United Nations — Filippo Grandi, the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, on Wednesday urged an end to the war in Sudan, where hunger and violence have driven millions from their homes.

“They are fleeing horrible violence, very severe violations of human rights,” Grandi told VOA in an interview from Juba, South Sudan, after field visits to Renk in South Sudan and across the border in Kosti, a city in Sudan’s White Nile state.

Thursday is World Refugee Day, and Grandi hopes to put this neglected crisis in the global spotlight.

The United Nations has warned that 5 million Sudanese are on the brink of famine. Millions more are severely food insecure. Harvests have been lost, markets looted and burned, and humanitarians obstructed from delivering adequate aid.

“But increasingly they are also fleeing deprivation — and in particular food insecurity, and in some cases, hunger,” Grandi said. “So you have a multiplication of factors that are all generated clearly by this insane war that doesn’t seem to end.”

The United Nations says the 14-month-long war between rival generals has internally displaced more than 6 million people on top of the nearly 4 million who were displaced before the current conflict. Another 2 million have fled to neighboring countries, including Chad, South Sudan and Ethiopia.

“Let’s not forget that these people are coming, like here in South Sudan, to countries that are already very fragile — they have huge challenges of their own in terms of security, political fragility, governance, economic problems and so forth,” Grandi said, praising them for keeping their borders open and offering shelter.

A U.N. panel of experts said earlier this year that external actors are fueling Sudan’s conflict by providing the warring generals with weapons and ammunition.

“My appeal is really to everybody who has any influence on the parties in this conflict: Push them not towards the battlefield, but to the negotiating table,” Grandi said. “This is what is most needed: a cease-fire first and then the possibility that there is a political solution. Without that, I am afraid we will see more refugees and more suffering.”

The head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has been locked in an armed power struggle with the head of the Sudanese Armed Forces for the past 14 months. The fighting has spread from Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, to other parts of the country, leaving death, destruction and a humanitarian catastrophe in its wake.
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Abuja, Nigeria — The Nigerian air force said Tuesday it will acquire 50 new aircraft to strengthen its capabilities against armed gangs and terrorists in northwest Nigeria.

Nigerian Chief of Air Staff Marshal Hassan Bala Abubakar made the announcement at the opening of new military facilities, including two aircraft hangars in northwest Katsina state.

Abubakar said the aircraft would include 12 AH-1 attack helicopters, 24 M-346 combat planes, 12 AW109 multipurpose helicopters and a pair of Casa 295 transport aircraft. He did not disclose the cost, nor did he say who would provide the aircraft.

He said Nigeria is expected to receive them by next year.

The aircraft will be used to bolster offensives against jihadist groups and armed gangs that have terrorized northwest and central states in recent years, Abubakar said.

But security analyst Mike Ejiofor says acquiring 50 aircraft is overambitious and possibly misdirected.

“I know it will bolster the fight against terrorism, but I believe that we should concentrate more on land than air. We’re not at war,” Ejiofor said.

The money, he said, should “have been channeled to training and provision of welfare for the ground troops. I think we would’ve achieved more results.”

Abubakar’s announcement came as Kaduna state authorities announced Tuesday a partnership with the military to set up three new operational fronts within the state.

Kaduna state Governor Uba Sani said, “We concluded with the military to set up forward-operating bases in southern Kaduna, and another one in the Giwa and Birnin-Gwari axis. All the arrangements are being concluded.”

The Nigerian air force came under heavy criticism in December after more than 80 people were killed and dozens wounded during an airstrike in Kaduna state that was intended to target gangs.

Nigerian authorities have promised to operate with more precision to avoid future accidents.

Nigerian Chief of Defense Staff General Christopher Musa told journalists in Abuja, “The armed forces of Nigeria are highly professional. We’re here to protect innocent citizens, not to harm them. Whatever it was that happened there was a mistake, but we’re addressing such issues.”

Ejiofor said authorities should focus more on boosting the ability of the air force to gather and process accurate information about the activities of armed groups.

“These strikes are intelligence-driven, so we must get the intelligence before they’re guided to the areas,” he said. “I think what we should’ve done is to deploy more drones that will be sending this data.”
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N’DJAMENA, Chad — Nine people were killed and more than 40 injured when a fire set off explosions at a military ammunition depot in Chad’s capital, an official said Wednesday.

Government spokesperson Abderaman Koulamallah said 46 people were being treated for various injuries after the explosions jolted residents from their sleep late Tuesday in the Goudji district of N’Djamena. The situation has been brought under control, Koulamallah said.

The explosions lit up the sky as thick smoke covered the clouds in the West African nation, setting off frantic efforts to extinguish the fire as residents fled their homes for safety.

The cause of the fire was not immediately clear, and President Mahamat Deby Itno said an investigation would be conducted.

“Peace to the souls of the victims, sincere condolences to the bereaved families and quick recovery to the injured,” Deby said on Facebook. He later visited the accident scene and hospitals where the injured were treated.

People living in the area panicked, thinking the explosion was an armed attack, resident Oumar Mahamat said.

Local media reported the blasts started just before midnight as nearby buildings shook and ammunition was thrown from the depot with explosive force.

Authorities called on residents to stay out of the area, which was taken over by security forces gathering the scattered artillery shells.

Allamine Moussa, a resident, called on the government to “come to our aid urgently” after he and other residents fled their homes.

“Many families have recorded deaths, and it’s sad,” Moussa said.

Chad, a country of nearly 18 million people, has been reeling from political turmoil before and after a controversial presidential election that resulted in Deby Itno’s victory.

He had led the country as interim president during the period of military rule that followed the death of his father in 2021.

Cameron Hudson, an Africa expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the explosions might not be entirely coincidental and “feels more like a message” to the government, which has been embroiled in internal political tensions and as well as regional tensions over the war in neighboring Sudan.

