Category: General

GENEVA — A new seasonal forecast for the drought-stricken Horn of Africa shows many parts of the region can expect a good rainy season.

The forecast by the World Meteorological Organization is good news for millions of people suffering acute hunger because of poor harvests caused by several years of drought.

However, WMO spokesperson Clare Nullis said that good news is coupled with warnings that people should still prepare for what she called a worst-case scenario.

“The March-to-May rainy season is really, really important for many countries in the region,” she said. “In the region, it accounts for about 70% of the total annual rainfall. So, obviously if there were to be a renewed failure of the rains, there would be massive socioeconomic consequences.”

The World Food Program says 12-14 million people in three of the worst-affected countries — Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia — are facing severe hunger due to the devastating drought across the Horn of Africa.

The WMO says southern to central parts of the region have the highest chances of receiving more rain than normal at this time of year. Countries include Tanzania, eastern Uganda, northern Burundi, and eastern Rwanda.

However, it says western South Sudan, and central and northeastern Ethiopia are likely to receive less rain than usual.

Given the below-average rainfall the past three seasons, meteorologists say a wetter-than-normal season does not mean the region will immediately recover from the drought.

Nullis said countries in the eastern part of the Horn should prepare for the worst.

“In the regions worst hit by drought, the current trends are comparable to those observed during the 2010-2011 famine and the 2016-2017 drought emergency,” she said. “There is obviously a delay between planting and harvesting. The next harvest will not start until about August, so we are not going to see any immediate positive impacts.”

More than a quarter-million people died in the Somalia famine between 2010 and 2012, more than half of them children. More than 6 million people, half of Somalia’s population, were ravaged by the severe 2017 drought. Few people died, though, because the international community responded quickly to the acute hunger emergency.

Source: Voice of America

BLANTYRE, MALAWI — The U.N. children’s agency, UNICEF, is assisting Malawi’s students to continue their education in areas affected by a recent tropical storm.

Students in the country’s 17 flooded districts are taking their lessons outdoors, in the shade of trees, after Tropical Storm Ana ravaged the region, affecting over 900,000 people, destroying school blocks and washing away learning materials.

The government is still assessing the damage as the flooding continues three weeks after Ana passed.

In Chikwawa district, one of the hardest hit districts, education experts say partial assessment shows the storm which also hit parts of Madagascar , Mozambique and Zimbabwe, has destroyed over 50 school buildings.

Mac Shades Dakamau, chief education officer for Chikwawa district, says the damage is unprecedented.

“We are hit very, very hard with [Tropical Storm] Ana. For example, classrooms have been damaged, toilets have collapsed, and we had mud in all affected classrooms. And for the first time, we have a very big number of schools affected,” he said.

According to Dakamau, poor learning conditions forced over half of students to be absent from schools.

“Some of the learners have lost their uniform, the textbooks, and pens, name it. So it hit very hard in Chikwawa,” he added.

Teachers at Sekeni Primary School in Chikwawa district say the floods damaged the school and washed away textbooks and other learning materials.

However to solve the problem, UNICEF, under its School in a Box initiative, has provided learning materials, which include notebooks, pens, face coverings and footballs.

“I was very happy that we are able to hand over some learning materials and also some recreational material at that school which also by the way had water supply provided by UNICEF for hand washing and lucky that did not get damaged during the floods,” said Rudolf Schwenk, country director for UNICEF in Malawi.

He said the U.N. children’s agency is also considering providing temporary learning shelters for affected schools and evacuation camps.

“Because it’s important for their psycho-social development if they continue learning. So I think that is of critical importance also to look after the children in the camps who are not yet able to go back to their schools,” Schwenk said.

Minister of Education Agness Nyalonje said in parliament this week that the government has also established an education in emergency plan, which aims to ensure continued learning for children in times of natural disasters.

However, Nyalonje ruled out plans to relocate schools from flood-prone areas, saying doing so would inconvenience students living there.

