Sudan’s military government has withdrawn the accreditation of a consumer protection group that took it to court over internet cuts during last year’s military coup, the group said Sunday.

The Sudanese Consumer Protection Society (SCPS) asked a court last year to order the government to restore internet services blocked during the October 25 coup, a power grab that has derailed a fragile transition to civilian rule.

A court had twice ruled that the internet should be restored, to no avail, before services eventually resumed on November 18 last year.  

Yasir Mirghani, head of the SCPS, told AFP he was handed on Sunday a decision dated October 9 to revoke the group’s permit after 24 years of operations.

A copy of the order, which has been seen by AFP, stipulated the “deregistration, seizure of assets and property, and the freezing of assets and accounts of the Sudanese Consumer Protection Society in all banks within and outside Sudan,” but did not list the group’s alleged violations.

Sudan has been in turmoil since army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan ousted the mainstream civilian bloc from a power-sharing government a year ago, triggering widespread international condemnation.

The power-sharing administration had been established in 2019 after the military ousted longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir amid enormous street protests.

Since last year’s coup, the protest movement has revived but been met by force that has killed at least 117 people, according to pro-democracy medics.
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Security forces shot dead a protester in Sudan’s capital Sunday, medics said, two days ahead of the anniversary of a military coup that derailed the country’s transition to civilian rule.

The latest death — the first of a protester since August 31 — brings to 118 the number of demonstrators killed over the past year, according to the Central Committee of Sudan Doctors.

The demonstrator was killed “by a bullet fired by the security forces,” the committee said. 

Tuesday marks one year since the October 25 coup led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, a year marked by near-weekly anti-coup rallies and a crackdown on protests by the authorities.

The coup upended a transition to civilian rule that was launched after the 2019 ouster of strongman Omar al-Bashir, who ruled the northeast African country for three decades.

In July, Burhan pledged in a televised address to step aside and make way for Sudanese factions to agree on a civilian government.

However, civilian leaders dismissed his move as a “ruse.”

Pro-democracy protesters have since held fast to their rallying cry of “no negotiation, no partnership” with the military, and have pledged a show of force for Tuesday’s anniversary.

On Friday, thousands of people took to city streets across Sudan to demand a return to civilian rule in one of the world’s poorest countries as it sinks even further into political and economic crisis.

Despite international mediators trying to get the army and civilian factions to negotiate, no end seems in sight to the impasse.

The economic situation is only getting worse, with three-digit inflation and a third of the country’s 45 million people suffering from food shortages.
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South Africa will overhaul its anti-corruption strategy and ensure the independence of prosecutors, President Cyril Ramaphosa said Sunday, responding to recommendations from a state inquiry into alleged corruption under his predecessor.

A judicial commission of inquiry was established to examine allegations of high-level graft during former President Jacob Zuma’s nine years in power from 2009 to 2018.

“The people of South Africa are tired of corruption and want it to end,” Ramaphosa said in a live television broadcast. “As a country, we are emerging from a dark and difficult period.”

The inquiry found Zuma had allowed businessmen close to him – brothers Atul, Ajay and Rajesh Gupta – to plunder state resources and influence policy, commonly known as ‘state capture’ in South Africa.

The Guptas deny any wrongdoing and have left the country but face extradition proceedings in Dubai. Zuma denies wrongdoing and at one stage refused to cooperate with the inquiry, leading to his imprisonment in July 2021 for contempt of court.

Inquiry reports said investigations, which implicated ANC politicians and company executives, found rampant graft across key economic sectors including state-owned companies such as power utility Eskom and freight and logistics group Transnet.

Evidence uncovered by the inquiry can be used by authorities to pursue criminal charges.

Ramaphosa said of plans to overhaul South Africa’s anti-graft strategy: “Through the implementation of the actions contained in this response, we can start a new chapter in our struggle against corruption.”

In a letter addressed to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Ramaphosa said his response outlined steps government will take to catch suspects and other reforms.

Ramaphosa, who served as deputy state president under Zuma, testified at the inquiry that he chose to “remain but resist” rather than resign when allegations surfaced.
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Two more people in an isolation unit of Uganda’s main hospital have tested positive for Ebola, bringing total cases recorded in the facility to five, the health minister said on Sunday.

The five confirmed cases in Kampala are the first known transmission of the virus in the city, coming days after the information ministry said the country’s Ebola outbreak was coming under control and was expected to be over by the end of the year.

Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng said on Saturday that three patients among 60 people in isolation at Kampala’s Mulago Hospital tested positive for the disease a day earlier.

She had said the three infected people had been in contact with a patient from Kassanda district in central Uganda who had died in Mulago.

“Two more contacts to the Kassanda case, who are quarantined in Mulago Isolation facility, tested positive for Ebola yesterday…” Aceng said on Twitter.

She added the two had been transferred to a treatment unit at a hospital in Entebbe, 41 km (25 miles) away.

The government has introduced a three-week lockdown around the Mubende and Kassanda districts in central Uganda, the epicenter of the outbreak of the Sudan variant of the Ebola virus.

A government statement on Friday said the outbreak had by then infected 65 people and killed 27. It was not clear if the numbers included the three first new Kampala cases.

The government said last week two other cases of Ebola confirmed in Kampala had come from Mubende and were regarded as originating there, not the capital.
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Witnesses in Sudan’s Blue Nile region say more than 150 people have been killed this week in communal violence triggered by a land dispute. 

Blue Nile governor Ahmed al-Omda Badi declared a night curfew in Wed al- Mahi locality, Wednesday, after the renewed communal fighting between the Hausa and local Berti tribes.

According to an eyewitness, the three days of clashes have killed more than 150 people, injured scores of others and displaced thousands.

Speaking to VOA from al-Damazine town early Friday, local activist Abdulatti Ahmed al-Fekki says the fighting continued for a third day, displacing families, including women and children.

Al-Fekki says according to a report from Wed Al Mahi, houses have been burned to the ground and property is being looted. He describes the situation as horrible.

“The preliminary death toll up to this morning is more than 160 and up to this moment, there are uncounted wounded individuals from Madina villages, two and three who are unable to be taken to the hospital. I am quite sure that in such a situation, there will be victims who have yet to be identified,” he said.

VOA could not independently verify the casualty figures.

Inter-communal clashes erupted between tribes in July due to a land dispute.

Al-Fekki says all health facilities in the town of al-Russairis are filled with injured people, and that about two thousand displaced people have gathered in a nearby village.

