ZIGUINCHOR, Senegal — Mariama Sonko’s voice resounded through the circle of 40 women farmers sitting in the shade of a cashew tree. They scribbled notes, brows furrowed in concentration as her lecture was punctuated by the thud of falling fruit.

This quiet village in Senegal is the headquarters of a 115,000-strong rural women’s rights movement in West Africa, We Are the Solution. Sonko, its president, is training female farmers from cultures where women are often excluded from ownership of the land they work so closely.

Across Senegal, women farmers make up 70% of the agricultural workforce and produce 80% of the crops but have little access to land, education and finance compared to men, the United Nations says.

“We work from dawn until dusk, but with all that we do, what do we get out of it?” Sonko asked.

She believes that when rural women are given land, responsibilities and resources, it has a ripple effect through communities. Her movement is training women farmers who traditionally have no access to education, explaining their rights and financing women-led agricultural projects.

Across West Africa, women usually don’t own land because it is expected that when they marry, they leave the community. But when they move to their husbands’ homes, they are not given land because they are not related by blood.

Sonko grew up watching her mother struggle after her father died, with young children to support.

“If she had land, she could have supported us,” she recalled, her normally booming voice now tender. Instead, Sonko had to marry young, abandon her studies and leave her ancestral home.

After moving to her husband’s town at age 19, Sonko and several other women convinced a landowner to rent to them a small plot of land in return for part of their harvest. They planted fruit trees and started a market garden. Five years later, when the trees were full of papayas and grapefruit, the owner kicked them off.

The experience marked Sonko.

“This made me fight so that women can have the space to thrive and manage their rights,” she said. When she later got a job with a women’s charity funded by Catholic Relief Services, coordinating micro-loans for rural women, that work began.

“Women farmers are invisible,” said Laure Tall, research director at Agricultural and Rural Prospect Initiative, a Senegalese rural think tank. That’s even though women work on farms two to four hours longer than men on an average day.

But when women earn money, they reinvest it in their community, health and children’s education, Tall said. Men spend some on household expenses but can choose to spend the rest how they please. Sonko listed common examples like finding a new wife, drinking and buying fertilizer and pesticides for crops that make money instead of providing food.

With encouragement from her husband, who died in 1997, Sonko chose to invest in other women. Her training center now employs more than 20 people, with support from small philanthropic organizations such as Agroecology Fund and CLIMA Fund.

In a recent week, Sonko and her team trained over 100 women from three countries, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau and Gambia, in agroforestry – growing trees and crops together as a measure of protection from extreme weather – and micro gardening, growing food in tiny spaces when there is little access to land.

One trainee, Binta Diatta, said We Are the Solution bought irrigation equipment, seeds, and fencing — an investment of $4,000 — and helped the women of her town access land for a market garden, one of more than 50 financed by the organization.

When Diatta started to earn money, she said, she spent it on food, clothes and her children’s schooling. Her efforts were noticed.

“Next season, all the men accompanied us to the market garden because they saw it as valuable,” she said, recalling how they came simply to witness it.

Now another challenge has emerged affecting women and men alike: climate change.

In Senegal and the surrounding region, temperatures are rising 50% more than the global average, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and the UN Environment Program says rainfall could drop by 38% in the coming decades.

Where Sonko lives, the rainy season has become shorter and less predictable. Saltwater is invading her rice paddies bordering the tidal estuary and mangroves, caused by rising sea levels. In some cases, yield losses are so acute that farmers abandon their rice fields.

But adapting to a heating planet has proven to be a strength for women since they adopt climate innovations much faster than men, said Ena Derenoncourt, an investment specialist for women-led farming projects at agricultural research agency AICCRA.

“They have no choice because they are the most vulnerable and affected by climate change,” Derenoncourt said. “They are the most motivated to find solutions.”

On a recent day, Sonko gathered 30 prominent women rice growers to document hundreds of local rice varieties. She bellowed out the names of rice – some hundreds of years old, named after prominent women farmers, passed from generation to generation – and the women echoed with what they call it in their villages.

This preservation of indigenous rice varieties is not only key to adapting to climate change but also about emphasizing the status of women as the traditional guardians of seeds.

“Seeds are wholly feminine and give value to women in their communities,” Sonko said. “That’s why we’re working on them, to give them more confidence and responsibility in agriculture.”

The knowledge of hundreds of seeds and how they respond to different growing conditions has been vital in giving women a more influential role in communities.

Sonko claimed to have a seed for every condition including too rainy, too dry and even those more resistant to salt for the mangroves.

Last year, she produced 2 tons of rice on her half-hectare plot with none of the synthetic pesticides or fertilizer that are heavily subsidized in Senegal. The yield was more than double that of plots with full use of chemical products in a 2017 U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization project in the same region.

“Our seeds are resilient,” Sonko said, sifting through rice-filled clay pots designed to preserve seeds for decades. “Conventional seeds do not resist climate change and are very demanding. They need fertilizer and pesticides.”

