Thousands of Sudanese took to the streets in the capital of Khartoum and other cities Monday, activists said, continuing relentless anti-coup protests that have rocked the country since a military coup three months ago.

Security forces fired tear gas to disperse protesters in several locations in the capital, including the area around the fortified presidential palace, which has seen clashes in previous rounds of protests since the Oct. 25 coup, according to the activists.

The military takeover has upended Sudan’s transition to democratic rule after three decades of repression and international isolation under autocratic President Omar al-Bashir. The African nation has been on a fragile path to democracy since a popular uprising forced the military to remove al-Bashir and his Islamist government in April 2019.

Protesters, mostly young people, marched Monday in the streets of Khartoum and its sister city of Omdurman, according to the pro-democracy movement. There were also protests elsewhere in the country, including the provinces of Kassala, Red Sea, Jazira and the already restive Darfur region, the movement said.

Footage circulated online showed security forces attempting to disperse protests with tear gas. Protesters were seen taking cover and hurling stones at the troops.

Activist Nazim Sirag said two protesters suffered gunshot injuries in Khartoum. No fatalities were reported Monday.

More than 70 people have been killed and hundreds of others injured in protests since the coup, according to a local medical group.

Sudan has been politically paralyzed since the coup. The turmoil has further worsened since the resignation earlier this month of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.

Hamdok resigned earlier this month, citing failure to reach a compromise between the generals and the pro-democracy movement. He had been reinstated in November in a deal with the military that angered the pro-democracy movement.

The United Nations mission has in the past two weeks been engaged in separate consultations with Sudanese rival factions in efforts to find a way out of the crisis.
…

Nigeria’s Rivers State has some of the most polluted air in Africa from people burning fossil fuels and trash. One community has sought to reduce pollution by promoting bicycle riding with an annual bicycle carnival. For VOA, Timothy Obiezu reports from Isiokpo, Nigeria.
Videographer: Emeka Gibson
…

Separatists in western Cameroon have released eight rubber plantation workers they abducted earlier this month. But the anglophone rebels are still holding onto five government officials and a top chief they abducted months ago in Cameroon’s Northwest Region.

In a video circulating on social media, scores of family members and supporters shout with joy that God has spared the lives of their relatives.

Police say the video, taken at the market square in the town of Tiko, also shows eight rubber plantation workers abducted by separatist fighters on January 15. In the video, the eight former abductees look tired and hungry but show no signs of physical injury.

Gabriel Nbene Vefonge, president of the Cameroon Agriculture and Allied Workers Trade Union, was in the crowd welcoming back the former abductees. He said the rubber plantation workers were found in the bush on Sunday and taken to the government hospital in Tiko for medical care.

He told VOA that they were reunited with their families on Monday.

“Family members generally were highly demoralized and we keep praying that such an incident should not occur any longer. These are breadwinners who toil so that they can put bread on the table for their family members. As they continue to join their families, once again we thank God for their release,” he said.

Cameroonian authorities blamed anglophone separatists for the abduction of the eight workers. The military said in a statement Monday that the workers have regained their freedom but gave no further details.

Fighters on social media platforms including Facebook and WhatsApp say the workers were released after pledging never to collaborate with Cameroonian soldiers deployed to fight the separatists.

The whereabouts of five government officials abducted by separatists in the town of Ndian last year are still unknown.

Six government officials were abducted on June 16. One of them was found dead two days later.

The president of the Northwest region’s House of Chiefs, an elected organ that discusses community development, also remains missing. The government said Fon Kevin Shumitang was kidnapped from his palace in the town of Bambalang by separatists on December 7.

Fru Angwafor, president of the Northwest Regional Assembly, a regional lawmaking body, said he is counting on the military to rescue Shumitang.

“At our level we have done the necessary contacts and in matters of security, we can only go to the competent services that have set up the necessary enquiries and strategies to get back our vice president of the regional executive council,” said Angwafor.

Capo Daniel is deputy defense chief of the Ambazonia Defense Forces, one of the separatists groups. He said fighters abducted Shumitang for collaborating with the central government in Yaoundé.

“His arrest was as a result of his participation in that House of Chiefs that does not represent the aspirations of our people. All members of that House of Chiefs will be subject to arrest by the Ambazonian forces for violation of Southern Cameroon territorial integrity,” said Daniel.

Separatists in English-speaking western Cameroon launched their rebellion in 2017 after what they said was years of discrimination by the country’s French-speaking majority.

The conflict has killed more than 3,000 people and displaced more than a half-million.
…

Reports out of the West African nation of Burkina Faso say embattled President Roch Marc Christian Kabore and members of his government have been detained by mutineering soldiers.   

News outlets say there are reports of heavy fighting near the presidential palace in the capital, Ouagadougou.   

Burkina Faso has been embroiled in a conflict with terror groups linked to al-Qaida and Islamic State since 2015. Rumors of a coup have been rife for weeks after a military base in the north of the country was overrun by terrorists killing 49 military members.  

President Kabore fired members of his Cabinet and military leadership in December in response. 

The current unrest began early Sunday when heavy gunfire was heard inside Ouagadougou’s largest military base, Camp Sangoule Lamizana. VOA journalist Henry Wilkins was temporarily detained inside the camp and spoke to one of the organizers of the mutiny, who relayed a list of demands from the mutineers, including “more money and more troops” to aid in the fight against terrorism, along with better training and the organization of a permanent military unit on the front lines.

The mutineers also demanded the resignations of the military chief of staff and chief of the intelligence services, and better care of the wounded and families of soldiers who have died in the conflict. 

The apparent coup in Burkina Faso is the third in West Africa in the last 18 months, following that of Mali and neighboring Guinea.   

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and  Agence France-Presse.  
…

A United Nations report released Monday said the world is failing to insure that by 2030 all children are receiving an “inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning opportunities.” 

The indicators used to determine a participating country’s success included: early childhood education attendance; drop-out rates; completion rates; gender gaps in completion rates; minimum proficiency rates in reading and mathematics; trained teachers; and public education expenditure. 

The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, said countries were already failing their children “even before taking into account the potential consequences of COVID-19 on education development.”  

