Beni, Democratic Republic of Congo — At least 12 people were killed and more than 50 are still missing after heavy rain caused a ravine to collapse onto a river in southwest Democratic Republic of Congo, a local official and a civil society leader said Sunday.

The landslide occurred around midday Saturday in Dibaya Lubwe commune in Kwilu province. It sent a cascade of clay and debris down to the banks of the Kasai River, where a boat was docking, and people were washing clothes.

Interim provincial Governor Felicien Kiway said, 12 bodies had been pulled from the rubble so far, including nine women, three men and a baby.

“Around 50 people are missing but we are continuing to search through the clay,” he said, adding that the chances of finding survivors were thin as the incident had occurred 12 hours prior.

The coordinator of a local civil society group, Arsene Kasiama, said the landslide also fell on people shopping at a market.

He gave a death toll of 11, with seven seriously injured survivors and more than 60 people still missing.

Poor urban planning and weak infrastructure across the Congo make communities more vulnerable to extreme rainfall, which is becoming more intense and frequent in Africa due to warming temperatures, according to climate experts.
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BANGUI, Central African Republic — It was too late for the mother to shield her children when the two masked and armed Russian fighters burst into her home, held her at gunpoint and took turns raping her. Her five children were forced to watch in the dark. 

Seated in a restaurant in Central African Republic’s capital, to which she fled after the attack, she wiped away tears. Two years on, the assault has “stayed with me in my core,” she said. The Associated Press does not identify survivors of sexual assault. 

She blamed the Russians who are part of the Wagner mercenary group that operates alongside Central African Republic’s army and has been accused by locals and rights groups of abuses. She had seen them patrolling in her town of Bambari before. On the day of the assault, they were fighting rebels there. 

Gender-based violence is rising in Central African Republic amid ongoing conflict, weak legal and care systems, and the stigma attached to speaking up, locals and aid groups say. 

Since 2020, incidents have jumped from about 9,200 reported cases to 25,500, according to cases tracked by the U.N. and partners. 

But international funding for the country has dropped, with gender-based violence receiving some of the least support. The humanitarian request for about $14 million received less than 15% of that, according to the U.N. 

Central African Republic has been in conflict since 2013, when predominantly Muslim rebels seized power and forced the president from office. Mostly Christian militias fought back. A 2019 peace deal only lessened the fighting, and six of the 14 armed groups that signed later left the agreement. 

Wagner, a U.N. peacekeeping mission and Rwandan troops are all on the ground to try to quell the violence. 

“More than 10 years on since this crisis unfolded, many people are still displaced, vulnerable and live at the mercy of armed groups,” said Lewis Mudge, Central Africa director for Human Rights Watch. “A new dynamic has emerged as well whereby mercenaries aligned with the government are also, at times, preying on the local population.” 

Most likely don’t report

Doctors Without Borders, one of the main organizations working on gender-based violence, says it has seen an increase in patients due to the expansion of services and outreach. But it says the majority of survivors likely don’t come forward, often because help is not available where they live. 

The 37-year-old who fled to the capital, Bangui, said she received mental health treatment and assistance for her children from an international aid group. She’s too afraid to return home and survives by selling charcoal in the market and on handouts from friends. She never reported the attack to police because she thought it was futile. 

“Who can arrest the Russians in this country?” she asked. 

A local fighter who works with Wagner asserted that he saw six of the Russians rape a local woman in the tent where he was sleeping at their base in Bambari in early 2023. He said the Russians give women canned food like sardines or bottled water afterward. He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. 

The Russian government didn’t respond to questions. 

Women don’t usually blame Wagner because its fighters are so entrenched in communities that they fear retaliation, aid groups said. During a visit by The Associated Press in March, Russians could be seen driving trucks around Bangui and walking in the western town of Bouar. 

Women who come forward find it hard to receive justice, said Lucie Boalo Mbassinga, vice president of the Association for Women Lawyers for Central Africa. She said they had 213 cases of sexual assault and rape reported in 2022 and 304 cases in 2023. Sometimes women open a case against local fighters but withdraw it because perpetrators’ families pay survivors not to proceed, she said. 

The challenges are compounded by funding cuts. 

