One of the world’s most popular apps, TikTok, is under growing scrutiny in Kenya over what critics see as explicit and offensive content, and hate speech. An activist has petitioned parliament to ban the Chinese app, even as millions of young Kenyans use it for entertainment, social connections, or even to make money. Francis Ontomwa reports from Nairobi. Camera: Amos Wangwa.
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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
Rescue Crews Work in Flood-Hit Eastern Libya
Search and rescue teams worked Thursday in eastern Libya, where devastating floods left thousands of people dead and thousands more missing.
The exact toll remained unclear following the flooding that hit Sunday.
The Associated Press quoted eastern Libya’s health minister, Othman Abduljaleel, as saying 3,000 bodies have been buried with 2,000 more still being processed.
Abdel-Raham al-Ghaithi, the mayor of the city of Derna, told al-Arabia television that the death toll could reach 20,000.
Derna was the hardest-hit area, with torrential rain and dam failures wrecking buildings, burying areas in mud and washing people out to sea.
World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General Petteri Taalas told reporters Thursday in Geneva that “most of the human casualties” could have been avoided if Libya had a functional weather service.
“If they would have been a normally operating meteorological service, they could have issued warnings,” he said.
The international aid effort has included teams from Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Turkey, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
The International Organization for Migration said Wednesday the flooding displaced at least 30,000 people in Derna as well as thousands more in other areas.
Atiyah Alhasadi, a 30-year-old teacher from Derna, told VOA’s Heather Murdock he was in his home in the center of the city when he heard what sounded like “20 million drums exploding,” and water crashed in, rising 50 meters above the houses.
Alhasadi said he and his family went to the roof of the building because the lower floors were flooded immediately and watched the water rise to the fourth or fifth floors of some buildings. He said his two aunts on the first floor died in the initial rush of water but his family was able to escape to a relative’s home on higher ground.
Now, he said, he is with five or six families in one small house, searching for a vehicle to get to Benghazi or another town.
“We can’t find gasoline, fuel or water,” he said.
Alhasadi said people also need mattresses and medicine but there is no available humanitarian aid to be found. He noted people are sleeping on the streets without even tents and the only hospital is barely functioning. It was just a makeshift hospital, while the actual one was under construction.
Some information in this report was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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US Military Resumes Drone, Manned Counterterrorism Missions in Niger
The U.S. military has resumed counterterrorism missions in Niger, flying drones and other aircraft out of air bases in the country more than a month after a coup halted those activities, the head of U.S. Air Forces for Europe and Africa said Wednesday.
Since the July coup, the 1,100 U.S. forces deployed in the country have been confined inside their bases. Last week the Pentagon said some military personnel and assets had been moved from the air base near Niamey, the capital, to another in Agadez. The cities are about 920 kilometers apart.
In recent weeks some of those intelligence and surveillance missions have been able to resume through U.S. negotiations with the junta, said General James Hecker, the top Air Force commander for Europe and Africa.
“For a while we weren’t doing any missions on the bases. They pretty much closed down the airfields,” Hecker said. “Through the diplomatic process, we are now doing – I wouldn’t say 100% of the missions that we were doing before, but we’re doing a large amount of missions that we’re doing before.”
Hecker, who spoke to reporters at the annual Air and Space Forces Association convention at National Harbor, Maryland, said the U.S. was flying manned and unmanned missions and that those flights resumed “within the last couple of weeks.”
The significant distance between the two bases also means that while the flights are going out, some missions are “not getting as much data, because you’re not overhead for as long” because of the amount of fuel it takes to get out and back, he said.
The U.S. has made Niger its main regional outpost for wide-ranging patrols by armed drones and other counterterror operations against Islamic extremist movements that over the years have seized territory, massacred civilians and battled foreign armies. The bases are a critical part of America’s overall counterterrorism efforts in West Africa.
The U.S. has also invested years and hundreds of millions of dollars in training Nigerien forces.
In 2018, fighters loyal to the Islamic State group ambushed and killed four American service members, four Nigeriens and an interpreter.
West Africa recorded more than 1,800 extremist attacks in the first six months of this year, which killed nearly 4,600 people, according to ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African States.
The Islamic extremist group Boko Haram operates in neighboring Nigeria and Chad. Along Niger’s borders with Mali and Burkina Faso, the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara and al-Qaida affiliate Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin pose greater threats.
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Malawi Extends Polio Vaccination to 15-Year-Olds
Malawi is extending the maximum age of children eligible for the polio vaccination from 5 to 15. Since the discovery last year of its first polio case 30 years after the country eradicated the disease, the number of cases has increased to five this year — the latest victim being 14 years old.
Malawi health authorities made the announcement Tuesday at the launch of the nationwide polio vaccination campaign that is targeting about 9.7 million children.
Beston Chisamile, the secretary of health in Malawi, said the children will be vaccinated on their doorsteps.
“Our health workers will be visiting parents’ homes and vaccinating [children],” said Chisamile. “We are aware that some of them were skipped in the previous vaccination phase, and we want to try and reach the majority.”
Chisamile said the maximum age of children to be vaccinated was extended from 5 to 15 years of age after the discovery of another case this year of a 14-year-old.
