Kampala, Uganda — Eight people, including two children, were killed when mountains of garbage collapsed at a landfill in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, on Saturday, city authorities said.

Local media said homes, people and livestock were engulfed in the landslide at the vast garbage dump in Kiteezi, a district in the north of Kampala, after heavy rainfall.

“On a very sad note, eight people have so far been found dead, six adults and two children,” the Kampala Capital City Authority, or KCCA, which operates the site, said in a statement.

The disaster comes eight months after the ceremonial head of the authority described the situation at the landfill as a “national crisis.”

The KCCA said in the statement posted on social media platform X that 14 people had been rescued and taken to hospital. It did not disclose their condition.

“The rescue operation is still ongoing, and we shall share updates as they come in,” it said.

Images from Kiteezi showed a Ugandan police excavator churning through huge mounds of rubbish as large crowds of residents looked on.

Some were gathered behind a yellow police tape, carrying pictures of their missing loved ones.

Structural failure

The KCCA said there was a “structural failure in waste mass this morning resulting in a collapsed section of the landfill.”

“Our teams, along with other government agencies, are on ground taking the necessary measures to ensure the area is secure and to prevent any further incidents,” it said.

“The level of damage is still being assessed.”

In January, KCCA ceremonial head Erias Lukwago, who carries the honorary title of Lord Mayor of Kampala, had warned that people working and living near the Kiteezi landfill were at risk of numerous health hazards due to overflowing waste.

He said the site was not maintained at all, describing the situation as a “national crisis” that needed the central government and Parliament to intervene.

The official in charge of the site, Vincent Mbaizireki, said it was full to capacity.

The Daily Monitor, an independent newspaper in Uganda, said the 14-hectare (36-acre) landfill was established in 1996 and was the dumpsite for all garbage collected across Kampala, receiving about 1,200 tons of waste a day.

Several parts of East Africa have been battered by heavy rains recently, including Ethiopia, the second-most-populous country on the continent.

Devastating landslides in a remote and mountainous area in southern Ethiopia last month killed around 250 people, with the U.N.’s humanitarian response agency OCHA saying several thousand people needed emergency evacuation.

In February 2010, mudslides in the Mount Elgon region of eastern Uganda killed more than 350 people.
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BANGKOK — In Bangladesh, weeks of protests against a quota system for government jobs turned into a broad uprising that forced the prime minister to flee the country and resign.

The demonstrations began peacefully last month and were primarily led by students frustrated with the system that they said favored those with connections to the ruling party.

But it turned violent on July 15 as student protesters clashed with security officials and pro-government activists. Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled this week after the unrest during which nearly 300 people died, including both students and police officers.

Students or other young people have frequently played pivotal roles in popular uprisings that have brought down governments or forced them to change policies. Here are some other major cases:

Gota Go Gama protests in Sri Lanka

Like in Bangladesh, widespread protests in Sri Lanka in 2022 were able to bring down a government, and youth played a key role.

Scattered demonstrations turned into months-long protests starting in March 2022 as an economic crisis worsened in the Indian Ocean island nation, leading to a shortage of fuel, cooking gas and other essentials as well as an extended power outage.

In April, protesters primarily led by university students and other young people occupied an esplanade adjoining President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s office in the capital Colombo, demanding he and his government resign.

More people joined daily, setting up a tent camp dubbed “Gota Go Gama,” or “Gota Go Village,” a play on Gotabaya’s nickname “Gota.”

The protest site was peaceful, with organizers offering free food, water, toilets and even medical care for people. Camp leaders, many of whom were university students, held daily media briefings and made regular speeches, while the crowd was entertained by bands and plays.

The government reacted by imposing a curfew, declaring a state of emergency, allowing the military to arrest civilians and restricting access to social media, but were unable to stop the protest.

Under pressure, many ministers resigned but President Rajapaksa and his older brother, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa remained.

In May, Rajapaksa supporters attacked the protest camp, drawing widespread condemnation from across the country and forcing Prime Minister Rajapaksa to resign.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa clung to power until July, when protesters stormed his official residence, forcing him to flee the country. After taking temporary refuge in the Maldives, Rajapaksa later resigned.

His successor, Ranil Wickremesinghe, in one of his first moves as new president ousted protesters from occupied government buildings and shut down their camp, dismantling their tents in the middle of the night.

The situation has since calmed, and Wickremesinghe has been able to address the shortages of food, fuel and medicine and restore power.

Complaints continue, however, about the rise in taxes and electric bills that are part of the new government’s efforts to meet International Monetary Fund loan conditions. Former Prime Minister Rajapaksa’s son Namal Rajapaksa will be running in the presidential elections this September.

Athens Polytechnic uprising in Greece

In November 1973, students at Athens Polytechnic university rose up against the military junta that ruled Greece with an iron fist for more than six years.

Military officers seized power in a 1967 coup, establishing a dictatorship marked by the arrest, exile and torture of its political opponents.

The regime’s brutality and hardline rule gave rise to a growing opposition, particularly among students, culminating in the November uprising.

The protest began peacefully on November 14, with students staging a strike at the Athens Polytechnic university and occupying the campus. By the next day, thousands from around Athens had joined in to support the students and the demonstrations grew, as did calls to end the dictatorship.

On November 17, the military crushed the revolt when a tank smashed through the university’s gates in the early hours of the day, killing several students. The number of fatalities is still disputed, but at the time the regime had announced 15 dead.

Days after the uprising, another military officer staged a coup and implemented an even harsher regime. It was short lived however, after a series of events led to a return to democracy in Greece, its birthplace, in 1974.

A prosecutor’s report issued after the return to civilian government, estimated fatalities at 34, but mentioned only 18 names. There were more than 1,100 injured.

Today, annual marches in Athens to commemorate the pro-democracy student uprising still attract thousands of people.

Kent State demonstrations in the United States

American students had long been protesting the U.S. involvement in Vietnam when President Richard Nixon authorized attacks on neutral Cambodia in April 1970, expanding the conflict in an attempt to interrupt enemy supply lines.

On May 4, hundreds of students at Ohio’s Kent State University gathered to protest the bombing of Cambodia, and authorities called in the Ohio National Guard to disperse the crowd.

After failing to break up the protest with teargas, the National Guard advanced and some opened fire on the crowd, killing four students and wounding nine others.

The confrontation, sometimes referred to as the May 4 massacre, was a defining moment for a nation sharply divided over the protracted conflict, in which more than 58,000 Americans died.

It sparked a strike of 4 million students across the U.S., temporarily closing some 900 colleges and universities. The events also played a pivotal role, historians argue, in turning public opinion against the conflict in Southeast Asia.

Soweto Uprising in South Africa

In the decades-long struggle against white minority rule in South Africa, a pivotal moment came in 1976 in the Soweto area of Johannesburg.

In a series of demonstrations starting June 16, Black students from multiple schools took to the streets to protest against being forced to study in Afrikaans, the Dutch-based language of the white rulers who designed the system of racial oppression known as apartheid.

The protests spread to other areas in South Africa, becoming a flashpoint for anger at a system that denied adequate education, the right to vote and other basic rights to the country’s Black majority.

Hundreds are estimated to have died in the government crackdown that followed.

The bloodshed was epitomized by a photograph of a dying student, Hector Pieterson. The image of his limp body being carried by another teenager was seen around the world and galvanized international efforts to end South Africa’s racial segregation, though apartheid would linger for nearly two more decades.

South Africa achieved democracy with majority rule elections in 1994 and today June 16 is a national holiday.

Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia

As the Communist governments of Eastern Europe teetered in 1989, widespread demonstrations broke out in Czechoslovakia after riot police suppressed a student protest in Prague on November 17.

On November 20 as the anti-Communist protests grew, the students being joined by scores of others and some 500,000 took to the streets of Prague.

Dubbed the “Velvet Revolution” for its non-violent nature, the protests led to the resignation of the Communist Party’s leadership on November 28.

By December 10, Czechoslovakia had a new government and on December 29, Vaclav Havel, a dissident playwright who had spent several years in prison, was elected the country’s first democratic president in a half century by a parliament still dominated by communist hard-liners.

