News That Matters To Africa©️
Quote of the Day:
“Close the window that hurt you, no matter how beautiful the view is…”
Highlights:
Museveni promotes son to military chief
Nigeria rescues 137 kidnapping victims
Senegal begins voting; UK trophy hunting ban is ‘colonial’
65 migrant bodies found in Libya mass grave.
Top News:
Eastern Africa
DRCongo now 2nd, overtaking Peru on copper output, but still behind on exports
Ethiopia: Human Rights Commission report reveals systemic rights violations
Ethiopia to let foreigners own property, PM says
Evidence found in Ethiopia of humans surviving eruption 74,000 years ago
Ruto sending Kenyan troops to Haiti for money, US ex-diplomat
Officials didn’t act on Kenya cult reports watchdog
Kenya declares EACRF deployment in DR Congo ‘successful’ mission
Ohio based man charged with lying about role in Rwandan genocide
Al Shabaab launches deadly attack on military base in Somalia
India brings back 35 Somali pirates as part of operations near Red Sea
Where’s Mabior? Lawyers want Juba to produce activist
South Sudan polls date: Why another postponement looms
UNMISS protects supply convoys to people in Abyei area
Darfur govt accuses RSF of blocking aid, calls it a “crime against humanity”
What is famine, when is it declared and why are Gaza and Sudan at risk?*
Tanzanian VP threatens to resign over water shortage
Ugandan president promotes his son to military chief
West Africa
Nigerian army rescues 137 abducted students
Are Nigeria’s vigilantes as bad as bandits they’re chasing?
Senegal begins voting in delayed presidential election
Senegal’s fishermen head for Spain as fish stocks dwindle at home
Southern Africa
UK trophy hunting ban is revival of ‘colonial conquest’, says Botswana president
Malawi: Drought disaster as El Niño brings hunger to region
SAfr Parliament Speaker takes special leave over corruption inquiry
Ex-CEO expected arrest before his suicide in SAfr
South Africa’s deadly love affair with guns
Zimbabwe newlyweds discover marriage papers invalid
North Africa
Egypt frees last of Al Jazeera journalists it had detained
At least 65 migrant bodies found in Libya mass grave, says UN
University prevents pro-Palestine conference, Moroccan students claim
A Moroccan town protests water management plans
EU legal adviser backs cancellation of EU-Morocco fishing agreement over disputed Western Sahara
Africa General
Wars threaten US interests in Africa, report says
Undersea cable breakages expose Africa’s incapacity to support its digital economy
Red Sea fighting traps two oil ships in Houthi waters
The US scraps with Russia to retain influence over another African country
The next Russia-Africa Summit could be in Zimbabwe’s Victoria Falls
(32) Articles on Analysis,Editorial & Opinion
Eastern Africa
DR CONGO
Congo now 2nd, overtaking Peru on copper output, but still behind on exports
The Democratic Republic of the Congo overtook Peru as the world’s second largest copper producer in 2023, though it still lags the South American country in exports, official data from both nations show. Congo produced about 2.84 million tons of copper last year, the country’s central bank reported. Peru’s output was 2.76 million tons, the Andean country’s mining and energy ministry said. Congo has been reeling in Peru’s No. 2 copper spot over recent years, with flagging mining investment in Peru linked to red tape and recent political turmoil and protests. Chile remains the distant top producer of the red metal. Peru, however, is hanging onto its lead over Congo on copper exports. Peru exported some 2.95 million tons of the metal last year, more than its annual production due to sales of stocks held over from previous years. Rómulo Mucho, Peru’s minister of energy and mines, said in early March he expected copper production to increase to 3 million tons in 2024.
ETHIOPIA
Human Rights Commission report reveals systemic rights violations
The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) released a 130-page National Inquiry report yesterday, exposing systemic rights violations against individuals deprived of liberty in three regional states and the region formerly known as the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Region (SNNPR) from 2018 to 2023. This landmark report, the first of its kind in Ethiopia, reveals frequent and systemic infringements upon detainees’ rights, including arbitrary detentions, incarceration without court orders, violations of court-granted bail rights, and instances of sexual violence.
The report identifies these violations as “systemic, showing patterns affecting a significant portion of the population. Perpetrators, as outlined in the report, encompass militias, kebele administrators, police officers, members of special police units, National Defense Forces personnel, prison staff, and government officials. Covering the regions of Amhara, Oromia, Somali, and the region formerly known as the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Region (SNNPR), the inquiry underscores various factors contributing to human rights violations.
The Report: ‘National Inquiry Into Persons Deprived of Liberty’
Foreigners can now own property, PM says
Ethiopia aims to pass legislation to let foreigners own real estate as part of the country’s broader plan to open up the economy and attract investors, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said on state TV late on Saturday. Currently foreigners are barred from owning houses in Ethiopia, either residential or commercial buildings, which is seen as a hurdle to ongoing efforts to attract foreign investment to the Horn of Africa country. State TV said Abiy told a meeting of large taxpayers in the capital Addis Ababa that his government was finalising a new law to let foreigners own real estate property although he did not say when the legislation would be introduced in parliament. “We will introduce a law which will allow foreigners to own property,” he said, adding that the government also intended to amend existing laws to open up the country’s retail sector, which is currently restricted to Ethiopians only. In recent years Abiy’s government has been opening up parts of the tightly controlled economy such as telecoms and banking to foreign investment, as part of a plan to boost inflows of foreign capital to drive growth and create jobs for the country of more than 100 million people.
Evidence found of humans surviving eruption 74,000 years ago
Researchers working in the Horn of Africa, also known as the Somali Peninsula have uncovered evidence showing how Middle Stone Age humans survived in the wake of the eruption of Sumatra’s Mt. Toba, one of the largest supervolcanoes in history, some 74,000 years ago. Modern humans dispersed from Africa multiple times, but the event that led to global expansion occurred less than 100,000 years ago…The new study in Nature , suggests the event might not have been so apocalyptic. Instead, the new research found humans in that location, known as Shinfa-Metema 1, adapted to the arid conditions brought on by the volcanic eruption in a way that may have facilitated humanity’s pivotal migration out of Africa to the rest of the world…The team theorized that the drier climate, counterintuitively, explains the increased reliance on fish: As the river shrank, fish were trapped in water holes or shallower streams that hunters could more easily target. The fish-rich water holes may have potentially created what the team described as a “blue corridor,” along which early humans moved north out of Africa once they were depleted of fish. This theory contradicts most other models that suggest that humanity’s main migration out of Africa took place along “green corridors” during humid periods.
