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abuja, nigeria — Nigerian authorities on Monday slapped four counts of tax evasion on cryptocurrency exchange company Binance and said it was seeking collaboration with Interpol to arrest an official of the company who fled custody last week.

The charges stemmed from an investigation of the company’s Nigerian office for alleged attempts to manipulate Nigeria’s currency.

Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Services said Monday that Binance had flouted four tax laws by failing to pay company income tax, failing to pay value added tax, not complying with tax return filing obligations and facilitating tax evasion for Binance users.

The government also said Binance had failed to register for tax purposes with authorities.

Binance in the past has denied any wrongdoing in Nigeria. The company did not respond to VOA’s request for comment.

Nigerian authorities on February 26 detained two of the company’s executives — Tigran Gambaryan, a U.S. citizen, and Nadeem Anjawalla, a British Kenyan.

Eze Onyekpere, founder of the Center for Social Justice, said the arrests and charges were largely expected.

“It shouldn’t be surprising that they may have violated Nigerian laws,” Onyekpere said. “Nigeria is not the only country that has been charging the executives with violating their laws. The only reasonable thing to do is to bring them before the court and be given the opportunity to defend themselves. Due process and fair hearing must be followed.”

Meanwhile, on Monday, the office of the national security adviser said Anjawalla had escaped detention. The security adviser said authorities were working with international police to obtain a warrant for his arrest.

Binance said it was aware one of its officials was no longer in custody.

Nigerian authorities introduced bold reforms last year, including currency controls, in a bid to boost the economy.

But months after their implementation, the naira lost about 70 percent of its value. Authorities say companies like Binance played a role by trying to manipulate the currency.

But public finance expert Isaac Botti said it couldn’t have happened if the government hadn’t been so negligent toward firms like Binance that exploited the system to their advantage.

“Our system has been designed to be porous, and this is the advantage these guys take,” Botti said. “They understand the system. In a sane clime, you do not create room for this kind of porosity in your system.”

Earlier this month, Binance ended all transactions and trading in Nigeria’s local currency and said any remaining balances would be automatically converted into tether — a cryptocurrency stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar.
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Russian pro-government media are ignoring the Islamic State group’s claim of responsibility for the deadly attack last Friday at a Moscow concert hall, instead focusing on unsubstantiated allegations that the mass killing was linked to Ukraine. Elizabeth Cherneff narrates this report from the VOA Moscow bureau.
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DAKAR — Senegal opposition candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye was set to be declared the country’s next president after his rival from the ruling coalition called him Monday to concede defeat. 

Results trickling in since polls closed Sunday evening in the first round of a delayed presidential election rapidly suggested Faye, 44, may have clinched an outright majority. The trends announced on local media sparked street celebrations by his supporters in the capital Dakar. 

Ruling coalition candidate Amadou Ba, 62, initially called these celebrations premature and said a run-off vote would be needed to determine the winner. 

But he then called Faye on Monday to offer his congratulations, a government spokesperson told journalists. 

“In light of presidential election result trends and while we await the official proclamation, I congratulate … Faye for his victory in the first round,” Ba said in a statement. 

A peaceful transition of power in Senegal would mark a boost for democracy in West Africa, where there have been eight military coups since 2020. 

Some of the juntas that seized power have cut ties with traditional powerbrokers in the region such as France and the United States and turned instead to Russia for help in their fight against a jihadi insurgency spreading through countries that neighbor Senegal. 

Senegal’s international bonds rose on reports that Faye was close to being declared a winner, reversing sharp falls from earlier in the day. 

Official results are expected to be announced by the Dakar appeals court Friday. The electoral commission has not yet communicated on the tallies counted so far out of 15,633 voting stations. 

Many hope the vote will bring stability and an economic boost to Senegal after three years of unprecedented political turbulence in one of West Africa’s only stable democracies, which is set to start producing oil and gas this year. 

“I am happy to see there is a wind of change,” said Tall, who joined revelers during the night as supporters waved Senegalese flags, lit flares and blasted vuvuzelas (molded plastic horns). 

“It is wonderful because democracy has won. Many thought it would not happen,” he said, only wishing to give his first name.

Young voters 

Several opposition contenders had also conceded defeat to Faye during the night, including Anta Babacar Ngom, the only woman running. 

Ba was the candidate backed by outgoing President Macky Sall, who is stepping down amid a drop in popularity after two terms in office marred by economic hardship and violent anti-government protests. 

Faye has not publicly spoken since he cast his vote. He owes much of his success to the backing of firebrand opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, who was barred from running due to a defamation conviction. 

The two former tax inspectors have campaigned together under the slogan “Diomaye is Sonko,” promising to fight corruption and prioritize national economic interests. 

They are particularly popular among young voters in a country where more than 60% of people are under 25 and struggle to find jobs. 

Police crackdowns on protests, the government’s failure to cushion rising living costs and concerns Sall would seek to extend his mandate beyond constitutional limits buoyed the opposition. 

Anger crystalized around Sonko’s prosecution only grew when authorities sought to postpone the vote, initially scheduled to take place in February, by 10 months. 

