At the start of a three-day visit to Algeria, President Emmanuel Macron indicated Thursday that France and the North African country should move beyond their “painful” shared history and look to the future.

The trauma of French colonial rule in Algeria and the bitter war for independence that ended it in 1962 has haunted relations between the two countries for decades and played into a diplomatic dispute that erupted last year.

“We have a complex, painful common past. And it has at times prevented us from looking at the future,” Macron said after meeting Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.

Standing alongside Macron in front of the intricate North African tilework of the palace where they met, Tebboune said, “We hope the visit will open up new perspectives for partnership and cooperation with France.”

Ties with Algeria have become more important for France because the war in Ukraine has increased demand in Europe for North African gas and because migration has been surging across the Mediterranean.

Algeria is meanwhile seeking to capitalize on higher energy prices to lock in European investment.

Macron has long wanted to turn the page with Algeria, and in 2017, he described French actions during the 1954-62 war that killed hundreds of thousands of Algerians as a “crime against humanity.”

That declaration, politically controversial in France, won him popularity in Algeria when he last visited five years ago, and he was celebrated by young Algerians.

Macron will again reach out to Algerian youth on this visit, with scheduled stops focused breakdancing and North African “Rai” pop music. France is home to more than 4 million people of Algerian origin.

However, Macron’s hopes of moving beyond the fraught history of the colonial era have proved premature.

Last year he was quoted as suggesting that Algerian national identity did not exist before French rule, and he reportedly accused Algeria’s leaders of rewriting the history of the independence struggle based on a hatred of France.

The comments provoked a storm in Algeria, where the generation that fought for independence still dominates the ruling elite and where that struggle occupies a central place in national identity.

Algeria withdrew its ambassador for consultations and closed its airspace to French planes, complicating the French military mission in the Sahel.

Before his meeting with Tebboune, Macron visited a monument to Algerians killed in the war, placing a wreath there. He said the two governments would establish a joint committee of historians to study archives of the colonial era.
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Nigerian authorities say gunmen have released four abducted Catholic nuns unharmed. The nuns’ church says no ransom was paid.

Imo State police commissioner Micheal Abattam said Wednesday the four Nigerian nuns were released “unhurt” without saying whether a payment was made to secure their release.

In a separate statement, officials with the Congregation of Sisters of Jesus the Savior Convent also confirmed the nuns release, and said no ransom was paid.

A spokesperson of the Catholic Society of Nigeria (CSN), Micheal Umoh says the sisters are recovering from their time in custody. He spoke to VOA via phone.

“At the moment, we’re thanking God that they’ve been released, they’re undergoing some therapy and care. I think it’s after all that that we can begin to discuss with them what they went through.”

The four women were abducted near the town of Okigwe on Sunday while on their way to a thanksgiving mass.

Armed groups kidnapping for ransom has become rampant in northwest and central Nigeria and has recently increased in the southeast.

Days before the nuns were kidnapped, a Catholic priest and a seminarian were also kidnapped in the same region. The hostages are often released after paying ransom but some have been killed.

The chief press secretary to the Imo State government, Oguwike Nwachukwu, says authorities are taking measures against the recent spate of kidnapping attacks.

“All I know is that working in collaboration with security agencies in terms of information, precisely last week, the inspector general of police was here to formally launch armored personnel carriers that the governor procured for the police high command. So far so good, I think we’re winning the battle.”

Since last year, southeast Nigeria has seen a surge in violent attacks blamed on a separatist group, the Indigeneous People of Biafra or IPOB.

According to local media reports, more than 100 security operatives have been killed there in violent clashes.

IPOB denies responsibility for attacks.
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Health ministers attending the World Health Organization’s 72nd Regional Committee for Africa in Lome, Togo have approved an eight-year strategy aimed at curbing disease and responding quickly to health emergencies.

More than 400 people participated from 47 countries, including about 30 health ministers, who attended the top annual health gathering in person, while others joined online.

After a week of discussions about some of Africa’s most pressing health issues, countries adopted a new strategy for creating more resilient public health systems for responding to infectious and chronic diseases, such as diabetes. The World Health Organization says early diagnosis and care could save the lives of many of the millions who die from the diseases.

The plan also commits countries to reach critical targets by 2030 to strengthen their ability to prepare, detect, and respond to health emergencies.

The WHO regional director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, says the ministers also have launched a new campaign to curb sickle cell disease. She notes it is one of the most common, yet least recognized illnesses in the region. However, like childhood tuberculosis, she says it has been pushed to the sidelines for far too long.

“As we have seen with COVID-19, the impact of sickle cell disease extends well beyond health, posing significant economic and social costs for patients and their families. We cannot afford to continue ignoring the threat, so greater investments, and stronger collaboration and partnerships, need to be prioritized,” said Moeti. “Childhood TB also does not typically receive much attention, even though one in every three TB cases among children globally occurs in our region.”

She says both require timely diagnosis and treatment, as do other diseases, such as monkeypox, that go largely ignored until they make headlines elsewhere.

Currently, she says 406 cases and seven deaths have been confirmed across 11 African countries. While these are far fewer cases compared to other geographic regions, she says there is a need to increase the response.

She notes there is a shortage of monkeypox vaccine and whatever is available is being used in wealthier countries, where the epidemic is raging. She says no monkeypox vaccines or antivirals are available in African countries.

“We are making a plea that the situation that African countries have experienced with COVID-19 vaccines should not be repeated. And we are still hopeful that with advocacy being carried out and the discussions with countries that are helping to produce the vaccines that we may obtain vaccine supplies for African countries. This is not the case up to today,” Moeti said.

Moeti says there is better news regarding COVID-19 coverage. She notes vaccination rates are going up among health workers, older people, and those at risk of severe illness, hospitalization, and death. While there is still much to be done, Moeti says she believes it is possible for African countries to catch up with the rest of the world.
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A recent announcement by China that it is forgiving 23 loans for 17 African countries may be motivated by accusations of “debt-trap diplomacy,” say some analysts.

Critics have long accused Beijing of practicing debt-trap diplomacy, suggesting it deliberately lends to countries that it knows cannot repay the money, thereby increasing its political leverage. China vehemently rejects this, alleging it’s a way for the U.S. to discredit Beijing, Washington’s main challenger in the quest for influence in Africa.

China’s decision to forgive the zero-interest loans is, in part, aimed at countering the debt-trap narrative, said Harry Verhoeven, senior research scholar at Columbia University in New York.

“It is not uncommon for China to do something like this [forgive interest-free loans] … now obviously it is connected to the overall debt-trap diplomacy narrative in the sense that clearly there’s a felt need on the part of China to push back,” Verhoeven told VOA.

China’s announcement did not specify the countries or the amount of loan forgiveness, but analysts say that since 2000, China has regularly forgiven loans that are nearing their end but have a small balance.

“This is not a loan cancellation per se, but the cancellation of the remaining unpaid portion of interest-free loans that have reached maturity, that is if a loan was supposed to be fully paid off over 20 years, but it still has an outstanding balance, they cancel that outstanding balance,” Deborah Brautigam, director of the China Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, told VOA.

China’s motivations

Brautigam’s research shows that between 2000 and 2019, China canceled at least $3.4 billion of such debt in Africa.

While this applies to the Chinese government’s interest-free loans, it is not the case with the country’s interest-bearing commercial loans, which can be restructured but are never considered for cancellation, analysts explained.

