London — As she grew older, Juliet Owusu Addai struggled to carry out essential tasks on her cocoa farm Ghana because of her blurred vision. 

Only 10% of cocoa flowers self-pollinate naturally. The farmers must hand-pollinate hundreds of flowers, transferring pollen using a small pair of tweezers. They also have to sort the cocoa beans ready for market. Increasingly, farmers and buyers use mobile phones to trade, another challenging task with blurred vision. 

“It was difficult to work around my farm — to do the pollination, to do the pruning, the weeding,” the 63-year-old told VOA. She suffered from crippling headaches and dizziness, which restricted her ability to work and earn money. 

In 2022, Addai managed to get a pair of eyeglasses. “Before I had the glasses, I could get eight to nine sacks of cocoa [a year]. But with the glasses I have, I was able to work on the farm and get 12 sacks. So, it has really improved my livelihood,” she said.  

Addai obtained the glasses following a screening done by the U.S.-based charity VisionSpring. Its latest research, done in collaboration with Britain’s Queen’s University Belfast and published in the journal PLOS ONE, suggests that eyeglasses can enable rural workers to boost their profits by a third, a potentially transformational rise in income. 

The study was conducted in rural parts of Bangladesh across a range of livelihoods and ages. “The monthly median income of an individual who received reading glasses increased from US$35.3 to US$47.1 within eight months, a difference of 33.4%, whereas the control group showed no increase,” the report said. The results also suggested that eyeglasses helped economically inactive people return to the workplace. 

In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that more than 1 billion people worldwide are living with vision impairment because they do not get the care they need for conditions like near- and farsightedness, glaucoma and cataracts. 

“Eye conditions and vision impairment are widespread, and far too often they still go untreated. People who need eye care must be able to receive quality interventions without suffering financial hardship,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO’s director-general.  

VisionSpring’s research shows a vast global disparity in access to eye health care. 

“In high-income settings, 85% to 95% of the people who need eyeglasses have them. But in low-income settings, it’s as low as 3% to 15%,” Ella Gudwin, the CEO of VisionSpring, told VOA.  

The glasses themselves cost about $6, including associated screening and transport costs. 

“A very modest investment in vision correction for farmers and for artisans and skilled trades people yields a pretty massive return on investment in terms of the household income that they are able to continue to earn. It’s one of the few tools in the international development toolbox that can be deployed to increase income in farming communities that has yet to be used,” Gudwin said. 

VisionSpring conducted 3,500 vision screenings across seven cocoa districts in Ghana in 2022. Half of those screened required eyeglasses. Some 70% of them had never had glasses before. 

Ghanaian cocoa farmer Addai said the extra income she earns because of her improved vision has helped pay for her family’s education — in turn helping them to increase their future earnings.
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TRIPOLI — The United Nations Libya mission said late on Thursday it was concerned about reports of forces mobilizing in Tripoli and threats of force to resolve a crisis over control of the central bank.

The mission’s deputy head, Stephanie Koury, told the U.N. Security Council on Monday that the political and military situations in Libya had deteriorated rapidly over the previous two months, including a series of mobilizations by armed factions.

“The display of military power and armed confrontations in densely populated neighborhoods is unacceptable and threatens the lives and security of civilians,” the mission said in its Thursday statement.

The latest round of tensions emerged after efforts by political factions to oust the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) head Sadiq al-Kabir, with rival armed factions mobilizing on each side.

On Friday the man proposed as a replacement governor for Kabir, Mohammed al-Shokri, said in a statement he would only accept the job if both the country’s rival legislative bodies backed him for it.

Libya, a major oil producer on the Mediterranean, has had little stability since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising. The country split in 2014 between warring eastern and western factions, eventually drawing in Russian and Turkish backing.

Major fighting paused with a cease-fire in 2020 but efforts to end the political crisis have failed, leaving major factions in place, occasionally joining in armed clashes, and competing for control over Libya’s substantial economic resources.

The country’s political leaders are drawn from bodies elected a decade or more ago, or installed during periodic international peacemaking efforts to oversee repeated failed transitions. Diplomacy aimed at national elections to replace all Libya’s political bodies has stalled.

Eastern Libya, where the parliament sits, is controlled by commander Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA).

Tripoli and the northwest, where the internationally recognized Government of National Unity (GNU) and most major state institutions are based, is home to rival armed factions that have repeatedly fought.

In late July and early August rival groups in northwest Libya mobilized against each other, while the LNA moved a force into southwest Libya, prompting fears of east-west fighting.

Meanwhile the eastern-based House of Representatives parliament has also renewed calls to unseat the GNU and Presidency Council. There is also stalemate in the High State Council, one of the internationally recognized legislative bodies, after a contested vote over its leadership.

Tensions over control of the central bank were increased after Presidency Council head Mohammed al-Menfi issued a decision to replace Kabir and the board, a move rejected by the parliament.
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Port Sudan — For the second consecutive year Sudan is in the grip of a cholera outbreak that has left at least 28 people dead in the last month as rains fall in areas crammed with those fleeing the country’s 16-month-old war, officials said.

Since July 22, when the current wave began, 658 cases of cholera have been recorded across five states, World Health Organization (WHO) country director Shible Sahbani told Reuters in Port Sudan.

With much of the country’s health infrastructure collapsed or destroyed and staffing thinned by displacement, 4.3% of cases have resulted in deaths, a high rate compared to other outbreaks, Sahbani said.

Some 200,000 are at high risk of falling ill, he said.

The war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has created one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises and displaced more than 10 million people inside Sudan and beyond its borders.

The country is dealing with a total of five concurrent disease outbreaks include dengue fever and measles.

The RSF has advanced across swathes of Sudan, where people have been cut off from aid as the army has withheld access and RSF soldiers loot supplies and hospitals. Efforts to deliver aid to the western region of Darfur have been complicated by rains.