KENYA
Ruto sending Kenyan troops to Haiti for money, US ex-diplomat
An American diplomat has made controversial claims about Kenyan President William Ruto’s move to head the UN-backed mission to restore peace in Haiti. In an interview with CNN, Daniel Lewis Foote, who was the US special envoy to Haiti from July to September, said that the Kenyan president was after the money the UN is expected to inject into the mission. Foote claimed that the Haiti mission was no walk in the park and that the well-organised gangs that overthrew the government would fight the Kenyan police to the death. “You see the reticence on the part of the Kenyan public to send these guys and that makes me nervous. I believe that this is more of a cash grab by President Ruto, whose country is going to receive a lot of money in doing this,” Mr Foote said. President Joe Biden’s administration had promised to inject Ksh13 billion ($100 million) to support the multinational force. While the Haiti mission has received support from Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Chad, and Kenya, Mr Foote believes that there is a need to increase the number of troops that should be deployed if the mission has to be successful. Kenya had promised to send 1,000 troops to the Caribbean nation in a deal struck between the Kenyan president and former Haitian prime minister Ariel Henry, who recently resigned to pave the way for the Transitional Council. While Mr Foote suggests that Kenya’s motivation was based on billions that the UN Security Council will pump into the mission, the President Ruto has maintained that the country is going to Haiti because Haitians need help from Kenya.
Officials didn’t act on Kenya cult reports – watchdog
Kenyan authorities ignored “credible reports” about a doomsday cult in which more than 400 members were found buried in shallow graves, a state-funded human rights watchdog has said.
The bodies of 429 people, including children, were discovered in Shakahola, a forest near the town of Malindi, last year.
Survivors and victims’ families said that cult leader Paul Mackenzie had urged his followers to fast in order to “go see Jesus”. In its report, The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) criticised security officers in Malindi for “gross abdication of duty and negligence” prior to the deaths. “They not only failed to be proactive in collecting and acting on intelligence to forestall the Shakahola massacre but also unjustifiably failed to act on credible and actionable reports,” KNCHR chairwoman Roseline Odede said. The report said that in 2019, justice officials discussed radicalisation involving Mr Mackenzie but ultimately took no action. The rights group added that a former cult member was accused of making baseless accusations when he tried to raise the alarm.
Kenya declares EACRF deployment in DR Congo ‘successful’ mission
Kenya thinks the East African Community Regional Force (EACRF) that served in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) until December last year was a successful mission. At a public lecture in Nairobi, Kenya’s Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs Musalia Mudavadi defended the mission on failing to take down armed groups, arguing the mandate restricted the troops from taking sides. “The mandate that was given to the EACRF then was to have a one year of peacekeeping. And we finished our tour of duty as the EAC. “If you follow carefully, for the period that they were there, the tensions subsided. So we did our job as an East African Community peacekeeping intervention team,” Mr Mudavadi said in Nairobi. EACRF deployed into the DRC in November 2022 for an initial six months, which was extended under the Status of Force Agreement to December last year. They exited with complaints from Kinshasa, which charged that the EACRF had failed to target the M23 rebel group considered the biggest menace for the DRC in eastern Congo. Kinshasa would turn to the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), which has since deployed some 5,000 troops…At the height of their operations, EACRF routinely came under criticism for not firing on M23 whom Kinshasa claimed had refused to withdraw from certain territories. EACRF argued it wasn’t mandated to fight, even though the EAC had mandated it to use force on those who refuse to disarm or target civilians. It registered one lost life after a Kenyan soldier was targeted in a mortar fire late in November. However, EACRF also reported minimal clashes between the FARDC and M23, or other armed groups, registering the longest, relative, ceasefire, yet between the two sides. The clashes have since escalated…
RWANDA
Ohio based man charged with lying about role in Rwandan genocide
A Rwandan-born Ohio man was arrested on Thursday on charges he engaged in a three-decade scheme to conceal his involvement in the African nation’s 1994 genocide to enter the United States as a refugee and ultimately gain U.S. citizenship. Federal prosecutors in Boston said that for years, Eric Nshimiye, 52, hid the fact that he participated in the massacre by the hard-line Hutu regime of an estimated 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus during three months of slaughter. In fact, he participated in the killings including by striking victims on the head with a nail-studded club before hacking them to death with a machete, prosecutors alleged. Years later, after settling in Ohio, Nshimiye sought to derail any investigation into his scheme by lying at the immigration fraud trial of a former classmate who prosecutors have accused of also participating in the atrocities. His arrest came four years after the 2019 trial conviction in Boston of Nshimiye’s former classmate Jean Leonard Teganya, who prosecutors said committed immigration fraud by concealing his involvement in the genocide when seeking asylum. Prosecutors said that during the killings, both men were medical students in the southern Rwandan city of Butare. According to charging documents, Nshimiye helped identify Tutsis among patients and staff at a hospital which became a site for atrocities, and was directly involved in murders and encouraging rapes. He left Rwanda in mid-July 1994 and traveled to Kenya, where he lied to U.S. immigration officials to gain refugee status, prosecutors said…Teganya was sentenced to eight years in prison.
SOMALIA
Al Shabaab launches deadly attack on military base in Somalia
At least 17 people were killed in Somalia on Saturday after Islamist group al Shabaab attacked a military base. The Busley base, in the Lower Shabelle region in the country’s southwest, was briefly occupied by the attackers, security officials and the group said. Armed fighters from al Shabaab battled their way to the facility using suicide car bombs, according to a Somalia military officer. “Several suicide car bombs attacked the base after fierce fighting…al Shabaab briefly captured the base,” the officer said. “Then, government reinforcement fiercely battled and drove out al Shabaab.” Seven Somalia soldiers, including the commander of the base, and 10 al Shabaab fighters were killed in the fighting, he said. Some residents in the area reported that al Shabaab also burned military vehicles and took others during the assault. Al Shabaab issued a statement claiming responsibility for the attack. It said it had killed 57 government soldiers. The group frequently gives casualty figures that are higher than those of the government.
