By Kemo Cham and Jessica Donati
The Associated Press

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — 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 percent, according to the World Bank. Many rely on expensive kerosene and other fuels that fill homes and businesses with fumes and risk causing fires.

At the last United Nations climate summit, the world agreed on the goal of tripling the capacity for renewable power generation by 2050. While the African continent is responsible for hardly any carbon emissions relative to its size, solar has become one relatively cost-effective way to provide electricity.

The International Energy Agency, in a report earlier this year, said small and medium-sized solar companies are making rapid progress reaching homes but more needs to be invested to reach all African homes and businesses by 2030.

About 600 million Africans lack access to electricity, it said, out of a population of more than 1.3 billion.

Among the companies that made the Financial Times’ annual ranking of Africa’s fastest growing companies of 2023 was Easy Solar, a locally owned firm that brings solar power to homes and businesses in Sierra Leone and Liberia. The ranking went by compound annual growth rate in revenue.

Co-founder Nthabiseng Mosia grew up in Ghana with frequent power cuts. She became interested in solving energy problems in Africa while at graduate school in the United States. Together with a U.S. classmate, she launched the company in Sierra Leone, whose electrification rates are among the lowest in West Africa.

“There wasn’t really anybody doing solar at scale. And so we thought it was a good opportunity,” Mosia said in an interview.

Since launching in 2016, Easy Solar has brought solar power to over a million people in Sierra Leone and Liberia, which have a combined population of more than 14 million. The company’s network includes agents and shops in all of Sierra Leone’s 16 districts and seven of nine counties in Liberia.

Many communities have been connected to a stable source of power for the first time. “We really want to go to the last mile deep into the rural areas,” Mosia said.

The company began with a pilot project in Songo, a community on the outskirts of Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown. Uptake was slow at first, Mosia said. Villagers worried about the cost of solar-powered appliances, but once they began to see light in their neighbors’ homes at night, more signed on.

“We have long forgotten about kerosene,” said Haroun Patrick Samai, a Songo resident and land surveyor. “Before Easy Solar we lived in constant danger of a fire outbreak from the use of candles and kerosene.”

Altech, a solar power company based in Congo, also ranked as one of Africa’s fastest growing companies. Fewer than 20 percent of the population in Congo has access to electricity, according to the World Bank.

Co-founders Washikala Malango and Iongwa Mashangao fled conflict in Congo’s South Kivu province as children and grew up in Tanzania. They decided to launch the company in 2013 to help solve the power problems they had experienced growing up in a refugee camp, relying on kerosene for power and competing with family members for light to study at night.

Altech now operates in 23 out of 26 provinces in Congo, and the company expects to reach the remaining ones by the end of the year. Its founders say they have sold over 1 million products in Congo in a range of solar-powered solutions for homes and businesses, including lighting, appliances, home systems and generators.

“For the majority of our customers, this is the first time they are connected to a power source,” Malango said.

Repayment rates are over 90 percent, Malango said, helped in part by a system that can turn off power to appliances remotely if people don’t pay.

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The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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By Bruce Schreiner
The Associated Press

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The death toll from Hurricane Helene inched up to 227 on Ocr. 5 as the grim task of recovering bodies continued more than a week after the monster storm ravaged the Southeast and killed people in six states.

Helene came ashore Sept. 26 as a Category 4 hurricane and carved a wide swath of destruction as it moved northward from Florida, washing away homes, destroying roads and knocking out electricity and cellphone service for millions.

The number of deaths stood at 225 on Oct. 4; two more were recorded in South Carolina the following day. It was still unclear how many people were unaccounted for or missing, and the toll could rise even higher.

Helene is the deadliest hurricane to hit the mainland U.S. since Katrina in 2005. About half the victims were in North Carolina, while dozens more were killed in Georgia and South Carolina.

The city of Asheville, in the western mountains of North Carolina, was particularly battered. A week later workers used brooms and heavy machinery to clean mud and dirt outside of New Belgium Brewing Company, which lies next to the French Broad River and is among thousands of city businesses and households affected.

So far North Carolinians have received more than $27 million in individual assistance approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said MaryAnn Tierney, a regional administrator for the agency. More than 83,000 people have registered for individual assistance, according to the office of Gov. Roy Cooper.

In Buncombe County, where Asheville is located, FEMA-approved assistance has surpassed $12 million for survivors, Tierney said Oct. 5 during a news briefing.

“This is critical assistance that will help people with their immediate needs, as well as displacement assistance that helps them if they can’t stay in their home,” she said.

She encouraged residents impacted by the storm to register for disaster assistance.

“It is the first step in the recovery process,” she said. “We can provide immediate relief in terms of serious needs assistance to replace food, water, medicines, other life safety, critical items, as well as displacement assistance if you cannot stay in your home.”

Helene’s raging floodwaters shocked mountain towns hundreds of miles inland and far from where the storm made landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast, including in the Tennessee mountains that Dolly Parton calls home.

The country music star has announced a $1 million donation to the Mountain Ways Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to providing immediate assistance to Hurricane Helene flood victims.

In addition, her East Tennessee businesses as well as the Dollywood Foundation are combining efforts, pledging to match her donation to Mountain Ways with a $1 million contribution.

Parton said she feels a close connection to the storm victims because so many of them “grew up in the mountains just like I did.”

“I can’t stand to see anyone hurting, so I wanted to do what I could to help after these terrible floods,” she said. “I hope we can all be a little bit of light in the world for our friends, our neighbors — even strangers — during this dark time they are experiencing.”

Walmart U.S. President and CEO John Furner said the company, including Sam’s Club and the Walmart Foundation, would increase its commitment and donate a total of $10 million to hurricane relief efforts.

In Newport, an eastern Tennessee town of about 7,000, residents continued cleaning up Ocr. 5 from the destruction caused by Helene’s floodwaters.

Mud still clung to the basement walls of one Main Street funeral home. The ground-floor chapel of another nearby was being dried out, a painting of Jesus still hanging on the wall in an otherwise barren room.

Newport City Hall and its police department also took on water from the swollen Pigeon River. Some of the modest, one-story homes along its banks were destroyed, their walls crumbled and rooms exposed.

Farther east in unincorporated Del Rio, along a bend in the French Broad River, residents and volunteers toiled to clean up. The smell of wood hung in the air as people used chainsaws to cut through downed trees, and Bobcats beeped as they moved mangled sheet metal and other debris. Many homes sustained damage, including one that slid off its foundation.

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Associated Press journalists Jeff Roberson in Newport, Tennessee; Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa; and Denise Lavoie in Richmond, Virginia, contributed.

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By Tim Reynolds
The Associated Press

Dikembe Mutombo, a Basketball Hall of Famer who was one of the best defensive players in NBA history and a longtime global ambassador for the game, died Sept.30 from brain cancer, the league announced. He was 58.

His family revealed two years ago that he was undergoing treatment in Atlanta for a brain tumor. The NBA said he died surrounded by his family.

“Dikembe Mutombo was simply larger than life,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said. “On the court, he was one of the greatest shot blockers and defensive players in the history of the NBA. Off the floor, he poured his heart and soul into helping others.”

Mutombo was distinctive in so many ways — the playful finger wag at opponents after blocking their shots, his height, his deep and gravelly voice, his massive smile. Players of this generation were always drawn to him and Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid, who was born in Cameroon, looked to Mutombo as an inspiration.

“It’s a sad day, especially for us Africans, and really the whole world,” Embiid said Monday. “Other than what he’s accomplished on the basketball court, I think he was even better off the court. He’s one of the guys that I look up to, as far as having an impact, not just on the court, but off the court. He’s done a lot of great things. He did a lot of great things for a lot of people. He was a role model of mine. It is a sad day.”

Mutombo spent 18 seasons in the NBA, playing for Denver, Atlanta, Houston, Philadelphia, New York and the then-New Jersey Nets. The 7-foot-2 center out of Georgetown was an eight-time All-Star, three-time All-NBA selection and went into the Hall of Fame in 2015 after averaging 9.8 points and 10.3 rebounds per game for his career.

He also was part of one of the league’s most iconic playoff moments, helping eighth-seeded Denver oust top-seeded Seattle in the first round of the 1994 Western Conference playoffs. That best-of-five series marked the first time a No. 8 beat a No. 1 in NBA history.

“It’s really hard to believe,” Toronto President Masai Ujiri said Monday, pausing several times because he was overcome with emotion shortly after hearing the news of Mutombo’s death. “It’s hard for us to be without that guy. You have no idea what Dikembe Mutombo meant to me. … That guy, he made us who we are. That guy is a giant, an incredible person.”

Mutombo last played during the 2008-09 season, devoting his time after retirement to charitable and humanitarian causes. He spoke nine languages and founded the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation in 1997, concentrating on improving health, education and quality of life for the people in the Congo.

And on occasion, LeBron James pointed out with a laugh on Monday, Mutombo didn’t necessarily improve the health of others.

“My fondest memory of Dikembe Mutombo? He fractured my face on my birthday in Cleveland with an elbow,” James, the Los Angeles Lakers’ star, said while taking several minutes Monday to pay tribute to Mutombo’s life. “I never even got an opportunity to tell him about that. But yeah. I don’t remember how old … I was in Cleveland, my first stint, and I think I was turning 22 maybe?

“I went to the hole and caught one of those Dikembe elbows, and if anybody know about the Dikembe elbows, they do not feel good. He fractured my face, and I went to the hospital that night, and I wore a mask for a little bit. That is my memory of Dikembe,” James said.

James was close on the details: Dec. 29, 2004, was when that play happened, late in the first half, one day before his 20th birthday.

Mutombo told reporters that night he wasn’t sure how James got hurt. “He was laying there and I was like, ‘What happened, what happened?’” Mutombo told the Houston Chronicle after that game. “All I know, I was running to the basket. … LeBron turned around to stop me going to the basket. The collision happened.”

Ryan Mutombo, the Hall of Famer’s son, said in a tribute posted on social media that his father “loved others with every ounce of his being.”

“My dad is my hero because he simply cared,” Ryan Mutombo wrote. “He remains the purest heart I have ever known.”

Mutombo served on the boards of many organizations, including Special Olympics International, the CDC Foundation and the National Board for the U.S. Fund for UNICEF.

“There was nobody more qualified than Dikembe to serve as the NBA’s first Global Ambassador,” Silver said. “He was a humanitarian at his core. He loved what the game of basketball could do to make a positive impact on communities, especially in his native Democratic Republic of the Congo and across the continent of Africa.”

Mutombo is one of three players to win the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year four times. The others: reigning DPOY winner Rudy Gobert of the Minnesota Timberwolves, and Hall of Famer Ben Wallace.

“He was always there to talk to me and advise me on how to approach the season and take care of my body and icing after games and stretching and trying different things like yoga,” Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo said. “He will be always remembered and may his soul rest in peace.”

This article was originally published by The Associated Press. 

AP Sports Writers Steve Megargee in Milwaukee, Greg Beacham in Los Angeles and Dan Gelston in Camden, New Jersey, and Associated Press writer Ian Harrison in Toronto contributed to this report.

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By Ngala Killian Chimtom
The Associated Press

MAYOS, Cameroon (AP) — The morning sun filtered through the forest canopy, casting dappled light on this village in Cameroon. For the Baka Indigenous community, it was a timeless image.

But a passing truck broke the silence and stirred up billows of dust, a reminder that the Baka now live an uneasy life along roadsides after being forced from their traditional homes.

The Baka and fellow Indigenous Bagyieli have lived in harmony with the forests of central Africa for generations. But mining and logging activities are encroaching, along with conservation areas, and government policy aims to integrate the ethnic groups into mainstream society.

Lives “were better when we were in the forest,” said Rebecca Gwampiel, a 78-year-old Baka. She prepared yam porridge in front of a traditional hut constructed with arched saplings. In the dusty courtyard, children played football using bound banana leaves.

Among them was Francis, an 11-year-old who has quickly adapted to the new life and has aspirations. “I want to become a nurse,” he declared. “I want to be able to treat my grandmother when she is sick.”

But for many Baka children, such dreams go unfulfilled. Their lack of birth certificates poses a significant barrier — part of a wider global problem. They never saw the need for birth certificates when they barely interacted with the world beyond the forest. Even now, they live far from administrative centers and can rarely afford the transport to reach them.

“Without a birth certificate, he is stuck with me here in the village,” said Francis’ 61-year-old father, Bertrand Akomi. He himself was denied employment by a lumber company because he didn’t have a birth certificate.

The document remains elusive for the more than 120,000 members of Cameroon’s Baka and Bagyieli communities. Without birth certificates, they cannot obtain national identity documents and are excluded from the full benefits of citizenship.

“When births are not registered, how can you identify yourself as Cameroonian?” asked Banmi Emmanuel Dingha, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Cameroon’s National Assembly, calling the document crucial for accessing education, health care and employment opportunities.

There is hope for change. Earlier this summer, Dingha and colleagues in the Cameroon parliament passed a bill allowing the country to accede to two United Nations conventions relating to the recognition of stateless people.

That would “help to significantly reduce discrimination against persons who often are only victims of circumstances,” the government said at the time.

Cameroon’s actions are part of a commitment by African nations earlier this year to address the right to nationality and eradicate statelessness on the continent of more than 1.3 billion people.

The Indigenous people of Cameroon are mostly hunters and gatherers who are long used to easily crossing lightly guarded international borders in search of food and game.

“The Bakas are not only in Cameroon. You find them in Congo, you find them in the Central African Republic, you find them in Gabon and you find them in Equatorial Guinea. And many of them move across forests that straddle all these countries,” Dingha said.

Sebastian Bissolababa, a teacher at a government school in Mayos, emphasized the urgency. Many Baka students can’t move on to secondary education or beyond, and companies often require identification papers, closing another route to integration into society.

The Indigenous Bagyieli, who live some 590 kilometers away in the southern Campo region, face similar challenges.

There, Henri Lema of Nazareth village was returning from hunting, with a porcupine dangling from his spear. He joined his wife, Bilore Marie, in preparing the evening meal.

As he sliced the porcupine, he expressed frustration with the lack of identification documents and the trouble it causes with paramilitary forces and other authorities.

“Each time I have to travel to Kribi (the district administrative headquarters), gendarmes disturb me because I don’t have an ID card,” he said. “I have to pay a bribe each time. And that’s money I don’t even have.”

Simplice Nguiamba is a senior government official in charge of, among other things, ensuring that the Bagyelis in Campo have access to nationality documents.

“In concrete terms, our actions are based on raising awareness, doing advocacy, monitoring and support for Bagyelis,” he said.

Several other groups of Cameroonians also have risked statelessness.The ongoing separatist crisis in the country’s English-speaking North West and South West regions, and the Boko Haram insurgency in the Far North region, have triggered internal displacement, resulting in the loss of birth certificates and national identity cards for many people.

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For more news on Africa and development: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-pulse

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The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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By Ashlee Banks
Special to the AFRO

Lawmakers and African leaders gathered at the U.S. Capitol to host “Africa Diaspora Day on the Hill” as part of September Diaspora Heritage Month on Sept. 9.

U.S. Reps. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.-20), Jonathan Jackson (D-Ill.-1), Troy Carter (D-La.-2), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.-37), Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.), bankers, business leaders and academics hosted a forum titled, “The Rise of Global Africa: Forging a New U.S. Economic Partnership with Africa and the Caribbean,” at the U.S. Capitol’s Visitor Center. The event was just one measure being used to strengthen ties between the U.S. and Africa.

Cheriflus-McCormick told the AFRO that this event was important to her and other lawmakers looking to “have control over our narrative,” and strengthen and stabilize African and Caribbean nations.

“When I travel throughout the United States we have one commonality, African Americans and Black people in the United States have a connection to their diaspora…and they want more mechanisms and means to connect,” stated the Florida congresswoman. “In Congress we’ve been looking at active ways to strengthen our relationships with Africa and the Caribbean, so this seemed like the merging of the perfect points where we can actually come together and talk about how the federal government can help.”

Jackson told the AFRO it was important for him to co-host the forum with fellow Democratic lawmakers because “Africa is the centerpiece of so much of the world’s future.” He added that the forum “reaffirms that.”

“Twenty-five percent of the world’s population will be in Africa in the next 25 years, so the question becomes how are we aligning ourselves to strategically work with Africa,” said Jackson. “We’ve had a long dark history with Africa and now we are well poised to have a beautiful future politically, economically and culturally.”

The Illinois lawmaker stated that African nations need fair trade agreements to help stabilize the continent. 

“We’re going to champion to have fair transparent trade agreements, on the same terms with African people that we have with Europeans, Asians and others,” said Jackson.

The Democratic lawmaker also emphasized that “the wealth of Europe and the wealth of America came from Haiti and came from Africa,” which stripped Caribbean and African nations of their assets, leading to a lower quality of life.

Jackson stated, that is why it is imperative that U.S. lawmakers work to help these nations regain their economic strength.

The four-hour forum provided four sessions for attendees titled, “The Global Diaspora: Contributing to Our Common Destiny,” “Building Partnership and Sharing Economic Prosperity,” “Women Leadership: Is Gender Parity a Reality,” and “The New Africa: Defying the Odds in Innovation and Building Unity.”

Cheriflus-McCormick told the AFRO that these panels were designed to help Black Americans and lawmakers strategize how to move forward with policy and diplomacy that can strengthen the relationship between the U.S., Africa and the Caribbean.

“It’s important for Black Americans to be connected to Africa to ensure that our stories aren’t being erased. Our story began millions of years before slavery and now we’re connecting that,” said Cheriflus-McCormick. “This is an important time for us to show that we’re not just talking about strengthening our relationship with Africa, but we’re actually taking affirmative steps forward and we want to make sure that the diaspora is at the forefront.”

Lawmakers hope they will be able to pass legislation by the year 2050 to help strengthen nations in the Caribbean and Africa.  

“We have to show up to the Congressional hearings and tell them what we want,” Jackson told the AFRO. “We don’t want other people making decisions for us…so we can build and grow our own continent.”

“Let’s look forward to the future,” Jackson added.

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By Kirsten Grieshaber
The Associated Press

It was a balmy summer night in 2020, shortly after the lifting of Germany’s first COVID-19 lockdown, and Omar Diallo and two friends from his home country of Guinea wanted to celebrate Eid al-Adha, the Muslim festival of sacrifice.

“We were enjoying life, playing music, walking through the city at night — we just wanted to be together again and have a good time,” Diallo, 22, told The Associated Press in Erfurt, an area in the eastern state of Thuringia.

He was not prepared for how the day would end. Suddenly Diallo and his friends were confronted by three black-clad White men.

“They were shouting: ‘What do you want here, f-——- foreigners, get out’!” Diallo remembered.

“First there were three, then five, seven — they were surrounding us from all sides. We couldn’t run away, and then they started chasing us,” he said. 

At some point Diallo managed to call the police, and when the officers finally arrived, the attackers ran away. One of his friends was beaten up so badly that he had to be hospitalized.

“I simply tried to survive,” Diallo said. “I hadn’t done anything wrong. It all happened only because of my skin color.”

Being Black in Germany has always meant exposure to racism, from everyday humiliations to deadly attacks. In eastern Germany, the risk can be even greater. 

After World War II, West Germany became a democratic, diverse society but in East Germany, which was run by a communist dictatorship until the end of 1989, residents barely had any contact with people of different ethnicities and were not allowed to travel freely abroad.

Experts say that specifically in Thuringia, radical far-right forces have created an environment that’s hostile toward minorities, including Black people.

Now, with the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, Black Germans and African migrants like Diallo are growing increasingly concerned. 

Thuringia, which has a population of 2.1 million,holds state elections on Sept. 1, and the fiercely anti-immigration AfD is leading the polls, on 30 percent.

In 2023, the NGO Ezra, which helps victims of far-right, racist and antisemitic violence, documented 85 racist attacks in Thuringia, down only slightly from 88 attacks in 2022, which Ezra described as “an all-time high of right-wing and racist violence” in the state. 

“In recent years, an extreme right-wing movement has formed in Thuringia, which has contributed to a noticeable ideological radicalization of its followers. Politically, the Alternative for Germany party is the main beneficiary,” Ezra and a consortium of organizations tracking racism wrote in their annual report. 

AfD’s Thuringia branch is particularly radical and was put under official surveillance by the domestic intelligence service four years ago as a “proven right-wing extremist” group.

“Authoritarian and populist forces, which are becoming very strong here now, harbor a great danger in Thuringia,” says Doreen Denstaedt, Thuringia’s minister for migration, justice and consumer protection. 

Denstaedt, the daughter of a Black father from Tanzania and a White German mother, was born and grew up in Thuringia.

The 46-year-old member of the Green party said that growing up in Communist East Germany, she was “always the only Black child.” As a teenager, she was never allowed to go home on her own because of the risk of racist attacks, and she sometimes suffered racist slurs in her school.

“I actually experienced myself that people called me a foreigner, which really confused me at first, because I was born in Saalfeld” in Thuringia, Denstaedt said.

She fears that in the current political climate, racist narratives will become acceptable in the middle of society.

“My biggest concern is that people do not question [these prejudices], especially if they are not affected themselves,” she said.

It’s not exactly clear how many Black people live in Germany nowadays, as different ethnicities are not documented in official statistics, but estimates put the number of people of African descent at 1.27 million. More than 70 percent were born in Germany, according to Mediendienst Integration, which tracks migration issues in the country.

Germany’s history of racial discrimination begins long before the Nazis began excluding, deporting and ultimately murdering Black people in the 1930s and 1940s. 

The German Empire held numerous colonies in Africa from 1884 until the end of World War I. These included territories in present-day Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Namibia, Cameroon, Togo and Ghana.

The German government has only recently started dealing with the injustices committed during that period. In 2021, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier called on Germans to face the country’s cruel colonial past, and in 2023, he apologized for colonial-era killings in Tanzania over a century ago. 

Daniel Egbe, a 58-year-old chemist from Cameroon who moved to Thuringia in 1994 to study, says he’s shocked how little Germans know about their colonial history. He says this ignorance may also factor into the unequal treatment of Black people. 

“I’ve been teaching classes in school,” Egbe told the AP. “I tell them a bit about myself and especially the fact that Cameroon was a German colony. Many students don’t know anything about Africa or about the German past and it must be put on the map.”

Egbe, who took German citizenship in 2003, founded AMAH, an organization that helps university students and migrants from Africa when they experience discrimination in the city of Jena, in eastern Thuringia.

He’s worried about the rise of the AfD but has no intention of leaving. 

“We won’t leave, we will do our part to change this society,” he said. “People are mostly afraid of what and who they don’t know. We have to change things through education.”

As for Diallo, the Guinean who was attacked in Erfurt four years ago, he also vowed to help improve the situation for Black people in Germany.

Even though the attack traumatized him, it also empowered him to fight for justice, he said. A year ago, he enrolled in university in Munich to study law, but he still visits Erfurt frequently, where he supports Youth without Borders, a network of young migrants.

“I don’t exactly know yet how I’m going to change Germany, but I know I will,” he said.

This article was originally published by The Associated Press.

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By Rodney Muhumuza
The Associated Press

NEAR MOUNT ELGON, Uganda (AP) — The dancers shook their hips to the beat of drummers who led the way, anticipating the start of mass circumcision among the Bamasaaba people of Uganda’s mountainous east.

Yet the frolicking in the streets belied a dispute brewing behind the scenes as some locals questioned their king over the very public presentation of Imbalu, the ritualized circumcision of thousands of boys every other year in this remote community near Uganda’s border with Kenya.

Could it be turned into a carnival, put on for the gaze of foreigners? Or should it remain a sacred ceremony in which families quietly prepare their sons to face the knife with courage?

The king, known as the Umukuuka, had his way ahead of the Aug. 3 ceremonial inauguration at a park in the town of Mbale, arguing for a traditional festival that also looked attractive to visitors. The organizers of Imbalu received over $120,000 in financial support from the Ugandan government and a corporate sponsor.

In an interview with the AP, the Umukuuka asserted that organizing a modern Imbalu was challenging and defended his decision to market the ritual as a tourist event in line with Uganda’s national development plan.

“Everything is changing as the population expands. People may not manage to follow the cultural processes,” he said, citing the economic hardship and commercialization he said were diluting the communal aspect of Imbalu. “But we are fighting through the clan system that (Imbalu) remains intact.”

But the Ugandan government’s intervention has raised eyebrows among many Bamasaaba and underscored angst over the most important ceremony for this ethnic group of 4 million Ugandans. Some who spoke to the AP said they felt the Umukuuka, in his first year in office, was trivializing Imbalu by exposing it to outside interests.

“Our leadership is being hijacked by” national political leaders, said Wasukira Mashate, an elder who is a custodian of Bamasaaba cultural property, charging that the Umukuuka was missing the counsel of clan leaders with real spiritual authority.

“I don’t think they are having any role” in Imbalu, he said, speaking of clan leaders. “It was for our own benefit culturally, but now it is becoming a national event because the government of Uganda has captured it.”

At the ceremonial inauguration, an angry crowd gathered outside the totemic shrine of the clan that historically has launched Imbalu by cutting the first candidates. Clan members pointed to the young mixed-breed bull tethered to the grass as offensive, saying only a local breed would suffice as an appropriate sacrifice to the gods.

“This cow is exotic. We are Bamasaaba, and he brought us a white animal,” said Kareem Masaba, speaking of the Umukuuka. “He has insulted us. His predecessors used to come into the shrine and participate in the rituals, but this man will not come here. He is disrespecting us.”

The dispute over the sacrificial animal delayed the inauguration into the late afternoon as anger grew among men wielding machetes, sharp sticks and other crude weapons. The Umukuuka, seated not far away in a tent among dignitaries from elsewhere in Africa, did not budge. Clan members retaliated by refusing to present the first group of initiates before the Umukuuka, a former forestry officer whose real name is Jude Mudoma.

The mass circumcisions will last until the end of 2024.

The tribal initiation of boys into adulthood has long been controversial in African countries such as South Africa, where incidents of botched, deadly circumcisions among Xhosa-speaking people have inspired campaigns for safe clinical circumcision. 

Among the Bamasaaba, whose cutting method is just as violent, there have been no calls to end the practice. The strongest adherents see Imbalu as more important than ever amid widespread infant circumcision in hospital settings. They say those boys who are not initiated in the tribal way risk suffering lifelong social delinquency.

Tribal circumcision is performed by a traditional surgeon wielding a knife usually fashioned from melted nails. Bamasaaba hundreds of kilometers away in the Ugandan capital of Kampala are known to hunt down Imbalu dodgers they then cut by force. The bodies of uncircumcised men can be violated before burial.

Circumcision “helps us to be strong,” said Peter Gusolo, a traditional surgeon, gesticulating to express his people’s purported sex prowess. Those who resist circumcision will be cut “even if (they) are dying,” he said. “We circumcise you at night. We bury you in the morning.”

He added, “We cannot bury you in the land of the Bamasaaba without (being circumcised). No, no, no. It is in the constitution of the culture of the Bamasaaba. … It is a curse if you bury into the land people who are not circumcised.”

Gusolo, whose family lives in a house on the side of a hill planted with arabica coffee plants, spent days isolating himself in a cave and postponing intimacy with his wife so that he could be possessed by the spirit of Imbalu. Even though men like Gusolo wield certificates issued by local health authorities to prove their skill, the title is hereditary. The surgeons say they cannot afford to be flippant with their work because the wounds they inflict will not heal if they are not spiritually strong.

The first candidate for initiation this year was a teenager whose face had been smeared with mud and the dregs of homemade beer. He spread his legs and unblinkingly stared at the sky while a swarm of frenzied people around him pushed and shoved, demanding courage. 

The surgeon, applying no anesthetic, took hold of the boy and skinned him with a swift movement of his hands. A member of the boy’s family, aiming to protect the boy from the threat of witchcraft, collected the skin and took it home.

Emmanuel Watundu, the father of a 17-year-old boy who was among the first to be cut, said he stood by Imbalu, describing it as the life-changing event his son asked for. But he criticized what he saw as a carnival atmosphere by “peer groups (who) normally behave differently than we used to.”

Outside Watundu’s house, where a crowd had gathered, drunken people of all ages danced wildly, and one woman briefly exposed her breasts. A politician seeking a seat in the national assembly had a procession marching in the dirt road. Boys fondled girls and swung legs at them.

Watundu said the street dancers he saw were “from different areas” and that most people attending Imbalu came “to do business.” He said of the Ugandan government’s involvement that it had “given some bad picture” about the Umukuuka’s role as the chief organizer of Imbalu.

Wilson Watira, who chaired the Imbalu organizing committee, defended the government’s role as a supporter of Bamasaaba tradition. The exuberant street processions left people feeling joyful, he said.

“When it comes to performance of culture, of culture itself … it remains culture. We only want to show the world that even when we are performing this culture, it can also attract other people,” he said.

In the past, people thought the ritual was barbaric and brutal, Watira said.

“It’s the reason why we said, ‘No, we are not barbaric. We can make this thing very attractive, and you will enjoy it.'”

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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By Lizzie Suber
AFRO Intern
lizziesuber@afro.com

A vote held by The Gambia’s National Assembly last month blocked recent efforts to repeal the Women’s (Amendment) Act of 2015, which criminalized female genital mutilation (FGM). This vote prevented The Gambia from becoming the world’s first country to undo a ban on FGM.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines FGM as “partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.” The practice, which is typically performed on girls below the age of 15, is sometimes also referred to as female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/C) or female circumcision.

Before it was banned, the practice was particularly popular in The Gambia, where it was typically performed for religious purposes.

“Today, more than 73 percent of girls and women aged 15 to 49 in the country have already undergone this harmful practice, with many subjected to it before their fifth birthday,” read a joint statement from United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director Catherine Russell; United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Executive Director Natalia Kanem; WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus; United Nations (UN) Women Executive Director Sima Bahous and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk.

Although FGM has been illegal in The Gambia for nearly a decade, the procedure recently re-entered the arena of public opinion after three women were arrested in August 2023 for performing FGM procedures, marking the nation’s first FGM-related arrest. Conservative Gambian politicians subsequently began advocating for a reversal of the FGM ban in September of that year.

Assembly members voted in March 2024 to allow for a consideration of the proposed FGM ban reversal, known as the Women’s (Amendment) Bill, 2024. This move alarmed FGM critics worldwide.

“The proposed repeal of the ban on FGM, referred to as female circumcision in the 2015 Women’s (Amendment) Act, is a severe violation of human rights, and a setback in the global fight against gender-based violence,” Nafisa Binte Shafique, UNICEF representative in The Gambia, and Ndeye Rose Sarr, UNFPA representative in The Gambia, said in a joint statement, released in March 2024 after The Gambia voted to consider unbanning FGM.

“This move not only disregards the immense suffering experienced by survivors of FGM, but also undermines the progress made in raising awareness, changing attitudes and mobilizing communities to abandon this harmful practice,” continued the activists. “It sends a message that the rights and dignity of girls and women are expendable, perpetuating a cycle of discrimination and violence that has no place in a just and equitable society.”

On July 15, Speaker of the National Assembly Fabakary Jatta ruled that a bill seeking to unban FGM in The Gambia was rejected by members of the National Assembly after a 34-19 vote in favor of maintaining the ban. If the Gambian National Assembly had voted to accept the bill, The Gambia would have become the first nation in the world to undo a ban on FGM. Gambian decisionmakers received resounding international support from FGM critics following this decision.

“We commend the country’s decision to uphold the ban on female genital mutilation (FGM), reaffirming its commitments to human rights, gender equality and protecting the health and well-being of girls and women,” Russell, Kanem, Tedros, Bahous and Türk said in their joint statement, issued shortly after The Gambia’s ruling.

FGM is in no way unique to The Gambia. According to the U.S. Office on Women’s Health, FGM is most prevelant in the southern Sarhara and portions of northern and central Africa, the Middle East and Asia. The WHO reports over 230 million women alive today as having undergone FGM procedures.

A survey published in 2021 by co-sponsors the Gambia Bureau of Statistics and the Demographic and Health Surveys Program, an initiative headed by the U.S. Agency of International Development, found that Gambian citizens who believed FGM should not be banned most frequently cited religious obligation and the traditions behind the practice. Those against the procedure commonly justified their position by citing the harm FGM can cause.

The validity of FGM as a religious practice is controversial among those who practice Islam, which is the faith of most Gambian FGM advocates. Some Muslims claim FGM as an essential Muslim practice, while others denounce the custom. This tension has inspired efforts to disentangle Islam from FGM by both Muslim community members and unaffiliated organizations.

“FGM/C is not, therefore, religiously acceptable for a girl, because there is, first, no evidence that it was practiced by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and, second, it involves the risk of harm that is discouraged by an authentic Hadith that invokes a basic general rule that spans the generalities of this true religion, Islam,” said Gamal Serour, Ph.D., and Ahmed Ragaa Abd El-Hameed Ragab, Ph.D., in an executive summary of their report, “Female Circumcision (FGM/C): Between the Incorrect Use of Science and the Misunderstood Doctrine. The research was co-published by UNICEF and the International Islamic Center for Population Studies and Research at Al Azhar University.

Around the world, many organizations and prominent figures consider the active practicing of FGM to be a human rights crisis and see The Gambia’s recent vote as a testament to the fragility of FGM legislation. Several entities took time while the Women’s (Amendment) Bill, 2024 was still under consideration to acknowledge that efforts to end FGM must extend beyond legislative measures.

“We call for continued allocation of appropriate budgets and human resources and implementation, monitoring and effective enforcement measures on the law prohibiting FGM,” the UN in The Gambia said in a statement issued in February 2024. “Legal measures must be accompanied by awareness-raising campaigns to change societal norms, practices and attitudes towards FGM.”

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By Aria Brent
AFRO Staff Writer
abrent@afro.com

Since 2006 the African Diaspora International Film Festival D.C., (ADIFF D.C.) has provided the D.C. area with an annual festival that highlights Black films from all across the world. This year’s festival is scheduled to take place Aug. 2-4 at George Washington University, located at 2121 I St NW, Washington, D.C. 20052 

With a focus on highlighting the experiences, perspectives and issues that affect communities of African descent from around the globe, ADIFF is proud to showcase their lineup of films this year. Event attendees can anticipate topics such as women’s rights, colorism, homosexuality and gender segregation to be the focal point of some of this year’s films.

“It is a celebration of the human experience in the African world. When I say the African world, I’m referring to Africa as a continent, but also its diaspora,” said Mwiza Muthali, founder and co-director of Africa World Now. “These are the stories and various experiences of African peoples worldwide on film. You’ll notice in this festival there’ll be new films, but there are a couple of films from the past as well. We want to show those, to remind people how some of the issues that have taken place within the African world are still going on.”

When the festival first started, ADIFF D.C. was partnering with Trans Africa, but the organizations parted ways in 2014. Since then, Africa World Now has been partnering with ADIFF D.C. to bring the District a lineup of films that are giving depth to the lives of people throughout the African diaspora.

ADIFF has four annual festivals that take place throughout the year in Chicago, D.C., Paris and New York. Filmmaker Charles Uwagbai spoke to the AFRO about his film “The Wall Street Boy,” which is due to make its U.S. premiere at the D.C., festival. 

“‘The Wall Street Boy” was a collaboration between Canadians and Kenyans because we shot part of it in Kenya and part of it in Canada. It follows the story of a young boy, he’s a mathematician who created an algorithm that changes the stock market and it shows the whole world coming to steal that equation from him,” he said. “One thing I really like about this film is the positive message that it carries. A lot of times when we tell African stories it’s always about the suffering, but this story carries a very positive message. For once we can see the bright lights shining from a little village in Kenya and the whole world is crawling to get that thing that he has.” 

Uwagbai’s film is one of many that will be making their debut in the states. The grand opening film for this year’s festival is “Breaking Boundaries,” a documentary that follows the journey of a young, bi-racial woman who dreams of creating a legacy as a woman of color in rhythmic gymnastics. 

“The grand opening film is ‘Breaking Boundaries’ and it’s about a young lady who was trying to compete in the 2020 Olympics. She’s one of the few Black people to compete in the rhythmic gymnastics event,” said Muthali. “She was one of the top rated gymnasts in the USA for that event. This is a documentary following her journey.”

Following the film’s premiere, there will be a question and answer panel with the star of the film, Stasya Generlova. 

The three-day event is also scheduled to premiere a short film series, “Fighting White Supremacy: The African American Experience.” The three films featured in the series are “Keepers of the Flame,” “Judging Juries” and “How We Get Free.” All of the films focus on the battle against White supremacy throughout the U.S.

The festival’s series of events is truly helping reshape the narrative surrounding Black communities all across the world. Uwagbai explained how much he enjoys being able to share his work with a bunch of different audiences across the world due to the festival taking place in different cities. 

“When I make a film, I want to share it with the world. This festival is amazing because it doesn’t happen in one place,” said Uwagbai. “They’re really taking the message ahead and doing the work for you in terms of promoting the film and the work that you’ve done.” 

With 17 years of experience under their belt, ADIFF D.C., has much more to offer. Muthali explained that although Africa World Now is an activist organization, they began to do the film festival to help provide an outlet for filmmakers of African descent and to help provide a more accurate depiction of Black life.

“We have the film festivals to provide an avenue for filmmakers of African descent to present their stories. In the mainstream distribution system, African stories are not given a space there,” he said “The reason why we started presenting films, even though we’re an activist organization, is to give people a perspective as we’re doing our activism.”

“We want people to have a total understanding of the Black experience  because once you have a total understanding of the people and the culture then it’s easier to work on policy related issues.”

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By Ashlee Banks
Special to the AFRO

Some members of the Congressional Black Caucus opted against attending Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s joint session address to Congress.

On July 24, the Israeli leader spoke to members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate to discuss the longstanding relationship between the Middle Eastern nation and the United States.

Netanyahu also used the hour-long speech to declare that he would have “total victory” in the Israel-Hamas conflict.

U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) did not attend Netanyahu’s speech and said Congress should not lend its “platform to a war criminal.” 

“I continue to grieve for nearly 40,000 Palestinians killed by the Israeli military,” said Pressley in a statement. “The violence and bloodshed we have seen over the last nine months is devastating.” 

U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman, (D-N.Y.) was also absent from the address and said Congressional leaders made a bad call by inviting Netanyahu to the Capitol grounds.

“I am disgusted and horrified by Netanyahu’s violent and bigoted speech to the joint session of Congress, but I am not surprised,” said Bowman in a statement. “It was completely predictable that he would use this as an opportunity to fearmonger and tell lies to try and win support and funding for his indiscriminate bombing campaign.”  

In total, more than 100 Democratic members on both the House and Senate side skipped the prime minister’s address.  

Lawmakers were not the only ones displeased with Netanyahu’s visit. While the Israeli leader was speaking to Congress, a large group of demonstrators gathered near Union Station to protest Netanyahu’s speech. During the demonstration, protestors removed three American flags and replaced them with Palestinian flags. While some protestors burned at least one of the American flags, others spray-painted words like “Hamas,” “Gaza,” “Genocide Joe,” and “Child Killers” on a monument just feet away from the station’s entrance.

On the evening of July 24, House Republicans were spotted replacing the Palestinian flags with American flags.

The very next morning, Washington, D.C. city workers were seen removing the graffiti from the monument.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) condemned the protests, saying “there is a difference between lawful expression and disorderly conduct.”

“Defacing public property, desecrating the American flag, threatening Jews with violence and promoting terrorist groups like Hamas is not acceptable under any circumstance,” said Jeffries in a statement.

The protest came a day after pro-Palestinian demonstrators participated in a sit-in at the U.S. Capitol ahead of Netanyahu’s visit. Nearly 400 demonstrators with Jewish Voice for Peace staged the protest. At least 200 were arrested for crowding, obstructing or incommoding in the Cannon House Office Building. 

The Israeli prime minister’s visit comes nearly 10 months after the Israel-Hamas conflict began. On Oct. 7, Hamas launched an attack against Israel, abducting 251 people and killing 1,200 Israelis. Since October, Israel has engaged in countless attacks against Palestinians, resulting in the deaths of nearly 40,000 people, mostly women and children. 

Bowman said Congress should be focused on the safety of Palestinians and ensuring that they do not have to live in a constant state of fear.

“It’s our responsibility to uplift the shared humanity of all people and work together toward peace,” said the Democratic lawmaker.

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By Tierra Stone and Lizzie Suber
AFRO Interns
tierrastone@afro.com
lizziesuber@afro.com

Banks, emergency service operations, airports and more were impacted July 19, after cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike released a faulty update to Microsoft Windows systems around the globe.

The tech glitch also disrupted operations within Microsoft Azure, a cloud platform managed by Microsoft. The impact on Microsoft Azure led to problems far beyond individual computers: everything from payment systems to 911 operations have been affected. 

According to Microsoft, the outages were noticed as early as 12:09 a.m EST on July 19, causing a traffic jam at the intersection of technology and the plethora of industries that rely on it to function. The United States and other countries, such as South Africa, Great Britain and parts of Asia were also affected.

For many Black travelers across the globe, the issue meant delayed and canceled flights, ruined travel plans and a mountain of stress. 

“I was originally with Spirit at 9:30 a.m. I got here around 7 a.m.,” said Aikia Martin, a Baltimore resident, while sitting inside of the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) airport on July 19. “Around 8:45 a.m. they canceled the flight.”

Martin was forced to wait with her two sons for several hours at BWI due to the failed system update. Her original plans were dashed by an airline employee’s simple instruction.

“She literally got up and said, ‘If you have a flight to Orlando, step out of line!’ and that was it,” recalled Martin. “Then we had to wait around until the system got back up. I got back in line a couple of times. A few times it wasn’t back up yet. Finally, it was up they didn’t have a flight available until tomorrow at 8:30 p.m.

“I had to cancel that flight, get a refund and then book with Southwest— and they didn’t have anything until 6:40 ,” she said.

Ultimately, Martin was able to mitigate the damage to her travel plans with the evening flight out of Baltimore at 6:40 p.m. on July 19.

Maryland natives Quinton and Megan Lathan were caught in Orlando when their travel woes began. The Baltimore-based entrepreneurs were supposed to get back to Baltimore on a flight from Orlando around 10 p.m. on Thursday, July 18. Instead, they were delayed until about 2:30 a.m. and put on a flight that didn’t land in Baltimore until roughly 4:30 a.m. on Friday. 

Quinton Lathan said one glaring point of concern were the food offerings while the chaos unfolded in Florida. 

“When we were stuck in the Orlando airport, all of the restaurants were all closed. If I had diabetes or something — we were left with no water or food. You force a person to jeopardize their health. They can’t leave the airport and there’s nothing open, not even a vending machine,” he said. 

Megan Lathan said when the pair arrived at BWI airport the scene was crowded but tension was surprisingly low. 

“Everyone was calm and tired,” she said. “Everyone was very upset, fed up— and tired.” 

The Lathans landed in Baltimore on July 19 to spend time with friends and family at a funeral before heading right back out of town via plane. They weren’t sure if their Friday afternoon flight was delayed or canceled, so they cut time with their family and friends short. 

“They weren’t updating online and we couldn’t get anyone to answer the phones. We could have sat with our families a few more hours,” lamented Quinton Lathan, standing next to his wife, both clad in funeral white garb.

When Sarge Wade spoke with the AFRO he was still unsure of how he would make his way to Cancun, Mexico.

“Earlier today when the cyber situation happened we learned that the flight had been delayed around 11 ,” said the San Francisco native.

Later, Wade said he was only given 30 minutes notice before his flight was canceled. 

“I had a feeling that it was going to be canceled, and I knew I was going to be stuck here,” he said. “I’m either going to stay here or wait until the airline gives us a hotel, and then I’ll head out in the morning.”

Wade shared how uneasy he felt about the situation and expressed his concerns about other services that could’ve been affected too. 

“It’s concerning because you realize that they don’t have any backup plan. It’s disturbing to know that it could affect us in this manner. And if it can affect airlines and transportation I wonder what other important services like health care or emergency services could be affected by such an incident,” he said.

In fact, hospitals were on the list of affected industries. 

The American Hospital Association (AHA)  released a cybersecurity advisory on July 19 about the impact to their systems. 

“While we continue to monitor the situation closely, we are hearing from hospitals and health systems that the impact varies widely. Some have experienced little to no impact while others are dealing directly with some disruptions to medical technology, communications and third-party service providers,” said AHA National Advisor for Cybersecurity and Risk John Riggi. “These disruptions are resulting in some clinical procedure delays, diversions or cancellations. Impact is also being felt indirectly as a result of local emergency call centers being down. Impacted hospitals are working hard to implement manual restoration of systems and the CrowdStrike patch.”

Reggie added that “affected hospitals have also implemented downtime procedures to ensure that disruptions to patient care are minimized or avoided to the extent possible.”

CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity firm servicing customers around the world, said the bug responsible for the chaos was not a cyberattack and a solution has been reached, but problems still remain. The company released an official statement on their website. 

“CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted. This was not a cyberattack…. We further recommend organizations ensure they’re communicating with CrowdStrike representatives through official channels,” the company wrote.

In the beginning stage of the outage, Microsoft 365 released a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, with background information on how the incident began.

“We’re aware of an issue with Windows 365 Cloud PC’s caused by a recent update to CrowdStrike Falcon Sensor software. This is being communicated under WP821561 in the admin center,” Microsoft wrote. 

Geroge Kurtz, president and CEO of CrowdStrike released a statement on X issuing an apology not only to consumers but to all people that were affected by the glitch. 

“Today was not a security or cyber incident. Our customers remain fully protected. We understand the gravity of the situation and are deeply sorry for the inconvenience and disruption,” said Kurtz. “We are working with all impacted customers to ensure that systems are back up and they can deliver the services their customers are counting on.”

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By Jade Lozada
The Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Terrorism and organized crime by violent extremist groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State are a “pervasive threat” in Africa’s volatile Sahel region and are spilling over to West Africa’s coastal countries, the top U.N. envoy for the area warned July 12.

Leonardo Simão, the U.N. special representative for the Sahel and West Africa, said the focus on combating terrorism has had limited effect in stopping rampant illegal trafficking in the Sahel and the effort needs more police.

“It’s drugs, it’s weapons, it’s human beings, it’s mineral resources, and even food,” Simão said after briefing the U.N. Security Council.

According to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ new report on the Sahel and West Africa, hundreds of people have been killed in the first half of 2024 alone in terrorist attacks, many of them civilians.

The vast majority of deaths occurred in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, whose ruling military juntas in March announced a joint security force to fight terrorism, though the force has yet to begin operations. The three countries are increasingly cutting ties with the U.S. military and allying with Russia on its security challenges.

Last week, the three juntas doubled down on their decision to leave the Economic Community of West African States, the nearly 50-year-old regional bloc known as ECOWAS, following the creation of their own security partnership, the Alliance of Sahel States, in September.

Simão did not comment on the countries’ international alliances, but said their withdrawals from ECOWAS will be “harmful to both sides.” He lauded ECOWAS for taking a “vigorous approach” to engaging with Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger and urged the countries to maintain regional unity.

He called for the U.N.’s continued support of the Accra Initiative, a military platform involving Burkina Faso and nearby coastal countries to contain the spread of extremism in the Sahel. He also said the Security Council should pursue financing regionally led police operations.

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield expressed support for ECOWAS and U.N. efforts in West Africa and the Sahel and said the Security Council “must also step up.”

Thomas-Greenfield urged increased funding and the appointment of a U.N. resident coordinator in the region, saying a U.N. presence is critical to support U.N. development efforts “as well as ensuring the delivery of much needed humanitarian assistance.”

Russia’s deputy ambassador, Anna Evstigneeva, countered that international security efforts amount to an “attempt to continue imposing new colonial models” on Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. She accused Western donors of limiting assistance for “political reasons.”

“Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger are conducting an uncompromising and coordinated fight against terrorist groups and they are achieving success and stabilizing their territories,” Evstigneeva said.

The region’s deadliest terrorist attacks this year took place in Burkina Faso, where the militant jihadist groups Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, which has ties to al-Qaida, and the Islamic State claim “extensive swaths” of territory, Guterres said in the report. In February alone, major terrorist attacks killed 301 people, including a single assault that claimed 170 lives.

According to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, there were 361 conflict-related deaths in Niger during the first three months of 2024, a significant increase from 250 over the same period last year.

Guterres encouraged the “accelerated implementation” of remaining security agreements, including recent plans for a counterterrorism center in Nigeria and the deployment of an ECOWAS standby force to help eradicate terrorism.

The military juntas of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have ended long-standing foreign military partnerships in recent years.

In 2022, France withdrew its troops from Mali over tensions with the junta, followed by a military withdrawal from Niger at the government’s request.

The U.N. ended its 10-year peacekeeping mission in Mali in December 2023 at the junta’s insistence. It had been the deadliest U.N. peacekeeping mission, with more than 300 personnel killed.

The U.S. military is set to conclude its withdrawal from Niger, also at the junta’s request, by Sept. 15.

Guterres said regional insecurity “continues to impact negatively on the humanitarian and human rights situation.”

The report said 25.8 million people in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Nigeria need humanitarian assistance this year. Those four countries had more than 6.2 million people internally displaced and 630,000 refugees in April. In addition, 32.9 million people faced food insecurity.

Guterres said humanitarian agencies lack adequate funding, having received only 13 percent of the $3.2 billion needed for 2024. “Without additional funding, millions of vulnerable people will be left without vital support,” he said in the report.

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By: DaQuan Lawrence
AFRO International Writer
DLawrence@afro.com 

The growing impact of climate change becomes more relevant throughout the 21^st century as the global phenomenon has recently caused some of the hottest days on record. As modern society has recently experienced sweltering summer temperatures as well as frigid winter days, climate change naturally affects regions around the world differently.

In September 2023, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reported that Africa and its populations disproportionately suffer from the effects of climate change although the continent is responsible for only a fraction of global greenhouse gas emissions. 

WMO’s “The State of the Climate in Africa 2022” reports that about 110 million people were directly affected by climate, weather and water-related dangers in 2022, and the rate of temperature increase in Africa has accelerated in recent decades, with climate-related and weather-related hazards becoming more severe. 

The WMO said there were a reported 5,000 fatalities associated with drought and flooding, according to its Emergency Event Database. Exacerbating the climate situation is the fact that nearly 282 million people across the continent, or almost 20 percent of the population, suffer from food insecurity and are undernourished according to the Brookings Institution.

In a November 2023 expert group meeting in Accra, Ghana, Ngone Diop, the director of the United Nations (UN) Economic Commission for Africa office for West Africa mentioned the significance of food insecurity in West Africa. 

“Food insecurity is unfortunately a structural challenge in Africa, affecting 20 percent of the continent’s population compared to the global rate of 9.8 percent…,” said Diop. 

During the UN expert convening, specialists claimed that 17 out of the 20 countries most threatened by climate change are in Africa according to the UN Economic Commission for Africa. 

The African continent has endured several heatwaves including a February 2024 hot spell that occurred during the Africa Cup of Nations soccer tournament that took place in the Ivory Coast and caused players to take extra hydration breaks during games.  

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, over the previous 60 years, Africa has recorded a more rapid warming trend than the global average. As a result of the unpredictable effects of global warming, social justice and environmental justice activists across the African continent have raised concerns about the importance of climate change and its unique implications on African societies. 

Throughout the early 2020s, the world has experienced increasing temperatures as the latest data suggests that 2024 could beat 2023 as the hottest year on record. 

“I now estimate that there is an approximately 95 percent chance that 2024 beats 2023 to be the warmest year since global surface temperature records began in the mid-1800s,” Zeke Hausfather, a research scientist at U.S. non-profit Berkeley Earth, told Reuters. 

In Africa, like much of the Global South, the climate crisis has caused agricultural challenges, food insecurity, droughts and environmental disasters such as storms and floods. With a continent that has distinct landscapes such as savannas, deserts and rainforests, the climate of the region can cause natural occurrences like rain to lead to calamity. 

For example, in late April, intense and ceaseless rainfall during Kenya’s “long rains” season (March to May) led to 91 missing persons incidents, 169 deaths and the displacement of more than 190,000 people as reported by Carlos Mureithi of the Associated Press.

Although many people have connected the floods to the natural El Nino weather pattern, Joyce Kimutai, research associate at Imperial College London, said research shows the climate event has little influence on rainfall over East Africa during the “long rains” season. Furthermore, scientists also found that human-caused climate change intensified the rains during the East African rain season. 

Whereas Northern and Western Africa are known for the continent’s great Sahara desert, World Weather Attribution (WWA) recently noted that the heatwave and extremely high temperatures across the region were caused by human activities such as deforestation and fossil fuels. 

In Western African nations such as Chad, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, people experienced temperatures higher than 110 degrees Fahrenheit. In early April, the Malian city of Kayes had temperatures that reached 119 degrees Fahrenheit (48.5 Celsius). 

During this time period, Mali’s capital city, Bamako, recorded 102 heat-related deaths, with more than half the deceased being people above age 60. While populations throughout Burkina Faso and Mali are accustomed to high temperatures, the span and severity of the heatwave made it difficult for people to cope according to WWA. 

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By Deborah Bailey
AFRO Contributing Editor
dbailey@afro.com

The U.S. Africa Collaborative recently held the 2024 Pan African City Exposition on the campus of Bowie State University. The international affordable housing symposium offered an exchange of ideas in search of solutions to the affordable housing crisis across the African Diaspora, with emphasis on Africa, the United States (U.S.) and the United Kingdom (UK). 

The Collaborative, organized by Maryland native and international housing advocate, Elizabeth Glenn, connects affordable housing advocates across the African Diaspora, from government officials, universities, nonprofits and community-based voices. Glenn, former deputy director of Baltimore County’s Department of Planning has worked on affordable housing issues in Ecuador, Türkiye, South Africa, Australia as well as the U.S. 

“We operate based on the African Proverb that says ‘if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.’  We are going together, and we are trying one step at a time to build bridges across the diaspora,” Glenn said. “The African Diaspora got spread out across the globe. We got disconnected from our past, but it doesn’t mean we have to be disconnected in our future.”

Glenn and symposium conveners presented a balance between U.S. housing issues and equity and solutions to the world-wide crisis in sustainable, affordable housing. Both Adrienne Todman, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Dr. Nana Mhlongo, deputy director-general of South Africa’s National Department of Human Settlements, addressed the audience and spoke to the deficit in housing for low wealth citizens and the need for innovative solutions. 

The U.S. currently has a 7.3-million affordable housing unit shortage,  according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. The backlog of South Africa’s government subsidized settlements is 2.4 million, according to the country’s International Trade Administration. Both countries also face a growing homeless population. 

Sanele Mbambo, lecturer at South Africa’s University of the Free State, has been involved with the U.S. Africa Collaborative since the symposium first convened in South Africa in 2022. He came to Maryland to learn how the U.S. tackles its legacy of housing discrimination. 

“The United States has a common case with South Africa in terms of racial discrimination. I am quite impressed with how many American organizations and institutions are managing the development of human settlements,” said Mbambo, regarding the 5.2 million U.S. households receiving subsidized housing assistance. 

Ayanna Nahmias, founder of Africa Vertical, offered rural solutions for economic empowerment through the farming project she oversees in Zimbabwe. The 200 women connected with Africa Vertical’s sustainable, organic farm, grow food that feeds communities. The farm not only provides the women skills in agriculture, but also supports them in a livelihood through the micro business they operate selling the produce they harvest. 

Nahmias, who lives between Northern Virginia and Zimbabwe, first moved to Africa as a child with her parents. She considers herself a “daughter of Africa,” and began the farm in 2015 after her father’s death in Zimbabwe. 

“The Africa vertical farm in Zimbabwe is an alternative to donor dependency,” Nahmias said. “The women involved with the farm are able to grow organic food, feed their families and community, and make a living.”

Nahmias is currently implementing a hydroponic farming model and seeking other countries, including the U.S. where her Zimbabwean farming model can be replicated. 

A Pan African housing symposium wouldn’t be complete without song, dance and Capoeira de Angola, a form of Afro-Brazilian martial arts. Jonal Lartique, from Richmond, and Troy Thomas, based in metropolitan D.C, taught participants about the highly stylized and rhythmic martial arts form that looks like a choreographed dance. 

“This art form is part of the traditional practice that came with us when we came to America,” Lartique said, adding that the demonstration visualized the data and information shared in the symposium workshops. “The healing is in each of us, coming together, working out our past and working toward our future.”

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By Dánica Coto
The Associated Press

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricane Beryl strengthened into what experts called an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm as it approached the southeast Caribbean, which began shutting down June 30 amid urgent pleas from government officials for people to take shelter.

The storm was expected to make landfall in the Windward Islands the morning of July 1. Hurricane warnings were in effect for Barbados, St. Lucia, Grenada, Tobago and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

“This is a very dangerous situation,” warned the National Hurricane Center in Miami, which said that Beryl was “forecast to bring life-threatening winds and storm surge.”

Beryl was located about 250 miles (400 kilometers) southeast of Barbados. It had maximum sustained winds of 130 mph (215 kph) and was moving west-northwest at 18 mph (30 kph). It is a compact storm, with hurricane-force winds extending 35 miles (340 kilometers) from its center.

A tropical storm warning was in effect for Martinique. A tropical storm watch was issued for Dominica, Trinidad, Haiti’s entire southern coast, and from Punta Palenque in the Dominican Republic west to the border with Haiti.

Beryl is expected to pass just south of Barbados early July 1 and then head into the Caribbean Sea as a major hurricane on a path toward Jamaica. It is expected to weaken by midweek, but will still remain a hurricane as it heads toward Mexico.

Historic hurricane

Beryl had strengthened into a Category 3 hurricane on early June 30, becoming the first major hurricane east of the Lesser Antilles on record for June, according to Philip Klotzbach, Colorado State University hurricane researcher.

It took Beryl only 42 hours to strengthen from a tropical depression to a major hurricane — a feat accomplished only six other times in Atlantic hurricane history, and with Sept. 1 as the earliest date, according to hurricane expert Sam Lillo.

Beryl is now the earliest Category 4 Atlantic hurricane on record, besting Hurricane Dennis, which became a Category 4 storm on July 8, 2005, hurricane specialist and storm surge expert Michael Lowry said.

“Beryl is an extremely dangerous and rare hurricane for this time of year in this area,” he said in a phone interview. “Unusual is an understatement. Beryl is already a historic hurricane and it hasn’t struck yet.”

Hurricane Ivan in 2004 was the last strongest hurricane to hit the southeast Caribbean, causing catastrophic damage in Grenada as a Category 3 storm.

“So this is a serious threat, a very serious threat,” Lowry said of Beryl.

Reecia Marshall, who lives in Grenada, was working a Sunday shift at a local hotel, preparing guests and urging them to stay away from windows as she stored enough food and water for everyone.

She said she was a child when Hurricane Ivan struck, and that she doesn’t fear Beryl.

“I know it’s part of nature. I’m OK with it,” she said. “We just have to live with it.”

Forecasters warned of a life-threatening storm surge of up to 9 feet (3 meters) in areas where Beryl will make landfall, with up to 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain for Barbados and nearby islands.

Warm waters were fueling Beryl, with ocean heat content in the deep Atlantic the highest on record for this time of year, according to Brian McNoldy, University of Miami tropical meteorology researcher. Lowry said the waters are now warmer than they would be at the peak of the hurricane season in September.

Beryl marks the farthest east that a hurricane has formed in the tropical Atlantic in June, breaking a record set in 1933, according to Klotzbach.

“Please take this very seriously and prepare yourselves,” said Ralph Gonsalves, the prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. “This is a terrible hurricane.”

Bracing for the storm

Long lines formed at gas stations and grocery stores in Barbados and other islands as people rushed to prepare for a storm that rapidly intensified.

Thousands of people were in Barbados on June 29 for the Twenty20 World Cup final, cricket’s biggest event, with Prime Minister Mia Mottley noting that not all fans were able to leave June 30, despite many rushing to change their flights.

“Some of them have never gone through a storm before,” she said. “We have plans to take care of them.”

Mottley said that all businesses should close by late June 30 and warned the airport would close by nighttime.

Across Barbados, people prepared for the storm, including Peter Corbin, 71, who helped his son put up plywood to protect his home’s glass doors. He said by phone that he worried about Beryl’s impact on islands just east of Barbados.

“That’s like a butcher cutting up a pig,” he said. “They’ve got to make a bunker somewhere. It’s going to be tough.”

In St. Lucia, Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre announced a national shutdown for Sunday evening and said that schools and businesses would remain closed on Monday.

“Preservation and protection of life is a priority,” he said.

Looking ahead

Caribbean leaders were preparing not only for Beryl, but for a cluster of thunderstorms trailing the hurricane that has a 70 percent chance of becoming a tropical depression.

“Do not let your guard down,” Mottley said.

Beryl is the second named storm in what is forecast to be an above-average hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30 in the Atlantic. Earlier this month, Tropical Storm Alberto came ashore in northeastern Mexico with heavy rains that resulted in four deaths.

On Sunday evening, a tropical depression formed near the eastern coastal city of Veracruz, with the National Hurricane Center warning of flooding and mudslides.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts the 2024 hurricane season is likely to be well above average, with between 17 and 25 named storms. The forecast calls for as many as 13 hurricanes and four major hurricanes.

An average Atlantic hurricane season produces 14 named storms, seven of them hurricanes and three major hurricanes.

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By Gerald Imray
The Associated Press

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — In a country where racial segregation was once brutally enforced, South Africa’s new coalition government has brought a Black president and a White opposition leader together in an image of unity.

Yet the power-sharing agreement sealed a week ago between President Cyril Ramaphosa’s African National Congress party and the Democratic Alliance, one of South Africa’s few White-led parties, has unwittingly renewed some racial rifts.

Many Black South Africans have expressed discomfort with a White-led party being back in power, even in a coalition. The country is haunted by the apartheid system of White minority rule that ended 30 years ago but is still felt by millions among the Black majority who were ruthlessly oppressed by a White government and remain affected by unresolved issues of poverty and inequality.

South Africa is now faced with the likelihood of seeing more White people in senior government positions than ever since apartheid ended. White people make up around 7 percent of the country’s population of 62 million.

The ANC liberated South Africa from apartheid in 1994 under Nelson Mandela, the country’s first Black president. Its three-decade political dominance ended in the landmark May 29 election, forcing it to form a coalition. The DA, with its roots in liberal White parties that stood against apartheid, won the second largest share of votes.

Both have promoted their coming together in a multi-party coalition as a new unity desperately needed in a country with vast socioeconomic problems.

But history lingers. The DA suspended one of its White lawmakers June 20, days after being sworn into Parliament, over racist slurs he made in a social media video more than a decade ago. Renaldo Gouws — reportedly a student in his 20s at the time — used an especially offensive term for Black people that was infamous during apartheid and is now considered hate speech.

Gouws faces disciplinary action from his party, and the South African Human Rights Commission said it will take him to court. The DA, which previously fended off allegations of favoring Whites, is again under scrutiny.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions, an important political ally of the ANC, asserted that Gouws’ outburst was symptomatic of a DA that is “soft on racists.” The DA “needs to reflect on and address this if it wants to be accepted as a partner in the government of national unity by ordinary South Africans,” it said.

DA leader John Steenhuisen denied in a television interview that his party is dedicated only to White interests, saying it wouldn’t have won the second largest share of votes in a Black majority country if it was. The DA has Black and White lawmakers and supporters, but its only Black leader left the party in 2019, questioning its commitment to Black South Africans.

Political analyst Angelo Fick said the DA does have a “sense of whiteness” in the eyes of many South Africans and has created that by being “utterly disinterested in speaking to the concerns about race from Black South Africans.”

Shortly before Gouws’ case, racially charged language came from another direction when the MK Party of former President Jacob Zuma — once an ANC leader — called Ramaphosa a “house negro” for entering into the agreement with the DA. Zuma’s party also referred to white DA chairperson Helen Zille as Ramaphosa’s “slave master.”

The MK Party and the Economic Freedom Fighters — the third and fourth biggest parties in Parliament — have refused to join what the ANC calls a government of national unity open to all. They said the fundamental reason is the DA, which they say is committed only to the well-being of South Africa’s White minority.

“We do not agree to this marriage of convenience to consolidate the White monopoly power over the economy,” EFF leader Julius Malema said.

Malema has sometimes provoked racial tensions in demanding change, once saying, “We are not calling for the slaughtering of White people, at least for now,” and that South Africa’s “White man has been too comfortable for too long.”

He now says his party is not against White people but against a perceived “White privilege” that leaves 64 percent of Black people in poverty compared with 1 percent of White people, according to a 2021 report by the South African Human Rights Commission.

Malema represents a new opposition to the ANC by many Black South Africans frustrated over the race-based inequality that’s evident after 30 years of freedom. White people generally live in posh neighborhoods. Millions of Black people live in impoverished townships on the outskirts.

That frustration led many voters to give up on the ANC. The concerns about teaming up with the DA could weaken the party even further.

In his inauguration speech June 18, Ramaphosa recognized the “toxic” divisions that remain decades after Mandela preached racial reconciliation. “Our society remains deeply unequal and highly polarized,” Ramaphosa said.

The ANC is trying to use the coalition as a kind of reboot of Mandela’s ideals.

“To us, it doesn’t matter whether the cat is black or white,” ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula said of the agreement with the DA. Mandela had used the phrase to signal he was open to all races serving in South Africa’s government.

“Fundamentally,” Mbalula said, “the question is how do we move the country forward.”

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By Wayne Campbell
Special to the AFRO

“Play is fundamentally important for learning 21st century skills, such as problem solving, collaboration, and creativity.”– American Academy of Pediatrics.

Many children no longer play, and this is true for various reasons. In fact, many of us as adults, especially those of Afro-Caribbean ancestry, tend to undervalue the impact and significance of play concerning our children. Oftentimes, we tell our children to go and “take up their books.” However, playtime is important. 

Global obesity has become a public health concern and this is rather concerning. In fact, in some jurisdictions, physical education is not done and students go through an entire academic year without any structured playtime.

The United Nations indicates that over 390 million children and adolescents ages 5-19 years were overweight in 2022. The prevalence of overweight (including obese) children and adolescents ages 5-19 has risen dramatically from just 8 percent in 1990 to 20 percent in 2022. The rise has occurred similarly among both boys and girls: In 2022, 19 percent of girls and 21 percent of boys were overweight.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child has enshrined play as a fundamental right of every child under Article 31. Beyond mere recreation, playing is a universal language spoken by people of all ages, transcending national, cultural and socio-economic boundaries. This shared passion fosters a sense of community and national pride. Unfortunately, in war torn areas of the world, such as Gaza and Ukraine children are denied their fundamental right to play. Regrettably, the world appears helpless in bringing to an end these wars, and children suffer disproportionately in times of conflicts. 

The first-ever International Day of Play, which was observed June 11, 2024, marks a significant milestone in efforts to preserve, promote and prioritize playing so that all people, especially children, can reap the rewards and thrive to their full potential. 

Why is play important?

Children learn best through play. Play creates powerful learning opportunities across all areas of

development: intellectual, social, emotional and physical. Through play, children learn to forge

connections with others, build a wide range of leadership skills, develop resilience, navigate

relationships and social challenges as well as conquer their fears. When children play, they feel safe.

Children play to make sense of the world around them. More generally, play provides a platform for

children to express and develop imagination and creativity, which are key skills critical for the

technology-driven and innovative world we live in. 

Playful interactions contribute to the well-being and positive mental health of parents, caregivers and children. When humanitarian crises turn a child’s world upside down, it is in play that children can find both safety and respite from adverse experiences while also being able to explore and process their experiences with the world. When children are driven from their homes by war, conflict, and displacement, access to nurturing relationships with parents/caregivers and peers are critical buffers from the effects of violence, distress and other adverse experiences. Without a doubt, play comforts and soothes children. 

In order to encourage playful interactions between parents/caregivers and children, governments and other stakeholders need to create an enabling environment. As rapid urbanization takes hold across many countries, more and more green and safe spaces for children to play are disappearing and this is

problematic. We need to revisit our urban planning and ensure that children are not denied their chance to play.

Government-led action

Alarmingly, an estimated 160 million children around the world are working instead of playing or

learning.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) are calling on governments to prioritize those sustainable development goals that are related to the right to play and accelerate progress towards SDG targets: Governments must ensure that universal access to evidence-based parenting programmes that promote attachment, playful parenting and buffer children from external shocks and prevent potential risks, such as excessive screen time, are part of this child development policies. Additionally, universal access to quality, inclusive early childhood education, including learning through play, for children between 3 and 6 is critical for their development. Finally, governments have a responsibility regarding the protection of public spaces and care environments from environmental and climate change, conflict, and urbanization. 

This important day is a call to action to create a unifying moment at global, national and local levels to elevate the importance of play. It signals a call for policies, training and funding to get play integrated into education and community settings worldwide.

In the words of Plato, do not keep children to their studies by compulsion but by play.

Wayne Campbell is an educator and social commentator with an interest in development policies as they affect culture and or gender issues.

waykam@yahoo.com

@WayneCamo

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By Aleisha Robinson
AFRO Intern
arobinson@afro.com

Juneteenth is widely celebrated within the United States, marking the day that freedom reached all slaves in Confederate states during the American Civil War. Ultimately, chattel slavery was outlawed by the 13th Amendment, and Black people in the United States were able to shed the bonds of slavery in 1865. Though the story of the African Diaspora includes a variety of independence days, Juneteenth is unique to African Americans.

While many would agree that the holiday should be observed solely by African Americans, others believe it represents a larger meaning of freedom and equality and can be celebrated by all beyond the nation’s border. 

“Juneteenth commemorates the day when 250,000 slaves in the state of Texas, which became the last bastion for slavery during the final days of Civil War, were declared free by the U.S Army,” said Professor of Practice at the Morgan State University, Wayne Dawkins. 

“I see the holiday as a teaching moment, I believe it’s important that the people within the African Diaspora know the history of slavery and the struggles of their ancestors.” 

