NAIROBI, KENYA — African governments are gearing up for what is to come following the 90-day pause on most U.S.-funded foreign aid as they worry about the potential effects.

In Kenya, for instance, Health Cabinet Secretary Deborah Barasa said Wednesday in Nairobi that as her country navigates complex challenges, ensuring continuation of essential health services, especially with programs related to HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, is essential.

“For more than 40 years, we’ve been able to depend on partners. PEPFAR has done a great job in ensuring that HIV patients, TB patients are receiving health services,” she said, referring to the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, a program that works with partners in 55 countries worldwide.

“With more than 3.7 million being on HIV medication [in Kenya] … I believe it’s critical for us to think of sustainable solutions … [and] alternative forms of funding,” Barasa said.

While the freeze has been modified to allow waivers for “life-saving humanitarian assistance,” including “core life-saving medicine,” which may apply to health programs such as PEPFAR, many countries are working to assess the implications of what may amount to an end of U.S. foreign aid.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the waiver is clear: “If it saves lives, if it’s emergency lifesaving aid — food, medicine, whatever — they have a waiver. I don’t know how much clearer we can be.”

South Africa, with 7.8 million people with HIV, has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the PEPFAR program the past two decades. Its health minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, told reporters last week in Johannesburg that the country was taken by surprise by the pause in aid and that officials are still trying to decipher the full meaning.

This week, Motsoaledi met with U.S. Embassy officials to discuss bilateral health cooperation and the new U.S. policies on assistance. The two sides promised to keep the communications channels open as they discuss lifesaving health partnerships, according to a joint statement after the meeting.

Asanda Ngoasheng, a South African political analyst, said countries will be affected one way or the other because many public health systems exist only because of the PEPFAR program.

“Even in the case PEPFAR is not funding 100% of the programs, any money that is removed means that countries simply would not be able to afford programs that they were able to afford with the money that was being supplemented by PEPFAR before,” Ngoasheng said.

Programs not related to health are also affected. In Senegal, for example, an infrastructure and development project financed by the Millennium Challenge Corporation, an initiative that was started by Republican U.S. President George W. Bush, could lose funding.

The $550 million power project being implemented by Millennium Challenge Account Senegal was designed to improve the country’s transmission network and increase electricity access in rural areas and to those on the outskirts of cities in the south and central regions.

Mamadou Thior, a journalist and chair of the media watchdog CORED, told VOA: “The financing coming from the U.S. for this second phase will impact about 12 million people.”

Thior referred to a recent speech by Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko that emphasized the need for countries to work on being self-sufficient.

“It’s high time for Africans and other people to depend on themselves and not from Western aid because this is what can be the drawbacks,” Thior said.

“They will have to depend on national resources to go ahead with the rest of the [electricity] project because there’s no way to go backwards,” he said.

In Nigeria, a country that received about $1 billion in U.S. foreign aid last year, officials this week launched a committee with members from finance, health and environmental ministries to develop an alternative for some U.S.-funded programs.
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Two hundred Kenyan police officers arrived in Haiti on Thursday to join the United Nations-backed mission to fight gangs in the crisis-plagued Caribbean country.

More than 600 Kenyan officers had already been stationed in Haiti as part of a multinational force of police officers and soldiers from other countries — including Jamaica, Guatemala and El Salvador — who assist Haiti’s police in fighting the violent gangs in control of much of the capital, Port-au-Prince.

“The Haitian National Police are outnumbered and outgunned by the gangs,” William O’Neill, a U.N. expert on Haiti, told The Associated Press on Thursday.

The U.N. mission plays a critical role in establishing security in Haiti, he said.

The arrival of the newly deployed police officers from Kenya was cast into doubt earlier this week, when U.S. President Donald Trump announced a freeze on U.S. foreign aid that included $13.3 million slated for the U.N. mission in Haiti.

The U.S. State Department, however, announced it has approved waivers for $40.7 million in foreign aid for the Haitian mission and the police. The State Department also said it recently delivered “much-needed heavy armored equipment” to the mission and the police.

Godfrey Otunge, the U.N.’s mission’s force commander in Haiti, said in a statement Wednesday that the frozen funds make up under 3% of ongoing assistance to the mission. Both the state and the defense departments “remain actively engaged” in the mission, Otunge said.

“I want to assure everyone, especially the people of Haiti, that the mission remains on track,” the force commander said.

According to Otunge, the U.S. and other partner countries are continuing to contribute logistical, financial, and equipment support to the Haitian mission.

“Steady and predictable funding for the [mission] requires all states to contribute, especially those in the region,” O’Neill, the U.N. expert on Haiti, said. “More stability in Haiti will reduce the pressure to migrate, which is in everyone’s interest.”

The Kenyan-led U.N. mission faces a daunting task in a country that has never fully recovered from a devastating earthquake in 2010 and is now without a president or parliament. Haiti is ruled by a transitional body that faces enormous challenges, including gangs and extreme violence and poverty. Almost 6,000 people were killed in gang violence in the country last year.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Kenyan President William Ruto Thursday and thanked him for the country’s leadership of the mission in Haiti.

Last year, nearly 1 million people in Haiti fled their homes due to gang violence, a figure that French news agency Agence France-Presse reports as three times higher than the previous year.

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press and Agence France Presse.    
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JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA — Some South African organizations that assist people with HIV are in limbo, after the United States put a 90-day freeze on most foreign aid. The U.S. State Department later added a waiver for “lifesaving” aid, but NGOs that have already shut their doors say the next steps aren’t clear, and they are worried this could set back years of progress.

South Africa has the highest number of HIV-positive people in the world — about 8 million — but has also been a huge success story in terms of treatment and preventing new infections.

That’s largely due to the money poured into expert HIV care here, 17% of which comes from a U.S. program called the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, also known as PEPFAR.

But, a 90-day foreign aid funding freeze is in effect, following an executive order by U.S. President Donald Trump last month to check if U.S.-funded programs overseas are aligned with U.S. policies. This has caused some confusion in South Africa with health care organizations and their patients.

Thamsanqa Siyo, an HIV-positive transgender woman in South Africa, is anxious.

“People are frustrated, they’re living in fear, they don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Siyo. “They don’t know if it’s stopped temporarily or not temporarily.”

The Cape Town clinic that Siyo used to go to has now been closed for two weeks.

While the State Department has issued a waiver to continue paying for “lifesaving” services, what that includes remains unclear to many South African organizations that receive funding from PEPFAR.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this week that the waiver was clear.

“If it saves lives, if it’s emergency lifesaving aid — food, medicine, whatever — they have a waiver,” said Rubio. “I don’t know how much clearer we can be.”

The State Department also issued written clarification and guidance on February 1 regarding which activities are and are not covered by the waiver for PEPFAR programs.

The South African government said it was blindsided by the U.S. aid freeze, according to Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi, who convened a meeting about PEPFAR on Wednesday.

Motsoaledi also said he has sought clarity on the waiver.

“If you say American money cannot be used for LGBTQWI+ and we do the counseling and testing and somebody who falls within that category, transgender, tests positive, can they not be helped?” he asked. “Even if it’s lifesaving?”

Linda-Gail Bekker is a doctor and scientist who heads the Desmond Tutu HIV Center in South Africa.

“This is not one homogenous picture,” said Bekker. “In some places, it’s parts of services that have been stopped. In other places, the whole clinic, if it was supplied by PEPFAR, has been closed down.”

She also said that some transgender health services have been completely closed, and in other areas, counselors haven’t been able to come in.

In addition, she said some services and drugs are no longer available, such as community-based testing and pre-exposure prophylaxis, a medicine that prevents people at high risk from contracting HIV.

