The World Food Program warns an estimated 20 million people in drought-affected parts of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia could face catastrophic levels of hunger if the region is hit with a fourth consecutive year of drought. 

The rains have failed to come to the Horn of Africa nearly a month into the current rainy season, which lasts through May. The past three years of drought have taken a heavy toll. The World Food Program reports crop failure in Ethiopia has plunged 7.2 million people into acute hunger and killed more than a million livestock. 

The situation is no better in Kenya, where escalating drought has left more than three million people short of food, including half a million who are facing emergency levels of hunger. In Somalia, the WFP says six million people, or 40 percent of the population, are food insecure, with more than 80,000 on the brink of famine. 

Speaking from the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, the WFP regional director for East Africa, Michael Dunford, says the number of hungry people could spiral from an estimated 14 million to 20 million, if the rains fail to come yet again. 

“The situation is bad. It continues to deteriorate. We are desperate for these rains to succeed,” he said. “But even if they do … these populations are exhausted. The water sources are exhausted. The livestock are dying. The crops are failing. And we are heading to a very severe situation unless we are able to pull it back from the precipice.” 

Dunford says there is anecdotal evidence that children already are dying from malnutrition-related causes because they are not able to get the nutritional feeding that could save their lives. 

He says the WFP is severely underfunded. It has received 13 percent of a required $370 million. Since that appeal was launched in January, he says the number of people needing help has increased, as have the costs. The WFP now requires $473 million to scale up its operations over the next six months. 

“Funding gap means that WFP is having to prioritize in such a way that the prevention of malnutrition, we are now going to have to focus primarily on the treatment,” Dunford said. “And at some point, even these programs will not have sufficient funding if the current trends continue. And we will have to focus exclusively on humanitarian feeding programs.” 

Dunford says the fallout from the conflict in Ukraine is compounding the problems in the Horn of Africa, with food and fuel prices soaring to unprecedented highs. 
…

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a state of disaster late Monday following deadly floods in the country’s eastern KwaZulu-Natal province. Record floods have left more than 440 people dead, an estimated 40,000 people homeless and damaged critical infrastructure and hundreds of schools.

The declaration is expected to speed up much-needed aid to the flood-hit area in a crisis that comes just two weeks after South Africa lifted its disaster declaration for the coronavirus pandemic.

The national government is immediately directing $68 million to clean up what officials have called catastrophic flooding that has left people homeless and without water or electricity.

Imtiaz Sooliman, head of the charity Gift of the Givers, described the organization’s work to distribute aid since the floods hit last week.

“We’re getting the job done,” Sooliman said. “We’re getting delivery done. Hot meals, hygiene packs, sanitary pads, diapers, and blankets and mattresses and water.”

Sooliman said there was a need for water in the areas because water pipes had washed away.

“We tried to get as much water to as many people as possible,” Sooliman said.

While the city of Durban and the surrounding province of KwaZulu-Natal was the worst hit, other provinces like the Eastern Cape also saw flooding and deaths.

Officials are still quantifying the damage to critical infrastructure like the Durban Port, highways and telecommunications.

Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs who is leading the response, told a media briefing Tuesday the scale of the disaster requires a national response.

“In a way it gives hope and also is a vessel for coordination and rallying the entire nation, the entire government and also the international support,” Dlamini-Zuma said.

Climate change was highlighted as a cause of the flooding’s severity. But poor infrastructure and city planning — with many informal settlements located in vulnerable low-lying areas — was another factor.

Dlamini-Zuma said while the disaster brought a great deal of sorrow, it also poses an opportunity.

“We should be building back better,” Dlamini-Zuma said. “Nobody should build back in the riverbanks and in floodplains but also in some of the areas that are geographically not right for residential areas.”

But people living in the worst-hit communities, particularly informal settlements in low-lying areas, say they doubt promises of better housing will be kept.

The settlement called Mega Village in south Durban had been hit by floods in 2017 and 2019. Cosmos Khanyeza, a community volunteer, helped victims in the earlier floods and last week’s.

“Those people are looking at the proper way to be away from that river so that they won’t become victims again,” he said. “Those people from 2019 floods didn’t get any help. They were just in their transition camp houses. There was a budget for them but they never even seen a cent of that budget.”

Khanyeza said most people can’t afford to rebuild, let alone look for safer areas to erect a new metal shack.

For now, he said, foam mattresses and blankets were delivered by the government Monday so victims can sleep more comfortably at a temporary shelter in a community hall.

Sooliman, who leads Gift of the Givers, said recovering the dead and basic humanitarian needs remain the focus before larger infrastructure can be considered.

“People have lost everything, all their material values,” Sooliman said. “So basically the funding is, right off, the simple stuff. And then of course you repair the schools and the hospitals.”

Officials said the port of Durban, the busiest in southern Africa, has been severely disrupted by the weather but will be cleared and operational again in the next six days. Other timelines for rebuilding roads and repairing more than 600 schools have yet to be announced.

Officials said the overall disaster declaration is expected to remain in place for three months to provide enough time and resources to rebuild.
…

Cameroon’s military has deployed hundreds of troops to its eastern border with the Central African Republic after CAR rebels this month abducted at least 35 people.  The military says the rebels are targeting merchants, farmers, and ranchers and stealing money and cattle.

Cameroon’s military says scores of troops on Monday raided villages and forests on its eastern border with the Central African Republic to free civilians held captive by CAR rebels.

Speaking via a messaging application, Colonel Dominique Njoka says he led troops on the rescue mission in Mbere, a border administrative unit, where rebels were holding hostages.

“When we arrived, unfortunately they [suspected rebels] saw us.  So, they opened fire, but we reacted immediately, and, in the confrontation, they ran away.  Before running away, they killed one hostage and one was seriously wounded, so he died. However, out of the seven we liberated, five arrived {home} safely.  We keep on asking the population to cooperate, to give us information at the appropriate time so that we can react,” he said.

Njoka said some of the rebels escaped across the porous border while others are still hiding in forests in Cameroon.

He said they deployed hundreds of troops to the area to flush out the rebels, who have abducted at least 35 civilians in Cameroon in the past three weeks.

CAR authorities say since March fighting with rebels has increased.

The U.N. peacekeeping mission to the CAR, MINUSCA, last week said rebels pushed out of several towns were hiding on the border with Cameroon.

MINUSCA said the CAR rebels were fighting to control border towns, including Bambari and Alindao.  

Authorities say the rebels are crossing the border to escape fighting with the CAR’s military and to steal and abduct for ransom.

Fifty-year-old Cameroonian cattle rancher Bouba Alami said his son was among the freed hostages.

He spoke on Cameroonian media Canal 2 TV and Equinox Radio.

