Turkey is seeking to reap diplomatic rewards from its military success in Libya. Recent gains by Turkish-backed forces of the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) are enhancing Ankara’s influence in Libya and with the European Union.Turkey sent military personnel to Libya in January to support the Tripoli-based GNA. It had been under sustained attack from forces led by Libyan General Khalif Haftar, who has a power base in eastern Libya. Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) has the backing of countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Russia.   
 
The Turkish military deployment to Libya, widely seen as a gamble by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, turned out to be a game changer in the civil war.  
 FILE – Mourners pray for fighters killed in airstrikes by warplanes of General Khalifa Haftar’s forces, in Tripoli, Libya, April 24, 2019.Haftar’s forces were driven from the suburbs of Tripoli and continue to sustain territorial losses.
 
Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Hakan Fidan, the head of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization, led a high-level delegation Wednesday to Tripoli, underlining the critical role Turkey is now playing in Libya. According to pro-government Turkish media reports, Ankara is looking to establish an air and naval base in Libya.  
 
The Turkish government so far hasn’t officially commented on the news reports, but Ankara’s military presence in Libya could be a big bargaining chip with the European Union.   
 
“Libya is so strategically important to the EU, as Libya is the gateway of Africa to Europe,” said retired Turkish ambassador to Qatar Mithat Rende.
 
The Libyan civil war’s chaos made the country one of the main smuggling routes for migrants trying to enter the EU.   
 
Ankara already has a deal with the EU to prevent refugees and migrants from trying to enter through Turkey, in exchange for billions of dollars in aid.   
 
Political science professor Ilhan Uzgel of Ankara University said Erdogan now sees an opportunity to extend Turkey’s role as the EU’s gatekeeper to Libya. Ankara has myriad issues it’s negotiating with Brussels in the renewal of a customs union on visa free travel.  
 
“Turkey used the Syrian refugees as a bargaining chip against the EU, it was a policy of blackmail, and it worked somehow. Now with Libya, Turkey has a new card or leverage against the EU. So, they [the EU] may not be happy, but the EU is usually making a bargain with Turkey over the refugee issues,” said Uzgel.  
 Russia Looks to Washington for Help in Libya Russian FM Sergey Lavrov says he would welcome any efforts by Washington to use its influence on Turkey to help fashion a truce in LibyaFrance and Germany have sharply criticized Turkish military intervention in Libya, although with Germany taking over the EU presidency in July, German Chancellor Angela Merkel could be looking to Erdogan for a deal.  
 
“Turkish military presence in Libya would strengthen its position vis-a-vis EU in general and Germany in particular,” said international relations expert Zaur Gasimov of Bonn University.   
 
“The fears of more influx of refugees have never been stronger than now in Europe, already heavily challenged by the [coronavirus] pandemic and economic recession,” he added.  
 
Merkel spoke by telephone with Erdogan this month about Libya. Friday, Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio flew to Ankara for talks with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, on stabilizing the North African country.   
 
“They [the EU] don’t like his [Erdogan’s] personality; they don’t respect him. But they know that he can make a deal, and he keeps his promises in a way,” Uzgel said.   
 
In the U.S., the Trump Administration also could see Ankara as a partner in Libya.  
 
“Turkey and the U.S. can together make a positive difference [in Libya],” Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said Friday.  
 
U.S. President Donald Trump and Erdogan agreed this month to cooperate on Libya, although the nature of the cooperation remains unclear.  
 
Also this month, the U.S. military accused Russia of seeking to push for a strategic foothold on NATO’s southern flank at the expense of innocent Libyan lives. Moscow is a key backer of Haftar, although it denies any military involvement. But Turkey’s Libya military intervention is seen as thwarting Russian ambitions.   
 
A meeting between Russian and Turkish foreign ministers called by Russia for June 14 to discuss Libya was canceled.  
 
“The cancelation came from Turkey,” Uzgel said. ” It’s the rule of any conflict it’s usually the losing side who asks for a cease-fire. Turkey does not want to stop in Libya.”    
 
Moscow, however, is accused of establishing a substantial military presence in Libya. On Thursday, the U.S. Africa Command published what it said were new images of Russian warplanes in Libya.   
 
“Russia has sent its military jets to Libya, but we have not heard they had used their jets effectively against GNA forces. It could have been used effectively because [Turkish] drones are no match against fighter jets. But they haven’t been used. It appears more like symbolic importance; it’s more of a bluff than a tool in a fight” said Uzgel.
 
Moscow may be reluctant to risk its relations with Turkey, which have markedly improved in the past few years, much to the alarm of Turkey’s NATO partners. The two countries have strong trade ties and are cooperating in the Syrian civil war, despite backing rival sides in the conflict. Turkey, Russia and Iran are part of the Astana Process, which is seeking to end the conflict. While Moscow and Ankara struck an agreement to enforce a cease-fire in Afrin, the last rebel-controlled region.
 
Observers say that despite Turkey’s success in Libya, it still needs to handle Moscow with care. Russia can undermine Turkey’s efforts to stabilize Libya or push back against Turkish interests elsewhere.   
 
However, Gasimov believes pragmatism is likely to prevail.  
 
“Turkey and Russia would highly likely manage a deal in Libya, as they did in Syria, and indeed the Libyan antagonism would even bond them closer,” he said.  
 
Gasimov said Russia could be accommodating to Turkey’s demand to end Haftar’s leadership role, as part of any Libyan deal.  
 
“The Russian position is heterogeneous and dynamic. Haftar, who studied in the U.S.S.R., is not seen any more as the only key factor for Russia’s presence in Libya. Moscow is searching for alternatives,” he said.  
 
Any Russian deal, though, is likely to be limited by Turkey’s desire to work with its Western allies in Libya.  
 
