Seven peacekeepers from the West African nation of Togo were killed Wednesday when their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device in central Mali, according to the United Nations. 

U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters that three other Togolese peacekeepers were seriously injured in the explosion in the Bandiagara region. He said the peacekeepers were part of a logistics convoy traveling between the towns of Douentza and Sevare. 

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Togo contributes about 930 personnel to the 16,000-strong U.N. force in Mali, known as the Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali, or MINUSMA. 

Dujarric said U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the attack and called on Malian authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice. 

In Mali’s capital, Bamako, MINUSMA chief El-Ghassim Wane also condemned the attack and said it could constitute a war crime in accordance with international law.

The peacekeeping force was established in 2013 to help stabilize Mali following a coup and a takeover of the north by Islamist militant groups. 

Groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group remain active in the country and frequently attack MINUSMA personnel. 

Dujarric said a peacekeeper from Egypt died in a hospital Monday from injuries he suffered during an attack in northern Mali last month. 

Wane said, “MINUSMA is the peace operation where the peacekeepers have paid the heaviest price, with over 200 soldiers killed in the line of duty.” 

VOA’s Margaret Besheer, along with the French to Africa service, contributed to this report.

 
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The United Nations said Wednesday that large amounts of food supplies have been looted from their warehouses in northern Ethiopia, leading to the suspension of food distributions in two towns.

“The World Food Program teams on the ground were not able to prevent the looting in the face of extreme intimidation, including staff being held at gunpoint,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters. “As a result, WFP has suspended food distributions in the towns of Dessie and Kombolcha.”

Those towns are in the northern Ethiopian state of Amhara.

Dujarric said nutritional items for malnourished children were among the looted goods. 

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

Forces aligned with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, or TPLF, pushed federal army troops out of the Tigray region in July, and then expanded their movements to the neighboring states of Amhara and Afar. Food insecurity has been escalating in these regions because of the 13-month-long conflict. 

The U.N. says more than 9.4 million people in these areas are in dire need of food assistance. In Amhara, 3.7 million people need aid, while in Afar some 534,000 are struggling, and in Tigray, an estimated 5.2 million people urgently need assistance. Some 400,000 Tigrayans are already in famine-like conditions.

Military takes trucks

In a separate incidents, Dujarric said that on Tuesday and Wednesday, three WFP trucks used for humanitarian operations in Amhara were commandeered by military personnel and used for their own purposes. He condemned the incidents and harassment of aid workers as unacceptable. 

“It is prohibited to attack, destroy, misappropriate or loot relief supplies, installations, materials, units or vehicles,” he noted. 

The United Nations has been a target of anger by both the federal government and now the Tigray forces. On September 30, the government declared several senior U.N. humanitarian officials persona non grata and expelled them, saying they were interfering in the country’s internal affairs. The government has since arbitrarily detained several Ethiopian U.N. staff, and currently holds nine staff members and three dependents in detention. 

Dozens of truck drivers who were to transport aid to Tigray were also detained for several days and then released. 

The federal government’s military has been fighting Tigray forces since November 2020. The conflict has displaced nearly 1.2 million people internally, while more than 70,000 have sought safety in neighboring Sudan.
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Uganda’s military has expressed disappointment with U.S. sanctions against its military intelligence chief Major General Abel Kandiho for alleged human rights abuses. Ugandan rights activists welcomed the sanctions — for torture and sexual abuse under Kandiho — but say more needs to be done.

In a statement to local media, Ugandan People’s Defense Forces, or UPDF, spokesperson Flavia Byekwaso says Major General Abel Kandiho was not given a fair hearing by U.S. authorities before announcing what she described as unilateral financial sanctions.

Byekwaso, a brigadier general, said that as a country and the UPDF, in particular, they were disappointed that such a decision could be made by a country they consider friendly, a partner and a great ally.

She said the decision was made without due process and in total disregard of the principle of fair hearing, coupled with failure to make the necessary consultation.

“You know, there’s separating duty from a person. When these arrests are made, they are made on account of crime,” Byekwaso told VOA.

The U.S. Treasury Department says that as commander of the Ugandan Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI), Kandiho and other CMI officers targeted individuals due to their nationality, political views, or criticism of the Ugandan government.

It says individuals were taken into custody and held, often without legal proceedings, at CMI detention facilities where they were subjected to horrific beatings and other egregious acts by CMI officials, including sexual abuse and electrocutions, often resulting in significant long-term injury and even death.

It says in some cases, Kandiho was personally involved, leading interrogations of detained individuals.

Speaking to local media Wednesday, Kandiho brushed off the sanctions, saying they were politically motivated and inconsequential, and warned that unilateral punishments imposed by the U.S. risked alienating its allies.

He says he has no business in the U.S., was concentrating on threats in the region and says he will not allow his attention to be diverted. 

David Lewis Rubongoya, secretary general of the opposition National Unity Platform party, tells VOA the party is glad the United States is taking the CMI matter seriously.

Rubongoya says they have failed to get accountability from Ugandan authorities who violate human rights with impunity.

“The regime has stuffed the courts and made sure you cannot get accountability,” said Rubongoya. “So, when international actors issue sanctions of this nature, it’s a welcome relief especially to the victims of these violations.”

Executive Director Foundation for Human Rights Initiative Uganda Livingstone Sewanyana says as activists, they have always advocated for targeted sanctions, which include travel restrictions for those responsible for the abuses. 

Sewanyana says the U.S. move is a good one, but not adequate.

“We need to go a step beyond that to ensure that these people comply,” said Sewanyana. “So, I think they are imposing those travel restrictions as a first step to secure some sort of commitment from the government of Uganda.”

After Uganda’s general elections in January, many young men who had previously been reported missing reappeared, detailing horrid tales of torture by security members.

In August, while addressing the nation, President Yoweri Museveni blamed the torture on acts by individual officers and the failure of senior commanders to instruct junior officers on what should and shouldn’t be done.

Museveni promised to eliminate such torture and use the law to uproot the culture of reactionary behavior in the armed forces, though no action on this front has been evident.
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Police in Malawi have arrested two former cabinet ministers and a former reserve bank governor over the sale of a state-owned bank. The government says the arrests are aimed at cleaning up corruption but the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) says the arrests are a form of political persecution.

