Somali diplomats said Friday that Russia had offered to help support Somalia’s armed forces in their battle against the al-Shabab terrorist group.

The diplomats, who asked for anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had made the offer during talks with his Somali counterpart, Abshir Omar Jama, in Moscow.

One diplomat said, “Russia was ready to provide Somalia’s army with military supplies, to strengthen the government fight against al-Shabab.”

The diplomats did not specify the kinds of materiel Russia was offering to Somalia, which is under a long-standing U.N. arms embargo.

The U.N. Security Council imposed the embargo in 1992 after the outbreak of civil war and factional violence. The embargo was partially lifted in 2013 to help Somalia’s security forces fight the Islamist militants.

Russia’s offer came hours after al-Shabab militants stormed a military base manned by African Union forces from Uganda in Bulo Marer, an agricultural town in the Lower Shabelle region, about 110 kilometers south of Mogadishu.

Earlier, at the opening of the talks between the two foreign ministers, Lavrov emphasized the long relationship between the two countries, which goes back to quick Soviet recognition of Somalia after it gained independence in 1960.

He also said he and Jama would discuss preparations for the Russia-Africa summit scheduled for late July in St. Petersburg.

Diplomatic relations

In modern times, Russia and Somalia have had fairly routine diplomatic relations, with Russia sending humanitarian aid to Somalia several times.

In May 2010, Somalia reacted angrily to the way Russian marines handled their rescue of a tanker, the MV Moscow University, that had been hijacked 560 kilometers off the coast of Yemen.

Russian media reported at the time that 10 Somali pirates, who had taken the tanker and its crew hostage, were released on the open sea because there were no grounds to prosecute them in Russia.

Somali authorities said the pirates never made it ashore and likely died at sea.

Somalia’s Foreign Ministry statement at the time warned that relations with Russia might be harmed over the incident and demanded an apology from the Russian government.

Since then, two Somali prime ministers, Omar Sharmarke and Hassan Ali Khaire, have met with top Russian officials requesting assistance to strengthen the Somali National Army.

In recent years, Somali diplomats, who asked for anonymity, told VOA Somali that the Russian military has been eyeing Berbera port, located in the breakaway republic of Somaliland, as a potential base on the Red Sea.

Last November, Russia, China, Gabon and Ghana abstained from a Security Council vote to maintain an arms embargo on Somalia, in support of Mogadishu’s strong objections. The United States and Britain supported maintaining the ban, although the measure did loosen restrictions on some weapons like portable surface-to-air missiles in recognition of the government’s improved oversight of weapons and munitions.
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One of the Rwanda genocide’s most wanted remaining suspects, accused of ordering the deaths of 2,000 people hiding in a church, denied any involvement but said Friday that he was “sorry” for the 1994 killings.

On the run for two decades, Fulgence Kayishema was arrested Wednesday under a false name on a grape farm in South Africa where, according to a prosecutor, fellow refugees gave him up.

Entering court for a first hearing with a Bible and a book emblazoned with “Jesus First,” the 62-year-old was asked by a journalist if he had anything to say to victims.

“What I can say? We are sorry to hear what was happening,” he responded, coming up from the holding cells at Cape Town Magistrates’ Court.

“It was a war at that time. … I didn’t have any role.”

He was a fugitive from justice since 2001, when the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) indicted him for genocide over his alleged role in the destruction of the Nyange Catholic Church in Kibuye Prefecture.

An estimated 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and Hutu moderates were killed during Rwanda’s genocide, orchestrated by an extremist Hutu regime and meticulously executed by local officials and ordinary citizens in the rigidly hierarchical society.

At the Nyange church, Hutu militia lobbed grenades then doused it with fuel to set it ablaze. When that failed, they knocked down the church with bulldozers. Most of those sheltering inside died.

Hiding among refugees

According to a charge sheet seen by Reuters, Kayishema faces five charges in South Africa, including two for fraud.

The fraud counts relate to applications he made for asylum and refugee status in South Africa, where the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) alleges he gave his nationality as Burundian and used a false name.

Serge Brammertz, chief prosecutor of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT), the successor to the ICTR, told the BBC broadcaster that Kayishema fled Rwanda after the genocide and was hiding among refugees.

“First, he went to the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) for a number of months, then he went to a refugee camp in Tanzania.

From there he moved to Mozambique. Then two years later to Eswatini and then in the late ’90s he ended up in South Africa,” Brammertz said.

The prosecution persuaded a small number of former Rwandan soldiers with false identities living in South Africa as refugees to provide information on Kayishema’s whereabouts, he added.

Kayishema briefly appeared in court Friday, accompanied by masked police officers with automatic weapons and bullet-proof vests. The NPA said the case was postponed to June 2 to allow it time for further investigation.

“While he was being arrested, more information came, which could mean us adding more charges,” NPA provincial spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila told journalists.

Ntabazalila said prosecutors would oppose bail should he seek it.

Kayishema will be held at Cape Town’s Pollsmoor Prison ahead of extradition to Rwanda.
…

Officials in Somalia say Al-Shabab militants early Friday stormed a military base manned by African Union forces from Uganda, multiple sources said.

The dawn attack took place in Bulo Marer, an agricultural town in Lower Shabelle region, about 110 kilometers south of Mogadishu.

The militants detonated four to six explosions, including improvised bombs in vehicles driven by suicide bombers, three sources, including a local official and a security commander requesting anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media, told VOA Somali.

According to the sources, the militants penetrated perimeters of the base after the explosions, which were followed by a fierce firefight. The militants were also seen inside the town. The base is just outside town.

The situation of a second base manned by Somali forces not far from the AU base that al-Shabab claims to have attacked is unclear.

