ABUJA, NIGERIA — Security analysts in Nigeria are expressing alarm after a surge in attacks by terror groups in the country’s north near the border with Niger. The deterioration of relations between Abuja and Niamey following Niger’s July 2023 coup has disrupted joint military patrols, creating opportunities for armed groups to intensify incursions and attacks. 

Last Friday’s killing of 20 soldiers, including a commanding officer, at a military base in the remote town of Malam Fatori is among the latest attacks by terror groups.  

Malam Fatori is located near Nigeria’s border with Niger. Suspected fighters from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) arrived in trucks outfitted with guns and overpowered Nigerian troops in a coordinated assault. 

That attack took place three weeks after a similar raid on a military base in nearby Damboa, in Borno state, where six soldiers were killed. 

On Sunday, Nigeria’s defense authorities announced that 22 soldiers died during military operations against militants in Borno state between Jan. 16 and 25.  

They also said troops killed nearly 80 militants during those operations. 

Kabiru Adamu, an analyst with Beacon Security and Intelligence Limited, explained the growing challenge. 

“If the Nigerian military does not take steps to fortify those locations, we’d see attacks around that proximity increase. It appears to be that the objective of that particular attack is to weaken the response capability of the Nigerian military,” Adamu said. “The fact that they did not fortify that place, the fact that they did not quickly replenish what was lost — we’ve seen consistently where churches are being burnt, military bases are being attacked.” 

The terror threat is not limited to northeastern Nigeria. 

In the northwest, a new militant group called Lakurawa is wreaking havoc in remote communities and crossing the border into Niger. 

Nigerian authorities first raised the alarm about the group in November, stating it has ties to jihadist factions in Mali and Niger, and had embedded itself in communities along the Nigeria-Niger border for years, marrying local women and recruiting young men. 

Strained relations between Nigeria and Niger following the July 2023 coup have disrupted joint security operations, allowing groups like ISWAP and Lakurawa to expand their activities. 

Nigeria is already engaged in a protracted counterinsurgency war, and Adamu said the situation is becoming increasingly complex. 

“Lakurawa is a radicalized group and so the same counterterrorism approach that Nigeria is implementing in the northeast is what it will implement in the northwest,” Adamu said. “But what this means is that there’s a new theater of conflict — the northeast and the northwest. Given the fact that Nigerian military resources are strained, it poses a challenge.” 

Security analyst Senator Iroegbu said the government must adopt a more proactive and comprehensive approach to addressing the insecurity. 

“The Sahel region, for two years or more, has been regarded as the epicenter of terrorism and Nigeria shares a lot of borders with the core Sahelian countries. So it’s definitely a challenge now with the diplomatic spat that is affecting other areas of security and intelligence,” Iroegbu said. “I’m not surprised about their emergence. In past years, there were reports about the growing linkage between bandits and what is happening in the northwest as terrorist organizations, and I don’t think the authorities made any concrete effort.” 

Last week, a federal court in Nigeria declared the Islamist Lakurawa group a terrorist organization, allowing the military to use maximum force against the group.
…

Conservationists in Kenya are using an artificial intelligence-powered application to monitor forest degradation and launch reforestation. The data collected by the application is also used to project the amount of carbon that can be stored by a growing patch of forest. Juma Majanga reports from Nyeri, Kenya.
…

UNITED NATIONS — The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced Monday that his office will be seeking arrest warrants for those accused of atrocities in Sudan’s West Darfur region, which has seen reported ethnic cleansing by paramilitary forces that have been fighting government forces for 19 months.

Karim Khan told the U.N. Security Council that crimes are being committed in Darfur “as we speak and daily” and are being used as a weapon of war. He said that conclusion is the result of “a hard-edged analysis” based on evidence and information collected by his office.

Sudan plunged into conflict in mid-April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary leaders broke out in the capital, Khartoum, and spread to other regions, including the vast western Darfur region.

Two decades ago, Darfur became synonymous with genocide and war crimes, particularly by the notorious Janjaweed Arab militias, against populations that identify as Central or East African. Up to 300,000 people were killed and 2.7 million were driven from their homes.

Khan told the council in January there were grounds to believe both government forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Force, which was born out of the Janjaweed, may be committing war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide in Darfur.

The Biden administration, just before it left office this month, determined that the RSF and its proxies are committing genocide in Sudan’s civil war. And the ICC prosecutor told the council Monday that there are “very clear echoes” in the current conflict of what happened 20 years ago.

“The pattern of crimes, the perpetrators, the parties, tracked very closely with the same protagonists, the same targeted groups as existed in 2003” and led the Security Council to refer Darfur to the ICC, Khan said. “It’s the same communities, the same groups suffering, a new generation suffering the same hell that has been endured by other generations of Darfuris, and this is tragic.”

Human Rights Watch in a major report last May said the Rapid Support Forces and their allied militias carried out attacks against the ethnic Masalit and other non-Arab groups in El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state, from April to June 2023, with attacks intensifying that November.

At least thousands of people were killed and hundreds of thousands displaced during the attacks, according to the report by the leading rights group.

“I can confirm today that my office is taking the necessary steps to put forward applications for warrants of arrest in relations to crimes we allege are being committed and have been committed in West Darfur,” Khan told the council on Monday.

He gave no details on the specific crimes or the people the ICC wants arrested. But he did say his office is particularly concerned about a stream of allegations of gender crimes against women and girls, which he said were “a priority” for the ICC.

