A huge fire engulfed the main market in the city of Hargeisa in northern Somalia Saturday, injuring at least 28 people and destroying hundreds of businesses, city authorities and witnesses said.  

According to witnesses the overnight inferno started where old warehouses are located in the sprawling Waheen market, a vibrant business center in the city.  

“The fire started from an old warehouse department and winds spread it rapidly through the market, razing multistory buildings, tea shops, groceries, restaurants, electronics stores and a meat market,” Sayid Karama, a witness told VOA Somali.  

Images posted on social media showed the entire market area covered by huge flames sending columns of black smoke above the city, located in the country’s Somaliland region. 

During a visit to the marketplace, Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi said 28 people, nine of them women, were injured, and that no loss of life had been reported.  

Officials said those injured were mainly traders attempting to salvage some of their wares from the burning stalls.  

The cause of the fire, which some market traders blame on an electrical fault, remains unclear.  

Hargeisa’s mayor, Abdikarim Ahmed Mooge, who visited the burned-out market, said that the market’s narrow streets and hundreds of traders, who stormed to the scene hampered efforts to immediately contain the fire by the city’s small brigade of firefighters.  

“This place was the economic center of Hargeisa and even though the firefighters did their best to contain the fire, the market is destroyed, and this city has never witnessed such a massive calamity,” said Mooge. “We share the pain with the traders in Hargeisa, those who lost property in the blaze. We must show the world that we are persevered because of a belief — a belief that out of the ashes of such an inferno, a new recovery could be born.”  

Several store owners who spoke to VOA reported a huge loss of property due to the fire. Somaliland authorities said a committee has been organized to assess the financial damage.

“My government would be releasing 1 million U.S dollars to help with the emergency response to the disaster,” President Bihi said.  

The pinch of rising food prices   

The market fire coincides with the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins this year with soaring prices of staple foods in markets in Somalia and across the world.   

For traders and consumers in Hargeisa, in the aftermath of COVID-19’s economic impact, Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine, and recurring drought, the market fire means extra strain for their daytime fasting and nighttime feasting.  

“It is the beginning of Ramadan, a holy month for 1.8 billion Muslims around the world to observe with prayers, happiness and in the hope of forgiveness and reward, but for many of us here in Hargeisa, it started with happy and sad at the same time,” Mahad Ahmed, a trader whose family lost five shops in the fire, told VOA.  

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar. It started Friday and lasts for 29 to 30 days. During Ramadan, observers refrain from eating, drinking and sex between daybreak and sunset.   

Residents of Mogadishu and Addis Ababa in Ethiopia are aware of the news of the market burnout and the burden it can bring to the local people.   

“We share the pain and the sad feeling with the people in Hargeisa for the loss of property and wish them that Allah gives them replacement,” said Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo.  

“We tell the Somaliland people that we are with them in their difficult times, and I wish them better. Indeed, to Allah we belong and to Allah we shall return,” said Abiy Ahmed Prime Minister of Ethiopia.  

In 1991, Somaliland declared its independence from Somalia, which views it as a northern breakaway region, not a separate nation.   

The two sides have held repeated rounds of talks, most recently in June 2020 in Djibouti, when they agreed to appoint technical committees to continue discussions. No meetings have taken place since then.  

Last month, Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi paid a visit to Washington, making the case that the U.S. should become the first country to recognize his self-declared state’s independence.  

In an interview with VOA Somali during his visit, Bihi said he was leaving with some positive signals to show for it.  

The U.S. State Department emphasized the Biden administration’s commitment to a unified Somalia, but also held out the possibility of stronger ties with Somaliland. 

Khadar Akulle contributed this report. 
…

A senior U.N. official warns South Sudan is facing its worst humanitarian crisis since the country became independent in July 2011.

The celebrations that greeted that joyful event and the hopes that were raised for a peaceful, more prosperous future have been dashed. More than a decade later, the country remains riven in conflict, crushed by multiple natural and man-made disasters, and unable to feed its population.

U.N. humanitarian coordinator for South Sudan, Sara Beysolow Nyanti, said the number of people struggling to eke out a living keeps rising year after year. She said year after year, more people are plunged into extreme poverty and desperation. She said the situation cannot go on. Something must change.

“As much as we need $1.7 billion this year for humanitarian needs, we also need funding for development and for peacebuilding, ensuring social cohesion, and resilience,” she said. “Humanitarian aid will not solve the problems of the people of South Sudan…We need to make sure we protect and support those who are most vulnerable, but at the same time, where possible, we need to start now to build capacity.”

Nyanti said it is important to empower those who can feed themselves. She did, however, acknowledge the primary need to provide food to some 8.3 million people suffering from acute hunger.

She said aid also must be given to millions of people who have no access to safe drinking water and sanitation or to medical care. She said it is crucial to provide protection and psychosocial treatment to vulnerable people who are victims of violence, human rights violations, and gender-based sexual violence, including rape.

While the emergency needs remain a priority, Nyanti said donors also should invest in development projects in relatively stable areas of South Sudan, which could benefit from such support.

“We are talking about a humanitarian operation that will be structured in a way to increase the dignity that the people of South Sudan deserve,” she said. “And that will come with empowerment. It will come with us doing things differently, looking at cross-development and peace. Humanitarian response is necessary now to save lives. A development response is necessary to preserve the future.”

Humanitarian coordinator Nyanti said investing in development in South Sudan and shoring up people’s ability to become self-sufficient will loosen the country’s dependency on international aid. She said the benefits of helping people to help themselves are undeniable.
…

Following a four-month ordeal, an Ethiopian journalist is back home with his family, although he still may face years in prison if convicted of violating the country’s wartime state of emergency law and anti-terrorism law.

