Africa Business

Two people have been killed and several others injured after UN peacekeepers opened fire during an incident in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on the Uganda border on Sunday, the UN said.

Video of the incident, shared on social media showed men, at least one in police uniform and another in army uniform, advancing towards the immobilised UN convoy behind a closed barrier in Kasindi. The town is in eastern DR Congo’s Beni territory on the border with Uganda. 

After a verbal exchange, the peacekeepers appeared to open fire before opening the gate, driving on and continuing to shoot while people scattered or hid.

“During this incident, soldiers from the intervention brigade of the MONUSCO force returning from leave opened fire at the border post for unexplained reasons and forced their way through,” the UN mission in Kasindi said in a statement. “This serious incident caused loss of life and serious injuries.” 

Barthelemy Kambale Siva, the North Kivu governor’s representative in Kasindi, earlier said that “eight people, including two policemen who were working at the barrier, were seriously injured” in the incident.

– Deadly region –

Kambale Siva, interviewed by AFP, did not give a reason for why the UN convoy was prevented from crossing the barrier.

There are more than 120 militias operating in the DRC’s troubled east. The UN first deployed an observer mission to the region in 1999. 

In 2010, it became the peacekeeping mission MONUSCO — the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo — with a mandate to conduct offensive operations.

There have been 230 fatalities among them, according to the UN.

Last week, deadly demonstrations demanding the departure of the United Nations took place in several towns in eastern DRC. 

A total of 19 people, including three peacekeepers, were killed.

Anger has been fuelled by perceptions that MONUSCO is failing to do enough to stop attacks by the armed groups.

UN under-secretary-general for peace operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix was in the central African country on Saturday to “talk to the Congolese authorities”, he said.

“(They would) examine ways in which we can both avoid a recurrence of these tragic incidents and, above all, work better together to achieve our objectives,” he said.

“We hope that the conditions will be met, in particular the return of state authority, so that MONUSCO can complete its mission as soon as possible. And to leave room for other forms of international support.”

Thousands of Sudanese protesters rallied in the capital Sunday to demand an end to military rule and tribal clashes that have killed over 100 people, AFP correspondents said.

“Down with Burhan,” they chanted, referring to General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the army chief who last year led a military coup that upended a transition to civilian rule following the 2019 ouster of president Omar al-Bashir.

Near-weekly protests have been held since, despite a deadly crackdown that has killed at least 116 people, according to pro-democracy medics.

“The authority is the people’s,” protesters chanted, demanding soldiers return to their barracks.

Since last year’s coup, Sudan — already one of the world’s poorest countries — has been reeling from a spiralling economic crisis and a broad security breakdown which has seen a spike in ethnic clashes in its far-flung regions.

On July 11, tribal clashes over a land dispute erupted in southern Blue Nile state, leaving at least 105 people dead and 291 wounded, and sparking protests demanding justice and calls for coexistence.

Protester Mohamed Ali told AFP on Sunday that he was demonstrating for “one unified nation”.

The military council has “turned a blind eye” to tribal violence, Ali said, “because these problems allow it to stay in power”.

Pro-democracy activists have long accused Sudan’s military and ex-rebel leaders who signed a 2020 peace deal of exacerbating ethnic tensions for political gain.

The strength of the pro-democracy movement has ebbed and flowed since the coup, most recently rocked by a surprise announcement on July 4, when Burhan pledged in a televised address to step aside and make way for Sudanese factions to agree on a civilian government.

Key civilian leaders dismissed his move as a “ruse”, and pro-democracy protesters have held fast to their rallying cry that there can be “no negotiation, no partnership” with the military.

Other civilian factions have been more amenable to negotiations, seeing them as a necessary stepping stone to democratic rule.

Senegal on Sunday voted in parliamentary elections the opposition hopes will force a coalition with President Macky Sall and curb any ambitions he may have for a third term.

Sixty-year-old Sall, who was elected in 2012 for seven years then re-elected in 2019 for another five, has been accused of wanting to break the two-term limit and run again in 2024.

He has remained vague on the subject, but any defeat of his supporters in Sunday’s vote could upset such plans.

Polling stations opened at 0800 GMT and close at 1800 GMT for the single round of voting in which some seven million Senegalese are eligible to vote.

Partial results are expected later Sunday with provisional overall figures to be given no later than Friday.

By midday (1200 GMT), turnout had reached 22 percent, a source close to the interior ministry in charge of the elections told AFP.

Turnout at several polling stations appeared relatively low, according to AFP correspondents and observers. 

