by tyler | May 17, 2023 | africa, CNN
A toddler has died after a boat ferrying more than 30 villagers across the Shire River in Malawi’s Nsanje district was attacked by a hippo, causing it to overturn, authorities said.
A police spokesperson, Agnes Zalakoma, said the incident happened early Monday and 23 of the boat’s 37 passengers were missing and feared dead in the water, which is infested with crocodiles and hippos.
“Well-wishers managed to rescue 13 people while 23 others went missing and the dead body of the toddler has been found,” Zalakoma said in a statement Monday, adding that the deceased child was only one-year-old.
Rescuers are continuing searching for the missing persons, Zalakoma’s statement added.
Zalakoma told CNN Tuesday that it was dangerous to cross the river and accidents are common.
“It is too dangerous because it (the river) is too shallow and in this river there are crocodiles that most of the time attack people and also hippopotamus that cause incidents like the one we’re dealing with,” Zalakoma said.
According to a lawmaker for the Nsanje district, Gladys Ganda, the villagers were crossing the Shire River to get to their farms at the Malawian border with Mozambique when their boat was hit by a hippo.
Hippos are one of the world’s most dangerous animals, and they can snap a canoe in half with their strong jaws, according to National Geographic.
They are found naturally in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, especially in east and southern Africa.
Hippo attacks are also common in sub-Saharan Africa. In December, a two-year-old Ugandan boy was attacked by a hippo which swallowed half of his body before spitting him out, Uganda’s police said.
by tyler | May 12, 2023 | africa, CNN
The US ambassador to South Africa on Thursday accused the South African government of delivering arms and ammunition to a sanctioned Russian cargo vessel late last year, local media said.
“Among the things we noted was the docking of the cargo ship in Simon’s Town naval base between the 6th to the 8th of December 2022, which we are confident uploaded weapons and ammunition onto that vessel in Simon’s Town as it made its way back to Russian,” Ambassador Reuben Brigety II told local media, including News24.com.
“We are confident that weapons were loaded onto that vessel, and I would bet my life on the accuracy on that assertion,” the ambassador also said in a video released by Newzroom Afrika, a local news channel that was also at the briefing.
“The arming of the Russians is extremely serious, and we do not consider this issue to be resolved, and we would like SA to [begin] practicing its non-alignment policy,” he said, according to both news outlets.
In response to the ambassador’s claims, South Africa has summoned Brigety to Pretoria. In a statement released on Twitter Friday, Clayson Monyela, the head of public diplomacy for the South African foreign ministry, said it would “demarche the USA Ambassador to South Africa following his remarks yesterday.”
Monyela said a detailed statement would be released following the meeting. South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor would also speak to her US counterpart, Secretary Antony Blinken, about the matter, he added.
The presence of the mysterious ‘Lady R’ cargo vessel caused significant speculation when it docked at the naval base in Simon’s Town near Cape Town in December last year. Cargo vessels routinely dock at Cape Town’s civilian harbor, not the naval base.
At the time, opposition member of parliament and shadow Defense Minister Kobus Marais said in a statement that goods were loaded off and onto the ship during the overnight hours and demanded answers from the government.
The US Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control added the Lady R to its sanctions list in May last year for alleged weapons shipments, along with a host of other Russian-flagged cargo vessels.
The South African presidency called the explosive allegations “disappointing” and warned that the remarks “undermine the spirit of cooperation and partnership” between the US and South African government officials who had been discussing the matter.
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office said in a statement late Thursday that no evidence had been provided to support these allegations and that the government planned to form an independent inquiry into the matter.
“In recent engagements between the South African delegation and US officials, the Lady R matter was discussed and there was agreement that an investigation will be allowed to run its course and that the US intelligence services will provide whatever evidence in their possession,” the statement read.
CNN asked presidential spokesman Vincent Magwenya why an inquiry was needed for events at South Africa’s own naval base.
“US intelligence services said they had evidence that they would only provide to us via a credible investigation or inquiry. We take the allegations seriously, and we want to have a credible independent voice to state the actual facts of the matter,” he said.
“Otherwise, we risk a back forth series of accusations and denials, which is not going to be helpful in the context of our bilateral relations.”
It is unusual for a US ambassador in South Africa to make such public accusations against the government.
The South African government has come under intense criticism for its stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and has routinely abstained from votes condemning Russia at the United Nations General Assembly.
While South African leadership has repeatedly stated that they are neutral in the conflict and have frequently called for a negotiated settlement, their actions have come under increasing scrutiny from Western powers.
In February of this year, South Africa convened naval war games off its coast including both the Russian and Chinese military.
Later this year, South Africa will host the BRICS summit, a grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Russian President Vladimir Putin was invited to that summit.
