Tunisian polling stations were quiet on Sunday for runoffs in a parliamentary election that drew only 11% turnout in December’s first round, an outcome critics of the president said undermined his claims of public support for sweeping political change.

With political parties boycotting the vote, most candidates are independents and attention is likely to focus on whether there will be higher participation than there was in December.

The electoral commission said that turnout stood at 4.7% at 11 a.m. on Sunday, three hours after polls opened. In December it had announced turnout of about 3% at 10 a.m.

The commission will use Sunday’s figure as the overall one for both rounds of the election and the opposition has said it fears the authorities will try to inflate the figures.

“I’m not interested in elections that do not concern me,” said Nejib Sahli, 40, passing a polling station in the Hay Ettahrir district of Tunis shortly before voting was due to begin.

Inside the polling station, a Reuters journalist said no voters had appeared during the 20 minutes he spent there after polls officially opened.

President Kais Saied has decreed the new, mostly powerless, parliament as part of a reconfigured presidential system that he introduced after shutting down the previous parliament in 2021 and assuming broad control over the state.

Saied’s critics accuse him of seeking to dismantle the democratic system enacted after Tunisia’s 2011 revolution, which sparked the Arab Spring, and they ridiculed December’s ultra-low turnout as evidence that his changes lack popular support.

At a cafe in Ettahrir only Mongi Layouni, one of seven men sitting drinking coffee, said he might vote.

“I don’t know. Maybe I will go later,” he said. Another man sitting in the cafe, who gave his name only as Imad, said he did not believe his vote mattered after Saied’s political changes.

“The president alone is deciding everything,” he said. “He does not care about anybody and we do not care about him and his elections.”

At another polling station in the Ettadamon district, there were also few apparent voters.

One, who gave his name as Ridha, said he was voting as a show of support for Saied despite the reduced role that the parliament will play.

“He is a clean man fighting a corrupt system,” he said.

The president says his actions have been legal and necessary to save Tunisia from years of economic stagnation and political crisis, and has accused his critics of treason, urging action against them.

Economic crisis

A worsening economic crisis, that has caused shortages of some foods and medicines and led the government to seek an international bailout, has added to widespread disillusionment with politics.

On Friday Moody’s credit ratings agency downgraded Tunisian debt saying the country would likely default on sovereign loans.

Under the previous system, the parliament took the lead in choosing governments that set state policy and handled the daily running of the country. The president was only directly responsible for foreign affairs and defense.

Saied’s new rules make the parliament subservient to the president, who now takes the lead in forming or dismissing governments. The rules also reduce the role of political parties, with parliamentary candidates listed only by name without reference to their party affiliation.

Since December’s vote, state television has increased its focus on Sunday’s runoff votes including through debates between candidates. The opposition has said this is part of an effort by the state to boost turnout.

Chahed, an independent electoral monitoring group, said the level of voter participation was very low early on Sunday and said it had seen local government vehicles being used to transport some voters to polls.

Maher Jdidi, an electoral commission official, said on Shams FM radio this week that he expected turnout of between 20-30%.

Polls are open from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. (0700 GMT-1700 GMT).
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 Pope Francis starts a trip on Tuesday to two fragile African nations often forgotten by the world, where protracted conflicts have left millions of refugees and displaced people grappling with hunger.

The Jan. 31-Feb 5 visit to Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Sudan, takes the 86-year-old pope to places where Catholics make up about half of the populations and where the Church is a key player in health and educational systems as well as in democracy-building efforts.

The trip was scheduled to take place last July but was postponed because Francis was suffering a flare-up of a chronic knee ailment. He still uses a wheelchair and cane but his knee has improved significantly.

Both countries are rich in natural resources — DRC in minerals and South Sudan in oil — but beset with poverty and strife.

DRC, which is the second-largest country in Africa and has a population of about 90 million, is getting its first visit by a pope since John Paul II travelled there in 1985, when it was known as Zaire.

Francis had planned to visit the eastern city of Goma but that stop was scrapped following the resurgence of fighting between the army and the M23 rebel group in the area where Italy’s ambassador, his bodyguard and driver were killed in an ambush in 2021.

Francis will stay in the capital, Kinshasa, but will meet there with victims of violence from the east.

“Congo is a moral emergency that cannot be ignored,” the Vatican’s ambassador to DRC, Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, told Reuters.

According to the U.N. World Food Program, 26 million people in the DRC face severe hunger.

The country’s 45 million-strong Catholic Church has a long history of promoting democracy and, as the pope arrives, it is gearing up to monitor elections scheduled for December.

“Our hope for the Congo is that this visit will reinforce the Church’s engagement in support of the electoral process,” said Britain’s ambassador to the Vatican, Christ Trott, who spent many years as a diplomat in Africa.

DRC is getting its first visit by a pope since John Paul II travelled there in 1985, when it still was known as Zaire.

Unprecedented joint pilgrimage

The trip takes on an unprecedented nature on Friday when the pope leaves Kinshasa for South Sudan’s capital, Juba.

That leg is being made with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby and the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Iain Greenshields.

They represent the Christian make-up of the world’s youngest country, which gained independence in 2011 from predominantly Muslim Sudan after decades of conflict and has a population of around 11 million.

“This will be a historic visit,” Welby said. “After centuries of division, leaders of three different parts of [Christianity] are coming together in an unprecedented way.”

Two years after independence, conflict erupted when forces loyal to President Salva Kiir clashed with those loyal to Vice President Riek Machar, who is from a different ethnic group. The bloodshed spiraled into a civil war that killed 400,000 people.

A 2018 deal stopped the worst of the fighting, but parts of the agreement, including the deployment of a re-unified national army, have not yet been implemented.

There are 2.2 million internally displaced people in South Sudan and another 2.3 million have fled the country as refugees, according to the United Nations, which has praised the Catholic Church as a “powerful and active force in building peace and reconciliation in conflict-torn regions.”

In one of the most remarkable gestures since his papacy began in 2013, Francis knelt to kiss the feet of South Sudan’s previously warring leaders during a retreat at the Vatican in April 2019, urging them not to return to civil war.

Trott, a former ambassador in South Sudan, said he hoped the three Churchmen can convince political leaders to “fulfil the promise of the independence movement.”
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In Somalia, al-Qaida-affiliated militant group al-Shabab has been on a gradual retreat for months, and this could be the beginning of their end, experts told VOA.

In a televised speech in August 2022, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud announced a “total war” against the group, days after it staged a deadly hotel siege in Mogadishu, killing at least 21 people and wounding more than 100 others.

The president’s announcement came as local clans in central Somalia were revolting against the presence and the oppression of al-Shabab in their territories.

Since July, Somali government military operations in parts of the country have gained significant ground from the militants.

Al-Shabab ceded territories and major towns in the central Somali regions of Hiran, Middle Shabelle, Galmudug and South-West State. Government officials say they have killed more than 2,000 al-Shabab fighters, a number VOA could not independently verify.

As the government campaign enters its eighth month in February, the Somali government is preparing to open new battlefronts in southern parts of the country Somalia’s defense minister said Friday.

A week ago, government forces in Jubaland State took a step forward by capturing Janay Abdalle, a strategic village, from al-Shabab. Jubaland borders Kenya and is one of five Federal-member states in Somalia.

Speaking to VOA’s Somali service, Ismail Dahir Osman, former deputy commander of Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency, said al-Shabab has been on the retreat since the government started supporting local clan militias fighting with them.

