The head of Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces said on Saturday that his forces were ready to cooperate with Egypt to ease the return of Egyptian troops who had handed themselves over to the group in the northern Sudanese town of Merowe.

Two Egyptian security sources said Egyptian officials were able to contact the leader of the Egyptian unit to confirm they were safe.

After clashes erupted across Sudan between the RSF and the army, the RSF shared a video they said showed Egyptian troops who had surrendered to them in Merowe, about halfway between the Sudanese capital Khartoum and the border with Egypt.

Egypt’s military said Egyptian forces were in Sudan to conduct exercises with their Sudanese counterparts, and that it was coordinating with Sudanese authorities to guarantee their safety.

The video showed several men dressed in army fatigues crouched on the ground and speaking to members of the RSF, Sudan’s main paramilitary group, in an Egyptian Arabic dialect.

RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo told Sky News Arabia TV that the Egyptian soldiers were safe, that the RSF had provided them with food and water, and was ready to facilitate their return.

Egypt has long been wary of political change in Sudan. It strongly supports Sudan’s army and has recently promoted negotiations with pro-army political parties, in parallel to a plan for a transition toward elections.

Egypt’s president Abdel Fattah el-Sissi received a call from United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, during which el-Sissi expressed his concern for events in Sudan and called for dialogue, according to a statement from the presidency.

Sameh Shoukry, Egypt’s foreign minister, received a call from EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell to coordinate on events in Sudan, the foreign ministry said. Shoukry discussed Egypt’s efforts to stop the violence, which Borrell said the EU supported, the statement said.
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Fierce fighting erupted Saturday in Sudan’s capital between the military and the country’s powerful paramilitary force, raising fears of a wider conflict in the chaos-stricken country. A doctors’ group said at least three people were killed and dozens injured.

The clashes between the military and the Rapid Support Forces group capped months of heightened tensions between both sides that forced the delay of a deal with political parties to restore the country’s short-lived transition to democracy.

The sound of heavy firing could be heard across the capital, Khartoum, and its sister city of Omdurman, where both the military and the RSF have amassed tens of thousands of troops since an October 2021 military coup that derailed Sudan’s fragile path to democracy.

Residents described chaotic scenes in Khartoum and Omdurman as firing and explosions rang out in densely populated neighborhoods. “Fire and explosions are everywhere,” said Amal Mohamed, a doctor in a public hospital in Omdurman. “All are running and seeking shelter.”

Another Khartoum resident, Abdel-Hamid Mustafa, said soldiers from both sides on armored trucks were seen firing at each other in the streets and residential areas. “We haven’t seen such battles in Khartoum before,” she said.

One of the flashpoints was Khartoum International Airport, where clashes grounded commercial Sudan-bound flights from Saudi Arabia turned back after nearly landing at the airport, flight tracking data showed Saturday.

Saudi Arabia’s national airline said one of its Airbus A330 aircraft was involved in “an accident.” Video showed the plane on fire on the tarmac. Another plane also appeared to have caught fire in the attack. Flight-tracking website FlightRadar24 identified it as a SkyUp Airlines Boeing 737. SkyUp is a Kyiv, Ukraine-based airline. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Sudan Doctors’ Syndicate said two civilians were killed at the airport, without specifying the circumstances. The committee said in a statement that another man was shot to death in the state of North Kordofan.

TV footage showed smoke rising over several areas of Khartoum.

Meanwhile, the BBC reported that a correspondent for BBC News Arabic in Khartoum, Mohamed Osman, was beaten by a Sudanese soldier. The broadcaster said the army had stopped Osman’s car while he was en route to his work and that he was taken to army headquarters in Omdurman. While explaining his movements to officers, he was hit in the head from behind by a soldier, the BBC said.

The fighting comes after months of escalating tensions between the generals and years of political unrest after an October 2021 military coup.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other top diplomats expressed extreme concern over the outbreak of violence. “We urge all actors to stop the violence immediately and avoid further escalations or troop mobilizations and continue talks to resolve outstanding issues,” Blinken wrote on Twitter.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres; the European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell; the head of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat; the Arab League chief, Ahmed Aboul Gheit; and Qatar all called for a cease-fire and for both parties to return to negotiations to settle their dispute.

