West African nations are pushing for the construction of a major highway network connecting five countries from the Ivory Coast to Nigeria. The African Development Bank says the project will be an economic engine for all the countries involved. Senanu Tord reports from Accra, Ghana.
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Category: Africa
Africa news. Africa is highly biodiverse, it is the continent with the largest number of megafauna species, as it was least affected by the extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna. However, Africa also is heavily affected by a wide range of environmental issues, including desertification, deforestation, water scarcity, and pollution
Ghana Parliament Passes Stringent Anti-LGBTQ Law
ACCRA, Ghana — Ghana’s parliament passed legislation Wednesday that intensifies a crackdown on the rights of LGBTQ people and those promoting lesbian, gay or other non-conventional sexual or gender identities in the West African country.
Gay sex was already punishable by up to three years in prison. The bill now also imposes a prison sentence of up to five years for the “willful promotion, sponsorship, or support of LGBTQ+ activities.”
The bill is one of the harshest of its kind in Africa.
“My heart is broken and devastated at the moment, that’s all I can say for now” Angel Maxine, Ghana’s first openly transgender musician and LGBTQI+ activist, told Reuters, adding “My pronouns are she/ her/ hers.”
A coalition of Christian, Muslim, and Ghanaian traditional leaders sponsored the legislation.
Following the vote in parliament, the bill will be presented to President Nana Akufo-Addo after which he has seven days to assent or refuse to assent, according to Ghana’s constitution.
If he assents, the bill becomes law. Akufo-Addo, had avoided the heated debate over the bill, but said he’ll react once it is voted by parliament.
Winnie Byanyima, executive director of the United Nations AIDS agency UNAIDS, said in a statement that the bill would affect everyone if it became law, adding that punitive laws as embodied by the bill, are a barrier to ending AIDS and ultimately undermine everyone’s health.
“It will exacerbate fear and hatred, could incite violence against fellow Ghanaian citizens, and will negatively impact on free speech, freedom of movement and freedom of association,” Byanyima said in the statement.
“If it becomes law, it will obstruct access to life-saving services, undercut social protection, and jeopardize Ghana’s development success,” she said.
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IRC Suspends Red Sea Route for Sudan Aid Amid Rising Cost, Risks
nairobi, kenya — Getting humanitarian supplies to millions of Sudanese affected by the country’s more than 10 months of conflict is getting expensive and risky because of attacks on Red Sea shipping by Houthi rebels based in Yemen.
The International Rescue Committee said this week that its logistics partner would now bypass the Red Sea route and deliver supplies through Jebel Ali port in the United Arab Emirates on the eastern side of the Arabian Peninsula. It said the new route would raise transportation costs by more than 40 percent.
Sally Anyanga, who works with the IRC, said the new route will also increase the shipping time for supplies, from approximately two weeks to more than a month.
“The alternative routes involve longer transportation distances, leading to increased transit times and causing delays in delivering critical aid to those in need, making our operation very challenging and also expensive at the same time,” Anyanga said. “We’re not able to get pharmaceuticals on time that are used by our health team.”
According to aid agencies, more than 25 million people in Sudan need humanitarian support in the wake of the war between Sudan’s armed forces and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces that broke out in April 2023.
For security reasons, most aid agencies have moved their operations to Port Sudan, where they are able to receive and supply aid to the needy.
Anyanga said it is critical that humanitarian aid be allowed to enter Sudan through all available routes.
“But ultimately, what the people of Sudan need most is peace, lasting peace, because for the last several months we have seen that civilians have been a target,” she said. “More than 13,000 have been killed. We’ve also seen aid workers being a target. And so we need to make an end to all this and to ensure that aid reaches the people in need on time.”
Humanitarian agencies, experts and some government officials in eastern Africa have expressed concern about the Houthi attacks on ships, saying the attacks affect the security and economic situation of the countries that rely on that route to receive goods.
U.S. and British forces have targeted Houthi positions to try to deter attacks, but the group continues to launch rockets and raids on ships, hampering the free flow of goods and services.
Edgar Githua, a lecturer at the U.S. International University-Africa who specializes in international relations, peace and conflict, told VOA a global effort is needed to stop Houthi attacks before they make the situation worse for many countries.
“The international community needs to deal with the Houthi rebels, who have now turned to blatant piracy in the name of supporting [Hamas in] the Israel-Palestinian conflict,” Githua said. “But now they are hijacking ships and creating a logistical nightmare. So, I think there needs to be a huge response, because it will not only affect the humanitarian crisis, it will affect food prices, it will affect so many things that are attached that rely on the logistical support of that corridor. So the international community needs to just step up.”
Late Tuesday, the U.S. military reported shooting down five Houthi drones in the Red Sea. The U.S. Central Command said the drones had presented a threat to merchant and naval vessels in the region.
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Chad Sets Presidential Election for May 6, Months Earlier Than Planned
Yaounde, Cameroon — Chad’s electoral commission made a surprise announcement Tuesday that presidential elections to end three years of military rule in the central African country will take place May 6, several months earlier than planned.
In making the announcement, the commission said the elections will mark a return to constitutional order and the end of General Mahamat Idriss Deby’s transitional period, now in its third year.
The 37-year-old became leader of Chad’s Transitional Military Council in April 2021 after his father, Idriss Deby Itno, died while fighting northern rebels. The rebels said they wanted to end the older Deby’s 31-year rule.
The younger Deby took over from his father and promised to head an 18-month transitional council but in October of 2022, he dissolved the council and declared himself interim president.
It is not yet known how many candidates will run in the May 6 polls. But last month, Chad’s former ruling Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS party) said that Mahamat Idriss Deby will be the party’s nominee.
A group of Chadian opposition leaders met Monday, before the elections date was disclosed, to select a candidate. They too decided to support Deby.
Takilal Ndolassem, the president of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Chad, took part in Monday’s meeting and spoke to VOA by phone from N’djamena.
