KIGALI, Rwanda — Rwanda says it’s ready to receive migrants from the United Kingdom after British Parliament this week approved a long-stalled and controversial bill seeking to stem the tide of people crossing the English Channel in small boats by deporting some of them to the East African country.

There is even a place ready and waiting for the migrants — a refurbished Hope Hostel in the vibrant upscale neighborhood of Kagugu, an area of the Rwandan capital of Kigali that is home to many expats and several international schools.

The hostel once housed college students whose parents died in the 1994 genocide, this African nation’s most horrific period in history when an estimated 800,000 Tutsi were killed by extremist Hutu in massacres that lasted over 100 days.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has pledged the deportation flights would begin in July but has refused to provide details or say how many people would be deported.

Rwanda government’s deputy spokesperson Alain Mukuralinda told The Associated Press on Tuesday that authorities here have been planning for the migrants’ arrival for two years.

“Even if they arrive now or tomorrow, all arrangements are in place,” he said.

The plan was long held up in British courts and by opposition from human rights activists who say it is illegal and inhumane. It envisages deporting to Rwanda some of those who enter the U.K. illegally and migrant advocates have vowed to continue to fight against the plan.

The measure is also meant to be a deterrent to migrants who risk their lives in leaky, inflatable boats in hopes that they will be able to claim asylum once they reach Britain. The U.K. also signed a new treaty with Rwanda to beef up protections for migrants, and adopted new legislation declaring Rwanda to be a safe country.

“The Rwanda critics and the U.K. judges who earlier said Rwanda is not a safe country have been proven wrong,” Mukuralinda said. “Rwanda is safe.”

The management at the four-story Hope Hostel says the facility is ready and can accommodate 100 people at full capacity. The government says it will serve as a transit center and that more accommodations would be made available as needed.

Thousands of migrants arrive in Britain every year.

After they arrive from Britain, the migrants will be shown to their rooms to rest, after which they will be offered food and given some orientation points about Kigali and Rwanda, said hostel manager Ismael Bakina.

Tents will be set up within the hostel’s compound for processing their documentation and for various briefings. The site is equipped with security cameras, visible across the compound.

Within the compound are also entertainment places, a mini-soccer field, a basketball and a volleyball court as well as a red-carpeted prayer room. For those who want to light up, “there is even a smoking room,” Bakina explained.

Meals will be prepared in the hostel’s main kitchen but provisions are also being made for those who want to prepare their own meals, he said. The migrants will be free to walk outside the hostel and even visit the nearby Kigali city center.

“We will have different translators, according to (their) languages,” Bakina added, saying they include English and Arabic.

The government has said the migrants will have their papers processed within the first three months. Those who want to remain in Rwanda will be allowed to do so while authorities will also assist those who wish to return to their home countries.

While in Rwanda, migrants who obtain legal status — presumably for Britain — will also be processed, authorities have said, though it’s unclear what that means exactly.

For those who choose to stay, Mukurilinda said Rwanda’s government will bear full financial and other responsibilities for five years, after which they will be considered integrated into the society.

At that point, they can start managing on their own.
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GENEVA — The United Nations says Sudan’s warring parties appear headed toward major clashes in the northern Darfur city of El Fasher, home to 2 million people and about a half-million internally displaced.

The office of the spokesperson for the U.N. secretary-general said in a statement Friday that “The Rapid Support Forces [RSF] are reportedly encircling El Fasher, suggesting a coordinated move to attack the city may be imminent. Simultaneously, the Sudanese Armed Forces [SAF] appear to be positioning themselves.”

The statement said the secretary-general’s personal envoy, Ramtane Lamamra, is working with the parties to de-escalate tensions in El Fasher.

At least 43 people, including women and children, reportedly have been killed in fighting in the northern Darfur city since April 14 when the RSF, backed by its allied militia, began a push to gain control of the city, the SAF’s last remaining stronghold in Sudan’s Darfur region.

Earlier, a spokesperson for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk urged the parties to immediately halt violence in and around El Fasher.

Speaking from the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, Seif Magango warned that the fight for El Fasher, already raging outside the city for several weeks, may be taking a turn for the worse. 

“Reports indicate that both parties have launched indiscriminate attacks using explosive weapons with wide-area effects, such as mortar shells and rockets fired from fighter jets, in residential districts,” the spokesperson said. “Since early April, the RSF has conducted several large-scale attacks on the villages in western El Fasher mostly inhabited by the African Zaghawa ethnic community,” he said, noting that several Zaghawa villages have been burned down.

“Such attacks raise the specter of further ethnically motivated violence in Darfur, including mass killings,” he said.

Last year, fighting and attacks between the Rizeigat and the African Masalit communities in West Darfur left hundreds of civilians dead or injured, and thousands displaced from their homes.

The earlier Darfur conflict that erupted in 2003 between Arab and non-Arab communities killed at least 200,000 people and left a deadly legacy of mines and explosive remnants of war, which continue to wreak havoc on communities long after that war ended.

The new war between rival factions of Sudan’s military that broke out last year has left more than 18 million people facing acute food insecurity and uprooted nearly 9 million from their homes.