“Ankara can make a deal with Moscow but on its terms,” said Uzgel. “They may be a short-term limited deal with Russia. Anything more and the EU would not be happy or the United States. There may be a temporary small-scale deal with Russia.” 
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World Refugee Day is being observed Saturday with the aim of raising awareness of refugees throughout the world. In Italy, a special prayer vigil was held in Rome this week titled “Dying of Hope,” in memory of the thousands who lose their lives at sea, on their journeys in search of a better life in Europe.Inside the Church of Santa Maria in Trastevere in Rome, many gathered to pray in memory of those who have drowned in their attempt to cross the Mediterranean from North Africa and for those who continue to do so. Africans and Italians maintained social distancing inside the church as they prayed together. The Secretary General of the Italian Bishops Conference, Monsignor Stefano Russo, addressed the congregation.A woman with a face mask speaks with medical staff in protective clothing at a refugee camp after two suspect cases of coronavirus were allegedly confirmed and the area cordoned off as a red zone, on the outskirts of Rome, April 8, 2020.Marco Impagliazzo is a member of the Catholic Community of Sant’ Egidio who organized the vigil. He said it is essential that everyone, Africans and Europeans, deal with the pandemic on the African continent together.Impagliazzo said that if this does not happen, there will be other long waves of migrant arrivals and the virus must help us understand that we must all row in the same direction.More than 40,000 migrants are believed to have died in efforts to reach Europe via land or sea crossings since 1990. 
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U.N. officials, on the occasion of World Refugee Day, are warning the COVID-19 pandemic poses an additional threat to millions of refugees and displaced people, among the most vulnerable in the world. More people live in forced exile than ever before.  The U.N. refugee agency says refugees account for nearly 30 million of the record-breaking 79.5 million uprooted by conflict and persecution.  An overwhelming majority live in poor countries with fragile economies and health systems.Pandemic Pushes World Refugee Day Observances OnlineThis year’s theme is ‘Every Action Counts’ to highlight the contributions of refugees to the COVID-19 response as essential workersWorld Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, says refugees’ living conditions put them at particular risk of coronavirus infection.“They often have limited access to adequate shelter, water, nutrition, sanitation and health services …,” said Tedros. “WHO is deeply concerned about the very real and present danger of widespread transmission of COVID-19 in refugee camps.”U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi agrees with this assessment.  However, he notes most refugees are not in camps but in communities with local people.   In some places, he says, those communities have been devastated by the pandemic.“I am thinking of Latin America where 17 to18 countries host more than 4 million Venezuelans on the move,” said Grandi. “I am thinking of many urban centers in Africa that are host to large refugee populations.  I am thinking of Afghans in Pakistan and Iran that share… facilities and accommodation with communities that have been impacted very severely by COVID.” Grandi says he also is extremely concerned about the impact of COVID-19 on livelihoods.  He says most refugees have lost their jobs because of lockdowns and other measures.He says refugees who have lost their incomes cannot pay for health care.  It is of utmost importance, he says for governments to include refugees, displaced people and other people on the move in their national health responses to the pandemic.  He says this is key to stopping the pandemic, noting the coronavirus makes no distinction between citizens of a country and those who have been forcibly uprooted from their homes and live within their midst. 
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Forcibly displaced by drought and extremist violence in southwestern Somalia, Fadumo Mohamed Abdi thought she had found safety in the Puntland region’s northeastern city of Bosaso.But one day in May 2019, while she and three other women were gathering firewood on the outskirts of their camp, they were accosted by four armed men, she said.”The other three women managed to escape, but unfortunately I could not. They raped me repeatedly and left me unconscious,” Abdi told VOA’s Somali service in a phone conversation Friday.Abdi was hospitalized for several days and, more than a year later, still bears trauma from the episode. Her disabled husband and their nine children had depended on her to collect fuel, but she remains too fearful to venture back into the woods. Instead, she relies on her sisters and friends.The toll of sexual violence extends well beyond a single person or family, the United Nations said in marking Friday’s annual observance of International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict.”It reverberates throughout communities and societies, perpetuating cycles of violence and threatening international peace and security,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement.The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the challenges in areas with armed conflict, Guterres said, because “reporting crimes may be difficult; shelters and clinics may be closed.”Guterres commended frontline workers who have found ways to support survivors “despite lockdowns and quarantines.” And, his statement concluded, “We must prevent and end these crimes; place survivors at the center of our response; hold perpetrators accountable; and expand support for all those affected.”Abdi said that, as far as she knew, there has been no investigation and her attackers are still at large.”We are poor. We cannot afford a lawyer” to help the family seek justice, she said.According to U.N. Women, an estimated 35% women globally have suffered sexual violence. Risks exist even at home. The group reported in April that an estimated 243 million females experienced sexual violence by an intimate partner within a 12-month span.In Somalia last year, 241 of 744 reported rapes involved conflict-related sexual violence, the U.N. office there found.Rape and other acts of sexual violence often go unreported and unpunished in the Horn of Africa country, groups such as Human Rights Watch say, because of a culture of impunity and stigma.2 Children Brutally Raped in Field Near MogadishuAuthorities have arrested a number of suspectsSomalia, wracked by civil war since its central government collapsed in 1991, divided itself into regions and fiefdoms ruled by rival clan leaders and warlords. There’s no strong, common rule of law.Legal changesChanging attitudes have brought some legal developments.In 2016, semiautonomous Puntland became the first regional state in Somalia to criminalize sexual assault. In February, authorities executed two men convicted of the abduction, gang rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl in 2019.In 2018, the northern region of Somaliland passed a law that allows prison sentences of up to 30 years for convicted rapists. That same year, Somalia’s cabinet ministers drafted legislation, still being considered by the Parliament, to outlaw sexual offenses, including exploitation, trafficking, slavery and forced marriage. It would require investigations into rape allegations and ban clan-based settlements of sexual violence charges.Abdulkadir Mohamed Warsame, an activist in Puntland, said assaults on minors have brought “a traumatic pain in the hearts of Somalis. … Although steps were taken toward bringing the culprits to justice, that is not enough to eradicate the crime,” he added, calling for establishing “a special unit that monitors sexual violence in conflict.”An assault in April sparked a public outcry and more demands for action.Two girls — ages 2 and 3 — were abducted from their home in Afgoye, a town about 30 kilometers southwest of Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, in an area frequented by al-Shabab militants. The next day, a farmer found them in a field, alive but sexually assaulted and traumatized, the town’s mayor told VOA.James Swan, the U.N.’s special representative for Somalia, is urging the country’s leaders and residents to do more “to assist and listen to victims and survivors of conflict-related sexual violence.””Conflict-related sexual violence inflicts deep personal wounds and remains a violation of the human rights of the victims,” he said. “It also scars the fabric of society and the country and has no place in the modern, emerging Somalia.”
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After more than a decade on the run, alleged Sudanese war criminal Ali Kushayb sat in a courtroom in the Netherlands this week, accused of commanding Janjaweed fighters who raped, tortured and killed civilians in Darfur.Fatou Bensouda, the prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC), said Kushayb’s surrender earlier this month in the Central African Republic and his transfer to face charges in the Hague are signals to war criminals around the world that they cannot hide forever.”I believe that his transfer is a very clear and unequivocal message that no matter how long it takes, we will not stop, my office will not stop our work, until these alleged perpetrators of the Rome Statute crimes have been brought to justice,” Bensouda told VOA via Skype.FILE – Fatou Bensouda, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, is seen in a courtroom of the ICC in The Hague, Netherlands, July 8, 2019.Between 2003 and 2004 Kushayb, whose given name is Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, allegedly led thousands of Janjaweed militia members. These fighters conducted what has been called a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the people of the Darfur region. They burned villages, killed thousands and played a role in displacing more than a million people, often with the backing of aerial bombardment by Sudanese government forces.”They were called the devils on horseback. He led those troops into destroying villages in close coordination with military bombers. This went on for many years,” said Cameron Hudson, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center. “And he is just one of the most notorious, grievous representations of that very, very sad period of time.”In 2007, the ICC indicted Kushayb on 22 counts of crimes against humanity and 28 war crimes. But for years, he received protection from the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. That ended last year when Bashir was ousted during a popular uprising. In February 2020, Sudan’s transitional government announced it would cooperate with the ICC.”They said no one was above the law,” Bensouda said. “The news that impunity would no longer be tolerated was met, as you saw, with widespread support by the Sudanese people, and I believe that accountability for crimes committed in Darfur is now a widely supported proposition in Sudan, that justice and accountability for atrocity crimes is an essential element in building lasting stability.”FILE – Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir addresses the National Dialogue Committee meeting at the Presidential Palace in Khartoum, Sudan, April 5, 2019.Kushayb is the first person to see the inside of an ICC courtroom in connection to crimes committed in Darfur. It is unclear what will happen to Bashir, who is in custody in Khartoum and faces domestic charges relating to the killing of demonstrators during the protests. The former Sudanese president is also wanted by the ICC for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. He was the first head of state to face such charges.”The pending arrest warrants, including for Mr. al-Bashir, remain in effect and they have yet to be executed,” Bensouda said. “I have urged the national authorities to honor their commitments to deliver justice for the victims in Darfur and to do so, as I said earlier on, without delay.”‘Cycle of violence’Hudson said the arrest and trial of Kushayb and other alleged war criminals marks an important milestone for the ICC and could have real impacts in Sudan, even among those who are not on trial.”I think it’s a really important opportunity for the ICC to demonstrate not just its efficacy in trying Ali Kushayb, but also one of the things that it touts as a benefit of international justice, which is the healing effect and the deterrent effect of international justice,” Hudson said.”So the idea that trying Kushayb and bringing to light his crimes and delivering justice for his crimes will both help the Darfuris heal and feel some sense of justice being served, but also act as a very powerful potential deterrent to those who hold office in Sudan now specifically in the military and in the rapid support forces, many of whom participated in some of the crimes of Darfur,” he said.As Sudan prepares for elections in 2022, some have feared that the ICC proceedings could reopen old wounds and have a destabilizing effect. Bensouda believes when victims see justice in a court of law and perpetrators are held accountable, it decreases the likelihood for further violence.”I believe that peace and justice in Sudan are not incompatible,” she said. “The victims in Darfur have waited long enough for accountability and our objective is to play our role within our mandates and means to combat impunity in Sudan. Investigating and prosecuting these crimes can help to deter the commission of future crimes, and in doing so, it can help to break the cycle of violence.” 
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The dusty streets of rural South Africa are a far cry from the bright lights of “America’s Got Talent,” but that’s where the members of the Ndlovu Youth Choir find themselves coping with the coronavirus pandemic.
With an electrifying mix of vocals and dance moves, the group made the finals of the U.S. television show last year. Sold-out performances across the U.S. and Europe followed, as well as a recording contract.
But COVID-19 halted their international tour and landed them back where they began, Moutse Valley in South Africa’s Limpopo province, one of the country’s poorest regions.
“We were supposed to go to Germany for a performance, but it got canceled. We are used to touring the world, doing shows everywhere, and during this corona time it’s been very difficult and frustrating,” said Sandile Majola, 26, a member of the chorus and its manager.
The virus has created new risks for singing together, but this “cultural catastrophe,”  as one British arts group called COVID-19, is not stopping the young singers.  
Ndlovu is the Zulu word for elephant, and like the pachyderm the choir members are showing determination to move forward.
The group was formed in 2008 to help orphans and children of HIV patients, said Hugo Tempelman, a Dutch doctor who 30 years ago started a medical clinic that has become a wide-ranging community development project, the Ndlovu Care Group.
 
