Weeks of scarce fuel coupled with a failing national electricity grid are hurting countless small businesses across Nigeria. Some businesses have temporarily shut down, while others reduced hours to cope with the energy shortage.

In January, Toochukwu Ohatu started a tailoring business to supplement her laundry business and make some extra cash.

But barely three weeks after she set up, the business was almost grounded by the electricity issues affecting millions of Nigerians. Without power, there’s no way to run a sewing machine.

“It’s just impossible to work and then as a new mom, everything,” she said. “I mean starting my tailoring business in January was a major leap for me and then we’re struck with the fuel scarcity, no power supply.”

The electricity supply was interrupted some two weeks ago when the national power grid malfunctioned due to glitches in the operating system.

Ohatu said she barely has one hour of electricity a day and it’s affecting her productivity and income.

Authorities blame the fuel scarcity on the recall in January of about 170 million liters of tainted fuel imported from Europe. In February, the government announced it has released one billion liters of fuel from the national reserve to normalize distribution.

But amid a worldwide rise in oil and gas prices, the situation has dragged on and is affecting the overall economy.  This week, Nigeria’s Statistics Bureau said the country’s annual inflation rate has increased to 15.7 percent.

“It’s been a tussle, it’s almost becoming a new normal,” said Abuja resident and driver Mohammed Enesi. “Because we’re so resilient, we feel we can adapt.”

Nigeria is Africa’s biggest oil producer but struggles to meet its energy needs.

Only about 47 percent of Nigerians have access to electricity when it is available, according to World Bank estimates. Nigerian authorities in 2020 signed an electricity deal with German counterparts to improve the supply.

But analysts say the energy shortage is impacting citizens negatively.

“Somehow we’ve not been able to get the dynamics right,” said analyst Rotimi Olawale. “To be very fair and honest in the last couple of years we have not witnessed this fuel scarcity that we’re seeing now. The initial explanation they gave to us I don’t think it holds water anymore. It puts a lot of pressure on people.”

This week, Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, promised citizens that the fuel and electricity issues will soon be over.

But until the situation improves, millions of people and businesses will continue to suffer.
…

Africans are feeling the pinch caused by soaring global energy prices, say analysts, even in countries like Nigeria and Angola that are major exporters of crude oil.

While that handful of oil producers is seeing an increase in revenue – especially since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24 – much of the continent lacks refining capability, forcing countries to pay high prices to import gasoline and other petroleum products from Asia and Europe.

The continent is further affected by increasing costs for natural gas, a key component of nitrogen-based fertilizers used in food production.

With salaries largely stagnant, more than two-thirds of Africans feel pressured by the rising prices, said Franklin Cudjoe, founding president of the Ghana-based Imani Center for Policy and Education.

“The continent is affected simply because we depend largely on global oil suppliers, since not many African countries have [their own] oil products,” Cudjoe told VOA.

Prices spiked on the global oil market after the invasion of Ukraine triggered a wave of international sanctions against Russia, one of the world’s leading exporters of crude. The price briefly climbed to over $120 per barrel this month before settling down to $103 per barrel on Friday.

The surge in energy prices is helping to fuel inflation across Africa. In Ghana, for example, overall consumer price inflation was pegged at 15.7% year-on-year in February compared with 13.9% in January, the country’s Statistical Service said last week.

In Zimbabwe, prices are climbing sharply – even overnight. At a TM supermarket in the capital of Harare, a crate of 30 eggs cost the $6.70 on Tuesday and about $7.81 on Wednesday. The price of a loaf of bread went from $1.49 to $1.84; for a kilo of beef, the price jumped from $3.35 to $5.22.

Gasoline costs climbed, too. In Harare, the per-liter price climbed from $1.41 to $1.69 from Tuesday to Wednesday.

The surge in food prices was the biggest driver behind consumer inflation in Egypt, it rose by 8.8% in February – the sharpest increase in nearly three years, according to the state statistics agency, CAPMAS.

Cudjoe said it was crucial for governments and regional bodies such as the African Union to build defenses to cushion consumers in times of economic uncertainty.

“Even if it means building defenses in terms of the provision of food,” said Cudjoe, adding, “I could imagine Nigeria, if it had had its way, it could be selling foodstuff to most countries at reduced rates by now.”

“There must be that urgency of building for themselves defenses, funds that would make us sustain ourselves — at least to prevent us from being completely annihilated by these uncertainties in the world.”

Chibamba Kanyama, an economist in the Zambian capital of Lusaka, said suspending fuel taxes would be “the most ideal thing to do now under the circumstances” to cushion consumers and industries.

“African governments must find a way of responding,” he said. ‘It is a choice of whether to reduce taxes to lower the prices or to maintain the price levels and use the revenues to subsidize the most vulnerable in society.”

But Kanyama also suggested that the geopolitical crisis involving Russia and Ukraine – both big grain exporters to Africa – may create opportunities for African producers.

“Supply countries like South Africa, with robust and highly mechanized systems, may find a window of exporting [commodities] like wheat and other products to fill the gaps left by Russia and Ukraine,” Kanyama said.

Kanyama also said support by the international community – for instance, in the form of debt relief for some African nations – is welcome.

He noted that the Group of 20 – which encompasses seven industrialized nations, some countries with strong or fast-growing economies, and the European Union – “is trying to offer some debt relief.”

“Some other countries, such as Zambia, [are] undergoing debt restructuring processes and an IMF program, and to me, this is the only way out of the crisis,” Kanyama added.

