Category: Africa

Africa news. Africa is highly biodiverse, it is the continent with the largest number of megafauna species, as it was least affected by the extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna. However, Africa also is heavily affected by a wide range of environmental issues, including desertification, deforestation, water scarcity, and pollution

Somali President Calls for Cease-Fire After Deadly Fighting

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Somalia’s president has called for a cease-fire after clashes in a disputed town in the breakaway region of Somaliland left at least 13 people dead.

Both sides accuse the other of starting the fighting; Somaliland insisted it was defending itself from aggression.

“The reason for the confrontation is not due to animosity, but for political reasons,” Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said on Tuesday. “Therefore, we are sorry and not happy about what is happening there. … Respect the interest of the people, lay down arms, and stop the fighting. Start negotiating.”

Tensions have been building in Las Anod, the capital of the contested Sool region, since December. The region has been a point of conflict between Somaliland and the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, both of which lay claim to the territory.

“The fighting in Las Anod was ignited by a series of killings in the town and the lack of arrests of the perpetrators,” said Mohamed Abdulle, a security analyst and the founder of Daludug Security Services in Somalia. “Somaliland authorities made no arrests to ease the situation. That angered the public.”

Somaliland has been governing the Sool region since capturing it from Puntland in 2008. However, the region has witnessed a series of battles between the two sides. Abdulle warns the fighting in the Sool region could impede the ongoing campaign by the federal government in central regions.

“It is possible these clashes could undermine operations against al-Shabab,” said Abdulle. “Immediately clashes started, al-Shabab attacked a strategic village and briefly held it. Also, Somaliland uses the term terrorism against the locals fighting its soldiers, so that could increase the insecurity.”

Abdiaziz Issack, a security analyst with the cultural and research organization known as the Hamad Bin Khalifa Civilization Center, told VOA that the conflict in the Sool region runs deep and cannot be solved without resolving the Somalia-Somaliland dispute.

“There is no single solution to the conflict in Las Anod and the Sool region at large,” he said. “However, it goes back to the dispute between Somalia and Somaliland. The two sides have to agree to a joint administration of the Sool region until the talks between Somalia and Somaliland are concluded.”

Clan elders, who had been meeting in Las Anod before the fresh fighting started, said in a communique that they reject the administration of Somaliland over the territory. They said that the region will be governed by the federal government in Mogadishu. Issack said that, while that stance acknowledges the authority of the federal government, President Mohamud will need to take a diplomatic path to avoid a dispute with Somaliland.

Issack said the federal government finds itself in a tight spot regarding the issue.

“While it might want to directly intervene, it guards against going into a collision with Somaliland,” said Issack. “Therefore, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud will just have to continue encouraging dialogue and cease-fire building on the goodwill of his government with the administration in Somaliland.”

The fighting in Las Anod has once again ignited the long-running debate over regional autonomy in Somalia. In the past, politicians in the Sool and Sanaag regions have pushed for the formation of a federal member state referred to as Khatumo, but that initiative has not gained recognition from the federal government.

As tensions flare again, the federal government and the break-away region might need to directly engage with one other to avert more killings and to create room for the resumption of long-delayed talks between Somaliland and Somalia.
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Dozens Killed in Eastern Somaliland Clashes

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At least 38 people were killed, and more than 130 others injured following two days of fighting in Las Anod town, in eastern Somaliland.  

Health officials also reported Las Anod General Hospital, the town’s main medical center, was hit by suspected mortars. 

“We were hit by four incoming fires which destroyed some parts of our offices,” said Ahmed Mohamed Hassan, the hospital director.

Hassan said the hospital was targeted Monday and Tuesday and that some of the staffers and patients fled the facility to seek safety elsewhere. 

Hassan also said other hospitals recorded casualties, but he did not give additional figures because he was not in communication with those medical facilities. 

Somaliland declared its secession from Somalia in May 1991 but has not yet achieved international recognition. Despite the lack of recognition, Somaliland was widely praised by the international community for achieving stability and holding democratic elections. 

The clashes between Somaliland forces and local fighters comes after weeks of tension in the town following the killing of a local politician by masked gunmen. It was the latest in a series of assassinations in the town over many years, incidents which authorities blamed on al-Shabab fighters. 

Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi accused the “enemy of Somaliland” of being behind the killings. 

This latest fighting also comes amid a dispute over the future status of territories in eastern Somaliland, where a significant number of the locals appear to support unity with Somalia. 

Mutual recrimination

Each side accused the other of starting the fighting. 

On Monday, local elders who have been meeting in the town issued a declaration stating they are not part of Somaliland. The declaration stated the territories are part of the federal republic of Somalia and “stand for the unity and integrity” of Somalia. 

The Somaliland government dismissed the declaration.  

In a statement, Somaliland said its forces are fighting “international terrorist groups that have been planning on creating insecurity, and instability” in Las Anod, and it warned that the violence in Las Anod is threatening the stability of the region. 

In the same statement, Somaliland said it is prepared to resolve the situation in Las Anod through dialogue and consensus.  

The elders in Las Anod said they are not terrorists and that they elected 45 members to govern the area. They urged Somaliland to withdraw its forces. 

Calls for dialogue

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has called for the cessation of hostilities in Las Anod. He said in a speech the conflict in Las Anod requires a “political solution.”  

He said resolving the dispute will be part of the overall effort to gain the unity of Somalia. “Put down the weapons, cease the fire, start dialogue,” Mohamud said.

The federal government also said it welcomes the decision of the people of Las Anod to support solidarity with Somalia. 

Mohamud has urged respect for the wishes of the people. He said to continue to spill the blood of Somalis is “unacceptable.” 

Meanwhile, foreign diplomatic missions in Mogadishu, including the United Nations, the European Union, African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS), and the United States, issued a brief statement calling for a peaceful settlement.

Separately, the U.N.’s deputy special envoy for Somalia, Adam Abdelmoula, said in a tweet the new clashes have displaced more than 80,000 people in Las Anod, and that international human rights law, where applicable, must be upheld.

Nuh Muse Birjeb contributed to this report.
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UN High Commissioner Visits Displaced in Ethiopia

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U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi traveled to Ethiopia’s Tigray region this week to meet with families displaced by conflict.

Since arriving in Ethiopia on February 5, Grandi also has met with the president of Ethiopia and with Eritrean refugees in Alemwach camp in Amhara.

Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia have faced targeted attacks over the past two years of war. In December, the UNHCR collaborated with partners to relocate 7,000 Eritrean refugees from Western Tigray to Alemwach. 

Though access for aid to Tigray has improved since a peace deal was signed in November between the federal government and Tigray forces, resources remain limited compared to needs, according to a U.N. report.

Grandi said through a statement made on Twitter that the peace agreement has allowed humanitarian agencies to deliver more aid in areas of Northern Ethiopia impacted by conflict.

Since the deal, the federal government has restored basic services and humanitarian aid to the region. As part of the agreement, Tigrayan fighters have handed over heavy weapons to the federal government, while Amhara special forces have left the Tigray region. On February 3, Prime Minster Abiy Ahmed met with TPLF leaders for the first time to discuss the implementation of the peace deal. 
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Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov Visits Mali

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday vowed that Russia will continue helping Mali improve its military capabilities in a joint press conference aired live on state television.

