Climate, malaria highlighted as Commonwealth leaders meet

KIGALI, Rwanda

Leaders of Commonwealth nations were meeting in Rwanda’s capital Friday to tackle climate change, tropical diseases and other challenges deepened by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The summit for Commonwealth heads of state in Kigali is the culmination of a series of meetings this week that officials said yielded some success in efforts to improve the lives of people in the 54-nation association that is home to 2.5 billion people.

The Commonwealth’s member states range from vast India to tiny Tuvalu. The African nations of Togo and Gabon have asked to join the Commonwealth despite having no colonial history with Britain.

The group of nations comprises mostly former British colonies, and its titular head is Queen Elizabeth II. But countries such as Mozambique and Rwanda — a former Belgian colony with an Anglophile leader — previously launched successful bids to join.

Prince Charles is representing his mother, who at 96 is restricting her official duties. The summit is taking place at an uncertain time for the British monarchy as well as the Commonwealth, whose relevance is sometimes questioned.

The bloc faces a new challenge as some member nations discuss removing the queen as their head of state. She is the head of state of 14 Commonwealth realms, but Barbados cut ties with the monarchy in November, and several other Caribbean countries, including Jamaica, say they plan to follow suit.

In his remarks Friday, Charles said “free” nations can make such decisions “calmly and without rancor.” The heir to the throne also spoke of slavery and its legacy for Indigenous communities and others, saying the Commonwealth “must find ways, new ways, to acknowledge our past.”

“Quite simply, this is a conversation whose time has come,” he said.

Rwanda’s hosting of the summit is contentious to some who cite the East African country’s poor human rights record under Paul Kagame, an authoritarian leader who has been de facto leader or president since a 1994 genocide.

Other critics are unhappy with what they see as an illegal and cruel deal with Britain to transfer migrants thousands of miles to Rwanda. That agreement faces legal hurdles, and the first group of migrants has yet to arrive in Africa.

World leaders attending the summit range from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whose leadership of the Conservative party suffered a heavy blow overnight as voters rejected the party’s candidates in two special parliamentary elections, is also in Rwanda.

Some meetings on the margins of the summit reported successes in efforts to address pressing issues such as managing climate change and deadly diseases.

More than $4 billion was pledged Thursday toward global efforts to accelerate the fight against malaria and other neglected tropical diseases. The money will come from governments, philanthropists and others in the private sector. In addition, pharmaceutical companies donated 18 billion tablets to prevent and treat those diseases.

Observers said the fundraising marks a significant breakthrough as malaria is a leading killer in Africa.

Dr. Francisca Olamiju, the head of a non-governmental organization in Nigeria that advocates for the poor, told The Associated Press of her high expectations for such a big gathering to bolster campaigns against tropical diseases.

World leaders must “walk the talk” and mobilize more resources for the cause, she said.

Summit participants also are urging increased action to curb global warming ahead of a United Nations climate change summit scheduled to take place in Egypt in November. Commonwealth governments have been asked to submit their targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by Sept. 23.

At the summit, Commonwealth leaders are expected to adopt a plan to address climate change, land degradation and biodiversity loss. The Living Lands Charter aims to achieve climate goals through a mixture of policy influence, financing, technical assistance, governance and sharing knowledge across nations.

Some 32 of the Commonwealth’s members are small states, with 25 of them small islands and developing states classified as vulnerable to climate change.

Tanzania’s Masaai demand Indigenous rights in UN framework

NAIROBI, Kenya

Tanzania’s Maasai people, resisting government pressure to leave their ancestral homes in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, have presented their demands for Indigenous land rights to negotiators in Nairobi finalizing the proposed U.N. global biodiversity framework.

The appeal by the Masaai community of Loliando on Thursday follows a violent confrontation with Tanzanian security forces two weeks ago which forced many of them to flee to neighboring Kenya.

A decision by the East African Court of Justice on the politically sensitive issue was expected this week but has been postponed until later this year due to “unavoidable circumstances,” according to a court notice.

“We are being accused by our government as being destroyers of our environment and denied citizenship of Tanzania,” said the Maasai in their letter to the U.N. biodiversity meeting. “This is the fourth forceful eviction from our land. And our leaders languish in detention in big numbers. 20 of them are being charged with murder. We cannot tell the world of the happenings because media is banned from covering our story.”

