Africa
At least 30 people killed by gunmen in Nigeria attacks
At least 30 people were killed in an attack on an internally displaced person's camp in north-central Nigeria, the second major attack in the area this week, authorities said Saturday.
Gunmen attacked civilians in Mgban village in Benue state Friday evening and an investigation is underway, said Sewuese Anene, a local police officer.
While it's unclear who was responsible for the attack, authorities said suspicion fell on local herdsmen who have clashed in the past with farmers over land disputes in north-central Nigeria.
The farmers accuse the herders, mostly of Fulani origin, of grazing their livestock on their farms and destroying their produce. The herders insist that the lands are grazing routes that were first backed by law in 1965, five years after the country gained its independence.
The people attacked had been displaced from fighting between farmers and cattle herders and were seeking refuge in a makeshift displacement site.
The violence comes days after gunmen killed at least 50 people in two separate attacks on Umogidi village in the state, which is referred to as “Nigeria’s food basket” because of its bountiful harvests. The villages are some 170 kilometers (105 miles) away from Friday's attack, however, it's unclear if the same group was responsible for both attacks.
At least 44 people killed by extremists in Burkina Faso's north
At least 44 people were killed by Islamic extremists in multiple attacks in northern Burkina Faso, the government said Saturday.
Jihadis attacked Kourakou and Tondobi villages in Seno province, said Lt. Col. P.F Rodolphe Sorgho, governor of the Sahel region in a statement. Sorgho called the attacks on Thursday and Friday “despicable and barbaric” and said the government was stabilizing the area. He called on people to remain calm.
The West African nation has been overrun by jihadi violence linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group that's killed thousands and displaced 2 million people over six years. Fighting has frustrated and divided a once peaceful population, leading to two military coups last year with each junta leader vowing to stem the attacks.
But the violence is intensifying and spreading as jihadis blockade villages, preventing hundreds of thousands of people from moving freely.
Read more: 55 people killed in latest attack in northern Burkina Faso
In February, the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for killing more than 70 soldiers, wounding dozens and taking five hostage, in an ambush on a military convoy in the north. A few weeks before that, jihadis killed at least 32 people, including soldiers and civilians, in multiple attacks across the country.
The violence has created the worst humanitarian crisis in the country's history, forcing one in five citizens —some 4.7 million people — to be in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the United Nations.
Climate, coups risk African goal of silencing guns by 2030
The goal of silencing the guns in Africa this decade is being challenged by climate change, terrorism, coups and the continent's history, the head of the African Union initiative told the U.N. Security Council on Thursday.
Attaining the goal is at risk even after the date was pushed back once to 2030, Mohamed Ibn Chambas said. He pointed to constitutional, institutional and cultural challenges as well as "Africa's vulnerability to global economic shocks" — and weak implementation of international, national and regional decisions on peace, security and development.
Silencing the guns was a key initiative in the vision for "an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa" adopted by AU leaders in May 2013. Called Agenda 2063, it originally stated that all guns would be silenced in 2023, but in December 2020 the AU decided to extend the date to 2030.
That's the same year the United Nations set to achieve its 17 major development goals that are also lagging, including ending poverty, ensuring secondary education for all children, achieving gender equality, and providing affordable and clean energy.
Chambas told the Security Council that when AU leaders adopted the silencing the guns initiative "they were motivated by the desire to bequeath future generations of Africans a continent free of wars and conflicts."
The objective was to work toward "an Africa at peace with itself and with the rest of the world," he said, but today multiple challenges have put that goal at risk, starting with the widening gap between rich and poorer nations, and between elites and marginalized people and communities within countries.
For example, Chambas said, the COVID-19 pandemic "pushed 55 million Africans into poverty in 2020 and reversed more than two decades of progress in poverty reduction on the continent." He said "equally alarming is the fact that 15 African countries are reportedly at risk of debt distress," and today the continent's debt is more than $600 billion.
Chambas urged stepped up efforts to reduce inequalities and make new investments in education, technology and health while ensuring Africa's young population could attain decent jobs. He also urged a crackdown on illegal financial flows that deprive the continent of approximately $90 billion annually.
