A United Nations spokesperson says no one survived Tuesday when a helicopter crashed in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo with eight U.N. peacekeepers on board. 

Earlier, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the helicopter was carrying six crew members, all from the Pakistani military, and two military personnel – one from Serbia and one from the Russian Federation – when it went down in North Kivu province. 

Dujarric said the group was on a reconnaissance mission in the area of Tshanzu, southeast of the city of Rutshuru.   

“The helicopter went there to monitor the situation where there has been fighting,” he said. He declined to state the cause of the crash, saying an investigation is under way.   

The U.N. Stabilization Mission in Congo released a map on Twitter pinpointing the area of the crash. 

Separately, the Congolese army accused the M23 rebel group of shooting down the helicopter and said it went down in territory controlled by the rebels. 

In an interview with VOA’s French to Africa Service, M23 spokesperson Willy Ngoma accused the army of shooting down the aircraft while firing on M23 forces. 

The sides have clashed in North Kivu in recent days. Dujarric acknowledged the clashes without assigning blame for the crash.  

Margaret Besheer contributed to this report
…

Botswana has become the first country in Africa to approve the use of the Texas-made COVID-19 vaccine Corbevax. Botswana’s president and California biotech company NantWorks made the announcement Monday as they began construction of a plant to produce COVID-vaccines and drugs to fight cancer.

CEO of biotech firm NantWorks Patrick Soon-Shiong announced on Monday that Botswana’s Medicines Regulatory Authority (BOMRA) had approved the Corbevax jab.

He made the announcement at a groundbreaking ceremony for a vaccine and cancer drug production facility, along with Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi.

“I am pleased to announce, Mr. President, with the incredibly hard work of both the Ministry of Health and BOMRA, today we announce Africa’s first approved vaccine for Africa by Botswana,” Soon-Shiong said.

Corbevax is a patent-free COVID vaccine developed by the Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital in the United States. It has been used in Bangladesh, India, and Indonesia.

Soon-Shiong said the first consignment would be delivered to Botswana for distribution across Africa.

“This vaccine has been tested and shown to be active in every variant including omicron. I got a commitment this morning that Botswana, effective immediately, will have access to 100 million of these vaccines that you can distribute,” Soon-Shiong said.

The plant, which is expected to be operational by 2026, plans to produce vaccines for COVID and other diseases, as well as cancer treatment drugs.

Masisi said the plant heralds a new dawn for the production of pharmaceuticals on the continent.

“This is particularly noteworthy in the Africa region, which bears a disproportionate disease burden exacerbated limitation of resources and capabilities to address these health challenges. We are determined to dictate a new legacy associated with access to medicines, vaccines and other health technologies,” he said.

Masisi said the facility would help address vaccine inequality in Africa, where less than 20% of the population is fully vaccinated against COVID – two years into the pandemic.

“Disparities in the distribution of vaccines across the world resulted in a lopsided vaccination drive that seriously hampered efforts to effectively contain the COVID-19 worldwide. This problem has been aptly defined as vaccine nationalism. It is therefore our intent, our conviction that the opening of this vaccine manufacturing facility, will go a long way in changing this narrative,” Masisi said.

Botswana’s Health Minister Edwin Dikoloti says the project would also help treat chronic diseases.

“This day marks a new level in our scientific development and advancement. It signifies a new technological breakthrough which will see us as not just a consumer but also a manufacturer of vaccines and other medication that will come out of this magnificent project,” Dikoloti said.

Botswana’s vaccine manufacturing facility will be the second in Africa being built by Soon-Shiong.

In January, the South African-born U.S. billionaire opened a similar facility in Cape Town.
…

Clashes along the Democratic Republic of Congo’s eastern border have sent thousands of people fleeing into Uganda. Ugandan forces have deployed along the border after reports that M23 rebels attacked military positions Sunday night.

Sounding exhausted and desperate, Anglique Wabareka tells VOA on the phone she spent the night on the run after clashes between rebel forces broke out in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Pitching camp at a police post across the Ugandan border, Wabareka says she was able to escape with her three children.

“I entered the house to get my children something to eat. That’s when I heard gunshots and we started to run. People are dying. I couldn’t carry any belongings because of the heavy gunfire,” she said.

Mumbere Habimana says many people were injured in the fighting. He says he saw one person get killed.

“There’s heavy fighting,” he says. “We are fleeing but we don’t even know who is making us flee. I left my house with nothing. I don’t even have money. And now I don’t even know where I’m going to stay.”

Natukunda Primrose, Kisoro district manager for the Ugandan Red Cross, says the number of people who’ve crossed into Uganda has surpassed 10,000.

“Most of them are still at the border. Then just a few are at the transit center,” Natukunda said. “Right now, we are passing on messages to them, for those who are ready to go to the transit center.”

In a statement to journalists, a spokesman for the governor of North Kivu province said that on the nights of March 27 and 28, M23 rebels, supported by Rwandan soldiers, carried out incursions and attacks against positions of the Congolese army in the towns of Tchanzu and Runyonyi.

The spokesman, General Ekenge Sylain, said that during those attacks, DRC forces arrested two Rwandan soldiers, identified as Warrant Officer Habyarimana Jean-Pierre and Uwajeneza Muhidi John, who said they belong to the 65th Battalion of the 402nd Brigade of the Rwanda Defense Forces.

Rwandan forces have long been present in the eastern DRC, fighting Rwandan rebel groups based in the region.

Ekenge said the army would take all measures to quickly restore authority and peace in the affected areas.

In Kampala, Ugandan Army spokesman Brigadier General Felix Kulaigye said Ugandan forces have deployed heavily to ensure the fighting does not spill across the border.

“Of course, the porous border we can’t man, man to man,” Kulaigye said. “But it is well catered for and we are sure that there will not be infiltration this side of the border.”

In December, thousands of Congolese fled into Uganda to escape fighting in Ituri province, but were asked by authorities to return home after the situation was brought under control.
…

Suspected bandits attacked a passenger train headed to the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna from Abuja, the capital, Monday evening after they trapped the train, the Kaduna state government said. 

One passenger, Anas Iro Danmusa, posted on Facebook that bandits planted explosives which halted the train. He said bandits were trying to force themselves inside the train and gunshots were being fired outside the train. 

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, and no casualties have been confirmed. 

“The military has secured the Kaduna-bound train from Abuja trapped by terrorists,” a representative for Kaduna state government said. “Efforts are ongoing to convey the passengers from the location and others that sustained injuries have been rushed to hospitals for urgent medical attention.” 

It is the second train attack since October in Nigeria, which faces an Islamist insurgency and armed bandits that have kidnapped hundreds of students, travelers and villagers for ransom, leaving the population terrified. 

Some people have opted to travel by rail after several kidnappings by armed bandits on Nigerian highways, especially in the northwest of the country. 