South African officials have flip-flopped in their public commitment to the Rome Statute – the treaty that compels signatory nations to arrest individuals indicted by the court – after Putin was indicted for alleged war crimes in March.
While South Africa’s ruling party African National Congress has an ideological history with Russia and the former Soviet Union, the European Union and the United States are far bigger trading partners.
by tyler | May 8, 2023 | africa, CNN
At least 400 people have died after floods and landslides hit the Democratic Republic of Congo’s South Kivu province last week, officials told CNN.
Heavy rainfall through last week caused rivers to overflow and created mudslides that devastated the villages of Bushushu and Nyamukubi in South Kivu’s Kalehe territory, provincial governor Theo Kasi told CNN Monday.
“We have 401 deaths in Bushushu and Nyamukubi villages in Kalehe territory,” Kasi said.
Videos from the area show buildings swept away in the water and mud, with debris strewn across the villages.
Valet Chebujongo, an activist in Kalehe, told CNN that rescuers have been unable to clear the muddy roads, leaving residents with the dangerous option of wading through lakes.
“The Congolese government and its partners should find a safe place where the victims will be relocated and ask the population not to use the flowing waters and the lake during this period,” Chebujongo said, adding that there are “no machines to clear the mud and clear the landslides in the road to allow the population to circulate Bushushu-Nyamukubi villages. People are crossing the lake, another danger.”
Kasi said rescue operations were ongoing in spite of difficulties. “We are in a disaster. We work despite difficult conditions,” he said.
The provincial government said Saturday it was relocating residents affected by the floods to safer sites. It also said the government was funding medical care for the injured, including funeral costs for the deceased.
President Felix Tshisekedi declared Monday a national mourning for victims of the floods, government spokesman Patrick Muyaya said, adding that a national government delegation had arrived in Kalehe to assist local response efforts.
The DRC is located within the River Congo Basin where flood disasters are frequently reported. According to a World Bank report, climate-related disasters, including flooding “are likely to increase in frequency and magnitude” in the Central African country due to climate change.
The DRC continues to grapple with devastating effects of flooding across the country. In December, more than 120 people were killed after heavy rains caused severe flooding in the Congolese capital of Kinshasa, authorities said.
In 2020, more than 15,000 homes were destroyed and at least 25 people killed by floodwaters in South Kivu, a province already ravaged by armed conflict, the UN Refugee Agency reported at the time.
Months earlier, around 39 people died when torrential rains triggered landslides in Kinshasa.
by tyler | May 4, 2023 | africa, CNN
Nigerian MP Ike Ekweremadu will be sentenced in the UK Friday after being found guilty of an organ harvesting plot, but fellow lawmakers in his country have joined growing calls for leniency in his case.
Ekweremadu, 60, his wife Beatrice, 56, and a middleman Obinna Obeta, 51, were found guilty in March of trafficking a 21-year-old Nigerian street trader to the UK to provide a kidney for the Ekweremadus’ daughter, Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said in a statement.
Prosecutors say the victim was brought to the UK after being offered a reward of up to £7,000 ($8,810) and the promise of work in the country, but he was unaware that he was expected to provide a kidney in return.
A medical consultant called off the planned transplant after becoming suspicious of the circumstances surrounding it and the victim fled, sleeping rough for days before reporting the plan to UK police last May, the CPS said.
Ekweremadu, Beatrice and Obeta will be sentenced at the UK’s Old Bailey Court Friday and face up to 10 years in prison under the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
Ekweremadu was a former deputy senate president for 12 years and his case has elicited sympathy with some in Nigeria where many see him and his wife as victims of circumstance who were desperate to help their sick daughter.
Many of the country’s political class have written to the UK courts appealing for leniency during his sentencing, including Nigeria’s former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
President of the Nigerian Senate, Ahmad Lawan, said Wednesday that he had written to the British judiciary on behalf of Ekweremadu asking them to “temper justice with mercy.”
“We are now using this particular intervention to seek for clemency in the sentencing. … The conviction has already been done but we are seeking clemency because this is the first time our colleague is getting involved in this kind of thing,” Lawan said.
Femi Gbajabiamila, the Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, the country’s junior parliament, described Ekweremadu as “a brilliant lawyer, a distinguished public servant and a dedicated family man.”
The speaker of parliament of the West African regional bloc ECOWAS, Sidie Mohamed Tunis has also written to the chief clerk of the Old Bailey Court seeking leniency for the Ekweremadus.
Ekweremadu served as speaker of the ECOWAS parliament between 2011 and 2015.
But the calls for clemency are unlikely to hold any sway over the UK court and some in Nigeria have raised eyebrows that high profile politicians are using their influence to advocate for a convicted criminal.
