Category: Africa

nairobi, kenya — The U.S. government has sanctioned three rebel leaders accused of fomenting political instability, conflicts and civilian displacement in the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on Thursday imposed sanctions on Corneille Nangaa, leader of the Congo River Alliance, a rebel group accused of seeking to overthrow the government and driving political instability in the DRC. Nangaa was previously targeted with sanctions in 2019.

Washington also sanctioned Bertrand Bisimwa, the leader of the March 23 movement rebel group, for destabilization and human rights violations. Charles Sematama, deputy military leader of another rebel group, Twirwaneho, was also sanctioned.

‘They are standing with them’

Great Lakes region political researcher and analyst Ntanyoma Rukumbuzi said the United States is trying to show it cares about the DRC and wants to punish those who want to create instability in the central African nation.

“The U.S. wants to convince the Congolese, the general audience, that they are standing with them and paying attention to what is happening in the DRC,” said Rukumbuzi. “They can still do something to push or force the rebel groups to stop fighting. As you can see, some of these sanctions seem to disregard and overlook the entire complexity of the violence in eastern DRC.”

In a statement, the U.S. government said the action it is taking reinforces its commitment to hold accountable those who seek to perpetuate instability, violence and harm to civilians to achieve their political goals.

The M23 as a group is also under U.S. sanctions. For several years, it has been fighting the Congolese army and other rebel groups in the east of the country. According to United Nations estimates, more than 7.2 million Congolese are displaced due to conflicts.

Oliver Baniboneba, a Congolese refugee living in Uganda, said U.S. sanctions won’t end the suffering of the Congolese.

There is a country with money that is supporting Nangaa, said Baniboneba. “It will continue to fund him, and the killing goes on,” he said.

High hopes for sanctions

The Congolese government has accused Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebel group, a claim denied by Kigali. Rukumbuzi also said the sanctions won’t stop the operations of the rebel groups.

“They have been fighting for several reasons,” said Rukumbuzi. “There are different individuals and groups who have something to fight for. It may disturb them and try to understand and possibly try to dispatch roles to different individuals, but this won’t stop the rebels from fighting.”

The U.S. hopes the sanctions against the leaders and groups will change their violent ways and persuade them to find a peaceful means to address their grievances instead of killing and displacing innocent people from their homes.
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Kencho Shacha Gozdi, Ethiopia — Weeping families packed homes in a southern remote part of Ethiopia on Friday to bid farewell to relatives killed following a devastating landslide, as authorities announced three days of mourning.  

Mudslides triggered by heavy rain in the tiny locality of Kencho Shacha Gozdi killed at least 257 people, U.N. humanitarian agency, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), citing local authorities, said Friday, but warned that the death toll could reach 500.  

It is already the deadliest landslide on record in the Horn of Africa nation with rescuers continuing the grim search for bodies. 

Things may yet worsen, the OCHA said. 

“As more rain is expected, we should not be surprised to see more of these kinds of emergencies hitting Ethiopia,” OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke said. 

“In that context, we need to sound the alarm on the level of funding available to respond. … international support to humanitarian agencies working in Ethiopia is urgent.” 

A few kilometers from the hillside that came crashing down on the villagers, distraught families washed the bodies of the victims clawed from the mounds of earth, before wrapping them with shawls ahead of the burial ceremony.  

“My heart is filled with joy because I found my wife’s body,” Ketema Kelsaye, 32, told AFP, his clothes and hands still smudged with mud.  

“I wept and searched for five days with shovels and my bare hands in the mud but couldn’t find” her body, he said. “Properly burying her has brought relief to my grief.” 

Ethiopia’s parliament announced three days of mourning to start Saturday.  

The period of remembrance would allow “comfort to their relatives and all the people of our country,” it said in a statement, shared by the state-run Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation. 

The Ethiopian Disaster Risk Management Commission said earlier Friday that humanitarian aid and rehabilitation was “well underway” in the region. 

It said a “structure for emergency disaster response coordination and integration” had been established, adding that 6,000 people needed to be relocated. 

