There was none of the U.S. presidency’s muscular, national security-focused approach on display as Jill Biden, in flowery dresses and pin-thin heels, hugged and smiled her way through Namibia and Kenya on her debut trip to the continent as first lady, which concluded Sunday.

Biden used hopeful words to address tough social issues.

“We face many of the same challenges, from climate change to economic inequality to strengthening democracy, which is why the U.S. African Leaders Summit was held in Washington, D.C., in December because it was so important to him,” she said, referring to her husband, President Joe Biden, in a speech to a room full of dignitaries and diplomats who gathered to hear her at Namibia’s State House on Thursday.

“And it’s why I’m proud to be standing here, standing with a strong democracy. … As Joe said at the summit, African voices, African leadership and African innovation are all critical to addressing the most pressing global challenges and realizing the vision. We all share a world that is free.”

She brought along one of her seven grandchildren to spotlight how girls and women can be powerful engines of change.

Jill Biden is up against major hurdles, say analysts who focus on gender and development issues.

“Every country has a woman problem, I would say,” said Caren Grown, a senior fellow in the Center for Sustainable Development at the Brookings Institution. “There’s no country around the world in which women are absolutely equal to men across all domains.

“We’ve made a lot of progress globally, and many countries have made progress over the last many years, especially in terms of education. But we still have really big gaps between men and women in employment, labor force participation, earnings. There’s no country around the world where women make more or earn more than men, although the gaps have closed. We’re still not at parity.”

And as young people, women and activists showed Biden on her five-day trip, Africa, too, has a woman problem.

In an informal settlement outside of Windhoek, Namibia’s capital, Biden met a teen who told her how her pregnancy forced her out of 11th grade.

In Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, she met with youths at a screening of a South African MTV series that shows that for South Africa’s young women, transactional sex is the norm, not the exception. South Africa’s president has described gender-based violence as “a second pandemic.”

And in Nairobi’s sprawling Kibera slum, she and Kenya’s first lady met with women who, because of their lack of access to conventional finance, set up an informal lending network. Systems like these lack the protections or guarantees of banks, and often traffic in much smaller sums.

President Joe Biden — who often refers to himself as “Jill Biden’s husband” — said after her return on Monday that her effort showed his administration’s strong commitment to Africa.

“She met with the presidents and first ladies of both countries,” he said. “She spoke to more than a thousand young people — the first generation born out of apartheid in Namibia. … In Kenya, she met families affected by devastating drought and food insecurity … made worse by Putin’s brutal assault on Ukraine. And made it clear that America’s commitment to Africa is real.”

And by choosing to hold all of her high-profile substantive events with female leaders, America’s first lady conveyed a clear message of her own and made a not-so-subtle nod to Namibia’s first lady Monica Geingos, whose husband’s second and final term ends next year.

“It’s always time to have a female president, no matter what country you’re in,” Jill Biden said as she toured a local charitable organization with Geingos on Thursday. “So I’m very supportive of women running for office.”

Analysts say it’s unclear whether the trip will result in new initiatives or policy changes for the continent.

But, Grown says, Biden’s efforts challenge a belief that pervades to this day, and not just on the mother continent: that being born a girl means you lose in life.

“Dr. Biden has been a role model, not only in the education field but with everything that she’s done in her capacity as first lady,” she said. “That gives hope to girls who can grow up knowing that there’s many roles that they can take on as adults, and they can move into fields that might have been denied to them; they might be able to get education.”
…

As Uganda looks to drill its first oil wells, critics say the government and its French and Chinese partners are damaging the environment and impeding wildlife migration. Halima Athumani reports from Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda. Camera: Francis Mukasa
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In Senegal, slam poetry is making its mark on urban culture and offering young people a way to voice their opinions about their lives and society. Seydina Aba Gueye has this report from Senegal, narrated by Salem Solomon.
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M23 rebels continued fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, local sources said on Tuesday, the day they were supposed to begin withdrawing from their positions under a regional plan.  

On February 17, East African leaders urged all non-state armed groups to withdraw from territory they occupy in eastern Congo by March 30.  

The withdrawal was intended to take place in three stages, with the initial phase to begin on February 28. 

But M23 rebels continued advancing in the DRC’s North Kivu province on Tuesday.  

On Monday, the Tutsi-led group seized the town of Mweso, about 100 kilometers west of the provincial capital Goma. 

Local civil society leader Alphonse Habimana told AFP on Tuesday that the M23 was in control of the town of 30,000 people.  

Heritier Ndangendange, spokesman for the APCLS, one of the militias fighting the M23, confirmed rebels had captured Mweso. 

Clashes with the M23 continued Tuesday about 30 kilometers west of Goma, a city of more than 1 million people, according to a security official who declined to be named.  

M23 fighters also remained in their positions several dozen kilometers north of Goma.  

The rebels are close to encircling the city, which is sandwiched between Lake Kivu and the Rwandan border, with three of the four roads leading out of it cut off. 

The remaining road, which leads to neighboring South Kivu province, is in a state of disrepair because of heavy rain last year.  

The M23 reemerged from dormancy in November 2021, accusing the DRC of ignoring a promise to integrate its fighters into the army. 

It subsequently won a string of victories over state forces, seizing swaths of territory in North Kivu province and displacing hundreds of thousands of people. 

