Videos from Sudan’s Killing Fields Reveal Ethnic Hatred behind Massacres
The immediate aftermath of the execution-style killings last year in Kassab, and others in neighboring Kutum town in Sudan’s western Darfur region, was captured in videos that have remained unpublished until now — rare visual evidence of the slaughter routinely occurring in Sudan…The videos underscore the vitriol of Arab militiamen affiliated with the RSF toward their ethnic Black African victims and the toll of that bigotry, which victims say is fueling much of the violence committed by that group against civilians, especially in Darfur. In one of the videos, a gunman in a white turban gloats over the sprawled, bloodstained bodies of two unidentified men: “Take pictures! This is a victory for the Arabs! This is a victory for the Arabs!”…About 70 percent of Sudanese identify as Arab, while the rest are primarily from Black African groups such as the Fur, Zaghawa and Nubians. The killings in Kassab and Kutum, which occurred in June 2023, foreshadowed other mass killings of mainly Black African civilians allegedly by the RSF in Darfurian cities such as Nyala and Geneina…While the military is also accused of committing abuses, including along ethnic lines, human rights groups say the RSF is responsible for the majority of the atrocities. Witness accounts and RSF propaganda videos revealed that senior RSF commanders were in the Kutum area during the killings. The Washington Post
The World Must ‘Wake up and Help Sudan Out of the Nightmare of Conflict’ Says WHO’S Tedros
Speaking to reporters from the Red Sea City of Port Sudan, [Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the UN World Health Organization ] said the conflict had so far killed more than 20 000 people – though that number is likely higher – and sparked the world’s largest internal displacement crisis, displacing over 10 million people inside the country, and forcing another two million to flee to neighbouring countries…Following 500 days of fighting, in addition to the mounting death toll and soaring numbers of internally displaced people, catastrophic seasonal floods have further harmed vital infrastructure, disease outbreaks such as cholera and malaria are on the rise, numerous cases of conflict-related sexual violence have been reported, and famine is occurring in some areas of the country. As he wrapped up his two-day visit, Dr. Tedros stated, “25.6 million people – over half of Sudan’s population – are expected to face high levels of acute food insecurity.” He also noted that 70 to 80 percent of the country’s health facilities are not operating at full capacity. UN Info
Algerian Candidate Hassani Cherif’s Campaign Says It Recorded Election Violations
Algerian presidential candidate Abdelaali Hassani Cherif’s campaign said in a statement on Sunday that it had recorded cases of violations in the country’s Saturday presidential election, initial results of which have yet to be announced. The campaign said the violations included putting pressure on some polling station officials to inflate the results, failure to deliver vote-sorting records to the candidates’ representatives, and instances of proxy group voting. Reuters
Algeria’s President Joins Opponents in Claiming Election Irregularities after Being Named the Winner
After being declared the winner of Algeria’s election, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune joined his two challengers in criticizing the country’s election authority for announcing results that contradicted earlier turnout figures and local tallies…Algeria’s National Independent Election Authority, or ANIE, on Sunday announced that Tebboune had won 94.7% of Saturday’s vote, far outpacing his challengers Islamist Abdelali Hassani Cherif, who received only 3.2% and socialist Youcef Aouchiche, who got just 2.2%. Hours later, Tebboune joined his opponents in questioning the reporting of results with the three campaigns jointly issuing a statement accusing the country’s top election official of announcing contradictory results. In a country where elections have historically been carefully choreographed affairs, such astonishing questions about irregularities shocked Algerians who expected Tebboune to win in a relatively uneventful fashion…But efforts from Tebboune and members of his government to encourage voter turnout to project legitimacy appeared to have fallen short, with less than one out of every four voters participating. Election officials on Sunday reported 5.6 million of the country’s roughly 24 million voters had turned out to vote…Officials did not explain why they had earlier announced 48% voter turnout at the time of polls closing. AP
Vaccinations against Mpox in Congo Will Begin Next Month, Authorities Say
A vaccination campaign against mpox in Congo will begin Oct. 2, authorities said Saturday, with workers focusing on the three most affected provinces first. Adults in Equateur, South Kivu and Sankuru provinces will be vaccinated first, Cris Kacita Osako, coordinator of Congo’s Monkeypox Response Committee, told The Associated Press. Earlier this week, the first batch of mpox vaccines arrived in the capital of Congo, the center of the outbreak. The 100,000 doses of the JYNNEOS vaccine, manufactured by the Danish company Bavarian Nordic, were donated by the European Union through HERA, the bloc’s agency for health emergencies. Another 100,000 were delivered on Saturday. The 200,000 doses are just a fraction of the 3 million doses authorities have said are needed to end the mpox outbreaks in Congo, the epicenter of the global health emergency. AP
Rubble and Grief: Morocco’s High Atlas Marks One Year since Record Earthquake
A year after nearly 3,000 people died when a record earthquake shook communities throughout Morocco’s High Atlas, it still looks like a bomb just went off in villages like Imi N’tala, where dozens of residents died after a chunk of mountainside cracked off and flattened the majority of buildings. Broken bricks, bent rods of rebar and pieces of kitchen floors remain but have been swept into neater piles alongside plastic tents where the displaced now live. Some await funds to reconstruct their homes. Others await approval of their blueprints…In some places, residents who say they’re awaiting governmental action have begun reconstructing buildings on an ad hoc basis. Elsewhere, people tired of the stuffiness of plastic tents have moved back into their cracked homes or decamped to larger cities, abandoning their old lives…The rhythms of normal life have somewhat resumed in some of the province’s larger towns, where rebuilding efforts on roads, homes, schools and businesses are underway and some residents have been provided metal container homes…Anger has mounted against local authorities in towns like Amizmiz and villages like Talat N’Yaqoub, where residents…have criticized the slow pace of reconstruction and demanded more investment in social services and infrastructure, which has long gone neglected in contrast with Morocco’s urban centers and coastline. AP