OCHA had said that more than 15,000 people needed to be evacuated because of the risk of further landslides, including small children and thousands of pregnant women or new mothers. 

Aid had begun arriving, it said, including four trucks from the Ethiopian Red Cross Society. 

Officials said most of the victims were buried when they rushed to help after a first landslide, which followed heavy rains Sunday in the area that lies about 480 kilometers (300 miles) from the capital Addis Ababa. 

“The bodies recovered on the first day were easily identified because their limbs were intact,” 40-year-old Iyasu Zumayunga told AFP on Friday.  

“After we dug them out, we washed their faces. Then we asked which families they belonged to.” 

International offers of condolences have flooded in, including from the African Union, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is Ethiopian. 

Africa’s second most populous nation is often afflicted by climate-related disasters and more than 21 million people, or about 18% of the population, rely on humanitarian aid due to conflict, flooding or drought.
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Yaoundé — The Central African Republic’s main opposition leader, Anicet Georges Dologuele, says he will disrupt the country’s first local elections in 36 years if the 2023 constitution and electoral laws that he says favor President Faustin-Archange Touadera’s party are not immediately revised. Rebel groups are also threatening to disrupt the polls, which the government insists will be transparent and will help restore peace and stability to the troubled state.

Anicet Georges Dologuele says Central African Republic leaders are not showing any signs they want to organize free and fair elections to end a wave of fighting that has engulfed the central African state for more than a decade.

The leader of the Union for Central African Republic Renewal party, or URCA, spoke in the capital, Bangui, on Thursday during a press conference to mark his party’s 10th anniversary.

Dologuele, a former prime minister, said his party will not take part in the October 2024 local elections, which he accused CAR President Faustin-Archange Touadera of preparing to rig to favor his party, the United Hearts Movement, or MCU.

He says it is undemocratic and unethical for President Touadera to single-handedly appoint six of the eleven members of the country’s elections management body, the National Elections Authority, or ANE. Dologuele says the ANE cannot be seen as credible and transparent when a majority of its members are either loyalist or sympathize with Touadera.

The URCA party also protests rules that bar people with double nationality from running for office. That would ban Dologuele himself, who reportedly has citizenship in another, unidentified country.

Dologuele says Toudera ordered his government to bar CAR civilians who have acquired double nationality in other countries because he knows a lot of politicians who fled from the CAR who are very popular and can beat Touadera and his party in all elections.

Dologuele said if constitutional reforms are not carried out and if the ANE is not made an independent elections management body, his party will disrupt the October local elections, though he did not say how.

However, CAR government spokesperson Maxime Balalou told state TV on Friday that the elections will go forward.

Balalou says President Touadera has instructed his government to ignore opposition threats and continue educating people that the October 2024 local elections will mark a return to democracy and governance and civilians will be able to participate in local development. He says the elections are part of several requests made by the people of the Central African Republic during the National Reconciliation Dialogue that was held in March 2022.

Balalou said the CAR government will not accept calls to change a constitution backed by 95% of voters in a June 2023 referendum.

In that referendum, voters also approved scrapping the constitution’s two-term limit for presidents and extended the length of a president’s term from five to seven years.

Opposition parties say the 67-year-old president is preparing to hold on to power for many years to come.

Over 2,000 seats in 180 local councils will be at stake in the October polls. The elected councilors will then elect mayors for each of the 180 districts.

Security remains fragile as the elections draw near, as rebels and armed groups loot communities for survival, raping women and girls and creating chaos in towns and villages across the country, according to opposition groups.

CAR government officials and the United Nations insist the October elections will help restore democracy and peace to the troubled state.

The central African state descended into violence and chaos in 2013, when rebels forced then-president Francois Bozize from office.

Since then, fighting and chaos has forced close to a million Central Africans to flee to Cameroon, Sudan, and other nearby countries.
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There is no evidence that the Ford Foundation has been sponsoring protests, but there is ample evidence that it has sponsored human rights groups, journalists and government officials to address Kenyan issues.
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nairobi, kenya — The 2024 Olympics begin Friday, with more than 10,000 athletes gathering in Paris dreaming of winning gold, silver or bronze. Among them will be dozens of women from African countries, many of whom have overcome major social and economic challenges to get to Paris.

