Nigerian authorities are praising a London high court ruling Monday that overturned $11 billion in damages stemming from a collapsed gas project between Africa’s largest economy and a private company.

In a statement, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu lauded the London Business and Property Court’s ruling in the 2010 gas deal, calling it a victory for what officials termed the “long exploited” African continent.

“Nation states will no longer be held hostage by economic conspiracies between private firms and solitary corrupt officials,” Tinubu said.

Nigeria and Process and Industrial Developments, a firm based in the British Virgin Islands, signed the contract to construct a gas processing plant in Nigeria’s oil-rich region.

The deal, however, fell through, and P&ID took the Nigerian government to court in Britain.

In 2017, an arbitration tribunal ordered Nigeria to pay a $6.6 billion contract award and interest to P&ID.

The government appealed that decision.

The court on Monday said the company had in 2010 paid a bribe to a Nigerian oil ministry official in connection with the deal.

The court also said that P&ID did not disclose that information when the deal failed to materialize and that two British lawyers defending the company stood to benefit if the court ruled in favor of the firm.

Nigerian political analyst Rotimi Olawale said the decision is a relief for Africa’s biggest economy.

“Nigeria literally dodged a major bullet, knowing the foreign exchange issues the country is facing at the moment,” Olawale said. “Getting a judgment of $11 billion would’ve been a big blow to Nigeria’s financial situation.”

The company’s lawyers say they’re disappointed by the outcome and are considering next steps. The firm has denied the fraud allegations and accused Nigeria of incompetence.

Nigeria’s economy has been struggling with spiraling inflation and mounting debts for years. More recently, government reform policies have seen Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserve dwindle significantly, increasing the scramble for U.S. dollars and weakening the local tender.

The $11 billion would have been about one-third of Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves.

Ebenezer Oyetakin, founder of the Anti-Corruption Network, said the ruling couldn’t have come at a better time.

“It is an example of how many African countries have been mortgaging their economy,” he said. “Definitely it would be of huge help to the dwindling Nigerian economy as we’re witnessing currently. But we should not rest on our oars. We should continue to absolutely stand against corruption.”

Olawale said Nigeria and all of Africa must address institutional corruption.

“The judgment should also give us an opportunity to tidy our home front,” Olawale said. “I feel that Nigeria, like many developing countries, goes into all kinds of dubious contracting. It is on us as a nation to ensure that we do our due diligence and that we harmonize the process in which we do contracting with other parties.”

Reports say the London court could decide to send the case back to arbitration or abandon it without delay.
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South Africa is hosting a summit for participants in the U.S. government’s duty-free Africa Growth and Opportunity Act from November 2 to 4 as the act comes up for renewal. Kate Bartlett spoke to the owners of one South African company about how the trade initiative — which benefits more than 30 countries on the continent — helped them grow their business and enter the U.S. market. VOA footage by Zaheer Cassim.
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European Union and Namibian officials hold a business forum this week in Brussels on developing the country’s nascent “green hydrogen” sector.

Critics describe this green energy plan as a form of “colonialism” in which Africa produces its best for Europe while the continent remains underdeveloped.

Seen as a clean alternative, green hydrogen has been touted as a replacement for carbon-based fuels such as coal and oil, which are blamed for contributing to global warming and destruction of the ozone layer.

 

Namibia does not have the infrastructure for a green hydrogen market, but it has received grants from the European Union, including member nation Germany, to build the foundation to meet EU demands for the fuel. 

 

Political analyst Ndumba Kamwanya has questioned Namibia’s insistence on wanting to supply Europe with green hydrogen and critical earth metals, including lithium, which are crucial for the global energy transition. 

In an interview with VOA, he said that supplying raw materials to Europe would perpetuate what he calls colonialism, in which resources extracted from the African continent are used in the industrialization of Europe. He says Namibia has its own energy needs.

“It is concerning that Namibia does not have expertise and technology; all these can be used to influence the process but also to extract resources to European countries at the expense of Namibians, in particular local people, yah! We have to guard against green colonization, which is a new form of colonizing Africans,” he said.

Nangula Uauandja is the CEO of the Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board, known as NIPDB, which is helping to organize the forum. She said Namibia has a strategy for local production and use of green hydrogen byproducts such as excess water, ammonia and brine.