Standing alongside his Malian counterpart, Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop, Russia top diplomat touted the August 2021 delivery of several fighter jets and helicopters, adding that more military support is assured.

“We have delivered very important aircraft,” he said, “and this has considerably increased the capacity of Malian armed forces to eradicate the terrorist threat.”

Russian support for the West African nation’s efforts to sustain a decade-long battle against al-Qaida and Islamic-State-linked militants has increased since France’s withdrawal from the country last year.

The French army intervened in Mali in 2013 after the north of the country was taken over by Islamist militants but withdrew last year on concerns about Mali’s military government working with Kremlin-backed Wagner Group mercenaries

The growing partnership between Moscow and Bamako has prompted Western concern. Mali has been under international scrutiny for cooperating with Russian Wagner mercenaries since last year, with the U.N. and several international human rights organizations calling for investigations of massacres committed by the mercenaries working with the Malian army.

Lavrov and Diop both referenced efforts by the United Nations to investigate human rights abuses in Mali. Both ministers described those efforts as “neocolonial,” with Diop claiming they are an effort to “destabilize” Mali.

Rights groups and journalists reported human rights abuse allegations committed by Russian mercenaries several times last year. Following one investigation, French broadcasts were banned from the country.

Last week U.N. experts called for an investigation into “international crimes” committed by the Wagner Group in Mali.

Following testimony at a U.N. Security Council meeting on January 27, Mali’s military government expelled the chief of the U.N. mission to Mali’s human rights division for “destabilizing and subversive” actions against the Malian government.

Violence has continued to spread south in recent years, with several attacks in recent months near Bamako attributed to Islamist militants. In July of last year, Mali’s main military base in Kati, 15 kilometers from Bamako, was attacked by Islamist militants.

Lavrov’s visit comes as Moscow seeks to shore up relations with its allies amid Western isolation because of its invasion of Ukraine.

Russian news agency RIA quoted Lavrov as saying that Moscow hoped to start delivering wheat, fertilizers and oil products to Mali soon.

Lavrov has visited a series of African countries recently as Moscow, hit by Western sanctions over its war in Ukraine, seeks to strengthen ties and strategic partnerships elsewhere.

Some information in this report came from Reuters.
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Sub-Saharan Africa Is ‘New Epicenter’ of Extremism, Says UN 

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The new global epicenter of violent Islamic extremism is sub-Saharan Africa where people are increasingly joining because of economic factors and less for religious ones, says a new report by the U.N.’s international development agency.

A significant increase of 92% of new recruits to extremist groups are joining for better livelihoods compared to the motivations of those interviewed in a previous report released in 2017, according to the UNDP report released on Tuesday.

Many Africans’ lives have been badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, high inflation, and climate change, said the report.

There has been a 57% decrease in the number of people joining extremist groups for religious reasons, it said.

Nearly 2,200 people were interviewed for the report in eight African countries: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, and Sudan. More than 1,000 interviewees are former members of violent extremist groups, both voluntary and forced recruits, said the report.

At least 4,155 attacks across Africa were documented since in 2017, said the report. In these attacks, 18,417 deaths were recorded in the continent with Somalia accounting for the largest number of fatalities.

The Somali government is currently carrying out what has been described as the most significant offensive against the al-Shabab extremist group in more than a decade.

Those interviewed were drawn from various extremist groups across the continent including Boko Haram in Nigeria, al-Shabab in Somalia, which pledges allegiance to al-Qaida, and in West Africa Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen, or JNIM, which is allied to the Islamic State group.

Sub-Saharan Africa has become the new global epicenter of violent extremism with 48% of global terrorism deaths in 2021, UNDP administrator Achim Steiner said in a press briefing ahead of the report’s launch.

This surge in extremism in Africa “not only adversely impacts lives, security, and peace, but also threatens to reverse hard-won development gains for generations to come,” he said.

Military campaigns to stamp out extremism are not proving to be successful, said Steiner.

Security-driven counter-terrorism responses are often costly and minimally effective, yet investments in preventive approaches to violent extremism are woefully inadequate,'' he said.The social contract between states and citizens must be reinvigorated to tackle root causes of violent extremism.”

About 71% of those who joined extremist groups were influenced by human rights abuses by state security forces, such as the killings or arrests of family members, said the report.

Security forces in some sub-Saharan countries have been accused of brutality and extrajudicial killings and weak judicial systems give victims little hope for justice, it said.

Nigeria’s Boko Haram and its offshoot, the Islamic State in West Africa Province, have grown in influence by using money to entice impoverished communities, Hassan Chibok, a community leader in Nigeria’s Borno state where the conflict is concentrated told The Associated Press in a separate interview.

Those who left the extremist groups cited unmet expectations, particularly the lack of sustained financial benefits, and an absence of trust in extremist leaders as their main reasons for quitting.

Research shows that those who decide to disengage from violent extremism are less likely to rejoin and recruit others, said the report.

This is why it's so important to invest in incentives that enable disengagement,'' said Nirina Kiplagat, a UNDP specialist in preventing violent extremism in Africa.Local communities play a pivotal role in supporting sustainable pathways out of violent extremism, along with national governments’ amnesty programs.”

The UNDP report recommends better basic services including child welfare, education, and quality livelihoods to prevent people from voluntarily joining extremist groups. It also urged the creation of more exit opportunities and investment in rehabilitation and community-based reintegration services.
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Seeing Wrongdoing and Injustice, Ugandan Journalist Uses Reporting for Change

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When asked how she made her breakthrough in investigative journalism, Cecilia Okoth says it came down to having a curious mind.

Assigned to cover a media briefing at a cancer treatment center in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, the reporter was intrigued by the patients waiting on the building’s veranda.

Many had traveled from across Uganda for treatment that is supposed to be free. But when Okoth spoke with the patients, she heard stories of irregularities in the care, with some patients saying doctors had asked them for bribes.

Because of her inquisitive nature, Okoth said, that “debut story became my main sort of breakthrough.”

Okoth went undercover to look into the allegations raised by patients. When her story was finally published by Uganda’s New Vision media group in August 2018, it made waves.

“Parliament acknowledged the article, and many people were able to share their experiences on social media about how they had been harassed by the same medical doctors that I caught on camera,” she told VOA. “That alone gives me the satisfaction that I was able to do something different for society.”

In more recent years, Okoth has reported on issues affecting children and young people — a focus that led her in 2023 to join the communications team at the charity ChildFund in Uganda.

She cites another of her investigative pieces as a turning point. It was 2019, and Okoth was in the Kenyan capital for a conference on child protection.

“We took a break to go and see what Nairobi was like. And then I noticed young girls from a particular ethnic tribe,” she said. “I was so curious.”

The reporter found that girls from Napak district in northern Uganda, some as young as 10, were being taken to Nairobi on the promise of school or work.

“But it was child trafficking. And most of these girls ended up being sexually abused,” she said.

