Month: May 2024

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N’DJAMENA, Chad — Chad’s state election body said on Thursday interim President Mahamat Idriss Deby had won the May 6 presidential election outright with more than 61% of the vote, citing provisional results, even as his main challenger declared himself the winner.

Chad’s junta has become the first of the coup-hit countries in West and Central Africa to stage a return to constitutional rule via the ballot box, but some opposition parties have cried foul over vote-rigging concerns.

With tensions running high, large numbers of security forces deployed at major intersections in the capital, N’Djamena, ahead of the results announcement.

National Election Management Agency chief Ahmed Bartichet said Deby had secured 61.3% of the vote, comfortably more than the 50% needed to avoid a runoff.

He said Deby’s prime minister and top opposition candidate Succes Masra, 40, had won 18.53%.

Just before the ceremony, Masra claimed victory in a live broadcast on Facebook and called on security forces and his supporters to oppose what he called an attempt to steal the vote.

“A small number of individuals believe they can make people believe that the election was won by the same system that has been ruling Chad for decades,” he said.

“To all Chadians who voted for change, who voted for me, I say: mobilize. Do it calmly, with a spirit of peace,” he said.

What happens next is unclear.

While Masra drew larger-than-expected crowds on the campaign trail, analysts had widely predicted that the victor would be Deby, who seized power when rebels killed his long-ruling father, Idriss Deby, in April 2021.

“Post-election protests are possible, though the threat of police repression could dissuade many people from taking to the streets,” Crisis Group experts said ahead of the vote.

The election is being closely watched from abroad.

While other juntas in the insurgency-torn Sahel region, including Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, have told Paris and other Western powers to withdraw and turned to Moscow for support, Chad remains the last Sahel state with a substantial French military presence.

Security and the economy have been key campaign issues. One of the world’s least-developed countries, Chad’s meagre resources have been stretched thinner by multiple shocks including climate change-fueled heatwaves and a refugee crisis linked to the civil war in Sudan. 
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johannesburg — What’s the future of Artificial Intelligence in Africa?

When that question is entered into the AI platform ChatGPT, it answers that it “holds immense potential for transformative impact across various sectors,” notably health care, agriculture and education.

Human experts tend to agree, and AI is fast becoming the latest frontier in U.S.-China competition on the continent.

“To advance in AI research and innovation, African countries will need significant investments in computing infrastructure,” said Chinasa T. Okolo, a Center for Technology Innovation fellow at The Brookings Institution. “The U.S. and China could potentially be good partners to help with such initiatives.”

In the coming years, researchers predict AI companies will run out of data in English and Western languages but that is not the case in Africa where much more data is still needed, Okolo said.

“Thus, by investing in Africa, companies from AI superpowers like the U.S. and China stand to gain valuable data that they could use to build services and systems to be sold back to African countries,” she said.

South Africa’s AI drive

One country on the continent that is rapidly pursuing AI is South Africa.

At a government summit on AI in April, Mondli Gungubele, the minister of communications and digital technologies, said, “The era of generative AI is just beginning, and as a country and a continent we cannot and must not allow ourselves to be left behind.”

South Africa has already established the Artificial Intelligence Institute of South Africa, or AIISA, and it is rolling out “hubs” at universities across the country. It was created to ensure that the country’s industries and sectors benefit from AI, said Hitekani Magwedze, spokesman for the ministry of communications and digital technologies.

“Through the AIISA, we have now created AI hubs in manufacturing and services, farming and agriculture, automotive and transportation, and military and defense,” with more sectors planned, Magwedze told VOA. 

“South Africa has global partnerships with major countries such as U.S. and China in the G20 and BRICS,” he said. “These leading countries see South Africa as a gateway into Africa and the developing countries agenda.”

Magewedze said AI can help with unemployment, inequality and poverty in the country.

In May, Tshwane University of Technology will launch a new AI Career Tech Center in collaboration with U.S. tech giant, Intel.

“The AI hubs across the country are partnering with strong partners from the international community to achieve the objectives of the AI institutes,” said Anish Kurien, Acting Director of the university’s AIISA hub.

Earlier this month, South Africa’s Department of Defense launched a Defense Artificial Intelligence Research Unit at the country’s military academy.

“There is a need for African solutions to African challenges, and AI is an enabling technology of the [Fourth Industrial Revolution] which will play a role in solving many of the social issues facing our beloved continent,” Wayne Dalton, the deputy director of the new research unit, told VOA.

When asked about U.S.-China involvement, Dalton said, “South Africa’s AI strategy and goals are in their infancy” but “there will be plenty of opportunities for the U.S. and China to help us achieve these goals.”

