The number of people displaced by the record-breaking drought in Somalia has topped one million, with the United Nations warning of widespread famine if emergency needs are not soon met. 

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, said that during the month of July another 83,000 people were forced to flee their homes because of the drought, with the worst displacement coming in the Bay, Banadir and Gedo regions. 

Ishaku Mshelia, deputy emergency coordinator for the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, told VOA via telephone Wednesday that people are migrating in search of food and other assistance. 

He said the FAO is trying to help. 

“Our ability as [a] humanitarian community is to be able to reach the affected people in their communities and provide the services that they need so that they … don’t feel pushed to migrate,” Mshelia said. “Unfortunately, previous droughts, what we have seen is that a lot of mortalities have been reported where people that, unfortunately, died on their way to open areas in search of assistance.” 

FAO Somalia said it needs $130 million to fully fund its famine prevention plan, designed to help about a million people in rural areas.  

A statement issued by the FAO on Wednesday said that if the funding gap is not addressed, widespread famine may be inevitable. 

Drought-related malnutrition has killed 500 children, according to the U.N. Children’s Fund, UNICEF. 

Authorities in Somalia’s Gedo region also confirmed to VOA more than 50 deaths of children due to suspected drought-related illnesses. The deaths were reported in the towns of Bardere and Beledhawo, which border Kenya. 

Ali Yusuf Abdullahi, the Gedo regional administration spokesman, said that the region is witnessing a “catastrophic” situation due to drought. 

He said that people are fleeing in search of a better life and have gathered in major towns including Dolow, near the Ethiopian border. 

As of today, Abdullahi said, Dolow has received more than 50,000 displaced people and there are people who are coming from the Ethiopian side who were affected by the drought there and settling in IDP camps in Dolow. He said the town administrators are doing their best to provide relief, but that is not enough. 

Somalia’s federal government declared the three-year drought a national emergency last year. The drought, Somalia’s worst in more than 40 years, has affected more than 7 million people. 

According to the Somali prime minister’s office, the drought has also killed more than two million livestock. 

 
…

Central African ministers meeting in Cameroon have agreed to merge two regional blocs in a move to boost trade and growth. The 11-member Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) will join with the six-member Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC). The deal aims to eliminate rivalry that has helped to make central Africa the poorest region among Africa’s economic groups.

Central African economy ministers say they want to foster regional integration, accelerate economic transformation and facilitate development by merging the two economic blocs.

Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Chad are members of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa, or CEMAC, while the Economic Community of Central African States, ECCAS, is made up of all CEMAC member states plus Angola, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Sao Tome and Principe.

Charles Assamba Ongodo heads the unit of a pilot committee created by central African heads of state to merge CEMAC and ECCAS.

Ongodo said having one economic bloc instead of two will reduce administrative duplication and associated costs.

“The sub-region will be more integrated, more competitive, efficient and strong enough to compete with the other regions. We have some countries that are stronger in central Africa that could push the rest,” said Ongodo.

ECCAS was created in 1983 to reduce inequality and poverty in central Africa. Central African leaders created CEMAC about a decade later, launching it in 1999 for the same purpose.

The African Union reports that free movement of people and goods remains a dream in a majority of central African states. The absence of a functioning common market and customs union envisaged by Central African leaders when they created the two structures has further deepened poverty.

Moise Taboue, one of the pilot committee’s consultants, says the effects of Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine underscore the need for central Africa to merge its two economic structures and focus on its development.

Taboue said central African states produce about 5% of pharmaceutical products they need and spend $269 million to import pharmaceutical products from Europe each year despite their huge potential. He said the over-dependency of central African states on imports is responsible for hardships among civilians caused by scarcity and spiraling food and commodity prices since Russia launched its war in Ukraine in February of this year.

Taboue said most of the region’s civilians live on less than $1 a day while 40% of the population suffer from hunger in the midst of plenty. He blamed the situation on regional government officials whom he said consider integration as a threat to each country’s sovereignty.

Together, ECCAS and CEMAC constitute a market of more than 240 million inhabitants and is the least integrated region in Africa, according to the African Union.

Cross-border business among central African states is estimated at less than 5% against a continental average of about 20 percent. The region lacks developed land, air and sea communication, which constitutes an enormous obstacle to integration.

The ministers meeting in Cameroon on Wednesday said the two blocs will be merged before the end of 2023.
…

Kenyans are waiting for the results of a close but calm presidential election in which the turnout was lower than usual.

Tuesday’s election was likely the final try by longtime opposition leader Raila Odinga, who on his fifth attempt was backed by former rival and outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta. The other top contender is Deputy President William Ruto, who fell out with the president earlier in their decade in power.

Voters have expressed little hope of real change and frustration with rising prices and widespread corruption in East Africa’s economic hub. Both top candidates are long known to Kenyans, Odinga as a democracy campaigner and former political detainee and Ruto as a wealthy populist who plays up his humble youth as a contrast to dynasties that produced Odinga and Kenyatta.

The president’s backing of Odinga cut across the usual ethnic lines that have long defined elections and contributed to violence. This time there is no candidate from Kenya’s largest ethnic group, the Kikuyu, though both top candidates chose Kikuyu running mates.

Official election results must be announced within a week of the vote, but there’s some anticipation a winner might be known Wednesday. The electoral commission still must verify results forms coming from across the country. More than 95% of results forms from the over 46,000 polling centers had been sent to the commission before noon Wednesday.

A runoff election will be held if no candidate receives more than 50% of votes.

The commission has said it expected turnout to be above 60%, far lower than the 80% in the previous election in 2017. More than 22 million people were registered to vote, but some told The Associated Press they doubted they would bother, dispirited by economic challenges including high national debt and widespread unemployment.

A relatively uneventful election might be welcome. On the eve of the vote, Kenya’s government reminded people that “this will be a CONTEST, not a FIGHT. A contest must have a winner, and a loser. In a fight, life can sometimes be lost.”

Kenyans tend to say elections are calm and troubles come later. More than 1,000 people were killed after 2007 election results were announced and Odinga alleged massive rigging. In 2017, the high court overturned the election results, a first in Africa, after Odinga alleged irregularities. He boycotted the fresh election and declared himself the “people’s president,” drawing accusations of treason.

A handshake with Kenyatta calmed that crisis, set up their unusual alliance and angered Ruto, who still accuses the president of betrayal.

Both Odinga and Ruto have said they will accept the results as long as the vote is free and fair.

Already, reported troubles include the failure of about 200 voting kits out of more than 46,000 across the country. The electoral commission called it “not widespread” and “normal” for technology to break down at times. But some local reports also cited people saying they were unable to vote when the kits didn’t recognize them and polling workers wouldn’t use the paper voters’ register as a backup, which was allowed.

Such frustrations occurred even after Kenya budgeted $347 million, or more than $15 per voter, for one of Africa’s most expensive elections.

