West African leaders said on Sunday they would establish a regional peacekeeping force to intervene in member states to help restore security and constitutional order in a region that has witnessed several coups in the past two years.

West and Central Africa has made strides in the past decade to shed its reputation as a “coup belt,” but the Economic Commission for West African States (ECOWAS) wants to do more to boost constitutional government in its member states.

“The leaders of ECOWAS have decided to recalibrate our security architecture to ensure that we take care of our own security in the region,” the leaders said in a communique after an annual summit in Nigeria’s capital Abuja.

“The leaders are determined to establish a regional force that will intervene in the event of need, whether this is in the area of security, terrorism (or to) … restore constitutional order in member countries.”

ECOWAS did not give any details of how the force would be constituted but said defense chiefs would meet next month to work out how it would operate.

The ECOWAS leaders also expressed concern over the continued detention of 46 Ivorian soldiers in Mali. They asked Malian authorities to release the soldiers by the end of this month.

If the soldiers were not released, ECOWAS leaders “reserve the right and they have taken the decision to take certain measures, but they would appeal and call on the authorities of Mali to release the soldiers.”

On Guinea, the leaders said the military authorities should immediately have an inclusive dialog with all the parties and politicians, and also expressed serious concern about the security situation in Burkina Faso, which had a coup in October.
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At least nine people died and eight others were missing in South Africa after a flash flood swept away members of a church congregation along the Jukskei River in Johannesburg, rescue officials said Sunday.

The dead and missing were all part of the congregation, which was conducting religious rituals along the river on Saturday, officials said. Rescue workers reported finding the bodies of two victims that day and another seven bodies when the search and recovery mission resumed Sunday morning.

The teams were interviewing people from the congregation to establish how many others were unaccounted for.

Religious groups frequently gather along the Jukskei River, which runs past townships such as Alexandra in the east of Johannesburg, for baptisms and ritual cleansing.

Johannesburg Emergency Services spokesman Robert Mulaudzi said Sunday that officials had warned residents about the dangers of conducting the rituals along the river.

“We have been receiving a lot of rain on the city of Johannesburg in the last three months, and most of the river streams are now full. Our residents, especially congregants who normally practice these kinds of rituals, will be tempted to go to these river streams,” Mulaudzi said during a news briefing.

“Our message for them is to exercise caution as and when they conduct these rituals,” he added.
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Liberian President George Weah’s long absence from the country has raised eyebrows and prompted criticism, leading one opposition figure to ask if the West African nation is running on “autopilot.”

Weah went abroad at the end of October for a string of political gatherings in numerous countries — and to watch his footballer son represent the United States at the World Cup in Qatar.

Since then, the president — himself a former football star — has not been seen in his homeland where people are battling soaring prices and shortages of basic goods.

Even those with an understanding of the demands of top-flight diplomacy, or the enduring love of the beautiful game, are beginning to wonder.

Weah has shared pictures and video of himself with his son in Qatar on Twitter, speaking of being a “proud daddy” as the US national team qualified for the knockout stages.

But images of Weah enjoying himself in the stands in Qatar — where he is a “guest of honor” — while Liberians struggle have not gone down well with many compatriots venting their anger on social media.

“This one here has passed the limit now… who [has] he left us with?” 23-year-old Abraham Kaneh told AFP in the capital Monrovia.

“He’s not going to do the work of the Liberian people. He went to do the work of his own son. He did not go on our plea, he’s gone to see other friends,” said fellow Monrovian Momo Fully.

Well-known media personality Henry Costa joked online that the president would extend his absence to January if his son Timothy scored against England last month.

‘Abandoning the entire country’

New York-born Timothy Weah is one of many people to hold US and Liberian nationality, with the countries maintaining close ties dating back to Americans’ role in the creation of the West African state in the 19th century.

Plenty of football-loving Liberians follow the younger Weah’s performances for his French club Lille, but for opposition politician Lewis Browne that does not justify the president’s globe-trotting activities.

“Weah continues to insult the intelligence of Liberians and exhibit a high degree of don’t-care attitude by abandoning the entire country and citizens to witness soccer matches,” he said.

