A drop in the levels of rainfall around Lake Chad in Cameroon has caused waterways to dry up and worsened the conflict between farmers and herders over scarce resources. Anne Nzouankeu reports from Kousseri, on the border with Chad , about efforts to make peace between the communities.
…

Kenya’s high court has suspended a government order that required everyone accessing public services and places to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by December 21.

Kenyan High Court Judge Antony Mrima put a hold on a government directive that would have denied services to unvaccinated persons beginning next week.

A petition challenging the rule was filed last week by businessman Enock Aura, who argued the directive was illegal.

Rights group Human Rights Watch has called on the Kenyan government to amend the directive and avoid directives that undermine the rights of the people.

Adi Radhakrishnan is an Africa research fellow at Human Rights Watch. He said the directive would block millions from accessing essential services.

“The requirement will risk the violations of the right to work, right to health, education and social security for millions. Vaccination coverage hinges on availability and accessibility and the new measures as initially announced could leave millions of Kenyans unable to access these government services like going to the hospital in person, going to the university, going to an immigration office for their ID card,” he said.

Like most African countries, Kenya has seen fewer people coming in for COVID-19 vaccine doses in the past few weeks.

In Kenya, 3.2 million people are fully vaccinated, and 5.3 million individuals have at least one dose. 

Radhakrishnan said health protocols should be followed and people’s beliefs should be considered on vaccine coverage.

“While requiring proof of vaccination may act as a powerful incentive for people to be vaccinated, the way it’s carried out should account for the numerous reasons a person may not be able to receive the vaccine in time. These may include social, political and or economic barriers. Any vaccine requirement should be implemented with a broader public health strategy that emphasizes the accessibility of vaccines and other preventive measures for COVID-19.”

With a population of 50 million, Kenya has received 8 million COVID-19 vaccine doses.

The East African nation has recorded 256,000 coronavirus-positive cases and 5,350 deaths.
…

The Ghana Airports Company Limited said in a statement that beginning Tuesday, all arriving passengers 18 years and older must provide evidence of being fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

It said airlines will be fined $3,500 for every passenger who arrives without proof of vaccination, a negative COVID test result, or who tests positive on arrival.  

It added that any non-Ghanaians breaking the new rules may also be refused entry.  

The statement said Ghanaians will be allowed entry but subject to 14 days of mandatory quarantine at a designated facility.

Ghana’s health ministry ordered the strict measures on Monday as African countries are facing the challenge of the omicron variant and getting people vaccinated.  

Ghana Health Service Director General Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye told a local radio station the measures were needed.  

He said about 75% of all the people who test positive for the virus at the airport were unvaccinated.
…

For the second time in a matter of days, food aid for starving Ethiopians has been stolen from the World Food Program in northern Ethiopia, the United Nations said Monday. 

“On the evening of December 10th, a group of armed actors – believed to be either from the Ethiopian National Defense Forces or an affiliated allied military force – entered the Disaster Risk Management Committee compound in Kombolcha and took 18 WFP trucks by force,” U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters. “The armed individuals then used the trucks in several locations for their own purposes.”

He said 15 trucks have been returned, but three remain unaccounted for.

“The safety and security of U.N. and partner staff remain our highest priority and we call for the immediate and safe release of our staff, colleagues, and vehicles,” Haq said.

The WFP has informed the federal government and local authorities in the town of Dessie, whom the spokesman said are assisting in the recovery the three trucks. The towns are in the Amhara region of northern Ethiopia, which has seen aid needs skyrocket in recent months.

The U.N. says 3.7 million people in Amhara need humanitarian assistance due to the conflict between federal government forces and the Tigray People’s Liberation Force (TPLF). Fighting has been going on for more than a year, and in July, it spilled over into the neighboring regions of Amhara and Afar.

On December 7 and 8, the U.N. said three WFP trucks were commandeered by military personnel and used for their own purposes. WFP warehouses in Dessie and Kombolcha were also looted, and large amounts of food stocks were taken, including nutritional items for malnourished children.

The U.N. said some of their staff had been held at gunpoint. Aid distribution was suspended following that incident.

A U.N. spokesman said recent “mass looting” in Kombolcha was reportedly carried out “by elements of the Tigrayan forces and some members of the local population.”
…

Benin has adopted a new law legalizing abortion in most cases, one of the few African countries to do so. A conservative country, the law was passed by parliament to prevent a wave of clandestine abortions that have resulted in deaths. Kouam Joel Honoré has this report from Cotonou.
…

Residents of the Ethiopian town of Lalibela, a U.N. World Heritage site, say Tigray rebels have captured the area from federal forces for a second time.

Town residents who spoke to Reuters said the rebel forces captured Lalibela on Sunday, following the exit of Ethiopian troops.

The eyewitnesses say that for reasons that are unknown, government soldiers began to leave Lalibela Saturday night and they heard an exchange of fire from a distance. 

Neither the Ethiopian government nor the Tigray forces have commented on the situation in Lalibela.

However, AFP has reported that the TPLF has launched attacks on many towns around Lalibela. TPLF affiliated media also report an engagement with Ethiopian forces around the Gashena area, 59 kilometers from Lalibela.

Ethiopian government troops took over Lalibela, home to 11 ancient rock-hewn churches, two weeks ago, driving out the TPLF forces who had been in control of the town since the beginning of August. The town was freed a week after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed went in to battle to lead the fight against the Tigray rebels.

Lalibela Church, a UNESCO-recognized world heritage site, is a place of pilgrimage for Ethiopian Orthodox Christians. Recently, government run news outlets reported on preparations to celebrate the upcoming Ethiopian Christmas at the site.

Speaking to AFP, residents of the town say the TPLF rebels were tough on residents but treated the holy site well during their months’ stay.

