A fire that severely damaged South Africa’s 130-year-old parliament building complex, including the parliament chamber, Sunday in Cape Town has reignited Monday, officials say. 

Police say a man has been charged with setting the fire, which started early in the morning local time on Sunday. 

The fire reportedly began in an older part of the complex that was wood-paneled. Some of the country’s most noted artifacts were reportedly on display in the building. 

Most firefighters had left the scene but were rushed back once the fire began burning again. 

“The wind has been getting steadily stronger and ignited the smoldering wood inside the roof void space, parts of which are not accessible for dousing or dampening,” the Fire and Rescue Service Department said on WhatsApp. 

Despite the devastation, no one was reported killed or injured in the blaze. 

The suspect, reported to be a 49-year-old man, was set to appear in court Tuesday charged with “housebreaking and arson.” 

A full investigation into the fire will be conducted by the Hawks, an elite police unit that investigates major crimes. An initial report is expected on Friday. 

“This is an incredibly sad day if you are a normal human being, to stand in front of this building and realize what we’ve lost,” said lawmaker Natasha Mazzone. 

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse. 

 
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A community health service in Africa’s largest urban slum is helping poor people get affordable emergency services during the COVID pandemic.  The Kibera community emergency response team in Nairobi is offering a $1 monthly fee for access to emergency services, including an ambulance.  Victoria Amunga has more from Nairobi.

Camera:  Robert Lutta
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Kenyan authorities say they are pursuing suspected al-Shabab terrorists who killed six people early Monday in Lamu County, on the border with Somalia. 

Kenya’s Lamu County Commissioner Irungu Macharia says suspected al-Shabab militants attacked and killed the villagers early Monday in the county’s Widhu area. However, there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Macharia says they are pursuing the suspects into the forest. They might also be hiding among the population. Macharia added they are seeking the public’s help to trace the criminals. 

Kenya’s Citizen TV reported at least one victim was shot, one hacked to death with a machete, and others were burned alive. VOA could not independently verify the accounts.

Widhu area residents said the attackers also torched several houses, though some residents speaking to local media questioned if the violence was the work of the Islamist militants or related to local politics. 

The Nation Media group quoted some locals saying most of the attackers were carrying machetes, whereas al-Shabab militants are commonly armed with guns.

Macharia says they have deployed more security forces to the area. 

He says they have beefed up security in the county to make sure that Kenyans and their properties are safe. 

Al-Shabab are known to hideout in the Boni forest in northeast Kenya’s Lamu County on the border with Somalia.

The Somali terrorist group launches sporadic attacks on villages and public transport.  

On Saturday, a man riding a motorcycle was killed when he ran over a roadside bomb in the Kiunga area of Lamu, on the border with Somalia, near the Indian Ocean coast. 

Kenyan security officials blamed al-Shabab for setting off the explosives. 
…

South African police said Monday they had charged a man with arson over a fire that caused extensive damage to the national parliament building in Cape Town, as firefighters struggled to extinguish the last remains of the blaze.

The fire broke out early on Sunday at the parliamentary complex, some of which dates back to 1884 and includes the National Assembly, or lower House of Parliament.

It caused the collapse of the roof of a part of the complex housing the upper chamber, or National Council of Provinces (NCOP), on Sunday and gutted an entire floor, though there were no reports of anybody being hurt in the incident.

A 49-year-old suspect arrested in connection with the blaze is expected to appear in court on Tuesday and will face charges of housebreaking and theft as well as arson, an elite police unit known as the Hawks said in a statement.

“It is alleged that he gained entrance through the window in one of the offices,” Hawks spokesperson Nomthandazo Mbambo told eNCA television, adding that investigations were continuing into how the suspect had managed to evade security at the parliament.

“There is a possibility of other charges being added as there was a security breach here,” Mbambo said.

‘Still smoldering’

Jean-Pierre Smith, a Cape Town mayoral committee member responsible for safety and security, said firefighters were still dealing on Monday with “hotspots on the 4th floor of the National Assembly which is still smoldering”.

“Lots of books and bookshelves (are) smoldering,” he said, adding that the interior of the National Assembly had been extensively destroyed by fire, water, heat and smoke.

The National Assembly is situated in what is known as the New Wing, which suffered the worst damage in the blaze. The fire was more quickly contained on Sunday in the Old Wing, parliamentary authorities said.
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Sudan was plunged into further political turmoil Sunday when Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok resigned, citing his failure to ensure a peaceful transition to democracy.  

In a televised speech, Hamdok said he did everything possible to keep the African nation from “sliding into disaster” and provide “security, peace, justice and an end to bloodshed.” He said it was time for someone else to lead the transition into a “civilian democratic country.” 

Hamdok’s resignation Sunday came more than a month after he was reinstated as prime minister after being overthrown by the military in October. He had returned to office after reaching an agreement with the military to keep Sudan on a path towards planned elections in 2023. 

An economist and former United Nations official, Hamdok was picked to lead the transitional government formed after the overthrow of former President Omar al-Bashir in April 2019 amid a popular uprising against his longtime autocratic rule. The transitional government was formed under a power sharing agreement between the military and a civilian coalition that was to govern Sudan until the 2023 elections.   

