At least 15 people were killed and more than 50 injured in three bombings Saturday in the central Hirshabelle state of Somalia, according to officials.

In Bulobarde town, some 220 kilometers north of Mogadishu, a suicide car bomb has killed at least 11 people, witnesses and medical officials said.

A suicide bomber driving an SUV vehicle laden with explosives came under fire from security forces before reaching his goal, but detonated explosives near a police station and the base of the African Union peacekeepers from Djibouti, multiple witnesses told Voice of America.

“At least 11 people were killed in the blast and more than 50 injured — 30 of them in critical condition,” Yusuf Isaq Mumin, a medical official in the town, told VOA. “We are now sending those critically injured to Mogadishu since the local hospital has not the capacity to handle their cases here.”

Attack in Jalalaqsi

Meanwhile, a powerful car bomb exploded near a Somali military checkpoint in Jalalaqsi town, some 160 kilometers north of Mogadishu, when soldiers operating the checkpoint intercepted an explosives-laden vehicle. Another one went off almost simultaneously nearby when security officials shot the driver of the vehicle.

“A vehicle driven by a suicide bomber detonated near the checkpoint. Another suicide bomber detonated a vehicle at a location close to a school. I saw the dead bodies of at least four people with my eyes, but the number could be higher,” Mire Hussein Siyad, former deputy district commissioner of Jalalaqsi, told VOA.

According to witnesses, the checkpoint is near local government buildings and a military base belonging to African Union peacekeepers from Djibouti.

Both the towns of Jalalaqsi and Bulobarde are important trading and farming towns located along the banks of the Shabelle River, and they also are the second- and third-biggest towns in Hiran province.

Towns focal point of campaign

The towns have been under al-Shabab isolation for more than 10 years and recently have been the focal point of efforts to mobilize the local population against al-Shabab amid an ongoing Somali military campaign to defeat militants who followed Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s declaration of a “total war” against the al-Qaida-linked militants shortly after being elected last year.

Al-Shabab has threatened violence against clans mobilizing against them in the past.

In October of last year, similar terrorist attacks that targeted bridges in those towns killed at least 21 people.

Hussein Dhaqane in Beldeweyn, Somalia, contributed to this report. 
…

Alou Diallo says he was drinking tea with his family one morning last month when groups of “white soldiers” invaded his village in central Mali, setting fire to houses and gunning down people suspected of being Islamic extremists. He scrambled to safety in the bush, but his son was shot and wounded while fleeing, then was finished off as he lay on the ground.

“I watched my 16-year-old son die,” Diallo told The Associated Press in Mali’s capital, Bamako, where he lives in a makeshift camp for displaced people. As he recounted that awful Saturday in his village of Bamguel, the 47-year-old former cattle breeder made no attempt to hide the anger toward the troops, which he believed to be Russian mercenaries, who turned his world upside down.

“I really want peace to return and things to go back to normal,” he said. “Here in Bamako, I live a life I didn’t choose.”

It’s been more than a year since hundreds of fighters from the Wagner Group, a shadowy Russian military contractor, began working alongside Mali’s armed forces to try to stem a decadelong insurgency by Islamic extremists in the West African country, Western officials say.

But since the mercenaries arrived, diplomats, analysts and human rights groups say indiscriminate violence against civilians has grown, the extremists linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group have only gotten stronger, and there’s concern the Russian presence will further destabilize the already-troubled region.

More than 2,000 civilians have been killed since December 2021, compared with about 500 in the previous 12 months, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, a nongovernmental organization. At least a third of those deaths recorded last year were from attacks involving the Wagner Group, according to the data compiled by ACLED.

“They are killing civilians, and by their very presence, giving Malian security forces a green light to act on their worst inclinations,” said Michael Shurkin, senior fellow at Atlantic Council and director of global programs at the consultancy group 14 North Strategies.

Military contractors from Wagner, which was founded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a millionaire businessman with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, have been bolstering Moscow’s forces during its invasion of Ukraine. But experts say they also operate in a handful of African countries.

Ever since Mali’s military seized power in two coups starting in 2020, a junta led by Col. Assimi Goita has had tense relations with the international community.

France sent troops to Mali in 2013 to help its former colony drive Islamic militants from northern areas of the country but withdrew them in August as relations frayed and anti-French sentiment grew in the population. The West says Mali is increasingly looking to Moscow for security, although the junta says it has only invited in military trainers.

Alassane Maiga, head of communications for the junta, insisted that Wagner was not operating in the country. Asked about the attacks on civilians, Maiga said Mali’s government protects its citizens and their property.

“The army’s protection and security missions are carried out with respect for human rights and international humanitarian law,” he said.

The Wagner Group did not respond to requests for comment. At a U.N. Security Council debate Tuesday, Russia’s deputy ambassador Anna Evstigneeva rejected attempts from abroad “to besmirch Russian assistance to Mali,” where Moscow has a bilateral agreement to assist the transitional government. She did not mention the Wagner Group.

Up to 1,000 mercenaries have been deployed and the Wagner Group is being paid nearly $11 million a month to provide security and training, according to a report by the U.S. Military Academy’s Combating Terrorism Center, which studies extremist violence.

The report said Wagner’s forces are struggling to make significant gains, with jihadi violence increasing. During the rainy season between June and September when fighting usually subsides, there were over 90 attacks against civilians and the military by an al-Qaida linked extremist group, compared with six in the same period a year earlier, it said, and an August assault on a barracks by an Islamic State-linked group killed at least 42 Malian soldiers.

In the bloodiest attack, Human Rights Watch said Mali’s army and foreign troops suspected to be Russian rounded up and killed an estimated 300 men in the town of Moura in March. Some were believed to be Islamic extremists, but most were civilians. The investigation cited 27 people, including witnesses, traders, community leaders, diplomats and security analysts.

Mali’s Defense Ministry reported a similar incident at the time but said it had killed 203 “terrorists” and arrested 51 others.

“There are broad reports of human rights abuses across the region where they are working,” U.S. Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland said of the Wagner mercenaries. “And we worry that these forces are not interested in the safety and security of the people of Mali but, instead, are interested in enriching themselves and strip-mining the country and are making the terrorism situation worse.”

Samuel Ramani, associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a defense and security think tank, said Russia is not very credible at counterterrorism in Africa.

“What we’ve seen repeatedly is that Russia and the Wagner Group forces are much better at strengthening the hold of authoritarian regimes in power than actually combating rebels and terrorist groups,” Ramani said, citing their limited knowledge of the terrain, strained relationships with low-ranking officers and a rigid command and control structure.

Many Malians accuse the military and the white soldiers working with them of arbitrary arrests of civilians herding cattle, farming or going to market. Most of them are ethnic Fulani who are increasingly targeted by security forces suspecting them of supporting the Islamic militants.