Polio resurfaces
Polio is a viral disease that causes irreversible paralysis and has no cure. The disease can be prevented, however, by the administration of effective vaccines.
Thirty years after it eradicated the disease, Malawi confirmed its first polio case in February 2022. Since then, the number of confirmed cases has increased to five.
Malawi is among several countries in Africa that have registered confirmed cases of polio in recent years.
The World Health Organization said in a statement released on August 30 that 187 confirmed cases of circulating variant poliovirus have been reported in 21 countries in the African region.
The WHO said that although the region has been certified free of wild poliovirus, it is witnessing a resurgence of the disease because of a decline in immunization coverage and the disruption of essential health services caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
A push to vaccinate
UNICEF, WHO, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other partners of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative are leading the vaccination campaign in Malawi.
The UNICEF representative in Malawi, Shadrack Omol, said the United Nations’ children’s agency so far has procured and distributed 10.2 million doses of the polio vaccine across all 29 districts and 865 health facilities in Malawi.
Omol also said UNICEF has installed 250 new refrigerators, repaired 125 broken ones, and distributed essential cold storage equipment.
Health authorities in Malawi have noted with concern, though, that some parents refuse to have their children vaccinated because of cultural and religious beliefs.
Authorities say this will impede efforts to meet vaccination targets.
George Jobe, the executive director of the Malawi Health Equity Network, told VOA that his organization has been educating people about the importance of vaccinating children against polio.
“We still maintain our plea and health education to those who don’t believe in medication that they should be mindful of the right to the good health of their children,,” said Jobe. “The children will make their own choices when they grow up. But at the moment, parents must not apply whatever they believe in on their children.”
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UN’s Sudan Envoy Steps Down After Difficulties With Government
The United Nations’ top envoy in Sudan is stepping down, four months after being told by the government to leave. In parting remarks, he criticized Sudan’s military and the rebel Rapid Support Forces, or RSF.
“This conflict is leaving a tragic legacy of human rights abuses,” Volker Perthes told a Security Council meeting on Wednesday. “Indiscriminate attacks against civilians committed by the warring parties constitute gross violations of human rights.”
The United Nations says at least 5,000 people have been killed and more than 12,000 injured since fighting erupted between rival generals on April 15. More than 5 million Sudanese are now displaced — more than a million of them as refugees in neighboring countries.
Of particular concern is escalating ethnically targeted fighting in the Darfur region. The region saw wide-scale ethnic violence and crimes against humanity in the early 2000s, and the U.N. fears a repeat now.
Perthes said hundreds of ethnic Masalit have been killed in El Geneina and other parts of West Darfur. The U.N. has also received credible information about the existence of at least 13 mass graves in El Geneina and the surrounding areas. RSF and their allied Arab militias have been attacking civilians in this region.
The envoy said there is “little doubt about who is responsible for what” in the conflict.
“Often indiscriminate aerial bombing is conducted by those who have an air force, which is the Sudan Armed Forces,” Perthes said. “Most of the sexual violence, lootings and killings happen in areas controlled by the RSF and are conducted or tolerated by the RSF and their allies.”
Perthes said both sides are arbitrarily arresting, detaining and even torturing and executing civilians.
“We need to impress on the warring parties that they cannot operate with impunity, and there will be accountability for the crimes committed,” he said.
A group of Security Council diplomats issued a statement expressing alarm about the rampant use of sexual violence in the conflict.
“Reports of rape, including gang rape, sexual slavery, abduction, and sexual harassment have been prominent throughout the conflict,” it said. “Women and girls, particularly in the Darfur region, are subjected to horrifying acts of sexual [violence] and reports of gender-based violence as a tactic of war to instill fear and control in the population and assert dominance over local communities.”
The diplomats urged the warring parties to stop such violence and uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law.
No peace in sight
Efforts to halt the fighting have so far failed, despite regional efforts by the African Union and the east African regional bloc IGAD, as well as the United States, European Union, Saudi Arabia and some of Sudan’s neighbors.
When asked about the situation by VOA at a news conference on Wednesday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the best way to solve Africa’s problems is with African solutions.
“Unfortunately, we are witnessing a never-ending series of terrible fighting with dramatic impacts on civilian population, and this is absolutely intolerable,” he said. “I think that the international community must come together to tell those that are leading the fight in Sudan that they need to stop. Because what they are doing is not only the destruction of their own country but is a serious threat to regional peace and security.”
In the meantime, the humanitarian crisis is rapidly worsening: displacement at the rate of a million persons per month, a collapsing health care system and growing hunger.
The United Nations warns that 6 million Sudanese are on the brink of famine.
“If the fighting continues, this potential tragedy comes closer to reality every day,” Edem Wosornu, head of the operations and advocacy at the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told council members.
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UN Organization Unveils Emergency Plan to Assist 10 Million Sudanese Amid War
The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, has launched a plan to assist at least 10 million Sudanese farmers, herders and fishermen across 17 states. The 12-month program aims to address the threat of food insecurity in the country, which has been exacerbated by a five-month-old armed conflict.