“Since the government offensive began with the support of local citizens, who are fed up with the group’s oppressions, al-Shabab has been losing territories and former strongholds in central regions. Thanks to Somali government military operations backed by local clan militias and foreign partners, including the United States,” he said.

Colonel Abdullahi Ali Maow, a former Somali intelligence official told VOA that he agrees the militants are on a downward spiral.

“It is obvious that al-Shabab has been losing ground and were squeezed out of major towns and villages they have been controlling for more than 10 years, including Harardhere, a coastal town and former pirate hub captured by Somali government forces on January 16,” he said. “I think it is the beginning of their end.”

Even if the group’s retreat continues, it is not the first time the status of a jihadi group in Somalia was damaged by multiple defeats.

It happened in 2006 when troops from what was then Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government backed by Ethiopian troops defeated the Islamic Courts Union that had ruled Mogadishu and large swaths of south and central Somalia for months.

Disorder within the ranks helped the more radical terrorist elements within the ICU emerge. That became al-Shabab. The militant group grew and took control of large territories.

So, if they’re defeated again, what’s to keep them from returning?

Hassan Sheikh Ali Nur, a professor at the Somali National University in Mogadishu, said this time is different.

“The ICU time, there was not a strong and internationally recognized government in Somalia, there was not the international military support, including the United States airstrikes, and more importantly the Somali citizens and nationalists were not fully supporting the government as they considered Ethiopian troops involvement as a foreign invasion,” Nur said.

Omar Yusuf Abdulle, a Horn of Africa affairs analyst, believes that the dream of al-Shabab — taking control of Somalia, overthrowing the western-backed government and imposing a strict version of Sharia law — is over. He cautions that the militant group will remain a security threat for many years to come because the group’s ideology alone is enough to inspire attacks.

“Despite the recent military defeat, the group can still do damage because their leaders are still out there, and they still control large territory in southern Somalia. Also, the die-hard followers of the group are still listening to them and there are probably thousands of them; therefore, the complete defeat of al-Shabab depends on the eradication of the ideology that inspires the terrorist,” Abdulle said.

The Somalia government also acknowledges that the dangerous ideology is very much alive and expects to see more terrorist attacks planned and commissioned by the group.

In its war against the group’s ideology, as a part of the government’s triple offensive against al-Shabab — which includes military and financial operations in addition to countering extremist propaganda — the government convened a four-day conference this week of Muslim scholars in Mogadishu that ended Thursday with the formation of a Supreme Council.

More than 300 Muslim clerics who attended the meeting declared their support for the government’s war against the Islamist militant group, which has been fighting the government since 2007. The clerics vehemently denounced al-Shabab’s misinterpretation of Islam.

It was the first time in years that Somali clerics from all sects of Islam came together to denounce terrorism. Even the conservative Wahhabi sect, which has been accused of sympathizing with al-Shabab, participated.

Somali Prime Minister Hamza Barre said in his closing speech at the conference that the coming together of Somali clerics from different ideological persuasions could be the end of al-Shabab’s religious influence in Somalia.

“This will be instrumental in winning the war against al-Shabab and other extremist elements because it is the first time we have seen different sects of clerics sitting together and issuing a statement together against a common enemy. I am happy that you have joined the fight,” he said.

Last year, Barre named the former deputy leader of al-Shabab, Mukhtar Robow, as religious affairs minister. His selection was seen as an attempt to deflate al-Shabab’s ideology.
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Thousands of demonstrators rallied in Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou, on Saturday in support of the ruling junta, days after France confirmed its special forces there would withdraw, according to an AFP journalist at the rally.

Packing Nation Square in central Ouagadougou, protesters held signs bearing slogans including “Down with imperialism,” “Down with French policy in Africa” and “Forward for Burkina’s sovereignty.”

“We do not want any more foreign military bases on our soil,” Lazare Yameogo, spokesperson for the Inter-African Revolutionary Movement told the crowd. “We want respect and a win-win cooperation.

“We will remain on the lookout until Burkina Faso is liberated from Western imperialism,” he added.

Former colonial power France has special forces based in Ouagadougou, but its presence has come under intense scrutiny as anti-French sentiment in the region grows.

Paris confirmed this week that the troops, deployed to help fight a years-long jihadi insurgency, would leave within a month.

Anger within the military at the government’s failure to stem the insurgency, which has raged since 2015, fueled two coups in Burkina Faso last year.

Violence by insurgents linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group has killed thousands of people and forced around 2 million more to flee their homes.

Junta leader Captain Ibrahim Traore was acting for the West African state’s sovereignty and “an army powerful enough to fight jihadists,” said Alassane Kouanda, head of an association backing the planned transition to civilian rule.

Some observers say the Burkinabe government’s request for France to withdraw its troops is reminiscent of the ideals of former president, left-wing anti-colonial hero Thomas Sankara.

A coalition of organizations supporting Sankara’s ideas welcomed “the complete liberation of our country from the yokes of Francafrique, imperialism and deadly capitalism,” using a term to describe French influence in its former African colonies.

Mahamadou Sawadogo, leader of the Burkina-Russia association, said during Saturday’s protest that there were “other opportunities for cooperation” in the fight against jihadis, notably from Moscow.

Some protesters on Saturday held Russian flags and giant posters of the leaders of Mali and Guinea, West African neighbors that, like Burkina Faso, are ruled by military juntas following coups.

Monique Yeli Kam, a former presidential candidate and a major figure in the anti-France movement, told AFP Burkina Faso’s turn toward Moscow and the Russian paramilitary group Wagner was “also a form of sovereignty.”

“The old powers tend to treat us like children by saying we don’t know how to choose,” but Burkina is now independent and able to act freely “according to our interests,” she said.

Turning away from France in favor of Russia in the anti-jihadi fight has not convinced all Burkinabe citizens.

“We demanded the French soldiers’ departure. Now that it’s done, we must not let in other imperialists,” said Ibrahim Sanou, a 28-year-old shop worker. “It’s up to us to take full responsibility because the fight for true independence in Burkina Faso begins now.”

Civil servant Desire Sanou added: “We must be ready to hold out to free the country from these hordes of terrorists. We don’t even need Wagner or other forces.”
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Hundreds of people, including foreign diplomats and activists, paid homage Saturday to a human rights lawyer who was shot dead in Eswatini, sparking alarm over political violence in Africa’s last absolute monarchy.

Thulani Maseko, a political activist and fierce critic of authorities in the tiny landlocked nation, was gunned down through the window of his home last Saturday by unknown attackers.

Hours before his murder, King Mswati III had warned activists who defy him not to “shed tears” about “mercenaries killing them.”

Mourners from all over the world

Diplomatic envoys from the United States, European Union, the United Kingdom and the United Nations attended a somber memorial service on the outskirts of the commercial capital, Manzini.

Lawyers and rights activists from several other African countries, as far afield as Kenya, also traveled to the country — sandwiched between South Africa and Mozambique — to pay their tributes.

A portrait of Maseko was displayed in front of a cream-colored wooden podium with a spray of white, yellow and red flowers laid out at the bottom.

U.N. representative George Wachira said Maseko’s killing was a “loss not only to Eswatini but to the world and humanity. We cannot avoid bitterness because Thulani didn’t deserve to die in this manner.”