The cultural intimacy between female farmers, their seeds and the land means they are more likely to shun chemicals harming the soil, said Charles Katy, an expert on indigenous wisdom in Senegal who is helping to document Sonko’s rice varieties.

He noted the organic fertilizer that Sonko made from manure, and the biopesticides made from ginger, garlic and chili.

One of Sonko’s trainees, Sounkarou Kébé, recounted her experiments against parasites in her tomato plot. Instead of using manufactured insecticides, she tried using a tree bark traditionally used in Senegal’s Casamance region to treat intestinal problems in humans caused by parasites.

A week later, all the disease was gone, Kébé said.

As dusk approached at the training center, insects hummed in the background and Sonko prepared for another training session. “There’s too much demand,” she said. She is now trying to set up seven other farming centers across southern Senegal.

Glancing back at the circle of women studying in the fading light, she said: “My great fight in the movement is to make humanity understand the importance of women.”
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Johannesburg — Former South African President Jacob Zuma is not eligible to run in upcoming elections, the Independent Electoral Commission has ruled. 

The commission said at a media briefing on Thursday that it had upheld an objection against Zuma’s candidacy in the May 29 elections. 

In July 2021, Zuma was sentenced to 15 months in prison for defying a court order to appear before a judicial commission that was investigating corruption allegations during his 2009-18 presidency. He was granted medical parole after two months and allowed to serve the rest of the sentence under house arrest. 

South Africa’s Constitution bars people convicted and sentenced to more than 12 months’ imprisonment, without an option of a fine, from holding public office. 

Zuma and his legal team stormed out of the judicial proceedings when he was asked about wide-ranging allegations of corruption during his rule, including the role of an Indian family, the Guptas, who allegedly had influence over his Cabinet appointments. 

Zuma, 81, has until April 2 to appeal the commission’s ruling. 

He is the now face of a new political party, uMkhonto weSizwe Party, abbreviated as MK, that has emerged as a potentially significant player in South Africa’s upcoming elections after he denounced the governing African National Congress, which he had previously led. 

The new party is named after the former military wing of the ANC, which was disbanded at the end of white minority rule and racial segregation policies under the former apartheid regime. 

Zuma’s announcement that he is leaving the ANC has been one of the notable developments ahead of the elections. 

His face is on the MK Party’s election posters, and he is the party’s most prominent figure and the main speaker at its election rallies. 

His battle against the ANC has landed in some of the country’s highest courts, with the MK Party scoring a victory this week when a court ruled against the ANC’s application to deregister the MK Party and ban it from participating in the elections. 

In a separate case, the ANC is contesting the MK Party’s use of its name and logo, which closely resembles that of the ANC’s former military wing. 

Local news outlet News24 reported that Zuma was involved in a car accident on Thursday but was unharmed.
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Dakar, Senegal — Senegal’s Constitutional Council on Friday confirmed anti-establishment candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye as president-elect, releasing final official results giving him a first-round victory of 54.28 percent in the March 24 vote. 

The governing coalition’s candidate, former Prime Minister Amadou Ba, finished with 35.79 percent, and the council other contenders had raised no objections. 

Faye, 44, is due to be sworn in as Senegal’s youngest president on Tuesday in the city of Diamniadio, according to the presidency. 

The handover of power from outgoing leader Macky Sall is then scheduled at the presidential palace in the capital, Dakar. 

Faye’s victory is the first time a Senegalese opposition candidate has won the election in the first round since independence in 1960. 
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GENEVA — Human rights experts accuse all parties to the conflict in the Central African Republic of perpetrating serious human rights abuses and violations against the civilian population.

The experts, who held a high-level dialogue at the United Nations Human Rights Council Thursday to assess developments in the CAR, warned that the ongoing violence and instability in the country have adversely affected the human rights of civilians and kept the country mired in poverty.

Nada Al-Nashif, the U.N. deputy high commissioner for human rights, blamed armed groups for “51% of the abuses and state actors for the remaining 49% of violations.”

She said between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023, 2,100 abuses and violations were reported by U.N. peacekeeping forces, known as MINUSCA, affecting 4,676 victims.

Among the victims, she said, were hundreds of women and girls who were “subjected to conflict-related sexual violence.”

“These violations were mainly attributable to armed groups, but also to the military and other security personnel,” she said, adding that the warring parties have committed other serious violations, as well, such as extrajudicial executions, trafficking, forced recruitment and use, and forced marriage.

She said children also are victims of grave human rights violations, “with the recruitment and use of children and abduction and sexual violence being the most frequent. …Armed groups remain the main perpetrators in this regard.”

Al-Nashif pointed out the government has taken some steps to improve the country’s deplorable human rights situation. However, she stressed that was only a first step, saying strengthened measures are urgently needed to eliminate all forms of exploitation and abuse.

Responding to the deputy high commissioner’s remarks, Arnaud Djoubaye Abazene, CAR’s minister of state for justice, explained that his country’s years of experience with recurrent conflict and turbulence have led to “serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law of which women and girls are the main victims.”