Verhoeven said the sums of money involved in the 23 loans forgiven would likely be modest, but the politics of such gestures are noteworthy because “for many years the Chinese would kind of shrug at various aspects, various lines of criticism, pertaining to their engagement in different African countries.” But with the debt-trap allegations, “China has belatedly woken up to the fact that this is a bit of a PR [public relations] nightmare,” said Verhoeven.

China has also been playing a role in restructuring the external debt of some African countries such as Zambia, which became the first African country to default on its debt during the pandemic. China, along with France, is chairing a committee to deal with debt relief efforts. The move, welcomed by the International Monetary Fund, is ongoing.

China is Zambia’s biggest creditor. Lusaka owes some $6 billion to Chinese entities. In July, Zambia’s finance ministry announced it was canceling $2 billion of undisbursed loans from its external creditors, $1.6 billion of which are from Chinese banks. The move stopped construction of infrastructure projects largely funded by a Chinese bank, the South China Morning Post reported.

Shahar Hameiri, a political economist from the University of Queensland in Australia, agreed that the latest move by Beijing in forgiving African nations’ interest-free loans was probably just “a goodwill gesture.”

“The bigger loans are likelier to be restructured, if repayment problems loom, as we saw in Zambia,” Hameiri wrote in an email to VOA.

US ‘debt trap’ claim

Senior officials in the U.S. have regularly warned developing countries, particularly in Africa, about the dangers of Chinese loans, and a 2020 State Department document, titled “The Elements of the China Challenge,” referred to China’s “predatory development program and debt-trap diplomacy.”

On a visit to the continent this month, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, touched on the idea that “the wealthy and powerful have extracted Africa’s natural resources for their own gain. And it continues today through bad deals and debt traps.” She did not mention China by name.

Africa’s view

African politicians themselves have had mixed reactions to the debt-trap theory, with some, such as Ethiopia’s ambassador to China, Teshome Toga Chanaka, refuting the idea, saying, “A partnership that does not benefit both will not sustain long.”

Others, including Kenya’s new president-elect, William Ruto, and Angolan opposition presidential candidate Adalberto Costa Jr., have expressed concern over taking Chinese loans.

China’s response

The debt trap allegations have infuriated Beijing, which says Western private lenders are responsible for the bulk of poor countries’ debt and charge much higher interest rates.

The U.S. allegation against China “is simply untenable,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said this month.

Chinese state media constantly run articles aiming to debunk the narrative.

Debunking the narrative

A number of economists and researchers are also saying the debt-trap narrative against China is unfounded.

“The debt-trap idea is that Chinese banks had ulterior motives: deliberately lending to countries when they knew those countries couldn’t repay,” Brautigam said. “The reality is that like bondholders, which hold the majority of Africa’s debt, Chinese banks lent to countries that looked quite promising. All of these creditors have belatedly realized that risk profiles can shift dramatically in a short period of time.”

China restructured or refinanced about $15 billion in African debt between 2000 and 2019, Brautigam’s research has found. She did not find that China had been involved in any “asset seizures.”

Echoing Brautigam, Hameiri wrote in an email to VOA, “There is scant evidence that China has pursued ‘debt-trap diplomacy’ – i.e., the idea that it would on purpose issue loans to ensnare recipients in unsustainable debt, in order to seize strategic assets or exercise control over their governments.”

Problematic loans

Chinese lending has at times been problematic, Hameiri wrote, because “in a frenzy to issue loans, Chinese lenders often spent little time considering debt sustainability. Hence, Chinese lending has contributed to debt problems in a number of countries, although it is not necessarily the only or even the primary cause as in Sri Lanka.”

Some critics blamed China for the crisis in Sri Lanka earlier this year, when the cash-strapped government – which had defaulted on its debt – was deposed by mass protests. Beijing also is Colombo’s biggest bilateral creditor; however, Sri Lanka’s largest foreign lending source is in sovereign bonds sold in several countries.

Verhoeven said the growth in sovereign bonds has been an important factor in African nations’ debt too and rejected the Chinese debt-trap narrative.

“When it comes to China, the debt-trap narrative suggests … this is being done on purpose,” to get countries to vote with China in the U.N. General Assembly and to reduce Western influence, he said.

There “is little actual evidence that China’s been doing this for political gain,” Verhoeven said, “which is not to in any way say that Chinese lending is all fine, or that it’s always responsible or the best thing for countries to do, far from it.”

Since China has now been burned several times regarding its lending, with several countries defaulting on the loans, plus its own economic difficulties at home, “there’s certainly a sense that the good old days of 10 or 15 years ago where [it] could sort of give out loans left and right … are over,” said Verhoeven.
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Ethiopia’s government has joined the World Food Program in condemning Tigrayan forces for allegedly stealing more than half-a-million liters of fuel meant for delivering food aid.

David Beasley, head of the U.N.’s World Food Program, said Thursday on Twitter that Tigrayan forces stole 570,000 liters designated for humanitarian aid distribution in Ethiopia’s embattled region of Tigray.

The government demanded in a statement that the fuel be returned and the international humanitarian community take action against the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front, or TPLF. The government has been fighting the TPLF for nearly two years.

The news comes after a five-month-old cease-fire came to an end Wednesday, with the government and TPLF blaming each other for a new offensive in the north of the country.

Tigray has been under a humanitarian blockade for around eight months. Humanitarian organizations say parts of the region are likely in a state of famine due to a lack of aid, the distribution of which is exacerbated by fuel shortages.

Kjetil Tronvoll, a professor at Oslo New University College and an expert on the Ethiopian conflict, said on Twitter that a U.N. situation report stated the fuel had been loaned from Tigray authorities and claimed, therefore, that the TPLF was within its rights to take the fuel.

A TPLF spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment.
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Amid protests that turned deadly, persistent drought and election controversies, Somaliland’s media are coming under attack.

Arbitrary arrests, threats, beatings. Somaliland’s journalists are bearing the brunt of a spike in attacks, media associations say.

In a recent incident, police in Hargeisa, the capital of the breakaway region, detained two Horyaal 24 TV journalists — Abdinasir Abdi Haji Nur and Ahmed-Zaki Ibrahim Mohamud — on August 11, as they reported on violent protests over claims that elections could be delayed.

According to journalists in Hargeisa who spoke with VOA over the phone, police initially held the pair at the criminal investigation department before transferring them to the Mandera prison on August 15. The pair, who were accused of taking part in the unrest, were finally freed on Wednesday.

The Somali Journalists Syndicate, which tracks violations, says members of the police and national intelligence often perpetrate hostilities against the media, and that in many cases, no one is held accountable for attacks. 

Abdalle Ahmed Mumin, secretary-general for the Somali Journalists Syndicate, believes the media are attacked to silence reporting on issues of national interest. 

Media outlets and journalists who cover corruption, human rights abuses and other violations are continuously targeted, he said, impeding their work.

“The attacks against the journalists and the detention and raid on media houses have also increased,” he said. “This is because Somaliland is facing various crises. Number one, the humanitarian crisis in Somaliland because of the drought, has forced the government to become unable to respond to this crisis. Secondly, the election dispute and the latest deadline is expiring on November. That’s why the authorities have now resorted to attacking journalists to stop [these] critical voices.”

The federal police did not respond to VOA’s request for comment. But in July, a police spokesperson announced that an officer had been arrested over allegations that he had assaulted a journalist in Mogadishu.

Muthoki Mumo, the Sub-Saharan Africa representative for the Committee to Protect Journalists or CPJ, says journalists have a duty to cover issues of public interest such as protests, and that their work should never be equated with criminal activity.

