Category: General

Officials from Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria have agreed to work together to reconstruct the Lake Chad Basin. The region has been a hotbed of insecurity due to attacks from Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram and its offshoots. The officials met in Cameroon’s capital this week and said the area is gradually returning to normalcy, but unemployment is pushing young people to join militant groups.

Close to 400 representatives of rights groups, funding agencies, United Nations agencies and the African Union met in Yaounde to map out ways of improving living conditions in the troubled Lake Chad Basin.

In a statement, governors from the region said member states and funding agencies will intensify rebuilding and stabilization efforts of the area.

Ahunna Eziakonwa is U.N. assistant secretary general and the regional director for Africa at the U.N. Development Program. She said many of the towns and villages in the Lake Chad Basin need to be rebuilt from the ground up.

“Houses have been destroyed, schools have become nonfunctional, markets, stores destroyed. The rule of law is completely erased with police stations completely destroyed, so a stabilization program tries to rebuild the livelihoods and lives of people who have been affected by first of all making sure we reconstruct those facilities that serve the police for instancem,” said Eziakonwa.

Since the death of Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau earlier this year, thousands of the group’s fighters have defected or surrendered, according to regional governments and officials of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), a regional military alliance fighting the Boko Haram insurgency.

The task force made up of troops from Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria said attacks by its troops in Boko Haram-controlled areas have made Shekau’s militants weaker.

Richard Fonteh Akum is the executive director of the Institute for Security Studies based in Pretoria, South Africa. He said now is the time to launch sustainable development efforts, while Boko Haram is in apparent decline.

“What may seem as normalcy right now could actually be the silence before another storm of attacks. A few years ago, there was a fracturing within Boko Haram which saw the groups splinter and see the emergence of the Islamic State West Africa Province, but at the same time Boko Haram came out stronger. So, I think unless we have a framework which allows for multi-level peace and stabilization, it will remain extremely challenging to move towards normalcy and effective reconstruction,” he said.

Akum said to stop endemic poverty in the area, roads should be improved for fishers, herders and crop farmers to transport their produce to markets.

The amount of money needed to for rebuilding efforts of the Lake Chad Basin wasn’t disclosed during the meeting, but Cameroon said it will allocate $300 million to spend on infrastructure destroyed by Boko Haram.

Source: Voice of America

In Burkina Faso, at least 400 people have been awaiting trial on terrorism charges for years, including several minors.

Houretou Sidibé says three relatives, including her son, have been held in a Burkina Faso maximum security prison for three years.

Sidibé, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, says she does not know why they’re being held.

Since Burkina Faso began its war against armed groups linked to Islamic State, al-Qaida and local bandits seven years ago, at least 400 citizens have been arrested on suspicion of terrorism-related offenses and are being held in custody. Some are children under the age of sixteen.

“It has been more than a year since I’ve been able to visit them, because I have no means to do it,” Sidibé said. “Two weeks ago, my brother was able to visit them and gave me some of their news.”

The West African country created a penal code for terrorism offenses in 2019. But so far, only two people have been to trial and convicted on terrorism charges.

Sidibé says her relatives are being held at a prison in the town of Ziniaré, which is housing double its official capacity.

“I really need some judicial assistance, a lawyer, to follow up their case and free them, because it really is a long time that they’ve been remanded in prison,” she said.

Koumbo Barry, whose name has also been changed to protect her identity, says her son has been held for almost two years without trial.

“I can’t stop crying, because I haven’t been given any reason for their arrest,” she said. “I want the government authorities to help me find the reason why my sons were arrested and dropped in that prison. Today, I am old and I can’t work. I am living with their wives and children. It’s difficult to feed them. My husband is old, everyone is suffering at home because of this situation.”

Daouda Dialo is a Burkinabe human rights activist who runs the rights group, The Collective Against Impunity and Stigmatization of Communities. He says some detainees have been awaiting trial for as long as five years.

“As a human rights defender, we find that this pre-trial detention is excessive,” he said. “It is an abuse that must be corrected at the level of the law, because we cannot detain someone indefinitely to wait for his or her trial. The fact that justice isn’t working can contribute to further violence and worsening vigilantism.”

Attending a conference on the processing of terrorism offenses Friday, Burkina Faso President Roch Kabore said the country will continue to prosecute terrorism suspects despite funding concerns.

“We’re pleased we’ve been able to hold the first trial of a terrorist and I can tell you that I’ve noted all the concerns and we will ensure that the state can effectively meet these conditions,” he said. “It is true that we have to take into account the fact that we have financial difficulties, but I think that an effort can be made to reinforce what we already have.”

