An aid group in Ghana is using the popularity of basketball and the Basketball Africa League to help keep kids in at-risk communities in school. A program known as DUNK Grassroots offers basketball practice for students who rack up reading credits at the library. Senanu Tord reports from Jamestown, Ghana.
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Sudan’s state schoolteachers have been on strike since November over low and unpaid salaries. They accuse the military government of failing to prioritize education and are calling for the civilian government to be restored. Meanwhile, Sudan’s finance minister says the government has met the teachers’ demands. Henry Wilkins reports from Khartoum, Sudan.
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At least 36 people were killed by extremists in conflict-riddled eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the military said Thursday. The Allied Democratic Forces, a rebel militia with links to the Islamic State group, killed civilians in Mukondi village in North Kivu province, said Congo army spokesman in Beni town, Capt. Anthony Mwalushayi.

“The enemy made the incursion into the chiefdom of Bashu and managed to kill 36 of our compatriots and burned some residents’ huts in the area,” he said. Several people were injured in Wednesday night’s attack and an investigation has been launched to search for the missing, he said.

Conflict has been simmering in eastern Congo for decades as more than 120 armed groups fight for power, influence and resources and some to protect their communities. The ADF has been largely active in North Kivu province but has recently extended its operations into neighboring Ituri province and to areas near the regional capital, Goma.

The ADF rebels are accused by the U.N. and rights groups of targeting, maiming, raping and abducting civilians, including children. Earlier this month the United States offered a reward of up to $5 million for information that could lead to the capture of the group’s leader, Seka Musa Baluku.

The attack began around 7 p.m. Wednesday local time when men with guns and machetes stormed the village and started indiscriminately killing people, witnesses told The Associated Press by phone.

“The rebels came, and they first burned houses. Then everyone who came out of his house was either cut up with machetes or shot dead,” said Saddam Patangoli, a resident of Mukondi village who fled the attack and returned to his home the following day. They also abducted many civilians, he said.

Some people are blaming the incident on the Congo army’s lack of presence in the area.

“The area is not covered by soldiers of the Congolese armed forces,” said Kasereka Alexis, a survivor of the attack. “That’s why the enemy took advantage of coming to massacre us,” he said.

ADF’s persistence and evolution in eastern Congo for nearly three decades exposes the extent of the challenge facing the government, say analysts.

“The group is infamous for its extreme violence and its link to Islamic State provides access to regional jihadist networks and funding sources,” said Benjamin Hunter, Africa analyst for Verisk Maplecroft, a risk assessment company.
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A ruling by Kenya’s Supreme Court allowing registration of LGBTQ associations has been hailed as a step forward in gay rights. But homosexual relations are illegal in Kenya and one lawmaker is pushing a bill to increase the maximum punishment for anyone found guilty to life in prison, in same cases even death. Juma Majanga reports from Nairobi, Kenya. VOA footage by Amos Wangwa.
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Kenya this week rolled out a campaign using the world’s first vaccine against malaria to inoculate more than 400,000 children against the mosquito-borne disease. Health officials say malaria kills more than 12,000 Kenyans each year and more than half a million people in sub-Saharan Africa, most of them children.

The mass vaccination campaign comes as a new invasive species of mosquito has been found in Kenya that scientists fear could reverse gains against the disease.

Diana Kavwai, a mother of two, recounted the day in 2019 when her one-year-old son became sick. Kavwai said she tried home remedies to ease his fever, but he succumbed to malaria.

“His body was very hot and he was shaking,” she said. “When we went to the hospital, examination showed that he had malaria, but it was too late.”

Kavwai said she believes that the recent vaccination campaign for children under the age of two will help to protect them from the mosquito-borne disease, especially during rainy seasons.

Kenya’s government aims to vaccinate at least 300,000 children annually against malaria in a new initiative, particularly in the eight malaria-prone regions.

Pharmacist Lucy Mecca, who heads immunization programs, said the vaccine, which was piloted in Kenya, Malawi and Ghana in 2019, has proven effective.

“The prevalence of malaria is going down nationally to about six percent; even in these lake-endemic zones, we can see that it has gone down from 27 percent to 19 percent and that the interventions that have been put in place for malaria are actually working,” said Mecca.

Despite the progress, however, authorities say a new mosquito vector, Anopheles Stephensi that Kenyan scientists recently detected in the country, is threatening gains made in the fight against malaria.

The carrier, which was known to be in southeastern Asia, the Middle East and Arabian Peninsula, has the ability to thrive in urban areas and can breed in man-made containers. Kenya is closely monitoring its extent, as Mecca explains.

”The malaria program is looking into that; they are concerned about it so that they are able to see if there are any interventions that need to be done above the current interventions. But as per the advice, we continue with the current interventions that have been put in place for all the areas that are zoned out in the country,” said Mecca.

In a 2022 report, the World Health Organization warned of a surge in mosquito-borne diseases due to global warming, which is increasing vector survival and biting rates. The WHO technical officer for malaria vaccines in Kenya, Adam Haji, told VOA that finding new ways to combat the disease is key.

