A fish eagle swoops over the water to grab a fish in its talons and then flies to its nest.Nearby are a martial eagle, a black eagle, an Egyptian vulture and hundreds of other birds. With an estimated 400 species of birds on an idyllic spot on Zimbabwe’s Lake Chivero, about 40 kilometers south of Harare, the Kuimba Shiri bird sanctuary has been drawing tourists for more than 15 years.The southern African country’s only bird park has survived tumultuous times, including violent land invasions and a devastating economic collapse but the outbreak of coronavirus is proving a stern test.”I thought I had survived the worst, but this coronavirus is something else,” said owner Gary Strafford. “One-third of our visitors are from China. They stopped coming in February … and when we were shut down in March, that was just unbelievable.”Gary Strafford, a Zimbabwean falconer, holds an owl inside one of the cages at his bird sanctuary, Kuimba Shiri, near Harare, Zimbabwe, June 17, 2020.A lifelong bird enthusiast, Strafford, 62, established the center for injured, orphaned and abandoned birds in 1992, and tourism has kept the park going.With Zimbabwe’s inflation rising to over 750 percent, tourism establishments are battling a vicious economic downturn worsened by the new coronavirus travel restrictions.Zimbabwe’s tourism was already facing problems. The country recorded just over 2 million visitors in 2019, an 11 percent decline from the previous year, according to official figures. However, tourism remained one of the country’s biggest foreign currency earners, along with minerals and tobacco.Now tourism “is dead because of coronavirus,” said Tinashe Farawo, the spokesman for the country’s national parks agency. National parks and other animal sanctuaries such as Kuimba Shiri are battling to stay afloat, he said.”We are in trouble. All along we have been relying on tourism to fund our conservation … now what do we do?” he asked.Kuimba Shiri, which means singing bird in Zimbabwe’s Shona language, was closed for more than three months. It’s the longest time the bird sanctuary, located in one of the global sites protected under the United Nations Convention on Wetlands, has been shut.On a recent weekday, the only sound of life at the place usually teeming with children on school trips was that of singing birds perched on the edges of large enclosures. Horses, zebras and sheep fed on grass and weeds on the lakeshore.A parrot standing on a flowerpot at the entrance repeatedly shouted “Hello!”A child interacts with a bird at the Kuimba Shiri bird sanctuary near Harare, Zimbabwe, June 17, 2020.”He misses people, especially the children,” said Strafford, who established Kuimba Shiri on the 30-acre spot on Chivero, the main reservoir for Harare. Now it is home to many rare species including falcons, flamingos and vultures.”This place is a dream place for me,” he said.Things turned nightmarish however when then president, the late Robert Mugabe, launched an often-violent land redistribution program in which farms owned by whites were seized for redistribution to landless Blacks in 2000.Animal sanctuaries were not spared and Kuimba Shiri was targeted “30 to 40 times,” said Strafford. Eventually, the sanctuary was endorsed by Mugabe and returned to a measure of stability.In 2009, Zimbabwe’s economy collapsed as hyperinflation reached 500 billion percent, according to the International Monetary Fund. The sanctuary struggled to make ends meet. Many birds starved to death while those that could fend for themselves were released into the wild.”We sold our vehicles and a tractor to feed the birds. When it really got desperate we had to kill our horses,” he said.Now, a decade later, Strafford is again being forced to sell some items as coronavirus and a new economic crisis take their toll. A land excavator, a boat, a truck, a tractor and sheep are among the items he hopes to urgently sell.A bird handler prepares a bird for flight at the Kuimba Shiri bird sanctuary near Harare, Zimbabwe, June 17, 2020.But there is some hope. As Zimbabwe relaxes some of its restrictions, the sanctuary is now able to open to limited numbers of visitors.On a recent weekend, Strafford displayed the talents of his trained falcons and other raptors to a small group for the first time since March.Strafford enthusiastically described the various traits of the birds and supervised as a barn owl perched on a 5-year-old boy’s gloved hand.”Everything got to start afresh,” he said after the show. “I have started training the birds again. We are beginning to fly again!” 
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Mali’s opposition coalition said security forces detained two leaders of anti-government protests and raided its headquarters on Saturday after violent demonstrations against the president.Simmering tensions saw small groups of protesters erect barricades out of tires and bits of wood to block traffic through several districts in Bamako, the capital, although numbers were well below the thousands who took to the streets and occupied state buildings on Friday.The opposition coalition M5-RFP said Choguel Kokala Maiga and Mountaga Tall, two senior figures in the movement, were detained along with other activists on Saturday. Another protest leader, Issa Kaou Djim, was arrested Friday.In addition, security forces “came and attacked and ransacked our headquarters,” M5-RFP spokesman Nouhoum Togo said.There was no immediate comment from the Ministry of Security.On Friday, police fired gunshots and tear gas to disperse protesters who had occupied parliament and the state broadcaster as part of a civil disobedience campaign aimed at forcing President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita to resign for failing to tackle Mali’s security and economic problems.The arrests represented a new low in relations between the opposition and the authorities, who did not crack down after two large-scale peaceful protests against the president in June.Friday’s rally came after the coalition rejected concessions from Keita aimed at resolving a political standoff that began after a disputed legislative election in March.Mali’s neighbors and outside powers fear the turmoil could further destabilize the country and jeopardize a joint military campaign against Islamist insurgents in the West African Sahel region.Late on Friday, Keita issued a statement deploring the violence and said an investigation would be launched.”However, I would like to reassure our people once again of my desire to continue dialogue and reiterate my readiness to take all measures in my power with a view to calm the situation down,” he said in the statement.M5-RFP dismissed Keita’s call for calm and blamed him and security forces for Friday’s bloodshed. “Keita must resign,” it said in a statement.Three protesters were killed on Friday and several others seriously wounded, according to the United Nations MINUSMA peacekeeping mission in Mali, whose human rights division monitored the protests.Social media platforms and messaging apps were restricted as of Saturday afternoon after being partially blocked on Friday, internet blockage observatory NetBlocks said.