He said the last six months have seen “a tailspin into deeper suffering, deeper misery for the people of Darfur,” with famine present, conflict increasing, children targeted, girls and women subjected to rape and the whole landscape “one of destruction.”

Khan had a simple message for those on the ground in El Geneina in West Darfur, the city of El Fasher in North Darfur, which is besieged by RSF forces, and elsewhere in Darfur: “Now, better late than never, for goodness sake, comply with international humanitarian law, not as a charity, not out of some political necessity, but out of the dictates of humanity.”

Khan told the council he made efforts to engage with the RSF to obtain information relevant to the ICC’s investigations, and members of his office met with representatives of the paramilitary force last week.

“I do expect, and hope, and require swift and meaningful action, and will be monitoring that,” he said.
…

Zimbabwe’s traditional stores are struggling to stay afloat as customers flock to informal vendors to buy cheaper products amid a struggling economy. Meanwhile, the government is working to ensure it does not lose critical tax revenue from informal business sales. Columbus Mavhunga reports from Harare.
…

UNITED NATIONS — A senior U.N. official in the Democratic Republic of the Congo said Monday that fighting between Rwandan-backed rebels and the Congolese army for an important provincial capital in the country’s east is “not over yet,” despite claims by the rebels to have captured the city of Goma. 

“Fighting is still very much ongoing,” said Bruno Lemarquis, U.N. resident coordinator in the DRC. “It’s a very, very fluid situation. It’s a very dangerous situation.” 

He told reporters via a video call from DRC’s capital, Kinshasa, that “active zones of combat have spread to all quarters” of Goma in North Kivu province. Lemarquis said there have been severe disruptions to water, electricity, internet and phone service. Humanitarian warehouses have been looted. 

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. says 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, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and senior U.N. officials are calling 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. 

“On behalf of the humanitarian community, I call on all parties to agree on temporary humanitarian pauses in the most affected areas and establish humanitarian corridors to ensure humanitarian activities resume at scale. And more importantly, also to facilitate the safe evacuation of wounded individuals and civilians trapped in combat zones,” Lemarquis added. 

The United Nations announced Sunday a $17 million disbursement from its central emergency fund for urgent humanitarian needs in DRC. 

Lemarquis said nonessential U.N. staff, foreign and Congolese, are being temporarily evacuated from Goma to either Kinshasa or to a U.N. base in Entebbe in neighboring Uganda. 

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. 

“At this critical juncture now, the onus really is and has to be about bringing about an immediate cessation of hostilities,” U.N. peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix told reporters on the same video call, speaking from Damascus, Syria, where he is on a mission. 

“The fate of the millions of civilians living in Goma or having been displaced is really the priority, along with the safety and security of U.N. personnel,” he said. 

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

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.
…

Nairobi, Kenya — Amid fighting between M23 rebels and government forces in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, some organizations are relocating staff because they no longer feel safe. This comes after the reportedly Rwandan-backed rebels said over the weekend they had taken control of Goma, the biggest city in the region. 

Rose Tchwenko, the DRC’s country director for Mercy Corps, told VOA that since last week, the humanitarian group has closely monitored the situation as government forces and M23 clashed in and around Goma, a city of around 2 million people. 

“From Wednesday last week, with the fall of Minova, followed by the fall of Sake, which are key supply routes into Goma, the situation looked a little bit more dire with the imminent takeover or incursion into Goma itself by the rebel forces,” she said. “We made some decisions, first to move out non-essential staff, pull back our teams from the ground where it was no longer safe to continue to provide humanitarian services.”

But that changed quickly, as the situation grew more unstable in Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, which is on the border with Rwanda.

“On Sunday with the escalation of the conflict around Goma, we had to pull out even the senior team into Gisenyi (across the border in Rwanda) so that we can continue to operate and provide the necessary support to our teams across the country,” she said.

She told VOA the situation was dire.

“As of yesterday, we know that the airport in Goma is closed and under M23 control,” she said. “We have heard reports of sporadic fighting throughout the center of Goma city. Some of us on this side of the border could actually [hear] gunshots at some point during the night. We are aware of M23 presence in Goma but still uncertain of what the actual situation is.” 

As M23 rebels last week made advances into Goma, three U.N. peacekeepers died and seven South African soldiers and three from Malawi, serving in a separate Southern African Development Community mission, also were killed, according to U.N. and South African officials. 

At an emergency meeting on Sunday, the United Nations Security Council called for an end to the hostilities.

Bintou Keita, the head of the U.N. mission in Congo, addressed the Council via video link, painting a bleak picture.

“Roads are blocked and the airport can no longer be used for evacuation or humanitarian efforts,” he said. “M23 has declared the airspace over Goma closed. In other words, we are trapped.”

Jack Mongi, a Goma resident who sent VOA an audio message in French via WhatsApp, said that fighting was still going on around the airport.

“As I speak, you can hear gunshots, we are under our mattresses, under our beds and if you listen, you can hear the gunshots….”

The Congolese minister of foreign affairs told the U.N. Security Council that this is “a frontal assault, a declaration of war.” 

VOA reached out to the Rwandan government for comment but has not immediately heard back.

Many countries represented at the special Security Council meeting condemned the attacks, including the acting U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Dorothy Shea, who called for a ceasefire.

“The United States will consider all the tools at its disposal in order to hold accountable those responsible for sustaining armed conflict, instability and insecurity,” she said.

In Nairobi, Kenya’s President William Ruto said he spoke to both Congolese and Rwanda presidents and called for an “immediate and unconditional cessation of hostilities.” 

