Polls Open in Senegal’s Presidential Race After Months of Unrest

DAKAR, Senegal — Polls opened in Senegal on Sunday morning in a tightly contested presidential race that followed months of uncertainty and unrest that has tested the West African nation’s reputation as a stable democracy in a region that experienced a wave of coups in recent years.

The roads were largely deserted early in the morning in Senegal’s capital and the nation’s elite police force were stationed all over the city in armored vehicles. Outside polling centers, police checked voters cards as men and women in formal dress lined up.

The election is being held weeks after President Macky Sall unsuccessfully tried to call it off until the end of the year. Sall is barred from running for a third term due to constitutional term limits. As a result, the vote is taking place during Ramadan, the holy month when observant Muslims fast from dawn until dusk.

The election is set to be the nation’s fourth democratic transfer of power since Senegal gained independence from France in 1960. The process has been marred by violence and unrest, and hundreds of opposition protesters have been arrested and jailed.

There are 19 candidates in the race, including one woman, the highest number in the nation’s history.

“This is poised to be the most competitive election since the introduction of multiparty politics,” Tochi Eni-Kalu, Africa analyst at the Eurasia Group, told The Associated Press.

Analysts say no candidate is expected to win more than 50% of the vote, which means a runoff between leading candidates is widely expected. These include Amadou Ba, a former prime minister, and Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who is backed by popular opposition figure Ousmane Sonko.

Sonko, who came third in the previous election, was barred from running in January because of a prior conviction for defamation. He has faced a slew of legal troubles in recent years that supporters say are part of a government effort to derail his candidacy.

Other potential frontrunners are Khalifa Sall, a former mayor of Dakar unrelated to the president, and Idrissa Seck, a former prime minister from the early 2000s who was the runner up in the 2019 presidential race.

Two candidates dropped out this week to back Faye’s candidacy, a sign of the start of coalition-building that could determine the outcome of the race, according to analysts.

At the forefront of concerns for many Senegalese voters is the economy, which has been squeezed by high food and energy prices partly driven by the war in Ukraine. Unemployment among the nation’s youth is widespread, driving thousands to risk their lives on dangerous journeys in search of jobs in the West.

“Jobs are really, truly the priority. Everyone can see that unemployment is taking over,” said Oumy Sarr, a political activist. “The second priority is the high cost of living in Senegal today. What is to be done to improve people’s living conditions? Inflation is rising, everyone is tired.” 

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Nearly 300 Abducted Schoolchildren in Nigeria Freed

ABUJA, Nigeria — Nearly 300 kidnapped Nigerian schoolchildren have been released, local officials said Sunday, more than two weeks after the children were seized from their school in the northwestern state of Kaduna and marched into the forests.

At least 1,400 students have been kidnapped from Nigerian schools since 2014, when Boko Haram militants kidnapped hundreds of schoolgirls from Borno state’s Chibok village in 2014. In recent years, abductions have been concentrated in the country’s northwestern and central regions, where dozens of armed groups often target villagers and travelers for ransom.

Kaduna state Gov. Uba Sani did not give details of the release of the 287 students abducted from their school in the remote town of Kuriga on March 7, at least 100 of them aged 12 or younger. In a statement, he thanked Nigerian President Bola Tinubu “particularly ensuring that the abducted school children are released unharmed.”

Tinubu had vowed to rescue the children “without paying a dime” as ransom. But ransoms are commonly paid for kidnappings, often arranged by families, and it is rare for officials in Nigeria to admit to the payments.

No group has claimed responsibility for the Kaduna kidnapping, which locals have blamed on bandit groups known for mass killings and kidnappings for ransom in the conflict-battered northern region, most of them former herders in conflict with settled communities.

At least two people with extensive knowledge of the security crisis in Nigeria’s northwest told The Associated Press that the identity of the abductors is known.

Murtala Ahmed Rufa’i, a professor of peace and conflict studies at Usmanu Danfodiyo University, and Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, a cleric who has negotiated with the bandits, said they are hiding in the region’s vast and ungoverned forests.

Arrests are rare in Nigeria’s mass kidnappings, as victims are usually released only after desperate families pay ransoms or through deals with government and security officials.

The Kaduna governor thanked Nigerian security forces and officials for the release of the students. “I spent sleepless nights with the national security adviser, Mal. Nuhu Ribadu … fine-tuning strategies and coordinating the operations of the security agencies, which eventually resulted in this successful outcome,” he said.

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Senegalese Voters Go to Polls in Delayed Presidential Election

DAKAR, Senegal — Senegal goes to the polls on Sunday to vote for its fifth president in a delayed election being held against a turbulent political backdrop which has triggered violent anti-government protests and boosted support for the opposition.

At stake is the potential end of a regime that has sustained investor-friendly policies in the soon-to-become oil and gas producer, but which has failed to alleviate economic hardship and stirred unrest in one of coup-prone West Africa’s most stable democracies.

Nineteen contenders are vying to replace President Macky Sall, who is stepping down after a second term marred by violent unrest over the prosecution of firebrand opposition leader Ousmane Sonko and concerns that Sall wanted to extend his mandate past the constitutional limit.

The incumbent is not on the ballot for the first time in Senegal’s history. His ruling coalition has picked former prime minister Amadou Ba, 62, as its candidate.

“I believe that I’m the candidate that offers political stability, serenity, and the capacity to move Senegal forward rapidly,” Ba told journalists as campaigning closed Friday. “Senegal does not need a complete overhaul.”

