More international aid is arriving in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, ending a months-long blockade after the warring sides agreed to a ceasefire.

The U.N.’s World Food Program, or WFP, said Wednesday that its trucks had arrived in northwest Tigray via Gondor, a city in the Amhara region to the south.

The aid organization said, “More food nutrition, medical cargo will follow imminently” through all available routes into Tigray.

The news comes a day after two trucks of medical supplies from the International Committee of the Red Cross, or ICRC, reached Mekelle, Tigray’s capital.

Two years of war in the northern region have displaced an estimated 2.5 million people from their homes and left millions more in need of food aid and other basic necessities.

The ICRC said Wednesday that a “test flight” had arrived in Shire, a city in northwest Tigray that hosts hundreds of thousands of people uprooted by recent fighting. The resumption of airlifts would “alleviate the suffering of thousands needing immediate support,” the ICRC said. 

The Gondar route used by the WFP convoy had been closed to aid groups since June, when federal forces and their allies retreated from Tigray in the face of an offensive by rebel forces led by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).

Over the weekend, military leaders from both sides reached an agreement laying out a roadmap for implementing the cease-fire, which was signed in Pretoria on November 2.

The accord contains security guarantees for humanitarian workers and pledges the parties to facilitating “unhindered humanitarian access” to Tigray, although phone, internet and banking services have not yet been restored to the region.
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Police in Nigeria’s southeast Imo state are investigating after gunmen allegedly from the separatist group the Indigenous People of Biafara (IPOB), shot and killed a traditional ruler and three others. The group has previously denied responsibility for a series of attacks in the region that authorities blame on the rebels. The killings Monday came as a court in the capital dismissed terrorism charges against the separatist group’s leader.

Imo state police said in a statement that gunmen disguised as locals in distress invaded the palace in the Oguta local government area around noon Monday, shooting and killing the monarch.

The gunmen also killed two of his aides and a local vigilante member near the palace.

On Tuesday, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari condemned the murder of the traditional ruler and called on police to investigate.

Imo state police spokesperson Michael Abattam told VOA by phone they’re already heeding the president’s call.

“We’re investigating already and we have clues,” Abattam said.

Abattam could not provide further details.

IPOB has repeatedly denied involvement in a surge of violent attacks in southeastern Nigeria over the past two years.

Between May and October of last year, authorities said at least 175 people, including military, police and local civilians were killed in attacks in the region.

Imo state is a strong base of support for the Biafran separatist movement, which began decades ago. The movement is now led by 54-year-old Nnamdi Kanu, who is facing trial for acts of terrorism and treason against the Nigerian state.

Kanu’s legal counsel, Ifeanyi Ejiofo, says authorities are trying hard to implicate the separatist movement.

He said it’s a conspiracy by the government of the day and security agents to blackmail IPOB before the international community. He noted that IPOB has issued several publications distancing itself from those committing crimes. These are serious offenses, these people should be hunted and treated like criminals, he said, but they’re not IPOB members, they’re not Kanu’s followers.

Experts warn violence in the southeast could increase around elections next year, after unidentified gunmen issued warnings on social media for people not to vote.

Meanwhile, on Monday, an Abuja high court adjourned Kanu’s terrorism trial indefinitely.

Last month, a three-judge appeals court panel in the capital held that Nigerian authorities breached local and international treaties to unlawfully arrest and detain Kanu and annulled terrorism charges against the separatist leader.

Nigerian authorities are challenging the ruling and have yet to free the separatist.
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Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has told lawmakers in parliament he is committed to a peace deal struck with Tigrayan leadership in South Africa earlier this month to end two years of deadly conflict in northern Tigray region.

In his address to parliament Tuesday, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said the warring parties must now ensure they follow through on the agreement.

“We have discussed, we have agreed, we have signed,” said Abiy. “What is expected next is to implement.”

Only implementation, he added, could “make the peace sustainable.”

Under the terms of the November 2 cease-fire deal in Pretoria, Ethiopia’s federal government will take control of the Tigray region’s borders, roads, and airports while Tigrayan fighters will disarm.