As well as reporting on the case, Okoth was able to help rescue nearly 300 girls.

“[They] were brought back and taken to facilities for sort of rehabilitation … trying to get them to do things and learn skills,” she said.

For Okoth, “[It’s] not just about exposing the wrongdoing but being a story that will even wake up the government to say, ‘We didn’t know this is where our girls were ending up.’

“We must do a lot about looking at government solutions, and then journalists — the fourth estate and the voice for the voiceless — can change the narrative,” she said.

Fellow Ugandan journalist Solomon Serwanjja shares a similar view. In an interview with VOA last month, he said reporters can help bring change.

“Everyone talks about changing the world. But changing the world requires that we do something,” he said.

Doctors save lives, lawyers defend the weak, politicians pass good laws, said Serwanjja. “And fighting for freedoms is changing the world as an investigative journalist,” he said.

As journalists, “when we see something is going wrong, we have the platforms, we have the audience, we have the equipment, we have the knowledge, we have the skills to do something about it,” Serwanjja said.

But looking into corruption and wrongdoing can bring risks in Uganda. Human Rights Watch, in its World Report published in January, noted that authorities in Kampala often fail to hold security forces accountable for human rights violations, including restrictions on freedom of expression and assembly. The report found that journalists are also “routinely harassed and intimidated.”

Media rights organizations, including Reporters Without Borders, have also cited challenges for media, including attacks, kidnappings, and threats for those who report on influential figures.

But when asked about the risks she and others in Uganda face, Okoth said, “Tell me any profession that has no risks. If there’s something wrong, there must be someone to start that talk,” she said.

And the reward from bringing important issues to light keeps Okoth going.

“My journey in investigative journalism has paid off because I have been focusing on issues with children. The injustices and providing proper and workable solutions,” she said.

It is that interest that led Okoth to take a position at ChildFund.

She sees the work as a continuation of her reporting career, saying, “I wouldn’t have gotten there if I didn’t do these stories that expose the wrongdoings … it has enabled me to embark on a career that will help me continue my passion for children.”

Okoth would like to see more newsrooms encouraging female reporters to take on complex stories.

When she started in journalism, she didn’t think she would be qualified for investigative reporting.

“I often looked at it as something that was [reserved] for the seniors in the newsroom, and being a female was even worse because we know that investigative journalism is usually a bit complicated in safeguarding yourself,” Okoth said.

“The newsroom, like some organizations, is primarily male-dominated,” she said. “It is high time for editors to deliberately encourage their [female reporters] to go for these stories.”

This article originated in VOA’s English to Africa service.
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Proposed Sudan-Israel Peace Deal Triggers Protest in Khartoum

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Scores of Sudanese protested in the capital Monday against diplomatic relations with Israel, after last week’s surprise visit by the Israeli foreign minister. 

Dozens of Sudanese protesters chanted “no normalization” with Israel, as they held banners blaming Sudanese military leader Abdul Fattah al-Burhan for committing a “betrayal.”

Monday’s protest comes days after Sudanese and Israeli officials announced that the two countries are moving toward normalizing ties.

The announcement was made Thursday after an official visit by the Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Eli Cohen, who met with Sudanese officials in Khartoum.

Speaking to VOA during Monday’s protest, Mohammed Al Safi said, he rejects any form of normalization with Israel.

Al Safi, who is a member of the self-described “popular campaign” against normalization with Israel, said al-Burhan’s decision doesn’t reflect the will of the Sudanese people.

“We are at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to raise our voice that Khartoum shall remain the town for ‘No to peace, no to normalization and no to recognition of Israel,” he said.

That policy, known as the ‘Three Nos,’ was established at a 1967 Arab League summit in Khartoum, soon after the 1967 Mideast War when Israel took control of Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Another protester, Tamadur Omer, said she took part in the protest to reject the “illegality” of the decision taken by the Sudanese military leaders.

Speaking to VOA while wearing a Palestinian scarf around her neck, she said her religion doesn’t allow her to live in peace with the Israeli people. That is why the government’s decision doesn’t serve the interest of all Sudanese people.

“As a Muslim, I reject the normalization in principle and value,” she said. “And as a Sudanese people, we will not sell our country to Zionists. Such a decision can only be the mandate of an elected and a legitimate government.”

Another demonstrator, Al Fadil Abu Basher, said protesters will push to maintain the rejection of any ties with Israel.

“This is an unconstitutional and illegal decision and they, the military, do not have the right to take such a decision,” he said. “We are ready to face the illegal step with all the rejection [it] means. All means are open for us.

Abdulrahman Khaleel, the spokesperson of the Sudanese Foreign Affairs Ministry, downplayed the protest, saying people are free to demonstrate. 

“It is normal that part of the Sudanese are against this. They have a right to express their opinion,” he said.

In 2020, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco all normalized relations with Israel as part of the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords. Sudan separately announced plans to establish diplomatic ties with Israel in a deal brokered by the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump. 

In January 2021, Sudan’s government issued a declaration paving the way to normalizing ties with Israel, and later approved a bill abolishing a boycott of the country dating back to 1968.
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HRW: Thick Veil of Violence’ Around Nigeria’s Elections

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Human Rights Watch said Monday that there is a “thick veil of violence” surrounding elections scheduled to take place in Nigeria later this month.  

The violence “undermines people’s fundamental right to vote,” said Anietie Ewang, HRW’s Nigerian researcher, who called on Nigerian officials to install secure systems that would allow Nigerians to vote safely.  

“It is important for the authorities to swiftly restore public confidence in their ability to hold those responsible for electoral violence accountable and ensure the safety and security of all Nigerians,” Ewang said in a statement.  

In the capital city of Imo state, Owerri, where violent secessionist groups have repeatedly attacked election authorities in an effort to disrupt elections, a human rights activist told HRW that people want to vote to be a part of the political process, “but this is severely challenged by the security issues which there appears to be little or no commitment to address.”   

The activist said there is “a strong sense of fear among voters.” 

Nigerians go to the polls February 25 to elect a new president and other politicians. 
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UN Peacekeeper Killed in Attack on Helicopter in DR Congo

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A United Nations peacekeeper from South Africa was killed and another wounded in an attack on their helicopter in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday, the organization said.   

The aircraft came under fire at around 3:00 pm (1200 GMT) during a flight to Goma, the provincial capital of Nord-Kivu province, where it was able to land, a spokesman told AFP.   

The source of the fire that struck the helicopter was not yet known and its precise location had yet to be determined, said Amadou Ba, a spokesman for the UN mission in the DRC (MONUSCO).   

South Africa’s military also confirmed the incident.   

“An Oryx helicopter came under fire in Goma, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Sunday February 5, 2023,” the South African National Defense Force (SANDF) said in a statement.    

“A crew member was fatally shot, another suffered injuries but managed to continue flying the chopper and landed safely at Goma Airport.    

“The SANDF is in the process of informing family members of the soldiers who were involved in this unfortunate incident.”   

MONUSCO chief Bintou Keita said she “strongly condemns this cowardly attack on an aircraft bearing the UN emblem”, adding that “attacks against peacekeepers can constitute a war crime”.    

