On World Tuberculosis Day, Nigeria said cases of the disease increased by nearly 50 percent last year. At a summit Thursday to heighten awareness of the disease, health authorities said to tackle the epidemic, they need to close a huge funding gap.  

At least 200 people attended the ministerial briefing Thursday in Abuja, where health authorities said confirmed cases jumped from about 138,000 in 2020 to more than 207,000 cases last year.

Health minister Osagie Ehanire said the actual number of cases is probably higher.  

“There’s still a significant gap between the estimated and the notified cases,” he said. “The 207,000 which I spoke of represents only 45 percent of what we estimated.” 

Health authorities said the increase was as a result of heightened surveillance and that Nigeria was one of the few countries in the world to sustain its TB detection program despite COVID-19 disruptions. 

Authorities said there is still a huge funding shortage when it comes to tuberculosis interventions, as only 31% of funding needed for TB control in 2020 was achieved. 

“This year’s world TB Day theme, ‘Invest to End TB, Save Lives,’ is a call to action that resonates with the most critical needs of Nigeria’s national TB program,” said Rachel Goldstein, officer for HIV and TB control for the U.S. Agency for International Development. “We know that the program currently has a significant funding gap, and that’s something we’ve got to work together to advocate for additional resources.”  

Every year, about 590,000 new cases of tuberculosis occur in Nigeria, and around 200,000 people die. 

Experts said apart from low awareness, stigmatization prevents early reporting of the disease.

Joyce Agerl was diagnosed with tuberculosis in 2019, but only began her treatment late last year. Now, she’s helping to warn others about the dangers of the disease. 

“For me, one way I’ll help to give more to the society is to talk to someone about TB,” she said, “and another way is to also do my own publicity on social media.” 

Tuberculosis is a bacterial disease that affects the lungs. Nigeria has the sixth-highest TB burden in the world, and has the most cases in Africa.  

 
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Cameroon’s public health ministry says a cholera outbreak is sweeping across the towns of Limbe, Buea and Tiko, near the border with Nigeria.

The government says 12 of the 600 patients rushed to hospitals in those towns died within the past 72 hours.

Nyenti Annereke, director of the Limbe government hospital, said the facility, which has a capacity of 200 beds, has received more than 240 cholera patients.

“We built three tents in Limbe hospital yesterday because patients were at the veranda, in the corridors of the wards,” he said. “All the beds were full. The Tiko district hospital, the capacity also is overpowered. The hospital in Bota is another crisis zone.”

To cope with the overflow, humanitarian workers are helping to erect tents at the hospitals in Limbe and Buea.

Still, The government says many families are rushing their sick relatives to surrounding towns, including Mutengene and Douala, a commercial hub on the Atlantic coast.

Bernard Okalia Bilai, governor of the South West region where Limbe, Tiko and Buea are located, chaired at least three crisis meetings on Wednesday.

Bilai said the cholera outbreak is caused by a shortage of clean drinking water in western towns and villages provoked by the long dry season and civilians should desist from drinking open stream water. He said the disease is spreading fast because cattle and civilians defecate in the open and in rivers.

“Our structures, the hospitals are overloaded, but thank God that the medical officers in charge of those hospitals have been proactive and they have taken measures to receive various patients,” he said. “All the patients are under treatment.”

Bilai said the government will provide water to arid towns like Limbe, Buea and Tiko and surrounding villages but did not say when.

Meanwhile, health officials are moving from door to door encouraging civilians to boil water from wells and streams before drinking it.

The government says people should also eat only properly cooked food and wash their hands before and after meals, and after using the bathroom.

Another cholera outbreak in Cameroon in February affected 1,300 people and killed about three dozen.
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Kenya’s tea and flower exporters say global sanctions to punish Russia for invading Ukraine have halted millions of dollars of Kenyan trade with Russian importers. While they hope for peace, Kenyan traders are looking for alternative buyers. Victoria Amunga reports from Kajiado, Kenya.
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Relatives of the late former prime minister of Mali say the country’s military government has refused to turn over his body unless they agree not to request an autopsy.  

Soumeylou Boubèye Maiga died March 21, 2022, at a Bamako hospital after seven months in detention.  

Maiga served under former President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who was deposed in a 2020 coup. Maiga was arrested in August 2021 on charges of fraud. 

His health deteriorated while in jail, and his family repeatedly sought permission to get him released for treatment. For the last three months, he has been under guard at a Bamako clinic.  

At Maiga’s home in central Bamako on March 22, where his family gathered to receive guests, his brother Mohamed Boubèye Maiga said the military government has refused to hand over his body unless the family agrees not to request an autopsy. 

He added that Maiga’s family, friends and lawyers had been refused access to Maiga in recent months as his health deteriorated, so no loved ones were present when Maigi died. 

Several Malian political parties, along with the head of Mali’s U.N. mission and the president of neighboring Niger, have publicly reacted to Maiga’s death.  

The spokesperson for a group of opposition parties, Ismael Sacko, talked to VOA from Bamako via a messaging app.  

Sacko said Maiga’s death could have been a form of political assassination, so an investigation is crucial.   

Aguibou Bouare, president of Mali’s National Human Rights Commission, a governmental agency that investigates human rights abuse accusations, said that the commission monitored Maiga’s case, but it was denied access to the former prime minister while he was in the hospital. 

Bouare said that all prisoners, including Maiga, who had not yet been tried have the right to medical treatment and to receive visits from family. Human rights must be respected at all times, in all places, and in all circumstances, he said, especially during exceptional circumstances and periods of crisis. 

VOA attempted to reach a Malian army spokesman for comment, but got no response. 

The government released a short statement Monday announcing Maiga’s death “after a long illness.”

The military government ordered Radio France Internationale and France 24 off the air last week after RFI and Human Rights Watch reported on alleged human rights abuses by Mali’s army. 

 
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 Aid agencies working in East Africa warn of a massive humanitarian crisis if the coming rainy season falls short of expectations. The aid groups say persistent drought has left 44 million people in urgent need of assistance across Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan.