”There is a need and there is a requirement for the world to have new tools in order to put us back on track and the malaria vaccine is one of these new tools,” said Haji.

Malaria interventions in Kenya have included distribution of mosquito nets, spraying, and minimizing potential breeding grounds. Health authorities say they hope that vaccination initiatives will help to eradicate the disease.
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Nigeria’s election commission has postponed the West African nation’s March 11 gubernatorial election, an official announced late Wednesday, citing logistics challenges. 

The election for new governors for 28 of Nigeria’s 36 states will now be held on March 18. The move will allow more time for voting machines used in last month’s presidential and legislative elections to be reconfigured and deployed for the upcoming vote, said Festus Okoye, a spokesman for Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission, in a statement. 

The gubernatorial vote is part of Nigeria’s general elections for four-year single terms for major political positions, including last month’s presidential vote won by the ruling party’s Bola Tinubu. That outcome is being contested by the opposition. 

Ahead of the gubernatorial election, a local court on Wednesday approved the electoral body’s request to reset the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, or BVAS machines — part of new technologies heavily used this year in Nigeria elections to make them more transparent. 

However, that court ruling came “far too late” for the machines to be reset in time for use in the March 11 election, forcing a one-week extension in the date, the electoral body said. 

“This decision has not been taken lightly but it is necessary to ensure that there is adequate time to back up the data stored on the over 176,000 BVAS machines from the Presidential and National Assembly elections” and reconfigure them for the coming elections, said Okoye, the electoral body’s spokesman. 

Observer groups have criticized the election commission over technological problems that marred the presidential election. Those glitches have become a major highlight in the several challenges filed by the opposition against the ruling party’s victory in the presidential election. 

The two main opposition parties have said the glitches gave room for votes to be tampered with and that the electoral body did not follow its own rules and the country’s own election laws in announcing a winner. Runner-up Atiku Abubakar is calling for the cancellation of the presidential election while the candidate who finished third, Peter Obi, has said he has proof he won the contest. 

The electoral body said late Wednesday that it is not against the opposition raising legal challenges to the presidential election result. According to Okoye, its spokesman, officials “will continue to grant all litigants access to the materials they require to pursue their cases in court.” 
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The lower house of Somalia’s Parliament on Wednesday approved a new anti-terrorism law that aims to provide a legal framework that will help government security agencies to better fight and eradicate terrorism in Somalia.

Members of Parliament approved the bill 133-3 — with 7 abstentions — on Wednesday after weeks of debate in what Somalia’s intelligence director, Mahad Mohamed Salad, called a crucial law to make the Horn of Africa country a safer place.

“This law is vital for our war against terrorism, and it comes at a time when we most needed it to perform our national responsibility in preventing terror acts and eradicating terrorism,” said Salad.

“Today, a law that would be a shield for women and children from terrorist attacks, and a sharp sword for government security agencies to eradicate the terrorists have successfully passed this house,” said Abdiladif Sanyare, a Somali lawmaker who supported the bill.

Critics of the law say they are concerned about the legislation’s overly broad definition of who is a terrorist, warning that ratification of the law could grant government security agencies excessive and unchecked power.

Hassan Abdi Isma’il is one of the lawmakers who expressed reservations about the legislation during debates.

Even if today’s president and prime minister have good intentions, he said, “we do not know who will come to power in the future, [and] since this is a national law … we do not want it to affect innocent citizens.”

Somali journalist-turned-lawmaker Mohamed Ibrahim Moalimuu, a five-time survivor of al-Shabab terror attacks, said the new bill should not give government agencies easy arrests on suspects without court orders.

“This bill gives the security agencies [approval] to raid and arrest terrorist suspects without court orders and that goes against our constitution,” said Moalimuu. “Therefore, this bill should not conflict with our constitution.”

But Mahdi Mohamed Guled, an MP and Somalia’s former deputy prime minister, says the bill was amended during the debates with a clear definition of terrorism.

“This law aims at the known terrorist organization and groups, and its definition is clear. It would not be used for political purposes,” Guled said.

Second of two important bills

The lower house’s approval of this bill comes amid Somalia’s tough war with al-Shabab, al-Qaida’s most lethal and powerful group in east Africa.

According to Somali law, the bill will go to the upper house of the Parliament for another round of approval. If it passes, it then would go to President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud for final signing into a law.

This is the second important bill that has gone through Somalia’s Parliament in as many months.

Early last month, both the lower and upper chambers of Somalia’s Parliament officially endorsed the bill of the National Intelligence and Security Agency of Somalia, NISA, some 53 years after the nation established its first intelligence agency. The bill is now in the president’s office awaiting his signature.

Human Rights Watch called on President Mohamud to withhold his signature for what they say is a “bill that will expand the powers of the country’s repressive intelligence agency.”

“The draft law, which the Senate passed on February 22, 2023, grants the National Security and Intelligence Agency (NISA) sweeping powers of arrest, detention, and surveillance,” and it has only minimal oversight of the security agencies, said the U.S.-based organization.

