A protest over water shortages in the southern Ethiopian town of Welkite turned deadly when, witnesses say, security forces opened fire on protesters, killing at least two people.

The protest was started early Thursday morning by a group of elderly women holding jerry cans for carrying water and, according to one witness, gradually swelled to thousands of people. 

Adane Kifle, a Welkite resident who was at the protest, told VOA Friday that security forces started telling people to sit down after talking with some protesters.

“When we sat down, we couldn’t really make out what was being said and they were not sharing any information with us. It is in this situation, as I was in the front, that they tear gassed us,” Adane said. “We tried to save ourselves and people started throwing rocks. After then they started shooting. After that people dispersed in different directions.”

Dr. Behailu Dego, a surgeon at Welkite University Referral Hospital, said that two protesters were shot and died on arrival at the hospital.

“All of the injuries were from bullet wounds. The sad part is that we don’t have any blood banks in the area,” Dego said. “There were another 4 or 5 people who have had bullets wounds in their arms and legs.”

In a report Friday, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission put the death toll at three and said at least 30 people had sustained injuries due to bullet wounds.

Officials in the area say the violence was sparked by protesters throwing rocks at the local water bureau building and blocking roads, according to the report.

Welkite, a town of about 70,000, and the capital of the Gurage zone, has been plagued by water shortages for months amid the ongoing drought in the Horn of Africa. 

A resident said there was a water drilling project that local authorities promised would solve the problem. But nothing came of it. 

Calls to the mayor of Welkite as well as the zonal peace and security chief went unanswered.

 
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A multinational force of troops from Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria, on Thursday handed five children rescued from Boko Haram over to Cameroon. The Multinational Joint Task Force of the Lake Chad Basin Commission says scores of children were rescued last year in operations against the militant group. Cameroonian authorities are working to locate the children’s parents.

The Multinational Joint Task Force of the Lake Chad Basin, or MNJTF, that is fighting the jihadist group, says the five children it handed to Cameroonian authorities on Thursday were rescued by Chadian troops.

The children were handed over to government officials in Mora, a town in Cameroon’s Far North region on the border with Chad and Nigeria.

The task force said Chadian troops found the five boys in the volatile Lake Chad basin, looking unkempt, tired, hungry and sick.

The task force commander, Nigerian Major General Abdul Kalifa Ibrahim, said the teenage children spent several months in Boko Haram captivity. He spoke on Cameroon’s state broadcaster CRTV.

“They were unfortunate to be abducted by Boko Haram, but they were able to escape,” said Ibrahim. “Chadian soldiers found out they are Cameroonian children. We are going to carry out more operations. Our hope is for the Boko Harams themselves to come out and say this is enough.”

Cameroon says 25 out of the 60 children transferred to the country by the joint forces in the past three weeks were either saved by the military during operations or escaped from Boko Haram camps and surrendered to troops from Cameroon, Chad and Nigeria fighting the jihadists.

The task force says scores of the children were rescued last year in a military operation that killed 800 militants in lake Chad basin. The children were kept in Chad about 8 months for psychological care and to determine where they were from.

The government says the children range in age from 9 to 17 years old.

The governor of Cameroon’s Far North region, Midjiyawa Bakari, says Cameroonian President Paul Biya has ordered that the children be provided with food, medical care and an education while their parents are being found. He spoke to VOA via a messaging app from Maroua, capital of Cameroon’s Far North region.

Bakari says Cameroon has well-constructed centers for Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration, or DDR, in Meri and Mora, northern towns on the border with Chad and Nigeria. He says the children will be enrolled in a school at the DDR center in Mora. Bakari says Cameroons medical staff members are at DDR centers ready to attend to the health needs of the children.

Bakari said in 2021, Cameroon successfully hosted more than 2,000 former Boko Haram militants including 950 Nigerians and about a hundred Chadians who defected from the jihdist group.

In June 2022, the Multinational Joint Task Force said 3,000 troops killed 800 jihadis on Lake Chad’s islands and neighboring areas between March 28 and June 4 in an operation called Lake Sanity.

Officials of the force said they were investigating the countries of origins of several hundred children who were rescued in the operations.

The troops say parents of some of the children may have been killed in battles with jihadist groups or have remained in Boko Haram camps as militants or captives.

The Lake Chad basin stretches across the borders of Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad.

