confidence and trust that we will come out of this grave problem of climate change,” India’s Raina said.

“We absolutely object to the unfair means followed for adoption,” Raina said. “We are extremely hurt by this action by the president and the secretariat.”

Speaking for nearly 50 of the poorest nations of the world, Evans Davie Njewa of Malawi was more mild, expressing what he called reservations with the deal.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a post on X that he hoped for a “more ambitious outcome.” But he said the agreement “provides a base on which to build.”

Some see deal as relief

There were somewhat satisfied parties, with European Union’s Wopke Hoekstra calling it a new era of climate funding, working hard to help the most vulnerable. But activists in the plenary hall could be heard coughing over Hoekstra’s speech in an attempt to disrupt it.

Eamon Ryan, Ireland’s environment minister, called the agreement “a huge relief.”

“It was not certain. This was tough,” he said. “Because it’s a time of division, of war, of (a) multilateral system having real difficulties, the fact that we could get it through in these difficult circumstances is really important.”

U.N. Climate Change’s Executive Secretary Simon Stiell called the deal an “insurance policy for humanity,” adding that like insurance, “it only works if the premiums are paid in full, and on time.”

The deal is seen as a step toward helping countries on the receiving end create more ambitious targets to limit or cut emissions of heat-trapping gases that are due early next year. It’s part of the plan to keep cutting pollution with new targets every five years, which the world agreed to at the U.N. talks in Paris in 2015.

The Paris agreement set the system of regular ratcheting up climate fighting ambition as away to keep warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The world is already at 1.3 degrees Celsius and carbon emissions keep rising.

Hope more cash will follow

Countries also anticipate that this deal will send signals that help drive funding from other sources, like multilateral development banks and private sources. That was always part of the discussion at these talks — rich countries didn’t think it was realistic to only rely on public funding sources — but poor countries worried that if the money came in loans instead of grants, it would send them sliding further backward into debt that they already struggle with.

“The $300 billion goal is not enough, but is an important down payment toward a safer, more equitable future,” said World Resources Institute President Ani Dasgupta. “This deal gets us off the starting block. Now the race is on to raise much more climate finance from a range of public and private sources, putting the whole financial system to work behind developing countries’ transitions.”

And even though it’s far from the needed $1.3 trillion, it’s more than the $250 billion that was on the table in an earlier draft of the text, which outraged many countries and led to a period of frustration and stalling over the final hours of the summit.

Other deals agreed at COP29

The several different texts adopted early Sunday morning included a vague but not specific reference to last year’s Global Stocktake approved in Dubai. Last year there was a battle about first-of-its-kind language on getting rid of the oil, coal and natural gas, but instead it called for a transition away from fossil fuels. The latest talks only referred to the Dubai deal, but did not explicitly repeat the call for a transition away from fossil fuels.

Countries also agreed on the adoption of Article 6, creating markets to trade carbon pollution rights, an idea that was set up as part of the Paris Agreement to help nations work together to reduce climate-causing pollution. Part of that was a system of carbon credits, allowing nations to put planet-warming gasses in the air if they offset emissions elsewhere. Backers said a U.N.-backed market could generate up to an additional $250 billion a year in climate financial aid.

Despite its approval, carbon markets remain a contentious plan because many experts say the new rules adopted don’t prevent misuse, don’t work and give big polluters an excuse to continue spewing emissions.

“What they’ve done essentially is undermine the mandate to try to reach 1.5,” said Tamara Gilbertson, climate justice program coordinator with the Indigenous Environmental Network. Greenpeace’s An Lambrechts, called it a “climate scam” with many loopholes.

With this deal wrapped up as crews dismantle the temporary venue, many have eyes on next year’s climate talks in Belem, Brazil.
…

JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN — South Sudanese authorities say a confrontation between the People’s Defense Forces and personnel protecting former spy chief General Akol Koor has been resolved peacefully, with both sides reaching an agreement to prevent further conflict. Heavy gunfire echoed for about an hour Thursday night around Koor’s residence in the Thongpiny neighborhood of Juba, creating panic and raising concerns the confrontation between the two sides might escalate.

