Sixty-nine al-Shabab militants were killed in two separate military operations in south and central Somalia, Somali military officials said Thursday.  

“In a joint operation conducted by the National Army, allied clan militia and international partners in the Middle Shabelle region, at least 49 militants were killed,” said Brigadier General Abdullahi Ali Anod, a spokesman for the country’s Ministry of Defense. Government soldiers also seized weapons from the terrorist group, he added. 

The joint forces fought the militants at a farm late Wednesday, Anod said.  

“We launched a surprise attack against them as they were regrouping in the farm of Sheikh Qasim near Dhagahow area under Hawadley village in the country’s Middle Shabelle province,” Anod said.  

The farm, about 60 kilometers north of the capital, Mogadishu, was wrested from al-Shabab control in October by government forces and allied clan militias.  

On Tuesday, the militants launched a deadly attack on a nearby Somali military base, killing at least seven government soldiers, including a commander.  

The al-Shabab attack on the government base came a day after the government claimed a “historic victory” over the jihadis with the capture of strategic coastal towns, including Harardhere, once the main operating port for pirates hijacking ships at sea for ransom. 

In a separate operation, at least 20 al-Shabab militants were killed and others were injured when Somali National Army fighters launched an attack Thursday on a militant base at Goof-Gadud village 30 kilometers north of Baidoa, the temporary administrative capital of Southwest state, officials said Thursday.  

“National Army carried out the attack to preempt an attack the militants were planning to launch from this village to government forces. At least 20 militants were killed during the operation,” said Hassan Abdulkadir, Southwest state minister of justice.  

He said senior al-Shabab commanders were among those killed, along with five government soldiers. 
…

Droughts, flooding and a shrinking Lake Chad caused in part by climate change is fueling conflict and migration in the region and needs to be better addressed, a report said Thursday.

Human rights group Refugees International called for the issue to be central to a high-level international conference on the Lake Chad basin next week in Niamey, Niger’s capital.

The report found that shrinking natural resources because of adverse weather are heightening tensions across communities and displacing people. It said around 3 million people have been displaced and an additional 11 million were in need of humanitarian assistance.

“For too long, insufficient attention has been paid to how climate change fuels violence and displacement,” report lead author Alexandra Lamarche told The Associated Press. “International responses to the Lake Chad basin crisis have singularly focused on the presence of armed groups.”

More than a climate crisis

A 13-year insurgency of the Boko Haram extremist group and other militant groups have destabilized the Lake Chad basin and the wider Sahel region. The basin is shared between Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria.

The Lake Chad region is facing “much more than a climate and ecological crisis,” said Mabingue Ngom, the senior adviser to the executive director of the United Nations population agency. “It is a humanitarian issue touching on peace and regional development.”

The United Nations weather agency warned that Lake Chad basin “is particularly vulnerable to climate change-related extreme events such as floods and droughts” and issued alerts that “extreme events will likely become more abundant causing more frequent droughts and flooding with impacts on food security and general security in the region.”

Lamarche noted that the Logone Birni commune in northern Cameroon was particularly vulnerable to increasing violence as climate change worsens.

“Fighting over access to natural resources [in Logone Birni] forced 60,000 people to seek refuge in neighboring Chad in late 2021,” Lamarche said.

Construction, other factors also to blame

The Lake Chad basin in west and central Africa covers 8% of the African continent and is home to 42 million people whose livelihoods revolve around pastoralism, fishing and farming, according to figures from the Lake Chad Basin Commission.

The U.N. environment agency notes that Lake Chad has shrunk 90% in 60 years, with climate change a significant contributor. Irrigation, the construction of dams and population increase were also to blame.

A provisional agenda of next week’s summit seen by The Associated Press suggests that the “adverse impacts of climate change” will feature as part of peace-building and humanitarian efforts.

Lamarche said the conference is “the perfect opportunity for international donors to commit to long-term solutions to address the nexus between climate change, violence, and displacement in the region.”

The meeting in Niamey will be the third high-level summit on the lake’s basin.
…

Ethiopia’s tourism authorities say the industry lost $2 billion during the past two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in the Tigray region. With the November peace deal between the Ethiopian federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front moving forward, the Ministry of Tourism is ramping up efforts to revive tourism.

Ethiopia’s Epiphany festival, known as Timkat in Amharic, is expected to attract thousands of Christians during its two-day celebration, which ends today.

Rhoda Berger and her friend Fatima Arnous traveled from France and Germany and are taking  part in Ethiopia’s Epiphany festival at Jan Meda, Addis Ababa. The two-day celebration, known as Timkat in Amharic, ends today. It is expected to attract thousands of Christians.

“I’m half Ethiopian, half German so I’ve been in Ethiopia before, last time was 2020, so three years ago,” Berger said. “I was actually trying to come last year but then I decided not to because of the conflict and COVID as well. But then, yeah, I really wanted to and I missed it a lot because I have family here and friends here, so I really wanted to come back and I was just waiting until the situation got a bit better.”

Her friend is in Ethiopia for the first time.

“When I read … newspapers and when I was talking to people and everything, everybody tells me yeah, you have to be careful … . But I guess it’s everywhere the same situation and I wanted to visit the country and that’s why I’m here,” Arnous said.

Members of the tourism sector hope the tides are turning for the industry. 

Henok Abebe, who has worked as a tour guide for over 10 years in the city of Gonder, the epicenter of Timkat celebrations, saw work opportunities dwindle to nothing in the past three years as the war worsened and travel restrictions increased. Travel advisories — specifically from western Europe, where Abebe said a majority of his guests reside — deeply hurt his business. 

During that time, Abebe and his fellow tour guides turned to local tourists. But at one point, when Tigrayan fighters had entered the Amhara region, Abebe left to join the fighting.

Ethiopia suffered heavy financial losses from the disruption to tourism, according to state minister for tourism, Sileshi Girma.

He said that, because of impacts of the war and COVID-19, an estimated 2 billion dollars have been lost in revenue as a country with the loss in business from about 3 million tourists.

With the peace deal holding, the ministry is working on revamping the battered industry. This includes reinstating flights to Tigray region cities and opening up historic destinations like the Amhara town of Lalibela.

Officials are also looking for more sources for tourism, such as countries in Africa and the Middle East. 