The Ethiopian government accuses the TPLF rebels of destroying hospitals and basic infrastructures in areas they occupy.
…

The Chinese government is promoting Chinese language and culture through Confucius Institute programs worldwide, including in Africa. Some educators say they’re concerned about what they say is censorship in Chinese-funded programs. 

Steve Wakoli has been working for three years to perfect his skills in kung fu, a popular martial art taught at the Kenyatta University Confucius Institute.  

He’s also a teacher at the institute, where hundreds of students are learning about Chinese culture and language at the facility named after the ancient Chinese philosopher whose teachings are a cornerstone of life in East Asia.  

There are about 525 Chinese-funded Confucius Institutes worldwide, including 54 in Africa, according to a 2019 U.S. Senate report by the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.  

Jacob Ratemo is one of more than 500 students enrolled here.  

He says learning about Chinese language and culture will help him find better work. But Ratemo acknowledges the classes avoid subjects that are politically sensitive in China.  

“But the advantage is, especially when you are at the university level, you can access such matters. I can go to VOA News on a regular basis and see what is going on in China. I can go to Google and get that information. So, yes, I can admit there are a few challenges when you ask those questions to the Chinese themselves,” Ratemo said.

According to the Senate report, “Confucius Institute funding comes with strings that can compromise academic freedom.” For example, the Chinese teachers sign contracts with Beijing pledging not to damage China’s national interests.   

Confucius Institute management turned down VOA’s requests for comment.  

Teacher Steve Wakoli says the institute’s syllabus does not allow much time for politically sensitive topics and debate.  

But analysts say the Confucius Institutes suppress discussions on topics like Taiwan and Hong Kong to protect their funding from the Chinese government. Martin Oloo is a political analyst in Kenya.

“Indeed, there have been issues around whether or not the institute is being used to propound what would be seen as anti-democracy, anti-human rights, and those concerns are founded in terms of what is the official Chinese policy on Taiwan, on Hong Kong,” Oloo said.

China considers Taiwan a wayward province and has not ruled out the use of force to reunite it with the mainland. Beijing imposed a national security law for Hong Kong in 2020 and many forms of dissent are criminalized.  

Educator Jonathan Waseya told VOA that the institutes are doing an injustice to students by limiting their learning and exposure to different ideas.  

“Yes, the opportunity comes in through the Confucius Institutes funded by China — that is OK. But can you get as an individual to talk about Taiwan, to talk about Hong Kong, talk about Korea, talk about North and South Korea and how the whole bigger picture fits into the geopolitics of today,” Waseya said.

With so many signing up for classes at the Confucius Institutes, education experts say it is critical that students find other avenues to learn about topics that Beijing may consider politically sensitive.  
…

The Chinese government is promoting Chinese language and culture through Confucius Institute programs worldwide, including in Africa. Some educators say they’re concerned about what they say is censorship in Chinese-funded programs. Victoria Amunga reports from Nairobi, Kenya.

Camera: Rober Lutta 
…

Rebellious Tigrayan forces have recaptured the Ethiopian town of Lalibela, witnesses told Reuters on Sunday, less than two weeks after the military and its allies took control of it as part of a broader offensive that pushed back Tigrayan forces on multiple fronts.

Lalibela is a town in the Amhara region bordering the northern region of Tigray that is famed for its churches hewn from single lumps of rock and has been designated a U.N. World Heritage site.

Government spokesperson Legesse Tulu and a military spokesman did not respond to requests for comment on the reported recapture of the town by forces loyal to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).

TPLF spokesperson Getachew Reda also did not respond to a Reuters phone call seeking comment. He tweeted a comment saying “our forces are doing very, very, very good!” but gave no details.

One of the witnesses who spoke to Reuters said that Amhara forces, who are allies of the Ethiopian government, began leaving Lalibela on Saturday night.

“The last batch left this morning. We heard gunshots from a distance last night, but the Tigrayan forces recaptured Lalibela without firing guns in the town,” the witness, a hotel receptionist, said by phone.

A second witness told Reuters on Sunday that residents had begun fleeing the town. “We panicked, we never saw this coming. TPLF forces are now patrolling the town wearing their uniforms,” the witness said.

Tigrayan forces had taken control of the town in early August, as part of a push into Amhara territory that began in July. But the tide turned against the Tigrayans at the end of November after they had threatened to march on the capital.

The government declared a state of emergency and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed went to the frontlines to direct an offensive. On Dec. 1, the Ethiopian military and Amhara forces recaptured Lalibela, a site of enormous religious significance.

The year-old conflict between the federal government and the leadership of Tigray has killed thousands of civilians, forced millions to flee their homes, and made more than 9 million people dependent on food aid.

On Sunday, Ethiopian Minister of Education Birhanu Nega said Amhara would need over 11 billion birr ($220 million) to rebuild 4,000 educational institutions and schools that he said were destroyed by Tigrayan forces.

Ethiopian state television has also published pictures of what it described as the looting of a hospital in the town of Dessie by Tigrayan forces. Footage showed empty shelves and boxes of medicines and equipment destroyed or strewn on the floor.

Reuters was unable to reach the TPLF spokesperson for a comment.
…

The head of Mali’s military-dominated government on Sunday promised west Africa’s regional bloc he would provide it with an election timetable by January 2022. 

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) suspended Mali following military coups in August 2020 and May 2021, sanctioning officials deemed responsible for delaying elections and threatening further measures. 

West African leaders on Sunday were due to hold a summit in Nigeria’s capital Abuja to discuss how to respond to Mali’s failure to hold elections by February 2022 before a return to civilian rule. 

The head of Mali’s transitional government, Colonel Assimi Goita justified postponing the election and holding a national consultation which he said would be “indispensable” for peace and stability. 

“Mali… commits to providing you with a detailed timetable by January 31, 2022 at the latest that could be discussed during an ECOWAS mission,” Goita wrote to the heady of the bloc of West African states head, Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo, in a letter obtained by AFP. 