“His death shall not be in vain,” he told mourners. “Thulani was at the core of that theory that through dialogue this country can be fixed.”

Maseko, who died at age 52, had spent most of his life fighting state repression and representing opposition activists in court.

In 2014, he was jailed for contempt of court over articles critical of the government and judiciary, but he was acquitted on appeal and released a year later.

At the time of his death, Maseko led a broad coalition of political and civic rights and religious groups created in November 2021 to foster dialogue with the king and seek a way out of the political crisis in the country of 1.2 million people.

‘Blood on Mswati’s hands’

Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland, has long cracked down on dissents, with political parties banned since 1973.

At least 37 people were killed during weeks of anti-monarchy protests in June 2021.

Maseko’s murder drew widespread international outrage and calls for an impartial probe and the prosecution of the culprits.

U.K. Ambassador Simon Boyden said, “human rights defenders, like Thulani, must be able to able to depend on institutions of the state to protect them from violence, from intimidation and from death.”

The vice president of the Law Society in Eswatini, Sdumo Dladla, bemoaned that Maseko “had to die such a violent death while he was preaching against violence.”

EU Ambassador Dessislava Choumelova called for the “safety of all citizens including political activists.”

Paying tribute to the “fallen, giant baobab,” Mlungisi Makhanya, president of PUDEMO, a political movement that was banned in 2008, said the killing was “one of the most brutal acts in the history of” Eswatini.

“There is a lot of innocent blood on Mswati’s hands,” said Makhanya speaking via video link from exile. “For his atrocities, Mswati and his henchmen must be indicted…It is time like this that we must intensify our struggle and exert pressure.” 

Maseko also was a senior member of PUDEMO, which pushed for the creation of a constitutional multi-party democracy. He will be buried Sunday.
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Italy’s prime minister held talks in Libya Saturday with officials from the country’s west-based government focusing on energy and migration, top issues for Italy and the European Union. During the visit, the two countries’ oil companies signed a gas deal worth $8 billion — the largest single investment in Libya’s energy sector in more than two decades.

Libya is the second North African country that Premier Giorgia Meloni, three months in office, visited this week. She is seeking to secure new supplies of natural gas to replace Russian energy amid Moscow’s war on Ukraine. She previously visited Algeria, Italy’s main supplier of natural gas, where she signed several memorandums.

Meloni landed at the Mitiga airport, the only functioning airport in Libya’s capital, Tripoli, amid tight security, accompanied by Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, her office said. She met with Abdel Hamid Dbeibah, who heads one of Libya’s rival administrations, and held talks with Mohamed Younis Menfi, who chairs Libya’s ceremonial presidential council.

At a roundtable with Dbeibah, Meloni repeated her remarks from Algeria, saying that while Italy wants to increase its profile in the region, it doesn’t seek a “predatory” role but wants to help African nations “grow and become richer.”

During the visit, Claudio Descalzi, the CEO of Italy’s state-run energy company, ENI, signed an $8 billion deal with Libya’s National Oil Corporation to develop two Libyan offshore gas fields. NOC’s chairman Farhat Bengdara also signed.

The agreement involves developing two offshore fields in Block NC-41, north of Libya, and ENI said they would start pumping gas in 2026, and estimated reaching 750 million cubic feet per day, the Italian firm said in a statement. 

Meloni, who attended the signing ceremony, called the deal “significant and historic” and said it will help Europe securing energy sources.

“Libya is clearly for us a strategic economic partner,” Meloni said.

Agreement could compound tension

Saturday’s deal is likely to deepen the rift between the rival Libyan administrations in the east and west, like previous oil and military deals between Tripoli and Ankara. It has already exposed fractions within the Dbeibah’s government.

Oil Minister Mohamed Aoun, who did not attend the signing, criticized the deal on a local TV, saying it was “illegal” and claiming that NOC did not consult with his ministry.

Bengdara did not address Aoun’s criticism during his conference but said those who reject the deal could challenge it in court.

ENI has continued to operate in Libya despite ongoing security issues, producing gas mostly for the domestic market. Last year, Libya delivered just 2.63 billion cubic meters to Italy through the Greenstream pipeline — well below the annual levels of 8 billion cubic meters before Libya’s decline in 2011.

Instability increased domestic demand and underinvestment has hampered Libya’s gas deliveries abroad, according to Matteo Villa of the Milan-based ISPI think tank. New deals “are important in terms of image,” Villa said.

Also, because of Moscow’s war on Ukraine, Italy has moved to reduce dependence on Russian natural gas. Last year, Italy reduced imports by two-thirds, to 11 billion cubic meters.

Meloni is the top European official to visit oil-rich Libya since the country failed to hold presidential and parliamentary elections in December 2021. That prompted Libya’s east-based parliament to appoint a rival government after Dbeibah refused to step down.

Libya has for most of the past decade been ruled by rival governments — one based in the country’s east, and the other in Tripoli, in the west. The country descended into chaos following the 2011 NATO-backed uprising turned civil war that toppled and later killed longtime autocratic ruler Moammar Gadhafi.

Piantedosi’s presence during the visit signaled that migration was a top concern in Meloni’s trip. The interior minister has been spearheading the government’s crackdown on charity rescue boats operating off Libya, initially denying access to ports and more recently, assigning ports in northern Italy, requiring days of navigation.

Patrol boats for migrants

At a joint news conference with Meloni later Saturday, Dbeibah said that Italy would provide five “fully equipped” boats to Libya’s coast guard to help stem the flow of migrants to the European shores.

Alarm Phone, an activist network that helps bring rescuers to distressed migrants at sea, criticized Italy’s move to provide the patrol boats.

“While this is nothing new, it is worrying,” the group said in an email to The Associated Press. “This will inevitably lead to more people being abducted at sea and forced to return to places they had sought to escape from.”

Jalel Harchaoui, a Libya expert and an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, said that Meloni needs to show “some kind of a step-up, compared to her predecessor in terms of migration and energy policy in Libya.”

But “it will be difficult to improve upon Rome’s existing western Libya tactics, which have been chugging along,” he said.

The North African nation has also become a hub for African and Middle Eastern migrants seeking to travel to Europe. Italy receives tens of thousands every year.
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A senior U.S. official said Saturday that Eritrean troops are still in Ethiopia although they have moved back the border, contradicting Ethiopian authorities who say the Eritreans have already left.

Eritrean troops fought alongside the Ethiopian military and allied militias in the two-year conflict that pitted the Ethiopian government against rebellious forces in the northern region of Tigray.

In November, however, the Ethiopia government and the Tigray forces signed an agreement to end the hostilities. That agreement mandated the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Tigray.

“With respect to Eritreans we understand they have moved back to the border, and they have been asked to leave,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said at a news conference during a visit to the Kenyan capital Nairobi.

She did not provide any evidence or source for this assessment. Eritrea’s information minister Yemane Gebremeskel did not respond to a Reuters’ request for comment.

The Tigray war, which begun in November 2020, resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and forced millions to flee their homes. The possible continuing presence of Eritrean troops in Tigray thus has been seen as a key obstacle to effective implementation of the deal.

A senior Ethiopia military officer briefing foreign officials on Saturday denied there were any Eritrean troops in the country.

“There is no other security force in the Tigray region except the FDRE Defense Forces,” Major General Teshome Gemechu said, using an acronym for the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.

