Candidates in Kenya’s August 9 presidential election are wrapping up their campaigns after parties spent heavily in often lavish displays of wealth.

Despite economic woes and a massive rich-poor gap, spending in Kenya’s election was among the highest in the world, raising concerns about its impact on the nation’s democratic development.

“Kenyan elections are among the most expensive in the world in terms of the cost [incurred by] the electoral management body, but also in terms of on-the-ground financing,” said Tom Wolf, an American pollster and political researcher in Nairobi. 

Derrick Makhandia, a program officer at Transparency International Kenya, agreed. 

“It’ll cost you a bit more than 4 billion Kenyan shillings [$33.5 million] just to become a president,” he said. 

A race for governor runs about $336,000, and a bid for parliament costs roughly $168,000, according to Transparency International Kenya. 

Critics say the high cost of running for political office in Kenya has been a barrier for many women, the young and persons living with disabilities.  

Beth Ngunyi is running for parliament in Kirinyaga County, her fourth attempt as an independent. She said it is too costly to run as a candidate for a political party because of the high nomination fee required.   

“The higher the seat, the higher the money they demand,” she said. “And you’ve got to give them because if you don’t give them, they won’t even allow you to address the gatherings.”  

Political campaigns around the world are inherently expensive. But observers say in Kenya, campaigns are largely unchecked and unregulated.  

Because many people live below the poverty line, observers say voters are more susceptible to bribery by wealthy politicians, fueling a cycle of government corruption.  

“Because of this unregulated spending, those in power always look towards corruption as a reliable source of money for their campaigns because they cannot afford to use their money, that would be too risky. What if they fail?” Makhandia said. 

Kenya’s 2010 constitution requires the country’s electoral body, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, to develop campaign financing and spending regulations. All proposals by the commission have been rejected by parliament.  

Unless checks and balances are put in place, observers say, politics in Kenya will remain almost exclusively for the rich. 

 
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U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield on Friday announced a $150 million package for Africa to help address food and humanitarian crises.

Speaking before a gathering of over 500 participants at the University of Ghana in Accra, Thomas-Greenfield said the world is facing unprecedented food crises, requiring what she termed an “unprecedented global response.” 

“For our part, the United States is committed to this work. … But more funding is needed to address food security and to address crises that compound food security, like refugees and internally displaced people,” she said. “I am proud to announce nearly $150 million in new, additional humanitarian funding and development assistance, pending Congressional approval, for Africa.” 

She said the new package, if approved by Congress, will increase U.S. humanitarian assistance to Africa to $6.6 billion since the beginning of this year. 

The ambassador says worldwide food prices are 23% higher than a year ago, partly a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – the two countries combined provide over 40% of Africa’s wheat supply. 

Thomas-Greenfield said the new U.S. funding will expand investments in fertilizer, grains and other crops in Africa to meet “the goal of increasing resilience to future shocks.”  

It includes $2.5 million in new development assistance for Ghana and $20 million for Uganda, where Thomas-Greenfield stopped before visiting the West African country. 

She said the new funding includes more than $127 million in additional humanitarian assistance for Africa to provide “lifesaving support to refugees, asylum-seekers, internally displaced persons, stateless persons and persecuted people across Africa.” 

Condemning the war in Ukraine, she said the U.N. Security Council must be proactive to prevent food from being used as a weapon of war. 

“The world needs to see how food insecurity increases the risk of conflict. And the Security Council needs to do a better job of stopping food from being used as a weapon of war,” she said. 

Thomas-Greenfield said Africa has the potential to become its own breadbasket and must take advantage of the current situation to forge partnerships with civil society and the private sector to build the food systems and structures of the future. 

 
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Malawian state prosecutors have added charges against a Chinese national who was already facing five counts for allegedly exploiting children. A BBC investigation found 26-year-old Lu Ke selling exploitative videos of Malawian children, officials said.

Malawi’s Senior State Advocate Serah Mwangonde told a court in Lilongwe on Thursday that the additional charges follow the completion of investigations into the matter.

She later briefed reporters outside the court.

“We have also added money laundering, procurement of children to perform in public and we have added a cybersecurity crime,” she said.

Mwangonde said the new charges are in addition to five counts of child trafficking which Lu Ke was charged with earlier in July after his extradition from Zambia in June.

Police arrested Lu Ke last month following his extradition from Zambia, where he fled after a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) investigation reported he was recording young villagers in central Malawi and making them say racist things about themselves in Mandarin.

In one video, children, some as young as 9, are heard saying in Mandarin that they are a “black monster” and have a “low IQ.”

The BBC reported he was selling the videos at up to $70 apiece to a Chinese website. The children in the videos were paid about a half-dollar each.

Lu Ke’s lawyer, Andy Kaonga, told the court Thursday that he was yet to be served with the amended charge sheet and other documents or disclosures.

State prosecutor Mwangonde said her office was still perfecting the remaining documents.

Kaonga said the documents and new charge-sheet would help him know how best he could advise the suspect to properly take a plea.

This forced the presiding senior resident magistrate, James Mankhwazi, to adjourn the case to Aug. 19.

Lu Ke is currently at Maula prison after a court last month refused him bail, saying he could easily flee the country considering that he fled to Zambia where he was arrested and sent back to Malawi.
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Spending by candidates ahead of Kenya’s August 9 presidential election has been among the highest in the world, raising concerns about its impact on the nation’s democratic development. Juma Majanga reports from Nairobi.
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Rwanda’s government has rejected a United Nations report that said Rwandan troops have been conducting military activities in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and are supporting M23 rebels there.

The Rwandan government issued a communique late Thursday aimed at discrediting the claim, which was first reported by Reuters earlier that day.