Amir Aman Kiyaro, a video journalist accredited by the Associated Press, was arrested on November 28, 2021, in Addis Ababa following a reporting trip outside of the capital. He was accused of illegally communicating with members of the Oromo Liberation Army, which the government has labeled a terrorist group. Under the nation’s state of emergency, journalists have been punished for interviewing political figures, dissidents and members of armed groups. The state of emergency was lifted in February.

Amir and another freelance video cameraman, Thomas Engida, were held as suspects but never charged with a crime, a representative of the AP said.

Ian Phillips, vice president of international news at The Associated Press, said the case shows how journalism is being criminalized and reporters harassed in Ethiopia. He emphasized that Amir was on a legitimate reporting trip and committed no crime.

“The crackdown on the media that this case represents, there is no true accusation that can be leveled against Amir,” Phillips told VOA in a March 25 interview prior to Amir’s release. “He is a respected, balanced journalist who has covered both sides of the conflict. He’s been picked up and this is an arbitrary detention and we have been calling on Ethiopian authorities to do the right thing and release him.”

Zecharias Zelalem, a Canada-based Ethiopian journalist whose work has appeared in Al Jazeera, said arrests like this drove him to sign an open letter calling on the government to respect media rights. He said 46 journalists were detained in 2021 in the country making Ethiopia one of the worst jailers of journalists in Africa.

“The general optimism that we had a couple of years ago with the much-heralded reform, with the promises that journalists would be able to operate unperturbed, this has not panned out,” Zecharias said. “The promises and the pledges did not materialize. And unfortunately for journalists, the situation is starting to mirror what we saw in 2009 when Ethiopia passed its infamous anti-terror proclamation, which was used to round up journalists en masse. So, we had to speak up about a very, very dire situation that our colleagues on the ground in Ethiopia are facing.”

When the Prime Minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed came to power in 2018, there was widespread optimism about the direction the country was taking. Abiy was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize the next year partly due to “granting amnesty to thousands of political prisoners” which included journalists and “discontinuing media censorship,”the committee wrote when making the announcement.

However, progress eroded and the country plunged into a civil war in November 2020. Journalists were intimidated, harassed and arrested.  

It became virtually impossible to get accurate information from within Ethiopia once conflict intensified and the government imposed an internet communication blackout in some parts of the country where there was conflict.

Journalists have been prevented from reporting in areas where the Oromo Liberation Army, a rebel group that is fighting the central government, is active. Accurate information is hard to come by, experts say.

Zecharias said the reporting Amir was doing, traveling to an area of Oromia currently controlled by a rebel group, is vital since there is virtually no coverage of what daily life is like there.

“What he was carrying out was very important, crucial journalistic work,” he said. “Very few journalists have been able to gain access to areas under the control of the OLA to see what life has been like for hundreds of thousands if not millions of people in these areas, much of which have been subjected to internet and phone outages, we don’t have an accurate picture of.”

Amir’s lawyer Tadele Gebremedhin said his client was released on a 60,000 birr ($1,165) bail and ordered not to leave the country until his case is investigated. He said the journalists have been accused of working with foreign media outlets and “spoiling the country’s development plans” through negative reporting.

VOA reached out to the office of the prime minister and attorney general requesting comment but received no response.

As free press advocates continue to push for the fair treatment of journalists, arrests continue in Ethiopia. On March 31, four journalists were arrested in the Somali region of the country, according to local reports.

“We will continue to cover the story of journalists who are unjustly held. This is not acceptable behavior. These are arbitrary detentions,” Phillips said. “If there is proof of something, then that evidence has to be surfaced and has to go through a proper trial process, something that is extremely important to us at the AP and to our news organizations.”
…

The case of a journalist for The Associated Press, accused of abetting a government-designated terrorist group for reporting on rebels, highlights Ethiopia’s decline in media freedom, advocates say. VOA’s Salem Solomon has the story.
Video editor: Salem Solomon Producer: Kim Weeks
…

Mali’s army said Friday that it had killed 203 combatants in an operation in the center of Sahel state, an apparent uptick in violence in the conflict-torn country. 

The army said the March 23-31 military operation took place in Sahel’s Moura area, which it termed a “terrorist fiefdom.” 

Soldiers killed 203 militants, arrested 51 people and seized large quantities of weapons, according to the army’s statement. 

The announcement came as numerous social media reports in Mali this week alleged that dozens of people, including civilians, had been killed in Moura.  

AFP was unable to verify the army’s claimed death toll or the social media reports.

Poor access to Mali’s conflict areas and a relative lack of independent information sources mean that figures provided by either the government or armed groups are difficult to confirm.

An impoverished nation of about 21 million people, Mali has struggled to contain a jihadist insurgency that emerged in 2012, before spreading to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.

Vast swaths of the country are held by myriad rebel groups and militias, and thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed in the conflict. 

Mali’s underequipped army has also often been accused of committing abuses during the conflict. 

According to a report seen by Agence France-Presse, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently warned the U.N. Security Council that Mali’s counterterrorism efforts had “disastrous consequences for the civilian population.” 

In its statement Friday, Mali’s army said it was guided by human rights and international law, and it called for “restraint against defamatory speculations.”  

The country has seen an apparent uptick in violence in recent weeks. The U.N. said Friday that thousands of people fleeing fighting in Mali had arrived in Niger. 

