The accounts are haunting. Abductions, torture, rapes. Scores of civilians, including women and children, have been killed by the M23 rebels in eastern Congo, according to a U.N. report 

In addition, the M23 rebels have forced children to be soldiers, according to the report by a panel of U.N. experts. The 21-page document — based on interviews with more than 230 sources and visits to the Rutshuru area of Congo’s North Kivu province, where the M23 have seized territory — is expected to be published this week. 

Conflict has been simmering for decades in eastern Congo. More than 120 armed groups are fighting in the region, most for land and control of mines with valuable minerals, while some groups are trying to protect their communities. 

The already volatile situation significantly deteriorated this year when the M23 resurfaced after being largely dormant for nearly a decade. 

The M23 first rose to prominence 10 years ago when its fighters seized Goma, the largest city in Congo’s east, which sits on the border with Rwanda. The group derives its name from a peace agreement signed on March 23, 2009, which called for the rebels to be integrated into the Congo army. The M23 accuse the government of not implementing the accord. 

In late 2021, the reactivated M23 began killing civilians and capturing swaths of territory. M23 fighters raped and harassed women trying to farm family fields in rebel-controlled areas, according to the report. The rebels accused civilians of spying for the Congolese army, the report said, and often incarcerated them and, in some cases, beat them to death. 

Populations living under M23 not only are subject to abuse but are forced to pay taxes, the panel said. At the Bunagana border crossing with Uganda, the rebels earned an average of $27,000 a month making people carrying goods pay as they entered and left the country, the U.N. said. Two locals living under M23 who did not want to be named for fear of their safety told The Associated Press they had been forced to bring the rebels bags of beans, pay $5 if they wanted to access their farms and take backroads if they wanted to leave the village for fear of reprisal. 

The M23 did not respond to questions about the allegations but has previously dismissed it as propaganda. 

The violence by the rebels is part of an overall worsening of the crisis in eastern Congo, with fighting by armed groups intensifying and expanding in the North Kivu and Ituri provinces, said the report. 

“The security and humanitarian situation in North Kivu and Ituri Provinces significantly deteriorated, despite the continuous enforcement of a state of siege over the past 18 months,” and despite military operations by Congo’s armed forces, Uganda’s military and the U.N. mission in Congo, the report said. 

Adding to the difficult situation in eastern Congo, attacks by the Allied Democratic Forces — believed to be linked with the Islamic State group — are increasing, the report said, and a nearly yearlong joint operation by Uganda’s and Congo’s armies “has not yet yielded the expected results of defeating or substantially weakening the ADF.” Since April, according to the report, ADF attacks killed at least 370 civilians, and several hundred more were abducted, including a significant number of children. The group also extended its area of operations to Goma and into the neighboring Ituri province. 

The fighting is exacerbating eastern Congo’s dire humanitarian crisis. Almost 6 million people are internally displaced in Congo, with more than 450,000 displaced in North Kivu province, since clashes escalated in February. Hundreds of thousands are facing extreme food insecurity, and disease is spreading, aid groups say. Cholera cases are spiking in Nyiragongo, a region hosting many of the displaced people in North Kivu, with more than 970 cases discovered in recent weeks, said Save The Children. 

Efforts to stem the violence have yielded little results. 

A new regional force deployed to eastern Congo is facing pushback from residents who say they do not want more armed groups in the area. Tensions are also rising with Congo’s neighbor Rwanda, which it accuses of supporting the M23 rebels, findings backed by the U.N. 

Earlier this week, the M23 said it was retreating from Kibumba, a town near Goma that it held for several weeks, as part of an agreement made last month at a summit in Angola, said M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka in a statement. However, residents from Kibumba said the rebels are still there and still attacking civilians. 

“My neighbor was whipped because he refused to let M23 slaughter his goat,” said Faustin Kamete, a Kibumba resident. “They lied to the international community with their withdrawal,” he said. 
…

U.S. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar hailed recent victories scored by the Somali government and local community forces against al-Shabab militants in central Somali regions. 

Omar, who was born in Somalia, has been visiting the country since Thursday. In Mogadishu, she met with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre and members of the Cabinet and parliamentarians on Monday. 

Speaking at a dinner in her honor hosted by Barre, Omar congratulated the Somali leaders for the “big success” against al-Shabab militants.  

Omar called for collaboration in defeating the group she accused of “dishonoring” Islam. 

“Our country and our religion have been associated with terrorism [because] of the dishonor they brought on us,” she said. “We have to get rid of them as Somalis and as Muslims and pray and support each other in that work.” 

She said local Somali representatives have been able to visit their constituents for the first time since they joined the government because of the military operation that freed central territories from al-Shabab. 

Last week, Somali government and local forces captured Ruun-Nirgood, the last major town in Middle Shabelle region controlled by al-Shabab. 

Somalia army chief Odawa Yusuf Rage told VOA on Monday that the operations are now expanding to the neighboring Galmudug region. He admitted that militants remain in small villages on the western side of Middle Shabelle close to the border with Hiran region.  

Meanwhile, al-Shabab has imposed restrictions on workers and vehicles of Somalia’s largest telecommunications company, military officials said on Tuesday. 

The militant group told Hormuud Telecommunication workers they are not allowed to travel between the areas controlled by the group and areas in the hands of the government, the military said. The restrictions also apply to the vehicles belonging to the company. 

Spokesperson for the Somali military Brigadier General Abdullahi Ali Anod confirmed to VOA the restrictions imposed by al-Shabab on Hormuud Telecom. 

“We heard that, we have received it,” he said in an interview.  

He said Hormuud has been repairing telecommunication centers, masts and restoring services in newly recaptured territories. “They are on standby, wherever the army arrives,” he said. 

Hormuud Telecom has not commented on the reported restrictions. 

Anod said the extremist group also wants to prevent the public, including pastoralists, from passing information about al-Shabab movements to the army and police.

Anod said group has the false believe that the army is using the telephone network for their operations. “The army has its own communication. It’s possible that they don’t know that,” he said. 

“They are punishing the companies and the general public,” Anod said. 

The Somali government reported it has seized nearly 70 localities from al-Shabab since August when operations by the military and allied local militia started. Anod said they recorded 11 incidents where the group destroyed telecommunication masts and phone centers in areas seized.
…

Nigerian police say they are investigating an officer who shot and killed an unarmed pregnant lawyer after she left a Christmas church service. A spokesman for the Lagos city police vowed the investigation would be swift but critics say Nigerian authorities aren’t doing enough to stop police brutality that sparked protests in 2020.