The multinational force with troops from Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad says although attacks have been drastically reduced, Boko Haram and another group, the Islamic State West Africa Province, have established bases in the vast Lake Chad basin.

According to the U.N., 36,000 people have been killed and 3 million have fled their homes in Cameroon, Nigeria and Chad since 2009 when the fighting deteriorated into an armed conflict with Nigerian government troops.
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The Millennium Challenge Corporation, a U.S. foreign aid agency, recently crafted a new type of grant to promote cross-border economic integration and trade between two African nations, Niger and Benin. VOA Senior Correspondent Mariama Diallo reports. Cameras:  Philip Datcher and wires.
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Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has extended by 60 days the deadline for older currency notes to remain legal tender following violent protests over a shortage of cash.

During a nationally televised address early Thursday, Buhari said the 200-naira note would be allowed back into circulation until April 10. The deadline was not extended for the old 500- and 1,000-naira notes.

Buhari said the decision followed consideration of the impact of the currency transition on citizens.

“I’m addressing you to identify with you and express my sympathy over the difficulties being experienced as we continue the implementation of new monetary policies,” he said. “I’m not unaware of the obstacles placed on the path of innocent Nigerians by unscrupulous officials in the banking industry. I sincerely sympathize with you all over these unintended outcomes.”

Buhari also pledged a crackdown on anyone trying to sabotage the process.

Nigeria’s central bank introduced a new currency late last year but only gave citizens a few weeks to exchange old bills for the new, sparking outrage.

Buhari maintained that the introduction of the new currency would strengthen the economy, fight insecurity and stifle illicit financial flows and money laundering.

Buhari said more than 80 percent of the $6 billion worth of the old bills formerly in circulation have been recalled so far.

Buhari also said the transition would hinder politicians trying to influence voters with cash gifts before and during the February 25 elections.

‘Half bread is better than none’

Abuja resident Abubakar Ismail said he had hoped for better news from the president.

“They should’ve extended 1,000- and 500-, naira and leave the 200,” he said. “Me, personally, I don’t think this is a development, but half bread is better than none. The current situation, struggling, trying to get cash, people are not used to it. I don’t think it’s going to help with the current situation that we’re facing now.”

Nigeria began circulating the new 1000-, 500- and 200- naira bills in mid-December. The cash shortages have coincided with a shortage of fuel just ahead of the polls, causing heightened tensions.

On Wednesday, protests over the cash squeeze hit four Nigerian states including Edo, Kwara, Delta and Ibadan.

Angry protesters barricaded roads and attacked banks, burning and looting them.

Edo State Police spokesman Chidi Nwabuzor told VOA via phone that the police shot and killed people who were believed to have hijacked the protests.

“The protests had been hijacked by hoodlums,” Nwabuzor. “They took to the banks and destroyed the ATMs, even the building, shattered all the glasses and engaged the security forces in a gun duel. In order to repel the attack, unfortunately, two of the hoodlums were hit by bullets.”

Nwabuzor said police have restored calm in the affected areas.

Currency concerns reach courts

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Supreme Court Wednesday adjourned by one week a case filed by three state governors to allow the old bills to remain in circulation longer.

During his speech, the president did not mention a court ruling last week in which authorities were asked to temporarily suspend their policies on the new currency.

Recently, the International Monetary Fund urged Nigerian authorities to extend the currency swap deadline.
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Cameroon’s military has released about 30 youths it detained as suspected rebels after a protest by several hundred women, including mothers of those detained.  The women from the Southwestern town of Ekona also accused Cameroon’s military of committing abuses in the region, which it denies. 

In a video posted on social media, several hundred women celebrated on the streets of Buea Wednesday after Cameroon’s military released 30 young men, most of them students.

The military said the youths were detained during raids a week ago in the Southwest town of Ekona, where separatist fighters were hiding.  

The women protested after the military stopped family members from visiting the youths in detention and chased away those who brought them food.

Speaking to VOA from Buea via messaging app, 33-year-old Akah Judith said the women will protest on the streets again if abuses continue.

“Although they have released our children, who were arrested unjustly and unjustifiable, we will continue fighting for our rights to be respected,” she said. “We will be here again should the military continue intimidating us, harassing us, and beating us. We have suffered a lot from these crises and want peace.”

The one-day street protest saw officials, clerics, and traditional rulers plead with the women to return home.