The group sent a message via Telegram early Friday claiming they were “overrunning” the base. The Africa Union military command and the Somali government have not yet commented on the attack.

The group sent a message via Telegram early Friday claiming they were “overrunning” the base. The AU mission confirmed the attack, and said they are assessing the security situation.

An al-Shabab attack on the same base in April 2018 failed after the Ugandan forces held their positions. Somali officials said dozens of militants were killed at the time.

This latest attack comes as the Somali government prepares the second phase of military operations against al-Shabab. The first phase, launched in August, drove al-Shabab from vast territories in central Somalia.

The Somali government said it will raise enough forces to takeover security responsibilities from the AU peacekeepers by Dec 2024.
…

Fighting in Sudan has left hundreds of thousands of Khartoum residents without running water, with some forced to risk their lives and seek it out during brief lulls in violence.

After nearly six weeks of street battles between forces loyal to rival generals and with temperatures regularly topping 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), many inhabitants of the capital’s northern suburbs are in desperate need of drinking water.

On April 15, when fighting broke out between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the station supplying several districts of North Khartoum with running water was damaged.

Since then, about 300,000 of its inhabitants have not seen a drop of water run from their taps. Some have reopened wells or used pots to draw water from the Nile River.

“At the start of the war, we took water from the wells of the factories in the industrial zone, but after a week, the paramilitaries captured it,” resident Adel Mohammed told AFP.

As clashes engulfed the area and battles were taking place in residential buildings and hospitals, Mohammed had to wait days before being able to venture out and fetch water.

Now, he and his neighbors wait for the clashes to momentarily subside to take an assortment of pots, basins and jugs to the banks of the Nile, which winds through Khartoum’s suburbs.

Together, they fill a van and return to distribute a few liters each to families remaining in the neighborhood.

But many others have left.

“It was the lack of water and not the bombardments and the fighting that forced me to abandon my house,” said Rashed Hussein, who fled with his family to Madani, some 200 kilometres (124 miles) south of Khartoum.

Hussein, one of more than 1 million Sudanese displaced during the conflict, said he could not bear seeing his children without clean water to drink or wash with.

Waiting for shooting to stop

Even before the war, 17.3 million Sudanese lacked access to safe drinking water, according to the United Nations children’s agency UNICEF.

Waterborne diseases and poor hygiene are leading causes of death in children under five, the agency said.

Salah Mohammed, another resident of North Khartoum, stayed despite the fighting and found access to water by using a well at a nearby hospital, which treated its water for patients on dialysis.

But after a week, RSF paramilitaries took over the hospital, and he was no longer able to access the facility.

Rashida al-Tijani lives near another hospital, where she is able to find water.

She waits “for the shooting to stop to go to the hospital… as quickly as possible,” she said, taking as much water as she can for her family.

“I haven’t been able to wash a single item of clothing since the start of the war.”

Daily life and the economy have ground to a standstill since the conflict erupted, depleting Sudan’s already inadequate infrastructure and public services.

Civil servants are on indefinite leave and fighters occupy hospitals, factories and public buildings.

Shot while seeking water

Informal networks of neighborhood groups, known as resistance committees, have mobilized to set up field hospitals and food distribution stations, and deliver water.

These committees had organized before the war to oppose the military’s grip on political life.

“Since the beginning of the war, we have been providing the inhabitants with water,” said one committee member, requesting anonymity for fear of repercussions from the army or RSF.

On one journey to find water, “our friend Yassine was killed by a bullet,” he said.

Even in death, the lack of water pervaded.

“We were forced to bury him without being able to wash his body,” the committee member said.
…

The fighting in Sudan has destroyed hospitals and medical care in the country, and patients who fled the conflict are desperate for treatment. In the absence of medical aid, a Sudanese pharmacist who fled Sudan in recent weeks is doing what he can to help other refugees at a camp in neighboring Chad. Henry Wilkins reports from Koufrone, Chad.
…

The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on the head of the Wagner Group in Mali, accusing the Russian private army of trying to obscure its efforts to acquire military equipment for use in Ukraine, and of working through Mali and other countries. 

The U.S. Treasury Department in a statement also accused Ivan Aleksandrovich Maslov, whom it described as the head of Wagner paramilitary units and the group’s principal administrator based in Mali, of working in close coordination with Malian government officials to execute the group’s deployment in Mali. 

“Treasury’s sanctions against the most senior Wagner Group representative in Mali identify and disrupt a key operative supporting the group’s global activities,” Brian Nelson, the Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement. 

The move comes after State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller on Monday said there were indications that Wagner has been attempting to purchase military systems from foreign suppliers and route those weapons through Mali. 

Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry, on Wednesday dismissed the U.S. allegations as a “hoax” in a news conference, and she urged Washington to examine the effect of its own military exports.
…

As Zimbabwe prepares for general elections, journalists are hoping to avoid a repeat of the harassment and attacks they’ve faced while trying to cover past elections.

Borrowing a strategy successfully tried in Lesotho, Zimbabwean journalists met with top officials of the ruling Zanu-PF party this week to try to reach mutual understandings before campaigning starts. The journalists are also scheduled to meet with the political opposition and government entities like the army and police.

Years or even weeks ago, an outreach by journalists to Zanu-PF officials would have been unheard of. Just entering the party offices was unusual and highly difficult, especially for private and foreign media journalists.

Leopold Kudakwashe Mudhende, from privately owned NewZimbabwe.com, was one of the journalists who earlier this year was chased away from a Zanu-PF event.