He said Africa should shift from exporting raw materials to exporting manufactured goods and processed agricutural products, which would require investment in cross-border infrastruture. Chambas said Africa should produce its own food, calling it "untenable," that a continent with 60% of the world's remaining arable lands and many rivers and freshwater bodies is dependent on grain imports.
The AU high representative for implementing the silencing the guns initiative said achieving the goal also depends on addressing recent coups and unconstitutional changes in government and countering the scourge of terrorism, and the internal and external factors causing conflict and instability in Africa.
Armed conflict looms large across the continent. Jihadi insurgencies plague Somalia, Nigeria, Mozambique, Burkina Faso which had two coups last year, and Mali whose leader seized power in a 2020 coup. The extremist violence threatened to spread to even more countries while militias continue fighting in mineral-rich eastern Congo.
Mozambique's President Filipe Nyusi, who chaired the council meeting, told members on Tuesday that the global terrorism threat "remains more critical" in Africa. He pointed to one global terrorism index that showed 40% of victims last year were African and called the Sahel region "the new epicenter of terrorist attacks."
Chambas said he believes Mozambique's successful peace process with former rebel movement Renamo "could be a model for lesson sharing on our continent" – a view echoed by Mirko Manzoni, the personal envoy of U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to Mozambique.
Nyusi urged all African leaders on Thursday to resolve the causes that lead to feelings of injustice, social inequality and exclusion that fuel conflicts, and "to fast track the silencing of the guns once and for all."
'What can we do?': Millions in African countries need power
From Zimbabwe, where many must work at night because it's the only time there is power, to Nigeria where collapses of the grid are frequent, the reliable supply of electricity remains elusive across Africa.
The electricity shortages that plague many of Africa's 54 countries are a serious drain on the continent’s economic growth, energy experts warn.
In recent years South Africa's power generation has become so inadequate that the continent's most developed economy must cope with rolling power blackouts of eight to 10 hours per day.
Africa's sprawling cities have erratic supplies of electricity but large swaths of the continent's rural areas have no power at all. In 2021, 43% of Africans — about 600 million people — lacked access to electricity with 590 million of them in sub‐Saharan Africa, according to the International Energy Agency.
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Investments of nearly $20 billion are required annually to achieve universal electrification across sub-Saharan Africa, according to World Bank estimates. Of that figure nearly $10 billion is needed annually bring power and keep it on in West and Central Africa.
There are many reasons for Africa's dire delivery of electricity including ageing infrastructure, lack of government oversight and a shortage of skills to maintain the national grids, according to Andrew Lawrence, an energy expert at the Witwatersrand University Business School in Johannesburg.
A historical problem is that many colonial regimes built electrical systems largely reserved for the minority white population and which excluded large parts of the Black population.
Today many African countries rely on state-owned power utilities.
Much attention has focused in the past two years on the Western-funded “Just Energy Transition,” in which France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union are offering funds to help poorer countries move from highly polluting coal-fired power generation to renewable, environmentally-friendly sources of power. Africa as a region should be among the major beneficiaries in order to expand electricity access on the continent and improve the struggling power grids, said Lawrence.
“The transition should target rural access and place at the forefront the electrification of the continent as a whole. This is something that is technically possible,” he said.
The Western powers vowed to make $8.5 billion available to help South Africa move away from its coal-fired power plants, which produce 80% of the country's power.
As a result of its dependence upon coal, South Africa is among the top 20 highest emitters of planet-warming greenhouse gases in the world and accounts for nearly a third of all of Africa’s emissions, according to experts.
South Africa's plan to move away from coal, however, is hampered by its pressing need to produce as much power as possible each day.
The East African nation of Uganda for years has also grappled with power cuts despite massive investment in electricity generation.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, has grappled with an inadequate power supply for many years, generating just 4,000 megawatts though the population of more than 210 million people needs 30,000 megawatts, say experts. The oil-rich but energy-poor West African nation has ramped up investments in the power sector but endemic corruption and mismanagement have resulted in little gains.