Ling Sheperd, who works for Triangle Project, an nongovernmental organization that provides services for the queer community, said there’s a risk of “undoing decades of progress.”

“The impact is devastating,” said Sheperd. “The PEPFAR funding has been a lifeline for millions and it ensures access to HIV treatment, prevention services, and of course community-based health care. And without it we are seeing interruptions in medication supply, clinics are scaling back services, and community health workers have literally been losing their livelihoods.”

About 5.5 million South Africans are on anti-retroviral medication for HIV. Motsoaledi noted that most of that is funded by the government here.

However, he said, a PEPFAR shortfall will affect training, facilities and service delivery. The government said it is working on contingency plans that would reduce dependence on foreign aid in the HIV sector.

On Wednesday, a group of health organizations sent a letter to the South African government saying at least 900,000 patients with HIV were directly affected by the U.S. stop-work orders.
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Aid groups say sexual violence is a constant threat for women in Sudan’s Darfur, but refugees also say it’s a problem for those who have fled the region. Reporting from a refugee camp on Chad’s border with Darfur, Henry Wilkins looks at the phenomenon of “firewood rape.” Camera: Henry Wilkins.
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UNITED NATIONS — A senior U.N. official in the Democratic Republic of Congo said Wednesday that nearly 3,000 people have been killed in a fighting between M23 militants and the national army over control of a key eastern city.

Vivian van de Perre, the deputy head of the United Nations mission in the DRC, told reporters in a video call from Goma that U.N. teams are “actively helping” the M23 to collect the dead from the city’s streets. She said that, so far, 2,000 bodies have been retrieved and 900 others are in hospital morgues.

“We expect this number to go up,” she said. “There are still many decomposing bodies in many areas. The World Health Organization is really worried about what kind of epidemic outbreaks that can contribute to.”

In early January, the M23 broke a ceasefire agreement, launching a large-scale offensive in the mineral-rich east with the support of the Rwandan army. On Jan. 27, the M23 said it had captured Goma, the capital of North Kivu province and a city of more than a million people, thousands of whom have been displaced from other conflict areas.

The DRC government has repeatedly accused Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebel group, a claim that Rwanda denies. Kigali, in turn, alleges that Kinshasa collaborates with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, or the FDLR, an armed Hutu group with ties to the perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, an allegation the DRC rejects.

M23 holds Goma

Van de Perre said Goma is “firmly under control at the moment of M23.” The Congolese government has officially designated the M23 as a terrorist organization, while the United Nations and the United States classify it as an armed rebel group.

“All exit routes from Goma are under their control, and the airport, also under M23 control, is closed until further notice,” she told reporters. “The escalating violence has led to immense human suffering, displacement and a growing humanitarian crisis.”

She said nearly 2,000 civilians are sheltering at U.N. peacekeeping bases in Goma and that “our bases are full, full, full.” She said they cannot handle any more people, and they are concerned that the overcrowding and unsanitary conditions could lead to disease outbreaks at the bases.

Water and electricity had been cut off to the city during the intense fighting but have been partially restored. Markets are also reopening, but van de Perre said prices have skyrocketed.

She said peacekeepers with the U.N. mission, known as MONUSCO, are operating under limited movements imposed by the M23. They are not patrolling the city, but they are able to resupply their bases.

“Any movement we have to announce 48 hours in advance,” she said. Asked about reports that M23 rebels have suspended some aid work and are interfering with the work of journalists, she said that there are indications of harassment, but that she did not know the extent of it.

On the move

The M23 is reported to be progressing toward the South Kivu capital of Bukavu. Van de Perre said heavy fighting has been reported along the main route between Kinyezire and Nyabibwe.

“In Bukavu, tensions are rising as the M23 moves closer, just 50 kilometers north of the city,” she said.

MONUSCO has been in the process of drawing down its peacekeepers at the request of the Congolese government. In June, it left South Kivu province entirely.

“While the 4 February unilateral ceasefire announced by the M23 offers assurances that Bukavu will not be taken, we are gravely concerned for Kavumu airport, which is critical for ongoing civilian and humanitarian use,” she said of South Kivu’s airport.
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WASHINGTON — Nearly 70 people were killed and up to 50 others wounded during 24 hours of fighting between Islamic State fighters and security forces from Somalia’s Puntland region, officials said Wednesday. 

At least 15 Puntland soldiers and more than 50 militants were slain in the fierce fighting around the Dharin and Qurac areas of the Cal Miskaad mountains in Puntland’s Bari region, multiple Puntland security officials told VOA, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media. 

In an interview Wednesday with VOA’s Somali Service, a spokesperson for Puntland security operations, Brigadier General Mohamud Mohamed Ahmed, said the fighting, which began Tuesday, was the heaviest since Puntland launched an offensive last month against Islamic State groups that have hideouts in the mountains.  

“We have confirmed that at least 57 Islamic State militants, all of them foreigners, were killed during the fighting in the last 24 hours,” Ahmed said. 

Ahmed declined to say how many Puntland soldiers were wounded or lost but suggested casualties were heavy.  

“The fighting is taking place in a mountainous area where the militants are using improvised explosives. The fighting of this nature in such an environment, the attacking force often suffers more casualties than the defenders,” he said. 

VOA could not independently verify the claim of 57 militants killed but graphic video circulated on social media was said to show scenes of militants’ bodies strewn in a mountainous area. 

Ahmed said Tuesday night the United Arab Emirates conducted a drone strike against the IS militants in the area to support Puntland forces. 

A statement from the Puntland forces said their troops have gained ground.  

“Puntland forces have successfully captured the strategic village of Dharin in Togga Jecel, dealing a significant blow to the extremist group’s operational capabilities in the region,” the statement said. 

It added: “The forces have expelled the enemy from the areas they fought along the Togga Jecel.” 

These latest clashes came just days after U.S. warplanes targeted the Islamic State affiliate in Somalia, hitting what officials described as high-ranking operatives in the terror group’s mountainous stronghold. 

U.S. President Donald Trump announced the airstrike Saturday on social media, describing the main target as a “Senior ISIS Attack Planner and other terrorists he recruited and led.” 

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud thanked the U.S. for its “unwavering support” in the “fight against international terrorism.” 

Military campaign

Puntland began a military offensive dubbed “Hilac Campaign” last month against extremist groups in the region following months of preparations. 

Claims by Puntland commanders made regarding different battles indicate more than 150 Islamic State militants have been killed.  

Puntland’s leader, Said Abdullahi Deni, appealed to the public to support the operation, which he said is aimed at dislodging the Islamic State militants from their hideouts in mountainous areas. 

The operation has garnered public support. Monday, hundreds of residents took to the streets of Bosaso, the commercial hub of Puntland state, to demonstrate against the terrorist group and show support for the military campaign. 

Puntland is a member state of Somalia but its relationship with the country’s federal government has been strained by political conflicts and the region is considered semi-autonomous.  

Analysts say the rift between the two sides has limited any collaboration between the federal government and the Puntland regional state, including the fight against terrorists. 

“An operation like this needs logistical support and reinforcements, and the regional states alone cannot handle it. Federal government support and involvement is a must,” Somalia’s former Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmake told VOA. 

“The Islamic State is a common enemy for Somalis. Politicians should separate the national interests and the political differences that can be later solved through negotiations. National interests including security and development should not be politicized,” former national intelligence chief Brigadier General Abdirahman Turyare told VOA. 

IS in Puntland  

Puntland has endured terrorist attacks perpetrated by al-Shabab and Islamic State militants, but the ongoing military operation appears to be focused on IS. 

The group has a relatively small presence in Somalia compared to the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab, but experts have warned of growing activity. 

