Three swimmers died and 17 others were seriously injured Saturday when a freak wave struck a popular beach in South Africa’s southeastern city of Durban, the emergency services said.

“There was a freak wave that washed some people to sea, three have drowned and 17 people have been taken to hospital,” Robert McKenzie, spokesman of the KwaZulu-Natal provincial first responders services told AFP.

He said one of the dead was a child around 7 or 8 years old, while those injured are “in serious or critical condition.”

The incident occurred around 5 p.m. (1500 GMT) at the Bay of Plenty, one of the popular beaches in South Africa’s third-largest city.

The emergency services said that they were afraid the toll would rise after the “uncommon” event.

Durban has gradually been re-opening its beaches after they were shut due to high levels of E. coli coming from the city’s sewer system, which was badly damaged by deadly floods earlier this year.

The floods, the worst in living memory, killed more than 400 people in April.
…

In what may have been Luka Modric’s final World Cup match, Josko Gvardiol made a play to be Croatia’s next go-to guy.

Modric has been the man in the middle for Croatia for more than a decade, leading the team to the World Cup final four years ago and the semifinals of this year’s tournament. But at 37, his time at the top is surely coming to an end.

Modric was again central to Croatia’s 2-1 victory over Morocco for third place at the World Cup on Saturday, but it was Gvardiol who stepped up from the back at Khalifa International Stadium.

“We made a comeback,” said Gvardiol, referring to Tuesday’s loss to Argentina in the semifinals. “We knew we had to be focused and show grit. Today we proved we deserved third place. We are going home celebrating.”

Gvardiol, wearing a black mask after breaking his nose during a Bundesliga match last month, plays a different position and looks to be nearly twice the size of the diminutive No. 10. But at 20 years old he is also almost half the age of Modric and plays like a veteran rather than someone who was still the age of a high school student when Croatia lost to France only four years ago in the 2018 final.

Nicknamed “Little Pep” because of the similarities between his last name and that of Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola, Gvardiol scored Croatia’s opening goal in the seventh minute of Saturday’s match with a diving header.

His head was involved on the other end of the field as well. As a center back playing just behind Modric, Gvardiol was constantly being called upon to shoo away Morocco’s chances, to keep the area clear of red shirts, and keep the ball out of his team’s net.

He did that, and he was named player of the match because of it.

Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic, reflecting on Gvardiol’s imposing presence throughout the tournament in Qatar, said the defender deserved to be named the best young player of the World Cup.

“If not the best young player, he must be in the competition for the best young player,” Dalic said. “Usually the forwards, the top scorers, are considered for this award, but Josko has proven that defense players deserve this, and I believe he deserves the award.”

Gvardiol is listed at 6-foot-1, only five inches taller than Modric, but he fills a huge space in Croatia’s defense, and he showed he can also move like a smaller player.

Running through the middle of the field with the ball at his feet in the second half, Gvardiol crossed into the opposite penalty area with only the goalkeeper to beat. Morocco midfielder Sofyan Amrabat, however, appeared to clip Gvardiol’s left foot. He went down in a heap and called for a penalty, but the referee wasn’t buying it.

The big man in the black mask wasn’t happy, sitting on the grass with his arms in the air before rejoining play on the other end, immediately jumping to try to head the ball out of danger from in front of his own goal.

“I think there was a touch there,” Gvardiol said of the possible penalty. “I’m a defense player. That’s the worst part, that I don’t know how to fall.”

Gvardiol was central to Croatia’s strong defense from the start in Qatar, with the team allowing only one goal in three group matches. They continued that stingy play into the knockout rounds until being undone in the 3-0 loss to Argentina in the semifinals.

Despite what Dalic said, Gvardiol was unconcerned with the individual award, preferring instead to win something with his teammates.

“I am not interested in any such award for best young player,” Gvardiol said. “What I care about is the bronze medal and I fulfilled my dream.”

Gvardiol came into the World Cup after recently extending his contract with German club Leipzig, a deal that ties him to the team through 2027. But some of Europe’s biggest clubs may have something to say about that with the January transfer window coming up in a matter of weeks.
…

A peace deal to end Ethiopia’s two-year civil war with Tigrayan forces was struck in November, but whether it will be honored remains to be seen. There is a desperate need for aid across much of Tigray, and on both sides, victims of possible war crimes are crying out for justice. Henry Wilkins, who reported for VOA from Ethiopia this year, has this report.
…

Tunisians showed little inclination to vote Saturday morning in a parliamentary election that most political parties are boycotting, having denounced it as the culmination of a march to one-man rule by President Kais Saied.

Taking place 12 years to the day after Tunisian vegetable seller Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in an act of protest that sparked the Arab Spring, the election will vote in a new parliament whose lawmakers are likely to have little influence on government policy.

Turnout in most previous elections since the 2011 revolution, which shook off a dictatorship and ushered in democracy, seemed higher than on Saturday, when few Tunisians were visible at polling stations in the capital.

Reuters visited six polling stations around Tunis that were all largely quiet. During a two-hour period split between three in the Ettadamon and Ettahir districts, a journalist from the agency saw only about 20 voters cast their ballots.

The official electoral commission, whose members are appointed by Saied, said about 270,000 – or 3% – of 9 million eligible voters had cast ballots by 10 a.m. (0900 GMT), two hours after polling stations opened.

As he voted earlier, Saied hailed the election as a historic day and urged Tunisians to cast ballots. But as they struggle with economic hardship, many have grown jaded by years of political dysfunction.

“Why should I vote? … I am not convinced by this election,” said Abdl Hamid Naji, sitting in a cafe near a polling station in the Lafayette neighborhood of the capital Tunis as it opened at 8:00 a.m. (0700 GMT).

“What will this parliament do?” he asked. “In the previous elections, I was the first to arrive… But now I’m not interested.”

There were more journalists than voters at the Rue de Marseille polling station in Tunis, which has been packed from early in the day in previous elections.

Faouzi Ayarai, who did vote there, was optimistic. “These elections are an opportunity to fix the bad situation left by others over the past years,” she said.

BOYCOTT

Saied, a former law lecturer who was a political independent when elected president in 2019, shut down the previous parliament and started ruling by decree in July 2021, gradually amassing more and more power.

His opponents, including the Islamist Ennahda party, accuse him of a coup.

A new constitution, passed with a low turnout in a July referendum, has defanged parliament and shifted power back to the presidential palace in Carthage from which Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali ruled with an iron fist before being ousted in 2011.