Alami said a strange visitor informed him that his 20-year-old son was in captivity in the forest on the border with the Central African Republic.  He said the stranger told him the captors wanted at least a $5,000 ransom for his release but did not tell him where and how the ransom should be paid.  Alami said he spent two sleepless nights not knowing how to get in touch with either the abductors or his son.

Cameroon’s military says they were able to free the five hostages after villagers informed them where the rebels were hiding in the forest.

Cameroon shares a more than 900-kilometer-long border with the Central African Republic.

Cameroon this month sent its chief of defense to the border area to mobilize troops to stop the rebels from entering its territory.

The Central African Republic descended into violence in 2013 when then President Francois Bozize was ousted by the Séléka, a coalition from the Muslim minority that accused him of breaking peace deals. 

The CAR government in 2020 accused Bozize of supporting rebel attacks, which he denied.

The ongoing fighting has forced close to a million Central Africans to flee neighboring countries, including Cameroon, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Nigeria.   

 
…

Terrorist group al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for a mortar attack on Somalia’s parliament Monday that injured at least six people during a joint session.

Somalia’s newly elected members of parliament were meeting Monday to approve procedures for the election of speakers when the grounds were hit by a mortar attack.

In a Facebook post, lawmaker and presidential candidate Abdirahman Abdishakur Warsame said several rounds were fired and several people wounded, including two of his bodyguards.

Somali militant group al-Shabab, in media posts, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Somalia’s Office of Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble condemned the assault, which it called a terrorist act.

In posts on social media, it said the attack was a cowardly attempt to intimidate parliament, which is in the process of finishing Somalia’s indirect election.

Roble commended the efforts of lawmakers to expedite the elections.

Before the attack Monday, lawmakers unanimously agreed to elect the speaker of the Upper House on April 26 and the Speaker of the Lower House a day later.

Somalia’s indirect elections were delayed for months because of political wrangling between the prime minister and President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, known as Farmaajo.

Farmaajo had sought to extend his term in office, but backed off under intense domestic and international pressure.

Al-Shabab has taken advantage of the political instability to launch a series of deadly attacks on Somali security forces and politicians.

Somalia’s lawmakers are expected to vote for the next president as early as May.
…

The South African army says it is deploying 10,000 troops to areas affected by record floods to help restore power and water, and support recovery missions.  The death toll from the floods in the country’s eastern provinces has risen to more than 440. The return of rains over the weekend complicated rescue efforts and contributed to the death of at least one responder.

Officials say 14 search and rescue teams have been dispatched from Durban’s Virginia Airport to recover victims of last week’s deadly floods. Durban is in the hard-hit province of KwaZulu-Natal.

Travis Trower, director for volunteer organization Rescue South Africa, said one rescuer, Busisiwe Mjwara, drowned Sunday along with her dog Leah while searching the Msunduzi River.

“The more water that’s falling, the heavier the ground becomes, which causes more mudslides, which makes it a lot more dangerous for us,” Trower said. “To lose somebody that is part of the team has a massive impact on everybody. We’re all close to the member and to know that that has happened definitely sets everyone back and changes the tone of the rescues.”

Trower, who is also an emergency medical care lecturer at Nelson Mandela University, said despite the weather conditions, rescuers managed to recover six bodies Sunday.

At least 443 people were confirmed dead by provincial officials. Dozens of people remain missing.

In the riverside community of Mariannhill, in west Durban, the arrival of search and rescue teams Friday brought momentary relief to families of missing loved ones.

Sinenhlanhla Menela’s 26-year-old sister and her two children were swept into the river in a landslide.

Menela said local police have been overwhelmed by calls but that he hopes the arrival of a canine unit will help.

“No one wants to help us, even the police, they don’t want to help. We see dogs, maybe they will, they will try to help us.”

Further downstream, Philsiwe Nene was among dozens of people searching the riverbanks for their neighbor’s missing son.

She said without a body, the family is denied a proper funeral.

“It gives us some peace when we know where we bury the body. His mother is crying now and again, whole days. It’s bad, it’s bad.

Trower called the devastation “vast” and says it is impossible for authorities to be fully prepared for a disaster of this scale. He said he has seen the heartbreak in communities and rescuers are doing their best with the resources they have while keeping safety in mind.

“We really need to do things slowly. And hopefully, in time, we’ll be able to bring everyone back and then give these families closure. But I think at the moment it is just patience. You know, it’s a very difficult time. And the guys will work, they will work until the job is done.”

People across the country are coming together to donate funds and resources to the KwaZulu-Natal province.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has also cancelled plans to go to Saudi Arabia Tuesday so he can focus on the recovery.
…

A joint military force from Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon said Sunday it had killed more than 100 Islamist insurgents, including 10 commanders, in the past few weeks, as it intensifies a ground and air offensive in the Lake Chad region.

Boko Haram fighters and its splinter Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) group have for more than a decade battled the Nigerian army in a conflict that has sucked in neighboring states.

Multinational Joint Task Force spokesman Colonel Muhammad Dole said troops had ventured deep into enclaves controlled by insurgents in the Lake Chad area and recovered several weapons, food and illicit drugs.

“Within the period of this operation, well over a hundred terrorists have been neutralized, including over 10 top commanders … following intelligence-driven lethal airstrikes in the Lake Chad islands by the combined air task forces,” Dole said.

Dole did not give the period covered by the operation or number of troops killed but said 18 soldiers were injured by improvised explosive devices planted by retreating insurgents.

The Islamist insurgency is concentrated in the northeast of Nigeria and has left thousands dead while driving millions from their homes into camps for internally displaced persons.

Nigeria received a boost after the United States last week approved a nearly $1 billion weapons sale. U.S. lawmakers had put a hold on the deal over concerns about possible human rights abuses by the Nigerian government.

Boko Haram has been on the back foot since the death of its leader, Abubakar Shekau, last year in May during a battle with rival ISWAP. Nigeria says thousands of Boko Haram fighters and their families have surrendered since last year. 
…

The Media Institute of Southern Africa in Malawi (MISA-Malawi), a watchdog group, has accused the Malawi Police Service of hacking a website for the Platform for Investigative Journalism. The accusation comes after the media organization said Thursday that its website was compromised. Police have denied the allegation, saying the group lacks evidence.

The website hacking came more than a week after police arrested the managing director for the Platform for Investigative Journalism, Gregory Gondwe. They wanted to find out where and how he obtained documents he used in a story about corruption involving government authorities.

Police could not get Gondwe to reveal the information; however, they did confiscate a mobile phone and laptop belonging to him and forced him to reveal passwords.

Gondwe was unconditionally released four hours later due to international pressure, largely from the U.S. and British embassies in Malawi. Police returned his equipment a day later.