“How do we use these resources locally if we have got energy and green hydrogen? How do we industrialize Namibia using the green economy?” she asked. “Instead of transporting from Africa and minerals from Africa, how can we not rather process them where the energy is, or bring them to where the energy is so we can use energy to industrialize our country?”

The government says Namibia is working on legislation to ensure that the resources first benefit the local economy before being exported. Officials say they are working with the NIPDB on this issue. They also point to a recent decision by Zimbabwe to ban the export of raw lithium.

The EU-Namibia business forum takes place during a European Union Global Gateway Forum being held in Brussels on Wednesday and Thursday. The EU charge d’affaires in Namibia, Gosia Lachut, explained what the event will be all about.

“These forums hosted by the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, bring together governments, financial institutions, private sector, civil society and international agencies and it aims to promote global investments in infrastructure centered on priority themes such as digital, energy and climate, transport, health and education,” Lachut said.

The EU is Namibia’s largest trading partner. Twenty-six percent of Namibia’s exports go to the EU.

The largest economic bloc in the world is also a major market for Namibia’s fish, meat and grapes. The value of Namibian exports was estimated at one billion dollars compared to imports from the EU to Namibia, worth 600 million dollars, according to 2021 figures released by the Namibia Statistics Agency.

 
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The United States has suspended most financial assistance to the central African country of Gabon in response to August’s military takeover.  

“The United States has concluded that a military coup d’état has taken place in Gabon,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement released Monday.  Miller said the aid had been temporarily paused since Sept. 26.  Miller said all “humanitarian, health, and education assistance” to Gabon will continue.  

A group of army officers led by General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, chief of the Republican Guard, placed President Ali Bongo under house arrest on Aug, 30 and seized power.  General Nguema was designated president of a committee aimed at eventually returning power to a civilian government.

The mutinous soldiers announced the coup on national television just moments after the nation’s election commission declared that Bongo had won a third term in general elections held just days before.

Bongo first took office in 2009 after the death of his father, Omar Bongo, who had ruled the oil-producing country for the previous 42 years.

Opponents say the family has failed to share the country’s oil and mining wealth with its 2.3 million people.

Judd Devermont, a special assistant to U.S. President Joe Biden, met with Nguema and military-appointed Prime Minister Raymond Ndong Sima last week in the capital, Libreville, to discuss a path forward on restoring democracy in Gabon.  

Gabon state TV reported that Nguema reiterated after the meeting he will return power to civilian rule at the end of the transition, but he did not announce a timeframe. 

“The United States reaffirms our commitment to support Gabon in conducting a timely and durable transition to democratic civilian governance,” Miller said in his statement. “We will resume our assistance alongside concrete actions by the transitional government toward establishing democratic rule.”

Some information for this report came from Reuters. 

 
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Malawi has made its first successful large-scale harvest of wheat after years of attempts to find a variety of grain suitable for its soil. Wheat farming is seen as a solution to mitigate the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on grain imports to the African continent.

Ronald Ngwira, chief executive officer of Malawi-registered U.S. company Pyxus Agriculture Limited, which operates a farm in central Malawi for the diversification of wheat seeds, said about four varieties of wheat have been found suitable for Malawian soil out of about 80 varieties which had been tried since 2019.

Speaking during the start of the first large-scale harvest over the weekend, Ngwira said the wheat farming will help Malawi save millions of dollars spent on wheat imports.

“Malawi imports 200,000 tons of wheat at $48 million. To get there, it could take us four years to produce enough wheat in Malawi to satisfy ourselves,” Ngwira said. “Four years might be seen as a long time, but we are already there and will have the seed available.”

Agriculture experts in Malawi say wheat farming is expected to produce about 90 metric tons, which is 50 percent of the country’s wheat consumption.

Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera witnessed the harvest Friday at Mpale farm in Dowa district.

“Wheat farming can enable Malawi to be self-sustaining. But this will require each one of us to work hard to achieve the desired results. Let us all make a move toward that goal by even using modern technology,” Chakwera said.

Malawi has long been heavily dependent on imported wheat, and the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine has disrupted food supply chains. According to the United Nations, Africa takes up 12.26% of grain imported from Ukraine.

A U.N. report notes that the Russian invasion of Ukraine triggered a shortage of about 30 million tons of grain on the continent, along with a sharp increase in cost.