For the first time in history, the International Olympic Committee, or IOC, said it achieved full gender parity on the field of play at this year’s Olympics.

Female athletes, who once made up only about 2% of Olympic competitors, are now present in the same numbers as men. They accounted for 48% of the athletes at the Olympics in Tokyo three years ago, which was delayed a year because of COVID.

Several dozen African women are among those who will compete. One is Esti Olivier, a member of South Africa’s canoe team. She will compete at the Olympics for the first time after missing the Tokyo Games because of physical and mental health problems.

“It’s about keeping focus now and not being overwhelmed by the enormous atmosphere that the Olympics brings but enjoying small increments and moments every step of the way for me at this stage,” Olivier said. “We still [have] two weeks before we compete and I am sure the closer I get to that, the more the nerves will kick in. But at this stage it is just excitement to get to Paris.”

Canoeing is not a popular sport in Africa. However, canoe teams from Angola, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa and Tunisia will represent the continent at the Olympics.

Olivier said training for the sport is tough on women.

“Much of this journey I’ve done by myself and because there are so few females participating in canoe sprints in South Africa,” she said. “I’ve always had to train among men. So, it’s definitely a challenge. The lack of support is a challenge. And just juggling private life with sports, you know, just because we can’t only focus on being an athlete. As a woman, I have to also be a wife.”

Despite the progress made by female athletes, many of the challenges that slow women’s progress in sports still persist, including lack of equal pay, discrimination and poor training conditions.

Middle-distance runner Lilian Odira of Kenya, 25, who is competing in the 800 meters, said it was a long journey to get to Paris, but one that was worth the effort.

“Sports opened so many doors for me,” she said. “It’s given me the confidence to be who I am. It’s given me the confidence to speak out against injustices that I might witness at any point in time.

“It’s given me the opportunity to be an absolute role model to young girls wanting to achieve something big in their lives, showing them that even with controversy in difficult times or various roles that you have to put on, it’s still possible to chase your dream. If you really put your mind to it, it’s possible.”

Besides winning a medal, Odira wants to break her personal best time of 1 minute, 59 seconds.

She said she enjoys being an Olympic athlete.

“All over the world, everyone knows you, so I think it is an advantage,” she said. “When it comes to finance and so many things, we know how to tackle and handle it. Healthwise, everybody wants to be healthy. Sports is a nice career.”

Kenya is sending about 20 female athletes to Paris, second only to South Africa, which is sending 24.

African women won 17 medals in Tokyo three years ago and hope to collect even more in France.
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A Kenyan entrepreneur is helping people in wheelchairs get around in a country that is hard for people with disabilities to navigate. Through his company, Ace Mobility, users can hail cars and drivers equipped to accommodate disabled passengers. Victoria Amunga reports from Nairobi.
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Windhoek, Namibia — Namibia is one of Africa’s top five diamond exporters, right behind Angola, Botswana, and South Africa. In 2022, the country exported more than $940 million worth of diamonds.

The world’s demand for natural diamonds has bounced back from a slump during the COVID-19 pandemic, with Namibia’s largest marine dining company, Debmarine, reporting a sales increase of 83% in 2022 from the previous year.

Still, Debmarine CEO Willy Mertens is worried about competition from synthetic diamonds, sector of the business that could cost many Namibians their jobs.

Though trained jewelers can tell the difference between lab-grown and natural diamonds, there’s nothing obvious to distinguish lab-grown diamonds from natural ones.

The Modern Mining publication recently said that in 2022, lab-grown diamond jewelry surpassed 10% of the market of global jewelry sales for the first time. The publication said artificial diamond sales are forecast to continue growing at an annual double-digit percentage rate in coming years.

Namibia, where workers extracted 2.1 million carats in diamonds in 2022, is embarking on a campaign to tout natural diamonds as environmentally sound and holding greater value for the money.