In a statement, the Media Institute of Southern Africa in Malawi (MISA-Malawi), a watchdog organization, says it believes the hacking was intentional and cannot rule out the involvement of state agents, considering the circumstances.

Teresa Ndanga, the chairperson for MISA-Malawi, spoke to VOA via a messaging application.

“This hacking incident happened a few days after the managing director of the Platform was arrested, his gadgets seized and was forced to hand over his passwords. So, they essentially had access to everything that Gregory has – his private life, his work life and everything else. And that coincidence in itself is conviction enough on our part to conclude or to suspect that police are involved,” she said.

Ndanga says it is concerning that police officers who must be in the forefront in combating cybersecurity crimes have been linked to actions that qualify them as prime suspects.

Hacking is a crime in Malawi under the Electronic Transactions and Cyber Security Act of 2016. Offenders face fines and seven years’ imprisonment.

MISA-Malawi has therefore asked the government to investigate and prosecute anyone suspected in this incident.

Harry Namwaza, deputy spokesperson for the Malawi Police Service, told VOA via a messaging app that MISA-Malawi’s allegation lacks evidence.

“Actually as police, you actually know that we have a mandate to summon any person we feel that will be important in our inquiries and the investigation was legally binding. So, this is why we are saying basing the accusation on that, is not substantial in terms of evidence,” he said.

Namwaza said the investigation of Gondwe is still ongoing.

“Interrogating him was one of the stages of our investigations we are conducting because he is one of the people we know that can help in the investigations. But it has nothing to do with the hacking.”

Namwaza says police have yet to start investigating the hacking incident because they have not received a complaint from the Platform for Investigative Journalism.

Gregory Gondwe says his group is still assessing what happened.

“We haven’t complained because we are looking at what has been happening,” he said. “The police, to us, are the main suspects because of what has led to the hacking. The first was the arrest, the confiscation of the IT gadgets, and the hacking of our website. How do you expect me to go to the same police, and lodge a complaint?”

Gondwe says, so far, his media organization has engaged independent IT experts to help track down the hackers.

Security analyst Sheriff Kaisi says police should work with other organizations like the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority to assist in tracking and arresting the hackers if it wants to come out in the clear.

 
…

The death toll from floods that have battered South Africa’s east coast has risen to 443, including a rescuer, a regional official said on Sunday, as dozens more are still missing.

“The death toll now stands at 443,” Sihle Zikalala, the premier of the KwaZulu-Natal province told a media briefing, adding 63 other people are still unaccounted for.

A member of the rescue and recovery team “experienced difficult breathing and was airlifted to… hospital. Unfortunately he passed away.”

Rains were starting to let up in the flood-ravaged east, allowing for search and relief aid operations to continue after one of the deadliest storms in living memory.

Zikalala said the “inclement weather has slowed our assessment and rescue operation on the ground, but we are once again back in the full swing.”

Floodwaters engulfed parts of the southeastern coastal city of Durban and surrounding areas early last week ripping apart roads, destroying hospitals and sweeping away homes and those trapped inside.

‘Rains clearing’

The city of 3.5 million was overcast but the South African Weather Service’s Puseletso Mofokeng said “rainfall is actually clearing.”

“The rainfall is going to clear [away] completely as we move to Wednesday,” he told AFP.

But recovery operations and humanitarian relief continued in the economic hub and tourist magnet city whose beaches and warm Indian Ocean waters would normally have been teeming with Easter holidaymakers.

The number of flood-related emergency calls had decreased compared to early last week.

“Emergency services are still currently on high alert on Sunday morning,” Robert McKenzie of the provincial KwaZulu-Natal emergency services told AFP.

It rained on Saturday and overnight, “however now, it has stopped,” said McKenzie.

Even so, emergency services were busy attending to a scene in the district of Pinetown where a house collapsed overnight.

“Fortunately now the flood waters have receded and [some] roads cleared. It’s a lot easier to access the community,” he said.

Christians congregated at churches across the city and further afield to offer prayers for those affected by the floods as they celebrated Easter Sunday.

“It’s a tragedy of overwhelming proportions,” said Thabo Makgoba, the Archbishop of Cape Town in his Easter message, a day after his visited Durban.

“The community is suffering severe emotional stress and pain,” said Makgoba, successor to Desmond Tutu.

Government, churches and charities were marshalling relief aid for the more than 40,000 people left homeless by the raging floodwaters.

The government has announced an immediate one billion rand ($68 million) in emergency relief funding.

Hospitals and schools destroyed

Deputy Social Development Minister Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu, said some 340 social workers had been deployed to offer support to traumatized survivors with many still missing children and other relatives.

Most casualties were in Durban, a port city and a major economic hub.

Parts of the city have been without water and electricity since Monday after floods ripped away infrastructure.

Scores of hospitals and hundreds of schools have been destroyed.

The intensity of the floods took South Africa, the most economically advanced African country, by surprise.

While the southeastern region has suffered some flooding before, the devastation has never been so severe. South Africans have previously watched similar tragedies hit neighboring countries such as cyclone-prone Mozambique.

These floods have forced President Cyril Ramaphosa to postpone a working visit to Saudi Arabia that was scheduled to begin Tuesday.

The loss of hundreds of lives “and thousands of homes, as well as the economic impact and the destruction of infrastructure, calls for all hands on deck,” said Ramaphosa.

The country is still struggling to recover from the COVID pandemic and deadly riots last year that killed more than 350 people, mostly in the now flood-struck southeastern region.
…

Some countries have offered to help Tunisia prevent damage to the environment after a merchant ship carrying up to one thousand tons of oil sank off the coast of Gabes, the Tunisian defense ministry said on Sunday.

The ship heading from Equatorial Guinea to Malta sank on Friday and the Tunisian navy rescued all seven crew members.

The vessel carried between 750 tons and one thousand tons of fuel and sent a distress call seven miles away from Gabes to which the Tunisian navy responded, officials said.

The defense ministry said in statement sent to Reuters that to control the environmental damage the Tunisian navy will work with countries that have expressed their desire to help.

Local media said that Italy had offered to help and that it is expected to send a naval vessel specialized in dealing with marine disasters.

On Saturday, Tunisian authorities opened an investigation into the ship’s sinking, which the environment ministry said was caused by bad weather.

It said barriers would be set up to limit the spread of the fuel and cordon off the ship, before suctioning the spillage.

The coast of the southern city of Gabes has suffered major pollution for years, with environmental organizations saying industrial plants in the area have been dumping waste directly into the sea.
…

Mali’s army said Saturday that it had killed “a dozen terrorists” including a French-Tunisian jihadis in airstrikes in the center of the Sahel nation.

The armed forces carried out two strikes on Thursday “to neutralize a dozen terrorists in the forest of Ganguel” about 10 kilometers from the village of Moura, the general staff said in a press release.