“If we can find markets, it can be another source of forex in the country,” said Wisdom Mgomezulu, an agricultural economist and lecturer at Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences. “Because, as you know, wheat is among those high-value cash crops that are highly demanded in the world.”

Mgomezulu said to achieve this, Malawi needs to find more sustainable production technologies that can give a comparative advantage, considering that there are already big players in the market.

“We need more investment in research. Let’s look for more funds and donor partners to finance agronomists and researchers who are trying their best to breed varieties that can be grown here in Malawi. But for that to be done, we need to research more investment and maybe get a share of the export market,” Mgomezulu said.

In the meantime, Ngwira of Pyxus said they are planning to plant 15,000 hectares of seed in December to prepare farmers for mass wheat production next year. 
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Three nurses care for a 10-year-old girl at a clinic treating dozens of patients in Kano, northern Nigeria, amid the country’s worst diphtheria outbreak which has killed hundreds of people since the start of the year.

The girl lays inside a glass cubicle with a severe case of the contagious disease.

“We have to admit her to the intensive care unit,” Usman Hassan, a medic in charge of the clinic at Kano’s largest hospital told AFP, his face covered by a mask.

Nigeria is battling to contain the outbreak, which has killed around 800 people and infected 14,000. It has spread to almost half of the country’s 36 states, with Kano accounting for the bulk of cases and deaths.

The clinic at Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital is one of two health facilities run by the French medical charity MSF in Kano, the epicentre of the epidemic.

“As of Thursday, Kano has reported 10,700 diphtheria cases with more than 500 fatalities,” Hashim Juma Omar, a doctor overseeing MSF diphtheria intervention in Kano, told AFP.

Entry to the 90-bed clinic is strictly controlled to prevent the spread of the infection.

“We are currently seeing more than 700 people with suspected diphtheria and admitting more than 280 patients on a weekly basis in the two diphtheria treatment centres,” said Omar.

Nigeria’s Center for Disease Control declared an outbreak of diphtheria in January after cases began to surface in May last year.

It “has already surpassed the worst outbreak which had 5,039 cases in 1989,” an MSF spokesman said last month.

Diphtheria is a highly contagious and potentially life-threatening bacterial disease which affects the respiratory tract and skin.

Without treatment, it can kill half of those infected and is still fatal in five percent of patients who receive treatment.

“Women and children aged under five are the most vulnerable groups and are the people most affected right now in Kano state,” said Omar.

Vaccine shortages

MSF warned a shortage in vaccine funding is an obstacle in ending the outbreak and called on the international community to offer support.

The medical charity has so far supplied 7,000 diphtheria vaccines to Kano while the U.N. children’s fund UNICEF last month donated 1.2 million doses to the state.

MSF, which is also running diphtheria clinics in the northeastern Borno and Bauchi states, said these interventions were still inadequate.

“There is a global shortage of diphtheria vaccines, and the problem is at the production level due to dwindling production capacity,” said Hussein Ismail, MSF project coordinator in Kano.

“It takes 15 days to produce a vial of the vaccine and global demand is high,” he said.

Kano alone requires 31 million doses of the vaccine for at-risk groups, a difficult target to meet due to “supply constraints and funds”, said Omar.

Although the outbreak is now “under control” as cases gradually drop, Omar expressed concern that the coming harmattan season may prove a challenge when respiratory tract infections increase.

Decline in immunization

Routine immunization has plummeted in Nigeria since the Covid pandemic, when global attention focused on containing its spread and governments almost entirely committed health budgets to fighting the virus.

Kano heath commissioner Abubakar Labaran Yusuf said the state accounted for 80% of diphtheria infections in Nigeria because it missed routine immunisation for 19 months.

“That is the main reason for the upsurge we are seeing nowadays in Kano,” Yusuf said, blaming the vaccination hiatus on the previous state government, which left power in May.

The drop in immunization saw 25 million Nigerian children not vaccinated against fatal diseases in 2021 alone, according to MSF data.

Vaccine suspicion

Last week two mothers claimed their children developed kidney complications after diphtheria vaccines, reviving old vaccine safety fears that were rampant in the region.

A local radio station aired the mothers’ claims which quickly circulated, with the audio shared online.