In Scat Urbam, a suburb near Dakar, far fewer voters than in past polls were waiting to cast their ballots. 

The situation was the same in the capital’s working-class district of Grand Medine as well as in Ziguinchor, capital of the southern region of Casamance, according to AFP journalists. 

At the start of voting in the courtyard of a school in Mbao, near Dakar, around 100 mostly elderly people were preparing to vote. Police were also on hand to ensure security, an AFP journalist said.

“I hope voting day goes off peacefully and there are no disputes,” said Lamine Sylva, a 60-year-old artist.

“It’s like football — there is a winner and a loser.”

Yahya Sall, a retired soldier, said he hoped the new parliament “will have a strong opposition presence… to advance democracy”.

The national election commission has deployed 22,000 observers nationwide.

The ballot will decide the 165 seats of the single-chamber parliament — currently controlled by the president’s supporters — for the next five years.

Lawmakers are elected according to a system that combines proportional representation, with national lists for 53 lawmakers, and majority voting in the country’s departments for 97 others. 

The diaspora elects the remaining 15 members of parliament.

This year, eight coalitions are in the running, including Yewwi Askan Wi (“Liberate the People” in Wolof), the main opposition coalition.

Its highest-profile member, Ousmane Sonko, came third in the 2019 presidential election.

But he and other members of the coalition have been banned from running in Sunday’s elections on technical grounds.

The vote is taking place against a backdrop of rising prices, in part because of the war in Ukraine.

The opposition has questioned the priorities of the government, which has highlighted its subsidies for oil products and food as well as infrastructure building. 

“Is the priority of the Senegalese to build beautiful stadiums, new highways while people are not eating?” Sonko said after casting his ballot in Ziguinchor. 

Raising the alarm over reports of low turnout, he called on voters to vote in numbers “to balance the powers”.

Sall said that “beyond our individual choices, there is everything we share and must preserve as a united and supportive nation”. 

“It’s peace, stability, security, territorial integrity of our country and national cohesion,” added Sall as he voted in Fatick, 150 kilometres (90 miles) southeast of Dakar. He also praised the organisation of the election.

– Opposition collaboration –

Ahead of the poll, Yewwi Askan Wi has joined forces with Wallu Senegal (“Save Senegal”), led by former president Abdoulaye Wade.

The two groups have agreed to work together to obtain a parliamentary majority and “force governmental cohabitation”.

They also want to force Sall to give up any hope of running in 2024. 

In local elections in March, the opposition won in major cities, including the capital Dakar, Ziguinchor in the south and Thies in the west.

Sonko and other members of the Yewwi Askan Wi coalition were forbidden from running in Sunday’s elections, after the authorities in early June tossed out its national list of candidates on technical grounds.

One of the names had been accidentally put down both as a first-choice candidate and as an alternate candidate, thus invalidating the entire list.

That sparked violent demonstrations that left at least three people dead.

On June 29, the opposition finally agreed to take part in the elections, easing tensions.

Bangladesh bowler Mosaddek Hossain wreaked havoc before Zimbabwe batsman Sikandar Raza came to the rescue in Harare on Sunday in the second of a three-match Twenty20 international series. 

Zimbabwe recovered from a disastrous start with opener Regis Chakabva out from the first ball of the innings to post 135-8 as they seek to stretch a six-match winning run in the shortest format.  

Hossain, who had never taken more than two wickets in a T20 international, captured five for the loss of 20 runs in four overs to leave the hosts reeling at 31-5.

Pakistan-born Raza and Ryan Burl then stopped the rot, adding 80 runs for the sixth wicket as none of five other Bangladesh bowlers could emulate Hossain.

Raza scored 62 off 53 deliveries, including two sixes and four fours, before being caught in the covers by Munim Shahriar off the bowling of Mustafizur Rahman.

Apart from Raza, Burl (32) and Luke Jongwe (11 not out) were the only Zimbabwe batsmen to reach double figures.

Morocco’s King Mohammed VI used an address on Saturday to “once again” reiterate his openness to restoring ties with Algeria, which broke off diplomatic relations with Rabat last year.

“We aspire to work with the Algerian presidency so that Morocco and Algeria can work hand in hand to establish normal relations between two brotherly peoples,” Mohammed said during the traditional speech marking the anniversary of his accession to the throne.

“I stress once again that the borders that separate the Moroccan and Algerian brothers will never be barriers preventing their interaction and understanding.”

He urged Moroccans to “preserve the spirit of fraternity, solidarity and good neighbourliness towards our Algerian brothers”. 