Former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, who was ousted in the 2021 coup, warned of a possible regional conflict if the fighting escalates. He urged the leaders of the military and the RSF to immediately cease hostilities.

“Shooting must stop immediately,” he said in a video message posted on his Twitter account.

The military and the RSF traded blame for triggering the clashes, which centered in Khartoum but also took place in other areas across the country including the Northern province, the conflict-ravaged Darfur region, and the strategic coastal city of Port Sudan on the Red Sea, a military official said.

Current tensions between the military and the paramilitary stem from a disagreement over how the RSF, headed by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, should be integrated into the military and what authority should oversee the process. The merger is a key condition of Sudan’s unsigned transition agreement with political groups.

The fighting began at a military base south of Khartoum, with both sides trading accusations of initiating an attack. Clashes then spread in many areas across the capital, including around the military’s headquarters, the airport and the Republican Palace, the seat of the country’s presidency.

“Khartoum has become a battlefield,” said Tahani Abass, a prominent Sudanese rights advocate who lives close to the military’s headquarters. “The situation is very dire, and we don’t know when it will be ended.”

The RSF alleged in a statement that its forces controlled many strategic places in Khartoum and the northern city of Merowe some 350 kilometers (215 miles) northwest of Khartoum. The military dismissed the claims as “lies.”

In a series of statements, the military also declared the RSF as a rebel force and unleashed the powerful air force against RSF positions in and around Khartoum.

Volker Perthes, the U.N. envoy for Sudan, urged both parties for “an immediate cessation of fighting to ensure the safety of the Sudanese people and to spare the country from further violence.”

Perthes and Saudi Ambassador in Sudan, Ali Bin Hassan Jaffar, were leading communications with Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, the country’s top military official, and Dagalo to embark on a dialogue to settle their dispute, said a U.N. official who asked for anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates called on those fighting in Sudan to exercise restraint and work toward a political solution in the county.

The U.S. Ambassador to Sudan, John Godfrey, wrote online that he was “currently sheltering in place with the Embassy team, as Sudanese throughout Khartoum and elsewhere are doing.” He urged both sides to cease fire.

“Escalation of tensions within the military component to direct fighting is extremely dangerous,” Godfrey wrote. “I urgently call on senior military leaders to stop the fighting.”
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Sudan’s main paramilitary group said it had seized the presidential palace, the army chief’s residence and Khartoum international airport Saturday in an apparent coup attempt, but the military said it was fighting back. 

The Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, which accused the army of attacking them first, also said they had taken over the airports in the northern city of Merowe and in El-Obeid in the west. 

The situation on the ground was unclear. The army said it was fighting the RSF at sites the paramilitaries said they had taken. The army also said it had taken some RSF bases and denied that the RSF had taken Merowe airport. 

A major confrontation between the RSF and the army could plunge Sudan into widespread conflict as it struggles with economic breakdown and tribal violence, and it also could derail efforts to move toward elections. 

The clashes follow rising tensions between the army and the RSF over the integration of the RSF into the military and who should oversee the process. The disagreement has delayed the signing of an internationally backed agreement with political parties regarding a transition to democracy. 

On Saturday, the RSF accused the army of carrying out a plot by loyalists of former strongman President Omar Hassan al-Bashir – who was ousted in 2019 – and attempting a coup itself. 

The RSF is headed by former militia leader General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti. He has been deputy leader of Sudan’s ruling Sovereign Council headed by army General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan since 2019. 

The army said the Sudanese air force was conducting operations against the RSF. Footage from broadcasters showed a military aircraft in the sky above Khartoum, but Reuters could not independently confirm the material. 

Gunfire could be heard in several parts of Khartoum and eyewitnesses reporting shooting in adjoining cities. 

A Reuters journalist saw cannon and armored vehicles deployed in the streets of the capital and heard heavy weapons fire near the headquarters of both the army and RSF. 

TV footage showed smoke rising over several areas of Khartoum. 

Doctors said at least three civilians had been killed. 

Clashes were also taking place at the headquarters of Sudan’s state TV, said an anchor who appeared on screen. 

The Sudanese armed forces spokesman told the Al Jazeera Mubasher television station that the army would respond to any “irresponsible” actions, as its forces clashed with the RSF in Khartoum and elsewhere in the country. 

