CAIRO — Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, who has ruled with an unquestioned grip for the past nine years, won reelection to a third, six-year term in office, election authorities announced Monday. He ran against three virtually unknown opponents.

El-Sissi recorded a landslide victory, securing 89.6% of the vote, the National Election Authority said. Turnout was 66.8% of more than 67 million registered voters.

“The voting percentage is the highest in the history of Egypt,” declared Hazem Badawy, the election commission chief, who announced the official results in a televised news conference.

The vote was overshadowed by the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza on Egypt’s eastern border, which has threatened to expand into wider regional turmoil.

The North African country is also in the midst of an economic crisis, with monthly inflation surging above 30%. Over the past 22 months, the Egypt pound has lost 50% of value against the dollar with one third of the country’s 105 million people already living in poverty, according to official figures.

A key Western ally in the region, el-Sissi has faced international criticism over Egypt’s human rights record and harsh crackdown on dissent. A career army officer, el-Sissi, as defense minister, led the 2013 military overthrow of an elected but divisive Islamist president amid widespread street protests against his one-year rule.

El-Sissi was first elected as president in mid-2014, then reelected in 2018. A year later, constitutional amendments, passed in a general referendum, added two years to el-Sissi’s second term, and allowed him to run for a third, six-year term.

His victory in the latest election was widely deemed a foregone conclusion. His three opponents were marginal political figures who were rarely seen during the election campaign.

Hazem Omar, head of the Republican People’s Party, came second with 4.5% of the vote, followed by Farid Zahran, head of the opposition Social Democratic Party with 4%. Abdel-Sanad Yamama, chairman of the Wafd Party, received less than 2% of the vote.

An ambitious young presidential hopeful, Ahmed Altantawy, dropped out of the race after he failed to secure the required signatures from residents to secure his candidacy. He was considered el-Sissi’s most credible opposition figure and said that harassment from security agencies against his campaign staff and supporters prevented him from reaching the vote threshold for candidacy.

In the months prior to the election, el-Sissi vowed to address the country’s ailing economy without offering specifics.

Experts and economists widely agree that the current crisis stems from years of mismanagement and lopsided economy where private firms are squeezed out by state-owned companies. The Egyptian economy has also been hurt by the wider repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic and the ongoing Russian war in Ukraine, which rattled the global market.

El-Sissi’s government initiated an ambitious IMF-backed reform program in 2016, but the austerity measures sent prices soaring, exacting a heavy toll on ordinary Egyptians.

Last December, the government secured a second IMF deal on the promise of implementing economic reforms, including a floating exchange rate. The cost of basic goods has since jumped, particularly imports.

Timothy Kaldas, deputy director of the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy in Washington, said a quick fix to Egypt’s economy is highly unlikely.

Inflation will remain high and investors weary, he said. “Without inclusive growth and investment, Egypt will never reach a stable footing.”

Under el-Sissi’s watch, thousands of government critics have been silenced or jailed. They are mainly Islamists but also prominent secular activists and opposition figures, including many of those behind the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
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WASHINGTON — The Somali government has reported that a high-ranking al-Shabab commander in the south of the country was targeted in collaboration with the United Sates military. 

Somali Information Minister Daud Aweis said in a post that the operation “aimed to neutralize the terrorist leader in charge for orchestrating terror attacks.”

The Somali government said the strike occurred in the Middle Jubba region on December 17. The militant commander has not been identified.

The United States military command in Africa, known as AFRICOM, confirmed to VOA the accuracy of the report of the Somali government.

The last time a U.S. airstrike targeted a senior al-Shabab commander was in May when the head of the radical militant group’s external operations, Moallim Osman, was injured in the strike. Osman is accused of overseeing the recruitment of foreign fighters to Somalia to help with al-Shabab’s ongoing battle against the Somali government.

The United States trains an elite Somali unit, donates weapons to the Somali forces and conducts airstrikes against al-Shabab — which has been fighting the Somali government and African Union peacekeeping forces for more than one-and-a-half decades.

The Somali government has vowed to root out the group. The militants aim to establish a government based on their interpretation of Sharia, or Islamic law.
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As Senegal gears up for elections in February, some reporters are turning away from coverage, citing attacks and threats. In a bright spot, some journalists and police are training together to find a better way forward. For VOA, Senanu Tord reports from Dakar, Senegal. (Camera:  Senanu Tord, Video Edited by: Jon Spier)  
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Bamako, Mali — A South African paramedic who had been held by jihadists in Mali for over six years has been released, security and humanitarian sources told AFP on Sunday.

Gerco van Deventer, 48, was kidnapped in Libya on November 3, 2017, on his way to a power plant construction site around 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) south of the capital Tripoli.

Three other Turkish engineers seized at the same time were freed seven months later, but van Deventer remained in captivity and was moved to Mali.

“We learned that the South African hostage was released the day before yesterday,” a Malian security source told AFP.

A foreign humanitarian source said that van Deventer was released on the border between Mali and Algeria, adding that she had briefly met the freed hostage at the border.

The security source said van Deventer was currently under observation at a hospital in Algiers.

His wife, Shereen van Deventer, told AFP that she did not wish to comment immediately, saying they were “a little overwhelmed as a family” by the news and the number of calls.

