Armed militants killed at least eight people who were collecting water in a town in northern Burkina Faso on Monday morning, its mayor said, bringing the total killed in three days of violence in the restive area above 30. 

  Monday’s attack took place in Arbinda in the province of Soum, which has suffered several deadly raids by Islamist militants linked to al-Qaida and Islamic State that for years have sought to gain control over a swath of arid terrain where Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger meet.   

Mayor Boureima Werem told Reuters that insurgents have been targeting water towers and pumps in recent weeks in an apparent new tactic.   

In separate incidents in northern Burkina Faso, at least 15 people, including 13 military police officers, were killed in Namentenga province on Sunday, the military police said. On Saturday, nine people were killed in an assault on an informal gold mine in the province of Oudalan, a security source said. 

A campaign of violence has already killed thousands of people and forced more than 2 million to flee their homes in the Sahel region south of the Sahara Desert. Killings have persisted despite the presence of thousands of foreign troops, undermining faith in elected governments in the region.  

Frustration over the lack of government control led to protests in Burkina Faso that culminated in a military coup in January. A military junta in Mali took power in August 2020.  

Turmoil in the Sahel started when militants took over Mali’s desert north in 2012, prompting France to intervene the following year in an attempt to push them back. But the insurgents have regrouped in recent years and seized territory. 
…

Malian soldiers and jihadists have carried out a wave of summary executions since December in the conflict-torn Sahel state, says Human Rights Watch, which is urging the government to investigate. 

A report due to be published Wednesday said at least 107 civilians – including traders, village chiefs and children – had been killed recently in central and southwestern Mali since December.

Most of the victims were summarily executed, according to the report seen by AFP, which is based on the testimony of 49 people.

Members of the security forces were linked to at least 71 civilian deaths over the period, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said, while jihadists were linked to 36.

The numbers constituted a “dramatic spike,” said HRW Sahel director Corinne Dufka.

“This complete disregard for human life, which includes apparent war crimes, should be investigated and those found to be implicated appropriately punished,” she added.

Mali, an impoverished nation of 21 million people, has over the past decade been wracked by Islamist violence. Vast swaths of the country are in thrall to myriad rebel groups and militias.

Thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed and hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes.

Mali’s under-equipped army has also often been accused of committing abuses during the brutal conflict.

But the army-dominated interim government, installed after a 2020 military coup, regularly rejects such accusations.

Among other incidents, the HRW report cited one in central Mali in January in which soldiers allegedly killed five civilians.

A witness told the rights group that “white soldiers” as well as Malian troops had been involved. 

The report did not mention the identity of the white soldiers. However, France, the United States and others say that Russian private security firm Wagner has deployed hundreds of fighters to Mali.

Mali’s government has repeatedly denied the claims.

HRW said the government had told the rights group that the gendarmes had opened investigations into two alleged incidents of military abuses mentioned in the report. 
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Gunmen killed at least 13 gendarmes in an ambush Sunday at Taparko, a mining town in northern Burkina Faso regularly targeted by jihadist fighters, security sources said.

“A team from the gendarmerie at Dori fell into an ambush set by armed individuals this afternoon near Taparko,” a security source told AFP. As well as the 13 confirmed dead, a number of other gendarmes were missing, the source added.

Another security source said reinforcements had been called in and were searching the sector for eight missing gendarmes.

An additional eight gendarmes were wounded in the attack, two of them seriously, and they had been evacuated for treatment in Tougouri.

The attack came as two people were killed and several others injured when a bus hit a landmine Sunday, also near Taparko.
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The death toll in a train crash in southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo has been revised upward to 75, with 125 injured, rail officials and the communications ministry said
…

Zimbabwe police Saturday blocked the country’s main opposition party from holding rallies ahead of March 26 elections to fill seats that have fallen vacant since the general election in 2018. The police says the rally ban in Mavhunga, about 80 kilometers east of Harare, is meant to ensure peace and stability.

Police camped overnight Friday at a venue in Marondera, where the leader of Zimbabwe’s main opposition, the Citizens’ Coalition for Change, Nelson Chamisa, was supposed to address his supporters Saturday. The 44-year-old candidate later came to disperse the crowd waiting for him.

“We are a party of peace, a party of the rule of law,” he said.

Chamisa said his party does not want to fight with people. He said the government denied permission to hold a rally, so the party asked for permission to come and tell about that. He told his supporters he does not want the politics of Zimbabwe to cause any death. Then he added that what the government does not know is that here in Marondera, his arrival is good enough.

In an interview Sunday, Fadzayi Mahere, the Citizens’ Coalition for Change spokeswoman said her party was not happy with the bias of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and the police in favor of the ruling ZANU-PF.

“Our rally in Marondera was purportedly banned and yet ZANU-PF was car rally and other unsanctioned in the very same area,” she said. “Not once have they sought authorization or given notice to the police, yet these unlawful prohibitions are meted out against us. Ours is a struggle of non-violent resistance. However, the thousands that came out just to hear president Chamisa speak shows beyond any doubt that the citizens are prepared to do whatever it takes to reclaim their dignity. We continue to urge supporters to register to vote in their masses so that we attain our target in 2023: A landslide victory.”

Zimbabwe police Sunday refused to comment on the ban of the Citizens’ Coalition for Change in Marondera. It issued a letter to the opposition saying it needed time to prepare to ensure there was peace at the rally. Two weeks ago, violence instigated by suspected ruling ZANU-PF supporters at a Citizens’ Coalition for Change rally resulted in two deaths and dozens injured.

Alexander Rusero, a former senior politics lecturer at Harare Polytechnic college, says police and political parties must thwart violence at opposition rallies.

Police have arrested 16 suspected ZANU-PF supporters who are accused of causing the violence and who now face murder charges in connection with the deaths at the opposition rally.

Zimbabwe’s pre-election season has been marred by violence that has claimed lives and left thousands injured since 2000 after a strong opposition party emerged.
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Roegchanda Pascoe braved death threats while trying to ease the gang violence plaguing the Cape Flats community just outside Cape Town, South Africa. Facia Boyenoh Harris faced harassment while advocating for women’s rights and protections against sexual violence in Liberia. Najla Mangoush a year ago accepted the role of foreign minister in the U.N.-backed transitional government of Libya, a country deeply divided by a decade of civil war.

These three Africans are among a dozen women being honored by the U.S. State Department with its 2022 International Women of Courage Awards for demonstrating “exceptional courage, strength and leadership in advocating for peace, justice, human rights, gender equity and equality … often at great personal risk and sacrifice,” according to a press statement.

They will be recognized Monday at a ceremony that, because of the pandemic, will bring them together virtually instead of in person in Washington. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will preside, with remarks by first lady Jill Biden.

Roegchanda Pascoe

Pascoe, 47, is a crime prevention activist working in the Cape Flats, a poor community outside Cape Town where mixed-race people were forcibly resettled in the 1960s under South Africa’s apartheid system.

Gangs have had a decadeslong hold there, trafficking in drugs, guns, prostitution and more. Violence has been “so normalized,” Pascoe told VOA.

But in 2013, after a boy was caught in gang crossfire and killed while playing outside, she co-founded the volunteer Manenberg Safety Forum. Named for the township in which it’s based, the forum raises awareness about the criminal justice system, trains community advocates, and provides counseling and other support for victims of violence, especially women and children. Pascoe draws an honorarium through a grant from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.

