Kenya’s Supreme Court has ordered the recount of ballots cast at 15 polling stations during the August 9 presidential election. The order was one of several issued Tuesday as the court began hearing a challenge to the win of President-elect William Ruto.

The recount request from Raila Odinga and his running mate, Matha Karua, was for 15 polling stations in four counties: Kericho, Nandi, Nyandarua and Mombasa. 

The first three counties voted heavily for Ruto, while Mombasa residents voted mainly for Odinga. 

Judges said the recounts must be done within 48 hours. 

The court also told Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, the IEBC, to provide the official voter registries and some election-related equipment for examination.  

Chief Justice Martha Koome said after looking at the arguments submitted by Odinga and his lawyers, the judges will be ruling on several questions. 

“The first issue [is whether] the technology deployed by IEBC for the conduct of the 2022 general election met the standards of integrity, verifiability, security, and transparency to guarantee accurate and verifiable results,” Koome said. “Issue number two is whether there was interference with the uploading and transmission of forms 34A from the polling stations to the IEBC public portal. Issue number three is whether there was a difference between forms 34A’s uploaded on the IEBC public portal and forms 34A’s received at the national tallying center and forms 34A’s issued to the agents at the polling stations.” 

Form 34A is the form signed at local polling stations after vote counts are completed. Once signed, the form is transmitted to the national tally center to be included in the presidential vote totals.  

The Supreme Court will also examine whether there were discrepancies between the total votes cast for the presidential candidates and for other electoral positions, such as the governors and senators. 

In addition, the judges will examine whether Ruto got more than 50 percent of the vote — the standard needed to avoid a run-off — and whether there were irregularities and illegalities in the counting process that could affect the results. 

Odinga is challenging the official election results that saw him lose by a small margin. Ruto got 7.1 million votes, while Odinga got 6.9 million. 

The Odinga camp believes the election was rigged in favor of Ruto, allegedly with the help of some electoral officers and IEBC chairperson Wafula Chebukati, a claim the chairman has denied. 

After the vote count was completed, Chebukati declared Ruto to be the winner, but four of the seven commissioners publicly disowned the results, citing issues with the counting process. 

In Tuesday’s hearing, lawyers from the opposing camps clashed over who had the right to represent IEBC, despite the court saying it would admit the arguments of all the commissioners. 

The electoral commissioners have made individual submissions to the court, a move that legal experts say will likely weaken any attempts to defend how the IEBC conducted the electoral process.  

Hearings are expected to continue until Friday. 

 
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A new Human Rights Watch report says that in nearly one-third of African countries, teenage girls who become pregnant face “significant legal and policy barriers” to continuing their formal education.

Human Rights Watch said Tuesday it examined more than 100 laws and policies concerning education, gender equity, and reproductive health, that are detrimental to the education of teenage mothers.

Adi Radhakrishnan works with the rights group’s children rights division. He says some African laws have pushed young mothers out of school.

“It’s shocking to understand how governments are undermining girls’ education and effectively closing the door on girls’ futures… These are students who are denied their basic rights to education for reasons that have nothing to do with their desire or their ability to learn and they are not supported by their government,” Radhakrishnan said.

Researchers found that at least 10 African countries have no legal means or measures to protect adolescent girls’ education when they are pregnant and become mothers.

Several countries, including Sudan, impose punishments on teenage girls who have sexual relationships outside marriage. For those girls, going to school while pregnant raises suspicion and exposes them to possible criminal prosecution.

Hannibal Uwaifo is the head of the African Bar Association. He says cultural norms are mostly to blame for young mothers not continuing with their education.

“The issues have to do with families, society, and the community. I don’t think there are any specific laws that bars people going back to school,” Uwaifo said. “I think we need to deliberately encourage African girls to return back to school. We need to actively and deliberately campaign that this teenage pregnancy doesn’t mean they should give up schooling or give up formal education otherwise, if there are any laws which are in place saying a teenage mother cannot go back to school, we would like to know about them and work on them.”

On the positive side, Radhakrishnan says 38 countries in Africa have laws that protect the education of pregnant and young mothers.

“Far more countries have positive frameworks than countries lack them or have discriminatory measures. We have seen students excluded because teachers do not know whether the positive law exists, or parents don’t know there are great lessons to be learned … countries across Africa draw positive practices from their neighbors and develop useful guidelines that make sure that all girls — regardless of pregnancy or motherhood status — all girls are able to access education in Africa,” Radhakrishnan said.

Human Rights Watch urges authorities in countries that lack such laws to create legal frameworks that affirm girls’ right to education. The advocacy group also encourages countries that already have laws and policies to fully implement them so young mothers — and their children — can benefit.
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Malawi’s police service has welcomed two officers with albinism into its ranks, the first people with the rare genetic pigment disorder in Malawi’s state security organization. Rights groups say the hirings should help efforts to crack down on attacks against albinos and restore confidence in police after some officers were connected to such attacks.

Police constables Hamid Vasco and Brenda Mhlanga graduated Friday after six-months of training and were welcomed into the police service Monday along with other new recruits.

Vasco, who is 25 years old, said he decided to join the police to help stop attacks on people with albinism in Malawi.

Statistics show that since 2014, more than 170 albinos have been attacked or killed in Malawi because of false beliefs that concoctions mixed with their body parts bring luck and wealth.