The FAO will add to recent seed distribution efforts to enhance food production, with the hope of feeding 13 to 19 million people in coming months.
Abdulhakim Elwaer, FAO regional representative for the Near East and North Africa, said the Emergency Livelihood Response Plan is designed to combat hunger and poverty in Sudan.
“The ELRP aims to mitigate the impact of the recent conflict on vulnerable people, address their immediate needs, and enhance their ability to recover and strengthen their resilience, besides achieving food security at its minimum level for the overall population,” Elwaer said. “Agriculture remains a lifeline in Sudan.”
Sudan plunged into conflict in April, sparked by a power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces.
The conflict has killed thousands of people, displaced millions, and prompted millions more to seek refuge in neighboring countries in search of food, medicine and shelter.
Mohamed Abdulrahman, a farmer in Sudan’s Upper Nile State, expressed optimism about the assistance.
“I think this will help us and others be encouraged to look for and seek such kind of help and organize themselves,” he said. “But the condition is demanding; seriously, the Sudanese people need help from the international community because they lost their government.”
Aid agencies say during Sudan’s dry season, which runs from November to May, farmers reliant on rainfall face food shortages, while livestock owners are faced with water and pasture shortages, leading to threatened livelihoods.
According to Integrated Food Security Phase (IPC) projections published last month, more than 20.3 million Sudanese are food insecure, with six million suffering from emergency levels of acute hunger.
Abdulrahman said that Sudanese farmers use seeds to produce food, but also require so much more.
“I don’t think that’s enough because the farmers need more than the seeds,” he said. “They need money to make the preparations. They need money to continue with other agricultural activities.”
The FAO said that much of the support for the vulnerable farming and herding households will be delivered through cash assistance and livelihood input packages, including seeds and agricultural, animal and fishing tools.
Elwaer said the successful execution of their plan could prevent a humanitarian crisis and famine in Sudan.
“FAO does not supply food directly to individuals, but supplies seeds and agricultural inputs to farmers who are actually food producers to thousands of people,” he said. “So if we reach out to 1.5 million farmers in Sudan in 14 states, we are literally providing food supplies, mainly vegetables and fruits and seeds like corn and wheat, for the large population of Sudan by the next harvest season, which will mitigate the situation and the crisis to a large extent.”
The agricultural agency said it needs $123 million to achieve its goals, with the program expected to end in August 2024.
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Some Inner-City South Africans See ‘Hijacked Buildings’ as Only Housing Option
Johannesburg, South Africa’s most populous city, has for years struggled to keep up with housing demand due to an influx of people who come in search of opportunities. Some residents, many with little financial means, find themselves in sub-par housing that has a high risk of fire and little to no access to water and electricity. Jan Bornman reports from Johannesburg, South Africa. Camera: Zaheer Cassim
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More Than 5,000 Believed Dead in Libya Floods, Over 30,000 Displaced
The International Organization for Migration said Wednesday that the deadly flooding that hit eastern Libya has displaced more than 30,000 people.
The U.N. agency said at least 30,000 of the displaced were from the city of Derna, with thousands more from other areas including Benghazi.
More than 5,000 people are believed dead, with exact figures difficult to confirm in the country where rival governments have competed for control for a decade. Some officials say that number could double.
Hichem Abu Chkiouat, minister of civil aviation in the administration that runs eastern Libya, told Reuters that more than 5,300 bodies had been counted in Derna. The city was the hardest hit after Mediterranean Storm Daniel brought torrential rains and two dams collapsed.
Fatma Balha, a medical student in Derna, told VOA English to Africa’s Hassuna Baishu that the center of Derna has suffered major damage.
“It’s all gone. All the buildings are gone. It all went with the floods, probably they have gone to the sea. We cannot see the building,” Balha said. “I have my aunt. She’s there and we cannot find her. None of her kids, none of their bodies, none. Not even the building. It’s gone. It’s not there at all.”
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said Wednesday the situation in Derna is very bad and that international support is needed.
Mey Al Sayegh, the head of communications at the IFRC Middle East and North Africa office, said in a briefing on X that there is no clean drinking water in Derna and no medical supplies, and that the only hospital in the city could no longer take patients.
Al Sayegh said what is needed now is water, shelter, medical aid, food and psychosocial support.
Ahmed Bayram, media advisor for the Middle East for the Norwegian Refugee Council, told VOA’s James Butty that Libya had already faced challenges for years and needs funding.
“This is going to be a tragic situation for tens of thousands, not just in Derna, but also across Libya,” Bayram said. “The thing about this is that Libya, with its many problems, has been off the headlines for months, if not over a year now. Now it’s back in the spotlight and it is important to stress that Libya has been left behind. The Libya crisis has been left behind. And now it’s time for donors to get back on track and fund this emergency.”
Hassuna Baishu and James Butty contributed to this report. Some information was provided by the Associated Press and Reuters
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Death Toll Surges Above 2,900 in Aftermath of Morocco Earthquake
The death toll in Morocco has now risen to 2,900 after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake shook the High Atlas Mountains southwest of Marrakech on Friday. More than 5,500 people have reported injuries, more than twice the previous tally. Many survivors complain of a lack of aid from Morocco’s government.
