African health authorities are calling for better coordination to ensure COVID-19 vaccines are distributed quickly to all African nations.

Vaccine supplies have surpassed demand for the first time since the pandemic began two years ago. But health officials at a conference in Nigeria said Wednesday that a lack of refrigeration and poor infrastructure were major challenges for vaccine equity.

The African Union’s Vaccine Delivery Alliance organized the conference to highlight hurdles many African countries face delivering COVID-19 vaccines to their citizens. 

Tian Johnson, an AU community engagement official, said, “What we see before us through the magnifying glass of COVID-19 are the fruits of decades of deprioritizing health at country levels. The fact remains, as Africans we must be absolutely sure that we leave no one behind.”

About 20 percent of Africa’s 1.2 billion people have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, a poor record compared with those of many Western nations, where vaccination rates are at 70 percent or better.

Lack of infrastructure

Many African countries, including Nigeria, lack the infrastructure and cooling systems to store vaccines in large quantities.  

Last year, up to 1 million doses of COVID vaccines expired in Nigeria, the highest single number in any country.

Officials said the vaccination gap is made worse by lack of funding, which limits African countries’ ability to properly receive and distribute vaccines.  

A February publication by COVAX — the global vaccine program supported by the WHO and Gavi — showed low-income countries requested only 100 million doses of vaccines out of 436 million doses available.

In Nigeria, where only about 6 percent of people are vaccinated, authorities also have been battling widespread vaccine hesitancy, which authorities partly blame for the low inoculation rate.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said at the Vaccine Delivery Alliance conference, “Global solidarity and proactive leadership is the only way we will beat this virus. This high-level summit calls for greater solidarity and for the world to hear Africa’s voice on how we can beat the virus together.”

Buhari said authorities were accelerating vaccinations in Nigeria to save lives and kick-start economic recovery. 

Vaccine production

The World Health Organization last week said Nigeria and five other African countries would be the first on the continent to begin local production of COVID-19 vaccines. The WHO said training for vaccine production could begin in a matter of weeks.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, one of the speakers at Wednesday’s conference, said, “WHO and our partners are working day and night to address the bottlenecks that remain in partnership with countries. We are on ground to do whatever it takes to reach country goals, not only on vaccines but for testing and treatment.”

Experts say until Africa is largely vaccinated against the virus, the world will remain unsafe.
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The U.N. peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic has rejected accusations that four of its personnel who were arrested Monday were engaged in suspicious activity. The C.A.R.’s public prosecutor said the four men, arrested at the airport shortly before the arrival of the country’s president, were heavily armed.

The U.N. peacekeeping mission, known as MINUSCA, is demanding the release of the four peacekeepers, all French soldiers.

C.A.R. authorities have not filed any charges against the men, but the country’s public prosecutor said on national radio that an investigation is open on the case.

He said the four men “were arrested aboard a suspicious vehicle… carrying a heavy military arsenal.”

Right after the arrest, messages on social media accused the peacekeepers of planning to assassinate C.A.R. President Faustin-Archange Touadéra, whose plane was about to land at the airport.

MINUSCA spokesperson Vladimir Monteiro dismissed the accusations during a press conference on Wednesday.

“We have nothing to hide, he said. MINUSCA is here as a partner, as a friend. What’s said on social media is disinformation,” he said. “MINUSCA regrets the incident of Monday, February 21st and condemns again the intent to manipulate public opinion and firmly rejects the accusations of attacking state security.”

The four military personnel remain in police custody, but they are being treated well, says a source at the U.N. peacekeeping mission.

The C.A.R. government has refused to comment the case.
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Kenyan journalists report the highest level of harassment in the newsroom, a global media study finds. For VOA, Victoria Amunga has more from Nairobi. Video: Amos Wangwa
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Cameroon’s women and children have suffered disproportionately in the country’s five-year separatist conflict. But a report by the International Crisis Group says the role of women has expanded from just being victims to being rebels and peacemakers.

The anglophone separatist conflict in the country’s western regions has severely impacted women and put them at greater risk of violence.

Brussels-based think tank the International Crisis Group (ICG), in a report released Wednesday, says women have suffered more than the region’s men since armed conflict broke out in 2017.

“Some of the violence women have suffered include kidnaping, rape, torture and execution,” said Arrey Elvis Ntui, the ICG’s senior consulting analyst for Cameroon. “The conflict has destroyed critical medical infrastructure thereby depriving women of access to health. It has further exposed them to other ills like trafficking and sexual exploitation. The authorities should persecute those who are responsible for crimes and include women in the peace process. Separatists must ensure an effective end to the school sabotage and stop the practice of requiring women to serve them in their camps.”

Cameroon’s separatist groups deny abusing women — and say that some women have joined their forces freely.

Capo Daniel is deputy defense chief of the Ambazonia Defense Forces (ADF), one of the biggest rebel groups in Cameroon.

“It is unfortunate that the Crisis Group will target the Ambazonian forces for something that is not substantiated. There have been no circumstances where women have been seen in our camps against their will. There are members within our forces who are women, who are volunteers,” he said.

Rights activists accuse government troops of abusing women too, though officials deny it.

Marie-Thérèse Abena Ondoa, Cameroon’s minister of Women’s Empowerment and the Family, says Cameroon is working with female peace campaigners in initiatives to end the conflict.