Kenyans have a week from the announcement of official results to file any court challenges. The court has two weeks to rule. A fresh election would be held within 60 days.

 
…

Two explosions killed 15 soldiers in Burkina Faso on Tuesday, the army said, the latest in a series of such attacks as the country battles a jihadi insurgency.

The twin blasts using “improvised explosive devices occurred on the road from Bourzanga to Djibo” in the Center-North region, the army general staff said.

“The toll for both incidents is 15 fallen soldiers and one wounded,” the statement said.

It was carried out during an escort mission, the statement said.

“One of the vehicles in the convoy, which was carrying troops, hit an explosive device near Namsiguia district in Bam province,” it added.

While troops secured the area and tended to the victims, “a second device was remotely detonated, causing many casualties.”

Jihadis based in neighboring Mali began mounting cross-border raids on Burkina Faso and neighboring Niger in 2015.

In Burkina Faso, violence blamed on jihadis affiliated to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group has killed thousands of people and prompted 1.9 million more to flee their homes.

On Monday, a suspected jihadi attack killed six civilians and four security auxiliaries in the northern province of Yatenga, a security source said.

Another alleged jihadi operation took the lives of four soldiers and nine auxiliaries on Thursday in the Bourzanga district, the army said, also in the country’s north.

Burkina Faso’s ruling junta took power in a January coup that ousted former president Roch Marc Christian Kabore, amid widespread anger over the government’s failure to quell the insurgency.

Today more than 40% of the country remains outside the government’s control, according to official figures.
…

Ethiopia’s Somali region is mobilizing against al-Shabab militants to prevent further incursions by the group.

The region had been hailed as the most peaceful in Ethiopia since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power in 2018. But that was put to the test three weeks ago when al-Shabab fighters forced their way into the region, igniting a deadly confrontation deep in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia has now amassed troops along the border for possible military operations against al-Shabab. But the Somali region is also mobilizing community leaders including religious scholars, women and traditional elders. Business leaders have pledged funds and pastoralists have donated livestock to the security forces. The apparent goal is to resist infiltration of al-Shabab’s ideology in a region known for its tolerance and peaceful cohabitation between various faith communities.

Sheikh Mohamed Hassan Burawi is one of the clerics who spoke out against al-Shabab during a recent government-organized gathering in the region’s capital, Jigjiga.

“They want to manipulate people by saying they want to spread religion and jihad,” Burawi told VOA Somali in a phone interview. “We have to give people awareness that what these men are preaching is not jihad, but it’s independent of the religion.”

Burawi said the Somali region does not need al-Shabab’s intervention, and said the scholars are obliged to speak at mosques and inform the public about the militant organization.

“This is the right time to speak out,” he said. “We should not give these men a chance, the government should not give them a chance and the clerics should not give them a chance. We have to stop them here.”

Samira Gaid, a security expert and executive director of the Mogadishu-based Hiraal Institute, said the community appears for now to be ready to reject any al-Shabab incursion.

She said al-Shabab has been struggling to build a support base inside Somali Region.

Although extremist groups in Somalia so far have failed to set up permanent bases in Ethiopia, they have succeeded in recruitment. Ali Diyaar, commander of al-Shabab’s Ethiopia front, and several other commanders who were reportedly involved in the recent incursion are from the region. Al-Shabab has also recruited from other Ethiopian communities, including from the Oromo.

Lengthy operation

The picture that is emerging from the region indicates the operation against al-Shabab fighters has been lengthy and more complex than previously reported by authorities. It appears security forces have been engaging the militants until at least late last week.

Two Ethiopian officials, one a diplomat and the other a security official who requested not to be named because they are not allowed to speak to the media, admitted that some of the al-Shabab fighters have reached their target — a mountainous area that stretches between the Somali and Oromia regions.

The number of militants who reached there is estimated to be between 50 and 100. But Somali Region officials repeatedly reported that al-Shabab militants who entered Ethiopia have been crushed. They ruled out the possibility that al-Shabab fighters are organized as a fighting force inside the region.

“Operations have officially lasted four to three and a half days,” the region’s deputy security chief Mohamed Ahmed Gurey told VOA Somali last week.

Gurey said al-Shabab’s strategy in Ethiopia has “failed.” Officials said they have seized weapons, walkie-talkies, SIM cards, phones, rice and sugar — indicating the militants planned for a lengthy operation inside Ethiopia.

“Since then, people in the rural areas and villagers have been hunting them, but their remnants have been apprehended yesterday and the day before in different locations,” Gurey said. “They are on the run. Some are trying to return to Somalia. Some are thirsty and don’t know whether they are going. All that remains is clearing up.”

El Kari

Officials believe al-Shabab wanted to reach the mountainous area near the small town of El Kari located close to the border with Oromia. The region’s officials confirmed the militants have been courting locals in that vicinity for at least a year. El Kari is in an area where locals have some grievances stemming from land disputes, and where some locals may feel their concerns are not being addressed by the local administration, an official said.

The social integration of the locals is more connected to the southern regions of Somalia. The area is also strategic, mountainous and with enough water to support a farming and pastoral community.

Officials believe al-Shabab was building a local cell for at least a year. On July 15, five days before the al-Shabab invasion, regional security forces conducted an operation in the El Kari area that killed a local cleric identified as Sheikh Mohamed Hassan Osman. The region’s security chiefs accused him of being the al-Shabab “worker” in the area.

Osman’s body was displayed by the authorities, who described him as an al-Shabab commander. He allegedly fought against the security forces. Officials said they confiscated weapons during the operation that led to Osman’s killing.

“The information we have is that this man was important to al-Shabab and a pillar for their attempts to destabilize Ethiopia,” Gurey said.

He said al-Shabab’s target in this incursion was the El Kari area, which Gurey argues proves the information they had about Osman was correct.

Authorities alleged Osman possessed extremist views and was known to the authorities for many years.

“The view about him was that he is an extremist who will cause fitnah (trouble) sometime,” Gurey said.

Osman’s relatives could not be reached for comment.

Al-Shabab vowed to fight the Ethiopian forces and also has been conducting its own mobilization along the border.
…

Polls have closed across Kenya for presidential, legislative and local elections, and it appears voting across the country has gone smoothly, despite some irregularities in the early voting hours.

Some Kenyan voters remained in line to register their votes after the polls closed across the country at 5 p.m. local time.

In some polling centers, vote counting already is underway.

Kenya recorded a 30 percent voter turnout six hours after the polls opened and the Kenya Election Commission said it expected a total voter turnout of about 60 percent. At least 22 million people are eligible to vote.

The commission conducted most voter identification using the integrated election systems that help identify the voters. Some voters across the country reported biometric voter registration was not working or was taking a long time to identify voters.