“These strikes made it possible to neutralize some cadres of the GSIM,” (the Group to Support Islam and Muslims) the biggest jihadi alliance in the Sahel, it said, “including Samir Al-Burhan, a Franco-Tunisian terrorist cadre.”

The army said it acted on precise information regarding a “group of terrorists” it said had come “to boost the morale” of GSIM fighters and provide support to them after their “serious setback at Moura.”

Mali’s military-dominated government says it “neutralized” 203 jihadis in Moura at the end of March, but witnesses interviewed by media and Human Rights Watch (HRW) say soldiers actually killed scores of civilians with the help of foreign fighters.

No photos or video to support either the account by Malian authorities or HRW have emerged from Moura since then.

The U.N. mission in Mali has for days been asking to be allowed to send a team of investigators to the area but without success.

Ruled by a military junta since August 2020, Mali has been in a political crisis since 2012.

The spread of jihadis from the north of the vast, impoverished country has spilled into neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger, and the conflict has become more complicated with emergence of local militias and criminal gangs.

Thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed in the conflict, and hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee their homes.
…

South Africa’s flood-ravaged east was hit by more rain Saturday after the deadliest storm to strike the country in living memory killed nearly 400 people and left tens of thousands homeless.

Floodwaters engulfed parts of the southeastern coastal city of Durban this week ripping apart roads, destroying hospitals and sweeping away homes and those trapped inside.

Emergency services in the southeastern KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province, where Durban is located off the Indian Ocean coast, were on high alert.

Recovery operations and humanitarian relief were underway in the city of 3.5 million, which would normally have been teeming with Easter holiday-makers this weekend.

Toll rises

The death toll rose Saturday to 398 while 27 people were still reported missing, the government said in a statement. More than 40,000 have been rendered homeless.

“Sadly there are still bodies being recovered from homesteads, especially from the rural areas,” Shawn Herbst of the first responder company Netcare 911 told AFP.

“There is still damage taking place, especially with the rain we are experiencing today,” he added.

This weekend’s rainfall will not be “as hectic as it was in the past few days,” according to Puseletso Mofokeng, South Africa Weather Service forecaster.

But with soil being oversaturated with water, more flooding is expected.

Rugby match canceled

Despite the light rains falling on the city, a local premiership league football match between AmaZulu and Maritzburg United went ahead at the 2010 World Cup Moses Mabhida Stadium Saturday.

But a Currie Cup rugby match between local team, the Sharks, and the Bulls from Pretoria, scheduled for the city was canceled Friday as a mark of respect for victims of the flooding.

Troops, police and volunteers are leading the search and rescue operation.

Residents of Mariannhill, desperate for news of their missing relatives were relieved at the sight of rescuers, but the dread of fresh rains lingered.

“We have the rescue team finally … reach here, but seeing the rain that is coming back, they are going to be disrupted,” said Dumisani Kanyile after recovery teams failed to find any of the 10 members of one family missing in the Durban district.

Mesuli Shandu, 20, a close relative of the family, was still in a state of disbelief “that a massive number of people died in one day, including babies.”

“When I came, I thought it was a dream, maybe someone would pinch me and say it was a dream, just wake up.” But “I see all the rescuers and the dogs searching for their bodies.”

Another disaster

Six days after the floods first struck, hope of finding survivors is fading, and Durban emergency medical services representative Robert McKenzie said the response was now focused on recovery and humanitarian relief.

“We have moved from the emergency phase to the recovery phase of the disaster, more to humanitarian relief effort and restoration of services,” he told AFP.

Survivors are still desperately looking for missing relatives.

The floods have damaged more than 13,500 houses and destroyed around 4,000, leaving 58 hospitals and clinics “severely affected,” said a government representative.

Clean water is scarce, and authorities have promised to deploy water tankers. Residents were using shopping trolleys to carry water buckets.

Relief aid and donations

The government has announced 1 billion rand ($68 million) in emergency relief funding.

Confederation of African Football (CAF) chief billionaire Patrice Motsepe donated what he called a “humble contribution” of 30 million rand ($2 million, 1.9 million euros).

“Our people are suffering,” said Motsepe at a hall sheltering displaced people.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has postponed a working visit to Saudi Arabia that was scheduled to begin Tuesday, his office said.

“The loss of nearly 400 lives and thousands of homes, as well as the economic impact and the destruction of infrastructure, calls for all hands on deck,” Ramaphosa said.

South Africa, the continent’s most industrialized country, is still struggling to recover from the 2-year-old COVID pandemic and deadly riots last year that killed more than 350 people, mostly in the now flood-struck southeastern region.
…

Nearly 400 people have died in floods in South Africa’s eastern coastal province of KwaZulu-Natal. In the normally bustling city of Durban, survivors are left to begin digging themselves out of the mud and debris.

Ankle-deep in mud, residents of the informal settlement called Mega Village in the south end of Durban have begun the arduous process of cleaning up after devastating floods.

The heavy rains – that saw as much as 300 mm (13 inches) fall within 24-hours at its peak – have been called one of the worst weather events South Africa has ever seen.

Ben Motshwa is among the countless residents of Mega Village who saw their homes, made of corrugated iron, wash away in the blink of an eye Monday.

“When the flood was coming, we only had to run,” he said. “There was nothing we could do. And if we’re running, where are we running to? We didn’t have anywhere to go to. Just moving. Just going to where we think there is some sort of dry area where we can maybe stand. We lost basically everything.”

Motshwa said his small printing business was also washed away, leaving him with no source of income.

The community, built on a flood plain, is a symptom of the country’s preexisting housing crisis, now under even greater pressure.

The government estimates that over 13,500 homes were damaged by the floods, of which nearly 4,000 were destroyed.

Many people have sought temporary shelters.

Mlungisi Thabethe and his wife were among dozens of people who registered for shelter, sleeping on the hard floor of a community hall in an apartment block by Mega Village.

“We came here because we have no house, no nothing now,” he said. “Me, I’ve got only my bag here and my umbrella. And I got a chance to take my jacket. And then that’s all I have now, nothing else. I’m lose everything. Even my trust now. I lose my hope too. I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Even residents who didn’t lose their homes were battered by the destruction.

Both electricity and water to Mega Village was out for nearly a week.

Appliances were broken, furniture and belongings were drenched and damaged.

The government has pledged to deliver aid to everyone affected, but for residents battling to clear out the debris, help wasn’t coming fast enough.

Tutu Hlophe, a sangoma or traditional healer in Mega Village, started his cleanup, hand-washing the mud off his clothes and linens, along with his neighbors.

He said it wasn’t the first time the area was flooded — although it was the worst — and he doesn’t trust the ruling African National Congress to deliver aid.