Ndolassem said 127 opposition leaders who attended Monday’s meeting in N’djamena decided to convene another meeting Friday because many other opposition leaders have indicated that they want to join the coalition that supports Deby as a presidential candidate. He said Deby has maintained the peace in Chad by disarming rebel groups and providing basic needs, including water, education, food and sources of livelihoods to millions of suffering civilians in a majority of Chad’s towns and villages.
On Wednesday, Chad’s state TV reported that Deby was on a tour of eight of Chad’s 23 provinces, including Logone-Occidental, Logone-Oriental, Mandoul, Mayo-Kebbi-Est and Mayo-Kebbi-Ouest. State TV did not give a reason for his visits.
Not all opposition leaders are supporting Deby. Gilbert Ratou Barka, the president of the opposition Artisans for a New Chad, or ARNT, has also declared that he will run in the May 6 elections. He said it is unfortunate that Deby is visiting some regions of Chad to begin campaigning before official campaigns are launched.
Barka said ARNT wants Deby to respect the electoral calendar and stop the illegal campaign he wants to launch. He said Deby did not visit civilians since the food crisis, rebel attacks on communities, floods and humanitarian disasters caused by climate shocks and armed conflicts became acute within the past three months. Barka said Deby is manipulating civilians to maintain his grip on power.
Campaigning for the first round of the presidential election is scheduled to begin on April 14 and end on May 4.
Deby, in a message broadcast on Chad’s state TV Wednesday, said elections will be free, fair and transparent.
Barka said he is surprised that the elections body scheduled the polls for May 6 when Deby had said earlier they would be in October, shortly before the mandate of the transitional government ends on October 10.
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Chad Announces May 6 Presidential Election, Months Earlier Than Projected
Yaounde, Cameroon — Chad’s electoral commission made a surprise announcement Tuesday that a presidential election to end three years of military rule will take place May 6, several months earlier than planned.
The election will mark a return to constitutional order and the end of General Mahamat Idriss Deby’s transitional period in the Central African country, the commission said.
The 37-year-old Deby became leader of Chad’s Transitional Military Council in April 2021 after his father, Idriss Deby Itno, died while fighting northern rebels. The rebels said they wanted to end the older Deby’s 31-year rule.
The younger Deby took over and promised to head an 18-month transitional council, but in October 2022, he dissolved the council and declared himself interim president.
It is not yet known how many candidates will run in the May 6 polls. But last month, Chad’s former ruling Patriotic Salvation Movement party, or MPS, said that Deby will be the party’s nominee.
A group of some 127 opposition leaders met Monday, a day before the elections date was disclosed, to select a candidate. They, too, decided to support Deby.
Takilal Ndolassem, president of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Chad, took part in Monday’s meeting and spoke to VOA by phone from N’djamena. He said Deby has maintained peace in Chad by disarming rebel groups and providing basic needs, including water, education, food and jobs, to millions of suffering people.
Not all opposition leaders support Deby. Gilbert Ratou Barka, president of Artisans for a New Chad, or ARNT, has declared he will run in the May 6 election.
On Wednesday, Chad’s state TV reported that Deby was on a tour of eight of Chad’s 23 provinces, including Logone-Occidental, Logone-Oriental, Mandoul, Mayo-Kebbi-Est and Mayo-Kebbi-Ouest. The report did not give a reason for his visits.
Barka accused Deby of campaigning before official campaigns are launched.
Campaigning for the first round of the presidential election is scheduled to begin April 14 and end May 4. Barka said ARNT wants Deby to respect the electoral calendar and stop what he called an illegal campaign.
Deby had not visited civilians since the food crisis, rebel attacks on communities, floods and other humanitarian disasters within the past three months, Barka said.
By visiting now, Deby is manipulating civilians to maintain his grip on power, Barka said.
Deby, in a message broadcast on Chad’s state TV Wednesday, said elections will be free, fair and transparent.
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Zimbabwe Court Sentences Opposition Leader for Insulting Russian Businesswoman
Harare, Zimbabwe — A court in Zimbabwe has sentenced an opposition leader to six months in prison or a $300 fine for verbally assaulting a Russian businesswoman.
Magistrate Vongai Guwuriro ruled that Tendai Biti, a former Zimbabwean finance minister, must pay the fine or go to prison, ending a four-year legal battle between Biti and Tatiana Aleshina, who court papers said was a Russian investor.
Biti paid the fine.
Alec Muchadehama, Biti’s attorney, told reporters outside the Harare magistrate’s court Tuesday that Biti would appeal the sentence and conviction.
“Both myself and Tendai Biti are extremely disappointed with the conviction, but I am not surprised that it came to that [conviction],” he said. “This is why we are going to appeal to the High Court, we have various grounds, which we will outline in our grounds of appeal.”
The state prosecutors accused Biti of calling Aleshina “stupid” and pointing at her in 2020. Biti denies the charge of verbal assault.
Aleshina said the ruling was a victory for women.
“Zimbabwe has got justice, even if it has taken long four years. But I learned a lot. I realized if we women can’t stand for our rights, justice will not be revealed,” she said. “And I have nothing to do with Tendai Biti, or anyone, but let him learn good lessons – respect women, and respect not only women, but everyone in this country.”
Aleshina’s supporters outside the court said Biti should have been given a no-fine option and sent to prison, while Biti’s supporters said the punishment for calling someone “stupid” was unfair.
Agnes Togarepi said Biti was innocent.
“How many times do you call someone ‘stupid’ or even ‘idiot’? Is it a crime to point at someone?” she asked.
Biti is vice president of Citizens’ Coalition for Change, Zimbabwe’s main opposition party.
His colleague Job Sikhala, who spent nearly two years in jail, was given a nine-month suspended sentence if he pays a $500 fine by March 4. He was convicted of publishing falsehoods.
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Senegal Panel Suggests Delayed Election Be Held in June
DAKAR, SENEGAL — Senegal’s national dialogue commission will propose a delayed presidential election be held on June 2 and recommend President Macky Sall remain in office until his successor is sworn in, commission member Ndiawar Paye said on Tuesday.