Ruto, who’s also the chair of the East African Community, says he’ll be convening an extraordinary EAC summit in coming days to try to chart a way forward in this crisis.
…

BEIJING — China has prohibited imports of sheep, goat, poultry and even-toed ungulates from African, Asian and European countries due to outbreaks of livestock diseases such as sheep pox, goat pox and foot-and-mouth-disease.

The ban, which also includes processed and unprocessed products, comes after the World Health Organization released information of disease outbreaks in various countries, according to a series of announcements by China’s General Administration of Customs dated Jan. 21.

The ban from the world’s largest meat importer affects Ghana, Somalia, Qatar, Congo (DRC), Nigeria, and Tanzania, Egypt, Bulgaria, East Timor and Eritrea.

China also said it has stopped imports of sheep, goat and related products from Palestine, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal and Bangladesh due to sheep pox and goat pox outbreaks.

It also blocked the imports of even-toed ungulates and related products from Germany following an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, it said.
…

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — Sierra Leone’s information ministry said Sunday it was investigating media reports that European cocaine kingpin Jos Leijdekkers is in the country and benefiting from high-level protection there.

Two sources told Reuters on Friday that Leijdekkers, who was sentenced last June in absentia to 24 years in prison by a Dutch court for smuggling more than 7 tons of cocaine, had been in Sierra Leone since at least early 2023.

A spokesperson for the Dutch prosecutors’ office said in response to questions from Reuters about Leijdekkers’ whereabouts that he has been living in Sierra Leone for at least six months. Leijdekkers is on Europol’s list of most wanted fugitives.

In a statement, the Sierra Leonean ministry said the country’s police were ready to collaborate with the Dutch government, Interpol and other international law enforcement agencies about the case.

The statement said the country’s president “attended numerous family events during the festive season” and “has no knowledge about the identity and the issues detailed in the reports about the individual in question.”

Reuters was not able to reach Leijdekkers.

Videos and photos verified by Reuters of a church Mass in Sierra Leone on Jan. 1, 2025, show Leijdekkers, 33, sitting two rows behind Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio.

In the images, Leijdekkers was sitting next to a woman who three sources said was Bio’s daughter Agnes and who they said was married to Leijdekkers. Reuters could not confirm the relationship.

Bio’s daughter and the Dutch lawyer who last represented Leijdekkers in the Netherlands did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Three sources told Reuters Leijdekkers was benefiting from high-level protection in Sierra Leone, which international law enforcement officials say is a transshipment point for large volumes of Latin American cocaine headed to Europe.

The Sierra Leonean information ministry said the government had not received any formal communication on Leijdekkers from any state or institution, and was resolute in ensuring the country would not become a haven for any organized crime.
…

United Nations, United States — U.N. chief Antonio Guterres called Sunday on Rwandan forces to withdraw from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and halt support for fighters advancing on the key Congolese city of Goma. 

M23 fighters backed by several thousand Rwandan troops have been quickly advancing toward the city, which lies along DRC’s eastern border and is home to more than a million people. 

Several foreign peacekeepers have been killed in the mounting violence around Goma. 

“The Secretary-General is deeply concerned by the escalating violence” and “calls on the Rwanda Defense Forces to cease support to the M23 and withdraw from DRC territory,” said a statement from his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric. 

Guterres had previously referred to a U.N. experts’ report citing Kigali’s backing of the M23 but had not explicitly called on Rwanda to withdraw from DRC territory. 

In his statement Sunday, made after three U.N. peacekeepers in eastern DRC had been killed within 48 hours, Guterres emphasized that “attacks against United Nations personnel may constitute a war crime.” 

The U.N. in the meantime has begun to evacuate “non-essential” staff from the major city of Goma in eastern DRC, a United Nations source told AFP. 

During an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council session Sunday, permanent member states France, Britain and the United States called on Rwanda to pull its forces back. 

But others, including China and the African nations holding rotating council seats, did not specifically name Kigali. 

The Security Council as a whole has yet to accuse Rwanda of taking part directly in the conflict, simply underlining the importance of the DRC’s territorial integrity. 

But the French ambassador to the U.N., Nicolas de Riviere, indicated Sunday he was working on a Security Council statement that would “call a cat a cat,” a phrase essentially meaning to state directly what something is without sugarcoating it. 

He urged the Council to condemn what he said was a grave threat to regional peace and security. 

Congolese foreign minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner went further, urging the Council to impose sweeping economic and political sanctions on Kigali. 

She accused Rwanda of having sent new troops into eastern DRC on Sunday, actions which she said amounted to a “declaration of war.” 

But Rwanda’s ambassador to the U.N., Ernest Rwamucyo, rejected the accusations, accusing Kinshasa of being responsible for the deteriorating situation and failing to make a “genuine commitment to peace.” 

He suggested that the U.N. peacekeepers in the DRC had joined a “coalition” seeking regime change in Rwanda. 

The fighting in the region has forced some 230,000 to flee their homes.  

Eastern DRC has vast mining resources and is a complex landscape of rival armed militias which has seen violence ebb and flow since the 1990s. 
…

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — Suspected Islamist fighters killed at least 20 Nigerian soldiers, including a commanding officer, after attacking an army base in a remote town in northeastern Borno state, security sources and residents said Sunday.

Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters have mainly operated in Borno, targeting security forces and civilians, in the process killing and displacing tens of thousands of people.

The latest assault happened Friday, when ISWAP members arrived on gun trucks and attacked the army’s 149 Battalion in Malam-Fatori town, gateway to the border with Niger, two soldiers and residents said.