OHCHR spokesperson Magango said civilians trapped in El Fasher are afraid they will be killed if they try to flee the city.

“This dire situation is compounded by a severe shortage of essential supplies as deliveries of commercial goods and humanitarian aid have been heavily constrained by the fighting, and delivery trucks are unable to freely transit through RSF-controlled territory,” he said.

High Commissioner Türk is urging both parties to the conflict and their allies to grant civilians safe passage to other areas and allow safe and unhindered humanitarian aid to reach civilians in dire need.

For his part, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has reiterated his call on all warring parties “to refrain from fighting in the El Fasher area,” warning of devastating consequences for the civilian population that is “in an area already on the brink of famine.”
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For some African communities, the road to food security is traveled best by tractor. A company called Hello Tractor, supported by non-profit Heifer International, is enabling poor, smallholding farmers to rent or buy mechanized farm equipment that is helping them increase their productivity and profits. Mohammed Yusuf reports from the town of Rabuor in western Kenya.
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Abuja, Nigeria — Thursday, April 25, marked World Malaria Day, a day to mark progress against the deadly disease. In Nigeria, that progress is being threatened by soaring drug costs caused by inflation, a poor exchange rate and the exit of pharmaceutical companies. Nigeria accounts for 27 percent of the global malaria burden – the highest in the world.

Two months ago, Abuja resident Damian Gaau came down with fever. He immediately suspected malaria and went to a local clinic for treatment.

But he says the price of his regular anti-malarial medicine had more than doubled.

“Before, I can use a little amount of money to get some drugs to care for my malaria but now, everything is cost [expensive] even to get medicine is not easy, for you to get medicine you age to take half of your salary before you get drugs to treat yourself,” said Gaau.

Gaau says to get the care he needed, he had to forgo other necessities.

“The increase of the medicine has cost me a lot, like I have to cut down some of my expenses to get some drugs for myself, even to buy food, clothes, all those kinds of stuff I have to cut down from there to get my medicine,” said Gaau.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says Africa accounted for about ninety five percent of malaria cases and deaths globally in 2021. That year, Nigeria reported 194,000 deaths from the mosquito-borne disease, more than any other country.

Health experts say pregnant women and children younger than five are most at risk of the disease and access to affordable treatment and poverty are some of the reasons malaria cases are high.

“What has driven up all the prices is the exchange rate. Almost 70 percent of medicines we use in this country are imported if not more. Most of the pharmaceutical companies working in Nigeria, some of them are closing up and leaving so that means the foreign exchange component is very high so if the dollar to Naira ratio is not favorable, it will drive up this cost which is what’s going on,” said Orji.

Last year, Nigeria’s health ministry said the economic burden of malaria in the country will increase from $1.6 billion to $2.8 billion by 2030.

Like most commodities, the cost of anti-malarial drugs has gone through the roof in recent months amid Nigeria’s growing cost of living crisis, fueled by the withdrawal of fuel subsidy payments and currency control measures.

Nigerian authorities say they’re working to address the rising cost of medicine, but Orji says there are other factors.

“There are a lot of interventions government has actually put in place but unfortunately the implementation is so poor that Nigerians are still suffering,” said Orji. “The only one that is working, not so well but at least working, is the National Health insurance scheme. What we should also pay attention [to] is our population. Our population is galloping in a way that whatever economic sense we’re making will not make any sense.”

As Nigerian health officials marked World Malaria Day under the theme “Accelerate the fight against malaria for a more equitable world,” progress against the disease is under threat, leaving many people like Damian Gaau more vulnerable.

 
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COTONOU, Benin — Benin, Liberia and Sierra Leone launched large-scale malaria vaccine programs on Thursday under an Africa-focused initiative that hopes to save tens of thousands of children’s lives per year across Africa.

The three West African countries are the latest to participate after successful rollouts of routine malaria immunization for children in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya and Malawi, the global vaccine alliance GAVI said in a statement.

The World Health Organization-approved vaccine is meant to work alongside existing tools such as bed nets to combat malaria, which in Africa kills nearly half a million children under the age of 5 each year.

“This introduction … will help save lives and offer relief to families, communities and hard-pressed health systems,” said Aurelia Nguyen, GAVI chief program officer.

Benin has 215,900 doses of the vaccine, which will be available to children from around 5 months old, according to GAVI.

Sierra Leone has 550,000 doses and neighboring Liberia has 112,000 doses, it said.

At the official launch in Benin, which took place in the town of Allada, some 54 kilometers from the country’s largest city, Cotonou, 25 children received the vaccine.

“I came to have my children vaccinated against malaria. It’s important to me because when children get this malaria disease, we spend a lot of money,” said Victoire Fagbemi, a 41-year-old mother of four.

Another mother, Victoire Boko, who had her 10-month-old child vaccinated at the launch, said the health minister’s explanations about the vaccine in the local Fon language had allayed any anxieties she had about its safety. “When I get home, I will share the information … with my neighbors and friends,” she said on the sidelines of the launch.