Cases of abuse, torture and large-scale evictions continue to be reported among Indigenous communities as observed in Tanzania, where the Maasai community says it faces displacement to create a protected area for hunting.

The Maasai leaders were joined by civil society actors and other Indigenous community leaders in their calls for the inclusion and recognition of Indigenous land, territories and tenure rights in the framework, which is expected to be endorsed by world leaders when they meet in Montreal, Canada in December this year.

“The only way this can be a strong instrument is by incorporating and ensuring a strong human rights element and respecting the role of Indigenous peoples and local communities,” said Lucy Mulenkei, the co-chair of the International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity, at a press conference on the sidelines of the negotiations.

The Indigenous forum has also called for free prior and informed consent of land use as well as a sound financial mechanism for conservation.

“If we don’t have a framework to protect nature that truly recognizes and respects the rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities, who are actually conserving biodiversity humanity is going to be in danger,” said the Indigenous forum’s Ramiro Batzin.

The global biodiversity framework is set to replace the older Aichi Biodiversity Targets, that were agreed by the U.N. parties at a convention on biological diversity in 2010 in the Japanese prefecture of Aichi. None of the Aichi agreements’ 20 targets were met by the time the 2020 deadline elapsed. The ongoing Nairobi negotiations are a carry-over of intensive negotiations after failure to secure consensus in Geneva in March this year.

Key issues are still up for debate, with richer countries disagreeing with developing nations on several sticking points, such as benefit-sharing, removing incentives for harming nature, biotechnology and financing for developing countries to strengthen national aims and technology.

The proposed biodiversity framework is seeking to comprehensively tackle a number of global environmental concerns including pollution, climate change and other human-caused impacts on nature such as illegal wildlife trades, habitat loss and overconsumption.

The decline of biodiversity and degradation of ecosystems exacerbates climate change, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. It says the new framework must “aim to halt biodiversity loss by 2030 and achieve recovery by 2050.”

Uganda President visits Rwanda in 'style' after five years

KAMPALA, Uganda

President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni has left the country to Rwandan capital, Kigali where he is set to attend this year’s Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) meeting.

“Heading for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Kigali, Rwanda,” Museveni tweeted on Thursday morning with his picture boarding armored helicopter.

The Ugandan president is expected to be received by his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame, the host of the meeting.

This is President Museveni’s visit to Rwanda in over five years when the two neighboring countries had a frost relationship which climaxed with the closure of the common borders among them.

However, the relations were eased earlier this year following efforts by the Commander of the Land Forces in the UPDF, Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba that included visits to Rwanda to meet President Kagame on two occasions.

The normalization of the relations between the two countries and heads of state has since seen President Kagame visit Uganda but also hosted at Lt Gen Muhoozi’s birthday party at Entebbe State House where President Museveni was also in attendance in April.

The two heads of state have since then held several tete a tete  meetings aimed at further strengthening their relations.

By going to Rwanda for the CHOGM meeting, President Museveni is seen by many as returning the favour after his Rwandan counterpart attending his son’s birthday party in Entebbe in April.

After being postponed  twice due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Rwanda is finally hosting the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Kigali having kicked off on  June 20 and will end on 26.

At least 40 Heads of State and government from Africa, Europe, Asia, the Americas, the Caribbean and the Pacific are expected to attend the meeting.

Earlier on Thursday, President Kagame received UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson for the CHOGM meeting.

Prince Charles Honours Victims of Genocide Against Tutsi in Rwanda

KIGALI, Rwanda

Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall on Wednesday arrived at the Kigali Memorial to pay tribute to victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

The Future King 73, paid homage to the victims by laying a wreath of white roses that included a card signed by the couple and silver ribbons embossed with the words ‘Never again’.

According to details, the royal couple received a personal guided tour of the memorial’s exhibits on the ground floor before heading upstairs to view ‘the children’s room’, which displays details and photographs, taken before the genocide, of children who were killed.

The genocide against Tutsi claimed more than a million lives and was stopped by Rwanda Patriotic Front liberation movement led by Paul Kagame now president of Rwanda.

