Suspected Islamist militants killed at least 19 people in a raid on a village in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, local authorities said. The attackers looted houses and started fires in Kasanzi-Kithovo near Virunga National Park in North Kivu province overnight between Friday and Saturday, they said. “I don’t know where to go with my two children,” villager Kahindo Lembula, who lost four of her relatives in the attack, told Reuters by phone. “Only God will help us.” The head of Buliki district, Kalunga Meso, and local rights group CEPADHO blamed the assault on the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) — an Islamist militant group accused of killing thousands of people in recent years, mostly in remote areas. There was no immediate claim of responsibility and the ADF could not be reached. The government declared martial law in North Kivu and neighboring Ituri province at the beginning of May, in an attempt to quell a surge in violence that the military largely attributes to the ADF. But the number of civilians killed in such attacks has only increased since then, according to the Kivu Security Tracker, which maps unrest in eastern Congo. Earlier in August, President Felix Tshisekedi said special forces from the United States would soon deploy to the east to gauge the potential for a local anti-terrorism unit to combat Islamist violence. The ADF was blacklisted in March by Washington as a terrorist group. It has publicly aligned itself with Islamic State, which in turn has claimed responsibility for some of its Attacks. But in a June report, U.N. experts said they had found no evidence of direct support from Islamic State to the ADF. 
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 Zambia’s new finance minister, Situmbeko Musokotwane, said in an interview aired on Sunday that it was critical to agree to a lending program with the IMF because it would give creditors confidence and the government cheaper and longer financing.Musokotwane, appointed on Friday by recently elected President Hakainde Hichilema, faces the daunting task of trying to pull the southern African country out of a protracted debt crisis and has pledged to prioritize talks with the IMF.He told public broadcaster ZNBC he was confident Zambia would get an IMF program before the end of the year and thereafter restructure its debt.New Zambian President Promises Bold Agenda In an interview with VOA, Hakainde Hichilema promises to boost a poor economy, defend human rights, and have better relations regionally and with Washington.  The government has a $750 million Eurobond due next year but says it cannot repay it.”We don’t have the money to pay back. This is why it is important that we get on (an) IMF (program) so that we can re-arrange not to pay next year. I am 100% confident that it will be done,” he said.Zambia, Africa’s second-biggest copper producer, became the continent’s first coronavirus-era sovereign default in November after failing to keep up with payments on its more than $12 billion in international debt.But after Hichilema’s landslide election victory this month over incumbent Edgar Lungu, the country’s dollar bonds and kwacha currency have rallied on hopes the new administration will bring a swift resolution to its debt woes.Of Zambia’s external debt, about $3 billion is in Eurobonds, $3.5 billion is bilateral debt, $2.1 billion is owed to multilateral lending agencies and $2.9 billion is commercial bank debt.A quarter of the total is held by either China or Chinese entities via deals shrouded in secrecy clauses, making negotiations for IMF relief particularly tough.Musokotwane also told ZNBC that Zambia hoped to raise annual copper output from its current level of roughly 800,000 metric tons to 2 million metric tons by 2026.He said he would present a budget within 90 days of Hichilema’s swearing-in last Tuesday and in the medium to long term his priority would be creating jobs.
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The South Sudan National Police Service has deployed officers on the streets of the capital, Juba, and warned South Sudanese not to take part in the scheduled nationwide Monday protests against the government.A group calling itself the People’s Coalition for Civil Action is organizing the protests after launching a public campaign for change in July, saying the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity led by President Salva Kiir is doing very little to address the many challenges facing the people of South Sudan.Abraham Awolic, a member of the group, said it notified the police by letter of the planned protests even though such notification is not required.“The people of South Sudan are coming out on the 30th to protest, it is their constitutional right,” he told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus. “You don’t need approval from anyone to exercise that power. … You cannot ask the same state which has aggrieved you to give you permission to protest against it.”South Sudan police service spokesperson Major General Daniel Justin said the planned protests will “cause public disorder” and will not be tolerated by authorities.Justin invited protest organizers to meet with the police.“You have to coordinate with the police to give you protection. And these people, we invite them to come such that we sit and arrange, so it will not be allowed,” Justin told VOA.South Sudan has been in political turmoil after the leaders of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition, part of the ruling alliance, fired three generals in the command of the Upper Nile state shortly after the generals declared First Vice President Riek Machar had been ousted as head of the movement.Bol Deng Bol, head of the civil society organization in Jonglei state, said some of South Sudan’s political parties have done more harm by rebelling against the government.“This time is the right time for us as citizens of this hard-earned country, South Sudan, to express our views, to express our dissatisfaction as long as they are not going to go violent,” Bol told VOA.Bol said he will attend the protests. Other political leaders are wary.The South Sudan National Youth Union this week urged young people across the country to stay away from the demonstrations.Gola Boyoi, chairperson of the Youth Union, condemned the protests, calling them an undemocratic way of toppling a government. He told South Sudan in Focus that the people should give the signatories to the 2018 peace deal ending the country’s civil war a chance to fully implement the agreement.”We are also calling on the business community and the working class to ignore this uprising and go about their normal duties,” Boyoi said.Peter Malir, a youth rights activist and a representative of the South Sudan Youth coalition, said that although citizens have the right to hold a peaceful protest, it is not the right time because the country is facing several challenges, including road ambushes and ethnic fighting.A heavy police presence could be seen along several streets in Juba on Friday. Officers have orders to arrest anyone who takes to the streets to participate in the protests, police spokesperson Justin said. 