In 1992, Czechoslovakia peacefully split into two countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
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SAVE VALLEY CONSERVANCY, Zimbabwe — On the impoverished edges of a conservancy that protects wildlife in southeastern Zimbabwe, 14-year-old Esther Bote wakes up at dawn to a practiced daily routine.

She cleans the house, lights the fire, cooks, bathes and gets into her neat grey and white school uniform. Then it’s time for what she considers the most perilous chore: the 5-kilometer walk to school through bush paths and forests where dangerous animals might lurk.

The teenager has been living with such threats for some time now but there is no getting used to it. Children as young as 5, some held by the hand by slightly older peers or siblings, briskly walk in thick forests to school and then back home.

“Sometimes we see animal footprints. We see their footprints and can tell that the elephants are still around,” she told The Associated Press from her home, where she stays with her elderly grandparents.

In this humid, densely forested area in a semi-arid Zimbabwean district, repeated droughts, juiced by the naturally occurring El Nino weather phenomenon and human-caused climate change, have led to food and water shortages, leaving people and animals to compete for resources. Wildlife is getting dangerously close to human populations, and children are having to learn how they can live in this new reality without putting themselves at too much risk. To adapt, schoolchildren are now taking basic lessons in animal behavior.

On a recent day in July, when Esther and her friends spotted elephant footprints on the way from school, they reported it to a wildlife ranger. The animals had cut across a farming field and bush path that they regularly use to and from school. A few days prior, a child was severely injured from a crocodile attack.

Although no fatalities have been reported, Esther and her friends are still cautious.

“We usually walk in groups to feel safer,” said Esther.

Since last year, the privately owned Save Valley Conservancy and the country’s parks agency have been running a program for school-age children on how to recognize danger signs and how to coexist with wildlife. Dozens of students such as Esther are now able to identify different wildlife footprints, animal sounds and can read wind direction by the blowing sand and know how and when to take cover.

“The person who is affected mostly is the kid. It’s the kid who goes to school, it’s the kid who goes to fetch water, it’s the kid who goes to fetch firewood,” said Dingani Masuku, community liaison manager for Save Valley Conservancy. “That’s why we are targeting schools so that they can know how animals behave, what to do with the animals.”

He said they are trying to teach “a sense of ownership in the kids” so that they “don’t see the animal as an adversary, but they see it as something beneficial to the community, something which should be respected.”

On a recent sunny day, over two dozen children sat outside on dusty ground in searing heat for one of the sessions at Chiyambiro Secondary School. An 18-year-old who recently left school and is now part of a new corps of young women rangers from the community was teaching them animal behavior and how to protect themselves.

“Don’t approach an animal. If it’s a lion, it’s looking for food. That’s why it’s in the community. It is looking for cheap, easy prey, and you could be the easy prey,” she said, wearing military-type green fatigues. Some of the children said they travel up to 15 kilometers to school, and are forced to walk before daybreak when animals such as hyenas would still be on the prowl.

An official from the national parks agency talked about the benefits of wildlife to the community such as tourism. He pointed to the recently recruited women rangers as an example of how wildlife can create employment for locals. He encouraged them to take the message home to their parents — many who view wild animals as either enemies or a source of food.

Alphonce Chimangaisu, the School Development Committee chairperson at Chiyambiro Secondary School, said parents hoped the initiative would make children safer.

“Some parents have stopped their children from going to school because they don’t know what might happen,” he said.

Although there is no concrete data yet on the effectiveness of the initiative, Chimangaisu said the school has been using it to convince some previously reluctant parents to change their attitudes. Many agree with the training but still ask for concessions, such as the school allowing their children to arrive later for class, he said.

School authorities in affected rural areas are often forced to delay the start of classes and end them early to allow affected children to walk to and from school during daylight when wild animals are unlikely to be roaming around communities, said Obert Masaraure, president of the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe.

“We have reports of learners who have completely withdrawn from school fearing for their lives,” he said, adding that teachers who live far from schools are also increasingly not turning up for work. “These challenges are compounding other existing vulnerabilities for rural learners further denying them access to quality education.”

The country’s parks agency is now pushing to initiate animal behavior and conservation training at schools countrywide in areas where people are increasingly being forced to co-exist with wild animals that make regular forays into communities for food and water due to climate change-related droughts, said Tinashe Farawo, the spokesman for the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority.

Aside from learning how to keep safe, schoolchildren can be a useful way to deliver the message home, he said.

“We have established environmental clubs at many schools where we raise awareness and education,” added Farawo. “When children are taught about these dangers and animal behavior, they also go home and teach their parents. We have found that it’s easier for parents to listen when their children speak.”

He said the conflict is likely to worsen due to increased frequencies of droughts, noting that the parks agency received between 3,000 and 4,000 distress calls from communities battling confrontations with wildlife in the last three years, compared to about 900 calls in 2018.

For Esther, although the training has not eliminated the risk, she said it could come in handy when danger arises.

“It helps, we now know a lot of things about animals that we didn’t know before,” she said, adding that as long as the animals are still there, she won’t be able to fully enjoy school.
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Abuja, Nigeria — LGBTQ+ activists in Nigeria are raising concerns about their safety after a popular cross-dresser was killed Thursday in the capital. Police have launched a probe into the killing, which activists say is one of many cases recorded in recent weeks.

Franklin Ejiogu is trying to come to terms with the tragedy that struck early Thursday — his friend, a Nigerian cross-dresser known as the “Abuja Area Mama,” was killed by unknown attackers.

Area Mama’s body was found by the roadside. Ejiogu says it’s not clear how the events unfolded, but the cross-dresser had a gunshot wound to his head.

He blames a recent surge in fatal attacks on LGBTQ+ people on the signing of the so-called Samoa Agreement by Nigerian authorities.

“What actually pushed up these hate crimes is the signing of this Samoa Agreement. Media houses in Nigeria broke news that Nigerian government was encouraging LGBTQ+ movement in Nigeria and now the nonstate actors are now targeting the transgender community members and nonbinary people,” he said. “On Sunday, one transperson was lynched in Kogi state and on Monday, another transperson was also lynched.”

Ejiogu is the founder of Nigeria’s Creme De la Creme, a trans and nonbinary peoples’ support organization. He says they’ve been issuing security warnings to community members on an online forum, and that’s where he hears about attacks.

Nigerian authorities signed the controversial Samoa Agreement, a pact between the EU and 79 other countries, including African, Caribbean and Pacific nations, on June 28.

Authorities say the agreement aims to strengthen partnerships for democratic norms and human rights as well as promote economic growth and development.

But critics, including members of parliament, said the deal needs to be clearer on clauses that promote gender rights.

Nigerian police have launched a probe into Area Mama’s killing.

Abuja police spokesperson Josephine Adeh did not reply to VOA’s request for comment.

But LGBTQ+ activist Promise Ohiri, known as Empress Cookie, said such a killing, if not punished, will embolden more homophobic crimes.

“This is a gateway to uncivilized injustices against the queer community especially the trans community, phobic people attacking us, start killing us illegally in a way that is not acceptable or even following the laws that criminalizes us,” Ohiri said. “We’re really scared.”

Nigeria’s national law punishes same-sex relationships by up to 14 years in jail. And in the more conservative Muslim north, it could lead to a death sentence under sharia law.

In 2022, Nigerian authorities tried to enact a law to criminalize crossdressing, but the law was suspended following protests.

Months ago, Area Mama appeared in a viral video, saying he’d been targeted by a mob and injured with a machete.

Empress Cookie called for justice, saying, “This person that was murdered was human, and they need to give justice to this person. It’s because Area Mama is a well-known person, that’s why her own came to timeline and bloggers are posting it… but on a daily basis we’re being killed.”

More than 30 of Africa’s 54 countries have laws criminalizing homosexuality. Many people, like Ejiogu and Empress Cookie, say they will continue to tread carefully. 
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GENEVA — United Nations aid agencies warn climate change is wreaking havoc throughout large parts of eastern and southern Africa, worsening the plight of millions of people struggling to survive conflict, poverty, hunger and disease.