 
…

South Africa’s poultry farmers say they’ve had to cull almost 10 million chicks because of the country’s power crisis. The record blackouts have slowed down production, creating a backlog in processing and no room for the chicks. Farmers’ groups warn if the power cuts are not resolved soon, South Africa’s longer-term food security could be affected. 

South Africa’s struggling state-owned power company, Eskom, this week shortened power cuts that, since December, had forced homes and businesses to go without electricity for up to 10 hours per day.  

However, Eskom says the rolling blackouts will continue for at least another year to prevent a total collapse of the grid.

The record power cuts are crippling South Africa’s economy and harming production, including foods.  

Izaak Breytenbach, general manager of the South African Poultry Association, said the power crisis means they can’t run slaughterhouses, or abattoirs, on the usual 24-hour schedule.

“When we take chickens into an abattoir there’s a water bath with electric stunner and that is the main approved method of killing the chickens,” he said. “And then in that whole process where we do the cut-up of the chicken, the temperature is controlled in the abattoir.”

Breytenbach says the lack of power to run the machines dropped production by a quarter, creating a backlog and overcrowding on poultry farms.

The association says farmers were forced to cull 10 million chicks in just weeks.  

Breytenbach warned if government doesn’t resolve the power shortage soon, the price of chicken will increase even more than last year, when Russia’s war on Ukraine caused feed prices to jump.

“We’ve seen material increase of chicken prices of about 17% in the period 2021 to 2022,” he said.

The drop in production could lead to a chicken shortage in South Africa and job losses in a country with a 33% unemployment rate. 

Ensuring food quality and safety 

Theo Boshoff, CEO of South Africa’s Agricultural Business Chamber, said the entire food production chain is affected by the power cuts.  

“It’s right up and down the value chain,” he said. “If you think about primary agriculture; irrigation especially during this time it’s peak summer. The cold chain is absolutely critical so that’s where the biggest risk lies of course to ensure food quality and safety.”

Boshoff said the chamber is doing a survey to determine the cost to South African agriculture.

He said farmers met on January 13 with Agriculture Minister Thoko Didiza to discuss the problem and request an exemption from power cuts.

“It’s a tough ask in the current climate,” he said. “We don’t have enough generation online currently so if you have an exemption for one sector that means you’ll need to cut from another sector.”

He said the ministry agreed to appoint a task force on the issue and is expected to report back next week.  

South Africa’s aging power plants were forced to introduce power cuts since 2008 amid corruption scandals involving the state-owned power company, Eskom.  

The shortage worsened in the past two years with Eskom having to cut power more than 200 days in 2022, the most ever in a calendar year.  

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa this week cancelled his trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos to hold urgent meetings on the blackouts.  

Despite the shortage, the government last week announced an 18% power price increase this year but was unable to say when the power cuts will end.
…

Kenya’s President William Ruto said this week that there was a plot to murder the country’s top electoral official last August to prevent him from announcing Ruto as the winner of the presidential election. This was the first time the president has mentioned the plot after months of rumors on social media, and Ruto’s supporters are urging an investigation.

President Ruto made the allegation at the State House Tuesday as he met with outgoing commissioners of Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, including outgoing chairman Wafula Chebukati.

Last August, Chebukati declared Ruto as winner of Kenya’s presidential election, which Ruto won by a narrow margin over his main challenger Raila Odinga.

Ruto alleged that unnamed individuals plotted to kill the IEBC chairman and take other steps so the election results could not be announced.

“The mechanism constituted a syndicate to execute a series of strategies consisting of bribery, blackmail, extortion, threats and intimidation of various public officials of the IEBC, attempt their abduction, torture and assassination, to storm the national tallying center and attempt treasonous insurrection,” he said.

Rumors about efforts to disrupt the election have circulated on social media for months but police have yet to open an investigation.

Opposition parties say if Ruto has evidence about a plot, he should order police to investigate.

The head of the former ruling Jubilee party, Jeremiah Kioni, says those suspected of threatening the electoral commissioner’s lives must be charged.

“There are unfortunate things coming out from the head of state. If he had evidence, he should have used the agencies charged with the criminal justice system to ensure that those culpable are dealt with by the institutions as provided for in our laws,” he said.

Many Kenyans see Ruto’s allegations as plausible. Chris Msando, a Kenyan official in charge of ICT, was kidnapped and killed a few days before the 2017 election. That killing is still unsolved.

However, political commentator Martin Andati says Ruto is making a mistake by bringing attention to the alleged plot to kill Chebukati.

“He is opening a pandora’s box because the late Msando was abducted and eventually killed and Kenyans have not forgotten,” he said. “The country has started healing and you saw the reception President Ruto received in Luo Nyanza but when he starts making allegations, he is now making and opening wounds which has started healing, then we will get derailed, and we will not be able to heal as a country, we will not be able to address some of the challenges that he needs to address and we are likely to lose focus.”

Ruto won the August election by less than two percentage points over Odinga, and four members of the seven-member IEBC challenged the official results in court. The Supreme Court upheld the final count.

Kenya now faces months without an electoral commission after the terms of the last three remaining commissioners, including the chairperson, ended this week.

The departing commissioners have recommended the commissioners be appointed to the electoral body two years before the election, strengthening electoral laws and improving security at the tallying centers in the country.

Kenya has appointed electoral commissioners through the Inter-Parties Parliamentary Group (IPPG) since 1997. The opposition anticipates that a similar approach will be used in the formation of a new election agency.
…

The United Nations said Wednesday peacekeepers discovered mass graves in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, following a series of attacks blamed on a local militia.

U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters one grave in the village of Nyamamba contained 42 bodies, including six children. Seven bodies were found in a grave in the village of Mbogi.

The graves are located in Ituri province, where Haq said there has been a “significant deterioration of the security situation in Djugu and Mahagi territories.”

Haq said since December, the U.N. peacekeeping mission has said at least 195 civilians have been killed and 84 people abducted in incidents linked to two armed groups, CODECO and Zaire.

The U.N. says more than 1.5 million people have been displaced in Ituri, and the attacks have hampered humanitarian efforts.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
…

In Senegal, two major traffic crashes in just eight days killed 62 people, reviving the question of road safety standards in Senegal and across Africa. The continent is home to the highest rate of road fatalities in the world. Experts blame a dangerous mix of poor infrastructure and driver education as well as low-quality imports.

