The United Nations said Friday that it is sending home a unit of 60 Tanzanian peacekeepers from the Central African Republic, after a preliminary investigation found credible evidence that 11 of them allegedly sexually exploited and abused at least four victims.  

“The unit has been relocated to another base while investigations continue, and its members have been confined to the barracks, in order to protect victims and the integrity of the investigation,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters. “The unit will be repatriated once their presence is no longer required by the investigation.” 

Dujarric said the victims are being provided with care and support by the mission’s humanitarian partners. He added that Tanzanian authorities have been notified and are deploying their own investigators to the Central African Republic. 

“In reaffirming their commitment to zero tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse, the Tanzanian authorities noted the seriousness of the allegations and have committed to taking the necessary action to address these matters,” Dujarric said. 

VOA has asked Tanzania’s U.N. ambassador for comment. 

According to the Department of Peacekeeping’s website, Tanzania has about 1,586 uniformed personnel in the C.A.R. as part of the more than 17,000-strong mission, known by its acronym, MINUSCA. 

The U.N. has the authority to repatriate international peacekeepers when there is credible evidence that members of a military or police unit have engaged in widespread or systemic sexual exploitation or abuse. 

Dujarric said the Tanzanian peacekeepers were deployed at a temporary operating base in the western part of the Central African Republic. 

The country has been locked in a cycle of political instability, violence and human rights abuses since the 1990s. Intense sectarian fighting in 2013 led to the U.N. authorizing the stabilization mission to the country the following year. 

Since it was established, MINUSCA has had repeated problems with international peacekeepers engaging in sexual exploitation and abuse, including the abuse of children. 

“The United Nations remains committed to robustly implementing the secretary-general’s zero-tolerance policy on sexual exploitation and abuse,” Dujarric told reporters.
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Two very different cases in South Africa this week have both confirmed the country’s position as a bastion of the free press, and conversely also shown how the media is under threat.

In the latter case, investigative news website amaBunghane was slapped with a gag order after an influential businessman went to court alleging leaked documents — which amaBunghane had used in reporting critical of his company — had been stolen.

AmaBhungane was ordered by a judge to return the documents and cease any further reporting on the company, Moti Group – which is alleged to have been involved in wrongdoing and then orchestrating a PR blitz to try and cover it up. The company denies the charges.

When amaBhungane was informed of the judge’s order, which had been heard in secret, the media group sought an urgent reconsideration, and a second judge decided they would not be forced to hand over the leaked documents. The second judge expressed surprise and consternation at the first judge’s decision.

However, the journalists are still barred from further reporting on the Moti group until the case is heard in court.

“Were this order to stand, it would set a dangerous precedent. … Such an order undoubtedly has a chilling effect, especially on investigative journalism,” Sam Sole, a journalist with amaBhungane, told VOA.

Angela Quintal, head of the Committee to Protect Journalists’ Africa Program, echoed his concerns.

“We hope that when the matter is fully ventilated in open court, investigative journalism in the public interest and the protection of confidential sources that are key to exposing massive, alleged corruption in South Africa and elsewhere will be vindicated and not eroded,” Quintal said.

“Not to do so would mean any party can stop investigative journalists from exposing corruption or any other matter of public interest by claiming that the information relied upon is stolen, endangering the lives of whistleblowers or confidential sources by forcing disclosure,” she added.

Investigations essential to democracy

From being one of the countries with the most censored press during the apartheid regime, the advent of democracy in 1994 saw South Africa – which now has one of the world’s most liberal constitutions – become one of the globe’s best places for journalists to work.

Reporters Without Borders’ 2023 Press Freedom Index ranked South Africa as the 25th most free country for press in the world, out of 180 countries. It beat the U.S., which ranked 45th, as well as the U.K.

South African journalists work to expose wrongdoing with strong investigative units at outlets like amaBhungane, Daily Maverick and elsewhere, informing the public about the numerous corruption scandals in government – especially under former President Jacob Zuma.

Without the digging by the media, the influence peddling and assault on state institutions during Zuma’s tenure that became known in South Africa as “State Capture,” might never have come to light. Zuma is currently on trial in a separate corruption case.

A lot of that reporting relied on leaks and whistleblowers, which is why the Moti Group’s gag order poses such a threat, according to independent experts.

“The original judge set a very worrying precedent – of the sort we have not seen since the apartheid days,” Anton Harber, professor of journalism at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, told VOA.

“If you label leaks like this as stolen goods then you would put an end to most journalism-based leaks,” he added, pointing to the Pentagon Papers and Edward Snowden’s revelations as examples.

Sole said the Moti Group’s allegation that the documents were stolen was unproven.

“And we maintain that the constitutional protection of free expression entails, inter alia, that regardless of the manner in which information has been obtained by a source, it is not unlawful for journalists to hold any information provided by a source, provided they do so in the public interest,” he added.

The South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF) is supporting amaBhungane in the case, with executive director Reggy Moalusi telling VOA, “The gag is certainly a threat to press freedom as it seeks to stop any publication of the work that amaBhungane does, despite this being in the public interest.”

A court date to try to overturn the entire initial order is set for June 27.

The pen is mightier than … the president

While experts agree the amaBhungane case is concerning, there was also a positive story this week relating to journalism in South Africa.

One of the country’s most renowned legal reporters, Karyn Maughan, was victorious when a court prohibited former President Zuma from continuing his private prosecution of her.

Quintal said the throwing out of the case was “a legal smackdown for former South African President Jacob Zuma and a massive victory for Karyn Maughan.”

Zuma had tried to prosecute Maughan, who writes for online publication News24, along with state advocate Billy Downer, after Downer allegedly leaked the ex-president’s confidential medical records to the reporter. The court found that the information was already public.

Such so-called SLAPP lawsuits (strategic litigation against public participation) are often aimed at silencing whistleblowers or preventing media from reporting.

But the court found Zuma’s private prosecution amounted to an “abuse of power,” which stemmed from his “personal animosity” toward the reporter. The judges also said Maughan’s constitutional right to freedom of expression had been violated.

“I’m very grateful that I live and operate in a constitutional democracy that recognizes the right to freedom of the press, and that that right has been explicitly referenced in this judgment,” Maughan told VOA.