Since mid-April, El Nino-related heavy rainfall has led to extreme weather events across East Africa, including flooding, landslides, violent winds and hail.

In Sudan

The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, reports climate-induced heavy rains and flooding have upended the lives of tens of thousands of people in war-torn Sudan this year, displacing, injuring and killing many.

The agency warns that heavy seasonal rains are creating further misery for thousands of displaced, including refugees in dire need of humanitarian aid.

UNHCR spokesperson Olga Sarrado told journalists in Geneva Friday that torrential rains and severe floods in the past two weeks are having a devastating effect on the lives of thousands of refugees and internally displaced, noting that more than 11,000 people in the eastern Kassala state are in desperate straits.

“They include many families who recently arrived after fleeing violence in Sennar state,” she said. “Some have been displaced three or four times already since the start of the conflict.

“They have lost their belongings, including food rations, and are facing significant challenges in accessing clean water and sanitation facilities, increasing the risk of waterborne diseases,” she said.

The International Organization for Migration reports that more than 10 million people have become displaced inside Sudan and 2 million have sought refuge in neighboring countries since mid-April 2023, when rival generals from Sudan’s Armed Forces and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces plunged Sudan into war.

The UNHCR reports Sudan continues to host about 1 million refugees and asylum seekers from other countries.

Sarrado said the UNHCR is prepositioning core relief items and shelter kits in the eastern and western parts of the country where more rainfall is expected. She added that flooding in the Darfur region is causing concern among aid agencies, as this will further limit their ability to reach thousands of destitute people.

“The humanitarian needs are reaching epic proportions in the region, as hundreds of thousands of civilians remain in harm’s way and famine has been recently confirmed in a displacement site, as you all know,” she said. “The conflict has already destroyed crops and disrupted livelihoods. The climate crisis is making those displaced even more vulnerable now.”

In Southern Africa

While the heavy rains continue to pound refugees and displaced communities in Sudan, the World Food Program reports that more than 27 million people across Southern Africa, devastated by an El-Nino-induced drought are going hungry.

“I have just returned from Zimbabwe and Lesotho, two of the worst-affected countries, where 50% and 34% of the countries’ respective populations are food insecure,” said Valerie Guarnieri, WFP assistant executive director, program operations.

Speaking from Rome, she said the drought sweeping across the region has decimated crops, causing food prices to spiral and triggering a hunger crisis at a time when their food stocks are at the lowest.

She noted that the onset of this year’s lean season, which is usually from October to March, has come early this year.

“People are facing an early and much deeper lean season,” she said, adding that the situation is likely to get worse, “given production shortfalls and dwindling supply.”

She said that 21 million children, 1 out of 3 in southern Africa, are stunted and 3.5 million children are struggling with acute malnutrition and require nutrition treatment.

“These numbers are not as stark as they are in other parts of the region. Countries that are facing famine — Sudan, for instance. However, we should not have these kind of numbers in Southern Africa,” she said.

“We know that to deal with stunting, to prevent wasting, we need to be ensuring that all children and all women of child-bearing age, in particular, have access to the nutrients that they require in order to grow and to thrive.”

To deal with this crisis, Guarnieri said WFP is scaling up its operation to provide emergency food and nutrition support to 5.9 million people in seven countries between now and March.

She said that WFP is facing a $320 million funding shortfall “that jeopardizes our ability to mount a response at the scale required.”

UNHCR’s Sarrado also expressed concern that her agency’s appeal for nearly $40 million to assist and protect 5.6 million refugees, returnees, internally displaced and local communities in Sudan and five countries of refuge “has so far received only $5 million in funds.”
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WASHINGTON — Representatives from female-led Sudanese civil society groups are planning to take part in next week’s Sudan peace talks in Geneva, a significant gesture of inclusion in addressing widespread gender-based violence in the 15-month conflict.

The U.S.-mediated talks, set to begin August 14, aim to resolve the civil war between Sudan’s two rival military factions, alleviate a dire humanitarian crisis, and develop a monitoring and verification system to ensure implementation of any deal.

But these talks are not designed to address broader political issues, according to the State Department.

The United States has invited leaders of the Sudanese Armed Forces, or SAF, and the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, to discuss a potential cease-fire. The RSF has confirmed its participation in the talks.

While SAF representatives have not yet confirmed their attendance, Sudan’s Sovereign Council said on Friday that it has sent a delegation to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for consultations with the U.S. regarding next week’s planned negotiations. General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the leader of SAF, also serves as the head of that council.

Entisar Abdelsadig, a senior adviser at the peacebuilding organization Search for Common Ground, said that 12 Sudanese women from various civil society sectors are expected to be in Geneva from August 14 to 24, with Abdelsadig leading the delegation.

She told VOA that the women-led delegation prioritizes protecting people against atrocities, particularly gender-based violence.

She said Sudanese women seek involvement in the monitoring mechanism, which is an anticipated outcome of these talks. If enacted, the mechanism would involve civilian-led confidential reporting to ensure safety, using physical and online channels.

Women also wish to actively participate in distributing humanitarian aid rather than merely receiving it, said Abdelsadig.

“There can be no military victory to this war,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters during Thursday’s briefing.

More than a year of fighting between SAF and paramilitary RSF troops has displaced nearly 10 million people across the Greater Horn of Africa country and left 26 million facing crisis-level hunger.

On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with General al-Burhan, reiterating the need for SAF participation in the upcoming cease-fire talks.

Co-hosted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Switzerland, the Geneva talks — the first significant mediation attempt to resolve the conflict in months — include the African Union, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and United Nations as observers.
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ANKARA — The foreign ministers of Somalia and Ethiopia will meet in Ankara next week to discuss disagreements over a port deal Addis Ababa signed with the breakaway region of Somaliland earlier this year, Turkey’s foreign minister Hakan Fidan said.

Turkey is now mediating talks between the east African neighbors, whose ties became strained in January when Ethiopia agreed to lease 20 km (12 miles) of coastline from Somaliland, in exchange for recognition of its independence.

Mogadishu called the agreement illegal and retaliated by expelling the Ethiopian ambassador and threatening to kick out thousands of Ethiopian troops stationed in the country helping battle Islamist insurgents.

Somali and Ethiopian foreign ministers met in Ankara last month along with Fidan to discuss their disagreements, and agreed to hold another round of talks.

At a news conference in Istanbul, Fidan said a second round of talks between Somalia and Ethiopia will take place in Ankara next week.

Fidan’s announcement came a week after he visited Addis Ababa and met Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

“We discussed these issues with Prime Minister Abiy in detail,” Fidan said.

“Tensions between Somalia and Ethiopia would come to an end with Ethiopia’s access to the seas through Somalia as long as Ethiopia’s recognition of Somalia’s territorial integrity and political sovereignty is secured.”

Turkey has become a close ally of the Somali government in recent years. Ankara has built schools, hospitals and infrastructure and provided scholarships for Somalis to study in Turkey.

In 2017, Turkey opened its biggest overseas military base in Mogadishu. Earlier this year, Turkey and Somalia signed a defense and economic cooperation agreement.

Ankara is also set to send navy support to Somali waters after the two countries agreed Ankara will send an exploration vessel off the coast of Somalia to prospect for oil and gas.

 
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nairobi, kenya — Despite progress in policy and legislation intended to end gender inequality in most African countries, the continent is still far from achieving gender equality, according to recent research by the polling organization Gallup.

A Gallup report, Gender Power in Africa, examined gender equality in Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. It found women still face discrimination.

“There are a number of factors at play, including social expectations that are placed on women in these countries, and those remain barriers to participation in education and the labor market,” said Julie Ray, managing editor for world news at Gallup.

Wanjiru Gikonyo, a governance expert in Nairobi, said the inequalities are rooted in social and cultural norms and traditions that can be traced to the colonial era.

