The African Union and the Economic Community of West African States have condemned an alleged coup attempt in Gambia. The Gambian government says it arrested four troops planning to overthrow President Adama Barrow. Political analysts say a lack of security reforms is to blame for this latest coup attempt in the small West African nation.

The Gambian government said in a statement on Wednesday based on intelligence reports that some soldiers in the army were plotting to overthrow the democratically elected government.

Gambian political analyst Sait Matty Jaw says people are worried about their economic situation but do not support military involvement in the country’s political affairs.

“There are so many other issues people are worried about, but we also know that the majority of Gambians are anti-coup based on survey data. This has been part of the conversation,” Jaw said. “It was shocking to hear it was being led by a land corporal. So today, there are people questioning whether this was even a plot.”

Four soldiers have been arrested and the army is in pursuit of three alleged accomplices.

President Barrow was reelected in December 2021, securing a second five-year term.

Barrow first came to power in 2016 after defeating the country’s authoritarian president Yahya Jammeh, who ruled the country for 22 years.

Coup attempts are common in the West African nation. Jammeh himself took power in a coup in 1994 and averted several attempts to overthrow him.

In 2017 eight soldiers who had a link to the former president tried to overthrow Barrow.

Jaw says lack of security reforms is to blame for Wednesday’s coup attempt.

“People are raising questions in terms of the speed of this reform and some of these things are part of what is increasing the insecurity and the need to speed this process,” Jaw said. “The other issue raises questions about the broader transitional justice process because a lot of things need to be done.”

West Africa has seen a rash of coups and coup attempts over the past two years. New governments seized power in Guinea, Mali and Burkina Faso, while Guinea-Bissau averted a coup attempt in February this year.

Ikemesit Effiong is a geopolitical analyst based in Nigeria. He says corruption, economic mismanagement and misuse of power on the continent are to blame for some countries’ military attempts or takeovers.

“If you look at the age profile of a lot of coup plotters in places like Mali, Guinea Bissau, in Burkina Faso right across the region, they are relatively young people and for many of them, democracy has not delivered, they are channeling this popular frustration with a democratic ruling in the region into violence military takeovers,” Effiong said.

Jaw says the government of Gambia needs to reform the country’s political, economic and security structure to stop the military from taking power.

“One way of ensuring that things like this do not happen is to ensure that there are adequate reforms that will address the gaps, the lacuna, but also for the government to be more transparent with the population ensuring that the governance challenges in this country are addressed,” Jaw said.

The Economic Community of West Africa States condemned the attempted military takeover of the government and praised the Gambian army for thwarting it.
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Uganda on Thursday received two more potential vaccines for a trial against the Sudan strain of the deadly Ebola virus. Uganda has recorded 142 confirmed cases and 55 deaths since the September outbreak but has had no new cases since late November. While having no active cases is welcomed, it also means the trial will have to be revamped to test the vaccines’ effectiveness.

The World Health Organization handed Ugandan officials more than 4,000 doses of Ebola trial vaccines on Thursday — 2,000 of the Indian Serum Institute’s Oxford vaccine and just over 2,000 from U.S. manufacturer Merck.

It brings the total number of Ebola vaccine doses available in Uganda to more than 5,000 after an initial 1,000 from the U.S.’s Sabin Vaccine Institute were received last week.

The vaccines were sent for use in a trial against an outbreak of the Sudan strain of the virus that since September killed 55 people.  

But Uganda has not recorded any new Ebola infections since November 27.

While that success in halting the outbreak has been welcomed, Uganda’s Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng said it also means plans will have to be changed to test the vaccines on people who had contact with those infected.

“There are no more cases and no more contacts,” she said. “So, the scientists are evaluating alternative research designs to assess the usefulness of these vaccines in protecting people against Ebola infection.”

The principal investigator of the Ebola vaccine trial, Dr. Bruce Kirenga, said his team is engaging communities but will have to wait for a global expert meeting on January 12 to finalize and approve the trial revamp.

“The trial that we have is designed to answer three questions, abbreviated as I-S-E. Immunogenicity, Efficacy, and Safety,” he said. “These vaccines, can they induce immunity in people if they are administered? Are they safe? Can that immunity prevent disease?”

Yonas Tegegn Woldemariam, the WHO country representative for Uganda, said the country’s success in stemming the outbreak means it has gained the capacity, knowledge, and skills to carry out an Ebola Sudan strain vaccine trial.  

He said the trial is still worth doing, even if Uganda doesn’t register another Ebola infection.  

“Uganda would contribute from this trial, another tool for us to manage Ebola Sudan if it ever happens in a major population,” he said.

Since Uganda announced the Ebola outbreak 100 days ago, aside from confirmed cases and deaths, the country recorded 87 discharges.

Despite having no new cases since November, Uganda will have to wait until January 10 to declare the country Ebola-free.   

There is currently no effective vaccine available for the Sudan strain of Ebola.

The WHO says Uganda’s last Ebola outbreak in 2019 was triggered by the more common Zaire strain.  

Uganda last reported an outbreak of the relatively rare Sudan strain in 2012.
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Somalia’s military says it has liberated the last town held by al-Shabab militants in the Middle Shabelle region, killing more than 150 fighters, including five foreigners.

Speaking to journalists in Mogadishu Thursday, Somalia’s Defense Ministry Spokesman Abdullahi Ali Anod said the army, backed by local clan militia, liberated the strategic town of Runirgod.

The town was the last stronghold of the al-Qaida-affiliated, al-Shabab Islamist militants in Somalia’s Middle Shabelle region.

Anod said the army entered villages around the town early Thursday morning and engaged militants in fierce firefights.