International experts have determined that there is a famine in Darfur’s Zamzam camp, an area flooded in the rains and highly susceptible to cholera.

About 12,000 cases and more than 350 deaths were registered in the previous cholera wave between October 2023 and May 2024, health minister Haitham Mohamed Ibrahim said, adding that there had been no major outbreak in the nine years before the war.

The current outbreak is centered in Kassala and Gedaref states, which host 1.2 million displaced people.

In Gedaref, a Reuters reporter filmed pools of water attracting insects and large ponds of stagnant rain water mixing with refuse. A local official said that the vast majority of diseases were caused by insects, poor water quality, and sewage.

Many people fleeing raids by the RSF shelter in crowded, makeshift displacement centers, where lavatories have overflowed as heavier-than-usual rains continue to fall. Cholera is transmitted from food and water contaminated with infected feces and thrives in such conditions.

Sahbani said that states like Khartoum and Gezira, largely controlled by the RSF, had also seen cholera cases, while states in the Kordofan and Darfur regions could likely see outbreaks.

“The challenge is getting supplies to the areas we need them. Due to the rainy season many roads are not usable now, but also there are security constraints and bureaucratic constraints,” he said.

On Friday, he told reporters in a virtual briefing that the International Coordinated Group for vaccine allocation (ICG) had approved delivery of 455,000 cholera vaccine doses to Sudan, some “good news in the middle of this horrible crisis.”

Ibrahim said the army-aligned government had used “unorthodox measures” including air drops to try to get vaccines and supplies into those RSF-controlled areas as well as isolated army-controlled areas.

Both officials emphasized that the need in Sudan far outweighed the aid effort, particularly as the U.N.’s humanitarian appeal for Sudan is only about one-third funded.

 
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ABUJA, Nigeria — Armed men killed at least 13 farmers during an attack in north-central Nigeria, a local official said Thursday. 

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the killings, which took place  Wednesday in the state of Niger. 

Akilu Isyaku, a local government official, told the local radio station Crystal FM that herders and kidnappers were suspected in the attack. He suggested the farmers were killed for providing information to intelligence agencies about the movements of the gunmen. 

North-central Nigeria has been plagued by fights for control over water and land between nomadic herders and rural farmers. The violence has killed hundreds in the region so far this year. 

Once armed with sticks, the two sides now fight with guns that have been smuggled into the country. Both accuse the government of injustice and marginalization, but the clashes have also taken on a religious dimension, giving rise to militias that side with the herders, who are primarily Muslim, or the farmers from Christian communities. 

The area is also known as a place of frequent kidnappings. Last week, gunmen abducted at least 20 students during an ambush in Benue state. 

Armed groups take advantage of a limited security presence to abduct people during attacks on villages and along major roads. Most victims are released only after the payment of ransoms that sometimes run into the thousands of dollars. 

Attacks can go on for hours, with the assailants fleeing before security forces arrive on the scene. Arrests are rare. 

In December, assailants killed at least 140 residents during an attack that targeted more than a dozen communities over two days.
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Harare, Zimbabwe — The United Nations said Thursday it is working with governments and health officials in Eastern and Southern Africa to contain the outbreak of mpox there.

UNICEF, the World Health Organization and the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, along with local partners, are responding to the spread of the new mpox clade 1b variant, said Etleva Kadilli, UNICEF’s regional director for Eastern and Southern Africa.

Kadilli said in a statement that more than 200 confirmed cases have been detected in five countries: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda.

Dr. Francis Kasolo, director and head of the WHO at the African Union and U.N. Economic Commission for Africa, told a joint WHO-Africa CDC meeting, “Our collaboration has been instrumental in enhancing surveillance, laboratory capacity and effective deployment of technical capacity to countries. Together we are making progress.”

But, he said, there is still much to be done.

It is imperative that we remain vigilant and proactive in our efforts to combat mpox. This means not only addressing it in the immediate needs, but also investing in long-term strategies that will build resilient health systems capable of withstanding future outbreaks and shocks,” Kasolo said.

Last week, the WHO declared mpox a public health emergency of international concern following a surge of mpox in the Democratic Republic of Congo and a growing number of other African countries.

An earlier emergency was declared in 2022. The U.N. agency said that one was declared over in May 2023.

Botswana and Zimbabwe are now screening for mpox after their neighbor, South Africa, recorded three deaths from the new strain. Zimbabwe is screening for the viral ailment at all ports of entry.

“We have said all those who present [high fever] and rash should be thoroughly investigated — where they are coming from and for how long they have been there and possible contact with people who have monkey pox,” Zimbabwean Health Minister Douglas Mombeshora said, referring to mpox’s previous name.

“We have kits to do tests for monkey pox,” he said. “So yes, we are on a very high alert. … I know there was a scare a few days ago. Some people were reporting on social media that there were people who had presented with some rash. They thought it was monkey pox. We did not take it for granted. The patient was said to have tested negative.”

Dr. Norman Matara of Zimbabwe Doctors for Human Rights said that given the country’s poor health care system, keeping mpox out is better than trying to contain it after cases appear.

“It saves the nation a lot of money because treatment is always expensive,” he said. “It also prevents us from unnecessary lockdown restrictions of movements … like what we saw with COVID-19.”

For now, he said, there is no need to panic.

“At the moment we have not recorded any case of mpox. … We just need to increase our health surveillance so that anyone with symptoms can be isolated and they can be screened and any case can be easily identified and minimize the virus spreading in the country,” Matara said.

Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO regional director for Africa, told VOA this week that the Democratic Republic of Congo was the “epicenter” of mpox. She said front-line health workers in affected areas should be given priority on vaccinations against the ailment.

“The issue of access to vaccines is something which we are working on collectively at the international level,” she said. “This is really a case of negotiating with pharmaceutical companies that are able to produce the vaccine to ensure they scale up their production and increase availability of vaccines.”