One of the soldiers who survived the attack told Reuters by phone that troops were taken by surprise as the militants “rained bullets everywhere.”

“We tried so much to repel the attacks and after more than three hours of gun duel, they overpowered us, killing our commanding officer, a lieutenant colonel,” the soldier said, declining to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

He said 20 soldiers died while several were injured.

A Nigerian army spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Residents who left the town said some of the militants were seen in Malam-Fatori as late as Saturday night.

Malakaka Bukar, a member of the local militia recruited to help the army, said the militants also burned buildings, forcing some residents to flee the town.

“They preached to some of the residents,” said Bukar.

Although weakened by military assaults and internal fighting over the years, Boko Haram and ISWAP have stepped up attacks in Borno since the turn of the year, killing dozens of farmers and fishermen in series of raids.
…

Somalia’s Information Ministry said Saturday the country’s military is targeting al-Shabab militants in the Galmudug region of central Somalia and is making progress in eroding the group’s operational effectiveness. 

In a coordinated military operation, the Somali National Army, or SNA, supported by Galmudug State forces and pro-government local clan militias, killed 30 al-Shabab militants and injured dozens more, according to a government statement released Saturday.   

“The Somali National Army killed 30 al-Shabab militants and injured 40 others after conducting an operation at the Qeycad location in the southern Mudug region for the past 48 hours,” the statement reads. 

Somali authorities say the operation was conducted after the army received intelligence regarding al-Shabab militants’ maneuvers in the region. 

The government says three of its soldiers were injured during the operation.   

Witnesses in Qeycad, near Ba’adweyn town in the Mudug region, said an intense gunbattle between the two sides lasted several hours, inflicting substantial damage on the militants.   

“The fight lasted for hours, and the terrorists were heavily damaged, and the Somali National Army took over the area, and the group’s strongholds in the area were also destroyed during the operation,” the government statement said.   

During the engagement, several al-Shabab commanders surrendered to the SNA. Among those were two significant militant leaders, “Mohamed Bashir Muse and Madey Fodey,” according to the government report. 

This military action follows an incident two days prior when a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vest outside a crowded restaurant in Mogadishu, resulting in the deaths of at least seven people.

The operation also occurred concurrently with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s official visit to Kampala, Uganda, where he aimed to strengthen bilateral relations and enhance regional security cooperation with President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. 

“The president will discuss with his counterpart, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, focusing on strengthening bilateral relations between Somalia and Uganda, fostering enhanced regional security and stability cooperation,” a brief Somali National News Agency announcement stated.   

As Somalia navigates ongoing diplomatic disagreements with Ethiopia — particularly regarding a maritime agreement signed with Somaliland, a breakaway region — its government has sought closer ties with Egypt and Eritrea, both of which have historical disputes with Ethiopia.  

Earlier this month, leaders from Egypt, Somalia, and Eritrea convened in Asmara, reinforcing what analysts describe as an emerging “axis against Ethiopia.” 
…

YAOUNDE, CAMEROON — Concern is growing in Cameroon about 92-year-old President Paul Biya, who has not been seen in public for more than 40 days.

Biya has not yet returned to Cameroon more than a week after state officials said he would be back from Geneva, following rumors of his death. Several groups say Biya’s long absence suggests he is not healthy enough to be president.

Biya was last seen in public on September 8, while leaving Beijing, where he attended the Africa-China forum in the company of world leaders, a few of his collaborators and his wife, Chantal Biya.

Civilians say they suspect Biya is not in good health and is receiving treatment wherever he is.

Opposition and civil society groups say Biya should be in the country to lead the nation amid multiple challenges, including a prolonged separatist crisis that has claimed more than 6,000 lives in the country’s western regions.

Government troops are fighting Boko Haram terrorists on the northern border with Chad and Nigeria, and rebels are fleeing to eastern Cameroon from armed conflicts in the neighboring Central African Republic.

Tamfu Richard, a human rights lawyer and a member of the Cameroon Party for National Reconciliation, or CPNR, said he has delivered a petition to National Assembly Speaker Cavaye Yeguie Djibril to inform Cameroon’s constitutional council of what he says is a vacancy created by Biya’s absence.

“I am simply requesting the president [speaker] of the National Assembly to exercise a constitutional right, which is to refer the vacancy [Biya’s long absence] to the constitutional council,” Richard said. “According to the [Cameroon] constitution, the seat of institutions is in Yaounde, and if the president of the republic is out of Cameroon, not on an official visit or for justifiable reasons, it could be that the president of the republic has absconded from his place of work.”

VOA could not independently verify if Richard’s petition has been received by the speaker of the national assembly, but copies of the document have been widely circulated on social media.

On October 9, government officials said social and mainstream media reports that Biya was dead were unfounded. They said Biya was alive and in excellent health and was to return to Cameroon soon.

When reports aired calling for Biya’s whereabouts to be made public and saying civilians want to see their president, Territorial Administration Minister Paul Atanga Nji banned the media from discussing Biya’s health. Nji ordered authorities to monitor all media to make sure violators are charged for illegally discussing top security issues.

Ndi Eugene Ndi, president of the Yaounde chapter of the Cameroon Association of English Speaking Journalists, or CAMASEJ, says most media ignore the ban.

“The press should be free to talk about the president’s health,” Ndi said. “The citizens have to know where the president is through the media.”