The statement, issued on the government’s official Twitter account, said: “Rwanda cannot comment on an unpublished and unvalidated report. The U.N. Security Council received a U.N. Group of Experts report on DRC in June 2022, which contained none of these false allegations, and a mid-term report is expected in December.”

The report from the U.N. Group of Experts, according to Reuters, said there was “solid evidence” that members of the Rwanda Defense Forces had carried out military operations in Congo’s Rutshuru territory.

It said RDF members conducted joint attacks with M23 fighters against Congo’s army and Congolese armed groups, and provided the rebels with weapons, ammunition and uniforms.

Rwanda has repeatedly denied accusations by the DRC that it has placed troops in eastern Congo and is supporting M23.

The Rwandan government said it is the DRC that supports rebels in the region and said there have been attacks and shelling from the DRC into Rwandan territory on multiple occasions, resulting in fatalities and destruction of property.

The statement Friday said Rwanda has the right to defend its territory and citizens, and not just wait for disaster to unfold.
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U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told reporters that her visit to Kampala on August 4 was to reaffirm and strengthen the U.S. relationship with Uganda, not to compete with Russia. Her trip came just days after one by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Speaking after her meeting with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, Thomas-Greenfield described the session as productive and frank, covering solutions to food and security issues, high energy costs and supporting refugees in Uganda. 

Thomas-Greenfield said the most important issue discussed with Museveni was the effects of Russia’s war in Ukraine on the availability of food and on oil prices.  

With fuel costing $2 a liter in Uganda, Thomas-Greenfield was clear about what would happen to African countries that are dealing with Russia, especially on goods covered by sanctions. 

“Uganda and any African country has the right to choose who their friends are and who their enemies are. We are here as Uganda’s friend,” she said. “If a country decides to engage with Russia, where there are sanctions, then they are breaking those sanctions. And we caution countries not to break those sanctions because then, if they do, they stand the chance of having actions taken against them.” 

The meeting also touched on a broad range of issues including the security situation in the Great Lakes region, democratic institutions and press freedom in Uganda.  

Dismas Nkunda, a political analyst, said it is no coincidence that Thomas-Greenfield is in Uganda one week after Lavrov visited. 

“It has its inkling of understanding where they think that particular influence of Uganda and Museveni in the geopolitics of the Great Lakes. If it’s swayed in a certain direction, it has its own complexity in terms of the United States losing out, given the changes that are happening internationally. And also, to have the regional hegemony,” Nkunda said. “Somalia is still there, South Sudan is still there. And there’s that sense that by sending [Thomas-Greenfield] to Uganda, it is cementing that particular idea.” 

Museveni has made it clear he will not side with any foreign power, and only does so to serve Uganda’s interests.  

Chris Baryomunsi, Uganda’s minister for information and communication, told VOA they are open to all visitors. 

“I don’t think we should read much between U.S. and Russia and so forth. Because we cannot be swayed into anybody’s position,” Baryomunsi said. “We take independent positions as a government, as a country. Somebody’s enemy doesn’t have to be my enemy. If you have issues, they are between the two of you.” 

Thomas-Greenfield’s visit to Uganda comes before the Africa leaders’ summit, set for Washington in December. 

She also announced $20 million in development assistance to Uganda. The fund, which is subject to U.S. Congressional approval, is aimed at helping smallholder farmers adopt improved agricultural practices.  

This is meant to increase productivity, reduce post-harvest losses and mitigate impacts of growing food insecurity, which she said have been exacerbated by Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. 

 
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Cameroonian separatists have rejected the prime minister’s declaration that their fight for independence has been largely crushed. Joseph Dion Ngute said federal troops have brought peace to conflict areas, and said life is returning to normal. But analysts say it’s too early to declare victory and rebels have vowed to keep fighting to carve out an English-speaking state from Francophone-majority Cameroon.

Ngute said fighters are losing in their attempt to set up an independent state in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon.

“Schools in most of our towns and in many suburbs have gone operational. Fresh vegetables, fresh ground nuts and other food products from the Northwest which had completely disappeared from the markets have returned,” he said. “Plantation agriculture has returned to production. Petit trading and transborder trade are thriving. Road transportation is becoming more and more fluid. Life is steadily returning to normalcy.”

Ngute said Thursday several thousand fighters have surrendered and turned in their weapons, and that hundreds of schools, farms and markets shut down when the separatist conflict began in 2017 are now back in operation.

The government says the several hundred remaining fighters have transformed themselves into armed gangs who are disrupting peace and committing grave human rights like rape, kidnapping for ransom and killing innocent civilians.

Capo Daniel, the deputy defense chief of the Ambazonia Defense Forces, one of the separatist groups, said Ngute’s claim that fighters are losing the battle with Cameroon government troops is unfounded. Daniel said the firepower of fighters has increased since the government organized its “Major National Dialogue” aimed at ending the crisis in 2019.

“The recommendations of the dialogue did not meet up with the aspirations of our people, which is for complete separation and outright independence of our territory,” he said. “The Cameroon prime minister should be reminded that our forces are increasing and are well disciplined.”

Daniel said he would not disclose the number of active separatist fighters but said less than a week ago, 300 were involved in running battles with government troops in Batibo, an English-speaking western district. The military acknowledged that its troops confronted several hundred fighters in Batibo.

Cameroon says among the recommendations of the national dialogue that are bringing peace are the creation of regional assemblies and regional councils for the English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions.

Each of the two regions has an elected president, vice president and secretaries, the government says.

Cameroon says a commission to promote bilingualism is making sure that the same status is given to English and French languages to reduce domination by the French-speaking majority.