Major General Lul Ruai Koang, a spokesperson for South Sudan People’s Defense Force, told journalists that the gunfire resulted from a misunderstanding during an operation to relocate Koor to his secondary residence, as directed by President Salva Kiir.

“Let me make it very clear that he was not being effectively placed under house arrest,” Koang said. “He was simply being told to relocate from Thongpiny to Jabal because of the presence of the security forces.”

News agencies report that Koor has been under house arrest since early October when he was fired from the intelligence service. Government officials deny he has been under house arrest.

The gunfire left two servicemen dead, while two civilians were crushed by an armored vehicle, according to Koang. Two others, including a university student, sustained injuries and are receiving medical care.

Koor has since been moved to his residence in Jebel, accompanied by his wife, a single bodyguard, and a cook, under the protection of a senior officer. Authorities say the situation could have been much worse.

Army spokesperson Koang reiterated that Thursday’s gunfire was not planned.

“Nobody had ordered for it,” he said. “It was a misunderstanding, and as a result we are able to successfully resolve it without unnecessary more bloodshed.”

“As South Sudanese, I don’t like this kind of things, I heard too much shooting, and they told me it is next to my residence,” said Steve (not his real name), a Juba resident.

Steve echoed the sentiments of many in Juba who were shaken by Thursday’s events. Concerns over public safety have heightened, especially given the use of heavy weaponry in a residential area.

Investigations into the incident are ongoing, particularly surrounding the decisions leading to the confrontation and the broader implications for governance and security. For now, the People’s Defense Forces assures the public of its readiness to maintain stability.
…

Maputo, Mozambique — The runner-up in Mozambique’s October 9 presidential elections, Venancio Mondlane, has accepted President Filipe Nyusi’s offer to join discussions with him and three other candidates in hopes of ending weeks of postelection protests and violence that have left at least 30 people dead in the southeast African country.

Nyusi called for dialogue during a state-of-the-nation address Tuesday, saying the demonstrations were limiting the activities of companies, stalling shipments from ports and putting people out of work, among other issues that are negatively affecting the nation’s economy.

From his Facebook page, Mondlane said that he had accepted the dialogue offer and that he would submit his proposal on Saturday for an agenda for the talks, which are proposed for Tuesday. There was no indication the other candidates responded to Nyusi’s call. 

Nyusi, who will hand over his office in January to Daniel Chapo if the Constitutional Council confirms the election results, appealed for dialogue with Mondlane along with ruling party candidate Chapo and the two other presidential hopefuls, Ossufo Momade from Renamo and Lutero Simango of the Democratic Movement of Mozambique.

The demonstrations broke out October 24 when the nation’s election commission declared ruling Frelimo party candidate Chapo the winner with nearly 71% of the vote. Mondlane and his Podemos party, who the commission said came in second with 20% of the vote, challenged the vote and called for protests.

The advocacy group Human Rights Watch has reported that while many of the protests have been peaceful, some demonstrators have burned tires and blocked roads. Mozambique security personnel have responded with tear gas, dogs, rubber bullets and, in some cases, live ammunition.

Along with the deaths, Nyusi said, more than 800 people, including 66 security officers, have been injured.

Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other groups have condemned the violent response by the security personnel, as well retaliatory violence by protesters. They have called for the release of those illegally and arbitrarily detained and have called on regional authorities to press the Mozambique government and security forces to respect fundamental human rights. 

VOA’s Jeff Custer contributed to this report. 
…

WASHINGTON — This time last year, American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva was in a Russian prison, jailed on bogus charges.

On Thursday night, free from her ordeal, she accepted a prestigious press freedom award from the Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ, in New York.

“This is a very emotional moment for me. It means so much,” Kurmasheva told VOA shortly before receiving her award. “I will take this opportunity to address the whole world to repeat again that journalism is not a crime and all journalists who are behind bars today should be released at once.”

A dual U.S.-Russian national who works at VOA’s sister outlet Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Prague, Kurmasheva was jailed in Russia for more than nine months on charges widely viewed as politically motivated.

During her acceptance speech, Kurmasheva recounted her experience in prison. “I tried not to look up as the snow was falling because I couldn’t bear seeing the many layers of barbed wire between me and the sky,” she said.

Kurmasheva, American Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and other political prisoners were released from Russia this August in a historic prisoner swap between Moscow and Washington.