Recent claims about Chad’s alleged involvement in the war in Sudan create an untenable position at home for Deby Itno, said Hudson, a former U.S. official. “A house divided cannot stand.”
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Aid groups say crises in Sudan, Somalia, the Sahel, and other places are receiving a lot less funding that they need to handle the challenges they face. Earlier this month, the head of the Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC) said “the utter neglect of displaced people has become the new normal.” Henry Wilkins reports on what refugees and non-profit groups think about current funding levels.
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GENEVA — Independent investigators have accused Sudan’s warring parties of driving the country into a humanitarian abyss by blatantly disregarding fundamental human rights and international humanitarian law. 

The three-member International Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan presented its first oral update Tuesday and Wednesday at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.  

The investigators told the council that the lack of concern for the suffering of millions of Sudanese civilians by the warring parties has led to killings, looting, mass displacement, rape and other forms of sexual violence, “and resulted in a grave humanitarian crisis.” 

They accused the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of preventing humanitarian aid from reaching millions of people who are at risk of famine. 

Citing the World Food Program, they warned that around 18 million people deprived of sufficient food will face acute hunger, with 5 million on the brink of starvation. 

The U.N. reports that rampant violations and abuses, along with the deprivation of essential lifesaving aid, have led to the mass displacement of nearly 9 million people inside Sudan, as well as to more than 1.8 million people fleeing to neighboring countries. 

Since the conflict began in April 2023, other armed groups have sprung up to support the two main military forces. Fact-finding mission chair Mohamed Chande Othman said the deadly conflict “now involves multiple actors within and outside Sudan and has spread from Khartoum and Darfur to most of the country.” 

“We are deeply concerned that the fighting persists with tragic consequences and enormous suffering of the civilian population,” he said.  

“We have received credible accounts of indiscriminate attacks against civilians and civilian objects, including through airstrikes and shelling in heavily populated residential areas, as well as ground attacks against civilians in their homes and villages,” he said. He added that in the capital, Khartoum, and in nearby towns, killings, looting and sexual violence have “forced many to leave their homes and property to seek refuge in other locations.” 

The investigators expressed particular concern about the situation in the Darfur region, especially the siege of the capital, El Fasher — the last stronghold of the SAF, where 1.5 million inhabitants and some 800,000 internally displaced people are in great danger. 

“Already, heavy fighting between the warring parties in different parts of the city has led to significant civilian casualties, damaged homes and caused mass displacement,” Othman said. “The attack on one of the main and last functioning hospitals in the city on June 8 led to its closure, leaving the civilian population without access to lifesaving medical care.” 

The fact-finding mission said it is investigating earlier large-scale attacks against civilians based on their ethnicity in other areas of Darfur. These, said Othman, “have included killings, rape and other forms of sexual violence, torture, forced displacement and looting.” 

The investigators said they also have received credible reports of rampant sexual violence, including rape and gang rape, and that they are investigating reports “of sexual slavery and sexualized torture in detention facilities, including against men and boys.” 

Othman said the mission has received worrying reports about the “widespread recruitment and use of children at checkpoints to gather intelligence, as well as to participate in direct combat and commit violent crimes,” thereby putting the lives and future of many children at risk. 

A June 3 report from U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on children and armed conflict ranks Sudan among the countries with the highest number of “grave violations against children” in the world.  

The fact-finding mission to Sudan is calling for an immediate cease-fire, without which, it said, “it is hard to see the human rights and humanitarian situation in Sudan improving.” 

Following the presentation of the report, Yassir Bashir Elbukhari Suliman, the chief prosecutor of Sudan, spoke as the representative of the concerned country. He accused the RSF of multiple crimes and atrocities against unarmed civilians, without assigning any blame to the SAF for the commission of similar acts. 

Commanders of the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces have previously denied committing war crimes as they battle for control of the country. 

Commenting on the situation in Sudan last month, Guterres accused both warring factions of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.
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N’Djamena — A fire that tore through a huge military ammunition depot in Chad’s capital N’Djamena killed at least nine people and wounded dozens more, officials said Wednesday, warning the toll could rise.

The blaze, which started late on Tuesday, sent powerful blasts into the night sky and the exploding ordnance shook buildings miles away.

Chad’s Health Minister Abdelmadjid Abderahim told journalists that the toll was in danger of rising as many of the 46 wounded were in an “extremely serious” condition.

A visit to the scene Wednesday revealed unexploded shells and other munitions scattered on the ground and the burnt-out wreckage of what looked like military vehicles.

Government spokesman Abderaman Koulamallah said the cause was not “criminal” but an investigation was under way.

According to initial indications, several people died in the ammunition storeroom, he said.

“There are fewer deaths and less damage than we foresaw. We were expecting dozens and dozens of deaths,” Koulamallah, who is also foreign minister, told AFP by telephone. “There aren’t many civilians who lost their lives.”

The sky burst into flames above the Goudji area — where the army’s largest depot of ammunition is located — for several hours before tapering off and finally ceasing after midnight.

The explosions shook buildings as far as seven kilometers (four miles) away and the flames were visible from far off.

“The roof of our house was blown off by one of the explosions,” said resident Kadidja Dakou, who lives in the Amsinene area near Goudji.

The 36-year-old and her three children took refuge in the street alongside their neighbors, for fear their houses would collapse, she told AFP by phone.

“The soldiers had time to evacuate the vehicles, heavy weapons etc. and were able themselves to take shelter,” Koulamallah said.

Burned

Regional Planning Minister Mahamat Assileck Halata told reporters at the scene that the fire was “contained” and the situation was under control.

Nearby, gutted buildings could be seen and at least one huge crater was visible in the grounds of the military camp.