The DRC accuses its smaller neighbor Rwanda of backing the M23, a charge supported by independent U.N. experts as well as the United States and several other western countries but denied by Kigali.  
…

A South African group is bringing films to African youth in impoverished areas with poor services through solar-powered, portable cinemas.  The group, Sunshine Cinema, works in four countries aiming to inspire more youth on the continent through African films. Zaheer Cassim reports from Pankop, South Africa.
…

The head of a U.S. government program to fight AIDS, Dr. John Nkengasong, says that in its 20 years of existence the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, has saved 25 million lives.

PEPFAR, set up in 2003 under the administration of former U.S. president George W. Bush, has transformed the trajectory of HIV/AIDS, Nkengasong told reporters Tuesday while visiting South Africa.

“Twenty-five million lives have been saved, 5.5 million children have been born free of HIV/AIDS, health systems have been strengthened in a remarkable way,” he said.

Nkengasong, who comes from Cameroon, said there was once a “sense of hopelessness” in Africa, the continent worst-hit by HIV/AIDS, but since then countries’ economies have increased and life expectancy has improved.

Some 95% of the total $110 billion spent through PEPFAR was spent on Africa as it bore the brunt of the disease, he said.

“Before PEPFAR only 50,000 people, 50,000 people on the continent of Africa who were infected, were on treatment, 50,000. Today over 20 million people are receiving life-saving anti-retroviral therapy.” he said.

Nkengasong said the infrastructure rolled out across Africa as part of the U.S. government program was also useful during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The AIDS official said he was also “very positive” about the tools in the pipeline to combat HIV, including the roll out of pre-exposure prophylactics for HIV negative people that can be injected every three months and will stop the spread of new infections.
…

Provisional results from Nigeria’s disputed presidential election over the weekend showed Bola Tinubu from the ruling party in the lead, a Reuters tally of votes in 25 of the country’s 36 states showed on Tuesday. 

Electoral commission results from the states showed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress party (APC) was ahead with about 36% or 7 million of valid votes counted, with Atiku Abubakar of the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) trailing close behind with 30% or nearly 6 million valid votes. 

Peter Obi of the smaller Labour Party got 20% or about 3.8 million votes. More results were expected to show the winner later on Tuesday. 

The preliminary results were announced in the states by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officers and will still have to be presented at the commission’s national collation center in the federal capital Abuja. 

But opposition parties have rejected the results as the product of a flawed process, which suffered multiple technical difficulties owing to the introduction of new technology by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). 

INEC had promised to upload results directly from each polling unit to its website in the election to replace outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari, but most were unable to do so immediately. 

That meant results had to be collated manually inside ward and local government counting centers as in previous polls, problems observer missions also criticized as the result of poor planning. 

There are fears frustrations over the process could boil over into violence. 

In a normally bustling market on Lagos island, one of the most densely populated places in Africa, shops were shut and streets deserted on Tuesday morning.  
…

Under President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative, China has been spreading its global influence through the building of major infrastructure like railways, ports and bridges. But another key part of the BRI involves something much less tangible – spreading Chinese language and values as well as the Communist Party’s ideology. Kate Bartlett reports from Cape Town, South Africa. Videographers: Gianluigi Guercia and Rajabu Hassan. Contributor: Charles Kombe
…

Pressure is growing on Kenya’s President William Ruto to declare a national disaster over a record drought in the country’s north that has affected five million people. The failure of a sixth consecutive rainy season is making hunger worse across the region. Ahmed Hussein reports from Wajir county, Kenya where more than half of the population is facing food insecurity. Camera: Ahmed Hussein
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Ghana increased already high taxes on imported goods this year, making sanitary pads unaffordable to vulnerable women and girls who are then forced to skip school during their periods. Activists are calling for the taxes to be scrapped and are also producing locally made, biodegradable pads so girls and women don’t miss out on education. Senanu Tord reports from Kpong, Ghana.
…

The Ghana Health Service says a shortage of routine vaccines for children blamed for a measles outbreak that infected 120 will be resolved within weeks. Health officials said the shortage of vaccines against polio, hepatitis B, and measles was caused by the depreciation of Ghana’s currency, the cedi. The Pediatric Society of Ghana warned childhood diseases could quickly spread if the vaccines were not soon made available. 

For months, nursing mothers have been complaining of shortage of vaccines meant for babies from birth to at least 18 months.

The situation became worse in February after major health facilities in 10 out of the 16 administrative regions of Ghana kept turning nursing mothers away due to erratic supply.

Vivian Helemi said her baby girl missed one of the key vaccinations last month and the situation has not changed after combing three health centers on Monday. Like other mothers, Helemi is worried the shortage of the essential vaccines for infants will pose a threat to her child.

“It has been frustrating moving from one hospital to another,” she told VOA. “I don’t know what could happen to my baby because she is yet to receive her second vaccination. I am confused because no one is telling me when the vaccines will be ready.”

Timely vaccination of children, according to UNICEF, is a proven method for saving lives from vaccine-preventable diseases. It can also help attain some targets like the U.N. Sustainable Development Goal 3, which aims to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all.

UNICEF’s Ghana office says on its website that the country has seen a significant fall in deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases. For example, since 2003, there has been no death caused by measles, while in 2011, Ghana was certified as having attained elimination status for maternal and neonatal tetanus.

Dr. Agyeiwaa Bonuedie, a member of the Pediatric Society of Ghana, said the government must act now in order not to erode the gains made so far.