“So, this gave me the [opportunity] to apply to be a police officer so that I can work hand in hand with my fellow officers on issues of investigating the cases and crimes concerning the killing and abduction of persons with albinism,” said Vasco.

Rights groups say the hiring of albino officers will help rebuild public confidence in the police, after some officers were connected to such attacks.

In June, the High Court in Blantyre sentenced police officer Chikondi Chileka and four others to 30 years imprisonment with hard labor, after finding them guilty of transacting in human tissue. The body parts came from MacDonald Masambuka, a man with albinism murdered in 2018.

Vasco and Mhlanga are also the first people with the rare genetic pigment disorder working in Malawi’s state security organization.

Young Mahamba is the president of the Association of Persons with Albinism in Malawi or APAM.

He said there was a change in policy after his association and other campaigners lobbied for police to hire albinos.

“APAM as an organization, and all other stakeholders, we have been advocating for people to understand albinism and to know that albinism is not a limit. So, we have seen positive development. For example, we have seen a person with albinism [for the first time] being a member of parliament. This shows that the attitude is changing, and we will gear up,” said Mhlanga.

However, a representative for Malawi Police Service, Peter Kalaya, said there was no change in policy. He said the problem was that people with albinism were not applying for police jobs.

“There is no specific change of policy because we have the requirements which each and every person who wants to join the police service must be satisfied. And these two managed to meet those conditions and they even managed to succeed in both physical and classroom training,” said Kalaya.

He said police do not expect any special contribution from Vasco and Mhlanga toward combating attacks on albinos.

“Their coming will of course add something because having them in the service might be a message to those people who perpetrate these acts. For example, sending a message to perpetrators that ‘Okay, these people they can also be police officers, they can also carry guns.’ But in terms of efforts at investigating, prosecuting or following up on cases to do with attacks and killings of people with albinism, we were capable, and we are still capable,” he said.

Kalaya encourages other people with albinism to apply for jobs in the police service, saying the service does not discriminate against anyone in terms of skin pigment disorders.
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For the third time in his career, Kenya’s main opposition leader Raila Odinga is challenging presidential election results at the country’s Supreme Court. Some critics are mocking the former prime minister for again refusing to accept defeat. But legal experts say Odinga’s petitions have played a key role in improving the integrity of Kenya’s elections and the stability of its democracy. Juma Majanga reports from Nairobi, Kenya. Camera: Amos Wangwa
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Timothy Obiezu reports from Benue, Nigeria, about aid groups working in rural communities to address Nigeria’s child marriage rate – one of the highest in Africa   
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Eighteen people died Monday after police in Madagascar opened fire on what they called a lynch mob angered at the kidnapping of an albino child, a senior doctor told AFP. 

Dozens were wounded, some of them seriously. 

“At the moment, 18 people have died in all, nine on the spot and nine in hospital,” said doctor Tango Oscar Toky, chief physician at a hospital in southeastern Madagascar. 

“Of the 34 injured, nine are between life and death,” said the doctor giving graphic details of the injuries. “We are waiting for a government helicopter to evacuate them to the capital.” 

Around 500 protesters armed with blades and machetes “tried to force their way” into the station, a police officer involved in the shooting said, speaking on condition of anonymity.  

“There were negotiations, [but] the villagers insisted,” the officer told AFP over the phone from the town of Ikongo, 90 kilometers (56 miles) southeast of the capital Antananarivo. 

Police first fired tear gas and then rounds in the air to try to disperse the crowd, he said.  

“They continued to force their way through. We had no choice but to defend ourselves,” the officer added. 

The national police in the capital confirmed the “very sad event,” but only gave a toll of 11, with 18 injured.  

Andry Rakotondrazaka, the national police chief, told a news conference that what happened was a “very sad event. It could have been avoided but it happened.” 

He said the police “did everything to avoid confrontation,” including negotiating with the crowd, “but there were provocations”… (and) there were people with “long-bladed knives and sticks,” he said, adding others hurled stones towards the police.  

“The gendarmes used tear gas. But that was not enough to stop the crowd from advancing. There was shooting in the air.”  

But in the end the gendarmes had “no choice but to resort to self-defense … and limit the damage by shooting.” 

The kidnapping took place last week, according to Jean-Brunelle Razafintsiandraofa, a member of parliament for Ikongo district. 

Revenge attacks 

Revenge attacks are common in Madagascar. 

In February 2017, a mob of 800 people barged into Ikongo prison in search of a murder suspect they intended to kill. 

They overpowered guards and 120 prisoners broke out of jail. 

In 2013, a Frenchman, a Franco-Italian and a local man accused of killing a child on the tourist island of Nosy Be were burned alive by a crowd.  

Some sub-Saharan African countries have suffered a wave of assaults against people with albinism, whose body parts are sought for witchcraft practices in the mistaken belief that they bring luck and wealth.  

Albinism, caused by a lack of melanin, the pigment that colors skin, hair and eyes, is a genetic condition that affects hundreds of thousands of people across the globe, particularly in Africa. 

Under The Same Sun, a Canada-based charity working to combat discrimination, has been logging cases of similar violence across Africa. 

It ranks Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania as the countries where such attacks are most prevalent. 