But Njume Peter Ambang a lawmaker from Cameroon’s restive Southwest region, said not much has changed since the dialogue, and thousands of civilians are reluctant to return to English-speaking towns and villages because threats and suffering have not gone away.

“The little ones cannot go to school,” he said on Cameroon state broadcaster CRTV. “The killings have been too much. Poverty has reached a certain level where it is so difficult for some families to even put a square meal on the table. The villages are virtually empty. Some projects have not been executed.”

He said projects that the government cannot carry out because fighters attack and kill workers include the construction of roads and some public buildings.

The United Nations says Cameroon’s five-year-old separatist conflict has killed at least 3,300 people and forced more than 750,000 to flee their homes.
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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will launch a three-country tour of Africa on Sunday in South Africa. He is expected to deliver a major speech laying out the Biden administration’s strategy for Sub-Saharan Africa. Experts tell VOA that human rights concerns will likely be high on the agenda. VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports.
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South Sudan leaders said Thursday the country’s transitional leadership will stay in power for another 24 months to complete the political, security and electoral reforms needed to move the country forward.

Minister of cabinet affairs Martin Elia Lomuro, who made the announcement, said the decision to extend the mandate will help address the challenges that impede implementation of the 2018 peace deal that ended South Sudan’s civil war.

The 4-1/2 year civil war killed an estimated 400,000 people.

Thursday’s move is likely to anger the international community, which has not been happy with the leadership’s inability to end the transitional period, which began in February 2020.

The 2018 peace deal calls for security, judicial, constitutional and electoral reforms to stabilize the world’s youngest country.

Experts say the leadership has been slow to fully implement the proposed reforms.

The South Sudan government, led by President Salva Kiir and his deputy Riek Machar, also postponed elections to 2023 and blamed the postponement for the lack of a permanent constitution.

Civil society groups in South Sudan agree the situation on the ground, still volatile in parts of the country, does not permit a free, fair and peaceful election.

Armed confrontations between the government forces, known as the South Sudan People’s Defense Force, and the rebels, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition, have held up efforts to unify the security forces into one national army.

Security experts say that unifying the divided security agencies would play a significant role in making the country a democracy and a stable state.

In July, the United States pulled out of the country’s peace process, saying the sides had failed to make the necessary reforms to end the political and security crisis.
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Sipiwo Makinana lives in Ugie, a small town at the foot of the Drakensberg Mountains in a postcard-worthy region of the Eastern Cape province, where he’s a small-scale sheep farmer.

Makinana says he usually makes about 150 rand, or $9, per kilo for his wool. But since April, things have been tough, he told VOA, after China banned South African wool exports due to an outbreak in some areas of the highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease.

“Out of the ban by China, I’ve lost 60,000 rand, which is a lot of money to me as a small-scale farmer,” lamented Makinana, saying other sheep farmers in his area have wool just sitting in their sheds going to waste.

South Africa’s total wool exports are worth approximately $300 million per year, and about 80% of that goes to China. Local sheep farmers and industry groups are now calling on Beijing to lift the ban.

The ban has caused losses worth some 734 million rand, or $43 million, said Leon de Beer, general manager of the National Wool Growers’ Association.

“The ban is unwarranted since South Africa has protocols in place that regulate the storage of wool after shearing as stipulated,” he said, explaining that after shearing it is stored at the temperature required by the World Organization of Animal Health.

De Beer says there are more than 40,000 small-scale sheep farmers in South Africa who produce close to six million kilograms of wool annually. Their livelihoods and those of another 4,500 seasonal sheep shearers are now at risk.

The farmers were also only just recovering from the effects of drought, de Beer said, and now it looks like the first wool auction of the season, scheduled for 17 August, will be a washout too.

“These producers and surrounding communities will fall back into poverty should the Chinese market remain closed to wool from South Africa,” he told VOA.

Emerging Black Farmers

Christo van der Rheede, head of AgriSA, a federation of agricultural trade unions, echoed those concerns.

“Most our emerging farmers — we talk about 43,000 emerging Black farmers that are exporting the bulk of the wool to China — their entire households are suffering at this point in time,” said van der Rheede.

Wandile Sihlobo, chief economist at the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa, explained that while most commercial farming in South Africa is still White-owned, almost 30 years after the end of apartheid, wool production is the industry has the largest share of Black farmers.

“Black farmers in South Africa make up about 18% of the wool production… and you compare that with other commodities where Black farmers make up roughly on average about 10% in commercial farming,” he said.

“South Africa is in a process of rebuilding or improving the contribution of Black farmers into their agricultural production, so the ban on their exports to China is really weighing on small-farmers,” he added.

Overreliance on China?

AgriSA’s Van der Rheede said the body is lobbying the South African government to take up its concerns with China.

“We’ve assured the China government that we’ve followed very, very strict protocol,” he told VOA.

“All areas where wool is being produced, those areas are not in any way affected by the disease, and they can also ensure that wool that is being exported (is) treated properly, so that no spores of foot and mouth can survive,” he added.

The Chinese Embassy in Pretoria did not respond to repeated request for comment, but Chinese state media has previously written about the foot-and-mouth outbreak in South Africa.

One article by Xinhua in April noted the outbreaks were caused by illegally moving animals out of foot and mouth disease-controlled zones in South Africa.

In 2019, an outbreak led to South Africa losing its World Organization for Animal Health foot and Mouth disease free zone status. At that time China stopped beef imports for several months.

In the most recent outbreak of the disease, China and Mozambique put in place trade restrictions.

For wool, Sihlobo said South Africa also sells to Mexico, the U.S. and elsewhere, but these are much smaller markets.

“South Africa is not really in a position to look for some other markets outside China, because in the world China continues to be the major buyer of wool,” he explained.

