NIAMEY — Niger and the United States have reached an agreement on the withdrawal of American troops from the West African country, a process that has already begun and will be finished by Sept. 15, they said in a joint statement. 

Niger’s ruling junta last month told the U.S. to withdraw its nearly 1,000 military personnel from the country. Until a coup last year Niger had been a key partner in Washington’s fight against insurgents in the Sahel region of Africa, who have killed thousands of people and displaced millions more. 

The agreement between Niger’s defense ministry and the U.S. Department of Defense, reached after a five-day commission, guarantees the protection of U.S. troops until their withdrawal and establishes procedures to ease the entry and exit of American personnel during the withdrawal process.  

“The Ministry of Defense of Niger and the U.S. Department of Defense recall the common sacrifices of the Nigerien and American forces in the fight against terrorism and welcome the mutual efforts made in building up the Nigerien armed forces,” they said in a joint statement.  

“The withdrawal of American forces from Niger in no way affects the pursuit of relations between the United States and Niger in the area of development. Also, Niger and the United States are committed to an ongoing diplomatic dialogue to define the future of their bilateral relations.” 

Niger’s decision to ask for the removal of U.S. troops came after a meeting in Niamey in mid-March, when senior U.S. officials raised concerns about issues such as the expected arrival of Russian forces and reports of Iran seeking raw materials in the country, including uranium. 

Russian military personnel have since entered an air base in Niger that is hosting U.S. troops. 

 
…

KINSHASA — Congo’s army says it has “foiled a coup” early Sunday morning and arrested the perpetrators, including several foreigners, following a shootout between armed men in military uniform and a top politician’s guards that left three people dead in the capital, Kinshasa.  

The attempted coup d’état was “nipped in the bud by Congolese defense and security forces [and] the situation is under control,” Congolese army spokesperson Brigadier General Sylvain Ekenge said at a media briefing. He did not give further details.   

Clashes were reported between men in military uniform and guards of a local politician at the politician’s house on Tshatshi Boulevard, about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the presidential palace and where some embassies are also located.   

This came amid a crisis gripping President Felix Tshisekedi’s ruling party over an election for the parliament’s leadership which was supposed to be held Saturday but was postponed.   

The armed men attacked the Kinshasa residence of Vital Kamerhe, a federal legislator and a candidate for speaker of the National Assembly of Congo, but were stopped by his guards, Michel Moto Muhima, his spokesperson said on the X social media platform.   

“The Honorable Vital Kamerhe and his family are safe and sound. Their security has been reinforced,” he wrote.   

Local media identified the men as Congolese soldiers. It wasn’t clear if the men in military uniform were trying to arrest the politician.   

Two police officers and one of the attackers were killed in the shootout that started around 4:30 a.m. at the house on Tshatshi Boulevard, according to Muhima.   

Footage, seemingly from the area, showed military trucks and heavily armed men parading deserted streets in the neighborhood.   

On Friday, President Felix Tshisekedi met with parliamentarians and leaders of the Sacred Union of the Nation ruling coalition in an attempt to resolve the crisis amid his party which dominates the national assembly.   

He said he would not “hesitate to dissolve the National Assembly and send everyone to new elections if these bad practices persist.”   

Tshisekedi was reelected as president in December in a chaotic vote amid calls for a revote from the opposition over what they said was a lack of transparency, following past trends of disputed elections in the central African country.   

The United States Embassy in Congo issued a security alert, urging caution after “reports of gunfire.” 
…

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — After 30 years of dominating South African politics, the ruling African National Congress will face its toughest election this month as most opinion polls predict it will lose its parliamentary majority for the first time.

Once admired under the leadership of Nelson Mandela, and regarded as a beacon of hope by the Black majority following the fall of apartheid in 1994, the ANC’s reputation has been battered by record levels of unemployment, widespread poverty, the collapse of some government services and more than a decade of corruption scandals, leaving voters disillusioned.

President Cyril Ramaphosa hopes the May 29 ballot will lead to his reelection. But if the ANC does lose its majority, it will force it into a coalition to form a government — also a first for the country and something that may complicate policymaking in Africa’s most advanced economy.

South Africans don’t elect their president directly, but instead vote for parties that get assigned seats in Parliament according to their share of the ballot. Lawmakers then choose the head of state.

As South Africa braces itself for the possibility of its most important change since the end of apartheid, here are the main parties and players in the election:

A president under pressure

Ramaphosa was a senior figure in the ANC in the early 1990s and was once seen as a protege of Mandela. He left politics to become a successful businessman before returning as deputy president of South Africa in 2014. He became president in 2018 after Jacob Zuma resigned under a cloud of corruption allegations.

Ramaphosa has tried to rebuild the reputation of the ANC by cracking down on government graft. However, unemployment has risen to 32% during his presidency — the highest in the world — while he has struggled to curb poverty. An electricity crisis has led to power outages across the country of 62 million due to failures at the state-run electricity supplier. It badly damaged the economy and Ramaphosa’s reputation as someone who could fix South Africa’s problems, even if the blackouts are viewed as a result of mismanagement during the Zuma administration.

The ANC is still expected to win the largest share of votes, but if it receives less than 50% as predicted, it will need the help of coalition partners to reelect the 71-year-old Ramaphosa.

The main opposition leader

John Steenhuisen is the leader of the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance. The centrist DA has promised to “rescue” South Africa from what it says is the corruption and mismanagement of the ANC but has never come close to winning a national election. The DA won 22% in the last general election in 2019 to the ANC’s 62%.

The DA entered a preelection agreement with smaller opposition parties, hoping their combined vote might clinch a majority and remove the ANC. But they would all have to increase their share significantly and it’s seen as unlikely.

Steenhuisen, 48, is the only white leader among South Africa’s main political parties. In a country where race is still at the forefront of the national consciousness, that has led to detractors saying the DA represents the interests of the white minority more than the 80% of South Africans who are Black.

A firebrand marxist

The Economic Freedom Fighters has risen rapidly to become South Africa’s third biggest party in Parliament since it was formed in 2013 by Julius Malema, a former ANC youth leader who was expelled from the ruling party. His fiery, far-left rhetoric has made the 43-year-old South Africa’s most contentious politician but his message that the ANC has failed poor, Black South Africans has gained traction, especially with unemployed and disaffected young people.

The EFF has called for the nationalization of mines and the redistribution of land to poor Blacks. The party, which follows a Marxist ideology, says an economic inequality based on race persists decades after apartheid, with whites generally rich and Blacks still poor.

Malema and other EFF lawmakers have regularly interrupted speeches by opponents in Parliament and been involved in scuffles with security guards in the chamber, bringing a militant brand of politics to the heart of South Africa’s democracy. The EFF is a possible coalition partner for the ANC, although neither party has said if there is any agreement.

Zuma returns

Former President Zuma added a new dimension when he announced in December that he was turning his back on the ANC he once led and returning to politics with a new party.