A spokesperson for the Tigrayan forces, Getachew Reda, dismissed claims that the Eritrean troops had left Tigray and said “thousands” were still there.

Ethiopian government spokesperson Legesse Tulu, Redwan Hussein, national security advisor to the prime minister, and Colonel Getnet Adane, spokesperson to Ethiopian Army also did not respond to requests for comment on claims by Thomas-Greenfield and Getachew.
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When Pope Francis arrives in Congo and South Sudan next week, thousands of people will take special note of a gesture more grounded than the sign of the cross. Watching from their wheelchairs, they will relate to the way he uses his.

The pope, who began using a wheelchair last year, is visiting two countries where years of conflict have disabled many, and yet they are among the world’s most difficult places to find accessibility and understanding. His visit is heartening Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

“We know that it’s a suffering, but it also comforts us to see a grand personality like the pope using a wheelchair,” said Paul Mitemberezi, a market vendor in Goma, at the heart of the eastern Congo region threatened by dozens of armed groups. “Sometimes it gives us the courage to hope that this isn’t the end of the world and one can survive.”

Mitemberezi, a Catholic and a father, has been disabled since he was 3 because of polio. He works to support his family because he can’t imagine a life of begging. On the way to market, his three-wheeled chair crunches the stones of unpaved roads. Without a ramp at home, he must leave the brightly painted vehicle outdoors, at risk of theft.

Every morning, before he leaves for basketball practice, he makes sure the chair’s still there before crawling out his front door. “It is my legs, which helps me to live,” he said. He applies a bicycle pump to the wheels and is off, weaving through traffic of motorcycles and trucks.

Pope Francis is still adjusting to a life that Mitemberezi has long accepted. The pope was first seen publicly in a wheelchair in May, with an aide pushing it. The pope, at age 86, never propels himself. Sometimes he walks with a cane, but he uses the chair for longer distances and has a wheelchair lift to get on and off planes.

Francis has insisted that his mobility limitations don’t affect his ability to be pope, saying “You lead with your head, not your knee.” He has lamented how today’s “throwaway culture” wrongly marginalizes disabled people. He makes it a point to visit places serving the disabled during his foreign trips, and routinely spends time greeting wheelchair users at the end of his general audiences.

“No disability — temporary, acquired or permanent — can change the fact that we are all children of the one Father and enjoy the same dignity,” Francis wrote in his annual message for the U.N. International Day of Persons with Disabilities in December. He said people with different abilities enrich the church and teach it to be more humane.

Such messages are warmly awaited by wheelchair users in South Sudan, where a five-year civil war killed hundreds of thousands of people. As in Congo, data is lacking on just how many people are disabled by conflict or other means.

While the road leading to the Vatican’s embassy in the South Sudan capital, Juba, was paved by city authorities this month for ease of travel, residents who use wheelchairs said they have long gone without easy access to schools, health centers, toilets and other public facilities.

The Vatican’s ambassador to Congo, Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, said he believed the sight of a wheelchair-using pope could be a powerful teaching moment in a culture where disabilities are often viewed with suspicion and superstition.

Families often abandon their disabled children, he said.

Seeing someone like the pope suffer should make Francis more approachable for people during his visit, Balestrero said. “They identify, in a way, even more with him.”
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Cameroon journalists are calling for an investigation and say their profession is in danger after a popular radio host investigating government corruption was found dead. Emmanual Jules Ntap has more from Yaounde.
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A red shipping container lies in a school playground in a small South African town. 

The imposing steel structure has an unexpected function: to help save youngsters in a country gripped by an epidemic of drownings. 

Within it is a swimming pool — the only one within 25 kilometers — where children will learn the basics of how to stay afloat. 

South Africa has thousands of kilometers of beaches, and in rich neighborhoods, swimming pools dot the gardens. 

Yet just one South African in seven knows how to swim, and each year about 1,500 people drown, according to a local rescue institute — an average of four individuals per day. 

In the Cape Town suburb of Riebeek-Kasteel, Meiring primary school, which hosts the container, has suffered its own drowning tragedy. 

A framed photo in the entrance hall pays tribute to a 12-year-old lad who perished in a dammed lake at a nearby farm in 2021. 

“If he just knew how to float in water, he could have saved his own life,” said school principal Brenton Cupido.  

“It gets very hot here, especially in summer, and our (pupils) flock every afternoon, unsupervised, to the nearby dams. But most of them can’t swim.”  

The toll is a “huge public health issue” rooted in historical inequalities, said Jill Fortuin, director of drowning prevention at the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI).  

Most fatalities are Black South Africans. 

“Apartheid is a big portion of the problem,” said Fortuin, herself a person of mixed heritage. 

Under segregation, swimming pools and holiday beaches were limited to the white minority, providing little incentive for the majority to learn how to swim. 

Three decades after the advent of democracy, stark inequalities remain, with limited infrastructure and opportunities. 

“Government schools, where most disadvantaged people go to, often do not have swimming pools,” said Fortuin. 

Faced with choosing between putting food on the table or paying for swimming lessons, most families opt for the former, she added.  

“Swimming is not seen as a priority.” 

‘Safe water’

To help tackle drowning, NSRI has deployed 1,350 volunteer lifeguards across the country’s beaches and installed 1,500 bright pink buoys on various water bodies to help rescuers aid people in distress. 

But prevention is paramount, said the group, whose awareness-raising campaign has reached more than 3 million people in recent years. 

With climate change fueling floods and heat waves, the need increases, said Fortuin. 

The “Survival Swimming Centre” pool installed at Meiring is the brainchild of Andrew Ingram, 58, a drowning prevention manager. 

In their homes, some of “the children … don’t even have toilets that flush. So how on earth are they going to have a swimming pool?” he asked.  

“We provide safe water and somebody to teach them.” 

The container pool is 6 meters long and 1 meter deep. 

Children are taught how to help friends in difficulty, control breathing, orient themselves under the water and use an empty bottle as an emergency buoy. 

Half of the school’s children now know how to float — and most of them are the first in their families to learn, said Cupido.  

Jonathan Van der Merwe used to be very “concerned” that his daughter, who was one of the first to take lessons at Meiring’s survival pool, might get into trouble in one of the many ponds around the wine farming area. 

“Now, I’m very calm and relaxed about it,” he said. 

A sister container will soon be installed at a school in KwaZulu-Natal, an eastern province ravaged by deadly floods last year. Another is already in place in Eastern Cape province.  

Petro Meyer, 62, NSRI’s water safety instructor, has introduced about 100 students between 6 to 12 years old to survival swimming.  

“You should see their smiles when they realize they’re floating by themselves for the first time,” she said. “We want to create a new culture in these kids.”  
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More than 300 Muslim clerics meeting in Somalia’s capital this week have declared their support for the government’s war against the Islamist militant group al-Shabab.

The clerics issued their declaration following a four-day conference of Muslim scholars that ended Thursday with the formation of a Supreme Council. It was the first time in years that Somali clerics from all sects of Islam came together to denounce terrorism. Even the conservative Wahhabi sect, which has been accused of sympathizing with al-Shabab, participated.

The coming together of Somali clerics from different ideological persuasions is one of the Somali government’s most ambitious attempts to pull religious leaders into the war against terrorism.

The meeting is part of the government’s triple offensive against al-Shabab, which includes military and financial operations in addition to countering extremist propaganda.