The electoral agency said 238 polling stations out of 46,232 used manual registers to identify voters, allowing at least 100,000 voters to cast their ballots.

Election for two governors and four parliamentary seats was suspended because of errors printed on the ballots. The voters in two counties and four constituencies expressed their displeasure with the electoral agency order.

One candidate for parliament was arrested for allegedly fighting at a polling station and another parliamentary candidate was said to be in possession of machetes at a voting center.

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration is coming to an end and Tuesday’s voting will result in a new government. The presidential results are expected to trickle in as soon as the polling stations count the ballots.

The electoral commission has seven days to announce the presidential vote winner. The president-elect must get a 50 percent vote to take charge of the government and the country’s affairs.
…

Authorities in Somalia say bomb blasts near the southern coastal town of Kismayo killed at least four people and wounded 11 others. Separately, Somali authorities say the U.S. launched an airstrike in central Somalia in support of counterterrorism operations.

One of the bomb blasts targeted a minibus carrying civilians in the village of Buulo-haji on the outskirts of Kismayo, the administrative capital of the southern Somali state of Jubaland, resulting in multiple casualties.

A police officer in the port city of Kismayo who spoke with VOA on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to media said the attacks involved multiple landmine explosions and killed more than 4 people.

He said more than 11 others were wounded and taken to Kismayo hospitals for treatment.

Medical sources told VOA that some of the wounded have life-threatening injuries.

Residents told VOA that after the first explosion that hit the minibus, rescuers who were trying to reach the site were hurt when the second explosion went off. 

Authorities blamed al-Qaida-linked Islamist group al-Shabab for the attack, but no one has yet to claim responsibility.

Kismayo is a major port city, located 500 kilometers south of Mogadishu.

Meanwhile, Somali officials said U.S. forces launched an airstrike at the request of the Somali federal government in the central Hiran region.  There was no U.S. confirmation.

Government officials say the airstrike was conducted in defense of Somali National Army forces who, at the time, were conducting counterterrorism operations in the region.

According to a short statement issued by Somali authorities, there were no civilians harmed in the incident and the United States continues to support its Somali partners.
…

Scouting for plastic refuse along the capital’s broken streets, Mohammed describes brighter days working in Tunisia’s once-booming tourism industry, earning salary, room and board entertaining Europeans.

“Before, Tunisia was the icon of the Arab world,” says Mohammed, lean and deeply lined at 46, who declines to give his last name.

“Of course, it was a police state under Zine el Abidine Ben Ali,” he added of the country’s former autocrat, ousted in a revolution 11 years ago, “but we had work, we lived well. Now, we’re being hit in the stomach.”

As current President Kais Saied solidifies his control of the tiny North African country under a newly passed constitution, he will be challenged to deliver on promises of jobs, bread and stability for citizens such as Mohammed — who today earns roughly 20 cents filling up large burlap bags with garbage for recycling.

“I didn’t vote,” Mohammed said, counting among 70% of eligible Tunisians, out of opposition or apathy, who declined to participate in a July 25 referendum on Saied’s charter, which passed anyway. “I don’t trust politicians.”

The vote came exactly a year after Saied seized vast powers, dismissing his government and ultimately dissolving parliament, in what his opponents call a coup.

Today, Tunisia’s future—and Saied’s—may depend on a raft of factors, observers say: from whether the president can both secure and sell a crucial International Monetary Fund loan and its tough austerity requirements to save the country’s moribund economy, to the calculations of powerful players such as the country’s main trade union and revered army.

Also shaping the country’s trajectory will be whether Saied can retain his fading but still-sizable support — and whether Tunisians have the will and energy to return to the streets if they believe yet another government has failed them.

“We are in real uncertainty,” said Tunis University political science professor, Hamadi Redissi. “If Saied improves people’s economic and social conditions, he will probably be reelected. But if his only obsession is the constitution and elections, the country will probably plunge into crisis.”

A decade of darkness?

What happens next, analysts say, carries important lessons in a region where every other Arab Spring experiment has failed, and disenchantment in multiparty politics appears to be growing.

A recent Arab Barometer poll found falling public faith, including in Tunisia, in democracy as a motor for economic growth. Many here, like Mohammed the garbage collector, are nostalgic about a perceived heyday under Ben Ali’s strongman rule. The country’s bickering and gridlocked parties have only helped to cement their views.

Yet Ben Ali’s 2011 ouster, triggering the broader Arab Spring uprising, was fueled by the same bread-and-butter worries as today. Only now, things are worse.

However flawed and fragile, Tunisia’s democracy has “really, really mattered,” says Monica Marks, assistant professor of Middle East politics at New York University Abu Dhabi. “Tunisian democracy was a strong counter-argument not only to autocracies in the region but also violent extremists.”

Former soldier Mourad Sassi instead sees the years since Tunisia’s revolution as “a decade of darkness.”

“We don’t even have the money to buy things like cooking oil,” he says. “We can’t live another decade like this.”

“You hear the word ‘exhaustion’ more than anything else,” Marks says. “It seems Tunisians under the summer heat are wilting. And their energy to defend the only democracy in the Arab and Muslim world has wilted too.”

Man of the people

Not surprisingly, Saied and his supporters argue differently. The president says he is committed to preserving the revolution’s freedoms and his constitution will better deliver on the demands of the street — in part by creating a so-called Council of Regions as a second chamber of parliament.

Many ordinary Tunisians are proud of their man-of-the-people leader — an unremarkable constitutional scholar from a modest neighborhood, who catapulted to power in 2019 with an unlikely shoestring campaign.

“Kais Saied’s hands are clean,” says taxi driver Mohamed Bokadi. “He’s a learned man.”

Yet Saied has a lean governing resume, shows little appetite for prioritizing the economy and has failed to surround himself with effective political allies, analysts say. His prime minister, Najla Bouden, is a former geologist.

Publicly, Western leaders have offered a low-key response to Saied’s moves. But when Washington last month voiced concern about an “erosion of democratic norms,” Tunisian Foreign Minister Othman Jerandi pushed back, calling the statement an “interference in national internal affairs.”

Civil society groups and political opponents—some of whom question the referendum’s results—say the constitution merely cements a year of eroding rights: from a crackdown on political critics and journalists, to the dismissal of dozens of judges and Saied’s replacement of the independent electoral commission’s executive board just weeks before his referendum.

Tunisians have partly responded with growing self-censorship, analyst Marks says, characteristic of pre-revolution days.

“When Kais took the reins last year, a lot of people just naturally stopped discussing politics on the phone, because they believed the phones were tapped again,” she says.

“Nobody can say no to Kais Saied,” says Rached Ghannouchi, leader of Tunisia’s once-powerful Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party. He is being investigated for corruption allegations he dismisses as politically motivated.

“He controls the judiciary, the National Assembly, the administration” Ghannouchi adds, “he rules like a pharaoh.”