A day earlier, the U.N. peacekeeping mission, known as MINUSMA, said that security had “deteriorated considerably” in the border area with Burkina Faso and Niger.
…

Ten years after independence, South Sudan “remains a deeply fragile nation beset by weak governance, pervasive insecurity, fiscal mismanagement, and widespread corruption.”

That was the thrust of a U.S. State Department report to Congress, which Reuters says also told lawmakers the Biden administration will continue to pressure those perpetuating South Sudan’s violence and officials not adhering to the 2018 peace agreement.

Cameron Hudson, a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council Africa Center, said it is rare for the administration to notify Congress of something when it’s not required to do so unless there is a change in policy or something is about to happen.

“There is clearly an effort right now to acknowledge that whatever has been attempted in South Sudan has not worked under the current leadership,” Hudson told South Sudan in Focus.

“Congress and the administration are probably closer to being on the same page in South Sudan than in a lot of other places in the region,” Hudson said, “where there are vast disagreements over U.S. policy.”

The report to Congress highlights the Biden administration’s disappointment with the slow pace of carrying out South Sudan’s peace deal, said Brian Adeba, deputy director of policy at The Sentry, a New York-based research group.

“This report represents a growing exasperation with the system in South Sudan,” Adeba told VOA, “especially, I think, the government with implementing the peace agreement.”

Adeba says the report indicates the State Department is trying to draw more attention to the situation in South Sudan.

“When you look at how South Sudan has also fallen off the radar after the peace agreement was signed, the international community thought that with the signing of the peace agreement everything is going to be okay and it did not keep its eyes on the ball,” Adeba said.

“In the meantime, while attention was diverted, the government and the parties continue to delay the implementation of the agreement.”
…

Kaduna resident Gideon Gambo is still reeling from a harsh reality: Two of his brothers who were crew members on the Kaduna-bound passenger train attacked Monday by suspected bandits are still missing.

He said it was like any other journey they had undertaken in the past. But armed men derailed the train by sabotaging the tracks and then opened fire on it.

Gambo said he feared for his brothers’ lives.

“You know, they shot sporadically, and because they shot sporadically, a lot of people were hit by stray bullets,” he said.

Authorities have confirmed that eight people were killed and 41 were injured in the attack.

The Nigerian Railway Corporation this week said 362 people were aboard the train and that it had not been able to reach 136 of them. Nigerian emergency and railway officials said more than 100 families had reported relatives missing. 

Barely 24 hours after the incident, suspected attackers began contacting families of missing people, including Gambo’s family. He said they were still negotiating with the attackers.

“Each person [who was] on the train is being asked to give the numbers of their loved ones,” Gambo said. “So, yes, they’re actually at the process of negotiations now. We don’t know what they’re demanding for now ,but at least we’re just keeping tabs with them. … They’ll tell us exactly how much they’re demanding.”

Nigerian railway authorities said efforts were underway to reach more missing people and their families.

Longtime problem

Armed gangs, often hiding in forests, have been terrorizing northwestern and central Nigerian states for about two years.

Kaduna state is the latest hot spot. In one week, gangs raided local communities, highways, an airport and a train station.

Nigerian security forces have been carrying out operations to try to rescue victims and prevent further attacks. On Thursday, police in Kaduna state discovered and defused an improvised explosive device in Rigasa, where the train station is located.

Security analyst Kabiru Adamu said Kaduna “consistently occupies the first, second or third level in the ranking of states that are security-challenged in the country at the moment. There’s no gainsaying the fact that the funds from this kidnap for ransom is now being used by the gunmen as well as terrorist groups to fund their activities.”

The Abuja-Kaduna train route has been suspended, forcing travelers to again rely on even more dangerous highways.

The security situation prompted discussion this week in the Nigerian House of Representatives about allowing citizens to carry firearms for self-defense.
…

The United Nations is asking members for $1.7 billion to fund South Sudan humanitarian aid.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says the funding would help 6.8 million South Sudanese, according to its South Sudan deputy, Annette Hearns.

“We estimate there’s 8.9 million people whose needs are assessed against a humanitarian requirement,” Hearns said. “They have health needs [or] they don’t have enough access to safe drinking water. As humanitarians, there is no way we can provide all the support that’s needed for everyone, everywhere. Of that 8.9 million, we’re going to do our best to target 6.8 million people.”

Of the total, $230 million would target malnourished children, pregnant women, and nursing mothers. Another $650 million would provide basic food assistance and livelihood support, and $54 million would support children’s education.

“There’s more than 2 million people who have been forced to leave their homes in South Sudan and some of these are people who were displaced in years past, including from flooding in 2020 and 2021, and their areas of origin are still not accessible for them to go home,” Hearns told South Sudan in Focus.

“Some of the people told us they fled [violence] with [only] the clothes they’re wearing. When the flooding happens, it’s the same,” Hearns added.

Sometimes, she said, the families are able “to grab a blanket or a knife so they can move and go elsewhere, but not always.”
…

Aid convoys led by the U.N.’s World Food Program (WPF) have entered Ethiopian territory controlled by Tigrayan rebels for the first time since December, bringing much-needed food to starving communities.

The WFP tweeted that its aid convoy arrived in Ethiopia’s Afar region Friday, and that it was headed to the Tigray region, with upwards of 500 metric tons of food and nutrition supplies for people on the edge of starvation.

Rights and aid groups have been warning of a catastrophe since food aid to Tigray was halted in mid-December. 

They have been calling on the Ethiopian government to allow aid deliveries to Tigray, where more than 5 million people have been facing hunger.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of humanitarian Affairs says it was only able to reach less than 800,000 people before authorities cut off access.  