U.S. military officials and Somali security experts reported that IS increased its membership numbers in Somalia last year. 

The group was previously estimated to have between 100 and 400 fighters, but Somali security and intelligence experts say the number has grown to between 500 and 600. 

Most of the newcomers are said to be from the Middle East and eastern and northern Africa. 

Faadumo Yasin Jama contributed to this report.

 
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Living with a disability presents unique challenges, but some living with a disability say resilience, determination, and support can help individuals thrive. From Maputo, Mozambique, reporter Amarilis Gule has this story of two Mozambicans who refuse to let disabilities define their lives. (Video edited by Amarilis Gule)
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Johannesburg — In the seven months since it was formed, South Africa’s unlikely unity government has been stretched and cracked but remains intact under the leadership of President Cyril Ramaphosa, who delivers its first state of the nation address Thursday.

Several loud quarrels have erupted over sticking points such as language education in schools and Ramaphosa’s warm words towards Russia but nothing that has made real the threats and fears of collapse.

“They think we are at each other’s throats. We are not. We continue to meet and talk,” Ramaphosa said in the wake of the latest crisis sparked by his signing of a property expropriation bill last month.

The second-largest partner in the 10-party coalition, the Democratic Alliance, was angry that Ramaphosa signed the act without consulting his partners in the government of national unity (GNU).

“This is not how coalitions work,” DA leader John Steenhuisen fumed. “We will not be reduced to being spectators.”

But the party did not object to the need for land reform in the country, where most farmland is owned by whites. It also sided with Ramaphosa when the bill was attacked by US President Donald Trump for allowing the “confiscation” of property, saying this was untrue.

The DA has six ministries in exchange for propping up Ramaphosa’s ANC in government after it failed to win enough votes in the May election to govern alone, a first since the party took power in 1994 and ended decades of white-minority apartheid rule.

It was an unlikely collaboration, with the DA a long and critical rival of the African National Congress (ANC).

But the GNU, which includes eight other smaller parties, has been credited with bringing some stability to the continent’s most industrialized economy as it faces a host of challenges, from an unemployment rate topping 30%, to high rates of crime.

Big business

While it has fumed and flexed, the center-right DA is also aware that, should it quit the unity government, the ANC could find support from the radical-left EFF and the populist MK parties, now in opposition.

It is a scenario it calls a “doomsday coalition”.

“This is something the DA will move Table Mountain to avoid,” Sunday Times editor-in-chief Makhudu Sefara wrote in a weekend column. “And therein lies the extent to which they’re prepared to compromise.”

The DA will not walk out, said political scientist Sandile Swana. 

“It is the political party of big business,” he said. “And the GNU was mandated, or demanded or directed, to come into existence by big business in South Africa.”

Despite some cynical maneuvring at local government level — for example, to push out the DA mayor of the city of Tshwane in September — the coalition will even survive bitter local elections due in late 2026, said political scientist Susan Booysen told AFP.

“They could actually go into a poisonous, toxic local government election campaign and continue with the national coalition,” she said. “It’s such a schizophrenic type of coalition.”

Ramaphosa, meanwhile, is walking a fine line within his own party, where a large faction of the ANC wants him to assert that it “is not in the DA’s pocket,” Booysen said.

But even if Ramaphosa does not complete his term as president, with his future as head of the party not guaranteed after ANC leadership elections in 2027, his successor is also unlikely to end the fractious collaboration, Swana said.

“Even if Ramaphosa is removed, I do not think they will kick the DA out of government,” Swana said.

“The GNU, as things stand, will last the five-year period.”
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Scientists are testing a novel technique to deter poachers targeting endangered rhinoceros for their prized horns. As part of a pilot study in South Africa, researchers have injected small, radioactive pellets into the horns of live rhinos. The goal is to make the horns radioactive so there is less demand for them on the black market. Marize de Klerk reports from the UNESCO Waterberg Biosphere Reserve in South Africa.
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WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday stopped U.S. engagement with the U.N. Human Rights Council, extended a halt to funding for the Palestinian relief agency UNRWA and ordered a review of the U.N. cultural agency UNESCO.

“It’s got great potential and based on the potential we’ll continue to go along with it, but they got to get their act together,” Trump told reporters. “It’s not being well run, to be honest and they’re not doing the job.

“A lot of these conflicts that we’re working on should be settled, or at least we should have some help in settling them. We never seem to get help. That should be the primary purpose of the United Nations,” the U.S. president said.

U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said, “From day one, U.S. support for the United Nations has saved countless lives and advanced global security.”

“The secretary-general looks forward to continuing his productive relationship with President Trump and the U.S. government to strengthen that relationship in today’s turbulent world.”

Trump said that he was not looking to take away money from the 193-member world body, though he complained that Washington had to pay a disproportionate amount.

Washington is the U.N.’s largest contributor – followed by China – accounting for 22% of the core U.N. budget and 27% of the peacekeeping budget. The U.N. has said the U.S. currently owes a total of $2.8 billion, of which $1.5 billion is for the regular budget. These payments are not voluntary.

UNRWA

Trump’s order on Tuesday was largely symbolic and mirrored moves he made during his first term in office, from 2017-2021.

Since taking office for a second term on Jan. 20, Trump has ordered the U.S. to withdraw from the World Health Organization and from the Paris climate agreement – also steps he took during his first term in office.

The U.S. was UNRWA’s biggest donor – providing $300 million-$400 million a year – but former President Joe Biden paused funding in January 2024 after Israel accused about a dozen UNRWA staff of taking part in the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Palestinian militants Hamas that triggered the war in Gaza.

The U.S. Congress then formally suspended contributions to UNRWA until at least March 2025. UNRWA provides aid, health and education services to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.

The United Nations has said that nine UNRWA staff may have been involved in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack and were fired. A Hamas commander in Lebanon – killed in September by Israel – was also found to have had a UNRWA job. The U.N. has vowed to investigate all accusations made and repeatedly asked Israel for evidence, which it says has not been provided.

Human Rights Council

The first Trump administration also quit the 47-member Human Rights Council halfway through a three-year term over what it called chronic bias against Israel and a lack of reform. The U.S. is not currently a member of the Geneva-based body. Under Biden, the U.S. was re-elected and served a 2022-2024 term.

A council working group is due to review the U.S. human rights record later this year, a process all countries undergo every few years. While the council has no legally binding power, its debates carry political weight and criticism can raise global pressure on governments to change course.

Trump’s executive order on Tuesday also asks Secretary of State Marco Rubio to review and report back to him on international organizations, conventions, or treaties that “promote radical or anti-American sentiment.”

He specified that the U.N. Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) should be reviewed first because Washington had previously accused it of anti-Israel bias.
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Scientists are testing a novel technique to deter poachers targeting endangered rhinoceroses for their prized horns. As part of a pilot study in South Africa, researchers have injected small, radioactive pellets into the horns of live rhinos. The goal is to make the horns radioactive so there is less demand for them on the black market. Marize de Klerk reports from the UNESCO Waterberg Biosphere Reserve.
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Abuja, Nigeria — Nigerian officials have launched a committee to develop a transition and sustainability plan for USAID-funded health programs following U.S. President Donald Trump’s 90-day halt of most foreign aid. The multi-ministerial committee aims to secure new financial support for critical health programs. 

Nigeria’s health minister said the committee—comprising officials from the ministries of finance, health, and environment—intends to ensure that patients receiving treatment for HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria do not experience setbacks amid the uncertainty over U.S. foreign policy.

Shortly after taking office two weeks ago, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a 90-day pause on U.S. foreign aid. But days later, he approved a temporary waiver for life-saving humanitarian assistance, covering medicine, medical services, food, and shelter.