When the world’s second largest economy stops importing your product the effects can be devastating.

A Chinese ban on Australian wines as punishment for Canberra’s comments on the origins of COVID-19, hurt that industry.

In another political tit-for-tat, Beijing this week placed import bans on hundreds of Taiwanese food producers after U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island this week.

The South African wool ban is not political retaliation, simply the move of a government concerned about contamination, but the ban has made evident the dangers of importing mainly to one country.

“This is hitting us heavily,” said farmer Makinana.
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The United States has donated 24 armored personnel carriers to the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia, three months after the deadliest attack in years on the U.S.-backed peacekeeping mission.

The handover, attended by U.S. Ambassador to Somalia Larry Andrè and senior officials of the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia, ATMIS, took place Thursday in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu.

The 24 armored personnel carriers (APCs), donated by the U.S. government will boost the A.U. forces’ capability to fight militant group al-Shabab.

The specialized vehicles will be used by the A.U. Djiboutian contingent in joint military operations with the Somali National Army (SNA) in and around Beledweyne — the capital of Somalia’s central region of Hiran.

Ambassador Andrè said the APCs will protect troops against roadside bombs.

“The expression of our support, amongst other ways, is the donation of these vehicles to help protect African Union forces–in this case Djibouti’s military contingent–as they travel the roads of Somalia which too often will be trapped by dangerous explosive devices put there to harm those who only seek to help Somalia,” he said.

A top African Union official, Fiona Lortan, said the military hardware had arrived at an opportune time as the mission is reconfiguring its troops and equipment.

“On behalf of the African Union, its membership, and all the ATMIS troop contributing countries, including Djibouti and all the others since ATMIS is a collective effort of solidarity and support to the Somalia people, I would like to thank the government and the people of the United States for the generosity and steadfastness in supporting our presence in Somalia,” said Lortan.

Al-Qaida affiliated al-Shabab has been fighting Somalia’s government and A.U. peacekeepers in Somalia for 15 years, seeking to install a strict Islamist state like the Taliban in Afghanistan.

In May, the group attacked an ATMIS base in Somalia’s Middle Shabelle region, using suicide bombers detonating three cars filled with explosives.

Islamist fighters then pounded the facility with heavy gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades, killing several dozen African Union peacekeepers from Burundi.

The military support by the U.S. comes as Somalia’s new president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, announced that he is determined to wage war against al-Shabab militarily, as well as on economic and ideological grounds.

The Somali military said it conducted an operation against al-Shabab in Somalia’s central Hiran region this week, killing 30 al-Shabab fighters.

In May, U.S. President Joe Biden authorized re-deployment of U.S. troops to Somalia to help fight the militants. Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, pulled around 700 American troops from the east African country during the final month of his presidency.
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Traditional rulers in Cameroon are urging villagers to stop farming near Nigeria’s Gashaka-Gumti National Park after a flurry of human-wildlife conflict. Wildlife officials say animals from the park, Nigeria’s largest, have been crossing the Cameroon border to eat crops. Village chiefs say some farmers responded by killing the protected animals and were arrested by Nigerian rangers.

Villagers on Cameroon’s northern border with Nigeria say hunger looms in their villages after wildlife destroyed several maize fields, leaving farmers devastated.

The villagers say Ngoum, Katarko, Mayo Foorou and Mayo Lelewal, all villages in Banyo, a commercial, farming and cattle ranching district, were hit hardest by the damage.

Mohaman Gabdo Yahya is a lawmaker in Cameroon’s Senate and the traditional ruler of Banyo.

Yahya says within the past two months, animals from Nigeria’s Gashaka-Gumti National Park have been causing havoc in Cameroonian border villages. He says lions from the park kill and eat cattle and sheep while elephants and primates ravage maize farms. Yahya says he is asking civilians who are disgruntled to be calm because Nigerian rangers harass Cameroonian farmers who fight back and kill wildlife from Nigeria’s Gashaka-Gumti National Park.

Yahya spoke on Thursday while visiting affected communities in Banyo.

He said farmers and cattle ranchers should stop extending farm and ranching lands to fertile areas found in Cameroonian territory around the park. He said the farmers and ranchers should return to areas where they were either farming or ranching before.

Cameroon wildlife officials say July was a period of harvest and animals from Nigeria’s park were attracted by the yields.

Villagers said they killed many animals. Wildlife officials attest that animals were killed, but say they do not know the number.

Traditional rulers in Banyo who visited affected villages said Nigerian rangers arrested some Cameroonians for killing animals.

Zubairu Haman Gabdo Mohamadou Sambo, the traditional ruler of Gashaka in Nigeria’s Taraba state, says Nigerian troops have been assisting rangers to maintain peace around the national park since July.

“We have Nigerian army barracks here and we always ensure that our people live in peace and harmony. We always try to foster peaceful coexistence especially at the border community,” he said, speaking via a messaging app from Gashaka.

This is not the first incident of human-wildlife conflict on the border. In 2020, Cameroon’s government reported that lions and elephants from Gashaka-Gumti killed seven Cameroonians and destroyed crops. Cameroonian villagers responded by attacking and killing some elephants, according to the West African state’s ministry of wildlife.

The about 6,500 square kilometer Gashaka-Gumti National Park is said to be the largest game reserve in Nigeria.