Former finance minister Joseph Mwanamveka was arrested Tuesday evening while former local government minister Ben Phiri and former reserve bank governor Dalitso Kabambe turned themselves over to police Wednesday.

Police say the three are facing charges of abuse of office and fraud.

James Kadadzera, spokesperson for Malawi’s Police Service explains.

“Honorable Mwanamveka and Dr. Kabambe have been arrested with issue to do with IMF Extended Credit Facility. Honorable Mwanamveka on his own also has been arrested on the issue to do with the sale of the Malawi Savings Bank in 2015. Honorable Ben Phiri has been arrested in relation to some corruption issues at the Ministry of Gender between 2018 and 2020.” 

The arrests come two days after Malawi’s attorney general told reporters that the government is investigating the sale of Malawi Savings Bank and also issues that led the IMF to withhold its Extended Credit Facility or (ECF) to Malawi. 

Six years ago, the administration of President Peter Mutharika sold the state-owned savings bank to Thom Mpinganjira, who is now saving a nine-year jail term for attempting to bribe judges who were handling a 2019 election dispute case. 

Police spokesman Kadadzera says investigations revealed that Mwanamveka and Kabambe falsified some documents in an attempt to convince the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that Malawi was meeting terms needed to use the ECF. 

He says as a result of this scheme, the IMF suspended the Extended Credit Facility, which has had a negative impact on ordinary Malawians. 

The arrests are the latest in a string of cases that President Lazarus Chakwera’s government says are aimed at cleaning up corruption. 

In a statement Wednesday, the opposition DPP, the party of former president Mutharika, expressed shock at the arrests. 

Spokesperson Shadreck Namalomba said although they cannot rule out political persecution, the party is anxiously waiting to hear the charges that have been leveled against its members. 

“However [as far as] politics is concerned, you cannot rule out politics as well, because each regime has its goals, what it wants to achieve but for an onlooker it demonstrates commitment to fight corruption,” reacted Malawi University political scientist, Mustapha Hussein. 

Hussein added the government should produce evidence against the former officials and pursue the matter legally to clear itself from allegations of practicing political persecution. 

Police spokesperson Kadadzera says more arrests will follow soon. 
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Burundi’s government says 38 prisoners were killed in a fire Tuesday morning in Gitega, the country’s political capital. 

Vice President Prosper Bazombanza announced the deaths. More than 60 other people have been injured and the death toll could rise. 

The prison in Gitega is overcrowded with more than 1,500 inmates in cells designed to hold 400, according to local reports.
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A Zimbabwe court has dropped a case against investigative journalist and government critic Hopewell Chin’ono, charged with inciting public violence last year for supporting banned demonstrations on Twitter.

The outspoken, award-winning journalist has been detained three times and spent two months in prison since he backed anti-government protests in July 2020, when he was first arrested and charged.

Two tweets landed him back in jail in November and January, for allegedly obstructing justice and publishing false information.

A high court in the capital Harare dropped the first charge on Monday, citing inexact wording in the charge sheet.

“The evident contradiction between the charge sheet and the state outline vitiates the charge sheet and renders it a nullity,” ruled Judge Siyabona Musithu.

The same court had cleared Chin’ono of publishing false information in April.

“It means my arrest was & my case were trumped up as I have always argued!” Chin’ono tweeted after the ruling.

“I spent the past 15 months in jails and courts for something that I didn’t do! It was cruel and tragic!”

Chin’ono still faces trial for alleged obstruction of public justice for posting a Tweet ahead of a judicial decision in November last year.

He has been freed on bail and banned from using his Twitter account to post anything that might incite the public to revolt against the government.
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Yunusa Bawa rolled his motorcycle away from the health care clinic where he works in Kuje, southwest of Nigeria’s capital of Abuja, and secured a black box of COVID-19 vaccine for the rough ride ahead.

The rocky and rugged pathway — Bawa described it as a road that “will make you tired” — was the least of his worries. Kidnapping along the route by armed gangs is rampant, he added.

But such trips are essential if Africa’s most populous country is to reach its ambitious goal of fully vaccinating 55 million of its 206 million people in the next two months.

As the emergence of the omicron variant underscores the importance of inoculating more people to prevent new mutations of the coronavirus, Nigeria also is facing a difficult path: Only 3.78 million are fully vaccinated.

Going directly to the villagers is one way to overcome any hesitancy they might have in getting the shots, said Bawa, 39.

“When you meet them in their home, there is no problem,” he added. “Everybody will take (the vaccine).”

On Dec. 1, Nigeria began requiring government employees to be vaccinated or show a negative test for the virus in the past 72 hours. Although authorities emphasize the country is capable of getting the Western-manufactured vaccines to everyone, health care workers in rural areas are struggling, mostly because of delayed government funding.

At the Sabo health center in Kuje, a town of about 300,000 people near Abuja’s international airport, Bawa and three colleagues work in dilapidated buildings with worn-out office equipment. In the past three months, only two of them have received compensation from the government, getting about 10,000 Nigerian naira (about $24).

That’s barely enough to cover the gas for Bawa’s personal motorcycle — “the one we are using to move around and inform them that we are coming on specific dates,” he said as he held the hand of 75-year-old Aminu Baodo before giving him a shot.

On a good day, he can get to about 20 people, but usually it is five or fewer. Many rural residents are poor and spend most of their time on farms scattered across the countryside, rather than in their homes in the village.

That often means a long day for Bawa and his coworkers, in addition to the risk of violence and waiting weeks for paltry compensation. He said he is unsure when he’ll next be paid by the government for his efforts or how long his personal finances will hold out.

A 20-year-old colleague, Yusuf Nasiru, said he hasn’t been paid or reimbursed for expenses since starting the job in November.

“If you should work on weekends, you should be paid,” said Dr. Ndaeyo Iwot, executive secretary of Abuja’s primary health care agency, which oversees vaccinations in the capital. He added that government workers who go out on mobile teams should have logistical support.

Armed groups in northwestern and central parts of Nigeria have killed hundreds of people this year and kidnapped thousands, seeking ransoms.