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Five people were killed in an attack on a church west of Johannesburg in the early hours of Saturday, South African police said, with some of the attackers taking hostages who were later freed.Police arrested around 40 people and seized 40 firearms, including rifles, shotguns and handguns, related to the attack on the International Pentecost Holiness Church in Zuurbekom, police spokesman Vishnu Naidoo told the eNCA television station.Police earlier posted pictures of some of the confiscated weapons on Twitter, saying they were dealing with a “hostage situation and shooting”.One potential motive for the attack is a power struggle at the church between rival factions, local media reported.”(E)verything was in complete disarray, so we have arrested all those that we reasonably believe are suspects, we are busy interviewing and interrogating them to establish exactly what the motive was,” Naidoo told eNCA. (Reporting by Alexander Winning and Lynette Ndabambi; Editing by Toby Chopra) 
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At least one person is dead as protesters in Mali’s capital attempted to occupy key government buildings and blocked main roads Friday demanding the resignation of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.Mali state television went off the air soon after a crowd of protesters gathered outside state broadcaster ORTM.Video taken in the capital, Bamako, by VOA’s Bambara service shows a crowd of demonstrators estimated at tens of thousands assembled outside the national assembly building, demanding that Keita step down.National guardsmen also reportedly fired tear gas at protesters throwing rocks at the parliament building.Protesters were seen building barricades with burning tires to block a main road.Groups of protesters were also seen trying to take over two main bridges in the city, leading to battles with the police.Witnesses reported hearing gunshots near the national assembly and the state broadcaster.This was the third mass protest in Bamako in the past two months.Leaders of the protest are calling on supporters to occupy buildings as part of a civil disobedience campaign to force Keita to resign for failing to enact political reforms.Keita, in power since 2013, has come under harsh criticism for failing to end a long-running jihadist insurgency and improve the African country’s economic woes.Ousmane Diallo, a researcher for Francophone West Africa at Amnesty International, told VOA this week that many Malians also are angry about alleged fraud in recent legislative elections and general poor governance.On Wednesday, Keita promised reforms to the constitutional court in an effort to appease protesters. The court has been at the center of controversy after it overturned the provisional results for March’s parliamentary poll, affecting several dozen seats.A mission from the regional group ECOWAS has called for the government to hold new elections in districts where the results are contested. 
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Protesters in Mali’s capital calling for the resignation of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita clashed with authorities Friday as they tried to occupy key government buildings and blocked main roads. At least one person was reported killed.Mali state television went off the air soon after the protesters gathered outside state broadcaster ORTM.Video taken in Bamako by VOA’s Bambara service showed a crowd estimated at tens of thousands of demonstrators assembled outside the national assembly building, demanding that Keita step down.   National guardsmen reportedly fired tear gas at protesters throwing rocks at the parliament building. Protesters were seen building barricades with burning tires to block a main road.This was the third mass protest in Bamako in the past two months.Keita, in power since 2013, has come under harsh criticism for failing to end a long-running jihadist insurgency and improve the African country’s economic woes.Ousmane Diallo, a researcher for Francophone West Africa at Amnesty International, told VOA this week that many Malians also are angry about alleged fraud in recent legislative elections and general poor governance.
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Sudan’s prime minister has replaced his finance, energy and health ministers and four other cabinet-level officials in response to growing public demands for sweeping reforms.  The government said in a statement Thursday that Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok had fired Health Minister Akram Altom and accepted the resignations of six other ministers.  No reasons were given for the removal of any particular minister. Protests precede changes Suleiman Baldo, a senior policy analyst at the Sentry, a Washington-based organization that tries to expose government corruption linked to African wars, told South Sudan in Focus the reshuffle was not unexpected, as it followed nationwide protests in which citizens demanded the transitional government implement economic reforms and hold former officials accountable for crimes.  “There’s a lot of popular frustration with delays in carrying out the agendas of the transition, noticeably in the area of justice and economic reforms to alleviate the very severe economic crisis and the crushing burden that the economic crisis is causing to people’s livelihoods and the dwindling of their incomes due to the crisis,” Baldo said. Hamdok runs a power-sharing government of civilian technocrats and military officials, many of whom were allied with ousted President Omar al-Bashir. The transitional cabinet was appointed in August and September 2019 after Bashir’s ouster in April. Although Sudan’s constitutional document grants broad powers to the prime minister and his Cabinet, economic reforms are needed now, not later, Baldo said. “I believe that the slowness in deploying these extensive executive powers is what frustrated people, including observers and analysts such as myself, in the sense that you could see that the Cabinet is not using the full extent of the constitutional powers that were granted to it, and therefore there was an objective reason to carry out this change,” Baldo told VOA. Surprise firingFew had anticipated the firing of Ibrahim Albadawi, who steered efforts to stabilize Sudan’s struggling economy and worked with foreign donors as finance minister.  Hamdok named Hiba Mohamed Ali as caretaker minister. Baldo said the change would do little to relieve the dire economic straits the country is facing. “Hiba Mohamed Ali was the right arm of former Minister Badawi, in the sense that she was in charge of several policies that the ministry was pursuing and overseeing the implementation of many of these policies and therefore she is no stranger to the policy line,” Baldo said. Even though U.S. sanctions on Sudan were lifted in October 2017, which brightened expectations among many that the economy would improve, Sudan’s economic situation continues to deteriorate. According to the transitional government, the inflation rate has reached 64% this year. Financial experts say it could be closer to 100%. Costs of basics on riseThe prices of basic commodities like fuel and food have more than doubled since last year, and the Sudanese pound has depreciated threefold against the U.S. dollar in the same time period. To achieve meaningful reforms, Hamdok should use his executive power to bring the army and other Sudanese military forces under the Cabinet’s control, Baldo said. “We do have a Cabinet that has full executive powers, but the real powers in terms of physical power, in terms of the control of weapons and the control of money, is in the hands of the security sector institutions of the army, the police and the rapid support forces, in addition to the general intelligence services,” Baldo told VOA.  Hamdok told Sudanese in a televised address on the eve of nationwide rallies June 30 that his government would respond to demonstrators’ demands for peace, faster economic reform, and justice for the hundreds of people killed and injured during protests to topple Bashir. One person was killed and several others were injured during the demonstrations held just over a week ago. Carol Van Dam Falk contributed to this report.