“The Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and the Family along with women leaders stepped up to express their indignation on the murder of their sisters and children by secessionists in the North West and South West regions. The government has made the promotion of human rights of its citizens a major concern,” she said.

More than a thousand Cameroonian women converged in Yaounde last August for a first-ever peace convention to try to end the conflict.

They asked rebels and government troops to lay down their guns so peace could return to the restive regions, but fighting has continued.

Violence erupted in Cameroon’s western regions in 2017 after English-speaking teachers and lawyers protested against discrimination by the country’s French-speaking majority. The military responded with a crackdown and separatists took up arms.

The United Nations says about 3,500 people have been killed and at least 700,000 displaced, with women and children the most affected.
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Nigerian women make up one of the largest groups of international sex trafficking victims, according to U.N. agencies, but women also are among the perpetrators of this crime. Timothy Obiezu has this report from Abuja on the women who exploit other women and the activists trying to stop them.
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ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar — Cyclone Emnati crashed into the southeastern coast of Madagascar in the early hours of Wednesday, ripping roofs off houses and raising fears of flooding and food shortages in a region still recovering from the destruction inflicted by another tropical storm just weeks ago.

More than 30,000 people were moved to safe accommodation before Emnati arrived and Madagascar’s National Office for Risk and Disaster Management estimates more than 250,000 people could be impacted by the latest cyclone.

There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries from Emnati as authorities waited for the worst to pass, but local officials and witnesses reported extensive damage to houses and other buildings in at least one southeastern city.

Madagascar, an island off the east coast of Africa renowned for its wildlife and unspoiled natural treasures, has now been hit by four major tropical storms in the last month, killing nearly 200 people already and compounding issues of food insecurity. A drought in the south of the country left around 400,000 at risk of starvation last year, according to the U.N. World Food Program.

The cyclones have again underlined how climate change may be affecting weather patterns and putting lives at risk in vulnerable places like Madagascar. The U.N. weather agency previously warned of more “high-impact tropical cyclones” that are linked to climate change hitting the region.

A string of aid agencies said that Emnati will be a double blow for the eastern and southeastern regions that were hit by Cyclone Batsirai early this month. Batsirai ultimately left more than 120 people dead and displaced 143,000. More than 20,000 houses were destroyed or damaged by Batsirai, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said, and more than 21,000 people remain displaced.

The U.N. humanitarian office said before Emnati arrived that it was in “a race against time” to protect people again.

Emnati made landfall around midnight local time in the district of Manakara Atsimo in the southeast, with average sustained winds of 135 kph (84 mph) and gusts as strong as 190 kph (118 mph), Madagascar’s Department of Meteorology said. Six regions in the southeast are on red alert, most of them already hard-hit by Batsirai.

“We can’t go out so it’s hard to see what happened but from what I can see from the gendarmerie barracks, there’s a lot of damage. Many houses no longer have roofs,” said Lt. Col. Harinaivo Randriamihajamanana, the commander of the Gendarmerie Group in the Fitovinany region and based in the city of Manakara. “We have not received any calls because the telephone communication has been very disrupted. We have had no electricity and water since yesterday (Tuesday) morning.”

The Emnati system had weakened as it worked its way over the Indian Ocean toward Madagascar, the meteorology department said, but it warned that flooding was still likely.

Manakara resident Gabriel Filiastre said his family joined others in taking refuge inside the main hall of a hotel where he works as Emnati hit.

“My house is completely flooded,” Filiastre said. “We couldn’t sleep inside. It’s a wooden house. I saw a lot of houses around our house that are destroyed. For us, this cyclone did more damage than the one before.”

“Even in the hotel there is a lot of damage. One of the walls collapsed … the roof tiles have been blown away and some of the ceilings of the rooms have collapsed. We need help.”

The U.N. World Food Program and other aid organizations have warned of the risk of critical food shortages due to crops being destroyed and transport links disrupted. Forecasters have also predicted eight to 12 more cyclones in the Madagascar region before the cyclone season normally ends in May.

Emnati is expected to cross the southeastern part of Madagascar and spin out to sea again, according to the meteorology department, meaning it should miss mainland Africa, where previous cyclones have also caused deaths and destruction.
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Ghana is normally seen as a beacon of press freedom in West Africa, where some governments keep a tight control on the media. But press freedom advocates note an alarming surge recently in arrests and assaults on journalists.

Activists are raising questions as to whether Ghana is returning to the days where criminal libel laws were used to suppress free speech.

Two journalists were arrested last month after alleging the first lady acquired state land to build a personal home. Another was arrested after accusing the president of influencing the decisions of judges in electoral petitions.

All three were accused of publishing fake news, and they could face time in prison if convicted.

Sulemana Braimah, the executive director of Media Foundation for West Africa, tells VOA the state is hiding behind the police to criminalize free speech.

“I don’t think that if the president is fundamentally opposed to something it will happen, unless of course he is constrained or restrained by law. I believe that criminalizing speech in the manner that we’re seeing it is fundamentally detrimental to our democracy,” Braimah noted.

He also says the government should give greater powers to the National Media Commission, the agency tasked to regulate and monitor the media, if it wants to assert more control of the airwaves.

“I think as a country we need to revisit that conversation about empowering the National Media Commission. The other thing is about the broadcasting law, two decades on we’ve been talking. I think that if the government is indeed interested in sanitizing the airwaves what we must be seeing is a very committed strong effort at getting the broadcasting law passed. So that at least people will know that we have to operate within certain confines.”