Despite the exemption, concerns remain over the future of U.S. funding for global health programs.

Public health expert Ejike Orji welcomed Nigeria’s proactive response to the U.S. funding freeze.

“What this means is that they’re going to do a review, situation assessment of what’s going on and that would give them the opportunity to make recommendations to the government. They (U.S.) gave a ninety-day review because of the strategic importance of continuing the HIV program in Nigeria, so that means there’s still a possibility after their review, they might say, ‘Look, we don’t want to continue this funding,” said Orji.

Nigeria is a significant recipient of U.S. foreign aid, receiving $1.02 billion in 2023, much of it through agencies like USAID.

USAID funding to Nigeria plays a pivotal role in HIV/AIDS treatment, maternal and child care, and disease prevention efforts.

On Monday, the Nigerian Federal Executive Council approved $1 billion for healthcare sector reforms and allocated an additional $3.2 million to procure 150,000 HIV treatment packs over the next four months.

Authorities said the new funding will support improvements in primary healthcare services, maternal and child healthcare, and training of healthcare professionals.

But Ndeayo Iwot, general secretary of the Health Sector Reforms Coalition, said it will be difficult to sustain those programs without continued U.S. support.

“Even when they’re releasing the available funds on time, they will not be able to cover all the areas that those funds [aid] were helping them to achieve. It will take time, probably two, three years,” said Iwot.

Approximately 1.8 million Nigerians are living with HIV. The country also accounts for the world’s highest number of malaria deaths and ranks among the top countries for tuberculosis cases.

Iwot said Nigeria needs new partnerships for health programs.

“Health needs a multi sectoral approach, it works on partnerships, there are certain things you shouldn’t do alone as a country. Going through resource pulling from many partners and stakeholders is a recommended approach to financing health activities,” said Iwot.

Currently, only about 4% of Nigeria’s annual budget is allocated to the health sector—far below the 15 percent target set by African leaders in the 2001 Abuja Declaration.

It’s unclear whether the U.S. will reverse its decision after the 90-day pause. But with uncertainty looming, analysts say careful implementation of policies and new partnerships may be Nigeria’s best path forward.
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GOMA, CONGO — Rwanda-backed rebels who captured eastern Congo’s largest city said Thursday they want to take their fight to the far-off capital, Kinshasa, while Congo’s president called for a massive military mobilization to resist the rebellion and his defense minister rejected calls for talks.

In a video message, Congo’s Defense Minister Guy Kabombo Muadiamvita said he has directed plans for any dialogue with the rebels to “be completely burned immediately.”

“We will stay here in Congo and fight. If we do not stay alive here, let’s stay dead here,” said Muadiamvita, a close ally of Congo’s president.

At a briefing where they sought to assert their control over the eastern city of Goma and surrounding territory in the neighboring South Kivu province, the M23 rebels said they would be open to dialogue with the government, also proposed by the east African regional bloc of which Rwanda is a member.

Their motive, however, is to gain political power, Corneille Nangaa, one of the political leaders of M23, said during the briefing. “We want to go to Kinshasa, take power and lead the country,” Nangaa said. He did not indicate how the rebels planned to advance on the capital, more than 1,500 kilometers away.

Rwanda’s leader, Paul Kagame, said he spoke with Angola’s President Joao Lourenco — a mediator in the conflict who also met with Congo’s leader a day earlier — and both leaders committed to working with other African countries to resolve the hostilities.

U.S. President Donald Trump described the conflict as a “very serious problem” when asked about it Thursday but declined to comment further, and a U.N. spokesman said the agency is “disturbed” by reports that neighboring Rwandan forces have crossed the border in the direction where the rebels are said to be advancing.

The M23 rebels are backed by some 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, according to U.N. experts, far more than in 2012 when they first captured Goma. They are one of more than 100 armed groups vying for control in Congo’s mineral-rich east, which holds vast deposits estimated to be worth $24 trillion that are critical to much of the world’s technology.

Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, meanwhile, called on young people to enlist massively in the military, as a crucial meeting of neighbors asked the Congolese government to talk with the rebels. Rwanda’s leader also threatened to “deal” with any confrontation with South Africa, which has complained that fighting in eastern Congo has left South African peacekeepers dead.

In his first public remarks since the M23 rebels advanced into Goma on Monday, Tshisekedi vowed “a vigorous and coordinated response” from his forces to push back the rebels while reaffirming his commitment to a peaceful resolution.

On Thursday, he met with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot in Kinshasa, the Congolese presidency said on X, noting that France has provided significant support to Congo in recent U.N. meetings on the issue. “(Congo) expects a little more action in the face of this crisis,” it added.

Dead bodies, looting in Goma

Goma remained largely without electricity and water on Thursday, as the bodies of several alleged government soldiers lay in the streets, horrifying residents, including children.

M23 rebels escorted some 2,000 government soldiers and police officers — who they said surrendered — to an undisclosed location, some of them singing anti-Tshisekedi songs.

The U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator in Congo said basic services are largely paralyzed in Goma, a humanitarian hub critical for more than 6 million people displaced by the conflict. “After several days of intense clashes, the city is now (faced) with massive humanitarian needs and severely impacted response capacities,” said Bruno Lemarquis, the humanitarian coordinator.

Footage from Goma showed residents carrying food items and goods looted from stores and warehouses in the city. “This is something that is going to exacerbate a dangerous cycle of violence as desperate times call for desperate measures,” the U.N. World Food Program emergency coordinator in eastern Congo, Cynthia Jones, said Thursday.

South Kivu gripped by fear

After capturing much of Goma, the rebels were advancing toward South Kivu’s provincial capital, Bukavu, causing fear and panic among residents, witnesses said Thursday.

Nana Bintou, a civil society leader, said gunshots and explosions were heard in Mukwinja, a captured town 135 kilometers from Bukavu.

The Congolese military has been weakened after hundreds of foreign military contractors withdrew and handed over their arms to the rebels. Residents of Goma described seeing soldiers changing into civilian clothing and dropping their guns as they crossed over the border to Rwanda or took shelter in foreign peacekeeping bases.

“The (Congolese) military bases in Bukavu have been emptied to reinforce those in Nyabibwe, Bushushu, and Nyamukubi” along the way to the capital, one youth leader said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was worried about his safety.

Neighbors urge talks with M23 as tensions grow

A summit of the regional East African bloc called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in eastern Congo and “strongly urged” Tshisekedi’s government to hold talks with the rebels. Tshisekedi was conspicuously absent from the virtual summit attended by Rwanda, also a member.

While African countries as well as the U.N. and U.S. have called for an immediate ceasefire, the risk of a regional war has increased, analysts say, exacerbated by the rebels’ advance into South Kivu and diatribes between Rwandan and South African officials. Congo is a member of the southern Africa regional bloc and also that of east Africa, whose peacekeeping force it expelled last year after deeming it ineffective.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa blamed the “Rwanda Defense Force militia” for the fighting that has resulted in the deaths of 13 South African peacekeepers in eastern Congo. He also said his government will ensure the peacekeepers are “sufficiently supported during this critical mission.”

His comment drew an angry response from Kagame, who called the South African peacekeepers a “belligerent force” working alongside armed groups that target Rwanda. “If South Africa prefers confrontation, Rwanda will deal with the matter in that context any day,” the Rwandan leader said on the social media platform X.

Who are the M23 and what do they want?

The chaotic situation with the M23 has its roots in ethnic conflict, stretching back to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, when 800,000 Tutsis and others were killed by Hutus and former militias. M23 says it is defending ethnic Tutsis in Congo. Rwanda has claimed the Tutsis are being persecuted by Hutus and others involved in the genocide. Many Hutus fled into Congo after 1994.