The increased focus on AI in South Africa comes at a time when public opinion has increased for China and slightly decreased for the U.S., according to a new Gallup report released in April.

Trends in public opinion may not necessarily apply to collaboration on the AI front, and African nations will partner with parties that can offer the most value, said Okolo.

“While the U.S. government has provided substantial aid to African countries, China took a different approach by leading with infrastructure investments, which will increasingly become important as African countries aim to bolster their telecommunications and data infrastructure,” she said.

China and US interest

The U.S. has already invested in AI in Africa. Silicon Valley giant Google opened its first AI lab in Ghana, while IBM has research facilities in Kenya and South Africa.

At an American Chamber of Commerce Business Summit in Nairobi last month, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo announced a partnership to enable U.S. companies to invest in AI and data centers in Kenya.

Lisa Walker, managing director for Africa operations at Prosper Africa, a U.S. government trade initiative, told VOA the organization is advancing partnerships under U.S. President Joe Biden’s Digital Transformation with Africa strategy.

“Prosper Africa launched the Africa Tech for Trade Alliance in April of last year. Today, there are 24 private sector partners under this Alliance including industry leaders like Google, AWS, Intel, Cisco Systems, Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, UPS, DHL, FedEx and others,” she said.

China also has taken an interest in AI in Africa. For over a decade, China has been investing in the continent’s internet infrastructure and connectivity through President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative.

In April, a China-Africa Internet Development and Cooperation Forum was held in the China’s southeastern coastal city of Xiamen and attended by representatives from some 20 African countries.

“Africa is an important participant in scientific and technological progress. The development and application of AI is of great significance to the developing countries, including China and African countries,” Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, told VOA.

As for U.S.-China competition in AI, Liu said, “China is willing to carry out communication, exchanges and practical cooperation with all parties, including Africa and the United States, on AI global governance to ensure that AI always develops in the direction of human civilization and progress.”

During their meeting in San Francisco last year and a recent phone call, Liu said, Chinese and U.S. leaders agreed to promote cooperation in the field of AI. Liu added that the two sides will soon hold the first intergovernmental dialogue on AI.

Prosper Africa’s Walker had a different take when asked about U.S.-China competition, saying U.S. companies had “incomparable brand value.”

“It’s the focus on mutual growth, local job creation and shared prosperity that continues to set American tech companies apart from international competitors,” she said.

However, Brookings Institution fellow Okolo is more pessimistic about U.S.-China involvement in Africa.

“While I’ve seen rising interest in Africa from the U.S. and China, I believe it’s honestly hard to say how well these countries are interested in specifically working with African countries to advance AI innovation,” said Okolo. “While American and Chinese researchers often collaborate with each other in academic AI research, these countries themselves are vying to be leaders within the ‘AI race.'”

According to the recently released AI Index Report from Stanford University’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, the U.S. was the leading source of top computer programs known as AI models last year, with 61 compared to China’s 15. However, it found that China led globally in terms of AI patents with 61.1%, while the U.S. accounted for only 20%.
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With the number of deaths nearing 240 and about 235,000 people displaced, Kenyans are mourning their lost ones and trying to rebuild after weeks of heavy rains that resulted in deadly floods and landslides. And it’s not over yet as more rains are expected through June. VOA Nairobi Bureau chief Mariama Diallo has this report. VOA footage by Amos Wangwa.
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Windhoek, Namibia — The World Health Organization (WHO) says Africa has a shortage of health care workers. The issue was addressed in Namibia this week at a forum in Windhoek.

Speaking at the first WHO Africa Health Workforce Forum held in the capital, Namibia’s minister of health and social services, Kalumbi Shangula, warned that Africa’s shortage of health workers will impede the continent from achieving universal health coverage by 2030. 

In order to reach universal health coverage by 2030 as envisaged in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals report, Africa needs to invest in training programs, offer incentives for health practitioners to remain in their home countries, and create initiatives to attract health professionals in the diaspora back to the continent. 

Shangula spoke at the Africa Health Workforce Investment Charter event this week.

“The number of Africans who have left the continent in search of greener pastures in other parts of the world are staggering,” Shangula said. “It is a matter that needs to be addressed as a top priority for African governments and indeed all those who wish to see a shift in the historical as well as current trends.”

Africa has a ratio of 1.55 health workers per 1,000 people. That is below the recommended WHO threshold of 4.55 health workers per 1,000 people.

Africa’s Center for Disease Control Director-General Jean Kesaya says achieving universal health coverage by 2030 will require an additional 1.8 million health workers on the continent. 

He says the critical shortage is projected to reach about 6.1 million by 2030 and is made worse by recurrent public health emergencies faced by countries on a daily basis.