This earthquake is the North African nation’s worst in more than 60 years.
After four nights exposed to the elements, locals who have been left homeless are frustrated with the emergency response.
Mehdi Ait Bouyali, 24, has been stranded along the Tizi N’Test, a lengthy road that connects Marrakech to outlying rural valleys. In the aftermath, he has been camping on the roadside with others who escaped.
They have received no government support and say if not for food and blankets from strangers driving by, they would have nothing.
“The villages of the valley have been forgotten,” he said. “We need any kind of help. We need tents.”
Government spokesman Mustapha Baitas on Monday disputed the accusations of inaction.
“From the first seconds this devastating earthquake occurred, and in following the instructions of His Royal Majesty, all civil and military authorities and medical staff, military and civil, have worked on the swift and effective intervention to rescue the victims and recover the bodies of the martyrs,” he said.
Rescue teams, including some brought in from Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Britain and Spain, have built tent camps and have begun to deliver food and water where they can.
But the situation is desperate for those in remote areas, where access routes have been obstructed by landslides, and where many live in old-style mud brick huts that have collapsed on their occupants.
Hamid Ait Bouyali, 40, who was camping with Medhi on the side of the road, described the devastation.
“The authorities are focusing on the bigger communities and not the remote villages that are worst affected,” he said. “There are some villages that still have the dead buried under the rubble.”
Everyday, citizens have been aiding in the response. Brahim Daldali, 36, of Marrakech, has been delivering vital supplies on his motorcycle to those hit the hardest.
“They have nothing, and the people are starving,” he said.
All of the residents in the village of Kettou were miraculously spared, as they were participating in an outdoor pre-wedding celebration. Meanwhile, their stone and mud brick houses were razed by the earthquake.
Some parts of Marrakech’s old city were damaged, but most of the city emerged unharmed, including buildings where the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are scheduled to hold meetings in October. The government is reluctant to reschedule.
Some information from Reuters was used in this report.
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UAE Reverses Visa Ban on Nigeria, Signs Billion-Dollar Investment Deal, President Says
Nigerians are praising the lifting of a visa ban by the United Arab Emirates following a meeting in Abu Dhabi this week between President Bola Tinubu and United Arab Emirates President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Nigerian authorities also secured an investment deal worth billions of dollars, according to the presidency.
Nigerian presidential spokesperson Ajuri Ngelale said Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates have established a framework for investments worth billions of dollars across multiple sectors, including defense and agriculture.
Speaking to Lagos-based Channels Television, Ngelale said the pact also resulted in the immediate lifting of a visa ban imposed by the UAE in October 2022.
“What we’ve done today is to not only normalize relations but then to add new dimensions to that relationship or partnership that are mutually beneficial to both nations,” he said. “And I think as we move forward, the details of those investments will become clear.”
The UAE imposed the visa ban on Nigeria in connection with a number of diplomatic disputes.
Dubai’s Emirates airline also suspended flight operations to Nigeria over Abuja’s inability to send the UAE an estimated $85 million in revenue that Dubai said had been blocked in the African nation. The monies could not be repatriated due to dollar shortages.
Additionally, the UAE’s Etihad Airways stopped flights to Nigeria.
But Ngelale said Emirates and Etihad airlines are expected to resume operations immediately without any payment by the Nigerian government.
The spokesperson also said Tinubu successfully negotiated a new foreign exchange liquidity program with the UAE.
Nigerian experts such as economist Emeka Orji welcomed the president’s move as a step that could reverse negative economic trends.
“It should be a no-brainer for them to reverse it,” Orji said. “The major chunk of their tourism, whether it is education or for holidays, Nigeria would show up on the list of its major tourism income-earning countries.”
In a recent statement, the UAE’s official Emirates News Agency noted that its leader and Tinubu explored opportunities for further bilateral collaboration in areas that served the sustainable economic growth of both countries.
The statement, however, did not go into detail about the lifting of the visa ban on Nigerians and the resumption of flights.
Orji says there will be a positive impact.
“International relations between the two countries will likely lead to an increase in economic activity,” he said. “There may be some interest in investing in some sectors in Nigeria. That would be an obvious gain for Nigeria.”
For now, experts said they hope the new pact is fully implemented for both countries to benefit.
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Botswana Blasts Hunting Critic, Says Elephant Killings Are Negligible
The Botswana government responded to criticism from an anti-hunting activist, saying the number of elephants legally killed by hunters since the lifting of a hunting ban in 2019 is negligible.
South Africa-based activist Adam Cruise recently published a report titled “Trophy Hunting in Botswana: a tale of declining wildlife, corruption, exploitation and impoverishment.”
In it, Cruise, who is among the leading campaigners pushing for a ban on trophy hunting, said that the killing of elephants and other large animals threatens Botswana’s wildlife.
Additionally, he said that hunting impoverishes communities because they do not benefit from revenue generated from the sport.
Thato Raphaka, permanent secretary in Botswana’s Ministry of Environment and Tourism, described Cruise’s report as malicious and misleading. Raphaka, in a statement, said that the allotment of hunted animals is approved by international conservation body CITES, and that the number of elephants killed compared to the overall elephant population is negligible.