The two sources confirmed information given by an influential South African charity, Gift of the Givers, which was involved in mediation efforts for his release.

The NGO said in a statement it got involved “at the request of the family” and “made contact with JNIM” — the Al-Qaeda-linked group Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen, to whom van Deventer was sold in 2018.

Gift of the Givers claims that “the initial request for Gerco was $3 million, and over a period of time we negotiated the amount down to $500,000.”

But it did not specify whether the money was paid and if so, by who, saying in the statement that the family could not afford the ransom. 

Van Deventer, an emergency paramedic, had been working for a security company, according to his family, who had launched a fresh appeal in March for his release.

His wife told AFP in an online interview at the time that she and their three children “desperately need him home.”

There was a flurry of negotiations for his release during the first few years after his kidnapping, but the COVID-19 pandemic put the brakes on those efforts until earlier this year, she had said.

The Sahel has been ravaged by a jihadist campaign that began in northern Mali in 2012, sweeping over into neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger in 2015.

Mali has been ravaged by different groups affiliated to al-Qaida and the Islamic State, as well as by self-declared self-defense forces and bandits.

The north in particular has seen intensified military clashes following the withdrawal of U.N. forces at the demand of the ruling junta, which set off fighting between the military and Islamist and separatist forces to control the area.

Kidnappings of foreigners and Malians are common.

In March, French journalist Olivier Dubois, 48, and 61-year-old American aid worker Jeffery Woodke — kidnapped in 2021 and 2016 respectively — were freed.

Dubois posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday that the news of van Deventer’s release was “A wonderful Christmas present!!!!”

In a post-release interview with Radio France Internationale (RFI) earlier this year, Dubois had said he spent slightly more than a year with van Deventer in captivity and said the South African “needs to go home.”

Gift of the Givers helped in efforts to secure the 2017 release of Stephen McGown, another South African held in Mali for nearly six years.
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N’DJAMENA — Chad holds a referendum on a new constitution on Sunday that looks unlikely to mend deep divisions between the junta and opposing groups that have fueled a political and security crisis in one of the world’s poorest countries.   

The military authorities have called the vote as a vital stepping-stone to elections next year — a long-promised return to democratic rule after they seized power in 2021 when President Idriss Deby was killed on the battlefield during a conflict with insurgents.   

The proposed constitution would establish autonomous communities with local assemblies and councils of traditional chiefdoms among other changes.   

But some of the political opposition and rebel groups have called for a “No” vote or said they will boycott the poll. They question the independence of the election commission and reject the new constitution for not engaging with their wishes including for federalization.   

Decades of instability and economic mismanagement have hampered development in the oil-producing central African country, where nearly 40% of its 16 million people depend on humanitarian aid.   

Brice Nguedmbaye Mbaimon, who coordinates a coalition voting “No”, said Chad had experienced a unitary state for over 50 years without tangible progress.   

“It is time to let the population organise into federated states and steer their own development,” he told Reuters.   

Haroun Kabadi, coordinator of groups voting “Yes”, said the new constitution does offer more independence as it would allow Chadians to choose their local representatives and collect local taxes for the first time.   

“These people talking about a federation simply want to divide Chadians into micro-states and fuel hatred between communities,” he said by phone.   

Meanwhile others are calling for a boycott, including former Prime Minister Albert Pahimi Padacke, who told Reuters the junta had too much control over the referendum process.   

“This is not fair, and it is not democratic. That’s why we have called on Chadians not to participate in this farce.”   

The Africa-focused Institute for Security Studies has warned that tensions around the vote could lead to a repeat of unrest that saw scores killed by security forces amid pro-democracy protests in October 2022.   

A central concern is that the referendum could help cement the power of junta leader, Deby’s son Mahamat Idriss Deby, who has already extended a proposed 18-month transition to democracy.   

“The pattern of delay and obfuscation echoes the long-honed tactics of Idriss Deby who came to power by force in 1990 and then held on to it for three decades,” analysts at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies said.   

Around 8 million Chadians are registered to vote in the referendum. Provisional results are expected to be announced on Dec. 24.   

The military regime in Chad is one of several juntas in West and Central Africa, which has seen eight coups since 2020, sparking concerns of a democratic backslide in the region. 

 
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CAIRO — A boat carrying dozens of migrants trying to reach Europe capsized off the coast of Libya, leaving more than 60 people dead, including women and children, the U.N. migration agency said.

Saturday’s shipwreck was the latest tragedy in this part of the Mediterranean Sea, a key but dangerous route for migrants seeking a better life in Europe. Thousands have died, according to officials.

The U.N.’s International Organization for Migration said in a statement the boat was carrying 86 migrants when strong waves swamped it off the town of Zuwara on Libya’s western coast and that 61 migrants drowned, according to survivors.

“The central Mediterranean continues to be one of the world’s most dangerous migration routes,” the agency wrote on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

Libya has in recent years emerged as the dominant transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East, even though the North African nation has plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.

More than 2,250 people died on the central European route this year, according to Flavio Di Giacomo, an IOM spokesperson.

It’s “a dramatic figure which demonstrates that unfortunately not enough is being done to save lives at sea,” Di Giacomo wrote on X.

According to the IOM’s missing migrants project, at least 940 migrants were reported dead and 1,248 missing off Libya between January 1 and November 18.