The African region is home to 11 countries that carry approximately 70% of the global burden of malaria, according to GAVI.
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Goma, DR Congo — In the eastern reaches of the Democratic Republic of Congo, women entrepreneurs in Goma continue to catch the eye of the business world, thanks to their creativity and resilience. Thirty-year-old Deborah Nzarubara is one of Central Africa’s pioneers of beekeeping, repeatedly recognized worldwide for the quality of her honey and its contribution to environmental preservation.

Armed with courage and the desire to face down the myth that women and bees can’t cohabitate, she’s become a world-renowned beekeeper.

When she was growing up, she says, she loved just looking at bees. People used to tell her that a woman couldn’t be a beekeeper because if she tried to keep the bees, they’d leave. It wasn’t true.

For Nzarubara, the first step in changing the game was to create an association to raise awareness about the environmental value of bee protection, and then build a business around it.

When she saw that she was starting to produce a lot for her association, she says, the idea of setting up a business came to her. Today, with her company, Green Community Mind, or GRECOM, she sells honey and beeswax, transforms honey into ointments and organizes training courses for aspiring beekeepers.

More than 1,500 beekeepers have already been trained by GRECOM, including some 100 women such as Rehema Mapendo, who now feeds her family thanks to beekeeping.

Today, she says, she has at least eight hives from which she harvests honey. Selling it helps her pay school fees and meet other household needs.

Emmanuel Ndimwiza, an environmental expert, points out the vital ecological importance of bees, suggesting that Congolese lawmakers introduce legislation to protect the increasingly endangered species.

He says that bees play a major role in pollination, because without bees, you can’t have fruit. In pollination, bees move from flower to flower, fertilizing plants. Today, if bees were to disappear, as Albert Einstein once said, humanity would only have to wait four years before being definitively destroyed.

In recent years, GRECOM has won numerous continental and worldwide awards for its performance.
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nairobi, kenya — About 1,300 delegates and 400 companies participated in the fourth American Chamber of Commerce summit in Nairobi, Kenya, where Kenya’s president William Ruto says his country is ready for business — and means business.

“The 2024 summit’s theme — catalyzing the future of U.S. East Africa Trade and Investment intentionally — draws on the previous edition to develop a strategic platform for commercial advocacy, which will strengthen bilateral trade between Kenya and the U.S., as well as between our region and the U.S.,” said Ruto.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo participated in this year’s summit — which ended Thursday — saying it’s not enough to state the intentions of the United States to invest more and collaborate with Kenya.

“You also have to show up and that’s why I am here,” she said. “And when we show up, we also have to listen and learn.”

Raimondo announces US-Kenya partnership

In her first official trip to East Africa, Raimondo reiterated President Joe Biden’s December 2022 message that the U.S. is all-in on Africa. To that end, she said she traveled with 14 members of the President’s Advisory Council on doing business in Africa.

“Africa has changed the narrative and the companies that are here today know that,” said Raimondo. “And they reflect the optimism and the commitment from the U.S. business community about the opportunities in Kenya and across the continent.”

Raimondo also announced a partnership “to harness artificial intelligence, facilitate data flows and empower digital upskilling with Kenya.”

The partnership, she said, is the first of its kind with an African nation to promote the safe development and deployment of AI. In addition, seven private-sector deals on digital transformation and commitments were made involving companies including the NBA, CISCO, Pfizer, and Qualcomm.

Two new grants by the U.S. Trade and Development Agency were announced to expand semiconductor fabrication in Kenya and the construction of a fiber network along the railways.

Rebecca Miano, Kenya’s cabinet secretary with the Ministry of Investments, Trade, and Industry, told participants that Kenya should be a destination for investors and not only because of its young, educated and innovative workforce.

“We also have a green story: decarbonizing the world,” Miano said. “Kenya is a key player.”

Miano said that up to 95 percent of the electricity consumed in Kenya is renewable.

“We have a target to make it 100% in the next few years,” she said.

Summit explores tech, climate, energy

The two-day AmCham summit brought together businesses to stimulate commercial opportunities, said Maxwell Okello, CEO of AmCham Kenya.

This year’s summit focused on key areas such as the tech space, climate action and green energy, said Okello.

“I am sure you’ve walked around and seen the pavilion under the title ‘Digital Transformation Africa,’ which brings together technology ecosystems both Kenyan but American as well,” said Okello. “Secondly, we have shone the light on … matters related to climate action and green business because we know we need to be green as we are moving forward.”

Out of 400 companies at the event, Wandia Gichuru, CEO of Vivo Fashion Group, got a special shout-out from U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Meg Whitman, who said she was wearing a top made by Gichuru’s apparel company.

“We were very excited, not only she was wearing something Vivo, but she also made the announcement that we would be opening our very first U.S. store in Atlanta this May,” said Gichuru. “… and we hope that the ambassador and our president will visit the store while they are in the U.S. for the state visit in May.”

President Ruto is set to visit the United States next month in the first state visit since he was elected.
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Victorian dress was forcibly imposed on Namibia’s indigenous ǂNūkhoe women by German colonizers in the late 1800s. Despite the origins, these styles persist today as a symbol of resilience. Lee Garises reports from Windhoek, Namibia. Camera: Jesaya Abraham
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Juba, South Sudan — South Sudanese farmers who have relied on United Nations agencies operating in that country now say they are afraid of losing a ready market for their produce should the U.N. follow through on its threat to scale down operations in the world’s youngest nation. This comes after the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom expressed concerns about Juba’s decision to impose taxes on some commodities purchased by the U.N.