The celebration of this holiday began in 1866, when Texas hosted their Juneteenth festivities, which included prayer gatherings, and the wearing of new garments as a symbol of liberation. The celebration has now grown to include speeches, family get-togethers and educational activities. 

Opal Lee is recognized as the “Mother of Juneteenth,” for her campaign to get national recognition for the holiday, which became an official federal holiday in 2021 after being a state holiday in Texas for more than 40 years. 

While Juneteenth is well-known and celebrated within the African-American community, many Americans were unaware of the holiday before 2021, and others are still in the dark about the true history of the event. 

Tyra-Neil Morrison an information systems and technology student at Morgan State University (MSU) and the president of the university’s Caribbean Student Association (CSA) said she “didn’t really know much about certain Black American cultures and customs,” she only learned about Juneteenth when she started college.

“My knowledge expanded when I came to an HBCU (Historically Black college or university). My friends that were from different backgrounds would invite me to their [homes] for cookouts and to talk about Black history,” said Morrison. 

She said even though her native country does not celebrate Juneteenth, she believes the holiday should be put in the schools curriculum to educate students on their cultural background. 

Morrison, who is of Jamaican descent, said that instead of recognizing Juneteenth, there are celebrations of Jamaican independence on August 6 of each year. 

Black nations around the world have independence days that vary from country to country. In the Caribbean, the Haitian Revolution took place from 1791 to 1804. Haitians gained their independence on Jan. 1, 1804. In Africa, the nation of Nigeria gained independence on Oct. 1, 1960, just a few years after Ghana, which gained independence on March 6, 1957.

President of the African Student Organization at Morgan State University, Afia-Ayisha Doreen Andoh, of Ghana, shared her views on the subject. Andoh believes Juneteenth should only be celebrated by African Americans in the United States.

“I think it’s important to be celebrated by the U.S., but not necessarily through Africa and Caribbean countries,” said Andoh. 

Despite the different views on the celebration of Juneteenth, Dawkins argued that the holiday should be used as a teaching method. He believes the holiday should be “commemorated and not celebrated.”

“I’m not telling anyone not to celebrate Juneteenth,” said Dawkins, “I just want them to be aware of the meaning of it and why we have it.”

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By Mogomotsi Magome
The Associated Press

BUSHBUCKRIDGE, South Africa (AP) — The walls of Shadrack Mashabane’s hut in the rural South African town of Bushbuckridge are covered with traditional fabrics, with a small window the only source of light. What stands out among the herbs and medicines in glass bottles is a white box containing an HIV testing kit.

Mashabane is one of at least 15 traditional healers in the town who, in a pilot study, have been trained by University of the Witwatersrand researchers to conduct HIV testing and counseling in an effort to ensure as many South Africans as possible know their status.

It’s part of the largest known effort in the country to involve traditional healers in a public health goal and study the results. Later this year, at least 325 other healers will undergo the training and become certified HIV counselors. Researchers will compare rates of HIV testing by healers and clinics.

Most traditional healers were already knowledgeable about HIV — some from personal experience — and were eager to get involved, researchers said.

South Africa has one of the highest rates of HIV in the world. Stigma remains in many communities around the disease and its treatment — even though HIV antiretroviral medication and pre-exposure prophylaxis are free. Concern about privacy at clinics also keeps people from seeking help.

Many people in rural areas see traditional healers as their first point of contact for illnesses, and the project hopes they can help change attitudes.

South Africa’s large younger population is a special concern. A government study released in December showed that people living with HIV had fallen from 14 percent  in 2017 to 12.7 percent in 2022, but HIV prevalence rose among girls between 15 and 19, a phenomenon largely attributed to older men sleeping with them.

Around 2,000 traditional healers operate in the Mpumalanga province town of Bushbuckridge, home to about 750,000 people, providing traditional and spiritual services.

Mashabane said patients at first found it difficult to believe he was offering HIV testing — a service they had long expected to be available only at health clinics.

“Many were not convinced. I had to show them my certificate to prove I was qualified to do this,” he said.

The process includes the signing of consent forms to be tested, along with a follow-up with Mashabane to ensure that patients who test positive receive their treatment from the local clinic.

He said breaking the news to a patient who has tested positive for HIV is not that difficult because the illness can be treated with readily available medication. But in many cases, he has to accompany the patient to the clinic “to make it easier for them.”

Florence Khoza is another traditional healer who has been trained to test for HIV. She said risky sexual behavior is common. She often dispenses traditional herbs and medication to treat gonorrhea, but now she goes further by advising patients to test for HIV.

“I tell them it is in their best interest,” she said.

Khoza said many patients fear going to the clinic or hospital and having other community members see them collecting HIV treatment.

“In many cases I collect the HIV medication on their behalf,” she said.

Ryan Wagner, a senior research fellow with the study, said testing and treating via traditional medicine practitioners could “ultimately lead to the end of new HIV cases in communities such as rural Mpumalanga, which has some of the largest HIV burden globally.”

Researchers hope their findings will inspire South Africa’s government to roll out such training across the country.

___

The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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By Wayne Campbell and Francine Mclean

“For the first time in 200 years of the republic, I will become the first female president of Mexico. I do not arrive alone. We all arrived, with our heroines who gave us our homeland, with our ancestors, our mothers, our daughters and our granddaughters.”

– Claudia Sheinbaum

Women have played a fundamental role in Mexico’s independence, reform and revolution. 

Unfortunately, they did not have a right to political participation. Finally, women in Mexico got this fundamental right to vote on October 17, 1953. Their struggle began during the Mexican Revolution, with the starting point being the First Feminist Congress of the Yucatan in 1916. At that historic meeting, the women gathered there demanded equality, education and citizenship in order to build together with the men in a responsible manner. 

Historically, Yucatan was the first state to recognize women’s right to vote in 1923. Claudia Sheinbaum has been elected as Mexico’s first woman president in an historic landslide win. Mexico’s official electoral authority said preliminary results showed the 61-year-old former head of government of Mexico City winning between 58 percent and 60 percent of the vote in the June 2 election. It was a landmark vote that saw not one, but two women vying to lead one of the hemisphere’s biggest nations. 

Sheinbaum’s election will see a Jewish leader at the helm of one of the world’s largest predominantly Catholic countries. Mexico has a population of over 129 million people. In a country with one of the highest rates of murder against women in the world, Sheinbaum’s victory underscores the advances women have made in the political sphere. 

Both of her parents were scientists. Sheinbaum studied physics before going on to receive a doctorate in energy engineering. Sheinbaum is accustomed to breaking the proverbial glass ceiling. In 2018 she became the first female head of government of Mexico City, a post she held until 2023, when she stepped down to run for president. 

Nearly 100 million people were registered to vote in the election, but turnout appeared to be slightly lower than in past elections. Voters were also electing governors in nine of the country’s 32 states, and choosing candidates for both houses of Congress, thousands of head of government positions and other local posts, in the biggest elections the nation has seen.

Jewish ancestry

Sheinbaum, whose Jewish maternal grandparents immigrated to Mexico from Bulgaria fleeing the Nazis, had an illustrious career as a scientist before delving into politics. Her paternal grandparents hailed from Lithuania. An estimated 50,000 Jewish people live in Mexico. The majority are settled in Mexico City and its surroundings, with small communities in the cities of Monterrey, Guadalajara, Tijuana, Cancún, San Miguel de Allende and Los Cabos. 

The first Jews arrived in Mexico in 1519 along with the Spanish colonization. The community began to grow substantially by the early 20th century, as thousands of Jews fled from the Ottoman Empire to escape instability and antisemitism.  

International conflict

Sheinbaum’s win also comes at a significant time as the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip has displaced more than one million Palestinians and left more than 35,000 people dead, according to officials in Gaza. Since the beginning of the war last year, Sheinbaum has condemned attacks on civilians. She even called for a cease-fire and said she supports a two-state solution. 

Without a doubt Sheinbaum is Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s political protégé. She started her political career as his environmental minister after he was elected head of government of Mexico City in 2000. She has been unwaveringly loyal ever since, even supporting his pro-oil energy agenda despite her environmental background. 

It is often said that while Sheinbaum lacks López Obrador’s charisma and popular appeal, she has a reputation for being analytical, disciplined and exacting. Most importantly, she has promised to support López Obrador’s policies and popular social programs, including a universal pension benefit for seniors as well as providing cash payments to low-income residents. Under Mexico’s constitution, presidents can only serve one six-year term. 

This is indeed a proud and momentous moment for gender equality and female empowerment not only for the region but the entire world. Mexico is known for its strong patriarchal structures. Sheinbaum’s election to the presidency speaks volumes regarding the advancement women have made in Mexico since Universal Adult Suffrage. 

The election of Sheinbaum will undoubtedly provide hope to thousands of Mexican girls in particular and girls in general that their biological sex is not an indicator of what they can achieve. 

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By Ben Jealous

The Biden-Harris administration is making bold moves to ensure America leads the global clean energy economy of the 21st century.

We are at the crossroads of our country’s next major shift in trade policy and domestic manufacturing that will define our economy for decades. The last time we were here was more than 30 years ago. I was helping to organize the movement to stop the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The framework being put forward this time, by the current administration, is the anti-NAFTA moment American workers have been waiting for. I am organizing in support of it.

The tariffs announced this month on electric vehicles (EVs), solar panels, batteries, semiconductors and materials like aluminum and steel are part of a broader regime of policies and investments creating the foundation for America’s leadership in the next economy. 

These tariffs are part of a smart, targeted approach that stands at odds with the flailing, nonstrategic approach of his predecessor. They show the president understands the threats posed by China and has the courage to take them on in a real and impactful way.

And the administration gets that tariffs are just one piece of the puzzle. In his remarks at the signing ceremony for the tariffs, Biden highlighted his bipartisan infrastructure law’s investment in building 500,000 EV charging stations nationwide and the “thousands and thousands of jobs” it would create. The tariffs will help ensure the aluminum, steel, solar panels, and other components and materials for these charging stations are American-made. And that means even more good American jobs.  

NAFTA cost our country hundreds of thousands of jobs and devastated America’s manufacturing sector. By contrast, Biden’s trade policies, coupled with other policies and investments, have the power to create a green jobs boom and birth a new manufacturing renaissance. Companies have already announced over $825 billion in private sector investments in US manufacturing and clean energy since Biden took office. All of this is key not only to long-term job creation, but to stopping China’s domination of the next economy.

A future in which China holds all the economic cards is one in which climate change is allowed to run rampant. Even though manufacturing in the United States is 3.2 times more carbon efficient than manufacturing in China, China has a grip on more than 80 percent of the world’s solar manufacturing. China produces 58 percent of all new electric vehicles sold worldwide. In 2022, China accounted for about 59 percent of global primary aluminum production and 54 percent of the world’s crude steel production. 

All that manufacturing is energy intensive, especially for steel and aluminum. And in China that energy comes primarily from coal – the dirtiest energy source there is.

China is the world’s largest consumer of coal – with 56 percent of global consumption in 2020, according to the International Energy Agency. That coal reliance makes carbon emissions from Chinese steel production as much as double that from American steel. It adds to the urgency of seizing market share from China and using our own domestic manufacturing to help expand the market. And it is why the president paired his tariffs on Chinese solar with tariffs on aluminum and a $500 million investment in the first aluminum smelter in the US in 45 years. Imagine that new aluminum plant being built with modern protections against pollution and powered by American-produced solar panels made with the plant’s own aluminum. That is what President Biden imagined. And he is making it happen. 

The Chinese government has not played fair. It overproduces in order to flood global markets. It has leaned on exports of “bifacial” (basically, two-sided) solar panels, which were foolishly exempt under the Trump-era solar tariffs – with 98 percent of Chinese solar panel imports to our country now being bifacial. And the Commerce Department is now investigating how China has allegedly used countries like Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Thailand as pass-throughs to route solar products to the US and evade tariffs.

The Biden administration’s trade policy in this area can help make China more of an honest broker. But even that is no substitute for owning the manufacturing and supply chains of the staple goods that will power our next economy. And let us not forget the national pride Americans once felt in the products invented and built by American hands. 

The US automobile industry is a great example. The future of automobiles is electric. If we do not invest heavily in US EV production, we cede important ground to our primary global competitor. And we leave behind the current and future auto workers who will benefit from robust domestic EV production. But President Biden’s policies once again show he has the whole picture in mind. He is not simply putting a tariff on EV’s and expecting us to dominate. He is investing in the supply chain and protecting it – with tariffs on the aluminum, steel, semiconductors, and chips that are all vital to EV manufacturing (EVs use twice as many chips as gas-powered cars).

At the end of the day, we must invest in domestic growth of the industries at the center of the emerging global economy. If we fail, we allow China to dominate that economy and risk taking steps backwards in our efforts to curb climate change and save our planet. The Biden administration is showing its keen understanding of what is needed to tackle that challenge and build a strong future for American workers at the same time. 

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By DaQuan Lawrence
AFRO International Writer
DLawrence@afro.com

On May 23, the White House and Biden administration held a state dinner in honor of Kenyan President William Ruto and Her Excellency Rachel Ruto, who visited the U.S. during a recent trip in the interest of diplomacy.

The occasion featured a dynamic ambiance with magnetic views of the nation’s capital, celebrity and political A-listers as well as a splendid menu, designed in the interest of the East African guests of honor. 

The dinner highlighted bilateral relations among Kenya and the U.S. and the 60-year partnership among the two countries as the world has developed from the cold war era into a multipolar, geopolitical landscape that features multiple nations, such as the U.S., Russia and China, vying for global dominance. 

“Mr. President, six decades ago, when Kenya declared its independence, President Lyndon B. Johnson wrote a letter from our nation to yours. And he said, ‘May the responsibilities of freedom wake the best that is in you,’” said President Biden, during a joint press conference held in the East Room of the White House. 

“Today, we mark 60 years of partnership between our democracies, and we’re fulfilling that wish together…Not only in Kenya and America but around the world, it’s had [a] positive impact,” Biden continued. 

Throughout his remarks, Biden mentioned Kenya’s role in joint counterterrorism operations that have diminished the influence of ISIS and al-Shabab across East Africa, the nation’s work in Haiti via the Multinational Security Support Mission, as well as upcoming economic cooperation initiatives. 

“Today, we’re launching what we’re calling the Nairobi-Washington Vision. This initiative is going to bring together international financial institutions and nations from all around the world to mobilize more resources for countries saddled with debt,” Biden said. 

The goals of the new initiative include creating more opportunities for private-sector financing and promoting transparent, sustainable and affordable lending practices for developing nations. 

President Biden also announced that in addition to the U.S.’ $250 million investment for crisis-response, the nation will be providing an additional $21 billion available to the International Monetary Fund and up to $250 billion in new lending capacity from multilateral development banks to invest in lower-income nations. 

In addition to President Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, the event involved an extensive guest list which featured over 500 esteemed attendees, including 42^nd U.S. President Bill Clinton and his wife, the 67^th U.S. Secretary of State the Honorable Hillary Rodham Clinton. Leaders such as AFRO CEO and publisher, Dr. Frances “Toni” Draper, were also in attendance with AFRO Director of Operations, Andre Draper. 

“It was a once in a lifetime experience,” said Dr. Frances “Toni” Draper. “Every single detail was addressed and no expense was spared but– most importantly– it was an honor to be in the same room as the President of Kenya, President Rudo; his wife, Her Excellency Rachel Ruto; President Joe Biden and the First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden.”

Draper noted that, before May 23, a Kenyan leader hadn’t been honored with a White House state dinner since 2003. In addition, the event was significant because there have been no state dinners in honor of an African country and its leader since 2008, when President George W. Bush hosted Ghanaian President John Kufuor.

“We were honored to be there,” said Draper. “It was good to see the president standing strong. Many people have commented about his age– but he is the president of the country and he and Dr. Jill Biden represented us well.”

Aside from the “exquisite” food, Draper said she also enjoyed performances by country star Brad Paisley and the Howard University Choir. Leaders from various industries and prominent civil rights leaders, such as Rev. Al Sharpton, could be seen enjoying the event’s festivities. 

The state dinner was attended by a large group of dignitaries, diplomats and state and municipal leaders from around the nation. U.S. Senator Cory Booker was present, along with Governor of New Mexico Michelle Lujan Grisham, Governor of Massachusetts Maura Healey, Governor of Maine Janet T. Mills and many others. 

At least six leaders of prominent U.S. cities were also in attendance, including Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens; Mayor Kate Gallego of Phoenix; Mayor Brandon Johnson of Chicago; Mayor of Augusta, Ga, Garnett Johnson; Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson and Mayor of Charlotte, Vi Lyles. 

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By Gerald Imray and Mogomotsi Magome
The Associated Press

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The African National Congress party lost its majority in a historic election result June 1 that puts South Africa on a new political path for the first time since the end of the apartheid system of White minority rule 30 years ago.

With more than 99 percent of votes counted, the once-dominant ANC had received just over 40 percent in the June 29 parliamentary election, well short of the majority it had held since the all-race vote of 1994 that ended apartheid and brought it to power under Nelson Mandela.

The final results are still to be formally declared June 2 by the Independent Electoral Commission, but the ANC cannot pass 50 percent and an era of coalition government — also a first for South Africa — is looming.

The ANC remains the biggest party despite a staggering loss of support since the last election in 2019 as South Africa struggles with deep poverty and inequality. The country has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world and voters also blamed the ANC for shortages of clean water, electricity, housing and other services.

The ANC will now likely need to look for a coalition partner or partners to remain in the government and reelect President Cyril Ramaphosa for a second and final term. Parliament must meet to elect the South African president within 14 days after the election result is declared.

“The way to rescue South Africa is to break the ANC’s majority and we have done that,” said John Steenhuisen, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Alliance party.

Julius Malema, the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters opposition party, said that the ANC’s “entitlement of being the sole dominant party” was over.

The way forward could be complicated for Africa’s most advanced economy, and there’s no coalition on the table yet. The three main opposition parties and many more smaller ones are in the mix as the bargaining begins.

“We can talk to anybody and everybody,” ANC Chairman Gwede Mantashe said on national broadcaster SABC.

Steenhuisen’s Democratic Alliance received around 21 percent of the vote. The new MK Party of former President Jacob Zuma, who has turned against the ANC he once led, was third with just over 14 percent of the vote in the first election it has contested. The Economic Freedom Fighters was fourth with just over 9 percent.

More than 50 parties contested the election, many of them winning tiny shares, but the three main opposition parties appear to be the most obvious for the ANC to approach.

Electoral commission Chairman Mosotho Moepya said it was a time for everyone to keep calm “and for leaders to lead and for voices of reason to continue to prevail.”

“This is a moment we need to manage and manage well,” he said.

Steenhuisen said his party is open to discussions with the ANC, as did Malema. The MK Party said one of their conditions for any agreement was that Ramaphosa be removed as ANC leader and president. That underlined the fierce personal political battle between Zuma, who resigned as South African president under a cloud of corruption allegations in 2018, and Ramaphosa, who replaced him.

“We are willing to negotiate with the ANC, but not the ANC of Cyril Ramaphosa,” MK Party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndlela said.

MK and the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters have called for parts of the economy to be nationalized.

The centrist Democratic Alliance, or DA, is viewed as business-friendly. Analysts say an ANC-DA coalition would be more welcomed by foreign investors.

DA has been the most critical opposition party for years and doesn’t share the ANC’s pro-Russia and pro-China foreign policy. South Africa takes over the presidency of the Group of 20 industrialized and emerging-market nations next year.

An ANC-DA coalition “would be a marriage of two drunk people in Las Vegas. It will never work,” Gayton McKenzie, the leader of the smaller Patriotic Alliance party, told South African media.

DA says an ANC-MK-EFF agreement would be a “doomsday coalition” given MK and EFF are made up of former ANC figures and would pursue the same failed policies.

The three opposition parties had a combined share that was bigger than the ANC, but they are highly unlikely to all work together. The DA was also part of a preelection agreement with other smaller parties to potentially form a coalition.

Amid it all, there was no sense of celebrations from ordinary South Africans, but rather the realization that a rocky political road was ahead. The Daily Maverick newspaper had a South African scratching his head with the words: “What Does It Mean For Our Future?” on its front page. The Die Burger newspaper led with an image of about a dozen political parties’ logos going into a meat grinder.

South African opposition parties were united in one thing — something had to change in the country of 62 million, which is Africa’s most developed but also one of the most unequal in the world.

The official unemployment rate is 32 percent and the poverty disproportionately affects Black people, who make up 80 percent of the population and have been the core of the ANC’s support for years. The violent crime rate is also high.

The ANC has seen a steady decline in its support over the last 20 years, but by around three to five percentage points each election. It dropped 17 percentage points this time from the 57.5 percent it won in 2019.

Nearly 28 million South Africans were registered to vote, and turnout was expected to be around 60 percent, according to the electoral commission.

People lined up on a cold winter night and waited hours after the official poll closing time, with some votes being cast at 3 a.m. the following day. That indicated the desire from many to have their say, but also reflected one of South Africa’s inherent problems — some voting stations had delays because of electricity outages plunging them into the dark.

___

Gerald Imray reported from Cape Town.

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By Robert Weiner and Gene Lambey
Special to the AFRO

The people of Haiti are steeped in strong U.S. and Congressional Black Caucus support but are regularly betrayed by the nation’s own leaders. In late April, Haiti’s transitional council appointed Fritz Belizire, who was former President Rene Preval’s sports minister, as the new prime minister. This by no means solves the crisis of gangs running the country. It’s time to turn the tide.

Corruption in Haiti’s government originated from a small rich segment of the population, who hired gangs and mercenaries against their opposition for years. The crisis continues three years after President Jovenel Moise was assassinated in 2021 at his Port-au-Prince home by foreign mercenaries.

Then-Congressman John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) co-founders, close friends of former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, confronted chaos in Haiti for decades. They were close to Aristisde and had many meetings with him in Haiti and in the U.S. Congress. Conyers proudly displayed a framed photo in his office of a meeting with President Aristide. The current CBC remains distraught about the latest violence and disarray in their close neighbor country.

Former acting President and Prime Minister Ariel Henry traveled to Kenya on Feb.29, seeking foreign assistance for the increasing gang violence. Over 4,000 inmates broke out of two prisons in Port-au-Prince on March 4 during Henry’s absence. The inmates, members of Haiti’s over 200 heavily armed gangs like Viv Ansmn, G9 and others, caused mayhem in the streets, pillaging, raping women, murdering citizens and seizing control of the airport. It only got worse from there. Upon returning to Haiti from Kenya, the former Prime Minister Henry was unable to land in Port-au-Prince. He was exiled out of his country and traveled to Puerto Rico amid chaos.

Henry was told to step down by the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S officials, losing U.S support. He officially stepped down on April 24 as the new interim government was formed along with his successor, Fritz Belizire.

The Washington Post reported gun smuggling to Haiti via Miami’s “break-bulk” ports. The U.N. independent expert on human rights, William O. Neill had said there should be more “vigorous enforcement of the arms embargo by everybody,” including the U.S. It’s a U.S. problem. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) need to do something.

Gang violence has been surging in Haiti since Moise’s 2021 assassination. In a report from the U.N, almost 5,000 Haitians were killed and almost 2,000 were injured by the end of 2023. Three months into 2024, as of March 22, an estimated 1,554 Haitian citizens have been killed and 826 citizens injured. The current Haitian national police force is at 9,000 and their military is at 2,000.

A Sky News interview with the leader of the gangs, Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier on March 29 in Port-au-Prince revealed that he would be open to peace talks without foreign intervention. His gang alliance controls over 80 percent of Port-au-Prince.

Cherizier called for a “ceasefire only if his consortium of armed gangs” were involved in the discussion on the future of Haiti. He would see foreign peacekeeping forces as a threat and would not hesitate to attack. Cherizier’s words of peace should be taken cautiously as he has a history of crimes and rampant killings such as the La Saline massacre in 2018. He was a supporter of the assassinated President Jovenel Moise and the Haitian Tet Kale Party.

Cherizier threatened to incite “civil war” and “genocide” on Port-au-Prince unless Henry stepped down from office, which he did on April 24.

The U.S. secretary of state made a trip to Kingston, Jamaica, on March 11 and announced during the CARICOM meeting that the U.S. would contribute $300 million to a Kenyan-led multinational security mission into Haiti, sending 1,000 soldiers. Blinken added that an additional $33 million would be sent to Haiti for “additional humanitarian assistance.” Blinken proposed a transitional government in Haiti – a step that, apparently being taken – which could only take the country to the next crisis when this one is over if the root causes are not solved.

Several political parties in Haiti are currently fighting over rule since Henry stepped down. Parties like the Haitian Tet Kale Party (PHTK), Democratic Unity Convention, Patriotic Unity, Lavalas Family and Pitit Desalin proposed a transitional council on April 23, which is a nine-member council. Seven of these members have voting power. The members are Smith Agustin, Dr. Louis Gérald Gilles, Fritz Alphonses Jean, Edgard Leblanc Fils, Laurent Saint-Cyr, Emmanuel Vertilaire and Leslie Volitare. The remaining members of the transitional council are Regine Abraham and Frinel Joseph.

Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the close friend to Conyers and Rangel, was the first democratically elected president of Haiti. His terms lasted from February to September 1991, October 1994 to February 1996 and February 2001 to February 2004. The CBC welcomed Aristide with open arms in Washington, D.C., until it was too late to realize who he was—another victim of corruption. He was seen as a threat to the Haitian elitist group due to his popularity with the poor Haitian community as a former pastor, his speeches and his association with Lavalas and the Chimeres gang.

Haiti has demonstrated it can support democracy. After a peaceful exchange of power, President Rene Preval held two successful terms from 1996 to 2001 and 2006 to 2011. Preval was not backed by gangs. He was a leader against all odds, adopting a strategy of tranquility. Aristide’s terms were cut short due to coups in 1991 and 2004. The 1991 coup d’etat was led by ex-Haitian military from the Duvalier eras, resulting in the military disbanding in 1995. The 2004 coup d’etat was led by former rebel leader and former politician Guy Phillipe and former senator of the Pitit Desalin party, Jean-Charles Moise. Aristide was exiled from Haiti in 2004.

During his term in office, Rangel spoke of the coup d’etat back in 2004, saying the U.S. was “just as much a part of this coup d’etat as the rebels, as the looters, or anyone else,” in a statement to ABC. Rangel pushed the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership (HOPE) Program through Congress in 2009 which gave Haiti “significant growth and assistance” with the apparel labor monitoring program along with advocating the Haiti Economic Lift Program bill following the 2010 earthquake.

Just like Rangel, former Congressman Conyers fought for Haiti, continuing to preserve its democracy. During his time in Congress, he pushed a bill in 1992 addressing the Haitian refugees crisis, restoring Haiti’s government, protecting the status of Haitians and calling for the U.S. president to develop facilities for Haitians seeking refuge in the U.S. Conyers was aware of Haiti’s history and believed that Haitians should be able to self-govern their country. In Detroit, he publicly held town halls discussing Haiti’s future.

On March 6 this year, OCHA (the U.N. Office for Humanitarian Affairs) released a report revealing 5.5 million Haitians need humanitarian aid and over 300,000 Haitians are displaced from their homes due to the ongoing violence. Over 50,000 Haitians left, attempting to migrate to South American countries or seeking refuge in the U.S in states like New York and Florida.

Haiti has struggled over two centuries to find stability. Snatching its independence from France in 1804 through Toussaint L’Ouverture and Jean-Jacques Dessalines’ rebellion, Haiti had erratic governance. Haiti shifted from political instability to U.S. appointed leaders, to military rule, to a 30-year dictatorship and now a hanging republic. Problems such as natural disasters, the 2010 earthquake, a high debt from the French, foreign intervention, overwhelming poverty, poor infrastructure, food insecurity and gang affiliations within the political sphere keep Haiti overwhelmed.

White House National Communications Advisor U.S. Admiral John Kirby spoke on Haiti’s situation on March 4: “We urge all actors: Put the people of Haiti first to stop the violence and to make necessary concessions to allow for inclusive governance, free and fair elections, and the restoration of democracy.”

Haiti is a national security issue for the U.S as it is a mere 1,889 miles from its shore. It’s not an option to solve the problem; it’s a mandate for our safety. Haiti’s long history of gang affiliation in government must be resolved. Adopting Preval’s tranquil but firm strategies from his party would alleviate Haiti’s tension. National support has in fact come to Haiti but only at its worst times like the 2010 earthquake.

Now we need humanitarian aid to come first. The UN-backed Kenyan force follows. The people of Haiti are steeped in strong U.S. and CBC support but are regularly betrayed by the nation’s own leaders. It’s time to turn the tide.

Robert Weiner was a spokesman in the Clinton and George W. Bush White Houses. He was communications director of the House Government Operations Committee, and senior aide to Congressional Black Caucus co-founders Congressmen John Conyers and Charles Rangel, as well as Four-Star General/drug czar Barry McCaffrey, Reps. Claude Pepper and Ed Koch, and Sen. Ted Kennedy.

Gene Lambey, is a policy analyst and writer at Robert Weiner Associates and Solution For Change.

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By Ashlee Banks
Special to the AFRO

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives are blasting House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) after he refused to invite Kenyan President William Ruto to address a joint session of Congress last week, instead extending that invitation to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Speaker Johnson has been incredibly disrespectful to the country of Kenya and to the Kenyan president,” said U.S. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.) “This is an ally, a strategic partner on the continent of Africa who has been working in the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo), they’ve also been dealing with the challenges in Somalia, they have been trying to address the issues in Chad and they are on the front lines in Haiti.”

The California lawmaker added, “We have done nothing to support them and then this speaker decided to disinvite this strategic partner from talking before a joint session of Congress.”

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is opposed to Netanyahu’s visit given that he is being accused of committing war crimes amid the Israel-Hamas conflict that has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians – mostly women and children.

“I just don’t think it’s constructive for Netanyahu to be doing a joint address in this moment,” said Ocasio-Cortez.

Conversely, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) is not averse to Netanyahu addressing Congress. Yet, she does believe Johnson needs to be inclusive when extending an invitation to world leaders.

“I believe if we’re having other countries’ leaders come in and address Congress, then why are others rejected, like the president of Kenya,” said Greene. “I don’t understand that. If we’re bringing in other countries’ leaders then we definitely should’ve had the president of Kenya.”

Johnson said last week that he is coordinating with Netanyahu on a date. Once confirmed, he will inform members of Congress. This will be the Israeli prime minister’s fourth time addressing congressional members.

Although President Ruto was unable to address a joint session of Congress last week, he received a warm welcome from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), members of the Congressional Black Caucus, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

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By Ashlee Banks
Special to the AFRO

The Biden-Harris administration says the deadly attack on a Palestinian camp did not cross the line set by President Joe Biden.

On May 28, during a press briefing, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters that “Israel has a right to go after Hamas.”

“We understand that this strike did kill two senior Hamas terrorists who are directly responsible for the attacks against the Israeli people,” said Kirby. “But, as we’ve said many times, Israel must take every precaution possible to do more to protect innocent life.”

Kirby’s comments come after Israel launched a deadly strike on a Palestinian camp in Rafah on May 26, killing more than 45 people.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the attack a “tragic mishap.”

Netanyahu added, “We are investigating the incident and will obtain a conclusion because this is our policy.”

Following the attack, members of Congress and human rights groups blasted Netanyahu and condemned the deadly offensive.

“Netanyahu and his right-wing government must stop the strikes in Rafah immediately,” U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, (D-Calif.) told the AFRO. “I condemn the horrific bombing of a refugee camp and the killing of innocent civilians.”

The California lawmaker added, “1.4 million people in Rafah are refugees and have nowhere else to go.”

Ahmed Benchemsi, advocacy and communications director for the Human Rights Watch, told the AFRO

that the Biden-Harris administration needs to do more to hold Israel accountable.

“Pressure on Israel from the United State does work,” Benchemsi told the AFRO. “Unfortunately, there has been too little and too late of that, but it’s still time to impose other measures and to stop selling weapons to Israel.”

This latest attack comes months after Hamas launched a surprise attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing at least 1,200 people and kidnapping more than 250 others. As a result, Israel has retaliated and launched numerous attacks in Gaza for months, resulting in the deaths of more than 35,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children.

Last week, the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced that it was seeking arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammad Diab Ibrahim al-Masri and Ismail Haniyeh. Karim Khan, the court’s top prosecutor, has accused Israeli and Hamas leaders of committing war crimes since the conflict began last fall.

Khanna said the only way to prevent further bloodshed in Gaza is for members of Congress and the Biden-Harris administration to stop sending “offensive weapons” to Israel “if these attacks continue.”

In recent months, the Biden-Harris administration has sent various military aid packages to support Israel in its fight against Hamas.

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By Josh Boak
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris announced May 24 the formation of a new partnership to help provide internet access to 80 percent of Africa by 2030, up from roughly 40 percent  now.

The announcement comes as follow-through on Harris’ visit to the continent last year and in conjunction with this week’s visit to Washington by Kenyan President William Ruto. Harris and the Kenyan leader had a public chat on May 24 at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce about how public-private partnerships can increase economic growth.

“Many could rightly argue that the future is on the continent of Africa,” said Harris, noting that the median age in Africa is 19, a sign of the potential for economic growth. “It is not about, and simply about aid, but about investment and understanding the capacity that exists.”

Africa has struggled to obtain the capital needed to build up its industrial and technological sectors. The United Nations reported last year that foreign direct investment in the continent fell to $45 billion in 2022, from a record high $80 billion in 2021. Africa accounted for only 3.5 percent of foreign direct investment worldwide, even though it makes up roughly 18 percent of the global population.

Besides launching the nonprofit Partnership for Digital Access in Africa, Harris announced an initiative geared toward giving 100 million African people and businesses in the agricultural sector access to the digital economy.

The African Development Bank Group along with Mastercard, among other organizations, will help form the Mobilizing Access to the Digital Economy Alliance, or MADE. The alliance will start a pilot program to give digital access to 3 million farmers in Kenya, Tanzania and Nigeria, before expanding elsewhere.

Harris, a Democrat and the first female U.S. vice president, also announced that the Women in the Digital Economy efforts to address the gender divide in technology access have now generated more than $1 billion in public and private commitments, with some federal commitments pending congressional approval.

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By Ashlee Banks
Special to the AFRO 

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., slammed the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) efforts to obtain an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.  

“Who really cares about the ICC,” Greene told the AFRO.

 “The United States of America isn’t interested in international law or international courts,” she added. “I’m not interested in the ICC telling the United States of America or telling any country what they can or cannot do.”

Her remarks come after the ICC announced this week that it was seeking an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and alleged that the prime minister committed grave crimes amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.  

Karim Khan, the ICC’s top prosecutor, stated that the court is looking to obtain arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammad Diab Ibrahim al-Masri and Ismail Haniyeh.

Khan said in a statement that the ICC has “reasonable grounds to believe” that Netanyahu and Gallant “bear criminal responsibility” for numerous war crimes such as intentionally starving civilians and purposely “directing attacks” against civilians in Gaza.

The court also believes that Hamas leaders have engaged in war crimes by taking hostages and engaging in rape and other types of sexual violence against Israelis.

The ICC’s announcement comes months after Hamas launched an attack against Israel on Oct.7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping more than 250 others. Since then, Israel has launched countless attacks in Gaza, which has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians – mostly women and children – displaced millions and left others on the verge of starvation.

“The ICC’s responsibility is to get down to whether in fact there have been war crimes committed,” U.S. Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., told the AFRO.  

“I am one who tries not to get in the midst of judicial proceedings. I mean we’ve had difficulty with our courts here in the U.S. as well,” said Clarke. “But, whatever will help us to make sure that we preserve the dignity of humanity and we stop the killing, I’m all for it.”

A three-judge panel will now decide whether to issue arrest warrants for the Israeli and Hamas leaders, a decision that could take roughly two months.

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Special to the AFRO
By Ericka Alston Buck

In a tragic incident on May 19, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and several high-ranking officials, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, perished in a helicopter crash in the foggy, mountainous region of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province. The crash has sent shockwaves throughout Iran and the international community, intensifying the already complex geopolitical landscape of the Middle East.

The incident

State media reports that the helicopter carrying Raisi and his entourage went down in a remote area, prompting a strenuous rescue operation that ultimately confirmed the worst. Among those on board were the governor of East Azerbaijan and several bodyguards. The cause of the crash remains under investigation, with initial reports suggesting challenging weather conditions as a potential factor.

Ebrahim Raisi: A controversial figure

Ebrahim Raisi, 63, had a significant and contentious impact on Iran’s domestic and foreign policies. Seen as a protégé of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Raisi’s presidency was marked by hard-line stances and aggressive regional maneuvers. His tenure included escalations in uranium enrichment, bringing Iran closer to developing nuclear weapons capability, and extensive support for militia groups across the Middle East.

Raisi’s foreign policy was assertive and often confrontational. Just last month, under his leadership, Iran launched an unprecedented drone-and-missile attack on Israel amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. Raisi’s administration also supplied bomb-carrying drones to Russia for use in the Ukraine conflict, further straining relations with Western nations.

Domestically, Raisi’s rule faced significant challenges. Iran has been gripped by widespread protests, particularly over economic hardships and women’s rights. The 2022 death of Mahsa Amini while in police custody sparked a nationwide movement demanding greater freedoms and governmental accountability, leading to a brutal crackdown by authorities.

 Reactions from around the world

The international response to Raisi’s death has been mixed. Russia, Iraq, and Qatar have issued formal statements of concern, highlighting Raisi’s role in shaping current Middle Eastern dynamics. Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed condolences, emphasizing the strategic partnership between Tehran and Moscow, particularly in military collaborations.

In contrast, some Western nations have reacted with cautious optimism, viewing Raisi’s departure as a potential opening for diplomatic negotiations on nuclear and regional security issues. However, the immediate impact on Iran’s policies remains uncertain, with First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber stepping in as interim leader until new elections are held.

Looking ahead

Supreme Leader Khamenei has called for national unity and prayers, urging the government to continue its work unabated. Under Iran’s constitution, a presidential election must be held within 50 days to elect Raisi’s successor. The potential candidates and their stances will likely shape the future course of Iran’s domestic and international policies.

Raisi’s death has also reignited discussions about the succession of the Supreme Leader, with speculations around Mojtaba Khamenei, the leader’s son, potentially taking on a more prominent role. This possibility raises concerns about the further entrenchment of a dynastic element within the Iranian theocracy, reminiscent of the monarchy overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The sudden loss of President Ebrahim Raisi marks a significant moment in Iran’s contemporary history. As the nation mourns, the international community watches closely, anticipating how this tragedy will reshape the geopolitical and internal dynamics of a country at the crossroads of numerous critical issues. The upcoming months will be crucial in determining whether Iran will see a continuation of Raisi’s hard-line policies or a shift towards a different political direction.

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By Chinedu Asadu and Dan Ikpoyi
The Associated Press

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria’s fashion and traditional dances were on full display on May 12 as Prince Harry and Meghan arrived in its largest city, Lagos, as part of their three-day visit to the country to promote mental health for soldiers and empower young people.

The couple, invited to the West African nation by its military, were treated to different bouts of dancing, starting from the Lagos airport where a troupe’s acrobatic moves left both applauding and grinning. One of the dancers, who looked younger than 5 years old, exchanged salutes with Harry from high up in the air, standing on firm shoulders.

Going with Meghan’s white top was the traditional Nigerian aso oke, a patterned handwoven fabric wrapped around the waist and often reserved for special occasions. It was a gift from a group of women a day earlier.

The couple visited a local charity – Giants of Africa — which uses basketball to empower young people. There, they were treated to another round of dancing before unveiling a partnership between the organization and their Archewell Foundation.

“What you guys are doing here at Giants of Africa is truly amazing,” Harry said of the group. “The power of sport can change lives. It brings people together and creates community and there are no barriers, which is the most important thing.”

Masai Ujiri, the charity’s president and an ex-NBA star, wished Meghan a happy Mother’s Day and acknowledged how hard it can be “for us to be away from our kids and family to make things like this happen.”

“To do so shows dedication (and) we truly appreciate it,” he told the couple.

Meghan and Harry later attended a fundraiser for Nigeria’s soldiers wounded in the country’s fight against Islamic extremists and other armed groups in the country’s conflict-battered north. The event was related to Harry’s Invictus Games, which Nigeria is seeking to host in the future.

The couple were also hosted at the Lagos State Government House, where Meghan received another handwoven Nigerian fabric.

“We’ve extended an additional invitation to them that they can always come back when they want to,” Lagos Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu told reporters.

—-

Asadu reported from Abuja, Nigeria.

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By Ashlee Banks
Special to the AFRO 

Congressional Black Caucus members are putting pressure on the Biden-Harris administration to grant protections to Haitians fleeing to the U.S. amid the unrest in the Caribbean nation. 

U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., told the AFRO the administration needs to stop deporting Haitians who are seeking refuge in the U.S.

“To deport anyone to Haiti right now is nothing short of a death sentence. The headlines may have faded, but this humanitarian crisis continues to worsen with every day,” said Pressley. “We’re not waning in our advocacy and in this fight –we’re going to keep fighting and holding everyone accountable to keep their word on behalf of the people of Haiti.” 

U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., also weighed in. 

“To deport people back to Haiti is a cause and kiss of death,” she said in a statement. “There is nothing in Haiti but suffering, so we have to say to the president of the United States, ‘stop the deportation.’”

U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus McCormick, D-Fla. said in a statement obtained by the AFRO that “in the face of the crisis in Haiti, our moral compass and international duty compel us to step forward, not just to alleviate the immediate suffering of the Haitian people, but to address the systemic problems forcing Haitians to flee their homeland.”

In recent months, Haiti has seen an uptick in violence due to armed gangs targeting the nation’s police stations, airports and the country’s largest port, which has resulted in food insecurity. 

Members have stressed that many Haitians are on the verge of starvation and it is essential that the Biden-Harris administration intervene. 

The violence in the Caribbean nation comes as gang members have grown frustrated with the postponement of presidential elections following the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. After Moïse’s death, Ariel Henry, who recently stepped down as Haiti’s prime minister, came into power and held the position for three years. Gang members believed Henry was abusing his authority and demanded he step down. 

Last month, Henry resigned and Haiti’s transitional council named Fritz Bélizaire as the country’s new prime minister in hopes of quelling the violence in the nation.

U.S. Representative Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., told the AFRO “Haiti deserves a democratic transition led by its own civil society. This right to self-government is inherent to every nation. It means that the Haitian people— not external forces—should decide the concepts of consent and sovereignty that guide their future.”

Clarke added,“The United States can help repay a debt to Haiti by fostering a democratic transition that allows its people to freely determine their path.”

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By DaQuan Lawrence
AFRO International Writer 
DLawrence@afro.com 

Members of international society recently convened in Geneva, Switzerland, during the third official meeting of the United Nations (UN) Permanent Forum on People of African Descent. 

Held April 16-19 in the Palais des Nations of the United Nations Office in Geneva, the session was convened by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). 

Under the theme, “The Second International Decade for People of African Descent: Addressing Systemic Racism, Reparatory Justice, and Sustainable Development,” more than 1,000 representatives of civil society from more than 85 countries took part in a week of meetings to develop international policy recommendations for the UN. 

“The third session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent brings together the United Nations, governments, civil society, human rights defenders and more a critical moment for equality and racial justice,” said UN Secretary General António Guterres in a recorded statement during the opening of the session. 

“We celebrate the invaluable achievements and contributions of people of African descent across the range of human endeavor, from political and civil rights struggles around the world, to science, technology, industry, literature, music and all the arts and more,” Guterres said. 

The PFPAD consists of 10 members from around the world who are mandated to contribute to the political, economic and social inclusion of people of African descent in the societies in which they live as equal citizens without any kind of discrimination. 

“When I was vice-president (of Costa Rica), my government worked a lot to achieve the resolution to approve the Permanent Forum,” member Epsy Campbell Barr told The AFRO. 

Campbell Barr served as the inaugural chair of the PFPAD and presided over the first two sessions before her successor, June Soomer of Saint Lucia became chair during the most recent session.

“Now in this third session we have a lot of participation from members of civil society and international governments. More importantly, we have many young people that are participating in this discussion,” Campbell Barr said. 

Like previous sessions of the PFPAD, where civil society delegates called for remedies to the TransAtlantic slave trade, colonialism and racism as well as spiritual reparations, the third session continued to highlight the necessity for global recourse for the aforementioned crimes against humanity. 

Sharif Shafi, of the DMV Freedom Fighters, traveled to Switzerland after attending the second session of the PFPAD at the UN headquarters in New York City. 

“This forum is important for people of African descent to never let atrocities happen again, and we must work together so that we are on one accord,” Shafi said. “We must spend our money on one accord, and we must direct our energy on one accord no matter what language we speak.”  

During the session, members of the Forum, civil society delegates and member states discussed mechanisms that could be utilized within international law and public policy to ensure that national governments and businesses respect, protect and uphold the human rights of people of African descent. 

At the conclusion of the session Special Rapporteur for the PFPAD, Michael McEachrane, announced the forum’s preliminary recommendations for the UN and member states, which include:

• Eliminating the veto power of permanent members of the UN Security Council and adding an African permanent member to the body;
• Ensuring a comprehensive program of reparatory justice to eliminate the vestiges of enslavement and colonialism;
• Promoting global reforms to address anti-Black racism in debt, education, banking, transportation, and migration;
• Establishing an international tribunal to adjudicate reparations claims and quantify remedies.

Included in the preliminary recommendations, were also policy suggestions such as:

• Prioritizing reparatory justice and restitution for Haiti;
• Ensuring equal access to quality education and decolonizing curricula;
• Upholding the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action’s acknowledgment of enslavement as a crime against humanity;
• Recognizing the right of return and diasporic citizenship for Afro-descendants; and
• Removing and replacing monuments to enslavement and other atrocities.

As members of the forum and the attending delegates focused on the UN establishing a second decade for people of African descent, the top UN official noted the need for comprehensive solutions to issues that stem from centuries of injustices. 

“Racial discrimination and inequality continue based on centuries of enslavement and colonialism. By establishing this Permanent Forum, the international community demonstrated its commitment to addressing these injustices,” Guterres said. 

“Now we must build on that momentum to drive meaningful change, by ensuring that people of African descent enjoy the full and equal realization of their human rights.”

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By Evelyne Musambi
The Associated Press

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenyan President William Ruto has postponed next week’s planned reopening of schools until further notice, as heavy rains and floods that have killed more than 200 people continue.

The president in his state of the nation address on May 3 said that “meteorological reports paint a dire picture,” citing the possibility of Cyclone Hidaya hitting coastal Kenya in coming days.

Kenya and other parts of East Africa have been overwhelmed by flooding, with more than 150,000 displaced people living in camps across the country.

Schools originally were to reopen this week, but the education ministry postponed that by a week. Students will now wait for the announcement of new reopening dates as some schools remain flooded and others have been damaged. Some displaced people have been living in schools while the government prepares to relocate them to camps.

The government has ordered people living near 178 dams and reservoirs that are either full or nearly full to evacuate or be forcefully moved.

Water levels at two major hydroelectric dams have reached historic highs and the government has warned those living downstream along the Tana River.

Last week, a boat capsized on the river, which flows to the Indian Ocean, leaving seven people dead and 13 others missing. A passenger bus was also swept off a bridge along the same river last month.

The government has been accused of an inadequate response to the floods.

The flooding has left more than 155 people dead in neighboring Tanzania, where Cyclone Hidaya is expected to hit coastal areas. Hundreds of people have been affected in Burundi, Ethiopia and Somalia as well.

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By DaQuan Lawrence
AFRO International Writer
DLawrence@afro.com

With the beginning of May 2024, the current iteration of the longstanding conflict among Israelis and Palestinians enters its seventh month. As the Israel-Hamas conflict continues, protests in support of Palestine have emerged throughout the world– especially in the United States.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrations have taken place in cities such as Washington, D.C., New York City, Baltimore and Los Angeles. Colleges and universities based in the nation’s capital have been interrupted with demonstrations, including at American University, Gallaudet University, Georgetown University, George Washington University and Howard University. In New York City, locations such as The New School, Columbia University, New York University, the Fashion Institute of Technology and City College of New York have all been home to protests since the start of the conflict. 

In Baltimore, student protests have occurred at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) and at Johns Hopkins University, while demonstrations have also occurred across the state of California at college campuses such as the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles and Occidental College.

USC recently announced the suspension of facets of its graduation ceremony due to protests and backlash received from stakeholders and various university constituents.

Alana DeBlanc, a freshman business major at Howard University who is originally from Houston, attended student protests at George Washington University.

“As a fellow human being, I stood in solidarity with the students of GWU,” she said. “The resilience displayed by these students and by students across universities in America has been and continues to be truly remarkable and inspiring,” DeBlanc said. 

In New York City, approximately 300 students were arrested during recent pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University. The fall out of the protests led to more demonstrations as acts of civil resistance on 112th Street and Broadway in New York City, as reported by Columbia University journalism and graduate student Jason Ponterotto.

At some of the protests, there have been reports of violence, however members of the international community and citizens who support the demonstrations have claimed that protestors have remained peaceful. Pro-Palestinian protesters allege that it is law enforcement that has demonstrated a draconian response. 

“I feel like the protests around the country have been an accurate depiction of students’ attitudes across the country regarding what’s going on in Palestine what has been going on Palestine for the past couple of years,” Fatou Jammeh, a junior economics major and political science minor at Howard University said.

“In regards to students being arrested for supporting anti-war efforts – unfortunately, that’s disappointing, but not surprising as students have been getting arrested for speaking out for years during crucial times in America’s history,” said Jammeh, who is originally from Newburgh, New York.

While many students are in support, some experts say they are misguided, and should study the decades- long conflict that has been prone to bloodshed over the years. Still, as students have varying perspectives, it is clear that many students believe the protests have valid causes and should be permitted without students being arrested or charged with crimes simply for supporting human rights causes.

“It’s inspiring to witness students taking a principled stand in solidarity with Palestine, and highlighting their heightened awareness and empathy for global struggles,” Debbie Pace, a sophomore media television and film major at Howard University told the AFRO.

“Their advocacy signifies a growing trend among young people to engage with complex geopolitical issues and lend their voices to marginalized communities. The disproportionate response by law enforcement, resulting in arrests and suppression raises troubling questions about the state of civil liberties and democratic freedoms,” Pace, a native of Maryland, shared. 

Pace believes that protesters can channel their passion into peaceful activism and meaningful dialogue. She shared that she hopes that student demonstrators can amplify their message and foster genuine understanding and justice for Palestine.

“While I commend their commitment to advocating for justice, it’s crucial for these efforts to remain nonviolent and constructive. Resorting to disruptive tactics like occupying buildings or making threats undermines the integrity of their cause and risks alienating potential allies,” Pace said.  

DeBlanc emphasized that student protestors have a right to advocate for human rights both within the U.S. and abroad, and that Palestinians are not alone in their pursuit of social, political and economic justice. 

“Our demand for universities to divest from Israeli companies and safeguard our student bodies stems from a pursuit of basic rights that should be guaranteed. Regardless of what happens, we will continue to persevere until we have liberated Palestine,” DeBlanc said. “This is not only their fight, this is our fight and I believe that we will win.”

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By Peter Smith
The Associated Press

The United Methodist Church lost one-fourth of its U.S. churches in a recent schism, with conservatives departing over disputes on sexuality and theology. 

Now, with the approach of its first major legislative gathering in several years, the question is whether the church can avert a similar outcome elsewhere in the world, where about half its members live.

The question is particularly acute in Africa, home to the vast majority of United Methodists outside the U.S. Most of its bishops favor staying, but other voices are calling for regional conferences to disaffiliate.

At the upcoming General Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina, delegates will tackle a wide range of proposals – from repealing the church’s ban on same-sex marriage and ordaining LGBTQ people, to creating more autonomy for regional conferences to set such rules, to making it easier for international churches to leave the denomination.

Delegate Jerry Kulah of Liberia said he believes it’s time for African churches to leave.

He said that when he first attended a General Conference in 2008, he was shocked by proposals to liberalize church rules. Since then, he helped mobilize African delegates to vote with American conservatives to create ever-stricter denominational rules against same-sex marriage and ordaining LGBTQ people.

But progressive American churches have increasingly been defying such rules and now appear to have the votes to overturn them.

“We know that we are not going to the General Conference to necessarily win votes,” said Kulah, general coordinator of the advocacy group UMC Africa Initiative. “So our goal is to go and articulate our position and let the world know why it has become very necessary to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church, because we cannot afford to preach different gospels.”

But Jefferson Knight, also a delegate from Liberia, opposes disaffiliation. He said a schism would amount to forsaking the rich spiritual legacy of the UMC in Africa and would severe its valuable international bonds.

“Liberia was the birthplace of the United Methodist Church on the continent of Africa in the 1800s,” said Knight, of the advocacy group United Methodist Africa Forum. The church has developed leaders in education, health care and evangelism across the continent, said Knight, who also works as a human rights monitor for the church.

Knight said schism isn’t necessary.

He shares the widespread opposition in Africa to liberalizing policies on marriage or ordination, but he favors a proposal that would allow each region of the church – from America to Africa to Europe to the Philippines – to fit rules to its local context.

“The best way out is to regionalize and see how we can do ministry peacefully and do ministry within our context, our culture,” Knight said. 

The United Methodist Church traces its roots to 18th century revivalist John Wesley and has long emphasized Christian piety, evangelism and social service. It has historically been present in almost every U.S. county.

But it’s also the most international of the major U.S. Protestant denominations.

Generations of missionary efforts brought Methodism across the world. Local churches took root and grew dramatically, particularly in Africa. 

Today, members from four continents vote at legislative gatherings, serve on boards together, go on mission trips to each others’ countries and are largely governed by the same rules. U.S. churches help fund international ministries, such as Africa University in Zimbabwe.

More than 7,600 U.S. congregations departed during a temporary window between 2019 and 2023 that enabled congregations to keep their properties – held in trust for the denomination – under relatively favorable legal terms, according to a UM News count.

That provision applied only to American churches. Some say the General Conference – running April 23 through May 3 – should approve one for other countries.

“Our main goal is to ensure that African and other United Methodist outside the U.S. have the same opportunity that United Methodists in the U.S. have had,” said the Rev. Thomas Lambrecht, vice president of the conservative advocacy group Good News.

Opponents say overseas churches already can disaffiliate under church rules – and some conferences in Eastern Europe have taken such steps. But proponents say the process is too cumbersome.

Further complicating the matter is that churches operate in a range of legal settings. Some African countries criminalize same-sex activity, while in the U.S., same-sex marriage is legal. 

Most departing American congregations were conservative churches upset with the denomination’s failure to enforce its bans on same-sex unions and the ordination of LGBTQ people. Some joined denominations such as the new Global Methodist Church, while others went independent.

The departures accelerated membership losses in what until recently had been the third-largest American denomination. The United Methodist Church recorded 5.4 million U.S. members in 2022, a figure sure to plummet once disaffiliations from 2023 are factored in.

A detailed study by the UMC’s General Council on Finance and Administration indicated there are 4.6 million members in other countries – fewer than earlier estimates, but still approaching U.S. numbers.

The United Methodist Church has been debating homosexuality since the early 1970s, steadily tightening its LGBTQ bans through its last legislative gathering in 2019.

That year, “the traditionalists won the vote but they lost the church” said the Rev. Mark Holland, executive director of Mainstream UMC, which advocates for lifting the church-wide bans and for a “regionalization” proposal allowing each region to decide on such rules.

He noted that numerous regional church conferences in the United States reacted to the 2019 vote by electing more progressive delegates to the upcoming General Conference. 

Progressives believe they have adequate votes to repeal language in the governing Book of Discipline barring ordination of “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” and penalizing pastors who perform same-sex marriages.

Less certain is the fate of regionalization, which would increase regional autonomy. 

Regionalization involves constitutional amendments requiring a two-thirds General Conference majority and approval by two-thirds of local conferences worldwide.

Proponents say regionalization would also bring parity to different regions, saying the current system is a U.S.-centric relic of an earlier missionary era. The regionalization scenario could also allow churches in some regions to maintain LGBTQ bans while others remove them. 

Church regions outside the United States already have some leeway in adapting rules to their settings, but regionalization would define that flexibility more precisely and extend it to U.S. churches.

The UMC-affiliated church in the Philippines – the only one in Asia, with about 280,000 members – would maintain its opposition to same-sex marriage, which is not legally recognized there, a church official said. It will also not allow openly LGBTQ people to be ordained.

Most African bishops oppose disaffiliation, even as they oppose LGBTQ ordination and marriage.

“Notwithstanding the differences in our UMC regarding the issue of human sexuality especially with our stance of traditional and biblical view of marriage, we categorically state that we do not plan to leave The United Methodist Church and will continue to be shepherds of God’s flock in this worldwide denomination,” said a statement signed by 11 African bishops at a meeting in September.

Among those withholding signatures was Nigeria Area Bishop John Wesley Yohanna.

Nigerian Methodists in December celebrated 100 years of the denomination in their country, but its future remains uncertain. Deeply conservative views on sexuality are widespread in Nigeria. A spokesman said the bishop’s position on disaffiliation would be determined by what happens at the General Conference.

Same-sex marriage “is unbiblical and also is incompatible with Christian teaching according to our Book of Discipline,” Yohanna said at a January news conference, in which he also said “no to regionalization.”

___

AP reporters Chinedu Asadu in Lagos, Nigeria, and Jim Gomez in Manila contributed to this article.

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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By Mogomotsi Magome, The Associated Press

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — As 72-year-old Nonki Kunene walks through the corridors of Thabisang Primary School in Soweto, South Africa, she recalls the joy she and many others felt 30 years ago when they voted for the first time.

It was at this school on April 27, 1994, that Kunene joined millions of South Africans to brave long queues and take part in the country’s first democratic elections after decades of White minority rule which denied Black people the right to vote.

The country is gearing up for celebrations April 27 to mark 30 years of freedom and democracy. But much of the enthusiasm and optimism of that period has subsided as Africa’s most developed economy faces a myriad of challenges.

Like many things in South Africa, the school that Kunene remembers has changed, and what used to be a school hall has now been turned into several classrooms.

“I somehow wish we could go back to that day, because of how excited I was and the things that happened thereafter,” said Kunene, referring to Nelson Mandela becoming the country’s first Black president and the introduction of a new constitution that afforded all South Africans equal rights, abolishing the racially discriminative system of apartheid.

For many who experienced apartheid, those years remain etched in their collective memory.

“I cannot forget how we suffered at the hands of Whites. In the city at night, there were White bikers with hair like this (describing a mohawk-like hairstyle) who would brutally assault a Black person if they saw them walking on a pavement. Those White boys were cruel,” said 87-year-old Lily Makhanya, whose late husband died while working in the anti-apartheid movement’s underground structures.

“If they saw you walking on the pavement, you would be assaulted so badly and left for dead.”

For Makhanya and many others who stood in those queues to vote in 1994, it represented a turning point from a brutal past to the promise of a prosperous future.

But 30 years later, much of that optimism has evaporated amid the country’s pressing challenges. They include widening inequality as the country’s Black majority continues to live in poverty with an unemployment rate of more than 32 percent, the highest in the world.

According to official statistics, more than 16 million South Africans rely on monthly welfare grants for survival.

Public demonstrations have become common as communities protest against the ruling African National Congress’ failure to deliver job opportunities and basic services like water and electricity.

An electricity crisis that has resulted in power blackouts that are devastating the country’s economy added to the party’s woes as businesses and homes are sometimes forced to go without electricity for up to 12 hours a day.

Areas like the affluent Johannesburg suburb of Sandton, which hosts beautiful skyscrapers and luxurious homes, are an example of the economic success enjoyed by a minority of the country’s 60 million people.

But the township of Alexandra, which lies a few kilometers (miles) from Sandton, is a stark reflection of the living conditions of the country’s poor Black majority, where sewage from burst pipes flows on the streets and uncollected rubbish piles up on pavements.

Such contradictions are common across the major cities, including the capital Pretoria and the city of Cape Town, and they remain at the center of what is expected to be one of the country’s most fiercely contested elections in May.

For the first time since the ANC came to power in 1994, polls are indicating that the party might receive less than 50 percent of the national vote, which would see it lose power unless it manages to form a coalition with some smaller parties.

For some younger voters like 24-year-old Donald Mkhwanazi, the nostalgia does not resonate.

Mkhwanazi will be voting for the first time in the May 29 election and is now actively involved in campaigning for a new political party, Rise Mzansi, which will be contesting a national election for the first time.

“I had an opportunity to vote in 2019, and in local elections in 2021, but I did not because I was not persuaded enough by any of these old parties about why I should vote,” he said.

“I didn’t see the need to vote because of what has been happening over the past 30 years. We talk about freedom, but are we free from crime, are we free from poverty? What freedom is this that we are talking about?”

Political analyst Pearl Mncube said South Africans are justified in feeling failed by their leaders.

“More and more South Africans have grown skeptical of pronouncements from government due to its history of continuously announcing grand plans without prioritizing the swift execution of said plans,” Mncube said.

She said while Freedom Day is meant to signify the country’s transition from an oppressive past, it was important to highlight current problems and plans to overcome them.

“We cannot use the past, and any nostalgia attached to it, to avoid accounting for the present,” she said.

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By Evelyne Musambi,
The Associated Press

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Flooding and heavy rains in Kenya have killed at least 70 people since mid-March, a government spokesperson said April 26, twice as many as were reported earlier this week.

The East African country has seen weeks of heavy rains and severe flooding in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, as well as in the country’s western and central regions.

Kenya’s government spokesperson Isaac Mwaura on April 26 refuted claims that hundreds of people have died in the ongoing flooding and said the official tally now stands at 70.

Five bodies were retrieved April 26 from a river in Makueni county, east of the country, after a lorry they were traveling in was swept off a submerged bridge, local station Citizen TV reported. Another 11 were rescued.

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua said April 26 at a news briefing that the government had set aside 4 billion Kenya shillings ($29 million) for emergency relief efforts, but did not provide further details.

More than 130,000 people are currently affected with thousands of houses washed away and others flooded. Some 64 public schools in the capital were flooded and had to shut down. Roads and bridges have been damaged or destroyed.

The Kenya Meteorological Department on April 26 issued a heavy rainfall advisory for the weekend and urged residents to be vigilant.

Other East African countries have reported flooding with 155 people reported to have died in neighboring Tanzania and more than 200,000 people affected in Burundi.

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By Chineu Asadu and John Minchillo,
The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A Nigerian chess champion and child education advocate played chess nonstop for 60 hours in New York City’s Times Square to break the Guinness World Record for the longest chess marathon.

Tunde Onakoya, 29, hopes to raise $1 million for children’s education across Africa through the record attempt that began on April 17.

He had set out to play the royal game for 58 hours but continued until he reached 60 hours at about 12:40 a.m. April 20, surpassing the current chess marathon record of 56 hours, 9 minutes and 37 seconds, achieved in 2018 by Norwegians Hallvard Haug Flatebø and Sjur Ferkingstad.

The Guinness World Record organization has yet to publicly comment about Onakoya’s attempt. It sometimes takes weeks for the organization to confirm any new record.

Onakoya played against Shawn Martinez, an American chess champion, in line with Guinness World Record guidelines that any attempt to break the record must be made by two players who would play continuously for the entire duration.

Support had been growing online and at the scene, where a blend of African music kept onlookers and supporters entertained amid cheers and applause. Among the dozens who cheered Onakoya on at the scene was Nigerian music star Davido.

The record attempt is “for the dreams of millions of children across Africa without access to education,” said Onakoya, who founded Chess in Slums Africa in 2018. The organization wants to support the education of at least 1 million children in slums across the continent.

“My energy is at 100 percent right now because my people are here supporting me with music,” Onakoya said later April 18 after the players crossed the 24-hour mark.

On Onakoya’s menu: Lots of water and jollof rice, one of West Africa’s best-known dishes.

For every hour of game played, Onakoya and his opponent got only five minutes’ break. The breaks were sometimes grouped together, and Onakoya used them to catch up with Nigerians and New Yorkers cheering him on. He even joined in with their dancing sometimes.

A total of $22,000 was raised within the first 20 hours of the attempt, said Taiwo Adeyemi, Onakoya’s manager.

“The support has been overwhelming from Nigerians in the U.S., global leaders, celebrities and hundreds of passersby,” he said.

Onakoya’s attempt was closely followed in Nigeria, where he regularly organizes chess competitions for young people living on the streets.

More than 10 million school-age children are not in school in the West African country — one of the world’s highest rates.

Among those who have publicly supported him are celebrities and public office holders, including Nigeria’s former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who wrote to Onakoya on the social media platform X, “Remember your own powerful words: ‘It is possible to do great things from a small place.'”

This version corrects that Osinbajo is Nigeria’s former vice president, not current vice president.

Asadu reported from Abuja, Nigeria.

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By Samy Magdy,
The Associated Press

CAIRO (AP) — On a clear night a year ago, a dozen heavily armed fighters broke into Omaima Farouq’s house in an upscale neighborhood in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum. At gunpoint, they whipped and slapped the woman, and terrorized her children. Then they expelled them from the fenced two-story house.

“Since then, our life has been ruined,” said the 45-year-old schoolteacher. “Everything has changed in this year.”

Farouq, who is a widow, and her four children now live in a small village outside the central city of Wad Madani, 136 kilometers (85 miles) southeast of Khartoum. They depend on aid from villagers and philanthropists since international aid groups can’t reach the village.

Sudan has been torn by war for a year now, ever since simmering tensions between its military and the notorious paramilitary Rapid Support Forces exploded into street clashes in the capital Khartoum in mid-April 2023. The fighting rapidly spread across the country.

The conflict has been overshadowed by the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza Strip, which since October has caused a massive humanitarian crisis for Palestinians and a threat of famine in the territory.

But relief workers warn Sudan is hurtling towards an even larger-scale calamity of starvation, with potential mass death in coming months. Food production and distribution networks have broken down and aid agencies are unable to reach the worst-stricken regions. At the same time, the conflict has brought widespread reports of atrocities including killings, displacement and rape, particularly in the area of the capital and the western region of Darfur.

Justin Brady, head of the U.N. humanitarian coordination office for Sudan, warned that potentially tens or even hundreds of thousands could die in coming months from malnutrition-related causes.

“This is going to get very ugly very quickly unless we can overcome both the resource challenges and the access challenges,” Brady said. The world, he said, needs to take fast action to pressure the two sides for a stop in fighting and raise funds for the U.N. humanitarian effort.

But the international community has paid little attention. The U.N. humanitarian campaign needs some $2.7 billion this year to get food, heath care and other supplies to 24 million people in Sudan – nearly half its population of 51 million. So far, funders have given only $145 million, about 5 percent, according to the humanitarian office, known as OCHA.

The “level of international neglect is shocking,” Christos Christou, president of the medical charity Doctors Without Borders, or MSF, said in a recent statement.

The situation with fighting on the ground has been deteriorating. The military, headed by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the RSF, commanded by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, have carved up Khartoum and trade indiscriminate fire at each other. RSF forces have overrun much of Darfur, while Burhan has moved the government and his headquarters to the Red Sea city of Port Sudan.

The Sudanese Unit for Combating Violence Against Women, a government organization, documented at least 159 cases of rape and gang rape the past year, almost all in Khartoum and Darfur. The organization’s head, Sulima Ishaq Sharif, said this figure represents the tip of the iceberg since many victims don’t speak out for fear of reprisal or the stigma connected to rape.

In 2021, Burhan and Dagalo were uneasy allies who led a military coup. They toppled an internationally recognized civilian government that was supposed to steer Sudan’s democratic transition after the 2019 military overthrow of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir amid a popular uprising. Burhan and Dagalo subsequently fell out in a struggle for power.

The situation has been horrific in Darfur, where the RSF and its allies are accused of rampant sexual violence and ethnic attacks on African tribes’ areas. The International Criminal Court said it was investigating fresh allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the region, which was the scene of genocidal war in the 2000s.

A series of attacks by the RSF and allied militias on the ethnic African Masalit tribe killed between 10,000 and 15,000 people in Geneina, the capital of West Darfur near the Chad border, according to a report by United Nations experts to the Security Council earlier this year. It said Darfur is experiencing “its worst violence since 2005.”

With aid groups unable to reach Darfur’s camps for displaced people, eight out of every 10 families in the camps eat only one meal a day, said Adam Rijal, the spokesman for the Coordination for Displaced Persons and Refugees in Darfur.

In Kelma camp in South Darfur province, he said an average of nearly three children die every 12 hours, most due to diseases related to malnutrition. He said the medical center in the camp receives between 14 and 18 cases of malnutrition every day, mostly children and pregnant women.

Not including the Geneina killings, the war has killed at least 14,600 people across Sudan and created the world’s largest displacement crisis, according to the United Nations. More than 8 million people have been driven from their homes, fleeing either to safer areas inside Sudan or to neighboring countries.

Many flee repeatedly as the war expands.

When fighting reached his street in Khartoum, Taj el-Ser and his wife and four children headed west to his relatives in Darfur in the town of Ardamata.

Then the RSF and its allies overran Ardamata in November, rampaging through the town for six days. El-Ser said they killed many Masalit and relatives of army soldiers.

“Some were shot dead or burned inside their homes,” he said by phone from another town in Darfur. “I and my family survived only because I am Arab.”

Both sides, the military and RSF, have committed serious violations of international law, killing civilians and destroying vital infrastructure, said Mohamed Osman, Sudan researcher at Human Rights Watch.

Food production has crashed, imports stalled, movement of food around the country is hampered by fighting, and staple food prices have soared by 45 percent in less than a year, OCHA says. The war wrecked the country’s healthcare system, leaving only 20 to 30 percent of the health facilities functional across the country, according to MSF.

At least 37 percent of the population is at crisis level or above in hunger, according OCHA. Save the Children warned that about 230,000 children, pregnant women and newborn mothers could die of malnutrition in the coming months.