This story originated in VOA’s English-to-Africa service, with contributions from the Zimbabwe service.
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The World Health Organization says Africa’s COVID-19 vaccinations rose by 15% between January and February, as several countries embarked on mass inoculation drives to expand coverage and protect populations from the pandemic.

Zimbabwe’s government says it is launching a “national vaccination blitz” targeting those who have not yet been vaccinated in a country where resistance to the shots has been an issue since the program started last year. The drive come amid government concern over rising COVID-19 cases.

Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, said in a statement that the increase in COVID-19 vaccinations on the continent was driven mainly by campaigns in populous countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Nigeria.

Dr. Thierno Balde, the WHO Africa regional COVID-19 incident manager, he says the continent must remain vigilant.

“We have seen what is happening around, in China, and the risk of also having new imitations, new variants still possible. We really need to continue to safeguard our population by taking the vaccine by not relaxing totally. The situation might change. So we really need to continue adapting some of these social measures and also to get vaccination,” Balde said.

The WHO said to boost African COVID-19 vaccine acceptance, it and other organizations were supporting mass vaccination drives in at least 10 priority countries to reach 100 million people by the end of next month.

Nqobizitha Mangaliso Ndlovu, Zimbabwe’s acting information minister, said his country would not be left behind.

“Regarding the vaccination program, as of 15 March, 2022, a total of 159,628 third doses have been administered to date. The national vaccination blitz campaign will kick off on Monday, 21 March, 2022, and [the] government is urging those that have not yet been vaccinated to take advantage of this exercise to do so,” Ndlovu said.

A number of Zimbabweans have refused vaccination, saying they do not trust the mainly donated Chinese-made Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines. The country has lately recorded a rise in new infections – now cumulatively at 244,012 with 5,418 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking the global outbreak.

Dr. Cleophas Chimbetete, president of Zimbabwe College of Public Health Physicians, attributes that to the recent lifting of restrictive measures, such as lockdowns. He says, however, it is not time to panic, just to enforce WHO protocols, such masking and social distancing.

“After relaxing measures, it is expected that cases will slightly go up. But I also think that it is too early to make any meaningful conclusions, I think it is just an opportunity for us to strengthen our preventative measures and continue highlighting to the rest of the population that COVID is still with us. The good news, though, is that severe cases have not gone up. What we need to do is to continue to get vaccinated and what is important is that the government should – as it is doing – is monitor these numbers. There is no cause for alarm or cause for us to introduce new measures,” Chimbetete said.

Zimbabwe had a target of vaccinating at least 10 million people by the end of last year, a figure that some say was difficult to reach given the scarcity of resources and hesitance. It has yet to announce when it plans to achieve herd immunity.
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Cameroon’s government says calm is gradually returning to several towns in its English-speaking western regions after the military launched raids on separatist strongholds during the past month.

The military said troops carried out operations in many western towns and villages including  Kumbo, Ndop, Wum, Bafut and Kom, with at least 20 separatist fighters were killed but no government troops were wounded.

General Valere Nka, the commander of Cameroonian troops fighting separatists in the English-speaking North-West region, said several hundred fighters escaped to villages along Cameroon’s western border with Nigeria. He said troops have been deployed to stop fighters from stealing goods and money from merchants and cattle from ranchers in border localities. 

“The president of the republic, President Paul Biya, commander in chief of the armed forces has sent the defense and security forces to protect you, not to kill you,” Nka said during a visit to several border villages this week. “We need your total collaboration to better secure you.”   

The military did not say how many troops have been deployed or how long the troops are expected to stay along the border with Nigeria. 

Nelson Bwei, a spokesperson for the Abba Village Development Committee, said a military post is needed in the village, which is on the border with Nigeria, to protect civilians from separatist fighters. He said hundreds of the fighters are hiding in the bush along the border, especially in Fungong district.   

“Our children are facing harassment,” he said. “Lower Fungong has no security post. The people there are exposed to insecurity. We plead to the general to create military units because we believe that if there is that military unit, it will beef up the security of the subdivision.”   

Bwei said the separatists have seized at least 90 cows from ranchers within three weeks. He said fighters have abducted at least 13 civilians for ransom, especially merchants doing business between Cameroon and Nigeria.

On social media platforms, including Facebook and WhatsApp, the separatists have denied the loss of 20 fighters. The separatists say their presence in border localities is a tactical withdrawal to prepare and face government troops. The fighters deny they are harassing civilians as the government claims and insist that they are out to protect English-speakers from Cameroon military brutality.

Cameroon’s military has always denied it abuses civilian’s rights. 

Separatists have been fighting since 2017 to carve out an independent English-speaking state in majority French-speaking Cameroon. The crisis started when English-speaking teachers and lawyers protested the dominance of French in official government business and education. The government responded with a crackdown and separatists took up weapons.

The United Nations says at least 3,300 people have been killed with 750,000 internally displaced. 
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A sixth-year medical student at Ternopil National Medical University in Ukraine, Dominic Oru, a Nigerian, was two months from completing his medical degree when Russian forces invaded the country on Feb. 24.

Oru woke up that day to news about explosions in many Ukrainian cities. And, like hundreds of other students in Ternopil, he fled to Romania. From there, he took a government-chartered flight to Nigeria in early March.

This week, however, Oru and his colleagues resumed their classes online. He says it’s been more like a reunion.

“Our major conversation was about how we didn’t get to have a proper goodbye to each other because we were thinking we still had time. There was going to be the graduation ceremony, where we’ll have pictures and everything.”

Oru says that amid the uncertainties, he is keeping his hopes high, even though he worries about his teacher in Ukraine, who is also doubling as a frontline responder.