The Sudanese national government has deployed more troops to the area to de-escalate tensions between the two rival communities.

Al-Fekki said he saw additional troops being sent to the area Friday morning to end the cycle of violence.

“As I speak, I could see some military Land Cruiser pick-ups, full of armed Sudanese Armed Forces, heading to the conflicted area. Apart from this, he adds, I can confirm that there are some forces that went yesterday to the conflict area to contain the clashes,” he said.

The U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, Eddie Rowe, expressed concern at the renewed inter-communal fighting in Blue Nile and West Kordofan, appealing for an end to the violence.

At least 1,200 people have been displaced and an unconfirmed 170 people have been killed and 327 have been injured, Rowe said in a statement published Thursday.

Rowe urged all parties in the conflict to enable the free and safe movement of affected people in search of safety and assistance. He said humanitarian organizations in Sudan stand ready to aid people affected by the conflicts.

The international charity organization, Save the Children in Sudan, also expressed deep concern about renewed violence in Blue Nile. “We urge authorities and community leaders to do everything possible to end violence affecting innocent civilians,” it said.
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Al-Shabab militants in Somalia have attacked a hotel in the southern port town of Kismayo, Sunday, witnesses said.

The attacked started with an explosion outside the hotel that was followed by the storming of the Tawakal Hotel by armed men. The first explosion was heard around 12:15 local time.

Witnesses and videos from the scene reported sustained gunfire near the hotel, between the attackers and security forces.

Ambulances were also seen moving towards Kismayo Port Road, where the hotel is located.

The hotel is frequented by the local elders and business community leaders. Casualties are not yet known.

The al-Shabab militant group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
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South Africa’s scandal-embroiled former president, Jacob Zuma, addressed the media Saturday for the first time after completing a 15-month jail term for contempt of court, alleging the country’s justice system is unjust and infiltrated by foreign interests.

Zuma, who has faced myriad corruption allegations, also had failed to appear in front of an inquiry into state graft — locally called “state capture” — that occurred under his nearly decadelong tenure.  

Yet, Zuma told the press he had been unfairly imprisoned without a trial, despite the fact he was summoned and failed to appear before the inquiry. Analysts say Zuma is refusing to acknowledge the validity of the inquiry, essentially attempting to portray the presiding judge as leading a witch hunt for the former leader.

Zuma said the country’s justice system has been “infiltrated” by both international interests and the interests of sympathizers of the former racially segregated apartheid regime.  

Zuma also claimed the judge presiding over the inquiry, Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, had unfairly targeted him and his allies to distract the public from the country’s real issues.  

At the time of his arrest in July 2021, protests led by his supporters in his home province of KwaZulu Natal spiraled into riots around the country that resulted in millions of dollars in damage to infrastructure and stolen goods.  

Police said earlier this week that one of Zuma’s daughters remains under investigation for inciting the unrest.  

Zuma spent just three of the 15 months behind bars, and he was released on medical parole for an undisclosed condition. 

On Saturday, Zuma didn’t provide any evidence of so-called infiltration of the country’s courts — which are viewed by many as the strongest institution for averting otherwise widespread corruption.  

Instead, Zuma blamed, but didn’t name, the country’s leadership for selling out the judiciary and the constitution to “global commercial interests.”  

The allegations come just two months ahead of the convention of the ruling African National Congress party, where current President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is politically at odds with his predecessor, Zuma, is expected to face fierce competition to retain party leadership.  
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The World Food Program warned Friday it is only a matter of time before Somalia is hit with a full-blown famine and people start dying in droves.

The United Nations food agency said it has been able to keep famine at bay in Somalia by massively increasing food assistance to millions of acutely hungry people.  

WFP Somalia Deputy Country Director Laura Turner said international donations have allowed increased aid, reaching nearly 4.2 million people with food and cash relief.

Speaking from the Somali capital, Mogadishu, she said the WFP is delivering food and nutrition support to record numbers of people. She said beneficiaries include half a million malnourished children and mothers with malnutrition treatment services.

She said the increased food aid so far has prevented Somalia’s hunger crisis from reaching a point of no return. However, she warned Somalia is not yet out of danger.

“We are in a desperate race against time,” she said. “As we discussed a month ago, if the situation continues to worsen, and we are expecting that it will because we are currently in the rainy season, and we have not seen the rains materialize. Or the relief assistance does not continue to increase to meet the growing needs, then famine is projected before the end of this year.”   

The U.N. predicts famine is likely in the Baidoa and Burhakaba districts of the country’s Bay region. It forecasts up to 6.7 million people across the country will face crisis-level food insecurity before the end of the year.

Turner said the WFP is now reaching more than double the numbers of vulnerable people with aid that it was reaching earlier this year. She said food assistance alone will not prevent loss of life.

“Disease, poor hygiene, dehydration — they are all equally concerning,” she said. “We work very closely on an integrated response to make sure that sanitation, water access, health services are also included in what we are doing so that we can address the drivers of mortality.”

Turner said in her 20-year humanitarian career she has never experienced a looming catastrophe of such proportions. She called soaring malnutrition rates horrifying, saying severely acutely malnourished children are at particular risk of dying from hunger and disease.  

The World Health Organization reports half of Somalia’s children, some 1.8 million, are suffering from this condition. 
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Guinea’s ruling junta has agreed to restore civilian rule in two years, after facing sanctions over its original plan for a three-year transfer of power, the West African bloc ECOWAS said Friday.

West African leaders had last month suspended Guinea from the bloc and imposed sanctions on a number of individuals following a military coup.

“In a dynamic compromise, experts from ECOWAS and Guinea have jointly developed a consolidated chronogram (timetable) for a transition spread over 24 months,” ECOWAS said in a report following a technical mission to the country published on social media by the junta.

The country’s military leader, Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, said in an address broadcast on state television that the timetable would take effect from Jan. 1, 2023.

Leaders from the Economic Community of West African States must approve the timetable before it is officially implemented, with the bloc due to hold a summit before the end of the year.

The bloc had given the junta one month to present a “reasonable and acceptable” timetable for the return to civilian rule, an ultimatum that theoretically expires this weekend.

Diplomatic links between the two sides have remained and Guinean authorities have reiterated their readiness to cooperate with ECOWAS, which had dispatched its mission to Conakry to work out a compromise schedule.

Acceptable

The poor but mineral-rich West African state has been under a military government since a September 2021 coup that ousted president Alpha Conde after more than 10 years in power.

Colonel Doumbouya has since appointed himself president and vowed to restore civilian rule within three years.