India brings back 35 Somali pirates as part of operations near Red Sea
The Indian navy handed over 35 Somali pirates to the police in Mumbai on Saturday, after 100 days of anti-piracy operations east of the Red Sea, where piracy has resurfaced for the first time in nearly a decade. India, the largest national force in the Gulf of Aden and northern Arabian Sea region, captured the pirates from the cargo ship Ruen last week, three months after it was hijacked off the Somali coast. Taking advantage of Western forces’ focus on protecting shipping from attacks in the Red Sea by Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi militants, pirates have made or attempted more than 20 hijackings since November, driving up insurance and security costs and adding to a crisis for global shipping companies. With the attacks by the Houthis, who claim solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza during Israel’s war against Hamas, and the surge in piracy, commercial traffic through the region has halved since November as ships take the longer route around southern Africa, India’s navy said. The pirates seized by Indian commandoes face up to life in prison as the first to be prosecuted under India’s 2022 anti-piracy law, which enables the navy to apprehend and arrest pirates on the high seas.
SUDAN
Darfur govt accuses RSF of blocking aid, calls it a “crime against humanity”
The Darfur regional government sharply criticized the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for refusing to allow humanitarian aid deliveries through the North Darfur crossing. They called this action a “crime against humanity.” On Thursday, the RSF objected to the routes designated by Darfur Governor Minni Arko Minawi for delivering aid. The RSF accused the governor of planning to use the aid to transfer weapons to the army and of diverting relief supplies for personal gain. The Darfur government further refutes the RSF’s claim that Darfur is “liberated.” They assert that the region continues to suffer under RSF brutality, including looting, human rights abuses, genocide, and forced displacement. The statement holds the RSF responsible for these crimes, including genocide and ethnic cleansing, in areas under their control. The dispute stems from the Sudanese government’s refusal to deliver aid through El Geneina, a West Darfur crossing controlled by the RSF.
UNMISS protects supply convoys to people in Abyei area
The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has, in response to the escalating conflict in war-torn Sudan, taken on a critical role in ensuring the safe passage of essential supplies to the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), According to UNMISS, with traditional supply routes through Port Sudan being compromised, supplies are currently being trucked from Mombasa, Kenya, through South Sudan to reach Abyei. There are concerns that while the intensity of conflict in parts of South Sudan is lower than in neighbouring Sudan, some areas still present dangers to truck drivers and peacekeepers. Apart from accompanying the convoys, UNMISS military observers liaise closely with South Sudan security forces to ensure government partners are aware and support these large movements. The significant efforts made by peacekeepers to make the transportation of essential aid is critical not only to people in Abyei but also for residents in areas of South Sudan that are also affected by climate-induced challenges and insecurity due to armed conflict, UNMISS noted.
What caused the civil war in Sudan and how has it become one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises?
Fighting broke out in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, on 15 April 2023 as an escalating power struggle between the two main factions of the military regime finally turned deadly. On one side are the Sudanese armed forces who remain broadly loyal to Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the country’s de facto ruler. Against him are the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a collection of militia who follow the former warlord Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti. Hemedti’s current power struggle with Burhan can be traced back to 2019 when the RSF and regular military forces cooperated to oust Bashir from power. When attempts to transition to a democratic civilian-led government faltered, many analysts felt an eventual showdown between Burhan and Hemedti was inevitable. The conflict has plunged Sudan into “one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in recent history”, according to UN officials, who also warn it may trigger the world’s largest hunger crisis. The UN’s children’s agency, Unicef, says that some communities in Sudan have been pushed to the brink of famine. The conflict in Sudan has also created the world’s worst displacement crisis, scattering more than 8 million people internally and across Sudan’s borders. Several of Sudan’s neighbours – including Ethiopia, Chad and South Sudan – have been affected by political upheavals and conflict. Nearly 2 million Sudanese refugees have fled the fighting to the country’s neighbours, including hundreds of thousands who have crossed into Chad.
What is famine, when is it declared and why are Gaza and Sudan at risk?
Famine occurs when a country has such a severe food shortage that its population faces acute malnutrition, starvation, or death. The status is generally declared by the United Nations (UN), sometimes in conjunction with the country’s government, and often alongside other international aid organisations or humanitarian agencies. It is decided using a UN scale called the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). This ranks a country’s food shortages – or insecurity – against five “phases” of severity, with famine the fifth and worst. But for a famine to be officially declared, three things need to happen in a specific geographical area: at least 20% of households face an extreme lack of food; at least 30% of children suffer acute malnutrition; two adults or four children per 10,000 people die each day “due to outright starvation or to the interaction of malnutrition and disease.” UN officials warned that the ongoing conflict in Sudan has plunged the country into “one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in recent history”, which could trigger the world’s largest hunger crisis. According to the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP), nearly 18 million people in Sudan are facing acute food insecurity as a result of the civil war which broke out in April 2023. Unicef said it had seen malnutrition among young children “beyond the worst projections”, as well as outbreaks of cholera, measles and malaria.
SOUTH SUDAN
Where’s Mabior? Lawyers want Juba to produce activist
The East African Court of Justice (EACJ) has recently witnessed increasing cases about human rights violations and breach of the principles of democracy enshrined in the East African Community Treaty. A case in point is one where the Pan African Lawyers Union (Palu) is seeking urgent interim orders against the governments of South Sudan and Kenya to produce South Sudanese activist, Morris Mabior Awikjok Bak. According to Palu, which has applied for orders at the First Instance Division, the activist was arbitrarily arrested, unlawfully detained and now has become a victim of enforced disappearance. In their papers, they say Bak was abducted from his apartment in Nairobi on February 4, 2023. Donald Deya, Palu boss, cites witness statements pointing fingers at Kenyan and South Sudanese security and Immigration officials…Now, Justice Nestor Kayobera, President of the EACJ, says there are discussions on expanding the mandate of the court. The Council of EAC Ministers has, since 2004 been “considering” proposals for expanding the EAC’s jurisdiction, but in the meantime, it has gained elasticity in Articles 6 and 7 of the EAC Treaty, giving it mandate over cases on violations of human rights, democracy and the rule of law. Though originally conceived as a sub-regional court for purposes of determining economic integration disputes between member states, the EACJ has largely metamorphosed into a human rights court, albeit without express Treaty mandate to that effect.