The United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in South Sudan — UNMISS — has already scaled down its security operations in South Sudan.

U.N. Special Representative of the Secretary-General in South Sudan Nicholas Haysom says Juba’s move to enforce taxes on various services offered by the U.N. in South Sudan will lead to severe consequences, including cuts in aid and other humanitarian support.

“Our concern is that the authorities have blocked our fuel, and we are unable to implement our mandate, including important elements, which affect and support South Sudanese — including the delivery of aid and food to vulnerable communities,” he said.

A joint statement by the United States, Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom accused Juba of imposing taxes on a range of approvals and fees, contrary to international practice and to South Sudanese laws. These include the E-Petroleum Accreditation Permit, customs charges, the electronic cargo tracking note, the laboratory test on food rations, and the security escort fee.

The U.N. warns this move has forced them to scale down operations in South Sudan, including security patrols, as a direct response to the action.

“We have reached an agreement that the blocking of these vehicles is unlawful, and that they should be released as soon as possible,” Haysom said.

He warned that the ripple effect will be felt far and wide. So far, more than 60-thousand people are losing access to health services after the U.N. stopped airdrop exercises.

South Sudan relies heavily on the U.N. for humanitarian aid.

Amos Valerio is the chairperson of the Gitikiri farmer cooperative in Western Equatoria state that supports local farmers by connecting them with a ready market. One of their key markets is the World Food Program, which has been buying farm produce from local farmers and then taking this food to millions of South Sudanese in refugee camps across the country.

“The fear we have right now is that if the U.N. withdraws from South Sudan, we will not have any partner again,” Valerio said. “We encourage the government to restore the U.N. to continue helping farmers and to continue with their activities in South Sudan.”

Louise Wilson Mbiro, a farmer from Gitikiri Boma in Western Equatoria state, said she fears losing her biggest buyer of maize seeds.

If the WFP leaves, farmers will not be able to sell the products they have already produced and those they were going to produce, she said, adding that the WFP’s presence and support encouraged farmers to produce more. 

Before the WFP started buying their seeds, Mbiro said life was very difficult, and she could only sell one kilogram of maize at 5,000 South Sudanese pounds, which was not helping at all.

But when WFP came, she said farmers could sell all their products at once, and get money in bulk, which was something that never used to happen. Currently, Mbiro said, she can sell 35 bags, and make 1 million South Sudanese pounds.

Albino Akol Atak, South Sudan’s minister of humanitarian assistance and disaster management, said the government is trying to find a way to remove the taxes on the U.N. 

“We are considering that as the contribution of [the] government of South Sudan to what they [the U.N.] are doing is exempt. Their operations including importation of some humanitarian asserts and any other equipment that are to be used to deliver services to the people of South Sudan.”

Akol Atak said the exemption is part of the government’s contribution to humanitarian assistance to its people. 

But the U.N. says its fuel trucks are still being held up at various depots and the border.

Unless the vehicles are released, Haysom said in a statement, the U.N. will stop most of its activities in South Sudan, including the support for vulnerable communities like refugees.

The U.N. currently plays a leading role in ensuring stability in South Sudan as the country gears up for its first-ever general election in December.
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WASHINGTON — The United States will send a delegation to Niger on Thursday to begin face-to-face talks with officials in Niamey on withdrawing the more than 1,000 American personnel in the military-ruled country.

Niger has been a key base for regional counter-terrorism operations, but the government — a military junta that ousted the country’s president last year — said in March it was ending a military cooperation agreement with Washington.

The United States said it had agreed to remove its troops last week and would send a delegation to Niamey within days.

As part of ongoing negotiations, U.S. Ambassador to Niger Kathleen FitzGibbon and a senior military officer for U.S. Africa Command, Major General Ken Ekman, will meet with ruling government representatives on April 25 “to initiate discussions on an orderly and responsible withdrawal of U.S. forces from Niger,” the State Department said Wednesday.

Other Defense Department officials will conduct follow-up meetings in Niamey next week, and Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell will travel there “in the coming months to discuss ongoing collaboration in areas of joint interest,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

He said the United States is proud of the security cooperation and “shared sacrifice” of U.S. and Nigerien forces, and that it contributed to stability in the region.

But since discussions began last year with the ruling National Committee for Safeguarding the Homeland (CNSP), “we have been unable to reach an understanding with the CNSP to continue that security cooperation in a manner that addresses the needs and concerns of each side,” Miller said.

This week U.S. officials said there have not yet been changes to troop levels in Niger, a linchpin in the U.S. and French strategy to combat jihadists in West Africa and the location of a $100 million American drone base.
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Nairobi, Kenya — The Kenyan government is threatening to withhold the salaries and union remittances of striking doctors after failing to reach an agreement with doctors’ union. 

“We will be asking our counsel to appeal to the court to review the orders that had been issued initially so that we are allowed to take the necessary action to ensure that Kenyans continue to enjoy health care services,” said Susan Nakhumicha, Kenya’s is cabinet secretary for health, after three days of negotiations.