“I think it’s a victory for all the people living in South Africa, because ultimately if you want an effective democracy, you need a free press that’s able to operate without fear or favor, and that’s what this judgment recognizes,” she added.
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In parts of Cameroon, the price of gasoline has doubled since Nigeria’s new President Bola Tinubu scrapped a government fuel subsidy in the oil rich nation.  Nigeria is one of Africa’s leading oil producers and subsidized petroleum products are routinely smuggled into Cameroon and sold by the roadside. Now, with the subsidy in place, business people in Cameroon say they are struggling to cope as fuel prices rise.

Traders in towns and villages on Cameroon’s border with Nigeria say business has suffered since Nigerian President Bola Tinubu announced the end of fuel subsidies on May 29.

Thousands of Cameroonians and Nigerians trade cattle, cotton, foods and other products across their countries’ 2,000-kilometer long border.

Thirty-three-year old Alphonsine Ngaba buys body lotions, perfumes and cosmetic products in Nigeria for sale in Limani, a town in northern Cameroon.   

She says the end of the fuel subsidy has led to a fuel shortage, hampering business on both sides of the border.  

Ngaba says at least a hundred merchants returning from Nigeria have been stranded for three days in Limani, where several dozen transport trucks, vehicles and motorcycles are grounded by fuel scarcity. She says within the past two weeks a fuel shortage has hit towns and villages on Cameroon’s border that solely depend on Nigeria for petrol.

Ngaba said a few drivers entering Cameroon complain that fuel is expensive in Nigeria and have more than doubled the fares they charge to transport goods.

Cameroon’s National Institute of Statistics reports that in 2022, more than 30 percent of Cameroonians bought petrol from Nigeria. A liter of Nigerian petrol sold for about 50 cents, while petrol supplied by Cameroon’s state oil firm SONARA sold at more than one dollar.

Nigerian President Tinubu cited heavy smuggling of petrol into Cameroon, Chad, Benin and other countries as a reason for halting the subsidy.

Donatus Manga imports petrol from Nigeria and sells in Buea, a town near Cameroon’s southwestern border with Nigeria.

He says the price of petrol from Nigeria has more than doubled in the past 10 days, cutting deeply into his business.  

“Business is quite slow and difficult,” said Manga. “At first, I could sell up to 2,000 liters a day, but as of now, I hardly sell up to 200 liters a day due to the rise in the price of petrol from Cross River state, Nigeria.”

Manga said his supplier has been unable to import petrol from Nigeria’s Cross River state for two weeks.

Civilians in Cameroon’s border towns and villages say the fuel situation has also caused a 15 percent increase in prices of basic commodities and motor spare parts imported from Nigeria.

To ease the fuel shortage, the government of Cameroon says it will supply petrol to towns and villages in need.
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U.S. officials tasked with tracking Islamic State are seeing worrisome signs that the terror group’s core leadership is strengthening control over its global network of affiliates despite a series of key losses.

Specifically, the United States is raising concerns about the group’s General Directorate of Provinces, a series of nine regional offices set up over the past several years to sustain the group’s reputation and global capabilities.

The U.S. State Department on Thursday highlighted the threat posed by these regional offices, designating the leaders of the offices in Iraq and in Africa’s Sahel region as Specially Designated Global Terrorists.

‘Not yet done’

“We remain focused on cutting off ISIS’s ability to raise and move funds across multiple jurisdictions,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, speaking to a meeting in Riyadh of the global coalition that has been working to defeat Islamic State, also known as ISIS, IS or Daesh.

“For all our progress, the fight is not yet done,” Blinken added.

A separate State Department statement Thursday noted the terror group maintains connections to the global financial system and that IS’s core leadership has “relied on its regional General Directorate of Provinces offices to provide operational guidance and funding around the world.”

The new designations specifically name Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rufay’I, the former emir of IS’s Iraq province, as the leader of the Iraq-based Bilad al-Rafidayn Office, and Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Ali al-Mainuki as the leader of the al-Furqan office, which oversees operations in the Sahel.

Concern about the regional offices has been growing for more than a year, with a U.N. report warning in July 2022 that the offices were key to the terror group’s plans for “reviving its external operational capability.”

The U.N. report cited the al-Furqan office, located in the Lake Chad Basin and charged with overseeing the terror group’s efforts in and around Nigeria and the western Sahel, as one of “the most vigorous and best-established [ISIS] regional networks.”

The report further warned that the Al-Siddiq office in Afghanistan and the Al-Karrar office in Somalia were likewise playing critical roles in Islamic State’s expansion.

Intelligence shared by U.N. member states at the time, however, suggested some of the other regional offices, including those in Turkey, Libya, Yemen and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, were struggling, and in some cases nonfunctional.

And despite a series of high-profile leadership losses, including the deaths or captures of at least 13 senior officials since early 2022, time seems to have worked in the terror group’s favor.

The regional office model, answering to the group’s core leadership, “has really enabled a lot of these groups to rapidly gain capability,” said Anand Arun, a U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency senior officer and analyst.

“They’re pooling resources. They’re sharing TTP [tactics, techniques and procedures]. They’re sharing guidance,” Arun told a forum hosted by George Washington University’s Program on Extremism on Wednesday. “We’re seeing ISIS’s local and regional attack capabilities in Africa increase.”

Enhanced internet ties

Others are also seeing IS affiliates, like IS West Africa Province, maximize these connections by using enhanced internet connections for what one expert described as “real-time communication.”

“We also saw conference calls, sometimes conference calls between ISIS central and African groups but also amongst African groups,” said Bulama Bukarti, a researcher and vice president at the Bridgeway Foundation, a charity that aims to prevent mass atrocities.

“They also share intelligence information, best practices,” he said, speaking at the same forum as Arun. “So, for example, if one affiliate looted a particular weapon they don’t know how to operate, they just would take a photo of it, put it in the group [chat], and then someone would send them instructions, would send them a YouTube link with instructions on how to operate it.”

Bukarti also warned that IS’s adoption of advanced technologies has extended to other areas, with IS West Africa Province conducting trials on how to arm commercial drones to be used in attacks.

U.S. officials share the concern.

“I’m very much concerned about that and kind of the trajectory,” said the DIA’s Arun, calling the possibilities “exponential.”