Biya has ruled Cameroon for more than four decades. Opposition parties say he rules with an iron fist and wants to keep power until he dies. Biya has always claimed he won all elections after he constitutionally took power from Ahmadou Ahidjo, Cameroon’s first president, in 1982. Ahidjo resigned after complaining of his failing health.
…

NAIROBI — Kenya’s senate began impeachment hearings against Kenya’s deputy president on Wednesday, hours after a court said the proceedings were constitutional, clearing the way for a vote on his dismissal this week.

Kenya’s National Assembly voted on Tuesday last week to impeach the deputy president, Rigathi Gachagua, on 11 charges which included corruption, undermining the government and stirring ethnic hatred. Gachagua has denied all charges.

Gachagua has said the impeachment motion, backed by opposition lawmakers and allies of President William Ruto, was based on falsehoods that constituted a political lynching, according to court documents seen by Reuters.

As the senate opened proceedings on Wednesday, Gachagua denied the 11 charges read out by senate clerk Jeremiah Nyegenye.

“Not guilty,” Gachagua said in response to each one.

Gachagua had launched a legal challenge against the impeachment proceedings in the high court, but Judge Erick Ogolla said the process could go ahead.

“At this stage, the process is a lawful, constitutional process, and the Senate will conduct a trial where all the issues being raised before the court will be raised and determined at the moment,” the judge said in court.

“The application at this stage is premature and anticipatory,” he said, referring to Gachagua’s legal challenge.

The deputy president was Ruto’s running mate in their 2022 election win, helping secure vital votes from the populous central Kenya region. But the men have since fallen out and political alliances have shifted.

Ruto fired most of his Cabinet and appointed members of the opposition to what he called a unity government after nationwide protests against tax increases in which more than 50 people were killed.

During Wednesday’s session, members of parliament seeking Gachagua’s removal are expected to present their case to the senators.

Gachagua is expected to defend himself on Thursday before the vote. A two-thirds majority would be needed to dismiss him.

The court also said it would decide on Oct. 29 whether Ruto can nominate a new deputy if Gachagua is dismissed.
…

Kano, Nigeria — A fuel tanker explosion in northern Nigeria has killed almost 100 people and left 50 injured, police said on Wednesday.  

Many of the victims had been trying to collect fuel spilt on the road after the tanker crashed in northern Jigawa state late on Tuesday, police spokesman Lawan Shiisu Adam told AFP.  

The tanker had veered to avoid colliding with a truck in the town of Majia, he said.  

“We have so far confirmed 94 people dead and around 50 injured,” he said, warning the death toll could rise.  

Following the crash, residents crowded around the vehicle, collecting fuel that had spilt on the road and in drains, Adam said.  

He said the residents had “overwhelmed” officers trying to stop them.  

The Nigerian Medical Association has urged doctors to rush to nearby emergency rooms to help with the influx of patients.  

Fuel tanker explosions are common in Africa’s most populous nation, where roads can be poorly maintained and residents often look to siphon off fuel following accidents.  

Fuel has become an even more precious commodity as Nigeria suffers its worst economic crisis in a generation.  

The price of petrol has soared fivefold since President Bola Ahmed Tinubu scrapped subsidies last year, and there are often shortages.   

Desperation rose further last week after the state oil company hiked prices for the second time in just over a month.  

Dangerous roads 

Accidents involving tankers are frequent in the country, with the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) recording 1,531 in 2020, causing 535 deaths.  

Last month, at least 59 people died when a fuel tanker collided with a truck carrying passengers and cattle in northwestern Niger state.  

The FRSC said more than 5,000 people died in road accidents in Nigeria in 2023, compared to nearly 6,500 the previous year.   

But according to the World Health Organization, the figures do not include accidents that are not reported to the authorities.   

It estimates annual road accident deaths in Nigeria to be closer to 40,000, it said in a report published last year.  

Deadly fires and explosions also take place across fuel and oil infrastructure in Nigeria, one of the continent’s largest crude producers. 
…

Abuja, Nigeria — The Libyan Football Federation (LFF) is criticizing Nigeria’s decision to withdraw from the 2025 AFCON qualifier in Libya and is threatening to take legal action.

On Monday, Nigeria’s national football team the Super Eagles walked off the fixture citing safety concerns after being stranded at a local airport in Libya without food and internet access for more than 16 hours.

Tuesday’s statement by the LFF accused its Nigerian counterpart, the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) of not cooperating with local organizers.

LFF said the flight diversion was possibly caused by routine aircraft protocols, security checks or logistical problems beyond their control, adding that Libyan players faced similar challenges in last week’s reverse fixture in Nigeria.

LFF said it will “take all legal measures to preserve the interests of the Libyan national football team.”

The Nigerian Super Eagles had been scheduled to take on the Mediterranean Knights of Libya on Tuesday to seal their qualification for the 2025 AFCON finals in Morocco.

However, the Nigerian men’s team pulled out of its Confederation of African Football, or CAF, qualifier in Libya and returned home in protest at being abandoned at an airport after their plane was diverted.

The NFF said the team was taken to Al-Abraq International Airport three hours away from the venue of the match and that local authorities did not make alternative travel plans for the team.

“It is consistent with their … hostile attitude toward other Africans,” said Ademola Olajire, spokesperson of the NFF. “We have filed a formal letter, the whole world is aware of what happened and how everything went, and we expect a reasonable and justifiable decision from CAF.”

Libyan authorities also have rejected allegations of foul play or willful attempt to dampen the morale of the Nigerian players ahead of Tuesday’s match.