Rusted buses fill Dakar’s roads at rush hour. Passengers hang off the back doors, while teenagers on rollerblades cling to the sides, dodging horse carts and unpainted speed bumps. There are no traffic lights or stop signs — cars have the right of way and pedestrians cross at high risk.

Road conditions outside Senegal’s major cities can feel even more dangerous, where packed buses barrel down two-lane potholed roads, their roofs piled with mountains of cargo and sheep. There are no medians or street lights and farm animals roam freely into unchecked traffic.

On Monday it was a donkey that caused a public bus to swerve and collide with a truck in the country’s northern region of Louga. Twenty-two people were killed and 28 injured.

Just eight days prior, 40 people were killed and about 80 injured in a crash in Senegal’s southeastern Kaffrine region. A tire had burst, sending a passenger bus into the path of another oncoming bus.

The government responded by banning night bus trips between districts and outlawed used tire imports.

Worst traffic fatality rate in world

At 26.6 deaths per 100,000 people, Africa has the worst rate of traffic fatalities in the world — nearly triple that of Europe, according to a 2018 report by the World Health Organization.

Christopher Kost, the Africa Program Director at the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, an urban planning nonprofit, says that in order to improve road safety, African countries need to shift public transportation business models.

“In so many African countries, we’re still operating with a target system where driver incomes are directly related to the number of people they carry. And as a result, they rush as fast as possible to the destination, and that leads to a lot of the road safety challenges that we have,” he said.

Switching to a salary system would incentivize drivers to drive safely instead of cramming their buses full and speeding to their destinations, Kost said.

Carolyne Mimano, a partnerships manager also with the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, says public transport could be further improved by limiting the age of buses, increasing bus inspections, and capping driver hours.

Within cities, governments have many options to improve safety. African city streets are shared by cars, pedestrians, cyclists, street vendors and even horse carts, yet planning efforts focus only on vehicles, Mimano said.

Pedestrians in Africa represent 40% of all road traffic deaths, compared to 23% globally, according to the WHO.

“We still have that car centric approach to transport planning,” Mimano said. “Even with road crashes, we think that the solution is to expand the road. And that doesn’t really solve the problem. What actually happens is people speed more.”

Improvement is possible. Mimano points to Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, which has speed cameras and salaried bus drivers, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, which has elevated pedestrian crosswalks, wide sidewalks, and 21 kilometers of dedicated bus lanes.

“Africa and its development partners must prioritize road safety in their national budgets at a level that is commensurate to the burden and develop and implement national road safety programs in a way that engages all of the government including health, transport, education, finance and trade sectors,” said Nneka Henry, the head of the United Nations Road Safety Fund.

Senegal sees an average of 745 road fatalities per year, with most deadly accidents occurring at night, according to Senegal’s information bureau.
…

China’s new Foreign Minister Qin Gang wrapped up his first international tour to Africa this week, during which he visited five diverse countries — Ethiopia, Gabon, Benin, Angola and Egypt — and stressed that China does not see the continent as an arena for a power struggle between the West and Beijing.

“Africa should be a big stage for the international cooperation, not an arena for major-force rivalry,” Qin, who was previously ambassador to the United States, said at a press conference on his first stop, in Addis Ababa.

“The China-United States relationship should not be about a competitive one or a zero-sum game that enlarges one’s own gain at the expense of the other,” he said. “Otherwise, it will only hurt both sides and even the world.”

For more than three decades it’s been a tradition that the top Chinese diplomat’s first foreign trip is to Africa. President Xi Jinping, who’s entering his second decade in power, has invested heavily in the continent through his Belt and Road infrastructure initiative, which has expanded since its initial inception and includes Chinese investments in projects that build land and sea trade routes to continents around the world.

Some analysts say the U.S. is now playing catch-up with China in Africa, a resource-rich region with a growing population. In December, U.S. President Joe Biden hosted a summit of African leaders in Washington, and the past year has seen a flurry of visits to the continent by top U.S. officials.

“I think America has politically prioritized Africa at a later stage in the contemporary game than what China has. … Is America late to the game? It’s certainly later than China,” said Lauren Johnston, a China-Africa researcher at the South African Institute of International Affairs.

Ethiopia

In Addis Ababa, the seat of the African Union, Qin opened the new Chinese-built $80 million African Centers for Disease Control — part of China’s “health silk road” — to great fanfare.

It was originally envisioned as a collaboration between the U.S., China and Africa. But relations between Washington and Beijing soured under the Trump administration, with the U.S. voicing concerns about the risk of China spying and stealing genomic data. Beijing called the allegations “ridiculous.”

The Trump administration also pulled the U.S. out of the World Health Organization. The three-country partnership for the African CDC collapsed and the agreement was recrafted as one between China and the African Union.

Paul Nantulya, research associate at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, told VOA the inauguration of the building was “a very important message that China was sending about China’s commitment to infectious-disease control on the continent — so a big diplomatic win there.”

Ethiopia was also an important stop for the ambassador, Nantulya noted, because the two-year war in Tigray has been detrimental to Chinese business interests and hundreds of Chinese workers had to be evacuated. Beijing had even tried its hand at a peacemaker role, though it was the African Union that eventually secured a cease-fire late last year. During his trip, Qin pledged support for reconstruction efforts now underway in the region.

Ethiopia is highly indebted to China, owing $13.7 billion, and it was reported during the visit that Qin announced a partial forgiveness of the debt. The amount of forgiven debt was undisclosed.

“There was no publication of what was agreed in terms of debt relief. There was just talk of debt relief, and China has a tradition of having only offered debt relief for non-interest-paying loans, which are very small,” Johnston said. “If it’s something much more than just interest-free loans, then it could be much bigger and important.”

The West has frequently accused China of practicing “debt trap diplomacy” by trying to gain leverage over indebted developing countries. Qin rejected that in Addis Ababa, asserting that “China has always been committed to helping Africa ease its debt burden.”

He said China actively participated in the Group of 20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative, signed agreements or reached agreements with 19 African countries on debt relief and suspended the most debt service payments among G-20 members.

Increasing engagement

Qin’s visit to Gabon and Benin surprised some China watchers, but Nantulya said it was part of China’s increasing engagement with Francophone West Africa.

He noted that China is currently building — as it did for the African Union in Addis Ababa — the new Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) headquarters.