“It’s the first time I am hearing of such widespread shortages. We do have shortages from time to time, however, those are in very limited circumstances. The problem this time is that it has gone over for several months. This should actually be a thing of the past. The government should be encouraged to do what we call ring-fenced funding such that budgetary allocations for vaccines are actually protected, no matter what other dire or pressing needs the country has, the children should be secured in that light,” said Bonuedie.

The director-general of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, said the situation will change by the end of March.

“We have had some delays in procuring some of those vaccines for which polio, MR [Measles-Rubella], and BCG [bacille Calmette-Guerin] are in short supply. It was also because the ministry’s budget to procure them are in cedis, and at the time it was due for procurement, because of exchange differences it was very difficult to procure, so now we have done it… we hope that within the next three weeks we will address it,” he said.

Parliament has summoned the West African country’s health minister Kwaku Agyeman-Manu to discuss the vaccine shortage. The next few weeks are crucial for many children, especially those who live in inner cities and dense parts of urban areas and are exposed to vaccine-preventable diseases at an early age.
…

Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission has begun announcing official results from Saturday’s presidential election. But just minutes into the national tally Monday, party agents challenged the outcomes. Last weekend’s polls were marred by delays and technical problems that saw thousands of voters hit the streets Sunday in protest.

The Abuja national collation center opened at midday Monday for the second day of vote counting.

Officials from Nigeria’s electoral body INEC along with election observers, party members and journalists were present.

INEC announced early results from four out of Nigeria’s 36 states putting the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in the lead.

Ekiti, Osun, Ondo and Kwara states are considered strong bases for the incumbent APC party.

But the announcement of results was met with resistance from political parties. They said INEC’s field officers failed to upload the latest results from polling units in order to manipulate the figures.

INEC’s Mahmood Yakubu addressed the issue.

“The law does not require that collation should be done on the basis of results transmitted, it’s on the basis of results carried forward manually, physically to the various collation centers, but when there are discrepancies, it is the transmitted results that should be used to dissolve the discrepancies,” he said.

All three top contenders have questioned the vote counting, including Nigeria’s Labor Party.

During a media briefing Sunday, the party said it will only accept results that corroborate with their agents’ tallies at polling units.

The elections Saturday were marred by widespread delays, technical difficulties with the voting machines, and threats of violence and insecurity. The delays forced INEC to extend voting into a second day on Sunday.

But some eligible voters did not get a chance to cast their ballots.

On Sunday, hundreds including Abuja resident Kingsley Francis waited several hours for electoral officials to arrive.

“We had to queue, I was number one to be accredited but after the accreditation no paper was given to me. Other people were getting accreditation, no paper was given to them,” he said.

Local and international observers are also raising concerns.

Former Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma, head of the election observation team for regional bloc ECOWAS, spoke to journalists.

“At the end of our observations, we will make recommendations on how to improve the process because elections in our region are evolving. And we must continue improving and trying to harmonize them,” he said.

The race to replace outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to be highly competitive.

Candidates for the biggest parties, PDP and APC, are facing a fierce challenge from the Labor Party’s Peter Obi. Obi is mostly backed by young people, who accounted for over 80 percent of the 10 million first time voters.

 
…

Egypt, home to ancient pyramids and Red Sea resorts, aims to boost tourism by up to 30% annually over the next five years, bringing in private firms to operate sites and inaugurating a huge museum around the end of 2023, its tourism minister said.

Tourism is a crucial source of foreign currency and jobs for Egypt’s struggling economy. The sector earned $10.75 billion in the financial year ending in June 2022, up from $4.86 billion the prior year, when it was hurt by the coronavirus pandemic.

But it captures a little under 1% of the global tourism market, said Ahmed Issa, a former banker appointed as tourism minister last summer.

The budget for more than 2,000 archaeological sites and 41 museums in the 2021/22 financial year was a modest 3.2 billion Egyptian pounds ($170 million at the exchange rate at the time).

“I think Egypt deserves and should be able to grow its tourism industry by 25% to 30% per annum consistently over the coming decade. And that should get us to about 30 million (visitors) by the year 2028,” Issa told Reuters in an interview.

“It’s a product that has the most compelling competitive advantage of all the products that Egypt can offer globally.”

Immediate priorities include expanding flight capacity and improving the investment climate by streamlining regulation, Issa said.

A need to increase the number of hotel rooms to half a million by 2030 from 212,000 last year could draw $30 billion in private investment, and private companies were involved in pilot projects to manage 10 sites, he added.

These include the Giza pyramids, the Egyptian Museum in central Cairo, and the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) that will soon house the country’s most prestigious artifacts.

“We are reviewing this experiment today, to be able to learn from it and be able to take it to the next level and expand on it,” Issa said.

The repeatedly delayed opening of GEM, a vast structure near the Giza pyramids that has been under construction since 2005, was likely to happen between October and January, Issa said. Egypt hopes to attract world leaders to attend the inauguration.

A rebound in visitor numbers from European and other markets was compensating for losses from what used to be Egypt’s top two markets, Russia and Ukraine, Issa said, adding he expected a surge in Chinese tourists this year.

Longer term, Egypt would seek to develop the market for independent travelers alongside tour operator packages, he added.
…

Two experts appointed by the World Health Organization to investigate allegations that some of its staffers sexually abused women during an Ebola outbreak in Congo have dismissed the U.N. agency’s own efforts to excuse its handling of such misconduct as “an absurdity.”