Police in Lagos condemned the Sunday shooting and say they are holding the officer and his teammates in detention pending the outcome of the investigation.

Spokesman Benjamin Hundeyin said the case is being handled by the criminal investigation department for in-depth analysis.

He said police will re-appraise their rules of engagement to avoid future incidents.

The victim, Omobolanle Raheem, was on her way home from a Christmas Day service when the officer shot at her family’s vehicle at a checkpoint in Ajah, killing her and her unborn child.

The circumstances remain unclear, but according to local media, the officers were conducting a stop-and-search operation.

The incident has triggered widespread criticism of police and Nigerian authorities by citizens and rights groups, including Amnesty International.

On Monday, Lagos state police authorities met with the leaders of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).  Hussein Afolabi, a human rights lawyer, said there are too many open questions. 

“The only reason why you have to use your firearm is if somebody is armed,” he said. “There’s no reason, there’s no justification for that kind of shooting, I don’t know whether they’re going to do any drug test for that guy. Was he drunk? What was the guy’s mental state? Nobody knows.”

Afolabi has been trying to help four families that were victims of police brutality in Oyo state, including the family of Jimoh Ishiak, who was allegedly shot and killed near his house by officers during the widespread protests against police brutality in October 2020.

For two weeks that month, activists marched in the streets, calling on authorities to disband the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, or SARS and dismiss its members from the police force.

Nigerian authorities said they were disbanding the unit but Afolabi says two years later, the officers are still employed.

“Were they retrenched? They said they disbanded,” Afolabi said. “Where are those people? They’re somewhere. They’re no longer SARS. I have friends who are SARS. They’re still in the Nigerian police force.”

End SARS protest leader Rinu Oduala said the government lacks the political will to address police brutality issues.

“[The] Nigerian government is a major perpetrator of police brutality against its own citizens and you can see that today,” Oduala said. “This has shown that the Lagos state government and the Nigerian government have learnt nothing and they’re not willing to address the grievances of police brutality protesters.”

Amnesty International said the police investigation must be impartial and made public.

Many will be waiting to see how — or if — justice is served.
…

Somalia’s president over the weekend said the vast majority of paid civil servants were neither in the country nor working. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said 3,500 of 5,000 people on the government payroll appear to be so-called ghost workers.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s assertion that most government employees do not show up for work was condemned by Somalis.

While there have been similar claims in the past, the president’s statement was met with outrage and calls for action.

Mahad Mohamud is a fruit vender in Mogadishu. 

He notes the government relies heavily on donor support to fund its budget yet it pays people who do not report to work. Mohamud says the so-called ghost workers should be made to refund their salaries and be prosecuted for corruption and abuse of public trust.

Somalia’s 2023 national budget stands at about $960 million, more than two-thirds of it expected to come from donors. 

University graduate Deka Elmi says the president and prime minister must swiftly deal with the issue of ghost workers.

She says the government is paying more than 3,500 people who are not present at their offices while students who completed their education are jobless.  Elmi says the president and prime minister should urgently do something about it.

President Mohamud talked about the so-called “ghost workers” while addressing officials during Friday prayers at the presidential mosque.  

He said the government’s biometric time and attendance system shows the number of staff that are present. Mohamud says the machine does not lie but indicates whoever puts their thumb on it. Civil servants are more than 5,000, he says, but only 1,500 are present.

Somalia’s Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre on Saturday confirmed the problem and ordered ministries to inspect and ensure that staff follow working hours. 

University of Somalia political scientist Mohamed Matan doubts there are so many government workers not actually working. 

He says threats from al-Shabab militants, who target public servants, may also be keeping some away. 

Matan says fear of al-Shabab has forced everyone to trust only a few and to keep away from others.  Although, he notes, civil servants cannot be fired and that has also led them not to be committed (to work).  And even if they do go to the office, says Matan, they do not work.

Transparency International has for the last two decades ranked Somalia one of the most corrupt countries in the world. 

Mahad Wasuge is executive director of Somali Public Agenda, a research institution focusing on governance. 

He says ghost workers should be removed from public service, which should be reformed.

Wasuge says that can be achieved with a broad government plan regarding the reform of the civil service, which is based on open, transparent recruitment.  He says even director generals should be transparently recruited because they are not politicians but are there for administration and technical expertise.

Somalia is hoping to secure debt relief from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank by the end of 2023.

But it requires strict adherence to fiscal procedures, including prudent management of public resources and streamlining Somalia’s public service.  
…

Ethiopia’s flagship carrier Ethiopian Airlines has announced it will resume daily flights to Tigray region’s capital Mekelle as an African Union-brokered peace deal moves forward.

The national carrier said it would operate daily flights from Wednesday and increase the number of daily flights depending on demand.

The airline halted flights to the region weeks after the war broke out in November 2020 between Ethiopian federal forces and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.

In a statement, head of the airline Mesfin Tasew said the resumption of flights would help families connect as well as facilitate business and tourism.

A CNN investigation last year accused Ethiopian Airlines of transporting troops and weapons to fight the Tigrayan rebels.

The airline denied the allegations, saying the photo evidence was manipulated.

The announced resumption of flights comes just a day after Ethiopian officials arrived in Tigray’s capital Mekelle for the first time in nearly two years for implementation of a November peace deal.

The speaker of Ethiopia’s parliament Tagesse Chaffo Dullo led the delegation, which included a security advisor to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, leaders of state companies, and members of Ethiopia’s National Dialogue Commission.

National Security Advisor Redwan Hussein tweeted Tuesday that Ethio Telecom, which was part of the delegation, was expected to announce further resumption of services to Tigray.

Hussein also tweeted the TPLF was expected to work until Thursday on handing over heavy weapons and control of Mekelle to Ethiopia’s military as agreed during meetings this month in Nairobi.

The delegation’s visit to Tigray was welcomed by a Tigrayan spokesman as a milestone in the peace agreement to end the war.

Getachew Reda tweeted Tuesday that the government’s gesture to green light what he called the long overdue restoration of services was commendable.

He noted that none of the delegation members were accompanied by security guards, which he called a testament to their confidence in Tigray’s commitment to the peace agreement.

Mediators from Kenya and the African Union are also expected to visit Tigray after Ethiopia and the TPLF agreed last week in Nairobi to a joint monitoring team.

Ethiopia has gradually lifted a blockade on much needed food and medical aid to Tigray and already restored some telecommunications.