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Congolese authorities “to investigate this heinous attack and swiftly bring those responsible to justice”, said his spokesman Stephane Dujarric in a statement.    

Raging conflict  

On March 29, 2022, eight UN peacekeepers — six Pakistanis, one Russian and one Serb — were killed when their helicopter crashed over a combat zone between the Congolese army and M23 rebels.   

Militias have plagued the mineral-rich eastern DRC for decades, many of them a legacy of regional wars that flared during the 1990s and the early 2000s.    

Since November 2021, the M23 rebel group has seized chunks of territory and come within miles of the east’s main commercial hub Goma.   

East African leaders called Saturday for an immediate ceasefire in eastern DRC, at an extraordinary summit called to find ways of calming the raging conflict.   

The talks were hosted in Burundi by the seven-nation East African Community (EAC), which is leading mediation efforts to end the fighting in the vast central African nation.   

The resurgent M23 has taken control of swathes of land in the mineral-rich east and fighting is continuing despite a peace roadmap hammered out in Angola last July, and the deployment of an East African Community force in November.   

The DRC is awash with minerals and precious stones, but the decades of war and chronic mismanagement mean that little of the vast wealth trickles down to the population of some 100 million. 
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Mali Expels UN Mission’s Human Rights Chief

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The Malian interim government on Sunday said the head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission’s human rights division had 48 hours to leave the country as he had been declared persona non grata. 

In a statement, it said the decision to expel Guillaume Ngefa-Atondoko Andali was connected to his allegedly biased choice of civil society witnesses for U.N. Security Council briefings on Mali, the most recent of which was held on January 27. 

The U.N. mission in Mali MINUSMA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Andali could not be reached for comment. 

The Malian authorities have come under pressure for alleged human rights violations and abuses reportedly perpetrated by Malian armed forces in partnership with the Russian private military contractor Wagner Group in Mali. 

On January 31, U.N. experts called for an independent investigation into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity by both these forces. 

The Malian government, which took power in a 2021 military coup, on Saturday released a statement that pushed back against some of the U.N. allegations and emphasized the authorities’ commitment to respecting human rights in accordance with international and national law. 
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South Africa Records 2 Imported Cholera Cases

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South Africa has recorded two confirmed imported cases of cholera, the health department said Sunday, as it called for vigilance. 

The cases were of sisters who had in January traveled to Malawi, where a cholera outbreak since last year has claimed more than 1,000 lives as of January, the highest on record in the country. 

“Both patients had developed symptoms on their return to Johannesburg,” the health department said in a statement. 

“A close contact (household family member) of one of the patients was admitted to hospital on 4 February with diarrhea and dehydration, and is considered a possible case,” it said, adding laboratory test results were pending. 

Cholera is an acute diarrheal infection caused by the bacteria Vibrio cholerae and can be deadly if left untreated. It is mainly spread by contaminated food and water. 

Cholera is not endemic in South Africa, the health department said. The last outbreak in the country was in 2008-2009 when about 12,000 cases were reported following an outbreak in neighboring Zimbabwe which led to a surge of imported cases and subsequent local transmission. 
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Pope Francis Wraps Up South Sudan Trip, Urges End to ‘Blind Fury’ of Violence

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Pope Francis wound up a peace mission to South Sudan on Sunday urging the people to make themselves immune to the “venom of hatred” to achieve the peace and prosperity that have eluded them through years of bloody ethnic conflicts.

Francis presided at an open-air Mass on the grounds of a mausoleum for South Sudan’s liberation hero John Garang, who died in a helicopter crash in 2005 before the predominantly Christian country broke away from Muslim Sudan in 2011.

The 86-year-old pope wove his homily around the themes that have dominated his trip to the world’s newest nation – reconciliation and mutual forgiveness for past wrongs.

The crowd sang, drummed and ululated as Francis entered the dusty area.

He begged the crowd of about 70,000 people to shun the “blind fury of violence.”

Two years after independence, South Sudan plunged into a civil war that killed 400,000 people. Despite a 2018 peace deal between the two main antagonists, bouts of fighting have continued to kill and displace large numbers of civilians.

At the end of the service, in a farewell address shortly before heading to the airport to fly home, the pope thanked the people of South Sudan for the affection they showed him.

“Dear brothers and sisters, I return to Rome with you even closer to my heart,” he told them. “Never lose hope. And lose no opportunity to build peace. May hope and peace dwell among you. May hope and peace dwell in South Sudan!”

The pope has had a longstanding interest in South Sudan. In one of the most remarkable gestures of his papacy, he knelt to kiss the feet of the country’s previously warring leaders during a meeting at the Vatican in 2019.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, leader of the global Anglican Communion, and Iain Greenshields, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, accompanied the pope during his visit to South Sudan.

The “pilgrimage of peace” was the first time in Christian history that leaders of the Catholic, Anglican and Reformed traditions conducted a joint foreign visit.

Hope of a turning point

Earlier on his Africa trip, the pope visited Democratic Republic of Congo, home to the continent’s largest Roman Catholic community, where he celebrated Mass for a million people and heard harrowing stories from people harmed by war in the eastern part of the country.

Among the worshippers at Sunday’s Mass in the South Sudanese capital Juba was Ferida Modon, 72, who lost three of her children to conflict.

“I want peace to come to South Sudan. Yes, I believe that his visit will change the situation. We are now tired of conflict,” she said. “We want God to listen to our prayers.”

Jesilen Gaba, 42, a widow with four children, said: “The fact that the three churches united for the sake of South Sudan, this is the turning point for peace. I want the visit to be a blessing to us. We have been at war; we have lost many people.”

Francis made another appeal for an end to the tribalism, financial wrongdoing and political cronyism at the root of many of the country’s problems.

He urged the people to build “good human relationships as a way of curbing the corruption of evil, the disease of division, the filth of fraudulent business dealings and the plague of injustice.”

South Sudan has some of the largest crude oil reserves in sub-Saharan Africa but a U.N. report in 2021 said the country’s leaders had diverted “staggering amounts of money and other wealth” from public coffers and resources.

The government dismissed the report and has denied accusations of widespread corruption.
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Three Killed in Attacks on Ethiopian Orthodox Church, According to Report

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Three people have been killed Saturday in attacks on a church in southern Ethiopia, according to reports by a religious media outlet.

The violence erupted against a backdrop of tensions in the ancient Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church after rebel bishops created their own synod in Oromia, the country’s most populous region.

Abune Henok, Archbishop of Addis Ababa Diocese, described the incidents in the Oromia city of Shashamene as “shameful and heart-wrenching,” according to the Church-affiliated Tewahedo Media Center (TMC).

The TMC said two Orthodox Christian youths had been killed, and another four people injured, when Oromia special forces attacked the church in Shashamene, which lies about 250 kilometers (150 miles) south of Addis Ababa.

It later said there had been sniper fire on the church from nearby high-rise buildings that had killed a woman and injured others.

It was not possible to independently verify the reports.