He said President Faustin-Archange Touadera was intent on rectifying the situation, noting that the president has placed “the promotion and protection of human rights at the epicenter of his public policy,” with particular emphasis on the rights of women and girls.

He listed and recounted in detail the many new and revised constitutional laws and other legal remedies that have been implemented by his government related to gender-based violence. Some, he said, are aimed at ending discrimination, strengthening the rights of women, protecting women and children from abuse, and seeking justice for crimes against them.

“During the criminal sessions of the Bangui Court of Appeal in 2020 and 2023, several criminal cases of rape were tried, and the perpetrators and accomplices found guilty were severely punished,” he said, adding that “several cases are currently being investigated at the level of the courts.”

Joanne Adamson, deputy special representative of the secretary-general of the United Nations for MINUSCA, praised the government for “the significant progress it has made on human rights,” including the adoption of a national human rights policy, the extension of a plan of action to combat conflict-related sexual violence, and the government’s commitment to combat against impunity for sexual violence linked to conflict.

“However, despite these efforts and the improvements in certain areas, the security situation remains volatile throughout the country and continues to bring challenges in the context of human rights, particularly in remote areas where armed groups remain active,” she said.

“Conflict-related sexual violence remains a reality because of the ongoing gender inequalities and harmful traditional practices,” and that often causes abused women to remain silent.

Adamson said many victims do not seek justice because they “fear reprisals, are ashamed or fear stigmatization and do not speak out.”

She said allowing women to participate more fully in political and public life would help to “consolidate peace, reconciliation and development.”

Deputy High Commissioner Al-Nashif noted that the Central African Republic ranks 188th out of 191 countries in terms of gender equality.

“Gender-based discrimination and exclusion from public and political life remain deeply entrenched,” she said.

“It is regrettable that the revised Electoral Code, adopted by the National Assembly in January 2024, did not include a provision on the implementation of a 35% quota for women in line with the Gender Parity Law of 2016.”

Adamson called on the government to “ensure the political participation of women in all decision-making bodies through effective legal frameworks and policies.”
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Two female entrepreneurs in Mozambique have started businesses that help fight climate change and reduce pollution. Amarilis Gule has this story from the capital, Maputo. Michele Joseph narrates.
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DAKAR, Senegal — The Russian mercenary group known as Wagner is helping government forces in central and northern Mali carry out raids and drone strikes that have killed scores of civilians, including many children, rights groups said in reports published this week that span the period from December to March. 

Mali, along with its neighbors Burkina Faso and Niger, has for over a decade battled an insurgency fought by Islamic extremist groups, including some allied with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. Following military coups in all three nations in recent years, the ruling juntas have expelled French forces and turned to Russia’s mercenary units for security assistance instead. 

Violence has escalated in Mali since Russian mercenaries arrived there following a coup in 2021. Its ruling junta has ramped up operations, carrying out deadly drone strikes that have hit gatherings of civilians, and raids accompanied by Russian mercenaries that have killed civilians. 

Residents of the Sahel region that includes Mali say Russia’s presence does not appear to have changed since Wagner’s leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, died in a suspicious plane crash last year. 

“Mali’s Russia-backed transitional military government is not only committing horrific abuses, but it is working to eliminate scrutiny into its human rights situation,” Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Sahel researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement Thursday. 

In an example of a raid carried out by Russian-backed government forces in January, Human Rights Watch said the army entered a village near a military base in central Mali and arrested 25 people, including four children. Their bodies were found later that day blindfolded and with bullet wounds to the heads, the report said. 

Amnesty International said in a separate report earlier this week that two drone strikes in northern Mali killed at least 13 civilians, including seven children aged 2 to 17. A pregnant woman who was injured in the bombing miscarried days after the attack, it said. 

Human Rights Watch has said the Turkish-supplied drones in Mali are capable of delivering precise laser-guided bombs. The group has also documented how drone strikes have killed civilians. In one example, a drone strike in central Mali’s Segou region killed at least seven people at a wedding, including two boys, it said. The following day, a second drone strike targeted a funeral held for those killed in the previous day’s strike. 

The juntas ruling Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso earlier this month announced a joint security force to fight the worsening extremist violence in their Sahel region. This follows steps taken by the juntas to step away from other regional and Western nations that don’t agree with their approach. 

Although the militaries had promised to end the insurgencies in their territories after deposing their respective elected governments, conflict analysts say the violence has worsened under their regimes. They share borders and their security forces fighting extremist violence are overstretched.
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For most pregnant women in the slums of Nairobi, ultrasound services are an unaffordable luxury. Now, a Kenyan health care business is using portable, low-cost ultrasound systems to give expectant mothers a chance to see their babies and detect any health problems before the delivery day. Victoria Amunga reports from Nairobi. Videographer: Jimmy Makhulo
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Washington — The Somali government said Thursday its soldiers — backed by international partners and local clan militias — killed about 80 al-Shabab militants and wounded dozens more in three operations in the country’s southern and central regions. 