Investors are meanwhile wary about a potential change in leadership to an anti-establishment government that may not pursue the same business-friendly policies seen under Sall’s government that has attracted investments into infrastructure.
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DAKAR, SENEGAL — Vote counting is underway as Senegalese cast their ballots Sunday for presidential candidates after months of political tension and uncertainty.

The election comes after outgoing President Macky Sall’s earlier attempt to delay the vote raised fears he may try to hold on to power.

By Sunday evening, most polling stations around Senegal had closed and the much-anticipated election seemed to have gone smoothly, according to reports.

Thousands of Senegalese showed up all over the country and waited patiently to cast their votes. Abdoulaye Sylla, president of the National Electoral Commission, said turnout was high.

Observers from many organizations were present, including from the European Union, which sent 100 observers throughout the country.

“This morning our observers were present in 40 polling stations,” said Malin Bjork, who heads the EU group that arrived in January. “Our summary as of now is that the poll took place in a calm environment and was well-organized.

It’s not clear yet how soon official results will be available, but political analyst Babacar Ndiaye explained the next step.

“We can have a scenario where one candidate wins in the first round. The person needs 51%, but if that’s not reached, there will be a second round, which could take place in two to three weeks,” Ndiaye said.

Djibril Gningue, executive director of PACTE, a civil society group working for election transparency, said a second round of voting could raise new problems for the country.

“President Sall recently said that if a candidate wins, he’ll make sure a transition takes place. If not, he’s leaving on April 2,” Gningue said.

Gningue said in the event of a second round, results won’t be known by the time Sall has pledged to step aside.
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CAPE TOWN, South Africa — The southern African nation of Malawi has declared a state of disaster over drought in 23 of its 28 districts and the president says it urgently needs more than $200 million in humanitarian assistance, less than a month after neighboring Zambia also appealed for help.

Malawi is the latest country in the region to have its food supply crippled by a severe dry spell that’s been linked to the El Niño weather phenomenon.

A third country, Zimbabwe, has also seen much of its crops decimated and is considering following suit, underlining concerns raised by the U.N. World Food Program late last year that numerous nations in southern Africa were on the brink of a hunger crisis because of the impact of El Niño.

The WFP said there were already nearly 50 million people in southern and parts of central Africa facing food insecurity even before one of the driest spells in decades hit.

USAID, the U.S. government’s aid agency, said that more than 20 million people in southern Africa would urgently need food aid in early 2024, partly due to the El Niño effect.

Last month was the driest February in 40 years for Zambia and Zimbabwe, according to the WFP’s seasonal monitor, while Malawi, Mozambique and parts of Angola had “severe rainfall deficits.”

Millions in southern Africa rely on the food they grow to survive. Corn, the region’s staple food, has been badly affected by the drought.

El Niño is a natural, recurring weather phenomenon involving the warming of the sea surface in parts of the Pacific Ocean. It has impacts on global weather, including causing below-average rainfall in southern Africa. Some scientists say that climate change is making El Niños stronger and their impacts more extreme.

The 2015-2016 El Niño also brought a severe drought for southern Africa, the region’s worst in 35 years, according to the U.N. Office for Humanitarian Affairs.

Humans aren’t the only ones affected, with conservation officials in Zimbabwe reporting the rare occurrence of at least 100 elephants dying in a national park late last year because of waterholes drying up in the drought.

Before the national disaster announcements by Malawi and Zambia, the WFP and USAID had already launched a program to feed 2.7 million people in rural Zimbabwe facing food shortages — nearly 20% of that country’s population.

British charity Oxfam said this month that more than 6 million people in Zambia — 30% of its population — are now facing acute food shortages and malnutrition, with the next crop growing season a year away.

Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera said he had been on a tour of his country to discover the extent of its drought crisis, and a preliminary assessment by the government found about 44% of Malawi’s corn crop had failed or been affected, and 2 million households were directly impacted. He said the country of 20 million people needed around 600,000 metric tons of food aid and called on the international community for help.

Malawi has been repeatedly hit by weather extremes in recent years, emphasizing how some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable countries are feeling the worst effects of climate change even as they contribute the least to global emissions.

Cyclone Freddy killed hundreds in Malawi last year, one of a succession of strong cyclones that have ripped through various parts of southern Africa in the last five years.

In early 2022, tropical storms and floods contributed to Malawi’s worst outbreak of the water-borne disease, cholera. More than 1,200 people died in the outbreak that lasted for months, according to the World Health Organization. Zambia is also currently experiencing a major cholera outbreak.
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Dakar — Senegalese voters are casting ballots after outgoing President Macky Sall’s attempt to delay the elections plunged the country into months of political crisis. 

It’s a day many have been waiting for, including Jules Rolland Pascal Diatta. He was the first to cast his ballot in voting room number seven at a school about 30 minutes outside Dakar’s city center. He arrived two and half hours before the poll officially opened.

“I see that they are actually on time and open at 8 a.m. sharp. This is a very important election for me and everyone here. I like my candidate because he has a solid and well-defined program that I think could save Senegal,” he said.

He says he voted for the coalition led by Bassirou Diomaye Faye.