Zuma’s MK Party is not expected to challenge the top three, but it is expected to further erode the ANC’s vote just as the ruling party faces its sternest election test. The 81-year-old former leader still commands support, especially in his home KwaZulu-Natal province.

His reemergence also raised security concerns for the election after his conviction for contempt of court and prison sentence in 2021 sparked a week of rioting and looting that led to the deaths of more than 350 people in the worst violence in South Africa since the troublesome last days of apartheid.

Zuma is involved in a court battle over whether his criminal conviction prevents him from standing as a candidate for Parliament. There are concerns over unrest if he is disqualified. Even if he isn’t, his new reputation as an agitator is likely to increase tensions around a pivotal election.
…

mbale, uganda — Barbara Nabulo was one of three girls in her family. But when a sister died, her mother wailed at the funeral that she was left with just one and a half daughters.

The half was the ailing Nabulo, who at age 12 understood her mother’s meaning.

“I hated myself so much,” Nabulo said recently, recalling the words that preceded a period of sickness that left her hospitalized and feeding through a tube.

The scene underscores the lifelong challenges for some people with sickle cell disease in rural Uganda, where it remains poorly understood. Despite Nabulo’s knowledge of how the disease weakens the body, she spoke repeatedly of “the germ I was born with.”

Infections, pain, organ damage

Sickle cell disease is a group of inherited disorders in which red blood cells — normally round — become hard, sticky and crescent shaped. The misshapen cells clog the flow of blood, which can lead to infections, excruciating pain, organ damage and other complications.

The disease, which can stunt physical growth, is more common in malaria-prone regions, notably Africa and India, because carrying the sickle cell trait helps protect against severe malaria. Global estimates of how many people have the disease vary, but some researchers put the number between 6 million and 8 million, with more than 5 million living in sub-Saharan Africa.

The only cure for the pain sickle cell disease can cause is a bone marrow transplant or gene therapies such as the one commercially approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in December. Last week, a 12-year-old boy last week became the first person to begin the therapy.

Those options are beyond the reach of most patients in this East African nation, where sickle cell disease is not a public health priority despite the burden it places on communities. There isn’t a national database of sickle cell patients. Funding for treatment often comes from donor organizations.

A patient, a caregiver

In a hilly part of eastern Uganda that’s a sickle cell hot spot, the main referral hospital looks after hundreds of patients arriving from nearby villages to collect medication. Many receive doses of hydroxyurea, a drug that can reduce periods of severe pain and other complications, and researchers there are studying its effectiveness in Ugandan children.

Nabulo, now 37, is one of the hospital’s patients. But she approaches others like her as a caregiver, too.

After dropping out in primary school, she has emerged in recent years as a counselor to fellow patients, speaking to them about her survival. Encouraged by hospital authorities, she makes weekly visits to the ward that has many children watched over by exhausted-looking parents.

Nabulo tells them she was diagnosed with sickle cell disease at 2 weeks old, but now she is the mother of three children, including twins.

Such a message gives hope to those who feel discouraged or worry that sickle cell disease is a death sentence, said Dr. Julian Abeso, head of pediatrics at Mbale Regional Referral Hospital.

Some men have been known to divorce their wives — or neglect them in search of new partners — when they learn that their children have sickle cell disease. Frequent community deaths from disease complications reinforce perceptions of it as a scourge.

Health workers encourage testing

Nabulo and health workers urge openness and the testing of children for sickle cell as early as possible.

Abeso and Nabulo grew close after Nabulo lost her first baby hours after childbirth in 2015. She cried in the doctor’s office as she spoke of her wish “to have a relative I can call mine, a descendant who can help me,” Abeso recalled.

“At that time, people here were so negative about patients with sickle cell disease having children because the complications would be so many,” the doctor said.

Nabulo’s second attempt to have a child was difficult, with some time in intensive care. But her baby is now a 7-year-old boy who sometimes accompanies her to the hospital. The twin girls came last year.

Speaking outside the one-room home she shares with her husband and children, Nabulo said many people appreciate her work despite the countless indignities she faces, including unwanted stares from people in the streets who point to the woman with “a big head” — a manifestation of the disease in her. Her brothers often behave as if they are ashamed of her, she said.

Once, she heard of a girl in her neighborhood whose grandmother was making frequent trips to the clinic over an undiagnosed illness in the child. The grandmother was hesitant to have the girl tested for sickle cell when Nabulo first asked her. But tests later revealed the disease, and now the girl receives treatment.

“I go to Nabulo for help because I can’t manage the illness affecting my grandchild,” Kelemesiya Musuya said. “She can feel pain, and she starts crying, saying, ‘It is here and it is rising and it is paining here and here.'”

Musuya sometimes seeks reassurance. “She would be asking me, ‘Even you, when you are sick, does it hurt in the legs, in the chest, in the head?’ I tell her that, yes, it’s painful like that,” Nabulo said.

Nabulo said she was glad that the girl, who is 11, still goes to school.

The lack of formal education is hurtful for Nabulo, who struggles to write her name, and a source of shame for her parents, who repeatedly apologize for letting her drop out while her siblings studied. One brother is now a medical worker who operates a clinic in a town not far away from Nabulo’s home.

“I am very happy to see her,” said her mother, Agatha Nambuya.

She recalled Nabulo’s swelling head and limbs as a baby, and how “these children used to die so soon.”

But now she knows of others with sickle cell disease who grew to become doctors or whatever they wanted to be. She expressed pride in Nabulo’s work as a counselor and said her grandchildren make her feel happy.

“At that time,” she said, recalling Nabulo as a child, “we didn’t know.”
…

JEBENIANA, Tunisia — Hundreds of Tunisians marched through the streets of Jebeniana on Saturday to protest the presence of sub-Saharan migrants who have found themselves stranded as the country ramps up border patrol efforts.

Anti-migrant anger is mounting in impoverished towns like Jebeniana along the Tunisian coastline that have emerged as a launchpad for thousands of people hoping to reach Europe by boat.

Chanting slogans to oppose settling migrants in Tunisia, protesters demanded the government act to assist agricultural communities dealing with thousands of migrants living in tarpaulin encampments among their olive groves.

“You brought them here and it’s your responsibility to send them back to their home countries,” Moamen Salemi, a 63-year-old retiree from nearby El Amra, said at the protest. “There is a shortage of food throughout the city of El Amra, including sugar, flour, bread and many other items.”

A final stop for many before attempting to reach a better life in Europe, Jebeniana and El Amra reflect the compounding problems facing Tunisia, a key transit point for migrants from Syria, Bangladesh and a variety of sub-Saharan African nations.

Law enforcement has expanded its presence in the two agricultural towns, where roughly 83,000 Tunisians live among a growing number of migrants from around the world.

Protesters say they have borne the cost of Tunisia’s effort to prevent migrants from reaching the European Union less than a year after the country brokered an anti-migration pact with the 27-country bloc to better police its sea border and receive more than $1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) in aid.