Elephants are considered an endangered species, but protection measures have allowed their numbers to grow in southern Africa. A recent census of the Kavango Zambezi Trans-frontier Conservation Area, or KAZA, found that nearly 230,000 elephants live in the five-country protected zone.
About 130,000 of the elephants live in Botswana.
Isaac Theophilus, the chief executive of the nonprofit Botswana Wildlife Producers Association, supported the government’s stance, saying, “Botswana is a free and democratic country capable of managing her own resources without outside interference.”
He said that the country manages its resources, including wildlife, for economic development and to improve the people’s livelihoods.
“It is not by chance that the country has so many wildlife resources roaming around,” Theophilus said.
International hunters can currently buy licenses to shoot about 300 elephants in Botswana per season. Theophilus said that number is reasonable.
“The hunting quota for elephants, which has been less than [the] 400 [that] CITES approved, is very conservative,” he said. “Based on recently released KAZA aerial survey results, the quota is less than 0.003% of the population. Any scientist can tell you that this is an extremely conservative quota.”
Conservationist Map Ives said that the government conducted countrywide consultations prior to reintroducing the sport in 2019, and that the majority of the population supported trophy hunting.
“The number of elephants hunted are of course negligible compared to those being born,” Ives said. “I don’t know if that argument holds any water. What I do know is that in a democracy, which Botswana is clearly a democracy, most of the people support hunting, based probably on a historical culture.”
Ives said he doubts that the debate over trophy hunting will go away because of growing opposition in many Western countries, especially in Europe.
“The last outpost of hunting seemingly is here in southern Africa, where there is still a large number of elephants, for example, and there is still a number of people that get a great deal of pleasure from hunting,” he said.
Some western countries, including the United Kingdom and Germany, are pushing for a ban on legally harvested animal trophies from Africa.
A bill called the Hunting Trophies Import Prohibition is being debated before the U.K.’s House of Lords.
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Can African Union’s Permanent Membership in G20 Bring About Real Change?
In a historic move, the African Union has secured a permanent place in the Group of 20, also known as the G20, a development that could have major implications for Africa’s role in global geopolitics.
As the continent faces an array of challenges, ranging from climate change to political instability and economic inequality, experts disagree on how big an impact G20 membership will have as the AU joins 20 of the world’s largest economies.
Robert Besseling, chief executive officer of Pangea-Risk, an intelligence advisory group based in South Africa and Britain, told VOA it is more of a symbolic development than a substantive event.
“The AU seat at the G20 will be meaningless,” Besseling said, if the African body cannot react decisively to events that include “the spree of military coups and irregular elections that have set back Africa’s democratic trajectory in recent months.”
Seven African countries have experienced military-led coups since 2020, most recently Gabon and Niger, raising questions about political stability, the lack of which makes it harder to address pressing issues like terrorism and food shortages in many countries.
Dennis Matanda, adjunct professor of American politics and international business at Catholic University, told VOA English to Africa Service’s TV program “Africa 54” that Africa’s membership in the G20 could pay dividends.
“There is a real opportunity here for the African Union to come to the table. And that is a strength, and that is the opportunity,” he said. He added that “the significance here is that for the first time, the African Union is being juxtaposed with the European Union.”
Besseling, however, has doubts about the AU’s ability to act cohesively.
He also said the AU’s membership in the G20 is mainly driven by tensions on the world stage between competing alliances.
“The G20 is increasingly becoming a counterweight to the China-led BRICS, and the AU’s entry should be viewed in that same context of geopolitical rivalry,” Besseling said.
On a more positive note, Besseling said the AU’s entry into the G20 may help diversify global alliances and open new avenues for cooperation.
Matanda said it is time for African nations to defend their own interests and not be used to further the objectives of global powers.
“I think we need to stop thinking about what the other places want, what China wants, what Europe wants, and start the process of generating Africa’s own narrative,” Matanda said. “Africa, the African Union, needs to undertake a comprehensive assessment of its opportunities. And the primary opportunity here is the region’s development finance institutions.”
As the G20 evolves into a forum of considerable influence, the AU’s presence amplifies the continent’s voice within this arena, he said.
“If they’re going to have global capital playing in Africa, you need to come to the table with the best people who can actually control the finances and basically channel those resources to the opportunities that achieve the most effective impact for the region,” Matanda said. “And from that perspective, we need to remember that the African Union can be all it wants to be, but it needs to have more power.”
This story originated in the Africa Division. English to Africa’s Esther Githui-Ewart contributed to the report.
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Zambia President Hakainde Hichilema in China on State Visit
Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema is in China this week at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping. The state visit comes after much of Zambia’s debt to China and other countries was restructured in June through a $6.3 billion deal approved by the International Monetary Fund. Kathy Short reports from the Zambian capital, Lusaka. Camera: Richard Kille
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Thousands Feared Dead from Libya Floods
The death toll from flooding in eastern Libya could reach thousands, an official from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies told reporters Tuesday.
“The death toll is huge,” said Tamer Ramadan, head of the IFRC’s Libya delegation.
Ramadan said the agency confirmed from independent sources that there were 10,000 people missing.
