MBARARA, UGANDA — At least once a week, Girino Ndyanabo’s family converges around a pit in which bananas have been left to ripen. The bananas are peeled and thrown into a wooden vat carved like a boat, and the patriarch steps in with bare feet.

The sweet juice he presses out is filtered and sprinkled with grains of sorghum, which converts the juice into ethanol and left to ferment for up to a day. The result is a beverage Ugandans call tonto, or tontomera, a word in the Luganda language that alludes to drinkers’ poor coordination. Weaker than bottled beer, the drink has a fruity aroma and bits of sorghum floating on its dark surface.

Tonto is legendary in Uganda. Folk singers have crooned about it, politicians seeking a common touch take a sip when hunting for votes and traditional ceremonies terminate at dusk with tonto parties. Its devotees are many, ranging from officials in suits to laborers in sandals.

But its production is under threat, as cheap bottled beer becomes more attractive to drinkers, and as authorities move to curb the production of what are considered illicit home brews, which have the risk of sometimes deadly contamination. And because tonto production takes place outside official purview, authorities are unable to collect revenue from its sale.

A bill in the national assembly seeking to regulate the production and sale of alcohol would criminalize the activities of home brewers of tonto, along with other traditional brews made across this East African country.

But farmers have a more pressing concern: Not enough new banana juice cultivars are being planted to produce the brew. Communities are prioritizing the more commercially viable varieties that are boiled and eaten as a popular mash called matooke.

Ndyanabo, a farmer in the western district of Mbarara whose first experience with tonto was as a little boy in the 1970s, said he has only a few plants left of the cultivars from which the banana juice is extracted.

He sources his bananas one bunch at a time from farmers near him until he can fill the small pit on his plantation. The natural underground heat ripens the bananas within days as Ndyanabo prepares for the weekly pressing.

The event is so important in the family’s routine that they can’t imagine a time when there would be no tonto to sell.

While Ndyanabo said his weekly brew has an assured market, he has seen both demand and supply slow in recent years. This is partly because the retail price of tonto has been largely static over the decades, while the process of brewing it has become more cumbersome.

The distances traveled in search of bananas have grown. The price of sorghum has gone up.

“You take a lot of time doing this work. It’s not as easy as someone who cuts matooke, puts it on a bicycle and sells it for cash immediately,” Ndyanabo said of the green bananas that are eaten raw as a Ugandan staple. “Alcohol comes from very far.”

He’s been trying to plant more of the banana juice cultivars that are known to grow faster. And his son, Mathias Kamukama, is always there to help.

The family makes five or six 20-liter jerricans in each batch. A jerrican’s worth sells for the equivalent of about $8. A half-liter of tonto retails for about 27 cents, compared to 67 cents for the cheapest bottled beer.

One customer is Benson Muhereza, an electrician who regularly visits a small bar in a poor suburb of Mbarara.

“It’s like a favorite drink when you have your lunch. It’s like a juice. When you don’t want to take beer, you come and have your tonto,” Muhereza said.

He described tonto like a “porridge” that doesn’t give him a hangover. “Every day you should have it,” he said.

Christine Kyomuhangi, the tonto seller, said she receives two jerricans of the brew every day. She acknowledged the threats to her business but smiled, insisting her work is sustainable. She said customers come from all over the city.

“Tonto will never get finished,” she said.
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Paris — France has closed down its embassy in Niger until further notice, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday, barely two weeks after the last French troops left the country in the wake of a coup that ousted a key Paris ally.

The closure of the embassy in Niamey represents one of the final chapters in the winding down of a French presence in its former colony following the July coup that left the country in the hands of military leaders.

“The French embassy in Niger is now closed until further notice,” the foreign ministry said in a statement, adding the mission would continue activities from Paris.

It said that for the five months since the coup “our embassy has suffered serious obstacles making it impossible to carry out its missions” including a blockade around the mission.

Most staff, including the ambassador who was expelled by the new military leaders, left some time ago.

The military ousted elected leader Mohamed Bazoum on July 26 and scrapped defense deals with France, its traditional security partner. Bazoum remains under house arrest in Niamey.

The last contingent of what was once 1,500 French troops deployed in the country to fight a jihadist insurgency left Niger on December 22.

Despite the French pull-out, other Western nations retain a presence in Niger. 

The United States said in December that it was ready to resume cooperation with Niger on the condition its military regime committed to a rapid transition to civilian rule.

A U.S. official said in October that Washington was keeping about 1,000 military personnel in Niger but was no longer actively training or assisting Niger forces. 