He says today we want talk about the latest victories of the Somali national army and units of the armed, local revolutionary forces. Anod says around six AM the forces led by the national army took control of Runirgod in Middle Shabelle region.

The spokesman said five foreign fighters were among militants killed in the fighting but gave no details on country of origin.

He did not provide any casualty figures on the Somali military’s side.

Al-Shabab’s social media did not immediately publish a response to the military’s announcement.

But the militants Telegram channel said they had carried out a bomb attack on security personnel in the same region, killing four troops.

Somalia’s military did not response to the alleged bombing or casualties.

Runirgod is 240 kilometers north of Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu.

It is the second major town that the army says it has liberated from the Islamist militant group in less than a month.

Somalia’s national army, backed by local militias, have gone on the offensive against the group since President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud declared an “all-out war” against the group after his May elect

The insurgents have also carried out deadly attacks in the Horn of Africa nation’s capital.

The group in late November attacked the Villa Rays hotel in Mogadishu, killing eight people and losing five of their own.

The Villa Rays hotel was frequented by Somali government and security officials and located near the presidential palace.

The militant group also stormed the Hayat hotel in central Mogadishu in August.

Security forces ended the siege after nearly 30 hours of fighting that left 21 people dead and more than 100 wounded.
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In its latest directive to media, the Somali government has requested that local news outlets submit content for approval before it airs.

Several media houses in Mogadishu told VOA this week that the President’s Communications Office had ordered them to submit news content to authorities before it airs.

Among those affected was Risaala Media Corporation in the capital, Mogadishu. Its managing director, Mohamed Abdiwahab, said, “The objective was censorship, because directing [the media] to send the items is just singling out the items that they don’t like. Therefore, its implementation is risky to Somali media and cannot be implemented.”

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

But Abdiwahab said an official called his company with the directive last Saturday. He said he thought the order infringed on the country’s constitution and media law, both of which provide guarantees for media freedom.

The directive was the latest government order directed at media. In recent months, journalists were warned off from publishing al-Shabab content and to 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.

Somali Journalists Syndicate spokesperson Mohamed Bulbul said he saw the order as another move to curtail independence.

“It will have an impact on journalists and media, and if it is not rejected, then there will be no media or journalists reporting the truth,” he said. “We are not ready to work with the government in the implementation of this directive, but we are ready to work with the government in ways to improve freedom of expression.”

The Somali Journalists Syndicate, an umbrella organization for media that protested the directives, has come under pressure from authorities. Its secretary-general, Abdalle Ahmed Mumin, is currently out on bail after two arrests in October and November.

Journalists say submitting content will interfere with editorial independence and the public’s right to know. Abdirahman Adani, editor of Garowe Online, said the new directive “paves the way for the government to silence the independent media, which is now the only trusted source of news for the public.”

Adani said the directive would force media to surrender their watchdog role.

“This directive bars the media from disseminating the truth, and it also bars the media from airing unbiased news,” he said. “It also blocks the media from reporting any items which are against the will of the government.”

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

In the latest case, British-based freelancer Jamal Osman, who has won awards for his coverage of al-Shabab, was arrested in Mogadishu last Saturday and was deported to the United Kingdom. The reason for his deportation was not made public.
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Cameroon has deployed troops to its port city of Douala, the country’s economic hub, to try to stem a wave of gang violence.

The insecurity has also disrupted Cameroon’s exports to its landlocked neighbors, the Central African Republic and Chad.

Cameroon’s President Paul Biya ordered the troops to Douala during two days of emergency security meetings that ended Wednesday.  

Cameroon authorities have not given the number of troops deployed, but Douala residents told VOA they saw 13 military trucks on Tuesday night entering the port city.  

Authorities say the troops were needed as police have been fighting daily conflicts with armed gangs in Doula since the beginning of the month. 

Police say the clashes saw hundreds of youths arrested and forced some shops to close their doors during the normally bustling holiday season.  

Several businesses remained closed Wednesday in Mboppi, a popular neighborhood in Douala.

Dress seller Evans Eboua, 37, said he wants the government to assure his safety before reopening his shop.

He said recent gang attacks in Douala are as dangerous as similar gang attacks he witnessed in 2017.  Eboua said the gangs he saw in Mboppi were divided into two groups. He said the first group carried guns and machetes, chased civilians, and destroyed their shops and vehicles, while the second group looted.  

Some locals blamed the spike in violence on unemployed youths and migrants from the Central African Republic and Nigeria.  

Samuel Frank Mvondo, who imports motorcycles from China, said crime wave spikes in Douala happen because Nigerian economic migrants and people who fled political tensions in the CAR to earn a living in Cameroon’s coastal city and economic hub are unable to find jobs. Mvondo said the foreigners join unemployed university graduates who have not found government jobs and rely on motorcycle taxis to terrorize Douala residents.  

Cameroon authorities did not say how many of those detained were foreigners. They said more than 15,000 Nigerians live in Douala, most of them selling motorcycle and vehicle spare parts. 

The Association of Nigerian Businesspersons in Douala via state CRTV called on its members to be law abiding.

The Douala City Council said less than 5% of at least 30,000 motorcyclists in Douala are licensed to transport passengers.

Samuel Dieudonne Ivaha Diboua, the governor of the Littoral region, where Douala is located, issued an overnight curfew on motorcycles until further notice, saying most of the gang members use motorcycle taxis to attack at night. He said some of those arrested were cooperating with authorities.  

Diboua said motorcyclists invited to the emergency security meeting acknowledged that most of their colleagues are either gang members or facilitate criminal activity by transporting gang members to and from crime sites. He said the government has ordered the deployment of troops to all strategic areas to make sure that business activity is smooth and that there is peace in Douala.