Officials in eastern Libya said Monday that as many as 2,000 people were believed dead in the city of Derna.
The area was hit hard by torrential rains and flooding from Mediterranean Storm Daniel, causing dams to burst and entire neighborhoods to be washed away.
Video posted to social media showed streets turned to raging rivers in Derna as well as Benghazi, Sousse, Al Bayda and Al-Marj.
Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Spain Expands Morocco Earthquake Search Aid
Spain is sending more rescue teams to Morocco as search crews work to find any remaining survivors from a powerful earthquake that struck south of Marrakech on Friday.
Spain said late Monday it was adding teams with 31 specialists, 15 search dogs and 11 vehicles.
The Moroccan government said Monday the death toll had increased to at least 2,862 people, with another 2,500 people injured.
Komenan N’guessan Leon, an artist living in Morocco, told VOA that following the earthquake, many people have been sleeping outside amid fears of another quake.
“Now people sleep in the street, they go to the garden to sleep because they are afraid of—they think maybe the house can fall on them and they think maybe everything can begin again.”
Elisabeth Myers, a lawyer and North African political analyst who lives in Morocco, told VOA the earthquake collapsed complete villages and that landslides made many areas inaccessible.
“There’s a lot of devastation and a lot of people who are now just homeless,” Myers said. “They literally have nothing, just the clothes on their back when they ran out of those houses, the ones that survived.”
Myers highlighted the risks people will face with no shelter as seasonal weather changes take hold.
“After an incredibly hot summer, the nights are now beginning to be cooler, but I think the real the real danger is going to happen in another month or two when the weather gets cold and we still have people who are going to be homeless because there’s literally nowhere for them to go,” Myers said.
Emmanuel Victoire Ngapela and Carol Van Dam contributed to this report. Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters
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Malawi President Takes Steps Toward Eliminating Food Shortages
Malawi’s president has launched a large-scale crop production initiative known as “mega farms,” aimed at boosting the country’s agricultural-based economy and help end persistent food shortages.
Malawi has long faced food shortages at both national and domestic levels each year. This, despite various efforts to boost agricultural production, including the Targeted Inputs Program, in which farmers buy seed and fertilizer at cheaper prices.
According to a report last month from the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, 4.4 million Malawians, representing 22 percent of the country’s population, are facing food shortages. And the situation is expected to worsen from October to March 2024.
Speaking during the televised launch of a mega farm in northern Malawi over the weekend, President Lazarus Chakwera said the program aimed to improve the country’s foreign exchange reserves and make the country food sufficient.
“This approach is also a game changer for our economy as a whole, because most of our forex revenue comes from farming. But given the forex challenges we have faced in the recent past as a consequence of debt left behind by past administrations, it is clear that our long-term solution has to involve boosting and intensifying agriculture productivity for exports.”
Minister of Trade and Industry, Simplex Chithyola Banda, said the ministry has already found markets for produce from the mega farms.
He said in June of this year, the Malawi government agreed with a foreign bank to build industrial parks in the capital, Lilongwe, and also the commercial capital, Blantyre.
“The aim of these industrial parks is to engage in agro-processing and value addition. What it means is therefore the mega farms already have the markets to offtake their produce, and this will spell the boom of economic growth in this country,” said Banda.
Executive director of the Farmers Union of Malawi, Jacob Nyirongo, says he hopes the mega farm program will help solve challenges facing small-scale farmers, like access to markets.
“Mega farms can become anchor farms and integrate small–scale farmers in the business model. So, through that integration, small-scale farmers can have access to advisory services. They can have access to credit, But also, they can have access to a market,” Nyirongo said.
William Chanza, executive director of an independent agricultural policy think tank in Malawi known by the acronym MwAPATA (Malawi Agricultural Policy Advancement and Transformation Agenda), said authorities should make more room for private investors to make the mega farm model sustainable.
“As also make sure that we address some of the policy barriers to private sector engagement in agriculture, especially market and exported related issues, so that when they invest and produce, they are able to take commodities on the export market,” Chanza told VOA.
President Chakwera said 800 medium- and large-scale farmers have so far registered to grow various crops in over 63,000 hectares of land to be cultivated during this year’s growing season.
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ECOWAS Unity Put to Test as West African Coup Crisis Deepens
A series of coups in Western Africa is putting the unity and capability of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, to the test as it seeks to restore civilian rule in countries such as Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali and Niger. These four nations have joined forces to resist economic sanctions and potential military action by the other 11 countries within the bloc.
On July 26, the military junta in Niger placed President Mohamed Bazoum under house arrest, accusing his administration of mismanaging the country’s resources and allowing the security situation to deteriorate.
In response, ECOWAS imposed trade sanctions on Niger and even threatened military intervention.
But the ongoing political and security crises in Niger, as well as in Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali, are proving to be challenging for the other ECOWAS member countries.
Paul Melly, a consulting fellow of the Africa Program at Chatham House, says the coup leaders are not adhering to the established rules and engagement of the regional bloc.
“This series of coups, if you like, is a really serious blow to what had been ECOWAS’s greatest strength,” he said. “And the fact that the military regimes are defying the long-established ECOWAS tradition of collaboration in setting governance rules and in managing crises is a real threat a real challenge to the region’s unity.”