A government official indicated the attacks stopped a terrorist operation. “The militants were planning spectacular attacks to coincide with an important date in the Ramadan calendar, the 17th day of the fast,” said the government’s deputy information minister, Abdirahman Yusuf Adala. 

There was no independent confirmation of the death toll, reported by Adala and Somalia’s defense ministry, and no immediate comment from al-Shabab through its spokesperson or websites. 

The Ministry of Information said the Somali National Army carried out a coordinated series of operations across the regional states of Galmudug, Hirshabelle and Southwest. 

A press release says the operations were carried out with the support of international security partners. Countries helping the Somali government include the United States, Turkey and members of the African Union. 

Government officials said the first military operation was conducted in an area near the city of Harardhere, in Mudug region. 

In an interview with VOA Somali, Harardhere District Commissioner Mohamed Yusuf Kulmiye said that al-Shabab members were gathering at the site of the operation called Farah Adan Sands, when the Somali National Army launched a surprise attack. 

“We received an intelligence tip that they were remobilizing and plotting an attack on the town, and we immediately responded to neutralize the threat. We killed more than 40 militants and lost 10 of our soldiers in the battle,” said Kulmiye. 

The Somali defense ministry says the second operation took place in Fiqaay forest, 15 kilometers from the Daru Nicma area in the Middle Shabelle region. 

A statement from the defense ministry says that more than 35 members of al-Shabab were killed in this area, and that battlewagons and other militant vehicles were destroyed. 

In the third operation, the Somali government said its military targeted areas under the Wajid district in the Bakool region, in southwest Somalia, killing six members of al-Shabab. 

The 24-hour military campaign against al-Shabab came on the heels of a deadly attack by the militants on a Somali military base in the Lower Shabelle region, in the country’s southwest. 

Security officials, who asked for anonymity, told VOA at least 17 government soldiers were killed during the attack on the Busley base, which was briefly occupied by the attackers. 

Armed fighters from al-Shabab battled their way to the facility using suicide car bombs, one Somali military official told the Reuters news agency. He declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
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It’s an important year for South Africa: Not only is the country marking the 30th anniversary of its democracy, 2024 is also an election year. Observers say the polls will be fiercely contested. Kate Bartlett has the story from Johannesburg. Camera: Zaheer Cassim.
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A South African who was bullied at high school is celebrating his dance students participating in the colorful Cape Town Carnival. UNICEF says a recent study found 10 million adolescent students in the Southern African Development Community region experience bullying, and the effects can continue into adulthood. Vicky Stark reports from Cape Town. (Camera and Produced by: Vicky Stark)
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With global biodiversity loss at crisis levels, nearly 100 schools bordering the Mau Forest complex in Kenya have adopted a tailored syllabus that teaches conservation as part of its regular curriculum. Juma Majanga reports from Mau Eburu, Kenya.
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UNITED NATIONS — Security in Congo’s mineral-rich east has deteriorated since recent elections, with a rebel group allegedly linked to neighboring Rwanda making “significant advances and expanding its territory,” the U.N. special envoy for the conflict-wracked African nation said Wednesday.

Bintou Keita told the U.N. Security Council this has created “an even more disastrous humanitarian situation, with internal displacement reaching unparalleled numbers.”

Last month, the United States told Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo that they “must walk back from the brink of war,” the sharpest warning yet of a looming conflict.

U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood again condemned “the aggressive military incursion” into eastern Congo by the M23 rebel group and the Rwandan Defense Force and attacks including on U.N. peacekeepers.

He called on the leaders of Rwanda and Congo “to make the decision to pursue peace — for the sake of their people, the region and the world.”

Wood described M23 as “a group which has perpetrated appalling human rights abuses against civilians, including sexual and gender-based violence.”

He called the international community’s failure to condemn the actions of Rwanda, which is a major troop contributor to U.N. peacekeeping forces, “dismaying” and said “the U.N. should reevaluate Rwanda’s credibility as a constructive partner in peacekeeping.”

The U.S. State Department last month called for the withdrawal of Rwanda’s troops and surface-to-air missile systems from eastern Congo and criticized M23, calling it a “Rwanda-backed” armed group.

The Rwandan Foreign Ministry said last month that the country’s troops are defending Rwandan territory as Congo carries out a “dramatic military build-up” near the border.

The ministry’s statement said Rwanda’s national security is threatened by the presence in Congo of an armed group whose members include alleged perpetrators of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda during which more than 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutus who tried to protect them were killed.

The rebel group, known by its initials FDLR, “is fully integrated into” the Congolese army, the statement said. Although Rwanda has long cited a threat posed by FLDR, authorities there had never admitted to a military presence in eastern Congo.

Wood said the U.S. recognizes the FDLR “is a continuing threat to the Congolese people and a security threat to Rwanda that must be addressed.”