Although the trial of two men is a sign of progress, it remains to be seen how quickly more trials will follow.

Source: Voice of America

The U.N. Children’s Fund reports that Islamist insurgents are recruiting young children to fight in northern Mozambique’s volatile, oil-rich province of Cabo Delgado.

UNICEF says it has received numerous reports of children being forcefully recruited by the Mozambican militant group al-Shabab. It says the group — not affiliated with the Somali insurgency of the same name — has reportedly taken boys and girls from their families and villages.

UNICEF notes there is evidence of sexual violence against girls and of young girls being forced into marriage with their abductors.

Human Rights Watch recently said the boys, some as young as 12, are being trained in bases across Cabo Delgado and forced to fight alongside adults against government forces.

UNICEF spokesman James Elder says there is no accurate count of the number of children that have been recruited, but it is believed to be in the thousands. He says some of the children have been rescued, but none have been released by their militant captors.

“The recruitment and use of children by armed groups destroys families and communities,” Elder said. “Children are exposed to incomprehensible levels of violence, they lose their families, they lose their safety, they lose their ability to go to school. And, of course, the recruitment and use of children is a grave violation of international law.”

Elder says the recruitment of child soldiers has been going on since al-Shabab and other armed groups attacked Cabo Delgado in March. The United Nations reports dozens of people were killed and nearly 40,000 people fled to safer areas in the region.

Two weeks ago, Elder says, UNICEF signed an important Memorandum of Understanding with the Mozambican defense forces which spelled out what government forces should do when they encounter children with armed groups.

“So that training is very, very important so that they know to treat children as children and as victims and then immediately get the support of organizations like UNICEF,” Elder said. “And that can be everything from help to psychosocial support. Those early stages of support for a child who is being recruited, whether as a helper, whether as someone armed, are absolutely critical.”

International law states any child associated with an armed group is to be considered a child and a survivor of violations. Elder says children who have been associated with armed groups are double victims and must be treated as such.

Source: Voice of America

Journalist Tesfalem Waldyes, the founder and editor-in-chief of Ethiopia Insider, an Ethiopian news and analysis website, is in police custody, according to media reports.

Tesfalem’s colleagues and friends said his whereabouts hadn’t been known since Saturday, but federal police confirmed his detention to the BBC, saying there is nothing to be concerned about.

Police didn’t give additional details. Shortly after the detention, Befeqadu Hailu, the executive director of the Center for Advancement of Rights and Democracy, said Tesfalem went missing after covering the Irreecha festival in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital. Irreecha is a cultural event celebrated by Ethiopia’s ethnic Oromo community.

Befeqadu also said via Twitter that Tesfalem’s plan for Sunday was to report on the festival, which also took place at a second location, Bishoftu.

The annual event is traditionally held in Bishoftu, a town located in the Oromia region, about 40 kilometers south of Addis Ababa.

After covering the event in Addis Ababa, Tesfalem posted a video on Ethiopia Insider’s Facebook page that showed attendees expressing their criticism of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s administration.

Attendees also demanded the release of political prisoners, chanting, “Jawar, Jawar!”

Jawar Mohammed, an Oromo activist and opposition leader, has been imprisoned, charged with terrorism and other crimes alongside other prominent Oromo politicians.

In 2014, Tesfalem was among three journalists and six bloggers, who became known as the “Zone 9 Bloggers” and were arrested for inciting violence among other charges, including terrorism. He spent more than one year in prison and was later released. Zone 9 Bloggers were recipients of the Committee to Protect Journalists’ International Press Freedom Award in 2015.

The U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists says at least seven journalists are imprisoned in the country.

Separately, Prime Minister Abiy was sworn in for a second term on Monday.

The event comes as the national government remains engaged in a nearly year-old armed conflict with rebels in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region.

Source: Voice of America

As Desmond Tutu turns 90 on Thursday, he remains indisputably the moral voice of South Africa. But age is catching up with him.

The jovial emeritus archbishop retired in 2010 and rarely speaks in public, in a country that sometimes feels adrift without the leadership of its anti-apartheid liberation icons.

Even though South Africa has eased its COVID-19 precautions, the birthday festivities will be muted and largely online.

Renowned for his radiating energy and infectious laughter, Tutu is expected to attend a special service Thursday at St George’s Cathedral, where he once held the pulpit as South Africa’s first black Anglican archbishop.