“It’s an awesome responsibility to be a beacon of light, and my story is an example of the price that can be paid for reporting the truth,” Kurmasheva said Thursday night.

Kurmasheva is among four journalists CPJ honored with its annual International Press Freedom Awards. The others are Quimy de Leon from Guatemala, Samira Sabou from Niger and Shrouq Al Aila from Gaza.

The awardees come from different parts of the globe, but a common thread is how they have encountered efforts to criminalize journalism, said CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg.

“That’s something that we see increasingly across the world, is the use and abuse of laws to punish journalists for speaking truth to power,” Ginsberg told VOA.

During her acceptance speech, Kurmasheva highlighted her RFE/RL colleagues who are still jailed on charges that are widely viewed as retaliatory.

Journalists Ihar Losik and Andrey Kuznechyk are jailed in Belarus; Vladyslav Yesypenko is jailed in Russia-occupied Crimea; and Farid Mehralizada is jailed in Azerbaijan. RFE/RL rejects the charges against all of them as false.

“My colleagues are not just statistics. Like me, they’re real human beings with families who miss and love them,” Kurmasheva said.

Like Kurmasheva, de Leon and Sabou know all too well the costs that can come with doing their jobs.

Sabou, an investigative journalist, has faced years of legal harassment over her coverage of governance issues in Niger. The reporter has been jailed on multiple occasions, but she still reports.

“What would the world be without the microphones, cameras and pens of journalists?” Sabou said during her acceptance speech.

Late last month, Sabou told VOA that she plans to use the platform from the award to help improve conditions for journalists in her home country.

“It’s a prize for press freedom, so what we plan to do with it is to work justly to improve the press freedom environment,” she said.

De Leon has also faced legal threats and other forms of harassment over her reporting, which focuses on environmental issues and human rights in Guatemala.

“We have taken risks to tell the stories emerging from our realities and to seek truth, even when it means challenging power,” she said Thursday night.

The black-tie gala was hosted this year by John Oliver, who hosts the Emmy-winning satirical news show “Last Week Tonight.”

During his opening remarks, Oliver noted that press freedom experts predict the First Amendment will be under threat in the United States during President-elect Donald Trump’s administration.

“It looks like we are going to be called on to defend journalists and media freedom right here in the United States,” Oliver said.

In Ginsberg’s remarks, she said CPJ will defend journalists wherever they are under threat. “In this moment, we will not be bullied. We will not deviate from our mission, not shrink from the challenges we face, including and especially here in the U.S.,” she said.

Not all of the awardees were able to attend. Al Aila, the Palestinian journalist, was unable to leave Gaza because of the Israel-Hamas war.

The war is the deadliest conflict on record for journalists, according to CPJ data. As of Thursday, at least 137 journalists and media workers were killed in the conflict, including 129 Palestinians, two Israelis and six Lebanese.

“Not only has it been impossible for international journalists to get into Gaza, but increasingly, almost impossible for journalists or anyone else to get out of Gaza,” Ginsberg told VOA. “We are thinking of [Al Aila] and all journalists who are working under unimaginable conditions currently in Gaza.”

Al Aila took charge of the independent production company Ain Media after her husband Roshdi Sarraj, who co-founded the company, was killed in the war.

On Thursday night, CPJ also honored the late Christophe Deloire, former head of Reporters Without Borders, with its annual Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award. A longtime press freedom advocate, Deloire died in June from cancer.

“To everyone who carries on this legacy — here in the room tonight, and around the world — thank you. This award is for Christophe, for it is also for you,” Deloire’s wife, Perrine Daubas, said in her speech. “Because this fight, now more than ever, is ours.”
…

NAIROBI — Heavy gunfire erupted in South Sudan’s capital Juba on Thursday evening after security forces moved to arrest the former head of the intelligence service, according to Reuters reporters and an alert sent to United Nations staff. 

The gunfire began about 7 p.m. local time (1700 GMT) and continued sporadically for more than an hour before dying down, Reuters reporters said. 

A U.N. safety alert to staff members in Juba, seen by Reuters, said the shooting was related to the arrest of the former head of the National Security Service, or NSS. It urged U.N. staff to shelter in place. 