The protests that led to President al-Bashir’s ouster flared up again after the military removed Hamdok from office on October 25, and continued even after the November agreement signed by Hamdok and military chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. The military has responded with force, using tear gas, live ammunition and rubber bullets to disperse the demonstrations. 

The pro-democracy Sudan Doctors Committee said three people were killed Sunday in a clash between military forces and protesters before Hamdok’s resignation speech, raising the death toll since the October coup to 57, with hundreds more wounded. 

The U.N. has also revealed allegations of recent sexual violence committed by security forces against female protesters, including gang rape. 

The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs issued a statement on its Twitter page after Hamdok resigned urging Sudanese leaders to “set aside differences, find consensus, and ensure continued civilian rule. Sudan’s next PM and cabinet should be appointed in line with the constitutional declaration to meet the people’s goals of freedom, peace, and justice.”

The bureau also said that the United States “continues to stand with the people of Sudan as they push for democracy” and called on authorities to end the crackdown saying “violence against protestors must cease.”  

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and the Agence France-Presse. 
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World-renowned Kenyan conservationist and fossil hunter Richard Leakey, whose groundbreaking discoveries helped prove that humankind evolved in Africa, died on Sunday at the age of 77, the country’s president said.

The legendary paleoanthropologist remained energetic into his 70s despite bouts of skin cancer, kidney and liver disease. 

“I have this afternoon… received with deep sorrow the sad news of the passing away of Dr. Richard Erskine Frere Leakey,” President Uhuru Kenyatta said in a statement late Sunday.

Born on December 19, 1944, Leakey was destined for paleoanthropology — the study of the human fossil record — as the middle son of Louis and Mary Leakey, perhaps the world’s most famous discoverers of ancestral hominids.

Initially, Leakey tried his hand at safari guiding, but things changed when at 23 he won a research grant from the National Geographic Society to dig on the shores of northern Kenya’s Lake Turkana, despite having no formal archaeological training. 

In the 1970s he led expeditions that recalibrated scientific understanding of human evolution with the discovery of the skulls of Homo habilis (1.9 million years old) in 1972 and Homo erectus (1.6 million years old) in 1975.

A TIME magazine cover followed of Leakey posing with a Homo habilis mock-up under the headline “How Man Became Man.” Then in 1981, his fame grew further when he fronted “The Making of Mankind,” a seven-part BBC television series. 

Yet the most famous fossil find was yet to come: the uncovering of an extraordinary, near-complete Homo erectus skeleton during one of his digs in 1984, which was nicknamed Turkana Boy.

As the slaughter of African elephants reached a crescendo in the late 1980s, driven by insatiable demand for ivory, Leakey emerged as one of the world’s leading voices against the then-legal global ivory trade.

President Daniel arap Moi in 1989 appointed Leakey to lead the national wildlife agency — soon to be named the Kenya Wildlife Service, or KWS.

That year he pioneered a spectacular publicity stunt by burning a pyre of ivory, setting fire to 12 tons of tusks to make the point that they have no value once removed from elephants.

He also held his nerve, without apology, when implementing a shoot-to-kill order against armed poachers. 

In 1993, his small Cessna plane crashed in the Rift Valley where he had made his name. He survived but lost both legs.

“There were regular threats to me at the time and I lived with armed guards. But I made the decision not to be a dramatist and say: ‘They tried to kill me.’ I chose to get on with life,” he told the Financial Times.

Leakey was forced out of KWS a year later and began a third career as a prominent opposition politician, joining the chorus of voices against Moi’s corrupt regime.

His political career met with less success, however, and in 1998 he was back in the fold, appointed by Moi to head Kenya’s civil service, putting him in charge of fighting official corruption.

The task proved impossible, however, and he resigned after just two years.

In 2015, as another elephant poaching crisis gripped Africa, President Kenyatta asked Leakey to again take the helm at KWS, this time as chairman of the board, a position he would hold for three years.

Deputy President William Ruto said Leakey “fought bravely for a better country” and inspired Kenyans with his zeal for public service.

Soft-spoken and seemingly devoid of personal vanity, Leakey stubbornly refused to give in to health woes.

“Richard was a very good friend and a true loyal Kenyan. May he Rest In Peace,” Paula Kahumbu, the head of Wildlife Direct, a conservation group founded by Leakey, posted on Twitter.
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Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority said the key waterway netted record revenues last year, despite the coronavirus pandemic and a six-day blockage by a giant cargo ship, the Ever Given.

Connecting the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, the canal accounts for roughly 10% of global maritime trade and is a source of much-needed foreign currency for Egypt.

In 2021, some 1.27 billion tons of cargo were shipped through the canal, earning $6.3 billion (5.5 billion euros) in transit fees, 13% more than the previous year and the highest figures ever recorded, Suez Canal Authority (SCA) chief Osama Rabie said.

The number of ships using the canal rose from 18,830 in 2020 to 20,694 in 2021, or more than 56 ships per day, the SCA said in a statement.

In March, the Ever Given super tanker — a behemoth with deadweight tonnage of 199,000 — got stuck diagonally across the canal during a sandstorm.

