Month: May 2024

The White House — The White House says it chose Kenya for its first state visit for an African leader for many reasons — not least because the East African powerhouse has stepped up on the global stage, offering to staff a United Nations peacekeeping mission to Haiti that could see boots on the ground as early as this week. 

VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell sat down with Frances Brown, the newly appointed director for African affairs at the National Security Council, ahead of a state visit by Kenyan President William Ruto. They discussed a range of issues, including technology, climate management, debt relief, democracy, health and more. 

The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

VOA: In a few days, President Joe Biden hosts Kenyan President William Ruto at the White House, his first African leader for a state visit. Why was Kenya chosen and what deliverables can we expect?

Frances Brown, NSC director for African affairs: We chose Kenya for a few reasons. No. 1 is the Kenya-U.S. partnership has really grown from a regionally focused one to a globally focused one. … and we see a lot of complementarities in terms of what we’re trying to do on climate. What we’re trying to do on debt for the developing world, and on security issues. 

The second reason we wanted to have this state visit with Kenya is that we are both democracies, and our bond is very deep as democracies, and our bond is very deep on people-to-people ties. 

The third reason is that Kenya and the U.S. really work similarly in terms of bringing in the private sector to solve global challenges. So, we’ll be talking a lot about those. The deliverables you’ll see are in the realms of technology, clean energy and climate transition, of debt relief, of democracy, of people-to-people ties and on health-related issues. 

VOA: Kenya hopes to soon have peacekeepers in Haiti. Why is this so important to the administration? 

Brown: We do really welcome the Kenyans raising their hand to help lead this multinational security support mission in Haiti, because it’s kind of an example of what I just mentioned of Kenya raising its hand to solve problems even outside of its region. … As you may know, there’s been planning under way for a number of months. It has included policing experts from around the world working to develop a concept of operations. Kenya is not going it alone. The U.S. has provided $300 million towards this, so it’s a big thing for us. 

VOA: Are there any other security agreements these two countries might come up with during the state visit?

Brown: I would say watch this space, because I think security cooperation with Kenya is a really important plank.

VOA: Is it going to be focused on threats from Somalia or from other parts of East Africa?

Brown: The U.S. and Kenya have long cooperated on Somalia. I think you can look for security-related announcements that go beyond that.

VOA: U.S. troops are pulling out of the Sahel and the so-called “Coup Belt.” What are the concerns the administration has about security in the Sahel region, especially as Russia expands its footprint there? 

Brown: As has been widely reported, we are making an orderly withdrawal from Niger. I will say that is pretty consistent with our administration’s [counterterrorism] posture in general that we have made changes to our posture that are consistent with our CT policy. It is no secret that democracy is on the backfoot in a lot of places globally. 

If you talk to democracy scholars, democracy is on something like its 20th year of global decline. So, Africa is not alone in this regard. The Biden administration is focused on lifting up and partnering with democracies to help them deliver. 

You may have seen USAID’s initiative on democracy delivering. We’re working with a few African countries on that. And I think this is, again, something that we’ll be talking a lot to the Kenyans with, because President Ruto has talked about the imperative of democracy delivering. 

VOA: Regarding issues of trade and the African Growth and Opportunity Act — obviously, this is going to be a decision made by Congress, but how does the administration feel about the benefits of trade and of barrier-free trade with the United States?

Brown: President Biden has been really vocal that he sees AGOA reauthorization and AGOA modernization as a huge priority. It has been huge, I think from our perspective, but also from the perspective of the region. It’s something we hear a lot about from our Kenyan partners. We do look to Congress for that. But as you know, reauthorization is due next year, and obviously we hope that things can get in motion before then.

VOA: The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief — which has been a literal lifesaver for people around the African continent — is up for renewal next year. How does the White House see this program as contributing to national security?

Brown: We see PEPFAR as essential. And as you know, PEPFAR has been supported with bipartisan congressional support and across administrations since the George W. Bush initiative initially. We think PEPFAR is delivering for people across the continent, and we’ve been proud to support it, and we look for reauthorization.