Nejib Chebbi, head of an anti-Saied coalition including the Islamist Ennahda party, a major force in the previous parliament, has labeled the election a “still-born farce.”

Saied has described it as part of a roadmap for ending the chaos and corruption he says afflicted Tunisia under the previous system.

Casting his vote with his wife, he urged Tunisians to do likewise. “It is your historic opportunity to regain your legitimate rights,” he said.

But I Watch, a non-governmental watchdog organization formed after the 2011 revolution, said the new parliament had been “emptied of all powers.”

Al Bawsala, another NGO that has monitored the work of parliament since the revolution, has said it will boycott a legislature that it too believes will be an instrument for the president.

The election is taking place against the backdrop of an economic crisis that is fueling poverty, leading many to attempt the perilous journey to Europe aboard smugglers’ boats.

With the main parties absent, a total of 1,058 candidates – only 120 of them women – are running for 161 seats.

For 10 of those – seven in Tunisia and three decided by expatriate voters – there is just one candidate. A further seven of the seats decided by expatriate voters have no candidates running at all.

The polls are scheduled to close at 6 p.m. (1700 GMT).

 
…

Two U.N. peacekeepers from Nigeria were killed and four others were wounded in an attack Friday on a peace patrol in the town of Timbuktu in northern Mali, the United Nations said.

The U.N. Security Council said a member of Mali’s security forces was also killed in the attack.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said one of the peacekeepers killed was a woman.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the Security Council strongly condemned the attack.

The council stressed that involvement in planning, directing, sponsoring or conducting attacks targeting U.N. peacekeepers may constitute war crimes.

Mali has been in turmoil since a 2012 uprising when mutinous soldiers overthrew the president. The power vacuum that resulted ultimately led to a jihadist insurgency and a French-led war that ousted the jihadists from power in 2013.

Insurgents remain active in Mali and extremist groups affiliated with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group have moved from the arid north to more populated central Mali since 2015, stoking animosity and violence between ethnic groups in the region.

Tensions have grown between Mali, its African neighbors, and the West since Mali’s government allowed Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group to deploy on its territory.
…

As the U.S. welcomed African leaders to Washington for a summit this week, the media freedom record of several of those countries was brought into focus.

At least 56 journalists are in prison for their work in 11 African countries, several of which have a long history of silencing the free press, according to a report released Wednesday by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

While Iran and China registered as the most prolific jailers of journalists in the annual report, with 62 and 43, respectively, in prison, Egypt with 21 cases and Eritrea with 16 feature among the 10 worst countries.

The report paints a grim picture for those imprisoned, often for reporting information unfavorable to the government. Overall, 2022 marked the highest total on record for CPJ, with 363 journalists in prison as of December 1, 2022.

CPJ’s Angela Quintal told VOA the report’s release is “rather ironic” because “we have these leaders who happen to be meeting President [Joe] Biden, [Secretary of State Antony Blinken], and doing trade deals, who are among the worst jailers of journalists in Africa.”

Eritrea was one of the countries not invited to the summit because it doesn’t have formal diplomatic ties with the U.S. However, advocates and exiled writers have been calling for the release of journalists imprisoned there, some for 21 years.

“Their whereabouts aren’t known, their families don’t know where they are and no one knows what kind of life they are leading or whether they are alive,” said Eritrean writer Awet Fissehaye.

The exiled poet is the executive director of PEN Eritrea. His organization recently displayed images of detained Eritrean journalists in the British Parliament to raise awareness.

In Cameroon, at least five journalists are in prison after authorities responded to a conflict involving separatist movements in the English-speaking region. Journalists covering the unrest were intimidated or abducted, CPJ reported.

Morocco has at least three journalists detained, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo has two journalists in prison. CPJ documented one journalist each in Algeria, Burundi, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Senegal.

Of the four journalists jailed in Rwanda, three were arrested for posting content deemed critical of the government on YouTube.

“They’re doing it on this platform because it’s one of the country’s few remaining publishing platforms, because the space for dissenting speech has been closed down in traditional media,” Quintal said.

She added that CPJ has heard “worrying reports of torture and ill-treatment and poor conditions” for journalists behind bars.

Rwanda’s Justice Ministry did not immediately respond to VOA’s request for comment.

Neighboring Burundi is responsible for the only known case of a detained female journalist in Africa: Floriane Irangabiye.

“She’s reportedly been sexually assaulted during her detention,” Quintal said.

CPJ’s researchers who spoke with people familiar with the reporter’s case say an intelligence agent allegedly groped Irangabiye.

Burundi’s prosecutor general has said the allegation is “unfounded.”

CPJ’s annual report offers a snapshot of journalists in jail, but that doesn’t offer the full picture, says Quintal. The nonprofit includes only cases of journalists detained by official government entities.

Ethiopia is one such case, she said. The country has been mired in a two-year-long civil war, and journalists have been caught in the crossfire.

In August, CPJ published research showing that at least 63 journalists had been detained or briefly held covering political events or stories about the war.

In the Tigray region’s capital, Mekelle, five journalists are currently held by the regional leadership. Three are accused of “collaborating with the enemy” during a period when the regional capital was under the federal government’s control.

Because the Tigray regional government is not officially recognized as the formal authority, the cases are not included in CPJ’s report.

“We are urging the Tigray rebels to ensure that they are released as soon as possible,” Quintal said. “No journalist deserves to be in jail for their work.”

Mesfin Araya, an attorney of one of the journalists, told VOA’s Tigrigna Service that tactics are used to delay justice and that “justice delayed is justice denied.”

The regional prosecutor’s office said the journalists weren’t held because of journalism but because they were suspected of being involved in other crimes.

International pressure

Most of the journalists in Africa are being jailed on anti-state charges, but cybercrime laws and criminal defamation also present risks.

In Senegal, journalist Pape Ale Niang, who runs the news website Dakar Matin, was accused of spreading information harmful to public security charges for publishing stories about rape allegations involving an opposition political figure.

And Oloye Ayodele Samuel of Nigerian outlet Taraba Truth & Facts is detained on defamation charges.

The arrest of even one journalist can be damaging to a country’s media freedom environment, experts say.

Authorities in Somalia have twice detained Abdalle Ahmed Mumin of the Somali Journalists Syndicate in recent months, in a move condemned by international rights groups.

CPJ and Human Rights Watch are among the rights groups who raised Mumin’s case in a Monday letter to the country’s attorney general.