Palgrave Boakye-Danquah, a government spokesperson on security and governance, tells VOA News the state sees the media as a partner in development and will never criminalize free speech.

But, he adds, officials are concerned about the abuse of freedom of expression in the media. He says the journalists who accused the president and his wife of wrongdoing had no evidence.

“It’s clearly the rule of law that is working. It’s quite unfortunate that people are abusing the freedom of speech, which as a government, we’re concerned about, and as a government, as well, we’re not trampling upon the freedom of people.”

He said the media should operate without fear or favor – but he said reporters must be responsible in their reporting.

“The president is very confident with freedom of speech, supports freedom of speech and encourages Ghanaians to have constructive criticism of government. I think that if you’re against government, there is a civil way to go about it.”

Police did not respond to requests to comment on the recent arrests of media personalities.
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South Africa is sending fresh troops and armored vehicles to Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province as part of efforts to fight Islamic State-connected insurgents.

The deployment is part of the Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) military intervention, which started in July last year.

More than 3,000 SADC and Rwandan troops have been sent to Mozambique to fight against Islamic State-connected insurgents. The conflict has claimed more than three thousand lives and displaced 800,000 people.

The South African National Defense Force’s spokesperson Brigadier-General Andries Mahapa says the fresh troops will be deployed soon.

“We are just confirming the mode of transport. It could be air, land or sea. Remember in terms of security we cannot come out straight to say we are coming through by land or so forth. So that will compromise us. But we are combat ready to deploy,” said Mahapa.

The joint force is known as the Southern African Development Community Mission in Mozambique or SAMIM.

Willem Els, security analyst and counter terrorism trainer from the Institute of Security Studies, says to this point South Africa has mainly sent special forces to Mozambique.

He says that will change with the latest deployment.

“They now are sending in some mechanized infantry, they sending in some para-bats. They sending in some of your path finder troops as well as well as some of the special forces so it is a more balanced sort of contingent that is moving in to go and stabilize the situation even further,” he said.

Other SADC members with forces in Mozambique include Botswana, Lesotho, Angola, and Zambia.

Rwanda deployed a separate force on the invitation of Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi. It’s believed Rwanda is being backed by the French government as French energy company TotalEnergies SE has a huge gas concession in Cabo Delgado.

Els says the multiplicity of forces can make things complicated.

“You have the SAMIM forces deployed, then you have the Mozambican forces deployed along with them, then you have the Rwandan forces you know your chances of friendly fire are quite high if you have an area operation that overflows, etc. So fortunately, that has not happened as yet and we also notice that some real effort has been put in, in terms of SAMIM and the Rwandan forces to better coordinate and cooperate in terms of their operations,” said Els.

Asked whether the force has been successful, military spokesman Mahapa had this to say.

“The force under the current situation they are doing fairly well. Remember that it is not only South Africans. So we are as SAMIM forces there are successes that we are achieving. The insurgents are withdrawing. We are gaining ground,” he said.

Els says besides the military intervention efforts must also be made to make the people of northern Mozambique feel like they are being taken care of by their government. Otherwise, he says, they’re ripe for recruitment by the insurgents.

 
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A coalition of Nigerian activists demonstrated Tuesday in the capital city Abuja, demanding President Mohammadu Buhari sign a bill that aims to improve transparency, inclusion, and planning for national elections.

More than 200 participants from various civil society groups chanted as they converged at unity fountain Tuesday in Abuja.

The activists are demanding President Mohammadu Buhari sign into a law a bill that would promote the early release of funds for elections, the inclusion of marginalized groups in voting, and would authorize the electronic transmission of election results.

“In 2019, one truth that we’re not telling Nigerians is that resources were released six weeks to the elections,” said Paul James, one of the organizers of the protest. “So, if these things are coming close to the elections, it affects everybody that is working on the process.”

Activists at the protest say the new bill will make elections more organized, inclusive and credible if signed into law.

There are more than 30 million Nigerians living with disabilities.

“Election after election, people with disabilities have to surmount whatever challenge it is to vote,” said Grace Jerry, executive director Inclusive Friends Association, a group representing disabled citizens at the protest. “President Buhari, in case you do not know, people with disabilities had to crawl on the ground because of inaccessible polling units. To vote for you, people who are blind had to rely on somebody to vote and could not experience the secret ballot process.”

The president’s office released a statement late Monday denying claims of foot-dragging in Buhari signing the bill.

The president spokesperson, Femi Adesina, said the president had only received the bill from the senate on January 31 and had until March 1 to sign it.

He also said interest groups were taking advantage of “what they consider a delay in the signing of the electoral bill by the president to foment civil disorder.”

During an interview Tuesday with Lagos-based Channels television, Adesina said Buhari would sign the bill soon.

But protester James Paul has doubts the president will follow through.

“The government has not been very truthful with Nigerians, they have been dilly-dallying with what we thought would help to improve on the transparency and integrity of our elections,” said Paul. “Since 1999, the more money you pump into the election, the less participation you see in the election.”

Allegations of rigging and corruption are common during Nigerian elections.