On November 12, military commanders representing Ethiopia’s federal government and the Tigray region signed an agreement which included the disarmament of heavy weapons and the withdrawal of “foreign and non-ENDF (federal military) forces” from the Tigray region. Disarmament is set to start on November 15, according to a copy seen by VOA.

Abiy also stressed peace was necessary to repair the economy and maintain the “existence, sovereignty, and unity” of Ethiopia, Africa’s second-most populous country with 120 million people.

“Peace is all the time good,” he said. “Even if you are winning, war is bad all the time because you are killing people, you are firing dollars.”

The Ethiopian prime minister was responding to questions from lawmakers.

The cease-fire signed in Pretoria commits the federal government to ensuring unhindered aid access to Tigray, where the region’s six million people need urgent food and medicine.

Over the weekend, Ethiopia’s federal government said basic services were “slowly being restored to Tigray.”

But humanitarian workers say aid trucks are yet to be allowed into the region.
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Malaria exploded this year in the Ethiopian city of Dire Dawa, which saw more than 10 times as many cases between January and May as it did in all of 2019.

What made this spike in cases unusual is that it happened outside the rainy season, when malaria typically surges across Africa, and in an urban area — malaria is more of a rural problem on the continent. Cities are not immune, but they typically don’t see these kinds of outbreaks.

Something new and insidious has arrived in the Horn of Africa. An invasive species of mosquito called Anopheles stephensi threatens to unravel two decades of gains in malaria control. And it may bring the deadly disease to more of the continent’s rapidly growing cities.

“There is real fear that it could start more transmission in these areas that traditionally don’t have as much malaria,” said Arran Hamlet, a disease modeling expert with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “And they don’t have infection control strategies implemented to the same levels.”

The new mosquito arrives at a bad time in the fight against malaria.

Africa’s native mosquitoes have become increasingly resistant to insecticides. (Anopheles stephensi is already resistant.) In addition, the malaria parasite is getting not only tougher to kill, but tougher to spot. Malaria strains that don’t show up on rapid diagnostic tests are becoming more common.

“We don’t want the three to meet — the drug resistance, the diagnostic resistance and the highly efficient vector [Anopheles stephensi],” said Fitsum Girma Tadesse, a molecular biologist at Ethiopia’s Armauer Hansen Research Institute.

“What happens if they coexist? We don’t know,” he said. “It’s really dangerous. You can’t detect the parasite. You can’t kill it with a drug. And the mosquito is wise enough to evade your [control] mechanisms.”

Fitsum and his colleagues linked Anopheles stephensi to the Dire Dawa outbreak in a study presented at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in Seattle this month. It is the strongest evidence yet that the mosquito is increasing malaria rates in Ethiopia.

A different mosquito

Malaria fighters started the millennium strong.

With insecticide-treated bed nets, indoor insecticide spraying campaigns and new artemisinin-based drugs, deaths from malaria plunged from nearly 900,000 in 2000 to around 560,000 in 2015. But since then, progress has stalled.

And the tools that have worked up until recently won’t help much against Anopheles stephensi.

“This [mosquito] is different and more insidious than some of the other mosquitoes that transmit malaria that we’re used to seeing in sub-Saharan Africa,” said Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs epidemiologist April Monroe.

Africa’s native malaria mosquitoes prefer to bite people inside their homes late at night. That’s why bed nets and indoor spraying have been so effective.

But Anopheles stephensi bites earlier in the evening. When it goes searching for a meal, “people aren’t actually in bed yet, and so they don’t get the same protection” from bed nets, Hamlet said.

It also prefers to take its blood meal outdoors. Or if it does bite indoors, it doesn’t rest there, thereby avoiding indoor insecticides.

The new mosquito’s habitat is different, too. Most malaria mosquitoes live in rural Africa. But Anopheles stephensi is “really highly adapted to urban areas, which isn’t what we typically see,” Monroe said.