The project had more than 600 child-headed households in the orphan and vulnerable children program, he said.
“We tried to assist those kids with food programs and tried to give them a more resilient way of surviving, through life skills,” Tempelman said.
He saw a bigger need for the children’s development.  
“When I saw the kids go home, I still didn’t see a smile. And I thought that if we want to provide hope, we must give them something that they can be proud of,” he said.  
He came up with the idea of a youth choir.  
“Of course, you start a choir, because Africa sings,” he said. “Africa sings everywhere. They sing at a funeral, they sing at a birth. They sing their moods.”
In 2016 the choir became more professional with the help of donors. Two years later their rendition of the Ed Sheeran song “Shape of You” won them an audition on “America’s Got Talent” and their captivating performances skyrocketed them to fame.In this photograph taken Thursday May 21, 2020, Dr. Hugo Tempelman sits for an interview at a clinic in the Moutse Valley, 160 kms (100 miles) north east of Johannesburg, South Africa. Tempelman is the founder of the Ndlovu Youth Choir. Finalists of…The 38 young singers are used to overcoming adversity and, with Tempelman’s help, they are coming up with a new plan.
Pulling down his face mask, choir manager Majola described how all the singers, ranging in age from 13 to 26, have been tested for COVID-19 and have been cleared to sing together.
A recording and filming studio has been constructed at the community theater and they have begun rehearsing new material for an online show.
“We are getting together for the first time since lockdown started,” said Majola with excitement.  
The group’s performances of “Africa” and “Higher Ground” have had millions of viewers on YouTube and now the group hopes to highlight new material.
“I still receive emails from people all over the world,” Majola said. “I just got one this morning of someone saying he was depressed and couldn’t get out of bed, until he saw our performance and it gave him hope.”
Choir director Ralf Schmitt said the group is rehearsing new material for their first album with Simon Cowell’s label, a division of Sony Music. Livestream performances are also planned.  
“We are all excited. We’ll be recording with some international artists from around the globe,” Schmitt said.  
The album is scheduled for release at the end of the year, but the choir intends to release a song, “We Will Rise,” to mark the birthday of Nelson Mandela on July 18.
“It’s an inspirational song about how we can work together to overcome this coronavirus,” Schmitt said. 
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Seven suspects accused of taking just over $132 million from VBS Mutual bank in South Africa have pleaded not guilty to dozens of fraud and theft charges.On Thursday, the court set their individual bail at $5,733.The suspects, including a former VBS executive, where arrested Wednesday during raids in Gauteng and Limpopo provinces.An eighth suspect did not appear because he was under COVID-19 quarantine.The suspects are charged with stealing funds in 2018 belonging to dozens of individuals and municipalities.The National Prosecuting Authority described the looting of the bank deposits as one of  the largest bank robberies in South Africa’s history. 
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Cameroon’s military says it has restored security on an important trade road between western Cameroon and Nigeria. The military this week said it had killed at least 13 separatist fighters who blocked the Bamenda-Enugu Road for two months and were demanding illegal tolls. The rebels denied it was their fighters and blamed other armed groups. General Valere Nka, commander of Cameroonian forces fighting separatists in the English-speaking North West region, said his troops had destroyed several camps along the road linking the Cameroonian town of Bamenda to Enugu in Nigeria. Nka said the four-day battle ended Wednesday night. He spoke via a messaging application from Bamenda.Nka said after battles that lasted four days, at least 13 rebels were dead and many locally made guns, explosive devices, pistols, vehicles, motorcycles, hard drugs and a machine gun that was seized from the Cameroonian military by rebels a year ago had been taken from the separatists. He said he appreciated the professionalism of his troops, even though one of them was killed and another wounded.Nka said Cameroon and Nigerian traders had complained to him a month ago that they were no longer safe on the road. After this week’s attacks on rebel camps, Nka assured civilians that security had been restored and advised traders and travelers to report any suspicious movements and cooperate with the military.Jude Chukudi, a 42-year-old trader who buys motor parts and electronics in Nigeria to sell in Cameroon, said despite Nka’s assurance, he was still reluctant to use the road. Speaking via a messaging application from Bamenda, he said on May 17 he was abducted by armed men on the road in the town of Bafut, and his goods, worth an estimated $30,000, were taken and have not been found.”They were asking for a ransom of 5 million francs [$8,600]. I had to plead, plead and finally I called my relations and they raised 500,000 francs and then they [the fighters] took it. It was a very traumatizing experience and as I speak right now, I feel very unsafe. You do not know if some of them can trail you right up to the urban centers, but they can still trace you out,” he said.Chukudi said he was afraid the armed men might still be hunting for him because he reported them to the military.Eric Tataw, a U.S-based spokesman for the  separatists, said armed groups that have arisen from the crisis in the English-speaking regions may have been responsible for the interruption of trade between Cameroon and Nigeria on the road. He said separatist fighters called Ambazonia fighters have been professional in their fight to create an English-speaking state separate from majority French-speaking Cameroon. He spoke via a messaging application from Washington.”It [the attack on traders] is a very ugly and unacceptable thing which I have always condemned. But to say that Ambazonian fighters have been responsible, I will say it is entirely false. It is not Ambazonians. True Amba fighters are well-schooled on the ethics of war,” said Tataw,Cameroon’s military has maintained that it had killed at least 13 separatist fighters who were blocking the road and collecting illegal tolls, abducting travelers and stealing their goods. Cameroon said several hundred trucks from both countries ply that road daily.Cameroon’s 25 million people depend on Nigeria for 70% of their basic commodities, and Nigeria’s 160 million people count on Cameroon for rice, corn, tubers, plantain, cocoa, tomatoes and other farm produce.
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Kenya narrowly won an election for a non-permanent United Nations Security Council seat Thursday, in a vote impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.  
 