“He looks really stressed. He looked like he had had very little  . . . sleep. I could see the eye bags around his eyes.”

Nigerian authorities said about 8,000 nationals were living in Ukraine when the invasion began. About 5,600 of them were students.

Sixteen-year-old freshman medical student Fatima Baffah also returned to Nigeria weeks ago and has started virtual learning as well. But for her, it’s not the same. She said she misses seeing her friends and teachers, and longs to take class in person.

Baffah started her medical training in September. Now her mother, Sallah Baffah, says she must stay out of Ukraine and needs a place to study peacefully.

Dominic Oru and his colleagues were planning a big dinner party to celebrate their graduation. But now he fears he may never see some of his classmates again.
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South Sudan is witnessing “the worst hunger crisis to date.” That’s the assessment of U.N. World Food Program’s Marwa Awad, who sees it firsthand.

An estimated 8.3 million people in South Sudan will face extreme hunger in the coming months as the lean season peaks and provisions are depleted, Awad told South Sudan in Focus.

“Over 8 million people are extremely hungry, and this includes tens of thousands who could starve if we are unable to reach them with food assistance,” she said. “We are seeing people’s resilience fading in the face of the ongoing conflict, the floods, and rising food prices.”

The WFP has programs to build people’s resilience and restore their livelihoods, Awad said, “but we need the funding to scale up and reach more people.”

Some families in Jonglei state told VOA they struggle to put food on table after last year’s floods destroyed their land.

Bor resident Kec Magok Muoth, 45, who has six daughters, said the unprecedented flash floods destroyed farms, while inter-communal fighting has prevented fellow Jonglei state residents from cultivating fields.

The family had long survived mostly on WFP food rations, which were cut six months ago. Muoth said she has since resorted to cultivating a small vegetable garden to bring in a bit of money to buy food.

“The U.N. provided food; you cannot defend it only now because it has been cut. [With income slashed,] now only two of my children are in school,” Muoth said.

Her husband, a soldier in Akobo, does not earn enough money to support the family, she said.

Another factor shrinking what is on their plates is the soaring prices at the market.

“Two weeks ago, two liters of oil was 4,000 South Sudanese pounds, but now it costs 5,000 SSP. A sack of sugar used to be 15,000 SSP but it is now 20,000. This increase is too much,” she said.

Bor resident Abuol Malual, 60, told South Sudan in Focus she is unable to farm because of an illness and said the WFP food rations are too small to support her.

“There is nothing else, but the [rations provided to] elderly people such as me who have no children to support them are likely to starve, so I appeal to the U.N. to listen and increase the rations so that we survive,” said Malual.

The WFP last year announced it would suspend food assistance for more than 100,000 displaced people in areas of South Sudan as part of what it called a prioritization exercise driven by funding shortages.

Adeyinka Badejo, WFP’s South Sudan deputy country director said last week that the impact of the climate crisis and ongoing regional conflict has led to large scale displacement, loss of livelihood, the destruction of arable land and crops, as well as rising food prices, threatening the survival of communities in Jonglei, Lakes, Unity and Warrap states.

Awad said South Sudan forms part of a “ring of fire” encircling the globe where climate shocks, conflict, the pandemic and rising prices are driving millions of people closer to starvation. 
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Police in Mogadishu said four people were injured Thursday when a roadside bomb detonated as their vehicle traveled through the Taleh neighborhood.

A police officer who spoke to VOA from the scene confirmed that three Turkish nationals and their Somali driver were wounded. The officer said the Turkish nationals were in Mogadishu for private business.

According to the police, the businessmen may have been the target of the bombing.

Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack over Radio Andalus.

Thursday’s bombing wasn’t the first time Turkish nationals visiting Somalia had been attacked.

Turkey plays a major role in Somalia’s recovery efforts, training the country’s security forces and undertaking vast infrastructure projects. It also operates its biggest foreign military base in Mogadishu, where it trains Somali troops.

The latest attack came as the country has repeatedly delayed its elections, missing deadlines and creating an uncertainty that makes the country vulnerable to attacks by insurgents.

Militants have recently increased attacks to undermine the ongoing electoral process.
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Hundreds of Nigerian students who safely fled Ukraine were close to graduating when Russia invaded the country. But despite being under fire, some Ukrainian teachers have continued their classes online, where they are exchanging stories of hope and survival. Timothy Obiezu reports from Abuja.
Camera: Emeka Gibson
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The Intercultural Circus Festival of Abidjan is underway this week following a much-reduced event last year because of the pandemic. Touted as West Africa’s largest circus festival, the event brings together performers from around Africa and beyond. Henry Wilkins is in Abidjan with this report.
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Niger’s media have paid tribute to Gremah Boucar, a radio journalist lauded for his efforts to promote and defend press freedom.

Boucar was repeatedly threatened and jailed for his journalism in Niger. He persevered nonetheless.

When he died March 8 at a hospital in Tunisia, the 63-year-old left behind the privately owned Anfani radio and TV network and a legacy of fighting to deliver uncensored news across Niger.

Boucar was “a great defender of press freedom since the advent of democracy and political pluralism in our country,” Lamine Souleymane, deputy chair of Niger’s Independent Radios and TVs Network, told VOA.

Boucar helped found the network in 2016 and served as its chair from 2018.

“From Gremah,” Souleymane said, “I learned how to protect journalism, the rights of journalists and the rights of media.”

Freedom isn’t free

Boucar was dedicated to the cause of press freedom, even as Niger went through periods of political instability, with two coups in the 1990s and stretches of single-party and military rule.

