Record inflation in Ghana, the highest in 21 years, is making the holiday season a struggle for many people.  The high cost of living has forced many Ghanaians to cap their expenses, including traditional travels to the countryside to spend time with relatives.  Families are instead trying to save money as the New Year approaches with uncertainty about what 2023 holds for the debt-laden West African economy.

Most Ghanaian city dwellers, like 40-year-old Florence Cudjoe, spend Christmas in the countryside with friends and relatives.  

But Ghana’s struggling economy, hit by the pandemic and Russia’s war on Ukraine, pushed inflation to a record 50.3%. 

The World Bank says the cost of food in Ghana is the highest in sub-Saharan Africa, more than doubling in the past year, with a loaf of bread nearly tripling in price. 

The costs are forcing families such as Cudjoe’s to stay in the city this holiday season.  

She says last year’s holiday season was much better, as they had money to buy food and spend quality time with family and friends in the village.  Things are very expensive now, says Cudjoe, so she must cut down on holiday expenses because she has a lot of bills to settle next year, including her children’s school fees.  She says they couldn’t even take the children out to the beach or restaurant to celebrate Christmas.

Cudjoe’s 12-year-old daughter, Priscilla, says this will go down as her worst Christmas ever.

I want to go out, she says, but my parents said they don’t have money.  Priscilla says some of her friends in the neighborhood went to KFC, the beach, and the pool to have fun, but they have stayed home all week.  She didn’t even get a Christmas dress from her mother, she says, and feels very sad.

At Accra’s busy Neoplan Station, where holiday travelers can take a bus to other parts of the country, most of the commercial drivers sit idle, waiting for passengers.

Forty-year-old driver Kojo Mintah tells VOA the poor economy forced many Ghanaians to cancel holiday travels.

“They have reduced fuel, but things are still expensive,” Mintah said. “Last year was not like this.  Last year we had COVID, but it was better than today.  This is very bad to us.”

Ghana is Africa’s second biggest exporter of cocoa and gold and was once touted as the continent’s rising economic star.  

It now, though, has been struggling to pay its debts, at a ratio of more than 80% of GDP, and its currency, the cedi, is the worst-performing on world markets. 

The high cost of living has led to sporadic protests and calls for the finance minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, to step down. 

Daniel Amarteye, an economist with the Accra-based Policy Initiative for Economic Development, tells VOA Ghana must focus more on improving domestic production.

“We need to produce goods that we have the competitive edge and also minimize importation of commodities that, in my view, are unnecessary and we have the advantage to produce same,” Amarteye said.

Despite the economic woes, President Nana Akufo-Addo still sounded optimistic for Ghana’s future in his Christmas address to the nation.

“We have had to ride turbulent storms and we have been faced with the unknown,” Nana said. “I am happy that in spite of it all, we are beginning to emerge out of the difficulties, which encourages me to say that with hard work, dedication and continued prudence in the management of the affairs of our nation, we will rise up again.”

Ghana in November announced spending cuts, a freeze on government hiring, and a hike in the value-added tax to try to turn the economy around.

The International Monetary Fund this month agreed a $3 billion credit arrangement with Ghana for the next three years to help support and revive its economy.    

Ghanaians can only hope the measures will be enough for a happier New Year.  
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Kenya’s health ministry says sex education digital services launched to help rein in the country’s teenage pregnancy problem have attracted more than 5,000 youths. “Nena Na Binti,” which means “Speak with a Sister” in Swahili, gives information and counseling on reproductive health by mobile application and a toll-free number to Kenyan teenagers, who have the world’s third highest rate of pregnancy. Victoria Amunga reports from Nairobi, Kenya. Camera: Jimmy Makhulo
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The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian affairs, or UNOCHA, says an estimated 30,000 people from South Sudan’s Greater Pibor Administrative Area have fled their homes in the face of the recent inter-ethnic violence.

The clashes involving members of the Murle and Nuer communities have left close to 60 people dead, according to officials.