“These two claims have thrown a spanner into the works as many people are now skeptical of the diphtheria vaccine and we have to scale up public sensitization,” said Salma Ali-Suwaid, Kano heath official in charge of diphtheria control.

Scandals such as the deaths of 11 Nigerian children in Kano in 1996, after they were administered an experimental meningitis vaccine by U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, have not been forgotten.

And for 13 months between 2003 and 2004, the state suspended polio immunisation following claims that the polio vaccine was laced with substances that could make girls infertile as part of a Western plot to depopulate Africa.

The suspension made Kano the epicenter of transmission to other regions of the world that were previously polio-free.

Although authorities resumed polio vaccination, suspicion about vaccine safety persists.

“The state government needs to intensify health campaigns to overcome vaccine hesitancy among the population which some associate with family planning,” MSF’s Omar said.

 
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A widow of a Pakistani journalist who was shot dead by police in Kenya after he fled arrest in his home country filed a lawsuit against Kenyan police on Monday, her lawyer said.   

Arshad Sharif, a strident critic of Pakistan’s powerful military establishment and supporter of former premier Imran Khan, died when Kenyan police opened fire on his car at a roadblock outside the capital Nairobi in October last year.   

Javeria Siddique, one of Sharif’s two wives, told AFP in Islamabad last week that she was filing a lawsuit.   

Her lawyer confirmed it had been lodged at Kenya’s High Court on Monday, a year to the day since the late-night killing.    

“Yes. The case has been filed,” lawyer Ochiel Dudley told AFP in Nairobi, adding that they were waiting for a case number and further instructions from the court.   

“It has been a year that I have been fighting for justice,” Siddique said.   

“The Kenyan police admitted that they killed my husband but never apologized.”   

Last year, Kenyan officials said it was a case of mistaken identity and officers believed they were firing on a stolen vehicle involved in an abduction.   

Siddique, however, alleges her husband was killed in a “targeted attack.”  

“I have written to the Kenyan president and foreign minister but they were not even kind enough to say sorry,” she added.  

Sharif fled Pakistan in August last year, days after interviewing a senior opposition politician who said junior officers in Pakistan’s military should disobey orders that went against “the will of the majority.”  

Tens of thousands of mourners attended Sharif’s funeral at Islamabad’s main mosque.    

‘Financial and emotional losses’

Pakistan has been ruled by the military for several decades of its 75-year history and criticism of the security establishment has long been seen as a red line.   

Pakistan’s top court has taken note of the murder but the case is still pending.   

In December, a factfinding team of Pakistani intelligence officials submitted a report to the Supreme Court calling the incident a “planned, targeted assassination” that purportedly involved “transnational characters.”  

Press freedom campaign groups have called for those responsible to face justice.    

Pakistan is ranked 150 out of 180 countries in a press freedom index compiled by Reporters without Borders, with journalists facing censorship and intimidation.   

“Throughout the past year, I have endured financial and emotional losses and have even been subjected to character assassination,” Siddique said.   

Police in Kenya are often accused by rights groups of using excessive force and carrying out unlawful killings.   

Last year, President William Ruto disbanded a feared 20-year-old police unit accused of extrajudicial killings and the government has said it is embarking on reforms of the security sector. 
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Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda have been chosen to host the Africa Cup of Nations, or the AFCON tournament in 2027. It’s a unique opportunity for these nations to raise both their profiles and tourist dollars. Charles Kombe reports from Dar es Salaam.
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Niger’s ousted president Mohamed Bazoum is with his family and is doing well, a relatives told AFP Sunday, after claims by the country’s new military rulers this week that he had tried to escape.

“He is at the presidential residence [in Niamey] with his wife and son and is doing well,” the family member said, adding that he was allowed to make one phone call.

The source added that his doctor was able to see him and “bring him food”.

On Thursday, the military regime which overthrew the democratically elected Bazoum on July 26 said they had foiled an attempt by him to escape their custody. 

The escape plan, the regime’s spokesman said, had involved Bazoum getting to a hideout on the outskirts of the capital Niamey before flying out on helicopters “belonging to a foreign power” towards Nigeria. 

The regime added that “the main actors and some of the accomplices” were arrested. 

A lawyer’s collective representing Bazoum rejected the “fabricated accusations” and said Bazmoum was being “held incommunicado”. 