The CPJ is concerned by recent actions against the press, including a ban on the BBC, that point to an increasingly hostile environment, she said.

“The impact of these violations is to send a message of fear to the broader media community,” she said. “These violations create an environment where journalists might choose to self-censor rather than risk their livelihoods or liberty in telling the truth. In such an environment, it is the public that ultimately suffers for lack of access to diverse and critical sources of information.”

Part of the problem, says veteran human rights defender Ahmed Yusuf Hussein, is that a press law protecting journalists has yet to be enacted.

“The press law, which was of special importance to the media and journalists, has not been given its importance and it has not been forwarded to the legislatures to pass it into the law,” he said.

Journalists also face danger in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, where a video journalist for media house M24 needed emergency surgery on Sunday after being hit by a bullet that witnesses say was fired by police.

Ahmed Omar Nur was shot while covering an attack on the Hayat hotel in Mogadishu. Colleagues who witnessed the incident say the shot was fired from the direction of a group of elite police officers.

Nur is recovering. But others have not been so lucky.

Somalia is one of the deadliest countries for journalists in the world, with more than 50 killed since 2010, according to Reporters Without Borders. The media watchdog describes Somalia as “the most dangerous country for journalists in Africa.”
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As a third of the vote results are released, Angola’s ruling party, the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola, or MPLA, has taken a commanding lead over its main political challenger, the National Union for the Liberation of Angola, UNITA.

The provisional presidential results show the ruling party garnered 60% of the vote, with 33% of the vote counted.

The candidate of the ruling People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola party, known by its Portuguese acronym MPLA, incumbent President Joao Lourenco, 68, who is seeking a second five-year term, is ahead of the main opposition party candidate, Adalberto Costa Jr., 60, of the National Union for the Liberation of Angola, or UNITA. The opposition party received 33% of the vote.

At a news conference, UNITA vice presidential candidate Abel Chivukuvuku dismissed the earlier result, showing it was losing the Wednesday election.

He said UNITA would publish its own results, collected from the polling stations across the country.

Experts say this is a close election, as the opposition’s popularity among young people has grown in the past years, as millions are frustrated due to unemployment and lack of equal opportunities.

This is Angola’s fifth general election since independence from Portugal in 1975 and the ruling MPLA has been in power for nearly five decades. 

The electoral commission has seven days to announce the winner of Wednesday’s vote.
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Nigeria this week added a rotavirus vaccine to its national program that is expected to prevent 50,000 deaths of children per year from the diarrheal disease. But the launch comes amid shortages of the vaccine in countries such as Cameroon, Kenya, Senegal and Tanzania.

The launch Monday coincided with the commemoration of Africa Vaccination Week.

Officials from the World Health Organization, the United Nations children’s agency, as well as Nigeria’s Health Ministry, attended the launch in the capital.

During the event, many young children received the vaccine for free, while authorities urged citizens to embrace the measure.

“They’ll get the opportunity of taking it when they’re taking other vaccines,” said Faisal Shuaib, executive director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency. “We need to seize this opportunity — mothers, caregivers — so that our children will be protected from this virus.”

Rotavirus is the most common cause of diarrheal disease in children under 5 years old. WHO says that globally, up to 200,000 children die each year from the disease.

Authorities say the oral vaccine could prevent up to a third of severe diarrhea cases in Nigeria.

WHO country representative Walter Kazadi Mulombo also attended the launch.

“The introduction of the rotavirus vaccine provides the opportunity to reduce the number of children dying every day from diarrheal disease caused by rotavirus,” he said.

But this month, pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline said manufacturing challenges had led to a shortfall of 4 million doses of the rotavirus this year, as well as delays in delivery.

According to GAVI-the Vaccine Alliance, the company already said it would reduce deliveries of the rotavirus vaccine by 10 million a year between 2022 and 2028.

Moses Njoku, a research fellow at Nigeria’s National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development, said a shortfall should not be a challenge to Nigeria.

“The issue of them thinning out shouldn’t be a threat to a country like Nigeria if we use our internal potential,” Njoku said. “Nigeria is beginning to see the need to start indigenous efforts to start research and production, development of vaccines, as well as production of known vaccines.”

Njoku also said authorities must take delivery of the rotavirus vaccines in batches to avoid waste.

“If care is not taken, they will not be imported at the right time,” he said, adding that some might ship with little time left before an expiration date. “So, eventually you won’t even use up to 10,000 doses and you have paid the money. The supply chain management system is also very poor.”

For now, authorities will be trying to get as many children vaccinated as possible.
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Tigrayan forces say Ethiopia’s federal allies have launched an offensive against their southern positions in violation of a months-long cease-fire, but Ethiopia’s government blamed Tigrayan rebels for the flare-up in violence.  

Officials told VOA Tuesday they are ready for peace talks mediated by the African Union.

The Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front, known as the TPLF, said Wednesday that troops from the National Defense Force and Amhara regional forces attacked its positions near Kobo in the Amhara region of Ethiopia. The claim was later confirmed by the Reuters news agency.

A statement from the TPLF command said, “Tigray’s army is reliably ready to repulse this offensive, and transition into a counteroffensive to liberate occupied sovereign Tigrayan territory and return our displaced people to their homes.” The statement appeared to suggest the TPLF could respond with force.

The Ethiopian government has since alleged that it was the TPLF which launched the attacks.

A statement from the federal government called on the international community for support.

“The international community should also condemn the obvious belligerence of the TPLF, lest it becomes complicit in the unconscionable march of the TPLF to a third round of conflict. All those who profess to be committed to the stability of the region and humanitarian ideals should exert pressure on the TPLF to renounce violence and endorse peace,” the statement said.

The Ethiopian government says it has been laying the groundwork for peace talks with the TPLF, mediated by the African Union.

On Tuesday, an Ethiopian government spokesperson, Selamawit Kassa, told VOA that “The federal government has full confidence in the African Union and its high commissioner assigned to cover the peace talks. There is no plausible reason for Ethiopia to look for other entities to broker the peace efforts.”

The TPLF, however, claims the AU is biased in favor of the federal government and will not come to the negotiating table without mediation by the Kenyan government and a resumption of basic services to the region, such as banking and humanitarian access, which have been blocked by officials in Addis Ababa.

Getachew Reda, a TPLF spokesperson, criticized the government for favoring AU mediation on Monday in an op-ed published on the website of The Africa Report, a monthly news magazine.

“It’s been very evident that both sides have been recuperating, preparing themselves for a new bout of fighting, at the same time as talking about peace,” said Ahmed Soliman, with the U.K.-based research group Chatham House. “As we’ve seen today and as happened at the beginning of the war in 2020, both sides have blamed the other for instigating the conflict. This relapse into fighting in Tigray and Ethiopia should have been avoided at all costs.”

William Davison, an analyst for the International Crisis Group, a research organization based in Belgium, said all sides to the conflict need to talk with each other.

“This is a clear indicator that the delay in talks has fed into this very volatile truce and we see events that could mean a resumption of conflict and I think there’s an evident and urgent need for the external actors here, the African Union, Kenya’s government, the U.S., etc…. to try and get the parties not just to pause these latest hostilities, but also to actually sit around the table for talks, where they can discuss all of their disagreements rather than making them preconditions for talks,” he said.

A humanitarian truce that was established in March between the two sides now appears to be at an end.