“We are seeing massive hunger, suffering and death. And yet the world looks away,” said Arif Noor, Save the Children’s director in Sudan.

About 3.5 million children aged under 5 years have acute malnutrition, including more than 710,000 with severe acute malnutrition, according to the World Health Organization.

About 5 million people were one step away from famine, according to a December assessment by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, considered the global authority on determining the severity of hunger crises. Overall, 17.7 million people were facing acute food insecurity, it found.

Aid workers say the world has to take action.

“Sudan is described as a forgotten crisis. I’m starting to wonder how many people knew about it in the first place to forget about it,” said Brady, from OCHA. “There are others that have more attention than Sudan. I don’t like to compare crises. It’s like comparing two cancer patients. … They both need to be treated.”

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By Tia Goldenberg,
The Associated Press

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel on April 14 hailed its air defenses in the face of an unprecedented attack by Iran, saying the systems thwarted 99 percent of the more than 300 drones and missiles launched toward its territory. Regional tensions were high amid fears of an Israeli counter-strike that could fuel further escalation.

U.S. President Joe Biden convened a meeting of the Group of Seven advanced democracies “to coordinate a united diplomatic response.” The participants unanimously condemned the attack and said they “stand ready to take further measures now and in response to further destabilizing initiatives.”

The U.S. made clear it would not participate in any offensive action against Iran. “We don’t seek a war with Iran. We’re not looking for escalation here,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby told NBC.

Iran launched the attack in response to a strike widely blamed on Israel that hit an Iranian consular building in Syria earlier this month and killed two Iranian generals. Israel said Iran launched 170 drones, more than 30 cruise missiles and more than 120 ballistic missiles.

By early April 14, Iran said the attack was over, and Israel reopened its airspace. Israel’s War Cabinet held a meeting.

“We will build a regional coalition and collect the price from Iran, in the way and at the time that suits us,” said a key War Cabinet member, Benny Gantz.

The two foes have for years been engaged in a shadow war marked by attacks such as the Damascus strike. But the April 14 assault, which set off air-raid sirens across Israel, was the first time Iran has launched a direct military assault on Israel, despite decades of enmity dating back to the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Israel has over the years established — often with the help of the United States — a multilayered air-defense network that includes systems capable of intercepting a variety of threats, including long-range missiles, cruise missiles, drones and short-range rockets.

That system, along with collaboration with the U.S. and others, helped thwart what could have been a far more devastating assault at a time when Israel is already bogged down in its war against Hamas in Gaza and engaged in low-level fighting on its northern border with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia. Both Hamas and Hezbollah are backed by Iran.

Israeli and U.S. officials praised the response to the aerial assault.

“Iran launched more than 300 threats and 99 percent were intercepted,” said Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military spokesman. “That is a success.” Asked if Israel would respond, Hagari said the country would do what was needed to protect its citizens.

Hagari said none of the drones and cruise missiles reached Israel and that only a few ballistic missiles got through. Of the cruise missiles, 25 were shot down by the Israeli air force, he said.

Hagari said minor damage was caused to an Israeli airbase, but he said it was still functioning. Rescuers said a 7-year-old girl was seriously wounded in southern Israel, apparently in a missile strike, though police were still investigating the circumstances.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted a message on X: “We intercepted. We blocked. Together, we will win.” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant thanked the U.S. and other countries for their assistance.

Gen. Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, the chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces, said the operation was over, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. “We have no intention of continuing the operation against Israel,” he was quoted as saying.

Iran said it targeted Israeli facilities involved in the Damascus strike, and that it told the White House early April 14 that the operation would be “minimalistic.” Turkey said it acted as an intermediary for the messages.

Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, claimed Iran had taught Israel a lesson and warned that “any new adventures against the interests of the Iranian nation would be met with a heavier and regretful response from the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard issued a new threat against the U.S., saying “any support or participation in harming Iran’s interests” will be followed by a decisive response by Iran’s armed forces.

The success of Israel’s defense stands in sharp contrast to the failures it endured during Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7. Facing a far less powerful enemy in Hamas, Israel’s border defenses collapsed, and the military took days to repel the militants — an embarrassing defeat for the Middle East’s strongest and best-equipped army.

While thwarting the Iranian onslaught could help restore Israel’s image, what it does next will be closely watched in the region and in Western capitals.

In Washington, Biden said U.S. forces helped Israel down “nearly all” the drones and missiles and pledged to convene allies to develop a unified response. U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Britain’s air force shot down a number of Iranian drones. Jordan, which sits between Israel and Iran, indicated that its military also assisted.

Biden later spoke with Netanyahu. “I told him that Israel demonstrated a remarkable capacity to defend against and defeat even unprecedented attacks — sending a clear message to its foes that they cannot effectively threaten the security of Israel,” Biden said.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. would hold talks with allies in the coming days.

Israel and Iran have been on a collision course throughout Israel’s six-month war against Hamas militants in Gaza. In the Oct. 7 attack, militants from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, also backed by Iran, killed 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 250 others. An Israeli offensive in Gaza has caused widespread devastation and killed over 33,000 people, according to local health officials.

In other developments, negotiations meant to bring about a cease-fire in exchange for the release of the hostages appeared to hit a setback. Netanyahu’s office said Hamas rejected the latest proposal for a deal, which had been presented to Hamas a week ago by mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States.

A Hamas official said the group wants a “clear written commitment” that Israel will withdraw from Gaza during the second of a three-phase cease-fire deal. The deal presented calls for a six-week cease-fire in Gaza, during which Hamas would release 40 of the more than 100 hostages the group is holding in the enclave in exchange for 900 Palestinian prisoners from Israel’s jails, including 100 serving long sentences for serious crimes.

Hamas welcomed Iran’s attack, saying it was “a natural right and a deserved response” to the strike in Syria. It urged the Iran-backed groups in the region to continue to support Hamas in the war.

Almost immediately after the war erupted, Hezbollah began attacking Israel’s northern border. The two sides have been involved in daily exchanges of fire, while Iranian-backed groups in Iraq, Syria and Yemen have launched rockets and missiles toward Israel.

___

Associated Press writers Zeke Miller in Washington; Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran; Samy Magdy in Cairo; Omar Akour in Amman, Jordan; and Giada Zampano in Rome contributed to this report.

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By: DaQuan Lawrence
AFRO International Writer
DLawrence@afro.com 

U.S. President Joe Biden recently invoked the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (FAA) and declared that Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will be vested with the power to utilize funds to provide assistance and military training to countries that will lend support to Haiti via a Multinational Security Support Mission. 

Under section 506(a)(2) of the FAA, Biden delegated authority to Blinken, who can direct up to $60 million in resources from U.S. federal agencies and direct the Department of Defense to provide anti-crime and counter-narcotic assistance to nations that contribute personnel to the Multinational Security Support Mission for Haiti and to the Haitian National Police.

In November 2023, the United Nations (U.N.) Security Council approved a resolution allowing the deployment of a multinational force to Haiti, under the command of Kenya, to combat gang-related violence. The MSS mission is authorized by the U.N. resolution “to take all necessary measures” to stop the violence in the beleaguered Caribbean nation. 

The resolution was ultimately delayed by a court injunction after a petition was filed by the opposition group, Thirdway Alliance, which called the choice to send troops overseas unlawful, as reported by Reuters. 

The international legislation was drafted by the U.S. and Ecuador and was approved with 13 votes in favor and two abstentions from China and the Russian Federation. Biden’s decision to appropriate additional funds to support Haiti comes after the U.S. committed up to $200 million in support of the MSS, which authorizes a one-year deployment of military force with a nine-month review and would be supported by voluntary donations. 

“This idea of bringing police officers all the way from Kenya, who have had a brief, intense training to prepare them for Haiti – but they don’t even speak a common language – is a very wrong minded approach,” Melinda Miles told The AFRO.

Miles is a Miami-based coordinator of the Haiti Response Coalition, a cross-sectional platform for different organizations that work in Haiti. The group focuses on sharing information and taking collaborative action to enable stakeholders to serve and improve Haiti.

“The coalition is based on a human rights approach,” she said.

Miles added that various mainstream media narratives about gang activities in Haiti are challenging because they tend to misleadingly depict the entire nation or capital city of Port-au-Prince as being in pandemonium.

She mentioned that she believes solutions in Haiti must be led by Haitians, and international legislative acts to support the nation must be comprehensive and seek to address political, environmental, social and economic issues. 

“The answer has to be holistic. The gangs are certainly connected to former and current political leaders as well as private sector stakeholders,” Miles told The AFRO. “The outcome is fighting between gangs aligned with government interests versus gangs aligned with private sector interests, and that has been driving these devastating and brutal ongoing battles.” 

According to the World Population Review, Haiti, the nation formerly known as Ayiti which is globally known as the first free Black republic in the world and was once the richest European colony and nation in the Western Hemisphere, is now the poorest nation there. 

The already economically struggling country has been further impacted by both earthquakes that plagued the nation in 2010, 2018 and 2021 and the political instability incited by the assassination of the nation’s 43rd president, Jovenel Moïse on July 7, 2021.

In the wake of these challenges, members of civil society across the U.S. are focused on supporting Haiti and its population. Last month the Institute of the Black World 21st Century (IBW) convened at the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., to organize U.S. citizens and members of the international community to contribute toward the Haiti Support Project.

Led by Dr. Ron Daniels, the Haiti Support Project has spent the previous three decades working to build a constituency that can work collaboratively with the Haitian population. Its current campaign, the Montana Accord Movement is about educating members of the African Diaspora and allies about emerging events in Haiti and what will happen moving forward.

 “Our rally is against the backdrop of one of the worst crises in Haiti that I have observed in the 29 years that we’ve been working there,” Daniels said.

The Montana Accord, also known as the Aug. 30, 2021 Agreement, is a movement led by the Commission to Search for a Haitian Solution to the Crisis (CRSHC). The CRSHC was created on March 6, 2021, as an initiative of many committed civil society organizations during a Civil Society Forum. The agreement is the first to seek a Haitian solution to the crisis that the nation has been undergoing since July 2018.

“The Montana Accord came out of nine months of roundtable discussions to create a consensus on what a transition should look like in Haiti. A nine-member presidential transition council has been submitted to CARICOM (Caribbean Community), who has facilitated negotiations among the parties in Haiti for about a year,” Miles said.

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By Joseph Federman
The Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military says Iran has launched a number of drones toward Israel.

The army’s spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said it would take several hours for the aircraft to arrive. He said Israel was prepared. He spoke late April 13.

Israel has been on heightened alert since an airstrike last week killed two Iranian generals in Syria. Iran accused Israel of being behind the attack and vowed revenge. Israel has not commented on that attack.

A U.S. official briefed on the attack said Iran had launched “dozens” of drones. The official could not publicly discuss details of the attack and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Earlier April 13, the Israeli military said it was canceling school and limiting public gatherings to no more than 1,000 people as a safety precaution.

Briefing reporters, Hagari said Israel is “prepared and ready” with defensive and offensive actions. He also said there was “tight” cooperation with the U.S. and other partners in the region.

The head of the U.S. Central Command, Gen. Erik Kurilla, has been in Israel in recent days to coordinate with Israel about the Iranian threats.

Israel has a number of layers of air defense capable of intercepting everything from long-range missiles to UAV’s and short-range rockets. Hagari said Israel has an “excellent air defense system” but stressed it is not 100 percent effective and urged the public to listen to safety announcements.

___

AP writer Michael Balsamo in New York contributed.

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By DaQuan Lawrence 
AFRO International Writer 
DLawrence@afro.com

During an international diplomacy trip to the United States, Dr. Grace Naledi Mandisa Pandor, who serves as South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, made a visit to Howard University (HU). Pandor is responsible for her nation’s foreign policy, and discussed numerous topics while inside of the HU Interdisciplinary Research Building. 

Under the theme, “Speaking Truth to Power: 30 Years of South African Leadership on Black International Solidarity,” Pandor discussed South Africa’s position on the Israel-Gaza war, international solidarity and her suggestions for improving the efficacy of the United Nations (UN). 

“Our position is with respect to the plight of the people of Palestine, and is not in any way anti-Semitic, nor against the continued existence of Israel,” Pandor said. “[South Africa] clearly has always supported a two-state solution, and we believe this is the only way to arrive at a guarantee of peace and security for both Israel and Palestine.”

Pandor’s diplomatic visit occurs during a unique moment in history and geopolitical affairs, as the U.S. and South Africa, which have strong bilateral relations, find themselves on opposite sides of the political spectrum regarding the longstanding conflict in the Middle East. Both nations are also two of the 64 countries scheduled to hold general elections in 2024. 

The event was organized by students in Howard University’s Department of African Studies and the Center for African Studies, and took place during the eve of the annual commemoration of the Sharpeville Massacre of March 21, 1960. The incident led to the death or injury of more than 200 Black South African protestors who were slain and injured while trying to change apartheid laws. 

During her remarks, Pandor elaborated on the role developing countries and non-Western nations, such as South Africa, can play within the sphere of international affairs. 

“The role that South Africa has assumed, is to try to increase the voice of what we call ‘the Global South,’ in the face of deepening inequalities and divisions in the international system,” Pandor said. “We do this because we believe the Global South is deserving of attention and deserving of support.”

Pandor continued, saying “when we refer to the Global South, we’re talking of those countries, regions and peoples of the world that don’t reflect a forceful power on global affairs and global institutions– [people] who are the victims of institutions that should support them.”

Students said the event left them with much to think about. 

“The event with Minister Pandor was eye-opening,” Jessica Moulite, a third-year Ph.D student at Howard University, said about the conversation. Being one of the three student panelists to engage with her and ask questions of a great world leader was a humbling experience.”

Originally from Miami, Moulite is focused on sociology for her doctoral studies and shared her perspective and takeaways from the event’s esteemed guest speaker. She said she enjoyed hearing “Minister Pandor emphasized the importance of calling out injustices and fighting for the world that we envision for us all.” 

Before her tour of North America, Pandor, who is South Africa’s top foreign policy official, declared that she would focus on business opportunities and international diplomacy, during her trip to the U.S. 

Throughout her visit, the minister held meetings with members of Congress, leaders from the private sector, faith community and advocates at think tanks, such as the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She met with anti-apartheid activists and interacted with students at HU, affectionately known as “the Mecca,” before heading to Jamaica for diplomatic meetings. 

The South African Broadcasting Company reported that Minister Pandor’s visit to Howard University would be one of the highlights of her busy schedule. While discussing ways the international economic system can be improved for all nations, Pandor addressed how prestigious multilateral organizations such as the UN, could be enhanced to better serve historically marginalized nations and populations.  

“We really are trying to marshal countries that have suffered under development, racism and colonialism to understand that they do have a collective power, which they can use more effectively, to influence the direction of world affairs,” Pandor said. 

Pandor highlighted the role that multilateral institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations and the World Bank have in upholding current international governance mechanisms via international law. 

“We believe the premier global institution to protect all of us universally and uphold our rights in the Global South, is the United Nations,” Pandor said. “We must address the reform of the UN, and in particular, the Security Council, as well as the Bretton Woods institutions (the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank) that are responsible for international development and finance.”

Moulite noted the importance of such commentary by an international politician and called attention to Pandor’s statements about international solidarity and the historical and contemporary importance of people around the world continuing to seek institutional justice, despite the current iteration of international law and governance.  

“This fight is one that we cannot get tired of fighting,” Moulite said. “Not only are others depending on us– but we also have to fight for our ancestors in the struggle who also wished to see a better, more just world.”

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By Rodney Muhumuza and Ignatius Ssuuna
The Associated Press

KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) — Rwanda is preparing to mark the 30th anniversary of the East African nation’s most horrific period in history — the genocide against its minority Tutsi. To this day, new mass graves are still being discovered across the country of 14 million people, a grim reminder of the scale of the killings.

Delegations from around the world will gather on April 7 in the capital of Kigali as Rwanda holds somber commemorations of the 1994 massacres. High-profile visitors are expected to include Bill Clinton, the U.S. president at the time of the genocide, and Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

In a pre-recorded video ahead of the ceremonies, French President Emmanuel Macron said on April 4 that France and its allies could have stopped the genocide but lacked the will to do so. Macron’s declaration came three years after he acknowledged the “overwhelming responsibility” of France — Rwanda’s closest European ally in 1994 — for failing to stop the country’s slide into the slaughter.

Here’s a look at the past and how Rwanda has changed under President Paul Kagame, praised by many for bringing relative peace and stability but also vilified by others for his intolerance of dissent.

WHAT HAPPENED IN 1994?

An estimated 800,000 Tutsi were killed by extremist Hutu in massacres that lasted over 100 days. Some moderate Hutu who tried to protect members of the Tutsi minority were also targeted.

The killings were ignited when a plane carrying then-President Juvénal Habyarimana, a member of the majority Hutu, was shot down on April 6, 1994, over Kigali. The Tutsi were blamed for downing the plane and killing the president. Enraged, gangs of Hutu extremists began killing Tutsi, backed by the army and police.

Many victims — including children — were hacked to death with machetes. Kagame’s rebel group, the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front, managed to stop the killings, seized power and has since, as a political party, ruled Rwanda.

Kagame’s government and genocide survivor organizations have often accused France of training and arming militias and troops that led the rampage, sometimes saying they expect a formal apology.

A report commissioned by Macron in 2019 and published in 2021 concluded that French authorities failed to see where Habyarimana’s regime, which France supported, was headed and were subsequently too slow to acknowledge the extent of the killings. However, the report cleared France of any complicity in the massacres.

WHAT CAME AFTER THE GENOCIDE?

After Kagame seized power, many Hutu officials fled into exile or were arrested and imprisoned for their alleged roles in the genocide. Some escaped to neighboring Congo, where their presence has provoked armed conflict. In the late 1990s, Rwanda twice sent its forces deep into Congo, in part to hunt down Hutu rebels.

Some rights groups accused Rwanda’s new authorities of revenge attacks, but the government has slammed the allegations, saying they disrespect the memory of the genocide victims.

Kagame, who grew up as a refugee in neighboring Uganda, has been Rwanda’s de facto ruler, first as vice president from 1994 to 2000, then as acting president. He was voted into office in 2003 and has since been reelected multiple times.

WHAT’S THE POLITICAL LANDSCAPE LIKE?

Rwanda’s ruling party is firmly in charge, with no opposition, while Kagame’s strongest critics now live in exile. Kagame won the last presidential election, in 2017, with nearly 99 percent of the vote after a campaign that Amnesty International described as marked by suppression and a “climate of fear.”

Critics have accused the government of forcing opponents to flee, jailing or making them disappear while some are killed under mysterious circumstances. Rights groups cite serious restrictions on the Internet, as well as on freedom of assembly and expression.

Some claim Kagame has exploited alleged Western feelings of guilt over the genocide to entrench his grip on Rwanda.

Now a candidate in the upcoming July presidential election, Kagame has cast himself in the role of a leader of a growing economy marked by technological innovation, with his supporters often touting Rwanda as an emerging business hub in Africa.

WHAT ABOUT RECONCILIATION?

Rwandan authorities have heavily promoted national unity among the majority Hutu and the minority Tutsi and Twa, with a separate government ministry dedicated to reconciliation efforts.

The government imposed a tough penal code to punish genocide and outlaw the ideology behind it, and Rwandan ID cards no longer identify a person by ethnicity. Lessons about the genocide are part of the curriculum in schools.

However, a leading survivors’ group points out that more needs to be done to eradicate what authorities describe as “genocide ideology” among some Rwandans.

WHAT DOES RWANDA LOOK LIKE TODAY?

The streets of Kigali are clean and free of potholes. Littering is banned. Tech entrepreneurs flock here from far and wide. Stylish new buildings give the city a modern look and an innovation center aims at nurturing local talent in the digital culture.

But poverty is rampant outside Kigali, with most people still surviving on subsistence farming. Tin-roofed shacks that dotted the countryside in 1994 remain ubiquitous across Rwanda.

The nation is young, however, with every other citizen under the age of 30, giving hope to aspirations for a post-genocide society in which ethnic or tribal membership doesn’t come first.

Corruption among officials is not as widespread as among other governments in this part of Africa, thanks in part to a policy of zero-tolerance for graft.

ARE THERE TROUBLES ON THE HORIZON?

Though mostly peaceful, Rwanda has had troubled relations with its neighbors. Recently, tensions have flared with Congo, with the two countries’ leaders accusing one another of supporting various armed groups.

Congo claims Rwanda is backing M23 rebels, who are mostly Tutsi fighters based in a remote area of eastern Congo. The M23 rebellion has displaced hundreds of thousands in Congo’s North Kivu’s province in recent years. Rwanda says Congo’s military is recruiting Hutu men who took part in the 1994 massacres.

U.N. experts have cited “solid evidence” that members of Rwanda’s armed forces were conducting operations in eastern Congo in support of M23, and in February, amid a dramatic military build-up along the border, Washington urged Rwandan authorities to withdraw troops and missile systems from Congo.

In January, Burundi, whose troops are fighting alongside the Congolese military in eastern Congo, closed its border with Rwanda and started deporting Rwandans. This happened not long after Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye accused Rwanda of backing Congo-based rebels opposed to his government. Rwanda denies the allegation.

Rwanda has also been in the news recently over a deal with Britain that would see migrants who cross the English Channel in small boats sent to Rwanda, where they would remain permanently. The plan has stalled amid legal challenges. In November, the U.K. Supreme Court ruled the plan was illegal, saying Rwanda is not a safe destination for asylum-seekers.

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By Farai Mutsaka and Gerald Imray
The Associated Press

Delicately and with intense concentration, Zanyiwe Ncube poured her small share of precious golden cooking oil into a plastic bottle at a food aid distribution site deep in rural Zimbabwe.

“I don’t want to lose a single drop,” she said.

Her relief at the handout — paid for by the United States government as her southern African country deals with a severe drought — was tempered when aid workers gently broke the news that this would be their last visit.

Ncube and her seven-month-old son she carried on her back were among 2,000 people who received rations of cooking oil, sorghum, peas and other supplies in the Mangwe district in southwestern Zimbabwe. The food distribution is part of a program funded by American aid agency USAID and rolled out by the United Nations’ World Food Programme.

They’re aiming to help some of the 2.7 million people in rural Zimbabwe threatened with hunger because of the drought that has enveloped large parts of southern Africa since late 2023. It has scorched the crops that tens of millions of people grow themselves and rely on to survive, helped by what should be the rainy season.

They can rely on their crops and the weather less and less.

The drought in Zimbabwe, neighboring Zambia and Malawi has reached crisis levels. Zambia and Malawi have declared national disasters. Zimbabwe could be on the brink of doing the same. The drought has reached Botswana and Angola to the west and Mozambique and Madagascar to the east.

A year ago, much of this region was drenched by deadly tropical storms and floods. It is in the midst of a vicious weather cycle: too much rain, then not enough. It’s a story of the climate extremes that scientists say are becoming more frequent and more damaging, especially for the world’s most vulnerable people.

In Mangwe, the young and the old lined up for food, some with donkey carts to carry home whatever they might get, others with wheelbarrows. Those waiting their turn sat on the dusty ground. Nearby, a goat tried its luck with a nibble on a thorny, scraggly bush.

Ncube, 39, would normally be harvesting her crops now — food for her, her two children and a niece she also looks after. Maybe there would even be a little extra to sell.

The driest February in Zimbabwe in her lifetime, according to the World Food Programme’s seasonal monitor, put an end to that.

“We have nothing in the fields, not a single grain,” she said. “Everything has been burnt (by the drought).”

The United Nations Children’s Fund says there are “overlapping crises” of extreme weather in eastern and southern Africa, with both regions lurching between storms and floods and heat and drought in the past year.

In southern Africa, an estimated 9 million people, half of them children, need help in Malawi. More than 6 million in Zambia, 3 million of them children, are impacted by the drought, UNICEF said. That’s nearly half of Malawi’s population and 30 percent of Zambia’s.

“Distressingly, extreme weather is expected to be the norm in eastern and southern Africa in the years to come,” said Eva Kadilli, UNICEF’s regional director.

While human-made climate change has spurred more erratic weather globally, there is something else parching southern Africa this year.

El Niño, the naturally occurring climatic phenomenon that warms parts of the Pacific Ocean every two to seven years, has varied effects on the world’s weather. In southern Africa, it means below-average rainfall, sometimes drought and is being blamed for the current situation.

The impact is more severe for those in Mangwe, where it’s notoriously arid. People grow the cereal grain sorghum and pearl millet, crops that are drought resistant and offer a chance at harvests, but even they failed to withstand the conditions this year.

Francesca Erdelmann, the World Food Programme’s country director for Zimbabwe, said last year’s harvest was bad, but this season is even worse. “This is not a normal circumstance,” she said.

The first few months of the year are traditionally the “lean months” when households run short as they wait for the new harvest. However, there is little hope for replenishment this year.

Joseph Nleya, a 77-year-old traditional leader in Mangwe, said he doesn’t remember it being this hot, this dry, this desperate. “Dams have no water, riverbeds are dry and boreholes are few. We were relying on wild fruits, but they have also dried up,” he said.

People are illegally crossing into Botswana to search for food and “hunger is turning otherwise hard-working people into criminals,” he added.

Multiple aid agencies warned last year of the impending disaster.

Since then, Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema has said that 1 million of the 2.2 million hectares of his country’s staple corn crop have been destroyed. Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera has appealed for $200 million in humanitarian assistance.

The 2.7 million struggling in rural Zimbabwe is not even the full picture. A nationwide crop assessment is underway and authorities are dreading the results, with the number needing help likely to skyrocket, said the WFP’s Erdelmann.

With this year’s harvest a write-off, millions in Zimbabwe, southern Malawi, Mozambique and Madagascar won’t be able to feed themselves well into 2025. USAID’s Famine Early Warning System estimated that 20 million people would require food relief in southern Africa in the first few months of 2024.

Many won’t get that help, as aid agencies also have limited resources amid a global hunger crisis and a cut in humanitarian funding by governments.

As the WFP officials made their last visit to Mangwe, Ncube was already calculating how long the food might last her. She said she hoped it would be long enough to avert her greatest fear: that her youngest child would slip into malnutrition even before his first birthday.

This article was originally published by The Associated Press.

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By Charles A. Ray and Michael Walsh

Sen. James E. Risch (R-Idaho), a member of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, recently called on the Biden Administration to “abandon any misguided belief that it can negotiate with Zimbabwe’s current leaders.” Referencing “a lengthy history of human rights abuses, corrupt practices, and anti-democratic actions,” Risch argued that the U.S. government “should use every diplomatic avenue to forge a coalition of regional and global partners to act in support of the aspirations of the people of Zimbabwe.”

The White House does not appear to share the views of the senator. Even if they were in sync, though, such a plan of action would be far easier said than done for two compelling reasons. First, the senator’s argument is far too general. It fails to take into account the political and cultural environment in which the nation of Zimbabwe is firmly embedded. The context involves more than human rights abuses, corrupt practices, and anti-democratic actions. Second, the U.S. policy toward Zimbabwe, in the form of the Integrated Country Strategy (ICS), is likewise too broad and unmoored from these political and cultural realities. 

The ICS, which is the embassy’s strategic plan for the country of assignment, should consist of realistic, specific and measurable end-states or objectives that can be achieved within the five-year life of the plan. The ICS for Zimbabwe has a set of objectives that are not realistic and, given the state of the current Zimbabwean government – which is a continuation of the government in power at the time the plan was drafted – incapable of achievement in the foreseeable future, much less the five-year life of the plan. Furthermore, the ICS fails to specify the resources needed to achieve the objectives any more than Senator Risch’s statement does. The ICS Zimbabwe is not a strategic roadmap. It is a hot mess.

Given the political realities of the southern African region and the current frayed state of the U.S.-South Africa relationship, it is highly unlikely that the U.S. Government will be able to forge a regional or global coalition of partners that are needed to achieve any of our stated strategic objectives in Zimbabwe. Such a coalition might be a reasonable long-term objective, but it would require a lot of other things to happen beforehand. Despite often rocky relations with some of the other members of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), like Botswana, it’s unlikely that any of them will break ranks and work with the U.S. or any other western nation against a fellow member. 

As for the international community, other nations have their own interests in the region as well as their own relationships with BRICS members, like India and China, to consider. So, an effective international coalition is unlikely to achieve anything on its own. The previous international effort to bring about positive change in Zimbabwe, comprising the U.S., EU member states, Japan, and Australia, as well as the AU and some African states, serves as a case in point. It failed to achieve its goal of bringing representative government to Zimbabwe or significantly improving the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans. With the current regime in the country, it would not have access to affect meaningful change. So, there are no prospects on the horizon for such a coalition to achieve anything now.

Any change in the status quo in Zimbabwe will not be an easy or quick thing. It will require a change in action and mindset by all concerned in Washington. First, Senator Risch’s proscription against talking to anyone in the Zimbabwean government will need to be subjected to scrutiny. Efforts to help the citizens of a sovereign nation require at least minimal coordination with governmental authorities, or at least noninterference. If there is no interaction with the government, our embassy, and by extension our policymakers, are completely blind to what the government is doing. The idea that we don’t talk to people we don’t like or with whom we disagree is antithetical to effective diplomacy.

Of course, there is a potential counter-argument to this point. The Biden Administration may view Zimbabwe through the lens of a democracy-security paradox. In that case, the U.S. Department of State may intend to forge a very different kind of relationship with the Government of Zimbabwe – one based solely on shared security interests. To a realist, there are compelling reasons to make this turn. There are multi-billion dollar oil and gas investments being made in Mozambique and the Lobito Corridor is the administration’s gemstone infrastructure project on the continent. Both need to be protected from regional instability and violent extremism. The Biden Administration may also see Zimbabwe as a useful intelligence platform from which to counter malign influence in South Africa. Alert to these needs, the White House may want to run its in-country diplomatic activities under the radar. In that case, the absence of an ambassador may be viewed as a blessing in disguise.

That gets to the crux of the problem. If we intend to ‘act in support of the aspirations of the people of Zimbabwe,” we need to not only talk to all parties, official and nonofficial, in the country. We need to establish a clear, coherent strategy to carry out such a project. This should start, in our opinion, with an unambiguous statement of our strategic interests in Zimbabwe, and culminate with a revised ICS which has achievable objectives and identification of the resources needed to achieve those objectives. However, it would be unreasonable to expect that such a strategy would be developed without an ambassador at post. Charges d’affaires and defense attaches have bureaucratic power and influence. But, they don’t have the national political capital needed to be able to create and defend the kind of ICS needed to achieve the goals and objectives desired by the Senator. The current ICS is a testament to that fact.

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By Gerald Imray and Nqobile Ntshangase 
The Associated Press

MMAMATLAKALA, South Africa (AP) — An 8-year-old girl was the lone survivor after a bus full of pilgrims making their way to a popular Easter festival in rural South Africa slammed into a bridge on a mountain pass and plunged more than 150 feet into a ravine before bursting into flames, killing all 45 others onboard.

It was a tragic reminder of how deadly South Africa’s roads become during the Easter period, when millions crisscross the country during the long holiday weekend. Authorities repeatedly warn motorists of the danger and had issued multiple messages urging caution just a day before the horrific crash on March 28.

The girl somehow survived after the bus carrying worshippers from neighboring Botswana careened off the bridge and caught fire as it hit the rocks below, according to authorities.

The girl was in a stable condition in the hospital after being admitted with serious injuries and was “in safe hands,” an official with the local health department said March 29. Details of her injuries were not released.

Forensic investigators retrieved what they believed were 34 of the 45 bodies but couldn’t be certain of the exact number, reflecting the gruesome nature of the crash. Many of the victims trapped inside the bus were burned beyond recognition, authorities said.

Dr. Phophi Ramathuba, an official with the Limpopo provincial health department, said only nine of the bodies recovered were likely to be identifiable.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said the victims, who appeared to all be from Botswana, were on their way to the rustic town of Moria in Limpopo province for the Easter weekend pilgrimage that attracts hundreds of thousands of followers of the Zion Christian Church.

The church has its headquarters in Moria and it was the first time the full pilgrimage was being held since the COVID-19 pandemic. Worshippers flocked to the small town which features a giant star — the church’s emblem — and the words “Zion City Moria” painted in white on a hillside.

The church was formed in South Africa in the early 1900s as a Christian denomination that also retains some African traditions. It has an estimated 7 million followers across the southern African region.

Ramathuba said South African authorities had asked church leaders from Botswana to come and help identify the victims.

Good Friday and Easter Monday are national holidays in South Africa and many of its neighbors, when millions travel into, out of and across the nation. For some South Africans, it’s a chance to return to their home towns and villages from jobs in the cities. Migrants also travel back to their home countries to see family. Some, like the pilgrims that died on March 28, make religious trips.

Road travel can be treacherous; South Africa’s Road Traffic Management Corporation reported that 252 people died in road crashes between Holy Thursday and Easter Monday last year.

Authorities said it appeared the bus driver lost control and the vehicle slammed into the barriers along the side of the bridge and then went over the edge. The driver was among the dead.

South African Minister of Transport Sindisiwe Chikunga was in Limpopo province attending a road safety campaign when she was informed of the “devastating news” of the crash, according to the national Department of Traffic.

Ramathuba said she had been at an Easter prayer meeting when she was called to the crash scene on the Mmamatlakala bridge near the town of Mokopane, which is about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of the South African capital, Pretoria.

“I attended the scene of the accident, but now our focus as the health department is on the brave little survivor. She is in safe hands in a hospital with experts looking after her,” Ramathuba told reporters. She declined to give details of the child’s injuries, but authorities released a photograph of the child lying in a hospital bed and being examined by a doctor.

Ramathuba also declined to say if the child’s parents or other family members were on the bus, saying authorities needed time to trace and inform families of the dead, who were mostly in Botswana.

Meanwhile, forensic investigators worked through the wreckage amid the rocks and steep cliffs. At least 11 bodies were believed still inside what was left of the charred bus, which was almost crushed flat.

“We were at the scene,” said local resident Simone Mayema, who said he was one of the first to arrive after the crash. “We tried to help (but) there was nothing we could do because there was flames.”

___

Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa.

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By DaQuan Lawrence 
AFRO international Writer 
DLawrence@afro.com

Haiti is in turmoil once again as authorities and local gangs engage in a deadly power struggle for control over the country. The conflict began to intensify in late February, and on March 11, Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry has agreed to resign once a plan for leadership is put into place. As the killings continue, residents are caught in the middle with nowhere to go as surrounding countries have closed off their borders. The main seaport in the nation’s capital of Port-au-Prince has also closed, blocking food and other aid to millions of Haitian citizens. Black allies from around the globe are now seeking to support the country, while calling for a Haitian solution to the challenges facing the country. Collage photos: AP Photos/Odelyn Joseph

The death toll continues to climb in Haiti as gangs and Haitian authorities clash in attempts to take control of the country. Around the world supporters and political figures are calling for the violence to cease, as solutions to the many problems facing the country are discussed and agreed upon.

In the United States Black advocates are calling for an answer created for the Haitian people, by the Haitian people. 

To further discuss proposed plans for peace and how Black people around the world can help, the Institute of the Black World: 21st Century convened at the historical AME Metropolitan Church in Washington, D.C. to galvanize U.S. citizens and members of the international community in support of Haiti. 

Led by Dr. Ron Daniels, the Haiti Support Project has been active over the previous three decades and working to build a constituency that can work collaboratively with members of the Haitian population. 

“We are the premier African-American organization that has worked to address issues in Haiti.  Our rally at the historic AME Metropolitan Church is against the backdrop of one of the worst crises in Haiti I have observed in the 29 years that we’ve been doing work in Haiti,” Daniels said. 

Daniels is a major supporter of a plan for Haiti called “The Montana Accord,” which was first proposed in August of 2021. The Montana Accord is a plan created by the Commission for a Search to a Haitian Solution to the Crisis. The commission is a collection of Haitian advocates from all walks of life– including clergy, politicians and a wide variety of community leaders. The group came together in the aftermath of Moïse’s assassination, which left Haiti without a national leader. 

The Montana Accord calls for the country to hold elections while a temporary government is in place. According to the Congressional Research Service, the document lays out a plan for Haitian authorities “restore order, administer elections and create a truth and justice commission to address past human rights violations.”

Internationally known as the first Black free republic in the world, which was once the richest colony and nation in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti is now known as the poorest nation in the hemisphere. 

While many people are familiar with the earthquakes that impacted the nation in 2010 and 2018, and more recently, the political instability that has struck the nation since the assassination of Jovenel Moïse, the 43rd president, on July, 7 2021.

Since Moïse’s death, Ariel Henry has served as acting prime minister and acting president of the nation, however Daniels mentioned that Henry was initially expected to serve for a short period of time. 

“Henry really was only to stay in position for about three months. That ended up being

extending into almost two years, against the backdrop of people demanding change,” Daniels said. 

Under tremendous pressure to resolve the nation’s problems, Henry recently announced his resignation on March 11, 2024. 

The U.S. Department of State has issued a level 4 travel advisory for Haiti, and is advising U.S. citizens not to travel to the nation due to high levels of political instability and gang violence.

“Kidnapping is widespread, and victims regularly include U.S. citizens. Kidnappers may use sophisticated planning or take advantage of unplanned opportunities, and even convoys have been attacked,” said the U.S. Department of State, in an alert posted to their official government website. “Kidnapping cases often involve ransom negotiations and U.S. citizen victims have been physically harmed during kidnappings. Victim’s families have paid thousands of dollars to rescue their family members.”

The state department warned that “Violent crime, often involving the use of firearms, such as  armed robbery, carjackings and kidnappings for ransom that include U.S. citizens are common” in the area. 

In the past several months, residents have tried to flee the area as the chaos intensified. However, they have met resistance as bordering countries have closed their borders to flights to and from Haiti. Some of those forced to stay have resorted to fighting back against the gangs that are killing without consequence and pillaging communities.

“Mob killings against presumed criminals have been on the rise since late April [2023],” reported U.S. officials in the travel advisory. “Protests, demonstrations, tire burning, and roadblocks are frequent, unpredictable, and can turn violent. The U.S. government is extremely limited in its ability to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in Haiti – assistance on site is available only from local authorities–Haitian National Police and ambulance services. Local police generally lack the resources to respond effectively to serious criminal incidents.” 

Since the violence began, U.S. officials report “shortages of gasoline, electricity, medicine and medical supplies continue throughout much of Haiti. Public and private medical clinics and hospitals often lack qualified medical staff and even basic medical equipment and resources.”

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By Stacy M. Brown,
NNPA Newswire

Amidst escalating turmoil in Haiti, a recent exodus of U.S. citizens fleeing the violence underscores broader concerns about the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the Caribbean nation. As conflict rages on in regions like the Middle East and Eastern Europe, voices like Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., president of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, emphasize the need for global attention to the suffering of people worldwide, including those in Haiti.

“A lot of people are concerned about the suffering that’s going on in the Middle East, and they should be concerned,” noted Dr. Chavis Jr. in his State of the Black Press Address at the National Press Club. “But I’m also concerned. I don’t hear a word about the suffering in Africa, where millions of people are being killed in the Congo. I don’t hear a word about… what’s going on in Haiti.”

Against this backdrop, a charter flight carrying more than 30 U.S. citizens seeking refuge from the spiraling gang violence in Haiti touched down in Miami on March 17, according to U.S. State Department officials. The evacuation came amid escalating chaos in Haiti, where gang attacks, looting of aid supplies, and widespread violence reportedly have pushed the nation to the brink of famine.

The situation in Haiti has been deteriorating for over a year, with the recent chaos culminating in a pivotal moment on Monday night. Haiti’s embattled Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, agreed to step down once a transitional government is established through negotiations involving regional powers and stakeholders, including the United States.

However, concerns persist over the legitimacy and effectiveness of such interventions, as many argue that Haitians themselves must drive actual solutions. A Haitian-led interim government with oversight committees tasked with restoring order, battling corruption, and facilitating fair elections is what the proposed “Montana Accord,” which has the support of various Haitian stakeholders, seeks to establish.

Meanwhile, armed groups, including paramilitary factions and former police officers, have seized control of large swathes of the capital, Port-au-Prince, perpetuating a cycle of violence and instability. The United Nations estimates that at least 80 percent of the capital is now under the control of these armed groups, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis and displacing thousands of residents.

As Haiti grapples with the convergence of manufactured and natural disasters, including the lingering effects of the 2010 earthquake, hurricanes, and floods, the plight of its people demands urgent attention and concerted action from the international community.

“It’s the Haitian people who know what they’re going through. It’s the Haitian people who are going to take destiny into their own hands,” Jimmy Chérizier — also known as “Barbecue,” told the Associated Press. “Haitian people will choose who will govern them.”  

This article was originally published by NNPA Newswire.

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By Deng Machol,
The Associated Press

JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — South Sudan’s government is closing down all schools starting March 18 as the country prepares for a wave of extreme heat expected to last two weeks.

The health and education ministries advised parents to keep all children indoors as temperatures are expected to soar to 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit), in a statement late March 16.

They warned that any school found open during that time would have its registration withdrawn, but didn’t specify how long the schools would remain shuttered.

The ministries said they “will continue to monitor the situation and inform the public accordingly.”

Peter Garang, a resident who lives in the capital, Juba, welcomed the decision. He said that “schools should be connected to the electricity grid” to enable the installation of air conditioners.

South Sudan, one of the world’s youngest nations, is particularly vulnerable to climate change with heatwaves common but rarely exceeding 40C. Civil conflict has plagued the east African country which also suffered from drought and flooding, making living conditions difficult for residents.

The World Food Program in its latest country brief said South Sudan “continues to face a dire humanitarian crisis” due to violence, economic instability, climate change and an influx of people fleeing the conflict in neighboring Sudan. It also stated that 818,000 vulnerable people were given food and cash-based transfers in January 2024.

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By Jill Lawless,
The Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Vaughan Gething won the Welsh Labour Party leadership contest on March 16, and is set to become the first Black leader of Wales’ semi-autonomous government.

Gething, the son of a Welsh father and a Zambian mother, will be the first Black leader of a government in the U.K. — and, according to him, of any European country.

“Today, we turn a page in the book of our nation’s history. A history we write together,” Gething said in his victory speech. “Not just because I have the honor of becoming the first Black leader in any European country — but because the generational dial has jumped too.

“I want us to use this moment as a starting point, for a more confident march into the future,” he added.

Gething, who is currently Welsh economy minister, narrowly beat Education Minister Jeremy Miles in a race to replace First Minister Mark Drakeford. Drakeford, 69, announced late last year he would step down once a replacement was chosen.

Gething, 50, won 51.7 percent of the votes cast by members of the party and affiliated trade unions, and Miles 48.3 percent.

Once he is confirmed on March 20 by the Welsh parliament, the Senedd, where Labour is the largest party, Gething will become the fifth first minister since Wales’ national legislature was established in 1999.

Once Gething is in the post, three of the U.K.’s four governments will have non-White leaders. U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has Indian heritage, while Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf was born to a Pakistani family in Britain.

Northern Ireland is led jointly by Michelle O’Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly, meaning that for the first time there are no White male heads of government in the U.K.

Wales, which has a population of about 3 million, is one of four parts of the United Kingdom, along with England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The British government in London is responsible for defense, foreign affairs and other U.K.-wide issues, while administrations in Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast control areas such as education and health.

Gething was Wales’ health minister during the COVID-19 pandemic, and as economy minister has had to deal with fallout from Tata Steel’s plan to close both blast furnaces at its plant in Port Talbot, eliminating 2,800 jobs at one of Wales’ biggest employers.

He’ll take over a government that is often at odds with Sunak’s Conservative administration in London. Wales has also seen a wave of protests over environmental rules by farmers, similar to those that have roiled France and other European countries.

Gething was the front-runner to win the contest, though his campaign was rattled by the revelation that he’d accepted 200,000 pounds ($255,000) in donations from a recycling company that was found guilty of environmental offenses and breaching health and safety regulations.

Gething said that the donations were properly declared under electoral rules.

Other party leaders offered congratulations to Gething, along with a dose of skepticism.

“I daresay it will be business as usual, because he’s been cut of the same cloth as Mark Drakeford,” Welsh Conservative leader Andrew R.T. Davies said.

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By Evens Sanon and Bert Wilkinson
The Associated Press

Haitian politicians started pursuing new alliances March 6, seeking a coalition that could lead the country out of the gang violence that has closed the main airport and prevented embattled Prime Minister Ariel Henry from returning home.

Haiti remained largely paralyzed, with schools and businesses still closed amid heavy gunfire blamed on the gangs that control an estimated 80 percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince, where several bodies lay on empty streets. The country’s two biggest prisons were also raided, resulting in the release of more than 4,000 inmates over the weekend.

Henry faces increasing pressure to resign, which would likely trigger a U.S.-supported transition to a new government.

One new political alliance involves former rebel leader Guy Philippe and ex-presidential candidate and senator Moïse Jean Charles, who told Radio Caraïbes on March 6 that they signed a deal to form a three-person council to lead Haiti.

Philippe, a key figure in the 2004 rebellion that ousted former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, returned to Haiti in November and has been calling for Henry’s resignation. He spent several years in prison in the U.S. after pleading guilty to a money laundering charge. Meanwhile, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations was asked March 6 whether the United States asked Henry to step down.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield replied that the U.S. has asked Henry to “move forward on a political process that will lead to the establishment of a presidential transitional council that will lead to elections.”

American officials believe it’s urgent for Henry to start “the process of bringing normalcy back to the people of Haiti,” she said.

U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller echoed her remarks, saying the United States was not acting unilaterally but rather in consultation with partners in the region.

“And what we are saying to the prime minister is that he needs to expedite the transition to empowered and inclusive governance,” Miller said.

The prime minister has not made any public comments since gangs began attacking critical infrastructure late last week while he was in Kenya pushing for the U.N.-backed deployment of a police force from the East African country to help fight the surge in violence in the troubled Caribbean nation.

Before flying to Kenya, Henry was in the South American country of Guyana for a summit held by a regional trade bloc known as Caricom, where Haiti was high on the agenda.

Meanwhile, a Caribbean official told The Associated Press on March 6 that leaders of Caricom spoke with Henry late March 5 and presented several alternatives to end Haiti’s deepening crisis, including his resignation, which he refused to do. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to share details about the talks.

Henry landed March 5 in Puerto Rico after he was not allowed to land in the Dominican Republic, where officials closed the airspace around Haiti. Héctor Porcella, director of the Dominican Institute of Civil Aviation, told reporters the plane did not have a required flight plan.

The Dominican Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a March 6 statement that U.S. and Haitian officials informally contacted it to inquire about the possibility of Henry’s plane making an “indefinite stop” in the Dominican Republic, adding that the prime minister was in New York at the time.

The government said it twice told foreign officials that such a move would require a defined flight plan.

“It is essential to note that the Dominican Republic maintains its willingness to continue cooperating with the international community to facilitate Haiti’s return to normalcy. However, it is imperative that any action taken does not compromise our national security,” the foreign affairs office said.

Dickon Mitchell, prime minister of the eastern Caribbean island of Grenada, told the AP that regional leaders spoke late March 5 with Henry, who did not indicate anything except “that he is trying to get back into Haiti.” Mitchell did not provide details.

Henry was appointed prime minister with the backing of the international community shortly after the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.

As he tried to return to Haiti on March 6, heavy gunfire echoed throughout Port-au-Prince as Haitians feared additional attacks led by powerful gang leaders.

It was not clear when the country’s international airport would reopen.

___

Wilkinson reported from Georgetown, Guyana. Associated Press writers Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Matthew Lee in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.

This article was originally published by The Associated Press.

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By Sam Mednick,
The Associated Press

MOANDA, Congo (AP) — The oil drills that loom down the road from Adore Ngaka’s home remind him daily of everything he’s lost. The extraction in his village in western Congo has polluted the soil, withered his crops and forced the family to burn through savings to survive, he said.

Pointing to a stunted ear of corn in his garden, the 27-year-old farmer says it’s about half the size he got before oil operations expanded nearly a decade ago in his village of Tshiende.

“It’s bringing us to poverty,” he said.

Congo, a mineral-rich nation in central Africa, is thought to have significant oil reserves, too. Drilling has so far been confined to a small territory on the Atlantic Ocean and offshore, but that’s expected to change if the government successfully auctions 30 oil and gas blocks spread around the country. Leaders say economic growth is essential for their impoverished people, but some communities, rights groups and environmental watchdogs warn that expanded drilling will harm the landscape and human health.

Since the French-British hydrocarbon company, Perenco, began drilling in Moanda territory in 2000, residents say pollution has worsened, with spills and leaks degrading the soil and flaring — the intentional burning of natural gas near drilling sites — fouling the air they breathe. And the Congolese government exerts little oversight, they say.

Perenco said it abides by international standards in its extraction methods, that they don’t pose any health risks and that any pollution has been minor. The company also said it offered to support a power plant that would make use of the natural gas and thus reduce flaring. The government did not respond to questions about the proposed plant.

Congo’s minister overseeing oil and gas, Didier Budimbu, said the government is committed to protecting the environment.

___

Congo is home to most of the Congo Basin rainforest, the world’s second-biggest, and most of the world’s largest tropical peatland, made up of partially decomposed wetlands plant material. Together, both capture huge amounts of carbon dioxide — about 1.5 billion tons a year, or about 3 percent of global emissions. More than a dozen of the plots up for auction overlap with protected areas in peatlands and rainforests, including the Virunga National Park, which is home to some of the world’s rarest gorillas.

The government said the 27 oil blocks available have an estimated 22 billion barrels. Environmental groups say that auctioning more land to drill would have consequences both in Congo and abroad.

“Any new oil and gas project, anywhere in the world, is fueling the climate and nature crisis that we’re in,” said Mbong Akiy Fokwa Tsafak, program director for Greenpeace Africa. She said Perenco’s operations have done nothing to mitigate poverty and instead degraded the ecosystem and burdened the lives of communities.

Environmental activists said Congo has strong potential to instead develop renewable energy, including solar, as well as small-scale hydropower. It’s the world’s largest producer of cobalt, a key component for batteries in electric vehicles and other products essential to the global energy transition, although cobalt mining comes with its own environmental and human risks.

Budimbu said now is not the time to move away from fossil fuels when the country is still reliant on them. He said fossil fuel dependency will be phased out in the long term.

___

Rich in biodiversity, Moanda abuts the Mangrove National Park — the country’s only marine protected area. Perenco has been under scrutiny for years, with local researchers, aid groups and Congo’s Senate making multiple reports of pollution dating back more than a decade. Two civil society organizations, Sherpa and Friends of the Earth France, filed a lawsuit in 2022 accusing Perenco of pollution caused by the oil extraction; that suit is still pending.

During a rare visit by international media to the oil fields, including two villages near drilling, The Associated Press spoke with dozens of residents, local officials and rights organizations. Residents say drilling has inched closer to their homes and they have seen pipes break regularly, sending oil into the soil. They blame air and ground pollution for making it hard to cultivate crops and causing health problems such as skin rashes and respiratory infections.

They said Perenco has responded quickly to leaks and spills but failed to address root problems.

AP journalists visited drilling sites, some just a few hundred meters from homes, that had exposed and corroding pipes. They also saw at least four locations that were flaring natural gas, a technique that manages pressure by burning off the gas that is often used when it is impractical or unprofitable to collect. AP did not see any active spill sites.

Between 2012 and 2022 in Congo, Perenco flared more than 2 billion cubic meters of natural gas — a carbon footprint equivalent to that of about 20 million Congolese, according to the Environmental Investigative Forum, a global consortium of environmental investigative journalists. The group analyzed data from Skytruth, a group that uses satellite imagery to monitor threats to the planet’s natural resources.

Flaring of natural gas, which is mostly methane, emits carbon dioxide, methane and black soot and is damaging to health, according to the International Energy Agency.

In the village of Kinkazi, locals told AP that Perenco buried chemicals in a nearby pit for years and they seeped into the soil and water. They displayed photos of what they said were toxic chemicals before they were buried and took reporters to the site where they said they’d been discarded. It took the community four years of protests and strikes before Perenco disposed of the chemicals elsewhere, they said.

Most villagers were reluctant to allow their names to be used, saying they feared a backlash from a company that is a source of casual labor jobs. Minutes after AP reporters arrived in one village, a resident said he received a call from a Perenco employee asking the purpose of the meeting.

One who was willing to speak was Gertrude Tshonde, a farmer, who said Perenco began dumping chemicals near Kinkazi in 2018 after a nearby village refused to allow it.

“People from Tshiende called us and asked if we were letting them throw waste in our area,” Tshonde said. “They said the waste was not good because it spreads underground and destroys the soil.”

Tshonde said her farm was behind the pit where chemicals were being thrown and her cassava began to rot.

AP could not independently verify that chemicals had been buried at the site.

Perenco spokesman Mark Antelme said the company doesn’t bury chemicals underground and that complaints about the site near Kinkazi were related to old dumping more than 20 years ago by a predecessor company. Antelme also said Perenco hasn’t moved operations closer to people’s homes. Instead, he said, some communities have gradually built closer to drilling sites.

Antelme also said the company’s flaring does not release methane into the atmosphere.

Perenco said it contributes significantly to Moanda and the country. It’s the sole energy provider in Moanda and invests about $250 million a year in education, road construction, training programs for medical staff and easier access to health care in isolated communities, the company said.

But residents say some of those benefits are overstated. A health clinic built by Perenco in one village has no medicine and few people can afford to pay to see the doctor, they said.

And when Perenco compensates for oil leak damages, locals say it’s not enough.

Tshonde, the farmer, said she was given about $200 when an oil spill doomed her mangoes, avocado and maize eight years ago. But her losses were more than twice that. Lasting damage to her land from Perenco’s operations has forced her to seek other means of income, such as cutting trees to sell as charcoal.

Many other farmers whose land has been degraded are doing the same, and tree cover is disappearing, she said.

Budimbu, the minister of hydrocarbons, said Congo’s laws prohibit drilling near homes and fields and oil operators are required to take the necessary measures to prevent and clean up oil pollution. But he didn’t specify what the government was doing in response to community complaints.

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Congo has struggled to secure bidders since launching the auction in July 2022. Three companies — two American and one Canadian — moved on three methane gas blocks in Lake Kivu, on the border with Rwanda. The government said in May that they were about to close those tenders, but did not respond to AP’s questions in January about whether those deals were finalized.

There are no known confirmed deals on the 27 oil blocks, and the deadline for expressions of interest has been extended through this year. Late last year, Perenco withdrew from bidding on two blocks in the province near where it currently operates. The company didn’t respond to questions from AP about why it withdrew, but Africa Intelligence reported that Perenco had found the blocks to have insufficient potential.

Perenco also didn’t respond when asked whether it was pursuing any other blocks.

Environmental experts say bidding may be slow because the country is a hard place to operate with rampant conflict, especially in the east where violence is surging and where some of the blocks are located.

Local advocacy groups say the government should fix problems with Perenco before bringing in other companies.

“We first need to see changes with the company we have here before we can trust other(s),” said Alphonse Khonde, the coordinator of the Group of Actors and Actions for Sustainable Development.

Congo also has a history of corruption. Little of its mineral wealth has trickled down in a country that is one of the world’s five poorest, with more than 60 percent of its 100 million people getting by on less than $2.15 a day, according to the World Bank.

And some groups have criticized what they see as lack of transparency on the process of offering blocks for auction, which amounts to “local communities being kept in the dark over plans to exploit their lands and resources,” said Joe Eisen, executive director of the Rainforest Foundation UK.

Some communities where the government has failed to provide jobs and basic services say they have few options but to gamble on allowing more drilling.

In Kimpozia village, near one of the areas up for auction, some 150 people live nestled in the forest without a school or hospital. Residents must hike steep hills and travel on motorbike for five hours to reach the nearest health clinic and walk several hours to school. Louis Wolombassa, the village chief, said the village needs road-building and other help.

“If they come and bring what we want, let them drill,” he said.

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Follow Sam Mednick on X: @sammednick

___

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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By Evens Sanon and Pierre-Richard Luxama,
The Associated Press

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Hundreds of inmates fled Haiti’s main prison after armed gangs stormed the facility in an overnight explosion of violence that engulfed much of the capital. At least five people were dead March 3.

The jailbreak marked a new low in Haiti’s downward spiral of violence and came as gangs step up coordinated attacks in Port-au-Prince, while embattled Prime Minister Ariel Henry is abroad trying to salvage support for a United Nations-backed security force to stabilize the country.

Three bodies with gunshot wounds lay at the prison entrance, which was wide open, with no guards in sight. Plastic sandals, clothing and electric fans were strewn across normally overcrowded concrete patios. In another neighborhood, the bloodied corpses of two men with their hands tied behind their backs lay face down as residents walked past roadblocks set up with burning tires.

Authorities had yet to provide an account of what happened. But Arnel Remy, a human rights attorney whose nonprofit works inside the prison, said on X, formerly Twitter, that fewer than 100 of the nearly 4,000 inmates remained behind bars.

Those choosing to stay included 18 former Colombian soldiers accused of working as mercenaries in the July 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse. On the night of March 2, several of the Colombians shared a video pleading for their lives.

“Please, please help us,” one of the men, Francisco Uribe, said in the message widely shared on social media. “They are massacring people indiscriminately inside the cells.”

On March 3, Uribe told The Associated Press: “I didn’t flee because I’m innocent.”

In the absence of official information, inmates’ family members rushed to the prison to check on loved ones.

“I don’t know whether my son is alive or not,” said Alexandre Jean as she roamed around the cells looking for any sign of him. “I don’t know what to do.”

The violence late March 2 appeared to be widespread, with several neighborhoods reporting gunfire.

There were reports of a jailbreak at a second Port-au-Prince prison containing around 1,400 inmates. Armed gangs also occupied and vandalized the nation’s top soccer stadium, taking one employee hostage for hours, the nation’s soccer federation said in a statement. Internet service for many residents was down as Haiti’s top mobile network said a fiber optic cable connection was slashed during the rampage.

In the space of less than two weeks, several state institutions have been attacked by the gangs, who are increasingly coordinating their actions and choosing once unthinkable targets like the Central Bank. After gangs opened fire at Haiti’s international airport last week, the U.S. Embassy said it was temporarily halting all official travel to the country. As part of coordinated attacks by gangs, four police officers were killed Feb. 29.

The epicenter of the latest violence was Haiti’s National Penitentiary, which is holding several gang leaders. Amid the exchange of gunfire, police appealed for assistance.

“They need help,” a union representing police said in a message on social media bearing an “SOS” emoji repeated eight times. “Let’s mobilize the army and the police to prevent the bandits from breaking into the prison.”

The clashes follow violent protests that turned deadlier in recent days as the prime minister went to Kenya to try and salvage a proposed U.N.-backed security mission in Haiti to be led by the East African country. Henry took over as prime minister following Moise’s assassination and has repeatedly postponed plans to hold parliamentary and presidential elections, which haven’t happened in almost a decade.

Haiti’s National Police has roughly 9,000 officers to provide security for more than 11 million people, according to the U.N. They are routinely overwhelmed and outgunned by gangs, which are estimated to control up to 80 percent of Port-au-Prince.

Jimmy Chérizier, a former elite police officer known as Barbecue who now runs a gang federation, has claimed responsibility for the surge in attacks. He said the goal was to capture Haiti’s police chief and government ministers and prevent Henry’s return.

The prime minister, a neurosurgeon, has shrugged off calls for his resignation and didn’t comment when asked if he felt it was safe to come home.

___

Associated Press writers Joshua Goodman in Miami and Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, contributed to this report.

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By Chinedu Asadu 
The Associated Press

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — West Africa’s regional bloc known as ECOWAS said Feb. 24 that it is lifting travel and economic sanctions imposed on Niger that were aimed at reversing last year’s coup in the country in a new push for dialogue as it also renewed calls on three junta-led nations to rescind their decision to quit the regional bloc.

The sanctions will be lifted with immediate effect, the president of the ECOWAS Commission, Omar Alieu Touray, said after the bloc’s meeting in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, that aimed to address existential threats facing the region as well as implore three junta-led nations that have quit the bloc to rescind their decision.

After elite soldiers toppled Niger’s democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26, neighbors shut their borders with Niger and more than 70 percent of its electricity, supplied by Nigeria, was cut off after financial and commercial transactions with West African countries were suspended. 

Niger’s assets in external banks were frozen and hundreds of millions of dollars in aid were withheld.

The sanctions, however, emboldened the junta in Niger and two other coup-hit countries of Mali and Burkina Faso, resulting in the three countries forming an alliance and announcing the unprecedented decision last month that they have quit the 15-member bloc. Analysts have called their withdrawal the bloc’s biggest crisis since its formation in 1975.

The lifting of the sanctions on Niger is “on purely humanitarian grounds” to ease the suffering caused as a result, Touray told reporters. “There are targeted (individual) sanctions as well as political sanctions that remain in force.”

None of the conditions earlier announced by ECOWAS for the lifting of the sanctions have been met, including its request for Niger’s deposed president to be released from custody as well as a short timeline for the junta in Niger to return power to civilians.

ECOWAS also lifted a ban on the recruitment of Malians in professional positions within ECOWAS, and resumed financial and economic sanctions with Guinea, also led by a military junta.

The bloc also invited officials of the junta-led countries to “technical and consultative meetings of ECOWAS as well as all security-related meetings,” a major shift from its usual tradition of blocking coup-hit countries from major meetings.

“The authority (of ECOWAS) further urges the countries to reconsider the decision (to quit the bloc) in view of the benefits that the ECOWAS member states and their citizens enjoy in the community,” Touray said.

The Feb. 24 summit came at a critical time when the 49-year-old bloc’s future is threatened as it struggles with possible disintegration and a recent surge in coups fueled by discontent over the performance of elected governments whose citizens barely benefit from mineral resources.

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, current chairman of ECOWAS, said at the start of the summit that the bloc “must reexamine our current approach to the quest for constitutional order in our member states.”

ECOWAS has emerged as West Africa’s top political and economic authority, but it has struggled to resolve the region’s most pressing challenge: The Sahel, the vast, arid expanse south of the Sahara Desert that stretches across several West African countries, faces growing violence from Islamic extremists and rebels, which in turn has caused soldiers to depose elected governments.

The nine coups in West and Central Africa since 2020 followed a similar pattern, with coup leaders accusing governments of failing to provide security and good governance. Most of the coup-hit countries are also among the poorest and least developed in the world.

The sanctions against Niger and the threat of military intervention to reverse the coup were “the likely triggers to an inevitable outcome” of the three countries’ withdrawal from the bloc, said Karim Manuel, an analyst for the Middle East and Africa with the Economist Intelligence Unit.

With their withdrawal, “the West African region will be increasingly fragmented and divided (while) the new alliance between Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger fragments the West African bloc and reflects an axis of opposition to the traditional structures that have underpinned the region for decades,” Manuel added.

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By Chinedu Asadu,
The Associated Press

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigerians are facing one of the West African nation’s worst economic crises in years triggered by surging inflation, the result of monetary policies that have pushed the currency to an all-time low against the dollar. The situation has provoked anger and protests across the country.

The latest government statistics released Feb. 15 showed the inflation rate in January rose to 29.9 percent, its highest since 1996, mainly driven by food and non-alcoholic beverages. Nigeria’s currency, the naira, further plummeted to 1,524 to $1 on Feb. 16, reflecting a 230 percent loss of value in the last year.

“My family is now living one day at a time (and) trusting God,” said trader Idris Ahmed, whose sales at a clothing store in Nigeria’s capital of Abuja have declined from an average of $46 daily to $16.

The plummeting currency worsens an already bad situation, further eroding incomes and savings. It squeezes millions of Nigerians already struggling with hardship due to government reforms including the removal of gas subsidies that resulted in gas prices tripling.

A SNAPSHOT OF NIGERIA’S ECONOMY

With a population of more than 210 million people, Nigeria is not just Africa’s most populous country but also the continent’s largest economy. Its gross domestic product is driven mainly by services such as information technology and banking, followed by manufacturing and processing businesses and then agriculture.

The challenge is that the economy is far from sufficient for Nigeria’s booming population, relying heavily on imports to meet the daily needs of its citizens from cars to cutlery. So it is easily affected by external shocks such as the parallel foreign exchange market that determines the price of goods and services.

Nigeria’s economy is heavily dependent on crude oil, its largest foreign exchange earner. When crude prices plunged in 2014, authorities used its scarce foreign reserves to try to stabilize the naira amid multiple exchange rates. The government also shut down the land borders to encourage local production and limited access to the dollar for importers of certain items.

The measures, however, further destabilized the naira by facilitating a booming parallel market for the dollar. Crude oil sales that boost foreign exchange earnings have also dropped because of chronic theft and pipeline vandalism.

MONETARY REFORMS POORLY IMPLEMENTED

Shortly after taking the reins of power in May last year, President Bola Tinubu took bold steps to fix the ailing economy and attract investors. He announced the end of costly decadeslong gas subsidies, which the government said were no longer sustainable. Meanwhile, the country’s multiple exchange rates were unified to allow market forces to determine the rate of the local naira against the dollar, which in effect devalued the currency.

Analysts say there were no adequate measures to contain the shocks that were bound to come as a result of reforms including the provision of a subsidized transportation system and an immediate increase in wages.

So the more than 200 percent increase in gas prices caused by the end of the gas subsidy started to have a knock-on effect on everything else, especially because locals rely heavily on gas-powered generators to light their households and run their businesses.

WHY IS THE NAIRA PLUMMETING IN VALUE?

Under the previous leadership of the Central Bank of Nigeria, policymakers tightly controlled the rate of the naira against the dollar, thereby forcing individuals and businesses in need of dollars to head to the black market, where the currency was trading at a much lower rate.

There was also a huge backlog of accumulated foreign exchange demand on the official market — estimated to be $7 billion — due in part to limited dollar flows as foreign investments into Nigeria and the country’s sale of crude oil have declined.

Authorities said a unified exchange rate would mean easier access to the dollar, thereby encouraging foreign investors and stabilizing the naira. But that has yet to happen because inflows have been poor. Instead, the naira has further weakened as it continues to depreciate against the dollar.

WHAT ARE AUTHORITIES DOING?

CBN Gov. Olayemi Cardoso has said the bank has cleared $2.5 billion of the foreign exchange backlog out of the $7 billion that had been outstanding. The bank, however, found that $2.4 billion of that backlog were false claims that it would not clear, Cardoso said, leaving a balance of about $2.2 billion, which he said will be cleared “soon.”

Tinubu, meanwhile, has directed the release of food items such as cereals from government reserves among other palliatives to help cushion the effect of the hardship. The government has also said it plans to set up a commodity board to help regulate the soaring prices of goods and services.

On Feb. 15, the Nigerian leader met with state governors to deliberate on the economic crisis, part of which he blamed on the large-scale hoarding of food in some warehouses.

“We must ensure that speculators, hoarders and rent seekers are not allowed to sabotage our efforts in ensuring the wide availability of food to all Nigerians,” Tinubu said.

By the next morning, local media were reporting that stores were being sealed for hoarding and charging unfair prices.

HOW ARE NIGERIANS COPING WITH TOUGH TIMES?

The situation is at its worst in conflict zones in northern Nigeria, where farming communities are no longer able to cultivate what they eat as they are forced to flee violence. Pockets of protests have broken out in past weeks but security forces have been quick to impede them, even making arrests in some cases.

In the economic hub of Lagos and other major cities, there are fewer cars and more legs on the roads as commuters are forced to trek to work. The prices of everything from food to household items increase daily.

“Even to eat now is a problem,” said Ahmed in Abuja. “But what can we do?”

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By Carlos Mureithi
The Associated Press

ABERDARE RANGE, Kenya (AP) — In a dense layer of green thousands of feet above sea level, cedar, podo and hegeina trees pattern the landscape, thick moss hanging from their branches and feathery lichen attached to their barks. Numerous streams and rivers flow between them, plunging over steep waterfalls. Buffaloes, bushbucks and monkeys roam in search of pastures.

But it may not remain the same.

The Kenyan government wants to build a 32-mile tarmac road through what has been suggested as a UNESCO World Heritage Site to connect two counties, and the country’s environmental agency, the National Environment Management Authority, issued an environmental impact assessment license for the project last month. The project would cut through 15 miles of closed canopy forest and likely increase vehicle traffic into animal paths.

This is the Aberdare Range, a forest and mountain range in central Kenya that’s one of the country’s main water sources and a key wildlife habitat.

Residents are optimistic the project could improve their lives. But scientists and conservationists fear irreparable damage to the ecosystem. Threatened tree species could get cut down, animals could get hit by vehicles, the road would cut across moorlands — fragile areas for water catchment — and invasive species and pollutants could enter the park through vehicles.

Those in favor of the project, including Kenyan President William Ruto, say it carries economic benefit, arguing that by directly connecting the agricultural counties of Nyeri and Nyandarua, the road would increase trade and uplift livelihoods. Most Kenyans live on a few dollars a day, and in the rural, agricultural areas where the roads will connect, the proposed project has supporters.

To transport farm produce and other goods from Nyeri town in Nyeri county to Ndunyu Njeru town in Nyandarua county and back, Francis Kibue, a lorry driver based in Nyeri, circumvents the Aberdare Range using a tarmac road, covering a distance of 118 miles. But the road through the forest and national park would reduce the journey to 40 miles.

“If you use the new road, you can even do two trips. Because you’ll go, arrive, come back, get more goods, and go back,” he said.

The proposed tarmac road, named Ihithe–Ndunyu Njeru Road, would upgrade a backbreaking dirt road that’s usually used by visitors to the forest and park but rarely by the general public.

In Ndunyu Njeru, a small farming town that’s dotted with single-story buildings, chief Grace Ngige said she has “no objection to the road. It’s development.” She added a raft of reasons: increased trade between Nyeri and Nyandarua, better access to the Nyeri market for farmers, less distance to cover by students who study in Nyeri, and more tourists from the east for Nyandarua.