“I think there’s a lot of ways that they can harness what’s coming with AI [artificial intelligence] and drones and other things,” he said.

Already, the United States has been leading efforts to crack down on these networks.

Last November, the Treasury Department sanctioned a smuggling network in Somalia that may have been linked to IS’s Al-Karrar regional office.

And in January, U.S. special operations forces killed Bilal al-Sudani, a key IS financial facilitator, during a raid on a mountainous cave complex in a remote part of northern Somalia.

But some of the information turned up during that operation has given U.S. officials cause to worry about IS’s growing technological prowess.

“If Bilal al-Sudani can access the internet from a cave in the Puntland of Somalia, I think they can figure it out,” Arun said.  
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A painter in Ghana is using her art to campaign against child marriage. Awanle Ayiboro was forced into marriage as a teenager and is using her own experience to dispel misconceptions about the development of girls and young women. Victoria Amunga reports from Accra. Camera: Senanu Tord.
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About 300 infants, toddlers and older children have been rescued from an orphanage in Sudan’s capital after being trapped there while fighting raged outside, aid officials said Thursday. The evacuation came after 71 children died from hunger and illness in the facility since mid-April.

The tragedy at the Al-Mayqoma orphanage made headlines late last month as fighting raged outside between Sudan’s military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

The deaths have highlighted the heavy toll inflicted on civilians since mid-April when the clashes erupted between forces loyal to Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan and RSF forces led by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo.

About 300 children at the Al-Mayqoma orphanage in Khartoum were transferred to a “safer location” elsewhere in the northeastern African nation, said Ricardo Pires, a spokesman for the U.N. children’s agency, UNICEF.

Sudan’s ministries of social development and health have taken charge of the children, while UNICEF has provided humanitarian support including medical care, food, educational activities and play, Pires said in an email to The Associated Press.

He said the children had received medical checks following their long journey to their new location, adding that “any child requiring hospitalization will have access to healthcare.”

The International Committee of The Red Cross, which helped with the evacuation, said the children, aged between 1 month to 15 years, were relocated after securing a safe corridor to Madani, the capital of Jazira province, about 135 kilometers (85 miles) southeast of Khartoum. Seventy caretakers have been transferred with the children, the ICRC said.

“They (the children) spent incredibly difficult moments in an area where the conflict has been raging for the past 6 weeks without access to proper healthcare, an especially hard situation for children with special needs,” said Jean-Christophe Sandoz, the head of the ICRC delegation in Sudan.

Nazim Sirag, an activist who heads the local charity Hadhreen, said in a phone interview that the children were ferried late Tuesday to a newly established facility in Madani.

Sirag, whose charity led humanitarian efforts to help the orphanage and other nursing homes in Khartoum, said at least 71 children died at the Al-Mayqoma since the war in Sudan began on April 15.

Among the dead were babies as young as three months, according to death certificates obtained by the AP. The certificates listed circulatory collapse as a cause of death, but also mentioned other contributing factors such as fever, dehydration, malnutrition, and failure to thrive.

Their relocation followed an online campaign led by local activists and international charities, which intensified after the death of 26 children in two days at the orphanage in late May. The children had been trapped in the fighting for over seven weeks as food and other supplies dwindled. The facility was inaccessible because of the war had turned the capital and other urban areas into battlefields.

“The safe movement of these incredibly vulnerable children to a place of safety offers a ray of light in the midst of the ongoing conflict in Sudan,” Mandeep O’Brien, UNICEF Representative in Sudan, said in a statement. “Many millions of children remain at risk across Sudan.”

Local volunteers, meanwhile, evacuated 77 other children earlier this week from separate foster homes in the coastal, Sirag of Hadhreen said. The children have temporarily sheltered along with 11 adults in a school in the town of Hasahisa, also in Jazira province, he said.

The fighting has inflicted a heavy toll on civilians, particularly children. More than 860 civilians, including at least 190 children, were killed and thousands of others were wounded since April 15, according to Sudan’s Doctors’ Syndicate which tracks civilian casualties. The tally is likely to be much higher.

The conflict has forced more than 1.9 million people to flee their homes, including around 477,000 who crossed into neighboring countries, according to the U.N.’s migration agency. Others remain trapped inside their homes, unable to escape as food and water supplies dwindle. The clashes have also disrupted the work of humanitarian groups.

There have been reports of widespread looting and sexual violence, including the rape of women and girls in Khartoum and the western Darfur region, which have seen some of the worst fighting in the conflict. Almost all reported cases of sexual attacks were blamed on the RSF, which didn’t respond to repeated requests for comment.
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A local representative says at least 13 people are dead and 21 have been wounded in clashes at a United Nations site in South Sudan for the protection of displaced civilians.

The fighting erupted Thursday morning in the Malakal site between members of the Shilluk and Nuer ethnic groups.

The cause of the fighting was not immediately clear. The situation remained tense amid fears that the fighting would resume, Yoannes Kimo, deputy chairperson representing displaced people at the site, told The Associated Press by phone.

The U.N. office in South Sudan said in a statement that the fighting began with a stabbing, and it called for “calm and order.” It said reports indicated three dead. The office said its mission has reinforced the military and police presence in the area in “close collaboration” with the military and authorities.

Deadly violence between ethnic groups and communities still troubles South Sudan years after a 2018 peace deal to end a five-year civil war. During the conflict, thousands of people took shelter inside U.N. protection sites.
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Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Wednesday that talks about resolving the conflict with Russia could not start with a mere cessation of hostilities.

“If anyone thinks they should freeze the conflict and then see how to solve it, they don’t understand it,” he said in an online briefing aimed at African journalists, following a tour of African countries.

More than 100 rounds of consultation and attempts at a cease-fire since Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 only led to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, he said.

A delegation of African heads of state is expected to visit Ukraine and Russia in the next few days, hoping to persuade them to cease hostilities, a spokesperson for South African President Cyril Ramaphosa told Reuters last month.

He said on Wednesday that no date had been set for the mission.

Such a proposal means that Russian troops would remain on Ukrainian soil even as peace talks start. Ukraine previously said Russian forces should withdraw before such negotiations could start, while Moscow wants Kyiv to recognize Russian sovereignty over Crimea as a precondition for negotiations.