Head of external affairs for the Tigrayan rebels, Getachew Reda, confirmed on Twitter that 20 WFP trucks on Friday crossed their line of control. 

Getachew said it wasn’t about how many trucks were allowed but whether there is a system to ensure unfettered humanitarian access for the needy.

The Ethiopian government and Tigrayan rebels have been blaming each for being obstacles to aid deliveries, despite a March agreement for a humanitarian truce.

The WFP said another aid convoy was on the way to the Afar region, where more than 300,000 people have been displaced by the war. 

The WFP tweeted that a thousand metric tons of food would arrive in northern Afar Friday for communities in dire need.

The WFP thanked the Afar regional government and communities for supporting the convoy’s safe passage. 

The much-needed food aid comes just a day after U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia Tracey Jacobson visited the Afar region to discuss with officials the humanitarian situation there.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in 2021 gave $100 million to the WFP to support its northern Ethiopia aid response.   

The U.S. has also committed more than $90 million in humanitarian and development aid to the Afar region for 2022.
…

U.N. peacekeepers in Mali have deployed to the northeast border with Burkina Faso and Niger after reports of civilians being massacred.

The U.N. says Mali’s U.N. peacekeeping mission, MINUSMA, has deployed forces to Mali’s northern Tri-border area amid increasing insecurity.

A U.N. statement to the media released Thursday said that “attacks by armed terrorist groups have had a devastating impact on the already distressed civilian population” and have resulted in “dozens of deaths.”

Reports on social networks have circulated in recent weeks claiming that hundreds of civilians have been killed by Islamic State-affiliated extremist groups in the Menaka and Gao regions of Mali, in the country’s northeast.  

Mali’s northeast border area with Burkina Faso and Niger has been plagued by increasing insecurity in recent years. In August of 2021, more than 50 civilians were massacred in villages in the area.

The Malian army said in a March 15 press release that it had conducted airstrikes in the Menaka region following “terrorist attacks” against the population. 

An alliance of Tuareg nationalist groups claims that following the killings, the Malian army detained and executed 17 civilians in the town of Ansongo, Mali. 

The Malian army published a press release this week saying it is aware of and investigating accusations of abuse. The release asks people to “distance themselves from terrorists” to minimize the risk of “collateral damage.”

VOA attempted to reach a Malian army spokesman for comment but he did not return phone calls.

Human Rights Watch published a report in March that said the Malian army and armed Islamists both have killed more than 100 civilians since December.
…

Tunisia’s president said late on Thursday he would not hold elections within three months after he dissolved parliament this week, the latest step in a march to one-man rule after brushing aside most of the democratic constitution.

Parties from across Tunisia’s political spectrum and the powerful labor union have cited the constitution to demand that the president hold quick elections after announcing Wednesday that he was dissolving parliament.

“I don’t know how they get this interpretation,” Saied said in the video of a meeting with Prime Minister Najla Bouden that was posted at midnight on the presidency’s Facebook page.

Thursday, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Washington was deeply concerned at Saied’s dissolution of parliament and reports that he would prosecute lawmakers who joined a session in defiance of the president on Wednesday.

“A swift return to constitutional government, including an elected parliament, is critical to democratic governance,” Price said in an online video.

The United States has been a major donor to Tunisia since its 2011 revolution that introduced democracy, and Saied’s government is seeking international funding to avert a rapidly looming crisis in public finances.

Tunisia’s political crisis escalated sharply Wednesday when more than half the members of the parliament, which Saied suspended in July in a move his foes call a coup, held an online session to revoke his decrees.

The UGTT labor union, the most powerful political body in the country with more than a million members, had previously urged Saied to dissolve parliament and quickly call new elections.

The Islamist Ennahda, which was the biggest party in parliament and is the only one with a strong national organization, has rejected Saied’s dissolution of the chamber but said he should still hold elections within three months.

The Free Constitutional Party, whose leader, Abir Moussi, is a supporter of the late autocratic president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, and a bitter foe of Ennahda, applauded Saied’s move but also called for quick elections.

Moussi, whose party is ahead in opinion polls, said that according to the constitution Saied should call elections within three months.

Saied has previously said he will form a committee to rewrite the constitution, put it to a referendum in July and then hold parliamentary elections in December.

Ennahda head Rached Ghannouchi told Reuters on Thursday the party would boycott any referendum he called to restructure the political system unilaterally.
…

The U.N. secretary-general has called for Mali and its “bilateral partners” to respect their international obligations as concerns grow over human rights violations by the West African country’s military in its battle with jihadists.

While acknowledging “widespread attacks by extremists,” Antonio Guterres told the U.N. Security Council that Mali’s counter-terrorism efforts also had “disastrous consequences for the civilian population” in a confidential report obtained Thursday by AFP.

“I emphasize the duty of the State to do everything in its power to promote accountability and ensure that its military operations, including those carried out with its bilateral partners, are carried out in accordance with its international obligations,” the U.N. chief said.

The term “bilateral partners” is believed to be an implicit reference to mercenaries allegedly deployed in the country by the Russian Wagner Group, reputedly close to the Kremlin.

“Some of the operations carried out by the national security forces to counter the violent activities of these extremist groups — apparently alongside foreign security personnel — have been the subject of allegations of serious human rights violations,” Guterres said.

The secretary-general’s report specifically cites the late-January execution of “at least 20 people” in the country’s Bandiagara region, and civilian deaths attributed to a February airstrike carried out by the military.