Several West African officials have indicated that a two-year transition period would be acceptable.

A similar timeframe was agreed between ECOWAS and the junta in neighboring Mali after months of wrangling.

Under the terms of that agreement, reached in July, the Malian military was to hand over power in March 2024. By that time, they would have been in power for more than three-and-a-half years since overthrowing the elected civilian president in August 2020.

In recent years, ECOWAS has witnessed a succession of military coups in West Africa, in 2020 and 2021 in Mali, in 2021 in Guinea and twice this year in Burkina Faso.

In the face of military authorities, the bloc has duly increased its summits and country missions while ramping up pressure to shorten the transitional periods back to civilian rule.

Four dead in clashes

The transition compromise was reached after demonstrations broke out Thursday in the capital Conakry, with young protesters clashing with security forces and opposition group the National Front for the Defense of the Constitution claiming four civilians had been killed.

The FNDC — outlawed by the junta — had called for the protests to demand a quick return to a civilian-led government and the release of all prisoners detained for political reasons.

In response, Guinea’s top prosecutor on Friday called for a crackdown on the organizers and participants of a giant anti-government protest in which he said six security personnel had been wounded while the opposition said four civilians had been killed.

The FNDC identified three of the people killed as Thierno Bella Diallo, Boubacar Diallo and Thierno Moussa Barry. It said 20 people suffered gunshot wounds while many others were arrested.

Justice Minister Alphonse Charles Wright confirmed their deaths in a statement on Friday, but said the causes “remain to be clarified by autopsy.”

He ordered prosecutions, without commenting on the alleged perpetrators.
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Editor’s note: Here is a fast take on what the international community has been up to this past week, as seen from the United Nations perch.

Ukraine asks UN to send experts to examine possible Iranian drones

Ukraine has invited U.N. experts to examine debris from what it says are Iranian-made drones sold to Russia in violation of international sanctions and used to attack Ukrainian towns and cities. Iran and Russia both deny the accusations. Experts say the drones are likely Iranian-made Shahed-136 unmanned aerial vehicles. Russia says it manufactured the drones. It has warned that the U.N. Secretariat has no mandate to carry out an investigation, and if it does, Moscow will “reassess” its collaboration with the U.N. body. Britain, France and Germany urged the U.N. to investigate in a letter on Friday.

Ukraine Invites UN Experts to Examine Iranian Drone Debris

Meanwhile, humanitarians are working to reach as many Ukrainians as they can with winter assistance as temperatures begin to drop. Denise Brown, U.N. resident and humanitarian coordinator in Ukraine, spoke to VOA this week about the challenges for both humanitarians and the people they assist.

Millions of Ukrainians Beyond Reach, as Russia Blocks UN Aid Access in Areas it Controls

Security Council sanctions Haitian gang leaders

The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Friday to impose targeted sanctions including asset freezes, travel bans and an arms embargo on gang leaders in Haiti, who are fomenting widespread violence against civilians and blocking access to vital fuel stocks. The vote follows a meeting Monday, during which Haiti’s foreign minister spoke of the “unfathomable reality” of the hardships Haitians are facing.

UN Authorizes Sanctions on Haitian Gangs

Northern Ethiopia ‘spiraling out of control’

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Monday that the situation in northern Ethiopia is “spiraling out of control” and that he sees no military solution to the conflict. He urged the international community to come together to end the nearly 2-year-old conflict between the government and Tigrayan forces, which has killed and injured thousands and left millions on the brink of starvation. Guterres said the United Nations is ready to support African Union-led efforts at peace talks “in every possible way.” A private meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Friday to discuss the issue ended without action. Diplomats said China and Russia blocked a press statement calling for an immediate and unconditional cease-fire at the behest of Ethiopia.

UN Chief: Ethiopia’s Tigray ‘Spiraling out of Control’

Separately, the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned Wednesday that “there is a very narrow window now to prevent genocide in Tigray.”

This warning was amplified by Alice Nderitu, U.N. special adviser on the prevention of genocide, who said the “targeting of civilians based on their ethnicity or perceived affiliation to the warring parties remains a key characteristic of the conflict and one that is worsened by horrifying levels of hate speech and incitement to violence.” The U.N. has warned that such language can lead to atrocity crimes.

In brief

— The World Health Organization said Tuesday that as of October 14, there have been 15,823 suspected cases of cholera in Syria, including 807 confirmed cases and 68 reported deaths. The rise in cases is compounded by severe countrywide water shortages and drought-like conditions. Water infrastructure has been destroyed or damaged in a decade of conflict, leaving people dependent on unsafe water sources. Aid groups say they are facing shortages in cholera supplies, including medicines.

— Four U.N. peacekeepers from Chad were killed and two seriously wounded in northern Mali this week when their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device in Tessalit, in the Kidal region. They were on a mine search and detection patrol. A dozen peacekeepers have been killed in Mali this year.

— The U.N. expressed concern Thursday about flooding in Nigeria that the government says has killed more than 600 people and displaced 1.3 million. Food security is a concern, as more than 440,000 hectares of farmland have been partially or totally damaged. Before the floods, 19 million people across Nigeria were facing severe food insecurity. The Food and Agriculture Organization forecasts cereal production will likely decline by 3.4% compared with 2021 because of the flooding, high agriculture production costs and insecurity.

Quote of note

“We cannot separate the perilous state of peace in our world from the destructive effects of patriarchy and the silencing of women’s voices. The challenges we face today — from proliferating conflicts to worsening assaults on human rights — are in many ways connected to the trampling of women’s rights and to deeply ingrained misogyny around the world.”

U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed urged nations to challenge misogyny and the structures that sustain it during remarks Thursday to the Security Council debate on women, peace and security.

What we are watching next week

The African Union hopes to hold peace talks aimed at ending the war in Ethiopia’s Tigray region starting Monday in South Africa. The talks were supposed to take place earlier this month but were delayed. U.N. chief Guterres says the situation is “spiraling out of control” and has joined AU calls for an immediate cease-fire.

Mark your calendar

Monday, October 24, is U.N. Day. It marks the day in 1945 that the U.N. Charter entered into force and the organization officially came into being. “As we mark U.N. Day, let us renew our hope and conviction in what humanity can achieve when we work as one, in global solidarity,” Secretary-General Guterres says in his message this year.
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The U.S. government on Friday granted Temporary Protected Status for 18 months for Ethiopians currently residing in the United States, the Department of Homeland Security said.