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The trucking of goods and humanitarian aid from Cameroon to the landlocked Central African Republic has slowed to a trickle, raising tensions between the two sides.  Despite an agreement that Cameroon drivers who test negative for COVID-19 would be given access, testing kits are in short supply at the border, forcing some trucks to wait weeks to cross.El Hadj Oumarou, the head of Cameroon’s land freight transportation bureau, says hundreds of trucks at the border town of Garoua Boulay have not been given access to the Central African Republic.He says all attempts to convince C.A.R. transport and health officials that the drivers have tested negative for COVID-19 in Cameroon have failed.Oumarou says this week, Cameroon’s transport minister assured truck drivers that the C.A.R. will accept COVID-19 test results done in Cameroon hospitals. But Oumarou says, the COVID-19 test results done in Cameroon are still rejected by C.A.R. border officials. He says he is scandalized that trucks, goods and humanitarian aid are blocked at the border for several weeks.The C.A.R. and Cameroon sealed their borders in March to stop the spread of the coronavirus, after both countries recorded cases of COVID-19.  The landlocked C.A.R. entered an agreement with Cameroon to allow passage of humanitarian aid and goods from Cameroon’s seaside town of Douala to the C.A.R. capital, Bangui.According to the agreement, only truck drivers who tested negative for COVID-19 were to enter the C.A.R.  But the plan was crippled by a shortage of tests at the border.The drivers, who are mostly Cameroonians, started carrying out the tests in local hospitals. But C.A.R. officials began rejecting the results last month when the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Cameroon increased to more than 13,000.On Monday of this week, delegates from the two countries held a crisis meeting at Garoua Boulay, and the C.A.R. agreed to recognize COVID-19 test results carried out in Cameroon.But C.A.R. Transport Minister Arnaud Djoubaye Abazene says the decisions made at the meeting were not final.Abazene says the mixed commission that the presidents of Cameroon and C.A.R. created to manage land transport will meet to examine threats caused by COVID-19. He says only that the commission can address all the misunderstandings caused at the border as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.Abazene said that once goods and supplies are brought to the border, C.A.R. drivers will transport them to Bangui.  He said his country will also consider COVID-19 test results conducted in the C.A.R. in case the border posts run short of rapid diagnostic tests.CameroonCameroon’s minister of transport, Jean Earnest Ngale Bibehe, says Cameroon wants a solution to the crisis as soon as possible.He says the coronavirus pandemic preoccupies all governments in the world and there is no state that will want to joke over COVID-19. He says it is in the interest of Cameroon and the C.A.R. to work together and rescue their collapsing economies.The Central African Republic depends on the Douala seaport for about 95 percent of its goods and humanitarian aid. 
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The coronavirus storm has arrived in South Africa, but in the overflowing COVID-19 wards the sound is less of a roar than a rasp.Oxygen is already low in hospitals at the new epicenter of the country’s outbreak, Gauteng province, home to the power centers of Johannesburg and the capital, Pretoria.Health Minister Zweli Mkhize, visiting a hospital Friday, said authorities are working with industry to address the strained oxygen supply and divert more to health facilities.  South Africa Takes Part in Human Trial for Potential COVID-19 Vaccine  South Africa takes part in Africa’s first human trial for coronavirus vaccine  Some of the hospital’s patients spilled into heated tents in the parking lot. They lay under thick blankets in the middle of winter in the Southern Hemisphere, with a cold front arriving this weekend and temperatures expected to dip below freezing.South Africa overnight posted another record daily high of confirmed cases, 13,674, as Africa’s most developed country is a new global hot spot with 238,339 cases overall. More than a third are in Gauteng.”The storm that we have consistently warned South Africans about is now arriving,” Mkhize said this week.A nurse at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital — the third largest hospital in the world with more than 3,000 beds — painted a bleak picture, saying new patients with the virus are now being admitted into ordinary wards as the COVID-19 ones are full.”Our hospital is overloaded already. There has been an influx of patients over the last two weeks,” the nurse said, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to give interviews.More and more colleagues at the hospital are testing positive daily for the virus, the nurse said, “even people who are not working in COVID wards.”  Africa Seeks Equitable Access to Any COVID-19 Vaccine  African leaders rally calling for investment to manufacture a serum at an affordable price as number of infections on continent surpasses 321,000 casesAlready more than 8,000 health workers across Africa have been infected — half of them in South Africa.Any struggles in how the country manages the pandemic will be amplified in other nations across Africa, which has the world’s lowest levels of health funding and health staffing.  The continent  as of Friday had 541,381 confirmed cases, but shortages in testing materials means the real number is unknown.South Africa’s surge in cases comes as the country loosens what had been one of the world’s strictest lockdowns, with even alcohol sales banned until June 1. Now restaurants have sit-down service and religious gatherings have resumed. The economy was hurting and needed reopening, authorities said.But nervous officials in Gauteng province have called for stricter lockdown measures to return. On Friday, Gauteng Premier David Makhura announced he had tested positive with mild symptoms.”We must double our efforts,” he said in a statement, urging people to wear face masks, wash their hands and distance themselves.Warning signs keep flashing. Hospital beds in all provinces could be full within the month, the health minister said this week. On Friday he said a team is looking at 2,000 additional beds for field hospitals in Gauteng.In addition to the shortage of beds, many hospitals are grappling with limited oxygen supplies to treat patients with the respiratory disease.Guy Richards, director of clinical care at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital in Johannesburg, told the AP they are extremely worried about potential shortages.”Even a big hospital like ours has difficulty supplying sufficient amounts of oxygenation for our patients. The same thing is happening at Helen Joseph (Hospital), and this is a major problem,” he said.Tshwane District Hospital, which the health minister visited Friday, has been devoted completely to COVID-19 patients, said Veronica Ueckermann, head of the COVID-19 response team at Steve Biko Academic Hospital, which includes Tshwane District Hospital.”Currently we are stretched but we are still coping in terms of our wards, our sisters and doctors are working extremely hard,” she said. 