President Macky Sall of Senegal, last year’s African Union chairman, whose country was not present at the latest U.N. vote condemning Russia in February, leads the initiative. The current African Union chairman, Comoros Islands President Othman Ghazali, was recently added to the delegation.

It also includes Presidents Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt and Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia — which both voted for the resolution — and Congo Republic’s Denis Sassou Nguesso and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, which both abstained, as did South Africa.

Kuleba has been on a charm offensive in Africa to win support on a continent where 30 of the 54 African U.N. member states voted in favor of the U.N. resolution condemning Russia’s invasion.

“What we see in our relations with the continent right now is fair to call a Ukrainian-African renaissance,” Kuleba said.

He had no details on what the African peace mission entailed, but he welcomed it.

“We are looking forward to hosting these presidents in Kyiv,” he said.
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Zeinab was fleeing war-torn Sudan’s capital to seek safety when she found herself pinned to the ground, a rifle to her chest, as a paramilitary fighter raped her.

“I was sure we were about to die,” she told AFP, recounting how she, her younger sister and two other women, one with an infant daughter, were all sexually violated.

Dozens of women have reported similar attacks — in their homes, by the roadside and in commandeered hotels — since the war erupted in mid-April between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

A month into the war, said Zeinab, the women were fleeing Khartoum when their minibus was stopped at an RSF checkpoint.

Terrified, they were marched into a warehouse where a man “in civilian clothes who seemed to be their commander” ordered Zeinab to the ground, she said.

“I was pinned down by one man while the other raped me,” she told AFP. “When he was done, they switched. They wanted to keep my sister with them. I begged them on my hands and knees to let her go.”

The women were eventually allowed to leave and escaped to Madani, 200 kilometers away, where they reported the attack to police and went to a hospital.

When Zeinab later recounted their ordeal, she had found refuge in another country.

“We’re not the first people this has happened to, or the last,” she said.

Sudan’s war has claimed at least 1,800 lives and displaced more than 1.5 million people.

The horrors of the conflict have been compounded by a wave of sexual violence, say survivors, medics and activists who spoke to AFP.

Most have requested anonymity or, like Zeinab, used a pseudonym for fear of reprisals against them and others.

Both Sudan’s army chief, General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the RSF, led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, have accused their enemies of such attacks.

And human rights lawyer Jehanne Henry said that indeed both sides have committed “notorious acts of sexual violence” in the past.

The governmental Combating Violence Against Women and Children Unit documented 49 assaults in the first two weeks of the war.

In all but six cases, survivors identified perpetrators “in RSF uniform,” said unit chief Sulaima Ishaq al-Khalifa, adding that there are “new reports night and day.”

“There is not a single woman in Khartoum now who feels safe, not even in her own home,” al-Khalifa said.

The worst fighting has raged in Khartoum and the Darfur region, where former dictator Omar al-Bashir once unleashed the notorious Janjaweed militia from which the RSF emerged.

In their scorched-earth campaign since 2003, they committed genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, including rape, according to the International Criminal Court.

Now mass rapes are again being reported in Darfur, said Adjaratou Ndiaye, the U.N. Women representative in Sudan.

Documented cases, like wider casualty counts, are likely “the tip of the iceberg,” said a Sudanese Women Rights Action group researcher.

Medics say many victims receive no care as hospitals have been ransacked or destroyed.

Many cases have been reported by civil society groups known as resistance committees, which long campaigned for democracy.

A lawyer who has long documented sexual assaults by security forces, said the scourge now impacts “every segment of Sudanese society.”

“We have seen the rape of young girls and old women, mothers with their children,” she said, adding that to the perpetrators “it doesn’t matter.”

Amid dire shortages, health workers have struggled to provide HIV medication or emergency contraceptives.

“The situation is catastrophic,” said a member of the Central Committee of Sudanese Pharmacists.

Activists and medics are trying to document every attack. The aim, said the lawyer, is “to ensure there is no impunity.”

Zeinab hopes the rapists will one day face justice but voices resignation.

“I shared my testimony to try and stop this happening to others, to tell them the road isn’t safe,” she said. “But even when I filed the police report, I knew nothing would come of it. They’re never going to get the men who did this.”
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Artificial Intelligence tools like ChatGPT are presenting problems in Kenya’s education system, as in so many others. Some writers who offer academic assistance to students say AI tools are cutting into their business, while professors worry students have new ways to cheat. Mohammed Yusuf reports.
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Ethiopia says its forces in Somalia thwarted an al-Shabab attack on a base Wednesday in the Somali town of Doolow.

“The Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) stopped the attackers in their tracks before they could wreak havoc,” Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs tweeted.

It added: “The ENDF neutralised suicide bombers and destroyed weapons to be used by the terrorist group.”

Earlier, residents in Doolow reported that two explosions targeted an Ethiopian military base outside the town on Wednesday, just after 10 a.m. local time.

A resident who did not want to be identified for security reasons said the first explosion occurred at a checkpoint for the entrance of the base, while the second explosion took place away from the location of the first one.

A purported video clip recorded by a second resident shows a white plume of smoke rising from the site of the first explosion. As the witness recorded, the sound of the second explosion could be heard.

Ethiopia keeps thousands of troops in Somalia to fight al-Shabab and protect its border. The troops serve as part of the Africa Union (AU) mission to support the Somali government. Ethiopia also has non-AU forces based on a bilateral agreement with the Somali government, to fight al-Shabab and protect its border.

In a statement, al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack, saying they sent two vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices driven by suicide bombers.

The government-owned Somali National News Agency (SONNA) reported that the first vehicle exploded at the entrance of the base, causing “significant damage” and injuring four soldiers.

Osman Nuh Haji, a Somali regional security official, denied the report, telling VOA Somali that there were no casualties among soldiers or civilians, and that troops destroyed a vehicle before it reached the base.

He said a car with explosives approached the base manned by Somali and Ethiopian forces.

“The checkpoint is far from the base. When the car failed to stop, the soldiers fired shots in order to stop it,” Haji said. “When that did not succeed and they realized that it’s carrying explosives they destroyed it with a missile.”

The base is located at the town’s airport. Haji said the vehicle’s intention was to enter the base and the airport and to cause maximum damage to the troops and planes.