India, Ireland, Mexico and Norway all won their bids in first-round voting on Wednesday, but neither Kenya nor Djibouti attained the two-thirds majority needed in the U.N. General Assembly to take a seat designated for Africa on the powerful 15-nation council.
 
In a second round on Thursday, Kenya achieved the slimmest of victories, obtaining 129 votes, one more than needed to win the seat.  Djibouti fell well short with 62.Amb. Lazarus Amayo casting his vote #KenyaReadytoServe#Kenya4UNSCpic.twitter.com/MyoKcUTXaO— Kenya Mission to the UN (@KenyaMissionUN) June 17, 2020 
Djibouti’s foreign minister congratulated Kenya after the vote.Le Kenya vient d’être élu . Nous leur disons félicitations et leur souhaitons plein succès pour la suite . Je félicite tous nos ministres , diplomates et hauts responsables pour leur dévouement à cette cause mais ce n’est que partie remise .— Mahmoud Ali youssouf (@ymahmoudali) June 18, 2020In the first round of voting on Wednesday, Ireland and Norway also had a tight race with Canada over two available seats for their regional group. Mexico and India ran unopposed. Seats are allocated by regional blocs and groups often agree on a common candidate among themselves to put up uncontested.
 
The five winners will join the council on January 1, 2021, for a 2-year term.Many Congratulations Kenya @ForeignOfficeKE on being elected as non-permanent member of @UN Security Council for 2021-2022. We look forward to working together.@IndiaUNNewYork@StateHouseKenya@AbabuNamwamba@EliudKipchoge@AmbMKamau@amolosango@TSTirumurti— India in Kenya (@IndiainKenya) June 18, 2020The elections were held in a sparsely populated General Assembly Hall, where all coronavirus protocols were observed, including face coverings, social distancing and staggered voting.
 
In mid-March, the United Nations essentially shut down its New York headquarters as the coronavirus spread across the metropolis. The city began its very limited first phase of reopening June 8 but that does not include large gatherings like the hundreds of diplomats who would normally flock to the building to cast their votes.   
 
The newly elected countries will replace exiting council members Belgium, Dominican Republic, Germany, Indonesia and South Africa. They will join current non-permanent members Estonia, Niger, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Tunisia and Vietnam, and permanent members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States. 
 