Madagascar, a large Indian Ocean island country, is ranked among the poorest in the world. 

 
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A spokesman for forces in Ethiopia’s Tigray region is denying a report that Tigrayan forces have captured a town in the neighboring Amhara region. Renewed clashes broke out last week between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front and the Ethiopian government after a five-month lull.

On Sunday night, some international media reported that the TPLF had entered the Amhara region town of Weldiya. Speculation also spread on social media.

However, Monday, a TPLF representative told VOA that these claims were false, saying Tigrayan forces have not “yet” entered the town.

So far, the renewed fighting has been centered around the town of Kobo farther north.

Weldiya sits just over 300 kilometers from Addis Ababa and is a strategic point on the road leading south from the Tigray region’s capital, Mekelle, to Addis Ababa.

Any movement by the TPLF farther south could set alarm bells ringing for the federal government. Last year, the TPLF came within 200 kilometers from Addis after it took the town of Dessie on the same road.

Both the Ethiopian government and the TPLF have blamed each other for triggering the clashes last week that ended a five-month cease-fire in Ethiopia’s civil war.

On Friday, it was reported that an Ethiopian government airstrike hit a kindergarten in Tigray, killing at least seven people.

The government accused the TPLF of staging images of the attack.
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Angola’s electoral commission on Monday declared the ruling MPLA, in power for nearly five decades, the winner of last week’s national election, handing President Joao Lourenco a second term. 

The election commission gave the ex-Marxist People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) a 51.17% majority after all votes were counted while its longtime opponent, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, or UNITA, got 43.95%, its best result ever. 

Fewer than half of Angola’s registered voters turned out for Wednesday’s election, which despite being the closest fought yet, will extend the rule of MPLA to beyond 50 years since independence from Portugal in 1975. 

UNITA leader Adalberto Costa Junior has rejected the results, citing discrepancies between the commission’s count and the main opposition coalition’s own tally. 

He did not immediately respond to the final results announcement. 

Analysts fear any dispute could ignite mass street protests and possible violence among a poor and frustrated youth who voted for Junior. 

The announcement came a day after the funeral of Angola’s long-serving ex-ruler and MPLA stalwart, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who died in Spain in July, so security in the capital Luanda was tight. 

 
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Adenekan Ayomide had been attending the University of Abuja for two years when the lecturers went on strike in February. The 27-year-old undergraduate student hoped he would return to school quickly but immediately took a job as a taxi driver to pay bills.

Unfortunately for him, the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities has now clocked six months and Ayomide’s hopes of returning to classes anytime soon grow thin.

“Nobody is talking about school again,” said Ayomide, who said he is working more than one job and the budget he had for getting through university now looks unrealistic.

University strikes are common in Nigeria, which has more than 100 public universities and an estimated 2.5 million students, according to Nigeria’s National Universities Commission. The universities here have recorded at least 15 strikes covering a cumulative period of four years since 2000.

The latest strike, however, is biting harder on an education sector that is struggling to recover from a COVID-19 lockdown and an earlier strike that lasted for most of 2020.

No alternative means of learning is provided for students because “more than 90%” of lecturers in Nigerian universities are members of the academic staff union, according to Haruna Lawal Ajo, director of public affairs at Nigeria’s universities commission.

The striking lecturers are demanding a review of their conditions of service including the platform the government uses to pay their earnings, improved funding for the universities and the payment of their salaries withheld since the strike started.

Talks between the lecturers and the government ended in deadlock this month, dashing hopes of a compromise agreement.

Lecturers have faulted the government’s position, arguing that the government has still not provided higher pay for lecturers and more funds for the education sector which it agreed to in 2009.

If the government has not fulfilled a promise made in 2009 by 2022, how can it be trusted? asked Femi Atteh, a lecturer at the University of Ilorin in northcentral Kwara state who now works with his wife to run a food retail business.

“I just see ASUU (the union) trying to fight for the rights of its people. … Nigerian lecturers are far behind in terms of welfare when compared to others,” said Atteh.

Atteh said some of his colleagues are moving abroad for better opportunities and improved pay.

“Our situation in this country is just in a sorry state,” said lecturer Sabi Sani at the University of Abuja. After 12 years of teaching, Sani said his monthly salary is “not even enough to pay my children’s school fees.”

He said that when “more lecturers realize they can migrate, we will be left with unqualified lecturers to teach our children (because) all the qualified ones will run away.”

It is not just lecturers who are eyeing relocation for better opportunities.

Amidat Ahmed, a 22-year-old economics student at the University of Abuja said the strike has prevented her from getting clearance that would see her wrap up her undergraduate studies in the school because lectures are not available. She is now considering going abroad for a fresh undergraduate degree program.

“My life is stagnant,” said Ahmed who said she is working two jobs including one as a shoemaker where she is learning the skill to set up a business later in life.

It is a case of using the lemons to make lemonade, she said.

“Apart from this (learning the shoe-making trade), I don’t think I have done anything with my life all this while and it has been six months.”

Across Nigeria, students are looking for work to survive. Rent and other bills have accumulated, making things worse for many from poor backgrounds in this nation with a 40% poverty rate, according to the latest government statistics.

Some students’ financial situation is better when school is in session as a small proportion of the students get funding provided by nonprofits and government agencies.