Unlike in 2012 when the rebels seized Congo for days, observers say their withdrawal could be more difficult now. The rebels have been emboldened by Rwanda, which feels Congo is ignoring its interests in the region and failed to meet demands of previous peace agreements, according to Murithi Mutiga, program director for Africa at the Crisis Group, a think tank.

“Ultimately, this is a failure of African mediation (because) the warning signs were always there. Kigali was adopting very bellicose rhetoric and the Congolese government was also adopting very, very aggressive rhetoric,” Mutiga said.
…

A male nurse in Uganda has died of Ebola, the first recorded death by the disease in the East African country since an outbreak ended in 2023, health officials said.

The 32-year-old nurse worked at Mulago National Specialised Hospital in Kampala, Diana Atwine, permanent secretary of Uganda’s health ministry, said Thursday.

The nurse died Wednesday of the Sudan strain of Ebola, Atwine said.

He sought treatment at several hospitals and had also consulted with a traditional healer before tests confirmed an Ebola diagnosis, health officials said.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted on X that his organization was supporting Uganda’s efforts to contain an Ebola outbreak in Uganda with a $1 million allocation from WHO’s Contingency Fund for Emergencies.

Atwine said on her X social media account that “rapid response teams are fully deployed, contact tracing is underway, and all necessary measures are in place to contain the situation. We assure the public that we are in full control.”

Contact tracing, however, could be challenging in Kampala, with its population of 4 million people.

The health ministry, however, reported that it had identified 44 contacts of the late nurse, which included 30 other health care workers.

The symptoms of Ebola, an often fatal disease, include fever, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain, and at times internal and external bleeding.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, health care workers and family members caring for someone with Ebola are at high risk for contracting the disease.

WHO said Ebola “is transmitted to people from wild animals (such as fruit bats, porcupines and non-human primates) and then spreads in the human population through direct contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and with surfaces and materials (e.g., bedding, clothing) contaminated with these fluids.”

Ebola’s fatality rate is around 50%, WHO said on its website, but it also said that fatality rates have varied from 25% to 90% in some outbreaks.
…

NAIROBI, KENYA — East African Community leaders on Wednesday called for an immediate ceasefire in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where government forces are fighting rebel group M23, while aid agencies say the clashes are deepening the already dire humanitarian crisis there.

Kenyan President William Ruto led an online meeting for seven of eight of the trade bloc’s heads of state. The only member not participating was Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi.

In a statement afterward, the leaders called on the warring parties to cease hostilities in eastern Congo and facilitate humanitarian access to the affected areas.

The summit also asked the DRC government to protect diplomatic missions in the country, following attacks this week by protesters in the capital, Kinshasa, targeting embassies of several countries presumed to be sympathetic to the M23 rebel group.

The Congolese government has accused Rwanda of supporting M23, which this week took control of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province. Witnesses reported seeing bodies in the streets, but local officials have not determined a death toll.

The Congolese government said it is fighting to push out the rebels from the city of 2 million.

Edgar Githua, an international relations analyst in Nairobi, said animosity between Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame could derail any ceasefire talks.

“There’s still a lot of bad blood between DRC and Rwanda on how to approach this issue because DRC believes that these are Rwandese, and Kagame categorically keeps on saying M23 are not Rwandese, these are ethnic Tutsis who are Congolese by citizenship,” Githua said. “It is only that they share a language with Rwanda. So, this issue of identity is what is ailing this conflict and needs to be addressed deeply.”

Meanwhile, aid agencies say these latest clashes have made the dire humanitarian crisis in DRC even worse, as thousands of Goma residents, many of whom were already displaced due to earlier conflict, are forced to flee again.

Maina King’ori, the acting country director for CARE International in DRC, told VOA from Goma, “There’s been no electricity supply for the last several days in most parts of Goma. The water system is not functioning; it has been shut down, though slowly coming back in some places, and there has been no internet connectivity in Goma for the last three days. This makes living really difficult.”

King’ori urged parties to the conflict to adhere to international humanitarian law and protect civilians.

“Civilians cannot be a target,” he said. “Civilians are not party to this conflict, yet they’re having to bear the immense load. … They’re the ones that are having to feel the pain of sleeping outside, of being relocated several times, of losing loved ones.”

Democratic Republic of Congo is grappling with a decadeslong crisis that humanitarian agencies say has left over 6 million people displaced, with recent hostilities exacerbating their plight.

North Kivu, where Goma is located, hosts over 2.7 million internally displaced people, according to CARE International.
…

Johannesburg — Rwandan President Paul Kagame has lashed out at South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa, after Ramaphosa accused Rwanda of backing the M23 rebels behind the escalating crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo this week. Kagame has accused Ramaphosa of “lying” and warned of possible “confrontation.”

South Africa has troops deployed in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo as part of a U.N. peacekeeping mission there, as well as in a separate deployment by the Southern African Development Community, or SADC, aimed at backing up Congolese forces fighting rebels.

But Pretoria is under pressure this week after 13 South African soldiers were killed in a recent surge in fighting that resulted in the M23 militia – which Rwanda is widely accused of backing – making a rapid advance and seizing partial control of the key city of Goma in North Kivu province on Sunday night.

Ramaphosa said in a written statement on Wednesday that the M23, and what he called “a Rwandan Defense Force militia,” were responsible for the casualties, while his minister of defense, Angie Motshekga, went one step further.

“It’s just that at that stage, when they were firing above our heads, the president did warn them to say, ‘If you are going to fire, we’ll take it as a declaration of war.’”

The remarks by Ramaphosa and Motshekga have caused a diplomatic spat with Kigali.

Kagame verbally hit back in an angry statement posted to his social media on Wednesday night, saying the Rwandan Defense Force was not a militia and quote, “if South Africa prefers confrontation, Rwanda will deal with the matter in that context any day.”

He also disputed Ramaphosa’s statement that the dead South African soldiers were “peacekeepers,” saying the SADC force was engaged in “offensive combat operations.”

“I spoke with the president of South Africa, who sought me out to speak with me, on this matter, because of their involvement in eastern Congo, and he’s also there pretending to be playing a peacemaker role. M23 are not Rwandans, please, and South Africa dares even issue threats,” he said.

South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola has directly blamed Rwanda for backing the M23, saying reports by U.N. experts proved Kigali’s involvement. He said on Wednesday that South Africa had taken part in an African Union meeting on the crisis.

“As South Africa, we participated in that platform and put our position across, which is that there is a ceasefire, immediate cessation of hostilities… and, also, to request all the forces that are supporting M23, to also cease all support immediately,” he said.

Mineral-rich eastern Congo, which borders Rwanda, has been plagued by conflict for more than three decades. The current fighting stems partly from the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

The perpetrators fled across the border to North Kivu, and Rwanda says they now represent a security threat to its territory.

The Congolese government has accused Kigali of being active in eastern Congo, saying Kigali is after the area’s vast mineral wealth.
…

GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo — President Paul Kagame said Rwanda was ready for “confrontation” as he rejected criticism over his backing for M23 rebels who were pushing south on Thursday in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo after capturing the major city of Goma. 

M23 rebels, with support from Rwandan troops, marched into Goma this week and are now advancing toward Bukavu, capital of neighboring South Kivu province, in the biggest escalation since 2012 of a decades-old conflict. 

Rwanda is facing an international backlash over its actions in eastern Congo, where it has repeatedly intervened either directly or through allied militias over the past 30 years in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide. 