“To this day [Mumin] faces ongoing threats and persecution,” the letter read. “Continuing his prosecution not only casts a chilling effect on media freedom and journalism, but it also significantly contributes to the closing civic space in the country.”

Quintal at CPJ says international pressure can bring change. In Egypt, at least 12 journalists have been freed, in part due to the efforts of international advocates.

Globally, CPJ says it has helped with the release of 130 journalists in 2022.

“That is why we do believe that the international community does have a role to play,” in ensuring the safety and release of journalists in states that Quintal describes as “repressive,” “anti-press freedom,” and “anti-free expression.”

VOA Tigrigna Service’s Minia Afwerki and Mulugeta Atsbeha contributed to this report.
…

Malawi is waiving visa requirements for selected countries in a bid to boost its tourism industry, which was badly affected by COVID-19. Government statistics show that during the pandemic, international tourist arrivals to Malawi plunged by 80 percent.

In a statement, the Ministry of Tourism says the arrangement will be applied to tourists from 16 countries.

Those include the United States, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany.

Simon Mbvundula, spokesperson for the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Wildlife in Malawi, said the action is based on research that found the country was losing tourist business to other African countries because of its high visa fees.

“We are talking of a situation where we are competing for the same market,” said Mbyndula. “And we thought for potential tourists not to come to Malawi on the basis of visa fees, we thought that the benefits will definitely out-weigh the cost we might incur from the removal of the visa.”

Currently, tourists coming to Malawi are required to pay $50 per single entry, while a multiple entry visa for six months costs $150. A multiple entry visa for 12 months is $250.

Malawi instituted visa fees in 2015 to all the countries that required Malawians to pay visa fees.

However, government statistics show that during the COVID-19 pandemic, international tourist arrivals to Malawi plunged by 80 percent.

Temwa Kanjadza, who heads sales and marketing for Sunbird Hotels and Resorts, welcomes the arrangement of waiving visa fees for the selected countries.

“These are high spenders so in terms of the margin on the rates that we sell, it’s a plus already, and maybe for the forex of the country, it’s a plus already. And we believe that it will do us good as destination for Malawi and as a hospitality provider.”

The executive director of the Tourism Council of Malawi, Innocent Kaliati, also applauds the move, noting that neighboring Zambia waived visa fees for selected countries a few months ago.

Kaliati said Malawi could have gone a step further by fixing problems with the electronic visa system that the government uses.

“Because we have been receiving complaints and we have seen through social media tourists blatantly writing that they prefer Zambia than Malawi because of the visa system and not visa costs,” said Kaliati. “The system takes too long to accept certain uploads. It also used to take a long time to accept payments. It is asking for so much information that may no longer be necessary.”

Malawi’s Department of Immigration adopted the international e-visa system in 2019 in hopes of easing the time-consuming process associated with the acquisition of travel documents.

Pasqually Zulu, national spokesperson for the Immigration Department in Malawi, said the department is taking measures to rectify the problem of the e-visa system.

“I should admit here that maybe it would take time because our online portal was being managed by a certain company but negotiations are at an advanced stage that the portal should be fully managed by the department.”

Meanwhile, Malawi’s government says it plans to implement the visa-free waiver arrangement starting in January.
…

The World Health Organization says climate change is behind an unprecedented surge in the number of cholera outbreaks around the world this year.

At least 30 countries have reported outbreaks of the deadly disease this year, about a third higher than normally seen.

Philippe Barboza, WHO’s team leader for cholera and epidemic diarrheal diseases, said most of the large cholera outbreaks have coincided with adverse climate events and have been visibly and directly affected by them.

“Very severe droughts like, for example, in the Horn of Africa, in the Sahel but also in other parts of the world,” he said. “Major floods, unprecedented monsoons, succession of cyclones. So, most again, most of these outbreaks appear to be fueled by the result of the climate change.”

No quick reprieve is in sight. The World Meteorological Organization predicts the so-called La Nina climate phenomenon will last through the end of this year. The pattern, which cools the surface of ocean waters, is expected to continue well into 2023. That will result in prolonged droughts and flooding and increased cyclones.

Consequently, health officials warn large cholera outbreaks are likely to continue and spread to wider areas over the next six months. Barboza said preventing disease outbreaks will be a challenge.

He said a global shortage of vaccine has forced the WHO to temporarily suspend its two-dose strategy and switch to a single dose approach. That allows many more people to be vaccinated against cholera. However, he said it shortens the period of immunity against infection.

“So, the situation will continue to prevail for the months to come,” he said. “There is no silver bullet, magic solution and the producers are at the maximum production. … So, there is no hope that the situation will improve in the coming weeks or months.”

Barboza said lack of data makes it impossible to accurately determine the number of global cholera cases and deaths. However, he noted information from at least 14 countries indicates the average fatality rate is above 1%. He said the cholera fatality rate in heavily affected Haiti is around 2%.

Cholera is an acute diarrheal disease caused by consuming contaminated food or water. Treatments include oral rehydration. People with severe cases need rapid intravenous fluids and antibiotics. Cholera can kill within hours if left untreated.
…

Eighty-eight al-Shabab militants were killed this week in a joint operation by the Somali National Army and allied clan militia in the Middle Shabelle region, Somali’s Deputy Information Minister Abdirahman Yusuf Al-Adala said Thursday at a news conference.

The minister said national forces defeated the militants, who were regrouping in those areas, and the forces recaptured Juhay village. The forces are collecting the bodies of the killed militants, he added.

Abdisalam Guled, founder of Eagle Range Services, a security company in Mogadishu, said the success against al-Shabab in Middle Shabelle is a major boost for the ongoing campaign by government forces and local militias.

However, Guled said there is criticism that the fighting against al-Shabab is led by tribal forces and the government is only taking part in it. He warned that the government risks losing control of the campaign by allowing militias to take the lead.

He said the fighting against al-Shabab, which was led by the Hawadle clan, broke out in the Hiiraan region and was successful, and now it seems that the Abgaal clan is leading the fight in the Middle Shabelle region, and the government is acting as a participant.

Guled, who previously served as the national deputy director of intelligence, said the government needs to make a concerted effort to complete the remaining operations in the central regions before opening up other battle fronts.

The federal government said early this month it will be launching operations in the Jubaland and South West state regions, but security analysts say such action could stretch available resources and give al-Shabab more space to fight back.

Guled said the government should set a plan for the fighting and should act by the end of January. He added that the next target should be the town of Harardhere, which remains an al-Shabab stronghold in central Somalia.