Activists say the president already has declined to sign the bill five times and are hoping he will sign it this time round.
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Ghana’s rapid urbanization is producing more waste while fueling a boom in luxury housing that the average Ghanaian cannot afford. One entrepreneur may have the answer to both problems – producing inexpensive houses made from recycled plastic. Senanu Tord reports from Ghana’s capital, Accra.
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A strong explosion near a gold mining site in southwestern Burkina Faso killed 59 people and injured more than 100 others Monday, the national broadcaster and witnesses reported. 

The provisional toll was provided by regional authorities following the blast in the village of Gbomblora, RTB reported. The explosion was believed to have been caused by chemicals used to treat gold that were stocked at the site.  

“I saw bodies everywhere. It was horrible,” Sansan Kambou, a forest ranger who was at the site during the explosion, told The Associated Press by phone.  

The first blast happened about 2 p.m., with more explosions following as people ran for their lives, he said.  

Burkina Faso is the fastest-growing gold producer in Africa and currently the fifth largest on the continent, with gold being the country’s most important export. The industry employs about 1.5 million people and was worth about $2 billion in 2019. 

Small gold mines like Gbomblora have grown in recent years, with about 800 across the country. Much of the gold is being smuggled into neighboring Togo, Benin, Niger and Ghana, according to the South Africa-based Institute for Security Studies.  

The small-scale mines are also reportedly used by jihadis linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, which have staged attacks in the country since 2016. The groups reportedly raise funds by taxing miners and use the mine sites for recruiting fighters and seeking refuge.  

Mining experts say the small-scale mines have fewer regulations than industrial ones and thus can be more dangerous.  

“The limited regulation of the artisanal and small-scale mining sector contributes to increased risks that can be very dangerous, including the use of explosives which are often smuggled into the country and used illegally,” said Marcena Hunter, senior analyst at Global Initiative, a Swiss-based think tank. 

 
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The United Nations’ independent expert on human rights in the Central African Republic says the government and its Russian allies should stop obstructing investigations.

The U.N.’s Yao Agbetse says the C.A.R. military and Russian mercenaries prevent access for U.N. investigators and are believed responsible for nearly half the country’s rights violations.  

Clashes are still going on in the Central African Republic countryside, where the national army and Russian mercenaries are chasing the rebels who attacked the capital of Bangui last year.  

During the past four months, at least 229 civilians have died, according to a recent U.N. report. But that figure could be underestimated, because U.N. investigators are prevented from accessing sites of various alleged crimes.  

The U.N. recently sent Agbetse to Bangui with a message for the Central African government: Draw a red line that allies cannot cross, he said. If U.N. investigators are impeded from accessing places where violations could have been committed, he added, the assumption is that the government doesn’t want the truth to be known.  

The U.N. said it documented at least 4 cases of mass executions since October, mostly around mining sites. 

When asked why the C.A.R. government is blocking access to the sites, presidential spokesperson Albert Yaloke Mokpeme questioned why the U.N. has been in the country for eight years, but failed to protect them from attack. 

He also said that for years the rebels illegally occupied ore deposits and exploited them to buy weapons, so his government acted accordingly.  

When asked again why the government is impeding access to the sites, Mokpeme said, “We are not preventing anyone from doing their job, but don’t tell us what to do.”

Experts say Russian mercenaries from the private company Wagner Group gain mining contracts in the C.A.R. in exchange for their military support. 

Wagner Group is widely believed to have links to the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin.   

The Russian government has denied any such link. 

 
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Nigerian officials have welcomed the World Health Organization’s announcement that the country would be among the first on the continent to receive technology to produce COVID-19 vaccines.

WHO on Friday said Egypt, Kenya, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia were also chosen as part of a push for Africa to make its own vaccines to fight COVID and other diseases.

Less than 6% of Nigeria’s population, Africa’s largest, are vaccinated against COVID and officials say local production would have a major impact.  

The WHO’s announcement in Brussels Friday was the latest effort by the global health body to boost vaccine production in Africa. 

WHO chief Tedros Adhanum Ghebreyesus said production of the mRNA vaccines in Africa will address vaccines inequality issues.  

“Globally vaccine production is concentrated in a few mostly high-income countries,” Tedros said. “One of the most obvious lessons of the pandemic is therefore the urgent need to increase local production of vaccines especially in low- and middle-income countries.” 

 Africa is home to more than 1.2 billion people but the WHO says more than 80% of the population has yet to receive a single dose of a coronavirus vaccine. 

 Ghebreyesus said the WHO will provide technical trainings and support on vaccines production to the six African countries.  As of yet, there are no details on when production might begin. 

 Officials in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, where just about six percent of the population have been vaccinated, welcomed the WHO vaccine production initiative.  

Bashir Ahmad, the president’s new media aide, said in a tweet “the president welcomed the designation of Nigeria as one of the countries in Africa designated as one of the manufacturing bases for the covid-19 vaccine.” 

 Ahmad said the president also called for more collaborations to address the effects of the pandemic.  

 Kunle Adebayo, a pharmaceutical research expert at the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development, said producing the vaccines in Nigeria should lead to higher use and acceptance of COVID-19 shots.  

“It will help ensure availability on demand, which will also reduce the waste we have seen in terms of expiry dates and destruction of vaccines because they were sent late to us,” Adebayo said. “The fact that the vaccines will be produced within the continent will definitely increase the confidence of the people in using them and that would address one major plank of vaccine hesitancy.” 

But Adebayo said there might be initial challenges. 