In 2017, ECOWAS garnered praise for its collective military action against Gambian President Yahya Jammeh, forcing him to step down after he lost an election to the current president, Adama Barrow.
Francis Mangeni, a regional integration expert, notes that the current situation is quite different, with some coups enjoying apparent support from the people.
“Now we’re having situations where it’s not that clear, where you have the people themselves apparently supporting the coups. So this introduces a certain element of complexity. So in other words, the legitimacy of the constitutionally elected government seems to be in question,” Mangeni said. “And this is an interesting thing really to say because if they are constitutional, they are supposed to be legitimate, but apparently the people don’t think so.”
African Union leaders have been slow to condemn heads of state who change constitutions to extend their terms and alter age limits to remain in power.
According to experts, the rise of military takeovers in Africa is due to leaders overstaying power, electoral malpractices, and elected leaders’ failure to work for the betterment of the citizens.
Aware of the challenges, Nigeria’s Senate advised President Bola Tinubu, who also heads ECOWAS, to explore alternative approaches to address the crisis in Niger.
Melly says that the affected coup countries now treat their crises as internal matters.
“The collaborative culture under which essentially all ECOWAS countries accepted that the internal problems of a member state were, in fact, also the business of the whole bloc, that has been seriously eroded, because they are not accepting the concept that ECOWAS as a whole has the right to become involved in managing their crises and moving them back towards constitutional rule. And that’s a very big change,” Melly said.
Mangeni says the region needs the support of other African countries to solve the problems of frequent coups and coup attempts.
“We need action at the AU level by the highest political organs of the AU with input from all stakeholders. We need real action to address this problem,” Mangeni said. “And this action, as I said, should come from a consultative, inclusive process. And then, we need the goodwill of the international community and all partners. Because, as I said, some of these problems are caused by interference by some of our partners who are pursuing their interests.”
The African Union has already suspended six countries where military forces seized power from civilians, including the four ECOWAS countries, plus Gabon and Sudan.
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Somali Regional MP Killed in al-Shabab Landmine Explosion
A Somali regional parliamentarian was among three people killed in a landmine explosion in the town of El Garas blamed on al-Shabab militants.
Local officials say Mohamed Mohamud, known as Mohamed Yare, was killed Monday in the explosion.
A local city councilor in the city of Dhusamareb, Abdullahi Ibrahim, and a civilian were also killed, regional Information Minister Abshir Abdi Sheikhow told VOA Somali.
“The incident happened after they stepped on the landmine planted by the terrorists, and they died there,” Sheikhow said. “When they [al-Shabab] were leaving the town they planted lots of landmines. The coalition forces conducted mine clearance but these officials took the wrong road and they met the explosion.”
The officials were accompanying Somali government and local forces who captured the town from al-Shabab early on Monday.
“We are in a war, we are prepared for that, things like this can happen,” Sheikhow said.
Sheikhow said Galmudug state leader Ahmed Abdi Karie was “not far” from the area of the explosion but is unharmed. He said the region’s parliament and the cabinet members were released from work so that they can take part in the ongoing offensive against al-Shabab.
Immediately after government troops captured El Garas, Karie, Somali National Intelligence and Security Agency chief Mahad Salad, and Somali Defense Minister Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur visited the town, state media reported.
On Sunday, Somali government forces repulsed an al-Shabab attack on a key base in the strategic town of Awdhegle in the Shabelle region. The Somali government and al-Shabab each said they inflicted heavy losses on the other.
It’s unclear if government forces will hold the town or vacate after the operation.
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Rescuers Search Morocco Rubble for Earthquake Survivors
Rescuers in Morocco searched Monday for any remaining survivors from the powerful earthquake that killed more than 2,100 people.
The government said search teams from Britain, Spain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates were joining the effort to dig through the rubble in villages in the Atlas Mountains.
The magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck Friday night, injuring more than 2,400 people in addition to the dead. The U.S. Geological Survey said the epicenter of the quake was 72 kilometers southwest of Marrakech.
The United Nations estimated that 300,000 people were affected by the quake, which was the most powerful to hit Morocco in a century. Rescue efforts were slow, and some Moroccans complained on social networks that the government wasn’t allowing more rescue workers into the country to help.
U.S. President Joe Biden told reporters Sunday that his administration stood ready to provide any necessary assistance to Morocco.
Those left homeless by the quake’s destruction slept outside for a third consecutive night Sunday.
King Mohammed VI ordered three days of national mourning starting Sunday as flags were lowered across the country. The army mobilized specialized search and rescue teams, and the king ordered water, food rations and shelter to be provided to those who lost their homes.
The king called for mosques across the kingdom to hold prayers Sunday for the victims, many of whom were buried Saturday amid the frenzy of rescue work nearby.
Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Zambian Film Focuses on Hardships Faced by Boy With Albinism
A 2022 film highlighting the plight of a person with albinism in Zambia is streaming on Netflix. “Can You See Us” is based on the true story of a boy who becomes a successful musician despite obstacles caused by his genetic condition. Kathy Short reports from Lusaka. VOA footage by Richard Kille.