“This government of ANC can’t help us,” he said. Ten years now staying in this area, everything is not okay.”

He added that change is needed because people are just suffering and need the government’s help.

Officials from the regional government visited the community Friday to assess the damage and prioritize what necessities need to be delivered.

Cosmos Khanyeza, a community leader in Umlazi, who was helping set up temporary shelters for flood victims and collect aid, said officials promised to bring foam mattresses and blankets for the homeless Saturday.

“People they are sleeping down, down on the floor on this cold weather,” he said. “And people are scared to go back to their shacks or to build another shack in that place because they said they don’t (want to) become the victims again if the floods happen again.”

Those in shelters may be staying dry, but low-lying communities have found themselves at risk again.

The South African Weather Service warned heavy rains that returned Saturday could cause repeated flooding and mudslides, further damaging homes and infrastructure.
…

A migrant boat has capsized off the Libyan coast, leaving at least 35 people dead or presumed dead, the U.N. migration agency said Saturday.

The shipwreck took place Friday off the western Libyan city of Sabratha, a major launching point for the mainly African migrants making the dangerous voyage across the Mediterranean Sea, said the International Organization for Migration.

The IOM said the bodies of six migrants were pulled out, while 29 others were missing and presumed dead. It was not immediately clear what caused the wooden boat to capsize.

The tragedy was the latest to involve migrants departing from North Africa to seek a better life in Europe. This past week alone, at least 53 migrants were reported dead or presumed dead off Libya, according to the IOM.

“Dedicated search and rescue capacity and a safe disembarkation mechanism are urgently needed to prevent further deaths and suffering,” the IOM said.

Investigators commissioned by the United Nations’ top human rights body found evidence of possible crimes against humanity committed in Libya against migrants detained in government-run prisons and at the hands of human traffickers.

Earlier this month, more than 90 people in an overcrowded boat drowned in the Mediterranean Sea, days after they left Libya, according to the Doctors Without Borders aid group.

Migrants regularly try to cross the Mediterranean from Libya in a desperate attempt to reach European shores. The country has emerged as the dominant transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East.

Human traffickers in recent years have benefited from the chaos in Libya, smuggling in migrants across the oil-rich country’s lengthy borders with six nations. The migrants are then typically packed into ill-equipped rubber boats and set off on risky sea voyages.

At least 476 migrants died along the central Mediterranean route between Jan. 1 and April 11, according to the IOM.

Once back in Libya, the migrants are typically taken to government-run detention centers rife with abuse and ill-treatment.
…

Tunisian authorities intensified efforts Saturday to avoid an environmental disaster after a merchant fuel ship carrying 1,000 tons of fuel sank off the coast of Gabes on Friday, two security sources told Reuters.

The Tunisian navy had rescued all seven crew members from the ship, which was heading from Equatorial Guinea to Malta, and sent a distress call seven miles away from southern city of Gabes, the sources added.

The cause of the incident was bad weather, the environment ministry said, adding that water had seeped into the ship, reaching a height of two meters.

Authorities were working to avoid an environmental disaster and reduce any impact, the ministry said in a statement.

It said barriers would be set up to limit the spread of fuel and cordon off the ship, before suctioning the spillage.

The coast of Gabes has suffered major pollution for years, with environmental organizations saying industrial plants in the area have been dumping waste directly into the sea.
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Sudan’s top military leader has ordered an investigation into an attack Wednesday by hundreds of armed nomads that left 41 people dead. It is the latest in a series of lethal clashes in recent months in the Abyei Special Administrative Area, a disputed border area between Sudan and South Sudan.

General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on Thursday called for the formation of a seven-member panel of top military, police and public prosecutors. It’s expected to investigate the root causes of the yearslong conflict and figure out how to end the violence. Most Abyei residents are South Sudanese Dinka Ngok, but the area also is the seasonal home of the Sudanese Arab Misseriya herder tribe.

On Wednesday, more than 350 Misseriya tribesmen attacked the localities of Leu Boma, Noong Boma and Amiet market in the eastern and northern parts of Abyei town, said Ajak Deng Miyan, spokesperson for the administrative district.

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the region – the U.N. Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) – said Thursday that 12 suspected Misseriya attackers had been arrested and detained at the mission’s headquarters in Todach. The suspects’ AK-47 rifles and grenades also were seized.

Sudanese Misseriya paramount chief Mukhtar Babo Nimir admitted that men from his community attacked Abyei, but he said they did so in self-defense. He told South Sudan in Focus he regretted the loss of lives on both sides.

“Even if one person is killed, we will be held responsible for this,” Nimir said. “We are supposed to live as one people. We have vast land that all of us can occupy. Our ancestors lived together for more than a hundred years. … Why can’t we live together as one people?”

A month ago, Major General Benjamin Olufemi Sawyer took over as acting head of mission from Ethiopia’s Major General Kefyalew Amde Tessema, who served for close to two years.
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At least 35 people were killed Thursday when a bus carrying Easter worshippers crashed into a ravine in eastern Zimbabwe about 10 p.m. local time.

The bus reportedly was carrying 106 passengers of the Zion Christian Church to an Easter pilgrimage.

Seventy-one people were reported injured in the crash. 

“The bodies of the victims were taken to Chipinge Hospital for post-mortem while the injured were referred to the same institution for treatment, with 13 being critically injured,” said the Zimbabwe Republic Police, CNN reported. 

Between 2017 and 2019, the country averaged upward of 2,000 traffic deaths per year, but that number could be much higher, CNN said.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press.
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U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris met Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan at her ceremonial office adjacent to the White House Friday, a historic encounter between Tanzania’s first female leader and the first American female vice president.

Prior to their meeting, Harris outlined to reporters the three areas of discussion: strengthening democracy, investment and economic growth, and global health.

“Our administration is deeply committed to strengthen the ties in Tanzania and to African countries in general,” Harris said. “This has been an area of attentional focus and priority for both the president [Joe Biden] and for me.”

Hassan, elevated from vice president when John Magufuli died in March of 2021, has signaled she wants to steer Tanzania’s foreign policy from inward-looking to one that draws more foreign investment. To that end, she has met leaders in Beijing, London, Brussels, Moscow and the Gulf. 

She used her speech at the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September – the first time a Tanzanian leader has addressed the body since 2015 – to market her country as a trading partner, promising business-friendly policy changes.

“My government would like to see our relationship grow further and strengthen to greater heights,” Hassan told Harris. “My only request here is to call the U.S. government to encourage more of the private sector from the U.S. to work with us.”

Under pressure from civil society, Hassan is also trying to return Tanzania to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which would be another milestone in reopening her country.

Pandemic aid 

Tanzania is one of eleven African countries the U.S. is supporting through the Initiative for Global Vaccine Access, or Global VAX, to boost COVID-19 vaccination rates in developing nations. 