Some of the victimized women say — nearly four years later — they are still waiting for WHO to fire those responsible or be offered any financial compensation.

In October 2020, Aichatou Mindaoudou and Julienne Lusenge were named by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to head a panel investigating reports that some WHO staffers sexually abused or exploited women in a conflict-ridden region of Congo during the 2018-2020 Ebola outbreak.

Their review found there were at least 83 perpetrators of abuse who worked for WHO and partners, including complaints of rape, forced abortions and the sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl, in the biggest known sex abuse scandal in the U.N. health agency’s history.

The panel also found that three WHO managers mismanaged a sexual misconduct case first reported by the Associated Press, involving a U.N. doctor signing a contract to buy land for a woman he allegedly impregnated.

A confidential U.N. report submitted to WHO last month concluded that the managers’ handling of that case didn’t violate WHO’s sexual exploitation policies, because the woman wasn’t considered a “beneficiary” of WHO aid, since she didn’t receive any humanitarian assistance.

“The restrictive approach favored by WHO is an absurdity,” Mindaoudou and Lusenge said in a statement, adding that beneficiaries of WHO “should only be interpreted in favor of potential victims of sexual exploitation and abuse, with the view of maintaining accountability.”

Anifa, a Congolese woman who worked at an Ebola clinic in northeastern Congo, said she was offered a job at double her salary in exchange for sex with a WHO doctor and was still traumatized by the experience.

“How many times do I have to speak before [the doctors] at WHO responsible for the sexual abuse are punished?” she asked. “If WHO does not take radical measures, we will conclude that the organization has been made rotten by rapists.”

Anifa, who didn’t share her last name for fear of reprisals, said she didn’t expect any financial compensation from WHO, explaining that “money will not erase the wounds I have in my heart.” She reported the alleged misconduct to WHO in 2019, but never received a response.

Mindaoudou, a former government minister in Niger and Lusenge, a human rights activist in Congo, also slammed WHO for its failure to punish any senior staffers linked to the abuse, saying there was a “culture of impunity” at the organization.

When allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation surfaced in the press in September 2020, Tedros said he was “outraged” and that anyone found to be involved would face serious consequences. WHO emergencies chief Dr. Michael Ryan claimed the agency had “absolutely no details” of the abuse.

But the internal U.N. report noted that Tedros was informed of sexual abuse allegations in 2019 and that some cases of alleged misconduct were discussed by senior WHO staff shortly after they occurred. Tedros himself travelled to Congo 14 times during the outbreak and said he was personally responsible for WHO’s Ebola response.

To date, no senior managers at WHO linked to the sexual misconduct have been fired; Tedros said last month that because the U.N. report found there was no evidence managers acted improperly, three suspended officials returned to work.

WHO has refused to comment on the internal U.N. report, but Tedros has said repeatedly that he has “zero tolerance” for sexual abuse and exploitation, pointing to the creation of a new department to prevent misconduct. Dr. Gaya Gamhewage, who heads that work, told U.N. investigators that prior to being appointed, “sexual exploitation and abuse were not familiar terms to her.”

Tedros said earlier this month that the agency has established a $2 million fund to help survivors of sexual abuse in Congo, but it’s unclear how many women have obtained assistance.

Jeanette, a woman who says she was impregnated by a WHO doctor while working at an Ebola center in Butembo, said she was pressured into having an abortion, which nearly killed her. She said she is waiting for WHO to punish the doctor responsible for her pregnancy and has had no offers of financial compensation.

“I don’t have the strength to work since the abortion,” she said. “WHO should know that their staffers are flatterers, freeloaders and liars.”
…

French President Emmanuel Macron is set to deliver an address Monday revealing France’s new African strategy.   

Later in the week, the French leader travels to Gabon, Angola, the Republic of Congo and Congo. 

Macron’s visit to Africa comes as many nations there have expressed an anti-France sentiment that has included street protests in some West and North African countries.  

France is also finding that its long economic ties with Africa are starting to fray as Russia, China and Turkey make inroads.  

In addition, Mali has replaced the French troops stationed there with Russian military contractors, something France would not like to see replicated.  

The French leader will also attend a forest-themed climate summit in Gabon.   
…

Somali-American demonstrators from across the United States have called for a cessation of hostility after three weeks of clashes in a disputed town in Somalia’s breakaway Somaliland region left over 100 people dead and more than 500 wounded.

About 200 Somali Americans from across the United States gathered outside the U.S. State Department Friday to call attention to the violence.

Local militias are fighting to pull three regions – Sool, Sanaag and Cayn — away from Somaliland in order to rejoin Somalia. Cease-fire calls have so far been ignored.

Some of the demonstrators carrying the Somali flag, banners, and placards were seen chanting anti-war slogans in support of the victims of the fighting in Las Anod, the capital of Sool.

“Down, down with Muse Bihi,” protesters chanted, referring to Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi.

They demanded immediate, and unconditional cessation of the fighting in Las Anod.

“It is forbidden to kill the innocents, the children, elders, or women. Somaliland cannot rule by force. We will not allow Muse Bihi to kill innocent people,” said one of the protesters, Abdirashid Mohamed Farah.