This failure “is a wakeup call for the world’s leaders,” UNESCO’s report said, “as millions of children will continue to miss out on school and high-quality learning.” 

The education benchmarks are included in Sustainable Development Goal 4 – one of 17 goals set up in 2015 by the U.N. General Assembly. The goals are intended to be achieved by 2030. 
…

Shots were heard late Sunday near the home of Burkina Faso’s president after soldiers staged mutinies at several barracks to demand the sacking of the country’s military top brass and more resources for the battle against Islamist insurgents.

Residents also reported they saw a helicopter above the private residence of President Roch Marc Kabore in the capital Ouagadougou.

It followed gunfire earlier Sunday at several army bases, prompting fears of yet another coup in a volatile West African country prone to military takeovers.

Meanwhile, demonstrators protesting over the government’s handling of the jihadist threat set fire to the headquarters of the ruling party.

But the government quickly denied rumors of a putsch, and a list of demands presented by the rebellious troops made no mention of trying to oust Kabore, while emphasizing the need for a better anti-jihadist strategy.

“We want adequate resources for the battle” against Islamist extremists, a soldier from the Sangoule Lamizana base in Ouagadougou said in a voice recording received by AFP.

The disaffected soldiers also wanted top generals to be “replaced,” better care for wounded troops and more support for the families of soldiers killed in battle, the spokesman for the mutinous troops added in the anonymous recording.

The authorities declared an overnight curfew from 8 p.m. local time (2000 GMT) Sunday “until further notice” and the education ministry said schools would be closed Monday and Tuesday across the poor, landlocked country.

The unrest comes a little over a week after 12 people, including a senior army officer, were arrested on suspicion of planning to “destabilize” Burkina’s institutions.

It also comes a day after police used tear gas to disperse banned rallies, arresting dozens. 

Residents in the Gounghin district, where the Sangoule Lamizana base is situated, reported seeing soldiers firing in the air and sealing off the area around the barracks.

Shots were also heard at the Baby Sy barracks in the south of the capital, as well as at an air base near the airport, which was also surrounded by soldiers wearing balaclavas, witnesses said.

There was also gunfire at bases in the northern towns of Kaya and Ouahigouya, residents there told AFP, and mobile internet services were cut.

The government moved quickly to try to restore control.

“Information on social media would have people believe there was an army takeover,” government spokesman Alkassoum Maiga said in a statement. “The government, while acknowledging that there was gunfire in some barracks, denies this information and calls on the public to remain calm.”

Defense Minister General Barthelemy Simpore said on nationwide TV that “none of the republic’s institutions has been troubled” by the revolt.

He added that there were “localized, limited” incidents “in a few barracks,” and that he was investigating.

Police fired tear gas to break up a rally by around 100 people who gathered at a square in central Ouagadougou to show support for the mutiny, an AFP correspondent reported.

Sangoule Lamizana camp houses a military prison where General Gilbert Diendere — a former right-hand man to deposed President Blaise Compaore — is serving a 20-year term for an attempted coup in 2015.

He is also on trial for his alleged part in the 1987 assassination of the country’s revolutionary leader, Thomas Sankara, during a putsch that brought Compaore to power.

Compaore, overthrown by a popular uprising in 2014, fled to Ivory Coast, and is being tried in absentia for the assassination.

The latest turbulence coincides with a jihadist insurgency that swept in from neighboring Mali in 2015, overwhelming Burkina’s poorly trained and badly equipped armed forces.

Around 2,000 people have died, according to an AFP tally, while around 1.5 million people are internally displaced, according to the national emergency agency CONASUR.

Anger at Kabore’s failure to stem the bloodshed has risen, spilling over into clashes with the security forces.

On November 27, dozens were injured when hundreds turned out to protest.

Among the soldiers arrested this month over the plot to “destabilize institutions” was Lieutenant-Colonel Emmanuel Zoungrana, who had been commanding anti-jihadist operations in the former French colony’s badly hit western region.

In a statement, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said it was very concerned at the situation and expressed its solidarity with Kabore, the government and its people.
…

Cameroon says it has opened an investigation to find out the names and nationalities of 17 people who died Sunday in a fire that caused an explosion in the capital, Yaounde. The explosion in a popular nightclub also wounded eight people. The government is calling for calm as thousands of football fans visit Yaounde for the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations football tournament.

Hundreds of people including Cameroonian government officials turned out in Bastos, a Yaounde neighborhood, on Sunday morning. They watched as neighbors and workers of Livs, a popular nightclub, and Cameroon’s Military Fire Brigade, searched three torched buildings in the area. 

Among the civilians helping to search for the injured was 27-year-old Gustav Lemaleu. 

Lemaleu says civilians and the Fire Brigade of Cameroon’s ministry have saved the lives of at least 40 people. He says it is difficult to know the names and nationalities of the injured and the dead because clients do not present identification documents before having access to Livs. 

Lemaleu said he is certain that the victims include people visiting Cameroon for the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations. 

In a statement, the government says an accidental fire at the nightclub spread to a cooking gas store. There were loud explosions from six gas canisters, causing panic in the neighborhood. 

Public Health Minister Manaouda Malachie says President Paul Biya was informed of the incident as soon as it occurred. Manaouda says Biya has instructed health workers to transport the wounded to Yaounde Central Hospital. 

He says Biya has asked the Public Health Ministry to treat the wounded free of charge and that arrangements be made for the dead to be buried in their places of origin after the investigation. He says Biya has instructed his ministry to give psychological assistance to traumatized family members of the injured whenever the traumatized relatives are identified. 

Rene Emmanuel Sadi, Cameroon’s minister of communication, visited the site of the incident. He says it is too early to know the names and countries of origin of the dead and wounded. 

“We are still at the level of inquiries [investigations],” he said. “The incident is quite serious. There are people who are dead. Others are injured and investigations are going on. I think when all these things are finished, I will be giving the exact information concerning this very serious incident.” 

Sadi said the death toll may increase. 

President Biya has called for calm and assured football players, fans and match officials attending the Africa Cup of Nations in Yaounde of their safety.  