News reports say the trouble resulted from frequent conflict between youth from the two communities.

The U.N. says the violence has led to cattle raiding, destruction of properties, and displacement of thousands of people. Some 5,000 internally displaced people, or IDPs, including women and children, have arrived in Pibor town after fleeing the conflict-ridden areas of Gumuruk and Lekuangole in the Greater Pibor Administrative Area.

Sara Beysolow Nyanti, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for South Sudan, said the ongoing conflict has resulted in the loss of lives and livelihoods.

“People have suffered enough. Civilians — especially those most vulnerable — women, children, the elderly and the disabled — bear the brunt of this prolonged crisis,” Nyanti said.

Peter Nyang, a teacher, is one of the thousands of IDPs. Along with his wife and five children, Nyang fled Gumuruk when the attackers raided the village and torched his house.

“They have burned our houses to ashes, the whole of Gumuruk town they were burned to ashes,” Nyang said. “We separated and ran to different directions, others crossed the river, my close relatives, I don’t know where they are. My uncle, my grandmother, I don’t know where they are.”

The spokesperson for the chief in Greater Pibor administrative area, John Kaka, said Thursday the humanitarian needs for the displaced persons are immense and fears are rife that there could be an outbreak of diseases. 

“We have hundreds and thousands of people displaced from Gumuruk and Likwangole. They are already at Pibor girls’ and Pibor boys’ primary school. There is no good water and there is no feeding,” Kaka said. “So, we are asking international organizations who are supporting people on feeding. Help people who have been displaced.”

Bol Deng Bol, chairperson of the Jonglei Civil Society Network (JCSN) and executive director of INTREPID South Sudan, said there is an urgent need to end the violence. He explained that the prolonged clashes could take a huge toll on the efforts to restore peace in South Sudan. 

“There will be nothing constructive that will be done,” Bol said. “Instead they will be deconstructing the recent peace efforts.”

According to the United Nations, a projected 9.4 million people will need humanitarian assistance and protection next year. An estimated 2.8 million people are expected to face physical violence, including rape and other forms of gender-based violence, and they will need protection. 

 
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South Sudan is sending 750 troops to join the East Africa Force trying to bring peace in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, despite its own struggles to restore peace back home.

President Salva Kiir officially deployed troops to eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to join an East African regional force aimed at ending decades of bloodshed in that country.

The troops join contingents from Kenya, Burundi and Uganda, in what is seen as a test of the East African Community’s ability to respond to violence in the region and stabilize the country.

Addressing the troops in Juba, Kiir advised the force to maintain highest level of professionalism.

“You are now going on a mission to achieve and keep peace in Congo,” he said. “Now, you are going on a peacekeeping mission, only your caps will change to blue caps, because you will participate in a joint operation between all the countries of East Africa. I warn you of the need to show discipline and order, and to carry out orders.”

He also instructed the troops not to commit crimes such as rape.

“SPLA during the liberation struggle was very disciplined. I don’t want you to go and cause chaos or disorder, don’t go and engage in the raping of women and girls,” he said.

Minister of Defense and Veteran Affairs Angelina Teny said that as a member of the East African community, South Sudan has a stake in the security and stability of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“We were asked to contribute to a battalion, and we have been preparing all this time and the battalion is ready today. They have just received their final orders from the president and commander in chief; they will now be on their way for that operation,” she said.

Teny said the East African Community had given regional backing to South Sudan’s troop deployment in the eastern DRC. She described the country’s troop deployment as a positive move by a country grappling with its own security issues.

“We are very proud today because the flag of the republic of South Sudan is going to be flying as a region continuing to contribute to stability and peace,” she said. “This is a great opportunity for us to change the image of this country.”

South Sudan’s troops will be stationed in Goma city. They will conduct operations to restore normalcy to the region, where Congolese troops are fighting the M23 rebel group.
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A court in Ivory Coast on Wednesday handed down life terms to four Malian men convicted of abetting a jihadi attack on a beach resort that left 19 people dead.