According to the itenerary the British royals will visit a church outside the capital Kigali where the remains of genocide victims are buried.

The Kigali Genocide Memorial is the final resting place of over 250,000 people.

Officially opened in 2004, the memorial has a visitor centre for students and others wishing to understand the events leading up to the genocide that occurred in Rwanda in 1994.

British Prime Minister arrives in Rwanda for Commonwealth meeting

KIGALI, Rwanda

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie Symonds on Thursday morning arrived in Rwanda for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting (CHOGM).

Following his arrival, he met with President Paul Kagame where the two leaders held talks on existing partnerships between Rwanda and the UK, including the recent Migration and Economic Development Partnerships.

Johnson is also expected to attend the closing of the Commonwealth Business Forum, which is happening at the Kigali Conference and Exhibition Village.  

Besides CHOGM, the Prime Minister will be looking forward to seeing the country that will receive the Migrants from the UK, according to British media.

According to the BBC, Johnson said his visit will help him see the country with which Britain had an important economic and migration partnership.

He says it’s an opportunity for him to come to Rwanda before the people his government plan to send here whose first flight was halted on last minute last week by the European Court of Human Rights.

Announcing on his Twitter handle Johnson said he was in Rwanda to work with other leaders to address global challenges, from hunger to climate change, and to turbocharge trade with some of the world’s most dynamic economies.

Johnson arrived in Rwanda after Charles, the Prince of Wales, and the Duchess of Cornwall had arrived a day before for the Commonwealth heads of Government meeting in Rwanda that is expected to end on June 26.

The United Kingdom is the current chair-in-office of the 54-nation bloc and will be handing over to Rwanda at the end of the Kigali meeting.

Tanzania's 19 MPs: High Court faults all objections to expulsion

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania

The High Court of Tanzania on Wednesday June 23, dismissed an objection filed by the 19 Special Seats Members of Parliament (MPs) of the leading opposition party, Chadema regarding their expulsion from the party.

Judge John Mgeta, delivering the ruling, said that the court reached its verdict after reviewing arguments submitted by both sides, where seven objections by the political party were presented by advocate Peter Kibatala.

The technically disqualified MPs led by the party’s former women’s wing chairperson Halima Mdee, filed an objection to expulsion, asking the court to impose a restraining order on the matter.

Observers said the ruling removes all restraint due to expulsion from the party, as the High Court accepted two out of the seven objections presented by the party, directing those adjustments be made on five other objections.

The court faulted objections filed by Mdee and 18 others, asserting that the MPs addressed the wrong applicant who in accordance to the laws was supposed to be the registered trustee, citing Section 21 (1) of the Political Parties Act as requiring each registered political party to appoint trustees.

Chadema advocate Jeremia Mtobesya asked the court to dismiss the files objections as the MPs sued the National Electoral Commission (NEC) “which should not have been involved in the case.”

He said the court has no powers to questions decisions by NEC, in accordance with Section 74 (12) of the constitution.

Party secretary general John Mnyika said the Attorney General is now expected to inform the Speaker of the National Assembly on the court decision, with the Speaker expected to implement the court order right away and formally “ordering the expelled MPs to leave the House.”

On May 11 the party governing council voted unanimously to expel the 19 Special Seats MPs for having been sworn in without the blessing of the party, after which former Kawe MP Halima Mdee said the voting process was clouded with intrigues and lacked transparency. - The Guardian

Malawi president strips Vice-President of powers over corruption

LILONGWE, Malawi

Malawi's President, Lazarus Chakwera on Tuesday relieved his Vice President Saulos Chilima of all delegated powers after the latter was named in a massive corruption scandal in government contracts already implicating several senior officials.

"I have decided to withdraw all delegated functions" from Vice President Saulos Chilima, Lazarus Chakwera said in a televised address.

The announcement follows a new report by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), which is investigating British-Malawian businessman Zuneth Sattar on suspicion of corruption, fraud and money laundering.

Several ministers and former ministers have already been arrested in connection with the case.

"The office found that a total of 53 public officials and former public officials allegedly received money from Mr Sattar in the eight months between March and October 2021," Chakwera said.

The Malawian president also suspended his chief of staff and the country's police chief.