In Benin, Qin said, “My proposal is that we work together to promote synergy between Benin’s strategic development plan and the Belt and Road Initiative … in order to identify more fields of action and growth rates for our cooperation. I am thinking for example of infrastructure, agriculture, human resources training, manufacturing, and peace and security.”

In Luanda, Qin marked the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Angola.

“Angola is a critically important security partner of China, but at the same time also highly indebted. About 40% of Angola’s debt is owed to China, so the source of discussions that Ambassador Qin must have had in Ethiopia, he must have had the same discussions with the Angolan government,” surmised Nantulya.

Egypt is strategically important to China because of the Suez Canal and its numerous investments there, including in the new administrative capital being built outside Cairo. Besides meeting with Egyptian government officials, Qin held meetings with the Arab League.

At a press conference afterward, he addressed the Israel-Palestinian conflict, saying Israel should “stop all incitements and provocations, and should refrain from any unilateral action that may lead to the deterioration of the situation.”

Johnston said the hard tone of Qin’s comments was somewhat surprising and may signal that he’ll be a different kind of foreign minister than his predecessors.

“When he was ambassador to the U.S., he was known for being somewhat strident in some of his statements,” said Johnston. “Maybe’s he’s come away from the U.S. with his own perspective from engaging in those policy circles … maybe he has some quite different angles and views on global diplomacy based even on that.”
…

KIBATI, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO — Acrid smoke swirls amid the buzzing of dozens of chainsaws under the majestic Nyiragongo volcano, producing scenes of devastation in the heart of the lush natural treasure in eastern DR Congo.
…

Police in Nigeria’s central Niger state say a mob angry at the killing of a Catholic priest torched a police station, other buildings, and cars, and threw stones at officers Tuesday.  

State police spokesman Wasiu Abiodun said authorities are responding to the situation and have deployed reinforcements to the Paikoro district where the incident took place.

He said the protesters, including youths and women, marched from the slain priest’s residence to a divisional police station and set it ablaze.

“We have sent reinforcements there, the security men are on ground and investigations have commenced and further developments will be made known to the public,” Abiodun told VOA via phone. 

It is not clear how many people were injured during Tuesday’s protests, but eyewitnesses told local media that police officers dispersed the demonstrators forcefully.

The protesters blamed police for not responding promptly to distress calls when the armed men attacked the cleric, Father Isaac Achi.

On Sunday, armed men burned Achi inside his home in Paikoro after failing to break in. The attackers also shot at another priest fleeing the scene, but he survived.

The motive behind Achi’s killing remains unknown, but the incident triggered widespread criticism from religious groups including the Christian Association of Nigeria, or CAN.

CAN this week said authorities must decisively put an end to attacks on churches.

In a separate incident on Sunday, gunmen attacked a church in northwest Katsina state and abducted nine people, including two children.

In May, heavily armed men attacked a Catholic church in the southwestern town of Owo and killed 40 worshippers.

Insecurity is a major problem bedeviling Africa’s most populous nation weeks ahead of general elections scheduled for February 25.  

 
…

Cameroon’s government deployed at least 100 troops Wednesday to Gayama, a village on the border with Nigeria, after clashes between Cameroonian separatists and Nigerian herders left at least 12 people dead.

Cameroonian officials say the fighting broke out six days ago, after herders who crossed the border in search of food for their cattle refused to pay taxes the rebels demanded.

Abdoulahi Aliou, the highest-ranking government official in Menchum, the administrative unit in charge of Gayama, said the rebels killed two herders immediately upon their refusal to pay. The surviving herders, who are ethnic Fulani from Taraba and Benue states, returned  home and organized a counterattack.

Aliou said the herders came back in huge numbers, attacked separatist camps, and killed at least four fighters. Six civilians, including the traditional ruler of Munkep village and his son, were also killed in the clashes.

Authorities say at least 20 civilians were injured, scores of cattle were killed, and homes were torched.

The Roman Catholic Church in Menchum says many civilians fled Gayama and neighboring villages to avoid getting caught in clashes between separatists and the arriving troops.

The governor of Cameroon’s Northwest region, Deben Tchoffo, said civilians should not fear the military. Speaking by telephone from the region’s capital, Bamenda, he said villagers should help the troops by denouncing rebels hiding in their communities.

“The future is bright, provided we are united against the agents of chaos that are trying to hijack our youths,” Tchoffo said. “The armed forces are bringing themselves close to the population. That is the reason why, compared to last year, things are becoming more and more normal in the Northwest region, even if we still have some hotspots.”

Tchoffo said Cameroon’s military would protect civilians in all border villages.

Separatists on social media, including WhatsApp and Facebook, acknowledged they have been battling Nigerian herders, who they say should respect their orders.

This is not the first time Cameroon’s anglophone separatists have attacked Nigerians along the border. 

Last June, villagers in western Akwaya town said armed men believed to be rebels carried out a series of attacks that killed at least 30 people, including five Nigerian merchants.

The separatists have been fighting since 2017 to carve out an English-speaking state from French-speaking majority Cameroon.

The U.N. says the conflict has left more than 3,500 people dead and 750,000 displaced.   

 
…

Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi said Tuesday the M23 rebel group had not fully withdrawn from areas it seized in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, accusing the militia of faking an agreed pullback of its forces. 

Regional leaders brokered an agreement in November under which the Tutsi-led group was meant to withdraw from recently seized positions by January 15 as part of efforts to end a conflict that has displaced at least 450,000 people and sparked a diplomatic crisis between Congo and neighboring Rwanda. 

“Despite the international pressure, the group is still there,” Tshisekedi said during a panel session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. 

“They pretend to move, they act like they are moving, but they’re not. They’re simply moving around, redeploying elsewhere, and they stay in the towns that they have captured,” he said. His comments were the most outspoken from the Congolese authorities so far on how they view the implementation of the peace deal. 

“President Tshisekedi has only this to say. It is the government that does not respect the cease-fire, it also continues to arm armed groups,” said Lawrence Kanyaka, a spokesman for the M23. 

Earlier in January, an internal United Nations intelligence report said it was not possible to confirm the M23’s purported withdrawal from some areas due to continued signs of troop movement, and its analysis indicated the group had seized new territory elsewhere. 

Tshisekedi again accused Rwanda of fueling the conflict by supporting the rebels — an accusation also leveled by Western powers and U.N. experts. Rwanda firmly denies this. 