Rights groups say these alleged abuses aid the extremists, who capitalize on public grievances for use as a recruiting tool.

A 29-year-old cattle herder named Hamidou said he was arrested at his home in Douentza village in central Mali with two other people in November and accused of being an Islamic militant. He was locked in a room where he was bound, beaten and interrogated by “white soldiers.”

“We were severely beaten daily. We didn’t think we’d survive,” said Hamidou, who asked to be identified only by his first name for fear of reprisal, adding that most of those detained were ethnic Fulani, like him. “From the day Wagner came to Mali until today, arbitrary arrests and killings of Fulani civilians have been increasing tremendously.”

The AP was unable to verify his account independently but a human rights researcher who also asked not to be identified for fear of reprisal said he saw the scars on Hamidou’s back and forehead after his release.

Thousands of United Nations peacekeeping troops have been in Mali for nearly a decade to protect civilians from violence, but Mali’s government has constrained their ability to operate, and countries such as Benin, Germany, Sweden, Ivory Coast and the United Kingdom have announced troop withdrawals, according to the International Crisis Group.

Nuland, the U.S. diplomat, said the Wagner Group has encouraged the junta to deny the peacekeepers access to areas where it has a mandate to investigate abuses.
…

Authorities in Somalia say they have seized a weapons cache allegedly buried by al-Shabab militants at a house in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, during a joint operation.  

A statement from the country’s National Intelligence and Security Agency, or NISA, said Saturday that a “joint elite team from Somalia’s Intelligence Agency and Mogadishu regional police carried out an operation in the capital, Mogadishu, on Friday that led to the seizure of weapons allegedly buried by al-Shabab militants.”  

The brief statement did not give further details of the seized weapons but did say that “during the operation, security forces arrested a suspected al-Shabab member from the raided house in the Dharkenley district and that an investigation is underway.”  

An official with NISA, however, told VOA on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak about the operation, that the seized content included improvised firearms, bombs, rounds of ammunition, and other explosives.  

The security forces raid Friday night on a house in Mogadishu is part of an ongoing government campaign to defeat al-Shabab and prevent terrorist attacks they carry out across the country.  

On Friday, the deputy mayor of Mogadishu for security and politics, Mohamed Ahmed Diriye Yabooh, said the city will see relentless operations by security forces, including a house-to-house search for al-Shabab members hiding among civilians.

“The people of Mogadishu should know that the security forces will begin operations in which they would search every house in the city so that the Khawariij, [renegades] who are attempting to live among us will no longer be able to do so,” said Mohamed Ahmed Diriye.

The deputy mayor’s statement comes just days after President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud appealed to Somali citizens to help his government flush out members of the al-Shabab extremist group he described as “bedbugs.”  

For the past several months, security experts and community leaders in Mogadishu have been calling on government security agencies to step up their operations in the capital to avert what they called “pending al-Shabab terror attacks.”   

The Somali president declared a “total war” against the al-Qaida-linked militants shortly after being elected last year.  

Working with local clan fighters, the government has claimed multiple military victories against al-Shabab in the past six months, retaking towns and villages in Hirshabelle state that had been controlled for years by the militants.

In those military operations supported by its international partners, the government claimed about 2,000 al-Shabab fighters were killed.  

VOA could not independently verify the government’s claimed death toll.  

Meanwhile, al-Shabab has continued its attacks since Mohamud was elected president. It carried out two attacks a week ago on government forces in Somalia’s central region of Hiran over two days, killing more than 43 people, including senior military officers.  

A twin car bombing in Mogadishu last October killed at least 120 people. 
…

The U.N.’s children’s agency, UNICEF, has handed over lifesaving supplies worth about $300,000 to support Malawi’s fight against a cholera outbreak which has killed more than 700 people – including 104 children – since the outbreak began in March of last year.

The supplies include Acute Watery Diarrhea (AWD) kits, high-performance tents, antibiotics and other medicines and medical supplies.

The donation follows Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera’s December 5 declaration of a public health emergency and appeal for local and international support in the fight against the cholera outbreak.

Rudolf Schwenk is the country representative for UNICEF in Malawi.

“We will continue to support the ministry of health to scale up the Cholera response. And we fully appreciate the tireless efforts from frontline health and community workers to manage the influx of cholera cases,” Schwenk said. “With more than 6,269 children already affected and 100 deaths, the spread of this outbreak is a threat to the health and wellbeing of children.” 

UNICEF says it secured the supplies and chartered a special flight to Malawi with support from the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations.

Statistics from the Public Health Institute of Malawi show that as of Thursday, the disease had killed 773 people, including 104 children, and resulted in 23,217 cholera cases since the outbreak started in March last year.

Maziko Matemba is community health ambassador in Malawi. He says the supplies come at a time when Malawi is in critical need of them.

“This calls upon the government and its key stakeholders to find a mechanism on how to prepare for emergencies of this nature because they will keep on coming,” Matemba said.

Cholera is an acute diarrheal infection caused by ingesting food or water contaminated with bacteria. The disease affects both children and adults, and if untreated can kill within hours.

The Malawi ministry of health says the fatality rate of the outbreak is now at 3.33%, much higher than the recommended 1% global threshold.  

 
…

Opposition parties and others angry at Tunisia’s economic crisis and the president’s increasingly authoritarian drift are planning to march through the capital on Saturday to mark 12 years since Tunisian protesters unleashed Arab Spring uprisings around the region.

The protest move comes after disastrous parliamentary elections last month in which just 11% of voters cast ballots. The elections are meant to replace and reshape a legislature that President Kais Saied dissolved in 2021. The second round has been set for Jan. 29.

It also comes as the country is going through a major economic crisis, with inflation and joblessness on the rise. Tunisians have been hit with soaring food prices and shortages of fuel and basic staples like sugar, vegetable oil and rice in recent months.

The head of the National Salvation Front, a coalition of five opposition parties including the popular Islamist opposition party Ennahdha, Ahmed Nejib Chebbi, said tens of thousands of Tunisians are expected to take part in the protest march on the Habib Bourguiba avenue, the main artery of the capital and a key site for the revolution.

The Interior ministry called on all groups authorized to organize demonstrations to respect the preset itinerary and timing and ensure that there’s no violence.

The ministry also urged protesters to respect restrictions and not to provoke clashes with security forces.

On Jan. 14, 2011, then President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali was forced out of power, transforming the country into a budding democracy that inspired the Arab Spring. Ben Ali died in 2019.

Saied, who was elected in 2019, has curbed the independence of the judiciary and weakened parliament’s powers.

In a referendum in July last year, Tunisians voters approved a constitution that hands broad executive powers to the president. Saied, who spearheaded the project and wrote the text himself, made full use of the mandate in September, changing the electoral law to diminish the role of political parties.