"In addition, the Bureau found that 31 other people from the private sector, the media, civil society and the legal profession also received money from Mr Sattar," bringing the total to 84 people suspected of being involved, he added.

The police and military reportedly awarded 16 contracts worth $150 million to five companies owned by Mr Sattar between 2017 and 2021.

In 2020, Saulos Chilima, a presidential candidate, had teamed up with Lazarus Chakwera to win the re-run election following fraud in the first poll in 2019. 

Hundreds killed after 6.1-magnitude earthquake hits Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan

A powerful earthquake in a remote area of Afghanistan’s Paktika province has killed at least 1,000 people and injured at least 1,500, with the toll expected to rise in the impoverished country.

According to Taliban officials, hundreds more were injured in what appears to have been the deadliest quake in two decades, striking during the night with heavy rain hampering rescue efforts.

Footage from Paktika showed people being carried into helicopters to be airlifted from the area. Others were treated on the ground. One resident could be seen receiving IV fluids while sitting in a plastic chair outside the rubble of his home and still more were sprawled on stretchers.

Karim Nyazai was in the provincial capital and returned immediately to find his village devastated and 22 members of his extended family dead.

“I was away from my family who live in a remote village in the Gyan district. I went there as soon as I could find a car in the early morning,” he told the Guardian.

“The entire village is buried. Those who could manage to get out before everything fell down were managing to take out the bodies of their loved ones out of the rubble. There were bodies wrapped in blankets everywhere.

“I lost 22 members of my [extended family] including my sister, and three of my brothers. More than 70 people in the village died.”

In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, Bilal Karimi, a deputy spokesperson for the Taliban government, called for aid agencies to assist with the emergency efforts. “We urge all aid agencies to send teams to the area immediately to prevent further catastrophe,” he said.

In response, the UN and EU were quick to offer help.

“Inter-agency assessment teams have already been deployed to a number of affected areas,” tweeted the UN office for humanitarian affairs in Afghanistan.

Tomas Niklasson, the EU special envoy for Afghanistan, tweeted: “The EU is monitoring the situation and stands ready to coordinate and provide EU emergency assistance to people and communities affected.”

With photographs from the area showing collapsed houses and bodies being dug out of the rubble, a tribal leader from Paktika province, Yaqub Manzor, said survivors and rescuers were scrambling to help those affected.

“The local markets are closed and all the people have rushed to the affected areas,” Manzor told the AFP news agency by telephone.

The Afghan prime minister, Mohammad Hassan Akhund, convened an emergency meeting at the presidential palace to coordinate the relief effort for victims in Paktika and Khost, a neighbouring province.

Earlier, Abdul Wahid Rayan, the director general of the Bakthar news agency, said the areas hit by the earthquake were in mountainous regions, meaning rescue work required helicopters.

But he added: “Afghanistan has a shortage of helicopters and these areas being hard to access is making relief work difficult.”

Rayan said 90 houses had been destroyed in Gayan, a district in the north of Paktika.

The centre of the earthquake – estimated by Pakistan to have had a magnitude of 6.1 and 5.9 by the US Geological Survey – occurred about 30 miles south-west of the city of Khost. It occurred at the relatively shallow depth of 6 miles, worsening its impact.

Tremors were noticed in neighbouring countries, with “strong and long jolts” felt in the Afghan capital, Kabul, according to a resident who posted on the website of the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre.

Deaths were also reported in the eastern provinces of Khost and Nangarhar, said Mohammad Nassim Haqqani, the head of the Afghan disaster-response authority.

Rescue efforts are likely to be complicated since many international aid agencies left Afghanistan after the Taliban took control last year and the chaotic withdrawal of the US military from the longest war in its history. Rescuers rushed to the area by helicopter.

The death toll, given by Afghan emergency official Mawlawi Sharafuddin Muslim, made it the deadliest quake since 2002, when a 6.1-magnitude tremor killed about 1,000 people in northern Afghanistan, immediately after the US-led invasion overthrew the Taliban government after the 9/11 attacks.

Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, offered his condolences over the earthquake in a statement, saying his nation would provide help to the Afghan people. At the Vatican, Pope Francis offered prayers for all those killed and injured and for the “suffering of the dear Afghan population”.

