Nairobi, Kenya — Condolences are pouring in after Kenyan marathon world record-holder Kelvin Kiptum died in a car crash in western Kenya late Sunday night. 

“Kelvin Kiptum was a star,” said a social media post Monday from Kenyan President William Ruto.  

Ruto noted that Kiptum was only 24 yet had triumphed in several major competitions.

“His mental strength and discipline were unmatched. Kiptum was our future,” Ruto’s post said.

That feeling is shared by many in Kenya, including Jackson Tuwei, president of sports body Athletics Kenya, who spoke to VOA on Monday.

“He was a very humble person, a young family of a wife and two children. Tuwei said. “He had just started his young career and we were hoping he would go pretty far in his career. When I talked to him last time, he was telling me that he was looking forward to bringing the marathon record lower than two hours.”

Kiptum was the first man to run a marathon in under 2 hours, 1 minute when he set the world record of 2 hours and 35 seconds in Chicago last October, beating the previous record holder, Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge. 

The car crash Sunday happened on a road between the towns of Eldoret and Kaptagat in western Kenya, Tuwei said.

“The report we received so far from the police was that Kelvin Kiptum was traveling in his own car… but he lost control about 11 o’clock last night and veered off the road into a ditch … and hit a very big tree somewhere there,” he said. “Unfortunately, both Kelvin and his coach [Gervais Hakizimana] lost their lives on the spot and the girl who was in the car had serious injuries and was taken to the hospital.”

Former Kenyan prime minister and opposition leader Raila Odinga described Kiptum as a remarkable individual and said the nation grieves the profound loss of a true hero.  

At a presser on Monday, Cabinet Secretary for Youth Affairs, Creative Economy, and Sports, Ababu Namwamba, described the day as a very dark day for the athletics community both in Kenya and across the world.  

He told reporters the passing of Kiptum was a loss of a special gem and has caused deep distress and pain for the country. Namwamba was to meet with Kiptum’s family on Monday.  
…

A secondary school dropout from rural Malawi has brought electricity to his community using what he says is a groundbreaking air-powered generator, bypassing use of fuel, oil or batteries. Experts have questions about how the system works, but Malawi’s government is pledging support. Lameck Masina reports from Dowa District.
…

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — Let the party begin.

Sébastien Haller scored late to lead host nation Ivory Coast to a remarkable Africa Cup of Nations title with a 2-1 victory over Nigeria in the final Sunday.

Haller fired in from close range in the 81st minute to complete the turnaround after Franck Kessié drew the Elephants level in the 62nd.

It was Ivory Coast’s third title after wins in 1992 and 2015, both won on penalties.

Haller’s second goal in as many games after recovering from an ankle injury that kept him out of the group stage completed a personal triumph for the player, just over a year since he returned from cancer treatment.

Nigeria captain William Troost-Ekong had scored in the 38th against the run of play with a header to a corner. The Super Eagles were outplayed in the first half and only threatened again in a desperate attempt to equalize after Haller’s goal.

Troost-Ekong also scored when the teams last met in the group stage for Nigeria’s 1-0 win. That match had been just the start of the Elephants’ troubles as Ivory Coast was almost eliminated in its next game. It fired its coach but recorded late comeback wins over defending champion Senegal and Mali in the knockout stage, before Haller fired the team into the final with the winning goal against Congo in the semifinals.

Ivory Coast’s unlikely progression through the knockout stage as it overcame setback after setback convinced many devout Ivorians that God was on the team’s side.

“It was an extraordinary tournament,” said interim coach Emerse Faé, the previous assistant who took over on his 40th birthday.

Nigeria conceded as many goals in the final as it had in all its previous games in the tournament. Coach José Peseiro had banked on a mean defense to earn what would have been the Super Eagles’ fourth title.

“We played a fantastic tournament, but today Côte d’Ivoire was better,” Peseiro said. The Portuguese coach said the pressure got to his players and commended the home team for showing none.