Cameroon is hosting thousands of people for the tournament, which started on January 9th and will end on February 6. 

 
…

UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency, is appealing for nearly $60 million for tens of thousands of victims of intercommunal clashes over dwindling resources in Cameroon’s Far North region.

The United Nations Refugee Agency Friday released an appeal for just under $60 million for support for those fleeing intercommunal violence in Cameroon’s Far North region.

The appeal is aimed at helping UNHCR and its partners provide needed humanitarian aid for those displaced by the crisis during the next six months.

An ongoing dispute over diminishing water resources between herders on one side and fishermen and farmers on the other last month erupted into a violent confrontation. The U.N. refugee agency says 44 people were killed, more than 100 injured, and 112 villages burned to the ground.

In the space of two weeks, UNHCR spokesman Boris Cheshirkov said 100,000 people fled to neighboring Chad or elsewhere in Cameroon.

“This has become a severe crisis because of the climate emergency. And the surface waters of Lake Chad shrinking and the Logone river, which runs along the border between Cameroon and Chad. It demarks the border and this is where the tensions began,” he said.

This crisis follows a previous deadly encounter in August. Some 45 people reportedly were killed, dozens injured, and more than 30 villages set ablaze. An estimated 23,000 fled to Chad or elsewhere in Cameroon.

Cheshirkov said the appeal will provide critically needed relief over the next six months for both the displaced and those sheltering them in Chad and Cameroon.

Priority needs, he said include shelter, blankets, mats, and mosquito mats.

“The funds will also cover growing water, sanitation, and hygiene needs. Child protection, prevention, and response to gender-based violence, documentation, education—all of these are urgent priorities. We estimate that 9 out of 10 of the Cameroonian refugees that are now in Chad as a result of this crisis are women and children,” he said.

Cheshirkov said the situation has calmed down in the last few weeks. He says security has been reinforced. He notes government-led reconciliation efforts, supported by the UNHCR are underway. He added urgent action is needed to address the root causes of the conflict.
…

A French soldier has died after a rocket attack on the French army base in Gao, Mali.  

The French Armed Forces Ministry released a statement Sunday morning saying the attack occurred on the Gao, Mali, Operation Barkhane military base on Saturday.

The statement claimed the attack was carried out by “terrorists.” 

Operation Barkhane, France’s counterinsugency military operation in the Sahel, has operated in Mali since 2014. It replaced Operation Serval, the French army’s operation to regain control of northern Mali, which had been taken over by Islamists in 2012.

This year, after what French President Emmanuel Macron called a drawdown of the French military presence in Mali, Barkhane forces were withdrawn from northern Mali’s Tessalit, Kidal and Timbuktu military bases. The Gao base continues to serve as the center of Operation Barkhane.

Popular opposition to the French military presence in Mali has increased dramatically in recent years. France has backed recent sanctions imposed by the Economic Community of West African States that were imposed following a 2026 presidential election plan proposed by Mali’s current military government.

Thousands of Malians took to the streets in cities across the country this month to denounce the sanctions, with most also denouncing France’s presence in Mali.

 
…

Heavy gunfire could be heard from the main military camp in Burkina Faso’s capital of Ouagadougou early Sunday morning, a Reuters witness said.

The gunfire at the Sangoule Lamizana camp, which houses the army’s general staff, began at least as early as 5 a.m. (0500 GMT) and could still be heard as of 6:30.

A government spokesperson said he also heard gunfire and was seeking information.

Burkinabe authorities arrested at least eight soldiers earlier this month on suspicion of conspiring against the government. 

 
…

Comoros, the surprise package of the Africa Cup of Nations, is struggling to put a team together for their last-16 game against host nation Cameroon after 12 players and management tested positive for COVID-19, their federation announced Saturday.

The 12 positive tests include both of the Coelacanths’ fit goalkeepers, with the third goalkeeper, Salim Ben Boina already injured. Comoros is due to face Cameroon on Monday.

“The Coelacanths affected by COVID … include coach Amir Abdou, our only two goalkeepers, Moyadh Ousseini and Ali Ahamada,” the federation tweeted two days before a historic match for the Comoros who qualified for the last 16 in their first appearance at the tournament.

In a video posted on the account, general manager El Hadad Hamidi also named five outfield players who have tested positive: midfielders Nakibou Aboubakari, Yacine Bourhane, striker Mohamed M’Changama and defenders Kassim Abdallah and Alexis Souahy.

With no goalkeepers currently available for the game, the Comoros are in serious trouble.

Confederation of African Football rules for the tournament dictate that teams must play games as long as at least 11 players test negative for the coronavirus.

If no goalkeeper is available, an outfield player must stand in.

“We are trying to do everything in our power to find alternative solutions” but “without the coach, without major players and especially without our only two goalkeepers who remained, the situation is quite complicated,” admitted Hamidi.

The Comoros, representing a tiny island nation off the southeast coast of Africa, snatched their qualification to everyone’s surprise by beating Ghana 3-2 and advancing as one of the best third-placed sides. 

 
…

In conflict-stricken Burkina Faso, hundreds marched in cities across the country to protest insecurity and show solidarity for Mali, recently placed under sanctions by the West African political bloc ECOWAS.

On Saturday morning, just before 9 a.m., around 300 protesters gathered in downtown Ouagadougou, some to show their anger toward the government’s handling of security, others to show solidarity with protests that took place in neighboring Mali last weekend.

Ali Sankara, owner of a shop in the neighborhood of Koulouba, where the protests took place, told VOA, “We are here to protect our property and people, and now [police] are shooting tear gas all over the place. If they cause a fire here, who’s going to pay the price? We only came out to protect our property.”

On Thursday, authorities had banned the protests. As a result, the police Saturday were quick to enforce the restrictions after protesters began erecting blockades on one of the city’s main roads. The police detonated a flashbang as they began to use force to break up the crowd.

Since Jan. 10, the government has blocked access to Facebook throughout the country in an apparent effort to prevent protesters from communicating and turning out in large numbers.

Ibrahima Maiga of the Movement to Save Burkina Faso, one of the organizations behind the protests, told VOA, “I think the fact they banned the protests is something that gives us more reason to protest. It is something that should not happen in a country where people claim to be elected. This kind of behavior should happen only in a country where there is no freedom.”