Afghanistan and the larger region of south Asia along the Hindu Kush mountains has long been vulnerable to devastating earthquakes.

The disaster comes as Afghanistan grapples with a severe economic crisis that has gripped it since the Taliban takeover.

In response to the new regime, many nations imposed sanctions on Afghanistan’s banking sector and cut billions of dollars worth of development aid. Humanitarian aid has continued, however, with international agencies such as the UN still operating.

Maasai eviction from Ngorongoro: Tanzania government bows to diplomatic corps

By Our Correspondent, DAR ES SALAAM Tanzania

The government of Tanzania has defended the ongoing ‘forceful’ demarcation and eviction of Maasai community in Loliondo and Ngorongoro saying it was aimed at promoting conservation and protect the welfare of the residents.

In an unusual meeting with the members of the diplomatic community on the situation in Loliondo and Ngorongoro, the government insisted that it was doing everything possible to promote conservation and ensure public safety in the areas.

In the meeting held in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday June 21, the minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, Liberata Mulamula told foreign ambassadors and Human Rights organizations that the East African country abides by the rule of law and it is also a party to a number of international conventions and protocols based on respecting human rights.

“Conservation is for the people and in this regard the government will continue giving priority to the people.” Mulamula said.

Tanzania’s government has been accused of using violence against Maasai herders protesting efforts to evict them from one of the country’s most popular tourist destinations, in the latest friction between those who see certain African landscapes as a lucrative playground and those who simply call them home.

In the process, one police officer was killed by an arrow alleged to be shot by a group of Maasai people who intended to stop their eviction from their ancestral land.

The police force has engaged in full throated assault to remove the native Maasai pastoralists from the area under pretext of wild conservation which left police officer dead, 20 people arrested, 31 injured and many more fleeing the country to neighbouring Kenya to seek medical care, fearing retaliation from Tanzanian authorities.

The approach the government has taken in relation to the two areas is also different, she said. “The government was demarcating Loliondo, holding 4,000 square kilometres so that a 1,500 square kilometer portion of the land is used for conservation and the 2,500 square kilometers land portion remain accessible to local residents.

She argued that as the number of people increases in the area, conservation efforts were also being affected, thus placing the protected area in peril, adding that the matter has troubled the government for a long time, thus resolving to relocate a portion of Loliondo residents on the basis of a user-friendly approach.

The minister further told the diplomats that in Ngorongoro the situation in the protected area was bad as the number of livestock and people being killed by wild animals were on the rise, compelling the government to set aside land in Tanga region for resettling those willing to move out.

“They will be assured of a better life as they can develop the land, while in Ngorongoro the law restricts any residents from developing land or conduct production activities.” She noted.

She asserted that discussions about Ngorongoro and Loliondo started in 2008 when sensitization teams were sent but had to pause in 2015 due to election pressures.

The Wildlife Division director, Maurus Msuha, told the gathering that the relocation exercise in Ngorongoro was triggered by increasing human activities, deterioration of rangelands due to rising livestock numbers not just within Tanzania but across border livestock rearing.

Minister for Foreign Affairs and
 East African Cooperation,
Liberata Mulamula

This leads to overgrazing and spread of invasive plant species that harm the livestock when they chew them, meanwhile as these movements were damaging water catchment areas, the main sources of water for people, livestock and wildlife.

Several United Nations human rights experts in a joint statement last Wednesday said they were “deeply alarmed” by the reports of Tanzanian security forces using live ammunition and tear gas against the Maasai and protested “continuous encroachment” on their ancestral lands.

Up to 70,000 Maasai could be displaced by the planned game reserve which would take up 1,500 square kilometers (580 square miles) of 4,000 square kilometers (1,544 square miles) designated as village land, experts said.

The entire Ngorongoro Conservation Area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the U.N. experts urged Tanzania’s government to make sure any plans for the area meet human rights standards.

The African Commission on Human and People’s Rights this week called on Tanzanian authorities to “halt the ongoing forcible eviction.” - Africa

Residents of eastern Congo reject EAC regional force

NORTH KIVU, Congo

Some residents in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have rejected the proposal to deploy a regional peacekeeping force.