Cameroon police said the gangs have grounded many trucks in Douala destined for neighboring countries.

The landlocked Central African Republic, to the east of Cameroon, depends on Douala’s seaport for about 95% of its supplies. 

Landlocked Chad on the northern border relies on Cameroon for 80% of its imports.

Authorities said the violence started three weeks ago when several hundred members of a gang called “Les Microbes” stormed Douala’s largest hospital, where a member was being treated for gunshot wounds. 

The gang destroyed equipment and beat up hospital workers.

Authorities have called on civilians to cooperate with the military by reporting suspected gang members hiding in the community.
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Officials from Ethiopia’s federal government and the Tigray region are meeting in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, to discuss the next steps for a peace deal to end two years of war.

Senior Ethiopian government officials and Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) representatives are meeting in Kenya to discuss implementation of the November peace agreement signed in South Africa.

The Wednesday meeting comes as the rebel TPLF said some parts of the Tigray region are finding it difficult to access much-needed humanitarian assistance. The rebels blame the problems on the presence of Eritrean troops, who entered Tigray during the war, to support the Ethiopian government.

Pro-Tigray media reports say a regional official, Atinkut Mezgebo, called on the Ethiopian government to address what he called Eritrean forces’ attacks on civilians and the looting of the aid intended for the suffering masses.

Experts warn the alleged continued clashes and blockage of humanitarian supplies could complicate the peace agreement.

Early this month, Tigray rebel group commander Tadesse Warede said two-thirds of his fighters have left the battlefield as part of the agreement.

The peace deal has allowed the passage of humanitarian aid to Tigray and the restoration of telecommunication and banking systems after more than a year-and-a-half.

The Ethiopian government says more than eight million people in the Afar, Amhara and Tigray regions have received humanitarian supplies since the signing of the peace deal.

The war in Tigray broke out between Ethiopian government forces and the rebel group in November 2020, displacing millions and killing hundreds of thousands of people.

Leaders of the warring factions have been meeting on a regular basis to push for the implementation of the peace agreement signed last month.

The Nairobi meeting is expected to end later this week.
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Gambian authorities have foiled a military coup attempt and arrested four soldiers plotting to overthrow President Adama Barrow’s administration, the government said on Wednesday. 

The Gambian Armed Forces High Command arrested four soldiers linked to the alleged coup after a military operation on Tuesday, it said in a statement. 

Coup attempts are not uncommon in the Gambia, a tiny West African country of 2.5 million almost entirely surrounded by Senegal, which is still reeling from over two decades under former president Yahya Jammeh marked by authoritarianism and alleged abuses. 

Jammeh himself seized power in a coup in 1994 and foiled several attempts to overthrow him before he lost an election in late 2016 to Barrow. 

His ouster was widely viewed as a boost for democracy, although there has been growing frustration with Barrow’s government for its failure to address poverty and rising living costs. 

“Based on intelligence reports … some soldiers of the Gambian army were plotting to overthrow the democratically elected government,” the government said on Wednesday. 

The army is in pursuit of three other alleged accomplices and investigations are ongoing, it added. 

There were no details on whether the coup attempt was linked to the previous regime. 

Eight ex-soldiers led by one of Jammeh’s former military aides plotted to overthrow Barrow the year after he came to power. They were sentenced to jail in 2019 on treason and conspiracy charges they denied. 

 
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Burkina Faso’s mines minister on Tuesday denied an allegation by the president of Ghana that Burkina Faso had paid Russian mercenaries by giving them the rights to a mine.

Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo caused a controversy by stating last week that Burkina Faso had hired mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner group to help it fight Islamist militants.

“I believe a mine in southern Burkina has been allocated to them as a form of payment for their services,” Akufo-Addo said, speaking to reporters alongside U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Burkina Faso’s government has not formally confirmed nor denied the allegation that it has made an agreement with Wagner, but it summoned the Ghanaian ambassador for a meeting on Friday to explain the president’s remarks.

“We have not granted any permit to a Russian company in southern Burkina,” said mines minister Simon Pierre Boussim, speaking to reporters after a meeting with civil society groups that were concerned about the allegations.

“We made a list of all the exploitation or research permits for large industrial mines in the south, so they can see clearly that there is no hidden site,” he said.

The Burkinabe government did recently award a new exploration permit to Russian firm Nordgold for a gold mine in Yimiougou, in the center-north region, Boussim said, but the company has been active in Burkina Faso for over a decade.

Burkina Faso’s neighbor, Mali, hired Wagner last year to help it fight insurgents. The prospect of the group expanding its presence in Africa has troubled Western powers such as France and the United States, who say it exploits mineral resources and commits human rights abuses in countries where it operates.
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U.N. experts say the ice cap on Africa’s biggest peak, Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro, is among the famous glaciers predicted to melt by 2050 because of climate change. While scientists are looking into whether they can halt the melting, those who depend on the mountain for tourism worry about the future. Charles Kombe reports from Kilimanjaro, Tanzania.
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U.N. agencies say that large-scale, sustained humanitarian assistance can prevent Somalia’s looming famine from turning into a full-blown disaster in the coming months.

Thanks to generous international support this year, famine in Somalia has been delayed. But the threat of mass starvation in 2023 remains due to a fifth year of consecutive drought, skyrocketing food prices, and intensifying conflict.

A recent U.N. food assessment found the number of people facing acute food insecurity could rise to 8.3 million by April and the number of Somalis facing catastrophic food insecurity could increase to more than 700,000 by June. It warned some areas will face outright famine if humanitarian assistance is not scaled up and sustained.

Etienne Peterschmitt is the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization representative in Somalia. Speaking from the capital Mogadishu, he says the specter of Somalia’s 2011 famine continues to haunt aid agencies and what happened then must not be repeated now. 