VOA’s calls to NISA officials seeking a response to the criticism weren’t answered. The agency, which rarely engages directly with media outlets, often issues statements that categorically deny wrongdoing or violations of human rights, along with statements touting anti-al-Shabab operations across the county.

Militants executed

Meanwhile, 13 al-Shabab militants convicted of murdering officials and carrying out terrorist attacks in the northeastern Somali region of Puntland have been executed by firing squad in three different towns in the region, officials said Wednesday.

Abdifitah Haji Adam, chairperson of the Puntland military court, told the VOA Somali Service that the court found the suspects guilty and handed down the death sentences between 2017 and 2022.

“The men were al-Shabab members,” Adam said. “The men were convicted of carrying out terrorist attacks and assassinations in which they killed government officials, security officers and civilians, including pregnant women and children.”

In addition to the al-Shabab members, the court also executed five Puntland soldiers for killing other soldiers and civilians.

“Seven al-Shabab militants and three Puntland soldiers were executed in Bossaso. In Qardho, 2 soldiers were executed,” said Adam. “In Garowe, one al-Shabab member was executed, in Galkayo, five al-Shabab militants were executed.”

U.S. drone strikes have killed some of al-Shabab’s top leaders, weakening its military power in south and central Somali, causing some of its fighters to spread north to the Puntland mountainous areas to set up bases.

The group still can carry out frequent suicide bombings and assaults on Somalia’s hotels and military targets, proving to be more resilient than expected.

In Puntland, the militant group has assassinated dozens of government officials in recent years, including the attorney general of Puntland Military Courts, AbdiKarim Hasan Fidiye, third deputy commander of Puntalnd Police Forces, and the director of the Presidential Palace.

Abdiaziz Amed and Fadumo Jama contributed to this report.
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Thousands remain in camps almost two years after a volcanic eruption in the Democratic Republic of the Congo forced their displacement. Renewed fighting between the military and rebels has pushed even more people into the camps. Ruth Omar Esther reports from Munigi, DRC. Camera: Esdras Tsongo.
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Kenya in February announced a nighttime curfew in six counties and an amnesty for handing over illegal guns after a series of violent attacks from cattle rustlers and bandits in the northern Rift Valley.  But just a few guns were turned in as herders say they need to protect themselves in remote areas that have little security.  David Lomuria has more from Lodwar, Kenya in this report narrated by Roderick James.
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A military court in Puntland, a semi-autonomous region in Somalia, executed 13 militants Wednesday who were members of the al-Shabab and Islamic State terror groups.

The court said five Somali soldiers were also executed for killing civilians in Puntland.

The court gave no details on the killings.

A sixth soldier, who was also found guilty, was spared the death penalty after his family pledged to pay so-called blood money to the victim’s family.

Somalia’s courts allow for out-of-court settlements in murder cases through financial compensation. The compensation amount, usually in the form of camels, was said to be under negotiation.

Somali authorities have executed a number of militants in the past year as they wage an all-out war against al-Shabab.

Somali troops at times have been accused of using excessive force. Last month, a military court in Mogadishu executed two other Somali army soldiers, also for killing civilians.  
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Basketball is one of the fastest growing sports in South Africa, with junior leagues exploding thanks in part to the Basketball Africa League (BAL). The joint effort between the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) has young players excited for BAL season 3, which tips off this Saturday. Zaheer Cassim reports from Soweto, South Africa.
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Young artists everywhere struggle to earn a living but that’s especially true in South Africa, where youth unemployment is more than 43 percent. The International Public Art Festival is trying to help bridge that gap by connecting young artists with companies seeking creative marketing. Vicky Stark reports from Cape Town, South Africa.
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The war in Tigray is over but the trauma lingers.

Tsega Fitsum is a volunteer teacher at the Mai Weyni school in the Tigray regional capital, Mekelle. She says that when school resumed soon after the cease-fire in November of last year, her students’ minds were still focused on the conflict. 

“They used to be inclined to draw guns instead of writing alphabets and numbers,” she told VOA. “But now, we say ‘The war has stopped. There is peace and there is no fear, and they should work freely.’ When we tell them that, they started working on numbers and alphabets.” 

Even with that positive sign, the effects of the war are sure to be felt for years to come. The school compound is home to more than 8,500 people who were displaced by the war. About 5,100 are children under the age of 18, most of whom have been deprived of education for more than two years. 

The war between Ethiopia’s federal government and Tigrayan forces left many children orphaned or separated from their families. The impact of those emotional wounds linger for the children, experts say, as the challenges of healing the war-torn nation begin. 

Etsedingel Hadera is a psychiatrist in Mekelle’s Ayder Hospital. He said parents can make a difference in helping ease the hidden scars the children carry. 

“When parents see behavioral changes, they should give their children hope and let them know it’s okay and that it will all pass,” he told VOA. “If they are not comforted that way, they listen to everything around them, even when we think they are not paying attention. But they record everything and are exposed to stress and suffering, there is more pressure on them because it is saved internally.” 

Tsega said the priority now must be healing the children in the school compound and reuniting them with their families.