In the final, Ivory Coast’s pressure finally paid off when Kessié’s header to Adingra’s corner set off a tumult of joy in the 60,000-capacity Alassane Ouattara Stadium. Kessié ran to the corner and raised his hand to his forehead in salute as the sea of orange-clad fans rippled in delight.

A small pocket of green-and-white clad Nigeria fans behind one of the goals had struggled to make an impact.

Haller’s winner set off celebrations that will last long through the night in Abidjan and in the rest of the country of 27.5 million people.

Excitement had been building for days with streets turned into viewing areas with plastic tables and chairs set in front of TV screens in the district of Adjamé, and fan zones around the city also showed the game.

Traffic was brought to a crawl for miles around the stadium hours before kickoff, providing street vendors with a captive customer base to sell chilled bottles of water, fruit, snacks, Ivory Coast flags, hats, wigs and towels, replica jerseys for both teams, and more.

But it caused problems for the Nigeria team bus getting to the game. Armed soldiers frantically urged motorists stuck in gridlock outside the stadium to pull over for the bus and security detail to make it through.

Fans had to abandon stationary commuter buses to walk to the match.
…

in Nigeria, one nonprofit is on a mission to digitize the country’s history. Its members are doing so by uploading copies of newspapers from 1960, the year Nigeria gained independence, until today. Timothy Obiezu has more from Lagos.
…

Dakar — The death toll amid protests in Senegal over the postponement of the presidential election until December has climbed to three, as concerns grow that one of the remaining democracies in coup-hit West Africa is under threat. 

The announcement of the delay just three weeks ahead of the planned Feb. 25 vote triggered violent clashes on Friday between protesters and police in Dakar and several other cities, in a wave of unrest that many fear will spill over into protracted instability. 

President Macky Sall has said the delay is necessary because electoral disputes threatened the credibility of the poll, but some opposition lawmakers have denounced the move as an “institutional coup.” 

As the public outcry mounts, the West African regional bloc ECOWAS and foreign powers have urged Sall to put the country back on a regular electoral footing. 

The death of one young man amid reported protests in the southern city of Zinguinchor on Saturday evening took the number of those killed since Friday to three, according to Cartogra Free Senegal (CFS), a civil society platform tracking casualties. 

“We tried to save him when he arrived at hospital and unfortunately he died in intensive care,” Ndiame Diop, the manager of Ziguinchor hospital, told Reuters, saying it was not possible to determine the exact cause of death without an autopsy. 

A spokesperson for the interior ministry did not respond to a request for comment. The ministry has so far confirmed only one death, a student in the northern city of Saint-Louis on Friday. Reuters has not been able to independently confirm a reported second death: a 23-year-old merchant on the outskirts of Dakar, according to CFS. 

The U.S. Bureau of African Affairs said in an online post on Saturday that it was saddened to learn of the first two deaths. 

“We urge all parties to act in a peaceful and measured manner, and we continue to call on President Sall to restore the electoral calendar, restore confidence, and bring calm to the situation,” it said. 

What happens next is not clear.  

Opposition lawmakers and presidential candidates who reject the postponement have filed legal challenges and said they will refuse to recognize Sall as president after his original mandate expires in early April.  

The postponement bill backed by parliament included the extension of his tenure until his successor is installed after the election now reset for Dec. 15. 

“If President Macky Sall does not restore power to us on April 3, we will set up a parallel government of national unity,” opposition lawmaker Guy Marius Sagna said on the radio on Sunday. 

 
…

Dakar, Senegal — Tuareg separatists announced Saturday the lifting of blockades they’d set up in December on main roads throughout northern Mali after the national army took back several towns.  

“All blockades on the routes from the Algerian border to the towns of Timbuktu and Gao have been lifted,” the Permanent Strategic Framework, an alliance of rebel forces, told Agence France-Presse, without giving more details. 

The Taureg-dominated rebel groups lost control of several localities in the north of the country after an army offensive in late 2023 that culminated with the taking of Kidal, a bastion of the separatist movement.   