“The technology that will be applied is still relatively new and it’s work in progress in a sense,” Adebayo said. “There could be challenges implementing and then also the corporation from the various owners of technologies and those with the expertise to assist us. There could also be the normal infrastructural challenges that we face in most of the continent.” 

The Global mRNA technology hub was established last year to support vaccine manufacturers in low- and medium-income countries. 

The WHO said the hub also has the potential to expand manufacturing capacity for other medicines and diagnostics.  

 
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Zimbabwe’s government has announced a $377 million project to deal with a housing shortage by constructing affordable homes before next year’s election. Critics note such promises often come ahead of elections and that many Zimbabweans have been on a housing waiting list for more than a decade.

Sylvester Mutemashinga is one of the many people who have no decent place to live. For nine years, he has lived in a structure made of plastic in the Hatcliffe section of Harare.

Mutemashinga says his wish is have enough money to build a house for his family.

“I stay with my wife, child and nephew. But because of the difficulties of life, jobs are hard to come by. The small jobs we get do not pay enough. You end up getting money just for subsistence. So, you end up not being able to build,” he said.

Across the road in Borrowdale, nice homes are being built for the upper class.

Kudzai Chatiza, a professor in rural and urban planning at University of Zimbabwe, says the poor find it difficult to build or even to secure property because of the high cost of construction.

“In the region, in sub-Saharan Africa, we have the most expensive cement,” he said. “It’s between $10 and $14 a bag, 50-kilogram bag. Whereas in Zambia, you can get a bag for $5, for instance. The value of land is very expensive. So medium- to long-term, the government needs to reflect on those aspects, because those are aspects that relate to macro-economic conditions.”

The government says it is aware of the housing problem. Monica Mutsvangwa, the minister of information, says the government has started constructing houses nationwide at more than 50 sites, and they should be ready for occupation by next year.

She says the construction is part of efforts to clear the waiting list for homes, which has grown to more than 1.5 million.

“The sites are expected to avail 324 blocks of flats yielding a cumulative 5,184 units for emergency settlements. The total cost required for construction of flats up to 2023 amounts to U.S. $377 million,” Mutsvangwa said.

In the past, similar announcements have been made with elections around the corner, and Zimbabwe is due for elections next year.

Whatever the outcome, Mutemashinga says he hopes to get into a decent home soon.
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Zimbabwe’s government has announced a $377 million project to deal with a housing shortage by constructing affordable homes before next year’s election.  But critics note such promises are common.   Columbus Mavhunga reports from Harare.  

Camera: Blessing Chigwenhembe
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Russia has drawn the world’s attention with its aggressive stance toward Ukraine. The former Soviet power has been rebuilding ties with Africa more quietly, strengthening economic and military cooperation, but also raising Western concerns about its tactics and goals there.

Russian flags waved in Burkina Faso’s capital following January’s military coup in the West African nation. A statue unveiled in the Central African Republic last fall shows local soldiers, backed by Russian fighters, protecting civilians.

Those are the more obvious symbols of Russia’s resurgent presence on the continent. Africa is a foreign policy priority, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the first Russia-Africa summit of political and business leaders in 2019.

“We are not going to participate in a new ‘repartition’ of the continent’s wealth,” he said. “Rather, we are ready to engage in competition for cooperation with Africa.”

A second summit is planned for St. Petersburg in October. The first, at the Black Sea resort town of Sochi, generated diplomatic agreements and billions of dollars in deals involving arms, energy, agriculture, banking and more, said the organizer, the Roscongress Foundation.

Moscow has been building new ties and refreshing alliances forged during the Cold War, when the former Soviet Union supported socialist movements across Africa. After the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991, it largely withdrew from the continent.

Since at least 2007, especially in the last few years, Russia has been increasing military and other economic involvement in Africa. The 2019 summit produced contracts with more than 30 African countries to supply military armaments and equipment. Businesses, including state-backed commercial interests, have invested heavily in security sectors, technology and industries that extract natural resources such as oil, gas, gold and other minerals.

Rusal is a company that excavates minerals for aluminum in Guinea and nuclear group Rosatom seeks uranium in Namibia. Alrosa, the world’s largest diamond mining company, has pushed to expand operations in Angola and Zimbabwe, according to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

“Russia is clearly interested, in search of new economic markets and geopolitical influence in Africa,” said Tatiana Smirnova, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Quebec’s Centre FrancoPaix and an associate with the University of Florida’s Sahel Research Group. “It’s important for Russia.”

Trade between Russia and African countries has doubled since 2015, to about $20 billion a year, African Export-Import Bank President Benedict Oramah said in an interview last fall with Russia’s state-owned Tass news agency, cited by the Russia Briefing investment news site. He said Russia exported $14 billion worth of goods and services and imported roughly $5 billion in African products.

However, Africa does more business with other countries, notably China, its biggest trading partner in recent years.

Russia’s overtures in recent years offer cooperation without the “political or other conditions” imposed by Western countries, Putin has said.

“Russia provides, as did the Soviet Union before, an alternative vision for African nations” based on “this common anti-Western critique,” said Maxim Matusevich, a history professor who directs Russian studies at Seton Hall University in New Jersey.