Faye, a former tax inspector, is backed by Ousmane Sonko — who was seen as the key challenger to outgoing President Macky Sall. Sonko was barred from running in this year’s elections over a previous defamation conviction. Both Faye and Sonko were recently released from prison.

Another voter, Ahmadou Khadim Lo, hopes for job creation to be the number one goal for the next leader.

“Seventy-five percent of the Senegalese population is young and many of them have diplomas but can’t find jobs,” he said.

A sentiment echoed by Khady Diagne who spoke to us before casting her vote.

“Living conditions are difficult here. The health care system is poor, there are no jobs, I could spend an entire year telling you about all the problems our country has,” she said.

About 17 candidates are vying for the top job, including former Prime Minister Amadou Ba, who is endorsed by Sall.

Seynabou Faye told us she wants a continuation of the policies of the current regime.

“I just love Macky Sall. He’s done more work than any other president before him. He’s built bridges, the Bus Rapid Transit system, stadiums, roads. I would like to see Amadou Ba win so he can work on some of Sall’s unfinished projects,” said Faye.

Ndoumbe Gueye is the head of voting room number 7 at the polling station in the neighborhood of Scat Urbam. She explained the voting process.

“Once a voter comes in, he or she shows me their national identification card first,” she said. “My team verifies that the person is registered, and this is the right place for them to vote. Then they can pick 5 out of the 19 candidates, pick up an envelope, and proceed to the voting booth. Their final choice can be inserted into the envelope and submitted. Once that’s done, they come back to us and dip their small finger in ink [to show they’ve voted].”

Observers from many organizations are also present, including some from the European Union which sent 100 observers all over the country. Malin Bjork, who heads the group which arrived in early January, held a news conference Sunday morning.

“What we’ve been able to observe is that the polling started on time with sometimes long lines, which shows that people are motivated and interested in voting. The material was in place and the rules were followed by all voting centers,” said Bjork.

Senegal has always been seen as a stable democracy in a region plagued by coups, until recently when President Sall tried unsuccessfully to postpone last month’s elections by 10 months. While Sall said he would not seek a third term, his critics accused him of wanting to hold on to power.

Whoever wins, today’s elections are a chance to maybe put those uncertainties to rest.
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N’DJAMENA — Chad’s Constitutional Council on Sunday cleared 10 candidates for this year’s long-awaited presidential election, including interim President Mahamat Idriss Deby and the country’s recently-appointed prime minister. 

The central African nation is scheduled to hold the first round of a presidential election in May as part of a transition back to democracy from junta rule. 

Deby initially promised an 18-month transition to elections after he seized power in 2021, when his long-ruling father was killed in clashes with rebels. 

But his government later adopted resolutions that postponed elections until 2024 and allowed him to run for president, triggering protests that were violently quelled by security forces. 

In December, Chadians voted in favor of a new constitution that critics said could help cement Deby’s grip on power as it allowed him to run for the presidency. 

Deby confirmed his intention to run earlier this month.  

The candidate list released on Sunday included opposition leader Succes Masra, appointed as prime minister of the transitional government in January. 

It is the first time is Chad’s history that a president and a prime minister will face each other in a presidential poll.  

A staunch opponent of Chad’s junta, Masra had fled the country after dozens were killed when security forces cracked down on demonstrations in the capital N’Djamena in October 2022. 

The first round of voting is scheduled to take place on May 6 and the second round on June 22, with provisional results due on July 7. 

Chad’s military government is one of several juntas currently ruling in West and Central Africa. There have been eight coups in the region since 2020, sparking concerns of a democratic backslide. 

It is the first of those transitional authorities to organize elections. 
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DAKAR, Senegal — Polls opened in Senegal on Sunday morning in a tightly contested presidential race that followed months of uncertainty and unrest that has tested the West African nation’s reputation as a stable democracy in a region that experienced a wave of coups in recent years.

The roads were largely deserted early in the morning in Senegal’s capital and the nation’s elite police force were stationed all over the city in armored vehicles. Outside polling centers, police checked voters cards as men and women in formal dress lined up.

The election is being held weeks after President Macky Sall unsuccessfully tried to call it off until the end of the year. Sall is barred from running for a third term due to constitutional term limits. As a result, the vote is taking place during Ramadan, the holy month when observant Muslims fast from dawn until dusk.

The election is set to be the nation’s fourth democratic transfer of power since Senegal gained independence from France in 1960. The process has been marred by violence and unrest, and hundreds of opposition protesters have been arrested and jailed.

There are 19 candidates in the race, including one woman, the highest number in the nation’s history.

“This is poised to be the most competitive election since the introduction of multiparty politics,” Tochi Eni-Kalu, Africa analyst at the Eurasia Group, told The Associated Press.

Analysts say no candidate is expected to win more than 50% of the vote, which means a runoff between leading candidates is widely expected. These include Amadou Ba, a former prime minister, and Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who is backed by popular opposition figure Ousmane Sonko.

Sonko, who came third in the previous election, was barred from running in January because of a prior conviction for defamation. He has faced a slew of legal troubles in recent years that supporters say are part of a government effort to derail his candidacy.