“Yes, women and girls still lag behind male counterparts in this regard,” she said. “Our traditional, cultural societal structures were disrupted during the colonial period, which was a period of a very coercive use of force. And that really accentuated the marginalization that has then been imprinted into our post-colonial governments. And this marginalization then shows itself as inequality.”

Wanjiru said most constitutions in Africa have provisions for gender equality, but adherence remains a challenge. 

“When it comes to power, we’re very patrimonial,” she said. “So we are still dealing with a lot of patrimonialism that is very undemocratic and allows a lot of undemocratic practices to continue, and a lot of injustice to go unspoken.”

Gallup’s Ray said the imbalances act as barriers to social and economic development of women, which affects Africa’s overall development.

“Generally, access to education and participation in the labor market still remains limited compared to men,” she said. “And more women participating in the workforce, more jobs, is of course a bonus for economic growth.”

The U.N. Development Program ranks sub-Saharan Africa as the worst-performing region in the Gender Inequality Index – a composite measure reflecting the disparity between women’s and men’s achievements in reproductive health, empowerment and the labor market. 

Ibbo Mandaza, a Zimbabwean author and governance analyst in Harare, said it would take time to change attitudes on the continent and attain gender balance. He urged women’s groups in Africa to keep leading the struggle for gender equality.

“Whatever achievements that have been made in gender equality are attributable to women movements across the continent,” Mandaza said. “That struggle should be intensified, and involve males in that struggle.”

Experts say Africa has made progress toward gender equality, but much work remains to be done to ensure that women have equal economic opportunities and are free from discrimination.
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Harare — Zimbabwean President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa says he is not extending his presidency beyond the current two five-year terms allowed by the country’s constitution. There are some who have expressed skepticism about his stated commitment to the constitution.

Chants by members of the ruling ZANU-PF party echoed in the air as those gathered at party headquarters awaited the arrival of President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa. They said Mnangagwa will still be in power in 2030 — two years after what the constitution allows him. The slogans were repeated as Mnangagwa arrived and addressed the crowd.

“Besides being a soldier, trained lawyer, I am a constitutionalist. I want our party, our leadership, our people to be constitutionalists. We must abide by the provisions of our constitution to the letter,” said Mnangagwa.

In his native language, Shona, Mnangagwa added, “When time comes to go home, I will go! Let’s follow the principles of the party,” gaining more cheers.

After ruling for nearly 40 years, the late Robert Mugabe was removed from power with help from the army and succeeded by Mnangagwa, who became interim president in November 2017. Mnangagwa won a disputed election in 2018.

Kudzai Mutisi, a pro-ZANU-PF political commentator, said he believes Mnangagwa will not be like Mugabe.

“What is important here is that he is addressing some of the people who have been lobbying him to stay beyond 2028. So whatever people have been saying or whatever people have been thinking has nothing really to do with him, it is what they, as lobbyists, they as commenters have been brewing their heads and voicing out, but what we heard is the president’s voice, the president’s position and that’s what we should respect and stick to as we go forward,” he said.

Some Zimbabweans fear Mnangagwa may change the constitution to seek a third term. This concern comes after the Constitutional Court in 2021 overturned the high court, allowing current Chief Justice Luke Malaba to remain on the job until age 75, instead of being forced to retire at age 70.

Brighton Mutebuka, a lawyer opposed to the views of the ruling party, said he still believes Mnangagwa — also known as ED from the initials of his first and middle names — will change the constitution so that he stands for a third term in 2028.

“By coming out publicly to claim otherwise, ED is trying to hoodwink the gullible in his party, the other faction and also SADC. … And mind you, he has previously himself come out publicly and corralled his Cabinet ministers into pledging loyalty to this 2030 slogan, in Chikomba district,” said Mutebuka.

SADC refers to the Southern African Development Community — a 13-nation bloc that looks at how members are abiding by their constitutions.

An SADC observer mission looking into Zimbabwe’s August 2023 elections said the polls failed to meet the bloc’s standards. Mnangagwa’s party criticized the team that compiled the report. Zimbabwe will take over the 12-month rotating chair of the SADC following a meeting next week.
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New York — The head of the United Nations counterterrorism office warned Thursday that there is a risk of the Afghanistan-based Islamic State affiliate IS-Khorasan carrying out attacks abroad.

“ISIL-K has improved its financial and logistical capabilities in the past six months, including by tapping into Afghan and Central Asian diasporas for support,” Vladimir Voronkov said, referring to the terror organization by an acronym. “The group has also intensified its recruitment efforts.”

He told a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the threat of terrorism that the activity of the self-styled Islamic State and other terrorist groups in Afghanistan “remains a significant concern.”

“We must unite to prevent Afghanistan from once again becoming a hotbed of terrorism,” Voronkov said, urging Afghanistan’s neighbors to counter and prevent the threat from IS-K from spreading.

The United Nations secretary-general said in a July 31 report that the threat from IS and its affiliates “remained high, with the group and affiliates continuing to demonstrate resilience and adaptability despite sustained counter-terrorism efforts.”

The report said following IS’s claimed deadly attacks at a memorial service in Iran on January 3 and at a concert hall in Moscow on March 22, Islamic State’s core “has reportedly directed operatives from Afghanistan and neighboring countries to undertake attacks abroad.”

Afghanistan’s de facto-ruling Taliban claim their security forces have eliminated IS-Khorasan bases in the country and degraded the group’s ability to threaten national security and that of the region.

Voronkov also warned that parts of Africa remain a hotbed of Islamic State activity, which is fueling instability, especially in West Africa and the Sahel. He said two IS regional affiliates — Islamic State West Africa Province and Islamic State in the Greater Sahel — have expanded and consolidated their areas of operations.

“Should these groups extend their influence in northern littoral states, a vast territory stretching from Mali to northern Nigeria could fall under their effective control,” Voronkov warned.

He said they also present a threat in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, northern Mozambique and Somalia.

“Elsewhere, the threat posed by ISIL-K resulted in heightened threat levels in Europe,” Voronkov said. “The group is considered the greatest external terrorist threat to the continent.”

Authorities in the Austrian capital, Vienna, announced Wednesday that they had foiled a plot by a 19-year-old, who had sworn loyalty to IS’s leader online, to carry out an attack at a concert this week by U.S. pop superstar Taylor Swift.

Two other Austrian youths, ages 17 and 15, were also detained. Organizers have canceled the three sold-out Vienna concerts out of caution, disappointing nearly 200,000 fans, many of whom traveled from abroad to attend the show.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press.
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WASHINGTON — The United States on Wednesday completed one of the last major troop departures from Niger ahead of the military junta-imposed September 15 deadline. About 1,000 troops were stationed in Niger before the ruling leadership’s order to leave.

A joint statement from the Nigerien Defense Ministry and the U.S. military said personnel and equipment from the base had been withdrawn and coordination would continue over the coming weeks to make sure the pullout is complete.

“The effective cooperation and communication between the U.S. and Nigerien armed forces ensured that this turnover was completed ahead of schedule and without complications.”

In an interview with VOA’s Anthony LaBruto, U.S. Representative Michael McCaul, the Republican chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, details how the United States is reevaluating its military presence in light of the troop departures as well as recent challenges to its broader security initiatives on the continent.

The conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.

VOA: What role does the United States Africa Command, or AFRICOM, play in the continent? In what capacity do AFRICOM’s teams serve in different countries in Africa and how is it helping to stabilize democracy?

U.S. Representative Michael McCaul: I just met with AFRICOM. I had a briefing from them. So, this is a very timely interview. They’re primarily military. That’s why in 2019, I introduced the Global Fragility Act. … And to your point, it forces [AFRICOM] to go beyond just being a military organization. It forces them to coordinate with states and with the United States Agency for International Development together on the African continent, and that’s very helpful if they’re working together rather than independently with their own missions. When I was at AFRICOM, they talked about it a lot, how that bill has really changed the way they operate.

VOA: I noticed that when the head of Africa Command testified before your committee, he mentioned that military presence in Africa should go alongside diplomatic and aid efforts on the continent. Can you elaborate on how these different elements are coordinated and their overall impact on the region?