Two of the protest organizers were detained Thursday by authorities.

Burkina Faso’s government has been under pressure from protesters since November. Demonstrations swept the country after an attack on a military base, which had not been supplied with food for two weeks, by terrorists linked to al-Qaida, killing at least 49 military personnel.

In response, President Roch Kabore fired his Cabinet and formed a new one in December. He also fired many of the military’s top commanders to appease critics.

Meanwhile, in neighboring Mali, thousands of citizens turned out last weekend to protest sanctions placed on the country by the West African political bloc ECOWAS. The country’s president, Assimi Goita, took power in a coup last year and is refusing to hold democratic elections for at least another five years, drawing pressure from the international community.

Some of the protesters in Burkina Faso wore T-shirts with images of Goita and expressed solidarity with recent protests in Mali.

Like Mali, Burkina Faso has been embroiled in a six-year conflict with terrorist groups linked to Islamic State, al-Qaida and local banditry.

As he clean the tear gas from his eyes with water, protester Amidou Tiemtore told VOA, “What is happening now in our country is sad … And now, with all that’s happening we are told now is not the time to take to the streets. If this is not the time to march, then when is the time?” he asked.

A government spokesperson was not immediately available to comment on the protests.

 
…

The United Nations Refugee Agency says thousands of Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia’s embattled northern Tigray province are living under life-threatening conditions because they have no access to humanitarian aid.

U.N. refugee staff members say they were shocked by what they saw when they visited the Mai Aini and Adi Harush camps for Eritrean refugees in southern Tigray for the first time in three weeks.  Intense fighting and security concerns have prevented them from going there until now.

Boris Cheshirkov, a spokesman for UNHCR, the U.N. Refugee Agency, says the team found refugees scared and struggling to get enough to eat.  He says they lacked medicine and had little or no access to clean water.

“Refugees told UNHCR of increasing preventable deaths—more than 20 over the last six weeks—linked to the overall decline in conditions and in particular the lack of medicine and health services,” Cheshirkov said. “The clinics in the camps have been essentially closed since early January, when they finally completely ran out of medicine.”   

Conditions in Tigray have seriously deteriorated since the Ethiopian military incursion into the province in November 2020.  The civil conflict since has spread to other regions in northern Ethiopia.   An effective blockade has prevented humanitarian aid, including fuel, from reaching the area since mid-December. 

Cheshirkov says extreme hunger is rising because supplies cannot be moved into the region.  He says food is running out in the two camps and refugees have been selling their clothes and few belongings to get food.

“If food, medicine, fuel, and other supplies cannot be immediately brought in, and if we continue to be unable to relocate refugees out of harm’s way to where we can provide them with life-saving assistance, more refugees will die,” Cheshirkov said.

The UNHCR says it wants to relocate the more than 25,000 Eritrean refugees remaining in the two camps to a new site provided by the Ethiopian government in the neighboring Amhara region.  The agency is calling on all parties for a cease-fire and guarantees of safe passage to allow the operation to go ahead.
…

By all odds, Mohamed Ibrahim Moalimuu should not be alive to tell his story.

Five times, this Somali journalist-turned-government spokesperson has been nearby when a suicide bomber set off explosives. The most recent incident occurred Jan. 16, when a bomber targeted him in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

“As I was trying to move, a man, allegedly the suicide bomber, ran towards my vehicle near the Makka al-Mukarama Hotel,” he told me earlier this week. “He grabbed the back side of my vehicle and blew himself up. I became unconscious and later woke up in a hospital bed in Mogadishu with my nose covered with life-supporting oxygen [equipment].”

He talked to me by phone from a hospital in Turkey, where he was airlifted 24 hours after the explosion.

Militant group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack. Moalimuu said his leg is broken and he has shrapnel wounds on his hand and shoulder.

But he said he is optimistic he will recover from the attack. He has healed several times before.

A close, lucky colleague

Moalimuu spent years working for the BBC, reporting on the all-too-frequent terrorist attacks and suicide bombings that have killed thousands of innocent people in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu.

As a former BBC reporter in Mogadishu myself, I was Moalimuu’s colleague, roommate and a close friend. Together we covered bomb and mortar attacks and witnessed colleagues die, including BBC producer Kate Peyton, who died after being shot in the back outside a hotel in Mogadishu by a suspected Islamist gunman in 2006.

I personally survived an attack on a Banadir University graduation ceremony at the Shamo Hotel in 2009 that killed 25 people.

Moalimuu is known as a man of resilience by his colleagues in the media. Earlier this month, I saw that resilience and the danger when I visited Mogadishu for the first time in 11 years.

On Jan. 3, I was riding with him in the same vehicle that days later was targeted by the suicide bomber. After living 11 peaceful years in the U.S., I could see the danger and risks surrounding his life as we moved through Mogadishu streets and government checkpoints, which are often the target for terrorist attacks. But to my surprise he looked coolly calculating and daring.

At some point that day, I remember being suspicious about a teenage boy holding a black backpack and walking toward our vehicle. I feared he could be a suicide bomber. As he got closer, I froze and Moalimuu kept looking at him, but fortunately the young boy passed.

From his bed in Turkey, Moalimuu remembered the boy.

“That young boy we suspected the other day could be the suicide bomber, who targeted me. Sometimes, it is mind-boggling. Why would someone you do not know, who does not know you, want to kill you and himself?” he asked.

He also said living and working in Mogadishu can be exhausting.

“I sometimes get tired of observing around,” he said. “Innocent people, schoolchildren and mothers are walking on the streets and terrorists are hiding among them. You do not know who is going to kill you where and when.

“Most of the time, I have been going through my days unaware, not thinking of our mortality,” he said. “I cope by focusing on the things more directly in front of me as a journalist before and as a politician.”

Five-time survivor

Moalimuu’s first close brush with death came in June 2013. He was driving past a United Nations compound in Mogadishu when an al-Shabab suicide bomber blew up his car outside.