Renewed fighting is likely to have a major impact on the humanitarian situation in Tigray. Humanitarian organizations say parts of the region could already be in a state of famine.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Wednesday he is “shocked and saddened” by the renewed fighting and that Ethiopians have suffered enough.
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In a televised speech Tuesday night, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud announced that his government will launch a “total war” against al-Qaida-affiliated militant group al-Shabab, after the group staged a deadly hotel siege in Mogadishu on Friday, killing at least 21 people and wounding more than 100.

Mohamud said that it is time to come together to defeat the enemy and said the military’s recent operations in parts of the country gained significant ground, including in central Galmudug state and Southwest state.

His remarks were made after he met with the country’s security council to discuss the latest attack on Hotel Hayat in the capital.

He said that he knows that the Somali people are tired of the endless mourning and that people lose their loved ones in every attack carried out by the terrorists. He urged people to be prepared for an all-out war against the ruthless terrorists who are hostile to the country’s peace.

He added that al-Shabab’s only principle is killing, intimidation, humiliation and carrying out atrocities against the civilians.

He said when he assumed the office of the presidency, he promised that he would launch a fight against al-Shabab to end the scourge of terrorism. There have been tangible victories, especially in Galmudug, Southwest and Hirshabele, he said.

This is Mohamud’s second term as Somalia’s president. He also held the office from 2012 to 2017.

When he took office in June, al-Shabab’s leader Abu Ubaidah released an audio message calling the president the worst of Somalia’s politicians and said al-Shabab would fight the new government.

The group frequently targets hotels and restaurants in Mogadishu, where Somali officials and security officers are known to gather.

It attacked the Hayat Hotel with suicide bombers and several gunmen. Security forces cleared the hotel after an operation that took 30 hours.
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An Ebola vaccination campaign will start in the Congolose city of Beni on Thursday after a new case of the virus was confirmed this week, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.

More than 200 vaccine doses have been arrived in Beni, in the east of Democratic Republic of Congo, it said.

The latest confirmed case has been genetically linked to a 2018-2020 outbreak in North Kivu and Ituri provinces, which claimed nearly 2,300 lives.

Six people were killed in another flare-up from that same outbreak last year.

A WHO spokesman told Reuters the shots were provided by the organization and that inoculations would start on Thursday.

Congo’s dense tropical forests are a natural reservoir for the Ebola virus, which causes fever, body aches, and diarrhea, and can linger in the body of survivors only to resurface years later.

The vast central African country has recorded 14 outbreaks since 1976. The 2018-2020 outbreak in the east was Congo’s largest and the second largest ever recorded, with nearly 3,500 total cases.

Congo’s most recent outbreak was in northwest Equateur province. Itwas declared over in July after five deaths.
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Conservation groups say the rate of rhinoceros poaching in Africa has dropped significantly since a peak in 2015. 

The latest figures on the animal whose horns are coveted in traditional Chinese medicine are recorded in a report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the NGO Traffic. 

The report covers 2018 through 2021. It notes an increase in the number of rare black rhinos by just over 12 percent from 5,495 to 6,195; however, it says the number of white rhinos fell from just over 18,000 to 15,942. That’s also a change of 12 percent.

The report says overall there was a decrease, with about 22,137 rhinos, black and white, left in Africa at the end of 2021.  

IUCN Rhino expert Sam Ferreira says the reason they aren’t seeing the results of a decreased poaching rate yet is that the drop needs to be sustained over a longer period. 

Ferreira says he believes it wasn’t, as some experts have suggested, the COVID-19 lockdowns that made the difference, but improved policing and community involvement. 

“I think that what is really important is that the arrests decreased from 493 in 2018 to 279 in 2021,” Ferreira said. “Now again, we don’t know what exactly is sitting behind these things. But it does suggest that there are interventions, critical interventions that range states and particularly managers on the ground are doing that are having some consequences on the decisions that people make to poach or not to poach rhinos.” 

The IUCN Traffic report says since 2018, several education campaigns have been delivered to more than one million people. 

The WWF’s global practice leader, Margaret Kinnaird, says conservationists use everything from social media to classic campaigns with posters to educate the public. 

“For WWF, we’ve worked a lot with Chinese travelers in particular that are going overseas where they are visiting markets that have, for example, elephant ivory and rhino horn potentially for sale,” Kinnaird said. “The point there is to change the hearts and minds of those people who are approaching markets and thinking about taking a gift home. Or thinking about buying something for a medical cure. And just giving them alternative ideas for the sort of gift or product they would take home.” 

Kinnaird says the smuggled horns go primarily to Asia and are sold through illegal markets in the Mekong region and in China, particularly in markets in Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam.  

She says the horns are marketed from all four of the major rhino range states, the most coming from South Africa but also Kenya, Namibia and Zimbabwe. South Africa accounts for 90% of all reported poaching on the continent, mostly of white rhinos. 

Kinnaird says that, while it is good news that poaching rates have dropped, more needs to be done to ensure the animal doesn’t become extinct.  

“We need to improve our crime-related intelligence and make sure we’re targeting the right people, not the little people on the ground, we need to get at the big bosses, the kingpins, the organized criminals,” Kinnaird said.

The IUCN Traffic report was prepared for a U.N. convention on endangered fauna and flora taking place in Panama in November. 

 
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U.N. agencies warn that severe hunger is sliding toward famine-like conditions in the Horn of Africa, particularly in Somalia, as four years of consecutive drought have wiped out peoples’ ability to grow the crops they need to feed themselves.

The World Food Program reports up to 22 million people in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are facing severe hunger. It says hunger and the death of millions of livestock have forced more than 7 million people to leave their homes in search of food, water and grazing pasture for their cattle.

The WFP warns these figures are likely to grow, and conditions will continue to deteriorate, as poor rainfall is forecast for the fifth year in a row.

The WFP regional director for East Africa, Michael Dunford, recently returned from a visit to Somalia and northern Kenya.

Speaking from the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, Dunford says he was particularly struck by the dire situation in Somalia where more than 7 million people are facing a humanitarian crisis. He says this is the worst situation he has seen in the 21 years he has been working for WFP.

“We have a real risk of famine. It has not been declared yet, but already there are over 200,000 people in famine-like conditions, catastrophic levels of food insecurity, with another 1.4 [million] on the edge. So, unless we are able to continue to advocate to raise funding, to scale up our operations, then we will have, I fear, a famine to deal with,” he said.

Dunford says the specter of the 2011 famine in Somalia, which killed 250,000 people, half of them children, looms large over this current crisis. He says WFP is scaling up to reach 8.5 million people across Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. He says $416 million is needed to provide lifesaving aid for the rest of the year.

Malnutrition remains high across the Horn of Africa. The U.N. children’s fund reports 10 million children under the age of five are acutely malnourished. It adds that nearly 1.8 million face severe wasting, a condition that is life-threatening.

UNICEF spokesman James Elder says millions of children in the Horn of Africa are literally one disease away from catastrophe.

“When you have got these terrifyingly high levels of severe acute malnutrition in children — and that is 1.8 million of those children in that state right now in the Horn, 1.8 million when you have got those — and then you combine it with a simple outbreak in [a] disease like a cholera, like diarrhea, then you see child mortality rates rise at a petrifying speed,” he said.

Elder notes the number of people without access to safe water in the region has risen from nine million in February to 15 million now.

UNICEF has revised its emergency appeal from $119 million to nearly $250 million. This reflects the growing needs across the region.

 
…

Angola holds presidential and parliamentary elections Wednesday in what is expected to be the biggest challenge to the country’s longstanding one-party rule.