“Just to recall that in 2011, we have mentioned that in several reports, and we keep highlighting that fact is that by the time famine was declared, half of the people who actually died of famine had already died,” Peterschmitt said.

More than a quarter million people died of famine that year, half of them children under age five.

FAO reports rural communities are currently among those at greatest risk and in greatest need. The unprecedented drought, it notes, has forced entire pastoral, agropastoral, and farming communities to leave home and seek humanitarian aid in crowded displacement camps in towns.

Peterschmitt says their ability to stave off hunger and famine depends on the survival of their herds and ability to grow crops.

“Their children’s nutrition, and we mentioned that before, is directly linked to the health and productivity of their animals,” Peterschmitt said. “Unable to produce milk, those animals have been dying at a skyrocketing rate for the last year…Of great concern is the approximately 1.8 million children who are likely to be malnourished.”

Earlier projections of famine so far have been averted because humanitarian assistance has covered much of the most basic needs. U.N. agencies say this aid must continue and be increased.

On December 1, the United Nations launched a record $51.5 billion humanitarian response plan to assist 69 countries in 2023. The plan asks for $2.2 billion in support of 7.6 million people in Somalia.

 
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The “loss and damage” fund agreed to last month at the COP27 climate conference aims for rich nations to help those that have borne the brunt of their global- warming emissions. In Niger, climate change has fueled desertification and conflict as communities compete for dwindling resources. Henry Wilkins visits a community that is demonstrating how more funding can make a difference and speaks to the country’s environment minister.
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The “loss and damage” fund agreed to last month at the COP27 climate conference aims for rich nations to help those that have borne the brunt of their global warming emissions. In Niger, climate change has fueled desertification and conflict as communities compete for dwindling resources.

It’s often said those least responsible for climate change will suffer the most because of it. This is especially true in Niger.

According to nonprofits such as Concern International, Niger, along with its neighbors in Africa’s Sahel region, is likely to see a 3-to-6-degree Celsius increase in temperatures by the end of the century, with devastating impacts for one of the poorest and most difficult-to-farm regions on earth.

Yet in 2021, Niger produced just 0.007% of global emissions.

The changing climate is also adding to a rise in militant groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State, according to the United Nations.

Jean-Noel Gentile is the U.N.’s World Food Program Niger Country Director.

“Climate change is contributing to the deterioration of natural resources, with the population then competing for the same resources, which are shrinking,” Gentile said. “So, there is a direct correlation between climate change and insecurity.”

To help countries like Niger, a “loss and damage” fund was agreed upon at the U.N.’s recent COP27 climate conference in Egypt. In theory, richer countries and bigger emitters of greenhouse gases will pay to assist the countries suffering from climate change the most.

Nonprofits say the cost of the damage caused by climate change could hit $1.8 trillion by 2050.

Niger’s environment minister, Garama Saratou Rabiou Inoussa, told VOA the fund needs to become operational quickly.

She says, there’s an urgency to make the funds operational. Not only making the funds operational, she says, but also the urgency to make the funds available through an easy funding mechanism that favors countries such as Niger.”

Haoua Coba Maigardaye lives in a village in Niger’s border region with Nigeria, an area that could benefit from the fund. A project run by the World Food Program has reorganized the village’s farming practices, allowing them to farm during the dry season, in addition to the rainy season.

She says, food production has increased and the older and younger generations of the village no longer have to go elsewhere to find work, since they can grow crops twice in a year. “It’s an improvement because there is now not only enough food to survive, but also enough to sell,” she adds.

In a neighboring village where there is no assistance, a farmer says they do not have enough to eat.

Environmentalists say that details, such as how the fund will work — and how the money will make it to villages like those in Zinder — need to be nailed down.

Steve Trent is with the Environmental Justice Foundation, a U.K.-based environmental nonprofit.

“The political pitfalls are that developed states just decide not to pay. It’s hard when you want to get governments to write that check,” said Trent. “It’s difficult to get them to do it, particularly in the economic climate that we face globally now.”

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change declined to give an interview on how the fund might work and how long it may take to become active.
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A Libyan court sentenced 17 former members of the Islamic State group to death, a statement from the country’s Tripoli-based top prosecutor said on Monday.

The death sentences were given out to those convicted of participating in the killing of 53 people in the western city of Sabratha and destruction of public property, according to the statement. Another 16 militants were given prison sentences, two of them for life. The court did not specify when the sentences would be carried out.

Libya remains split between two rival administrations after years of civil war. The divide between authorities in the capital of Tripoli and eastern Libya has led to widespread lawlessness. Militia groups have also accumulated vast wealth and power from kidnappings and their control over the country’s lucrative human trafficking trade.

The extremist group expanded its reach in Libya after the 2011 uprising that toppled and later killed longtime ruler Moammar Gadhafi. IS militants first seized Darna in 2014 and then later Sirte and areas surrounding the city of Sabratha.

However, unlike Syria and Iraq, IS was unable to profit from chaos and take large swaths of Libya. Instead, the group was limited to only administrative pockets dotted across the oil-rich North African country, unable to gain supremacy over Libya’s numerous well-armed militia forces tightly bound by tribal loyalties.

Several IS training camps were located outside Sabratha. In early 2016, some 700 of its fighters, most of them Tunisian, were based in the area. In March 2016, affiliates of the group briefly took over the city’s security headquarters and beheaded 12 Libyan security officials before using the headless corpses to block nearby roads.

Sirte’s central Martyrs’ Square was transformed by IS into a stage for public extrajudicial killings — including beheadings by a sword — for a wide variety of offenses.