When Prime Minister Hamza Barre closed the conference, he said it will be instrumental in winning the war against al-Shabab and other extremist elements.

He said it is the first time he has seen different sects of clerics sitting together and issuing a statement together. He said they are fighting an enemy, whom the clerics have called Khawarij, and he is happy they have joined the fight.

Sheikh Aweys Abdi, who participated in the conference, called for an uprising against al-Shabab.

“Those they kill and target with explosions and term as infidels are all Muslims. Therefore, they should be fought,” he said. “Any soldier who kills al-Shabab or is being killed by the Shabab is a martyr.”

Attacking al-Shabab

The Somali government has been waging a military campaign against al-Shabab since July last year. In central regions, government forces working with clan militia have captured a series of towns and villages and say they have killed more than 2,000 al-Shabab fighters.

Analysts say enlisting religious leaders is another crucial step in attacking al-Shabab from several fronts. Abdiaziz Issack, a security analyst with a cultural and research organization known as the Hamad Bin Khalifa Civilization Center in Denmark, said the government is right to bring clerics into the campaign.

“Religious leaders, just like clan elders in Somalia, are very influential,” he said. “Al-Shabab relies on twisting Islamic teachings to drive their ideology, so the clerics can effectively counter that narrative by drawing the line between truth and falsehood.”

Issack said that, though al-Shabab spreads its ideology in mosques and affiliated media, the government might be able to counter those narratives, given the number of clerics on its side.

Waging ideological warfare

“Al-Shabab has its team of clerics, too, but they are few, and if all pro-government clerics join forces, they can easily counter them,” said Issack. “The government will need to increase funding to the religious affairs ministry and screen the imams to ensure al-Shabab does not infiltrate mosques.”

According to Ahmed Abdihadi Abdullahi, the founder of Somali Civic House, a governance think tank in Mogadishu, the conference of clerics and declaration against al-Shabab is a major step in challenging the group’s use of religion to advance its terrorist agenda.

“For the clerics to come together and make clear that al-Shabab’s ideology is not based on Islam is a good move and could contribute a lot to the ideological warfare against the group,” said Abdullahi.

Abdullahi said the open defiance by the religious leaders is a strong statement considering the targeted assassinations of pro-government clerics by al-Shabab.

“Al-Shabab previously killed many clerics, and that those clerics who attended the conference came despite that risk,” he said “The government and its forces are not now capable of guaranteeing security for these clerics, but for now, the assassinations by the group have gradually decreased.”

The Somali government hopes that by enlisting the support of religious leaders, it can make gains in its ongoing war against al-Shabab, which has been fighting the government since its emergence in 2007.

Last year, Prime Minister Barre picked former al-Shabab number two Mukhtar Robow as religious affairs minister, as part of attempts to deflate al-Shabab ideology.

As the government campaign enters its eighth month in February, the Somali government is preparing to open new battle fronts in southern parts of the country.
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Cameroon journalists are calling for an investigation and say their profession is in danger after a popular radio host investigating government corruption was found dead.

On his radio program two weeks ago, Cameroonian journalist Martinez Zogo said he had information that people involved in corruption wanted him dead.

Then, on January 17, Zogo, the director of the urban radio station Amplitude FM, was abducted, prompting fears for his safety.

On Sunday, Zogo’s body was found. Government spokesperson Rene Emmanuel Sadi said that it showed signs of torture and that the killing was “barbaric, unacceptable and despicable.”

Zogo was known in the capital, Yaoundé, for his high-profile program, “Traffic Jam,” which broadcast in English.

Friends, colleagues and fans created a shrine in his honor outside his workplace.

“There is a feeling of shame. Why in Cameroon?” Haman Mana of the Federation of Press Editors of Cameroon said in French. “We are confused, but I would like us all to keep our sanity because those who did it are simply not human.”

Samuel Bondjock of the National Union of Journalists of Cameroon said his organization will always denounce this crime and its infringement on press freedom.

Journalists operating in Cameroon said Zogo’s killing is part of an effort by the authoritarian government of President Paul Biya to intimidate the press corps.

“Through the barbarity of the assassination of Martinez Zogo,” Naja TV General Manager Jean-Bruno Tagne said in French, “it is a message of fear that they want to instigate among journalists and in the circles of all those who have decided not to remain silent in the face of the crime that we observe in this country.”

Government spokesman Sadi said the investigation into the killing was ongoing, and he promised the killers would be brought to justice.

While Cameroon has a thriving media market, the group Reporters Without Borders says it is a “hostile and precarious environment” for journalists.
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Ugandan journalist Solomon Serwanjja has seen first-hand how investigative reporting can bring change. His coverage of shady foreign adoptions led to legal reform.

Now, as executive director of the African Institute for Investigative Journalism, he is using his 14-plus years of experience to train the next generation of reporters.

“I started as a young reporter, just passion driving me,” Serwanjja told VOA. “Done some amazing stories, some of which have put me in trouble, but with those, there have come several celebrations and awards.”

Journalists in Uganda face a multitude of challenges. Alongside attacks or kidnappings, reporters must navigate restrictive laws and risk arrest or threats if they look too closely at powerful figures, media watchdogs say.

But, said Serwanjja, “Investigative journalism has the power to transform lives; just one single story can really change and turn things around.”

“We’ve seen how so many investigative stories led to the resignation of people in places of power,” he said. “We’ve seen the corrupt arrested because of investigative journalism.”

Still, the space for media to do that work is shrinking.

Uganda has a relatively liberal media market that, according to Raymond Mujuni, has seen “tremendous growth” in the past 15 to 20 years.

But the deputy director for the African Institute for Investigative Journalism and head of current affairs at the Nation Media Group, told VOA, “The environment in which this journalism is practiced has increasingly been reducing, as has all the other civic spaces in Uganda.”

Mujuni said that while tremendous progress has been secured for free expression and respect for media, “you find tons of journalists who have been arrested just for doing their job.”

“Security services have often interfered with how journalists do their work; you find media owners closely linked to the government who are uncomfortable with the nature of journalism and prefer censorship,” he said. “So it’s a crisis of contradictions … we have a liberal legal space to practice this journalism. But the current environment restricts our journalists.”

Legal reform

For Serwanjja, the high point of his career was his work exposing an illegal adoption racket in Uganda for NTV Uganda in 2013, titled “Taken and never returned.”

“Lawyers in town were going down to the villages and taking pictures of young girls and boys and trying to convince their parents that they’re going to get them sponsors,” Serwanjja said. In reality, they were “advertising them for adoption and legal guardianship.”

Serwanjja focused on the case of a boy whose identity was changed after being adopted. The child’s parents wanted their son back but were told he “now belongs to a different family,” Serwanjja said.

After the story broadcast, a parliamentarian amended the Children’s Act to address a gray area of legal guardianship being exploited to take children.

Serwanjja appeared before various teams and committees to share his findings.

“It’s now difficult for anyone to come into the country and adopt children,” he said. “Doing such a story led to an amendment of the children’s activities and protecting children and local people, vulnerable people, back in the villages.

“If you ask me about the epitome of my career in journalism, I think that that story was powerful,” he said.

The difference that investigative reporting can make is what led to the founding of the African Institute for Investigative Journalism.

Too many stories are missed because of a lack of funding, Serwanjja said. Investigative reporting is expensive. “It takes time. It takes resources.”