On July 20, 2016, Pascoe and several other Manenberg residents witnessed an alleged gang attack on a man who died later that day. Pascoe was the only witness willing to testify at the 2019 murder trial, helping to convict the gang’s leader and two others.

The day before her scheduled testimony, unknown assailants shot at her house. Pascoe had been moved to a safe house earlier that day, but her young children were still at home. They have since joined her in hiding, fearing gang retaliation.

“I cannot be silent when injustice is happening to any human being,” she told VOA of her decision to testify. But “the effect of gang violence has been dire for me. … I’ll never be able to move back to the community.”

Yet Pascoe has persevered. Through the forum, she continues to mediate community conflict and support victimized women and families. She set up a crime prevention and intervention program for at-risk youths. She has organized a “walking bus” system for schoolchildren to be escorted by adults – often mothers who had been jobless. They get paid, “skilled up and trained how to do emergency first aid,” Pascoe said.

“She has amazing strategies to develop her community,” Oscar Nceba Siwali said of Pascoe in an email to VOA. He directs the Southern African Development and Reconstruction Agency, which promotes nonviolence in some of the country’s toughest communities. “In workshops to help engage NGOs to work together, she has been most helpful – points forward while acknowledging [the] past.”

Pascoe hopes her selection for a Courage Award will help others realize that, no matter how disadvantaged, they can make valuable contributions.

“It will mean a lot for our young women leaders,” she said.

Facia Boyenoh Harris

In 2005, Harris was in her first year at African Methodist Episcopal University in Liberia’s capital, Monrovia, when she and some classmates started the Paramount Young Women Initiative. They raised money for scholarships to help other students struggling with financial need, family burdens, academic difficulties and more.

They added workshops. “We talked about family life, socioeconomic issues and the inspiration that we needed” as Liberia began recovering from civil war, said Harris, now 39. “We had a safe space to come together.”

Today, the nonprofit initiative continues to provide that safe space support for adolescent girls and young women, promoting education, mentoring and leadership.

It’s just one activist outlet for Harris, a former journalist whose paid job is to direct outreach for Liberia’s Independent Information Commission. It’s charged with enforcing the country’s Freedom of Information Act.

Harris co-founded the Liberian Feminist Forum and, as a community organizer, has campaigned for broader political participation and better sanitation. She fights gender-based violence, including rape and female genital mutilation.

In Liberia, “we’re dealing with a very strong patriarchal system that continually marginalizes women,” Harris said.

Liberia’s president declared rape a national emergency in 2020, and the government recently launched a hotline to report sexual and gender-based violence. But Gender Minister Williametta E. Saydee-Tarr, addressing the nation’s Senate Thursday [March 10], complained of low rates of reporting and slow criminal prosecution.

“There are lots of challenges with the system,” Harris said. Police sometimes say they lack the capacity to investigate or make arrests, or a victim or relatives may not want to press charges. Cases can get snagged in the criminal justice system.

People need “timely access to justice,” Harris said.

She’s also advocating for equal representation in public office. Though Liberia was the first African country to elect a female head of state – Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, president from 2006 to 2018 – women remain underrepresented in national elective office. Harris noted that in Liberia’s Legislature, women hold just 11 of 103 seats in the lower chamber and two of 30 seats in the Senate.

“Women do not have the same access to money” for filing fees and campaigns, said Harris, suggesting campaign finance measures.

Harris said the Courage Award honors “the women of Liberia who have continuously worked hard to ensure that injustices come to an end” while advancing the country’s development. It represents a personal challenge, too: “I have a greater responsibility to do more … to leave a better Liberia for the generations after us.”

Najla Mangoush of Libya

Mangoush was appointed March 15, 2021, as Libya’s foreign minister – the first female to hold that position in the North African country of 7 million.

A lawyer and human rights advocate, she also is a doctoral candidate at George Mason University’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, just outside of Washington. Mangoush – who holds a master’s degree in conflict transformation from Eastern Mennonite University, also in Virginia – set aside her dissertation to take the Cabinet position.

Peacemaking skills get put to the test in Libya, an oil-rich country mired in conflict since longtime ruler Moammar Gadhafi was overthrown and killed in 2011. Mangoush is part of the Government of National Unity, a U.N.-based administration installed in Tripoli in early 2021 as a transition to an elected government. But presidential and parliamentary elections set for December were delayed and have not yet been rescheduled.

A new government appointed by Libya’s parliament March 1 has challenged the unity government’s mandate, putting Mangoush’s Cabinet post at risk.

During the 2011 revolution, Mangoush worked with civil society organizations as head of the National Transitional Council’s public engagement unit. She also has represented Libya at the U.S. Institute of Peace. Now she’s grappling with issues such as illegal migration and the presence of unwanted foreign military troops.

“To enter into the fray of Libyan politics and Libyan civil war and take a stand is a pretty courageous thing,” said Marc Gopin, who directs GMU’s Center for World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution, where Mangoush once served as program director for peacebuilding and traditional law.

An additional award

Beyond Monday’s virtual awards ceremony, honorees will take part in a virtual leadership program “to connect with their American counterparts and strengthen the global network of women leaders,” the State Department said in its press release. More than 170 women from more than 80 countries have been recognized for their work since 2007.

To support their work, each honoree also receives a $5,000 stipend from American Women for International Understanding. The nonprofit group and its roughly 125 members promote “women-to-women interactions” through exchange visits, study programs and events.

The group’s stipends allow recipients to do more of their essential work, said Julienne Lusenge, a 2021 Courage Award winner and human rights activist in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She told VOA that, with her $5,000, “I built bathrooms for the children” at a school in Mbau village.

AWIU plans a May 24 dinner in Los Angeles to celebrate this year’s honorees. There, in recognition of its 15-year collaboration with the awards program, the group will receive its own prize: the State Department’s Gender Champion Award.

This report originated in VOA’s Africa Division.
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A train crash in southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo has killed at least 60 people, the state rail company and local sources said on Saturday.

“(Currently) the toll is 61 dead, men, women and children (and) 52 injured who have been evacuated,” Marc Manyonga Ndambo, director of infrastructure at the SNCC train operator, told AFP.

Local media quoted the provincial governor Fifi Masuka as saying 60 people had been killed.

The train was a freight service which had been carrying “several hundred stowaways,” said Manyonga said even though this was prohibited.

“Some of the bodies were still trapped in the wagons that had fallen into the ravines,” he added.

Manyonga said the train was made up of 15 wagons, 12 of which were empty, and was coming from Luen in a neighboring province destined for the mining town of Tenke, close to Kolwezi.

It derailed at 11:50 p.m. (2150 GMT) on Thursday at the village of Buyofwe, about 200 kilometers from Kolwezi, “at a place where there are ravines,” into which seven of the 15 wagons fell, he said.

“My team is working hard to clear the track by Monday,” Manyonga added. He did not say how the crash had happened.

Train derailments are common in the DRC, as are shipwrecks of overloaded boats on the country’s lakes and rivers.

Due to the lack of passenger trains or passable roads, people use goods trains to travel long distances.
…

Div Venter is a South African man whose wife, Natalia, is Ukrainian. Natalia was in Ukraine when the Russian invasion began and has refused to leave, staying to care for her family and to help those needing medicine and food. But as Russia’s invading forces close in, the situation for Natalia is quickly worsening.

Natalia fled the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, after the first Russian bombs fell in the city. She is now in a small village in the southwest portion of the country. But on Thursday night, there were attacks just 60 kilometers from her location.