Other potential frontrunners are Khalifa Sall, a former mayor of Dakar unrelated to the president, and Idrissa Seck, a former prime minister from the early 2000s who was the runner up in the 2019 presidential race.

Two candidates dropped out this week to back Faye’s candidacy, a sign of the start of coalition-building that could determine the outcome of the race, according to analysts.

At the forefront of concerns for many Senegalese voters is the economy, which has been squeezed by high food and energy prices partly driven by the war in Ukraine. Unemployment among the nation’s youth is widespread, driving thousands to risk their lives on dangerous journeys in search of jobs in the West.

“Jobs are really, truly the priority. Everyone can see that unemployment is taking over,” said Oumy Sarr, a political activist. “The second priority is the high cost of living in Senegal today. What is to be done to improve people’s living conditions? Inflation is rising, everyone is tired.” 
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ABUJA, Nigeria — Nearly 300 kidnapped Nigerian schoolchildren have been released, local officials said Sunday, more than two weeks after the children were seized from their school in the northwestern state of Kaduna and marched into the forests.

At least 1,400 students have been kidnapped from Nigerian schools since 2014, when Boko Haram militants kidnapped hundreds of schoolgirls from Borno state’s Chibok village in 2014. In recent years, abductions have been concentrated in the country’s northwestern and central regions, where dozens of armed groups often target villagers and travelers for ransom.

Kaduna state Gov. Uba Sani did not give details of the release of the 287 students abducted from their school in the remote town of Kuriga on March 7, at least 100 of them aged 12 or younger. In a statement, he thanked Nigerian President Bola Tinubu “particularly ensuring that the abducted school children are released unharmed.”

Tinubu had vowed to rescue the children “without paying a dime” as ransom. But ransoms are commonly paid for kidnappings, often arranged by families, and it is rare for officials in Nigeria to admit to the payments.

No group has claimed responsibility for the Kaduna kidnapping, which locals have blamed on bandit groups known for mass killings and kidnappings for ransom in the conflict-battered northern region, most of them former herders in conflict with settled communities.

At least two people with extensive knowledge of the security crisis in Nigeria’s northwest told The Associated Press that the identity of the abductors is known.

Murtala Ahmed Rufa’i, a professor of peace and conflict studies at Usmanu Danfodiyo University, and Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, a cleric who has negotiated with the bandits, said they are hiding in the region’s vast and ungoverned forests.

Arrests are rare in Nigeria’s mass kidnappings, as victims are usually released only after desperate families pay ransoms or through deals with government and security officials.

The Kaduna governor thanked Nigerian security forces and officials for the release of the students. “I spent sleepless nights with the national security adviser, Mal. Nuhu Ribadu … fine-tuning strategies and coordinating the operations of the security agencies, which eventually resulted in this successful outcome,” he said.
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DAKAR, Senegal — Senegal goes to the polls on Sunday to vote for its fifth president in a delayed election being held against a turbulent political backdrop which has triggered violent anti-government protests and boosted support for the opposition.

At stake is the potential end of a regime that has sustained investor-friendly policies in the soon-to-become oil and gas producer, but which has failed to alleviate economic hardship and stirred unrest in one of coup-prone West Africa’s most stable democracies.

Nineteen contenders are vying to replace President Macky Sall, who is stepping down after a second term marred by violent unrest over the prosecution of firebrand opposition leader Ousmane Sonko and concerns that Sall wanted to extend his mandate past the constitutional limit.

The incumbent is not on the ballot for the first time in Senegal’s history. His ruling coalition has picked former prime minister Amadou Ba, 62, as its candidate.

“I believe that I’m the candidate that offers political stability, serenity, and the capacity to move Senegal forward rapidly,” Ba told journalists as campaigning closed Friday. “Senegal does not need a complete overhaul.”

Around 7.3 million people are registered to vote, with polls opening at 0800 GMT and closing at 1800 GMT.

Vote counting will start immediately after polls close and provisional results are expected by March 26.

Sonko, who was disqualified from the race due to a defamation conviction, is backing former tax inspector Bassirou Diomaye Faye, 43, co-creator of the now dissolved Pastef party. Some high-profile politicians and opposition candidates have also backed Faye’s candidacy.

Other contenders include ex-Dakar mayor Khalifa Sall (no relation to the outgoing president), entrepreneur-turned-politician Anta Babacar Ngom, who is the only woman running, and veteran politician Idrissa Seck, who came second in the 2019 presidential election.

Without any opinion polls, it is not clear whether any candidate will secure over 50% of the vote to prevent a runoff.

‘Diomaye is Sonko’

Macky Sall, first elected in 2012, is leaving on a drop in popularity that worsened when he unsuccessfully sought to postpone the vote — initially scheduled on February 25 — to December.

The move stoked unrest and concerns about authoritarian overreach in the nation of around 18 million. It also buoyed opposition parties that rejected all attempts to delay the vote which could have extended the president’s mandate.

Senegal’s Constitutional Council sided with opposition parties, ruling that the vote should go ahead and that Sall’s mandate could not be extended beyond April 2.  