“I call on people to remain calm and serene and to avoid handling any object that may have landed,” Assileck said, adding deminers were at work.

President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno during the night offered his condolences to victims’ families.

The grieving family of a six-year-old girl sat in front of ruined houses in Amsinene after a shell fell in the room of the child, killing her, the family told AFP.

“She burned to death, we couldn’t get her out” of the house, her cousin, who did not want to be named, said.

Iron fist

Authorities had cordoned off the area with a heavy security presence, where thick red smoke hung in the air long after the blasts stopped.

There are multiple homes in the neighborhood that is the site of the depot, which lies near the international airport and a base where French troops are stationed.

The blaze “caused explosions of ammunition of all calibers”, an official with the French forces told AFP on condition of anonymity.

“For the moment, no French military personnel have been wounded,” he said.

Chad’s president officially won 61 percent of a May 6 vote that international NGOs said was neither credible nor free and which his main rival called a “masquerade.”

Deby was proclaimed transitional president in April 2021 by a junta of 15 generals after his father, president Idriss Deby Itno who had ruled with an iron fist for 30 years was shot dead by rebels.

Chad, one of the world’s poorest nations, is considered vital in the fight to stop the march of jihadists through the Sahel region.
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PRETORIA — South Africa put on a display of pomp and ceremony on Wednesday for Cyril Ramaphosa’s inauguration as president for a second term that will see his African National Congress share power with other parties after it lost its majority in parliament.  

African heads of state and dignitaries gathered outside the Union Buildings in Pretoria, seat of the South African government, to watch Ramaphosa’s motorcade arrive with a guard of honor on horseback.  

Ramaphosa will head what he calls a government of national unity with five other parties, including the ANC’s largest rival and virulent critic, the pro-business Democratic Alliance.

While investors have welcomed the inclusion of the DA, which wants to boost growth through structural reforms and prudent fiscal policies, analysts say sharp ideological divisions between the parties could make the government unstable.  

Just before the election, Ramaphosa signed into law a National Health Insurance bill that the DA says could collapse a creaking health system. It was unclear what would happen to that law under the new government.  

The DA advocates scrapping the ANC’s flagship Black economic empowerment program, saying it hasn’t worked — a highly contentious topic in a nation grappling with huge inequalities, some inherited from apartheid.  

Ramaphosa has yet to announce the make-up of his new government, which he will have to negotiate with members of the new alliance.  

“The president does not want the country to go through a prolonged period of uncertainty,” his spokesman Vincent Magwenya told state broadcaster SABC.

“This time around, there is a small layer of complexity in that he has to consult with the various parties that form part of the government of national unity. Those consultations have been underway. They will continue, even tonight,” he said. 

A former liberation movement, the ANC came to power under Nelson Mandela’s leadership in the 1994 elections that marked the end of apartheid. Once unbeatable, it has lost its shine after presiding over years of decline.  

It remains the largest party after the May 29 election, with 159 seats out of 400 in the National Assembly, but lost millions of votes compared with the previous election in 2019. The DA’s vote share remained stable and it has 87 seats.  

Voters punished the ANC for high levels of poverty, inequality and unemployment, rampant crime, rolling power cuts and corruption in party ranks. 
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Dakar, Senegal — Senegalese customs said Tuesday it had intercepted three shipments of cocaine with a total estimated value of more than $50 million in the past five days.

The authorities have made an increasing number of cocaine seizures in recent months from neighboring countries — notably Guinea, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau and Mali — which are reputed to be transit zones for drugs produced in Latin America on their way to Europe.

In a statement on Tuesday, the police said they had intercepted a refrigerated truck near the border with Mali.

“The search of the lorry revealed 264 packets of cocaine weighing a total of 306.24 kilograms, carefully concealed in a hiding place inside the ventilation compartment of the fridge,” it said.

The value of the seizure is estimated at $40 million.

The day before, customs officers in the south of the country carried out an operation on a vehicle from “a neighboring country” driven “by an individual from a Sahel country,” according to another statement published on Friday.

Customs officers discovered 95 packets of cocaine worth $14.2 million.

Another seizure on Saturday at Blaise Diagne International Airport, near Dakar, led to the discovery of 18 kilograms of cocaine worth around $2.3 million.

The drugs were in a suitcase that was part of a consignment of unaccompanied luggage “coming from a country bordering Senegal and bound for a European Union country.”

Several seizures of cocaine have been announced by customs in recent months, including a 1-ton haul in mid-April in the east of the country, near the border with Mali, and several others earlier this month.

In November, the army announced the seizure of nearly 3 tons of cocaine from a vessel seized in international waters off the coast of Senegal.
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United Nations — The representatives of Sudan and the United Arab Emirates clashed Tuesday at the U.N. Security Council over Khartoum’s accusations that Abu Dhabi is providing arms and other support to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, fueling a brutal war in Sudan.  

“The UAE must stay away from Sudan!” Sudan’s ambassador, Al-Harith Idriss Al-Harith Mohamed, told the council. “That is the first requirement that will allow for stability in Sudan. It must stop its support.” 

Mohamed accused the UAE of assisting RSF forces through militias in Chad, southern Libya and central Africa, adding that Sudan has submitted copies of a half dozen UAE passports found on the battlefield in Khartoum to the council to back up their claims of Emirati interference. He also said, without providing evidence, that wounded RSF fighters are being airlifted to Dubai for medical treatment. 

Emirati Ambassador Mohamed Abushahab, who was seated beside his Sudanese counterpart at the 15-nation council’s horseshoe-shaped table, during the meeting on the situation in Sudan, called the allegations “ludicrous.” 

“We see this as a shameful abuse by one of the warring parties of Sudan of this Council — using this platform to spread false allegations against the UAE to distract from the grave violations that are happening on the ground,” the Emirati ambassador said. 