It likes to lay its eggs in water storage containers, which are especially common in Africa’s fast-growing unplanned urban areas that lack piped water, Fitsum noted.

Newcomer

Originally from South Asia, Anopheles stephensi was first spotted on the African continent in Djibouti in 2012.

The small nation was on the verge of eliminating malaria at the time. It recorded just 27 cases that year. In 2020, there were more than 73,000.

Besides Djibouti and Ethiopia, the mosquito has turned up in Sudan, Somalia and Nigeria.

One study estimates the mosquito may put an additional 126 million people at risk of malaria in cities across Africa.

In Ethiopia alone, Hamlet and colleagues estimate that Anopheles stephensi could increase malaria cases by 50% and cost hundreds of millions of dollars to control.

“This is very much possibly a cheap option compared to letting Anopheles stephensi spread around the country,” Hamlet said. “There is a lot of economic burden on both individuals and the wider economy in this level of malaria increase.”

The last thing African countries need, however, is new disease vector that is expensive to control.

“Most of the countries affected by malaria have limited resources to deal with already existing prevalent diseases,” Fitsum said.

One bit of relatively good news is that since Anopheles stephensi breeds in the same places as the mosquitoes that carry yellow fever, chikungunya and dengue, efforts that target one would also control the others.

Fitsum says covering water containers with polystyrene beads can help prevent the mosquitoes from laying eggs. He advises people to cover water containers tightly and get rid of any they don’t need.

And keep using bed nets and indoor sprays, he added. Native mosquitoes are still out there.
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Activists fighting construction of the African headquarters of online retail giant Amazon will meet with lawyers Tuesday to plan their next move, after a court lifted an injunction that had temporarily blocked further work on the complex. The activists say the building site in South Africa has historic significance to local tribes. Supporters of the project say it will generate badly needed jobs and respect local sensitivities. 

Most recently the site was known as the River Club, with a somewhat rundown nine-hole golf course, a driving range and a conference facility. Now, what’s become known as the Amazon building is rising fast.

A court ruling last week that overturned an injunction to halt construction has been applauded by the developer, Liesbeek Leisure Properties Trust.

The trust argues that the mixed-use development where Amazon will be the anchor tenant will create 19,000 much-needed jobs.

James Tannenberger is the trust’s spokesperson.

“Liesbeek Leisure Properties Trust welcomes the judgement which is a win for all Capetonians who stand to benefit from the R4.6-billion project,” James said. “This judgement sends a clear message to those who are trying to stop the development at all costs with little or no regard to the social development of the surrounding communities.”

Four-point-six-billion rand comes to about 266 million U.S. dollars.

There has been no comment from Amazon on the controversy.

The activists who obtained the injunction, the Observatory Civic Association, which represents some residents of the Observatory suburb where the development is situated, and Tauriq Jenkins, a council member of the Goringhaicona Khoi Khoi, an indigenous group – say the fight is not over. 

They argue the land should be declared a World Heritage Site because this is where, in 1510, the first known battle between South Africans and European colonialists took place. 

A Khoi Khoi army defeated invading Portuguese who had slaughtered scores of their women and children. The tribes call it the place of the “First Encounter.”environmental concerns as the site marks the confluence of two rivers: the Liesbeek and the Black.

The injunction granted to them in March was rescinded last Tuesday, after the court heard from other members of Jenkins’ tribe, who said he did not have the power to represent them and that the Goringhaicona were in fact in favor of the development.

This effectively means they are siding with a group called the First Nations ecollective, which says it represents the majority of the Khoisan tribes and has been backing the development.

Leslie London is a University of Cape Town professor and chairperson of the Observatory Civic Association. London says he believes Jenkins was outmaneuvered by fellow tribe members.

London, however, says all is not lost as courts still have to conduct a review of whether the development was legally approved. 

“The case is still pending. It’s not the end of the case,” London said. “They haven’t thrown out the merits of the case. I don’t want to go down in history as being an interesting case. We still want to win it.”

He says a large part of the 150,000-square meter project has already been built.