The project, which tracks migration movements, said about 14,900 migrants, including over 1,000 women and more than 530 children, were intercepted and returned to Libya this year.

In 2022, the project reported 529 dead and 848 missing off Libya. More than 24,600 were intercepted and returned to Libya.

Human traffickers in recent years have benefited from the chaos in Libya, smuggling in migrants across the country’s lengthy borders, which it shares with six nations. The migrants are crowded onto ill-equipped vessels, including rubber boats, and set off on risky sea voyages.

Those who are intercepted and returned to Libya are held in government-run detention centers rife with abuses, including forced labor, beatings, rapes and torture — practices that amount to crimes against humanity, according to U.N.-commissioned investigators.

The abuse often accompanies attempts to extort money from the families of those held, before the imprisoned migrants are allowed to leave Libya on traffickers’ boats to Europe.
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Beni, Congo — Two candidates running for parliament in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s December 20 general election were killed in separate incidents Friday, as a rights group warned in a report Saturday that electoral violence risks undermining the vote. 

A candidate for the ruling coalition in the South Kivu province in the eastern Congo region was killed by unknown gunmen while he was returning from a campaign event Friday evening, a regional government official told Reuters. 

Another ruling coalition candidate in Beni, in the North Kivu province, also in eastern Congo, died from gunshot wounds late Friday night after his campaign convoy was ambushed, Jeremie Muhindo, director of the Beni hospital, told Reuters. 

Congo will vote in a general election next week. Alongside the violence, opposition parties and independent observers have warned that issues including illegible voter cards, blocked campaign plans and electoral list delays threaten the legitimacy of the results. 

Election-related violence risks undermining the election, said Human Rights Watch in a report on Saturday.

“Since early October, Human Rights Watch has documented clashes across the country between supporters of rival political parties that have resulted in assaults, sexual violence and at least one death,” the report said. 

It added that the violence was coming from both supporters of the ruling coalition as well as supporters of opposition parties, and said incidents continue to be reported. 

An evangelical church, the Church of Christ in Congo, said in a statement Friday its temple in the capital Kinshasa was vandalized during violent clashes between supporters of an opposition politician and those of the ruling coalition. 

In a separate incident unrelated to the election, at least 11 civilians — including six women — were decapitated in an attack on a village in Ituri province Friday, a deputy mayor said. The attack has been blamed on militants linked to the Islamic State-affiliated Allied Democratic Forces, which operates in the eastern Congo region. 

“There was a funeral in the village. The assailants surprised the victims while they were gathered. Eleven people were killed, others had managed to escape,” Katembo Salamu, deputy mayor of Mangina municipality in Ituri, told Reuters.  
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DUBAI, UAE — Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces battled the army outside the central city of Wad Madani on Saturday, pressing an attack that has opened a new front in the 8-month-old war and forced thousands to flee, witnesses said.

Crowds of people — many of whom had taken refuge in the city from violence in the capital Khartoum — could be seen packing up their belongings and leaving on foot in video posted on social media.

“The war has followed us to Madani so I am looking for a bus so me and my family can flee,” 45-year-old Ahmed Salih told Reuters by phone.

“We are living in hell and there is no one to help us.” He said he planned to head south to Sennar.

Sudan’s army, which has held the city since the start of the conflict, launched airstrikes on RSF forces to the east of the city, the capital of Gezira state, as it tried to push back the assault that started Friday, witnesses said.

The RSF responded with artillery and RSF reinforcements were seen moving in the direction of the fighting, the witnesses added.

RSF soldiers have also been seen in villages to the north and west of the city in recent days and weeks, residents said.

The United Nations said 14,000 people had fled the area so far, and a few thousand had already reached other cities. Half a million people had sought refuge in Gezira, mainly from Khartoum.

The Sudanese Doctors Union warned in a statement that hospitals in the area, which had become a humanitarian and medical hub, were emptying out and could be forced to shut.

It also said that more than 340 children and staff relocated from the Maygoma orphanage in Khartoum needed urgent help relocating again.

The fighting has raised fears for other army-held cities in southern and eastern Sudan where tens of thousands of people have been sheltering.

“I urge the RSF to refrain from attacks and for all parties to protect civilians at all costs. Perpetrators of terror will be held accountable,” the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said.

The army and RSF last week cast doubt on an East African mediation initiative aimed at ending a war that has triggered the largest internal displacement in the world and warnings of famine-like conditions.

In Khartoum and cities in Darfur that the RSF has already taken, residents have reported rapes, looting and arbitrary killing and detention. The group is also accused of ethnic killings in West Darfur.

The RSF has denied those accusations and said anyone in its forces found to be involved in such crimes would be held accountable.

On another front, activists reported fresh clashes after weeks of relative calm around the city of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state.

RSF forces surrounding that city had earlier stopped their advance there after other armed groups said they would get involved.

Residents also reported heavy strikes by the army in Nyala, South Darfur, and in Bahri, one of the cities that make up the wider national capital with Khartoum.

While the army has not made a statement on the fighting in Wad Madani, Sudan’s foreign ministry branded the RSF as terrorists for a “declared attack on a number of safe villages and neighborhoods [in the] east of Gezira state which are devoid of military targets.”