But the women refused to stop until the youth were released, later that day.  

They also cited military abuses as rampant in Ekona, including intimidation, extortion, arbitrary detention, and torture.

Esther Njomo Omam, director of the Buea-based aid group Reach Out Cameroon, speaking via messaging app from Buea, said the women were also angry after a 20-year-old Ekona resident, Felix Obini, was reported killed Monday by the military.

“The women from Ekona came marching peacefully but angry that women have been bearing the brunt of this conflict,” she said. “They are the ones who have been burying their children, their husbands. They are the ones who are suffering all forms of ills as a result of the crisis.”

Local officials and Cameroon’s military refused to comment on the alleged killing of Obini and other alleged abuses, on Wednesday’s protest, or the release of the detained youth.   

Cameron’s military denies its troops fighting separatists commit atrocities but has on very rare occasions prosecuted troops for abuse.  

The government says the military will protect civilians and asks them to report suspected rebels hiding in their communities.  

Cameroon’s military has since 2017 been battling separatists fighting to carve out an independent, English-speaking state from Cameroon and its French-speaking majority.

Rights groups accuse both the military and rebels of abusing civilians in the conflict, including rapes, torture, abductions, and killings. 

The U.N. says at least 3,500 people have been killed and more than 750,000 displaced in the six-year conflict, most of them women and children.
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Kenyan security forces have launched an operation to clear bandits from its northern Rift Valley Region and recover illegal firearms. Critics have voiced concern that the operation, led by army-backed police, could lead to abuses.

Kenyan police, backed up by the military, are conducting an operation in the Rift Valley Region to root out bandits who are attacking communities and security forces and stealing people’s livestock.

President William Ruto issued the order after three police officers were killed and eight others injured in an ambush in Kainuk, Turkana County.

Bandits have attacked communities in the country’s northern region for decades, with stolen livestock blamed for most of the conflict.

Kenya’s police chief, Japhet Koome, urged communities to stop attacking each other after visiting Turkana County Tuesday.

“People of this region have no option. They must learn to coexist. This habit of one community attacking another one will not be allowed to continue,” Koome said. “We have the capacity and the will.”

Ahmed Mohamed, the head of the Center for Security and Strategic Studies, says the bandits are interested in stealing animals.

“They cannot face any formidable force whether it’s the police or military,” Mohamed said. “Right now, they are gone, gone where? They are in towns and they will not stress you. You will be alone there for a while, you will be around, you will look for weapons, you will force people but they are not there. They are in town, back to their normal activities.”

The government has given the bandits three days to surrender their weapons.

Last week, suspected bandits sprayed bullets into a vehicle carrying passengers, killing three people, including a student, in Turkana County.

Drought, according to Pokot South MP David Pkosing, is to blame for the current tensions and conflict between his community and the Turkana tribe.

“There is no order of grazing or drinking water and therefore the Pokot can push themselves to the river and maybe this river is on the side in terms of the administration of Turkana and Turkanas feel they are intimidated, or they think they are coming to their own land and vice-versa. And that’s why there are a lot of conflicts. The competition for grass is now very high along that area,” said Pkosing.

The conflict over pastures and water for the animals has heightened tensions in the area and halted other civilian and government activities.

Kenya is one of the countries in the region that is currently affected by the drought. Drought has affected 23 counties, including Baringo, Laikipia, Samburu, West Pokot, and Turkana.

Mohammed says the government will need to provide more resources and development in the affected region to stop animal theft.

“Those communities have lost a lot of animals. They have gone down in terms of numbers,” Mohamed said. “Therefore, when they see others who are doing well, they will definitely go for them. Drought and climate change has had an impact. That is why we are saying as part of future plans, the government must think about development, think of life beyond livestock and all that other means will be used to help people sustain their lives.”

Pkosing fears the security operation may bring more problems for his people than good.

“Out of 16 divisions in West Pokot, three are in distress, so sometimes when you unleash an operation, then they can make everybody a criminal… The past is that it criminalizes society,” said Pkosing. “That’s my fear. There have been incidences of rape in the past, and there are incidences of hunger, and roadblocks. A few months ago, there were roadblocks in Tiaty and 16 schools were closed and people almost died.”