Hostilities had resumed last August — after eight years of relative calm — as both sides fought to take possession of military camps abandoned by United Nations troops who left under orders of the Mali government. 

The military junta that seized power in a 2020 coup largely won those exchanges, but the rebels didn’t surrender and retreated into remote desert and mountainous areas.   

Mali’s army was backed by mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group, according to the rebels and local elected officials, but the regime denies the presence of the controversial private security group. 

In December, the rebels blocked all products and types of vehicles in the sparsely populated north.  

There also have been accusations of atrocities committed against civilians during the recent offensive by Mali’s army and the Russian force, which again the authorities have repeatedly denied.   
…

abuja, nigeria — Officials from countries of the West African regional bloc ECOWAS met in Nigeria’s capital Thursday to discuss the exit of three members, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, who announced their departure from the bloc last week. The bloc is also dealing with a brewing crisis in Senegal, where the president has delayed elections until December.

Thursday’s meeting of officials of the Economic Community of West African States, known as ECOWAS, was to address regional political developments, including the declared exit of three of the bloc’s 15 member states. 

After a closed-door session that lasted several hours, ECOWAS said it will continue to pursue dialogue with Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso. 

But the bloc also said their decisions to leave will have consequences for the regional body and its citizens. 

“Indeed, while we were waiting and hoping to see more progress in the countries in transition, we find ourselves with more problems — problems that have been compounded by various factors,” said Omar Alieu Touray, ECOWAS commission president. “Despite our collective efforts to create a conducive and peaceful environment for our community citizens, the facts on the ground show that we still have more work to do.” 

ECOWAS accused of pandering

Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, all ruled by military juntas, announced their immediate withdrawal from the regional body in a joint communique last week. 

The three nations accused ECOWAS of abandoning its founding ideals and pandering to foreign powers. 

They also criticized the regional bloc’s sanctions against military-led governments in the region, calling the sanctions inhumane. 

Then, days after the withdrawal, protests broke out in Senegal after President Macky Sall postponed the country’s presidential elections from February to December. 

The decision was approved by Senegal’s National Assembly but has been criticized by many, such as political analyst Ahmed Buhari, who calls it a constitutional coup. 

“Anytime you interfere with the emergence of leaders in a democratic space, it’s going to create shaky ground,” said Buhari. “Clearly this is an assassination on the constitution of the good people of Senegal. The executive, the legislative and the judiciary are under the full control of the president, they’re unable to make any decision that will not be convenient for the president.” 

Senegal’s foreign minister attended Thursday’s meeting. He told journalists his country’s political situation should not worry the regional bloc. 

Bloc struggles with coups 

ECOWAS was created in 1975 to promote economic prosperity among member states. But in recent years, the bloc has been struggling to deal with a wave of coups. 

Experts say bad governance is to blame for the trend and said the regional bloc must impose sanctions on Senegal over the election cycle delay. 

Nigerian Foreign Affairs Minister Yusuf Tuggar said authorities will fix the problem. 

“We’re also here to review the unfolding situation in Senegal and develop a plan to navigate the resulting complexities,” said Tuggar. “We have faced similar crises in the past and as a region we have not been found wanting. This meeting can come up with far-reaching decisions to transform our challenges into opportunities.” 

Last year, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger created a bloc known as the alliance of Sahel States and promised to defend their countries. 

For now, it remains unclear whether ECOWAS will take a firm stance against Senegal or make a concerted effort to bring Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso back into the fold.  
…

Having enough feed for livestock is critical to the food security of many African countries. Some farmers are considering adopting a Chinese-engineered grass called Juncao, advertised as high-yielding and fast-maturing. Some scientists advise caution. Francis Ontomwa has more from Kajiado, Kenya. Video: Amos Wangwa.
…

YAOUNDE, CAMEROON — Cameroon separatist fighters Wednesday claimed responsibility for the killing of four government workers, including a policeman abducted Tuesday in the country’s restive English-speaking North-West region. Government officials say two of the hostages, including a government official the military freed, are responding to treatment in a hospital. The abduction and killing followed renewed separatist attacks that have claimed several dozen civilians within two weeks.