“Since freedom is not going to be given to us, we will have to take it,” Boucar said when he accepted a 1998 International Press Freedom Award from the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). “In spite of the persecution, we continue to fight, uncompromised, for our right to practice our profession and inform the citizens.”

He continued to champion that cause, winning other accolades, including from the International Press Institute in 2000.

Boucar also refused to be stopped by direct threats and attacks.

In March 1997, five armed men in military uniforms broke into his station in the capital, Niamey, and they destroyed equipment estimated at the time to be worth $80,000, CPJ reported.

But Boucar and the Anfani team went back to work.

“We saw how he participated in the writing of the history of democracy’s defense in Niger,” Souleymane said of Boucar in a phone interview with VOA.

Recruited for Hausa Service

Boucar began his journalism career with state-run radio in Niger. He was recruited as one of the first contributors for VOA’s Hausa Service when it began radio broadcasts in January 1979.

In 1989, he helped launch Radio Anfani, one of Niger’s few privately owned radio stations. It added a TV station in 2015 and has offices in Niamey and elsewhere.

“Our goal was to break the government’s broadcast monopoly,” Boucar said of Anfani, a Hausa-language word for “useful,” in his CPJ address.

From the start, Radio Anfani offered a variety of news and entertainment. It also provided a platform for a range of voices, including from opposition figures.

Boucar himself held political office, serving in Niger’s National Assembly from 2004 to 2009 and as a council member for Maine-Soroa, his hometown in southeastern Niger’s Diffa region, from 2004 to 2010. He was Maine-Soroa’s deputy mayor in 2021.

But his passion was journalism, he once told VOA’s Hausa Service in an interview.

He led the Nigerien Association of Independent Press Editors from 1996 to 2000 and worked to promote independent journalism in what rights groups have described as a challenging space.

Niger still ‘under attack’

“In 1998, Gremah Boucar was honored with CPJ’s International Press Freedom Award, which recognizes courage in journalism around the world. Unfortunately, over 20 years later, press freedom in Niger remains under attack,” CPJ’s Africa program coordinator, Angela Quintal, said in an email to VOA. “In recent years, journalists have been jailed and prosecuted for their work, including under the country’s 2019 cybercrime law.”

Reporters Without Borders said in its 2021 World Press Freedom Index that “Niger has seen a significant and encouraging fall in press freedom violations … but there are still many grounds for concern.”

Those include little state advertising with privately owned media, limited public information, and restrictions on journalists’ access to some areas where terrorists are active. Niger in 2021 ranked 59th out of 180 countries, where 1 is freest. It was a two-point decline on the global index.

The Anfani Media Group is an affiliate of VOA and the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.

VOA Hausa Service’s chief, Aliyu Mustapha, praised Boucar’s professionalism and noted, “He was a mentor to many upcoming journalists. … He impacted quite a lot of people.”

One of them is Issouf Mammne, an Anfani journalist in Niamey. Boucar was not just his boss but also a friend and journalism teacher. Boucar’s death, Mammne said, was a “huge loss.”

This report originated in VOA’s Africa Division and its Hausa and French to English services. Contributors include Souley Moumouni Burma reporting from Niamey, Niger; and editors Timothee Donangmaye and Carol Guensburg in Washington.
…

South African medical students, who were evacuated from Ukraine, are now looking for ways to complete their studies.  South African universities are discussing options for the students, some of whom are still shaken by the attacks they witnessed and are fearful for teachers and classmates left behind.

Concerned students have already launched a “Save Our Studies” campaign with the goal of helping about 50 repatriated medical students find spots at South African universities.

Twenty-five-year-old Mandisa Malindisa, a fourth-year medical student who was studying at Kharkiv National Medical University, is one of those who wants to get placed.

Her studies were interrupted when Russian forces entered Ukraine in late February. 

She says that after a few days of hearing bombs in Kharkiv, a city in northeastern Ukraine, she and five friends decided to flee by train to the Hungarian border.

The scene at the train station, she says, was pure chaos. 

“Everybody’s losing their mind. Everybody’s trying to get on it. People have knives out. People are screaming. People are fighting. People are biting each other. You know, just trying to get onto this train. We looked, we were just watching. Cause we were like this is not our train. This train is going to Kyiv. This is not for us,” Malindisa recalled.

Eventually, a train that would take them to Lviv in western Ukraine did arrive, but much to their horror it stopped in Kyiv which they’d been hoping to avoid because it’s a high-risk area. They waited there for six hours.

“When we saw what Kyiv actually looks like, everything is just burning. There’s smoke. Everyone was just looking outside the window in just terror,” Malindisa said.

After 24 hours they reached Lviv and Malindisa made her way into Hungary, where she managed to book a flight home. 

Sixth-year medical student Luphumlo Ntengu is also hoping to be able to continue his studies in South Africa. He was studying at Vinnytsia National Medical University in Ukraine. Safely home now in South Africa, he says he often thinks about those he left behind.

“Yes, I am very worried about my friends and my teacher you know. Ukraine has been my home for the past six years, they are like family to me. So, it’s so sad everything that is going on there. Right now, it feels like my own home that is being destroyed like that,” Ntengu said.

The chairperson of the South African Committee of Medical Deans, Professor Lionel Green-Thompson, confirmed that schools are discussing ways to help the repatriated students. 

“Issues relating to students in the [sic] Ukraine have been brought to the attention of the South African Committee of Medical Deans. We have initiated conversations around this issue. The responses are complex and we continue to discuss these things,” Green-Thompson said.

But finding places may be problematic.  The professor noted that many other South African students who returned due to the COVID-19 pandemic have also been seeking placement.
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The Malian government says it will suspend broadcasts of Radio France Internationale and France 24 television in the country. The announcement followed reports by French media and a rights group that the Malian army has committed human rights abuses in recent months.