In both towns, operators of matatus, vans that transport people, are excited about the prospects of the road, saying it would open up new routes on both sides, bringing in more business.

“We feel very happy, and we thank the country’s leaders for coming together and deciding to open this road,” said matatu operator Patrick Maina in Ndunyu Njeru.

President Ruto has firmly pushed for the construction to start. On different occasions since taking office in 2022, he has called out opposition to the construction plan, insisting that the project proceed before receiving environmental approval by NEMA and objections by conservationists.

“Do you want us to build this road or to wait until the judiciary tells us to do so?” he asked at an event last month, before instructing an official of the roads ministry to allocate funds for the construction.

Environmentalists and political analysts say that is tantamount to political interference and may have affected NEMA’s independence in decision-making.

In response to written questions, Ali Mohamed, Kenya’s special climate envoy, said the president is “committed to sustainability and gives priority to matters climate action and environmental conservation.”

The proposed construction also brings attention to national concern on the president’s recent trend of defying and criticizing courts and other independent bodies that make decisions against his administration’s plans. He has repeatedly threatened to remove judges he accuses of frustrating his projects.

“It is simply intimidation,” said Herman Manyara, a Nairobi-based political analyst. “Once you have established institutions to ensure regulations are followed, those institutions must be respected.”

The license issued by NEMA since Ruto’s comments has given environmentalists cause for concern. It’s valid for two months, “time within which the project shall commence,” it says.

NEMA says the road width should be reduced from 40 meters (131 feet) to 25 meters (82 feet). But conservationists say any upgrade of the existing road to make it open to all traffic would be detrimental. 

According to the license, 75 hectares (185 acres) of bamboo, 14 hectares (35 acres) of montane forest and 14 hectares of moorlands would be destroyed in the construction.

Conservationists have long called for the Kenya National Highways Authority — who first proposed the road in 2009 — to find alternative routes across and around the Aberdare Range that have minimum environmental impact. Some have set up online petitions.

As one of Kenya’s five major water towers – places that absorb and store water naturally then release it into rivers and lakes – the Aberdare Range provides most of the water used in the capital, Nairobi, and also supplies water to the Seven Forks hydroelectric power stations, key generators of electricity in the country.

The road may attract human settlement, and with time, fires and grazing would suppress the growth of the vegetation that enables the Aberdare Range to catch rain, said Simon Onywere, associate professor of environmental planning and management at Kenyatta University. The potential damage would take decades to reverse, he said.

“Water is everything. If we live via water, we must not add something that reduces our ability to use it,” he said.

The forest reserve also has indigenous trees such as the sycamore fig and African cherry, and threatened species like parasol tree, Monterey Pine and African cherry. It has some of the fewer than 100 remaining critically endangered mountain bongos in the world, alongside rhinos, elephants, buffaloes, lions, leopards and others.

The 296-square-mile Aberdare National Park also attracts thousands of local residents and foreigners who pay park fees to see animals roam. Tourism is a major income earner for the country, with hundreds of thousands of people employed in the sector.

“This is the one road that a lot of people that come here to see the wildlife will take,” said Isabelle Aron, a tourist visiting the park. “Turning that commercial is going to be taking away from why people come to the Aberdares.”

The moorland areas where the road would pass through have large populations of elephants that “cross almost all over,” said Christian Lambrechts, executive director of Rhino Ark, a conservation trust, adding that it would destroy their habitats and cause disturbance to them during and after construction, endangering both the animals and road users.

Conservationists are urging for development not to come at the cost of the environment.

“The disconnect between man and the environment,” said Onywere, “is that he’s not able to see what the environment is doing for him.”

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Associated Press journalist Brian Inganga contributed to this report.

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This version corrects to say the Aberdares have been suggested as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

__

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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By Ashleigh Fields
AFRO Assistant Editor
afields@afro.com

South African citizens are bracing for a new wave of change as a cluster of political parties emerge ahead of election day, set for 90 days after the country’s current Parliament session comes to a close in May.  

Presidential candidates hope to overturn the incumbent African National Congress (ANC) in the 2024 election. The group, known for successfully propelling Nelson Mandela into power, has been the reigning dominant party for an uninhibited 30 years since the nation’s transition from apartheid to one majority rule in 1994. However, the last three decades have been filled with corruption, crippling unemployment and pleas to modify the current power grid to prevent widespread outages. 

Mmusi Maimane has solidified himself as a strong candidate, willing to leave no stone unturned in his campaign bid. Maimane traveled to Washington, D.C. on Jan. 23 to converse with elected officials in the United States.

“My main goal in coming to the U.S. is to build international solidarity and also for people to recognize that the story in South Africa is not just one of farm herders or load shedding, but the opportunities that are there,” said Maimane. “Topics such as AGOA (African Growth and Opportunity Act) and political change in South Africa are important for the U.S.”

“I often find the U.S.only listens to certain voices and fails to recognize the multi complexity that exists in what South Africa has,” he continued.

During his time in the country, Maimane visited the foreign embassy of South Africa, met with Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Massachusetts Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll (D) and with Black leaders in Boston to see the progress they are making on creating economic and cultural development. He is adamant about learning how Blacks are overcoming oppression in America and eager to bring solutions back home.

“Harvard just released a report now that demonstrates the fact that the conditions of particularly Black South Africans in spatial relations still remain the same as what they were during apartheid. Now, that is a function of what the last 30 years of mismanagement of the economy by the current government have meant,” said the presidential nominee.

The report entitled, “Growth Through Inclusion in South Africa” was released in 2023 by Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and highlights the country’s stagnant economy, political gridlock and lack of government reform throughout 170 pages. 

“It is painfully clear that South Africa is performing poorly, exacerbating problems such as inequality and exclusion,” says the report. “South Africa is facing the economic consequences of collapsing state capacity.”

According to the World Bank, the disproportionate wealth gap between White and Black South Africans establishes the country as the most unequal society on the planet. Ten percent of the population accounts for more than 80 percent of the nation’s wealth. 

The rising concerns echoed by cries for equity sparked the creation of Build One South Africa, a political party founded by Maimane in 2022. Over the course of the past two years, the group has increased access to water in small communities, supported young entrepreneurs and invested in education for the youth. 

“I felt I needed to pursue a vision upon which South Africans together regardless of race could prosper together and live together peacefully is what our reason for existence is,” Maimane shared. “We needed a vision on the ballot that didn’t seek to polarize, that didn’t seek to tell people that they go to the ballot to express their race or their economics, but they put it as a referendum on their future.”

As the former leader for the Democratic Alliance, the ANC’s largest opposing party, Maimane, who was a presidential candidate in 2019, described his tangible approaches to solving issues with energy, infrastructure and taming the recent spike in unemployment which currently ranks number one in the world.

“Load shedding is the outstripping of demand surpassing supply. South Africa’s supply issues have got a number of complications in that, one, we have a coal based power supply, and we need to transition,” Maimane told the AFRO, proposing that solar panels and small modular reactors take its place.

“I do think that there needs to be an introduction of a national venture capital fund that allows for those young people who want to be entrepreneurs to become one. Let’s help fund their projects,” he continued. “South Africa’s GDP growth isn’t going to come out of big industry only, it has to come out of micro entrepreneurs and innovators going forward. We want to be scaling them up so that they can be involved in coding and creating the Silicon Valley that South Africa and Africa can have.”

In terms of global trade, the commonwealth is well endowed. The United States and South Africa boast one of the largest trade relationships in the world, with bilateral investment and trade totaling $1.6 trillion annually according to the U.S. embassy. 

“Africa has already got many of the resources that the world needs. You can’t go into battery technology without depending on minerals that come from Africa. The dilemma for Africa has been the exporting of raw materials and the purchase,” said Maimane. “I do think that as far as innovation, as far as technology is going, Africa holds the key to the future. Given that 1.4 billion people by 2040 will live within the continent. And the majority of which are at a median age at 23, which means these are young people in the main.” 

As his election bid continues, Maimane is set on garnering international support not only for his nation but the continent as a whole.

“We need to recognize the opportunity that sits in Africa,” Maimane concluded. “If we deal with some of these impediments– whether it’s financing infrastructure growth– we can achieve a new point of success in Africa that can give what Steve Biko so aptly described as ‘a more human face to the world.’”

At this time, challengers for the position of president remain open with the following parties expected to submit candidates: the African National Congress; Democratic Alliance; Economic Freedom Fighters; Inkatha Freedom Party, Freedom Front Plus; African Christian Democratic Party; United Democratic Movement; African Transformation Movement; Good; National Freedom Party; African Independent Congress; Congress of the People (COPE) and Pan-Africanist Congress of Azania.

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By Seung Min Kim
The  Associated Press

DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. (AP) — Standing solemnly under gray skies, President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden joined grieving families at Dover Air Force Base on Feb. 2 to witness the return of three American service members killed in last weekend’s drone attack in Jordan.

It’s a ritual honoring fallen troops that is one of a commander-in-chief’ s most somber duties.

With his gloved right hand over his heart, Biden looked on as the three transfer cases draped with American flags were carried the short distance from a C-5 galaxy military transport aircraft to a waiting van. The only words spoken during the 15-minute dignified transfer, aside from the commands as each case was carried, were from an Air Force chaplain’s brief prayer, asking God for “grace and mercy.”

The first transfer case held the remains of Sgt. William Jerome Rivers of Carrollton, Georgia. The movement was then repeated for Sgt. Breonna Moffett of Savannah and Sgt. Kennedy Sanders of Waycross. Once the seven-member, white-gloved carry team — composed of members of the U.S. Army, in which Rivers, Moffett and Sanders served — placed the last of the cases in the van, they offered a final salute as the remains were transported to the mortuary facility at Dover.

Before the dignified transfer, the Bidens met privately with the families at the Center for Families of the Fallen on the base. The president had also spoken with them earlier this week to offer his condolences.

“This is not the homecoming for Kennedy I dreamed about,” Sanders’ father, Shawn, wrote in a Facebook posting on Feb. 2. “Now, I can’t stop reliving this nightmare.”

In the post, Shawn Sanders said that “kindness and outpouring of love” was “the only thing holding me up” since his daughter’s death.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who walked with the assistance of a cane, and Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were among the Defense Department and administration officials who joined the Bidens for the dignified transfer, a solemn movement conducted for U.S. service members killed in action. Georgia Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, as well as Rep. Buddy Carter, who represents the home district of Moffett and Sanders, and Delaware Sens. Tom Carper and Chris Coons attended.

The soldiers were returned to American soil shortly before the U.S. military responded to the deadly drone attack that American officials say was carried out by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed militias that includes the group Kataib Hezbollah. The U.S. began a wave of retaliatory airstrikes Feb. 2, targeting dozens of sites in Iraq and Syria used by Iran-backed militias.

In a statement later on Feb. 2, Biden warned that the U.S. response will “continue at times and places of our choosing.”

“Let all those who might seek to do us harm know this: If you harm an American, we will respond,” the president said.

Rivers, Moffett and Sanders were assigned to the 926th Engineer Battalion, 926th Engineer Brigade, based at Fort Moore, Ga. Sanders and Moffett were posthumously promoted to sergeant rank.

The deaths were the first U.S. fatalities blamed on Iran-backed militia groups, who for months have been intensifying their attacks on American forces in the region following the onset of the Israel-Hamas war in October. Separately, two Navy SEALs died during a January mission to board an unflagged ship that was carrying illicit Iranian-made weapons to Yemen.

“These service members embodied the very best of our nation: Unwavering in their bravery. Unflinching in their duty. Unbending in their commitment to our country — risking their own safety for the safety of their fellow Americans, and our allies and partners with whom we stand in the fight against terrorism,” Biden said earlier this week. “It is a fight we will not cease.”

Rivers, Sanders and Moffett hailed from different corners of Georgia but were brought together in the same company of Army engineers. Sanders and Moffett, in particular, were close friends who regularly popped in on each other’s phone calls with their families back home.

Moffett had turned 23 years old just nine days before she was killed. She had joined the Army Reserves in 2019, but also worked for a home care provider to cook, clean and run errands for people with disabilities.

Sanders, 24, worked at a pharmacy while studying to become an X-ray technician and coached children’s soccer and basketball. She had volunteered for the deployment because she wanted to see different parts of the world, according to her parents.

Rivers, who was 46 years old and went by Jerome, joined the Army Reserve in New Jersey in 2011 and served a nine-month tour in Iraq in 2018.

The dignified transfer, in recent years, has become relatively uncommon as the U.S. withdrew from conflicts abroad, most notably the war in Afghanistan where U.S. involvement lasted two decades.

According to the Defense Department, no other service members have been killed as a result of hostile action since 2021. Thirteen service members were killed during the fall of Kabul in Afghanistan, when a suicide bomber at the airport’s Abbey Gate killed 11 Marines, one sailor and one soldier. Nine service members were killed as a result of hostile action in 2020.

The Feb. 2 ceremony is the second dignified transfer Biden attended as president. In August 2021, he took part in the ritual for the 13 service members killed during the suicide bombing in Kabul. As vice president, Biden in 2016 attended a dignified transfer for two U.S. soldiers killed in a suicide blast at Bagram Airfield. He also attended one as a senator in 2008 after a family requested his presence and the Pentagon gave him permission to do so.

The U.S. government said this week that the Iran-backed militants had planned, resourced and facilitated the overnight drone attack. More than 40 troops were also injured in the assault at Tower 22, a secretive U.S. military desert outpost whose location allows U.S. forces to infiltrate and quietly leave Syria.

___

Associated Press writers Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, and Aamer Madhani and Tara Copp in Washington contributed to this report.

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By Dánica Coto and Evens Sanon
The Associated Press

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Radio stations across Haiti got jammed with calls just hours after a court in Kenya blocked the deployment of a U.N.-backed police force to help fight gangs in the troubled Caribbean country.

Many callers wondered and demanded: What’s next?

Few know.

Uncertainty and fear have been spreading since the Jan. 26 ruling, with violence reaching new records as gangs tighten their grip on Haiti’s capital and beyond.

“Absent a robust external mission that would be deployed very soon, we are facing quite a tragic scenario in Haiti,” warned Diego Da Rin of the International Crisis Group.

Gangs that control an estimated 80 percent of Haiti’s capital have in recent weeks attacked and seized power of previously peaceful communities, killing and injuring dozens, leading to widespread concerns that they will soon control all of Port-au-Prince.

The number of people reported killed last year in Haiti more than doubled to nearly 4,500, and the number of reported kidnappings surged by more than 80 percent to nearly 2,500 cases, according to the most recent U.N. statistics.

Meanwhile, Haiti’s National Police is losing officers at “an alarming rate,” while those still in service continue to be overwhelmed by gangs, according to a U.N. report released this week. More than 1,600 officers left the department last year, and another 48 were reported killed.

In addition, equipment sent by the international community to help bolster an underfunded police department has crumpled beneath heavy fights with gangs. Only 21 of 47 armored vehicles were operational as of mid-November, with 19 “severely damaged during anti-gang operations or broken down,” according to the U.N. report. The remaining seven vehicles “are permanently disabled,” it stated.

“The situation has gone overboard. Enough is enough,” said a man who identified himself as Pastor Malory Laurent when he called Radio Caraibes to vent about the Jan. 26 ruling. “Every day, you feel there is no hope.”

Kenya’s government said it would appeal the ruling. Still, it’s unclear how long that might take and whether other countries who pledged to send smaller forces to boost the multinational mission would consider going at it alone.

Among those who planned to send forces were the Bahamas, Jamaica, Belize, Burundi, Chad and Senegal.

“All I will say at this time is that this is a major setback for the people of Haiti who yearn to have a stable country to live in,” said Roosevelt Skerrit, Dominica prime minister and former head of a Caribbean trade bloc known as Caricom that has sent recent delegations to Haiti to help resolve the unrest. “The decision of the Kenyan court warrants an emergency meeting of the friends of Haiti to determine with the Haitian people the plan B.”

Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis did not return messages for comment, nor did the office of Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness.

Hugh Todd, Guyana’s foreign minister, told The Associated Press that the trade bloc will likely meet soon to discuss the implications of the ruling as it awaits word from Jamaica.

“We will have to see if there is any legal space for us to operate,” he said, referring to whether there are any other legal options that might allow Kenya and other countries to move forward.

U.N. officials have not commented since the court ruling.

Edwin Paraison, a former Haitian diplomat and executive director of a foundation that seeks to strengthen ties between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, said he would be surprised if international leaders didn’t have a plan B.

He said the ruling, however, would allow Haiti to implement its own solutions to gang violence, and that he believes it has enough resources to do so.

“One entity that has never been mentioned, and we don’t understand why it’s never been mentioned, is Haiti’s military, even if it’s at an embryonic stage,” he said.

Paraison noted that more than 600 soldiers who recently received training in Mexico could work alongside with police.

“We have to look at the resources we have at the local level to deal with this situation,” he said.

But such resources might not be enough, said André Joseph, 50, who owns a small convenience store in downtown Port-au-Prince, one of the more dangerous areas of the capital.

The people who live and work around his store are very protective of him and his business, he said.

“I hope that someone can fight for them also,” Joseph said. “The international force would be the best thing for these people to have here, and for me, too.”

But in the absence of one, he would like to see the money set aside for the multinational mission go to Haiti instead so it can rebuild its own forces and fight gangs.

Many Haitians grumbled about the Jan. 26 ruling, including Marjorie Lamour, a 39-year-old mother of two who sells women’s lingerie out of a small container she carries with her. She is forced to keep her load light in case she must run from gangs.

“Some days I’m here all day, and then there’s a shooting and I’m running, and I come back home without a cent,” said Lamour, who called the ruling “a major crime” against Haitians.

She noted that she and her family have been forced to flee two different homes already because of gang violence, which has left more than 310,000 Haitians homeless.

“I don’t want to have to run a third time,” she said, adding that she doesn’t make enough money to properly care for her children. “Feeding my kids a meal once a day is hard enough. I hope God can do something for us because no one is doing anything.”

Da Rin, with International Crisis Group, noted that one silver lining is how the mission backed by the U.N. Security Council did not specify that Kenya would be the one to lead it. He said it opens the possibility that another country could take the reins without additional meetings and approval from the council.

As Haiti awaits the possibility of a plan B, Da Rin said he worries that the situation could only worsen, especially given the recent arrival of former Haitian rebel leader Guy Philippe, who has not supported the Kenyan-led mission.

“With this news, the desperation of Haitians to see a way out of the security crisis increases,” he said. “They may make some slightly radical decisions.”

__

Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Associated Press reporter Bert Wilkinson in Georgetown, Guyana, contributed.

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By Ben Jealous

What if the answer to undoing the harm wrought by the demise of America’s manufacturing sector was right in front of us?

An economic boom waiting to happen, to rebuild communities and revitalize our beaten-down working class…and, this time, without the rampant industrial pollution that fuels climate change and sickens our people…

It is not too good to be true. But we must seize the moment if we do not want it to pass us by.

Last week, I visited the Qcells solar panel plant in Georgia. It is the largest facility of its kind in the Western Hemisphere. And as the world transitions away from fossil fuels and to renewable energy sources, it represents the opportunity we have in front of us.

Solar manufacturing jobs in the U.S. are already on pace to more than triple from about 35,000 in 2023 to 120,000 by 2033. We can do even better – by expanding the energy market and domesticating the solar supply chain. The new green economy should mean an American century that rivals or even surpasses America’s global success in the 20th century. The Biden-Harris administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) gives us the tools to turn this dream into reality. But the private sector needs to do its part, with investments that are both patriotic and profitable – not to mention planet-saving.

My visit came one day after Qcells announced a massive deal to supply Microsoft with 12 gigawatts of solar modules and Engineering, Procurement and Construction services over eight years. That’s enough energy to power more than 1.8 million homes annually. And it will help Microsoft meet its goal of being carbon negative, water positive and zero waste by 2030.

More than that, it’s an investment in America.

According to the energy research firm Wood Mackenzie, China will control more than 80 percent of the world’s solar manufacturing capacity through 2026. This is the future of energy. And the United States needs to catch up.

The goal should be to scale up investments like Microsoft’s as rapidly as possible, and bring the entire manufacturing lifecycle for solar technology to the US. And to do it in a way that pushes the energy utilities that power the factories towards clean fuel sources. 

How we power the supply chain is as important as where it lives. Manufacturing clean energy tech domestically can create a virtuous cycle in which grids are increasingly powered by clean sources. That means lower energy bills and cleaner air to breathe.

The IRA ensures it is not just corporations and utilities that are in the game. Billions of dollars are available for local community organizations, cities, schools, and homeowners to spur growth in our domestic clean energy industry.

Despite the “drill, baby, drill” political rhetoric from the oil and gas industry and the politicians in its pockets, elected representatives of both parties understand damn well what these jobs mean for their states and districts. Trust that most lawmakers from Georgia and the other states now being referred to as the “Battery Belt” are eager to reap the IRA’s economic benefits when it comes to clean energy manufacturing. 

New Years Day marked the 30th anniversary of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which contributed to the obliteration of America’s manufacturing sector throughout the ‘90s and early 2000s. What ensued in the wake of those lost jobs, and the devastation of the communities that relied on them, was much of the social, economic, and political strife plaguing our country today.

In this post-NAFTA moment, America can reassert its global leadership in manufacturing the technologies on which the world runs. It will mean an explosion of new American jobs and a windfall for American consumers – who will save money and get other benefits from domesticating supply chains. It will also accelerate the end of fossil fuels. And the protections and incentives in the IRA that focus on equity will help ensure this new energy economy reflects our values, and that marginalized communities do not get left behind.



Another industry that uniquely helped establish America’s pride, identity, and economic might in the last century – the automobile industry – should also be paying attention. Because they have some catching up to do as well. But that is a topic for another column. Watch this space.  

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By Mogomotsi Magome
The Associated Press

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa’s government announced Jan. 19 it will challenge the auctioning of dozens of artifacts belonging to the nation’s anti-apartheid stalwart Nelson Mandela, saying the items are of historical significance and should remain in the country.

The 75 artifacts belonging to Mandela, the country’s first democratically elected president who spent 27 years in jail for his anti-apartheid struggle against the White minority government, are to go under the hammer on Feb. 22 in a deal between New York-based auctioneers Guernsey’s and Mandela’s family, mainly his daughter Dr. Makaziwe Mandela.

The items include Nelson Mandela’s iconic Ray-Ban sunglasses and “Madiba” shirts, personal letters he wrote from prison, as well as a blanket gifted to him by former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle.

A champagne cooler that was a present from former President Bill Clinton is also on the list, with bidding for it starting at $24,000. Also among the items is Mandela’s ID “book,” his identification document following his 1993 release from prison.

Last month, the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria gave the go-ahead for the auction after dismissing an interdict by the South African Heritage Resources Agency, which is responsible for the protection of the country’s cultural heritage.

The government said Jan. 19 it will back an appeal by the agency.

South African minister of arts and culture, Zizi Kodwa, said the government wants to “preserve the legacy of former President Mandela and ensure that his life’s work” remains in the country.

On its website, Guernsey’s says the auction “will be nothing short of remarkable,” and that proceeds will be used for the building of the Mandela Memorial Garden in Qunu, the village where he is buried.

“To imagine actually owning an artifact touched by this great leader is almost unthinkable,” it says.

In an interview with the New York Times published Jan. 18, Makaziwe Mandela said her father wanted the former Transkei region where he was born and raised to benefit economically from tourism.

“I want other people in the world to have a piece of Nelson Mandela — and to remind them, especially in the current situation, of compassion, of kindness, of forgiveness,” she told the Times.

Reports of the auction have sparked heated debates on social media platforms in South Africa, with many criticizing the auctioning of what they consider to be the nation’s cultural heritage.

The planned auction comes as many African countries seek to have treasured African artworks and artifacts that were removed from the continent during colonial years returned to Africa.

Most recently, Nigeria and Germany signed a deal for the return of hundreds of artifacts known as the Benin Bronzes. The deal followed French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision in 2021 to sign over 26 pieces known as the Abomey Treasures, priceless artworks of the 19th century Dahomey kingdom in present-day Benin.

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By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia

(NNPA NEWSWIRE) — The World Health Organization (WHO) reported a staggering total of nearly 10,000 global deaths in December, raising alarm bells about a worsening worldwide health crisis stemming from the continued threat of COVID-19. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also noted pressing humanitarian crises in Gaza, Sudan and Ethiopia that exacerbates the ongoing challenges related to COVID-19.

While COVID-19 is no longer classified as a global health emergency, the virus remains a formidable threat, Ghebreyeus warned. He said newer cases, driven by holiday gatherings and the prevalence of the JN.1 variant, led to a 42 percent increase in hospitalizations and a 62 percent rise in ICU admissions.

Ghebreyeus urged governments to maintain surveillance and sequencing and ensure access to tests, treatments and vaccines. He also noted other emergencies the WHO is responding to, including in Gaza, Ukraine, Ethiopia and Sudan.

Ghebreyesus called it “indescribable” that “this Sunday marks the 100th day of the conflict in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory.”

He said Gaza continues to face an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe to go along with rising health concerns borne out from the pandemic. The conflict has displaced nearly 90 percent of Gaza’s 1.9 million residents, who continue to endure “excruciating conditions with long queues for limited water and nutritionally inadequate bread,” the director general lamented.

He said only 15 hospitals are partially operational, and the absence of clean water and sanitation creates a breeding ground for diseases. WHO’s humanitarian aid efforts have encountered “insurmountable challenges” due to intense bombardment, movement restrictions, fuel shortages, and communication breakdowns, Ghebreyeus stated.

“People are standing in line for hours for a small amount of water, which may not be clean, or bread, which alone is not sufficiently nutritious,” he said. “The lack of clean water and sanitation and overcrowded living conditions are creating the ideal environment for diseases to spread. We have the supplies, the teams and the plans in place. What we don’t have is access.”

Further, the director general stressed the need for the release of hostages and an imperative for all parties to uphold international humanitarian law, ensuring healthcare protection. He also sounded an alarm about the ongoing situation in Sudan, a nation that’s grappling with nine months of conflict where there’s escalating violence and mass displacement.

Ghebreyeus said Sudanese residents have also experienced the rampant spread of diseases, including cholera. The WHO temporarily suspended operations in Gezira due to security concerns, disrupting the annual harvest and heightening the risk of food insecurity. Even before the conflict, Ghebreyeus said Sudan faced food shortages, intensifying the crisis for vulnerable groups, particularly children under five and pregnant or breastfeeding women.

Meanwhile, in Ethiopia, the north-western region of Amhara is in the grip of a severe health crisis due to ongoing conflict since April 2023, he said. Communication challenges, damaged health facilities, and restricted movement impede humanitarian assistance. Conflict, drought, and displacement exacerbate hunger and disease outbreaks, with cholera, malaria, measles, leishmaniasis and dengue spreading. Urgent access to affected areas is crucial, the director general affirmed.

Finally, Ghebreyeus insisted that just as governments and individuals take precautions against other diseases, “we must all continue to take precautions against COVID-19.” The WHO plans to release its Health Emergency Appeal for 2024, outlining how much there’s a need to protect the health of the most vulnerable people in 41 emergencies globally.

“In 2024, we aim to reach almost 90 million people with lifesaving support,” Ghebreyeus declared. “The coming year will be a test for humanity, a test of whether we give into division, suspicion and narrow nationalism, or whether we are able to rise above our differences and seek the common good.”

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By Mike Corder and Raf Casert
The Associated Press

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Accused of committing genocide against Palestinians, Israel insisted at the United Nations’ highest court Jan. 12 that its war in Gaza was a legitimate defense of its people and that it was Hamas militants who were guilty of genocide.

Israel described the allegations leveled by South Africa as hypocritical and said one of the biggest cases ever to come before an international court reflected a world turned upside down. Israeli leaders defend their air and ground offensive in Gaza as a legitimate response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, when militants stormed through Israeli communities, killing some 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostage.

Israeli legal advisor Tal Becker told a packed auditorium at the ornate Palace of Peace in The Hague that the country is fighting a “war it did not start and did not want.”

“In these circumstances, there can hardly be a charge more false and more malevolent than the allegation against Israel of genocide,” he added, noting that the horrible suffering of civilians in war was not enough to level that charge.

Later Jan. 12, Germany said it wants to intervene in the proceedings on Israel’s behalf, saying there was “no basis whatsoever” for an accusation of genocide against Israel.

“Hamas terrorists brutally attacked, tortured, killed and kidnapped innocent people in Israel,” German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said in a statement. “Since then, Israel has been defending itself against the inhumane attack by Hamas.”

Under the court’s rules, if Germany files a declaration of intervention in the case, it will be able to make legal arguments on behalf of Israel.

Germany would be allowed to intervene at the merits phase of the case to address how the genocide convention, drawn up in 1948 following World War II, should be interpreted, according to international lawyer Balkees Jarrah, associate director of the international justice program at Human Rights Watch.

“That would come after the court issues its decision on South Africa’s request for urgent measures to protect the Palestinian people in Gaza,” Jarrah told The Associated Press from The Hague, where she attended the ICJ hearings.

Germany’s support for Israel carries some symbolic significance given its Nazi history.

Hebestreit said Germany “sees itself as particularly committed to the Convention against Genocide.” He added: “We firmly oppose political instrumentalization.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the announcement, saying the gesture “touches all of Israel’s citizens.”

South African lawyers asked the court Jan. 11 to order an immediate halt to Israeli military operations in the besieged coastal territory that is home to 2.3 million Palestinians. A decision on that request will probably take weeks, and the full case is likely to last years — and it’s unclear if Israel would follow any court orders.

On Jan. 12, Israel focused on the brutality of the Oct. 7 attacks, presenting chilling video and audio to a hushed audience.

“They tortured children in front of parents and parents in front of children, burned people, including infants alive, and systematically raped and mutilated scores of women, men and children,” Becker said.

South Africa’s request for an immediate halt to the Gaza fighting, he said, amounts to an attempt to prevent Israel from defending itself against that assault.

Even when acting in self-defense, countries are required by international law to follow the rules of war, and judges must decide if Israel has.

As two days of hearings ended Jan. 12, ICJ President Joan E. Donoghue said the court would rule on the request for urgent measures “as soon as possible.”

Israel often boycotts international tribunals and U.N. investigations, saying they are unfair and biased. But this time, Israeli leaders took the rare step of sending a high-level legal team — a sign of how seriously they regard the case and likely their fear that any court order to halt operations would be a major blow to the country’s international standing.

Still, Becker dismissed the accusations as crude and attention-seeking.

“We live at a time when words are cheap in an age of social media and identity politics. The temptation to reach for the most outrageous term to vilify and demonize has become, for many, irresistible,” he said.

In a statement from New York, Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan called the case a “new moral low” and said that by taking it on, “the U.N. and its institutions have become weapons in service of terrorist organizations.”

Becker said the charges Israel is facing should be leveled at Hamas, which seeks Israel’s destruction and which the U.S. and Western allies consider a terrorist group.

“If there have been acts that may be characterized as genocidal, then they have been perpetrated against Israel,” Becker said.

More than 23,000 people in Gaza have been killed during Israel’s military campaign, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory. That toll does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Nearly 85 percent of Gaza’s people have been driven from their homes, a quarter of the enclave’s residents face starvation, and much of northern Gaza has been reduced to rubble.

South Africa says this amounts to genocide and is part of decades of Israeli oppression of Palestinians.

“The scale of destruction in Gaza, the targeting of family homes and civilians, the war being a war on children, all make clear that genocidal intent is both understood and has been put into practice. The articulated intent is the destruction of Palestinian life,” said lawyer Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, adding that several leading politicians had made dehumanizing comments about people in Gaza.

The Palestinian Authority’s foreign ministry welcomed the case, saying in a written statement that South Africa “delivered unequivocal evidence that Israel is deliberately and systematically violating its obligations under the Genocide Convention.”

Malcolm Shaw, an international law expert on Israel’s legal team, rejected the accusation of genocidal intent and called the remarks Ngcukaitobi referenced “random quotes not in conformity with government policy.”

Israel also says that it takes measures to protect civilians, such as issuing evacuation orders ahead of strikes. It blames Hamas for the high civilian death toll, saying the group uses residential areas to stage attacks and for other military purposes.

Israel’s critics say that such measures have done little to prevent the high toll and that its bombings are so powerful that they often amount to indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks.

If the court issues an order to halt the fighting and Israel doesn’t comply, it could face U.N. sanctions, although those may be blocked by a veto from the United States, Israel’s staunch ally. In Washington, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby called the allegations “unfounded.” The White House declined to comment on how it might respond if the ICJ determines Israel has committed genocide.

The extraordinary case goes to the core of one of the world’s most intractable conflicts — and for the second day protesters rallied outside the court.

Pro-Israeli demonstrators set up a table near the court grounds for a Sabbath meal with empty seats, commemorating the hostages still being held by Hamas. “We want to symbolize the empty chairs, because we are missing them,” said Nathan Bouscher from the Center for Information and Documentation on Israel.

Nearby, over 100 pro-Palestinian protesters waved flags and shouted protests.

The case also strikes at the heart of both Israel’s and South Africa’s national identities.

Israel was founded as a Jewish state in the wake of the Nazis’ slaughter of 6 million Jews during World War II. South Africa’s governing party, meanwhile, has long compared Israel’s policies in Gaza and the West Bank to its own history under the apartheid regime of White minority rule, which restricted most Black people to “homelands.”

The world court, which rules on disputes between nations, has never judged a country to be responsible for genocide. The closest it came was in 2007, when it ruled that Serbia “violated the obligation to prevent genocide” in the July 1995 massacre by Bosnian Serb forces of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica.

___

Casert reported from Brussels. Associated Press journalists Aleksandar Furtula and Ahmad Seir in The Hague, Netherlands, and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed.

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By Farrah Hassen

“If I must die, you must live to tell my story,” wrote Dr. Refaat Alareer, a 44-year-old Gazan poet and literature professor. A few weeks later, Alareer was killed while sheltering in his sister’s apartment, along with six family members.

In the densely populated Gaza Strip, the loss of life is staggering. Israel’s two-month bombardment has killed at least 18,000 Palestinian civilians there, including nearly 9,000 children. Another 25,000 children have lost one or both of their parents.

President Biden has repeatedly assured the public that Israel is following international law. Yet Israeli forces have deliberately targeted Palestinian civilians and civilian infrastructure, in direct violation of international humanitarian law. With 90 percent of those killed in Gaza being civilians, only now is Biden finally admitting that Israel is bombing “indiscriminately.”

Homes, hospitals, schools, mosques, churches, refugee camps and government buildings have all been reduced to rubble. Israeli troops have forced Palestinian men to strip and parade through the streets. There are disturbing eyewitness allegations of torture and summary executions of civilians.

Palestinian human rights groups and many international experts, including Israeli scholars of the Holocaust, have warned that Israel’s actions meet the legal standard of genocide.

Article 2 of the 1948 Genocide Convention defines genocide as specific acts taken “with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.” Some of these acts include “killing members of the group,” “causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group,” and “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.”

The mass killing of Palestinians in Gaza’s schools, medical facilities, shelters and residential areas are all evidence of likely genocidal acts. Other indicators of genocide include forced relocation of over 1 million Palestinians out of northern Gaza and Israel’s frequent bombing of civilian evacuation routes.

Meanwhile, Israel has intensified its complete siege of Gaza, depriving Palestinians of food, water, electricity, fuel and medical supplies. Starvation and infectious disease are rampant. Gaza’s health care system has “completely collapsed” from ongoing Israeli strikes, according to Doctors Without Borders.

Proving genocidal intent can often be difficult. However, experts have pointed to dehumanizing statements by Israeli leaders that hint at it — including calling Palestinians “human animals” and “children of darkness.”

Others are more explicit. An Israeli lawmaker called for a “Nakba” — an Arabic reference to the violent mass displacement of Palestinians — “that will overshadow the Nakba of 1948.” The defense minister declared “we will eliminate everything” in Gaza. And a recent investigation by the Israeli +972 Magazine found that Israel’s bombing of non-military targets is “calculated.”

Many experts believe these actions and statements of intent are evidence of an unfolding genocide. Due to the crime’s gravity, all parties to the Genocide Convention — including the U.S. —  have a legal duty to prevent it from the moment they learn of a serious risk that a genocide will be committed.

Instead, the U.S has vetoed UN Security Council ceasefire resolutions and expedited lethal arms to Israel on top of the annual aid we already provide. Far from preventing a genocide, a lawsuit by the Center for Constitutional Rights argues, the U.S. is complicit in one.

The Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas fighters on Israeli civilians were reprehensible crimes, but they don’t provide legal or moral justification for the collective punishment of Gazan civilians. Nor can genocide ever be justified.

No government is above the law and free to commit mass slaughter. The U.S. government often claims to stand for justice and the rule of law. But is it willing to stand by those principles for the Palestinian people?

At this dire moment, with the world watching, the U.S. not only has the ability but the obligation to secure a permanent ceasefire and save innocent lives.

This op–ed was distributed by OtherWords.org.

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By: Amber D. Dodd 
Special to the AFRO 
adodd@afro.com 

The National Philharmonic (NatPhil) has hosted two of the three performances of George Friderick Handel’s Messiah’s epic oratorio, Messiah. 

The first two performances took place Dec. 16 and 17 featuring the he Scotland African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Zion Church Mass Choir at The Music Center at Strathmore while the third and final show will be held at Capital One Hall in Tysons, Va. on Dec. 20. 

Polish-American conductor Piotr Gajewski has masterfully conducted the work as four singers, soprano Aundi Marie Moore, mezzo soprano Lucia Bradford, tenor Norman Shankle and baritone Jorell Williams provide vocal solos behind the Baltimore Choral Arts Society. 

“It’s an incredible piece of music.” Gajewski said.  

As the piece tells the story of Jesus Christ’s life in three different stages: the prophecy of Jesus’ birth, His sacrifice for all of mankind and his resurrection. Messiah is considered one of the greatest choir works of all time, with popular excerpts such as the choir chanting “Hallelujah!”

Gajewski said the show was modernized to “make it more theatrical.” 

Singers of Messiah traditionally use a booklet to read from during the three hour performance, however, to create a more engaging, personalized environment, the four soloists are performing without them.

“We’re presenting it simply staged as a drama, slightly as a musical or drama as the soloist will be coming on and off (the stage) and engaging with the audience,” Gajewski said. 

Shankle, the tenor of the performance, is a Winchester, Va. native who has been in the opera and classical scene for over 25 years. He has worked with the Philharm previously in his career and has performed Messiah across a span of four years.

“The number one thing is that Piotr really has this vision of selling the story part but what’s going to hit home is that the soloist will be off-book,” Shankle said. “I think having direct eye contact with people who are signing will be a very big deal, it almost never happens.”

Shankle said singing with groups consecutively is rare, but it helps fuse familiarity between the quartet of singers. All four performers this year starred in last year’s production. 

“We’re well seated to each other,” Shankle said. “There are good musicians, everyone is bringing not just their best, but something specific and something very personal. It’s not just piece after piece after piece…you have to have something in there to make it yours. These are three other really great singers.”

The original composer, Handel, contributed to the English arts culture of the 1700s, he also supported the British Empire’s transatlantic slave trade. Dr. David Hunter, music librarian, unearthed the information about Handel through his music history research, such as his paper “Music and the Slave-Trade Economy to 1784,” that highlights the relationship between classical music and slavery. 

To acknowledge Handel’s role in chattel slavery, proceeds from the two performances at the Strathmore will be donated to the Scotland A.M.E. Zion Church in Potomac, Md. for their centennial celebration. The funds will go to restoration projects as the church’s wood-frame structure has eroded due to flooding and tropical storms.

Patrons can also donate through the 2nd Century Project Matching Challenge where donates up to $3 million are matched.

“…We can move forward with performances that could turn the tables on the situation and benefit the African American community,” Gajewski said. “Through performance we could foster some means toward African-American communities, perhaps in perpetuity, that would be some attempt at reparations using the music that was created.”

He also pointed to the significance of a fully African American cast, the four soloists, even though Black people are widely underrepresented in classical music. 

“We’re promoting the careers of African American singers, paying them handsome fees and putting them in front of their public and helping them further their careers that way,” Gajewski said. 

Historical information about Handel’s role in the slave economy, compiled by the Library of Congress, were on-site of the performances.

“With the Messiah, the big part of that message is living a good life, sacrificing for others and I think that is important during Christmastime,” Shankle concluded. 

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By Julia Frankel and Jalal Bwaitel
The Associated Press

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) — Bethlehem is gearing up for a subdued Christmas, without the festive lights and customary Christmas tree towering over Manger Square, after officials in Jesus’ traditional birthplace decided to forgo celebrations due to the Israel-Hamas war.

The cancellation of Christmas festivities, which typically draw thousands of visitors, is a severe blow to the town’s tourism-dependent economy. But joyous revelry is untenable at a time of immense suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, said Mayor Hana Haniyeh.

“The economy is crashing,” Haniyeh told The Associated Press on Dec. 15. “But if we compare it with what’s happening to our people and Gaza, it’s nothing.”

More than 18,700 Palestinians have been killed and more than 50,000 wounded during Israel’s blistering air and ground offensive against Gaza’s Hamas rulers, according to health officials there, while some 85 percent of the territory’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced. The war was triggered by Hamas’ deadly assault Oct. 7 on southern Israel in which militants killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took more than 240 hostages.

Since Oct. 7, access to Bethlehem and other Palestinian towns in the Israeli-occupied West Bank has been difficult, with long lines of motorists waiting to pass military checkpoints. The restrictions have also prevented many Palestinians from exiting the territory to work in Israel.

City leaders fret about the impact the closures have on the small Palestinian economy in the West Bank, already struggling with a dramatic fall in tourism since the start of the war. The Palestinian tourism sector has incurred losses of $2.5 million a day, amounting to $200 million by the end of the year, the Palestinian minister of tourism said Dec. 13.

The yearly Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem — shared among Armenian, Catholic and Orthodox denominations — are major boons for the city, where tourism accounts for 70 percent of its yearly income. But the streets are empty this season.

With most major airlines canceling flights to Israel, over 70 hotels in Bethlehem have been forced to close, leaving some 6,000 employees in the tourism sector unemployed, according to Sami Thaljieh, manager of the Sancta Maria Hotel.

“I spend my days drinking tea and coffee, waiting for customers who never come. Today, there is no tourism,” said Ahmed Danna, a Bethlehem shop owner.

Haniyeh said that while Christmas festivities have been cancelled, religious ceremonies will take place, including a traditional gathering of church leaders and a Midnight Mass.

“Bethlehem is an essential part of the Palestinian community,” the mayor said. “So at Midnight Mass this year, we will pray for peace, the message of peace that was founded in Bethlehem when Jesus Christ was born.”

George Carlos Canawati, a Palestinian journalist, lecturer, and scout leader, called his city “sad and heartbroken.” He said his Boy Scout troop will conduct a silent march across the city, in mourning of those killed in Gaza.

“We receive the Christmas message by rejecting injustice and aggression, and we will pray for peace to come to the land of peace,” said Canawati.

The enthusiasm of Bethlehem’s Christmas festivities have long been a barometer of Israeli-Palestinian relations.

Celebrations were grim in 2000 at the start of the second intifada, or uprising, when Israeli forces locked down parts of the West Bank in response to Palestinians carrying out scores of suicide bombings and other attacks that killed Israeli civilians.

Times were also tense during an earlier Palestinian uprising, which lasted from 1987-1993, when annual festivities in Manger Square were overseen by Israeli army snipers on the rooftops.

The sober mood this year isn’t confined to Bethlehem.

Across the Holy Land, Christmas festivities have been put on hold. There are 182,000 Christians in Israel, 50,000 in the West Bank and Jerusalem and 1,300 in Gaza, according to the U.S. State Department. The vast majority are Palestinians.

In Jerusalem, the normally bustling passageways of the Old City’s Christian Quarter have fallen quiet since the war began. Shops are boarded up, with their owners saying they are too frightened to open — and even if they did, they say they wouldn’t have much business.

The heads of major churches in Jerusalem announced in November that holiday celebrations would be canceled. “We call upon our congregations to stand strong with those facing such afflictions by this year foregoing any unnecessarily festive activities,” they wrote.

At the altar of Bethlehem’s Evangelical Lutheran church, a revised nativity scene is on display. A figure of baby Jesus wrapped in a Palestinian keffiyeh is perched atop a pile of rubble. The doll lies underneath an olive tree — for Palestinians, a symbol of steadfastness.

“While the world is celebrating, our children are under the rubble. While the world is celebrating, our families are displaced and their homes are destroyed,” said the church’s pastor, Munther Isaac. “This is Christmas to us in Palestine.”

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By Laura Ungar
AP Science Writer

Gautam Dongre’s two children in India and Pascazia Mazeze’s son in Tanzania live with an inherited blood disorder that turns blood cells into instruments of pain.

New gene therapies promise a cure for sickle cell disease, and Dongre says he’s “praying the treatment should come to us.”

But experts say the one-time treatment is out of reach in India and Africa — places where the disease is most common. Vast inequities cut much of the world off from gene therapy in general.

While access to all sorts of medicine is limited in developing countries, the problem is especially acute with these therapies, some of the most expensive treatments in the world.

Beyond their sky-high prices, these therapies are extremely complex to give patients because they require long hospitalizations, sophisticated medical equipment and specially trained doctors. So far, the two gene therapies for sickle cell have only been approved in wealthier countries: both in the U.S., and one in Britain and Bahrain as well.

“The vast, vast majority of patients live in an area where they have no access to this kind of therapy,” said Dr. Benjamin Watkins, who treats sickle cell at Children’s Hospital New Orleans. “We as medical professionals, and as a society, have to think about that.”

Access to gene therapies was a major focus of this year’s international summit on human genome editing in London. A subsequent editorial in the journal Nature said high prices leave low- and middle-income countries “entirely in the lurch” and could stymie progress across the field.

Some scientists worry that new cures won’t reach their potential, future treatments may never be invented and the prospect of wiping out diseases like sickle cell will remain a distant dream.

STRUGGLING FOR BASIC TREATMENT

For gene therapy to even be an option, people in developing nations must stay alive long enough to get it. There, sickle cell disease is more likely to disable or kill than in wealthy regions. Late diagnosis is common and basic care can be hard to come by.

Sickle cell disease affects hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. A genetic mutation causes the cells to become crescent-shaped, which can block blood flow and cause problems such as excruciating pain and organ damage.

Global estimates of how many people have the disease vary, but some researchers put the number between 6 million and 8 million — with more than 1 million in India and more than 5 million in sub-Saharan Africa.

Dongre, who lives in Nagpur in central India, has seen the struggles in his own family and among people he’s met as a leader of India’s National Alliance of Sickle Cell Organizations.

He recalled how his newborn son Girish cried constantly from stomach and leg pain. Doctors didn’t diagnose him with sickle cell for 2 1/2 years. When their daughter Sumedha was born, he and his wife had her tested immediately and learned she had the disease too.

Available treatments can reduce the bouts of pain known as “crises.” Dongre’s children, now 19 and 13, take hydroxyurea, a decades-old chemo drug that helps prevent the formation of sickle-shaped red blood cells and control the disease.

Other patients in rural areas are dying at very young ages without getting the right treatments, Dongre said.

The situation is much the same in East Africa’s Tanzania.

Mazeze scrambled for information after her son, Ian Harely, was diagnosed.

“I Googled and Googled and I couldn’t sleep,” said Mazeze, executive director of the Tanzania Sickle Cell Warriors Organization. “After that, I was praying. It was God and Google.”

Her son is now 10 and takes hydroxyurea and folic acid for anemia. They’ve helped, but haven’t eliminated pain episodes.

Still, Mazeze counts herself lucky she can afford treatment at all. She said some in Tanzania can’t even pay for folic acid, which costs less than a dollar.

‘SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGES’

Such stark realities make the cost of gene therapies an insurmountable obstacle, experts say. The price tags for the two sickle cell therapies in the U.S. are $3.1 million and $2.2 million although costs can vary by country.

The process of giving the therapies is just as big a hurdle. Patients must go to the hospital, where stem cells are removed from their blood. One treatment, made by Vertex Pharmaceuticals and CRISPR Therapeutics, involves quickly sending the cells to a lab and using a gene-editing tool called CRISPR to knock out a gene.

The other therapy, made by Bluebird Bio, doesn’t use CRISPR but involves the same process for patients. They must undergo chemotherapy before they get back their altered cells, and spend weeks in the hospital. The process can stretch on for months.

“There’s great unmet need, but there are also significant challenges,” said Dr. David Altshuler, chief scientific officer at Vertex.

Scientists are working to make easier-to-administer versions of the new therapies. Altshuler’s team is trying to develop a pill that wouldn’t edit genes but would have the same goal: helping the body produce a fetal form of hemoglobin since the adult form is defective in people with sickle cell.

But experts say simpler cures will likely still be unaffordable to many, so foundations and governments will be instrumental in getting them to patients.

If the gene therapy eventually makes it to India, Dongre would like his children to be among the first to get it. Mazeze said she may wait to see how other patients fare but will consider it for her son too.

Both agreed it should be an option in all countries — rich or poor.

“We all are part of one single planet,” Dongre said.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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ATLANTA, Ga. and WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec. 14, 2023 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — Distinguished climate activist and founder of the HBCU Green Fund, Felicia Davis, took center stage at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, making groundbreaking announcements that underscore the organization’s commitment to global climate action and youth empowerment.

In a momentous press conference, Davis announced the official opening of the HBCU Green Fund’s new Africa office in Senegal and revealed plans for the third annual Pre-COP Africa, African American Youth Climate Summit, set to take place in Dakar in June 2024.

“Establishing a significant presence in Africa positions HBCU Green Fund to give voice to people most impacted by climate change and help to cultivate innovative youth leadership,” Davis commented.

Cheikhou Thiome, HBCU Green Fund’s Africa director, adds, “Our Pre-COP29 summit will bring young leaders, activists, and innovators from the United States and across Africa together in Dakar, Senegal to engage in constructive dialogues, share insights, and ignite climate action.”

HBCU Green Fund’s Managing Director Illai Kenney shared insights into the organization’s extensive involvement at COP28, with eight delegates from the United States credentialed through partner Omega Institute, and network representatives from 12 African countries. Kenney emphasized the HBCU Green Fund’s dedication to empowering future leaders through supporting youth-led projects in Africa and the U.S.

“We have a unique Eco Spring Break program that is a service-learning experience connecting HBCU students with peers in West Africa that involves hands-on environmental restoration projects. The program offers students, faculty, and alumni the chance to plant trees, dig wells, plant gardens and gain firsthand experience in addressing environmental challenges,” said Kenney.

Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali, executive vice president, National Wildlife Federation; Hussein Kassim, Ghana project director; Sharon Gakii Mureithi, Kenya project director, and Denise Ayebare, Uganda local youth coordinator joined Davis, Kenney and Thiome for the press conference.

In addition to the press conference, HBCU Green Fund delegates actively contributed to multiple COP28 side events. Davis delivered a powerful keynote speech at the Uganda Pavilion emphasizing the role of youth in addressing the climate crisis. She also participated in a panel discussion with Dr. Ali at the Kenya Pavilion and Lucky Abeng, a coordinator from Nigeria, organized a conversation that included contributions from Davis and Mithika Mwenda, executive director of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance. Davis also contributed to side events organized by young climate leaders from Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso, and Tanzania.

Another member of the delegation, Pamela Fann of Impact Energy, moderated a discussion about the energy transition with Davis as a panelist. Fann also coordinated sessions for partner organization, Harambee House/Center for Environmental Justice, featuring renowned environmental justice leader and executive director, Dr. Mildred McClain.

Young leaders in the HBCU Green Fund delegation played a pivotal role in several youth events. Kenney, a former youth activist and the youngest speaker at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in South Africa in 2002, spoke about cultivating young leaders at the launch of the Stone Soup for a Sustainable World Curriculum. She also organized and facilitated the HBCU Green Fund’s day-long workshop and 2024 strategy session for youth delegates. The workshop included a briefing by the founder of the Chisholm Legacy Project, Jacqui Patterson, along with her team, on the Global Afro-Descendant Climate Justice Collaborative.

In response to the overall outcome of COP28 Davis says, “A stronger commitment to phasing out fossil fuels remains a reach, however, acknowledging the need to transition away from fossil fuels is still a small step forward. Ultimately, it is action rather than rhetoric that will make the difference for vulnerable communities already impacted by climate change.” She continued, “The HBCU Green Fund’s impactful presence at COP28 reflects its commitment to global climate action, sustainability, and empowering the next generation of leaders in the fight against climate change.”

For more information on the HBCU Green Fund, Sustainable Africa Network, or the 2024 Pre-COP Africa, African American Youth Climate Summit, visit: https://hbcugreenfund.org/  or check for @hbcugreenfund on social media.

MULTIMEDIA:

PHOTO link for media: https://www.Send2Press.com/300dpi/23-1214-s2p-hbcucop28-300dpi.jpg

Photo caption: COP28 d – 

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By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

(NNPA NEWSWIRE) – Navy Federal Credit Union, the largest credit union in the United States, is under fire for exhibiting the most substantial racial disparities in mortgage approval rates among major lenders. The disparities, reaching new heights in 2022, were borne out by a pronounced contrast in approval rates for White and Black borrowers.

Recent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau data indicated that Navy Federal approved over 75 percent of White applicants for new conventional home purchase mortgages in 2022. In stark contrast, the approval rate for Black borrowers applying for the same type of loan was less than 50 percent. The nearly 29 percentage point gap in approval rates at Navy Federal stands out as the widest among the top 50 lenders originating the most mortgage loans last year.

Even when considering similar incomes and debt-to-income ratios, the racial disparity persisted. Navy Federal approved a higher percentage of applications from White borrowers earning less than $62,000 annually than Black borrowers earning $140,000 or more.

A detailed statistical analysis conducted by CNN revealed that Black applicants to Navy Federal were more than twice as likely to be denied compared to White applicants, even when multiple variables – including income, debt-to-income ratio, property value, downpayment percentage and neighborhood characteristics – were identical.

Navy Federal, initially founded in 1933 to serve Navy employees and now open to all members of the armed forces, Department of Defense personnel, veterans and their relatives, boasts about 13 million members and holds over $165 billion in assets. Last year, the credit union rejected approximately 3,700 Black applicants for home purchase mortgages, potentially impeding their path to homeownership, notably as interest rates spiked.

Bill Pearson, a spokesperson for Navy Federal, defended the credit union’s lending practices. “Navy Federal Credit Union is committed to equal and equitable lending practices and strict adherence to all fair lending laws,” Pearson stated. 

However, experts in mortgage lending and advocates for fair housing expressed concerns about the institution’s practices, emphasizing that the racial gaps in approval rates raise questions about Navy Federal’s commitment to fairness.

The widening gap in homeownership rates between White and Black Americans, exemplified by Navy Federal’s 2022 approval rates of 77.1 percent for White applicants, 55.8 percent for Latino applicants and 48.5 percent for Black applicants, mirrors a broader national issue. In comparison, other major lenders like Wells Fargo, US Bank and Bank of America exhibit smaller racial approval rate gaps.

CNN reported that advocates have urged lenders to improve automated underwriting systems to reduce racial disparities in decision-making. Some experts pointed out that Navy Federal’s unique member base may have different financial characteristics than large banks, potentially influencing the observed racial differences.

While federal regulators review banks’ lending under the Community Reinvestment Act, the network reported that credit unions like Navy Federal are not subject to the same scrutiny. Calls for legal revisions to ensure credit unions adhere to similar rules as banks have continued.

Sara Pratt, a lawyer at Relman Colfax, noted that racial disparities in mortgage lending may also be linked to loan officers assisting white borrowers more than Black ones. Despite having no evidence of such practices at Navy Federal, Pratt emphasized that the approval rate gaps demand explanations from the lender.

Federal law stipulates that lenders can be in violation of fair lending rules without intentional racism, as a “disparate impact” on minorities can lead to discrimination claims. This is not the first time Navy Federal has faced scrutiny over racial disparities, as a previous analysis in 2019 indicated significant gaps. This trend appears to have only intensified since then.

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By Samy Magdy 
The Associated Press

CAIRO (AP) — Sudan’s warring generals agreed to hold a face-to-face meeting as part of efforts to establish a cease-fire and initiate political talks to end the country’s devastating war, an African regional bloc said Dec. 10.

Sudan slipped into chaos after soaring tensions between military chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan and Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, exploded into open fighting in mid-April in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere across the country.

The country has been in turmoil for several years, ever since a popular uprising forced the removal of longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2019. The short-lived transition to democracy was derailed when the two generals joined forces to lead a military coup in October 2021. After they fell out, war followed 18 months later.

The conflict has wrecked the country and killed up to 9,000 people by October, according to the United Nations. However, activists and doctors’ groups say the real toll is far higher.

In a meeting of the leaders of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, a grouping of East African countries, both Sudanese generals agreed to “an unconditional cease-fire and resolution of the conflict through political dialogue,” and to hold a “a one-to-one meeting,” the bloc said in a statement Dec. 10.

Burhan, who chairs Sudan’s ruling Sovereign Council, attended the meeting Dec. 9 in Djibouti, which holds the rotating IGAD presidency.

Meanwhile, Dagalo, whose whereabouts are unknown, spoke by phone with IGAD leaders.

The statement gave no further details, including when and where the two generals would meet.

However, Alexis Mohamed, an adviser to Djibouti’s president, said Dec. 10 on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the Sudanese generals “accepted the principle of meeting within 15 days in order to pave the way for a series of confidence-building measures” that would eventually lead to political talks to end the conflict in Sudan.

There was no immediate comment from either the Sudanese military or the RSF.

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden welcomed the generals’ commitment to a cease-fire and a face-to-face meeting and called for them to “abide by these commitments and enter talks without delay,” said Matthew Miller, spokesman for the State Department.

IGAD is part of mediation efforts to end the conflict, along with Saudi Arabia and the United States which facilitated rounds of indirect talks between the warring parties as recently as early in November.

When the war began, fighting initially centered in Khartoum but quickly spread to other areas, including the western region of Darfur.

More than 6 million people were forced out of their homes, including 1.2 million who have sought refuge in neighboring countries, according to the U.N. figures.

In Darfur, which was the site of a genocidal campaign in the early 2000s, the conflict has morphed into ethnic violence, with the RSF and allied Arab militias attacking ethnic African groups, according to rights groups and the U.N.

The U.S. State Department said earlier this month that the RSF and the Sudanese military were responsible for either war crimes or crimes against humanity, or both, in Darfur.

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Why peace In The Middle East could avert a regional crisis

By Michael A. Grant, J.D.

During the late 1970’s, I went to work for the Carter Administration in the press office of Health and Human Services Secretary Joseph Califano. While our agency was focused primarily on domestic issues, one of President Carter’s all-consuming objectives was a foreign policy issue: How to broker a peace between Israel and her Arab neighbors. 

With Carter’s tenacity and the willingness of Israel’s Menachem Begin and Egypt’s Anwar Sadat’s to come to Camp David to hash out what would later be called the Camp David Peace Accords, the world was given an example of how seemingly unbridgeable national interests could be harmonized through skillful diplomacy.

Today, some 45 years later, the Middle East is once again mired in deadly conflict with casualties mounting for both Israelis and Palestinians. An attack by Hamas on innocent Israeli civilians has been countered by airstrikes on innocent Palestinians with a ground invasion resulting in the deaths of thousands, including more than 3,000 who are children!

The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has already reached nightmarish proportions with shortages of food, clean drinking water, medical supplies and fuel needed for hospitals to operate reaching dangerously low levels. Children are suffering and dying! 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes that this will be a protracted struggle; hopefully, he will be proven wrong. The sooner this war is ended, the better for all concerned–this includes Israelis.

The United States has leverage to discourage further carnage. We have not effectively used our resources as bargaining chips to secure a reliable two-state solution, with two sovereign powers, ruled by governmental authorities recognized by the United Nations and the world community.

To be an honest broker in this latest conflict, the U.S. must demonstrate to the people of the region that it wants a fair deal for both sides. If with our foreign aid, Israel has carte blanche ability to encroach and occupy without restraint, Arab resentment will proliferate; thereby giving justification to rogue states’ desires to exploit local tensions. 

My prayer is that the Holy Spirit will move the people of the world to insist on an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Pictures of the human suffering broadcasted around the world should shock the conscience of all who say they believe in a just and compassionate God.

If you have read this article, please join a world-wide movement calling for an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. Remember President John F. Kennedy’s exhortation: “God’s work on this earth must truly be our own.”

CORRECTION: This commentary originally misprinted the headline with the word “not” instead of “now.” The AFRO deeply regrets this error.

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By Ashleigh Fields
AFRO Assistant Editor
afields@afro.com

Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA-43) observed the impact of her 25-year-old Minority AIDS Initiative at 25 through the lens of benefactors at the World AIDS Day Conference on Dec. 1. The initiative was established by Congress in 1998 with the objective to provide evidence-based treatment to HIV patients with primary care and prevention services for people of color.

Waters partnered with organizations aiming to eradicate health disparities for the day-long symposium at the John Hopkins Bloomberg Center. The conference included two panel discussions surrounding the correlation between race and access to quality healthcare.

“It is often true that one of the biggest barriers to equity is a lack of resources— especially when it comes to funding for programs that are designed to serve Black and Brown communities,” said panel participant Alphonso David, president and CEO of the Global Black Economic Forum. “When it comes to funding, it’s important to look for ways that both the public and private sectors can work together to provide sustainable support for programs…”

This sentiment was echoed by Waters, who served as the keynote speaker.

“Black women account for more than half 55 percent of new HIV diagnoses among women,” said Waters in relation to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. “We’ve got to get more money. We’ve got to get more resources. We need more capital and it’s not going to come–we have to fight for it.”

She cited the attacks seen in budget recommendations from the Republican-led House Appropriations Subcommittee that threaten the survival of entities serving people of color diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. If passed, the proposed recommendation could result in a 53 percent spending cut to the Minority AIDS Initiative in the Office of the Secretary. Funding for the Minority AIDS Initiative within SAMHSA and the Ryan White HIV AIDS Program would also be reduced affecting national education training centers. 

“The cuts to the Minority AIDS Initiative will exacerbate racial disparities and the elimination of the ending of the HIV epidemic,” said Waters. “Minority led community based organizations to help them deliver in their capacity culturally. When we write and we talk, nobody understands us but us.”

She continued by highlighting Black leaders such as Archbishop Carl Bean of the Minority AIDS Project and Dr. Wilbert C. Jordan of Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital who educated her early on about the AIDS epidemic. Those inspired by their work and her words traveled to be in the audience.

“Maxine Waters just re-energized everybody in the room. I’m here in the room representing Black transgender men, because data shows that we are impacted by HIV as well, but we don’t receive much funding at all–we’re not at the table. I was happy to hear her say that we’re going to continue to fight for ‘money, money, money,’” said Elijah Nicholas, founder of 100 Black-Trans Men. “Our objective is to continue showing up in spaces like this, having a voice for Black transgender men and then building relationships within the community so that we can learn the process–learning the political process is a big part of the strategy of learning.”

Nicholas said the Black maternal mortality rate is one area that lacks statistical input from the Black-trans community.

“Black-trans men who are birthing parents also, fall into the Black maternal mortality rate, but we’re not at the table and we’re not a part of the discussion,” said Nicholas. “It’s my objective to get a seat at the table first and then begin to help organizations collect the data because there’s no real data on Black-trans men who are birthing parents and the mortality rate.”

Waters agreed and ended her speech by urging President Biden to provide more federal funding to organizations led by minorities.

“We’ve got to fight and we’ve got to fight dirty. That’s not a bad word, it’s a good word when you’re fighting dirty people,” said Waters. “We in the Black caucus, in the combined caucuses that’s in the House of Representatives, we’re going to be there on the front lines with you doing what I’m advocating in order to make sure we get America to do the right thing.”

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By Stacy M. Brown,
NNPA Newswire

Congress members Jasmine Crockett (D-TX-30) and Greg Casar (D-TX-35), alongside fellow Texas Democratic Reps. Colin Allred (D- TX-32), Joaquin Castro (D-TX-20), Congressman Lloyd Doggett (R-TX) , Veronica Escobar (D-TX-16) , Lizzie Fletcher (D-TX-7), Sylvia Garcia (D-TX-29), Vincente Gonzalez (D-TX-34), Al Green (D-TX-9), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX-18) and Marc Veasey (D-TX-33), have penned a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Department of Justice (DOJ) demanding heightened federal oversight of Texas’ controversial “Operation Lonestar” (OLS) program.

Initially conceived by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, OLS has stirred significant controversy, with reported incidents resulting in at least 74 deaths and numerous instances of violence and mistreatment of migrants over the past year. Investigations have uncovered the use of razor wire and buoys in the Rio Grande, deadly vehicle pursuits and prolonged detention without due process. Concerns are escalating with Abbott set to sign Texas S.B. 4 into law soon, potentially granting law enforcement more extraordinary powers to detain individuals suspected of being foreign nationals and raising fears of increased violence against migrants and the targeting of Latino Texans.

Expressing their apprehensions in the letter, the Democratic representatives highlighted the lack of remedial and preventive actions at the federal level despite ongoing abuses spanning nearly two years. The letter emphasized the necessity for the DOJ to assert field preemption and address the recurring violations under OLS, urging clarity on the administration’s stance regarding the legal interference of federal immigration law by Texas officials and law enforcement.

The lawmakers stressed their acknowledgment of the challenges at the southern border and the need for bipartisan solutions to address the broken immigration system. However, they underscored the imperative to ensure that actions taken at the border are legal and that the rights of all individuals, regardless of nationality, are protected.

“While Governor Abbott ramps up his escalated actions under OLS, we continue to see civil rights violations and illegal actions, whether it is the continuing ‘trespassing’ arrests of immigrants, razor-wire installations, or physical interposition by DPS and Texas Guard personnel preventing migrants from accessing safety and medical care, as illustrated from a video last month showing a Texas National Guard soldier accosting a migrant stuck in barbed wire,” the representatives wrote.

The letter concluded with a call for the DOJ to brief Congress on the recent findings of the Operation Lonestar investigation and a request to deploy federal civil rights observers to the affected areas.

Crockett further called for a DOJ briefing to update Congress on the ongoing investigation into “Operation Lonestar” and requested a commitment from the DOJ to deploy federal civil rights observers to the impacted regions. “It is critical that DOJ assert its rightful field preemption and send a strong message regarding OLS abuses,” she insisted.

This article was originally published by NNPA Newswire.

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By Wayne Campbell

“Violence against women is a horrific violation of human rights, a public health crisis, and a major obstacle to sustainable development. Let’s build a world that refuses to tolerate violence against women anywhere, and in any form, once and for all.”

– António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations 

The United Nations (UN) reports that the global cost of violence against women is estimated to be at least $1.5 trillion–or approximately 2 percent–of global gross domestic product (GDP). Still, its impact is often invisible or ignored, when instead it should be featured and funded at the highest levels of the political agenda. There can be no excuses for violence against women and girls.

The UN indicates that although women and girls account for a far smaller share of total homicides than men, they bear by far the greatest burden of intimate partner or family‐related homicide. Undoubtedly, help is needed in all spheres of society to counter this scourge against our women. Unfortunately, in almost all societies violence against women has been normalized.  Oftentimes we go about our daily lives without even paying attention to the levels of violence that is pervasive against women whether online, or in the private and public spaces.  The traits and seeds of violence against women are fertilized and nourished very early in most societies through the agents of socialization. From the classroom to the playground, from the street corner to the boardroom men are cultured in numerous ways; some subtle to discriminate against women.  

School-related gender-based violence is a major obstacle to universal schooling and the right to education for girls, according to the UN. It must be said too that female teachers have also borne a lot of violence directed against them by their male colleagues. Globally, one in three students, aged 11–15, have been bullied by their peers at school at least once in the past month, with girls and boys equally likely to experience bullying.  In many co-educational institutions, almost on a daily basis, boys attack girls. Many of these incidents go unreported– or the perpetrator is given a slap on the wrist. Given that no corrective measure is taken, many of these boys who display such violence tendencies will grow up and very likely become perpetrators of violence against women. Our education system therefore has a critical role to play to interrogate the narrative steeped in patriarchy that says if a man does not beat his woman then the man does not love the woman. The education system will first require an overall or reset in order to raise awareness of gender-related issues. In fact gender related courses should be mandatory for all students at teachers’ colleges.  Misogyny has always been an issue in the media. The popular culture, especially dance hall music, particularly dancehall has been known to support the sexualization and objectification of women. This strand of negativity is rooted in a culture of male entitlement over the bodies of women.  Most of these lyrics paint the female in a negative and demeaning light and this, too, is problematic. Despite the adoption of the Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) by the UN General Assembly in 1979, violence against women and girls remains a pervasive problem worldwide.  Violence against women can be eliminated or greatly reduced. It is for this reason why the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women observed on Nov. 25 is most welcomed.  

The day aims to raise public awareness around the issue as well as increase both policymaking and resources dedicated to ending violence against women and girls worldwide.  Associated with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women are 16 days of activism against gender-based violence to be observed Nov. 25 through Dec. 10, Human Rights Day. This year’s theme is “UNITE! Invest to prevent violence against women and girls”; which emphasizes the need for funding prevention strategies to proactively stop gender-based violence. Women’s rights activists have observed Nov. 25 as a day against gender-based violence since 1981. This date was selected to honor the Mirabal sisters, three political activists from the Dominican Republic who were brutally murdered in 1960 by order of the country’s ruler, Rafael Trujillo (1930-1961).  

The United Nations (UN), reports that violence against women and girls remains one of the most prevalent and pervasive human rights violations in the world. Globally, an estimated 736 million women, almost one in three, have been subjected to physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence, or both, at least once in their life. This scourge has intensified in different settings, including the workplace and online spaces, and has been exacerbated by post-pandemic effects conflicts, and climate change.  The solution lies in robust responses, including investment in prevention. However, alarmingly, data on how much nations are committing to counteract violence against women and girls remains glaringly sparse. 