“The United States recognizes the ongoing armed conflict and the extraordinary and temporary conditions engulfing Ethiopia, and DHS is committed to providing temporary protection to those in need,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement announcing the designation.

The Ethiopian military and allies including troops from neighboring Eritrea have been battling forces from the northern region of Tigray on and off for two years.

The conflict has killed thousands, displaced millions and left hundreds of thousands on the brink of famine.

An estimated 27,000 Ethiopians in the United States will be eligible for TPS under the new designation, a Homeland Security department spokesperson said.

To qualify for the program, Ethiopians in the United States will have to show they have been continuously resided in the United States since Oct. 20, 2022, and those who attempt to travel to the United States after that date would not be eligible, the department said.
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The U.N.’s chief human rights official, Volker Tuerk, is calling for an end to the use of lethal force by Chadian security forces who reportedly killed and wounded dozens of protesters Thursday. 

Violent demonstrations broke out in several cities Thursday, protesting the decision by Chad’s military government to delay by two years the handover of power to civilian rule.   

Chadian authorities report some 50 people have been killed and nearly 300 injured in clashes between security forces and protesters.  

Tuerk’s spokeswoman, Ravina Shamdasani, said a journalist reportedly is among those killed. Additionally, she said her office has received reports that at least 500 people have been arrested.

“The U.N. Human Rights Chad office received information from several sources that early in the morning of the 20th of October, several hundred protesters, mostly young people, started demonstrating in N’Djamena, and that internal security forces used tear gas and fired live ammunition to disperse the protesters,” she said.

Mahamat Idriss Deby, the son of Chad’s former President Idriss Deby, took power after his father was killed a year and a half ago during an operation against rebels. The younger Deby’s transition rule was supposed to have ended Thursday. His refusal to step down and restore civilian rule triggered the current protests.

Shamdasani said the High Commissioner is calling for calm and for all sides to show restraint. In particular, she said defense and security forces must refrain from using force against peaceful protesters. She added that all those detained for exercising their rights to peaceful assembly must be promptly released. 

“Today, I understand from colleagues that the situation is calm but tense,” she said. “And this also has to do with the fact that the government announced a suspension of the activities of the political parties that called for the protests. Yes, we are in touch with the government. We have an office in Chad. We have been raising our concerns with them regularly.”  

Shamdasani said the human rights office is monitoring the situation and will continue to do so. At the same time, she said the High Commissioner is calling on Chadian state institutions to conduct impartial, prompt, and effective investigations into alleged human rights violations.
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The World Health Organization says hundreds of thousands of people in drought-stricken Somalia may die unless the international community acts urgently to prevent the country from falling into famine.

The U.N. health agency says every single person in Somalia is facing hunger on a scale not seen since the famine in 2011, which killed more than a quarter million people, half of them children.

Speaking from the capital, Mogadishu, the WHO representative in Somalia, Mamunur Rahman Malik, said every night millions of people are going to sleep hungry. He said half of the country’s children, or 1.8 million, face acute severe malnutrition, warning that half of these children may die if they do not receive urgent medical treatment.  

“I have seen children dying almost every hour in some of the health centers that I visited,” he said. “Many of them have traveled miles after miles in search of food and water and their weak bodies just could not make it that last mile.”

The WHO reports one out of every 10 children in the country is visiting health centers with diseases that are largely preventable.

In addition, Malik said one out of every seven Somali children is missing out on life-saving vaccines against killer diseases such as measles, diarrheal diseases, cholera, and acute respiratory infections. This, because they and their families are forced to leave their homes in search of food.

“We have seen deaths and diseases thrive when hunger and food crises are prolonged,” he said. “I have visited a number of health centers which I have seen with my own eyes how health workers are struggling to deal with the increased influx of children suffering.… In one instance, as many as 100 children with severe diseases needed to be cared for by only one or two health workers in very difficult working conditions.”

Malik said the WHO is working hard to prevent this dire situation from getting worse. He noted the agency is providing health care in hard-to-reach areas and delivering essential medication and other services for nearly three million people.

But he said this is not enough given the magnitude of the crisis. He warned many more people will die from disease than from hunger and malnutrition combined unless the world takes action to stave off this impending disaster.
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At least 150 people including children have been killed in two days of fighting in the latest ethnic clashes over land disputes in Sudan’s southern Blue Nile state, a medic said Thursday.

The fighting is some of the worst in recent months, and crowds took to the streets of the Blue Nile state capital Damazin in protest, chanting slogans condemning a conflict that has left hundreds dead this year.

Clashes in Blue Nile broke out last week after reported arguments over land between members of the Hausa people and rival groups, with residents reporting hundreds fleeing intense gunfire and homes set ablaze.

The fighting centered around the Wad al-Mahi area near Roseires, about 500 kilometers south of the capital, Khartoum.

“A total 150 people including women, children and elderly were killed between Wednesday and Thursday,” said Abbas Moussa, head of Wad al-Mahi hospital. “Around 86 people were also wounded in the violence.”

On Thursday, hundreds marched through Damazin, some calling for the state governor to be sacked, witnesses said.

“No, no to violence,” the demonstrators chanted.

Eddie Rowe, the United Nations aid chief for Sudan, said he was “deeply concerned” at ongoing fighting, reporting that “an unconfirmed 170 people have been killed and 327 have been injured” since the latest unrest began Oct. 13.

‘Alarmed’

The U.N. mission in Sudan said it was alarmed by the resurgence of conflict in Blue Nile, a region awash with guns bordering South Sudan and Ethiopia, that is still struggling to rebuild after decades of civil war.

Last week, clashes in the same area of Blue Nile sparked by a dispute over land issues left at least 13 people dead and 24 injured, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Authorities imposed an overnight curfew in a bid to contain the violence.

Sudan is grappling with deepening political unrest and a spiraling economic crisis since last year’s military coup, led by army chief Abdel-Fattah Burhan.

The military power grab upended a transition to civilian rule launched after the 2019 ouster of strongman Omar al-Bashir, who ruled for three decades.

“Sustainable peace won’t be possible without a fully functional credible government that prioritizes local communities’ needs including security, and addresses the root causes of conflict,” the U.N. added.

A surge in ethnic violence in recent months has highlighted the security breakdown in Sudan since the coup.

More than 546 people were killed and more than 211,000 forced to flee their homes in inter-communal conflicts across the country from January to September, according to the U.N.

Thousands forced to flee

Fighting between the Hausa people and other groups first broke out in July, with about 150 people recorded as dead and about 125 wounded until early October, according to a toll reported by OCHA.