“Many children were hurt and some were forced to live parentless although they have parents. But if there is peace, they want to go back to school and return to their families. We need to make an effort, especially for the children,” she said.

Meresu Gebru, a mother who sought shelter in the compound after fleeing Mai-Kadra, agrees. 

“Education is a solution for all. I want education, stability and a place where they can entertain themselves, like a playground. If there is an area where they can play, I think it might help calm them,” she said.

Meresu fled the town where some of the war’s worst violence occurred with one of her five children. Her four other children, along with her husband, fled to Sudan, seeking refuge. But even residents of the regional capital who live around the school compound say life is far from normal for children.

Mekelle was a site for government aerial bombardments, including a playground at a kindergarten. A resident of Mekelle, Gebregziabher Hadush, said the trauma left from aerial attacks is still felt.

“During the war, children were psychologically traumatized, especially when there were airstrikes and drone attacks,” he said. “Even now children have doubts and feel pressured. They don’t think planes are coming in for peaceful purposes. They also need physiological treatment.” 

Now that there is a peace deal, advocates say mental health services should be offered to children as they reenter the classrooms. Psychiatrist Etsedingel said the long-term effects of the war will impact the next generation.

“Children are experiencing behavioral changes in every household. Where can they go? What should they do?” he asked. “What’s so sad is some of my patients under 18 say they have lost hope. They are thinking about committing suicide. Some ask, ‘What is our hope? School has stopped and we are suffering.’ They need psychosocial support.”

According to a 2022 report by the U.N., 1.39 million children in the Tigray region are out of school because of Ethiopia’s civil war.  
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South Africa’s ruling ANC party has brushed aside criticism of a large donation it accepted from a mining company linked to a Russian oligarch under U.S. sanctions.

Viktor Vekselberg is an investor in United Manganese of Kalahari Ltd, which last year donated $826,000 to help fund the ANC’s electoral conference. Critics say the donation undermines the party’s claim to a “neutral stance” on the Ukraine war and its refusal to criticize Russia’s invasion.

The donation, worth 15 million rand in the local currency, was made public recently when South Africa’s electoral commission released a statement detailing funds received by political parties in the third quarter of the 2022/23 financial year.

Asked by VOA whether a donation by a company linked to a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin affected the ruling party’s stance on the war in Ukraine, spokeswoman Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri demurred.

“The ANC receives both solicited and unsolicited financial support from various parties from all over the world,” she said by text message. “Some get accepted and others returned if found not to be aligned to the ANC’s values and policies. This current support will be looked at in the same light.

“The ANC’s stance on Russia-Ukraine conflict will remain the same. We do not believe that anything progressive can come out of conflict and war. We still urge all parties to meet and find amicable solutions.”

Solly Malatsi, national spokesman for the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, criticized the donation.

“This explains what the ANC government’s approach to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine is because it’s on the receiving end of millions of rands in donations from Russian oligarchs,” Malatsi said. “It flies in the face of South Africa’s quest for and respect for human rights as the light that guides our foreign policy.”

The money went toward the ANC’s December electoral conference in which President Cyril Ramaphosa was given a second term. There had been problems in funding for the event, with the heavily indebted party battling to meet its costs.

United Manganese of Kalahari, Ltd., or UMK, is a South African company that mines the metal crucial to the production of iron ore.

One of the shareholders is the ANC’s funding front Chancellor House, according to investigative reports in South African media, while a Vekselberg-linked company owns another share of less than 50% – effectively allowing UMK to avoid U.S. sanctions.

The Russian businessman, who is reportedly close to the Kremlin, was on U.S. sanctions lists even before the invasion of Ukraine last year. After the war started, his luxury yacht was seized by the U.S. government and his U.S. properties searched by the FBI.

South Africa, which has a history of close ties with Russia, has abstained from condemning Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine at the U.N.

The donation raises questions about Pretoria’s political stance on the Russia-Ukraine war, said Steven Gruzd, a Russia expert at the South African Institute of International Affairs.

“Viktor Vekselberg has been linked to the ANC before; this is not the first time his name has come up, and this is a sizeable donation to a very cash-strapped political part,” Gruzd said.

“They’re trying to spin it that this is a regular donation, a run of the mill contribution to a political party among many others, and that they will screen it to see that it’s in line with their values.”

Last month, South Africa hosted the Chinese and Russian navies for joint military exercises off its east coast, despite the concerns of the United States and European Union.

In August, Putin is expected to visit South Africa for the annual summit of BRICS – a group of emerging economies made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
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Officials in Somalia say an al-Shabab attack on a military base in the south of the country has been “repulsed.”  

The deputy president of Jubaland state, Mohamud Sayid Aden, told VOA Somali that al-Shabab militants used explosives and armed fighters to attack Janaa Cabdalle, 60 kilometers west of Kismayo.  

“This morning the Khawarij (deviants) attacked Janaa Cabdalle base, a strategic base which was captured from them before,” he said, using a term for al-Shabab militants.  

“As is the hallmark for their attacks they used a series of explosives and suicide bombing, but the Somali troops defended the base,” he added.