A round-the-clock salvage operation took six days to dislodge it and one employee of the SCA died during the rescue operation. Egypt lost some $12 million to $15 million each day during the canal closure, according to the SCA.

The Ever Given safely returned back through the canal without a hitch in August.

In November, the SCA said it will hike transit tolls by six percent starting in 2022, but tourist vessels and liquefied natural gas carriers are to be exempted.
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Sudanese security forces deployed in large numbers Sunday, setting up roadblocks in the capital Khartoum amid calls for pro-democracy rallies in “memory of the martyrs” killed in recent protests.

Communications including internet and phone lines have been severely restricted, while armed officers used shipping containers to block key bridges across the Nile River connecting Khartoum to its suburbs. 

Web monitoring group NetBlocks said mobile internet services were cut from mid-morning ahead of the planned protests, the first of the year.

Activists use the internet for organizing demonstrations and broadcasting live footage of the rallies. 

Sudan, with a long history of military coups, has undergone a fragile journey toward civilian rule since the 2019 ouster of autocrat Omar al-Bashir following mass popular protests.

But the country has been plunged into turmoil since military leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan — de facto leader since the ouster of Bashir — launched a coup on October 25 and detained Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.

Hamdok was reinstated on November 21, but mass protests have continued as demonstrators distrust veteran general Burhan and his promises of seeking to guide the country toward full democracy.

53 killed since coup

Activists have kept up a more than two-month-long campaign of street demonstrations against the army’s takeover, despite a crackdown that has seen at least 53 people killed and hundreds injured in protest-related violence, according to the pro-democracy Doctors’ Committee group.

The protesters demand that soldiers “go back to the barracks” and are calling for a transition to civilian rule.

The rallies have been repeatedly broken up by security forces firing rounds of tear gas, as well as charges by police wielding batons and shooting bullets into the air.

On Thursday, five people were shot dead in Khartoum when security forces cracked down on mass rallies that saw tens of thousands take to the streets chanting “no to military rule.”

Burhan denies the takeover was a coup, and on Friday, a close adviser warned that “the demonstrations are only a waste of energy and time” which will not produce “any political solution.”

On Sunday, soldiers in armored vehicles mounted with heavy machine guns were posted at strategic road crossings, an AFP reporter said.

Activists say 2022 will be “the year of the continuation of the resistance” in posts on social media. 

They demand justice for the dozens killed since the coup as well as for the more than 250 who died during the mass protests that began in 2019 and paved the way for the toppling of Bashir.

Activists have condemned sexual attacks during December 19 protests, in which the U.N. said at least 13 women and girls were victims of rape or gang-rape.

The European Union and the United States issued a joint statement condemning the use of sexual violence “as a weapon to drive women away from demonstrations and silence their voices.”

Over 14 million people, 1 in 3 Sudanese, will need humanitarian aid next year, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the highest level for a decade.
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A major fire broke out in the South African parliament building in Cape Town on Sunday, said AFP reporters at the scene.

Firefighters were present at the building as large flames and a huge column of smoke were seen at around 0530 GMT.

“The roof has caught fire, and the National Assembly building is also on fire,” a spokesperson for the city’s emergency services told AFP, requesting reinforcements at the scene.

“The fire is not under control, and cracks in the walls of the building have been reported,” he added.

Images seen on social media — and not verified by AFP — showed a mass of flames licking through what appeared to be the roof of one of the parliament buildings.

There was no indication of what may have started the fire.

The Houses of Parliament in Cape Town consist of three sections, including the original and oldest building that was completed in 1884.

The newer additions — constructed in the 1920s and 1980s — house the National Assembly.

In April last year, a fire ravaged part of The University of Cape Town’s library housing a unique collection of African archives. 

 
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The United States on Saturday cut Ethiopia, Mali and Guinea from access to a duty-free trade program, following through on President Joe Biden’s threat to do so over accusations of human rights violations and recent coups.

“The United States today terminated Ethiopia, Mali and Guinea from the AGOA trade preference program due to actions taken by each of their governments in violation of the AGOA Statute,” the U.S. Trade Representative’s office said in a statement.

Biden said in November that Ethiopia would be cut off from the duty-free trading regime provided under the U.S. African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) because of alleged human rights violations in the Tigray region, while Mali and Guinea were targeted because of recent coups.

The suspension of benefits threatens Ethiopia’s textile industry, which supplies global fashion brands, and the country’s nascent hopes of becoming a light manufacturing hub. It also piles more pressure on an economy reeling from the conflict, the coronavirus pandemic, and high inflation.

“The Biden-Harris administration is deeply concerned by the unconstitutional change in governments in both Guinea and Mali, and by the gross violations of internationally recognized human rights being perpetrated by the government of Ethiopia and other parties amid the widening conflict in northern Ethiopia,” the trade office statement said.

The AGOA trade legislation provides sub-Saharan African nations with duty-free access to the United States if they meet certain eligibility requirements, such as eliminating barriers to U.S. trade and investment and making progress toward political pluralism.

“Each country has clear benchmarks for a pathway toward reinstatement and the administration will work with their governments to achieve that objective,” it added.