Mali’s military government issued a statement Thursday that it will “initiate proceedings” to “suspend, until further notice” RFI and France 24 broadcasts in Mali.

The move came after RFI and Human Rights Watch reported on human rights abuse allegations against Mali’s army.

The government said the allegations are false and are part of a “strategy aimed at destabilizing the transition, demoralizing the Malian people, and discrediting the valiant armed forces.”

Human Rights Watch published a report on Tuesday that included alleged witness accounts of executions and other abuses committed by Malian soldiers and, separately, by Islamist extremists.

The report also includes interviews with those who visited the site of a mass grave near Diabaly, Mali. The grave contained the bodies of several victims who were burned with their hands tied behind their backs, videos of which have been circulating on social media in recent weeks.

Locals have accused the army of committing the executions, and say the victims are ethnic Fulani men who were unfairly targeted.

Mali’s army denied claims that they were responsible for executions that occurred near Diabaly.

Mali’s military government, which took power in a 2021 coup, in February suspended the accreditation process for foreign journalists.

Regarding the threatened suspensions, France Médias Monde, the parent company of RFI and France 24, issued a press release Thursday stating that it will “investigate all avenues of appeal to ensure that such a decision is not implemented.”
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African health groups have warned that the COVID pandemic has led to a rise in drug and alcohol abuse on the continent, but a gap in data is making it hard to monitor. In South Africa, a Soweto-based nonprofit is scrambling to help youth to stay clean and sober.

Substance abuse — particularly alcohol consumption — has been on the rise in Africa for years, according to the World Health Organization.

The coronavirus pandemic that resulted in job losses and school closures has now amplified the problem.

The Ikageng children’s charity in Soweto says as many as 10 young people contact them daily suffering from addiction. Lydia Motloung, the acting program manager says that “during the lockdowns, they used to go and drink and some they were left in the houses alone, the parents are at work. And they start having the house parties and introduced to the alcohol, end up into crystal meth, which is very common around here, especially with schoolchildren.”

While Ikageng monitors the rise of addiction in the young people they’re helping, Motloung says national statistics on drug and alcohol abuse are sorely lacking.

“We normally get the statistics for COVID, you get the statistics for HIV, but we will never had any statistics for drugs and substance. I think if we can have that plan, the government can have that plan. … And then start funding the organization that are working with drugs and substance so that they fight it as they’re fighting for HIV and AIDS as they’re fighting for COVID,” she noted.

It’s not just South Africa that is lacking data on substance abuse, but the continent as a whole.

Florence Baingana is the African regional advisor on substance abuse for the World Health Organization.

“We may not count the exact numbers in each and every country. We know we have a problem. We also know that the services are inadequate, that one we know for a fact. Very often the alcohol treatment centers in the government facilities are underfunded. But I think if we were to begin by investing resources into building up the services, then we would be able to collect the data,” Baingana expressed.

She says investing in prevention would also be beneficial and less costly than treating addiction later on.

Ikageng’s caregivers like Nomali Monareng look for warning signs among the children they support.

She knows them first-hand, having struggled with addiction herself.

“Sometimes we need to start with parents. Most of children don’t, you don’t know how to talk about their feelings, don’t know how to express. Children need to be, to be taking care in all of their life, in all areas, like talking, having the conversation, even if it’s deep, even if it’s uncomfortable, you need to give the child a chance to talk,” she pointed out.

For those looking to get clean, the organization refers them to support groups that help people transition in and out of rehab.

They’re trying to offer skills training as well, so recoverees can find jobs and a purpose.

Vusi Nzimande is a project manager for the support program called Still We Rise.

“Where you find people idling, they don’t do nothing with their lives. That’s one of those things that causes us because of the mind is playing around. You started thinking too much. You don’t have a job; you don’t have anything to do. And then suddenly you see yourself going back to your old ways,” Nzimande said.

For the young people he’s helped, getting clean has been the first step. But experts say they’ll need opportunities and jobs to give them hope and keep them out of trouble in the long run.
…

African health groups have warned that the COVID pandemic has led to a rise in drug and alcohol abuse on the continent, but a gap in data is making it hard to monitor. In South Africa, a nonprofit is scrambling to help youth to stay clean and sober. Linda Givetash reports from Johannesburg.
…

A senior U.N. official warned Wednesday that the current political standoff in Libya could lead to instability and two parallel governments in the country.

“As long as the standoff over executive legitimacy continues, Libya could again see two parallel administrations,” U.N. political chief Rosemary DiCarlo told the U.N. Security Council. “This could lead to instability and possibly unrest and deal a severe blow to the prospect of elections.”

Libya’s latest political crisis began with the postponement of December 24 presidential and parliamentary elections over disputes about election laws and who could be a presidential candidate. Nearly 3 million Libyans had registered to take part in the vote.

Following the postponement, the House of Representatives adopted a constitutional amendment calling for the appointment by February 24 of a constitutional review committee representing the country’s three regions. The committee still has not been formed.

On March 1, legislators in the House of Representatives voted to confirm a new transitional government, with Fathi Bashagha, a former interior minister, as prime minister. His Cabinet was sworn in two days later.

“The U.N. received reports that the vote was marred by procedural flaws and threats of violence against some members of the chamber and their families,” DiCarlo said. “These shortcomings impacted the credibility of the process.”

DiCarlo said the situation on the ground has remained relatively calm, but there has been an increase in threatening rhetoric and political tensions. Local flights between the capital and eastern Libya are suspended, and some forces in the country’s west have moved toward Tripoli.