However, while the Soviets tried to sell socialist ideas of modernization in Africa, Russians today “are not offering any ideological vision,” he said. “What they’re essentially doing is they’re contracting with African elites on a one-on-one basis. … They insist on the importance of sovereignty and contrast that with the West, which is trying to impose its values, such as transparency, honest governance, anti-corruption legislation. Again, I’m not saying the West is always sincere doing that, but that’s the official message – and they [Russians] are not doing any of that.”

Shifting dynamics

The spread of militant Islamist extremism and other violence in Africa has created more openings for Russian military involvement. For instance, five nations in the volatile Sahel region – Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger – solicited Moscow’s military support in 2018. Russian fighters also have been engaged in Mozambique and Angola.

France’s planned drawdown of troops from Mali, its former colony and partner in the fight against jihadists since 2013, leaves still more room.

Last Thursday, France and its security partners announced they would exit Mali, citing “multiple obstructions” by the military junta that took power in 2020. France will redeploy its 2,400 troops elsewhere in the Sahel.

Private military contractors also are helping advance Moscow’s agendas in Africa, Western observers say. These include fighters in the shadowy Wagner Group, allegedly controlled by Putin associate Yevgeny Prigozhin. Putin has denied any connection with the group.

“It’s not the state,” Putin said. “… It’s private business with private interests tied to extracting energy resources, including various resources like gold or precious stones.”

Those private fighters operate in parallel with the Kremlin, said Joseph Siegle, who directs research for the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, part of the U.S. Defense Department. He said they are part of Moscow’s tool kit to prop up weak African leaders in exchange for economic or other advantages.

“Every place we’ve seen Wagner deployed around the world and in Africa – be it Libya, Sudan, Mozambique, Central African Republic – it has been a destabilizing force,” Siegle said. “What Russia has been doing has been deploying mercenaries, disinformation, election interference, arms-for-resources deals, opaque contracts … aimed at capturing wider influence.”

That influence can protect Russia’s interests in international circles, Matusevich said, citing Russia’s 2014 seizure of the Crimean Peninsula.

“We know that in the aftermath of the invasion of Ukraine, when Russia was sanctioned in the United Nations, a lot of African nations abstained from the vote,” he said. “So, they are gaining diplomatic support and alternative diplomatic blocs that they can count on.”

The United Nations is investigating reports of “grave” human rights abuses in the Central African Republic, allegedly committed by private military personnel. Meanwhile, Russian mercenaries are glorified as public protectors amid a coup attempt in the 2021 Russian film The Tourist. The movie, set in the Central African Republic, reportedly was funded by Putin ally Pregizhin.

Security concerns

In Mali, the leaders of a 2020 military coup brought in Russian military trainers – and what U.S. and French authorities say are Wagner mercenaries.

Some in Mali welcomed them by waving Russian flags, reflecting not only the country’s historic ties with the former USSR but also public impatience over continued insecurity, said Niagalé Bagayoko, a Paris-based political scientist who chairs the African Security Sector Network. The organization seeks security and justice reforms, and is among advocates for more protections for civilians in the Sahel and more transparency and accountability for military operations there.

“In 2013, the whole Malian population [was] enthusiastic when the French arrived … today they are rejecting their presence,” Bagayoko said.

“To be honest, I would not be very surprised if, in two years or so, the same could happen with the Russian presence,” she said.

African countries are showing a willingness to look beyond a single foreign partner in their efforts to find stability and security, she said. “There is the realization … that being only engaged with single actors …. is restricting the possibility for diplomacy, but also for military apparatus.”

Russia is not the only foreign government trying to broaden influence in Africa, home to vast resources including a surging youth population.

The White House plans a second U.S.-Africa leadership summit later this year, following up on an initial Washington gathering in 2014 and the European Union has announced a new $172 million investment in infrastructure, countering China’s Belt and Road initiative.
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While the ongoing situation in Ukraine is the world focus, Russia has been rebuilding ties with Africa more quietly, strengthening economic and military cooperation on the continent. That is raising Western concerns about its tactics and goals there, as VOA’s Carol Guensburg reports. Contributor: Danila, Joad. Videographer: Betty Ayoub 
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A patient standing on a hospital balcony was killed by a stray bullet fired by security forces in Sudan on Sunday, medics said, as protesters pursued a four-month campaign against military rule.

A 51-year-old man was shot while trying to get fresh air amid heavy tear gas in the city of Bahri, across the Nile from Khartoum, the Central Committee for Sudanese Doctors, a group aligned with the protest movement, said.

The death brought the number of people killed since the protests began to 82.

Police had no immediate statement on the death and could not be reached for comment.

The protests against the Oct. 25, 2021, coup have faced crackdowns that have drawn local and international condemnation. The military leadership has vowed to investigate the deaths.

In protests in Khartoum on Sunday, security forces fired tear gas and stun grenades, and water cannon sprayed red water at protesters, a Reuters reporter said. Gunfire could be heard.

Some protesters were carried away bleeding on motorcycles, the reporter said.

The protesters managed to reach within less than 500 meters (yards) of the heavily protected presidential palace for the first time in more than a month.

“We will continue taking to the streets until we succeed, defeating the coup and achieving democracy,” said Iman, a 35-year-old protester.

Protests were also held in the neighboring city of Omdurman and cities across the country, including Gadarif and El-Obeid.