Millions of people are on the move in East Africa as drought takes their livelihoods and most are forced to flee their homes in search of food and water.

Francesco Rigamoti is the regional humanitarian coordinator for Oxfam Horn East and Central Africa. He says if nothing is done, the situation is poised to get worse in coming weeks.

“The crisis can actually worsen until and beyond June if the March to May rains fail to be average or below average,” he said. “There is a concrete possibility that in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia, only between 15 and 20 million people will be in IPC 3 phase and above and unfortunately, the experts are telling us in South Sudan already between May and July 8.3 million people will be in this situation.”

The aid agencies use the IPC scale to classify households’ food insecurity. IPC phase 3 means the households have food consumption gaps that can lead to acute malnutrition.

Since January, at least 13 million people in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia have been displaced in search of water and pastures for their livestock.

In Kenya, crop production has dropped by 70%.

Oxfam International head Gabriela Bucher traveled to Somali regions to witness the drought situation and what it is doing to people. She says communities are finding it difficult to adapt to the change in weather patterns.

“For centuries pastoralists have had an extremely resilient and incredible coping mechanism in very harsh conditions but the current situation, the severity of the long drought extension and how many countries are affected is breaking those traditional mechanisms and in reality, we see that the climate crisis is present there and they are suffering the worst consequences of something that [they did] nothing to generate. So we know this is an issue of justice because it’s us, the global community that needs to be aware and respond,” she said.

The aid agencies say more than 650,000 Somalis have fled their homes due to drought, leaving almost half of the children under the age of five acutely malnourished.

Javier Rio Navarro is head of ECHO Somalia, a European Union emergency response organization. He says the country is facing famine.

“Today, we face a number of hard truths in Somalia,” he said. “The consequences of the drought are catastrophic and pose a very real threat of famine in the country. The other real truth is that the capacities of the partners are overstretched and the additional reality is that additional funding is hard to come by. Hence collectively, we need to recognize that the single common priority of humanitarians in Somalia today is to save lives.”

In 2017 humanitarian organizations averted possible famine by getting supplies to communities in hard-to-reach areas on time and using the lessons learned during the 2011 famine which killed a quarter of a million people.

Aid agencies are appealing for more funding to reach millions and save lives.
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The U.N. refugee agency and partners are working with Mozambique’s government to aid thousands of families devastated by Cyclone Gombe, which struck the island nation earlier this month.

Cyclone Gombe swept across central and northern Mozambique on March 11, destroying homes, flooding farmland, and forcing tens of thousands of people to flee in search of safety.

Initial relief efforts were delayed because of storm damage to many key roads. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says about 60 people were killed, more than 80 injured and some 488,000 were affected by Gombe.

It was the strongest storm to strike Mozambique since Cyclones Idai and Kenneth wreaked havoc on the island nation in 2019.

U.N. refugee agency spokesman Boris Cheshirkov said more than 380,000 people were affected in Nampula province alone. He said the victims, who include tens of thousands of displaced people, need urgent humanitarian assistance.

“While the intensity and impact of Cyclone Gombe appears to be less severe than Idai and Kenneth, this was a category 4 storm which brought fierce winds of up to 190 kilometers per hour, heavy rain, and thunderstorms,” Cheshirkov said. “It damaged critical infrastructure. It cut power and communications in Nampula City, as well as the nearby Maratane refugee settlement.”

He said sites in Cabo Delgado province hosting tens of thousands of people displaced by violent armed attacks also have been badly affected. He says the UNHCR is distributing essential items from its stockpiles to help them. Those goods will assist 62,000 refugees, internally displaced people, and host communities.

“Every region in the world is experiencing climate hazards…Those with the least means to adapt are hit the hardest, including refugees, internally displaced and stateless people,” Cheshirkov said. “Women, children, older people, people with disabilities, and indigenous peoples are disproportionately affected.”

The United Nations says the full impact and magnitude of damage done by Cyclone Gombe is not yet known and is likely to be more serious than initial findings indicate.

Cheshirkov said the UNHCR and its partners are assessing the protection and humanitarian needs of displaced cyclone survivors. Besides basic needs for shelter, food and healthcare, he expects many will require protection from sexual exploitation and abuse as well as counseling to help them deal with mental trauma.
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The president of Somaliland is wrapping up a U.S. visit without the formal recognition he had sought for the self-declared republic. But he nonetheless is viewing his trip as a success.  

“The most important thing to us which we discuss with people is recognition” as an independent sovereign nation and not as part of Somalia, Muse Bihi Abdi told VOA’s Somali Service in an interview Saturday.  

He arrived March 13 for a series of meetings to court support from U.S. government officials, U.N. personnel, think tanks and civil society leaders. He plans to return to Somaliland later this week.   

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

“Welcomed the opportunity to meet … and discuss strengthening U.S. engagement with Somaliland within the framework of our single Somalia policy,” the State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs tweeted March 14 after Bihi met with its assistant secretary, Molly Phee. 

The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s ranking member, Republican Jim Risch of Idaho, responded by tweeting that the United States “should not limit ourselves to a ‘single #Somalia’ policy.” He added that the administration “should explore ALL areas of engagement in the region.”  

Risch and two fellow committee members – Republican Mike Rounds and Democrat Chris Van Hollen – introduced a bill last week that would require the State Department to report to Congress on its engagement with Somaliland and would authorize a study on the feasibility of establishing a direct U.S.-Somaliland partnership. 

Bihi – who was welcomed at a bipartisan congressional reception Thursday – has invited the United States to establish a diplomatic presence in Somaliland’s capital, Hargeisa. 

Somaliland projects itself as a comparatively calm and stable partner in the tempestuous Horn of Africa region, where Somalia has been battling al-Shabab militants for more than a decade and neighboring Ethiopia has been caught up in civil war since November 2020.  

The breakaway state also is strategically located on the Gulf of Aden, near Djibouti — home to the only permanent U.S. military base in Africa and the first overseas base for China — the Heritage Foundation pointed out in introducing Bihi’s keynote address last week at the conservative think tank’s Washington offices.    