Rocky times ahead

Tunisia’s leader faces sizable road bumps ahead. The powerful UGTT trade threatens another strike next week over better pay and benefits—potentially paving the way for an uptick of social unrest.

How much Saied can count on the country’s security forces — including its popular military that sided with the people in the 2011 revolt — is another unknown.

“It does look like he still has the military with him,” analyst Marks says. But if the country tips into the massive protests of a decade ago, “the military might make a recalculation.”

Marks, for one, is not betting on the president.

“I think Kais is destined to become that most unfortunate of creatures – an unpopular populist,” she says. “I think his days are numbered – how long remains to be seen.”

Engineer Rania Zahafi, who did not vote for Saied’s constitution and worries about its fallout, remains confident Tunisians will have the last say.

“It’s up to us to change things,” she says. “We have to make our country a better place.”
…

Polls opened Tuesday in Kenya’s unusual presidential election, where a longtime opposition leader who is backed by the outgoing president faces the deputy president who styles himself as the outsider. 

The election is considered close, and East Africa’s economic hub could see a presidential runoff for the first time. Hundreds of voters lined up hours ahead of polls opening in some locations. 

The top candidates are Raila Odinga, who has vied for the presidency for a quarter-century, and deputy president William Ruto, who has stressed his journey from a humble childhood to appeal to millions of struggling Kenyans long accustomed to political dynasties. 

“In moments like this is when the mighty and the powerful come to the realization that it is the simple and the ordinary that eventually make the choice,” a smiling Ruto told journalists after becoming one of the first voters. “I look forward to our victorious day.” He urged Kenyans to be peaceful and respect others’ choices. 

More than 22 million people are registered to vote in this election in which economic issues could be of greater importance than the ethnic tensions that have marked past votes with sometimes deadly results. 

Outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta, the son of Kenya’s first president, cut across the usual ethnic lines by backing longtime rival Odinga after their bitter 2017 election contest. But both Odinga and Ruto have chosen running mates from the country’s largest ethnic group, the Kikuyu. 

Odinga has made history by choosing running mate Martha Karua, the first woman to be a leading contender for the deputy presidency. “Make your voice heard,” she said after voting early in a knitted cap, a sign of the unusually cold weather in parts of the country. 

Rising food and fuel prices, huge government debt, high unemployment and widespread corruption mean economic issues are at the center of an election in which unregulated campaign spending highlighted the country’s inequality. 

Kenyans are hoping for a peaceful vote. Elections can be exceptionally troubled, as in 2007 when the country exploded after Odinga claimed the vote had been stolen from him and more than 1,000 people were killed. In 2017, the high court overturned the election results, a first in Africa, after Odinga challenged them over irregularities. He then boycotted the new vote and proclaimed himself the “people’s president,” bringing allegations of treason. A handshake between him and Kenyatta calmed the crisis. 

This is likely Odinga’s last try at age 77, and Kenyans and election observers will be watching to see how his often passionate supporters react to the results and any allegations of rigging. 

Official results must be announced within a week of the election, but impatience is expected if they don’t come before this weekend. The underfunded Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission is under pressure to ensure an untroubled vote.

 
…

Tunisia’s new and controversial constitution goes into effect later this month, cementing the vast powers seized a year ago by its author, President Kais Saied — though fewer than three in 10 voters cast their ballots in a July referendum. From Tunis, Lisa Bryant reports the North African country’s future depends on many factors — including whether Tunisians will defend the Arab Spring’s only democracy.
…

Zimbabwe has charged two journalists under its cybercrime law in a move media advocates say runs counter to global trends to support and promote press freedom.

Police in Harare have charged two journalists from the national paper, News Day, under provisions of the country’s Cyber and Data Protection Act that cover “false data messages.”

Editor Wisdom Mdzungairi and senior reporter Desmond Chingarande were called in for questioning last week over their coverage of a legal dispute involving local authorities and a memorial park in Harare.

Both deny the charge and Chingarande said he was surprised when police called.

“They allege l published a false statement on internet, but l see this as an intimidation tactic. There were allegations that they are burying people on a part of Glen Forest Memorial Park called Chikomo Chemhute, which is situated at the confluence of Mazowe River, without approval from responsible ministries,” he said.

Chingarande said he sought comment from all sides in the story before publishing. But, with the story now part of a police matter, he says he is unable to say much more.

Mdzungairi and Chingarande are the first journalists charged under new provisions of the cybersecurity law that Zimbabwe enacted during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Media Institute of Southern Africa said such laws are a means to target journalists and citizens.

Tabani Moyo, who heads the regional media watchdog, said, “These are some of the challenges which we continue having in Zimbabwe, where in we make progress in repealing acts such as the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, then the government claw(s) back using other pieces of legislation to retain elements that will further targets journalists. To have penal or sedition provisions in our statute books that target journalists [is] so out of sync with the global trends toward promotion and protection of media and journalistic expression.”

Zimbabwe is not alone in passing such laws, Moyo said. Zambia, Eswatini and Tanzania enacted cybersecurity laws and Namibia and Lesotho are finalizing similar legislation.

Moyo says heavy penalties, including up to 20 years in prison for those deemed to have shared false news, goes against democratic norms.

“This is an anathema to democratic existence and out of sync with our own constitution which provides for freedom of expression and media freedom, also violating international and regional conventions and tools,” Moyo said.

Ruby Magosvongwe, chair of the Zimbabwe Media Commission — a government-appointed body set up to promote and protect journalism — said she is aware of concerns over violations against the media.

Speaking at a conference on the safety of journalists, organized by UNESCO and media watchdogs in Africa Friday, she called for the government to be more involved in complaints of attacks against the media.

“My wish, my desire, is that in future we include our line ministries so that they get the firsthand reports, because they provide the link between ourselves as media institutions, media entities, with the respective governments from across the continent, across Africa, because examples have been given where journalists have suffered violence but if the line ministries are not involved, then it becomes kind of a conspiracy of sorts,” Magosvongwe said.

For News Day journalists Mdzungairi and Chingarande, they are now waiting to hear from court officials on when a trial in their case will take place.
…

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken gave a speech on the key U.S. strategy for sub-Saharan Africa at the University of Pretoria on Monday, on the first leg of his Africa trip.

Blinken stressed the value of democracy and the threats to it in his address, saying Africa was an “equal partner” that the U.S. wanted to work with and would not “dictate to.”

“By 2050, 1 in 4 people on the planet we share will be African. They will shape the destiny, not only of this continent, but of the world,” he said.

Blinken spoke about the blow the pandemic has dealt to Africa and economies on the continent, as well as food insecurity he said had been deepened by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

He also addressed a wide range of issues, including conflict prevention, misinformation online, science and technology, as well as climate change and clean energy.