But the chorus of condemnation, which has included Germany canceling aid talks with Rwanda and Britain threatening to withhold $40 million of annual bilateral assistance, was having no apparent effect on the ground. 

After seizing Goma, a lakeside city of nearly 2 million and a major hub for displaced people and aid groups, M23 fighters were advancing south from the town of Minova, along the western side of Lake Kivu.  

They tried to take the town of Nyabibwe, about 50 km north of Bukavu, on Wednesday but were pushed back by Congolese forces, a local resident told Reuters by phone. 

A civil society source in Bukavu, who has contacts around the region, said clashes were ongoing on Thursday morning in a location known as Kahalala, about 20 km away from Nyabibwe. 

“The Congolese army seems to be putting up fierce resistance there,” the source said. 

In the latest diplomatic initiative, France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot arrived on Thursday in Congo’s capital Kinshasa, more than 1,600 km west of Goma. He was due to meet President Felix Tshisekedi, the Congolese presidency said. 

Barrot’s visit comes two days after Congolese protesters in Kinshasa attacked the French embassy and several other foreign missions over their perceived support for Rwanda. 

Any successful push south by M23 would see them control territory previous rebellions have not taken since the end of two major wars that ran from 1996 to 2003, and magnify the risk of an all-out conflict that draws in regional countries.  

Troops from neighboring Burundi, which has had hostile relations with Rwanda, support Congolese troops in South Kivu. A spokesperson for Burundi’s military declined to comment on the current situation in Congo.  

In Goma itself, where M23 say they plan to administer the city and appear to be settling in for a lengthy period of control, the border with Rwanda, which is close to the city center, was re-opened under M23 control, its spokesperson said. 

Kagame accuses South Africa

Kagame responded angrily on X to a post by President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, 13 of whose soldiers have been killed in eastern Congo since last week. Ramaphosa attributed the fighting to an escalation by the M23 and the Rwandan army.  

Kagame accused South African forces of working alongside a militia in Congo with ties to perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide and “threatening to take the war to Rwanda itself.”  

“If South Africa wants to contribute to peaceful solutions, that is well and good, but South Africa is in no position to take on the role of a peacemaker or mediator,” Kagame wrote.  

“And if South Africa prefers confrontation, Rwanda will deal with the matter in that context any day.” 

Since the fall of Goma, Rwanda has also reacted angrily to calls for restraint from Western nations, accusing its critics of “victim-blaming” and turning a blind eye to what it says is Congo’s complicity in the slaughter of Tutsis. 

Congo rejects Rwanda’s accusations, saying Kigali’s true motive for involvement in its eastern provinces is to use its proxy militias to control lucrative mineral mines. U.N. experts have documented the export of large quantities of looted Congolese minerals via Rwanda. 

M23 is the latest ethnic Tutsi-led insurgency backed by Rwanda to fight in Congo since the 1994 genocide, when extremist Hutus killed about a million Tutsis and moderate Hutus, and were then toppled by Tutsi forces led by Kagame, who has been Rwanda’s president ever since.  

About a million Hutus, some refugees and some genocide perpetrators, fled into eastern Congo in the aftermath of the genocide, and Rwanda accuses Congo of harboring Hutu-led militias bent on killing Tutsis and threatening Rwanda itself. 

The eight-member East African Community, to which Rwanda and Congo both belong, held a virtual summit late on Wednesday to discuss the crisis. The final communique largely embraced Rwanda’s position.  

It called for a peaceful resolution of the conflict through direct talks between Congo and armed groups. Congo rejects direct negotiations with the M23, which it considers a terrorist group. 

The EAC also recommended a joint summit to discuss the crisis with the Southern African Development Community. 

SADC member Angola, which has led the most recent efforts to broker a peace deal but is also a firm ally of Congo, called on Rwanda to withdraw its forces shortly after hosting Tshisekedi for talks in Luanda on Wednesday. 
…

WASHINGTON — The State Department on Wednesday sought to clarify President Donald Trump’s order to freeze and review foreign development aid after the top U.S. diplomat blunted some of the chaos that ensued with an emergency order that could shield the world’s largest HIV program from the 90-day funding freeze.   

At the White House, Trump said his pauses to foreign and domestic funding are part of his administration’s effort to root out “tremendous waste and fraud and abuse.” 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s late-Tuesday waiver exempts humanitarian aid, which he classifies as “life-saving medicine, medical services, food, shelter, and subsistence assistance, as well as supplies and reasonable administrative costs as necessary to deliver such assistance.”  

The United Nations’ AIDS program welcomed the news, emphasizing the value of the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, which serves 20 million people in 55 countries.  

“UNAIDS welcomes this waiver from the U.S. government, which ensures that millions of people living with HIV can continue to receive life-saving HIV medication during the assessment of U.S. foreign development assistance,” said Executive Director Winnie Byanyima. “This urgent decision recognizes PEPFAR’s critical role in the AIDS response and restores hope to people living with HIV.” 

‘Blocking woke programs’

In a Wednesday memo sent to journalists, the State Department explained its rationale for the freeze during the review and lauded early cost cuts, saying that “even at this early stage, over $1,000,000,000 in spending not aligned with an America First agenda has been prevented.”  

The U.S. spent about $70 billion in foreign aid in fiscal year 2023, the most recent data available. 

“We are rooting out waste,” the memo said. “We are blocking woke programs. And we are exposing activities that run contrary to our national interests. None of this would be possible if these programs remained on autopilot.”  

The president, who said Wednesday at the White House that he “could stand here all day” and give examples of wasted fraud and abuse in the U.S. government, highlighted a few. 

“We identified and stopped $50 million being sent to Gaza to buy condoms for Hamas,” he said. “Fifty million. And you know what’s happened to them? They’ve used them as a method of making bombs. How about that?”   

The State Department echoed this, saying in a statement, “Without the pause, U.S. taxpayers would have provided condoms [and other contraceptive services] in Gaza, climate justice marketing services in Gabon, clean energy programs for women in Fiji, gender development programs in D.C., family planning throughout Latin America, sex education and pro-abortion programs for young girls globally, and much more. These types of programs do not make America stronger, safer or more prosperous.” 

A day earlier, the State Department sent a memo citing examples of unworthy projects, including $102 million to fund humanitarian aid nonprofit International Medical Corps’ work in war-battered Gaza.  

A USAID report says the agency delivered about $7 million worth of male condoms and about $1 million in female condoms in the 2023 fiscal year. In total, the agency said it disbursed nearly 138 million male condoms and 1.7 million female condoms worldwide. 

Under USAID, the main administrator for U.S. foreign development funds, the bulk of contraceptive items were delivered to African countries, according to the report. Jordan was the only country in the Middle East to receive a shipment, which consisted of injectable and oral contraceptives valued at $45,680.  

‘Dramatic overreach’

At the U.S. Capitol, lawmakers not only affirmed the need for accountability but also emphasized that Congress, not the White House, decides how U.S. taxpayer money is spent.  

“I think it’s appropriate to have a review,” said Senator Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican.  

“It would be my hope, however, that the aid can be reinstated and flow to Ukraine,” Cramer said. “And then we’ll see in the next appropriation cycle whether or not Congress still has the will to continue that aid.” 

“This is dramatic overreach by the White House, by the president,” said Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, a Democrat. “It’s unprecedented, uncalled for. This is money that we have appropriated in our role as members of the Senate and the House.” 
…

UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations said Wednesday that there is relative calm in the eastern Congolese city of Goma, following several days of intense fighting between the Rwandan-backed M23 rebels and the Congolese army for control of the city.

“There is, however, continued sporadic shooting, but an overall reduction in exchanges of fire within the city,” U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters. “Continued clashes have been reported in surrounding areas, including in Sake, northwest of Goma.”