Henok called on the authorities in Oromia, also the largest geographic region in Ethiopia, to stop the “persecution” of Orthodox Christians, according to the TMC.

A statement issued by the Holy Synod later urged clergy and the faithful to wear black in protest and called for peaceful demonstrations at churches at home and abroad on February 12.

The unity of the Ethiopian Church, one of the oldest in the world and which accounts for about 40 percent of the country’s 115 million population, is under threat after the move by the rebel clergy last month.

The Church, headed by Patriarch Abune Mathias for a decade, has declared the breakaway synod illegal and excommunicated the bishops involved.

It has also accused the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of interfering in its affairs and making comments that effectively recognized the “illegitimate group.”

Addressing cabinet members earlier in the week, Abiy — who is himself from the Oromo community — called for the rivals to engage in dialogue and said both sides had their “own truths.”

The breakaway bishops accuse the church of discrimination and linguistic and cultural hegemony, saying congregations in Oromia are not served in their native language, claims rejected by the patriarchate.

Orthodox leaders have long complained of religious persecution, including the burning of churches several years ago, and relations with the government have been tense in the past, including over the Tigray conflict.

The World Council of Churches issued a statement Friday voicing “deep concern” about the developments in the Ethiopian institution.

“We call upon all political leaders in Ethiopia to support the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in its efforts to achieve unity and peace among its members,” WCC general secretary Jerry Pillay said.
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41 Dead After Bandits, Vigilantes Clash in Nigeria

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Authorities in Nigeria’s Katsina state have launched a joint security operation after 41 people were killed when a vigilante group clashed with bandits who attacked their village.

This is the latest violence ahead of the February 25 presidential and parliamentary election where insecurity has become a major concern of voters. 

Katsina state police spokesman Gambo Isah said that, as of Saturday, a joint security team that includes the military, air force and police were still searching for the perpetrators.

The bandits are believed to be holed up in the nearby Yargoje Forest, where many of the victims were found.

50 cows, 30 sheep stolen

The local vigilante group known as Yankasai was drawn from 11 communities in the Bakori area, where bandits stole 50 cows and 30 sheep before fleeing into the bush.

The vigilante group traced the suspects to the Yargoje Forest to recover the animals but were ambushed by the bandits, killing 41 and injuring two others.

“Our men are still there and as I am speaking with you presently an operation is ongoing,” Isah told Voice of America by phone. “But I cannot say there is no arrest being made but we’re waiting for the result of that operation.”

The bodies of slain vigilantes have been recovered and taken to the mortuary. The injured are being treated at the Kankara General Hospital.

Crime a concern

Katsina state is the home state of Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, and one of the most affected by growing violence perpetrated by armed gangs in northwest Nigeria.

Attacks in the region have led to criticism of Buhari’s eight-year tenure built on a promise to fix insecurity in Nigeria.

The Katsina state special adviser on security said the village attack and the killings have sparked outrage in the community. Authorities have called for calm.

Last week, Katsina state residents hurled stones at the president’s motorcade during his visit to commission projects started by the state’s governor.
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Nigerian Authorities Call For Calm as Citizens Protest Cash, Fuel Shortages

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Nigerian Central Bank authorities are calling for calm as citizens march in the streets protesting cash and fuel shortages days ahead of the February 10 deadline when the country will switch to redesigned currency.  Protesters asked authorities Friday to circulate the new notes or reverse the currency switch decision. President Muhammadu Buhari assured citizens Friday that the problem will be addressed in a matter of days.

Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Godwin Emefiele told reporters Saturday authorities are taking measures to ensure smooth flow of the cash swap and minimize inconvenience.

He said there are enough of the redesigned currency and reiterated that the deadline to exchange the old bills for the new ones will not be extended beyond February 10.

On Sunday, the CBN announced a 10-day extension from January 31 for citizens to exchange world currencies for the new 200-, 500-, and 1,000-naira bills

But across many states, citizens say the new cash is yet to circulate, bringing business to a halt.

The situation snowballed into protests Friday in Oyo, Delta, Osun and Lagos states. Angry mobs vandalized banks and gas stations.

Ogho Okiti, the managing director of BusinessDay Media Ltd. said the new policy, though profitable, is already showing signs of poor implementation.

 

“What I think is happening is that we’re seeing an evidence of poor execution of the policy,” said Okiti. “There’s the dimension of logistics, there’s dimension of restrictions, then the dimension of accessibility, even to make transfers online you’re not able to do that. So, it’s putting so much frustration and pressure on the system”.

 

Nigeria is also facing intensifying fuel shortages across the country due to a disruption in the product distribution chain caused by the activities of cross-border smugglers.

On Friday, Buhari called for calm and said he has met with officials to resolve the problem in a lasting manner.

Oyo state Governor Sheyi Makinde also addressed residents in a televised broadcast, condemning violence in the state’s capital of Ibadan.

 

“The violence that erupted in part of Ibadan today is condemnable and will not be tolerated,” said Makinde. “In response to this I’ve suspended all campaign activities, I’ve also met with the heads of security agencies in Oyo state to restore calm. Violence cannot and will not solve our problems”.  

But across many states, citizens say the new cash is yet to circulate and the old notes have been mostly withdrawn from circulation, making business transactions difficult.

“The protest was actually peaceful, but I guess some people … all these political thugs joined, that is why it actually became violent. The bank was actually damaged totally, because they burgled the ATM machine, sike ?? parts of the windows,” said Stephen Adekunle, an Oyo State Resident.

This is Nigeria’s first currency swap in 19 years. 

Authorities say the measure is already making an impact curbing crimes, counterfeiting and corruption, as well as recalling the excess cash stashed away back into the banking system.
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Pope Francis Implores Clergy to Raise Voices Against Injustice

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Pope Francis called on Catholic clergy Saturday, especially those in Africa, to raise their voices against injustice and abuse of power by authorities. Francis was speaking to church leaders on his second day in Juba, South Sudan, where he is on a three-day ecumenical peace pilgrimage.

Pope Francis said Saturday the church should play a significant role in ending violence and bad governance in Africa by speaking out about injustices committed by those in power. 

The pope said, if we want to be pastors who intercede, we cannot afford to remain neutral before the pain caused by acts of injustice and violence. To violate any right against any woman or man is an offense against Christ. 

The pope was addressing Catholic bishops, priests, and nuns at Juba’s St. Therese Cathedral, where he also cautioned against remaining neutral to injustice. 

He said we are called to intercede for our people, to raise our voices. We cannot afford to remain neutral. 

Using a metaphor, the pope equated the Nile River, which passes through Juba from Lake Victoria, the world’s largest freshwater lake, to the Mediterranean Sea, as the tears of the people of South Sudan immersed in endless suffering.  

The pontiff asked, how can we exercise our ministry in this land, along the banks of a river bathed in so much innocent blood, among the tear-stained faces of the people entrusted to us?  

He challenged the clergy to be “courageous and generous souls, ready to suffer and die for Africa.  

He told said we need courageous, generous souls ready to die for Africa,” 

On Friday, Pope Francis urged South Sudanese leaders to shun violence and embrace peace and he also called on the international community to refrain from interfering in the affairs of a sovereign Africa. 