The UAE has repeatedly denied sending arms to the RSF, but Tuesday was the first time their envoy had responded in person to the accusations at a council meeting. 

A report by a U.N. panel of experts earlier this year said there was substance to media reports that cargo planes originating in the UAE capital had landed in eastern Chad with arms, ammunition and medical equipment destined for the paramilitary group. 

Sudan’s envoy asked the council to act. 

“I ask your esteemed council to speak bravely and to take the last required step, which is to openly mention and condemn the UAE so that it would stop this war,” Ambassador Mohamed said. 

The United States has expressed concern about regional and international interference in Sudan. 

“We must also continue calling on external actors to stop fueling and prolonging this conflict, and enabling these atrocities, by sending weapons to Sudan,” Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said at Tuesday’s meeting. 

On Friday, she told reporters on a conference call to announce an additional $315 million in humanitarian support for Sudan, that there is no military solution to the conflict. She criticized countries that are supporting the rival generals with arms and ammunition and said she had spoken with the UAE about Sudan’s allegations. She also noted that Russia and Iran are providing support to the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). 

“We have been very, very clear with those actors, that they should cease their support for this war,” she said Friday of all external actors. “It is only exacerbating and prolonging the conflict, and it is making the situation more dire for the people of Sudan.” 

Battle for El Fasher 

Meanwhile, the situation on the ground in the North Darfur capital of El Fasher remains dire. The RSF has surrounded the city, burning and looting communities in its vicinity. They have advanced on the city, where an SAF infantry division is outnumbered and surrounded. 

“The Sudanese Armed Forces will defend El Fasher to the last soldier,” Ambassador Mohamed told reporters after the meeting. 

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says El Fasher is presently the epicenter of Sudan’s humanitarian nightmare. 

“Amid unrelenting violence and suffering, the lives of 800,000 people — of women, children, men, the elderly and people with disabilities — these lives hang in the balance,” Edem Wosornu, OCHA’s director of Operations and Advocacy, told the council. 

Without immediate decisive action, she said, the international community risks bearing witness to a repeat of the well-documented atrocities perpetrated in West Darfur’s capital, El Geneina, when the city fell to RSF troops last year. 

Human rights groups say thousands of people, mostly ethnic Masalit and members of other non-Arab communities, were massacred by the RSF, even after the city fell to the paramilitary. 

Today’s RSF has elements of the Arab Janjaweed fighters who carried out the genocide against African Zaghawa, Masalit, Fur and other non-Arab ethnic groups in Darfur in the early 2000s. 

On Thursday, the U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution demanding the RSF halt its siege and de-escalate the fight for El Fasher and that both sides allow aid in. The resolution has so far been ignored. 

RSF chief Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo has been locked in an armed power struggle with SAF General Abdel-Fattah Burhan for the past 14 months. The fighting has spread from Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, to other parts of the country, leaving millions displaced and in dire need of food, shelter and medical care.
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HARARE, ZIMBABWE — A Zimbabwean opposition leader and nearly 100 youths who spent two nights in jail for allegedly holding an unsanctioned meeting appeared in court in Harare on Tuesday, where they complained of police assaults. 

After their arrest Sunday, members of Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, the Citizens Coalition for Change, or Triple C, arrived in court in apparent pain — some limping, and one with a broken leg — under heavy police guard.  

That did not stop one man from shouting to waiting reporters. 

“Are you hearing me?” he said. “The women were asked to kneel down and crawl to a waiting police truck by this government. Button sticks, claps hit us. One of the ladies had her room invaded. Why? She just had a bra on. Please record that. These people are cruel.”  

Police officers accompanying the opposition members refused to comment. 

Tinashe Chinopfukutwa, a lawyer representing Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, told reporters that his clients had been abused upon arrest. 

“The charges which have been preferred against them are of participating in a gathering with [the] intent to promote public violence, bigotry and breaches of peace,” Chinopfukutwa said. “They have also preferred an alternative charge of disorderly conduct in [a] public place. They were assaulted by the police at the time of their arrest. Some of them were forced into jumping into a dirty swimming pool, while putting on their clothes. They were then forced to crawl to a police vehicle which was parked several meters away. We are going to lay those complaints before the court.”  

Chinopfukutwa said the police initially arrested about 100 opposition activists, together with their leader, Jameson Timba, but some were released for unspecified reasons. 

Agency Gumbo, a lawyer and a member of parliament with Triple C, said party members had been arrested at Timba’s home Sunday while commemorating International Day of the African Child.   

He said the arrests were meant to quell opposition’s activities, which started during the era of the late President Robert Mugabe’s nearly 40 years in power. 

“What this entails is that the regime is hell-bent on stopping voices of dissent, the regime is hell-bent on stopping the opposition,” Gumbo said. “It’s as if the opposition is now a banned organization. It’s as if the Triple C and the entire opposition forces are banned in this country.” 

VOA repeatedly contacted Zimbabwe’s information minister, Jenfan Muswere, for comment but did not receive a response.  

However, on Monday he said that no one in the country was above the law, and anyone who commits an offense would meet the wrath of the law. 

Meanwhile, the 79 still detained were placed in custody until Wednesday, when they are expected to challenge their arrests. They are arguing that they were detained for more than the 48 hours allowed by the constitution before they were brought to court on Tuesday.
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NAIROBI, Kenya — More than 200 protesters have been arrested in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, in ongoing protests against proposed tax hikes in a finance bill that is due to be tabled in parliament. 

Civil society groups said that demonstrations and a planned sit-down outside parliament buildings will continue despite the arrest of 210 protesters. 

Nairobi Police Commander Adamson Bungei on Tuesday said that no group had been granted permission to protest in the capital. The right to peaceful protests is guaranteed in the Kenyan Constitution, but organizers are required to notify the police beforehand. Police generally give a go-ahead unless there are security concerns. 