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On South Sudan’s ninth independence anniversary, President Salva Kiir acknowledged that months of deadly intercommunal fighting threatens to rip the country apart. In a wide-ranging televised speech to the nation, the president Thursday called on all South Sudanese to work for peace and reconcile communities whose social fabric has been “torn apart by war.”“The phase of political violence is now behind us. Unfortunately, our success in ending political violence is now threatened by different sorts of violence. Intercommunal conflict is raging in different parts of our country. As a government we will not allow this to reverse our gains,” said Kiir.U.N. Mission in South Sudan chief David Shearer told VOA that several hundred people died last month in a wave of attacks and counterattacks in Jonglei state. “A multilayered approach”The government will undertake what Kiir called “a multilayered approach” that includes intercommunal dialogue, strengthening the rule of law and order, and taking away civilians’ guns.“For those who will not heed this call, the government will be left with no option than to forcefully remove these weapons from their hands. The government hopes this will not be the case,” Kiir said in his speech.On the fragile, revitalized peace agreement, Kiir said he is aware of the slow progress that’s being made and urged partners in the unity transitional government to work together to resolve remaining issues.“It is critical that we, the parties to the agreement, desist from adopting  uncompromising positions in the hope that mediation will eventually back them. We must move away from such attitudes because the peace we seek to consolidate is our own peace as South Sudanese,” said Kiir.The transitional government was formed in February, but it took the former warring parties until June to nominate the states’ governors. Two of the 10 governors have yet to be appointed.The president called on all South Sudanese to “work tirelessly irrespective of our political leaning to restore trust among ourselves,” and to “desist from propaganda.” He asked citizens everywhere to work toward putting the country “permanently on the path of peace.”  Economy hurt by pandemicKiir touched on the country’s struggling economy, saying the coronavirus pandemic had hurt the nation’s oil sector, which accounts for more than 95% of South Sudan’s revenue.“The pandemic has depressed oil prices and we have been unable to compensate for the shortfall in oil revenue with non-oil revenue,” Kiir said in his speech. If government agencies could be more efficient at collecting taxes and other non-oil revenue, the president said, the government then could “meet expenditures and operations. Unfortunately, this has not been the case.”Government officials are exploring ways to ensure that taxes and fees are paid so the government can pay the salaries of civil servants on time, said Kiir. Soldiers and civil service employees frequently have pointed out they have not received their salaries in months.
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The U.S. State Department, saying it was “deeply concerned” about alleged human rights violations by state security forces in West Africa’s Sahel region, warned Thursday that inaction by governments there could jeopardize Washington’s support.“The United States has made clear that our assistance to the region must not be used in any way that contributes to violations or abuses of human rights, and that without prompt and thorough action to address these allegations, U.S. security assistance may be at risk,” spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement.The statement urged heads of state in the G5 Sahel — representing Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger — “to follow through” on public commitments made June 30 to investigate such allegations about security forces there. It also called for “ensuring full and public accountability for anyone found guilty” of such violations.The State Department warning referenced a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report released Wednesday that suggested evidence of “government security force involvement in mass extrajudicial executions” in northern Burkina Faso.The State Department also cited violations reported by the U.N. Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA).Bodies foundHRW reported at least 180 bodies had been found in recent months near the Burkina Faso town of Djibo. Residents told HRW of seeing bodies, in groups of up to 20, “along major roadways, under bridges and in fields and vacant lots.” All were men, many of whom had been blindfolded and their hands bound. Many had been shot. Almost all were found within 5 kilometers of central Djibo from last November through June.The rights group said town residents reported burying most of the bodies in common graves in March and April.HRW said in its report that it had written to the Burkinabe government on June 28 to share its findings. It summarized the Defense Ministry’s July 3 response, which included a promise to investigate and to ensure that security troops would respect human rights.None of the 23 residents interviewed by HRW witnessed the killings, “which appear to have taken place at night,” Corrine Dufka, HRW’s Sahel director, told VOA in an interview Tuesday.But, she said, “a good number of the residents described hearing shots in the middle of the night and then hearing the sound of heavy vehicles moving back and forth, and then in the morning finding these groups of bodies all over Djibo.”Jihadi activityThe town is at “the epicenter of activity” by armed Islamists who, since 2016, have been attacking both military and civilian targets, Dufka said.“Jihadis have concentrated their recruitment on the Fulani or Peul,” ethnic nomadic groups who are largely herders, she said. Witnesses said most of the dead were Peul, “which is to say those that are collectively blamed, collectively identified by the authorities as supporting the jihadis.”Dufka said that residents who participated in or witnessed the burials in the spring “were expressly told not to carry smartphones, not to take pictures.” She said HRW nonetheless had received “maps and drawings of where bodies were found and where they were buried.”HRW is analyzing satellite photos, Dufka said, but she acknowledged the need for on-the-ground investigations.Tibor Nagy, the top U.S. diplomat to Africa, said in a Twitter post that he found the HRW report “very troubling. … Burkinabe authorities must do more to prevent these abuses and hold perpetrators accountable.”VOA State Department correspondent Nike Ching contributed to this report, as did the Africa Division’s Jason Patinkin, Catherine Field and Carol Guensburg.
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In western Cameroon, hundreds of single mothers protested this week against the cultural practice of forced marriage. The women, who say their parents forced them into early marriage, called on authorities to help end the practice, saying it too often ends in broken families.
Twenty-year-old single mother Metombemb Aicha has been leading protests against the forced marriage of teenage girls in western Cameroon.  Around the towns of Foumbot and Foumban, parents often force their girls to marry early, believing that tying the knot after the age of 14 brings the family bad luck.   Aicha says their protests at local palaces and in public urged Cameroonian authorities to put a stop to the cultural practice.    Aicha says most of the 300 people protesting were 14 years old when they were forced to marry men they did not know. She says some single mothers among the protesters decided to leave their homes with their babies after their husbands brought home other wives. Parents should allow young girls to choose their husbands, says Aicha, to stop the pain that forced marriages are inflicting.   Aicha formed the group Noun Sisters to support single mothers who leave these marriages and to push for an end to the tradition, practiced among Cameroon’s Muslims and in villages. The group says the girls should be allowed to go to school.  The protests were sparked when a widowed, 17-year-old mother was last week being forced to marry her dead husband’s brother.   The marriage was called off after the demonstrations.   But local officials say they should protect cultural practices of their forefathers, including forced, early marriage. Foumbat palace official Ousmanou Mefirou says early marriage ensures that girls are married with their dignity as virgins. According to cultural norms, if a girl is a virgin, the groom’s family gives her family more gifts as a so-called bride price. Her parents are also praised as model members of the community.Mefirou says their tradition holds firm that a girl has no say on whom her husband should be. He says when a girl is 14, her father contacts the parents of a potential husband and they discuss the possibility and date for the marriage. Tradition also holds that a man who sees a girl he wants to marry should inform his parents, says Mefirou, not the girl. But Cameroon’s district-level officials say they oppose forced, early marriage.  Foumban district official Julien Gael Kono says the government is bent on eradicating such harmful traditions.He says forced marriages are rampant all over Cameroon but, more concerning in the west of the country. He says in these mainly Muslim communities, there are misconceptions that boys should make their choices while girls stay at home to prepare for early marriage. Since they are finding it difficult to convince people that boys and girls should be treated equally, says Kono, they will start punishing those who abuse their rights. Cameroonian authorities say six out of 10 girls in these communities are forced to marry before the age of 16. Last year, Cameroon’s National Institute of Statistics, citing the U.N., said nearly one-third of girls were married before their 18th birthday. But in eight out of 10 of the forced marriages, the wives end up leaving their husbands before turning 18.                 