VOA spoke to several South African students, asking their thoughts on the address by America’s top diplomat.  

Zaphesheya Dlamini, who has just finished a master’s degree in political science, was skeptical.

“Listen — every single foreign policy, every single national interest, is always going to be their national interest. It’s not ours, we know that. But then don’t try and present it like it’s a shared interest,” Dlamini said.

She also thought Blinken didn’t address how U.S. domestic politics influence the rest of the world. She referenced the overturning of the U.S. landmark case Roe v. Wade, which protected a woman’s right to an abortion, and the Global Gag Rule, which prohibits foreign nongovernmental organizations that receive U.S. funding from providing legal abortion services or referrals, as examples of things she thought he should have spoken about. 

International relations student Billy Botshabelo Manama, 22, said Blinken’s speech heavily promoted good governance, which he acknowledged had sometimes been a problem on the continent.

“Look — a lot has been mentioned on democracy, rightfully so, looking at the history of Africa,” Manama said.

Manama added that he believed that like the U.S., South Africa also stood for equality and human rights.
…

South African Minister of International Relations Naledi Pandor accused the West of sometimes taking a patronizing and bullying attitude toward Africa, as she hosted U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the first leg of his Africa visit. Pandor made it clear that South Africa has different views from the U.S. on Ukraine, China, and Israel and the Palestinians.

At a joint press conference in the South African capital, Blinken stressed he was not on his three-country tour of the continent in order to counter Moscow and Beijing’s growing influence in the region, as has been widely speculated, after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited last month.

“Our commitment to a stronger partnership with Africa is not about trying to outdo anyone else,” Blinken said.

Blinken spoke, too, about U.S. support of Ukraine, saying Russia’s invasion was an aggression against the entire international order.

South Africa has remained neutral on the conflict with Russia, its partner in the BRICS group of countries, and abstained from any U.N. votes on the matter, though Pandor said the country “abhorred” war and would like to see an end to the conflict.

However, she said the different approaches by the international community to different conflicts sometimes “leads to cynicism about international bodies.” She referenced the plight of the Palestinians.

“Just as much as the people of Ukraine deserve their territory and freedom, the people of Palestine deserve their territory and freedom,” she said, “and we should be equally concerned at what is happening to the people of Palestine as we are with what is happening to the people of Ukraine. We’ve not seen an even-handed approach.”

Pandor added that while it didn’t come from Blinken, South Africa had experienced pressure from some in the West to align with its policy on Ukraine. She also appeared to criticize the U.S. bill passed in April, “Countering Malign Russian Activities in Africa Act,” which has been seen by some on the continent as a vehicle to punish African countries that have not toed the line on Ukraine.

“From some of our partners in Europe and elsewhere, there has been a sense of patronizing bullying — ‘You choose this or else.’ And the recent legislation passed in the United States of America by the House of Representatives, we found a most unfortunate bill.”

Bob Wekesa, director of the African Center for the Study of the United States, said Pandor’s candid remarks at the press conference showed the closed-door meeting between the U.S. and South African sides “must have been a very difficult one.”

“I think the U.S. is attempting to figure out how to get South Africa on to its side, but South Africa is not coming to the party,” Wekesa said.

Blinken was in Pretoria to launch the new U.S. Strategy for Sub-Saharan Africa, which focuses on areas such as climate change, trade, health and food insecurity.

During his remarks Monday, he also criticized Beijing for its strong reaction to House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.

Pandor would not comment specifically on Taiwan but did say South Africa did not want to be made party to a conflict between China and the U.S.
…

 The Anti-Corruption Bureau in Malawi has arrested its former director, Reyneck Matemba, for allegedly taking a bribe for a contract to supply food to the country’s police service. John Suzi-Banda, the former director of Malawi’s Public Procurement Agency was also arrested. Both are expected to be officially charged with abuse of power and could face up to 12 years in prison if found guilty.

 Anti-Corruption Bureau spokesperson Egrita Ndala said in statement, Matemba and Suzi-Banda were arrested over the weekend for allegedly receiving kickbacks from a businessman, Zuneth Sattar, to supply 350,000 food ration packs worth U.S. $7,875,000 to the Malawi Police Service.

She says investigations established that Matemba pocketed $10,000 as an advantage for the vetting process of the food rations contract.

While Suzi-Banda received MK3,000,000 (U.S.$2,900) from Sattar’s agent Zun Cheena to influence Suzi-Banda to award the Malawi Police Service contract to Sattar’s company without objection.

George Phiri, a political science lecturer based in Mzuzu, north of Malawi, says the arrests confirm how rooted corruption is in Malawi.

“It important that they have arrested the former chief of the anti- corruption bureau, and this gives a picture of the country. It shows that each and any arm of the government; judiciary, legislature and executive, all these have been found with corruption cases,” he said.

The current director of the Anti-Corruption Bureau, Martha Chizuma said last month that in Malawi a week does not pass without new revelations about corruption.

Peter Sambani, a senior legal prosecution officer for the Anti-Corruption Bureau, says Matemba, who is now on bail, has yet to be formally charged.

“The Corrupt Practices ACT under section 42, requires that for the bureau to prosecute, we need to obtain consent from the DPP [Director of Public Prosecution] and as such we cannot charge the accused person other than we just bring the accused person to court to tell them the reason of their arrest,” he said.

However, Phiri, says this is worrying.

“Because it makes no sense arresting the person in the morning and releasing him by bail in the afternoon. Yes, bail is freedom of a person, but it should not take years before such a person is taken back to court,” he said.

However, ministry justice officials say the Malawi government is working to address challenges which contribute to delays in concluding various cases.

They cite a recent move by Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera to appoint seven new high court judges to clear the backlog of cases in the courts.

The arrests of Matemba and Suzi-Banda come during Malawi’s 20-week long anti-graft campaign which Chakwera launched last month.
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Chad’s military government and some rebel groups signed a pledge Monday in Qatar ahead of planned national reconciliation talks, though the deal did not include the country’s main opposition group.

Under the terms of the deal in Doha, those who signed have agreed to a cease-fire ahead of the Aug. 20 talks planned in the Chadian capital of N’Djamena. Chad’s junta also agreed to “not take any military or police operations against the signing groups” in neighboring countries.

However, the Front for Change and Concord in Chad, the main rebel group in the country, did not sign the pledge. The shadowy group, known by its French acronym FACT, is blamed for the 2021 killing of Chad’s longtime President Idriss Deby Itno, who had ruled the country since 1990.

That immediately called into question whether the deal would be enough to ensure the success of the talks as a planned 18-month transition from military rule to democracy winds down.

FACT did not immediately comment publicly on its decision not to sign the pledge.

We hope “other groups will join the march of reconciliation and peace, with a view to achieving the aspirations and dreams of the Chadian people,” Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told those gathered for the signing ceremony. “The initial peace agreement we are celebrating today will be an important turning point towards stability and prosperity for the Chadian people.”