Police hurled tear gas canisters at hundreds of demonstrators on Tuesday, forcing businesses to temporarily close because of fears over looting. 

A lawyer, Wanjohi Gachie, said that he was protesting on behalf of all Kenyans who would be potentially burdened by the tax hikes. 

“I’m requesting the police not to arrest or beat us, because we are fighting for their rights as well,” he said. 

Some major tax proposals in the bill were dropped after a Tuesday morning meeting between ruling party lawmakers and President William Ruto. 

The chairperson of the finance committee, Kuria Kimani, said the proposal to introduce a 16% value-added tax on bread had been dropped. 

Other levies that had prompted debate and have been amended include a proposed 2.5% motor vehicle annual tax that was to be placed on insurance. 

A proposed tax on goods that degrade the environment will also be amended to apply only to imported goods to encourage local manufacturing. 

Rights group Amnesty Kenya said that its staff members observing the protests were arrested. 

“We demand the immediate and unconditional release of all arrested protesters and observers,” the group said. 

Kenya Law Society President Faith Odhiambo said that police used tear gas on lawyers at a Nairobi police station as they sought to see their clients. 

Ruto last month defended the proposed taxes, saying the country must be financially self-sustaining. 

“The whole principle is that you must live within your means,” he said. “I persuaded and I made a case to the people of Kenya that we must begin to enhance our revenue.” 

Opposition leader Raila Odinga urged legislators to scrutinize the bill and vote to remove clauses that would burden the poor. 

“It is worse than the one of 2023, an investment killer and a huge millstone around the necks of millions of poor Kenyans who must have hoped that the tears they shed over taxes last year would see the government lessen the tax burden in 2024,” he said in a statement in early June.

Opposition figure Kalonzo Musyoka said that weekly protests would resume if the finance bill is approved as proposed. 

Legislators are due to debate the bill starting Wednesday with a vote scheduled for Monday. 

Last year’s finance law introduced a 1.5% housing tax on gross income for salaried individuals, despite concerns that it would further burden Kenyans already struggling under a high cost of living. The law also doubled VAT on petroleum products from 8% to 16%.
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NAIROBI, Kenya — A team of Haitian police commanders on Tuesday met Kenya’s inspector general of police ahead of a planned deployment to the violence-hit Caribbean country expected to take place by the end of June.

Kenya is set to lead a United Nations-backed multinational peacekeeping mission with officers drawn from several countries to combat gang violence in Haiti that has left thousands of people dead and forced more than 360,000 others to flee their homes.

“We are counting on your support,” Haitian police official Joachim Prohete told Kenya’s Inspector Japhet Koome in a meeting in Nairobi, as police clashed with anti-taxation protesters in the streets. 

“We are ready and committed to come over and assist whenever needed,” Koome told the Haitian delegation in return.

The Haitian police also met commanders of the 1,000 Kenyan officers who will be deployed as part of the multinational peacekeeping mission.

Kenya will also host Haitian police for training, and the delegation in Nairobi on Tuesday visited the barracks where drills will take place, Kenyan police said.

President William Ruto last week said Kenya will honor its commitment to restore peace in the Caribbean nation. U.S. President Joe Biden during Ruto’s state visit in May expressed deep appreciation for Kenya’s planned deployment.

The deployment that was set to take place in May was postponed to allow completion of bases from which the officers will operate and the procurement of key equipment, including vehicles.

Haiti has endured poverty, political instability and natural disasters for decades. International intervention in Haiti has a complicated history. A U.N.-approved stabilization mission to Haiti that started in June 2004 was marred by a sexual abuse scandal and the introduction of cholera, which killed nearly 10,000 people. The mission ended in October 2017.
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Cotonou, Benin — A Benin court on Monday handed 18-month suspended jail sentences to three Nigeriens at the center of a diplomatic dispute as tensions escalate between the West African neighbors.

Ties between Benin and Niger have been strained since last year’s coup ousted Nigerien President Mohammed Bazoum, and Benin’s Atlantic port of Seme-Kpodji, which exports landlocked Niger’s oil, has become a flashpoint.

Five Nigeriens were arrested earlier this month at Seme-Kpodji, accused of entering the port illegally.

On Monday, Benin’s Court for the Repression of Economic Offenses and Terrorism (CRIET) sentenced three of them to 18 months in prison suspended, an AFP correspondent said.

Moumouni Hadiza Ibra, Deputy General Director of Wapco-Niger — a local affiliate of a Chinese company operating a pipeline from Niger to Benin’s coast — and two of her compatriots were jailed after their initial arrest.

Wapco has not responded to emails seeking a response.

The court on Monday reclassified the charges as “usurpation of title and use of falsified computer data.”

Lawyers for the three defendants denied all the charges, an AFP correspondent said.

Under regional sanctions imposed on Niger after last year’s coup, Benin closed the border, but it has since reopened its side of the frontier. Niger’s military rulers have refused to reopen their side.

Beninese President Patrice Talon had long conditioned the start of loading of Nigerien oil from Benin’s port on the reopening of the border.

According to Niamey, the arrested team were on a mission to Benin to oversee the loading of oil.

The military regime in Niger described the arrests as a “kidnapping” and said it was ready to “take all measures” to have them released “unconditionally.”