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby is accompanying the ecumenical pilgrimage.  

“My heart breaks. I can hardly speak with sorrow for South Sudan. I beg that at every level, from the president to the smallest child, that people find the mercy of God and are transformed. And that there is peace and good government,” Welby said. “That they will not steal money. That no one kills their neighbors for cattle.”  

Rebecca Nyandeng, wife of South Sudan founding father the late John Garang, told citizens to shun ethnic divisions.  

She said, I am heartbroken that Dr. John died for the independence of this country, yet the very people he died for are now killing themselves. By the fact that you are still killing yourselves, it means he had died in vain. Please accept one another, stop division and stop killing each other. God has come to us in the form of the visit of Pope Francis, Archbishop of Canterbury and Moderator General of the Church of Scotland.  

The three religious leaders later, participated in a joint interdenominational prayer session.  

This historic ecumenical visit by the prominent religious leaders is considered a sign of inter-religious unity and their commitment to bear witness to the Gospel, as well as an action to promote peace and reconciliation among the people of South Sudan. 
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Pope Encourages South Sudanese, Will Raise Plight of Women

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Pope Francis sought Saturday to console the long-suffering people of South Sudan as he opened his first full day in a country beset by conflict, poverty and humanitarian crises by encouraging priests and nuns to serve their flocks by joining in their tears.

After arriving in the world’s newest country on the first-ever papal visit Friday, Francis was spending Saturday ministering first to church personnel and then to South Sudanese who have been forced by fighting, flooding and other crises to leave their homes.

Francis was highlighting in particular the plight of South Sudanese women, half of whom are married before age 18, are subject to rampant sexual violence and then face the world’s highest maternal mortality rate.

“Let us ask ourselves what it means for us to be ministers of God in a land scarred by war, hatred, violence, and poverty,” Francis said in St. Theresa Cathedral in the capital, Juba. “How can we exercise our ministry in this land, along the banks of a river bathed in so much innocent blood, among the tear-stained faces of the people entrusted to us?”

Lush in oil and other natural resources but beset by years of civil war and conflict, South Sudan is one of the world’s poorest countries and is responsible for Africa’s worst refugee crisis: More than 2 million people have fled the country and another 2 million are displaced within its borders.

Joined by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and the Presbyterian head of the Church of Scotland, Francis is seeking to draw global attention to the country’s plight.

The aim of the novel ecumenical visit is to encourage South Sudan’s political leaders to implement a 2018 peace accord ending a civil war that erupted after the overwhelmingly Christian country gained independence from mostly Muslim Sudan in 2011.

The deal and many of its key provisions, including the formation of a national unified army, has stalled amid political infighting and continued clashes around the country that have forced the postponement of the first presidential election for another two years.

At the cathedral Saturday, Francis urged South Sudan’s bishops, priests, nuns and seminarians not to join religious life for social prestige, but to serve their flocks by accompanying them.

“It is precisely this art of stepping into the middle of our brothers and sisters that the church’s pastors need to cultivate: the ability to step into the middle of their sufferings and tears, into the middle of their hunger for God and their thirst for love,” he said.

On a day when South Sudan’s suffering women are expected to take the pride of place, Francis heard of the horrific sacrifices some nuns have made. Sisters Mary Daniel Abut and Regina Roba Luate of the Congregation of the Sacred Heart Sisters were killed in a 2021 ambush along with two others.

“Thank you, on behalf of the entire Church, for your dedication, your courage, your sacrifices and your patience,” Francis said.

Women and girls in South Sudan live a “hellish existence,” the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan said in a report last year based on several years of interviews.

“South Sudanese women are physically assaulted while being raped at gunpoint, typically held down by men while being abused by others. They are told not to resist in the slightest way, and not to report what happened, or they will be killed,” the report said.

“It’s hard to convey the level of trauma of South Sudanese women whose bodies are literally the war zone,” commission chair Yasmin Sooka said late last year.

In his arrival speech Friday, Francis raised the plight of women and called for them to be protected and promoted.

Among those on hand for his visit to the cathedral on Saturday was Sister Regina Achan, who said Francis’ visit would encourage other sisters to keep serving.

“We stand with them because we are their voices, we don’t run away at difficult times,” said Achan.

Francis’ visit, she added, would awaken “serenity and peace in our hearts that we may work for peace and justice in this country.”

Francis issued a blunt warning on Friday to President Salva Kiir and his onetime rival and now deputy Riek Machar that history will judge them harshly if they continue to drag their feet on implementing the peace accord.

Kiir for his part committed the government to return to peace talks — suspended last year — with groups that didn’t sign onto the 2018 accord. And late Friday, the Catholic president granted presidential pardons to 71 inmates at Juba’s central prison in honor of the ecumenical pilgrimage, including 36 on death row.

Francis has changed Catholic Church teaching to hold that capital punishment is inadmissible in all circumstances.
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Removal of Omar from Key Committee Sparks Mixed Reaction

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Somali Americans living in the United States have mixed reactions to the removal of congresswoman Ilhan Omar, a Democrat, from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The Republican-led House of Representatives removed Omar from the panel Thursday after her past anti-Israel comments.

“We’re not removing her from other committees,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told reporters. “We just do not believe when it comes to foreign affairs, especially with the responsibility of that position around the world, with the comments that you make, she shouldn’t serve there.”

The removal prompted rebukes and accusations of bigotry from Democrats.

Republicans said the action made a strong statement against antisemitism but Omar, other Democrats and the White House said it was revenge after the Democrat-held House majority ousted two Republicans from their committees in 2020.

Omar suggested she was kicked out because she is a Muslim woman who immigrated to the U.S. as a refugee.

“I am Muslim. I am an immigrant. And interestingly, from Africa. Is anyone surprised that I am being targeted?” Omar said in an emotional floor speech Thursday immediately ahead of the vote, displaying a photo of her younger self on a poster board beside her.

Political revenge

Speaking to VOA, Somali Americans have expressed alarm at the decision, describing it as “political revenge” after they said that Omar stood up and strongly opposed the GOP and allies of former president Donald Trump.

Most of them rallied in a fiery defense of Omar.

“It’s a black day for Muslim Americans, immigrants and people of color,” said Hashi Shafi, executive director of the Somali Action Alliance, a Minneapolis-based community organization. “We learned a lesson from it. Omar had served well for Muslims, the voiceless, the people of color and her constituency as well, and we hope she comes back.”

Saeed Ibrahim Cagmadhige, a business owner in Columbus, Ohio, said the decision was expected.

“She stood up to Trump, she was outspoken about Israel, a country protected by the U.S., so her removal was expected,” Cagmadhige said. “We Somalis are sorry. I hope that she returns to this committee or other higher positions in the future.”

Khadra Mohamed Shire, a member of the Somali community in Ohio, said this is “anti-American” and will damage the credibility of the U.S.

“GOP and Trump targeted Omar because she is someone who often speaks about the wrong thing on U.S. foreign policy,” said Shire.

Accused of making mistakes

Some Somali Americans said they welcome the removal of Omar from the foreign affairs panel, accusing her of making a lot of mistakes.