An amnesty law passed to ease tensions this month meanwhile allowed Sonko, and Faye — who had also been in detention for nearly a year, on charges including defamation and contempt of court — to be released.

Both have hit the campaign trail under the banner “Diomaye is Sonko” as a crowd-pleasing duo.

Sonko, who came third in the last election in 2019, is particularly popular among urban youth frustrated with lack of jobs and high living costs in a country where 60% of the population is younger than 25.

“The election will show whether their popularity on social media is real,” said Senegalese political analyst Babacar Ndiaye.

Most of Sonko’s supporters are now expected to vote for Faye, analysts say. He has promised to root out allegedly entrenched corruption, restore stability and prioritize economic sovereignty.

But some of Faye’s campaign promises, such as plans to renegotiate oil contracts just as Senegal is due to begin offshore oil and gas production, and the introduction of a national currency, have raised concerns that these could hurt the country’s image as a destination for investors. 
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cairo — The Islamic State on Saturday claimed responsibility for an attack Wednesday on Niger’s army that it said had killed 30 soldiers. 

The group said in a statement carried by its Amaq news agency and posted on its Telegram channel that the soldiers were killed in an ambush on a convoy near the town of Teguey in the Tillaberi region in the west of the country. 

Niger’s defense ministry said late Thursday that 23 soldiers were killed in the attack, which also wounded 17 more. Around 30 attackers were killed, it added. 

Niger is one of several West African countries battling an Islamist insurgency that has spread outward from Mali over the past 12 years, killing thousands and uprooting millions of people. 

Frustrations over authorities’ failure to protect civilians has spurred military coups in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger since 2020. 

The juntas that seized power have cut ties with Western allies assisting local military efforts, kicking out French and other European forces and turning to Russia instead. 

Niger’s junta last week revoked a military accord that allows military personnel and civilian staff from the U.S. Department of Defense on its soil. 
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washington — At least 54 people have lost their lives to cholera in Somalia in recent months. Nine of those deaths occurred within the past week, marking the highest weekly death toll this year, humanitarian group Save the Children said.   

In an interview with VOA Somali, Mohamed Abdulkadir, acting operations director for Save the Children Somalia, said the statistic highlights how vulnerable children are to the deadly disease. 

“In collaboration with Somalia’s Ministry of Health and Human Services, Save the Children reveals that among 4,388 confirmed cases in 2024, 59% belong to children under the age of five,” Abdulkadir said. 

In the southern states of the country, Mogadishu, the country’s capital, has experienced a significant surge in reported cholera cases in the past two weeks. 

Abdulkadir said 586 new cases have been reported in 23 districts, with 331 of them affecting children under the age of five. 

The outbreak, which began in January of this year, is believed to be a direct consequence of severe flooding that occurred in October and November 2023.

“We believe that the recent devastating flooding in areas like Mogadishu, Beledweyne and Baidoa has contributed to the outbreak of the disease,” said Abdulkadir.   

He said Save the Children is urgently calling for action from local governments and health agencies to combat the rapid spread of cholera. 

“We call for an action from the Somali federal government and the local governments to fight against this highly contagious disease, which primarily spreads through contaminated water areas with inadequate sewage treatment, flooded regions,” he said.

People who lack safe drinking water are particularly susceptible to the cholera outbreak, especially in the wake of flooding, he added.

To prevent further transmission of the disease, he said Save the Children is implementing an emergency response strategy. The aid agency is establishing two cholera treatment centers, providing essential hygiene kits and water treatment supplies in Beledweyne. 

Abdulkadir emphasized the gravity of the situation, stating that Somalia is at the forefront of the climate crisis. 

He said the combination of relentless rainfall, floods, and a devastating drought has left children and families extremely vulnerable to illness. He stressed the urgent need for clean drinking water and sanitation facilities to prevent the cholera outbreak from spiraling out of control when the rainy season begins in a month. 

In 2023, Somalia recorded more than 18,300 cases of cholera, with 10,000 of those cases affecting children under the age of five. Both Save the Children and the Somali government attributed the devastating rise in numbers to the destructive El Nino flooding in November and December, which destroyed toilets and latrines. Consequently, many communities, particularly those recently displaced by flooding and conflict, resorted to open defecation. 
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ALGIERS, Algeria — Officials in Algeria are chiding television stations over the content choices they’ve made since the start of Ramadan last week, injecting religion into broader discussions about how the country regulates content and advertising in media.

Their criticisms come amid broader struggles facing journalists and broadcasters, where television stations and newspapers have historically relied heavily on advertising from the government and large state-aligned enterprises in the oil-rich nation.

After meeting with station directors on Sunday, Algerian Communications Minister Mohamed Lagab accused networks of not respecting ethical and professional lines, calling their programmatic choices “out of keeping with the social traditions of our society and especially the sacredness of the month of Ramadan.”

Lagab, a former journalism school professor, preemptively rebuffed accusations of censorship, arguing that his ministry’s push didn’t run counter to Algeria’s constitutional press freedom guarantees.

“Television stations have the right to criticize, but not by attacking our society’s moral values,” he said.