Led by the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union, the doctors went on strike on March 15 to demand a commitment from the government to fulfill collective bargaining agreements signed in 2017. The work stoppage has paralyzed medical services in public hospitals across the country.

The government said it has addressed all issues raised by the medics — except for the salary of intern doctors — which union officials say is the deal breaker. 

“We are not at any point going to support exploitation of workers, we are not at any point going to support wage-slavery,” said Davji Atellah, the secretary-general of KMPDU. “Because we know that our vulnerable members, the intern doctors, once they are touched, once they are exploited, the next step would be the doctors working in the hospital; the next step will be the consultants. If you violate a document that is legal, like collective bargaining agreement, the part of doctor interns, which part of it is safe?” 

Lucianne Odiero, a final year medical student at the University of Nairobi, said the government’s move to reduce intern doctors’ salary is demoralizing. 

“The 70,000 shillings does not reflect the significant investment and research that interns have put in in their training and practice,” said Odiero. “And that just goes to show that the government does not really value and does not prioritize health care in the country.” 

Seventy thousand shillings equals about $520 per month. 

The ongoing strike has severely disrupted health services in public hospitals. The situation has been compounded by a strike by clinical and laboratory workers.

The strikes haver left patients such as Conceptor Oginga in Nakuru County struggling to access care from expensive private hospitals, leading to worsening chronic illnesses and even death. 

“The doctors’ strike is really bad because it has really affected a lot of people, especially people who are not able to support themselves financially,” said Oginga. “Like currently I’m sick and I’m unable to go to the hospital…the only thing I have managed to do is buy medicine over the counter.” 

Oginga said her friend lost a baby during birth because of the walkout. She appealed to the government to end the stalemate. 

“My message to the government is to just try to have a dialogue with the doctors so that they can have a common ground and they can go back to doing their job so that not so many people will be suffering the way they are suffering right now,” she said. 

Kenya’s health sector, which medical experts say is underfunded and understaffed, has seen a number of strikes over the years. A previous walkout in 2017 lasted 100 days. 

Patients such as Oginga said they hope a lasting solution is found soon. 
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Harare, Zimbabwe  — The annual report released Wednesday by Amnesty International paints a dismal picture of human rights repression and international rule-breaking worldwide, all in the midst of deepening global inequality and an escalating climate crisis.

In the report, Amnesty had a rare note of commendation for Zimbabwe, praising the government for enacting the Children’s Amendment Act of 2023, which criminalizes marriages of people under the age of 18. 

But Lucia Masuka, head of Amnesty International in Zimbabwe, still had many critical things to say about President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government. 

“We are mainly concerned with the issue of repression of dissent, which we noted, which was characterized by the severe restrictions in freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, particularly during the election period,” said Masuka. “We are also concerned with the cases that are lost after the (2023) elections, cases of abductions, torture and in some cases, you know, killings where the perpetrators are not apprehended or brought to account.” 

Rights groups have harshly criticized Zimbabwe for human rights abuses for decades, going back at least to the early 2000s, when the government of then-President Robert Mugabe engaged in alleged election rigging and forced thousands of white commercial farmers off their land. 

Farai Muroiwa Marapira, spokesman for the ruling ZANU-PF party, disputes Amnesty International’s conclusions about Zimbabwe, saying the agency releases its reports “not based on facts, not based on merit, but based on agendaism.

“We really do not have much respect for what they have to say, because they do not speak from a point of impartiality, they do not speak from a point of objectivity, and we cannot serve our people and our nation at the same time and attend to agendarists,” said Marapira. “So, they are free to say what they want as usual, we will tell them what to do of it.” 

President Mnangagwa’s government has rejected all criticism of the way the 2023 elections were conducted, despite critical reports from organizations such as the Southern African Development Community. 

In a presentation of Amnesty’s report, Deprose Muchena, a senior director in the rights group, touched on several other African crises.  

Muchena noted that the conflict in Sudan has led to a major displacement internally. According to the United Nations, more than 9 million people have been internally displaced since April 2023, making Sudan the largest displacement crisis in the world.

“Up to 1.8 million people are now refugees in neighboring countries, such as Chad, South Sudan, and Egypt,” said Muchena. “The catastrophic humanitarian crisis is now approaching famine proportions as many people watch.”  

He also noted the chronic human rights crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where violence has forced millions of people from their homes, and the effects of conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region. War broke out in the Tigray region in November 2020 between the federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, the party that dominated the region. The war lasted two years. 

“Survivors and victims of this war in Ethiopia have faced horrendous human rights violations and neglect by Ethiopian authorities despite their persistent calls for justice,” said Muchena. “After the guns were silenced in the Tigray region in 2022, two other armed conflicts in Oromia and Amara region continue to rage.”

Women in Ethiopia, he said, “continue to bear the ultimate brunt of this conflict in violation. In addition to conflict-related sexual violence faced by tens of thousands of women, we are seeing harmful practices such as abduction for marriage, which are putting Ethiopia at risk. Ethiopia remains another forgotten crisis.” 