“The return to constitutional order is and will remain my number one priority,” Goita said.

Goita emerged as Mali’s strongman leader after a coup that toppled former president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in August 2020. 

Several civil society organizations are boycotting the consultation launched on Saturday. 

The ECOWAS summit will also discuss vaccine supplies, travel bans imposed on African countries and Guinea, which has been under military rule since September after a coup ousted former president Alpha Conde. 
…

The United Nations’ Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is condemning the forced expulsion of asylum seekers and migrants by Libyan authorities, warning of the risks many face when returned to the homes they fled to escape persecution.

Two large groups of Sudanese are among those forcibly deported from Libya over the past month. United Nations monitors say most have been summarily expelled from the Ganfouda and al-Kufra detention centers. Both centers are controlled by the Interior Ministry’s Department for Combatting illegal Migration. The monitors say the Sudanese apparently have been transported across the Sahara Desert to the Libya-Sudan border and dumped there. 

The U.N. Human Rights Office says Libya’s expulsion of the Sudanese asylum seekers and migrants without due process and procedural guarantees violates international human rights and refugee law.

U.N. spokesman Rupert Colville says the group of 18 Sudanese expelled Monday reportedly were arrested, detained, and arbitrarily expelled. He says no hearing was held to assess their need for protection from persecution, torture, and other abuse in their home country. He says they were not granted legal assistance. 

“Those expelled have often already survived a range of other serious human rights violations and abuses in Libya at the hands of both state and nonstate actors, including arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, trafficking, sexual violence, torture and ill-treatment,” he said.

Colville says other migrants from Sudan, Eritrea, Somalia, and Chad —including children and pregnant women — also have been detained in recent months. He says they either already have been expelled or are at imminent risk of deportation. 

“Now of immediate concern is a group of 24 Eritreans who are currently being held in the same Ganfouda detention center, and who are believed also to be at risk of imminent deportation,” he said. “On the third of December, we were informed that, in a pattern mirroring the experience of the expelled Sudanese, they had been transferred to the al-Kufra detention center in preparation for their deportation.”

The U.N. high commissioner’s office is calling on the authorities to protect the rights of all asylum seekers and migrants in Libya. It says they should investigate all claims of violations and abuse and bring perpetrators to justice in fair trials. It urges Libya to meet its obligations under international human rights law, which prohibits collective expulsions.
…

Libya’s election commission said Saturday it would not publish a list of presidential candidates until after it settles some legal issues, leaving almost no time to hold the vote as planned on December 24.

While most Libyan and foreign figures involved in the process have continued to publicly call for the election to go ahead on schedule, politicians, analysts and diplomats all say in private that this would be very hard to achieve.

Significant delays could increase the risk of derailing the wider peace process in Libya, though a disputed election conducted without clear agreement on rules or eligible candidates also poses immediate dangers to stability.

“Given the sensitivities of this stage and the political and security circumstances surrounding it, the commission is keen to exhaust all means of litigation to ensure its decisions comply with issued judgements,” the commission said in a statement.

Less than two weeks before the vote, there would be almost no time remaining for the final list of candidates from the 98 who registered to campaign across Libya, giving a huge advantage to those who are already well known.

Disputes over fundamental rules governing the election have continued throughout the process, including over the voting timetable, the eligibility of major candidates and the eventual powers of the next president and parliament.

Without any commonly accepted legal framework, it was not clear how far rules would be based on the U.N.-backed roadmap that originally demanded the election or on a law issued by the parliament speaker in September but rejected by other factions.

The process of ruling on the eligibility of candidates has laid bare major vulnerabilities in the process. The commission initially ruled out 25 candidates and set a period of about two weeks for judicial appeals.  

Rival factions have accused each other of intimidating or bribing judicial and administrative officials to sway the final list of candidates.

With armed groups controlling the ground across Libya, any election conducted without strong international monitoring would be open to accusations of fraud.

The electoral commission said it was in communication with the Supreme Judicial Council and with a parliamentary committee and would adopt procedures based on those conversations before moving forward with the electoral process.

Some factions have warned that a delay to the vote could prompt them to pull out of the wider political process.
…

A court in Benin convicted one of President Patrice Talon’s main opponents Saturday for complicity in acts of terrorism.

Reckya Madougou was sentenced to 20 years in prison after a trial her lawyers denounced as a political hit job. The verdict was announced at about 6 a.m. local time  (0500 GMT) following a trial that included no witnesses, her lawyers said in a statement.

“Her crime was to have represented a democratic alternative to the regime of Patrice Talon,” said lawyer Antoine Vey.  

The conviction of Madougou, a former justice minister, comes days after another of Talon’s leading opponents, Joel Aivo, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for plotting against the state and laundering money.

Madougou was arrested in March and accused of financing an operation to assassinate political figures to prevent the presidential election the following month from going ahead. Her candidacy had earlier been rejected by the electoral commission.  

Talon won a second term with 86% of the vote in a poll boycotted by much of the opposition and marred by violent protests.

Shortly before she was convicted, Madougou addressed the court, according to a post on her Facebook page. “I offer myself up for democracy and if my sacrifice allows you, Mr. President (of the court) and your colleagues to recover your independence from the executive, then I will not have suffered in vain,” it quoted her as saying.

Human rights group and opponents of Talon, a multi-millionaire cotton magnate, say he has upended Benin’s democratic traditions since coming to power in 2016. Several opponents have been arrested and electoral reforms signed by Talon in 2018 disqualified all opposition parties from running for parliament the following year.

Talon has denied targeting political opponents or violating human rights.
…

As the omicron variant sweeps through South Africa, Dr. Unben Pillay is seeing dozens of sick patients a day. Yet he hasn’t had to send anyone to the hospital.