The ruling MPLA party, in power for nearly half a century, has been losing young supporters to the leading opposition party, UNITA.

The presidential candidates have focused mainly on economic issues, but observers are expressing concern about whether the election will be fair.

Angola’s national electoral commission has begun distributing voting material ahead of Wednesday’s polls.

The incumbent president, Joao Lorenco of the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola, MPLA, is facing a tough challenge from the opposition candidate Adalberto Costa Junior of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, known as UNITA.

The two main political parties have promised to fight corruption, create jobs and improve the living standard of the people. Currently, half of Angola’s population lives on less than $2 per day.

Experts say economic challenges threaten the ruling party’s hope of winning the Wednesday vote.

Borges Nhamirre, a researcher for Institute for Security Studies, said the election campaign has been peaceful, with candidates focusing on solving the people’s and country’s problems.

“The electoral campaign was good, not much violence as in the past,” he said. “And also, the candidates discussed ideas about what they have to do for Angola; that is good as well. The performance of the electoral body was not that good because they failed to organize a transparent and fair election. The National Electoral Commission did not submit the voter roll to be audited, so they are going to vote, but the number of voters is not audited as mandatory by the law.”

Critics accuse the electoral commission of failing to build trust with the political class and the public ahead of the election.

Officially, there are at least 14 million people eligible to vote but some suspect the actual number to be less because the commission failed to clean the voter rolls of possible double registrations and the deceased.

UNITA fears the unverified voter register could be used to rig the vote in favor of the ruling party.

Opposition groups have also criticized the commission’s move to announce the results at the national election center in Luanda’s capital instead of at polling stations.

The head of Angola Institute of Electoral System and Democracy, Luis Jimbo, said the electoral agency must act properly on election day.

“Right now, it’s not about transparency. There have been a lot of transparent things that were supposed to be done from the beginning,” he said. “But we are demanding they must follow the law according to what the law says, to publish the results at the polling station, and the result at the national center must reflect those results. So, they are aware of this and there is pressure from all of society.”

Experts predict a tight presidential election. According to recent public opinion surveys, UNITA’s popularity among young voters has grown, something that worries the MPLA.

Nhamirre said the opposition can win the election but the ruling party may refuse to hand over power.

“In Angola, it’s very difficult to distinguish who is MPLA, the ruling party, and who is the state, so I foresee some groups within MPLA not accepting the result,” he said. “So, we might have a situation that mediation will be necessary to prevent conflict in Angola.”

Nhamirre says conflict can be avoided if the police remain peaceful and refrain from violence in the event of any post-election protests.

The MPLA has been in power since Angola won independence from Portugal in 1975.
…

Somalia’s prime minister is promising accountability after the latest al-Shabab attack, on a popular Mogadishu hotel, killed 21 people and injured 117 others.   

Hamza Abdi Barre said the government takes responsibility for what happened in Friday’s attack on the Hayat Hotel.

After visiting hospitals treating the injured victims, Barre said those who failed to “perform their duties, anyone who fell short, and anyone who infringed will be held accountable.” He added, “A repeat of what has happened is not acceptable.” The comments aired late Sunday on state television.

He did not single out any person or government branch for specific blame.

Mukhtar Robow, the former deputy leader of al-Shabab, now the country’s religious affairs minister, condemned the attack as well in a televised speech, along with religious clerics.

“This is not right and you know it,” Robow said in remarks aimed at al-Shabab. “Give up and repent.”

Robow, also known as Abu Mansour, called for unity against the Islamist militant group.

Government troops ended al-Shabab’s siege on the hotel after a 30-hour operation.

Al-Shabab has been carrying out raids on hotels, government ministries and installations since 2010. While this attack is not unique, observers believe the group was responding to recent rhetoric from new Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who said he has come up with a new strategy to weaken the group before opening the door for possible negotiations.

The government and its allies will wage military, ideological and economic war against the group, the president said.

Al-Shabab is attempting to counter the government’s pronouncements, said Samira Gaid, executive director of the Hiraal Institute, a Mogadishu-based research institution.

“It was also a message to the administration and the public as well that they cannot be simply eradicated,” she said.

Al-Shabab spokesman Abdiaziz Abu Mus’ab did state the group was responding to the president.

The attackers

A senior Somali government security official who requested anonymity because he does not have authorization to speak to the media told VOA Somali that security branches believe al-Shabab surveilled the hotel before the attack. He said security officials believe the attackers watched video of the entrances and the hotel’s rooms.

The official said seven militants were directly involved in the attack. Three of them were suicide bombers. The first one blew himself up at the gate at about 7:00 p.m. local time on Friday, followed by a car bomb explosion by another suicide bomber.

A third bomber detonated his suicide vest after security forces led by Muhiyadin Warba, the chief of the Mogadishu branch of the national intelligence and security agency (NISA), reached the hotel.

“The [third] bomber impersonated a guest who needed to be rescued and he detonated himself among the security forces, injuring nine,” the official said. One of the nine was Warba, who is now recovering.

Officials said they are investigating whether other people inside the hotel aided al-Shabab. Officials are not ruling out the possibility that some individuals who assisted in the attack hid among those rescued and escaped.

The hotel owner, Abdulkadir Moahmud Nur, denied that any of the hotel’s guests was involved, and rejected a social media rumor that some of the attackers had come to the hotel impersonating honey sellers.

“When the person comes to the hotel we record their passport, documents and the information of the person that brought them,” Nur told VOA Somali. ‘We do not accommodate someone without documents.

“I have seen people suggest the honey seller’s story – that is baseless,” he added.

Operation delays

Nur said it took the security forces nearly an hour to reach the hotel to engage the assailants.

Survivors confirmed to VOA that the third suicide explosion inside the hotel further delayed the response from the security forces.

“The rescue forces came late,” said Mohamed Hassan Haad, a traditional elder who said he was rescued after more than four hours hiding in an alleyway.

He said government troops entered from the main gate and fired heavy weapons but turned back after militants hurled grenades from the upper floors and after one of the attackers blew himself up.

“That paused the operation for a while. Four plus hours later they reached where I was hiding,” he said.

Security officials also said the main obstacle they faced came when the militants destroyed the hotel’s staircase.

Officials believe the militants blew up the stairs to prevent security forces from climbing to upper floors. The destruction of the staircase jeopardized the operation and prevented the security forces from directly engaging the militants. The troops were forced to use a crane to move their personnel to the upper floor.

Officials tell VOA Somali a lack of coordination among the different security branches meant the security operation lasted a long time.

They say the regular Mogadishu police and special police unit trained by Turkey, known as Haramcad (Cheetah), initially shouldered the responsibility for the operation. After two hours, the operation was taken over by Gaashaan (Shield) a counterterrorism unit that works under NISA and is supported by the United States. Then Haramcad completed the operation.

“In my experience, these changes sometimes stall the operation and allow the terrorists some respite,” said Gaid, who was the security adviser to former Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire.

VOA Somali attempted to contact security officials, but they did not respond to repeated phone calls.

(Hassan Kafi Qoyste contributed to this report.) 
…

Authorities in Cameroon have sealed at least 30 gold mines, including some owned by Chinese, after at least 33 young miners died in landslides this month and scores more were declared missing. Officials said Monday that they are also concerned about working conditions that have caused deaths within the seasonal gold mine community.

A heavy downpour on Monday kept businesses closed in Kambele, a village in Batouri district on Cameroon’s eastern border with the Central African Republic. But 70-year-old gold miner Vidal Dula says he braved the rains to meet with officials of local mining company Invest Batouri. He was asking for help in burying his 27-year-old son Vincent Dula, who died at a mining site on Saturday.