His report is the first submitted to the Security Council since a mid-February announcement that French and European military missions previously assisting in Mali’s years-long fight with a bloody jihadist insurgency were being withdrawn.

The Malian government has denied using Wagner mercenaries, admitting only to the presence of Russian “instructors” under a bilateral cooperation agreement concluded with Moscow that saw two combat helicopters delivered on Thursday.
…

Ethiopia on Thursday failed to block the United Nations from funding an international committee that will investigate human rights violations by all parties in the nation’s recent war.

The International Commission of Human Rights Experts (ICHRE) on Ethiopia was created in December by the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council, despite strenuous objections from the government in Addis Ababa.

Led by former International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, the three-member commission has a renewable one-year mandate to investigate abuses committed in the country since war broke out in November 2020 between Ethiopian forces and Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) rebels in the north of the country.

At a meeting of the UN General Assembly’s budget committee on Thursday, Ethiopia tried to pass a text that would block funding for the commission, but was not able to garner enough votes.

According to a chart showing a breakdown of the vote, 66 member states voted against Ethiopia, with only 27 in favor of the text and 39 abstentions. The remaining nations of the 193-member body chose not to participate.

“Look, as a matter of principle, we believe that our commission (ICHRE) agreed on by member states, by the Human Rights Council, should be funded,” said the U.N. secretary-general’s spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric.

He also stated that “whether it’s in Ethiopia or anywhere else in the world, human rights violations need to be investigated, which is a critical part of the accountability pillar.”

International NGO Human Rights Watch celebrated the vote outcome.

“U.N. member countries sent a strong message to Ethiopia today that its brazen attempt to escape accountability for war crimes and other abuses by defunding the UN’s human rights investigation is unacceptable,” said the organization in a statement.

“The U.N. should quickly get the investigation up and running,” the group demanded.

On March 24, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government announced “an indefinite humanitarian truce effective immediately,” saying it hoped to help hasten delivery of emergency aid into the Tigray region, where hundreds of thousands face starvation.

Hours later, the rebels agreed to a “cessation of hostilities,” a new turning point in the nearly 17-month war in northern Ethiopia which has left thousands dead.

This week, the two sides have traded accusations that the other party is blocking desperately needed aid from reaching the Tigray region, where more than 400,000 have been displaced by the conflict.
…

In a ruling Thursday, Kenya’s Supreme Court blocked changes to the constitution initiated by President Uhuru Kenyatta. Six of the seven judges ruled constitutional amendments must come from ordinary citizens, not the president. 

Following the hotly-contested 2017 election that almost split the country apart, Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga unveiled a plan they called the Building Bridges Initiative. 

The initiative would introduce the permanent office of prime minister and create 70 new constituencies.   

The two leaders argued the best way to avoid election-related violence that has plagued Kenya is to create more political positions. 

But the Supreme Court shot down changes in its ruling Thursday. Chief Justice Martha Koome read the verdict of the judges. 

“The president cannot initiate constitutional amendment and changes through the popular initiative under Article 257 of the constitution, Njoki Ndungu Supreme Court Judge dissenting,” Koome said. “Issue 2 the president initiated the amendment process initially, Njoki Ndungu and Lenaola Supreme Court Judges dissenting.” 

The Supreme Court agreed with the previous ruling of the two lower courts, the high court and the court of appeal, declaring the initiative unconstitutional. 

Odinga served as prime minister under a power sharing agreement that followed Kenya’s disputed 2007 elections.  However, the position was abolished after the 2012 polls. 

 
…

The Democratic Republic of Congo this week became the seventh country to join the East African Community. The regional trade bloc, which includes Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda, now reaches a quarter of Africa’s population, stretching from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic.

The 90 million people in the Democratic Republic of Congo will be able to move freely and do business in six other African countries.

The leaders of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda welcomed Congo to the East African Community in a ceremony Monday. 

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta spoke, stressing cooperation as the group’s cornerstone.

“I proudly and warmly welcome our brothers and sisters from the Democratic Republic of Congo to the East African Community. We look forward to joining hands in strengthening our community together. Working together, we have more to gain than when we are separate,” Kenyatta said.

Ezra Munyambonera, an economic researcher at the Economic Policy Research Center, says Congo’s addition to the EAC will benefit all the countries in the bloc.

“It (the DRC) has a lot of resources [and it] joining the East Africa Community adds more to microeconomic conditions and microeconomic stability of the region in terms of foreign earnings and attracting investments in the region for wider economic growth,” Munyambonera said. 

The mineral-rich nation is a member of two more regional blocs, the Southern African Development Community and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, or COMESA. 

Erastus Mwencha, a former secretary-general of COMESA, says the continent needs to scale up its production capabilities to benefit from integration and take advantage of its natural resources. 

“The tradable is not that much and so the region needs to develop trade with production, to really go beyond just looking at trade within but also to cater [to] the production aspect. The economies are not deep enough, we tend to produce primary products and because of that, they are not very much integrated,” Mwencha said.

The countries in the EAC bloc have not been able to fully establish a customs union, and while they are working on having a common currency by 2023, experts say that deadline likely will not be met. 

Mwencha says the DRC technology sector will provide more opportunities for entrepreneurs.   

“Whether you are looking at banking industries, fintech, because it’s a big country, which requires the banks to communicate throughout the country, or other services such as the education sector, health sector, there is a lot, in other words, of e-services,” Mwencha said.