That’s one of the reasons why he, along with other doctors and medical experts, suspect that the omicron version really is causing milder COVID-19 than delta, even if it seems to be spreading faster.

“They are able to manage the disease at home,” Pillay said of his patients. “Most have recovered within the 10- to 14-day isolation period.” said Pillay.

And that includes older patients and those with health problems that can make them more vulnerable to becoming severely ill from a coronavirus infection, he said.

In the two weeks since omicron first was reported in Southern Africa, other doctors have shared similar stories. All caution that it will take many more weeks to collect enough data to be sure, their observations and the early evidence offer some clues.

According to South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases:

Only about 30% of those hospitalized with COVID-19 in recent weeks have been seriously ill, less than half the rate as during the first weeks of previous pandemic waves.
Average hospital stays for COVID-19 have been shorter this time -- about 2.8 days compared to eight days.
Just 3% of patients hospitalized recently with COVID-19 have died, versus about 20% in the country’s earlier outbreaks.

“At the moment, virtually everything points toward it being milder disease,” Willem Hanekom, director of the Africa Health Research Institute, said, citing the national institute’s figures and other reports. “It’s early days, and we need to get the final data.

Often hospitalizations and deaths happen later, and we are only two weeks into this wave.”

In the meantime, scientists around the world are watching case counts and hospitalization rates, while testing to see how well current vaccines and treatments hold up. While delta is still the dominant coronavirus strain worldwide, omicron cases are popping up in dozens of countries, with South Africa the epicenter.

Pillay practices in the country’s Gauteng province, where the omicron version has taken hold. With 16 million residents, It’s South Africa’s most populous province and includes the largest city, Johannesburg, and the capital, Pretoria. Gauteng saw a 400% rise in new cases in the first week of December, and testing shows omicron is responsible for more than 90% of them, according to health officials.

Pillay says his COVID-19 patients during the last delta wave “had trouble breathing and lower oxygen levels. Many needed hospitalization within days,” he said. The patients he’s treating now have milder, flu-like symptoms, such as body aches and a cough, he said.

Pillay is a director of an association representing some 5,000 general practitioners across South Africa, and his colleagues have documented similar observations about omicron. Netcare, the largest private health care provider, is also reporting less severe cases of COVID-19.

But the number of cases is climbing. South Africa confirmed 22,400 new cases on Thursday and 19,000 on Friday, up from about 200 per day a few weeks ago. The new surge has infected 90,000 people in the past month, Minister of Health Joe Phaahla said Friday.

“Omicron has driven the resurgence,” Phaahla said, citing studies that say 70% of the new cases nationwide are from omicron.

The coronavirus reproduction rate in the current wave – indicating the number of people likely to be infected by one person — is 2.5, the highest that South Africa has recorded during the pandemic, he said.

“Because this is such a transmissible variant, we’re seeing increases like we never saw before,” said Waasila Jassat, who tracks hospital data for the National Institute for Communicable Diseases.

Of the patients hospitalized in the current wave, 86% weren’t vaccinated against the coronavirus, Jassat said. The COVID-patients in South Africa’s hospitals now also are younger than at other periods of the pandemic: about two-thirds are under 40.

Jassat said that even though the early signs are that omicron cases are less severe, the volume of new COVID-19 cases may still overwhelm South Africa’s hospitals and result in a higher number of severe symptoms and deaths.

“That is the danger always with the waves,” she said. 

 
…

The capital of Uganda coughs itself awake on weekdays under a soft blanket of smog. Kampala’s hills come into sharper focus as the morning rush of minibuses and motorbikes fades. It is this East African city that one of the world’s most well-known climate activists, Vanessa Nakate, calls home.

The 25-year-old’s rise in profile has been quick. Not even three years have passed since she set out with relatives in Kampala to stage her first, modest protest over how the world is treating its only planet.

In an interview this week with The Associated Press — which last year drew international attention and Nakate’s dismay by cropping her from a photo — she reflected on the whirlwind. She spoke of her disappointment in the outcome of the U.N. climate talks in Scotland and what she and other young activists plan for the year to come.

“We expected the leaders to rise up for the people, to rise up for the planet” at the talks known as COP26, she said. Instead, the world could be on a pathway to warm 2.4 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial times.

That’s well above the goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius — and would be “a death sentence for so many communities on the front lines of the climate crisis,” Nakate said.

Globally, the signs are dire. The Arctic is warming three times faster than the rest of the planet. The dramatic drop in carbon dioxide emissions from COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns has almost disappeared. This year, forests burned in Siberia’s weakening permafrost, while record-shattering heatwaves in Canada and the U.S. Pacific Northwest and deadly flooding in Europe brought the climate threat home to some who once thought they could outspend it.

But many of the most-affected communities are in Africa, whose 1.3 billion people contribute the least to global emissions, less than 4%, but stand to suffer from them most.

That suffering, in some cases, has already begun: Deadly drought fells wildlife and livestock in parts of East Africa, water scarcity hits areas in West and Southern Africa, and hunger affects many millions of people, from Madagascar to Somalia, as a result.

And yet the $100 billion in financing per year promised by richer nations to help developing countries deal with the coming catastrophe has not appeared.

“We cannot adapt to starvation,” Nakate said, her voice soft but firm as the introvert in her gives way to the convictions that have brought her this far. “We cannot adapt to extinction, we cannot adapt to lost cultures, lost traditions, to lost histories, and the climate crisis is taking all of these things away.”

The next big climate conference will be in Africa, in Egypt, a chance for the spotlight to fall squarely on the continent.

It will be a test for activists and negotiators from Africa’s 54 countries who have long jostled for space at global climate events.

“Many times, activists in Africa have been called missing voices. But we are not missing,” Nakate said. “We are present, we are available, we are just unheard.”