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Evariste Ndayishimiye was sworn in as Burundi’s new president Thursday at the Ingoma stadium in the capital city, Gitegay, a week after the sudden death of outgoing President Pierre Nkurunziza. Ndayishimiye was originally scheduled to be sworn into office in August, but the Constitutional Court ruled last week that Ndayishimiye’s swearing take place as soon as possible following the death of his predecessor.  Burundi’s president-elect Evariste Ndayishimiye speaks to the media after signing the book of condolences at the presidential palace in Bujumbura, Burundi, June 13, 2020.Ndayishimiye became Burundi’s new leader by securing just over 68 percent of the vote in the May election, and overcoming a bid by the opposition to get the results overturned because of alleged fraud. Ndayishimiye, who was handpicked by the ruling CNDD-FDD party to succeed Nkurunziza, will serve a seven year term, pending his reelection.   His immediate challenges included leading his country’s effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus. People attending his swearing were told to arrive early to allow time for their temperatures to be taken as a precaution. So far, Burundi has confirmed just over 100 covid-19 infections and one death.   
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South Africa will soon begin reopening full-service restaurants and casinos under strict conditions after nearly three months of being under lockdown restriction to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Wednesday night in a televised address that accredited accommodations and salons will also be allowed to reopen.Ramaphosa said the decision to ease restrictions and begin some reopenings followed talks with industry representatives on stringent prevention protocols, and after getting advice from scientists and consultations with local government leaders.The president said more businesses, including cinemas, are in line to reopen as long as every protocol aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus is followed, such as wearing face masks.South Africa has confirmed more than 80,000 coronavirus cases and more than 1,600 deaths.
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Nigeria’s lockdown to stop the spread of COVID-19 has sparked a surge in reported rapes and acts of sexual violence. In response to the rising number of such cases, thousands of Nigerians marched in major cities this month to demand justice for victims. Timothy Obiezu reports from Abuja.
Camera: Emeka Gibson
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Four countries were elected to two-year terms on the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday in the first major vote held at the world body amid the coronavirus pandemic.India, Ireland, Mexico and Norway will join the council on January 1 for the rotating term. But a decision on who will occupy a seat representing Africa will go to a second round of voting Thursday, as neither of the contenders, Kenya and Djibouti, captured the necessary two-thirds majority.The vote was held in a sparsely populated General Assembly Hall. In mid-March, the United Nations essentially shut down its New York headquarters as the coronavirus spread across the metropolis. The city began its very limited first phase of reopening June 8, but that does not include large gatherings like the hundreds of diplomats who would normally flock to the building to cast their votes.At the assembly hall on Wednesday, life in a COVID-19 world was on full display. Diplomats wearing face masks came one by one to fill in their secret ballots, deposit them and leave. Instead of everyone gathering and casting votes simultaneously, the process took much of the day. There were no people socializing, no goodie bags from candidate countries and definitely no kisses on the cheek.In the final months and weeks leading up to the vote, there were none of the parties and special events that candidate countries love to put on to raise their profiles and garner votes.Council seats are allocated according to regional blocs. In the group known as “Western Europe and Others,” Canada, Ireland and Norway were contesting two available seats.With a two-thirds majority of 128 votes needed, Ireland and Norway both squeaked by with 128 and 130 votes respectively. For a second consecutive time, Canada lost its bid for a seat. But it garnered 108 votes, putting it within respectable reach of that needed majority.Ireland’s win means the European Union will hold three seats on the 15-nation council.“The race between Canada, Ireland and Norway has felt a little surreal for all involved,” said Richard Gowan, U.N. director for the International Crisis Group. “All three are well-established friends of the United Nations, and they have sometimes struggled to distinguish themselves from one another. The irony is that all three states would happily vote for each other under any other circumstances.”Mexico was the candidate from the Latin America and the Caribbean bloc, and India for Asia-Pacific. Both ran uncontested and won overwhelming majorities.Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s foreign minister, welcomed his country’s 187 votes on Twitter, saying, “Great recognition to our country around the world. Congratulations!!!!”Tengo el honor de informar que México ha sido electo por 187 votos miembro del Consejo de Seguridad de la Organizacion de las Naciones Unidas. Gran reconocimiento a nuestro país en todo el mundo. Enhorabuena!!!!— Marcelo Ebrard C. (@m_ebrard) June 17, 2020Just a day before the vote, a clash between Indian and Chinese troops along a remote Himalayan border in Eastern Ladakh left 20 Indian soldiers dead.“India may see its term in the council as an opportunity to push back against China, which has been insisting on council debates over New Delhi’s behavior in Kashmir,” Gowan said. “After the tensions in Ladakh, Indian-Chinese relations in the council could be sparky.”Member States elect India to the non-permanent seat of the Security Council for the term 2021-22 with overwhelming support.India gets 184 out of the 192 valid votes polled. pic.twitter.com/Vd43CN41cY— India at UN, NY (@IndiaUNNewYork) June 17, 2020It was the race between East African nations Djibouti and Kenya that gave the day some unexpected drama. Kenya received 113 votes, Djibouti 78 – neither sufficient to achieve the two-thirds majority of 128. A second round of voting will take place Thursday morning.The newly elected countries will replace exiting council members Belgium, Dominican Republic, Germany, Indonesia and South Africa. They will join current nonpermanent members Estonia, Niger, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Tunisia and Vietnam, and permanent members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.
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Lawyers in major cities throughout Malawi took to the streets Wednesday, protesting what they call government interference in the judiciary for nullifying last May’s elections.The demonstrations were in reaction to the government’s decision to force the country’s chief justice, Andrew Nyirenda, to go on leave pending his retirement.John Suzi Banda, former president of the Malawi Law Society, told VOA the lawyers are concerned about constant attacks on the judiciary from the executive arm.John Suzi Banda reads a statement of judicial independence during demonstrations in Blantyre, Malawi, June 17, 2020. (Lameck Masina/VOA)”They have been calling the chief justice and judges names, calling them compromised and all manner of things,” Banda said. “And this is coming from no less a person than the state president himself. We have come here to tell the executives that they should put their hands off.”In a statement last week, the government said the chief justice has accumulated more than 500 leave days, which would take him to his retirement time.Banda says the move violates the separation of powers, one of the key pillars of the country’s constitutional democracy that makes the three arms of government — legislature, executive and judiciary — independent of each other.Leave days is an issue for the judiciary, not for the executives, Banda said.”There is no reason [for] the secretary to the cabinet to be coming on these grounds, and to start pointing at judicial officers saying, ‘You go home on leave.’ And then, where is independence?” Banda added.The relationship between the judiciary and President Peter Mutharika soured after the courts nullified last year’s elections in which Mutharika won a second term.And at a political rally Wednesday, Mutharika made a fresh accusation against the judiciary for “conniving with opposition parties” to topple his government.Protesters carry a sign during a demonstration against what they call government interference in the judiciary, in Blantyre, Malawi, June 17, 2020. (Lameck Masina/VOA)Rafiq Hajat, executive director of the Institute for Policy Interaction think tank, supports the lawyers’ argument.”The executive should retract that statement and restore the status quo to what it was before this whole fiasco,” Hajat said. “Because if we accept actions like this without objection, we are accepting dictatorship.”The Commonwealth Magistrates and Judges Association, the Commonwealth Legal Association, the Commonwealth Lawyers Association, and Judges for Judges have issued a statement asking Malawi’s executive arm to desist from interfering in the affairs of the judiciary.But the government is refusing to budge, saying this is not the first time that chief justices have gone on leave pending retirement after accumulating leave days.In a statement Tuesday, government spokesperson Mark Botoman said the Mutharika government sees nothing wrong in asking the incumbent chief justice to go on leave until his retirement.Malawi’s High Court has granted two injunctions against the government’s decision. 
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A Nigerian doctors union is demanding that the government provide members with more personal protective equipment and hazard pay in treating patients infected with COVID-19, or they will escalate a strike that began Monday, its leader said.  Dr. Aliyu Sokomba, president of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, said union members now caring for patients in COVID-19 treatment facilities will suspend those duties unless federal and state governments comply with their demands within two weeks.An undisclosed number of the union’s 5,000 members, who represent at least a third of Nigeria’s physicians, have walked off their jobs at government-run hospitals.“We cannot continue to let ourselves continue to get infected and continue to die in the absence of necessary personal protective equipment,” Sokomba told VOA when reached by phone Monday in Abuja, the capital. In a separate interview, he described the supply of masks, gloves and other PPE as “grossly inadequate.”At least 10 doctors have died of COVID-19, the highly contagious disease caused by the coronavirus. Sokomba has expressed concern that an estimated 200 doctors have tested positive for the disease.Nigeria’s FILE – Pedestrians walk past a sign telling residents to call phone numbers if they have symptoms of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, in Lagos, Nigeria, May 12, 2020.Residents, who have completed medical school and work under the supervision of senior doctors, provide much of the front-line care, including in emergency rooms, for Nigeria’s 200 million people. The West African country is the continent’s most populous nation.The Nigeria Center for Disease Control’s director general, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, expressed concern about the strike.“We need more health workers in the fight,” not fewer, he told Nigeria’s Vanguard news organization.The residents’ union had threatened the strike over multiple issues, including protection against pay cuts or dismissals in two regions.Sokomba told VOA that the union also sought life insurance “for all health care workers, so that should anybody fall dead as a result of infection through this COVID-19, the family and next of kin will have something to fall back on.”The union has been criticized for calling a strike during the pandemic, especially while the federal government and many states are confronting COVID-19-related economic challenges, as well as insecurity because of armed extremist groups.
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Kenyan police have confirmed a police officer is to face charges over the killing of a 13-year-old boy during enforcement of a coronavirus curfew.Yassin Moyo was shot in late March while standing on his family’s apartment balcony in Nairobi – a tragedy that a police spokesman described as an accident. But activists have long accused Kenyan police of brutality and unlawful killings, with little to show in the way of action.Yassin’s father, Hussein Moyo, said he is relieved to hear that a policeman will face charges over his son’s death.Moyo said his neighbor, who witnessed the incident, saw the policeman steady his gun and take aim on his target. He then let loose his shot, Moyo said. By then, he said, his eldest daughter had told her mother, Hadija, “Let’s get away from this balcony, it’s not safe.” Hadija beckoned the children to get away, Moyo said, but by then it was too late. Yassin had been hit by the bullet.A Kenyan police spokesman confirmed a policeman is to be charged over the teenager’s death but also described it as an accident.”We know he didn’t do it intentionally but still he has committed a crime of manslaughter or whatever. He has killed an innocent life because of his professional negligence. If he would have done his work professionally, the way he is trained, we would not have lost that boy,” he said.Kenyan protesters last week decried what they call years of police impunity and a jump in incidents of police brutality during the curfew.Protesters hold placards during a demonstration against police killings and brutality, in the Mathare slum in Nairobi, Kenya, June 8, 2020.Hawa Hussein was one of hundreds who marched in Mathare, the poor Nairobi neighborhood where Yassin Moyo was killed.“We are tired of police brutality. They are killing our youth, including my late husband.  I have a young son and by protesting I am fighting for his future because the unlawful killings are constant, and our voices are not being heard,” said Hussein.Kenya’s Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA) says five other police are facing charges over other deaths, injuries, and assaults that pre-date the COVID-19 curfew.The IPOA says it is investigating 15 deaths linked to police since March.But protester Rahma Wako said that is not enough.”We thought that IPOA would level charges against more rogue officers whom we as a community know have committed unlawful killings,” said Wako. “But nothing has happened. And that is why we ask ourselves, what powers do these police officers have?”Since its 2012 launch, Kenya’s IPOA has overseen the conviction of just seven officers for unlawful deaths, despite dozens of killings linked to police.The Independent Police Oversight Authority did not have a spokesperson available to comment. 
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The U.N. Population Fund says many women are reluctant to seek medical care at health facilities for fear they may be exposed to the coroanvirus. In Cameroon, a nonprofit group of doctors has started to make home visits, the first program of its kind in the country.  For VOA, Anne Nzouankeu reports from Yaoundé in this story narrated by Moki Edwin Kindzeka.Camera:  Anne Nzouankeu      Produced by: Marcus Harton
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In Cameroon, thousands of children who fled the country’s separatist conflict in western regions are marking the International Day of the African Child, which underscores the right to education. Schools in French-speaking regions hosting the children are calling for peace so that schools closed in the troubled English-speaking regions can be reopened. But peace is elusive after four years of fighting.
 