Brigadier-General Nabil Abdallah said there was a heavy presence of RSF troops at the TV headquarters in Khartoum. 

Gunfire 

Eyewitnesses reported gunfire in many other parts of the country outside the capital. Those included heavy exchanges of gunfire in Merowe, eyewitnesses told Reuters. 

Eyewitnesses said clashes had also erupted between the RSF and army in the Darfur cities of El Fasher and Nyala. 

International powers — the U.S., Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Nations and the European Union — all called for an end to the hostilities. 

Civilian political parties that had signed an initial power-sharing deal with the army and the RSF also called on the two sides to end the violence. 

The army said the RSF had tried to attack its troops in several positions. 

The RSF, which analysts say is 100,000 strong, said its forces were attacked first by the army, saying in a statement earlier on Saturday that the army surrounded one of its bases and opened fire with heavy weapons. 

Hemedti’s RSF evolved from so-called Janjaweed militias that fought in a conflict in the 2000s in the Darfur region. An estimated 2.5 million people were displaced and 300,000 killed in the conflict. International Criminal Court prosecutors accused government officials and Janjaweed commanders of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. 

Hemedti had put himself at the forefront of a planned transition towards democracy, unsettling fellow military rulers and triggering a mobilization of troops in the capital Khartoum. 

The rift between the forces came to the surface on Thursday, when the army said that recent movements, particularly in Merowe, by the RSF were illegal. 

The RSF, which together with the army overthrew Bashir four years ago, began redeploying units in Khartoum and elsewhere amid talks last month on its integration into the military under a transition plan that would lead to new elections. 
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Suspected militants killed at least 30 civilians Friday in a village raid in Democratic Republic of Congo’s northeastern Ituri province, the head of a civil society group and a local resident said.

Army spokesperson Jules Ngongo Tshikudi confirmed the morning attack in Banyali Kilo, a district in conflict riven Ituri, but did not give a death toll as he said the armed forces were still searching the area.

“They set fire to several houses, looted property … and killed around 30 people, both men and women,” said local civil society president Charite Banza.

Banyali Kilo resident Jean Basiloke said children were also among the 35 people whose bodies had been counted so far.

He, Banza and Tshikudi blamed members of the CODECO group, one of several dozen armed militias that have destabilized Congo’s densely forested eastern territory.

The government declared a state of siege in Ituri and neighboring North Kivu province in 2021, in an attempt to stem rampant militia violence in the country’s vast mineral-rich east. But the killings and rebel activity have not shown any sign of abating. 
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Nigerian lawmakers are investigating allegations of $2.4 billion in illegal sales of stolen oil to China.

The House of Representatives’ ad-hoc committee on oil theft resumed its probe of the unofficial sales in 2015 of 48 million barrels of crude oil to China.

Lawmakers were tipped off about the deal by a whistleblower in July 2020. The whistleblower alleged that the stolen crude had been stored at several Chinese ports and later sold by Nigeria’s national oil company, NNPC Ltd., officials said.

NNPC has called the allegation false. Chinese authorities have not responded.

This week, Nigeria’s finance minister, attorney general and other top cabinet members did not appear for interrogation on the matter at a hearing. The committee said that could delay the investigation.

Faith Nwadishi, executive director of the Center for Transparency Advocacy, said, “Forty-eight million barrels is almost equivalent to about 50 days of oil production. We don’t really have strong structures and systems in place. It’s really not the first time and I don’t think it’s the last time it’s going to happen until we get our structures right. If the legislative arm invites a person and the person doesn’t have a cogent reason not to appear, it’s grand enough for the person’s resignation.”

The House committee also raised concerns about irregularities in the figures of crude oil sales between 2011 and 2015 and said it would investigate.

Crude oil accounts for more than 90% of Nigeria’s revenue, and Nigerian authorities have been trying to stem oil theft for decades. Officials have said the country loses $700 million every month as a result of the thefts.

Last year, President Muhammadu Buhari said the trend was putting the country’s economy in a precarious situation.

Emmanuel Afimia, head of an Abuja-based oil-and-gas consulting firm, said corruption is the reason oil theft has persisted in Nigeria.

“Corruption has been the main factor that has hindered the growth of the [oil] sector,” Afimia said. “If the country is actually serious about stopping oil theft, corruption has to be completely eliminated. We have to address corruption from the highest offices of this country.”