After the latest round of talks to end the strike was unsuccessful, Ayomide remained on the roads as a taxi driver.

“I don’t have 5 naira ($0.012) in my account and I cannot go home because there is no money,” said Ayomide. His only option is to work long hours, he said. “Sometimes, I sleep at the airport or inside the car.”

“We just have to double our hustle and hope for the best,” he said. “This is the country where we are, so we have no choice.”
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Somali-based, al-Qaida-affiliated Islamist militant group al-Shabab has issued a new threat against neighboring Kenya. The group said it will continue its attacks in that country as long as Kenyan troops are in Somalia.

Al-Shabab said in an English-language statement Saturday it will continue to target Kenyan towns and cities until Kenyan troops are out of Somalia.

It said that if the Kenyan government continues to maintain its “invasion” of Muslim lands it will continue to strike inside Kenya.

“Know that we will continue to defend our lands and our people from the aggressive Kenyan invasion. We will continue to concentrate our attacks on Kenyan towns and cities as long as Kenyan forces continue to occupy our Muslim lands,” the group said.

Omar Mahmood, an International Crisis Group senior analyst for Eastern Africa discussed the situation with VOA via WhatsApp.

“Generally, al-Shabab remains a threat to Kenya, both from infiltration across the border and terrorist attacks in other parts of the country. So, they will continue trying to target Kenya if they don’t get what they want, which at its core is the end of a Kenyan military operation in Somalia,” he said.

Mohamed Husein Gaas, director of the Raad Peace Research Institute based in Mogadishu, told VOA by phone that al-Shabab threats are real, as they have seen the organization become stronger financially in the last few years, despite the presence of African Union forces in Somalia.

“The region’s increased insecurity due to the ongoing civil war in Ethiopia and the underlying political and social polarization will likely exasperate the insecurity of the region as a whole,” he said.

He said the group also may have also become more oriented toward outward expansion, as signaled by the recent attack on Ethiopia’s Somali state.

Al-Shabab has been fighting Somali government and AU peacekeeping operations in the country more than 15 years.
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Libya’s capital was quiet early Sunday, a day after the worst fighting there for two years killed 32 people and injured 159 as forces aligned with a parliament-backed administration failed to dislodge the Tripoli-based government.

Roads in the city were busy with motorists, shops were open, and people were clearing away smashed glass and other debris from Saturday’s violence, with burned out vehicles lining some streets in central Tripoli.

The fighting has raised fears of a wider conflict in Libya over the political standoff between Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah in Tripoli and Fathi Bashagha, who seeks to install a new government in the capital.

Bashagha’s attempt on Saturday to take over in Tripoli was his second such attempt since May.

However, airline companies said early on Sunday that flights were operating normally at Tripoli’s Mitiga airport, a sign that the security situation had eased for now.

The health ministry said on Sunday that 32 people were killed in Saturday’s violence and 159 were injured, up from a ministry source’s previous estimate of 23 deaths and 87 injured.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an immediate end to the violence and for genuine dialogue to get around Libya’s political impasse.

Bashagha’s failure to oust Dbeibah showed that despite a period of realignment among armed factions in and around the capital, the Tripoli government can still count on a military coalition able to fight off its enemies.

Several groups aligned with Bashagha in Tripoli appeared to have lost control of territory inside the capital on Saturday, while attempts by forces to the west and south of the city to advance into it appeared to have failed.

A main military convoy that set out from Misrata, east of Tripoli, where Bashagha has been based for weeks, turned back before reaching the capital.

A major commander among the pro-Bashagha forces, Osama Juweili, said the fighting Saturday had been triggered by friction between armed forces in the capital. However, he added, in comments to Al-Ahrar television, that “it is not a crime” to try to bring in a government mandated by parliament.

Libya’s overarching political standoff over control of government appears largely unchanged by Bashagha’s attempt on Saturday to take over in Tripoli.

There is no sign of any move towards compromise between the main camps or of new diplomatic efforts to bring them together around a new push for national elections to resolve the dispute over control of government.

Meanwhile, while pro-Bashagha forces failed to install him on Saturday, they still hold strong positions around the capital, while the main eastern-based Libyan National Army of Khalifa Haftar waits in the wings.
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Angolans and foreign dignitaries gathered Sunday for the funeral of long-serving ex-leader Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who died in Spain in July but whose burial was delayed by a family request for an autopsy.

The funeral of Dos Santos, who died in a clinic in Barcelona on July 8 at the age of 79, is taking place days after an election appeared to have returned his MPLA party to power in results that have been disputed by the country’s main opposition coalition.

Dos Santos and his family dominated Angolan politics for the 38 years that he ruled, up to 2017. His formerly Marxist party, the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), in power for nearly five decades, looks almost certain to have won Wednesday’s election.

Heads of state and senior ministers from around the continent, as well as the president of Angola’s former colonial ruler Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, were slated to attend.

The presence of foreign VIPs has enabled authorities to seek to head off possible protests over the disputed provisional results.

“Due to the state funeral of the late former president Jose Eduardo dos Santos, the national police appeals to all citizens, civil society and organized groups that intend to organize activities on Saturday and Sunday, to contain themselves out of respect for the former head of state,” Angola’s National Police said in a statement reported by the Lusa news agency Saturday.