Several civil society organizations have called for a demonstration on Wednesday in the provincial capital, Goma, to protest delays implementing the M23 withdrawal, although the city authorities have not authorized the march. 

 
…

There was visible excitement among students when schools reopened Tuesday in Malawi’s two biggest cities, Lilongwe and Blantyre, after a two-week suspension caused by a cholera outbreak. 

The bacterial illness has killed close to 800 people, more than 100 of them children, and affected more than 25,000. 

Malawi’s government announced measures to prevent cholera from spreading in schools but warned it will shut down the schools again if needed.  

To many students, especially those who are preparing to take national examinations this year, the closure doomed their hope of passing the exams.

Ronnie Lutepo, a teenaged student at Michiru View secondary school in Blantyre, said returning to the school was the best thing he hoped for.

“Yes, as I was at home my mum was telling me to study, but being in an examination class affected me badly,” he said. “We are all supposed to be here and ready for the exams and if we are not ready, we are not going to get good grades.”

The reopening comes after the government announced that it has put into place preventive measures against the spread of cholera, which is transmitted mainly through dirty water. 

These include fixing broken boreholes and water taps in the schools and banning the sale of cooked food around school premises.

Malawi is battling its worst cholera outbreak in a decade. Government statistics show that as of Monday it had registered 25,458 cases since the start of the outbreak last March, with 550 cases reported on Monday alone.

The disease has so far killed more than 800 people with around 1,000 hospitalizations as of Tuesday.  

Justin Rice Phiri, the deputy head teacher at Michiru View secondary school, told VOA that the school has put in place measures to prevent students from contracting the disease.

“At the same time our support staff; the cleaners and the cooks have been trained on how best to prevent the cholera and also giving them the protective wear; the gloves, the work suits and the like,” he said.

On Tuesday, the U.N.’s children’s agency, UNICEF, started distributing anti-cholera supplies in schools in areas most affected by the outbreak.

Government authorities, however, have warned that they may close the schools again should the outbreak spread among students at an unmanageable level.
…

Activists in Cameroon are urging more women candidates to enter races for Senate seats before a January 28 deadline. Only 26 members of Cameroon’s 100-member senate are women, a number advocates want to see doubled. But patriarchal beliefs and a lack of political support are preventing more women from contesting the March election. 

Female activists have been visiting political party leaders in northern Cameroon to push for greater representation for women in Cameroon’s upper house of parliament, the Senate.

Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, announced last week that senate elections will be held March 12 with a registration deadline of January 28.

The announcement prompted activists to push for more women candidates.

Aissa Doumara Ngatansou is with the Association for the Fight Against Violence on Women and Girls.

She says only 2 of the 10 former senate members from Cameroon’s Far North region, where Maroua is located, are women. Ngatansou says she is visiting political parties that will contest the elections to tell them activists want gender parity among their candidates – half women and half men. She says it’s delightful that many women who were quiet in the past now want to take part in politics.

Cameroonian women have long raised complaints of low participation in politics ahead of elections.

Activists say patriarchal attitudes still prevail in many parts of Cameroon, where women are expected to get their husband’s permission before running for office.

Funding campaigns is also a challenge, as many women candidates cannot afford the $1,650 deposit required to run for the Senate.

Justine Diffo is coordinator of the group More Women in Politics.

She says women’s associations, wealthy donors, and political parties should assist women candidates with such campaign fees.

Diffo says it is the wish of Cameroonian women to see political leaders including President Paul Biya respect promises they made on several occasions to give equal chances (in politics) to men and women. She says the March 12 Senate elections provide an opportunity for Cameroon to prove to the world that parity is not just a slogan.

Political leaders have not responded to calls by rights groups for political parties to pay the deposit for women candidates.

The ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) party said in a press release it is examining issues raised by women activists and will do all it takes to have more women run for the Senate.

The CPDM says four out of every ten candidates for the elections are expected to be women.

Marie Theres Abena Ondoua is Cameroon’s minister of women’s empowerment and the family.

Speaking on Cameroon’s state broadcaster CRTV Tuesday, she says government training for women who register as candidates has made progress in gender parity.

Ondoua says from just one female lawmaker 30 years ago, Cameroon today counts 61 in the National Assembly out of 180 members. She says 30 years ago, Cameroon had fewer than three female mayors but today there are 39 out of 360 in the country. Ondoua says Cameroon is determined to assist women who are hard working to gain political positions.

About 15,000 councilors in 60 divisions across Cameroon make up the electoral college that will vote for 70 of the senator seats.

The remaining 30 are directly appointed by President Biya.
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Al-Shabab launched a deadly attack on a Somali military base on Tuesday, just a day after the government claimed a “historic victory” over the jihadists with the capture of a strategic coastal town.

There were conflicting reports about the death toll after the Islamist fighters stormed the camp in the town of Hawadley north of the capital Mogadishu.

Army chief Odowaa Yusuf Rage said on national radio that five soldiers including a senior officer had died in the attack claimed by the al-Qaida-allied militant group.

A clan militia commander near Hawadley, which lies in the central Hirshabelle state, said 11 soldiers had died.

The Islamists detonated a car packed with explosives outside the camp 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of Mogadishu before gunmen stormed the compound, witnesses and security officials said.

Al-Shabab, which controls swathes of countryside in Somalia, claimed responsibility for the attack via its communication channels.

In recent months, the army and local clan militias have retaken chunks of territory from the militants in Galmudug and Hirshabelle states in an operation backed by US air strikes and an African Union force.

But despite the gains, al-Shabab has demonstrated the ability to strike back with lethal force against civilian and military targets.

The Hawadley base had only been recaptured from al-Shabab in October last year by the Somali National Army (SNA) and allied militias.

Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre on Monday proclaimed a “historic victory” over Al-Shabaab after the army took control of the strategic city of Haradhere in central Galmudug state without a fight.

“The brave members of the national armed forces… have destroyed the enemy of the nation and liberated the strategic port town of Haradhere,” he said in a statement.

Haradhere had been a key supply route for Al-Shabaab for both people and goods after it seized the port in 2010, dislodging local militias and pirates.

‘Attempt to distract’

Tuesday’s attack “demonstrates al-Shabab’s continued ability to produce explosive devices and deploy them within Hirshabelle state, where the offensive originally began”, said International Crisis Group’s senior analyst for eastern Africa, Omar Mahmood.