However, Nigerian sports analyst Daniel Aderiye said Libya has faltered many times in the past.

“Historical antecedents have put them in a very bad spot,” Aderiye said. “It’s the most hostile environment anybody can play football in. They should go ahead and threaten because as far as we’re concerned, we will not be dimwitted. CAF has said they’re going to intervene — a disciplinary board has been set up to that effect.”

On Monday, the CAF said it was talking to both Nigeria and Libya and would take action if a member violated its rules.

Local football club coach Fred Tebit said Nigeria’s diminishing positive public image is to blame.

“We should not forget where we belong in the ranks of Africa — a national team of such caliber with players playing all over the top clubs in Europe will be treated as such, and I think CAF should take a tough stance on this,” he said. “Our government is not helping matters, our country is full of corruption, embezzlement, so that’s why the Libyans [think] they can measure shoulders with us.”

Last Friday, Nigeria defeated Libya 1-0, securing seven points over three games in their group. The top two teams in each group will advance to the 24-team finals.
…

geneva — While the world’s farmers produce more than enough food to feed the planet’s nearly 8 billion people, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said “hunger and malnutrition are a fact of life” for billions.

In a message in advance of World Food Day on October 16, Guterres said 733 million people globally are short of food because of “conflict, marginalization, climate change, poverty and economic downturns.”

The Food and Agriculture Organization was established 79 years ago on October 16 with a mandate to provide people with greater access to food that not only quelled hunger but also was safe, nutritious and culturally acceptable.

But Dominique Burgeon, director of the FAO Liaison Office in Geneva, told journalists Tuesday that “We continue to witness severe imbalances across the world.”

“One in 11 people in the world go to bed hungry every day, over 2.8 billion people cannot afford a healthy diet. … We have also the issue of stunting and wasting. As we speak, about 148 million children under the age of 5 are too short for their age, and 45 million are too thin for their height,” he said.

The U.N. children’s fund said children suffering from wasting, which is caused by a lack of nutritious and safe food and repeated bouts of disease, are dangerously thin and their immune systems are weak, “leaving them vulnerable to growth failure, poor development and death.”

UNICEF appealed for $165 million Tuesday to provide essential ready-to-use-therapeutic food for nearly 2 million severely malnourished children “at risk of death” in the 12 hardest-hit countries — Cameroon, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan, Pakistan and Uganda.

“Levels of severe wasting in children under 5 years remain gravely high in several countries, fueled by conflict, economic shocks and climate crises,” it warned.

The International Committee of the Red Cross is among several humanitarian agencies expressing alarm at the escalating incidence of acute hunger and malnutrition across wide swathes of Africa.

“The consequences of armed conflict in the region of Lake Chad, compounded by the effect of climate change, continue killing people, and especially the most vulnerable, the young children,” said Yann Bonzon, head of the ICRC delegation for Nigeria.

Speaking in Nigeria, he told journalists that “Every day, doctors and nurses in health facilities we support in northeast Nigeria receive and treat severely malnourished kids. Desperate mothers tell us every day how healthy children become weak and fall sick, and how putting food on the table has turned into a daily struggle.”

Underscoring the seriousness of the situation, he noted that the number of children treated for severe malnutrition in ICRC health facilities in northeast Nigeria has increased by 24% over the past year.

Humanitarian organizations estimate that across the Lake Chad region nearly 6.1 million people, the highest number in the past four years, will suffer from food shortages in the coming months.

“Farmers tell us how the rampant insecurity due to conflict is preventing farmers from planting their crops” and climate shocks have damaged crops, “contributing to a food crisis across Lake Chad in Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria,” Bonzon said.

A similar scenario is playing out in southern Africa. The United Nations warns a widespread drought in the region, triggered by an El Nino weather pattern could turn into a full-scale humanitarian catastrophe without international assistance.

The World Food Program said the historic drought has devastated more than 27 million lives across the region, noting that some 21 million children are malnourished.

“For many communities, this is the worst food crisis yet,” said Tomson Phiri, WFP spokesperson for Southern Africa.

“October in Southern Africa marks the start of the lean season, and each month is expected to be worse than the previous one until harvests next year in March and April,” he said. “ Crops have failed, livestock has perished and children are lucky to receive one meal per day. The situation is dire, and the need for action has never been clearer.”

The World Food Program said a record five countries – Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe – have declared the hunger crisis “a state of disaster” and have called for international support. The agency noted that Angola and Mozambique also are severely affected.

The U.N. food agency expressed concern that urgent appeals for international support are falling on deaf ears, noting that “we have only received one-fifth of the $369 million needed to provide life-saving assistance to millions in southern Africa.”
…

Turkey is deepening its cooperation with Somalia, this month sending a research ship to look for energy resources. But as Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul, tensions between Somalia and Ethiopia are threatening Ankara’s ambitions in the Horn of Africa region.
…

NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenya’s High Court on Tuesday rejected an application by the deputy president’s lawyers to stop the senate from debating an impeachment motion against him after parliament voted to remove him from office last week. 

Justice Chacha Mwita ruled that parliament will be allowed to proceed with its constitutional mandate and the court won’t “interfere.” 

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s impeachment motion was approved by a 281-44 vote in parliament last week and forwarded to the senate, which will begin hearings on Wednesday. Gachagua is facing impeachment over corruption and other irregularities, including allegations that he supported anti-government protests in June. He denies all the charges against him. 

Under the Kenyan Constitution, the removal from office is automatic if approved by both chambers, though Gachagua can challenge the action in court — something he has said he would do. 