The Tunisian Coast Guard has said it has prevented more than 21,000 migration attempts by land or sea this year. Fewer than 8,000 successfully traveled by boat from Tunisia to Italy in the first four months of 2024, a threefold decrease from 2023, according to the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR.

More Tunisians have traveled by makeshift boat to Italy this year than migrants from sub-Saharan African countries.

Anti-migrant protests erupted in the city of Sfax last year, months after Tunisian President Kais Saied called for measures to address violence and crime he said were caused by illegal immigration. But protests are a new development in Jebeniana and El Amra, where a similar one took place earlier this month.

Encampments sprung up and expanded on the outskirts of the two towns after local authorities started increasingly clearing them from Sfax last year.

The International Organization for Migration’s Tunisia office has said roughly 7,000 migrants are living near Jebeniana and El Amra, though residents estimate the number could be much higher.
…

Dakar, Senegal — An alliance of separatist rebel groups fighting Malian government forces on Saturday accused the army and Russian paramilitary group Wagner of killing 11 civilians earlier in the week.

The Malian authorities did not respond to a request for comment from AFP about the allegations posed in a statement from the Permanent Strategic Framework for the Defense of the People of Azawad (CSP-DPA), an alliance of predominantly Tuareg armed rebel groups.

The CSP-DPA said that Wednesday, the village of Tassik in the northern Kidal region “was targeted by a patrol of mercenaries from the Russian Wagner group and the Malian army, who committed serious violations against the population.”

The separatist alliance put the death toll at 11 civilians, whose bodies were discovered “burned,” with two more civilians reported missing.

It added that the patrol had ransacked several stores and vehicles.

“The CSP-DPA unreservedly condemns these terrorist operations programmed with the aim of carrying out a targeted ethnic cleansing and accelerated depopulation of the Azawad territory of its Indigenous people,” the statement said.

Azawad is the name of the territory claimed by separatists in northern Mali.

Fighting between the separatists and Mali government troops broke out last August after eight years of calm, as both sides scrambled to fill the vacuum left by the withdrawal of United Nations peacekeepers (MINUSMA), ordered to leave by the ruling junta in Bamako.

The offensive in northern Mali has been marked by numerous allegations of abuses against civilians by Malian forces and, since 2022, their Russian allies, which the Malian authorities systematically deny.

Since seizing power in 2020, Mali’s junta has broken ties with France and turned politically and militarily toward Russia. 
…

tripoli — At least one person was killed and six injured when fierce clashes broke out Saturday in the city of Zawiya in western Libya, prompting calls for a cease-fire to rescue families trapped in the conflict area, a Libyan TV channel said.

Ali Ahneesh, head of the Red Crescent branch in Zawiya, told the Istanbul-based Libya Alahrar TV channel that 10 families had been evacuated, and called for “a cease-fire to evacuate families stuck in the areas where the clashes have taken place.”

Red Crescent volunteers had been receiving calls from families in the conflict area asking to be evacuated, he said.

There was no immediate indication of who had taken part in the violence or why they were fighting. Libya has been plagued by unrest since the overthrow of Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.

Imad Ammar, a member of Zawiya’s elders and notables’ council, said the fighting appeared to involve individuals rather than armed groups.

Zawiya, 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of the capital Tripoli, is home to Libya’s biggest functioning refinery, with a capacity of 120,000 barrels per day.

“The clashes in the morning were fierce, and the casualties are one killed and six injured,” Tripoli-based Ambulance and Emergency Services spokesperson Osama Ali told the TV channel.

Ali said rescue teams had been unable to reach the conflict zone, and it was not clear if the casualties were civilians or military.

Zawiya has witnessed repeated armed clashes that have at times forced the closure of the coastal road to the border with Tunisia.

Reports of unrest in the city were circulated on the internet with unverified footage of gunmen exchanging fire.

Libya’s state electricity firm, GECOL, said that the unrest had led to power cuts in some areas in the city.

“The situation was very bad in the morning. There is calm now, but the security and government authorities must use all their power to end this conflict,” said Ammar.

He said there had been no response from the city’s security authorities to what he described as “a fight between persons and not specific parties” for which civilians were paying the price.
…

washington — Hundreds of Syrian mercenaries have been sent by Turkey to Niger in recent months to protect Ankara’s economic and military interests in the West African nation, a rights group and experts said. 

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has researchers throughout Syria, reports that recruitment of Syrian fighters for deployment to Niger has been going on for several months. 

“We have confirmed that about 1,100 Syrian fighters have already been deployed to Niger since September of last year,” said Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Syrian Observatory. 

Syrian nationals are being recruited from areas under the control of Turkey and Turkish-backed Syrian armed groups in northwest Syria, Abdulrahman told VOA. 

Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ), a France-based advocacy group, said it has also documented such recruitments. 

“These Syrian fighters are being transported from Syria into Turkey, and then using Turkish airports, they are sent [to Niger] by Turkish military airplanes,” Bassam Alahmad, executive director of STJ, told VOA. 

Turkey has in the past deployed Syrian fighters to other conflict zones, including Azerbaijan and Libya, through SADAT International Defense Consultancy, a private military company that reportedly has close ties with the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. 

“It’s very clear that in Niger, Turkey is just extending a policy that views Africa as clear area of growth for Turkey in terms of commercial and military interests, and in terms of extending Turkey’s power in the world,” says Nicholas Heras, a Middle East expert at the New Lines Institute, a research organization in Washington. 

Abdulrahman of the Syrian Observatory also said that SADAT was behind the recruitment of Syrian nationals from areas under the control of Turkey. 

The Istanbul-based company declined to comment. VOA also contacted Turkey’s Foreign Ministry but has received no response. 

A Syrian fighter, who went by the name Ahmed, told AFP this week that a Turkey-backed Syrian militia called the Sultan Murad Division was involved in recruiting him for the Niger deployment. 

The Syrian fighter, who was in Aleppo province, said new recruits will be trained at camps before participating in battles in Niger. 

“The first two batches of fighters have already gone, and a third batch will follow soon,” he said. 

Another Syrian fighter told AFP that he was recruited for duty in Niger “on a six-month contract with a salary of $1,500.” 

A third Syrian fighter said that after two weeks of military training, he was tasked with guarding a site near a mine in Niger, according to AFP. 

Syrian fighters have cited economic incentives as the main motive for accepting such job offers. 

The Syrian Observatory said the Turkey-backed Syrian mercenaries have been stationed in the tri-border area between Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso. 

“For those getting wounded in battle, they receive up to $30,000 in compensation,” Abdulrahman said. “For those getting killed, their families receive up to $60,000.” 

The United Nations says the tri-border region in recent years has become a major hotspot for insecurity, including terror activities carried out by militant groups. 

This comes at a time when Nigerien and U.S. defense officials are discussing plans to withdraw all American forces from the country. Niger’s military junta, which overthrew the country’s democratically elected president in July of last year, has demanded an end to U.S. military presence in the country.