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Officials in Nigeria say domestic flights are now available for the first time since restrictions aimed at preventing the spread of the coronavirus began.Airports in the capital, Abuja, and its largest city, Lagos, reopened for flights Wednesday, with more airports resuming operations within a week.No date has been announced for international flights to resume.The resumption of domestic flights to lift Africa’s largest economy comes with some new protocols, including passengers getting their temperature checked and maintaining social distancing.Traveler Daniel Ogbolem welcomed the new safety measures put in place.  “The protocol is nice,” he said. “First of all you come, they will sanitize your luggage, you’ll wash your hands, you’ll go and clean up and join the queue, so it’s good.” He added, “the safe distance is cool, wearing of nose masks and everything is good.”Nigerian airport official Henrietta Yakubu is appealing to the public to follow the new protocols and procedures, saying the government is not trying to punish travelers or extend their time at the airport, but only to provide a safe environment.Nigeria has gradually relaxed restrictions in recent weeks, including allowing interstate travel.So far, Nigeria has confirmed more than 30,000 COVID-19 cases and 684 deaths. 
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Ivory Coast Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly, who was to be the ruling party’s candidate in October’s presidential election, died Wednesday less than a week after returning from France, where he had been staying for health reasons.“Fellow compatriots, Ivory Coast is mourning. It is with deep pain that I announce to you that Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly has left us,” President Alassane Ouattara’s spokesperson said during a national television appearance.Ouattara himself tweeted his own message, saying “my younger brother, my son, Amadou Gon Coulibaly, who was, for 30 years, my closest partner. I salute the memory of a statesman of great loyalty, devotion and love for his country,” Ouattara said.Gon Coulibaly was 61. He died Wednesday, shortly after complaining during a Cabinet meeting that he wasn’t feeling well. He had undergone heart surgery in 2012.Gon Coulibaly had previously served as presidential secretary-general and agriculture minister.Ouattara handpicked Gon Coulibaly as the ruling RHDP candidate for the October election after declining to run for another term. It is unclear who will replace him.The only other major candidate at this time is 86-year-old former president Henri Konan Bedie. 
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The United States and Kenya formally launched negotiations Wednesday on a bilateral trade deal, which the countries hope could be replicated across Africa.“Under President [Donald] Trump’s leadership, we look forward to negotiating and concluding a comprehensive, high-standard agreement with Kenya that can serve as a model for additional agreements across Africa,” said U.S. Ambassador Robert Lighthizer in a joint U.S.-Kenya statement.The first round of discussions, held over the next two weeks, will be conducted remotely because of the coronavirus pandemic.Both countries announced formation of a working group to “lay the groundwork for a stronger future trade relationship” in August 2018, the same year the relationship between the two countries was upped to a strategic partnership. Trump and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta officially agreed to pursue trade negotiations in February 2020.The U.S. and Kenya also announced a new strategic cooperation framework Wednesday, meant to help Kenya benefit fully from the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which allows most products from sub-Saharan Africa into the U.S. duty free. The program is scheduled to expire in 2025.The negotiations have seen some pushback. Nearly 30 nongovernmental organizations signed a letter Tuesday against the proposed agreement, arguing that bilateral free trade would hurt Kenyan agriculture and manufacturing and undermine regional economic integration efforts through the African Continental Free Trade Area.Lighthizer emphasized a deal’s potential for regional unity, saying, “We believe this agreement with Kenya will complement Africa’s regional integration efforts, including in the East African community and the landmark African Continental Free Trade Area, and the United States pledges its continued support to help the AfCFTA achieve its fullest potential.”Betty Maina, Kenya’s cabinet secretary for industrialization, trade, and enterprise development, said in the statement that an agreement would boost Kenyan exports and foreign investment and would create jobs.Trump, who opposes U.S. membership in the World Trade Organization, has led the charge to negotiate separate bilateral agreements with American trade partners.
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South Sudan’s central bank took steps Wednesday to bolster the economy amid the COVID-19 lockdown, but an analyst warned the economy will only improve after the government restores peace and security.The COVID-19 disease is caused by the coronavirus. The central bank lowered interest rates from 13% to 10%  and lowered the cash reserve ratio from 15% to 10% to reduce economic hardships on individuals and businesses during the pandemic. The cash reserve ratio is the minimum fraction of total deposits from customers that commercial banks must hold in either cash or deposits. The measures are meant to reduce the overall cost of financing for the private sector and release additional cash to commercial banks, which should help spur economic activity during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Bank of South Sudan Governor Gamal Abdalla Wani. “The Bank of South Sudan deemed it necessary to suspend circular No. SDR/S/4/2020 that directs all banks to raise their paid capital to a minimum of five billion South Sudanese pounds for a period of six months. This measure is taken to protect the financial sector and prevent [the] potential risk of a banking crisis,” Wani told South Sudan in Focus.Bank buys crude goldOne of the measures adopted by the bank in March when the pandemic hit the country was the purchase of crude gold. The bank has been exploring efforts to refine the gold, said Wani.  The government has allocated $5.5 million to support the new measures and if they work, Wani said, the inflation rate should stabilize over the next two years, enabling the government to inject more hard currency into the economy.  “The prices of oil really went down so much that it is not really earning us enough foreign currencies for the nation to be able do whatever they want to do,” Wani told VOA. Virus hurts importsThe COVID-19 lockdown has dealt a serious blow to the flow of imported goods into South Sudan, Wani added. “It has restricted us in a way that we can’t move as we used to do. Nearly all the countries in the world, they closed their air space. No more transportation by air, by railway, by cars, even going to our neighbors here. So that means if we are depending on some goods, we are a landlocked country, we are affected most,” Wani told VOA.  Professor Ahmed Morjan, a lecturer of economics at the University of Juba, welcomed the new measures, saying they should boost domestic production; but, he warned one major obstacle stands in the way of the country’s economic improvement.“When there’s insecurity, there is no political stability, then all these may not work. This one must be associated with peace and security in all these areas, because most of the agricultural activities take place in the rural areas and if people in the rural areas are not secure, then all these projects may not work,” Morjan told South Sudan in Focus. According to the International Monetary Fund, the global economy was projected to shrink by 4.9% in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Investment in agriculture neededThe government must diversify South Sudan’s economy by strengthening investment in agriculture so when oil prices drop even further, the rest of the economy will not fall apart, said Morjan.   Civil war broke out in South Sudan in 2013 when President Salva Kiir fell out with his then-vice president Riek Machar, accusing the opposition leader of trying to stage a coup. Hundreds of thousands of South Sudanese were killed and millions more displaced. A fragile, revitalized peace deal was signed this past February, but deadly inter-communal fighting in parts of the country in recent months has threatened to tear apart the agreement. 