Smaller numbers of German and Italian forces also remain, with the West eager to avoid Russia seeking to fill any vacuum created by the French withdrawal. 
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Agadez, Niger — The winner falls to his knees, arms raised triumphantly. After just eight minutes, his opponent’s knee and elbow have touched the sand, handing “Issaka Issaka” an historic win in Niger’s king of sports.

The annual wrestling tournament in the northern city of Agadez enthralls the vast West African nation.

It’s more than just a sporting event.

The prime minister is joined by his counterparts from fellow military-led neighbors Mali and Burkina Faso to watch the competition.

Now in its 44th year, the National Saber event takes place this time under the banner “safeguarding the homeland.”

It comes at the close of a turbulent year for Niger which saw military officers seize power on July 26.

A few days later, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) threatened an armed intervention to restore democratically elected president Mohamed Bazoum.

The regional bloc also imposed tough sanctions against Niger, which has one of the world’s poorest populations despite having major resources.

But for 10 days, those troubles are forgotten as all eyes are on the skill and maneuvers of the wrestlers.

“It’s true we’re facing a difficult economic situation, but the Nigerien people are resilient,” regional councilor Alhassane Youssoufa, who is among the spectators, said.

Opportunity

Around the giant screen showing the matches, on posters and billboards, the portraits of the leaders of Niger, Burkina and Mali are an indicator of a defence pact struck in September.

Arenas are decked out in the colors of the three Sahel states, which are all fighting a jihadist insurgency that erupted in northern Mali in 2012.

Warm messages of support for Niger’s ruling National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP) and its leader General Abdourahamane Tiani play constantly over the speakers.

“Everyone is tuned in to the wrestling, in offices, taxis,” said sports journalist Issoufou Kodo, who is covering the event live for national radio and in Hausa, one of Niger’s national languages.

“It’s the perfect time to run all possible communications,” he added.

With millions of viewers, it’s also a boon for sponsors.

Businesses and patrons stump up the prizes worth up to $16,500 which are also bestowed for best dance, costume and even best ability to sing one’s own praises.

The ECOWAS prize this year is now known as the Alliance of Sahel States prize, the announcement says.

“Street vendors, traders, everyone benefits,” Lawel Hamet, a representative of the regional energy company, which is among the sponsors, said.

‘Cement of unity’

Issaka Issaka — whose real name is Kadri Abdou — has won his third consecutive title at the Saber and the sixth of his career.

His would-be opponent Aibo Hassan, who was ruled out of the tournament by injury, is propped up on crutches watching.

In a sport where fair play and solidarity are de rigueur, when Issaka Issaka won the final, he crossed over and hugged him out of respect.

“Traditional wrestling… is something we inherited from our ancestors, so it’s normal for people to feel attached to this traditional sport, which unites Nigeriens,” Hassan said.

“Thanks to tournaments, we all know each other. We build strong relationships. We are one family,” he enthused.

“It’s the cement of unity.”

Social cohesion is one of the watchwords at the event in Agadez, capital of a region shaken by several Tuareg rebellions in the 1990s and 2000s, and known for backing the former elected government.

“Djerma, Hausa, Tuaregs — this wrestling brings us together. It’s a source of pride for me to come here,” artist and actor Omar Mahamane, who has come from the capital Niamey, said.

To the beat of traditional sogolo music, wrestlers from all teams perform dances together in a cultural demonstration that finds particular favor with spectators.

“What I love about wrestling is the musicians, the tradition, the sogolo. Everyone loves to see their culture,” spectator Mohamed Lamine said.

Once practiced by villagers to mark the end of the harvest, traditional wrestling became a professional sport in the 1970s under the military regime of Seyni Kountche.

He wanted to promote a “typically Nigerien” sport that “has nothing to do with the West”, said the sports journalist Kodo.

Since then, “wrestling has become so popular that no regime has ever allowed itself to neglect it.”
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Harare — President Emmerson Mnangagwa has predicted Zimbabwe’s moribund economy will turn around this year following the recent discovery of oil and gas near the country’s border with Mozambique and Zambia and improvement in the country’s mining and tourism sectors. Economists are not as optimistic, as Zimbabweans continue to leave the country.

In a new year message broadcast to Zimbabweans at home and in the diaspora on national television and on social media, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said all was shaping for a prosperous Zimbabwe. He said the mining sector had surpassed the target of $12 billion in 2023, while the country was now food sufficient. That’s not all, said the 81-year-old politician.

“I am encouraged by the increased number of both local and international tourists visiting our country. Equally, investments in new tourism products and facilities which bolstered the sector are a welcome development. As we drive towards energy self-sufficiency, the discovery of oil and gas in Muzarabani confirms Zimbabwe’s potential as a future producer of gas. This should translate into meeting our energy demands commensurate with the ever growing economy,” he said.