The July clashes erupted after Hausa members requested the creation of a “civil authority,” that rival groups saw as a means of gaining access to land.

The clashes also triggered angry protests across Sudan, with the Hausa people demanding justice for those killed.

By late July, senior leaders agreed to cease hostilities. Clashes broke out again in September.

In a separate conflict, violence broke out earlier this week around Lagawa in West Kordofan between the Nuba and Arab Misseriya groups, also in the south of Sudan, some 580 kilometers southwest of Khartoum.

The government’s Humanitarian Aid Commission reported 19 dead and 34 injured in that conflict, according to the U.N., with 36,500 people fleeing the violence.

The army accused a holdout rebel group of shelling Lagawa on Tuesday, wounding two members of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
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The British Defense Ministry says it is seeking to ensure retired members of the British Royal Air Force who were recruited via a South African company to train pilots in China’s People’s Liberation Army are fully aware of the risk of prosecution under the Official Secrets Act.

China has been recruiting former British military pilots to train their own personnel, Britain’s defense ministry said in a statement this week, warning that it “erodes the UK’s defense advantage” and that steps are being taken to stop it.

The Ministry’s Defense Intelligence Service issued a rare “threat alert” on Tuesday and its officials said that British pilots who transfer expertise to the Chinese military – possibly even teaching them how to defeat Western helicopters and warplanes – could be prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act.

Many of the 30 pilots believed to be involved were lured to work in China with the promise of lucrative salaries, officials said. Pilots from other allied nations have also been targeted.

Armed Forces Minister James Heappey spoke to Sky News about Britain’s concerns.

“There is no secret in their attempt to gain access to our secrets, and the recruitment of our pilots in order to understand the capability of our air force is clearly a concern to us,” he said.

Multiple media outlets reported an unnamed Western official as saying many of the pilots were being recruited through the Test Flying Academy of South Africa, a private company in a remote, semidesert area in the Western Cape, which allegedly was acting as a headhunter for the Chinese.

The company has a long history of involvement with China, saying on its website that it provides training to cadets from various Chinese airlines, as part of a deal with the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), a state-owned aerospace and defense conglomerate. The website also says the company has experience with several aircraft used by the People’s Liberation Army.

Thomas Newdick, a writer specializing in air warfare at The Warzone, an American defense website, told VOA the company had made no secret of its relations with the Chinese on the commercial side.

“They have broader relationships with Chinese aviation industry, including parts of the industry that are responsible for military aviation as well, so it’s not a huge leap to imagine they may also have connections with the People’s Liberation Army as well,” he said.

Darren Olivier, director at the African Defense Review, said the aviation center has been operating openly for a number of years.

“With the caveat that we don’t have specific detail on what type of training the company’s been providing, what’s been revealed so far does indeed seem legal,” he said.

Tensions rising

However, he said, what made it controversial was that this kind of training would dramatically help accelerate China’s military aircraft programs. It comes as geopolitical tensions between China and the West are on the rise, he noted.

A receptionist at the academy told VOA on Wednesday that she was aware of the controversy surrounding the company and would pass on a request for comment. Multiple emails then went unanswered.

However, the academy’s president, Jean Rossouw, told Business Insider South Africa that no laws had been broken and the company did not deal with any client projects that could include classified information. He said the company had never recruited pilots directly from the British military, but that they were all retired pilots already working as contractors in the Middle East.

Jasmine Opperman, a South African security consultant, said there are many former army personnel in South Africa who provided training or acted as private military recruiters. But she said the reports about the flight academy were concerning.

“The problem for South Africa is you have a registered South African company responsible for training now acting as a go-between for two foreign entities,” she said.

In his speech to the Communist Party Congress in Beijing this week, Chinese President Xi Jinping emphasized the importance of security and the need to grow the country’s military – the world’s second largest after that of the United States. He also reiterated that China reserved the right to use force, if necessary, regarding Taiwan.
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About 50 people were killed and nearly 300 injured in violence that broke out in Chad on Thursday as hundreds took to the streets to demand a quicker transition to democratic rule.

Prime Minister Saleh Kebzabo, who gave the death toll at a news conference, said the government was still compiling casualties from what he described as an armed insurrection.

But human rights groups said that unarmed civilians were massacred as security forces brutally cracked down on demonstrations in the capital, N’Djamena, and several other cities.

The vast, military-run Central African nation has been in crisis since the April 2021 death of President Idriss Deby, who ruled with an iron fist for three decades.

His son, Mahamat Idriss Deby, seized power in the immediate aftermath and initially promised an 18-month transition to elections, but on October 1 he announced they would be pushed back by two years.

Opposition and civil society groups called for the protests on Thursday, which would have marked the end of an initially agreed-upon 18-month transition period. The government banned them, citing security reasons.

But demonstrators showed up early in the morning, barricaded roads and torched the party headquarters of the new prime minister.

“What happened today is an armed popular uprising to seize power by force, and those responsible for this violence will face justice,” said Kebzabo, an opponent of Deby’s regime who was named prime minister of a new “unity government” last week.

“The demonstrators had firearms and they are considered rebels. The security forces responded only in self-defense,” Kebzabo said.

The International Federation for Human Rights and its partner organizations in Chad said the protests were violently repressed by security forces and that cases of live gunfire, torture and arbitrary arrests had been reported.

Amnesty International researcher Abdoulaye Diarra said security forces used live rounds on protesters, based on witness accounts and analysis of photos and video from the day.

Chadian journalist Oredje Narcisse, who had worked with Reuters in the past, was among the dead, his brother said.

Other confirmed victims included a policeman who was fatally wounded in clashes, a 28-year-old protester who was shot in the neck, and Chadian musician Ray’s Kim, who died in a hospital.

“It’s clear that an impartial investigation is needed to determine if protesters resorted to looting and violence and if security forces unlawfully resorted to lethal force across the country,” said Lewis Mudge, Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch.

Riots have been intermittent in Chad since Deby seized power last year, but Thursday’s appeared to be the bloodiest.

The government declared a state of emergency and a curfew from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., although the president had already declared a state of emergency on Wednesday because of catastrophic floods.

“I firmly condemn the repression of demonstrations that led to deaths in Chad,” African Union Commission Chair Moussa Faki Mahamat, who is a former prime minister of Chad, tweeted, calling for a peaceful solution to the crisis.