In Zimbabwe, electricity shortages that have plagued the country for years have worsened as the state authority that manages Kariba, the country’s biggest dam, has limited power generation due to low water levels.
Successive droughts have reduced Lake Kariba's level so much that the Kariba South Hydro Power Station, which provides Zimbabwe with about 70% of its electricity, is currently producing just 300 megawatts, far less than its capacity of 1,050 megawatts.
Zimbabwe's coal-fired power stations that also provide some electricity have become unreliable due to aging infrastructure marked by frequent breakdowns. The country’s solar potential is yet to be fully developed to meaningfully augment supply.
This means that Harare barber Omar Chienda never knows when he'll have the power needed to run his electric clippers.
“What can we do? We just have to wait until electricity is back but most of the time it comes back at night," said Chienda, a 39-year-old father of three. "That means I can’t work, my family goes hungry.”
In Nigeria’s capital city of Abuja, restaurant owner Favour Ben, 29, said she spends a large part of her monthly budget on electricity bills and on petrol for her generator, but adds that she gets only an average of 7 hours of power daily.
“It has been very difficult, especially after paying your electricity bill and they don’t give you light." said Ben. "Most times, I prepare customers’ orders but if there is no light (power for a refrigerator), it turns bad the next day (and) I have lost money for that.”
Businesses in Nigeria suffer an annual loss of $29 billion as a result of unreliable electricity, the World Bank said, with providers of essential services often struggling to keep their operations afloat on generators.
As delegates gathered in Cape Town this month to discuss Africa’s energy challenges, there was a resounding sentiment that drawn-out power shortages on the continent had to be addressed urgently. There was some hope that the Western-funded “Just Energy Transition” would create some opportunities, but many remained skeptical.
Among the biggest critics of efforts to have countries like South Africa to transition quickly from the use of coal to cleaner energy is South Africa’s Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe.
He is among those advocating that Africa use all sources available to it to produce adequate power for the continent, including natural gas, solar, wind, hydropower and especially coal.
“Coal will be with us for many years to come. Those who see it as corruption or a road to whatever, they are going to be disappointed for many, many years," said Mantashe. "Coal is going to outlive many of us.”
43,000 estimated dead in Somalia drought last year
A new report says an estimated 43,000 people died amid the longest drought on record in Somalia last year and half of them likely were children.
It is the first official death toll announced in the drought withering large parts of the Horn of Africa.
At least 18,000 people are forecast to die in the first six months of this year.
“The current crisis is far from over,” says the report released Monday by the World Health Organization and the United Nations children’s agency and carried out by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Somalia and neighboring Ethiopia and Kenya are facing a sixth consecutive failed rainy season.
The U.N. and partners earlier this year said they were no longer forecasting a formal famine declaration for Somalia but called the situation “extremely critical” with more than 6 million people hungry in that country alone.
‘Eat chicken feet’: Egypt’s govt recommendation faces vehement criticism from citizens
A recommendation from Egypt’s government – to eat chicken feet – has come under vehement criticism from the country’s citizens.
Egypt, the most populous country in the Arab world, is currently experiencing a record currency crisis and the highest inflation in five years, which has made food so costly that many Egyptians are no longer able to purchase chicken, a staple item.
The most recent dietary advice from the state recommended preparing chicken feet, a protein-rich part of the bird that is often kept for dogs and cats, according to a BBC report published yesterday.
Egypt is one of the countries suffering the most from skyrocketing inflation, which surpassed 30 percent in March.
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Cooking oil and cheese, which were once reasonable necessities for many, have become unaffordable luxuries. Some product prices have doubled or tripled within a matter of months.
The BBC report quoted Wedad, a mother of three in her 60s, as saying: “I eat meat once a month, or I don’t buy it at all. I buy chicken once a week.”
Egypt is under a lot of strain in part because it relies significantly on imported food rather than homegrown agriculture to support its over 100 million-strong population.
Even the grain used to feed the chicken is imported.
Read More: Why another high inflation report may not cause Fed to hike
In comparison to the US dollar, the Egyptian pound lost half of its value over the course of a year. As the government depreciated the currency once more in January, the price of imports such as grain rose dramatically.