With 97% of ballot counted, the electoral commission has given the MPLA and President Joao Lourenco a 51% majority, with the main opposition the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, or UNITA, trailing with 44.5%.

UNITA’s leader, Costa Junior, has rejected the results as fraudulent, and there have been sporadic protests that were quickly shut down by police. The electoral commission has said the process was fair and transparent.

Both Lourenco and Junior were expected to attend the funeral.

Dos Santos’ body was returned to the country last weekend, after being delayed by a full autopsy that had been requested by his daughter, Tchize. A Spanish judge ruled the death was from natural causes.

Thousands of Angolans came out onto the streets to pay their respects to Dos Santos on Saturday.

“I am here and tears came to my eyes because this moment is not easy,” said 39-year-old Filomeno Augustinho. “If we got here today it was (because) of the stability (Dos Santos) gave us.”

But opposition supporters — who include poor Angolans left most socially unequal countries — were less enthusiastic.

“Right now our attention is focused on the election,” Dionisia Domingos, 38, who works in administration in a company in Luanda, told Reuters.

“The funeral seems to be … to divert the attention of the international community and the population (from) the election results and the fraud.”

Authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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A leading Chad rebel group said Saturday it had killed 10 soldiers in the north of the country, a claim the government rejected as “fake news.”  

The Military Command Council for the Salvation of the Republic (CCMSR) said troops had attacked its forces in the Wouri district in the northern Tibesti region bordering Niger and Libya.  

The group, which has refused to sign a peace deal with the government, said its fighters had killed 10 soldiers and captured eight more.  

Government representative Abderaman Koulamallah told AFP that some 20 rebel vehicles had entered the country over the past week, but there had been “no skirmish” with government forces.  

“We have been monitoring these columns with planes and they left Chadian territory some days back,” he claimed, terming the CCMSR statement “fake news.”  

The Tibesti region has seen several major rebel movements emerge since independence from France in 1960. 

Since the 2012 discovery of gold there, the region’s mines have attracted panners by the thousand, as well as rebels from Chad and neighboring Sudan looking to use the precious metal as a means of funding their armed operations.  

The CCMSR also Saturday accused France of overflying its positions with planes from the French-led Barkhane anti-jihadist mission and warned it would regard any bombardment as a declaration of war. 

The CCMSR was formed in 2016 from a split within the Front for Change and Concorde (FACT) rebel group.  

FACT launched the offensive from Libya that led to the April 2021 death of former president Idriss Deby Itno, who had ruled Chad for 30 years.  

Deby’s son General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno succeeded him at the head of a transitional administration of generals who were loyal to his father.  

Last week, the new leader launched a national dialogue toward restoring civilian rule with free and democratic elections within 18 months.  

The CCMSR is among the rebel groups that have refused to join.  

The group in April pulled out of peace talks in Qatar between the ruling junta and dozens of rebel groups, insisting the authorities had a “secret agenda” to destabilize peace efforts. 
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Unidentified gunmen killed six people and wounded two others in an attack on a convoy from the Boungou gold mine in eastern Burkina Faso, the army said Saturday. 

Last week, five vehicles were dispatched from the mine, which is owned by Toronto-listed Endeavour Mining, to help a nearby convoy that had been stuck in the mud for days, the army statement said.

The attack occurred after the convoy was back on the road again. The assailants targeted the five support vehicles when they became separated from the convoy and its security detail. 

Endeavour, the biggest gold miner in the West African country, did not respond to requests for comment. It was not immediately clear if those killed were employees of Endeavour or its partners, or if operations at the mine were impacted.

“The five vehicles, for reasons which remain to be determined, remained behind the convoy, outside the security system put in place by the military,” the army said in a statement.

The attack underscores the dangers of operating in Burkina Faso, where since 2018 Islamist militants affiliated with the Islamic State and al-Qaida have taken over large areas of the north and east, killing thousands and displacing over a million.

Thirty-nine people were killed in an ambush on buses filled with workers heading to the Boungou mine in 2019. Back then, the mine was owned by Quebec-based Semafo, which was acquired by Endeavour in 2020.

Workers at Boungou told Reuters that they had raised concerns about road safety months before the 2019 ambush.
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African heads of state, representatives of international organizations and private business leaders gathered in Tunisia on Saturday for the Tokyo International Conference on African Development, a triennial event launched by Japan to promote growth and security in Africa.

Economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, a food crisis worsened by Russia’s war in Ukraine, and climate change are among the challenges facing many African countries expected to define the two-day conference.

Tensions among African countries also weighed on the meeting: On Friday, Morocco announced a boycott of the event and recalled its ambassador to Tunisia to protest the inclusion of a representative of the Polisario Front movement fighting for independence for Western Sahara.

The conference comes as Russia and China have sought to increase their economic and other influence in Africa.

While 30 African heads of state and government attended the event in Tunis, Tunisia’s capital, many key talks are being held remotely, including those involving Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of the summit.

The Japanese government created and hosted the first TICAD summit in 1993. The conferences now are co-organized with the United Nations, the African Union and the World Bank. The summits have generated 26 development projects in 20 African countries.

This year, discussion around an increase of Japanese investments in Africa is anticipated, with particular focus on supporting start-ups and food security initiatives. Japan has said it plans to provide assistance for the production of rice, alongside a promised $130 million in food aid.