Div asked her to describe to VOA what is happening in Ukraine. She sent this WhatsApp voice note: “What can I say about situation in Ukraine? This is not even like in hell. This is something like Armageddon. A lot of children died already, a lot of women died already. A lot of men died. A lot of city bombed already. A lot of city completely destroyed. Some small village absolutely does not have water, does not have electricity. The Russian military take away people’s cell phone which live in small village. People really suffer. People does not have food. It’s like completely, different, horrible life. You know. You don’t know what will happen tomorrow.”

Div, 48, who owns a small roofing company, met Natalia, 46, through friends in 2019. They married the following year. Due to COVID-19, there were delays with processing her spousal visa in South Africa, so the two are apart.

After Natalia fled Kyiv, Div put money into her bank account and she bought essential supplies for those in need, but she wanted to do more.

“You know, Natalia called me last week Friday to say: ‘Div, you know what, my people need help. My people need support. What can we do to help my people here? I have to keep myself busy. I cannot just sit and watch how everything goes to shambles here.’ And I said to her: ‘You know what, my love, I think that is a very good idea. Let me see what I can do from my side,’ ” Div told VOA.

He immediately thought of Gift of the Givers, which has been doing disaster relief work for 29 years. In that time, the group has raised over $266 million in aid.

According to the organization’s founder, Imtiaz Sooliman, that money has been donated mainly by South African citizens.

Sooliman said that after Div asked the group to get involved, Gift of the Givers has been giving money and building a network in Ukraine.

“Stuff being bought is food items, socks, jackets, warm clothes, sanitary pads, diapers, medicines for individual patients wherever they can source it,” Sooliman said. “So, I said, can’t we replicate this process somewhere else? And then they started doing it in Kyiv and then they did it in Kharkiv and they brought in a fourth area — it’s [along] the Belarus border — and all these areas are circled by Russian troops. We send money, find a shop, see what people need, buy the goods and start distributing, and that process is working very, very well.”

He said they’re now getting requests from all over Ukraine, which he’s asking Div and Natalia to sort through.

But why doesn’t Natalia cross the border and seek refuge?

“Let’s see what will happen in the next day or two,” Div said in response to the question. “You know, if it will become too life-threatening, I’m sure that she will leave. I hope that she will leave. I said to her from the beginning, ‘Please, Nata, just come back.’ But I understand. She is very worried about her grandson.”

Natalia’s parents, son and grandson are all in Ukraine.
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Editor’s note: Here is a fast take on what the international community has been up to this past week, as seen from the United Nations perch.

UN appeals for safe corridors in Ukraine for civilians, humanitarians

The United Nations humanitarian chief appealed Monday for safe passage for civilians fleeing Ukraine and for humanitarians delivering urgent assistance to the country, as humanitarian needs continued to rapidly grow.

UN: Safe Corridors Needed for Civilians, Humanitarians in Ukraine

80,000 Ukrainian women due to give birth in next 3 months

As health care facilities in Ukraine are increasingly being targeted by Russia, the U.N. Population Fund said Thursday that about 80,000 women are due to give birth in the coming three months and must be protected.

Pregnant Women in Russia’s Crosshairs as Health Care Comes Under Attack in Ukraine

Human rights deteriorate in Northern Ethiopia as Tigray conflict spreads

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said Tuesday that her office has documented killings and injuries of hundreds of civilians in northern Ethiopia due to airstrikes by the Ethiopian government. At the same time, she said the Tigrayan forces and other armed groups have carried out devastating attacks in Afar and Amhara, resulting in scores of deaths and hundreds of injuries.

UN: Human Rights and Security Deteriorate in Northern Ethiopia as Tigray Conflict Spreads

Syrian Civil War enters 12th year

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday that courage must be shown to reach a political settlement in Syria’s civil war. “We cannot fail the Syrian people. The conflict must cease,” he said in a statement marking 11 years of unrest.

UN Chief Appeals for Courage to End Syrian War

In brief

— Ukrainians and third-country nationals have been pouring out of Ukraine this week as Russia steps up its air and land war. In just two weeks, more than 2.5 million people — mostly women, children and elderly — have sought safety in Poland, Hungary, Moldova, Slovakia, Romania and other European countries. A small number have also gone to Russia and its ally Belarus. Nearly 2 million more are displaced inside Ukraine. The U.N. has warned that the number of displaced inside and outside the country could rise to 10 million if the war does not stop.

— The United Nations confirmed this week that Ukraine is withdrawing all of its 308 peacekeepers from six U.N. missions to return them home. The most significant presence is the 250 military personnel and eight helicopters in MONUSCO in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the U.N. is looking at the impact of their departure and will be speaking to other countries about replacing them. Another 58 Ukrainian peacekeepers are spread among missions in in South Sudan, Mali, Cyprus, Abyei and Kosovo.

— A report from the U.N. human rights office has found that hostilities and civilian casualties in Afghanistan have sharply decreased since the Taliban took power in August. However, it also says the human rights situation for many Afghans has worsened, and 20 million people are suffering from acute hunger.

Quote of note

“All these women who are giving birth in makeshift shelters, in subway stations, in the basements of buildings — oftentimes without skilled attendants — all of these women are also casualties of war.”

— Jaime Nadal, the U.N. Population Fund’s representative in Ukraine, in a briefing call with reporters Thursday.

What we are watching next week

Yemen enters its seventh year of conflict this month and the resulting humanitarian crisis has left nearly 21 million people in dire need of assistance. In recent weeks, the World Food Program has had to cut rations due to funding shortfalls. The United Nations will co-host a pledging conference on March 16 with Sweden and Switzerland in hopes of raising sufficient funds to avoid the situation from slipping into famine this year.
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The U.N. refugee agency said Friday that drought in Somalia was causing a humanitarian and displacement crisis, with thousands of people fleeing their parched lands in search of fertile territory and humanitarian assistance to help them survive.

In Somalia, experts say, climate change is kicking in with a vengeance. For the past three years, the rains have largely failed to come, decimating crops and livestock.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has estimated that about half a million people this year alone are likely to have been displaced by the end of March. The majority reportedly are children, the elderly, pregnant and lactating mothers.

UNHCR spokesman Boris Chershirkov said most arrive in urban centers or existing settlements for displaced people, only to find difficult living conditions. Additionally, he said, the hoped-for aid is in short supply, forcing them to resort to extreme measures to survive. This, he said, exposes them to exploitation and multiple dangers.

“Children have dropped out of school to help their families earn a daily income and search for water and pasture,” Chershirkov said. “This has made them particularly vulnerable to risks such as forced marriage, family separation, and sexual violence and abuse. Women and girls, who make up half of the displaced population, are at heightened risk.”

Meteorologists forecast a good rainy season in the Horn of Africa. And as of now, World Food Program spokesman Tomson Phiri said, no area is reported as being either in a state of famine or on the verge of famine.

“However, hunger and malnutrition are worsening across all drought-affected areas. … One rainy season may not be enough to wash away three consecutive drought seasons,” Phiri said. “And if immediate humanitarian support is not received, this could rapidly change, and millions of families could find themselves facing starvation.”

Aid agencies are facing the specter of the 2011 famine in Somalia, which killed more than a quarter-million people, half of them children.

The UNHCR has appealed for $157.5 million to deliver critical aid and protection to nearly 3 million internally displaced people in Somalia, and tens of thousands of refugees and asylum-seekers. So far, only 5 percent of that amount has been received.
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A Malian delegation is expected in Mauritania’s capital Friday to discuss the alleged disappearance of several Mauritanians on Malian territory.