Dujarric said bodies were in the streets, and humanitarians report at least 2,000 people have been injured by weapons and shrapnel since the fighting escalated.

In early January, M23 rebels broke a ceasefire agreement, launching a large-scale offensive in the mineral-rich east with the support of the Rwandan army. On Monday, M23 said it had captured Goma, the capital of North Kivu province and a city of more than 2 million people, thousands of whom have been displaced from other conflict areas. Rwanda has denied accusations that it supports the rebels.

Asked who controls the city, Dujarric said the U.N. assessment is that the M23 rebels clearly have “the upper hand.”

The U.N. has a peacekeeping mission in eastern Congo known as MONUSCO, currently with about 10,000 troops and police tasked with protecting civilians and disarming combatants. It has been in the process of drawing down its presence at the request of the Congolese government. In June, it left neighboring South Kivu province entirely. The rebels are reported to be pushing toward its capital, Bukavu.

In and around Goma, MONUSCO has reinforced its positions to counter the rebels’ advance deploying a quick reaction force, a rapid deployment battalion, a reserve battalion, a platoon of special forces and an artillery battery.

“The mission’s priority right now remains the protection of its personnel, its assets and the many civilians sheltering within U.N. premises,” Dujarric said. “Our peacekeepers are also planning on sending out patrols today in Goma to assess the situation, to conduct resupplies and assess routes.”

The U.N. says Goma’s airport remains closed, halting the flow of humanitarian supplies. Most of the roads connecting Goma with the rest of the country are also closed. Water and electricity have been cut off since Sunday, and internet access has been interrupted since Monday. Only mobile phones are working.

In the capital, Kinshasa, the situation was also calm Wednesday. Dujarric said the main roads were reportedly empty, and supermarkets were closed because of the high risk of looting. On Tuesday, protesters attacked, looted and burned some embassies, including those of Belgium, France and Rwanda. The United States said Tuesday it was closing its embassy until further notice. On Wednesday it advised Americans not to travel to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The U.N. Security Council and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres have called for the M23 to immediately cease hostilities and withdraw from occupied territories. They have also called for the withdrawal of Rwandan forces and a return to the Luanda process of mediation overseen by Angolan President Joao Lourenco.

The East African Community, which includes DRC and Rwanda among its eight members, was expected to hold an emergency summit Wednesday evening. Reuters reported that Rwandan President Paul Kagame would attend, but Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi was not expected to participate.

Before the latest round of violence, eastern DRC was mired in one of the largest and most protracted humanitarian crises in the world, with nearly 6.5 million people displaced due to efforts by armed groups to seize control of the country’s valuable mineral deposits.
…

NAIROBI, KENYA — For young people like Winnie Muyam, accessing digital platforms was her way to connect with friends and entertainment, until last year when the 17-year-old said strangers began to chat with her.

“They started talking to me as a friend, telling me how beautiful I was,” she said. “From there they started sending pictures. They wanted to see my private parts and I felt so bad.”

The teenager said her efforts to flag her abusers through the platform’s reporting tools were futile. Her complaint was not acted upon.

While Muyam was able to avoid exploitation, up to 13% of minors online have been exploited or abused, according to a survey by Child Fund International and Africa Child forum.

A majority of the targeted children are 12 to 17 years old. The fund’s child advocacy and protection manager, Eunice Kilundo, said perpetrators try to play on their victims’ desperation for affection.

“They will pose as a very good friend,” said Kilundo. “They even give children rewards and lure them into going deeper and deeper up to the point where probably they may want children to send them their nudes and all that.”

In a fast-changing digital world, parents, caregivers, communities and governments face new challenges in keeping children safe, UNICEF said.

Researchers say a low capacity to investigate and prosecute online sexual exploitation in Africa creates a fertile ground for potential offenders. So Kenyan authorities are training officers in the justice system to handle such cases.

Kilundo said concerted efforts to combat such abuse will go a long way.

“It’s a high time everybody in the children sector — or even outside the children sector, the corporate, government, everyone — to demonstrate commitment and concern,” said Kilundo.

Kenyan law prohibits any sexual involvement with children under 18 years old, including online, without permission of a parent or guardian.

Dennis Otieno, senior counsel for Kenya’s Federation of Female Lawyers, told VOA that although such crimes can be prosecuted, some caregivers are oblivious to them and making them aware is crucial.

“The report rate for such cases is very low,” said Otieno. “Many people still do not understand there are crimes that can be committed through social media.”

More than 22 million people in Kenya have access to the internet, according to national data, and with increasing access to digital platforms, authorities believe programs such as this training will help keep children online safe.
…

NAIROBI — A small aircraft carrying oil workers in South Sudan’s Unity State crashed on Wednesday, killing 20 people, an official said. The plane crashed at the Unity oilfield airport on Wednesday morning as it was heading to the capital Juba, said Gatwech Bipal, Unity State’s information minister.  

Bipal said the passengers were oil workers of the Greater Pioneer Operating Company, or GPOC, a consortium that includes China National Petroleum Corporation and state-owned Nile Petroleum Corporation. 

He said among the dead were two Chinese nationals and one Indian. Bipal gave no more details on the circumstances that led to the crash. Media reports had initially put the death toll at 18 but Bipal told Reuters two survivors had later died. One person survived. Several air crashes have occurred in war-torn South Sudan in recent years. 

In September 2018, at least 19 people died when a small aircraft carrying passengers from the capital Juba to the city of Yirol crashed. In 2015, dozens of people were killed when a Russian-built cargo plane with passengers on board crashed after taking off from the airport in the capital Juba.
…

DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA — An initiative to connect 300 million Africans to electricity in the next six years has won new pledges worth more than $8 billion from lenders including the Islamic Development Bank and the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank.

The Mission 300 initiative, launched by the World Bank and the African Development Bank in April, is projected to cost $90 billion. Its implementation faces challenges because the economies of countries in the region are severely constrained, mainly due to sluggish revenue and high debt service costs.

“Our national balance sheets are insufficient… to achieve Mission 300’s objectives,” Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema told an Africa energy summit in Tanzania.

Funding for the project is expected to come from multilateral development banks, development agencies, private businesses and philanthropic organizations such as the Rockefeller Foundation, which is part of the initiative.

Muhammad al Jasser, chairman of the Islamic Development Bank, said in a statement released during the summit that ended on Tuesday, that the Jeddah-headquartered bank was committing $2.65 billion in project financing and another $2 billion to insure power projects in Africa.

Beijing-based AIIB is set to provide $1-1.5 billion in financing.

“Six hundred million people in Africa without access to electricity is intolerable,” said AIIB President Jin Liqun.

Others funding the project include the French Development Agency (AFD), which committed to providing $1.04 billion, and the OPEC Fund for International Development, which made an initial commitment of $1 billion, the AfDB said in a closing statement.

The additional finance builds on commitments of up to $48 billion from the World Bank and the AfDB, officials at the summit said. The two organizations’ contributions could be increased during implementation, they said.

Provision of 300 million people with access to electricity, half of those currently without power on the continent, is a crucial building block for boosting Africa’s development by creating new jobs, said World Bank President Ajay Banga.

Half of the targeted new connections will get electricity from existing national grids, officials said at the summit, while the other half will be from renewable energy sources, including wind and solar mini-grids.

Apart from lighting up homes and businesses, Mission 300 is expected to boost the provision of clean cooking energy to homes, cutting reliance on wood and charcoal which are harmful, said Tanzania’s president, Samia Suluhu Hassan.
…

GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo — Congolese security forces on Tuesday tried to slow the advance of Rwanda-backed M23 rebels who say they have captured Goma after entering eastern Congo’s largest city. U.N. officials reported violence, looting and bodies in the streets.