The West African nation, set to become an oil and gas producer by the end of the year, was thrown into an unprecedented political crisis after Sall postponed the election initially scheduled for February 25.
The proposed date follows two days of talks organized by Sall to ease tensions. His and parliament’s failed bid to postpone the February 25 poll by 10 months sparked unrest and warnings of democratic backsliding in one of coup-hit West Africa’s more stable democracies.
The recommendation will be sent to Sall, who will make the final decision, Paye told Reuters.
Speaking by phone, he said it was not known whether Sall would accept the recommendation, but his decision could come on Tuesday or Wednesday.
The talks in the capital, Dakar, were boycotted by many of the opposition, some of whom want the vote to be held before Sall’s mandate expires on April 2.
Paye said the commission agreed that early June was the most feasible time for the vote.
“The month of May has a number of religious festivals, so the elections could not be held then,” he said.
It was not immediately clear how the opposition would respond to the proposed date. Its successful legal challenge of the original postponement led the top constitutional authority to rule the delay unlawful and ask Sall to find a new date as soon as possible.
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Kenyan Communities Embrace Alternative Crops to Ease Human-Wildlife Conflict
nairobi, kenya — Kenyan communities near Tsavo National Park are seeing a rise in human-wildlife conflict, impacting their lives and income. Communities near the park complain of animal attacks and crop destruction, exacerbating poverty. The group Five Talents Kenya is helping the affected communities to reduce the conflicts, in part by introducing alternative crops that animals are less likely to eat.
In mid-2023, Kenya’s Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife disbursed $6.2 million as compensation to victims of human-wildlife conflict, covering deaths, injuries, and crop and livestock losses.
According to the Kenya Wildlife Service, the government faces additional pending claims of more than $39 million due to human-wildlife conflicts.
Obadia Mwakireti, a farmer in Taita Taveta County, has lost maize and sorghum crops to elephants and other animals from Tsavo National Park. To survive, the 52-year-old farmer shifted to planting alternative crops.
“I have lost a lot of money farming these other crops and we were not being compensated for our loss other than getting [told] sorry,” Mwakireti said. “But now it’s better, I am farming sunflowers. I harvest and press the oil and sell it.”
Other farmers have turned to growing sunflowers and green gram and surrounding their fields with thick Kei Apple hedges to deter animal intrusion.
Kenya’s population growth has exacerbated human-wildlife conflicts, aggravated by the lack of a comprehensive land use policy.
Five Talents Kenya, working with the U.S. Agency for International Development, has initiated programs supporting communities near Tsavo National Park.
Peter Mghendi, the organization’s head, says the group is targeting people from Kitui, Makueni and Taita Taveta counties with programs aimed at reducing tension between communities and wildlife and improving people’s income.
Mghendi said the 3,600 people the group is targeting are members of thriving savings and credit associations, and involved with climate-smart agriculture.
“They will also be linked to markets that they are part of,” he added. “Their leadership is part of the Tsavo conservation area that are contributing to policy matters on conservation.”
Philip Muruthi, vice president of conservation science and planning at the African Wildlife Foundation, said there is a pressing need to manage the conflicts between communities and animals.
“The issue is how can we live with wildlife positively? And I think although it’s a major issue, the battle is not lost,” he said. “We have to be intentional in managing that wildlife. … There are many mechanisms which can be applied including land use planning, compensation. There are better husbandry techniques, better cropping systems.”
Reducing human-wildlife conflict is a crucial matter for communities living near national parks. According to available data, between 2017 and 2020, 388 Kenyans were killed by wild animals and nearly 2,100 were injured.
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Nigerian Government, Union Workers Launch Strike Over Inflation
Abuja, Nigeria — Nigeria’s government and union workers began a new nationwide strike Tuesday that threatened to shut down key services while people are angry about soaring inflation and growing economic pain.
Since assuming office in Africa’s most populous country last year, President Bola Tinubu has enacted policies that include doing away with fuel subsidies and unifying the country’s multiple exchange rates, leading to a devaluation of the naira against the dollar.
Gasoline prices have more than doubled and inflation has shot up as a result, reaching close to 30% last month, the highest in nearly three decades, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
“We are hungry. There is nobody that doesn’t know this,” said Joe Ajaero, president of the Nigerian Labor Congress.
Others said the protest was the only way to get the government’s attention.
“Things are getting out of hand,” said Christian Omeje, a shop owner in the capital, Abuja. “Prices keep soaring, the aid the government said it would dole out has not been provided.”
This is just the latest strike action. In October, government labor unions reached a deal with the government to end strikes in return for monthly stipends and subsidies to cushion the blow of the new policies. Still, the unrest continued.
Unions say the government has failed to deliver on promises that included a monthly wage increase of approximately $20 for all workers for six months and payments of approximately $15 for three months to millions of vulnerable households.
A pledge to roll out gas-powered buses for mass transit last year also failed to materialize.
Most services appeared to continue Tuesday with a reduced workforce.
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UN Member States Focus on Environmental Crisis at Nairobi Meeting
The U.N. Environment Assembly, known as UNEA-6, is meeting in Nairobi this week to chart solutions to the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. Juma Majanga reports from the U.N. Environment headquarters in Nairobi.
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Ethiopia Arrests French Journalist
washington — A French journalist on assignment in Ethiopia is in custody after being arrested in the capital, Addis Ababa.
Antoine Galindo, who works for the Paris-based media outlet Africa Intelligence, was arrested at a hotel while interviewing Bate Urgessa, a spokesperson for the opposition Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) party.
Police also detained Bate, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists or CPJ.
Police accused the reporter of “conspiracy to create chaos,” according to a statement by Galindo’s employer. He was detained Thursday and a court on Saturday ordered that the journalist be held until March 1.
Africa Intelligence in a statement said that a lawyer for the publication attended the hearing Saturday.