In December 2023, France also ended its military presence in Niger after a similar demand was made by the junta leaders. 

Experts say Niger’s junta recognizes a continued need for security support, so they are increasingly relying on mercenaries deployed by Russia and Turkey. 

“France and the United States were security partners that were there supporting Nigerien forces through cooperation and agreements that didn’t cost the Nigerien public significant tax dollars,” said Daniel Eizenga, a research fellow at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies at the National Defense University in Washington. “Now upon their departure you have smaller contingents of Russian mercenaries, or these reports of Syrian mercenaries being sent by Turkey.” 

“You’re just witnessing this very strange rhetoric around the reclaiming of national sovereignty by Niger’s junta, which has no legitimate claim to popular political support, and then them ceding that sovereignty to these mercenaries and spending Nigerien tax dollars on hiring these groups whether they be Russian or Turkish,” he told VOA. 

Eizenga said the number of fatalities linked to attacks by Islamist militant groups in Niger has increased significantly since the junta took power in July 2023, arguing that coup leaders’ interests are not aligned with national interests in Niger. 

“The fact that they are inviting and courting these mercenary groups to come in is another example of exactly that,” he said. 

This story originated in VOA’s Kurdish Service with some information from AFP. 
…

GENEVA — As U.N. agencies warn of a looming famine in Sudan, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights says U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk held separate phone calls with Sudan’s rival generals this week to try to deescalate the conflict. 

“The high commissioner warned both commanders that fighting in el-Fasher, where more than 1.8 million residents and internally displaced people are encircled and at imminent risk of famine, would have a catastrophic impact on civilians, and would deepen intercommunal conflict with disastrous humanitarian consequences,” Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the high commissioner, told journalists in Geneva Friday. 

Since fighting for control of el-Fasher, the last stronghold of the Sudanese Armed Forces in western Darfur, dramatically escalated last week, the United Nations says at least 58 civilians have been killed and 213 injured. 

Shamdasani said during separate telephone conversations Tuesday with Sudanese Armed Forces Commander Lieutenant-General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, Türk “appealed to both generals to put the interests of the people first.” 

She said human rights chief Türk, who has been trying to have a conversation with the two competing leaders since August, expressed his “deep distress” at the situation in Sudan and urged them “to take specific concrete steps to cease hostilities.” 

Shamdasani said the high commissioner told them “to resume peace negotiations, to ensure that people have access to adequate humanitarian assistance, to not block humanitarian assistance, and to ensure that their troops and their allied forces fully respect international humanitarian law and human rights law.” 

She said the generals each acknowledged the importance of respecting international humanitarian law and that SAF Commander Burhan indicated that he would facilitate visas for more U.N. human rights staff. 

“The visa issue is an important one,” she said, noting that her office currently has only one international staff member in Port Sudan. 

“The high commissioner did ask for his designated expert to get access to Sudan as well as more of our staff to get access, and that was a positive outcome of the call,” she said, adding that “it is very important for us to be on the ground, to be able to cover such important crises more closely.” 

Since war between the SAF and RSF erupted in mid-April 2023, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, reports more than 15,500 people have been killed, some 33,000 others injured, and an estimated 6.8 million have been displaced within the country. 

“In Sudan, half of the population, 25 million people, need humanitarian aid,” said Jens Laerke, OCHA spokesperson. “Famine is closing in. Diseases are closing in. The fighting is closing in on civilians, especially in Darfur.” 

He said that the U.N. aims to reach and support 15 million of the worst-affected people, and that efforts to help so many citizens were under threat because the U.N.’s appeal for $2.7 billion was only 12% funded. 

“This is not just an underfunded appeal; it is a catastrophically underfunded appeal,” he said. “People in Sudan are staring famine in the face.” 

The World Health Organization warns famine is looming, especially in parts of Darfur and in the capital, Khartoum, with more than one-third of the population facing acute hunger. 

“The number of under-5 children and pregnant and breastfeeding women suffering from acute malnutrition has increased by 22% from 3.9 million to 4.9 million people in 2024,” Dr. Shible Sahbani, the WHO representative in Sudan, said in Port Sudan Friday. 

“The recent escalation of violence in Darfur, and particularly in el-Fasher, is alarming and causing more deaths and injuries among civilians as access to health facilities is hampered by the ensuing insecurity,” he said. 

The WHO has recorded 62 verified attacks on health care. It says two-thirds of Sudan’s 18 states currently are experiencing multiple outbreaks of killer diseases. 

It warns that disease outbreaks such as cholera, measles, dengue fever and malaria are spreading and likely to worsen during the upcoming rainy season “as people living in makeshift shelters will be more exposed to the elements” and access to those in desperate need becomes even more difficult. 

“We stand ready to do more and utilize all available avenues to reach the most vulnerable populations across Sudan, but we need assurances of security for our staff and supplies,” Sahbani said, adding that “health cannot be ensured in the absence of peace.” 
…

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — An exhaustive rescue operation to find missing construction workers trapped in the rubble of a collapsed building in South Africa ended Friday after nearly two weeks, as authorities released a major revision of their figures and said they now believe that no one else is missing. 

They confirmed that 33 workers died in the collapse of the five-story apartment building that was under construction in the city of George on South Africa’s south coast. 

Authorities in the city had said that 19 workers were still unaccounted for and believed to be buried in the rubble of the unfinished building that came crashing down on May 6. 

But as rescue crews and other personnel finished moving concrete and clearing the debris Friday, the city said it now believed that a total of 62 construction workers were at the site when the building collapsed, and not 81 as it previously announced. The conclusion came after more consultations with the building company, police and other new sources of information, the city said. 

That meant that all workers were now accounted for: the 33 dead and 29 rescued, the city said. Of the dead, 27 were men and six were women, the city said. 

The tragedy was one of South Africa’s worst building collapses. 

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa visited the collapsed building Thursday to show support for the victims’ families, emergency workers and others who had been on the site for more than 250 hours, working night and day in shifts to try to locate and rescue survivors. Five of the victims were taken out of the building alive but later died in the hospital, authorities said. Ten people remain in the hospital. 

More than 1,000 emergency responders, rescuers, volunteers and other personnel were part of the search efforts. 

There were some remarkable stories of survival amid the thousands of tons of concrete that collapsed, including a man who was found alive after being trapped for six days without food and water. Rescuers said he had only minor injuries. 

As the rescue operation ended and became a clean-up operation, the building will be handed over to the national department of employment and labor to conduct an investigation into the collapse, the city said. There will be several other investigations, including by police and the provincial Western Cape government. 

“This was a devastating tragedy,” said Western Cape Premier Alan Winde, the head of the provincial government. “We need to understand what happened and what steps need to be taken to ensure that we do whatever we can to hold those who need to be held to account.” 

Many of the workers were foreign nationals from Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi.