Besides a rash, other symptoms of the viral infection can include lesions, muscle aches and swollen lymph glands. Most people fully recover, but some become very ill and die.
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Turkey has been mediating between Ethiopia and Somalia, which are locked in a dispute, mainly over sea access for Ethiopia. At issue is a deal that Ethiopia signed earlier this year with the self-proclaimed, breakaway region of Somaliland. Ankara’s mediation efforts are seen as underlying its growing influence in the strategic Horn of Africa region. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.
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Windhoek, Namibia — Namibia’s minister of agriculture has urged farmers in the Southern African country to look at alternative markets for its charcoal and beef products since the European Union, one of its largest trading partners, has implemented nontariff barriers that came into force in 2023.

A unilateral decision by the European Union to impose regulations on agricultural products from Namibia that come from areas that have been deforested has raised concerns regarding market access for products such as beef and charcoal.

These products will no longer have access to the European market unless they comply with the new rules that Namibian Minister of Agriculture Calle Schlettwein describes as stringent and prohibitive.

“When you want to conduct agriculture, you have to clear lands. We have [the] charcoal industry. We have a number of industries in the agricultural sector where we do have an impact on deforestation. And I said that farmers must be careful that if they do that, they must be in compliance with these regulations.”

The chairperson of the Namibia Biomass Industry Group, which represents over 150 members in the sector, Colin Lindeque, says the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) will not negatively impact exports to the EU.

He said the EU is only asking for additional information. It wants geographic location tags that show that the charcoal they are exporting does not come from areas that have been deforested, but rather areas that are regarded as savannah, an argument with which Schlettwein disagrees.

Lindeque told VOA the regulations are fair, and the members of the Bio-mass Industry Group are compliant and meet the new EU requirements.  

“There was a consultant here recently from the EU looking at EUDR, and they specifically said Namibia’s bush encroachment is definitely not a forest in their opinion. But one of the challenges is our government hasn’t made the distinction, and that is actually the bigger point of interest, because we in the current Forest Act of 2001 do not even define what a forest is.”

Director of Forestry at Namibia’s Ministry of Environment, Johnson Ndokosho, says the ambiguities in the country’s law regarding what is considered a forest, woodlands and savannah are being dealt with in the new Forestry Act, which is being revised.

He cautioned that Namibia is at the mercy of the EU when it comes to whether Namibia’s beef and charcoal will still be able to enter their market.

“If they found that maybe this beef is coming out of an area where deforestation is occurring, then that may affect our exports.”

Last year, Namibia exported 270,000 tons of charcoal worth $72 billion (1.3 billon NAD) mainly to South Africa, which then exports it to other markets, including Europe. Europe is the top destination for Namibia’s beef, with the union consuming about 80 percent of the country’s total exports valued at roughly $23.5 million (420 million NAD).

Namibia is not the only country affected by the new EU regulations. Other countries include Brazil, Cameroon and Nigeria.

Products that are affected by the new EU regulations include cocoa, soy, palm oil and coffee.
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Gaborone, Botswana — Botswana says one of the largest diamonds ever found has been unearthed at one of its mines and has put on show on Thursday.

The Botswana government believes the huge 2,492-carat stone is the second-biggest ever brought out of a mine.

Canadian mining company Lucara Diamond Corp. said in a statement Wednesday that it recovered the “exceptional” rough diamond from its Karowe Mine in Botswana. Lucara said it was a “high-quality” stone and was found intact. It was located using X-ray technology.

“We are ecstatic about the recovery of this extraordinary 2,492-carat diamond,” Lucara president and CEO William Lamb said in a statement.

The weight makes it the largest diamond found in more than 100 years and the second-largest ever dug out of a mine after the Cullinan Diamond, discovered in South Africa in 1905. The Cullinan was 3,106 carats and was cut into gems, some of which form part of the British Crown Jewels.

A bigger black diamond was discovered in Brazil in the late 1800s, but it was found above ground and was believed to have been part of a meteorite.

The newly discovered diamond was presented to the world at the office of Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi.

The government said it was the largest diamond found in the southern African country, which is the second-biggest producer of diamonds and has unearthed all of the world’s biggest stones in recent years. The Karowe Mine has previously produced four diamonds over 1,000 carats.

Before this discovery, the Sewelo diamond, which was found at the Karowe Mine in 2019, was recognized as the second-biggest mined diamond in the world at 1,758 carats. It was bought by French fashion house Louis Vuitton for an undisclosed amount.

The 1,111-carat Lesedi La Rona diamond, also from Botswana’s Karowe Mine, was bought by a British jeweler for $53 million in 2017.

Scientists say natural diamonds are at least a billion years old and some of them more than 3 billion years old.
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abuja, nigeria — As attacks on farmers intensified across Nigeria, Fatima Bello from Sokoto abandoned dry season farming.

The smallholder farmer of rice, millet and beans shared her experience of farming under constant threat.

“During the dry season last year, I did not even plant anything because of this issue of insecurity,” she said. “What I would have produced that I would have used for my family and also take to the market, other people are going to benefit from what I will sell. They will buy, but now it means if I don’t produce anything, then it means I will not have been able to have something to use.” 

Violent attacks, land levies and kidnappings have forced many farmers to abandon their lands, driving up food inflation. In response, the government declared a state of emergency on food security in 2023 and recently deployed 10,000 agro rangers across 19 states and the Federal Capital Territory. Their mission is to safeguard farmland and mediate conflicts, especially in areas hit by farmer-herder clashes. 

Bello sees this as a positive step.

“I think it is welcomed development,” she said. “It has just been started, so we need to see, maybe take some time. Then we will be able to know the impact.” 

Affirming the rangers’ readiness to restore safety across the food belt, Babawale Afolabi, a spokesperson for the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps, says all hands are on deck. 