On Monday, in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, East African Community (EAC) leaders endorsed the deployment of a regional force to help stabilise eastern DRC, a move that had also earlier been discussed by military chiefs in the regional bloc.

But opponents of troop deployment pointed to the chequered history that some of DR Congo's neighbours have in the war-torn east of the country.

They instead called for reforms and reinforcements in the Congolese armed forces (FARDC).

"We vigorously reject" the EAC project and "call on you to give it up", the citizens' movement Lucha (Fight for Change) declared in a letter to President Felix Tshisekedi, citing "security, economic or geopolitical" objections.

Lucha was founded 10 years ago in Goma, the capital of troubled eastern DRC's North Kivu province, which borders Uganda and Rwanda.

The group added in its letter: "At least three of the seven member states of the East African Community -- Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi -- have been involved for more than two decades in the destabilization of our country, through interventions directly from their armies or through armed groups."

ALSO READ: Residents of eastern Congo reject EAC regional force

All three named countries, DR Congo's eastern neighbours, were involved in the two civil wars that wracked the vast mineral-rich country between 1996 and 2003.

Kinshasa has already made it clear it opposes Rwanda's participation in any regional force, accusing it of backing the resurgent M23 rebels. Kigali denies the charge.

The Kenyan president gave no details of who will make up the force, intended for the eastern border provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri to the north.

Even without Rwandan involvement, however, some in Goma are not convinced by the idea of such a regional force.

"I'm against it, really, that's enough!" said samosa seller Tito Rushago on a street in Goma on Tuesday.

"There are all the countries here, Senegalese, Tanzanians, Uruguayans...," he said, reeling off the participant countries in the large UN peacekeeping force MONUSCO.

Biker Patrick Bahati agreed, arguing that the international UN force, present in the country for 20 years, had changed nothing.

Several people interviewed on the streets of Goma called instead for a "reinforced" and "overhauled" FARDC.

The nation's troops needed to be well paid and properly equipped, and corrupt officers replaced, they said.

For many in the region, it was not clear how any new regional force could succeed where MONUSCO had failed.

"I doubt the effectiveness of this force," said James Biensi, pastor of a church in Bunia, Ituri province. 

The EAC countries did not all get along, he argued, and he was wary too of a "hidden agenda".

Raphael Wekenge, the coordinator of the Congolese Coalition for Transitional Justice (CCJT) took a similar view.

"I am sceptical about the operational side of a force made up of countries that have interests in our own," he said, speaking from South Kivu's capital Bukavu.

And Paulin Mulume, from the Amka Congo collective of citizens' movements, argued: "We have already had several joint operations in the east of the country, which have not borne fruit."

He regretted the decision taken in Nairobi, which, he said, brought back "very bad memories".

"We don't know what prompted our president to get involved in this affair," Mulume added. "It should have gone through parliament."

Judith Maroy, from Lucha in South Kivu, was hopeful that there was still a way out.

"We think he (Tshisekedi) will come to his senses," she said.

And in Bukavu, the Nobel laureate Denis Mukwege has also come out against a "regional force including countries at the root of destabilization, atrocities and the plunder of our resources".

This "will bring neither stability nor peace and risks worsening the situation", he warned last week. He too called for a reform of the country's armed forces.

Mukwege, a gynaecologist and surgeon who has treated thousands of women victims of rape in the conflict region, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018. - AFP

Burkina Faso calls for civilians evacuation ahead of military operations

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso’s army has ordered civilians to evacuate two large “military interest zones” in its northern and southeastern regions ahead of anticipated operations against Islamist insurgents, it said.

The announcement was made late on Monday, with few details about how long people have to evacuate or where they should go.

"All human activities that risk exposure to the effects of the military operations which will be conducted shortly are prohibited,” said commander of national operations, Lieutenant-colonel Yves-Didier Bamouni, on state TV.

"A period of time will be granted to the resident populations to reach more secure areas.”

The West Africa country has been battling an insurgency by Islamist militants, some linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State, since 2015. More than 1.85 million people are already displaced within Burkina Faso because of the fighting.

The announcement followed an attack in the north on June 11 that killed over 100 people and displaced thousands more.

A group of military officers overthrew the democratic government in January with pledges to improve security, but attacks have only multiplied.