“The group has mounted a number of similar assaults recently, likely an attempt to distract the government by attacking multiple locations,” he told AFP in a message.

On Saturday, eight people were killed in a roadside bombing claimed by al-Shabab in central Somalia, police said. Earlier this month, 19 people were killed in twin car bombings in Mahas, a town in Hiran district in Hirshabelle.

Rage said the army had repelled the assault in Hawadley and was pursuing the militants who got away.

“Five members of the army were martyred, including a senior military officer,” he said, adding that the army had killed 21 al-Shabab fighters.

Ahmed Mohamud, an SNA military commander in the nearby town of Balcad, said more than 10 people had died, but added that it was not clear how many were soldiers and that the toll was provisional.

He said the army was “in full control” of the area.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud had declared “all-out war” on the jihadists after taking office in May last year.

Last week, he called on ordinary Somalis to help flush out members of the jihadist group he described as “bedbugs”.

Although forced out of Mogadishu and other main urban centers more than a decade ago, al-Shabab remains entrenched in parts of rural central and southern Somalia.
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At least 50 women were abducted by Islamic extremists in Burkina Faso’s northern Sahel region last week, a local official said Monday.

The kidnappings occurred January 12 and 13, approximately 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the town of Arbinda in Soum province, Lt. Col. P.F. Rodolphe Sorgho, the governor of Sahel, said in a statement.

The women were kidnapped while in the countryside gathering wild fruit, he said.

Jihadi violence linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group has overrun Burkina Faso, killing thousands and displacing nearly 2 million people in the West African nation. The failure of successive governments to stop the fighting has caused widespread discontent and triggered two military coups in 2022, the second against the first military regime to seize power.

The military junta that seized power in September, vowing to restore security, is still struggling to stem the violence.

During the second week of this month, 116 security incidents were recorded, according to an internal report for aid groups seen by The Associated Press. The number represents more than 60% increase compared to the last week of December.

Extremists have besieged towns around the country, preventing people and goods from moving freely. The town of Arbinda has been under jihadi blockade for years, making women more vulnerable to attacks if they try to leave, rights groups say.

Former Arbinda Mayor Boureima Werem said the large-scale abductions were a new strategy and could point to a shift in extremists’ tactics.

Ousmane Diallo, a researcher at Amnesty International’s regional office for West and Central Africa, called the kidnappings “a very concerning and serious development in Burkina Faso that exposes the vulnerability of women in areas under blockade.”

“The rights of civilians and their rights to their livelihoods must be protected by all parties to the conflict,” Diallo said. “There needs to be more attention and more protection of civilians by the government in these besieged towns, but also [a] tailored approach to the protection of women and girls.”

Laith Alkhouri, CEO of Intelonyx Intelligence Advisory, which provides intelligence analysis, said the jihadis are trying to add pressure to the Burkinabe government.

“Abductions are an easy way to score points and a bargaining card,” Alkhouri said. “These tactics are meant to add pressure on the government to provide concessions, such [as] ransom money, as well as highlight the ruling body as unable to protect its citizens, in the process creating fear among the locals and distrust between the public and the government.”
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Islamic extremists claimed responsibility Monday for a bombing of a church in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo as authorities said that the toll from Sunday’s attack had risen to at least 14 dead.

The Islamic State group and its Aamaq news outlet issued statements saying that its militants had planted an explosive device inside the Pentecostal church in Kasindi and detonated it while people were praying.

“Let the Congolese forces know that their continued attacks on the Mujahideen will only bring them more failure and losses,” the group said in its statement.

The extremists claimed the bomb killed 20 Christians. Congolese authorities put the toll Monday at 14 dead and at least 63 wounded.

The injured were evacuated to Beni General Hospital by the U.N. peacekeeping mission known as MONUSCO, authorities said.

Violence has wracked eastern Congo for decades as more than 120 armed groups and self-defense militias fight for land and power. Nearly 6 million people are internally displaced, and hundreds of thousands are facing extreme food insecurity, according to the U.N.

Fighters with the Allied Democratic Forces, a rebel organization which is believed to have links to the Islamic State group, have carried out several attacks in Kasindi, which is located on the border with Uganda.

Troops from Uganda’s army have deployed to eastern Congo to try to stem the violence, but the attacks have increased and spread.

ADF attacks since April have killed at least 370 civilians and involved the abduction of several hundred more, a report by the United Nations last month said.
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Twenty-five members of Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, Citizens Coalition for Change, appeared at the Harare Magistrates Court on Monday on charges of holding an illegal meeting Saturday that police broke up with tear gas.

Among those arrested is Amos Chibaya, a member of parliament, who talked briefly to journalists before going into the court. He called the action harassment, and said it will come to an end. The dictator will go, he added, and the people of Zimbabwe will free themselves.

Fadzayi Mahere, spokesperson for Citizens’ Coalition for Change, or triple C, said party members were treated badly by police during the arrests.

She said a girl, younger than 18, was among those arrested, and there also were complaints that some women were molested by police. She added there were rumors that the arresting police were drunk and threw alcohol at people. Police actions were not about arresting people who were committing a crime, Mahere said, but about inflicting pain on people because the ruling ZANU-PF party is afraid of losing the upcoming elections.

Zimbabwe is supposed to hold general elections this year, though the exact date has yet to be announced.

The ZANU-PF party and police refused to comment on the accusations when VOA reached out, saying the matter was now before the courts.

Magistrate Yeukai Dzuda has ordered prosecutors Pardon Dziva and Zebediah Bofu to investigate the complaints which triple C members raised against the police.

Meanwhile, the 25 opposition members will be back in court Tuesday to apply for bail, which the state is opposed to granting.
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Ugandan officials have confirmed switching from a Chinese to a Turkish company to build a proposed $2 billion railway line linking the capital, Kampala, to the border with Kenya. The railway aims to link up with one being built in Kenya to improve trade and travel between the neighbors. But analysts say Chinese investors poured doubt on the viability of the project.

After eight years of waiting, Uganda finally terminated its contract with China Harbor Engineering Company in favor of Turkish construction company Yapi Merkezi.

Confirming the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Yapi Merkezi, David Mugabe, the public relations officer for Standard Gauge Railway Uganda says the change in contractor was due to financial challenges.

The Chinese firm reportedly failed to convince Beijing to finance the project.

Now, the Turkish firm, which is also building part of the Tanzanian railway network, is expected to submit a response to the government’s request for construction in the next few weeks, paving the way for the procurement process to start.