“Our operatives have been on top of the game since the commissioning of the agro rangers squad nationwide. … The agro ranger is a well-seasoned, trained and formidable special force, and we thank the federal government for providing necessary logistics so far,” he said.

“We have increased and upskilled our intelligent base so we can tackle head-on rising challenges,” he said. “We are all for engaging the communities to create awareness on how to give credible information.”

Plateau, Zamfara, Niger and other states considered hot zones for farmer insecurity are supporting the squad with logistics. 

While praising the government’s intervention, farmer and agricultural economist Retson Tedheke stresses the need for more personnel.

“It’s a very good thing,” he said, “but 10,000 is a very small number. If you ask me, there are over 150,000 polling units. Multiply that by five, that should be the agro rangers we have. And not just in the agro ranger level – if you are sending five agro rangers in a particular location, send five extension workers.” 

Tedheke warns that addressing the root causes of insecurity in farming communities requires sustained effort.

“Nigerian farmers should be getting loans at between 5% and 7%,” he said, “because we are producing food. … Food security is a major component of political development, governmental development and leadership development.” 

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization says that 22 million Nigerians could face food insecurity in 2024, with projections rising to 82 million by 2030.
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Abuja, Nigeria — A U.S. State Department official was in Nigeria this week to meet with local and regional authorities about the responsible use of artificial intelligence in military applications.

Mallory Stewart, assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of Arms Control, Deterrence and Stability, said her two-day visit with Nigerian officials from the regional bloc ECOWAS was part of the United States’ commitment to deepen security cooperation in Africa.

The U.S. government has been working with 55 nations, including African nations, “to agree upon responsible uses of AI in the military context, using AI in a manner consistent with international laws [and] recognizing inherent human bias,” Stewart told journalists Wednesday.

“We’ve learned the hard way [that there is] inherent human bias built into the AI system … leading to maybe misinformation being provided to the decisionmaker,” she said.

The goal, she continued, “is to hear from as many countries as possible that are at the stage of working in artificial intelligence to their military to see how we can minimize the risks.”

Last year, the Global Terrorism Index report named sub-Saharan Africa an epicenter of terrorism, accounting for nearly 60% of terror-related deaths. It is unclear whether the terror groups are using AI.

Nigerian authorities have been pushing for the integration of artificial intelligence in military operations, while acknowledging that adopting AI will require Africa-specific policies.

Security analyst Kabiru Adamu of Beacon Consulting said the use of AI in military operations has advantages.

“Given the position of the U.S. in terms of its military capacity and technological advancement, it will definitely be in the position to support Nigeria’s desires, especially if it’s able to contextualize some of the peculiarities within the Nigerian security space,” Adamu said. “We can’t isolate ourselves from the international committee of nations. AI is embedded in security, so we have to do it. But we need to be cognizant of the supporting infrastructure for good technology. Power is one of them, culture.”

The founder of Global Sentinel online magazine, Senator Iroegbu, said that while AI has benefits, the technology still needs to be treated with caution.

“It limits casualties in terms of the number of soldiers that will be deployed, so you conserve your boots,” Iroegbu said. “It helps penetrate rough terrains, gather more intelligence. It’s good that there’s growing awareness of the issue of artificial intelligence, but Nigeria needs to first of all try to define its own policy and strategy with regards to artificial intelligence. More sensitization needs to be done, and more policy aspect of it needs to be developed.”

In June, African ministers unanimously endorsed landmark continental AI strategy to advance Africa’s digital future and development aspirations. And last week, the African Union approved the adoption of AI in public and private sectors in member states, including Nigeria.
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Yaounde — Cameroon is trying to register voters before the nearing deadline. But the political opposition and civil society say most qualified voters are reluctant to register because they think President Paul Biya plans to rig elections. Barely 50% of qualified civilians have registered for the election expected in October 2025.

Cameroon’s elections management body, ELECAM, says 7.9 million civilians have registered as voters ahead of the August 31 deadline set by the central African states electoral law.

Cameroon is preparing for presidential elections next year to end an ongoing seven-year mandate. The date for the presidential polls will be decided by longtime leader Paul Biya.

Biya was declared the winner of the country’s 2018 presidential polls, even though some opposition and civil society groups reject the results and accuse Biya of massive fraud to maintain his grip on power.  

Cameroon rights groups say citizens are afraid to register because voters who protested what they claim was the stolen victory of the opposition Cameroon Renaissance Movement, or MRC, leader Maurice Kamto in 2018 were jailed for rebellion and attempted insurrection.

The MRC and a coalition of political parties that support Kamto say they will not tolerate fraud and electoral malpractice during the expected 2025 polls. They are urging civilians to register because voter registration is fundamental to credible elections.

The opposition and civil society say they have sent caravans to towns and villages all over Cameroon to encourage citizens to register and qualify to vote before registration ends in 10 days.

A member of the opposition moves in neighborhoods in Buea, capital of Cameroon’s English-speaking Southwest region, is asking people who expect to register to also be ready to protest, should the polls be rigged.

Tamfu Richard is a human rights lawyer and a member of the Cameroon Party for National Reconciliation, or CPNR. Richard said the CPNR is particularly encouraging disgruntled youths who constitute a majority of Cameroon’s population to register, vote and come out massively to protest, should their victory be stolen again. 

He said the opposition will not allow Biya and his government to continue ruling Cameroon with an iron fist.

“Cameroon is at a crossroads where the current leader is of age and has been there for 42 years, so it is in the interest of Cameroonians to have a different face, somebody who is young at the helm. It is in the interest of Cameroonians to make sure that they massively register, supervise their votes and defend it when the time comes,” he said. 

Cameroon’s opposition and civil society estimate there are close to 16 million potential voters in the country of about 30 million civilians. 

Forty-seven-year-old merchant Emmanuel Neba said a majority of Cameroonians are reluctant to register because they believe Biya, who has been in power for over four decades, wants to rule until he dies. 