Polls date: Why another postponement looms
South Sudan is facing the prospect of a second extension of the transition period, owing to the continual delays in implementing crucial aspects of the 2018 peace agreement. But, even the issue of extending that term itself, as well as whether to hold elections at all, is divisive. First Vice-President Riek Machar is pushing for extension, but that has also earned him increasing isolation from senior figures in the unity government. Dr Machar sparked the extension debate following his letter of March 18 to the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (R-JMEC), which suggested, among other things, revision of the Roadmap and dialogue among the signatory parties. The R-JMEC monitors implementation of the 2018 peace agreement. The Roadmap is the agreement among the signatories of the 2018 peace deal signed in August 2022 to extend the transition by 24 months to December 2024. At the time, they all agreed that because key provisions of the peace agreement had not been met. Those included the passing of crucial electoral laws, unifying the forces and deploying them, and establishing an electoral body to run the polls…Dr Macha’s critics are accusing him of ‘election phobia’. South Sudan Foreign Affairs Minister James P Morgan said that it “rises from the morbid fear of elections” at a time when the government is making all the efforts to hold elections in December 2024. The uncertainty is exacerbated by the different positions taken by President Salva Kiir and his first vice-president, Dr Machar. President Kiir maintains that he is “tired” of perpetual transitions that have gone on since the aborted first peace agreement in 2015. Dr Machar aside, there is a consensus among some stakeholders in the South Sudan peace process, opposed to President Salva Kiir’s. They argue that it would be difficult to hold free and credible elections without the completion of the security sector reforms, a permanent constitution and the delineation of constituencies that would determine where voters are registered.
TANZANIA
Vice President threatens to resign over water shortage
Tanzania’s Vice-President Philip Mpango has threatened to resign over a prolonged water shortage affecting residents from the northern Mwanga district. Mr Mpango on Thursday accused contractors working on a major project aimed at supplying water in the region of taking too long time to complete it. The project worth over $100,000 (£79,000) was started close to 20 years ago, according to Mr Mpango. “If this project will not be providing water [to the locals] by June, I will step down. I don’t know what will be the fate of the local administrator and his juniors if I resign,” Mr Mpango said. “I cannot come here again and tell citizens to wait further for this water, water is life,” he added. According to government officials accompanying Mr Mpango to Mwanga on Thursday, the project is nearly 90% complete.
UGANDA
President promotes his son to military chief
President Yoweri Museveni, 79, has promoted his son Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba to head the military. The 49-year-old’s promotion comes amid a major cabinet reshuffle in which five ministers were sacked. In power since 1986, Mr Museveni has denied speculation that he is grooming his only son as his successor. Gen Kainerugaba is a controversial figure, becoming increasingly involved in the political arena, in breach of military protocols. In 2022 his father sacked him as commander of the army’s land forces after he made threats on Twitter, now known as X, to invade neighbouring Kenya. President Museveni also issued an apology to Kenya’s leader and asked Kenyans for “forgiveness” on behalf of his son. However, Gen Kainerugaba’s offending tweet has never been removed, he was promoted to general and retained as his father’s adviser. He followed up with another controversial post that said he would send troops to Moscow to help President Vladimir Putin defend Russia against Ukraine. He now replaces Gen Wilson Mbadi as head of the country’s defence forces – his predecessor moving to head the trade ministry. Opposition lawmaker Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda said that President Museveni was treating Uganda as “a personal enterprise of his family”. He condemned the appointment and said Ugandans needed to oppose the “family dynasty”.
West Africa
NIGERIA
Army rescues 137 abducted Kaduna students
The Nigerian army on Sunday rescued students and staff who were abducted by gunmen from a school in the country’s north earlier this month, the military said, days before a deadline to pay a $690,000ransom. The kidnapping of 287 students on March 7 in Kuriga, a dusty town in the northwestern state of Kaduna, was the first mass abduction in Africa’s most populous nation since 2021 when more than 150 students were taken from a high school in Kaduna. Military spokesperson Major General Edward Buba said 137 hostages – 76 females and 61 males – were rescued in the early hours of Sunday in neighbouring state of Zamfara. “In the early hours of 24 March 2024, the military working with local authorities and government agencies across the country in a coordinated search and rescue operation rescued the hostages,” Buba said in a statement. A security source said earlier the students had been freed in a forest and were being escorted to Kaduna’s capital for medical tests before being reunited with their families. Last week, the gunmen demanded 1 billion naira ($690,000) for the release of the missing children and staff. The government had said it would not pay no ransom. The practice was outlawed in 2022. But kidnappings by criminal gangs demanding ransoms have become an almost daily occurrence, especially in northern Nigeria, tearing apart families and communities that must pool savings to pay ransoms, often forcing them to sell land, cattle and grain to secure the release of their loved ones.
Are Nigeria’s vigilantes as bad as bandits they’re chasing?
Concerns have emerged over how some members of Nigeria‘s “Community Watch Corps” groups operate. The vigilante groups were introduced to complement the efforts of conventional security agencies to fight criminals, known locally as bandits, who raid and loot villages, kill residents and burn houses to the ground. But many Nigerians now accuse the the vigilante security groups of extrajudicial killings and torture while interrogating the suspected bandits. Nigeria’s Zamfara state first introduced a civilian militia in 2018, but disbanded them in 2020. They were reintroducing in 2024 after some training. And neighboring Katsina state set up a 2,400-strong volunteer force dubbed the “Community Watch Corps” in October last year to help fight bandits…The heavily-armed vigilantes have been operating in the Rugu Forest, which spans Zamfara, Katsina and Kadina states. It is an area that is under-policed, where authorities have struggled to root out criminal activity. Nigerian lawyer and human rights activist Fatimah Jibo said that disbanding the watch corps was not the answer. Instead they required retraining. “With training they will understand that they have a limit to what they can do,” she told DW. “So for them to really know what they are supposed to do, the first thing is to train them, let them understand what they are there to do, let them know the extent of their powers and the limitations they have.”