Talks have faltered 

Somaliland in 1991 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. 

Bihi blames the stalemate on the Mogadishu government, saying it doesn’t want to negotiate with Somaliland.  

“Despite nine rounds of talks … the status of Somaliland never materialized,” he said in his Heritage Foundation remarks.   

Somaliland sees “no future in the continuation of that dialogue with Somalia and is prepared to pursue all available avenues for its international recognition,” Bihi continued. “Somaliland believes that the international community has a moral obligation to support Somaliland’s pursuit of international recognition.”   

But he noted in his interview with VOA, the United States “stood where other governments and Europe stand, which is ‘this issue is for Africa'” to determine. 

The African Union has not recognized Somaliland as a sovereign and independent nation, nor has any individual country. 

Somali’s presidential palace, the ministry of foreign affairs and the information minister did not respond to VOA’s requests for comment on Somaliland.  

But last June 26, three decades after Somaliland gained independence from Britain, Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed expressed hope for a unified country. 

“I ask Allah to realize our dream, which is the return of our unity,” said Mohamed, widely known as Farmaajo. “The people in the North and South need each other. Let us come back to each other and leave out minor interests.”  

Relations with Taiwan 

Speaking with VOA, Bihi compared Somaliland’s status with that of Taiwan, an East Asian self-governing island that China has considered part of its territory since the Communist takeover in 1949. 

“Taiwan and us: We have the same cause. We are two countries that are not recognized,” Bihi said. 

Somaliland’s leader said the Taiwanese “are developed economically, successful in education. We need to learn from their experiences on how they maneuvered.”    

Somaliland and Taiwan established diplomatic relations in July 2020. At the time, Taiwan’s foreign ministry said of the agreement to establish good relations: “We’re thousands of miles apart but share a deep-seated love of freedom & democracy.”  

Somalia and China, which has veto power on the U.N. Security Council, condemned the move.  

But Bihi said Somaliland-Taiwanese ties were not meant to antagonize any other government.  

China has “no right to get angry,” he said. “We are an independent country, and we can establish relations with anyone we want.    

“We are ready to have good relations with China,” Bihi said of Somaliland. “China needs us, we need them. We would like to have good relations. We don’t harbor ill will toward them, and we hope it’s the same on their side.” 

This report originated in VOA’s Somali Service.    

 
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Political analysts say South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has undercut his own utility as a potential mediator of the war in Ukraine with a controversial suggestion that NATO’s own actions are to blame for Russia’s invasion of its western neighbor.

Ramaphosa has said he prefers negotiations over weapons or economic sanctions, in reference to sanctions piled on Russia by the United States and Western allies in the aftermath of the invasion, now in its fourth week.

“The war could have been avoided if NATO had heeded the warnings from amongst its own leaders and officials over the years that its eastward expansion would lead to greater, not less, instability in the region,” Ramaphosa told parliament last Thursday.

But he added that South Africa “cannot condone the use of force and violation of international law.”

The South African president said South Africa had been asked to mediate in the conflict, but he did not mention who requested the intervention.

University of Western Australia analyst Dr. Muhammad Dan Suleiman told VOA that Ramaphosa’s “outrageous” comment is “more like stoking the fire of conflict (and) projecting a paradigm of war rather than peace.” He said the comment undercuts any possibility for Ramaphosa to mediate peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.

Longtime allies

Africa’s most industrialized nation has long-standing relations with the Kremlin dating back to the 1960s. During South Africa’s apartheid regime, the Soviet Union backed anti-apartheid freedom fighters.

After majority control came to South Africa in 1994, politicians, including those of the ruling African National Congress, maintained ties with Moscow, which observers say makes it no surprise that South Africa has not condemned Russia’s invasion.

Suleiman said there is no historical reason that gratitude for Soviet support during the apartheid era should translate to a defense of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

”For whatever reason, (Ramaphosa) seems to be equating Russia to the Soviet Union. And that is not true, because Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union. And so, whatever help the Soviet Union gave to the ANC during apartheid also had the contribution of Ukraine,” Suleiman said.

Prince Mashele, executive director at the Center for Politics and Research in Pretoria, said Ramaphosa’s position doesn’t reflect the current thinking of most South Africans.

”You can’t have a foreign policy that is frozen in the past. Foreign policy has to be dynamic. If (Ramaphosa) had a flexible policy, he would appreciate that the Russia of today is not the Russia of yesteryear.”

Mashele told VOA, “Ramaphosa is trapped by his own political party, the ANC, and so, the position he articulates doesn’t reflect his own personal preference. In the ANC, there are relics of the old world aligned with the Communist Party of South Africa and (are) still active,” Mashele said.

Mashele disagrees with some analysts’ assertions that Black South Africans in 2022 continue to look to Moscow for support.

”I am Black. I come from Black communities. The majority of Black South Africans are actually inspired by the West. Their culture, mannerisms, are an extension of the West, in terms of thinking.”

He added, ”Black South Africans don’t even wish to visit Moscow. They wish to visit New York, or Dubai in the East, or Europe. And so, the position that is articulated by Ramaphosa on behalf of South Africans doesn’t reflect the thinking of Black people. It only represents the thinking of a political clique in the ANC.”
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Sudanese human rights defenders are welcoming the U.S. Treasury Department’s imposition of sanctions against Sudan’s Central Reserve Police (CRP) for using excessive violence against peaceful protesters. But these activists say the U.S. and other nations should take further measures against the military regime that took power in Sudan last year.

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced Monday that “all property and interests in property of the CRP that are in or come within the United States, or that are in the possession or control of U.S. persons, are blocked and must be reported to OFAC.”

Mohamed Osman, a Human Rights Watch researcher in Khartoum, said the CRP has been accused of oppressing Sudanese protesters since the coup on October 25. He noted that the police unit has a well-documented record of abuse during the 2018 and 2019 protests that led to the overthrow of longtime president Omar al-Bashir and, before that, in conflict areas of Darfur and Kordofan.