Ethiopian federal and Tigrayan officials signed the African Union-brokered peace deal in South Africa on November 2, agreeing for hostilities to end, rebel groups to disarm, foreign fighters to leave, and blocked aid and other services to be restored.
…

Reporters Without Borders has called on Algerian authorities to release journalist Ihsane El Kadi, director of the news outlets Radio M and Maghreb Emergent.

Radio M said El Kadi was taken into custody after six agents from Algeria’s Directorate General of Internal Security searched the offices of Radio M and Maghreb Emergent and seized computers and documents.

Radio M, an internet station, and Maghreb Emergent, its sister website, were seen as Algeria’s last outlets for independent news.

The news outlets said the arrest and search were part of a long-running intimidation and harassment campaign by authorities.

Reporters Without Borders tweeted that it “regrets these methods and calls for the release of the journalist and respect for the work of the media in the country.”

 
…

M23 rebels in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are holding civilians hostage for suspected collaboration with enemy militias as fighting erupted despite recent peace efforts, local sources told AFP Monday.

The group — one of scores in the volatile region — has conquered swathes of territory from the army and allied militias in North Kivu province in recent months and advanced toward its capital Goma.

It delivered the strategic town of Kibumba to a regional military force last week after heavy international pressure to cease fighting, saying the move was a “goodwill gesture done in the name of peace.”

But the Congolese army dismissed the withdrawal as a “sham” aimed at reinforcing the group’s positions elsewhere and security sources told AFP clashes resumed in North Kivu on Sunday.

The rebels initially detained around 50 people accused of collaborating with two anti-M23 militias in and around the Tongo settlement, local civil society representative Cyprien Ngoragore said.

He added that at least 18 civilians were still in rebel hands, suspected of working with an anti-M23 armed group, the Nyatura, and the FDLR, a militia with Rwandan Hutu origins.

Two people told AFP the hostages were taken to the locality of Rutshuru-center, seen as an M23 stronghold.

A nephew of one of the hostages, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said they were “displaced people who were returning to look for food” and that the M23 told him they were still alive.

“We are requesting that our brothers are released, that the government gets involved,” he added.

Another man said the rebels arrested his 76-year-old father and others last week on suspicion of working for the Nyatura and the FDLR, tied them up and moved them to Rutshuru-center.

The reports came as residents told AFP that fighting between the M23, the army and self-defense militias continued Monday after breaking out at the weekend.

A military source told AFP on the condition of anonymity that the army and local militias battled the M23 in the Bishusha and Tongo settlements. A security source said the army “was holding its positions.”

A Tutsi-led movement, the M23 had lain dormant for years until it resumed fighting in late 2021, accusing the Congolese government of failing to honor a deal to integrate its fighters into the army.

The DRC has accused its smaller central African neighbor Rwanda of backing the group, something which Kigali denies.

But the United States and France, among other Western countries as well as United Nations experts, agree with the DRC’s assessment.

Talks between the DRC and Rwanda in Angola unlocked a truce agreement last month under which the M23 was meant to lay down arms and pull back from occupied territories.

However, the rebels remained in their positions after the scheduled date for their withdrawal. 

 
…

Government said Dec. 21 that a group of soldiers had been arrested in connection with an attempt to stage a coup
…

Critics of Zambia’s law against insulting the president have welcomed the government’s repeal of the controversial measure as a step forward for democracy. Rights groups say the colonial-era law has been used to silence government critics. President Hakainde Hichilema announced the repeal over the weekend along with the abolition of the death penalty.

Daniel Sinjwala Libati, a human rights lawyer, told VOA that he is happy with the repeal of the defamation law, announced late Friday by Hichilema.

“Very good, very good,” he said. “It allows people to freely criticize, not insult, freely criticize the presidency and provide checks and balances and constructive criticism in line with freedom of expression under our bill of rights.”

Political analyst Guess Nyirenda said while he is happy with the amendment of the law, a lot still needs to be done to promote freedom of expression in Zambia.

“We would like to urge President Hakainde Hichilema to set the tone and continue doing good especially in attending to the draconian and archaic laws,” he said.

Opposition National Democratic Party leader Saboi Imboela has been arrested multiple times under the defamation law.

She told VOA that while she welcomes the repeal of the law, she urges Zambians to exercise caution. She noted that the existence of cybersecurity laws is a concern, as they still restrict freedom of expression.

“I see a situation whereby they are going to use any laws whatsoever to ensure that they get to the political opponents, so the people in Zambia should not even feel comfortable,” said Imboela. “They should be careful now actually more than ever before about what they say on Facebook because the president and his people are now going to use the cyber laws to come after you for whatever it is you are going to say.”

In a statement late Friday, Hichilema also announced the repeal of the death penalty. Zambia’s last execution took place in 1997 but some 250 people were still on death row as of 2021, including nine people newly sentenced.

Mwelwa Muleya, spokesperson for the Zambia Human Rights Commission, which oversees human rights issues in the country, told VOA the repeal of the laws will improve Zambia ‘s human rights record following increased arrests of political opponents.

“The signing of that bill into law is a landmark development towards enhancing fundamental rights to life and freedom of expression and must be commended by everyone,” said Muleya.

Earlier in 2022, Amnesty International’s secretary-general, Agnes Callamard, met with Hichilema in Zambia, urging his government to repeal the defamation law, which had been used to silence critics since its enactment in 1965.

During his election campaign last year, Hichilema promised to uphold human rights and freedom of expression.

In the past year alone, at least 12 critics and opponents of Hichilema were arrested for insulting the president, some multiple times.
…

Three prominent Congolese figures, including Nobel winner Denis Mukwege, on Monday accused President Felix Tshisekedi of pushing the country towards breakup by bringing in outside nations to tackle its security crisis.

In a sign of mounting pressures on Tshisekedi over DR Congo’s deeply troubled east, the trio said sub-Saharan Africa’s largest country faced “fragmentation” and “Balkanization.”

This is “the result of a blatant lack of leadership and governance by an irresponsible and repressive regime,” they said in a communique.

In addition to Mukwege, a gynecologist who co-won the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize for his work in helping women victims of sexual violence, the statement was signed by politician Martin Fayulu, whom Tshisekedi defeated in controversial elections in 2018, and former prime minister Augustin Matata Ponyo.

Scores of armed groups roam eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, many of them a legacy of two regional wars that raged at the end of the last century.

The latest emergency is over a resurgent armed group called the M23, which has seized swathes of territory in North Kivu province since emerging from dormancy last year.