In an apparent response to criticism, Saied on Friday paid a surprise visit to the Bourguiba avenue and went through the capital’s historic district, the medina. He called for caution against “intruders and renegades” who could mix with protesters to provoke clashes.

The Jan. 14 anniversary has been abolished as official commemoration date by Saied, who instead declared Dec. 17 as the “revolution day.”

Tunisia’s uprising began on Dec. 17, 2010, when a desperate fruit vendor set himself on fire, unleashing pent-up anger and frustration among his compatriots, who staged protests that spread nationwide and led to the revolution. 
…

For the first time in years, Arya Rams falls asleep and wakes up each day without a dense knot of fear in her chest.

She lives in a room in a safe house deep in Kenya’s Rift Valley, supported by the Dutch non-governmental organization Trans Rescue.

Being transgender in Kenya can be dangerous. In 2021, her friend was stoned to death by a mob on a beach near the city of Malindi, she said. A few months later, Arya said she was chased by people wielding machetes.

Arya, 27, said the protections of the safe house have been all the more important over the past week as a backlash against lesbian, gay and transgender Kenyans has flared following the death of LGBTQ rights activist Edwin Chiloba.

Chiloba’s body was found in a metal box on the roadside near the city of Eldoret last week. A pathologist said he died from suffocation caused by socks stuffed into his mouth.

“People were going through other gay people’s social media saying, ‘Have you seen Chiloba? You are next,'” said Arya.

Police this week named Chiloba’s reported partner as the main suspect in his death. Reuters has not been able to reach him for comment.

Outside the investigation, much of the public commentary on the case has been harsh, and sometimes threatening.

“Let us not waste time discussing LGBTQ … it’s illegal … Jail them,” lawmaker Mohammed Ali wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.

A rarely-enforced colonial-era law makes gay sex punishable by 14 years in prison. Identifying as gay or transgender is not a crime.

Amnesty International and other campaign groups last week said there had been increasing cases of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), as well as domestic abuse, across Kenya.

They said there was an “uncoordinated and often reluctant response to SGBV from State and non-state actors” and called on authorities to do more to investigate crimes and work with survivors.

A positive response to that appeal would make a big difference, said Arya.

“I’m just saying that if someone … from the LGBTQ community could be in a situation whereby they don’t fear to walk into a police station and record a statement … then probably we could have reduced a lot of (problems).”
…

After three years of closed borders under its strict “zero-COVID” policy, China reopened its doors to allow international travelers in — and Chinese with cabin fever out — a move with economic implications around the world, including in Africa.

On the continent, which counts China as its largest trade partner, African importers who sell cheap Chinese-made goods said they were itching to return to China to stock up while many African countries are also hoping to attract Chinese tourists.

While fears about the spread of COVID-19 caused some countries in Asia, Europe and North America to implement negative testing requirements for Chinese travelers, drawing the ire of Beijing, countries like Kenya and South Africa said they would not be implementing any travel restrictions for travelers from China.

African businesses eye China’s reopening

Markets and stocks around the world shot up with China’s reopening, and African businesses are also hoping to cash in on the world’s second largest economy.

“We are open to going there now and we are looking forward to do that to make sure that we get our businesses back on track,” Samuel Karanja, the CEO of the Importers and Small Traders Association of Kenya, told VOA, adding that the pandemic years have been a “roller coaster” for traders.

“For the past three years, it has been a very difficult moment for those traders because they lost touch with their suppliers. Ideally, the traders could go to China, meet their suppliers or manufacturers, go with samples of the goods that they need to be produced for them, some of them could wait for even weeks to be able to see that the production is completed, and the goods are loaded in containers and they’re coming back to Kenya,” he said.

Karanja said that was how business was done before the pandemic where Kenyan small and medium enterprise owners would travel to Chinese cities including Guangzhou, where they bulk purchased everything from electronics and motorbike spare parts to kitchenware and school stationery. After China implemented its zero-COVID policy however, the Kenyan businesses had to make purchases remotely, often with the help of unscrupulous middlemen who ripped them off.

Denis Juru, president of the International Cross-Border Traders Association in South Africa, echoed this, telling VOA that China’s reopening has lots of advantages for his organization’s members.

“The opening of Chinese borders will boost the African economy as Chinese products are cheap. African traders new to the business will be able to go and make their choices physically. New companies in China will take this opportunity to convince traders from Africa by reducing prices,” he said.

He noted that traveling to China is expensive but said while staying in-country and shopping online is easier and more economical “some companies in China sell the wrong products online. Therefore, the process of exchange inconveniences African businesses.”

Optimism with caution

As for large corporations that do business with China, Christo van der Rheede, CEO of Agri SA, South Africa’s biggest agricultural organization, was more circumspect about the pros and cons of China’s reopening.

“It remains to be seen how this is going to impact on South Africa. Remember, South Africa’s a big exporter of particular commodities, for example coal, iron ore, as well as other agricultural commodities to China. Hopefully this will increase the demand for South African commodities,” he said.

He also noted South Africa needs to weigh the economic benefits with caution around the spread of COVID-19.

“I think economically wise, we’ve seen how the clampdown, the zero(-COVID) policy, has impacted on the logistics, especially import and export logistics, and how that has driven up the cost of shipping throughout the world,” he said. “So hopefully we’ll be able to manage it in a way that will boost our economy and our exports to China, but at the same time we need to manage any outbreak in South Africa very carefully.”

Attracting Chinese visitors

So, what about travel from the other direction: Chinese coming to the continent either for business, to work on Belt and Road infrastructure projects or for tourism?

As soon as the country opened, Beijing was quick to send new Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on his first official visit to the continent on a five-country tour.

In a speech on his first stop in Ethiopia, Qin reassured Africa that China plans to strengthen trade ties and accelerate in-person exchanges.

“First, let us intensify our in-person interactions and connectivity of ideas. The pandemic will be over, and we can see [the] light of hope ahead. … We will expand exchange and cooperation with Africa in various fields and at all levels, including between the governments, legislatures, political parties, militaries and localities,” Qin said. “African political leaders, AU Commission officials at various levels and Africans in the political, business and academic circles are most welcome to visit in due course.”

“We will encourage Chinese companies and people to come to Africa for investment and tourism. We will provide more facilitation to restore two-way personnel exchanges at a faster pace,” he added.

In terms of Chinese visitors to South Africa, however, Rosemary Anderson, national chairperson of the Federated Hospitality Association of South Africa, told VOA the current system leaves much to be desired.

“The Chinese traveler to South Africa has to present themselves in person at an embassy or visa office in China and wait up to months for a visa to be supplied,” she said, noting South Africa only attracted about 93,000 visitors before the pandemic in 2019, out of some 155 million Chinese who traveled abroad.

However, she noted that it was encouraging that Air China has recently started a direct flight between Beijing and Johannesburg.