In November, Mbassinga’s organization closed a program that was helping survivors across eight provinces, including in the capital, because there was no more money, she said. The cuts by the U.N. Development Program have prevented staff from reaching women in more rural areas, accompanying them to court, and providing medical and mental health support, she said. 

“Victims are abandoned,” Mbassinga said. She suggested having mobile courts to better reach rural areas. 

Donor fatigue and multiple global crises are part of the reason for cuts in funding, but some diplomats and aid workers say the presence of Wagner mercenaries embedded so closely with the government and in communities makes it hard to justify giving aid. There are concerns that funding could be associated with Wagner. 

Other culprits

But not only Wagner fighters are accused of rape. 

The AP spoke with three women who said they had been sexually assaulted. One blamed Wagner. One blamed an armed bandit. One, a security guard, blamed a U.N. peacekeeper. 

The 39-year-old security guard said she was assaulted in November while on the night shift in Bangui at the peacekeeper’s home. He left her about $65 when it was over, she said. 

She asked her supervisor to be transferred to another house but never reported the attack. Her pastor cautioned against it to keep her job. 

The U.N. mission didn’t receive any allegation of sexual assault involving its personnel last November, spokesman Vladimir Monteiro said, and stressed that the U.N. takes such allegations seriously. 

The U.N. has long wrestled with allegations of sexual assaults by U.N. peacekeepers in Central African Republic and elsewhere. Three years ago, the secretary-general ordered the immediate repatriation of the entire U.N. Gabonese peacekeeping contingent following credible reports of sexual abuse. 

The government’s justice ministry didn’t respond to requests for comment. The new constitution has measures to tackle the issue, saying authorities must ensure that sexual assault is eliminated. 

But that comes as little comfort for survivors. 

In December, a 29-year-old woman said she was assaulted at a market about 124 miles (200 kilometers) from Bangui. Three men with knives and machetes robbed her and one raped her. 

She didn’t report it because she didn’t know the man and thought police would refuse to investigate. 

Now the mother of two wants to move on. She finds comfort in a program run by Doctors Without Borders, meeting weekly with a dozen other survivors. 

“The advice I’ve been given is to not think about the aggressor and to stay busy,” she said.
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NIAMEY — Hundreds took to the streets of Niger’s capital Saturday to demand the departure of U.S. troops, after the ruling junta further shifted its strategy by ending a military accord with the United States and welcoming Russian military instructors.

Marching arm in arm through central Niamey, the crowd waved Nigerien flags in a demonstration that recalled anti-French protests that spurred the withdrawal of France’s forces from Niger last year after the army seized power in a coup.

One hand-written sign in English read “USA rush out of Niger,” in a show of support for the junta and its decision in mid-March to revoke an accord that had allowed around 1,000 U.S. military personnel to operate on its territory out of two bases.

“We’re here to say no to the American base, we don’t want Americans on our soil,” said protester Maria Saley on the sidelines of the march.

Until the coup, Niger had remained a key security partner of France and the United States, which used it as a base as part of international efforts to curb a decade-old Islamist insurgency in West Africa’s Sahel region.

But the new authorities in Niger have joined juntas in neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso in ending military deals with one-time Western allies, quitting the regional political and economic bloc ECOWAS and fostering closer ties with Russia.

The arrival on Wednesday of Russian military instructors and equipment was further evidence of the junta’s openness to closer cooperation with Moscow, which is seeking to boost its influence in Africa.

A few Russian flags were visible at the protest, but some citizens told Reuters Friday they did not want the welcomed Russian defense assistance to lead to a permanent presence in Niger.

“We must not subsequently see the implementation of Russian foreign military bases,” said Abdoulaye Seydou, the coordinator of the M62 coalition of civil society groups that led anti-French protests last year.

His concerns were echoed by student Souleymane Ousmane: “This is how the French and the Americans and all the other countries settled in Niger — from military cooperation, they ended up occupying large parts of our country.”

It is unclear, however, if or when the U.S. troops will leave.

In March, the top U.S. general appeared to suggest there was at least some support from within Niger’s junta for a continued U.S. military presence despite its announced revocation of the accord.

One of the U.S. programs in Niger is a drone base known as Air Base 201, which cost more than $100 million.