The chief justice on Monday approved a three-judge panel to hear six petitions filed against the impeachment process. 

The debate surrounding his fate has extended beyond parliament — supporters and opponents of the motion clashed last week in public forums after the ruling alliance brought the motion before parliament. 

President William Ruto has yet to publicly comment about the impeachment, but is on record in the earlier days of his presidency saying that he wouldn’t publicly humiliate his deputy, alluding to the troubled relationship he had with his predecessor, Uhuru Kenyatta, during their second term in office. 

The senate requires a two-thirds majority to approve the impeachment motion. If approved, it would be the first time that a sitting deputy president is impeached in Kenya. 
…

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI — A leader of one of Haiti’s most powerful gangs was injured in a shootout with Haitian and Kenyan police in their first major incursion into gang-controlled territory since a United Nations-backed mission began earlier this year, police said Tuesday.

The second-in-command of the Kraze Barye gang, known simply as “Deshommes,” was shot in Torcelle, a community the gang controls in the southeast region of the capital, Port-au-Prince, Haiti National Police said in a statement Tuesday.

Some 20 other gang members were killed during the police operations, which occurred on Saturday and Monday, officials said, adding that they confiscated firearms, munitions, phones and “sensitive materials and equipment.”

Nobody was detained in the operations, and police didn’t say how they know that Deshommes was injured.

Police said the incursions would continue until the gang and its top leader, Vitel’Homme Innocent, could be neutralized.

In a statement, the Kenyans who are leading the mission called on Innocent to “stop committing atrocities against innocent Haitians.”

“[The mission] is sending a strong warning to key gang leaders to stop the barbarous acts of rapes, extortion, kidnapping, blackmail and killings,” they said.

Innocent has been sanctioned by the U.S., the European Union and the U.N. Security Council, with the U.S. offering a $2 million reward for information leading to his capture. He has been indicted in the U.S. for the armed kidnapping of 16 Christian missionaries in 2021 and the slaying of missionary Marie Franklin and kidnapping of her husband in 2022.

In a recent video, Innocent stands near an armored vehicle set on fire that police said they were forced to abandon due to engine failure during one of their operations.

Innocent claimed the gang was not giving police any problems and accused them of “hurting too many innocent people.” He also said the gang has the power to decide who enters and leaves the community it controls.

Kraze Barye is an ally of the G-Pep gang federation, an enemy of G9 Family and Allies, a different federation led by former elite police officer Jimmy Cherizier, best known as Barbecue.

Kraze Barye has about 600 members and controls the community of Tabarre as well as parts of Petionville and Croix-des-Bouquets. The gang is accused of killings, drug and weapon trafficking, rapes, robberies and other crimes, according to the U.N., which called it “one of the most powerful gangs” in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area.

Kenyan officials pledged that “the pressure will be sustained on the gangs until or unless they surrender to the authorities.”

They also noted that operations are still ongoing in the central town of Pont-Sonde, where at least 115 people were killed by another gang earlier this month.
…

MWEA, Kenya — As a helicopter hovers close to an elephant, trying to be as steady as possible, an experienced veterinarian cautiously takes aim. 

A tranquilizer dart whooshes in the air, and within minutes the giant mammal surrenders to a deep slumber as teams of wildlife experts rush to measure its vitals. 

Kenya is suffering from a problem, albeit a good one: the elephant population in the 42-square-kilometer (16-square-mile) Mwea National Reserve, east of the capital Nairobi, has flourished from its maximum capacity of 50 to a whopping 156, overwhelming the ecosystem and requiring the relocation of about 100 of the largest land animals. It hosted only 49 elephants in 1979. 

According to the Kenya Wildlife Service Director General Erustus Kanga, the overpopulation in Mwea highlighted the success of conservation efforts over the last three decades. 

“This shows that poaching has been low, and the elephants have been able to thrive,” Kanga said. 

Experts started relocating 50 elephants last week to the expansive 780-square-kilometer (301-square-mile) Aberdare National Park in central Kenya. As of Monday, 44 elephants had been moved from Mwea to Aberdare, with six others scheduled for Tuesday. 

Tourism Minister Rebecca Miano oversaw the translocation of five of the elephants Monday, saying: “This will go down in history as a record, as it is the biggest exercise of its kind. It is the first time we are witnessing the translocation of 50 elephants at a go.” 

The process started at dawn and involved a team of more than 100 wildlife specialists, with equipment ranging from specially fitted trucks to aircraft and cruisers. A fixed-wing aircraft conducted aerial surveillance to track down herds of elephants, which naturally move in small families of about five. The craft was in constant communication with two helicopters used to herd and separate the elephants to ensure they were relocated with their family units. 

Aboard one of the helicopters is a spotter, on the lookout for elephants, and a veterinarian with a tranquilizer gun. 

Once an elephant is sedated, a ground team of veterinary specialists and rangers rush to find it and clear thickets to make way for transport crews. Its vitals are monitored as another group of rangers works on lifting the massive animal, weighing hundreds of kilograms, onto specialized trucks, to be driven 120 kilometers (74 miles) to their new home. 

Kanga, the wildlife service director, said the relocation was also aimed at curbing human-wildlife conflict. 

Boniface Mbau, a resident of the area, said, “We are very happy that the government has decided to reduce the number of elephants from the area. Due to their high numbers, they did not have enough food in the reserve, and they ended up invading our farms.” 

A second phase to relocate 50 other elephants is planned, but the date has not been disclosed. 