The delegation is scheduled to arrive in Nouakchott after the Mauritanian government accused Mali of “criminal acts” against Mauritanians on Malian territory. 

According to a French news agency report, a Mauritanian member of parliament, Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Henenna, says at least 15 of his countrymen have been killed in Mali. Social media posts have accused the Malian army of being responsible for the killings.

In a March 9 press release, Mali’s military government said its ambassador to Mauritania was summoned to a meeting with Mauritania’s foreign affairs minister over the alleged “assassination of Mauritanian citizens” in Mali. The release denied the Malian army is responsible for the killings and pledged to investigate the crimes. 

Malian officials visited Mauritania in January to strengthen the relationship between the two countries after the West African bloc ECOWAS imposed sanctions on Mali, in response to the military government delaying elections. 

Mauritania is not a member of ECOWAS and does not support the sanctions. The West African country, along with Guinea, remains one of the only ways Mali can have access to a port and international trade.

The Malian army has also been accused of “disappearing” several Fulani men in Mali’s Segou region, with the U.N. and Human Rights Watch conducting investigations. 
…

South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa says he has been asked to help mediate peace between Russia and Ukraine, after having spoken to his counterpart Vladimir Putin. But some analysts are questioning whether South Africa’s ties to Russia could impact its neutrality.  

The prospective role of mediator comes after the country abstained from a United Nations vote to reprimand Russia over its invasion of neighboring Ukraine. 

Bheki Mngomezulu, a professor of political science at the University of the Western Cape, said the request shouldn’t come as a surprise. 

“It’s a very tricky situation, because South Africa, by the way, has ties with both countries,” Mngomezulu said. “But in principle, I think that South Africa did the right thing on this Russian-Ukrainian issue by not siding with either side. South Africa is being looked at as a country that does not believe the use of force, but believes in negotiation.” 

The presidency did not specify whether it was Russia or another party that made the request. This lack of clarity is just one instance contributing to questions about South Africa’s neutrality. 

The country has also flip-flopped on its position on the conflict. 

South Africa’s international relations department issued a statement last month calling on Russia to withdraw its forces from Ukraine. Since then, the call has been removed from official statements, and Ramaphosa has taken a softer stance. 

“Putin was very happy that he had what Putin regards as an even-handed, balanced approach to the situation,” said Piers Pigou, a senior consultant on Southern Africa for the International Crisis Group. “That’s certainly not the perspective from many other people. It’s inexplicable for some people why South Africa cannot take a firmer stance on calling for cease-fire.” 

South Africa does have a reputation for conflict mediation. 

That stems from the peaceful transition out of its own racist apartheid regime to supporting other African nations in conflict, like Sudan. 

But the ruling African National Congress party that led those negotiations also has decades-old ties to Russia. 

“The ANC historical ties to the old Soviet Union and currently, Russia, may pose questions for the Ukrainians as to whether South African leader, like Ramaphosa, could be regarded as an honest broker,” said Charles Nupen, an attorney and executive chairman of the consulting firm StratAlign. “But I’ve got no doubt that if he were acceptable to all parties, he’s certainly got the skillset, and the right approach and experience to lead a mediation delegation.” 

However, Pigou is not as certain of South Africa’s current expertise. 

“I think that there is a tendency to kind of try and live off the legacy of a post-apartheid South Africa that was birthed in negotiations. The question, though, remains whether South Africa really has the competencies and capacities to deliver on mediation,” Pigou said. 

Regardless of who mediates negotiations, Nupen said there remain other questions on how it will play out. 

“Under whose auspices would this mediation take place? Where would it be held? How would the table be set? And, you know, what would the mediation agenda be?” he asked.

Nupen said he imagines the first priority would be to get a cease-fire in place.  
…

Military investigations have found poor leadership, inadequate training and a “culture of complacency” among U.S. forces undermined efforts to fend off a 2020 attack by militants in Kenya that killed three Americans, U.S. officials familiar with the probes told The Associated Press ahead of the release of the findings, expected Thursday.

Two military reviews of the attack by al-Shabab militants are scathing in their conclusions that there were failures across the board at the Manda Bay air base, where senior military leaders said there was a “deeply rooted culture of a false sense of security.” The attack also wounded three people and destroyed six aircraft; at least six insurgents were killed.

Army General Stephen Townsend, head of U.S. Africa Command, which did the first review, told the AP that while the actions of no one person caused the attack or the casualties, the reviews concluded that security, intelligence, training and command failures contributed to the losses.

Air Force Major General Tom Wilcox, who was part of the team that did the second review, said that “none of the negligence that we found contributed to the primary cause of the loss of life or damage. However, we did find that they potentially contributed to the outcome, to vulnerabilities on the airfield.”

Defense officials said that a number of Air Force personnel were reviewed for possible disciplinary action and, as a result, eight have received some form of administrative punishment, including written reprimands and loss of certification. The eight range from junior enlisted airmen to officers below the general ranks. A written reprimand can end an officer’s career. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe personnel discipline.

The Manda Bay base, in the Kenyan seaside resort, was overrun by 30 to 40 al-Qaida-linked insurgents on January 5, 2020, marking al-Shabab’s first attack against U.S. forces in the East African country. The pre-dawn assault triggered a lengthy firefight and daylong struggle for U.S. and Kenyan forces to search and secure the base.

Second review

The initial investigation into the attack was completed a year ago by U.S. Africa Command, but last April, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered a new, independent review led by General Paul Funk, commander of Army Training and Doctrine Command.

The new report largely mirrors the findings in the initial investigation but expands its scope. Both are sharply critical of the inadequate security, training and oversight at the base. Austin has accepted the reports and their findings.

The base at Manda Bay has been used for years by the U.S. military, but it only became a full-time airfield in 2016, with increased personnel, aircraft and operations. According to the reviews, the military there never adjusted security to account for the expanded use and was lulled by the fact the base hadn’t been attacked in 16 years.

The complacency, said the Africa Command review, permeated every echelon and existed for several years.

The reviews criticized leadership at all levels, from the Air Force wing and security forces to special operations commanders and U.S. Africa Command. They found there was an inadequate understanding of and focus on the threats in the region.

Townsend said a vague intelligence report prior to the deadly attack referred to an al-Shabab plan to attack U.N. aircraft. But that report didn’t get to the right people because of staff shortages, And, he said, those who saw it “didn’t connect the dots” — that it could be referring to the unmarked contract aircraft the U.S. has at Manda Bay.

He also noted, “We get these every day — al-Shabab is going to attack. Most of them never happen.”

The reviews also said that the various command and service units at the base didn’t communicate or coordinate well with each other or with the local Kenyan forces.

Militants fire grenades

As a result, at 5:20 a.m., 20 to 30 al-Shabab militants were able to slip through a forest and fired rocket-propelled grenades onto the Magogoni Airfield at the base. In the first two minutes, the RPGs killed Army Specialist Henry Mayfield in a truck and killed two contractors, Dustin Harrison and Bruce Triplett, in an aircraft. Another soldier and a civilian contractor were wounded.

About a mile down the road, another smaller group of the militants fired on Camp Simba, a section of the adjacent Kenyan navy base where U.S. forces are housed.

The reviews say security troops at the airfield were unprepared to respond to the attack and several never really engaged the insurgents. Instead, Marines at Camp Simba about a mile away responded first.

“Someone starts shooting, and Marines are going to go to the sound of the guns. And so they did. They mounted up, and they led the counterattack,” said Townsend, who visited Manda Bay three weeks ago.