“In 2023 alone, Africa recorded 166 disease outbreaks and the trend I see in 2024 is not good,” Kesaya said. “AU member states are far from realizing the 2017 AU Assembly decisions that called for rapid recruitment, training and deployment of 2 million institutionalized community health workers by 2030.”

Global Health Director for the Africa Diaspora Development Institute (ADDI) Lee Whitaker says the institution has opened doors for diasporan healthcare workers to return to Africa and reverse the brain drain. He says the organization has “access to over forty-five-thousand black African physicians in America and only needs an invitation from the heart of any African state to come abroad.”

Dr. Arikana Chihombori is the president of the ADDI, an organization that is mobilizing the African diaspora to return and invest in the continent.

“Let the diaspora come in and invest in for-profit-clinics in Africa as well as for volunteer work in Africa,” Chihombori said. “It has to be balanced! Because if they are going to leave their work where they are in Europe, in America, they can be here a little bit longer if they are going to make money and also donate some of their time. So a program that allows them to make money while they are stopping Africans from going to India and at the same time also giving to those who are less fortunate is actually a program that can be sustained but to completely hundred percent volunteer is not going to work, it’s not sustainable”.

The forum, which was attended by health dignitaries from all over the world, concluded Wednesday with the launch of the Africa Health Workforce Investment Charter that aims to mobilize and sustain development, performance and retention of the health workforce in African Union countries.
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Yaounde — Chad’s opposition, civil society groups and some election observers are condemning violence, threats and fraud, including the stuffing of ballot boxes, to favor transitional president General Mahamat Idriss Deby after the central African state’s May 6 presidential polls. Deby’s main challenger, Prime Minister Succes Masra, is asking for international assistance, saying he is under surveillance and faces threats to his safety after at least two people were killed in the election.

Masra says there has been persistent violence and threats against him and his supporters since election day.

The Transformers, the party Masra leads, said on Facebook Wednesday that their candidate’s residence is under drone surveillance, but gave no further details.

The party denounced what it called threats and serious violence to intimidate their supporters, who they say have also been arbitrarily arrested since Monday’s vote.

Masra charged that Chad’s National Elections Management Agency, known as ANGE, is rigging the vote in favor of Deby. Masra urged civilians to defend what he called their will expressed at the ballot box against massive electoral fraud.

Chad’s Coalition of Moral Authorities for Mediation, or CONAMM, an association that includes traditional rulers, clerics, former government ministers and youth and women leaders, complained of massive fraud and intimidation during the polls.

Speaking on Chad’s state television Thursday, CONAMM’s secretary-general Baniara Yoyana said there were many irregularities including seizing and stuffing of ballot boxes in favor of Deby by government officials. He added such irregularities are pushing civilians who think that their democratic rights are being abused to riot.

Chad’s opposition and civil society say a government soldier who attempted to stuff ballot boxes in favor of Deby died in a hospital after he was assaulted and stabbed by angry voters near Moundou, Chad’s second-largest city.

They also say a civilian was killed on election day in Moundou following a dispute in a polling station.

Chad’s government acknowledges the killings but denies troops were ordered to vote and rig the election in favor of Deby.

The central African state’s officials say ANGE is a permanent, independent and impartial body and refute what they say are allegations Deby wants to rig the election and proclaim himself Chad’s president.

Civil society groups and CONAMM say Chad may descend into chaos if the government and ANGE fail to ensure the results they will publish reflect the aspirations of Chad’s citizens as expressed in Monday’s polls.

Saleh Kebzabo’s duty as Chad’s government-appointed state mediator is to preempt and negotiate an end to potential crises and threats.

He said he is pleading with all citizens to be calm and maintain peace while waiting for the official proclamation of Chad’s May 6 presidential elections results by the country’s constitutional council, which is the only body empowered to proclaim definitive results. Kebzabo said results civilians appear to be contesting are fake because Chad’s Constitutional Council has not proclaimed any.

Kebzabo said tensions are also provoked by a ban on filming or taking photos of result sheets in polling stations and publishing them on social media and radio and television. ANGE says it imposed the ban because opposition parties may manipulate results they film to ignite violent clashes.

The European Union said Tuesday that Chad officials denied nearly 3,000 civil society members it financed from observing the presidential election.

Deby was proclaimed transitional president in April 2021 after his father, Idriss Deby Itno, was killed in a gun battle with rebels following 30 years in power.

He promised an 18-month transition to democracy but then extended it by two years. He is seen by many observers as the likely winner of the May 6 presidential polls, whose result will be proclaimed by Chad’s Constitutional Council on May 21.

The opposition and civil society accuse Deby ruling with an iron fist and say he is not ready to relinquish power. But Deby says he will hand over power if defeated.
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