“It was important to highlight the challenges and fears we have as journalists going into election,” he said of the session with Zanu-PF officials. “That way we can find solutions together with political parties. The most important thing about these political parties is that they ensure the safety and professional handling of journalists. Also, political parties get a chance to air their grievances with what we are doing as journalists and we can find amicable solution.”

Victoria Ruzvidzo, editor of The Sunday Mail, a government-controlled weekly newspaper, also attended the meeting. He said he thought the session “was very important because what we need are facts and factual information, and you can only get that through open lines of communication. It gives us a platform to air our concerns as media and for Zanu-PF to tell us where it thinks we are going wrong.”

Ruzvidzo said there were “perceptions and misperceptions about a lot of things. But if you sit down at such platforms, you get to understand each other and build a stronger relationship, which is better for the media in that when you need certain information, like what the SG [party secretary-general Obert Mpofu] said. We have access to him. We can get him any minute. We can get information.”

Mpofu said Zanu-PF was worried about journalists who he said were bent on tarnishing his party. He also said he wanted to see more stories that put Zimbabwe in a good light.

He assured journalists they would not be targeted by violence. “We want a peaceful Zimbabwe,” Mpofu said at the session. “Let’s act according to your expectations. But I want to thank you all, comrades, for coming to this round-table meeting and reiterate our assurances that Zanu-PF will always cooperate with you.”

Zanu-PF “is headed by this great man,” Mpofu said, pointing to President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s portrait on the wall. “He abhors violence.”

In the presidential election, Mnangagwa is expected to lock horns with Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader, Nelson Chamisa, among other candidates.

Perfect Hlongwane, secretary-general of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists, said his organization was setting up meetings with political parties and some government agencies “because of the operating environment. What we saw is that our journalists are being violated, mostly at political rallies.” Political parties, he said, must be engaged with “so that they understand the way we operate as the media and to ensure the media is given or allowed space to operate without any hindrance.”

The next stops for the journalists will be the political opposition and then the army, in an effort to ensure that media members can be safe when elections take place, most likely in July or August.
…

Delegates from across the African continent gathered in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, Thursday to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the creation of the Organization of African Unity, the alliance that later became the African Union.

In a statement, the AU said the ceremony — held at AU headquarters in Addis Ababa — commemorates May 25, 1963, when the heads of state from 32 independent African states gathered in the city to sign the charter that created the OAU, which the AU said was the first post-independence continental institution.

In its charter, the OAU said its main objectives included ridding the continent of the remaining vestiges of colonization and apartheid; promoting unity and solidarity among African states; coordinating cooperation for development; safeguarding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of member states; and promoting international cooperation.

In 1999, OAU leaders meeting in Libya decided the organization needed to refocus its goals to focus more intensely on cooperation and integration of African states to drive the continent’s growth and economic development. They issued a declaration calling for the establishment of the African Union, which was officially launched in 2002.

In opening remarks to the delegates Thursday, AU Commission Chairman H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat called it an important day in the history of Africa, as it honors the organization’s founders, who laid the groundwork for “the African renaissance and its socioeconomic and political development.”

In his comments, Mahamat, the former Chadian prime minister, warned against interference by world powers in the continent’s affairs in what he called a “hegemonic struggle between the great powers” playing out internationally.

Mahamat said this threatens to make Africa the battleground of a “new version of the Cold War.” He called it a “zero-sum game where the gains of others would translate into losses for Africa.” He did not elaborate.

Some information for this report was provided by Agence France-Presse.
…

Western leaders have provided Ukraine with financial and military support in its fight against Russian aggression. Some humanitarian organizations say that has affected the amount of aid going to other countries, like the Democratic Republic of Congo. VOA’s Paul Ndiho visited the Sake camp for the internally displaced in the eastern province of North Kivu.
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Sporadic clashes between the Sudanese army and a powerful paramilitary force spilled over into Thursday, puncturing the relative calm in the capital of Khartoum and raising the risk that a week-long internationally-brokered truce would crumble. 

The cease-fire, which is being monitored by Saudi Arabia and the United States as well as the warring parties, was reached after five weeks of warfare in Khartoum and outbursts of violence in other parts of Sudan, including the western region of Darfur. 

The fighting pits Sudan’s army against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and has worsened a humanitarian crisis, forced over 1.3 million people to flee their homes and threatened to destabilize the wider region. 

The army, led by career officer General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, relies on airpower while the RSF, commanded by former militia leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti, has spread out and taken cover in Khartoum’s streets. 

It is unclear whether either side has gained an edge in a conflict that threatens to create a large-scale humanitarian crisis and destabilize regional countries. 

Clashes between rival military factions broke out on Wednesday in Khartoum and other cities, residents said. 

The city of Zalingei, capital of Central Darfur State, has been under siege by armed militia for the past few days, and the U.N. refugee agency’s Darfur coordinator Toby Harward called on authorities to regain control of the city. 

Telecommunications have been cut off, and gangs roaming the city on motorcycles have attacked hospitals, government and aid offices, banks, and homes. 

A similar situation has been reported in the West Darfur State capital El Geneina, which has also been subject to a telecommunication blackout for several days after hundreds were killed in militia attacks.   

Failed cease-fire 

The cease-fire was agreed to on Saturday following talks in Jeddah mediated by Saudi Arabia and the United States. Previous cease-fire announcements have failed to stop the fighting. In statements late on Wednesday, the army and RSF accused each other of violating the agreement. 

The RSF said it was forced to defend itself against land, artillery and air strikes by the army. The army in turn accused the RSF of attacks on the country’s mint, army airbases and several cities west of the capital. 

Sudan’s armed forces issued a statement accusing the RSF of breaching the cease-fire. They claimed to have repelled the attacks and destroyed six enemy vehicles. 

