Democracy Campaigners Criticise President Saied as Polls Close in Tunisia
Polls have closed in Tunisia’s presidential election as the president, Kais Saied, seeks a second term, while his most prominent critics are in prison and after his main rival was jailed suddenly last month. Observers see the election, which Saied is expected to win, as a closing chapter in Tunisia’s experiment with democracy. Official results are not expected until Monday evening but an exit poll by Sigma company, a polling agency, showed Saied in the lead with 89.2% of votes, according to state television. Saied’s opponents rejected the poll, saying the results would be different. The election commission said turnout was 27.7%…Observers and rights groups now say Saied, 66, who has been president since 2019, has undone many of Tunisia’s democratic gains while removing institutional and legal checks on his power. In 2021, he seized most powers when he dissolved the elected parliament and rewrote the constitution, a move the opposition described as a coup…Amid a growing crackdown on dissent, a number of Saied’s critics across the political spectrum have been jailed, sparking condemnation at home and abroad. The New York-based Human Rights Watch has said that more than “170 people are detained in Tunisia on political grounds or for exercising their fundamental rights”. The Guardian
Mauritius’ President Roopun sets general election for Nov 10
The President of the Republic of Mauritius, Prithvirajsing Roopun, said on Friday the island nation would hold a general election on Nov. 10. Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth won the last election in 2019, with his Militant Socialist Movement (MSM) securing 38 of the 62 seats in parliament. Last year a British court sitting as the final court of appeal for Mauritius upheld Jugnauth’s 2019 win, rejecting an appeal by an opposition candidate who alleged it had been obtained through bribery and undue influence. Jugnauth first became prime minister in 2017, when his father stepped down from the post of leading the prosperous Indian Ocean country of 1.3 million people, which touts itself as a bridge between Africa and Asia and has a flourishing financial sector. Reuters
Sudan: El Fasher Receives Major Reinforcements as Fighting with RSF Intensifies
Significant military reinforcements have arrived in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, a spokesperson for the joint force of armed groups aligned with the Sudanese army said on Sunday. The reinforcements from the northern desert regions come amid intensified clashes with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Last week, heavy fighting occurred between the joint force and the RSF in the areas of Sayah, Madu, and Taqabu, north of El Fasher. Both sides claimed gains…El Fasher has been under a tight RSF siege since April. In May, the RSF launched an offensive to capture the city, a key government stronghold in Darfur. The offensive slowed after the death of its commander, Ali Yaqoub, in June, but fighting escalated again in September and October, causing civilian casualties. Sudan Tribune
At Least 13 Children Killed in Airstrikes in Sudan’s North Darfur
At least 13 children were killed and four others injured in airstrikes by the Sudanese army in Al Kuma, North Darfur, on October 4, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said…Since the beginning of the conflict in Sudan, more than 150 schools and hospitals have been attacked. Last year saw the highest number of grave violations against children verified in Sudan in more than a decade. Sudan Tribune
Congo Launches Its First Mpox Vaccination Campaign
Congolese health officials launched their first mpox vaccination campaign on Saturday, a key step in efforts to contain an outbreak that has spread from its epicentre in the Democratic Republic of Congo to numerous other African nations this year. Officials held a ceremony to mark the start of vaccinations at a hospital in the eastern city of Goma, where health workers were first in line to receive the vaccine doses. The Health Ministry warned on Friday that the campaign’s scope would be small due to limited resources. At the moment, 265,000 vaccine doses are available, though more are in the pipeline. The start of vaccinations begins to address a huge inequity that left African countries with no access to the two shots used to fight a 2022 global mpox outbreak, while they were widely available in Europe and the United States. Reuters
Rwanda Begins Marburg Vaccinations to Curb Deadly Outbreak
Rwanda said on Sunday it had begun administering vaccine doses against the Marburg virus to try to combat an outbreak of the Ebola-like disease in the east African country, where it has so far killed 12 people. “The vaccination is starting today immediately,” Health Minister Sabin Nsanzimana said at a news conference in the capital Kigali. He said the vaccinations would focus on those “most at risk, most exposed healthcare workers working in treatment centres, in the hospitals, in ICU, in emergency, but also the close contacts of the confirmed cases.” Reuters
Deadly Marburg Virus Hits Rwanda’s Doctors and Nurses Hard
Rwanda’s fragile health care system could become overwhelmed by the deadly Marburg virus, doctors fear, because most of those currently infected are medical professionals, and some have already died. Since the first outbreak in the country last month, at least 30 medical workers have been infected, and at least four have died. Among the infected are two of the country’s scarce anesthesiologists. More medical staff members are isolated in hospital wards in the capital, Kigali. The health care system, with approximately 1,500 doctors and fewer than 40 anesthesiologists for a nation of just over 13 million people, could face significant strain…Marburg, first identified in Africa in the 1970s, is related to Ebola. Outbreaks can be started by contact with Egyptian fruit bats or their caves. Once infected, people can spread the virus to others through contact with bodily fluids such as blood or sweat. The New York Times
ICC Unseals Six Arrest Warrants for Alleged War Crimes in Libya
The International Criminal Court on Friday unsealed arrest warrants against six members of a Libyan militia group charged with war crimes. In 2023, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said arrest warrants had been issued by court judges for war crimes in Libya since 2011, but these warrants were under seal, so it was not clear who was targeted or what the specific charges were. The warrants released on Friday made it clear six individuals, all Libyan nationals, had been charged with war crimes including murder, torture, cruel treatment and sexual violence, and some also with rape…According to the ICC the suspects in the six arrest warrants were all members of the Kaniyat militia that was allied to the eastern Libyan National Army and helped it mount a failed 14-month assault on the capital Tripoli in the west. Reuters
Burkina Faso Plans to Withdraw Some Mining Permits, Junta Leader Says
