Month: November 2024

Dakar — Senegal on Sunday voted in parliamentary elections, with the new leaders aiming for a resounding majority to see through the promise of ambitious reform that swept them to power eight months ago.

President Bassirou Diomaye Faye secured victory in March pledging economic transformation, social justice and a fight against corruption — raising hopes among a largely youthful population facing high inflation and widespread unemployment.

But an opposition-led parliament hampered the government’s first months in power, leading Faye to dissolve the chamber in September and call snap elections as soon as the constitution allowed him to do so.

“I hope that [the ruling party] Pastef will win the elections to gain a majority so that they can better carry out their mandate,” said 56-year-old Pascal Goudiaby, who was among dozens waiting to cast their ballots at a polling station in the capital Dakar.

“The priority is unemployment, young people are facing so much unemployment,” he added.

Faye appointed his firebrand mentor Ousmane Sonko as prime minister, after Sonko’s own bid to run for president was blocked following a three-year deadly standoff with the former authorities.

The pair promised a leftist pan-African agenda — vowing to diversify political and economic partnerships, review hydrocarbon and fishing contracts and re-establish Senegal’s sovereignty, which they claimed had been sold abroad.

The West African country’s roughly 7.3 million registered voters will elect 165 MPs for five-year terms.

Analysts say Senegalese voters have historically confirmed their presidential choice during parliamentary elections, and the Pastef party is the favorite to win.

“I think that whoever you gave your confidence to in the presidential election, you need to renew your confidence in him so that he can achieve what he started,” said 56-year-old voter Toure Aby.

“We want life to be less expensive for the Senegalese”, she added. “Everything’s expensive: water, electricity, food.”

‘No room for violence’

Voters are continuing a long democratic tradition in Senegal, widely seen as a stable outlier in a coup-plagued region.

Prime Minister Sonko cast his vote in the morning in the southern city of Ziguinchor, calling for calm.

“Democracy is expressed in peace and stability, and I believe that in a democracy there is no room for violence,” he said.

Sonko spent three weeks on the campaign trail promising projects and investment in the regions he visited, while applauding patriotism and national sovereignty.

Reminiscent of his years as a fiery opposition leader, he had called for vengeance after attacks against his supporters, but later urged restraint.

Despite the heated tone, clashes were sporadic in the run-up to the vote.

Though some agreements have been reached between coalitions, the opposition remains fragmented.

Former president Macky Sall is leading an opposition grouping from abroad, breaking with the political restraint normally adopted by ex-leaders in Senegal.

He left power in April after triggering one of the worst crises in decades with a last-minute postponement of the presidential election.

Former prime minister and presidential runner-up Amadou Ba, and Dakar mayor Barthelemy Dias, are also heading coalitions.

Bleak picture

The opposition has accused the new government of inaction, amateurism and a desire to settle scores with the previous administration.

Unemployment stands at more than 20 percent and scores continue to risk their lives every month in a bid to reach Europe by boat.

The government said an audit of public finances revealed a wider budget deficit than previously announced, with the International Monetary Fund suspending an aid program pending the audit’s review.

Moody’s downgraded Senegal’s credit rating and placed the country under observation.

Since taking office, the authorities have lowered the price of household goods such as rice, oil and sugar and launched a series of reviews.

They have initiated justice system reform and presented an ambitious 25-year development plan aimed at transforming the economy and public policy.

Polling stations close at 6:00 pm (1800 GMT).

Reliable projections of the new parliament’s makeup could be available from Monday morning.
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BAMAKO, Mali — After years of serving as Mali’s minister of the environment, Aida M’bo now spends her time planting trees in a fight that many in the arid West African country acknowledge they are losing.

“Deforestation is an important issue in Mali,” she said, standing in front of the Zamblara forest. For decades it has been classified as protected, but like many forests in the vast Sahel, it could be wiped out.

“It is mainly due to the excessive wood-cutting,” M’bo said.