Violence in the central Sahel hit a high in 2023, with conflict fatalities in the region rising by 38% compared with the previous year, according to U.S.-based crisis-monitoring group ACLED, citing reports of over 8,000 people killed in Burkina Faso alone last year.
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GENEVA — United Nations and international agencies warn that the lives of millions of people in Sudan are at risk as the world looks away from the enormous humanitarian needs facing the war-torn country. 

Sudan has endured a year of war, which humanitarian agencies agree is causing one of the world’s worst human-made disasters. The World Health Organization said, “The war has had a staggering human cost,” with more than 15,000 deaths and an estimated 33,000 people injured. 

“The number of casualties reported is likely an underestimate,” WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier told journalists in Geneva Friday. 

“We also expect there will be more deaths across the entire population due to displacement, disease outbreaks and the inability to access care for other health issues, maternal and newborn health needs, and lack of access to food and water,” Lindmeier said. 

According to a new report by the International Organization for Migration, 20,000 people, half of them children, are forced to flee their homes in Sudan each day. 

Since war erupted a year ago on April 15, the IOM said, more than 8.6 million people have been displaced — about 6.6 million inside Sudan and 1.8 million as refugees in neighboring countries. 

Amy Pope, the IOM director-general, said, “Sudan is on a tragically fast track to becoming one of the world’s biggest humanitarian crises in decades, and the conflict that has engulfed the country is creating pressure throughout the region.” 

The World Health Organization also warned that Sudan could soon become one of the world’s worst hunger crises because nearly 18 million people are suffering from acute hunger and 5 million more are on the brink of famine. 

And yet, WHO spokesperson Lindmeier said, “This is only the tip of the iceberg” of an increasingly desperate situation. 

“Time is running out. Without a stop to the fighting and unhindered access for the delivery of humanitarian aid, Sudan’s crisis will dramatically worsen in the months to come and could impact the whole region,” he said 

“Access for humanitarian actors is particularly constrained. Half of the states are not accessible from within Sudan. Darfur and Kordofan are inaccessible and cut off from humanitarian aid.” 

Sudan’s national army and the rival Rapid Support Forces militia began fighting on April 15, 2023, each seeking to control the government. The two sides have made it difficult for aid groups and relief supplies to reach civilians. 

“The situation in Sudan was already very fragile before the war, and it has now become catastrophic,” said Ozan Agbas, Medecins Sans Frontieres Emergency Operations Manager for Sudan. 

In a statement issued Friday, he said “In many of the areas where MSF has started emergency activities we have not seen the return of the international humanitarian organizations that initially evacuated in April.” 

MSF, which is also known as Doctors Without Borders, has accused the world of “turning a blind eye as the warring parties intentionally block humanitarian access and the delivery of aid,” thereby putting millions of people at risk. 

In the runup to the first anniversary of the conflict in Sudan, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is urging the warring parties to support a cease-fire and engage in dialogue “for the sake of humanity, for the people and children who are suffering.” 

Speaking in Mombasa, Kenya, IFRC Head of Delegation Farid Abdulkadir described the enormous toll the war has taken on the lives and livelihoods of the Sudanese people. 

He said that the conflict has shattered the basic fabric of everyday life across Sudan and that the country’s health system has collapsed and is unable to care for the population. 

“Vital infrastructure is destroyed; professionals across all sectors have lost everything. While over 700,000 children are at risk of being malnourished, the humanitarian consequence of the conflict is dire,” he said. 

“But worst of all is the people’s engagement in livelihood and food production, which has both an impact now and an impact in the future,” 

A report issued by the U.N. Development Program on Friday assesses the social and economic impacts of the armed conflict on rural communities. 

The UNDP study surveyed more than 4,500 rural households across Sudan, concluding that the country faces an accelerating food security crisis. 

It says food production and supply chains “have been disrupted by the ongoing war” and warns “that a famine in Sudan is expected in 2024,” particularly in the states of Khartoum and Al-Jazirah and in the Darfur and Kordofan regions. 
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new york — Humanitarians said an international support conference next week for Sudan must be a success, as 18 million Sudanese face crisis levels of hunger while funding for lifesaving programs is running out.

“It is essential that we get the levels of funding that will allow us to scale [up] to the extent required,” Michael Dunford, World Food Program regional director for East Africa, told reporters from Nairobi.  

On Monday, ministers will gather in Paris for a two-part conference co-hosted by the European Commission, France and Germany. There will be discussions on how to move toward a political solution to the conflict, and a separate meeting of humanitarians and international donors for a humanitarian conference for Sudan and its neighbors.