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Walk down any commercial street in the Libyan capital of Tripoli and the pavements will be lined with generators ready to spring into action whenever the mains electricity supply cuts out.In the decade since the NATO-backed overthrow of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi, repeated outbreaks of fighting have caused heavy damage to the power distribution network, while there has been virtually no new investment in generating capacity.On most days, Tripoli residents can expect multiple outages, totaling as much as 12 hours a day.The hum of generators and the acrid fumes and smoke of diesel fuel have become one of the most hated aspects of daily life in the once-affluent city.”We’ve put up with this mess for the past 10 years. … It has a big impact on our daily lives,” said 23-year-old pharmacist Sufian Zerkani. “It’s a basic right the state should guarantee.”Keeping the generators fueled up has become a daily chore for many.At service stations, pedestrians equipped with funnels and jerrycans for the generators line up alongside motorists.The destruction and decay have come as a shock in a country that boasts Africa’s largest reserves of oil and gas, and a population of just 7 million.Promises unkeptThe most recent round of fighting ended with a U.N.-backed cease-fire last year. That paved the way for peace talks and the formation of a transitional government this March, ahead of elections set for December.The new peace process has raised hopes that there might be light at the end of the tunnel after a decade of rival governments fighting with the support of shifting alliances of local militias.But for many, the promise of a return to peace and normality is not coming quickly enough.”Nothing’s changed.  The promises made by one government after another have never been kept,” said 25-year-old student Nader al-Naas.In the hottest months, temperatures in Tripoli regularly touch 40 degrees Celsius.”It’s a disastrous situation, especially in the summer,” Naas said.It is worse for those without the means to buy a generator, who sleep outside on rooftops to escape the stifling heat at night.Basic generators sell for around $470, but more reliable models cost thousands.Blackouts bad for businessLast year’s cease-fire came after forces in Tripoli fought off a yearlong offensive by a rival administration based in the east.For a time, the east and its main city Benghazi enjoyed more reliable electric supply than Tripoli and the west.But as the conflict intensified, it too was forced to adapt to the daily grind of power cuts.”When there’s no power, we stop work,” said Benghazi mechanic Ali Wami.”It’s been a week since I was able to carry out any repairs to that vehicle,” he said, pointing to a heavily damaged car.Nearby, grocery shop manager Osama al-Dalah said the blackouts were bad for profits and bad for staff.”All these power cuts wear us down, dampen our spirits and lose us money,” he said. “We need a radical solution.”But while the country basks in a plentiful supply of sunshine, few Libyans are yet to set up solar panels as an alternative source of energy.Decade of decayIn a recent report, the Libyan Audit Bureau took the state-run General Electricity Company of Libya (GECOL) to task for unfinished projects and investments that “brought nothing to the network.”A GECOL official told AFP the problem was the infrastructure, which has been “decaying for 10 years and requires extensive maintenance.”During the abortive 2019-20 assault on Tripoli, hundreds of high-tension lines serving the capital and its suburbs were destroyed.Foreign firms pulled out, fearful for the safety of their employees, delaying the construction of new generating capacity. And in the meantime, thieves pulled out the distribution cables to scavenge copper wire.Generating capacity from oil and gas power stations of between 5,000 and 5,500 megawatts falls well short of the demand of 7,000 MW in winter and 8,000 MW in summer, the GECOL official said.Two new power stations are under construction by a German-Turkish consortium in Tripoli and in Libya’s third city Misrata. They are expected to add 1,300 MW of capacity to the grid in the first quarter of next year.A third new power station, in Tobruk in the far east of Libya, is scheduled to follow. 
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The Botswana government has sought to assure thousands of undocumented immigrants they will not be left out of the country’s COVID-19 vaccination program.Thousands of immigrants are crossing into Botswana, the majority fleeing economic hardships in neighboring Zimbabwe. Some undocumented migrants say they are being turned away from vaccination centers.But Botswana’s assistant minister of health, Sethomo Lelatisitswe, told the National Assembly on Friday that no one, including immigrants, would be left out of the COVID-19 vaccination program. He said that if undocumented immigrants and refugees were left out, the country’s hospitals would be full tomorrow.Member of Parliament Dithapelo Keorapetse had asked during a National Assembly session whether undocumented immigrants were being vaccinated. Need to publicizeKeorapetse said he didn’t understand why records weren’t being kept about the number of migrants who have been vaccinated, in order to formulate a solid policy. He also said the migrants needed to know they were eligible for vaccination.Mkhululi Moyo, one of the thousands of immigrants from neighboring Zimbabwe who left in search of better economic opportunities, said he was happy Botswana authorities had explained the policy on the vaccination of migrants.“I am happy the [assistant] minister has clarified the issue of papers for foreigners,” Moyo said. “We have a problem, but it means everything is well. We hope it will go smoothly according to what the minister said, and there will be no difficulties.”Health authorities are emphasizing now they are unconditionally assisting undocumented migrants.Botswana deports an estimated 22,000 unauthorized immigrants every year, mostly from Zimbabwe.