Both Cameroonian and Nigerian wildlife officials say the growing human presence in the park, including poaching, illegal grazing, mining, fishing, farming and logging has led to regular human-wildlife conflicts.
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Out of the four candidates running in Kenya’s presidential election next week, three have running mates who are women, including frontrunner Raila Odinga. The election could herald a breakthrough in Kenya’s national politics. But female politicians say getting to this historic point has been no easy journey, as Juma Majanga reports from Nairobi.
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Three career diplomats in the U.S. Foreign Service answered questions Wednesday from senators during a hearing examining their credentials to lead U.S. diplomatic missions in Africa. If confirmed, three of the toughest diplomatic missions abroad will be led by women, who told the lawmakers that serving on the diplomatic front lines is a privilege and that they are committed to doing what they can to further peace and prosperity in the region.

Lucy Tamlyn, who currently heads the U.S. diplomatic mission in Sudan as chargé d’affaires, may soon head south to the Democratic Republic of Congo to serve as ambassador. The DRC is the largest country, by size, in sub-Saharan Africa.

In her testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Tamlyn described the DRC as a country of enormous size, complexity, and promise, and said “the DRC’s dynamic, entrepreneurial, and creative population of over 100 million are eager to engage with the United States.”

Senator Chris Van Hollen, a member of both Foreign Relations and the Appropriations Committee, which has authority over U.S. foreign aid, pointed to the challenges awaiting Tamlyn at the hearing.

“The DRC is an incredibly complicated place with all sorts of rivalries and conflict, especially in the East. My question for you is: what do you think is at the heart of those conflicts and what do you think you can do as U.S. ambassador to try to address them in the long-term interest of stability in the DRC?” Van Hollen, himself the son of a career U.S. Foreign Service officer, asked.

A lack of governance, coupled with the possession of vast natural resources formed the basis of some of most entrenching challenges the DRC has faced, Tamlyn said in response to Van Hollen’s question.

“There’s inevitably a competition, both inside the country as well as outside, for access to those resources. In the absence of strong government providing services to the people, you have instead a whole network of armed groups which provide some form of local governance,” a situation that poses problems, she said.

Tamlyn said it is important to communicate to the country and its people that things could change.

“We want the Congolese people to know that corrupt mineral exploitation deals, illegal logging and environmental devastation is not inevitable, and that there are alternatives,” she said.

The United States is committed to supporting governments and leaders that provide security and services to the people, she said, while vowing to use “all our diplomatic tools, including leveraging visa ineligibilities and sanctions, to help the Congolese fight corruption,” which she said was a common aspiration among the population.

The committee also heard the testimony of two other senior career diplomats nominated to head embassies in Mali and Ivory Coast, both in West Africa.

If confirmed, Jessica Davis Ba will represent the United States in Ivory Coast and Rachna Sachdeva Korhonen will lead the diplomatic mission in Mali.

The State Department currently places Mali on Level 4: Do Not Travel in its Travel Advisory. Ivory Coast and the DRC both are Level 3: Reconsider Travel.

The three senior members of the U.S. Foreign Service fully embraced the assignments awaiting them.

“If confirmed, my husband and our five sons will be going with me,” Davis Ba told the lawmakers, pointing to her husband and eldest son sitting behind her.

Korhonen, whose family emigrated to the United States from India, told the senators that in looking at her, they were looking at “an American dream come true.”

Meanwhile, Tamlyn, whose home in the eastern U.S. state of Rhode Island stands in sharp contrast with the heat in central Africa, said in her testimony that “I feel privileged to have served in countries where we are literally on the front lines, where U.S. diplomacy really matters, and side by side with colleagues who answer the call despite the personal, family, and health sacrifices entailed.”

The DRC, Mali and Ivory Coast are among “some of the most difficult ambassadorships,” former U.S. Ambassador to Chad Christopher E. Goldthwait said in a written interview with VOA.

“These are not glamour posts, but are in the forefront or representing U.S. interests on a continent that suffers from great poverty and instability, but has enormous potential and the fastest population growth on the globe.”

Representing U.S. interests in these three countries and furthering the economic and political development that is at the core of these interests will not be easy, Goldthwait said, but he had no doubt the three senior members of the U.S. Foreign Service are up to the challenge.

“It’s always encouraging to see seasoned career foreign service officers entrusted with some of the most difficult ambassadorships,” he said. 
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Nigerian police have increased security around the capital of Abuja after last week’s ambush of presidential guards in a suburb and a deadly attack on a military checkpoint.

Nigerian media reported two soldiers were killed in the July 28 attack and others were injured. The attack came just weeks after a brazen jailbreak in Abuja that freed hundreds, including high profile terrorism convicts.

The reinforcement was announced Tuesday by national police spokesperson Muyiwa Adejobi, following a national security management team meeting held in Abuja.

Adejobi said the police have ordered a massive deployment of operatives and operational assets around the capital but did disclose how many more officers will be deployed.

Adejobi did not respond to VOA’s request for more details on Wednesday. But Abuja police spokesperson Josephine Adeh told VOA the decision to withhold operational details was in the interest of security.

“Crimes have taken a new trend and we too are strategizing, that’s all,” Adeh said. “We are doing more deployment, that is the strategy we’re taking. You’ll see more visibility policing.”

The massive deployment comes amid rising security threats in the Nigerian capital, even though authorities have told citizens not to worry.

Local media reported two soldiers were killed during an attack on a military checkpoint in Niger state near Abuja last Thursday.

It was the second recent attack in Abuja blamed on the militant group Islamic State West Africa Province. An attack last month on an Abuja prison freed about 440 inmates, including many alleged terrorists.

The American non-profit SITE intelligence group said Friday’s attack was an indication that the Islamic State group has drawn too close to the Nigerian capital.

Police spokesperson Adeh said residents should trust the security forces.

“We’ve always been assuring the residents that everything is under control but they choose to believe fake news and whatever they see on social media,” she said. “There’s no cause for alarm. People should go about their lawful businesses.”