“I remember the remains of a suicide bomber landed on my car, smashing the windscreen,” he said, adding that the event left him shocked but uninjured.

The second attack he survived was in August 2016, when al-Shabab fighters stormed a Lido Beach restaurant where he was sitting. He was wounded in the attack, which turned into a siege that lasted for hours.

“I survived by lying in my own blood, pretending to be dead,” he recalled. “One of my friends, who was sitting with me, was already dead and his body was right in front of me.”

The incident left scars on his face and, of course, mental trauma.

“It took me months to recover from that attack,” he said.

He was injured again on Feb. 28, 2019, when al-Shabab launched a bomb-and-shooting attack at Maka al-Mukarama Hotel, killing at least 10 people.

And finally, he survived an al-Shabab attack on the beachside Elite Hotel on Aug. 17, 2020. At least 12 people were killed in that incident, along with five militants, according to police.

From that attack, he emerged unscathed.

To the extent that I know him, Moalimuu is a hardworking, charismatic, sympathetic, humble and very friendly person.

But this time, his last words in our conversation over the phone showed his anger toward terrorists.

“Terrorism is a devastating tactic and is almost impossible to defend against,” he said. “But there is one thing I am sure of — they cannot decide when a person is to die, and the proof is the magnitude of the suicide attack that targeted my vehicle and the injuries I sustained. Thanks to Allah.”

Why did he stay?

A decade ago, I got a job at the VOA office in Washington, D.C., and decided to leave Mogadishu, in part because I feared for my life and that of my family.

Moalimuu had similar opportunities to live a peaceful life abroad. He turned them down, driven by his determination to tell the world what was happening in the Horn of Africa.

“If all of us run away, the criminals killing and tormenting my people will have triumphed. The world will not know the heinous crimes which are being committed,” Moalimuu told me 10 years ago. I’ve kept that quote in a diary.

In our phone conversation, he added another reason why he stays: He could not leave loved ones in Somalia.

“You know when you have a family that depends on you and children that need you, it is hard to decide to leave them behind,” he said.

Moalimuu recently transitioned to a new job, as a government spokesperson for the office of Somali Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble. He is considering a run for a seat in parliament, although Somali elections remain indefinitely delayed because of disputes between rival political factions.

Despite his injuries, despite the possibility that the next terrorist attack will break his sorely tested luck, he is still willing to continue to work for the betterment of Somalia.

“Nothing will never discourage me to serve for my country and people,” he told me over the phone. “My goal is to make a difference in the governing and legislation system, which I could not do as a journalist.”

He has no illusions about the threats he faces.

“In Somalia,” he said, “it does not matter whether you are ordinary civilian, journalist or politician. You are always in danger.” 
…

Jihadists killed two people and kidnapped 20 children in Nigeria’s Borno state, where Islamist militants are waging a more than decade-long insurgency, a community leader and residents said Friday. 

Thursday’s assault on Piyemi village took place near Chibok town where eight years ago, Boko Haram jihadists abducted more than 200 schoolgirls in an attack that sparked an international outcry. 

Fighters from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) stormed Piyemi on Thursday afternoon, killing two men and seizing 13 girls and seven boys, according to the residents and the community leader.

The ISWAP militants dressed in military uniforms started shooting and looting shops in the village and setting homes on fire, they said. 

“They shot dead two people and took away 13 girls and seven boys aged between 12 and 15,” local resident Samson Bulus told AFP by phone. 

The militants who attacked from nearby Sambisa forest herded “the 20 kidnapped children into a truck they seized from the village and drove them into the forest,” said resident Silas John. 

Military officials were not immediately available to comment on the attack. 

But a local Chibok government official confirmed the attack without giving details. 

A community leader also gave similar details about the jihadist assault and the abducted children. 

“This attack was the third in recent days and underscores the risks villages around Chibok face from jihadists,” said Ayuba Alamson, the community leader from Chibok. 

Schools targeted

Thursday’s kidnapping came as Nigeria struggles with a string of abduction-for-ransom attacks on schools by criminal gangs over the last year in its northwestern states.

About 1,500 schoolchildren were seized last year in 20 mass kidnappings in schools across the region, with 16 students losing their lives, according to the U.N. children welfare agency UNICEF.

Most of the hostages were released after negotiations with the criminal gangs known locally as bandits, but some are still in captivity in forest hideouts.

Forest enclaves

Following Thursday’s raid, residents said they returned to Piyemi village Friday after spending the night in the bush to escape the ISWAP attackers.

The jihadists razed part of the village, including a church, and they burned 10 vehicles in the three-hour long attack, said resident John.

Troops have been stationed in Chibok since the infamous 2014 schoolgirl abduction, but deadly jihadist raids continue in the area, with the militants launching attacks from their nearby forest enclaves.

ISWAP, which split from Boko Haram in 2016, seized Sambisa Forest from rival Boko Haram following the death of Boko Haram’s leader Abubakar Shekau in May in clashes between the two factions.

More than 40,000 people have been killed and more than 2 million people displaced by the jihadist conflict in the northeast of Nigeria. 

 
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A video released this week by the Nigerian terrorist group Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) appears to show armed children executing two military officers. Security experts say the recruitment of Nigerian children into violent extremism is hampering efforts by authorities to end the insurgency.

 The 27-minute-long video was released Tuesday by SITE Intelligence Group — a jihadist monitoring organization. 

In the video, young militants around 12 years old are seen shooting two men in the head who are dressed in Nigeria military uniforms. The video also shows many young fighters receiving military training.

Nigeria military authorities have yet to issue a statement on the video. 

This is not the first time armed groups have released video of child soldiers executing abductees. But security analysts are concerned the latest video will undercut claims by authorities they are gaining ground in the battle against terrorists.

Senator Iroegbu is the founder of the online security magazine, The Global Sentinel. 

“Where it becomes concerning, apart from the fact that this violates the rights of these children, is the element of continuity because they are indoctrinating these children right from the young age and it presents a problem that means they’re planning about their succession ahead of time,” Iroegbu said. “This is one of their strategies.”

This week, the military said troops rescued 16 abductees and that 863 terrorists quit Boko Haram.