The court in Abidjan, the country’s commercial hub, found the four “guilty of the deeds for which they are accused and sentences them to life imprisonment,” Judge Charles Bini announced.

The March 13, 2016, assault was the first jihadist attack in Ivory Coast, one of West Africa’s economic powerhouses.

In an operation echoing a jihadi massacre the previous year in Tunisia, three men wielding assault rifles stormed the beach at Grand-Bassam, a resort 40 kilometers east of Abidjan popular with Europeans, before attacking hotels and restaurants.

The 45-minute bloodbath ended when Ivorian security forces shot the attackers dead.

The 19 fatalities comprised nine Ivorians, four French citizens, a Lebanese, a German, a Macedonian, a Malian, a Nigerian and a person who could not be identified.

Thirty-three people of various nationalities were wounded.

Al-Qaida’s North African affiliate, al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), claimed responsibility the same day.

It said the attack was in response to anti-jihadi operations in the Sahel by France and its allies, and targeted Ivory Coast for having handed over AQIM operatives to Mali.

Several dozen people were later arrested, including three suspected accomplices of the dead attackers, who were detained in Mali.

Eighteen were charged in Ivory Coast with acts of terrorism, murder, attempted murder, criminal concealment, illegal possession of firearms and ammunition “and complicity in these deeds,” said Public Prosecutor Richard Adou.

“We have to discourage the followers of these terrorist acts,” he said, summing up his case before Wednesday’s verdict.

“We have been confronted with horror and barbarity.”

Of the 18, only four — Hantao Ag Mohamed Cisse, Sidi Mohamed Kounta, Mohamed Cisse and Hassan Barry — were present in court.

They allegedly played a subsidiary role.

The 14 others, including the suspected masterminds, are either on the run or being held in Mali, Aude Rimailho, a lawyer for French civilian plaintiffs, said before the trial.

Seven of these 14 were handed life sentences in absentia, and the other seven were acquitted.

Defense lawyer Eric Saki said he had “mixed feelings” about the verdict.

“I am happy for those who have been declared totally innocent, but I am sad for the four who, from my point of view, should also have benefited from an acquittal.”

The attack on Grand-Bassam was the first and so far deadliest in a string of sporadic attacks on countries on the Gulf of Guinea south of the Sahel.
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The accounts are haunting. Abductions, torture, rapes. Scores of civilians, including women and children, have been killed by the M23 rebels in eastern Congo, according to a U.N. report 

In addition, the M23 rebels have forced children to be soldiers, according to the report by a panel of U.N. experts. The 21-page document — based on interviews with more than 230 sources and visits to the Rutshuru area of Congo’s North Kivu province, where the M23 have seized territory — is expected to be published this week. 

Conflict has been simmering for decades in eastern Congo. More than 120 armed groups are fighting in the region, most for land and control of mines with valuable minerals, while some groups are trying to protect their communities. 

The already volatile situation significantly deteriorated this year when the M23 resurfaced after being largely dormant for nearly a decade. 

The M23 first rose to prominence 10 years ago when its fighters seized Goma, the largest city in Congo’s east, which sits on the border with Rwanda. The group derives its name from a peace agreement signed on March 23, 2009, which called for the rebels to be integrated into the Congo army. The M23 accuse the government of not implementing the accord. 

In late 2021, the reactivated M23 began killing civilians and capturing swaths of territory. M23 fighters raped and harassed women trying to farm family fields in rebel-controlled areas, according to the report. The rebels accused civilians of spying for the Congolese army, the report said, and often incarcerated them and, in some cases, beat them to death. 

Populations living under M23 not only are subject to abuse but are forced to pay taxes, the panel said. At the Bunagana border crossing with Uganda, the rebels earned an average of $27,000 a month making people carrying goods pay as they entered and left the country, the U.N. said. Two locals living under M23 who did not want to be named for fear of their safety told The Associated Press they had been forced to bring the rebels bags of beans, pay $5 if they wanted to access their farms and take backroads if they wanted to leave the village for fear of reprisal. 