McCaul: Look, the military is important. But that’s not going to win this alone, right? I mean, when you have economic ties, they strengthen our alliances and that’s where I think the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation can be helpful.

And then of course USAID, you know, we provide our humanitarian assistance. I passed the branding bill, which requires the American flag to be on this, so that they know where the aid is coming from, because prior to that, they didn’t know where it’s coming from. Now, if China brings in the [diplomatic] systems, their flags are everywhere and so now USAID has the American flag. They know where it’s coming from. That really helps in diplomacy.

I would also throw trade in there. If we could get back to having some trade agreements, which we haven’t done, quite frankly, under this administration. Of course, the military we need. They provide the security umbrella to provide the soft power — that being diplomatic and economic assistance.

VOA: What are the U.S. military’s strategies for countering threats in countries like Somalia and Kenya, and how do these efforts support and integrate with aid projects in the region?

McCaul: We have counterterrorism operations — that’s where AFRICOM comes in — but they’re overstretched and overburdened. Their role in coordinating with the State Department and USAID is to provide that security piece. … But when you have Niger kicking us out, there’s nothing we can do. We can’t operate within countries.

You look at Somalia, I mean our presence there is … quite frankly, that embassy is so dangerous you can’t even drive to it, you have to fly in. That’s probably the most dangerous embassy in the world right now. And now, with the events of the Houthi rebels joining forces with al-Shabab, it’s even worse. I really worry about that embassy. … They have a lot of security there, and it’s probably the most secure embassy in the world, but still. I mean, what good is that presence if you can’t really operate out of the country?

VOA: With the military or AFRICOM being challenged so much, is the U.S. rethinking any of its military or aid policies on the continent?

McCaul: They are [being challenged], and it’s a resource issue; it’s a big continent. There’s not much we can do if the country doesn’t want us there. They kicked the French out of Mali, in the Sahel regions, they’re gone.

They have this anti-colonialism attitude that goes back to the French, and I understand that, and they probably look at us [similarly] in some respects. We want them to look at us as a liberator, not an occupier, but they do have a sense of, ‘Oh, the colonials are coming back in,’ certainly with the French, probably less so with the Americans, but we still have that issue.

The AFRICOM General [Michael] Langley warned that the loss of U.S. bases in the Sahel will “degrade our ability to do active watching and warning, including for the homeland defense.” Right now, the terrorist organizations in Africa are more focused on Africa and not external operations, but we always have to be mindful of that, that any of these terror operations can go operational, external operations, if that’s the direction they want to go. Right now, I’m not sure they have that capacity to conduct external operations necessarily over here, but it’s something we have to continue to watch.

This Q&A originated in VOA’s English to Africa Service.
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london — Like thousands of Nigerians and millions of others across the developing world, higher fuel costs have irked Antonia Arosanwo.

“I am angry,” the 46-year-old mother of five said at a bus stop in Lagos, the teeming commercial capital of Africa’s most populous nation.

Her journey from Ojuelegba, a bustling suburb just 13 kilometers north of Lagos’s business district, has more than doubled in price to 700 naira (45 U.S. cents) since the government announced an end to fuel subsidies last year — allowing petrol prices to triple.

Arosanwo’s anger mirrored that of thousands of other Nigerians, whose nationwide protests last week demanding protection from rocketing inflation, spreading hunger and dwindling jobs rattled the government.

Nearly all had one core complaint: fuel prices.

Across Africa — and a string of other emerging market nations — debt-laden governments trying to shed costly fuel subsidies are running headlong into angry populations reeling from years of increasing living costs.

Egypt and Malaysia this year boosted prices to cut subsidy spending, while Bolivia’s President Luis Arce, who fended off an attempted coup in June, called this week for a referendum on fuel subsidies. The government expects gasoline and diesel subsidies to cost Bolivia some $2 billion this year.

Arce, like others, faces dollar shortages and a flagging economy.

“Difficult moments require firm, mature, thoughtful decisions and human beings who do not falter in the face of adversity, and this is precisely a moment of this nature,” Arce said in a speech in the Bolivian city of Sucre.

But the smoke of protests is clouding governments’ hopes of ending fuel subsidies, as the same stagnating economic growth that’s punching a hole in budgets is making life harder for citizens.

Leaders in Angola and Senegal are, like Nigeria, struggling to cut them.

“In a situation of cost-of-living crisis and high inflation, (more expensive fuel) becomes even unbearable,” said Bismarck Rewane, chief executive of the Financial Derivatives Co in Lagos and a government economics adviser.

Removing the subsidy, he said, must be phased in according to two principles — “One, what the government can afford (and) two, what the people can afford?”

Into the fire

Nearly every nation on earth has some form of energy subsidy, costs of which hit a record $7 trillion in 2022 — a whopping 7.1% of GDP — according to the International Monetary Fund.

Experts slam subsidies as blunt-force tools that give more to wealthy car owners than to the poor — and that they are prone to corruption and bad for the environment.

The biggest spenders, according to the International Energy Agency, are Russia, Iran, China and Saudi Arabia — countries that can, broadly, afford the costs.

But for emerging countries, saddled with costly debt and still-high global interest rates, financing these is more punishing.

“It’s acute now, because countries have fiscal problems,” said Chris Celio, senior economist and strategist with ProMeritum Investment Management. “And so then the question is, why do you have fiscal problems? Well, one reason is because you have this hole in your budget going to something that’s inefficient … and you’re having problems financing it.”

Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu announced an end to subsidies after taking office last year. But when pump prices tripled, he froze them. And when the naira currency crashed, subsidies crept back — despite higher pump prices.

Unpopular policies

Now, leaders mulling further price hikes are also nervously eyeing revolts elsewhere over unpopular economic policies. Bangladesh’s prime minister resigned after hundreds died protesting job quota changes, while Kenya’s president fired his cabinet and backtracked on tax hikes after deadly demonstrations in June.

“If there was a reluctance to increase fuel prices prior to the events in Kenya … that reluctance, if anything, is probably even higher,” said Goldman Sachs senior economist Andrew Matheny.

“Politicians around the world are tuned to this cost of living crisis … that probably does limit the willingness of policymakers to undertake reforms that, at least in the short term, might prove to be unpopular.”

That could further strain budgets. Nigeria’s subsidies cost 3% of GDP, Matheny said, and its oil company owes billions for imports. Senegal’s electricity and fuel subsidies hit 3.3% of GDP last year, while Angola’s 1.9 trillion kwanza ($2.1 billion) subsidy bill in 2022 was more than 40% of spending on social programs, according to the IMF.

Angola has pledged to scrap fuel-price supports by the end of next year, though five people died in protests over price hikes last year.

Celio of ProMeritum said a sustainable budget is key to attracting the investor cash these countries need.

In a post on X, Tinubu appealed for patience and promised social support, such as access to affordable education.

“I urge you all to look beyond the present temporary pain and aim at the larger picture,” he said, without commenting on whether he would further hike fuel costs.

But Rewane noted that “shock therapy” of higher fuel costs could have even greater consequences for Nigeria than Kenya’s proposed tax hikes did. Arosanwo, for one, questioned why she should “stop talking,” or protesting, with doubled transportation costs and as she struggles to feed her family.

“The government has a political will,” Rewane said. “But … time is something that is not a friend of everybody right now.”
…

Abuja, Nigeria — Doctors Without Borders, also known by its French acronym MSF, says it recorded an alarming 23,000 cases of severe malnutrition in Nigeria’s Bauchi state between January and June this year — a 120% increase over the same period a year before.

The group on Tuesday also said overall malnutrition in the West African nation increased by 40% nationwide and warned that without immediate intervention, the situation could become catastrophic.

Thierry Boyom, MSF’s medical coordinator, said poverty is a key driver of malnutrition but not the only reason why the numbers are surging.

“From the feedback we got, a lot of them were complaining about the significant increase in the prices of basic food items compared to last year, so they can’t afford three meals per day,” Boyom said. “[Also] the lack of access to health care and water. There are a lot of health facilities but they’re not fully functional because of lack of supply. Also we observe poor infant-feeding practices by the mothers. Vaccination coverage in Bauchi is a bit low, leading to diseases such as measles, a big driver of malnutrition.”