The train was stopped about 25 kilometers to Kaduna when the attack happened, an official of the Nigerian Railways Corp (NRC) said, adding that a relative was also trapped on the Kaduna-bound service. 

 
…

A non-fungible token (NFT) created for the 1961 arrest warrant of anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela has sold for $130,000 at auction. The funds will help maintain the Liliesleaf Museum Heritage Site, a farm where Mandela and other leaders of the anti-apartheid movement in the 1960s hid from authorities. But the funds will not be enough to re-open the museum, which has been hit hard by the lack of tourism during the COVID pandemic.

The founder of the Liliesleaf Museum, Nicholas Wolpe, says the museum still needs about $1.7 million (R25-million) before it can reopen.

“Based upon all historical figures to clear all the debt and to provide for at least for the next year or two,” he said. “There need to be repairs, exhibits need to be fixed, and then the day-to-day operations, paying for salaries and getting the place back on its feet.”

Wolpe says last year he was approached by one of the owners of Momint, the company that runs the NFT marketplace. They explained that the museum’s artifacts could earn cash while staying on site for security purposes and preservation.

Wolpe said he thought it was a perfect opportunity for Liliesleaf to create an alternative source of income.

“He explained the process of NFTs to me and I said this is a wonderful opportunity for not only Liliesleaf but for historical sites around the world because we currently live in an environment where the reality is that government funding is not what it used to be,” he said.

Momint’s CEO Ahren Posthumus explains that NFTs, which use blockchain technology, are a way of putting a value to content on the internet. The buyer of the warrant, he says, gets significant long-term benefits.

“So, they are the only person in the world who will actually have the original of what’s called the Alpha File of the scan of the document. So, you can view the document online and it’s incredibly high detailed. You can see the ink bleeding through the paper but the owner of the document is the only one who will have the fully uncompressed version of this 3D file. It also gives the buyer access to the physical document as well as a five per cent royalty in perpetuity. So, as a buyer if they resell the piece and if the piece gets sold 10 or a hundred times, they will receive a royalty on the piece which is amazing. Liliesleaf Museum will equally be getting a royalty on the resale of the piece,” he said.

Mandela, who became South Africa’s first democratically elected president, was released from prison in 1990.

The auction of his arrest warrant followed the NFT auction of a gun pen owned by Mandela’s fellow liberation leader Oliver Tambo. That NFT sale in November raised $50,000, also for the museum.

Wolpe says the Momint team has photographed a number of other artifacts they believe are valuable.
…

Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo has lifted more COVID-19 prevention measures, such as wearing masks, and re-opened land and sea borders that were for the past two years closed to foot traffic. The loosening of pandemic restrictions has been welcomed as a step forward for Ghana’s economic recovery. 

Ghana’s president on Sunday said masks are no longer required and that all indoor events can operate at full capacity if participants are vaccinated against COVID.

He said visitors who are fully vaccinated no longer need to present a negative COVID test, and said foot traffic would resume immediately on all land and sea borders.

Akufo-Addo said the rate of infection has fallen, and that relaxing the measures will attract more tourists and trade to bolster the pandemic-hit economy.

“It has been a difficult two years for all of us, and we are seeing light at the end of a very long tunnel. As we lift these restrictions. Now is the time for all of us to join hands, work hard, and help put our nation back onto the path of progress and prosperity, as we resume full production and increase productivity. As your president I assure you, that sooner rather than later our economy will rebound from the ravages of COVID-19,” he said.

Akufo-Addo has been under pressure from opposition politicians and traders to re-open the borders to foot traffic.

Daniel Amartey is an economist with the Accra-based Policy Initiative for Economic Development (PIED).

He said reopening the borders will go a long way to inject more capital into Ghana’s economy by creating jobs.

“Reopening the borders now is a good news because it will revamp the economies along the border towns and principally it will help traders in the capital, Accra and Kumasi.  It will also improve living standards.  Also, government revenue at the borders will increase because there will be movement of goods from Togo to Ghana and Ghana to Togo,” said Amartey.

Nana Kofi Kwakye is a program manager with the Aurum Institute Ghana.  He notes loosening pandemic restrictions comes with risk.

“There should be a greater push for higher vaccination levels. Currently, the vaccinated population is just about 30% so we just have a long way to go and we really need to push on that. We also need to push on the non-pharmaceutical interventions like mask wearing, physical distancing to make sure that we’re maintaining a readiness posture,” he said.

About a quarter of Ghana’s 31 million people have received at least one dose of the vaccine but only 16% of the population is fully vaccinated.

Ghana’s health authorities say there is an average of about only 17 new COVID infections recorded each day.

But as the Easter holiday approaches, with large gatherings and movements of people, the data and science behind the government’s decision will be tested.
…

Peace talks in the Central African Republic, where civil war has raged since 2013, concluded Sunday without any concrete progress.
The talks kicked off Monday — but no rebel groups were invited, and the opposition is boycotting the forum.

President Faustin Archange Touadera promised in late 2020, following his controversial reelection, to hold the so-called Republican Dialogue for reconciliation.

It was then a major surprise when he announced March 15 that talks would begin with the opposition and civil society March 21.

But the agenda for the talks remained vague and lacked concrete aims.

Regional experts say the dialogue forum looked increasingly like an attempt to pacify the international community, which has put the Central African Republic, one of the world’s poorest nations, on a drip feed.

There were tense moments during talks this week held at the National Assembly in Bangui, especially when a constitutional change allowing a head of state to stand for a third term was raised at initial discussions.

The proposal was later withdrawn.

During a closing ceremony, chair of the dialogue Richard Filkota announced 600 recommendations had been made.

One of the proposals was an end to the weapons embargo, imposed by the United Nations in 2013 after a coalition of armed groups overthrew Francois Bozize’s regime and plunged the country into civil war. The president has always said he would bring peace to this country with dialogue, all the recommendations are necessary,” a spokesman for the presidency, Albert Yaloke Mokpeme, told AFP.

But Thierry Vircoulon, a specialist in Central Africa at the French Institute of International Relations, said the recommendations “will not be implemented.” 

“Even if the government wanted to implement them, it doesn’t have the time or the money,” he added.
…

Many Nigerian citizens and security experts are raising concerns that the country may be overturn by terrorists after some 200 gunmen Saturday invaded an airport in Kaduna State and killed an official. The attack followed days of violent raids in the state with dozens of people killed.

Saturday’s attack was the latest in a spate of violence that has hit the northwestern Nigerian state for days.

Federal airport authorities said the armed terrorists invaded ‘runway five’ of the airport from a nearby forest and opened fire, killing one official and causing flight delays.

Kaduna State Commissioner of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, said the military deployed to the airport immediately to repel the attack before it escalated.

Armed gangs have been terrorizing the state for years. In the last few weeks, dozens of people were reported killed in series of attacks on local communities southward of the state where sectarian violence has persisted.