Browne also accused Weah of misusing public money to lead a celebrity lifestyle.

The opposition has also condemned what it sees as the president’s gallivanting between Qatar and international summits in Morocco, Egypt, France, Monaco and the United States, with former vice president Joseph Boakai saying Liberia was “on autopilot.”

“We continue to witness other acts of poor leadership, irresponsible behavior, lack of concern, impunity, and wanton misuse of our finances,” the Unity Party heavyweight added, suggesting others could have represented the country in Weah’s place.

A ‘necessary’ absence

Other Liberians defended Weah, who acquired iconic status after becoming the first and only African to win football’s most prestigious individual award, the Ballon d’Or, in 1995.

“I support the president. The man wants to see his son playing, what’s wrong with that?” Alex Bono, 31, told AFP.

Entrepreneur Antoinette Anderson praised Weah for “trying to render services to the Liberian people” and “gather funds out there to make Liberia a better place to live.”

“I don’t have problems with the events he went on. The fact he went there on behalf of the country, I think it’s necessary,” added Tarlue Zeyon in Monrovia.

Weah last month extended his stint abroad, the longest since he became president, by another 25 days and is due back in Liberia on December 18.

His government is also facing criticism over its handling of a census that must take place before elections in 2023.

Weah, who came to power in 2017 on a pledge to fight poverty and corruption, has been chosen by his party to seek re-election, but critics say he has failed to honor his commitments.
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Burkina Faso’s military government has suspended the broadcast of France’s RFI radio in the Sahel West African state over what it said were false reports and giving voice to Islamist militants, a statement from the government said Saturday.

The statement said RFI on Saturday broadcast a message from a leader of a militant group in which he threatened the population.

“RFI strongly deplores this decision and protests against the totally unfounded accusations calling into question its professionalism,” State-owned Radio France Internationale, usually referred to as RFI, said in a statement.

It added that the decision to suspend its broadcasting was made without prior notice and without the implementation of the procedures put in place by Burkina Faso’s communications regulator.

RFI Afrique radio, which has one of the largest footprints across French-speaking Africa, added that it will explore ways to restore its broadcasting.

The government said that RFI also repeated a press report — which it denied — that Burkina Faso’s President Captain Ibrahim Traore, who seized power in a coup in September, had said there had been an attempted coup to unseat him.

“In view of all of the above, the government has decided the immediate suspension of the broadcast of all RFI programmes across the national territory,” said the statement signed by government spokesperson Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo.

Burkina Faso is the second West African nation to suspend RFI’s broadcast. The first is that of the military government in neighboring Mali in March.

The decision comes amid a backdrop of soured relations between France and its former West Africa colonies Burkina Faso and Mali over frustrations that France has not done enough to tackle Islamist insurgents who occupied northern Mali in 2012 and have spread to neighboring states.

The prolonged insecurity led to political instability and military coups in August 2020 and May 2021 in Mali, and in January 2022 and September 2022 in Burkina Faso.

France pulled its troops from Mali as the relations between Paris and the junta in Mali deteriorated over delays in returning to constitutional rule, and Mali’s decision to turn to Russian private military firm Wagner Group to help fight the insurgents.

The French embassy, cultural center and military base in Burkina Faso were targeted by angry mobs on the day of the coup, and on November 18, demanding that France should leave and that the military leaders, should turn to Russia for help, like Mali, to fight the insurgents.
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Somalia’s defense ministry says the country’s national army, supported by local clan militias, has seized control of several strategic villages from al-Shabab Islamist militants. The ministry acknowledged that several security personnel were wounded during the army’s recent operations. 

Abdullahi Ali Anod, Somalia’s defense ministry spokesman who talked with reporters Saturday in the country’s capital Mogadishu, said the army, backed by locals, has captured four strategic villages from the al-Qaida-affiliated Islamist militant group al-Shabab.

The liberated villages are Gulane, Darusalam, Harga-Dhere and Mabah, located in the Hiran and Middle Shabelle regions.

Mabah is the last village in eastern Hiran that was under control of al-Shabab, according to Somali state-run news agency Sonna.