The publication added that it “condemns the unjustified arrest … and calls for [Galindo’s] immediate release.”
Galindo heads the Eastern Africa and Horn section of Africa Intelligence. He traveled to Ethiopia on February 13 to cover the African Union summit and other local reporting assignments, according to his employer.
The Ethiopian Embassy in Washington did not respond to VOA’s email requesting comment.
International press freedom groups condemned the arrest and called for Ethiopian authorities to free Galindo.
“The baseless and unjustified detention of Antoine Galindo for carrying out his legitimate journalistic duties is outrageous,” said CPJ’s Angela Quintal in a statement.
Quintal, who heads CPJ’s Africa program, said that Ethiopia has a “dismal” press freedom record and is detaining at least eight other journalists.
The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders or RSF said in a statement that Galindo’s arrest comes amid a difficult climate for media in Ethiopia.
“The authorities are trying to control the narrative of recent social and political tensions, [and] there is growing hostility towards independent journalism that seeks to cover any national issues,” said Sadibou Marong, who is director of RSF’s sub-Saharan Africa bureau.
“The authorities are also targeting foreign media and journalists. Antoine Galindo’s totally arbitrary detention is a terrible example,” Marong added.
Human rights activists have criticized Ethiopia’s restrictions on media, including coverage of conflicts and security issues.
Foreign journalists have been expelled from Ethiopia or denied accreditations to work in recent years. The last case of foreign journalists being detained was in 2011, when two journalists from Sweden were arrested.
They were sentenced to 11 years in prison for helping and promoting a rebel group and entering the country illegally before being pardoned and released the following year, Reuters reported.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed freed dozens of jailed members of the media when he came to power in 2018 as part of a raft of political reforms.
But critics say his government has cracked down hard on dissent as civil conflicts, including a 2020-2022 war in the northern Tigray region, have broken out.
Abiy says he is guaranteeing stability and law and order in the multiethnic nation.
Some information in this report came from Reuters.
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Experts Doubt ECOWAS Easing Sanctions on Juntas Will Have Impact
Abuja, Nigeria — The decision by West African regional bloc ECOWAS to suspend sanctions against Niger and to ease sanctions on Mali and Guinea has been mostly welcomed by regional political analysts. ECOWAS said its decision, announced Saturday, was based on humanitarian grounds and will pave the way for talks with the three countries’ military juntas. But some analysts are skeptical the decision will have much effect.
Forty-eight hours after ECOWAS announced its decision, there’s excitement over the development in Niger and parts of northern Nigeria affected by the measure.
ECOWAS unfroze Niger’s assets in West Africa, suspended border closures and ended the no-fly-zone for commercial flights to and from Niger.
Idayat Hassan, a senior associate for the Africa program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the decision should make life easier for average people in Niger.
“There’s actually expected to be like an improvement in the economy of this country. Particularly when it comes to Nigeria and Niger, we expect to see even the flow of food, goods and services. Beyond that citizens will have access to services more than they used to. We expect that the price of food will reduce in this country,” said Hassan.
The sanctions were the regional bloc’s response to the July ouster of Niger’s President Mohammed Bazoum by the military.
But the measure, considered the most stringent meted out on any member state, hit Niger hard. The extreme poverty rate in Niger has surpassed 40 percent, according to the World Bank.
The regional body said Saturday its decision to suspend sanctions was based on humanitarian considerations and to enable further dialogue with Niger’s military junta.
ECOWAS has been struggling to stop a wave of military takeovers and political crisis rocking West Africa.
Last month Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, all governed by juntas, announced withdrawal from ECOWAS, criticizing the bloc’s sanctions on military governments.
Political analyst Ahmed Buhari said it is unlikely that lifting sanctions will change those countries’ position.
“I think the real question is does Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali even care about the lifting of the sanctions? The thing is those guys have moved on, those guys have put their acts together, they have a direction. Our approach on foreign affairs relationships with those countries especially as headed by ECOWAS was flawed right from the beginning,” he said.
In September, Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso created a bloc known as the Alliance of Sahel States.
Last week, the alliance announced it was creating a confederation and could launch a joint currency soon.
Buhari said if that happens, it will have “serious consequences for regional integration and development.”
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Uganda Authorities Say 30 Ugandans Stuck in Myanmar Scam Compounds
The Ugandan government says about 30 Ugandans are stuck in Myanmar, being forced to work as online scammers. Officials say they were lured there by traffickers with the promise of a job and are now being held by gangs who run the scamming operations. Halima Athumani and Mukasa Francis have more from Kampala where they spoke with other Ugandans who managed to make it back home.
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The Rise of Female Skateboarders in South Africa
In South Africa, skateboarding is enjoying something of a revolution. The once predominantly male pursuit is attracting more and more women. VOA’s Zaheer Cassim reports from Johannesburg.
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Algeria Inaugurates Africa’s Largest Mosque After Years of Political Delays, Cost Overruns
ALGIERS, Algeria — Algeria inaugurated a gigantic mosque on its Mediterranean coastline Sunday after years of political upheaval transformed the project from a symbol of state-sponsored strength and religiosity to one of delays and cost overruns.
Built by a Chinese construction firm throughout the 2010s, the Great Mosque of Algiers features the world’s tallest minaret, measuring at 265 meters (869 feet). The third-largest mosque in the world and largest outside Islam’s holiest cities, its prayer room accommodates 120,000 people. Its modernist design contains Arab and North African flourishes to honor Algerian tradition and culture as well as a helicopter landing pad and a library that can house up to 1 million books.
The inauguration would guide Muslims “toward goodness and moderation,” said Ali Mohamed Salabi, the General Secretary of world union of Muslim Ulemas.
Propagating a moderate brand of Islam has been a key priority in Algeria since government forces subdued an Islamist-led rebellion throughout the 1990s when a bloody civil war swept the country.
Algerian President Abdelmajid Tebboune inaugurated the mosque, fulfilling his promise to open it with great pomp and circumstance. The event, however, was mainly ceremonial. The mosque has been open to international tourists and state visitors to Algeria for roughly five years. An earlier ceremony was delayed.