United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Samantha Power met virtually with Hassan in March and announced an additional $25 million in aid for Tanzania. This is on top of the $42 million and the 4.5 million COVID-19 vaccine doses that the U.S. government has provided the country for its pandemic response.

However, without a single dollar of the $5 billion that the administration requested for its global COVID-19 response approved by Congress, by September USAID will no longer be able to finance Global Vax for countries including Tanzania.

Africa policy

The Biden administration has laid out a set of priorities for its outreach to Africa, including COVID-19 recovery, combating climate change, boosting trade and investment, and support for democracy. 

In a visit to Kenya in November, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington sees African countries as equal partners as he outlined the administration’s policies toward a continent that receives much of its foreign aid from China, a U.S. rival.

“The United States firmly believes that it’s time to stop treating Africa as a subject of geopolitics — and start treating it as the major geopolitical player it has become,” Blinken said in Abuja, Nigeria.

In September 2021, Harris met with President Akufo-Addo  of Ghana and President Hakainde Hichilema  of Zambia. Earlier this month, President Biden spoke  with President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa. 
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Cameroon says it is saddened by separatist fighters’ unending attacks on government workers in its English-speaking northwest and southwest regions.

Separatists have been fighting to create an independent English-speaking state in the majority French speaking nation since 2017.

The government says the latest victims of separatist brutality are four top prison officials in the northwest region, who were killed Tuesday by the fighters.

Deben Tchoffo is the governor of the northwest region.  He says the fighters killed and mutilated bodies of four prison leaders while they were on duty.

Tchoffo says Cameroon President Paul Biya instructed him Thursday to visit and extend condolences to the families of the four top prison officials killed by separatists in Tahkijah village in Kumbo, an English-speaking town in the northwest region.  He says Biya has ordered the military to immediately track fighters who killed and mutilated the bodies of the government officials.

Tchoffo said Biya also ordered the government to organize a befitting burial for Kiga Theodore, the highest government prison official in the northwest region, and his three close collaborators killed by fighters.

The Cameroon military says Kiga and three other prison workers were ambushed by separatists in Tahkijah, a village in Kumbo. The military says Kiga was pulled out of his service car along with three of his colleagues.  One of the prison staff was shot and killed, while three others were beaten with machetes until they died, the military says.

The Cameroon government says the four officials were returning from Nkambe, a town near the border with Nigeria.  The prison administrators were in Nkambe to officially install recently appointed prison staff in the border town.

Separatists have claimed responsibility for the attack and shared videos on social media, including Facebook and WhatsApp, showing how the officials were killed.  

Capo Daniel is deputy defense chief of the Ambazonia Defense Forces, which the government says is one of the biggest separatist groups in Cameroon.  Daniel says his forces will attack all government workers until the government withdraws all of its workers from English-speaking western regions. He says the prison officials were killed because they tried to fight back when stopped by fighters.

“The Cameroon prison guards were armed and ready for war [battle] when they were confronted by our fighters. We will fight to push Cameroon military personnel and the administrative officers [state officials] out of our territory. We will intensify our attacks against the Cameroon military and the administrative representatives until Cameroon withdraws [from the English-speaking regions].”

The military on Friday said several hundred troops have been deployed to track and arrest or kill fighters responsible for the act.

The Roman Catholic Church in Kikaikelaki said scores of people have been arrested, and an unknown number have escaped to safer localities in the English-speaking North West region, where Kumbo is located.

The church says each time government officials are killed, the military commits abuses on civilians, including torture and arrests, while troops search for fighters.

Cameroon’s military has always denied it abuses the rights of civilians.

Cameroon says at least 700 government workers, particularly teachers, have been abducted since the separatist crisis started. Scores have been killed by suspected fighters.

The U.N. says Cameroon’s separatist crisis that degenerated into an armed conflict in 2017 has killed at least 3,300 people, with 750,000 internally displaced. 
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South African officials say they are releasing emergency funds Friday to help people deal with the aftermath of recent massive rains and deadly floods along the country’s eastern coast. 

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared the region a disaster area.

Authorities say the unprecedented rainfall killed 341 people and left tens of thousands more without shelter, water and electricity.  

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said in a television interview on Newsroom Afrika that $68.3 million is available for immediate use, and millions more will be made available later. 

“A total number of 40,723 people have been affected,” Sihle Zikalala, the premier of KwaZulu-Natal province, said.  

There is “a sense of despair amid the stench of sewage, growing stronger as the rains, which wrought so much devastation, stopped and the tropical heat returned,” Agence France-Presse, the French news agency reported. 

The news agency adds that some people have been without water and electricity since Monday.

Protests have emerged in some areas over what demonstrators say is the country’s slow response to the disaster. 

“We are working as quickly as we can,” Durban’s city government said in a statement.  

The South African Weather Service has issued a warning about more rain and flooding this weekend in KwaZulu-Natal and neighboring Free State and Eastern Cape provinces.  

Some information in this report came from Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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Editor’s note: Here is a fast take on what the international community has been up to this past week, as seen from the United Nations perch.

Impacts of Ukraine war reverberate globally

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Wednesday that because of Russia’s war in Ukraine, the developing world is facing a “perfect storm” threatening to devastate many of its economies. He said 1.7 billion people could be affected by disruptions in food, energy and finance systems.

UN Chief: Ukraine War Fallout Threatens Economic Crisis in Developing World

Sexual violence, trafficking growing in Ukrainian conflict

The United Nations said Monday that Ukrainian women and children are at heightened risk of sexual violence, rape and trafficking as reports grow of such violations. U.N. Women Executive Director Sima Bahous told the Security Council that young women and unaccompanied teenagers are at particular risk.

UN: Sexual Violence, Trafficking Increasing in Ukraine War

ICC prosecutor: Ukraine a ‘crime scene’

International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan visited the Ukrainian town of Bucha on Tuesday, as workers dug up bodies wrapped in black plastic bags from mass graves. He said the country has become a “crime scene.” His office has opened an investigation into alleged crimes falling under the court’s jurisdiction.

As Calls Grow for Justice on Ukraine, ICC Steps Forward

Millions of South Sudanese face growing hunger, famine

The U.N. said this week that more than 7 million South Sudanese will be facing a food crisis by July because of floods, drought and armed clashes. About 87,000 people in the Pibor administrative area and parts of Jonglei, Lakes and Unity states are also likely to be at catastrophic levels of famine by July. About 2.9 million people will be just one step lower, at emergency levels.

South Sudan Facing Food Crisis

Move in General Assembly to hold Security Council veto holders accountable

Nearly 40 countries plan to bring a draft resolution to the U.N. General Assembly that seeks to hold the five veto-wielding countries in the Security Council accountable when they exercise that right. If adopted, the resolution would require the General Assembly to meet when one of the five permanent Security Council members — Britain, China, France, Russia or the United States — uses its veto to block adoption of a council resolution.