MSF has been responding to the malnutrition crisis in Bauchi since 2022. The group said its treatment centers and personnel are overstretched and they are trying to make room for more sick children.

Nigeria has the second highest burden of growth-stunted children in the world, according to UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund.

UNICEF said malnutrition is the direct or underlying cause of 45% of all deaths in the country under the age of 5.

For years, Nigeria has been embroiled in a protracted war with armed gangs who often kidnap farmers and hold them for ransom.

The resulting loss of food production, along with general insecurity and rising food prices, have hampered the ability of vulnerable people to buy food. The situation is especially bad around July and August each year — the so-called peak of the lean season when food from previous harvests normally runs out.

Abubakar Saleh, Bauchi state nutrition officer, said authorities are working to bring the number of malnourished children down.

“We’re trying to scale up micro-nutrient supplementation for pregnant mothers, that is to start preventing malnutrition from the mother, for them to have healthy pregnancies,” Saleh said. “And also in the area of treatment, we have interventions support by USAID-Ukraine for the management of severe acute malnutrition. And also, we’re doing maternal, newborn and child health week — it’s a campaign and through that campaign we screen children for malnutrition.”

Last month, MSF launched a community-based intervention known as Integrated Community Case Management in eight villages and equipped local women with early testing tools to help them detect malnutrition faster.

Boyom said it is bridging the gap.

“They were trained to be able to identify malnutrition, signs of severity or medical complications. But also, they were trained to manage on the spot the cases of simple malnutrition. On top of that they’re also trained to manage malaria,” Boyom said.

But until insecurity is addressed and there’s more funding to help the vulnerable, many more children will be struggling to survive.
…

China’s Confucius Institutes teach Chinese around the world, but there’s more to them than that. VOA’s Kate Bartlett visited a new one that is hundreds of kilometers outside the capital in rural South Africa that’s also focusing on green technology. Camera: Zaheer Cassim.
…

While the organization of the Nigerian protests remains murky, their demands are based on real economic and governing issues.
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Khartoum, Sudan — Heavy rains have triggered building collapses that have killed 17 people in northern Sudan, as the country reels from almost 16 months of fighting between rival security forces, a medic told AFP on Tuesday.

“The number of victims has risen to 17,” said an employee at a hospital in Abu Hamad, a small town in Sudan’s River Nile state, some 400 kilometers north of Khartoum.

“The power is out in the city and people are spending the night out in the open, dreading more rainfall,” they said, requesting anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

About 11,500 homes have collapsed, the state’s infrastructure minister Samir Saad told reporters Tuesday, and at least 170 people have been injured.

Each year in August, peak flow on the Nile River is accompanied by torrential rains, destroying homes, wrecking infrastructure and claiming lives, both directly and indirectly through water-borne diseases.

The impact is expected to be worse this year after more than 12 months of fighting that has pushed millions of displaced people into flood zones.

“Heavy rains caused most of the houses to collapse and all the shops in the market collapsed,” a witness in Abu Hamad told AFP by telephone.

Last week, a flash flood caused the deaths of five people in Port Sudan, on the Red Sea coast.

Since July 7, torrential rains and flooding have killed more than 30 people across the country, Sudan’s federal emergency operations center said Tuesday.

According to the United Nations, rain and flooding have displaced more than 21,000 people since June, mostly in areas already reeling from heavy fighting.

Aid groups have repeatedly warned that humanitarian access, already hampered by the war, is now being made near-impossible in remote areas as roads flood.

Sudan faces what the United Nations has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis in recent memory, as fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces shows no sign of abating.

More than 10 million people have been forced from their homes, while the main battlegrounds teeter on the brink of all-out famine.

The war has pushed the nearly half a million residents of the Zamzam camp outside the besieged Darfur city of El Fasher into famine, a UN-backed assessment said last week.
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Abuja, Nigeria — While nationwide protests appeared to have ebbed Tuesday, the Nigerian government said it will not tolerate calls for coups after some protesters in northwest Kano and Kaduna states waved Russian flags while marching in the streets Monday.

Nigeria’s defense chiefs told journalists that hoisting the Russian flags amounts to treason.

“We will not relent in pursuing those that have continued to encourage unconstitutional takeover of government or subversion or those ones that are into vandalism or destruction of lives and property,” Nigerian Defense Chief General Christopher Musa said.

Thousands in Nigeria took to the streets in Lagos, Abuja and elsewhere last week to denounce President Bola Tinubu’s economic policies and government. Security officers cracked down hard on protesters, using tear gas and live ammunition. Amnesty International says at least 13 protesters were killed nationwide.

On Monday, hundreds of protesters marched in northern Kaduna and Kano states, waving Russian flags and calling for Russian President Vladimir Putin to come to their aid. Nigeria’s national police said nearly 900 protesters were arrested, including 30 who were carrying Russian flags.

Security analyst Kabiru Adamu criticized the military’s interpretation of the protesters’ intentions.

“There [are] instances where Nigerians do wave the flags of other countries,” he said. “So, one is a bit surprised with this interpretation. We’re in a democratic setting, and the role of security and defense organizations does not go beyond law enforcement or the implementation of security policies. They do not have in any way the role of interpreting or making judicial pronouncements.”

The Russian Embassy in Abuja on Monday distanced itself from protesters using the Russian flag and pledged Moscow’s support for Nigeria’s democracy. But Russia has been expanding its influence in Africa and forming security alliances, especially in the coup-ridden Sahel states.

Adamu, managing director of Beacon Security and Intelligence, said the acts of the protesters might be inspired by a growing resentment for Western influence in the region.

“The policies that are being implemented by the Bola Tinubu government have the backing of Western countries, especially the institutions of [the International Monetary Fund] and World Bank,” he said.

“So, when people in an organic manner endear themselves to Russia, it is perhaps an indication that they’re not happy with the policies that were supported by those countries and Russia perhaps may be a better partner or ally.”

Western nations, including the United States, have said Russia’s influence in Africa could set back democratic norms.

But political affairs analyst Ahmed Buhari said good governance from local authorities is all that is needed.

“These people are not oblivious of the fact that there’s a current wave across the Sahel,” he said. “They listen to the news. They can clearly see that Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso [have] presented very young leaders who are coming up with very strong policies that seemingly look like they’re going to benefit the people.

“And what I expect from the government of the day is to prove to the people that they’re better friends to the people than any foreign ally at a time like this,” he said.
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United Nations — A senior U.N. humanitarian official said Tuesday that the confirmation of famine in parts of Sudan’s Darfur region must serve as a wakeup call for the international community.

“There must now be a coordinated diplomatic effort to address the widespread operational challenges and impediments that aid agencies are facing, as we try to reach the millions of Sudanese people in abject need,” said Stephen Omollo, World Food Program’s assistant executive director.

WFP and other humanitarian agencies and organizations have been warning since March that famine was imminent. On Friday, their worst fears were realized when international food monitors confirmed that more than a year of war has pushed parts of North Darfur into famine and 14 other areas are “at risk of famine” in the coming months.

Fighting between rival generals leading the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces for the last 15 months has propelled the country into the current humanitarian crisis, in which 26 million people are in crisis levels of hunger across Sudan.

Omollo, who briefed an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council convened to discuss the confirmation of famine, said more than 750,000 people are currently in catastrophic levels of hunger, and an estimated 730,000 children are projected to suffer the most life-threatening form of malnutrition.

“A cease-fire remains the only sustainable solution that will prevent the further spread of famine,” he said in a video link from WFP headquarters in Rome.

Edem Wosornu, the director of operations and advocacy for the U.N. Department of Humanitarian Affairs, told the council that the announcement of famine should “stop all of us cold.”

“Because when famine happens, it means we are too late,” she said. “It means we did not do enough. It means that we, the international community, have failed.”