Around 7.3 million people are registered to vote, with polls opening at 0800 GMT and closing at 1800 GMT.

Vote counting will start immediately after polls close and provisional results are expected by March 26.

Sonko, who was disqualified from the race due to a defamation conviction, is backing former tax inspector Bassirou Diomaye Faye, 43, co-creator of the now dissolved Pastef party. Some high-profile politicians and opposition candidates have also backed Faye’s candidacy.

Other contenders include ex-Dakar mayor Khalifa Sall (no relation to the outgoing president), entrepreneur-turned-politician Anta Babacar Ngom, who is the only woman running, and veteran politician Idrissa Seck, who came second in the 2019 presidential election.

Without any opinion polls, it is not clear whether any candidate will secure over 50% of the vote to prevent a runoff.

‘Diomaye is Sonko’

Macky Sall, first elected in 2012, is leaving on a drop in popularity that worsened when he unsuccessfully sought to postpone the vote — initially scheduled on February 25 — to December.

The move stoked unrest and concerns about authoritarian overreach in the nation of around 18 million. It also buoyed opposition parties that rejected all attempts to delay the vote which could have extended the president’s mandate.

Senegal’s Constitutional Council sided with opposition parties, ruling that the vote should go ahead and that Sall’s mandate could not be extended beyond April 2.  

An amnesty law passed to ease tensions this month meanwhile allowed Sonko, and Faye — who had also been in detention for nearly a year, on charges including defamation and contempt of court — to be released.

Both have hit the campaign trail under the banner “Diomaye is Sonko” as a crowd-pleasing duo.

Sonko, who came third in the last election in 2019, is particularly popular among urban youth frustrated with lack of jobs and high living costs in a country where 60% of the population is younger than 25.

“The election will show whether their popularity on social media is real,” said Senegalese political analyst Babacar Ndiaye.

Most of Sonko’s supporters are now expected to vote for Faye, analysts say. He has promised to root out allegedly entrenched corruption, restore stability and prioritize economic sovereignty.

But some of Faye’s campaign promises, such as plans to renegotiate oil contracts just as Senegal is due to begin offshore oil and gas production, and the introduction of a national currency, have raised concerns that these could hurt the country’s image as a destination for investors. 

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Islamic State Claims Attack on Niger Army That Killed Dozens

cairo — The Islamic State on Saturday claimed responsibility for an attack Wednesday on Niger’s army that it said had killed 30 soldiers. 

The group said in a statement carried by its Amaq news agency and posted on its Telegram channel that the soldiers were killed in an ambush on a convoy near the town of Teguey in the Tillaberi region in the west of the country. 

Niger’s defense ministry said late Thursday that 23 soldiers were killed in the attack, which also wounded 17 more. Around 30 attackers were killed, it added. 

Niger is one of several West African countries battling an Islamist insurgency that has spread outward from Mali over the past 12 years, killing thousands and uprooting millions of people. 

Frustrations over authorities’ failure to protect civilians has spurred military coups in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger since 2020. 

The juntas that seized power have cut ties with Western allies assisting local military efforts, kicking out French and other European forces and turning to Russia instead. 

Niger’s junta last week revoked a military accord that allows military personnel and civilian staff from the U.S. Department of Defense on its soil. 

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Cholera Kills At Least 54 in Somalia; Humanitarians Call for Action

washington — At least 54 people have lost their lives to cholera in Somalia in recent months. Nine of those deaths occurred within the past week, marking the highest weekly death toll this year, humanitarian group Save the Children said.   

In an interview with VOA Somali, Mohamed Abdulkadir, acting operations director for Save the Children Somalia, said the statistic highlights how vulnerable children are to the deadly disease. 

“In collaboration with Somalia’s Ministry of Health and Human Services, Save the Children reveals that among 4,388 confirmed cases in 2024, 59% belong to children under the age of five,” Abdulkadir said. 

In the southern states of the country, Mogadishu, the country’s capital, has experienced a significant surge in reported cholera cases in the past two weeks. 

Abdulkadir said 586 new cases have been reported in 23 districts, with 331 of them affecting children under the age of five. 

The outbreak, which began in January of this year, is believed to be a direct consequence of severe flooding that occurred in October and November 2023.

“We believe that the recent devastating flooding in areas like Mogadishu, Beledweyne and Baidoa has contributed to the outbreak of the disease,” said Abdulkadir.   

He said Save the Children is urgently calling for action from local governments and health agencies to combat the rapid spread of cholera. 

“We call for an action from the Somali federal government and the local governments to fight against this highly contagious disease, which primarily spreads through contaminated water areas with inadequate sewage treatment, flooded regions,” he said.

People who lack safe drinking water are particularly susceptible to the cholera outbreak, especially in the wake of flooding, he added.

To prevent further transmission of the disease, he said Save the Children is implementing an emergency response strategy. The aid agency is establishing two cholera treatment centers, providing essential hygiene kits and water treatment supplies in Beledweyne. 

Abdulkadir emphasized the gravity of the situation, stating that Somalia is at the forefront of the climate crisis. 

He said the combination of relentless rainfall, floods, and a devastating drought has left children and families extremely vulnerable to illness. He stressed the urgent need for clean drinking water and sanitation facilities to prevent the cholera outbreak from spiraling out of control when the rainy season begins in a month. 