In April 2016, near the height of its power, the Libyan branch of the militant group had recruited around 6,000 fighters, U.S. military experts estimated.

IS was driven from its main stronghold, the coastal city of Sirte, in late 2016 and fled inland. However, the militants maintain a limited presence in small pockets of the country, including the areas surrounding Sabratha.

In February 2016, the United States carried out an airstrike on an IS training camp near Sabratha, killing at least 40 people, as part of its effort to eradicate Islamic State.
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A second person has died after a crush at a London concert venue last week, British police said Monday.

Gaby Hutchinson, 23, was working as a security guard at the O2 Brixton Academy, where Nigerian singer Asake was due to perform Thursday. Hutchinson was one of eight people hospitalized after being caught in mayhem at the venue, and died on Monday, the Metropolitan Police force said.

Rebecca Ikumelo, 33, died on Saturday morning. A 21-year-old woman remains in critical condition. All three were in the foyer of the concert hall when they were caught up in a throng of people.

The police force said emergency services were called to reports of a large crowd and people trying to force their way into the venue.

The force said detectives were reviewing security camera and phone footage, speaking to witnesses and conducting forensic examinations as part of a “large and complex” investigation. It said it was too early to say whether any crimes were committed.

The Brixton Academy in south London is one of the city’s most famous music venues. Built as a movie theater in the 1920s, it has a capacity of just under 5,000.
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Nigerian officials say seven Chinese nationals received medical attention Monday after being rescued from nearly six months in captivity. Nigerian military forces recovered the abductees in a weekend operation in the central state of Kaduna.

A spokesperson for the Nigerian Air Force, Gabriel Gabkwet, said in a statement Sunday that the Chinese nationals were rescued from the Kanfani Doka and Gwaska areas of Kaduna state after a tactical overnight operation.

He said the captors abandoned their enclaves, including the abductees and their weapons.

He said the abductees had been held for more than five months by terrorists who seized them from a mining site in the Shiroro local government area of Niger state.

Gabkwet did not immediately respond to calls for comment from VOA.

In a statement Monday, Niger state Governor Abubakar Sani Bello praised the air force for the rescue and said authorities will continue to collaborate with all security forces in the state to ensure citizens are safe and secure.

Officials said the rescued Chinese nationals were taken to an unidentified medical facility.

During the June attack at the mining site, at least 22 security operatives were killed, including police and the military.

Nigeria’s central and northwestern states have seen increasing incidents of attacks by armed groups known as bandits.

On Monday, a local government spokesperson in the Kaura area of Kaduna state told Lagos-based Channels Television that armed men killed at least 37 people in an attack Sunday and burned down more than 100 houses.

Police have not commented on the development but security analyst Chidi Omeje blames the violence on the July escape of hundreds of inmates from the Abuja prison.

“When that jailbreak happened, and we were told that tens and tens of terrorists who were being held there escaped, where do you think they went to?” Omeje said. “We’ve not been told that they were rearrested, so they’ve now gone to reactivate their terrorist cells. So, it becomes very understandable if somebody begins to put two and two together.”

For more than 13 years Nigeria has been battling Boko Haram and other insurgent groups in the country’s northeastern region. An estimated 300,000 people have been killed in the crisis.

Authorities are also struggling to contain kidnap-for-ransom gangs active across other regions of the country.
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With Cyril Ramaphosa being re-elected as leader of South Africa’s ruling party on Monday, he now has a clear path to winning another term as the country’s president in 2024. But analysts say Ramaphosa has been weakened politically by a corruption scandal and intra-party rivalries.

In the race to lead the African National Congress party, Ramaphosa beat former health minister Zweli Mkhize by almost 600 votes.

Political analyst Susan Boysen, a professor at the University of the Witwatersrand, says Ramaphosa’s side also controls four out of the party’s top seven positions.

“Including important positions like the national chair and treasurer general of the ANC. But yet, the secretary-general’s office will be one that is shared between Cyril Ramaphosa and pro-Mkhize people,” she said.

Despite Monday’s victory, she says Ramaphosa is too compromised to lead a convincing anti-corruption program.

An independent panel recently called for an impeachment inquiry relating to the theft of at least $580,000 from Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala game farm in February 2020.

Last week in parliament, a majority of ANC lawmakers voted not to adopt the report.

But several state-sponsored investigations into the incident are continuing and questions remain about the source of the money, whether it was declared for foreign exchange controls and why a police docket wasn’t opened.

“With regards to Phala Phala, I certainly think that we haven’t seen the end of the road yet,” said Boysen. “It is no clear-cut finding yet and opposition parties, I think, see the weakness there. They will certainly exhaust every possible channel of challenge to President Ramaphosa. And in that way too he will be a relatively weak to very weak president.”

Boysen says the ANC’s new deputy president Paul Mashatile, who has a fairly good reputation of service delivery in Gauteng province where he was premier, was the big winner of Monday’s party election.

She says he outmaneuvered many of his opponents and the Ramaphosa camp to win the seat. If anything happens to Ramaphosa, Mashatile is likely to become president.

On the whole, Boysen is unimpressed with the party’s choice for top seven, saying many of the figures are in her words, same old, same old. She notes that investigators called for ANC’s new deputy secretary-general, Nomvula Mokonyane, to be prosecuted for allegedly accepting bribes from a company that did business with the government.

Keith Gottschalk, retired senior lecturer of political science at the University of the Western Cape, says ultimately, it’s a relief for the country and ANC that Ramaphosa retained his position as head of the party.

“The speed at which Ramaphosa, who was the victim of a robbery, is suddenly twisted and spun into some sort of perpetrator is quite staggering but it is the way political battles are fought,” he said. “It reminds me vividly of the words of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s former finance minister now head of the World Trade Organization who said quote: ‘Where you fight corruption, corruption fights back,’ unquote. And that’s what’s been going on here.”