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An explosion at an oil production facility in southern Nigeria has killed seven workers, the country’s state-run oil group said Wednesday. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said the blast happened during operations at the Gbetiokun OML 40 production platform in the Niger Delta region of the West African country. “The incident, which occurred on Tuesday during the installation of a ladder on a platform … unfortunately caused seven fatalities,” the NNPC said in a statement. The company said other workers on the facility have been accounted for, and an investigation has been launched into the incident.  The NNPC said the victims were employees of a firm engaged for the job. Although Tuesday’s incident was due to an operational factor, pipeline and tanker truck explosions are common in Nigeria, where most people live in poverty even though the country is the biggest oil producer on the continent, with around two million barrels per day. Some incidents happen when residents try to siphon off oil or petrol from pipelines or when tanker drivers have accidents on the country’s ill-maintained roads. In March, a gas explosion in the commercial capital Lagos killed at least 15 people, injured many more and destroyed around 50 buildings. 
 
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Malawi’s new president Lazarus Chakwera called for national sacrifice to transform his country as he was inaugurated on Monday, completing a remarkable turnaround after losing last year’s election.
 
That vote was annulled by Malawi’s top court over “widespread and systematic” irregularities and a re-run election was held on June 23.
 
Chakwera, 65, comfortably beat Peter Mutharika with 58.5 per cent of the vote, marking the first time in African history that an election re-run led to the defeat of an incumbent.
 
A triumphant Chakwera gave a rousing speech after receiving the sword of command from the army general Peter Namathanga in the capital Lilongwe on Monday.
 
“We must have the courage to face and endure the pain if we ever want to enjoy wholeness as a nation,” said the former evangelical preacher, who campaigned on rooting out corruption and reviving the economy of the aid-dependent southern African country.
 
“We must each accept that in the context of Malawi’s recovery and transformation… We are each in some way part of Malawi’s problems and must each in some way be part of her solution.”
 
As part of a push to curb executive power, he committed to publish a declaration of assets every year as well as address parliament over his actions.  
 
“Before we can begin to rebuild, we must clear the rubble of corruption,” he said, also singling out “laziness”, “donor dependency”, “unprofessionalism”, “incompetence” and the “impunity” of those in power.
 
The inauguration, held at Malawi’s army headquarters named after founding president Hastings Kamuzu Banda, was attended by only 100 guests and coincided with the country’s 56th anniversary of independence from Britain.
 
Chakwera cancelled planned independence day celebrations over the weekend and his inauguration ceremony was drastically scaled back following a spike in coronavirus infections.
 
Malawi announced 129 new infections on Monday, seven percent of its total of 1742 cases.  
 
A court blocked the previous government from imposing a full lockdown in April because it failed to announce any measures to cushion the vulnerable.
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Local officials in central Mali are calling on the government to deploy additional troops to the restive region following several attacks that targeted civilians last week. The simultaneous attacks, which killed at least 30 civilians, took place in four villages of the Bankass region last Wednesday, local officials said.   While no group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, local officials have blamed jihadists for carrying out the deadly assaults. “These attacks were conducted by the jihadists,” said Allaye Guindo, mayor of Bankass. “They came from Baye, a village on the border between Mali and Burkina Faso, to carry out these attacks in the Bankass municipality.” Guindo told VOA that 33 villagers, including women and children, were killed in the attacks. The victims were all from the Dogon ethnic group, he said. The mayor added that the attacks have forced hundreds of villagers to leave their homes, fearing that armed groups could launch new attacks.    Increased violence Deadly clashes between the ethnic Fulani and Dogon communities have increased in recent months. The United Nations said in a report last month that violence in central Mali has killed about 600 civilians this year. The conflict in Mali began in 2012 when a separatist uprising in the north was largely taken over by al-Qaida affiliates. Since then, thousands of civilians and military personnel have been killed. Violence reached central Mali in 2015 when Islamist militant groups moved from north to central Mali. The U.N. has a peacekeeping mission in the country, while France maintains an ongoing military campaign against the insurgents. The U.N. Security Council last week renewed the mandate of its peacekeeping mission in Mali, MINUSMA, for one more year. MINUSMA currently has about 15,000 personnel in Mali. Troops ambushed Guindo called on the central government in Bamako and its international partners to act quickly to bring an end to the growing violence in the central part of the West African country. Malian authorities said they have responded to last week’s attacks by sending a military unit to the region. One day after the attacks, Malian soldiers were deployed to Gouari, one of the targeted villages, after receiving information about a new attack, a military spokesman said. “When (they) arrived at around 8 p.m., the village seemed deserted. There were practically no signs of life,” army spokesman Col. Diarran Kone told the Agence France-Presse news agency last week. “Just at the entrance, the FAMA (Malian Armed Forces) walked into an ambush,” he said, adding that “nine (soldiers) died and two were injured, and equipment was also destroyed.” ‘Multidimensional’ conflict Bakary Sambe, a security expert at the Timbuktu Institute in Dakar, Senegal, calls the crisis in central Mali “multidimensional.” “It would be simplistic to interpret it only through the prism of jihadist-motivated violence,” he told VOA. “It would also be simplistic to see it as a simple ethnic issue, since Fulani and Dogon have lived together for centuries.” Sambe said the real problem is the failure of the security governance system that took the risk of countering the insurgency by creating local ethnic-based militias. Experts believe that deep-rooted conflicts over resources in northern and central Mali have been exploited by extremist and criminal groups to exacerbate the violence. “The Malian state should first cut off terrorist networks from their local incubators and undertake an inclusive dialogue based on local conflict resolution mechanisms,” Sambe asserted. In an effort to end the conflict, the government of Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita announced in February it had been in talks with the main jihadist groups in Mali. The Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM), an alliance of several extremist factions, is the main group that is active in parts of Mali. The group has pledged allegiance to al-Qaida. The talks, however, seem to have reached a stalemate since jihadists insist that France pull out its troops from Mali as a condition to continue the negotiations. Sambe said a genuine stabilization policy in Mali is needed with the help of the international community. “It will be necessary to go beyond mere repression and even explore the paths of transitional justice, knowing that the future of this region cannot be built on revenge and reprimands,” he said. Kadiatou Traore of VOA’s Bambara service contributed to this story from Washington. 