In areas not beset by violence, delayed payments to workers who transport and administer the vaccine remains “a big challenge for us,” said Dr. Rilwanu Mohammed, the top government official leading vaccination efforts in Bauchi state in Nigeria’s northeast.

“They won’t pay the money until when the people have finished the work, and there is no money for movement from one point to another,” Mohammed said, noting that he had to find funds himself to pay workers’ expenses.

Others criticize the government for not adequately funding a campaign to inform people about the coronavirus and the need for vaccination.

“Nobody around here knows anything about the vaccine to be frank,” said Omorogbe Omorogiuwa, who lives in Adamawa state, which borders the country of Chad in northeastern Nigeria. “Nobody is saying you should go and take it. In fact, it is assumed that (the pandemic) is over.”

In an interview with The Associated Press, Dr. Faisal Shuaib, executive director of Nigeria’s National Primary Health Care Development Agency that oversees the vaccination program, blamed “poor planning (and) poor coordination that results in difficulties or challenges in making sure that the vaccines actually get to rural areas.”

Officials also have to battle skepticism about the vaccine in many parts of Nigeria, a deeply religious country where some religious leaders spread misinformation about the virus and the vaccine to their millions of followers.

In addition to false information spread on social media, some in northern Nigeria remember the 1996 deaths of several children from meningitis during a Pfizer clinical trial for an oral antibiotic, resulting in a legal battle with the pharmaceutical giant that won payouts for some families.

Authorities have been engaging with traditional and religious leaders to get the truth about the vaccine to their followers, Shuaib said.

“But clearly, a lot of work still needs to be done by some states in ensuring that these vaccines get to the communities,” he added, noting that Nigeria has 30 million doses on hand, with many more arriving in the coming months.

Adewunmi Emoruwa, the lead strategist at Gatefield, an Abuja-based consultancy group, said the government should be more focused on “promoting vaccine safety and efficacy,” rather than implementing a mandate for state employees. Public servants will spread the word about the vaccine if they are “convinced” it will work, he added.

Musa Ahmed, an immunization officer in Kuje, said “social mobilization has not been taken place … and that is (why) some people are still doubting the vaccine.”

That has left a large part of Nigeria’s population unvaccinated and at “very great” risk of exposure, said Dr. Richard Mihigo, immunization and vaccines development program coordinator for the World Health Organization’s Africa regional office.

“As much as we give the opportunity to the virus to continue to circulate in a naive population, we give the virus the opportunity to mutate,” Mihigo said in an online briefing.

On Dec. 1, the Nigeria Center for Disease Control said the omicron variant was found in three travelers who arrived in the country late November — the first in West Africa to have recorded the omicron variant since scientists in southern Africa detected and reported it.

In Kaduna state, which neighbors the capital region, Bitrus Maiyaki is another health care worker taking the risk to carry vaccines to rural communities beset by violence.

“In order to support the activities of the government, we have surrendered (our lives),” Maiyaki, 41, told AP in a telephone interview from Jama’a, where he oversees vaccinations. “And we want to save lives. … We have taken an oath to serve our fatherland. We just take the bull by the horns.”
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Gambian police fired tear gas on Monday to disperse supporters of losing presidential candidate Ousainou Darboe as they took to the streets outside the capital Banjul to contest the re-election of President Adama Barrow. 

Hundreds of protesters had gathered in the community of Serekunda, 12 kilometers (7 miles) from Banjul, the day after Darboe and two other candidates said they would not accept Barrow’s resounding win in Saturday’s peaceful voting. 

Police intervened with tear gas when the crowd started scuffling with supporters of Barrow, according to a Reuters reporter at the scene. 

Later on, Monday, police broke up another protest of Darboe supporters near his house in Serekunda using tear gas. A witness saw some police beating protesters, before the crowd dispersed. 

The office of the Inspector General of Police said it was concerned about gatherings turning violent. 

“Without restraint, any form of post-electoral violence will jeopardize our legacy for tolerance, maturity and peacefulness. This Office therefore, strongly urges all Gambians to remain calm,” a police statement said. 

The election is a test of stability and democratic progress in the tiny West African country of 2.5 million people. They hope it will help draw a line under the oppressive 22-year rule of former president Yahya Jammeh, who lost to Barrow in 2016 and was forced into exile. 

Earlier on Monday, Essa Mbye Faal accepted defeat, backtracking from his earlier announcement that he would reject the results because of alleged problems at polling stations and other issues. 

“I have called Adama Barrow for his electoral victory,” he said, without explaining his change of heart. “I told my supporters that we have lost the elections and we should accept the will of God.” 

The two remaining hold-out candidates have not said how they will proceed. They have cited allegations of problems at polling stations and other issues and said on Sunday that “all actions are on the table.” 

Election observers from the African Union said the election was conducted in line with international standards, while EU observers praised the transparency of the voting and counting process. 

However, in its statement, the EU observer mission criticized the Independent Electoral Commission, saying its pre-election candidate acceptance process was overly opaque. 
…

The British government suspended visa applications from Nigeria on Monday in a move sparked by the omicron variant of the coronavirus. 

London’s travel ban on Nigeria took effect at 4 a.m. Monday, according to a statement from the UK’s Nigeria country office. UK authorities said the ban was deemed essential after 21 cases of the new variant were reported in travelers from Nigeria. 

UK citizens and residents traveling from Nigeria will be allowed re-entry but must isolate in a government-managed facility, the statement said. 

During a television interview on Sunday, Nigeria’s health minister Osagie Ehanire criticized the travel ban. 

He noted that the move contradicted the World Health Organization’s position that countries must collaborate and not shut their borders as a result of the new variant. 

“The rationale for being so hasty in putting countries on a red list is not something that is very helpful,” Ehanire said. “It’s going to disrupt commerce, family reunions, goods and services, particularly at this time of the year towards the Christmas festivities.” 

Nigeria announced three cases of the omicron variant last Wednesday, but the UK’s discovery of more cases in Nigerian travelers raised concerns about the possibility of undetected transmission in the country. 

However, Ehanire says that does not warrant a travel ban just yet. 

“We regularly get travelers coming in from the UK who are covid positive,” he said. “In fact, within the last two weeks, the COVID-positive arrivals that we had were 50 percent from the UK. There’s genetic sequencing going on, we shall have the result soon. We don’t know how many of them are necessarily omicron variant.” 