Jakes Tudu, an activist from southern Kaduna, says the recent development is worrying.

“I’m scared because it is actually overwhelming. These guys are actually doing the unimaginable, like things you could not believe or imagine,” Tudu said. “Coming out in broad daylight to attack the airport is really crazy and scary.”

Saturday’s attack also occurred as Nigerian President and top officials of his ruling political party, All Progressive Congress (APC) hosted thousands of people in Abuja to mark the party’s conference ahead of next year’s polls, sparking criticism.

The critics say the attacks highlighted major failures on election promises made to Nigerians.

“Being a state that has the Nigerian defense academy, we have the police college, name it,  Kaduna used to be a fortified ground,” Tudu said. “But now today we have these guys moving around in Kaduna kidnapping people.”

In 2015, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari vowed to address security concerns and boost the country’s economy.

But authorities have been struggling to curb frequent attacks by armed gangs who rose to prominence for the mass kidnappings of students and the killings of local residents since late 2020.  

Authorities say the military operations against gangs have been successful and that hundreds have been killed in recent months — the latest being the killing of more than 200 armed gangs, known locally as ‘bandits’ in central Niger state earlier this month.

But security analyst Senator Iroegbu says while the military appears to be making some progress there’s still reason to be worried.

“Government’s claim to be winning the war I’m sure it’s a way of motivation,” Iroegbu said. “Yes there’s some progress but evidence like this shows that the war has not been won.” 

Aids groups say in recent years, that attacks like the one in southern Kaduna have sacked communities and displaced at least 30,000 people from their homes.
…

Al-Shabab extremists in Somalia are getting “bolder” in their attacks and have increased using suicide bombers wearing homemade explosives in what security experts call a “change in tactics.”

The Islamist militant group mounted one of its deadliest attacks Wednesday, targeting elections at the regional presidential palace in Beledweyne town around 300 km north of Mogadishu. Forty-eight people were killed, and more than 100 others wounded.

Among the dead was a member of parliament, Amina Mohamed, a vocal critic to the government, who was on the campaign trail when she was targeted and killed by a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest.

Hours earlier, two Shabab militants breached the heavily fortified compound at Mogadishu’s airport, where presidential elections are scheduled to take place. Offices for the U.N., Western embassies and the African Union peacekeeping mission are in the same area.

For more than a decade, al-Shabab has been fighting the U.N.-backed Somali government in Mogadishu, and during its violent campaign it has used a range of tactics that include intimidation and use of violence.

But in recent months, al-Shabab increased attacks in which individual suicide bombers deliver explosives and detonate them on selected targets with precision to inflict the greatest possible damage, security experts told VOA Somali service.

In November of last year, Abdiaziz Mohamud Guled, a critic of al-Shabab, was killed in Mogadishu in a suicide attack carried out by a man wearing a vest.

In January 2022, former Somali government spokesman and now lawmaker Mohamed Ibrahim Moalimuu survived a similar attack on his car by a man wearing a suicide bomb. Militants also carried out several other attacks in the same way.

“So, this shows a change of a tactics from using vehicles and armed raids to more individual suicide bombers,” said former Somalia National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) chief Abdullahi Mohamed Ali. “For them [al-Shabab] deploying suicide bombers, who strike intended targets, is cheaper, effective, and easier strategy,” Ali said.

Former NISA deputy director Abdisalan Guled says when one of the group’s strategies fails, it always comes up with another.

“Before, the militants used mainly gunmen storming on military bases, government offices, hotels, and restaurants, roadside IEDs, drive-by shootings, guerrilla style ambushes, and among others. But now as security at government key installations and military basis beefed up, they use more bombers wearing suicide-vests with huge magnitude and impact,” Guled said.

Al-Shabab now stronger

Former deputy NISA chief Ismail Osman believes the group is now in a stronger financial position than before, allowing it to purchase more bomb making materials and weapons.

“The group generates millions of dollars of revenue from its taxation of all aspects of Somalia’s economy, including the money they get from Zakat, a big revenue stream, an annual religious tax of 2.5% of an individual’s wealth. Therefore, they used much of the money to purchase weapons and the materials they need to manufacture more homemade bombs,” said Osman.

Guled, agrees that the terror group is possibly now in one of its strongest positions in years, given its increasing willingness to launch bolder, daylight, face-to-face attacks while penetrating security agencies to plan their bombings and assassinations.

“Another thing that helped the group to grow stronger and bolder is how they have been able to infiltrate within the country’s security agencies and institutions “to operate within,” said Guled.

“Along with their military dedication, al-Shabab always had cohesive and adaptable strategies and intelligence structures capable of disguising simply as ordinary civil servants, and more into the security agencies ranks,” he added.

The experts also said repeated political disputes among the country’s top leaders and more focus on the elections gave the militants a better breeding ground.

“The national security has been politicized by rival politicians jockeying for power and that created division and negligence within the security sectors. Also, the focus of the government for more than a year shifted from security to elections and disputes between the top leaders. That indeed gave al-Shabab a space to remobilize and plan their attacks accordingly,” said Osman.

“Political disputes and lack of effective government security measures in place in Somalia continue to weaken the security apparatus and strengthen the militants,” said Ali.

According to Somali security data, al-Shabab commands as many as 10,000 fighters across Somalia and parts of Kenya.

U.S. troops withdrawal

Somalia security efforts and the fight against al-Shabab has been mainly relying on the support of the U.N.-backed African Union Mission in the country, and limited military assistance from the United States and other international partners.

According to Somali military officials, the U.S. military has been very effective in degrading al-Shabab’s capacity and movement through kinetic airstrikes with the coordination of the Somali National Army. But the U.S. military withdrew from Somalia in 2021, in one of the last actions of President Donald Trump’s presidency.

Since then, security concerns have been growing sharply as the country’s fragile political system wrestled with the completion of a bitterly contested election process and increased attacks by militants.

Guled says the withdrawal of some vital U.S. military forces and the decrease of airstrikes by U.S. drones gave the militants a freedom to move around the country and plan their attacks accordingly.

“Before, due to the U.S military pressure and drone attacks targeting their leaders and possible explosive vehicles, al-Shabaab was largely confined to rural areas and hideouts, but now, with the reduction of the U.S. troops’ direct engagement with the group, the decrease of the drone attacks, plus a lack of military movement on the government and AMISOM side, al-Shabab has the opportunity and the momentum to show off its military presence and capability and that it was operating without fear,” said Guled.

This report originated in VOA Somali service’s “THE TORCH” program.
…

Six Niger soldiers have been killed in an attack in the southwest of the country, near the Burkina Faso border, the defense ministry announced Saturday.

The attack, which took place Thursday, was the second in 10 days, marking a return to violence in the region after weeks of relative calm.