Anod said six al-Shabab fighters were killed in the middle Shabelle region, while 10 were killed during a firefight between the army and the group that took place in the Hiran region.

He acknowledged that three government soldiers were wounded during the recent operations; adding that they have liberated more than 80 kilometers from al-Shabab.

He said two of the three soldiers wounded have serious injuries.

He says the people are asking why the liberation efforts are taking so long. It is because the fighting is guerilla warfare. It is not a military war, and the army has to flush them out and clear them from the countryside, which is time consuming.

The villages are located in the epicenter of the uprising against al-Shabab, which is in Hirshabele state.

Just days ago, Somali authorities said at least 40 al-Shabab terrorists were killed, and several others wounded, in a fresh operation in Somalia’s Middle Shabelle region.

The uprising began after al-Shabab attacked a convoy carrying much needed food supplies, burned the vehicles and killed upwards of 20 people, including travelers.

The group intensified its attacks after Somalia’s president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, was elected in May of this year and announced a “total war” against the militants.

Somali Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre last week said the security operation has killed 600 al-Shabab fighters and wounded 1,200 others in the past three months.

 
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Three days of national mourning began in the DR Congo on Saturday after the alleged massacre of civilians in the country’s east, with the government now giving a death toll of “more than 100.”

On Thursday, the government accused the M23 militia — with whom it is locked in a months-long conflict — of slaughtering 50 people at Kishishe, a village around 70 kilometers north of the city of Goma.

The M23 hit back, saying the allegations were “baseless” and denying that it targeted civilians.

At a council of ministers meeting on Friday, the DRC’s president Felix Tshisekedi “condemned in the strongest terms the massacre of more than 100 compatriots in Kishishe,” government spokesman Patrick Muyaya said.

He said Tshisekedi had “instructed the government to declare three days of national mourning,” adding that flags would be flown at half-mast throughout the country.

The period of mourning will end on Monday with a televised fundraising event to support victims, Muyaya said.

Since reports of the massacre emerged, calls for an independent investigation have been mounting.

The president “asked the minister of justice to open an internal investigation without delay and at the same time to work for an international investigation to shed light on this war crime”, Muyaya said.

The March 23 movement, or M23, is a predominantly Congolese Tutsi rebel group that was dormant for years.

It took up arms again in November last year and seized the town of Bunagana on the border with Uganda in June.

After a brief period of calm, it went on the offensive again in October, greatly extending the territory under its control and advancing towards Goma.

Kinshasa accuses its smaller neighbor Rwanda of providing M23 with support, something that UN experts and US officials have also pointed to in recent months. Kigali denies the charge.
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The World Health Organization said on Friday it still does not have the unfettered access to Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region stipulated in a truce signed a month ago. 

The Ethiopian government and regional forces from Tigray agreed on November 2 to cease hostilities, a dramatic diplomatic breakthrough two years into a war that has killed thousands, displaced millions and left hundreds of thousands facing famine. 

Troops from Eritrea, to the north, and forces from the neighboring Ethiopian region of Amhara, to the south, fought alongside Ethiopia’s military in Tigray but were not party to the cease-fire. 

“That peace process has not yet resulted in the kinds of full access, unfettered access and in the massive scale of medical and health assistance that the people of Tigray need,” WHO’s emergencies director Mike Ryan said. 

He said there were issues in the west of Tigray in areas under the control of militias, and other areas controlled by Eritrean troops. 

“There are still significant parts of the country that are occupied by Eritrean forces, for which there is no access, and very disturbing reports emerging around the experiences of the people there,” Ryan said. 

Ethiopia’s Minister of Health Lia Tadesse, State Minister Redwan Hussien, and government spokesperson Legesse Tulu did not respond to requests for comment. Eritrea’s government spokesman Yemane Ghebremeskel did not respond to a request for comment. 

It was not possible for Reuters to seek comment from the Amhara militia because it does not have a formal leadership structure. 

Ethiopia’s allies are looting towns, arresting and killing civilians, and relocating thousands of people from a disputed part of Tigray despite a truce between the government and local forces, witnesses and aid workers in the northern region say. 