Prime Minister Hamza Barre said this week while visiting the newly captured Adan Yabal village in Middle Shabelle that al-Shabab militants should be hunted down, even in mosques.

Abdiaziz Hussein Issack, a security and political analyst with the Hamad Bin Khalifa Civilization Center, a cultural and research center in Denmark, said the militant group has been using mosques as defense positions and hideouts.

Issack dismissed claims that al-Shabab might use the prime minister’s directive to build a narrative against the government. He said armed al-Shabab fighters using a mosque as a defensive position and firing at soldiers should be killed because they are fighting and, in that case, the government’s order to kill fighters in mosques would not have bad repercussions.

The federal government recently said that the offensive with clan militias, also known as Community Defense Forces, has killed more than 600 al-Shabab militants and captured dozens of villages in central parts of the country.
…

Botswana is developing a national security strategy amid fears of heightened terrorism threats.

The country’s minister of defense, Kagiso Mmusi, addressed parliament Thursday.

“The emerging global security challenges, such as cybercrime, terrorism, poaching, human trafficking, distribution of drugs, money laundering and transnational organized crimes, continue to threaten Botswana’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Irregular migration also poses a threat to multilateralism,” Mmusi said.

To this end, he said, a strategy to counter possible acts of terrorism and other national security threats is being developed.

“In an effort to address the above-mentioned global challenges, the country is developing the national security strategy. Botswana will ensure the permanent inviolability of national territory and its effective control by employing all available instruments of national power,” Mmusi said.

In June, Botswana’s army commander, Placid Segogo, told lawmakers the country needed to scale up efforts to counter terrorism, as the deployment of 300 troops to Mozambique had created challenges.

Botswana’s troops in Mozambique are part of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Standby Force’s more than 1,000 soldiers in Cabo Delgado.

“As the defense force, we continue to have challenges in respect to cybercrime terrorism because we are now clearly in Mozambique specifically because of terrorism. We do realize that our footprint there creates an even bigger vulnerability,” Segogo said.

This week, Botswana’s Vice President Slumber Tsogwane told new army recruits to be ready for deployment in Mozambique if called upon.

“Today, you graduate to take your place in the Botswana Defense Force at a time when [the] SADC region is fighting a war against terrorists in the Republic of Mozambique,” Tsogwane said. “You need to acquaint yourselves with the tactics, techniques and procedures as well as process in leading your men in tactical situations quickly, for you may be required to be deployed there or elsewhere.”

Since sending troops in July 2021, Botswana has lost five soldiers in Mozambique, including one during combat. Two died during freak accidents at their respective camps in Cabo Delgado, and the other two died in a murder-suicide incident. 
…

Tunisians vote Saturday for a new parliament aimed to reflect President Kais Saied’s vision of grassroots politics. Observers predict low turnout among a disaffected electorate squeezed by a deep economic crisis. For VOA, Lisa Bryant reports from Tunis.
…

The International Criminal Court on Thursday confirmed the convictions of Dominic Ongwen, a former Ugandan child soldier who rose to be a commander in the notorious Lord’s Resistance Army, and upheld his 25-year sentence for rape, murder and child abduction.   

“The appeals chamber rejects all the defense grounds of appeal and unanimously confirms the convictions,” presiding judges Luz del Carmen Ibanez Carranza said. 

Later the judges also rejected all the grounds of appeal related to the sentencing.   

Led by fugitive warlord Joseph Kony, the LRA terrorized Ugandans for nearly 20 years as it fought the government of President Yoweri Museveni from bases in northern Uganda and neighboring countries. 

The militia has been largely wiped out. 

Ongwen, now in his mid-40s, was abducted at 9 years old and forced into a life of violence after the group killed his parents. 

The defense had argued that his horrific experiences in the LRA meant he could not be held responsible for his later actions.   

Appeals judges, however, dismissed this and confirmed the lower court’s findings that Ongwen was not under duress and acted independently when he committed the crimes for which he was charged. 

Ongwen is the only LRA suspect to appear before the ICC so far. Kony is still at large despite being the subject of an arrest warrant from the court since 2005. 

In a hearing earlier this year Ongwen told judges he felt as though he was being blamed for all of Kony’s crimes.   

The ICC prosecutor recently said he would seek to start proceedings against Kony and intensify efforts to bring him to trial. 

Prosecutors and lawyers for the more than 4,000 victims participating in the case have asked judges to uphold the conviction and sentence. 

The ICC was established in 2002 to try individuals for genocide, war crimes and other major human rights violations. 
…

Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo said the military government of Burkina Faso has hired Russian mercenaries to help fight an insurgency in their country and is using a mine to pay them.

Militants have made increasing inroads into Burkina Faso, triggering two coup d’etats this year, one in January and one in September, as the military tries to re-establish control of the country.

Experts believe Burkina Faso’s current leader, army captain Ibrahim Traore, is using Russian mercenaries from the shadowy Wagner group to fight the jihadists.

Speaking Wednesday in Washington as part of the U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit, Akufo-Addo expressed concern about the suspected development.

“Today, Russian mercenaries are on our northern border,” Akufo-Addo said. “Burkina Faso has now entered into an arrangement to go along with Mali in employing the Wagner forces there and I believe a mine in the southern part of Burkina has been allocated to them as a form of payment for their service. To have them operating on our northern border is particularly distressing for us in Ghana.”

An official involved in the border security of Burkina Faso, speaking on condition of anonymity, commented on Akufo-Addo’s remarks in a text message to VOA.

He did not deny the presence of mercenaries, instead saying “Burkina does not need foreign fighters, but equipment. We have men capable” of fighting terrorism.

Mutaru Mumuni Muqthar, executive director of West Africa Center for Counter-Extremism (WACCE), said the recent withdrawal of European, mainly French, peacekeeping troops from the Sahel is a loss in the fight against jihadists.

He said it will enable Russia’s push to establish a strong foothold in Africa.

“Now that we are seeing the withdrawal of the French forces, which is followed by the other European partners, is a big blow to the region and to all of us here along the coast of the Gulf of Guinea,” Muqthar said. “The Russian mercenaries are in there and they seem to be building some significant sense of goodwill from the local population as against traditional European partners and that should worry all of us.”

Muqthar said focusing solely on using combat to fight terrorism in West Africa is not the best way to go, saying it failed in the Sahel regions.

“Combat measures are very important to hold territories and to stop these extremists,” he said. “But it’s not enough to sustain any gains relating to combating terrorism. We need to match it with significant noncombat measures, which is the people. It’s important that military measures must be development linked and must be linked to the realities of the problem because people don’t just wake up to fight.”