Abdirahman Mohamed Abdi, Somalia’s former minister of fisheries and marine resources was among the demonstrators.

He said the people in Las Anod are suffering simply because they want to withdraw from Somaliland and be governed by Somalia to the south.

“We are from 15 states in the U.S and Canada. We are here to tell Somalis and the United States government that we want to express our feelings and show solidarity with the innocent people of Las Anod,” Abdi said.

“We call for the United States to pressure Somaliland to cease the hostility,” he added.

“Our people in Las Anod are dying for the sake of the unity of Somalia, and we are here to show solidarity with them, and thank to all those who supported us and sympathized us in this cause,” said another demonstrator, Fawzia Haji Dirir.

The demonstrators also marched toward Djibouti’s Washington embassy, accusing that nation of supporting Somaliland in the fight, but Djiboutian Economy and Finance Minister Ilyas Moussa Dawaleh Saturday denied his country’s involvement in the conflict to VOA.

“The accusers have no evidence to prove, and the only Djibouti guns in Somalia are those in the hands of our Hill Walal soldiers,” Dawaleh said, referring to Djibouti soldiers in Somalia who are part of the African Union peacekeeping forces.

The Washington rally came amid ongoing international efforts to end the fighting.

The U.N. and other diplomatic missions in Somalia, including the U.S. Embassy in Mogadishu, have called on both sides to end to the hostility and negotiate a resolution of their differences, as has Somalia’s government.

“On February 23, a delegation from the U.S. Embassy in Mogadishu led by Chargé d’Affaires Tim Trenkle visited Hargeisa [Somaliland’s capital] to meet with Somaliland government officials, civil society representatives, and youth leaders to discuss security, prosperity, and democracy in the region,” the U.S Embassy in Mogadishu said in a February 23 statement.

“The delegation was received by Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi. The Chargé d’Affaires reiterated the United States and international community’s call for an immediate, unconditional ceasefire in Las Anod and condemned the tragic loss of life and violence,” the statement added.

A Standoff

Somaliland President Muse Bihi announced last week that he would be dispatching clan elders to seek an end to the violence. However, clan elders in the battle-battered town demanded that Somaliland pull out its troops as a precondition for dialogue.

Despite local calls for peace and international efforts, shelling and gunfire continued in Las Anod Saturday, killing at least 20 people, residents and hospital sources told VOA.

Spokesmen for both sides, who spoke to VOA Somali have traded accusations.

Spokesman for the traditional elders in Las Anod Garaad Abdikarim Ali said the Somaliland army launched an attack and bombarded the city with artillery Saturday.

In response, Somaliland Army spokesman Abdi Dhere said local militias, supported by al-Shabab militants have launched an attack on Somaliland army base.

Traditional elders and scholars in the city have repeatedly denied this. They see Somaliland’s accusation as a mere “propaganda.

Doctors and hospitals in Las Anod said this week that 105 people had been killed and 602 injured in the three weeks of fighting.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said Wednesday the clashes in Las Anod had left at least 150 people dead and over 600 others wounded since February 6.

A VOA reporter in the town said the fighting has escalated this week, as both sides dug trenches to defend their positions, while mortar and tank shells pounded throughout the city.

Somaliland considers the territory as a part of its breakaway region and that giving up could jeopardize its efforts for international recognition of its separation from Mogadishu.

Sahra Abdi Ahmed contributed to this report.
…

Three people died and eight others were injured when a helicopter operated by the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia crashed Saturday in the country’s Lower Shabelle region, the mission said in a statement on Sunday.

In the statement the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) said the helicopter, carrying eleven passengers including soldiers from Somalia military, was participating in training drills for casualty evacuation when the crash occurred. 

“Regrettably, three of the eleven passengers on board lost their lives. Eight injured officers have been evacuated to Mogadishu for urgent medical attention,” ATMIS said in the statement.

It did not give any details on casualties, including their nationality, but said investigations had begun to determine the cause of the crash.

ATMIS is assisting Somalia’s central government in its war against the Islamist al Shabab insurgency.

The al Qaida-allied al Shabab group has been fighting for more than a decade to topple Somalia’s government and establish its own rule based on its own strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law.
…

Somali-American demonstrators from across the United States have called for a cessation of hostility after three weeks of clashes in a disputed town in Somalia’s breakaway Somaliland region left over 100 people dead and more than 500 wounded.

About 200 Somali Americans from across the United States gathered outside the U.S. State Department Friday to call attention to the violence.

Local militias are fighting to pull three regions – Sool, Sanaag and Cayn — away from Somaliland in order to rejoin Somalia. Cease-fire calls have so far been ignored.

Some of the demonstrators carrying the Somali flag, banners, and placards were seen chanting anti-war slogans in support of the victims of the fighting in Las Anod, the capital of Sool.

“Down, down with Muse Bihi,” protesters chanted, referring to Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi.

They demanded immediate, and unconditional cessation of the fighting in Las Anod.

“It is forbidden to kill the innocents, the children, elders, or women. Somaliland cannot rule by force. We will not allow Muse Bihi to kill innocent people,” said one of the protesters, Abdirashid Mohamed Farah.

Abdirahman Mohamed Abdi, Somalia’s former minister of fisheries and marine resources was among the demonstrators.

He said the people in Las Anod are suffering simply because they want to withdraw from Somaliland and be governed by Somalia to the south.