At Wednesday’s council meeting the Congolese and Rwandan ambassadors again went after each other.

Congolese Ambassador Zenon Ngay Mukongo called the M23 and Rwandan forces a “coalition of the axis of evil.”

He said a meeting of heads of state is planned for April and Congo is seeking lasting peace throughout the country and that it “will not accept window-dressing arrangements aimed at perpetuating insecurity and confusion” which encourages the M23 and Rwanda’s “shameless exploitation of strategic minerals” in eastern Congo.

Rwandan Ambassador Ernest Rwamucyo reiterated his government’s serious concerns about the FDLR and called for Congo to resolve the security issues involving many rebel groups themselves.

“We should also raise awareness about the dangers of genocide, the ideology, which has spilled over into the DRC,” the initials of Congo’s official name, the Democratic Republic of Congo, he said.

Keita, the U.N. envoy, told the council that mediation by Angola between the countries has resumed.

In response to a question afterward by reporters about Wednesday’s confrontation between the ambassadors, she said, she strongly believes this mediation and other efforts to reduce tensions should be supported “in spite of the displeasure that we saw” in the council.
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Dakar, Senegal — Anti-establishment figure Bassirou Diomaye Faye has comfortably won the Senegalese presidential election with 54.28% of votes in the first round, official provisional results showed Wednesday.

He placed well ahead of the governing coalition’s candidate, former prime minister Amadou Ba, who garnered 35.79%.

The victory for Faye, who was only freed from prison 10 days before the election, still has to be validated by Senegal’s top constitutional body, which could happen in a few days.

Faye, 44, who has said he wants a “break” with the current political system, is set to become the youngest president in Senegal’s history.

It would be the first time since independence from France in 1960 that an opponent has won in the first round.

Aliou Mamadou Dia, who came third out of 19 candidates officially on the list, won just 2.8% of the vote, according to figures read out at the Dakar court by the president of the national vote counting commission, Amady Diouf.

While his victory in Sunday’s vote was already clear after the publication of unofficial partial results, the margin of Faye’s win was confirmed by the vote counting commission, which falls under the judiciary.

The turnout of 61.30% was less than in 2019 when outgoing President Macky Sall won a second term in the first-round, but more than in 2012.

The announcement of the official provisional results seems to clear the way for a handover of power between Sall and his successor.

The political crisis triggered by Sall’s last-minute postponement of the vote, and the subsequently rushed electoral timetable, cast doubt on whether the handover could take place before the incumbent’s term officially ends on April 2.

But a swift handover now seems feasible in the West African nation, which prides itself on its stability and democratic principles in a coup-hit region, provided no appeals are made.

Presidential candidates have 72 hours after the results are announced by the commission to lodge an appeal with the Constitutional Council.

The Constitution states that if no appeals are made in this period, “the Council shall immediately proclaim the final results of the ballot.”

But if an objection is made, the Council has five days to rule and could, in theory, annul the election.

Faye, who has never before held elected office, is set to become the fifth president of the West African country of around 18 million people.

His fellow presidential candidates, and Sall, have recognized his victory.

Sunday’s election was preceded by three years of tension and deadly unrest, with Senegal plunged into a fresh political crisis in February when Sall decided to delay the presidential poll.

Dozens have been killed and hundreds arrested since 2021, with the country’s democratic credentials coming under scrutiny.

Faye himself was detained for months before his release in the middle of the election campaign.

International observers hailed the smooth running of Sunday’s vote.

The African Union’s observation mission commended the “political and democratic maturity of the Senegalese people (and) the generally peaceful political atmosphere of the presidential election,”

Faye has promised to restore national “sovereignty” and implement a program of “left-wing pan-Africanism.”

WATCH: Senegal’s President-Elect Vows to Fight Corruption, Rebuild Institutions

His election could herald a profound overhaul of Senegal’s institutions.

On Monday he pledged “to govern with humility, with transparency, and to fight corruption at all levels.”

He said he would prioritize “national reconciliation,” “rebuilding institutions” and “significantly reducing the cost of living.”

But he also sought to reassure foreign partners.

Senegal “will remain a friendly country and a sure and reliable ally for any partner that engages with us in virtuous, respectful and mutually productive cooperation,” he pledged.
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In Malawi, hope has arrived for elderly people banished from their homes, some over accusations of practicing witchcraft. A charity in the capital is providing shelter and food for them. Lameck Masina reports from Lilongwe.
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YAOUNDE, CAMEROON — Thousands of people are gathering in Libreville and Akanda for what the government calls an Inclusive National Dialogue, to be held April 2 to 30, aimed at bringing Gabon back to civilian rule.

Military ruler General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema previously said he would hand back power in August 2025. 

Nguema reportedly named 28 military officials, clerics, traditional rulers, and civil society and opposition leaders to serve as officials of the dialogue. Jean-Patrick Iba-Iba, head of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Libreville, will preside over the deliberations.