The Africa Center for Strategic Studies, an academic institution of the U.S. Defense Department, compared the conference’s format to the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, “where government, business, and civil society leaders participate on an equal basis.”

However, this weekend’s summit has sparked controversy in Tunis, which faces its own acute economic crisis, including a recent spike in food and gasoline shortages.

Critics have spoken about the organizers’ alleged “white-washing” of the city, which has seen cleaner streets and infrastructure improvements in preparation for the conference summit. One local commentator said the North African capital looked like it had applied makeup to impress participants.

Meanwhile, the journalists’ union in Tunisia issued a statement Friday condemning restrictions on reporting and information around the summit.

Morocco’s complaint stemmed from Tunisia inviting the Polisario Front leader to attend. Morocco annexed Western Sahara from Spain in 1975, and the Polisario Front fought to make it an independent state until a 1991 cease-fire. It’s a highly sensitive issue in Morocco, which seeks international recognition for its authority over Western Sahara.

“The welcome given by the Tunisian head of state to the leader of the separatist militia is a serious and unprecedented act, which deeply hurts the feelings of the Moroccan people,” Morocco’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Morocco announced its withdrawal from the conference and the recall of its ambassador for consultations. But the ministry said the decision does not “call into question the commitment of the Kingdom of Morocco to the interests of Africa.”
…

Japan opens an African investment conference in Tunisia on Saturday, seeking to counter the influence of rival China which has steadily grown its economic imprint on the continent.

The conference takes place amid a “complex” international environment caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine, the Japanese foreign ministry has noted.

Some 30 heads of state and government are expected to attend the event in the capital Tunis, at a time when the import-dependent North African nation is grappling with a deepening economic malaise.

The eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD8) also comes as Beijing cements its influence on the continent with its “Belt and Road” infrastructure initiative.

It is the first TICAD — held every three years either in Japan or an African country — since the pandemic began.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will be attending remotely after testing positive for COVID-19.

The Japanese delegation will be led by Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, with about 5,000 participants set to attend.

But the opening risks being overshadowed by Morocco withdrawing from the event and recalling its ambassador from Tunisia for consultations, after Tunisia’s President Kais Saied hosted the head of Western Sahara’s Polisario independence movement.

Since 1993, TICAD conferences backed by the United Nations and other international agencies have generated 26 development projects in 20 African countries.

Most are funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

The conference will focus on three pillars: economy; society; and peace and stability.

A slick promotional video said the conference aims to promote “African development led by African people.”

But no journalists from African news outlets have been given access to delegates ahead of the event, except Tunisian state media, alongside Japanese journalists.

Japanese economic paper Nikkei reported that aid to Africa could increase by 40% over the next three years, in response to other powers that have boosted their presence on the continent.

At the last TICAD in 2019, former premier Shinzo Abe — who was assassinated at a campaign event last month — warned investors in Africa that they must beware of burdening countries with “excessive” debt, an apparent swipe at China.

Tunisian authorities hope their struggling economy will benefit from hosting the conference by attracting Japanese investment, particularly in the health, automotive and renewable energy sectors.

The conference has sparked anger among Tunisians as major road closures threatened traffic disruptions in the capital.

Authorities also drew widespread mockery after detaining Japanese satellite engineers — TICAD delegates — at Tunis airport for hours because they were in possession of a model satellite that they intend to use to showcase technology.

Authorities have spruced up parts of the city likely to be seen by delegates and dug in roadside plants, but these efforts have also drawn the ire of social media users.

“I feel deeply insulted by the clean-up of Tunis for the TICAD,” one Tunisian wrote on Twitter, arguing that “those we pay to make our lives easier” should instead focus on making the capital livable for citizens all year round.
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Intense fighting erupted in the Libyan capital overnight and lasted until Saturday morning, with rival factions exchanging heavy gunfire and the sounds of several loud blasts ricocheting around the city.

The clashes took place in Tripoli’s city center, witnesses said, amid a political standoff over control of Libya’s government that has seen armed groups increasingly mobilize around the capital in recent weeks.

Pictures and video shared online of the city center, which Reuters could not immediately verify, showed military vehicles speeding through the streets, fighters shooting and local residents trying to douse fires.

“This is horrible. My family and I could not sleep because of the clashes. The sound was too loud and too frightening,” said Abdulmenam Salem, a central Tripoli resident. “We stayed awake in case we had to leave quickly. It’s a terrible feeling.”

There was no immediate comment from the interior and health ministries regarding the fighting, which stopped late in the morning, or any casualties.

The main Libyan standoff pits the Government of National Unity in Tripoli under Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah against a rival administration under Fathi Bashagha, which is backed by the eastern-based parliament.

The United Nations mission in the country warned this week against any attempt to resolve the dispute through violence.
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The UN children’s agency UNICEF on Saturday condemned an air strike that “hit a kindergarten” in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, killing at least four people, including two children.

Friday’s strike in the Tigray capital, Mekelle, came days after fighting erupted on the region’s southern border between government forces and rebels, ending a five-month truce.

“UNICEF strongly condemns the air strike …  (that) hit a kindergarten, killing several children, and injuring others,” UNICEF’s executive director, Catherine Russell, said on Twitter.