The operation will also include the recovery of stolen livestock and patrolling major roads to ensure the free movement of people and goods.
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Cameroon’s health ministry has dismissed a report of two suspected cases of Marburg virus in the country after a first deadly outbreak in neighboring Equatorial Guinea. Health officials along the border said Tuesday there were two suspected cases of the severe hemorrhagic fever in Cameroon after Malabo confirmed nine deaths and sixteen possible infections. Despite dismissing the reported cases, Cameroon’s health ministry says it is increasing surveillance and travel restrictions along the border.

Health Minister Manaouda Malachie says Cameroon does not yet have any suspected cases of the Marburg virus, despite reports of two possible infections.

Health officials in Cameroon’s South region on Tuesday said a teenage boy and girl suffering from high fever were rushed to a hospital Monday in Olamze, on the border with Equatorial Guinea.

The health officials said the children were suspected of being infected with the Marburg virus, are in isolation, and are responding to treatment.

But Malachie seemed to contradict those reports when he spoke Wednesday to state broadcaster Cameroon Radio Television.

Malachie says the decision by Cameroon to stop Marburg virus, an illness like Ebola, by restricting movement along the border with Equatorial Guinea is so far yielding fruit. He says as of Wednesday at midday central African time, Cameroon had not reported any deaths or suspected cases of Marburg virus.

Malachie says civilians should avoid contact with animals and people who have travelled to Equatorial Guinea and make sure people with fever, fatigue, and blood-stained vomit and diarrhea are isolated.

But Malachie warned its porous border with Equatorial Guinea, which confirmed Monday its first outbreak of the deadly virus, puts it at risk.

Cameroon last week said it restricted movement along the border after Equatorial Guinea quarantined hundreds of people in Kie-Ntem Province, where the hemorrhagic fever was first reported.

The World Health Organization says Equatorial Guinea sent samples to the Pasteur Institute in Senegal, after an alert by a health official on February 7, and one of them tested positive.

The WHO says Marburg was transmitted to people from fruit bats, spreads between people via bodily fluids, and has a fatality rate of up to 88%.

Marburg is in the same family as the Ebola virus but, unlike Ebola, there are no vaccines for Marburg — just treatments for the symptoms such as dehydration and fever.

Health officials from Cameroon and Gabon, which also shares borders with Equatorial Guinea, met Tuesday in Yaoundé and agreed to work together to prevent the virus from spreading.

University of Yaoundé sociology lecturer Francois Bingono Bingono was in the meeting.

He says the frequent movement of people across the borders will make stopping the virus a challenge.

Bingono says in 2020 Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea restricted movement along their border to protect their populations from COVID-19, but civilians on both sides did not respect the order. He says people living on both sides of the Cameroon-Equatorial Guinea border belong to the same ethnic groups, speak the same language, and celebrate happy events or mourn sad events together.

Bingono says health workers not known in border communities are struggling to educate locals that a deadly virus threatens their lives.

He says they will need traditional rulers to help convince their people.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the virus was first identified in 1967 in simultaneous outbreaks in laboratories in Marburg and Frankfurt, Germany, and in Belgrade.

Marburg is not new to Africa but is relatively new to West Africa.

An outbreak in Ghana in September last year killed two people, while Guinea recorded one death from the virus in 2021 — the first known case in West Africa.

The WHO reported previous outbreaks in Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, South Africa, and Uganda.
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At least 73 migrants were reported missing and presumed dead following a shipwreck off the Libyan coast on Tuesday, the official Twitter account of International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Libya said on Wednesday.

Seven survivors made it to shore from the boat, which was carrying around 80 people, who had reportedly departed from Qasr Alkayar, east of Tripoli, to head to Europe, the IOM added.

So far, 11 bodies have been retrieved by the Libyan red Crescent and the local police, while the seven survivors are in hospital, the IOM said.

Libya has become a major launching point for migrants seeking to reach Europe via a dangerous route across the desert and over the Mediterranean.

 
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As Ethiopians emerge from two years of conflict, a new Gallup survey paints a bleak picture of people suffering economically and emotionally. 

The survey conducted in the fall of 2022, found that a record-high 65% of Ethiopians are struggling to afford food, with food prices rising 43% in 2022 compared to 2021, and certain staple items soaring by more than 80%.

Opinion researchers had not been able to enter the country in 2021 and saw a significant change when they returned the following year.  Zach Bikus, regional director-Africa at Gallup said the team interviewed about 1,000 people but were not able to travel to the conflict areas.