The construction contractors responsible for the building have come under scrutiny and the investigations will probe whether they adhered to safety standards. The building was due to be completed in July or August. 
…

Goma, DR Congo — Reputed to be the coltan capital of the world, the mining town of Rubaya, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, has fallen into the hands of rebels. The fall of Rubaya is causing a stir among local residents who fear M23 will use profits from the coltan mines to fund their war against the DRC government.

Estimated to hold more than 70 percent of the planet’s coltan reserves, the town of Rubaya has been under the control of the M23 rebels since April 30. 

According to Mapenzi Mulume, a young man from Masisi territory, the rebels have set up teams to exploit the minerals 24 hours a day, and women and children are also invited to join, he laments.

He says that since the M23 rebels occupied the mining town of Rubaya, they’ve been mining 24 hours a day. He noted that children are working in rotating shifts. He said he deplores child labor and calls on the international community to intervene on behalf of the people of Rubaya.  

The M23 rebels have been fighting the DRC government since 2021, following an earlier conflict that ended with a government victory.

People in Masisi territory fear the rise in power of the rebels and their allies in the Rwandan army. Exaucé Kavatsawa, a local resident, believes the rebels have achieved one of their primary objectives with the conquest of the important coltan reserve.

He says that Rubaya is a really rich deposit of coltan and other raw materials, and so the fall of Rubaya is a salvation for the M23. He says the access to Rubaya will enable the rebels to find the means to finance their war.  

In a communiqué issued by the Ministry of Mines, the Congolese government asserted that, since the occupation of Rubaya by the M23, tons of raw materials from the Democratic Republic of Congo have been crossing the Rwandan border on a daily basis via the Nyiragongo territory occupied by the M23. Rwanda has not commented on the issue.

These assertions are rejected by the rebels, whose military spokesman is Major Willy Ngoma. He confirms that mining continues in the mines, but he asserts it is by local indigenous populations.

He says the struggle of the government is not about minerals, and asserts that none of their authorities, civil or military, can get involved in this mineral trafficking business. When a citizen is in his own backyard, he says, digging, finding something and selling it, it has nothing to do with the authorities. The population can sell because they are free in their country, and we only ensure their security.   

The M23 rebels have extended their zone of control beyond the town of Rubaya in recent weeks, where the minerals of cassiterite and manganese are also mined in considerable quantities.
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U.S. and Nigerien leaders held high-level talks Thursday on plans to withdraw all American military forces from the country, a U.S. military official told VOA. Carla Babb has more on how the withdrawal affects counterterrorism efforts in the Sahel region of Africa.
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A new report by Human Rights Watch has called on the United Nations and African Union to place an arms embargo on Sudan amid ongoing ethnic cleansing in Darfur. Henry Wilkins speaks to the author of the report, who says the response by the international community has been disappointing.
Camera: Henry Wilkins 
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In Africa, about 15% of the population faces disability challenges despite advancements in technology. Limited infrastructure and high cost of assistive tech create barriers to digital access, leading to exclusion. A conference in Nairobi this week aims to help change that. Mohammed Yusuf reports.
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THE HAGUE, Netherlands — South Africa urged the United Nations’ top court on Thursday to order a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip during hearings over emergency measures to halt Israel’s military operation in the enclave’s southern city of Rafah.

It was the third time the International Court of Justice held hearings on the conflict in Gaza since South Africa filed proceedings in December at the court, based in The Hague in the Netherlands, accusing Israel of genocide.

The country’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Vusimuzi Madonsela, urged the panel of 15 international judges to order Israel to “totally and unconditionally withdraw” from Gaza.

The court has already found that there is a “real and imminent risk” to the Palestinian people in Gaza by Israel’s military operations. “This may well be the last chance for the court to act,” said Irish lawyer Blinne Ni Ghralaigh, who is part of South Africa’s legal team.

Judges at the court have broad powers to order a cease-fire and other measures, although the court does not have its own enforcement apparatus. A 2022 order by the court demanding that Russia halt its full-scale invasion of Ukraine has so far gone unheeded.

During hearings earlier this year, Israel strongly denied committing genocide in Gaza, saying it does all it can to spare civilians and only targets Hamas militants. The country says Rafah is the last stronghold of the militant group.

The latest request focuses on the incursion into Rafah.

South Africa argues that the military operation has far surpassed justified self-defense. “Israel’s actions in Rafah are part of the end game. This is the last step in the destruction of Gaza,” lawyer Vaughan Lowe said.

According to the latest request, the previous preliminary orders by the court were not sufficient to address “a brutal military attack on the sole remaining refuge for the people of Gaza.” Israel will be allowed to answer the accusations Friday.

In January, judges ordered Israel to do all it can to prevent death, destruction and any acts of genocide in Gaza, but the panel stopped short of ordering an end to the military offensive that has laid waste to the Palestinian enclave.

In a second order in March, the court said Israel must take measures to improve the humanitarian situation.

South Africa has to date submitted four requests for the international court to investigate Israel. It was granted a hearing three times.

Most of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people have been displaced since the fighting began.

The war began with a Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7 in which Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages. Gaza’s Health Ministry says over 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, without distinguishing between civilians and combatants in its count.

South Africa initiated proceedings in December 2023 and sees the legal campaign as rooted in issues central to its identity. Its governing party, the African National Congress, has long compared Israel’s policies in Gaza and the occupied West Bank to its own history under the apartheid regime of white minority rule, which restricted most Blacks to “homelands.” Apartheid ended in 1994.

On Sunday, Egypt announced it plans to join the case. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Israeli military actions “constitute a flagrant violation of international law, humanitarian law and the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 regarding the protection of civilians during wartime.”

Several other countries have indicated they plan to intervene, but so far only Libya, Nicaragua and Colombia have filed formal requests to do so.
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A 2023 Transparency International report found that most African nations have shown little progress in the fight against government corruption. Civil society groups in Ghana, however, are taking up the challenge to expose corruption and push for action. Isaac Kaledzi has more from the capital, Accra.
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YAOUNDE, CAMEROON — Chad’s constitutional council was expected on Thursday to declare final results of the May 6 presidential election and name transitional president General Mahamat Idriss Deby as the winner. This despite calls for annulment of the polls due to what the opposition says was massive fraud. Analysts say uncertainty lies ahead as tensions remain high.

Residents of N’djamena, say that since Wednesday night, there has been a massive deployment of troops on streets and what they call the capital city’s strategic locations and neighborhoods considered to be opposition strongholds.

Twenty-four-year-old Abdoul Koulemann is a student at the University of N’djamena. He spoke with VOA on Thursday morning via a messaging app.

Koulemann says business has been at a standstill in N’djamena since Chad’s constitutional council announced on Wednesday night that results of the central Africa states May 6 presidential elections are to be proclaimed on Thursday.