It took about 20 minutes for the Marine special operations team to get to the airfield and begin to fight back against the militants, who had made it onto the flightline and into buildings.

As Kenyan and additional U.S. security forces responded, al-Shabab attacked again. It took until midnight for the military to search the airfield and adjacent buildings and declare the area secure. During the counterattack, one Marine and one Kenyan service member were wounded.

Changes made

In interviews, Townsend and Wilcox said that substantial changes and improvements have been made — some in the first hours after the attack and others that have continued and grown over the past year.

Almost immediately, Army infantry soldiers were brought in for added security, and now the protection force is more than double the size it was during the attack. Fencing and other barriers now ring the entire base, including Camp Simba. And there have been overhauls of intelligence sharing and Air Force security training.

The Air Force now trains all deploying security forces together before they depart for the country, and it requires that personnel be more experienced in force protection to get senior jobs at the bases.

In addition, the reviews recommended that one senior commander at each base be in charge of force protection for the entire facility and that the commander be able to order training for all troops there. That would include units that may report to other commands – such as special operations forces or Space Force teams that may be housed at the base.
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Kenyan artisans say they are losing the market for their products to Chinese imports. According to the craftsmen, the high quality and lower prices of Chinese-made goods put them at a disadvantage. Victoria Amunga reports from Nairobi. Camera: Jimmy Makhulo 
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A Nigerian rights group said this week it will file a lawsuit against the government for failing to repair the country’s broken down oil refineries. In the wake of Russian oil being shunned over Russia’s military action in Ukraine, pressure has been growing on Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer, to increase its production and exports. 

The Socio-Economic Rights Accountability Project, or SERAP, said its notice to authorities to probe allegations of mismanagement of funds approved for the rehabilitation, operation and maintenance of refineries is in the public’s interest, and that authorities must prosecute anyone liable. 

The group said in a statement that Nigeria had spent nearly $400 million for maintenance of the refineries between 2015 and 2020, with little impact. Nigerian refineries have been closed for more than a year, causing the country to rely heavily on imports for its energy needs. 

SERAP also threatened to sue authorities if they do not respond to its notice by March 14.

SERAP officials were not immediately available for further comment on the lawsuit, but heavy sanctions on Russia’s energy sector this month are shifting focus to other producers and exporters of crude oil. 

Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil producer, but experts say it may be too soon to celebrate the jump in oil prices.

“If we are still depending on the importation of fuel in Nigeria, it means that there will be a significant issue in terms of the cost of bringing in products into Nigeria, considering the level of inflation that the sanctions that have been imposed on Russia will cause globally, the level of economic shock,” said Isaac Botti, a public finance expert.

This week, oil prices hit $130 per barrel, the highest mark since 2008, after the United States and European allies intensified their ban on Russian oil imports following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

But prices fell Wednesday by more than 13 percent following a pledge by the United Arab Emirates to increase output in order to close the gap created by sanctions on Russia. 

Botti said Nigeria had been struggling to stay afloat even before prices surged. 

“Before even the crisis in Russia and Ukraine, Nigeria has been battling with internal crisis, particularly when it comes to the issue of supply of fuel for local consumption. Nigeria does not have functional refinery,” he said.

SERAP also wants authorities to probe the import in January of more than 170 million liters of refined fuel from Europe by four oil operators. 

However, the Nigerian National Petroleum Commission head, Mele Kyari, said during an International Energy Summit in Abuja last week that authorities are working to fix refineries to make the most of the current market opportunities. 

“A minor disruption in supply can cause the chaos that you’re seeing in our state. And that means that those redundancies must be settled,” Kyari said. “As a country, we must address the issue of local production of finished petroleum products even in the short term, and this is what we’re doing; we haven’t achieved that, but you can see that the internal combustion engine challenge is a major social issue.”

Russia exports about 7 million barrels of oil and gas a day, accounting for roughly 10% of global supplies. 

Experts say the overall increase in oil prices is expected to boost oil revenue and increase foreign reserves for exporting countries, but they also say Nigeria first needs to resolve issues of local consumption. 

 
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Sudan’s military rulers this week announced an emergency committee to address the country’s collapsing economy and pointed to its gold mining as a possible boost. Sudan’s ambassador to Russia has denied reports that Moscow has been smuggling gold from Sudan in preparation for sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine. But Sudanese analysts say gold smuggling is rampant, including to Russia.

State media on Thursday said the ruling Sovereign Council’s second in command, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemeti, met with gold miners who vowed to supply the central bank with gold.

The report came after Hemeti gave a rare press statement this week on efforts to prevent the country’s economic collapse.

Sudan’s exports dropped 85% in January and prices for everything are quickly rising — one of the main sparks for the 2019 uprising that led the military to oust former president Omar al-Bashir.

In remarks to media Monday, Hemeti announced an economic emergency committee to address the issues. Among other measures, he pointed to Sudan’s gold mining, which amounts to at least 50 tons per year, as a potential solution.

Hemeti says one of the most important resources that can help boost Sudan’s economy is the gold. He says security forces have arrested a lot of people smuggling gold, 40 buyers in all. He says the buyers are not the problem and asks, from whom are they buying this gold? That’s the question, he says, adding, “We will find out.”

Hemeti gave no details on the nationalities of those arrested, the timing, or who was suspected of buying how much smuggled gold.

His comments came just days after a report in the British Telegraph newspaper said Russia prepared for sanctions over its Ukraine invasion by buying smuggled Sudanese gold.

Hemeti didn’t comment on the allegation in his remarks.

Late last month, Hemeti began a week-long visit to Moscow as much of the world was criticizing Russia for preparing to invade its neighbor.

The Kremlin’s invasion began as Hemeti met with Russian officials to discuss expanding and strengthening cooperation with Sudan.

After the general’s trip to Moscow, he reaffirmed a Bashir-era deal for Russia to open a navy base in Port Sudan, which for Russia to open a navy base in Port Sudan, which — if carried out — would be Russia’s first in Africa.

Sudan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman refused to comment on the allegations of Russian gold smuggling.

But in a written response to VOA through a messaging application, Sudan’s acting ambassador to Russia Onor Ahmed Onor dismissed the claims.

“I have nothing to say other than it is fake news and a story created from the imagination of the Telegraph reporter,” read the text.

Hemeti commands the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which grew out of the Janjaweed militias that human rights groups say committed crimes against humanity in Sudan’s Darfur region.

Analysts say the RSF is itself involved in gold smuggling.

Salah AlDoma is dean of political science at Khartoum’s Omdurman Islamic University.

“Russia surely obtained gold from several sources, not only Sudan,” he said. “But, yes, Sudan is one of the countries that the Russian companies managed to benefit from with secret agreements with the RSF and other entities like the former ruling National Congress Party. Russia, like many countries, benefited from smuggling Sudanese gold.”

The RSF office refused to take a call from VOA seeking comment on the allegations.

A spokesman at Sudan’s Ministry of Minerals confirmed to VOA that two Russian gold mining companies are operating in the country — Elianze and Meroe Gold, a subsidiary of M-Invest.

But the ministry’s spokesman would not comment on allegations of gold smuggling.

A 2019 report by CNN says M-Invest, a Russian company linked to the Kremlin and Russian mercenaries, was heavily involved in smuggling gold out of Sudan.

CNN reported in 2019 that M-Invest, a mining company the U.S. says is owned by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ally, Yevgeny Prigozhin, also advised Sudanese authorities how to quash public protests.