In 2023, Somalia recorded more than 18,300 cases of cholera, with 10,000 of those cases affecting children under the age of five. Both Save the Children and the Somali government attributed the devastating rise in numbers to the destructive El Nino flooding in November and December, which destroyed toilets and latrines. Consequently, many communities, particularly those recently displaced by flooding and conflict, resorted to open defecation. 

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Algeria Scolds TV Stations for Ramadan Advertising, Immoral Programming

ALGIERS, Algeria — Officials in Algeria are chiding television stations over the content choices they’ve made since the start of Ramadan last week, injecting religion into broader discussions about how the country regulates content and advertising in media.

Their criticisms come amid broader struggles facing journalists and broadcasters, where television stations and newspapers have historically relied heavily on advertising from the government and large state-aligned enterprises in the oil-rich nation.

After meeting with station directors on Sunday, Algerian Communications Minister Mohamed Lagab accused networks of not respecting ethical and professional lines, calling their programmatic choices “out of keeping with the social traditions of our society and especially the sacredness of the month of Ramadan.”

Lagab, a former journalism school professor, preemptively rebuffed accusations of censorship, arguing that his ministry’s push didn’t run counter to Algeria’s constitutional press freedom guarantees.

“Television stations have the right to criticize, but not by attacking our society’s moral values,” he said.

Though he did not explicitly name any specific stations or programs, Lagab cited soap operas as a particular concern. His ministry last week summoned a director for the country’s largest private station, Echourouk, over a soap opera called El Barani that showed characters consuming alcohol and snorting cocaine — depictions that sparked rebuke from viewers concerned they were incompatible with Ramadan.

Lagab also criticized stations for dedicating excessive airtime to advertising, so much so that it rivaled the run time of certain shows. “If we put advertising (and programs) side by side, we would conclude they last longer than the soap operas broadcast,” Lagab said.

His remarks followed statements from Algeria’s Authority of Audiovisual Regulations, which polices television and radio stations. Throughout March, it has called on national television stations to rein in advertising and respect families and viewers during Ramadan, a holy month observed throughout the Muslim-majority country and broader region.

Lagab’s two-pronged attack — against stations’ content and advertising — is the latest challenge facing Algerian television stations, which are preparing for deepened financial strain as the government prepares new regulations on advertising in media. In anticipation of a new law, stations, especially private ones, have ramped up advertising to an unprecedented extent, hoping to rake in profits before the government sets new limits.

The advertising blitz has been particularly pronounced since Ramadan began last week. As demand increases for food and other consumer products used throughout the holy month, stations have found no shortage of advertisers.

Even if stations don’t change course after meeting with Lagab, experts say the government’s criticisms are unlikely to escalate into punishments like sanctions or fines.

“Most of these channels are politically aligned with the government and zealously support it,” said Kamal Ibri, a journalist whose news website closed for lack of advertising revenue.

Algeria’s largest television stations are a mixture of publicly and privately owned. Networks including the private Echourouk, private El Bilad and the state-owned ENTV broadcast news and other programming, including soap operas. In prior years, viewers have grown accustomed to special Ramadan-specific programs during that period.

Though some private channels have begun platforming opposition parties recently, few broadcast pointed criticisms of the government. Those that do have in recent years been penalized.

Journalist Ihsane El Kadi ‘s media company, which oversaw web television and radio programming was shuttered and had its equipment confiscated. He was sentenced to prison for “threatening state security” in April 2023.

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Burkina Faso’s Security Forces Are Killing Civilians, Say Survivors of One Massacre

DAKAR, Senegal — Women slain with babies wrapped against their bodies, lifeless children intertwined together, a baby on the ground with puppies crawling on his tiny frame. The scenes were horrifying, but the 32-year-old farmer documented them, proof of the carnage in his central Burkina Faso village.

More than a dozen relatives were killed November 5 when security forces attacked with trucks, guns and drones, he told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, for fear of retaliation. He said he hid in a neighbor’s compound and took a series of photos before fleeing the next morning.

Dozens more were killed that day in Zaongo village, according to his account and that of two other survivors, as well as a U.N. report citing government figures. The images the man sent to the AP and the interviews with the three survivors are rare firsthand accounts amid a stark increase in civilian killings by Burkina Faso’s security forces as the junta struggles to beat back a growing jihadi insurgency and attacks citizens under the guise of counterterrorism.

Most attacks — including the slaying of children by soldiers at a military base last year, uncovered in an AP investigation — go unpunished and unreported in a nation run by a repressive leadership that silences perceived dissidents.

More than 20,000 people have been killed since jihadi violence linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group first hit the West African nation nine years ago, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, a U.S.-based nonprofit. The fighting has divided a once peaceful population, blockaded dozens of cities and led to two military coups.

Burkina Faso’s government spokesman didn’t respond to requests for comment about the November 5 attack. Previously, officials have denied killing civilians and said jihadis often disguise themselves as soldiers.

The three survivors told AP they’re certain the men were security forces. They describe them wearing military uniforms, one with a Burkina Faso flag fastened to him. The farmer saw a helicopter flying toward the village in the attack’s aftermath — those are used solely by the military, not insurgents.

The United Nations urged the government to investigate, hold those responsible accountable and compensate victims, said Seif Magango of the U.N. Human Rights Office.

Burkina Faso’s prosecutor’s office said it opened an investigation. Four months later, survivors said they had no news.

‘They massacred them’

It was early Sunday morning when the farmer heard gunshots in the distance. Violence in Namentenga province is frequent, locals said; shootings and patrolling soldiers are common.