Mugabe tells VOA that the Ugandan government is now looking more closely at whether or not contractors can help the government procure funding for the project.

“Government decided to widen its nets and open up a bid. And a Turkish firm has expressed interest in partnering with government. Now, it’s early days, I should let you know that this has not been finalized. There is no contract yet with the Turkish firm. What we have is an MOU (Memorandum of understanding,” he said.

Under the Chinese deal, the project was to cost Uganda $2.2 billion with 85 percent funding to be sourced by the contractor.

Officials at the Uganda standard gauge railway said they read between the lines when China’s ambassador to Uganda said that after the COVID-19 pandemic, China had become more cautious on financing big infrastructure projects in Africa.

Economist Madina Guloba argues that it’s likely China pulled out of the deal.

‘I think it’s possible they are being risk shy. We are not bankable. Then they are safer going out of it than try to look at other issues. We have had infrastructure things and they are not productive. So how best are you planning to make it even more productive,” said Guloba.

Samuel Mutabazi, the head of an NGO, Uganda Road Sector Support Initiative, said says there are other issues that still need to be addressed for the project to make economic sense.

“If the procurement system was open enough and you had competent international companies bidding, possibly we would have a cheaper cost but also, the SGR [standard gauge railway] would have been up and running by now. Secondly the relationship between the Kenya railways and Uganda railways also need to be clearly stipulated because as you know, Uganda railways cannot for instance operate in Kenya,” he said.

Even though the Uganda standard gauge railway is meant to connect to Kenya via the Malaba border to connect transporters, Kenya has only built its section from Mombasa up to Naivasha. It’s still not clear when the third phase connecting Kenya to Uganda will commence.

Mutabazi says unless all the East African countries, especially Uganda draw up a strategic plan for the next couple of years, the railway project may not be beneficial.
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Many more violent incidents linked to extremist groups occurred in Benin’s north last year than the government has officially acknowledged, a recent report found, as the country has become the new front line in the Sahel conflict. In Natitingou, in northern Benin, reporter Henry Wilkins meets witnesses to attacks.
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Four gendarmes were killed, and three others injured Sunday after being ambushed in western Mali, a region prone to jihadi attacks, the paramilitary police said.

Two police vehicles were torched and two others, equipped with machine guns, were captured by the assailants during the attack in Koula, the force said.

Two of the assailants were killed and others taken prisoner.

The gendarmerie did not say who was responsible for the attack, but police, troops and Malian state targets are regularly hit by jihadi groups.

Mali has been in the throes of a nearly 11-year security crisis triggered by a regional revolt in the north that developed into a full-blown jihadi insurgency.

Thousands have died, hundreds of thousands have fled their homes and devastating economic damage has been inflicted to one of the world’s poorest countries.

Since August 2020, Mali has been ruled by the military, leading to a bust-up with France, the country’s traditional ally, and closer ties with Russia.

The violence has mainly affected the center and the east sections of the country and has spread to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger. But it has not spared the west and is spreading southwards, alarming Mali’s other neighbors including Senegal.

The junta claims to have forced jihadis affiliated with al-Qaida and the Islamic State organization on the defensive.

Malian Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga said last week that there was no longer any part of the territory where the army could not go, although the authorities had previously acknowledged that two-thirds of the territory was outside state control.

Maiga’s security assessment has been contradicted by experts and a recent U.N. report that said security conditions have continued to deteriorate in the central Sahel, “particularly in Burkina Faso and Mali.”
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Enough was enough. For 13 years, extremists with al-Qaida’s East Africa affiliate had controlled Mohamud Adow’s village in central Somalia, imposing harsh ideology and arresting local teachers and traditional leaders.

Then, word came that Somali forces in a surprising national offensive had expelled the fighters from nearby villages.

A small group of residents sneaked out one night in August to meet with Somali troop commanders and invited them into their village of Rage-El. The 80-year-old Adow was among those taking up arms, joining a local militia fighting alongside Somali forces in rural battles with battered guns.

“The people were living in agony,” said Adow, one of several witnesses interviewed by The Associated Press.

In what is being called a “total war” by the government of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud who was elected in May, Adow and others across the Horn of Africa nation are being encouraged to stand up to the al-Shabab extremists who have long embedded in Somali society, exploiting clan divisions and extorting millions of dollars a year from businesses and farmers in their quest to impose an Islamic caliphate.

On Thursday, Somalia’s government announced a “people’s uprising” as it seeks to pressure al-Shabab from all angles, including financial ones.

It’s being described as the most significant offensive against the al-Shabab extremist group in more than a decade. And this time, Somali fighters are in the lead, backed by U.S. and African Union forces.

Al-Shabab’s fighters have held back the nation’s recovery from decades of conflict by carrying out brazen attacks in the capital, Mogadishu, and elsewhere. Over the years, countries from Turkey to China to those in the European Union have invested in military training and other counterterrorism support.

Last weekend, the U.S. made a small but symbolic donation of $9 million in heavy weapons and equipment to the Somali National Army, whose abilities have long been questioned as it prepares to take over the country’s security from an African Union multinational force by the end of next year.

“We cheer the success achieved by Somali security forces in their historic fight to liberate Somali communities suffering under al-Shabab,” U.S. Ambassador Larry Andre said.

Somalia’s government has claimed more than 1,200 militants have been killed since August, according to a database kept by International Crisis Group analyst Omar Mahmood. Such claims can’t be verified.

One key to the offensive’s progress is a population pushed to the brink by a historic drought. As animals and crops wither and die and millions of people go hungry, Somalis who flee al-Shabab-held communities have described the extremists’ harsh taxation demands.

“They are being rented out like houses; they are telling you that their animals are being taken away without permission,” said Gen. Abdirahman Mohamed Tuuryare, a former director of Somalia’s national intelligence agency who leads the offensive against al-Shabab in the Middle Shabelle region. “Even the child born tonight will be required to pay.”

Residents have also described al-Shabab forcing sons to become suicide bombers and killing people at will.

Tuuryare described a bloody battle last year over the Masjid Ali-Gadud community in which he estimated 200 al-Shabab fighters and “many” soldiers were killed. It took time to persuade wary residents to return to a community so tightly controlled that even Quranic schools were closed. Only centers for training bombers and fighters functioned.