This will take place on the one-year anniversary of the outbreak of the civil war, which has seen food insecurity surge and millions displaced. 

“As intense fighting continues, the humanitarian tragedy grows worse by the day,” Justin Brady, head of the U.N. office for humanitarian affairs in Sudan, told reporters from Port Sudan.

“Already, nearly 5 million people are one step away from famine,” he said. “Recent analysis indicates that famine is expected in parts of Khartoum and Greater Darfur – especially in hard-to-reach areas.”

Children are particularly affected, with an estimated 730,000 suffering from severe acute malnutrition. Brady said more than 200,000 children could die in the coming weeks and months if they do not receive urgent assistance.

Humanitarians are especially worried because these are record-high numbers during the harvest season, when food should be available and affordable. But because of the yearlong war between rival Sudanese generals, farmers and pastoralists have fled and their crops and cattle have withered, died or been destroyed. 

 

The lean season will be upon Sudan in June, and then the number of people who are acutely food insecure will likely grow from the current 18 million people.

“This is why we are desperately concerned that the 5 million population in emergency levels of food insecurity are likely to move into catastrophic levels in the coming months,” said WFP’s Dunford. “This is really a very real risk of becoming the largest hunger crisis anywhere in the world — if not already.”

Despite dangers, bureaucratic difficulties, funding shortages and other constraints, Brady says humanitarians have reached more than 8 million people with aid since the war started.

That assistance is in jeopardy, though, as the U.N. humanitarian appeal for $2.7 billion is just under 6% funded. About $400 million is needed immediately so aid workers can pre-position supplies ahead of the lean season, and an additional $700 million to sustain the response in the coming months as humanitarians launch a famine prevention plan.

Neither of the warring parties is expected to be represented at the Paris conference, but members of Sudanese civil society have been invited to participate.

Sudan is now home to the world’s largest internal displacement crisis, with 6.3 million people forced from their homes in search of safety. Another 1.7 million have fled to neighboring countries. More than 70% of health facilities in conflict areas have stopped functioning.   
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NAIROBI, Kenya — Heavy rains pounding different parts of Kenya have led to the deaths of at least 13 people and displaced some 15,000 people, the United Nations said, as forecasters warn that more rains can be expected until June. 

The U.N Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, citing the Kenya Red Cross Society, said Thursday that nearly 20,000 people were affected, including an estimated 15,000 people displaced by heavy rains and flash floods across the country since the start of the wet season in mid-March. 

The East African country has seen thousands of people killed by flooding in previous rainy seasons, mostly in the lake regions and downstream of major rivers. 

The Kenya Red Cross Society said that five major roads were cut off by floods, including Garissa Road in northern Kenya, where a bus carrying 51 passengers was swept away on Tuesday. All passengers were rescued. 

Kenya’s disaster management agency issued a flood warning to residents of Lamu, Tana River and Garissa counties, which are downstream of Tana River, after flooding breached dams upstream. Residents have been urged to move to higher ground. 

So far, nine out of 47 counties in the country have reported flooding incidents 

Mudslides have been reported in the central regions. On Tuesday four people were killed in Narok county, in the western part of the country. 

The Kenya Red Cross Society’s secretary general, Ahmed Idris, told Citizen TV that “lifesaving assistance,” including shelter and clean drinking water, was being offered to those displaced and living in camps to avert outbreaks of waterborne diseases. 

The rainy season is expected to reach its peak toward the end of April and subside in June, according to the meteorology department. 
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Port Sudan, Sudan — Millions displaced and on the brink of famine. Sexual and ethnic violence. Infrastructure destroyed. Aid workers say a year of war between rival generals in Sudan has led to catastrophe, but the world has turned away.

The northeast African country is experiencing “one of the worst humanitarian disasters in recent memory” and “the largest internal displacement crisis in the world,” the United Nations says.

It is also on track to become “the world’s worst hunger crisis.”

Aid workers have called it the “forgotten war” affecting a country of 48 million — more than half of whom they say need humanitarian assistance.

“People have been killed and raped and assaulted and detained and beaten and taken away for months at a time. We’re used to it,” said Mahmud Mokhtar, who helped provide volunteer social services in the Khartoum area during the war before finally fleeing to Cairo.