But the institute offers small grants to journalists and gives them the tools and mentoring needed to sharpen their skills. So far, the center has issued more than 40 journalism grants.

The idea, he said, is “so [others] can grow and be able to do some of these stories on their own.”

One of those to benefit is Gloria Atuhairwe, a journalism student at Victoria University Kampala.

Atuhairwe was a 2022 fellow for climate change and environmental crime at the African Institute for Investigative Journalism.

“Attending this training helped me to associate with people, journalists who have been practicing for a long time, and since I am a young journalist, it was such a great opportunity,” she told VOA.

During the fellowship, Atuhairwe looked into water pollution in a village near Lake Victoria and learned new skills.

“Sharing experiences with these people who have been able to publish investigative stories … the knowledge they have, the skills they use, and how to carry out these stories helped me,” Atuhairwe said, adding that she is “learning from the best.”

“I’ve been able to see stories that investigative journalists have done and how these stories they have carried out have had a significant impact on their countries or communities,” Atuhairwe added.

The institute relies on support from Europe and the Americas — the U.S. Agency for Global Media and VOA are both partners — but, said Serwanjja, “Africans need to appreciate the power and the role of investigative journalism so that they can be able to find it. We are talking about philanthropists in Africa. We are talking about foundations in Africa. … That would be more sustainable.”

Serwanjja advocates for more investigative journalism but acknowledges that it “is not for the faint-hearted.”

“Sometimes, the people you [investigate] try to hunt [you] down,” he said. “We’ve seen so many investigative journalists killed and arrested and imprisoned in the line of duty.”

Serwanjja has been detained and abducted previously. But, he said, “Somehow, the truth has helped me be free.”

Atuhairwe also acknowledges the risk, especially for female journalists. But, she said, “Investigative journalism is critical because I believe it’s good journalism.”

Through it, she said, “You are finding solutions to these problems that the public is facing. Telling these stories helps hold people accountable.”

Serwanjja shares that sentiment, telling VOA, “Investigative journalism comes with its challenges and opportunities, as well as its risks.”

This story originated in VOA’s English to Africa division.
…

The European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell visited South Africa on Friday, urging Pretoria to use its ties with Russia to convince Moscow to stop its war on Ukraine. 

Borrell’s trip to South Africa is the latest in a whirlwind week that has seen visits by both Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

Analysts say the flurry of diplomatic activity comes as the West and Russia both seek South Africa’s support regarding the war in Ukraine. Pretoria has strong historic ties with Moscow and has taken an officially neutral stance on the conflict, to the dismay of Washington and Brussels.

“I very much hope that South Africa, our strategic partner, will use its good relations with Russia and the role it plays in the BRICS group to convince Russia to stop this senseless war,” Borrell said at a press conference. BRICS is an informal group of states comprising the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Borrell said South Africa could make an important contribution this way, but South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor said it was the task of the world to make peace.

Earlier this week, Pandor gave Lavrov a warm welcome in Pretoria. Asked by a reporter whether she would repeat the call made by her ministry early last year for Russia to withdraw from Ukraine, she said she would not, noting the massive transfer of arms to Ukraine that had since occurred.

Next month, South Africa will host much-criticized military exercises with China and Russia. Borrell said Pretoria has the right to follow its own foreign policy, but he noted the drills were not what the EU “would have preferred.” 
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Somalia’s government welcomed the death of Bilal al-Sudani, the Islamic State group leader killed by U.S. special operations forces in a remote part of northern Somalia on Wednesday night.

“It’s a very positive and welcoming,” Hussein Sheikh Ali, national security adviser for Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud told VOA Somali on Thursday.

Ali, who is in Washington, told VOA that Islamic State is not the major threat to Somalia, as is al-Shabab, but its leader, al-Sudani, was a “dangerous terrorist” who posed a potential threat to Somalia and East Africa.

The U.S. operation targeted al-Sudani, an important Islamic State financial facilitator, and took place in the Cal Miskaad mountains, in a remote cave complex in the Bari region of Somalia’s Puntland state.

The U.S. government said 10 other terrorist operatives were also killed in the operation. No civilians were injured or killed in the operation, Pentagon officials said.

U.S. officials said the U.S. forces had intended to capture al-Sudani and other associates, but that attempt failed.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement, “This action leaves the United States and its partners safer and more secure, and it reflects our steadfast commitment to protecting Americans from the threat of terrorism at home and abroad.”

Somalia’s national security adviser said the U.S. operation was important and shows the United States was not only targeting al-Shabaab, but also Islamic State militants in Somalia.

“The message is, that the leaders of all terror groups in Somalia are not safe,” and there is no safe haven for them “in the entire Somalia Peninsula,” Ali said.

Al-Sudani has been on the radar for U.S. intelligence officials for years. Austin said al-Sudani played a key role in helping to fund IS operations in Africa as well as the ISIS-K affiliate operating in Afghanistan. The U.S. Treasury Department had originally designated al-Sudani in 2012, for his role with al-Shabaab group in Somalia.

Security experts believe the death of the IS leader in Somalia is a major setback to IS and other terrorist groups operating in Somalia who are facing an extensive offensive by Somalian forces.

Ali said there is solid collaboration between Somalia and the U.S. in countering al-Shabaab.

“The US military support to Somalia is very helpful and its best,” he said.

“We have launched an offensive, and we have been very successful in the last six months, during which we liberated dozens of towns and villages from al-Shabab,” Ali said.

“I am here in Washington, D.C., to meet senior leadership, and it’s been a quite successful so far” Ali added.
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Nigeria’s electoral commission says will hold elections in February despite threats to its facilities and staff. Since Nigeria’s last elections in 2019, the commission has recorded more than 50 attacks on its facilities. Observers say such violence could hinder voting if it happens in the run-up to the polls. Timothy Obiezu reports from Abuja, Nigeria.
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U.S. special operations forces have killed a senior Islamic State group official and 10 other terrorist operatives in remote northern Somalia, the Biden administration announced Thursday.

The operation carried out on Wednesday targeted Bilal al-Sudani, a key financial facilitator for the global terrorist organization, in a mountainous cave complex.

“This action leaves the United States and its partners safer and more secure, and it reflects our steadfast commitment to protecting Americans from the threat of terrorism at home and abroad,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement.

Months of planning

President Joe Biden was briefed last week about the proposed mission, which came together after months of planning. He gave final approval to carry out the operation this week following the recommendation of Austin and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army General Mark Milley, according to two senior Biden administration officials who briefed reporters on the operation on the condition of anonymity.

Al-Sudani, who has been on the radar for U.S. intelligence officials for years, played a key role in helping to fund IS operations in Africa as well as the ISIS-K terrorist branch operating in Afghanistan, Austin said.

The U.S. Treasury Department alleged last year that al-Sudani had worked closely with another IS operative, Abdella Hussein Abadigga, who had recruited young men in South Africa and sent them to a weapons training camp.

Abadigga, who controlled two mosques in South Africa, used his position to extort money from members of the mosques. Al-Sudani considered Abadigga a trusted supporter who could help the IS supporters in South Africa become better organized and recruit new members, according to Treasury.

Helped foreign fighters

Al-Sudani had originally been designated by the Treasury Department in 2012 for his role with al-Shabab, another terrorist organization operating in Somalia. He helped foreign fighters travel to an al-Shabab training camp and facilitated financing for violent extremists in Somalia, according to a senior administration official.