Even some of her fellow tree-planters that day were to blame. Salimata Diabate, who took part in the ceremony last month, lives nearby and sells firewood from the forest in the Sikasso region, long considered Mali’s breadbasket.

While Diabate expressed concern about the threats to Mali’s forests, she said people like her in the countryside have no choice but firewood for cooking.

“Things like cooking gas and solar panels are better, but it’s too expensive for rural women,” she said.

The loss of forests has become a pressing issue across Africa as the Sahara Desert continues to creep southward. Over the last three decades, nearly 20,000 square kilometers of forest have been lost in Mali, according to the environmental nonprofit Tree Aid.

M’bo’s nonprofit, Energia, is financially supported by the Great Green Wall, an initiative by African countries launched in 2007 that aims to plant trees in a nearly 8,047-kilometer line across the continent, creating a natural barrier to hold back the desert as climate change sweeps the sands south.

But millions of the trees died as temperatures rose and rainfall diminished. As a result, only 4% of the Great Green Wall’s original goal has been met, and an estimated $43 billion would be needed to achieve the rest.

In Mali, the initiative is facing an additional challenge : the population’s dependency on firewood.

Lassana Coulibaly, who lives in the town of Senou near the capital, Bamako, spends his days chopping up and reselling wood he buys from people who cut it from a nearby forest.

“This how we make a living on a daily basis,” he said. He doesn’t believe the forest will disappear.

A 2019 study by the African Energy Commission found that 64% of Mali’s total fuel consumption was of biomass, primarily firewood and charcoal for household use. Their sale remains legal.

Despite being one of Africa’s top gold producers, Mali ranks among the world’s least developed nations, with almost half of its 23 million population living below the national poverty line. The problem is worse in rural areas, where subsistence farming — many people’s only real option for survival — is threatened by armed conflict and climate change.

The country has been plagued by an insurgency fought by armed groups, including some allied with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, and two military coups since 2020.

Mali is also among several countries in the Sahel that have experienced record-breaking floods this year, with more than 1,000 people killed and hundreds of thousands displaced across the region.

Khady Camara, an environmental activist based in Senegal, said forests can help to weather the effects of climate change by absorbing water to prevent floods, and by absorbing carbon that would otherwise end up in the atmosphere as part of heat-trapping gas.

“We need to give more priority to our forests, but we also need to set up new forests and give priority to natural regeneration,” said Camara, whose organization Vacances Vertes has planted 150,000 trees in Senegal.

She said the effects of climate change on the Sahel region can’t be overstated, and the causes often come from far beyond the African continent.

“Africa produces only 3% of greenhouse gases. Ninety percent is from the West,” she said. “If we continue like this, I’m saying to myself that this will be the disappearance of Africa, and of Africans.” 
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beirut — When Sara first arrived at her rescuers’ home, she was sick, tired, and was covered in ringworms and signs of abuse all over her little furry body. 

After spending two months in a small Beirut apartment with an animal rights group, the 4-and-half-month-old lion cub arrived Friday at a wildlife sanctuary in South Africa after a long journey on a yacht and planes, escaping both Israeli airstrikes and abusive owners. 

Sara is the fifth lion cub to be evacuated from Lebanon by rescue group Animals Lebanon since Hezbollah and Israel began exchanging fire a day after the October 7 attack in southern Israel by Hamas that ignited the war in Gaza last year. 

Animals Lebanon first discovered Sara on social media channels in July. Her owner, a Lebanese man in the ancient city of Baalbek, posted bombastic videos of himself parading with the cub on TikTok and Instagram. 

Under Lebanese law, it is prohibited to own wild and exotic animals. 

The lion cub was “really just being used as showing off,” said Jason Mier, executive director of Animals Lebanon. 

In mid-September, the group finally retrieved her after filing a case with the police and judiciary, who interrogated her owner and forced him to give up the feline. 

Soon after that, Israel launched an offensive against the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah — after nearly a year of low-level conflict — and Baalbek came under heavy bombardment. 

Mier and his team were able to extract Sara from Baalbek weeks before Israel launched its aerial bombardment campaign on the ancient city, and move her to an apartment in Beirut’s busy commercial Hamra district. 