Gift Mugano, an economics professor at Durban University of Technology, responded to Mnangagwa’s speech.

“We are in agro-based economy. We sneeze when the agriculture sector catches a cold. We know that this year there is a drought. That will have a devastating impact on the economy. With drought, we will be importing food. Because of the Russia-Ukraine war, which has seen prices of food, globally, going up around 50%,” said Mugano.

“We will be forking [out] something in the region of close to $1 billion. Which is almost 20% or so of our total foreign currency receipt. So this will weigh down on the economy in terms of the economy performance. So, to be quite frank and quite honest, the economy will underperform in this year. Yes, we are talking about the discovery of gas and oil but it’s too early to talk about that development as the driver of the economy.”

Prosper Chitambara, senior economist with the Labor and Economic Development Research Institute of Zimbabwe, says the country’s agro-based economy will only improve this year if there is no drought as most farmers depend on rains.

“In terms of the discovery of oil and gas, I think it’s going to take a bit of time probably for the country to begin to benefit from this important discovery. I think they should be some gestation period, which obviously also then allows for the investor to fully set up and to start commercial activities. But overall, this year the economy is expected to grow by 3.5% which is lower than the 5.5% estimated growth there for last year,” said Chitambara.

Ranga Chivi is an electrical engineer who recently left Zimbabwe with his family for greener pastures in Australia who listened to Mnangagwa’s speech.

“It would be interesting to see how the gas and oil discoveries will turn around the economy. We did not leave Zimbabwe because we are unemployed, but we left Zimbabwe because of search of greener pastures and a much more stable economic environment you can raise a family in. So the discovery of gas and oil, it’s positive for the country and we are more than eager to help where we can, but what remains is the issue to do with stability that I am hoping that this project will bring,” said Chivi.

According to World Bank, the primary reason Zimbabweans migrate is to search for economic opportunities. It says of the approximately 908,000 emigrants counted in Zimbabwe’s 2022 census, a large majority (84%) had left the country in search of employment, while another 5% had migrated for education or training.
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Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso — At least four suspected jihadi attacks in Burkina Faso have killed dozens of soldiers and civilians in a week, security and local sources told AFP on Sunday.

They said the attacks have targeted military contingents since last Sunday, leaving “dozens dead” mostly in the restive north of the country.

One local source said, “a large group of heavily armed terrorists attacked the military base at Nouna” in the northwest Saturday, with the clash leaving “several victims,” both military and civilian.  

A security source contacted by AFP confirmed an attack that was repelled and added that “another almost simultaneous attack targeted another northern detachment” but had likewise been beaten back.

The sources said two other attacks on military bases took place on December 24.  

“A large-scale attack targeted the Solle detachment. Several casualties were recorded… but the bravery and response (of troops) made it possible to repel the attackers,” a security source told AFP, adding the jihadis had been targeted by airstrikes as they retreated.  

That attack has been claimed by the GSIM jihadi alliance linked to al-Qaida. The group claimed it killed around 60 soldiers.  

Also on December 24, according to a security source, a gendarmerie base was hit at Gorgadji in the northern Sahel region by a sizeable group of fighters who arrived on motorcycles.

The military government that took power in Burkina Faso following a September 2022 coup rarely comments on tolls from suspected jihadi attacks.

However, state television reported that “more than 30 terrorists were killed,” adding that the army had destroyed three jihadi bases discovered in the northwest.

In a televised New Year’s address Sunday, Captain Ibrahim Traore, head of Burkina’s military rulers, said that in 2024 “we are going to continue our efforts to take back control of [the] territory and step up the fight” against the insurgents.

Burkina has been caught for several years in a spiral of jihadi violence perpetrated by groups affiliated with the Islamic State group and al-Qaida, which were already hitting neighboring Mali and Niger.

Traore also announced the creation of a new “rapid interaction brigade” in the fight against the jihadis, which since 2015 has seen more than 17,000 soldiers and civilians killed.

On Saturday, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said it was concerned about “a deterioration of the security situation in Burkina Faso,” while also urging the “immediate release” of political and civil society leaders detained in recent weeks.
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Niamey — Eleven people were killed in weekend attacks by suspected jihadists on two villages near Niger’s border with Burkina Faso, Niger’s defense ministry said on Sunday.

“The terrorists on several motorcycles broke into the villages of Amara and Loudji,” some 30 kilometers [19 miles] southeast of Bankilare, “where they attacked peaceful citizens, killing 11,” a ministry statement said.

The killings came as Nigerien defense and security forces on Friday carried out “multiple air-land offensives,” which the ministry said had “reduced to nothing” the militants’ communication channels.