“Overall, they probably have built about 40 percent of the whole building. There’s a lot still to come,” London said. “Amazon’s going to get higher and there are going to be a lot more buildings.”

The First Nations Collective’s spokesperson, Zenzile Khoisan, feels strongly that the new development will honor indigenous tribes’ history. It will include a heritage center, a garden of memory and roads and pathways with Khoisan names.
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Troops in the DR Congo clashed with M23 rebels north of the key eastern city of Goma on Sunday, officials said, in the latest violence to hit the troubled region.

Army sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the military was engaging the M23 in Mwaro, a village about 20 kilometers north of Goma.

“We woke up to fighting this morning,” one army official told AFP.

A mostly Congolese Tutsi group, the M23 has recently surged across the Democratic Republic of Congo’s North Kivu province, capturing swathes of territory.

In a statement dated Saturday, the group accused the Congolese army of conducting “barbarian bombings” in heavily populated areas — killing 15 civilians, including two children.

AFP was unable to independently confirm the death toll.

The clashes come one day after Kenyan troops deployed to eastern DRC, as part of a military operation from the seven-nation East African Community (EAC) to stabilize the volatile region.

Over 120 armed groups are active across eastern Congo, many a legacy of regional wars which flared at the turn of the century.

The M23 briefly captured Goma in 2012, before being driven out.

After lying dormant, the group took up arms again late last year, claiming that the DRC had failed to honor a promise to integrate them into the army, among other grievances.

The rebel group’s resurgence has cratered relations between the DRC and its smaller neighbor Rwanda, which Kinshasa accuses of backing the M23.

Despite official denials from Kigali, an unpublished report for the United Nations seen by AFP in August pointed to Rwandan involvement with the M23.

Kenya’s ex-president Uhuru Kenyatta, the EAC’s mediator for the situation, is due in the DRC’s capital Kinshasa on Sunday for talks.

Angolan President Joao Lourenco also met Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi on Saturday, after visiting Rwanda the previous day.
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Since the withdrawal of the French army from Mali, Russia’s Wagner Group has replaced it as a target of jihadis propaganda, experts say, with extremists making hay with claims that its mercenaries have committed atrocities against civilians.

Having been pushed toward the exit by the leaders of Mali’s 2020 coup, France withdrew in August, more than nine years after its military intervened to stop a jihadi takeover of the troubled Sahel nation.

The colonels in charge in Bamako have been increasingly turning to Russia, and particularly to Wagner’s paramilitaries, according to Western sources.

Bamako denies this, acknowledging only the support of Russian military “instructors.”

But it is Wagner that the al-Qaida-linked group Jama’at Nasr al‑Islam wal Muslimin, or JNIM, has been targeting in the information war.

“Wagner’s operations are mainly located in central Mali and mainly target the Fulani community, of which JNIM presents itself as the protector,” said Heni Nsaibia, a senior researcher at ACLED, which specializes in the collection of conflict-related data.

“There have been many clashes between the JNIM and the Malian armed forces and Wagner, who are operating jointly,” Nsaibia said. “In many ways Wagner has replaced France as the foreign force in the conflict, even if the jihadists don’t refer to Wagner as ‘crusaders’ like they did to the French, but as a ‘criminal militia’ of mercenaries.”

Wagner emerged in 2014 during the first war in Ukraine and is suspected by the West of doing the Kremlin’s dirty work in conflicts including Syria and the Central African Republic, a charge Russia has always denied.

‘Ethnic war’

JNIM boasts of having caught the “Malian army, Wagner’s mercenaries and pro-government militias in an ethnic war against Muslims” in an ambush in the central Bandiagara region late last month.

They also claim to have given Fulani herders back the animals that government forces had taken from them.

For years “jihadists groups have presented themselves as the defenders of local populations from the army and its proxies, which according to them, do nothing but kill civilians,” said Boubacar Haidara, a researcher at the Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies.

The use of this “alibi to justify their violence” has been made easier by the “arrival of Russian elements,” he argued, at the same time as the “toll on civilians has become more and more deadly.”