The conflict erupted in mid-April as plans for an internationally backed political transition toward elections under a civilian government were set to be finalized. 

U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA said agencies were ready to deliver aid to more than 4 million people, but that bureaucratic blockages as well as security issues were hampering distribution. 

Out of the 168 trucks ready to deliver assistance, just a small number were on the move from Port Sudan to Gadaref, Kassala and Al Gezira, an aid official told Reuters. 

Many residents are struggling to survive as they face prolonged water and power cuts, a collapse of health services and widespread lawlessness and looting. 

Sudan was facing severe humanitarian pressures even before the conflict broke out. 

More than 1 million people have been displaced within Sudan and 319,000 have fled to neighboring countries, some of which are similarly impoverished and have a history of internal conflict, according to the International Organization for Migration. 

SEE ALSO: A related video by Henry Wilkins

Many have crossed into Chad and Egypt in the last few days, said Filippo Grandi, head of the U.N. refugee agency. 
…

A Tunisian court on Wednesday decided to free after more than three months’ detention the head of the country’s most listened to radio station, whose release had been sought by the European Union.

Noureddine Boutar, director of Mosaique FM, was let out on payment of 1 million dinars ($324,000) bail, his lawyer Dalila Msaddek said, adding he is not allowed to go abroad.

“Boutar does not have this amount, especially since the judiciary has frozen all his assets. We are in the process of collecting the amount, so it will be difficult for him to be released today,” she told AFP.

Boutar is among more than 20 prominent figures held since early this year in what Amnesty International has labeled a “politically motivated witch hunt.”

The court decision comes after police this week questioned two of the radio station’s top journalists, Haythem El Mekki and Elyes Gharbi, for speaking on air about security shortcomings.

In March the European Parliament, in a non-binding resolution, decried the “authoritarian drift” of Tunisia’s President Kais Saied and called for Boutar’s immediate release.

Saied says those detained were “terrorists” involved in a “conspiracy against state security.”

In July 2021 he began a power grab with the suspension of parliament that was followed by a series of moves including a new constitution that gave his office unlimited powers and neutered the legislature.

Opponents have dubbed his actions a “coup” and a return to autocratic rule in the only democracy to emerge from the Arab Spring uprisings in the region more than a decade ago.

Last month Saied detained former parliament speaker Rached Ghannouchi and closed Ghannouchi’s Ennahdha party headquarters.
…

The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, is moving tens of thousands of Sudanese refugees in Chad away from the Sudan border and into new camps. The UNHCR’s visiting deputy says concerns about security and access to aid are increasing, along with the number of refugees. Henry Wilkins reports from the Gaga refugee site in Chad.
…

The South African government was under more pressure Wednesday for declining to release cargo documents relating to the visit by a Russian ship that the United States alleges collected a consignment of weapons for Moscow.

Separately, a top official in South Africa’s ruling party added to the scrutiny of the country’s relationship with Russia by saying the party would “welcome” a visit by President Vladimir Putin, whom the International Criminal Court has indicted on war crimes charges.

The comments by African National Congress Secretary General Fikile Mbalula regarding Putin were made in an interview with the BBC and in the context of the Russian leader attending a summit of the BRICS economic bloc in South Africa in August. The bloc consists of Brazil, Russia, China, India and South Africa.

“If it was according to the ANC, we would want President Putin to be here, even tomorrow, to come to our country,” Mbalula said in the interview, excerpts of which were posted on the ANC’s social media channels on Tuesday. “We will welcome him to come here as part and parcel of BRICS.”

As a signatory to the International Criminal Court treaty, South Africa is obliged to arrest Putin if he enters the country. The South African government has indicated it will not carry out the arrest warrant if Putin does travel for the summit, although it hasn’t said that explicitly.

“Do you think that a head of state can just be arrested anywhere?” Mbalula, a former Cabinet minister who is now the ANC’s top administrative official, said in the BBC interview.

He told the BBC interviewer there was hypocrisy on the part of the West related to the arrest warrant for Putin because, he said, Britain and other Western nations committed crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan and no heads of state were arrested.

Mbalula last month referred to the United States as one of the countries “messing up the world.”

Anti-West rhetoric

There has been increasing anti-U.S. and anti-West rhetoric in the ANC and sometimes in parts of South Africa’s government since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, despite South Africa maintaining it has a neutral stance on the war.

The trend is troubling for the U.S. and other Western partners of South Africa because of its status as an influential democracy in the developing world, and as Africa’s most developed economy.

South Africa has a historical relationship with Russia connected to the old Soviet Union’s military and political support for the ANC when it was a liberation movement fighting to end the racist apartheid regime that oppressed the country’s Black majority. The West appears concerned that the ANC’s old ideological ties to Russia are now pulling South Africa into Moscow’s political orbit amid burgeoning global tensions. There are also growing economic ties between Africa, a continent of 1.3 billion people, and China.

The concerns were laid bare by the U.S. ambassador to South Africa earlier this month when he accused it of providing weapons to Russia via a cargo ship that docked at a naval base near Cape Town in December. Ambassador Reuben Brigety said “I would bet my life” that weapons were loaded onto the Russian-flagged Lady R, which is under U.S. sanctions for alleged ties to a company that has transported arms for the Russian government.

The South African government has denied it made any arms transaction with Russia, although it hasn’t categorically ruled out the possibility that another entity did so secretly. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has ordered an inquiry.

On Wednesday, South Africa’s main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, challenged the government to come clean if it had nothing to hide and release a cargo manifest for the Lady R’s visit to the Simon’s Town naval base.