The ANC’s 55th elective conference which started Friday, ends tomorrow.

 
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Pragmatic, wealthy and ambitious, Cyril Ramaphosa was re-elected leader of South Africa’s ruling ANC party on Monday, despite being badly damaged by a cash-heist scandal that has dogged him for months.

Ascendancy to the helm of the African National Congress (ANC), in power for almost three decades, is a steppingstone to a second term as head of state.

But the 70-year-old is on much shakier ground than when he was first elected party leader in 2017, amid deep divisions within the ANC — the party shaped by Nelson Mandela to spearhead the struggle to end apartheid.

Ramaphosa promised a “new dawn” for South Africa when he became president in 2018, but his image has been dented by scandal and a lackluster economy.

Earlier this month, he survived an opposition-led attempt to open impeachment proceedings against him over accusations he attempted to conceal a burglary at his farmhouse.

Details about the huge cash haul, stolen from under sofa cushions, have dealt a massive reputational blow to the man who took the reins of Africa’s most industrialized economy on a pledge to root out graft.

“Previously he was this icon of the clean-up struggle, [a] paragon of virtue… with this [scandal] came so much doubt on his credentials and a reminder that this is not a superhuman [man],” said political analyst and author Susan Booysen.

Born on November 17, 1952, in Johannesburg’s Soweto township — the cradle of the anti-apartheid struggle — to a policeman and a stay-at-home mother, Ramaphosa had long eyed South Africa’s top job, but only came to it after a long detour.

From Mandela to Coca-Cola

He took up activism while studying law in the 1970s and spent 11 months in solitary confinement in 1974.

Ramaphosa turned to trade unionism, one of the few legal ways of protesting the white-minority regime.

A protege of Mandela, who once described him as one of the most gifted leaders of the “new generation,” Ramaphosa stood alongside the anti-apartheid icon when he walked out of jail in 1990.

He was a key member of the task force that steered the transition to democracy.

But after missing out on becoming Mandela’s successor, Ramaphosa swapped politics for a foray into business that made him one of the wealthiest people in Africa.

He held stakes in McDonald’s and Coca-Cola, making millions in deals that required investors to partner with non-white shareholders.

Ramaphosa developed a passion for breeding rare buffaloes and cattle, a business that would come back to haunt him.

The opposition once nicknamed him “The Buffalo” after he bid for a $104,000 beast in 2012.

He later apologized for making the glitzy bid “in a sea of poverty.”

COVID

In 2012, his image was badly tarnished when police killed 34 striking workers at a platinum mine, where he was then a non-executive director and had called for a crackdown on the miners.

He became Zuma’s vice president in 2014, often drawing criticism for failing to speak out against government corruption.

Renowned for his patience and strategic thinking, Ramaphosa narrowly defeated pro-Zuma rivals to take over leadership of the ANC party in 2017 and then the presidency when Zuma was forced out two months later.

Relaxed at public appearances, he attracts a support base that crosses South Africa’s racial and class divides, but still faces strong opposition from inside the ANC.

His anti-corruption drive has yielded some results, with charges being brought against some high-profile figures.

His handling of the COVID health crisis also won praise internationally. But the pandemic dealt a heavy blow to plans to revive South Africa’s sagging economy.

Unemployment remains stratospherically high and prolonged power cuts are a deep source of anger.

Ramaphosa’s native tongue is Venda, one of South Africa’s 11 official languages — most of which he is now said to speak fluently.

Married three times, Ramaphosa has four children. His current wife Tshepo Motsepe, a doctor, is the sister of African football chief Patrice Motsepe.
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Britain’s High Court ruled Monday that the government’s controversial plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is legal.   

The British government has reached an agreement with Rwanda that would deport migrants who arrived in Britain illegally on a one-way trip to Rwanda, a country with a questionable human rights record, to have their asylum claims processed.   

Under Britain’s agreement with Rwanda, applicants granted asylum would be eligible to remain in Rwanda but would not be eligible to return to Britain.  

Britain had to cancel the first flight to Rwanda in June after the European Court of Human Right blocked the move, saying that the plan carried “a real risk of irreversible harm.” 

Human rights groups say Britain’s pact with Rwanda is inhumane and the African nation does not the capacity to process the claims.  

Politicians say the plan would deter the influx of migrants into Britain.  

More than 40,000 migrants have crossed the English Channel to arrive on Britain’s shores this year.  Last week, four people died on their trip from France when their dinghy capsized in freezing weather.  
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Judges at London’s High Court will rule Monday whether the British government’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is legal, as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stakes his future on stopping a record number of migrant arrivals in small boats.

Under a deal struck in April, Britain aims to send tens of thousands of migrants who arrive on its shores illegally more than 4,000 miles (6,4000 km) to Rwanda.

The first planned deportation flight was blocked in June by a last-minute injunction from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and the strategy’s lawfulness was subsequently challenged by a judicial review at London’s High Court.

Judges Jonathan Swift and Clive Lewis are expected to deliver their verdict at 10:30 GMT.

A victory for the government Monday will not mean that flights can take off straight away because there may be a further appeal in the British courts and the ECHR injunction imposed during the summer prevents any immediate deportations until the conclusion of legal action in the United Kingdom.

In one of his first major policy announcements, Sunak set out a strategy to clamp down on illegal immigration and said he wanted to restart the flights to Rwanda despite opposition from lawmakers in all the main political parties, the United Nations and even King Charles.