After 15 years under al-Shabab indoctrination, Tuuryare said, residents found it hard to grasp that fellow Somalis had come to help them.

One resident, Ibrahim Hussein, was still adjusting. Al-Shabab fighters forcibly recruited teenage boys and forced women into marriage, he told The Associated Press, and people found guilty of adultery would be stoned to death or publicly flogged.

Still, security was good: “For instance, when a prayer is called, everyone goes toward the mosque without closing their properties. Nobody can touch them. If anyone is found stealing, he or she will face amputation of a limb or limbs,” Hussein said.

Winning over such communities, and holding them with effective administration, are major challenges to the Somali government’s goal of eliminating al-Shabab this year. Another is preventing the local militias working with Somali forces from amassing power in a country awash with weapons and turning into a new threat.

“Local forces shouldn’t fight among themselves, shouldn’t turn into thugs,” Tuuryare, the general, said, adding that the government supports training and local security positions for militia members.

“If all this goes wrong and happens to come back, it won’t be easy to reorganize,” Tuuryare said. He expressed his wish for more U.S. military support, including further drone strikes against al-Shabab, and a U.S. campaign at the U.N. Security Council to lift an arms embargo on Somalia for easier access to heavy weapons.

In an analysis for the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, former Somali government security adviser Samira Gaid warned the offensive’s success could be fleeting if Somalia’s still-fragile government doesn’t focus on winning hearts and minds and address the clan rivalries al-Shabab has long used to its advantage.

“This is still a remarkable offensive as, for the first time, we see a citizen awakening that is supported by the federal government,” she told the AP. For years, Somalis have seen the fight against al-Shabab as led by outsiders like the African Union force or troops from neighboring Ethiopia and Kenya.

Now Kenya is increasing security along the border to find extremists on the run, and the United States this month announced million-dollar rewards for al-Shabab leaders accused of major attacks.

Under pressure, al-Shabab has lashed out, killing at least 120 people at a busy intersection in Mogadishu in October.

But for Somalis long separated from loved ones by the extremists, there is hope.

Hassan Ulux is a 60-year-old traditional elder who left his community of War-isse a decade ago and feared returning until it was recently freed from al-Shabab.

“Praise be to Allah,” he said, finally home. “Now they are on the run. Now we can talk about education and normalcy.”
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A suspected extremist attack at a church in eastern Congo killed at least 10 people and wounded more than three dozen, according to the country’s army.

A group linked to Islamic extremists was suspected of being responsible for a bomb that went off in the Pentecostal church in the North Kivu province town of Kasindi, military spokesperson Anthony Mwalushayi told The Associated Press by phone.

A Kenyan national found at the scene was detained, Mwalushayi said. Congo’s government urged people to avoid crowds and be vigilant as it conducted an investigation, said the minister of communication in a tweet.

Videos and photos of the attack seen by the AP showed dead bodies lying on the ground outside the church, including what appeared to be a dead child. The injured were being carried out of the church surrounded by other people screaming.

Violence has wracked eastern Congo for decades as more than 120 armed groups and self-defense militias fight for land and power. Nearly 6 million people are internally displaced, and hundreds of thousands are facing extreme food insecurity, according to the U.N.

Fighters with the Allied Democratic Forces, a rebel organization which is believed to have links to the the Islamic State group. have carried out several attacks in Kasindi, which is located on the border with Uganda.

Troops from Uganda’s army have deployed to eastern Congo to try to stem the violence, but the attacks have increased and spread. ADF attacks since April have killed at least 370 civilians and involved the abduction of several hundred more, a report by the United Nations last month said.

The rebel group has extended its area of operations to Goma and into neighboring Ituri province.
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It began as a form of music chanted at wakes to comfort mourners — now it is part of Cameroon’s cultural mainstream, and a powerful form of expression for its frustrated youth.

Mbole (pronounced “em-bo-lay”) developed around a quarter of a century ago in poor districts of Yaounde, the central African nation’s capital.

It began as a sort of back-and-forth at funeral vigils between a chanter, who would devise lyrics and sing them, and “responders,” who sang the lyrics back and provided rhythm using buckets, saucepans or other implements.

“You would invite people around, you formed a circle, and you started to play to keep people entertained,” said Etienne Koumato, a 24-year-old biology student who performs in a mbole group called League des Premiers and is signed to a specialist record label.

“At the start, mbole was stigmatized — people looked on it as gutter music, like rap,” he said.

“But beneath the image, it was adaptable and it won people over.”

Mbole spread to weddings and baptisms and other ceremonies, progressively becoming more sophisticated as instruments such as keyboards and the big West African drum, the djembe, were brought in.

Around six years ago, mbole started to go mainstream, and it is now feted as a national music genre.

“There’s no TV or radio station which doesn’t have mbole,” said Yannick Mindja, who has made a documentary on the music’s rise.

“We had Afro-beat, which came from Nigeria, but when you listen to mbole, you hear all the sounds of Cameroon,” he said, pointing to traditional music forms called bend skin, makossa and bikutsi.

“Mbole is the grandson of bikutsi and the nephew of makossa, but when you hear it, you feel immediately Cameroonian,” said Lionel Malongo Belinga, who performs under the name of Petit Malo.

Neighborhood roots

Beneath the media success, mbole remains a versatile form of expression and is still very much rooted in poor neighborhoods.

Poverty, drugs and insecurity are recurrent themes among its young performers, some of whom have almost iconic status in their neighborhoods.

In 2016, Petit Malo recorded his first mbole hit, “Dans mon kwatta” (‘In My Neighborhood’), which depicted life in Nkoldongo, a rundown area of Yaounde.

The district is a warren where wastewater runs in rivulets down the narrow unpaved streets.

Many homes have no door but just a cloth to cover their entrance, hanging above some shoes, showing that people live there.

The sound of voices and the djembe bring neighborhood youngsters running.

“Petit Malo is a good singer,” said Herman Sone, a 15-year-old fan. “He sings about peace and hope, and lots of good things.”

Female singers are also shouldering their way into a genre that “is still very male-oriented,” said Jeanne Manga, 29, who, as performer Jay-Ni, has set up a girls-only mbole group.

Mbole is a fine vehicle for denouncing sexism, she said.

“In my lyrics, I talk for instance about men who invite women out and then expect sexual favors in return,” she said. “We are not targets, and mbole gives us the chance to say so.”
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