VOA: When is President Biden going to visit Africa, and where will he go?

Brown: So, I cannot make news at this moment by announcing presidential travel. But what I will say is thus far, I think President Biden’s commitment to the relationship with the continent is pretty clear. If you think about Kenya, it’s the first state visit that we’re giving to a non-G20 country this term. There’s only been five other state visits. … But then you just look at the steady stream of Cabinet official travels to the continent over the past two years — by our count, there’s 24 principals or Cabinet-level officials who’ve made that trip, all of them bringing their own agenda. 

I’d also say just in terms of the other ways President Biden has shown his commitment, advocating for AU [African Union] membership with the G20 has been huge. Advocating for more African seats and international financial institutions and all the other transformative investment. 

VOA: You’ve just joined the NSC in this capacity. What priorities do you bring to this post?

Brown: I think I see this post as moving forward on the affirmative agenda that President Biden laid out first, and the Sub-Saharan Africa Strategy, which was published at the end of 2021. Then the African Leaders Summit, which came at the end of 2022. There were a lot of initiatives launched by those two events. Now we are running forward on implementation. 

At the same time, of course, at the NSC, the urgent sometimes competes with the important, so of course, we’re seized with managing crises. And we’re really sobered by the crises that are happening in many parts of the continent. So, I see my role as a balance between those two, and I’m thrilled to be on board.
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DAKAR, Senegal — Three Americans involved in a brazen weekend attack on Congo’s presidential palace formed an unlikely band under the leadership of eccentric opposition figure Christian Malanga, who dabbled in gold mining and used cars — before persuading his Utah-born son to join in the foiled coup, according to officials’ description of events.

Six people, including Malanga, were dead and dozens arrested, including the three Americans, following that attack and another on the residence of a close ally of President Felix Tshisekedi, the Congolese army spokesperson Brig. Gen. Sylvain Ekenge said.

Ekenge said Malanga was killed in a shootout early Sunday with presidential guards. The situation “is under control,” he said.

Authorities said they were still trying to untangle how Malanga’s 21-year-old son, Marcel, went from playing high school football to allegedly trying to unseat the leader of one of Africa’s largest countries.

“My son is innocent,” his mother, Brittney Sawyer, wrote in an email to The Associated Press, declining to elaborate.

Sawyer had regularly posted proud family photos on social media, including one in December showing Marcel, a young sister and a toddler hugging in matching Christmas pajamas. In 2020, she posted photos of Marcel lifting weights and dancing during COVID lockdown.

In a Facebook post early Monday, Sawyer angrily wrote that her son had followed his father. “This was an innocent boy following his father. I’m so tired of all the videos being posted all over and being sent to me. God will take care of you people!”

One video that circulated on social media showed her son alongside a bloodied white man, whose identity was unclear, both covered in dust and surrounded by Congolese soldiers. Marcel has his hands raised and a frightened look on his face.

It was far from the persona that Marcel appeared to have been building in videos recently posted on Facebook and TikTok showing him posing with stacks of dollar bills and talking about women.

His father, Malanga, had described himself on his website as a refugee who thrived after settling in the U.S. with his family in the 1990s. He said he became a leader of a Congolese opposition political party and met high-level officials in Washington and the Vatican. He also described himself as a devoted husband and father of eight.

Court records and interviews paint another picture.

In 2001, the year he turned 18, Malanga was convicted in Utah in incidents including assault with a firearm that resulted in a 30-day jail sentence and three years of probation. That same year, he was charged with domestic violence in one assault incident, and battery and disturbing the peace in another, but he pleaded not guilty, and all counts were dismissed.

In 2004, he was charged with domestic violence with threat of using a dangerous weapon, but he pleaded not guilty, and the charges were dismissed. Since 2004, records show several cases related to a custody dispute and a child support dispute. It is unclear if the disputes involved Sawyer.

Malanga described himself as the organizer of the United Congolese Party, a movement aimed at organizing emigres like him against the “current Congolese dictatorship government regime.” He also described himself as president of the “New Zaire” government in exile and published a manifesto with plans for creating business opportunities and reforming Congo’s security services.