Tigist Geme contributed to this report.
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After his May 29 inauguration, Nigerian president Bola Tinubu announced he would soon end a decades-old fuel subsidy, saying the country can no longer afford the cost. His comments sparked panic buying of gas and raised concerns about inflation in one of Africa’s top oil-producing countries. Gibson Emeka has this report from Abuja.

Camera: Gibson Emeka
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Sudan’s army has been battling to defend a military industrial complex believed to contain large stocks of weapons and ammunition in southern Khartoum, close to fuel and gas depots that are at risk of exploding, residents said on Wednesday.

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), in the eighth week of a power struggle with the army, had attacked the area containing the Yarmouk complex late on Tuesday before retreating after heavy fighting, witnesses said. Clashes could still be heard on Wednesday morning.

The RSF quickly seized swathes of the capital after war erupted in Khartoum on April 15. Army air strikes and artillery fire have shown little sign of dislodging them, but as the fighting drags on the RSF may face a challenge restocking with ammunition and fuel.

Fighting across the three cities that make up Sudan’s greater capital region – Khartoum, Bahri and Omdurman – has picked up since a 12-day ceasefire formally expired on June 3 after repeated violations.

“Since yesterday there has been a violent battle with the use of planes and artillery and clashes on the ground and columns of smoke rising,” Nader Youssef, a resident living near Yarmouk, told Reuters by phone.

Due to the proximity of fuel and gas depots, “any explosion could destroy residents and the whole area,” he said.

The fighting derailed the launch a transition towards civilian rule four years after a popular uprising ousted strongman president Omar al-Bashir. The army and RSF, which together staged a coup in 2021, fell out over the chain of command and military restructuring plans under the transition.

Water shortages

The conflict has wreaked havoc on the capital, triggered new outbursts of deadly violence in the long volatile western region of Darfur, and displaced more than 1.9 million people.

Most health services have collapsed, power and water is often cut, and looting has been spreading.

In Bahri, north of the Blue Nile from Khartoum, local activists said that more than 50 days of water cuts had driven many people from their homes and that they were caught between having nothing to drink and being trapped in the crossfire as they searched for water.

More than 1,428,000 people have been driven from their homes within Sudan and a further 476,800 have fled into neighbouring countries, most of which are already struggling with poverty and internal conflict, according to estimates published on Tuesday by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Sudan’s health ministry has recorded at least 780 civilian deaths as a direct result of the fighting. Hundreds more have been killed in the city of El Geneina in West Darfur. Medical officials say many bodies remain uncollected or unrecorded.

The deal for the ceasefire that ended on Saturday was brokered by Saudi Arabia and the United States at talks in Jeddah, where a mediator said negotiations were continuing in an effort to provide safe passage for humanitarian assistance.

Consultations for a new truce deal, which had been reported by Saudi TV station Al Arabiya on Tuesday, were at an early stage and complicated by the continued fighting, the source said.

The United Nations says aid that could reach about 2.2 million people had been delivered since late May but that some 25 million – more than half the population – are in need of assistance.
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Rwandan President Paul Kagame has embarked on a major shakeup of the country’s military, with a round of dismissals announced Wednesday after the appointment of a new defense minister, army chief and head of internal security.

Army spokesman Ronald Rvivanga told local media that two long-serving generals, Major General Aloys Muganga and Brigadier General Francis Mutiganda, had been sacked for “indiscipline.”

“According to the law, this means that they have to hand over military equipment and leave the army without any benefits, because of what they did,” he said, without elaborating.

Another 14 officers were also dismissed along with more than 200 others, the Rwanda Defense Force said in a statement.

On Tuesday, Kagame had announced a reshuffle in several top security posts, without giving any reasons for the move.

He said Juvenal Marizamunda had been appointed defense minister, replacing Albert Murasira who had served in the post since 2018.

The 58-year-old Marizamunda was previously the head of Rwanda’s correctional services, and also a former deputy inspector general of police.

Kagame also appointed Mubarak Muganga as the new chief of defense staff, and Vincent Nyakarundi as army chief of staff, a statement from his office said.

Jean Bosco Ntibitura was named director general in charge of internal security in the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS).

Other changes were also made to command roles in the Rwandan force which has been deployed in Mozambique since 2021 to counter a jihadist insurgency.

Of the sacked generals, Muganga had been appointed commander of mechanized forces in 2019, while Mutiganda had been in charge of external security at the NISS until October 2018 when he was called back to RDF headquarters in an unspecified role, local media reports said.

“He [Kagame] has also authorized the dismissal of 116 other ranks and approved the rescission of 112 other ranks,” the RDF statement said, adding that the moves were effective immediately.

Last week, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s army accused the Rwandan military and the M23 rebel group of planning to attack the eastern Congolese city of Goma.

The Tutsi-led M23 has captured swathes of territory in North Kivu province since taking up arms in late 2021 after years of dormancy, with over one million people displaced by the fighting.

The DRC has repeatedly accused neighboring Rwanda and its Tutsi-led government of backing the M23, a charge backed by several Western countries and independent UN experts, but one that Kigali denies.
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Malawi’s government has started revoking citizenship of refugees and asylum-seekers who they say obtained their status fraudulently.

Officials say the campaign is aimed at flushing out criminals from other countries, including Rwandan genocide suspects. But critics say the program is too broad and will ensnare legitimate refugees. 

Minister of Homeland Security Zikhale Ng’oma told a televised news conference Monday that Malawi received a request from Rwanda to help track down about 55 criminals wanted for various charges who are staying in Malawi.

Ng’oma said the fugitives could not be found easily because they might have changed their identities and started using Malawian names.

As part of the manhunt, he said, the government is revoking passports and citizenships that were fraudulently obtained.

“We want to tighten our security and ensure that whosoever obtained a passport in a manner that is not normal, we have to confiscate that passport. And whoever got citizenship without right procedures, we will also revoke [that] citizenship,” Ng’oma said.

In 2020, Malawi’s High Court sentenced the former minister of homeland security, Uladi Mussa, to six years in jail for issuing fraudulent citizenships and passports to Burundians and Rwandans.

Ng’oma said some of the 55 suspects sought by Rwanda are wanted in connection with the deaths of over 2,000 people during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

Last month, the government of South Africa arrested a Rwandese genocide suspect, Fulgence Kayishema. Investigations revealed that Kayishema was using a Malawian passport and names.

