One of Algeria’s leading opposition figures, Karim Tabbou, has been arrested again, rights groups have said.

Tabbou was one of the most-recognizable faces during unprecedented mass rallies, led by the Hirak pro-democracy movement, that began in February 2019. They demanded a sweeping overhaul of the ruling system in place since the North African country’s independence from France in 1962.

He was detained Friday evening at his home, the rights groups said.

Algeria’s Human Rights League (LADDH) said on its Facebook page: “We still don’t know the reasons for this new arrest.”

On Tuesday, Tabbou published on his Facebook page an “homage” to another activist, Hakim Debbazi, whose death the Rights League announced. Debbazi had been detained in February.

“Physically dead, the martyrs of the just causes are more than alive,” Tabbou wrote. 

He blamed authorities for the death of “modest and humble” Debbazi after a heart attack and said the activist had been “committed body and soul to the Hirak.”

Tabbou called on people to honor Debbazi’s “sacrifice” and “continue our fight for the advent of a state of law.”

Tabbou leads a small, unregistered opposition party, the Democratic Social Union (UDS).

In March 2020, he was sentenced to one year in jail for “undermining national security.” The conviction stemmed from his criticism of the army’s involvement in politics.

He was also detained and released on other occasions, including just before last June’s parliamentary election which Hirak boycotted.

The Hirak protests forced longtime president Abdelaziz Bouteflika to step down. Demonstrations continued in a push for deep reforms but the movement waned when the coronavirus pandemic struck.

More than 300 people are detained in Algeria over links to the Hirak or rights activism, the National Committee for the Release of Detainees (CNLD) says. 
…

A blindfold calms the large black and white augur buzzard as two men glue a prosthetic leg into an insert on her body to replace the one that she lost.

The female is one of many injured birds of prey that turn up at Simon Thomsett’s Kenyan rehabilitation center, most of which, like her, have been crippled by electrocution.

The problem has progressively grown as Kenya has upgraded its electricity network, replacing wooden poles with steel-reinforced concrete, which can be conductive, and hanging inadequately insulated power lines between them, conservationists say.

That and the lack of deterrent markers along the cables are pushing Kenya’s already dwindling bird of prey populations closer to disappearance.

“Thirty years ago, the birds were coming in being hit by cars, diseased… or hitting things like clothes lines or …windows,” said Thomsett before/after helping to fit the prosthetic.

“Now we … the vast majority is electrocution.”

Many are killed outright by the shock, both via direct collision with power lines or from perching.

Kenya’s population of augur buzzards, historically one of its most common birds of prey has plunged 91% over 40 years due to electrocution, habitat loss, and poisoning, according to a February study by Thomsett and others published in Biological Conservation.

Over the same period, hooded vulture are down 88% and long-crested eagles by 94%, the study said.

The government-run Kenya Power and Lighting Company did not respond to requests for comment.

In some parts of South Africa, bird flight diverters have successfully been introduced to reduce instances of such deaths.

“These devices can reduce collisions by over 90% for some species,” said Lourens Leeuwner, who manages the wildlife and energy program at South Africa’s Endangered Wildlife Trust.
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Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced a humanitarian cease-fire five weeks ago, but it is already beginning to fray. In the northern region of Amhara, fighting had subsided. But, last week, it erupted again.

VOA spoke to witnesses who got caught up in the fighting when militants from the Fano militia group, on the border of the Oromia zone, in Amhara, allegedly opened fire on civilians close to the town of Shewa Robit.

Wendowessen Mamo says he was 3 kilometers away when the conflict erupted.

“Molale, the epicenter of the conflict, is almost burned to the ground like Ataye town was, where three such ethnic-based conflicts happened in the space of a year,” he added.

The hills of Amhara have been the scene of fighting between federal government forces, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and militia groups for months.

Most people who spoke to VOA said they want to see peace now – among them Demeku Ali Abdu, who says her son was taken and killed after TPLF troops occupied her house last year.

“When I confirmed my child’s death, I felt so alone,” she said, as she started to cry. “I felt bereft for my future. And also, I thought about his two children growing up without a father. I hate to live without him.”

Ahmed Mohammed Seid, part of a local militia who fought to push the TPLF out of his hometown, hopes the fighting will soon end for good.

Seid said he hopes conflict will never return to his home. He believes that all parties involved in the conflict have learned lessons, and “I hope every person strives for the prevalence of peace.”

However, a spokesperson for the local government said the presence of the TPLF in Amhara has emboldened other militant groups.

Jemal Hassen, Oromo special zone government spokesperson, said, “Both TPLF and Oromo separatists have a common goal or target. Their marriage seems to have become more concrete as they have common agendas of dismantling the state apparatus and retaking control of politics.”

The special zone is an enclave of ethnic Oromos surrounded by the Amhara region.

In January, Abiy announced a national dialogue with the aim of bringing peace to the country. But the initiative has been criticized for failing to include many of the factions engaged in conflict, including the TPLF.

Ethiopian analyst Kiram Tadesse said, “There was optimism from all parties involved. Divergence has also started to emerge among these opposing parties, especially among those that are not included, and its credibility has been questioned.”

Given the renewed fighting in this area of Amhara, residents’ hopes for peace might not be realized.
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A high court in Malawi has convicted five people of murder for the 2018 killing of a 22-year-old albino man, including the victim’s brother. The court convicted seven other people of selling the victim’s body parts.

Malawi officials say more than 170 albinos have been attacked in the country since 2014 by people who believe their body parts bring luck and wealth.