“We are concerned about the violence in the context of demonstrations in Chad today, which has reportedly led to the loss of lives and injuries,” said Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

He called on authorities to ensure the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly for all Chadians, and for all parties to refrain from excessive use of force and violence.
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With Nigeria’s election campaigns in full swing ahead of February’s vote, fact-checkers in the country say they are working together to counter cases of disinformation.

For journalist Opeyemi Kehinde, the first task each day is searching the internet, television programs and social media for any information that may need a second look. If he spots anything dubious, Kehinde posts it to the messaging platform Slack, so that he and other fact-checkers can verify the information.

Kehinde heads FactCheckHub, an Abuja-based organization that is one of eight members of a wider fact-checking initiative known as the Nigerian Fact Checkers Coalition.

Together, they combine resources and expertise to help tackle misinformation ahead of Nigeria’s general election.

The Nigerian Fact Checkers Coalition started four months ago.

“Since the advent of various social media platforms and internet access, a lot of people have access to much more information than a decade or two ago,” Kehinde said. “We felt as this election is coming up soon, there’s need for more advocacy, media literacy, fact-checking of information released by politicians, stakeholders in the elections, as well as the Nigerian populace.”

The Nigerian Fact Checkers Coalition holds weekly meetings and publishes its findings through the members’ respective newsrooms.

In August, the coalition published an open letter urging politicians not to use misinformation and falsehoods, and to ensure that information disseminated during campaigns is accurate and fair.

Last month, the group hosted politicians, security agents, independent electoral bodies and civil society groups at a conference to discuss the impact of falsehoods.

Kehinde said the group is seeing some successes, but is experiencing pushback, too.

“We have some politicians who are now setting up media teams to attack fact-checks that are published by members of the coalition, to provide alternative facts to some of our evidence-based reports, based on their misleading claims,” he said.

Public opinion in the country is often shaped by ethnic and religious backgrounds, especially during elections. And with a population of over 200 million, the ratio of fact-checkers to citizens in Nigeria is very low.

Abuja-based communications expert Pamela Braide said spreading falsehoods can have serious implications.

“Communications and politics go hand in hand, misinformation is part of it. What it does is it increases people’s mistrust, it [damages] relationships of the people, communities, and it often leads to violence before it is verified,” Braide said.

But by combining their efforts, members of the fact-checking coalition can quickly counter false information.

Kemi Busari, coalition member and editor at verification website Dubawa, explained how the coalition sprang into action when it spotted a viral video about a politician.

The fact-checkers found the video had been manipulated in an attempt to mislead voters into thinking the politician supported a member of the opposition party.

“We did the fact-check and we realized that some guys just decided to extract some part of it,” Busari said. “The video was shared in the group and we did the fact-check and all of us published it, and that increased the scale or audience of the fact-check. It’s best we come together. We can co-publish our fact-checks; we can co-author fact-checks.”

Busari said the coalition is just getting started.

“We’re also looking at several partnerships with embassies, Google, and some other organizations. Particularly we’re seeking partnership with organizations who could help with live fact-checking. We want to be engaged in live fact-checking of every [one] of these conversations,” he said.

As election campaigns and rallies gather pace across Nigeria, the fact-check coalition may have a large task ahead.
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The World Health Organization warns Africa’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has stagnated, putting the continent’s 1.2 billion people at higher risk for this ever-evolving virus.

New numbers from the WHO show a significant decline in new vaccinations, with immunization rates dropping by more than half between July and September.

At this rate, WHO officials say most countries in Africa will miss the global goal of vaccinating 70 percent of their populations by the end of the year.

Despite this setback, WHO says modest progress is being made towards vaccinating high-risk population groups, particularly the elderly. In other good news, the agency reports over the past 12 weeks, Africa has recorded the lowest case numbers since the start of the pandemic, adding that deaths remain low across the region.

WHO regional director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, says in many ways, Africa is a victim of its own success.

“It is important to note that vaccine supply is no longer problematic; countries are now receiving about double the number of doses per 100 people than at the end of last year…Unfortunately, as vaccines have helped avert serious COVID-19 illness, hospitalization and death, people are less fearful, and so also less willing to get vaccinated,” said Moeti.

Several African countries have defied the statistics and racked up vaccination

successes. WHO reports Liberia now has joined Mauritius and Seychelles in reaching more than 70 percent coverage and Rwanda is on target to join them soon.

Liberia’s Health Minister, Wilhelmina Jallah, explains how her country achieved this milestone.

“The magic bullet was decentralization, making sure each county ran their own vaccination campaign and the participation of all the health care workers and the vaccinators and the support from all of the partners…And making sure that the vaccines were available. That is key to success,” said Jallah.

Aurelia Nguyen is special adviser to GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance. She says GAVI so far has supplied 670 million doses to Africa. She says vaccines will continue to be sent to Africa for as long as the pandemic continues and poses a threat.

“We have enough doses to go around. We are especially determined to make sure the vulnerable groups are protected. And so elderly health care workers, primary series but also boosters,” Nguyen said. “And this is the only way that we are going to be able to ensure that lives are saved and that the health systems hold strong if we have a new variant or a surge.”

More than 250,000 people in Africa have lost their lives to COVID-19. WHO officials say high vaccination coverage in populations reduces the spread of the virus, helps prevent new variants from emerging and saves lives.
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With its lush forests, abundant waterfalls and flamboyant birds, Guinea is the type of tropical paradise that draws tourists. But the West African country has few visitors and earns almost all its foreign revenue from mining, which can damage that environment. Now some are working to change that.

Guinean tour guide Mohammed Camara balances precariously on a slippery rock as water gushes around him and the three foreigners he’s leading on a hike. Below, the water slices through the cliff making way for a spectacular view of the forest.

He dreams of there one day being a boardwalk that spans the top of the waterfall so his clients don’t have to slip and slide to reach the view. Guinea’s government is more focused on developing the country’s mining industry than on creating ecotourism projects, he says.

“When people talk about mines, everyone talks about Guinea. But when people talk about tourism we don’t talk about Guinea,” Camara said. “And yet there is great potential for tourism in this country that could employ more people than mines and bring in much more money.”

Guinea is the world’s second largest producer of bauxite, the primary ore used to produce aluminum. The country is also rich in iron ore deposits as well as other minerals such as gold and diamonds.

Mining comprises about 25 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product, yet Guinea remains one of the poorest countries in the world with more than half the population living below the poverty line.