Cameroon on Wednesday said one of its officials who had been abducted Tuesday evening in the restive English-speaking North-West region bordering Nigeria has been freed by government troops.    

Nicholas Nkongho Manchang, the divisional officer for the region’s Bamenda Second District was kidnapped at gunpoint with five others, including a policeman, on their way to an official ceremony in Nkambe town, the government said.     

Deben Tchoffo, governor of the North-West region, told a crowd in Nkambe Wednesday that Manchang and another captive were freed after a swift military operation.   

“The head of state [president Paul Biya] instructed the security services to set free the hostages,” Tchoffo said. “Four hours later, the said administrative authority was freed thanks to the bravery of our military as well as the bravery of the abducted victims. Authorities, living forces (should) continue providing the military with all information to free the hostages that are not yet released.”  

Tchoffo said the divisional officer known locally as the D.O and the other freed captive are responding to treatment in a hospital in Bamenda, where they were rushed to by government troops.  

Christopher Achobang is the spokesperson for the Ambazonia Governing Council, fighting for independence for Cameroon’s English-speaking regions from the French majority country.     

Achobang said Manchang saved his life by escaping. 

“The D.O staged an escape because he fell into a ravine and the fighters were not so ready to get into the ravine to rescue him so they left him there wounded and dying,” Achobang said. “He escaped and walked for a long distance where the Cameroon military then found him and took him to a helicopter which evacuated the D.O to Bamenda.”

Achobang said separatist fighters should have killed the D.O if he did escape.

English speaking separatists say they consider divisional officers, who are heads of districts, to be government troops because they undergo military training and as such constitute a legitimate target to fighters. 

But Cameroon government officials say divisional officers are civil administrators who represent the Yaounde central government and work for the development of their districts. 

Government troops say Manchang drove past the military-led convoy of government officials travelling to Nkambe and fell into an ambush mounted by fighters. Manchang has not explained why he left the convoy.    

Separatists say after Manchang escaped, four companions, including a police officer were killed.  

The Ambazonia Governing Council said that separatist forces killed the captives to send a message to government troops that claims that separatists fighting for an independent English-speaking have been defeated are unfounded.   

The government and military have not commented on the alleged killing of the four captives but on Wednesday night separatists shared pictures of four dead bodies on social media including Facebook and WhatsApp. VOA could not independently verify the authenticity of the pictures. 

Civilians, however, say the pictures appear to be those of the abducted government workers. 

Cameroon has within the past two weeks reported that separatists killed several dozen people in northwestern towns including Bamenda, Kumbo and Ndop. 

The government says at least eleven separatists were killed in military raids in Kumbo and Oku, both northwestern towns. 

Separatists acknowledge their fighters were killed and say several governments troops also died in fighting. 

Edward Nfor is a member of the Cameroon Civil Society Group and a road contractor working in the Northwest region. He says the current wave of abductions and killings is either unreported or underreported by local media that fear persecution from rebels and the Cameroon government.

“Killings are on the rise, kidnapping is on the rise. If heavily guarded government officials are kidnapped, then what about the ordinary civilian. People are moving but they can’t move freely,” Nfor said. “These boys [separatist fighters] will go out to the village[es]. get out people and say that they are supporting the military and execute them in public. Let the government try to do something and get this thing [crisis] to an end.”  

Nfor said several dozen people have either been abducted or killed since fresh attacks began in January.    

Separatists on social media say they will not spare anyone who reports fighters hiding in towns and villages to government troops.     

The separatist conflict broke out in 2016 when Anglophone Cameroonians protested discrimination by the Francophone majority.

The United Nations says more than 6,000 people have been killed and the unrest has deprived 600,000 children of education. 
…

abuja, nigeria — Nigeria’s central bank said this week it uncovered $2.4 billion in false foreign exchange claims after investigating backlogs of $7 billion due to be cleared. Authorities said the findings will reduce pressures caused by foreign exchange shortages and warned that false claims could harm Nigeria’s economy.