Family members of the deceased, MacDonald Masambuka, left the courtroom Thursday with hopes of justice being served after the court convicted all 12 people accused in his death.

Family members, including Masambuka’s mother, appeared calm and composed as Judge Dorothy NyaKaunda Kamanga read the judgments.

Those convicted included a Catholic priest, Father Thomas Muhosa, police officer Chikondi Chileka, clinician Lumbani Kamanga, and the deceased’s brother, Cassim Masambuka. Charges included murder, extracting human tissues, causing harm to a person with disability, and trafficking in persons.

Kamanga convicted the victim’s brother and four others of murder.

The court convicted seven other people, including the priest and police officer, of selling the victim’s body parts.

Business with tissue

According to the court, Muhosha, Chileka and others offered to conduct business using human tissue extracted from a human corpse.

The judge said the state proved beyond reasonable doubt the 12 people conspired to kill Masambuka to extract his bones based on a perception they would benefit financially.

She said Masambuka is the latest victim of violent attacks on persons with albinism who have not been protected by the community.

Director of Public Prosecutions Steve Kayuni represented the state in the case. He said he was pleased the court agreed on all the seven charges he presented.

“It’s really something overwhelming on the part of the state considering that this matter, if you notice, there is a police officer involved, a priest involved and there is a brother involved. If you notice, it all revolves around the position of trust — that somebody like the late Macdonald Masambuka trusted so much, they are the ones who ended up betraying him,” Kayuni said.

Masambuka went missing from his village on March 9, 2018, and his limbless body was found buried in a garden on April 2, 2018, in his home district of Machinga south of Malawi.

Enticement

Court documents show that Masambuka was enticed by his brother to meet his friends, who he claimed had found a girl for him to marry.

But when they reached the scene, the alleged friends grabbed Masambuka by the neck and dragged him to a garden where they killed him. Here, his assailants cut off his limbs, burned his body using petrol and buried it there.

This was the first such case involving high-profile community members involved in attacks on persons with albinism.

Masauko Chamkakala, the lawyer for the 12 defendants in the case, said he would comment once he had gone through the judgment.

“We are still waiting to see the perfected judgment so that we can read it and study it and talk to our clients,” Chamkakala said.

Rights activists said they expected the court to give stiffer punishment to those convicted.

‘Serious sentencing’

Ian Simbota represented the Association of Persons with Albinism at the court.

“When the judge was reading, what concerned me was that part of a [Priest] Father Muhosha [and others] who have been convicted of transacting body parts. If you go to the Anatomy Act, it is not so hard on such offenses. So, we are really looking forward to the judge, if at all it’s possible, to put a human face to the case so that at least we really need to see serious sentencing on this case,” Simbota said.

The high court is expected to sentence the perpetrators on May 30.

In another case, a high court on Thursday sentenced a 37-year-old man to life in prison for the 2020 murder of a 14-year-old-boy with albinism in Phalombe district.
…

Ethiopian federal authorities are dismissing a claim by Tigrayan rebels that their forces have pulled out of the neighboring Afar region.

A spokesman for the Tigray People’s Liberation Front this week said the rebels had withdrawn their fighters so the federal government would allow much-needed aid to reach the Tigray region.

But four days after that announcement, the federal government did not appear to be increasing the frequency of humanitarian convoys to Tigray, as some had hoped.

On Wednesday, the Afar Mass Media Agency released a statement refuting the TPLF claim that it had pulled out of the northern Ethiopian region.

“The terrorist TPLF has been spreading false propaganda that is far from the truth,” the statement said. It then listed areas of Afar where the TPLF was still present.

The Afar regional communications office did not respond to a request for comment. It has not yet been possible to verify if Tigrayan forces are still in Afar.

Yohannes Abraham, a spokesperson for the TPLF, reiterated the claim to VOA that TPLF forces had left.

“The pullout was done per the previous plan to withdraw in a step-by- step fashion,” he said. “Contrary to the false narrations, as usual, alluded by the Ethiopian government and its subsidiaries in Afar and elsewhere, as we speak, there are no Tigrayan forces remaining in Afar. Even if humanitarian deliveries shouldn’t be conditioned, as you know, the presence of our forces in Afar is no more an excuse for the region to block delivery of humanitarian aid.”

William Davison, an analyst for the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, said the Ethiopian federal government had indicated the TPLF’s pullout from Afar might result in more aid reaching Tigray.

‘Absolutely desperate’

“Throughout the government’s communication following its humanitarian truce announcement,” he said, “it made reference to the Tigray forces’ presence in Amhara and Afar regions, almost suggesting that it’s a condition for the increased delivery of aid for Tigray’s forces to vacate those areas. … It seems the conditions inside Tigray are absolutely desperate. … Now we will see if this leads to something approaching unrestricted humanitarian access.”

Ethiopian analyst Kiram Tadasse said, however, that even if the Ethiopian federal government gave the go-ahead for aid to enter Tigray, forces from the Afar and Amhara regions might still block them, as has happened in the past.

The humanitarian need in Afar and Amhara also is at a crisis point, Tadasse said.

“We should not be underestimating the potential challenge that could come from the Afar regional forces,” he said. “Like in Tigray, many people in Amhara and Afar region are also in need of food aid, and there should be certain ways to deal with this deadlock, regardless of the urgent need to respond to the situation in Tigray, where access is a critical issue.”

Combined, Tigray, Afar and Amhara have 9.4 million people who need humanitarian assistance, according to the U.N., which also said the humanitarian situation in Tigray in particular was so desperate that “people have been eating roots and flowers and plants instead of a normal steady meal.”
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Cameroon’s military said civilians this week buried scores of separatist fighters in mass graves after troops launched raids on rebel strongholds in the country’s western regions. A separatist spokesman accused Cameroon’s military of executing their captured fighters, which the military denies. 