“This year we were really excited to get back and really hear what the people are thinking,” he said. “And so, the main takeaway from this data that we just collected really is that the past couple of years have been difficult years.”

In addition to the conflict, the country is facing its worst drought in 40 years, putting additional pressure on the food supply, the report said. At the same time, income is also under pressure, with 45% of Ethiopians finding it “very difficult” to get by on their present household income, compared to 28% in 2019.

Bikus said he is seeing similar results across the region. “Really, East Africa, in general, is facing this drought, but also the fallout from the Ukraine-Russia conflict,” he said. “Many of the countries in these regions are big importers of wheat, Ethiopia included, and fertilizer. So, really the global pressures on food supply and prices I think are happening in a major impact.”

The situation has had a profound effect on Ethiopians’ mental and emotional well-being. When asked to rate their quality of life from 1 to 10, the average rating dropped from 4.5 in 2020 to just 3.6 in 2022, the lowest since 2012. The survey also found significant increases in people reporting they feel “worry,” “physical pain,” “anger,” and “stress.”

“We asked about physical issues, food and infrastructure, but really there’s kind of an emotional component too and how people are feeling themselves in terms of happiness or negative emotions,” Bikus said. “I think that’s another important thing to keep an eye on.”

The country faces a monumental task in maintaining peace, restarting the economy and reconciliation in the wake of the conflict, but there has been some positive news, the report noted.

Researchers still haven’t been able to access the Tigray region and some of the surrounding areas, Bikus said. “I believe it was about 7% of the population we were unable to talk to,” he said, adding that although the team followed protocols, they are “kind of at the mercy of circumstances sometimes.”  

 
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Health rights campaigners in Malawi are welcoming a national campaign against a record cholera outbreak, which has affected all 29 districts in the country and killed nearly 1,400 people.

President Lazarus Chakwera launched the campaign Monday, pledging to reduce the transmission and mortality rate of the water-borne illness. Chakwera said the spread is largely because people in the country are not following good hygiene practices.

“And because the behavior is not changing, the situation has become dire,” he said. “So far, over 1,300 funerals have happened around the country because of cholera. And the disease is still spreading at an alarming rate. We are getting between 500 to 600 cholera cases every day in our health facilities throughout the country.”

The campaign, known as “Tithetse Kolera” or “Let’s end cholera,” focuses on repairing water kiosks across the country and helping people construct toilets in their homes.

Chakwera said statistics show that about 40 percent of Malawians do not have toilets and instead use the bush to relieve themselves.

Several organizations in Malawi have long been running campaigns against the practice of open defecation, but with little result.

“We are human beings with dignity, not animals that can just use any place as a toilet. If any place is not a toilet, don’t treat it as a toilet,” Chakwera said. “And a toilet is not something that is given to you by the government or something that is donated from abroad or something that comes down from heaven. It is something you give yourself as a human being because you respect yourself better than an animal.”

Health authorities say they hope the campaign will help reduce the cholera fatality rate from the current 3.6% to 1%.

Health rights campaigner George Jobe welcomed the campaign, but said the government should go further by ending myths and misinformation associated with the outbreak.

Jobe, who is also executive director for the Malawi Health Equity Network, cited two recent incidents in Lilongwe and Balaka districts, where angry members of the community assaulted medical workers and vandalized two public health facilities, forcing them to close. The community members accused the medical workers of deliberately infecting patients with cholera-infested vaccines.

“The current cholera seems to be different from previous outbreaks of cholera just because the current one was preceded by COVID-19. So, we shall continue to provide some piece of advice to the government that when we are doing awareness raising, we must be mindful that we are also fighting with reductions of COVID-19,” Jobe said.

Chakwera ordered the reopening of the closed health facilities and assured the health workers that they would receive maximum security.

In the meantime, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and United Nations have pledged their support toward the success of the cholera campaign.

“The United Nations is currently in the process of preparing a multisector cholera appeal to increase the capacity of the U.N. and NGOs to support the government of Malawi. It will be launched next week,” said Rebecca Donto, the United Nations’ resident coordinator in Malawi.

Local media have reported that Malawi needs an additional $40 million for an effective cholera response. 
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A Somali journalist said he had been freed from jail Monday just hours after a court handed down a two-month sentence on security charges, a case widely criticized by rights campaigners and media advocacy groups.  