Anderson said South Africa should do more to attract Chinese travelers, including public and private sector marketing initiatives aimed specifically at the Chinese market, ensuring destination and product information is available on Chinese search engines, and marketing on Chinese social media channels like Weibo and WeChat.

As China reopens to the world, “showing that you are Chinese friendly by, for example, offering payment platforms like WeChat Pay and Alipay, keeping in mind Chinese holiday dates, learning a few key phrases in Mandarin and training tourist guides to speak Mandarin,” would all be useful, she said.
…

The United States has announced a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the arrest of the alleged leader of the 2019 attack on Nairobi’s Dusit D2 hotel complex. The attack in the Kenyan capital killed 21 people, including a U.S. citizen, and injured 30 others.

Kennedy Macharia was working at the complex on January 2019 when he heard gunshots. He and some of his colleagues barricaded themselves inside their office until police found them and led them out.

However, two of his colleagues were shot and killed. 

Macharia welcomed Thursday’s U.S. announcement of a $10 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Mohamoud Abdi Aden, the alleged mastermind of the attack.

“I think the idea of looking for whoever masterminded the whole thing would be of great help, to serve justice to the families that lost their loved ones, some friends, some colleagues, some workmates,” Macharia said. “I feel it will serve justice and maybe it will bring closure to the whole ordeal.”

Mohamoud Abdi Aden is leader of the Somalia-based militant group al-Shabab. The U.S. State Department officially designated him as a terrorist in October.

U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Meg Whitman announced the reward offer, which is equivalent to more than 1.2 billion Kenya shillings. She said the U.S. is seeking information leading to Aden’s arrest and conviction in any country, plus information on anyone else involved in the Dusit D2 attack. 

“We encourage anyone with information on those responsible for the attack to contact Rewards for Justice on Signal, Telegram or Whatsapp via Kenyan and Somali tip lines displayed on the posters,” Whitman said.

The U.S. reward offer is the third of its kind in three months.

In November, the U.S. offered $10 million for information leading to the capture of three al-Shabab leaders — Ahmed Diriye, Muhad Karate and Jehad Mostafa — alleged to be responsible for attacks in both Kenya and Somalia.

On January 5, the U.S. issued a reward offer for information on Maalim Ayman, believed to have planned an attack on Kenya’s Manda Bay Airbase, which is utilized by the U.S. armed forces for counterterrorism training.

Security analysts such as Daniel Omondi say the U.S. rewards are signaling Washington’s proactive efforts to nab terrorists in Kenya.

“Especially after the 1998 bombing of the U.S. embassies, the U.S. must keep on being on the forefront to help, especially with surveillance and enhancing efforts with regards to collection of information, which is very, very key in preventing further attacks in the region,” Omondi  said.

Kenya and the U.S. have formed a multi-agency investigation unit to counter terrorism and share information to avert attacks. Authorities from both countries say the unit has been a success.  

 
…

…

Human Rights Watch says African nations need to do more to address the widespread displacement, killings and other abuses that have come about from the continent’s many conflicts. The rights group published a new report this week that summarizes human rights trends in 23 African countries.

Mausi Segun, head of Human Rights Watch Africa, said that in many African countries, the population is caught up in conflict and simply has nowhere to turn.

“Some of the most egregious of human rights violations continue to cascade in the context of conflict,” Segun said. “Civilians have continued to bear the brunt of armed conflict, communal violence, political and social unrest as well as government repression against critical and independent voices in several African countries. All of these have resulted in the destruction of lives and livelihoods.”

According to ACLED, the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, there were at least 36,000 violent events and more than 50,000 deaths caused by violence in Africa last year.

Human Rights Watch said in at least 15 armed conflicts, in the Sahel, the Lake Chad Basin area, the Great Lakes region and the Horn of Africa, government forces and armed groups have been implicated in abuses against civilians.

“Armed insurgents, and in many cases, government forces, have inflicted terror and horror on civilians caught amid the fighting,” Segun said, “and forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee both within and outside their national borders where many face discrimination, rejection and sometimes violent repulsion.”

Political, religious and social intolerance have also increased, according to human rights researchers.

The report said hate speech, attacks on perceived political opponents, increased competition for resources and other factors continue to fuel communal tensions, insurgency and extremist recruitment in some African countries.

The rights group praised the African Union and regional blocs including ECOWAS for taking action, such as reconciling Ethiopia’s warring factions, condemning coups in West Africa and refusing to recognize any attempt to seize power by force.

Carine Kaneza Nantulya, deputy director of Human Rights Watch Africa Division, said the continental body is not doing enough to investigate human rights violations.

“They do hold a summit, they do talk about it,” she said. “For instance, they want the peace and security to conduct a study and assessment of the driving causes behind these different crises, but the gap there is that there is no emphasis of justice and accountability.”

That should be at the core of decisions, Nantulya said, to sustain the processes and to provide redress and justice to the millions of victims of the crises.

In the Central African Republic and Guinea, the rights group noted progress in ensuring justice for serious crimes.

The International Criminal Court in The Hague has opened trials against militia leaders in the Central African Republic and Sudan, both of which have committed serious crimes against civilians.

The Washington-based organization HRW Africa Division urges African leaders and governments to implement policies to monitor and report human rights violations in conflict zones. They say such a move could help prevent atrocities and humanitarian crises.
…

Zambia’s former ruling Patriotic Front party has rejected a report by the International Monetary Fund saying corruption flourished under its government.

The IMF said this week the political elite under former president Edgar Lungu bent rules to access lucrative government contracts. Current President Hakainde Hichilema pledged to tackle corruption and secured $1.3 billion in IMF debt support after Zambia defaulted to creditors.

An IMF mission conducted a study last year focusing on governance weaknesses and corruption vulnerabilities in Zambia at the request of local authorities.

The assessment revealed serious weaknesses across all state functions, especially public financial management and the granting and managing of contracts of large infrastructure projects. It said the cost of high-profile projects were inflated by as much as 200 percent under Lungu, with the extra money going into the pockets of well-connected Lungu supporters.

Several former government officials were arrested on corruption charges. However, the arrests ended in bail, with defendants denying the accusations. No convictions have been secured.

Patriotic Front spokesperson Raphael Nakachinda denied the IMF allegations of large-scale corruption under Lungu. 

Nakachinda told VOA that while in government, the Patriotic Front had put in place measures to ensure transparency and accountability in public procurement. He challenged the current government to take legal action against any of its former leaders found wanting.

“We ensured at the time that we were in office that all government contracts go through a rigorous public bidding process to ensure transparency and accountability and there are sufficient laws in Zambia to allow citizens to object, appeal or challenge any government contract process they deem is shrouded in corruption. The tender process is a public process and therefore those allegations are malicious,” Nakachinda said.

Presidential spokesperson Anthony Bwalya told VOA that the IMF report is a confirmation of what the government of Hichilema has always known — that corruption in Zambia had worsened under the Lungu administration. 