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A Chadian military-political rebel group behind this year’s deadly insurgency said on Friday it was prepared to take part in a national dialogue proposed by transitional president Mahamat Idriss Deby.Deby seized power in April after his father, the former president, was killed while visiting troops fighting the rebels, who had crossed the border from Libya to take a stand against the elder’s 30-year rule.The Libya-based rebel group that claimed responsibility for Deby’s death, known as the Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT), has now welcomed his son’s offer to hold talks with all stakeholders, including opposition armed groups.”If there are peaceful initiatives to build a new democratic Chad without dictatorship and the absolute confiscation of power, of course we will join them,” said FACT spokesperson Kingabe Ogouzeimi de Tapol.Deby’s Transitional Military Council (CMT) has previously refused to negotiate with rebel groups, in particular members of FACT, which in April swept south from bases in Libya and reached within 300 kilometers of the capital, N’Djamena, before being pushed back by the army.  
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Authorities in northern Nigeria announced three separate groups of kidnapped students were freed within 24 hours, prompting speculation late Friday that large ransoms had been paid to the gunmen blamed for a spate of recent abductions.Among those now free are some of the youngest children ever taken hostage in Nigeria, a group of 90 pupils who had spent three months in captivity. Hours after those youngsters were brought to the Niger state capital, police in Zamfara state said that 15 older students also had been freed there.Then late Friday, word came of a third hostage liberation in Kaduna state. Thirty-two more of the students taken from a Baptist high school in early July also had been freed, according to the Rev. Joseph Hayab, chairman of the Kaduna state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria.The wave of releases comes after more than 1,000 students have been kidnapped since December, according to an AP tally. While earlier school abductions had been blamed on Islamic extremists in the northeast, authorities have only said that bandits are behind the latest kidnappings for ransom.”The happiness can’t be quantified,” said Yahya Aliyu Babangida, 54, a teacher whose two children aged 7 and 17 were among those who had been kidnapped from the Salihu Tanko Islamic School in Tegina in late May.Some of the kidnapped preschoolers who spent months in captivity were just 4 years old, and authorities said Friday that one child had died during the ordeal. Several others were undergoing medical treatment after their release late Thursday.”They are exposed to this harsh weather, no food, mosquitos everywhere,” he said. “Some of them had never been outside the comfort of their homes.”News of the children’s release was celebrated across Nigeria, where abductions have stepped up pressure on the government to do more to secure educational facilities in remote areas.A freed student of Salihu Tanko Islamic School reunites with her father in Minna, Nigeria, Aug 27, 2021.But questions remained Friday about how much ransom had been paid to secure the children’s release, and if so whether that could in turn fuel further abductions by the unknown armed groups referred to locally as bandits.Muhammad Musa Kawule, 42, acknowledged paying intermediaries in hopes of securing his 6-year-old daughter’s freedom.”I spent a lot of money but today, I’m happy,” he told The Associated Press on Friday. He did not specify how much he had paid nor whether government officials had been involved.The youngsters were later brought to the Niger state capital, Minna, where they underwent medical checkups and met the governor. Video showed scores of children as young as kindergartners coming out of white minibuses, the little girls wearing long blue hijabs known as chadors.While Nigeria has seen scores of school abductions for ransom, the Niger state kidnappings left people aghast because the children were so young. The ramifications also could be long lasting as parents reconsider whether to send their children to school.”This has affected the morale and confidence of the people and has even made parents think twice before they send their children to school,” Niger state Gov. Abubakar Sani Bello said of the children’s abduction. “We will do whatever it takes to bring (the kidnappers) to justice.”As the attacks have mounted across the north, there are also signs they are becoming more violent.After one kidnapping at a university in Kaduna state earlier this year, gunmen demanded ransoms equivalent to hundreds of thousands of dollars. They killed five students to compel other students’ parents to raise the money and later released 14.Also Friday, Zamfara state police spokesperson Mohammed Shehu said that 15 other students had been handed over to officials on Friday, 11 days after they were abducted from the College of Agriculture and Animal Science in Nigeria’s troubled northwest.It was not immediately clear how they were rescued, but the students are now being looked after by Zamfara state officials and will soon be reunited with their parents, authorities said. 
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Three years ago, nearly every country in Africa agreed to be part of a continental free trade area intended to lower tariffs and boost economies.  But the agreement has yet to be fully implemented because of restrictions stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.The World Bank says the Africa Continental Free Trade Area Agreement set up the largest free trade bloc in the world, and has the potential to pull 30 million people out of poverty.The agreement reduces tariffs between African countries and, the World Bank says, could boost Africa’s combined GDP by $450 billion by 2035.But those prospects may not materialize because many countries in Africa have yet to fully open their economies due to health restrictions to combat the spread of the coronavirus.Kennedy Adede, founder of Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO), which works in poor neighborhoods in Nairobi, says the lack of employment opportunities has to be addressed.”People are going through a lot of hardship, people are more scared of dying from hunger than dying from this virus and that has become a challenge. How do we solve that? That’s why this is not just about the vaccine alone,” Adede said.  “It needs a multi-angle [approach] to fight this economically to ensure that we drive more jobs. If you think in Africa right now, the population of young people is scary and if they don’t trust what we are saying, then we are gone.”Speaking at a recent webinar, John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that if Africa was better prepared to combat the pandemic, the free trade area would be flourishing. “It’s really for us in public health to continue to make sure that we place the public health agenda at the center of political dialogues, at the center of the economic dialogue. Look at the damage the pandemic has caused to our continental aspiration for the continental free trade area. I will argue that without this pandemic, that whole aspiration, the developmental agenda would have been at a very different level today in the continent,” Nkengasong said.Nearly 18 months into the pandemic, just 2.5% of Africa’s 1.3 billion people are vaccinated. The African CDC wants to vaccinate 60% of the population by the end of 2022.The agency says Africa had received 123.5 million vaccine doses by mid-August. The continent secured the vaccine through bilateral agreements and COVAX, a global initiative that seeks to provide vaccine to developing countries.African countries will also share some 400 million Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses, which are being manufactured in South Africa.But Nkengasong says Africa is still not receiving enough vaccine.“When COVID just started, it was very difficult for anyone in Africa to know somebody who has died of COVID but now is a common thing we know, and that is pushing that you see lines of people out there. So the first doses of vaccines that we supplied in the continent, some of those ended up in wastage because we were dealing with misinformation. The challenge we have now is that people are saying here we are with open arms, ready to get the jab, but the jabs are not there,” Nkengasong said.Africa’s economy is still expected to grow 3.4% this year, but that’s of little consequence to the tens of millions who are struggling to find a steady income as the virus takes away jobs and lives. 