The prime minister is under growing pressure from his own members of parliament and the public to deal with the arrivals, with figures showing more than 40,000 — a record number — have arrived from France this year, many having made the journey from Afghanistan or Iran or other countries suffering war to travel across Europe and on to Britain to seek asylum.

Immigration has climbed in voters’ priorities to become the third most important issue facing the country after the economy and health, polls show.

The deaths of four migrants in the Channel this week when their dinghy began sinking was the latest in a series of tragedies in the water between Britain and France that have underscored the government’s inability to stop the crossings.

Inhumane, not working

Lawyers acting for asylum seekers from countries including Syria, Sudan and Iraq, as well as charities and Border Force staff told the High Court in hearings this year that the government’s Rwanda policy was inhumane and does not comply with human rights conventions.

They said that Rwanda, whose own human rights record is under scrutiny, does not have the capacity to process the claims, and there is a risk some migrants could be returned to countries from which they had fled, citing concern raised by government officials themselves.

Britain says the Rwanda deportation strategy will help deter migrants from making the perilous trip across the Channel and will smash the business model of people smuggling networks.

Supporters of the Rwanda deal say that sending migrants to the country will reduce overcrowding in processing centers and give genuine refugees a home.

However, since the policy was announced tens of thousands of people have continued to arrive in Britain and until recently Rwanda had only set up one hostel to accept U.K. arrivals, with the capacity for about 100 people, representing 0.35% of all the migrants who arrived in Britain on small boats last year.

The strategy is based loosely on Australia’s program of sending migrants to Papua New Guinea and Nauru for processing.

Under the agreement with Rwanda, anyone judged to have entered Britain illegally is eligible for deportation, with the exception of unaccompanied minors.

Deportees granted protection by Rwanda’s government would be eligible to live there but would not be permitted to return to Britain.
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The U.S. military has reported two new airstrikes against al-Shabab fighters in Somalia’s Hirshabelle State.

In a statement, the U.S. military in Africa says it conducted two “collective self-defense” strikes against the group on December 14 and 17 in the vicinity of the coastal town of Adale.

The strikes came at the request of the Federal Government of Somalia, and in support of the Somali National Army forces.

The first strike took place 176 kilometers northeast of Mogadishu, killing seven militants, while the second strike took place approximately 220 kilometers northeast of Mogadishu, killing eight al-Shabab fighters.

U.S. Africa Command’s initial assessment is that no civilians were injured or killed in either strike, according to AFRICOM.   

“U.S. Africa Command will continue to assess the results of these operations and will provide additional information as appropriate,” read the statement. 

“Specific details about the units involved and assets used will not be released in order to ensure operations security.”

The Somali government reported December 15 that it conducted an operation against al-Shabab in the vicinity of the Juhay and Gulane villages in the Hirshabelle State.

The government said that 88 al-Shabab fighters were killed in the 48-hour operation, which was conducted in collaboration with international partners, a phrase that often refers to the involvement of airstrikes by friendly countries supporting the Somali army.

On Friday, the government published purported photos and video clips of al-Shabab fighters killed in the operation. And Saturday, the Somali Ministry of Information reported that an al-Shabab commander identified as Yusuf Mohamed Jingab was among those killed in the operation. Claims of casualty figures by the Somali government have not yet been independently confirmed.

Somali government forces supported by local fighters have been conducting operations in the Hirshabelle and Galmudug states since August, freeing dozens of localities from al-Shabab. 

Somali security officials said the United States is not the only country providing air support to government forces. Security officials who requested that they not be identified because of the sensitivity of the operation told VOA Somali late last month that Turkish drones were also providing air support to Somali forces.

Contacted by VOA Somali, the Turkish Ministry of Defense neither confirmed nor denied the participation of Turkish drones in the offensive against al-Shabab.
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The South African government has stationed members of the armed forces at several of the country’s beleaguered power stations, amid rolling blackouts and allegations of sabotage and corruption.

Soldiers have been deployed at four key power generating plants, Vincent Magwenya, a spokesman for President Cyril Ramaphosa, tells VOA, saying further deployments will be announced in due course.

He welcomed the decision to send in the troops, which comes amid reports of theft, sabotage and vandalism at several plants run by state power utility Eskom.

“This is a welcome intervention for Eskom as it clearly demonstrates that days of malfeasance and nefarious activities will be dealt with by government,” he said.

Just this week, company CEO Andre de Ruyter quit, saying it was in part due to the struggle he faced in trying to turn Eskom around in the face of crime and corruption.

South Africa has been mired in an energy crisis for more than a decade, but it has accelerated this year, with the country experiencing daily scheduled blackouts — sometimes for as long as 10 hours a day.

Known here as “loadshedding,” the cuts are meant to reduce pressure on the overstretched grid.

Eskom blames its aging coal fleets and lack of maintenance for the regular breakdowns, which are having a devastating effect on Africa’s most developed economy.

South Africans also have voiced increasing frustration at the failure of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) to get the power crisis under control.

ANC delegates vote

On Sunday, thousands of ANC delegates began voting for the party’s top seven membership positions at a party congress in Johannesburg, held every five years.

Whomever wins the party presidency this weekend goes on to lead the country if the ANC wins national elections in 2024.

President Cyril Ramaphosa is vying for the top job against former health minister Zweli Mkhize, who was forced to resign amid corruption allegations over COVID-19 funds.

Ramaphosa himself was recently mired in a scandal regarding the theft of a large amount of money found hidden in a sofa at his farm.

Last week, he avoided a vote that could have led to impeachment, after his party closed ranks behind him.

 
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Uganda on Saturday lifted a two-month lockdown on two districts at the epicenter of the country’s Ebola epidemic, amid cautious hope that the outbreak could end soon.