About 3 p.m., the farmer said, hundreds of men — most in military fatigues — stormed through on motorbikes and trucks and started indiscriminately killing people.

He hid at the neighbor’s home, he said, and after hours of gunshots, the man with the flag entered.

“The soldier told us that his colleagues were in the other compound,” the farmer said. “He said he didn’t want to hurt us, but if the others realized we were still alive, they’d kill us.”

When the guns stopped, he said, he left the compound and saw Zaongo littered with the dead.

It’s unclear what prompted the attack, but locals said most times, security forces think villagers are working with extremists.

Junta today

Since seizing power in September 2022, the junta has threatened rights groups and journalists and carried out attacks against civilians. It’s on a war footing as it tries to beat back the jihadis, who’ve overtaken more than half the country, according to conflict analysts and experts.

The junta is distancing itself from regional and Western nations that don’t agree with its approach. This year, it left the West African regional economic bloc known as ECOWAS and created an alliance with Mali and Niger, also run by military juntas.

The junta severed military ties with former colonial ruler France. Officials have welcomed several dozen Russians tasked in part with keeping the junta in power, according to several conflict experts and a diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter.

In November, days after the Zaongo massacre, 50 Russians arrived in Burkina Faso to protect the junta, influence public opinion and provide security services, said Lou Osborn with All Eyes on Wagner, a project focusing on the Russian mercenary group, which operates in a handful of African countries.

The United States said it has suspended assistance to Burkina Faso’s military but still supplies nonlethal equipment to civilian security forces such as the national police. In January, it delivered nearly 100 bikes and pickups.

“We are not aware of any diversion or misuse of recent equipment,” it said. “We take allegations seriously and will continue to monitor and evaluate.”

Civilians in the middle

During the November 5 attack, men in military uniforms speaking French and local language Moore called for men to leave their houses, a 45-year-old mother told AP.

Through the window of the home where she hid, she said, she saw more than 15 relatives killed.

She said a soldier motioned for her to lie down silently. The men dressed, looked and sounded like soldiers who pass through inspecting people’s documents, she said.

The third survivor who spoke to AP, a 55-year-old man, said villagers had been accused of working with jihadis because they refused to join tens of thousands of volunteers fighting alongside the military.

‘We’re frightened’

Survivors fear that bodies still lie on the ground rotting in Zaongo, now occupied by jihadis. Some relatives returned a week after the deaths, but there were too many bodies and not enough time to bury them, they said.

It’s still unclear how many were killed – reports from survivors, the U.N. and aid groups vary, from 70 to more than 200.

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UN Says 5 Million at Risk of Starvation in Sudan

United Nations — The United Nations appealed Friday for Sudan’s battling factions to allow delivery of humanitarian relief to fend off looming catastrophic hunger.

About 5 million Sudanese could face calamitous food insecurity in coming months as a nearly yearlong war between rival generals continues to tear the country apart, according to a U.N. document seen Friday by AFP.

The war between army chief Abdel Fattah Burhan and his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, has since April last year killed tens of thousands, destroyed infrastructure and crippled the economy.

It also has triggered a dire humanitarian crisis and acute food shortages, with the country teetering on the brink of famine.

Noting that 18 million Sudanese are facing acute food insecurity — a record during harvest season — U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths warned in a letter to the Security Council that “almost 5 million people could slip into catastrophic food insecurity in some parts of the country in the coming months.”

He noted that nearly 730,000 Sudanese children, including more than 240,000 in Darfur, are thought to suffer from severe malnutrition.

“Aid organizations require safe, rapid, sustained and unimpeded access, including across conflict lines within Sudan,” said U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres’ spokesman, Stephane Dujarric. “A massive mobilization of resources from the international community is also critical.”

The U.N.’s World Food Program has warned that the war risks “triggering the world’s largest hunger crisis.”

Jill Lawler, the emergency chief in Sudan for the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF, said there were enough aid stocks in Port Sudan, but the problem was getting the aid from there to the people in need.

Lawler said that last week that she led the first U.N. mission to reach Khartoum state since war erupted 11 months ago.

They had seen firsthand that “the scale and magnitude of needs for children across the country are simply staggering,” she told reporters in Geneva via video link from New York.

The war “is pushing the country towards a famine” with hunger “the number one concern people expressed.”

Mandeep O’Brien, UNICEF representative in Sudan, said 14 million children needed humanitarian aid and 4 million were displaced.

There was only a “small window left to prevent mass loss of children’s lives and future,” she warned on X, formerly known as Twitter.

World Health Organization regional director Hanan Balkhy, who recently returned from Sudan, underlined the acute needs in Darfur, saying most health facilities had been looted, damaged or destroyed.

Griffiths, the U.N. aid chief, lamented that fighting continued to rage during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan despite a Security Council resolution calling for a cessation of hostilities.

“This is a moment of truth,” he wrote on X. “The parties must silence the guns, protect civilians and ensure humanitarian access.”

The U.N. on Friday called for more financial support for aid operations in Sudan.

U.N. spokeswoman Alessandra Vellucci told reporters in Geneva that the world body had appealed for $2.7 billion to provide aid this year but had received 5% of that amount so far.

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Kenyan Doctors Strike; Patients Left Unattended or Turned Away

NAIROBI, Kenya — Doctors at Kenya’s public hospitals began a nationwide strike Thursday, accusing the government of failing to implement a raft of promises from a collective bargaining agreement signed in 2017 after a 100-day strike that saw people dying from lack of care.

The Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union said they went on strike to demand comprehensive medical cover for the doctors and because the government has yet to post 1,200 medical interns.

Davji Bhimji, secretary-general of KMPDU, said 4,000 doctors took part in the strike despite a labor court order asking the union to put the strike on hold to allow talks with the government. And Dennis Miskellah, deputy secretary general of the union, said they would disregard the court order the same way the government had disregarded three court orders to increase basic pay for doctors and reinstate suspended doctors.

Miskellah said medical interns make up 27% of the workforce in Kenya’s public hospitals, and their absence means more sick people are being turned away from hospitals. Some doctors, however, have remained on duty to ensure patients in the intensive care units don’t die.

In an interview with broadcaster Citizen TV, Miskellah said doctors were committing suicide out of work-related frustration, while others have had to fund-raise to get treated for sickness due to a lack of comprehensive health coverage.

The impact of the strike was felt across the country with many patients left unattended or being turned away from hospitals across the East African nation.

Pauline Wanjiru said she brought her 12-year-old son for treatment on his broken leg, which had started to produce a smell, but she was turned away from a hospital in Kakamega county in western Kenya.

In 2017, doctors at Kenya’s public hospitals held a 100-day strike — the longest ever held in the country — to demand better wages and for the government to restore the country’s dilapidated public-health facilities. They also demanded continuous training of and hiring of doctors to address a severe shortage of health professionals.

At the time, public doctors, who train for six years in university, earned a basic salary of $400 to $850 a month, similar to some police officers who train for just six months.

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Namibia to Begin HPV Vaccine Rollout in April

Windhoek, Namibia — A top Namibian health official tells VOA the southern Africa country is set to begin distribution of the HPV vaccine to adolescent girls in April as a preventative measure in the fight against cervical cancer.

Namibia has a population of about 1 million women ages 15 years and older who are at risk of developing cervical cancer.

Each year, about 375 women in Namibia are diagnosed with the disease, and the fatality rate is over 50%.

The Human Papillomavirus Vaccine, known as HPV, has been proven to greatly lessen the chance of getting cervical cancer.

Ben Nangombe, executive director at Namibia’s Ministry of Health and Social Services, says health workers will begin vaccinating about 183,000 girls between the ages of nine and 14 next month.

He says the ministry has been allocated $7 million to procure single dose vaccines for this purpose.

Mehafo Amunyela, who works at the #Be Free Youth Program in the capital’s Katutura Township, told VOA that vaccine hesitancy could be a hurdle to fully immunizing the target population. She said she hopes that through awareness campaigns, children and their families can be educated about the advantages of getting the vaccine.

“We saw the reaction of the public toward the COVID vaccine when it came out, but I think we need to be honest with ourselves and remember that the reason we don’t have illnesses like polio is because of vaccines, that they worked then, and they still do now,” she said.

The Cancer Association of Namibia says the vast distances between most towns and villages in Namibia could present another logistical challenge in the immunization program.

The association says to achieve the target of immunizing 183,000 girls, awareness campaigns should be undertaken in the different indigenous languages spoken in the country.

With the rollout of the HPV vaccine, Namibia is on the path to do its part in meeting the World Health Organization’s goal of vaccinating 90% of girls worldwide by 2030, with the long-term goal of eliminating cervical cancer within the next century.

Although cervical cancer is preventable and curable, the disease claimed 350,000 lives worldwide in 2022 according to the WHO. 

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Russia Denies Strategy to Spread Africa Influence After Wagner ‘Rebrand’

Russia has rebranded its Wagner paramilitary group as an “expeditionary corps” now controlled by Moscow’s military intelligence arm, and the force is offering a “regime survival package” to autocratic regimes in Africa, Britain’s Royal United Services Institute says. Henry Ridgwell reports.

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Negligence Escalates Hunger Crisis in Northwest Nigeria, Aid Group Says

Abuja, Nigeria — The medical aid group Doctors Without Borders said this week that Nigeria’s northwest region is experiencing “catastrophic” levels of malnutrition and disease outbreaks as it copes with a decline in humanitarian support.

The aid group, known by its French initials MSF, said that while heavy conflict continues to affect both the northeast and northwest regions of Nigeria, the humanitarian needs of the northwest have yet to be met under the national response plan.

In a media statement, MSF said that the region has more than 500,000 cases of severe acute malnutrition and that 854 children admitted to its facilities last year died within 48 hours of their arrival.

MSF blamed the failure of authorities and donor partners to formally recognize the crisis in the northwest for delaying a much-needed response.

Abdullahi Mohammed Ali, the head of MSF’s Nigeria mission, said the aid group has been raising the alarm for a few years.

“But the region has never been included in the U.N. humanitarian response plan,” Ali said. “We’re deeply concerned given the seriousness of the humanitarian crisis in this region — a home to around 50 million people. The levels of malnutrition and outbreak of diseases are catastrophic in the context of persistent and relentless violence.”

Northwest Nigeria has been plagued by armed gangs of bandits who often kill, loot and take hostages. MSF said that last year alone, more than 2,000 people were killed in hundreds of reported attacks.

But humanitarian aid groups have largely focused their attention on the northeast, site of the long-running Boko Haram insurgency, where Nigerian forces are stepping up attacks against the Islamist militant groups.

Ali said the situation improved briefly in the northwest last year.

“We saw a little improvement in 2023, with a few actors mobilizing to provide support to vulnerable people,” he said, “but this is far from being enough, and medical aid is just a drop in the ocean.