She watched as some activists from African countries faced the challenges of securing funding, accreditation or access to COVID-19 vaccinations as they sought to attend COP26. She has spoken of feeling erased herself when she was cropped out of an AP photo of climate activists last year at the World Economic Forum. The AP apologized for its error in judgment and the pain it caused her.

But it is not enough to simply listen to Africa’s climate activists, Nakate said this week. People with power must act on those demands.

“We don’t want to just hear sweet phrases from them, sweet commitments,” she said. “Commitments will not change the planet, pledges will not stop the suffering of people.”

Specifically, Nakate said, drastic action is needed by the leaders in government and business that continue to fund the extraction of fossil fuels, like coal and oil.

She chose not to call out anyone by name, but when asked whether Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, in power since 1986, had replied to a letter she wrote about a controversial oil pipeline project to ship crude from Uganda to neighboring Tanzania, she said no.

In fact, the 77-year-old leader has never been in contact with Nakate, who became one of the world’s most well-known Ugandans not long after graduating from university with a business degree and becoming inspired by climate activism.

In her recent book, A Bigger Picture, Nakate reflects on how leaders’ decisions on climate have real-life consequences far beyond the data that often dominate the conversation.

She worries about how farmers who lose their crops to climate shocks will feed their families, and how lost income can force children out of school and young women into early marriage.

“This isn’t just about us wanting a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions,” Nakate said. “We want justice that centers the protection of the planet and the protection of the people because the climate crisis exacerbates poverty first of all. We cannot eradicate poverty if climate change is pushing millions of people into extreme poverty and keeping them in poverty traps.”

Asked how young climate activists can make sure that they are central to decision-making worldwide, Nakate expressed confidence that they are making themselves heard, creating their own platforms on social media and elsewhere.

“If the table is not given to you, you make one for yourself,” she said — a message she could well tweet to her 230,000-plus followers.

In 2022, Nakate’s work will be closer to home as she pursues a project to provide schools in Uganda with solar panels and eco-friendly cookstoves to reduce the amount of firewood consumed.

“I can’t believe how fast this journey has been,” she said as she realized that within weeks it will be the third anniversary of her first climate protest in Kampala. “Activism can be very hard, a lot of work, but it takes love and grace to continue to speak.”

It also takes a certain hope, she said, and as a born-again Christian she finds that hope in God. It helps her believe that “the future you’re fighting for is actually possible and you can achieve it.” 
…

The U.N. refugee agency says intercommunal fighting over scarce resources in Cameroon has triggered the mass exodus of more than 30,000 refugees to neighboring Chad. 

Deadly clashes erupted December 5 in the Cameroonian border village of Ouloumsa following a dispute between herders, fishermen and farmers over dwindling water resources. Violence then spread to neighboring villages, where intercommunal rivals burned 10 villages to the ground. 

The U.N. refugee agency says 22 people have been killed and 30 seriously injured over the past six days. In addition, women and children account for most of the 30,000 refugees who have fled into Chad. 

UNHCR spokesman Boris Cheshirkov says the situation remains volatile, forcing his agency to temporarily suspend its operations in the affected areas. He says five staff members, as well as colleagues who have been on an assessment mission, have been moved to the Chadian capital, N’Djamena. 

Cheshirkov blames the rising tensions between intercommunal farmers and fishermen on climate change, which he says is getting worse. 

“They depend on the waters of the Logone River, which is one of the main tributaries of Lake Chad,” he said. “Lake Chad has been shrinking. Over the course of six decades now, it has lost 95 percent of its surface water. These communities rely on that water to live, to fish, to grow crops and cultivate them, to take care of their livestock. They are not able to do this.” 

Cheshirkov says similar climate crises can be seen in many parts of the world — in the Sahel, in far north Cameroon and East Africa, as well as in the drought corridor of Latin America, and South Asia. He says 90 percent of refugees come from climate vulnerable hotspots. 

UNHCR and Cameroonian authorities have been leading reconciliation efforts to end the intercommunal violence, he says, adding that the situation could escalate unless the root causes of the crisis are addressed. 

Chad is home to nearly 1 million refugees and internally displaced people, and Cameroon has more than 1.5 million refugees and IDPs. The UNHCR says it has received slightly more than half the money it needs to run its lifesaving operations in both countries. It is appealing to the international community for more support.
…

France announced Friday that it would soon declassify some of the most secret sections of its national archives concerning the Algerian war of independence, opening the door for citizens to explore some of bloodiest parts of the country’s history.

The Algerian war of independence lasted from 1954 to 1962, as the National Liberation Front fought against France for independence in a violent conflict that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Algerians. Over the course of the war, historians have found that French forces and their proxies used torture against their enemies.

French Culture Minister Roselyne Bachelot said that opening the records to the public was necessary to increase transparency surrounding the country’s history, according to Reuters.

“We need to have the courage to look the historical truth in the face,” Bachelot said.

The war in Algeria had serious political repercussions in France, prompting a failed coup attempt against former President Charles de Gaulle to prevent him from terminating French rule in the colony.

Although the war ended almost 60 years ago, it is still a sensitive subject within French society.

Chain of ‘repressive measures’

Reuters quoted Benjamin Stora, a top French historian on Algeria, who said the records will shed light on aspects of the war that have long been hidden, such as many unexplained deaths.

“You can know which people were under surveillance, followed, arrested,” Stora said. “It’s the whole chain leading up to repressive measures that can be unveiled.”

The Anadolu news agency reported that an Algerian presidential adviser, Abdelmadjid Cheiki, said the records’ declassification was “positive and important.”

A former representative in the Algerian Parliament, Kamal Belarbi, was hesitant to fully welcome France’s decision. Belarbi said it was difficult to accept that the country would completely expose the nature of its colonial rule, given that it has kept it secret for so many years.

“France will continue to tamper with the archives. The most important thing is that we remain committed to our demands to hold France accountable for crimes it committed in Algeria for 132 years,” he said.