Why we must eliminate violence against women

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) remains largely unreported due to the impunity, silence, stigma and shame surrounding it.  The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women issued by the UN General Assembly in 1993, defines violence against women as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.”  The United Nations states, the adverse psychological, sexual and reproductive health consequences of VAWG affect women at all stages of their life. For example, early-set educational disadvantages not only represent the primary obstacle to universal schooling and the right to education for girls; down the line they are also to blame for restricting access to higher education and even translate into limited opportunities for women in the labor market.  

While gender-based violence can happen to anyone, anywhere, some women and girls are particularly vulnerable – for instance, young girls and older women, women who identify as lesbian, bisexual, transgender or intersex, migrants and refugees, indigenous women and ethnic minorities, or women and girls living with HIV and disabilities, and those living through humanitarian crises.  Yet, there is still a long way to go at the global scale. The UN reports that to date, only two out of three countries have outlawed domestic violence, while 37 countries worldwide still exempt rape perpetrators from prosecution if they are married to or eventually marry the victim and 49 countries currently have no laws protecting women from domestic violence. It is therefore critical that governments enact legislation in order to put in measures to safeguard women rights from institutional violence that sometimes come through marriage.  

Climate change and violence against women and girls

Research indicates that women and girls are up to 14 times more likely to be harmed during a disaster. For those who are victims of such events, climate-induced disasters can amplify gender inequalities, making them more vulnerable to GBV.  Climate change and slow environmental degradation exacerbate the risks of violence against women and girls due to displacement, resource scarcity and food insecurity and disruption to service provision for survivors.   

According to the World Bank, in disasters such as flooding and wildfires, additional workloads may mean that women and girls are not able to be as responsive to domestic demands, increasing household tensions that result in violence. During times of resource scarcity, women are more likely to be coerced into sexual exploitation in exchange for goods or services, and walk increasingly longer distances to find potable water and food, making them vulnerable to sexual assault. Sadly, in some instances when families are unable to meet basic needs, the risk of child marriage increases significantly.  

The World Bank adds that displacement increases risk for women and girls, whether in transit, displacement camps, or living without resources. Away from their communities, exposure to violence often increases, including sexual assault, exploitation, and trafficking. Intimate partner violence may increase because of resulting household tensions.   The UN adds that following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the rate of rape among women displaced to trailer parks increased 53.6 times the baseline rate in the state of Mississippi.  

In Ethiopia there was an increase in girls sold into early marriage in exchange for livestock to help families cope with the impacts of prolonged droughts.  Nepal witnessed an increase in trafficking from an estimated 3,000–5,000 annually in 1990 to 12,000–20,000 per year after the 2015 earthquake. 

Zero gender-based violence

The path to zero gender-based violence will not be easy.  Many of us know of instances where violence is targeted against a female, yet we chose to remain silent. Gender-based violence (GBV) is violence targeted at a woman because she is a woman or violence that disproportionately affects women. Surveys compiled by UN Women suggest that 46 percent of women in the Caribbean have experienced at least one form of violence in their lifetime. Particularly critical are the cases of Guyana and Jamaica. In Guyana, 55 percent of women reported having experienced at least one form of violence, including intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual abuse. Jamaica has the second-highest rate of femicide in the world. 

The UN defines femicide as an intentional killing with a gender-related motivation; femicide may be driven by stereotyped gender roles, discrimination towards women and girls, unequal power relations between women and men, women and women, or harmful social norms. The numbers are alarming, UN Women reports that in 2022, around 48,800 women and girls worldwide were killed by their intimate partners or other family members (including fathers, mothers, uncles and brothers). This means that, on average, more than 133 women or girls are killed every day by someone in their own family. Current and former intimate partners are by far the most likely perpetrators of femicide, accounting for an average of 55 per cent of all intimate partner and family related killings. 

While gender-based violence can happen to anyone, anywhere, some women and girls are particularly vulnerable  for instance, young girls and older women, women who identify as lesbian, bisexual, transgender or intersex, migrants and refugees, indigenous women and ethnic minorities, or women and girls living with HIV and disabilities, and those living through humanitarian crises.  We must pause to remember the women and girls who have recently been displaced by ongoing conflicts in Israel and Palestine, as well in the Russian- Ukraine war. 

The adverse psychological, sexual and reproductive health consequences of VAWG affect women at all stages of their life. For example, early-set educational disadvantages not only represent the primary obstacle to universal schooling and the right to education for girls; down the line they are also to blame for restricting access to higher education and even translate into limited opportunities for women in the labor market.

Finding solutions

Violence against women is a learnt behavior. Violence against women continues to be an obstacle to achieving equality, development, peace as well as to the fulfillment of women and girls’ human rights. In examining the promise of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that seeks to leave no one behind it is clear that we must all examine ourselves to see whether or not we too have contributed or is contributing in any way or form to violence against women and girls. The time has come for us to call out those men who continue to abuse women.  

Unquestionably, we will not achieve an inclusive society where gender equality drives the engine of growth, investment and peaceful existence.  There should be no shame on the part of the survivor of gender-based violence. Women need to support women more, men need to support women more.  Governments need to invest more in women’s organizations, gender responsive legislation. There needs to be more robust prosecution of perpetrators of gender-based violence. Additionally, more support services for survivors such as, more shelters for abused women, as well specialized training for law enforcement officials to deal with gender-based violence are all needed.  

It has been documented that in some instances when a woman seeks the assistance of law enforcement regarding violence the advice is that it is a man and woman situation and that she should return to her home which is often the site of the abuse and violence.  This narrative needs to be interrogated and disrupted. There needs to be a heightened sense of awareness within the society concerning gender-based violence.  Last but by no means least we must not only speak of changes but we should be instructive in bringing about the changes. As a result the national curriculum should be modified to reflect practical ways to address this social issue within the society. There needs to be mandatory modules dealing exclusively with gender- based violence for all students beginning at the primary level.  There needs to be new and bold approaches and a paradigm shift regarding how we treat violence against women and girls in order to scaffold women’s empowerment.  

In the words of Kofi Annan, violence against women is perhaps the most shameful human rights violation, and it is perhaps the most pervasive. It knows no boundaries of geography, culture or wealth. As long as it continues, we cannot claim to be making real progress towards equality, development and peace. Gender-based violence is preventable. Together we can. 

Wayne Campbell can be reached via email at waykam@yahoo.com.

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By Emmanuel Igunza,
The Associated Press

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The leader of a doomsday cult in Kenya was sentenced Dec. 1 to 18 months in prison for the illegal distribution of films and operating a film studio without licenses.

The senior magistrate in the city of Malindi, Olga Onalo, handed down the sentence for Paul Mackenzie. The controversial preacher can appeal within 14 days.

Mackenzie was found guilty last month of exhibition of films through his Times Television network without approval of the Kenya Film Classification Board in charges dating back to 2019.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges saying he didn’t know he required a license to distribute films.

Mackenzie had been accused of using the TV channel and his sermons to radicalize children and parents against Western education and medicine. Prosecutors also alleged that some of his followers had refused to go to school or attend hospitals when sick. He was acquitted of those charges.

The preacher has been in police custody since April, when he was arrested in connection with the discovery of more than 400 bodies in mass graves on his church property. He has not been formally charged in the deaths.

Prosecutors allege Mackenzie ordered hundreds of his congregants to starve themselves to death in order to meet Jesus.

The state last month applied to continue holding Mackenzie and his co-accused in custody for six more months, as investigations continue. Fresh graves were discovered in November at his 800-acre (324-hectare) property, but authorities have not revealed when exhumation of the bodies will be done, with many of pastor Mackenzie’s followers still reported missing.

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By Ashleigh Fields,
AFRO Assistant Editor,
afields@afro.com

In the midst of a six-day cease-fire between Hamas and the Israeli government, the release of human captives has been a stabilizing factor of the two entities’ commitment to the temporary truce. Since the brutal Oct. 7 infiltration of the Gaza Strip by Hamas, only 82 of the 240 known hostages held by the group have been released. The release of hostages was agreed upon in exchange for the liberation of 180 Palestinian prisoners, 98 of which were detained without charge. 

“The deal to pause the fighting in Gaza and facilitate the release of hostages—a deal the United States worked intensively to secure, sustain and extend—is now in its sixth day. This deal has delivered meaningful results,” President Biden said in a statement. “Nearly 100 hostages have been returned to their loved ones. And the United States has led the international community to use this pause to accelerate the delivery of additional humanitarian assistance into Gaza.”

Liat Beinin, an American and mother of three was the most recent hostage  returned to family and loved ones late in the night on Nov. 29 after crossing the border and entering into Egypt. 

“All of these hostages have been through a terrible ordeal, and this is the beginning of a long journey of healing for them,” Biden proclaimed early in the exchange process, one day after Thanksgiving holiday. “The teddy bears waiting to greet those children at the hospital are a stark reminder of the trauma these children have been through and at such a very young age.”

The youngest American hostage, four- year-old Abigail Edan, was freed on Nov. 26 after being in the custody of Hamas for 50 days on Nov. 26. The child lost both of her parents during the Oct. 7 attacks. 

“There’s no indication at all that Hamas is trying to use leverage or something to keep Americans from getting out,” said National Security Council Coordinator John Kirby, during a press gaggle. “It’s important to remember a couple of things. One, the pool of Americans is pretty small, and the pool of Americans that qualify right now — women and children — is smaller still.”

He went on to explain that Hamas might not have ready access to every hostage being held captive. Under the terms of the cease-fire agreement orchestrated by the U.S., Egypt and Qatar, Hamas will release one hostage for every three prisoners held by Israel with a heavy focus on women and children. The Red Cross has been granted access to the area to offer medical care to those in need.

A joint statement from G7 foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the U.S. and the High Representative of the European Union supported the continued advances towards peace in Gaza.

“Every effort must be made to ensure humanitarian support for civilians, including food, water, fuel and medical supplies. We support the further extension of this pause and future pauses as needed to enable assistance to be scaled up, and to facilitate the release of all hostages,” read the statement. “We underscore the importance of protecting civilians and compliance with international law, in particular international humanitarian law. We remain steadfast in our commitment to work with all partners in the region to prevent the conflict from escalating further.”

U.S. officials have been adamant about providing evidence of their assistance to victims.

“This humanization pause has already brought a halt to the fighting, together with a surge of humanitarian assistance,” Kirby shared during the press briefing on Nov. 27. “As of the morning of Nov. 26, 200 trucks were dispatched to the Rafah Crossing, and 137 trucks of supplies were offloaded by the United Nations reception point in Gaza, making it the biggest humanitarian convoy received since the seventh of October.”

The war has caused political and religious outrage over sovereign land. Hamas released video footage of hostages on Oct. 30 who blame Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for their captivity.

Daniel Aloni can be seen in the video stating, “You promised to free us all. Instead, we bear your political and military failure. No one came. No one was watching over us,” said Alonso. . 

Netanyahu has made it clear that the cease-fire will not last and that Israel’s crusade against Hamas is far from over. 

“Release us now. Release their prisoners. Set us all free. Let us return to our families,” she continued, in reference to the imprisoned Palestinians.

Netanyahu has made it clear that the cease-fire will not last and that Israel’s crusade against Hamas is far from over. 

Legislators within the states have agreed with this sentiment and have faced harsh punishment for their criticism of Biden’s response to the merciless outbreak of bombings amidst the war.

On Oct. 20 the White House requested that the Senate lift all restrictions on Israel’s access to the U.S. stockpile of weapons known as the War Reserve Stockpile Allies-Israel (WRSA-I). This Israeli-based U.S. weapons supply includes harbors missiles, bombs, military vehicles and ammunition amongst other artillery for war. 

The Biden Administration is projected to send a $320 million transfer of precision bombs. Currently, the Israeli government has been accused of using chemical warfare, which the Israel Defense Force has denied. Repeated airstrikes have increased the death toll to a startlingly 10,000. 

“Every innocent civilian should be released and reunited with their family, no matter their faith or ethnicity. I will continue to call for the release of all hostages, as well as the innocent Palestinians who were arbitrarily detained and being held by the Israeli government indefinitely without charge or trial,” Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.-12) released in a statement.

She is the only Palestinian-American in Congress and one of three muslims in the U.S. House of Representatives. On Election Day, Nov. 7,  Tlaib was censured after a series of tweets addressing the president and calling for a ceasefire to protect people of all backgrounds and faiths.

One of the posts read, “We will remember, in 2024, Joe Biden supported the genocide of the Palestinian people.”

Another mentioned, “From the river to the sea is an aspirational call for freedom, human rights and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate. My work and advocacy is always centered in justice and dignity for all people no matter faith or ethnicity.”

Her concerns were echoed by massive demonstrations across the nation. One of the most notable protests took place during the 2023 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, where protestors superglued their hands to the pavement in support of pro-Palestinian efforts.

As citizens continue to react in person and via social media, Kirby affirmed that the goal is to see every hostage released.

“We’re going to keep working with Israel, with Qatar, with Egypt to see if we can’t extend this more,” Kirby said. “We know there’s still going to be a pretty good-sized pool of hostages that Hamas has, and we want to see if we can get them all out.”

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By Sabrina McCrear
Howard University News Service

 Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change released ahead of COP 28

The climate crisis is a health crisis, experts emphasized on Nov. 15 during the release of the 2023 Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change policy brief.

“Protecting human health and health equity must be a central consideration in the transition to health and renewable energy,” said Naomi S. Beyeler, co-director of the Evidence to Policy Initiative and lead for the Climate Change and Health Initiative.

Improving air quality in the most impacted communities should take precedence, Beyeler said. There is a severe health equity imbalance, especially for those in underprivileged communities.

“Those that contribute the least to the climate crisis are the ones being most affected,” said Marina Romanello, executive director of The Lancet Countdown.

The Lancet Countdown is an annual independent report on governmental action worldwide to address climate change under the Paris Agreement. The U.S. policy brief is released in addition to the global report in partnership with the American Public Health Association.

During the launch, experts also shared their perspectives on the 5th National Climate Assessment (NCA5), which was released a day earlier and is mandated by the Global Change Research Act of 1990.

The launch precedes the 28th session of the United Nations Framework on Climate Change Conference, known as COP 28, which is scheduled from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12 in Dubai. This is the first session that will have an entire day dedicated to the human health risks and solutions of climate change.

Numerous issues were covered during the briefing. The main focus was the impact climate change has on underserved and overburdened communities — commonly populated by Black, brown and indigenous people. More often than not, these communities experience firsthand the effects of climate change. Many of them border oil refineries, power plants and highways.

One speaker highlighted her experience living in an overburdened community during a panel titled, “Taking Stock of Where the U.S. Stands on Healthy Climate Action,” moderated by Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association.

“I am a mom of six. Two of my children have asthma,” said Roishetta Ozane, founder of the Vessel Project in Louisiana, a small mutual aid and environmental justice organization. “My community smells like rotten eggs mixed with Clorox. If you come here, you’re gonna get a headache. You’re gonna feel sick. You’re not gonna wanna stay here. But this is where we live every day.”

Ozane’s concerns were directed toward actions that need to be taken to increase accessibility to health care in communities like hers in the Lake Charles area of southwest Louisiana. Health complications ignited by climate change continue to grow.

Another panelist, Jeni Miller, executive director of the Global Climate and Health Alliance, responded to Ozane’s comments explaining that the anecdotal effects of climate are rarely discussed during the U.N. conference, if at all.

“There has not been a clear focus on the need to phase out fossil fuels as an imperative in order to protect people’s health,” Miller said.

Adm. Dr. Rachel L. Levine, assistant secretary for health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, cited several examples of how health is being harmed. New York State documented an 82% increase in asthma-related cases caused by air pollution, Levine said. Additionally, 127 million more people are experiencing food insecurity as a result of flooding and drought.

“We’re moving in the wrong direction and promoting the burning of the health-harming fossil fuels,” Romanello said.

When fossil fuel-producing facilities flare, they release hazardous gases into the air like methane and benzene. These gases can pose health risks upon inhalation like asthma, pneumonia, bronchitis and heart disease.

The panelists expressed their concerns and hopes for the COP 28. “Climate change is affecting all of us in the United States; the difference is it’s affecting us in very different ways,” said Margot Brown, senior vice president of justice and equity at the Environmental Defense Fund.

Speakers said there is no cookie-cutter way to cater to the needs of communities suffering from the diverse effects of climate change. “We must end development of new fossil fuel infrastructure; phase out exports of coal, oil and gas; and drastically reduce investments in and subsidies for fossil fuels, while dramatically accelerating investments in non-polluting renewable energy,” Beyeler proposed.

Renewable energy sources like wind and solar are alternatives to fossil fuels and reducing emissions. The Biden administration developed a new Office of Climate Change and Health Equity in January 2021. Under Adm. Levine, the office’s initiative is to pour funding into renewable energy projects.

“The Biden administration has been big on funding and investing in safer and healthier futures for every community,” Brown said.

The 2023 Lancet Countdown concluded with closing remarks by Dr. Renee N. Salas, lead author of the U.S. brief and a member of the global working group of 114 experts and 52 institutions and research agencies dedicated to solving climate change.

“There is an entire collaborative community that makes this work possible,” Salas said. “Climate change continues to bring people together across silos because it cannot be solved by one person, institution, state, sector or country.”

Sabrina McCrear is a health and science reporter for HUNewsService.com.

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By: DaQuan Lawrence
AFRO International Writer
DLawrence@afro.com

 AFRO Exclusive

Over the last month, the latest iteration of the Israel-Hamas conflict has led to thousands of casualties, with protests taking place across the globe.

While the current conflict has captivated the world, many Americans are unaware of the large numbers of people of African descent in Israel, some who believe they are the descendants of African Israelites referenced in many biblical texts. Members of the African diaspora who are based in Israel and Palestine are affected, with many hoping for the violence to come to an end.

Asiel Ben Judah, a 75-year-old Black man from Chicago, Ill. is currently based in Herzliya, Israel. The AFRO was connected with Judah for a phone interview after meeting and speaking with his acquaintance, Ashriel Moore, in D.C. during the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Annual Legislative Conference in September.

Judah discussed the ongoing situation in Israel with the AFRO, as well as the history of the African diaspora in the modern state of Israel. Judah said there are different groups of Black people who currently live in Israel, and called on members of the Black community to educate themselves on the conflict, which dates back centuries. 

“Members of the African community who come from areas such as Sudan and Ethiopia– that are based in this region– are aware of 2,500 years of unbroken history. They can tell you what has happened over the last 70 years,”  Judah told AFRO. 

During the previous seven decades, multiple diverse communities of African ancestry with different places of origin, cultures and religions have migrated to Israel for different reasons. The groups rarely interact with each other and have distinct ethnic, religious and social practices. Collectively, Black people in Israel constitute a minority within a multi-ethnic, yet predominantly White Israeli society. 

The multiple groups that comprise the sub-Saharan African diaspora in Israel include Ethiopian immigrants – which are split into majority Ethiopian Jewish members of “Beta Israel” and minority descendants of Christian Ethiopians of Jewish ancestry known the “Falas Mura”; African migrant workers and refugees; Black Bedouins; and African-American “Black Hebrews” who identify as African Hebrew Israelites. 

“I arrived here when I was in my 30s and I left the U.S. with groups of Afro-American Jews. The original group of people that arrived in 1969 were not treated well,” Judah said.

Judah discussed how in the 1960s five disparate Black congregations in the U.S. united for pilgrimage to Israel. In recent decades, most migrants of African descent have come from nations on the African continent. 

“There’s a large population of Africans in Israel because of the conflicts in the Horn of Africa, within Eritrea and Somalia. So, there’s a large community of Somalians and Eritreans,” Judah said. 

In September, weeks prior to the escalation of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, Prime Minister Netanyahu called for the deportation of Eritrean refugees in Israel due to violent clashes between opponents and supporters of the Eritrean government.

“They got into a conflict about how Eritrea’s government was trying to have a celebration here, when many Eritreans that reside in Israel are refugees and have not been able to return because the present regime has not received them appropriately,” Judah said. 

There are approximately 25,000 African migrants currently living in Israel, mainly from Eritrea and Sudan, who have fled conflict or authoritarianism. The state of Israel, however, says it has no legal obligation to keep them and only a few are recognized as asylum seekers. This year, Black people in the area joined together to fight threats of deportation within their communities.

Judah encourages Black Americans and members of the African diaspora to educate themselves about the African population in Israel and to financially support aid efforts for those in need in both Israel and Palestine right now. He implored those who are not directly affected by the conflict to think of what it’s like to find themselves suddenly in a war zone.  

“When you try to go into an area of safety, you’d be surprised what you can’t take with you,” Judah said. 

On the day of the attacks he was traveling, and found himself away from home without important documents needed to completely change cities and take shelter elsewhere. As a leader in the community, he also had others to care for. 

“You can’t turn a blind eye to this and ignore it. You’re talking about your brothers and sisters,” Judah told the AFRO.  “We need financial assistance. I had to move 45 people from one city within a few hours, and we still have people in multiple places,” Judah said.  

Though certain cities along the Israeli- Gaza border are severely affected by the conflict, others- even just miles away— are not. Many have sought refuge in other places, but Judah and others in his community have highlighted how life has not stopped. 

“It has been quite difficult,” said 53-year-old Monica Terry. “Imagine leaving and fleeing to a place of safety– but still having to pay your rent, all of your utilities, your bills– and being away from your job.” 

Terry is African American and moved to Israel in 2010. She told the AFRO the Israeli government had yet to disclose a plan to financially help those affected by the war with initiatives such as a pause on rent payments in affected areas.

“All of those things come into account,” she said. “We’re in need of financial assistance and in need of support, not just from our community– but from abroad. It hits both sides, we’re just caught in the middle. We’re not the target, but we still feel a lot of the anguish and displacement of war.” 

Terry said her heart breaks for those affected.

“I personally know someone- a few people- who have family members that are still there- they are waiting for them to be returned,” she said, of hostages taken in the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants.

“War is inhumane. There’s nothing that can justify what Hamas did–killing babies, ripping children from their mothers, the rape of women and girls- these are young girls, some of them that have just begun to start their lives. Their lives are shattered and they will never be the same,” said Terry.

Various international bodies, nations and members of the global community have called for humanitarian assistance, with the U.N. General Assembly voting on whether a truce and a humanitarian intervention should be established. A total of 120 countries voted in favor of the resolution, while the U.S. and Israel led 14 countries that voted against, while 45 others abstained.

To donate to the Black communities displaced by the Israel-Hamas conflict, please visit GoFundMe.com and search for the campaign titled, “Help Black Jews in Israel Displaced By The War.”

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By Francis Kokutse,
The Associated Press

ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — Delegates at a reparations summit in Ghana agreed Thursday to establish a Global Reparation Fund to push for overdue compensation for millions of Africans enslaved centuries ago during the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

The Accra Reparation Conference adds to the growing demands for reparations after about 12 million Africans were forcefully taken by European nations from the 16th to the 19th century and enslaved on plantations that built wealth at the price of misery.

Centuries after the end of the slave trade, people of African descent around the world continue “to be victims of systemic racial discrimination and racialized attacks,” concluded a recent report by a special U.N. forum which supported reparations as “a cornerstone of justice in the 21st century.”

“It is time for Africa — whose sons and daughters had their freedoms controlled and sold into slavery — to also receive reparations,” said Ghana’s President Nana Addo Akufo-Addo at the conference, attended by senior government officials from across Africa as well as the diaspora community.

Slave reparations have become an issue the world “must confront and can no longer ignore,” said Akufo-Addo, calling out the British and other European nations who enriched themselves during the slave trade while “enslaved Africans themselves did not receive a penny.”

Delegates to the conference in Accra did not say how such a reparation fund would operate. But Gnaka Lagoke, an assistant professor of history and pan-African studies, said it should be used to “correct the problems” that the continent is facing in all sectors of its economy.

Compensations are based on “moral and legal rights and dignity of the people,” said Ambassador Amr Aljowailey, strategic adviser to the deputy chairman of the African Union Commission, who read out the resolution titled The Accra Proclamation.

In addition to the Global Reparation Fund, which will be championed by a committee of experts set up by the A.U. Commission in collaboration with African nations, “a special envoy will engage in campaigns as well as litigation and judicial efforts,” said Aljowailey.

Activists have said reparations should go beyond direct financial payments to also include developmental aid for countries, the return of colonized resources and the systemic correction of oppressive policies and laws.

The required amount for compensation will be decided through a “negotiated settlement (that will) benefit the masses,” said Nkechi Taifa, director of the U.S.-based Reparation Education Project.

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By Ariyana Griffin,
Special to the AFRO

Today we rode through the busy streets of Ghana until we made it to a magnet primary school into the city of Tema. Upon arrival we were warmly met by the principal. Escorted in groups of two, we were assigned different classrooms to speak to students as well as distribute school supplies.

I was assigned to a fourth grade classroom. Their faces lit up when we arrived –as did mine. I was filled with excitement and a little bit of jitters. After warming up a bit and introducing ourselves, questions from the students started pouring in. This was my favorite part because I loved how curious they were. They asked various questions such as what the weather was like, and what sports and foods were traditional for America. They asked what games we liked to play, how our family dynamic is and so many more. Their eyes widened with each answer and they smiled while hanging onto our every word. 

We had questions as well such as what they wanted to be when they grew up, what was their favorite subject in school and what hobbies they enjoyed. 

Before arriving we were assigned to prepare a bag of “Me Stew.” This is a bag full of keepsakes from home to talk and share with students that would give them an idea of our life in the United States. I brought my Morgan State University identification card, a photo of my dog, a newspaper I was published in, a clay turtle– which is my favorite animal– and a hip-hop history photo book.

I thought it would be fun to show them some of the styles and fashions we have in the United States. With 2023 marking the 50th Anniversary of Hip-Hop, I wanted to share my favorite artists and how their artform has impacted my life. Not only were they surprised to see chains and clothing with the map of Africa on the rappers, they were amazed that each rapper’s hometown could have  different weather. They were fascinated that it snows and rains in some regions, but not so much in others.  The students were also interested to learn that women can be rappers too.

Before lunch time we gave them a spelling test with five words: department, mid-term, journal, residence and responsibility. I loved how the teacher made it a priority to celebrate all the students no matter how many words they got right. He spoke about the importance of trying, even if you get it wrong the first time. This is actually a life lesson that I will be sure to implement in my life. I loved that they were getting reassurance and positive affirmation so early on. 

After our “Me Stew” show and tell session, and a few more questions, the students were released for lunch and play time. Although it was hot out, we enjoyed playing jump rope, volleyball, and basketball. A DJ was present and played both American and Ghanaian music. We danced and danced to the rhythmic beats like we did not have a care in the world. The residents showed us their best moves and we showed them some of ours. The students also taught me a new way to play “rock, paper, scissors.” Unlike in the United States where we use our hands, they use playing cards. While sharing a traditional lunch of jollof rice, chicken and potato salad, we spoke about the day’s experience and what we learned from one another. 

At the end of the day, we said our goodbyes and it was more difficult than I imagined. Even though it was just a few hours, the students we spent time with truly had an impact on me. Feeling a range of emotions, I was sad but also happy I got to experience them. I was sad to leave the group so soon– but happy that I got to experience the next generation of Ghanaian doctors, lawyers, engineers, actors and maybe, musicians. 

I told them they all had a spot waiting for them at Morgan State University! 

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By Imuetinyan Ugiagbe,
Special to the AFRO

When John Amanam’s brother lost a limb due to an accident, his family ordered a prosthesis from abroad but to his surprise, upon its arrival, it did not match his skin color. Amanam, a Nigerian native with a degree in rine and industrial arts, resolved to explore methods to craft a prosthetic covering that closely matched his brother’s brown skin. 

His aspiration to overcome a personal challenge has since transformed into a professional career as a prosthetic artist, making him the first African sculptor to specialize in the hyperrealism world of prostheses for people of African descent — a field that boosts the self-esteem of individuals who have experienced limb loss. 

“I create flesh covers for people who’ve lost different body parts, ranging from ears, nose, fingers and breast forms,” said Amanam.

His objective is to offer individuals using his products a feeling of comfort in their own skin while eradicating public scrutiny and stigma. 

“It is important for comfort,” said Amanam. “When you go out there and you find out people are looking at your hand– possibly White on Black skin–it could cause discomfort.” 

Alpha Sanusi, the president of International African American Prosthetic Orthotic Coalition (IAAPOC) said “there are significant health disparities in the United States and other countries, which disproportionately affect Black communities.” To promote greater representation of Black individuals in the prosthetics and orthotics field, IAAPOC is offering scholarships to support aspiring Black prosthetists and orthotists.

“Having Black prosthetists can help address these disparities by providing specialized care to underserved populations and increasing access to prosthetic devices,” he continued. “Furthermore, representation in the field of prosthetics and orthotics matters and Black prosthetists should contribute to a more diverse and inclusive healthcare system. This helps to bridge the gap in racial disparities in access to healthcare services and ensures that patients from all backgrounds receive culturally sensitive care.”

Despite prostheses having a history spanning over 700 years, Amanam claims that he is the sole individual to place a high priority on the realism of each product, which he refers to as “hyperrealism.” He meticulously sculpts each item, guaranteeing that intricate features like veins and nails are prominently visible.

“Why I’m the first is not because there were no prostheses or flesh covers out there, but being hyperreal is being unable to differentiate between what is real and what is artificial.

That makes it hyper real,” said Amanam. “You see veins, you see nails, you see almost exact resemblance when it comes to the design. There’s a difference between something being naturalistic and something being realistic. You could look at a leg, or a product that looks like a leg, and say, ‘Yeah, this is a leg.’ But you could look at the fake leg and say, ‘Ah, this could [be real ].’ The difference is not being able to differentiate which one is real and which one is not real.”  

Sanusi expresses Black prosthetist artists are essential in the healthcare space because they are better equipped to understand the unique cultural and social factors that may impact their patients’ experiences, based on the understanding of the unique challenges faced by Black amputees.” 

When Amanam founded his company, Immortal Cosmetic Art Ltd, he was filled with enthusiasm for the lives that he and his team would enrich. Amanam points out that his clients extend beyond Africans residing in Africa to include those living abroad. He emphasizes that the ability to address Africa’s challenges while choosing to remain in Nigeria brings him immense joy.

 “My reward is the fact that I’ve been able to solve the needs of my people, which is Nigerians, Akwa Ibom, [the state] where I’m from, and also Africans, you know, and solving it from my continent. I’m not in Jamaica. I’m not in the US. I’m not in Europe. I’m in Nigeria and I’m solving the problems of Nigerians and Africans,” Amanan said. “It gives me joy when I see clients. My clients are excited sharing testimonies. We don’t really talk more about clients for privacy’s sake, but the responses we have from our clients are alarming and mind blowing. So I derive joy and I share it with my team when our clients are satisfied.”

Amanam points out that his main challenge right now is to meet demands from both his country and the rest of the world. One of his career goals is to expand his company and work industriously so his products can be available across Africa.

“One of our challenges at the moment is the fact that we want to go industrial. The demand is high. And we have a few hands,” Amanam told the AFRO. “The only thing we could do is to raise it from not just being a company, but to a level where we can go industrial, we could supply and meet the demands of as many African countries as we can.”

Amanam stresses the significance of Africa handling its own problems. He holds the view that it’s not the White Man’s  duty to comprehend or be worried about the challenges facing Africa but rather it’s Africa and Africans who should take the lead.

“It’s imperative that we as Africans try to look into our problems. Use our brains, our resources and find a way of solving our problem,” he said. “If the White man would solve your problem, he only did it to suit his own needs and his own profit, the African would do it to suit the African society.”

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By Edith M. Lederer,
The Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Almost seven months of war between Sudan’s military and a powerful paramilitary group have left a wave of destruction with over half the population in need of humanitarian aid and raised fears of a repeat of the deadly ethnic conflict in Darfur 20 years ago.

“What is happening is verging on pure evil,” the United Nations humanitarian coordinator in the African nation said Nov. 10.

Sudan has fallen out of the spotlight since it was engulfed in chaos starting in mid-April, when simmering tensions between military chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan and the commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, exploded into open warfare.

But Clementine Nkweta-Salami, the resident U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, told a United Nations news conference that “the situation is horrific and grim” and “frankly, we are running out of words to describe the horror of what is happening.” She stressed that “the Sudan crisis has few equals.”

Fighting is continuing to rage despite the warring parties signing a statement after peace talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, pledging to protect civilians and provide unimpeded humanitarian access to the 25 million people who require assistance, she said. The warring generals made a commitment to establish a Humanitarian Forum, with U.N. participation, Nkweta-Salami said. And after its launch on Nov. 13, the U.N. hopes that their commitments in Jeddah will be implemented.

She said the decimated health sector — with more than 70 percent of health facilities in conflict areas out of service — was extremely worrying giving outbreaks of cholera, dengue, malaria and measles; reports of escalating violence against civilians; and fighting spreading to Sudan’s breadbasket.

“What we see is rising hunger,” the humanitarian coordinator said, and high levels of malnutrition among children.

The U.N. is targeting about 12 million people for aid — about half those in need. But its appeal for $2.6 billion for the 2023 humanitarian response in Sudan is just over a third funded, and Nkweta-Salami urged donors to provide additional money.

She stressed that access to things like hotspots along with protection of civilians are key challenges.

Nkweta-Salami was asked about her comment that “what is happening is verging on pure evil,” and whether she was worried that ethnic-based violence in Sudan’s vast western Darfur region would lead to a repetition of the conflict there in 2003.

It began when rebels from Darfur’s ethnic central and sub-Saharan African community launched an insurgency, complaining of oppression by the Arab-dominated government in the capital, Khartoum. The government responded with a scorched-earth campaign of aerial bombings and unleashed militias known as the Janjaweed, who are accused of mass killings and rapes. Some 300,000 people died in the Darfur conflict, 2.7 million were driven from their homes, and Darfur became synonymous with genocide and war crimes, particularly by the Janjaweed.

Nkweta-Salami said the U.N. is very worried about fighting in Darfur today and continues to raise the alarm and engage the warring parties to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians.

“We will continue to hope that we don’t find ourselves treading down the same path,” she said.

But fears are mounting that the horrors of Darfur 20 years ago are returning, with reports of widespread killings, rapes and destruction of villages in the region.

Nkweta-Salami said she was particularly alarmed by violence against women, “and in some cases young girls being raped in front of their mothers,” as well as the harrowing stories about attacks and human rights abuses from refugees who fled Darfur to neighboring Chad.

The U.N. has heard of crimes against Darfur’s Masalit ethnic community, which “are really egregious violations of human rights,” she said, “and it must stop.”

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By Colleen Long,
Associated Press

The mayors of Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles and New York are pressing to meet with President Joe Biden about getting federal help in managing the surge of migrants they say are arriving in their cities with little to no coordination, support or resources from his administration.

The Democratic leaders say in a letter obtained by The Associated Press on Nov. 1 that while they appreciate Biden’s efforts so far, much more needs to be done to ease the burden on their cities.

Migrants are sleeping in police station foyers in Chicago. In New York, a cruise ship terminal was turned into a shelter. In Denver, the number of migrants arriving has increased tenfold and available space to shelter them has withered. With fewer available work authorizations, these migrants cannot find work that would allow them to get into proper housing. 

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, who is leading the coalition, said nearly every conversation he has had with arriving migrants is the same: Can he help them find a job, they ask.

“The crisis is we have folks here who desperately want to work. And we have employers here who desperately want to hire them. And we have a federal government that’s standing in the way of employers who want to hire employees who want to work,” Johnston said.

Also signing on were the mayors of the country’s four largest cities: Eric Adams of New York, Karen Bass of Los Angeles, Brandon Johnson of Chicago and Sylvester Turner of Houston.

The situation at the U.S.-Mexico border has vexed the Democratic president, who is seeking reelection in 2024. He is increasingly under fire from members of his own party who are managing the growing number of migrants in their cities. Republicans claim Biden is soft on border security and is allowing too many people to enter the United States.

He has responded by toughening rules at the border meant to curb illegal crossings and by offering work authorizations and other incentives to those who come to the U.S. legally — applying ahead of time and arriving by plane. 

The reason for the ballooning number of migrants in these cities is complicated, but economic and climate-related hardships in their home countries are key drivers. There are increasing numbers of families arriving and asking for asylum. 

Some conservative-leaning states have sent migrants to so-called sanctuary cities such as New York or Chicago, where laws are more favorable to noncitizens. But that alone does not explain why the cities are facing such increases.

In years past, when migrants arrived, they would be released and picked up by nonprofit groups before usually going to stay with a relative already in the U.S. But the nationalities of the people arriving have changed, and many no longer have any place to go. 

Winning asylum is a long and difficult process through a badly clogged immigration court system. In some cases, migrants may wait up to a decade for a court date. They are released into the U.S. to wait. Some are eligible to work, but such authorizations are badly delayed. There are concerns, too, that allowing too much work authorization will encourage more people to make the dangerous journey to the U.S. on foot. So thousands are in limbo, unable to work, sleeping in shelters or government facilities. 

Biden has requested $1.4 billion from Congress to help state and local governments provide shelter and services for migrants, after earlier pleas from Democratic mayors and governors.

Johnston and the other mayors say in their letter that more is needed, and they are asking for $5 billion. 

“While we are greatly appreciative of the additional federal funding proposed, our city budgets and local taxpayers continue to bear the brunt of this ongoing federal crisis,” the letter says. “Cities have historically absorbed and integrated new migrants with success.” 

Denver is spending $2 million a week on sheltering migrants. New York has surpassed a total of $1.7 billion and Chicago has spent $320 million, according to the letter. 

“Our cities need additional resources that far exceed the amount proposed in order to properly care for the asylum seekers entering our communities,” the mayors’ letter says. “Relying on municipal budgets is not sustainable and has forced us to cut essential city services.” 

The mayors also want an accelerated work authorization approval process so migrants can find work. 

“We are extremely appreciative of the work the Biden-Harris administration has done in expanding work authorization and providing funding for this mission, but we need to go one step further to ensure we continue to meet the moment and provide care for new arrivals,” Johnson’s office said in a statement. 

The cities are full of people who have applied, but there are delays of six months or more. The mayors also are pushing to expand authorizations so anyone released into the U.S. would become eligible to find work while they wait for their immigration cases to play out. 

Lastly, they are asking for the administration to create a regional migration coordinator who would work with the federal government, nonprofits and state and local officials. The aim is to better coordinate and place migrants in areas where there is capacity for them.

It’s unclear whether Congress, including the Republican-controlled House, will pass any of the funding Biden has requested, let alone an increase for local support.

“We think there is a real commonsense path here and that’s why we thought it was important,” Johnston said.

This article was originally published by the Associated Press.

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By Glenn Gamboa,
AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Rapper Kendrick Lamar will headline Move Afrika: A Global Citizen Experience, a new initiative to establish an international touring circuit on the continent of Africa launching with a concert in Kigali, Rwanda, on Dec. 6.

Global Citizen CEO Hugh Evans said Lamar’s show at the BK Arena will be financed with a mix of philanthropic donations and corporate funding in hopes the Pulitzer Prize-winning, “Humble” rapper will show the opportunities for artists who appeal to Africa’s booming generation of young people.

“Move Afrika is about social enterprise – and over time, it provides certainty to our vendors and partners, enabling them to scale and expand,” Evans told The Associated Press. “Our goal is for this tour to spur the growth and development of small businesses across the region to deliver both our events and many more year round, as other artists take advantage of the tour routes.”

African artists — including Burna Boy, Rema, and Davido — have had recent hits around the world. MTV added the Best Afrobeats Video category to this year’s Video Music Awards. The Grammys announced they will add an award for Best African Music Performance for next year.

Kweku Mandela, Global Citizen’s chief vision officer, said Africans should be available to experience the biggest concerts in the world just like everyone else. “The reason that is so often given is that there’s a lack of infrastructure, lack of technical crews,” Mandela said. “The reality is, there’s just a lack of will, because we’ve seen some of the biggest artists come to this continent over the last few decades.”

In addition to Lamar, Move Afrika: Rwanda will feature other regional artists, curated by Lamar and filmmaker Dave Free’s creative services company pgLang, and an advocacy campaign urging world leaders to take action on issues affecting Africa.

“We’re embarking on generating a paradigm shift,” Mandela said. “Hopefully, this will send a message to the entire industry that not only is there huge, huge opportunity on the continent for them to engage with and embrace, but ultimately, that this is something that is necessary considering where we’re going as a society and as humanity.”

_____

Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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By DaQuan Lawrence,
AFRO International Writer,
DLawrence@afro.com

Protests across the country have increased as the Israel-Hamas war intensifies. Americans across the nation are calling for a ceasefire and speaking up on behalf of the innocent civilians in Gaza, trapped in a warzone as Israeli retaliation for the Oct. 7 Hamas attack continues. 

In Baltimore, the Jewish Voice for Peace, which describes itself as “largest progressive Jewish anti-Zionist organization in the world,” organized a march from Penn Station to the office of Congressman Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.-07) on Nov.1. 

Residents and community leaders stopped the flow of traffic for hours after the march began at 3 p.m., calling for peace. 

“I’m here to support the ceasefire,” said Lawrence T. Brown, Ph.D., author of the Black Butterfly. “I do believe people should have the right to defend themselves, but you shouldn’t be going in to kill unarmed, innocent people– especially children. That’s what I think I see happening and that is what’s breaking my heart.”

Mfume weighed in on the issue in a statement sent to the AFRO. 

“I support a humanitarian pause of violence in the war between Israel and Hamas, the release of hostages, and the guarantee of safe corridors to ensure that aid flows into Gaza safely,” said Mfume. “I am not a cosponsor of H.Res. 786 because it fails to condemn the Hamas terrorist group of its responsibility for this war.”

According to information released on govtrack.us, House Resolution 786 (H.Res. 786) was introduced by Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.-01) and called for an “immediate deescalation and cease-fire in Israel and occupied Palestine.”

Rev. Heber Brown III, spoke with the AFRO about his first hand experiences in the region.

“While in Palestine and Israel myself, I saw what racial discrimination looked like there and it was very familiar to what racism and legacies of brutality look like for Black people in the United States,” said Brown, leader of the Black Church Food Security Network. “Our situations are not identical in every single way, but there’s enough of a connection that I believe it’s important for me to raise my voice for justice and peace.”

The 75-year-old modern state of Israel endured one of the most significant invasions in five decades on Oct. 7, after suspected militants from Hamas coordinated a devastating assault in Southern Israel. 

Residents along the Israeli-Gaza border woke up to warfare, as alleged members of Hamas razed everything in sight. Hundreds of hostages were taken, and while some have been released, many are still in captivity as the conflict escalates. Images and video of a particularly brutal attack at a party for peace, also near the border, have circled the globe. On Oct. 30 Israeli officials confirmed the beheading of Shani Louk. The German native was just one of many international travelers taken hostage at the rave calling for unity between Israel and Gaza.

After the Oct. 7 attack, Israel immediately declared war, launching airstrikes and ground attacks.

Now, despite widespread accounts of Israel defending itself from Hamas forces in mainstream media, many experts, activists, members of the international community have called Israel’s attacks on Palestinian territory a form of contemporary genocide. 

Israel has increased its bombardment of the Gaza Strip as Israeli Defense Forces “expand” ground operations in Gaza.

“In Gaza, the IDF is proceeding with the stages of the war. Overnight, IDF forces entered the northern Gaza Strip and expanded ground activities,” IDF spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, declared on Oct. 28. “Covered by aerial support, IDF infantry, armor, engineer and artillery forces took part in these activities. The expansion of the IDF’s operational activity furthers the war’s goals,” Hagari said.

Israel has claimed that it is defending its citizenry from Hamas advances and attacks, but there have been accounts of Palestinian civilian casualties as a result of Israel’s attacks. 

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza released a list on Oct. 26, which documented the deaths of more than 7,000 Palestinians, including nearly 3,000 children, since the war began just weeks ago. 

Gaza is currently facing a communications blackout, as residents across the besieged Palestinian territory have been disconnected from the outside world and each other. UN agencies and numerous international aid groups have said they are unable to reach teams on the ground in Gaza. 

Alleged censorship of social media accounts as well as disruptions to electricity and internet access have created conditions where people under fire in Gaza have been prevented from receiving the information and resources they need to survive.

In addition to media censorship and internet outages, there have been reports of recent arrests of Arab citizens in Israel due to social media posts, expressing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. Social media and mainstream media alike have been used to spread misleading information on both sides of the conflict.

Several pro-Palestine protests have taken place in the U.S. as well as around the globe. The protests have varied in size, with some demonstrations including tens of thousands of people in cities across Africa, Asia, Europe,  the Middle East and the U.S. 

Various international bodies, nations and members of the global community have called for humanitarian assistance, with the UN General Assembly voting in favor of a resolution that would put in place a humanitarian truce on Oct. 27. 

A total of 120 countries voted in favor of the UN resolution for a humanitarian truce, while the U.S. and Israel led 14 countries that voted against, and another 45 nations abstained.

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By Stacy M. Brown,
NNPA Newswire

As the Israel-Hamas conflict escalates, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) are issuing warnings of an anticipated surge in hate crimes within the United States. The agencies underscored the need for heightened vigilance, not only against antisemitic and Islamophobic attacks, but also against the backdrop of continued threats faced by African Americans and LGBTQ communities.

The DHS’s recent intelligence assessment emphasizes an expected increase in antisemitic and Islamophobic hate attacks in the country as the conflict progresses. The agency also cautions that the ongoing war could elevate the threat of terrorism and targeted violence on American soil.

In a separate memo addressed to law enforcement agencies in Washington, D.C., DHS pinpointed potential targets, including places of worship, First Amendment-protected demonstrations, events and U.S. military assets. The memo, first reported by ABC News, disclosed a troubling spike in swatting calls targeting Jewish temples in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island, featuring hoax bomb threats since the eruption of the latest Israel-Hamas conflict on Oct. 7.

“At the top of our agenda will be our shared efforts to help keep our communities safe from violent crime,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a conference in Florida.

Garland acknowledged the palpable fear gripping communities nationwide.

The FBI has reported an uptick in threats against faith communities, particularly those of Jewish, Muslim and Arab faiths. In response, Garland directed all 94 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the FBI to maintain close communication with state, local, and federal law enforcement partners in their districts.

Garland pledged the DOJ’s commitment to providing the necessary support for law enforcement partners, particularly in the face of rising threats of hate-fueled violence and terrorism.

However, the heightened alert extends beyond the Jewish, Muslim and Arab communities. Minority communities across America are also on edge. African Americans, long-standing targets of hate crimes, and LGBTQ communities are particularly concerned about the potential for increased violence.

Officials confirmed that organizations and community leaders representing those groups are collaborating with law enforcement agencies to ensure the safety and security of their members. The Department of Justice has initiated measures to address hate crimes targeting these communities, pledging to stand alongside them in the face of adversity.

Recently, in Pensacola, Fla., law enforcement agencies and ATF ballistics experts worked together to convict a shooter involved in an attempted robbery, serving as an example of the Department’s commitment to combating violent crime. A successful operation called “Agua Azul” that seized sizable amounts of illegal substances proved the DOJ’s dedication to destroying the global fentanyl supply chain, the DOJ said. In addition, a recent conviction for a racially motivated attack close to the scene of the 1923 Rosewood Massacre also proves that the Department continues to pursue justice in cases of hate crimes, Garland noted.

He concluded that the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice “remain resolute in their mission to uphold the rule of law, safeguard communities, and protect civil rights, even in the face of escalating international conflicts.”

This article was originally published by NNPA Newswire.

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By DaQuan Lawrence,
AFRO International Writer,
DLawrence@afro.com

The 75-year-old modern state of Israel endured one of the most significant invasions in five decades on Oct. 7, after suspected militants from Hamas coordinated a devastating assault in Southern Israel. 

Residents along the Israeli-Gaza border woke up to warfare, as alleged members of Hamas razed everything in sight. Hundreds of hostages were taken, and while some have been released, many are still in captivity as the conflict escalates. Images and video of a particularly brutal attack at a party for peace, also near the border, have circled the globe. On Oct. 30 Israeli officials confirmed the beheading of Shani Louk. The German native was just one of many international travelers taken hostage at the rave calling for unity between Israel and Gaza.

After the Oct. 7 attack, Israel immediately declared war, launching airstrikes and ground attacks.

Now, despite widespread accounts of Israel defending itself from Hamas forces in mainstream media, many experts, activists, members of the international community have called Israel’s attacks on Palestinian territory a form of contemporary genocide. 

Israel has increased its bombardment of the Gaza Strip as Israeli Defense Forces “expand” ground operations in Gaza.

“In Gaza, the IDF is proceeding with the stages of the war. Overnight, IDF forces entered the northern Gaza Strip and expanded ground activities,” IDF spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, declared on Oct. 28. “Covered by aerial support, IDF infantry, armor, engineer and artillery forces took part in these activities. The expansion of the IDF’s operational activity furthers the war’s goals,” Hagari said.

Israel has claimed that it is defending its citizenry from Hamas advances and attacks, but there have been accounts of Palestinian civilian casualties as a result of Israel’s attacks. 

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza released a list on Oct. 26, which documented the deaths of more than 7,000 Palestinians, including nearly 3,000 children, since the war began just weeks ago. 

Gaza is currently facing a communications blackout, as residents across the besieged Palestinian territory have been disconnected from the outside world and each other. UN agencies and numerous international aid groups have said they are unable to reach teams on the ground in Gaza. 

Alleged censorship of social media accounts as well as disruptions to electricity and internet access have created conditions where people under fire in Gaza have been prevented from receiving the information and resources they need to survive.

In addition to media censorship and internet outages, there have been reports of recent arrests of Arab citizens in Israel due to social media posts, expressing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. Social media and mainstream media alike have been used to spread misleading information on both sides of the conflict.

Several pro-Palestine protests have taken place in the U.S. as well as around the globe. The protests have varied in size, with some demonstrations including tens of thousands of people in cities across Africa, Asia, Europe,  the Middle East and the U.S. 

Various international bodies, nations and members of the global community have called for humanitarian assistance, with the UN General Assembly voting in favor of a resolution that would put in place a humanitarian truce on Oct. 27. 

A total of 120 countries voted in favor of the UN resolution for a humanitarian truce, while the U.S. and Israel led 14 countries that voted against, and another 45 nations abstained.

The post Violence and misinformation spread in Israel- Hamas conflict appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

By Jason Dearen and Michelle R. Smith,
The Associated Press

People convicted of crimes related to domestic extremism face far shorter prison terms than those convicted in international terrorism cases, even when the crimes are similar, a new report on the outcomes of hundreds of federal criminal cases has found.

The first-of-its-kind analysis, completed by terrorism researchers at the University of Maryland, was provided exclusively to The Associated Press. It comes after federal officials and researchers have repeatedly identified domestic violent extremists such as White supremacists and anti-government groups as the most significant terror threat to the U.S. And it follows scrutiny of the outcomes of Jan. 6 cases, including for some Oath Keepers and Proud Boys who received sentences years lower than what was called for by prosecutors and sentencing guidelines.

President Joe Biden has echoed the concerns about domestic terrorism, calling it a “stain on the soul of America” and the “ most urgent terrorism threat ” faced by the country, yet the new analysis shows that on average, domestic extremists receive more lenient penalties.

“This research is significant in confirming empirically what many have long argued: international terrorism cases are sentenced more harshly than domestic cases, even when the conduct is the same, and that these disparities are due to a combination of differences in the law and biases in implementing them,” said Shirin Sinnar, a professor at Stanford Law School, who was not involved in the research but reviewed it at the request of the AP.

Researchers at the University of Maryland’s National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, or START, and its Center for Health and Homeland Security examined federal criminal cases between 2014 and 2019 that were brought against people radicalized in the U.S. who were pursuing political, social, economic or religious goals.

International terrorism cases were defined by the researchers as those in which the defendants had links to or were acting in support of terrorist groups or movements based outside the U.S., while domestic cases involved defendants connected to groups or movements that operate primarily inside the U.S.

The analysis looked at 344 cases, including 118 international cases and 226 domestic cases, and found the disparities are caused by multiple factors, including the charges federal prosecutors choose to file, the laws that are on the books, as well as the sentencing decisions made by judges. Jan. 6 cases are not included in the analysis, which has not yet been peer reviewed. START’s Michael Jensen, a principal investigator of the study, said 2019 was chosen as a cutoff to ensure final outcomes of even the most complex cases were captured. Still, he said, sentencing gaps in the Jan. 6 cases that he’s analyzed also reflect this disparity. Federal prosecutors have even taken the rare step of appealing the sentences of some Jan. 6 defendants, including leaders of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, some of whose sentences were years below what federal sentencing guidelines had laid out.

START’s analysis found wide disparities in prison terms for similar conduct, which were most pronounced in certain kinds of cases. The largest was in cases where defendants plotted violent attacks that ultimately failed or were foiled, where international defendants received an average prison sentence of 11.2 years, compared with 1.6 years for domestic defendants.

For violent cases that led to injuries, domestic defendants received on average 8.6 years, versus 34.6 for international defendants. The disparity was smaller, but still significant, in violent fatal attacks with domestic cases at about 28.8 years and international cases at about 39.2 years.

Even terms of supervision after prison showed differences, with people charged in domestic cases getting an average of 3.5 years, compared with more than 19 years supervision for international terrorism defendants. The researchers at START point out that this is despite evidence that the recidivism rate is about 50 percent for domestic extremists — about the same rate for all federal offenders — and “vanishingly low” for international terror defendants.

START controlled for factors already known to contribute to sentencing disparities, such as race, gender, criminal history and the use of so-called sentencing enhancements that increase the possible prison time for certain crimes. Even accounting for these other factors, international defendants still receive harsher punishments on average.

Pete Simi, a Chapman University sociologist who has studied extremism for decades, said the imbalance in treatment of domestic and international cases reflects differences in the broader criminal justice system.

“That imbalance extends well beyond the courts and sentencing but also infects policing and intelligence gathering and analysis,” said Simi, who was not involved in the research.

Federal law makes a distinction between international and domestic terrorism. The State Department has formally designated dozens of groups operating abroad as foreign terror organizations and even marginal support to such groups that doesn’t result in violence can be punishable by up to 20 years in prison. There is no comparable designation for domestic extremists such as the Proud Boys, Atomwaffen or other groups with a history of violent plots and acts.

Sinnar, who has written extensively about terrorism cases, said the disparities are indicative of numerous biases throughout the criminal justice system.

“At least for Muslims, many cases that might be labeled ‘failed or foiled’ plots were likely plots generated by government informants trying to goad individuals into crimes in the first place and then foil them in order to arrest the supposed perpetrators,” Sinnar wrote in response to AP questions.

“It’s exactly in these ‘preventative’ cases where you would expect to see the biggest differences — as opposed to the rarer cases that actually lead to fatalities, in which homicide charges are available regardless of the international/domestic distinction.”

Indeed, a federal judge in March freed three men convicted in a post-9/11 terrorism sting after deeming their lengthy sentences “unduly harsh and unjust.” The judge decried the FBI’s role in radicalizing them in a plot to blow up New York synagogues and shoot down National Guard planes, and reduced their mandatory minimum 25-year prison sentences imposed in 2011 to time served plus 90 days.

In the cases studied, terrorism-specific charges and sentencing enhancements that increase prison time were disproportionately applied to international defendants. Chief among those is the material support statute that can only be used for cases linked to international terrorist groups; a related statute that may be used for domestic terrorism was rarely invoked. Federal prosecutors used the international material support charge in 50 percent of international cases; it was just half a percent in domestic ones – a single case.

People charged in violent domestic cases also often faced less serious charges not often associated with crimes of terror, like illegal possession of firearms, the study found. The so-called terror enhancement that increases prison time was used in 60 percent of international cases, compared with just 15.4 percent in domestic ones.

George Varghese, a former national security prosecutor, said prosecutors had been hamstrung by how the law treats international terror differently than domestic extremism, but that courts also bear some responsibility.

“These domestic terrorists are being treated more like run-of-the-mill criminal defendants and receiving sentences far below those of international terrorism defendants,” he said.

One judge, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, imposed terms years below the federal guidelines when he sentenced Proud Boys including ex-national chairman Enrique Tarrio and another leader, Zachary Rehl, both of whom were convicted of seditious conspiracy. The judge said at Rehl’s sentencing that he had assaulted law enforcement by spraying a chemical irritant at them, then lied about it at trial.

Still, Kelly sentenced Rehl to 15 years, half of the lowest amount set out in federal sentencing guidelines, as he mused: “I wonder if I will ever sentence someone to 15 years below the guidelines in my entire career.”

In both Tarrio and Rehl’s cases, the judge said their conduct wasn’t comparable to a scenario he would typically associate with terrorism, such as blowing up a building or taking up arms against United States troops, with an intent to kill.

Kelly, through a court spokesperson, declined to comment.

In the end, terrorism experts and the study’s authors said they didn’t expect Congress to address these issues with new legislation anytime soon, but noted that there are current laws that could be used to help close the gap.

Jensen said the research found prosecutors were not always using all the laws available to them. When domestic extremists were charged with hate crime laws, for example, it wiped out the disparity, he said.

“The problem is, for the six years that we reviewed, the (hate crimes) charge was used 12 times. It was only used in cases that had extraordinary outcomes, in other words people died. Those are not typical terrorism events,” he said. “The use of hate crime laws would absolutely close the gap.”

The disparities are most apparent in lower-profile cases where Jan. 6 rioters assaulted police officers, Jensen told AP. He said he found that the average sentence for those defendants is 4.5 years.

”You can’t find a single case of an international terrorist who injured or hurt people who got less than 20 years in prison,” he said.

The article was originally published by the Associated Press.

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Amber D. Dodd
Special to the AFRO

At the bottom of Northeast Washington, D.C.’s hilly terrain, you will find Motherland Kitchen housing Cameroon’s culinary treasures infused with hints of the Caribbean.

With grand success in Frederick, Md., owner, Sabina Jules, is celebrating six months in the nation’s capital at the Ivy City Food Works station, and looks forward to bringing the healthy lifestyle to D.C. residents with tasty spins of her own.

“Some call us ‘Flavorland’ because I believe food is all about herbs,” Jules said. “You can eat and be a vegan and enjoy your food..”

Motherland Kitchen is how Jules embodies her family’s love for cooking. Her mother, aunties and elder sister passed down cooking traditions of the Nso tribe. With her mother’s own passion for cooking, food became a prominent line of income.

“On Saturdays, we would go to the local market, which the equivalent here in America is a farmer’s market,” Jules said. “You took drinks and food there for the full day. She’d sell more during the weekends but, during the week, she’ll be selling from our home.”

Still, Jules attended Cameroon’s top boarding school, Our Lady of Lourdes College Mankon, a Roman Catholic private school established in northwest Cameroon on Oct. 15, 1963. Around this time, Jules entered the kitchen on her own accord, as she cited her cooking days dating back to when he was just 9 years old.

“I figured out that if I could start selling food roadside by frying plantains, making my signature greens and frying fish as people walked by, then I can raise a little money so that when I when we go back to school, I should only worry about paying my fees I’d have money to buy my supplies,” Jules recalled.

In 1982, Jules would eventually leave Cameroon for the University of Pennsylvania where she’d earn a degree in computer science. She returned to Cameroon in 1999, but eventually immigrated back to the States where she spent 20 years as a database administrator throughout the East coast. But eventually, her passion for food would return to her in 2020, when COVID ravaged through communities dealing with health and pre-existing conditions, amplified by poor eating diets and sedentary lifestyles. 

“Then I said, ‘Maybe I can start cooking healthy foods and educating people,’” Jules said. “Maybe I’ll have one or two people get away from eating their regular American diet and incorporate things that they would otherwise not even dream of eating.”

In 2021, Jules established Motherland Kitchen’s first location in Frederick. As the community flocked to the fresh African and “Jahica” cuisines, opportunities of service soon followed. Her Cameroonian roots reminded her of the importance of fresh ingredients and meat, occasionally.

“My mom would have to save up to buy meat, therefore we ate it on special occasions like Christmas, New Year’s   Easter Sunday because we’re Catholics,” Jules said. “Otherwise, every single day our food was vegan, but guess what? Mighty tasty. We had all the herbs….plus the herbs that come from the rainforests that we are blessed with in Cameroon. I have my own spice business which is called Motherland Spices that are a blend of those herbs that I bring from Africa and buy locally.”

Jules does not trade taste for health, a masterful balance that promotes her goal of showcasing African and Afro-Caribbean cuisines while encouraging customers to eat clean. On Motherland Kitchen’s vegan-vegetarian-gluten-free menu, okra stew, pumpkin seed patties and vegan meatballs made from chickpeas instead of ground meat are a few favorites.

“At Motherland, we have about eight different types of fufu (a ground meal dough),” Jules said. when the customer comes in, I sit down with them to explain the nutrients, and explain the different ones that are super healthy and which ones are high in sugar.”

Jules’ food IQ is embedded in her culinary genius. Each bite is a different experience. The food is incredibly flavorful while also fulfilling, as Jules navigates the culinary wonderland of African and Afro-Caribbean fare.

The use of creamy coconut milk in jollof rice, for example, pairs well with curry chicken marinated in acidic tomatoes, garlic and other spices.

For those looking for healthier alternatives, removing meat is no issue since the seasoning provides the savory tastes. Motherland Kitchen’s vegan egusi soup, for example, uses the well-marinated, spongy texture of mushrooms to provide the savoriness that meat might offer. Jules prepares the three-greens mix with collard, spinach and turnip or mustards with flavors from onions, herbs and spices.

All around, the vegan substitutions do not miss a beat, giving Motherland Kitchen its reputation of being tasty, healthy and culturally satisfying.

“Every dish has its own blend, the cabbage, rice and beans, jollof rice, my chicken, my oxtails, everything,” Jules said. “My traditional way of cooking and eating has influenced my cuisines today, so my food is very flavorful.”

Jules’ unique culinary fare has opened doors for her business in different market spaces. For instance, Hood College’s Foreign Student Association invited Motherland Kitchen to be an on-campus vendor to provide healthy food options to their student body in a place where, Jules said, food options may not be the healthiest or in close proximity.

“I give them a discount because I get a lot of fulfillment and joy when people eat my food and can feel good because of the work and effort that I’m putting into making the food,” Jules said. “I may be ‘losing money’ but then I’m healing somebody because I’m making sure you don’t need to go to the doctor and get medicine for cholesterol.”

This opened the door to coverage from Frederick’s local paper, The Frederick News-Post, prompting media inquiries and work for Jules’ daughter, Sandra Sendze, who serves as the restaurant’s marketing and communications manager out of Raleigh, N.C. Since partnering, Jules has penned her own articles about the history and nutritional value of fufu in the News-Post.

Sendze says her roles and responsibilities are advertising the magic of her mother’s cooking, how, through original fusions, Jules is “experimenting with creating new foods and cooking out of love.”

“Even when there were no customers, she never stopped. She’s always thinking about how she can get tasty and healthy foods.” Sendze said of her mother. “When they taste our foods people say ‘Oh, I can feel the love, I can feel that the cook put their all into it.’ They’re the best compliments for her because she really put her all into it.”

Today, Jules expressed that Motherland Kitchen’s next goals are to strengthen its branding throughout the D.C. vegan scene.

“Her long term goal is to stand out in the vegan and vegetarian communities of D.C.,” Sendze said.

 A vegan edition of Motherland Kitchen’s menu is the next step as the restaurant already has a cookbook for its traditional menu. Though Ivy City Food Works has given Jules a rented space to house Motherland Kitchen, she still wants to return to the intimacy of sit-down eateries.

But, Jules, Sendze and Motherland Kitchen’s returning customers know that they are ahead of their times. To maintain both culture and healthiness is something that transcends both COVID-19 protocols and veganism. Motherland Kitchen speaks to Jules’ ability to bring her Cameroonian lineage with her in all she does, and that itself speaks to Motherland Kitchen’s ability to feed the hungry, satisfy the soul and nourish the body.

“Doing a brick-and-mortar in Washington, D.C, it’s arm-and-a-leg-expensive. is like a stepping stone,” Jules said. “Just give me a couple of years. I’m hoping a godfather comes and says, ‘Oh, wow, I like your concept. I like your food. Why don’t you come out and expose and expand into a brick and mortar a bigger place where more people will be accessible and see you?”

The post Cameroon comes to D.C. through chef Sabina Jules and Motherland Kitchen’s vibrant, fusion menu appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

By DaQuan Lawrence,
AFRO International Writer,
DLawrence@afro.com

Members of the Congressional Caucus on Black-Jewish Relations (CCBJR) are weighing in on the latest deadly conflict overseas.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that the nation is “at war” on Oct. 7 as Palestinian militants known as “Hamas” invaded numerous Israeli towns, brutally slaughtering hundreds,  taking hostages and firing thousands of rockets. 

“I convened the heads of the security establishment and ordered – first of all – to clear out the communities that have been infiltrated by terrorists,” said Netanyahu, in statements released to the press. “I call on the citizens of Israel to strictly adhere to the directives of the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) and Home Front Command. We are at war and we will win it.” 

Members of the CCBJR issued a statement on the tragic situation. The caucus is co-chaired by Congresswoman Nikema Williams (Ga.-05), Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.-25) and Congressman Wesley Hunt (Texas-38).

“As co-chairs of the Congressional Caucus on Black-Jewish Relations, we condemn in the strongest possible terms the brazen Hamas attack on Israel. Israel has the unequivocal right to defend itself and its people. We stand with Israel and our hearts go out to the families and communities affected by the senseless acts of terrorism and hope to see a swift and safe return of those held hostage. The bond between the United States and Israel is, and will always be, ironclad,” read the CCBJR statement. 

“Additionally, while we have no indication of specific domestic anti-Semitic threats related to the recent terrorist attacks in Israel, if the past is a guide for the future, the coming days could be a precarious time for the American Jewish community. We call on the U.S. Government, particularly its law enforcement agencies, to take swift concrete steps to protect our communities.”

During the early morning hours of Oct. 7, the 75-year-old state of Israel endured one of the most significant invasions of its modern territory in the previous five decades, after suspected militants from Gaza coordinated a devastating assault in Southern Israel. 

After the unprecedented turn of events, Netanyahu addressed the country and the world. 

“Citizens of Israel, we are at war. Not an operation… at war! This morning Hamas initiated a murderous surprise attack against the state of Israel and its citizens,” Netanyahu said in a statement released by the Israeli government.

Dozens of Palestinian paramilitary fighters infiltrated the nation from Gaza on multiple fronts via air, land and sea. Fighting has commenced in various communities near the Gaza Strip including Be’eri, Re’im and Sderot, while hostages have been held in Be’eri and Ofakim. 

Ashriel Moore, a resident in Tel-Aviv, discussed the ongoing situation with the AFRO, as well as the nuances of being a member of the African Diaspora who has settled in the modern state of Israel. Moore was scheduled to speak with the AFRO about being Black in Israel on the morning of Oct. 7, but the turn of events quickly changed the topic of the meeting.

“We woke up to about 2,000 rockets being launched from the Gaza Strip into the heart of the cities here in Israel,” Moore said via a phone interview on the morning of Oct. 7.  “We were awakened by alarm sirens and we were notified that more than 100 terrorists had infiltrated the borders of Israel by air—through parachutes— and on the ground border.”

Moore is a member of a unique group of people of African descent who settled in Israel in the 1960s under the leadership of the late Ben Ammi Ben-Israel. The group calls itself the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem, a group different from the Hebrew Israelites seen in America. 

Despite the political regime that governs the nation and the religious and ethnic background of military and governmental leaders, Moore emphasized that Black Israelis, or members of the African Diaspora who have settled in Israel, should be entitled to safety amid the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. 

“It’s our responsibility to explain what’s going on in Israel from an Afrocentric perspective so the conflict isn’t viewed as ‘a war between Hamas and White Israel,’ because those rockets being shot from Gaza affect me just as much as they affect anybody else who lives here,” Moore said. 

According to the website of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Group (Hamas), Mohammed Deif, the leader of Hamas’ military arm, declared that the assault was in response to several recent and historic points of conflict, including violence at Al Aqsa, the disputed Jerusalem holy site sacred to Jews as the Temple Mount, increasing attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians as well as the growth of settlements. 

Deif said the recent attack is merely the start of “Operation Al-Aqsa Storm” and called on Palestinians between east Jerusalem and northern Israel to join the fight. Deif also cited the ongoing 16-year blockade of Gaza and Israeli raids inside West Bank cities over the past year as reasons for the surprise attack.  

According to the IDF, fighting continued into the early evening in at least five places throughout the southern parts of the country, and Israel had retaliated with strikes on Gaza cities. IDF said that it has struck several terrorist forces around southern Israel and numerous sites that belong to Hamas in the Gaza Strip. 

Israeli Air Force fighter jets and drones attacked 17 military compounds, four headquarters as well as two residential towers that the Israeli military believes stores Hamas assets according to the IDF. As reported by The Times of Israel, the IDF allegedly notified residents of the two buildings before they began their assault. 

Members of the international community, foreign nations and national leaders have weighed in on the latest events in the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In a statement released by officials of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which recently held discussions with the U.S. about re-establishing bilateral relations with Israel, the Middle Eastern nation called for both sides to exercise restraint. 

The kingdom said it had continually cautioned both sides about “the dangers of the situation exploding as a result of the continued occupation [and] the Palestinian people being deprived of their legitimate rights.”

U.S. President Joe Biden condemned Palestinian militants, declaring the events an “appalling assault against Israel by Hamas terrorists from Gaza” in a statement released by the White House. According to the Biden administration, the president spoke with Netanyahu and  said Israel “has a right to defend itself and its people.” 

Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group congratulated Hamas, applauding the attack as a response to “Israeli crimes.” The Lebanese group said it was in contact with Hamas about the operational planning of the latest attack. 

Despite the potential of further escalation as Israel declared a state of war, Moore said he has hope both sides of the conflict can reach a peaceful resolution. 

“We believe in principles that could lead to a better solution to the current situation we have in Israel, but the problem is that on both ends, you have people who are actually benefiting from this current situation,” Moore told the AFRO. 

“Some people [in] the conflict don’t want to find a solution,” he added. “They prefer for this to continue going on and we don’t support that at all.” According to reporting from Al Jazeera, the Israeli death toll due to attacks by Hamas reached 1,200 on Oct. 10, while the Palestinian casualties from Israeli attacks numbered 1,100. More than 5,000 more people have been injured by fighting in the region. The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported Oct. 11 that “about 60 percent of the injuries occurred by the Israeli airstrikes were among women and children in the Gaza Strip.”

The post Black and Jewish members of Congress speak out on brutal Israel- Hamas war appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

By Wafaa Shurafa and Joseph Krauss

The Associated Press

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinians struggled Oct. 14 to flee from areas of Gaza targeted by the Israeli military while grappling with a growing water and medical supply shortage ahead of an expected land offensive a week after Hamas’ bloody, wide-ranging attack into Israel.

Israel renewed calls on social media and in leaflets dropped from the air for Gaza residents to move south, while Hamas urged people to stay in their homes. The U.N. and aid groups have said such a rapid exodus along with Israel’s siege of the territory would cause untold human suffering.

The evacuation directive covers an area of 1.1 million residents, or about half the territory’s population. The Israeli military said “hundreds of thousands” of Palestinians had heeded the warning and headed south. It gave Palestinians a six-hour window that ended Oct. 14 to travel safely within Gaza along two main routes.

A week after Hamas’ attack, Israel was still working to assess the casualties. With special rabbinic approval, workers at a military base in central Israel continued the grueling task of identifying the bodies of the Israelis and foreign nationals who were killed, mostly civilians. Work is normally halted on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Beeri and Kfar Aza on Oct. 14, two southern border communities where Hamas militants killed dozens of Israelis in their initial attack, to meet with soldiers and tour the ruins of homes where the killings happened. Netanyahu has faced criticism that his government has not done enough to meet with relatives of the slain.

In a nationally broadcast address the night of Oct. 14, Israel’s chief military spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, accused Hamas of trying to use civilians as human shields and issued a new appeal to Gaza residents to move south.

“We are going to attack Gaza City very broadly soon,” he said, without giving a timetable for the attack against the 40-kilometer (25-mile) long territory.

The military said it was preparing a coordinated offensive in Gaza using air, ground and naval forces.

Hamas remained defiant. In a televised speech Oct. 14, Ismail Haniyeh, a top Hamas official, said that “all the massacres” will not break the Palestinian people.

Meanwhile, attacks continued, with Hamas launching rockets into Israel and Israel carrying out strikes in Gaza.

An Israeli airstrike near the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza killed at least 27 people and wounded another 80, Gaza health authorities said. Most of the victims were women and children, the authorities said. Doctors from Kamal Edwan Hospital shared chaotic footage of charred and disfigured bodies.

It was not clear how many Palestinians remained in north Gaza by Oct. 14, said Juliette Touma, a spokesperson for the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees. An estimated 1 million people have been displaced in Gaza in one week, she said.

An estimated 35,000 displaced civilians have crammed into the grounds of Gaza City’s main hospital, sitting under trees in the empty grounds, as well as inside the building’s lobby and corridors, hoping they will be protected from the fighting, medical officials said.

“People think this is the only safe space after their homes were destroyed and they were forced to flee,” said Dr. Medhat Abbas, a Health Ministry official. “Gaza City is a frightening scene of devastation.”

Basic necessities like food, fuel and drinking water also were running low because of a complete Israeli siege.

Water has stopped coming out of taps across the territory. Amal Abu Yahia, a 25-year-old pregnant mother in the Jabaliya refugee camp, said she waited anxiously for the few minutes each day or every other day when contaminated water trickles from the pipes in her basement. She rations it, prioritizing her 5-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter. She said she is drinking so little herself, she only urinates every other day.

Near the coast, the only tap water is contaminated with Mediterranean Sea water because of the lack of sanitation facilities. Mohammed Ibrahim, 28, said his neighbors in Gaza City have taken to drinking the salt water.

“Gaza has been out of water for almost three days, we have no power, no electricity,” said Inas Hamdan, a spokesperson for the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees. “If there is no humanitarian corridor, consequences will be catastrophic.”

The Israeli military’s evacuation order demands the territory’s entire population cram into the southern half of Gaza as Israel continues strikes across the territory, including in the south.

Rami Swailem said he and at least five families in his building decided to stay put in his apartment near Gaza City. “We are rooted in our lands,” he said. “We prefer to die in dignity and face our destiny.”

Others were looking desperately for ways to evacuate. “We need a number for drivers from Gaza to the south, it is necessary #help,” read a post on social media. “We need a bus number, office, or any means of transport,” read another.

The U.N. refugee agency for Palestinians expressed concern for those who could not leave, “particularly pregnant women, children, older persons and persons with disabilities,” saying they must be protected. The agency also called for Israel to not target civilians, hospitals, schools, clinics and U.N. locations.

Al-Shifa hospital was receiving hundreds of wounded every hour and had used up 95 percednt of its medical supplies, hospital director Mohammad Abu Selim said. Water is scarce and the fuel powering its generators is dwindling.

“The situation inside the hospital is miserable in every sense of the word,” he said. “The operating rooms don’t stop.”

Patients and personnel from the Al Awda Hospital in Gaza’s far north spent part of the night in the street “with bombs landing in close proximity,” the medical aid group Doctors Without Borders said.

An Israeli military spokesperson, Jonathan Conricus, said the evacuation was aimed at keeping civilians safe and preventing Hamas from using them as human shields. He urged people in the targeted areas to leave immediately and to return “only when we tell them that it is safe to do so.”

“The Palestinian civilians in Gaza are not our enemies. We don’t assess them as such, and we don’t target them as such,” Conricus said. “We are trying to do the right thing.”

Thousands of people crammed into U.N.-run schools across Gaza.

“I came here with my children. We slept on the ground. We don’t have a mattress, or clothes,” said Howeida al-Zaaneen, 63, who is from the northern town of Beit Hanoun. “I want to go back to my home, even if it is destroyed.”

The Israeli military said its troops conducted temporary raids into Gaza on Oct. 13 to battle militants and hunted for traces of some 150 people — including men, women and children — who were abducted during Hamas’ shocking Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel.

The Gaza Health Ministry said Oct. 14 that over 2,200 people have been killed in the territory, including 724 children and 458 women. The Hamas communications office said that Israel has “completely demolished” over 7,000 housing units so far.

Hamas’ surprise attack killed more than 1,300 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, and roughly 1,500 Hamas militants died during the fighting, the Israeli government said.

Egyptian officials said the country’s Rafah border crossing with Gaza would open Oct. 14 for the first time in days to allow foreigners out. But by that night there had been no movement. There were believed to be some 1,500 people in Gaza holding Western passports and additional people with passports from other parts of the world.

Israel’s raids into Gaza on Oct. 13 were the first acknowledgment that Israeli troops had entered the territory since the military began its round-the-clock bombardment in retaliation for the Hamas massacre. Palestinian militants have fired more than 5,500 rockets into Israel since the fighting erupted, the Israeli military said.

Israel has called up some 360,000 military reserves and massed troops and tanks along the border with Gaza. A ground assault in densely populated Gaza would likely bring even higher casualties on both sides in brutal house-to-house fighting.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan in Riyadh on Oct. 14, and both called for Israel to protect civilians in Gaza.

“As Israel pursues its legitimate right to defend its people and to try to ensure that this never happens again, it is vitally important that all of us look out for civilians,” Blinken said.

Hamas said Israel’s airstrikes killed 22 hostages, including foreigners. It did not provide their nationalities. The Israeli military denied the claim. Hamas and other Palestinian militants hope to trade the hostages for thousands of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

In the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry says 53 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war, including 16 on Oct. 13. The U.N. says attacks by Israeli settlers have surged there since the Hamas assault.

___

Krauss reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Isabel DeBre and Julia Frankel in Jerusalem, Samya Kullab in Baghdad, Samy Magdy in Cairo, Ashraf Sweilam in El-Arish, Egypt, Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut and Matthew Lee in Riyadh contributed to this report.

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By Tia Goldenberg and Wafaa Shurafa.
The Associated Press

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli soldiers battled Hamas fighters in the streets of southern Israel on Oct. 8 and launched retaliation strikes that leveled buildings in Gaza, while in northern Israel a brief exchange of strikes with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group raised fears of a broader conflict.

There was still some fighting underway more than 24 hours after an unprecedented surprise attack from Gaza, in which Hamas militants, backed by a volley of thousands of rockets, broke through Israel’s security barrier and rampaged through nearby communities. At least 600 people have reportedly been killed in Israel — a staggering toll on a scale the country has not experienced in decades — and more than 300 have been killed in Gaza.

The militants also took captives back into the coastal Gaza enclave, including women, children and the elderly, whom they will likely try to trade for thousands of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN’s “State of the Union” that the U.S. is working to verify reports that “several” Americans were killed or are missing.

The high death toll, multiple captives and slow response to the onslaught pointed to a major intelligence failure and undermined the long-held perception that Israel has eyes and ears everywhere in the small, densely populated territory it has controlled for decades.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country was at war and would exact a heavy price from its enemies. His Security Cabinet officially declared the country at war in an announcement on Oct. 8, saying the decision formally authorizes “the taking of significant military steps.”

The implications of the announcement were not immediately clear. Israel has carried out major military campaigns over the past four decades in Lebanon and Gaza that it portrayed as wars, but without a formal declaration.

Yohanan Plesner, the head of the Israel Democracy Institute, a local think tank, said the decision is largely symbolic, but “demonstrates that the government thinks we are entering a more lengthy, intense and significant period of war.”

A major question now was whether Israel will launch a ground assault into Gaza, a move that in the past has brought intensified casualties. Netanyahu vowed that Hamas “will pay an unprecedented price.” But, he warned, “This war will take time. It will be difficult.”

Civilians paid a staggering cost for the violence on both sides. Several Israeli media outlets, citing rescue service officials, said at least 600 people were killed in Israel, including 44 soldiers, while officials in Gaza said 313 people had died in the territory. Some 2,000 people have been wounded on each side. An Israeli official said security forces have killed 400 militants and captured dozens more.

Israeli TV news aired a stream of accounts from the relatives of captive or missing Israelis, who wailed and begged for assistance amid a fog of uncertainty surrounding the fate of their loved ones. In Gaza, residents fled homes near the border to escape Israeli strikes, fleeing deeper inside the territory after warnings in Arabic from the Israeli military.

In neighboring Egypt, a policeman shot dead two Israeli tourists and an Egyptian at a tourist site in Alexandria, the Interior Ministry said. Egypt made peace with Israel decades ago, but anti-Israel sentiment runs high in the country, especially during bouts of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

The flare-up on Israel’s northern border also threatened to draw into the battle Hezbollah, a fierce enemy of Israel’s which is backed by Iran and estimated to have tens of thousands of rockets at its disposal. Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets and shells on Oct. 8 at three Israeli positions in a disputed area along the border and Israel’s military fired back using armed drones. Two children were lightly wounded by broken glass on the Lebanese side, according to the nearby Marjayoun Hospital.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military official, told reporters the situation at the northern border was calm after the exchange. But he said fighting was still underway in the south and that there were still hostage situations there.

He said troops had moved into every community near the Gaza frontier, where they planned to evacuate all civilians and scour the area for militants.

“We will go through every community until we kill every terrorist that is in Israeli territory,” he said. In Gaza, “every terrorist located in a house, all the commanders in houses, will be hit by Israeli fire. That will continue escalating in the coming hours.”

Hamas said that overnight it had continued to send forces and equipment into “a number of locations inside our occupied territories,” referring to Israel. Hamas-linked media reported that the son of Nizar Awadallah, a senior political official, was killed. The Islamic militant group has not reported any senior members being captured, killed or wounded.

The surprise attack Oct. 7 was the deadliest on Israel in decades. In an assault of startling breadth, Hamas gunmen used explosives to break through the border fence enclosing Gaza, then crossed with motorcycles, pickup trucks, paragliders and speed boats on the coast.

They rolled into as many as 22 locations outside the Gaza Strip early Saturday morning, including towns and other communities as far as 24 kilometers (15 miles) from the Gaza border, while Hamas launched thousands of rockets at Israeli cities.

“Israel is waking up this morning to a terrible morning,” said Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, an Israeli military spokesman. “There are a lot of people killed … children, grandmothers, families, bodies.”

Israeli media said at least 600 people were killed and 2,000 wounded in the Oct. 7 attack. Hamas fighters took an unknown number of civilians and soldiers captive into Gaza, and a line of Israelis with missing relatives snaked outside a police station in central Israel to supply investigators with DNA samples and other means that could help identify their family members.

Israel struck 426 targets in Gaza, its military said, flattening residential buildings in giant explosions.

Among the 313 killed in Gaza were 20 children, and close to 2,000 people were wounded, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, said more than 20,000 Palestinians left Gaza’s border region to head further inside the territory and take refuge in U.N. schools.

In a televised address the night of the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military will use all of its strength to destroy Hamas’ capabilities.

“Get out of there now,” he told Gaza residents, who have no way to leave the tiny, overcrowded Mediterranean territory. Gaza’s 2.3 million people have endured a border blockade, enforced to varying degrees by Israel and Egypt, since Hamas militants seized control in 2007.

In Gaza, much of the population was thrown into darkness the night of Oct. 7 as Israel cut off electricity and said it would no longer supply power, fuel or other goods to the territory.

Hamas said it had planned for a long fight.

“We are prepared for all options, including all-out war,” the deputy head of the Hamas political bureau, Saleh al-Arouri, told Al-Jazeera TV.

Israel has a history of making heavily lopsided exchanges to bring captive Israelis home. The military has confirmed that a “substantial” number of Israelis were abducted Oct. 7 without giving an exact figure.

An Egyptian official said Israel has sought help from Cairo to ensure the safety of the hostages, and that Egypt’s intelligence chief had contacted Hamas and the smaller but more radical Islamic Jihad group, which also took part in the incursion, to seek information. Egypt has often mediated between the two sides in the past.

The official said Palestinian leaders claimed that they don’t yet have a “full picture” of hostages, but said those who were brought into Gaza were taken to “secure locations” across the territory.

“It’s clear that they have a big number — several dozens,” said the official, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to brief media.

Egypt also spoke with both sides about a potential cease-fire, but the official said Israel was not open to a truce “at this stage.”

In Iran, which has long supported Hamas and other militant groups, President Ebrahim Raisi praised the “legitimate defense” of the Palestinian nation and said Israel and its supporters “must be held accountable.” Raisi spoke by phone with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Islamic Jihad leader Ziad al-Nakhalah, the state-run IRNA news agency reported Oct. 8.

The shadowy leader of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif, said the assault, named “Operation Al-Aqsa Storm,” was in response to the 16-year blockade of Gaza, and a series of recent incidents that have brought Israeli-Palestinian tensions to a fever pitch.

Over the past year, Israel’s far-right government has ramped up settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, Israeli settler violence has displaced hundreds of Palestinians there, and tensions have flared around the Al-Aqsa mosque, a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site.

President Joe Biden said from the White House that the U.S. “stands with the people of Israel in the face of these terrorist assaults,” and said Israel has the right to defend itself.

___

Shurafa reported from Gaza City. Associated Press writers Isabel DeBre, Julia Frankel and Josef Federman in Jerusalem; Issam Adwan in Rafah, Gaza Strip; Bassem Mroue in Beirut and Samy Magdy in Cairo and Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran contributed to this report.

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By Dánica Coto
The Associated Press

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The U.N. Security Council has approved a resolution that authorizes deployment of a multinational force to Haiti led by Kenya to help combat violent gangs that have grown incredibly powerful and overwhelmed police.

Haiti first requested such an intervention in October 2022, but neither the U.S. nor the U.N. were willing to lead one, and U.S. efforts to persuade Canada to do so were unsuccessful.

Then Kenya stepped up in July with an offer to lead a multinational force. The U.S. forwarded a resolution to the U.N. Security Council to authorize the force, and the council approved it Oct. 2 afternoon with 13 votes and two abstentions from China and the Russian Federation.

Some things to know:

WHO REQUESTED THE ARMED FORCE AND WHY?

Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry first requested the immediate deployment of an armed force in October 2022. At that time, a powerful gang alliance known as “G9 and Family” and led by a former police officer had seized control of a key fuel terminal in the capital of Port-au-Prince, paralyzing the country and cutting off access to water, fuel and basic goods.

The gang eventually allowed fuel trucks to enter the area, but since then, gangs have only grown more powerful. From Jan. 1 to Aug. 15, more than 2,400 people in Haiti have been reported killed, more than 950 kidnapped and more than 900 injured, according to U.N. statistics.

More than 200,000 others have lost their homes as rival gangs warring over territory pillage communities. Haiti’s National Police have launched several operations targeting gangs, but the police agency is under-resourced, with only 10,000 active officers for a country of more than 11 million people.

WHY IS THE U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL INVOLVED?

U.N. Security Council approval of a deployment of a foreign armed force to Haiti helps give the intervention weight under international law. The council has 15 members, and a majority of nine votes is needed for a decision.

Only five members, the U.S., U.K., China, France and Russia, are allowed to veto proposals. Just one veto means a decision or resolution would not be approved. Countries also can abstain instead of casting a veto.

WHAT DOES THE RESOLUTION SAY?

The seven-page resolution drafted by the U.S. government and obtained by The Associated Press ahead of the vote authorizes a one-year deployment of a multinational armed force to help Haiti fight gangs. It welcomes Kenya’s offer to lead the force, which would be funded by voluntary contributions, with the U.S. already having pledged $100 million.

The resolution calls for the force to be reviewed after nine months, and for leaders of the mission to inform the council of the mission’s goals, rules of engagement, financial needs and other issues before a full deployment.

The resolution calls for the force to work with Haiti’s National Police to “counter gangs and improve security conditions” as well as secure key infrastructure such as ports, the airport and critical intersections. The force also would be allowed to “adopt urgent temporary measures on an exceptional basis” to prevent deaths and help secure the country.

WHAT DO HAITIANS THINK OF THE PROPOSAL?

Haitians are skeptical about a foreign armed force given a sexual abuse scandal and deadly cholera outbreak that followed the 2004 deployment of a U.N. stabilizing mission that lasted 13 years.

However, Haitians also acknowledge there are few other options that could help quell violence inflicted by gangs estimated to control up to 80 percent of Port-au-Prince.

Critics of the plan note that police in Kenya have been accused of killings and torture, and some wonder how an English-speaking force would interact with a population that speaks mostly Haitian Creole.

WHEN WAS A FOREIGN FORCE LAST SENT TO HAITI?

There have been at least three major foreign military interventions in Haiti since the early 1900s led by the U.S. and the U.N.

The last time a force was deployed to Haiti was in June 2004, when the U.N. approved a stabilization mission after former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was overthrown in a rebellion initially organized by a street gang. The upheaval prompted the U.S., France, Canada and Chile to send troops that were soon replaced by the U.N. mission that ended in 2017.

The U.N. mission was marred by allegations that more than 100 U.N. peacekeepers had engaged in sexual misconduct, including sexual abuse of minors. Also, sewage runoff from a U.N. peacekeeper camp was blamed for a cholera epidemic in which nearly 10,000 people died.

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By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia

Today, in a display of unity, the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), representing the Black Press of America, issued a resolute statement of support for Israel amidst the recent escalation of conflict in the Middle East.

In a joint statement released on Saturday, October 7, NNPA Chair Bobby Henry and NNPA President and CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. unequivocally condemned the devastating acts of violence perpetrated against the Jewish people and the nation of Israel by Hamas. The militant group’s firing of a deadly barrage of rockets and infiltration of Israeli territory marked a significant escalation in the ongoing conflict between the two sides.

“The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), representing the Black Press of America, forthrightly condemns the brutal, fatal terrorist attacks today on the Jewish people and the nation of Israel by Hamas,” read the statement. “Terrorism against innocent civilians in Israel and in any other place in the world can never be justified, tolerated, or sanctioned. We stand firmly in solidarity with Israel.”

The statement underscores the unity and solidarity between the African American and Jewish communities in the face of adversity. While their shared history is complex and nuanced, the NNPA’s declaration underscores their shared common ground by condemning violence and terrorism against innocent civilians, regardless of where it occurs.

The NNPA, founded in 1940, is the trade association for African American-owned newspapers and media companies throughout the United States. Its mission is to advocate for the African American press and promote the importance of Black-owned media in shaping public opinion and preserving the African American cultural experience.

The support for Israel comes at a critical juncture, and it emphasizes the importance of solidarity with nations and communities facing acts of violence and terrorism, transcending historical differences to unite in a common cause.

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By DaQuan Lawrence,
AFRO International Writer,
DLawrence@afro.com

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that the nation is “at war” on Oct. 7 as Palestinian militants from Hamas invaded numerous Israeli towns taking hostages and firing thousands of rockets. 

“I convened the heads of the security establishment and ordered – first of all – to clear out the communities that have been infiltrated by terrorists,” said Netanyahu, in statements released to the press. “I call on the citizens of Israel to strictly adhere to the directives of the IDF and Home Front Command. We are at war and we will win it.” 

During the early morning of Oct. 7, the 75-year-old state of Israel endured one of the most significant invasions of its modern territory in the previous five decades, after suspected militants from Gaza coordinated a devastating assault in Southern Israel. 

After the unprecedented turn of events, Netanyahu addressed the country— and the world. 

“Citizens of Israel, we are at war. Not an operation… at war! This morning Hamas initiated a murderous surprise attack against the state of Israel and its citizens,” Netanyahu said in a statement released by the Israeli government.

Dozens of Palestinian paramilitary fighters infiltrated the nation from Gaza on multiple fronts, as militants invaded towns via air, land and sea. Fighting has commenced in various communities near the Gaza Strip including Be’eri, Re’im and Sderot, while hostages have been held in Be’ri and Ofakim. 

Ashriel Moore, a resident in Tel-Aviv, discussed the ongoing situation with The AFRO, as well as the nuances of being a member of the African diaspora who has settled in the modern state of Israel. Moore was scheduled to speak with the AFRO about being Black in Israel on the morning of Oct.7, but the turn of events quickly changed the topic of the meeting.

“We woke up to about 2000 rockets being launched from the Gaza Strip into the heart of the cities here in Israel,” Moore said via a phone interview on the morning of Oct. 7.  “We were awakened by alarm sirens and we were notified that more than 100 terrorists had infiltrated the borders of Israel by air—through parachutes— and on the ground border.”

Moore is a member of a unique group of people of African descent who settled in Israel in the 1960s under the leadership of the late Ben Ammi Ben-Israel. The group calls themselves the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem, a group different from the Hebrew Israelites seen in America. 

Despite the political regime that governs the nation and the religious and ethnic background of military and governmental leaders, Moore emphasized that Black Israelis, or members of the African diaspora who have settled in Israel, should be entitled to safety amid the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. 

“It’s our responsibility to explain what’s going on in Israel from an Afrocentric perspective so the conflict isn’t viewed as ‘a war between Hamas and White Israel,’ because those rockets being shot from Gaza affect me just as much as they affect anybody else who lives here,” Moore explained. 

According to the website of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Group (Hamas), Mohammed Deif, the leader of Hamas’ military arm, declared that the assault was in response to several recent and historic points of conflict including violence at Al Aqsa, the disputed Jerusalem holy site sacred to Jews as the Temple Mount, increasing attacks by settlers on Palestinians as well as the growth of settlements. 

Deif said the recent attack is merely the start of “Operation Al-Aqsa Storm” and called on Palestinians between east Jerusalem and northern Israel to join the fight. Deif also cited the ongoing 16-year blockade of Gaza and Israeli raids inside West Bank cities over the past year as reasons for the surprise attack.  

According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), fighting continued into the early evening in at least five places throughout the southern parts of the country, and Israel had retaliated with strikes on Gazan cities. IDF said that it has struck several terrorist forces around southern Israel and numerous sites that belong to Hamas in the Gaza Strip. 

Israeli Air Force fighter jets and drones attacked 17 military compounds, four headquarters as well as two residential towers that the Israeli military believes stores Hamas assets according to the IDF. As reported by The Times of Israel, the IDF allegedly notified residents of the two buildings before they began their assault. 

Although the numbers continue to increase, thus far approximately 300 individuals have reportedly been killed and about 1,500 other people have been wounded in Israel according to both Israeli and Palestinian officials. At least 230 Palestinians have reportedly been killed, and more than 1,600 people have been wounded since the beginning of the assault as reported by the Gazan Health Ministry. 

Members of the international community, foreign nations and national leaders have weighed in on the latest events in the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In a statement released by officials of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which recently held discussions with the U.S. about re-establishing bilateral relations with Israel, the Middle Eastern nation called for both sides to exercise restraint. 

The kingdom said it had continually cautioned both sides about “the dangers of the situation exploding as a result of the continued occupation [and] the Palestinian people being deprived of their legitimate rights.”

U.S. President Joe Biden condemned Palestinian militants declaring the events an “appalling assault against Israel by Hamas terrorists from Gaza” in a statement released by the White House. According to the Biden Administration, the president spoke with Netanyahu and mentioned that Israel “has a right to defend itself and its people.” 

Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group congratulated Hamas, applauding the attack as a response to “Israeli crimes.” The Lebanese group said it was in contact with Hamas about the operational planning of the latest attack. 

Despite the potential of further escalation as Israel declared a state of war, Moore expressed that he has hope both sides of the conflict can reach a peaceful resolution. 

“We believe in principles that could lead to a better solution to the current situation we have in Israel, but the problem is that on both ends, you have people who are actually benefiting from this current situation,” Moore told the AFRO. 

“Some people [in] the conflict don’t want to find a solution,” said Moore. “They prefer for this to continue going on and we don’t support that at all.” 

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Written by Taneasha White-Gibson

James Baldwin: The life story you may not know

James Baldwin was a prolific writer, poet, essayist, and civil rights activist. Though he spent much of his life abroad, he is undoubtedly an American writer, whose works serve as a prism through which to view Black American life. Apart from being an esteemed literary talent, Baldwin routinely participated in the necessary criticism of both the U.S. and Europe’s mistreatment of Black people and broached the then-taboo issue of same-gender love and sensuality long before any widespread queer liberation movement.

Even in death, Baldwin’s unabashed critique and truth-telling made him not only a guiding light for his time but for this generation and those to come. Several of his prescient works—”The Fire Next Time,” “Notes of a Native Son”—were as vital during the Civil Rights Movement as they are now, a legacy carried on through the incantation of Black Lives Matter protests in the streets to the Black American lexicon proliferating college classrooms today.

Some may know the author’s interest in the arts started in childhood, but surprisingly, his journey to becoming a luminary originated in the pulpit. Fueled by humble beginnings and a desire to speak truth to power even amid an era of unthinkable violence and injustice against Black Americans, the Harlem-born literary giant traversed the world—from Switzerland, Paris, and Istanbul—with his name seen on the cover of playbills, memoirs, and photo essays, hoping to gain enough distance from his homeland to write about it. “Once you find yourself in another civilization,” he once told an interviewer, “you’re forced to examine your own.”

In his honor, Stacker compiled 25 facts and moments about the author, activist, and intellectual James Baldwin, using Biography.com, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and various other sources.

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Born in 1924

James Arthur Baldwin was born to Emma Berdis Jones in Harlem, New York, on Aug. 2, 1924.

According to various accounts, his mother never shared details about his birth father—including his name. Jones later married David Baldwin, a minister, when young Baldwin was 3 years old.

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1938: Baldwin becomes a teen preacher

When he turned 14, the writer followed in his stepfather’s footsteps and became a teen preacher at Fireside Pentecostal Assembly during what he called a “prolonged religious crisis” in his 1963 nonfiction book “The Fire Next Time.”

Baldwin later left behind his adherence to Christianity, but his experiences at the church would inspire his 1953 novel “Go Tell It on the Mountain.”

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Harlem Renaissance poet Countee Cullen was his middle school teacher

During his middle school years, Baldwin was a student of Harlem Renaissance poet Countee Cullen. The poet worked as a French teacher at Frederick Douglass Junior High, where Baldwin was a student, ultimately opening Baldwin’s eyes to Black literature. Baldwin later became the editor of his school’s newspaper and eventually wrote a profile of Harlem from the point of view of multiple generations.

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Mentored by Harlem Renaissance painter Beauford Delaney

At 16, Baldwin met painter Beauford Delaney, whom he regarded as a “spiritual father.” The artist would change Baldwin’s early conception that jazz was sinful, introducing him to the songs of Ella Fitzgerald and Bessie Smith. Delaney would also move to Paris five years after Baldwin, continuing their relationship. He later wrote that Delaney “was the first walking, living proof for me that a Black man could be an artist.”

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1942: Baldwin worked on a railroad after graduating high school

Despite an early interest in arts and literature, Baldwin was tasked with helping provide for his seven younger siblings, taking a job laying railroad tracks for the Army in New Jersey. While working, Baldwin experienced being refused service at restaurants and bars because of the color of his skin. He was soon fired, which led him to move to Greenwich Village.

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1944: Meets mentor Richard Wright by knocking on his door

Baldwin was introduced to his “literary father,” the late writer Richard Wright, after arriving unannounced at his front door. By this time, Wright had published “Native Son,” a tale of a Black man who accidentally kills a white woman and eventually rapes and murders his girlfriend while being pursued.

Wright read early versions of “Go Tell It on the Mountain” and helped secure a fellowship for Baldwin, which kick-started his career. About four years later, however, Baldwin would write critical reviews of Wright’s “Native Son” for the literary magazine Zero while in Paris.

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1948: Leaves for Paris after his best friend’s suicide

According to a 1984 interview with The Paris Review, Baldwin feared for his survival as a Black man in the U.S. “My luck was running out,” he said. “I was going to go to jail, I was going to kill somebody or be killed. My best friend had committed suicide two years earlier, jumping off the George Washington Bridge.”

Baldwin shared with The New York Times that this move enabled him to write more freely about his experience as a Black man in America, saying: “Once I found myself on the other side of the ocean, I could see where I came from very clearly. … I am the grandson of a slave, and I am a writer. I must deal with both.”

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1953: Releases ‘Go Tell It on the Mountain’

One of Baldwin’s first and more notable books, “Go Tell It on the Mountain” is a semi-autobiographical work about John Grimes, who grows up in 1930s Harlem under the influence of his Pentecostal minister stepfather. The novel covers the intersections of race, religion, and spirituality, paving the way for important conversations for which Baldwin’s later novels and essays would become synonymous.

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1954: Receives Guggenheim Fellowship

To aid in writing a new novel, Baldwin participated in the MacDowell writer’s colony residence in New England. During this time, he also won a Guggenheim Fellowship, both of which supported his later works.

Two years after accepting the Guggenheim Award, Baldwin published his second novel, “Giovanni’s Room,” which chronicles the struggle between race and sexuality and shows a character grappling between the love of a man and a woman all while navigating a white-dominated society.

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1955: Publishes ‘Notes of a Native Son’

Baldwin spoke about his admiration for Richard Wright’s 1940 book “Native Son,” which centers around race and the life of a Black man.

Following the success of his debut novel, Baldwin wrote “Notes of a Native Son”as an homage to the work. The collection of essays is a compilation of experiences surrounding race and social issues during the early days of the Civil Rights Movement.

In a New York Times review, esteemed Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes wrote of “Notes”: “Few American writers handle words more effectively in the essay form than James Baldwin. To my way of thinking, he is much better at provoking thought in the essay than he is arousing emotion in fiction.”

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1956: Publishes ‘Giovanni’s Room’

“Giovanni’s Room” received widespread acclaim and positive reception for exploring gay experiences, and many of Baldwin’s characters are within the LGBTQ+ community. This was years before the movement for queer liberation, and it proved groundbreaking. The book was a finalist for the 1957 National Book Award for fiction.

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1957: Baldwin makes a trip to the South

After almost a decade out of the country, Baldwin returned to the United States amid the height of the Civil Rights struggle. He made a trip to the Deep South in 1957, which he later captured in “Letter from the South: Nobody Knows My Name” with the words, “Everywhere he turns … the revenant finds himself reflected.”

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1961: Releases ‘Nobody Knows My Name’

While Baldwin was heavily involved in on-the-ground, behind-the-scenes efforts within the Civil Rights Movement, he utilized his literary talents and notoriety to speak on issues of Black folks in both the U.S. and in Europe. His book of essays, “Nobody Knows My Name,” compiles 23 works and earned the writer a spot on the shortlist for nonfiction at the 1962 National Book Awards.

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1962: Baldwin’s feature in The New Yorker prints

The New Yorker published an essay from the writer on Nov. 9, 1962, entitled “Letter from a Region in My Mind.” The essay, which begins from his musings as a 14-year-old in Harlem and traverses through his experiences in his stepfather’s church and the Nation of Islam, was later expanded into a book.

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1963: Publishes ‘The Fire Next Time’

Originally a long-form article in The New Yorker, “The Fire Next Time”was published in 1963. Baldwin uses the two essays, “My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of Emancipation” and “Down At The Cross: Letter from a Region of My Mind,” to speak candidly about the state of racism within the U.S. and Christianity’s role in American society.

The work became a bestseller and has remained a staple within African American literature. American author and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates called it “basically the finest essay I’ve ever read.”

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1964: Makes Broadway debut with ‘Blues for Mister Charlie’

Baldwin’s first Broadway production, this play presented an honest depiction of oppression loosely based on the murder of Emmett Till in 1955. In its preface, Baldwin wrote: “What is ghastly and really almost hopeless in our racial situation now is that the crimes we have committed are so great and so unspeakable that the acceptance of this knowledge would lead, literally, to madness.”

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Collaborates with Richard Avedon on ‘Nothing Personal’

Written as a tribute to his murdered friend, Civil Rights Movement leader Medgar Evers, Baldwin and his boyhood friend, American photographer Richard Avedon, created “Nothing Personal,” released in 1964.

Baldwin met Avedon while attending DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx. Avedon was one of the school’s literary magazine editors. The two fell out of touch after high school but reconnected when Avedon was commissioned to photograph Baldwin for Harper’s Bazaar and Life magazine. That shoot inspired “Nothing Personal,” which features photos from Avedon and 20,000 words from Baldwin.

Robert Abbott Sengstacke // Getty Images

Baldwin attends 1965 Selma to Montgomery march

Baldwin was largely involved in social justice throughout the 1960s and participated in the March on Washington and the following Selma to Montgomery march and actions in 1965.

He was close friends with Bayard Rustin, another openly gay Black man in the movement, and both were active behind the scenes due to the ongoing prejudices surrounding the LGBTQ+ communities.

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1965: ‘The Amen Corner’ opens on Broadway

Apart from authoring books, Baldwin was a talented playwright and used the stage to discuss racial issues. “The Amen Corner,” about a woman evangelist, was heavily influenced by Baldwin’s religious upbringing and first performed in New York City.

While New York Times reviewer Howard Taubman noted the play’s slow pace, he wrote that the production “has something to say. It throws some light on the barrenness of the lives of impoverished Negroes who seek surcease from their woes in religion.”

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1968: Begins drafting Malcolm X screenplay

Baldwin moved to Los Angeles after being hired to write the screenplay for a movie about Malcolm X. According to writer David Leeming’s 1994 book “James Baldwin: A Biography,” “The first treatment he composed was a manuscript of more than 200 pages that read more like a novel than a screenplay. Furthermore, his presence was disruptive, his working habits deplorable, and his lifestyle expensive.” To Baldwin, however, he was subjected to 16 months in a foreign land called Hollywood, where people did not speak his language.

Baldwin eventually left the project, though he published his script under “One Day When I Was Lost” years later. In 1992, Spike Lee adapted the script that Baldwin and, later, Arnold Perl worked on, which became the film “Malcolm X,” starring Denzel Washington.

Jack Sotomayor/New York Times Co. // Getty Images

Baldwin helped Maya Angelou get her first autobiography published

Depressed by the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Maya Angelou was invited to a dinner by her friend Baldwin. Her storytelling skills impressed cartoonist Jules Feiffer and his wife, Judy, which resulted in an introduction to his editor, Robert Loomis. This, with a little behind-the-scenes counseling from Baldwin that got Angelou to agree to an autobiography, led to the release of her seminal 1969 book “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.”

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1976: Releases ‘The Devil Finds Work’

Baldwin is known for his poetry and creative nonfiction, but he was also a renowned film critic. His book-length essay “The Devil Finds Work,” which The Atlantic called “the most powerful piece of film criticism ever written” in 2014, juxtaposes race within the U.S. and cinema, covering such films as “The Heat of the Night,” “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” and “The Exorcist.”

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1983: Begins teaching at universities

While Baldwin continued to write until later in life, he also divided his time between teaching at the collegiate level—first at Hampshire College in 1983, then at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst—before returning to France in 1986.

At school, he became well known for his late-night discussions and drinks. He frequently remained awake even as his colleagues drifted to sleep, earning him his own time zone, called “Jimmy Time.”

Afro American Newspapers/Gado // Getty Images

1985: Investigates ‘The Evidence of Things Not Seen’

Between 1979 and 1981, at least 28 children, adolescents, and adults were killed in Atlanta. On assignment for Playboy, Baldwin wrote about these killings, known as the Atlanta child murders, in “The Evidence of Things Not Seen.” He writes about the racial aspect of the murders, for both the victims and the convicted assailant.

Ulf Andersen // Getty Images

Death

On Dec. 1, 1987, Baldwin died of stomach cancer at his home in southern France.

Before his passing, Baldwin was working on a piece called “Remember This House.” This unfinished memoir was a collection of his personal experiences with civil rights leaders, including his friends Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr.

Nearly four decades later, this manuscript would serve as the basis for Raoul Peck’s 2016 documentary film “I Am Not Your Negro,” which took home the BAFTA Award for Best Documentary and was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 89th Academy Awards.

Story editing by Carren Jao. Copy editing by Paris Close.

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By Aria Brent,
AFRO Staff Writer,
abrent@afro.com

Ghana declared 2019 the Year of Return and invited people of African descent throughout the world to celebrate the collective resistance of those who suffered through the transatlantic slave trade. 

The Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) created the Year of Return to build more traction around Ghana as a key travel destination for African Americans and people of the African Diaspora.  According to TheAfricanReport.com, approximately 1.13 million people visited Ghana in 2019 following the announcement of the movement. Ghana’s president, Nana Akufo-Addo, also granted citizenship to people of the African diaspora willing to move to the country. 

“Black and Brown people, we continue to be marginalized,” stated Rhea Roper Nedd, Ph.D., who works to expand diversity in the Baltimore County area. “We continue to be underrepresented in society as a whole. Racially and ethnically in educational spaces and in professional spaces. It was very important for me to find a country in which the students will no longer be [marginalized] as they enter, especially the students of color.“

Nedd has a background in diversity, equity and inclusion and has been hosting and curating an annual trip for her students to visit Ghana since 2016. Nedd explained that she began to take students to Ghana to diversify their options for studying abroad and to provide Black and Brown students the opportunity to travel somewhere that doesn’t make them feel unseen.

Nedd shared some of the activities that she and her students participated in during their trip. She explained that getting the chance to not only experience but learn about Ghanaian culture is a vital part of the trip. 

“We take a class at the University of Ghana, which is in East Legon. We have a workshop on African dance and African drumming,” explained Nedd. “[We learn about] the symbolism of the drums, the symbolism of the role of the drums and how it is that various communities communicated for long distances with each other through drumming.” 

In addition to the warm hospitality, Ghana’s ever growing economy seems to be attracting more tourists and even new residents. 

Zik and his wife Jerri visited Ghana in 1973 as a part of their six-week honeymoon to West Africa. The couple has been wanting to move to Ghana for a while and the Year of Return further motivated them to move. 

“We’ve been considering [moving] for many years and the time is right to go back to the motherland,” said Zik Stewart.”There’s a great need back there but there’s a great opportunity as well. We in the diaspora, we bring a lot to the motherland.”

Jerri Stewart added that “the people from Ghana are so warm and welcoming, they’re known for their hospitality.”

The Stewarts and Nedd recognize that Ghana is a nation that is well established all the while having so much room for further development and growth. Helping the people of Ghana and giving back to the local communities is a major part of their agendas.

“We’re looking to make a change, a contribution if you will to the nation of Ghana and the continent of Africa. Ghana is only 66-years-old, and as far as nation building goes, they’ve got the land and the people, and those of us from [the] diaspora bring capital and skill,” explained Zik Stewart. 

Partnering with local organizations to provide service for the people of Ghana is one of the main purposes for the trip Nedd and her students make. She shared the service initiatives not being directed by them as students but the people of Ghana is something they’re always mindful of. 

“There’s so much service that can occur,” shared Nedd. “I was able to identify various partnerships with communities in Ghana. Those relationships are so meaningful because it’s a relationship that has been developed so that it’s not directed by a U.S. mindset and where we, the students, are working together with people in the communities.”

To learn more about the year of the return and the nation of Ghana, visit yearofreturn.com and Ghanaembassydc.org

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By DaQuan Lawrence,
AFRO International Writer,
DLawrence@afro.com

As the June 27 traffic stop-turned-killing of Nahel Merzouk, 17, in Nanterre, France, led to weeks of nationwide protest and social unrest, many are saying the authorities’ overtly militarized response mirrors France’s history of colonialism and anti-Black oppression. 

The weeks following Merzouk’s unlawful death were filled with acts of international solidarity. French singer Slimane exclaimed “racism is no longer hidden” in France, and the human rights organization Amnesty International declared that the French government should “prioritize the reform of rules governing the use of firearms and lethal force.” 

“After this tragic murder, Nanterre expressed its rage and sadness, and Ms. Mounie, Nahel’s mother, was supported by people from various communities. We have seen a lot of support through social media,” Audrey M., an activist and independent photojournalist who was on the scene in Nanterre. 

“After the march, I received messages from Germany, the U.S., Lebanon, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Greece and Iran to show support, and funds are being raised,” Audrey continued. 

Unexpectedly, the wife of Florian Menesplier, the officer who killed Nahel, was awarded €1.6 million (US $1,702,923.20) after a GoFundMe was created on the family’s behalf “to help” because Menesplier’s “salary was to be suspended.”

The fund is emblematic of the situation in France–riddled with racial undertones and political implications as it was created by right-wing politician Jean Messiha, who previously worked with far-right presidential candidates Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour. Menesplier’s fund raised more money than the one created for the slain youth.  

It was an increasingly conservative political environment that prompted the passage of former Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve’s 2017 public security law,  an anti-terrorism legislation that has given police the space to use lethal force. 

“Deaths like Nahel’s are multiple because of a law voted in 2017 which authorizes the police to shoot when a vehicle does not want to stop, but it must consist of a threat to public safety,” author, freelance journalist and feminist activist Nesrine Slaoui told the AFRO. 

Since 2022,  about 15 people have been killed by law enforcement during traffic stops across France. In early June, a young man by the name of Monzamba died on a motorcycle in Sarcelles after being chased by police. 

“This was not the case (the criterion of a threat to public safety) for Alhoussein, killed a few days before Nahel, or Rayana, killed almost a year before in the same circumstances,” Slaoui, who is of Moroccan descent and has written two books about being an Arab woman in France, told the AFRO.

Fifteen days prior to Nahel’s death, Alhoussein Camara, a 19-year-old Guinean, was shot on his way to work in western France after allegedly refusing to comply with a police traffic stop. Rayana was a 21-year-old woman killed on June 4, 2022, during a police check in Paris. 

“The protests are the results of a process connected to systemic racism and the way of operating of the French police that mainly targets people of color, especially young men,” Balogun Ola-Davies, an “Afropean” architect and illustrator of Nigerian and Sierra Leonean descent, told the AFRO. 

There have been numerous interpretations of the situation in France by various media platforms, with some outlets mischaracterizing peaceful protestors as rioters. 

“It is disheartening to witness tear gas grenades launched at a crowd comprising young individuals, grandmothers and grieving families who have already suffered an unimaginable loss,” Ola-Davies said.

The architect, who resides in Champs-sur-Marne, the suburbs east of Paris, stressed that when actions carried out by Black and Arab communities are labeled as “riots,” it intentionally carries a negative undertone. The language amplifies the perception of violence and disorder, as opposed to protests led by predominantly White individuals, such as the Gilet Jaunes protestors who have demonstrated in major French cities every Saturday since Nov. 17, 2018.

Audrey, Slaoui and Ola-Davies all mentioned the recent protests are unique due to the prevailing weariness and anger about several racially motivated police abuses and because many demonstrators are under 18 years old. 

“The media unjustly and deliberately labeled the gathering as a ‘riot,’ instead of acknowledging these events as peaceful demonstrations, which exhibits a biased treatment toward participants in collective movements based on their ethnic and social backgrounds,” Ola-Davies, who is also a social activist and member of the “Verité et Justice Pour Gaye” committee, said. 

Verité et Justice Pour Gaye  is a human rights group fighting for acknowledgement of the police’s responsibility in the death of Gaye Camara, a 26-year-old Black man killed by officers during a police intervention on Jan. 16, 2018. 

Nahel’s death by law enforcement is the latest in a trend of recent and historic police transgressions and acts of violence towards French civilians of African and Arab descent, who are disproportionately surveilled due to the composition of their communities. 

“’Quartiers populaires’ (working-class neighborhoods), are structurally under-resourced areas where most people from African communities live. They are associated with ‘ghettos’ due state policies,” Ola-Davies told the AFRO.

“These communities are characterized by a distinct system of police management, and landlords adopting a ‘logic of concentration’ that distributes the population in buildings according to skin color and nationality,” he continued.

In the nation internationally known for the 1789 French Revolution and creation of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, the relationship between law enforcement and members of historically marginalized communities reveals a duality. 

In addition to police killings, law enforcement across France were cited for numerous accounts of cruelty and militarized tactics toward non-protesting and protesting citizens, such as using nonlethal bean bags as firearm ammunition and other military-grade “anti-riot” weapons.

During the night of June 28-29 protests, Nathaniel, 19, was blinded after receiving a projectile to the face while returning home from a birthday party in Montreuil, France. 

On June 29-30, a young man was injured by an LBD, a defense ball launcher, shot by an officer in Nanterre following the death of Merzouk. The man suffered severe head trauma and was hospitalized for approximately 20 days. 

After attending a march for Merzouk, a young man named Virgil, a French Army veteran, lost an eye after being targeted by French authorities. 

On June 30, a 22-year-old man was shot in the eye by French police during an urban revolt and injured. He has undergone two surgeries, and his lawyer filed a complaint for aggravated violence. 

During the night of protests on July 1 and 2, Jalil, a non-protestor, now 16, was hit by LBD fire in a city about 15 kilometers south of Paris and now struggles with sight in his right eye. 

Mathieu Rigouste, an independent social science researcher and author of “The Enemy Within: A Colonial and Military Genealogy of Security Directives in Contemporary France,” reflected on the philosophy and history informing French police behavior via tweet: “In its ideology and practices, the French police has domesticated the counter-insurgency doctrine created in the Algerian War and is redeploying it to ensure the control and repression in colonized territories, prisons, segregated neighborhoods, struggles and social revolts.”  

The Algerian War, fought from 1954-’62, was a conflict during which the former North African colony of Algeria secured its independence. The brutality of the methods employed by French forces during the revolt turned not only the French public against it, but also tainted the European powerhouse’s prestige abroad. 

Audrey argued that the animus against Arabs and Blacks demonstrated in that war has carried through into current times, propagating laws that incite police violence toward civilians. 

“There are many cases of murders against minorities since then, and the state violence against minorities is normalized and systemic. Even the United Nations has warned the French government and asked them to reform its police due to concerns of racism,” Audrey told the AFRO. 

“The 2017 public security law [seemingly] constituted a true license to kill,” Audrey added, “and post-colonial migrants have been socially and racially discriminated against. So, if you are Arab or Black in France, your chance [of being] killed by the police is higher.”

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By Samy Magdy and Yousef Mourad,
The Associated Press

DERNA, Libya (AP) — Libyan authorities have opened an investigation into the collapse of two dams that caused a devastating flood in a coastal city as rescue teams searched for bodies on Sept. 16, nearly a week after the deluge killed more than 11,000 people.

It’s unclear how such an investigation can be carried out in the North African country, which plunged into chaos after a NATO-backed uprising toppled longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. For most of the past decade, Libya has been split between rival administrations — one in the east, the other in the west — each backed by powerful militias and international patrons.

One result has been the neglect of crucial infrastructure, even as climate change makes extreme weather events more frequent and severe.

Heavy rains caused by Mediterranean storm Daniel caused deadly flooding across eastern Libya last weekend. The floods overwhelmed two dams, sending a wall of water several meters high through the center of Derna, destroying entire neighborhoods and sweeping people out to sea.

The Libyan Red Crescent has confirmed 11,300 deaths so far.

Ayoub – who only gave his first name – said that his father and nephew were among the dead. They died in Derna on Sept. 11, a day after the family had fled flooding in the nearby town of Bayda. He said that his mother and sister raced upstairs to the roof but the others didn’t make it.

“I found the kid in the water next to his grandfather,” said Ayoub. “I am wandering around and I still don’t believe what happened.”

In addition to the thousands confirmed dead, more than 10,000 people are missing, according to the Red Crescent. Six days on, searchers are still digging through mud and hollowed-out buildings, looking for bodies and possible survivors. 

Claire Nicolet, who heads the emergencies department of the Doctors Without Borders aid group, said that rescuers found “a lot of bodies” on Sept. 15 and were still searching.

“It was a big number … the sea is still ejecting lots of dead bodies unfortunately,” she told The Associated Press.

She said major aid efforts were still needed, including urgent psychological support for those who lost their families. She said the burial of bodies is still a significant challenge, but there has been progress in coordinating search and rescue efforts and the distribution of aid.

Authorities and aid groups have voiced concern about the spread of waterborne diseases and shifting of explosive ordnance from Libya’s recent conflicts.

Haider al-Saeih, head of Libya’s center for combating diseases, said in televised comments Sept. 16 that at least 150 people had suffered from diarrhea after drinking contaminated water in Derna. He urged residents to only drink bottled water, which is being shipped in as part of relief efforts.

Libya’s General Prosecutor, al-Sediq al-Sour, said that prosecutors would investigate the collapse of the two dams, which were built in the 1970s, as well as the allocation of maintenance funds. He said prosecutors would investigate local authorities in the city, as well as previous governments.

“I reassure citizens that whoever made mistakes or negligence, prosecutors will certainly take firm measures, file a criminal case against him and send him to trial,” he told a news conference in Derna late Sept. 15. He said the probe will include investigators from different parts of the country.

Such an inquiry would face major obstacles given Libya’s lingering political divide, even as the devastation brought a rare moment of unity, with Libyans on both sides rushing aid to Derna.

Jalel Harchaoui, an expert on Libya at the London-based Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies, said that an investigation could pose “a unique challenge” to judicial authorities, since it could lead to the highest ranks of leadership in eastern and western Libya.

Later on Sept. 16, a local television station reported that Derna’s mayor, Abdel-Moneim al-Gaithi, was suspended pending an investigation into the disaster, according to a government decree dated Sept. 14.

Ahmed Amdour was appointed acting mayor for the flood-stricken city, the station said.

Since 2014, eastern Libya has been under the control of Gen. Khalifa Hifter and his self-styled Libyan National Army. A rival government, based in the capital, Tripoli, controls most national funds and oversees infrastructure projects. Neither tolerates dissent.

“The key challenge to a thorough investigation is the Hifter coalition’s longstanding behavior; its historic lack of accountability writ large could obstruct the unearthing of truths,” Harchaoui said.

During a visit to Derna on Sept. 15, Hifter promised promotions to all military personnel involved in the relief efforts.

Local officials in the city had warned the public about the coming storm and on Sept. 9 ordered residents to evacuate coastal areas in Derna, fearing a surge from the sea. But there was no warning about the dams, which collapsed early Sept. 11 as most residents were asleep in their homes.

A report by a state-run audit agency in 2021 said the two dams hadn’t been maintained despite the allocation of more than $2 million for that purpose in 2012 and 2013.

A Turkish firm was contracted in 2007 to carry out maintenance on the two dams and build another dam in between. The firm, Arsel Construction Company Ltd., said on its website that it completed its work in November 2012. It didn’t respond to an email seeking further comment.

Local and international rescue teams were meanwhile working around the clock, searching for bodies and potential survivors in the city of 90,000 people.

Al-Sour, the top prosecutor, called on residents who have missing relatives to report to a forensic committee that works on documenting and identifying retrieved bodies.

Libyan authorities have restricted access to the flooded city to make it easier for searchers to dig through the mud and hollowed-out buildings for the more than 10,000 people still missing. Many bodies were believed to have been buried under rubble or swept out into the Mediterranean Sea, they said.

The storm hit other areas in eastern Libya, including the towns of Bayda, Susa, Marj and Shahatt. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced in the region and took shelter in schools and other government buildings.

Dozens of foreigners were among those killed, including people who had fled war and unrest elsewhere in the region. Others had come to Libya to work or were traveling through in hopes of migrating to Europe. At least 74 men from one village in Egypt perished in the flood, as well as dozens of people who had traveled to Libya from war-torn Syria.

Maltese authorities said they found over 80 bodies during land and sea searches on Sept. 15. One person was found alive 10 nautical miles, roughly 11 miles, off the coast of Derna. Malta’s armed forces have been helping with relief efforts in Libya since Sept. 13.

___

Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Jack Jeffery contributed to this report from London.

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By Sam Metz and Mosa’ab Elshamy,
The Associated Press

MARRAKECH, Morocco (AP) — A rare, powerful earthquake struck Morocco, sending people racing from their beds into the streets and toppling buildings in mountainous villages and ancient cities not built to withstand such force. More than 2,000 people were killed, and the toll was expected to rise as rescuers struggled Sept. 9 to reach hard-hit remote areas.

The magnitude 6.8 quake, the biggest to hit the North African country in 120 years, sent people fleeing their homes in terror and disbelief late Sept. 8. One man said dishes and wall hangings began raining down, and people were knocked off their feet. The quake brought down walls made from stone and masonry, covering whole communities with rubble.

The devastation gripped each town along the High Atlas’ steep and winding switchbacks in similar ways: homes folding in on themselves and mothers and fathers crying as boys and helmet-clad police carried the dead through the streets.

Remote villages like those in the drought-stricken Ouargane Valley were largely cut off from the world when they lost electricity and cell phone service. By midday, people were outside mourning neighbors, surveying the damage on their camera phones and telling one another “May God save us.”

Hamid Idsalah, a 72-year-old mountain guide, said he and many others remained alive but had little future to look forward to. That was true in the short-term — with remnants of his kitchen reduced to dust — and in the long-term — where he and many others lack the financial means to rebound.

“I can’t reconstruct my home. I don’t know what I’ll do. Still, I’m alive, so I’ll wait,” he said as he walked through the desert oasis town overlooking red rock hills, packs of goats and a glistening salt lake. “I feel heartsick.”

In historic Marrakech, people could be seen on state TV clustering in the streets , afraid to go back inside buildings that might still be unstable. The city’s famous Koutoubia Mosque, built in the 12th century, was damaged, but the extent was not immediately clear. Its 69-meter (226-foot) minaret is known as the “roof of Marrakech.” Moroccans also posted videos showing damage to parts of the famous red walls that surround the old city, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

At least 2,012 people died in the quake, mostly in Marrakech and five provinces near the epicenter, Morocco’s Interior Ministry reported late Sept. 9. At least 2,059 more people were injured — 1,404 critically — the ministry said.

“The problem is that where destructive earthquakes are rare, buildings are simply not constructed robustly enough to cope with strong ground shaking, so many collapse, resulting in high casualties,” said Bill McGuire, professor emeritus of geophysical and climate hazards at University College London.

In a sign of the huge scale of the disaster, Morocco’s King Mohammed VI ordered the armed forces to mobilize specialized search and rescue teams and a surgical field hospital, according to a statement from the military.

The king said he would visit the hardest hit area Sept. 9, but despite an outpouring of offers of help from around the world, the Moroccan government had not formally asked for assistance, a step required before outside rescue crews could deploy.

The epicenter of the Sept. 8 tremor was near the town of Ighil in Al Haouz Province, roughly 70 kilometers (44 miles) south of Marrakech. Al Haouz is known for scenic villages and valleys tucked in the High Atlas Mountains.

Police, emergency vehicles and people fleeing in shared taxis spent hours traversing unpaved roads through the High Atlas in stop-and-go traffic, often exiting their cars to help clear giant boulders from routes known to be rugged and difficult long before the earthquake. In Ijjoukak, a village in the area surrounding Toubkal, North Africa’s tallest peak, residents estimated nearly 200 buildings had been leveled.

Couch cushions, electric cords and grapes were strewn in giant piles of rubble alongside dead sheep, houseplants and doors wedged between boulders. Relatives from the town and those who had driven from major cities cried while they wondered who to call as they reckoned with the aftermath and a lack of food and water.

“It felt like a bomb went off,” 34-year-old Mohamed Messi said.

Morocco will observe three days of national mourning with flags at half-staff on all public facilities, the official news agency MAP reported.

World leaders offered to send in aid or rescue crews as condolences poured in from countries in Europe, the Middle East and the Group of 20 summit in India. The president of Turkey, which lost tens of thousands of people in a massive earthquake earlier this year, was among those proposing assistance. 

France and Germany, with large populations of people of Moroccan origin, also offered to help, and the leaders of both Ukraine and Russia expressed support for Moroccans.

In an exceptional move, neighboring rival Algeria offered to open its airspace to allow eventual humanitarian aid or medical evacuation flights to travel to and from Morocco. Algeria closed the airspace when its government severed diplomatic ties with Morocco in 2021 over a series of issues. The countries have a decadeslong dispute involving the territory of Western Sahara.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 when it hit at 11:11 p.m. (22:11 GMT), with shaking that lasted several seconds. The U.S. agency reported a magnitude 4.9 aftershock hit 19 minutes later. The collision of the African and Eurasian tectonic plates occurred at a relatively shallow depth, which makes a quake more dangerous.

Earthquakes are relatively rare in North Africa. Lahcen Mhanni, Head of the Seismic Monitoring and Warning Department at the National Institute of Geophysics, told 2M TV that the earthquake was the strongest ever recorded in the region.

In 1960, a magnitude 5.8 tremor struck near the Moroccan city of Agadir and caused thousands of deaths. That quake prompted changes in construction rules in Morocco, but many buildings, especially rural homes, are not built to withstand such tremors.

In 2004, a 6.4 magnitude earthquake near the Mediterranean coastal city of Al Hoceima left more than 600 dead.

The Sept. 8 quake was felt as far away as Portugal and Algeria, according to the Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere and Algeria’s Civil Defense agency, which oversees emergency response.

___

Associated Press writers Angela Charlton in Paris, Ahmed Hatem in Cairo, and Brian Melley and Hadia Bakkar in London contributed to this report.

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By Gerald Imray and Mogomotsi Magome,
The Associated Press

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Emergency services teams have left the scene of one of South Africa’s deadliest fires at a derelict Johannesburg apartment block, and pathologists on Sept. 1 faced the grisly task of identifying dozens of charred bodies and some body parts that were transported in large trucks to mortuaries across the city.

That will establish whether the death toll of 74 rises following the Aug. 31 predawn blaze at the downtown building that was inhabited by homeless South Africans, poor foreign migrants and others who found themselves marginalized in a city often referred to as Africa’s richest, but which has deep social problems.

Emergency services personnel with sniffer dogs conducted three searches through all five stories of the building and believe that all bodies and body parts have been removed from the scene, Johannesburg Emergency Services spokesperson Nana Radebe said.

Radebe said the building has been handed over to the police and forensic investigators, who will conduct their own searches and were already working at the scene on Sept. 1.

The remains of some of the victims were taken to a mortuary in the township of Soweto, in the southwestern outskirts of South Africa’s economic hub, where people began to gather as authorities called for family members to help in identifying the dead.

Motalatale Modiba, a Gauteng province health department spokesperson, said 62 of the bodies were so badly burned as to make them unidentifiable and the city’s pathology department faced using painstaking DNA analysis to officially identify the majority of the dead.

Modiba said that in those cases, “even if the family were to come, there is no way of them being able to identify that body.”

Thembalethu Mpahlaza, the CEO of Gauteng’s Forensic Pathology Services, said at a news conference late Aug. 31 that numerous unidentified body parts had also been found in the remnants of the building and his investigators needed to establish if they were part of the remains of the victims already counted or were parts of other bodies.

Radebe said the official death toll had not increased from 74 by early Sept. 1. At least 12 of the dead were children and more than 50 people were injured, including six who were in a serious condition in the hospital.

Many of the dead in the fire were believed to be foreign nationals and possibly in South Africa illegally, making it more difficult to identify them, city officials said. Local media reports, quoting residents of the building, said at least 20 of the dead were from the southern African nation of Malawi. At least five of the dead were Tanzanian nationals, the Tanzanian High Commission in South Africa said.

The fire ravaged a city-owned building that had effectively been abandoned by authorities and had become home to poor people desperately seeking some form of accommodation in the rundown Johannesburg central business district. The building was believed to be home to around 200 families, Johannesburg mayor Kabelo Gwamanda said.

The phenomenon is common in Johannesburg and the buildings are known as “hijacked buildings.”

Many witnesses said in the immediate aftermath of the fire that they had been separated from family members in the chaos of escaping the inferno. Some said there were children walking around alone outside the building, with no idea if their parents or siblings had survived.

NGOs stepped in to help survivors with temporary accommodation, while religious leaders gathered for prayer services at the building.

Attention in South Africa also turned to who would be held responsible for the tragedy, as emergency services personnel and witnesses painted a picture of a building full of shacks and other temporary structures, and where multiple families were crammed into rooms. Some people were living in the basement parking garage.

Local government officials said that people were trapped inside the building because security gates were locked and there were no proper fire escapes. Many reportedly burned to death and bodies were found on top of each other near one locked gate as people frantically struggled to escape. Others jumped out of windows and died from the fall, witnesses and officials said.

At the building, twisted sheets and blankets still hung like ropes out of windows, showing how some had tried to use them to get out.

The police have opened a criminal case, although it was unclear who might face any charges over the deaths as no official authority was in charge of running the building. South Africa’s Parliament has called for a wider investigation.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who visited the scene on Aug. 31 said the tragedy was partly caused by “criminal elements” who had taken over the building and were charging people to live there.

“The lesson for us is that we’ve got to address this problem,” Ramaphosa said.

Ramaphosa’s call was repeated by many figures from national and local government, who said it was time to resolve Johannesburg’s housing crisis.

But hijacked buildings have been an issue in the city’s center for years, if not decades. Senior city officials conceded they had been aware of problems at the building since at least 2019.

The sudden focus on the issue, only after so many people died, angered some.

“We have seen the president calling this incident tragic,” said Herman Mashaba, a former mayor of Johannesburg and now the leader of an opposition political party. “What do you mean, tragic? You’ve been aware of this. We have seen the decay of this city over 25 years. It’s not something that just happened overnight.”

___

Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa.

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By Thalia Beaty,
The Associated Press

Oprah Winfrey and Dwayne Johnson have committed $10 million to make direct payments to people on Maui who are unable to return to their homes because of the wildfires, through a new fund they announced Aug. 31.

The People’s Fund of Maui will give $1,200 a month to adults who are not able to return to their primary residences because of the recent wildfires, including people who owned and rented their homes, according to the fund’s website. The fund will also seek donations to extend the length of time it can provide the support.

“How do we help?” the “Young Rock” star said he and Winfrey asked each other during the wildfires, saying in a video released along with the announcement that they grappled with how to best direct their efforts. “You want to take care of the greatest need of the people, and that’s giving them money.”

They are looking forward to the help of “every person who called me and said, ‘What can I do?'” Winfrey said in the video. “This is what you can do.”

Winfrey, who lives on Maui part-time, visited an emergency shelter on Maui in the days after the wildfire hit. At least 115 people were killed in the fires, though an unknown number are still missing. The fire that ripped through the historic town of Lahaina on Aug. 8 was the deadliest in the U.S. in more than a century.

Forecasters warned Aug. 30 that gusty winds and low humidity increased the risk that fires could spread rapidly in the western parts of each Hawaiian island, though they were not as powerful as the winds that helped fuel the deadly blaze three weeks ago.

To qualify, applicants must show a government ID and a utility bill in their name for a lost or uninhabitable residence, the fund’s website said.

In the announcement, Winfrey and Johnson said they consulted with “community elders, leaders and residents including Hōkūlani Holt-Padilla, Keali’i Reichel, Archie Kalepa, Ekolu Lindsey, Kimo Falconer, Tiare Lawrence, Kaimana Brummel, Kaleikoa Ka’eo, Brian Keaulana, Kaimi Kaneholani, Henohea Kāne, Paele Kiakona, Ed Suwanjindar, Shep Gordon and Jason Momoa.”

The Entertainment Industry Fund, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that helps celebrities administer their charitable work, is sponsoring the fund, the announcement said.

Johnson and Winfrey hope the fund will continue to make transfers to qualifying residents for at least six months, but Winfrey said it would be up to the American public to determine how long the fund extends, based on their support and donations.

___

Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

The post Oprah Winfrey and Dwayne Johnson launch fund with $10 million for displaced Maui residents appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

By DaQuan Lawrence,
AFRO International Writer,
DLawrence@afro.com

The United Nations (UN) Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) recently released the preliminary conclusions and recommendations from the Second Session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent (PFPAD). 

Held at the UN headquarters in New York City, from May 30 to June 2, more than 900 members of civil society and representatives of UN Member states called for reparations for the Atlantic Slave trade, colonialism and centuries of illegitimate racial oppression of people of African descent.  

Among the interventions offered by delegates, were the unique demands for the recognition of the significance of African spirituality and the impacts colonialism and slavery had, and racism has, on Black people’s sense of spirituality and religion. 

“We cannot talk about reparations and healing of any kind without addressing and redressing the worldwide desecration and dishonor of African sacred cosmologies — our eco-centered, eco-conscious, and cosmic way of life — our right to live — to be and breathe,” Dr. Liseli Fitzpatrick said to delegates and members of the Permanent Forum. 

Fitzpatrick is a Trinidadian professor of Africana Studies at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Mass., who attended the second session of the Permanent Forum due to her ongoing commitment to the healing, empowerment and liberation of African peoples. 

“Any exercise in reparations is futile if we do not recognize and respect the spirituality of African peoples and the inflicted injuries and injustices caused by centuries of spiritual and physical violence,” Fitzpatrick said in her remarks. 

Ekemini Uwan, is a public theologian and charter member of the International Civil Society Working Group for the PFPAD, who attended both sessions, also demanded spiritual reparations at the New York City convening.

“Mbubid owo ke America edo ndito ete nyin,” translated into English, this simple yet profound Ibibio phrase means, “Black people in America are our cousins,” which Uwan declared in the UN General Assembly Hall. 

During her remarks Uwan mentioned that her parents would repeat this phrase because it is the oral history of the Nigerian Ibibio people, and a connection to the transatlantic slave trade.

“When we talk about reparations, what are we repairing? Is it not the theft of over 12 million African people… Reparations is not merely about a check,” Uwan said to delegates.  

“It’s a check, plus land, debt cancellation, repatriation, and reunification of continental Africans with African descendants in the diaspora. The foremost harms of the Transatlantic slave trade were spiritual,” Uwan declared. 

Established in August 2021, the PFPAD is an advisory body to the UN Human Rights Council, a “consultative mechanism for people of African descent and other relevant stakeholders,” and a “platform for improving the safety and quality of life and livelihoods of people of African descent” according to OHCHR.

“The UN International Decade on People of African Descent mentioned the establishment of a forum on people of African descent, and that led to a lot of civil society advocacy,” Dr. Michael McEachrane, the Special Rapporteur for the UN PFPAD, told the AFRO regarding the origins of the Forum.  

McEachrane is a Sweden-based researcher and global scholar-activist of Tobagonian descent, who was integral to the establishment of the forum. The first UN international decade for the Africa diaspora started in 2015 and ends in 2024.

“The first session had 600 participants with 30 side events, and the second session had over 900 participants with over 60 side events. The Forum is only going to grow,” McEachrane said. 

During the session delegates also called for a second UN International Decade for people of African descent, and the removal of racial discrimination within the UN system as well as in developed nations, citing the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA), the UN’s blueprint to combat racism, racial discrimination, and xenophobia globally.

“The second session was quite generative and created space to express our truths, highlight our collective and unique plights, and put forward actionable recommendations,” Fitzpatrick told the AFRO regarding the significance of the convening.

“I appreciated the presence of all participants, particularly members of civil society,” she continued. 

Dr. Epsy Campbell-Barr is a politician, economist, and activist who served as vice president of the Republic of Costa Rica between 2018 and 2022, and currently serves as president of the PFPAD, and echoed Fitzpatrick’s praise for civil society delegates. 

“In different Forums, we need the support of civil society members. If we feel we can work without civil society, I am convinced that nothing will work,” Campbell told the AFRO on the importance of being connecting to and working with civil society.

Civil society members such as Fitzpatrick and Uwan and others have been invaluable during the two PFPAD sessions, as they aim to hold the UN and its Member states accountable for the historic and modern plight of the African diaspora. 

“In my statement I was highlighting the fact that Christianity was weaponized and used to perpetuate chattel slavery, with the Catholic Church sanctioning slavery through the zone divorces,” Uwan, a NAACP Image award-nominated author and co-founder of Truth’s Table podcast, told the AFRO.