Last year, Nigerian authorities awarded a controversial contract to Tantita Security Services, an oil pipeline surveillance team headed by an ex-Niger Delta militia group, in an effort to address oil thefts.
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Two journalists in northern Cameroon are calling for government protection after witnesses say a mayor publicly threatened to kill them for investigating corruption in road construction contracts.  The Cameroon Journalists Trade Union has condemned the threat, which came after the killings in January of two reporters who were outspoken on corruption.

The journalists say Sali Babani, the mayor of Maroua, a city near the northern border with Chad and Nigeria publicly threatened several times this month to kill reporters there. 

The Cameroon Journalists Trade Union in a statement April 8 said the mayor threatened freelance reporter Ousman Alh Boubakari for asking about accountability on development projects. 

Boubakari had accused the mayor on Facebook of abandoning some road construction projects in Maroua. 

Mahamat Hamidou said that during a public ceremony at Kakatare last week, he heard Babani threatened to punish or kill journalists for reporting that some public projects have been abandoned.  Hamidou said Cameroon’s government should investigate why the mayor threatened to kill journalists instead of explaining why the road projects have not been completed as the Maroua Council promised.

The journalists’ union said the mayor also threatened to kill Douala-based Channel 2 International’s correspondent, Aminou Alioum. 

Alioum and Boubakari said they received several anonymous calls threatening violence if they do not stop critical reports against the mayor. 

Alioum told VOA that Boubakari received death threats from Babani for reporting that some roads in Maroua and construction work on the Kakatare junction in the same city have been abandoned.  Alioum also said the mayor threatened him for taking pictures of the abandoned projects. He said the death threats from Babani add to other threats and intimidation reporters along Cameroon’s northern border with Chad and Nigeria regularly get from Boko Haram militants.

Babani refused to respond to VOA’s questions on the threats, which journalists also took to the police. 

The spokesperson for Cameroon’s police would not comment on the threats, but told VOA it was their duty to protect all citizens.

Alioum and Boubakari said the threats will not stop them from carrying out their work as reporters but joined the journalists’ union in calling for the government to ensure their safety.

Cameroon’s government has not yet commented on the journalists’ plea for protection. 

Babani’s threats of violence against the media come less than two months after two journalists were killed in Cameroon.

The mutilated remains of Martinez Zogo, a popular radio announcer and journalist, were found January 22 in Yaoundé. 

Police arrested 20 people in connection with the killing, including senior police intelligence officers and a well-known media mogul, Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga.

On his radio program, Zogo had accused Belinga and several government ministers of planning to kill him for his reporting on their alleged corrupt deals.

Radio presenter Jean-Jacques Ola Bebe was also found shot dead on February 2 outside his home in the capital.

Like Zogo, Bebe was an outspoken critic of government corruption. 
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Sudan’s military warned Thursday of potential clashes with the country’s powerful paramilitary force, which it said had deployed troops in the capital of Khartoum and other areas without the army’s consent.

Tensions between the military and the paramilitary, known as Rapid Support Forces or RSF, have escalated in recent months, forcing a delay in the signing of an internationally backed deal with political parties to revive the country’s democratic transition.

In a statement, the military said the buildup of the RSF in Khartoum and elsewhere in the country was done without “the approval of, or coordination with” the armed forces’ leadership and presents a clear “violation of the law.”

The paramilitary recently deployed troops near the northern Sudanese town of Merowe. Also, videos circulating on social media Thursday show what appear to be RSF-armed vehicles being transported into Khartoum, further to the south.

Tensions stem from disagreement

The latest tensions between the army and the paramilitary stem from a disagreement over how the RSF should be integrated into the military and what authority should oversee the process. The merger is a key condition of Sudan’s unsigned transition agreement.

The army-RSF rivalry dates back to the rule of autocratic President Omar al-Bashir, who was ousted in 2019. Under al-Bashir, the paramilitary force — led by powerful General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo — grew out of former militias known as the Janjaweed that carried out a brutal crackdown in Sudan’s Darfur region during the decades of conflict there.

Although the army and the RSF together carried out a coup in October 2021 that upended Sudan’s transition to democracy, friction between them became increasingly visible in recent months, with conflicting public statements, heavy military presence in Khartoum, and parallel foreign trips by military and RSF leaders.