“It is no secret that the negotiations faced many challenges which were addressed through your estimated efforts,” Sheikh Mohammed added.

Those challenges include some 20 rebel groups walking out of the talks in July, accusing the military government under Deby’s 38-year-old son, Mahamat Idriss Deby, of “harassments, intimidation, threats and disinformation” amid the negotiations.

Rebels have called for Deby to declare he would not run in any coming elections, though the military junta has insisted that can only be decided in the national dialogue talks. The pledge signed Monday in Qatar do not include any prohibition on Deby running in any coming vote.

Chad had grown frustrated by the 30 years of rule by Deby’s father, leading to years of rebel uprisings in the former French colony that borders Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Libya, Niger, Nigeria and Sudan. Unrest in those surrounding countries have seen Chadian rebel forces hide across the border.
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Kenyans are voting Tuesday to choose a successor to President Uhuru Kenyatta after a decade in power. The race is close and could go to a runoff for the first time.

One top candidate is Raila Odinga, an opposition leader in his fifth run for the presidency who is supported by his former rival Kenyatta. The other is William Ruto, Kenyatta’s deputy who fell out with the president.

Both tend to focus far more on domestic issues, raising the question of how either will follow up on Kenyatta’s diplomatic efforts to quell the tensions in neighboring Ethiopia or disputes between Rwanda and Congo.

What’s at stake?

Kenya is East Africa’s economic hub and home to about 56 million people. The country has a recent history of turbulent elections. Even then, it stands out for its relative stability in a region where some elections are deeply challenged and longtime leaders such as Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni have been declared the winner with almost 99% of votes, or been widely accused of physically cracking down on contenders.

Kenya has no transparency in campaign donations or spending. Some candidates for Parliament and other posts are estimated to be spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to gain access to power and its benefits, both legal and illegal.

What are the main candidates’ platforms?

The 55-year-old Ruto promotes himself to the young and poor as a “hustler” who rose from humble beginnings as a chicken seller in contrast to the elite backgrounds of Kenyatta and Odinga. He seeks greater agricultural productivity and financial inclusion.

Agriculture is a main driver of Kenya’s economy and about 70% of the rural workforce is in farming. In his final campaign speech on Saturday, he said if elected, his government will deploy 200 billion shillings ($1.6 billion) a year to increase job opportunities.

The 77-year-old Odinga, famous for being jailed while fighting for multi-party democracy decades ago, has promised cash handouts to Kenya’s poorest and more accessible health care for all. In his final campaign speech on Saturday, he said that if elected, his government in its first 100 days would begin paying 6,000 shillings ($50) to families living below the poverty line.

What do voters care about?

Odinga and Ruto have long circled among contenders for the presidency, and there is a measure of apathy among Kenyans, especially younger ones in a country where the median age is about 20. The electoral commission signed up less than half of the new voters it had hoped for, just 2.5 million.

Key issues in every election include widespread corruption and the economy. Kenyans have been hurt by rising prices for food and fuel in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and that comes after the financial pain of the COVID-19 pandemic. More than a third of the country’s youth are unemployed.

When will Kenya have a winner?

Official results will be announced within a week of the vote. To win outright, a candidate needs more than half of all votes and at least 25% of the votes in more than half of Kenya’s 47 counties. No outright winner means a runoff election within 30 days.

The previous presidential election in 2017 made history when a top court overturned the results and ordered a new vote, a first in Africa. If the courts again call for a new vote, such an election would take place within 60 days of the ruling. Candidates or others have a week after the results are declared to file a petition to the court, which has two weeks to rule on it.

“I want you to know that we as a country are at an inflection point,” Odinga told the crowd listening to his campaign speech Saturday. “Either something very good will happen or something terrible will happen.”

He vowed to shake the hand of his “rivals” whether he wins or loses.

Ruto said Saturday he would “respect the decision of the people of Kenya” and won’t accept violence or participate in anything that undermines the constitution.
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A London museum agreed Sunday to return a collection of Benin Bronzes looted in the late 19th century from what is now Nigeria as cultural institutions throughout Britain come under pressure to repatriate artifacts acquired during the colonial era. 

The Horniman Museum and Gardens in southeast London said that it would transfer a collection of 72 items to the Nigerian government. The decision comes after Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments formally asked for the artifacts to be returned earlier this year and following a consultation with community members, artists and schoolchildren in Nigeria and the U.K., the museum said. 

“The evidence is very clear that these objects were acquired through force, and external consultation supported our view that it is both moral and appropriate to return their ownership to Nigeria,” Eve Salomon, chair of the museum’s board of trustees, said in a statement. “The Horniman is pleased to be able to take this step, and we look forward to working with the NCMM to secure longer term care for these precious artifacts.” 

The Horniman’s collection is a small part of the 3,000 to 5,000 artifacts taken from the Kingdom of Benin in 1897 when British soldiers attacked and occupied Benin City as Britain expanded its political and commercial influence in West Africa. The British Museum alone holds more than 900 objects from Benin, and National Museums Scotland has another 74. Others were distributed to museums around the world. 

The artifacts include plaques, animal and human figures, and items of royal regalia made from brass and bronze by artists working for the royal court of Benin. The general term Benin Bronzes is sometimes applied to items made from ivory, coral, wood and other materials as well as the metal sculptures. 

Increasing demand for returns

Countries including Nigeria, Egypt and Greece, as well indigenous peoples from North America to Australia, are increasingly demanding the return of artifacts and human remains amid a global reassessment of colonialism and the exploitation of local populations. 

Nigeria and Germany recently signed a deal for the return of hundreds of Benin Bronzes. That followed French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision last year to sign over 26 pieces known as the Abomey Treasures, priceless artworks of the 19th century Dahomey kingdom in present-day Benin, a small country that sits just west of Nigeria. 

But British institutions have been slower to respond. 

Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Information and Culture formally asked the British Museum to return its Benin Bronzes in October of last year. 

The museum said Sunday that it is working with a number of partners in Nigeria and it is committed to a “thorough and open investigation” of the history of the Benin artifacts and the looting of Benin City. 

“The museum is committed to active engagement with Nigerian institutions concerning the Benin Bronzes, including pursuing and supporting new initiatives developed in collaboration with Nigerian partners and colleagues,” the British Museum says on its website. 

BLM inspires museum to ‘reset’

The Horniman Museum also traces its roots to the Age of Empire. 

The museum opened in 1890, when tea merchant Frederick Horniman opened his collection of artifacts from around the world for public viewing. 

Amid the Black Lives Matter movement, the museum embarked on a “reset agenda,” that sought to “address long-standing issues of racism and discrimination within our history and collections, and a determination to set ourselves on a more sustainable course for the future.” 