French President Emmanuel Macron expressed Friday his “concern over the uncertain situation” and called “for his immediate release and that of his wife and son”. 

Since he was toppled by the military in July, Bazoum has refused to resign and has been held at his residence in the heart of the presidential palace along with his wife and son.

Last month, Bazoum’s lawyers said he had filed a legal case with a court of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) against those who deposed him, and appealing for the restoration of constitutional order. 

ECOWAS has warned that it could intervene militarily in Niger if diplomatic efforts to return Bazoum to power fail. 

Former colonial power and ally to the deposed president in the fight against jihadist groups attacking Niger, France agreed with the military rulers demands to withdraw its 1,500 troops by December 31. 

France earlier pulled out troops from Mali and Burkina Faso, which have undergone coups in the past two years amid. 

 
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China and the U.S. presented competing visions for development in Africa this week as several leaders from the continent attended Beijing’s Belt and Road Forum marking the 10-year anniversary of the global infrastructure initiative.

The Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to connect the world through trade by investing billions of dollars in land and sea infrastructure projects, has broadened over the last decade.

“Belt and Road cooperation has expanded from physical connectivity to institutional connectivity,” said China’s President Xi Jinping in a speech at the opening ceremony of the forum, which ended Wednesday.

The Chinese president announced $100 billion in new funding and promised to “work with all parties involved to deepen Belt and Road partnerships, usher this cooperation into a new stage of high-quality development and make relentless efforts to achieve modernization for all countries.”

African leaders in attendance included Kenyan President William Ruto, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Nigerian Vice President Kashim Shettima, and Republic of Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso. They represented nations that have been recipients of BRI investments and were seeking new funding for various projects, analysts said.

Paul Nantulya, research associate at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies in Washington, told VOA he saw signs of a “strategic shift” in Chinese lending after sharp cuts in the amounts allotted in recent years.

“I think we’re now going to see an uptick … an upward trend that makes a sharp turn from the last two to three years,” he said. “I think this is Belt and Road 2.0.”

While analysts have noted a move toward smaller, greener initiatives along with smaller loans, Xi’s speech — which boasted of “brand-new airports and harbors, smooth roads and newly built industrial parks for business” — gave no indication the BRI was winding down.

In addition to hard infrastructure, Nantulya said Xi’s focus going forward would address calls from African leaders for projects that create added value, including industrialization, green energy and training.   

A Biden BRI?  

Green energy and value addition are also target areas for the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden as it attempts to increase engagement with Africa.

African countries are home to many of the critical minerals, such as lithium and cobalt, needed for the transition to clean energy — and China has had a head start in extracting and processing them.  

“Now, it’s true that the United States is playing a bit of catch-up on the continent when it comes to critical minerals, and there are other players, like … China, who have been here and have made significant investments in the mining sector in Africa for quite some time,” said Joshua Volz, the deputy assistant secretary for Europe, Eurasia, Africa and the Middle East in the Office of International Affairs at the U.S. Department of Energy.  

“We’re here to offer an alternative, perhaps an alternative model, to developing Africa’s critical minerals,” Volz said in an interview with VOA during his visit to South Africa this week for Africa Energy Week. 

That mode “is one that’s based in partnership and has at its core the ability for African partners to climb the value chain of those resources instead of simply having them be extracted and taken overseas for processing,” he said. 

“What we’re looking to do is create some options for our African partners. You know, we’ve long been wary of some of the tactics and the methods that our counterparts in Beijing employ when it comes to development opportunities, throughout the world but especially here on the continent,” he said.  

Last month, on the sidelines of the G20 summit, the U.S. and European Union pledged to develop the partially existing Lobito Corridor — a railway connecting the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s cobalt belt to Zambia’s copper belt and on to Angola’s port of Lobito, from where materials can be shipped to international markets.

“One of the areas where our African partners have historically struggled is with the infrastructure necessary to catalyze investments to develop those resources. The Lobito Corridor is a great example of that,” Volz said.   

While China has been investing in African infrastructure for years, the White House’s announcement may signal the U.S.is also jumping into the infrastructure game on the continent. 

“I think that this should be seen as a proof of conduct, as a first foray, but certainly not as the last,” said Volz.  

African agenda  

Some African leaders have tried to capitalize on the power competition. 

Kenya’s Ruto is seeking about $1 billion in new financing for stalled road construction projects.