“We’ve seen in the past couple of years that lab-grown diamonds, or synthetics as you call them, have sort of infiltrated the natural diamond market,” said Mertens. ” … people were first marketing them as real diamonds and we’ve done a lot of work around trying to differentiate them.”

One of the challenges of marketing Namibian natural diamonds is the environmental impact that diamonds have on the landscape.

Mertens said Debmarine invests a significant amount of its profits into environmental rehabilitation and restoration of landscapes and the seabed damaged by mining.

“The restoration of the seabed actually happens naturally as the waves move,” Mertens said. “So what we are doing is that we are monitoring that, and what we do is we mine out a specific area and we leave an area next to it vacant, and over time we monitor how the area where we have recovered diamonds looks like compared to the one that was not touched and we’ve seen that it takes about three to 10 years maximum for that to completely restore. By completely restoring, mean about 70% of the organisms have returned to that place. On the land, it is sand that we are moving and what we do now is that we are using that same sand to keep the sea walls in tact.”

Mertens recently paid a courtesy call on Namibian President Nangolo Mbumba, to introduce the De Beers global ambassador for natural diamonds, Hollywood actor Lupita Nyong’o, and talk to the president about challenges facing Namibia’s diamond industry.

President Mbumba lamented a proposal for the Kimberley process — the process meant to screen out so-called “conflict diamonds” from entering the international market — to begin certifying all diamonds in Antwerp, Belgium.

The Group of Seven largest economies said that is an effort to prevent Russian diamonds from being sold abroad.

Mbumba said the measure would hurt African diamond producers.

“Recently, the decision was made by the G7 countries to route all rough and polished diamonds destined for G7 countries via Belgium,” said Mbumba. “This decision poses a serious risk and threat to our economies, especially the economies of Angola, Botswana and Namibia by increasing the cost as well as curtailing freedom of trade for our countries’ products.”

Namibia’s president said he and his counterparts from Angola and Botswana have written a letter to the G7 to ask them to halt their plans.
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abuja, nigeria — Nigerian government officials held an emergency meeting Wednesday in response to nationwide protests planned next month over governance issues and the cost of living.

The meeting came a day after President Bola Tinubu made a public appeal through his information minister, Mohammed Idris Malagi, asking citizens not to go through with the protests and urging them to be patient with the government.  

More than 40 cabinet members attended the meeting, including the secretary to the government, the national security adviser and ministers.

Malagi told journalists after the meeting that authorities were working hard to address the grievances of the people but that the government would need more time. 

“The issue of the planned protest – Mr. President does not see any need for that,” Malagi said. “He’s asked them to shelve that plan and await government’s response to all their pleas, and a lot is happening. The young people out there should allow the president more time to see to the realization of all the goodies he has for them.”

The plans for protests follow weeks of demonstrations in Kenya that were sparked by proposed tax hikes and outrage over high-level corruption. The demonstrations resulted in a tax hike bill being withdrawn and Kenyan President William Ruto dissolving his cabinet.

As in Kenya, organizers of the planned Nigerian protests have been faceless, calling for the protests using online platforms like Instagram and X.

In Nigeria, the main complaint concerns the soaring cost of living, which many Nigerians blame on government economic policies.

Tinubu last year scrapped a popular fuel subsidy and sharply devalued the local currency, the naira, causing food and commodity prices to spiral upward.

Nigeria’s overall inflation is at its highest level in 28 years – more than 34 percent. Food inflation is much higher.

To make matters worse, widespread insecurity and climate change are affecting the ability of farmers to grow food.

Human rights activist Zariyi Yusuf says the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party has been making empty promises for years.

“What exactly would the government want time for, considering what they have done for the past decade?” Yusuf said. “They thrived primarily on protests, and they got into power from the streets, regardless [of] the flaws in the electoral process. I’ve never looked at Tinubu separately from the shadow of [former President Muhammadu] Buhari. I deal with them as the APC, and as far as that’s concerned, what time could the APC need?”