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in October accused Ethiopia’s government of using the denial of food and health care as weapons of war in Tigray. The government has repeatedly denied blocking humanitarian supplies to the region. 

 
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Editor’s note: Here is a fast take on what the international community has been up to this past week, as seen from the United Nations perch.

UN launches record humanitarian appeal for 2023

The United Nations launched a $51.5 billion appeal Thursday for humanitarian needs in 2023. Needs are the highest they have ever been, with 339 million people in 69 countries requiring some form of humanitarian assistance. That’s 65 million more people than at the start of this year. The U.N. and its partner agencies hope to reach 230 million of those most in need in 2023. U.N. Humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said that 2022’s extreme events are spilling into next year, including deadly climate events such as droughts and floods, and the impact of the war in Ukraine. More than 100 million people are displaced globally and 828 million people are facing severe food insecurity. Famine is a real risk for 45 million of them. So far this year, donors have provided $24 billion as of mid-November, but the funding gap stands at 53% with just three weeks left in the year.

EU chief calls for UN-backed tribunal on Russia’s aggression against Ukraine

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called Wednesday for a special U.N.-backed court to investigate and prosecute Russia’s crime of aggression against Ukraine. The U.N. secretary-general’s spokesman said any decision to establish such a tribunal, with or without U.N. involvement, rests with member states. But creating such a court may be difficult.

EU Calls for Special Russia Aggression Tribunal May Be Tough to Realize

Watch this explainer on how Russians accused of war crimes in Ukraine could face prosecution: Video Explainer: How Could Russians Accused of War Crimes in Ukraine Face Prosecution?

Russia donates 260,000 tons of fertilizer to African nations

Russia has donated 260,000 metric tons of fertilizer it produced that was sitting in European ports and warehouses for use by farmers in Africa, the United Nations said Tuesday. The U.N. welcomed the move, saying it would help alleviate humanitarian needs and prevent catastrophic crop loss in Africa. World fertilizer prices have surged 250% since 2019, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and now Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Russia Donates 260,000 Tons of Fertilizer to Africa

UNESCO warns Australia’s Great Barrier Reef at risk from climate change

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, said Tuesday that “a rapid escalation of corrective measures” is needed to safeguard the future of the country’s Great Barrier Reef. The 2,300 kilometer reef runs along Australia’s northeastern coast and is home to 9,000 known species of marine life. In a report, UNESCO said Australia had failed to adequately address climate change and other key threats, including poor water quality and over-fishing. UNESCO’s World Heritage committee will consider next year whether to recommend the reef be listed as “in danger.”

UN Warns Australia Over Health of Great Barrier Reef

In brief

— UNAIDS said in a report to mark World AIDS Day on December 1 that gender inequalities are holding back the goal of ending the virus by 2030. Watch this VOA report about women at risk in South Africa: African Women and Girls Most at Risk of HIV

— U.N. Human Rights Chief Volker Turk called on Myanmar to suspend all executions and return to a moratorium on the death penalty Friday, following reports that more than 130 people have now been sentenced to death by secret military courts since the February 2021 coup. At least seven university students were also sentenced to death by a military court on Wednesday and as many as four youth activists were reportedly sentenced to death on Thursday. The U.N. human rights office said it is seeking clarification of those sentences. The high commissioner said the military is using the death penalty as a political tool to crush opposition and it shows their disdain for the efforts of regional bloc ASEAN and the international community in trying to end the violence and start a political dialogue.

— The International Labor Organization said in a report Wednesday that real monthly wages have fallen significantly in many countries, hurting low-wage earners the most. The ILO estimates that global monthly wages fell in real terms to minus 0.9% in the first half of 2022, making it the first time this century that real global wage growth has been negative. The organization attributed the decline to global inflation combined with the slowdown in economic growth, due in part to the war in Ukraine and the global energy crisis.