The omicron variant has spread to nearly 50 countries, and experts say the variant spreads more than twice as quickly as the delta variant. But scientists are not sure of omicron’s impact, and whether it causes the same numbers of hospitalizations and deaths.

Nigerian Justin Chukwemeka, who was scheduled to fly to the UK this week to reunite with his family, says the new travel ban is devastating.

“This whole development is new and it’s actually going to cause a lot of discomfort in different areas, financially, mentally and all that. I’m just hoping and believing that this doesn’t last long,” he said.

UK authorities say the ban will stay in place for three weeks before they review whether the measures are necessary.

 
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Thousands of Sudanese demonstrators rallied in the capital, Khartoum, and other parts of the country Monday to protest the country’s October military coup. 

Demonstrators said police fired tear gas to disperse protesters marching near the presidential palace. 

The Associated Press reported that protests also took place Monday in cities outside the capital, including Kassala, Sennar and Port Sudan. 

Sudan’s military took power on October 25, arresting dozens of officials in the country’s transitional government. It was the second coup in the country since a popular uprising in April 2019 forced the removal of longtime leader Omar al-Bashir. 

Sudan’s top general, Abdel Fattah Burhan, initially detained Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok but was forced to reinstate him in November following mass protests and international condemnation of the coup. 

Sudan’s pro-democracy movement has rejected the deal that put Hamdok back in the prime minister seat, saying a fully civilian government should be in power. 

Protest organizers said Monday they were demonstrating with the slogan “No negotiations, no compromise, no power-sharing” with the military. 

In other developments Monday, the Sudan Doctors Committee said the death toll from fighting over the weekend in Sudan’s western Darfur region climbed to 48. The tribal violence took place in the Kreinik area. Darfur has seen decades of instability and rebellion. 

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

 
…

Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim, a former anti-apartheid fighter who, like the greats of the struggle he encountered, spent part of his life in Robben Island penitentiary in South Africa, died Monday at the age of 84. 

He died of a long illness at his home in Johannesburg, the ruling African National Congress said in a statement.

The party hailed “a longtime ANC member, a patriot who has served his country in many capacities with humility, dedication and distinction.”

Born on July 1, 1937, the activist of Indian origin had a journey similar to that of the big names in the fight against the white racist regime in South Africa. 

Switched from nonviolent protest to armed struggle under apartheid, he was arrested in 1963 for sabotage and sent to Robben Island for 15 years. He was released in 1979.

At the end of the 1980s, when he joined the ANC in exile and multiplied the missions, he was kidnapped by apartheid agents in neighboring Swaziland (now Eswatini), tortured, then sentenced for “treason” and sent back to Robben Island.

In prison, he studied with Nelson Mandela and shared a cell with Jacob Zuma, who like Mandela was a future president of South Africa. 

Ebrahim was finally free in 1991. The first multiparty elections were held in South Africa three years later. 

He joined the government in 2009 as deputy foreign minister, a post he held for six years. 

“I am saddened by the death of a comrade and distinguished advisor who has dedicated his life to the liberation of our country and the resolution of conflicts in the world,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement, welcoming a “sweet revolutionary.”

 
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Inter-communal clashes between Arabs and non-Arabs left at least 30 people dead and 40 others injured in Sudan’s West Darfur state on Sunday, according to eyewitnesses and officials.

Local militia supported by a paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces, attacked internally displaced persons in Kreinik camp and torched their houses, witnesses said. 

The latest wave of fighting, which has been going on for weeks, stemmed from a dispute late Saturday between a customer and the owner of a cell phone store who was shot dead. 

Arab fighters known as Janjaweed attacked the camp early Sunday morning after the murder. 

Thirty bodies were brought to Kreinik Hospital and more than 40 others who were wounded were treated there, Mustafa Mohammed Zain, a medical assistant at Kirenik Hospital, told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus on Monday.

“Up to now we are still receiving wounded people even though the fighting stopped at around five a.m. this morning,” he said. “Some of them are in critical condition and some might die within the coming one or two hours.”

The hospital lacks basic medical equipment and does not have enough medical workers to respond to the wounded, Zain said. He called on state and national health authorities to urgently intervene.

“This is a big, rural hospital and it cannot be managed only by medical officers,” Zain said. “The government is supposed to send us doctors to help the situation.”

The hospital has run out of supplies like gauze and cotton, Zain said.

“We used all the reserve stock,” he said. “Medical workers are not safe and cannot go to the nearest location to get more medical supplies.”

The United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Sudan said an estimated 4,300 people have been displaced from the Jebel Moon area of West Darfur state in the last week due to fighting.

Mohammed Issa Alieu, the acting regional governor for Darfur, last week called the humanitarian situation in Jebel Moon “horrific” and appealed to aid agencies to quickly intervene.

Thousands of displaced families have fled to eastern Chad and are exposed to bad weather, Alieu said.

Adam Rijal, spokesman for the General Coordination for Refugees and Displaced in Darfur, a local advocacy group for IDP’s, told South Sudan in Focus that some political leaders in Sudan’s transitional government are behind what he calls “systematic” attacks on indigenous civilians in Darfur.

Renewed clashes erupted between different groups across the Darfur region shortly after the joint United Nations and African Union peacekeeping mission ended its mandate a year ago.

Rijal blames the United Nations Security Council for what he calls a unilateral decision to withdraw from the area without consulting the affected population in Darfur.

“We are supposed to have a voice on this decision because we are the ones facing the pain of the situation more than any other people,” he said.

Despite a peace agreement signed between the government and armed groups in Darfur more than a year ago, the area has seen repeated clashes between different ethnic communities. 

A land dispute last month between communities in the Jebel Moon area led to clashes that left at least 17 people dead.