“The Government of National Unity leadership has rejected the legitimacy of the vote, stating that they will only transfer power to an elected government,” DiCarlo said of the government headed by incumbent Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah. “Mr. Bashagha, meanwhile, insists he is heading the legitimate government.”

U.N. special adviser Stephanie Williams has been talking to stakeholders and trying to find a consensus on the legal and constitutional framework to hold elections as soon as possible. She has also offered to mediate between the rival prime ministers.

Risks of polarization

“The United Nations continues to urge both parties to engage in a constructive dialogue to resolve the political impasse and to refrain from unilateral actions that could result in further divisions,” DiCarlo said.

She said this new phase of political polarization risks dividing national institutions and reversing gains made over the past two years.

“We know from experience what unilateral actions, divided government and an unending transition may hold in store for Libya,” she cautioned. “We remain convinced that credible, transparent and inclusive elections based on a sound constitutional and legal framework are the only solution to the current stalemate.”

Libya’s U.N. envoy agreed the country is at a complex and precarious moment.

“Here we are today going through a very critical phase,” Ambassador Taher El-Sonni said. “We are on a dangerous crossroads with the specter of political and institutional division haunting us again.”

El-Sonni said the focus must be on de-escalation and holding elections as soon as possible. He urged the U.N. to send election support.

El-Sonni said all Libyan stakeholders have pledged not to resort to violence to resolve the current political crisis.

“It is high time to end the cycle of conflict that lasted since 2011,” he said. “It is high time to overcome the painful differences of the past and start together a genuine national compact that will unite us, not divide us, that would make us stronger, not weaker.”

Instability, fighting and foreign interference have proliferated in Libya since the ouster and killing of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.
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Nigeria has evacuated at least 1,800 of its citizens from Ukraine since Russia’s invasion, but says that 80 Nigerian students remain trapped in the southern city of Kherson. Russian forces have captured the city, and the students this week called on the Nigerian government to come to their aid.

It was another cold night in underground bomb shelters for Nigerian students in Kherson. The students have been trapped for about two weeks since Russian forces seized the city on March 3.

The students say gas and internet services have been cut off and that they’re running out of food.

Akinyemi Victor, who graduated from the Kherson state maritime academy, spoke about the students’ situation on Twitter.

“When there’s no gas, there’s no heating system. We heat now with firewood and we cook there too. Some of us who have tried to go out of the city, Russian armies are sending them back home. No supply is coming into the city, (there’s) nothing going out, nothing coming in,” Victor said.

Kherson, a port city in southern Ukraine, was one of the first areas to fall to Russian forces. An estimated 150 Africans are believed to be trapped in the city, according to online groups calling for their evacuation.

This week, the Nigerian students called on their country to come to their aid.

Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama responded and said authorities are working with Nigeria’s ambassadors in Ukraine and Russia to assist the students.

Yusuf Buba, chairman of a foreign affairs committee set up by lawmakers to facilitate evacuation operations, says efforts are underway.

“Our only area of concern now is for those students that are still in Ukraine and we will put our heads together with the (foreign affairs) ministry to see how the remaining students will come out to safety,” Buba said. 

Online groups have been promoting the hashtag #EvacuateKherson to raise awareness about the African students trapped there.

Some recently evacuated students are also trying to help get their colleagues out.

Samuel Otunla was rescued last week from the northeastern city of Sumy and has been creating awareness about the students in Kherson from his new shelter in Hungary.

“All of these embassies need to be aware of the situation so they can keep pushing, keep communicating with the humanitarian aid, the Ukrainian government, possibly the Russian government and military as well to make sure that these people are evacuated. It’s not a good experience at all,” Otunla said.

Ukrainian authorities have accused Moscow of trying to create a republic out of the captured city and its surrounding areas.
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Most African women work on farms, but few have legal rights to the land they farm, including in Kenya despite laws guaranteeing women’s land rights. Implementation of the law remains a challenge which a women’s land rights group hopes to change. Juma Majanga reports from Nairobi. Camera: Jimmy  Makhulo
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The U.N. Security Council voted Tuesday to prolong its peacekeeping mission in South Sudan for one more year, after Russia and China chose to abstain. 

The Council’s 13 other members all voted in favor of the resolution, which extends the U.N. Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) until March 15, 2023, at its current level of deployment. 

The maximum number of U.N. peacekeeping soldiers for UNMISS is set at 17,000 with an additional 2,100 police officers. 

The operation is one of the most expensive for the U.N., with an annual budget surpassing $1 billion. 

China indicated that it was in favor of the extension but chose to abstain because the United States insisted on including human rights in the resolution’s text. 

China’s deputy ambassador, Dai Bing, called the draft resolution “very unbalanced,” a sentiment shared by his Russian counterpart, Anna Evstigneeva, who was disappointed that Moscow’s amendments were left out. 

The resolution states that the goal of the peacekeeping mission is to “prevent a return to civil war in South Sudan, to build durable peace at the local and national levels, and to support inclusive and accountable governance and free, fair, and peaceful elections.” 

At a Security Council meeting in early March, the U.N. and the United States, which played a key role in South Sudan’s creation, urged its leaders to move forward with its planned elections, or risk a “catastrophe.” 

With less than a year to go before the elections, South Sudan risks sliding back into war, the U.N. warned in February.  

The world’s youngest country has experienced chronic instability since gaining independence from Sudan in 2011. 

Between 2013 and 2018, it descended into a bloody civil war between archenemies Riek Machar and Salva Kiir, which left nearly 400,000 dead and millions displaced. 