Authorities say Prigozhin is behind the Wagner Group of Russian mercenaries that U.N. experts have accused of human rights abuses from Syria to Libya to the Central African Republic.

While it’s not clear to what extent the Russian companies are still involved in Sudan’s gold mining, analysts say most of it has been off the books.

Sanhori Eissa, the former head of economics at Sudan’s largest newspaper Al-Rayaam, says exporting Sudan’s gold to Russia remains a smuggling operation, as is the case with nine other neighboring countries of Sudan.

“The export is probably done through the United Arab Emirates [UAE], through Khartoum international airport. The only outlet is the UAE, where Sudan’s [smuggled] gold gets refined and stamped as an emirate product then [re-]exported,” he said.

It was not possible to independently verify Eissa’s claims.

Sudan was headed for international relief from lenders but was cut off from foreign assistance after an October military coup overthrew the transitional government formed after Bashir’s ouster.

Since the coup, ongoing street protests against military rule have left at least 85 people dead.

Some information in this report came from Reuters.
…

Cameroon has deployed troops to a village in the west of the country after clashes between two ethnic groups, the Esu and the Mbororo. Authorities say members of the Esu burned scores of homes and buildings after armed Mbororo killed the Esu’s traditional ruler Wednesday for failing to stop Esu youth from joining anglophone separatists.

The Cameroon government says armed men on Wednesday night attacked and killed Kum Achou Albert, the traditional ruler of the Esu. Esu is a village in Menchum, in the English-speaking North West region on the border with Nigeria.

The government said Achou was returning from Wum, capital of the Menchum division, where he had been since March 5.

The government said while in Wum, Achou asked civilians to reconcile for peace and return to the western regions, where separatists have waged a battle against the government since 2017.

Abdullahi Aliou, the highest government official in Menchum, said armed men shot indiscriminately in the air, forcing the traditional ruler’s car to stop, then opened fire on the car’s occupants.

Ndzo Augustine Kum, the president of the Esu Cultural and Development Association, said the traditional ruler, known as the fon, was killed alongside his wife.

“As his royal highness the Fon of Esu was returning to his fondom he was waylaid and some yet to be identified gunmen bullet his car, thereby killing our fon and the wife. Others inside the car were wounded,” said Kum. “Honestly, Esu is in sorrow.”

Kum said Achou’s second wife sustained life threatening injuries from gunshots and was rushed to a hospital in Wum.

Cameroon’s military on Thursday said the armed men are suspected Mbororo youths who accuse the Esu traditional ruler of doing too little to stop his people from joining separatists and attacking the Mbororo.

Penn Elvis, a local humanitarian worker, said after the murders, Esu youths torched dozens of homes, farms and property belonging to Mbororos.

“At night the villagers stormed at the houses of the Mbororo and even the mosque was set ablaze because of the anger that came as a result of the death of their fon,” said Penn. “The security forces, that is the military, had to visit the place very early this morning to carry out investigations to maintain peace and serenity.”

Six people were injured in the attacks. The military said it deployed troops to Esu and surrounding villages but did not say how many troops were deployed.

Civilians say many Mbororo and non-Mbororo youths have been arrested.

The Mbororo ethnic group has always complained that it is the biggest casualty of Cameroons separatist crisis. Group members say separatist fighters have stolen and either slaughtered or sold thousands of cattle belonging to Mbororos. They say hundreds of Mbororos fled their ranches and are living in deplorable conditions in Cameroon’s French-speaking areas.

Mbororos say they are victims of fighter attacks because they have never supported separatists struggling to carve out an independent English-speaking state from French-majority Cameroon.

Jaji Manu Guidado, honorary president of a Mbororo cultural and development association, said Mbororos are disgruntled but added investigations should be carried out to ascertain if the traditional ruler of Esu and his wife were killed by Mbororo youths.
…

Senegalese President and chair of the African Union Macky Sall has asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to seek a lasting cease-fire in Ukraine. Sall’s talk with Putin comes just a week after Senegal abstained from a U.N. vote to condemn the Russian invasion. African nations have interests in seeing an end to the war but also in not upsetting Putin.

Sall’s request as chairman of the African Union Wednesday was a contrast to his actions as Senegalese president a week prior, when Senegal joined 16 other African countries in abstaining from a U.N. vote to condemn the Russian invasion.

Senegal is considered a beacon of democracy in West Africa, so the move came as a surprise to many.

“[Non-alignment] has been the default posture for many African countries over the years where they prefer not to get involved or not to get in between great power rivalries,” said Joseph Siegle, the director of research for the Africa Center for Strategic Studies. “And so, it isn’t a vote of support for Russia, but a vote for trying to maintain neutrality.”

Russia has a plethora of business dealings throughout the African continent. Senegal, for example, signed a $300 million deal with Russian oil company Lukoil just last year. The company also has operations in Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana and Nigeria. Russian mining companies are also active throughout Africa, from extracting diamonds in Angola to aluminum in Guinea and uranium in Namibia.

Most notably, Moscow is Africa’s leading supplier of weapons. Since 2015, it’s signed military agreements with more than 20 African countries.

Furthermore, private Russia military companies with close ties to the Kremlin have gained an increasingly strong foothold in African countries such as Mali and the Central African Republic.

So, while it may be in the best interest of many African countries to avoid tension with the Kremlin, leaders are beginning to feel the ripple effects of the war.

“Russia is a country that exports a lot of products, notably gas and raw materials like wheat,” said Abdou Rahmane Thiam, head of the political science department at Dakar’s University of Cheikh Anta Diop. “That can have an economic impact especially with regards to trade.”

Luckily, the African Union does have some sway, Thiam said.

He said international relations are not only decided by major world powers — the African Union is still a regional institution that can be considered an influential voice.

Russia also needs Africa, he added, and it’s in their best interest to listen to the African Union.

“International relations are not only decided by major world powers — the African Union is still a regional institution. It can be considered an influential voice,” Thiam said. “Russia also needs Africa. It’s in their best interest to listen to the spokesperson of the African Union.”

In a statement about the call, the Kremlin referred to the invasion as a “special military operation to protect Donbass” and did not mention Sall’s request for a cease-fire. Instead, it stated that Russia was asked to safely evacuate foreign citizens and said both leaders had reaffirmed their commitment to further develop Russian-African relations.
…

While soaring oil prices hit consumers worldwide, their misfortune means a fortune for others.

There will certainly be a “significant boost in government revenue” for some oil-producing African countries as oil prices hit their highest levels since 2008 after the U.S bans imports of Russian oil, the African Energy Chamber tells VOA.

“Nigeria, Angola, Libya, South Sudan, Gabon, the Congo and Ghana are going to see a significant boost in government revenue,” said Verner Ayukegba, senior vice president at Johannesburg-based African Energy Chamber.

However, he said, despite the economic breather for these African economies, most of the countries on the continent are heavily dependent on imports of refined products and will see their expenditures balloon.

“Countries like South Africa who are not producers but major economies who import crude oil to be able to refine for their industries, countries are going to see an increase in their import bills,” he said.

Skyrocketing crude oil prices and the rising cost of living on the continent also threaten to increase inflation, says Bala Zakka, a petroleum engineer based in Lagos, Nigeria.

“In Nigeria today, diesel has been deregulated. A liter of diesel goes for 450 Nigerian Naira ($1.08), and this is where you will appreciate the pains that Nigerians are going through,” Zakka said.

The oil analyst was unhappy that Africa’s most populous nation of 200 million people relies on imported refined products despite having the capacity to locally refine oil for domestic use like gas, diesel and kerosene.