The project has cost at least 12 million Kenyan shillings ($93,000), the wildlife agency said. 

Kenya’s national parks and reserves are home to a variety of wildlife species and attract millions of visitors annually, making the country a tourism hotspot.
…

Cairo — A bus carrying university students crashed and overturned on a highway in northeastern Egypt, killing 12 people and injuring 33 others, the health ministry said Monday night.

Students from the Suez-based Galala University, southeast of Cairo, were on board. Local media reported they were returning from their classes to their dormitory in Porto Sokhna resort, using the Ain Sokhna highway, when the accident happened, and that the driver was arrested as part of an investigation into the crash.

The ministry didn’t say what caused the accident.

The statement said 28 ambulances rushed to the site and transported the injured to the Suez Medical Complex, but didn’t disclose their condition.

Deadly traffic accidents claim thousands of lives every year in Egypt, which has a poor transportation safety record. Speeding, bad roads and poor enforcement of traffic laws mostly cause the collisions.
…

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor said Monday he is renewing an investigation in Congo and focusing on allegations of crimes committed in the conflict-torn North Kivu province in the central African nation’s east since early 2022. 

Eastern Congo has long been overrun by more than 120 armed groups seeking a share of the region’s gold and other resources as some carry out mass killings. The result is one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with more than 7 million people displaced, many beyond the reach of aid. 

The most active rebel group has been M23, which rose to prominence more than a decade ago when its fighters seized Goma, eastern Congo’s largest city on the border with Rwanda. It derives its name from a March 23, 2009, peace deal that it accuses Congo’s government of not implementing. 

In August, clashes between the rebels and pro-government militias killed 16 villagers in a violation of the cease-fire announced in August to help millions displaced. 

The ICC first opened an investigation in Congo 20 years ago following years of armed conflict. Last year the Congolese government asked it to investigate alleged crimes in North Kivu by armed groups operating there since Jan. 1, 2022. 

In a statement, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said recent violence in North Kivu is “interconnected with patterns of violence and hostilities that have plagued the region” since mid-2002. As a result, the more recent allegations fall into the ongoing investigation. 

Khan said his probe in North Kivu “will not be limited to parties or members of specific groups. Rather, my office will examine holistically, independently and impartially the responsibility of all actors” allegedly committing crimes within the court’s jurisdiction. 

The ICC previously convicted three rebels of crimes in Congo’s eastern Ituri region, including a notorious warlord, Bosco Ntaganda, known as “The Terminator” who was found guilty of crimes including murder, rape and sexual slavery. His convictions and 30-year sentence were upheld by appeals judges in 2021.
…

In Namibia, descendants of people who fled German persecution in the early 1900s are returning to their ancestral homeland. The government of Namibia has set aside five commercial farms for the relocation of almost 100 ethnic Ovaherero people. Vitalio Angula reports from Windhoek, Namibia.
…

Nairobi — The World Bank said on Monday it had lowered its economic growth forecast for sub-Saharan Africa this year to 3% from 3.4%, mainly due to the destruction of Sudan’s economy in a civil war.  

However, growth is expected to remain comfortably above last year’s 2.4% thanks to higher private consumption and investment, the bank said in its latest regional economic outlook report, Africa’s Pulse.  

“This is still a recovery that is basically in slow gear,” Andrew Dabalen, chief economist for the Africa region at the World Bank, told a media briefing.  

The report forecast next year’s growth at 3.9%, above its previous prediction of 3.8%.  

Moderating inflation in many countries will allow policymakers to start lowering elevated lending rates, the report said.  

However, the growth forecasts still face serious risks from armed conflict and climate events such as droughts, floods and cyclones, it added.  

Without the conflict in Sudan, which devastated economic activity and caused starvation and widespread displacement, regional growth in 2024 would have been half a percentage point higher and in line with its initial April estimate, the lender said.  

Growth in the region’s most advanced economy, South Africa, is expected to increase to 1.1% this year and 1.6% in 2025, the report said, from 0.7% last year.   

Nigeria is expected to grow at 3.3% this year, rising to 3.6% in 2025, while Kenya, the richest economy in East Africa, is likely to expand by 5% this year, the report said.   

Commodities  

The sub-Saharan Africa region grew at a robust annual average of 5.3% in 2000-2014 on the back of a commodity supercycle, but output started flagging when commodity prices crashed. The slowdown was accelerated by the COVID pandemic.  

“Cumulatively, if that were to continue for a long time, it would be catastrophic,” Dabalen warned.  

Many economies in the region were starved of public and private investments, he said, and a recovery in foreign direct investments that started in 2021 was still tepid.  

“The region needs much, much larger levels of investments in order to be able to recover faster… and be able to reduce poverty,” he said.  

Growth across the region is also hamstrung by high debt service costs in countries like Kenya, which was rocked by deadly protests against tax hikes in June and July.  

“There are staggering levels of interest payments,” Dabalen said, attributing this to a shift by governments to borrow from financial markets in the last decade and away from the low-priced credit offered by institutions like the World Bank.  

Total external debt among economies has risen to about $500 billion from $150 billion a decade and a half ago, he said, with the bulk owed to bond market investors and China.  

Chad, Zambia, Ghana and Ethiopia went into default in the last four years and have overhauled their debt under a G20 initiative Common Framework. Ethiopia is still working to restructure its debt while the others have completed their debt restructuring.  

“As long as these debt issues are not resolved, there is going to be a lot of ‘wait and see’ games going on, and that is not good for the countries, and certainly not good for the creditors as well,” he said.
…