“We know that Paul Biya will still win the elections. In America Joe Biden is 82 and he abandoned his candidacy to a younger person, but in Cameroon, Paul Biya who is 91 wants to continue to be president forever, and that is why the youths are not eager to go and register to{qualify} to vote,” he said.

Cameroon opposition and civil society say citizens should emulate the example of Chad, which has more than 8.2 million registered voters among a population of about 18 million. They say Cameroonians should also get inspired by Senegal where over 7 million people in a population of about 17.5 million registered for the West African state’s March 19 presidential elections.

Opposition and civil society proponents say that the massive involvement of youth in Senegal made victory possible for 40-year-old Bassirou Diomaye Faye over 62-year-old Macky Sall, who was running for a third term as president in the West African country.

Cameroon government officials assert Biya has won all presidential elections he contested since the return of multiparty politics in 1990. The government refutes opposition claims that Biya is planning to rig elections next year and warns civilians against what officials say is increasing hate speech ahead of the polls.

Opposition and civil society say the Cameroon government considers criticizing Biya hate language and threatens arrests.

Biya has not publicly announced that he will run again in the October 2025 presidential elections, but his supporters and government ministers have been organizing political rallies calling on him to run again.
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Gaborone, Botswana — Health officials in Botswana have started screening travelers for mpox at the country’s entry points. 

Neighboring South Africa has recorded three deaths as a result of the dangerous strain of mpox, and Botswana is anxious to keep out the rapidly spreading disease.

“Although we have not recorded any case of mpox in Botswana, I want to take this opportunity to assure Botswana that we have significantly enhanced our broader surveillance systems,” the country’s minister of health, Dr Edwin Dikoloti, told the media Tuesday. “We are currently intensifying our surveillance at key entry points, which is borders and airports, focusing on high-risk areas.”

South Africa shares a 1,900-kilometer border with Botswana and as of Aug. 5 had recorded three mpox deaths. In Africa, the disease has claimed the lives of more than 500 people since the beginning of the year.

Botswana Public Health Institute Acting Director Dr. Thebeyame Matsheka says travelers will be required to fill out self-assessment forms at border checkpoints.

“There are sometimes where, through just random checks, we might identify someone who appears not to be well, they will take those travelers aside and investigate further,” Matsheka said.

Meanwhile, Dikoloti said Botswana is engaging with international partners for the supply of vaccines.

According to Africa’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the continent has about 200,000 vaccine doses against a requirement of at least 10 million doses.

Medication to be used for the management of mpox is available at health facilities throughout the country.

“Vaccines exist for mpox but they are not widely available,” Dikoloti added. 

The World Health Organization country representative, Juliet Bataringaya, says the scale of the mpox vaccination will not be broad because the disease affects countries differently.

“We need to have a good understanding of the epidemiology in each and every country, because it is different and to understand the transmission patterns,” Bataringaya said. “These will then guide on the use of vaccines in a more targeted way to have maximum public health impact.”

She said there won’t be the kind of mass vaccination effort implemented during the COVID pandemic because the modes of transmission are different.
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Nairobi, Kenya — Africa’s gaming industry is set to cross $1 billion in revenue this year. Rapid growth, driven by a young population, improved internet access, and more smartphones, has attracted major tech companies like Microsoft, Sony and Disney to invest in the sector.

The video game market in Africa has shown promising growth, from $862 million in revenue in 2022 to a projected $1 billion in 2024, an 8.7% increase, according to the Newzoo games analytics company.

Ebenezer Gasonoo, also known as Nomak when playing games, has been playing online since the 1990s. He said there was a time game developers did not recognize African players, and when he tried to sign up and list his home country as Ghana he was told the game didn’t support it and he would have to find another one to play.

“The first 10 years of active video gaming in Africa was bad,” he said. “I think with the boom of online systems and the boom of Africa getting into video games, you see certain games are geared toward the world but now they include Africa, and that’s very nice to see.”

An Africa game industry report says the number of gamers in sub-Saharan Africa has grown from 77 million in 2015 to 186 million in 2021. Ninety-five percent of gamers play on their mobile phones.

According to survey company Geopoll, for the majority, gaming is seen as a primary source of entertainment, relaxation and a remedy for boredom, with 73% playing for fun and 64% for stress relief.

African game developer Daniel Macharia of Kenya has been creating video games since 2015.

Macharia developed Nairobbery, an action-adventure game in which players navigate the city and encounter challenges inspired by real-life scenarios. They also explore iconic landmarks and hidden places in an exciting narrative that weaves local folklore and urban tales.

He said the game also features running battles between police and protesters, which is a common scene in many African countries, including Kenya. The two main characters are college students, he said, and in some levels of the game they face off against police.

“There was some kind of parallel serendipity that was happening there where the game was starting to mirror real life,” Macharia said. “That was just more validation that I chose to go the right way.”

The gaming sector is attracting funding from Microsoft, Disney and Sony, raising millions of dollars to develop more games and scale game consumption across the continent.

Jay Shapiro, chairman of the Pan African Gaming Group, said Africa attracts investments with its untapped storytelling potential.

“Africa has a heritage of thousands of years of stories and legends that have never been heard in a lot of the world,” he said. “So this new interest is giving voice to a lot of creators across the continent to share those stories. And I think that’s really powerful. And creating games where Africans can see themselves reflected in the game, which historically has never happened in the industry.”

Eyram Tawia, a Ghanaian game developer, said video games can help preserve African traditions.

“Video games also offer a medium to preserve culture for the long term that can be packaged and distributed globally with just one click across app stores if we keep producing local content,” Tawia said. “This is going to create a lot of revenue for the African continent.”