Nigeria is the main oil producer in Africa and the largest crude oil exporter on the continent.

According to data from Statista, in 2020, Nigeria led the exports of crude oil from Africa. Overall, those exports amounted to about 5.4 million barrels per day in that year.

Meanwhile, the African Energy Chamber’s Ayukegba said that because of the uptick in oil prices globally, most African nations are likely to see more exploration for new oil and gas sources.

“Exploration spend is going to lead to much more oil and gas activities off the coast of Africa. The Gulf of Guinea for instance, and also in onshore locations,” he told VOA.

”There’s drilling going on in places like Namibia at the moment, where Total and Shell have come up with significant discoveries,” he added.
…

Intercommunal clashes, mostly involving cattle, have killed nearly 70 people across various parts of South Sudan in the past week, according to witnesses and officials.

In the most recent attack, 14 people were killed and 13 injured during a cattle raid Monday in Duk County, according to authorities in South Sudan’s central-eastern state of Jonglei.

Jonglei’s acting governor, Tuong Majok, told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus that the Pangonkei cattle camp in the Duk-Padiet district was attacked by “terrorist youth,” allegedly from the neighboring Greater Pibor Administrative Area. He said the attackers raided several cattle herds but returned the animals Monday night.

On Sunday, herders suspected to be from Sudan’s Omran community raided a cattle camp in Rubkona County of Unity state, said Stephen Salaam, the state’s security adviser. At least seven people were killed and 10 other South Sudanese herders were injured, said Salaam.

“The Arab youth came and attacked a cattle camp in Payang-gai. They fought with our youth in the cattle camp and killed seven people on our side of Rubkona,” Salaam told South Sudan in Focus.

The incident prompted the U.S. embassies in Khartoum and Juba to issue a joint statement Wednesday calling on all sides to return to talks.

In the deadliest attacks, militiamen killed 27 people on Saturday and another 20 on Sunday in the special Abyei Administrative Area, according to Abyei chief administrator Kuol Deim Kuol.

Abyei officials suspect that gunmen from Twic County of Warrap state carried out the attacks and were joined by Sudanese Misseriya nomads.

“The Misseriya came in huge number, and they were joined by the militia element, mostly from Twic area, and they attacked again the same village, Madingthon,” Kuol told South Sudan in Focus.

In South Sudanese culture, cattle are highly important — and not only for food. In some communities, the animals are a store of wealth and a symbol of social status and used to facilitate dowry and blood money payments or to compensate for other transgressions.

Regarding Monday’s attack in Duk County, Jonglei’s acting Governor Majok suggested that President Salva Kiir dissolve the Greater Pibor Administrative Area if its leaders cannot control their young men.

“Because they are attacking with no reason, we say that they are terrorists and they should be treated as terrorists,” Majok told VOA.

Lokali Amea, the Greater Pibor Administrative Area’s chief administrator, said he was not informed about Monday’s attack and disputed allegations his administration could not control armed men from the area.

“We are managing our people. If they are doing such things, they do it in cattle camps who are cattle keepers, but in Jonglei, there were people killed in the town, so where was the government and where were the NGOs [nongovernmental organizations]?” Amea asked South Sudan in Focus.

Kiir’s press secretary, Ateny Wek Ateny, said the administration had not received any official request to dissolve the Greater Pibor Administrative Area.

“If they have not yet written to the president, there is nothing I should comment about,” Ateny said.

Wednesday’s joint statement by the U.S. embassies expressed great concern about the recent escalation of violence in Abyei and Agok. The embassies offered condolences to the families of those killed and said the U.S. supported expanded patrols in Abyei by the U.N. Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA).

The embassies noted that UNISFA’s mandate authorizes peacekeepers to apply all necessary means, including the use of force, to protect civilians under threat of physical violence.

“We call on all sides to cease reprisals and return to dialogue,” the embassies’ statement said.
…

Tall, stately and clad in brightly colored fabrics that stand out against the arid landscape, the women at a U.N. food distribution site in Jonglei state, South Sudan, wait patiently in line in the stifling heat to receive their monthly rations.   

“My life changed since [South Sudan’s 2011] independence. Now I’m getting aid – things are better,” Rebecca Akeer, aged in her 50s, said outside her simple mud hut as aid workers handed out large sacks of grains.  

But Akeer and others in a war-torn African nation could soon see the knock-on effects of a distant European war, with analysts wondering if China can dampen the anticipated impact that international sanctions against Russia will have on the African continent.   

Food insecurity  

The conflict in Ukraine and resulting sanctions on Russia are driving up global oil and food prices, which could lead to increased hunger in Africa, and even more unrest, analysts said.

“We are heading for a disruption,” said Steven Gruzd, a Russia expert and foreign policy analyst at the South Africa Institute of International Affairs in Johannesburg.

“The price of bread is going to go up. It sometimes brings people into the streets,” he added, noting that the revolution in neighboring Sudan basically began as a 2018 bread riot.

“I think food insecurity will be a massive consequence of this war.”

Russia is the world’s largest exporter of wheat, and Ukraine ranks fifth.  Countries in North Africa, such as Egypt, Russia’s top Africa trade partner, are expected to especially feel the impact of the sanctions. Tunisia has said it is already looking elsewhere for wheat supplies.

“When looking at the impact of the conflict in Ukraine on global food security, in a year of unprecedented humanitarian needs, WFP is extremely concerned as the conflict may have far-reaching consequences,” Claudio Altorio, a World Food Program spokesperson, told VOA.   

Russian activity under President Vladimir Putin expanded rapidly in Africa over the past decade. Facing sanctions from the European Union, Vladimir Padalko, vice president of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said Moscow planned to expand its trade missions to Africa as an alternative for products such as fruit, tea and coffee, according to the Russian state news agency Tass.  

Russia has engaged with chronically unstable nations like Mali and the Central African Republic, where it has mineral interests, and where private, Russia-based military contractors are stationed. China, on the other hand, is engaged across the continent through loans and infrastructure investment.

In 2021, total bilateral trade between China and Africa reached $254.3 billion, Chinese authorities said. By contrast, Russia-Africa trade was worth about $20 billion, according to the African Export-Import Bank.

“The magnitude of China’s trade with Africa is already 10 or more times bigger than Russia’s trade with Africa,” said Gruzd. “If supply lines go down, China would probably be best placed to pick up that slack.”

Cobus van Staden, senior China-Africa researcher at the South African Institute of International Affairs, sees potential benefits for Africa’s top exporting nations as well.  

“African countries are in general trying to increase their agricultural exports to China. South Africa exports a lot to China and Russia … so South African companies may be looking to China to make up for disruptions,” he said.

But Wandile Sihlobo, chief economist at the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa, said he didn’t think sanctions on Russia would increase China-Africa trade. He said he thought the European Union, the United States and Canada would be better placed to supply Africa with grains and, to some extent, oil.

“China doesn’t really have the supply of products like oil and grains that African countries actually need. … Even though it’s amongst the major grain producers, they produce much for their own consumption,” he said.

China has had a particularly bad growing season. Last week, China’s agriculture minister said the winter wheat crop could be “the worst in history.” Prices have already skyrocketed because of the Ukraine crisis.   

African energy  

While food insecurity will hurt ordinary Africans the most, the coffers of some oil-rich African states are likely to benefit from disruptions to Russian oil and gas.

“The oil producers [in Africa] in the short term could have a bit of a boom,”  Gruzd said.

Van Staden said that boom could be even greater if China cooperated with international sanctions against Russia, something that has yet to happen.