“We are from 15 states in the U.S and Canada. We are here to tell Somalis and the United States government that we want to express our feelings and show solidarity with the innocent people of Las Anod,” Abdi said.

“We call for the United States to pressure Somaliland to cease the hostility,” he added.

“Our people in Las Anod are dying for the sake of the unity of Somalia, and we are here to show solidarity with them, and thank to all those who supported us and sympathized us in this cause,” said another demonstrator, Fawzia Haji Dirir.

The demonstrators also marched toward Djibouti’s Washington embassy, accusing that nation of supporting Somaliland in the fight, but Djiboutian Economy and Finance Minister Ilyas Moussa Dawaleh Saturday denied his country’s involvement in the conflict to VOA.

“The accusers have no evidence to prove, and the only Djibouti guns in Somalia are those in the hands of our Hill Walal soldiers,” Dawaleh said, referring to Djibouti soldiers in Somalia who are part of the African Union peacekeeping forces.

The Washington rally came amid ongoing international efforts to end the fighting.

The U.N. and other diplomatic missions in Somalia, including the U.S. Embassy in Mogadishu, have called on both sides to end to the hostility and negotiate a resolution of their differences, as has Somalia’s government.

“On February 23, a delegation from the U.S. Embassy in Mogadishu led by Chargé d’Affaires Tim Trenkle visited Hargeisa [Somaliland’s capital] to meet with Somaliland government officials, civil society representatives, and youth leaders to discuss security, prosperity, and democracy in the region,” the U.S Embassy in Mogadishu said in a February 23 statement.

“The delegation was received by Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi. The Chargé d’Affaires reiterated the United States and international community’s call for an immediate, unconditional ceasefire in Las Anod and condemned the tragic loss of life and violence,” the statement added.

A Standoff

Somaliland President Muse Bihi announced last week that he would be dispatching clan elders to seek an end to the violence. However, clan elders in the battle-battered town demanded that Somaliland pull out its troops as a precondition for dialogue.

Despite local calls for peace and international efforts, shelling and gunfire continued in Las Anod Saturday, killing at least 20 people, residents and hospital sources told VOA.

Spokesmen for both sides, who spoke to VOA Somali have traded accusations.

Spokesman for the traditional elders in Las Anod Garaad Abdikarim Ali said the Somaliland army launched an attack and bombarded the city with artillery Saturday.

In response, Somaliland Army spokesman Abdi Dhere said local militias, supported by al-Shabab militants have launched an attack on Somaliland army base.

Traditional elders and scholars in the city have repeatedly denied this. They see Somaliland’s accusation as a mere “propaganda

Doctors and hospitals in Las Anod said this week that 105 people had been killed and 602 injured in the three weeks of fighting.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said Wednesday the clashes in Las Anod had left at least 150 people dead and over 600 others wounded since February 6.

A VOA reporter in the town said the fighting has escalated this week, as both sides dug trenches to defend their positions, while mortar and tank shells pounded throughout the city.

Somaliland considers the territory as a part of its breakaway region and that giving up could jeopardize its efforts for international recognition of its separation from Mogadishu.
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Polls officially closed for the presidential election in Nigeria, Africa’s most populated country, Saturday afternoon. But in some polling centers, voters are still trying to cast their ballots. The Independent National Electoral Commission has said the delay was caused by logistics issues and concerns of insecurity.

Hundreds of voters are still in line to cast their ballots several hours after voting officially ended.

Some of them say they had been waiting in queue since 5 a.m., more than three hours before the polls opened.

Frustration was getting to many. 

“I’ll sleep here, and I’m ready to sleep until tomorrow. I’m not longer in a hurry. Anytime they’re ready, we will be ready, too. I have mattress and my pillow; everything is here already,” said this voter.

The Independent National Electoral Commission briefed journalists Saturday afternoon and said the delay has been caused by setbacks in deployment of staff and election materials to those areas, as well as security threats.

INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu said early Saturday that the commission was warned of an attack by bandits in Shiroro local government area of central Niger state and delayed opening the polls there.

Yakubu also said the INEC has received reports of election disruptions — including the theft of voting machines — and violence across many states, including Lagos, Anambra, Katsina, Imo, Delta, Abia, Kebbi and Bayelsa.

Yakubu said security officers responded and retrieved some of the stolen Bimodal Voter Accreditation Systems (BVAS) and restored calm to these places.

“In Oshimiri local government area of Delta state, thugs attacked a polling unit and two BVAS machines were lost in the process. Similarly, in Katsina state, thugs attacked one of our voting locations and snatched six BVAS machines. But again, we’re able to recover and use the spare BVAS machines,” said Mahmood Yakubu, the INEC chairman.

The Oshimiri machines were not recovered.

Out of 18 candidates in the race for presidency, three stand a realistic chance.

Across thousands of polling units where voting has been concluded, many praise the INEC for introducing the BVAS technology for the first time in a major national election.

“I’ve casted my vote and honestly INEC has done a good job, we’re not scared of anything. Whoever is verified is inside the system, it’s not a manual stuff. Our names are there, informations are there,”said Emeka Okafor who had just voted. 

Many here say they will remain in line until they cast their ballot, however long that may take.
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Some Nigerians are returning to the polls Sunday after technical and other problems prevented them from casting their votes Saturday for a new president for Africa’s most populous democracy.