One of the military zones is a rural area of about 2,000 square kilometres (772 square miles) bordering Mali in the northern province of Soum.

The other zone covers about 11,000 square kilometres on the southern border with Benin and is mostly national park land, covering the reserves of Arli, Kourtiagou, Madjoari, Pama, Singou and W National Park.

"Africa 'hostage' in war with Russia" - President Zelenskiy

KYIV, Ukraine

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday that Africa was a “hostage” in the war with Russia, which had contributed to rising food prices on the continent.

African countries are acutely affected by the growing crisis, which has sent prices of grains, cooking oils, fuel and fertiliser soaring.

Russia and Ukraine account for nearly a third of global wheat supplies, while Russia is also a key global fertiliser exporter and Ukraine is a major exporter of corn and sunflower oil.

In a speech to African Union leaders, Zelenskiy said the continent had been caught up in a situation not of its making.

“(I) address you in a state of emergency, when we have a war. In an emergency for the whole world, when Africa is actually taken hostage. Hostage of those who started the war against our state,” Zelenskiy said in a video speech to the Bureau of the Assembly of the African Union.

“This war may seem very distant to you and your countries. But catastrophically rising food prices have already brought it home to millions of African families.”

Moscow rejects accusations it is deliberately blocking grain exports from Ukraine and says global food and fuel price hikes are due to Western sanctions imposed on Russia over the Feb. 24 invasion, which it calls a “special military operation”.

In early June, Senegal’s President Macky Sall said Russia’s Vladimir Putin had told him he was ready to enable the export of Ukrainian grain to ease a global food crisis that was hitting Africa especially hard.

On Monday, Sall, who is also the chairman of the African Union, said on Twitter after Zelenskiy’s speech the continent remained committed to respecting international law, peacefully resolving conflicts and free trade. - Reuters

Health workers, teachers strike in Zimbabwe

HARARE, Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe’s health workers and teachers on Monday went on strike over poor working conditions as they rejected a 100 percent salary increase offered by the government at the weekend.

Health workers such as nurses, junior doctors and radiographers staged protests at the country’s biggest public hospital – Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals in the capital Harare – as they began their indefinite strike.

Unions representing health workers said the strike was a last resort after the government refused to negotiate with them since April last year.

“The minister of Health and Child Care (Vice President Constantino Chiwenga) has never met any health employee and government continues to offer lies as opposed to what is prevailing on the ground,” Apex Health Council leader Tapiwanashe Kusotera told the protesting health workers.

“They have refused to listen to us and we refuse to work.”

The strike is the second walkout by health workers since the Covid-19 outbreak began in Zimbabwe in 2020.

Civil servants have been pushing for a salary review citing galloping inflation, which jumped to 131. 7 percent in May.

The government workers want their salaries to be pegged in United States dollar as the Zimbabwe dollar has become very unstable.

Health workers in Zimbabwe such as nurses earn an average of $79.37 a month compared to the $500 they were earning before the reintroduction of the local currency in 2019.

Four major unions representing teachers declared on Monday that their members would not report for work for five days to protest against the poor working conditions.

“It is clear from the outcome of the National Joint Negotiating Council held on June 17 that the government is not serious about the welfare of civil servants,” the unions said.

“We cannot continue to be an embarrassment in our community as a result of the poverty that the government believes should remain as part of our working lives.”

The unions said their members “will not report for work starting June 20 to June 24.”

Prior to the weekend salary review, the government had last raised civil servants’ salaries in February this year.

The Zimbabwe dollar has since then lost 70 percent of its value against the US dollar and the surge in inflation has stocked fears of a return to the hyperinflation era of 2008 where the country was forced to abandon its currency.

Civil servants say they are unable to fend for their families or send children to school in the face of the rapid increase in the prices of goods and services.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government blames the latest economic crisis engulfing the southern African country on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has seen a steep rise in prices of fuel, maize and wheat.

East African leaders send regional force to eastern Congo

By Our Correspondent, NAIROBI Kenya

East Africa’s leaders have responded to the threat of war between Rwanda and Congo by instructing a new regional force to deploy in eastern Congo and ordering an immediate cease-fire.