A 2018 report by Human Rights Watch found Guinea’s mining industry had destroyed ancestral farmlands, polluted water sources and blanketed villages and crops in dust. The environmental destruction of bauxite mining can be so severe it led Malaysia to implement an export ban in 2016.

François Kieffer is the operations manager for Belgian development agency Enabel in Guinea.

In September he helped launch an ecotourism project in Kindia – a forested region about 130 kilometers from Conakry with a high potential to attract tourists.

The project is focused on the construction of facilities that make sightseeing more accessible, such as boardwalks and trail signs, as well as the training of tour guides.

Kieffer said he hopes the projects will provide an alternative to environmentally destructive practices beyond mining, such as slash and burn agriculture and charcoal production.

“Today, human activity puts a lot of pressure on the environment and we realized that it’s the local people who are the first victims of these types of activities,” he said. “The potential for tourism here is incredible.”

Sites such as the breathtaking Mount Gangan and the pristine swimming holes beneath Kilissi Falls are largely unknown outside of Guinea.

From 2010 to 2017, the country saw an average of just 65,000 tourists per year – one-sixteenth the number who visited neighboring Senegal.

Sekou Camara is a local development officer in Guinea’s Linsan sub-prefecture.

“In Kindia, there are a lot of sites that are beloved by the locals. But because those sites aren’t developed, people are afraid to go,” said Sekou Camara, a local development officer in Guinea’s Linsan sub-prefecture. “If we succeed in developing them, Kindia could become attractive. But for now people are prioritizing the mines.”

He motions to the waterfalls plunging down the verdant face of Mount Gangan. That could be Guinea’s crown jewel, he says.
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A major Nigerian energy company says it cannot deliver natural gas as promised in its contracts after deadly flooding hindered its operations, raising concerns about whether Africa’s largest economy can meet increased local and international demands during an energy crisis provoked by Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Nigeria LNG Limited, or NLNG, declared a “force majeure” this week, meaning it is unable to fulfill its contractual obligations to supply the fuel used around the world to generate electricity, heat homes and run factories after flooding led to a “significant disruption of gas supply.” About 3.8% of global monthly supply could be affected, risking higher prices, Rystad Energy said.

The NLNG is a joint venture between the Nigerian government, which is the majority shareholder, and energy giants including London-based Shell and Italy’s Eni. With capacity to produce over 20 million tons of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, per year, it is Nigeria’s largest gas firm, but its production capacity was only at 68% because of oil theft and pipeline vandalism that has plagued the country.

As Europe faces an energy crisis after Russia sharply reduced natural gas flows during the war in Ukraine, Nigeria and other African countries have agreed to work toward helping meet the European Union’s need for increased gas supplies. Nigeria has Africa’s largest natural gas reserves, but its capacity to meet such demands has come under question, even as European storage levels have managed to reach 92% ahead of the winter heating season and gas prices have fallen lately.

Flooding this year — the worst in a decade — has killed more than 600 people, displaced 1.3 million and “aggravated what was already a bad situation” for the national gas company, said Toyin Akinosho, a Nigeria energy consultant.

Floodwaters also have submerged many of the riverside communities in the oil-rich Niger Delta region where Nigeria’s crude oil facilities are located, threatening the operation of local and international oil companies. Nigeria is a member of the OPEC oil cartel that produces crude for world markets.

Akinosho expressed doubts about how quickly the disruption could be addressed to allow Nigeria to resume shipping gas to the EU, which gets 14% of its LNG imports from the African nation, as well as other buyers in North America, the Middle East and Asia.

Analysts fear that if the disruption in gas supplies persists, it would cause a further decline in government earnings at a time when Nigeria faces a cash crunch caused by declining crude production over the years.

The force majeure may “cause the NLNG markets to tighten further” before winter, when it faces higher demands for gas, said Olufola Wusu, an oil and gas expert who was part of a team that helped review Nigeria’s national gas policy.

“The chances are that if we are unable to meet local demand, it is highly unlikely that we will have sufficient gas to export. And it means that some of our customers may be forced to seek LNG from other suppliers,” Wusu said.

A spokesperson for Timipre Sylva, Nigeria’s petroleum minister, declined to speak on the issue, and the gas company did not immediately respond to questions about its options for addressing the flooding.
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Cattle farmers in Botswana, one of Africa’s top beef exporters to the European Union, have welcomed renewed beef exports to Europe. The move follows a two-month ban that followed an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease and the culling of thousands of cows.

Botswana officials on Monday said the August outbreak near the border with Zimbabwe has been brought under control, although a ban on cattle from the area remains in place.

Due to tough restrictions, beef exports to the European Union had been suspended because of the outbreak in August.

But farmers like Bathusi Letlhare said they are now relieved following Monday’s announcement of the partial lifting of the ban.

“It is a welcome development because the EU is one of the main markets for our beef,” Letlhare said. “They pay good prices, and this, in turn, benefits farmers a lot. It is always bad when we have an FMD outbreak and the market has to be closed.”

Letlhare added that the frequent outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease have had an adverse impact on the economy.

“I can say 80 percent of households have livestock, and when FMD breaks out and certain markets are closed, it becomes a big challenge to farmers,” Letlhare said. “Farmers cannot move cattle to markets, and there is no income to farmers, and the whole economy is affected.”

Letlhare felt the impact, too.

“I run a butchery, and for 10 days we were not selling beef,” Letlhare said. “And you can imagine the money we lost.”

Botswana’s acting director of veterinary services Kefentse Motshegwa said strict export requirements will be followed. This includes placing cattle in holdings approved for EU export for a period of 40 days before slaughter.

Beef exports will only be allowed from seven of the country’s 19 agricultural zones.

Andrew Seeletso of the Botswana National Beef Producers Union said although meat from other agricultural zones remained banned, the partial resumption of beef exports is welcome.

“It is better than nothing,” he said. “We are hoping that soon enough, the rest of the country will be allowed to sell beef for the EU market. But overall, we are very excited. It’s a good development, and we support it.”

In September, Botswana partially resumed the beef trade, including live cattle sales to neighboring countries, but there was no export to the EU.

The country enjoys duty- and quota-free access to the European market.
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At least 21 people were killed in two separate bombings in the central Hirshabelle state of Somalia, officials said.

A powerful car bomb exploded in Jalalaqsi town when soldiers operating a security checkpoint intercepted a vehicle. The checkpoint is near local government buildings and a military base belonging to African Union peacekeepers from Djibouti.

“At around 2:30 p.m., a vehicle arrived at the checkpoint, one of the soldiers collecting taxation pointed a gun and stopped it,” said Mire Hussein Siyad, deputy district commissioner of Jalalaqsi.