The Washington embassies of the three African countries did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Ethiopia’s Trade Ministry said in November it was “extremely disappointed” by Washington’s announcement, saying the move would reverse economic gains and unfairly impact and harm women and children.
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The state funeral for Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu has taken place in Cape Town, South Africa, with only 100 mourners allowed inside St. George’s Cathedral because of COVID-19 rules. The anti-apartheid hero and human rights activist who died December 26 at the age of 90 had been suffering with prostate cancer.
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A funeral service is under way in Cape Town, South Africa, for Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning equality activist who was revered in Africa for his role in ending apartheid.

“When we were in the dark, he brought light,” Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the head of the worldwide Anglican church, said in a video message shown at a requiem Mass celebrated in Tutu’s honor Saturday at St. George’s Cathedral.

“For me to praise him is like a mouse giving tribute to an elephant,” Welby said. “South Africa has given us extraordinary examples of towering leaders of the rainbow nation with President Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Tutu…. Many Nobel winners’ lights have grown dimmer over time, but Archbishop Tutu’s has grown brighter.”

Tutu’s small plain pine coffin, the cheapest available at his request to avoid any ostentatious displays, was the center of the service, which also is featuring African choirs, prayers and incense.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is to give the eulogy at the service.

Following the funeral, Tutu’s casket is to be taken away for cremation and his ashes interred at the cathedral’s columbarium.

Tutu died Sunday at age 90. 

 
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The World Food Program has suspended its operations across Sudan’s province of North Darfur following recent attacks on its warehouses, a decision expected to affect about 2 million local people.

A statement released by the U.N. food agency Thursday said all three of its warehouses in the area were attacked and looted. More than 5,000 tons of food apparently were stolen, the group said.

Earlier in the week, the WFP said an unidentified armed group had attacked one of its warehouses in North Darfur’s provincial capital of el-Fasher. In response, local authorities imposed a curfew across the province.

However, the attacks continued until early Thursday, said the statement. Hundreds of looters have also dismantled warehouse structures, WFP added.

“This theft has robbed nearly 2 million people of the food and nutrition support they so desperately need,” said WFP Executive Director David Beasley. “Not only is this a tremendous setback to our operations across the country, but it endangers our staff and jeopardizes our ability to meet the needs of the most vulnerable families.”

The agency said it cannot divert assistance from other parts of the East African country to the looted warehouses without compromising the needs of vulnerable Sudanese living outside the province.

Sudan is one of the poorest counties in the world, with nearly 11 million people in need of food security and livelihood assistance in 2022, said the WFP.

The agency urged Sudanese authorities to recover the looted stocks and guarantee the security and safety of the WFP operations in North Darfur.

On Thursday, the country’s state-run news agency reported that a number of suspects were arrested in el-Fasher after they were seen riding trucks and animal-drawn carts loaded with food stocks that were allegedly stolen from the WFP warehouses. SUNA news agency did not say how many were arrested.

The WFP decision comes amid political upheaval that followed the October military coup.

On Friday, a doctor’s group said that five people were killed in anti-coup protests that erupted a day earlier in several provinces across the country. Security forces fired tear gas and live ammunition to disperse thousands of protesters, the group said. With Thursday’s fatalities, the total death toll since the coup has risen to 53.

Meanwhile, the Sudanese police acknowledged in a statement issued Friday that four protesters were killed and more than 290 were wounded in the protests. The statement posted on SUNA made no mention of police using tear gas or live ammunition. The police added that more than 40 policemen were wounded in clashes with protesters. 

 
…

South Africans took their last opportunity to pay their respects to Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Friday, the eve of the revered anti-apartheid fighter’s funeral.

Since Thursday, nearly 3,000 mourners have filed through Cape Town’s St. George’s Cathedral before the simple pine casket containing Tutu’s remains. 

Members of Tutu’s family hugged and consoled each other as the coffin returned for the second and final day to lie in state while a band, which included a preschooler trumpeter, played in his honor. 

The archbishop’s successor, Thabo Makgoba, waved a chalice of burning incense over the coffin before pallbearers, Anglican vicars, took the coffin from a silver Mercedes SUV hearse. 

They slowly walked up the stairs into the cathedral where Tutu had preached for a decade. 

The body will spend the night in the cathedral until the funeral, which will be presided over by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Tutu died peacefully Sunday at age 90. 

The funeral 

Tutu had carefully set down details for his funeral, insisting that his coffin be “the cheapest” available, and that it be adorned by a simple bunch of carnations. 

Mourners are being asked to donate money to his charitable foundations instead of sending flowers, and even the disposal of his remains is being conducted in an eco-friendly way. 

The dean of the cathedral, Michael Weeder, told AFP that Tutu had asked for “aquamation,” a process that supporters say releases one-tenth of climate-altering carbon dioxide gases compared with traditional cremation. 

In aquamation, bodies are dissolved in a heated solution of water and alkali in a stainless steel vessel, leaving behind the bones, which are then turned to ash by cremation. 

The ashes are to be interred at the cathedral. 

The burial “might be Sunday,” Weeder said in a text message, adding the “family will decide whether it will be private or open to others.” 