The report also warned that the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence worldwide — and the disinformation that AI helps spread — could lead to further breakdowns in the international rule of law.  

Some information for this report was provided by the Reuters news agency.
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Geneva — A new analysis of the state of global hunger finds conflict, climate change, and economic shocks are driving an increasing number of people into acute hunger, jeopardizing gains made over previous years in achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development goal of ending hunger by 2030.

Published Wednesday, the 2024 Global Report on Food Crisis finds 281.6 million people, or 21.5% of populations analyzed in 2023, faced high levels of acute insecurity in 59 food-crisis countries and territories. 

“When we talk about acute food insecurity, we are talking about hunger so severe that it poses an immediate threat to people’s livelihoods and lives,” said Dominique Burgeon, director of the Food and Agriculture Organization, or FAO, in Geneva. 

“This is hunger that threatens to slide into famine and cause widespread death,” he said. “The report also tells us that 60% of children experiencing acute malnutrition live in the 10 countries facing the highest levels of acute food insecurity.” 

Gaza

The report says, “Food crises escalated alarmingly in conflict hotspots” in 2023, notably in Gaza and Sudan. It says at the end of the year, the Gaza Strip became the severest food crisis in its reporting history.

“The situation in Gaza is extremely worrying. We all know that we are getting closer by the day to a famine situation,” said Gian Carlo Cirri, World Food Program director in Geneva. 

“Malnutrition among children is spreading. We estimate 30% of children below the age of two are acutely malnourished or wasted [underweight for height] and 70% of the population in the North is facing catastrophic hunger. 

“There is reasonable evidence that all three famine thresholds — food insecurity, malnutrition, and mortality — will be passed in the next six weeks,” he said, noting that people in Gaza cannot meet their most basic food needs, having exhausted all coping strategies and largely reduced to selling belongings to buy food. 

“They are most of the time destitute and clearly some of them are dying of hunger,” he said, adding that “when we declare a famine, it is too late. We have already lost a huge number of people.” 

Courtney Blake, senior humanitarian adviser for the U.S. Mission in Geneva, told journalists that senior government officials in Washington have clearly stated that more needs to be done to mitigate this situation. 

“Israel needs to provide unimpeded access to both northern and southern Gaza in order to reverse the fast-paced deterioration of the food situation and prevent the loss of life due to starvation, acute malnutrition and disease outbreaks,” she said. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denied people are starving in Gaza and has blamed Hamas for the lack of humanitarian aid entering the occupied territory. 

Sudan

The FAO’s Burgeon said Sudan is facing a hunger crisis and requires immediate action to stop the rapid deterioration of the food security situation in the country. 

“We have about 18 million people who are in acute food insecurity … and we have about 5 million people who are in IPC 4 [Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, which means] one step away from famine, and nine out of 10 of these people … are in the current hotspots of Darfur, Kordofan, Al Jazirah, and Khartoum. 

“What is very concerning for us is that the bulk of those people depend on agriculture for their livelihoods,” said Burgeon. “We are a couple of weeks away from the planting season; it is absolutely critical that wherever it will be possible to access people, we provide them with agriculture input on time so they can plant their fields.” 

Children worldwide

Stefano Fedele, global nutrition cluster coordinator at UNICEF Geneva, notes 36.4 million children under age 5 in 32 countries in crisis are acutely malnourished and 9.8 million are severely acutely malnourished and in urgent need of treatment. 

“These children are at increased risk of dying,” he said. “And even if they recover from malnutrition, they are likely to not meet their full cognitive or developmental potential, which obviously has a critical impact on the individual level, but also in terms of potential development of a country.”
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Gaborone, Botswana — Botswana says it has rejected a proposal to accept asylum-seekers from the United Kingdom, an arrangement similar to the one Rwanda has agreed to.

The UK’s House of Lords on Monday passed a bill that will see migrants deported to Rwanda in a move condemned by human rights activists and the United Nations.

In Botswana this week, an umbrella of civil society organizations urged the government to reject proposals from the U.K. to send thousands of migrants to the African nation.

Botswana’s minister for foreign affairs, Lemogang Kwape, told VOA that U.K. officials had reached out, but authorities in Gaborone would not commit to “hosting people not knowing what the end game would be.”

Kutlwano Relontle, is the program manager for the Botswana coalition, the Universal Periodic Review NGO Working Group.

Relontle said the groups called on the government of Botswana “and other countries to distance themselves from this controversial U.K. program, which appears to be aimed at protecting only some of those who are fleeing their countries on the basis of fear of persecution, and not others.”

“We noted that in the case of the conflict in Ukraine, those seeking asylum were fast-tracked into the system, and citizens even encouraged to host them in their homes,” Relontle said.

Relontle said the group also wants the U.K. government to respect international conventions on the treatment of asylum-seekers.

Officials in the U.K. said they want to put an end to asylum-seekers arriving in small boats, mostly from Asia and Africa.

Jonathan Portes, a professor of economics and public policy in the U.K., said under the Rwanda arrangement, some deserving asylum-seekers will be turned away. 