A DA lawmaker also asked Defense Minister Thandi Modise to release the documents during a debate in Parliament on Tuesday. Modise refused to do so while also using an expletive to repeat the government’s denial that any weapons were loaded onto the ship.

Modise has said that the Russian ship was visiting to deliver an ammunition shipment to South Africa that was ordered in 2018 but delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Modise’s refusal to make public the cargo manifest was supported by fellow ANC lawmakers, who said the documents were “classified.” Modise said they would be handed over to the inquiry into the incident. 
…

Donors raised around a billion dollars Wednesday in new commitments for the drought-stricken Horn of Africa during a pledging conference held at the United Nations, but failed to close the gap on an appeal seeking $7 billion.

“We must act now to prevent crisis from turning into catastrophe,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told donors. “Make no mistake: action will make all the difference.”

The U.N. says $7 billion is needed this year to assist nearly 32 million people in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia who are facing acute food insecurity after five failed rainy seasons have caused unprecedented drought. With the year nearly half over, Guterres said they have received just 20% of the funds.

“Without an immediate and major injection of funding, emergency operations will grind to a halt and people will die,” he told donors.

With Wednesday’s commitments and the money the U.N. has already received this year, it brings the total to around $2.4 billion for the Horn.

Enormous needs

The U.N. children’s agency, UNICEF, says more than 7 million children under the age of five are malnourished and in need of nutritional therapy. Nearly 2 million could die from severe malnutrition.

Across the Horn, crops have failed and more than 13 million livestock have died, wiping out both livelihoods and food sources. Conflict in parts of Ethiopia and Somalia have further exacerbated food insecurity.

Last year, a famine was averted in Somalia after increased international funding, led by the United States, helped scale up humanitarian assistance. But the country still suffered severely, with the U.N. estimating that 43,000 people died, most likely due to the drought. This year, difficulties continue, as the World Food Program had to reduce food assistance to 3 million Somalis last month due to severe funding shortfalls. Without a cash injection, the agency says it will have to make more cuts in July.

U.N. deputy humanitarian chief Joyce Msuya told the conference that although famine was averted in Somalia, the humanitarian emergency is not over.

“This year, while improved rains have started to ease the impacts of drought, they have brought a new set of risks and challenges, including disease outbreaks,” she said.

U.S. envoy Linda Thomas-Greenfield announced an additional $524 million to address humanitarian needs in the Horn, bringing Washington’s assistance to more than $1.4 billion through the end of September 2023.

“In a world abundant with food, entire communities should never starve to death. Never,” she said.

Germany announced $226 million for this year and next; Britain pledged $178 million for East Africa, of which $120 million will target the drought-affected countries in the Horn. But many countries did not step forward with new or expanded pledges.

Aid organizations disappointed

International aid organizations expressed disappointment, pointing out that many pledges were not new.

“This was a vital moment for rich donors to step up and show their commitment to saving lives,” said Fati N’Zi-Hassane, Oxfam’s Africa director. “They have failed millions of people caught up in this vicious spiral of hunger, displacement, and insecurity.”

“People will continue to die from hunger and malnutrition if they are not supported with long-term and scaled-up investments that address immediate needs while contributing to resilience and climate adaptation,” said Allison Huggins, deputy director for Africa for Mercy Corps.

“The truth is that the data, the early warning systems and some of the solutions are clear, but the political and financial commitment has so far been far too weak,” David Miliband, president of the International Rescue Committee, told the meeting.

Wednesday’s conference was co-hosted by the United Nations, with the governments of Britain, Italy, Qatar and the United States, in collaboration with Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia.
…

Israel is attempting to deepen its already close ties with many African countries by providing access to technology that can help Africa deal with its growing population. Officials from six African officials visited Israel last week to discuss more cooperation. Linda Gradstein reports from Jerusalem. Camera: Ricki Rosen
…

The fighting between Sudan’s military and a powerful paramilitary force has displaced more than 1.3 million people, the U.N. migration agency said Wednesday.

The International Organization for Migration said the clashes have forced over 1 million people to leave their homes to safer areas inside Sudan. Some 320,000 others have fled to the neighboring countries of Egypt, South Sudan, Chad, Ethiopia, the Central African Republic and Libya.

The fighting erupted on April 15 after months of escalating tensions between the military, led by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces commanded by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. The conflict derailed Sudanese hopes of restoring the country’s fragile transition to democracy, which was disrupted by a military coup led by the two generals in October 2021.

The conflict has killed at least 863 civilians, including at least 190 children, and wounded more than 3,530 others, according to the most recent numbers from the Sudanese Doctors’ Syndicate — which mainly tracks civilian casualties. It has also pushed the East African country to near collapse, with urban areas in the capital, Khartoum, and its neighboring city of Omdurman turning into battlegrounds.

Egypt is hosting the largest number of those who fled, with at least 132,360 people, followed by Chad with 80,000 and South Sudan with over 69,000, the agency added.

Sporadic fighting continued Wednesday in several areas, despite a cease-fire reached this week. Residents reported hearing gunshots and explosions in central Khartoum as well as areas close to military facilities in Omdurman.

The weeklong cease-fire, which was brokered by the United States and Saudi Arabia, took effect Monday night. It was the latest international effort to push for humanitarian aid delivery to the conflict-torn country.

A joint statement from the U.S. and Saudi Arabia late Tuesday warned that neither the Sudanese military nor the Rapid Support Forces observed the short-term cease-fire.

“The Sudanese people continue to suffer as a result of this devastating conflict,” the statement said. It called on both sides to “fully abide by their commitments” and to implement the temporary cease-fire to deliver urgently needed humanitarian relief.

Earlier on Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken cautioned both parties of possible sanctions if the latest cease-fire was not adhered to.