“Having managed to get one sample of what is happening in South Africa in regard to our passports, we believe that some people are using false identities in Malawi,” Ng’oma said. “As such, as I am talking, Malawi government, we are in talks with Burundi and Rwanda in regard to those people we want to repatriate.” 

Ng’oma said the government is also searching for other criminals the U.N. refugee agency says may have gained official papers in Malawi. 

“And the department of the UNHCR of late wrote us a letter that we need to repatriate 522 asylum-seekers who are associated with criminalities from their countries. And those people are hiding in our villages,” he said.

Ng’oma said the presence of fugitives in Malawi poses a security threat, and he believes many of them are keeping guns and ammunition.

As an example, he cited a grenade explosion at the Dzaleka refugee camp last December which killed a leader for refugees from Burundi and injured five others at a market.

Ng’oma said Malawi has revoked papers for 396 foreigners in all. 

However, rights groups have warned that a program aimed at criminals may victimize legitimate refugees.

“The way the government is implementing this exercise, it’s targeting everyone, indiscriminately,” said Michael Kayiyatsa, executive director for the Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation in Malawi. “And our concern is that children are being victimized, women, people with disabilities, you know, vulnerable groups who have nothing to do with what the government is alleging.”

Kayiyatsa said although there could be criminal elements among some refugees and asylum-seekers, the Malawi government should find better ways of targeting the criminals.

“If the idea was to target those warlords, there was a better way to do it,” he said. “If you look at countries like South Africa, they are hunting for genocide suspects, but in the process, they are not victimizing everyone. It’s targeted, it’s based on intelligence.”

In the meantime, the Malawi government has asked those illegally keeping guns and ammunition to surrender them to police or risk being arrested. 
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Journalists in Cameroon say the government’s indefinite shutdown of a radio station and suspension of four reporters is a sign of a growing crackdown on the country’s news media. The government says it is trying to stop the spread of hate speech, while journalists say officials want to retaliate against criticism of President Paul Biya.

Bruno Bidjang, host of the popular program on Vision 4 TV called “Club d’Elite” has said on his program that he will continue exercising his profession to the best of his ability without fear.

However, Cameroon’s National Communication Council, an organ created by the government to regulate the media, imposed a one-month suspension on Bidjang for hosting guests who the government says used hateful language on his program.

The NCC said Bidjang was warned several times, but he continued inviting such guests on the program.

The council this week also imposed suspensions on a radio station and three other media practitioners for broadcasting offensive or hateful content.

NCC President Joe Chebongkeng Kalabubse said these journalists and media outlets propagated hate speech and xenophobic language.

“We have noticed that we can nip the problem in the bud by encouraging journalists to be more professional,” Kalabubse said. “We want to encourage journalists to be as professional as possible. We will not hesitate to sanction them if they falter.”

Kalabubse said he has informed Cameroon’s minister of territorial administration, Paul Atanga Nji, to make sure that journalists who do not respect the order are punished, and media organizations that continue to broadcast are permanently closed.

Nji said he has instructed police and local government officials to force the journalists to respect the sanctions.

“The media men should know that they have the moral obligation to comply by respecting these decisions taken for the common good,” Nji said. “Because if we are in a state of law and we don’t respect the laws of the republic, then we are walking towards a jungle, and Cameroon is not a jungle. We should use liberty of expression to construct and not to destroy. So, I want to tell the media men that they have the obligation to comply. If they don’t comply, we will accompany them to comply by force.”

But journalists in Cameroon say they are victims of increasing oppression. They say the government clamps down on media that hold contrary opinions to state actions.

The Cameroon Journalists Trade Union said the NCC was set up by Biya to defend his interests and crack down on journalists who oppose his rule.

The trade union said senior state functionaries and military officials who are accused of corrupt practices ask the NCC to suspend reporters — a charge the NCC denies.

The government said hate speech propagated through the media has become rampant since the disputed 2018 presidential election.

In addition, some French-speaking host communities accuse English speakers displaced by the separatist conflict in the west of being separatist fighters or sympathizers.

Cameroon’s minister of territorial administration said local media that do not stop guests in debate programs from asking communities to rise against one another will be punished. Journalists who anchor such programs will also be punished, the government said, though it has not outlined any punishment.

Cameroon has more than 600 newspapers, about 200 radio stations and 60 TV networks, yet producing independent and critical reporting is still challenging, according to Reporters Without Borders.

In its 2023 World Press Freedom Index, the organization said Cameroon is one of Africa’s most dangerous countries for journalists, since they operate in a hostile and precarious environment.
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Tanzania’s government is encouraging drivers to switch from putting gasoline in their tanks to compressed natural gas (CNG). This initiative aims to lower carbon emissions that cause global warming. As Charles Kombe reports from Dar es Salaam, some drivers are also hoping the switch will save them money in the long run. Camera: Rajabu Hassan
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Kenyan police fired tear gas near parliament on Tuesday at hundreds of people protesting a proposed finance bill that would hike taxes on fuel, housing and digital content.

President William Ruto, who won election last August on a platform of helping the poor, is under pressure to raise revenues in East Africa’s economic powerhouse in the face of rising debt repayments.

But his proposal to do so has drawn sharp criticism from civil servants and political opponents, who say that the cost of living is already too high.

Police fired tear gas to disperse about 500 protesters who marched to parliament to present a petition against the bill, a Reuters witness said. Eleven protesters were seen being detained by police.

Ruto has defended bill, saying its provisions are needed to ensure financial stability and create jobs for young people by building new houses financed through a housing levy. The legislation is expected to be voted on next week.

The opposition Azimio La Umoja (Declaration of Unity) party, which has since March led protests against the government over the high cost of living and alleged fraud in last year’s election, has said the bill would take the country back to 1980s, when the economy started to deteriorate.

Last week, the opposition suspended bipartisan talks in parliament aimed at ending their row with the government, and its leader Raila Odinga has threatened to hold more protests.

Labour unions, including one representing health workers, also protested against the bill last week.

 
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Sudan’s warring military factions clashed by air and on the ground in the country’s capital on Tuesday, as increased violence and spreading lawlessness added to the misery of residents already struggling with limited food and medicine.