Gabon’s state TV says the participants will include opposition and civil society members. But Gabon’s opposition parties say a majority of the approximately 600 delegates are supporters of Nguema, and want him to stay in power. 

They also say many of the civilians traveling to Libreville and Akanda were hired by military rulers to give a false impression that Nguema is popular. The government has refuted that claim.  

Judicael Obiang Meyong, head of the opposition group the Movement to Act for Gabon’s Freedom and Independence, said it is surprising that Gabon’s military leaders are inviting many of the same officials, leaders and clerics who took part in previous dialogues that failed to solve the country’s problems.   

He said those dialogues were organized to extend the rule of Gabon’s first president, Omar Bongo Ondimba, and when Omar Bongo died on June 8, 2009, a series of other dialogues attended by Bongo’s collaborators was organized to extend the Bongo family rule. 

The Bongo family ruled Gabon for more than half a century. Nguema is a cousin of President Ali Bongo, who was overthrown by the military in August of last year.  

Meyong said military rulers should have asked civilians, whose opinions were not taken into consideration by former regimes, to meet in each of Gabon’s nine provinces, outline their needs, and elect people to represent the provinces.  

But Gabon’s government says more than 50,000 suggestions were received when Nguema asked civilians to give proposals on issues to be discussed during the one-month dialogue.  

Francis Edgar Simar Mba, a political science lecturer at the Libreville-headquartered Omar Bongo University, said the dialogue is, so far, the most representative in Gabon’s history. 

For the first time, he said, citizens of the central African state who are in exile and political refugees and their peers in the diaspora will be taking part in the national dialogue. In addition, Mba said, all civil society groups and Gabon’s 104 political parties will each send a representative to the dialogue, unlike in the past when only opposition and civil society close to the ruling government were invited to talk.

Nguema said he will respect decisions made at next month’s dialogue. 

A March 10 decree signed by Nguema says the dialogue will pave the way for the drawing up of a new constitution, determine the duration of the transition, and propose the political, economic, and social organization of the central African nation after the transitional period.  

Opposition and civil society groups say Gabon’s transitional government should respect an initial plan it published to hand power to civilian rule. According to that plan, the transition is to last 24 months, ending in August 2025 with free, credible, and fair elections.
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Senegal’s president-elect, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, is vowing to fight corruption, rebuild institutions and unite the country as he prepares to assume office. His victory in last week’s elections follows a political crisis sparked by outgoing President Macky Sall’s failed attempt to postpone the vote. VOA Nairobi bureau chief Mariama Diallo is in Dakar and has this story. Videographer: Moussa Thioune
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JUBA, South Sudan — South Sudan’s government on Tuesday said schools will reopen next week following a two-week closure due to extreme heat across the country. 

The health and education ministries said temperatures were expected to steadily drop with the rainy season set to begin in the coming days. 

South Sudan in recent years has experienced adverse effects of climate change, with extreme heat, flooding and drought reported during different seasons. 

During the heatwave last week, the country registered temperatures up to 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit). 

Teachers have been urged to minimize playground activities to early morning or indoors, ventilate classrooms, provide water during school time and monitor children for signs of heat exhaustion and heatstroke. 

Health Minister Yolanda Awel Deng singled out Northern Bahr El-Ghazel, Warrap, Unity and Upper Nile states as the most-affected areas. 

Higher learning institutions have remained open. 

Some schools in rural areas also have continued despite a warning from the education ministry. 
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state department — The United States is eyeing April 18 for the potential resumption of Sudan peace talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as part of Washington’s efforts to mitigate a dire humanitarian disaster and prevent the conflict from escalating into a regional war.

Nearly a year into Sudan’s civil war, the country is grappling with the world’s largest internal displacement crisis.

Tom Perriello, U.S. special envoy for Sudan, told reporters on Tuesday that these talks need to be “inclusive,” involving the African Union, the East African bloc IGAD, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.

“We need the partners in the room who are necessary to get this war to end,” he said.

Perriello warned that the conflict in Sudan is not just a disaster for civilians but could easily become “a more factionalized and regional war.”

“There’s an important donor conference in Paris on the 15th,” Perriello said, referring to a planned ministerial meeting in April to relieve Sudan’s humanitarian crisis. “And we would certainly see natural momentum from that to return to Jeddah if the Saudis are indeed going to host inclusive talks.”

The United States and Saudi Arabia have brokered multiple cease-fires between Sudan’s warring parties and facilitated talks in Jeddah last year, but the negotiations stumbled amid competing international peace efforts.

The United Nations, the African Union and regional group IGAD have all appointed special representatives on Sudan. Gulf states have also convened a series of meetings in Jeddah and in Bahrain’s capital, Manama.

Fighting erupted in April last year between the Sudanese Armed Forces, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. Once allies in Sudan’s transitional government after a 2021 coup, the two generals have turned into rivals for power.

U.S. officials have said their priority in Sudan is to secure a peace deal that immediately ends the violence, ensures full humanitarian access to all citizens and facilitates the country’s return to civilian governance.