Though he did not explicitly name any specific stations or programs, Lagab cited soap operas as a particular concern. His ministry last week summoned a director for the country’s largest private station, Echourouk, over a soap opera called El Barani that showed characters consuming alcohol and snorting cocaine — depictions that sparked rebuke from viewers concerned they were incompatible with Ramadan.

Lagab also criticized stations for dedicating excessive airtime to advertising, so much so that it rivaled the run time of certain shows. “If we put advertising (and programs) side by side, we would conclude they last longer than the soap operas broadcast,” Lagab said.

His remarks followed statements from Algeria’s Authority of Audiovisual Regulations, which polices television and radio stations. Throughout March, it has called on national television stations to rein in advertising and respect families and viewers during Ramadan, a holy month observed throughout the Muslim-majority country and broader region.

Lagab’s two-pronged attack — against stations’ content and advertising — is the latest challenge facing Algerian television stations, which are preparing for deepened financial strain as the government prepares new regulations on advertising in media. In anticipation of a new law, stations, especially private ones, have ramped up advertising to an unprecedented extent, hoping to rake in profits before the government sets new limits.

The advertising blitz has been particularly pronounced since Ramadan began last week. As demand increases for food and other consumer products used throughout the holy month, stations have found no shortage of advertisers.

Even if stations don’t change course after meeting with Lagab, experts say the government’s criticisms are unlikely to escalate into punishments like sanctions or fines.

“Most of these channels are politically aligned with the government and zealously support it,” said Kamal Ibri, a journalist whose news website closed for lack of advertising revenue.

Algeria’s largest television stations are a mixture of publicly and privately owned. Networks including the private Echourouk, private El Bilad and the state-owned ENTV broadcast news and other programming, including soap operas. In prior years, viewers have grown accustomed to special Ramadan-specific programs during that period.

Though some private channels have begun platforming opposition parties recently, few broadcast pointed criticisms of the government. Those that do have in recent years been penalized.

Journalist Ihsane El Kadi ‘s media company, which oversaw web television and radio programming was shuttered and had its equipment confiscated. He was sentenced to prison for “threatening state security” in April 2023.
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DAKAR, Senegal — Women slain with babies wrapped against their bodies, lifeless children intertwined together, a baby on the ground with puppies crawling on his tiny frame. The scenes were horrifying, but the 32-year-old farmer documented them, proof of the carnage in his central Burkina Faso village.

More than a dozen relatives were killed November 5 when security forces attacked with trucks, guns and drones, he told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, for fear of retaliation. He said he hid in a neighbor’s compound and took a series of photos before fleeing the next morning.

Dozens more were killed that day in Zaongo village, according to his account and that of two other survivors, as well as a U.N. report citing government figures. The images the man sent to the AP and the interviews with the three survivors are rare firsthand accounts amid a stark increase in civilian killings by Burkina Faso’s security forces as the junta struggles to beat back a growing jihadi insurgency and attacks citizens under the guise of counterterrorism.

Most attacks — including the slaying of children by soldiers at a military base last year, uncovered in an AP investigation — go unpunished and unreported in a nation run by a repressive leadership that silences perceived dissidents.

More than 20,000 people have been killed since jihadi violence linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group first hit the West African nation nine years ago, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, a U.S.-based nonprofit. The fighting has divided a once peaceful population, blockaded dozens of cities and led to two military coups.

Burkina Faso’s government spokesman didn’t respond to requests for comment about the November 5 attack. Previously, officials have denied killing civilians and said jihadis often disguise themselves as soldiers.

The three survivors told AP they’re certain the men were security forces. They describe them wearing military uniforms, one with a Burkina Faso flag fastened to him. The farmer saw a helicopter flying toward the village in the attack’s aftermath — those are used solely by the military, not insurgents.

The United Nations urged the government to investigate, hold those responsible accountable and compensate victims, said Seif Magango of the U.N. Human Rights Office.

Burkina Faso’s prosecutor’s office said it opened an investigation. Four months later, survivors said they had no news.

‘They massacred them’

It was early Sunday morning when the farmer heard gunshots in the distance. Violence in Namentenga province is frequent, locals said; shootings and patrolling soldiers are common.

About 3 p.m., the farmer said, hundreds of men — most in military fatigues — stormed through on motorbikes and trucks and started indiscriminately killing people.

He hid at the neighbor’s home, he said, and after hours of gunshots, the man with the flag entered.

“The soldier told us that his colleagues were in the other compound,” the farmer said. “He said he didn’t want to hurt us, but if the others realized we were still alive, they’d kill us.”

When the guns stopped, he said, he left the compound and saw Zaongo littered with the dead.

It’s unclear what prompted the attack, but locals said most times, security forces think villagers are working with extremists.

Junta today

Since seizing power in September 2022, the junta has threatened rights groups and journalists and carried out attacks against civilians. It’s on a war footing as it tries to beat back the jihadis, who’ve overtaken more than half the country, according to conflict analysts and experts.

The junta is distancing itself from regional and Western nations that don’t agree with its approach. This year, it left the West African regional economic bloc known as ECOWAS and created an alliance with Mali and Niger, also run by military juntas.