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A South Sudanese diplomat in the United States sparked an online uproar when he was seen urinating during a live Facebook political discussion. Panelists were discussing the appointment of a governor for Upper Nile state on Friday when Gordon Buay, South Sudan’s deputy ambassador to the U.S., was seen walking to the bathroom wearing only a shirt and relieving himself, in full view of all other panelists. The video went viral, with many social media users calling on Buay to step down.   Some commentators accused Buay of being intoxicated during the panel discussion, noting that he was shouting at other panelists.   While some of the panelists appeared shocked to see Buay relieve himself, a few smiled and laughed.  The video was removed from Youtube on Saturday afternoon but a clip was shared widely on social media minutes after organizers removed the original video. Buay posted a message on his Facebook page urging people not to believe what he called a “fake video.” Buay did not respond to numerous attempts by VOA’s South Sudan in Focus to reach him for comment. South Sudanese government officials have also declined to comment. Buay’s behavior tarnished the image of South Sudan and immediate disciplinary action should be taken against the top diplomat, said political analyst James Okuk of the Center for Strategic Studies in Juba. “Such kind of behavior in line with diplomatic ethics has not happened anywhere in the history of international relations. So it is really shameful and is tainting the image of South Sudan and it should not be taken lightly in Juba,” Okuk told South Sudan in Focus. Okuk, a former diplomat to Khartoum and Brazil, said diplomats should always be sensitive about how they present themselves to the public. “Pretending to defend the government while naked and also trying to talk in a chaotic manner when he is drunk and then going to the toilet to pee without switching off the camera of the phone and coming back to defend saying there was nothing wrong.  Something just really must be done,” Okuk said. Okuk said Buay should be recalled and investigated. Shortly after Buay urinated, moderator Peter Keny ended the discussion, following a heated argument between Buay and other panelists.  “Thank you so much, brother, I really appreciate the time and I thank you, ambassador. South Sudanese that is your ambassador Gordon Buay, let us end the show, thank you so much, God bless you,” said the moderator.  Ambassador Buay was among 43 diplomats who were recalled and returned to Juba in February. In March, South Sudan’s Ambassador to the U.S. Mayen Dut Wol wrote a letter canceling Buay’s recall. 
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A small island off the coast of Africa known for its role in the slave trade has changed the name of its main square in response to the death of George Floyd and the global Black Lives Matter movement.  The island of Goree, a few kilometers off Senegal’s coast, announced Tuesday that Europe Square will now be known as Freedom and Human Dignity Square based on a decision by the municipal council.  Its original name was given in 1998 after European funding paid for renovations at the UNESCO World Heritage site.  “The name Europe Square was, in a way, a symbol of friendship between peoples,” said Doudou Dia, president of the island’s tourism commission. “But we also said to ourselves … that in another sense it is celebrating the persecutor,” he added. “What happened to George Floyd was the final straw.” Floyd, an African American, died May 25 in police custody in the U.S. city of Minneapolis. A white police officer, Derek Chauvin, kept his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes while Floyd said he couldn’t breathe and cried out for his mother. Floyd’s death set off protests led by the Black Lives Matter activist group. Goree was the site of the largest holding area for enslaved people from 1536 to 1848. The island was valued for its small size and strategic location and was fought over by the Portuguese, Dutch, French and British during its 312-year history, according to the BBC.  The historic House of Slaves was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978 as a symbolic reminder of “human exploitation,” the agency said.  Today, the island is popular with tourists, although several prominent world leaders, including Nelson Mandela, Pope John Paul II and former U.S. president Barack Obama, have visited the site.  
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Hundreds of demonstrators, mostly from poor parts of Nairobi, marched through the streets Tuesday of the Kenyan capital to protest against violent policing and the lack of basic services in their areas. Police used tear gas and arrests to block the protesters as they tried to reach the president’s office to deliver a petition.Saba Saba is a Swahili phrase that means “Seven Seven” in English, denoting the date, the 7th of July.It’s remembered in Kenya as the day in 1990 when opposition parties attempted to hold a series of nationwide rallies to protest the then-one party state and call for political reforms.Hundreds were arrested and dozens killed as security forces squashed the protests.On July 7, 2020 – the 30th anniversary of those protests – hundreds of people marched through the streets of Nairobi to demonstrate against what they describe as social and economic injustices.Most are residents of Mathare, Kiamaiko and Dandora, some of the poorest parts of Nairobi.Many protesters said the government is depriving them of basic needs, including the right to life.32-year-old George Muhia, a community organizer from Kiamaiko, a poor neighborhood in Nairobi, was among those hoping to deliver a petition to the president.Muhia said, “What the petition contains is some of the violations that we have documented as social justice centers and the enforced disappearances that have been happening even before Covid.  Some of the disappearances happened in January when we lost three of our colleagues from Dandora, after three months three of our colleagues from Kiamaiko and up to date we can count at least 15 cases of enforced disappearances.”Since January to date, Missing Voices, a coalition of at least a dozen rights groups in Kenya, has documented 100 cases of police killings.Some of these victims, Muhia says, were people known to him.  Muhia says the economic situation in Kenya does not allow poor people to access basic things like a good education and job opportunities.Aileen Wanjiku is the research campaigner at Missing Voices.