“There is a general view that the small boats crisis needs to be resolved, [as] that it is very dangerous and unacceptable for people to be arriving in such numbers across the channel, but that does not mean that the majority of the population want to send people, particularly people who would have a claim to refugee status, to Rwanda.”

Portes says it is not surprising that countries such as Botswana are turning down the controversial policy after it came under heavy criticism from the United Nations and activists.

“Frankly it will be highly unlikely for any other country to participate in this, both from a reputational and practical point of view,” Portes said. “I think frankly even the Rwandans, despite being offered really quite remarkably large sums of money by the U.K. government, are regretting or at the very least, having second thoughts about whether this policy is sensible.”

The policy was first initiated two years ago, but the U.K. Supreme Court ruled it unlawful, which halted deportation.

Following Monday’s passage of the bill, the U.K. is expected to start deporting asylum-seekers to Rwanda by mid-July.
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UNited Nations — Actor and U.N. Goodwill Ambassador Danai Gurira told diplomats Tuesday that finding a child to sexually abuse in a conflict zone can cost less than one dollar. She urged policymakers to curb the illicit flow of weapons as one way to prevent these crimes.

“Eighty cents. When was the last time you handled 80 cents?” the Zimbabwean American actor and playwright asked Security Council members.

“Paid for something that was all that it cost? It is not even enough to buy a packet of gum in this day and age, but it can buy you a child to rape at a so-called maison de tolérance in a camp for internally displaced people in Eastern DRC [Democratic Republic of Congo].”

The United Nations recorded 3,688 verified cases of rape, gang rape and abductions in conflict zones in 2023 — an increase of 50% over 2022. About 70% to 90% of such incidents involved small arms and light weapons. Nearly all the victims were women and girls. Many survivors of sexual violence do not come forward, so the U.N. says this is just a fraction of the real numbers.

“The actors committing sexual violence at such high rates in Sudan, the DRC, Ethiopia or Haiti are armed to the teeth, flagrantly violating arms embargoes,” an angry Gurira said. “We hear so much about disruptions to the global supply chain, but the weapons keep flowing.”

Women and young girls suffered from rape and sexual violence at the hands of at least 58 state and nonstate armed groups in 21 conflict areas around the world last year, Pramila Patten, the U.N. Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, told the council.

“We cannot condemn the perpetrators of sexual violence in our speeches while continuing to fund and arm them through our supply chains,” she said of the ease of access to weapons.

She said her office’s latest report highlights an “unprecedented level of lethal violence” used to silence rape survivors.

“In 2023, reports of rape victims being subsequently killed by their assailants surfaced in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Myanmar, demonstrating the need to strengthen forensic capabilities, investigations and accountability processes that ensure the protection of victims and witnesses,” Patten said.

She said those who assisted survivors often suffered retaliation.

“Armed actors threatened health care workers in Sudan, and reprisals against human rights defenders were reported in South Sudan, the DRC and elsewhere,” Patten said.

Niemat Ahmadi, founder and president of the Darfur Women Action Group, told the council that the year-old war between rival generals in Sudan has unleashed devastating suffering on women.

“Women and girls have been raped multiple times, sometimes in front of their fathers, husbands and sons in an effort to break their will and destroy their dignity,” she said. “These women and girls have no protection, no access to humanitarian or medical assistance, and nowhere to turn for help.”

She said with health care in a state of collapse and humanitarian aid obstructed, it is very difficult for survivors to access reproductive health and other critical services.

“We hear that there are less than a dozen obstetricians and gynecologists left working in Khartoum,” Ahmadi said. “Further, the fear of retaliation for speaking up has made it impossible for many survivors to come forward.”

Fears are growing of a new battle in Sudan’s war, with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) reportedly either close to El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur where their rival Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) are positioned, or already inside its eastern and northeastern neighborhoods. More than 800,000 civilians are in the city.

After the council meeting, Ahmadi told VOA that if an attack happens, the result will be “devastating atrocities,” because the people have nowhere to escape.

“I hope that policymakers, member states of the Security Council, the United States government, will take a step to exercise pressure over the warring parties to stop the attack on El Fasher and stop the attack in Sudan and Darfur everywhere, so vulnerable people can receive humanitarian assistance,” she said.

In the early 2000s, Darfur saw large-scale ethnic violence, crimes against humanity and genocide when Arab “Janjaweed” militias targeted the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic African groups. The Janjaweed fighters are part of the RSF.
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blantyre, malawi — Malawi and its development partners are trying something new to help the country’s most vulnerable women and girls get out of extreme poverty. Besides enhancing their socio-economic status, a new three-year program will strengthen their resilience to crises, shocks and disasters.

The U.N children agency, UNICEF, the European Union and the Irish government say more than 20% of Malawi’s 19.6 million people live in extreme poverty.

They said Tuesday women head over 75% of all families living in poverty amid violence and harmful practices that undermine their participation in economic activities.

The new Gender Empowerment and Resilience program is expected to benefit more than 500,000 people in nine districts, giving them access to social services and cash transfers.

The districts are Mzimba, Ntcheu, Balaka, Chikwawa, Mulanje, Mwanza, Neno, Nsanje and Zomba.

Shadrack Omol, UNICEF representative in Malawi, said experience has shown that parents and caregivers need to be supported with livelihoods and resources to support their children.