The records’ declassification will likely have major repercussions for both nations and their citizens.

France’s announcement came two days after French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian’s trip to Algiers. While there, he conducted talks with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune to revive the two countries’ rocky relationship.
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The U.N.’s top diplomat in Sudan said Friday that the country’s political crisis is not over, despite a November 21 power-sharing agreement between the military and the civilian prime minister that released him from detention and returned him to office.

“The agreement faces significant opposition from a large segment of Sudanese stakeholders, including parties and associations within the Forces of Freedom and Change, Resistance Committees, civil society organizations and women’s groups,” said Volker Perthes, the head of the U.N. assistance mission in Sudan, referring to some of the pro-democracy groups. “I have met with these and other stakeholders. Many feel betrayed by the coup, and now reject any negotiations or partnership with the military.”

Sudan’s military seized power on October 25, arresting dozens of officials in the country’s transitional government, including Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok. The military said the coup was necessary to maintain Sudan’s stability amid infighting between the army and civilian parties in the ruling Sovereign Council.

Hamdok was later moved to house arrest, and under a November 21 agreement with top general Abdel Fattah Burhan has returned to work in a transitional power-sharing agreement.

“The agreement is far from perfect but can help to avoid further bloodshed and provide a step towards comprehensive dialogue and a return to constitutional order,” Perthes told the U.N. Security Council Friday.

Thousands of Sudanese have been protesting in the streets since the deal, demanding a completely civilian government.

Perthes said there is a large trust deficit on the part of the public, especially the youth, since the coup. He urged the political leadership to take several steps to start rebuilding public trust, including lifting the military-imposed state of emergency, naming civilian members to the Sovereign Council, and restoring freedom of press.

He said an important indicator of whether the country has returned to the path to democratic transition would be whether political space is restored.

“This is particularly important in light of the professed goal by political and military leaders to hold free and fair elections possibly even earlier than originally planned,” Perthes said. “Authorities will need to ensure a conducive atmosphere for credible elections which the U.N. and other international actors can then support.”

The U.N. envoy also expressed concern about the suspension of some international development assistance following the coup.

“Sudanese authorities must demonstrate their commitment to return to a credible constitutional order in order to regain the trust of the international community to resume international financial assistance,” he said.

Sudan is among the U.N.’s top five countries experiencing a humanitarian crisis, with more than 14 million people in need of humanitarian assistance.
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Here is a fast take on what the international community has been up to this past week, as seen from the United Nations perch.

Food theft in Ethiopia

The United Nations said Wednesday that large amounts of food, including items for malnourished children, were looted from their warehouses in northern Ethiopia, leading to the suspension of food distribution in two towns.

UN Food Stocks Looted in N. Ethiopia; Some Aid Distribution Halted 

Hunger in Sahel

The latest U.N. analysis of food security in the Sahel and Western African countries finds a record 38 million people in the region will face severe food shortages next year. It warns that many may not survive without swift and generous international humanitarian assistance.

UN Says Acute Hunger Grips Millions in West and Central Africa 

Reflection on genocide 

Commemorations were held Thursday to mark the International Day of the Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime. Following the Holocaust, in 1951, the United Nations declared genocide an international crime.

UN: Genocide Remains Threat, Must Be Prevented 

In brief

— In Mali on Wednesday, seven Togolese peacekeepers were killed and three others seriously injured when their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device. The peacekeepers were part of a logistics convoy traveling through central Mali when the incident occurred. The mission, known by its acronym MINUSMA, is one of the U.N.’s most dangerous. Since it began in 2013, more than 250 peacekeepers have been killed.

— Catherine Russell of the United States will be the new head of the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations said Friday. She will succeed Henrietta Fore, who has served since January 2018. She resigned because of an illness in her family. The post has traditionally been held by an American. Russell comes to UNICEF from the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, where she is an assistant to President Joe Biden. She is a former ambassador-at-large for Global Women’s Issues at the State Department and has taught at Harvard University. She is due to move into the executive director’s office early next year.

— South Korea hosted a high-level meeting on U.N. peacekeeping this week. Multiple commitments were made for new military and police capabilities, including helicopters, which are always scarce. There were also offers to help U.N. peacekeeping improve its medical capabilities and the use of technology. Additionally, several states pledged to reduce their environmental footprint in missions.

— U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres briefly isolated during the week, after he came into contact with someone who had tested positive for COVID-19. Guterres, 72, exhibited no symptoms and tested negative at least twice during the week, his spokesperson said. Although he had moral hesitations about receiving a COVID-19 booster when so many others have yet to benefit from even a first jab, he did get his booster two weeks ago.

Quote of note

“As I heard again during my visit, the women and girls of Afghanistan want to be able to go to school, work and take part in public life, free of discrimination. The progress that was made in this area must not be erased.” — Rosemary DiCarlo, undersecretary-general for political and peacebuilding affairs, following her trip to Afghanistan Tuesday through Thursday.

Next week

On Monday, the U.N. Security Council is expected to vote on a draft resolution penned by Niger and Ireland on the effects of climate change on international peace and security, particularly how it can exacerbate the root causes of conflict. Veto holders China and Russia, as well nonpermanent member India, have expressed reservations about the council’s stepping onto the turf of what some consider the domain of other U.N. organs and bodies, leaving the outcome open as of now.
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Growing inequality and the proliferation of multiple crises around the world have dashed hopes raised for a better, more equitable world 73 years after the U.N. General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres warns the world is at a crossroads.

“The COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis and the expansion of digital technology into all areas of our lives have created new threats to human rights,” Guterres said. Exclusion and discrimination are rampant. Public space is shrinking. Poverty and hunger are rising for the first time in decades. Millions of children are missing out on their right to education. Inequality is deepening.”