“It seems that she is mainly responsible for her removal, and there are reasons why she has so few friends in Congress,” Abdirishaq Sheikh Ali, a member of Somali Americans in Ohio told VOA. “I’m sorry, but I believe she is to blame for such a vote that led to her … to be removed from the panel.”

Abdulkadir Haji, a supporter of the Republican Party who unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the Ohio Legislature, said the move by his party to kick Omar off the panel was unnecessary.

“It was ugly, I didn’t recommend that the speaker would have done something like that. [It was a] Waste of time. We have other issues in front of us, including inflation, high gas prices, and the war in Ukraine, which need to be addressed. It was not better to waste time on Omar.”

Omar, who represents Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, is one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress in 2018. She is the first African-born, and the first to wear a hijab in the House chamber.

Omar arrived in the United States in the 1990s as a refugee.

Most Somali Americans, who largely live in Minnesota and Ohio, support the Democratic Party but Republicans also have been courting communities of color in Minnesota, including the Somalis.
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New Training Project in Togo Designed to Give Impoverished Residents Hope

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In 2021, the “Ghetto Project” was started in Lome, Togo, for impoverished young people. The objective was to help them get out of poor urban areas, find work and stay away from drugs. Amen Assignon looks at how the project is going. Narrator: Michele Joseph. Camera: Steven Midjola.
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Kenya to Reopen First Somali Border Post After 10-Year Shutdown

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Kenya has announced plans to re-open its Mandera border crossing with Somalia as part of efforts to improve border security and crack down on smuggled goods.

Kenya says plans to re-open the Mandera border post with Somalia are nearing conclusion, after high-level consultations between the two countries.

Speaking after a visit to the town of Mandera, Kenya’s Internal Security Minister Kithure Kindiki said reopening the crossing point will improve border security and stem the tide of smuggled goods used to fund terrorist activities.

“I have directed the county security teams to sit down with the agencies of government that are represented here, including customs, immigrations, and asses the requirements and provide information within one week to enable us to renovate the border post and re-start our border,” said Kindiki.

Kenya closed all of its official border crossings with Somalia in 2012 in a bid to stop incursions by al-Shabab insurgents operating from the Somali side. The border points closed included the Mandera crossing, as well as those in Lamu, Wajir and Garissa.

The shutdowns have not stopped people from crossing the border illegally or smuggling goods.

Kindiki tasked the county security team with identifying armed militants operating in the border region.

“I therefore direct the county security team to sit down with the political leaders and the elders in a plan that will be guided by the community leaders and elders, so as to flush-out armed militants from Mandera and Northeastern,” said Kindiki.

Kindiki addressed elected leaders and community elders Friday during a security tour in Mandera and Wajir counties, and he reiterated the need for elders to partake in security operations.

In the last five years, Kenya’s northeast has experienced a long series of attacks by al-Shabab fighters.

In the deadliest attack, the Islamist militant group killed nearly 150 people at Garissa University College in 2015.

Somalia-based al-Shabab has been active in Kenya since 2011, when Kenya first contributed troops to the African Union-led peacekeeping mission in Somalia.
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Cameroon Makes Arrests After Journalist’s Death

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Police have arrested several people “strongly suspected” of involvement in the kidnap, torture and killing of a popular radio journalist, Cameroon’s presidency announced.

Martinez Zogo, 50, who spoke out against embezzlement and cronyism in the central African nation, was abducted on January 17 outside a police station in the suburbs of the capital, Yaounde.

His heavily mutilated corpse was found five days later.

President Paul Biya, who has ruled Cameroon with an iron fist for more than 40 years, called for a combined police and gendarme probe into the murder.

“The investigations… have enabled the arrest of several people whose involvement in this odious crime is strongly suspected,” minister of state and presidency general secretary Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh said on Thursday.

A search was still underway for other suspects, his statement said.

About 20 prominent Cameroonian personalities wrote in French newspaper Le Monde Thursday of their “great concern in the face of the violent turn in public debate” in the country.

The signatories, who included the writer Calixthe Beyala and intellectual Achille Mbembe, noted a “long tradition of trivializing impunity and accepting atrocities.”

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has described the killing as “a serious blow for democracy and freedom of the press.”

RSF’s Press Freedom Index ranks Cameroon 118 out of 180 countries, where 1 signals the best environment for media.

The government has insisted Cameroon is “a state of law, where liberty is guaranteed, including the freedom of the press.”
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Pope Wraps Up Congo Visit, Heads to Volatile South Sudan

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Pope Francis wrapped up an emotional visit to Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday and headed to neighboring South Sudan, another nation struggling to overcome conflict and grinding poverty.

On the eve of his arrival in South Sudan, 27 people were killed in Central Equatoria state in tit-for-tat violence between cattle herders and a local militia.

In a first, the pope will be accompanied during his time in the South Sudanese capital Juba by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Church of Scotland Moderator. The three Christian leaders hope to jolt a peace process aimed at ending a decade of conflict, fought mostly along ethnic fault lines.

The 86-year-old pontiff, on his third visit to sub-Saharan Africa since his papacy began in 2013, was given a rapturous welcome by huge crowds in the Congolese capital Kinshasa but also confronted the reality of war, poverty and hunger.

On Wednesday, he heard harrowing stories from victims of conflict in eastern Congo who had witnessed the killings of close relatives and been subjected to sexual slavery, amputation and forced cannibalism.

The pope condemned the atrocities as war crimes and appealed to all parties, internal and external, who orchestrate war in Congo to plunder the country’s vast mineral resources to stop getting rich with “money stained with blood”.

Eastern Congo has been plagued for decades by conflict driven in part by the struggle for control of deposits of diamonds, gold and other precious metals between the government, rebels and foreign invaders. The spillover and long fallout from neighboring Rwanda’s 1994 genocide have also fueled violence.

Francis returned again and again to the theme of conflict fueled by “the poison of greed”, saying the Congolese people and the wider world should realize that people were more precious than the minerals in the earth beneath them.

‘Pilgrimage of peace’

After a meeting with Congolese bishops in Kinshasa on Friday morning and a farewell ceremony at the airport, his plane took off for Juba, where it is expected to land around 1300 GMT.

The pope, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Church of Scotland Moderator Iain Greenshields have described their first joint foreign trip as a “pilgrimage of peace”.

Welby said he was horrified by the latest killings on the day before the pilgrimage.

“It is a story too often heard across South Sudan. I again appeal for a different way: for South Sudan to come together for  a just peace,” he said on Twitter.

South Sudan broke away from Sudan to become independent in 2011 after decades of north-south conflict, but civil war erupted in 2013. Despite a 2018 peace deal between the two main antagonists, violence and hunger still plague the country.

Francis has wanted to visit the predominantly Christian country for years but each time planning for a trip began it had to be postponed because of instability on the ground.