“A Nigerien Armed Forces escort mission was ambushed by a group of armed terrorists in the vicinity of the village of Kolmane,” the ministry said in a statement giving the first information of Thursday’s attack.

The defense ministry gave the toll as “six soldiers killed, one injured and a vehicle destroyed,” with the casualties on the attackers’ side “not determined.”

The Tillaberi region, where Thursday’s attack took place, is a vast area on the borders of Burkina Faso and Mali, which has been the scene of bloody attacks by jihadi movements linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group since 2017.

Last week suspected jihadis attacked a bus and a truck in the southwest, killing 21 people.

Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum, in a new approach, has initiated dialogue with jihadi leaders in an attempt to keep the peace.

But the military response continues, with some 12,000 soldiers fighting in a dozen anti-jihadi operations, nearly half of them along the more than 1,400 kilometers of borders with Mali and Burkina Faso.

 
…

Southern Malawi has started recording a rise in cholera cases, which health authorities blame on flooding from a recent tropical storm and cyclone. More than 30 people have been infected and two have died. UNICEF is intervening to reduce the spread of the disease.

Malawi confirmed the first cholera case March 2 in the Machinga district.

Health authorities say the disease has so far hit the Nsanje and Machinga districts in southern Malawi with a cumulative number of cases now reaching 33. There have been two deaths as of Friday.

“Out of 33 cases, eight cases were still receiving treatment at the cholera treatment center, Ndamera treatment center specifically. We also have a cumulative number of two deaths. The rest were discharged,” said George Mbotwa, the spokesperson for the Nsanje District Health Office.

He says they have put in place measures to prevent and control the further spread of the disease such as surveillance and contact tracing.

“We are also doing health education; health talks in [evacuation] camps where there are a lot of people and of course in surrounding communities. We have also instituted health workers; HSAs (Health Surveillance Assistants) in all uncharted entry points where actually they are conducting health promotion in water treatment efforts, health talks and all that,” he said. 

Cholera is an acute diarrheal infection caused by ingesting food or water contaminated with bacteria. The disease affects both children and adults if untreated and it can kill within hours. Cholera is more common during the rainy season.

Health authorities in Malawi say the disease is largely a result of floods caused by Tropical Storm Ana and Cyclone Gombe, which hit Malawi in the past two months.

Estere Tsoka, an emergency specialist for the U.N.’s children agency, UNICEF, in Malawi, told VOA that UNICEF is making several interventions to control the further spread of the disease.

“UNICEF is supporting the disinfection of household water sources and also chlorination of water sources at community level that got affected by the floods. UNICEF is also supporting sanitation of the cholera treatment centers that have been established so that they should not become a source of infection,” she said.

Tsoka also says plans are underway to procure a cholera vaccine.

“Also there are plans to administer oral cholera vaccine in eight districts of the country. And UNICEF is providing support to bring in the vaccines in the country and also supporting planning processes for the vaccine’s national campaign.” 

Maziko Matemba, the national health ambassador in Malawi, says cholera can be prevented if community health structures are financially empowered to effectively perform their task of educating communities on matters of hygiene and sanitation particularly in flood-prone areas. 

“Because we already know that we normally have cholera and also floods more especially in that part of Malawi because it’s a low-lying area and our rivers do burst when the rains come more than expected,” Matemba said.

The Ministry of Health said in a statement this week that it is distributing chlorine to communities in affected areas for water treatment as well as sending cholera control information to all the people there through various channels of communication.
…

U.N. human rights officials warn a deepening crackdown on civil society in Libya is creating a chilling effect on human rights defenders and other activists, who are subject to arbitrary arrests and other forms of government intimidation. 

Human rights spokeswoman Liz Throssell says the trend of a shrinking civic space in Libya has been going on for many months. She notes it reached an apex in the run-up to planned presidential elections last December 24.

She says election-related hate speech and smear campaigns attacking the freedom of expression in Libya were at an all-time high during that period.

The U.N.-sponsored election was meant to end a decade of conflict. It was subsequently delayed because of bitter arguments about divisive candidates. However, Throssell notes the hate speech campaigns have not stopped.

“We noted that there are attacks against human rights defenders, journalists, civil society actors and members of social movements, as I said. And these attacks appear aimed to silence movements, such as youth movements, social, cultural, peaceful movements. So, it is a broader concern,” she said.

Throssell says members of the Internal Security Agency and state-affiliated armed groups have arbitrarily detained, tortured, and intimidated human rights and civic activists. That was justified under the pretense of protecting so-called Libyan and Islamic values.

She says videos were posted of seven young men arbitrarily arrested between November and March in the capital, Tripoli. They were seen seemingly confessing to being “atheist, areligious, secular, and feminist.”

“We have received allegations that these confessions were obtained by coercion, raising serious concerns regarding the use of torture, which is absolutely prohibited. These confessions also implicate several other men and women, many of whom have now gone into hiding after receiving death threats,” she said.

Throssell says the Facebook videos have sparked a wave of hate speech against human rights defenders. She says there have been calls to prosecute activists as apostates under Sharia law and for death sentences. She says some campaigners for gender equality and social and cultural rights have fled overseas fearing for their safety.

The human rights office is calling on Libyan authorities to stop the aggressive campaign against Libyans defending their human rights and to release those arbitrarily detained. It says perpetrators of alleged torture and other violations should be prosecuted, including members of the Internal Security Agency.
…

Ethiopia has declared a conditional truce, and its rebel opponents in Tigray have agreed to cease hostilities if certain terms are met.

Does this bring Ethiopia any closer to peace? 

Why now? 

There has been sustained diplomatic pressure to end the conflict between the federal government and rebels aligned to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) that has raged since November 2020.

Diplomats have been shuttling back and forth between the two sides for months. The new U.S. special envoy to the region, David Satterfield, was in Ethiopia earlier this week.

“I think international pressure has played a part in this decision,” Awet Weldemichael, a Horn of Africa security expert at Queen’s University in Canada, told AFP. 

“Ethiopia is facing economic challenges due to the war, meanwhile negotiations have been going on behind the scenes.”  

The U.S. has not imposed sanctions so far but legislation making it possible has been advanced. Limits on financial assistance from international lenders and U.S. development agencies has also been considered.

It comes as Ethiopia faces “one of its worst food crises in decades” with nearly 30% of its 110 million people in dire need of assistance, said Rene Lefort, an independent researcher on the Horn of Africa.

“Yet, Ethiopia cannot face a food crisis without international aid,” Lefort said.

The TPLF has also been forced to reconsider its position. Their stronghold of Tigray reels from what the U.N. says is a de facto blockade on the region where famine looms.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, meanwhile, has abandoned his quest to recapture Tigray to the displeasure of allies in the Amhara region, while confronting a simmering rebellion from an insurgent group in Oromia, Lefort said. 

“In recent months, there has been a change in priority for Abiy Ahmed.”

Will it work? 