The junta severed military ties with former colonial ruler France. Officials have welcomed several dozen Russians tasked in part with keeping the junta in power, according to several conflict experts and a diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter.

In November, days after the Zaongo massacre, 50 Russians arrived in Burkina Faso to protect the junta, influence public opinion and provide security services, said Lou Osborn with All Eyes on Wagner, a project focusing on the Russian mercenary group, which operates in a handful of African countries.

The United States said it has suspended assistance to Burkina Faso’s military but still supplies nonlethal equipment to civilian security forces such as the national police. In January, it delivered nearly 100 bikes and pickups.

“We are not aware of any diversion or misuse of recent equipment,” it said. “We take allegations seriously and will continue to monitor and evaluate.”

Civilians in the middle

During the November 5 attack, men in military uniforms speaking French and local language Moore called for men to leave their houses, a 45-year-old mother told AP.

Through the window of the home where she hid, she said, she saw more than 15 relatives killed.

She said a soldier motioned for her to lie down silently. The men dressed, looked and sounded like soldiers who pass through inspecting people’s documents, she said.

The third survivor who spoke to AP, a 55-year-old man, said villagers had been accused of working with jihadis because they refused to join tens of thousands of volunteers fighting alongside the military.

‘We’re frightened’

Survivors fear that bodies still lie on the ground rotting in Zaongo, now occupied by jihadis. Some relatives returned a week after the deaths, but there were too many bodies and not enough time to bury them, they said.

It’s still unclear how many were killed – reports from survivors, the U.N. and aid groups vary, from 70 to more than 200.
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United Nations — The United Nations appealed Friday for Sudan’s battling factions to allow delivery of humanitarian relief to fend off looming catastrophic hunger.

About 5 million Sudanese could face calamitous food insecurity in coming months as a nearly yearlong war between rival generals continues to tear the country apart, according to a U.N. document seen Friday by AFP.

The war between army chief Abdel Fattah Burhan and his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, has since April last year killed tens of thousands, destroyed infrastructure and crippled the economy.

It also has triggered a dire humanitarian crisis and acute food shortages, with the country teetering on the brink of famine.

Noting that 18 million Sudanese are facing acute food insecurity — a record during harvest season — U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths warned in a letter to the Security Council that “almost 5 million people could slip into catastrophic food insecurity in some parts of the country in the coming months.”

He noted that nearly 730,000 Sudanese children, including more than 240,000 in Darfur, are thought to suffer from severe malnutrition.

“Aid organizations require safe, rapid, sustained and unimpeded access, including across conflict lines within Sudan,” said U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres’ spokesman, Stephane Dujarric. “A massive mobilization of resources from the international community is also critical.”

The U.N.’s World Food Program has warned that the war risks “triggering the world’s largest hunger crisis.”

Jill Lawler, the emergency chief in Sudan for the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF, said there were enough aid stocks in Port Sudan, but the problem was getting the aid from there to the people in need.

Lawler said that last week that she led the first U.N. mission to reach Khartoum state since war erupted 11 months ago.

They had seen firsthand that “the scale and magnitude of needs for children across the country are simply staggering,” she told reporters in Geneva via video link from New York.

The war “is pushing the country towards a famine” with hunger “the number one concern people expressed.”

Mandeep O’Brien, UNICEF representative in Sudan, said 14 million children needed humanitarian aid and 4 million were displaced.

There was only a “small window left to prevent mass loss of children’s lives and future,” she warned on X, formerly known as Twitter.

World Health Organization regional director Hanan Balkhy, who recently returned from Sudan, underlined the acute needs in Darfur, saying most health facilities had been looted, damaged or destroyed.

Griffiths, the U.N. aid chief, lamented that fighting continued to rage during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan despite a Security Council resolution calling for a cessation of hostilities.

“This is a moment of truth,” he wrote on X. “The parties must silence the guns, protect civilians and ensure humanitarian access.”

The U.N. on Friday called for more financial support for aid operations in Sudan.

U.N. spokeswoman Alessandra Vellucci told reporters in Geneva that the world body had appealed for $2.7 billion to provide aid this year but had received 5% of that amount so far.
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NAIROBI, Kenya — Doctors at Kenya’s public hospitals began a nationwide strike Thursday, accusing the government of failing to implement a raft of promises from a collective bargaining agreement signed in 2017 after a 100-day strike that saw people dying from lack of care.

The Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union said they went on strike to demand comprehensive medical cover for the doctors and because the government has yet to post 1,200 medical interns.

Davji Bhimji, secretary-general of KMPDU, said 4,000 doctors took part in the strike despite a labor court order asking the union to put the strike on hold to allow talks with the government. And Dennis Miskellah, deputy secretary general of the union, said they would disregard the court order the same way the government had disregarded three court orders to increase basic pay for doctors and reinstate suspended doctors.

Miskellah said medical interns make up 27% of the workforce in Kenya’s public hospitals, and their absence means more sick people are being turned away from hospitals. Some doctors, however, have remained on duty to ensure patients in the intensive care units don’t die.

In an interview with broadcaster Citizen TV, Miskellah said doctors were committing suicide out of work-related frustration, while others have had to fund-raise to get treated for sickness due to a lack of comprehensive health coverage.