The war between the RSF and the Sudanese army broke out in April after disputes over a transition to democracy and integration of the two forces. 
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kinshasa, congo — Democratic Republic of Congo recalled its ambassadors from Kenya and Tanzania for consultations on Saturday, after a new Congolese military alliance that includes rebels was launched in the Kenyan capital. 

Alain Tshibanda, spokesperson for Congo’s foreign ministry, made the announcement on the X social media platform, formerly called Twitter.  

The envoy to Tanzania was recalled because Tanzania hosts the headquarters of the East African Community, which Congo also belongs to. 

Earlier on Saturday, the Kenyan embassy’s head of mission had been summoned to the foreign ministry in Kinshasa. The Kenyan government could not immediately be reached for comment. 

On Friday, Congolese politicians and groups including the M23 rebels, who have seized territory in eastern Congo, and Corneille Nangaa, a former Congo election commission chief, launched the Congo River Alliance in Nairobi. 

Speaking at the launch, Nangaa, who was sanctioned by the U.S. for corruption and obstructing the 2018 election, said the alliance would bring together various Congolese armed groups, militias, social and political organizations. 

“I am looking for a lasting solution; all communities must live together in Congo,” Nangaa told Reuters on Saturday.  

Congo is due to hold presidential and legislative elections on December 20. 

The new alliance is an additional concern in a region where insecurity has persisted for decades, fueled by ethnic rivalries and a tussle over land and resources with regional implications. 

Bintou Keita, head of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo, said in a post on social media platform X that she was “extremely concerned by the creation of a new political-military platform.” 
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Kinshasa, DRC — DR Congo’s democracy has been backsliding ahead of elections this month, according to rights defenders, as prominent journalists languish in prison and the murder of an opposition politician remains unsolved.

President Felix Tshisekedi came to power in 2019 after a campaign criticizing the rights record of his predecessor Joseph Kabila, among other issues.

But a slew of recent events have sparked concerns about the president’s own record.

A former minister turned opposition member was found dead in the central African nation’s capital of Kinshasa in July.

A few months later, one the best-known Congolese journalists was imprisoned after authorities accused him of spreading fake news about the murder.

“These are signs of the narrowing of the democratic space,” said a rights researcher, who requested anonymity.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is scheduled to hold elections on December 20. Tshisekedi, 60, will be running for a second term.

Human Rights Watch warned Saturday that it had documented clashes and other violence between supporters of rival parties that could undermine the vote.

“Political parties and candidates should publicize their anti-violence stance and help ensure that people have the opportunity to vote for the candidates of their choice,” said HRW researcher Thomas Fessy.

Tshisekedi released hundreds of political prisoners when he first took office, but initial optimism began to fade after intimidation of critics started again in 2020.

Opposition members regularly say they are harassed, and point to arrests they claim are politically motivated.

Despite its mineral riches, DRC is one of the poorest nations of the world, and has a history of autocratic rule.

Floribert Anzuluni, a presidential candidate and former rights activist, told AFP that repression often spikes around elections.

“It’s the case today, there’s a hardening of the democratic space,” he said.

Murder in Kinshasa

In a high-profile case in May, Congolese military intelligence arrested Salomon Idi Kalonda, a close adviser to opposition presidential contender Moise Katumbi.

Kalonda was accused of colluding with M23 rebels in the country’s east, as well as the group’s alleged backers, Rwanda. His trial is ongoing.

A month later, the body of Cherubin Okende, a former transport minister and Katumbi ally, was found riddled with bullets in Kinshasa.

The government has condemned the killing and opened an investigation.

But several analysts say the investigation has stalled.

“The justice system seems not to be doing its job,” Anzuluni said.

In September, the prominent Congolese journalist Stanis Bujakera, who works for Reuters and Jeune Afrique magazine, was arrested on suspicion of spreading false information about Okende’s killing.

His arrest followed a Jeune Afrique article  — which was not bylined — that suggested that Congolese military intelligence had assassinated Okende.

The article was based on a memo that the Congolese authorities have said is fake.

Bujakera remains in prison with the trial ongoing.

Eric Nsenga, who works on human rights for ECC, a federation of Congolese protestant churches, said Bujakera’s arrest “sends an image of intimidation.”

‘Fatigue’

Bujakera’s case attracted an outpouring of international criticism. But rights defenders say arrests of lesser-known figures have gone unnoticed.

Human Rights Watch said last week that opposition member Lens Omelonga had been freed after seven months in detention. He had shared a social media post criticizing the foundation of the president’s wife, Denise Tshisekedi.

Fred Bauma, the executive director of Kinshasa-based think tank Ebuteli, said repression had long gone under the radar — especially in the east, where he highlighted cases of protesters detained arbitrarily.

In 2021, Tshisekedi placed two eastern provinces under martial law in a bid to curb militia violence.

But the policy has mostly failed and has been criticized for facilitating a crackdown on dissent.

The president promised to roll it back after an elite army unit, in late August, massacred over 50 members of a religious sect who were planning a protest in the eastern city of Goma.

The government condemned the massacre, and a military court handed down prison sentences to several officers involved.

But several rights defenders told AFP they were frustrated with the accumulation of such cases, and apparent government impunity.