The government said it hoped the truce would hasten aid delivery to Tigray, where food, fuel and medicine are desperately needed.

But at present, road convoys would need to pass through the Afar region, where the TPLF is present and local authorities have refused aid passage to Tigray until the rebels withdraw. 

“It is not certain that convoys would be able to resume quickly,” just because a truce was declared, a humanitarian source told AFP. 

Ethiopia made the truce conditional on the TPLF withdrawing from Amhara and Afar.  

The TPLF, in turn, agreed to cease hostilities only if food aid reached Tigray.  

The TPLF may be willing to make concessions on Afar but would not likely withdraw from Amhara, analysts say.  

But the impasse in Afar posed a particular challenge on its own, Lefort said.  

“The Afar government has little control over Afar territory. It will be difficult to prevent the population, which is also hungry, from blocking convoys,” he said.  

Observers said it was also unlikely the TPLF’s opponents in Amhara would open their region to allow aid convoys to travel onward to Tigray.

Is peace near?

The Eurasia Group said both sides continued to see military pressure as a means to extracting concessions ahead of any talks, even if outright victory was no longer the objective.  

“The ‘truce’ effectively acts as a trust-building exercise between the TPLF and federal government, yet a comprehensive and sustainable cease-fire remains unlikely in the short term given both sides’ hardline stances on outstanding issues,” the think tank said.  

The quick restoration of basic services denied to Tigray for months — electricity, communications and banking chief among them — would be a test of the government’s goodwill, observers said.  

The truce “could be a turning point, but it will depend on whether it’s genuinely intentioned,” said Awet.  

“I hope this is a starting point for peace talks but it’s not very promising.” 

What hurdles remain? 

Even if a lasting cease-fire was brokered with the TPLF, the rebels are not the only armed actor in northern Ethiopia.  

Abiy faces increasing pressure from hardliners in the Ahmara elite unhappy the TPLF is not being pursued in Tigray.  

The Amhara have territorial disputes with the TPLF in western Tigray, where they have militias that do not fall under federal control.  

“For some within the Amhara, you have to go all the way to Mekele to crush the TPLF,” said Lefort, referring to the capital of the Tigray region.  

“But authorizing humanitarian convoys to Tigray means giving up this military conquest, and leaving the TPLF in place.”
…

Egyptian officials have unearthed several over 4,000-year-old tombs of palace officials, including senior diplomats, priests and a prince who lived in a time of natural and political crises. For VOA, Hamada Elrasam has this photo gallery with captions by Elle Kurancid.
…

It’s really just a case of wine-wine diplomacy. South African vineyards, buoyed by the trade row between Beijing and Canberra, have seen their exports to China more than double and are even producing wines specifically for the Chinese palate. 

After China slapped a 212% tariff on Australian wines following a diplomatic spat over the origins of COVID-19 in 2020, winemakers in the rolling green vineyards of the bucolic Western Cape knew they could take advantage of the gap in the market. 

“Australia was exporting $1 billion worth of wine to China in 2019, with a dominant market share of around 40% of all imported wine, there is obviously a big gap to fill and the South African category has benefitted,” Marcus Ford, Asia market manager for Wines of South Africa, which represents all local wine exporters, told VOA. 

“So our exports to China have doubled over that period and the momentum looks to be strong,” he added, noting that last year South Africa shipped 458 million rand ($31 million) worth of wine to China, a 59% increase on the previous year.

Catering to the Chinese palate 

Matthew Karan, who is South Africa’s biggest beef exporter, is now also exporting wines, which, as he noted, go well with a good steak. Karan’s AM Vineyards make their own blend, catering specifically to Chinese appetites. 

“We go through a rigorous to and fro with China to make sure our product is for their taste,” Karan told VOA, adding that the Chinese prefer their wine low in tannins and usually favor red wines, red being a lucky color in Chinese culture. 

Morné Le Roux, general manager for Swartland Winery, which also exports to China, agreed, saying Chinese wine connoisseurs prefer mainly dark red wines like “Pinotage, Merlot, Cab Sauv and Cab Sauv/ Merlot,” in an email to VOA. 

“They do not like screw caps, only wine with corks in,” he added, also noting the packaging is of great importance with “red, black, gold and silver in the labels” preferred and green to be avoided. 

However, tastes are changing, and the Chinese market is still quite young, according to Shanghai-based Ford, who said the country went from importing six million 9-litre cases of wine in 2001 to 60 million in 2018 — a tenfold increase in less than two decades. 

“In the north of China, which has a relatively robust appetite for alcohol and strong alcohol, there’s a preference for rich heavy red wines, and in the south there’s more openness to lighter styles and white wines … and there’s a younger generation who’ve embraced white wines, sparkling wines,” he said. 

But Yang Lu, China’s first and only master sommelier, said it is hard to generalize about a “Chinese palate” for a country of over a billion people. 

“I don’t think there’s actually a Chinese palate exists, China is so huge, you know the taste of people, just like the Chinese food are so diverse,” he told VOA from Shanghai. 

As for the future for South African wines on the market, “one of the really positive things that has happened in the past six months is some of the really big international retailers like Sam’s Club and Walmart have taken on new South African listings,” Ford said. That means they are being stocked more widely and smaller retailers may copy the bigger ones. 

Chinese wine market trends 

There are two main demographics of Chinese who are now getting into South African vintages, Ford explained. First, a very wealthy elite that started drinking only the most expensive Bordeaux and Burgundy for about $1,000 a bottle but are now exploring wines from other countries and looking for less expensive bottles of around $100. 

“Then you’ve got curious consumers who’ve started on inexpensive French wines and had their experiences with Chile and Australia, and you know South Africa is very much on the radar for their next port of call,” he added. 

It’s not all smooth sailing for South Africa though, le Roux of Swartland Winery said. “The potential in the market is very big, but building a brand is not easy. Most Chinese clients want their own label and want to be selling exclusively.” 

“In China specifically, South African (wine) doesn’t command the respect we think it’s due,” Karan noted. 

The pandemic and the future 

The pandemic has also caused difficulties, Ford admitted, though prices have stayed much the same. Restrictions and lockdowns mean there has been less demand, with restaurants and supermarkets shuttered and people staying home. 

“I think the biggest impacts in the short term at least will be supply chain problems with ports and customs facilities and those sorts of things being impacted, so there’ll be some disruption, from a logistics perspective,” said Ford. 

Despite some hurdles ahead, sommelier Lu thinks the popularity of South African wines will continue to grow. 

“We just reached a stage that the … general public were looking for more diversity and naturally being one of the most important wine-producing countries in the world, South Africa came into the picture,” he said. 

But also, he noted, wines from the Cape are not only high quality, they’re also affordable. 

“The wine consumer now they’ve become more savvy, they’re looking for a wine that can really give a bang for their bucks.” 