The fighting has exacerbated the already dire humanitarian conditions in Sudan. According to the U.N., the number of people who need assistance this year has increased by 57% to reach 24.7 million people, more than half the country’s population. The international body said it would need $2.6 billion to provide them with much-needed humanitarian assistance.

 
…

As the fighting in Khartoum entered its 22nd day, the remaining civilians in the city described brutal conditions. Many had nearly run out of supplies, markets remained shuttered and imports were no longer entering the country.

Yousif Ahmed is a store owner and merchant in the city and described the dire situation. He said the conditions are “unstable,” that people might resort to “stealing” just to survive. “We may have to steal the day’s sustenance in the coming days, everything is gone now, we are suffering greatly from this disaster, all people may have to steal in a week,” he told VOA.

Ahmed said insecurity in the city also means that businesses have to find ways to protect their goods to avoid being targeted.

“For me, as a grocer, the situation is very bad. There are no goods, and we feel insecure because we could be looted at any moment. Some merchants now store goods in their homes.”

According to the U.N., nearly 19 million Sudanese could suffer from food insecurity because of to the conflict. Advocates said $445 million is needed to support refugees fleeing Sudan and to provide aid in the next six months.

Mohammed Hassan Abu Shama, another Khartoum resident said living conditions in the city have deteriorated dramatically.

“People have begun to store food supplies and most stores are lacking basic necessities,” he told VOA. “The price of flour is very expensive, and the price of bread has doubled. People want to travel outside Khartoum, but tickets are also expensive, whether they are in the states or outside Sudan. This war destroyed many things, we hope things will be better.”

But amid the instability, and in the absence of a functioning government and relief organizations, Sudanese in some neighborhoods of Khartoum organized voluntary civil initiatives to help alleviate the crisis for the poorest citizens.

Hassan Mohammed Ahmed Salih from a neighborhood called Jabra explained how the community is stepping up to help feed those in need.

“We obtained quantities of flour from some agents and distributed it to a large number of poor citizens in the neighborhood and solved the problem of flour shortages,” he said.

Ahmed Salih said the community also comes together to help in different areas, including providing security and reaching out to people who need medical attention.

“We will form three committees concerned with the health situation, the living situation, and the security situation. We will work to collect information, and in the same way we addressed the flour shortage, we will try to provide health and medical services for all patients in the neighborhood by bringing in doctors and medicine. If we are not able, we will offer moral support in these circumstances.”

Residents say the situation is getting worse each day. They fear the longer the markets are closed and relief supplies are unable to reach those trapped in the city, the greater the human suffering will be.

This story originated in VOA’s English to Africa Service.
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The United Nations estimates that more than 843,000 Sudanese have been displaced by the fighting inside Sudan, which has entered its sixth week. Those who have escaped the country and those still inside describe dire conditions, as aid groups say the number of internally displaced is likely to become much higher. Henry Wilkins reports from Koufroun, Chad.
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Fighting that broke out in Khartoum on April 15 shows no sign of stopping and citizens are paying a big price. Residents in Sudan’s capital city are enduring food shortages, electrical outages and constant fear. Sidahmed Ibraheem has more from Khartoum in this report narrated by Vincent Makori.
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The U.N. Secretary-General said Tuesday that the world is failing to live up to its commitments to protect civilians, an obligation that is preserved in international humanitarian law.

“Peace is the best form of protection,” Antonio Guterres told a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the topic. “We must intensify our efforts to prevent conflict, protect civilians, preserve peace and find political solutions to war.”

Guterres said where there is war, countries must comply with international humanitarian law.

“It is the difference between life and death. Between restraint and anarchy. Between losing ourselves in horror and retaining our humanity,” he said. “But law overlooked is law undermined.”

Guterres pointed to the newest conflict, the five-week-old fighting between rival generals in Sudan, that has already killed hundreds, displaced more than a million and sent 250,000 people fleeing to neighboring countries. Food, water and fuel are all in short supply, and the country’s health system is on the brink of collapse.

“Terrible as this picture is, it is far from being unique,” he said, noting that 100 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced last year due to war, violence, human rights abuses or persecution.

Guterres said the effects of war include rising food insecurity — more than 117 million people faced acute hunger in 2022 primarily because of war and instability.

“This is an outrage,” the U.N. chief said. “Damage to critical infrastructure hampers food production, blocks distribution and deprives people of safe water.”

He welcomed the recent extension for another 60 days of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which has facilitated the export of more than 30 million metric tons of Ukrainian grain via Black Sea routes since early August, stabilizing world food prices since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Guterres said he hopes outstanding issues with the implementation of a corresponding deal for Russia’s export of food and fertilizer will be resolved.

Swiss President Alain Berset chaired the debate, the signature event of his government’s month-long presidency of the 15-nation Security Council. More than 80 countries were scheduled to speak.

“Respect for international humanitarian law is a priority for all of us here around this table,” Berset told council members. “And of course, as the depository of the Geneva Conventions and the seat of the ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross], we feel in particular bound by this humanitarian imperative.”

Switzerland is the depository for the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols, which are the basis for international humanitarian law. They set out the rules of armed conflict and seek to protect civilians, medical and aid workers, the wounded and prisoners of war.

Switzerland is also home to the ICRC, which has protection of civilians at the core of its mandate.

“ICRC’s figures show that the number of non-international armed conflicts has, over the past 20 years, more than tripled from less than 30 to over 90,” ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric said. “Many of these are protracted conflicts, bringing ceaseless suffering — suffering that is compounded by climate shocks, food insecurity and economic hardship.”

She said civilians suffer attacks, threats and political stalemates that make peace less achievable.