The discovery of the invalid claims followed a comprehensive forensic audit by the consulting company Deloitte on behalf of the Nigerian central cank.

The CBN described the discovery as startling and said the irregularities include invalid documents, non-existent claimants and, in some cases, beneficiaries receiving unauthorized foreign exchange allocations.

The bank also said some claimants received more than they had initially requested.

CBN governor Olayemi Cardoso said the bank will not honor invalid transactions.

Economic analyst Ogho Okiti said it is a step in the right direction.

“Given what we have now, about 50% has been cleared and we have about 50% to go,” said Okiti. “And whenever that is done, that should actually support or help our improvement in liquidity. I think anyone found to be intentionally, deliberately and by design wanting to defraud the Central Bank, I think they should be made to account for that.”

It is the first time in seven years that audited accounts of the CBN have been made public.

Prolonged foreign exchange shortage

Nigeria has been struggling with a prolonged foreign exchange shortage that has delayed economic progress, devalued the local currency, and worsened inflation.

Authorities said the audit had become necessary in order to understand the problems with the central bank and the economy.

So far, the CBN has paid out around $2.3 billion in the valid claims, including money owed to airlines, manufacturing and energy sectors.

‘It’s not going to solve anything’

Economist and director at the Center for Social Justice Eze Onyekpere said the audit will not fix what ails the Nigerian economy.

“It’s not going to solve anything,” said Onyekpere. “The currency’s position in terms of the value is beyond the CBN and it’s monetary policies. It’s a whole lot about the governance architecture whether it’s in the area of fiscal, industrial, education, health policies. You heard the CBN governor tell the house of representatives that medical tourism and payment of school fees consumed about $40 billion within the space of 10 years — that’s $4 billion dollars a year.”

However, Onyekpere said the findings of the audit reflect deeper problems within Nigeria’s foreign exchange system and must be addressed.

“Commonwealth, foreign exchange, the resources of Nigeria have not been properly managed,” said Onyekpere. “Over the years they have been systematically stolen. The present economic situation we find ourselves is as a result of outright stealing.”

Upon taking office last year, President Bola Tinubu pledged to crack down on corruption and enact reforms to boost the economy. So far, the economy has not taken off and Nigerians remain in a wait-and-see mode.
…

geneva — As Sudan is about to enter its 10th month of conflict, United Nations agencies launched a $4.1 billion appeal Tuesday to provide urgent aid for 14.7 million people inside Sudan and 2.7 million people who have taken refuge in five neighboring countries. 

The U.N. launch in Geneva got off to a poignant start with a video of Sudanese victims who recounted the terrible impact the war has had on their lives. Mena, a young Sudanese refugee in Egypt said the war has robbed her and other children of their education. 

“How can we build our future in this situation? No school, which means no studying, no education, no medical service and most importantly,” she said. “We lost our childhood. This is our future, and it must be preserved.” 

U.N. officials at the conference agreed that Sudan’s conflict has fueled “suffering of epic proportions.” And yet, said Martin Griffiths, U.N. undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, this crisis has been forgotten by the international community because of “competing crises in Gaza, Ukraine, and elsewhere.” 

“But I do not think that there is anywhere quite so tragic in the world today as Sudan,” he said. “The figures speak for themselves — 25 million people in Sudan who need assistance, half of them are children. That is an astonishing figure.” 

He said, “There is a certain kind of obscenity about the humanitarian world which is a competition of suffering,” where different places in the world feel the need to magnify their level of suffering “to get more attention and get more money.” 

Fighting threatens food availability 

The United Nations says the conflict has come at an intolerable high price for the Sudanese people. It reports more than 13,000 people have been killed and millions of people have been uprooted from their homes. 

The World Food Program warns the expansion of fighting in Sudan, including to Al Jazirah, the country’s so-called breadbasket, “poses a significant threat to national food availability.” It says nearly 18 million people are facing acute hunger. 