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) that controls the northern region said the air raid demolished a kindergarten and hit a civilian residential area, claims the government denied.

Addis Ababa said it only targeted military sites and accused the TPLF of staging civilian deaths.

Kibrom Gebreselassie, chief clinical director at Mekelle’s Ayder Referral Hospital, told AFP that four people were killed in the strike, including two children.

Nine others were receiving treatment for injuries, he said.

Tigrai TV, a local network, said the death toll had reached seven and broadcast footage of mangled playground equipment at the apparent scene of the strike.

Russell said the 21-month war in Ethiopia’s north had “caused children to pay the heaviest price.”

“For almost two years, children and their families in the region have endured the agony of this conflict. It must end,” she said.
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The Ocean Viking, a humanitarian ship of SOS Mediterranee, has rescued 268 people since Thursday during five rescues of migrants mostly found in overcrowded wooden boats between Libya and Malta, the NGO announced Friday.

“Many have high levels of exhaustion and dehydration” and “severe sunburn,” said the NGO, whose headquarters are in Marseille.

Several minors, including unaccompanied minors, pregnant women and even a 3-week-old baby are now cared for by SOS Mediterranee and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent on the Viking Ocean.

On Tuesday, the ship said it had spotted four empty boats in this area, including one without a motor. But “without communication from the maritime authorities, the fate of the people on board remains unknown,” the ship communicated.

Since the beginning of the year, 1,161 migrants have disappeared in the Mediterranean, including 918 in the central Mediterranean, the most dangerous migratory route in the world, according to the International Organization for Migration.

The U.N. agency estimated the number of dead and missing in 2021 at 2,048 in the Mediterranean, including 1,553 for the central Mediterranean alone.

Every year, thousands of people fleeing conflict or poverty attempt to reach Europe by crossing the Mediterranean from Libya, whose coasts are 300 kilometers from Italy.
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Big name entertainment providers like Netflix, Showmax and Paramount have been meeting African content creators this week at the Fame Week Africa conference in South Africa. The three-day conference, which ended Friday, was billed as the continent’s premier business conference for the creative and cultural sectors.

A local government official who declined to be named said numerous deals were being concluded on the floor – and predicted that Fame Week Africa would put Cape Town on the world map in terms of film events.

Countries like the United States, Canada and Kenya had government representation there, while businesses in film, TV, animation, music and entertainment technology had cubicles set up in the Cape Town International Convention Center.

Bonolo Madisakwane, the content distribution executive for Paramount Africa, was sitting in one of them.

“Next week is going to be a very busy week for me and my programming team,” she said. “We have received a lot of screeners. I’m very, very hopeful.”

She said Fame Week Africa was the biggest event of its kind in Africa since the COVID-19 lockdown and people have taken full advantage of it.

“Most of them I had pre-meetings already but quite a number of them, the minute they see me and I’ve got nobody sitting there with me, they just take a seat and they just pitch whatever it is that they want to pitch and they ask all the questions,” Bonolo said.

One man who was hoping to catch up with the likes of Bonolo was South African actor and social media influencer Ernest St. Clair, who has over 67,000 followers on Instagram. He stars in a new film, “2 Thirds of a Man.

“We shot this film in lockdown and it’s finally released and been picked up,” he said. “We are really hoping for it to be picked up by other channels like Showmax.”

Another participant, Canadian singer Domanique Grant, was there to promote her company that works with brands and artist management and development.

“We help to do everything from sponsoring vocal lessons to bringing them to major conferences so that they can get into the industry,” she said.

Having lived in Uganda, she’s also hoping to reach a wider African audience. She is also at the conference to promote her new album, “Queen/Dom.”

“‘Queen/Dom’ is about generational healing and self-love,” she said.

Jill Casserley, Africa sales manager for RX Global, which organized Fame Week Africa, said she believes there will be more events like this to come and that a lot of business was done at this one.

“I’m sure it will continue,” she said. “People are happy to be back to face-to-face meetings. I think they’re done with virtual markets.”

The event was sponsored by MIP Africa, the International Animation Festival, Muziki Africa, Media and Entertainment Solutions Africa and the city of Cape Town.
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The World Meteorological Organization warns millions of people in the greater Horn of Africa will likely face a fifth consecutive season of insufficient rains. According to the U.N. weather agency the terrible four-year long drought in the Horn of Africa is set to continue for another year.

World Meteorological Organization spokeswoman Claire Nullis says the seasonal climate outlook for the region, which was issued Thursday, bears bad news for millions of people who already have suffered the longest drought in 40 years.

“The predictions show high chances of drier than average conditions across most parts of the region. In particular, the drought affected areas of Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia are expected to receive significantly below rainfall until the end of the year.”

The WMO notes the October to December season contributes up to 70 percent of the annual total rainfall in the equatorial parts of the greater Horn of Africa, particularly in eastern Kenya. It says the lack of rain is likely to extend to parts of Eritrea, most of Uganda and Tanzania.

Last month humanitarian agencies and the regional bloc IGAD issued an alarming report about the growing number of people suffering from acute hunger in the region.

World Food Program spokesman Tomson Phiri says drought is not a new phenomenon in the Horn of Africa. However, he says what is happening now is more severe and is occurring with greater frequency.