President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi frequently attributes his country's present economic troubles on the chaos that preceded the 2011 Egyptian revolt and fast population growth. In addition, he mentions the epidemic that followed the conflict in Ukraine.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine had a devastating effect on Egyptian economy. Egypt is the second largest wheat importer in the world, and the two countries were its principal suppliers. As a result of the disruption of exports due to the war, price of wheat and bread skyrocketed.
Russian and Ukrainian tourists used to visit Egypt in droves; the tourism industry has also suffered financial losses. Tourism, which used to account for around 5% of Egypt’s GDP, has been severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Egypt has requested a bailout from the International Monetary Fund four times in the previous six years due to its economic difficulties. These debts, which account for 90% of GDP, consume nearly half of the state’s revenues.
Gulf nations such as the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have purchased state assets and are aiding Egypt, but they have also toughened their requirements for future investments.
In Zimbabwe’s rainy season, women forage for wild mushrooms
Zimbabwe's rainy season brings a bonanza of wild mushrooms, which many rural families feast upon and sell to boost their incomes.
But the bounty also comes with danger as each year there are reports of people dying after eating poisonous fungi. Discerning between safe and toxic mushrooms has evolved into an inter-generational transfer of indigenous knowledge from mothers to daughters. Rich in protein, antioxidants and fiber, wild mushrooms are a revered delicacy and income earner in Zimbabwe, where food and formal jobs are scarce for many.
Beauty Waisoni, 46, who lives on the outskirts of the capital, Harare, typically wakes up at dawn, packs plastic buckets, a basket, plates and a knife before trekking to a forest 15 kilometers (9 miles) away.
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Her 13-year-old daughter Beverly is in tow, as an apprentice. In the forest, the two join other pickers, mainly women working side by side with their children, combing through the morning dew for shoot-ups under trees and dried leaves.
Police routinely warn people of the hazards of consuming wild mushrooms. In January, three girls in one family died after eating poisonous wild mushrooms. Such reports filter through each season. A few years ago 10 family members died after consuming poisonous mushrooms.
To avoid such a deadly outcome, Waisoni teaches her daughter how to identify safe mushrooms.
“She will kill people, and the business, if she gets it wrong,” said Waisoni, who says she started picking wild mushrooms as a young girl. Within hours, her baskets and buckets become filled up with small red and brown buttons covered in dirt.
Women such as Waisoni are dominant players in Zimbabwe's mushroom trade, said Wonder Ngezimana, an associate professor of horticulture at the Marondera University of Agricultural Science and Technology.
“Predominantly women have been gatherers and they normally go with their daughters. They transfer the indigenous knowledge from one generation to the other,” Ngezimana told The Associated Press.
They distinguish edible mushrooms from poisonous ones by breaking and detecting “milk-like liquid oozing out,” and by scrutinizing the color beneath and the top of the mushrooms, he said. They also look for good collection points such as anthills, the areas near certain types of indigenous trees and decomposing baobab trees, he said.
About one in four women who forage for wild mushrooms are often accompanied by their daughters, according to research carried out by Ngezimana and colleagues at the university in 2021. In “just few cases” — 1.4% — mothers were accompanied by a boy child.
“Mothers were better knowledgeable of wild edible mushrooms compared to their counterparts — fathers,” noted the researchers. The researchers interviewed close to 100 people and observed mushroom collection in Binga, a district in western Zimbabwe where growing Zimbabwe's staple food, maize, is largely unviable due to droughts and poor land quality. Many families in the Binga are too poor to afford basic food and other items.
So mushroom season is important for the families. On average, each family made just over $100 a month from selling wild mushrooms, in addition to relying on the fungi for their own household food consumption, according to the research.
In large part due to harsh weather conditions, about a quarter of Zimbabwe's 15 million people are food insecure, meaning that they’re not sure where their next meal will come from, according to aid agencies. Zimbabwe has one of the world's highest rates of food inflation at 264%, according to the International Monetary Fund.
To promote safe mushroom consumption and year-round income generation, the government is promoting small-scale commercial production of certain types such as oyster mushrooms.