A video widely shared on the social media showed in Guzang, a village in Cameroon’s English-speaking North-West region, digging a mass grave for eight bodies. The people in the video say seven of the corpses they are burying were separatist fighters and one was a civilian.

Cameroon’s military confirmed Thursday that civilians buried separatist fighters killed by government troops in Guzang. The military said it conducted raids in the past week in North-Western towns and villages including Guzang, Batibo, Wum, Ndu, Kumbo and Bafut, where separatists were attacking and harassing civilians.

Cameroonian authorities blamed anglophone separatists for kidnappings for ransom, disrupting traffic, and attacks on public buildings controlled by the central government in Yaounde.

The military said more than 40 fighters, including three self-proclaimed separatist generals, were killed in the raids.

Capo Daniel is deputy defense chief of the Ambazonia Defense Forces, one of the separatist groups in Cameroon’s English-speaking North-West and South-West regions. He acknowledged that fighters were killed but did not say how many. Daniel said Cameroonian government troops committed gross human rights violations against fighters including the troops killed in Guzang.

“Six of those fighters in Guzang, including one civilian, were all captured alive, their hands were all tied behind their backs before they were executed,” Dianel said. “In a second location, still in Guzang, four soldiers [fighters] were captured, their hands tied behind their backs, two of them later died of bullet wounds, another one was executed in the Guzang market square. The Cameroon military attack against our freedom fighters in Guzang is a war crime and is a crime against humanity.”

Daniel said fighters killed several government troops. He added that separatists will not surrender in their fight to gain what he calls the freedom of the English-speaking minority from the French-speaking majority Cameroon.

Cameroon’s military denied its troops were killed and that it committed crimes against fighters. The military said troops responded to protect civilians after fighters attacked civilians, shooting indiscriminately in the air.

Deben Tchoffo, governor of Cameroon’s English-speaking North-West region, where government troops attacked separatists this week, said Cameroon’s government will forgive fighters who drop their weapons and leave the bush, where he said separatists hide to commit atrocities against civilians.

“There is no need for somebody to go to the bush to express himself politically, socially,” Tchoffo said. “From the instructions given to us we are going at the grassroots levels to reinforce he fight against the circulation of ammunition [war weapons] in the region and make sure all those that are still keeping them [weapons] are brought to book and prosecuted.”

Separatists in English-speaking western Cameroon launched their rebellion in 2017 after what they said was years of discrimination by the country’s French-speaking majority.

The conflict has killed more than 3,300 people and displaced more than a half million according to the United Nations.
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Kenya held a state funeral Friday for its third president, Mwai Kibaki, who died last week at the age of 90. Officials are hailing Kibaki for transforming Kenya’s economy and education. 

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta led other African leaders and tens of thousands of Kenyans in paying last respects to Kibaki.

“We are here not only to mourn an incalculable loss but also to celebrate a magnificent life,” said Kenyatta. “We celebrate a man of faith, a man of family, a man of honor and a man who always put Kenya and Kenyans first.” 

Kibaki led the East African nation between 2002 and 2013, when he stepped down after two terms.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was among the leaders who attended the prayer service at Nyayo stadium in Nairobi.

“We remember President Kibaki for the leadership he demonstrated not only to Kenya but also to the African continent,” he said. “We remember him for his commitment to the people of Kenya and indeed to all of us as Africans.”

Jacinta Njeri, 68, who was among the thousands gathered to remember the late president, said there was no leader like him.

“We remember him for many things,” she said. “He will sponsor our children’s education. He also developed our country. There is no better economist in Kenya than the president.”

Kenya’s third president is praised for transforming the country’s infrastructure, agriculture and education sector. His election in 2002 brought an end to four decades of one-party rule.

Political commentator Michael Agwanda told VOA Kibaki truly transformed the country.

“He walked the life of Kenya governance since independence in 1963,” he said. “That’s a person the country was expecting to come with a lot of reforms in governance in economics and as a result, he did not disappoint people. On his first term as a president he stamped out corruption, it was not as much. He borrowed very little from the foreign and the local [lenders]. He used money and people started seeing the value for money.” 

The East African nation recorded its highest economic growth at 7% per year during his tenure in office.

Many Kenyans also remember Kibaki for his role in the 2007 and 2008 political violence. His disputed election win against opposition leader Raila Odinga, who accused him of rigging the vote, led to street protests and inter-communal clashes that claimed the lives of more than 1,100 people.

At the funeral, Odinga spoke about meeting with Kibaki after the violence and how the two agreed to work together. The truce led to the formation of a unity government, with Odinga becoming prime minister.

Kibaki will be buried on Saturday at his rural home in central Kenya.
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Ethiopia’s declared cease-fire with Tigrayan rebels in March raised hopes for possible peace talks to end the deadly 15-month war. While some northern areas of the Amhara region saw a brief return to peace, renewed fighting has left desperate civilians waiting for the bloodshed to end. Henry Wilkins reports from Shewa Robit, Ethiopia.
Camera: Henry Wilkins 
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Adan Nuur Madobe made a comeback as speaker of Parliament Wednesday night following his ouster from the same seat in 2010. His election was seen as a victory for the opposition, which marshaled forces to defeat Hassan Abdi Nur, who had the backing of outgoing President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed.

The election was expected to take place Wednesday afternoon, but the process dragged into the night following a dispute over who oversaw security at the election site, a fortified compound at Mogadishu’s main airport.