With the DRC’s armed forces floundering, Tshisekedi has called in a seven-nation body, the African Community (EAC), to deploy troops.

The EAC’s members include Rwanda and Uganda, which critics have long accused of stirring up friction in the east.

The DRC in particular accuses Rwanda of abetting the rebels — a claim Rwanda denies, although the assertion is supported in a new report by independent UN experts.

“Instead of providing the country with an effective army, the government has prioritized externalizing national security, (placed in the hands of) foreign forces and, even worse, of countries which are behind the destabilization of this country,” the three said in their statement.

The EAC force is under Kenyan command and Kenyan troops have already been deployed. But key details about its planned size, scope and composition remain unclear.

The M23, under pressure from the international community, took part in ceremonies last Friday to hand the strategic town of Kibumba over to the EAC force.

But the following day, the DRC army said the rebels’ purported withdrawal was a “sham” and accused the group of reinforcing its positions elsewhere.

Tshisekedi, a veteran opposition figure, was elected president in December 2018.

He succeeded Joseph Kabila, who had ruled with an iron fist since 2001, and whose decision to step down marked the country’s first-ever peaceful handover of power.

However, the vote was marked by allegations of rigging, and Fayulu insists he is the legitimate president, claiming more than 60% of the ballot.

Tshisekedi, Fayulu and Matata have already declared their intention to contest the next presidential elections, due on December 20, 2023.
…

A high-level Ethiopian team was on its way Monday to the capital of the rebel-held Tigray region for talks on implementing a peace deal to end over two years of conflict.

Addis Ababa and Tigray’s rebel forces have agreed to create a joint monitoring body to ensure the November peace deal to end the brutal war is respected by all sides.

Among the terms of the agreement was a provision to establish a monitoring and compliance mechanism so that both sides could be confident the truce was being honored, and any violations addressed.

Tens of thousands have died in two years of bloodshed in Tigray.

“The delegation is the first of its stature as a high-level federal government body heading to Mekele in two years,” a statement said, adding that it was led by House of Representatives speaker Tagesse Chafo.

The aim is to supervise the application of the peace deal signed on November 2.

The agreement provides for the disarmament of rebel forces, the re-establishment of federal authority in Tigray and the reopening of access to the region.

“This gesture is an attestation to the peace agreement getting on the right track and progressing,” the statement said.

Estimates of casualties vary widely, with the United States saying that as many as half a million people have died, while Borrell says more than 100,000 people may have been killed.

The war began in November 2020 when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops into Tigray after accusing the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the ruling party in the region, of attacking army bases.

All sides to the conflict have been accused of possible war crimes by U.N. investigators, and the U.S. has warned ethnic cleansing may have occurred in western Tigray.

Aid has started trickling back into Tigray since the peace deal was signed in November, going some way to alleviating dire shortages of food, fuel, cash and medicines.

But the region of six million is still largely without electricity and phone lines, while internet and banking services have only partly been restored.

Pro-government forces — specifically troops from Eritrea to the north, and militias from the Ethiopian region of Amhara — are not mentioned in the peace deal but remain in Tigray and have been accused of abuses.
…

The first time he saw the ocean, Sibusiso Sizatu thought that, with all that water, it must have been a very large lake.

A couple of decades later, the former herd boy is getting ready to sail across that same ocean in an iconic race, helming an all-South African team that hopes to inspire a new generation of black yachtsmen.

“It’s gonna be an eye-opener for the youngsters out there,” Sizatu, 30, wearing a white polo shirt, told AFP standing on a Cape Town dock besides his boat, the Alexforbes ArchAngel.

The ArchAngel is to set sail for Rio de Janeiro on January 2, as part of the 50th edition of the Cape2Rio race.

It will be racing against more than a dozen other boats from five countries to cover the more than 6,000 kilometers of Atlantic waters separating the two cities.

Sizatu reckons his 10-meter sloop has a shot at victory, but being at the starting line is arguably already a success for the skipper and his four-strong crew.

“The first aim is to finish the race,” he said. “Winning it will be some extra bonus.”

Open waters

The crew — four men and one woman — is the first all hailing from the Royal Cape Yacht Club sailing academy to take part in the race.

The academy was set up in 2012 to help youngsters from marginalized communities make it in a sport dominated by rich white people.

As a child Sizatu used to herd his family’s livestock in a rural part of the Eastern Cape province before moving to a Cape Town township at the age of nine.

There he started going to school and was first introduced to sailing by a friend.

He didn’t quite like it. Open waters didn’t inspire much confidence and sea-sickness was a hard sell.

He much preferred football and hoped to make it as a professional.

Sailing seemed a luxury pastime for wealthy retirees, a world away from life in the township, where drugs and violence abounded but money was in short supply.

On the first outing, he swam back to shore.

Things changed when his friend asked him to tag along for a yacht race and their boat won.

Sizatu said he realized sailing was “a sport” and not just “having fun in the water playing with the boat.”

“I saw an opportunity,” he said.

While chances to become a footballer were quite slim, with millions of others chasing the same dream, few young South Africans were trying their luck at sea.

“I was like ‘okay, this is where I can actually make myself something great out of’,” he said.

Smooth sailing

He grew to like the ocean and became very good at steering a boat over it.

“It’s very peaceful and calm when you’re out in the water, you forget about everything else,” he said.

Still, it wasn’t all smooth sailing. He often didn’t have money to travel to events or buy food to eat once he was there.

And until the age of 20, he had no ID documents, which made competing abroad quite tricky.

But Sizatu said he found a supportive community in the Cape Town sailing world that helped him out broadening his horizons along the way.

Now he is hoping to broaden those of the sport.

“I’d like to see more like diversity,” he said. “There are still some people that don’t see us as part of this, the racism is still out there.”

Challenging perceptions was one of the reasons that he has long dreamt of competing in the Cape2Rio with a crew which has shared a similar path to his.

Sizatu said his team stuck together even if many could have been tempted to join other boats looking for crew, while the ArchAngel searched for a sponsor to support the adventure.

Aged 21 to 30 — Sizatu is the oldest — the crew is young, motivated and skilled.

Yet only one of them has completed an ocean crossing before.

“This is gonna be a big stepping stone for all of us,” said Sizatu.
…

Dutch King Willem-Alexander welcomed the government’s apology for the Netherlands’ role in 250 years of slavery in his Christmas address on Sunday, saying it was the “start of a long journey.”    

Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Monday officially apologized for the Dutch state’s involvement in slavery in its former colonies, calling it a “crime against humanity.”    