 
…

West Africa’s regional bloc on Friday said it would maintain sanctions on Mali over the military rulers of the Sahel country delaying a return to civilian rule after a coup.

At the end of a summit in Ghana, the Economic Community of West African States also issued warnings to the juntas that recently seized power in Guinea and Burkina Faso.

ECOWAS said military leaders in Guinea should provide “an acceptable timeline for transition” by the end of April, or it would slap punitive measures on the government and the National Transition Council.

The bloc added in a statement that if Burkina Faso’s junta did not free former president Roch Marc Christian Kabore from house arrest by Thursday, “individual sanctions” would also ensue.

The talks in the Ghanian capital, Accra, came three months after the bloc placed tough sanctions on Mali.

They had opened “behind closed doors between heads of state,” Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop tweeted earlier in the day.

The leader of Mali’s junta, Assimi Goita, was invited to the summit, according to an ECOWAS document seen by AFP.

But it was unclear at the opening if he was in attendance, physically or virtually.

The summit came about a week after an ECOWAS envoy for Mali traveled to Bamako, but the talks on restoring civilian rule were inconclusive.

The 15-nation bloc is pushing for Mali’s military, which seized power in 2020, to stage elections within 12-16 months.

But strongman Goita has so far defied international pressure to hold elections.

Four coups since 2020

On Thursday, the court of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) ordered the suspension of the Mali sanctions.

It was unclear whether the ruling would lead to the immediate lifting of the sanctions.

ECOWAS and UEMOA both applied economic and diplomatic sanctions on Mali in January after the junta had proposed staying in power for up to five years.

Mali’s junta views the sanctions as illegal and vowed to challenge them in international courts.

Much of Mali, a vast nation of 21 million people, is plagued by a jihadist conflict that first emerged in 2012 and spread to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.

Goita seized power in Mali in August 2020, then installed an interim government led by civilians.

But in May 2021, he deposed those civilian leaders — in a second coup. He was later sworn in as interim president.

In September last year in Guinea, Colonel Mamady Doumbouya ousted elected president Alpha Conde, who had provoked mass protests by seeking a controversial third term in office.

And Burkina Faso’s Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba toppled Kabore in January following two days of army mutinies amid frustration with the jihadist conflict.

ECOWAS has suspended the membership of the three countries.
…

The United States, the United Kingdom and Norway — known as the Troika — have condemned the South Sudan People’s Defense Force (SSPDF) for attacking SPLA-In Opposition military bases in parts of the Upper Nile region.

“Incidents such as these and the resulting cycles of revenge attacks risk greater violence in the country. They also illustrate the destabilizing and pernicious effects of incentivized defections, as these are often followed by armed clashes,” said Tom Carter, a British Embassy spokesperson in Juba, reading from the Troika statement released by the U.S. Embassy.

The three countries said they are also concerned about reported attacks against cantonment sites and training centers for a unified South Sudanese army. They say the violence betrays a lack of political will to create a unified force, one of the key aspects of the 2018 peace agreement.

The Troika said it regrets the decision by the SPLM/A-IO to withdraw its participation from the security mechanisms and urged all parties to recommit to the peace deal, Carter said.

“We call on the government of South Sudan to exercise leadership and oversight of the nation’s security forces to maintain discipline and compliance with the peace agreement,” Carter said, quoting from the Troika statement.

On Tuesday, the SPLM/A-IO (South Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army-In Opposition), a principal signatory to the peace deal, declared it had pulled out from security mechanism talks as well as the Revitalized Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (R-JMEC).

The decision came following repeated military attacks by SSPDF forces on the group’s military bases in parts of Upper Nile state and “inconsistencies” in attending mechanism meetings and implementing resolutions, according to Colonel Lam Paul Gabriel, the SPLA-IO spokesperson.

Gabriel said the SPLM/A-IO sees little reason to participate in “non-productive meetings” where issues are raised but not resolved.

“What we are seeing is really war which is being put on our table, yet we are here to implement a peace agreement. We cannot continue to be attacked every single day, yet we are here in Juba implementing peace together. It doesn’t show any meaning,” Gabriel told South Sudan in Focus.

SSPDF spokesperson Major General Lul Ruai Koang Wednesday denied the SSPDF launched attacks on SPLA-IO military bases. He said the fighting in Upper Nile erupted after SPLA-IO forces killed an SSPDF officer on March 20.

“[The officer’s] colleagues responded to the gunshots, and they discovered it was their colleague that was shot dead and then skirmishes started towards the direction of Jekou and while they were fleeing, they were being engaged in running battles, so fighting started at Turouw and spread to Jekou,” General Koang told South Sudan in Focus.

Koang said the SPLA-IO “was totally responsible for starting it.”

The Troika called on peace monitors to investigate those who orchestrated such attacks.

Wednesday, R-JMEC expressed concern with the SPLM/A-IO’s withdrawal from the meetings of the security mechanisms for the peace deal, which it called an integral component of the deal’s transitional security arrangements. The body also raised concerns over the reported clashes between the factions.

Carter said that with less than a year to go before the end of South Sudan’s transitional period, “whole-hearted commitment is critical” to getting key agreement provisions past the finish line.
…

The U.S. government on Friday announced it was sanctioning six Nigerians for their support of the terrorist group Boko Haram.

They are alleged to have “materially assisted, sponsored or provided financial, material or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, Boko Haram,” according to a State Department press release.

The sanctioned will have access to assets in the U.S. restricted or blocked. U.S. companies will also be restricted from doing business with those sanctioned.

Boko Haram was officially designated a foreign terrorist group on November 14, 2013.

According to the State Department, the group is “responsible for numerous attacks in the northern and northeastern regions of the country, as well as in the Lake Chad Basin in Cameroon, Chad and Niger that have killed thousands of people since 2009.”

The United Nations says the Boko Haram conflict, which started 13 years ago in northeast Nigeria, has killed more than 350,000 people and displaced 2 million across Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
…

Lizzy Ogaji browses through her phone for an update on the war in Ukraine, hoping for positive news, but finding little to lift her hopes.

She said her brother’s one of many Nigerian students trapped in Kherson, a Ukrainian city on the Black Sea occupied by invading Russian forces. She said he tried to escape the war-torn city this week but was turned around by the Russian military.

She’s scared for his safety.

“I am worried, like seriously worried, because each time I tune to the television, seeing the headlines and the news, in short my heart aches,” Ogaji said.

Kherson fell to Russian forces on March 3, days after the invasion started, trapping hundreds of international students like Ogaji’s brother in the city.

For three weeks now, they have been living in extremely cold bomb shelters with limited access to food, medicine and the internet.

Nigerian authorities have promised to evacuate the students but said that can only happen with a cease-fire in place.

Many students have been making individual escape attempts despite the high risks. Jerry Kenny, who mobilized a pack of foreign nationals trapped in Kherson, made it out days ago.