“The move is long overdue,” Osman told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus. He said HRW’s own research found that the CRP also led post-coup crackdowns on protesters on Nov. 17, 2021, and January 17 of this year.

Sanctions appreciated

Osman appreciates the sanctions but believes they should be part of a larger package of punitive measures to be effective.

Repeated attempts to reach Sudan police spokesperson Brigadier General Hassan el-Tijani Ahmed for comment received no reply.

Sudan’s military-led Sovereign Council issued a statement on December 31 condemning violence against protesters and directed “legal and security” authorities to address the issue. The Council also announced it had launched an investigation into allegations of rape and other abuses committed against civilians during protests on December 19 which were highlighted in a United Nations report. Results of any investigation have not been made public.

Human rights violations

The Central Reserve Police have carried out human rights violations against peaceful Sudanese protesters for years, according to Shadin Fadil, a human rights defender who has been active in the Sudanese pro-democracy movement.

“Once we see them in the streets, we know for sure that actually we are going to lose lives, people might be losing limbs, and that violations, especially against women, and humiliation to the people[‘s] dignity is coming on the way when they are seen in the streets,” Fadil said.

She said other Sudanese security forces are just as guilty as the Central Reserve Police of committing human rights abuses.

“While we welcome the step taken by the U.S. Treasury Department, we still think that there are other security forces that actually are as brutal and as violent as the CRP, including the security services and the Rapid Support Forces,” Fadil told VOA.

Sanctions welcomed

Salma Nour, a member of the Sudanese Professional Association, said she is pleased to hear about the new Treasury sanctions, but called on the U.S. to expand them to include leaders of Sudanese security forces, police commanders, national security leaders, and those that run the Rapid Support Forces who abused protesters.

“To sanction these forces, it’s not enough to stop the violence in Khartoum and in Sudan because leaders of those forces are still there, and there are no sanctions on them,” Nour told South Sudan in Focus.

Osman also called for a greater package of sanctions. “Such a package should clearly address the calculating nature of this repression. It should also target those on the top, be connected to benchmarks set by the demands of the movement, and ultimately should aim to influence the behavior of the security forces on the ground in a way that would provide a safe space for protesters,” he said.
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Escalating violence by unidentified armed groups in Cabo Delgado has sent tens of thousands of people fleeing for their lives since the start of the year
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Somalia is facing its most severe drought in over three decades, with more than half of the population in dire need of food and water. The U.N. said earlier this month that parts of the country could soon plunge into famine.
Dead livestock, emaciated children and a constant call for help has become the norm in Somalia as a severe drought ravages the Horn of Africa nation.

The United Nations estimates 7.7 million people, or more than half of the population, are facing severe hunger or starvation this year.

“The scale is very serious, I was in Dollow and Juba river which is a permanent and very big river, one of the biggest in the country, is almost dry and this is as a result of lack of adequate rains for almost two years,” said Simon Nyabwenge, the World Vision Country director in Somalia. “In 2019, I crossed to same Juba river with traditional canoe, it was full of water. And seeing it drying to this extent was very alarming and is indication that people are really suffering.”

With close to three million people already internally displaced by previous droughts and conflicts, Somalia is now forced to contend with more displacements amid shrinking donor aid to redeem this situation.

“In terms of actual numbers, when you look at last month and look at this month, 3.2 million people were in need of food assistance last month but right now, 4.3 million people, so within a month, 1.1 million people have moved to food insecure, so that is severe the situation is,” Nyabwenge said.

In Gedo region which borders Kenya, deaths linked to food and water shortages have been reported, as local authorities and aid agencies try to avert the crisis. .

Ibrahim Guled Adan, the district commissioner of El Wak district, confirmed that five people have died of hunger and thirst in the district. The dead included two children and three adults. He said in the past, people used donkeys and camels to fetch water, but the donkeys and camels are dead now because there is nothing to eat.

With farmers now forced out of their homes, food security in Somalia could get worse.

Hassan Elmi Hassan was a farmer in Qooqane, on the outskirts of Beledweyne town.  He said he and other farmers left the countryside as the river dried up and made farming impossible.  He now works as a construction worker.

The Somali government recently declared a state of emergency due to the scale of drought, which it says has affected 80 percent of the population. Since then, the situation has worsened and the U.N. this week said 700,000 people had been displaced from their homes.

As the drought gets more severe, there are fears Somalia could sink into a famine. A deadly famine killed over 250,000 people in 2011 and displaced millions.

Concerted efforts by Somali government and the international community averted a famine in 2017 and similar efforts will be needed this year to stem the tide.
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On the commemoration of World Water Day, UNICEF is raising concerns about Nigeria, where an estimated 70% of water at the point of consumption is contaminated.

The U.N. agency said the contamination is why Nigeria has the world’s highest number of deaths from waterborne disease among children under five years old.

Closely built temporary shelters are the norm at sites for internally displaced people, such as the Kuchigoro camp of Abuja.

Camp officials say up to 3,000 IDPs live in Kuchigoro after fleeing Boko Haram attacks in their homes. But access to water is a daily struggle, says Bitrus Yusuf, an official at the camp.

“Our women usually go to nearby estates looking for water, begging for water,” Yusuf said. “We are highly in need of water for our daily use. As you can see the camp is compacted.”

Yusuf says the congested tents and the lack of access to water and proper hygiene make the camp prone to diseases.

He says cholera outbreaks have been recurring, and other diseases like dysentery or diarrhea are also common.

Last August, about 40 cases of cholera were reported, and camp officials said at least 10 people died, including Istifanus Bitrus’ four-year-old son.

“It affected two of my children, but one eventually died on our way to the hospital,” Bitrus said. “The other one was treated at the hospital, people helped me with money, and he got better.”

Camp officials said the cholera outbreak was later found to be caused by sewage leaking into the camp’s only water source.

UNICEF said 70% of water at the point of consumption is contaminated and that children are the most affected.

As a result, UNICEF says 117,000 children die in Nigeria each year due to water-related illnesses – the highest number of any nation.