A peace agreement signed in 2018 led to a national unity government that was inaugurated in February 2020, with Kiir as president and Machar as vice president. 

Due in part to ongoing feuds between the two rivals, the peace agreement remains largely unimplemented. 
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The Pritzker Prize, architecture’s most prestigious award, was awarded Tuesday to Burkina Faso-born architect Diebedo Francis Kere, the first African to win the honor in its more than 40-year history.

Kere, 56, was hailed for his “pioneering” designs that are “sustainable to the earth and its inhabitants — in lands of extreme scarcity,” said Tom Pritzker, chairman of the Hyatt Foundation that sponsors the award, in a statement.

Kere, a dual citizen of Burkina Faso and Germany, said he was the “happiest man on this planet” to become the 51st recipient of the illustrious prize since it was first awarded in 1979.

“I have a feeling of an overwhelming honor but also a sense of responsibility,” he told AFP during an interview in his office in Berlin.

Kere is renowned for building schools, health facilities, housing, civic buildings and public spaces across Africa, including Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Togo, Kenya, Mozambique, Togo and Sudan.

“He is equally architect and servant, improving upon the lives and experiences of countless citizens in a region of the world that is at times forgotten,” Pritzker said.

Kere won plaudits for his 2001 project for a primary school in Gando village, in Burkina Faso, where he was born.

Unlike traditional school buildings, which used concrete, Kere’s innovative design combined local clay, fortified with cement to form bricks that helped retain cooler air inside.

A wide, raised tin roof protects the building from rain while helping the air circulate, meaning natural ventilation without any need for air conditioning.

Kere engaged the local community during the design and building phase, and the number of students at the school increased from 120 to 700, the Hyatt Foundation said in its release.

The success of the project saw the creation of an extension, a library and teachers’ housing in later years.

Kere “empowers and transforms communities through the process of architecture,” designing buildings “where resources are fragile and fellowship is vital,” the Pritzker statement added.

“Through his commitment to social justice and engagement, and intelligent use of local materials to connect and respond to the natural climate, he works in marginalized countries laden with constraints and adversity,” the organizers said.

In Kere’s native Burkina Faso, his accolade was hailed as a reminder that Burkina Faso should be known internationally for more than a violent jihadi insurgency that has gripped the country.

Groups affiliated to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group have killed more than 2,000 people and displaced at least 1.7 million.

“In the current pain of the security crisis, our country must remember that it is also the nation of exceptional men like Francis Kere,” said Ra-Sablga Seydou Ouedraogo, of the non-profit Free Afrik.

Nebila Aristide Bazie, head of the Burkina Faso architects’ council, said the award “highlights the African architect and the people of Burkina Faso.”

In 2017, Kere designed the Serpentine pavilion in London’s Hyde Park, a prestigious assignment given to a world-famous architect every year.

He was also one of the architects behind Geneva’s International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum and has held solo museum shows in Munich and Philadelphia.

“I am totally convinced that everyone deserves quality,” he said in his office, where he celebrated his award with his team.

“I’m always thinking how can I get the best for my clients, for those who can afford but also for those who cannot afford.

“This is my way of doing things, of using my architecture to create structures to serve people, let’s say to serve humanity,” Kere added.
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A court in Zimbabwe dismissed a discharge application Tuesday in a case against a New York Times journalist. Freelance journalist Jeffrey Moyo is accused of flouting Zimbabwe’s immigration laws when he allegedly helped two foreign reporters enter the southern African nation illegally last year. 

Kathleen Mpofu — one of Moyo’s lawyers — said the journalist will go on trial April 28.  

“The magistrate dismissed the application. He basically found that the state had led enough evidence for Mr. Moyo to be put to his defense and coming to this finding,” Mpofu told VOA from Bulawayo, via WhatsApp. “It seems the magistrate relied on the fact that the state had led the evidence of the allegedly false accreditation cards that had been obtained by the foreign journalist and based on his interpretation of the evidence led by the state, he found that it was sufficient to put the accused to his defense.” 

Moyo’s lawyers believed the case might be dismissed, after the same court earlier this month acquitted a Zimbabwe Media Commission official, Thabang Manhika, for allegedly processing fake accreditations for two South Africa-based New York Times journalists who entered Zimbabwe and were later deported. Moyo and Manhika were being tried separately.   

Zimbabwe’s government says both Moyo and Manhika broke immigration laws. 

Information Ministry Permanent Secretary Ndabaningi Nick Mangwana commented on Tuesday’s ruling.  

“We just want to see that there’s law and order. If somebody has committed a crime or is perceived, they will have their day in court, so he is having his day in court, so his outcome is not in our hands, it’s in the hands of the criminal justice system. That’s our position,” Mangwana said. 

Tabani Moyo of the Media Institute of Southern Africa, or MISA, has called for the journalist to be treated fairly.   

“MISA Zimbabwe underscores the need for fair trial. That is our position throughout till the end of the case. All we are saying is that he, just like any other citizen, deserves a fair trial,” Moyo said. 

Moyo, a Zimbabwean national, faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.    

 
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Cameroon’s government says it will rebuild hospitals and clinics destroyed by Boko Haram terrorists along the border with Nigeria. In a visit to the area this week, officials said the facilities were needed for villagers who have suffered from the conflict as well as for former Boko Haram members who have been rehabilitated.

Cameroon’s Ministry of Public Health says at least 35 hospitals along the country’s border with Nigeria have either been abandoned by medical staff or destroyed by Boko Haram terrorists.

Minister of Public Health Manaouda Malachie this week visited some of the remaining hospitals along the border.