A joint session of the upper and lower houses of Parliament is now slated to elect a new president in the coming weeks. But the road to that milestone is a difficult one.

Professor Mohamed Muse Matan, a lecturer at the University of Somalia, noted that once it was finally held, the election for speaker proceeded peacefully.

So far, Matan said, no one has criticized how the election took place. He also said he had seen no challenges to the election of the speaker. He said that in the political arena, each party must congratulate the speaker, even if its members are not happy with the election results.

But Matan said the process for electing Somalia’s next president was filled with uncertainty.

“I do not want to rush into predicting who will win,” Matan said, “because we do not still see anyone campaigning, we do not see the manifestation of everyone, we do not even know how many people are running for the presidency.”

Re-election run expected

Mohamed, also known as Farmaajo, is expected to run for re-election. His likely opponents including two former presidents, a former prime minister and the current leader of the Puntland region.

Professor Abdiwahab Abdisamad, chairman of the Nairobi-based Institute for Horn of Africa Strategic Studies, said there were advantages to re-electing Farmaajo.

“I think in terms of stability and security of the country, if the current administration wins the elections … I think it is good for the security apparatus because for the last five years, the security organs in the country are getting their salaries, they are well-organized, they are well-trained. He built the capacity of the security,” Abdisamad said.

At the same time, Farmaajo, once Somalia’s most liked president, has lost the support of many people because of his failure to defeat militant group al-Shabab and for allegedly deploying Somali soldiers to Ethiopia to fight Tigrayan rebels.

An attempt last year by the lower house to extend Farmaajo’s term for another two years was also widely unpopular. Parliament backtracked in the face of international pressure and the prospect of war between the government and opposition-backed forces.

Although Somalia witnessed a peaceful transfer of power when Farmaajo was elected in 2017, the buildup of tensions in recent months has left many worried that duplicating that feat will be a challenging task.
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Press freedom supporters are condemning Ugandan authorities for persecuting media that air critical views of President Yoweri Museveni and his family. Ugandan security forces in March raided Digitalk TV, an online station, and arrested and charged its reporters with cyber stalking and offensive communication. The charges could see them facing up to seven years in prison, as Halima Athumani reports for World Press Freedom Day on May 3, from Kampala, Uganda.
Videographer: Mukasa Francis
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The ruling junta in Mali has definitively banned French broadcasters RFI and France 24 after alleging that the Sahel nation’s army caried out abuses, the radio and television channels said Wednesday.

France Medias Monde, the state-owned parent company of RFI and France 24, said it had received notification during the day from Mali’s communication authority.

“France Medias Monde strongly contests the definitive decision to suspend,” the two broadcasters, the company said in a statement.

It called the move “unfounded and arbitrary,” adding it would use all possible means of recourse to get the decision reversed.

The French government had called Mali’s initial temporary suspension of the French media channels on March 17 a grave attack on liberty of the press.  

RFI (Radio France International) and France 24 cover African news extensively and have a strong following in the former French colony.

The broadcast ban comes after diplomatic relations between Mali and its former colonial power France plunged to their lowest point in years amid disputes over democracy and the alleged presence of Russia-linked paramilitaries in the country.  

Mali expelled the French ambassador in January.

The junta, which seized power in August 2020, said there had been “false accusations” in a report in mid-March in which RFI aired comments from alleged victims of abuse by the army and shadowy Russian private-security group Wagner.

Mali’s junta also has accused Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. human rights chief, of making false allegations against the government.  

An impoverished nation of 21 million people, Mali has over the past decade been wracked by Islamist violence.  

Thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed and hundreds of thousands of people forced to flee their homes.

Additionally, the under-equipped army often has been accused of committing abuses during the brutal conflict. The army-led interim government regularly rejects such accusations.

The junta’s growing friendship with Russia has worsened friction with France, a traditional ally.

Paris last month announced the impending withdrawal of thousands of troops deployed in Mali under France’s anti-jihadist mission in the Sahel.
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An application developed in Kenya to improve the marketing of fish caught in Lake Victoria is helping women fishmongers fend off sex-for-fish exploitation by fishermen. The Aquarech app allows traders to buy fish without having to negotiate with fishermen – as Ruud Elmendorp reports from Kisumu, Kenya.
Videographer: Ruud Elmendorp Produced by: Henry Hernandez
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Sudanese authorities released two outspoken former government officials from jail, lawyers said Wednesday, part of trust-building measures amid efforts to end the country’s political impasse.

Sudan has been plunged into turmoil since an October military coup upended its short-lived transition to democracy after three decades of repressive rule by former strongman Omar al-Bashir. Al-Bashir and his Islamist-backed government were removed in a popular uprising in April 2019.

Khalid Omar, a former minister of Cabinet Affairs, was released late Tuesday, and Mohammed al-Faki Suleiman, a former member of the ruling Sovereign Council, walked free from a prison in the capital of Khartoum on Wednesday, their defense team said.

The Criminal Court in northern Khartoum rejected the prosecutors’ request to renew their detention pending investigation into an array of vague charges, including betrayal of public trust, according to their lawyers. The court cited insufficient evidence to keep them in custody, they said.

Both Omar and Suliman had been detained along with dozens of other officials during the October 25 coup and were released a month later as part of a deal between the military and Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok. The premier resigned in January after failing to bridge the gap between the generals and the protest movement.

The two men were rearrested in February amid a crackdown by the generals on anti-coup groups. Dozens of activists were also detained amid relentless protests against the military’s takeover.