Jane Bevan is UNICEF’s chief of water, sanitation and hygiene program, or WASH.

“If there’s no constraint on open defecation, for example people are defecating in water courses and on the surface, this contamination will percolate into the ground water inevitably,” Bevan said. “So, the only answer is really to treat water safely before it’s consumed and ideally to reduce open defecation as much as possible.”

Nigerian authorities have been trying to improve access to water but experts said authorities must also make improvements in water hygiene.

The U.N.’s first-ever assessment of water security in Africa, released Monday, shows up to half a billion people are living in areas designated as water insecure, including Nigeria.
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While much of the world is focused on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, analysts warn that nations should not ignore Islamist militants, who are increasing attacks in Africa’s Sahel region and spreading to West Africa’s coastal states.

Since 2020, terror groups linked to Islamic State and al-Qaida have carried out attacks against Ivorian forces. In response to the threat, French security forces are training the region’s militaries.

One Ivorian commando, who declined to give his surname, said the threat is real and they are preparing to face it in every way possible.

“In Ivory Coast, we are really, really focused on terrorism, because in the north part of our country, we are facing terrorism, so we’re talking about sea, air and land. That’s why we are here,” William said. 

Security analysts say terrorism is spreading to the north of coastal states like Ivory Coast, Ghana, Benin and Togo — the next phase in the western Sahel’s decade-long conflict.

Large parts of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger are experiencing daily attacks targeting military and civilians alike.  

Since 2020 began, there have been 17 incidents — including gun battles and roadside bombs — in the north of Ivory Coast linked to al-Qaida-affiliated groups, according to the U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.

Ivory Coast has sent large numbers of troops to the north in response to these attacks. 

The commander of French forces in the country, Colonel Arnaud Mettley, expressed doubt regarding fears that terror groups had co-opted local populations in Ivory Coast.

“For the moment, we think that the local population does not cooperate with the jihadist groups, because there is a strong answer from the Ivorian armed forces … but it’s really, it’s a real concern for us,” he said.   

He added that limiting the spread of the terrorist threat from Burkina Faso is possible, saying, “We cannot prevent the threat going to the south, but we can succeed in fighting this threat.”

The United States last month carried out Operation Flintlock, an exercise to promote cooperation among regional, NATO and U.S. forces, in Ivory Coast for the first time. Richard K. Bell, the U.S. ambassador to Ivory Coast, said a sustained effort will be needed against terror groups spreading in the north.  

“I think the nature of this threat makes it very difficult to eliminate it entirely,” Bell said. “I think it can be contained at a really low level. And I believe that the key to success is the support of the population.”  

Analysts say a military response by itself will not be enough.   

Geoffroy-Julien Kouao, an associate researcher at the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, a research organization in Germany, said the areas in question are poorly developed, with glaring social problems. He said there are not enough schools, not enough water supply, not enough electricity, not enough jobs for the youth, and terror groups will exploit these social deficiencies to recruit young people.  

Asked if he had a message for terror groups operating in Ivory Coast, William, the Ivorian commando, said, “I don’t have any particular message for them, but I’m just ready for them.”  

Efforts to boost that readiness are continuing.   

 
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There is enough groundwater on the African continent to provide everyone with enough drinking water to face at least five years of drought, and in some cases up to 50 years. This is according to a new analysis done by the British Geological Survey and WaterAid, presented at the World Water Forum in Dakar.

The British Geological Survey and WaterAid after a ten-year survey found that throughout Africa there are enough subsurface water reserves to serve the entire population. Even in parched locations, according to BGS chief researcher Alan MacDonald, there can be adequate groundwater, he explains through Zoom.

“When you realize the groundwater resources are maybe 20 times the amount of water we have in the rivers and lakes of Africa,” said MacDonald. “Then it’s a really amazing fact but because it’s hidden it’s so often out of sight and out of mind.”

This applies to Turkana, Kenya, one of Africa’s driest regions, where camel caravans trek between the scarce water sources. It is one of the worst affected places on the continent, according to the Famine Early Warning System. Turkana’s water minister, Vincent Palor, confirms the situation is dire.

“The water sources are drying up because the water table has gone down. The body condition of the livestock is poor,” said Palor. “When we also look at the vegetation cover, the vegetation cover is not pleasant because it’s drying up.”

But even in Turkana, there appears to be water just beneath the feet of the camel herders. According to a 2013 report Turkana has enough groundwater to service Kenya for 70 years. However, a government survey has shown the water is too salty.

Virginia Newton-Lewis, a senior policy analyst at WaterAid, explained that investments are needed to get usable water.

“We need mapping, we need monitoring,” said Newton-Lewis. “This takes investments, this takes investments in also equipment. It takes investments in human resources to do that. And then we need investments in the way we get the water that we find to the people that need it the most.”

BGS researcher Alan MacDonald added that the report is timely since groundwater is crucial amid droughts caused by climate change.

“As droughts are becoming more common, then people are looking for a much more reliable source of water, which is why I think there is an increased interest in groundwater resources because they are much more reliable than rainwater or river water or even reservoirs,” said MacDonald.

Turkana’s Minister Vincent Palor is pleased with the renewed focus on groundwater exploration, as he is concerned that continuing water shortages may exacerbate the situation.

“If the water stress continues this means there will be a scramble for water, and this may force these pastoralists to move to neighboring countries, and then at times contributing to conflict,” said Palor.

There is however respite for Turkana and Africa since another recent survey by BGS suggests that 80% of the subterranean water is likely to be acceptable for drinking.
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Media watchdogs in southern Africa are calling on the governments of Angola, Eswatini and Zimbabwe to do more to protect press freedom following the publication of the Freedom in the World 2022 Report which says those countries are among the most oppressive authorities to media in the region.

The Media Institute of Southern Africa said it was concerned that Eswatini and Zimbabwe authorities were strangling the media as published in the recent Freedom in the World 2022 Report.

Tabani Moyo is the director of Media Institute of Southern Africa.