“We would like to see a collective and concerted strategy by both the humanitarian community and the Nigerian government in order to scale up the humanitarian response plan,” Ali said.

MSF said it treated 170,000 children in the northwestern states of Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina and Kano last year for severe acute malnutrition — a 14% rise compared with the previous year.

Nigeria’s humanitarian affairs ministry did not respond to calls for comment.

An official who did not want to be named said the investigation of the humanitarian affairs minister, Betta Edu, has affected planned responses to humanitarian emergencies. President Bola Tinubu suspended Edu in January over alleged misappropriation of public funds. On Wednesday, Nigeria’s parliament asked the president to hasten the suspended minister’s probe.

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Central Africa Says Economic Bloc Poorest, Integration Stagnant at 4%

YAOUNDE, CAMEROON — The Central African Economic and Monetary Community, CEMAC, marks its 30th anniversary this week but by some measures has little to celebrate. The bloc says member countries conduct most of their trade with outside countries and have made little attempt to break down economic barriers between them, leaving CEMAC the least developed and poorest economic bloc in Africa.

Officials say the Central African Economic and Monetary Community remains the least integrated economic bloc in Africa, despite its very strong economic and social potential.

CEMAC officials say member countries conduct more than 80 percent of their foreign trade with Europe, China and Russia – and only 4 percent with each other.

The CEMAC countries — Cameroon, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Congo, Gabon and the Central African Republic — created the bloc in 1994 to promote the free movement of goods and persons across borders and promote regional integration. 

Sylvestre Michel Nkou is an economic adviser to the Congo government and CEMAC. He spoke during celebrations marking the economic bloc’s 30th anniversary in Yaounde Thursday.  

Nkou says CEMAC member states should emulate the Economic Community of West African States, in which civilians and merchants move from one country to the other without fear of police harassment, brutality or the confiscation of their goods. He says poverty will be reduced in central Africa and the economic bloc will cease to become the poorest on the continent when integration becomes a reality, not a political slogan.  

Nkou said CEMAC countries continue to erroneously believe that each state can develop on its own. He said CEMACs close to 70 million population constitute a large market which remains underused. 

Achingale Queen Anyifuet, an international relations scholar at Cameroon’s International Relations Institute, says insecurity, Boko Haram conflicts affecting Chad and Cameroon, political tensions and armed attacks in the CAR and the military juntas in Chad and Gabon have diverted the CEMAC leaders’ attention from economic development.  

“If you look at the rankings of ‘Ease to do Business’ countries in the world, the CEMAC region is far below,” saod Achingale. “Out of the 197 countries, Cameroon which is the first [among CEMAC states], is ranked 167, so there is a lot to do. We have to put in place programs that address the key roots of conflicts, we have to look at security, ensuring a stable environment which is very key to economic development. We need to promote peace, which is one of the objectives of CEMAC.”

Achingale said the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business report quantitatively measures the ease of doing business in countries around the world, focusing on business regulations and property rights protections. 

Thierry Ndong, an expert in regional integration and analyst working with CEMAC, says the regional economic bloc has also failed to create a regional airline, build roads linking capitals of CEMAC member states and create a regional stock exchange.

Ndong says a program to develop an economic zone in the border towns of Kye-Ossi, in Cameroon, Bitam in Gabon and Ebebiyin in Equatorial Guinea is among failed projects initiated by CEMAC officials. He says he is surprised that CEMAC keeps money to organize seminars to evaluate nonexistent projects that were initiated 15 years ago as a sign of economic integration without consulting the people who are the main beneficiaries.

CAR President Faustin-Archange Touadera, who is also the CEMAC president, is expected to address issues concerning the underdevelopment of the economic bloc in a March 16 message. 

 

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Political Spat Brews Over South African Opposition’s Appeal to US 

JOHANNESBURG    — South Africa’s president has slammed a request by the country’s main opposition party that the U.S. help monitor upcoming elections. The governing party says the request is misguided given issues with “the West’s” own polls.

A letter by South Africa’s leading opposition party, the Democratic Alliance or DA, to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other Western governments asking for help monitoring South Africa’s May 29 election, caused a political furor this week.

South Africa is well-regarded as having held free and fair polls in the past, but the DA’s letter asks for foreign help to “safeguard the integrity” of what it notes will be “the most crucial election” in 30 years of democracy.

A new poll this week showed the governing African National Congress getting just 39% of the vote, which would mean losing its majority for the first time, since 1994 in the first post-apartheid elections.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said the DA’s letter was “’disingenuous” as the country has always employed international election observers and accused the opposition of trying to “mortgage” the country’s sovereignty to foreign powers.

South African International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor said, “To write such a letter, particularly to countries that don’t have observation and very low participation rates in their elections, is rather surprising and a demeaning attitude about South Africa.”

Meanwhile, Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri, an ANC spokesperson, said “the West’s” own elections have not always been without controversy.

“Despite our impeccable track record of running free and fair elections in South Africa, we’ve never sought to comment on the elections in the West, even when their own citizens question the credibility of their electoral processes,” she said.

While she did not mention the U.S. directly, some South Africans have pointed to disputes over American elections; for example in 2000 when George W. Bush beat Al Gore, and in 2020 when Donald Trump falsely declared the election had been stolen.

Asanda Ngoasheng, a political analyst, said the U.S. had its own political troubles.

“I think it’s ironic that the DA has sent the letter that it sent because in the United States former President Trump is still to this day challenging their last election,” she said.