Later that day, the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation will host an online lecture by the Dalai Lama, Ireland’s former president Mary Robinson, rights activist Graca Machel and South Africa’s ex-ombudswoman Thuli Madonsela, respected for her courageous exposure of corruption.

The line-up of speakers is a reminder of Tutu’s values, surrounding himself with rights advocates at a time when South Africa’s current leaders are better known for lavish lifestyles and billion-dollar bank accounts.

An online auction of his memorabilia last month raised $237,000 for the foundation named after him and Leah, his wife of 66 years.

The last time Tutu himself was seen in public was in May, when he and Leah went to receive their COVID-19 vaccinations.

He smiled and waved from a wheelchair outside a hospital, but didn’t speak to journalists waiting outside — a far cry from the buoyant personality who captivated the world with his strident opposition to apartheid, which won him a Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.

‘Rainbow nation’

Knowing him now as a towering figure on the world stage, it’s hard to remember that when he returned from his studies in Britain in the 1960s, he was subjected to the same humiliations as any other black South African.

His daughter Mpho Tutu-van Furth, with whom he has authored two books, remembers driving cross-country with her family to bring her siblings to boarding school.

“I have a memory of stopping at a place along the way, and my dad going into the store to go and buy ice cream for us, because it was just sticky hot,” Tutu-van Furth told AFP.

“And the person saying to him that they don’t serve kaffirs inside the shop, that you have to go around to the window. And my dad just kind of slammed out of there.

“We weren’t going to get ice cream that day.”

Kaffir is South Africa’s worst racial slur, and the utterance today can lead to criminal charges.

He eventually grew his leadership in the Anglican Church, creating a path towards reconciliation. He coined the term “rainbow nation”, and deeply believed that the South African experiment could show the world a new way to overcome conflicts.

His ideas of forgiveness have fallen out of favor with some younger South Africans, who feel that black people surrendered too much in the transition to democracy, without holding apartheid criminals to account.

What endeared Tutu to the nation was that he didn’t stop speaking out after democracy arrived.

He confronted homophobia in the Anglican Church, challenged Nelson Mandela over generous salaries for Cabinet ministers and stridently criticized the endemic corruption that mushroomed under ex-president Jacob Zuma.

“He played such a unique role,” said William Gumede, of the Democracy Works Foundation. “We were fortunate during the transition that we had him and we had Mandela, these two statesmen who were moral leaders.”

But that era is over.

“We’re entering a period where we’re not going to have those really big moral leaders,” Gumede said. “So how do we build the society that we want?”

Source: Voice of America

Thousands of supporters of Tunisian President Kais Saied rallied in the capital on Sunday to show their backing for his suspension of parliament and promises to change the political system, acts his critics call a coup.

The demonstration in central Tunis was called in response to protests over the previous two weekends in the same location against Saied’s actions. It is expected to far outnumber those gatherings.

Demonstrators waved Tunisian flags and carried placards railing against Ennahda, the moderate Islamist party that is the biggest in parliament and has acted as Saied’s main antagonist.

“We ask the president to dissolve parliament and hold accountable those who made the people suffer for a decade,” Salem Ajoudi, one of the demonstrators, said.

The president plunged Tunisia into a constitutional crisis in July by suspending the elected parliament, dismissing the prime minister and assuming executive authority.

Last month he brushed aside much of the constitution to say he could pass legislation by decree, casting into doubt Tunisia’s democratic gains since its 2011 revolution that triggered the “Arab spring” revolts across the Muslim world.

Saied’s intervention followed years of economic stagnation and political paralysis, aggravated by an impoverishing lockdown last year, a slow-starting vaccination campaign and street protests.

Many Tunisians blame those ills on a corrupt, self-interested political elite, and they see Saied, an independent elected in 2019, as a champion for ordinary people.

Among his supporters, Saied’s intervention is widely regarded as a long-overdue reset of a democratic experiment that established interests pulled off course.

“Saied is a clean president who has come to restore real democracy,” said Mongi Abdullah, a teacher from Mahdia who had come to join the rally.

While opinion polls show Saied’s moves have widespread support, his long delay in declaring a timeline out of the crisis has started to cement opposition to him.

Most of the political elite and the powerful labor union UGTT say he must start consulting more widely if he plans to amend the constitution, as he has indicated he will.

Tunisian police on Sunday arrested a member of parliament and a television presenter who have been prominent critics of Saied since July, their lawyer said. Neither the police nor army were immediately available for comment.

Source: Voice of America