‘Moral compass’ 

Libane Serenji, an artist from Johannesburg, came to pay respects. He painted portraits of Tutu on a canvas and attached them to a tree outside the cathedral.

He said it was fitting “to come all the way and paint … because he played also a significant role in my life like everyone from Africa.”

Another mourner, Antonia Appels, had come from the capital, Pretoria, to stand in line. 

Tutu was a “moral compass” who had helped haul country out of the darkness of the apartheid era, she said. 

South Africa is marking a week of mourning for Tutu, with the country’s multicolored flag flying at half-staff nationwide and ceremonies taking place every day. 

The cathedral’s bells have been pealing in his memory for 10 minutes at midday. 

Tutu was for years the emblem of the struggle to end white-minority rule as Nelson Mandela and other leaders languished behind bars. 

After apartheid was dismantled and South Africa ushered in its first free elections in 1994, Tutu chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which exposed the horrors of the past in terrible detail. 

He would later speak out fearlessly against the ruling African National Congress (ANC) for corruption, incompetence and failures to tackle the country’s AIDS epidemic. 

Weakened by advanced age and prostate cancer, Tutu had retired from public life in recent years. 

He is survived by his wife, Leah; four children; and several grand and great-grandchildren.
…

Sudanese pro-democracy demonstrators blocked streets on Friday in Khartoum, protesting the violence a day earlier that left five people dead and sparked condemnation from the U.S. and others. 

Protesters barricaded roads in the east Khartoum district of Burri as well as in nearby Khartoum North using rocks, tree branches and tires, an AFP journalist said. 

Sudan has been gripped by turmoil since military leader General Abdel-Fattah Burhan launched a coup on October 25 and detained Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok. 

Hamdok was reinstated on November 21, but mass protests have continued as demonstrators distrust Burhan’s promises of seeking to guide the country toward full democracy. 

As the authorities on Thursday cut off communications across the country, security forces clamped down on demonstrations, firing live rounds and tear gas as tens of thousands gathered in Khartoum, Khartoum North and nearby Omdurman. 

Five protesters killed 

Four protesters were fatally shot in the head or chest in Omdurman, according to the pro-democracy Sudan Doctors Committee, while a fifth succumbed to his wounds Friday after he was shot in central Khartoum. 

Protesters charge that the deal to reinstate Hamdok simply aims to give the cloak of legitimacy to the generals, whom they accuse of trying to continue the regime built by former autocratic President Omar al-Bashir, who was toppled in 2019 following mass protests. 

A civilian member recently appointed to the ruling Sovereign Council, Abdel Baqi Abdel Qader, announced Friday his intent to resign. 

He said he had sent a message to Burhan’s office requesting a meeting “to present to him my resignation … over the violence against demonstrators.” 

Journalists released 

Two journalists from Saudi Arabia’s Asharq television channel, Maha al-Talb and Sally Othman, were released after they and their crews were held for several hours, the channel said Friday. 

Police had also stormed the bureau of the Al-Arabiya television network funded by Saudi Arabia, which is seen as a traditional ally of Sudan’s military leaders. 

The violence and attacks on the media drew widespread condemnation. 

“Deeply troubled by reports that Sudanese security forces used lethal force against protesters, blacked out the internet, and attempted to shutdown media outlets,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken tweeted after Thursday’s events. 

The Doctors Committee has accused security forces of blocking ambulances and of forcibly removing at least one seriously injured protester from an ambulance. 

Videos have circulated on social media showing men in uniform beating protesters with sticks. 

The Sudanese Communist Party called for “urgent international solidarity to demand an end to the bloody repression in Sudan and the immediate release of all political detainees.” 

Protesters have renewed demands that the military “return to their barracks” as promised in 2019 when Bashir was toppled and the country came under the control of the Sovereign Council, a body composed of civilian and military figures, headed by Burhan. 

Demonstrations ‘waste of time’ 

A police spokesman had said four people died in Thursday’s unrest and 297 people were injured, “including 49 police officers.” 

He also said three police vans were set on fire and accused protest leaders of having sought to “turn a peaceful march into violence and confrontations with the security forces.” 

An adviser to Burhan told the state news agency on Friday that “the demonstrations are a waste of time and energy” and would not lead to a political solution. 

The violent crackdown since the October coup has claimed 53 lives and left hundreds wounded.

 
…

Islamist militant attacks increased this past year in the Sahel region, leading to political instability that saw a coup in Mali, an attempted coup in Niger, and calls for Burkina Faso’s president to resign. Burkina Faso experienced the deadliest terrorist attacks since the conflict began, but analysts say the worst could be yet to come. 

2021 marks the ninth year of conflict in Africa’s western Sahel, and in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, violence has only worsened.     

A video recently posted online purports to show an attack on a military base in northern Burkina Faso that killed almost 50 military police in November. Terrorists said to be linked to al-Qaida can be seen firing heavy weapons from the backs of pickup trucks before burning and looting the base. 

Across Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, fatalities from clashes between state forces and armed groups linked to Islamic State, al-Qaida and criminal gangs are up 18% since last year, according to data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.  