The timing allows the mosque to officially open to the public in time to host nightly prayers during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins next month.
Beyond its gigantic dimensions, the mosque is also known for the delays and controversy that characterized the seven years it was under construction, including the choice of site, which experts warned was seismically risky. The state denied that in a news release Sunday posted on APS, the state news agency website. Throughout the delays and cost overruns, the project never stopped feeding Algerians’ anger, with many saying they’d rather have four hospitals built throughout the country.
The project’s official cost was $898 million.
The mosque was originally a project of former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who designed it to be the largest in Africa. He wanted it to be his legacy and called “Abdelaziz Bouteflika Mosque” much like Mosque Hassan II in Casablanca, Morocco. That mosque, named after the former King of Morocco — Algeria’s neighbor and regional rival — was once marketed as Africa’s largest.
But the protests that swept Algeria in 2019 and led him to resign after 20 years in power prohibited Bouteflika from realizing his plans, naming the mosque after himself or inaugurating it in February 2019 as scheduled.
The mosque — along with a major national highway and a million new housing units — each were marred by suspicions of corruption during the Bouteflika era, with suspected kickbacks to contractors then paid to state officials.
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Sudan Authorities Block Cross-Border Aid to Stricken Darfur
Port Sudan, Sudan — Authorities loyal to the army in war-ravaged Sudan have blocked cross-border aid to the western Darfur region, a move decried by aid workers and the United States.
The vast Darfur region, bordering Chad, has been one of the hardest hit parts of Sudan since war began 10 months ago between the Sudanese Armed Forces and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
RSF are descendants of the Janjaweed militia, which began a scorched earth campaign in Darfur more than two decades ago.
In their current battle against the army, which started last April, the RSF have taken over four out of the five Darfur state capitals.
More than 694,000 people have fled over the border to Chad, according to the International Organization for Migration, but many more remain trapped in Darfur and in need of assistance.
The United Nations has had to limit its work in Darfur to cross-border operations from Chad, but last week the U.N.’s World Food Program (WFP) country director Eddie Rowe told reporters that “authorities have restricted the Chad cross-border operation.”
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Friday the United States is deeply concerned by the army’s “recent decision to prohibit cross border humanitarian assistance from Chad and reports that the SAF is obstructing assistance from reaching communities in areas controlled by the RSF.”
Sudan’s foreign ministry, loyal to the army, expressed “confusion and rejection” of the “false accusations” by Washington.
The ministry said the Sudan-Chad border “is the main crossing point for weapons and equipment” used to commit “atrocities” against the Sudanese.
A United Nations experts’ report in January cited credible evidence that the United Arab Emirates was funneling “military support” through Chad to the RSF. The UAE has denied the allegations.
Miller, of the State Department, also expressed concern about RSF “looting homes, markets and humanitarian assistance warehouses.”
In Brussels, Rowe said his agency was “engaging with the authorities to ensure this critical lifeline” from Chad remains operational.
It is essential, an international aid worker told AFP on Sunday from Darfur, requesting anonymity so as not to jeopardize their mission.
“Children and babies are already dying from hunger and malnutrition. There will be an immense human impact… and quite possibly large-scale mortality rates,” the aid worker said.
“The highest levels of diplomacy need to unblock this situation immediately because millions of lives hang in the balance,” the aid worker said, calling it “a huge region already facing an imminent and immense food security crisis on top of a civil war, ethnic violence and state service collapse.”
The war has killed thousands, including up to 15,000 in the West Darfur city of El Geneina alone, according to the U.N. experts.
Washington has accused both sides of war crimes and said the RSF also carried out ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.
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Gunmen Kill at Least 15 Worshippers at Burkina Church
Abuja, Nigeria — At least 15 Catholic worshippers were killed in a Burkina Faso village on Sunday when gunmen attacked a community as they gathered for prayers in the country’s conflict-hit northern region, Church officials said.
The violence in the village of Essakane was a “terrorist attack” that left 12 of the Catholic faithful dead at the scene, while three others died later as they were being treated for their wounds, according to a statement issued by Abbot Jean-Pierre Sawadogo, vicar-general of the Catholic Diocese of Dori, where the attack happened.
No further details were provided about the attack, which no group claimed responsibility for. But suspicion fell on jihadis who have frequently attacked remote communities and security forces, especially in the northern region.
“In this painful circumstance, we invite you to pray for the rest in God for those who have died in faith, for the healing of the wounded and … for the conversion of those who continue to sow death and desolation in our country,” Sawadogo said in a statement.
About half of Burkina Faso is outside government control as jihadi groups have ravaged the country for years. Fighters have killed thousands and displaced more than 2 million people, further threatening the stability of the country that had two coups in 2022.
The country’s junta has struggled to restore peace in violent hot spots. Since the first coup in January 2022, the number of people killed by jihadis has nearly tripled compared with the 18 previous months, according to a report by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies in August.
In addition to the junta’s limited capacity, the security situation also has been worsened by the country’s porous borders with Mali and Niger, both of which are also run by juntas and which struggle with security crises.
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9 Killed in South Africa Crash After Attending ANC Election Rally
Cape Town — Nine people were killed in a road crash in South Africa on Sunday after attending an election rally by President Cyril Ramaphosa and his ruling African National Congress party.
The ANC supporters were traveling on a bus back to their home province of Mpumalanga the morning after Saturday’s rally in the eastern city of Durban, the ANC said in a statement. The bus left the road and overturned, police said.
Emergency services said 17 people were hurt in the crash near the small town of Paulpietersburg, around 360 kilometers (223 miles) north of Durban.
The ANC said that some of the injured were in critical condition. Provincial ANC officials were traveling to the crash scene and to the hospitals where the injured had been taken, the party said.
The ANC officially launched its election manifesto at Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday in front of tens of thousands of supporters.