Recent investments, game camps and conferences in some African countries are helping to reduce the financial challenges faced by video game developers. The events support game development and education, making it easier for developers to create games and learn new skills.
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Harare, Zimbabwe — Human rights organizations reacted angrily Tuesday after Zimbabwe’s ruling party acknowledged that more than 100 activists were detained to keep them from protesting during a Southern Africa Development Community summit held over the past weekend.

Authorities said they will start to release those who were detained now that the meeting is over.

Speaking with journalists in Harare, ruling ZANU-PF spokesperson Christopher Mutsvangwa defended detaining the activists.

“Those are deviants, and they were dealt with properly. And we are very happy they failed. And they will never succeed again,” Mutsvangwa said as he giggled at several points during his comments.

Roselyn Hanzi, director of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, which is representing the activists, said that their detention is no laughing matter.

“Every person in Zimbabwe should be worried where the ruling party openly admits that it fully controls one of the key arms of government that is supposed to provide checks and balances and in fact protect the citizens from the excesses of the other two arms: the legislature and the executive,” she told VOA.

“The judiciary is very key and plays a central role in protecting citizens and ensuring that their rights are realized,” she said. “In this case, you see them admitting that there [are] those people that wanted to protest. … Protest[ing] is not criminal, and it’s not a privilege. You should not be negotiating or begging for it.”

Zimbabwe’s Judicial Service Commission did not comment Tuesday when contacted by VOA.

Mary Lawlor, a U.N. special rapporteur on human rights, called for the immediate release of the activists, alleging that some had been tortured during their detainment by Zimbabwean authorities. State prosecutors and the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission said they are investigating the allegations.

“The disrespect shown by the ZANU-PF spokesperson who laughed and joked about such a serious matter at his press conference is telling,” Lawlor said. “The president, [Emmerson] Mnangagwa, has shown how little he believes in the rule of law and how little in SADC’s commitment to human rights as chairman. He wants to pretend that everything in Zimbabwe is rosy and fine. But it is not fine. These charges were a travesty.”

Since taking over in 2017, Mnangagwa has maintained that he is a constitutionalist and respects the rule of law.

But rights lawyer and legislator Daniel Molokele said the law is being selectively applied against democracy activists. Molokele is a member of the country’s main opposition party — the Citizens Coalition for Change — whose members were arrested ahead of the SADC meeting.

“I think what the ZANU-PF spokesperson said clearly confirms what we have always said is happening in Zimbabwe,” Molokele said. “There is too much political interference in the judicial system. There is no rule of law in Zimbabwe. We do not have a proper judicial system because it’s clear that ZANU-PF is abusing our court system for its political benefit.”

Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said it hopes the detained activists will be released soon, now that the SADC summit is over. The group said it will decide what steps to take next after hearing from the activists.
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According to Nigeria drug enforcement agency statistics, more than 14 million people in the country misuse drugs. Some of them are children or teens. Alhassan Bala reports from Kano, Nigeria.
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Nairobi — A suspect who police said confessed to killing 42 women and was being detained over the discovery of dismembered bodies in Kenya’s capital has escaped from police custody, officials said Tuesday.

Mohamed Amin, the head of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, said Collins Jumaisi Khalusha escaped along with 12 other inmates of Eritrean nationality who had been arrested for being in the country illegally.

Acting police inspector general Gilbert Masengeli said disciplinary measures have been taken against eight officers, including the area and station commanders and officers who were on duty. 

“Our preliminary investigations indicate that the escape was aided by insiders considering that officers were deployed accordingly to guard the station,” he said. 

A police report said the inmates escaped early Tuesday morning after they cut through wire mesh in the cell and scaled the perimeter wall. The escape was discovered as breakfast was being taken into the cell. 

Khalusha, 33, was being detained at the police station after a court allowed detectives seven more days to investigate his alleged crimes before charging him. 

Khalusha was arrested in July after 10 bodies and several body parts were found wrapped in plastic sacks in the Kware area of Nairobi. 

Police said Khalusha confessed to killing 42 women, including his wife. 

“This was a high-value suspect who was to face serious charges. We are investigating the incident and will take action accordingly,” Amin said. 

Khalusha’s lawyer, John Maina Ndegwa, told journalists his client was tortured and forced to confess and maintained he was not guilty. 

Ndegwa told the AP that he last spoke to Khalusha on Friday when he was presented in court. 

“I’m also confounded by the news,” he said. 

The police station from which the suspects escaped was cordoned off with crime scene tape and senior police officers visited it on Tuesday afternoon. 

Two other suspects who were arrested after being found with cellphones belonging to some of the deceased women are to return to court next Monday. 

Police in July said the bodies were discovered after relatives of one missing woman said they had a dream in which she told them to search in a quarry. 

The relatives asked a local diver to help and he discovered the bodies wrapped in sacks. Six bodies were identified after DNA tests, but several body parts remain unidentified. 
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KAMPALA, Uganda — The young men perched on motorcycles looked dazed in the morning heat. But at the sight of a potential passenger, they furiously kick-started their machines and tried to outrace each other for the business.

For tens of thousands of men in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, this is how to make a living. For others, the speeding motorcycles embody the city’s chaos as an essential but menacing means of transport.

The motorcycle taxis, known locally as boda-bodas, are ubiquitous in East African capitals like Nairobi and Kigali. But nowhere in the region have boda-boda numbers been surging more dramatically than in Kampala, a city of 3 million people, no mass transit system and rampant unemployment.

An estimated 350,000 boda-bodas operate in Kampala, driven by men who come from all parts of Uganda and say there are no other jobs for them.

“We just do this one because we have nothing to do,” said one driver, Zubairi Idi Nyakuni. “All of us here, other people even, they have their degrees, they have their master’s (degrees), but they are just here. They have nothing to do.”

The boda-boda men, who operate mostly unregulated, have resisted recent attempts to dislodge them from the narrow streets of Kampala’s central business district, frustrating city authorities and underscoring the government’s fears over the consequences of angering a horde of jobless men.