As part of the East African Community, the DRC will enjoy lower tariffs and administrative barriers, something it hasn’t experienced for decades, despite using the ports of Mombasa, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to import most of its goods.
…

The political opposition in Ghana has filed a lawsuit with the country’s Supreme Court after lawmakers passed a controversial tax despite the party’s walk-out from parliament. Ghana’s government says the new tax on electronic transactions and transfers will raise money for the pandemic-hit economy. But critics say the tax will discourage trade and adds to the public’s economic burden.

Ghana’s opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Wednesday filed suit with the Supreme Court to block the government-backed tax on electronic transfers and transactions.

The NDC has called the so-called “E-Levy” of 1.5% “regressive” and unlawful because there was no quorum in parliament when it was passed. Opposition lawmakers had walked out of the proceedings in protest.

NDC lawmaker Mahama Ayariga, one of the plaintiffs, told VOA he is hopeful the Supreme Court will declare the tax unlawful.

“The speaker and the majority side knew they didn’t have the number; they hadn’t met the quorum and yet they proceeded and purported to have voted to pass the E-Levy… And if there wasn’t a quorum, there couldn’t have been a decision and so there could also not have been an E-Levy passed. So, the president has nothing before him to sign into law,” he said.

In his state of the nation address on Wednesday, Ghana’s President Akufo-Addo said the new tax would boost the economy as it recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Despite the protracted and sometimes acrimonious nature of proceedings, I am happy that the House has, finally, found it possible to pass the E-Levy,” he said. “I believe the levy is going to make a significant contribution to revenue mobilization and the management of the economy, and I want to thank members of the House for making this possible.”

Authorities say the tax is expected to raise about $900 million by the end of the year.

But most ordinary Ghanaians are opposed to the new tax, which will affect anyone using mobile money services.

Accra-based second-hand clothing trader Sophia Anane says it will harm her business.

“What are they using the revenue we generate from cocoa and oil for? The government wants to tax them on what little money they’re making in addition to what the telecommunications companies also deduct as commission. What is our fate?” she asks.

Some economists argue the government is wrong to burden Ghanaians with new taxes while they are still recovering from pandemic restrictions and disruptions.

Director of research at the Accra-based Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) John Kwakye the government should instead focus on improving tax collection.

“There are several loopholes in our tax system that if they were plugged, we’ll be able to raise our tax to GDP ratio to something like 20%. We’re now doing just about 12%. So, to me, if these other measures were being taken, I don’t think that even the E-Levy will be necessary,” he said.

Ghana’s Supreme Court is expected to hold a hearing on the opposition’s challenge to the new tax in the coming weeks.
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Mali’s military government this month banned popular French radio and TV broadcasts after Radio France Internationale reported on alleged rights abuses by the Malian army and Russian mercenaries. The restrictions come as press freedom advocates cite a worrying trend of pro-Russian propaganda in countries where the mercenaries are working with government forces.

On March 18, the director of information at Joliba TV News, Mohamed Attaher Halidou, made a televised address from the station’s Bamako studio.   

Halidou asserted that a free press plays an important role in democracy, and he criticized the lack of condemnation by Malian media organizations over the ban of French broadcasts. 

This came days after Radio France Internationale and France 24 television were taken off the air in Mali. The government banned the broadcasts in response to reports by RFI on human rights abuse accusations against Mali’s army and mercenaries from the Wagner Group, a private Russian military contractor.

Speaking to VOA, Halidou said there is widespread self-censorship in Mali, as both civilians and journalists fear reprisal from Mali’s military rulers. 

Today, he said, fear has changed everything, because journalists, even before writing an article, start to think: “What am I going to say in this article? Is it going to bother those in power?” There is this pressure now that weighs on journalists, he says. Freedom of expression is threatened. There is nothing worse for a journalist than to self-censor, he said. 

Mali’s government has refused to grant accreditation to foreign journalists in recent months, deported a French reporter, and imprisoned an economist after he spoke to the press about international sanctions that have been imposed on Mali. 

Arnaud Froger, head of the Africa desk at Reporters Without Borders, speaking from Paris, said the current situation in Mali strongly resembles what happened in Central African Republic in recent years, with Russian mercenaries on the ground, government restriction of media, and self-censorship among journalists.

“Journalists were targeted, and media outlets were not really allowed to operate and to tackle sensitive issues such as human rights abuses and also particularly what the Russian mercenaries were doing,” he said.

Froger also said that fake news targeting France and in favor of the mercenaries was widespread.

Abdoulaye Guindo is the coordinator of Malian news website Benbere, which has a platform that debunks false reports and propaganda that circulate online in the country. Speaking from Conakry, Guinea, where he is attending a conference, Guindo said that he first noticed a spike in disinformation after the 2021 coup, when the current military leaders took power for the second time in less than a year.  

He said, we have noticed an increase in fake news directed against European forces, notably Barkhane and the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali, and we’ve also noticed a lot of fake news which he said was meant to glorify Wagner troops and to push the population to applaud and to accept the arrival of the Wagner force in Mali. 

Operation Barkhane is the French anti-insurgent military operation that is in the process of withdrawing from Mali.

Froger said that though the situation is tense for now, Mali is not as isolated as the Central African Republic, and he believes that press freedom in the country will eventually improve, either through a change in policy or the handing over of power. 
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Years after atrocities took place in Sudan’s Darfur region, one of the key suspected perpetrators is about to face trial.

Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb, goes on trial before the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague on April 5.

An arrest warrant was issued by the ICC for the paramilitary leader in 2007. He faces 31 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in 2003 and 2004. He surrendered in 2020 and was brought to The Hague, which confirmed his indictment the following year.

Kushayb has denied the charges and unsuccessfully challenged the court’s jurisdiction.