“Hunger and malnutrition is worsening across all drought-affected areas. And there is a very real risk of famine in Somalia”, says Phiri. “I think this is well documented. This is on the record. It is in the public domain…No one has called for a famine now, but it does not mean it may not be declared in the coming months. It is very much a real threat.”

U.N agencies estimate more than 50 million people in the greater Horn of Africa suffer from acute food insecurity. The director of the WMO’s regional climate center for East Africa, Guleid Artan, warns the region is on the brink of an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.
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An Ethiopian government airstrike hit the capital of the volatile Tigray region Friday, reportedly killing several people. The airstrike followed the collapse of a humanitarian cease-fire in northern Ethiopia that had halted fighting for five months.

The French news agency AFP reports that just before 3 p.m. local time Friday, the Ethiopian Air Force bombed targets in the Tigrayan capital of Mekelle.  

A doctor at a Mekelle hospital later told the Reuters news agency the airstrike hit a children’s playground, killing at least four people, including two children.

The Ethiopian federal government issued a statement online advising all citizens in Tigray to keep away from potential military targets.

Some on Twitter pointed out that most communications have been severed in Tigray for months due a government shutdown of the internet, and that people inside Tigray would have no way of seeing the statement.

In an email to VOA, government spokesperson Selamawit Kassa said the Ethiopia Air Force is targeting only military sites.  He accused the TPLF of “dumping fake body bags in civilian areas in order to claim that the Air Force attacked civilians.”

An information war between the federal government and the TPLF has been ongoing since their conflict began almost two years ago.

Airstrikes are another escalation in the recent return to fighting in northern Ethiopia.  On Wednesday, ground fighting in the Amhara effectively ended a five-month ceasefire, which had raised hopes of peace talks.

The international community has expressed grave concern over the renewed hostilities.  Humanitarian organizations say even before fighting intensified, large parts of Tigray were likely in a state of famine.
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Somali authorities say a record drought has created near-famine conditions in South West state.  New arrivals at relief camps say they are eating animal skins to survive.  

Baidoa, the administrative capital of Somalia’s South West state, is one of the worst drought-affected areas in the country. People who have lost their livelihoods due to drought arrive at relief camps every day in search of humanitarian assistance.

Sumadle,  a new camp on the outskirts of Baidoa, hosts hundreds of new arrivals, mostly from the marginalized Eyle community. 

Some of the Eyle walk over 150 kilometers to Sumadle after losing their livestock and harvests because of three consecutive seasons of no rain.

Iisho Mad Keer Madey, a young and pregnant mother of four, told VOA she took a difficult journey to arrive at the camp from Hawal-Barbar, in Bay region. 

Madey said she and her children walked for two days and two nights to arrive at camp. She said people helped the exhausted family with a ride in an auto-rickshaw. She migrated after losing 20 goats and 20 camels because of drought, forcing her to beg to feed her children.

Habibo Ibrahim Haydar, the administrator of the camp, said the camp houses more than 300 new arrivals who have nothing to eat, and some have started to eat animal skins because they have not received humanitarian aid so far.

Two and half kilometers away there is another relief camp. Mercy Corps, an American humanitarian group, is providing the people there with water and cash to live in the camp, but it is not enough.

Mukhtar Haji Abukar, 73, arrived at the camp three days ago from the Bakol region. He told VOA he lost everything because of the drought.

Abukar said he had 60 cattle before the drought and now the only thing remaining is the  animal skin he was sitting on. He said he and his family hadn’t cooked anything today or last night. It took him four days and four nights to get here from Bakol.

Abukar said this drought is the worst he has seen in his entire life.

In a trip for journalists arranged by Mercy Corps CEO Tjada D’Oyen McKenna said the situation in Somalia is dire and “beyond comprehension.”

“I met two women who had lost babies along the way and had to bury them on the roads as part of their journey,” she said. “We at Mercy Corps are providing cash to vulnerable families to buy food and other essentials and also providing water and hygiene kits to prevent disease spread.”

Somalia is witnessing one of the worst droughts in recent history. More than 1 million people have already been displaced by the drought, according to the United Nations.

The U.N. said more than 7.7 million Somalis—nearly half of the country’s population – need humanitarian assistance because of the drought.

UNICEF earlier told VOA that drought-related malnutrition has already killed 500 children in Somalia.
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Angola’s ruling party is set to extend its reign for another five years, giving it a total of 52 years in power. The main opposition said it would challenge the results of Wednesday’s vote.

Incumbent President Joao Lourenco of the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola party, known by its Portuguese acronym MPLA, has won a second five-year term in office after garnering 51% of the Wednesday presidential vote with more than 97% of the votes tallied.

Lourenco’s main challenger, Adalberto Costa Jr. of the National Union for the Liberation of Angola, or UNITA, got 44% of the vote. In the last election in 2017, UNITA received 26% of the presidential votes.

The ruling party won 124 parliament seats out of the 220 up for grabs.

The leading opposition group has questioned the transparency of the electoral commission’s presidential results and is yet to accept the outcome of Wednesday’s vote.

The ruling party’s popularity in this election had dropped by 10 percentage points from the previous election when they got 61% of the vote cast.

Angola’s fifth general election campaign focused on economic issues and poverty, with many voters complaining that the political class had abandoned them, despite the country’s oil resources.
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