“Compliance with the law protects civilians. It prevents violations and abuses,” she said. “It reduces the cost of war while maintaining a pathway to cease-fire agreements, and eventually to lasting peace, functioning economies, and a healthy natural environment.”
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An al-Shabab leader appears to have survived the latest United States military airstrike in Somalia, according to a spokesperson for U.S. Africa Command.

“Following a comprehensive battle damage assessment, U.S.-AFRICOM assesses that one al-Shabab leader was injured as a result of the operation,” Lt. Commander Timothy S. Pietrack, an AFRICOM spokesman, told VOA on Tuesday.

Pietrack did not disclose the name of the al-Shabab leader injured in the May 20 strike, which took place in Jilib, an al-Shabab stronghold some 385 kilometers southwest of Mogadishu.

“The command’s initial assessment is that no civilians were injured or killed,” the statement said.

The strike came as Mahad Salad, director of Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency, was in Washington and New York to meet with U.S. officials from the Pentagon, CIA and FBI, according to a source familiar with the visit who did not want to be identified as they are not authorized to speak to the media.

The talks focused on security and counterterrorism cooperation between the two countries, the source added. 
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A report in Uganda shows journalists there face a difficult present and uncertain future. Activists say while abuses and human rights violations against journalists decreased slightly last year, the media space remains hostile. 

The Human Rights Network for Journalists documented 94 cases of rights violations and abuses against Ugandan journalists and media practitioners in 2022. The reported cases involved assault, unlawful arrests and detention, denial of information, and sexual harassment of female journalists.

The 2022 Press Freedom report, released Tuesday, says the Ugandan media is dealing with “an increased deterioration of democracy and the rule of law that has made it very difficult for journalists and media practitioners to thrive.”

Robert Sempala, the national coordinator of the Human Rights Network for Journalists in Uganda, said many journalists practice self-censorship due to the fear of being arrested or harassed.

“And that to us really speaks to the uncertainty that is looming around the media. And that is extremely dangerous. Because, it is better to know what to expect as opposed to not knowing it. Like, for instance, when one general says they will go for you and nobody will be able to protect you. That certainly is a looming threat around all journalists,” Sempala said.

To demonstrate the hostility, the report’s cover page has a photo of a presidential guard kicking journalist Lawrence Kitatta.

Speaking to VOA, Kitatta recalled that the day after the incident a local newspaper, The Daily Monitor, published his photo on page one.

That, he said, was when his life took a turn for the worse.

Kitatta, who then worked for a government newspaper, said the paper’s leaders vowed to defend him until they got threats from security forces telling them to drop the matter. 

It was worse for Kitatta who, at the time, was assigned to cover activities of the opposition National Unity Platform party led by singer Bobi Wine.   

“The bad thing, it happened when I was covering the opposition political activities. I think they wanted to punish me for what I was doing. Which was my job,” Kitatta said. “There’s a fear. I am not comfortable, whether I am safe. I don’t know what may happen. I move disguising myself, camouflaging to see that I look different. I can’t do my job.” 

Police did not respond to requests for comment on the report.

The report cites the Ugandan police force for the 14th year in a row as the leading violator of press freedoms in Uganda.

But Steven Basaliza, a member of the Uganda Human Rights Commission, said the commission recently revived quarterly meetings with heads of different security agencies to ensure no mistakes are made when the forces interact with ordinary citizens.

The report calls on security agencies to discipline and hold accountable employees who are accused of violating journalists’ rights.

The report also calls on the government to lift a ban on Facebook that was imposed in 2021.  
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Festus Nyoni picked out a few items in a supermarket in Zimbabwe’s capital, looked at the prices and knew she was in the wrong place. 

She abandoned her shopping cart and headed for a nearby street jammed with traders offering bargains in U.S. dollars. From the trunk of a car, she picked toiletries, rice and soups. For her two children, a young street vendor dodged traffic to offer her a box of candy. 

“I can’t keep up with those Zim dollar prices in the supermarket — it’s insane,” Nyoni said, referring to the local currency. “For the price of one in the supermarket, I am getting two soaps in the street.” 

A yearslong currency crisis that forced the 2009 adoption of the U.S. dollar — one of the world’s most reliable assets — is changing shopper preferences in this southern African nation of 15 million. Many people are shunning brick-and-mortar stores, where prices must be charged in local currency and rise frequently. 

On the street, costs are more stable because shoppers pay exclusively in U.S. dollars. 

With greenbacks scarce at banks, many people and businesses get them on the black market, making the official exchange rate — 1,000 Zimbabwe dollars to one U.S. dollar — that retailers are required to use artificially low. It’s double that on the street, so to break even, stores are forced to make their products more expensive. 

“Zimbabwe dollar inflation on the black market is on a rampage, so retailers have to constantly change their prices,” economist Prosper Chitambara said. 

Other countries like Lebanon and Ecuador also have turned to using the U.S. dollar to beat back inflation and other economic woes, with mixed success. Facing Lebanon’s worst financial crisis in modern history, many stores and restaurants there are demanding dollars. 

Similarly, manufacturers and suppliers are now pushing for payment in U.S. dollars from stores that are forced to sell the same products using the freefalling Zimbabwe dollar, said Denford Mutashu, president of the Retailers Association of Zimbabwe. 

“It’s currently impossible to purchase goods in U.S. dollars and sell in local currency and recover the money spent,” said Mutashu, adding that manufacturers are increasingly preferring informal traders over formal retailers to avoid using local currency. 

“The informal market is ready to pay in U.S. dollars. The Zimbabwe dollar is being squeezed out,” Mutashu said. 