“That’s why this program is extremely important because through this program we will be working [with] parents,” Omol said, “to support them to have the right livelihoods and incomes to support their children to grow to their full potential.”

About $26 million is being spent to tackle challenges that would help give Malawi women access to economic opportunities and essential social services.

Besides cash transfers, the program will help promote access to social behavior change, nutrition, early childhood development, sexual reproductive health and prevention of gender-based violence.

Jean Sendenza, minister of gender, community development and social welfare, said in a statement that Malawi has previously made progress in expanding social protections to reach more vulnerable people. However, she says significant gender gaps remain.

Eneless Pemba, executive director for Chikondi Girls Project in southern Malawi, said she welcomes the program but says similar interventions haven’t yielded results in the past. That’s because there has been a tendency to impose solutions without asking what people really want, Pemba said.

“We sometimes feel like a girl-child just wants money while there are a lot of issues happening,” Pemba said. “For example when you talk about mental health issues, a girl-child, maybe her parents are sick or they don’t have food at home like hunger we are facing in Malawi now.”

Pemba, whose project teaches girls how to make sanitary pads and other skills, says there is a need to encourage girls’ entrepreneurship skills to help her find food for the whole family.

“There are other small businesses she can do while in school, which can be sustainable for a long time rather than a project which can be there for a year and phase out,” Pemba said.

Maggie Kathewera-Banda, executive director of the Women’s Legal Resources Centre, says there still are some people who need more than resources to help lift themselves up.

“Much as we have empowerment programs, where people are supposed to have the skills so that they can move out of poverty, we still have some section of population which are so vulnerable to the extent that they cannot move out of poverty on their own, they need a booster,” Kathewera-Banda said. “So as a starting point, cash transfers offer such kind of a thing.”

Kathewera-Banda says the impact of some projects may not be seen or felt because they focus on small groups out of thousands of people facing poverty.

However, EU Ambassador to Malawi Rune Skinnebach and Irish Ambassador to Malawi Séamus O’Grady said in a statement the program will help create an enabling environment for Malawi women and girls to contribute meaningfully to their communities.
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Abuja, Nigeria — A high-level Africa counterterrorism summit opened Monday in Nigeria with hundreds of delegates from around the world. Africa has become the world’s epicenter of terrorism. Leaders at the summit hope to change that through regional cooperation and partnerships.

The summit was jointly hosted by Nigeria and the United Nations Office of Counter Terrorism (UNOCT) with the aim of strengthening regional security response and cooperation against acts of terror.

“Terrorism snaps at the very fabric of the prosperous and just society we seek to build for ourselves and our children,” Nigerian President Bola Tinubu said during remarks at the two-day summit in Abuja. “This violent threat seeks to frighten the farmer from his field, children from their schools, women from the marketplace and families from their very homes. We must therefore fight this threat together, combining determined national effort with well-tailored and regional and international collaboration.”

The summit seeks to enhance intelligence sharing among African nations and promote African-led strategies on counterterrorism.

Authorities say it will also serve as a guide to the international community’s collective response to terrorism in Africa.

Terrorism and violent extremism are spreading at an alarming rate in Africa. According to a new study by the African Center for Strategic Studies, acts of terror increased by more than 100,000% in the last two decades despite local and foreign intervention.

The report says more than 23,000 people were killed in Africa last year — a 20% increase compared to 2022.

Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo says fighting terrorism goes beyond a country’s borders.

“The evolving nature of terrorism demands a dynamic and coordinated response that transcends national borders and individual efforts,” Akufo-Addo said. “These groups are exploiting grievances, vulnerabilities and are manipulating ideologies to spread fear, division and chaos. We recognize the urgent need to combat this menace that continues to threaten the peace, security and development of our continent.”

Authorities say the threat of terrorism in Africa is exacerbated by the illicit arms trade, unemployment, poverty, inadequate policing, marginalization and political instability.

For more than a decade, Nigeria has struggled to stem the violence by Boko Haram and its splinter, ISWAP in the northeast.

And more recently, armed gangs known as bandits have been making matters worse.

Nigeria’s security adviser Nuhu Ribadu said these factors need to be addressed.

“Effective strategies require comprehensive approaches that address these drivers, promotes socioeconomic development, enhance governance resolve conflict and strengthen regional and international cooperation,” Ribadu said.

But getting the funding to do this has been a major challenge in Africa.

Authorities hope to change the narrative for the better. Vladimir Voronkov, undersecretary-general of the UNOCT, stressed the important role African regional organizations have in effectively countering terrorism.

“The success of the United Nations in Africa hinges on our commitment to support Africa-led solutions to African challenges,” Voronkov said. “We recognize no single actor can resolve today’s threats to peace and security. Instead we need multiple actors working together with solutions grounded with strong national ownership and support of bi-funding partners.”

Acts of terror in Africa are largely concentrated in the Sahel, Somalia, the lake Chad basin, North Africa and Mozambique.

Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso were absent from the summit due to coup-related sanctions imposed by ECOWAS and the African Union.

Critics say for counterterrorism measures to be truly successful every country must be involved.
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