“Nobody today bears responsibility for the inhumane acts that were inflicted on the lives of men, women and children,” Willem-Alexander said from the palace of Huis ten Bosch in The Hague.    

“But by honestly facing our shared past and recognizing the crime against humanity that is slavery, we lay the ground for a shared future — a future in which we stand against all modern forms of discrimination, exploitation and injustice,” the king said. “The apology offered by the government is the start of a long journey.”   

The Netherlands funded its “Golden Age” of empire and culture in the 16th and 17th centuries by shipping around 600,000 Africans as part of the slave trade, mostly to South America and the Caribbean.   

The Dutch government says several major commemorative events will be held from next year and has announced a $212 million fund for social initiatives. 

Willem-Alexander promised that the topic would retain the royal family’s attention during the commemorative year and that they would remain “involved.”    

But Rutte’s move went against the wishes of some slavery commemoration organizations who wanted the apology to be offered on July 1, 2023.  

Descendants of Dutch slavery will then celebrate 150 years of liberation from slavery in an annual celebration called “Keti Koti” (Breaking the Chains) in Suriname.   

The leaders of the Caribbean island Sint Maarten and Suriname in South America regretted the lack of dialogue from the Netherlands over the apology.   

Some former Dutch colonies have demanded compensation for slavery and criticized the government for not offering concrete actions. 
…

Pape Ale Niang, a prominent Senegalese journalist and government critic who has been on a hunger strike to protest charges against him, has been moved to a hospital, his attorney told AFP on Sunday.

Niang was taken to a hospital in Dakar on Saturday evening after his health deteriorated as a result of his latest hunger strike, said Moussa Sarr, one of his lawyers.

In a case that has sparked international concern, Niang was arrested on November 6 and charged with “divulging information likely to harm national defense.”

He went on a hunger strike on December 2 and was later admitted to a clinic after his health deteriorated. He was given provisional release, but arrested again on December 20, when he started another hunger protest.

Niang, the head of the Dakar Matin online news site, is widely followed in Senegal for his regular columns on current affairs.

The case against him arose after he wrote about rape charges being faced by the country’s main opposition leader, Ousmane Sonko.

He is accused of describing confidential messages about security arrangements for Sonko’s interview with investigators on November 3, according to trade unions.

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

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

Its 2022 Press Freedom Index ranked Senegal 73rd out of 180 countries — a fall of 24 places compared with the 2021 assessment.
…

The death toll from a fuel tanker explosion in a South African city east of Johannesburg has risen to 15, the health minister said Sunday.

“Yesterday [Saturday], the death toll was at 10 people and now we are sitting at 15 as of this morning,” Joe Phaahla told reporters at Tambo Memorial Hospital.

The tanker, transporting liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), was caught beneath a bridge close to the hospital and houses on Saturday morning in Boksburg, east of Johannesburg.

The minister said three hospital employees, two nurses and a driver, died later from severe burn injuries.

Thirty-seven people were injured, including 24 patients and 13 staff members who were in the hospital’s accident and emergency unit at the time of the blast.

They “sustained severe burns and have been diverted to neighboring hospitals”, Phaahla said.

Others were hit by shattered glass, he added, while some were hurt as they were in the parking lot or in front of the hospital.

Videos on social media showed a huge fireball under the bridge, which the tanker appeared to have been too high to go under.

It was carrying 60,000 liters of LPG gas, which is used especially in cooking and gas stoves, and had come from the southeast of the country.

The health minister said the blast severely damaged the hospital’s accident and emergency unit and X-ray departments, adding the roof was also damaged.

 
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Ten people died and around 40 others were injured when a fuel tanker exploded in Boksburg, a South African city east of Johannesburg, emergency services said Saturday. 

The tanker, transporting liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), was caught beneath a bridge close to a hospital and houses on Saturday morning. 

“We received a call at 0750 telling us a gas tanker was stuck under a bridge. Firefighters were called to extinguish the flames. Unfortunately, the tanker exploded,” William Ntladi, spokesperson for the emergency services in the region, told AFP. 

One of those injured was the driver, who was taken to a hospital, he added.  

The injured were in serious condition, Ntladi said. Six firefighters also suffered minor injuries. 

Videos on social media showed a huge fireball under the bridge, which the tanker appeared to have been too tall to fit under. 

It was carrying 60,000 liters of LPG, which is used in cooking and gas stoves and had come from the southeast of the country. 

Witness Jean Marie Booysen described a “huge jolt” shortly after 6:30 a.m. local time.  

“Today is indeed a very sad day in our little suburb,” she said, standing near a forensics team combing the scene. 

“I went upstairs to have my cup of tea and I saw immense flames. I thought a house was on fire,” she said. 

She said she later learned young neighbors had died from “here across the road, 16, the girl, and 25, the boy, who came and did my lawn every weekend for me.” 

Another witness named William, who did not give his surname, described a series of explosions and said people nearby had felt the blast. 

“I think I was 50 meters away from the scene and when the third one exploded, I was about 400 meters away,” he said. “We did burn behind our backs.” 

 
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Burkina Faso’s military government on Friday expelled the country’s top U.N. official without providing any specific explanation, but a senior Burkinabe diplomat says it was because she sought to “discredit the country” by preparing the evacuation of U.N. families over concerns about deteriorating security.

In a statement issued Friday, Burkina Faso’s Foreign Affairs ministry declared Barbara Manzi, the United Nations’ resident and humanitarian coordinator, “persona non grata,” ordering her to leave the country immediately.

Burkina Faso, one of the world’s poorest countries, has been wracked by violence linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group that has killed thousands and displaced nearly 2 million people — creating a growing humanitarian crisis. Lack of faith in the government’s ability to stem the violence has led to two military coups this year.

According to a senior Burkinabe diplomat contacted by VOA’s Bambara Service, government leaders believe Manzi moved to begin withdrawing family members of U.N. workers in order to make the military government look bad.

The senior diplomat confirmed that top Burkinabe officials agree with comments broadcast Friday by Foreign Minister Olivia Rouamba, who said Manzi’s “unilateral” decision to begin evacuating families of U.N. workers is “discrediting the country and discouraging potential investors and even tarnishing the image of the country.”

In Friday’s broadcast, Rouamba says she has “a note from [Manzi] which makes the case of the evacuation of the families of the diplomats of the United Nations system from Ouagadougou for security reasons.