Earlier this month, authorities suspended taxes on certain food imports, including wheat, in an effort to lower prices.

This week, the National Assembly passed a new national minimum wage into law after months of disputes with workers’ unions.

Meanwhile, lawmakers pledged to slash their salaries by half and donate the rest for social intervention projects on food.

Yusuf said the main issues still need attention.

“The key things people are talking about – which is bad governance, which reflects in security, [and] very embarrassing economic policies – should be addressed,” he said. “The first step would be to reverse the pump price to where it was.” 

In October 2020, Nigerian youths led massive protests against police brutality that ended in bloodshed after security forces opened fire on protesters.

On Tuesday, Nigeria’s police chief said the police would intervene if the August 1 protests become violent.

Many will be watching to see how authorities respond to demonstrations – and whether the protests can change the policies of Nigeria’s government.
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Nairobi — Deaths from road accidents in Africa have increased in the past decade, with 250,000 lives lost in 2021 alone, according to the World Health Organization.

The deaths and injuries on African roads are blamed on poor road safety standards, as few African countries enforce laws against speeding and drunken driving, or laws that mandate the use of motorcycle helmets, seat belts and child restraints.

The WHO says road deaths in Africa are becoming a bigger problem compared to other regions of the world. Between 2010 and 2021, road deaths across the continent increased by 20,000. The report released last week conversely shows global road deaths fell by 5% during the same period. 

Binta Sako, a WHO technical officer, said the increased deaths are due to a lack of infrastructure and to road users’ behavior. 

“First of all, we are a growing population. Urbanization without the infrastructure that follows is one of the reasons. The increased number of unregulated vehicles, we are the first importers of used vehicles. Most of the time they are not road worthy,” Sako said. “And then we also have to talk about behavioral risk factors,” such as speeding and drunken driving. 

Road users like motorcyclists, cyclists, and pedestrians are most vulnerable and are at high risk of death and injuries. The WHO says the Africa region has the highest proportion of pedestrian deaths. 

Researchers say no African country has national laws that meet best road practices.

Sam Clark, the head officer at Transaid, which advocates for road safety, told VOA that training drivers to the required standard helps keep the driver and the other users safe. Transaid, an international NGO, promotes driver training and government and training programs. 

“You are improving access to training which meets the standard of many of the transporters in the industry and, therefore, opening the possibility of improved employment or access to new jobs,” Clark said, adding, “but also by giving them better access to training, we are equipping drivers with a better ability to come home safe at the end of every day.” 

Experts say the under-reporting of road injuries and deaths in Africa is another challenge. Police records are a primary source of data collection, but not all road accidents are reported to police. 

Sako said accurate data on road crashes can help develop targeted responses and prevention efforts.  

“When we don’t have quality data, we don’t understand what is going on, we don’t understand why people are dying in the roads, what caused those crashes. Is it poor infrastructure, is it poor lighting, is it the use of alcohol?” Sake said. Collecting data helps in understanding “who the victims really are so that we tailor our interventions to make sure that we respond to their needs,” she added. 

Seventeen countries in Africa have reported reductions in road fatalities, with other countries remaining stagnant or increasing. 

The U.N. aims to cut road accident deaths in half by 2030, but road safety workers and activists lack the funding and knowledge to make that goal a reality. 
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A group of young African students is shooting for the stars thanks to a program called ‘Pathways to Space.’ Aerospace company Boeing and a South African science organization backed an education program that just celebrated its first batch of graduates. Vicky Stark reports from Cape Town.
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Kampala, Uganda — Dozens of people who joined scattered anti-corruption rallies in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, on Tuesday in defiance of an official ban have been charged and held behind bars, their lawyers said.

About 60 people, including a prominent TV and radio presenter and three young protest leaders, were hurriedly brought before the courts and remanded into custody on charges including being a “common nuisance,” they said.

President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled the East African country with an iron fist for almost four decades, had warned over the weekend that the demonstrators were “playing with fire.”

Riot police were out in force across Kampala, manning roadblocks especially near the business district, while officers sealed off roads to parliament.