“They’ve been able to trick a lot of the international community,” said one, accusing the government of saying the right things on the diplomatic stage but rarely following up.

One U.N. official agreed that there was little international will to confront abuses, saying “There’s fatigue when it comes to the DRC.”

A government spokesperson was not immediately available for comment. 
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GENEVA — As Sudan marks eight months of a horrific war that has killed more than 12,000 people and displaced 6.6 million, United Nations food agencies are warning of a looming hunger catastrophe by next year’s lean season, when food stocks will be at their lowest.

A new analysis released Friday by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification — a scientific evaluation of food security — warns that nearly 18 million people across Sudan face acute hunger.

“These figures are the highest ever recorded that coincide with Sudan’s harvesting season,” a period when more food is available, said Adam Yao, Food and Agriculture Organization, or FAO, deputy representative in Sudan.

Speaking to journalists from Sudan’s Sennar state, he said, “The food crisis is exacerbated by ongoing conflict, escalating violence, low agricultural production, high food prices, climate shocks and displacement.”

He warned that more financial support and unimpeded access to people trapped in conflict hotspots is needed to ward off the worst results.

According to the U.N., vulnerable populations in Greater Darfur, Greater Kordofan and Khartoum are most at risk.

“The Sudanese people require more support more than ever,” said Yao. “Our immediate action to preserve the lives and livelihoods of rural Sudanese communities is absolutely crucial. The longer we take to respond, the more lives we expose to the imminent threat of famine.”

The war, which erupted April 15, was triggered by a power struggle between rival generals from the Sudanese Armed Forces and paramilitary Support Response Forces, unleashing eight months of terror, violence and displacement in what is described as one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

“The suffering is unimaginable, yet the crisis has not been getting the international focus and attention that is warranted, as the conflict continues to upend millions of lives and worsen what was already a dire situation,” said Leni Kenzli, World Food Program spokesperson.

Speaking from Nairobi, Kenya, Kenzli said regular and safe humanitarian access to civilians in areas worst hit by violence was inadequate, as was international financial support for a crisis of this magnitude.

“Since the start of the conflict, WFP has provided lifesaving assistance to over 5 million people, preventing an even worse deterioration of food security, especially in eastern and northern Sudan.

“Yet, this is only scratching the surface compared to the immense needs that we are seeing on ground,” Kenzli said, noting that WFP needed $252 million to provide assistance for 6 million to 7 million people over the next six months.

While the hunger and displacement crises continue to deepen in violent, unstable parts of Sudan, large areas of the country remain relatively calm, and farmers are still able to plant their crops.

Adam Yao said that FAO has helped upwards of a million farmers in places such as Sennar, Kosti and the White Nile state to produce between 2 million and 3 million tons of cereal.

He said FAO needs $75 million to support local food production. “We have to get ready now for the planting season, which goes from May to August,” he said.

At the same time, he noted FAO is appealing for a cease-fire “to allow a humanitarian corridor to be opened so that organizations that are distributing food items can have access” to volatile, dangerous areas.

WFP echoed this appeal. Leni Kenzli said, “WFP is urgently calling all parties to the conflict for a humanitarian pause and unfettered access to avert a hunger catastrophe in the coming lean season. Lives are depending on it.”
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Yaounde, Cameroon — Chad’s military government says a majority of about 8 million voters are not ready to vote in the December 17 constitutional referendum that would pave the way for a return to civilian rule. A campaign for voter participation is taking place amid opposition and civil society calls for a total boycott of what they call Sunday’s sham referendum.

The National Commission Charged with the Organization of Chad’s December 17 Constitutional Referendum, or CONOREC, says several million voters have not collected their voter cards less than 48 hours ahead of Sunday’s referendum. 

CONOREC says that without voter cards, civilians who registered will not be allowed to vote in the referendum on a new constitution that sets the stage for elections and a return to civilian rule.

Chad’s military government this week said it had dispatched what it called friendly civil society groups, opposition parties, and government ministers to towns and villages to some 8.5 million voters CONOREC says are eligible to cast their votes on December 17.

Brice Mbaimon Guedmbaye is a former presidential candidate and president of the opposition Movement of Chadian Patriots for the Republic. He says a majority of civilians do not believe the referendum will pave the way for Chad’s military ruler Mahamat Idriss Deby to leave power because he initially refused to hand power to a civilian government in October 2022 as agreed and instead extended the transition period by two years. 

He says civilians are angry and refusing to collect voter cards that will enable them to vote in the December 17 referendum because Deby is intimidating opposition political parties and civil society groups that are against a constitution that maintains Chad as a unitary state with powers centered in the capital Ndjamena. Guedmbaye says many civilians want Chad to adopt a federal system, end the dictatorship and the grip on power exerted by the Deby family on the country for 30 years.  

Mahamat Idris Déby came to power on April 20, 2021, following the death of his father Idriss Déby Itno while fighting rebels in the north of his country. The rebels were fighting to end what they called Itno’s 31-yearlong autocratic rule. 

His son took power and promised to organize elections within 18 months but instead extended his rule until November 2024.

Civil society and opposition leaders say the referendum the military leader is organizing cannot be taken seriously because Deby rules with an iron fist, and cracks down on freedom of speech and assembly. The opposition says CONOREC, the referendum management body, is partisan. Several dozen opposition parties and civil society groups are calling for either a “no” vote or a boycott of the referendum. 