“This year, the big amend for the march is just implementation of the 2010 constitution, because what people are seeing is that when it comes to the implementation of article 43, this is the right to water, right to housing, these rights are actually not being respected or implemented by the government, and then there is the big one which is the right to life,” said Wanjiku. “So, we are also seeing that – this one is being disrespected in different ways, we have violent policing, we have a lot of people dying at the hands of police officers.”Police used tear gas to break up the march Tuesday, and they arrested more than 50 people.The protesters were unable to reach the president’s office to deliver their petition.
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Uganda’s wildlife authorities say the halt to tourism income caused by COVID-19 has pushed many people who depended on tourists into poaching the very animals the industry depends on.  Uganda’s national parks recorded a doubling of wildlife poaching during the pandemic compared to this time last year.  Uganda’s conservationists are looking for alternative income sources for the communities to stop the poaching. Between February and June of this year, the Uganda Wildlife Authority recorded 367 poaching cases across the country, more than double the 163 cases recorded during a similar period in 2019.  John Makombo, the Uganda Wildlife Authority director for conservation, attributes the increase to the COVID-19 lockdown, lost income for people who work in the tourism industry and inadequate human resources to cover all the conservation areas.Tourism is usually Uganda’s leading foreign exchange earner, reaping $1.6 billion in the 2018-2019 financial year alone.But, with the closure of the tourism sector due to COVID-19, Makombo says the tourism sector is not taking in any money, making the national parks vulnerable to poachers.  “That loss of benefit has led to job loss and unemployment of many stakeholders,” Makombo said. “Some of the jobless community members have turned their spears against the wildlife as poachers.”The most recent incident was the killing of Rafiki, a beloved silverback gorilla in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in South Western Uganda.Gladys Kalema Zikusoka is founder and chief of Conservation through Public Health, a non-profit wildlife group.  She says most gorilla killings are accidental, but killings of other animals are not.“They set snares for other animals that they want to eat. Like, the small antelope. Or a bushpig,” Kalema said. “They’ll go for those to eat them. And when they set these snares, gorillas can accidentally get caught in the snare. But worse still, we’ve had cases of people spearing gorillas. Yet they were not going for gorillas, they were going for diker and bush pig.”According to Uganda’s Tourism Act, 20 percent of all revenue collected in national parks is directed to local communities, including $10 of all permits from Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.In the current circumstances, however, that money has dried up.Kalema says to cut down on poaching, her organization and the Uganda Wildlife Authority have started an enterprise where farmers are given an above market price for their coffee.“These are farmers who we engage so that they do not have to go into the park to poach to be able to feed their families,” Kalema said. “We are encouraging them, we are trying to see how to get them seedlings for fast growing food so that they can at least eat. They are not starving while they wait for tourism to come back. These local communities, I think, they can co-exist with wildlife, but if they are hungry, it’s very difficult for them to co-exist.”According to the Uganda Wildlife Authority, wildlife in Kidepo, Lake Mburo, Murchison Falls and Bwindi Impenetrable national parks remain vulnerable despite efforts to enhance patrols around protected areas.The authority is ensuring its rangers spend more time with the gorillas – which are the main attraction in the parks — to lessen the chance that they could wander off and be poached.
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Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta’s order allowing travel in and out of Nairobi, Mombasa and Mandera counties went into effect early Tuesday morning. Kenyatta said, the relaxing of travel restrictions should not be taken lightly, and people should avoid reckless behavior. Kenyatta also announced the resumption of international flights beginning August 1, as the country gradually reopens.  Kenya’s leader extended the nationwide 9 pm to 4 am curfew 30 days, with a warning if the rate of the outbreak worsens, Kenya may return to more stringent lockdown restrictions.Kenya has recorded more than 8,000 coronavirus cases and 164 deaths. 
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Widespread violence in the past week in Ethiopia following the shooting death of a popular Oromo singer has killed at least 166 people, officials said Monday. Police said about 2,000 people have been arrested in Oromia Regional State, including some senior political leaders of Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and their supporters, after Hachalu Hundessa was killed June 29 by unidentified attackers. People in other areas of the Oromia region told VOA that unidentified attackers targeted people not of Oromos ethnicity, although some ethnic Oromos were also attacked. The survivors told VOA the attackers, who included gunmen, also burned and stoned some victims. Eyewitnesses told VOA that businesses and private homes had been looted and burned, and historical sites destroyed.Girma Gelan, deputy commissioner of the Federal Police, said 156 people, including 145 civilians and 11 members of the security forces, had been killed since the violence began a week ago.  Getu Argaw, police commissioner of Addis Ababa, said 10 people, including eight civilians and two security force members, had been killed. About 20 victims in Dherra town of Arsi Zone in Oromia, about 115 kilometers (72 miles) east of the capital, Addis Ababa, told VOA they witnessed family members being killed, and their properties burned. The victims and eyewitnesses sought shelter in a church in Dherra. Arsi Zone administrator Jemal Aleyu told VOA that 36 people, including two law enforcement officials, were killed in his region. The killings “should never happen again in a community that lived together for years, and people responsible for the killings and the destruction were under police custody awaiting due process,” Aleyu said.In this image taken from OBN video, the funeral for Ethiopia singer Hachalu Hundessa takes place in Ambo, Ethiopia, Thursday July 2, 2020.Meanwhile, a VOA reporter said relative calm has been restored, and some daily activities have resumed in the Western Oromia towns and villages.  Officials said that while protesters in the area attacked government facilities and some private businesses in the past few days, no ethnic-centered attack nor serious damages to properties have been reported. The officials also said some suspects had been captured and are in custody. Getachew Balcha, Oromia regional government spokesman, and Negussu Tilahun, spokesman for the prime minister’s office, confirmed the attacks in several towns in the Oromia region. They blamed the assaults on “a group that is trying to instigate violence and clashes between two ethnic groups and destabilize the country as a whole.” The government has deployed federal police and defense forces in the hot spot areas, and further killings have been stopped, Balcha and Tilahun said. 
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