The day after their arrests, the military regime in Niamey closed the valves of the oil pipeline, according to Niger public television.
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One of the chief obstacles for Sudanese refugees trying to build new lives in Uganda is the language barrier. Some of the estimated 40,000 people who arrived in recent months had limited English skills but not enough to hold jobs or move easily through Ugandan society. A women’s empowerment group in central Uganda is trying to change that. Halima Athumani and Mukasa Francis report from Mukono district
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In Namibia, German charity Skate-Aid has built a skate park on the National Institute for Special Education campus. Here, young learners with disabilities can practice a sport Skate-Aid says encourages empowerment, socializing and having fun. Vitalio Angula reports from Windhoek, Namibia.
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Goma, DRC — A Romanian “mercenary” and two Congolese soldiers were killed, and a U.N. peacekeeper was wounded in three separate incidents in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, several sources said Sunday.

A security official in the east of the country told AFP on the condition of anonymity that a private military contractor was killed, and three others wounded Saturday by a missile strike on a Congolese army base around 10 kilometers (6 miles) north of Goma.

The origin of the strike was not confirmed.  

The capital of North Kivu has been surrounded to the north and west by the Rwandan army and M23 rebels for several months.

Fighting regularly takes place against the Congolese army on the outskirts of the city, while the rebels, backed by Kigali, continue to extend their hold in the east of the country.

The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Sunday that the deceased and two injured people were Romanian nationals, and that the fourth injured person was of another nationality.

Several Romanian television channels — including the state-owned TVR Info — described the dead fighter as a “Romanian mercenary” under contract to the Congolese army.

Around 200 kilometers north of Goma, in Butembo, at least two soldiers were killed in an ambush, local administrator Colonel Alain Kiwewa told AFP.

He said he did not yet have any details of the identity of the assailants and that an investigation had been opened.

But Kiwewa said the slain soldiers had been supplying others fighting against the ADF rebels.

Since the start of the moth, around 150 people have been killed in attacks attributed to the ADF, which originated in neighboring Uganda and most of whose members swear allegiance to the Islamic State Group.

Also, around Butembo, a MONUSCO (U.N. mission in the DRC) convoy was attacked by unidentified armed men Saturday evening as it returned from a mission.

One peacekeeper was shot in the leg during the attack.

Vivian van de Perre, second-in-command of the U.N. mission, condemned “the violence perpetrated against peacekeepers” and reiterated the need for “unhindered access for the protection of civilians.”  

On Sunday, Pope Francis deplored the surge in violence in eastern DRC and appealed to the national authorities and international communities to “safeguard the lives of civilians.”
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Johannesburg — South Africa’s uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) party will join an alliance of smaller opposition parties in parliament in a bid to take on the African National Congress and Democratic Alliance-led coalition government, it said on Sunday.

The ANC and its largest rival, the white-led, pro-business Democratic Alliance, agreed on Friday to work together in a coalition it called “government of national unity,” a step change after 30 years of ANC rule.

Former President Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto we Sizwe party came in a surprisingly strong third in the May 29 election which saw the ANC lose its majority. MK won 14.6% of the vote, which translated into 58 seats in the 400-seat National Assembly.

However, MK lawmakers boycotted the first sitting of the National Assembly on Friday after filing a complaint at the country’s top court alleging vote-rigging, which the court dismissed as without merit.

Reading a statement on behalf of Zuma, spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela told reporters that the MK party will join the alliance called the “Progressive Caucus,” which includes the Marxist Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the center-left United Democratic Movement.

This alliance commands close to 30% of the seats in the National Assembly, Ndhlela said, sitting next to Zuma – who had a cough but answered questions after the statement – and the leaders of a number of small parties.

“This united effort is necessary because the 2024 election has also resulted in the consolidation of right-wing and reactionary forces who are opposed to economic freedom, radical economic transformation, racial equality and land repossession,” he said.

Ndhlela said that MK had decided to take up its seats in the National Assembly after receiving legal advice and that it would continue to raise its allegations of a rigged election in parliament and in courts.

The Independent Electoral Commission has said the election was free and fair.

Zuma also slammed the unity government — which includes two smaller parties, the socially conservative Inkatha Freedom Party and the right-wing Patriotic Alliance — calling it “meaningless” and a “white-led unholy alliance.”
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VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis on Sunday pleaded for an end to violence and civilian deaths in North Kivu, a conflict-stricken province in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. 

At least seven people were killed there on Friday and Saturday after people took to the streets to protest a surge in deadly attacks by suspected Islamist rebels. 

“Painful news continues to arrive of attacks and massacres carried out in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo,” Francis told crowds gathered in St. Peter’s Square. 

“I appeal to national authorities and the international community to do everything possible to stop the violence and safeguard the lives of civilians,” he said during his Sunday Angelus message. 

The pope deplored the “many Christians” killed in the conflict, saying “they are martyrs.” 

Francis also renewed calls for peace in Ukraine, Israel and the Palestinian territories, Sudan, Myanmar “and anywhere people suffer from war.”  
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ALGIERS, Algeria — France has twice rejected visa applications from Nabil Tabarout, a 29-year-old web developer from Algeria who hopes this year to visit his sister there.

He’s among the many people navigating the often-arduous visa process throughout Africa, which faces higher visa rejection rates than anywhere else in the world when it comes to visiting Europe’s Schengen Area. Appointments are often difficult to secure. Applicants often must prove a minimum bank balance, substantiate the purpose of their visit and prove they plan to return home.

“That’s how it is. Every pleasure deserves pain,” said Tabarout, who has succeeded just once in obtaining a French visa.

Though much of Europe’s debate about migration centers on people who arrive without authorization, many more people choose to come by legal means. It’s painful, then, to discover that following the rules often fails.

The disproportionate rejection rates — 10% higher in Africa than the global average — hinder trade, business and educational partnerships at the expense of African economies, according to an April study from U.K.-based migration consultancy firm Henley & Partners.

The study called the practices discriminatory and urged Schengen countries to reform them.

Nowhere are applicants more rejected than in Algeria, where more than 392,000 applicants were rejected in 2022. The 45.8% rejection rate is followed by a 45.2% rejection rate in Guinea-Bissau and 45.1% in Nigeria.