Fighting between the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, now in its eighth week, has killed hundreds of civilians, and driven 400,000 across borders and more than 1.2 million out of the capital and other cities.

Saudi Arabia and the United States had brokered talks that had led to imperfectly-observed ceasefires with the aim of providing humanitarian assistance. But talks collapsed last week and while delegations remain in Jeddah no direct talks have been announced.

The fighting has inflicting heavy damage on the capital where the remaining residents are at the mercy of battles, air strikes and looting.

Artillery and air strikes continued overnight, with residents in southern and eastern Khartoum and northern Bahri reporting hearing sounds of artillery and gun clashes on Tuesday morning.

Overnight, the two forces clashed in the streets of the city of Omdurman, around the army’s key Engineers Corps base. The army, which tends to prefer air strikes to ground fighting was able to maintain its positions around the base but could not push back the RSF, which controls most of the rest of the city.

“Our neighbourhood has become a war zone. There are fierce clashes and strikes all around us because our house is next to the Engineers’ Corps,” said 45-year-old Jawahir Mohamed.

“We are scared of dying but we are also scared of leaving our house and being burgled,” she added.

Looters, some of whom Khartoum residents and neighborhood committees say belong to the RSF, have pillaged neighborhoods across the capital, stealing cars, breaking open safes, and occupying homes.

Aid groups have struggled to provide extensive assistance to Khartoum residents, who face electricity and water shortages as well as dwindling supplies in shops and pharmacies.

Neighbourhod-based resistance committees have organized such assistance, but have struggled as fighting has intensified.

“We could not distribute medicines because of the air and artillery bombardment,” said one activist who asked not to be named.

Fighting has expanded beyond Khartoum to the Darfur region to the West, where the RSF originated and maintains a power base. Also hit by fighting is the city of El Obeid, a key route between Khartoum and Darfur.
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Ugandan soldiers hid for six days before being rescued after al-Shabab militants overran their base, a spokesperson for the Uganda Peoples’ Defense Forces (UPDF) told VOA Somali.  

Brigadier General Felix Kulaigye said the four soldiers, including a lieutenant, survived by hiding within and around the base in the town of Bulo Marer, 110 kilometers south of Mogadishu.  

He said the troops were found after the Ugandan contingent retook the base on Thursday.   

“When we recovered, they were weak because they were only surviving on urine,” Kulaigye said.  

He said each of the soldiers was hiding alone, in separate locations.   

“They were weak out of hunger,” he said. 

“The lieutenant had been wounded, his leg was in bad shape and they have been treated in hospital, but they are promising to recover very well.”  

The news comes as President Yoweri Museveni disclosed that 54 Ugandan soldiers were killed in the May 26 attack.    

“We discovered the lifeless bodies of fifty-four fallen soldiers, including a Commander,” Museveni said in a tweet.  

Uganda sent a team led by land forces commander Lieutenant General Kayanja Muhanga to Somalia to investigate the attack.  

Museveni singled out two commanders for making a “mistake” by ordering the soldiers to retreat.   

“They have been apprehended and will face charges in the Court Martial,” Museveni said.  

The al-Shabab militant group on Monday published a video purportedly from the raid on the UPDF base. In the video, the leader of al-Shabab, Ahmed Umar Abu Ubaidah, whose face is blurred, sends off the attackers.  

Heartbreak 

Officials said Ugandans were heartbroken and shocked by the news that 54 of their soldiers were killed.  

Ugandan diplomat and former deputy head of the Africa Union Mission in Somalia, Simon Mulongo, who is now a security analyst, said people received the news of the attack and overrunning of the base by militants with shock.    

“They felt their deaths were cruel,” he told VOA Somali.    

“Uganda had never suffered such a deadly attack. There has been some attacks or attempted attacks and probing attacks, but we never lost some high number. And as such, it took us by shock.”    

Mulongo also said the attack generated debate on whether to withdraw troops from Somalia or keep them to let the mission “pursue its objectives to its logical conclusion.”    

“It’s a kind of mixed reaction but in both cases, it’s with pain,” Mulongo added.  

Kulaigye observed similar mixed reactions.  

“Some urge us to go on and make sure we revenge,” he said.  

“Others felt the mission should get out because we are dying for other people, not for our country; and for us, we are saying we have to keep [troops] in [Somalia] so that the entire Africa is peaceful.”  

Kulaigye said Uganda will not withdraw troops from Somalia unless the Africa Union asks them to do so.  

“These casualties do not discourage our pan-African duty,” he said. “We do not take these attacks lightly; when you attack us, we bring the war to you as well.”  

‘Total’ commitment

Mulongo says Uganda does not share a border with Somalia, but its commitment is “total.”    

“We are there purely on humanitarian grounds, and [are the] best on pan Africanism as a driving philosophy,” he said.  

“We believe that stable Somalia is the only alternative we can have of a neighbor with whom we can bloc in terms of economics, in terms of trade, in terms of technological transfer; and to benefit from them since they occupy a strategic position in the eastern region.” 
…

Shelling and heavy clashes hit areas of Sudan’s capital Monday, residents said, with reports of spreading lawlessness in Khartoum and in the western region of Darfur after more than seven weeks of conflict between rival military factions.

Fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) intensified after the expiry late Saturday of a cease-fire deal brokered by Saudi Arabia and the U.S.

The war has uprooted more than 1.2 million people within Sudan and sent about 400,000 fleeing into neighboring countries, inflicting heavy damage on the capital where the remaining residents are at the mercy of battles, airstrikes and looting. 

On Monday, residents reported smoke rising in some areas after intense fighting across the three cities that make up the nation’s wider capital – Khartoum, Omdurman and Bahri. They reported clashes in southern Khartoum and shelling in Omdurman.

“The neighborhood where we live in the center of Omdurman is looted publicly on a daily basis without anyone intervening to prevent it, with clashes and shelling continuing around us,” said 37-year-old resident Mohamed Saleh.

In Khartoum East district, RSF troops who have spread out in neighborhoods across the capital were in full control and were looting extensively, said Waleed Adam, a resident of the area.

“You see them right in front of you, taking cars, money, gold – whatever they can get their hands on,” he told Reuters by phone. “I guess it’s just a matter of time until they come to my street.”

The RSF says it has been working to protect civilians by arresting looters.