Asked to respond to the backlash, DA shadow minister for international relations Emma Powell doubled down.

“It is clear however that the ANC’s ferocious response to the request made by opposition parties for observer support is because the ANC themselves have something to hide,” she said.

The U.S. has distanced itself from the controversy.

David S. Feldmann, mission spokesperson at U.S. Embassy Pretoria told VOA, “South Africa is a sovereign democracy that runs its own electoral processes. The Independent Electoral Commission has a longstanding and excellent reputation for conducting free and fair elections.”

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Zimbabwe Police Rescue 251 Children, Find Graves in Raid of Compound

Harare, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe police on Wednesday said they have arrested a man claiming to be a prophet of an apostolic sect at a shrine where believers stay in a compound, and authorities found 16 unregistered graves, including those of infants, and more than 250 children used as cheap labor.

In a statement, police spokesman Paul Nyathi said Ishmael Chokurongerwa, 56, a “self-styled” prophet, led a sect with more than 1,000 members at a farm about 34 kilometers [21 miles] northwest of the capital, Harare, where the children were staying alongside other believers.

The children “were being used to perform various physical activities for the benefit of the sect’s leadership,” he said. Of the 251 children, 246 had no birth certificates.

“Police established that all children of school-going age did not attend formal education and were subjected to abuse as cheap labor, doing manual work in the name of being taught life skills,” said Nyathi.

Police said among the graves they found were those of seven infants whose burials were not registered with authorities.

He said police officers raided the shrine on Tuesday. Chokurongerwa, who called himself the Prophet Ishmael, was arrested together with seven of his aides “for criminal activities which include abuse of minors.”

Nyathi said more details will be released “in due course as investigations unfold.”

A state-run tabloid, H-Metro, which accompanied police during the raid, showed police in riot gear arguing with female believers in white garments and head cloths who demanded the return of children who were put into a waiting police bus. It is not clear where police took the children and some women who accompanied then.

“Why are they taking our children? We are comfortable here. We don’t have a problem here,” shouted one of the women in a video posted on the newspaper’s account on X.

According to the newspaper, police officers armed with guns, tear smoke and trained dogs “staged a spectacular raid” on the shrine. Believers described the compound as “their promised land.”

One of Chokurongerwa’s aides gave an interview to the newspaper.

“Our belief is not from scriptures. We got it directly from God, who gave us rules on how we can enter heaven. God forbids formal education, because the lessons learned at such schools go against his dictates,” he said, adding that “God told us that it won’t rain if we send our children to school. Look at the drought out there, yet we are receiving rains here. We have the gift of a spiritual ear to hear God’s voice,” he said.

Apostolic groups that infuse traditional beliefs into a Pentecostal doctrine are popular in the deeply religious southern African country.

There has been little detailed research on Apostolic churches in Zimbabwe, but UNICEF studies estimate it is the largest religious denomination with around 2.5 million followers in a country of 15 million. Some of the groups adhere to a doctrine demanding that followers avoid formal education for their children, as well as medicines and medical care for members who must instead seek healing through their faith in prayer, holy water and anointed stones.

However, others have in recent years begun allowing their members to visit hospitals and enroll children in school following intense campaigns by the government and nongovernmental organizations.

In Kenya, police in April 2003 arrested a pastor, Paul Mackenzie, based in coastal Kenya who allegedly ordered congregants to starve to death in order to meet Jesus.

The country’s top prosecutor in January ordered that the pastor and over 90 people from the doomsday cult be charged with murder, cruelty, child torture and other crimes in the deaths of 429 people believed to be members of the church.

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Zimbabwe Pins Hope for Economy on Tobacco

Officials in Zimbabwe — Africa’s largest tobacco producer — hope this year’s crop will boost the country’s ailing economy. However, demand is not as high as it used to be, and calls are growing for Zimbabwe to move away from tobacco due to health concerns. Columbus Mavhunga reports from Harare.

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Suspect Arrested in Fatal Attack on 3 Egyptian Coptic Monks in South Africa

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — A suspect has been arrested in the fatal stabbing attack on three Coptic Orthodox Church monks at a monastery in South Africa, police said Wednesday. 

The monks were killed Tuesday at the Saint Mark the Apostle and Saint Samuel the Confessor Monastery in Cullinan, a town east of the capital, Pretoria. A fourth person was beaten with an iron rod before escaping and hiding in the monastery, police said. 

The suspect arrested was a 35-year-old man. Police did not provide his name or other details. He is to appear in court on Thursday. 

The motive for the attack was unclear. It appeared that nothing was stolen from the monastery, police spokesperson Colonel Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi said in a statement. 

Police had said Tuesday that they were seeking multiple suspects. 

Deadly attacks on churches and other places of worship in South Africa are rare. 

The Coptic Orthodox Church has its headquarters in Egypt and dioceses in several countries. It is one of the oldest Christian communities in the world and has been the target of deadly attacks by Islamic militants in Egypt and elsewhere. 

The attacks in Egypt have subsided recently amid tighter security around Christian places of worship in the Muslim-majority country. 

The Coptic Orthodox Church named the monks killed in South Africa as Hegumen Takla el-Samuely, Yostos ava Markos and Mina ava Markos. All three were Egyptian nationals. 

The Coptic Orthodox Church of South Africa said that el-Samuely was the deputy of the local diocese. 