“If it’s a situation where they [China] do manage to block Russian oil and gas exports, oil and gas producers in Africa may have some short-term benefits,” he said, adding, “You could see China buying more oil from Angola, and there’s a series of natural gas projects starting to come on-line in Tanzania.”

“For the Chinese, they’re such a huge economy that diversifying their sources for commodities is a strategy for them anyway,” said van Staden.  “This is kind of why China started the Belt and Road Initiative.”  

Shifting alliances

Before the fall of the Soviet Union, many African nations were seen as either under Washington’s or Moscow’s sphere of influence, a divide some analysts believe could be revived by the war in Ukraine.

“The areas of risk I see are that African governments may feel compelled to ‘choose a side’ in a new Cold War situation,” said Yunnan Chen, a doctoral candidate at the China-Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University.

“We’ve seen a big divergence on that with South Africa and BRICS [Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa] on the one end and Kenya on the other,” she added, referring to South Africa’s abstention from last week’s U.N. resolution that Russia withdraw from Ukraine (China also abstained).

By contrast, Kenya and Nigeria expressed support for Ukraine and condemned Moscow.
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Namibia has defended its sale of 22 wild elephants to a zoo in the United Arab Emirates as legal and needed to prevent human-wildlife conflict. But conservationists call it a legal loophole and excuse to make money.

The chief of Namibia’s Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism described the sale as a private transaction, between buyer and seller, which could not be influenced by the Namibian government.

Speaking at a press briefing Wednesday, Teofilus Nghitila said the transaction is lawful and in accordance with CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

“I have indicated earlier that these live sales of these African elephants fulfill Article Three of the CITES, and making reference to that article, it set procedures that need to be followed and the responsible authority have to cross check and also in consultation with the CITES Secretariat, that that requirement is fulfilled. So, we have not received any opposition for the CITES at this stage and that means the condition is fulfilled,” said Nghitila.

Michele Pickover is executive director of an animal welfare group, the EMS Foundation. She told VOA that Namibian authorities are being disingenuous by citing Article Three of the CITES, which deals with the export of endangered species from their natural habitats.

“O.K. that I think would be Namibia seeing Article Three as a loophole. Article Three is essentially around Trade in Appendix One animals, but elephants from Namibia are actually Appendix Two animals since 1996, they are seen as Appendix Two elephants,” she said.

Pickover further said a legal opinion from the foundation’s attorneys said the transaction is illegal and that the main motivating factor for the export of the elephants is not to manage human wildlife conflict but to make a profit.

“I also think one has to look at the money. There are a lot of players here that are making a lot of money. Namibia claims that they made 5.9 million rand [$390,580] or 5.7 million rand [$377,340]. We’ve heard something like fifty million rand [$3.3 million]. Traders and other individuals from South Africa and so on. So, you know there is big money here and where there is big money all sorts of bad things happen,” she said.

The Namibian government cites human-wildlife conflict as the reason for the need to decrease the population of elephant herds. Elephants are blamed for the deaths of four people in Namibia and the trampling of hundreds of small farmers’ crops.

Animal welfare groups bemoan the fact that these elephants are not being moved to African parks and ranges, as called for by international conventions, and instead are being sold into captivity.
…

A report to the U.N. Human Rights Council says October’s military coup in Sudan has dealt a heavy blow to that country’s fledgling democracy, which might be difficult to reverse. 

In her presentation of the report, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet deplored the stark reversal of progress toward democratic rule that had been made since former president Omar al-Bashir was ousted in April, 2019.

She said October’s military coup once again has plunged Sudan into profound crisis. Since then, she said, a wide range of human rights violations have occurred with total impunity. She noted thousands of peaceful protesters have taken to the streets of Sudan to demand their rights.

“At the same time, the repeated use of excessive force by security forces persists,” she said. “Live ammunition, and offensive weapons such as machine guns and shot guns, are being used directly against protesters, and tear gas canisters have been fired as weapons at their head and bodies, in clear breach of international law.”

The report documents numerous violations perpetrated by security forces, including attacks on hospitals, medical facilities, and health care workers. It describes a pattern of arbitrary arrests and detention targeting prominent protest organizers and demonstrators. It says even children who have participated in protests have been killed, injured, and arrested.

Bachelet expressed shock at allegations of dozens of rapes, gang rapes and other forms of sexual violence against women, girls, and men. She warned attacks against journalists and human rights defenders were increasing, posing a severe threat to rights of freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

“The political crisis in Sudan has caused extremely worrying setbacks in human rights. It is urgent that the Sudanese authorities take credible steps towards reinstatement of a civilian administration with democracy and rule of law at its core, and to a path towards justice, equality, dignity, and peace for the Sudanese people,” she said.

Sudan’s acting minister of justice, Mohammed Saied Al-Hilo, said his government is committed to upholding the international and regional conventions on human rights ratified by Sudan — and that his country is committed to pursuing its transition to democracy.

He said the government had begun investigating allegations of human rights violations. He added all political prisoners have been released, except for those awaiting trial for criminal proceedings.

 
…

Gunmen have killed 19 security personnel, including 13 soldiers, in an assault in the northwest Nigerian state of Kebbi, a security source and residents said Wednesday.

The battle erupted late Tuesday in Kanya, a village in Danko-Wasagu district, just a day after dozens of members of a self-defense militia were killed in the same area.

At least 57 vigilantes were killed in nearby Sakaba on Monday in an ambush by heavily armed criminal gangs known locally as bandits.

Hundreds of gunmen invaded Kanya, engaging a combined military and police detachment in a three-hour gun fight, the source and residents said.

“The death toll stands at 19. They include 13 soldiers, five policemen and one vigilante,” a member of the security personnel, who did not want to be identified, told AFP.

Eight other security personnel, including four soldiers, were hospitalized with wounds, he added.

“It was an intense fight that lasted more than three hours. The terrorists had the upper hand because of their sheer number.”

Military and police did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the incident.

Northwest and central Nigeria have been terrorized for years by criminal gangs who raid and loot villages, steal cattle and carry out mass abductions of residents for ransom.

But recently attacks have intensified even as the military attempts to drive bandits out of their camps.

Motorcycle gangsters

In Tuesday’s assault, local resident Musa Arzika, who gave the same toll, said the attackers came on “around 200 motorcycles riding three on each” and laid siege on the village.

“The bodies of 13 soldiers, five policemen and one vigilante killed in the fight were taken to Zuru this morning,” he said.

“We believe they were the same bandits who killed the vigilantes,” he said.

Arzika said the bandits followed a bush path to another village where they kidnapped a local chief before proceeding to a riverside village, where they parked their motorcycles.

“They crossed the river and encircled Kanya, attacking the security personnel from three directions,” he said.

A community leader said the gang stormed the village around 1600 GMT and stayed till 1900 GMT after subduing the security personnel.

“The bandits didn’t attack residents who remained indoors throughout the fight,” said the community leader who did not want to be identified for personal safety.

“When they returned to Gwazawa on the other side of the river they did stunts with their motorcycles in celebration before riding off,” he said.

The criminals gangs operate camps in the vast forests straddling Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna and Niger states.

Nigeria’s military says it has been bombarding bandit camps and battling to drive them out of the forests, but the gangs often attack in one state before crossing back into forest hideouts.

Bandit violence in Nigeria’s northwest and central states is just one challenge facing security forces, who are also battling a 12-year jihadist insurgency in the northeast and separatist tensions in the southeast of the country.
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