Police spokesman Kituuma Rusoke had said the authorities would not allow any demonstration that threatened Uganda’s “peace and security.”

The call to action over corruption was organized by young Ugandans online, with colorful posters urging people to march on parliament, drawing inspiration from neighboring Kenya’s mostly Gen-Z-led anti-government protests.

Graft is a major concern in Uganda, with several high-profile scandals involving public officials, and the country is ranked a lowly 141 out of 180 countries on Transparency International’s corruption index.

“We are tired of corruption,” protester Samson Kiriya shouted from between the bars of a police van as he was arrested.

About 60 people who were detained during the rallies were brought before the courts in separate hearings, their lawyers said.

They included well-known television and radio presenter Faiza Salima as well as a social media influencer and a doctor, lawyer Ashraf Kwezi told AFP.

“The three were charged with a flimsy offense of being a common nuisance … and disorderly after they participated in the protest today, but they denied the charges,” he said.

Three protest organizers identified as George Victor Otieno, Kennedy Ndyamuhaki and Aloikin Praise Opoloje were arrested as they marched to parliament and have also been charged.

Bernard Oundo, president of the Uganda Law Society, told AFP that 50 people were charged at one hearing in a Kampala court and are to reappear between July 30 and Aug. 8.

Another five were charged in a separate hearing at another court, their lawyer, Patience Muwanguzi, said.

“This was a rushed trial. They were arrested and taken to court in a very short time and remanded to prison without securing them bail,” she told AFP. “We will ensure these people receive justice.”

Human Rights Watch Uganda researcher Oryem Nyeko condemned the multiple arrests and said they were “a reflection of where Uganda is at the moment as far as respect for those rights is concerned.”

On the eve of the rally, Ugandan authorities besieged the headquarters of the opposition National Unity Platform of former presidential candidate Bobi Wine and arrested three of his party’s MPs.

A heavy police presence remained in place around the offices in a Kampala suburb on Tuesday, an AFP journalist said.

“Salutations to all who have courageously marched and are still marching against corruption and misrule — even in the face of very brutal actions by the military and police!” Wine posted on X. His real name is Robert Kyagulanyi.

Ugandan authorities have frequently cracked down on the NUP and Wine, a popstar turned politician who challenged Museveni unsuccessfully in the last elections in 2021.

Corruption is endemic in Uganda, where several high-profile figures have recently come under the spotlight in graft scandals.

Earlier this year, the United States and Britain sanctioned several Ugandan officials including parliament speaker Anita Among and three former or current ministers for alleged involvement in corruption.

The ministers are on trial accused of stealing iron sheets destined for the poor under a government-funded project and redirecting them to politicians and their families, but no charges have been laid against the speaker.

Four legislators from Uganda’s ruling party and two senior civil servants are also in custody for allegedly embezzling large sums of money meant to compensate farmers who lost property during the 1980s bush war that brought Museveni to power.
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WASHINGTON — The United States has invited the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces for U.S.-mediated cease-fire talks starting on August 14 in Switzerland, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday. 

The talks will include the African Union, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and the United Nations as observers, Blinken said in a statement. Saudi Arabia will be a co-host for the discussions, he added.  

“The scale of death, suffering, and destruction in Sudan is devastating. This senseless conflict must end,” Blinken said, calling on the Sudanese Armed Forces, or SAF, and Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, to attend the talks and approach them constructively. 

The war in Sudan, which erupted in April 2023, has forced almost 10 million people from their homes, sparked warnings of famine and waves of ethnically driven violence blamed largely on the RSF. 

Talks in Jeddah between the army and RSF that were sponsored by the United States and Saudi Arabia broke down at the end of last year. 

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters on Tuesday that the goal of the talks in Switzerland was to build on work from Jeddah and try to move the talks to the next phase. 

“We just want to get the parties back to the table, and what we determined is that bringing the parties, the three host nations and the observers together is the best shot that we have right now at getting the nationwide cessation of violence,” Miller said.
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