Vidal Dula says Vincent was trapped in a hole where he and 20 miners searched for gold. He says friends dug at the collapsed portion of the gold mine and recovered Vincent’s body. Vidal says the death was a huge loss for his family as Vincent was his only son.

The company has not responded.

Cameroon says Kambele is home to several thousand Cameroonians, Chadian and Central African Republic civilians either working or looking for jobs in gold mines.

On Monday, Djadai Yakouba, the highest-ranking government official in Batouri, said he deployed several hundred government troops to seal at least 30 gold mines in Kambele. Yakouba said the facilities defied a July 2022 government ban on mining activities. He said the troops and humanitarian workers searched for missing miners and recovered corpses buried at collapsed sites.

The central African state’s government officials say at least 33 miners, a majority of them school children on holiday, have died in Kambele within the past month. The government says about 10 children ages nine to 13 were among the dead.

The government did not say if the dead or missing miners were Cameroonians or included displaced persons fleeing conflict in neighboring C.A.R.

Lambert Essono is an environmentalist with Save Cameroon, a non-governmental organization on Cameroon’s eastern border with the C.A.R.

Essono says this year’s heavy rains have increased the number of miners trapped in sites on Cameroon’s eastern border with C.A.R. He says many more deaths may be recorded if miners continue to defy the ban. Therefore, he says, the government of Cameroon should make sure that all mining companies build trenches and retaining walls to protect miners from landslides. Essono says the government should punish mining firms that recruit and keep poor children out of school.

Under Cameroonian law, children under the age of 14 aren’t allowed to work. Essono said poverty pushes parents to send their children to work in mining sites where they are paid $3 after 24 hours of work.

Richard Lambo, spokesperson for Kambele’s mining firms, says the ban on mining activities should be lifted or else the companies, many of them owned by the Chinese, may leave.

Lambo says Korean mining firms left in 2014 when the Cameroon government temporarily sealed mining sites with claims that miners used child labor. He says people who died within the past one month were searching for remains of gold in places mining companies had left. He says it is the duty of the government to stop illegal mining.

The government has not said when the ban will be lifted.

Mining firms say that if they leave, roads that they are building, or renovating, will be abandoned. Miners say the construction of schools, markets and parks, which is part of the companies’ social responsibility, has been halted.

Cameroon says it will make sure the needs of the population are taken care of and that their children have education and health facilities. Cameroon says more 400 mining sites are operating on its eastern border, but that a majority of them are illegal.

The government says it will punish mining companies operating illegally or recruiting children.

Cameroon is a signatory to the Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention adopted by the International Labor Organization on June 17, 1999. A 2011 Cameroonian law states that people involved in child labor could face 15 to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $20,000.
…

A new case of Ebola virus has been confirmed in the city of Beni in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the country’s National Institute for Biomedical Research said on Monday.

Genetic sequencing showed the case is linked to the 2018-2020 outbreak in North Kivu province, which killed nearly 2,300 people, the institute said in a statement.

Ebola can sometimes linger in the eyes, central nervous system and bodily fluids of survivors and flare up years later.

The World Health Organization said on Saturday that authorities were investigating a suspected Ebola case after a 46-year-old woman died in Beni after showing symptoms consistent with the disease.

Congo’s dense tropical forests are a natural reservoir for the Ebola virus, which causes fever, body aches, and diarrhea.

The country has recorded 14 outbreaks since 1976.
…

Kenya’s veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga filed a challenge to the results of this month’s presidential election in the Supreme Court on Monday, sharpening a political clash that has gripped East Africa’s powerhouse.

In the petition, Odinga asks the court to nullify the vote’s outcome on several grounds, including a mismatch between the turnout figures and the result, and failure by the commission to tally ballots from 27 constituencies as required by law.

“The final result… was therefore not complete, accurate, verifiable or accountable and cannot be the basis for a valid and legitimate declaration,” the petition said.

Last week the election commissioner declared Deputy President William Ruto had won the election by a slim margin, but four out of seven election commissioners dissented, saying the tallying of results had not been transparent.

The commission, its chairman and Ruto have four days to respond to Odinga’s claims through court filings.

Last week Odinga said the results were a “travesty” but said he would settle the dispute in court and urged supporters to remain peaceful.

This is Odinga’s fifth stab at the presidency; he blamed several previous losses on rigging. Those disputes triggered violence that claimed more than 100 lives in 2017 and more than 1,200 lives in 2007.

In 2017, the Supreme Court overturned the election result and ordered a re-run, which Odinga boycotted, saying he had no faith in the election commission.

This time, Odinga is backed by the political establishment. President Uhuru Kenyatta endorsed Odinga’s candidacy after falling out with Ruto after the last election.

At stake is control of East Africa’s wealthiest and most stable nation, home to regional headquarters for firms like General Electric, Google, and Uber. Kenya also provides peacekeepers for neighboring Somalia and frequently hosts peace talks for other nations in the turbulent East Africa region.

The case will be heard by the seven-member Supreme Court and presided over by Martha Koome, Kenya’s first female chief justice, who was appointed by Kenyatta last year.

The court will next conduct a status conference with all parties to define the hearing schedule and ground rules. The constitution requires judges to issue their decision within 14 days of the lawsuit being filed.

Due to the tight schedule, it normally issues a summary judgment within 14 days, followed by more thorough decisions from each of the seven judges at a later date.

The dispute

One week ago, electoral commission chairman Wafula Chebukati declared Ruto the winner with 50.49% of the vote against Odinga’s 48.5%.

But minutes earlier, his deputy Juliana Cherera had told media at a separate location that she and three other commissioners disowned the results.

She said the elections had been conducted in a proper manner – and most international observers agreed – but that results were erroneously aggregated.

Public confusion reigned over the tallying after the Kenyan media suspended a count of 46,229 polling-station level results with around 80% of the vote counted.

The election commission’s website still does not display the correct forms for all 291 constituencies. In some cases, the form is incomplete or only partially loaded, making it impossible for the public to confirm the commission’s count.
…

A local convent said on Monday that four Catholic nuns were abducted on a highway in Nigeria’s oil-producing Imo state in the southeast. The nuns were on their way to church to attend mass.

The Sisters of Jesus the Savior said in a statement that the nuns were kidnapped on Sunday in the Okigwe-Umulolo area.

“We implore for intense prayer for their quick and safe release,” the statement said.

The order’s website says its sisters “portray the compassionate Jesus in their actions whereby they profess the 3 Evangelical Counsels of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience.”

In the northwest, Nigeria’s military has started an air offensive to eliminate the armed groups responsible for kidnapping citizens from villages and towns in the region.

Some information for this story came from Reuters.
…

Somali federal police said Sunday that security forces had ended the Mogadishu hotel siege by the al-Qaida-affiliated militant group al-Shabab after nearly 30 hours of operations. Officials say more than 20 people were killed in the attack.

At a press conference in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, Sunday, Somali police chief General Abdi Hassan Hijar said that casualties include civilians and security personnel who were killed in the al-Shabab complex attack on the Hayat hotel in the center of the city, near Somalia’s criminal investigation department headquarters.

He said the main focus of the security forces was rescuing trapped civilians after al-Shabab fighters targeted the hotel with explosions and stormed the building, followed by a firefight that lasted nearly 30 hours.

He added that the security agencies involved in the operations who ended the siege at midnight rescued more than 106 people, including women and children.