He said Tuesday’s al-Shabab attack “failed” as government troops fought off the militants. Aden said barriers erected by the soldiers in anticipation of the al-Shabab attack prevented explosives penetrating the base.   

Five soldiers were killed and more than 10 others injured, according to Aden.  

“Brave men are among the dead, and as opined in fatwa (ruling) by the religious scholars, they will be in paradise,” he said.  

He said al-Shabab suffered higher casualties as a result of the attack.  

Al-Shabab said its fighters “overran” the base and killed 89 soldiers, a figure that has not been independently verified.  

The group’s military affairs spokesperson, Abdulaziz Abu Mus’ab, told al-Shabab media that 20 vehicles were seized from the government forces.  

Abu Mus’ab also said that al-Shabab ambushed reinforcements the government sent from Yontoy and Bar Sanguni bases, east of Janaa Cabdalle.

Aden denied al-Shabab claims of high casualty figures among regional and federal forces.  

“It’s baseless,” he said.  

Somali government forces supported by local fighters have driven al-Shabab from large areas in Hirshabelle and Galmudug states in operations that began last August.  

The government’s national security adviser, Hussein Sheikh-Ali, told VOA last week that authorities are preparing a second phase of military operations which will involve additional troops sent by the three countries bordering Somalia – Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya.  

Aden said government forces are in control of the Janaa Cabdalle base, which he said is key to advancing on al-Shabab strongholds in the Middle Juba region.  

“The target is their biggest base in Middle Juba, a final offensive on Jilib and Buale and the other big bases they have been occupying for a long time,” he said. “Janaa Cabdalle is the closest strategic base to launch an offensive from.”  

The government has been fighting al-Shabab for more than 15 years. Al-Shabab wants to remove the government and impose its brand of strict Islamic law.
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Tourism officials in Cameroon are meeting to revamp the country’s most important wildlife reserve, Waza National Park, which has suffered from terrorism, poaching, and deforestation.  The park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site on Cameroon’s northern border with Chad and Nigeria that used to attract thousands of visitors per year.  Officials say Boko Haram terrorists scared off most tourists while poachers and illegal loggers continue to wreak havoc on the park.  Moki Edwin Kindzeka reports from Yaoundé, Cameroon.

Cameroon’s Waza National Park, on the borders with Chad and Nigeria, is the country’s most diverse wildlife reserve, with lions, elephants, giraffes, antelopes and numerous species of birds.   

The 170,000-hectare park has been recognized since 1979 as a UNESCO World Heritage biosphere reserve.  

But the government says the number of tourists visiting Waza dropped from close to 4,000 in 2013 to less than 300 last year.  

Atsia Tailati is a tourism official in Logone and Chari, the administrative unit in charge of Waza.  

She spoke to VOA via a messaging app from the northern town of Kousseri.   

Tailati says terrorism started harming tourism in Waza in 2013, when Boko Haram at gunpoint abducted a French family of seven who were vacationing in northern Cameroon.  She says in 2014 the Nigerian Islamist group again forced their way into a Chinese construction camp in Waza and abducted 10 road engineers.  

Boko Haram released the hostages after some weeks but Tailati says the attacks scared off tourists.    

Tailati says Cameroon’s tourism officials are meeting in the region this week to discuss how to attract tourists back to the park.   

The militants’ attacks on farms and shops, including some that depended on tourism, forced youth in the area to turn to poaching and illegal logging to make a living.    

Officials say improved security on both sides of the borders has reduced the threat from terrorists, with no large-scale attacks reported in the area for more than a year.

But officials say poachers and illegal loggers continue to destroy the park.    

The governor of Cameroon’s Far North Region, Midjiyawa Bakari, spoke to VOA by messaging app from the region’s capital, Maroua.   

He says about 70 poachers and illegal loggers were arrested at Waza National Park this week.  Bakari says those arrested are Cameroonians, Nigerians and Chadians who kill animals in the park, harvest wood from the park for charcoal and sell the wood and game to neighboring countries like Chad and Nigeria.  

Bakari says they’ve created local militias to assist ranchers and troops in protecting the park.  

The head of the European Union delegation to Cameroon, Philippe Van Damme, says restoring the park would bring a multitude of benefits to the area.   

He spoke Tuesday to Cameroon Radio Television.

Van Damme says protecting Waza National Park will stabilize the environment and climate, create jobs for several hundred unemployed youths, and bring in revenue from tourism. He says Cameroon and the European Union are evaluating what is needed to protect, redevelop, and bring back to life to the park, which was devastated by terrorism, poaching, and deforestation.  

Van Damme, who took a group of five EU ambassadors to the park this week, said reviving it would also reduce poverty and inequality in the region.
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The Russian government has donated 20,000 tons of fertilizer to Malawi as part of its efforts to garner diplomatic support from various African nations. 

Russia will give 260,000 tons of fertilizer to countries in the continent, Russian Ambassador to Malawi Nikolai Krasilnikov said at a handover ceremony Monday at the capital, Lilongwe. 