The RSF said Wednesday that its presence in northern Sudan and elsewhere is aimed at “achieving security and stability and fighting human trafficking and illegal migration.” The wealthy paramilitary force is estimated to have tens of thousands of fighters.

According to Kholood Khair, founder and director of Confluence Advisory, a think tank in Khartoum, tensions between the army and the RSF are at an all-time high and Thursday’s military’s statement just fell “short of accusing the RSF of committing an act of rebellion.”

The escalation has raised concerns of new fighting in a country known for internal armed conflicts.

Call for restraint

Many took to social media to express their concerns. Sudan’s National Umma Party — one of the country’s largest political groups — called for restraint and urged “all political forces” against escalating the situation.

The party also called an emergency meeting Thursday morning with military and RSF representatives and senior political figures. No details immediately emerged following the meeting.

A joint statement Thursday by envoys to Sudan from France, Germany, Norway, Britain, the United States and the European Union said they were “deeply concerned” about the recent escalation. It called on the military and the RSF to resolve the “outstanding issues” on security and establish a “unified, professional military accountable to a civilian government.”

Travel warnings

In response to the escalation, the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum advised American citizens on Thursday against traveling to northern Sudan. Also, U.S. government staff have been prohibited from venturing beyond the capital’s metropolitan area until next Thursday, it said.

The 2021 coup removed a Western-backed, power-sharing administration and dashed Sudanese aspirations for democratic rule after three decades of autocracy and repression under al-Bashir.

A monthslong popular uprising forced the military’s overthrow of al-Bashir in April 2019. Since then, the former president, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes and genocide in the Darfur conflict, has been imprisoned in Khartoum.
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Ghana has become the first country to approve a new malaria vaccine described as a “world changer” by scientists who developed it at the University of Oxford.

The mosquito-spread parasitic disease kills more than 600,000 people every year. The majority are children in sub-Saharan Africa.

A statement issued Wednesday by Oxford University says its new malaria vaccine called R21 has secured regulatory approval by Ghanaian officials for use in the age group at highest risk of death from malaria — children age 5-to-36 months.

Malaria is an endemic disease in Ghana. The West African country’s health service says it accounts for 38% of all outpatients, with the most vulnerable groups being children younger than 5 years old.

“We have tested a lot of vaccines — and to be here now, to have a vaccine that is being approved first for use in Ghana — is fantastic. It is what we’ve all been working hard towards,” said Dr. Katie Ewer, head of malaria immunology and professor of vaccine immunology at the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford.

Ewer said R21 has higher efficacy — about 75% in the data from the phase two trial. “We think perhaps the durability of the response has been better as well,” she said.

Some hesitant to accept vaccine

Ghana was one of three African countries in 2019 to have piloted the first malaria vaccine, known as RTS,S. But public acceptance of the vaccine, according to health officials, was somewhat below target due to hesitancy among parents linked to a fear of the unknown.

Ewer says having more malaria vaccines on the market helps parents make a better choice.

“It’s good news that we’ve now got a second malaria vaccine approved,” said Ewer. “And so, people can trust that these vaccines are safe to use. And I hope that people trust the vaccine and will take it up and see for themselves the effect it has.”

The World Health Organization says a child dies every minute from malaria in Africa, where it is estimated that nine out of 10 malaria deaths occur. It is hoped that the new vaccine will help Ghanaian and African children combat malaria.

Vaccine reduces risk

Dr. Nana Yaw Peprah, the head of the National Malaria Control Program in Ghana, told VOA that the Oxford vaccine is coming at the right time.

“The vaccine has a role in the elimination agenda because it reduces the risk of people having the disease and also its severe form,” said Peprah. “The vaccines are for children. If you allow your child to be given this vaccine, the risk of this child, who is actually in the vulnerable group and the risk of getting malaria, really reduces.”

Nearly half of the world’s population is at risk of malaria. In 2020, an estimated 241 million people in 85 countries contracted malaria. That same year, the WHO says the disease claimed approximately 627,000 lives.
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Militants affiliated to Islamic State group have taken Tidermene in Mali, further isolating the regional capital, Menaka, in a region that has fallen almost entirely under their control, officials and witnesses told AFP on Wednesday. 