The May 29 national election could be the biggest threat yet to the ANC’s 30 years in government in South Africa, with opinion polls predicting the party could lose its majority for the first time since it came to power in 1994 following the end of apartheid.
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Why Aid Groups Are Warning of New Humanitarian Crisis in Eastern DR Congo
CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Aid organizations fear a new humanitarian crisis in the restive eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the armed rebel group M23 is in the midst of a new advance that threatens to cut off a major city and leave millions of people struggling for food and medical help.
Eastern Congo has been beset by conflict for years, with M23 among more than 100 armed groups vying for a foothold in the mineral-rich area near the border with Rwanda. Some have been accused of carrying out mass killings.
There’s been an upsurge in fighting in recent weeks between M23 rebels and Congo army forces, and it comes as the United Nations plans to withdraw peacekeepers from the region by the end of the year.
Tensions are also rising between Congo and Rwanda, with them blaming each other for supporting various armed groups. Congo accuses Rwanda of backing M23.
This weekend, the U.S. State Department condemned what it called the “worsening violence.” A group of aid agencies has estimated that 1 million people have already been displaced by fighting in the last three months.
Who are M23?
The March 23 Movement, or M23, is a rebel military group mainly made up of ethnic Tutsis that broke away from the Congolese army just over a decade ago. They staged a large offensive in 2012 and took over the provincial capital of Goma near the border with Rwanda, the same city they are threatening again.
The conflict has regional complications, with neighboring Rwanda also accused by the U.S. and U.N. experts of giving military aid to M23. Rwanda denies that but effectively admitted on Monday that it has troops and missile systems in eastern Congo. Rwanda said that is to safeguard its own security because of what it claims is a buildup of Congo army forces near the border. Rwanda has rejected calls from the U.S. to withdraw.
There are also ties to the Rwandan genocide of 30 years ago, with M23 and Rwanda saying separately that they are fighting a threat from a Congolese rebel group that is connected to the Congo army and partly made up of ethnic Hutus who were perpetrators of the 1994 genocide.
Congo-Rwanda tensions
Relations between Congo and its eastern neighbor have been fraught for decades. Hundreds of thousands of Rwandan Hutu refugees had fled to Congo, then Zaire, in the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Among them were soldiers and militiamen responsible for the slaughter of 800,000 minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
Two years after the genocide, Rwanda and Uganda invaded eastern Congo to try and root out what remained of those genocide perpetrators, which led to the toppling of then Congo President Mobutu Sese Seko.
Tensions between Congo and Rwanda escalated in 2021 with the resurgence of M23 attacks on Congolese soldiers after nearly a decade of relative inactivity due to a 2013 peace deal. The presence of so many armed groups is believed to be connected to illegal mining, with eastern Congo rich in gold and other minerals.
What’s happened in recent weeks?
M23 launched new attacks late last year and has ramped them up in recent weeks. The group is now threatening to take the key town of Sake, about 27 kilometersmwest of Goma. That could cause food and aid supplies to be cut off from Goma, which had a population of around 600,000 a few years ago, but now holds more than 2 million people, according to aid agencies, as people flee violence in surrounding towns and villages.
The advance of rebels on Sake “poses an imminent threat to the entire aid system” in eastern Congo, the Norwegian Refugee Council said. It said 135,000 people were displaced in just five days in early February.
The violence has also sparked protests from the capital, Kinshasa, to Goma, with angry demonstrators saying the international community is not doing enough to push back against M23 and not taking a hard enough stance against Rwanda.
What’s at stake?
The new fighting could lead to an escalation of regional tensions and involve more countries. As the U.N. winds down its 25-year peacekeeping mission in eastern Congo, a multi-national force under the southern African regional bloc is set to step in. That force will include soldiers from regional power South Africa, Malawi and Tanzania. They will help the Congo army forces, but it might put them in direct conflict with Rwanda.
There’s also the humanitarian cost. The International NGO Forum in Congo, a group of non-governmental organizations working in the region, said the escalation in fighting has involved artillery attacks on civilian settlements, causing a heavy toll and forcing many health and aid workers to withdraw.
Eastern Congo already had one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with nearly 6 million people previously displaced because of conflict, according to the U.N. Refugee Agency.
There are concerns a new disaster could largely go unnoticed because of the attention on the war in Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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West Africa’s ECOWAS Bloc Lifts Sanctions on Junta-Led Niger
abuja, nigeria — The West African regional bloc said on Saturday it would lift strict sanctions on Niger as it seeks a new strategy to dissuade three junta-led states from withdrawing from the political and economic union, a move that threatens regional integration.
Leaders of the Economic Community of West African States met to address a political crisis in the coup-hit region that deepened in January with military-ruled Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali’s decision to exit the 15-member bloc.
After closed-door talks, ECOWAS said it had decided to lift Niger sanctions including border closures, the freezing of central bank and state assets, and the suspension of commercial transactions immediately.
In a statement, it said this was done for humanitarian reasons, but the move will be seen as a gesture of appeasement as ECOWAS tries to persuade the three junta states to remain in the nearly 50-year-old alliance. Their planned exit would bring a messy disentanglement from the bloc’s trade and services flows, worth nearly $150 billion a year.
The bloc “further urges the countries to reconsider the decision in view of the benefits that the ECOWAS member states and their citizens enjoy in the community,” it said.
It also said it had lifted certain sanctions on junta-led Guinea, which has not said it wants to leave ECOWAS but like other junta states has not committed to a timeline to return to democratic rule.
ECOWAS Commission President Omar Touray said some targeted sanctions and political sanctions remained place for Niger, without giving details.
Strategy rethink
Earlier, ECOWAS Chairman and Nigeria President Bola Tinubu said the bloc had to rethink its strategy in its bid to get countries to restore constitutional order. And he urged Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinea “not to perceive our organization as the enemy.”
ECOWAS closed borders and imposed the strict measures on Niger last year after soldiers detained President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26 and set up a transitional government, one of a series of recent military takeovers that have exposed the bloc’s inability to halt democratic backsliding.