The ICC says Kushayb was one of the most senior leaders in the tribal hierarchy in the Wadi Salih locality and member of the Popular Defense Forces, a paramilitary group. He allegedly commanded thousands of janjaweed militias from August 2003 until March 2004 under former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who was ousted in 2019.

Kushayb is alleged to have implemented the counterinsurgency strategy of the government of Sudan, resulting in the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, according to the ICC.

Kushayb is accused of personally participating in some of the attacks against civilians between August 2003 and March 2004, when civilians were killed, raped and tortured, the ICC says.

On April 5, ICC spokesperson Fadi El Abdallah told VOA, “The chamber will hear the prosecution’s opening statement first, followed by a short, unsworn statement by the accused and a short remark presented by the representative of victims.”

The first prosecution witness and experts will testify on April 6, he added.

Elise Keppler, an official with the Human Rights Watch International Justice Program, underscores the trial’s significance.

“It’s the first time that a leader is being held to account for massive crimes committed in Darfur,” Keppler told South Sudan in Focus. “This is a rare opportunity for accountability, a first crucial opportunity.”

Keppler said she hopes the trial will be the beginning of achieving justice in Sudan for victims as well as the perpetrators.

“This trial shows that even though it can be incredibly slow going for accountability to advance, it can and does happen.” And she warned that “would-be-perpetrators should take note that this person, Ali Kushayb, is being held to account.”

The delay in trying Kushayb and other accused individuals in Sudan is mainly because of former President Bashir’s refusal to cooperate with the court, Keppler said. She pointed out that Bashir also is accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide committed in Darfur.

Adam Rijal, a spokesperson for internally displaced persons in Darfur says war victims are excited that Kushayb is finally held to account.

“This is a triumph for all the victims, and it shows that their patience all these years, in the face of continued crimes committed against them, will be rewarded with justice,” Rijal said. 
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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrapped up a three-nation tour of the Middle East and North Africa on Wednesday with appeals for Algeria to limit ties with Russia and look to improve relations with neighboring Morocco. 

“The countries of North Africa and the Middle East have experienced themselves the consequences of Russia’s military campaigns before,” Blinken said, noting Russian interventions in Syria and Libya and the impact on energy and food security that the Ukraine conflict is having. 

“The international community must increase the pressure on Russia to end this unprovoked and unjustified war,” he said. 

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has in the past referred to Russia as a “brotherly country,” and has maintained pressure on Morocco over its claim to the disputed territory of the Western Sahara, where Algeria backs independence fighters. 

‘Stand with the victim’

After meeting with Tebboune, Blinken said the Ukraine conflict should cause all countries to re-evaluate relations with Russia and express their support for the territorial integrity of other states. 

“I know that that’s something Algerians feel strongly about,” he said. 

“There are times when one issue emerges that is so clearly black and white,” he said. “It’s important to stand with the victim and to stand with the principles that have also been violated.” 

Algeria has had close ties with Russia since its independence from France in 1962 and is a major purchaser of Russian weaponry. 

It is also locked in a bitter dispute with Morocco over the status of the former Spanish colony of Western Sahara. Algiers opposes a plan by Rabat to retain control of the territory while granting it semi-autonomous status. 

Algerian officials provided no immediate readout of Tebboune’s meeting with Blinken. 

Blinken and other U.S. officials have praised the Moroccan plan as “serious, realistic and credible” but have not explicitly endorsed it as the path to a resolution. Earlier this month, Algeria angrily recalled its ambassador to Spain after the Spanish government offered the same assessment — an enormous departure from its earlier stance of considering Morocco’s grip on Western Sahara an occupation. 

Blinken did not repeat the phrase at his news conference in Algiers and instead said only that the U.S. fully supports U.N. efforts to resolve the situation. 

“We’re very focused on diplomacy,” he said. 

Blinken came to Algeria a day after meeting senior Moroccan officials in Rabat, where he praised Morocco’s improvements in ties with Israel. 

And on Monday, Blinken had been in Israel’s Negev Desert where he and the Israeli foreign minister participated in a historic gathering with their counterparts from Arab nations, including Morocco, that have normalized relations with Israel. 

‘Abraham Accords’

Morocco, along with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, was one of the countries to fully normalize relations with Israel during the Trump administration’s push to negotiate the so-called “Abraham Accords,” in which the U.S. pledged significant support in exchange for such recognition. 

For its part, Morocco won U.S. recognition for its claim to Western Sahara in return for its agreement with Israel. 

In a rare endorsement of a Trump foreign policy initiative, the Biden administration has signaled its full backing for the Abraham Accords and pledged to try to expand and strengthen them. 

But, while the administration has not revoked Trump’s decision on Western Sahara, it has taken few steps to advance it, and plans to build a U.S. consulate there have not advanced since Trump announced them in 2020. 

That has led to questions about whether Washington is fully on board with Moroccan sovereignty over the former Spanish colony.
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Burundi’s media authority announced Wednesday that it would lift a nationwide ban on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), nearly three years after the broadcaster was forced to stop operating in the East African country. 

The National Communication Council withdrew the license for the broadcasting giant in 2019, accusing it of breaching press laws and unprofessional conduct. 

“We reached the decision to reopen BBC radio starting today,” the regulator’s president, Vestine Nahimana, said.  

The broadcaster had met the conditions set by the government, Nahimana said, adding that President Evariste Ndayishimiye had initiated the easing of restrictions on sanctioned news outlets.  

Voice of America was suspended alongside BBC Radio in May 2018. While BBC has met the government’s conditions to broadcast, VOA has not.   