Under the Juba Peace Agreement, various forces were supposed to deploy a 12,000-strong presence in Darfur within 90 days to secure the area and provide protection for civilians.
…

In the shadows of the coronavirus pandemic, violence against women has been on the rise around the world, including in South Africa, where half of the country’s women report at least one incident of violence in their lifetime. Now, a local tech company has developed an alarm system to help stop the abuse. For VOA, Linda Givetash reports from Johannesburg. Camera – Zaheer Cassim.
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Nigerians are turning to firewood and charcoal for cooking after an October surge in gas prices doubled the price for cooking gas. Nigeria’s liquefied petroleum gas suppliers and environmentalists are urging authorities to bring prices down for consumers to prevent a surge in air pollution and deforestation. Timothy Obiezu reports from Abuja, Nigeria. Camera – Emeka Gibson.
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South Africa is preparing its hospitals for more admissions, as the Omicron coronavirus variant pushes the country into a fourth wave of COVID-19 cases, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday. 

Omicron was first detected in southern Africa last month and has triggered global alarm as governments fear another surge in infections. 

South Africa’s daily infections surged last week to more than 16,000 on Friday from roughly 2,300 on Monday. 

Ramaphosa said in a weekly newsletter that Omicron appeared to be dominating new cases in most of the country’s nine provinces and urged more people to get vaccinated against COVID-19. 

“South Africa now has sufficient supplies of vaccines, … vaccination is essential for our economic recovery because as more people are vaccinated more areas of economic activity will be opened up,” he said. 

The government would soon convene the National Coronavirus Command Council to review the state of the pandemic and decide whether further measures are needed to keep people safe, Ramaphosa said. 

Scientists in South Africa and other countries are racing to establish whether Omicron is more contagious, causes more severe disease and is more resistant to existing vaccines. 

But some anecdotal accounts from doctors and experts in South Africa are reassuring, suggesting that many infections it causes are mild. 

“We are keeping a close eye on the rates of infection and hospitalization,” Ramaphosa said. 
…

Two explosions rocked U.N. camps in the northern Mali city of Gao on Sunday, causing damage but no casualties, AFP journalists at the scene said.

The early morning blasts shook the barracks of the U.N. mission in Mali, called MINUSMA, forcing the occupants to take refuge in shelters for two hours.

The French army reported only material damage, but had no information on the possible perpetrators of the blasts.

MINUSMA spokeswoman Myriam Dessables told AFP that two other camps in the north had been targeted with mortar fire on Saturday, causing no damage.

The latest violence in the West African country comes after 31 people were killed in an attack on Friday by suspected jihadists near the central town of Bandiagara.

Mali has been struggling to contain an Islamist insurgency that first erupted in the north in 2012 and has since claimed thousands of military and civilian lives.

Despite the presence of thousands of French and U.N. troops, the conflict has engulfed central Mali and spread to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.

France, the former colonial power in Mali, has said it will reduce its troop numbers in the Sahel.

It also said it is planning to transfer troops from Kidal, Tessalit and Timbuktu to Gao and Menaka, closer to the turbulent “three-borders” zone near Burkina Faso and Niger.
…

Gambian President Adama Barrow had a narrow early lead after Saturday’s presidential election, according to provisional results from the first few constituencies to be verified by the electoral commission.

In a test of stability and democratic progress, the small West African country is holding its first election since former President Yahya Jammeh was voted out of office in 2016, ending 22 years of autocratic rule.

Barrow, a 56-year-old former security guard and property developer, ran against five rivals, including his former political mentor, Ousainou Darboe, 73, who was seen as the main challenger.

Preliminary results from four of the 53 constituencies showed Barrow in the lead with 14,599 votes vs. Darboe’s 6,188, the election commission’s chairman, Alieu Momarr Njai, said on state television in the early hours of Sunday.

Under the simple majority system, provisional results are expected to be announced later on Sunday with numbers from individual constituencies released in the interim.

Gambia uses a unique voting system — marbles dropped into each candidate’s ballot drum — to avoid spoiled ballots in a nation with a high illiteracy rate.

Jammeh, who was defeated by an opposition coalition that backed current President Barrow, fled to Equatorial Guinea in 2017 after refusing to accept defeat.

Earlier on Saturday, Barrow cast his vote in Banjul and said he was confident of victory.

“I’m happy to see a large turnout from Gambian voters,” he said, accompanied by his two wives.

Nearly 1 million people from a population of 2.5 million are registered to vote in Gambia, mainland Africa’s smallest country.

“I want to see a better Gambia, a far better Gambia than the previous years,” said civil servant Bubacarr Kanteh, 39, outside a polling station.

Other candidates include Essa Mbye Faal, who served as chief counsel of Gambia’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission that chronicled the abuses of Jammeh’s rule, and Mama Kandeh, who came third in 2016 and is backed by Jammeh.

As campaigning wrapped up on Thursday, hundreds of jubilant Barrow supporters gathered in downtown Banjul for a final rally, hoping another Barrow term would secure stability as Gambia seeks to put Jammeh’s rule behind it.

Critics, however, say Barrow has broken his promises, pointing to how he backtracked on a pledge to serve only three years after winning in 2016. Barrow has argued the constitution requires him to serve out a full five-year term. 

 
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Election officials started counting marble votes Saturday in Gambia after the polls closed in the country’s first presidential election in decades that did not include former dictator Yahya Jammeh, a milestone seen as a test of democracy in the West African country.

Long lines of Gambians came to vote to exercise their democratic rights as demands for justice in the post-Jammeh era rise. Nearly 1 million registered voters were expected to drop marbles into one of six ballot bins, each adorned with the face and name of a candidate.

The candidates include incumbent President Adama Barrow, who defeated Jammeh in 2016 as an opposition leader. 

Barrow’s challengers are former mentor and head opposition leader Ousainou Darboe of the United Democratic Party; Mama Kandeh of Gambia Democratic Congress; Halifa Sallah of the People’s Democratic Organization for Independence and Socialism; Abdoulie Ebrima Jammeh of the National Unity Party; and Essa Mbye Faal, former lead counsel of Gambia’s truth commission, who was running as an independent. 

“We will never lose this election,” Barrow said after voting in Banjul. “I am a leader who is focused on development, and that development will continue in this country. I know in the next 24 hours my people will be celebrating in the streets.”

Barrow stressed the Independent Electoral Commission must remain impartial. 

Darboe voted in Fajara, a neighborhood in Bakau, near the capital, using a walker because of health problems. Flanked by a huge escort, including his wives, he added his voice to calls for peaceful elections. 

“We all win if there is peaceful election,” he said.