The sanctions have forced Niger, already one of the world’s poorest countries, to slash government spending and default on debt payments of more than $500 million.
In its statement, ECOWAS repeated its call for the release of Bazoum and its request for the junta to provide an “acceptable transition timetable.”
Niger’s coup followed two each in neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso over the past three years, leaving a swath of territory in the hands of military governments that have also moved to distance themselves from former colonial ruler France and other Western allies. The military also seized power in Guinea in 2021.
ECOWAS also imposed sanctions on Mali in a bid to hasten its return to constitutional order, although they were lifted in 2022.
The three countries have called ECOWAS’s sanctions strategy illegal and grounds for their decision to leave the bloc immediately without abiding by usual withdrawal terms.
The three have started cooperating under a pact known as the Alliance of Sahel States and sought to form a confederation, although it is not clear how closely they plan to align political, economic and security interests as they struggle to contain a decade-old battle with Islamist insurgents.
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South Africa’s ANC Launches Election Manifesto, Ramaphosa Lauds Party’s Gains
DURBAN, South Africa — South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa on Saturday highlighted the achievements of his African National Congress, which has ruled the country for all its 30 years of democracy, as it heads into a tight race in May’s election.
Ramaphosa delivered the party’s manifesto to thousands of ANC supporters at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Saturday. The rally came as South Africa faces increasing poverty, unemployment and crime and a crippling electricity crisis.
Party supporters dressed in yellow, green and black party regalia packed the stadium and sang struggle songs praising Ramaphosa and the ANC, while others took advantage of the event to sell food, refreshments and party merchandise to the thousands attending.
A procession of motorbikes with bikers waving ANC flags was among the first displays to entertain the crowd before Ramaphosa arrived to the delight of supporters.
However, the tension surrounding this year’s elections was laid bare when some supporters entered the stadium grounds carrying a caricature coffin bearing the name of the uMkhonto we Sizwe political party, a new political organization formed by former ANC President Jacob Zuma.
The party is set to compete in this year’s elections after Zuma denounced the ANC.
In what has become somewhat of a popularity contest between parties to show who can pull in the biggest crowds to their election rallies, thousands of ANC supporters were bussed in from various parts of the country to ensure the stadium was full as early as possible.
The ANC also brought in popular musicians to entertain supporters. They performed after Ramaphosa’s speech, concluding with ANC slogans and colorful fireworks and confetti.
However, millions of South Africans will likely be more interested in whether the ANC can deliver on its promises and address the many challenges the country faces. These include stagnant economic growth, rising levels of poverty, unemployment, crime and a crippling electricity crisis that has resulted in rolling power blackouts.
According to Ramaphosa, the ANC plans to create more than 2.5 million job opportunities in the next five years. He said some of these would come from South Africa’s transition from coal-based power generation to cleaner energy.
“Our strategy will also meet the new global challenges of climate change. A balanced just transition to a cleaner, greener future can lead to new jobs and secure the competitiveness of our exports,” he said.
Ramaphosa dismissed the opposition parties looking to unseat the ANC in this year’s elections. “We are the only organization that can take South Africa forward,” he said.
The ANC manifesto attributes some of the challenges faced by the country to the COVID-19 pandemic, the electricity crisis, global political conflicts, the July 2021 unrest and climate change.
It also points out that the country’s economy has grown since 1994, that the ANC continues to provide social welfare and housing for millions of poor South Africans.
South Africa’s elections are expected to be highly contested, with some opposition parties joining forces to form a coalition if the ANC receives less than 50% of the national vote.
Over the last few weeks opposition parties have also launched their manifestos, promising to create jobs and bring an end to the electricity crisis, among other promises.
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Tunisia’s Ex-President Marzouki Sentenced to 8 Years in Absentia
TUNIS, Tunisia — A court in Tunisia sentenced former President Moncef Marzouki to eight years in prison in absentia as part of the country’s crackdown on opponents of President Kais Saied.
The charges against Marzouki, who lives in Paris, stemmed from remarks he made that authorities said violated laws against incitement and calling for the overthrow of the government, court spokesperson Mohamed Zitouna told Tunisia’s state news agency TAP on Friday evening.
His attorney, Samir Ben Amor, told The Associated Press that the sentence illustrates “the hardening of the political line taken by the government against opponents.”
Marzouki served as the first democratically elected president of Tunisia from 2011 to 2014, after Arab Spring protests led autocratic President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to step down and flee the country. A longtime human rights activist, Marzouki has emerged as a vocal critic of President Kais Saied’s moves to consolidate his own power and revise Tunisia’s post-Arab Spring constitution.
Marzouki’s statements, which the court did not specify, amounted to fomenting “an attack designed to overthrow the government, inciting people to take up arms against each other and provoking disorder, murder and pillaging on Tunisian soil.”
He has routinely called on foreign powers to withdraw support to Tunisia amid the ongoing reversal of the country’s democratic gains and called Saied a dictator who needs to be overthrown.
It’s the second time that Marzouki has been sentenced for remarks made at demonstrations and on social media, following a December 2021 four-year verdict for undermining state security.
Marzouki is among more than 20 political opponents who have been charged or imprisoned since Saied consolidated power in 2021 by suspending parliament and rewriting the country’s constitution. The president’s opponents, including Marzouki, have likened the moves to a coup — a charge that Saied has denied. Voters approved his constitutional changes in a low turnout 2021 referendum.
“Is it normal in a democratic country for someone to be prosecuted simply for having expressed an opinion and point of view on his country’s politics?” Ben Amor asked in regard to Marzouki’s sentence.
Saied has previously called those who make remarks like Marzouki’s “traitors to the nation” and called on authorities to investigate them. Others targeted in his crackdown include Ennahda leader Rached Ghannouchi, businessman and former presidential candidate Nabil Karoui, and Free Destourian Party leader Abir Moussi, a potential challenger in the country’s 2024 presidential elections.