The crackdown on protesters killed more than 90 people, mostly young men, and injured thousands, according to a Sudanese medical group.

Suliman was also deputy head of a government-run agency tasked with dismantling the legacy of al-Bashir’s regime. The agency is known as The Committee to Dismantle the Regime of June 30, 1989 — a reference to the Islamist-backed coup that brought al-Bashir to power. It was created after the uprising and for two years worked to purge al-Bashir’s loyalists from government institutions.

The generals, including coup leader General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, have long criticized the agency. It was dismantled after the October coup, and the generals appointed another committee to review its decisions. Many of the agency’s decisions were reversed, measures seen by critics of the military as a way to enable Islamists allied with the generals.

Other detained members of the agency, including Wagdy Saleh, Taha Osman and Babiker Faisal, were also released Wednesday, their defense team said.

“After a detention that lasted 78 days, we return to the streets. … We won’t forget that these streets have brought us to the positions of responsibility,” Saleh said in a tweet, referring to the popular uprising.

Earlier this month, authorities freed over two dozen activists who were detained in recent weeks over the anti-coup protests.

The military’s takeover has plunged the country into turmoil and sent its already fragile economy into free fall, with living conditions rapidly deteriorating.

The U.N. envoy for Sudan, Volker Perthes, warned in March that Sudan was heading for “an economic and security collapse” unless it addresses the political paralysis. Perthes’ comments to the U.N. Security Council angered the generals, and Burhan threatened to expel him.

Perthes is now leading joint efforts with the African Union and the eight-nation east African regional group called the Intergovernmental Authority in Development to facilitate Sudanese-led political talks. Perthes and the two organizations’ envoys held a joint news conference Wednesday in Khartoum on their efforts.

Ismail Wais, the development authority’s special envoy to Sudan, welcomed the releases as a “very positive development.” He urged Sudanese authorities to free all political prisoners and activists and lift the state of emergency as a necessary condition to help facilitate reaching an agreement on a way out of the crisis.

Mohamed el Hacen Ould Lebatt, the AU’s envoy for Sudan, said the trio will launch a political dialogue after the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan early in May. The meetings are expected to start May 10-12, he said.

He said the talks will include the military and other political parties and groups — except al-Bashir’s now dissolved Congress Party — with the aim of agreeing on how the country will be ruled during the rest of the transitional period and holding elections.

“The situation in this country is highly sensitive if it is not extremely dangerous,” Lebatt said, adding that the talks will eventually aim at “achieving the aspiration of the Sudanese people expressed in their revolution.”

There was no immediate comment from the two main protest groups — the Sudanese Professionals Association and the Resistance Committees — which have spearheaded the uprising against al-Bashir and the ongoing anti-coup protests. They have long demanded the removal of the military from power and the establishment of a fully civilian government.

The generals, however, have said they will only hand over power to an elected administration. They say elections will take place in July 2023, as planned in a constitutional document governing the transitional period.
…

The United Nations Children’s Fund and Zimbabwe have released a report saying nearly half the country’s youth are not in school due to poverty exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The report says the percentage has more than doubled in the last three years.

Still, the UNICEF representative in Zimbabwe, Tajudeen Oyewale, has praised the government for adapting well to the COVID-19 pandemic, and getting tens of thousands of children into remote learning programs during the lockdowns. 

The new UNICEF report, however, found that nearly half the country’s youth are not in school due to chronic poverty aggravated by the pandemic.  

Before the pandemic, 21% of Zimbabwean youth were not in school. Now the number stands at 47%.

Taungana Ndoro, the spokesman for Zimbabwe’s ministry of education, told VOA he needed time to confirm the figures in the UNICEF report.

Thabo Dube is a 48-year-old unemployed man with nine-year-old twins and a 16-year-old. He used to run an informal farm produce shop before the start of the pandemic. 

Dube said police confiscated his supplies when he tried to reopen his shop during a government-ordered lockdown. 

When lockdown measures were eventually relaxed, Dube said he had no stock to sell or capital to restart – yet his children wanted to go to school. Dube said he moved them from private schools to a government school, but still can’t afford the fees.

In Zimbabwe, families pay less than $100 per year to send their children to an elementary school, and about $300 for a secondary school. The fees may sound low but are a lot for people who sometimes get by on one dollar per day. 

Oyewale said UNICEF is trying to keep children in school through several means, including the provision of learning materials. 

“Lastly, by the introduction of what we call school improvement grants, we are able to support households who are finding it difficult to bring their children to school,” he said.  

UNICEF says Zimbabwe is spending 13% of its budget on education instead of 20%, which was agreed to at a conference years ago in Dakar, Senegal.
…

Analysts are questioning the East African Community’s capacity to equip a multinational military force formed to battle insurgencies in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. 

Last week, the seven nations that make up the regional body announced the force’s mission would be to ”end decades of bloodshed,” Reuters reported.

The challenges of getting the force on the ground are enormous, said Onesphore Sematumba, an analyst on the DRC and Great Lakes region at the International Crisis Group. He questioned the readiness of EAC countries to provide troops and logistics for the force and deploy it.  

“Unfortunately, this regional force does not yet exist. It must first be mounted and made operational,” he told VOA. 

Over 120 rebel groups and militias still operate in the DRC’s eastern provinces nearly two decades after the official end of the country’s civil wars. The effort to restore peace has, since 2010, involved the United Nations’ largest peacekeeping force, with billions of dollars invested in the operation. 