IPC Justice, a non-governmental organization dedicated to fighting corruption in politics wrote on Twitter: “… Nigeria has a reputation for not enforcing laws against political elites, which could lead to the perception of condoning criminal activity if the Speaker advocates for clemency for someone convicted of a serious crime.”
Prosecutors in the UK have described the Ekweremadus guilty verdict as “a landmark conviction.”
by tyler | May 4, 2023 | africa, CNN
Sudanese actress Asia Abdel-Majid was killed in crossfire during fighting in the capital Khartoum on Wednesday, amid clashes between two warring factions that have devastated Sudan and led to the deaths of hundreds of civilians.
The 80-year-old was killed after shells hit her home in Bahri, north of the capital, in fighting between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese army, her nephew told CNN.
It is unclear if it was the RSF or the army that fired the shot that killed Abdel-Majid.
Failed negotiations between Sudanese army head Abdel Fattah al-Burhan RSF and RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo over a disputed power-sharing arrangement exploded into violence in mid-April, sparking a mass exodus of refugees from the country and resulting in the deaths of at least 528 people.
Previous ceasefires and promises of peace talks between both leaders have failed to curb the ongoing conflict with eyewitness accounts of fighting in Khartoum reported on Thursday, despite a seven-day truce announced just days earlier.
Abdel-Majid was buried in the grounds of a kindergarten where she worked, her nephew said, adding that it was unsafe to take her to a cemetery.
The kindergarten is next door to Abdel-Majid’s home, where she was alone when the shelling took place.
She was considered a pioneer of theater in Sudan and the country’s first professional stage actress, establishing a kindergarten in Bahri and becoming a teacher when she retired.
Witnesses said the Sudanese army and the RSF are fighting using light and heavy weapons in the vicinity of the Presidential Palace – the most violent since the start of the clashes – as the conflict nears its fourth week.
Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) warned on Wednesday that people trapped in battlefields are running out of water and food.
“Families across Sudan, including those of our colleagues, are being torn apart, and having to choose between remaining trapped in the battlefield, or risking their lives to flee or reach an overcrowded hospital,” Egeland said in a statement.
“They are running out of everything, including water, food, electricity, fuel, and cash. We need the international community to put as much effort into secure humanitarian access, regardless of ceasefire and in providing aid to millions of people as they have in evacuating their own citizens,” he added.
The violence has triggered a mass exodus of refugees from Sudan, with the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) on Thursday warning that $445 million is needed to help the 860,000 refugees and returnees who could escape the country by October.
According to a UNHCR statement, the plan was designed by “134 partners, including UN agencies, national and international NGOS and civil society groups” and includes a contingency strategy for new arrivals (refugees, returning refugees and others) to neighbouring countries.”
At the same time, hundreds of evacuees arrived from Sudan in Nigeria on Wednesday after being held up for days at the Egyptian border for days, as reports over the chaotic border response to the uptick in evacuees continue.
The first contingent of 376 Nigerians were flown home in a military aircraft and a local carrier and arrived in the capital Abuja shortly before midnight, according to the Nigerians In Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM).
Last week, more than 7,000 Nigerian nationals, mostly students fleeing the Sudan conflict had been left stranded at the Egyptian border due to the unavailability of visas, NIDCOM said while appealing to Egyptian authorities “to kindly allow the already traumatized travellers to transit to their final destinations.”
by tyler | May 3, 2023 | africa, CNN
Heavy rain caused flooding and landslides on Tuesday in Rwanda killing at least 127 people in the Western, Northern and Southern Provinces, the president’s office said.
“Rescue interventions are ongoing in the most affected districts … in order to secure endangered citizens,” a statement by the presidency said Wednesday.
The Rwanda National Police warned that due to heavy rains, the roads Mukamira-Ngororero and Rubavu-Rutsiro are temporarily unavailable.
“You are advised to use alternative roads. Police officers are available to direct traffic,” the Rwanda National Police said in their twitter account.
The Rwanda Meteorology Agency had warned in its forecast for May that many parts of the country will receive more rainfall than average this month.
It added that the first 10 days of the month will be wetter-than-normal with increased rains compared to April.
According to the Rwandan Government’s Ministry in Charge of Emergency Management (MINEMA), more than 60 people have died from disasters between January and April this year, and the country’s Northern and Western provinces have been the most hit.
The Northern Province alone has witnessed no fewer than 1500 cases of disaster ranging from floods and landslides in the last five years, with more than 200 people killed and thousands of homes destroyed, according to MINEMA.
Last year, 205 people died from disasters across Rwanda, MINEMA said in its Disaster Effects Situation Report. Sixty-nine were from floods, landslides and rainstorms, the report said.