Morocco and Algeria have long been at odds over the disputed territory of Western Sahara, where the Algiers-backed Polisario Front is seeking independence from Rabat’s rule.

Algeria broke off diplomatic relations with Morocco in August 2021, accusing Rabat of “hostile acts”. 

The decision was “completely unjustified,” Rabat said.   

The disputed status of Western Sahara — a former Spanish colony considered a “non-autonomous territory” by the United Nations — has pitted Morocco against the Polisario Front since the 1970s. 

Rabat, which controls nearly 80 percent of the territory, is pushing for autonomy under its sovereignty. 

The Polisario Front, however, wants a UN-sponsored referendum on self-determination. 

Morocco’s sovereignty over the territory was backed by Washington in a 2020 deal that also saw Rabat normalise ties with Israel.

Algeria, which supports the Palestinian cause in addition to the Front, has taken the opportunity to criticise Morocco’s growing military cooperation with Israel, which it refers to as the “Zionist entity”.   

Referring to “allegations that Moroccans insult Algeria and Algerians”, Mohammed said they were the work of “irresponsible individuals who are trying to sow discord”.  

“This gossip about Moroccan-Algerian relations is totally senseless and frankly appalling,” he added. 

The king also used Saturday’s speech to pledge reform of the family code in favour of women’s rights, social protections and price controls at a time of rising inflation.

He also pledged to redouble vaccination efforts to fight Covid-19. 

The reformist king, 58, has ruled Morocco since July 1999, when he succeeded his father, Hassan II. 

agr/gw/smw

Senegal on Sunday voted in parliamentary elections the opposition hopes will force a coalition with President Macky Sall and curb any ambitions he may hold for a third term.

Sixty-year-old Sall, who was elected in 2012 for seven years then re-elected in 2019 for another five, has been accused of wanting to break the two-term limit and run again in 2024.

He has remained vague on the subject, but any defeat of his supporters in the vote could upset such plans.

Polling stations opened at 0800 GMT and close at 1800 GMT.

By late morning, turnout appeared relatively low, according to AFP correspondents and observers. 

In Scat Urbam, a suburb near Dakar, far fewer voters than in past polls were waiting to cast their ballots. 

The situation was the same in the capital’s working-class district of Grand Medine as well as in Ziguinchor, capital of the southern region of Casamance, according to AFP journalists. 

At the start of voting in the courtyard of a school in Mbao, near Dakar, around 100 mostly elderly people were preparing to vote. Police were also on hand to ensure security, an AFP journalist said.

“I hope voting day goes off peacefully and there are no disputes,” said Lamine Sylva, a 60-year-old artist.

“It’s like football — there is a winner and a loser.”

Yahya Sall, a retired soldier, said he hoped the new parliament “will have a strong opposition presence… to advance democracy”.

The national election commission has deployed 22,000 observers nationwide.

The single-round ballot will decide the 165 seats of the single-chamber parliament — currently controlled by the president’s supporters — for the next five years.

Lawmakers are elected according to a system that combines proportional representation, with national lists for 53 lawmakers, and majority voting in the country’s departments for 97 others. 

The diaspora elects the remaining 15 members of parliament.

This year, eight coalitions are in the running, including Yewwi Askan Wi (meaning “Liberate the People” in Wolof), the main opposition coalition.

Its highest-profile member, Ousmane Sonko, came third in the 2019 presidential election.

But he and other members of the coalition have been banned from running in Sunday’s elections on technical grounds.

The vote is taking place against a backdrop of rising prices, in part because of the war in Ukraine.

The opposition has questioned the priorities of the government, which has highlighted its subsidies for oil products and food as well as infrastructure building. 

“Is the priority of the Senegalese to build beautiful stadiums, new highways while people are not eating to satiate their hunger?” Sonko said after casting his ballot in Ziguinchor. 

Raising the alarm over reports of low turnout, he called on voters to vote in numbers “to balance the powers”.

– Opposition collaboration –

Ahead of the poll, Yewwi Askan Wi has joined forces with Wallu Senegal (which means “Save Senegal” in Wolof), led by former president Abdoulaye Wade.

The two groups have agreed to work together to obtain a parliamentary majority and “force governmental cohabitation”.

They also want to force Sall to give up any hope of running in 2024. 

In local elections in March, the opposition won in major cities, including the capital Dakar, Ziguinchor in the south and Thies in the west.

Sonko and other members of the Yewwi Askan Wi coalition were forbidden from running in Sunday’s elections, after the authorities in early June tossed out its national list of candidates on technical grounds.