SENEGAL
Voting begins in delayed presidential election
Voting opened in Senegal on Sunday in a delayed presidential election taking place against a turbulent political backdrop that has triggered violent anti-government protests and boosted support for the opposition. At stake is the potential end of a regime that has pushed investor-friendly policiesbut failed to alleviate economic hardship in one of coup-prone West Africa’s more stable democracies just as it is poised to become the continent’s latest oil and gas producer. There are 19 contenders vying to replace President Macky Sall, who is stepping down after a second term marred by unrest over the prosecution of firebrand opposition leader Ousmane Sonko and concerns that Sall wanted to extend his mandate past the constitutional limit. The incumbent is not on the ballot for the first time in Senegal’s history. His ruling coalition has picked former prime minister Amadou Ba, 62, as its candidate. About 7.3 million people are registered to vote. In the capital, Dakar, voters were lined up hours before polls opened on time at 0800 GMT and is expected to close at 1800 hrs. Provisional results are expected by March 26. Sonko, who was disqualified from the race because of a defamation conviction, is backing former tax inspector Bassirou Diomaye Faye, the 43-year-old co-creator of the now dissolved Pastef party. Some high-profile politicians and opposition candidates have also backed Faye’s candidacy. Other contenders include ex-Dakar mayor Khalifa Sall (no relation to the outgoing president), entrepreneur Anta Babacar Ngom, who is the only woman running, and Idrissa Seck, who was second in the 2019 election. Without opinion polls it is unclear whether any candidate will secure the more than 50% majority required to prevent a runoff.
Senegal election dominated by freed prisoner Faye and heir apparent Ba
It is a crowded field of 17 in the battle for Senegal’s top job, but two men – recently freed opposition politician Bassirou Diomaye Faye and the ruling party’s heir apparent Amadou Ba – look most likely to win over voters in Sunday’s presidential election. Their rivalry underpins a massive divide and clash of outlook in the country, usually regarded as a beacon of democracy in West Africa, especially over its relationship with France, the former colonial power. The poll is a rushed job – the date was announced with less than three weeks’ notice, following a month of confusion and violent protests. What seems to unite most Senegalese is the anger directed at outgoing President Macky Sall who tried to postpone the election – originally scheduled for 25 February – until December. Mr Sall has said that he acted to protect the integrity of the vote after allegations of corruption and disputes over the eligibility of some presidential candidates. However, critics accused him of seeking to extend his term in office or stop the clock to better prepare his candidate – which he denies…The pair (Faye & Sonko) – greeted on their release from prison by celebrating crowds – are pushing their anti-establishment vision for institutional reforms. It is an Afrocentric and nationalist agenda, including plans to renegotiate the country’s mining and energy contracts. Mr Faye also wants Senegal to stop using the CFA franc – the West African single currency that is pegged to the euro, with the financial backing of the French treasury, and which is regarded by his supporters as a relic of the colonial era.
Senegal’s fishermen head for Spain as fish stocks dwindle at home
Fisherman Khalifa Ndour says Senegalese President Macky Sall is responsible for the plunge in his country’s fish stocks that forced him to risk his life to seek work as a farmhand in northeastern Spain. Ndour, 42, is one of tens of thousands of Africans, many former fishermen, making a perilous journey to Spain on pirogues, or dugout canoes, as their industry in West Africa faces collapse. Migrants such as Ndour blame the government for signing away fishing rights to the European Union and China, and the issue has become a topic of debate ahead of Sunday’s Senegalese presidential election. “The sea in Senegal is dead. That’s because Macky Sall sold all of Senegal’s waters,” said Ndour, referring to the outgoing Senegalese president who has governed since 2012, as he sat in an apartment in the far away town of Guissona in the countryside west of Barcelona. An EU fishing rights deal with Senegal was renegotiated under Sall’s watch focusing mainly on tuna. Since 2014 it has paid Senegal 1.7 million euros ($1.85 million) a year for the right to fish 10,000 tonnes of tuna. In addition, ship owners pay about 1.35 million euros a year in fees, according to the EU. NGOs blame foreign trawlers for a sharp decline in fish stocks. Artisanal fishermen say their catches fell by 58% between 2012 and 2019, according to a 2023 report by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF)…the fish shortage partly explained why young people were boarding pirogues (dugout canoes) for Europe. A record 39,910 migrants arrived from West Africa via the Canary Islands last year and that is increasing this year, Interior Ministry data show.
Southern Africa
BOTSWANA
President – UK trophy hunting ban is revival of ‘colonial conquest’
The president of Botswana has said a proposed ban on trophy hunting imports to the UK is not only “condescending” but also a “resurgence of a colonial conquest” President Mokgweetsi Masisi said he would be “abhorred, disappointed and disturbed” should the legislation be passed, stressing the autonomy of Botswana as a democratic sovereign republic. His comments came as a bid at Westminster to prevent the body parts of endangered species killed by hunters being brought into Britain took a step closer to becoming law. Mr Masisi defended trophy hunting as “you pick which [animal] you hunt” whereas “culling” has a connotation of “ethical abhorrence” associated with it. The president clarified that culling was the “indiscriminate elimination of a whole herd, mother, father and grandfather” – which was “not the same as hunting”. Politicians from African nations reportedly threatened to send 10,000 wild elephants to Hyde Park so British people know what it is like to live with them. Elephant numbers in Botswana have almost “tripled” from 50,000 in 1984 to 130,000 in 2024 – causing “a lot of chaos”, with the animals in “constant conflict with humans”.