But experts say the recruiting of young fighters makes it more difficult to defeat terror groups and can hamper the efforts of the authorities.

Security intelligence groups say child soldiers are often used by the terrorists as spies and informants to gather intelligence from target communities. 

“Because they look innocent and they have been radicalized, it presents a dilemma because in observance of rule of engagement you can’t just see a child and start shooting the child,” Iroegbu said.

UNICEF says some 95,000 children were recruited globally between 2005 and 2020 and that more than 3,500 were recruited by militants in Nigeria between 2013 and 2017. 

 In the past, Boko Haram often used children as suicide bombers — a practice that attracted widespread criticism. 

 Security analyst Ebenezer Oyetakin said poverty helps drive kids into the arms of terrorists.

“The most important way to win this kind of a war is to ensure that in the first place we enlarge the basis of the economy of our nation,” Oyetakin said. “A country of over 200 million people should have a minimum of 1 trillion in GDP because we cannot win this battle only by the kinetic, we must also win it in the belly of our children in their self-esteem in their capacities to care for themselves.” 

Islamic State West Africa Province split off from Boko Haram in 2016. The group’s activities raise concerns about IS expanding its enclaves to West Africa.  

Both Boko Haram and ISWAP are fighting and anti-government war to create their own Islamic caliphate in northeastern Nigeria. UNICEF says the war has killed more than 300,000 people and displaced millions more.
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Hing Pal Singh is among dozens of patients with daily appointments at the Oriental Chinese Herbal Clinic in Nairobi.

Singh, 85, has been suffering from spinal problems for five years and is now trying herbal remedies.

“There is a slight difference,” Singh said. ” … It’s only a week now. It will take at least another 12 to 15 sessions. Then we see how it goes.”

Traditional Chinese medicine is becoming more popular in Africa, according to a 2020 study by Development Reimagined, a Beijing international consulting firm.

A February 2020 op-ed written by a Beijing think tank researcher and published in the state-run China Daily said such traditional medicine would “boost the Chinese economy, contribute to global health and prove to be a shot in the arm for China’s soft power.”

Potential harm

Conventional medical doctors such as Sultan Mantendechere, though, say patients are overlooking the potential harm that some herbal remedies can cause, especially if used too frequently or at too high a dosage.

“They do work in quite a number of circumstances,” Mantendechere said. “Having said that, our main worry as practitioners, the medical practitioners, is that the use of herbal medicine is not as regulated as we would want it to

Although the safety and effectiveness of traditional Chinese medicine is still debated worldwide, herbal practitioners such as Li Chuan continue to gain popularity among those seeking alternative medication.

Li said some of his patients were benefiting from purported COVID-19 remedies, although there is scant scientific evidence that they can help against the disease.

“Many people buy our herbal tea to counter COVID-19,” Li said. “The results are good.” 

Environmentalists fear the growth of traditional Chinese medicine will encourage poachers to go after endangered wildlife such as rhinos and some types of snakes used in making the potions.

Daniel Wanjuki, an environmentalist and the lead expert at Kenya’s National Environment Management Authority, said that “with people saying that the rhino horn may actually be used as an aphrodisiac, this has led to almost the complete eradication of the rhino species in Kenya and in Africa in general.” 

Economical — if effective 

Kenya spends an estimated $2.7 billion each year on health care, according to national statistics.

Kenyan economist Ken Gichinga said herbal medicine could significantly lower African medical expenses if proven effective.

“Africans spend quite a lot of money traveling to countries such as India and the UAE to get treatment” and would benefit if herbal medicine “can provide more natural, cost-effective health care,” he said.

In 2021, Kenya’s national drug regulator, the Pharmacy and Poisons Board, approved the sale of Chinese herbal health products in the country. Practitioners such as Li hope that more nations will give approval to Chinese herbal medicine in the future.
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At least 17 people were killed and 59 injured Thursday in a devastating explosion in a western Ghana town after a truck carrying explosives intended for a mine collided with a motorcycle, the government said.

The blast left a huge crater and reduced dozens of buildings to dust-covered piles of wood and metal in Apiate, near the city of Bogoso some 300 kilometers west of the mineral-rich West African country’s capital Accra.

Footage verified by AFP showed locals rushing towards a raging fire and rising plumes of black smoke to inspect the damage, while rescue workers waded through the rubble to find survivors caught in the devastation and retrieve lifeless bodies.

“A total of 17 people have unfortunately been confirmed dead, and 59 injured people have been rescued,” Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said in a statement released overnight.

The minister said initial signs point to “an accident involving a truck transporting explosive materials for a mining company, a motorcycle and a third vehicle” which took place near an electrical transformer.

Out of 59 people injured, 42 are receiving treatment in hospitals or health centers and “some are in critical condition,” Nkrumah added.

Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo called it a “truly sad, unfortunate and tragic incident” and expressed “deep condolences to the families of the deceased.”

‘Ghost town’

Officials and eyewitnesses described a scene of desolation against the sea of buildings collapsed or impaired in the carnage.

“It’s a black Thursday. So far 500 houses have been affected. Some have been razed down completely by the explosion while others have developed cracks,” Sedzi Sadzi Amedonu, deputy coordinator of the National Disaster Management Organization, told AFP.

“It’s almost like a ghost town now.”

Abena Mintah, who saw the blast, told local media the driver of the truck dropped down from his hatch, shouting at those nearby to warn them away from the flaming vehicle.

“Within a few minutes we heard a loud bang. I felt dizzy and fell in the bush. I managed to get up and saw a few dismembered bodies on the street,” Mintah said.

The government said those in critical condition would be moved to hospitals in Accra, and police asked surrounding villages to open their schools and churches to accommodate any additional casualties.

A team of police and army explosion experts were deployed to “avoid a second explosion” and put in place security measures after the blast, the government said in a press release.

‘Community gone’

Emergency services were to give a casualty update 11 a.m. (1100 GMT) Friday.

Dr. Isaac Dasmani, chief executive of the Prestea Huni-Valley municipality where the explosion occurred, told local media “the whole community is gone” after the blast.