Morocco Stops 45,000 Migrants from Crossing to Europe in 2024
Morocco has stopped 45,015 people from illegally migrating to Europe since January and busted 177 migrant trafficking gangs, Morocco’s state news agency MAP reported on Friday, citing interior ministry data. It did not give comparative data for the same period in 2023 and the interior ministry did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. Last year, Morocco stopped 75,184 people from illegally crossing to Europe, up 6% from a year earlier, government data showed. The Moroccan navy has also rescued 10,859 migrants at sea so far this year, MAP said, citing the interior ministry data…The North African country has for long been a major launch pad for African migrants aiming to reach Europe through the Mediterranean, the Atlantic or by jumping the fence surrounding the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla. Reuters
Abducted Tanzanian Opposition Official Found Dead, Acid Poured on Face
The body of a senior Tanzanian opposition official abducted from a bus by armed men was found on the outskirts of commercial capital Dar es Salaam with signs he had been beaten and acid had been poured on his face, his party said. The killing of Ally Kibao, a member of the secretariat of the main opposition CHADEMA party, may taint the reformist image of President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who has tried to ease repression since succeeding John Magafuli who died in office three years ago. Kibao’s body was found on Saturday morning, a day after two armed men removed him from a bus travelling from Dar es Salaam to the north-eastern port city of Tanga, CHADEMA chairman Freeman Mbowe told journalists late on Sunday…Kibao’s death comes a month after police arrested and briefly detained more than 500 CHADEMA supporters, including their top leadership, as they attempted to gather for a meeting of the party’s youth wing in the southwest of the country. Reuters
Somalia Pins Corporates over Independent Somaliland Label
Somalia says it will make good on its threat of punishing corporate bodies labelling or operating as though Somaliland is independent territory. Mogadishu had said all firms with operations in Somalia should, by September 1, have altered information on their network platforms to reflect that Somaliland was a part of Somalia. Somalia’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) referred to the country’s provisional constitution to order companies to slash the name of Somaliland, the self-declared independent territory, from their network information sites. Money transfer agencies such as Paysii, Dahabshil and Jubba Express were specifically named in that communique…Ethiopian Airlines which flies to Hargeisa and Mogadishu was also fingered after it had labelled the Somaliland destination as a separate country. The EastAfrican
Ruto Goes to the Gen Zs; This Time, Complete with a Fresh ‘Creative’ Office
[I]n the wake of a wave of street protests mobilised mostly on digital platforms, which saw Parliament overrun on June 25 and forced [Kenya President Ruto] to dismiss his Cabinet, a major rebranding of the president and his administration appears to be under way…In the past two weeks alone, he has spoken at two town hall meetings in Nairobi and Kisumu, seeking to explain his administration’s achievements and policies to the majority youthful audiences…In his latest high-profile public appointments, Dr Ruto picked his long-time digital strategist and propagandist, Dennis Itumbi, to head a new office of creative economy and special projects. The office has been tasked with rolling out the youth-focused town hall meetings countrywide and amplifying the successes of the government’s job creation efforts through programmes such as affordable housing, digital hubs, migrant labour export and public service internships…It hasn’t been all smooth sailing for the president on his rebranding mission. At every town meeting so far, he has been confronted with the uncomfortable questions about widespread human rights violations by police during the Gen-Z protests, including killings, abductions and enforced disappearances. The EastAfrican
China Stops Short of Africa Debt Relief as It Pledges More Cash
China stopped short of providing the debt relief sought by many African countries this week, but pledged 360 billion yuan ($50.7 billion) over three years in credit lines and investments. The Forum for China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) launched in 2000 took on an enhanced role after the 2013 inception of President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which aims to recreate the ancient Silk Road for the world’s second largest economy and biggest bilateral lender to Africa…The new financial pledge is more than what Beijing promised at the last FOCAC in 2021, but below the $60 billion of 2015 and 2018, which marked the peak of lending to Africa under the Belt and Road Initiative. During those peak years, Beijing bankrolled the construction of roads, railways and bridges. But a drying up of funds since 2019 has left Africa with stalled construction projects. The new funds will go towards 30 infrastructure projects to improve trade links, China said, without giving details. Reuters
DR Congo Leaders Want More from Beijing than Mineral Sales
Officials from the Democratic Republic of Congo will be heading home from the two-day Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing with limited success in their bid to expand economic relations beyond the mineral exports that have dominated trade, analysts say. “The Chinese will continue to want to consolidate their position in Congo, including on minerals,” says Jean-Pierre Okenda, a Congolese consultant on mining issues. Although the DRC has a trade surplus with China, while most African countries have large deficits, almost all of it is from minerals China is buying to feed its manufacturers that are hungry for raw materials. The central African nation is the world’s largest producer of copper and cobalt, a metal used in electronics and a key material for batteries used in electric vehicles. The DRC has about 70% of the planet’s cobalt reserves. China’s customs authority shows trade flows to the DRC dropped 13% last year to $18.75 billion compared with 2022, the vast majority of it due to China’s decreased imports from the DRC, which dropped by nearly 14% to $14.27 billion. While the drop was largely due to fluctuating prices, it underscored how deeply the DRC, one of the poorest countries in the world, relies on China. VOA