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has condemned latest attacks in the country and said he had “given security forces full freedom to bring an end to this madness.”

But security analyst Senator Ireogbu said authorities have failed to deliver on its promise to make the country safe.

“Though we have a very faulty security architecture, the security apparatus can effectively deal with the problem arising from these terrorists,” Ireogbu said. “The challenge we’re having is that the political will is not there, especially from the presidency, they keep on pushing, outsourcing the blames to others, not taking responsibility.”

Nigeria faces growing insecurity, especially in its northern states.

Last week, an Abuja-based security and risk management firm, Beacon Security Consulting, said violent attacks in Nigeria increased by 47% in the first half of the year compared to 2021.
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Malawi’s nurses’ union is urging President Lazarus Chakwera to allow about 2,000 nurses to work in the United States and Saudi Arabia, after the government ordered the plan be stopped.

The National Organization of Nurses and Midwives of Malawi (NONM) announced the plan a month ago, saying the nurses were forced to take jobs abroad due to high unemployment in Malawi. The health care brain drain raised concerns, and the Ministry of Labor on August 2  ordered the plan canceled, saying the union has no legal mandate on labor migration.  

Malawi’s Minister of Labor Vera Kantukule told VOA on August 2 that the decision to suspend the plans was made after considering that NONM is just a union of medical workers. 

“What we told them is that if you want to be doing this thing, then you probably have to register a separate identity that will be doing the recruitment but you, the way you are, your mandate does not allow you to engage yourself in labor migration,” Kantukule said. 

Kantukule said there was also a need for a memorandum of understanding between the countries where the nurses are going to work and the Malawi government, before the nurses’ organization can proceed with its plans.

The labor minister said Malawi is among the countries where the World Health Organization has put restrictions on medical workers’ migration. 

“Last time, we had an inquiry from Scotland. One of the hospitals in Scotland wanted to do this,” Kantukule said. “And the Scottish government got a response from the WHO saying ‘Malawi is on the list of those countries that you cannot take their health personnel.'”    

Shouts Simeza, president of the nurses’ organization in Malawi, said he is surprised by the ministry’s position. 

“The minister cannot cancel this thing. The minister has no mandate all together to tell us we don’t have the mandate, that’s being rude, in fact,” Simeza said. “And it is the government that has identified us as NONM to facilitate this. And the government has often said that it is not the only entity to recruit, that’s what the head of state Lazarus Chakwera says, ‘job creation campaign.’ And that’s exactly what we are doing.”   

Simeza said the decision to seek jobs for nurses abroad came because 3,000 trained nurses in Malawi are unemployed. 

Simeza said the earlier arrangement was that the first group of 1,000 nurses was expected to leave for Saudi Arabia this month. The plan is to send 1,000 each year for a five-year project. 

But he said there was a delay because they were waiting for guidelines from various ministries including the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Labor on how to move forward. 

“The team that we are sending out are our members, our members,” Simeza said. “They are not employed by a government ministry. So they don’t belong to any ministry, they don’t. So we went seeking guidance from the Ministry of Labor on the safety and security of the membership that are going to the U.S. [and] Saudi Arabia.” 

The Malawi government said recently that it cannot recruit more nurses now, because of financial constraints.     

In a statement August 2, a group of Malawi’s nurses and midwives urged Chakwera to intervene and prevent the Ministry of Labor from halting the plan to send some of them abroad to work. 

There was no immediate response from Chakwera on the matter. 

 
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The World Health Organization warns a lack of humanitarian aid is driving millions of hungry people in the Horn of Africa to engage in desperate measures to survive.

Conditions in the Horn of Africa are worsening. Conflict, climate change, and the COVID-19 pandemic have turned the region into a hunger hotspot. That is having disastrous consequences for the health and lives of millions of people.

A recent U.N. analysis of the food situation in the region found 37 to 50 million people as being in what is classified as IPC phase 3. The World Health Organization explains that level of food insecurity forces people to sell their possessions to feed themselves and their families. At that stage of crisis, it says malnutrition is rife and special nutritional treatment is needed.

Sophie Maes is the WHO incident manager for drought and food insecurity in the greater Horn of Africa. Speaking from the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, she says the WHO and other aid agencies are unable to provide the help needed to stave off hunger and ill health because of a severe funding shortage.

“Normally what you do in this kind of situation is you do blanket supplementary feeding so that people do not slide further into malnutrition,” said Maes. “This is not being well funded at the moment due to the competing crises that are going on.”

She notes the World Food Program ran out of money and had to cut rations for many beneficiaries to be able to support those most in need. She says health risks have been compounded by four years of consecutive drought. She says the hoped-for reprieve is unlikely to come as forecasts indicate the upcoming rainy season is expected to fail.

She says growing numbers of people are engaging in risky behavior just to get something to eat and support their families.

“People are desperate to get money. So, there is survival sex going on. There is more violence, fighting for the meager resources. And, also, gender-based violence going up with women having to go farther to find food and water,” said Maes. “So, as they are further away from where they live, they are more prone to be attacked.”

The WHO says it needs nearly $124 million to spend through the end of the year to protect lives in the fragile region. It says the money will provide millions of people with the aid they need to fight disease outbreaks, provide life-saving nutritional feeding for severely malnourished children, and ensure they have access to health services.
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Ethiopia’s government and the rebel Tigray People’s Liberation Front are preparing for peace talks to end the conflict that broke out in November 2020. In the town of Abala, badly damaged by the conflict, militiamen and locals say they are ready for peace, but analysts say it won’t come easy. Henry Wilkins reports from Abala, Ethiopia.
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U.S. and European Union special envoys for the Horn of Africa have called on Ethiopian authorities to restore basic services to the Tigray region in order to encourage peace talks with rebels. The envoys have just completed their first trip to the region.