“The decision was taken unilaterally,” said Rouamba. “Besides these facts, [Manzi] predicted the chaos in Burkina in the coming months. We don’t know on what basis she can do that. She openly told us that she is in contact with terrorist leaders in Burkina, and the evidence is overwhelming because she goes to [the North] and she comes back as she wants while even our defense and security forces cannot make this kind of trip.

“In addition to that, she prohibited representatives of the 33 agencies [of the United Nations] from working with us.”

The United Nations did not immediately comment on the decision.

Manzi, who was appointed U.N. Resident Coordinator in August last year, often traveled to hard hit parts of the country to try to raise awareness about the deteriorating humanitarian crisis, according to Sam Mednick of The Associated Press. The Italy native has extensive experience with the U.N., working as the head of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Ukraine, Iraq, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. Before Burkina Faso, she was the resident coordinator in Djibouti.

Manzi’s expulsion comes amid a government crackdown on the international community. Last week, two French citizens were expelled from the country over accusations of espionage, and earlier this month, the government suspended French broadcaster Radio France Internationale for having relayed an “intimidation message” attributed to a “terrorist,” according to a statement from the junta.

Violence in the West African nation, which has rumbled on for about seven years, has been focused in the north and east, crippling local economies, causing mass hunger, and restricting access for aid organizations.

The U.N. provides some essential services, including supplying food for thousands of malnourished children. Some aid organizations say the decision to expel Manzi is a worrying sign and will make it harder for humanitarian groups to operate.

This is story originated in VOA’s Bambara Service. Some information is from Reuters and The Associated Press.
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Somali officials are denying that a member of the presidential office made calls to several media outlets to issue directives.

VOA this week spoke with members of at least four news outlets who said they had received calls from a person who identified himself as Abdikadir Hussein Wehliye.

The caller, who also said he was from Villa Somalia, the presidential office,  ordered them to submit news content to authorities before it was aired.

The Somali Journalists Syndicate said at that time that at least seven media houses had received the same call.

Among those affected was Risaala Media Corporation in the capital, Mogadishu.

Managing director Mohamed Abdiwahab told VOA that a person identifying himself as being from the presidential office had called the media outlet on December 17 and had said the newsroom needed to submit content in writing before it was aired.

Deputy Information Minister Abdirahman Yusuf Adala told VOA earlier this week via a messaging app that he was not aware of such a directive.

Order ‘from above’

But a representative of the Somali Journalists Syndicate said that a spokesperson from the presidential office, who asked not to be identified, had confirmed that a directive was made and that the “order came from above.”

Abdikadir Dige of the Presidential Communications Office in an email to VOA denied any such directive was issued from his office or elsewhere in the government.

The Somali government denied to VOA’s Somali Service that anyone named Abdikadir Hussein Wehliye had worked in the presidential office.

VOA requested a statement from the Information Ministry early Friday and did not receive a response before publishing.

Journalists who spoke with VOA earlier this week believed the order did come from the government, which had issued two other directives to media in recent months on how they should cover the militant group al-Shabab.

The government this year has warned off journalists from publishing al-Shabab content and said they should refer to the militant group only as Khawarij, which loosely translates as “those who deviate from the Islamic faith.”

The Somali government is engaged in a military campaign against al-Shabab. But journalists say the directives on covering the group will limit press freedom and could put them at risk of retaliation from the militant group.

Censorship bid suspected

Because of those orders, journalists who spoke with VOA this week said they believed this was a new order with an aim to censor the media.

Abdiwahab of Risaala said he thought the order infringed on the country’s constitution and media law, both of which provide guarantees for media freedom.

He and Somali Journalist Syndicate member Mohamed Bulbul thought the order was a further attempt to curtail their independence.

Somalia is already a difficult environment for reporters, media watchdogs say. As well as attacks and threats, journalists risk arrest.

The Associated Press on Friday reported that police in central Hirshabelle state had detained four media workers over coverage of al-Shabab attacks in rural areas. 

The chief editor of Radio Hiiraanweyn, Mustaf Ali Adow, and three others were detained Thursday and the station was taken off the air, AP reported.
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Five Boko Haram jihadist fighters have been killed and two Niger soldiers wounded in clashes in southeast Niger near the Nigerian border, local authorities said Friday.

The military clashed with the jihadist fighters in the towns of Bague and Tchoungoua in the Diffa region on Thursday, the sources said.

“We have two with minor injuries on our side, and on the enemy side, five Boko Haram elements were killed,” said Smain Younous, appointed last month as governor of Diffa.

The Niger soldiers seized four AK-47 rifles from their assailants.

“The defense and security forces control every corner” of the Diffa region, Younous said.

Thursday’s violence came after weeks of calm in the Diffa region, which this year has also been plagued by severe flooding from the Yobe River.

The river forms a natural border with Nigeria, where it rises before flowing into Lake Chad, a vast area full of islets and swamps that serve as a refuge for jihadist groups.

In addition to the Boko Haram threat, Niger also faces frequent attacks by Sahelian jihadist groups, including Islamic State in the Greater Sahara in the west.

The Diffa region is home to 300,000 Nigerian refugees and internally displaced people driven out by Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province abuses, according to the U.N.

Niger, the world’s poorest country by the benchmark of the U.N.’s Human Development Index, has been hit hard by the insurgency, which began in northern Mali in 2012.
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Spanish prosecutors have dropped their investigation into the deaths of more than 20 migrants last June at the border between Morocco and the Spanish enclave city of Melilla, saying in a statement Friday they found no evidence of criminal misconduct by Spanish security forces.

Prosecutors said they spent six months investigating what happened when hundreds of migrants — some estimates say around 2,000 — stormed the Melilla border fence in northwest Africa from the Moroccan side in an attempt to reach European soil. At least 23 migrants were officially reported dead, though human rights groups say the number was higher.

“It cannot be concluded that the conduct of the (Spanish) security officers involved increased the threat to the life and well-being of the immigrants, so no charge of reckless homicide can be brought,” said the Spanish prosecutors.

The migrants, according to the prosecutors’ statement, were “hostile and violent.”

Hundreds of men, some wielding sticks, climbed over the fence from Moroccan territory and were corralled into a border crossing area. When they managed to break through the gate to the Spanish side, a stampede apparently led to the crushing of many people.

Moroccan police launched tear gas and beat men with batons, even when some were prone on the ground. Spanish guards surrounded a group that managed to get through before apparently sending them back.

The clash ended with African men, clearly injured or even dead, piled on top of one another while Moroccan police in riot gear looked on.

The Spanish prosecutors said that “at no point did (Spanish) security officers have reason to believe that there were people at risk who required help.”