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Gunmen in Nigeria have freed some of students they kidnapped in May from an Islamic school in Niger state.The head teacher of Salihu Tanko Islamiyya school in Niger state, Alhassan Abubakar, says the gunmen Thursday night released a number of students who had been held since May.Alhassan told local media the kidnappers dropped them off in neighboring Kaduna state.This Day media reported the students are meeting Friday with Nigerian officials before being reunited with their families.  Nigerian media report the families of the students twice paid ransoms to the bandits before their release. Armed men raided the school on May 30 and kidnapped 136 students.  Nigerian media report six of the students died in captivity and 15 escaped in June.  Gunmen on Sunday released 15 hostages from a July raid on a Baptist high school in northwest Kaduna state.  A representative of the family told AFP they were released after a ransom was paid but 56 of 121 students were still being held.   Kidnap-for-ransom criminal groups, known locally as bandits, have been targeting Nigerian schools in a series of brazen attacks.  They have kidnapped more than 1,000 students since December from schools and colleges across northern Nigeria.  Most have been freed through ransoms and negotiations, but scores are still being held in dense forests.Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse.
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Cameroonian and Nigerian authorities have agreed to jointly fight armed separatists in both countries. The nations’ top security and government officials announced the deal during an emergency security meeting that ended Thursday in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja. The meeting was convened after Anglophone separatists in Cameroon and the Indigenous People of Biafra in Nigeria said they would join forces to fight for independence.Babagana Monguno, national security adviser to Nigerian President Mohammadu Buhari, said Thursday secessionist groups are uniting to destabilize Cameroon and Nigeria. The retired major general spoke at the end of the eighth session of the Cameroon-Nigeria transborder meeting in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja.  
 
Monguno said the neighboring countries will jointly combat the rebels operating within their borders.”President Muhammadu Buhari reassures you [Cameroon] that Nigeria’s territory will never be used by any group of secessionists to destabilize another friendly sovereign country. In addition, we would work closely together to ensure that any real or perceived attempt to form any alliances between secessionist groups in Nigeria and Cameroon are decisively dealt with,” Monguno said.Speaking on Cameroonian state radio, CRTV, Monguno said Nigeria will continue to support the efforts of Cameroonian authorities to stop the separatist crisis in Cameroon’s English-speaking western regions. The United Nations says at least 3,000 people have been killed and 550,000 civilians displaced in Cameroon and in Nigeria by the separatist crisis that escalated into an armed conflict in 2017.Governors from the Nigerian states that border Cameroon and Cameroonian regions bordering Nigeria also took part in the Abuja meeting.Territorial Administration Minister Paul Atanga Nji led Cameroon’s delegation. Nji said militaries of the two countries are already at work to map out ways of stopping separatists operating in Cameroon and in Nigeria. He said the two countries have decided to provide jobs and improve the livelihoods of people in border areas. He said poverty is driving many civilians to join separatist groups in pursuit of food and better living conditions. “To eradicate transborder insecurity in all its forms or, I believe, to reduce it to minimum, our security forces must intensify intelligence gathering and information sharing. It must include measures to check religious radicalism, foster education and promote economic and social development projects along our common border,” he said. Nji said Cameroon is sincerely grateful for Buhari’s permanent commitment never to allow any part of Nigerian territory to serve as a safe haven for terrorists and separatist groups against its neighbor, Cameroon.This week’s Cameroonian-Nigerian security meeting is the first since Cameroon’s English-speaking separatists said they were partnering with the Indigenous People of Biafra, a group that wants a breakaway state in southeast Nigeria. Capo Daniel, deputy defense chief of the Ambazonia Defense Forces, a rebel group in Cameroon’s English-speaking North-West and South-West regions, said the Ambazonia Defense Forces and Indigenous People of Biafra are determined to foster an alliance the Nigerian and Cameroonian separatist groups created in April.”The alliance generates solidarity between the military wing of the IPOB, that is the Eastern Security Network and the Ambazonia Defense Forces. We will continue to intensify the collaboration in areas such as operating training camps, exchanges in military trainers, open exchange of weapons and military personnel, as well as sharing intelligence across the border,” Daniel said.The Indigenous People of Biafra has not issued a statement on the terms of their collaboration with the Ambazonia Defense Forces. Videos shared on social media platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp, though, appear to show people claiming to be officials of the rebel groups meeting. Cameroon and Nigeria say rebel and secessionist groups from the two countries have been meeting and trafficking in weapons.Nigeria shares a 1,975-kilometer border with Cameroon. Militaries of the two countries have been jointly fighting violent crises since 2010. Nigeria’s northeastern states of Borno and Adamawa and Cameroon’s Far North region on Nigeria’s border report regular Boko Haram terrorist attacks. Cameroon says separatists use porous borders to import weapons through Nigeria and collaboration between the Ambazonia Defense Forces and Indigenous People of Biafra is making the security situation very uncertain. Other security challenges include conflicts over illegal exploitation of natural resources, highway robbery, drug and human trafficking, illicit trafficking of firearms, and agricultural conflicts. The Cameroon-Nigeria Transborder Security Committee was created in 2012 in Nigeria to strengthen security in both countries.