While the majority of the 860 civilians killed in Mali in the first six months of the year were the victims of jihadis, about 344, or 40%, were killed in army operations, the United Nations said.

“The people judge by the atrocities committed on civilians,” said Binta Sidibe Gascon, of monitoring group Kisal, which stands up for Fulani communities. “Since Wagner arrived, and particularly after what happened in Moura, we are witnessing an exponential rise in the number of civilian victims.”

Massacre

Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused Malian soldiers of massacring about 300 civilians in Moura in March with the help of foreign fighters, who witnesses said were Russian. The Malian army denies those killed were civilian but rather more than 200 jihadis.

JNIM’s main leader in the region, the Fulani preacher Amadou Koufa, accused Wagner and the Malian army of the bloodbath in a rare video in June, claiming that only about 30 of his fighters were killed, while the rest of the dead were innocents.

“What is going to wake people up,” said Sidibe Gascon, is that despite “all these atrocities against civilians, no territory is being retaken and sadly the situation is getting worse, with more displaced people, schools closed and a humanitarian crisis.”

But Haidara said much of the Malian public “do not believe that civilians are being killed.”

“If the government was looking to Wagner for help in the information war, it can be happy with the results,” said Niagale Bagayoko, president of the African Security Sector Network. “In the capital and on social media they have won the opinion war against the West.”
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As Uganda struggled to control the spread of the deadly Ebola virus, Health Ministry officials said Friday the cases are gradually stabilizing. This comes after media reports that some leaked documents show the disease could claim 500 lives by next April. The country has recorded 137 Ebola cases and 54 deaths since the outbreak began in September.

Ugandan Health Ministry officials have gone on the defense in the face of reports that the deadly Ebola Sudan virus disease is spiraling out of control.

Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, Uganda’s health minister, told reporters Friday that the country’s cases are gradually stabilizing, as shown by trends in the last week.

An article in the British daily newspaper, The Telegraph, this week reported that leaked donor documents said the ministry had projected 250 deaths by the end of this year and 500 Ebola deaths by next April.

Aceng said the outbreak is being monitored closely and cases are being followed. She said cases in Kampala and other areas are under quarantine, apart from Kasanda district, which has made it easy for authorities to control the epidemic.

The government has placed the two districts most affected by the Ebola outbreak — Kasanda and Mubende — under quarantine for another 21 days, although Mubende is not reporting new cases. The government also is ordering an early closure of primary schools countrywide.

“We have never done any modeling for this Ebola outbreak. Not Ministry of Health, not the scientific advisory committee, not the National Planning Authority. So that modeling was done by them., said Aceng, referring to the newspaper. “In addition, the two districts of Mubende and Kasanda are under quarantine. It does not mean that we are 100 percent sure that no case will pop up anywhere.”

During the press conference, WHO Country Representative Yonas Tegen described the projected Ebola death case numbers as”dramatic.”

Tegen said in the last week there have been five confirmed cases and a sharp decrease in the last three weeks. Tegen said he was surprised to see some wrong details claimed to have been taken from the WHO.

“That’s not telling us a doomsday scenario. Even in normal cases,” said Tegen. “For example, WHO puts the viral hemorrhagic kits in various places. We keep supplies enough to manage 300, 400, 500 patients. Does that mean that the disease is there? No, it is getting prepared. I would assure you that also WHO didn’t do modeling. I was surprised to see a graph; our graphs are not done like that.”

Local reports also indicate there is a conflict brewing between the minister and donors over how funds to fight Ebola are being managed.

At a press conference last week, U.S. Ambassador Natali Brown said since the outbreak was declared in Uganda on September 20, the United States had channeled more than $22.3 million through implementing partners to support the government of Uganda-led Ebola response with $6 million available to the Health Ministry. She was quick to urge the proper use of the funds.

“We also, you know, appeal to everyone in government and everyone involved to really do what they can, and to clamp down on corruption,” said Brown. “This costs everyone when these funds are leaking out and ending up in someone’s pockets instead of reaching the communities that need the support and resources.”