In one of the most remarkable gestures of his papacy, Francis knelt to kiss the feet of South Sudan’s previously warring leaders during a meeting at the Vatican in April 2019, urging them not to return to civil war.
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Chinese Lending at 13-Year Low; US Pledges Africa Investment

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Recent visits to Africa by U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen came as a new study found China’s overseas investments in the COVID-19 era are at a 13-year low. China has invested heavily in Africa through its Belt and Road Initiative and the U.S. has also recently pledged investments, with analysts saying Washington is trying to compete with China for influence on the continent.

The report by Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center found loan commitments from China’s two policy banks (China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China) totaled $3.7 billion in 2021. In contrast, from  2008 to 2021 that amount was $498 billion, an average of $35.6 billion a year.

China has struggled to recoup its money from several African countries and now has to participate in complicated debt restructuring negotiations. Currently, debt talks are happening in Zambia.

Asked if Beijing had been chastened by these experiences, causing the drop in loan commitments, senior academic researcher Rebecca Ray, who co-authored the paper, said that while China has stopped offering new loans to some countries that have been unable to pay existing debt, like Venezuela, it has also been finalizing negotiations on large future loans to another indebted nation, Pakistan.

“While China may be hesitating to ‘send good money after bad,’ in some cases of borrowers who are simply unable to repay, high existing debt levels don’t seem to be a complete deterrence for them,” she noted.

US critiques and pledges

In Africa, Thomas-Greenfield blamed China for indebting African countries. She also noted that while Qin Gang, China’s new foreign minister, was also on the continent recently, “what I heard from … people and leaders when I was there very clearly was that America is in their hearts, and they are extraordinarily appreciative of the African Leaders Summit that we just hosted and the efforts that we are making to engage more proactively on the continent of Africa.”

Washington pledged to invest $55 billion in Africa at the U.S.-Africa Summit in December.

Yellen also noted in her January 17-28 visit to Africa that Washington has many programs “that are oriented to help efforts to build infrastructure, and when we do that, we want to make sure that we don’t create the same problems that Chinese investment has sometimes created here.” She said Beijing was “a barrier” to global efforts to restructure Zambia’s massive debt.

Yellen’s comments drew a swift and cutting rebuke from China’s embassy in Zambia, which pointed to America’s own debt problems, and an opinion article in state media Xinhua that read, “The airports where the U.S. officials landed and the roads and bridges their convoys passed during their Africa visits were likely built in cooperation with Chinese companies.” The article ended by saying, “Africa should not become an arena for a great power rivalry.”

The conclusion stated by the Xinhua article echoed comments by China’s foreign minister who, during his January visit to Ethiopia, said: “The China-United States relationship should not be about a competitive one or a zero-sum game that enlarges one’s own gain at the expense of the other.

“Otherwise, it will only hurt both sides and even the world,” Qin said.

Transforming money spent

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s landmark Belt and Road initiative to bring infrastructure to developing countries is not gone altogether, the authors of the Boston University study said; it’s just transforming the way money is spent.

“This trend is emblematic of the ‘small is beautiful’ approach to Chinese economic engagement in recent years, which prioritizes smaller and more targeted projects,” the study said.

And that’s not necessarily bad news, said Ray, pointing out that “China’s recent ‘small is beautiful’ approach to overseas development finance emphasizes projects with smaller geographic footprints and lower risks to sensitive ecosystems and Indigenous communities.”

China has moved away from concentrating its lending on the extractions and pipelines sector, said the study, which found that since 2018 more money has gone to the transportation sector.

Still, the fact that “conditions in China and in host countries are less conducive to large amounts of development finance than they were a decade ago … is concerning, as the need for development finance is at an all-time high due to the polycrisis of financial instability, climate change and pandemic,” noted co-author Kevin P. Gallagher.

However, Harry Verhoeven, a senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy of Columbia University, who also has written on Chinese loans and debt, said, “I think it’s too early to tell whether China is really ready to switch full-scale to a ‘small is beautiful’ approach. … Especially in the African context this would require some major changes in the patterns of engagement that Beijing has prioritized since the late 1990s.”

He noted that “there is no question that the combination of the COVID-19 pandemic, China’s domestic financial woes and disillusionment with growing difficulties of African sovereigns to service their debts to Chinese lenders has led to a downscaling of new Chinese loans. … But questions can be raised regarding the administrative capacity and willingness of Chinese policy banks and other government institutions to manage a much broader (and more detailed) portfolio of smaller loans.”

Signs of Chinese economic rebound

There are signs that large-scale development lending could rebound. Since China reversed its zero-COVID-19 policy and reopened this year, its manufacturing, services and construction sectors expanded for the first time in four months.

While economists had expected slow growth in China this year, investment banks like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have since upgraded their forecasts. The International Monetary Fund also raised its economic growth outlook for China this week, saying it expects the economy to grow by 5.2% in 2023.

But Ray told VOA she didn’t foresee that making much difference.

“We have already seen the availability of capital for China rebounding, so I doubt that the increased economic growth will change much. The Chinese government still has significant incentives to be supporting the liquidity of its domestic financial system,” she said.

China’s economy is trying to recover after the lengthy lockdowns during the zero-COVID-19 policy and wave of infections following the policy’s reversal.

As for influence overseas and in Africa, Ray said, “It is noteworthy that Yellen did not sign any major new agreements or announce any major new projects while in Africa. If the U.S. does step into the infrastructure finance gap left by China’s declining development finance, it may be more likely to emerge through multilateral fora.”
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US Demands Sudan Reverse Ruling That Freed Man Convicted in Envoy’s Killing 

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The United States on Thursday called on the Sudanese government to reverse a decision this week to release a Sudanese man facing the death penalty in the killing of a U.S. diplomat in 2008. 

Abdelraouf Abuzeid was found guilty, along with others, in the killing of American John Granville and a Sudanese colleague, who both worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development and were killed by gunmen in Khartoum. 

“We call on the Sudanese government to exercise all available legal means to reverse this decision and to rearrest Abuzeid,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters. 

Officials met with the Sudanese ambassador to the United States on Thursday, and the U.S. ambassador to Sudan, John Godfrey, is engaging Sudanese officials at the highest levels on the issue, Price said.  

Peter Lord, the deputy assistant secretary for East Africa, Sudan and South Sudan, will also demand action when he travels to Khartoum next week, Price said. 

“We will not relent,” Price said. 

Abuzeid’s brother said Monday that his sibling had been released by Sudan’s high court based on a multimillion-dollar 2020 settlement between Sudan and victims of attacks, including the one that killed Granville. 

The money received by Granville’s family from the Sudanese government was interpreted by a majority of the court as a release of their right to retribution and the acceptance of blood money, said a Sudanese legal source related to the case. 

Granville’s mother, Jane Granville, said Wednesday that she was horrified about hearing of Abuzeid’s release. 

“In no way did [the settlement] say that that money was going to release any of these men that killed John,” Jane Granville said. “I never would’ve accepted it if that was part of it.” 

Price said the claim that Granville’s family had extended forgiveness was false. 

U.S. Senator Jim Risch of Idaho, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Abuzeid’s release was “outrageous.” 

“This action further drives a wedge between the US and #Sudan, exposes the regime’s impunity, and complicates future US assistance,” Risch said on Twitter. 
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