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Abuja and Moscow have signed an agreement for the former to buy nearly $1 billion in military equipment and services, Nigeria’s ambassador to Russia, Abdullahi Shehu, told VOA.The Nigerian Embassy released a statement that said the agreement “provides a legal framework for the supply of military equipment, provision of after sales services, training of personnel in respective educational establishments and technology transfer, among others.”Reuters reported in July that U.S. lawmakers had put a hold on a proposal to sell almost $1 billion worth of weapons to Nigeria over concerns about possible human rights abuses by the government.When asked if the agreement reached with Russia was influenced by the failure to secure such a deal with the U.S. government, Shehu said no.”As I stated after opening, after the signing ceremony, I said clearly that Nigeria is not looking for alternatives but complementarity and mutual benefits,” Shehu, who is in Russia, said in a telephone interview with VOA.”So the fact that Nigeria has signed agreement with Russia does not affect Nigeria’s relationship and cooperation with its strategic partners around the world.”The Nigerian ambassador added, “So to us, the signing of this agreement is in furtherance of our bilateral cooperation with the Russian Federation in this area.”The embassy statement described the pact as “a landmark development” in the countries’ bilateral relations.Shehu said training was one aspect of the military cooperation agreement between the two countries.”So I believe that as soon as the agreement comes into force, both countries will discuss what would be Nigeria’s needs and how the Russian Federation can assist Nigeria in such direction,” he said.Nigeria already uses some Russian fighter jets and helicopters, alongside military equipment purchased from Western powers such as the United States, according to Reuters.A U.S. State Department spokesperson, speaking on background, told VOA in a statement, “Nigeria is a critical partner in the fight against terrorism in Africa. … Our security cooperation with Nigeria aims to enable the Nigerian government to better protect its citizens and defeat terrorist groups that threaten U.S. interests, while respecting human rights and the law of armed conflict.”The spokesperson said U.S. military assistance included military education and training, as well as training and equipping “law enforcement and judiciary professionals” in an array of priorities, from “stopping banditry to protecting intellectual property rights to more effectively addressing trafficking in persons and gender-based violence.”Grace Alheri Abdu of VOA Hausa service and VOA’s Nike Ching at the State Department contributed to this article. Some information also came from Reuters. 
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Gunmen have released some of the children kidnapped from a school in northern Nigeria back in May, some of whom were as young as 5 years old, the school’s head teacher said late Thursday.Abubakar Garba Alhassan told The Associated Press that the freed students were on their way to the state capital, Minna, but added he could not confirm the exact number freed.Authorities have said that 136 children were abducted along with several teachers when gunmen on motorcycles attacked the Salihu Tanko Islamic School in Niger state. Other preschoolers were left behind as they could not keep pace when the gunmen hurriedly moved those abducted into the forest.Alhassan did not provide details of their release, but parents of the students have over the past weeks struggled to raise ransoms demanded by their abductors. There was no immediate comment from police or the Niger governor’s office.The release, though, came a day after local media quoted one parent as saying six of the children had died in captivity.More than 1,000 students have been forcibly taken from their schools during those attacks, according to an AP tally of figures previously confirmed by the police. Although most of those kidnapped have been released, at least 200 are still held by their abductors.The government has been unable to halt the spate of abductions for ransom. As a result, many schools have been forced to close because of concerns about the kidnapping risk.After one abduction at a university in Kaduna state earlier this year, gunmen demanded hundreds of thousands of dollars in ransom. They killed five other students to compel the students’ parents to raise the money, and later released 14 others.