“All the achievements of the revolution have suffered setbacks due to (Saied’s) seizure of power,” Ennahda spokesperson Imed Khemiri said in a statement. “Fundamental liberties have deteriorated, restrictions have been imposed on political party activities, opponents have been prosecuted and the independence of the judiciary has been called into question.”
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West African Heads Meet to Keep Junta-Led Nations in Bloc
ABUJA, Nigeria — Heads of state across West Africa are meeting Saturday to call again on three junta-led nations to rescind their decision to quit the regional bloc and to review sanctions imposed on Niger following a coup there.
The summit of the 15-nation regional economic bloc known as ECOWAS in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, comes at a critical time when the 49-year-old bloc’s future is threatened as it struggles with possible disintegration and a recent surge in coups fueled by discontent over the performance of elected governments whose citizens barely benefit from mineral resources.
Decisions to be made at the summit “must be guided by our commitment to safeguarding the constitutional order, upholding democratic principles and promoting the social and economic well-being of the citizens,” Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, current chairman of ECOWAS, said at the start of the summit.
Top of the agenda is the recent decision by Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger to leave ECOWAS, or the Economic Community of West African States, over “inhumane sanctions.” That move is unprecedented since the bloc was established in 1975 and grew to become the region’s top political and economic authority.
“We must re-examine our current approach to the quest for constitutional order in our member states,” Tinubu said. “I therefore urge them to reconsider the decision … and not to perceive our organization as the enemy.”
The summit is also expected to review the harsh sanctions imposed on Niger. This week, one of the bloc’s founding leaders and Nigeria’s former military ruler, Yakubu Gowon, urged regional leaders to lift the sanctions, noting that the bloc is “more than a coalition of states [but] is a community established for the good of our people.”
In the past year, however, the bloc has struggled to resolve the region’s most pressing challenge: The Sahel, the vast, arid expanse south of the Sahara Desert that stretches across several West African countries, faces growing violence from Islamic extremists and rebels, which in turn has caused soldiers to depose elected governments.
The nine coups in West and Central Africa since 2020 followed a similar pattern, with coup leaders accusing governments of failing to provide security and good governance. Most of the coup-hit countries are also among the poorest and least-developed in the world.
The sanctions against Niger and the threat of military intervention to reverse the coup were “the likely triggers to an inevitable outcome” of the three countries’ withdrawal from the bloc, said Karim Manuel, an analyst for the Middle East and Africa with the Economist Intelligence Unit.
With their withdrawal, “the West African region will be increasingly fragmented and divided (while) the new alliance between Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger fragments the West African bloc and reflects an axis of opposition to the traditional structures that have underpinned the region for decades,” Manuel added.
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Some Question Malawi President’s Claim That Cyberattack Caused Passport Problems
blantyre, malawi — Malawi’s government is not issuing passports, President Lazarus Chakwera said, claiming it is because of a cyberattack. But some observers question whether such an attack occurred.
Chakwera told parliament on Wednesday that a cyberattack had compromised the country’s security and that measures were in place to identify and apprehend the attackers. He said the attackers were demanding millions in ransom but his administration will not pay it.
He said the hackers have prevented the Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services system from printing passports for the past three weeks.
However, the immigration department stopped printing passports weeks ago, after it announced in January it was grappling with technical glitches.
The situation has left hundreds of passport applicants stranded. Rights groups have vowed to hold mass demonstrations if the glitch isn’t resolved within days.
Then on Wednesday, Chakwera told parliament the suspension was caused by what he called digital mercenaries who had hacked the system responsible for printing passports.
“This is a serious national security breach,” he said, “and although Malawi is not the first in the modern world to be the target of and suffer this kind of cyberattack, we have taken very decisive steps to regain control of the situation.”
Chakwera, who has been president since June 2020, said on Wednesday that he has given the immigration department three weeks to provide a temporary solution and resume the printing of passports. At the same event, he said he had told the hackers never to expect ransom from the Malawi government.
“As long as I am the president, the government will never pay the ransom money you have demanded after hacking the system,” he said, “because we are not in the business of appeasing criminals with public money, nor are we in the business of negotiating with those who attack our country.”
Contract termination
Malawi has faced passport issuance challenges since 2021, when the government terminated its contract with Techno Brain, which had been the supplier of Malawi’s passports since 2019.
In 2023, the government, unable to find a replacement, re-engaged the company on a temporary basis. Still, the immigration department had to scale down production many times because of a shortage of materials or failure to pay outstanding bills.
Sylvester Namiwa is the executive director of the Center for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives, whose organization is vowing to hold protests if the situation isn’t resolved within days. He told VOA that he doubted the veracity of Chakwera’s statement on the hacking of the system.
The president “should have revealed the identities of the hackers” and could have said more about how communications with the alleged hackers are occurring — “for example, if they are using computers, if they are using phones,” Namiwa said. “Today’s technology is easy to trace.”
Namiwa pointed to reports circulating on social media and a local radio station suggesting that the contractor, Techno Brain, had deliberately shut down the system after noticing improper activity by suspected government agents.
According to local media reports, Techno Brain is demanding millions of dollars in compensation from the Malawi government before it unblocks the system.
When approached for comment, Tiwonge Chipeta, general manager for Techno Brain in Malawi, would not deny or confirm the company’s alleged involvement in the shutdown, saying she could not speak with reporters about the matter.
However, some IT experts working with government agencies, who refused to give their names for fear of reprisals, told VOA that no hackers had demanded any ransom from the government.
Security expert Sheriff Kaisi told VOA that if the passport system had indeed been hacked, Malawi’s government needed to ensure its software has since been made hacker-proof.
“There could be some lapses here and there, but every system by nature would have other software to encounter that,” Kaisi said. “And of course the system used by the government needs to be sophisticated.”
Malawi Information Minister Moses Nkukuyu told a local radio station Thursday that the information Chakwera presented in parliament came from experts working at the immigration department.
Immigration department spokesperson Wellington Chiponde did not respond to calls and texts from VOA.
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