Experts see no end in sight to the fighting, which began on April 15 last year between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Since then, thousands of people have been killed, including up to 15,000 in one West Darfur town alone, according to U.N. experts.

More than 8.5 million have had to flee their homes to seek safety elsewhere in Sudan or across borders in neighboring countries.

The war “is brutal, devastating and shows no signs of coming to an end,” said veteran Sudan expert Alex de Waal.

But even if the violence stops now, “the state has collapsed, and the path to rebuilding it is long and fraught,” de Waal said.

Before the bombing and pillaging began, Sudan was already one of the world’s poorest countries.

Yet the U.N. says that by January, its humanitarian response scheme had only been 3.1% funded and can barely reach one of every 10 people in need.

‘Milestone of shame’

“Before the start of the war, there were dozens of international organizations responding across the country,” according to Christos Christou, international president of the medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

“Now, there are almost none.”

The health system has all but collapsed, and most agricultural land — the leading employer and once touted as a model for African development — is out of commission, researchers have said.

Gibril Ibrahim, finance minister in the army-aligned government, said in early March that Sudan had lost “80% of its income.”

Days later, the situation became even more precarious when the energy minister declared force majeure over a “major rupture” on an oil pipeline. Oil exports, via neighboring South Sudan, account for tens of millions of dollars in earnings each month.

For desperate civilians, virtually all that remains is mutual aid: volunteers organizing soup kitchens, evacuation plans and emergency health care.

“The world continues to look the other way,” said Will Carter, Sudan country director for the Norwegian Refugee Council, which alongside MSF is one of the few humanitarian organizations still operating there.

The war’s anniversary is “a milestone of shame,” he said, charging that the international community “has allowed this catastrophe to worsen.”

On the ground, the RSF now controls most of the capital and the western Darfur region.

The paramilitaries descended from the feared Janjaweed militia, unleashed by former strongman Omar al-Bashir’s government to quash an ethnic rebellion.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) charged Bashir with genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes dating from 2003, but Sudanese authorities never handed him over following his overthrow in 2019 after mass protests.

‘Pure evil’

During the current war, government forces have used their air power to bomb targets on the ground but failed to gain back much territory and have been blamed for striking civilians.

“A final victory is out of the question,” said a former army officer, requesting anonymity to speak freely.

Sudanese analyst Mohammed Latif agreed, telling AFP a win “is impossible” at this point for either side.

“Their troops are tired and their supplies drained,” Latif said.

There has, however, been no shortage of abuses against civilians, rights groups say.

“What is happening is verging on pure evil,” Clementine Nkweta-Salami, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, said earlier in the war.

Most recently, the army has taken over homes in Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman, according to a pro-democracy lawyers’ committee, after similar seizures by the RSF earlier in the fighting.

The lawyers’ committee, like other volunteer groups across Sudan, has spent the past year painstakingly documenting violations including summary killings, the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and the forced conscription of children.

The ICC, currently investigating ethnic-based killings primarily by the RSF in Darfur, says it has “grounds to believe” both sides are committing atrocities.

International mediation efforts yielded only truce announcements that were quickly violated.

A U.N. Security Council call last month for a cease-fire also failed to end the war, as did Western sanctions.

The war is “a vortex of transnational conflicts and global rivalries that threaten to set a wider region aflame,” said de Waal.

Both sides have sought regional support, experts say, and the United Arab Emirates has been painted as the RSF’s main foreign backer, though its leaders deny it.

Washington has signaled talks could restart around April 18, but army-aligned prosecutors have since moved against civilian leaders the international community had looked to as potential partners.

Still, according to de Waal, “it should not be difficult to reach a consensus across Africa and the Middle East that state collapse is in no one’s interest.”

Against those complex realities, Amer Sohaiel, a displaced man taking shelter in Darfur’s Abu Shouk camp, has a simple hope, “that God will help us achieve peace this year.”
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YAOUNDE, CAMEROON — Opposition candidates are accusing Chad’s military ruler, General Mahamat Idriss Deby, of flouting election rules and launching his campaign before the official starting date of April 14.

Deby, the transitional president who seized power after the death of his father in 2021, is attempting to cement his rule with a victory in Chad’s presidential election on May 6.