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The U.N. secretary-general said Thursday that there is “no military solution” to Ethiopia’s 10-month-old conflict, and he urged the parties to stop fighting and open a dialogue.”In every sense, the future of Ethiopia is at stake,” Antonio Guterres told a meeting of the U.N. Security Council.Last week, in a bid to end the conflict, the U.N. chief appealed for a cease-fire, unrestricted aid access and an Ethiopian-led political dialogue. He told the council these steps are essential to preserve Ethiopia’s unity and the stability of the region and to ease the humanitarian crisis.FILE – In this file photo taken June 24, 2021, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addresses media representatives in Brussels.”I believe there is an opportunity to address the conflict peacefully, which the parties must seize in the interest of Ethiopia,” he told the council. “Conditions must be created for the start of an inclusive national political dialogue to address the underlying causes of the conflict and ensure Ethiopian voices direct the pathway to peace.”He said that he has been in close contact with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and has received a letter from the leader of the Tigray region in response to his appeal.”The U.N. is ready to work together with the African Union and other key partners to support such a dialogue,” he said.Fighting after cease-fireOn June 28, the Ethiopian government announced an immediate and unilateral humanitarian cease-fire after nearly eight months of fighting with Tigrayan forces. But hostilities have continued, and the prime minister recently urged all Ethiopians to join the fight.Tigray forces reclaimed control of the regional capital, Mekelle, after Ethiopian government forces withdrew. In the weeks since the cease-fire was announced, they have expanded their presence into the neighboring regions of Afar and Amhara, where fighting has escalated, displacing tens of thousands of civilians.Guterres also urged the Security Council to stay united and continue to pay attention to the situation.Council members welcomed Thursday’s announcement by the chairperson of the African Union Commission, appointing former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo as high representative for the Horn of Africa region.Thursday was only the second time during the conflict that the council held a public meeting to discuss the situation. Britain, Estonia, France, Ireland, Norway and the United States requested the session.”Time is of the essence,” Irish envoy Geraldine Byrne Nason said. “The very lives of the Ethiopian people are at stake. Now is the time for action.”FILE – Displaced Tigrayans queue to receive food donated by local residents at a reception center for the internally displaced in Mekelle in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, May 9, 2021.Of the 6 million people who live in Tigray, 5.2 million need some level of food assistance, the U.N. says. Over 400,000 people are already living in faminelike conditions, and another 1.8 million people are on the brink of famine.”Let’s be clear: This shortage is not because food is unavailable; it is because the Ethiopian government is still limiting humanitarian aid and personnel, including land convoys and air access,” said Richard Mills, the U.S. deputy ambassador to the U.N.”We are troubled by disturbing reports that the Ethiopian government is intentionally withholding humanitarian assistance to starving Ethiopians, and these impediments to the movement of humanitarian supplies must be removed immediately, and trucks must be allowed to enter and deliver lifesaving assistance to Tigray,” he said.Ethiopian envoy Taye Atske Selassie Amde dismissed accusations that the government is impeding aid deliveries, saying it is well aware of its obligations and is facilitating deliveries.
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A World Health Organization official said Thursday that the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic on the continent appeared to be stabilizing, but numbers of infections are still very high, with almost 248,000 new cases reported in the past week alone. During a virtual briefing on the status of the pandemic in Africa, WHO Africa Regional Director Matshidiso Moeti said that 24 countries were seeing a resurgence of infections and that deaths were rising in eight countries.  She said, “This is a preventable tragedy if African countries can get fair access to the vaccines.” Moeti said the good news was that 13 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines were administered in the past week, triple that of the previous week. She said many of the doses came from donations and sharing arrangements through the WHO-administered COVAX vaccine cooperative.  She said 117 million doses were due to arrive in Africa in the coming month. But to meet the goal of having at least 10 percent of the continent vaccinated by the end of September, she said, another 34 million doses will be needed. The WHO Africa director urged nations with ample supplies to keep sharing doses. She said, “With international solidarity we can protect those at highest risk of COVID-19 in all countries in the world.” She also encouraged African governments to ensure that staffing and financial resources were available when shots arrived “to get vaccines into the arms of our populations. No precious doses should be wasted.”Some information in this report came from The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
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African countries have committed to ending all forms of polio after cases of vaccine-derived polio increased last year, partly because of disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, Africa had been declared free of the wild poliovirus, after four years without a single case. But a variant has since returned in communities where not enough children have received the vaccine against it.Addressing a session of the World Health Organization’s regional committee for Africa, the director of Uganda’s Health Ministry, Henry Mwebesa, said his country would carry out a national campaign to vaccinate children against polio before the end of the year.“The challenges we anticipate is vaccine hesitancy, which has been common even with the COVID vaccines, and we expect to continue during this period. But we will try our best to mobilize the whole country, cultural leaders, the political leadership and professional associations to assist us to mobilize the communities to address the challenge, the hesitance, to make sure that all our children below five years have received this novel OPV,” Mwebesa said.The novel Oral Polio Vaccine is key to stopping polio outbreaks. Last year, Africa was declared free of wild poliovirus.In the last three years, however, 23 African states have experienced outbreaks of vaccine-derived poliovirus 2. That’s a strain of weakened poliovirus that was included in the oral virus but mutated over time and now behaves like the wild or naturally occurring virus. WHO regional director Matshidiso Moeti said the continent needs to do more to eradicate that form of the poliovirus.“Our shared objective is to stop all polioviruses by 2023 and to integrate a polio infrastructure to strengthen border disease surveillance and outbreak response systems, as well as immunization policies,” Moeti said.Ethiopia has recorded seven cases of poliovirus type 2 in 2021. The country’s health minister, Lia Tadesse, says her government is trying to address the current outbreaks.  “We all agree that the quality of any campaign is as good as our preparedness. We follow our preparedness to the national foundation mechanisms using electronic data tools and self-assessment at the different levels up to the district and then validate those assessments,” Tadesse said.More than 100 million African children have been vaccinated against the poliovirus since July 2020. But many others missed the vaccinations due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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More than 210 people were killed over several days of ethnic violence in Ethiopia’s tense Oromia region last week, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said Thursday.The state-affiliated but independent commission said witnesses described gunmen affiliated with the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), a rebel group, arriving on August 18 after security forces withdrew from Gida-Kirimu in the western region.”The area’s residents and others have told the commission more than 150 people were killed by the gunmen,” the human rights body said.The attack forced women and children to flee to neighboring areas, and sparked a wave of revenge killings.”In subsequent days, some residents carried out ethnic based reprisal attacks, killing more than 60 people” and triggering a further exodus of civilians fleeing the violence, the commission said.The panel called for “immediate action” to prevent the instability from spreading further and an investigation into why security forces withdrew from the troubled area.In a statement, the OLA denied responsibility for the attacks.The OLA was designated a terrorist organization by lawmakers in May alongside the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), whose rebel forces have been fighting in Ethiopia’s north since November. The government has accused the OLA of massacring civilians in Oromia, the country’s largest region, and in Amhara, the second largest.Clashes involving the two ethnic groups killed more than 300 people over several days in March, federal officials said.The militants have denied allegations of spearheading the grisly massacres.Believed to number in the low thousands, the OLA broke off from the Oromo Liberation Front, an opposition party that spent years in exile, but was allowed to return to Ethiopia after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office in 2018. Earlier this month, the OLA and the TPLF announced they had reached an agreement to fight together against Abiy’s forces and his allies.A spokesman for the OLA said the two groups mutually agreed that Abiy’s “dictatorship” must be removed and that they were sharing intelligence and coordinating on strategy.The government denounced the pact as a “destructive alliance” between two groups seeking to destabilize the country.Northern Ethiopia has been wracked by conflict since November when Abiy, the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize winner, sent troops into Tigray to topple the TPLF.He said the move came in response to TPLF attacks on federal army camps and victory would be swift.But nine months later, the conflict has spread into the neighboring regions of Afar and Amhara, and drawn in forces from across Ethiopia.
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COVID-19 restrictions are not just keeping students out of the classroom, but also out of the laboratory.  The University of Johannesburg is helping students replicate the experience  through virtual reality.  Linda Givetash reports from Johannesburg. Camera:  Zaheer Cassim 
Producers: Zaheer Cassim, Marcus Harton 
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The body of a Nigerian military officer abducted from the nation’s defense academy has been found. He was among the officers killed in an attack Tuesday on the academy.
 
Major Christopher Datong’s lifeless body was found Tuesday evening, hours after he was abducted.
 
According to local reports, the kidnappers demanded about $500,000 ransom to free the officer before eventually killing him.
 
He was the third officer to be killed in Tuesday’s security breach at Nigeria’s Defence Academy, a training center in the northern state of Kaduna for the Nigerian army, navy and air force recruits.  
 
A large number of gunmen disguised in military uniforms snuck past security early Tuesday morning and opened fire at the officers’ lodge.
 
Prominent Nigerians who have reacted to the incident include former aviation minister, Femi-Fani Kayode, who said in a tweet that “It is time for Federal Government to take a much harder line with these terrorists.”
 
Meanwhile, residents of Kaduna are expressing fear over the attack, saying if the security forces’ base could suffer a hit, then the entire state or even the country is unsafe.
 
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Hundreds of Boko Haram militants attacked a military post in southern Niger overnight, killing 16 soldiers and wounding nine more, the defense ministry said on Wednesday.About 50 of the Islamist militants were killed in the resulting combat in the West African country’s Diffa region and significant quantities of weapons were recovered, the ministry said in a statement.The Boko Haram insurgency broke out in northeastern Nigeria in 2009, but violence frequently spills over into neighboring Chad, Niger and Cameroon in the Lake Chad Basin.In December, an attack blamed on Boko Haram killed 28 people and burned 800 homes in the Diffa region.
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A flight carrying Afghan evacuees fleeing the Taliban takeover of their country touched down early Wednesday in Uganda where they will be given temporary refuge, government officials said.The foreign ministry said a charter flight carrying 51 Afghans — including men, women and children — landed in the lakeside city of Entebbe, where they were whisked to hotels in a convoy of buses.More evacuees from Afghanistan are expected to arrive at a later time in Uganda from the war-torn country, the ministry said.It said it followed a request from the US government to temporarily host “at-risk” Afghan nationals and others who are in transit to the United States and other destinations worldwide.”The decision to host those in need, is informed by the Government of Uganda’s consistent policy of receiving refugees and persons in distress as well as playing a responsible role in matters of international concern,” the ministry said in a statement.Media reports have suggested Uganda had agreed to take about 2,000 refugees but this has not been confirmed.Uganda hosts one of the largest refugee populations in the world — nearly 1.5 million according to the United Nations, mainly from neighboring South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.The ministry said that arrangements were also being made to bring home a number of Ugandans who were unable to make this first flight “due to the challenges of accessing the airport in Kabul”.Neighboring Rwanda said on Tuesday it also plans to take in dozens of schoolgirls and staff from Afghanistan’s only boarding school for girls.Since the Taliban’s August 15 takeover of Kabul, Afghans have grown increasingly desperate to escape the country, with many terrified of facing life under the hardline Islamist group.The US embassy in Kampala thanked Uganda for its “generosity and hospitality toward these communities”.”The Government of Uganda and the Ugandan people have a long tradition of welcoming refugees and other communities in need,” the embassy posted on Twitter.Most refugees in Uganda live in large refugee settlements in the sparsely populated north of the country but around 81,000 urban refugees live in the capital Kampala.Aid agencies have repeatedly said that the international response to support refugees in Uganda, a country of about 44 million people, has been underfunded.