United Nations human rights expert Adama Dieng, who arrived in Sudan Sunday, is visiting the country until Thursday, Agence France-Presse reported. The trip, initially planned for last month, was postponed at the request of Sudanese authorities, it added.
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The United States’ yearly counter-terrorism training program for African forces began on Sunday in Ivory Coast at a time of upheaval in which Islamist fighters control large areas, coups are on the rise and French forces are winding down.

The training program, known as Flintlock, will bring together more than 400 soldiers from across West Africa to bolster the skills of forces, some of which are under regular attack by armed groups linked to al Qaida and Islamic State.

Those not present included forces from Guinea and two countries worst-hit by Islamist violence, Mali and Burkina Faso. Military juntas have snatched power in those three countries since 2020, raising concerns about a return to West Africa’s post-colonial reputation as a “coup belt.”

Central to this year’s training is coordination between different forces fighting the same enemy.

“A main focus of Flintlock is information sharing. If we can’t communicate, we can’t work together,” said Admiral Jamie Sands, Commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command Africa, at the opening ceremony.

Islamist militants roam across large areas of the Sahel, the arid band of terrain south of the Sahara Desert. Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have been overrun by attacks since 2015 that have killed thousands and uprooted more than 2 million people. Security experts say insurgents have infiltrated coastal countries including Benin and Ivory Coast.

The groups ghost across poorly-policed borders, confounding a mosaic of local and international forces who have spent billions of dollars trying eliminate the threat.

France has led the fight against the militants since 2013, but popular opposition to its intervention has grown. Last week it said it would leave Mali, moving instead to Niger.

Diplomats fear the exit of 2,400 French troops from Mali – the epicenter of the violence – could destabilize the region further.
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Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader Sunday held a rally in one of the poorest suburbs under strict conditions that police set. Police maintained a heavy presence in and around the area where the rally was held.

These are members of the Zimbabwe Citizens’ Coalition for Change welcoming leader Nelson Chamisa at a rally in Harare. Citizens’ Coalition for Change is the new name for the main opposition party which split last year. At the rally, Chamisa promised to deal with corruption if elected president in 2023. He also denounced the government’s threat to dismiss teachers who have been on strike since the beginning of the month, seeking higher pay.

He said, “All teachers want is to revert to the $540 a month they were getting during the late President Robert Mugabe’s reign. People have a right to ask for food when they are hungry. Isn’t it? Fight for your rights until we get power and we give you back your original salary.”

Police gave the go-ahead late for the rally only under strict conditions. Among other things, the opposition was not supposed to have protest marches, singing or slogans. Additionally, the organizers were told to stick to the time set by police for the rally or risk having authorities quash the event.  

Lovemore Chinoputsa, from the Citizens’ Coalition for Change, commented on the  conditions.   

“The conditions were not achievable. They were meant to curtail people and to make it difficult for everyone to come,” Chinoputsa said. “But we are happy that people of Zimbabwe know what we are pursuing and people of Zimbabwe are clear in terms of who should be their leadership.”

Rashid Mahiya, from non-governmental organization Heal Zimbabwe, said the country needs electoral reforms to ensure a level ground for political players.   

“The conditions that were set are not conditions that should be set in a democratic society,” Mahiya said. “We expect the police to be non-partisan and respect the constitutional responsibilities and duties of the citizens, like right to assemble – clearly set in the constitution. When (ruling) ZANU-PF are holding their rallies, those conditions are not set. We want an even playing ground. We want these freedoms to be extended to all citizens.”

About 100 kilometers east of Harare, the ruling ZANU-PF held a campaign rally for by-elections set for next month. No conditions were set for them. The home affairs minister, Kazembe Kazembe, who is in charge of police, refused to comment on the issue.
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Sudanese security forces on Sunday fired tear gas at protesters demonstrating against last year’s military coup, an AFP correspondent said, as a United Nations human rights expert arrived in the country.

Thousands rallied in the capital Khartoum, carrying the Sudanese flags and posters of people killed during anti-coup demonstrations in recent months.

Security forces fired tear gas and wounded several protesters who were heading toward the presidential palace in central Khartoum, the correspondent said.

“We are ready to protest all year,” said one demonstrator, 24-year-old Thoyaba Ahmed.

Regular protests have rocked the northeast African country since army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan led a military takeover in October, sparking international condemnation.

The move derailed a transition painstakingly negotiated between military and civilian leaders following the 2019 ouster of president Omar al-Bashir.

“We want to rectify our country’s situation to have a good future,” demonstrator Wadah Khaled told AFP.

At least 81 people have been killed and hundreds wounded in a violent crackdown on the protests, according to an independent medics group.

“We need to make sacrifices to resolve the country’s issues,” 25-year-old demonstrator Arij Salah said.

U.N. human rights expert Adama Dieng, meanwhile, is visiting Sudan until Thursday, on a trip initially planned for last month but postponed at the request of Sudanese authorities.

“Dieng will meet with senior Sudanese government officials, representatives of civil society organizations, human rights defenders, heads of U.N. entities, and diplomats,” the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement this week.

Separately Sunday, dozens rallied outside a court complex in Khartoum to protest against the trial of several Bashir-era figures, an AFP correspondent said.

Among those on trial is former foreign minister Ibrahim Ghandour, who faces charges over plotting a coup in 2020.

Ghandour’s family said last month that he had begun a hunger strike in prison, along with several ex-regime officials. 
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A new seasonal forecast for the drought-stricken Horn of Africa shows many parts of the region can expect a good rainy season.