The officials have expressed support for attempts by the African Union to broker peace talks between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, or TPLF, and the federal government, after nearly two years of conflict.

In a joint statement issued after returning from Tigray’s regional capital, Mekelle, on Tuesday, Mike Hammer, the U.S. special envoy for the Horn of Africa and his European counterpart, Annette Weber, also called for services to be restored to the region.

Tigray has been without access to phone, internet or bank services since federal forces withdrew in June of last year, sparking accusations of a government-imposed “blockade.”

The federal government has previously said it is unable to restore services in Tigray because it is unable to safely send engineers to the region, which is under TPLF control.

But in their statement, envoys Hammer and Weber said they had been handed a letter from TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael, containing “security guarantees” for workers needed to restore services.

“With this security assurance, there should be no obstacle for the restoration of services to begin,” the envoys said.

Last week, the Ethiopian prime minister’s national security adviser, Redwan Hussein, said the government was ready for talks “without preconditions,” but the TPLF’s Debretsion has said phone and banking services should be restored before negotiations can begin.
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The U.N. refugee agency says it will be forced to cut aid programs for millions of internally displaced people and refugees in the Democratic Republic of Congo without an immediate injection of money.  

UNHCR says it has received only 19 percent of the $225 million required to run its humanitarian operation this year. That, it says, is not enough to meet the bare minimum let alone respond to the growing needs of millions of people whose lives have been shattered by conflict and violence. 

The DRC is home to the biggest displacement crisis in Africa, with more than 5.6 million internally displaced people and over half-a-million refugees and asylum-seekers. 

Dominique Hyde, director of the UNHCR’s Division for External Relations, returned from a trip last week to strife-ridden Ituri province in eastern DRC. She said she was shocked at the extent of loss and suffering experienced by survivors of ongoing fighting by the many armed groups in the province.

“There was not a single internally displaced person that I met who had not suffered the loss of a family member,” Hyde said. “I am meaning their children, their husband, their wives. Or in the case of women who had not been a victim of sexual violence. We, as UNHCR, are providing mental health support and psychosocial support to these women but, honestly, we are only able to do the bare minimum.” 

She said a lack of funding means the ability to respond to even the most basic needs of the families is not possible. She added that 82 percent of the country’s internally displaced people will not receive adequate shelter. 

“This means that displaced women, children, men, boys will be forced to sleep in churches, in schools, in stadiums out in the open,” Hyde said. “Or they are going to decide to go back to their homes and again being targets of these attacks. I met multiple people who had been displaced multiple times during their lives in the past years or so.” 

UNHCR warns it will be forced to cut cash and livelihood kits for agriculture, fisheries and livestock if it does not receive additional support. That, it says, will create food shortages for many people. Without more money, it says few refugee children will receive a primary education, which will have a lifelong detrimental effect. 

Agency officials say the war in Ukraine has taken the oxygen out of humanitarian appeals for Africa. International solidarity toward people fleeing war in Ukraine has been overwhelming, they note, adding that similar support should be extended to all crises around the world. 

 
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Somalia’s prime minister has appointed the former deputy leader of the al-Shabab militant group, Mukhtar Robow, to the cabinet as minister for endowment and religious affairs.

Robow, also known as Abu Mansour, was in the Somali presidential palace Tuesday as Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre unveiled his new cabinet. The stunning development came a day after Robow was released from the headquarters of Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA).

Robow has been in detention since December 2018, when Somali government forces supported by African Union forces from Ethiopia detained him in the Somali city of Baidoa, to prevent him from running for the leadership of Southwest federal member state.

Deadly protests followed his arrest as his supporters clashed with regional forces leading to the shooting death of 15 people in Baidoa.

The selection of Abu Mansour for the cabinet post is an apparent attempt to put him in charge of ideological confrontation against al-Shabab. His new portfolio will put him in direct collision with his former colleagues as he will attempt to implement President Hassan Mohamud’s policy of waging war against al-Shabab on three fronts; economic, ideology, and military.

Other key Cabinet appointments include Salah Ahmed Jama as the deputy prime minister, Abshir Omar Huruse as foreign minister, and Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur, who retains his post as defense minister,

Who is Mukhtar Robow?

Before the creation of al-Shabab, Robow trained with al-Qaida in Afghanistan.

Five years ago, he told VOA Somali reporter Harun Maruf, in an interview for the book Inside al-Shabab, that he was training at an al-Qaida camp in Afghanistan on September 11, 2001 and saw camp members celebrate upon hearing of the attacks that brought down the twin towers of the World Trade Center.

Robow rose to prominence as deputy defense chief of Somalia’s Islamic Courts Union in 2006, when the group temporarily seized control of most of southcentral Somalia, defeating a coalition of U.S.-backed warlords.

Robow went on to serve as al-Shabab’s official spokesperson and later as the group’s deputy leader. In 2008, the U.S. designated al-Shabab a terrorist organization. In 2012, the U.S. offered a $5 million reward for information leading to Robow’s capture, although that offer was withdrawn in June 2017.

Robow surrendered to the government in August 2018 after al-Shabab attacked his base in his home village of Abal, south of Huddur.

In December of that year, he announced his candidacy for the president of Southwest state. Many observers regarded him as a favorite because they thought he would confront al-Shabab. The government blocked him from running, which paved the way for a pro-federal government candidate, the current president Abdiaziz Hassan Laftagareen, to emerge as eventual winner.

The Somali government defended its decision to detain him, arguing he did not meet all the preconditions for running for office. It said he was still under sanctions by members of the international community for his prior membership with al-Shabab.