There is still no proof from scientists on the actual cause of the current Ebola Sudan virus disease outbreak. Last month, the Health Ministry indicated it had caught 189 bats and obtained 320 samples to ascertain the actual cause of the Ebola virus. The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention country director, Dr Lisa Nelson, said at the press conference that tests are ongoing.

“We are interested in understanding the source of this outbreak. Why Mubende and Kassanda?” asked Nelson. “This will help us in terms of preventing future outbreaks and understanding who is at risk based on the environment and based on the reservoir. What is the source of this very deadly infection? We do know and there have been studies in the past that there are bats who harbor filoviruses including the Marburg virus.”

Uganda acknowledged the disease had started claiming lives in August.

Health officials report 16 admitted cases, 65 recoveries reported, and 4,147 contacts listed for follow-up — all part of the 137 cumulative cases.
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On a beach in Senegal with so much plastic trash that much of the sand is covered, one man is trying to raise awareness about the dangers of plastics — by wearing many of the bags, cups and other junk that might just as soon be part of trash piles. 

Environmental activist Modou Fall, who many simply call “Plastic Man,” wears his uniform — “it’s not a costume,” he emphasizes — while telling anybody who will listen about the problems of plastics. As he walks, strands and chunks of plastic dangle from his arms and legs, rustling in the wind while some drags on the ground. On Fall’s chest, poking out from the plastics, is a sign in French that says, “No to plastic bags.” 

A former soldier, the 49-year-old father of three children says that plastic pollution, often excessive from people who chuck things wherever without a second thought, is an ecological disaster. 

“It’s a poison for health, for the ocean, for the population,” he said. 

On this recent day, Fall traverses Yarakh Beach in Dakar, the capital of Senegal. But it could have been any number of other places: Fall has taken his message national, visiting cities across the west African country for years. In 2011, during World Environment Day, he started as Plastic Man. 

He founded an environmental association, called Clean Senegal, that raises awareness via education campaigns and encourages reuse and recycling. 

As he walks, kids on the beach shout: “Kankurang! Kankurang is coming!” 

Part of the cultural heritage of Senegal and Gambia, the Kankurang symbolizes the spirit that provides order and justice, and is considered a protector against evil. 

On this day, this Kankurang is telling the kids about plastic pollution and urging them to respect the environment. 

“Climate change is real, so we have to try to change our way of life, to change our behavior to better adapt to it,” he told them. 

Moudou says some people see him as a crazy, but often those people don’t know the extent of the plastics problem and can change their views when he is given a chance to explain. 

These days, he says his wife and children, who sometimes watch him appear on local television to share his message, understand and respect his work, support he didn’t have in the beginning. 

In 2020, Senegal passed a law that banned some plastic products. But if the mountains of plastic garbage on this beach are any indication, the country is struggling with enforcement. 

Senegal is far from alone. Each year, the world produces a staggering amount of plastics, which sometimes end up clogging waterways, hurting land and sea animals that may ingest the materials and creating myriad eyesores. That pollution is in addition to all the greenhouse gas emissions, the primary cause of global warming, that are the result of producing plastics. And things don’t appear to be moving in the right direction: Global plastic production is expected to more than quadruple by 2050, according to the United Nations Environment Programme and GRID-Arendal in Norway. 

So, as world leaders gather this week in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, for the U.N. climate summit known as COP27, Fall hopes his message about plastics resonates. 

“Leaders of Africa need to wake up and work together to fight against this phenomenon,” he said. 
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Defense ministers from Cameroon and the Central African Republic say they are deploying a joint force to their common border after at least 80 people were taken hostage over the past three months. The two ministers blame rebels fleeing military crackdowns in the CAR for increased crime on the border.

Defense ministers from Cameroon and the CAR say ongoing rebel attacks, rampant theft and abductions for ransom add up to a serious situation for civilians on their countries’ common border.