He said he hopes African leaders will press for the abolition of international sanctions against Russia when they attend the second Russia-Africa summit to be held in St. Petersburg at the end of July. 

The Russian manufacturer Uralchem-Ukalkali had produced the fertilizer and made the gift to Malawi, said Dmitry Shornikov, head of the firm’s southern Africa branch, who also attended the handover. 

The fertilizer should help Malawi achieve its goals of substantially boosting its agricultural production and helping families grow more healthy and nutritious food, said Shornikov. 

Malawi’s Minister of Agriculture Sam Kawale said the fertilizer will reach 400,000 farming households and boost their agricultural production. 

Also attending the event was a representative of the United Nations’ World Food Program. 

Malawi voted to censure Russia at the United Nations last year for its invasion of Ukraine. More than 15 other African countries abstained from the vote. 
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Conservationists welcomed an agreement over the weekend on a long-touted global treaty to protect the ocean and promote the sustainable use of resources such as its oil, fish and other sea life. Participants in negotiations say this will positively affect struggling fishers in Africa and the Global South. Henry Wilkins reports from Port Sudan, Sudan.
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The United Nations secretary-general warned Monday at the start of a major women’s conference that at the current pace, gender equality is projected to be 300 years away.

“Progress won over decades is vanishing before our eyes,” Antonio Guterres said at the start of the Commission on the Status of Women.

The CSW, as it is known, is expected to draw more than 4,000 government ministers, diplomats and civil society members for the annual two-week-long gathering to discuss how to improve the lives of women around the world. It is the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic that the conference is fully in person.

Guterres told the opening session that the CSW takes on even greater significance at a time when women’s rights “are being abused, threatened and violated around the world.”

This year’s theme is “Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.” The conference and its dozens of side events will look at how a disproportionate lack of access to the internet is holding back women and girls globally.

“Three billion people are still unconnected to the internet, the majority of them women and girls in developing countries,” Guterres said. “In least developed countries, just 19% of women are online.”

Globally, the U.N. says men outnumber women 2-to-1 in the tech industry, while only 28% of engineering graduates and 22% of artificial intelligence (AI) workers are women. There is also a significant gender pay gap of 21%.

“The digital divide can limit women’s access to life-saving information, mobile money products, agricultural extension or online public services,” said Sima Bahous, executive director of U.N. Women. “In turn, this fundamentally influences whether a woman completes her education, owns her own bank account, makes informed decisions about her body, feeds her family or gains productive employment.”

Bahous said these inequalities have created a new kind of digital poverty.

“We will not achieve gender equality without closing the digital gap,” she said.

Women and girls also experience more harassment and sexual abuse online, the U.N. reported.

Afghanistan

This week, the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan, where the Taliban has taken away many of their rights since seizing power in August 2021, will be in the spotlight.

Guterres said women and girls have been “erased” from public life there.

In January, he dispatched the deputy secretary-general and Bahous to the country with what he said was a “clear message” for the Taliban.

“Women and girls have fundamental human rights, and we will never give up fighting for them,” the secretary-general said.

At a side event on Monday, several Afghan female activists took the podium, making a clear call for the international community to turn up the pressure to help reverse the Taliban’s more than 30 edicts. The orders include banning women from secondary school and university, working outside the home, travel without a male chaperon and taking part in any political or cultural activities.

“The intolerable reality of a terrorist group seizing power has resulted in a complete breakdown of law and order in Afghanistan,” said Fariha Easer, an activist and women’s rights researcher who was evacuated from Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover. “The state of absolute chaos has led to anarchy and utter lawlessness, leaving women completely vulnerable and with nowhere to turn for justice.”

Easer said the situation “is beyond dire” and choked back tears as she said Afghan women are committing suicide and are victims of gender-based violence.

“It’s so hard to talk about today’s realities of Afghanistan,” she said to supportive applause and a standing ovation.

On Wednesday, which is International Women’s Day, Pakistan is hosting a conference on the sidelines of the CSW on the challenges facing Muslim women. It will seek to dispel some perceptions of Islam as a religion that oppresses and discriminates against women, highlighting the contributions of Muslim women throughout history. And it will address obstacles to the empowerment of women.
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The director of a hospital in Las Anod, a disputed border town in Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland, says about 200 people have been killed and hundreds more wounded in weeks of intense fighting.

For about a month now, the Somaliland army has been fighting with clan militias for control of Las Anod. Somaliland, which broke away from Somalia three decades ago, has controlled the town since 2008, but the local clans support Somalia’s federal government and wish to be governed by it. 

Despite local and international calls for a cease-fire, fighting has continued, raising fears of a full-blown humanitarian crisis amid a biting drought that has already affected thousands of people in the contested region. 

Dr. Ismail Mohamoud, director of Gargaar Hospital in Las Anod, said the number of wounded patients is close to 1,000, while more than 200 people have been killed in the fighting. Most of the victims are civilians, he added.

Mohamoud said the situation in the city has gotten worse due to the shelling of hospitals. The main Las Anod Hospital has suffered the most with virtually all the departments destroyed by shelling from Somaliland forces, he said.