In January, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions targeting entities funding the conflict in Sudan. However, analysts have pointed out the challenges faced by Washington and the constraints of time.

“A political appointee arriving in the job in potentially the last year of the [Biden] administration he serves is dealing from a weak deck already,” said Cameron Hudson, a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “The possibility that his interlocutors could simply choose to wait him out is quite real.”

He added that attempts to merge various peace initiatives are “likely not a productive use of time given the calamitous state of Sudan’s fighting and humanitarian situations.”

The war has led to thousands of deaths, a massive displacement crisis and large-scale atrocities, particularly against non-Arab communities in the country’s Darfur region.

On March 8, the U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution calling for a cease-fire for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, but the warring parties have ignored it.

Sudan is now home to the world’s largest internal displacement crisis, with 6.3 million people forced from their homes in search of safety. Another 1.7 million have fled to neighboring countries. More than 70% of health facilities in conflict areas have stopped functioning.

U.S. officials have also warned that Sudan’s civil war could trigger the world’s largest hunger crisis.

“I am headed to the refugee camps in Chad with a CODEL [congressional delegation] that’s going in a couple of days. Even in those camps, there are children who are living on less than one meal a day,” said Perriello, referring to refugee camps in Chad that take in Sudanese civilians.

Last week, the United States announced over $47 million in humanitarian assistance for the emergency response in Sudan and neighboring countries, including Chad and South Sudan.

VOA’s Margaret Besheer contributed this report from the United Nations.
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Harare, Zimbabwe — The United Nations children’s fund says there is a “dire situation” in several eastern and southern African countries, where at least 45 million children are dealing with severe food insecurity made worse by climate change.

In a statement, Eva Kadilli, the UNICEF director for eastern and southern Africa, said millions of people are living through multiple and often overlapping crises intensified by the 2023-24 El Nino weather phenomenon, one of the strongest on record. 

Christiane Rudert, a nutrition adviser for UNICEF in eastern and southern Africa, told VOA that many countries in her region have very high rates of child stunting or acute malnutrition. She said the rates are getting worse because of extreme weather patterns, such as a prolonged heat wave and drought, associated with climate change. 

“For example, in Malawi, affected by the current El Nino phenomenon, data from the routine nutrition program showed a worsening of the nutrition status of children and increased admissions for acute malnutrition,” Rudert said. “Almost half of the 21 countries are at the very highest risk of climate change impacts for children in this region. Even small gains in nutrition are now being reversed before our eyes.” 

Wongani Grace Taulo, UNICEF regional education adviser for eastern and southern Africa, said UNICEF is attempting to help children and their families learn ways of coping with climate change through the schools.  

“UNICEF is working with partners, but specifically governments, [other] U.N. agencies, civil society, and communities to integrate climate education into the education system, particularly on infrastructure, the use of renewable energy and waste management,” Taulo said.

“Let me mention Zimbabwe, where we are working with the government on the clean green schools initiative,” Taulo added, “where all aspects of climate change strategies are actually integrated into how we are delivering education from the school to the community and creating an ecosystem that is going to be able to address the effects of climate change.” 

While that may help southern Africa in the long term, many Zimbabweans are concerned with their situation here and now.

Elita Ncube said her family is living in poverty, and her three children struggle to go to school because of irregular meals. 

She said there is nothing to eat from the fields. In the past, she said, she has survived by selling mopane worms, but this year there is nothing to sell. Her animals have no water to drink, and her goats and cattle will die, she said. 

Ncube once had donors that helped with food, she added, and she wishes they would return, or at least give her work to do in exchange for food.

July Moyo, the minister of social welfare, said Tuesday that Zimbabwe’s government will not rush to join Malawi and Zambia in declaring the current drought a national disaster.

Moyo said there is no scientific reason to warrant a disaster declaration.
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Juba, South Sudan     — A new electoral regulation in South Sudan has received harsh criticism from opposition parties that see the move as a way to lock them out of the forthcoming general election that will be a first for the world’s youngest nation.

Key opposition parties in South Sudan have termed a contentious electoral law as a scheme by the government to keep them out of upcoming elections in December.

The Coalition of Opposition Parties presented a petition to the country’s Political Party Council Monday demanding revocation of the $50,000 registration fee imposed on parties seeking to field candidates in the upcoming polls.

The world’s youngest nation is set to have its first democratically elected government in December this year.

But parties like the People’s Progressive Party, SSOA, Coalition of Opposition Parties and United People’s Party now see the newly registration fee as an attempt by the government to stifle democracy and restrict the participation of opposition parties in the polls.

Opposition politician Lam Akol is the leader of the National Democratic Movement (NDM) and had challenged President Salva Kiir in the first election held in 2010 when South Sudan was seceding from Sudan.

“How many parties will afford $50,000?” he said

In 2010 parties had been required to pay about $150 as a registration fee.