Since authorities declared an Ebola outbreak Sept. 20, the East African nation has registered 142 confirmed cases and 56 deaths, with the disease spreading to the capital, Kampala.

The two central districts at the heart of the outbreak, Mubende and Kassanda, were placed under lockdown by President Yoweri Museveni on Oct. 15.

But on Saturday, Vice President Jessica Alupo announced that the government was “lifting all movement restrictions and curfew in Mubende and Kassanda districts with immediate effect.”

The two hotspots were under a dusk-to-dawn curfew, with markets, bars and churches closed as well as personal travel banned.

“The lifting of the restrictions is based on the fact that currently there is currently no transmission, no contact under follow-up, no patients in the isolation facilities, and we are progressing well,” Alupo said in a televised address delivered on behalf of Museveni.

Ugandan authorities said last month that new cases were falling, and the last confirmed patient with the disease was discharged from hospital Nov. 30.

Alupa warned however that the government remained on “high alert” for any resurgence in cases.

The announcement came after local leaders in the two districts appealed last month for the lockdown to be lifted and implored the central government to provide aid to citizens hit hard by the curbs on business.

The outbreak has been caused by the Sudan strain of the virus, for which there is currently no vaccine.

Uganda earlier this month received its first shipment of trial vaccines against the Sudan strain, with more doses expected in the coming weeks.

They will be used in a so-called ring vaccination trial, where all contacts of confirmed Ebola patients, and contacts of contacts, are jabbed along with frontline and health workers.

However, the absence of active Ebola cases in recent days has held up the vaccine trials, according to international health experts working in Uganda.

According to the World Health Organization, an outbreak of the disease ends when there are no new cases for 42 consecutive days — twice the incubation period of Ebola.

Ebola spreads through bodily fluids. Common symptoms are fever, vomiting, bleeding and diarrhea.

Outbreaks are difficult to contain, especially in urban environments. 
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The Somali military says the country’s national army, with the help of local civilians, has conducted a planned military operation against the Islamist militant group al-Shabab in the Middle Shabelle region, killing at least 50 al-Shabab militants.

A statement issued by Somalia’s national army command Saturday says the army’s planned operation against the militants took place in the village of Darul-nicim in the country’s Middle Shabelle province.

The village on the outskirts of the recently liberated strategic town of Adan Yabal, 217 kilometers north of the capital, Mogadishu, has seen an increase in military activity in the last three weeks.

“The Somali National Army, with the help of local people, have killed around 50 Khawarij in an operation in the village of Darul-Nicim in the Middle Shabelle region and other villages under Adan Yabal district,” said a short statement by the army posted on Twitter on Saturday evening.

Khawarij is a term the Somali government uses to refer to the Islamist militant group al-Shabab.

The operation comes a day after Somalia’s deputy information minister, Abdirahman Yusuf Omar Al-adala, said the army had killed at least 88 al-Shabab fighters in the same province within 48 hours.

Meanwhile, the governor of Somalia’s central region of Hiran, Ali Jeyte Osman, pledged a bounty of $30,000 to any al-Shabab fighter who kills al-Shabab spokesperson Ali Mohamud Rage, known as Ali Dhere.

Jeyte spoke to Somali security personnel and local clan militias Saturday after visiting several villages on the outskirts of the central town of Beledweyne, the provincial capital of Hiran region. He said the government would give a $10,000 reward for every al-Shabab militant killed.

The Somali military has recaptured a large part of the central states of Galmudug and Hirshabelle from the militant group.

The Horn of Africa nation has been fighting al-Shabab since 2007. Militants have been carrying out deadly attacks on government troops and African Union peacekeeping forces in Somalia for more than a decade.

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who was reelected earlier this year, had announced an “all-out war” against al-Shabab.
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Morocco’s fans in the Arab world took the North African team’s 2-1 loss to Croatia in Saturday’s World Cup third-place playoff philosophically. The team had already made history, becoming the first Arab and first African team to reach the semifinals in the international soccer tournament. 

Its loss to France on Wednesday dashed fans’ hopes that Morocco would become an underdog champion, but many had hoped that it would at least take third place in facing off against Croatia. 

In the Moroccan capital, national team fans were disappointed by Saturday’s loss, but pointed with pride to the team’s historic performance. 

“They remain champions in our eyes,” said Soukaina Makkaoui, a fan in Rabat. “They are now among the four top teams in the world.” 

Ali Hachimi, another Moroccan fan, was both proud and sad. 

“We would have liked to finish third because the players deserved it after giving their all,” he said. 

Along the way, the Moroccan team charmed many Arab soccer fans who saw in the team a reflection of themselves, with players waving the Palestinian flag after their wins and celebrating on the field with their mothers and children. 

Seeing Palestinian flags fluttering in the stadium “was an indescribable feeling,” said Ibrahim al-Lilli, who was among thousands of fans in the Gaza Strip who gathered to cheer for Morocco on Saturday. 

The games affirmed that the Arab street “supports the Palestinian cause regardless of what their governments do,” he said, referring to the Abraham Accord normalization agreements that four Arab countries — including Morocco — signed with Israel in 2020. 

Fans in the besieged Gaza enclave found bitter solace in the fact that the northern Africa Arab country got as far as it did. 

“It’s a defeat, albeit with a taste of victory and joy,” said Ahmed al-Najjar, another fan in Gaza. 

In Beirut’s Tarik al-Jdideh neighborhood, where fans were also rooting for Morocco, Muhammad Shaalan said the team’s fourth-place finish is still a point of pride for the Arab world. 

“They arrived to the final games and they defeated three of the best big European teams (Belgium, Spain and Portugal),” he said. “I bow my head in respect to them as an Arab team.” 
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