— The U.N. resident and humanitarian coordinator in Afghanistan, Ramiz Alakbarov, told reporters Wednesday that as temperatures begin to drop and snow will soon make many roads impassable, it’s urgent to pre-position humanitarian assistance across the country. Funding shortfalls are making that difficult, as the $4.4 billion humanitarian response is just under half funded. He said 6 million Afghans are a step away from famine levels of hunger and 25 million people overall need some form of assistance. Alakbarov said $768 million is needed to complete winter preparedness — $614 million by the end of this year.

— An inter-agency convoy of 16 trucks carrying 482 metric tons of food and other humanitarian supplies, crossed conflict front lines from Aleppo into Sarmada in northwest Syria on Wednesday. The U.N. said it is the ninth such cross-line convoy since the adoption of Security Council resolution 2585 in July 2021. While important, the U.N. says cross-line convoys are currently unable to replace the massive cross-border operation from Turkey into northwest Syria, which reaches 2.7 million people each month. That operation is up for renewal next month and is likely to face a contentious negotiation, as Russia and the regime in Damascus, have been opposed to its continuation for the last few years.

Quote of Note

“Peace is never easy — but peace is always necessary.”

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, speaking to reporters Thursday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on the sidelines of the African Union-U.N. annual conference.

What we are watching next week

Let’s be honest … football. With the whole world represented at the United Nations, there is definitely some serious World Cup fever going on in Turtle Bay. As the field shrinks to 16, the excitement is growing.
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Scores of Cameroonians with physical disabilities petitioned the government on Friday for better representation in public office and political parties.  Meeting in the capital Yaoundé, ahead of the International Day of Disabled Persons on December 3, activists said parties resist fielding disabled candidates.  They also noted that not a single disabled person is in parliament or the president’s office.

Samuel Nyingcho, who has impaired vision, said the opposition Social Democratic Front rejected his request to run for local council in Tubah, an English-speaking northwestern town. Nyingcho said he was told that visual impairment hinders the ability to contribute to development.

“The national chairman of the Social Democratic Front, gave me a test to ascertain whether I was able to read and write and equally able to engage in community work,” he said. “That test I passed and then was given the opportunity to enroll as a councilor.”

But Nyingcho said after he registered, his candidacy was again rejected. Others with visual impairment began street protests and the party finally accepted his candidacy, he said.

The Social Democratic Front said that since his election in 2013, Nyingcho has been an exemplary council member, helping the community to build roads and to provide electricity and water.

Nyingcho is one of only 12 councilors with disabilities in Cameroon, out of some 12,000 nationwide.

Not a single member of parliament’s 280 members has a disability, and only one of the country’s 372 mayors.

Thirty-two leaders of associations of people with disabilities signed the petition presented Friday.

Coco Bertin, the founder of the Club for the Rehabilitated Young Blind People of Cameroon, said he signed because there is no reason qualified and educated people with disabilities should be denied better representation in public office and political parties.    

He said more opportunities for those with disabilities would reduce or end the traditional belief that people with disabilities are a curse to their communities or victims of ancestral punishment for wrongdoing. Coco added that Cameroon will not be a country that ensures inclusion and equality of opportunity if people with disabilities are discriminated against.

Cameroon President Paul Biya appointed Douglas Achingale, who walks with crutches, deputy director general of the National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities in 2020. 

Achingale said the disabled want to see exclusion stopped in schools.

“There are official texts which give children with disabilities some exclusive advantages during their admission in public schools, however, many educational authorities refuse categorically to respect this text,” he said. “The process to render public buildings accessible to persons with disabilities is slow, very slow indeed.”

The government says it has taken note of the plight of people living with disabilities.

Pauline Irene Nguene, Cameroon’s minister of social affairs, said Cameroon considers the fight against all forms of social exclusions as one of its immediate priorities. She said there is an ongoing advocacy with political parties, NGOs and the government for social exclusion to end. 

The United Nations proclaimed the International Day of Persons with Disabilities in 1992 to mobilize support for the inclusion of persons with disabilities and promote awareness-raising about disability issues.
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Democratic Republic of Congo’s armed forces on Thursday said M23 rebels and their allies killed 50 civilians in a massacre in the eastern town of Kishishe this week, which the M23 denied.  