Burkina Faso plans to withdraw mining permits from some foreign companies and will seek to produce more of its own gold, junta leader Ibrahim Traore said on Saturday, without specifying which permits could be cancelled. “We know how to mine our gold and I don’t understand why we’re going to let multinationals come and mine it,” Traore said in a radio address to mark two years since he seized power in a coup…Gold is the main export of the West African country, where frustration over a long-running security crisis helped bring the junta to power in 2022. Since then, it has severed longstanding ties with Western allies and sought closer relations with Russia…Operations have been complicated by growing insecurity. Despite the junta promising to contain [militant groups], the country saw a severe escalation of deadly attacks in 2023, with more than 8,000 people reportedly killed, according to U.S.-based crisis-monitoring group ACLED. Reuters
Donors, Troop Contributors in Jitters over Egypt’s New Role in Post-Atmis Mission
International partners and countries contributing troops to the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia are uneasy with the growing influence of Somalia’s new-found ally Egypt, whose military is to be deployed as part of the new security arrangement for the Horn of Africa nation after the expiry of the current African Union’s peacekeeping mandate. Regional security experts intimated to The EastAfrican that the rising tensions in the Horn of Africa—with Egypt arming Somalia and the latter freezing Ethiopia out of the security arrangement set to succeed the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (Atmis)—have triggered unease among the donors. This comes at a time the AU and United Nations are in consultations with the Federal Government of Somalia and its security allies, ahead of submitting a report by November 15, 2024, for the post-Atmis mission, the African Union Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia (Aussom), set to start on January 1, 2025. The donors’ concern is that the inclusion of Egyptian troops in Aussom at the expense of Ethiopian forces, who have been part of peacekeeping missions in Somalia since 2014, is a strategic win for Egypt, which has been at loggerheads with Addis Ababa over the Nile waters, and this may escalate tensions in the Horn. The EastAfrican
Solar Power Companies Are Growing Fast in Africa, where 600 Million Still Lack Electricity
Companies that bring solar power to some of the poorest homes in Central and West Africa are said to be among the fastest growing on a continent whose governments have long struggled to address some of the world’s worst infrastructure and the complications of climate change. The often African-owned companies operate in areas where the vast majority of people live disconnected from the electricity grid, and offer products ranging from solar-powered lamps that allow children to study at night to elaborate home systems that power kitchen appliances and plasma televisions. Prices range from less than $20 for a solar-powered lamp to thousands of dollars for home appliances and entertainment systems. Central and West Africa have some of the world’s lowest electrification rates. In West Africa, where 220 million people live without power, this is as low as 8%, according to the World Bank. Many rely on expensive kerosene and other fuels that fill homes and businesses with fumes and risk causing fires. AP
Kenya’s President William Ruto Urges Young People to Emigrate
Kenya is encouraging its young people, both skilled and unskilled, to leave the country in search of employment opportunities elsewhere. Ruto has stated that 5,000 Kenyans leave the country every week. “He is the first president to openly make the export of workers a public policy. The measure is at the top of his political agenda. It’s unprecedented,” said political scientist Njahira Gitahi…In addition to Germany, Nairobi has signed agreements with several Arabian Peninsula states and Canada…”After two years in power, William Ruto is extremely unpopular, especially among ‘Gen Z’ [born between the late 1990s and early 2010s]. Promising young people jobs abroad is a response to the recent protests.”…Another explanation can be found in currency transfers. According to the Central Bank of Kenya, in 2023, the diaspora sent 671 billion Kenyan shillings (around €3.8 billion at the time) to the country. Le Monde
Côte d’Ivoire Crowned African Champion of Gender Equality, Stirring Controversy
According to the Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) 2023 drawn up by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Côte d’Ivoire is the best-performing African country in the fight against discrimination against women…The report is based on four categories: discrimination within the family, access to financial resources, violations of physical integrity and restrictions on civil liberties. Evaluation criteria include the existence of laws designed to guarantee gender equality and protect women, the prevalence of gender-based violence (GBV) and the population’s perception of women’s role and rights…For [ Bénédicte Otokoré, deputy secretary general of the Ligue Ivoirienne des Droits de la Femme,] the OECD report focuses on the existence of laws, not their effective application. “Good laws have been passed to protect women, but ignorance of these laws feeds a sense of impunity. We are witnessing a normalization of sexist rhetoric, and femicides continue,” she stated. Le Monde
In Senegal, the Bastion of the Region’s Francophonie, French Is Giving Way to Local Languages
While French remains the country’s official language, inscribed into its constitution, its influence is waning. It is giving way to Wolof, the most widely spoken local language — and not just on the street, where the latter has always been dominant, but in the halls of power: government offices, university corridors and mainstream media…There are 25 languages in Senegal. Six of them have the status of national languages, but Wolof is largely dominant. Out of the population of 17 million people, over 12 million speak Wolof, compared to around 4 million French speakers. But like in most former colonies, French has traditionally been the language of Senegalese political and cultural elites. The vast majority of schools across the country and all universities are French speaking. All official documents are issued in French. With the education rate in Senegal at around 60%, this excludes a large part of the population…But even the biggest proponents of Wolof do not want a revolution. [Adjaratou Sall, professor of Linguistics at the Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar], said she dreamed of university courses being held in Wolof, and children being taught in their local language, whether it would be Wolof, Serrer or Peul. “We will get there, but it’s a process,” she said. “And we need French as well. It is the language of openness, which allows us to communicate with others in the region.” AP