Recently, West African leaders met in Accra to discuss terrorism and worsening security in the region. They resolved at the Accra Initiative to establish an anti-jihadist force within a month to protect coastal countries, such as Ghana.
…

Five refugees at the Dzaleka refugee camp in central Malawi were injured when a hand grenade exploded at the camp’s main market Wednesday evening. Police have arrested a Rwandan refugee suspected of intentionally detonating the device.

Police say three people, including a leader for refugees from Burundi, sustained serious injuries and are hospitalized at nearby Dowa district hospital.

Gladson M’bumpha, police spokesperson in Dowa district, told VOA that one of the seriously injured victims, Butoyi Fedeli, who leads the Burundi refugees at the camp, was with his secretary, Bruno Ndaishime, when they saw a person lighting matches before throwing a grenade at them. 

“Following this, Fedeli fell down while bleeding and he was rushed to Dzaleka health center, from where he was rushed to Dowa District Hospital following several cuts on both legs. Ndaishime also sustained cuts in the legs and on the back,” M’bumpha said.

Three other people, including an 11-year-old, sustained injuries of varying degrees. They are also hospitalized at Dowa.

Meanwhile, police have arrested 42-year-old Rwandan refugee Umoton John Peter, who is suspected of intentionally setting off the device.

Peter is expected to appear in court to answer charges of grievous harm after police conclude their investigation.

The incident, the first at the camp, has caused panic and fear among refugees there, including Assana Abdullah, who is from Burundi. 

“I did not sleep last night, and today I am just staying indoors. I can’t even go to the market,” she said, adding that the incident will dent the images of all the refugees at the camp, and authorities could decide to chase out all of them because of one or two people.

Government authorities and the U.N.’s refugee agency, UNHCR, have condemned the attack.

“We are urging the government to swiftly investigate the incident and [ensure] perpetrators are held to account,” said Kenyi Emmanuel Lukajo, associate external relations and reporting officer for UNHCR in Malawi. “Our deepest sympathies are to the victims of this heinous attack and their loved ones. We are checking on their well-being and offer our support they may need.”

The Dzaleka refugee camp was meant to host about 12,000 refugees. However, it is now home to more than 50,000 refugees, many from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the rest from Burundi, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Somalia.

Lukajo said overcrowding could have contributed to the attack. 

“It’s shocking to see such an incident happen in Dzaleka. But we are also concerned that the congestion in Dzaleka is possibly making it difficult for security agencies to do their work properly,” Lukajo said.

Plans are under way to reconstruct the abandoned Luwani refugee camp to help ease the overcrowding at Dzaleka. But UNHCR officials say they’re having trouble finding the needed funds to rebuild the Luwani camp.

Meanwhile, Lukajo said the U.N. refugee agency has suspended its activities at the Dzaleka camp until the security situation is rectified.

Police spokesperson M’bumpha said police are patrolling the camp to calm the tense situation there. 

 
…

Botswana’s government says rural communities have earned $5 million since last year from the proceeds of elephant hunting. Conservationists object to the practice, but local officials say the hunts are necessary to reduce human-wildlife conflict. The annual activity attracts hunters from overseas who pay huge sums to shoot elephants.

Acting Minister of Environment and Tourism, Sethabelo Modukanele, said communities are benefiting following the lifting of a five-year hunting ban.

“Hunting was reinstated in 2019 following a five-year moratorium after extensive stakeholder consultation. This allowed communities to generate considerable revenues amounting to 50 million pula over two years [from 2021 to 2022] for their development projects,” said Modukanele.

Most of the revenue is from international hunters who pay up to $50,000 to shoot a single elephant.

Botswana Wildlife Producers Association chief executive, Isaac Theophilus, says more could be done to ensure communities benefit from wildlife resources.

“Communities can make more from hunting. The problem right now is that communities only depend on selling their hunting quotas, subleasing some of the areas allocated to them. In order to gain more from hunting, communities have to explore other avenues of trying to raise funds, like investing the P50 million that they have accrued into income generating activities,” said Theophilus.

Botswana’s growing elephant population, at more than 130,000, has created conflict with humans, as the animals often trample crops, injure or kill people.

But animal biologist Keith Lindsay said elephant hunting could hurt the species’ breeding patterns.

“The biggest male elephants are the ones that contribute most of the population in terms of survival and mating success. Their genes are actively selected and chosen by female elephants; they prefer mating with the biggest males. By taking away those big males, you are damaging the population’s genetic structure and survival chances in the future,” he said.

Meanwhile, Minister Modukanele said the government has distributed nearly 400 wild animals to small-scale farmers to ensure locals have a stake in agro-tourism.

“Government made a deliberate decision to support start-up ventures for Batswana who showed interest and met the requisite criterion for keeping of game in plowing fields. Those who qualified were assisted with animals of various species, such as impala, gemsbok, eland and zebra. To date, 277 have applied and 251 approved and 67 provided with seed stock, totaling 377 animals,” said Modukanele.

At a recent meeting of parties to CITES, the 1963 treaty to protect endangered species, some African countries tried to present a proposal seeking to ban trophy hunting in Botswana and other southern African elephant ranges.  The attempt was unsuccessful, and elephant hunting will continue in Botswana for the foreseeable future.   
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Casting his gaze far and wide from a hilltop in eastern Congo, warlord Janvier Karairi commands his forces in the battle against the feared M23 rebel group.

The self-proclaimed lieutenant general leads a militia called the Patriotic Alliance for a Free and Independent Congo (APCLS), mostly made up of fighters from the Hunde ethnic group, in a coalition dedicated to thwarting the M23’s advance.

The APCLS and other armed groups joined forces “to fight the aggressor,” Karairi, 60, told AFP reporters in his operational headquarters, a thatched hut in the Kitshanga region of North Kivu province.

Sporting a commando uniform, Karairi has spent more than a quarter century in the bush, including a spell fighting the M23 in 2012.

The Tutsi-led M23 is one of scores of armed groups active in the DRC’s volatile east, many of them legacies of two brutal wars in the late 20th century.

The M23 briefly occupied the provincial capital, Goma, that year before being beaten back in 2013.

It resumed fighting in late 2021, blaming the Congolese government for failing to honor a commitment to integrate its fighters into the army.

In recent months, the M23 has conquered part of Rutshuru territory near the borders with Uganda and Rwanda.