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Somali Forces Retain Key Base Following Al-Shabab Attack
Somali government forces have repulsed an al-Shabab attack on a key military base in the southern Lower Shabelle region.
Hundreds of militants attacked government forces in the key town of Awdhegle on the bank of the Shabelle River early Sunday, officials said.
The attack sparked heavy fighting between al-Shabab fighters and government forces who have been controlling the town since August 2019 when they removed the militants.
Awdhegle is a strategic town where government forces protect a key bridge that officials say is key to preventing the smuggling of al-Shabab vehicles carrying explosives into the capital, Mogadishu.
Residents told VOA Somali that the militants “entered” parts of the base before government forces beat them back.
The governor of the region, Mohamed Ibrahim Barre, told VOA Somali that the militants used explosives in attacking the base.
“They attacked the town from two directions – the north and west,” he said.
“The fighting lasted for almost two hours.”
In a statement, the federal government of Somalia said more than 60 militants were killed. Government officials circulated video clips purportedly showing the bodies of alleged al-Shabab fighters killed in the fighting, but the number of bodies shown appeared to be smaller than the figure mentioned in the official statement.
Al-Shabab said it killed 59 government soldiers. The al-Shabab statement also acknowledged the loss of seven fighters. Casualty figures have not been independently verified.
Al-Shabab said Sunday’s incident was part of a “broader campaign of coordinated attacks” against government forces, and the fifth in two weeks.
One of those five attacks took place in the village of Cowsweyne in Galmudug state where dozens of government soldiers were killed on August 26. The attack forced government troops to retreat from a number of front-line towns in Galmudug.
Government forces repulsed militants in the other three incidents. On September 1, al-Shabab militants attacked the agricultural town of Qoryoley, west of Awdhegle, briefly entering it. Local forces regained full control after a 90-minute gun battle.
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Ethiopia Completes Filling of Nile Renaissance Mega-Dam
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced Sunday that Ethiopia has completed the filling of its Grand Renaissance Dam on the Nile, a source of regional tensions with downstream Egypt and Sudan.
“It is with great pleasure that I announce the successful completion of the fourth and final filling of the Renaissance Dam,” Abiy said in a message on X, formerly Twitter, which comes as negotiation between the three countries resumed August 27.
“There was a lot of challenge, we were many times dragged to go backwards. We had an internal challenge and external pressure. We’ve reached (this stage) by coping together with God,” he said.
“I believe that we will finish what we have planned next,” he said.
Considered vital by Addis Ababa, the massive $4.2-billion dam has been at the center of a regional dispute ever since Ethiopia broke ground on the project in 2011, with Egypt fearing it will slash its share of Nile water.
The current talks, which resumed after nearly two and a half years, aim to reach an agreement that “takes into account the interests and concerns of the three countries,” Egyptian irrigation minister Hani Sewilam said, urging “an end to unilateral measures.”
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Thousands Dead in Morocco Earthquake
A rare, powerful earthquake struck Morocco, sending people racing into the streets and toppling buildings in mountainous villages and ancient cities not built to withstand such force.
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Airstrike Aimed at Al-Shabab Extremists in Somalia Kills Civilians
An airstrike in a town in Somalia caused several casualties, including children, said residents and authorities, while three members of an al-Qaida-linked extremist group were killed.
The U.S. military in a statement Friday said, “Unfortunately, civilians were injured and killed” in the vicinity of a military operation by Somali forces in El-Lahelay village Wednesday.
The U.S. said that it evacuated injured civilians at the Somali government’s request, but that American forces had not conducted airstrikes or been at the scene of the operation.
The U.S. Africa Command did not respond to questions that included the number of civilians killed and injured. The United States for years has conducted airstrikes in support of Somali forces combating the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab group.
“The claim being spread by al-Shabab that U.S. forces caused the unfortunate harm to civilians is false,” the statement said. The U.S. in the past has acknowledged killing civilians with airstrikes.
Accounts by witnesses and local authorities of Wednesday’s events varied.
Amal Ali, a relative, told The Associated Press that an airstrike targeted a vehicle belonging to al-Shabab when it was passing near the family home in El-Garas town in Galmudug state. A grandmother and five of her grandchildren were killed, she said.
The children’s father, Dahir Ahmed, in a brief phone call confirmed the incident but said he could not immediately give details.
“It was an American airstrike,” Abdifatah Ali Halane, secretary-general of the El-Garas administration, told the AP. “They’ve been providing crucial aerial support throughout our operations against extremists in Galmudug state.”
He said the airstrike killed three people, including two suspected members of al-Shabab, and injured five people, including four children.
Halane said Somali forces quickly came for the wounded, who were evacuated to the capital, Mogadishu, for medical treatment.
Somalia’s deputy information minister, Abdirahman Adala, told journalists that three al-Shabab members were killed in the operation by Somali forces. But he said extremists had placed explosive materials in a nearby home that killed civilians.
Somalia’s government last year launched what the president called “total war” on al-Shabab, which controls parts of rural central and southern Somalia and makes millions of dollars through “taxation” of residents and extortion of businesses.
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