The museum’s website acknowledges that Frederick Horniman’s involvement in the Chinese tea trade meant he benefitted from low prices due to Britain’s sale of opium in China and the use of poorly compensated and sometimes forced labor. 

The Horniman also recognizes that it holds items “obtained through colonial violence.” 

These include the Horniman’s collection of Benin Bronzes, comprising 12 brass plaques, as well as a brass cockerel altar piece, ivory and brass ceremonial objects, brass bells and a key to the king’s palace. The bronzes are currently displayed along with information acknowledging their forced removal from Benin City and their contested status. 

“We recognize that we are at the beginning of a journey to be more inclusive in our stories and our practices, and there is much more we need to do,” the museum says on its website. “This includes reviewing the future of collections that were taken by force or in unequal transactions.” 
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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in South Africa on the first leg of an Africa trip. His first stop was a poignant one, as he visited a museum that commemorates a key moment in the anti-apartheid struggle. 

Secretary Blinken visited the Hector Pieterson Museum and memorial in the township of Soweto, once home to South Africa’s first democratic president, Nelson Mandela, on Sunday. 

The museum is named after Hector Pieterson, who was just 12 years old when he was shot and killed by police during the Soweto Uprising of 1976. 

Pieterson was among Black students protesting the use of Afrikaans, regarded as the language of the oppressor, in schools. 

A black-and-white photo taken of Pieterson being carried by a distraught fellow student sent shockwaves around the world and helped galvanize the anti-apartheid movement abroad. 

Blinken laid a wreath at the site and was accompanied on his tour of the museum by Pieterson’s sister, Antoinette Sithole. 

Blinken appeared to make reference to the United States’ own fight for racial equality when he addressed the news media after the visit. 

“Hector’s story is one that really resonates because we have our own struggle for freedom and equality in the United States,” said Blinken. “And South Africa’s story is unique but there are also so many commonalities, and that resonates powerfully.” 

Blinken said the museum stands as a testament to what young people can accomplish.

“It’s inspiring people to see the power that young people have to make change, to make change in all of our societies,” he said.

On Monday, America’s top diplomat will meet for talks with South Africa’s foreign minister, Naledi Pandor, and launch a new U.S. Strategy for Sub-Saharan Africa. Elements of the policy, including climate change, trade, health and food insecurity, will all be topics of discussion. 

Blinken laid a wreath at the site and was accompanied on his tour of the museum by Pieterson’s sister, Antoinette Sithole. 
…

While millions across Europe sweat through a summer of record-breaking heat, they’re skiing in Africa.

Don’t worry. This isn’t another sign of climate change but rather the fascinating anomaly of Lesotho, a tiny mountain kingdom completely surrounded by South Africa. Lesotho has an obscure geographical claim to fame: It’s the only country on Earth where every inch of its territory sits more than 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) above sea level.

That gives Lesotho snow in the southern hemisphere’s winters. And while cold winters aren’t rare in southern Africa, snow is and ski resorts are even rarer. At an altitude of 3,000 meters (9,842 feet), Afriski in Lesotho’s Maluti Mountains is Africa’s only operating ski resort south of the equator.

“I’ve never seen snow in my life,” said Kafi Mojapelo, who traveled the short distance from South Africa for a skiing vacation she never thought she’d take. “So, this is a great experience.”

Bafana Nadida, who comes from the sprawling urban township of Soweto in Johannesburg, was delighted with putting ski boots on for the first time. He planned a day of ski lessons, taking pictures and just playing about in the snow.

Skiers and snowboarders lined up to rent the proper gear. Some were given pointers by Hope Ramokotjo, who is from Lesotho and has worked as a self-taught ski and snowboard instructor for 12 years. His wide smile and deep, reassuring voice puts beginners at ease.

“Push your heels out. Don’t pull your shoulders,” Ramokotjo called out to his class of keen yet inexperienced African skiers as they wobbled along on the snow. “Here you go! Nice!”

Afriski’s Kapoko Snow Park is the only freestyle snow park on the continent. Competitors lined up last month for the annual Winter Whip Slopestyle snowboard and ski competition. Sekholo Ramonotsi, a 13-year-old from the Lesotho city of Butha-Buthe who practices regularly at Afriski, won the junior snowboard and ski divisions.

“I would really like to ski in Europe,” he said.

London-born Meka Lebohang Ejindu said he has taught skiing and snowboarding in Austria for more than a decade, and this is his first season in the southern hemisphere. He has family roots in Lesotho.

“For a competition like this to happen in southern Africa is so heartwarming,” he said.

Afriski may not be at the level of Europe’s vast Alpine resorts, but a love of winter sports is catching.

At Afriski’s Sky Restaurant and Gondola Cafe, happy hour starts at 10 a.m. and skiers and boarders show off their winter fashions and party to house music, beers in hand. Some claim the bar is the highest in Africa, although that’s challenged by the Sani Mountain Lodge, 130 kilometers (80 miles) to the east on the Lesotho-South Africa border.

What no one can dispute is this crowd went skiing in Africa.
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Somali members of parliament gathered at the presidential palace in the capital, Mogadishu, Sunday and overwhelmingly endorsed new Cabinet ministers appointed by Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre last week. During the vote, several mortar explosions hit the capital.

Somali parliament speaker Adan Mohamed Nur Madobe told the gathering at the palace’s highly fortified villa Hargaisa that 229 members of parliament voted in favor of the Cabinet, seven voted against it and one abstained.

Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre addressed parliament after the vote and welcomed the outcome.

He said, “I want to pledge another time that we will work on how to help our people who are facing droughts, to work on security and implement our program that is in front of you while we are working with unity and accountability to overcome all the challenges we are facing. I want to thank you again for your overwhelming approval.”

Among the ministers whom parliament endorsed was Mukhtar Robow Ali, known as Abu Munsor— the former deputy leader and spokesman in militant group al-Shabab. He is now becoming the religious affairs minister.

Mursal Mohamed Khaliif, a member of the federal parliament, spoke to VOA about the approval process.

“Despite a handful of members of parliament trying to create chaos during the proceedings, the overwhelming majority of parliamentarians, 229 of them, voted in favor of approving the new Cabinet. I am very excited to have been a part of those proceedings and I wish all the new Cabinet success in executing their duties,” he said.

Anwar Abdifatah Bashir, a lecturer at Somali National University and a Horn of Africa political analyst, VOA by phone that the new government is taking over at a crucial time.

“This comes as Somalia is facing a number of challenges including, but not limited, to protracted drought, insecurity within the country, as well as the border with Ethiopia where al-Shabab recently attacked in the Somali region in Ethiopia,” he said.

During the vote in the capital, several mortar shells hit the city.

Eyewitness in Mogadishu’s Warta Nabada neighborhood told VOA that several rounds of shells landed near the presidential palace.