“The whole process is an absolute mess,” Preye Iti, 60, a civil servant, told Reuters. “I waited from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. yesterday. Now I’m back here at 8:30 again.”

President Muhammadu Buhari is stepping down after serving the maximum eight years or two terms as allowed under the country’s constitution.

About 90 million Nigerians are eligible to cast their ballots in the election that will also determine who will serve in the National Assembly.

Veteran candidates – Bola Tinubu, 70, a former Lagos governor from the ruling All Progressives Congress party, and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, 76, from the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party – are being challenged by a third-party candidate, the Labour Party’s Peter Obi, 61, who has support among young voters.

The election occurs as Nigeria is experiencing a cash shortage, widening poverty, high inflation and energy shortages.

In the past, Nigeria’s elections have been marred by electoral fraud and violence, but the presidential candidates promised this week to support a peaceful and transparent process.

Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission has said the results of the election will be available in a few days.

Some information in this report came from Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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From dozens of farms nestled among the hills of Ghana’s Volta region to the cafes and restaurants of the capital, Accra, the women farming and marketing Ghanaian coffee are working to gain a firmer foothold in the small but growing sector.

Ghana is the world’s second-largest cocoa producer behind neighbor Ivory Coast, but is one of Africa’s smallest in terms of coffee output. Most smallholder farmers lack access to the resources needed to market their beans.

Benedicta Tamakloe, a former computer science teacher and founder of the Accra-based roaster Bean Masters, decided to help by working with female farmers who were struggling in the male-dominated sector.

“At first, I just wanted to help these women in my home village find buyers,” Tamakloe told Reuters, thinking back to when Bean Masters, one of the few female-owned coffee companies in Ghana, began in 2018.

“Then a friend told me: you have to be in the game to know the game,” she said.

Bean Masters exclusively sources beans from female-owned farmers who form a collective of around 200 growers – the country’s largest of its kind which also helps members harvest their crop.

“We want to ensure we’re getting the best beans possible,” Tamakloe said to Isha Pagniw, owner of a farm near the top of a forested mountain on Ghana’s eastern border with Togo where a group of women were plucking bright red coffee fruit from branches dappled by the morning sun.

As the women worked, Tamakloe walked among them with a device to test the coffee beans’ moisture content.

The collective produced around 10 tonnes of coffee last year, much of which Tamakloe roasts herself at a chocolate factory in Accra. A portion of the proceeds funds development projects in the villages where the women farm.

Today, Bean Masters coffee is mostly sold in bulk to high-end restaurants and hotels. But Tamakloe aims to expand her production of retail-sized bags this year to make Bean Masters available to all kinds of consumers.

At Kozo, an Afro-Asian fusion restaurant in Accra, Tamakloe and the staff sipped espressos made with Bean Masters coffee. The owner visited Pagniw’s farm with Tamakloe in 2021, and has exclusively stocked Bean Masters ever since.

“It’s a company that fosters women empowerment, sustainability and authenticity,” said aspiring sommelier Ivy Esinam Lanyoh. “That is a vision that needs to be supported.”
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Most film festivals can be counted on to provide entertainment, laced with some introspection.

The weeklong FESPACO that opened Saturday in violence-torn Burkina Faso’s capital goes beyond that to also offer hope, and a symbol of endurance: In years of political strife and Islamic extremist attacks, which killed thousands and displaced nearly 2 million in the West African country, it’s never been canceled.

“We only have FESPACO left to prevent us from thinking about what’s going on,” said Maimouna Ndiaye, a Burkinabe actress who has four submissions in this year’s competition. “This is the event that must not be canceled no matter the situation.”

Since the last edition of the biennial festival in Ouagadougou, the country’s troubles have increased. Successive governments’ failures to stop the extremist violence triggered two military coups last year, with each junta leader promising security — but delivering few results.

At least 70 soldiers were killed in two attacks earlier this month in Burkina Faso’s Sahel region. The fighting also has sowed discord among a once-peaceful population, pitting communities and ethnicities against each other.

Nevertheless, more than 15,000 people, including cinema celebrities from Nigeria, Senegal and Ivory Coast are expected in Ouagadougou for FESPACO, Africa’s biggest film festival that was launched in 1969.

Some 1,300 films were submitted for consideration and 100 have been selected to compete from 35 African countries and the diaspora, including movies from the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Nearly half of those in the fiction competition this year are directed by women.

Among them is Burkinabe director and producer Apolline Traore, whose film “Sira” — considered a front-runner in this year’s competition — is emblematic of many Burkinabes’ suffering. It tells the tale of a woman’s struggle for survival after being kidnapped by jihadis in the Sahel, as her fiance tries to find her.

Still, Traore is upbeat about her country’s prospects.

“The world has painted Burkina Faso as a red country. It’s dangerous to come to my country, as they say,” she told The Associated Press. “We’re probably a little crumbled but we’re not down.”

Government officials say they have ramped up security and will ensure the safety of festival attendees.

Many hope FESPACO will help boost domestic unity and strengthen ties with other countries, at a time when anti-French sentiment is on the rise in Burkina Faso.

Wolfram Vetter, the European Union ambassador in Burkina Faso, called the film festival “an important contribution to peace and reconciliation in Burkina Faso and beyond.”