Tidermene’s fall follows months of fighting by Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, or ISGS, to seize the northeastern village of a few thousand inhabitants about 75 kilometers north of Menaka. 

All the region’s main administrative subdivisions are now under the group’s control. 

The village was captured Monday night. 

“Tidermene has fallen into the hands of Daesh,” an elected official from the town, who has retreated to Menaka, told AFP, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State organization.  

“They are distributing Qurans to the population [and] moving around town with weapons,” he said.  

He and others spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. 

Another elected official told AFP the militants had instructed the village’s residents to continue with business as usual, but to be prepared to begin paying “zakat,” an Islamic tax. 

A major ISGS offensive has been underway since early 2022 in the region of Menaka and that of Gao, further west. 

The regions have seen intense battles between ISGS fighters and the al Qaida-linked Group to Support Islam and Muslims (JNIM), as well as with former Tuareg independence fighters who signed a peace deal in 2015, and loyalists who once fought the independence fighters. 

The militants have stepped into a vacuum left when French forces departed last year, experts say. 

Hundreds of civilians have been killed in the violence, and communities have been displaced en masse. 

Some have fled across the border to Niger. 

The U.N. and human rights organizations say militants have carried out punitive attacks against communities they accuse of helping the state or refusing to join their ranks. 

One Tidermene refugee now in Menaka told AFP that, given the town is a former JNIM stronghold, ISGS fighters are now seeking out civilians who own weapons or walkie-talkies. 

“The Malian army controls Menaka and is ensuring the protection of civilians,” an army officer told AFP when asked about the capture of Tidermene. 

The Malian military, the U.N. stabilization mission and armed groups loyal to the state remain present in Menaka. 
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Hospitals in Cameroon are reporting an increase in cases of river blindness, a parasitic disease caused by bites from infected blackflies. Hundreds of aid workers have been dispatched to remote, riverside villages to encourage those infected to seek treatment. 

In Sa’a district, 74 kilometers north of Cameroon’s capital of Yaounde, 45-year-old Jean Christophe Onana says he has not been able to recover his sight after receiving treatment from an African traditional healer for two months. He says he strongly believes that he has been bewitched by his enemies who are envious of last year’s abundant yield from his cocoa farm.

Aid workers say Onana suffers from river blindness, a parasitic disease particularly prevalent in Africa, where 99% of all cases occur.

Cameroon’s ministry of public health says that hospitals in Lekie, the administrative unit where Sa’a is located, have reported several hundred fresh cases of river blindness within the past three months. 

The central African state’s government says the increase is in areas where there have been floods and where new farmland was opened near rivers, attracting settlers.

Ophthalmologist Raoul Edgard Cheuteu, one of the aid workers in Sa’a, says humanitarian agencies and the government of Cameroon have decided to jointly equip the Sa’a district hospital and scores of other hospitals in areas where there is an increase in river blindness cases with standard tests for the diagnosis of the disease. Cheuteu says Onchocerciasis is increasing in Sa’a because of its many rivers that are breeding sites for blackflies that transmit river blindness.

Aid workers are educating civilians in Cameroon riverside villages that river blindness is not a spell or divine punishment for wrongdoing but an infection that can be controlled and treated at hospitals.

Cameroon reports that youths are deserting remote villages where the number of people suffering from the parasitic disease of the skin and eyes transmitted by the blackfly is increasing. 

The Cameroon government says besides Sa’a, several hundred hospitals in Cameroon’s Centre, East and South regions have reported at least 6,000 new infections within three months.

The figures may be higher since 70% of Cameroonians go for African traditional medicine where it is difficult to collect data, the government says.

The Global Institute for Disease Elimination, GLIDE, works with the Cameroon ministry of Public Health to help accelerate treatment for river blindness, a neglected tropical disease.

GLIDE’s top official, Dr. Aissatou Diawara, says river blindness is a public health concern in Cameroon because about 6 million of the country’s 26 million inhabitants are already infected.

“Despite two decades of annual treatment or community-directed treatment with ivermectin or CDTI, confirmed cases of Onchocerciasis are still present in 113 health districts previously classified as hyperendemic,” Diawara said via a messaging app. “So the use of test and treat strategy and addressing communities to get used to treatment are essential steps towards eliminating Onchocerciasis in Cameroon.”