Congo’s army and the M23, a Tutsi-led militia, have been locked in fighting for months in the country’s restive east, with each accusing the other of initiating attacks.  

“The M23 Movement rejects the baseless allegations made against it in Kishishe,” the group’s political spokesperson, Lawrence Kanyuka, said in a statement. “The M23 reminds the international and national community that it has never targeted civilian populations.”  

The United Nations and a U.S. diplomat said they also had information about civilian killings on Tuesday in Kishishe, North Kivu province, but did not give details. Both called for an investigation.  

“We are deeply saddened by the massacre of civilians in Kishishe, which could constitute a war crime,” Stephanie Miley, charge d’affaires for the U.S. embassy in Kinshasa, said on Twitter.  

Reports of abuse

A spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the United Nations had received reports of human rights abuses committed during clashes between the M23 and local militias in Kishishe, which included a high number of civilian casualties.  

Congo and U.N. experts say neighboring Rwanda supports the M23, which Rwanda has consistently denied. The two countries took part in talks last week in Angola aimed at finding solutions to the conflict.  

One of their agreements was that an East African Community (EAC) regional force would intervene against the M23 if it did not stop fighting and withdraw from its positions.  

Thousands protest

The EAC started sending troops into eastern Congo earlier this year to help fight various armed groups. A South Sudan army spokesman on Thursday said a battalion of 700 South Sudan troops would be sent to join the regional force. 

Earlier on Thursday, thousands of people took to the streets of Goma and Bukavu, the two main cities in Congo’s east, to protest the deterioration of the security situation.  
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A report by an independent panel appointed by South Africa’s parliament contends that President Cyril Ramaphosa violated his oath of office, which could lead to an impeachment inquiry. The panel finds the president has to answer for the theft of at least a half-million dollars from his game farm that may not have been declared in his taxes.

Following the release of the report, Ramaphosa maintained his innocence and said in a statement he categorically denies violating his oath in any way.

The panel’s report stated that while it did not have all the answers, nor the authority to pursue them, it recommended an impeachment inquiry should proceed to get to the truth.

It noted there are many questions left unanswered, including where the money stolen from the farm had come from and the exact amount in question.

A former spy boss, Arthur Fraser, first brought the issue to light, claiming that between $4 million and $8 million was stolen from a sofa in the president’s farmhouse where it was hidden.

Fraser claimed the money was collected by Ramaphosa’s adviser Bejani Chauke for both him and the president during several trips he made to Middle Eastern and African countries, and it was not declared to authorities.

Ramaphosa, meanwhile, said it was from the sale of 20 buffalo to a Sudanese businessman known as Mr. Hazim who paid $580,000 for them on Christmas Day in 2019. The president said he was not at the farm at the time of the sale.

Ramaphosa said he was in Addis Ababa when he heard about the robbery on February 10, 2020. There are conflicting reports on whether the actual robbery took place on February 9 or February 10.

The panel questioned why no other information about the businessman was made available. And it noted that News24 journalist Kyle Cowan reported that despite “extensive searches, utilizing various databases and online tools, News24 was not able to immediately verify Hazim’s identity.”

One of the political parties that submitted evidence to the panel against the president, the Economic Freedom Fighters, or EFF, welcomed the report. 

“There was no purchase of any buffalos, and this is exposed by the fact that two years later, those buffalos are still chilling at Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm,” said Leigh-Ann Mathys, an EFF member.

This is something the panel raised, along with the fact the theft of the money from the game farm was not reported to the police but instead was handled by the head of Presidential Protection Services Major-General Wally Rhoode.

It is alleged that once found, several suspects were paid almost $9,000 each to keep quiet about the money.

There are also allegations the suspects were interrogated and tortured.

Political analyst Sanusha Naidoo of the Institute for Global Dialogue said Ramaphosa was hoping to be reelected at the African National Congress, or ANC, elective conference later this month, aiming for a second term as the country’s president. 

“Going into 2022 elective conference, he was favored. And so, what happens to the elective? What are we going to do? The impact that this is going to have in the short term on our investment ratings, on our rand,” Naidoo said.

By late afternoon Thursday, the rand had weakened substantially and was trading at about R17.73 to the U.S. dollar.