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Somali security forces recaptured the town of Amaara in the central Galmudug region after al-Shabab militants briefly took over early Tuesday following a dawn attack.  The attack on Amaara and a subsequent roadside explosion in the same vicinity killed at least six people, including four Somali soldiers. Witnesses and officials told VOA that al-Shabab militants began their attack with a suicide vehicle-borne explosion detonated near an army base.   Galmudug Information Minister Ahmed Shire Falagle confirmed the attack to VOA but disputed allegations that the town fell to al-Shabab. Falagle said the militants loaded a truck with sheep and goats to disguise the explosive-laden vehicle.  He said the truck exploded near a military camp, killing two civilians and three soldiers. A fourth soldier died, and six others were injured after their vehicle struck a landmine in the same vicinity, officials said.  Falagle told VOA that an airstrike targeted the militants near Amaara, but he did not give details.   The U.S. military in Africa, known as AFRICOM, later confirmed conducting a “collective self-defense” strike against al-Shabab fighters. AFRICOM said the militants engaged in active combat with Somali forces.  Initial assessment of the airstrike is that no civilians were injured or killed, AFRICOM said.  Amaara is one of three towns recently captured by Somali forces, with the U.S. providing occasional air support after al-Shabab reportedly posed threats to Somali forces, including the Danab unit trained by the U.S. military.   
 
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At least two people were killed and five wounded Thursday after a suicide bomber detonated a device inside a cafe in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, police and witnesses said.The suicide bomber targeted a tea shop near a crowded junction in northern Mogadishu, which was reportedly frequented by members of the Somali security forces as well as civilians.The al-Qaida-linked group Al-Shabab claimed the attack through their Shahada News Agency, according to the U.S. monitoring group SITE.The early-evening attack, which sent debris flying outside, killed two members of the security forces and injured five people, said Mohamed Ali, a traffic policeman who was at the scene.”Pieces of metal and destroyed plastic seats were strewn around the whole area,” said Abdukadir Sagaalle, who witnessed the aftermath.Al-Shabab, which is fighting to overthrow Somalia’s internationally backed government, regularly attacks government and civilian targets in Mogadishu.Last month, the jihadists claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing on a crowded tea shop in Mogadishu that killed at least 10 people and wounded dozens.The group controlled Somalia’s capital until 2011, when it was pushed out by African Union troops, but still holds territory in the countryside.
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The impact of the pandemic has increased wildlife poaching around Africa’s national parks, as people who lost their jobs hunt the animals for food.  To help protect the animals, anti-poaching organizations have been formed, including a squad of vegan, women rangers. Columbus Mavhunga reports from Hurungwe, Zimbabwe. Camera: Blessing Chigwenhembe  
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Despite COVID-19 vaccine being available to all South African adults, uptake remains low with just 20% of adults having received a first dose. The Muslim Association of South Africa is one of many groups combatting vaccine hesitancy by delivering shots to doorsteps. Dawn Crotz received her Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine from a paramedic in the comfort of her south Johannesburg home.While the vaccine has been available to the 64-year-old since April, Crotz said rumors about the side effects made her hesitate. But the reality of the deadly virus changed her mind.“I decided to get it because I saw my daughter-in-law’s father got so sick he passed away,” Crotz said. “And then I thought I might also get it. I take a flu vaccine every year. I go in and I buy it and they give it to me. And then I thought, ‘No, let me do this also.’”A patient receives a Johnson & Johnson vaccine at a pop-up vaccination center in Soweto, South Africa, Aug. 20, 2021.With South Africa’s COVID-19 death toll surpassing 79,000, volunteer health workers are scrambling to quell people’s vaccine fears.The country’s Muslim association launched an at-home vaccination program to provide individual attention to allay concerns and to remove the barriers of traveling to a clinic.Muhammad Varachia is one of the paramedics delivering at-home vaccine.“I think it’s just a misconception, people reading on social media, people hearing from different people that is bad for you, that it’s man-made,” Varachia said. “How can we create a vaccine in a year, etc, etc. So, there’s a lot of hesitancy that we’ve come across, but we put their fears to bed.”Another problem is access to transportation and basic information about how one can get the vaccine, especially among the elderly.“The registration for vaccines are electronic,” Varachia said. “And even though you can also register at sites, you need to know where the sites are, before you can show up there.”For some people, like 22-year-old Kurt Fischer who is quadriplegic, getting to a vaccination site is difficult both physically and mentally.While the rest of his family had been vaccinated, his father, Kevin Fischer, said having an at-home option for his son was a game changer.“I would have sacrificed not having it to give him my shot, if possible, that he’s, he’s first,” Fischer said. “The familiarity of being able to be in his house is a big benefit, that there’s no stress of going to a foreign venue.”Experts said volunteer efforts are closing the gap in vaccinating more people, especially those most vulnerable.President Cyril Ramaphosa applauded the country’s youth on Monday for rushing to sites as vaccines were made available to those as young as 18.But experts warn that fears and other barriers still need to be addressed, or the latest uptick could fizzle out as it did among older age groups.  
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