“This is why the president has made it a fundamental priority to win the fight against corruption as part of the process towards rebuilding the economy,” Bwalya said. “We have set up the financial crimes fast track courts to expedite the process of holding accountable perpetrators of grand scale corruption, we have also reformed the public financial management systems for better transparency as well as reforming the public procurement process.”

For Boyd Muleya, an economist at the research organization the Centre for Policy, Trade and Development, the IMF report is an important step toward enhancing the fight against corruption in Zambia.

“We are happy that there’s a drum up towards ensuring that the rule of law is brought back, that transparency is enhanced, we are still yet to hear the progress on access to information in this country,” Muleya said.

The Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection — a faith-based non-governmental organization that champions social justice — told VOA the alleged corruption affected the poor the most in the past 8 years, because they were left without access to basic social services like water, food, sanitation and health.

According to the World Bank, about two-thirds of Zambia’s population lives on less than two dollars a day. 

 
…

A statue in Benin of one of the female warriors of Dahomey, which appeared in the Hollywood film ‘The Woman King,’ was likely built by a sanctioned North Korean company, according to evidence discovered by VOA’s Korean Service. In an exclusive interview with VOA, the Beninois government denies the statue was constructed by North Korea. Henry Wilkins reports from Cotonou, Benin.
…

The past year has seen human rights crises worsening around the world, from Ukraine to China to Afghanistan, Human Rights Watch said in its latest annual report, released Thursday.

But new voices of leadership for championing human rights have emerged, according to the report.

World Report 2023 looks at the state of human rights in nearly 100 countries where the New York-based organization works.

“The obvious conclusion to draw from the litany of human rights crises in 2022 —from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s deliberate attacks on civilians in Ukraine and Xi Jinping’s open-air prison for the Uyghurs in China to the Taliban’s putting millions of Afghans at risk of starvation — is that unchecked authoritarian power leaves behind a sea of human suffering,” the report says.

“But 2022 also revealed a fundamental shift in power in the world that opens the way for all concerned governments to push back against these abuses by protecting and strengthening the global human rights system,” says the report.

Ukraine

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the report’s authors say the global community deserves credit for unleashing what it calls the “full arsenal” of the human rights system, including an investigation by the International Criminal Court.

“We saw immediate responses from the international community to mobilize around key human rights supports, including establishing international justice mechanisms [and] evidence gathering for war crimes,” Tirana Hassan, acting executive director at Human Rights Watch, told VOA.

In towns such as Bucha and Izyum, there is widespread evidence of the torture, execution and rape of Ukrainian civilians by occupying Russian soldiers. The United Nations Human Rights Council has documented several hundred civilian killings, thought to be a fraction of the total.

Following a visit to Ukraine in December, Volker Türk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said the war “continues to be marked by gross violations of international human rights law.”

“In some cases, Russian soldiers executed civilians in makeshift places of detention. Others were summarily executed on the spot following security checks — in their houses, yards and doorways. Even where the victim had shown clearly that they were not a threat, for example, by holding their hands in the air. There are strong indications that the summary executions documented in the report may constitute the war crime of willful killing,” Türk told reporters Dec. 15.

Human Rights Watch said the West could have acted against Russia before its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

“Putin’s brazenness has been made possible largely because of his long-standing free hand to operate with impunity,” the report says. “The loss of civilian life in Ukraine comes as no surprise to Syrians who suffered grave abuses from airstrikes following Russia’s intervention to support Syrian forces under Bashar al-Assad in 2015.”

China

Human Rights Watch highlights ongoing abuses in China, including the mass detention, torture and forced labor of as many as a million Muslims in the Xinjiang region. Beijing denies the accusations.

In October, a U.N. resolution to open a debate on abuses by Beijing against the Uyghurs fell short by two votes. However, the report says the closeness of the vote “shows the potential in cross-regional alliances and fresh coalitions to come together to challenge the Chinese government’s expectation of impunity.”

Hassan said the U.N. vote was an important moment.

“What we have seen for the first time in a very long time is cracks in the authoritarian armor,” she told VOA.

Afghanistan

In Afghanistan, the Taliban have imposed numerous laws violating the fundamental rights of women and girls, including freedom of movement, right to work and a livelihood, and access to education and health care.

“Taliban security forces throughout the year carried out arbitrary detentions, torture, and summary executions of former security officers and perceived enemies,” the reports says.

Iran

In Iran, protests triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini after she was detained by morality police have grown into nationwide anti-government demonstrations.

Human Rights Watch said the execution of at least four protesters in recent weeks must trigger a stronger global response.

“We need to move beyond international solidarity for protesters and need to make sure that governments all over the world are holding Iranian officials to account,” Hassan told VOA.

Myanmar

The report cites increasing human rights abuses in Myanmar, where the authors say the regime is launching assaults on communities across the country that oppose the 2021 military coup.

“The junta security forces have carried out mass killings, arbitrary arrests, torture, sexual violence, and other abuses that amount to crimes against humanity,” the report says. “Freedom of speech and assembly face severe restrictions. Expanded military operations have resulted in numerous war crimes against ethnic minority populations in Kachin, Karen, Karenni, and Shan States.”

Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, Human Rights Watch says the recent African Union-led peace process has resulted in a fragile truce.

“Ensuring that there is accountability for the egregious crimes that took place in the Tigray region, for example, is going to be critical for this cease-fire and this truce to actually hold,” Hassan said.

Climate change

Human Rights Watch says climate change is having an increasing impact on basic rights in every corner of the world, from devastating floods in Pakistan to wildfires in the United States. It says governments have a legal and moral obligation to regulate industries such as fossil fuel extraction that are incompatible with protecting basic rights.

“Governments should act with urgency in upholding human rights in their responses to climate extremes and slow-onset changes that are already inevitable, protecting those populations most at risk, including Indigenous peoples, women, children, older people, people with disabilities, and people living in poverty,” the report says.
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The past year has seen a litany of human rights crises across the world, from Ukraine to China to Afghanistan, Human Rights Watch says in its latest annual report, released Thursday. The authors also say, however, that new champions of human rights have emerged. Henry Ridgwell reports.
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The World Health Organization declared Uganda free from Ebola on Wednesday, 42 days since the last infection was recorded.

The outbreak of the Sudan strain of the virus, which started in September, has left 55 people dead. The declaration was made at a function in Mubende district, now known as the epicenter of the fifth outbreak of the Ebola Sudan virus in Uganda.

Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, Uganda’s health minister, noted that the major drivers of transmission were household infection and gatherings at private facilities. The three main portals of transmission were physical contact, sexual contact and trans-placental transmission.

“I now confirm that all transmission chains have been fully interrupted,” Aceng said. “And take this opportunity to declare that outbreak is over and Uganda is now free of active Ebola transmission.”