Francois Djekonbe leads a Yes Coalition set up by Chad’s military rulers to campaign for a vote for a new draft constitution, which the military junta says strengthens judicial independence and institutional reforms. He says claims that Deby does not want to leave power are unfounded.

Djekonbe says Chad will — for the first time since it achieved independence from France in 1960 — have a National Assembly and a Senate to both legislate, vote laws and control activities of government ministers. He says the constitution also reinstates presidential term limits of two five-year terms that was abolished by Chad’s former president Idris Deby Itno before he died,  

Djekonbe said the new constitution gives all 23 regions that make up Chad greater financial autonomy in a decentralized system of government, and the possibility of electing their local governors previously appointed by the central government in Ndjamena.

Sunday’s constitutional referendum will enable the junta to manage Chad’s transition until presidential elections are held by October 2024. Chad’s opposition says the constitution to be voted on Sunday does not bar Deby, a 39-year-old military general, from participating in Chad’s 2024 presidential election. 
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Nairobi, Kenya — The head of Haiti’s national police visited Kenya Thursday, as local authorities prepare for the deployment of Kenyan police to the Caribbean nation plagued by gang violence.

Kenyan authorities said Thursday that Frantz Elbe, on a fact-finding mission, met Kenyan police chief Japhet Koome on Thursday.

Elbe “is on a three-day official visit to Kenya for bilateral security discussions between the two law enforcement agencies,” a statement from Koome’s office said. No more details were given.

In October, the U.N. Security Council approved the deployment of a Kenyan-led foreign armed force to Haiti to help bring gang violence under control. More than 1,230 killings and 701 kidnappings were reported across Haiti from July 1 to September 30, more than double the figure reported during the same period last year, according to the U.N.

Elbe’s visit comes days after a Kenyan team flew to Haiti for discussions with authorities there.

Kenyan police would lead a U.N.-backed multinational force to Haiti, but the proposed deployment has proved controversial as it faces a legal hurdle at home.

Kenyan officials told The Associated Press that the first group of about 300 officers is expected to be deployed by February, with authorities still awaiting the verdict in a case that seeks to block the deployment. A decision is expected in January.

The planned deployment was first blocked by the High Court in Nairobi in October. The court’s decision came hours after Kenya’s parliament passed a motion allowing the deployment of the security officers.

The total deployment would eventually rise to 1,000 officers as part of a multinational force of 3,000 sent to Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital. Jamaica, the Bahamas and Antigua and Barbuda are among the countries pledging to contribute troops.
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washington/istanbul — Turkey’s justice minister announced Thursday that Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s son is expected to return to Turkey to face trial over a fatal traffic accident in Istanbul.

Yilmaz Tunc, Turkey’s justice minister, told reporters that Ankara held talks with Somali judicial authorities over extraditing Mohamed Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

“In the coming days, the defendant will come to Turkey, and the trial process will take place,” Tunc said.

Accident

On November 30, Mohamud hit Yunus Emre Gocer, a motorcycle courier in the Fatih district of Istanbul, while driving a vehicle with a diplomatic license plate. The 38-year-old victim was immediately taken to the hospital, where he died on December 6.

According to police documents that VOA Turkish obtained, after providing testimony, Mohamud was released on the same day of the accident per an Istanbul prosecutor’s instructions.

In a press statement last Friday, the Istanbul prosecutor’s office announced that following Gocer’s death, it issued a detention order for Mohamud accusing him of involuntary manslaughter, but he had already left the country on December 2.

The prosecutor’s office said an arrest warrant for Mohamud was issued on December 8.

Iyaz Cimen, the lawyer for Gocer’s family, says the Somali president’s son was allowed to leave Turkey due to “a chain of negligence.”

“We went to the police station on the evening of the accident day where [the police] ignored us. We requested detention at the prosecutor’s office for eight days from November 30 to December 7. [Mohamud] was not arrested, and in fact, any judicial control, including a travel ban, was not placed,” Cimen told VOA.

On the other hand, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud told The Associated Press on Tuesday that his son did not flee Turkey and stayed in Istanbul for several days after the crash.

“It was an accident. He did not run away, and he hired a lawyer for this purpose,” the Somali president said. “And there was no arrest warrant. … So, he has a business, and he came out of the country.”

Mohamud added that he is advising his son to present himself to the Turkish court, noting that his son is an adult and “the decision is his — but I am giving that advice.”

The Somali president also extended his condolences to Gocer’s family.

Investigation

Ankara has launched an investigation of the police officers who conducted the crime scene investigation and wrote the initial police report, Tunc posted on social media on Monday.

Also on Monday, a Somali diplomat in Turkey, who requested anonymity, told The Associated Press that Mohamud has since traveled to Dubai. He added that the Somali president’s family travels with diplomatic passports and previously lived in Turkey.

On Tuesday, a Turkish official told Reuters that Ankara sought information from Somali authorities on the incident and the use of a diplomatic car.

“Someone who does not have diplomatic status has no right to use these vehicles,” the official told Reuters. According to the official, as the Somali president’s son does not enjoy “immunity or diplomatic exceptionality,” and it makes no difference that he was driving a vehicle with a diplomatic plate.