“Eswatini is stubborn or notorious for shutting internet twice in 2021 alone in response to protests in that country. Zimbabwe mainly not free considering issues around proposals on the regulation of the (inter)net. But also remember that Zimbabwe is in the process of introducing the amendment of the Criminal Law Codification Reforms Act which seeks to criminalize the engagement of citizens with [foreign] embassies. Angola is in election season, its behavior, we will be watching closely. But also of interest were countries that were from southern Africa in terms of internet freedom,” said Moyo.

That was reference to Angola, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

“Zambia, in 2021 August, shut down internet during elections. Zimbabwe throttled the internet during this month when political parties were starting campaigning. Then you have a little bit of progression in South Africa, which is still within the free nations. And Angola being one of the countries on the look out due to the election season. Beginning of the year, I wrote projections on state of the freedom in southern Africa, and this report tallies [with] what I projected and actually affirming projections around trends that were likely going to see in 2022,” said Moyo.

Kindness Paradza, Zimbabwe deputy information minister dismissed the report saying it is “nonsense. Who has been harassed, detained, jailed or killed in the last 12 months?” he asked.

Tafadzwa Mugwadi is from Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s ruling ZANU-PF party.

“Government has done adequate reforms to ensure that our journalists and media house continue to enjoy the space thus so far open in Zimbabwe under the second republic it is therefore mischievous, erroneous and a dangerous lie by the Freedom House to allege that there is no freedom of the media in Zimbabwe,” said Mugwadi.

When President Mnangagwa took over from the late Robert Mugabe in 2017 he promised that citizens would enjoy all freedoms enshrined in the Zimbabwe constitution. But his critics say that promise is still far from being a reality.
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Malawi Sunday launched a polio vaccination campaign after the country in February confirmed its first case, 30 years after it eradicated the disease.

UNICEF, the World Health Organization and other partners of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative are leading the campaign, which targets over 20 million children in Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique and Tanzania by July. 

The vaccine rollout comes after it was confirmed last month that a 3-year-old girl was paralyzed by wild poliovirus in Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe.

Until February, Malawi had last reported a polio case in 1992. The southern African country was declared polio-free in 2005 — 15 years before the whole continent achieved the same status.

UNICEF says over 9 million children are to be vaccinated in the first round of the mass campaign in Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique and Malawi.

UNICEF said the mass immunization will also target children previously vaccinated.

“We need to vaccinate children who have been vaccinated before because it takes multiple doses of the polio doses to get fully immunized as regards to polio and every additional dose gives children extra protection,” says Rudolf Schwenk, UNICEF’s representative in Malawi. 

Schwenk says if some children are not immunized during the campaign, starting Monday the risk of polio will remain not only in Malawi but in neighboring countries as well.

So far, UNICEF has procured over 36 million doses of polio vaccine for the first two rounds of immunizations of children in Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia.

In Malawi, the U.N. children’s agency is set to administer 6.8 million doses of the polio vaccine to be used in the first two rounds of vaccination in March and April, targeting 2.9 million children.

Three more rounds of vaccination will follow in the coming months, covering a total of more than 20 million children from the targeted four African countries.

However, in Malawi some health experts fear the immunization campaign would meet with vaccine resistance, as has been the case with COVID-19 vaccine in Malawi.

But UNICEF says efforts were made already to increase acceptance and demand for the polio vaccine among parents and communities.

“So we have worked with faith leaders, with high-level government officials, we have spoken to community leaders and with our partners we have done sensitization discussion to help the understand the importance of vaccinating the children,” said Schwenk.

He also says they have distributed information, education and communication materials across Malawi and aired radio messages about the advantages of the polio vaccine.

Dr. Mike Chisema, the manager for the Expanded Program on Immunization in the Ministry of Health in Malawi, told journalists Thursday that the government was ready for the polio vaccination campaign despite shortage of health care workers.

“Issue of human resource remains a challenge,” he said. “It’s not just about this particular program of outbreak response alone. But what is most important to note is that we have the teams that are available; our health surveillance assistants who do this work all the time. But it’s a question of adding the numbers over time. But we will work to manage with available human resource on the ground.”

In a statement released Sunday, UNICEF said in partnership with the World Health Organization they have trained health care workers in all the countries where they are administering the polio vaccine.

In Malawi they have trained 13,500 health workers and volunteers, 34 district health promotion officers. While in Tanzania, Mozambique and Zambia they have trained a combined total of about 3,000 health care workers.
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Fourteen civilians, including seven children, were killed in a camp for displaced people in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the local Red Cross said Sunday. 

Seven adults and seven children, including a two-year-old, were all killed in the machete attack Saturday in the Ituri region, according to a Red Cross list seen by AFP. 

Jean D’Zba Banju, a community leader in the Djugu area of Ituri, said CODECO militiamen entered Drakpa where they killed 12 people with machetes. 

“CODECO militiamen entered Drakpa and started to cut people with machetes. They did not fire shots in order to operate calmly,” Banju told AFP. 

“The victims are displaced people who had fled Ngotshi village to set up in Drakpa,” he said, adding that five other people were wounded. 

CODECO is a political-religious sect that claims to represent the interests of the Lendu ethnic group.  
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Botswana will allow unvaccinated travelers into the country, provided they produce a negative COVID-19 test result. That’s a reversal from last month, when the nation started denying entry to travelers who were partially vaccinated or unvaccinated and not willing to get a free shot.

Botswana Ministry of Health spokesperson Christopher Nyanga said in a statement the decision to allow the unvaccinated into the country was meant to ensure smooth entry for travelers.

“I wish to indicate that these changes now allow partially vaccinated or unvaccinated people to enter the country, if they comply with the required testing requirements,” he said. “It is only when one is not fully vaccinated and is also not willing to undergo COVID-19 testing at the port of entry, that they will be charged and fined or taken to a court of law.”

There was confusion over what determined a fully vaccinated person. In Botswana, the vaccine validity period is 180 days, while Europe gives the same vaccines a 270-day validity period.