She said the United Nations and its partners are exploring every avenue to scale up aid to the most affected communities, including the use of airdrops, which are a method of last resort for humanitarians because of their high cost and inefficiency.

“But we cannot go very far without the access and resources we need,” she said. “Aid workers in Sudan continue to be harassed, attacked and even killed. Convoys of life-saving supplies such as food and medicine, as well as fuel, have been subjected to looting and extortion. And this, of course, must stop.”

Humanitarians say they face constant obstacles from both warring parties, including insecurity, restrictions on cross-border and frontline access, visa delays, delayed permissions, looting and other difficulties in reaching vulnerable communities.

Access needed

The United Nations has repeatedly called for the opening of the Adre border crossing between Chad and West Darfur, so they can reach the most desperate people in North Darfur. The government of Sudan has been reluctant to open the crossing, accusing its rival the RSF of using Adre to smuggle in arms, fuel and logistical support under cover of humanitarian aid.

Sudanese ambassador Al-Harith Mohamed said his government is not blocking aid and suggested that humanitarians should use another crossing, at Tine, on the northwest border of Sudan with Chad.

“It has been authorized to serve as a hub for the collection of aid to be distributed to the rest of region,” he said. He noted that if Adre needed to be open on an emergency basis, it should first be approved by the government.

Mohamed also disputed that there is famine in Darfur, saying the declaration was made as a political “punishment” because they will not open the Adre crossing.

He said a local humanitarian commission recently visited the displacement camp in North Darfur where the experts say famine has taken hold and found the “situation is stable” and that there have been no deaths or starvation among the camp population.

U.N. and international aid groups, medical workers and civil society organizations have been reporting and raising the alarm for months on hunger-related deaths, particularly of babies and small children.

On August 14, the United States is convening proximity talks in Geneva, Switzerland, and has invited both the leaders of the RSF and SAF to attend in order to discuss a potential cease-fire.
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Lagos — Nigerian police said on Tuesday they had arrested more than 90 demonstrators carrying Russian flags at protests triggered by economic hardship.

Thousands of people joined protests against government policies and the high cost of living last week as Africa’s most populous country suffers its worst economic crisis in a generation.

The rallies have petered out in most parts of the country following clashes with security forces, but hundreds of protesters took to the streets in northern states on Monday including Kaduna, Katsina and Kano, as well as central Plateau state.

AFP journalists and witnesses saw some demonstrators holding Russian flags, a development the Russian embassy distanced itself from. 

Northern Nigeria shares strong cultural, religious and socioeconomic ties with neighbors in the Sahel region, which has seen a string of coups and military leaders turning away from Western allies towards Russia.

Russian flags have featured at rallies in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, and their appearance in Nigeria triggered strong reactions from officials.

Asked about the protesters in Nigeria, police spokesman Olumuyiwa Adejobi said “we have more than 90 of them arrested with the Russian flags.”

Later on Tuesday, security chiefs from the armed forces and police among others gave a rare joint briefing and alleged unnamed “sponsors” were seeking to undermine the government, without providing evidence. 

“The sponsors of these protests, some of them, have a clear motive to subvert the government of the day, we are not going to allow that, we will defend our democracy,” said police chief Kayode Egbetokun.

He alleged that some sponsors were “outside the country” and said “we have to arrest those carrying flags to be able to get to the sponsors.”

On Monday, defense chief General Christopher Musa said those pushing individuals to carry Russian flags in Nigeria were “crossing the red line and we will not accept that.”

Damilare Adenola, leader of the Take It Back group organizing protests in Abuja, dismissed the allegations as “mere distraction.”

He said the authorities were using the claims as a “reason to clamp down on protesters.”

The Russian embassy in Nigeria denied involvement in a statement on its website on Monday.

“The Government of the Russian Federation as well as any Russian officials are not involved in these activities and do not coordinate them in any way,” it said.

Rights group Amnesty International has accused security forces of killing at least 13 demonstrators in the first day of protests on Thursday, while police say seven people have died and denied responsibility.

In a televised address on Sunday, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu called for the suspension of demonstrations — but protest organizers have vowed to press ahead despite lower turnout.
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ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — A landslide triggered by heavy rains in southern Ethiopia’s Wolaita area killed at least 13 people and the number of fatalities is expected to rise, a local official said Monday.

Samuel Fola, zone chief administrator of Wolaita, said more than 300 people have been evacuated from the area in Kindo Didaye district and that the number of those unaccounted for remains unknown.

“Children are among the dead,” said Fola. “We have now evacuated more than 300 people as a precaution and in anticipation of yet another likely major landslide.”

A frantic rescue effort was underway in the Wolaita area, according to the regional government.

Monday’s landslide appeared to be less deadly than one that occurred last month in another area in southern Ethiopia where more than 200 people were killed.

Landslides are common during Ethiopia’s rainy season, which started in July and is expected to last until mid-September.

With little infrastructure, the mountainous areas of Wolaita have been prone to such accidents.

In 2016, more than 41 people died and hundreds were displaced in the same area after heavy rains triggered a deadly mudslide.

Last month, in neighboring Gamo Gofa, a major mudslide claimed the lives of more than 229 people. The United Nations Office for Human Rights (OCHA) said the toll could be as high as 500.

Deadly mudslides often occur in the wider East African region, from Uganda’s mountainous east to central Kenya’s highlands. In April, at least 45 people were killed in Kenya’s Rift Valley region when flash floods and a landslide swept through houses and cut off a major road.
…

WASHINGTON — The U.S. abandonment this week of its $110 million drone base in Niger, once seen as a key hub for counterterrorism efforts, adds to a growing list of Western withdrawals, all steadily ceding ground to terror groups affiliated with Islamic State and al-Qaida.

Officials with U.S. Africa Command announced the final departure of troops from Air Base 201 in Agadez on Monday, completing a process that began last year when a military junta overthrew Niger’s democratically elected president and demanded U.S. forces leave.

The U.S. withdrawal follows the pullout of French forces from Niger late last year and from neighboring Mali in 2022. A five-country alliance to fight terror groups across the Sahel, likewise, collapsed in recent years.

And intelligence gathered by United Nations member states suggests the terror groups those Western forces were hoping to curtail have made the most of their growing absence.

The al-Qaida-linked Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin, also known as JNIM, has become “the most significant threat in the Sahel,” according to a U.N. Sanctions Monitoring Team report released last week.

JNIM commands 5,000 to 6,000 fighters, the report said, and “continues to expand, mostly in Burkina Faso, but also significantly in Mali and the Niger.”

And while the intelligence suggests JNIM has not given up on striking Western interests in the Sahel, the group’s ability to expand and consolidate territorial gains could put it in position “to establish an emirate from central Mali to northern Benin,” the report warned.

The Islamic State terror group’s affiliates in the region have also made gains.

The U.N. report warns that IS’s West African Province, also known as ISWAP, “has grown in both importance and capability,” working with IS core leadership to establish terror cells and networks in Nigeria and beyond.

Estimates from U.N. member states put the number of ISWAP fighters at between 4,000 and 7,000. But much of their focus has been on supporting Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, or ISGS, with 2,000 to 3,000 fighters seeking to expand beyond their entrenched positions in Mali and the border regions of Burkina Faso and Niger.

Making matters more precarious, the U.N. report warned that a tenuous détente (an unofficial agreement) between the al-Qaida-affiliated JNIM and ISGS appears to be holding, “with the continued trend of the groups taking and holding larger areas of contiguous territory in the Sahel.”

Some analysts who study the region caution that the trendlines are unlikely to change.

“What we’re witnessing right now is the direct consequence of all the coups in the region and the fact that all these troops have been driven out — the French, Belgians, MINUSMA [United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali], African Union, the Americans,” said Pieter Van Ostaeyen, a Belgian Arabist who studies Islamic extremism.

“It’s like a carousel won’t stop,” he told VOA. “It’s like a downward spiral.”

Van Ostaeyen said that is reflected in the number of attacks claimed or attributed to JNIM and the IS affiliates.

According to his data, the groups averaged 125 attacks per month over the first five months of this year, compared to just over 50 attacks per month during the same period a year ago.