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet says the cost of soaring inequalities is intolerable. But, since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in 1948, she notes significant strides, if not progress, have been made. She says the world has grown richer, people are living longer, and more women have gained a greater measure of autonomy.

Over the past 20 years, however, she says a succession of global shocks has undermined that progress. She says it is particularly distressing to realize the extent to which inequalities are fueling the devastation caused by the coronavirus pandemic on peoples’ lives.

Bachelet recently returned from a mission to Burkina Faso and Niger, countries riven by violence and lawlessness. Her spokesman, Rupert Colville, says the high commissioner saw the ruinous impact on those societies from the pandemic, climate change, economic distress, and inequality.

Colville says Bachelet clearly understood how it is that young men who have no jobs, no future, no hope are tempted to join the armed struggle when offered a gun and $10.

“There you see the knock-on effect, which then has results in people being killed, in villages being destroyed, in women being raped and in just general horror stories, which are rooted in the socio-economic problems and inequalities that we are talking about today,” Colville said.

Human rights chief Bachelet says equality is at the heart of human rights. She says equality also is at the heart of the solutions that can carry humanity through this period of global crisis.
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Cameroonian authorities have vowed a safe African Football Cup of Nations when they host the biennial tournament in January. Cameroon’s Anglophone separatists have threatened further attacks on two towns that have stadiums to be used for group matches.

Cameroon’s police, military and senior government officials have been holding meetings to ensure a successful African Football Cup of Nations, AFCON, which runs from January 9 to February 6.

On Thursday, Cameroon assembled its 10 regional governors in the capital to examine the country’s readiness to host 24 African soccer teams, officials and thousands of fans expected for the tournaments.

Paul Atanga Nji is Cameroon’s territorial administration minister and permanent secretary of its National Security Council. He says President Paul Biya ordered the meeting to make sure Cameroon gives Africa and the world the most successful AFCON the continent has ever seen.

Nji says Biya does not want the games to be disrupted by separatists and politicians, whom he accused of wanting to project a bad image of Cameroon to the outside world.

“We have told politicians that Cameroonians want a peaceful CAN [AFCON]. Politicians should be reasonable. All Cameroonians should be ambassadors behind our great leader, President Paul Biya, to make this AFCON a great event. Any attempt to disrupt public order will be dealt with squarely. I am very clear, the regional governors have taken up the challenge to promote peace, unity, tranquility, and living together during the AFCON.”

Nji specifically accused opposition leader Maurice Kamto, who still insists he won the 2018 presidential elections, of planning to disrupt the games.

But Kamto says he will be educating civilians on the need for Cameroon to revise its electoral code, which he says favors Biya, during the AFCON matches.

Meanwhile, separatist groups on social media platforms have issued warnings that AFCON matches should not be played in Limbe and Buea, two towns in the South-West region.

Langmi Nestor, spokesperson of the separatist Ambazonia National Self Defense Council says fighters have been instructed to disrupt the games if Biya does not withdraw its troops fighting separatists in the English-speaking western regions.

“Biya must either come to the negotiation table [with separatists] or we give sleepless nights. The freedom of the people of Ambazonia is far more important than any nonsense in the name of the African Nations Cup.”

Armed groups have been fighting to separate Cameroon’s two English-speaking western regions from the rest of Cameroon and its French-speaking majority for the past five years.

This week, defense officials said extra troops have been deployed to protect soccer fans and players all over Cameroon and vowed the matches in Limbe and Buea would go on.

The military says it has deployed troops to the border between French-speaking and English-speaking regions to stop rebels from advancing during AFCON. The military says it is calling on civilians to assist in maintaining peace during AFCON by reporting strangers and suspicious activity in towns and villages.

AFCON’S opening match is a contest between Burkina Faso and Cameroon, a five-time Africa Cup of Nations champion. 
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President Roch Marc Christian Kabore faced demands Thursday for tougher action against Burkina Faso’s jihadi insurgency, a day after the crisis cost the prime minister his job. 

Seeking to defuse anger over a bloody 6-year-old campaign that has claimed about 2,000 lives and forced 1.4 million from their homes, Kabore on Wednesday accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Christophe Joseph Marie Dabire. 

The move also triggered the departure of Dabire’s government: Under Burkinabe law, the resignation of the prime minister also requires the entire Cabinet to step down. 

“A new prime minister and a government who are fighters have to be found — and as quickly as possible,” the state newspaper Sidwaya demanded. 

“The country does not need a time of drift, with stop-gap ministers just dealing with day-to-day business,” said Issouf Sawadogo, a senior member of a coalition of civil society groups. 

“We are at war, and we need a fighting government to take the situation back in hand,” he said, calling for the new prime minister to be named “within 24 hours.” 

Dabire’s government was “overwhelmed by the wave of discontent by people outraged at having to mourn the daily killings of soldiers and civilians,” said the online newspaper Wakat Sera. 

Dabire, appointed in 2018, had been tasked with stemming the bloodshed, which began when groups linked to al-Qaida and the so-called Islamic State group started launching attacks from neighboring Mali three years earlier. 

But the country’s poorly equipped security forces have struggled against a ruthless and highly mobile foe. 

Discontent rose after a string of massacres this year. 

At least 13 Burkina Faso defense volunteers were killed Thursday in an attack in the north of the country, security sources told AFP. 

The peak of the deadly violence came on November 14 when 57 people, 53 of them gendarmes, were killed in the country’s north. 

Two weeks before they were attacked, the gendarmes had warned headquarters that they were running short of supplies and were having to trap animals to eat. 

They had been waiting in vain for several days for a relief force when they came under attack from hundreds of fighters on pickups and motorcycles, according to accounts of the battle. 

Late Thursday, the armies of Burkina Faso and neighboring Niger said they had killed around 100 fighters in a joint military operation against the jihadis on the border between November 25 and December 9. 