The U.N. Security Council last month called for a de-escalation of violence in Las Anod, adding to similar calls from the federal government in Mogadishu. Those calls have gone unheeded as both sides continued exchanging heavy fire.

Matt Bryden, founder of Sahan Research, a security and political think tank focusing on the Horn of Africa, told VOA why peace remains elusive in Las Anod.

“At this moment, there appears to be little possibility of an imminent resolution of the conflict,” he said. “The multiplicity of actors and interests makes it extremely difficult to find a middle ground.”

He said Somaliland will not easily relinquish its claim to the Sool region, in which Las Anod is located, because that would undermine the territory’s push to be recognized as an independent country.

According to Bryden, a military victory for either side may pave the way for dialogue. He said demands by the Dhulbahante clan in Las Anod for their own regional government could upset the federal structure in Somalia. He said this could motivate other clans which may not be happy with their respective regional governments to follow suit. 

“The first victim of this conflict is probably Somaliland’s electoral calendar. It’s hard to see how party and presidential elections could take place this year if much of Sool region is excluded from voting,” Bryden said. “And this in turn would have wider ramifications for Somaliland’s claim to be an electoral democracy, which has already taken a beating due to widespread criticism of its actions in Las Anod.”

Ahmed Hadi, founder of a Mogadishu-based governance think tank, told VOA the competing interests between Somaliland, Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region and the clans within the Sool region mean the fighting could continue for a long time.

The main challenges are linked ones, he said, as Puntland state wants to dislodge Somaliland from the territories while Somaliland wants to control these areas to tell the world it is ready for recognition. Also, clans in this area are struggling for independence from both sides.

Hadi said the fighting and the casualties among civilians will hurt Somaliland’s reputation and complicate its long-standing push for international recognition.  
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As the Egyptian economy struggles against negative headwinds from many directions, some sectors appear to be performing well.

Ordinary Egyptians are buying lower-end merchandise as their purchasing power is eroded by inflation and the effects of Egypt’s weakening currency on the prices of imported goods.

President Abdel Fattah el Sisi told a gathering of international leaders several months ago that the Russia-Ukraine conflict was seriously affecting Egypt’s economy. Egypt buys most of its grain from Russia and Ukraine and the price of importing wheat for a population of more than 100 million people has gone up drastically.

David Butter, an economist at Britain’s Chatham House research group, told VOA that Egypt’s rocky economy has been affected by a large increase in external and internal debt, made worse by a succession of crises, including COVID-19, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and increases in U.S. interest rates that have aggravated capital outflows from the country.

“It’s a structural, fiscal deficit, big buildup of external debt, which is allied to large public debt, so there’s a whole lot of heavy burdens that the economy is carrying and it has depended on to get through this situation on having a sustained period of relatively high growth and improved balance of payments. So, as soon as one or two wheels fall off this rather unstable wagon, then they’re in big trouble,” he said.

Butter notes that Gulf states came to Egypt’s rescue by adding $13 billion in deposits to Egypt’s central bank after international investors pulled $14 billion out of the country last year. Gulf states and the international community have helped Egypt out of numerous economic crises in recent years, including a $3 billion IMF loan in December.

Egyptian political sociologist Said Sadek told VOA that Egypt has agreed to privatize large portions of its economic sector in the next few years and that Prime Minister Mustapha Madbouli just returned from a trip to Qatar, where he discussed investment opportunities in Egyptian companies.

“Devaluation is expected this month, with the hope that this would push Gulf states to buy Egyptian companies that are listed and that would generate a lot of foreign currency that the government needs to pay debt and interest on debt,” he said.

A shortage of dollars has caused Egypt’s central bank to raise interest rates and triggered a decrease in the value of the Egyptian pound, making prices rise, since the country imports 65% of what its citizens consume.

Many merchants like Abdou, a dry cleaner, said they are downbeat.

“The economy is terrible,” he said. “It’s a struggle to make enough to live on. Lots of people come to rummage through the merchandise,” he said, but that they don’t spend a lot of money because they don’t have a lot of money to spend.

Consumers have complained about how the crisis is affecting them. Jamila, a 45 year-old homemaker, buys chicken from a merchant who sells government-subsidized meat from a trunk along a large boulevard in the Cairo suburb of Dokki. She said that despite the subsidized prices, the meat is still too expensive.

While many people and businesses are struggling, others are flourishing. Jurgen Sterkau, who is the general manager of the Cairo Marriott in the Zamalek area, said that his hotel is completely full and that business has never been better.

“All the major hotels on the River Nile in Cairo,” he said, “are doing extremely well (right now), despite the previous setbacks of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, as well as COVID-19.”

Egypt also has prospects of increasing natural gas revenues from undersea fields.

Said Sadek points out that Egypt is the only country in the eastern Mediterranean that is capable of liquifying natural gas and sending it to Europe by pipeline, giving it a huge economic advantage over regional rivals.
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A military court in Cameroon over the weekend charged a media mogul, a military officer, and a police commissioner with complicity in the January torture and killing of journalist Martinez Zogo. Cameroon laws state that crimes involving the use of weapons especially guns can be handled by a military court.