Kenny said they were living in very deplorable conditions.

“We ran out of food, water and I was out of cash,” Kenny said.

Some of the students escaping Kherson recently have been receiving aid and direction from nonprofit groups trying to evacuate foreign nationals from the city.

Danielle Onyekwere is a co-founder of the U.S.-based Diaspora Relief, a nonprofit organization started to help evacuate foreign nationals from Ukraine. She said without the cease-fire, evacuations in Kherson are risky and expensive.

“Right now, we’re not going off of any safe corridor, there’s no humanitarian corridor as of this time,” Onyekwere said. “What we’re going off with is just routes that we know locals have taken that they made it. So it’s still a risk on its own but it’s just like, why not try than still stay stranded there while we’re waiting on negotiations, especially if things are getting worse.”

But while Ogaji’s brother remains stuck in Ukraine, she communicates with him daily and said it gives her family hope.

“He never showed any negative feeling of the situation in Ukraine, he always encourages me, he’ll say, ‘Don’t worry sister I’ll be fine.’”

No one knows if a cease-fire will be agreed to anytime soon. For now, an escape attempt might be his only chance to leave Kherson.
…

Ghana’s president, Nana Akufo-Addo, and his ministers reduced their wages by 30 percent amid a raft of other measures to cut expenditures in the wake of rising fuel prices caused mainly by the Ukraine crisis.

In a much anticipated address to the nation, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta said the government hoped to save around $400 million through measures, which include the immediate suspension of foreign travel by government appointees, except for critical missions, and the purchase of imported vehicles.

He said the government has no option but to respond to developments on the global market to save the economy.

“It is important to stress, right from the onset, that the difficulties we are facing in Ghana are not peculiar to Ghana. Governments in both developed and developing countries are busily coming out with various prescriptions to bring their economies back on track, after the devastating impact of COVID-19 which distorted global supply chains, and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.”

In response, the opposition led by Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu told the media at a press conference that the president’s measures are populist and inadequate to cushion Ghanaians from hardship.

“He is lost touch with reality,” Iddrisu said. “He’s not in tune with the state of the Ghanaian economy. Our economy today is one that reflects nothing less than a cost-of-living crisis and a cost of doing business crisis, both for citizens and for businesses who are unable to cope with the measures so announced by the minister for finance. We do not find his proposed measures adequate enough.”

For his part, economist Patrick Asuming told VOA News that cutting expenses is a good move, but it is insignificant to achieve any long-term impact on the economy.

“I believe in medium to long term solutions,” he said. “I think we’re in crisis and we need to fight the fire. But beyond stabilizing the currency over the next few months or the rest of the year, some things will have to give. Also, it’s not enough to say ‘I’m going to do all these cuts to government sector workers and political appointees till the rest of the year.’ I think we need more substantial reforms.”

In the weeks or months ahead, Ghanaians will be looking to see how the measures will affect the economy and also ease the high cost of living.
…

The Ethiopian government and rebels in the embattled Tigray region have declared a truce to allow humanitarian aid to reach millions in need. Food, water and medicine in the northern region have been limited for months due to the ongoing conflict and accusations that both sides are blocking roads.

Some aid organizations are still studying the government’s statement on the cease-fire in the Tigray region to determine how much access they will have.

In a statement to VOA, Oxfam International Country Director Gezahegn Kebede Gebrehena called on all warring parties to honor the truce and allow aid agencies unfettered access to the communities.

However, Hassan Khannenje, the head of the Horn Institute for Strategic Studies, does not believe the government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, or TPLF, will give aid groups a free hand.

Both sides, he says, may fear exposing human rights abuses.

“They may be afraid in certain instances the humanitarian organization may have access to evidence of the crimes that were committed during the war, and so I do not think they are going to have a free access to every part they want or to every human who is going to be in need. But to the extent they will have some access is positive,” Khannenje said.

The Ethiopian government launched a military operation against the TPLF rebel group in November 2020. The 16-month conflict has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people, and displaced millions.

The conflict spread to other parts of the country and at one point, rebel groups threatened to march to the capital to topple Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government.

Obang Metho, a social justice activist, welcomes the temporary halt to the conflict.

“There are so many people who are suffering not only in Tigray region but throughout Ethiopia in Afar region, Amhara region,” Metho said. “Those people definitely need assistance. So the truce is not only what is happening in the Tigray region alone. I think what is happening in Ethiopia. I hope that it will lead to helping people.”

Khannenje says the pressure exerted on the Ethiopian government and rebel groups has paid off.

“In part, it’s in response to the growing calls by the international community, especially the West, to allow humanitarian access to the Tigray region,” he said. “It is also partly informed by the growing confidence of the Abiy Ahmed government to contain the Tigray. They no longer see them as an existential threat like they saw them a couple of months ago.”

The aid groups estimate at least 9.4 million people in Ethiopia need urgent humanitarian aid after fleeing their farms and homes due to conflict.
…

Tigrayan rebels agreed to a “cessation of hostilities” on Friday, a new turning point in the nearly 17-month war in northern Ethiopia following the government’s announcement of an indefinite humanitarian truce a day earlier.

The rebels said in a statement sent to AFP early Friday that they were “committed to implementing a cessation of hostilities effective immediately,” and urged Ethiopian authorities to hasten delivery of emergency aid into Tigray, where hundreds of thousands face starvation.

Since war broke out in November 2020, thousands have died, and many more have been forced to flee their homes as the conflict has expanded from Tigray to the neighboring regions of Amhara and Afar.

Thursday, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government declared a surprise truce, saying it hoped the move would ease humanitarian access to Tigray and “pave the way for the resolution of the conflict” in northern Ethiopia.

It called on the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) to “desist from all acts of further aggression and withdraw from areas they have occupied in neighboring regions.”

The rebels in turn urged “the Ethiopian authorities to go beyond empty promises and take concrete steps to facilitate unfettered humanitarian access to Tigray.”

The conflict erupted when Abiy sent troops into Tigray to topple the TPLF, the region’s former ruling party, saying the move came in response to rebel attacks on army camps.

Fighting has dragged on for over a year, triggering a humanitarian crisis, as accounts have emerged of mass rapes and massacres, with both sides accused of human rights violations.

More than 400,000 people have been displaced in Tigray, according to the UN.

The region has also been subject to what the UN says is a de facto blockade.

The United States has accused Abiy’s government of preventing aid from reaching those in need, while the authorities in turn have blamed the rebels for the obstruction.

Nearly 40 percent of the people in Tigray, a region of six million people, face “an extreme lack of food”, the U.N. said in January, with fuel shortages forcing aid workers to deliver medicines and other crucial supplies on foot.

Ceasefire efforts

Western nations have been urging both sides to agree to a ceasefire, with the U.S., the European Union, the UK and Canada hailing the truce declaration.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States “urges all parties to build on this announcement to advance a negotiated and sustainable ceasefire, including necessary security arrangements.”