The officials said hospitals are overwhelmed in Goma, a regional trade and humanitarian hub that is now a refuge for hundreds of thousands fleeing gunfire and shelling in the major escalation of one of Africa’s longest conflicts.

The M23 rebels are one of about 100 armed groups vying for a foothold in the conflict-battered North Kivu province, which includes Goma and is rich in minerals critical to much of the world’s technology.

Reports of rapes, looting

There were reports of gender-based violence and rape committed by fighters, looting of property, including a humanitarian warehouse, and humanitarian and health facilities being hit in the city, U.N. humanitarian affairs office spokesman Jens Laerke said at a media briefing on Tuesday.

“The humanitarian situation in and around Goma remains extremely worrying, and this morning (there were) heavy small arms fire and mortar fire across the city and the presence of many dead bodies in the streets,” said Laerke, adding that hospitals are “struggling to manage the influx of wounded people.”

Many continued to flee across the border into Rwanda, braving heavy rains and sometimes being caught between shootouts by the Congolese soldiers and the rebels.

“What we want is this war to come to an end,” said Christian Bahati, a Congolese teacher among hundreds now sheltering in the Rwandan town of Gisenyi. “You can see the level of frustration. Congolese people are victims, but now they find themselves seeking refuge from the aggressor.”

Growing anger in the capital

Dozens of demonstrators looted and set fires to parts of at least 10 foreign embassy buildings far off in the capital, Kinshasa, including those of Rwanda, U.S., France, Belgium and Kenya.

The protesters demanded that the international community condemn Rwanda over its role in the conflict.

“We denounce the hypocrisy of the international community,” said Timothée Tshishimbi, one of the protesters. “They must tell Rwanda to stop this adventure.”

The attacks were condemned by the respective countries as well as the Congolese government, which said it has reinforced the security at the embassies.

Several countries, including the United States, United Kingdom and France have condemned Rwanda for the rebel advance. The African Union Peace and Security Council demanded the M23 and other rebel groups “immediately and unconditionally withdraw and cease their attacks and permanently disband and lay down their arms.”

M23 rebels emboldened, plan to set up administration in Goma

It was unclear how much of Goma is controlled by the M23 rebels, though analysts say they are more emboldened than in 2012 when they temporarily took over the city before being forced to pull out under international pressure.

They resurfaced in late 2021 with increasing support from Rwanda, according to Congo’s government and U.N. experts. Rwanda has denied such support although U.N. experts estimate there are up to 4,000 Rwandan forces in Congo.

“Since morning, we have heard bomb explosions and crackling bullets,” Sam Luwawa, a resident of Goma, said of the fighting in the city. “So far we cannot say who really controls the city.”

Seventeen peacekeepers and foreign soldiers have been killed in the fighting, according to U.N. and army officials.

Manzi Ngarambe, a representative for the M23 diaspora, told the AP that the group is in control of Goma and plans to set up an administration in the city so people can continue living normal lives and displaced people can return home.

Ngarambe said they would be willing to sit at the table with Congolese officials and denied that they were being supported by Rwanda.

Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe said that Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi “will have to accept talks with M23 to end the situation once and for all.”

Rwanda’s goal in Congo is to protect its borders against attacks, army spokesperson Brig. Gen. Ronald Rwivanga told the AP, adding that appropriate measures would be “all-encompassing,” including the use of water, air and land defense.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame recently accused Congo of enlisting Hutu rebels and former militiamen that it blames for the 1994 genocide.

Dire situation

“Key roads surrounding Goma are blocked, and the city’s airport can no longer be used for evacuation and humanitarian efforts. Power and water have reportedly been cut to many areas of the city,” said David Munkley, head of operations in eastern Congo for the Christian aid group World Vision.

Some analysts worry about the risk of a regional war if peace efforts led by Kenya fail. Past attempts at dialogue between Congolese and Rwandan leaders have failed, including in December when the meeting of the two leaders was canceled.

Congo might seek support from countries like South Africa — whose troops are among foreign militaries in Congo — while Rwanda might be motivated to continue backing the M23 rebels, said Murithi Mutiga, program director for Africa at the Crisis Group.

“The risk of a regional confrontation has never been higher,” Mutiga said.
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UNITED NATIONS — A senior U.N. official in the eastern Congolese city under threat from Rwandan-backed rebels said Tuesday that civilian suffering there is “truly unimaginable” and called for “urgent and coordinated” international action to end the fighting.

“Immediate action is required to alleviate the suffering of civilians and enable lifesaving humanitarian efforts to proceed,” said Vivian van de Perre, the deputy head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the DRC, known as MONUSCO.

She briefed the second emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council in the last 72 hours on the situation in Goma. Van de Perre spoke from the city by video call, wearing a flak jacket and military helmet.

“Electricity and water supplies remain disrupted in Goma, and medical facilities are completely overwhelmed due to the intensity of the ongoing combat and the proximity of the front lines,” she said. “Humanitarian operations have been suspended or readjusted.”

The World Food Program said Tuesday it is temporarily pausing its operations in North Kivu province, of which Goma is the capital. WFP said that will affect 800,000 people who would not get food aid due to the insecurity. The agency warned that if the fighting is drawn out, it could lead to a food shortage and high prices in the city of 2 million to 3 million people.

Civilians are not the only ones running out of supplies.

“Many troops are now running out of critical equipment, especially water, food, medical supplies and blood,” van de Perre said. “In some camps, fuel shortages have rendered generators inoperable, affecting communications equipment.”

In early January, M23 rebels broke a ceasefire agreement, launching a large-scale offensive in the east with the support of the Rwandan army. The U.N. said the rebels have made significant territorial gains and are seeking to open a new front in neighboring South Kivu province.

The United Nations Security Council and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres have called for the M23 to immediately cease hostilities and withdraw from occupied territories. They have called for the withdrawal of Rwandan forces and a return to the Luanda process of mediation overseen by Angolan President Joao Lourenco.

At Tuesday’s Security Council meeting, Congolese Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner expressed her government’s frustration with the lack of a strong international response.

“Over this past 72 hours, we’ve seen a regional tragedy that could have been prevented if the Council had been able to take action,” she told its members. She said she had asked for action at its first meeting on Sunday and asked if “this council is unwilling to act?”

Some 2,574 kilometers away in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, protesters turned violent Tuesday, attacking, looting and burning some embassies, including those of France and Rwanda. The U.S. State Department said on its X account that its embassy is closed until further notice.

Rwanda’s U.N. ambassador condemned the attack, saying it was “totally burned down.”

“Rwanda calls on the DRC to take its diplomatic obligations seriously and hold perpetrators accountable,” Ambassador Ernest Rwamucyo told council members.

The U.N. peacekeeping mission, known by its acronym MONUSCO, has also reinforced its positions to counter the rebels’ advance on Goma, deploying a quick reaction force, a rapid deployment battalion, a reserve battalion, a platoon of special forces and an artillery battery.

In the past few days, three U.N. peacekeepers have been killed and several injured in the conflict.

Kenyan President William Ruto said he plans to hold crisis talks Wednesday with Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame at an emergency meeting of the East African Community.

The U.S. State Department said Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in a phone call Monday with Tshisekedi, “condemned the assault on Goma by the Rwanda-backed M23 and affirmed the United States’ respect for the sovereignty of the DRC.”

Before the latest round of violence, eastern DRC was already mired in one of the largest and most protracted humanitarian crises in the world, with nearly 6.5 million people displaced due to efforts by armed groups to seize control of the country’s valuable mineral deposits. 
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