Congo accuses neighboring Rwanda of backing the rebels, who now lie about 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of Goma and have made gains farther west toward Masisi territory, Karairi’s stronghold.

That prompted the battle-hardened militia leader to take up arms against his old foes again, with his movement controlling much of the area.

“We continue to protect the population,” Karairi said at his headquarters in between phone calls to his troops on the ground. A silence descends every time he speaks.

Accompanying the veteran warrior was Heritier Ndagendange, who had just arrived from Goma with a heavy red bag that another militiaman carried on his head to present to the commander.

Ndagendange said it held ammunition he had brought from Goma after passing several checkpoints manned by the security forces on the road.

“We are rebels, we are good at finding weapons. The government doesn’t help us with anything in any case,” Karairi said.

He said his hundreds of combatants are unpaid volunteers motivated by the same desire to fight. “Our country will pay us when we finish the job,” he said.

Baseme, a 25-year-old under his command, proudly declared that he was fighting for his country. His comrade Mwisha, 23, said he joined the movement “to stand in the way of the aggressors, Rwanda.”

An APCLS spokesman said the army’s withdrawal from certain key routes had allowed the M23 to make rapid gains.

Ndagendange said Congolese army officers had “betrayed” the cause, and this had forced the APCLS to intervene to stop the M23.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a report in October that claimed the Congolese army was collaborating with armed groups — some of which stand accused of rights abuses — in the campaign against the M23.

Among them are the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, a mainly Hutu group that includes some actors involved in the 1994 Rwanda genocide against the Tutsis.

HRW also said the leaders of several Congolese armed groups, including Karairi’s APCLS, met in May to forge a “patriotic” coalition.

The army and the APCLS say they do not fight alongside these militias.

But with a myriad of armed men patrolling the streets of Kitshanga, some in military uniform and others in civilian clothing, a young telephone seller who gave her name as Muhoza said she could no longer tell the difference between them.

“Here you don’t know who’s who. We’re living in total fear, with all these armed groups,” she whispered.

Two young Hunde villagers, returning from the fields, said they felt safe since the arrival of the APCLS in their settlement.

On the other hand, a Tutsi woman in Goma said she had to flee Kitshanga when “General Janvier” and his young fighters entered the town.
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Convicted Congolese warlord Bosco Ntaganda has been transferred from the International Criminal Court to Belgium to start a 30-year sentence for war crimes, the tribunal said Wednesday.

Dubbed the “Terminator,” Ntaganda, 49, was convicted by the ICC in 2019 of leading a reign of terror in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo in the early 2000s.

“Mr Bosco Ntaganda was transferred to … the Kingdom of Belgium to serve his sentence of imprisonment at the Leuze-en-Hainaut prison,” the Hague-based ICC said in a statement.

Belgium is the former colonial power of Congo.

“The ICC relies on the support from states for the enforcement of its sentences and is highly appreciative of the voluntary cooperation of the Belgian government in this case,” the court’s registrar, Peter Lewis, said.

The Rwandan-born Ntaganda was convicted of five counts of crimes against humanity and 13 counts of war crimes, including murder, sexual slavery, rape, and use of child soldiers.

Ntaganda was the first person to be convicted of sexual slavery by the court. Many of the other charges related to massacres of villagers in the mineral-rich Ituri region of Congo.

Prosecutors portrayed him as the ruthless leader of ethnic Tutsi revolts amid the civil wars that racked Congo after the 1994 genocide of Tutsis in neighboring Rwanda.

Formerly a Congolese army general, Ntaganda became a founding member of the M23 rebel group, which was eventually defeated by Congolese government forces in 2013.

Later that year, he became the first-ever suspect to surrender to the ICC, when he walked into the U.S. Embassy in the Rwandan capital of Kigali.

Ntaganda — known for his pencil mustache and penchant for fine dining — insisted that the “Terminator” nickname, referring to the films starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as a relentless killer robot, did not apply to him.

Ntaganda’s sentence was upheld on appeal last year.
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Long-running tensions between the major international lenders and China were aired at a meeting in China’s Anhui province, where participants sought agreement on a way forward for some of the world’s most indebted countries, many of them in Africa.

Representatives of the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and Beijing’s finance ministry participated in the meeting to discuss debt restructuring for low-income countries — 60% of which the IMF says are at or near debt distress.

The relationship between the IMF and China — the world’s largest bilateral creditor — has not been an easy one, Harry Verhoeven, a senior research scholar at Columbia University, told VOA.

“The Fund has in recent years come under great pressure from its most important shareholders — the U.S. and European countries — to be much tougher on China and debt — and to help identify ways that either expose China as driving the build-up of unsustainable levels of indebtedness in African states” or that force China to cancel some of the debts owed to Beijing, he said.

“Yet on the other hand, the Fund also suffers from a crisis of legitimacy related to its perceived prioritizing of Western interests and concerns,” he added. “A growing number of developing countries in recent years/decades have sought to turn away from the Fund and deeply distrust its advice and conditionalities.”

What African countries hoped for as the outcome of this meeting, analysts said, was a combination of debt restructuring and forgiveness — as well as more predictability and reassurances that fresh capital will still be available to them.

“A large number of African countries’ balance sheets are shot to bits and these countries are technically insolvent,” said Kenya-based economist Aly-Khan Satchu.

Conciliatory tone

The press releases from both Beijing and the IMF after the meeting struck an optimistic tone.

IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said she had a “fruitful exchange” with her Chinese counterparts on how to accelerate debt relief to prevent “triggering a global debt crisis.”

Georgieva said China could “play an active role” in helping speed up the Common Framework, a plan by the G-20 announced two years ago to help countries buckling under debt by getting private creditors to participate and share the burden fairly.

So far, only Ethiopia, Chad and Zambia have made requests for debt relief under the Common Framework.

Ethiopia has been suffering a civil war, so its restructuring has been delayed, according to Reuters. Chad has completed the debt treatment process — although the agreement has been criticized for failing to reduce Chad’s overall debt.

“We need to build on the momentum of the agreement on Chad’s debt treatment and accelerate and finalize the debt treatments for Zambia and Sri Lanka, which would allow for disbursements from the IMF and multilateral development banks,” said Georgieva.

In 2020, Zambia became the first African nation in the COVID-19 pandemic era to default on its loans. In July its official creditors, led by China, agreed to provide debt relief. The move was welcomed by the International Monetary Fund, but the process is moving slowly. The finance minister of Zambia recently told Reuters he hopes his country will complete its debt-restructuring by the first quarter of 2023.