Independent Electoral Commission presiding officer Musa Mbye told The Associated Press that there were no major problems during the vote. IEC Chair Alieu Mommar Njie said election results would be announced by Monday. 

After polls closed, several officials started the counts by laying the marbles on wooden boards to mark 100 to 200 votes per board. Political party representatives and polling station heads also sign off on the vote count. This year, it will also then be put into an app developed for Gambia’s election tracking, aptly called Marble.

All the presidential candidates vowed to strengthen the country’s tourism-dependent economy amid the coronavirus pandemic so fewer Gambians feel compelled to travel the dangerous migration route to Europe.

While the 2016 election that removed Jammeh from power after 22 years saw Gambians go from fear to elation, many are still not satisfied with the progress the nation has made. 

“Since President Barrow came to power, the prices of food commodities kept rising. The average Gambian lives in poverty, so we want a candidate to be elected to address this problem,” Kebba Gaye, 23, said in the town of Wellingara. “We youths want to elect a leader that will respect and value our votes. A leader that will create employment for us.” 

In a nearby neighborhood, Marietou Bojang, 24, agreed on the need for change, saying people don’t have enough to eat.

“I am voting because myself and other women are suffering silently. A bag of rice has drastically gone up,” she told the AP, adding that not enough has been done to fight corruption. 

Many Gambians want certainty that the new leaders will bring the tiny West African nation of about 2.4 million toward peace and justice.

Jammeh, who seized power in 1994 in a bloodless coup, was voted out of office in 2016. After initially agreeing to step down, Jammeh resisted, and a six-week crisis saw neighboring West African countries prepare to send in troops to stage a military intervention. Jammeh was forced into exile and fled to Equatorial Guinea. 

Jammeh’s two-decade rule was marked by arbitrary arrests, forced disappearances and summary executions that were revealed through dramatic testimony during Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission hearings that lasted for years. 

Last week, the commission handed its 17-volume report to Barrow, urging him to ensure that perpetrators of human rights violations are prosecuted. Barrow said he would do that. 

Still, many Gambians feel betrayed after Barrow’s National People’s Party reached a deal with the top figures of the former ruling party, despite Jammeh’s split with that party.

Links to Jammeh are not only an issue for the current president. Opposition candidate Kandeh has been supported by a breakaway political faction that Jammeh formed during his exile in Equatorial Guinea. While Kandeh has kept silent about Jammeh’s possible return to Gambia, his allies are unequivocally saying that Jammeh would come back if they emerged victorious from the election.

Of the other candidates, Sallah and Darboe are established politicians, but they faced challenges from newcomers Faal and Ebrima Jammeh, who are making waves in urban areas.
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Somalia’s annual Mogadishu International Book Fair has resumed following the suspension of the event last year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Restrictions were applied to the invitation-only event this year in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The sixth edition of the Mogadishu book fair was a big distraction for residents of the capital, Mogadishu, away from the political tension linked to disagreements over the ongoing parliamentary elections in the country.

This year’s book fair was limited to a few people, especially authors, due to the coronavirus pandemic. But according to the founder of the fair, Mohamed Diini, organizers are already working to accommodate more people next year.

“In essence, we really are doing about 10% of what we did and, ultimately, we just wanted to do something, even if it is little so that next year, we can go back to our previous state, Insha Allah,” Diini  said.

Selected students from Mogadishu schools were invited this year to the children’s corner, where they enjoyed reading, storytelling and cultural tales.

Hanan Abdi Tahlil from Mogadishu International School is one of them.

She said she is very happy and excited to take part in the Mogadishu book fair this year, adding that they enjoyed storytelling from Cigaal Shidaad and Wiil Waal fictional tales among others. She also said she was looking forward to attending next year.

Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble, who is busy resolving an electoral-related stalemate, congratulated the organizers of the book fair.

In a tweet, the prime minister stressed the need to encourage the pen and the book to replace arms and tribalism.
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A Sudanese pro-democracy group has condemned comments by the U.N. chief urging citizens to support a deal that reinstated Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, so the country can have “a peaceful transition towards a true democracy.”

The Sudanese Professionals’ Association, which was at the forefront of the uprising against former autocrat Omar al-Bashir, rejected late Friday Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s comments as a “moral and political failure.”

Hamdok was deposed as part of the Oct. 25 coup by military leaders that brought international criticism and disrupted Sudan’s fragile transition to democracy. He was reinstated last month amid international pressure in a deal that calls for an independent technocratic cabinet under military oversight.

The SPA said Guterres’ comments were seen as a “justification for violence” against coup protesters who vowed to continue their street demonstrations against the deal, despite deadly violence by security forces.

The United States, its allies and the United Nations have condemned the use of excessive force against protesters who have since taken to the streets en masse. Dozens of protesters were killed and hundreds of others were wounded since the Oct. 25 coup.

The agreement, signed on Nov. 21, has angered Sudan’s pro-democracy movement, which accuses Hamdok of allowing himself to serve as a fig leaf for continued military rule.

Guterres told a news conference Wednesday that he understands “the indignation” and outrage of Sudanese who have seen the military coup and don’t want any solution involving the military.

“But I would like to appeal for common sense,” he said. “We have a situation which is, yes, not perfect, but which could allow for a transition towards democracy.”

The U.N. chief warned that calling into question the solution that led to Hamdok’s reinstatement “would be very dangerous for Sudan.”

The SPA said it would continue peaceful protests until the establishment of a “full civilian” government to achieve the democratic transition.

Hamdok’s reinstatement is the biggest concession made by the military since the coup but the takeover has left the country’s transition to democracy mired in crisis.

Since his appointment in 2019, Hamdok has been the civilian face of the government and one of the pro-democracy movement’s most respected figures. But Sudan’s key pro-democracy groups and political parties have said the deal that reinstated him falls short of their demands for full civilian rule.

Coup architect Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head of the ruling Sovereign Council, meanwhile said the deal was “a true start” for the democratic transition. 

He told the Saudi Arabia-owned satellite news network al-Arabian in an interview aired late Fridayn that the military has sought to establish a broader consensus with a “new political charter,” that will be announced soon.

“I am optimistic that most of the political forces will sign the new agreement,” he said. “It will be open to include all political forces that want to complete the democratic transition.”