No civilians were injured or killed in the operation, Pentagon officials said. One American involved in the operation was bitten by a military dog, but was not seriously injured, according to an administration official.

U.S. officials provided scant details about how the operation was carried out or the circumstances surrounding al-Sudani’s killing. One official said that U.S. forces had intended to capture al-Sudani but that did not prove to be “feasible” as the operation was carried out.

The operation comes days after Africa Command said it had conducted a collective self-defense strike northeast of Mogadishu, the capital, near Galcad. In that incident, Somalia National Army forces were engaged in heavy fighting following an extended and intense attack by more than 100 al-Shabab fighters.

The U.S. estimated approximately 30 al-Shabab fighters were killed in that operation.

The offensive by Somalian forces against al-Shabab has been described as the most significant in more than a decade.

Al-Shabab holds a much larger footprint in Somalia than does IS.
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Tanzania’s opposition Chadema party held its first public rally in six years this week, after the government lifted a ban on such gatherings.  Despite the restored right to rally, critics doubt Tanzania’s Party of the Revolution, the second-longest ruling party in Africa, will stop squeezing opponents and say a change in law is needed. Charles Kombe reports from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. VOA footage by Rajabu Hassan.
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M23 rebels in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo clashed with soldiers and rival militias on Thursday, according to officials, who said the group’s fighters had also severed a vital road in the turbulent region.

The M23 has conquered swaths of territory in North Kivu province since last year and advanced toward its capital, Goma.

The group first leapt to prominence in 2012 when it captured the city of more than 1 million people before being driven out the following year.

Kivu Security Tracker, a respected violence monitor, said on Wednesday that the M23 was advancing in North Kivu’s Masisi territory.

The Tutsi-led group had cut off the road leading between the town of Kitchanga, which is in Masisi, and Goma, it said.

Police and local government officials in the area confirmed to Agence France-Presse on Thursday that the road had been cut off.

The artery is considered vital for supplying Goma, especially since the main highway leading north out of the city has been cut off since an earlier M23 advance.

A resident of the village of Kilolirwe, in Masisi, said that clashes with the rebels were also ongoing near Kitchanga.

An army official, who declined to be named, also said that clashes there were continuing.

Heritier Ndangendange, the spokesman for the APCLS militia, described the situation in Kitchanga as tense but said the APCLS and allied fighters remained in control there.

The fresh clashes come after the M23 was required to withdraw from territory it occupies, under the terms of regional mediation efforts.

Former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, a mediator for the East African Community bloc, warned on Wednesday the situation was “sharply deteriorating.”

The fighting has triggered a humanitarian crisis and led to a row between DR Congo and neighboring Rwanda.

The government in Kinshasa accuses Rwanda of supporting the M23, something Kigali denies.

The M23 is among the scores of armed groups that roam the east of the mineral-rich Democratic Republic of Congo.

Many are a legacy of two wars at the end of the 20th century that claimed millions of lives and sucked in countries from around the region.
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African heads of state and development partners will discuss ways to increase Africa’s agricultural production at a summit in progress in Senegal. Climate change, soaring inflation, and the effects of Russia’s war on Ukraine have combined to make food security precarious throughout much of Africa.

The consensus throughout the three-day event has been that it’s time for Africa to end its dependence on food imports.

The continent has enough arable land to feed 9 billion people, yet it spends $75 billion each year to import more than 100 million metric tons of food, according to the African Development Bank, which organized the summit.

“Only a secure continent can develop with pride,” said Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank. “For there is no pride in begging for food. The timing is right. And the moment is now,” he says. “My heart and my determination is that Africa feeds itself.”

Around 282 million Africans suffer from hunger, according to U.N. figures, and persistent drought has pushed some areas such as the Horn of Africa and Madagascar to the brink of famine.

Recent disruptions in the global food supply chain have also aggravated the issue.

Africa typically imports 30 million metric tons of food from the now warring nations of Russia and Ukraine, and energy, fertilizer and food prices have increased by 40 to 300 percent, according to the African Development Bank.

In order to become self-sufficient, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said, African nations must increase funding toward agricultural initiatives and rural infrastructure.

“To succeed, there is no doubt that we need to subsidize farmers,” he said. “We must reduce the rate of rural to urban migration through the development of rural areas,” he said, “We must invest heavily in irrigation to help address the increasing frequency of droughts.”

Due to high lending risks, less than 3 percent of total financing from African commercial banks goes towards funding agriculture, Buhari said, and central banks must pick up the slack.

At a CEO roundtable Thursday, Ahmed Abdellatif, president of Sudanese business conglomerate CTC Group, said risks can be minimized with agri-insurance.

“If you’re one of the unlucky half a percent where the rain does not come, it wipes you out totally, and you’re in very big trouble,” he said. “So agri-insurance would be a big enabler.”

Various speakers pointed to success stories on the continent. Ethiopia increased production of a heat resistant wheat variety from 5,000 to 800,000 hectares over a four-year period and is now on its way to becoming a wheat exporter.

The adoption of a drought-resistant maize variety in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda has more than doubled outputs.

In response to the conflict in Ukraine, Zimbabwe began producing its own fertilizer and wheat. Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa said the country expects to produce enough wheat to begin exports next year.

“A country must be ruled by the people of that country. A country must be developed by the people of that country,” he said. “And a country must eat what it sows – that is village wisdom.”

The conference will continue through Friday.
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The Somali airspace has regained its Class A classification after more than 30 years, the International Air Transport Association said.

IATA confirmed the reclassification of the Mogadishu Flight Information Region airspace in a statement on Wednesday.

Class A airspace is the sky above the base altitude of about 24,500 feet (7,467 meters) above mean sea level, according to IATA. In it, all flights must be cleared by air traffic control, which is responsible for maintaining the correct separation between aircraft, which required the Mogadishu FIR to install new equipment.

IATA said the move will significantly improve safety in the region and enhance efficiency.

The reclassification of Somali airspace to Class A took effect at 00:01 a.m. local time Thursday (16:01 EST), Somali officials said.

Uncontrolled airspace for decades

The collapse of the state in Somalia in 1991 ended the country’s control of its airspace. That control had been run from Nairobi in neighboring Kenya from 1992 until June 2018, when the Somali government transferred management of the airspace to Mogadishu. Somalia airspace had been classified as Class G, or uncontrolled airspace, for decades.

The Somali government has welcomed the reclassification.

“It [is] welcoming news. We will be celebrating,” said Ahmed Moallin Hassan, director general of Somali Civil Aviation Authority.

Asked what the reclassification of airspace means for Somalia, Hassan said the Civil Aviation Authority will be providing more services to pilots.

He said that under Class G airspace designation, the aviation authority was providing advisory services to the pilots.

“But now since the airspace class has changed from uncontrolled airspace to controlled space, the service we are providing changed to air traffic control services. Now we will be instructing the pilots, and we will be using words like climb, descend, clear to land, clear for takeoff,” he said.

Good for employment, safety, bottom line

Hassan also said the classification upgrade will increase revenue for Somalia. Most countries charge airlines for the use of the airspace and air traffic control, and each country calculates charges differently.

About 400 international flights use Somali airspace a day, and the change to Class A airspace has the potential to increase traffic to as many as 600 flights a day, Hassan said. He said current annual revenue is $22 million, and they expect that to increase to $34 million.