A police officer confirmed the attack to VOA but declined to give details on casualties.

Al-Shabab claimed responsibility and said it had shelled the palace with seven mortar rounds.

Meanwhile, in the town of Jowhar, the capital of Somalia’s Hirshabele state, a bomb blast near a hotel that al-Shabab attacked last month wounded at least five people, including a soldier, two children and two women. No one has claimed responsibility.

Ibrahim Ali Nur, a local journalist in the town, spoke with VOA and said the explosion destroyed several properties. Jowhar is an agricultural town located 90 kilometers north of Mogadishu.

 
…

Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara on Saturday said he had offered a presidential pardon to longtime rival Laurent Gbagbo, as part of a reconciliation drive with his predecessors ahead of elections in 2025. 

Gbagbo, president from 2000-2011, returned to Ivory Coast last year after being acquitted in 2019 by the Hague on war crimes charges for his role in a civil war sparked by his refusal to concede defeat after the 2010 election.

Back home, he still faced a 20-year prison sentence for a 2019 conviction linked to the robbery of funds from the Abidjan central bank during the post-election period. He has always denied the charges.

“In order to further strengthen social cohesion, I have signed a decree granting a presidential pardon to Laurent Gbagbo,”  Ouattara said in a televised speech to the nation ahead of its independence day on Sunday.

He said he had also asked for Gbagbo’s accounts to be unfrozen and for the payment of the arrears of his presidential lifetime annuity.

The decision follows a rare meeting in July between Ouattara, Gbagbo, and former president Henri Konan Bedie.

The trio have dominated Ivory Coast’s fractious political scene since the 1990s. Bedie was president from 1993 until his ouster in a 1999 coup. Gbagbo governed from 2000 until his election defeat to Ouattara in 2010.

Tensions came to a head most dramatically after the 2010 election. Gbagbo refused to concede defeat, leading to a brief civil war that killed about 3,000 people before rebel forces aligned with Ouattara swept into the main city Abidjan.

Ouattara has presided over relative stability during his decade in power. But dozens of people were killed in clashes that broke out around the 2020 election, when he stood for a third term that Gbagbo and Bedie said was unconstitutional. 

The president has not yet said whether he plans to run for a fourth term in 2025. He has said he would like to step down but also suggested he would need Gbagbo and Bedie to commit to withdrawing from politics in order to do so.

They have not so far indicated what their plans are.
…

When Susan Mujawa Ananda heard a deaf man had been shot and wounded during the global health crisis, she decided to act.

His family says he didn’t know there was a curfew.

Ananda’s solution to bridging the information gap was to set up an online television channel for deaf people.

“The security guys called upon him to explain why he was moving beyond curfew hours and unfortunately because he did not hear, he kept on moving.”

Late last year Ananda, who is a sign language interpreter, teamed up wither her friend Simon Eroku, who is deaf.

After winning a grant, they founded Signs TV.

In a typical broadcast the news is read by two deaf anchors and simultaneously signed by an interpreter, going slowly to match the anchor’s pace.

The screen also carries subtitles.

Eroku said the future of communication must be inclusive.

“This implies that we have to ensure that everyone in the community should be able to understand the message you’re passing on and we believe that if information is inclusive for everyone even us as deaf people will be able to benefit from it.”

Signs TV made its first broadcast in April and employs eight staff including four deaf anchors. For now it produces only one weekly news roundup on Saturdays due to financial, staffing and technical constraints.

Up to about 800 viewers have watched individual bulletins so far and the numbers are growing. Ananda says Signs TV has ambitions to expand including offering sports and talk shows.
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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in South Africa on Sunday, the first leg of his three-nation African tour.

In addition to South Africa, Blinken is also set to visit the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda.

Blinken is slated to deliver a major speech in South Africa on Monday on U.S. strategy toward sub-Saharan Africa. Climate change, trade, health and food insecurity will all be topics of discussion.

While in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, State Department officials say Blinken will work to reduce tensions between Congo and Rwanda. Congo has accused its neighbor of backing the M23 armed group, a charge Kigali denies.

In Rwanda, Blinken will raise the “wrongful detention” of U.S. permanent resident Paul Rusesabagina, according to the State Department. Rusesabagina’s actions helped save hundreds of lives during the 1994 genocide and inspired the movie Hotel Rwanda.

His trip comes just days after the top Russian diplomat, Sergey Lavrov, completed his tour of the continent, where he defended Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and blamed Western sanctions for Africa’s rising fuel and food costs.  The United States has blamed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for driving up prices.

Political analysts say Africa has again become a battleground for influence and ideology decades after the end of the Cold War.

This is Blinken’s second trip to Africa as secretary of state, after visiting Nigeria, Senegal and Kenya in November.
…

Ethiopia’s military says security forces killed more than 800 fighters from the Somali militant group al-Shabab after Shabab fighters launched a rare cross-border attack.

General Tesfaye Ayalew, the head of deployment for Ethiopia’s national defense forces, said more than 800 al-Shabab fighters, including 24 top leaders, were killed in recent operations against the group. 

He said al-Shabab tried to infiltrate Ethiopia through the country’s eastern border but they have been “successfully thwarted by the joint efforts of the security forces.” 

The president of Ethiopia’s Somali state, Mustafe Omar, said in a Twitter statement Friday that another 100 al-Shabab fighters were captured in the recent clashes. He said the group’s misadventure into Ethiopia ended with “a rout of the terrorists.” 

VOA could not independently verify the figures from either official. 

Other security officials in Ethiopia’s Somali state told VOA that there were heavy casualties on Ethiopia’s side and several officials, including local administrators, were captured by al-Shabab. 

Late last month, hundreds of al-Shabab fighters crossed Somalia’s border with Ethiopia and clashed with specially-trained counterterrorism forces known as the Liyu police. The group entered Ethiopia at several sites from Somalia’s border regions of Hiran and Bakool. 

U.S. assessments suggest the Shabab fighters may have penetrated as far as 150 kilometers into Ethiopia before being stopped. 

The president of Ethiopia’s Somali state announced last week that Ethiopian forces will establish a buffer zone inside Somalia to stop further al-Shabab attacks across the border.   

Authorities in Somalia’s Bakool region welcomed the announcement and said it would help stabilize the region.  

Al-Shabab has been fighting the Somali government and African Union troops in Somalia for more than 15 years, carrying out attacks in Somalia and neighboring Kenya. 

Experts believe that the group’s attack in Ethiopia was meant to show the group still poses a danger to Horn of African countries. 

Meanwhile, on Friday, a suicide truck bomb blast targeted a military base in the Hiran region, near the Somali-Ethiopian border, that houses Turkish-trained special forces.  

Officials in the region told VOA by phone that the bombing killed at least one soldier and wounded three.  

Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack and said more than 40 soldiers were killed or wounded. 

 
…