Burhan has asserted that Hamdok has “full authority” to appoint his technocratic cabinet as stated in the November deal reinstating Hamdok. 

“We just want him to have independent figures that don’t have political affiliations. … Other than that, there are no restrictions on him,” Burhan said.
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Botswana’s reported COVID-19 cases have declined despite the detection of the highly transmissible omicron variant of coronavirus. Botswana was one of the first two countries in the world, along South Africa to report cases of the Omicron variant.

While COVID-19 cases are surging in neighboring South Africa, Botswana has reported a decrease.

Last week, Botswana reported 19 cases of the new omicron variant after it was first detected in four diplomats visiting the southern African country.

But COVID-19 Task Force scientific advisor Mogomotsi Matshaba says the country’s overall figures remain low, with only 27 cases recorded between Monday and Thursday.

“The new number of active cases has decrease to 431, a positive development that we encourage all of you to continue to work together so that it remains low,” Matshaba said. “The whole country remains green in terms of the COVID zones meaning the disease activity is relatively low, but it doesn’t mean there is no disease.”    

Matshaba says the number of those infected with the new omicron variant is at 24, with all displaying mild symptoms and not requiring hospitalization.

He says the low number of cases despite the presence of a highly transmittable variant could be due to various factors.

He says, there could be a number of reasons for this. It could be vaccination or it could be the public education about the pandemic, Matshaba says. But, he warns the situation can change any moment.        

Botswana is one of the few African countries to achieve the World Health Organization vaccination target of inoculating 10 percent of its population by the end of September.

At least 21.6 percent of its more than two million people are fully vaccinated, while nearly one million have received the first dose.

Due to the lower caseload, Botswana has decided against imposing stricter limits, unlike neighboring Zimbabwe.

Botswana’s president, Mokgweetsi Masisi, in an address to the nation, says despite the emergence of omicron, the situation remains stable.

“To date, all our key indicators remain stable,” Masisi said. “This is comforting although it still does not warrant any complacency on our part in terms of behavior and other attitudinal patterns towards this dreadful disease. We are actively monitoring the evolving situation in view of the new variant of concern.”   

Masisi says it is unfortunate the country is paying the price for detecting and reporting the new variant to the world.

“It defeats the spirit of multilateral cooperation in dealing with this global pandemic,” Masisi said. “The decision to ban our citizens from travelling to certain countries was hastily made and is not only unfair but it is also unjustified. The harshness of the decision has the effect of shaking our belief in the sincerity of declared friendship and commitment to equality and economic prosperity for us.”    

The outbreak of the omicron variant has seen most countries place travel bans particularly on southern African countries.  

The variant has since been reported in countries across the globe.
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The Botswana scientist who may well have discovered the omicron variant of the coronavirus says he has been on a “roller coaster of emotions,” with the pride of accomplishment followed by dismay over the travel bans immediately slapped on southern African countries.

“Is that how you reward science? By blacklisting countries?” Dr. Sikhulile Moyo, a virologist at the Botswana Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership, said in an interview Thursday with The Associated Press.

“The virus does not know passports, it does not know borders,” he added. “We should not do geopolitics about the virus. … We should be collaborating and understanding.”

Moyo was doing genomic sequencing of COVID-19 samples at his lab in Botswana two weeks ago and noticed three cases that seemed dramatically different, with an unusual pattern showing multiple mutations. He continued studying the results and by early last week, decided to publicly release the data on the internet.

Soon scientists in South Africa said they had made the same findings. And an identical case in Hong Kong was also identified.

A new coronavirus variant had been discovered, and soon the World Health Organization named it omicron. It has now been identified in 38 countries and counting, including much of Western Europe and the United States. And the U.S. and many other nations have imposed flight restrictions to try to contain the emerging threat.

Speaking from his lab in Gaborone, Botswana’s capital, Moyo bristled at being described as the man who first identified omicron.

“Scientists should work together and the ‘who first did that’ syndrome should go. We should all be able to be proud that we all contributed in one way or the other,” said the 48-year-old scientist.

In fact, he noted that the variant was found to be something entirely new only by comparing it to other viruses online in a public database shared by scientists.

“The only way you can really see that you see something new is when you compare with millions of sequences. That’s why you deposit it online,” he said.

The Zimbabwe-born Moyo — who is also a research associate at Harvard’s school of public health, a married father of three, and a gospel singer — expressed pride in the way he and his international colleagues were transparent about their findings and sounded the alarm to the rest of the world.

“We’re excited that we probably gave a warning signal that may have averted many deaths and many infections,” he said.

Omicron startled scientists because it had more than 50 mutations.

“It is a big jump in the evolution of the virus and has many more mutations that we expected,” said Tulio de Oliveira, director of the Center for Epidemic Response and Innovation in South Africa, who taught Moyo when he was earning his Ph.D. in virology from South Africa’s Stellenbosch University.

Little is known about the variant, and the world is watching nervously. It’s not clear if it makes people more seriously ill or can evade the vaccine. But early evidence suggests it might be more contagious and more efficient at re-infecting people who have had a bout with COVID-19.

In the coming weeks, labs around the world will be working to find out what to expect from omicron and just how dangerous it is.

“What is important is collaboration and contribution,” Moyo said. “I think we should value that kind of collaboration because it will generate great science and great contributions. We need each other, and that’s the most important.”

South Africa is seeing a dramatic surge in infections that may be driven by omicron. The country reported more than 16,000 new COVID-19 cases Friday, up from about 200 per day in mid-November.

The number of omicron cases confirmed by genetic sequencing in Botswana has grown to 19, while South Africa has recorded more than 200. So far, most of the cases are in people who did not get vaccinated.

“I have a lot of hope from the data that we see, that those vaccinated should be able to have a lot of protection,” Moyo said. “We should try to encourage as many people to get vaccinated as possible.”

Moyo warned that the world “must go to a mirror and look at themselves” and make sure Africa’s 1.3 billion people are not left behind in the vaccination drive.

He credited earlier research and investment into fighting HIV and AIDS with building Botswana’s capacity for doing genetic sequencing. That made it easier for researchers to switch to working on the coronavirus, he said.

Amid the COVID-19 crisis, Moyo finds some cause for optimism.