MALAWI
Drought disaster as El Niño brings hunger to region
Malawi’s president says it urgently needs more than $200 million in humanitarian assistance, less than a month after neighboring Zambia also appealed for help. Malawi is the latest country in the region to have its food supply crippled by a severe dry spell that’s been linked to the El Niño weather phenomenon. A third country, Zimbabwe, has also seen much of its crops decimated and is considering following suit, underlining concerns raised by the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) late last year that numerous nations in southern Africa were on the brink of a hunger crisis because of the impact of El Niño. The WFP said there were already nearly 50 million people in southern and parts of central Africa facing food insecurity even before one of the driest spells in decades hit. Last month was the driest February in 40 years for Zambia and Zimbabwe, according to the WFP’s seasonal monitor, while Malawi, Mozambique and parts of Angola had “severe rainfall deficits.”Millions in southern Africa rely on the food they grow to survive. Corn, the region’s staple food, has been badly affected by the drought.
SOUTH AFRICA
Speaker of Parliament takes special leave over corruption inquiry
National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said on Thursday that she will take special leave as a result of an investigation into alleged corruption during her time as defence minister. Investigators raided Mapisa-Nqakula home on Tuesday as part of the corruption inquiry but did not provide further details on the investigation or the corruption allegations. Mapisa-Nqakula, who was defence minister from 2012 to 2021, has denied wrongdoing. “Given the seriousness of the allegations and the attendant extensive media speculation, I have decided to take special leave from my position as Speaker of the National Assembly, effective immediately,” Mapisa-Nqakula said in a statement. She said there has been no formal notification of an arrest warrant or communication regarding her imminent arrest, following local media reports that she was expected to hand herself over to police on Friday. South Africa’s state-owned broadcaster SABC reported that Mapisa-Nqakula is suspected of receiving millions of rand in cash as bribes from a former military contractor when she was defence minister.
Steinhoff ex-CEO had expected arrest before being found near death
The former chief executive of South African multinational retailer Steinhoff had been notified of an arrest warrant against him shortly before he was found dead in what local media called a suicide, the elite Hawks police unit said on Friday. Warrants were issued for Markus Jooste, 63, and his former colleague Stephanus Grobler on Wednesday, the same day Jooste was handed a hefty fine for accounting fraud by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), the Hawks said. Jooste was found, reportedly with a gunshot wound, on a rugged stretch of coastline at Kwaaiwater, a suburb of the coastal town of Hermanus near Cape Town and later died on the way to the hospital. Local media said he had shot himself. Once instrumental in transforming Steinhoff from a small Johannesburg furniture outfit into a multinational retailer, Jooste was fined for publishing false and misleading financial statements and reports from 2014 to 2017. Jooste, who left the firm in 2017, had been expected to hand himself in with Grobler and appear for a court hearing in the capital Pretoria on Friday, the police said. “The allegations include, amongst others, fraud, a pattern of racketeering activities and contravention of Financial Markets Act against Steinhoff International Holdings,” they said, adding that Grobler had appeared in court. The FSCA said Jooste’s death would have no bearing on its investigation into Steinhoff, or on the 475 million rand ($25.0 million) penalty imposed on him. Steinhoff, the majority owner of South African and European discount retailers Pepkor has suffered heavy losses and a slew of lawsuits since Jooste left.
South Africa’s deadly love affair with guns
South African law states that most people with a gun licence can carry a firearm if it is concealed. There are more than 2.7 million legal gun owners in South Africa, according to a 2021 survey by Gun Free South Africa (GFSA) – roughly 8% of the adult population. When it comes to the war against crime, South Africa’s police do appear to be losing. The murder rate in the country reached a 20-year high and guns are the weapon of choice. Mass shootings and assassinations are becoming a “feature” of South Africa, she says. Last year the country was rocked when 10 members of the same family were shot dead in an attack on their home near the city of Pietermaritzburg. The youngest victim was only 13 years old. Many of these crimes are carried out by illegal firearms – of which there are some 2.35 million in circulation, according to GFSA. One of the sources of these illegal guns is the very institution meant to protect civilians – the police. This was illustrated by the infamous case of ex-police officer Christiaan Prinsloo. Between 2007 and 2015, he sold about 2,000 guns to gangs. These firearms have been linked to more than 1,000 murders and the deaths of 89 children. To fill this security vacuum more people than ever are taking their safety into their own hands. Gun culture is influenced by the violent history of the country, which was under white-minority rule until 1994. Black people could not legally obtain guns until 1983. European colonisers brought guns to the country in the early 1600s. Afrikaners, white descendants of Dutch settlers, adopted a unique frontier gun-owning identity, that is still present today.
ZIMBABWE
Newlyweds discover marriage papers invalid
Thousands of newlyweds in Zimbabwe have been suprised to learn that their marriage certificates are not valid. It has emerged that, because of a clerical issue, certificates issued within the last 18 months are void – a discovery which could affect all those couples who got married within this period. The matter came to light when the Zimbabwe Law Society issued an alert notice to lawyers across the country. It noted that stationery being used for civil marriage certificates continues to cite a chapter from an old marriage act, which was repealed in 2022. The new act, which came into effect in September 2022, brought sweeping changes, including greater rights to partners in traditional marriages. It also criminalised child marriage. The law society has advised those affected to take their certificates to a registrar, who will correct and stamp the document. The lawyers also warned if you have an invalid certificate you cannot get divorced. The mix-up elicited mirth on various instant messaging platforms, with some joking it was an opportunity for those looking for a way out of their marriage.