The M23 did not respond to questions about the allegations but has previously dismissed it as propaganda. 

The violence by the rebels is part of an overall worsening of the crisis in eastern Congo, with fighting by armed groups intensifying and expanding in the North Kivu and Ituri provinces, said the report. 

“The security and humanitarian situation in North Kivu and Ituri Provinces significantly deteriorated, despite the continuous enforcement of a state of siege over the past 18 months,” and despite military operations by Congo’s armed forces, Uganda’s military and the U.N. mission in Congo, the report said. 

Adding to the difficult situation in eastern Congo, attacks by the Allied Democratic Forces — believed to be linked with the Islamic State group — are increasing, the report said, and a nearly yearlong joint operation by Uganda’s and Congo’s armies “has not yet yielded the expected results of defeating or substantially weakening the ADF.” Since April, according to the report, ADF attacks killed at least 370 civilians, and several hundred more were abducted, including a significant number of children. The group also extended its area of operations to Goma and into the neighboring Ituri province. 

The fighting is exacerbating eastern Congo’s dire humanitarian crisis. Almost 6 million people are internally displaced in Congo, with more than 450,000 displaced in North Kivu province, since clashes escalated in February. Hundreds of thousands are facing extreme food insecurity, and disease is spreading, aid groups say. Cholera cases are spiking in Nyiragongo, a region hosting many of the displaced people in North Kivu, with more than 970 cases discovered in recent weeks, said Save The Children. 

Efforts to stem the violence have yielded little results. 

A new regional force deployed to eastern Congo is facing pushback from residents who say they do not want more armed groups in the area. Tensions are also rising with Congo’s neighbor Rwanda, which it accuses of supporting the M23 rebels, findings backed by the U.N. 

Earlier this week, the M23 said it was retreating from Kibumba, a town near Goma that it held for several weeks, as part of an agreement made last month at a summit in Angola, said M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka in a statement. However, residents from Kibumba said the rebels are still there and still attacking civilians. 

“My neighbor was whipped because he refused to let M23 slaughter his goat,” said Faustin Kamete, a Kibumba resident. “They lied to the international community with their withdrawal,” he said. 
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Nigerian police say they are investigating an officer who shot and killed an unarmed pregnant lawyer after she left a Christmas church service. A spokesman for the Lagos city police vowed the investigation would be swift but critics say Nigerian authorities aren’t doing enough to stop police brutality that sparked protests in 2020.

Police in Lagos condemned the Sunday shooting and say they are holding the officer and his teammates in detention pending the outcome of the investigation.

Spokesman Benjamin Hundeyin said the case is being handled by the criminal investigation department for in-depth analysis.

He said police will re-appraise their rules of engagement to avoid future incidents.

The victim, Omobolanle Raheem, was on her way home from a Christmas Day service when the officer shot at her family’s vehicle at a checkpoint in Ajah, killing her and her unborn child.

The circumstances remain unclear, but according to local media, the officers were conducting a stop-and-search operation.

The incident has triggered widespread criticism of police and Nigerian authorities by citizens and rights groups, including Amnesty International.

On Monday, Lagos state police authorities met with the leaders of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).  Hussein Afolabi, a human rights lawyer, said there are too many open questions. 

“The only reason why you have to use your firearm is if somebody is armed,” he said. “There’s no reason, there’s no justification for that kind of shooting, I don’t know whether they’re going to do any drug test for that guy. Was he drunk? What was the guy’s mental state? Nobody knows.”

Afolabi has been trying to help four families that were victims of police brutality in Oyo state, including the family of Jimoh Ishiak, who was allegedly shot and killed near his house by officers during the widespread protests against police brutality in October 2020.

For two weeks that month, activists marched in the streets, calling on authorities to disband the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, or SARS and dismiss its members from the police force.

Nigerian authorities said they were disbanding the unit but Afolabi says two years later, the officers are still employed.