VOA contacted Turkey’s justice and foreign ministries but did not receive a response.

Tunc has not disclosed Mohamud’s whereabouts but has noted that there is no mutual legal assistance treaty between Somalia and Turkey.

“However, these are issues that can be achieved within the framework of bilateral relations,” Tunc said.

“We expect that the suspect will actively participate in the trial process amid its return to Turkey and that the family’s damage here will be remedied,” Cimen, the Gocer family’s lawyer, told VOA.

The accident has stirred controversy in Turkey over the police and judicial system.

Ozgur Ozel, leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, visited Gocer’s family on Tuesday and said, “If any citizen committed this crime or were involved in this accident, that person would be detained, interrogated, arrested, and if that person were not arrested, a travel ban would be imposed. Everyone knows this.

“But when [that person] is the son of a foreign statesman, what kind of privilege is this? What kind of public administration is this? What kind of justice is this?” Ozel added.

Ankara has built close ties with Mogadishu, as it is part of the Somalia “Quint” group alongside the United States, United Kingdom, Qatar and United Arab Emirates, which was formed to ensure security and counterterrorism support for the African country. The last Quint meeting was held in Ankara in October.

Turkey has its largest overseas military base in Somalia, where it trains Somali forces. In 2016, Erdogan opened the Turkish Embassy in Mogadishu, which he called “the largest Turkish embassy in the world.”

Turkish companies are active in the country for many development projects as Turkish state-run Ziraat bank opened a branch in Mogadishu in October 2023 and became the first foreign bank to operate in Somalia in over a half-century.

Some information came from The Associated Press and Reuters. This story originated in VOA’s Turkish Service, and VOA Somali contributed to this report.
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As Egyptians struggle with record-high annual inflation, President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi appears poised to be declared the winner of a third, six-year term in an electoral race against three low-profile candidates. Cairo-based photojournalist Hamada Elrasam followed voters over the course of the three-day voting period that ended on December 12. Results are expected on December 18. Written in collaboration with Elle Kurancid.
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Abuja, Nigeria — The West African bloc ECOWAS is seeking to hold talks with Niger’s military government and chart a course forward following the country’s July coup that ousted President Mohamed Bazoum. The bloc is pushing for Bazoum’s release and a shorter path back to democratic rule, but analysts worry they may not succeed.

Niger is one of several African countries that have experienced coups or attempted coups in recent years.

At a recent summit in Abuja, Nigeria, West African leaders from regional bloc ECOWAS agreed to negotiate with Niger for a “short transition” period to democratic rule – promising to progressively ease economic and political bans upon successful dialogue.

Niger’s military has proposed a three-year transition period. ECOWAS wants a shorter transition and has set up a three-person committee, composed of the presidents of Togo, Sierra Leone and Benin, to negotiate with Niger’s military government.

During this week’s summit, the fourth in six months, West African leaders also demanded the immediate and unconditional release of ousted Nigerien President Mohammed Bazoum.

Kop’ep Dabugat, the general secretary of the West African Civil Society Forum, questions ECOWAS’ approach.

“When you’re having a negotiation, the difficult issues are the ones that come in last,” Dabugat said. “The insistence on the release of the ousted president first, we think it is not very prudent. We’re calling on ECOWAS to first of all ease economic sanctions as an act of faith which will perhaps convince the junta to come back to the table.”

This week’s summit marked the first time the regional bloc has recognized the coup administration in Niger – dashing hopes of an immediate reinstatement of Bazoum.

Senior military men in Niger in July overthrew Bazoum and have detained him for alleged treason. In response, ECOWAS imposed heavy sanctions on Niger. ECOWAS ordered border closures, freezing of assets, trade restrictions and threatened a military invasion of Niger.

ECOWAS said it would ease sanctions against Niger if the junta agreed to the bloc’s demands.

West and Central Africa have recorded eight coups d’etat since 2020.

Political analyst Chukwudi Odoeme said bad governance is the reason coups are receiving popular support in the region.

“From the steps the military administration in Niger has taken, I don’t see them backing down,” Odoeme said. “Then again, ECOWAS has lost its beauty in the sense that the heads of state that populate them have questionable hold onto power. Where the issue of legitimacy is lacking in the people who compose an organization, it becomes a difficult thing to hold onto any resolution that they have made, so I don’t see change coming from whatever ECOWAS is doing.”

This week, Niger’s transitional leader, Abdourahamane Tiani, said his government is forging a security and economic bloc known as the Alliance of the Sahel States, with Mali and Burkina Faso – countries also ruled by their respective militaries.

Dabugat said ECOWAS was too slow to begin dialogue and that the new alliance would make negotiations more difficult.

“Sometimes when you do not negotiate within the window available, things move further down the line and it continues to get difficult,” Dabugat said.

Odoeme said if this alliance of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso becomes successful, it could encourage more coups in the region.

“If you have a good relationship with your immediate neighbor, you can survive any sanctions,” Odoeme said. “I am seeing a situation where other countries will toe the line of Niger.”

It’s not clear when the ECOWAS team will meet with Niger’s junta.
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ABUJA, NIGERIA — A deal struck at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to “transition away” from fossil fuels received a less-than-hearty welcome Wednesday in Nigeria, which depends on crude oil sales for most of its budget.