The humanitarian impact has been huge, with close to 3.4 million now displaced as a result of the conflict, according to the United Nations refugee agency.  

Amadou Agli, from Burkina Faso, fled the north of the country around three months ago after terrorists attacked nearby villages. He says he has a message for the world.  

Agli says his community is living through very hard times and appeals to any people, NGOs and governments around the world who can help them. He says they are suffering a food crisis, a housing crisis and that the children are unable to attend school.  

The year also saw a shift in the region’s military structure, says Paul Melly, an analyst with London-based Chatham House, a research institution.  

“The start of the process of moving towards a new pattern of French deployment where the Sahel armies in the G5 Sahel military structure are much more, the frontline face if you like, with the French in more of a backup and special forces role, air support, intelligence,” Melly said.  

France, which had 5,000 troops supporting Sahel security forces at the beginning of 2021, has said it will reduce that number to 3,000 by early 2022.

Escalating insecurity has also plunged Sahel governments into political turmoil. Mali saw a coup by military leader Assimi Goïta in May after street protests against insecurity. The West African political bloc, ECOWAS, along with France, have put pressure on Goïta to hold democratic elections in 2022.    

Protests against the government’s handling of security in Burkina Faso in November forced the government to reshuffle military leadership and the Cabinet.  

Andrew Lebovich is an analyst with the European Council on Foreign Relations.   

“What people are concerned about is the ongoing insecurity and the state of security forces. So, if that doesn’t improve, then no, the change in government certainly will not be enough to appease the opposition,” Lebovich said. 

Lebovich says analysts are also keeping an eye on attacks in Burkina Faso’s border area with coastal West African states including Benin and Ivory Coast. 

“I do think, at a minimum, it’s something to be concerned about and something to watch out for and something to actively work against,” Lebovich said.  

Meanwhile in Niger, the emergence of civilian militia groups to fill the security gap could play a big role in 2022. In other Sahel countries they have been used to assist the military but have also been accused of human rights abuses, says Philippe M. Frowd, an associate professor at the University of Ottawa. 

“We’ve seen this in southwestern Niger recently, kind of community violence spiraling and driven a lot by non-state armed groups. We see this in Burkina Faso as well where we have the state in fact relying on armed groups like this,” Frowd said.  

After a difficult 2021, the Sahel conflict looks set to worsen as the new year begins.   
…

Islamist militant attacks increased this past year in the Sahel region, leading to political instability that saw a coup in Mali, an attempted coup in Niger, and calls for Burkina Faso’s president to resign.  Burkina Faso experienced the deadliest terrorist attacks since the conflict began, but analysts say the worst could be yet to come.  Henry Wilkins reports from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.  Camera: Henry Wilkins
…

South Africa has lifted a midnight-to-4 a.m. curfew on people’s movement, effective immediately, saying the country has passed the peak of its fourth COVID-19 wave driven by the omicron variant, a government statement said Thursday. 

However, wearing a face mask in public places remains mandatory. Failure to wear a mask in South Africa when required is a criminal offense. 

The country made the curfew and other changes based on the trajectory of the pandemic, levels of vaccination in the country and available capacity in the health sector, according to a press release issued by Mondli Gungubele, a minister in the presidency. 

South Africa is at the lowest of its five-stage COVID-19 alert levels. 

“All indicators suggest the country may have passed the peak of the fourth wave at a national level,” a statement from the special cabinet meeting held earlier Thursday said. 

Data from the Department of Health showed a 29.7% decrease in the number of new cases detected in the week ending December 25 compared with the number of cases found in the previous week, at 127,753, the government said. 

South Africa, with close to 3.5 million infections and 91,000 deaths, has been the worst-hit country in Africa during the pandemic on both counts. 

Besides lifting the restrictions on public movement, the government also ruled that alcohol shops with licenses to operate after 11 p.m. local time may revert to full license conditions, a welcome boon for traders and businesses hard hit by the pandemic and looking to recover during the festive season. 

“While the omicron variant is highly transmissible, there have been lower rates of hospitalization than in previous waves,” the statement said.
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A conference in Mali charged with recommending a timetable for democratic elections following a military coup said on Thursday that polls scheduled for February should be delayed by six months to five years in part because of security issues. 

Mali’s transitional government initially agreed to hold elections in February 2022, 18 months after an army faction led by Colonel Assimi Goita overthrew President Boubacar Ibrahim Keita. 

But it has made little progress, blaming disorganization and Islamist violence in the north and central parts of the country. 

ECOWAS, West Africa’s main political and economic bloc, has imposed sanctions on the coup leaders and had promised more if Mali did not produce a plan for February elections by Friday. 

The government has said it will take the recommendations of the National Refoundation Conference and decide on a new election calendar by the end of January. 

A prolonged transition back to democracy could isolate Mali from its neighbors and from former colonial power France, which has thousands of soldiers deployed there against insurgents linked to al-Qaida and Islamic State. 

It could also undermine democracy in West and Central Africa, where military coup leaders in Chad and Guinea are also under pressure to organize elections and give up power. 