Abdalle Ahmed Mumin was arrested in October last year after the government announced a crackdown on media outlets that publish what it deems propaganda for the Islamist militant group al-Shabab. 

The court sentenced Mumin to two months in prison but in a surprise move he was released shortly after the ruling, having already spent around five months in jail. 

“When I was taken to Mogadishu central prison, officers refused to jail me granting my immediate freedom,” he said on Twitter. 

“I went straight to my office to conduct my daily routine. I will continue to be on the forefront of defending press freedom and human rights in Somalia,” he added. 

Mumin is the secretary-general of the Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS), which had vowed to appeal the ruling, calling it “a pure travesty of justice.” 

In a text message sent to AFP, SJS president Mohamed Ibrahim said: “This afternoon Abdalle has been released by the prison chief, saying that he has already served this sentence despite the verdict.” 

Ahead of the sentencing, rights groups including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Press Institute had called for the charges to be dropped, saying Mumin faced ongoing threats and persecution by Somali authorities for advocating the right to freedom of expression. 

“Continuing his prosecution not only casts a chilling effect on media freedom and journalism, but it also significantly contributes to the closing civic space in the country,” they said in a joint letter to Somalia’s attorney general in December.  

The SJS and four other media advocacy groups had protested the government’s security directive, warning it clamped down on free speech. 

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, known by its French acronym RSF, ranks Somalia 140th out of 180 countries on its global list of press freedom, with more than 50 journalists killed in the country since 2010. 

The nation of 17 million people is the most dangerous country for journalists in Africa, according to RSF. 

The main threat is from al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab fighters who are trying to overthrow the internationally backed government in Mogadishu, though Somali authorities are also accused of numerous violations. 
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African women and girls are discussing the harassment and discrimination challenges they face trying to conduct cross-border business under the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).

The meeting in Addis Ababa, called “Gender is My Agenda,” is taking place ahead of the African Union heads of state summit, which is set to begin Saturday and is expected to address progress of the African trade agreement.

Elizabeth Ajok, a South Sudanese national, said women often face problems at border crossings that men don’t have to experience.

“They are facing a lot of challenges like violence at the border, they are being intimidated, and sometimes some of their items are being confiscated or their goods are taken because of clearance,” Ajok said. “And they will also overcharge you because you are a woman. You will be taxed. Sometimes they just look at us. They see that you are just a woman, so you don’t deserve to do business.”

Zaithwa Milzanzi said she encounters similar treatment when she crosses the border from her native Malawi.

“You find yourself with required fees, the papers are in order, everything is in order and yet you find some officers at the border asking you for sexual things and you are thinking, ‘Why?'” Milzanzi said. “It really hinders your progress and your ability to trade as a young woman. So, this needs to be addressed if young women are to be considered and fully protected under this regime.”

The African Continental Free Trade Agreement went into effect in May 2019 with the goal of lowering tariffs between African countries and boosting economies.

African countries trading among themselves, the World Bank says, could boost Africa’s income by $450 billion by 2035.

Memory Kachambwa, head of the African Women’s Development and Communication Network, an organization that promotes women’s development in the continent, talked of the questions that need to be addressed.

“When we talk of AfCFTA, we are looking at [a] Pan-African instrument and within the vision of it is to ensure that even the trade that we do is dignified,” Kachambwa said. “We talk a lot about women cross-border traders, but are they doing it in a dignified way? Are we really ensuring that they have the service, the harassment with the customs union? Are we having those conversations?”

Even within their own countries, female entrepreneurs in Africa often face funding barriers, gender bias, and a lack of training.

Mercy Chukwuma, who advocates and supports women farmers in Nigeria, said some cultural norms have prevented women from owning land, making them unable to produce food.

“Lack of training and retraining of rural women farmers to enable them to stand up in the competitive market. We talk about land as a factor. You will agree with me that women have limited access to land. We do not have access and control over the land, which is a major factor of production,” she said. “If we, who occupy over 70% of the agricultural workforce, do not have access and control over the land, how then do we produce and produce well?”

Women own 20% of Africa’s land but produce more than two-thirds of the continent’s food.

The pre-summit meeting concludes on Tuesday. Participants hope their leaders will address the challenges of doing business in Africa and ending unfriendly business practices along African borders.
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