Nigerian leaders said that their nation needs funding if the world wants it to move away from the production and use of fossil fuels.

The United Nations’ COP28 summit closed Wednesday with the signing of a deal to transition away from oil, gas and coal in what the text called a “just, orderly and equitable manner” in hopes of reducing carbon emissions and ease global warming.

It is the first such agreement to move away from fossil fuels since the annual conferences began nearly three decades ago.

The deal also seeks to triple renewable energy capacity globally by 2030 and promote carbon capture technologies that can clean up hard-to-decarbonize industries.

The president of the COP28, the UAE’s Sultan al-Jaber, praised the deal but said its success would be measured by how well it is implemented.

Peter Tarfa, former climate change director at Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Environment, agreed, saying, “This is not the first time that decisions have been taken in climate change discussions … that they have not been fully implemented. It is actually in the best interest of the climate that all hands should be on deck.”

Others are not so pleased with the deal. Members of the OPEC oil-producing countries, including Nigeria, initially resisted calls by more than 100 nations for stronger measures, such as a complete “phase out” of fossil fuels.

Salisu Dahiru, director of Nigeria’s National Council on Climate Change, attended a plenary session in Dubai on Wednesday.

“There’s no fairness, justice, equity” in asking developing countries to “start ditching fossil fuels,” Dahiru said.

“These fossil fuels are necessary for developing countries to taste the goodness of development,” he said. “What we’ve always stood for is decarbonizing the oil and gas so that we get cleaner fuels.”

Critics argue that decarbonizing technology is expensive and a diversionary tactic by countries so that they can continue to produce fossil fuels.

Oil accounts for 95% of Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings. Tarfa said authorities must begin to look elsewhere to grow Nigeria’s economy.

“There’s a lot of investment now going on toward the green economy pathway,” he said. “For Nigeria, we cannot act in isolation. … The phaseout or phase down of fuel consumption will definitely impact the economy, but now the time has come for the government to start diversifying to other sources.”

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, writing a column for CNN published Wednesday, said that Nigeria had initiated programs to transition from fossil fuels but that the country needs $10 billion every year until 2060 to achieve its transition plan.

Tinubu also criticized developed nations for failing to honor a pledge to give $100 billion to poorer countries to mitigate the effects of climate change.
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Yaounde — Sanitation and health workers in Cameroon are disinfecting homes to kill bedbugs that have infested the central African state’s capital, Yaounde, and several towns and villages. Government officials say the bloodsucking bugs are imported by travelers from Europe, where some countries are also experiencing infestation.

Cameroon residents say they are expecting teams from the central African state’s hygiene and sanitation service to come to their homes to help get rid of the bugs.

Fruit seller Kuffo Marilyne lives in Madagascar, a neighborhood in Yaounde. She said she first used insecticides to get rid of the bugs in her home, thinking they were little cockroaches. She said she was surprised when three of her children developed insomnia and experienced irritation after they were bitten by the insects.

Bedbug bites leave blisters or large rashes on the skin, health workers say.

Kuffo said she took her children to the hospital for treatment, but that a majority of her neighbors who also reported bedbugs in their homes are poor and unable to get their children medical care.

Cameroon’s government reported that huge numbers of bedbugs have infested homes in several poor Yaounde neighborhoods.

Cameron’s health ministry said the bugs come out at night to feed on human blood and often cause psychological distress, sleeping issues, anxiety and depression.

The government said it has dispatched several hundred sanitary and health workers to disinfect homes and kill the bugs.

Mariline Longue a medical staff member at the Cite Verte District Hospital in Yaounde, said more than 70% of people in some of Yaounde’s congested neighborhoods have reported bedbugs in their homes and shops. Longue said 24 of the 30 houses they visited in Cameroon’s capital on Wednesday morning had huge numbers of bedbugs hidden in mattresses, cracks of bed frames, chairs and couches.

The government said besides Yaounde and the economic hub Douala, there are fears several other towns and villages have been infested.

Maritial Ayissi, a sanitation officer with the Yaounde City Council, said the bugs are coming from European countries.

Ayissi said it is unfortunate government officials did not take measures to protect borders when the Cameroon National Hygiene and Sanitation Association raised an alarm in September that people were coming in from Europe with bedbugs in their luggage. He said many secondhand goods including mattresses, blankets and dresses that are imported by merchants from France in particular and sold in Cameroon have huge numbers of bedbugs hidden in them.

Ayissi said the bugs have become increasingly resistant to chemical treatments after they disappeared from daily life more than 20 years ago.

Rights groups and civil society activists have expressed fears that the insects may turn up in neighboring states, including landlocked Chad and Central African Republic, that rely on Cameroon for most of their goods. More than 80% of goods imported to Chad and CAR from Europe pass through Cameroon’s Douala seaport.

Cameroon officials said they will disinfect airports and goods imported from Europe if reports about bedbugs being found in them are investigated and found true.

In September, France announced that travelers were posting photos and videos purportedly showing bedbugs in Paris’ local transport system, high-speed trains and at Charles de Gaulle airport, provoking a wave of panic.

The French government in October said there was no evidence of any resurgence of the biting irritants on public transport, but it did not dismiss reports the insects were found in some homes.
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