“Were they retrenched? They said they disbanded,” Afolabi said. “Where are those people? They’re somewhere. They’re no longer SARS. I have friends who are SARS. They’re still in the Nigerian police force.”

End SARS protest leader Rinu Oduala said the government lacks the political will to address police brutality issues.

“[The] Nigerian government is a major perpetrator of police brutality against its own citizens and you can see that today,” Oduala said. “This has shown that the Lagos state government and the Nigerian government have learnt nothing and they’re not willing to address the grievances of police brutality protesters.”

Amnesty International said the police investigation must be impartial and made public.

Many will be waiting to see how — or if — justice is served.
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Ethiopia’s flagship carrier Ethiopian Airlines has announced it will resume daily flights to Tigray region’s capital Mekelle as an African Union-brokered peace deal moves forward.

The national carrier said it would operate daily flights from Wednesday and increase the number of daily flights depending on demand.

The airline halted flights to the region weeks after the war broke out in November 2020 between Ethiopian federal forces and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.

In a statement, head of the airline Mesfin Tasew said the resumption of flights would help families connect as well as facilitate business and tourism.

A CNN investigation last year accused Ethiopian Airlines of transporting troops and weapons to fight the Tigrayan rebels.

The airline denied the allegations, saying the photo evidence was manipulated.

The announced resumption of flights comes just a day after Ethiopian officials arrived in Tigray’s capital Mekelle for the first time in nearly two years for implementation of a November peace deal.

The speaker of Ethiopia’s parliament Tagesse Chaffo Dullo led the delegation, which included a security advisor to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, leaders of state companies, and members of Ethiopia’s National Dialogue Commission.

National Security Advisor Redwan Hussein tweeted Tuesday that Ethio Telecom, which was part of the delegation, was expected to announce further resumption of services to Tigray.

Hussein also tweeted the TPLF was expected to work until Thursday on handing over heavy weapons and control of Mekelle to Ethiopia’s military as agreed during meetings this month in Nairobi.

The delegation’s visit to Tigray was welcomed by a Tigrayan spokesman as a milestone in the peace agreement to end the war.

Getachew Reda tweeted Tuesday that the government’s gesture to green light what he called the long overdue restoration of services was commendable.

He noted that none of the delegation members were accompanied by security guards, which he called a testament to their confidence in Tigray’s commitment to the peace agreement.

Mediators from Kenya and the African Union are also expected to visit Tigray after Ethiopia and the TPLF agreed last week in Nairobi to a joint monitoring team.

Ethiopia has gradually lifted a blockade on much needed food and medical aid to Tigray and already restored some telecommunications.

Ethiopian federal and Tigrayan officials signed the African Union-brokered peace deal in South Africa on November 2, agreeing for hostilities to end, rebel groups to disarm, foreign fighters to leave, and blocked aid and other services to be restored.
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M23 rebels in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are holding civilians hostage for suspected collaboration with enemy militias as fighting erupted despite recent peace efforts, local sources told AFP Monday.

The group — one of scores in the volatile region — has conquered swathes of territory from the army and allied militias in North Kivu province in recent months and advanced toward its capital Goma.

It delivered the strategic town of Kibumba to a regional military force last week after heavy international pressure to cease fighting, saying the move was a “goodwill gesture done in the name of peace.”

But the Congolese army dismissed the withdrawal as a “sham” aimed at reinforcing the group’s positions elsewhere and security sources told AFP clashes resumed in North Kivu on Sunday.

The rebels initially detained around 50 people accused of collaborating with two anti-M23 militias in and around the Tongo settlement, local civil society representative Cyprien Ngoragore said.

He added that at least 18 civilians were still in rebel hands, suspected of working with an anti-M23 armed group, the Nyatura, and the FDLR, a militia with Rwandan Hutu origins.

Two people told AFP the hostages were taken to the locality of Rutshuru-center, seen as an M23 stronghold.

A nephew of one of the hostages, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said they were “displaced people who were returning to look for food” and that the M23 told him they were still alive.