And Van Ostaeyen sees no indications that any of the region’s militaries have what it takes to stop the spread of violence.

“Right now, it’s like the Islamic State and JNIM are partly dividing Mali and Burkina Faso. Niger will fall completely to the jihadis, as well,” he said.

Liam Karr, the Africa team lead with the Washington-based Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute, also sees little reason for hope.

“In many cases, due to the illicit networks that a lot of these terror groups sit on, they might be more wealthy than a lot of the actual countries that they’re operating against,” Karr told VOA.

There are also massive concerns about the role Russian official forces and paramilitary forces, like the Wagner Group or the recently formed Africa Corps, are playing in countries like Mali and Niger as Moscow seeks to gain influence.

“We see that Wagner has been very, very progressive at trying to establish control in African countries,” said U.S. Africa Command’s General Michael Langley, briefing reporters this past June.

“This does not enhance security or stability,” he said.

Additionally, there are also concerns about the capacities of the Russian forces in Africa. Western officials have long warned the main goal of groups like Wagner has been to help Russia secure access to natural resources.

And some recent events, like an attack by separatists in northern Mali that is said to have killed more than 80 Wagner mercenaries, have cast further doubts on Russian competence. 

 Analysts like Karr also argue that even if Russia wanted to help push back against terror groups, the numbers are lacking. 

“The Russian footprint there is much smaller,” Karr said. “Especially in somewhere like Niger, from a quantity standpoint, you have roughly 100, maybe, to 200 Russian forces taking the place of what was 1,500 French troops and over 1,000 U.S. service members.”

 
…

Johannesburg, South Africa — Billboards and videos popping up in several African cities show 20th-century independence leaders and anti-colonial quotes as part of a drive to promote the Kremlin-backed outlet RT.

What they don’t advertise is that the Russian outlet being promoted has been largely blocked in the West for being part of Putin’s propaganda network and for pushing disinformation, including about the war in Ukraine.

The ad campaign seeks to tap into Africa’s colonial past — another tactic that disinformation experts say Russia regularly uses to try to sow division.

“Your Values. Shared,” promise billboards highlighting Julius Nyerere, Tanzania’s first president; Ugandan independence leader Milton Obote; and former Ghanaian leader Kwame Nkrumah. Another features Robert Mugabe, who was much-admired for leading Zimbabwe to independence but was later widely seen by his citizens as a tyrant.

In addition, travelers passing through Addis Ababa Bole International Airport, one of the continent’s major transport hubs, will be met with large-screen digital video promos for RT.

In a press release, the television network said the campaign “emphasizes RT’s commitment to [the] dismantling of neo-colonialist narratives in news media.”

“Pervasive western mainstream media dominance is something that RT has had to battle for nearly two decades,” RT deputy editor-in-chief Anna Belkina said in a recent op-ed on the rationale behind the campaign.

“They all come from the same handful of countries. And yet they have the gall to tell the entire world what to think and how to feel about the rest of the world, even about the ‘audience’ countries themselves,” she wrote.

RT was “a voice of dissent in the media landscape,” she declared.

But that is not the full story. Media watchdogs and disinformation analysts have long pointed to how Russia and China seek to gain a foothold in Africa, using free content and funding with local media as a sweetener.

And Russia is the leading source of disinformation on the continent, the Africa Center for Strategic Studies said. Its March 2024 report found a nearly fourfold increase in disinformation campaigns targeting African countries, with an aim of “triggering destabilizing and antidemocratic consequences.”

“Russia received quite a setback at the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, because within a few weeks, Europe had imposed sanctions on Russia and the feed of RT that comes into the South African and African markets on DStv [Digital Satellite TV] … was cut,” said Steven Gruzd, a Russia expert at the South African Institute of International Affairs in Pretoria, adding that the media campaign “is a little bit of a reaction to the frustration it’s had.”

The network that once ran across Europe, Canada, Australia and the United States has largely lost its impact following Russia’s full invasion of Ukraine.

Belkina said in addition to the ad blitz, RT is also starting a new TV show based out of Kenya, anchored by well-known Kenyan lawyer P.L.O. Lumumba.

Pivot to Africa

RT was formed in 2005, funded by the Russian government. Originally called Russia Today, it has different language channels, including English, Arabic, Spanish and French.

It has often been described as a propaganda outlet and has been found by media regulators like Britain’s Ofcom to lack impartiality and broadcast “misleading” material. In 2017, it was forced to register as a foreign agent in the United States.

RT gets hundreds of millions of dollars in funding. In its early years, it managed to attract big names to host its shows, including Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and late American TV host Larry King.

But the broadcaster was badly hit by sanctions in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and was taken off the air in many parts of the world, including Europe and North America.

Silicon Valley giants also reacted. Meta blocked RT Facebook and Instagram pages in the European Union. Microsoft removed RT from its platforms, and Apple removed it from its App Store in all countries but Russia. YouTube blocked RT in March 2022, though its content can reportedly be found on the channel through proxies.

Though many African countries were loath to take a stance on the Ukraine war, with most abstaining from U.N. votes on the issue, RT wasn’t immune from problems in Africa. South African satellite broadcaster MultiChoice cut RT from its pan-African DSTV service, saying EU sanctions had forced them to do so.

South Africans were still able to watch RT on Chinese channel StarSat until it was pulled from that station in 2023.

And it’s unclear what became of plans announced in 2022 to open an English-language hub in Johannesburg. Asked via email by VOA, Beklina said it was operating. The journalist chosen to run the hub, Paula Slier, has since left RT. When VOA reached out via messaging app she said as far as she was aware, there was no brick-and-mortar office in the city now. But she did not comment further.

RT has made inroads elsewhere on the continent, establishing a bureau in Algeria last year. Also last year, Afrique Media in Cameroon signed a partnership with the Russian network.

“Since March 2022, RT headquarters in Moscow has had its eyes fixed on Africa, where it is planning a long-term presence,” Reporters Without Borders said in a statement last year. The organization says RT is “available in the Maghreb, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Cameroon.”

According to RT’s website, the channel can also be viewed in Kenya, Tanzania and other African countries through China’s StarTimes service. It can be seen on satellite or the internet in Zimbabwe, Ethiopia and elsewhere.

Asked by VOA how many African countries does RT broadcast in, Beklina replied “many.”

Anti-colonial narrative

RT is using the narrative that Russia was never a colonial power to try and gain traction in Africa, experts say. Many African ruling parties have strong historical links to Moscow because the former Soviet Union supported their liberation struggles against colonial or white-minority rule.

“I think the collective antipathy towards colonialism, which is deeply ingrained in African populations, is a string that Russia is pulling,” said Gruzd.

Asked by VOA whether he thinks the campaign will resonate with Africans, he said it was hard to know what proportion, but judging by pro-Russia and anti-Western sentiment on African Twitter/X, there were certainly some people on the continent with whom it would resonate.

“I think there would be some sympathy for this line and some support for it,” Gruzd said. “On the other hand, I think there are a lot of people who see through this and can see the agenda behind what is being promoted.”

He noted that Russia has been making inroads in Africa for some time, particularly though the Wagner mercenary group, which has gotten involved with governments in Mali, the Central African Republic and other countries.

But he said Russia has also been active in the media sector.

“In Francophone Africa, they put forward a very anti-West, very anti-French line. Also very, very involved in social media campaigns and disinformation, exacerbating local grievances,” Gruzd noted.

Anton Harber, a former journalism professor at Johannesburg’s University of the Witwatersrand, said he thought RT’s ad campaign was “too dated” to hold much sway with young Africans — using African leaders from generations ago, some of whom are now viewed skeptically.

“There is a huge irony in RT promoting itself as a voice of anti-colonialism at a time when Russia is increasing its influence on the continent in ways that could be described as neo-colonial. One thing we know about RT is that it is not an African voice, but Putin’s outlet, there to serve him and his country,” Harber said. “So, it is dressing up its ambitions for influence in, with a paternalistic anti-colonial rhetoric.”
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