“I wanted to introduce a perspective people are not always privy to, which are the ways that African traditional religion was manipulated in order to capture Africans. People must understand that Christianity was absolutely in Africa, but it was not everywhere,” Uwan continued.  

In an interview with the AFRO, Fitzpatrick shared that her remarks at the UN were spiritual, global and Pan-African, as she affirmed the validation of African spirituality and diasporic religious practices. 

“Dr. Bayyinah Bello reaffirms ‘African people do not live by flesh alone’ — the spiritual and physical are inseparable. I would add that spirit makes us ‘human’,” Fitzpatrick said.

Bello is a Haitian historian, humanitarian, professor at the State University of Haiti, and founder of Fondasyon Félicité (FF), a foundation named after Marie-Claire Heureuse Félicité Bonheur Dessalines, the wife of revolutionary leader of Haiti, Jean-Jacques Dessalines. FF is dedicated to preserving Haitian history and has been active in Port-au-Prince since 1999.

“The African spirit is formidable, dynamic, and ingenious — we have proven this time and time again,” Fitzpatrick said. 

“Having a global forum at the UN for people of African descent is a historic opportunity,” McEachrane shared. “I believe that delegates at the first two sessions also sensed this,” he concluded.  

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By Farai Mutsaka and Gerald Imray
The Associated Press

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader on Aug. 27 alleged “blatant and gigantic fraud” in the country’s election after President Emmerson Mnangagwa was declared the winner and international observers reported an atmosphere of intimidation against voters.

The returns from the latest troubled vote in the southern African nation were announced the night of Aug. 26, two days earlier than expected. Opposition leader Nelson Chamisa’s Citizens Coalition for Change party said it would challenge the results as “hastily assembled without proper verification.”

“They stole your voice and vote but never your hope,” Chamisa wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, in his first public reaction to the election’s announced outcome. “It’s a blatant and gigantic fraud.”

People in the country of 15 million were bound to view the results with suspicion but Mnangagwa, 80, dismissed allegations of vote fraud.

“I did not conduct these elections. I think those who feel the race was not run properly know where to go to complain. I am so happy,” he said at a news conference Aug. 27, adding that the elections were run “transparently, fairly in broad daylight.”

Mnangagwa was reelected for a second and final five-year term with 52.6 percent of the vote, according to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. Chamisa, 45, who also lost to Mnangagwa in a very close and disputed election five years ago, won 44 percent of the vote this time, the commission said.

International election observers have noted problems with the election, held Aug. 23-24, citing an atmosphere of intimidation against Chamisa’s supporters. In the buildup to the vote, international rights groups reported a crackdown on opposition to Mnangagwa and the long-ruling ZANU-PF party.

“The vote will be challenged, it was fraught with unprecedented illegality,” Chamisa said later Aug. 27 in the capital, Harare. He described the results as “doctored” and “criminal.”

The rights groups said the party, which according to the electoral commission retained its parliamentary majority, had used the police and courts to harass and intimidate opposition officials and supporters.

Before the election, Chamisa alleged in an interview with The Associated Press that his party’s rallies had been broken up by police and his supporters had often been intimidated and threatened with violence.

The actual election was also problematic and voting was extended into an extra day Aug. 24 because of a shortage of ballot papers, especially in the capital and other urban areas that are opposition strongholds.

People slept at polling stations to make sure they were able to vote.

Mnangagwa’s victory meant ZANU-PF retained the governmental leadership it has held for all 43 years of Zimbabwe’s history since the nation was re-named following independence from White minority rule in 1980.

“This is a very happy occasion indeed,” said Ziyambi Ziyambi, an election agent for Mnangagwa and a Cabinet minister. “Zimbabweans have shown confidence in our president and ZANU-PF.”

Zimbabwe has a history of disputed and sometimes violent elections in the more than four decades of ZANU-PF rule, most notably under autocratic former president Robert Mugabe, who was leader for 37 years and oversaw a period of economic collapse that gained Zimbabwe international notoriety.

Mugabe’s regime also resulted in the United States and the European Union applying sanctions on Zimbabwe for alleged human rights abuses. Those sanctions are largely still in place.

Mugabe was removed from power in a military-led coup in 2017 and replaced with Mnangagwa, his former vice president. The coup was widely popular and celebrated as a new dawn, but while Mnangagwa promised an era of freedom and prosperity, critics have alleged the former guerrilla fighter nicknamed “the crocodile” has become as repressive as his predecessor.

Zimbabwe has had just those two leaders in more than four decades of independence.

The 2023 election results were released around 11.30 p.m. Aug. 26 at the official results center in Harare, taking many by surprise. They came just 48 hours after polls closed in the delayed elections, when election officials had planned to announce the results five days after voting ended.

“We reject any results hastily assembled without proper verification,” Promise Mkwananzi, a spokesperson for Chamisa’s CCC party, said minutes after the results were announced. “We will advise citizens on the next steps as the situation develops.”

While the outcome likely will be closely scrutinized, Chamisa’s party didn’t immediately announce if it would challenge them through the courts. Chamisa challenged his 2018 election loss to Mnangagwa, but that was rejected by the Constitutional Court.

The election observers said they had specific concerns in this vote over a ruling party affiliate organization called Forever Associates of Zimbabwe that they said set up tables at polling stations and took details of people walking into voting booths. The head of the African Union observer mission, former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, said the FAZ activities should be declared “criminal offenses.”

More than 40 local vote monitors also were arrested on allegations of subversion that government critics said were trumped-up charges.

Ahead of the announcement of the results, dozens of armed police with water cannons guarded the national results center. It was the scene of deadly violence following the election five years ago, when soldiers killed six people during protests.

There was no sign of unrest early Aug. 27. Streets in Harare that would normally be bustling with late-night vendors were empty soon after the announcement Saturday night as people were digesting the results and another ZANU-PF victory, which would take the party’s rule to nearly half a century.Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa.

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader on Aug. 27 alleged “blatant and gigantic fraud” in the country’s election after President Emmerson Mnangagwa was declared the winner and international observers reported an atmosphere of intimidation against voters.

The returns from the latest troubled vote in the southern African nation were announced the night of Aug. 26, two days earlier than expected. Opposition leader Nelson Chamisa’s Citizens Coalition for Change party said it would challenge the results as “hastily assembled without proper verification.”

“They stole your voice and vote but never your hope,” Chamisa wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, in his first public reaction to the election’s announced outcome. “It’s a blatant and gigantic fraud.”

People in the country of 15 million were bound to view the results with suspicion but Mnangagwa, 80, dismissed allegations of vote fraud.

“I did not conduct these elections. I think those who feel the race was not run properly know where to go to complain. I am so happy,” he said at a news conference Aug. 27, adding that the elections were run “transparently, fairly in broad daylight.”

Mnangagwa was reelected for a second and final five-year term with 52.6 percent of the vote, according to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. Chamisa, 45, who also lost to Mnangagwa in a very close and disputed election five years ago, won 44 percent of the vote this time, the commission said.

International election observers have noted problems with the election, held Aug. 23-24, citing an atmosphere of intimidation against Chamisa’s supporters. In the buildup to the vote, international rights groups reported a crackdown on opposition to Mnangagwa and the long-ruling ZANU-PF party.

“The vote will be challenged, it was fraught with unprecedented illegality,” Chamisa said later Aug. 27 in the capital, Harare. He described the results as “doctored” and “criminal.”

The rights groups said the party, which according to the electoral commission retained its parliamentary majority, had used the police and courts to harass and intimidate opposition officials and supporters.

Before the election, Chamisa alleged in an interview with The Associated Press that his party’s rallies had been broken up by police and his supporters had often been intimidated and threatened with violence.

The actual election was also problematic and voting was extended into an extra day Aug. 24 because of a shortage of ballot papers, especially in the capital and other urban areas that are opposition strongholds.

People slept at polling stations to make sure they were able to vote.

Mnangagwa’s victory meant ZANU-PF retained the governmental leadership it has held for all 43 years of Zimbabwe’s history since the nation was re-named following independence from White minority rule in 1980.

“This is a very happy occasion indeed,” said Ziyambi Ziyambi, an election agent for Mnangagwa and a Cabinet minister. “Zimbabweans have shown confidence in our president and ZANU-PF.”

Zimbabwe has a history of disputed and sometimes violent elections in the more than four decades of ZANU-PF rule, most notably under autocratic former president Robert Mugabe, who was leader for 37 years and oversaw a period of economic collapse that gained Zimbabwe international notoriety.

Mugabe’s regime also resulted in the United States and the European Union applying sanctions on Zimbabwe for alleged human rights abuses. Those sanctions are largely still in place.

Mugabe was removed from power in a military-led coup in 2017 and replaced with Mnangagwa, his former vice president. The coup was widely popular and celebrated as a new dawn, but while Mnangagwa promised an era of freedom and prosperity, critics have alleged the former guerrilla fighter nicknamed “the crocodile” has become as repressive as his predecessor.

Zimbabwe has had just those two leaders in more than four decades of independence.

The 2023 election results were released around 11.30 p.m. Aug. 26 at the official results center in Harare, taking many by surprise. They came just 48 hours after polls closed in the delayed elections, when election officials had planned to announce the results five days after voting ended.

“We reject any results hastily assembled without proper verification,” Promise Mkwananzi, a spokesperson for Chamisa’s CCC party, said minutes after the results were announced. “We will advise citizens on the next steps as the situation develops.”

While the outcome likely will be closely scrutinized, Chamisa’s party didn’t immediately announce if it would challenge them through the courts. Chamisa challenged his 2018 election loss to Mnangagwa, but that was rejected by the Constitutional Court.

The election observers said they had specific concerns in this vote over a ruling party affiliate organization called Forever Associates of Zimbabwe that they said set up tables at polling stations and took details of people walking into voting booths. The head of the African Union observer mission, former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, said the FAZ activities should be declared “criminal offenses.”

More than 40 local vote monitors also were arrested on allegations of subversion that government critics said were trumped-up charges.

Ahead of the announcement of the results, dozens of armed police with water cannons guarded the national results center. It was the scene of deadly violence following the election five years ago, when soldiers killed six people during protests.

There was no sign of unrest early Aug. 27. Streets in Harare that would normally be bustling with late-night vendors were empty soon after the announcement Saturday night as people were digesting the results and another ZANU-PF victory, which would take the party’s rule to nearly half a century.

___

Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa.

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By Evens Sanon
The Associated Press

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A powerful gang opened fire Aug. 26 on a large group of parishioners led by a pastor as they marched through a community armed with machetes to rid the area of gang members.

The attack was filmed in real time by journalists at the scene, and several people were killed and others injured, Marie Yolène Gilles, director of human rights group Fondasyon Je Klere, told The Associated Press.

She watched online as hundreds of people from a local church marched through Canaan, a makeshift town in the outskirts of the capital of Port-au-Prince founded by survivors who lost their homes in the devastating 2010 earthquake.

It wasn’t immediately clear how many people were killed and injured in the attack.

Canaan is controlled by a gang led by a man identified only as “Jeff,” who is believed to be allied with the “5 Seconds” gang.

Gangs have grown more powerful since the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, and they are estimated to control up to 80 percent of Port-au-Prince.

Gédéon Jean, director of Haiti’s Center for Analysis and Research in Human Rights, told the AP that he also watched the event unfold online and planned to ask the Ministry of Justice to investigate.

He accused the pastor of being irresponsible because he “engaged a group of people and put them in a situation like this.”

The parishioners who clutched machetes and yelled “Free Canaan!” were no match for gang members armed with assault rifles.

“Police should have stopped them from going,” Jean said. “It’s extremely horrible for the state to let something like this happen.”

A spokesperson for Haiti’s National Police did not return a message for comment.

From Jan. 1 until Aug. 15, more than 2,400 people in Haiti were reported killed, more than 950 kidnapped and another 902 injured, according to the most recent United Nations statistics.

Fed up with the surge in gang violence, Haitians organized a violent movement in April known as “bwa kale” that targets suspected gang members. More than 350 people have been killed since the uprising began, according to the U.N.

In October, the Haitian government requested the immediate deployment of a foreign armed force to quell gang violence.

The government of Kenya has offered to lead a multinational force, and a delegation of top officials from the eastern African country visited Haiti recently as part of a reconnaissance mission.

The U.S. said earlier this month that it would introduce a U.N. Security Council resolution that would authorize Kenya to take such action.

___

Associated Press reporter Dánica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, contributed.

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By DaQuan Lawrence,
AFRO International Writer,
DLawrence@afro.com

In the growing international virtual economy, Black businesses that operate digitally and in multiple countries are critical for members of the African diaspora. 

True Culture University (TCU) is a unique example of a new Black-owned international startup that seeks to connect Black collegiate students around the world in the spirit of Pan-Africanism. 

For National Black Business Month the AFRO spoke with Miles Henderson, the founder and CEO of TCU, who is actively working on multiple continents to build the international startup. Originally from Little Rock, Ark., Henderson has set up operations in East Africa and Washington D.C.

“Our headquarters are in Addis Ababa, so I go back and forth between the DMV (D.C., Maryland and Virginia) area and East Africa,” Henderson told AFRO. 

TCU is a global Pan-African collegiate platform focused on promoting the development of the future leaders of the Black world and establishing connections for students to communicate and work together. The business provides opportunities for Black students to gain practical skills that allow them to operationalize Pan-Africanism in their career endeavors, instead of merely discussing and referencing the topic as an ideology.

“In the digital age, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to connect Black students from all over the world. Also, not only students, but all Black people,” Henderson said.  

Despite being conceived in Ethiopia, a nation that has been engaged in armed conflicts for decades, TCU is the leading Pan-African collegiate organization within the state.  

Pan-Africanism is the belief that all African descendants share a common history, struggle and destiny. Efforts that support cultural, social, political and economic self-reliance and the development of Africa and its diaspora, were popularized by leading Black activists and scholars in the 20th century.

Well-known Pan-Africanists include Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, Kwame Nkrumah, Constance Cummings-John, Claudia Jones, Ella Jo Baker, Frantz Fanon and several others. 

TCU exists for students in the diaspora to take action to improve the global Black world in the 21^st century and beyond. The organization provides infrastructure for students to change reality in the interests of Black people and considers Black youth as the architects of Black futures. 

Students can participate and join TCU by chartering a chapter at their university or through its new mobile application. 

“We’re excited about our upcoming mobile app. Imagine a social media app for Black college students all over the world. It combines the best of Twitter (now known as “X”) with Medium and focuses on student journalism, so students can showcase what’s happening on their campus,” Henderson said. 

TCU plans to expand to every region in Ethiopia, and currently has chapters or a presence at four Ethiopian colleges including Addis Ababa University, Bahir Dar University, Debre Berhan University, and University of Gondar, and six international colleges – Jomo Kenyatta University in Kenya, Cheikh Anta Diop University in Senegal, the Steve Biko Institute in Brazil. There are also chapters at Howard University in Washington, D.C. and at the the University of Ghana and Oxford University in the United Kingdom.

Since its initial inception in 2016, TCU has published content from 50 universities. In the future, the organization aims to provide avenues for Black youth in the U.S. and across Africa to communicate with each other through the TCU app, which is in the beta testing stage of development. 

“Our app is aiming to act as a piece of digital infrastructure that allows connectivity and interaction,” Henderson said.

“We’re focusing on students to provide the opportunities and channels for future leaders, engineers, artists, political activists and others to have a global network to communicate with each other and understand the news of what’s going on in the world,” he continued.  

What makes TCU unique, in addition to its operational strategy, is the Pan-African aim and intent to develop the youth in the African diaspora. Designed with a track system in mind, the institution offers students opportunities to gain skills and develop their career interests in art, news, tech, events, business and education. 

Students interested in business can design and sell shirts on the platform. Those working in agricultural markets like the coffee industry, can sell coffee in their immediate communities. In the tech track, students engage in an annual pitch competition, submit innovation projects and they gain access to incubation and accelerator programs. 

Within the news track, students are creating a global Black campus news network, while in TCU’s art track, students use the newest cutting-edge tools like artificial intelligence and generative AI to create images and short films based on science fiction and Afro futuristic versions of reality. 

“We promote an understanding of how they should be thinking not only about themselves but about the strategic moves of the Black world, as they develop into the leaders of the future,” Henderson said, in response to how TCU can help Black youth.

TCU is currently open to college students and plans to add a pipeline for high school students in the future. Local and international businesses, nonprofits, and the public sector can partner with or support TCU by participating in its initiatives and via online donations. Throughout the 21^st century, the organization seeks to lead student-propelled Pan-African engagement all over the world. 

“We don’t want people to think Pan-Africanism must be some strict formula. Instead, we want anyone who engages with TCU to realize that we are the creators of Pan-Africanism,” Henderson said. “We are the creators of what global black unity looks like.”

For inquiries about True Culture University, please visit: www.tcu-portal.com, or contact the TCU Headquarters at: truecultureuniversity@gmail.com.

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By Sam Mednick
The Associated Press

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — One week after a deadline passed for mutinous soldiers in Niger to reinstate the country’s ousted president or face military intervention, the junta has not acquiesced. No military action has been taken and the coup leaders appear to have gained the upper hand over the regional group that issued the threat, analysts say.

The West African bloc ECOWAS had given the soldiers that overthrew Niger’s democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum until Aug. 6 to release and reinstate him or they threatened military action. On Aug. 10, the bloc ordered the deployment of a “standby” force to restore constitutional rule in Niger, with Nigeria, Benin, Senegal and Ivory Coast saying they would contribute troops.

But it’s unclear when, how or if the troops will deploy. The move could take weeks or months to set into motion, and while the bloc decides what to do the junta is gaining power, some observers say.

“It looks as though the putschists have won and will stay … The putschists are holding all the cards and have cemented their rule,” said Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel program at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, a think tank.

ECOWAS is unlikely to intervene militarily and risk dragging Niger into civil war, he said, adding that ECOWAS and Western countries would instead likely press the junta to agree to a short transition period.

Europe and the United States will have little choice but to recognize the junta in order to continue the security cooperation in the region, Laessing said.

The July 26 coup is seen as a major blow to many Western nations, which viewed Niger as one of its last partners in the conflict-riddled Sahel region south of the Sahara Desert that they could work with to beat back a growing jihadi insurgency linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. The U.S. and France have more than 2,500 military personnel in the region and together with other European countries have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in military assistance and training for Niger’s forces.

There was still little clarity about what would happen days after ECOWAS announced the “standby” force deployment.

A meeting of the region’s defense chiefs was postponed indefinitely. The African Union is expected to hold a meeting on Aug. 14 to discuss Niger’s crisis. The group’s Peace and Security Council could overrule the decision if it felt that wider peace and security on the continent were threatened by an intervention.

The delay of the defense chiefs’ meeting to discuss the “standby” force shows that ECOWAS views the use of force as a last resort, said Nate Allen, an associate professor at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies.

“Given the likely challenges an intervention would face, (the use of force would) require a high degree of consensus and coordination not just within ECOWAS, but within the African Union and international community writ large,” he said.

But those with ties to the junta say they are preparing for a fight, especially since the soldiers are unwilling to negotiate unless ECOWAS acknowledges its leader, Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani, who overthrew the president, as the new ruler.

“ECOWAS is demanding that (the junta) immediately release President Bazoum and restore him as head of state. Is this a joke?” said Insa Garba Saidou, a local activist who assists Niger’s new military rulers with their communications and says he is in direct contact with them. “Whether Bazoum resigns or not, he will never be Niger’s president again.”

As time drags on, there is mounting concern for the safety of Bazoum, who has been under house arrest with his wife and son since the coup. Those close to him say his situation is deteriorating with no water, electricity and a lack of food. Niger’s junta told a top U.S. diplomat that they would kill the deposed president if neighboring countries attempted any military intervention to restore his rule, two Western officials told The Associated Press.

Most Nigeriens are trying to go about their lives as the standoff continues between the coup leaders and regional countries.

For the most part, the streets in the capital, Niamey, are calm with sporadic pockets of pro-junta demonstrations. Any pro-Bazoum demonstrations are quickly silenced by security forces.

On Aug. 13, people marched, biked and drove through downtown Niamey, chanting “down with France” and expressing anger at ECOWAS.

“Niger is in a deplorable situation. We are very happy there was a coup d’etat. Now everyone can go into the streets without a problem … (but) if ECWOAS allows people to attack Niger, it will cross a red line,” said resident Saidou Issaka.

On Aug. 11 hundreds of people, many waving Russian flags, marched toward France’s military base demanding the French leave. Mercenaries from the Russian-linked Wagner group already operate in a handful of other African countries and are accused of committing human rights abuses. Earlier this month during a trip to neighboring Mali, which is also run by a military regime and cooperates with Wagner, the junta reportedly asked the mercenaries for help.

Boubacar Adamou, a tailor in the capital, said he had made at least 50 Russian flags in the weeks since the coup.

But many Nigeriens don’t have time for protests and are more focused on feeding their families.

The country of some 25 million people is one of the poorest in the world and the harsh travel and economic sanctions imposed by ECOWAS are taking a toll.

Moussa Ahmed, a food seller in Niamey, said the prices of food items such as cooking oil and rice had increased by 20 percent since the coup and there wasn’t enough electricity to power the fridges in his shop. Niger gets up to 90 percent of its power from neighboring Nigeria, which has cut off some of its supply.

Aid groups that were already grappling with the challenges of helping more than 4 million people in need of humanitarian assistance say the crisis will exacerbate an already dire situation.

“We cannot overstate the impact on civilians, both in terms of humanitarian and protection needs, when military imperatives take precedence over civilian governance,” said Jan Egeland, secretary general for the Norwegian Refugee Council.

The sanctions and suspensions of development aid are expected to have a dramatic impact on living conditions for a country already under heavy strain, he said.

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By Sam Mednick
The Associated Press

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Niger’s new military junta has asked for help from the Russian mercenary group Wagner as the deadline nears for it to release the country’s ousted president or face possible military intervention by the West African regional bloc, according to an analyst.

The request came during a visit by a coup leader, Gen. Salifou Mody, to neighboring Mali, where he made contact with someone from Wagner, Wassim Nasr, a journalist and senior research fellow at the Soufan Center, told The Associated Press. He said three Malian sources and a French diplomat confirmed the meeting first reported by France 24.

“They need (Wagner) because they will become their guarantee to hold onto power,” he said, adding that the group is considering the request. A Western military official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment, told the AP they have also heard reports that the junta asked for help from Wagner in Mali.

Niger’s junta faces a Aug. 6 deadline set by the regional bloc, known as ECOWAS, to release and reinstate the democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum, who has described himself as a hostage.

Defense chiefs from ECOWAS member states finalized an intervention plan on Aug. 4 and urged militaries to prepare resources after a mediation team sent to Niger on Aug. 3 wasn’t allowed to enter the capital or meet with junta leader Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani.

On Aug. 5, Nigeria’s Senate advised the nation’s president, the current ECOWAS chair, to further explore options other than the use of force to restore democracy in Niger, noting the “existing cordial relationship between Nigeriens and Nigerians.” The legislators had deliberated on the president’s request informing them of ECOWAS’ decisions and Nigeria’s involvement, as required by law.

Final decisions by ECOWAS, however, are taken by a consensus among its member countries.

After his visit to Mali, run by a sympathetic junta, Mody warned against a military intervention, vowing that Niger would do what it takes not to become “a new Libya,” Niger’s state television reported Aug. 4.

Niger has been seen as the West’s last reliable counterterrorism partner in a region where coups have been common in recent years. Juntas have rejected former colonizer France and turned toward Russia.

Wagner operates in a handful of African countries, including Mali, where human rights groups have accused its forces of deadly abuses.

It isn’t possible to say Russia is directly involved in Niger’s coup, but “clearly, there’s an opportunistic attitude on the part of Russia, which tries to support destabilization efforts wherever it finds them,” French foreign affairs ministry spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre told broadcaster BFM on Aug. 4. For days after Niger’s junta seized power, residents waved Russian flags in the streets.

The spokeswoman described Wagner as a “recipe for chaos.”

Some residents rejected the junta’s approach.

“It’s all a sham,” said Amad Hassane Boubacar, who teaches at the University of Niamey. “They oppose foreign interference to restore constitutional order and legality. But on the contrary, they are ready to make a pact with Wagner and Russia to undermine the constitutional order … They are prepared for the country to go up in flames so that they can illegally maintain their position.”

On Aug. 5, France’s foreign affairs minister, Catherine Colonna, said the regional threat of force was credible and warned the putschists to take it seriously. “Coups are no longer appropriate … It’s time to put an end to it,” she said. The ministry said France supported the ECOWAS efforts “with firmness and determination” and called for Bazoum and all members of his government to be freed.

But Algeria, which borders Niger to the north, told another visiting ECOWAS delegation that it opposed a military intervention, though it too wants a return to constitutional order.

Niger’s military leaders have been following the playbook of Mali and neighboring Burkina Faso, also run by a junta, but they’re moving faster to consolidate power, Nasr said: “(Tchiani) chose his path, so he’s going full on it without wasting time because there’s international mobilization.”

One question is how the international community will react if Wagner comes in, he said. When Wagner came into Mali at the end of 2021, the French military was ousted soon afterward after years of partnership. Wagner was later designated a terrorist organization by the United States, and international partners might have a stronger reaction now, Nasr said.

And much more is at stake in Niger, where the U.S. and other partners have poured hundreds of millions of dollars of military assistance to combat the region’s growing jihadi threat. France has 1,500 soldiers in Niger, though coup leaders say they have severed security agreements with Paris. The U.S. has 1,100 military personnel in the country.

It’s unclear what a regional intervention would look like, when it would begin or whether it would receive support from Western forces. Niger’s junta has called on the population to watch for spies, and self-organized defense groups have mobilized at night to monitor cars and patrol the capital.

“If the junta were to dig in its heels and rally the populace around the flag — possibly even arming civilian militias — the intervention could morph into a multifaceted counterinsurgency that ECOWAS would not be prepared to handle,” said a report by the Hudson Institute, a conservative U.S. think tank.

While some in Niger are bracing for a fight, others are trying to cope with travel and economic sanctions imposed by ECOWAS. Land and air borders with ECOWAS countries have been closed, while commercial and financial transactions have been suspended.

Residents said the price of goods is rising and there’s limited access to cash.

“We are deeply concerned about the consequences of these sanctions, especially their impacts on the supply of essential food products, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, petroleum products and electricity,” said Sita Adamou, president of Niger’s Association to Defend Human Rights.

___

Associated Press writers Sylvie Corbet in Paris; Chinedu Asadu in Abuja, Nigeria; and Aomar Ouali in Algiers, Algeria, contributed.

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By Edith M. Lederer,
The Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The conflict in Sudan has left 24 million people — half the country’s population — in need of food and other assistance, but only 2.5 million have received aid because of vicious fighting and a lack of funding, two senior U.N. officials said Aug. 4.

Eden Worsornu, director of operations for the U.N. humanitarian agency, and Ted Chaiban, deputy executive director of the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF, who just returned from Sudan, painted a dire picture of devastation and upheaval in Sudan, with no peace talks in sight.

Worsornu said hotspots, such as the capital of Khartoum and the southern Kordofan and western Darfur regions, “have been shattered by relentless violence.” Nearly 4 million people have fled the fighting, facing scorching heat up to 48 degrees Celsius (118 F), and threats of attacks, sexual violence and death, she said.

The now nearly four-month conflict has killed more than 3,000 people and wounded over 6,000 others, according to the last government figures, released in June. But the true tally is likely much higher, doctors and activists say.

“Before the war erupted on the 15th of April, Sudan was already grappling with a humanitarian crisis,” Chaiban said. “Now, more than 110 days of brutal fighting have turned the crisis into a catastrophe, threatening the lives and futures of a generation of children and young people who make up over 70% of the population.”

The fighting pits forces loyal to top army Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan against his rival, Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

Worsornu and Chaiban, who previously worked in Sudan, said ethnic violence has returned to Darfur, where attacks two decades ago by the notorious Janjaweed Arab militias on people of Central or East African ethnicities became synonymous with genocide and war crimes.

Now “it is worse than it was in 2004,” Worsornu said.

The statistics are grim: 24 million people need food and other humanitarian aid, including 14 million children, a number equivalent to every single child in Colombia, France, Germany and Thailand, Chaiban said.

The U.N. has been trying to get aid to 18 million Sudanese, but 93 of its humanitarian partners were able to reach only 2.5 million between April and June because of the severe fighting and difficulties getting to those in need.

“Right now, Sudan is one of the most dangerous places to operate,” Chaiban said. “So, to do 2.5 million people, 780 trucks, mobilizing and negotiating to get in, has been no small feat.”

Worsornu said 18 aid workers had been killed so far in Sudan.

But, she added, “Humanitarian aid is just a band aid. Basic social services have completely broken down, banking systems do not work and schools have collapsed.”

After the conflict erupted, the U.N. increased its humanitarian appeal to $2.6 billion. Woorsornu said the appeal had received just $625 million, barely 25 percent. “We cannot do more without funding,” she said.

Chaiban said 3 million children under age 5 are malnourished, “with 700,000 at risk of severe acute malnutrition and mortality.” He said UNICEF has gotten life-saving treatment to 107,000, but that is only about 15 percent of those who need it.

Sudan borders seven nations — Central African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Libya and Egypt — and most of them would be vulnerable to upheaval if the conflict should spill over.

“We need to be careful that if the situation in Sudan is not contained, it will have a devastating impact on the region,” Worsornu said.

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By Edith M. Lederer,
The Associated Press

The United Nations chief has welcomed Kenya’s offer to “positively consider” leading a multinational police force to help combat Haiti’s gangs and improve security in the violence-wracked Caribbean nation.

Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry sent an urgent appeal last October for “the immediate deployment of a specialized armed force, in sufficient quantity” to stop the gangs. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has been appealing unsuccessfully since then for a lead nation to help restore order to Latin America’s most impoverished country.

Kenya’s Foreign Ministry said that its offer includes a commitment to send 1,000 police to help train and assist the Haitian National Police “restore normalcy in the country and protect strategic installations.” The ministry said it was responding to a request from the Friends of Haiti group of nations.

“Kenya stands with persons of African descent across the world, including those in the Caribbean, and aligns with the African Union’s diaspora policy and our own commitment to Pan Africanism, and in this case to ‘reclaiming of the Atlantic crossing,’” the ministry said.

Haiti’s gangs have grown in power since the July 7, 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse and are now estimated to control up to 80 percent of the capital. The surge in killings, rapes and kidnappings has led to a violent uprising by civilian vigilante groups.

U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said Guterres “welcomes Kenya’s positive response to his call” and expresses gratitude to Kenya for its “solidarity.”

The secretary-general calls on the U.N. Security Council to support a non-U.N. multinational operation in Haiti “and encourages member states, particularly from the region, to join forces from Kenya” in supporting the country’s police, Haq said.

Kenya’s Foreign Ministry said its proposed deployment will crystalize once the Security Council adopts a resolution giving a mandate for the force, and other Kenyan constitutional processes are undertaken.

A Kenyan task force plans to undertake an assessment mission to Haiti within the next few weeks which “will inform and guide the mandate and operational requirements of the mission,” it said.

Haiti’s Foreign Minister Jean Victor Généus said: “Haiti appreciates this expression of African solidarity, and looks forward to welcoming Kenya’s proposed evaluation mission in the coming weeks.”

Guterres, who visited Haiti in early July, called afterward for a robust international force to help the Haitian National Police “defeat and dismantle the gangs.”

He said the estimate by the U.N. independent expert for Haiti, William O’Neill, that up to 2,000 additional anti-gang police officers are needed is no exaggeration. O’Neill, who concluded a 10-day trip to Haiti in July, is an American lawyer who has been working on Haiti for over 30 years and helped establish the Haitian National Police in 1995.

The Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on July 14 asking Guterres to come up with “a full range of options” within 30 days to help combat Haiti’s armed gangs, including a non-U.N. multinational force, a possible U.N. peacekeeping force, additional training for the Haitian National Police and providing support to combat illegal arms trafficking to the country.

Compounding the gang warfare, which has spread outside the capital, is the country’s political crisis: Haiti was stripped of all democratically elected institutions when the terms of the country’s remaining 10 senators expired in early January.

The Security Council resolution, co-sponsored by the United States and Ecuador, “strongly urges” all countries to prohibit the supply, sale or transfer of weapons to anyone supporting gang violence and criminal activities.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to Kenyan President William Ruto about Kenya’s positive consideration to leading a multinational force in Haiti, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

The United States takes over the rotating presidency of the U.N. Security Council for August, and Miller said the U.S. and Ecuador, as a first step, are going to introduce a resolution to authorize a non-U.N. multinational mission.

The second step is an assessment mission by Kenya, “which they plan to do in the coming days,” and then there will be talks with other countries about what additional assistance is needed, he said.

“We are committed to finding the resources to support this multinational force,” Miller said. “We’ve been a large humanitarian donor to relief efforts in Haiti for some time, and we have worked behind the scenes to find the lead nation to run this multinational force and are pleased that that has been successful.”

Ellen Knickmeyer contributed to this report from Washington and Evelyne Musambi from Nairobi.

This was originally published by the Associated Press.

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By Renata Brito, Elaine Ganley and Samy Magdy
The Associated Press

When Mbengue Nyimbilo Crepin regained consciousness after collapsing in the desert, the sun had already set. Tunisian authorities had violently forced him, his wife and their 6-year-old daughter across the border to Libya by foot without water, in the blazing heat, he said. Nyimbilo crumpled to the ground, exhausted and dehydrated, but urged his wife to carry on with little Marie and catch up to dozens of other migrants ahead.

“God willing, we will meet again in Libya,” he told them.

Nyimbilo eventually made it there — only to find out days later that his wife and daughter almost certainly did not.

A graphic photo widely shared on social media shows the lifeless body of a Black woman with braided hair next to a little girl, their faces down in the sand. The child is curled up next to the woman, her bare feet red and swollen, likely from walking on blistering hot sand.

Nyimbilo said he immediately recognized his wife’s yellow dress, pulled up on her body, and his daughter’s black sandals, sitting beside them. He shared recent photographs with The Associated Press showing them in the same clothing. He said he hasn’t heard from his wife, Matyla Dosso, who also went by Fatima, or their daughter since that day in the desert, July 16.

Nyimbilo believes Matyla and Marie are among more than a dozen Black migrants that Libyan border guards say they’ve found dead in the desert border area of the North African nations since Tunisian authorities began conducting mass expulsions in early July. Nyimbilo is from Cameroon; his wife, Ivory Coast. They lived for years in Libya but hoped to finally make it to Europe via the Mediterranean Sea from Tunisia.

The Libyan police border guard in al-Assa, near the Tunisian border, found the woman and child in the July 19 photo dead, spokesperson Maj. Shawky al-Masry said. He declined to provide further details or say where the bodies are now.

Different border units have found at least 10 bodies on the Libyan side since last week, including that of another small child.

Black Africans in Tunisia have faced increasing discrimination and violence since President Kais Saied’s February remarks that sub-Saharan migrants are part of a plot to alter the country’s identity and demographics. He said “hordes of irregular migrants” bring “violence, crime and unacceptable practices.” The speech to his security council inflamed longstanding tensions throughout the region and country, but particularly between Tunisians and migrants in the port city of Sfax and other eastern coastal towns.

Tunisia has replaced Libya as the main point of departure for people attempting the deadly Mediterranean crossing to Italy, according to United Nations and other figures. Through July 20, more than 15,000 foreign migrants were intercepted by Tunisian authorities — more than double that period last year, Interior Minister Kamel Fekih told Parliament this week. He blasted the influx of sub-Saharan migrants and said Tunisia can’t accept becoming “a transit country.”

Tunisian authorities have responded to rising tensions with a crackdown on Black migrants and refugees, and some have been rounded up from coastal cities and sent to Libya or Algeria — countries with their own long track records of grave human rights violations, abuses against migrants and collective deportations.

Human rights organizations, Libyan authorities and migrants themselves have accused Tunisia of violating international law with the mass expulsions across its borders. Tunisian authorities long skirted a direct response to those accusations, but on July 27, the Interior Ministry rejected any responsibility about “Africans outside its borders,” a clear reference to those in the desert. The ministry stressed Tunisia’s right to protect borders and insisted it carries out its “humanitarian duty.”

Officials also issued a warning against publication of content from social networks and in news outlets, and made a veiled reference in a recent statement to prison sentences of up to 10 years for anyone circulating information it deems incorrect.

This week, hundreds of people — including pregnant women and children — remain trapped in the border area between Tunisia, Libya and the Mediterranean Sea, while others are stranded on the Algeria side, U.N. agencies said, urging their immediate rescue.

Libyan authorities have stepped up security near Tunisia and found hundreds of migrants stranded in temperatures that surpassed 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit). They’ve shared dramatic photos and videos on social media of their desert encounters with exhausted migrants desperate for water, as well as graphic images of the deceased.

Libyan guard Ali Wali said his team has seen through binoculars Tunisian security forcing migrants toward Libya. He said his unit finds more than 100 daily: “Some migrants spent up to three days with no food and water in the desert.”

Without elaborating, Wali said those found are handed to relevant authorities. U.N. agencies and the Libyan Red Crescent say they’ve provided food, water and other assistance.

But according to another security official, migrants were taken to detention centers run by Libya’s Directorate for Combatting Illegal Migration, notorious for abuse. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

Despite the growing evidence of abuse against some migrants in Tunisia and issues at the border, European leaders have doubled up their show of support for Saied, offering hundreds of millions of euros to stabilize the country with hopes it will also reduce migration.

That didn’t deter Nyimbilo and his family.

Nyimbilo and his wife had already tried to get to Europe. Their previous five attempts to cross the Mediterranean, from Libya to Italy, all failed. Each time, they were intercepted by EU-equipped Libyan forces and imprisoned. Nyimbilo told AP his wife was raped twice in front of their child in detention.

“We had no more hope,” Nyimbilo said of their time in Libya, where Marie couldn’t even attend school because she’s the child of immigrants. “This country has traumatized us so much.”

So, on July 13, they left the coastal city of Zuwara and trekked through the desert with other migrants, making it to the border in the early hours of July 15. They continued to the town of Ben Guerdane, about 30 kilometers (18 miles) into Tunisia.

The group split up to avoid attracting attention. But they grew desperate for water. Nyimbilo and his family walked to a main road in search of help. That’s when a police car stopped and detained them, he said, and officers found their registration papers.

“When they saw it and realized we had left Libya, they beat us,” Nyimbilo said. The next day, he said, they were loaded onto a truck with other migrants and dropped at the border, without water.

Today, he said, he struggles to cope with his loss and to realize he’ll never see his wife or daughter again. They’d survived so much — failed voyages to Europe, assaults, even the 2019 bombing of the Tajoura detention center. He can hardly accept that Matyla and Marie died in the desert.

“A bottle of water could have saved my family,” he said.

___

Brito reported from Barcelona, Spain; Ganley from Paris; and Magdy from Cairo. Sarah El Deeb contributed from Beirut.

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By Aamer Madhani and Hyung-Jin Kim
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House on July 20 expressed deep concern about the well-being of a African-American soldier who bolted across the heavily armed North Korea border earlier this week as North Korean officials have yet to respond to U.S. requests for basic information about the AWOL soldier.

The history of rough treatment of Americans detained by North Koreans — including the 2017 death of a 22-year-old student after he was flown home in a vegetative state after 17 months in captivity — is top of mind as U.S. officials seek answers about Pvt. Travis King.

“This is not a country that is known for humane treatment of Americans or actually anybody else for that matter,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said. “We don’t know where he is. We don’t know the conditions in which he’s living right now. And it’s the not knowing that is deeply concerning to us and we’re trying as best we can to get as much information as we can about him.”

Without mentioning the soldier, North Korea’s defense minister issued a veiled threat July 20, suggesting the docking of a nuclear-armed U.S. submarine in South Korea could be grounds for a nuclear attack by the North. North Korea has used such rhetoric before, but the latest threat could signal just how strained ties are right now.

King, who was supposed to be on his way to Fort Bliss, Texas, after finishing a prison sentence in South Korea for assault, ran into North Korea while on a civilian tour of the border village of Panmunjom on Tuesday. He is the first known American held in North Korea in nearly five years.

According to a U.S. official, King — who chose to serve his time at a labor camp rather than pay the nearly $4,000 fine — has been declared AWOL. The punishment for being away without leave can include confinement in the brig, forfeiture of pay or dishonorable discharge and it is largely based on how long they were away and whether they were apprehended or returned on their own. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.

King, 23, has not been declared a deserter, which is a far more serious offense. Often the military waits for a period of time to see if a service member returns, but that is very uncertain in this case. Desertion can result in imprisonment of as much as three years, and — in times of war — can carry the death penalty.

Sabrina Singh, a Pentagon spokeswoman, told reporters on July 20 that King was not escorted all the way to the gate because he was not in custody and there was no anticipation that he would not get on the plane to go home.

Military personnel escorted him to the passport control area and were not allowed to go farther than that. Singh said he confirmed to the U.S. military that he was near the gate. King knew he was returning to Texas to face likely discharge.

Asked if King is alive, Singh said the U.S. does not know his health condition.

She said it is “not our assessment” that King represents a security threat or liability, when asked if he had intelligence that North Korea would want. She added that the department has no indication that King’s decision to run into North Korea was pre-planned or organized with Pyongyang.

Asked whether the U.S. feared that King could be mistreated or tortured by the North, Kirby responded that North Korea is a “brutal regime” but that the U.S. is still not in position to confirm how he is being treated.

Otto Warmbier, a University of Virginia student, was seized by North Korean authorities from a tour group in January 2016 and convicted of trying to steal a propaganda poster and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. He served 17 months before being returned to the U.S. in a vegetative state.

While not providing a clear reason for Warmbier’s brain damage, North Korea denied accusations by Warmbier’s family that he was tortured and insisted it had provided him medical care with “all sincerity.”

The U.S. and North Korea, which fought during the 1950-53 Korean War, are still technically at war since that conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, and have no diplomatic ties. Sweden provided consular services for Americans in past cases, but Swedish diplomatic staff reportedly haven’t returned since North Korea ordered foreigners to leave the country at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The U.S. can also reach North Korea via a hotline at the U.S.-led U.N. Command in Panmunjom — known as the ” pink phone.”

The State Department confirmed on July 19 it has reached out to officials in South Korea and Sweden for help reaching the North Koreans. Jeon Ha-kyu, a spokesperson of South Korea’s Defense Ministry, said July 20 his ministry is sharing information with the American-led U.N. Command in South Korea, without elaborating.

The motive for King’s border crossing is unknown.

Relatives described Pvt. Travis King, 23, as a quiet loner who did not drink or smoke and enjoyed reading the Bible. After growing up in southeast Wisconsin, he was excited about serving his country in South Korea. Now King’s family is struggling to understand what changed before he dashed into a country with a long history of holding Americans and using them as bargaining chips.

“I can’t see him doing that intentionally if he was in his right mind,” King’s maternal grandfather, Carl Gates, told The Associated Press from his Kenosha, Wisconsin, home. “Travis is a good guy. He wouldn’t do nothing to hurt nobody. And I can’t see him trying to hurt himself.”

Family members said the soldier may have felt overwhelmed by the legal trouble in South Korea, which could lead to a discharge from the military.

King, who was serving in South Korea as a cavalry scout with the 1st Armored Division, was released earlier this month after 47 days of hard labor in the prison camp. In February, a Seoul court fined him 5 million won ($3,950) after convicting him of assaulting someone and damaging a police vehicle, according to a transcript of the verdict obtained by The Associated Press. The ruling said King had also been accused of punching a man at a Seoul nightclub, though the court dismissed that charge because the victim didn’t want King to be punished.

___

Kim reported from Seoul, South Korea. Associated Press writers Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea, Lolita C. Baldor and Matthew Lee in Washington; Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin; and Melissa Winder in Kenosha, Wisconsin, contributed to this report.

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By Samy Magdy
The Associated Press

CAIRO (AP) — An airstrike in a Sudanese city on July 8 killed at least 22 people, health authorities said, in one of the deadliest air attacks yet in the three months of fighting between the country’s rival generals. The assault took place in the Dar es Salaam neighborhood in Omdurman, the neighboring city of the capital, Khartoum, according to a brief statement by the health ministry. The attack wounded an unspecified number of people, it said.

The ministry posted video footage that showed dead bodies on the ground with sheets covering them and people trying to pull the dead from the rubble. Others attempted to help the wounded. People could be heard crying.

The attack was one of the deadliest in the fighting in urban areas of the capital and elsewhere in Sudan. The conflict pits the military against a powerful paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces.

Last month, an airstrike killed at least 17 people including five children in Khartoum.

The RSF blamed the military for the July 8 attack and other strikes on residential areas in Omdurman, where fighting has raged between the warring factions, according to residents. The military has reportedly attempted to cut off a crucial supply line for the paramilitary force there.

A spokesman for the military was not immediately available for comment July 8.

Two Omdurman residents said it was difficult to determine which side was responsible for the attack. They said the military’s aircraft have repeatedly targeted RSF troops in the area and the paramilitary force has used drones and anti-aircraft weapons against the military.

At the time of the attack early July 8, the military was hitting the RSF, which took people’s houses as shields, and the RSF fired anti-aircraft rounds at the attacking warplanes, said Abdel-Rahman, one of the residents who asked to use only his first name out of concern for his safety.

“The area is like a hell … fighting around the clock and people are not able to leave,” he said.

The conflict broke out in mid-April, capping months of increasing tensions between the military, chaired by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo. The fighting came 18 months after the two generals led a military coup in October 2021 that
toppled a Western-backed civilian transitional government.

Health Minister Haitham Mohammed Ibrahim said in televised comments last month that the clashes have killed over 3,000 people and wounded over 6,000 others. More than 2.9 million people have fled their homes to safer areas inside Sudan or crossed into neighboring countries, according to U.N. figures.

“It’s a place of great terror,” Martin Griffiths, the United Nations humanitarian chief, said of Sudan on July 7. He decried “the appalling crimes” taking place across the country and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people.

The conflict has plunged the African country into chaos and turned Khartoum and other urban areas into battlefields. Members of the paramilitary force have occupied people’s houses and other civilian properties since the onset of the conflict, according to residents and activists. There were also reports of
widespread destruction and looting across Khartoum and Omdurman.

Sexual violence, including the rape of women and girls, has been reported in Khartoum and the western Darfur region, which have seen some of the worst fighting in the conflict. Almost all reported cases of sexual attacks were blamed on the RSF, which hasn’t responded to repeated requests for comment.

On July 5, top U.N. officials including Volker Türk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, called for a “prompt, thorough, impartial and independent investigation” into the increasing reports of sexual violence against women and girls.

The Sudanese Unit for Combating Violence against Women, a government organization that tracks sex attacks against women, said it documented 88 cases of rape related to the ongoing conflict, including 42 in Khartoum and 46 in Darfur.

The unit, however, said the figure likely represented only 2% of the truce number of cases, which means there were a possible 4,400 cases of sexual violence since the fighting began on April 15, according to the Save the Children charity.

“Sexual violence continues to be used as a tool to terrorize women and children in Sudan,” said Arif Noor, director of Save the Children in Sudan. “Children as young as 12 are being targeted for their gender, for their ethnicity, for their vulnerability.”

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By DaQuan Lawrence,
AFRO International Writer,
DLawrence@afro.com

Several nights of protest and public outrage have followed the police-involved shooting of teen driver Nahel M. in France. Anti-riot officers dispersed tear gas to break up protests being held in Nanterre, France, in the slain 17-year old’s honor.  

Marchers rushed from the Nelson Mandela square, where a group of riot police officers shot canisters toward the crowd. Running with tear-filled eyes and impaired vision, they were met by another body of officers who had blocked the end of a long pedestrian path. 

Police initially reported that one officer shot at the teenager because he was driving his car at him, but this account has been proven false by a video on social media and authenticated by AFP.

The footage reveals the two police officers standing by the side of the motionless car, with one aiming a weapon at the driver. A voice is heard saying: “You are going to get a bullet in the head.”

An unidentified 38-year-old officer has been detained and is under investigation for voluntary manslaughter. French President Emmanuel Macron said on June 28 the shooting was “inexplicable” and “unforgivable.”

On the third day of a visit to Marseille, Macron said the incident had “moved the entire nation” and “nothing can justify the death of a young person.”

Nahel M.’s lawyer, Yassine Bouzrou, said he plans to file a legal complaint against the officer for voluntary manslaughter and against his colleague for complicity in the shooting.

Bouzrou also mentioned he plans to file a complaint against the policemen for providing false testimony and claiming that Nahel M. had tried to run them over.

Many people around France and the international community are standing in solidarity within Nahel M.’s family and protestors who are bringing attention to an unjust and unchecked pattern of police force used against Black and immigrant communities. 

Kylian Mbappé, captain of the French men’s national football team and star player at Paris Saint-Germain, tweeted, “an unacceptable situation. All my thoughts go to the friends and family of Naël, that little angel who left us far too soon”. “I am hurting for my France,” Mbappé said.

Actor Omar Sy, said on Twitter: “I hope that justice worthy of the name will honor the memory of this child.”

There were public riots in several French cities after the shooting occurred in the suburb west of Paris on June 27, with protestors setting buildings ablaze, damaging cars, and igniting fireworks outside of police stations. Up to 180 people have been arrested and 170 officers have allegedly been injured since protests began. 

June 28 night saw approximately 9,000 officers deployed with another 40,000 officers set to be deployed across France on June 29 evening to contain the public’s response, according to Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin. 

Despite anger and public scrutiny at racially motivated police violence within the nation,

France used a militarized response to the public’s reaction to the teen’s death, which was caused by an agent of the state. 

The overtly militarized state response to the public can be viewed as draconian, considering the growing list of beatings by officers and consequent deaths in custody, which have led to widespread scrutiny of police maneuvers and have provoked protests in the past. 

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a far-left politician called for “a complete redesign of the police force” and reprimanded the transgressions of police by saying that France “no longer has the death penalty.”

Previous riots due to police brutality have lasted for weeks, with protestors demanding changes for longstanding discrimination, lack of opportunities and police harassment in French suburbs with large immigrant populations.

A French citizen of Algerian and Moroccan descent, Nahel is the most recent victim of senseless and persistent persecution by French authorities, a negative trend that has continued through the early 21^st century and drawn accusations of police violence and brutality. 

In Jan. 2020, Cédric Chouviat, a 42-year-old deliveryman died after officers pinned him to the ground and put him in a chokehold near the Eiffel Tower, while police officers beat Michel Zecler, a 41-year old French music producer, for six minutes in the entrance area of his Paris studio in Nov. of the same year. 

In 2017, then 22-year old, Théodore Luhaka was hospitalized after he was beaten and had a baton shoved into his buttocks. Next year the officers are scheduled to appear in court. 

In 2016, Adama Traoré, died of asphyxiation after fleeing an identification check and being arrested by three officers who placed “the weight of all bodies” on Mr. Traoré on his 24th birthday. It is still unknown whether the officers will face trial. 

His sister, human rights activist Assa Traoré, leads The Truth for Adama, an advocacy group that demands justice for Mr. Traoré, and has organized some of the biggest antiracism protests in Europe.

In 2005, teenagers Zyed Benna, 17, and Bouna Traoré, 15, died in an electricity substation 

hiding from the police in an impoverished suburb north of Paris. Their deaths led to massive riots in Paris suburbs that spread across France.

Green Party officials spoke out against police violence in France, denouncing the “Americanization” of French police tactics.

“What I see in this video is a 17-year-old kid being executed, in France in 2023, by a police officer on a public highway,” said the Greens’ Marine Tondelier. 

“It seems like we are heading towards an Americanization of the police,” she warned, adding refusal to comply with police orders is normally “three years in prison and a fine of 75,000 euros, not a bullet in the head.”

Darmanin, who has previously supported the French police force in similar situations, called the video footage “extremely shocking” in parliament. He said June 28 that the policeman would be suspended “if the charges against him are upheld.”

The post Public outrage sparks in France after Black teen killed by law enforcement appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

By DaQuan Lawrence,
Special to the AFRO

Actor, filmmaker, minister and motivational speaker, Kenyon Glover, has partnered with an international civil society organization, working to help communities in Haiti become self-sufficient. 

Through an international fundraising campaign, the group is attempting to raise $2 million via GoFundMe for programming to help communities in Haiti, which are historically underserved and under-resourced. The initiative aims to help residents develop necessary skills to lead their own small and medium enterprises.

Glover is a former basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA), and successful actor and filmmaker. Now, he’s using his national and international influence to support Haiti, a nation with a rich history and innovative, resilient and remarkable population.  

“Someone brought the initiative and campaign to my attention and I wanted to do whatever I could to help,” Glover told the AFRO. “I learned about the food insecurity, political corruption and how dangerous it is. It’s a war going on out there.”

Located on the island of Hispaniola, Haiti has been riddled with political instability and has made international headlines recently due to challenges in governance, economic development, and political violence. Through it all, the nation has fought hard to maintain its spirit of resistance and resilience in the 21^st century. 

Founded as the first free Black republic on Jan. 1, 1804, Haiti, formerly known as the French colony of Saint-Domingue, is the first nation in the world to gain its independence through the successful revolt of formerly enslaved people. 

Initially led by Toussaint-L’Ouverture, who abolished slavery, previously enslaved individuals fought against France between 1791-1804, when General Jean-Jaques Dessalines declared independence and revived the nation’s native name of ‘Ayiti’.

Born in Monroe, Louisiana and the eldest of three siblings, Glover was far removed from Haiti and it’s culture. Still, the star that has appeared in more than 70 films and television shows saw an opportunity to help— and jumped right into action. Glover said he believes it is important to use his influence to support marginalized populations in the U.S. and abroad. 

“Kids are not getting the education they need and there are many resources people don’t have access to such as hospitals, food or furniture. This program is helping Haitians develop skills to build their own businesses, communities, or factories so they don’t have to depend on charitable organizations and foreign aid,” Glover said. 

Led by Sharon Savoy of Toronto, Canada, the initiative to raise the money for Haiti is focused on helping communities in Haiti develop the capacity to establish and sustain their own independent small and medium enterprises. Savoy has used her own funds to work with five communities across the nation to develop self-reliance programs to prevent an overreliance on charities for sustenance. 

“After traveling to Haiti in the 1980s, I became interested in supporting the population, which was impoverished, but not to the extent that it is now” said Savoy. 

In addition to experiencing several unprovoked occupations by the U.S. in the 20^th century, Haiti has been impacted by environmental issues such as 2010’s earthquake and 2016 hurricane and is still recovering from the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse by unidentified gunmen in 2021. 

Savoy mentioned that after the 2010 earthquake, she began supporting an orphanage but became interested in how the high foreign aid and investment rarely translated into development for the Haitian population. 

“When I returned to Haiti, I questioned where all the money that went to foundations had gone. Many charities handle money, and hardly do anything,” said Savoy. 

“I started working in communities to provide training and self-reliance skills for young men who were conditioned by charities to beg,” she continued, noting that youth impacted by the political strife and environmental disasters need empathy, support and training. 

Savoy, who no longer travels to Haiti out of concern for her safety, shared what she saw first hand in the country. 

“The gangs are comprised of orphans who have been in the streets fighting for their lives since 2010. They are tired and trying to survive,” she said. 

Since Haiti declared its independence as a sovereign state, the nation has experienced constant economic decline and unyielding political instability, primarily due to imposed political sanctions and purposeful diplomatic isolation by the international community. Many members of the international community believe Haiti is still owed reparations from France. 

Although global economic indicators and indices currently list Haiti as the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, prior to independence, Haiti – then Saint-Domingue – was the richest colony in the world, and the supplier of 75 percent of all the sugar consumed globally. 

Despite its significant economic and political challenges, Haiti remains a major trading partner in the global economy. In 2021, more than 85 percent of products exported from Haiti were brought by importers in the U.S., France, Canada, China, Thailand, Spain, the United Kingdom, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic. 

Savoy spoke on the ingenuity of the Haitian people, amongst uninterrupted foreign influences.

“We need to stop telling Haitians what they need. Haiti is a very smart country; they just don’t have access to information like us. A 10-year-old orphan boy put electricity in my room,” she said, speaking on the pure talent and potential she witnessed while working in the country.

Though they both lead their own lives, Savoy and Glover have remained committed to helping Haiti. 

Glover, a dedicated motivational speaker and minister who is launching a new ministry and writing books, said he believes it is important to prioritize providing support for populations in need. 

“We have the platform and the resources so it’s up to people like us to come forward because we are blessed to be able to live a good life—especially in America,” he said.  “I think it’s important for everyone to do what they can.”

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By DaQuan Lawrence,
Special to the AFRO

The International Civil Society Working Group (ICSWG) for the United Nations (UN) Permanent Forum on People of African Descent (PFPAD) recently convened at the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Education Center in Harlem. The meeting took place prior to the second assembly of the new international forum. 

The working group organized the event in partnership with the Shabazz Center, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, and the Movement for Black Lives (MB4L). The meeting served as the official launch of the PFPAD in the U.S. and a celebration of Black internationalism. 

The convening included cultural presentations , with a special performance by Abiodun Oyewole of The Last Poets, and a screening of the award-winning documentary “Familiar Faces/Unexpected Places: A Global African Diaspora,” by Dr. Sheila Walker.

The second session of the PFPAD took place at the UN Headquarters in New York City from May 30 to June 2. The intergenerational convening included members from across the African diaspora who work in the multilateral, public, private, nonprofit and civil society sectors.

“We don’t know the global reach of the African diaspora,” Walker said, prior to the screening of her film at the Shabazz Center. 

“We act like English is the first and only language, and we usually don’t operate from the point of us being the majority of the planet,” she continued, referencing misconceptions about the African diaspora. 

Formed during the COVID-19 pandemic, in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder and ensuing global outcry for justice, members of the ICSWG for the PFPAD convened in person for the first time at the UN Palace of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland during the inaugural session of the PFPAD between Dec. 5-8, 2022.

Long Island, NY native Sheldon Williams, who is president and founder of Edfu Foundation and The Conservancy Corp,elevated the invaluable and ceaseless efforts of women in the African diaspora. 

“I would like to thank Dr. Betty Shabazz as well as every woman of African descent, because as a Black man, I can personally attest to the fact that none of us would be here without their efforts,” said Williams, who is also co-chair of the ICSWG.

Williams also thanked the event’s organizers, attendees and special guests, which included former Black Panther and member of the Black Liberation Army, Herman Bell.

Bell received parole after serving 45 years in prison for a case involving the shooting deaths of two police officers.

“We had a lot of legends attend our kick-off event in Harlem, and it’s important we continue to remain vigilant and to hold the UN and other institutions accountable,” Williams said. 

The PFPAD convenings consisted of an international and intergenerational network of civil society, nongovernment, public sector representatives and social activists. Lawyers, economists, educators, artists, journalists, clergy members, political and cultural commentators and other human rights defenders from UN Member states were also present.  

The civil society working group includes members from groups above in addition to others from the international community. The ICSWG “consists of people around the world who are dedicated to making the Permanent Forum impactful, raising local and international awareness of the Forum’s progress, and creating opportunities to engage civil society and have grassroots stakeholders provide their input,” Dr. Amara Enyia said.

Enyia, who serves as co-chair of the ICSWG, is also the president of transnational advocacy organization Global Black, and manager of Policy and Research for MB4L. 

“The group includes people from all over the world who have been volunteering their time to push forward our international work,” said Enyia. 

Established in August 2021, the PFPAD is an advisory body to the UN Human Rights Council, a “consultative mechanism for people of African descent and other relevant stakeholders,” and a “platform for improving the safety and quality of life and livelihoods of people of African descent” according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

OHCHR worked to create the Forum since November 2014, when it was mandated by UN General Assembly resolution A/RES/69/16. The young delegates highlighted the importance of future initiatives and greater involvement across the diaspora.  

Offering perspective on the momentum of the international working group and the significance of the evening, Montague Simmons, an organizer with MB4L told the AFRO, “everyone we’ve talked to has expressed a great amount of relief and appreciation.”

Sharing his thoughts and expectations of the second session of the Permanent Forum, Simmons mentioned he hopes the delegates “begin to cohere relationships with each other and the UN” and “push the UN to live up to the mechanism in terms of investment and staff.”

“What can’t we do together, that we can accomplish while we are apart?” said Simmons, during his remarks to the audience at the Shabazz center. 

During the second session, over 900 members of civil society and representatives of UN Member states called for the reparations for slavery, colonialism, and centuries of illegitimate racial oppression of people of African descent. 

Chevy Eugene is a Ph.D. student at York University in Toronto, Canada, and the Caribbean Ambassador for the Pan-African Council, who attended both the PFPAD sessions in Geneva and New York City.

“My expectations have always been around the people —not necessarily the institution,” said Eugene. “Before we have conversations about overt and institutional anti-Black racism or the legacies of colonialism, I think we need to discuss how to decolonize the UN itself.” 

“To me, this forum is about the people connecting—not about having conversations without new practices and action. How can we support each other in the African diaspora and focus on decolonizing institutions?” quipped Eugene.  

At each session delegates called for a second UN International Decade for people of African descent, and the removal of racial discrimination within the UN system as well as in developed nations, citing the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA), the UN’s blueprint to combat racism, racial discrimination, and xenophobia globally.

Dr. Vickie Casanova-Willis is a special consultant for the Office of HBCU Development and International Cooperation (OHBCUD) and the Communications co-chair for the ICSWG, who also spoke with the AFRO.

Sharing her thoughts on the event at the Shabazz Center and the PFPAD launch in the U.S., Dr. Casanova-Willis said “the ancestors are proud because this room was full, but the future will be challenging because this is about improving the world for the African diaspora.”

The working group for the PFPAD was brought to fruition by members of civil society and participants from public and private organizations that recognized the need for grassroots representation. Many of the participants helped advocate for the establishment of the forum to begin with.

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By Amaka Watson,
Defender Network

Hurricane season is here, meaning the time has come to prepare for  natural disasters that traditionally impact America’s southern states. Preparation is key when it comes to catastrophic events. Individuals and families must take proactive steps to safeguard themselves against potential storms.

Here are the top five steps you can do now to protect your home and loved ones during hurricane season.

Build an emergency kit

Prepare a well-stocked emergency kit that can sustain you and your family for at least three days, including essentials like drinking water, non-perishable food, flashlights, batteries, first aid kit, medications, personal hygiene products, documents and cash. Replenish the kit when needed.

Create an emergency plan

Develop a strategic emergency plan. Discuss evacuation routes, designated meeting points and communication strategies with your family members. Divide responsibilities and make sure everyone understands the plan. Keep all important contacts, documents and emergency supplies in a secure and easily accessible location.

Safeguard your home

Mitigating potential damage to your home is crucial. Trim trees, clear gutters and remove loose objects that could become problems in high wind situations. Reinforce doors and windows and install storm shutters or impact resistant glass. Find the locations of shut-off valves for gas, electricity and water.

Review insurance coverage

Ensure you have adequate insurance coverage for your property and belongings. Review your homeownership insurance policy to understand what’s covered and consider purchasing flood insurance because standard policies don’t typically cover flood-related damages. Take inventory of your valuable properties through photos and videos and keep them in a secure place.

Stay informed

Keep up to date on the weather, emergency evacuation orders and alerts. Register for the local emergency notification systems and monitor the national Weather Service for updates.

Have a battery-powered weather radio to receive critical information even during power outages. Follow credible and reliable sources and official social media accounts.

Let’s learn from the past and prioritize the safety and well-being of your families and communities this season.

This post was originally published on Defender Network.

The post Top five hurricane season preparation tips appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

By Jill Lawless,
The Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Seventy-five years ago, a ship landed at Tilbury Dock near London, carrying more than 800 passengers from the Caribbean to new lives in Britain.

The arrival of the Empire Windrush on June 22, 1948, became a symbol of the post-war migration that transformed the U.K. and its culture. The term “Windrush generation” has come to stand for hundreds of thousands of people who arrived in the U.K. between the late 1940s and early 1970s, especially those from former British colonies in the Caribbean.

Windrush Day was marked on June 22 with scores of community and official events, including a reception hosted by King Charles III. Charles commissioned portraits of 10 Windrush passengers for the royal collection as a reflection of ” the immeasurable difference that they, their children and their grandchildren have made to this country.”

There also was a national church service, a Windrush flag flying over Parliament and a set of commemorative stamps from the Royal Mail.

Patrick Vernon, convenor of the Windrush 75 network that is marking the anniversary, said the day’s events were a chance to “acknowledge the legacy of those first Windrush pioneers, the challenges they overcame and the contribution they made to Britain.”

Behind the anniversary celebrations lies a complex story that is still unfolding.

WHO WAS ABOARD THE SHIP?

The Empire Windrush carried mostly Black people from Jamaica, Trinidad and other Caribbean islands who were invited by the British government to help rebuild the war-shattered nation. Many had fought against the Nazis in World War II; they came to work as nurses, railway workers and in other key jobs.

Many settled in working-class neighborhoods, including the Brixton and Notting Hill areas of London. The new arrivals were welcomed by some but faced widespread discrimination in employment and housing.

In 1958, racially motivated attacks on Black residents in Notting Hill sparked days of rioting. The Notting Hill Carnival — now one of Europe’s biggest street parties — was founded soon after to celebrate Caribbean culture and to bring communities together.

A decade later, Conservative politician Enoch Powell made an infamous speech predicting “rivers of blood” as a result of mass immigration. The speech helped sparked a surge of protest and resistance by Britons of color.

HOW DID THE WINDRUSH GENERATION FARE IN BRITAIN?

Members of the Windrush generation and their descendants, from the Caribbean and other parts of the former British Empire, have had a colossal impact on British culture.

People like poet Linton Kwesi Johnson, DJ Don Letts and members of ska bands like The Specials fused Caribbean musical influences and urban youth rebellion in the 1970s and ‘80s. Their influence helped seed new styles of music including grime, a distinctly London form of rap.

In other art forms, major figures include Turner Prize-winning artist Chris Ofili, “12 Years a Slave” filmmaker Steve McQueen, and writers Andrea Levy, Bernardine Evaristo and Nobel literature laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah.

Prince William, the heir to the British throne, said June 22 that the contributions of the Windrush generation “cannot be overstated.”

“We are a better people today because the children and the grandchildren of those who came in 1948 have stayed and become part of who we are in 2023,” he said.

WHAT’S THE WINDRUSH SCANDAL?

Commonwealth immigrants who came to Britain before 1973 had an automatic right to settle in the U.K. But decades later, thousands fell victim to the Conservative government’s aim of making Britain a “hostile environment” for illegal immigration.

In 2018, British news outlets revealed that people who had lived legally in Britain for decades had been denied housing, jobs or medical treatment because they could not prove their status. Many documents, including passenger cards from the Empire Windrush, had been destroyed by the authorities.

Dozens were detained or deported to countries they had not visited for decades.

After an outcry, the British government apologized to the Windrush generation, set up a commission to investigate what went wrong and established a compensation program.

WHAT DOES WINDRUSH MEAN TODAY?

Windrush today has multiple meanings. Onyekachi Wambu, editor of “Empire Windrush,” an anthology of Black British writing, said it wasn’t until several decades after 1948 that the word Windrush began to mean “something bigger than the people who came on the ship.”

“We began to talk about ‘Windrush’ and it became kind of institutionalized,” he said at a recent panel discussion. “There is now also an element of it that means scandal and betrayal.”

Many people caught up in the Windrush scandal say they are struggling to get compensation from a bureaucratic and inefficient government program. The government has declined to act on several of the recommendations of an independent review.

The current Conservative government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is observing Windrush Day while legislating to criminalize and deport asylum-seekers arriving in Britain in small boats – a situation that stirs uncomfortable parallels for some.

Black Britons continue to have more poverty and worse health than their White compatriots, a gap bleakly exposed by higher death rates in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Britain is wrestling with how to deal with its imperial past, a debate spurred on when Black Lives Matter protesters pulled down a statue of 17th-century slave trader Edward Colston in the English city of Bristol in 2020.

“Britain has come a long way on race in the 75 years since the Windrush arrived, but with much further to go to complete that journey to inclusion,” Sunder Katwala, of think tank British Future, said in a recent report on the anniversary.

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By Special to the AFRO

Stephen Ambrose Historical Tours (SAHT) is thrilled to announce that a group of descendants of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, popularly known as the “Six Triple Eight,” have embarked on a remarkable tour to honor the legacy of their courageous ancestors. 

Retracing their steps from Glasgow to Birmingham, from London to Normandy, and from Rouen to Paris. The highlight of the tour will be a remembrance ceremony for the three members of the 6888th buried at the Normandy American Cemetery

About the 6888TH

The all-female unit of the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) during World War II was designated black, although there were also Latina women in the unit. Their primary mission was to clear a massive backlog of mail and packages that had accumulated for American troops in Europe. They sorted, redirected, and delivered mail to over seven million Americans and troops stationed in the European Theater of Operations.

The unit was led by Major Charity Adams (Earley), becoming the first African-American woman to command an overseas battalion in the U.S. Army.

The 6888th was stationed in Birmingham, England, Rouen, France, and later in Paris. France. They faced numerous challenges, including cultural differences, gender discrimination, and working with outdated equipment. Despite these obstacles, they achieved remarkable results and earned a reputation for their efficiency and dedication.

The 6888th played a vital role in boosting morale among the troops by ensuring that they received letters and packages from their loved ones back home. Their work helped maintain a vital connection between soldiers and their families and improved morale on the front lines abroad and in the U.S. On March 14, 2022, President Biden signed the Six Triple Eight Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2021, awarding the 6888th the nation’s highest civilian honor.

About the tour

Led by SAHT’s expert historian, Col. (Ret.) Edna Cummings, the tour is taking the descendants on a captivating journey through significant sites. 

Historian Kevin Hymel will join the group in London to add general WWII context for the group. Hymel, a long-time historian with SAHT, connected with Cummings when he was researching an article about the 6888th WWII History magazine. That article caught the eye of Tyler Perry who is turning it into a Netflix film.