Nyanga says the vaccine validity discord was taken into consideration when dropping the vaccine mandate.

“Due to discordant periods for taking booster shots between Botswana and other countries, and for purposes of smoothening international travel, the definition of being fully vaccinated in Botswana will no longer include a booster shot,” he said. “Having completed the primary vaccine series will be considered sufficient for one to be allowed entry, without the need to present a negative PCR test result.”

Cindy Kelemi , director of the human rights organization Botswana Network on Ethics, Law and HIV-AIDS, welcomed the government’s move.

“We have always maintained that the response to COVID-19 does not necessarily require for criminalization to be used as a strategy,” she said. “And not allowing entry to those who are not vaccinated is actually a violation of people’s rights. Therefore, it was only reasonable for the government to retract its previous guidelines and remove the barring of people who are not vaccinated, into Botswana.”

Since the introduction of vaccine mandates on Feb. 14, Botswana’s tourism industry says, it has suffered huge losses, with canceled bookings worth $10 million.

A tour guide in the Okavango Delta, Keletso Sedume, said he expects the situation to improve now that COVID-19 entry requirements have been eased.

“It is good news as there was a drop of tourists coming to the delta in the last few weeks,” he said. “We heard it is because some were reluctant to vaccinate and had canceled their bookings. We hope to see them come in now.”

Botswana authorities say they have vaccinated more than 71% of the adult population, which is one of the highest vaccination rates on the continent. 
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Egypt has put on display recently discovered, well-decorated ancient tombs at a Pharaonic necropolis just outside the capital Cairo. The five tombs date back to the Old Kingdom — a period spanning roughly from around 2700 BC to 2200 BC, as well as to the First Intermediate Period
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The U.N. Refugee Agency, UNHCR, and 102 humanitarian and developmental agencies are asking for $1.2 billion to help 2.3 million South Sudanese refugees and communities sheltering them in five countries.

Nearly 4 million South Sudanese have fled nearly a decade of civil war and a peace deal that has not yet come to fruition, and they are either still in that country or have become refugees in neighboring countries.

The South Sudan refugee crisis is Africa’s largest and the response to it is one of the least-funded humanitarian operations. An estimated 2.3 million people have fled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, and Uganda.

While praising their generosity, U.N. refugee spokesman Matthew Saltmarsh says those countries are poor, suffer from many of the same problems as does South Sudan and can ill-afford to care for the masses of impoverished refugees.

“South Sudan continues to grapple with sporadic violence, chronic food insecurity and the devastating impact of major flooding. The COVID-19 pandemic has also strained people’s resources. … Asylum countries are facing similar challenges from the climate crisis and the pandemic but have continued to keep their doors open for refugees,” he said.

Saltmarsh says the host countries need support to provide food, shelter, and essential services, such as education and health care.

The United Nations says women and girls in South Sudan are subject to gender-based violence, rape and conflict-related sexual violence. Saltmarsh says the UNHCR and partners will scale up programs to prevent and respond to gender-based violence. They will provide mental health and psycho-social support to victims of abuse.

“This follows a worrying rise in reports of depression over the last year, especially among refugees in Kenya and Uganda. It remains, of course, as you know a children’s crisis, with 2 out of 3 South Sudanese refugees being under the age of 18. Funding is required for child protection including to ensure proper birth registration and family reunification,” he said.

Saltmarsh acknowledges competition for scarce resources is fierce. He notes the international focus and response to the war in Ukraine is overwhelming. He says that is appropriate given the enormity of the crisis. However, he says the plight of the South Sudanese refugees must not be forgotten.
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Experts warn the war in Ukraine could increase hunger and food insecurity for some people in Africa. Most African countries import wheat and vegetable oil from Ukraine and Russia, a region now engulfed in conflict since Russia invaded its neighbor.

African families are feeling the pinch as prices of essential commodities increase due to persistent drought, the coronavirus pandemic, and now, the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The United Nations says Russia and Ukraine produce 53% of the world’s sunflowers and seeds, and 27% of the world’s wheat.

The U.N. Conference on Trade and Development figures show Africa imported wheat from the two countries worth $5.1 billion between 2018-2020.

The study shows at least 25 African countries import a third of their wheat from Russia and Ukraine, and 15 of them import more than half from those two countries.

Kenya is one of the African countries affected by the global food price increase.

The head of policy research and advocacy at the Kenya Association of Manufacturers, Job Wanjohi, says the cost of importing wheat to the country has increased by 33%.

“The cost of wheat per ton, of which Kenya is heavily dependent on Russia and Ukraine, has increased to $460 per ton. Before, it was $345 per ton and the landing cost in Nairobi is likely to increase from $500 to $550 per ton. So, the Ukraine-Russia war is aggravating the situation, food security in the country is concerned,” Wanjoh said.

Vegetable oil prices have also increased. Malaysia and Indonesia account for 85% of global crude palm oil exports.

Malaysian authorities warned this week the price of palm oil could reach $2,200 a ton and is expected to remain that way until the third quarter of the year.

Peter Kamalingin, head of Pan Africa at charity Oxfam International, says Africa is more vulnerable to food insecurity.  

“Relying on the global food chain only means you are going to be more vulnerable for a long time. Oxfam has said what we need is investing in small farmers, making them more resilient, bringing technology that is responsive and sensitive to their unique needs. Small food producers are still the most important, and our agricultural produce and extension services, our national budget investment have not been focused on this. Food sovereignty means producing as much food as possible within the country, if not within the country at least within the region,” he said.

Kamalingin also says African governments are not investing enough in their communities.

“Government in our part of the world have had to go into increasing problem of debt and some of the economies in the region, for every 10 shillings of the national budget probably seven is going to repaying debt. That also means governments are not investing in social services, in water, health, education. So, that burden is being transferred to the household and most of the household, it means women and children are the ones bearing that burden. And now we have had this Ukraine crisis, which is exacerbating the problem in many fronts,” Kamalingin said.

The U.N.’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) warns that the ongoing war in Ukraine will escalate global hunger and poverty.