He says although working and living conditions are very difficult, the few medical staff members in former Boko Haram prone towns and villages are doing their best to save lives. Malachie says Cameroon’s President Paul Biya has ordered his government to build and equip destroyed hospitals and recruit more health workers. He also says he asked several hundred hospital workers who fled Boko Haram terrorism to return to Cameroon’s border with Nigeria.

Malachie did not say when the hospitals would be re-built.

But Cameroon’s government says it will spend $300 million this year to reconstruct what Boko Haram destroyed, including hospitals and medical equipment.

Government troops have been fighting Boko Haram along the northern border with Nigeria since 2014.

Cameroon’s military says there have been about 25 cases of abductions and kidnappings for ransom this year, but no large scale attacks by the terrorist group.

The military says the return to peace has allowed several thousand internally displaced persons and former Boko Haram members to return to their villages.

But health care in the region is sorely lacking, say social workers like Jean Pierre Ndlend in Kolofata district via a messaging application.

Ndlend says youths of between 15 and 35 years old are a majority of the 150 people suffering from mental health disorders that the Kolofata hospital has received since January. He says trauma from seeing people dying or forcefully separated from loved ones, poverty, and risky living conditions are the highest causes of mental health disorders in Cameroon’s northern border with Nigeria.

Ndlend says the Kolofata hospital receives hundreds of patients every day but has only seven health care workers.

Speaking to Cameroon state radio (CRTV) this week, Far North Region Governor Midjiyawa Bakari said the military has been helping civilians while they wait for the government to re-build hospitals.

Bakari says most Cameroon’s troops deployed to fight Boko Haram have been sent to border villages to provide health care and education to both returnees and militants who surrender and leave the terrorist group. He says Cameroon’s military health unit visits border villages to provide humanitarian assistance and treat sick returnees, former fighters, and the host community.

Bakari said thousands of Boko Haram fighters and supporters have defected from the terrorist group since last May, when the leader of the Nigerian militants Abubakar Shekau was declared killed.

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.
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A World Bank study has found South Africa to be the most unequal country in the world, with women of color hit hardest by unemployment and gender-based violence – both made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic. While analysts say apartheid and poor governance are to blame, community aid groups like Phenomenal Women are working to address the issues. Linda Givetash reports from Johannesburg.
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The Chadian authorities on Monday handed over a former Central African Republic militia leader to the International Criminal Court on suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity, the Hague-based court said.

Maxime Jeoffroy Eli Mokom Gawaka is suspected of crimes committed in 2013 and 2014 “in Bangui and other locations in the Central African Republic,” the ICC said in a statement.

Mokom was an “anti-Balaka” group leader, vigilantes from the CAR’s Christian and animist majority. In 2019, he became the country’s minister for Disarmament, Demobilization, Reintegration and Repatriation (DDRR).

The ICC has “found reasonable grounds” to suspect that Mokom, in his capacity as a “National Coordinator of Operations of the Anti-Balaka”, was responsible for crimes against humanity, including murder, torture, persecution and “enforced disappearance,” the court said in its statement.

On the war crimes front, he is suspected of, among other things, “intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population” and an attack against humanitarian assistance personnel as well as enlisting fighters as young as 15.

One of the poorest countries in the world, the CAR spiraled into conflict in 2013 when President Francois Bozize was ousted by a rebel coalition called the Seleka, drawn largely from the Muslim minority.

The coup triggered a sectarian bloodbath between “anti-Balaka” forces and Seleka rebels.

Two former anti-Balaka leaders, Patrice-Edouard Ngaissona and Alfred Yekatom, are already on trial at the ICC.

An alleged Seleka leader will go on trial at the ICC in September to face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. 
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Nigerian teachers, who have been striking since February 14, said they are extending their strike for another two months. The teachers accuse the government of failing to honor agreed-upon benefits. Meanwhile, about eight million Nigerian students are unable to attend school.

Civil engineering student Favour Nwokeforo, who is entering his final year, had hoped for better news on Monday. With his bags packed for school, he said his hopes were dashed after the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) announced the extension of its strike by eight more weeks.

“I’m not happy,” Nworkeforo said. “No student will plan a semester timetable with strikes in between, much less a final year student. We haven’t even started some courses. It’s very disappointing and I hope the strike can be resolved soonest.”

ASUU said the salary negotiations with authorities late Sunday fell through and that the extension is to enable authorities resolve the issues.

Strikes over pay are not unusual at public universities in Nigeria controlled by the government.

In 2009, ASUU and Nigerian authorities signed a $500 million agreement to end strikes in the country. The agreement was to ensure timely payment of salaries and the improvement of public schools in Nigeria.

ASUU says authorities failed to “satisfactorily” meet the terms of this agreement.

The union’s chairman, Emmanuel Osodeke, could not immediately comment. But ASUU’s decision to shut down the universities is keeping nearly eight million students like Nwokeforo away from classes.

Two weeks ago, the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, organized protests aimed at pushing the government and ASUU to reach a compromise.

NANS zonal leader Umar Faruq said the students will hold more street protests until ASUU and authorities settle their differences.

“We intend to block the roads that lead to most cities of Nigeria, especially the federal capital territory (Abuja),” Faruq said. “What we held last two weeks is part of the action plan.”

Nigeria’s Labor Minister Chris Ngige has said authorities already paid $230 million in earned allowances and revitalization fees to the lecturers’ union – and that the government doesn’t have any more money to pay the union.

This is the sixteenth time ASUU will be going on strike in two decades. In 2020, the union’s strike lasted nine months, the longest in recent history.
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