Photos on Facebook and his website show him meeting then-senior U.S. political figures, including former Utah Rep. Rob Bishop and New York Rep. Peter King.

Bishop told the AP he did not recall the meeting and couldn’t tell when the photo was taken. King could not be reached for comment.

Dino Mahtani, an independent researcher into African issues, said he first heard of Malanga in 2018 while serving as a political adviser to the United Nations in Congo. He said Congolese authorities voiced suspicions that Malanga was involved in a purported plot to kill then-President Joseph Kabila.

In an interview, Mahtani said he had never met Malanga but thinks Malanga was obsessed with capturing some form of power in Congo.

He also speculated Malanga had been set up or betrayed in the weekend attack, given the implausible way it was carried out.

“Somebody put him up to this. It could be external plotters but given his previous close relationship with at least one of Tshisekedi’s current military commanders, there’s some chance the plot was known about internally and this allowed them to move quickly,” Mahtani said.

The alleged coup attempt began at the Kinshasa residence of Vital Kamerhe, a federal legislator and a candidate for speaker of the National Assembly of Congo. His guards killed the attackers, officials said.

Malanga, meanwhile, was live-streaming video from the presidential palace in which he is seen surrounded by several people in military uniforms wandering around in the middle of the night. He was later killed while resisting arrest, Congolese authorities said.

Congo officials have not commented on how the attackers were able to get inside.

“It’s really difficult to imagine how 20, 30 guys thought that by storming the presidential palace when nobody is around at 4 a.m. in the morning could somehow take over the Congolese state,” Mahtani said.

A second American allegedly involved was identified as Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun, according to images of a U.S. passport circulated by Congolese media. He graduated from the University of Colorado and attended business administration classes at Georgetown University, court records indicate. He later started a commodity trading business and worked as a courier and Uber driver — the records show.

His connection to Malanga appeared to be through a gold mining company that was set up in Mozambique in 2022, according to an official journal published by Mozambique’s government, and a report by Africa Intelligence newsletter.

No information was released on the third American.

The U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa said it was aware “U.S. citizens might have been involved in Sunday’s events,” adding in a statement that it would cooperate with authorities “as they investigate these violent criminal acts.”
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Maputo — Rwanda is deploying an additional 2,500 soldiers to help Mozambique fight resurgent attacks by Islamic State insurgents in the oil-rich Cabo Delgado province. Attacks have been on the rise in the area as a force known as SAMIM, deployed by the Southern African Development Community, prepares to withdraw.

President Filipe Nyusi was quoted by state-run radio late Sunday as saying the troops are being deployed not because Mozambique cannot ensure its own defense, but because the country cannot fight terrorism alone.

Nyusi, who is due to step down in January 2025 at the end of his second five-year term, said it is clear that Rwanda is cooperating with Mozambique, adding that his greatest pride would be to leave things well done to ensure continuity.

He said more contingents are disembarking, not to exchange, but to add flow. And this is mainly because of the departure of SAMIM, and when it definitively leaves the hotspot area we will occupy it.

Nyusi made the statement during a review of the visit he made to Rwanda’s capital last week.

He was in Kigali to attend the Africa CEO forum, and he seized the opportunity to meet with his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame, and the chief executive officer of French company TotalEnergies, Patrick Pouyanné.

Cabo Delgado has been facing an armed insurgency since 2017 that has disrupted several multi-billion oil and natural gas projects. Three years ago, Rwanda deployed 1,000 soldiers to fight alongside Mozambique’s armed defense and was joined by SAMIM.

The regional intervention force will completely withdraw in July, forcing the Mozambican Armed Defense Forces (FADM) to fill the security vacuum.

TotalEnergies is building a plant near Palma for the production and export of natural gas, at the cost $20 billion, but the project has been suspended since 2021.

Rwanda’s additional military support to Mozambique was welcomed by TotalEnergies chief Pouyanné, who said the natural gas project district will soon resume.