Treasure Fomunyuy, a 13-year-old who escaped from Cameroon’s English-speaking northwestern town of Kumbo a year ago after his school was torched by armed men, has joined 300 other school children at the Etoug Ebe government school in Yaounde to ask for closed schools in the English-speaking North West and South West regions to be reopened.  
 
Fomonyuy said he does not want his peers to continue to be deprived of education.
 
“I stayed in the house for three years without going to school. I do not want my brothers and sisters who are in the North West and South West to be stopped from going to school. Many of them want to be doctors, teachers and presidents,” he said.
 
Fomonyuy lives with his uncle, who has agreed to pay his fees. He said many children lack the opportunity he has.FILE – A teacher wearing a face mask to protect against the coronavirus writes on a blackboard at the Technical High School of Nkol-Bisson in Yaounde, Cameroon, June 1, 2020.Mumah Bih Yvonne of the Cameroon Women’s Peace Movement is asking for the right of children to education to be respected on the Day of the African Child in commemoration of the June 16, 1976, street protests in South Africa against poor quality education there.  
 
Yvonne said the situation in Cameroon is becoming worse because children are outrightly denied access to education.
 
“We are sincerely calling on the stakeholders (protagonists) to stop hostilities. Please, please, our children need their education. Without education they are nothing. Education is their right,” Yvonne said.The separatist crisis began in 2016 when English-speaking teachers and lawyers organized protests against what they called the marginalization of English in the majority French-speaking nation. The military responded with a crackdown, and armed groups took up weapons, saying that they were defending their people from military brutality.
 
Separatists called for a closure of English-speaking schools until the crisis is solved. Some parents transferred their children to be educated in safer French-speaking towns, but a majority of English-speaking students have remained at home, according to the government.FILE – A woman stands outside a damaged school dormitory after it was set on fire, in Bafut, in the North West English-speaking region of Cameroon, Nov. 15, 2017.Asheri Kilo, the secretary of state in the Ministry of Basic Education, said the government is determined to educate all children, but added that some schools are constantly attacked, torched, looted or are occupied by separatists.
 
“In the North West, 46 elementary schools were burned down by the separatists and 24 of those schools were occupied by them. In the South West, there were 73 schools burned and 35 occupied. Of course, the military is taking care of getting the separatists out of the school campuses that have been occupied,” Kilo said.
 
The separatists have blamed the military for torching schools and public buildings and said they will allow children to go to school only after the central government withdraws its troops from the English-speaking regions.   
 