“All of the roofs have been ripped off, some of the buildings have collapsed. Some were in their rooms and were trapped. Some of them unfortunately, before we were able to rescue them, were already gone,” he told Ghana’s TV3 broadcaster.

Authorities have created an access route to the scene and were working to open roads on Friday to ease traffic around the blast site, he said.

Ghana has been rocked by several deadly explosions caused by fuel accidents in recent years.

In 2017, at least three people were killed and dozens injured after a tanker truck carrying natural gas caught fire in Accra, triggering explosions at two fuel stations and killing three people.

Ghana’s capital was the scene of a similar fire and explosion in June 2015, when more than 150 people died as they sought shelter from seasonal rains and flooding at a petrol station. The blaze was believed to have spread by fuel on the floodwater.

Deadly accidents linked to the mining sector are also frequent in Ghana, Africa’s second-largest gold producer after South Africa, but they are mostly caused by the collapse of mines, often illegal ones.

In June, at least nine people died in the collapse of an illegal mine in northern Ghana. 

 
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Thursday, January 20, 2022

Sierra Leone vs Equatorial Guinea | 0-1

Ivory Coast vs Algeria | 3-1

Gambia vs Tunisia | 1-0

Mali vs Mauritania | 2-0

 
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For Sammy Abdella, the new year has brought bad tidings: the prospect of a steep drop in sales of scarves, rugs, baskets and other textile goods produced by Sammy Handmade in Ethiopia.

“The U.S. market is our main destination,” said Abdella, who estimates it accounts for nearly two-thirds of sales for his Addis Ababa-based home decor and fashion company. “So, losing that put us in a very, you know, bad situation.”

The source of Abdella’s stress? Effective January 1, Ethiopia was one of three countries — including Guinea and Mali — dropped from a U.S. trade program authorized by the African Growth and Opportunity Act of 2000.  AGOA gives sub-Saharan African countries duty-free access to U.S. markets for 6,500 products — if those countries meet eligibility requirements such as promoting a market-based economy and good governance and eliminating barriers to U.S. trade and investment.

Ethiopia lost its AGOA trade benefits for alleged “gross violations” of human rights in the conflict spreading beyond the northern Tigray region, and the West African nations of Guinea and Mali were disqualified for “unconstitutional change” in their respective governments, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office said.  Guinea experienced a coup d’etat in September. Mali has had two coups since 2020, and its military-led transitional government recently delayed elections. Mali also had been suspended from AGOA for all of 2013 after an earlier coup

A second AGOA delisting will have “serious consequences on the trade in Mali,” Mamadou Fofana, a Mali Chamber of Commerce and Industry spokesman, told VOA.

Mohamed Kaloko, head of Guinea’s Export Promotion Agency, said losing AGOA status raises the duty fee from zero to “at least 35%” for Guinean textiles, which he said were “well sought after on the American market.”

Gracelin Baskaran, a development economist at Cambridge University, predicted the suspensions would have limited impact on Guinea and Mali. Each sends relatively little to U.S. markets — less than 1% of their total exports, based on 2019 trade data.

But Ethiopia likely will feel “much larger effects,” Baskaran said. While the country ranks 88th among U.S. trade partners, its export-driven economic growth model has the American market as a key destination.

“China is the biggest destination,” accounting for 16.6% of Ethiopian exports, “but the U.S. is only one percentage point behind,” at 15.6%, she said, citing data from the Observatory of Economic Complexity.

‘Transformative’ program

Through AGOA, African businesses overall exported $8.4 billion worth of goods to U.S. markets in 2019, according to the U.S. Trade Representative’s office. 

“AGOA has been transformative for the continent,” Baskaran said, noting that textile and apparel imports from Africa to the U.S. “skyrocketed” through the program, “increasing from $356 million in 2001 to $1.6 billion within three years.”

But when a country gets suspended from AGOA, it loses its competitive edge and increases the chance that investors and businesses will seek other, more stable markets. 

“What we’ve seen over and over is that they [countries] don’t necessarily recover,” Baskaran said, “even years after benefits have been reinstated.”

She cited the experience of Eswatini (formerly Swaziland). In 2015, the U.S. government cut AGOA access to the tiny, landlocked southern African nation over labor and human rights violations. Many of the 30 textile and apparel factories established to produce for the American market closed down or moved to nearby Lesotho, and the value of Eswatini textile and apparel exports to the U.S. fell from $73 million in 2011 to just $319,000 in 2017, Baskaran said.

“Uncertainty around AGOA benefits creates long-term effects that undermine growth,” Baskaran said.

Kassahun Follo, president of the Confederation of Ethiopian Trade Unions, estimated that more than 200,000 jobs will be directly affected and more than 1 million indirectly, mostly in textiles, apparel and leather, by the loss of Ethiopia’s AGOA benefits.

Abdella expressed concern for Sammy Handmade and its 57 full-time workers.

“We also outsource to about 135 people,” he said, including weavers and others who produce handicrafts such as ponchos, baskets and leather purses.

The loss will also be felt in the United States, Abdella said. Along with his company’s direct sales to high-end department stores and boutiques, “we’ve had many wholesalers that actually buy from us, and then they in turn sell to retailers. Our wholesale clients are worried. … The market has become so competitive.”

‘People will be scared’

The Ethiopian Economic Association’s executive chairman, Mengistu Ketema, suggested the loss might prompt the Horn of Africa country to turn more to China, already Ethiopia’s top source of direct foreign investment. 

China pays little heed to a trading partner’s internal affairs, in contrast with the U.S. government, Mengistu told VOA.

“They don’t have any conditions attached when they support or do business with you,” he said of Chinese officials. “So, if you see where Ethiopia is now, when the U.S. and so many countries are turning their backs on her, considering China as an alternative is a good move. At least that would help her during her difficult time.”

In an emailed response to VOA, the U.S. State Department called China “a global strategic competitor. We offer alternatives in collaboration with our African and other partners consistent with our shared values.”

The email also said, in part: “The United States promotes democratic governance, respect for human rights, and transparency. Our focus is on strengthening local capacity, creating African jobs, and working with our allies and partners to promote economic growth that is beneficial, sustainable, and inclusive over the long term.”