It added that one soldier was killed and five wounded Friday when their patrol vehicle drove over a mine at Ouro Gueladjo, 70 kilometers outside the capital Niamey.

Niger has since July been governed by a military regime following a coup.

On December 17, coup leader military ruler General Abdourahamane Tiani said the country was “progressively normalizing” the security situation, crediting “multiple successes” by the army in quelling unrest.

Military and local sources say the past few weeks have seen relative calm in the region bordering Burkina Faso and Mali — likewise ruled by military leaders — which had previously been prone to repeated jihadist attack.

Six soldiers were killed in the zone in an October clash with jihadists near the border with Burkina Faso.

The same month saw 29 soldiers killed in an attack in western Niger in what was the deadliest attack since the coup.
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Nairobi, Kenya — A rights group and community activists filed a lawsuit Saturday against U.S. multinational food giant Del Monte over accusations of killings and assaults at its vast pineapple plantation near Nairobi. 

The case, lodged at the High Court of Kenya, is also on behalf of people who say they had been attacked by Del Monte security guards, and relatives of alleged victims. 

The company, which employs 6,000 people in Kenya and has faced accusations of abuse and violence in the past, could not be immediately contacted for comment. 

In the most recent incident, Kenyan police are investigating the suspicious deaths this month of four men accused of trying to steal pineapples from the Del Monte farm near Thika, northeast of the capital Nairobi. 

Saturday’s lawsuit, a copy of which was seen by AFP, said Del Monte has been locked in a land ownership row with the local community, which claims the company’s land as its ancestral home. 

It said locals had been long been crossing the 10,000-acre (4,000-hectare) plantation “leading to conflicts with the security personnel deployed by Del Monte, who assault, beat, torture, maim, rape and/or kill the trespassers. 

“Multiple killings have occurred at Del Monte’s pineapple farm in Kenya, where security guards allegedly murdered trespassers and showed general violence against locals,” it added. 

Alleged thieves have been beaten to death by the guards, drowned in dams or dumped in the nearby river, it charged. 

Accusations of pesticides in water 

In addition, it said wastewater from Del Monte operations was laced with “toxic pesticides” deemed hazardous by the World Health Organization. 

Several petitioners claimed they had suffered various injuries at the hands of guards in separate incidents over the past few years. 

One said he had been run over, while another claimed he had been sexually harassed then attacked with stones as he ran away. 

The lawsuit lists Del Monte’s Kenya operation as well as top police and legal officials as respondents. 

It is seeking compensation and punitive damages and has also called on the High Court to rule that the actions of the respondents were violations of human rights, environment and constitutional laws. 

Earlier this week, Kenyan police launched an investigation after the bodies of four men were discovered on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in a river near the plantation. 

Results of a post-mortem released Friday found that at least three of the four had drowned and bore signs of injury, according to Kenyan media reports. 

Company says it is cooperating

Kenyan National Commission for Human Rights official Kamanda Mucheke was quoted by the leading Daily Nation newspaper as saying the men were beaten by Del Monte security guards. 

“Our preliminary investigations reveal beyond reasonable doubt that the four men were attacked before they were forcibly drowned,” he said. 

The multinational company said CCTV footage showed the four had attempted to steal pineapples from its farm and showed “no foul play on Del Monte’s part.” 

“Del Monte Kenya is cooperating with Kenyan authorities as they continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding the four bodies,” it said in a statement to AFP earlier this week. 

“Organized crime, particularly around pineapple theft, is becoming increasingly rampant in the area,” it added.
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NAIROBI, Kenya — Burundi’s president on Friday accused Rwanda of funding and training rebels behind an attack last week on the village of Gatumba, close to Burundi’s border with Congo, that killed at least 20 people.

A Burundian armed rebel group known as RED-Tabara and based in South Kivu, eastern Congo, took responsibility for the attack in a post on X, formerly Twitter. The group, which denied having targeted civilians, claimed to have killed nine soldiers and a police officer.

Burundian authorities consider RED-Tabara a terrorist movement. The group first appeared in 2011 and has been accused of a string of attacks in Burundi since 2015.

In a national radio broadcast, President Evariste Ndayishimiye claimed the RED-Tabara “are fed, sheltered, hosted and maintained in terms of logistics and financial means by … Rwanda.”

Ndayishimiye said Burundi has been unsuccessfully negotiating with Rwanda for two years, seeking the extradition of the rebels.

“As long as they have a country that provides them with uniforms, feeds them, protects them, shelters them, maintains them, we will have problems,” he said.