Only one in 25 applicants living in the United States were rejected.

While the study found that applicants from poorer countries experienced higher rejections in general, it noted that applicants from Turkey and India experienced fewer rejection than applicants from the majority of African countries.

The reasons for that anti-Africa bias could be political, according to the study’s author, Mehari Taddele Maru of the European University Institute’s Migration Policy Center. Visa rejections are used as a political tool by European governments, including France, to negotiate the deportation of those who migrate to Europe without proper authorization. North African governments have refused to provide consular documents for their citizens facing deportation.

In an interview, Maru said Algeria has continent-high rejection rates because its number of applicants outpaces those from other African countries for geographic, economic and historical reasons. Many Algerians apply for visas in France, where they speak the language and may have family ties. And North Africa’s proximity to Europe means flights are short and cheap compared to flights from sub-Saharan Africa, leading more people to apply, he said.

Beyond rejection rates, the difficulty of applying is also a policy choice by European governments, Maru said. “When we talk about increasing barriers for potential applicants, it’s not only the rate of rejections, it’s also the restrictions to apply.”

That means the challenges can be local too.

For Algerians like Tabarout, VFS Global is a new player in the visa application process. The subcontractor was hired by French consular authorities after years of criticism about the previous system being dominated by a so-called “visa mafia.”

Applicants previously faced challenges securing time slots, which are quickly reserved by third-party brokers and then resold to the public — similar to how scalpers have dominated concert platforms. Rumors swirled about intricate computer programs connecting to appointment platforms and gobbling up slots within moments.

“They’re a bunch of swindlers who’ve been at it for years, making fortunes on the backs of poor citizens by making them pay dearly to make an appointment to apply for a visa,” asserted Ali Challali, who recently helped his daughter submit a French student visa application.

Under the previous system, applicants told The Associated Press they had to pay 15,000 to 120,000 Algerian dinars (103 to 825 euros) just to get an appointment.

In Algeria, many decide to pursue opportunities in France after not finding adequate economic opportunities at home or seek residency after going to French universities on student visas. According to a 2023 report from France’s Directorate General for Foreign Nationals, 78% of Algerian students “say they have no intention of returning to Algeria” upon finishing their studies.

The visa issue has historically been a cause of political tensions between the countries. Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune is scheduled to visit France later this year.

“Everything that can contribute to increasing trade between France, Europe and Algeria must be facilitated in both directions,” French Ambassador Stephane Ramotet said at a recent economic conference in Algiers. “Algerians who want to go to France to develop a business must be able to benefit from all the facilities, particularly visas.”
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NAIROBI, Kenya — Piles of firewood surrounded Jane Muthoni in her kitchen made of iron sheets. The roof, walls and wooden pillars were covered in soot. As she blew on the flame for tea, the 65-year-old was engulfed in smoke.

“I’ve used firewood all my life,” she said. “Sometimes I usually cough from inhaling the smoke, and my eyes itch, but there’s nothing I can do about it. I don’t have money to even buy charcoal.”

She was unaware of the lasting toll on her health. But experts are.

Respiratory diseases have been the most prevalent diseases in Kenya for the past several years and are on the rise, according to government authorities, with 19.6 million reported cases last year.

Burning biomass such as firewood is the largest contributor to those diseases, said Evans Amukoye, a scientist with the Kenya Medical Research Institute’s respiratory diseases research center.

“One can have itchy eyes, coughs while inhaling the smoke, and for serious cases like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, you find that you cannot walk as your lungs have become tight,” Amukoye said. The disease is caused by indoor or outdoor air pollution or smoking.

Data from Kenya’s health ministry shows that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is responsible for 1.7% of deaths in the country.

People in low-income areas are diagnosed with respiratory diseases later in life compared to middle-class people in urban areas with better awareness and access to health care, Amukoye said.

Families in informal neighborhoods and rural areas are the most affected as most people rely on firewood or fossil fuels for cooking. Women hunched over a smoking fire at stalls for tea or snacks is a common sight in the capital, Nairobi, and beyond.

The government’s 2022 Demographic and Health Survey showed a high dependence on traditional fuels for cooking in Kenya. The number of households relying on biomass like firewood increased from 4.7 million to 6.7 million between 2020 and 2022.

Economist Abraham Muriu said he believes the increase in Kenyans using firewood is a result of economic shocks caused by reduced incomes during the COVID pandemic and ongoing high inflation.

“Firewood is readily available and the most accessible fossil fuel, especially in rural areas,” Muriu said.

He said more Kenyans in urban areas have likely resorted to using firewood or charcoal, too, as prices and taxes rise. Blackened sacks of charcoal are openly on sale at some Nairobi intersections, and the hunt for firewood across the country is constant.

Mercy Letting, 33, a businesswoman in Nairobi’s Kasarani neighborhood was using charcoal to make meals for customers in the first six months after opening her restaurant early last year. With time, it affected her health.

“I am asthmatic, so whenever I used charcoal to cook the smoke would always trigger an attack, forcing me to spend part of my daily earnings on medication. This happened five times,” she said.

She found it expensive, spending 4,500 Kenyan shillings ($33) per month to buy a sack of charcoal. “I eventually had to buy an ‘eco-friendly’ cooker, which has been great for my health and good for business.” It requires less charcoal.

Letting also bought an induction burner, which she said is faster in cooking and more efficient as she spends only 50 Kenyan shillings ($0.38) per day on electricity.

Although companies pursue “clean cooking” options, high prices remain an obstacle to many Kenyans.

“If we want to deliver a truly clean and efficient solution to users across Africa, it needs to be affordable for them,” said Chris McKinney, the chief commercial officer at BURN Manufacturing, which describes itself as a “modern cookstove” company based on the outskirts of Nairobi.