In early October, President Salva Kiir dismissed Akol Koor Kuc, who had led the NSS since the country’s independence from Sudan in 2011, and he appointed a close ally to replace him. 

Reached by telephone, a military spokesperson said he was trying to establish what was going on. 

Analysts said the sacking of Akol Koor reflected a power struggle at the highest levels of government. It came weeks after the transitional government that Kiir leads announced that elections expected in December would be postponed for a second time.
…

BLANTYRE, MALAWI — Refugees at Malawi’s only refugee camp, Dzaleka, have started receiving their first-ever insurance payouts to mitigate the impact of the El Nino weather pattern, which has destroyed their crops.

The payouts, amounting to nearly $408,000 in total, were facilitated by the African Risk Capacity Group and KfW Development Bank, after the U.N. refugee agency office in Malawi leveraged the group’s innovative Replica program.

This program enables humanitarian actors to purchase insurance on behalf of countries to address climate-related disasters.

Officials of the U.N. refugee agency, the UNHCR, say the beneficiaries will receive approximately $33 per household per month for three months to enhance food security.

“The payout that has come from this is targeting those that are taking part in agricultural activities and have suffered effects of El Nino or drought that came last year,” said Precious Mkoka, development officer for the UNHCR in Malawi. “We have 4,000 households that are benefiting from this.”

Some of the money will go to refugee communities, with the rest going to Malawians that are hosting them.

In August, the Malawi government received an insurance payout of $11.2 million to support the country’s recovery from a devastating drought largely blamed on El Nino.

The African Risk Capacity Group said the Replica program ensures that more people in need, including refugees, can be reached with critical assistance.

Evaristo Sikasunda, country engagement manager at African Risk Capacity Group, said the aim “is to help countries prepare and respond to adverse conditions like El Nino.”

Some beneficiaries of the payouts say they will use the money to buy seeds. However, others say the payment is too little to compensate for crops they lost to the drought.

The Dzaleka camp is home to refugees and asylum-seekers from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Somalia.

The camp originally was intended to accommodate about 12,000 refugees, but is home to more than 50,000.
…

Nairobi, Kenya — Kenya’s president said Thursday he has cancelled multimillion-dollar airport expansion and energy deals with Indian tycoon Gautam Adani after U.S. bribery and fraud indictments against one of Asia’s richest men.

President William Ruto in a state of the nation address said the decision was made “based on new information provided by our investigative agencies and partner nations.” He didn’t specify the United States.

The Adani group had been in the process of signing an agreement that would modernize Kenya’s main airport in the capital, Nairobi, with an additional runway and terminal constructed, in exchange for the group running the airport for 30 years.

The widely criticized deal had sparked anti-Adani protests in Kenya and a strike by airport workers, who said it would lead to degraded working conditions and job losses in some cases.

The Adani group had also been awarded a deal to construct power transmission lines in Kenya, East Africa’s business hub.

Also Thursday, Energy Minister Opiyo Wandayi told a parliamentary committee there had been no bribery or corruption involved on Kenya’s part in signing that deal.

U.S. prosecutors indicted Adani this week on charges he duped investors in a massive solar energy project in India by concealing that it was facilitated by an alleged bribery scheme. He was charged with securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud.
…

washington — The Islamic State terror group’s small but influential affiliate in Somalia is growing, thanks in part to what the United Nations describes as an “influx of foreign fighters.”

A new report this week by the U.N. Sanctions Monitoring Team for Somalia warns that fighters, including some from countries in the Middle East, have helped the Islamic State’s Somali affiliate, also known as IS-Somalia, to more than double in size to between 600 and 700 fighters.

“Foreign fighters arrive in Puntland [Somalia] using both maritime and overland routes,” according to the report, which is based on intelligence estimates from U.N. member states.

The foreign fighters “have expanded and enhanced the group’s capabilities,” the report said, strengthening IS’s presence in Somalia’s Puntland region while also helping it take territory from its key rival, al-Qaida-linked terror group al-Shabab.

Intelligence sources described the IS-Somalia advance, especially in Puntland’s Cal Miskaad mountains, as a “drastic change,” crediting the foreign fighters for IS-Somalia’s change in fortune.