Some of the groups in the eastern DRC have operated there for two decades or more. That includes cross-border groups considered hostile to their countries of origin, such as the Ugandan Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which operates in DRC’s North Kivu and Ituri provinces. According to the United Nations, the ADF killed over 1,200 people in 2021 alone, an increase of nearly 50% from the previous year. 

Other cross-border groups are the Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda), or FLDR, in North Kivu and the RED-Tabara of Burundi in South Kivu. 

Naureen Chowdhury Fink, executive director of the New York-based Soufan Center, said it was crucial to “reflect on lessons learned from other regions” where multiple groups are active. “It can get complicated very quickly,” she told VOA. 

Fink added that it was important for groups such as the EAC military force “to ensure their operations are based on the rule of law, as human rights violations can further exacerbate tensions with the communities they are intending to serve.”  

“Also importantly,” she said, “there needs to be a clearly defined operational strategy and objective so that it does not end up targeting a wide and undefined group of actors in the name of countering terrorism.”

EAC partners include Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and, finally, the DRC, which became the community’s newest member earlier this month. 

“Even by bringing together all the armies of the region, it will be difficult to militarily defeat more than 120 armed groups scattered over a very large area in a region of forests and mountains,” Sematumba said. 

“We are dealing with extremely mobile groups that have a very good knowledge of the field and have good networks of information within the populations,” he told VOA. “Their asymmetrical warfare strategy requires a similar type of intelligence and special forces response from a potential regional force. States need patience.”
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The Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (AVCA) says Africa attracted a record $7.4 billion in private capital in 2021, more than double the year before. But while the continent provides ample possibilities for investors, it also presents challenges, from instability to climate change. At this year’s AVCA conference in Senegal, investors discussed some of the trends.

More than 500 people from some 50 countries filtered in and out of conference rooms at Dakar’s Radisson Hotel Tuesday for Day 2 of AVCA’s annual gathering.

Africa offers a rich environment for local and international investors, attendees say, as it has a growing youth population and consumer market.

Alexia Alexandropoulou is a research manager at AVCA. She said investor interest in the continent has been largely driven by the attraction of financial technology companies. A number of sizable infrastructure deals also contributed to investment growth.

“And these infrastructure investments were focused on renewable energy, transportation and communication services. And they support African governments to fill the infrastructure gap on the continent. We expect to see more of these trends continue in the years to come,” she noted.

Some African governments such as Senegal’s have successfully attracted international investment in recent years. In 2019, it became the second African country to pass a “start-up act,” which eases regulations and provides tax breaks to innovative new businesses.

Venture capital activity here comprised 80 percent of total reported deals in 2021, up from 6 percent between 2016 and 2020, according to AVCA. But investing in African companies also comes with challenges, investors say, including currency volatility, small national economies, limited access to finance and banking services and political unrest.

“If you have a long-term view, and if you’re well diversified, you can obviously overcome those issues,” expressed Walid Cherif, the managing director of BluePeak Private Capital, adding “from [the] outside you read the news, or you think it’s scary, it’s difficult. But at the end of the day, there’s so many opportunities on the ground, so many great businesses. As long as you put the tools in them and give them a lot of assistance and support, you can definitely help them become strong businesses.”

Climate change is another major hindrance. Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to suffer disproportionately from extreme weather events such as floods and drought. This is disruptive to businesses, particularly those in the agricultural sector.

Some investors have begun setting climate goals.

Clarisa De Franco is the managing director of British International Investment. Last year, her company set a goal of having 30 percent of their investments dedicated toward addressing climate change.

“They will have to have the specific mandate of addressing climate from a resilience, adaptation or mitigation point of view. How do we achieve that from a new commitment point of view, but also from a portfolio point of view, is something that we need to explore a bit more,” De Franco pointed out.

Potential investments might include the renewable energy and plantation sectors, she said.

The AVCA conference continues in Dakar through Friday.
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A Kenyan court recently ruled that fathers could be granted custody of children below nine years of age instead of the children automatically going to their mothers. Children’s advocacy groups in Kenya welcomed the unprecedented ruling as a step forward for parental custody based on merit. Victoria Amunga reports from Nairobi. Camera: Amos Wangwa
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The U.S. government is giving an additional $200 million to support humanitarian initiatives in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, where more than 20 million people are in need of food, water and medicine. Lack of rain in the region has led to the driest conditions in 40 years.

Speaking online to journalists, Sarah Charles of the U.S. Agency for International Development outlined how drought has impacted the lives of millions in the Horn of Africa.

“The frequency and severity of drought in the region and the scale of humanitarian needs are increasing, exposing the devastating trend of climate change that disproportionately affects the world’s poorest communities. Already 1.5 million livestock has died, and crops are non-existent in affected areas. In some areas, including Kenya and southern and south-eastern Ethiopia, conflict has broken out over scarce resources. An alarming number of children are acutely malnourished and we are also seeing a devastating report from Somalia of young girls being forced to marry in exchange for food and water,” she said.

Charles said Tuesday the U.S. government is providing another $200 million to help get food and medical supplies to millions in the region. The aid will boost U.S. government aid for drought victims to more than $360 million this year.

However, that number is just a fraction of the funding needed. U.N. humanitarian agencies say they will need $4.4 billion to fully scale up their relief efforts in the region.

According to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, more than six million people in the Horn are feeling the impact of the drought. It says more than 750,000 have left their homes in search of water, food and pasture. Some 3 million people are internally displaced in Somalia alone.

In even more dire news, U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths said 2 million children in the Horn are at risk of starving to death.

Aid agencies trying to help hungry people in northern Ethiopia have been hampered by the region’s volatile security situation. Charles said the problem is especially acute in the Tigray region.