Source: Voice of America

Africa’s Sahel region is facing a perfect storm of disasters that are drastically diminishing the ability of people to feed themselves.

The World Food Program warns millions of people across the region are facing a worsening food crisis, with more than a million on the brink of starvation.

The WFP reports conflict in the region, the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change have plunged more than 10.5 million people into acute hunger.

WFP spokesman Tomson Phiri says this number includes 1.1 million people who are on the point of starvation, a nearly 10-fold increase over the past three years. He says the many calamities befalling the region plus the rising costs of food and other commodities are putting basic meals out of reach for millions.

“People have been chased from their homes by extremist groups, displacement has grown by almost 400%, people have been starved by drought, and they have been plunged into despair by COVID’s economic ripple effects,” Phiri said.

The WFP reports the recent spillover of the conflict from Burkina Faso into Benin risks further destabilizing the entire region and destroying development gains.

The agency has been providing food assistance to 9.3 million people in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger. Phiri warns this lifeline for millions is being threatened because of budgetary constraints.

“While the needs are sky high, resourcing to support the vulnerable is at rock bottom, forcing the World Food Program into a difficult position of having to take from those who are hungry to feed those who are just about to starve or already are starving,” he said.

Phiri says this is happening in Niger right now. He says a funding shortfall in that country is forcing the WFP to cut food rations by half for 1.4 million people. He warns similar cuts may have to be made in other countries unless more money is forthcoming.

The WFP is appealing for $470 million to carry out its lifesaving

humanitarian operation for the next six months.

Source: Voice of America

The military government of Mali says France’s decision to withdraw troops is a violation of bilateral accords. At the same time, the government says it wants French forces to leave Mali immediately.

During an address from Elysee Palace Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron said the withdrawal of French and European forces from Mali would take between four and six months.

But Mali’s military government has now asked that forces with Operation Barkhane and the Takuba Task Force depart immediately.

Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga, a spokesperson for Mali’s military government, read the government’s statement on Mali’s state television station ORTM.

Maiga called France’s move a “unilateral decision,” similar to decisions that France announced last June suspending joint operations with the Malian army and ending Operation Barkhane.

These decisions, he said, were made without consultation with the Malian side and constitute flagrant violations of French-Malian agreements.

Maiga said that in view of these repeated breaches of the defense agreements, the government asks the French authorities to withdraw, without delay, Barkhane and Takuba forces from national territory, under the supervision of Malian authorities.

The French first intervened in Mali in 2013, in Operation Serval, which was aimed at taking back control of northern Mali from Islamists. Operation Serval was replaced by anti-insurgent Operation Barkhane.

The Takuba task force is a French-led European military operation of about 800 troops that was deployed in 2020. There are around 2,400 French troops currently in Mali.

Tensions between the French and Malian governments have been rising for months. France has accused Mali of working with Russian mercenaries, and Mali expelled the French ambassador in January after France’s foreign minister called Mali’s government “illegitimate.”

Mali suffered military coups in 2020 and 2021 and has been suspended from the African Union.

Source: Voice of America

Namibian authorities have confirmed they are capturing scores of wild elephants that were sold at auction for export. Authorities would not say which countries they will be sent to, only that China is not one of them.

Wildlife conservationists have criticized the government’s secrecy on the deals and the exporting of the animals.

Namibia’s minister of Environment, Forestry and Tourism this week defended the government’s capture of wild elephants for export, despite a veil of secrecy on the buyers.

Pohamba Shifeta said Namibia’s growing elephant herds, numbering around 24,000, are causing human-wildlife conflict.

“What we have done is to auction animals that were earmarked because they were causing conflict amongst communities,” Shifeta said. “We identified those herds to be auctioned. They were 170 altogether in different communities because they were destroying properties in the community and even contributing to the loss of human lives.”

Shifeta said Namibia is seeing a surge in human-wildlife conflict. But wildlife conservationists dispute the value of exporting elephants to deal with the issue.