The general said on state TV Wednesday that if elected as Chad’s president, he will maintain peace and develop the central African state, adding that he would fight what he called endemic poverty by creating jobs and funding youth agricultural projects.

Several hundred people, a majority from Deby’s Patriotic Salvation Movement party, applauded as he told them that more than 200 opposition political parties and about 1,000 civil society groups have agreed to support him.

Deby encouraged them to immediately begin campaigning for him.

Lydie Beassemda, a presidential candidate of The Party for Democracy and Full Independence of Chad, accused Deby of disrespecting Chad’s electoral code by launching his campaign early.

April 14 is the date set by Chad’s Constitutional Council for campaigning to begin.

Beassemda said nine opposition challengers notified the National Agency for the Management of Elections that Deby launched campaigning early. The agency said it is examining several complaints from opposition candidates but provided no details.

Beassemda urged Chad’s 8 million registered voters not to be intimidated by Deby, who wants to continue the role of his father, Idriss Deby Itno.

The 37-year-old Deby was proclaimed head of an army junta after rebels killed his father in 2021 after more than 30 years in power. The presidential election in May is meant to be a transition back to democracy.

Deby initially promised an 18-month transition period after he seized power. He later appointed himself as the head of a transitional government. Opposition parties say he uses the military to suppress the opposition.

Opposition candidates urged Chadians to be vigilant and report suspected election malpractices to the National Agency for the Management of Elections. They also called for the international community to take note that Deby is not respecting democratic norms by campaigning before the official start date.

The nine candidates challenging Deby in the election, including pro-democracy figure Success Masra, who now serves as transitional prime minister, say Deby does not want to lose his family’s grip on power.

Deby says he will respect the verdict of the ballot and hand over power if he is defeated.

The Constitutional Council set the first round of voting for May 6 and the second round for June 22.
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YAOUNDE, CAMEROON — In Gabon, Christians joined Muslims this week to pray for peace as the country holds a month-long “national dialogue” intended to pave the way for military leaders to transfer power to a civilian government.

Clerics say that among the approximately 700 civilians who attended this year’s Eid al-Fitr prayers Wednesday at the Central Mosque in Gabon’s capital, Libreville, were scores of Christians. The Eid al-Fitr prayers marked the end of the holy month of Ramadan. 

Tidjani Babagana, grand imam of Muslims in Gabon, told Gabon’s state TV that during prayers he launched an appeal for reconciliation, peace, temperance and internal harmony among citizens who are looking forward to changes at the helm of the government. He also reminded civilians who are waiting for the government to improve their living conditions that it is a prescription in the Holy Quran to respect state authority. 

Babagana said both Muslims and Christians should celebrate Eid al-Fitr as a sign of fraternity, interreligious tolerance and living together in peace, despite the challenges Gabon is facing. 

The faithful who gathered for prayers say the country has suffered a crime wave — including theft, assault and highway robbery — since transitional president General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema ordered the release of over 500 prisoners in late March.  

The general seized power from President Ali Bongo in a bloodless coup last August. Nguema said he took control to improve living conditions in the oil-producing nation because its citizens remained poor during the 56 years of leadership by Ali Bongo and his father, Omar Bongo. 

Gabon’s Civil Society Group says the central African state now faces the challenges of a transition to civilian rule. A transitional charter introduced by the general last November bars all members of the current government from becoming candidates in presidential elections, with the exception of Nguema. 

This month, Nguema launched what is billed as an Inclusive National Dialogue, which he said will prepare an economic blueprint and a calendar to organize elections that will hand power to civilians. 

Bruno Nguema Ela, the president of Gabon’s citizens in the diaspora, took part in Eid al-Fitr prayers. He said opposition and civil society want Nguema to reassure civilians that he will not hang on to power. 

Ela said Gabon’s diaspora is happy with efforts by Nguema to stop the Bongo dynasty from maintaining its grip on power, and added that the transitional government should make sure it hands power to civilians so Gabon does not sink into social unrest and political crisis. 

Firman Maurice Nguema, one of the spokespersons with the commission that will lead discussions in Gabon’s national dialogue, said General Nguema is committed to providing Gabon with functioning state institutions before handing power to constitutional order. He said Nguema wants Gabon to be a peaceful country where democratic choices and rights and liberties of civilians are respected. 