Cameroon President Paul Biya also ordered the military court to carry out the investigation into Zogo’s death which led to media owner Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga, a police boss, and several officers being detained last month.  

Journalists in Cameroon are calling for justice despite receiving threats since Zogo’s killing and, just days later, the killing of a radio host who was also calling for justice. 

Cameroon media reported Saturday that business tycoon and media mogul Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga, Lieutenant-Colonel Justin Danwe, and Police Commissioner Maxime Eko Eko are being held in a maximum-security prison in pre-trial detention along with several policemen and civilians.   

A Yaoundé military tribunal charged the three men Saturday with complicity in the torture that led to the death of journalist Martinez Zogo in January. 

Zogo’s mutilated remains were found five days after his abduction in the capital, Yaoundé. 

Seven other suspects detained in a series of February raids, including one on Belinga’s house, were released Saturday without charges. 

“What (we have) to retain is the strong message that the Cameroon judiciary is sending to the national and international community that Cameroon is a state of law, everyone can be held criminally responsible for his acts.  Even though they still benefit from the presumption of innocence, they are now henceforth known as defendants and if after findings, there are sufficient evidence, the charges may move from accomplice to maybe, the perpetrators of torture on the journalist,” said Richard Tamfu, a human rights lawyer and member of the Cameroon Bar Council.  

But journalists in Cameroon say they feel like they are under attack. 

Just two weeks after Zogo’s killing, the body of another journalist, Jean Jacques Ola Bebe, was found in the capital.   

The radio host and Catholic priest had called for justice for Zogo and told journalists he was receiving death threats.   

Cameroon’s government has yet to issue a statement on the death of Bebe.   

The Cameroon Journalists Trade Union says it has recorded scores of reporters saying they and their relatives have been threatened since the killings of Zogo and Bebe and many suspect officials are involved. 

Royal FM reporter in Yaoundé Mapalah Zita says she has received several hostile phone calls, the most recent one on Sunday.   

“It is like we will even end up being scared of executing our job the way it is supposed to be done.  You are sending out the right information and you are being threatened for it.  Seriously, what we need is that the government should give us that liberty which we deserve so that we can practice in full freedom. Let us be free to carry out our job without any threat, without any fear of the unknown.” 

Journalists say they have reported the threats to the police. The police have not said if investigations into the allegations have been opened or not but told VOA that they will protect all journalists exercising their duties. 

Cameroon’s communication minister and government spokesman Rene Emmanuel Sadi last week warned journalists against what he described as emotional reporting on the Zogo and Bebe investigations. 

He said there was no deliberate attempt to withhold information as reporters are claiming, adding that any communication while investigations are ongoing are by law to remain confidential. 
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Four jihadist prisoners have escaped from a prison in Nouakchott, Mauritania’s capital.  

The prisoners engaged in gunfire with prison guards during the escape Sunday night, killing two of the guards and wounding two, according to the Interior Ministry.  

“The National Guard has tightened its control over the prison and immediately started tracking down the fugitives in order to arrest them as soon as possible,” the ministry said in a statement Monday.

Two of the prisoners had been sentenced to death and the other two were awaiting trial on charges of being members of a terrorist group, according to Agence France Presse.  

Some information for this story came from Agence France-Presse.
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Tunisia’s president denounced racism on Sunday and pointed to possible legal consequences for perpetrators 10 days after announcing a crackdown on illegal migration using language the African Union condemned as “racialized hate speech.” 

During a statement on February 21 telling security forces to expel all illegal immigrants, President Kais Saied called migration a conspiracy to change Tunisia’s demographics by making it more African and less Arab. 

Police detained hundreds of migrants, landlords summarily evicted hundreds from their homes and hundreds of others were fired from work, rights groups say. 

Many migrants said they had been attacked, including being pelted with stones by gangs of youths in their neighborhoods, and rights groups said police had been slow to respond to such assaults. 

While Saied denied racism in a statement on February 23, he repeated his view of immigration as a demographic plot. Before Sunday, Saied had not publicly warned of any legal consequences for the attacks. 

In Sunday’s statement he described the accusations of racism as a campaign against the country “from known sources,” without elaborating. 

But he added that Tunisia was honored to be an African country and announced a relaxation of visa rules for African citizens, allowing stays of up to six months instead of three without seeking residency, and of a year for students. 

He said migrants who had overstayed could leave without penalty after many of those authorities sought to deport had proven unable to pay fines for late stays. 

He painted his crackdown on illegal migration as being a campaign against human trafficking and pointed to a law passed in 2018 against discrimination to say that any verbal or physical attacks on foreigners would be prosecuted. 

Opposition parties and rights groups have said Saied’s crackdown on immigrants, which coincided with arrests of senior opposition figures, was aimed at distracting from Tunisia’s economic crisis. 

Saied seized most powers in 2021, shutting down the elected parliament, moving to rule by decree and rewriting the constitution, steps his foes including the main political parties call a coup. 

He has said his actions were legal and needed to save Tunisia from chaos. 
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