Meanwhile, crisis-hit Sri Lanka, which defaulted on its sovereign debt this year, is not eligible for the Common Framework because it’s a middle-income country. However, it has begun debt-restructuring talks, with creditors China, India and Japan playing key roles in the outcome.

The Chinese response

China has often come under criticism, especially from U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, for not participating enough in international efforts to reduce developing nations’ debt burdens or for delaying those efforts.

However, after last week’s meeting, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said that “China will continue to strengthen macro-policy coordination with all parties, including the IMF, to tackle debt” and will “work with relevant G-20 members to formulate and participate in a fair and equitable debt-restructuring plan.”

“As expected, China and the IMF made lots of positive noises about China’s role in finalizing restructuring for Sri Lanka and Zambia, as both the [IMF] managing director and the Beijing leadership need each other to recognize the efforts and legitimacy of the other,” said Verhoeven.

However, “there was no full-throated endorsement of the IMF-led Common Framework for Debt Treatments by China,” he noted, something the IMF would have liked.

Verhoeven noted that in the IMF’s communique after the Anhui meeting, “there was a recognition that the Framework must become more functional and predictable, which in Beijing translates as a recognition that China should not be uniquely vilified for the accumulation of debts by emerging economies in Africa and elsewhere.”

China has often been accused by the West of practicing “debt-trap diplomacy” — deliberately lending to countries that it knows cannot pay back, thereby increasing its political leverage — though the theory has largely been rejected by academics.

Just this week, China’s ambassador to the U.S., Qin Gang, cited a report by British charity Debt Justice that shows African countries in fact owe three times as much to Western private lenders.

China has often argued that multilateral development banks should also participate in debt restructurings.

Hard road ahead

World Bank President David Malpass was also in attendance at the Anhui meeting and took a more confrontational line than Georgieva, saying: “In our meetings, we discussed in detail the debt crisis that is intensifying in the world’s poorest countries and China’s role and responsibility in initiating and implementing solutions.”

He said there is an urgent need for more rapid progress in debt restructuring discussions for Zambia and that “changes in China’s positions are critical in this effort.”

He also urged China to be transparent in its loan contracts to help investors make informed decisions.

Kenya-based economist Satchu was not convinced the meeting achieved much, in the end.

“The Chinese clearly prefer to maintain a degree of autonomy in all discussions with debtor countries and I suspect this visit was an attempt to reach some kind of modus operandi between the IMF and China after some quite ham-fisted railroading attempts by the IMF,” he said.

“In a geoeconomic context, it’s crystal clear China’s Africa lending appetite is satiated, that the U.S. and the Multilaterals will need to step into the breach. … The challenge for the U.S. [and the IMF] is that … a lot of these new funds will be round-tripped back to China to pay down Chinese loans,” said Satchu.
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The United States plans to commit $55 billion to Africa over the next three years, according to White House officials. The announcement comes as the administration of President Joe Biden hosts a two-day meeting with African leaders.

The U.S. three-year funding pledge contains $20 billion for health programs in Africa.

Speaking to African leaders Wednesday at a business forum, President Joe Biden said the United States is all in on Africa’s future, and he announced new trade opportunities and infrastructure commitments, including for clean energy and the digital economy.

“Improving Africa’s infrastructure is essential to our vision of building a stronger global economy that can better withstand the kinds of shocks that we’ve seen the past few years,” Biden said.

The U.S. president is facing some criticism for not interacting individually with the visiting African leaders. Administration officials say soon, Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and some Cabinet secretaries will individually be visiting Africa for detailed discussions.
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President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government says Zimbabwe is now food secure and will not import food until next year. As The government claims are in sharp contrast to aid organizations saying that millions are food insecure.

Zimbabwe has been known for years to rely on international aid agencies for food relief, but that is now changing according to Monica Mutsvangwa, the information minister.

She said about 544,000 metric tons of food, comprising 467,000 metric tons of maize and 77,000 metric tons of traditional grains had been delivered by farmers to the country’s Grain Marketing Board (GMB) which buys harvested crops in Zimbabwe.

“The available grain will last for 11 months at a consumption rate of 49,295 metric tons per month. Wheat stocks at GMB stand at 179,218 metric tons, and this will provide 8.5 months’ cover at a consumption rate of 21 000 metric tons per month,” she said.

The harvest of Zimbabwe’s staple crops starts in March 2023, while wheat is harvested later in September and October. But it is mainly corn that many Zimbabweans rely on for their staple food called sadza or isitshwala — a thick porridge covered in relish before being eaten.

The U.N. World Food Program in Zimbabwe says with funding from the USAID, it is importing corn from neighboring Zambia to some rural districts.

On Wednesday, it said it would not stop its program for food insecure people until their next harvest.

“This is a positive development. However, food availability does not equity to food security since not every Zimbabwe has access or can afford grain,” said Tatenda Macheka from the WFP in Zimbabwe, commenting on Mutsvangwa’s announcement. “The rural Zimvac estimates that 3.8 million people will be cereal insecure at the peak of the lean season. WFP has been providing food assistance since the start of the lean season in October and continuous work with the government to assist those in need. At peak WFP will reach 700 000 people with food assistance while the government will support 3.1 million with cereal.”

Recently, the government released the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee or ZimVAC, which confirmed the figures Macheka talks about.

However, the government is projecting optimism and talking about making Zimbabwe food secure.

“Cabinet would like to highlight the following areas planted for the major crops this year compared to same time of the previous season: Maize, 465 707 hectares compared to 215 481 hectares; when it comes to soyabeans, 7 578 hectares compared to 8 948 hectares; when it comes to sorghum, 59 481 hectares against 12 210 hectares; when it comes to cotton, 88 856 hectares compared to 13 166 hectares; and finally, tobacco, 75,758 hectares versus 64,155 hectares planted last year,” said Mutsvangwa.

Zimbabwe, once the breadbasket of the region, has been an economic basket case for more than 20 years now. The government attributes that mainly to drought and western sanctions, while critics say it is because experienced commercial farmers were pushed off their land and replaced with peasant farmers starting in 2000.

It seems the government believes the good old days in Zimbabwe are set to return.
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South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa survived a vote in parliament that could have threatened his presidency — but can he survive another to keep his position as head of the ruling party? He finds out this weekend when the African National Congress party meets to elect its new leader. 

An independent panel recommended an impeachment inquiry go forward based on the theft of at least $580,000 concealed in a sofa on Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala game farm in Limpopo province in February 2020.