The forecast by the World Meteorological Organization is good news for millions of people suffering acute hunger because of poor harvests caused by several years of drought.

However, WMO spokesperson Clare Nullis said that good news is coupled with warnings that people should still prepare for what she called a worst-case scenario.

“The March-to-May rainy season is really, really important for many countries in the region,” she said. “In the region, it accounts for about 70% of the total annual rainfall. So, obviously if there were to be a renewed failure of the rains, there would be massive socioeconomic consequences.”

The World Food Program says 12-14 million people in three of the worst-affected countries — Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia — are facing severe hunger due to the devastating drought across the Horn of Africa.

The WMO says southern to central parts of the region have the highest chances of receiving more rain than normal at this time of year. Countries include Tanzania, eastern Uganda, northern Burundi, and eastern Rwanda.

However, it says western South Sudan, and central and northeastern Ethiopia are likely to receive less rain than usual.

Given the below-average rainfall the past three seasons, meteorologists say a wetter-than-normal season does not mean the region will immediately recover from the drought.

Nullis said countries in the eastern part of the Horn should prepare for the worst.

“In the regions worst hit by drought, the current trends are comparable to those observed during the 2010-2011 famine and the 2016-2017 drought emergency,” she said. “There is obviously a delay between planting and harvesting. The next harvest will not start until about August, so we are not going to see any immediate positive impacts.”

More than a quarter-million people died in the Somalia famine between 2010 and 2012, more than half of them children. More than 6 million people, half of Somalia’s population, were ravaged by the severe 2017 drought. Few people died, though, because the international community responded quickly to the acute hunger emergency.
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A controversial hydroelectric dam built on the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia will officially begin generating power Sunday as the construction project reaches 80% completion.

Ethiopia’s national broadcaster reported Saturday that the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which the country has been constructing on the Blue Nile River, will officially begin generating electricity Sunday for the first time.

The project has been under construction for 10 years. Initially, Ethiopia planned to finish the dam in five years, but the controversy it attracted from downstream countries, plus internal issues, slowed things.

Its completion may take another two to three years, said Kifle Horo, project manager for the dam. This project is totally run and funded by Ethiopians and the government of Ethiopia, he said, urging all to continue to take part in financing the project until it is completed.

Horo said downstream countries opposing construction because they’re afraid they’ll lose water from the Nile won’t be affected.

Ethiopia has been filling the dam’s reservoir for the past two consecutive rainy seasons; the second one was in July 2021. As construction of the dam continues, it could take years to fill the reservoir to the top.

But downstream nations, Egypt and Sudan, are concerned. In July 2021, Egypt appealed to the U.N. Security Council to review filling the reservoir. Ethiopia objected to the appeal and insisted the African Union oversee ongoing negotiations among the three nations.

State-run media reported Saturday one of 13 turbine units is now generating electricity. The dam is expected to generate upward of 5,000 megawatts of electricity when complete. Still, Egypt and Sudan oppose construction, saying the lives of their citizens would be affected due to water sharing concern.

Ethiopia insists it needs the power from the dam for its development. The nation of more than 110 million also says nearly 60% of its population has no access to electricity and the dam will improve availability to many households. 
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The U.N. children’s agency, UNICEF, is assisting Malawi’s students to continue their education in areas affected by a recent tropical storm.   

Students in the country’s 17 flooded districts are taking their lessons outdoors, in the shade of trees, after Tropical Storm Ana ravaged the region, affecting over 900,000 people, destroying school blocks and washing away learning materials. 

The government is still assessing the damage as the flooding continues three weeks after Ana passed.

In Chikwawa district, one of the hardest hit districts, education experts say partial assessment shows the storm which also hit parts of Madagascar , Mozambique and Zimbabwe, has destroyed over 50 school buildings.

Mac Shades Dakamau, chief education officer for Chikwawa district, says the damage is unprecedented. 

“We are hit very, very hard with [Tropical Storm] Ana. For example, classrooms have been damaged, toilets have collapsed, and we had mud in all affected classrooms. And for the first time, we have a very big number of schools affected,” he said.

According to Dakamau, poor learning conditions forced over half of students to be absent from schools.

“Some of the learners have lost their uniform, the textbooks, and pens, name it. So it hit very hard in Chikwawa,” he added. 

Teachers at Sekeni Primary School in Chikwawa district say the floods damaged the school and washed away textbooks and other learning materials.  

However to solve the problem, UNICEF, under its School in a Box initiative, has provided learning materials, which include notebooks, pens, face coverings and footballs. 

“I was very happy that we are able to hand over some learning materials and also some recreational material at that school which also by the way had water supply provided by UNICEF for hand washing and lucky that did not get damaged during the floods,” said Rudolf Schwenk, country director for UNICEF in Malawi.

He said the U.N. children’s agency is also considering providing temporary learning shelters for affected schools and evacuation camps.  

“Because it’s important for their psycho-social development if they continue learning. So I think that is of critical importance also to look after the children in the camps who are not yet able to go back to their schools,” Schwenk said. 

Minister of Education Agness Nyalonje said in parliament this week that the government has also established an education in emergency plan, which aims to ensure continued learning for children in times of natural disasters.  

However, Nyalonje ruled out plans to relocate schools from flood-prone areas, saying doing so would inconvenience students living there.  
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