Zimbabwe’s economy is inching toward “full dollarization,” with the local currency facing collapse, local investment firm Inter-Horizon Securities said. It slumped by 34% in April alone. 

Street traders in cars, on bicycles or on foot clog sidewalks, roads and parking spaces. They sell items ranging from groceries to cosmetics, brooms, dog chains, car parts and medicines. 

Next to the entrance of a fashion shop, street traders displayed new and secondhand clothing at knockdown prices. Some landlords have divided large buildings into tiny rooms where groceries are sold. 

Many young people, including college graduates, end up becoming street vendors, said Wadzai Mangoma, director of the lobbying group Vendors Initiative for Social and Economic Transformation. 

“Our prices are not subject to the artificially low official exchange rate, so we have taken over the supply of basic commodities,” Mangoma said. “However, competition is also very high because the majority are turning to informal trade for employment.” 

To stand out, street traders are becoming creative and turning on the charm, a far cry from their usual brazen approach. 

One recent day, a driver at a busy intersection gestured about a lack of money to buy anything but got a surprise. 

“Take it. It’s free today,” said a street trader, handing him a comb. 

Free gifts, kneeling as if in prayer, cleaning drivers’ windows and polite greetings are all part of the act. A man sang and danced while selling electronics to people stuck in a traffic jam. 

Street traders are part of the culture in much of Africa, with more than two-thirds of people in Zimbabwe employed in the informal sector, the African Development Bank said. 

It’s a big change: Locals largely worked in formal industries after independence from white minority rule in 1980. 

Following early successes, years of corruption, seizures of white-owned farms, frequent currency policy changes, electricity shortages and crippling debt have decimated the mineral-rich country’s once-flourishing economy. The government says Western sanctions over human rights allegations have made things worse. 

Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube on May 11 announced measures to stabilize the currency and attributed the economic instability to “skewed preference for the U.S. dollar as a savings currency.” The measures include removing restrictions to allow individuals with foreign currency to import basic goods duty free. 

The government also launched gold coins as legal tender last year and rolled out a gold-backed digital currency in early May. 

But some analysts are not optimistic. 

“I don’t expect a significant impact,” said Chitambara, the economist. “The government should liberalize the exchange rate and reduce supply of Zim dollars.” 

Until a solution is found, Nyoni, the shopper, will avoid brick-and-mortar stores. 

“It makes better sense to buy from the streets,” she said. “At least there is no guessing of prices each time I go shopping.” 
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The United States military has confirmed conducting a new airstrike against al-Shabab militants in the Middle Juba region of southern Somalia.    

The airstrike took place in Jilib town on Saturday in collaboration with the Somali federal government, according to a press statement released Monday by the U.S. Africa Command known as AFRICOM.    

“The command’s initial assessment is that no civilians were injured or killed,” the statement said.    

The AFRICOM statement did not say whether any of the senior al-Shabab commanders were targeted. Jilib, 385 kilometers (239 miles) southwest of Mogadishu, is an al-Shabab stronghold.    

The strike came as Mahad Salad, director of Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency, was in Washington and New York, meeting with U.S. officials from the Pentagon, CIA and FBI, according to a source familiar with the visit who did not want to be identified as they are not authorized to speak to the media.   

The talks focused on security and counterterrorism cooperation between the two countries, the source added.  

Roadside bombing  

Meanwhile, four Somali government soldiers were killed Monday in a roadside explosion in Mogadishu’s Daynile district, the Ministry of Defense said.  

Brigadier General Abdullahi Ali Anod, the ministry’s spokesperson, said that the attack occurred at about 9 a.m., and that three soldiers and an officer with the construction unit had been killed. 

Despite the explosion, he said, capital security has been improving since new military police were deployed more than a month ago. 

The new forces were among Somali security personnel trained in Uganda in recent months, government officials said.

The al-Shabab militant group claimed responsibility for the attack in Daynile.  

Anod said that since the government launched an offensive against the militants in August, the number of improvised explosive attacks by al-Shabab has decreased.    

“We are not saying the explosions stopped, but we are saying they weakened,” Anod said. He added that the government had been expecting a rise in attacks during the month of Ramadan, but that did not happen. 

“The enemy is wounded, but they can still fire bullets,” he said.   

Somali and African Union officials have said improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are al-Shabab’s weapons of choice.    

A joint report by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said 109 IED attacks from January 2020 to December 2021 killed 309 civilians and injured 556 others.   

Weapons used in these attacks include vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices; vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices and person-borne improvised explosive devices, both used in suicide attacks; and victim-operated improvised explosive devices, the report said.   

Al-Shabab leader appearance 

Meanwhile, al-Shabab leader Ahmed Diriye, also known as Ahmed Umar and Abu Ubaidah, purportedly appeared in a video published by al-Shabab’s media department.    

The video captures a meeting attended by several top al-Shabab leaders as well as pro-al-Shabab traditional elders and religious scholars. The group’s media reported that the meeting, titled “Jihad in East Africa,” took place from May 8 to 15. The group has not disclosed where the meeting took place.    

In the video, Diriye, whose face is blurred, comments on the military offensive by the Somali government and local Ma’awisley fighters that drove al-Shabab from vast territories in Hirshabelle and Galmudug states. Diriye claimed the offensive, which started last August and continued until earlier this year, has “failed.” The Somali government said it’s preparing to launch a second phase of the offensive. 

Previous al-Shabab videos have not shown the militant leader’s face. Diriye, for whom the U.S. has placed a reward up to $10 million for information on his whereabouts, was appointed to the post after his predecessor, Ahmed Abdi Godane, was killed in a U.S. operation on September 1, 2014.   
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