UN Security Council Veto Holders Could Face Accountability

African states abstain on Russia resolutions, may signal revival of NAM

Some African nations’ repeated abstentions on U.S.-led resolutions condemning Russia at the United Nations could be a subtle signal for the revival of the Non-Aligned Movement, analysts say.

African States May Be Pushing to Revive Non-Aligned Movement, Analysts Say

In brief

Secretary-General Guterres said Wednesday that despite U.N. efforts, he does not think a nationwide humanitarian cease-fire will happen right now in Ukraine. He is hopeful, however, that several proposals the U.N. made for local cease-fires, humanitarian corridors, humanitarian assistance and civilian evacuations might still be possible, and he is awaiting a response from Russia.

The United Nations warned Thursday that as many as 6 million Somalis could face the risk of famine if the rainy season fails as expected and global food prices continue to rise. Three poor consecutive rainy seasons have deepened the country’s drought, plunging millions of people to crisis levels of food insecurity. Somalia imports 85% of its wheat from Ukraine and Russia, and the war there has also complicated the country’s food crisis. A humanitarian response plan requesting $1.5 billion is only 4.4% funded.

The U.N. says it continues to be concerned about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Myanmar. More than 900,000 people are displaced, including more than 560,000 who have been uprooted because of violence since the military coup in February 2021. The U.N. Refugee Agency estimates that 35,700 people from Myanmar have crossed into neighboring countries. A humanitarian appeal for $826 million to assist 6.2 million people is only 4% funded.

Quote of note

“When the perpetrators walk free, the survivors walk in fear, carrying the burden of ostracism and shame.”

— Pramila Patten, special representative of the secretary-general on sexual violence in conflict, to the U.N. Security Council on the need for accountability.

What we are watching next week

On April 19, the U.N. Security Council will be briefed on the situation in Ukraine by the director general of the International Organization for Migration as well as by the U.N. Refugee Agency. More than 4.7 million people have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded on February 24
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More than 80% of Somalia’s new parliament members were sworn in Thursday, following repeated poll delays and an ongoing feud between the president and the prime minister.

The chairperson of the Somali Federal Election Committee, Muse Guelleh Yusuf, hailed the event, held at the heavily guarded Mogadishu airport compound, as “a major breakthrough in the Somali electoral process.”

“It was a historic breakthrough ending a long and exhausted electoral process that lasted nearly two years. Some 290 lawmakers have been sworn in today and the rest are expected to be sworn in in the coming days,” Yusuf said.

But, he added, “we are missing some 25 seats which remain unfilled in the Hirshabelle and Jubaland states.”

The oldest member of the new parliament, Abdisalan Dabana’ad, will informally serve as chairman until a speaker is elected. The legislature will begin its preparations for the elections of the speaker and then the president on Saturday.

Elections for lower and upper house lawmakers were scheduled to be completed before President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed’s term expired in February 2021. But the elections dragged on, delayed by political and electoral disputes at both the regional and national levels.

With the new parliament seated, Somali political observers are breathing a bit easier.

“This ends an electoral process that has dragged on for [too] long … largely due to the political dispute between President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed and his prime minister, Mohamed Hussein Roble. And now, as a new parliament is in place, I think it is a relief and it is a new dawn for Somalia politics,” Somali diplomat Shafic Yusuf Omar told VOA Somali.

The swearing-in followed months of international pressure to complete the elections and choose a new president.

The United States, which has funneled billions of dollars in aid to Somalia and whose troops support Somali government efforts to fight the militant group al-Shabab, had imposed sanctions and visa restrictions on unnamed Somali officials if they disregarded the election timetable.

Once completed, the new parliament — which contains 275 lower-house MPs and 54 from the upper house — will jointly elect a president.
…

The number of coronavirus cases and deaths in Africa have dropped to their lowest levels since the pandemic began, marking the longest decline yet seen in the disease, according to the World Health Organization.

In a statement on Thursday, the U.N. health agency said COVID-19 infections due to the omicron surge had “tanked” from a peak of more than 308,000 weekly cases to fewer than 20,000 last week. Cases and deaths fell by 29% and 37% respectively in the last week; deaths decreased to 239 from the previous week.

“This low level of infection has not been seen since April 2020 in the early stages of the pandemic in Africa,” WHO said, noting that no country in the region is currently seeing an increase of COVID-19 cases.

The agency warned, however, that with winter approaching for Southern Hemisphere countries, “there is a high risk of another wave of new infections.” The coronavirus spreads more easily in cooler temperatures when people are more likely to gather in larger numbers indoors.

“With the virus still circulating, the risk of new and potentially more deadly variants emerging remains, and the pandemic control measures are pivotal to effective response to a surge in infections,” said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO’s Africa director.

Earlier this week, WHO said scientists in Botswana and South Africa have detected new forms of the omicron variant, labeled as BA.4 and BA.5, but aren’t sure yet if they might be more transmissible or dangerous.

To date, the new versions of omicron have been detected in four people in Botswana and 23 people in South Africa. Beyond Africa, scientists have confirmed cases in Belgium, Denmark, Germany and the United Kingdom. WHO said there was so far no evidence the new sub-variants spread any differently than the original omicron variant.

Despite repeated warnings from WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus that the coronavirus would devastate Africa, the continent has been among the least affected by the pandemic.

In an analysis released last week, WHO estimated that up to 65% of people in Africa have been infected with the coronavirus and said unlike many other regions, most people infected on the continent didn’t show any symptoms.

Scientists at WHO and elsewhere have speculated that factors including Africa’s young population, the lower incidence of chronic diseases like heart disease and diabetes and warmer weather, may have helped it avoid a bigger wave of disease.

Still, some countries have seen significant increases in the numbers of unexplained deaths, suggesting authorities were missing numerous COVID-19 cases.
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Kenyan entrepreneur Navalayo Osembo co-founded a footwear company six years ago with the dream of building on the country’s heritage of great runners such as Eliud Kipchoge and Wilson Kipsang. The vision was to manufacture high-quality running shoes in Kenya, as Hubbah Abdi reports from Nairobi. Carol Guensburg narrates the story. VOA footage by Amos Wangwa. Video editors – Betty Ayoub and Rob Raffaele. Omary Kaseko contributed.
…

International relief agencies say they welcome the global outpouring of aid for Ukraine since Russia’s invasion but worry that the crisis is diverting attention and finances from equally urgent humanitarian emergencies in Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere. 

The vast scale of the refugee crisis has generated “an extraordinary response” in compassion and aid, an official with the international charity Save the Children said.  