But it appears the wild ones remain the most popular.
“They come in as a better delicacy. Even the aroma is totally different to that of the mushroom we do on a commercial aspect, so people love them and in the process communities make some money,” said Ngezimana.
Waisoni, the Harare trader, says the wild mushrooms have helped her put children through school and also weather the harsh economic conditions that have battered Zimbabwe for the past two decades.
Her pre-dawn trip to the forest marks just the beginning of a day-long process. From the bush, Waisoni heads to a busy highway. Using a knife and water, she cleans the mushrooms before joining the stiff competition of other mushroom sellers hoping to attract passing motorists.
A speeding motorist hooted frantically to warn traders on the sides of the road to move away. Instead, the sellers charged forward, tripping over each other in hopes of scoring a sale.
One motorist, Simbisai Rusenya, stopped and said he can’t pass the seasonal wild mushrooms. But, aware of the reported deaths from poisonous ones, he needed some convincing before buying.
“Looks appetizing, but won’t it kill my family?” he asked.
Waisoni randomly picked a button from her basket and calmly chewed it to reassure him. “See?" she said, "It’s safe!”
Hundreds dead as Cyclone Freddy wrecks Malawi, Mozambique
The devastating Tropical Cyclone Freddy which has devastated southern Africa in a rare second landfall has killed at least 216 people in Malawi and Mozambique since Saturday night, with the death toll expected to rise.
Heavy rains that triggered floods and mudslides have killed 199 people in Malawi, authorities said Tuesday. President Lazarus Chakwera declared a “state of disaster” in the country's southern region and the now-ravaged commercial capital, Blantyre. Some 19,000 people in the south of the nation have been displaced, according to Malawi’s disaster management directorate.
“Power and communications are down in many affected areas, hindering aid operations,” said Stephane Dujarric, the U.N. Secretary General’s spokesperson at a press briefing Tuesday afternoon. The most affected regions remain inaccessible so the full extent of the damage is so far unknown.
Reports from Mozambique’s disaster institute on Tuesday confirmed that 17 people have died in the country and 1,900 homes have been destroyed in the coastal Zambezia province. Tens of thousands of people are still holed up in storm shelters and accommodation centers.
Freddy will continue to thump central Mozambique and southern Malawi with extreme rainfall before it exits back to the sea late Wednesday afternoon, the U.N.’s meteorological center on the island of Réunion projected.
Human rights group Amnesty International has called on the international community to mobilize resources and boost aid and rescue efforts in the two countries. Relief efforts in the nationsare strained and were already battling a cholera outbreak when Freddy struck.
“It is clear that the official death toll will rise in both Malawi and Mozambique, as will reports of wrecked infrastructure,” saidTigere Chagutah, Amnesty International’s east and southern Africa director. “The affected countries must also be compensated for loss and damage caused by the cyclone."
In November last year, nations agreed to compensate countries affected by extreme weather exacerbated by human-caused climate change. Cyclones are wetter, more frequent and more intense as the planet heats up, scientists say.
“Mozambique and Malawi are among the countries least responsible for climate change, yet they are facing the full force of storms that are intensifying due to global warming driven mostly by carbon emissions from the world’s richest nations,” Chagutah added.
Cyclone Freddy has been causing destruction in southern Africa since late February. It also pummeled the island states of Madagascar and Réunion last month as it traversed across the ocean.
The cyclone has intensified a record seven times and has the highest-ever recorded accumulated cyclone energy, or ACE, which is a measurement of how much energy a cyclone has released over time. Freddy recorded more energy over its lifetime than an entire typical U.S. hurricane season.
Freddy first developed near Australia in early February and is set to be the longest-ever recorded tropical cyclone. The U.N.'s weather agency has convened an expert panel to determine whether it has broken the record set by Hurricane John in 1994 of 31 days.
44 dead as Cyclone Freddy pounds Malawi, Mozambique
An unrelenting Cyclone Freddy that is currently battering southern Africa has killed at least 44 people in Malawi and Mozambique since it struck the continent for a second time on Saturday night, authorities in both countries have confirmed.