Rwandan border security forces stand guard on their side of the Petite Barriere border crossing with Rwanda in Goma, eastern Congo Friday, June 17, 2022

A statement after the leaders’ meeting in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, didn’t give details on the date of the force’s deployment or its composition. Congo’s presidency later tweeted that the force should be operational in the coming weeks but shouldn’t include Rwandan troops. The presidents of both countries attended Monday.

The regional heads of state adopted “for immediate implementation” the status of forces agreement, concept of operations and rules of engagement, the statement said. The heads of state told the force to cooperate with Congolese forces to stabilize the region.

There was no direct mention of Rwanda, which Congo has accused of supporting the M23 rebel group that has carried out renewed attacks in recent months. The statement noted the “presence of foreign negative elements” as a critical issue. Rwanda has long denied supporting the M23 rebels, who captured a key town in eastern Congo last week.

ALSO READ: M23 rebels captured key town as DR Congo accuse Rwanda involvement

Asked after Monday’s meeting whether Rwanda would contribute troops to the regional force in eastern Congo, deputy government spokesman Alain Mukurarinda said he needed to check with the president’s office. Congo is not the one who chooses who should deploy or not, he added.

Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi on Friday accused Rwanda of trying to occupy his country’s land for its vast mineral wealth, hours after Rwanda said a Congolese soldier had crossed the border and begun shooting at Rwandan security forces and civilians before being shot dead.

East African Community heads of state on Monday directed that a regional force be deployed to the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Congo’s president has also called on international leaders, including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, to step up the pressure on Rwanda when it hosts the Commonwealth summit this week.

ALSO READ: DR Congo rebels seize trading hub on Ugandan border

Each side has accused the other of incursions. Congo now seeks to suspend all agreements with Rwanda. Rwanda’s state minister for foreign affairs in charge of East African matters, Manasseh Nshuti, has said dialogue “is the solution” to the issues.

Dynamics in eastern Congo “were already strained” by Congo and neighboring Uganda carrying out a joint operation there against another rebel group, the Allied Democratic Forces, according to a new report by the U.N. panel of experts on Congo. Both Uganda and Rwanda have long been accused of backing rebels and pursuing some of the region’s rich mineral wealth, including gold.

Mali government says jihadi rebels kill 132 civilians

BAMAKO, Mali

Recent attacks by jihadi rebels in central Mali have killed 132 civilians, the government announced Monday.

The killings happened when several villages in the Bankass area were attacked on Saturday and Sunday, the government said in a statement Monday.

Three days of national mourning starting Tuesday have been declared by the head of the ruling junta, Col. Assimi Goita.

The government said the attacks were carried out by jihadi rebels of the Katiba group.

The attacks had earlier been reported by Moulaye Guindo, the mayor of Bankass, the biggest town near the attacked villages.

The attacks show that Islamic extremist violence is spreading from Mali’s north to more central areas like Bankass.

For several weeks extremist rebels in central Mali have been blocking the road between the northern city of Gao and Mopti in central Mali.

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali issued a statement about the attacks on Twitter saying it is concerned by “attacks against civilians in the Bandiagara region (the area of central Mali) perpetrated by extremist groups. These attacks have reportedly caused casualties and displacement of populations.”

In a separate incident, a U.N. peacekeeper died on Sunday from injuries sustained from an improvised explosive device, the U.N. mission to Mali said in a statement.

The head of the U.N. Mission to Mali, El-Ghassim Wane, said that since the beginning of 2022, several attacks have killed U.N. uniformed peacekeepers.

He said that attacks on peacekeepers can constitute war crimes under international law and reaffirmed the mission’s commitment to supporting peace and security in Mali.

Since the beginning of the year, several hundred civilians have died in attacks in central and northern Mali. The attacks are blamed on jihadi rebels as well as the Malian army, according to a report by the human rights division of the U.N. mission in Mali, known as MINUSMA.

The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali began in 2013, after France led a military intervention to oust extremist rebels who had taken over cities and major towns in northern Mali the year before. The mission now has about roughly 12,000 troops in Mali and an additional 2,000 police and other officers. More than 270 peacekeepers have died in Mali, making it the U.N.’s deadliest peacekeeping mission, say officials.