“The #EU welcomes the declaration of a humanitarian truce by the Gov of #Ethiopia and the statement on cessation of hostilities by the Tigrayan Authorities”, the EU delegation to Ethiopia said on Twitter.

Washington angered Ethiopia’s government by removing trading privileges for the country over rights concerns during the war, but has stopped short of imposing sanctions in hopes of encouraging a ceasefire.

The new U.S. special envoy for the Horn of Africa, David Satterfield, visited Ethiopia this week to meet the African Union’s envoy to the region Olusegun Obasanjo, government and UN officials, as well as representatives of humanitarian groups.

Diplomats led by Obasanjo have been trying for months to broker peace talks, with little evident progress so far.

Analysts said the truce was an important step but urged the government to follow up the announcement with action and ease humanitarian access to Tigray, where hundreds of thousands are living in famine-like conditions, according to the U.N.

“The unconditional and unrestricted delivery of aid could also help create enough trust to pave the way for ceasefire talks and, eventually, dialogue,” said William Davison, the International Crisis Group’s senior analyst for Ethiopia.

Aid shortages

More than nine million people need food aid across Afar, Amhara and Tigray, according to the UN’s World Food Program.

But humanitarian organizations have been forced to increasingly curtail activities because of fuel and supply shortages.

“WFP operations in the Tigray region have ground to a halt, with only emergency fuel stocks and less than one percent of the required food stocks remaining,” the agency said this week.

The government previously declared a “unilateral ceasefire” in Tigray in June last year, after the TPLF mounted a shock comeback and retook the region from federal forces before expanding into Amhara and Afar.

But fighting intensified in the second half of 2021, with the rebels at one point claiming to be within 200 kilometers of the capital Addis Ababa, before reaching a stalemate.
…

The leader of Somalia’s Hirshabelle region says dozens of people were killed Wednesday in attacks in the city of Beledweyne, including a member of the Somali parliament. Several more people died when militants opened fire at an airport in Somalia’s capital. 

In an address aired by state TV, Hirshabelle region president Ali Gudlawe said authorities have been gathering information since Wednesday night about victims in Beledweyne. He said there are 48 confirmed dead and 108 injured.

The attacks began when a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest blew himself up at the local government headquarters. Later, another suicide bomber drove an explosive-laden car into a crowd of people who had gathered to help those wounded in the first attack.  

Separately, two gunmen opened fire at Mogadishu’s main airport on Wednesday, killing at least six people before the gunmen were shot and killed by security guards.  

Militant group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attacks in both cities. 

Gudlawe said this was the worst attack Beledweyne has seen, and it terrorized the entire town. 

He offered his first condolences to the family and friends of Amina Mohamed Abdi, a member of parliament killed by a suicide bomber.  

Abdi’s body was flown to Mogadishu for a funeral Thursday that was attended by Somali Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble, the speaker of parliament and other well-known Mogadishu politicians. 

Both Roble and Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo condemned the twin attacks in Beledweyne, as well as the attack in Mogadishu. They said the attacks were meant to disrupt Somalia’s elections and intimidate the Somali people and international partners.  

According to Somalia’s election commission, 246 out of 275 members of parliament’s lower house have been chosen through Somalia’s system of indirect elections.  

Once all the members are selected, lawmakers will choose a new president on a date to be determined.  

 
…

Ethiopia’s government on Thursday declared “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.  

Since war broke out in northern Ethiopia in November 2020, thousands have died, and many more have been forced to flee their homes as the conflict has expanded from Tigray to the neighboring regions of Amhara and Afar.  

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government “is committed to exert maximum effort to facilitate the free flow of emergency humanitarian aid into the Tigray region,” it said in a statement.  

“To optimize the success of the humanitarian truce, the government calls upon the insurgents in Tigray to desist from all acts of further aggression and withdraw from areas they have occupied in neighboring regions,” it said.  

“The government of Ethiopia hopes that this truce will substantially improve the humanitarian situation on the ground and pave the way for the resolution of the conflict in the northern Ethiopia without further bloodshed.”  

The conflict erupted when Abiy sent troops into Tigray to topple the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the region’s former ruling party, saying the move came in response to rebel attacks on army camps.   

Fighting has dragged on for over a year, triggering a humanitarian crisis, as accounts have emerged of mass rapes and massacres, with both sides accused of human rights violations.  

More than 400,000 people have been displaced in Tigray, according to the U.N.  

The region has also been subject to what the U.N. says is a de facto blockade.   

The United States has accused Abiy’s government of preventing aid from reaching those in need, while the authorities in turn have blamed the rebels for the obstruction.  

Nearly 40 percent of the people in Tigray, a region of 6 million people, face “an extreme lack of food,” the U.N. said in January, with fuel shortages forcing aid workers to deliver medicines and other crucial supplies on foot.  

There was no immediate reaction from the TPLF to the government’s announcement.  

‘Welcome news’ 

Western nations have been urging both sides to agree to a cease-fire, with Britain and Canada hailing the truce declaration.  

“The UK welcomes the Government of Ethiopia’s decision to announce an indefinite humanitarian truce, and to ensure unimpeded access of aid into Tigray. We call on Tigrayan authorities to reciprocate,” the British embassy in Ethiopia said on Twitter.  

Canada’s embassy to Ethiopia and Djibouti said on Twitter that the announcement was “welcome news, as aid is urgently needed in northern Ethiopia.”  

Diplomats led by Olusegun Obasanjo, the African Union’s special envoy for the Horn of Africa, have been trying for months to broker peace talks, with little evident progress so far.  

Analysts said the truce was an important step but urged the government to follow up the announcement with action and ease humanitarian access to Tigray.  

“The unconditional and unrestricted delivery of aid could also help create enough trust to pave the way for ceasefire talks and, eventually, dialogue,” said William Davison, the International Crisis Group’s senior analyst for Ethiopia.  

‘Ground to a halt’  

More than 9 million people need food aid across Afar, Amhara and Tigray, according to the U.N.’s World Food Program.  

But humanitarian organizations have been forced to increasingly curtail activities because of fuel and supply shortages.   

“WFP operations in the Tigray region have ground to a halt, with only emergency fuel stocks and less than one percent of the required food stocks remaining,” the agency said this week.   

A TPLF push into Afar has worsened the situation, driving up the need for emergency aid in the region.  

The road from Afar’s capital, Semera, to Tigray’s capital Mekele is the only operational land route into Tigray, where the UN estimates hundreds of thousands are living in famine-like conditions.  

The government previously declared a “unilateral cease-fire” in Tigray in June last year, after the TPLF mounted a shock comeback and retook the region from federal forces.   

But fighting intensified in the second half of 2021, with the rebels at one point claiming to be within 200 kilometers of the capital Addis Ababa, before reaching a stalemate.  
…