The impact of the strike was felt across the country with many patients left unattended or being turned away from hospitals across the East African nation.

Pauline Wanjiru said she brought her 12-year-old son for treatment on his broken leg, which had started to produce a smell, but she was turned away from a hospital in Kakamega county in western Kenya.

In 2017, doctors at Kenya’s public hospitals held a 100-day strike — the longest ever held in the country — to demand better wages and for the government to restore the country’s dilapidated public-health facilities. They also demanded continuous training of and hiring of doctors to address a severe shortage of health professionals.

At the time, public doctors, who train for six years in university, earned a basic salary of $400 to $850 a month, similar to some police officers who train for just six months.
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Windhoek, Namibia — A top Namibian health official tells VOA the southern Africa country is set to begin distribution of the HPV vaccine to adolescent girls in April as a preventative measure in the fight against cervical cancer.

Namibia has a population of about 1 million women ages 15 years and older who are at risk of developing cervical cancer.

Each year, about 375 women in Namibia are diagnosed with the disease, and the fatality rate is over 50%.

The Human Papillomavirus Vaccine, known as HPV, has been proven to greatly lessen the chance of getting cervical cancer.

Ben Nangombe, executive director at Namibia’s Ministry of Health and Social Services, says health workers will begin vaccinating about 183,000 girls between the ages of nine and 14 next month.

He says the ministry has been allocated $7 million to procure single dose vaccines for this purpose.

Mehafo Amunyela, who works at the #Be Free Youth Program in the capital’s Katutura Township, told VOA that vaccine hesitancy could be a hurdle to fully immunizing the target population. She said she hopes that through awareness campaigns, children and their families can be educated about the advantages of getting the vaccine.

“We saw the reaction of the public toward the COVID vaccine when it came out, but I think we need to be honest with ourselves and remember that the reason we don’t have illnesses like polio is because of vaccines, that they worked then, and they still do now,” she said.

The Cancer Association of Namibia says the vast distances between most towns and villages in Namibia could present another logistical challenge in the immunization program.

The association says to achieve the target of immunizing 183,000 girls, awareness campaigns should be undertaken in the different indigenous languages spoken in the country.

With the rollout of the HPV vaccine, Namibia is on the path to do its part in meeting the World Health Organization’s goal of vaccinating 90% of girls worldwide by 2030, with the long-term goal of eliminating cervical cancer within the next century.

Although cervical cancer is preventable and curable, the disease claimed 350,000 lives worldwide in 2022 according to the WHO. 
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Russia has rebranded its Wagner paramilitary group as an “expeditionary corps” now controlled by Moscow’s military intelligence arm, and the force is offering a “regime survival package” to autocratic regimes in Africa, Britain’s Royal United Services Institute says. Henry Ridgwell reports.
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Abuja, Nigeria — The medical aid group Doctors Without Borders said this week that Nigeria’s northwest region is experiencing “catastrophic” levels of malnutrition and disease outbreaks as it copes with a decline in humanitarian support.

The aid group, known by its French initials MSF, said that while heavy conflict continues to affect both the northeast and northwest regions of Nigeria, the humanitarian needs of the northwest have yet to be met under the national response plan.

In a media statement, MSF said that the region has more than 500,000 cases of severe acute malnutrition and that 854 children admitted to its facilities last year died within 48 hours of their arrival.

MSF blamed the failure of authorities and donor partners to formally recognize the crisis in the northwest for delaying a much-needed response.

Abdullahi Mohammed Ali, the head of MSF’s Nigeria mission, said the aid group has been raising the alarm for a few years.

“But the region has never been included in the U.N. humanitarian response plan,” Ali said. “We’re deeply concerned given the seriousness of the humanitarian crisis in this region — a home to around 50 million people. The levels of malnutrition and outbreak of diseases are catastrophic in the context of persistent and relentless violence.”

Northwest Nigeria has been plagued by armed gangs of bandits who often kill, loot and take hostages. MSF said that last year alone, more than 2,000 people were killed in hundreds of reported attacks.

But humanitarian aid groups have largely focused their attention on the northeast, site of the long-running Boko Haram insurgency, where Nigerian forces are stepping up attacks against the Islamist militant groups.

Ali said the situation improved briefly in the northwest last year.

“We saw a little improvement in 2023, with a few actors mobilizing to provide support to vulnerable people,” he said, “but this is far from being enough, and medical aid is just a drop in the ocean.

“We would like to see a collective and concerted strategy by both the humanitarian community and the Nigerian government in order to scale up the humanitarian response plan,” Ali said.

MSF said it treated 170,000 children in the northwestern states of Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina and Kano last year for severe acute malnutrition — a 14% rise compared with the previous year.

Nigeria’s humanitarian affairs ministry did not respond to calls for comment.

An official who did not want to be named said the investigation of the humanitarian affairs minister, Betta Edu, has affected planned responses to humanitarian emergencies. President Bola Tinubu suspended Edu in January over alleged misappropriation of public funds. On Wednesday, Nigeria’s parliament asked the president to hasten the suspended minister’s probe.
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