He says he wants to share with Somali people in the country and abroad that the operations at Hayat hotel ended at midnight. During the operations, he said, the security forces focused on rescuing and securing the civilians trapped in the hotel, and more than 106 people, including children and women were rescued. It is shocking that innocent civilians have died there.

Dr. Abdulkadir Abdirahman Adan, the founder of Aamin Ambulance, part of the emergency team involved in taking civilians to hospitals, told VOA by phone Sunday that despite difficulties, their team was able to transport wounded people to hospitals for treatment.

He says Aamin picked up 11 wounded people and seven bodies, including men and women.

The al-Qaida-linked Islamist group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the deadly attack on Hayat hotel in Mogadishu and claimed it had killed 63 people and wounded 107 others.

The attack was met with international condemnation.

The United States said it strongly condemned the attack.

A statement issued by the U.S. State Department expresses “heartfelt” condolences to the families who lost loved ones, wishes a full recovery to those injured, and commends Somalia’s security forces.

The statement added that the United States remains steadfast in its support of Somali and African Union-led efforts to counter terrorism and build a secure and prosperous future for the people of Somalia.

The Intergovernmental Authority for Development in Eastern Africa, or IGAD, also condemned the attack.

Nuur Mohamud Sheekh, spokesperson for the executive secretary of IGAD, told VOA that the attack was a “terrible disaster” for the entire region.

“Look, this is a terrible disaster, not just for Somalia, but the entire IGAD region is in mourning. Our executive secretary did condemn this heinous criminal act in the strongest terms possible. Acts of terror are a threat to both the national, regional and global stability, and must be defeated collectively and we will be working closely with all the regional actors, international partners and of course with the government and the people of Somalia to defeat terrorism collectively,” said Sheekh.

This was the first deadly attack by al-Shabab on an upscale target in Mogadishu since Somalia’s new president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, took office in May.

The attack also was the longest hotel siege in Somalia since al-Shabab started its insurgency more than 15 years ago.

 
…

Nigeria’s broadcasting regulator on Friday announced it will revoke the licenses of 52 media organizations over unpaid fees, in a move the country’s journalist union says is “ill advised.”

The head of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Mallam Balarabe Illelah,  announced the decision Friday at a news conference in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, Friday.

The affected stations owe the commission a combined $6.2 million (2.66 billion naira), the commission said.

In a press release, the NBC said it published a list of media companies owing license fees in May and gave the organizations a grace period to pay the debt and avoid having licenses revoked.

Those who had still not paid were ordered to shut down operations in the next 24 hours.

Included on the list are about 20 state government media outlets, including some belonging to the ruling All Progressives Congress, or APC party.

Nigeria’s Union of Journalists described the move as “hasty” and “ill advised.”

In a statement, the union president, Chris Isiguzo said the broadcasting commission had failed to take account of the economic reality in Nigeria and noted that some unpaid fees dated back to 2015.

Isiguzo said that the union “regret[s] the inability” of broadcasters to pay their fees and cited “dwindling resources.”

But, he said, “We caution against such large-scale clampdown of broadcast stations in disregard to security issues and the attendant consequence. We cannot afford the unpleasant outcome of such media blackout at this time.

The heads of some of the affected stations requested more time to pay their dues, citing a tough economic climate.

The head of Jos-based Unity Radio and Television Stations, Ibrahim Dasuki Nakande, said that although the broadcasting commission has financial reasons for taking such measures, he believes the action is too punitive during an economic downturn.

Shu’aibu Kere Ahmed, director of Zuma FM Radio, said the station was aware of the impending revocation and pleaded with the commission for more time, noting the high costs involved in running a media organization.

The broadcasting commission announcement comes a few weeks after the regulator fined four Nigerian stations in connection with their coverage of insecurity.

The commission fined Trust TV $11,726 (5 million naira) over a documentary on terrorism, which it said was provocative and contained misinformation.

The other outlets were fined the same amount after they aired a BBC documentary, Bandit Warlords of Zamfara.

In a press release shared on social media, the commission said the documentary “glorified” banditry and “undermines national security.”

The commission director, Illelah, on Friday said the demand that media organizations pay their debts is neither retaliatory nor political.

Failure to renew broadcast licenses violates Nigerian law, he said.

Nigeria ranks 129 out of 180 countries and regions on the World Press Freedom Index, where 1 has the best media conditions.

Reporters Without Borders, which compiles the list, notes that the country has a large number of media outlets but “very few are in good economic health.”

This article originated in VOA’s Africa division. 
…

The siege at a hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, has ended, according to a government official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity before an official announcement.

“No gunfire, but still we are making sure that the entire place is safe from mines and explosives as it is late here,” he said. “We will provide details as the day wears on and we finish the assessment.”

The government is expected to hold a news conference Sunday morning, according to Agence France-Presse.

Somali security forces had been battling al-Shabab militants for more than 24 hours, since the al-Qaida-linked terrorist group attacked the popular hotel Friday night with several explosions and gunfire, security officials said.

The death toll from Friday’s assault on the Hayat Hotel, an upscale hotel frequented by government officials, elders and people from the diaspora community, has risen to at least 20, with more than 40 others injured, according to hospital sources.

A senior police official who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media told VOA that a number of heavily armed militants were still fighting with government soldiers inside the hotel premises late Saturday.

According to Mogadishu Ambulance services, at least 13 dead bodies were pulled from the rubble in the collapsed part of the hotel buildings.

Dr. Abdulkadir Abdirahman Adan, the founder of Aamin Ambulance service in Mogadishu, told VOA that its medical team transported wounded people to hospitals for treatment.

Businessmen and local traditional elders were among those killed and injured in the attack. According to relatives, the hotel’s co-owner, Abdirahman Iman is among those killed.

The special security operations unit known as the “Alpha Group trained by the U.S.” entered the ground floor as insurgent snipers held positions upstairs, according to witnesses.

The attack began Friday evening just after sunset prayers, when a car bomb exploded at the gate to the hotel. At least two other explosions followed, and then gunmen posing as police officers stormed the hotel, witnesses said.

The al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

There is no official statement from the government regarding the attack.

In a separate attack in Mogadishu overnight involving mortar shells, five civilians from the same family were killed and 10 others were injured when mortars landed on their residences near Mogadishu airport.

No one has claimed responsibility for the mortar attacks, but Somali security officials said al-Shabab had carried out similar mortar attacks many times in the city.

Survivors’ accounts

During the siege Somali troops succeeded in rescuing many civilians who were stranded inside hotel rooms.

Survivors who spoke to VOA Somali recounted harrowing stories of hiding under tables, jumping from windows as armed attackers continued firing indiscriminately against those in the hotel and its surroundings.

“It was a beautiful Friday, which is like the weekend for Somalis … the beautiful conversations and happy faces of the hotel guests immediately turned into explosions, gunfire, blood and a shocking sense. I ran into a room next to the hotel reception area, along with dozens of people. We spent at least 40 minutes of desperation there before we got a chance to break windows and run,” said one survivor, Abdinasir Mohamed Gedi.

Gedi added that he could see people jumping from high windows at the hotel amid huge explosions that sent plumes of smoke into the air.

“The hotel area was covered with black smoke and flying flames. I could see people jumping from windows onto the buildings next to the hotel, among them old and overweight people,” said Gedi. “Some who already were injured from the explosions must have broken their legs or even perished after they jumped.”

Another survivor, Abdirahman Ahmed, was among nine other survivors. He said he and the others spent about six hours inside a barber shop next to the hotel before they were rescued by government soldiers in the early morning hours.