She was supposed to fly to South Africa in October, but international airlines stopped flights to Lebanon as Israeli jets and drones hit sites close to the country’s only airport. 

Hezbollah began firing rockets across the border into Israel in support of its ally, Hamas, on October 8, 2023, a day after Palestinian militants staged the deadly surprise incursion into southern Israel. Israel responded with shelling and airstrikes. Beginning in mid-September, Israel launched an intense aerial bombardment of much of Lebanon, followed by a ground invasion. 

Rescue saves trapped pets

Before the conflict, Animals Lebanon was active in halting animal trafficking and the exotic pet trade, saving over two dozen big cats from imprisonment in lavish homes and sending them to wildlife sanctuaries. 

Since the war started, Animals Lebanon has also been rescuing pets that have been trapped in damaged apartments as hundreds of thousands of Lebanese fled bombardment — almost 1,000 over the past month alone. 

“Lots are still in our care because the owners of these animals are still displaced,” Mier said. “So we can’t expect the person to take this animal back when he might be living on the street or in a school.” 

Before the conflict escalated, the rights group was able to move around the country more freely as the fighting largely remained in southern Lebanon along the border with Israel. But things became more difficult as airstrikes became more frequent and spread over wider swathes of the country. 

Unaware of the war around her, Sara thrived. She was fed a platter of raw meat daily and grew to 40 kilograms (88 pounds). She cuddled every morning with Mier’s wife Maggie, also an animal rights activist. 

But the activists faced a major obstacle: How would they get her out of Lebanon? 

Donations fund her journey

Animals Lebanon collected donations from supporters and rights groups around the world to put Sara on a small yacht to take her to Cyprus. From there, she flew to the United Arab Emirates before her long journey ended in Cape Town. 

Days before her evacuation Sara played in one of the bedrooms at Mier’s apartment, with cushions and chew toys scattered. 

Thursday at dawn, she arrived to the port of Dbayeh, just north of Beirut. Mier and his team were relieved, but also struggling to hold back their tears at her departure. 

Mier anticipates Sara will be held for monitoring and disease-control, but soon will be part of a community of other lions. 

“Then she’ll be integrated with two recent lions that we’ve sent from Lebanon, so she’ll make a nice group of three hopefully,” he said. “That’s where she will live out the rest of her life. That is the best option for her.” 
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OUGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — The last three years have been tough for Fanta Charlotte Dabone, a mother of three from the conflict-battered West African country of Burkina Faso.

She fled her village after it was attacked by extremists, leaving her husband and her farm behind. Since then, she has been moving from place to place, struggling to pay rent and to buy enough food for her children, including a 2-year-old toddler.

But last month, she got to be a queen.

Every day for a week, together with dozens of other Burkinabe men and women who have been displaced by extremist violence, she swirled, danced and chanted for almost two hours in front of captivated audiences at Recreatrales, an international theater festival held in Ouagadougou, the country’s capital.

“I was so happy about it,” she said. “I don’t even know how to explain how it felt.”

Burkina Faso, a landlocked nation of 23 million in Sahel, an arid strip of land south of the Sahara, used to be known for its bustling arts scene, including renowned film and theater festivals, and its sophisticated craftsmanship.

But in recent years, the country has become the symbol of the security crisis in the region. It has been shaken by violence from extremist groups and the government forces fighting them, much of it spilling over the border with Mali, and by two ensuing military coups.

The military junta, which took power by force in 2022, failed to provide the stability it promised. Instead, the situation deteriorated: According to conservative estimates, more than 60% of the country is now outside of government control, more than 2 million people have lost their homes and almost 6.5 million need humanitarian aid to survive.

The country’s leader, Capt. Ibrahim Traore, installed a system of de-facto censorship, where those critical of the regime disappear or get forcefully drafted into the army, and where even friends are afraid to discuss politics with each other.

But against all odds, last month the Bougsemtenga district in the capital turned into a festival grounds to host Recreatrales for the 13th time.