“We are requesting that our brothers are released, that the government gets involved,” he added.

Another man said the rebels arrested his 76-year-old father and others last week on suspicion of working for the Nyatura and the FDLR, tied them up and moved them to Rutshuru-center.

The reports came as residents told AFP that fighting between the M23, the army and self-defense militias continued Monday after breaking out at the weekend.

A military source told AFP on the condition of anonymity that the army and local militias battled the M23 in the Bishusha and Tongo settlements. A security source said the army “was holding its positions.”

A Tutsi-led movement, the M23 had lain dormant for years until it resumed fighting in late 2021, accusing the Congolese government of failing to honor a deal to integrate its fighters into the army.

The DRC has accused its smaller central African neighbor Rwanda of backing the group, something which Kigali denies.

But the United States and France, among other Western countries as well as United Nations experts, agree with the DRC’s assessment.

Talks between the DRC and Rwanda in Angola unlocked a truce agreement last month under which the M23 was meant to lay down arms and pull back from occupied territories.

However, the rebels remained in their positions after the scheduled date for their withdrawal. 

 
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Critics of Zambia’s law against insulting the president have welcomed the government’s repeal of the controversial measure as a step forward for democracy. Rights groups say the colonial-era law has been used to silence government critics. President Hakainde Hichilema announced the repeal over the weekend along with the abolition of the death penalty.

Daniel Sinjwala Libati, a human rights lawyer, told VOA that he is happy with the repeal of the defamation law, announced late Friday by Hichilema.

“Very good, very good,” he said. “It allows people to freely criticize, not insult, freely criticize the presidency and provide checks and balances and constructive criticism in line with freedom of expression under our bill of rights.”

Political analyst Guess Nyirenda said while he is happy with the amendment of the law, a lot still needs to be done to promote freedom of expression in Zambia.

“We would like to urge President Hakainde Hichilema to set the tone and continue doing good especially in attending to the draconian and archaic laws,” he said.

Opposition National Democratic Party leader Saboi Imboela has been arrested multiple times under the defamation law.

She told VOA that while she welcomes the repeal of the law, she urges Zambians to exercise caution. She noted that the existence of cybersecurity laws is a concern, as they still restrict freedom of expression.

“I see a situation whereby they are going to use any laws whatsoever to ensure that they get to the political opponents, so the people in Zambia should not even feel comfortable,” said Imboela. “They should be careful now actually more than ever before about what they say on Facebook because the president and his people are now going to use the cyber laws to come after you for whatever it is you are going to say.”

In a statement late Friday, Hichilema also announced the repeal of the death penalty. Zambia’s last execution took place in 1997 but some 250 people were still on death row as of 2021, including nine people newly sentenced.

Mwelwa Muleya, spokesperson for the Zambia Human Rights Commission, which oversees human rights issues in the country, told VOA the repeal of the laws will improve Zambia ‘s human rights record following increased arrests of political opponents.

“The signing of that bill into law is a landmark development towards enhancing fundamental rights to life and freedom of expression and must be commended by everyone,” said Muleya.

Earlier in 2022, Amnesty International’s secretary-general, Agnes Callamard, met with Hichilema in Zambia, urging his government to repeal the defamation law, which had been used to silence critics since its enactment in 1965.

During his election campaign last year, Hichilema promised to uphold human rights and freedom of expression.

In the past year alone, at least 12 critics and opponents of Hichilema were arrested for insulting the president, some multiple times.
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The first time he saw the ocean, Sibusiso Sizatu thought that, with all that water, it must have been a very large lake.

A couple of decades later, the former herd boy is getting ready to sail across that same ocean in an iconic race, helming an all-South African team that hopes to inspire a new generation of black yachtsmen.

“It’s gonna be an eye-opener for the youngsters out there,” Sizatu, 30, wearing a white polo shirt, told AFP standing on a Cape Town dock besides his boat, the Alexforbes ArchAngel.