“This has been the key barrier to scaling for us,” he said.
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Accra, Ghana — Exasperated Ghanaians already grappling with frequent, unplanned power outages are steeling themselves for more misery after electricity distributors announced increased disruption to the grid in the coming weeks. 

The blackouts — known as “dumsor” in Ghana’s Akan language — are making it harder to run businesses already struggling due to the country’s economic crisis — the worst in a decade.  

On Thursday, the Ghana Grid Company and the Electricity Company of Ghana, which distribute power throughout the West African country of 33 million people, said there would be three weeks of load management because of maintenance work by a gas supplier in Nigeria. 

Nigeria provides Ghana with a percentage of the gas it needs to fire its power-generating plants. 

The announcement came a day after WAPCo, the operator of the pipeline importing gas from Nigeria, also warned there would be a drop in the quantity of gas available because of maintenance work in Nigeria.   

The news has exasperated Ghanaians already dealing with frequent power cuts. 

“The current unannounced power cuts are already making it very hard to keep my poultry frozen,” Judith Esi Baidoo, a 50-year-old frozen poultry vendor in Accra, told AFP. 

She added: “Now, with this three-week load management plan, I fear my entire stock will spoil. I don’t know how my business can survive this.” 

The erratic power supply is tipped to become a key topic in the campaign for December’s presidential election. 

Timothy Oddoye, who repairs mobile phones in the Accra suburb of Kokomlemle, said, “The government had failed us. They’ve had years to fix these problems, yet we are still suffering from the same issues. 

“How can we grow our businesses when we can’t even rely on basic electricity?” 

Despite being one of the African countries where electrification is most advanced, Ghana continues to experience chronic power shortages.  

Domestic electricity production — generated by power plants that are in many cases old and poorly maintained — has struggled to expand in line with rising demand. 

According to International Energy Agency figures, Ghana generates 34 percent of its electricity from hydropower and 63 percent from gas.  

The country produces both oil and gas but still needs to import gas from Nigeria via the 678-kilometer (420-mile) West African Gas Pipeline through Benin and Togo. 

“The reliance on gas, especially from external suppliers, leaves us vulnerable,” said Ben Boakye, executive director of the Africa Center for Energy Policy. 

“The government must prioritize investments in renewable energy and upgrade our existing hydro and thermal plants to ensure [a] consistent power supply.” 

Public frustration at the power cuts erupted on June 8, when hundreds of Ghanaians, led by prominent celebrities, took to the streets of Accra to protest the erratic supply under the slogan #DumsorMustStop.  

These power cuts are even more disturbing for Ghanaians as the country emerges from an economic crisis that saw inflation soar to 54 percent in December 2022. 

It fell back to 25 percent in April 2023, but the population still suffers. 
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abuja, nigeria — Nigeria’s annual inflation rose to a 28-year high of 33.95% in May, official data showed Saturday, worsening hardships that have fueled public anger against President Bola Tinubu’s economic reforms.

It was the 18th straight month that inflation has risen, up from 33.69% a month earlier.

Price pressures have been spurred by Tinubu’s reforms, chiefly slashing petrol and electricity subsidies and devaluing the naira currency twice within a year.

Labor unions, which suspended a strike called to demand a new minimum wage, have argued that the reforms hurt the poor and have left millions grappling with the worst cost-of-living crisis in decades.

Data published by the National Bureau of Statistics showed food and non-alcoholic beverages continued to be the biggest contributor to inflation in May.

Food inflation, which accounts for the bulk of Nigeria’s inflation basket, rose to 40.66% from 40.53% the previous month.

High food prices and a weaker naira are the main drivers of inflation in Nigeria, analysts say.

The central bank raised interest rates in May for the third time this year in response to the continued rise in inflation.

Governor Olayemi Cardoso of the Central Bank of Nigeria has indicated that rates will stay high for as long as necessary to bring inflation down.
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BUTEMBO, Democratic Republic of Congo — At least seven people have been killed in unrest in Democratic Republic of Congo’s North Kivu province, local officials said on Saturday, after people took to the streets to protest a surge in  deadly attacks by suspected Islamist rebels. 

The Allied Democratic Forces, a rebel group affiliated to the Islamic State group, are alleged to have killed more than 40 people in an attack on Mayikengo village this week and more than 80 in attacks on other villages in the eastern province the previous week. 

The insecurity has fueled public frustration, leading to the killing of two soldiers and their driver in Lubero territory by a crowd who torched their vehicle overnight on Friday, local official Julio Mabanga told Reuters. 

On Saturday, further clashes in the area between security forces and local residents led to the deaths of another three people: a civilian, a soldier, and an agent of the ANR national intelligence service, Mabanga said. 

A similar protest broke out in the city of Butembo on Saturday, with hundreds of youths taking to the streets, wielding sticks, chanting and singing songs to denounce the widespread insecurity, according to a Reuters reporter. 

“I’m here at this roundabout, barricading the road. We sympathize with our killed compatriots,” said Daniel Sivanzire Paluku, one of the protesters, who said they needed to block the roads to monitor who was coming and going. 

Butembo Mayor Mowa Baeki Telly confirmed one civilian was killed during clashes between security forces and protesters in the city.  

The ADF originates in neighboring Uganda but is now based in mineral-rich eastern Congo. It has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and mounts frequent attacks, further destabilizing a region where many militant groups compete for influence and resources. 

It has not been possible to reach the ADF for comment on the attacks. 

The U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group, which follows militant websites, said on Friday the Islamic State had published communiques from its so-called Central Africa Province division claiming responsibility for the killing of 51 people in attacks in North Kivu this week. It has also claimed to have beheaded more than 60 people in a single attack in the province on June 7.  
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