North Africa
EGYPT
Last of Al Jazeera journalists freed from detention
Egypt has freed the last two Al Jazeera journalists who remained in detention in the North African country following a thaw in relations with Qatar, the Doha-based network said on Friday. One of the journalists, Bahaa Eldin Ibrahim, had returned home after being freed, his wife Mona Gamal Eldin confirmed. The head of Egypt’s journalism syndicate posted a photo on Facebook of the second journalist, Rabie el-Sheikh, at his home. The journalists, both Egyptian, had been held in pre-trial detention for about four years. Ties between Egypt and Qatar deteriorated after Egypt’s then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi led the ousting of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Mursi in 2013, rising to the presidency the following year. Egypt accused Al Jazeera of being a mouthpiece for the Islamist group, banning the broadcaster and arresting a number of its journalists. In 2017, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain launched a boycott of Qatar over charges it supported terrorism, an accusation Qatar denied. An agreement to end the row was struck early in 2021, and Qatar and Egypt have moved quickly to rebuild relations. The release of Ibrahim and Sheikh follows Egypt’s freeing of Al Jazeera journalists Hisham Abdelaziz in May 2023, and Ahmed Al Nagdy in September 2022. Mona Gamal Eldin said that she learned of the decision to release her husband on Wednesday. Mona Eldin, who had not seen her husband since December 2018 and had last spoken to him on the day of his arrest in February 2020, said the decision to free them was unexpected. “I prayed for his release every day and never lost hope,” she said.
LIBYA
A mass grave containing the bodies of at least 65 migrants has been found in Libya, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has said. The IOM said the circumstances of their deaths and their nationalities are still unknown but they believe they died being smuggled through the desert towards the Mediterranean. The organisation, part of the United Nations, said it was “profoundly shocked” by the discovery.Libya is investigating, the IOM said. The grave was found in south-west Libya, it said. The organisation said the tragedy highlighted the need for a co-ordinated response to smuggling of migrants and legal migration pathways. Libya is among the main departure points for migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean to enter Europe. The Geneva-based IOM also called on Libyan authorities and other UN agencies to ensure a dignified recovery, identification and transfer of the remains.
The discovery of the mass grave comes after at least 60 migrants, who set off from Libyan coast, died when a rubber dinghy ran into trouble in the Mediterranean Sea.
MOROCCO
University prevents pro-Palestine conference, students claim
Police have dispersed protesting students at the Abdelmalek Essaadi University in the north of Morocco following a decision by the institution to close its doors for four days, allegedly to prevent a pro-Palestine conference from taking place. According to the Union Nationale des Etudiants du Maroc, or UNEM, which can be translated as the National Union of Moroccan Students, the police arrested several students on 21 March. They were released later, but were allegedly abused while in custody, according to a media release by the union. UNEM is part of Morocco’s largest Islamic movement, Al Adl Wal Ihssane (Justice and Charity). The conference, also known as the Jerusalem Forum, is an annual event organised by UNEM, which is a pro-Palestine endeavour that focuses on the struggle of the people of Palestine. UNEM said this (ban) emanated from the normalisation of relations with Israel which is firmly established in decision-making at the Moroccan institution. UNEM claimed that Abdelmalek Essaadi University has a cooperation agreement with the University of Haifa whose presidency participated in a forum alongside the university in the past…Earlier in the week, the students said the university’s action was another instance of its opting to normalise its relations with Israel, which the Moroccan people did not support. Morocco resumed diplomatic ties with Israel in December 2020. The students also criticised Israel’s ongoing aggression against Palestinians in Gaza.
A Moroccan town protests water management plans
Regional and local leaders in eastern Morocco met this week with residents and civil society groups after months of protests over a water management plan set to take effect later this year. Thousands in the town of Figuig stopped paying water bills and have taken to the streets since November to protest a municipal decision transitioning drinking water management from the town to a regional multi-service agency. Residents worry the policy changes could jeopardize their livelihoods and, in turn, the community’s future. Carrying signs and chanting that their water is not for sale, they have suggested the plan is a pretext to privatization — a claim authorities deny. Figuig relies entirely on a below-ground aquifer for drinking and irrigation water, the latter flowing through a traditional canal system dating back centuries. Though both come from the same source, the new policy applies only to drinking water…Though protests have been kept to a small town in one of the four regions where Morocco has introduced the policy, the country ultimately wants to expand reforms to each of its 12 regions. It started implementing them, including in the East region, last year. Figuig is one of the region’s eight provinces.
EU legal adviser backs cancellation of EU-Morocco fishing agreement over disputed Western Sahara
A legal adviser to the European Union’s top court recommended that it annul an agreement with Morocco which would have allowed European boats to fish off the disputed Western Sahara ‘s coast. The adviser said the agreement didn’t fully take into account the consequences on the rights of the people of the disputed territory “to benefit from the natural resources of the waters.” The advocate general for the Court of Justice of the EU backed the court’s earlier ruling and recommended it reject appeals that sought to uphold Europe’s 2019 Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement with Morocco and send the case back to a lower court. The court in 2021 ruled in favor of the pro-independence Polisario Front that the agreement violated the rights of people in the disputed Western Sahara. The court generally follows recommendations from appointed legal experts like Advocate Tamara Capeta and Thursday’s recommendations strike a blow against Morocco and the European authorities who appealed the ruling. The court will likely consider her recommendations and return with a ruling in the months ahead. Since the four-year accord expired in July, the court’s looming decision can shape future agreements, not any in effect. The 2019 Morocco-EU agreement was the latest of a series of accords dating back to 1988 and provided Morocco 208 million euros ($226 million) over four years in exchange for 128 fishing permits, mostly for Spanish boats. The waters off of the disputed Western Sahara’s 690-mile (1,110-kilometer) coastline are rich in fish such as sardines and sardinella. Morocco also has fishing agreements with Japan and Russia. The court case is among the ways in which the Polisario Front has pressed its sovereignty claims and put pressure on Morocco’s economic and foreign policy agenda.