The Mubende district registered the highest number of confirmed cases with 64 patients and 29 deaths.

At the onset of the Ebola outbreak, Naiga Juliet worked her usual routine as a laboratory attendant at Mubende Referral Hospital. With about seven health workers dying due to Ebola, many people were afraid to approach patients.

Juliet, who later was to be the Ebola laboratory sample coordinator, recalled that on September 17, a patient was admitted who tested positive for Ebola the next day. That was the start of the Ebola outbreak, and a followup of contacts was quickly carried out.

“I took off those samples. They were eight patients, six turned out positive. I was in panic,” Juliet said. “I had to notify my lawyers and my family about what might happen. I was traumatized, psychologically tortured. Because even my colleagues feared and they didn’t even enter there. But me, actually, I knew how to put on the PPE [Personal Protective Equipment], practicing infection, prevention and control. That’s what saved me.”

By the end of October, the neighboring Kassanda district registered 12 cases within two days, prompting health authorities to open up an Ebola treatment unit there.

Nabuuma Maska, a resident of Kassanda district, has adopted a third name, Kawonawo, literally meaning survivor. Maska said she visited a sick relative, unaware that the relative had Ebola and would die soon after from the virus.

Maska told VOA that three days later, she showed symptoms of Ebola, including severe headache, bleeding through the nose, diarrhea and vomiting. 

She said she called the ambulance and was taken to hospital, then lost consciousness for three weeks. When she regained her senses, she said she was greeted with health workers saying, “welcome back, welcome back.”

Maska said she has since faced social stigma in her village.  

She said her family suddenly ran away from her, and her landlord kicked her out of her house for failure to pay her rent. She said she used to own a business but lost it, and now can’t afford to buy food or pay for shelter. 

By the end of the pandemic, Kassanda district registered 49 confirmed cases and 21 deaths among the 143 cases and 55 deaths countrywide.

Ugandans have been urged to continue being vigilant and report any person in the community that displays Ebola-like symptoms.

The Health Ministry, working with international partners, said it continues to look for the possible source of the outbreak and the reason why Uganda tends to suffer from Ebola outbreaks from July to October. 

 
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Ethiopia’s military says Tigrayan forces have started handing over heavy weapons as part of the peace deal to end the two-year civil war.

Ethiopia’s federal defense force in a statement Wednesday confirmed Tigray forces have started handing over heavy weapons— the latest progress in line with a November peace deal.

The statement said the “first round” of weapons were transported on Tuesday in Agula camp, 36 kilometers from Tigray’s capital, Mekelle.

Ethiopian Army Commander Lieutenant Colonel Aleme Tadele said the arms transfer included tanks, rockets, and mortars.

The statement said observers from the African Union and various countries’ militaries were present to verify the transfer from the Tigray People’s Liberation Army.

The confirmation came after TPLF spokesman Getachew Reda early Wednesday tweeted news of the handover.

He said they “hope and expect this will go a long way in expediting the full implementation of the agreement.”

The AU-brokered peace deal, signed in South Africa, saw the two sides agree the TPLF would disarm in return for restoration of aid and services to Tigray and the withdrawal of foreign forces.

The deal came after two years of devastating war that saw Tigray largely cut off from the rest of the world, hundreds of thousands of people killed, and millions displaced.

The two sides have met a few times in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, to discuss implementing the deal.

Since December, Ethiopia has allowed humanitarian aid to enter Tigray and restored power, water, banking, and telecommunications to the region.

Witnesses say in late December Eritrean troops who fought on the side of federal forces withdrew from two cities in Tigray.

However, the TPLF accuses Eritrean troops of committing atrocities during the conflict and says they are still active in some areas of Tigray.

Rights groups say all sides in the conflict are guilty of rapes, torture, and extra-judicial killings that could amount to war crimes, and cite evidence of ethnic cleansing against Tigrayans.

While the rapid progress on implementing the peace deal has been welcomed internationally, it’s not yet clear what action, if any, will be taken to see justice for the victims.

 
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The Somali government says it has shut down the financial infrastructure that supports Islamist militant group al-Shabab.

Speaking Wednesday to a gathering of Somali diaspora members in Cairo, Somali Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre said his government has closed every known account connected with the militants. 

“The government has closed down about 250 militant-connected accounts in four banks and also shut down the network and the data services of about 70 mobile phones the militants were using to transfer money,” Hamza said. 

“This was a major victory and was only possible because of the tips of the Somali citizens and we are in the process of investigating the amount of the frozen money in the closed accounts,” said the prime minister.

Hamza said Somali security forces have also arrested individuals carrying money to al-Shabab financial offices.

Al-Shabab has funded itself for years by extorting businesses in Mogadishu and collecting taxes in the areas under its control.

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud declared a “total war” against the al-Qaida-linked militants shortly after being elected last year.

Working with local clan fighters, the government has claimed multiple military victories against al-Shabab in the past six months, retaking towns and villages in Hirshabelle state that the militants had controlled for years.

Hamza said Tuesday that about 2,000 al-Shabab fighters have been killed in military operations conducted by the Somali army, supported by what he called international partners.

VOA could not independently verify the government’s claimed death toll.

Al-Shabab, meanwhile, has continued its attacks since Mohamud was elected president.

On Saturday, it carried out two attacks on government forces in Somalia’s central region of Hiran in two days, killing more than 43 people, including senior military officers.

An October twin car bombing in Mogadishu killed at least 120 people. 
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A judge on Tuesday ordered the release of a Senegalese journalist and prominent anti-government critic after more than two months in detention, his lawyers said.

Pape Ale Niang, head of the Dakar Matin online news site, was arrested on November 6 and charged with “divulging information likely to harm national defense.”

Widely followed in Senegal for his regular columns on current affairs, Niang was released on December 14 but sent back to prison a week later and had since been on a hunger strike in protest over his detention.

Lawyer Moussa Sarr told Agence France-Presse the temporary release order came with a strict ban on Niang commenting on the case as well as a travel ban.

He was “extremely strained” from a hunger strike launched in protest at his detention, the lawyer said, adding that he is still in hospital.

The journalist has been at Dakar’s main hospital since December 24, where doctors have voiced concern about his condition, according to a local press organization.

Another of his lawyers, Cire Cledor Ly, said the case was “political” and Diang ought to end the hunger strike.

“He held out, it was very hard, but he was fighting for a principle and he has won,” the lawyer said.

The case against Niang arose after he wrote about rape charges faced by Senegal’s main opposition leader, Ousmane Sonko.

Niang was accused of describing confidential messages about security arrangements for Sonko’s questioning by investigators, according to trade unions.

His detention sparked a wave of criticism from the press, civil society groups and Senegal’s opposition, with many calling for his release.

The Coordination of Press Associations put out a statement praising the “victory” of the release order and called for cancellation of the “fantasy and political charges which earned him more than 60 days in prison.”