At least 39 people in Malawi's commercial hub of Blantyre have died with several others missing or injured, the city's chief executive officer told The Associated Press on Monday. Authorities in Mozambique reported that five people were killed in the country since Saturday.
The deaths in Malawi include five members of a single family who died in Blantyre's Ndirande township after Freddy's destructive winds and heavy rains demolished their house, according to a police report. A three-year-old child who was "trapped in the debris" is also among the victims, with her parents among those reported missing, authorities also said.
"We suspect that this figure will rise as we are trying to compile one national report from our southwest, southeast and eastern police offices which cover the affected areas," Malawi police spokesperson Peter Kalaya told the AP.
The cyclone lashed over Mozambique and Malawi over the weekend and into Monday. It's the second time the record-breaking cyclone — which has been causing destruction in southern Africa since late February — made landfall in mainland Africa. It also pummeled the island states of Madagascar and Réunion as it traversed across the ocean.
The cyclone has intensified a record seven times and has the highest-ever recorded accumulated cyclone energy, or ACE, which is a measurement of how much energy a cyclone has released over time. Freddy recorded more energy over its lifetime than an entire typical U.S. hurricane season.
Freddy first developed near Australia in early February and traveled across the entire southern Indian Ocean. Its set to be the longest-ever recorded tropical cyclone. The U.N.'s weather agency has convened an expert panel to determine whether it has broken the record set by Hurricane John in 1994 of 31 days.
Freddy made landfall in the seaport of Quelimane in Mozambique on Saturday where there are reports of damage to houses and farmlands, although the extent of the destruction is not yet clear. Telecommunications and other essential infrastructure are still cut off in much of the affected Zambezia province, impeding rescue and other humanitarian efforts.
French weather agency Météo-France's regional tropical cyclone monitoring center in Réunion warned Monday that "the heaviest rains will continue over the next 48 hours" as Freddy barrels on. Mozambique's central provinces and Malawi have been identified as especially vulnerable to "floods and landslides in mountainous areas" by weather monitors.
Much of the damage experienced in Malawi is in homes built in areas prohibited by law such as in mountainous regions or near rivers where they are battling landslides, unprecedented flooding and rivers bursting their banks. The cyclone has forced the Malawian government to suspend schools in 10 districts in its southern region "as a precautionary measure."
Freddy is expected weaken and to exit back to sea on Wednesday, according to Météo-France.
IS group says it killed more than 35 ‘Christians’ in Congo
The Islamic State group has issued a statement claiming responsibility for killing more than 35 people and wounding dozens in eastern Congo.
In the statement, posted Friday by Aamaq, the militants' news agency, it said it killed “Christians” with guns and knives and destroyed their property in Mukondi village in North Kivu province. It also published a photo of the houses on fire.
The announcement comes after local authorities confirmed that at least 45 people were killed last week in several attacks on different villages by rebels from the Allied Democratic Forces, a militia with links to IS.
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Conflict has been simmering in eastern Congo for decades as more than 120 armed groups fight for power, influence and resources, and some to protect their communities. The ADF has been largely active in North Kivu province but has recently extended its operations into neighboring Ituri province and to areas near the regional capital, Goma.
Efforts to stem the violence against ADF have yielded little. A nearly year-long joint operation by Uganda and Congo’s armies did not achieve the expected results of defeating or substantially weakening the group, said a report in December by a panel of U.N. experts. The ADF rebels are accused by the U.N. and rights groups of maiming, raping and abducting civilians, including children. Earlier this month the United States offered a reward of up to $5 million for information that could lead to the capture of the group’s leader, Seka Musa Baluku.
On Thursday, AP reporters saw bodies lowered into a mass grave in Mukondi. Community members shoveled dirt over the bodies against a backdrop of destroyed houses and said the government wasn't doing enough to protect them.
“As you see in Mukondi, it is always the same. ADF, which is always ill-intentioned against the Congolese," said Col. Charles Ehuta Omeonga, military administrator for Beni region. “We lost many of our brothers,” he said.
The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo has condemned the killings and is urging Congo’s authorities to investigate and bring those responsible to justice.