He was initially detained at NISA’s headquarters. In August 2019 he was moved from prison to house arrest. He was returned to NISA headquarters after giving an interview to VOA Somali in Octoberof last year.

In that interview, the first he has given since leaving al-Shabab, he said he was being held for political purposes and to prevent him from running for office. He described what happened to him as an “abduction” and denial of his basic rights.

He said he was not giving up running for office, adding, “I will always be ready to work for the development of our people and our country. I will not be demoralized; if I don’t die, I will continue that journey.”
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Kenyan ministers said the government has no intention of banning Facebook despite a watchdog last week accusing the social media platform of failing to stop hate speech ahead of Aug. 9 elections.

Kenya’s National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) last week gave Facebook one week to comply with regulations against ethnic hate speech or risk suspension.

The threat came after a report by rights group Global Witness said Facebook approved hate speech advertisements that promoted ethnic violence ahead of the election.

But Kenya’s Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi accused the NCIC of making what he termed a careless decision on the matter.

He assured the public that the platform would not be shut down.

Kenya’s Minister of Information and Technology Joe Mucheru echoed that vow to VOA in a telephone interview Monday.

He said while the issues raised were valid, they did not warrant blocking Facebook.

“That is not within our legal mandate, and we have been working with Facebook and many other platforms,” Muchera said. “Facebook for example has in this electioneering period has deleted over 37,000 inflammatory comments.”

In a statement last week, Facebook admitted having missed hate speech messages in Kenya, where national data shows an estimated 13 million users of the platform.

A spokesperson for Facebook’s parent company, Meta, blamed human and machine error for missing some inflammatory content and said they had taken steps to prevent such content.

Kenya’s cohesion commission said this year’s election had seen less in-person hate speech as it migrated from political rallies to social media.

It said the main perpetrators were followers of Kenya’s two leading presidential candidates — former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Deputy President William Ruto.
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Ugandan police are deploying a standby force to the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after U.N. peacekeeping troops opened fire on a border post, killing two people and wounding 15, including an 8-year-old Ugandan girl.

Uganda says it has deployed a team to monitor ongoing tensions in the eastern DRC resulting from a deadly shooting involving MONUSCO soldiers.

The incident that has been described in a statement by the U.N. Special Representative Bintou Keita as unspeakable and irresponsible happened in the town of Kasindi in the DRC’S Beni territory close to Uganda.

The statement said that during the incident, soldiers from the Intervention Brigade of the MONUSCO force from Tanzania, returning from leave, opened fire at the border post for unexplained reasons and forced their way through.

Fred Enanga, the Uganda Police spokesperson, described the incident.

“So, one of the bullets strayed and hit an eight-year-old juvenile called Bira Jackline,” he said. “She’s getting treatment at Bwera hospital. The stray bullet hit her shoulder and it was retrieved. So, she’s out of danger.”  

In his statement, Bintou said the perpetrators of the shooting were identified and arrested pending the conclusions of the investigation, which has already started in collaboration with Congolese authorities.

Bintou added that contact had also been established with Tanzania so that legal proceedings can be initiated urgently with the participation of victims and witnesses.

MONUSCO, the peacekeeping mission in the DRC, was in 2010 given the mandate to carry out offensive operations. In another statement, U.N. Chief Antonio Guterres said he was saddened and outraged by the incident and demanded accountability.

With ongoing tension between DRC locals and MONUSCO, Enanga said authorities are monitoring the situation.

“We’ve been closely monitoring what happened from the other side of Bunagana and DRC,” he said. “We don’t want the violence there to affect our borderline. We have a standby team monitoring.”

Trade between DRC and Uganda slowed down since March due to the resumption of fighting between DRC government forces and M23 rebels who took over the town of Bunagana. Uganda has since March registered 41,164 asylum seekers comprising 21,235 households.
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Mali’s military government has lashed out at French President Emmanuel Macron, accusing him of having a “neo-colonial” attitude and stirring up ethnic hatred. 

The official statement was read by government spokesperson Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga on Mali’s state TV and radio station ORTM and posted to the station’s Facebook page.  

Maiga referenced statements made by French President Emmanuel Macron on the situation in Mali during Macron’s visit to Guinea-Bissau, the last stop in a tour of West Africa in which he pledged support to several countries in the fight against extremism.  

The government of the transition demands President Macron to definitively abandon his neo-colonial, paternalistic and condescending stance,” Maida said in French.  

Maiga also called Macron’s remarks, in which he deplored “systemic violence” targeting the Fulani population,” “hateful and defamatory,” saying they are “likely to arouse ethnic hatred” in Mali.  

Both the Malian and French armies have been accused of violence against the Fulani community in recent years during anti-terrorism operations. The U.N. accused France of killing 19 civilians during an airstrike on the Fulani village of Bounti, Mali in 2021, and human rights organizations have accused the Malian army of arbitrarily killing dozens of men from the Fulani ethnic group on several occasions.   

Maiga also called Macron’s remarks expressing concern over the presence of Wagner mercenaries in Mali “erroneous accusations.”  

Mali has continually denied working with mercenaries since France first launched accusations that Wagner mercenaries were present in Mali in December of last year, claiming only to work with official Russian trainers. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin denied an official Russian presence in Mali during a press conference with the French president in February.   

France announced the withdrawal of its troops from Mali this year partly over concerns that Mali is working with mercenaries, ending an almost decade-long deployment which began when France intervened after northern Mali was taken over by Islamist militants in 2012.  

In March, Human Rights Watch released a report in which several residents of Moura, Mali, attested to witnessing mercenaries committing human rights abuses and extrajudicial killings with the Malian army over a period of five days.  
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