AFRICA – GENERAL NEWS
Wars threaten US interests in Africa, report says
China and Russia could still be the biggest rivals of American interests especially in Africa, a public assessment of threats to Washington shows. The report compiled by the American intelligence community names the expected enemies: China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. But it also lists Houthis and the conflict in Gaza among threats to watch out. ‘The 2024 Annual Threat Assessment’ report published last week is a summation of threats seen from January to date, which means it reflects the most recent incidents on global scale like the Israel-Hamas war, Russia-Ukraine war, Sudan war as well as trouble in the Red Sea. The US further identified Africa’s vulnerability to terrorism as a threat to its own interests. It says “terrorists will maintain an interest in conducting attacks using chemical, biological and radioactive materials against US persons, allies and interests worldwide.” They can take advantage of ongoing wars to procure these deadly weapons, it warns. In the Horn of Africa, militants allied to Al Qaeda such as Al Shabaab as well as those allied to ISIS, could utilise the lawlessness as well as mobilise fighters using unregulated social media, the report argues. Russia will rely on private military and security companies (PSMSCs) and paramilitary groups to achieve its objectives, it says. Primarily, this is to be witnesses on the battlefield in Ukraine but will also be used “to hide Moscow’s hand in sensitive operations, and to project influence and power in the Middle East and Africa.”China is seen as mainly targeting to spread its influence in Africa using various tools including propaganda. The Chinese military — People’s Liberation Army— has been spreading tentacles too, first starting with Djibouti’s Ream Naval Base in Africa and now reaching out to others. The US isn’t calling these rivalries ‘wars’ yet. Instead, it is labelling them ‘strategic competition’…The report says that an ambitious but anxious China, a confrontational Russia, some regional powers, such as Iran, and more capable non-state actors are challenging longstanding rules of the international system as well as US primacy within it.
Undersea cable breakages expose Africa’s incapacity to support its digital economy
Internet disruptions across the continent because of multiple undersea cable faults are showing just how precarious Africa’s connection the digital economy really is. South Africa is currently still seeing the effects, but many other countries are worse affected, with outages or poor performance since last week in Ivory Coast, Liberia, Benin, Ghana, Nigeria, and Cameroon. In February, three critical cables – AAE-1, EIG, and SEACOM – connecting Africa’s east coast to Europe were disrupted, purportedly due to Houthi sabotage. Then, on 14 March, four of the five west coast cables – SAT3, WACS, ACE, and MainOne – were apparently damaged by an underwater rock fall near Ivory Coast. These developments exposed Africa’s general lack of capacity, said Edward Lawrence, co-founder of the Workonline Group, one of Africa’s largest Internet Protocol (IP) transit networks. Particularly outside South Africa, at present, but SA too is poorly served compared to the rest of the world.Lawrence said South Africa was connected to the world by 10 undersea cables of which, only three are in operation currently due to the breakage crisis. The World Bank has the Digital Economy Initiative for Africa (DE4A) which aims to ensure that every individual, business, and government in Africa will be digitally enabled by 2030. Digitalisation has numerous advantages: it accelerates the spread of information, brings people closer together, creates jobs, and improves societal efficiency.
Red Sea fighting traps two oil ships in Houthi watersTwo tankers, containing oil and toxic waste, are stuck in the Red Sea in the firing line between Western naval forces and Yemen’s Houthi militants despite repeated efforts by the United Nations to empty and move the ships to avoid a spill.The vessels, one of which has been stranded for years, are near the port of Ras Issa from where Iran-aligned Houthis launch missiles on ships passing through the Red Sea and where U.S. missiles land as they target the Houthis. The United Nations last year led efforts to remove a million barrels of oil from the decaying tanker, the FSO Safer, to a new tanker, the MT Yemen, in an operation that cost $121 million. The UN had hoped to move the FSO Safer, which still contains toxic waste water and oily residue, for disposal elsewhere and sell the oil aboard the MT Yemen. Neither of the ships has moved since August as the Houthis and their foes in Yemen’s internationally-recognised government could not agree who should receive the money for the oil, a Houthi source said. The UN Development Programme said it was in discussion “with all relevant parties in Yemen” about the handover of the vessel.
“(UNDP) has not had any indication from the de facto authorities in Yemen of threats to deliberately damage the vessel,” a UNDP spokesperson said, referring to the Houthis.
The US scraps with Russia to retain influence over another African country
The United States of America is attempting to sway Zimbabwe from joining forces with Russia, according to Russian Ambassador to Zimbabwe Nikolay Krasilnikov. The ambassador made this known during an interview with the Russian news publication Sputnik. He noted that despite the pressure from the US, Zimbabwe remains committed to bolstering its relationship with Russia. During the interview, the ambassador mentioned the contentious visit of “a fairly representative delegation of African-American businessmen,” which happened despite the controversy surrounding the removal of USAID representatives from Zimbabwe. “If we do not occupy the niches in the Zimbabwean economy that we can still occupy, the Americans will occupy them,” Nikolay Krasilnikov stated. “Contrary to attempts to put pressure on Zimbabwe, attempts that are taking place on the part of Western countries, including the Americans … Zimbabweans not only do not give up their intentions to cooperate but are ready to increase interaction, they are interested in our investments, in our technologies. They are open to partnership,” the ambassador stated. Very recently, Zimbabwe’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Frederick Shava told Sputnik that the country is interested in joining the BRICS group of nations. He noted that Zimbabwe was counting on Russia’s support for admission.
The next Russia-Africa Summit in Zimbabwe’s Victoria Falls? Why not, says Russia
Russia says there is a possibility that Zimbabwe may host a future Russia-Africa Summit, but that it would need to upgrade infrastructure. Russian Ambassador to Zimbabwe Nikolay Krasilnikov says Victoria Falls could become the venue for one of the next Russia-Africa summits. Last year’s summit, which was the second Russia-Africa summit, attracted 49 African nations to St Petersburg, with 17 heads of State and 10 Prime Ministers attending. Holding such a meeting would need Zimbabwe to expand infrastructure. “It is quite possible, because Zimbabwe is showing increased interest in partnership in the Russia-Africa format. Zimbabwe has the potential to host such an event,” Krasilnikov told Russian newspaper Izvestia.
AFRICA – ANALYSIS, EDITORIAL/OPINION
The plight of Oromo youths dying for Ethiopia and being killed in its name: Can Oromo elites silence the guns and end the ordeal?
Game of Thrones: How Zuma and uMkhonto weSizwe Party are positioning themselves as kingmakers
Why do identical informal businesses set up side by side? It’s a survival tactic – Kenya study
Hundreds of Nigerian children are being kidnapped – the government must change its security strategy
Youth and the rising climate threat to Africa’s coastal communities
Ghana’s free high school policy is getting more girls to complete secondary education – study
The Africa Edition ©️ 
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