“What gives me hope is that the world is now speaking the same language,” said Moyo, explaining that the pandemic has seen a new global commitment to scientific research and surveillance.

He added that the pandemic has also been a wake-up call for Africa.

“I think our policymakers have realized the importance of science, the importance of research,” Moyo said. “I think COVID has magnified, has made us realize that we need to focus on things that are important and invest in our health systems, invest in our primary health care.”

He added: “I think it’s a great lesson for humanity.” 

 
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Worsening security in Burkina Faso is hitting the country’s 1.3 million internally displaced people (IDPs), with many being forced to flee their places of refuge for a second time. One refugee camp was closed after it was visited by Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie. And rights groups say they are investigating reports terrorists infiltrated another camp to commit acts of sexual abuse.

As security in Burkina Faso has deteriorated in recent months, state control outside of major cities has diminished and terrorist attacks by groups linked to Islamic State, al-Qaida and local bandits are going up. Increasingly, people displaced by the conflict are falling victim to terrorists in areas they had once fled to for safety.

In June, Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie visited the Goudoubo refugee camp in Burkina Faso’s war-torn Sahel province to mark World Refugee Day. During her speech at the camp, the special envoy for the U.N.’s refugee agency (UNHCR) said, “This is where the humanity and decency of the world is measured. Where human strength and resilience are most clearly and starkly seen. Not in the world’s gleaming capitals, but in places like this.”

Last month the Goudoubo refugee camp was closed. After incursions by terrorist groups at the camp, security forces were unable to guarantee safety. More than 11,000 refugees living there have since been relocated to the nearby town of Dori.

Aminata, who is one of those refugees and who works with the UNHCR to advocate on behalf of female refugees from Goudoubo, said, “Today, women come by and tell me that all their possessions remain in Goudoubo, because they did not have the strength to carry them. They only grabbed their children’s hands to leave the camp.” She said they have to buy water to survive and there are no places in the schools for their children.

Charles Zoueke, protection officer for the UNHCR in Burkina Faso, said the refugees, now in Dori, don’t have enough resources. “We should help them to be integrated in Dori,” he said. “To do that, it is important for us to arrange for them to access services.”

In an attack last week in Foube, in the country’s center north region, 10 civilians and nine soldiers were killed while IDPs were caught in crossfire and forced to flee to nearby Barsalogho.

Corinne Dufka, the West Africa Director of Human Rights Watch, reported an incident last week of several sexual assaults against female IDPs by terrorists at a site in Dablo, which is close to Barsalogho.

Security forces are believed to have left the site some days before the abuses took place.

In a statement to mark the visit of the U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet to Burkina Faso earlier this week, Human Rights Watch urged the high commissioner to encourage “authorities to reinforce the security presence in areas especially vulnerable to attack by abusive armed Islamists; strengthen early warning networks; reduce the military’s response times to threatened villages.”

The Ministry of Women, National Solidarity and Humanitarian Action did not respond to a request for an interview on recent incidents of IDPs falling victim to terror attacks. 

 
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The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Friday to allow international naval forces to continue using all necessary means to fight piracy off the coast of Somalia — but only for the next three months because the Somali government says there has been no piracy incident for over four years and it’s time end the operation.

The council had been renewing the authorization for regional organizations and countries to fight against piracy and armed robbery off the coast of the Horn of Africa nation for 12 months. But this year the Somali government, whose consent is required, objected to another yearlong renewal sought by the United States, which drafted the resolution, and agreed only to three months after negotiations with the U.S. and other council members.

“We believe that the Security Council resolutions on piracy and armed robbery off the coast of Somalia have successfully achieved its intended objective,” Somalia’s U.N. Ambassador Abukar Dahir Osman told the council after the vote.

He said 13 years after adoption of the council’s first resolution to fight piracy, the milestone of “four consecutive years of no single piracy incident and no piracy hostage held in Somalia is a true testament of federal government of Somalia’s ownership of the problem, in addition to our hard work in collaboration with our international partners.”

Osman said Somalia gave consent for a three-month extension of the mandate to allow a transition to bilateral arrangements within Somali national waters “to help us in the maritime security, which is the only sustainable way to preserve hard-earned gains.”

The Security Council resolution welcomed the steady decline in ship hijackings off the coast of Somalia since 2011 and that there have been no successful hijackings for ransom reported since March 2017. But it recognized “the ongoing threat that resurgent piracy and armed robbery at sea poses,” citing reports by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia, which continue to illustrate that piracy “has been repressed but not eradicated.”

The resolution commends the efforts of the European Union naval forces operation off Somalia, which was launched in December 2008, as well as African Union counter-piracy activities onshore in Somalia, and other naval efforts in the region, including by China, India, Japan, South Korea and Russia.

Three decades of chaos — from warlords to al-Qaida affiliate al-Shabab and the emergence of an Islamic State-linked group — have ripped apart Somalia, which only in the past few years has begun trying to rebuild and find its footing. Pressure on President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed to hold elections has intensified since scheduled elections on Feb. 8 failed to take place.

While noting improvements in Somalia, the Security Council said it also “recognizes that piracy exacerbates instability in Somalia by introducing large amounts of illicit cash that fuels additional crime, corruption and terrorism.”

Asked after the meeting what will happen to naval operations when the council mandate ends in three months, Niger’s U.N. Ambassador Abdou Abarry, who is the current council president, told The Associated Press: “We will continue the negotiations, and we will wait for the outcome of the negotiations between Somalia and the African Union.”

France’s political coordinator, Sheraz Gasri, told the council that three months is too short to allow the European Union and others to continue the naval operation “under proper conditions.”

“There’s a risk of a security vacuum, which would be disastrous for Somalia and for the region as a whole,” she warned. “Indeed, the operation is not just limited to restricting piracy, it’s also stopping weapons and arms trafficking for the Shabab and the security of boats for food supplies and supplies of humanitarian assistance to Somalia.”

Gasri said France will continue listening to Somali authorities and “takes note of their will to coordinate the struggle against piracy.” In return, she said, France asks that Somalia recognize that such an evolution needs “concerted efforts” and that maritime security can’t be separated from the country’s overall security transition.

Ireland’s U.N. Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason echoed France’s concern about the threat to the EU’s operation, which she said “crucial.” 
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