“It was like being holed up into a dangerous corner waiting for death to come. We never thought we could survive because we could hear the militants shouting, “God is great. Kill whoever you see,” Ahmed said. “When we were rescued, I could see a headless body apparently killed by an explosion and two other dead bodies lying in the street.”

Saturday’s attack is the first deadly attack by al-Shabab on an upscale target in Mogadishu since Somalia’s new president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, took office in May.

The U.S. embassy in Mogadishu condemned the attack in a brief statement it released on Twitter, saying that the U.S. will continue working with the Somali government in the battle against terrorism.

Abdulkadir Abdulle contributed to this story from Mogadishu. 
…

Somali security forces continue an operation aimed at ending a hotel siege in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, where they have been battling with al-Shabab militants for the past 24 hours after they detonated several explosive devices, security officials said.

The death toll from Friday’s assault on the Hayat Hotel, an upscale hotel frequented by government officials, elders and people from the diaspora community, has risen to at least 20, with more than 40 others injured, according to hospital sources.

A senior police official who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media told VOA that a number of heavily armed militants were still fighting with government soldiers inside the hotel premises Saturday night.

“The militants have been firing from parts of the hotel for the last 24 hours, with our troops engaging in an operation to flush them out of the hotel and end [the] siege,” the official said.

Elders among the dead

The official added that the fatalities include four assailants, in addition to the civilian victims. He said the number of militants still fighting inside the hotel is unknown.

According to Mogadishu Ambulance services, at least 13 bodies were pulled from the rubble in the collapsed part of the hotel buildings.

Dr. Abdulkadir Abdirahman Adan, the founder of Aamin Ambulance service in Mogadishu, told VOA that its medical team transported wounded people to hospitals for treatment.

Businessmen and local traditional elders were among those killed and injured in the attack. According to relatives, the hotel’s co-owner, Abdirahman Iman is among those killed.

Hotel surrounded

Gunfire and explosions could still be heard Saturday night as security forces surrounded the building and used guns mounted on the backs of vehicles to attack the militants.

The special security operations unit known as the Alpha Group and trained by the U.S. entered the ground floor as insurgent snipers held positions upstairs, according to witnesses.

The attack began Friday evening just after sunset prayers, when a car bomb exploded at the gate to the hotel. At least two other explosions followed, and then gunmen posing as police officers stormed the hotel, witnesses said.

The al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

There is no official statement from the government regarding the attack.

In a separate attack in Mogadishu overnight involving mortar shells, five civilians from the same family were killed and 10 others were injured when mortars landed on their residences near Mogadishu airport.

No one has claimed responsibility for the mortar attacks, but Somali security officials said al-Shabab had carried out similar mortar attacks many times in the city.

Survivors’ accounts

During the siege Somali troops succeeded in rescuing many civilians who were stranded inside hotel rooms.

Survivors who spoke to VOA Somali recounted harrowing stories of hiding under tables, jumping from windows as armed attackers continued firing indiscriminately against those in the hotel and its surroundings.

“It was a beautiful Friday, which is like the weekend for Somalis … the beautiful conversations and happy faces of the hotel guests immediately turned into explosions, gunfire, blood and a shocking sense. I ran into a room next to the hotel reception area, along with dozens of people. We spent at least 40 minutes of desperation there before we got a chance to break windows and run,” said one survivor, Abdinasir Mohamed Gedi.

Gedi added that he could see people jumping from high windows at the hotel amid huge explosions that sent plumes of smoke into the air.

“The hotel area was covered with black smoke and flying flames. I could see people jumping from windows onto the buildings next to the hotel, among them old and overweight people,” said Gedi. “Some who already were injured from the explosions must have broken their legs or even perished after they jumped.”

Another survivor, Abdirahman Ahmed, was among nine other survivors. He said he and the others spent about six hours inside a barber shop next to the hotel before they were rescued by government soldiers in the early morning hours.

“It was like being holed up into a dangerous corner waiting for death to come. We never thought we could survive because we could hear the militants shouting, “God is great. Kill whoever you see,” Ahmed said. “When we were rescued, I could see a headless body apparently killed by an explosion and two other dead bodies lying in the street.”

Saturday’s attack is the first deadly attack by al-Shabab on an upscale target in Mogadishu since Somalia’s new president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, took office in May.

The U.S. embassy in Mogadishu condemned the attack in a brief statement it released on Twitter, saying that the U.S. will continue working with the Somali government in the battle against terrorism.

Abdulkadir Abdulle contributed to this story from Mogadishu.
…

More than 10% of a UNESCO-listed biosphere reserve has been destroyed by fires that tore through northeastern Algeria, killing at least 38 people, an expert told AFP on Saturday.
The figure cited by Rafik Baba Ahmed, former director of the El Kala Biosphere Reserve, means that the burned area of the park alone is almost double what the civil defense service said has been destroyed throughout Africa’s largest country since June.

Algeria’s northeast was particularly hard-hit since Wednesday by blazes exacerbated by climate change. Fierce fires have become an annual fixture in Algeria’s parched forests where climate change is exacerbating a long-running drought.

But the fire service on Saturday said most of the fires there had been put out.

“The Wednesday fires damaged around 10,000 hectares (24,700 acres)” of the park, Baba Ahmed said.

According to the United Nations cultural agency UNESCO, El Kala Biosphere Reserve covers more than 76,000 hectares.

It is the last refuge of the Barbary Red Deer and “home to a very remarkable bird life, more than 60,000 migratory birds every winter,” UNESCO’s website says.

“It is (a) mosaic of marine, dune, lake and forest ecosystems, with its marine strip rich in corals, Posidonia meadows and fish,” UNESCO says.

According to Baba Ahmed, forest covers 54,000 hectares of the park and most of the trees are cork oak.

“It is considered one of the main biodiversity reserves in the Mediterranean basin,” he said, extolling its “exceptional biological richness.”

Baba Ahmed said he was “very pessimistic” about the future of the area regularly damaged by forest fires.

“Over time the fires weaken the forest, making it vulnerable to other attacks: harmful insects but especially to human activities.”

As a consequence, the area loses its flora and fauna, the forestry expert added.

Civil Defense Colonel Boualem Boughlef said on television Friday night that since June 1, 1,242 fires had destroyed 5,345 hectares of woodlands in Algeria.

Baba Ahmed said that figure is not realistic.

While Algeria’s northeastern fires have been largely extinguished, firefighters fought two blazes on the other side of the country in Tlemcen, in the far west, the civil defense said Saturday on its Facebook page. And the fire service tweeted late Friday that fires were burning in the far northeastern regions of El Tarf and Skikda.  

State television showed images of an army firefighting aircraft over El Tarf, and police said several highways in the area had been closed.

The fires led Algerians both at home and in the diaspora to collect clothing, medicines and food to help those affected. Since Wednesday, more than 1,000 families have been evacuated.

The justice ministry launched an inquiry after Interior Minister Kamel Beldjoud suggested some of this year’s blazes were started deliberately, and authorities on Thursday announced four arrests of suspected arsonists.

If found guilty, they could face between 10 years and life in prison

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has also offered support, and French President Emmanuel Macron called his Algerian counterpart Abdelmadjid Tebboune to express his condolences “for the victims of the fires”, state news agency APS reported on Saturday.

Spain and Portugal too fought massive wildfires over the past week, including in another UNESCO-listed park where more than 25,000 hectares were estimated to have been scorched.
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