Senegal has a strong reputation for openness and press freedom in West Africa, but this status is in decline, according to Reporters Without Borders.

Its 2022 Press Freedom Index ranked Senegal 73rd out of 180 countries — a fall of 24 places compared with 2021.
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China’s new foreign minister, Qin Gang, has begun a five-nation tour of Africa aimed at bolstering Chinese-African ties. Qin, who had been ambassador to the U.S. until December, will visit African Union headquarters in Ethiopia before traveling to four other African countries. 

Analysts say trade and investment are the top priorities for both sides as China and the U.S. compete for influence in Africa.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed welcomed Qin to Addis Ababa as the Chinese foreign minister began his week-long tour. 

After visiting African Union headquarters Tuesday, the Chinese foreign minister will go to Angola, Benin, Egypt and Gabon.

David Monyae, head of the Center for Africa-China Studies at the University of Johannesburg, offered some insight into what Qin and his hosts are likely to discuss.

“At AU level there might be some issues in terms of requests by Africans for China to help on the issues of reform of the United Nations.” he said. “The AU itself is going to get a seat within the G-20 and there are a number of issues within multilateral institutions and China is a permanent member of the Security Council.”

China’s investment in Africa is focused on infrastructure and telecommunications.

According to the Chinese General Administration of Customs, in the first three months of 2022, trade between China and Africa reached nearly $65 billion, a 23% increase over the same period in 2021.

Cliff Mboya, a researcher at the Afro-Sino Centre of International Relations, said economic revival will be at the top of most African countries’ agenda.

“What I expect [Qin] to address is China-Africa relations post-COVID,” he said. “China is gradually opening up to the rest of the world and they are trying to embrace the post-COVID world which some of us have already embraced. So, economic recovery would be key and we must factor in that there is a lot of renewed interest coming from the U.S. and Europe. So, China would want to put its stake in the relationship and just affirm to African countries that it’s here to stay and just to build on what it has.”

Western nations have accused China of using massive loans for infrastructure projects to put African countries in debt to Beijing, both politically and economically. 

Rights groups say China also promotes corruption and ignores human rights concerns, while seeking access to Africa’s natural resources. 

Monyae said Africans are to blame for the corruption involving big projects in the continent.  

“My blame goes more on ourselves, Africans,” he said. “I don’t think we have clear laws and are tough on corruption. The idea of blaming Chinese or Americans on anything is not something I buy into. There are issues. No doubt. Is there corruption in some of the Chinese projects? Yes, is there corruption in some of the American projects in Africa? Yes. What are we doing and there is no one we can say is better than the other.”

Last month, the U.S. government hosted African leaders in Washington, where both sides agreed to support infrastructure projects on the continent as well as invest in digital transformation, health, and telecommunications.

Mboya said African nations will see if they can get similar or greater benefits from interaction with Qin and China. 

“So, he will be received well and African leaders will be keen to see what he has to offer,” he said. “The African Union, the leaders who are there, would want to establish personal contact with him just to get an idea of his ideas and his strategy and see how to align themselves with what he will have to say or what China intends to do going forward.”

In Egypt, the foreign minister is scheduled to meet with the secretary general of the Arab League. The visit is set to conclude Saturday.
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South African President Cyril Ramaphosa says he’ll use his chairmanship of the BRICS group of leading emerging economies to focus on advancing African interests. The bloc — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — is seen as an alternative to dominant Western economies.

South Africa has just taken over the BRICS chairmanship from China and will host the group’s annual summit this year — with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa promising more African countries will be invited to attend.

“We want to use this opportunity to advance the interests of our continent, and we will therefore through the BRICS summit be having an outreach process or moment, where we will invite other African countries to come and be part of the BRICS because we do want BRICS in whatever BRICS does to focus on helping to develop our continent,” said Ramaphosa.

“Our continent was pillaged and ravaged and exploited by other continents and we therefore want to build the solidarity in BRICS to advance the interests, of course initially of our own country, but also of the continent as a whole.”

Asked what form advocating for Africa might take, Mikatekiso Kubayi, a researcher at the Pretoria-based research organization the Institute for Global Dialogue, told VOA it would likely be focused on helping African countries gain greater access to the global economy.

He said BRICS is all about allowing the “voices of the marginalized to actually be heard” and said Africa wants to better the living standards of its people and create employment.

“The collective strength of the BRICS economy and the technological capability, market size, and other qualities that make BRICS a solid development partner for Africa is what South Africa will look to harness with the BRICS partners. I think that is what the president was referring to,” said Kubayi.

Elizabeth Sidiropoulos, of the South African Institute of International Affairs, said that trade would be a priority and there would be a focus on unlocking the potential of the recently formed African Continental Free Trade Area.

She noted that China, the world’s second-largest economy, is the continent’s single largest trade partner.

She said the summit is also about getting investment from external partners and sparking intra-continental trade.

“South Africa would want to advocate in the discussions on these issues with its other BRICS partners in terms of how we, we use the creation of a continental free trade area, not only to trade more with the external world, but primarily, which is what this initiative is really about, to trade, to create goods in the continent that we can trade within the continent,” she said.

Sidiropoulos said aside from trying to advance the economies of developing countries, BRICS is also about reforming the current multilateral system which “does not necessarily advance the interests of the global South.”

At the last BRICS summit, hosted virtually by Beijing, Ramaphosa took aim at the West, saying that during the COVID-19 pandemic rich nations did not adhere to “the principles of solidarity and cooperation when it comes to equitable access to vaccines.”

As well as an economic force, BRICS — which includes three democracies but also communist China and authoritarian Russia — is increasing a political force that positions itself as an alternative to the U.S.-led liberal world order.

Only Brazil voted against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the United Nations last year, while the other members abstained. South Africa, as the continent’s foremost democracy, was widely criticized for taking a neutral stance on the conflict.

And it looks like BRICS might soon expand. Saudi Arabia is reportedly interested in joining the bloc, as are Iran, Algeria and Argentina.
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A court in Uganda on Tuesday quashed a section of a communications law that has been used to prosecute government critics, journalists and writers, including two who fled to exile in Germany, its judgment said.

Under Uganda’s Computer Misuse Act, one of the sections proscribes the use of electronic communication to “disturb the peace, quiet or right of privacy of any person with no purpose of legitimate communication.”

Punishments for offenders can range from steep cash penalties to jail sentences of several years. 

In a ruling on a petition filed by a rights activist seeking the quashing of that section of the law, the Constitutional Court agreed, saying it violated the constitution.

Constitutional Court Judge Kenneth Kakuru, who wrote the lead judgment on behalf of a panel of five judges, said that section of the law “is unjustifiable as it curtails the freedom of speech in a free and democratic society.”

He declared it “null and void” and banned its enforcement.