They had also dismantled two bases, one on either side of the frontier, they said in a joint statement. 

On November 27, 10 people were hurt, including a child and two journalists, when police used tear gas to disperse a protest rally in the capital, Ouagadougou. 

Signaling an impending reshuffle, Kabore said it was time for “a tighter, closer team” in government. 

Other voices in Burkina have cautioned against taking a purely militaristic line for tackling the insurgency. 

Jacques Nanema, a professor of philosophy at the University of Ouagadougou, called for a government that addresses “poverty, which poverty and violence feed on.” 

“The war against terrorism, the fight against hunger and poverty, the struggle for inclusive development that should not leave any region behind is everyone’s concern, not just that of the ruling party,” said the daily Wakat Sera. 

Kabore was first elected in 2015, a year after his predecessor Blaise Compaore, who seized power in 1987, was forced out by mass protests for seeking to change the constitution in order to remain in office. 

 
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South Africa recorded more than 20,000 new coronavirus cases Wednesday, nearly double the number from one week earlier. The government is making a renewed push for people to get vaccinated, but so far is avoiding new lockdown measures, in an effort to protect the economy.

Coronavirus cases are rising dramatically in South Africa with over 113,000 people currently infected.

Experts say the omicron variant discovered in South Africa last month is most likely driving the latest wave.

But Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele told reporters today that the government is trying to avoid stricter lockdown measures.

“The damage the restrictions caused last year, level five and so on, thousands of business that stopped and the number of jobs that have been lost. The attitude the government is adopting is find the best possible way of navigating whilst ensuring that… the economy moves,” said Gungubele.

The South African government is championing vaccinations in order to protect more people from severe illness.

The efforts appear to be working, with more than 133,000 people receiving a shot Wednesday. It means 43 percent of adults have at least had one dose.

Gungubele said vaccinations are key to protecting lives as the government tries to protect both public health and the economy.

“You need to find a balance between the livelihood and lives, because these are two side of the same coin and that coin is life. When one of them collapse, the life collapse,” said Gungubele.

Still, hospitalizations are increasing, with over 300 people admitted Wednesday. 

Minister Gungubele said the government is closely monitoring admissions to ensure facilities don’t end up overwhelmed. “So far the reports we’re getting is that there is no red flag in that.”

Thirty-six people died Wednesday of the coronavirus, bringing the country’s total death toll to over 90,000.

South African health officials are expected to release more information on their findings about the current wave and the omicron variant on Friday.
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Clashes among farmers, ranchers, and fishers over water scarcity have escalated along Cameroon’s northern border with Chad. Cameroonian officials say villages and markets were torched Wednesday and violent conflict sent thousands fleeing into neighboring Chad.

A messenger sent by traditional rulers tells at least 120 people in Kousseri, a town in Cameroon’s northern border with Chad, that without peace, there will be no development, and communities will become poorer. He says armed conflicts will only bring hunger and suffering.

The message is broadcast several times on Cameroon’s CRTV, a government-controlled radio and TV station, in Massa, Mousgoum and Arab Choua languages. Massa, Mousgoum and Arab Choua communities live in the Logone and Chari division, where Kousseri is located.

Government officials in Logone and Chari said they initiated the message of peace after a conflict among farmers, cattle ranchers and fishers over water degenerated into a violent conflict Wednesday in the communities.

On Wednesday night, community leaders said several villages were torched, farms destroyed and parts of the largest market in Kousseri set on fire. They said more than 40 people have been killed, 70 wounded and several thousand civilians have crossed over to Chad for safety. Mahamat Abba is the sultan, a traditional ruler of Kousseri.

Abba said, as the leader of Kousseri, he is reminding people of all communities in the commercial town that they must seek peace, unity and solidarity as long as they live together. He said he is reminding his Mousgoum, Arab Choua and Massa brothers and sisters that peace is priceless. He said a town or community cannot develop when there is war or an armed conflict.

Abba spoke to VOA via the messaging app WhatsApp from Kousseri.

Earlier this week, Cameroon’s authorities said clashes erupted between ranchers and fishers over water in Logone and Chari. Arab Choua cattle ranchers accuse Mousgoum fishers of digging holes that have resulted in deaths of their cows, sheep and donkeys. The Mousgoum fishers dig the holes to conserve water and lure their catch. Mousgoum fishermen also accuse Arab Choua cattle ranchers of allowing their cattle to destroy areas reserved only for fishing.

The government says when fighting erupted again, Massa farmers also accused Arab Choua cattle ranchers of allowing their cattle to destroy plantations. Massa farmers joined Mousgoum fishermen to attack Arab Choua cattle ranchers. Arab Choua have been fighting back.

Midjiyawa Bakari is the governor of Cameroon’s Far North region, where Logone and Chari is located. He said he led a delegation of senior state officials and the military sent by Cameroonian President Paul Biya to Logone and Chari on Wednesday night.

He said Biya asked the delegation to ensure a return to peace among Massa, Mousgoum and Arab Choua communities that are fighting, killing each other and destroying property. Bakari spoke via the messaging app WhatsApp from Kousseri.

Bakari said Biya wants the rival communities to bury their differences and immediately drop their weapons for the sake of peace. Bakari said the conflict may discourage many soccer fans from neighboring Chad, Sudan, Niger and Libya who will be travelling to Cameroon through Logone and Chari for the African Football Cup of Nations that begins on January 9. He said Cameroon cannot afford to tarnish its image at a time when the African continent’s attention is focused on the central African state for AFCON.

Bakari said Cameroonians must learn to live together and communities must respect and cherish their linguistic, cultural and religious differences.

Cameroon says desertification is also pushing farmers, fishermen and cattle ranchers to move to places where they can find food and water. Many farmers, cattle ranchers and fishermen settle along the Logone river in the Logone and Chari division for survival leading to regular conflicts.
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