The EU is the event’s largest funder after the Burkinabe government. It has contributed approximately 250,000 euros ($265,000).
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Fatima Ali, who fled her hometown of Baga in northeast Nigeria after an attack by Islamist insurgents, was keen to take part in the country’s election Saturday and cast her first vote in five years.

But that hope hung in the balance as voting machines malfunctioned at her polling station, leaving many people frustrated.

Nigeria’s parliamentary and presidential election was marred by delays in several parts of the country caused by issues including technical problems with a new biometric anti-fraud voter accreditation system and the late arrival of vehicles to transport them.

Ali, 38, is among more than 2 million people who have fled their homes because of a long-running insurgency in the northeast and are known as internally displaced people. She said she had come out to vote because of the hardships she has endured since leaving her hometown of Baga, near the border with Niger.

“The person I wanted to vote (for) is the one that will consider all the suffering that we are facing today,” Ali told Reuters at the polling unit just a few meters away from her temporary camp she shares with hundreds of other families.

At a polling station near her temporary camp in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, Ali waited patiently with some 200 other internally displaced people to vote. But the voting machines had not been fixed at the time polls were due to close at 2.30 p.m. (1330 GMT).

Still, it seemed she would still get a chance to vote.

Hajja Zara Bukar, an official from the Independent National Electoral Commission  said voting at the polling unit may have to be held Sunday.
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Nigeria’s presidential election was marked by long delays at some polling stations on Saturday, which did not deter large crowds of voters hoping for a reset after years of worsening violence and hardship under outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari.

Africa’s most populous nation is struggling with Islamist insurgencies in the northeast, an epidemic of kidnappings for ransom, conflict between herders and farmers, shortages of cash, fuel and power, as well as deep-rooted corruption and poverty.

Reuters reporters at locations across the country saw a mixed election day picture, with some polling stations closing at the planned time of 2:30 p.m. local time (1330 GMT), while others had yet to open.

“I will wait here to cast my vote. If I don’t vote how will things change?” said 23-year-old Halima Sherif, whose polling station in the northern city of Kano had not started operating by closing time.

By evening, some polling stations were already counting ballots while voting was still going on at others and had not taken place elsewhere. Some voting was now expected to take place on Sunday.

Some states were expected to announce results on Sunday and the final tally from all 36 states plus the federal capital Abuja was expected within five days of voting. The election is also for National Assembly seats.

‘No one will be disenfranchised’

There were reports of scattered violent incidents on Saturday, though not on the scale seen in previous elections in the country of more than 200 million people.

Buhari, a retired army general, is stepping down after serving the maximum eight years allowed by the constitution but failing to deliver on his pledge to bring back order and security across Nigeria, Africa’s top oil-producing country.

The contest to succeed him is wide open, with candidates from two parties that have alternated in power since the end of army rule in 1999 facing an unusually strong challenge from a minor party candidate popular among young voters.

Officials from the Independent National Electoral Commission, or INEC, cited technical problems with a new biometric anti-fraud voter accreditation system, the late arrival of vehicles to transport them, and the absence of voter registers as causes of delays.

“It is frustrating that INEC are not prepared for us. All we want is just to vote,” said Sylvester Iwu, who was among a large crowd waiting at a polling station in Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa State in the southern oil-producing Niger Delta.

In a televised news briefing, INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu said six biometric machines had been stolen in northern Katsina State and two in southern Delta State. He also acknowledged the delays but said voters would be able to cast their ballots.

“The election will hold, and no one will be disenfranchised,” he said.

Yakubu said at a later briefing that voting would take place on Sunday in several wards in Yenagoa that had experienced severe disruption on Saturday.

Scattered violence

In northeast Borno State, the epicenter of Islamist insurgency, suspected fighters from the Boko Haram group fired mortar shells in the rural Gwoza area, killing one child, wounding four others, and disrupting voting, army sources said.

In Abuja, a team from the anti-corruption Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was attacked just after arresting a man on suspicion of paying for a group of people’s votes using a banking app, the EFCC said.

In Lagos, a Reuters TV crew saw police arrest four men on suspicion of intimidating voters, while an election observer from a local civil society group said he had seen thugs armed with knives, chains and bottles smashing ballot boxes.

In most areas, however, the day appeared to have unfolded peacefully despite frustrations over the delays.

The main contenders to succeed Buhari are former Lagos governor Bola Tinubu, 70, of the ruling All Progressives Congress, former vice president Atiku Abubakar, 76, of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, and former Anambra State governor Peter Obi, 61, of the smaller Labour Party.

All three voted in their home states, surrounded by chaotic scrums of reporters and supporters.

“The electoral process cannot achieve 100% perfection,” Tinubu told reporters after voting. “People have to tolerate that. You’ve got to accept the results.”

Tinubu and Atiku, as he is known in Nigeria, are both political heavyweights with decades of networking behind them.

Both Muslims, Tinubu is an ethnic Yoruba from the southwest and Atiku is a Fulani from the northeast.

Obi, a Christian from the Igbo ethnic group, has less of a political machine but has used a slick social media campaign to generate huge enthusiasm among young voters, with some even calling themselves the “Obidients.”

INEC says its new Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, or BVAS, that identifies voters using biometric data would help avert fraud. Reuters reporters in some locations said officials were struggling to get the BVAS devices to work, while in others the system was functioning smoothly.

Despite INEC’s precautions, analysts have warned there are still risks that cash-strapped citizens could be vulnerable to vote-buying attempts by candidates.
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