Gerrishon Ikiara, who teaches economics at the University of Nairobi, says African countries need to build infrastructure that can help with the movement of goods.

“But also try to see how we can integrate Africa economies much better, because there are some countries with surplus food countries like DRC, Uganda, and quite a number of others have the capacity to feed a big part of Africa if it’s properly connected,” Ikiara said.

Experts say intervention, like stabilizing local markets, cash transfers and creating savings and loan groups, can help Africa cope and reduce the impact of the global food crisis.
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The world is at a ‘dangerous moment’ in the fight against diseases like polio, a senior World Health Organization official said, as efforts begin to immunize 23 million children across five African countries after an outbreak in Malawi.

In February, Malawi declared its first case of wild poliovirus in 30 years, when a 3-year old girl in the Lilongwe district was paralyzed as a result of her infection.

The case raised alarm because Africa was declared free of wild polio in 2020 and there are only two countries in the world where it is endemic: Afghanistan and Pakistan. Pakistan marked a year without cases in January 2022.

“This is a dangerous moment,” Modjirom Ndoutabe, polio coordinator for WHO Africa, told Reuters in a phone interview from Brazzaville, the Republic of Congo.

“Even if there is one country in the world with polio, all the other countries are in big trouble.”

Ndoutabe said the coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns had slowed efforts to vaccinate children against other diseases such as polio, and also hit surveillance.

According to the Gavi vaccine alliance, childhood immunization services in the 68 countries it supports dropped by 4% in 2020, representing 3.1 million more “zero-dose” children likely unprotected from childhood diseases like polio, diphtheria and measles, and 3 million more under-immunized children than in 2019.

“This is a tragedy,” Seth Berkley, chief executive of Gavi, said in an interview with Reuters. “The challenge is getting that back up.”

In Malawi, where polio vaccine coverage is high – above 90% in most districts – rates during the pandemic fell by 2%, according to Janet Kayita, WHO Malawi head. She said the child who was paralyzed had one dose of the polio vaccine at birth, but not the other doses needed for full protection.

Kayita said surveillance had been more significantly impacted. The case is linked to a strain circulating in Pakistan’s Sindh province in 2019, which means it does not impact Africa’s polio-free status. But teams are now scrambling to answer how it arrived in Malawi, and how long it spread undetected.

Polio, a highly infectious disease spread mainly through contamination by fecal matter, used to kill and paralyze thousands of children annually. There is no cure, but vaccination brought the world close to ending the wild form of the disease.

Mass rollout

In a bid to prevent renewed spread in Africa, almost 70,000 vaccinators will go door-to-door in Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, to give all children under 5 the oral polio vaccine in a $15.7 million campaign funded by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, the WHO said in a statement on Friday.

The first round, beginning Monday, will target more than 9 million children, followed by three further rounds aiming to reach all under-5-year-olds, regardless of their vaccination status, to boost immunity, Kayita said.

Efforts have also been stepped up to track any cases linked to the Malawi outbreak and to monitor transmission in wastewater. So far, no other linked cases have been found.

Vaccine-derived polio, a form of the disease stemming from incomplete vaccination coverage, is more widespread globally, and recent outbreaks have sparked concerns about how the coronavirus pandemic may have hit vaccination coverage.

Israel is battling an outbreak of vaccine-derived polio, its first since the 1980s, after a case was discovered in Jerusalem last week. Almost 12,000 children have since been vaccinated.

Ukraine reported its first vaccine-derived polio case in five years last year, but urgent efforts to curb the outbreak were halted after the Russian invasion on Feb. 24.

Complete vaccination protects against both forms of the disease, and a focus on that will halt both the outbreak in Malawi in months and all forms of polio in Africa by 2023, said Ndoutabe, who described his sorrow when he first heard of the Malawi case setback.

“But we did not stay in this sadness. We had to act quickly,” he said.
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Authorities in Mali have taken Radio France Internationale and France 24 television off the air, accusing the media outlets of broadcasting false allegations against the Malian army.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says the suspension, which followed months of rising tensions between Mali and France, has serious implications for foreign and Malian journalists alike.

RFI and France 24 went off the air Thursday evening in Mali, on orders from Mail’s military government. 

In a press release, the government said the outlets broadcast false allegations about the Malian army that were aimed at “destabilizing” the government.

Earlier this week, RFI aired a report on alleged executions of civilians and other alleged human rights abuses committed by Mali’s army. 

VOA also reported on the accusations, speaking to a man in central Mali who witnessed several acquaintances taken away by the army and never seen again.

CPJ in February reported on the suspension of the accreditation process for foreign journalists in Mali, which has not been reinstated.  

Angela Quintal, CPJ Africa Program director, speaking from New York, said that the suspension of RFI and France 24 is “censorship, pure and simple.” 

“What CPJ has asked and what we will call for, obviously, is that the Malian authorities should really halt their efforts to control journalism in the country, because that’s what it’s all about. And that they should reverse the suspension of RFI and France 24 immediately,” Quintal said. 

Bandiougou Dante, president of Mali’s Maison de la Presse (Press House), spoke to journalists from his office in Bamako. 

He referenced both the European Union’s decision to suspend Russian media and the Malian government’s suspension of French broadcasts in saying that there is a worldwide “worrying turn” away from democracy and free expression.

He said that in his view there was a possibility to find the ways and means by which to respond to certain criticisms or accusations in the media. Suspension, he thinks, is an extreme measure.   

Corinne Dufka, Sahel director at Human Rights Watch, which published its own report this week on alleged abuses committed by Mali’s army,  speaking from Washington, said the suspension of the French broadcasts sends a message about human rights reporting and investigating. 

“We are concerned that it will lead to self-censorship within the Malian press, as well as a dampening of the national human rights community to fulfil their important mandate of investigating abuses by all sides,” Dufka said.

Dante says this is the first time to his knowledge that foreign media have been suspended in Mali.

France Medias Monde, the parent company of RFI and France 24, says the two media outlets are followed by a third of Mali’s population each week.
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