“The level of both financial support that has poured into Save the Children, to other international NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) and U.N. agencies … support coming from the U.S. government, the solidarity, the flags waved the Ukrainian colors — I mean, it’s just an extraordinary level of support,” said Gregory Ramm, who oversees humanitarian response for the charity and is based in Washington.  

But “there are many crises that are neglected,” he added. “Right now, we have a world facing conflict, facing the climate crisis, COVID, and yet it is difficult to get the world’s attention to Sudan, to eastern Congo, to Yemen, to the Sahel, to those places where children are suffering in the same way that the children of Ukraine are suffering.”  

More than 4.6 million people have fled Ukraine following Russia’s February 24 invasion, and another 7.1 million have been internally displaced, the United Nations reports. Of the 11.7 million people who have been displaced inside or outside Ukraine, 7.5 million are children — and they’re among 190 million youngsters worldwide living “in areas of serious conflict,” Ramm said. 

The U.N. estimates 274 million people worldwide will need humanitarian aid this year, up from a record 235 million in 2021. The U.N.’s World Food Program, which had already cut back rations because of funding shortfalls, warned in late March that the crisis involving major grain producers Ukraine and Russia could trigger the worst global food crisis since World War II.  

‘Dramatic entry’ draws support 

Maurice Amollo, a Nigeria-based official with the humanitarian aid group Mercy Corps, also praised the “swift” response to the Ukrainian crisis and “the generosity in Europe and the United States and beyond.” But, he told VOA in a phone interview, “we are also getting a little concerned that resources and diplomatic support will inevitably be diverted away from millions of other deserving and vulnerable communities around the world into Ukraine.”  

For instance, Denmark announced that to fund the reception of fleeing Ukrainians, it would defer part of the development aid it had earmarked this year for the West African countries of Burkina Faso and Mali by 50% and 40%, respectively, according to Mercy Corps. VOA was not able to independently verify that information with Denmark’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  

Amollo attributed “big differences” in global response in part to the “dramatic entry” of the Ukrainian crisis as opposed to the “protracted and slow-onset crises” in Afghanistan or Somalia. International media attention, he said, has influenced the distribution of resources, “whether it is individuals or corporations or governments.” 

Devex, a media platform providing information on global development, said it had recorded more than $4 billion in various countries’ commitments to Ukraine, though not all of that amount was for humanitarian aid, nor did it include public giving. 

Disparities in aid response were the focus of a March 24 report by The New Humanitarian, an independent news site founded by the U.N.  

The report noted that the U.S. announced $1 billion in aid to European countries taking in refugees, on top of earlier contributions, and that other donor states had pledged $1.5 billion toward Ukraine-related humanitarian efforts at a funding conference earlier in March. It quoted U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric as saying, “This is among the fastest and most generous responses a humanitarian flash appeal has ever received.”  

The situation is quite different in Afghanistan, where an unprecedented 94% of its people say they are suffering, according to Gallup polling. The U.N. reported late last month that it has secured just 13% of the $4.4 billion needed for humanitarian aid in Afghanistan this year. 

Who donates and who doesn’t  

A VOA world map showing various countries’ humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine indicates no major contributions from any African nation — or from swaths of Latin America and Southeast Asia.  

Economics is one factor behind Africa’s absence as a donor, said Terence McNamee, a development and governance specialist in South Africa and a global fellow with the Washington-based Wilson Center’s Africa Program.  

“The pandemic has been absolutely brutal for African economies. There just isn’t the economic means to provide any kind of assistance at the moment,” he said.  

A second factor involves Africa’s complex historical relationships with both Russia and the West. The former Soviet Union supported liberation movements in African countries fighting to shake off the bonds of European colonial powers during the Cold War. More recently, Russia has continued to supply military training, weapons and support and expanded its economic investment in the continent.

“What that amazing map is not revealing is the extent of division within Africa that this conflict has opened up,” McNamee said, citing the U.N. General Assembly resolution demanding that Russia immediately halt its military operation in Ukraine. Put to a vote March 2, it passed with support from 141 countries.  

While more than half of Africa’s 54 countries backed the resolution, 20 abstained or did not vote, “which effectively is at least tacit support of Russia,” he said.  

He noted that most of the countries that abstained “are either hybrid regimes or authoritarian regimes with quite strong connections dating back to the Cold War and the Soviet era.”  

African countries were also divided on the April 7 U.N. General Assembly resolution to suspend Russia from the U.N. Human Rights Council. The measure passed by a vote of 93-24, with 58 countries abstaining.  

Ebenezer Obadare, a senior fellow for Africa studies at the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations, also noted African governments’ reluctance to publicly denounce Russian aggression — and the West’s initial irritation “that African countries are not joining the fight” publicly in solidarity with Ukraine.  

A native Nigerian who lives just outside Washington, Obadare wrote a March blog post discouraging Western diplomats from taking African leaders for granted and emphasizing the need for finding common ground.  

As he later told VOA, “What people are saying in Africa is that it’s not OK to invade the territory of another country. We get it.” But, Obadare added, they’re also saying “that the West ought to live up to its moral rhetoric, that the West has not always done that. … Many of these countries think that they have legitimate grievances, that this is the time for them to also articulate those grievances and to talk about how shoddily they’ve been treated in the past by Western countries.”  

African donors help out 

Obadare emphasized that “it’s important to differentiate between the leadership in African countries and the people of Africa. … Ordinary people are in support of the people of Ukraine.”  

Some of that support is being channeled through Gift of the Givers Foundation, based in South Africa. It’s the continent’s largest nongovernmental disaster response and relief agency of African origin, said its founding director, Imtiaz Sooliman, drawing most of its funding from South African individuals, though at least a dozen corporate sponsors have joined amid the COVID-19 pandemic.  

“We help people unconditionally. … And we reach out wherever anyone needs help, anywhere in the world,” Sooliman told VOA.  

Since its Ukraine efforts began — initiated by a Ukrainian woman whose husband is in South Africa — donors have raised more than $100,000 and spurred an aid network reaching at least six Ukrainian cities including Kyiv, Kharkiv, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, Sooliman told VOA.  

In Ukraine, as in the 43 other countries where Gift of the Givers operates, it buys locally procured supplies such as food, diapers, medicine and clothing. In many countries, the organization also provides services such as health care, education and search-and-rescue disaster response.  

Gift of the Givers is also soliciting money to help African students in Ukraine and elsewhere to return to the continent.  

“This is a unique campaign because it’s Africa reaching out to Europe,” Sooliman said, noting that Africa often is seen as “a begging bowl, that we are always backward … that we can never do things ourselves.”  

Sooliman said he wants others “to realize that Africa can do something — that Africa is now helping Europe.”  

 
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