“We must appreciate where the boda-boda comes from, how this whole phenomenon grew,” said Charles M. Mpagi, spokesman for Tugende, a Kampala-based company that specializes in financing boda-boda purchases. “You have quite a large number of people that are young, who can’t find jobs to do, whether in the public sector or the private sector, and they do not have significant alternative income to get into other enterprises.”

About 76% of Uganda’s 43 million people are under 35, according to government figures. Jobs are scarce in an economy where just 1% of 22.8 million employees make $270 or more in monthly pay, according to central bank figures released earlier this year.

Uganda’s unemployment rate — as a proportion of unemployed people to the total labor force — grew from 9% in 2019 to 12% in 2021, according to the most recent survey by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics. The unemployment rate for people between 18 and 30 was even higher, at 17%. For young people in urban areas, it was 19%.

President Yoweri Museveni, an authoritarian who has held power since 1986, has long embraced boda-boda men as mobilizers of political support. Political rallies come alive with the hooting from their motorcycles, whose commotion can bring communities to a standstill.

Motorcycles as a means of transport first emerged on the Uganda-Kenya border during political instability in the 1970s, with the term “boda-boda” traced to drivers who shouted “border, border” at potential customers.

At the time, they were also a quick way to transport smugglers and their merchandise.

Now they are everywhere in Uganda, taking children to school, people to offices, the sick to clinics and even the dead to their graves.

When Uganda’s transport minister was wounded by gunmen who killed his daughter in 2021, a boda-boda man rushed him to the hospital. But the attackers also drove motorcycles and fled.

Annual police reports cite motorcycle taxis in abetting violent crime, and the number of fatal accidents related to motorcycles across Uganda grew from 621 in 2014 to 1,404 in 2021, according to the Ministry of Works and Transport.

“We’ve been struggling with these motorcycles,” said Winstone Katushabe, a government commissioner in charge of transport regulation. “It is not a good situation.”

A culture of non-compliance with traffic and road safety rules has proliferated among boda-boda men, he said, adding that establishing official motorcycle taxi stands in Kampala would help bring order.

Road safety regulations for motorcycles, first approved in 2004, are difficult to enforce because of the overwhelming number of boda-bodas. Traffic police look on as boda-boda men zip through traffic lights and overtake dangerously. They are often unable to make arrests because of the risk to public order as drivers quickly stand up for one another, causing a crowd.

The boda-boda phenomenon has grown as Uganda’s president has stayed in power. In recent years, trying to weaken support among unemployed people for his opponents, Museveni has gifted boda-bodas to supporters and pledged to reduce the three-year licensing fee from nearly $100.

The fee will drop to about $35 under new rules announced earlier this month, according to the Transport Licensing Board. That would make it even easier to become a boda-boda man.

The other entry price is about $1,500 for a new motorcycle, often the Indian-made Bajaj.

Many boda-boda men acquire equipment on credit through companies such as Tugende. Others work for businesspeople who buy motorcycles in bulk and distribute them among drivers but can repossess them if drivers fall behind on payments.

Boda-boda men who lack driving licenses and crash helmets risk having their motorcycles impounded by police. Some drivers told the AP their aggressive behavior on the roads is driven by that fear of arrest or seizure.

Innocent Awita, a boda-boda man who dropped out of school in 2008, said there was “too much pressure” to keep his motorcycle. He’s required to pay his employer the equivalent of $4 a day in addition to fueling and maintaining it. A falling out with his employer could render him jobless.

Some days are better than others, but Awita said he sometimes goes without enough earnings to make the daily payment.

“I can work for three days without getting anything. But if I get something the next day, that can save my life,” he said.
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Abuja, Nigeria — Police in Nigeria are searching for 20 medical students who were kidnapped by gunmen Thursday.

The students were on their way to a medical convention when their motorcade was intercepted in central Benue State.

The Benue State police command Monday told VOA it has launched an investigation into the abduction of the medical students and deployed tactical teams on a rescue mission. 

But they said the teams have not reported any success. 

Twenty medical students from universities of Jos and Maiduguri and a medical doctor traveling with them were taken on their way to the conference in eastern Enugu State.

Anene Sewuese Catherine, the Benue state police public relations officer, spoke to VOA via phone.

“The team has moved but we’ve not heard from them,” Catherine said. “Investigation of kidnap is classified, we don’t [share] details or until there’s success. There’s no update for now.”

The abduction sparked widespread condemnation over insecurity in Africa’s most populous nation, where authorities have struggled for several years to control violence from armed gangs locally referred to as “bandits.”

Over the weekend, the national police ordered the deployment of helicopters, drones and specialized tactical teams to aid in the search for the medical students. 

The Nigerian Medical Students Association said the abductors, using the students’ phones, issued a demand of about $31,400 to release the entire group.

The association has been urging authorities to secure the release of the students unharmed.

The association’s national president, Moses Onwubuya, said students are threatening to protest if their colleagues are not released soon.

“The only response we’ve been getting is that we should just calm down, that security agencies are in the matter,” Onwubuya said. “Calls have been going out through the phone numbers of our abducted colleagues. Students are agitating, we’re only trying to see if we can abide by the security guidelines, but I can’t guarantee what will happen any moment from now.”

According to Center for Democracy and Development — West Africa, Nigeria recorded more than 4,000 abductions in 2023, accounting for 58 percent of the total cases in West Africa and the highest in five years.

Security analysts say a severe economic crisis in Nigeria is pushing more people toward crime and kidnapping for ransom. 

Nigerian authorities have pledged to address economic problems along with security challenges. Meanwhile, families of victims are hoping their loved ones return to them safely.
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Geneva — Efforts to achieve humanitarian access to millions of desperately needy Sudanese are moving forward but cease-fire negotiations remain dormant because the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) still refuse to send a delegation to the U.S.-sponsored peace talks, a U.S. official says.