“When the gun was pointed at [it], the vehicle exploded,” Siyad told VOA Somali.

He said Wednesday’s explosion killed at least 15 people, including the town’s two civilian leaders, Mayor Adan Mohamed Isse and Mohamed Nur Agajof Dabaashe, the district commissioner. Dabaashe was recently replaced as Jalalaqsi commissioner, but he had not handed over responsibility yet, Siyad said.

Other victims included soldiers at the checkpoints and civilians including street vendors. The explosion destroyed a building near the checkpoint where the local officials were based. Siyad said two AU peacekeepers were injured in the attack.

Siyad said the target was the town’s main bridge.

Meanwhile, six other people including four civilians were killed a separate explosion, when a three-wheeled motorcycle with explosives attached, struck the Bulobarde town bridge. The important bridge links Somalia’s south and central regions. Pictures taken by the witnesses show the explosion partially damaged the bridge.

The district commissioner of Bulobarde, Ahmed Mahad Nur, told VOA Somali that two men riding the motorcycle drove it onto the bridge. He said one of the men jumped off before the explosion while the second one detonated the explosive-laden motorcycle and died in the blast.

Nur said the man who jumped was shot and killed by security forces. He said troops seized two other motorcycles laden with explosives.

The officials said the two explosions were coordinated and intended to destroy the two bridges.

“They wanted to bring down the two bridges at the same time,” Siyad said.

“It’s the most crucial bridge between the central and southern regions,” said Nur.

Nur vowed the local government will rebuild the damaged bridge.

The al-Shabab militant group immediately claimed responsibility for the two attacks.

Bulobarde and Jalalaqsi in the Hiran region (Hirshabelle state) have been the focal point of efforts to mobilize the local population against al-Shabab.

Somali army spokesperson General Abdullahi Ali Anod on Tuesday reported that government forces and local fighters are completing preparations for new operations against al-Shabab in Hirshabelle, and in Southwest, Galmudug and Jubaland states. He said the operations could start within a “week or weeks.”

Al-Shabab has threatened clans mobilizing against them with violence.
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Malawi has discovered a mass grave in the north of the country containing the remains of 25 people suspected to be migrants from Ethiopia, police said Wednesday. 

“The grave was discovered late on Tuesday, but we cordoned it off and started exhuming today. So far, we have discovered 25 bodies,” police spokesman Peter Kalaya told AFP. 

Police were alerted by villagers in the Mzimba area, about 250 kilometers north of the capital, Lilongwe, who stumbled onto the grave while collecting wild honey in a forest. 

“We suspect that they were illegal migrants who were being transported to South Africa via Malawi,” he said.  

He added that evidence gathered from the site indicated the victims were Ethiopian males ages 25 to 40 years.  

The decomposing bodies were exhumed and taken to a morgue for autopsies. 

The bodies appear to have been buried “probably not more than a month” ago, he said. 

Malawi is a popular route for illegal immigrants from East Africa being smuggled to South Africa, the continent’s most industrialized country and a magnet for poor migrants from elsewhere on the continent. 

Kalaya said that between January and September this year, authorities intercepted 221 illegal immigrants, 186 of whom were Ethiopians. 
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The state-owned company that runs South Africa’s freight rail and port systems is a step closer to ending a strike that has idled imports and exports for nearly two weeks. The union that represents a majority of workers from Transnet has signed a three-year wage deal to end the work stoppage. Not everyone is happy about the move.

The agreement is aimed at ending the walkout which began October 6 and cost the country $44 million a day.

Cobus van Vuuren is the general secretary of the majority United National Transport Union, or UNTU, which signed the multi-year agreement with Transnet. He says the deal is binding on all workers since it represents more than half of the company’s 40,000 unionized workers.

Van Vuuren made his comments as the South African Trade and Allied Workers Union, or SATAWU, the minority union in the dispute, said it would still picket and has consulted lawyers. Vân Vuuren explained his group’s position.

“Unfortunately, we don’t always see eye-to-eye because our philosophies and values both differ. And our understanding of the impact of a protracted strike and the effect that that can have on the greater economy and potential job losses that the economy can suffer is maybe not necessarily shared by SATAWU,” he said.

He added that SATAWU has the right to continue with the industrial action but their strike is now unprotected and they are exposing their members to disciplinary action, which could include dismissal.

Anele Kiet, the deputy secretary-general of the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union, says the majority union betrayed them.

“Even during the last negotiations, they left SATAWU and went to sign an agreement behind our back,” he said.

SATAWU has been holding out for an inflation-related increase. In July, South Africa’s inflation rate was at 7.8%, the highest in 13 years. UNTU settled for 6% as well as medical and housing allowance increases.

SATAWU also says it wants a no retrenchment (reduction) clause in the wage agreement.

UNTU’s van Vuuren says his union decided not to insist on that because Transnet gave guarantees that it will follow the legal procedures for retrenching (reducing) staff – should it be necessary.

He shed light on how Transnet, which like most state-owned enterprises in South Africa is battling financially, can afford the increases.

“So as far as what we have been informed,” he said. “Their customers especially in the ports has [sic] come on board. They have offered Transnet assistance through a [sic] extra charge which they are willing to pay on every container that is off-loaded or dealt with or processed. And the number that we have been told is R148 [$8.00] per container and taking into consideration that there’s millions of containers that is [sic] off-loaded during the year, you times that by R148, it does come to a substantial amount.”

He also says his union is concerned about intimidation of workers.

“Thus far for today we have not had any reports or any incidents that have been reported with regards to intimidation and violence,” he said. “We have however expressed our concern to Transnet with regards to this potential existing and we trust that Transnet will do anything in their power to make sure that our members can report to work safely… so that productivity can continue to resolve the backlog that exists currently.”

Meanwhile, South African politician Michael Bagraim, the labor spokesperson in parliament for the main opposition Democratic Alliance, praised UNTU and says he hopes the other union will come around.

“It is an enormous relief in that if this carried on for another few weeks, it would’ve crippled the entire economy,” he said.

Lumkile Mondi, economist and lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, acknowledges that a big part of the work force is still missing.

“The challenge is that they won’t be as efficient given the SATAWU workers that are absent,” he said.

SATAWU’s Kiet said the leadership of the union was heading to the country’s main port in Durban for talks with other members Wednesday on the legal opinion they have received. He said for now, they remain on strike.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has urged all parties to act in the best interest of the country.
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