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Media agencies say Burundi will swear in president-elect Evariste Ndayishimiye on Thursday, a week after the sudden death of outgoing President Pierre Nkurunziza. The Constitutional Court ruled last week that the president-elect be sworn in as soon as possible. Ndayishimiye, was originally planned to be sworn in August. He will take the oath of office Thursday in the capital, Gitega. Ndayishimiye was handpicked by the ruling CNDD-FDD party to succeed Nkurunziza.  He went on to secure more than 60 percent of the vote in the May election that was unsuccessfully contested by the opposition over allegations of fraud.  Ndayishimiye will serve a seven-year term, pending his reelection. 
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The largest market in Mozambique’s capital, Maputo city, remains closed Tuesday, the second day of a three-day sanitizing and reorganization to fight the spread of the coronavirus. The move at Xipamanine market is the beginning of the gradual temporary closing of the capital’s 63 markets and five fairs for disinfecting, new spacing of stalls, implementation of social distancing between merchants and customers, and the wearing of face masks to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The municipal councilor for health and social welfare, Alice de Abreu, said Friday during a press conference that the closings are important because COVID-19 cases were detected in the city’s markets, but she did not reveal the name of the markets. The reorganization of all the markets is expected to be completed by the end of next month. The revamping of market operations also comes as the southern African country experienced a spike in COVID-19 cases, which increased by 74 over Friday and Saturday. So far, Mozambique has confirmed just over 600 coronavirus cases and three deaths.
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Uganda’s top opposition leaders — Robert Kyagulanyi of the People Power Movement and Kizza Besigye of the People’s Government — announced Monday they are joining forces to demonstrate against President Yoweri Museveni’s administration.Citing what they called the mismanagement of the COVID-19 response, they are calling on Ugandans to carry out peaceful protests Tuesday.  The Ugandan government’s deputy spokesperson has called any street actions illegal.Robert Kyagulanyi, better known as singer Bobi Wine, trumpeted his message through his music at a rally on Monday.The singer-turned-legislator and longtime opposition leader Kizza Besigye are urging Ugandans to take part in a peaceful protest Tuesday against the government and its response to COVID-19.The two leaders say officials have mishandled the response to the pandemic by shutting down the economy, mismanaging public funds and throwing millions of Ugandans into poverty by placing them under a lockdown.Wine says their objective is to liberate Ugandans who he says are continuously being oppressed by the regime.”So, I want to call upon all Ugandans, not to sleep. Speak out and speak loudly. This campaign is called No, “Nedda”. And don’t say No silently. Say No in word and in action. Get your saucepan, if you’re hungry. Whether it’s a whistle, whether it is a metal gong, whether it is a bell. Or if you feel oppressed, make some constructive noise. This is going to be necessary noise,” he said. However, the meeting was briefly disrupted as police accompanied by soldiers from a local defense unit entered the room and asked people to leave.Besigye used the opportunity to express his dismay at the ruling government.“From tomorrow, at lunch time, let’s raise our voices and say this is our country. We have 90 percent or more of our people totally marginalized by the less than one percent that uses guns to maintain power in this country and to subjugate the people of this country,” he said.Wine and Besigye’s cooperation comes less than eight months before Uganda’s general elections.However, President Museveni recently suggested that if the pandemic does not end by then, the elections could be postponed.  He has also banned political gatherings.Ugandan police officers detain a demonstrator protesting for more food distribution by the government to people who have been struggling during the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown in Kampala, May 18, 2020.Colonel Shaban Bantariza, the deputy government spokesman, said Besigye and Wine should not tempt the population to protest, saying these activities are against law and order.“They should not be leaders of complaints. They should consolidate their complaints into campaign issues and they present them to the population. Like we shall present ours when time comes and we meet down there in the playing field.”The opposition want an independent body established to guide the country into a recovery process from damages caused by COVID-19 and audit the government response and use of COVID-19 funds. 
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Cameroon is one of the African countries worst hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and has been struggling against misinformation and fake news on  the  virus.  Cameroon’s  digital first responders have taken to social media to counteract the misinformation.  Moki Edwin Kindzeka narrates this report by Anne Nzouankeu from Yaoundé.Camera: Anne Nzouankeu Peduced by: Jason Godman     
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The leaders of the federal government of Somalia and the self-declared republic of Somaliland held a landmark meeting in the neighboring Djibouti on Sunday. The meeting was hosted and chaired by President Ismail Omar Guelleh of Djibouti. “The resumption of the talks between Somalia and Somaliland is a perfect illustration of the continued determination of the leaders of the region to resolve differences through dialogue,” Guelleh said via Twitter. The meeting agenda was not publicized, but one observer, who has been following the efforts that led to Sunday’s talks, said the first step is to build trust between the sides and agree on a process for the talks. By the end of the day, the two sides had agreed to appoint technical committees to continue the talks. The sides have also agreed not to politicize international development assistance and investment. The United States Embassy, which has been supporting the process, welcomed the opening of the talks. “We support coop for the good of the #Somali people & urge all Somalis to be part of the process,” the embassy posted on Twitter.@US2SOMALIA welcomes opening of #Somalia- #Somaliland talks today in #Djibouti. We commend the leadership of @M_Farmaajo & @Musebiihi. T/Y @IsmailOguelleh for hosting a historic mtg. We support coop for the good of the #Somali people & urge all Somalis to be part of the process.
— U.S. Embassy Mogadishu, Somalia (@US2SOMALIA) June 14, 2020The United Nations office in Somalia followed up in endorsing the meeting in Djibouti. “This is an encouraging step towards future #dialogue, which we hope will result in common benefits,” says the U.N.  The @UN in #Somalia welcomes talks between #Somali President @M_Farmaajo and #Somaliland President @musebiihi – hosted by #Djibouti’s President @IsmailOguelleh, this is an encouraging step towards future #dialogue, which we hope will result in common benefits. pic.twitter.com/iLhn0zqJTZ
— UNSOM (@UNSomalia) FILE – Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed speaks during a session with the Members of the Parliament in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Oct. 22, 2019.A crucial participant of Sunday’s meeting was Ethiopia Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who is keen on bringing the two sides together, according to diplomats.  U.S. Ambassador to Somalia Donald Yamamoto, and representatives from the European Union, African Union and Inter-Government Authority on Development were present. Guelleh acknowledged the meeting is a follow-up of the initiative by Ahmed, who brokered a meeting between Somalia President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo and Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi in Addis Ababa in February. A proposed joint visit to Somaliland by Farmajo and Ahmed in February was shelved because of strong opposition from Somaliland opposition and parliamentarians. Sunday’s talks coincide with preparations by Somalia and Somaliland to celebrate their 60th anniversary of independence from Britain and Italy. British-colonized Somaliland gained independence June 26, 1960. The rest of Somalia achieved the same four days later, July 1, 1960, and on the same day the two independent regions (South and Northern) merged to form the first independent Somali republic.  Following a bloody war in the late 1980s, which human rights organizations said claimed the lives of tens of thousands in Northern regions, Somaliland declared secession in May 1991 but has not achieved international recognition.  In February, Farmajo acknowledged atrocities committed by the previous government of Somalia in the northern regions and apologized to the people of Somaliland. Afyare Elmi, an assistant professor at Qatar University, says three opportunities brought about Sunday’s meeting. “The first and most important, Somaliland failed its quest to get recognition, and they are forced to find alternatives; and Somalia failed to form a government in Mogadishu that doesn’t include Somaliland,” he said.  “This is a mutually hurting stalemate. They both hit their heads on the wall, they are forced to seek the next best option.” Elmi said the third opportunity is that powers that may have had different views on Somalia issues including Ethiopia, Djibouti, United States, the African Union and the European are now on the same position. “This opportunity didn’t exist before,” he said.  He also said the Somali government is prepared to make a political as well as economic concession to Somaliland.   The challenges, Elmi said, is that the president of Somalia is in the final year of his term and the Ethiopia prime minister is facing calls for elections that had been delayed by the coronavirus. Elmi also says international community is not putting a lot of weight behind these talks. “I don’t see a political capital investment in this initiative by the international community,” he said. “This issue is being handled by their embassies, I don’t think that is enough, they need to get in.”  
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Senegalese artists are taking a stand against racism and police brutality after George Floyd died in police custody in the United States. One street art crew is creating a fresco in the capital, Dakar, where Senegalese have held demonstrations this month in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.Camera: Estelle Ndjandjo Produced by: Rod James 
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