Bougsemtenga derives its name from “bougtenga,” which means “happiness district” in Moore, one of the local languages. True to its origins, this year its streets were transformed into a dreamy universe, resembling a crossover between a traditional village festival and “Alice in Wonderland.” More than 150 African and European artists performed and over 4,500 theater lovers were able to escape the country’s grim reality, if just for a little while.

Improvised theater stages were constructed inside people’s courtyards. The streets were decorated with colorful lights and abstract sculptures made by locals from plastic bottles and scraps of wax-printed fabrics. Residents put up hand decorated stands, selling beer and meat sticks to multinational crowds of theatergoers, ranging from Western diplomats to local mechanics. The ticket booth was a giant frog, its mouth wide open.

Aristide Tarnagda, the festival’s artistic director, said he was convinced that regardless of the insecurity engulfing the country, the festival had to take place as planned.

Theater is an affirmation of “the primacy of life over death,” Tarnagda said. He added that getting together to perform and watch theatrical productions is a form of resistance against adversity and violence. This is why this year’s theme was “Turning the face to the sun.”

“Humans are capable of love and freedom, but sometimes they forget it,” he said. “The role of the theater is to remind them about it.”

Held every two years, the festival is the culmination of the yearlong work that the organizers do with residents of the Bougsemtenga district, which was home to two theaters and a theater association even before the first Recreatrales in 2002.

They run art workshops, including in writing, theater, dance and scenography, for young people from the district and from all of Africa, and organize mentoring sessions and business skills classes for local women. The goal is to get as many people as possible involved, said Odile Sankara, the festival’s director.

“It’s a working class district,” Sankara said. “We want to encourage people to take an interest in art, to get a taste of it.”

She added: “Art is a powerful weapon to fight for more light, more humanity and more love,” especially while her country and the whole Sahel region were going through a security and humanitarian crisis.

Claude Ilboudo, a 30-year-old from Bougsemtenga, has performed in the opening ceremonies of Recreatrales as a dancer since its first edition. He used to work as a glazier, and dancing was just his past time. But Ilboudo’s life took a turn when five years ago he severely injured his right hand at work and could no longer do his job.

It was then that Ilboudo discovered a passion for theater and started working for the Recreatrales association. “Theater saved me,” he said. “It made me discover what I could do.”

This year, Ilboudo was part of the team that prepared the opening play with the internally displaced actors from scratch, including the concept, scenario and choreography. It was also the first time he personally interacted with people who had to flee their homes because of extremist violence.

For internally displaced people, theater is not just a tool for therapy, helping them to process trauma, said Sankara, the artistic director. It’s a way for a group that has been marginalized and isolated in Burkinabe society to be seen by others.

During the play, Dabone, the displaced mother of three, stood at center stage with her toddler tied to her back and spit out a long, white paper strip. It symbolized all the haunting thoughts leaving her body, she said. But the question remains — for how long.

“Life is very difficult,” she said. “But when I am on the stage, I feel joy. It’s when I have to go back home that all these thoughts are coming back to my head.”
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Yaoundé, Cameroon      — Early results indicate a majority of Gabon’s 860,000 registered voters cast ballots in favor of a new constitution that could end military rule, according to state TV reports.

The results of Saturday’s constitutional referendum could end the transitional military government that ousted the Bongo family dynasty after nearly 60 years of rule. An official tally is expected later.

Officials say the adoption of the new constitution is one of the major promises made by General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema after seizing power in what Gabon’s military leaders call a bloodless August 30 coup that liberated the central African state from political bondage. 

Nguema seized power from Ali Bongo, who was declared the winner of Gabon’s August 26 elections with more than 64% of the vote. 

Gabon’s military said the coup marked an end to the nearly 56-year Bongo dynasty, during which Omer Bongo Ondimba ruled Gabon for 42 years since 1967 and handed power to his son, Ali Bongo, in 2009.

Gabon’s military said it deployed troops Saturday to towns and villages and reinforced a dusk-to-dawn curfew from midnight to 5 a.m. to make sure civilians were protected before, during and after the voting. 