South African police never opened a docket for the theft, and while a Sudanese businessman has corroborated Ramaphosa’s claim that the money was from the sale of 20 buffaloes, a former state security boss accused the president of taking payments from foreign countries.

The ANC used its majority in the house to vote down the report Tuesday, saying there wasn’t enough evidence in it to warrant an impeachment inquiry.

Opposition party requests for a secret ballot were denied, despite reports that at least two MPs received death threats, warning them to vote against adopting the report. In total, 214 MPs voted “no” against the report, versus 148 votes in favor and two abstentions.

Four ANC members voted in favor of the inquiry, including Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma – the woman Ramaphosa narrowly beat to the ANC presidency in 2017. She’s the ex-wife of former president Jacob Zuma.

Several of Ramaphosa’s political rivals were absent for the vote, including the man some insiders are calling the president’s main competition for the party’s top job, former health minister Zweli Mkhize.

Mkhize was seen as a strong leader during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, but became embroiled in contract fraud allegations and resigned.

Political analyst Susan Booysen, a professor at the University of the Witwatersrand, believes it’s likely Ramaphosa will keep his job as the ANC’s president. 

“We’ve seen two or three regions in the last two or three days, announcing that they are switching their vote from Ramaphosa to Mkhize but in the overall scheme of things, so far we haven’t seen the evidence that he can successfully challenge Ramaphosa, but the final die has not been cast,” Booysen said.

If he is defeated at the conference, will the 70-year-old Ramaphosa, a trade unionist-turned-multimillionaire, stay on as president of the country? 

“If he does not make it, if he is not elected at this conference, in the next couple of days it is very likely that there will be, what they call in the ANC, a recall from power by the National Executive Committee like they did with president Thabo Mbeki and then former president Jacob Zuma, when the fortunes turned against them at the elective conferences,” Booysen said.  

The archbishop of the Anglican Church, Thabo Makgoba, said if Ramaphosa does stay on, citizens will still want to hear the outcome of several other state-sponsored investigations into the Phala Phala farm theft. 

“While we have to subject ourselves to the democratic processes and accept parliament’s vote, this saga is not yet over,” Makgoba said. “We still have to hear from the National Prosecuting Authority, the South African Revenue Services and the Reserve Bank. Whatever happens, President Ramaphosa’s credibility has suffered a blow.”

The ANC’s 55th elective conference starts Friday in Johannesburg and runs until December 20. 
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The U.S.-Africa summit kicked off Tuesday in the nation’s capital with a full agenda. Topics ranged from climate adaptation and energy transition to peace, security and governance. A special forum highlighted African youth and the role of the diaspora. VOA’s Mariama Diallo attended the summit and has this report.
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Support staff of Malawi’s judiciary system are holding a nationwide strike aimed at forcing the government to improve their working conditions. The strike, which started Monday, has paralyzed the courts, as protesters block lawyers, police and others from accessing the court buildings.

Court marshals, clerks and messengers say they will resume work only if the government addresses their grievances.

The striking court workers spend their time chanting, chatting and playing football and netball around the court premises.

Andy Haliwa, a spokesperson for the striking workers, told VOA the strike is a result of the government’s failure to honor worker concerns over terms of service that are revised every three years.

“The last revision was made in 2018. We anticipated a revision in 2021. And from 2021 and 2022 we have been working on a document to revise these conditions,” Haliwa said. “Yesterday in the morning we received a communication from the office of the registrar that the terms and conditions have been approved. But to our surprise what has been approved is contrary to what was submitted to the Judicial Service Commission.”

Haliwa said workers are demanding allowances for working overtime and outside their normal places of employment, among other things.

A similar strike lasted two months in 2015 when the workers demanded a 30% salary increase.

Haliwa said this time, the issue of a pay raise is out of the question because the government has said it has no money for that.

“We are OK with that because we understand the economic situation now,” he said. “But there are other allowances which we want, which we use while discharging our duties every day. What the ministry of finance has done, it has revised them, but the revision is not what we discussed.”

Efforts to reach government officials for a comment were not successful.

The strikers are using tree branches to barricade court buildings, denying access to judges, lawyers and other regular court users.

The industrial action led to indefinite suspension of more than 60 cases on Monday alone, including government corruption trials.

Human rights campaigners and legal experts said the strike is having a real effect on defendants.

Victor Mhango, executive director at the Center for Human Rights, Education, Advice and Assistance (CHREAA), said his organization is feeling the impact.

“Most of the time we assist the prisoners, most of the poor don’t have lawyers to represent them,” Mhango said. “We have some cases in the courts, so this has actually affected us. And we are seeing a number of rights violations regarding the right of suspects.”

The president of the Malawi Law Society, Patrick Mpaka, told a local newspaper that the strike is a serious inconvenience to accessing justice.

Officials in the Malawi judiciary have been holding meetings with leaders of striking staff in an effort to persuade them to call off the strike. But the strikers said they will not resume work until their demands are met.
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At least 50 people have been killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo capital Kinshasa after heavy rains unleashed floods and caused landslides, the city’s police chief Sylvano Kasongo said on Tuesday.

Entire neighborhoods were flooded with muddy water, and houses and roads ripped apart by sinkholes, including the N1 highway that connects Kinshasa to the chief sea port of Matadi.

“We are already at around 50 deaths and that is not yet final,” Kasongo said.

Images posted on Twitter by Congo’s government spokesman Patrick Muyaya showed a major road that appeared to have subsided into a deep chasm, with crowds staring at the damage.

Muyaya said “several dozen compatriots” had died. He added that the prime minister, governor and other officials were on the ground making assessments and would give a final toll later.

The prime minister’s office said in a statement that the N1 highway, which connects Kinshasa to other cities, was cut in two in the Mont-Ngafula district.

The road should be reopened in 3-4 days, it said.

“On the National Road 1 there is a big hole. Only pedestrians can pass. We do not understand how the water cut the road,” said local resident Gabriel Mbikolo.

Once a fishing village on the banks of the Congo river, Kinshasa has grown into one of Africa’s largest megacities with a population of around 15 million.

Poorly regulated rapid urbanization has made the city increasingly vulnerable to flash floods after intense rains, which have become more frequent due to climate change.

At least 39 people died in Kinshasa in 2019 when torrential rain flooded low-lying districts and some buildings and roads collapsed.

In addition to damaged infrastructure, each day of flooding costs households a combined $1.2 million due to the large-scale transport disruption, according to a 2020 World Bank paper.
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