Several in the area have been abducted for ransom within the past three months. That includes about 80 cattle ranchers, farmers and merchants taken hostage over the past three weeks. Families paid a total of $150,000 to the rebels to secure their relatives’ freedom.

Cameroon and the CAR say their militaries freed another 15 civilians from rebel camps on the border, but many are still held by the rebels.

Adamu Abass said he was freed by military raids on a bush area, where he and several other people were being held hostage.

He saaid rebels attacked his home and abducted three members of his family at about midnight on November 5. He said while in a bush on the border with the CAR, about 17 hostages, including women and children, were being tortured by rebels. Adamu said he told the rebels that he is poor, and it was impossible for him to pay a ransom of about $20,000 to free himself, his wife and daughter.

Adamu spoke on Cameroon state broadcaster CRTV on Friday.

He said three people sustained injuries in a crossfire between Cameroon government troops and rebels.

The CAR said the rebels are escaping unrelenting attacks on their hideouts by troops of the United Nations peacekeeping force in the country, known as MINUSCA.

General Agha Robinson is one of the Cameroonian commanders fighting rebel incursions along the central African state’s northern border.

He said each time Cameroon deploys troops on its side of the border, rebels escape with hostages to the CAR side. He said Cameroon and CAR have agreed to carry out joint military operations to free several dozen civilians who are still held hostage on both sides of the border.

Agha said troops from the two countries will protect merchants, cattle ranchers and farmers who rebels attack to gain supplies.

He said the joint force will also search for and seize weapons the rebels are hiding in border towns and villages.
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The family of Egyptian pro-democracy activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah says officials have informed them that Abdel-Fattah has undergone a medical intervention.

The family says that authorities have not told them any specifics about the nature of the intervention.

The medical development comes just days after Abdel-Fattah, who has been on a hunger strike for several months, decided to stop drinking water Sunday, coinciding with the opening of the COP27 talks in Egypt.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, in Egypt for the COP 27 session, have talked about Abdel-Fattah in their talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.

Prison authorities have denied a lawyer for Abdel-Fattah access to his client.

The Associated Press reports Amnesty International’s Secretary-General Agnès Callamard has called for independent medical care for Abdel-Fattah.

“Why? Because the prison system in Egypt is abysmal in its treatment, medical treatment of prisoners,” she said.

Abdel-Fattah’s mother has made daily trips this week to the prison where her son is being held, but she has not received any information about his condition.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press.
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An influential Malian judge with links to al-Qaida has said some schools in the country cannot reopen unless boys and girls are kept apart and wear Islamic dress, according to a letter verified by AFP on Thursday.

The letter, addressed to the governor of Timbuktu, also calls on school authorities to introduce Arabic and the study of the Koran.

Half a million children in Mali have been affected by 1,766 school closures, UNICEF said in October.

Jihadi groups say the Malian education system fails to respect the regulations they advocate by allowing boys and girls to mix, using French, and permitting dress considered contrary to their rules.

The judge, Houka Houka Ag Alhousseini, set out the three conditions for the reopening of schools, in areas under jihadi influence, in his letter dated October 26 and authenticated to AFP by a source within the governorate.

Ag Alhousseini is a former Islamic judge during the 2012 jihadi occupation of Timbuktu and is on the United Nations sanctions list. Officially a teacher, he is also a moral and religious authority through his rank as cadi, or Islamic court judge.  

His letter deemed it necessary that “the rows of girls and boys be separated by a barrier when it is not possible to separate the class.” The teacher should also be of the same sex as the pupils, he said.

Students should dress “decently as required by the Muslim religion,” while on their way to school, he added.

In a report on human rights violations in Mali seen Thursday by AFP, the U.N. said the jihadi fighters are imposing their “rigorous interpretation of the precepts of Islam as well as the forced payment of zakat,” the Islamic tax, on the local population in Timbuktu.

It said that in early July, seven women who were not wearing black veils in Duekira, in the Timbuktu region, were whipped by fighters under the banner of the al-Qaida-linked Jama’at Nasr al‑Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM), led by Iyad Ag Ghali.
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