Koulemann says the presence of heavily armed troops deployed by Chad’s military government all over N’djamena scares civilians. He says streets are empty because civilians have decided to remain in their houses as tension is perceived in the city.

Last week, Chad’s Elections Management Body, or ANGE, announced that Mahamat Deby had won the May 6 election with 61 percent of votes.

Monday, several opposition candidates filed petitions with the constitutional council challenging the official results. They say there was massive electoral fraud, including the stuffing of ballot boxes and soldiers chasing opposition representatives from polling stations. Prime Minister Succes Masra, who finished second with 18 percent, says voters were intimidated and arrested.

Deby calls the allegations unfounded.

Deby earlier this week said he is now the president of all Chadians, including candidates who did not win the May 6 polls. He says he is now concentrating in respecting his electoral promises, especially bringing back peace to Chad.

Opposition and civil society groups say they are also surprised over the council’s announcement that it was ready to finalize the election results without ruling on the petitions.

Electoral laws give the council until May 21 to rule on the petitions, according to the opposition.

The council has already said that election-day incidents like fighting and the late arrival of ballot boxes to polling stations were not enough to influence the outcome of the vote.

Beral Mbaikoubou is spokesperson for an opposition party, the Movement of Chad Patriots for the Republic, or MPTR.

He says it is now evident that Chad may descend into violence and chaos after Thursday’s proclamation of definitive results by the constitutional council because Deby rigged elections by falsifying results sheets and intimidating civilians with his military. He says the results declared by ANGE and to be confirmed by Chad’s constitutional council were prepared by Deby, who wants to confiscate power.

Mbaikoubou said civilians should stay at home to avoid confrontations with the military, which he says was deployed by Deby to crack down on people protesting election results.

Deby took power in April 2021 as leader of a transitional government after his father, Idriss Deby Itno, who had ruled Chad for more than three decades, died fighting northern rebels.

Lydie Beassemda is the only female who contested the polls. Speaking on Chadian state TV Thursday, she said that by confiscating power, Deby is failing to show love for the country. She says Chad is becoming a Deby dynasty.

She says her Party for Integral Democracy and Independence wants military leaders to note that Deby is not Chad’s democratically elected president and civilians have so far decided not to violently protest against stolen victory because they want peace in the volatile nation. She says angry Chadians may react violently if government troops continue to provoke civilians whose victory is stolen.

The Economic Community of Central African states, or CEEAC says Chadians should avoid chaos by protesting peacefully if they feel cheated in the elections.
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United Nations — The World Food Program warned Wednesday that the threat of famine is growing for 5 million Sudanese in parts of the country affected by war.

“Commitments made by all parties to facilitate humanitarian access urgently need to be translated into realities on the ground,” Carl Skau, WFP’s deputy executive director, said in a statement.

Skau just returned from a mission to Sudan this week. He said the situation is “desperate and quickly deteriorating.”

“Only a few weeks remain to stock up food supplies in parts of Darfur and Kordofan before the rainy season starts and many roads become impassable,” he said. “Farmers also need to safely reach their farmlands to plant ahead of the rains.”

The rainy season in Sudan is from June through July.

In spite of fighting, border closures, checkpoints and other challenges, WFP says it is currently reaching some 2.5 million Sudanese with assistance.

Sudan was thrown into war 13 months ago, when fighting broke out in the capital, Khartoum, between the leaders of the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The two generals were once allies in Sudan’s transitional government after a 2021 coup but have become rivals for power.

The fighting has since spread to other parts of the country, forcing almost 9 million people from their homes in search of safety. Two million of them have fled Sudan to neighboring countries. Of those who remain, 25 million need humanitarian assistance.

WFP says at least 5 million Sudanese are on the brink of starvation, but the number could be significantly higher, as the most recent data is from December. 

The food agency has identified 41 hunger “hot spots” that are at high risk of slipping into famine in the coming month — most of them in hard-to-reach conflict-affected areas, including the Darfur and Kordofan regions and Khartoum.   

Escalation in North Darfur

The United Nations has been raising the alarm on the situation in North Darfur for weeks. The RSF has reportedly started in recent days to move in on SAF forces inside El Fasher, the regional capital, endangering more than 800,000 civilians in the city.

On Monday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged the parties to immediately stop the fighting and resume cease-fire negotiations.

El Fasher is the only city in Darfur that the RSF has not captured. A full-scale battle there could unleash atrocities similar to those of the genocide carried out by Arab Janjaweed fighters against African Zaghawa, Masalit, Fur and other non-Arab ethnic groups in Darfur in the early 2000s. Janjaweed fighters make up today’s RSF.

The United Nations estimates 330,000 people are facing crisis levels of food insecurity in El Fasher due to a shortage of food items and soaring prices.

Clementine Nkweta-Salami, the U.N. resident and humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, said the weekend clashes in El Fasher reportedly caused dozens of civilian casualties and more displacement, with many residents seeking safety in the southern part of the city. She said aid cannot get through.

“More than a dozen trucks carrying health, nutrition and other critical supplies for more than 120,000 people have been trying to reach the city for weeks,” she told reporters at the United Nations on Wednesday. “They set out from Port Sudan on the 3rd of April — and still can’t reach El Fasher due to insecurity and delays in getting clearances at checkpoints.”

Doctors Without Borders, or Médecins Sans Frontières, supports a hospital in El Fasher that is overwhelmed and running low on supplies.

“Until now, North Darfur had been a relatively safe haven compared to other parts of Darfur,” Dr. Prince Djuma Safari, deputy medical coordinator in El Fasher for MSF, said in a statement. “Now, there are snipers in the streets, heavy shelling is taking place, and nowhere in the city is safe at all.”

He said more than 450 casualties, including women and children, had arrived at the MSF-supported South Hospital in El Fasher since fighting began on Friday. He said 56 of the patients had died and 40 more are still waiting for surgery.

 
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Pentagon — After nearly a two-week delay, U.S. and Nigerien officials are holding high-level follow-on meetings to coordinate the withdrawal of American troops from the country.

Christopher Maier, assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict, and Lieutenant General Dagvin Anderson, joint staff director for joint force development, are meeting Wednesday and Thursday in Niamey with members of Niger’s new government, known as the National Council for Safeguarding the Homeland, or CNSP, two U.S. officials told VOA.

The CNSP posted on the social platform X Wednesday that Maier and Anderson met Wednesday with Lieutenant General Salifou Mody, one of the military coup members who was named minister of national defense. 

The CNSP noted that the meeting comes two months after Niger denounced its military basing agreements with the United States and aims to “ensure that this withdrawal takes place in the best possible conditions, guaranteeing order, security and compliance with set deadlines.”

There are about 900 U.S. military personnel in Niger, including active duty, civilians and contractors, according to the U.S. officials, who spoke to VOA on condition of anonymity ahead of the conclusion of the talks. Most of the U.S. military personnel have stayed in the country past their deployment’s planned end dates, as details for their withdrawal are ironed out.