Diawara says blackflies that transmit river blindness breed along fast-flowing rivers and streams, close to remote villages located near fertile land where people rely on agriculture. She said river blindness is transmitted to humans through exposure to repeated bites of infected blackflies and symptoms include severe itching, disfiguring skin conditions and visual impairment, including permanent blindness.

The United Nations says Onchocerciasis occurs mainly in tropical areas, with more than 99% of infected people living in 31 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.  
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Since the 1991 collapse of Somalia’s central government, many Somalis had fled the country, while thousands of others have been internally displaced. Many get help from aid organizations, and some make a living by utilizing skills for survival.

Despite being considered vulnerable, some internally displaced Somali women stood up to provide their families with daily food.

A large number of displaced women live in Bosaso, the capital of the Bari region, Puntland State of Somalia, and use skills to provide food for their families.

Many women wake up every morning to earn a living. Some of them reach the centers where recently-harvested crops, such as corn and sorghum, are sold.

Those women work for $3 to $5 a day, depending on how much work they do.

They separate the seeds of the crop from the chaff using a mortar, pestle and other locally made tools.

Zeynab Ali Ahmed is one of the displaced women in Bosaso. She is a mother who also works sorting husks from crops.

“They bring us the crops from the farms; we sort the crops from the chaff,” she told VOA. “We separate the husks of corn or other seed by winnowing or threshing using locally made baskets.”

Zeynab said they also work in the fields.

“We work the farms, removing unwanted plants from the [field] and leave the seeded crops,” she said. “We take the chaff and sell them out to other pastoralists. We usually sell one bag of husk for 20 thousand Somali shillings ($0.90 cents USD).”

The women pass their skills to their children so that they can make money, too, and learn a skill.

Hawa Abdi Mohamud is one of the women who learned her job from her parents, whom she works alongside, making Somali traditional prayers mats and other artifacts.

“We inherited these skills from our parents and, thank God, and now we use them to earn a daily living.”

The women believe that if their skills are developed or if they are given other professional training, many displaced people would be freed from relying on humanitarian aid agencies.

Fadumo Yasin Jama contributed to this report.
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Security forces in northwest Nigeria’s Zamfara state are searching for women and children gunmen abducted over the weekend.  

Residents say at least 80 people were taken, which Zamfara’s police commissioner disputes.  

Zamfara state police authorities say rescue operations by security forces and local vigilantes resumed Monday morning for nine people, not the 80 that were reportedly abducted over the weekend.  

The victims, mostly young women and children were abducted from Wanzamai village as they wandered into the bush to fetch firewood used widely for cooking.  

Authorities say the bandits were on the run from an expanding crackdown by security forces when the kidnappings happened. 

Local media reports and villagers say more than 80 people were kidnapped and that the bandits are demanding $130,000 ransom.  

Zamfara state police spokesman Mohammed Sheru refuted the claims calling them outrageous. He spoke to VOA by phone that, “The [police] command is working towards ensuring safe rescue of the abducted victims. That’s the latest update. The police detectives in the kidnap section are working in collaboration with other agencies” 

Nigeria has been battling armed gangs for years. Gangs have attacked hundreds of local communities across northwestern Nigeria, routinely taking people hostage until their ransom demands were met. 

Zamfara state is one of the areas most affected by the attacks.   

Abuja-based Beacon Security analyst Kabir Adamu believes the accounts by residents. 

“When I first heard of the development, I reached out to contacts on [the] ground,” he said. “I was able to hear from parents whose kids have been missing. First off, they did not take a headcount before they went into the bush, but on the basis of these parents who came forward to say ‘my child is missing,’ we arrived at a figure between 70 and 80.” 

Adamu says cases of kidnapping for ransom dropped by about 80 percent between December and February, according to data from Beacon Security Consulting.   

In February’s elections in Nigeria, insecurity was a major topic. Security analyst Chidi Omeje says in the weeks since the election that has not changed.

“It’s a sad reminder that we’re yet to get through from these series of mass abductions, and it’s also another reminder that a lot of work needs to be done,” Omeje lamented. “We have been numbed, that sense of outrage is no longer there; it’s unfortunate.” 

As outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari hands over power to President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu in May, many will remind the new government of its failed promises to address Nigeria’s insecurity. 

Meanwhile, the fate of the kidnapping victims remains uncertain. 
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