The World Health Organization reports diseases, including cholera, measles and malaria are spreading at a time when 70 to 80 percent of hospitals in conflict hot spots are not functioning. 

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi told the conference that the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has created one of the world’s largest displacement and protection crises. 

“If you calculate people displaced inside and outside, you reach easily eight, nine million people displaced. This is massive. This is the scale of Ukraine, the scale of Syria. These are the three biggest displacement crises at the moment, and this is the one that is least talked about.” 

Grandi visited Sudan and Ethiopia last week. While in Port Sudan, he said he raised the issue of humanitarian access to people in need with both warring parties. He told them that the delivery of humanitarian assistance “needs to be facilitated, not made more difficult.” 

“I have received all the assurances,” he said, adding that he had to explain to them that aid was being held up in a variety of ways: “We get slowed down by travel, by the need to get permits, by checkpoints and bureaucracy.” 

Grandi said he met with Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia and displaced people inside Sudan. All of them, he said, had the same message: “We want peace so we can go home, and we need support to rebuild our lives.” 

Grandi urged donor countries attending the conference “to step up their support for the people of Sudan. They desperately need help, and they need it now.” 

UN official spotlights deseparation

Griffiths warned countries that they are ignoring the conflict in Sudan and the desperation of its people at their peril. 

“Sudan geographically poses a threat to destabilizing parts of Africa … It is something which we cannot allow to continue the way it is now,” he said. “We have to invest in political diplomacy. We have to invest in humanitarian efforts. We have to invest in the region as well and we have to make sure that Sudan is a place that we think about every single day, to make sure that we do the best we can.” 

Griffiths said he looks forward to going to Sudan in a couple of weeks to bring attention to this crisis and to try to gain greater access for humanitarian aid to reach the millions in need. 

He said he recently has been in touch with Sudan’s rival generals  — General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, who commands the Sudan Armed Forces and the RSF paramilitary leader, General Mohammed Hamdan, known as “Hemetti.” 

His aim, he said was to bring them together to the so-called humanitarian forum “so we would have negotiations for access.” 

“It is so clear. It is uncomplicated. It is so necessary, and I begged the two of them to come together,” Griffiths said. “They both said they would. We are still waiting.” 
…

NAIROBI, Kenya — Marauding hyenas killed a man and wounded two people near a university outside the Kenyan capital, officials said Tuesday, prompting hundreds of students from the school to block streets to protest what they called a lack of security.

One of the wounded was a student at Kenya’s Multimedia University who was attacked by the hyenas late Monday on a road that borders the Nairobi National Park in Ongata Rongai. Students from the university disrupted traffic there Tuesday as police used tear gas to disperse them.

“The university is not safe because we are near the national park,” said Ochieng Kefah, a student at Multimedia University, who was among the protesters. “The government should, maybe, put some restrictions on the movement of the animals.”

The injured student was identified as 21-year-old engineering student Kevin Mwendwa, who lost a thumb in the attack.

A team that was sent to investigate the scene of Monday’s attack found body parts of another victim of the hyenas, the Kenya Wildlife Service said Tuesday.

KWS’ Problem Animal Management Unit team promptly put down one hyena and moved to identify any surrounding hyena dens. The carcass was being examined to determine if the hyena had rabies or other diseases.

The man who was killed was Anthony Pasha, whose relatives said he was killed while collecting firewood.

“The hyena came, it attacked him, chased him from the forest, put him down here,” Kaaji Lesian, the victim’s cousin, told The Associated Press. “He left his firewood exactly where you are seeing them … down there.”

Hyena attacks have become increasingly frequent on the outskirts of Nairobi, prompting KWS to release guidelines on how to react when confronted by the animals. “If faced with a hyena, do not move away until it does and continue facing its direction. Be loud, look aggressive, and appear frightening to deter the hyena,” the KWS advises.

The guidelines were released in January, after 10-year-old Dennis Teya was attacked and killed in a field in Kiambu County, north of Nairobi.
…