“We’re still in a bit of a holding pattern,” Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh said last week.

Counterterrorism in ‘disarray’

The U.S. has had two military bases — Air Base 101 in Niamey and Air Base 201 in Agadez —to monitor terror groups in the region. Officials say most U.S. forces are based in the latter, which cost the U.S. $110 million to build, and began drone operations in 2019.

Niger’s natural resources have increased its importance to global powers, and Niger’s location had provided the U.S. with the ability to conduct counterterror operations throughout much of West Africa.

“We’re in a different position now, and we’re going to continue to consult with the Nigeriens in terms of the orderly withdrawal of U.S. forces. We’re going to continue to stay engaged with the partners in the region when it comes to terrorism and countering the terrorist threat,” Pentagon press secretary Major General Pat Ryder told reporters on Tuesday.

Countries in the region, including Niger, Mali, Nigeria and Burkina Faso, have seen an expansive rise in jihadist movements. 

According to the Global Terrorism Index, an annual report covering terrorist incidents worldwide, more than half of the deaths caused by terrorism last year were in the Sahel. 

Niger’s neighbor, Burkina Faso, suffered the worst, with 1,907 fatalities from terrorism in 2023. 

“These are some of the most dangerous areas in the world,” Bill Roggio, editor of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Long War Journal, told VOA. “These countries are in dire threat of being overrun by jihadist groups.”

Now, Niger’s coup has put the West’s ability to monitor terrorists like the Islamic State and al-Qaida in the Sahel in “complete disarray,” according to Roggio. 

The United States’ intelligence-gathering capacity was limited before, “but we’re approaching the point where intelligence-gathering is practically at zero,” he said.

A U.S. defense official told VOA that “basically every flight,” even intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance drone flights, must be approved by the junta. 

“The beginning of April is when things started getting slower,” the official told VOA. The junta began delaying and canceling the types of U.S. military flights that had been quickly approved before then.

Carla Martinez Machain, a political science professor at the University of Buffalo, believes the Pentagon will try to negotiate with Chad for a more significant American troop presence, as the U.S. struggles to find allies in what she called the “coup belt” — a reference to the recent coups in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. 

However, most U.S. forces have temporarily left from Chad for Germany in recent weeks, a move the Pentagon called a “temporary step” as part of an ongoing review of its security cooperation with Chad, which would resume after the country’s May 6 presidential election. 

Only a small group of service members remain in Chad as part of a multinational task force, officials tell VOA.

“Niger was somewhat of a rarity in the sense that it had one of the few democratically elected governments in the region, and also a democratically elected government that was friendly to the U.S. and willing to host a U.S. military presence,” Martinez Machain told VOA. “And so, finding a replacement for that for a military base is going to be somewhat difficult.” 

Unless the U.S. can find another base to use in West Africa, counterterror drones will likely have to spend most of their fuel supply flying thousands of kilometers from U.S. bases in Italy or Djibouti, severely limiting their time over the targets and their ability to gather intelligence.

“The beauty of having drones based in Niger was that they were in the thick of the fight. They were in the middle of where jihadist groups are operating. So, once you launch the drones, they’re in the midst of it, and all of the flight time being used can be used to gather information,” Roggio said.

Resupply concerns

Amid the negotiations and flight cancellations, U.S. troops in Niger began raising concerns about their supply chain. Service members in Niamey told the office of Representative Matt Gaetz that blood for the blood bank, hygiene supplies, malaria pills and other medications were running low. 

A U.S. defense official acknowledged to VOA that “they were concerned about medication levels.” The official also said that troops in Niamey had gone through April without a resupply flight but had received food and water supplies through ground-based transportation.

A flight with medical supplies finally went from Agadez to Niamey last week, the defense official told VOA.

Coup forced withdrawal

Tensions between the U.S. and Niger began in 2023 when Niger’s military junta removed the democratically elected president from power. 

After months of delay, the Biden administration formally declared in October that the military takeover in Niger was a coup, a determination that prevented Niger from receiving a significant amount of U.S. military and foreign assistance.

In March, after tense meetings between U.S. representatives and the CNSP, the junta called the U.S. military presence “illegal” and announced it was ending an agreement that allowed American forces to be based in the country.

During that meeting, the U.S. and Niger fundamentally disagreed about Niger’s desire to supply Iran with uranium and work more closely with Russian military forces.

“They [Niger] saw this as kind of an imperialistic move, and this was seen negatively and was part of the reason why the U.S. was told to leave the country,” Martinez Machain said.

Russia has made significant military inroads across the African continent, Martinez Machain added, because human rights violators are able to obtain military training, assistance and defense systems “without the conditions that the U.S. would attach them.”

“Especially for nondemocratic countries, this can seem very appealing,” she said.
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Abuja, Nigeria — Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Women Affairs says it is investigating a plan by a lawmaker in central Niger state to marry off some 100 female orphans of unknown ages later this month.

Speaker of the Niger State Assembly Abdulmalik Sarkin-Daji announced the mass wedding last week but called off the ceremony following widespread outrage.

Minister of Women Affairs Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, speaking to journalists in Abuja on Tuesday, condemned the plans.

Kennedy-Ohanenye said she had petitioned the police and filed a lawsuit to stop the marriages pending an investigation to ascertain the age of the orphans and whether they consented to the marriages.

“This is totally unacceptable by the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and by the government” of Nigeria, she said.

Last week, Sarkin-Daji announced his support for the mass wedding of the orphans, whose relatives were killed during attacks by armed bandits. He said it was part of his support to his constituents following an appeal for wedding funding by local traditional and religious leaders.

The mass wedding had been scheduled for May 24.

“That support I intend to give for the marriage of those orphans, I’m withdrawing it,” he said. “The parents can have the support [money], if they wish, let them go ahead and marry them off. As it is right now, I’m not threatened by the action of the minister.”

Despite national laws prohibiting it, forced or arranged marriage is a common phenomenon in Nigeria, especially among rural communities in the predominantly Muslim north, where religious and cultural norms such as polygamy favor the practice.

Poor families often use forced marriage to ease financial pressure, and the European Union Agency for Asylum says girls who refuse could face repercussions such as neglect, ostracism, physical assault and rape.

Raquel Kasham Daniel escaped being married off as a teenager when her father died and now runs a nonprofit helping children, especially less-privileged girls, get a formal education for free.

She said the ability of women to avoid forced marriage in Nigeria depends on their income and education.

“I was 16 when I lost my dad and I was almost married off, but then I ran away from home. And that gave me the opportunity to complete my education, and now I have a better life,” Daniel said.

“So, the reason why I prioritize education is to make sure that other girls have access to quality schooling so that it will help them make informed decisions about their lives. Education not only increases our awareness as girls about our rights but also enhances our prospects for higher income earning,” she said.