The two broadcasters were suspended barely two weeks before a constitutional referendum intended to shore up the power of former President Pierre Nkurunziza and enable him to rule until 2034.  

The government-controlled media regulator accused the BBC of damaging the reputation of Nkurunziza during a discussion program and said the broadcaster had ignored previous warnings. 

The suspension followed a damning BBC investigation into alleged secret torture sites run by the government to silence dissent. The state denied the report, dismissing it as “fake news.” 

Nkurunziza died of heart failure in June 2020. 

Following Ndayishimiye’s election, Western nations including the United States and the European Union have eased sanctions on the country, crediting elections, a decrease in violence, and government reforms. But campaign groups insist human rights are still being widely abused. 

Before the ban, the BBC and VOA used to broadcast daily in the national language Kirundi as well as in French and English, and drew large numbers of listeners, especially in rural areas. 

Burundi is the poorest country in the world as measured by GDP per capita, at less than $240 (215 euros) in 2020, according to the World Bank. 

It is ranked among the worst countries in the world for press freedom, with many local and international news outlets blacklisted and independent journalists forced into exile since a major political crisis in 2015. 

 
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China has connected a high-speed, multimillion-dollar, 15,000-kilometer undersea cable to Kenya, as Beijing advances what’s been dubbed its “digital silk road,” and Africa seeks the infrastructure it badly needs for better internet connectivity.  

Chinese giant Huawei is a shareholder in the $425-million PEACE cable, which stands for “Pakistan and East Africa Connecting Europe.” It stretches from Asia to Africa and then into France, where it terminates. 

It reached the coastal city of Mombasa on Tuesday, with the CEO of local partner company Telekom Kenya, Mugo Kibati, saying the cable would help meet the sharp rise in demand for internet services on a continent where internet adoption has trailed the rest of the world, but which is home to a growing, young and increasingly digital population.   

“This ultra-high-capacity cable will assist Kenya and the region in meeting its current and future broadband capacity requirements, bolster redundancy, minimize transit time of our country’s connectivity to Asia and Europe, as well as assist carriers in providing affordable services to Kenyans,” said Kibati.  

Business development

For his part, the PEACE Cable’s COO, Sun Xiaohua, said in a statement that the new infrastructure would “bring more business development to this region.” From Kenya, the cable will later be extended further down the continent’s east coast to South Africa. 

It’s estimated that 95% of international data flows via submarine cables, and in terms of Africa, China dominates, with the most projects aimed at connecting the continent. Aside from the PEACE cable, China’s proposed 2Africa cable will become one of the biggest undersea projects in the world when it goes live in 2024. 

But China’s massive digital infrastructure investments in Africa and elsewhere have not been without controversy, and Washington has expressed deep concerns that Beijing is attempting to monopolize networks and possibly use them for espionage.  

Safety concerns

Some analysts are concerned the technology could be misused by authoritarian leaders on the continent, but Cobus van Staden, a senior China-Africa researcher at the South African Institute of International Affairs, said most Africans simply want better internet. 

“I think this PEACE Cable generally plays very positively in Africa. Obviously, the United States has raised … concerns around this, particularly in relation to security, but I think for lot of African countries, the security issue is actually balanced by the wider issue of a lack of connectivity,” van Staden told VOA.  

Huawei was sanctioned by the U.S. under former president Donald Trump, but the company has built about 70% of Africa’s 4G networks, and van Staden said it seems China is winning the race for digital soft power on the continent. 

“I think there’s a space there for competition, but Western actors will have to step up,” he said.  
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Scientists in Kenya are testing a project using solar panels to shade crops while generating clean energy. It’s called agrivoltaics. Successful trials have shown that this technology reduces water loss and results in higher yields. Juma Majanga reports from Kajiado, Kenya.
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Tanzania is stepping up efforts to join the club of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) exporters, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine spurs Europe to look for new energy sources. Tanzania says investments in its first LNG project could reach $40 billion.

The Tanzanian government said it planned to conclude talks in June with a group of foreign oil and gas companies led by Norway’s Equinor on developing a liquified natural gas terminal.

Tanzania has an estimated 17 trillion cubic meters of gas reserves, which puts it in position to benefit from Europe’s rush to diversify its energy sources.

Analysts say the sale of LNG on the international market would generate huge revenues for the nation. Walter Nguma is an independent economic analyst.

He said, many Tanzanians will be employed and the country will increase government revenues through foreign income. In the project, the country would also have enough gas energy for its own needs. When you look, he says, the world is expected to use LNG in cars by 2030 to preserve the environment, so this is a potentially big project.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Tanzanian President Samia Hassan said embracing the private sector is her major priority. She said that it’s only the private sector that can bring foreign direct investment and create jobs.

Hassan has expressed her commitment to fast track the development of natural gas resources for the benefit of the nation.

However, James Tumaini, a Dar es Salaam resident and project manager from Mzumbe University, said the LNG market is extremely competitive, which might make it hard for Tanzania to penetrate it.

He said, the government should ensure a friendly environment in implementing this project. Since there are other countries with the same product, competition is high, so the government should stand firm on this, he said.

The LNG project will be Tanzania’s biggest project, and the earliest the country will be able to ship the gas is 2030, if there are no further delays.
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The outbreak of the coronavirus two years ago sparked fears it could quickly spread in Kibera, Africa’s largest urban slum, located in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. But local aid groups rose to the challenge, helping to not only contain the virus but also to train health care workers and improve hygiene practices. Victoria Amunga reports from Nairobi. Camera: Amos Wangwa
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