Serge Zeng Ango is executive secretary of the National Union, a political party that campaigned for Gabon citizens to vote in favor of a new constitution during the referendum. 

Ango said the new constitution will put an end to any chance of another political dynasty where power was passed from father to son, as during the Bongo era.  

Unlike in the past when power was confiscated by a few people, said Ango, the new constitution is reassuring that ultimate power resides in civilians who can freely vote for their leaders and contribute to the development of their nation. 

 

He said those who voted in favor of Gabon’s new constitution are happy that article 42 of the law states that at the end of the term of office, the president, his or her spouse and descendants cannot be candidates for succession. 

But opposition and civil society say the draft constitution should have prohibited military ruler General Nguema from running for president. They said military leaders prepared the constitution to grant excessive power to the president because they want Nguema to maintain his grip on power.  

Jean-Victor Mouanga Mbadinga is a former presidential aspirant and leader of the Movement for Social Emancipation of Gabon’s civilians, one of Gabon’s political parties. 

 

He said by suppressing the post of prime minister, the fundamental law of 173 articles transforms Gabon into a country where the president has too much power. He said it is unfortunate that Gabon is increasing the presidential term limit from 5 to 7 years, renewable once, when in the United States of America — a world democracy that the central African state should emulate — presidents serve for no longer than two elected 4-year terms. 

 

Mbadinga said it is abnormal for Gabon’s constitution to give powers to the president to either dissolve parliament, which is the legislative arm of government, and to hire and fire a vice president at will. 

Gabon’s opposition and civil society said they will challenge the outcome of the referendum in the courts but did not give further details. 

 

Gabon’s government said Saturday’s referendum was free, fair and transparent. 

 

Officials said the new constitution would protect individual liberties, unlike during the Bongo father and son era. 

 

International observers from the African Union and the Central African Economic and Monetary Community said that, except for voting that began late due to the late opening of polling stations, the elections were peaceful and transparent. Hundreds of voters turned out at polling stations starting at 6 a.m. local time, according to observers.  

 

Gabon’s military leaders said final results of the constitutional referendum will be released by the constitutional court, but neither provided a specific time or date.  

 

After the publication of referendum results, Nguema said, Gabon will prepare its electoral laws in February, create an elections management body, and organize presidential, parliamentary and local elections in August 2025 to end a two-year transitional period.  

 

The military ruler has not said if Nguema will be a candidate or not, but the constitution in this referendum does not prevent him from running for president.  
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Bamako, Mali — Mali’s civilian Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga called Saturday on the country’s military leaders to discuss ending the so-called “transition” period, in a rare criticism of the ruling junta.

The country has been ruled by the military since successive coups in 2020 and 2021.

In June 2022, the junta pledged to hold elections and hand power back to civilians by the end of March 2024, but then postponed the vote indefinitely.

“The Transition was supposed to end on March 26, 2024. But it was postponed indefinitely, unilaterally, without debate within the government,” Maiga told supporters of his M5-RFP movement, in a speech published on Facebook by local media.

“Even today, there is no debate on the issue. The prime minister is reduced to relying on press rumors or a haphazard interpretation of the actions of the minister of territorial administration and decentralization,” he added.

“The specter of confusion and confusion hangs over the transition, with, even if I have to repeat myself, the risks of serious challenges and risks of going backwards,” continued Maiga.

However, he praised the armed forces and called for unity and “respect for political authorities, the guarantor of strength and stability.”

In May, the M5-RFP movement issued a statement openly criticizing Mali’s military leaders after they failed to meet a deadline to return power to civilians.

An ally of Maiga who signed the statement was sentenced to a year in prison in July, before being released in September after his sentence was commuted.

Eleven people who had criticized the junta’s actions were arrested in June for “conspiring against legal authorities.”

Since 2012, Mali has been plunged into a political and security crisis, fueled by attacks by jihadi groups and other armed groups, as well as clashes with separatist forces in the north of the country. 
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