The proposed election timetable comes at a delicate time politically. France is reducing its military presence in the north, and Russia has sent private military contractors to train Malian troops, a move Western powers worry is the beginning of a wider Russian deployment.
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Kenyan lawmakers brawled Wednesday as they debated proposed changes to a law governing the conduct of political parties and the formation of coalitions ahead of the 2022 election.

Video broadcast on television showed lawmakers engaged in a shouting match and coming to blows as they fought over the measure. One member of parliament was seen with blood on his cheek. Another was suspended.

At issue is a bill that will guide political parties on how to conduct political affairs leading up to the election. If passed, the legislation would allow several parties to form a coalition and choose a presidential candidate.

Political commentator Martin Andati said those behind the bill aim to use the constitution to force a political winning formula.

“The handshake team which is the president and the former prime minister, are trying to use a political route to find a way to get people who are not supporting them to either go on their side or Ruto’s side so that they are able to draw a political strategy,” he said.

Opponents of the bill, most supporting Deputy President William Ruto, see it as a plan by President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga to force the smaller parties to merge with them to win the election.

Those against the measure introduced separate amendments, which critics say were meant to paralyze the parliamentary proceedings.

Political expert Michael Agwanda said the proposed changes mean that lawmakers will have to be loyal to their parties.

“What it means is that you are either part of government or not part of government by instrument and you cannot cross on the other side unless you just decided to do that; but you will not be part of that government if you don’t belong to the coalition that makes the government,” he said.

The proposed changes will require the parties to form a coalition four months before the election, thereby blocking them from joining another coalition party.

Agwanda said bigger parties are targeting the support of the smaller ones.

“It’s incumbent upon the political parties now to decide which coalition they want to join because that’s key to either forming the next government or not. I think they are targeting smaller parties to make serious decisions to support the big guys, they are also targeting parties like ANC, they are also targeting parties like FORD Kenya and they know very well they cannot make the next government. As a result, they are saying you either belong to us or you don’t and if you don’t, then you go to oblivion,” he said.

Kenyan politicians are fond of changing political sides to suit their interests, which analysts say has hurt the opposition.

The sponsor of the bill, Amos Kimunya, said he has asked the parliament speaker for another meeting so the legislation can be wrapped up.

“Let’s keep up the spirit because at the end of it all what we are doing is for better political party governance in this country as we deepen and widen our democracy for purposes of posterity,” he said.

The debate ended with members of parliament voting for eight proposed changes out of 27. Parliament will reconvene in January to vote.
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Hundreds of mourners queued Thursday to pay their respects to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, whose body lies in state at St. George’s Cathedral in Cape Town where the anti-apartheid hero preached against racial injustice.  

Tutu, a Nobel Peace prize winner widely revered across racial and cultural divides for his moral rectitude and principled fight against white minority rule, died Sunday at the age of 90.

His death represents a huge loss for South Africa, where many called him as “Tata” – father. Since Sunday, church bells have been rung every day in his honor and tributes and prayers have poured in from around the world.

Tutu will lie in state at the cathedral Thursday and Friday, ahead of a requiem Mass funeral service Saturday where President Cyril Ramaphosa was expected to deliver the main eulogy.

“I am basically just here to pay my respects,” said Randall Ortel, a medical doctor and one of the first members of the public in line to enter the church. “He is definitely one of my role models and I want to emulate what he has done in his life,” he said.

Amanda Mbikwana said she had arrived as early as 5 a.m. (0300 GMT) with her mother and nephews. “We have known Tata’s work, he has stood up for us and we are here today in a free country to give him the honor, to celebrate his life and to support [his wife] Mama Leah and the family,” said Mbikwana, a human resources manager.

‘Voice of reason’

Tutu won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 in recognition of his non-violent opposition to white minority rule. A decade later, he witnessed the end of that regime and chaired a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to help unearth state-sponsored atrocities during that era.

“He was always the voice of the voiceless and always the voice of reason,” said fellow anti-apartheid activist Chris Nissen, as he waited in line outside the cathedral.

Tutu’s simple pine coffin with rope handles, adorned with a single bunch of white carnations, was carried into St. George’s, which provided a safe haven for anti-apartheid activists during the repressive white-minority rule.

Emotional family members met the coffin outside the entrance, where six black-robed clergy acting as pall bearers carried the closed coffin inside to an inner sanctuary amid a cloud of incense from the Anglican thurible.

Tutu, who requested the cheapest coffin and did not want any lavish funeral expense, will be cremated and his remains interred behind the cathedral pulpit he often used to preach against racial injustice.

In Johannesburg, a memorial service was held at St. Mary’s Cathedral, where Tutu was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1961 and where he later served as the first Black Anglican Bishop of Johannesburg in 1985.

An interfaith prayer service also was held in Pretoria.
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What began as a conflict between the Ethiopian Federal government and a local military in late 2020, exploded into a civil war in 2021 that has forced two million people to flee their homes and left hundreds of thousands of people in famine-like conditions. The war continues expanding, with displacements, ethnic killings and mass rape in the increasingly devastated region.

By the beginning of 2021, the war in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, then more than a month old, had forced tens of thousands of people to flee across the border to Sudan. Refugees reported ethnic massacres, sexual assaults and mass arrests.   