There was no immediate reaction from Rwanda’s government to Ndayishimiye’s accusations, but it has previously said that it cannot extradite people who are under the protection of the U.N. refugee agency.

Relations between the two central African neighbors improved with the ascension to power of Ndayishimiye in June 2020, and borders between them reopened.

Some of those killed in the Gatumba attack — which Burundi has described as an act of terror and said it had contacted Interpol to seek its help in apprehending the perpetrators — were buried on Tuesday.

In August last year, Burundi deployed soldiers to eastern Congo as part of a regional force invited by Congo to tackle the resurgence of the M23 rebel group there. Some observers believed that the Burundi troops from the seven-nation East African Community regional force would be used to crush RED-Tabara.

However, the East African force is currently being withdrawn in phases from the violence-plagued eastern Congo following complaints from locals and authorities that instead of disarming the rebels, the forces were cohabiting with them.
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New wars and growing hunger and poverty on a warming planet — and little the United Nations can do to fix it. VOA correspondent Margaret Besheer looks at the U.N.’s future in a world where its impact is shrinking.
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Kinshasa, Congo — As Congo copes with its biggest outbreak of mpox, scientists warn discrimination against gay and bisexual men on the continent could make it worse.

In November, the World Health Organization reported that mpox, also known as monkeypox, was being spread via sex in Congo for the first time.

That is a significant departure from previous flare-ups, where the virus mainly sickened people in contact with diseased animals.

Mpox has been in parts of central and west Africa for decades, but it was not until 2022 that it was documented to spread via sex; most of the 91,00 people infected in approximately 100 countries that year were gay or bisexual men.

In Africa, unwillingness to report symptoms could drive the outbreak underground, said Dimie Ogoina, an infectious diseases specialist at the Niger Delta University in Nigeria.

“It could be that because homosexuality is prohibited by law in most parts of Africa, many people do not come forward if they think they have been infected with mpox,” Ogoina said.

WHO officials said they identified the first sexually transmitted cases of the more severe type of mpox in Congo last spring, shortly after a resident of Belgium who “identified himself as a man who has sexual relations with other men” arrived in Kinshasa, the Congolese capital. The U.N. health agency said five other people who had sexual contact with the man later became infected with mpox.

“We have been underestimating the potential of sexual transmission of mpox in Africa for years,” said Ogoina, who with his colleagues, first reported in 2019 that mpox might be spreading via sex.

Gaps in monitoring make it a challenge to estimate how many mpox cases are linked to sex, he said. Still, most cases of mpox in Nigeria involve people with no known contact with animals, he noted.

In Congo, there have been about 13,350 suspected cases of mpox, including 607 deaths through the end of November with only about 10% of cases confirmed by laboratories. But how many infections were spread through sex isn’t clear. WHO said about 70% of cases are in children under 15.

During a recent trip to Congo to assess the outbreak, WHO officials found there was “no awareness” among health workers that mpox could be spread sexually, resulting in missed cases.

WHO said health authorities had confirmed sexual transmission of mpox “between male partners and simultaneously through heterosexual transmission” in different parts of the country.

Mpox typically causes symptoms including a fever, skin rash, lesions and muscle soreness for up to one month. It is spread via close contact and most people recover without needing medical treatment.

During the 2022 major international outbreak, mass vaccination programs were undertaken in some countries, including Canada, Britain and the U.S., and targeted those at highest risk — gay and bisexual men. But experts say that’s not likely to work in Africa for several reasons, including the stigma against gay communities.

“I don’t think we’ll see the same clamoring for vaccines in Africa that we saw in the West last year,” said Dr. Boghuma Titanji, an assistant professor of medicine in infectious diseases at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta.

She said that the gay and bisexual men most at risk of mpox might be fearful of coming forward in a broad immunization program. Countries should work on ways to give the shots — if available — in a way that wouldn’t stigmatize them, she said.

Dr. Jean-Jacques Muyemba, general director of Congo’s National Institute of Biomedical Research, said two provinces in Congo had reported clusters of mpox spread through sex, a concerning development.

There’s no licensed vaccine in Congo, and it would be hard to get enough shots for any large-scale program, Muyemba said. The country is trying to get a Japanese mpox vaccine, but regulatory issues are complicating the situation, he said.

Globally, only one vaccine has been authorized against mpox, made by Denmark’s Bavarian Nordic. Supplies are very limited and even if they were available, they would have to be approved by the African countries using them or by WHO. To date, the vaccine has only been available in Congo through research.

Without greater efforts to stop the outbreaks in Africa, Ogoina predicted that mpox would continue to infect new populations, warning that the disease could also spark outbreaks in other countries, similar to the global emergency WHO declared last year.
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