Audrey Delsink, wildlife director for Humane Society International, said the lack of transparency on the elephants’ buyers raises concerns that the sales could violate the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, known as CITES.

“Elephants do not belong in captivity, and we would welcome some transparency on this issue and some evidence from the Ministry to that effect,” Delsink said. “There are humane solutions to mitigate both for human-elephant conflict and for population control of elephants.”

The ministry, in a February 15 press statement, said 20 of the 170 elephants sold were still to be captured, pending permits from CITES.

Shifeta disputed speculation that the elephants would be sold into captivity.

“We are signatories to CITES and we are aware of the international statutes, the international law that governs CITES member states. Our law does not allow an animal to be exported to a country where we know the environment is not conducive for this animal,” he said.

Namibia auctioned off the elephants to three buyers last August, but authorities would not say who purchased the wild animals.

The environment ministry denied that China was one of the buyers, after concerns were expressed about how animals exported to the Asian country were treated.

But the ministry said the buyers would be required to meet certain criteria, such as keeping the elephants in an area with game-proof fences.

Authorities acknowledged the elephants were being rounded up for export after Namibian journalist John Grobler was detained for recording images of the captured animals.

“There is going to be a CITES meeting in Lyon, France, early March where this issue will be addressed but it is a highly contentious one to say the least,” Grobler said. “You do not send wild caught elephants into another continent to a zoo if you are really doing conservation.”

The CITES agreement for Namibia indicates live elephants should stay in African conservation programs but is also subject to interpretation by scientific authorities of importing countries.

Source: Voice of America

The U.N World Food Program says Africa’s Sahel region is facing unprecedented food insecurity, caused by soaring prices, terrorist activity, high regional demand and COVID-19.

The WFP’s representative in Burkina Faso warns the situation is critical, with millions more people facing hunger in the coming months.

In large areas of Burkina Faso, terrorist groups linked to Islamic State and al-Qaida move freely about the countryside, attacking civilians and security forces alike.

While the conflict has affected millions in various ways, for Saidou Sawadogo, it meant losing his livestock and forcing him to flee to Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou.

“Yes, my animals were stolen,” he explained. He said terrorists came in the early hours of the morning in large numbers and took around 1,000 sheep. A few days later, they came back to the market and took cellphones from everyone, and that’s when he decided to leave, he said.

Rising prices

Sawadogo is not alone. Meat prices are spiraling in Burkina Faso’s markets because of rampant cattle rustling by terror groups.

Mahamoudou Barry, who runs a livestock market in Ouagadougou, said animal prices have increased over the past three years due to insecurity. He said many people were killed and animals had been stolen.

“Three years ago, the price of animals started at $300 to $430. Today, the price starts at $700. Before, we earned more, but it’s a lot less these days,” he complained.

A toxic mix of factors is causing food prices to soar across the region, according to the World Food Program.

Cattle rustling by terror groups is just one small factor, said Antoine Renard, the WFP’s country director for Burkina Faso.

“There’s a high demand in the region, so that’s one aspect in terms of market dimension. The second one, which is the conflict and, of course, it has an impact on how you can still continue to harvest. How can you continue to make sure that your markets are up and running in terms of Burkina Faso? And the last one is also the economic impact of the COVID-19,” said Renard.

Record food insecurity

The WFP says a record 28 million people are food insecure in West and Central Africa.

It also says that in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, hunger could increase by 50% in the coming months, affecting more than 8 million people.

The Sahel’s more than 2.5 million displaced by conflict, like Soumaila Sawadogo, are especially vulnerable.

He said the people in the area around the site for displaced people where he lived have been very helpful. But, he said, the problem the community has is one of lack of water and food.

“We only have help from the U.N. They helped us with houses and food, rice, oil, beans and condiments,” he said.

Meanwhile, the WFP says it will have to cut rations to those displaced by conflict if it does not receive more funding soon.

Source: Voice of America