The Coptic church has its own pope, currently Pope Tawadros II. The South African diocese said he was aware of the attack and was “waiting to be informed of its causes.” 

The Egyptian ambassador to South Africa visited the monastery following the attack, the Coptic Orthodox Church of South Africa said. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said it was in communication with the embassy in South Africa. 

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Nigeria Orders Creation of Police Base in Remote Community After Mass Kidnappings

abuja, nigeria — Police in Nigeria have ordered the creation of a new base for officers and the deployment of special forces in a remote village in northwest Kaduna state, where nearly 300 students were abducted by armed bandits on March 7.

Nigerian police chief Kayode Egbetokun announced plans for the new base and the deployment during a visit with Kaduna Governor Uba Sani on Tuesday.

He said the steps will help restore residents’ confidence in their safety while security forces continue the search for the missing students.

Last Thursday, armed bandits on motorbikes invaded an elementary school in the village of Kuriga in Kaduna state and abducted 287 school students — the highest single abduction of students in years.

Days later in a separate attack, bandits kidnapped 61 people from Kajuru district, about 150 kilometers miles away. 

The new police base will be in Kuriga and deployment of extra officers to the area has begun.

Egbetokun says authorities are working to secure the abductees’ release.

“We’re launching the special intervention squad for Kaduna state,” Egbetokun said. “If only to give confidence to the people, the men will be deployed and with the support that you have pledged to give, I’m sure that the community will start to feel safe again.”

Sani said he is hopeful the police operations will succeed.

“We are extremely confident that the school children by the grace of God will return back home safely,” he said, “and I’m happy by the decision of the inspector general of police to quickly deploy mobile base in Kuriga community.”

Last week, local media reported more than 300 women and children who were gathering firewood were kidnapped in northeastern Borno state by Islamic militants.

Insecurity is a major challenge for President Bola Tinubu, who launched an initiative called “Renewed Hope” after assuming office last May.

The recent kidnappings are blamed, in part, on the absence of security forces in those remote areas.

Last month, the president met with all 36 state governors to discuss decentralizing Nigeria’s police force and creating a police arm for each state.

Analyst Kabiru Adamu of Beacon Security said, if organized properly, this could be a step in the right direction.

“There are gaps within the security architecture,” Adamu said. “I am supportive of the decentralization of policing but I think what we need more than anything is accountability. So that by the time we create state police, the accountability elements that have been created in the federal level will trickle down to the state level.”

Years of fighting Islamist militants and crime gangs have stretched Nigerian security forces thin.

Many are hoping the creation of new bases and state police arms will help keep the kidnappers away.

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Cameroon Homes and Plantations Destroyed by Seawater

YAOUNDE — Cameroon officials have declared a humanitarian emergency after encroaching waters from the Atlantic Ocean destroyed several hundred homes, buildings and plantations along Cameroon’s coast. 

Waves pound walls and houses constructed on the shores of Bekumu, a southern Cameroon village located in Ndian,  an administrative unit along parts of Cameroon’s 400-kilometer coast on the Atlantic Ocean. 

The images broadcast on Cameroon state TV this week show civilians crying out for help.

“If the government does not help immediately, if the government does not do something urgently, I don’t believe Bekumu will exist again. The water level is so high. What is this, oh God.”

The civilian is not identified in the video, but the Bekumu Village Development Committee, in a release, said it shared images of the civilian crying out for help to raise awareness of the fate that has befallen them.

Bekumu villagers say encroaching seawater this week has destroyed homes, public buildings and plantations, and rendered several hundred people homeless.

The Cameroon government says high waves swept through Bekumu destroying coastal villages, plantations, schools, churches and markets.

Civilians say they lack potable water after seawater swept and emptied waste water in streams that are considered a source of drinkable water. 

Sangi John is the traditional ruler of Bekumu village. Speaking to VOA on Wednesday via a messaging app, he said it is the first time encroaching waters from the Atlantic Ocean have caused so much havoc in Bekumu. He said strong sea waves early Wednesday pulled down parts of school buildings and churches where homeless civilians rushed for shelter.

“The disaster is so serious, the water has washed from the schools to people’s houses, right to all churches. The water is everywhere. I am appealing for the government to help us,” he said.

Sangi said scores of civilians have relocated to safer villages while three dozen others are trapped in creeks waiting for help to relocate. He said hunger looms as several hundred hectares of farmland are currently being destroyed by water.

Fishermen, farmers and merchants constitute 75 percent of the population of affected villages.  They say economic activity has nosedived because of the encroaching ocean waters that also killed goats and washed away poultry farms.

In August of last year when seawater swept through the coastal town of Kribi, swallowing homes and plantations, CEMAC, a six member state economic bloc that groups Cameroon, Chad, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, the Central African Republic and the Republic of Congo, said the ongoing rise in sea levels was potentially catastrophic for an economic bloc for whom 30 percent of civilians live along the coastline.

The Cameroon government has always blamed global warming and rising sea levels for the encroaching of ocean water into its coastal lands. 

Cameroon’s ministry of agriculture says the ongoing floods in Ndian add to the humanitarian emergency it declared following food shortages because of floods in several parts of the central African state. The government says it has dispatched humanitarian workers and specialized services of its military to rescue civilians but gave no further details.   

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Nigerian Filmmakers Optimistic After Box Office Milestone

The Nigerian film industry, often referred to as Nollywood, is the second largest moviemaker in the world in terms of volume, and is making strides both in terms of art and in popularity at the box office. Timothy Obiezu reports from Abuja.

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