There was no immediate response from government spokesman Ofwono Opondo to a Reuters request for comment.

Rights activists have long complained of Uganda’s various communications laws enacted by the government of President Yoweri Museveni.

Critics say the laws are indiscriminately broad, disguised censorship and have mostly been used to punish opponents of Museveni, who has ruled Uganda since 1986.

Stella Nyanzi, a university lecturer and author who earned a huge social media following for her profanity- and vulgarity-laced criticism attacks on Museveni, spent more than a year in jail after she was convicted under Uganda’s electronic communications laws.

She subsequently fled Uganda and now lives in exile in Germany alongside another Ugandan author and international award winner, Kakwenza Rukirabashaija, who was prosecuted under the same laws before he also fled. 
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China’s new Foreign Minister Qin Gang is starting his term with a weeklong trip to five African countries, the Foreign Ministry announced Monday. 

Qin, who until recently was ambassador to the United States, will visit Ethiopia, Gabon, Angola, Benin and Egypt from January 9-16, spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a daily media briefing. In Egypt, Qin will also meet the secretary-general of the Arab League. 

The new foreign minister is following in the footsteps of his predecessors, who have for more than three decades started each year with a trip to Africa. 

“It shows that China attaches great importance to the traditional friendship with Africa and the development of China-Africa relations,” Wang said. 

The U.S. is battling China for influence in Africa, with President Joe Biden making an appeal to African leaders at a summit in Washington in December. China has become a major trading partner with the continent and investor in infrastructure and mining projects. 

Qin, 56, was appointed foreign minister December 30. He succeeded Wang Yi, 69, who has replaced Yang Jiechi as the government’s top foreign policy official. 

Wang’s new position has not been announced, but a recent article by him on the Foreign Ministry website described him as director of the ruling Communist Party’s foreign affairs office, the post that Yang held.  
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A court in Kenya says five suspects are being held in connection with the murder of prominent LGBTQ activist Edwin Chiloba, whose mutilated body was found on a roadside last week stuffed in a metal trunk.   

Kenyan police say they are investigating a possible love triangle as motive for the killing.   

Rights activists suspect the killing was one in a series of hate crimes in Kenya, where homosexuality is illegal.      

Among the five suspects arraigned in court in Eldoret Monday was Jacktone Odhiambo, a freelance photographer said to be a longtime friend of the 25-year-old Chiloba, who was a leading activist in Kenya’s LGBTQ community.  

The arraignment comes just a day after police arrested three more suspects for their alleged role in disposing of the victim’s remains. Chiloba’s family told VOA they are satisfied with the investigation process so far, even as they demand justice for their kin. 

“We want the culprits or the murderers of my brother to be charged according to the Kenyan law,” said Gaudensia Chirchir, Chiloba’s cousin and the family spokesperson.   

Chiloba’s body was discovered about 40 kilometers outside the Rift Valley town of Eldoret after it was reportedly dumped from a moving car.  

The killing has drawn widespread condemnation, including from the U.N. human rights chief Volker Turk and the African Union’s human rights commissioner Solomon Ayele Dersso.   

Rights activists say members of the LGBTQ community are increasingly being targeted with discrimination and attacks.    

Fahe Kerubo, an LGBTQ campaigner at the Reproductive Health Network in Kenya, said that “The incident of Edwin is not a first. This comes after Sheila Lumamba has been killed and others that I can remember.” 

Kerubo added that, “We’ve also seen increased homophobia, especially online. We’ve seen a lot of increased violation of incidents among the queer community or that is directed toward the LGBTQ community.”    

Under a British colonial-era law, homosexuality is illegal in Kenya. 
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South African police are investigating allegations by the outgoing head of state-owned power company Eskom that he was poisoned.

Andre de Ruyter alleges someone put cyanide in his coffee a day after he tendered his resignation. De Ruyter has been criticized for failing to end widespread graft in the company that fueled the worst blackouts in South Africa’s history.

Debt-ridden Eskom says due to the police investigation, it cannot comment on de Ruyter’s claim that someone tried to poison him at his Johannesburg office on December 13.

The story broke over the weekend with de Ruyter telling energy analyst and editor of EE Business Intelligence Chris Yelland that after drinking the coffee, he became weak, dizzy and confused, and started vomiting.

De Ruyter went to a doctor and tests were conducted.

South Africa’s minister of public enterprises, Pravin Gordhan, says the alleged attempt on de Ruyter’s life will be thoroughly investigated and those responsible will be charged. 

Morne Malan, the head of communications at Solidarity, a union with 6,000 members at Eskom, believes the alleged poisoning was linked to de Ruyter’s fight against corruption.

“All the indications at the moment are that he was in fact poisoned based on the toxicology report,” Malan said. “From our understanding, normal cyanide levels for a human being would be around 15 milligrams per liter of blood whereas Andre de Ruyter’s was at over 40 milligrams per liter.”

De Ruyter submitted his resignation shortly after Minerals and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe criticized Eskom’s management, saying, “Eskom by not attending to load-shedding is actively agitating for the overthrow of the state.”

Malan says the union doesn’t believe Mantashe’s accusation because he says de Ruyter always put Eskom first and did his best.

Malan added that due to political interference in South Africa’s state-owned enterprises, it’s almost impossible for any CEO to conduct business independently.

“It’s terribly difficult to actually judge the extent to which he was effective,” Malan said. “There are certain things we can point to. We do believe he did a relatively good job at alleviating Eskom’s debt load. The fact of the matter is that load-shedding was significantly worse last year than ever before. We did have over 200 days of load-shedding in 2022.”

Across the country, rolling power cuts known as load-shedding were first implemented by Eskom around 2008 due to demand outstripping supply. In 2022, South Africa experienced blackouts for up to 10 hours a day at times.

Energy analysts blame corruption, crippling debt, lack of maintenance of aging coal-powered plants, and the inability to procure new plants and renewable energy sources in a timely manner as reasons for the demise of the once world-class power utility.

Meanwhile, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa has refused to comment on the poisoning investigation, referring instead to a statement issued in December. It said it is overjoyed by de Ruyter’s resignation and called him the worst CEO in the history of Eskom.

Energy expert Ted Blom was also critical of de Ruyter.

“In terms of delivering the fix-up at Eskom, he grossly underperformed and he’s actually leaving Eskom in a far worse situation than what he inherited it,” Blom said.

He added that he doesn’t know anyone who would want to take the job at Eskom. 

“It certainly is not fixable by one or two people. If you are going to bring in a team to fix up Eskom it’s going to have to be in the form of a task force. They’re going to have to be independent and they’re going to have a mandate that is irrevocable for a period of time,” Blom said. “You can’t have chopping and changing every 18 months or every year like Eskom’s had in the past 15 years.”

De Ruyter, who officially started as CEO in January 2020, is expected to leave Eskom on March 31. 

 
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