He said, I believe we have progressed very positively with contractors, and from this point of view we are ready to resume. He said we are also working with all the credit agencies to resume the financing of the project and it’s progressing very well.

ExxonMobil, with partner Eni, is also developing a liquified natural gas project in northern Mozambique and said last week it was “optimistic and looking forward” for the security situation to improve.

SAMIM’s withdrawal from Mozambique, the result of financial difficulties, comes at a time when terrorist attacks have increased in Cabo Delgado. A week ago, Islamic State-backed insurgents ransacked the major town of Macomia in Cabo Delgado province following a dawn assault in which over 20 soldiers may have been killed, according to local media reports.

A senior project leader for South Africa-based Institute of Justice and Reconciliation, Webster Zambara, said SADC should reconsider its withdrawal.

“Actually it’s the first time in Southern Africa where we would have a troop from east Africa stationed in one country to fight a war that actually is affecting not only one country Mozambique, but others like Tanzania, also Malawi and probably the whole region, and the bigger picture is that terrorism issues tend to be very long if we are to look at al-Shabab in East Africa and also Boko Haram in West Africa, so we may actually need to see SADC revisiting its position on this,” said Zambara.

Last month, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), issued an appeal for almost half a billion dollars in emergency aid to support affected and displaced Mozambicans in Cabo Delgado.

The humanitarian crisis there has left 1.3 million people needing humanitarian aid.
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Journalists living in exile in Kenya are finding support to continue working in their professions, thanks to a fellowship provided by media groups. From Nairobi, Victoria Amunga has more. Camera and video: Jimmy Makhulo
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Johannesburg — South Africa’s top court says graft-tainted former president Jacob Zuma is not eligible to run for parliament in the country’s May 29 general election.

Zuma left office in 2018, dogged by corruption allegations, and was briefly jailed for contempt. He has since founded a party to challenge his successor Cyril Ramaphosa’s African National Congress (ANC).

The ANC has won every South African election since the country became a democracy in 1994, and Zuma served as the party’s fourth president between 2009 and 2018.

But his era has become synonymous with the corruption allegations haunting the former anti-apartheid movement, and electoral authorities argued that Zuma’s 2021 conviction barred him from the ballot.

Zuma and his new party, named uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) after the ANC’s former armed wing, challenged that ruling which has now been upheld by the constitutional court.

After a South African general election, the president is chosen by MPs from among their own ranks, so if Zuma is not on the ballot he could not become president.

Tight race

Under section 47 of the South African constitution, anyone convicted of an offense and sentenced to a year or more cannot stand for office until five years after the end of their jail term.

Monday’s ruling could have deep and destabilizing political consequences.

Ramaphosa’s ANC is still all but certain to remain South Africa’s largest party after the May 29 vote, but some polls indicate that it may struggle for the first time to win an absolute majority.

Zuma’s MK does not poll well nationwide but in his native KwaZulu-Natal province and among Zulus he retains support — more than 30,000 supporters cheered him at a Soweto stadium rally Saturday.

If Zuma’s party cuts into the ANC’s traditional support base, Ramaphosa may be forced to negotiate a coalition with one or more of the country’s many small opposition parties to ensure he is re-elected to the presidency.

Strike Zuma from the ballot may also trigger a deadly wave of unrest. Rioting after his 2021 imprisonment left more than 350 people dead.

Soaring unemployment

South Africa’s respected Independent Electoral Commission says ballot papers have already been printed with Zuma’s image on them, but he will be unable to sit as an MP.

The ANC was the leading political force in the struggle of black South Africans against the former apartheid regime, and has led the country for 30 years.

But late liberation leader Nelson Mandela’s party has struggled in the polls in the run up to this year’s vote, dogged by corruption allegations and soaring crime and unemployment rates.

Just under a third of the working-age population is unemployed and the murder rate has reached 84 a day.

But Ramaphosa’s party still has a formidable nationwide electoral machine and has overseen the creation of a broad social welfare system. Many older South Africans remain loyal to its historic role.   
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