Darfur violence

Some of those who fled the war have headed to neighboring countries including Chad, South Sudan, and Central African Republic (CAR) that are already struggling with poverty, conflict, and a dip in humanitarian aid. 

The arrival of nearly 14,000 people in northeastern CAR and a halt to cross-border trade “puts additional pressure on the limited resources available to the 130,000 extremely vulnerable people in the region,” Mohamed Ag Ayoya, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for CAR, told a news briefing in Geneva.

The war has also triggered unrest in Darfur in Sudan’s far west, a region that was already suffering from mass displacement due to earlier conflict and where residents in several cities and towns have reported attacks by militias linked to Arab nomadic tribes.

In recent days at least 40 people were killed and dozens more were wounded in Kutum in North Darfur State, according to activists who monitor the region. Residents have also reported widespread looting and insecurity in the area.

On Monday, the RSF, which has its powerbase in Darfur and its origins in the Arab-dominated militias, released a video purporting to show they had taken over the army headquarters in Kutum, a commercial hub and one of the larger towns in the state.

There was no immediate comment from the army, which Sunday had denied that the RSF had taken the town.

There have been long communication blackouts in parts of Darfur, where aid groups have found it especially complicated to bring in humanitarian supplies.

In El Obeid, a city 360 km (220 miles) southwest of Khartoum and on a key route from the capital to Darfur, residents reported large deployments of RSF troops and the closure of some roads.

Recent days have brought the first showers of the year in Khartoum, marking the start of a rainy season that is likely to complicate a relief effort already hampered by bureaucratic delays and logistical challenges.
…

An international rights group is asking the Malawi government to stop the forced relocation of 8,000 refugees living outside a congested camp.

Human Rights Watch says it is concerned by reports that children are among those caught up in the sweeps and forcibly taken to a prison in the capital, Lilongwe. The rights group says the forcible relocation violates international conventions for refugees which Malawi ratified. 

Idriss Ali Nassah, who is with Human Rights Watch covering Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, told VOA the relocation of refugees is troubling.

“There are reports of this raid being carried out by military men and the police, who are arresting indiscriminately women, children and the elderly and taking them first of all to Maula maximum security prison in Lilongwe,” he said. “Not only are the authorities committing abuses during arrests and detaining children, but forcibly removing people from their homes amounts to unlawful forced evictions.”

Nassah said his organization has learned that 20 refugees and asylum-seekers at Maula Prison and Dzaleka refugee camp were allegedly assaulted during raids and that their money was taken.

Last week, Malawi police arrested two police officers for soliciting money from seven refugees from Burundi to spare them from forcible evictions.

Malawi started the forcible relocation last month following the expiration of the April 15 deadline the government gave the refugees to voluntarily relocate to the camp.

The government said by staying outside the camp, the refugees threaten national security. In addition, the encampment policy prohibits refugees from staying outside the camp.

Nassah said the policy contradicts agreements that the Malawi government ratified.

“But this is contrary to what Malawi itself endorsed in 2018 when it endorsed a Global Compact on Refugees, which seeks to include and integrate refugees into host communities,” he said. “Because by doing that, you allow refugees to become self-reliant if they are permitted to have access to education, labor market, access to entrepreneurship, and they contribute to the development of host communities and local economies.”

Dzaleka, the only refugee camp in Malawi, was meant to house 12,000 refugees and asylum-seekers, according to UNHCR. Instead, the camp holds more than 50,000 refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Somalia and Ethiopia.

Several rights groups in Malawi and abroad, including the U.N. refugee agency, have asked Malawi to stop the relocations due to the congestion.

Patrick Botha, spokesperson for the Ministry of Homeland Security in Malawi, told VOA that the refugees outside the camp have long posed a security threat and need to be confined to the camp.

“The position of the Malawi government is that this is a necessary exercise,” he said. “Actually, you have seen that some of the people we are talking about have been found with illegal documentation in South Africa — the case of this Rwandese who is suspected to be a mastermind of the genocide.”

Botha said the recent arrest of a Rwandese national in South Africa who was allegedly using a Malawian passport has fueled the Malawi government to intensify relocation efforts.

However, Botha said refugees that are kept in a prison are not subjected to prison conditions.

“We are using Maula premises not as a way of imprisoning them. Actually, we are using the Maula premises as the center for screening,” he said. “So, depending on what comes out of the documentation — they are either … sent back home, if they have legitimate papers of documentation.”

Nearly 2,000 refugees have relocated to the Dzaleka camp, where some refugees have told VOA they are living under dehumanizing conditions with no food, running water and shelter.

The World Food Program told VOA that the relocation exercise adds pressure on its already strained food assistance for Dzaleka camp refugees. 
…

Gunmen in Nigeria have killed at least 30 people and kidnapped a number of children in separate attacks in three northern states, police and residents said, the latest incidents in a region dogged by armed violence. 

Armed gangs on motorbikes frequently take advantage of thinly stretched security forces in the region to kidnap villagers, motorists and students for ransom. 

Residents said armed men had attacked Janbako and Sakkida villages in northwestern Zamfara state on Saturday, killing 24 people. The gunmen also abducted several children who were collecting firewood in a forest in neighboring Gora village. 

Police spokesperson Ahmad Rufai said the neighboring state of Sokoto was also attacked in five villages of Tangaza local government on Saturday, with the dead buried on Sunday. 

Hussaini Ahmadu and Abubakar Maradun, local residents in Janbako and Sakkida, told Reuters by phone that the gangs earlier in the week had demanded that villagers pay a fee to enable them to farm their fields but villagers did not do so. 

Zamfara police spokesman Yazid Abubakar confirmed the attacks but said only 13 people had been reported killed and nine young boys and girls kidnapped. 

Gunmen killed 25 people and set their houses on fire during an attack on Saturday on the Imande Mbakange community in north central Benue state, two residents said. The motive of the attack was not known. 

 
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Tigrayans who fled Ethiopia’s civil war to neighboring Sudan say they are not receiving enough aid due to the outbreak of violence there, but that they are afraid to return to Ethiopia because of alleged ethnic cleansing. Others, resorting to desperate measures, are falling victim to human traffickers promising to help them find passage to Europe. Henry Wilkins reports from N’Djamena, Chad.
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