“It means that the airspace has gone into significant change, it will increase revenue, job opportunity and overall safety of airspace will be enhanced,” he said. “That will attract international airlines that are currently avoiding Somali airspace.”

IATA said reclassification of the airspace, and the operational resumption of air traffic control in the Mogadishu FIR, has been made possible with the installation and commissioning of modern radio navigation and other technological infrastructure, and follows a successful trial, which began last May.

“The upgrade of air traffic management and improved navigation and communication infrastructure will enhance situational awareness along an increasingly busy air corridor and its intersections with routes linking many of the world’s regions,” said Kamil Al-Awadhi, who is the IATA’s regional vice president for the Middle East and Africa.

In 1991, the national flag carrier, Somali Airlines, ceased operations. Despite promises from successive governments to revive the airline, that has not been realized to date. But just as private companies filled the void in telecommunication, water and electricity services, private airline companies have stepped in to provide domestic services and flights to regional destinations in East Africa and Gulf countries.
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France has received a request from junta-ruled Burkina Faso to withdraw its troops from the Sahel country and will do so within a month, the foreign ministry said Wednesday.

“On Tuesday … we formally received notice from the Burkinabe government of the termination of the 2018 agreement on the status of French armed forces present in the country,” a ministry spokeswoman said.

“According to the terms of the accord, the termination takes effect a month after reception of written notification. We will respect the terms of the agreement by honoring this request.”

About 400 French special forces are currently based in Burkina Faso in a deployment dubbed “Sabre,” part of a broader military presence to fight jihadists across the Sahel region.

But the country has followed a similar course to neighboring Mali, falling out with Paris after a military coup brought a junta to power and the French presence became increasingly unpopular among the public.

The Burkinabe government has assured Paris it will not follow Mali by turning to Russia’s Wagner to back up its army—although a liaison team from the mercenary group has already visited.

A source familiar with French military plans told AFP that while the troops would be gone by the end of February, their equipment would be picked up by late April.

Paris asked for clarification from Ouagadougou’s transitional president Ibrahim Traore on Monday after the government had said it was asking French forces to leave.

“This does not mean the end of diplomatic relations between Burkina Faso and France,” government spokesman Jean-Emmanuel Ouedraogo told broadcaster RTV following the announcement.

In addition, the government has requested that Paris replace its ambassador after incumbent Luc Hallade commented publicly on the worsening security situation in the country.

The landlocked state, a former French colony, is one of the poorest and most volatile in Africa.

Thousands of troops, police and civilians have been killed and about 2 million people have fled their homes since jihadists launched an insurgency from neighboring Mali in 2015.

More than a third of the country lies beyond the control of the government, and frustration within the army at the mounting toll triggered two coups last year.
…

Tanzania opposition leader Tundu Lissu has returned to the country from self-imposed exile in Belgium, where he had lived since surviving an assassination attempt in 2017 when he was shot 16 times.

The outspoken politician arrived at Dar es Salaam airport Wednesday and was welcomed by hundreds of supporters, with many clapping and cheering.

Lissu was seen waving his Chadema party flag while perched through the sunroof of a car as he greeted supporters who had gathered along the roads and were following him on foot, in cars, and on motorcycles to a rally.

There, Lissu called for political change in Tanzania.

“Let’s not make God carry the burdens that we are capable of carrying,” he said. “The problem of life’s challenges is the problem of governance.” “If you are really tired, the medicine I will give you is this: let’s find a constitutional solution, let’s find a political solution, let’s find a new constitution.”

While living abroad, Lissu was a presidential candidate in the 2020 general election but lost in a landslide to the late President John Magufuli.

Chadema rejected the official results, saying the election was tainted with widespread irregularities.

Lissu’s supporters say his return paves the way for a return to democracy in the country.

John Pambalu, a national chairperson of Chadema’s youth wing, too, emphasized the new for a new constitution. 

“We need to see there are political rights and for the steps that we are taking to advocate for the new constitution; his (Lissu’s) contribution is needed physically in Tanzania,” he said. “His contribution is needed in the party and the country and is essential in ensuring that we reach a point where we’ll write a new constitution that will bring democracy and true freedom.

Lightness Juma, a Chadema supporter, says Lissu’s return makes her happy and optimistic about the future.

“We are here in this place with happiness and joy as you can see, to welcome our beloved father who is going to be the president of Tanzania in 2025,” she said.

Lissu’s return comes almost three weeks after Tanzania President Samia Hassan lifted a ban on political rallies.

Imposed by former president Magufuli in 2016, the ban prohibited political parties from holding rallies and even engaging in internal political activities.

Since coming to power in 2021, following the sudden death of Magufuli, Hassan has moved away from many of her predecessors’ policies. Last year, she lifted restrictions on media outlets.
…

Nigeria’s secret police are investigating Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele for alleged financial crimes, financing terrorism, and graft. But the banker’s supporters say the allegations are politically motivated, with politicians opposed to his currency reforms behind the probe. Nigeria’s central bank late last year unveiled new currency to combat crime and rein in vote-buying, sparking debate just a few months ahead of February elections.

The charges leveled against Godwin Emefiele by the State Security Service (SSS) include the misappropriation of a multi-billion-dollar public lending program, and terrorism financing.

The secret police did not say when it started probing the central bank of Nigeria governor, but, according to a court affidavit, the agency has been trying to bring him in for questioning since December.

An Abuja Federal High Court in late December issued an order barring the secret police from arresting, detaining or questioning the central bank governor, and called the probe unwarranted and vindictive.

CBN spokesperson Osita Nwanisiobi did not respond to calls from VOA for comment on the matter.

But Emefiele has faced growing criticism of his policies at the central bank, including the redesigning of Nigeria’s currency and introduction in December of limits for cash withdrawals.

The director at the Center for Social Justice, Eze Onyekpere, says Emefiele desecrated the independent position of the CBN governor by participating in partisan politics.

“In international laws and jurisprudence, central bank’s monetary policy authorities are supposed to be independent,” he said. “For the chief executive of that same bank to now drag the CBN into a politically compromised situation, makes itself amenable to various or all kinds of insinuations. This would not have happened if the CBN governor had kept away from partisan politics.”

Emefiele withdrew from a possible presidential bid last May after President Muhammadu Buhari ordered public officials with political interests to resign from office.

In October, the president approved the central bank’s redesign of the country’s highest currency notes in a bid to combat counterfeiters, promote more cashless payments and reduce excess cash in circulation.

Analysts say the new currency, which rendered stashes of the old currency useless, will also make it more difficult for candidates to buy votes during next month’s elections.

Public finance analyst Isaac Botti says Emefiele is being treated unfairly.

“The man is being witch-hunted, people are reacting particularly when this issue of currency redesign, cash withdrawal limit came up and a number of persons particularly those at the corridors of power are not favored, they feel that this guy should be taken off. If there are clear cases of financial crimes against him, then he should be relieved of his duty and properly prosecuted,” he said.

Botti says the allegations against the central bank chief could dampen public confidence in the CBN and its policies.

But Onyekpere says the secret service must first present substantial proof of its claims against the central bank governor.

“They have not disclosed a genuine ground to move the court to support their course of action. From what is available to me, I do not see how they can sustain that charge,” he said.

Emefiele was appointed head of the central bank in March 2014. In 2019, he was reappointed for a second five-year term that ends next year.
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