In the months that followed, the humanitarian crisis deepened. More than a million people were displaced inside Ethiopia and aid workers warned of looming famine.  

The few hospitals not damaged or destroyed in the region were packed with war wounded, including children who had been stabbed, shot, or become victims of newly laid landmines.  

Eleven-year-old Goitom lost one leg now suffers from infection and nightmares.  

Goitom’s father, Gebreyohannes Ataklti, says his son was taking the goats to graze [and then he stepped on a landmine.] Goitom is too weak to speak. 

The war broke out in the Tigray region in late 2020 between the federal government and local Tigrayan forces. It quickly expanded to include other regional forces allied on both sides and Eritrean forces fighting with the government.  

Both sides have been accused of massacres, torture and other atrocities. Federal Ethiopian and Eritrean forces have been also accused of systematic mass rape. 

Hundreds of women and girls have come forward, and aid workers say many, many more have not. 

Mihira Redae is a case worker for sexual assault victims in Ayder Referral Hospital in Mekelle, Tigray’s regional capital. She says many women who are raped by soldiers are often afraid to come forward, and many others have no access to health care.  

A national election in June re-established the authority of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, who then had control of the Tigray Region. About a week later, Tigrayan forces re-captured the region and the war escalated, now engulfing many areas beyond Tigray. Abiy has vowed to crush his enemies. 

On December 17, the United Nations voted to investigate abuses by both sides of the conflict, including the reported mass detention of as many as 7,000 people allegedly sympathetic to Tigrayan interests, among them nine U.N. workers.  

In the battered Tigrayan countryside, many say they have seen so much tragedy, they no longer fear arrest. 

Haftom Gidey, a resident of the war-torn town of Hawsen, says he no longer fears war or arrest. He has seen too much already.  

Mass graves litter the countryside as massacres continue here and in neighboring regions. Refugees are still fleeing to Sudan and many areas are cut off from humanitarian aid. Hundreds of thousands of people are living in “famine-like” conditions and the U.N. now says at least two million people in three Ethiopian states have fled their homes.  
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What began as a conflict between the Ethiopian Federal government and a local military in late 2020, exploded into a civil war in 2021 that has forced two million people to flee their homes and left hundreds of thousands in famine-like conditions. VOA’s Heather Murdock reports that the war continues expanding, with displacements, ethnic killings and mass rape in the increasingly devastated region.
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Low vaccination rates are of mounting concern amid a new wave of COVID-19 infections in Africa, where nearly 227,000 deaths have been reported, according to the Africa CDC’s COVID-19 dashboard. Only 20 African countries had vaccinated at least 10% of their populations as of mid-December, according to the United Nations. 

Vaccine access is a major stumbling block.

Vaccines have been slow to arrive from wealthier countries; when they do, there may not be sufficient infrastructure to support timely distribution. On December 22, Nigeria’s government destroyed more than 1 million doses of donated AstraZeneca vaccine that authorities said could not be used before the expiration date.

Meanwhile, the African Union and its Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are pushing efforts to develop vaccine manufacturing on the continent. 

But, “even in countries where vaccines are being rolled out, there might be administrative and other obstacles that prevent refugees from being vaccinated,” said Aikaterini Kitidi, a spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee Agency, or UNHCR. 

Some countries “require identity documents, which refugees often do not have,” she added. “Others have set up online [registration] systems that can deter or prevent people without access to the internet or who are not computer literate.”

Awareness

Another challenge is misinformation.

It’s “heavily impacting the vaccination process and hindering people from coming,” said Dr. Martin Kalibuze, who directs the vaccination program in Uvira refugee camp in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s South Kivu province. “There are a lot of rumors, like ‘people are going to die from vaccination, women are going to turn infertile.'”

Sifa Akimana, a 28-year-old Burundian refugee living in the DRC’s Kavimvira transit center with her two babies, told VOA’s Central Africa service she was opposed to getting inoculated because “I hear from people that if you’re vaccinated, it’s very dangerous. It’s a way to control people’s movements with their detective machines.”

Kalibuze said any vaccination drive first needs a strong awareness campaign to smooth the way.

Priorities

There’s at least one more impediment to COVID vaccination: competing priorities.

Across Africa and elsewhere, especially in zones with displaced people, “ministries of health have so many different crises that they have to tackle that COVID isn’t always on the top of their list,” said Jason Straziuso, a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). 

For instance, he said, they might decide it’s wiser to invest in more mosquito nets to protect against malaria, a historically deadly disease that the WHO estimates killed 627,000 people in 2020 alone, mostly young African children.

The ICRC doesn’t distribute vaccines on its own but instead partners with health ministries and national Red Cross Societies, Straziuso said, noting it depends on those relationships “to move into contested areas and to carry out vaccination campaigns.”

Straziuso said the organization hopes to “do a lot more in 2022” to aid vulnerable people, including refugees and the displaced. “There’s just millions of people who don’t have access to these vaccines,” he said. “So, it’s a slow and long process.”

Vedaste Ngabo Ndagijimana reported for VOA’s Central Africa Service from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Carol Guensburg reported from Washington, D.C.

 
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