U.S. special envoy for Sudan Tom Perriello told journalists at a briefing Monday in Geneva that given the urgency of the Sudan crisis, delegations from the United Nations, African Union, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have been working “through the night” on issues related to humanitarian assistance and civilian protection.

Perriello said this work is paying off in that Sudan’s military has agreed to open the Adre border crossing with Chad to allow food and other relief supplies to enter conflict-rattled Darfur.

“Along with many, many humanitarian and diplomatic colleagues around the world, we are now on the precipice of Adre being open with over 100 trucks ready to roll as early as tomorrow on something that would often take weeks and weeks, if not months,” he said. “And that means that we can be seeing food and medicine reaching areas like Zamzam camp, where well over 400,000 people have been facing starvation and famine.”

Though only the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have turned up at the talks, Perriello said that active negotiations have been going on with both warring parties since the talks began August 14.

“We have worked virtually through phones with the army to accelerate progress that save lives of the Sudanese,” he said, adding that “if the army delegation were here, I guarantee we would be producing more results for the Sudanese people on humanitarian access and on civilian protection than we can do by phone.”

He said the talks are prioritizing the opening of humanitarian corridors on three roads — the Adre border crossing, Dabar Road and the opening of Sennar junction and Sennar State. This, he said “collectively would ensure that 20 million people who currently are cut off completely or largely from food and medicine would be able to get that relief.”

Taylor Garrett, who heads the Sudan rapid support team for the U.S. government, said, “Those routes will open up assistance to reach really the heartland of the crisis to greater Kordofan, Greater Darfur, White Nile, Blue Nile and Sennar.

“Another point that we have made clear is the need for both sides to allow assistance to flow to areas controlled by the other side, as it moves through their territory. So, regardless of territorial control, the assistance has to reach people,” he said.

“We will continue to move forward on the results that matter and we hope that everyone, including the army would see that this is something that the Sudanese people will respond to very positively,” Garrett said.

Since rival generals of the SAF and RSF plunged Sudan into war 16 months ago on April 15, 2023, the Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, estimates more than 18,800 people have been killed and another 33,000 injured.

It reports more than 10.7 million people are displaced inside Sudan, another 2 million refugees have fled to neighboring countries, and about 25.6 million people, more than half of Sudan’s population, face acute hunger, including more than 755,000 people on the brink of famine.

“We are in a crisis of epic proportions,” Perriello said. “The sooner the parties engage in full mediation for the cessation of hostilities, the better it will be for everybody in Sudan. But, we will continue to work for those protections that have to be respected even in wartime under both international law and the Jeddah declarations.

The Jeddah declaration is an agreement signed by both the SAF and RSF last year, reaffirming both group’s core obligations under International Humanitarian Law to facilitate humanitarian action to meet the needs of civilians.

“That is what we are going to continue working on,” Perriello said, adding that this current first round of peace talks will continue for a few more days.
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BLANTYRE, Malawi — The Malawian government has received an insurance payout of $11.2 million for a crippling El Nino-linked drought that led the southern African nation to declare a state of disaster earlier this year. 

The payout was given to Malawi this month, the African Development Bank said Monday. Malawi had a drought insurance policy through the bank and the African Risk Capacity Group, an agency of the African Union. 

The funds will support food assistance to around 235,000 households in some of Malawi’s hardest-hit regions and help with direct relief payments to more than 100,000 households, the African Development Bank said. Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera said the payout was “a lifeline for our vulnerable populations.” 

Malawi, which is already one of the world’s poorest countries, has had its food supply ruined by the drought, which has been attributed to the El Nino natural weather phenomenon that lasted a year before ending in June. The country declared a state of emergency in March and said there was a food crisis in 23 of its 28 districts. 

Crops have failed across the region after El Nino brought below-average rainfall between November and April. Tens of millions of people rely on small-scale agriculture to feed themselves and make a living across southern Africa. 

Southern African bloc SADC said at a heads of state summit in Zimbabwe this weekend that around 17% of the region’s population — approximately 68 million people — need help because of drought. The U.S. Agency for International Development said the first three months of this year brought the most severe drought in southern Africa in more than 100 years. 

Zambia and Zimbabwe also declared states of disaster and have asked for international help, and Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe were expected to receive drought insurance payouts by September, the African Development Bank said. 

They likely won’t be enough, though. Zimbabwe will receive $31.8 million, the bank said. In May, its government asked for $430 million in humanitarian assistance.
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Nairobi — The Kenyan government plans to raise about $1.2 billion by reinstating some unpopular taxes contained in a finance bill that was scrapped in the face of deadly street protests, a government minister said.

President William Ruto had warned of a funding shortfall after he decided in June to drop the controversial tax hikes after a bloody day in Nairobi that saw the storming of parliament and police firing live bullets on demonstrators.

Finance Minister John Mbadi told private station Citizen TV on Sunday that the government was considering about 49 tax measures to try to raise roughly 150 billion shillings ($1.2 billion).

These include the reintroduction of an “eco levy” on goods such as electronic items as well as plastic packaging, that the government says is aimed at reducing waste.

“If you are injurious to the environment then you must pay for helping make good the harm you have caused,” Mbadi said.

Mbadi is one of four opposition stalwarts who joined a revamped cabinet after Ruto vowed to create a “broad-based” government to try to address the concerns of the protesters, led largely by young Gen-Z Kenyans.

After scrapping the 2024 finance bill, which would have raised about $2.7 billion in taxes, Ruto announced government spending cuts and increased borrowing to plug the gap.

Citizen TV said the new measures contained in the tax amendment bill were expected to be in place by the end of September.

The abolition of the 2024 finance bill saw global ratings agencies Moody’s and Fitch downgrade Kenya’s credit rating over concerns about the government’s ability to service its $78 billion public debt.
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