Naidoo said this scandal is a massive blow to the country, as the president had campaigned globally for investments in South Africa. 

“One of the things that has been critical in his gaining these kinds of investment pledges is the road map that he was going to put forward in terms of how this was going to be utilized in a productive, transparent and coherent way in order to stimulate the growth,” Naidoo said.

Another analyst, Professor Bheki Mngomezulu, also weighed in: “The reality of the matter is that his political image has been dented. So, under normal circumstances one would expect him to voluntarily exit the stage as it were, in terms of the elective conference because even if he were to win, that will compromise not just himself as a politician but the ANC as an organization.”

As for the quality of the report, constitutional law expert and University of Cape Town professor Pierre de Vos said while it’s not perfect, it has merit. 

“Regardless of the technicalities, the report makes quite a convincing argument that there is a case to answer,” de Vos said.

The South African Revenue Service is also looking into the allegations. 

 
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With China seeing the biggest anti-government protests since 1989, analysts say African governments are watching closely, mainly with economic concerns. 

For the past few days, the eyes of the world have been on the outbreak of mass protests in cities across China, with demonstrators furious at continued strict COVID-19 lockdowns as part of President Xi Jinping’s unpopular “zero-COVID” policy. 

The protests have also taken on a political angle, leading to comparisons to Tiananmen Square, with protesters being heard shouting: “Step down, Xi Jinping! Step down, Communist Party!”

The U.S. and German governments have said they support the right of peaceful protest in China, but from Africa there has been silence.

Still, African governments — while they are unlikely to either denounce or support the protests — will be paying close attention because China is the continent’s largest trade partner, said Cobus van Staden, cofounder of the China Global South Project, which examines China’s engagement with Africa.  

“In relation to the African responses to it, I think they’ll probably be muted, and they’ll mostly be concentrating on how the impact is, of the disruptions on … kind of on commodity trade, for example,” he said.    

Paul Nantulya, a researcher at the U.S. Defense Department’s Africa Center for Strategic Studies, said there are “high stakes” on the African side in terms of the zero-COVID policy and its effects on supply chains. 

“There is a concern, obviously on that African side, that some of this trade might be disrupted if these lockdowns continue,” he said. 

As for democratic South Africa saying anything in support of the protesters, Steven Gruzd, from the South African Institute of International Affairs in Johannesburg, said Pretoria was more likely to take a neutral stance similar to its position on the conflict in Ukraine. 

“South Africa’s not going to publicly call out China, South Africa’s going to keep quiet I think and not interfere,” he said. “I certainly don’t think they’re going to give support to the protests, this is after all their BRICS ally and their largest trading partner.” 

Contacted for comment on the protests by VOA, two spokesmen for South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation said there was no reaction from the department. 

In neighboring Zimbabwe, a longtime ally of Beijing, the spokesman for the ruling ZANU-PF party, Chris Mutsvangwa said, “As a matter of policy ZANU-PF does not interfere in the internal affairs of other United Nations member countries.” 

Only in Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland, the sole major African state that supports Taiwan and does not have relations with Beijing, Percy Simelane, the spokesman for the king’s office, said of the Chinese protests, “We believe in freedom of expression for all nations and societies.” 

Aside from the lack of government reaction, media coverage of the protests on the continent has also been muted. Outlets across the region are mostly picking up news articles from the international wires, with very few local op-eds on the nature of the dissent. 

However, Kenyan and South African newspapers this week both ran original copy on how their local currencies and economies stood to be affected by the unrest. They focused on fuel prices and exports. 

There has been silence from the Chinese state media too, but that might change if the protests continue, Nantulya said. 

“One can expect that over the next few weeks China is really going to up the ante. It does have a sizeable media infrastructure and architecture on the continent of Africa, and we can be sure that it will make maximum use of the capability to regain the narrative, to control the narrative, and essentially to discredit the protests and whichever African sympathies might be out there,” Nantulya said. 

For now, Chinese police are out in force and officials have warned of a “crackdown,” but there are also indications the government may be looking at softening COVID restrictions. 
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