The U.N. report said the IS foreign fighters have come from at least six countries: Syria, Yemen, Ethiopia, Sudan, Morocco and Tanzania. It also said some captured foreign fighters have reported working with trainers who have come from parts of the Middle East.

The new report builds on previous warnings from U.S. and Somali officials, including the commander of U.S. Africa Command, who told VOA last month that IS-Somalia had grown “twofold” over the past year. 

Somali officials have likewise warned of hundreds of foreign fighters flocking to Somalia to join the ranks of the IS affiliate.

“This reporting on an influx of foreign terrorist fighters in Africa is concerning,” said Austin Doctor, the director of counterterrorism research initiatives at the National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology and Education Center.

And while the flow of foreign fighters to Somalia pales in comparison to the tens of thousands of fighters who flocked to join IS in Syria and Iraq during the height of the terror group’s self-declared caliphate, Doctor told VOA the trend is likely to continue.

“A number of factors present in the Horn [of Africa] and other Africa regions as well will likely appeal to aspiring travelers looking to join the rank and file of an extremist militant organization,” he said. “Global and local security forces should prepare to see more of this in the near term.”

There are likewise concerns about IS-Somalia’s growing prominence on the global stage.

Since 2022, Somalia has been home to al-Karrar, one of nine regional Islamic State offices established to help sustain the terror group’s global capabilities.

The U.N. report cautions that despite some leadership losses, the al-Karrar office has become both more powerful and more decentralized, making it more difficult to disrupt its activities.

And the report confirms that former IS-Somalia leader Abdulqadir Mumin, who escaped a U.S. airstrike this past June, has been elevated to head of the Islamic State’s general directorate of provinces, “placing him in a leadership role over [IS] affiliates in Africa.” 

IS-Somalia, according to the report, is now being led by Mumin’s former deputy, Abdirahman Fahiye Isse, with Abdiwali Waran-Walac running IS-Somalia’s finances.

And the group’s finances appear to be in good shape.

“Given the relatively small size of [IS]-Somalia, the group can sustain itself and generate additional revenue for other [IS] affiliates through the al-Karrar office,” the report said.
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Abuja, Nigeria — Nigeria concluded a three-day conference Wednesday to mark National Mining Week. Authorities in the West African nation have been seeking to expand investments in the mining industry in a bid to diversify the economy, amid the global surge in demand for minerals. 

The conference, attended by government officials, mining industry players and international investors, was part of the Nigerian government’s campaign to boost not only mining, but also local processing of the minerals extracted.

Earlier this year, the Nigerian government said new investors will be required to set up local processing plants if they want to obtain a mining license. 

Mary Ogbe, permanent secretary of the mining and solid minerals industry, spoke about the impending changes.

“Before now, people will come in, cart away our minerals and go and refine [them] and bring [them] back and then we’re paying so much on what belongs to us,” she said. “Now, with the local value addition, no one is allowed to legally carry out our products without adding value. Now, this is creating jobs.”

Nigeria has rich deposits of more than 40 minerals, including tin, iron ore, lead, zinc and gold. The country is also a new source of lithium, a metal used in batteries and electric vehicles.

But the country’s minerals are often illegally exploited and exported without generating much revenue locally. 

At the summit authorities pledged to address the problem by investing in mining technologies, surveillance, data gathering, community enlightenment and enforcement of mining laws.

In March, authorities deployed 2,500 agents to police unauthorized mining activities.

This week, the government said the “Mining Marshal Corps” has arrested more than 300 illegal miners, including foreign nationals.

But economist and founder of the Center for Social Justice Eze Onyekpere said authorities are still not doing enough to boost income from the mining sector.

“It’s been a mantra of successive governments to improve government revenue by diversifying into the solid minerals sector, but we’re getting very infinitesimal sum of money from solid minerals mining,” he said. “And it’s not as if we don’t have enough solid minerals or that mining is not taking place, it is because solid minerals mining has been converted to a criminal activity especially in those areas where there’s security threats and crisis but the federal government has not taken it seriously.”

Despite the government’s lofty goals, the mining sector contributed only about 0.77% of Nigeria’s GDP last year.

Onyekpere says until the government gets more serious, Nigeria’s mining industry will not be able to reach its potential.
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