Riek Machar, chairperson of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO), the main opposition party in the transitional government, blames President Kiir’s side of the government for failing the people of South Sudan. Machar insists that they will not take part in the election unless all the pending chapters in the peace agreement are fully implemented.

Opposition leaders also say they don’t have faith in the local judicial process should they feel the need to challenge the outcome of the election. Gabriel Akok, chairperson of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), claims that, as currently constituted the judiciary is controlled by government sympathizers.

“Considering the current situation in South Sudan, we are not sure, everyone is not quite sure that we can petition the election results when they are not free and fair, simply because the judiciary is headed by an active member of the SPLM, the current ruling political party in South Sudan,” said Akok.

South Sudan is currently under a transitional government whose term is set to end with the election in December.
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Yaounde, Cameroon — Supporters are urging the world’s oldest leader, 91-year-old Cameroonian President Paul Biya, to run for office in the 2025 presidential election, potentially extending his more than four-decade rule.

They say Biya is the only one who can bring peace and development to the country, but the opposition says Biya must leave office after running Cameroon for decades.

Several hundred people sang in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde, on Sunday, calling for Biya to accept the nomination of the Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement, or CPDM party, in the 2025 presidential election.

Biya created the CPDM on March 24, 1985, three years after his predecessor, Cameroon’s first president, Ahmadou Ahidjo, stepped down due to ill health and handed power to Biya.

Biya has been president of Cameroon since 1982 and leader of his party since 1985.

During the party’s 39th anniversary on Sunday, party officials organized rallies in all Cameroon towns and villages to ask people to support Biya as their candidate in the 2025 elections.

Senior CPDM official Fru Jonathan described Biya as the party’s natural candidate, saying there is peace, unity and economic growth in the country. Jonathan said Biya is strong and healthy.

“We think that you don’t change a winning team,” Jonathan said. “If there is any challenger, let him come up, but we have not seen any challenger who can beat our candidate, so we all rely on him and call on him to continue to rule and bring our country to emergence as that is his vision.”

Biya has not said if he will be a candidate.

Cameroon senior state functionaries appointed by Biya, along with Biya’s party officials, credit the long-serving leader for constructing at least 6,000 kilometers of roads, providing electricity and water to towns and villages, and building several hundred classrooms and hospitals.

But Cameron’s opposition and civil society disagree with that positive assessment, saying under Biya the Cameroon Bank and the Fund for Agricultural Development created to fund farmers’ projects crumbled.

The opposition also says corruption has become widespread during Biya’s rule, with Transparency International ranking Cameroon as the most corrupt country in 1998 and 1999.

Cabral Libii, 44, an opposition parliamentarian with Cameroon’s Party for National Reconciliation, or PCRN, placed third in Cameroon’s 2018 presidential elections.

Libii said Cameroonian youth will not continue to watch Biya cripple the economy, deprive civilians of their liberties and freedoms, and rule Cameroon with an iron fist while now showing signs of being ruler for life.

He said Biya is the cause of sorrows brought about by extremely high unemployment, underemployment and crises in the English-speaking western regions that have claimed more than 6,000 lives.

Libii said Cameroon opposition and civil society are organizing themselves to present a candidate to oust Biya, whom they describe as elderly and frail to the point he is hardly seen in public.

Libii said Cameroon needs young dynamic leaders to salvage the country from underdevelopment.

Opponents said many youths were hired to take part in rallies to give the false impression that Biya is popular.

Both the government and Biya’s CPDM party officials deny that civilians, especially poor youth, were hired.

At 91, Biya is the oldest leader in the world and the second-longest-serving president after his neighbor, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea.

Biya’s party says he has won all presidential elections since the return of multiparty politics in Cameroon in 1990, but the opposition says previous elections have been marred by fraud.
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NAIROBI, Kenya — An explosion at a small hotel located near a police station in northeastern Kenya killed four people, including three officers, and wounded several others on Monday, authorities said.

The blast in the town of Mandera, which is on the border with Somalia, was caused by an improvised explosive device that had been planted at the hotel and was detonated as a crowd of people sat down to eat breakfast, police said.

Mandera police chief Samwel Mutunga said that two of those wounded were in critical condition and would be flown to the capital, Nairobi.

Investigators have blamed east Africa-based extremist group al-Shabab for the attack. The group, which hasn’t claimed responsibility for the explosion, has staged major attacks in Kenya and neighboring Somalia.

The latest attack followed another one on Sunday in coastal Kenya’s Lamu County, where two police reservists were killed. 

The area has a forest, which has often been the site of security operations because it’s a known hideout of al-Shabab militants. 

During a police operation in Garissa County on Sunday, officers recovered materials to make IEDs, an AK-47 rifle and two magazines. Three people escaped during the raid.

The area is near the Kenya-Somalia border, from where militants have in the past infiltrated and launched attacks.

The Kenyan government had last year announced plans to reopen the border with Somalia, but later postponed the reopening because of extremist attacks.
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