One of the names had been accidentally put down both as a first-choice candidate and as an alternate candidate, thus invalidating the entire list.

That sparked violent demonstrations that left at least three people dead.

On June 29, the opposition finally agreed to take part in the elections, easing tensions.

Qatar seeks to hold a ministerial summit in early August to seal an accord between Chad’s military government and opposition rebels on a national peace dialogue, negotiators said Sunday.

The Gulf emirate’s emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani spoke with the Central African nation’s military leader, Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, on Saturday, officials said. 

The Gulf state’s mediators will meet with rebel negotiators this week in a bid to sway holdout groups.

“Qatar would like to get an accord settled this week so they can hold an international meeting soon,” said one negotiator.

Deby took power in April last year after his father, longtime leader Idriss Deby Itno, was killed in a battle with rebels. The son promised to hold elections within 18 months, with a prevision for extending that timetable.

Dozens of Chadian opposition and government officials have been in Doha since March to set the conditions for starting a national dialogue which would pave the way for a presidential election.

The dialogue has been postponed several times, most recently on July 16 when a host of rebel and political groups withdrew, accusing the government of seeking to destabilise peace efforts.

About a week later those groups said they were rejoining the process.

Diplomats monitoring the talks say there has been progress and a majority of groups have agreed to sign an accord so that talks can start in Ndjamena on August 20.

Those groups, however, are not the most powerful.

– ‘Good start’ –

The current document, seen by AFP, proposes a general ceasefire and gives security guarantees to rebel leaders who return for the N’Djamena talks. A special non-Chadian force would take care of security. 

“The negotiations with all opposition groups are still ongoing, and while we are still working with the parties to reach an agreement over the next steps, we hope to resume the next round at the beginning of August,” a Qatari government official told AFP.

Qatari mediators are still trying to persuade the Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT), one of the main rebel groups, to sign on and give the national dialogue a greater chance of success.

FACT leader Mahamat Mahdi Ali has described the current draft document as “a good start” but his negotiators have called for more government concessions.

Idriss Deby Itno died after suffering mortal wounds fighting the FACT, a large armed group with a rear base in Libya.

Qatar wants to quickly hold a formal signing ceremony in Doha with Deby and foreign ministers from key countries, including France, present.

The international community wants to avoid any further delay in the national dialogue, and a resulting threat to the landmark election, which could lead to Deby extending his transitional rule.

Senegalese voters head to the polls Sunday for parliamentary elections the opposition hopes will force a coalition with President Macky Sall and curb any ambitions he may hold for a third term.

Sixty-year-old Sall, who was elected in 2012 for seven years then re-elected in 2019 for another five, has been accused of wanting to break the two-term limit and run again in 2024. 

He has remained vague on the subject, but any defeat of his supporters in Sunday’s vote could upset such plans.

Polling stations are due to open at 0800 GMT and close at 1800 GMT.

The single-round ballot will decide the 165 seats of the single-chamber parliament — currently controlled by the president’s supporters — for the next five years.

Lawmakers are elected according to a system that combines proportional representation with national lists for 53 lawmakers, and majority voting in the country’s departments for 97 others. 

The diaspora elects the remaining 15 members of parliament.

This year, eight coalitions are in the running, including Yewwi Askan Wi (meaning “Liberate the People” in Wolof), the main opposition coalition.

Its highest-profile member, Ousmane Sonko, came third in the 2019 presidential election.

But he and other members of the coalition have been banned from running in Sunday’s elections on technical grounds.

Ahead of the poll, Yewwi Askan Wi has joined forces with Wallu Senegal (which means “Save Senegal” in Wolof), led by former president Abdoulaye Wade.

The two groups have agreed to work together to obtain a parliamentary majority and “force governmental cohabitation.”

They also want to force Sall to give up any hope of running in 2024. 

In local elections in March, the opposition won in major cities, including the capital Dakar, Ziguinchor in the south and Thies in the west.

Sonko and other members of the Yewwi Askan Wi coalition were forbidden from running in Sunday’s elections, after the authorities in early June tossed out its national list of candidates on technical grounds.

One of the names had been accidentally put down both as a first-choice candidate and as an alternate candidate, thus invalidating the entire list.

That sparked violent demonstrations that left at least three people dead.

On June 29, the opposition finally agreed to take part in the elections, easing tensions.

Kenya insisted Saturday that social media would not be blocked, after a state watchdog warned Facebook it risked suspension if it did not tackle hate speech on its platform.