“We are facing in Tigray almost unprecedented challenges with access obstruction in terms of bureaucratic obstruction, conflict, violence, difficulty reaching those who are most in need of assistance. And we have seen over the last two weeks a small convoy of assistance, the latest one yesterday reached Mekele for the first time in several months,” she said.

A poor start to the rainy season has heightened fears the drought and its impact in the Horn will get worse.

Humanitarian agencies say that even if good rains arrive, they cannot quickly reverse the suffering the drought has caused to millions.
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Al-Qaida-linked militants in Mali say they have captured at least one Russian mercenary from the Wagner Group, a private military company with alleged links to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Extremists linked to al-Qaida say in a statement they have abducted at least one Russian mercenary, who they describe as a “soldier of Russian Wagner forces.”

An Arabic version of the group’s statement claimed they abducted one Russian fighter, who they called a “criminal,” while the French version said they had taken more than one. 

The statement also claims that Wagner forces took part in an operation in Moura, Mali, which it says killed “hundreds of innocents.”

Several countries have accused Mali’s military government of working with forces from the Wagner Group, a shadowy private company that has provided Russian mercenaries to several countries, including Libya, Syria and the Central African Republic.

The Malian government denies any links with the Wagner Group, saying it only works with official “Russian trainers.”

The Moura military operation mentioned in the extremists’ statement was the subject of a report by Human Rights Watch.

The report quoted witnesses who said “white soldiers” working with the Malian army killed 300 civilian men, some of them suspected Islamist fighters, during a five-day operation.

On Saturday, the French army released drone surveillance video, which they say shows mercenaries burying bodies in the sand near Gossi, Mali, where the French army withdrew from a military base last week.

Similar video circulated on Twitter two days earlier and accused French forces of killing the people seen in the video.

Speaking to AFP, the French military said the mercenaries staged the mass grave to tarnish the image of France.
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One of the citizens feeling the pinch of rising prices in Zimbabwe is Christine Kayumba. She says she can’t afford to buy bread for her four dependents on her salary of less than $250 a month — because a loaf now costs more than $2.

The high school English teacher says she cooks a bland, thin porridge three times a day, and rarely serves rice as it is now expensive too.

“This price increase of bread has reduced me to nothing,” she told VOA. “I don’t feel I am still the mother figure, the bread winner for my family. Because I am failing to provide, each and every morning they wake up crying for porridge, crying for bread.”

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, one of the world’s largest exporters of wheat, has led to bread prices soaring in importing countries like Zimbabwe. Most impacted are children, said Kayumba, as shortage means they are forced to seek food elsewhere.

“You see bread is something with these children. They want it. Even from next doors, if they see them [neighbors] drinking tea, they will eat there.”

Tafadzwa Musarara is the chairman of the Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe, which imports grain. He said the Russia-Ukraine conflict is the main cause for the price hike.

“As early as November last year, we were unable to load wheat from that region because political tensions had gone high, and insurers revoked their coverages. This is a supplier who was supplying us with good wheat, accounting for 65% of the wheat that we need.”

Musarara said the impact of the crisis in Ukraine was immediately felt in Zimbabwe. “Suddenly we woke up without that supply… the inflation on the price of bread, the increase on the price of bread is an imported factor.”

Musarara added that a consignment of Zimbabwe’s wheat has been stuck in the embattled Ukrainian city of Mariupol for weeks now. He added that the war is pushing people to look for ways to meet the need in the country. “Now we are making our efforts to see how we can get [it] from other countries. [In] Australia, there is the issue of floods, which affected their agriculture. We are now pushing towards getting wheat from Canada and other countries.”

Andrew Matibiri is the CEO of Zimbabwe Agricultural Society, a group responsible for promoting agricultural development in the country. He said the current wheat shortage the country is facing can also serve as an opportunity.

“This is an opportune time for our farmers to produce more, for the government and the private sector to work together, hand in hand, to support farmers who want to go into wheat production,” Matibiri said. “And thank God! We have been having some late rainfalls, which have been helping land preparations. So, all in all, the future of wheat production in this country is good.”

Matibiri said he has confidence in his country’s capacity to face the challenge. “We have shown that we can produce enough for our needs and to produce even more so that we can export to neighboring countries and others who are in need of wheat.”

For Kayumba, that would certainly be good news since she can’t afford to buy bread for her family as it is currently double the price it used to be.
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Days ago, Semina Samuel’s two-year old son woke up with a burning fever. She quickly took him to the community clinic where malaria was detected.

Samuel says this is the second time this month alone that she’s had to treat her son for the disease.

“We live close to the bush and there’s dust bin and stagnant water here,” Samuel said. “That’s what attracts the mosquitoes … we spent the night at the at the hospital and he was given some drugs.”

Health experts said Nigeria recorded more than 200,000 deaths from over 61 million cases of malaria last year.

The World Health Organization says 96% of malaria deaths occur in Africa and that Nigeria alone accounts for 31.9% of them. Children under five years old are the most vulnerable.

Last year, the WHO launched the first malaria vaccine, Mosquirix, after tests showed it was safe and effective.

In a WHO broadcast Monday, director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for the vaccine to be adopted across Africa. “Today, WHO is recommending the broad use of the world’s first malaria vaccine. This is a breakthrough for science, child health and malaria control.”

However, the WHO warns that a vaccine roll-out could face hesitancy and accessibility issues.

Olanrewaju Akintobi is a program director at Wellahealth, a Nigerian tech-startup focusing on rapid malaria testing and treatment.