Spanish security officers who turned 470 of the immigrants back to Morocco did so in accordance with their duty and in conformity with Spain’s immigration law, the statement said.

So-called “pushbacks” — the forcible return of people across an international border without an assessment of their rights to apply for asylum or other protection, violating both international and EU law — are a contentious issue in Europe.

The prosecutors did fault some security officers who threw rocks at the immigrants, recommending disciplinary procedures against them.

Amnesty International said earlier this month that the handling of the investigation by Spain and Morocco, which has remained mostly silent on the matter, “smacks of a cover-up and racism.”
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Rights groups in Cameroon have accused the military of torching scores of homes this week of suspected separatist supporters, leaving hundreds of people homeless this holiday season. The military has denied burning any civilian houses.

Cameroon civil society groups say hundreds of people rendered homeless by this week’s attacks are seeking refuge in churches.

Some of the homeless are living with relatives and well-wishers within their community according to the Roman Catholic Church in Cameroon’s restive Northwest region.

Rights groups, civilians and members of the church have been sharing videos of at least 12 houses burned on Thursday in Yer, a village in Jakiri district.

In the videos, shared on social media platforms including Facebook and WhatsApp, a man identifying himself as a community leader accuses Cameroon’s government troops of torching the houses.

“We are at the road linking Jakiri to Kumbo, precisely at Yer where these buildings were razed by the military. The military has burnt down buildings due to the incident that led to the loss of military and they resorted to burning down these buildings to ashes. That is a sign of weakness,” he said.

Cameroon military confirm that the video was taken after government troops attacked a separatist camp in Yer on Thursday to free civilians who were held hostage by separatist fighters.

At least four fighters were killed but no government troops were wounded according to the military. Separatists say at least seven government troops were killed.

The government says frustrated fighters escaped from their camp at Yer and set fire to the houses of people who the separatists accuse of collaborating with government troops.

Tar Emmanuel Tatah is a member of the Cameroon Civil Society Group. He says more than 40 houses have been torched this week in Yer, Kimah and Meluv, all villages in the Northwest region.

Tar says government troops organized reprisal attacks on civilians who the military accused of collaborating with separatists.

“It is really, really terrible that things have gone this way again with the burning of houses when people thought that everything was becoming normal,” Tar said. “It is going to scare people from coming back home. Those who had returned to the Northwest and Southwest regions, will again find themselves internally displaced. Government should use the right approach to solve this problem.”

Rights groups say some of the troops also looted homes before torching them.

Tar said the right approach would be for government troops to stop searching homes in towns and villages suspected to host separatist fighters. He said government troops should withdraw and allow only police officers to maintain law and order in western towns and villages where peace and civilians are returning.

Armed groups have been fighting to break off the largely English-speaking Northwest and Southwest Regions from the rest of Cameroon and its French-speaking majority since 2017.

Last week, the government said several thousand of the 750,000 people displaced by the separatist conflict had returned home for the first time since hostilities began in 2017.

The military said no major separatist attack had been reported within the past six weeks.
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Kenya’s former president, Uhuru Kenyatta, will travel to Ethiopia’s Tigray region to oversee monitoring of last month’s peace deal. Ethiopian federal and Tigray region officials agreed late Thursday at talks in Nairobi to grant the African Union full access to the region to oversee an end to the two-year conflict.

Ethiopian military leadership and representatives of the rebel Tigray People’s Liberation Front have agreed to establish a joint monitoring team to oversee the peace agreement signed in November.

The agreement, signed in South Africa, ended two years of fighting between the federal government and TPLF that killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions.

Former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta, who is also part of the mediating team, said Thursday the warring factions have agreed to have a body monitor the peace deal.

“They have all concurred and agreed to give the monitoring and verification team of the African Union full access, full 360-degree viewpoint to ensure all the elements of the agreements are actually going to be implemented,” Kenyatta said.

The mediators, who met peace negotiators in Nairobi this week, expressed confidence in normalcy returning to the Tigray region and peace in Ethiopia.

Professor Chacha Nyaigoti Chacha, an expert in diplomacy and international relations, said the African Union must play its role in solving conflicts in the continent.

“The problem with the African Union is that sometimes the resolutions and determination of this nature have not been followed with tangible results in the field,” Chacha said. “But we are hoping this time round the warring parties will be able to appreciate the fact that they need very urgently to have a solution to the problems.”

The war between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray rebel group broke out in November 2020 and spread to the Amhara and Afar regions.

The peace deal has brought some relief to the suffering population in the north of the country.

Ethiopian leaders have been meeting to discuss ways of carrying out the disarmament of rebels in Tigray and neighboring regions and negotiate the withdrawal of Eritrean forces who assisted the Ethiopian army.

Kenyatta said his team and African Union representatives will visit Tigray’s capital to check on the progress of the peace agreement.

“They have been negotiating for the last two days but we agreed that the true statement that they need to make would be the statement they make when we are in Mekelle in the next few days observing and verifying the actions because documents are one thing, what we want now is the deliverables and this is why we are heading to Mekele,” Kenyatta said.

There was no immediate word on when Kenyatta will go to Tigray.

Chacha said the Kenyatta team’s visit will help solve the outstanding issues in the peace deal.

“The actions of visiting will give them firsthand information and knowledge about the situation on the ground and when the situation on the ground is clearly understood, then the parties concerned, including the mediators, can understand and appreciate the way they will approach the resolution in order for them to create an atmosphere that can bring about peace,” Chacha said.

Some of the peace deal’s provisions have already been implemented, including humanitarian aid and the restoration of banking and telecommunications services.
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Rwanda’s army “engaged in military operations” against DR Congo’s military in the country’s troubled east, according to a report by a group of independent United Nations experts seen by Agence France-Presse on Thursday.

The experts said there was “substantial evidence” that the Rwandan army directly intervened in Congo’s fight against M23 rebels, and that it had supported the group with weapons, ammunition and uniforms.

A government spokesperson in Kigali denied Rwanda supported the rebels and declined to comment on specific allegations until the findings were formally published.

The Democratic Republic of Congo has repeatedly accused Rwanda of backing the M23.

The militia has captured swaths of territory in the DRC’s restive east since it emerged from dormancy late last year.

Current front lines lie 20 kilometers from Goma, a commercial hub of more than 1 million people.

Rwanda has repeatedly denied it supports the rebels, but the United States and France, among other Western countries, have agreed with the DRC’s assessment.