The ArchAngel is to set sail for Rio de Janeiro on January 2, as part of the 50th edition of the Cape2Rio race.

It will be racing against more than a dozen other boats from five countries to cover the more than 6,000 kilometers of Atlantic waters separating the two cities.

Sizatu reckons his 10-meter sloop has a shot at victory, but being at the starting line is arguably already a success for the skipper and his four-strong crew.

“The first aim is to finish the race,” he said. “Winning it will be some extra bonus.”

Open waters

The crew — four men and one woman — is the first all hailing from the Royal Cape Yacht Club sailing academy to take part in the race.

The academy was set up in 2012 to help youngsters from marginalized communities make it in a sport dominated by rich white people.

As a child Sizatu used to herd his family’s livestock in a rural part of the Eastern Cape province before moving to a Cape Town township at the age of nine.

There he started going to school and was first introduced to sailing by a friend.

He didn’t quite like it. Open waters didn’t inspire much confidence and sea-sickness was a hard sell.

He much preferred football and hoped to make it as a professional.

Sailing seemed a luxury pastime for wealthy retirees, a world away from life in the township, where drugs and violence abounded but money was in short supply.

On the first outing, he swam back to shore.

Things changed when his friend asked him to tag along for a yacht race and their boat won.

Sizatu said he realized sailing was “a sport” and not just “having fun in the water playing with the boat.”

“I saw an opportunity,” he said.

While chances to become a footballer were quite slim, with millions of others chasing the same dream, few young South Africans were trying their luck at sea.

“I was like ‘okay, this is where I can actually make myself something great out of’,” he said.

Smooth sailing

He grew to like the ocean and became very good at steering a boat over it.

“It’s very peaceful and calm when you’re out in the water, you forget about everything else,” he said.

Still, it wasn’t all smooth sailing. He often didn’t have money to travel to events or buy food to eat once he was there.

And until the age of 20, he had no ID documents, which made competing abroad quite tricky.

But Sizatu said he found a supportive community in the Cape Town sailing world that helped him out broadening his horizons along the way.

Now he is hoping to broaden those of the sport.

“I’d like to see more like diversity,” he said. “There are still some people that don’t see us as part of this, the racism is still out there.”

Challenging perceptions was one of the reasons that he has long dreamt of competing in the Cape2Rio with a crew which has shared a similar path to his.

Sizatu said his team stuck together even if many could have been tempted to join other boats looking for crew, while the ArchAngel searched for a sponsor to support the adventure.

Aged 21 to 30 — Sizatu is the oldest — the crew is young, motivated and skilled.

Yet only one of them has completed an ocean crossing before.

“This is gonna be a big stepping stone for all of us,” said Sizatu.
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Pape Ale Niang, a prominent Senegalese journalist and government critic who has been on a hunger strike to protest charges against him, has been moved to a hospital, his attorney told AFP on Sunday.

Niang was taken to a hospital in Dakar on Saturday evening after his health deteriorated as a result of his latest hunger strike, said Moussa Sarr, one of his lawyers.

In a case that has sparked international concern, Niang was arrested on November 6 and charged with “divulging information likely to harm national defense.”

He went on a hunger strike on December 2 and was later admitted to a clinic after his health deteriorated. He was given provisional release, but arrested again on December 20, when he started another hunger protest.

Niang, the head of the Dakar Matin online news site, is widely followed in Senegal for his regular columns on current affairs.

The case against him arose after he wrote about rape charges being faced by the country’s main opposition leader, Ousmane Sonko.

He is accused of describing confidential messages about security arrangements for Sonko’s interview with investigators on November 3, according to trade unions.

His detention sparked a wave of criticism from the press, civil society groups and Senegal’s opposition, many of whom called for his release.

Senegal has a strong reputation for openness and press freedom in troubled West Africa, but this status is in decline, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

Its 2022 Press Freedom Index ranked Senegal 73rd out of 180 countries — a fall of 24 places compared with the 2021 assessment.
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