“If you’re introducing a new vaccine, it still has to go through the community acceptance process for them to really be sure of what you’re giving, and the vaccine is still at the pilot phase,” Akintobi said. “Is it going to be a one-time thing or a continuous vaccination process? Because mosquitoes are still very much around.”

Akintobi said vaccines do not eliminate the need for anti-malaria drugs just yet.

“I think beyond the vaccine, there’s still need for us to have a scalable system for people to have access to the medication, access to quality treatment when malaria cases happen and making sure there’s a quality health care service across board,” Akintobi said.

Pharmaceutical giant, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) agreed to donate 10 million doses of Mosquirix for the pilot study nations and has pledged a yearly output of 15 million doses. But experts say more doses will be needed every year to reach the millions in need.

 
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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, one of the world’s largest exporters of wheat, has led to bread prices soaring in importing countries like Zimbabwe. The Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe has warned of possible bread shortages in the country after Ukraine was forced to suspend shipping. Columbus Mavhunga reports from Harare, Zimbabwe. 
Camera: Blessing Chigwenhembe  
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Clashes between Arab nomads and local farmers in Sudan’s West Darfur state that killed more than 200 people over the weekend spread Monday to the state’s capital, Al Geneina, with the United Nations condemning the surge in violence. 

The mayhem that began Friday followed the discovery April 21 of two nomads’ bodies near Hashaba village, outside of the town of Kreinik. 

According to a preliminary report, 201 bodies have been identified in roads and other public places, but the death toll is likely to climb, said Assadiq Mohammed, head of West Darfur’s humanitarian department. 

“Many people have been killed inside their houses. The situation is not conducive to carry out additional counts. Definitely, the number may increase,” Mohammed told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus on Monday. 

The Displacement Tracking Matrix in Sudan, produced by the U.N. International Organization for Migration, estimates that 7,500 to 12,500 households around Kreinik sought refuge in a local military compound over the weekend. 

Adam Zachariah, a physician at Al Geneina’s main hospital, spoke with South Sudan in Focus reporters Monday. He said armed Arab nomads had stormed the hospital, demanding treatment for their colleagues wounded in the clashes. 

“The exchange of gunfire continues this morning,” Zachariah said, adding that six Sudanese soldiers reportedly were killed by the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group. 

Zachariah, who is in hiding, said he and other health workers have fled the facility.   

“The situation in Al Geneina is tense and the main hospital is closed because health workers are not safe to carry out their duties. Some of us have been threatened, beaten and forced to treat wounded people,” Zachariah told VOA. 

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the fighting, which represents one of Sudan’s deadliest episodes in recent years. A statement released Monday said he deplored “the killings of civilians in Kreinik locality as well as the attacks on health facilities,” and called for “an immediate end to the violence.” 

The U.N. Security Council ended its Sudan peacekeeping mission in 2020.   

The Norwegian Refugee Council also called on all parties to immediately de-escalate and restrain from further harming civilians. “Safe and free passage of fleeing civilians and access for humanitarian assistance must be urgently restored,” said Will Carter, the organization’s country director in Sudan. 

Sudan was plunged into political uncertainty after a military coup last October. 

The World Food Program reported earlier this month that at least 18 million people across Sudan are likely to face acute food insecurity by September because of the combined effects of insecurity, economic crisis and poor harvests. 

VOA’s Carol Van Dam contributed to this report.
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Kenya saw a jump in cases of gender-based violence (GBV) during its COVID-19 lockdowns, which heightened social and financial stress.  To address the problem, Kenyan authorities are turning to the dramatic arts.

At the Kenya’s National Theatre in Nairobi, some 65 young people are putting their acting skills to use, as part of Kenya’s latest strategy to educate the public about the evils of gender-based violence.

Titled “A Little Girls Worth,” the one-hour play by Kenyan playwrights Derrick Waswa and Tommah Sheriff, is a new production co-sponsored by the Ministry for Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs. It tells a story of how despite their extraordinary contribution in society, women suffer disproportionately.

Derrick Waswa, the play’s director, said the goal is to sensitize the public on violence against women, which he said stems from cultural beliefs that a woman is part of a man’s possessions.

“Basically people are blaming the violence and not looking at the cause. What we are trying to explain is that the African cultural nature has made women to be submissive. From the bible, you are told to submit to your husband as it is to the Lord, and in this African set up where a man has to pay dowery for you, it means they are technically purchasing you,” he said.

A February 2022 report by the Kenya Federation of Female Lawyers (FIDA Kenya) shows that cases of gender-based violence rose sharply during the pandemic, to the point where they made up nearly half the cases reported to the federation.

Authorities attribute the rise in these cases to the pandemic and the economic losses it caused.

The play premiered this month with a three-night run to audiences of 350 at the National Theater.

Audience members like Samson Osoro expressed hope that the dramatic arts will help change men’s mindset.

“This play will go a long way to also sensitize especially the men, who may be so unwelcome or harsh to our ladies, to know that ladies are also very important as men are. As a father I would really wish for my daughter to be treated in a better way than during the time of our mother and grandmother,” he said.

Njeri Migwi is the founder of Usikimye, an organization working to end sexual and gender-based violence in Kenya.  The group’s name means “speak up” in Swahili.

Migwai told VOA that programs such as door to door campaigns will reach more people, but said the play is a step in the right direction.

“Art imitates life and so for the government to use that as a means of educating… one of the things that I have been very passionate about is calling the government to start educating people about the importance of them being aware of GBV and how to acknowledge one of the forms.  So the government putting up the effort to put out a play is amazing,” said Migwai.

No further dates are set, but youth affairs authorities are hoping to show the play in social halls across the country.
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