“My coming to China this time around is a confirmation of our commitment to elevate this relationship for the mutual benefit of Kenya and China,” Ruto said.

He encouraged Beijing to use its leverage to reform international financial institutions so nations in the developing world can access more financing at below-market rates.   

“China has a special place, no doubt, to have the ability to enhance the competitiveness of Africa,” Ruto said during the Belt and Road Forum.  

Observers said the Kenyan leader has been taking advantage of that opportunity, especially recently.

“President Ruto’s administration took a more than semidetached approach to its relationship with China and pivoted back towards its established partners in the West ahead of this visit to China,” said Aly-Khan Satchu, an economic analyst based in Nairobi.

“However, hardcore fiscal pressures have, I believe, forced him to temper his Western pivot. By all accounts he is looking for some relief from China.”

Cliff Mboya, an Africa-China analyst in Kenya, does not agree. He said Ruto was less concerned than in the past about securing Chinese investments and capital. 

“China is well aware that he is leaning West and his international posture generally supports Western policies,” Mboya said.  

One of the other African heavyweights who attended the Beijing forum, Ethiopia’s Abiy, said China “continues to be a critical partner for Ethiopia.”

China has invested in Ethiopian projects including a railway and roads. During Abiy’s visit, Beijing upgraded its relationship with Addis Ababa to become what Xi described as “all-weather friends” and signed multiple bilateral agreements.

While major leaders from East and West Africa descended on Beijing for the BRI anniversary celebrations, Cyril Ramaphosa, the president of Africa’s most developed economy, South Africa, was absent. But analysts said one should not read too much into that. 

“It doesn’t strike me as odd, because presidents would usually visit if they also get a one-on-one with Xi, and Ramaphosa had a big meeting with Xi on the sidelines of the BRICS summit” in August, said Cobus van Staden, a researcher at the South African Institute of International Affairs. 

“Xi’s meeting schedule is so dense at this kind of event that it probably had more to do with timing and logistics rather than reflecting a vote of no confidence from SA.” 

BRICS is a coalition of the emerging economies of South Africa, China, Brazil, Russia and India. In 2024, Argentina, Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will join the bloc.
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As Musa Abdullahi prepared for weekly Muslim prayers Friday, there was something else on his mind.

He said he’s worried about the war between Israel and Hamas — and he’s especially concerned about the plight of Palestinian Muslims.

Soon after prayers, Abdullahi joined other Muslims marching in the streets in support of Palestinians and to criticize Israel’s heavy bombardments in Gaza.

“You see people carrying Palestinian flags chanting slogans in support of the Palestinian people to say ‘no’ against injustice, most especially the women and children that are being brutally attacked by the Israeli soldiers,” said Musa Abdullahi.

Anger in Nigeria is growing along with the rising death toll in the Israeli-Hamas war. More than 1,400 Israelis were killed in the Hamas attack on southern Israel nearly two weeks ago, and more than 4,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli retaliatory attacks since then.

Every year, more than 90,000 Nigerians visit holy sites in the Middle East. Nigerian authorities this week said they’re concerned about the escalation of violence there.

Last week, the Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission suspended visits to Israel due to the ongoing crisis.

On Thursday, the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria held a news conference criticizing the killings, saying they are a violation of human rights.

The supreme council blamed the United States for voicing support for Israel and called on the United Nations to take a firm stance.

The council also urged Nigerian authorities to review the country’s relations with Israel.

“Apart from its criminality and lack of humanity, it also clearly shows [the] failure of global institutions established after the second world war to protect human beings,” said Sheikh Abdur-Rasheed Hadiyatullah, the president of the council. “The international community has failed to address the root cause of this conflict.”

This week, the U.S vetoed a U.N security council resolution that called for humanitarian pauses in the conflict to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip.

For now, many Nigerian pilgrims are watching and hoping that the fighting ends so that it is safe again for them to travel.
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A Kenyan IT practitioner created Wakili — which means “lawyer” — an AI tool to help Kenyan citizens learn the country’s laws and how to seek justice. It is aimed at a wide range of users, including individuals, legal professionals and organizations in need of assistance with legal issues. Wakili’s developer was inspired by how people, including his father, struggle to get justice. Mohammed Yusuf reports.
Camera: Mohammed Yusuf 
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