The transitional government says Christians joined Muslims in feasts across the central African state this week. Muslim clerics say that nationwide, prayers were for peace and a return to constitutional order without chaos. 
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London — Environmental and human rights activists are calling on the Nigerian government to withhold approval of plans by the London-based oil giant Shell to sell off its operations in the Niger Delta, unless the oil giant does more to tackle pollution in the region caused by the industry.

For decades, foreign energy firms have extracted hydrocarbons from the Niger Delta, and Shell is by far the biggest investor. It has earned the companies — and the Nigerian government — billions of dollars. Locals, however, have long complained of massive environmental damage.

“You can’t grow crops. You can’t drink the water. You can’t fish because the fish are dying or they’re dead,” said Florence Kayemba, Nigeria director at the civil society group Stakeholder Democracy Network, based in Port Harcourt in the Niger Delta.

Shell Oil announced in January it is pulling out of its onshore and shallow water operations the region. It intends to sell its Nigerian subsidiary, the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC), to Renaissance, a consortium of five mainly local firms. The sale would include existing mining licenses and infrastructure. Shell says it is part of a plan to transition away from fossil fuels.

Civil society groups say Shell must do more to clean up the environment before it leaves. A recent report by a Dutch organization, the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations, or SOMO, warned the divestment plan is a “ticking time bomb.”

“Communities fear that, once Shell exits, they will never see their environment restored or receive compensation for lost livelihoods,” the SOMO report said. “Most people in the Delta depend on farming and fishing, occupations that are impossible when the soil and waterways are deeply contaminated.”

Florence Kayemba of the Stakeholder Democracy Network, which contributed to the SOMO report, told VOA that the Nigerian government must scrutinize the sale more closely.

“We are very concerned about the legacy of pollution being left behind by Shell — not only Shell but also other oil companies that have divested their assets from the Niger Delta,” she said.

“We believe that it’s very important for the federal government to look into these issues, because the oil is not going to flow forever,” Kayemba added. “You will have a post-oil Nigeria. You will have a post-oil Niger Delta. And we need to have an environment that is functional.”

Oil companies like Shell have often blamed theft and sabotage for oil spills, a claim contested by environmental groups. Locals also seek to make money from unlicensed small-scale production known as “artisanal refining,” according to Kayemba.

“What you have is a situation where artisanal oil refining is just reinforcing what has been happening,” she said. “And yet that pollution had already existed. So, by the time you get to disentangle this, it becomes really difficult. Who is to blame who?”

A report commissioned in May 2023 by Bayelsa State, one of the major oil producing regions in the Niger Delta, estimated that it would cost some $12 billion to clean up decades-old oil spills in the state over a 12-year period. It blamed Shell and the Italian oil firm ENI for most of the damage.

Both Shell and ENI dispute the findings.

The SOMO report claims Shell is now selling its operations to domestic companies that may not have the capability to deal with the aging infrastructure and legacy of oil exploration.

“Shell is selling its oil blocks and infrastructure as going concerns to companies that appear, in several cases, to lack the finances and willingness both to deal with the old and damaged infrastructure and to undertake responsible closure and decommissioning when this becomes necessary,” the report said.

“Shell’s exit exposes the communities of the Niger Delta to major ongoing risks to their environment, health, and human rights, long after the oil industry ceases and likely for generations to come,” it added.

In a statement to VOA, Shell said that “Onshore divestments by international energy companies are part of a wider reconfiguration of the Nigerian oil and gas sector in which, after decades of capability building, domestic companies are playing an increasingly important role in helping the country to deliver its aspirations for the sector.”

“As divestments occur, mandatory submissions to the Federal Government allow the regulators to apply scrutiny across a wide range of issues and recommend approval of these divestments, provided they meet all requirements,” the statement said.

Shell added that it will continue to deploy its “technical expertise” under the terms of the sale to the new buyers.

The Nigerian government has indicated it intends to approve Shell’s divestment plans. Heineken Lokpobiri, Nigeria’s petroleum minister, told the World Economic Forum in Davos that the government is committed to “fostering a business-friendly environment” in the sector.

“On the part of the government, once we get the necessary documents, we will not waste time to give the necessary considerations and consent,” Lokpobiri said at Davos January 18, according to Reuters.

The Nigerian Ministry for Petroleum Resources did not respond to VOA requests for comment.
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