The National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) said Friday it had given Facebook’s parent Meta seven days to act following a report it allowed more than a dozen hateful political ads in the run-up to Kenya’s August 9 election.

But Joe Mucheru, Kenya’s minister of information, communications and technology, said on Twitter Saturday: “Media, including social media, will continue to enjoy press freedom in Kenya.”

He said it was “not clear” what legal framework the NCIC planned to use to suspend Facebook, adding: “Govt is on record. We are NOT shutting down the Internet.”

His comments were echoed by Interior Minister Fred Matiang’i who said Kenyans’ right to free expression was enshrined in the constitution.

“And, we as a government, have no intention of infringing on that right.”

The NCIC is an independent ethnic cohesion watchdog set up after the 2007-8 post-election violence that left more than 1,000 people dead.

It does not have the power to suspend Facebook but can make recommendations to the government’s Communications Authority.

The body’s recommendations followed a report by advocacy group Global Witness and UK-based legal activist firm Foxglove that said Facebook had accepted and broadcast at least 19 ads in both English and Swahili calling for rape, slaughter and beheadings.

– ‘Addressing errors’ –

Asked about the NCIC warning, a Meta spokesperson said: “We’ve taken extensive steps to help us catch hate speech and inflammatory content in Kenya, and we’re intensifying these efforts ahead of the election.

“Despite these efforts, we know that there will be examples of things we miss or we take down in error, as both machines and people make mistakes. That’s why we have teams closely monitoring the situation and addressing these errors as quickly as possible.” 

With its diverse population and large ethnic voting blocs, Kenya has long suffered politically motivated communal violence around election time, often blamed on hate speech. 

An undercover expose by UK media revealed that British consulting firm Cambridge Analytica used the personal data of millions of Facebook users to target political ads and spread misinformation during Kenya’s 2013 and 2017 presidential campaigns. 

AFP is a partner of Meta, providing fact-checking services in Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and Africa.

The new US envoy for the Horn of Africa called Saturday for progress in holding Ethiopian peace talks and for unrestricted aid deliveries to stricken areas of the country.

Mike Hammer, who arrived in Addis Ababa on Friday, held talks with Ethiopian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonnen, the US embassy said.

They discussed the “need for continued progress on ensuring unfettered humanitarian assistance delivery, human rights accountability & political talks to end the conflict & achieve a lasting peace”, the embassy said on Twitter.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government and the rival Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) have both raised the prospect of peace talks to end the brutal conflict that erupted in November 2020.

But major obstacles have emerged, not least over who should mediate any negotiations. 

Abiy wants the African Union, which is based in Addis Ababa, to broker any talks, while the TPLF is insisting that the negotiations are led by neighbouring Kenya.

Abiy’s national security adviser Redwan Hussein said on Twitter this week that the government was ready to talk “anytime anywhere” and that negotiations should begin “without preconditions”.

Meanwhile, TPLF-linked Tigrai TV quoted the rebels’ leader Debretsion Gebremichael warning that basic services would have to be restored in Tigray before negotiations could begin.

Fighting has eased in northern Ethiopia since a humanitarian truce was declared at the end of March, allowing the resumption of desperately needed aid convoys.

– Malnutrition and food insecurity –

Untold numbers of people were killed in the war and the UN says more than 13 million people need food aid across Tigray and the neighbouring regions of Afar and Amhara, with high levels of food insecurity and malnutrition.

Tigray itself is lacking in food, fuel and essential services such as electricity, communications and banking, with hundreds of thousands living in dire conditions because of what the United Nations has described as a de facto blockade.

The UN’s humanitarian response agency OCHA said that since the resumption of humanitarian convoys on April 1, 4,308 trucks had arrived in Tigray’s capital Mekele as of July 19.

In Addis, Hammer also “reviewed” the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), the large-scale hydroelectric project on the Blue Nile, the embassy said.

On Friday, Egypt said it had protested to the UN Security Council against Ethiopian plans to fill the reservoir of the controversial dam for a third year without agreement from downstream countries.

The multi-billion-dollar GERD is set to be the largest hydroelectric scheme in Africa but has been at the centre of a dispute with Egypt and Sudan ever since work began in 2011.

“We are actively engaged in supporting a diplomatic way forward under the African Union’s auspices that arrives at an agreement that provides for the long-term needs of every citizen along the Nile,” Hammer said on a visit to Egypt this week.

Addis Ababa deems the GERD essential for the electrification and development of Africa’s second most populous country.

But Cairo and Khartoum fear it could threaten their access to vital Nile waters.