Thirty percent of girls in Nigeria are married before they turn 18, according to Girls Not Brides, a global network of more than 1,400 civil society groups working to end child marriage.
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Blantyre, Malawi — A new report finds that gaps in family laws in most African countries are fueling discrimination of women and girls. The report from the international NGO Equality Now says laws that favor men in matters of sex, marriage and inheritance, among other issues, leave many women in despair.

The study, released to coincide with the United Nations-declared International Day of the Family on Wednesday, highlights how legal frameworks and customary practices in 20 African countries have fueled discrimination in marriage, divorce, custody and property rights.

Esther Waweru is a senior legal adviser at Equality Now and co-author of the report.

She spoke with VOA from Kenya on how gaps in family laws have affected the lives of women in Africa.

“Take a case of Sudan for instance, where women cannot initiate divorce, unlike men. So, it therefore means that the woman will be trapped in a marriage that they don’t want to live [in], just because they can’t initiate a divorce,” she said.

Waweru said in some countries where women initiate a divorce, they are not allowed to take custody of the children from a previous marriage when they remarry.

In Malawi, the report notes that courts have ruled rape does not extend to marriage. It says customary law in Malawi presumes perpetual consent to sex within marriage and that a wife can deny her husband sex only when she is sick or legally separated.

While in Tanzania, the report says marital rape is only criminalized upon separation.

It also says customary and religious laws in countries like Algeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Nigeria undermine women and girls in matters of inheritance, as they receive less than men and boys.

Hala Alkarib is the executive director for Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa.

She told VOA from Ethiopia that the legal imbalance in many African countries leaves women feeling helpless.

“Imagine that you are not treated equally and discriminated against. It automatically goes without saying you are typically poor. You are exposed to violence systematically. You are dehumanized and undermined. You don’t have equal access to opportunities. You are subjected to different forms of sexual violence, and your dignity is compromised,” said Alkarib.

Francis Selasini is the executive director for Network Against Female Genital Mutilation in Tanzania. He said communities also play a role in undermining or sidestepping laws meant to protect women.

He cited issues of genital mutilation in northern parts of Tanzania, where he said communities have changed tactics to protect their traditional norms.

“For example, initially they were mutilating girls from 10 and above, for the reason of preparing her for marriage. But nowadays, they are mutilating even babies. They are doing so because they would like to defeat the legal process. Because they know if they mutilate babies, babies will not be able to take them to court. They will not be able to report,” he said.

Waweru of Equality Now says although many countries have ratified key international treaties that protect women’s rights, existing domestic laws make implementation and enforcement of these treaties difficult. 

She calls upon African states to fully align their family laws and their practices with international human rights standards.
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Washington — The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on two commanders of Sudan’s paramilitary force, vowing pressure to stop the unit from an offensive on the Darfur city of el-Fasher.

The Treasury Department said it was freezing any U.S. assets and criminalizing transactions with Ali Yagoub Gibril, Central Darfur commander of the Rapid Support Forces, and an RSF major general involved in operational planning, Osman Mohamed Hamid Mohamed.

“The RSF military operation to encircle and besiege el-Fasher, North Darfur, has endangered the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.

“We stand ready to take additional measures against those individuals and institutions that actively escalate the war — including any offensive actions on el-Fasher,” he said.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday also voiced alarm over reports of heavy fighting in densely populated areas as the RSF seeks control of el-Fasher, the last major city in Darfur not under its control.

Tens of thousands of people have died, and millions have been displaced since war broke out in April 2023 between Sudan’s army and the RSF after their head generals refused a plan to integrate.

The United States has led diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting but has seen limited success and leverage, with RSF commanders unlikely to hold major assets in the West affected by sanctions.

The RSF and Sudan’s armed forces are seen as both wanting to secure a battleground victory, and each side has received support from outside players.

The U.S. special envoy for Sudan, Tom Perriello, is again traveling around the Middle East and Africa this week in hopes of making progress.

The United States has accused both sides of war crimes and charged that the RSF has carried out ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity against the indigenous African-origin people of Darfur.

The RSF’s predecessor, the Janjaweed militia, carried out a scorched-earth campaign in the arid western region that the United States at the time described as genocide.
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Abuja — Human rights activists in Nigeria are criticizing a new bid put forward by Nigerian lawmakers to punish drug trafficking with the death penalty. 

The proposed measure is part of authorities’ efforts to escalate a crackdown on drug abuse and trafficking.

The law, if passed, would allow judges to issue the death sentence to people convicted of producing, supplying or selling narcotics.  Currently, the maximum sentence is life in prison.

The Nigerian Senate adopted the bill on Thursday, despite opposition by some lawmakers who raised concerns about the possibility of wrongly sentencing and executing an innocent person.

Human rights group Amnesty International also criticized the new measure. Aminu Hayatu is a researcher for the human rights group.

“It’s a regressive legislative attempt by the Nigerian lawmakers. Once someone’s life has ended, they have lost the opportunity to live to tell the truth. We also need to look at the history of our prosecutions over time. There have been quite a number of mistakes. In Nigeria, Amnesty International has had a persistent call against [the] death penalty. And apart from that, the worldwide campaign against that is actually in line with the promotion of human rights,” said Hayatu.

But not every voice is against the bill. Supporters say the law could prove to be a more effective deterrent compared to a life sentence.  

Ibrahim Abdullahi is the founder of Muslim Media Watch Group, one of the organizations supporting the bill.

“It seems as if the punishment as contained in the law that we have presently [has] not served as deterrent enough. Luckily, over 20 countries across the whole world made [the] death penalty as the punishment for drug trafficking. So, if Nigeria follows suit, it’s not too much. So, I see it as a very good step to serve as [a] deterrent to peddlers of drugs,” he said.

The Nigerian Senate and House of Representatives must approve the amendment before it can be sent to the president to sign into law.  

The country is seeing an increasing trend of drug abuse and has in recent years gone from being a transit country to a hub of the drug trade.

Nigeria’s National Drug Law Enforcement Agency says over 14 million Nigerians use illegal drugs.  The majority use locally-grown cannabis, but many others use cocaine, heroin, or amphetamine-type stimulants.  

The drug trade is often fueled by lack of legitimate economic opportunities.

Abdullahi said besides adding the death penalty, corruption should also be addressed.

“You can’t fight drug addiction without fighting corruption. Now that this law is about to be promulgated, more stringent laws should be made to fight corruption in Nigeria so that officers who are guilty of taking bribes to conceal crimes or not to prosecute diligently will also be dealt with seriously. So, as we fight drug trafficking, we should fight the attendant corruption,” he said.

More than 3,000 Nigerians are on death row for various offenses — the highest number in the world. Rights activists have been campaigning to change that and compel authorities to abolish the death penalty.

But they say proposing the death penalty for more offenses only makes matters worse. 
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The U.N. environmental agency says Africa is the lowest contributor of global greenhouse emissions yet remains the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. A U.S. charity called GiveDirectly is helping some African communities build resilience. Juma Majanga reports from Baringo, Kenya.
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