Talia Ambrose, grand-niece of founder Stephen Ambrose and third generation of this family owned business, is accompanying the tour as a tour manager.

Itinerary

Glasgow – June 20 and 21

Taking the SS Île de France from the USA, the 6888th landed in Glasgow after a voyage dodging German U-boats. They then proceeded to their first station in Birmingham, England.

Birmingham, England – June 21 – 24

King Edwards School (Birmingham, England): 

This site holds significance as it commemorates where the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, also known as the “Six Triple Eight,” was stationed during their time in Birmingham. The presence of a Blue Plaque honors the unit’s important role in mail sorting operations during World War II.

Victoria Square (Birmingham, England): 

This square is notable as it was the location where the 6888th marched during their time in Birmingham. Historical footage captures their participation in parades, highlighting their contribution to the war effort.

During their visit, the descendants of the women of the 6888th will participate in various events and activities to honor the Windrush generation, including a wreath-laying ceremony at the Windrush Memorial in Birmingham, and a series of talks and presentations at local schools and community centers.

William Shakespeare’s birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon, England (day trip out of Birmingham): 

The 6888th took a photo with a statue of William Shakespeare at his birthplace. This site holds significance as it represents a memorable moment for the unit during their time in England.

London – June 24 – 25

Bletchley Park (Stop between Birmingham and London, England): 

Bletchley Park is historically significant as it was the central site for British code-breaking efforts during World War II. For the 6888th descendants, visiting Bletchley Park allows them to learn about the vital role of approximately 8,000 women who operated the computers used for Nazi code-breaking, including the Colossus and Bombe machines.

Grosvenor Square (London, England):

 This square holds significance as it was where the 6888th Commander Major Charity Adams reported in January 1945. It serves as a reminder of the unit’s presence and contributions in London during the war.

Churchill’s War Rooms (London, England): general WWII stop.

Normandy – June 25 – 28

Normandy holds immense significance for Americans. The group will visit American D-Day sites: Utah Beach, Omaha Beach, Point du Hoc, and St. Mere Eglise, to name a few. 

The highlight of the tour will be at the Normandy American Cemetery. Of the 9,386 military dead buried there, only four are women, and three of those four were members of the 6888th. On June 27, the group will honoring those three 6888th members in a solemn and poignant moment that pays tribute to their service and sacrifice.

Rouen – day trip on June 28

The marketplace in Rouen witnessed a parade ceremony in May 1945 in honor of Joan d’Arc, and the 6888th participated in this historic event. Additionally, visiting the remains of the Caserne Tallandier barracks, where the 6888th was stationed, allows the descendants to connect with the physical space that housed their ancestors during their time in Rouen.

Paris – June 28 and 29

The officers and enlisted women were quartered in different locations in Paris, namely the Hôtel États-Unis and the Hôtel Bohy-Lafayette, respectively. This was their last station before the unit returned to the USA.

The post Retracing their steps: descendants of 6888th Battalion return to Europe to honor their foremothers appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

By Ellen Knickmeyer and Cara Anna,
Associated Press

An Orthodox Christian priest, Tesfa Kiros Meresfa begs door-to-door for food along with countless others recovering from a two-year war in northern Ethiopia that starved his people. To his dismay, urgently needed grain and oil have disappeared again for millions caught in a standoff between Ethiopia’s government, the United States and United Nations over what U.S. officials say may be the biggest theft of food aid on record.

“I have no words to describe our suffering,” Tesfa said.

As the U.S. and U.N. demand that Ethiopia’s government yield its control over the vast aid delivery system supporting one-sixth of the country’s population, they have taken the dramatic step of suspending their food aid to Africa’s second-most populous nation until they can be sure it won’t be stolen by Ethiopian officials and fighters.

Almost three months have passed since the aid suspension in parts of the country, and reports are emerging of the first deaths from starvation during the pause. At the earliest, aid to the northern Tigray region will return in July, the U.S. and U.N. say, and to the rest of the country at some point after that when reforms in aid distribution allow.

Tesfa, who lives in a school compound with hundreds of others displaced by the war in Tigray, laughed when asked how many meals he eats a day. “The question is a joke,” he said. “We often go to sleep without food.”

In interviews with The Associated Press, which first reported the massive theft of food aid, officials with U.S. and U.N. aid agencies, humanitarian organizations and diplomats offered new findings on the countrywide diversion of aid to military units and markets. That included allegations that some senior Ethiopian officials were extensively involved.

The discovery in March of enough stolen food aid to feed 134,000 people for a month in a single Tigray town is just a glimpse of the scale of the theft that the U.S., Ethiopia’s largest humanitarian donor, is trying to grasp. The food meant for needy families was found instead for sale in markets or stacked at commercial flour mills, still marked with the U.S. flag.

The implications for the U.S. are global. Proving it can detect and stop the theft of aid paid for by U.S. taxpayers is vital at a time when the Biden administration is fighting to maintain public support for aid to corruption-plagued Ukraine.

At a private meeting last week in Ethiopia, U.S. aid officials told international partners that this could be the largest-ever diversion of food aid in any country, aid workers said. In an interview with the AP, a senior official with the U.S. Agency for International Development said the exact amount of food aid stolen may never be known.

Donated medical supplies also were stolen, according to a Western diplomat and U.N. official who, like others, spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

With USAID giving Ethiopia’s government $1.8 billion in humanitarian assistance since 2022, a delay in providing food aid causes widespread pain. Millions of people went hungry during the war while food stocks were looted, burned and withheld by combatants, and U.N. investigators have warned of possible starvation-linked war crimes.

Now the hunger is being traced to corruption.

Preliminary findings released this month by Tigray regional authorities said they have tracked the theft of more than 7,000 metric tons of donated wheat — or 15 million pounds — in their region, taken by federal and regional authorities and others. The findings did not specify the time period. Other regions have yet to report amounts.

Ethiopia’s government dismisses as harmful “propaganda” the suggestion that it bears primary responsibility for the disappearance of aid in Tigray and other regions, but it has agreed to a joint investigation with the U.S. while the U.N.’s World Food Program carries out a separate probe.

The way that Western aid officials “distance themselves from the accusations by linking the alleged problem only to government institutions and procedures is absolutely unacceptable and very contrary to the reality on the ground,” government spokesman Legesse Tulu told reporters earlier this month. He and other government spokespeople did not immediately respond to messages from the AP.

Aid workers say humanitarian agencies have long tolerated a degree of corruption by government officials. Provision of aid in Ethiopia has been heavily politicized for decades, including during the devastating famine of the 1980s, when the then-communist regime blocked assistance to areas controlled by rebel groups.

The senior USAID official told the AP that the latest theft of U.S. and U.N. food aid included the manipulation of beneficiary lists that the Ethiopian government has insisted on controlling, looting by Ethiopian government and Tigray forces and forces from neighboring Eritrea, and the diversion of massive amounts of donated wheat to commercial flour mills in at least 63 sites.

A former Tigray official said government workers often inflate beneficiary numbers and take the extra grain for themselves, a practice that two officials with international organizations working in Ethiopia called widespread elsewhere in the country.

Numerous officials accused WFP of simply dropping off rations in the middle of towns, where much of the aid was looted by forces from Eritrea.

There were also signs that people whom the USAID official described only as “market actors” were forcing hungry families to surrender food aid they received — something that WFP suspects as well.

In Ethiopia, which has a history of deadly hunger, “zero” of the 6 million people in Tigray received food aid in May after the pause in donations by the U.S. and U.N., according to a U.N. memo seen by the AP. That’s unprecedented, it said.

With 20 million people across Ethiopia dependent on such aid, plus more than 800,000 refugees from Somalia and elsewhere, independent humanitarian groups warn that even a quick resolution to the dispute could see many people starve to death.

In the U.N. food agency’s first extensive public comments, the WFP regional director for East Africa, Michael Dunford, acknowledged possible “shortcomings” in its monitoring of aid distribution.

“We accept that we could have done better,” he told the AP this week. But until now, Dunford said, “it’s been very much the Ethiopian government that was managing” the process.

For USAID’s part, the senior agency official cited a range of reasons that U.S. officials missed the extent of the aid theft for so long. The war blocked the agency’s ground access to the Tigray region for 20 months. Elsewhere in the country, COVID restrictions and security concerns limited USAID’s oversight, the official said.

Some Republican and Democratic lawmakers said the rare countrywide suspension of aid showed USAID is taking the theft of U.S. aid with appropriate seriousness. Asked if he was concerned about USAID oversight, a senior Democrat, Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, said, “I’m concerned about the ways in which the Ethiopian military and government may have systematically diverted food that was meant for hungry Ethiopians.”

Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said “tough questions…need to be answered, and our partner must demonstrate some willingness to cooperate.”

“There must be a fundamental change in how we do food assistance in Ethiopia if we are going to resume USAID food aid there,” Risch said, and called for accountability and transparency. “The first principle of humanitarian aid is to do no harm. From what I understand, harm has been done. We have to ensure for the American taxpayer that this doesn’t continue to happen.”

U.S. and U.N. officials said they were working to limit — or end — Ethiopian government officials’ role in the aid system.

“We’re taking back all the control over the commodities,” Dunford said. “The entire supply chain, from the time that we receive the food in the country to the time it’s in the hands of the beneficiaries.” Plans include third-party distribution, real-time third-party monitoring and biometric registration of beneficiaries, he said.

The U.S. government wants Ethiopia’s government to remove itself from the compilation of beneficiary lists and the transport, warehousing and distribution of aid, according to a briefing memo by donors seen by the AP.

The senior USAID official said Ethiopia’s government has committed to cooperate on reforms, but “we have not yet seen the specific reforms in place that would allow us to resume aid.”

Civilians, again, are suffering.

Ethiopia’s harvest season is over and the lean season is approaching. The U.N. humanitarian agency has privately expressed fears of “mass starvation” in remote parts of Tigray, according to an assessment made in April and seen by the AP. Another assessment in May cited reports of 20 people dying of starvation in Samre, a short drive from the Tigray capital, Mekele.

Tigray’s main hospital reported a 28 percent increase in the number of children admitted for malnutrition from March to April. At the hospital in Axum town, the increase was 96 percent.

“It is a good day if we manage to eat one meal,” said Berhane Haile, another of the thousands of war-displaced people going hungry.

The interviews revealed allegations that some senior Ethiopian officials were extensively involved.

This article was originally published by the Associated Press.

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By Aria Brent,
AFRO Staff Writer,
abrent@afro.com

The Black community has truly mastered the art of storytelling. Using art as a form of communication and documentation is nothing new— we tell our stories with the written word, songs, dance— and yes, even via the very hair on our heads.

Whether it be a voluminous Afro, Senegalese twists, waist length locs or a high top— Black fashion has been used for years to tell stories.

“We weren’t given much, but we used what we had and it became trendy and iconic,” said Alexis Noble, a Mississippi native and creative director who has witnessed the influence of Black fashion first-hand. “[Black fashion] has become the go-to source for what we’re seeing in society today.” 

With a degree in fashion merchandising from Hinds Community College in Jackson, Miss., she’s been able to actually live and study the stories told through Black hair and clothing.

“I’m very connected to the seventies and eighties. I seem to pull a lot of inspiration for my set designs and trends from that era. I feel like that was a rebellious time. People were free and exploring and living in their true selves. Fashion during those times was a way of escaping, ” stated Noble. 

Believing that Black fashion and the story it tells is rooted in survival, Noble said that clothing and hair have been used for centuries to make a statement and carry on the stories of our ancestors. 

“We have definitely used clothing as a symbol and we’ve done it with graphic tees, earrings, tote bags, even shoes,” said Noble. We’re making it known what we stand for [and] what we don’t care for! It’s being  verbally communicated through our accessories and our apparel.” 

Tinde van Andel is an ethnobotanist for the Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden and Wageningen University in the Netherlands and has done a series of research projects about the Maroon people and how they used hair braiding to preserve themselves, and their culture. 

During the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, braided hairstyles doubled as a way of storing rice granules so the enslaved could eat them throughout their journey. Once on land, braids continued to help slaves survive, as they were sometimes used to create maps that led to freedom.

Although braids are now used as a protective hairstyle and viewed as something to be worn for fashion purposes, a fresh set of cornrows still boosts Black self-esteem and culture.

April Dudley, CEO of CoverTheChaos, discussed the resurgence of braids within the last decade.

“Braids are economical,” said Dudley. “For families who have a lot of children, they’re ideal because of how long they last. You can wear braids for a few weeks up to a month or two and that really helps.”

However braids allow Black people to do so much more than just survive. They’ved provided a space for self expression and creativity through both everyday wear and events such as hair shows.

Events such as the Bronner Brothers Hair Convention have created a space for Black people in the fashion industry to showcase their talents, express their creativity and tell stories through hair. The daring hairstyles created at these events can be considered a form of resistance against White beauty standards.

The afro has long been a symbol of Black people liberating themselves. Prior to the Black Power Movement, many Black people weren’t wearing their natural hair. When they began to do so it represented the demand for respect and civil rights that was beginning to happen saidEulanda Sanders, a professor of textiles and clothing,and chair of the Department of Apparel, Events, and Hospitality Management at Iowa State University. Sanders is focused on symbolic meanings of Black appearance.

“When the afro came around it showed that we as Black people can also wear our natural hair despite how it might look to White people,” said Dudley. “It gave an image that is constantly associated with what it means to be Black.”

Jayden Ward, a senior fashion merchandising major at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio., commented on just how rebellious Black fashion can be. She spoke with the AFRO about recent fashion trends that have allowed Black women to reclaim their femininity. 

“Black women oftentimes have this masculine energy forced onto them but things like the luxury and soft girl aesthetics have helped us showcase ourselves as feminine. We’re taking charge of our own identity,” Ward said.

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By Rodney Muhumuza
The Associated Press

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Uganda’s longtime president says he is taking “forced leave” after testing positive for COVID-19.

Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled Uganda since 1986, said on Twitter that he was experiencing “mild symptoms” as he goes into isolation.

While two of three samples collected from him earlier in the week tested negative, one returned a positive result, he said in a statement June 8.

“I have, therefore, got the second forced leave in the last 53 years, ever since 1971, when we started fighting Idi Amin,” he said, citing the dictator who ruled Uganda in the 1970s.

Museveni, 78, said he delegated his duties to Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja.

News of Museveni’s sickness has drawn mixed reactions from Ugandans. While some are wishing him a quick recovery, others elsewhere on social media have not been so kind.

Museveni won a sixth presidential term in 2021. His supporters are urging him to run again in 2026 amid an apparent presidential bid by his son, who is critical of the ruling party. While Museveni is beloved by many Ugandans who credit him with bringing relative stability to the East African country, many others see him as an authoritarian who depends on the security forces to stay in power.

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By Jean Fernand Koena

The Associated Press

BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — Eleven U.N. peacekeepers stationed in Central African Republic have been accused of sexual exploitation and abuse, the United Nations said June 9.

Investigations were still underway, but preliminary evidence gathered by the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services revealed that the members of a Tanzanian peacekeeping unit deployed in the country’s west were implicated in the exploitation and abuse of four victims, according to a statement by the U.N. Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic, also known as MINUSCA.

“Upon learning of the allegations, MINUSCA immediately deployed a rapid intervention team to assess the allegations and identify and listen to the alleged victims,” the statement said. “Immediately afterwards, MINUSCA relocated the unit concerned to another base, where it is confined to barracks, in order to protect the victims and the integrity of the investigation.

“Victims received immediate care and support through the mission’s partners, according to their medical, psychosocial and protection needs.”

The evidence also points to a breakdown in command and control over personnel, and once the investigation is complete, the entire unit of 60 peacekeepers will be repatriated. Some of the victims are believed to be minors, but that is yet to be confirmed, the U.N. said.

The mineral-rich but impoverished Central African Republic has faced deadly intercommunal fighting since 2013, when predominantly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power and forced President Francois Bozize from office. Mostly Christian militias later fought back, also targeting civilians in the streets. Untold thousands were killed, and most of the capital’s Muslims fled in fear.

A U.N. peacekeeping mission was deployed the following year and now has nearly 17,500 uniformed personnel. In November, the mission’s mandate was extended for a year.

The United Nations has long been in the spotlight over allegations of child rape and other sexual abuse by its peacekeepers, especially those based in Central African Republic and neighboring Congo.

In 2021, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres ordered the immediate repatriation of a contingent from Gabon operating in the country, following credible reports of sexual abuse by some of its 450 members, and past allegations.

___

Sam Mednick contributed to this report from Dakar, Senegal.

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By The Associated Press

Saudi Arabia and the United States said May 26 the warring sides in Sudan’s conflict are adhering better to a new, weeklong cease-fire following days of sporadic fighting.

The truce, brokered by Riyadh and Washington, went into effect on May 22, but fighting continued in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum and the western Darfur region. Particularly intense clashes flared up on May 24, the two mediators said in a joint statement.

The conflict in Sudan erupted in mid-April after months of escalating tensions between the military, led by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces, a powerful paramilitary commanded by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. The conflict has killed at least 863 civilians, including at least 190 children, according to the most recent numbers from the Sudanese Doctors’ Syndicate.

The latest, weeklong cease-fire is the seventh attempt at a truce after the others were violated.

A new cross-party committee tasked with monitoring potential violations observed May 24 the “use of artillery and military aircraft and drones, credible reports of airstrikes, sustained fighting” in Khartoum and Darfur.

Amid the reported calm on May 25, humanitarian missions were able to deliver “urgently needed medical supplies to several locations in Sudan,” the joint statement said. Efforts were also underway to restore telecommunications services in Khartoum and other areas of the country, it said.

The next day, Khartoum residents reported only sporadic gunfire. However, the Sudanese Defense Ministry issued a statement calling on all non-commissioned and retired officers under 65 to re-enlist. It remains unclear if the call-up is mandatory.

Earlier in the day, Sudan TV had broadcast a military statement asking former soldiers and men capable of fighting to head to the nearest military command to arm themselves for their own self-protection.

Over the past six weeks, looting has become widespread across many Khartoum districts, which are also without water and electricity.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has warned both parties of possible sanctions if the latest cease-fire was not adhered to.

The United Nations says that more than a million Sudanese have been internally displaced, while some 300,000 have fled to neighboring countries. The conflict has pushed the East African country to the brink of collapse, with urban areas of Khartoum and its adjacent city of Omdurman disintegrating into battlegrounds.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said May 26 that the World Food Program has provided 60,000 people with food and nutrition since restarting distributions — including some 180,000 in Darfur. The WFP plans to start distributions also in central Darfur in the coming days and resumed aid in the Blue Nile state on May 26, he said.

Dujarric said the World Health Organization has verified eight attacks on health care facilities during the past two weeks, bringing the total to 38 health care facilities attacked since fighting erupted in mid-April.

Riyadh and Washington called on the Sudanese military and the RSF to continue to respect the cease-fire.

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By Gerald Imray
The Associated Press

One of Rwanda’s most wanted suspects for the country’s 1994 genocide appeared in a South African courtroom May 26, clutching a Bible and another book inscribed with “Jesus First” on the cover.

Fulgence Kayishema was a police officer with the rank of inspector when he allegedly orchestrated the killings of more than 2,000 people – including children – as they tried to seek refuge in a church during the first days of the genocide.

He was arrested May 24 in a small town in a wine-making region about 30 miles east of Cape Town having managed to evade justice for nearly 30 years. South African authorities gave his age as 61.

Wearing glasses and a blue winter jacket with a hood, Kayishema confirmed his identity when asked by a judge during his brief appearance at the Cape Town Magistrates Court. He held up the religious books for journalists and others in the courtroom to see before the hearing began and sat through much of the proceedings with his hands clasped in his lap.

He was indicted for genocide and crimes against humanity in 2001 by a tribunal investigating the horrors of the Rwandan genocide, where more than 800,000 people were slaughtered when members of the ethnic Hutu group turned on the minority Tutsis and other Hutus trying to protect them.

Kayishema will be held in custody until another hearing at the same courthouse on June 2, the judge said. He is expected to be extradited to Rwanda and ultimately go on trial for genocide and crimes against humanity.

The five charges South African prosecutors brought against him May 26 relate only to him making false statements on immigration forms as far back as 23 years ago to enter and stay in South Africa.

In January 2000, Kayishema lied to South African authorities by using a fake name – Fulgence Dende-Minani – and claiming to be a refugee from Burundi, prosecutors alleged in court documents. He was granted asylum in 2004, but that expired two years later according to prosecutors. He had apparently still been living in South Africa for the last 17 years.

It was unclear if he would would go on trial on those charges in South Africa before his extradition to stand trial for genocide.

Kayishema was indicted for the Rwandan killings more than 20 years ago by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, which was set up by the United Nations to investigate the genocide and bring killers to justice. The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals has continued the work of that tribunal, and announced Kayishema’s arrest on May 25.

It called him “one of the most wanted suspects” in the Rwandan genocide.

According to the South African prosecutors’ documents, he had fled from Rwanda at least a year before his indictment on the killing of 2,000 Tutsi refugees.

Kayishema was among the leaders of a group that first tried to burn the church down. When that plan failed, he and others used a bulldozer to raze the building, crushing and killing the people inside, the indictment said.

He was also involved in moving the bodies to a mass grave over the next two days, according to the indictment.

He was ultimately tracked down to the town of Paarl in South Africa’s Western Cape province, an historic old town known mostly for its wine making and for having one of South Africa’s most prestigious rugby-playing schools.

Kayishema was tracked down by the genocide tribunal’s fugitive tracking team and Interpol, with help from authorities in Rwanda, South Africa, Mozambique, Eswatini, Britain, Canada and the United States, the tribunal said.

___

More AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa

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By Edwin Kindzeka Moki,
The Associated Press

More than 30 women abducted by separatist rebels for protesting illegal taxes imposed on them were released, the government said May 26.

The women were taken earlier this month from Babanki, a farming village in the Northwest Region, along the border with Nigeria.

“We have taken the women to hospitals where they are being treated for injuries and supported psychosocially,” said Simon Emil Mooh, a local government official.

The separatists were collecting monthly payments from children, women and men, imposing taxes on couples before they got married, and forcing families to pay $1,000 to bury their relatives, he said.

The Central African nation has been plagued by fighting since English-speaking separatists launched a rebellion in 2017, with the stated goal of breaking away from the area dominated by the French-speaking majority and setting up an independent, English-speaking state.

The government has accused the separatists of committing atrocities against English-speaking civilians. The conflict has killed more than 6,000 people and displaced more than 760,000 others, according to the International Crisis Group.

Some of the women released told The Associated Press that they were tortured while in captivity.

“The separatist fighters beat me with their guns after they stripped me naked,” Vubom Elizabeth told the AP by phone on May 26 from the hospital where she was being treated. The rebels broke her left leg and arm, she said.

Separatist leader Capo Daniel said the women were freed after promising to stop protesting, but warned that people would continue to be punished if they continued.

The governor of Cameroon’s Northwest Region, Deben Tchoffo, called on the collaboration of communities to stop the atrocities and said the government will do what it takes to protect the women from separatist brutality.

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By Special RELEASE from the office of Representative Glenn Ivey

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. advocates working with and hailing from African countries carried out a week of action for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and other forms of protection for African immigrants. As leaders and members of Congress underscored in today’s press conference, too many African immigrants in the U.S. would face dangerous conditions in vulnerable African countries, making TPS designations particularly urgent for Mali, Mauritania, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Nigeria, Sudan and all African countries meeting the statutory grounds for relief. 

“Temporary Protected Status is one of the most important tools we have to prevent our immigrant neighbors from being deported and forced to return to violence, political upheaval, and devastation,” said Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.). “Unfortunately, our immigration policies continue to leave Black and brown immigrants behind. I am proud to join these incredible advocates calling for redesignating Sudan, South Sudan and Cameroon, and designating Mali, the DRC, Nigeria and Mauritania for TPS.”

“TPS is critical for countries in Africa like Cameroon and Nigeria among others. We must treat those fleeing war and political violence from African countries in the same way we have welcomed those from Ukraine. Our country has been made stronger by the innovation, ingenuity, and entrepreneurial efforts of African immigrants. I join leaders of ACT in asking the administration to reinstate, implement or otherwise grant TPS to the countries highlighted in today’s roundtable,” said Rep. Glenn Ivey (MD-04).

“Facing violence, instability, and disasters, it is clear that multiple African countries meet the necessary conditions for TPS and other protections,” said Diana Konaté, Policy Director with African Communities Together (ACT). “Moreover, offering protection to our brothers and sisters is just the right thing to do.” 

In letters to the administration, advocates have made a clear case for TPS based on the conditions on the ground and how they align with statutory language behind TPS. 

“I’ve seen firsthand some of the worst humanitarian disasters,” said Nils Kinuani, Immigration Department coordinator and Board Director for the Congolese Community of Washington Metropolitan. “A death toll of millions in the DRC makes it painfully clear that it’s time to extend shelter to our neighbors here in the U.S. Instead of endangering people by sending them back, let’s extend our hand and offer protection. Let’s protect the Congolese people.”

Over the past year, advocates have successfully secured TPS for Black-majority countries including Cameroon, Somalia, Haiti, Ethiopia, Sudan, and South Sudan. These designations have spared thousands of people from some of the most unspeakable conflicts, humanitarian crises, and climate change-fueled devastation. Even so, we note the measurably disproportionate effort required from advocates and affected communities from Black majority and African countries to receive these necessary protections.

“Biden and Harris campaigned as candidates who could heal racial wounds and bring people together,” said Carolyn Tran, Co-Director of Communities United for Status and Protection (CUSP). “But Biden’s actions, all but closing the door on asylum, restricting migration, and erecting barriers for Black migrants demonstrate otherwise. It is imperative that the Biden-Harris administration designate TPS for Black majority and African countries now.”

“Extensive and protracted armed conflict mean that Nigeria is facing an extraordinary level of insecurity,” said Gbenga Ogunjimi, Founder & CEO of Nigerian Center Inc. “Unfortunately, the conflict has recently escalated, leading to unprecedented levels of insecurity in Nigeria. The time to take action is now.” 

While some African immigrants are protected, the advocates told Congress in a briefing this week, too many face intolerable levels of danger. It is crucial for the Biden administration to designate all countries with conditions that make return untenable, including, but not limited to, Mauritania, Mali, the (DRC), Nigeria, and Sudan. 

“It is immoral for thousands of migrants in the U.S. to face the prospect of deportation, when it would mean returning to horror, instability, violence and devastation — and in the case of Black Mauritanians, slavery,” said Zeinabou Sall of the Mauritanian Network for Human Rights in The U.S. “As the many advocates who took part in this week’s events made clear, it is imperative for the Biden Administration to act. They must designate humanitarian protection and deportation relief for all.”

“With the increasing divisiveness and scapegoating of immigrants—especially those from African countries—by extreme political actors, and with the Biden administration all but prohibiting asylum, it is of utmost importance that the administration live up to the values it proclaims to have and use the full breadth of its executive power to provide essential humanitarian protections in the form of TPS,” said Ramya Reddy, Coordinator of the TPS-DED Administrative Advocacy Coalition. 

African Communities Together (ACT) is a national nonprofit dedicated towards improving the lives of African immigrants in the United States, and empowers African immigrants to integrate socially, advance economically and engage civically.

The TPS-DED AAC is a national coalition of more than 100 organizations with deep expertise in law and policy surrounding TPS and DED. Member organizations range from community-based organizations directly serving impacted communities in the United States to international NGOs, working in and providing insight from affected countries.

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By The Associated Press

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — One of Kenya’s oldest wild lions was killed by herders and the government has expressed concern as six more lions were speared at another village on May 13, bringing to 10 the number killed last week alone.

The male lion named Loonkiito was 19 years old and was described as frail by Kenya Wildlife Service spokesperson Paul Jinaro, who said it wandered out of the Amboseli national park into a village in search of food on the night of May 11.

Six other lions from the same national park were speared by herders after they killed 11 goats in Mbirikani area, Kajiado county. The deaths brought to 10 the number of lions killed by herders last week in escalated human-wildlife conflict that has worried the government.

Tourism minister Peninah Malonza met locals in Mbirikani area on May 14 and urged them not to spear wandering lions and to instead reach out to the wildlife service.

The government and conservation groups have a compensation program for herders whose livestock is killed by wild animals. But herders have become more protective after losing livestock to a drought that has been termed as the worst in decades in the East Africa region.

Conservation group Big Life Foundation’s Craig Miller said the killing of Loonkiito “was unfortunate” because he was the oldest lion in the Amboseli national park.

Wild lions rarely live past 15 years, according to conservationists.

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By AFRO Staff

Pretty Yende will soon go down in history as the first African to be invited to perform a solo at the coronation of a British monarch.

The South African soprano will be one of three soloists to perform at the coronation of King Charles III on May 6 at Westminster Abbey, in London, according to CNN.

“I feel very, very honored because it is something that has never happened before,” the 38-year-old told AFP.

“Generations from now they will read about the British monarchs… and they’ll see the name of a girl from the tip of Africa written in there – that she was actually invited by the king himself to sing at Westminster Abbey.”

Yende was born at the height of apartheid in the small town of Piet Retief to a religious family. Her closest musical reference was spiritual hymns, and she never intended a career in music until she heard opera for the first time at the age of 16.

“Hearing this music and the power of it, sounded like something supernatural. I did not believe human beings could do it,” she recalled to CNN.

“I remember recording it and imitating it,” she said. “I would play the recording the whole day. My gosh, my family were in trouble, because I wouldn’t stop practicing and shouting.”

Yende started her meteoric rise in the opera world while still a student at the University of Cape Town. In 2011, she graduated from the Young Artists program at the Accademia at the Teatro alla Scala, in Milan, Italy, and, since then, she has been in demand at opera houses throughout the world.

The past decade has not always been lined with roses, however. Yende said she has had to battle opera’s Eurocentric homogeneity and hopes to use her talent and success to break stereotypes.

“The biggest challenge has always been being the different one in the room. When I was the first Black in the Accademia of La Scala it was a bit uncomfortable,” she remembered.

“Sometimes I would enter the rehearsal room, and I could see in the room looks like, ‘Why are you here?’ And I would just smile. But once I start making music, all of us in that room agreed that I’m not there by mistake.”

Charles III, an avid patron of the arts, saw Yende perform at Windsor Castle a year ago during the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s 75th anniversary gala.

And now, the South African soprano will perform “Sacred Fire,” a new piece by British composer Sarah Class, before a worldwide audience of millions.
“It’s a dream come true, because when I found out that I have this incredible gift I wanted to share it with as many people as possible,” Yende said. She added, ““I know that my life will no longer be the same.”

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By Dyepkazah Shibayan,
The Associated Press

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Gunmen have attacked a village in northwest Nigeria and killed at least 33 people, a local official said April 16.

More than 35 houses were destroyed in the violence in Runji, which is in the state of Kaduna, said Francis Zimbo, chairman of the Zangon Kataf area where the massacre took place. Zimbo provided the number of fatalities, but state authorities wouldn’t comment on the number of people killed.

“Troops had a fierce encounter with the attackers and are still in the general area,” said Samuel Aruwan, the state commissioner of security.

No group has claimed responsibility for the killings. However, gangs of bandits have been accused of being responsible for attacks in the region, which includes the kidnapping for ransom and killing of civilians. Earlier this month, gunmen kidnapped 10 students about a half-hour drive by car from where the April 15 attack occurred.

Nigeria’s government is still struggling to quell the violence in the country’s northwest despite a reduction in attacks last year as security forces ramped up military operations targeting the gunmen’s hideouts.

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By Jack Jeffery and Samy Magdy,
The Associated Press

Fierce fighting erupted April 15 in Sudan’s capital between the military and the country’s powerful paramilitary force, raising fears of a wider conflict in the chaos-stricken country. A doctors’ group said at least three people were killed and dozens injured.

The clashes between the military and the Rapid Support Forces group capped months of heightened tensions between both sides that forced the delay of a deal with political parties to restore the country’s short-lived transition to democracy.

The sound of heavy firing could be heard across the capital, Khartoum, and its sister city of Omdurman, where both the military and the RSF have amassed tens of thousands of troops since an October 2021 military coup that derailed Sudan’s fragile path to democracy.

Residents described chaotic scenes in Khartoum and Omdurman as firing and explosions rang out in densely populated neighborhoods. “Fire and explosions are everywhere,” said Amal Mohamed, a doctor in a public hospital in Omdurman. “All are running and seeking shelter.”

Another Khartoum resident, Abdel-Hamid Mustafa, said soldiers from both sides on armored trucks were seen firing at each other in the streets and residential areas. “We haven’t seen such battles in Khartoum before,” she said.

One of the flashpoints was Khartoum International Airport, where clashes grounded commercial Sudan-bound flights from Saudi Arabia turned back after nearly landing at the airport, flight tracking data showed April 15.

Saudi Arabia’s national airline said one of its Airbus A330 aircraft was involved in “an accident.” Video showed the plane on fire on the tarmac. Another plane also appeared to have caught fire in the attack. Flight-tracking website FlightRadar24 identified it as a SkyUp Airlines Boeing 737. SkyUp is a Kyiv, Ukraine-based airline. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Sudan Doctors’ Committee said two civilians were killed at the airport, without specifying the circumstances. The committee said in a statement that another man was shot to death in the state of North Kordofan.

Meanwhile, the BBC reported that a correspondent for BBC News Arabic in Khartoum, Mohamed Osman, was beaten by a Sudanese soldier. The broadcaster said the army had stopped Osman’s car while he was en route to his work and that he was taken to army headquarters in Omdurman. While explaining his movements to officers, he was hit in the head from behind by a soldier, the BBC said.

The fighting comes after months of escalating tensions between the generals and years of political unrest after an October 2021 military coup.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other top diplomats expressed extreme concern over the outbreak of violence. “We urge all actors to stop the violence immediately and avoid further escalations or troop mobilizations and continue talks to resolve outstanding issues,” Blinken wrote on Twitter.

The European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell; the head of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat; and the Arab League chief, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, called for a cease-fire and for both parties to return to negotiations to settle their dispute.

The military and the RSF traded blame for triggering the clashes, which centered in Khartoum but also took place in other areas across the country including the Northern province and the strategic coastal city of Port Sudan on the Red Sea, a military official said.

Current tensions between the military and the paramilitary stem from a disagreement over how the RSF, headed by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, should be integrated into the military and what authority should oversee the process. The merger is a key condition of Sudan’s unsigned transition agreement with political groups.

The fighting began at a military base south of Khartoum, with both sides trading accusations of initiating an attack. Clashes then spread in many areas across the capital, including around the military’s headquarters, the airport and the Republican Palace, the seat of the country’s presidency.

The RSF alleged in a statement that its forces controlled many strategic places in Khartoum and the northern city of Merowe some 350 kilometers (215 miles) northwest of Khartoum. The military dismissed the claims as “lies.”

In a series of statements, the military also declared the RSF as a rebel force and unleashed the powerful air force against RSF positions in and around Khartoum.

Volker Perthes, the U.N. envoy for Sudan, urged both parties for “an immediate cessation of fighting to ensure the safety of the Sudanese people and to spare the country from further violence.”

Perthes and Saudi Ambassador in Sudan, Ali Bin Hassan Jaffar, were leading communications with Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, the country’s top military official, and Dagalo to embark on a dialogue to settle their dispute, said a U.N. official who asked for anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates called on those fighting in Sudan to exercise restraint and work toward a political solution in the country.

The U.S. Ambassador to Sudan, John Godfrey, wrote online that he was “currently sheltering in place with the Embassy team, as Sudanese throughout Khartoum and elsewhere are doing.” He urged both sides to cease fire.

“Escalation of tensions within the military component to direct fighting is extremely dangerous,” Godfrey wrote. “I urgently call on senior military leaders to stop the fighting.”

___

Magdy reported from Cairo.

__

Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates contributed to this report.

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By Tara Copp and Nomaan Merchant,
The Associated Press

It’s been several days since news of highly classified military documents on the Ukraine war surfaced, sending the Pentagon into full-speed damage control to assure allies and assess the scope of the leak. 

The information on scores of slides has publicized potential vulnerabilities in Ukraine’s air defense capabilities and exposed private assessments by allies on an array of intelligence matters, raising questions about whether the leak will erode allies’ trust in sharing information with the U.S. or impact Ukraine’s plans to intensify the fight against Russia this spring. 

Overall, the leaked documents present a “very serious risk to national security,” a top Pentagon spokesman told reporters Monday.

This is a look at what the documents are, what is known about how they surfaced, and their potential impact.

What are they? 

The classified documents — which have not been individually authenticated by U.S. officials — range from briefing slides mapping out Ukrainian military positions to assessments of international support for Ukraine and other sensitive topics, including under what circumstances Russian President Vladimir Putin might use nuclear weapons.

There’s no clear answer on how many documents were leaked. The Associated Press has viewed approximately 50 documents; some estimates put the total number in the hundreds. 

Where did they come from? 

No one knows for sure, not even the Pentagon chief. 

“They were somewhere in the web, and where exactly, and who had access at that point, we don’t know. We simply don’t know,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at a press conference Tuesday. “We will continue to investigate and turn over every rock until we find the source of this and the extent of it.” 

It’s possible the leak may have started on a site called Discord.

Discord is a social media platform popular with people playing online games. The Discord site hosts real-time voice, video and text chats for groups and describes itself as a place “where you can belong to a school club, a gaming group, or a worldwide art community.”

In one of those forums, originally created to talk about a range of topics, members would debate the war in Ukraine. According to one member of the chat, an unidentified poster shared documents that the poster claimed were classified, first typing them out with the poster’s own thoughts, then, as of a few months ago, uploading images of folded papers.

The person who said he was a member of the forum told The Associated Press that another person, identified online only as “Lucca,” shared the documents in a different Discord chat. From there, they appear to have been spread until they were picked up by the media. 

Many details of the story can’t be immediately verified. And top U.S. officials acknowledge publicly that they’re still trying to find answers. 

What’s been revealed 

The leaks have highlighted how closely the U.S. monitors how its allies and friends interact with Russia and China. Officials in several countries have denied or rejected allegations from the leaked records. 

The AP has reported on U.S. intelligence picking up claims from Russian operatives that they were building a closer relationship with the United Arab Emirates, the oil-rich Middle Eastern nation that hosts important American military installations. The UAE rejected the allegations, calling them “categorically false.”

The Washington Post reported Monday that Egypt’s president ordered subordinates to secretly prepare to ship up to 40,000 rockets to Russia as it wages war in Ukraine. A spokesman for the Egyptian foreign ministry said Egypt was maintaining “noninvolvement in this crisis and committing to maintain equal distance with both sides.”

Other leaks have concerned allegations that South Korean leaders were hesitant to ship artillery shells to Ukraine and that Israel’s Mossad spy service opposed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposed overhaul of the judiciary. 

Funded at $90 billion annually, the U.S. intelligence agencies have sweeping powers to tap electronic communications, run spies and monitor with satellites. The results of those powers are rarely seen in public, even in limited form. 

U.S. response

The Pentagon has begun an internal review to assess the leak’s impact on national security. The review is being led by Milancy D. Harris, the deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence and security, a defense official said in a statement to AP. The team includes representatives from the offices of legislative affairs, public affairs, policy, legal counsel and the joint staff, the official said. 

The Pentagon was also quickly taking steps to reduce the number of people who have access to briefings, a second defense official said. Both officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. Pentagon officials are also closely monitoring where the leaked slides are “being posted and amplified,” said Chris Meagher, assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs. 

Separately, the Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into how the slides were obtained and leaked. 

CIA Director William Burns on Tuesday called the leak “deeply unfortunate.”

“It’s something that the U.S. government takes extremely seriously,” he said in remarks at Rice University. “The Pentagon and the Department of Justice have now launched a quite intense investigation to get to the bottom of this.”

What’s the impact? 

Senior military leaders have been contacting allies to address the fallout. That includes calls “at a high level to reassure them of our commitment to safeguarding intelligence and fidelity to our security partnerships. Those conversations began over the weekend and are ongoing,” Meagher said. 

U.S. officials are likely to face more questions when they travel to Germany next week for the next contact group meeting, where representatives of more than 50 nations gather to coordinate weapons and aid support for Ukraine. But the document leak is not expected to affect that meeting or allies’ willingness to continue to provide military assistance to Ukraine, a senior defense official told The Associated Press, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

“I think a lot of the allies will probably be more curious about why it happened,” said Chris Skaluba, director of the Atlantic Council’s transatlantic security initiative. Given the high-level security clearance needed to access the information in the first place, the leak raises questions as to who “would have that much of an agenda to put it out there,” and whether the intent was to undermine support for Ukraine, Skaluba said. 

Austin on Tuesday contacted his South Korean counterpart, Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup, to discuss the leaked documents, several of which were particularly sensitive to Seoul because they described U.S. surveillance of its ally and detailed South Korean reservations about providing munitions directly to Ukraine. 

The two defense chiefs agreed that a “considerable number” of the leaked documents were fabricated, Kim Tae-hyo, a deputy national security director, told reporters. He said the alliance between the two countries wouldn’t be affected by the leak and South Korea would seek to further strengthen cooperation with the United States.

And both Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken reached out to their counterparts in Ukraine. Austin suggested Tuesday the leaks would not have much of an impact on Ukraine’s plans for a spring offensive. 

Ukraine’s strategy will “not be driven by a specific plan. They have a great plan to start and but only President Zelenskyy and his leadership really know the full details of that plan,” Austin said. 

For other sensitive issues highlighted in the leaked slides, such as Ukraine’s shortage of air defense munitions, the shortage itself has been known and is one of the reasons U.S. military leaders have been pressing allies to supply whatever systems they can, such as the Iris-T systems pledged from Germany and the U.S.-manufactured Hawk air defense systems provided by Spain. 

“Publicizing an apparent shortage of anti-aircraft missiles may give comfort to Russia. But if it energizes Ukraine’s partners to accelerate delivery of missiles and other air defense capabilities, Kyiv will be grateful. The bigger ‘known unknown’ is the extent to which these leaks influence U.S. political support for Ukraine,” said Ben Barry, senior fellow for land warfare at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.

This article was originally published by The Associated Press.

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By The Associated Press

American runner Lashinda Demus officially became an Olympic champion on March 30, at the age of 40 and more than a decade after the 2012 London Games.

Demus was formally reallocated the gold medal in the 400-meter hurdles by the International Olympic Committee because of the disqualification of Natalya Antyukh in fallout from the Russian doping scandal.

On the London track on Aug. 8, 2012, Demus finished 0.07 seconds behind Antyukh, who was implicated last year in the second doping case of her career.

Historical evidence recovered from a Moscow testing laboratory database let track’s Athletics Integrity Unit decide last October to strip Antyukh of all her results from July 2012 through June 2013.

Demus will receive a gold medal from the IOC to add to her world title won in 2011. However, she was denied during her career the commercial benefits of calling herself an Olympic champion.

Zuzana Hejnová of Czechia was upgraded to silver, and the bronze was reallocated to Kaliese Spencer of Jamaica, the IOC said.

When the AIU ruling was made five months ago, Antyukh was already serving a four-year ban in a previous case that disqualified all her results from 2013 to 2015.

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By Tom Gould,
The Associated Press

QUELIMANE, Mozambique (AP) — Weeks after massive Cyclone Freddy hit Mozambique for a second time, the still-flooded country is facing a spiraling cholera outbreak that threatens to add to the devastation.

There were over 19,000 confirmed cases of cholera across eight of Mozambique’s provinces as of March 27, according to U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, a figure which had almost doubled in a week.

Freddy was likely the longest-lived cyclone ever, lasting over five weeks and hitting Mozambique twice. The tropical storm killed 165 people in Mozambique, 17 in Madagascar and 676 in Malawi. More than 530 people are still missing in Malawi two weeks later so that country’s death toll could well exceed 1,200.

Freddy made its second landfall in Mozambique’s Zambezia province, where scores of villages remain flooded and water supplies are still contaminated.

At a hospital in Quelimane, Zambezia’s provincial capital, National Institute of Health director general Eduardo Sam Gudo Jr. reported there were 600 new confirmed cases a day in Quelimane district alone, but said that the real number may be as high as 1,000.

At least 31 died of cholera in Zambezia and over 3,200 were hospitalized between March 15 and 29, according to data from the Ministry of Health.

Cases are highest in the neighborhood of Icidua on the city outskirts, where most residents live in bamboo or adobe mud huts and fetch water in buckets from communal wells. Flooding brought by the cyclone has exposed many of these wells to water contaminated with sewage overflow and other sources of bacteria. Cholera spreads through feces, often when it gets into drinking water.

But until water pipelines ruptured in the floods are repaired, these wells are the only source of water for those in Icidua and communities like it. For now, temporary solutions offer the only hope of stemming the outbreak.

Volunteers go from house to house distributing bottles of Certeza, a local chlorine-based water purifier. Each bottle should last a family for a week, but supplies are running low as local production struggles to keep pace with demand. There are also not enough people to distribute the Certeza, even if greater supplies could be procured, Gudo said.

In the meantime, health workers are struggling to treat the infected with many clinics and hospitals badly damaged. “The cyclone destroyed the infrastructure here,” said José da Costa Silva, the clinical director of the Icidua health center. “We are working in parts of the hospital that were not destroyed. Some colleagues are working outside in the open because there’s not enough space available for everyone.”

Eighty health centers in total were affected by Freddy’s two landfalls in Mozambique, according to INGD, the country’s disaster management agency.

Although cyclones do occur in southern Africa from December to May, human-caused climate change has made tropical cyclones wetter, more intense and more frequent. The now-dissipated natural La Nina event also worsened cyclone activity in the region. While Cyclone Freddy itself hasn’t yet been attributed to climate change, researchers say it has all the right hallmarks of a warming-fueled weather event.

Formed in early February off Australia, the cyclone with exceptional longevity made an unprecedented crossing of more than 8,000 kilometers (5,000 miles) from east to west across the Indian Ocean.

It followed a looping path rarely recorded by meteorologists, hitting Madagascar and Mozambique for the first time at the end of February, and then again in March before barrelling into Malawi.

Restoring normal water supplies in Mozambique will take time, as many damaged pipelines run through areas that are still inaccessible two weeks after the cyclone’s last impact.

“A cholera outbreak in a flooded flatland with a very high water table is ‘mission impossible’ to address,” Myrta Kaulard, the UN resident coordinator in Mozambique, told The AP. “Sanitation is a huge problem and the flooding has affected key infrastructure, such as the water pipelines and the electricity supply … Repairing that infrastructure in flooded areas is another ‘mission impossible.'”

Meanwhile, rural areas around Quelimane are facing other threats. Many villages and fields are still underwater, and the humidity has bred swarms of mosquitoes carrying malaria. In a makeshift displacement camp on the bank of a flooded rice paddy near the village of Nicoadala, 20 out of 290 residents are sick with malaria, according to Hilário Milisto Irawe, a local chief.

There were 444 reported cases of malaria in Quelimane district on 24 March alone, but the number is likely much higher as many, such as those in the camp outside Nicoadala, lack access to health facilities.

Compounding the public health crisis, the material livelihoods of hundreds of thousands are at risk as Freddy hit just before the main harvest. It also carried seawater inland, threatening the long term fertility of the soil in an area where malnutrition is already chronic.

“All our farms are flooded. Our rice farms are destroyed. All we can do is start over again, but we don’t know how we will do that,” said Irawe.

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By Jack Jeffery,
The Associated Press

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — Sudan’s military leaders and pro-democracy forces will delay the signing of an agreement to usher in a civilian government, both sides said in a joint statement issued early April 1.

The postponement of the signing — which had been scheduled for later April 1 — comes as key security reform negotiations between the Sudanese army and the country’s powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces appear to have reached a deadlock.

Military generals met with pro-democracy leaders that same day in the capital of Khartoum and agreed to sign the deal on April 6, said Khalid Omar, a spokesman for the pro-democracy block, in a separate statement.

The meeting was attended by representatives from the U.N., the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development in Eastern Africa, who have facilitated talks between the military and pro-democracy groups.

Sudan has been mired in chaos after a military coup, led by the country’s top Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, removed a Western-backed power-sharing government in October 2021, upending the country’s short-lived transition to democracy.

But last December, the military, the RSF and numerous pro-democracy groups signed a preliminary deal vowing to restore the transition.

In recent months, internationally brokered workshops in Khartoum have sought to find common ground over the country’s thorniest political issues in the hope of signing a more inclusive final agreement.

Chief among the discussion points have been security sector reform and the integration of the RSF into the military — the topic of this week’s talks. But talks ended March 29 without any clear outcome.

Shihab Ibrahim, a spokesperson for one of the largest pro-democracy groups that signed December’s deal, said the army and the RSF have struggled to reach an agreement over the timeline of the integration process.

The army wants a two-year timeline for integration while the RSF has called for a 10-year window, he said.

Spokespersons for the Sudanese army and the RSF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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By Chris Megerian,
The Associated Press

LUSAKA, Zambia (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris may have traveled halfway around the world to reach this corner of Africa, but she was welcomed as a “daughter of our own country” when she sat down with Zambia’s leader.

The visit, President Hakainde Hichilema said, was “like a homecoming.”

It was a reference to a childhood trip to Zambia when Harris’ grandfather worked here, but she heard similar refrains throughout her weeklong trip to Africa that ended April 1.

In Ghana, President Nana Akufo-Addo told Harris, “You’re welcome home.” In Tanzania, a sign in Swahili told Harris to “feel at home.”

The greetings were a reflection of the enduring connections between the African Diaspora in the United States and Africans themselves, something that America’s first Black vice president fostered during her trip. Although her historic status has led to extreme scrutiny and extraordinary expectations in Washington, it was a source of excitement over the past week.

“She is the ambassador we need at the moment,” said Tracy Sharpley-Whiting, who chairs African American and Diaspora Studies at Vanderbilt University. “That’s a joyous thing.”

Harris’ background did not spare her from difficult conversations about U.S. foreign policy and she was pressed in Africa about visas, private investment and funding to deal with climate change. There’s also skepticism over whether the United States will follow through with its commitments and over its attempts to rival China’s own influence in Africa.

But at every stop, Harris was warmly embraced.

“Kamala Harris! Kamala Harris!” young girls shouted on the tarmac when she landed in Lusaka on March 31. She approached them with her hand on her chest in gratitude. “The VP is here! The VP is here!”

The last week produced none of the unfortunate viral moments that dogged Harris on previous foreign trips, such as when she laughed off a question about visiting the U.S. border with Mexico or when she said the U.S. had an “alliance with the Republic of North Korea.”

Instead, the trip to Africa was largely overshadowed by a cascade of U.S. news, including a school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, and the indictment of former President Donald Trump.

But anyone tuning in would have seen Harris hanging out with actor Idris Elba and actor-singer Sheryl Lee Ralph at a recording studio in Accra, Ghana’s capital, or collecting business cards from young entrepreneurs in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, or walking through rows of peppers at a farm outside of Lusaka. Sometimes she felt comfortable enough to discard her prepared remarks, a rarity for a politician who sticks closely to the script in Washington.

Although Africa remains a poor continent with almost half the population lacking access to electricity, Harris’ itinerary was aimed at portraying it as young, dynamic, innovative — and primed for American business opportunities, particularly with leaders from the Diaspora.

The most glamorous event was a state banquet at the Ghanaian presidential palace known as the Jubilee House, where Black American celebrities, business people and civil rights activists gathered.

In her toast, Harris paid tribute to attendees who “represent the glorious beauty of the African Diaspora” and she spoke about “our shared destiny.”

Akufo-Addo, the president, honored Harris with a local touch.

“Since you were born on a Tuesday, I’m sure you would not mind the Ghanaian name Abena, the Akan name for all Tuesday born females, to your name,” he said.

Raising his glass, Akufo-Addo toasted “the honorable Kamala Devi Abena Harris.”

Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, said there was a “festive and family” atmosphere to be there with the first Black vice president in U.S. history.

“It’s a moment of pride,” he said. “And it’s a moment of opportunity.”

The trip could be Harris’ last foray overseas before the 2024 campaign begins in earnest. President Joe Biden is expected to announce his reelection run, and Harris will be a prime target for Republican attacks.

Some of that is the result of Biden’s age — he would be 82 when starting a second term in 2025 — and Harris’ status a heartbeat away from the presidency.

But like President Barack Obama before her, Harris has faced racism and questions when it comes to her heritage.

Her father was born in Jamaica, where most Black citizens trace their heritage to Africa through the slave trade, making it likely that Harris’ own ancestors were enslaved.

Her mother was born in India, and the vice president was raised in California, contributing to a multicultural background that defies easy characterization. (It was her mother’s Indian father who worked in Zambia decades ago, helping to settle refugees in the newly independent African country.)

But Harris wrote in her book, “The Truths We Hold,” that her mother was clear-eyed about what it meant to raise two daughters in the United States. “She knew that her adopted homeland would see Maya and me as black girls, and she was determined to make sure we would grow into confident, proud black women,” Harris wrote.

Harris wrote that when she arrived at Howard University in Washington, a predominantly Black institution that has educated generations of Black political and cultural leaders, she thought, “This is heaven.”

“There were hundreds of people, and everyone looked like me,” Harris wrote. “The campus was a place where you didn’t have to be confined to the box of another person’s choosing.”

Harris was San Francisco’s district attorney while Obama was running for president, and she defended him when his racial identity was questioned. He’s the son of a White American mother and a Kenyan father, and he spent part of his youth in Indonesia.

She told the San Francisco Chronicle that Obama “is opening up what has been a limited perspective of who is an African American.”

“We are diverse and multifaceted,” Harris said. “People are bombarded with stereotypical images and so they are limited in their ability to imagine our capacity.”

Harris faced the same strain of commentary during her own presidential campaign in 2020.

“I think they don’t understand who Black people are. I’m not going to spend my time trying to educate people about who Black people are,” she said in a radio interview at the time.

The relationship between the African Diaspora and Africans on the continent has been complicated by the history of slavery. African Americans often aren’t sure of their roots because their ancestors were kidnapped and traded. According to the vice president’s office, Harris hasn’t traced her heritage back here, either.

Nevertheless, Sharpley-Whiting said the bond to Africa remains strong for many Black Americans.

“They recognize it as the place where their ancestors started, and they recognize the resilience of those ancestors,” she said.

Harris confronted that history when she visited Cape Coast Castle in Ghana, one of dozens of forts in West Africa where enslaved Africans were imprisoned and then loaded onto ships bound for the Americas. The Caribbean — including Jamaica — was one of the destinations.

“I’m still processing a lot of it,” she told reporters the following day. She lingered on the experiences of pregnant women who were imprisoned there — their babies were taken from them and the women were sent off across the ocean.

“The brutality, the inhumane treatment of human beings is profound,” she said. “And the lasting trauma of that cannot be denied.”

But she soon turned to another topic when asked what she wanted Black Americans to take away from her trip to Africa.

The message, she said, wasn’t just about “how the Diaspora came to be.”

It’s about “the resilience, the strength, fortitude, the brilliance, the excellence.”

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By Ke’Aun Charles,
Special to the AFRO

Haiti has collapsed. Armed gangs roam the country. Its disputed leader, President Ariel Henry, has requested international intervention to save the country multiple times.

No one has answered the call. 

This is mostly due to war exhaustion on America’s part, the West’s focus on Ukraine, global economic uncertainty and — it must be said — “Haiti exhaustion.” The U.S. and the United Nations have intervened in the Caribbean nation before; good has not been a consistent outcome. So, the major players are unwilling. CARICOM (Caribbean Community) and the Dominican Republic have also signaled their unwillingness to send troops.

Well then, what about the African Union? Haiti is not a member of the AU, but it does technically fall under the Union’s “Sixth Region” as part of the African Diaspora. The AU also has hard-earned experience leading multinational military interventions, as evidenced by its missions in Somalia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. What the AU does not have is funds or resources. Virtually all of its missions require external funding and arms.

The U.S. has been looking around for a country to lead the charge into Haiti. Washington does not have the will to step into Haiti itself, but it does have funds and resources. So why not ask the African Union to do it? The U.S. can fund the mission, arm the mission and support the mission, but it wouldn’t have to put boots on the ground. To entice the AU, the U.S. could offer various economic and political concessions – debt cancellations, market access, investment, and so on. Perhaps, also it could include participating countries in the migratory plan that the Biden administration extended to Haiti and various Latin American countries.

On the AU’s part, a successful mission in Haiti would bring enormous prestige to the battered organization, both on the African continent and among the African Diaspora in the Americas. Depending on the negotiations between the US and AU, the Union could also gain significant economic and political concessions.

As America continues to look for ways to improve its relationship with Africa, a joint mission to save a country so important to the histories of both sides seems very fitting.

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By Megan Sayles,
AFRO Business Writer,
msayles@afro.com

Vice President Kamala Harris rolled out several investments and initiatives to promote economic, political and social empowerment for women in Africa on March 29, just days after she began her tour of Africa. 

Together, the initiatives total over $1 billion, and they expand on efforts, like the Digital Transformation with Africa Initiative, that the Biden-Harris Administration launched last year during the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit. 

Harris also reaffirmed her commitment to working with the private sector, philanthropic foundations and multilateral organizations to increase women’s participation in the digital economy. 

“Women around the world must be able to fully participate in economic, political and social life, and they must be able to participate equally, including in leadership roles,” said Harris to an audience in Accra, Ghana. 

“It is a key to maximizing global growth and opportunity.”

In 2022, nearly 260 million more men than women used the internet, a gap that has increased by 20 million over the last three years, according to a White House press release. 

In Africa, the gap is even more stark with 66 percent of women not using the internet, according to the press release. 

“Expanding access to the internet drives growth and creates opportunity for innovation,” said Harris. 

“Once people are online, they have greater access to education, greater access to information and greater access to financial services, which is why the United States will double down on our efforts to mobilize billions of dollars in public and private capital from the United States, the continent of Africa and around the world in order to expand internet access for the benefit of all people here on the continent.” 

Closing the gender digital divide in Africa

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in collaboration with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation created the $60 million-Women in the Digital Economy Fund to help reduce the gender digital divide. 

By 2026, USAID will dedicate $50 million and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will dedicate $10 million to the fund, half of which will be spent in Africa. 

The fund will draw on evidence-based solutions that better women’s financial security and resilience, and it will finance programs that increase digital access and affordability, provide digital literacy education, foster online safety and invest in gender-disaggregated research. 

Harris also secured $400 million from entities in the private and philanthropic sectors to support the administration’s efforts to close the gender digital divide. 

The investments included an additional $40 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for the digital empowerment of women in Africa and South Asia, $100 million from Delphos International for projects that close the gender digital divide, $5 million from the Visa Foundation to increase women’s participation in the digital economy and $5 million from CARE to promote digital gender equality across Africa. 

Promoting women’s economic security in Africa

Several companies responded to Harris’ call for the broader economic development of women in Africa. 

The Tony Elumelu Foundation used $500 million to create the Coalition for African Entrepreneurs, which will support 50,000 young women business owners by 2033, while Kuramo Capital Management plans to deploy $140 million in capital to women-led and owned private equity and venture capital funds across sub-Saharan Africa. 

Vista Bank Group will invest $100 million to expand women-led enterprises in 25 African countries by 2025, and CARE will underwrite $7.3 million to improve women’s economic security in Africa, of which $6.8 million will be used to support thousands of cocoa producers and to empower 50,000 women farmers. 

The Standard Bank Group also donated $25 million to the African Women Impact Fund Initiative (AWIF), which provides resources to women fund managers in Africa who finance high-impact projects and close capital gaps for women entrepreneurs across Africa.  

Advancing gender equality across Africa

The Biden-Harris Administration also committed $47 million to support women’s economic participation, environmental stewardship, health and protection from gender-based violence in Africa. 

USAID will use $2 million from the Gender Equity and Equality Action Fund (GEEA) to team up with agricultural-processing and apparel firms in Kenya through the Imarisha Women’s Initiative to promote women’s access to leadership and management positions in trade industries. 

The agency will also invest $1 million from the GEAA fund to prepare women in Africa to work in the energy sector and to help them afford efficient appliances. 

To tackle gender-based violence in Africa, USAID committed $780,000 from the GEAA Fund to finance the Resilient, Inclusive and Sustainable Environments (RISE) grants challenge, which will create local committees in Zambia that help women strengthen their leadership and conflict management skills to address these issues in the fisheries industry. 

Megan Sayles is a Report for America Corps member. 

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By Michael Walsh

In the U.S. Strategy toward Sub-Saharan Africa, the Biden Administration declares that the engagement of the African diaspora is a priority activity for resetting relations with sovereign states across the region. 

From a philosophical perspective, this raises important ontological and epistemological questions about what the African diaspora is and how that social fact came into being. At first glance, it might appear that the national strategy provides the answers to these questions. The written text explicitly declares that the African diaspora includes African Americans who descended from enslaved Africans as well as African immigrants who did not. However, this representation of reality does not provide answers to the above questions. It simply provides clues for further inquiry. Written texts cannot change reality on their own. What is declared by the pen still must be accepted by the people. To answer these questions, we will have to wait and see how American policymakers talk about the African diaspora in the context of regional relations. Those revelations will take time.

In the interim, we should ask ourselves why American policymakers think that the African diaspora is something of value in the context of regional relations. Here, we may need to mark an evaluative distinction between the old and new diasporas. 

The national strategy suggests that African immigrants are valuable because they are “among the most educated and prosperous communities in the United States.” However, it makes no similar declaration for the value of African Americans who descended from enslaved Africans. Such silence is deafening. 

This raises a couple of follow-on questions. Does the Biden Administration think that the new diaspora is more valuable than the old one in this context? If so, does it also think that they should have different sets of duties, rights, obligations, requirements, authorizations, and permissions arising in this context. From a policy perspective, the answers to these questions matter since society is ordered by such deontic powers. 

Michael Walsh is an adjunct fellow of the Center for African Studies at Howard University.

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By Wanjohi Kabukuru and Vitus-Gregory Gondwe,
The Associated Press

Authorities are still getting to grips with the scale of Cyclone Freddy’s destruction in Malawi and Mozambique since late March 11, with over 370 people confirmed dead, several hundred still missing and tens of thousands displaced.

On March 17, Malawi authorities said Freddy killed at least 326 people, with 200 still missing. There are hundreds of evacuation centers set up across the country for survivors. Malawi’s president, Lazarus Chakwera, declared a 14-day national mourning period on March 16.

In Mozambique, authorities said at least 53 were killed since March 11, with 50,000 more still displaced. It’s expected that the death toll in both nations will continue to climb.

Cyclone Freddy dissipated over land late March 15 after it made second landfall in Mozambique and then Malawi over the weekend and caused mass devastation in several regions, including Malawi’s financial capital, Blantyre.

“A lot of areas are inaccessible, restricting movement of assessment and humanitarian teams and life-saving supplies,” said Paul Turnbull, the World Food Program’s director in Malawi. “The true extent of the damage will only be revealed once assessments have been concluded.”

Both nations were already facing a cholera outbreak before the cyclone hit and there are fears than the flooding could worsen the spread of water-borne diseases. Mozambique was also dealing with Freddy’s first battering and floods earlier in the year.

Scientists say human-caused climate change has worsened cyclone activity, making them wetter, more intense and more frequent.

Cyclone Freddy has ravaged southern Africa since late February, when it pummeled Mozambique, Madagascar and Réunion. It then looped back on to the mainland after regaining strength over the Mozambique Channel.

Freddy first developed near Australia in early February and the World Meteorological Organization has convened an expert panel to determine whether it has broken the record for the longest-ever cyclone in recorded history.

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Alexandre Nhampossa and Tom Gould contributed to this report from Maputo, Mozambique. Kabukuru reported from Mombasa, Kenya.

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By DaQuan Lawrence,
Special to the AFRO

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the Republic of Ghana recently confirmed his attendance at the upcoming State of the Black World Conference V, which ensues from April 19-23, at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Md. 

President Akufo-Addo, who is currently serving his second term as Ghana’s head of state, will deliver the keynote speech at next month’s conference, which shines a spotlight on the Black global community.

“We are honored and delighted that President Akufo-Addo, one of the most influential and respected African heads of state, will participate in our fifth State of the Black World Conference,” said Dr. Ron Daniels, president of the Institute of the Black World 21st Century (IBW), which is convening the event. 

In an interview earlier this year, Dr. Daniels told The AFRO: “All roads lead to Baltimore for the State of the Black World Conference V,” and the gathering will “feature leaders from around the world engaged in issues of concern to the Pan African world.” 

IBW and its international, national and local partners are working non-stop to deliver on that promise. With the theme, “Global Africans Rising, Empowerment, Reparations and Healing,” the five-day conference seeks to strengthen the rising U.S. and global reparations movements, and explore strategies and models that can address social, political and economic issues negatively affecting the people of Africa, and those of the African Diaspora.

“Having President Addo participate in the conference is particularly significant because he is emerging as a global champion for reparations among heads of state in Africa,” said Dr. Daniels. 

The conference’s organizers expect leaders from human rights, faith, labor, and political spheres around the world to attend the convening, and many are confirming their participation. 

International scholar-activist Dr. Julius Garvey, son of Black nationalist icon Marcus Mosiah Garvey, is the honorary chairman of the conference. 

Garvey will be joined by renowned actor-activist Danny Glover, who is the U.N. Ambassador for the Decade for People of African Descent, and the Hon. P. J. Patterson, the former leader of Jamaica and the longest-serving prime minister in the Caribbean. 

Expected to participate in the historic opening session are Barbados’ Prime Minister Mia Mottley, Grenada’s Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell and Colombia’s Vice President Francia Marquez.

Patterson will deliver opening remarks on “the State of Democracy and Development in the Caribbean and Africa.” President Akufo-Addo will issue the keynote statement followed by remarks from Mottley and Marquez.

The intergenerational assembly seeks to galvanize members of the global African Diaspora from all sectors and industries, especially students, youth, and community-based organizations. In effort to convene Black youth and entrepreneurs, the conference will feature a Young Leader and Student Caucus, a Hip Hop summit, and an African marketplace with cultural exhibits and trade booths.

IBW and its partners are contacting administrators and student leaders from national historically Black colleges and universities and requesting that they send contingents of students to Baltimore to engage with international and national attendees. 

HBCUs such as Fayetteville State University, Howard University, Jackson State University, Jarvis Christian University, Morgan State University and Virginia State University have all confirmed interest in having students attend the gathering. 

The conference will include a Global Black Women’s Leadership Summit and a Global Black Mayors and Elected Officials Roundtable. The conference will also feature an award ceremony to recognize outstanding Pan African leaders from the global Diaspora. During the ceremony, President Akufo-Addo will receive IBW’s Pan-African Legacy Award.

Listed goals of the conference include reassessing the implications of the 2022 midterm election for Black America and the African Diaspora; expanding reparations movements to empower and heal Black families, communities and nations; and advancing strategies and models to improve political and economic conditions for the Diaspora.

The convening also will feature sessions on issues such as environmental justice, displacement and gentrification, the ongoing crisis in Haiti, socially responsible economic development, combating gun violence and public safety and law enforcement reformation, and more.

“President Akufo-Addo’s keynote address on reparations coupled with those of other heads of state and leading reparations advocates will elevate this conference to one of the most significant in the 21st century,” said Dr. Daniels. 

Interested attendees can register for the upcoming conference and find the preliminary agenda and list of facilitators, speakers and invited guests here. For more information on IBW and the State of the Black World Conference V contact info@ibw21.org.

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By Ignatius Ssuuna and Jill Lawless,
The Associated Press

Britain’s government said March 19 that it could start deporting asylum-seekers to Rwanda in the next few months — but only if U.K. courts rule that the controversial policy is legal.

The Home Office said it was aiming to start flights “before the summer,” as Home Secretary Suella Braverman visited the east African country to reinforce the Conservative government’s commitment to the plan.

In the Rwandan capital, Kigali, she met with President Paul Kagame and Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta, visited accommodation intended to house deportees from the U.K. and laid a brick at another housing development for migrants. The project is expected to build more than 1,000 houses.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing firsthand the rich opportunities this country can provide to relocated people through our partnership,” Braverman said.

Biruta said Rwanda would offer migrants “the opportunity to build new lives in a safe, secure place through accommodation, education and vocational training.”

Rwandan government spokeswoman Yolande Makolo told reporters the country is ready to receive thousands of migrants from the U.K., saying she doesn’t consider living in Rwanda “a punishment.” She said Rwanda is determined to make the agreement a success.

The U.K. and Rwanda struck a deal almost a year ago under which some migrants who arrive in the U.K. in small boats would be flown to Rwanda, where their asylum claims would be processed. Those granted asylum would stay in Rwanda rather than return to Britain.

The U.K. government argues the policy will smash the business model of people-smuggling gangs and deter migrants from taking risky journeys across the English Channel.

More than 45,000 people arrived in Britain by boat in 2022, compared with 8,500 in 2020.

But the 140 million-pound ($170 million) plan is mired in legal challenges, and no one has yet been sent to Rwanda. In December, the High Court ruled the policy was legal, but a group of asylum-seekers from countries including Iran, Iraq and Syria has been granted permission to appeal.

Human rights groups cite Rwanda’s poor human rights record, and argue it’s inhumane to send people more than 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers) to a country they don’t want to live in.

The government also has drafted legislation barring anyone who arrives in the U.K. in small boats or by other unauthorized means from applying for asylum. If passed by Parliament, the Illegal Migration Bill would compel the government to detain all such arrivals and deport them to their homeland or a “safe third country” such as Rwanda.

The U.N. refugee agency says the law breaches U.K. commitments under the international refugee convention.

Braverman faces criticism for inviting only selected media on her taxpayer-funded trip to Rwanda. Journalists from right-leaning outlets including The Times and The Telegraph newspapers and television channel GB News were invited, while the BBC and the left-leaning Guardian newspaper weren’t. 

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Jill Lawless reported from London.

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