Trade and statecraft

Trade is a tool of economic statecraft, “one of the best ways of promoting democracy,” said economist Baskaran, noting how economic sanctions effectively pressured South Africa to end apartheid in the 1990s.

Unfortunately, Baskaran said, “there are trade-offs” with sanctions. Businesses and individuals can “fall victim to the drive for large-scale change.”

In Mali’s capital, Bamako, Moussa Bagayoko weaves and dyes cotton fabric for a living. He sees the AGOA delisting as another blow on top of the pandemic, one that will land heavily on tradespeople like him.

“There is no more work for America,” Bagayoko said. “The coronavirus had completely shut us out of everything. … The U.S. government suspends us based on the fact that we do not have a good model of democracy at home. This suspension affects us craftsmen, not authorities.”

Bagayoko has participated in the trade program since 2013. “I earn my living through AGOA,” he said, “but not if it is taken away from me.”

The U.S. Trade Representative’s office has said it would help the governments of each delisted country work toward “clear benchmarks for a pathway to [AGOA] reinstatement.” Each country’s status could be reviewed as soon as it meets the program’s statutory requirements.

The overall AGOA trade program is up for renewal in 2025.

Contributors to this VOA report were Moctar Barry in Bamako, Mali, and Kadiatou Traore for the Bambara Service; and Zakaria Camara in Conakry, Guinea, for the French Service. Dereje Desta of the Horn of Africa Service and Carol Guensburg also reported from Washington.
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Over 1.2 million people are dying every year from bacterial infections that are resistant to antibiotics, according to a new study. That makes multi-resistant bacteria far deadlier than HIV/AIDS or malaria. Henry Ridgwell reports.
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The United States will continue withholding aid from Sudan until the country’s military rulers stop the killing of anti-coup protesters and a civilian led-government takes power, two senior American diplomats said Thursday.

The joint statement came after a two-day visit to Sudan this week by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Molly Phee and the newly appointed U.S. special envoy for the Horn of Africa, David Satterfield. The visit was meant to help pull the African nation out of a worsening crisis in the wake of the Oct. 25 coup.

The military takeover has upended Sudan’s transition to democratic rule after three decades of repression and international isolation under autocratic President Omar al-Bashir, ousted during a popular uprising in April 2019.

While in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, Phee and Satterfield met with Sudanese civilian and military leaders, as well as with families of some of the killed pro-democracy protesters.

At least 72 demonstrators have been killed since the October coup. Seven were killed on Monday alone, according to a doctors’ activist group. Security forces used live ammunition and tear gas to disperse thousands who gathered in Khartoum. Among the seven killed, some were as young as 19 years old. Around 100 people were wounded, according to the Sudan Doctors Committee.

On Wednesday, the committee, which is part of the pro-democracy alliance, documented the fatal shooting of another protester earlier in the day as security forces removed makeshift barricades in Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman. The barricades were part of a two-day civil disobedience campaign the pro-democracy movement called for following Monday’s crackdown.

Police officials have repeatedly accused protesters of attacking security forces and police buildings, but have failed to provide evidence of such attacks. Main protest leaders have repeatedly called on demonstrators to use only non-violent tactics.

Sudan’s turmoil escalated after the resignation of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok earlier this month. Hamdok, who was ousted in the October coup only to be reinstated a month later under heavy international pressure, stepped down on Jan. 2 after his efforts to reach a compromise failed.

On Thursday, thousands again took to the streets, naming the day’s march after one of the recently killed young protesters. They beat drums and chanted anti-military slogans. Many reiterated calls for the military to leave power completely.

Phee and Satterfield said military leaders they met with during their visit had expressed their commitment to the country’s political transition. The two diplomats said they made clear to the generals that the U.S. “will consider measures to hold accountable those responsible for failure to move forward,” according to the statement.
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The World Health Organization reports a significant drop in the number of new cases of COVID-19 in Africa for the first time since the omicron variant began widely circulating on the continent two months ago.

The coronavirus pandemic has infected nearly 10.5 million people in Africa and killed more than 234,000.  World Health Organization officials say the latest figures reflect a 20 percent drop in coronavirus cases in the week up to January 16, and an 8 percent dip in deaths.

While the fourth omicron-fueled wave appears to have peaked, WHO regional director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti says the continent is not yet out of the pandemic woods.  She says further monitoring is needed to determine whether the trend will be sustained.   

“However, while four sub-regions reported a fall in new cases, we are closely monitoring the situation in North Africa, where cases spiked by 55 percent, and Tunisia and Morocco have both seen an exponential increase, overtaking South Africa as the countries with the most cases on the continent,” said Moeti.  

The highly transmissible omicron variant triggered a sharp surge in the number of cases.  But the severity of disease appears to be milder than that of previous strains. Nevertheless, Moeti says the continent has not yet turned the tide on the pandemic.  She says there is no room for complacency.

She warns further pandemic waves are inevitable as long as the virus continues to circulate.  She notes Africa remains particularly vulnerable because of its unequal access to life-saving vaccines.  She says Africa faces similar impediments in gaining access to a full range of COVID-19 treatments.

The WHO has approved 11 therapeutics that can be used to treat COVID-19.  It currently is reviewing the data on two oral antivirals, which have shown promising results in reducing the risk of hospitalization in some patients.

WHO regional director Moeti says she fears Africa once again may lose out in gaining access to those treatments because of their limited availability and high cost.  For example, she notes two effective antibody treatments cost between $550 and $1,220 for a single dose.

“The deep inequity that left Africa at the back of the queue for vaccines must not be repeated with life-saving treatment,” said Moeti. “Universal access to diagnostics, vaccines, and therapeutics will pave the shortest path to the end of this pandemic.”   

Moeti warns nations to prepare for the appearance of other transmissible, possibly more virulent strains of the coronavirus.  She says the coronavirus will continue to mutate and pose an ongoing threat to nations if the inequitable distribution of life-saving vaccines and therapeutics between rich and poor countries is maintained.
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Uganda reopened schools this month after a two-year shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The majority of students have returned, but many others have not, held back by poverty and the need to earn income for their families. Halima Athumani reports from Kampala.
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