According to the U.N. experts’ report, Rwanda’s military intervened to reinforce the M23 as well as to combat the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) — a descendant of Rwandan Hutu extremist groups that carried out the 1994 Tutsi genocide in Rwanda.

Rwanda provided troop reinforcements to the M23 “for specific operations, in particular when these were aimed at seizing strategic towns and areas,” the report added.

Rwandan troops also led joint attacks with M23 fighters against Congolese positions in May, according to the report.

The 236-page document for the U.N. Security Council is expected to be published in the coming days.

Diplomatic crisis

Alain Mukuralinda, Rwanda’s deputy government spokesman, said Kigali had not seen the substance of the report or the evidence it was based upon.

“Today, as long as we have not seen the material evidence, as long as we have not examined this so-called evidence, it is difficult to take a position,” he told AFP.

But he added: “We do not support the M23, we do not need it.”

A Tutsi-led militia, the M23 first came to international prominence when it captured Goma in 2012, before being driven out and going to ground the following year.

But it re-emerged in late 2021 after the rebels claimed the DRC had ignored a promise to integrate them into the army and has since made significant advances.

A watershed moment came in June when M23 fighters captured the strategic town of Bunagana on the Ugandan border.

A fresh offensive in late October saw the M23 capture swaths of territory in North Kivu, displacing hundreds of thousands of people.

The rebels’ battlefield successes have sent relations between the DRC and neighboring Rwanda into a nosedive.

Several diplomatic initiatives have been launched in a bid to ease tensions, with the seven-nation East African Community (EAC) also deciding to deploy a military force to eastern DRC.

Talks between the DRC and Rwanda in the Angolan capital Luanda led to a truce agreement on November 23.

Under the deal, the M23 was to lay down arms and pull back from occupied territories.

But clashes with M23 continued.

Kinshasa subsequently accused the M23 of massacring civilians in the village of Kishishe.

A preliminary U.N. probe found that the M23 killed at least 131 civilians in the area.

On Wednesday, Rwanda said allegations of a massacre were a “fabrication.” It said the incident involved clashes between the M23 and Kinshasa-allied militias.

Militia shift

Armed groups, of which there are more than 120 in eastern DRC, have taken the fight to the M23 in recent weeks.

According to the U.N. experts’ report, the M23’s resurgence caused local militias to “shift alliances,” creating “new dynamics” with the Congolese military.

The experts cited evidence that Congolese troops had fought alongside armed groups in their struggle against the M23.

The U.N. experts recommended that the DRC “take all measures” to prevent cooperation between the Congolese military and armed groups.

They likewise urged Congo’s neighboring states to “prevent the provision of support” to armed groups within the vast nation of 90 million people.

Asked about the report, the U.S. State Department voiced concern and called on all nations to respect “territorial integrity.”

“Entry of foreign forces into the DRC must be done transparently with the consent of, and in coordination with, the DRC, and must be pre-notified to the Security Council in line with existing U.N. sanctions resolutions for the DRC,” a State Department spokesperson said.

The United States has repeatedly said that allegations of Rwandan support to the M23 rebels were credible.
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Despite abolishing a tenancy system last year that was blamed for fueling child labor, Malawi has 3,000 children working in its tobacco industry, according to a United Nations report.

On Wednesday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights released a statement expressing concern about the findings of the report.

Siobhán Mullally, the U.N.’s special rapporteur on trafficking in persons and an expert who contributed to the report, told VOA Thursday that the U.N.’s concerns come after the U.N. communicated with Malawi government and tobacco companies operating in Malawi.

“Over two months ago, we sent formal communications to the companies and to the government of Malawi,” said Mullally. “Those published are their responses. So we will continue working with them to raise these concerns.”

Last year, Malawi enacted laws against the tenancy system, an often exploitative agrarian labor practice also known as sharecropping, which was long blamed for fueling child labor in the tobacco industry.

The U.N. expert report says human rights abuses reported within the sector affected more than 3,000 children and 7,000 adults.

It also says in the aftermath of COVID-19, more than 400,000 children were reported not to have returned to school.

“This is really why we want to see much more urgent action to monitor the situation and prevent such occurrences,” said Mullally. “And risks of exploitation need to be better addressed. The tobacco companies and government need to take greater efforts to prevent the recruitment and exploitation of children on tobacco farms to ensure their protection.”

Allegations

Tobacco is Malawi’s dominant cash crop, accounting for about 13 percent of its gross domestic product and 60 percent of the country’s exchange earnings.

However, in 2019, the U.S. government suspended Malawi tobacco imports after allegations of child labor.

This forced Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera to assent to legislation in 2021 amending the Employment Act, establishing provisions that abolish the tenancy system.

The Malawi government is currently running programs aimed to end child labor, including the National Social Cash Transfer Program, which supports low-income families in high-risk districts so children can stay in school.

However, the U.N. has reported that efforts undertaken by Malawi and some tobacco companies, including by supporting school feeding programs and scholarships, are proving insufficient to address the problem.

“The government can ensure that there is access for labor inspectors for civil society and ensure that all steps have been taken by those companies that have permission to operate,” said Mullally. “If it is [a] trafficking issue, it also requires cooperation with law enforcements.”

Big names in tobacco

The U.N. researchers said they already discussed the matter with some of the companies involved in the tobacco industry in Malawi, including British American Tobacco, Imperial, Philip Morris International, and Japan Tobacco Group.

Simon Evans, the group media relations manager for Imperial Brands PLC tobacco company, told VOA via email Thursday that the company takes the matters raised in U.N. report seriously and that the company does not condone exploitative practices in its supply chains, as outlined in the Code of Conduct on its corporate website.

As a long-standing member of the Eliminating Child Labor in Tobacco Growing Foundation, Evans said the company is working to prevent exploitation through multi-stakeholder initiatives.

These include the industry-wide Sustainable Tobacco Program in which all tobacco source suppliers are expected to participate to address child labor.

Malawi’s Minister of Labor Vera Kamtukule told VOA that the Malawi government is running a program that enrolls children withdrawn from child labor into schools as well as vocational training institutions.

“The total number that was withdrawn this year is 528, compared to 173 last year,” said Kamtukule. “The total number that have put into vocation is 196, compared to three last year. Those they have sent back to school this year alone, is 65 compared to 54 last year.”

The Malawi government, said Kamtukule, is working to eliminate child labor by 2025.

“What I can tell you is that the fight against child labor is really ongoing,” said Kamtukule. “It is not something that is ad hoc.”
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