Watch: Nigerian presidential candidate Peter Obi on his plans to transform Nigeria’s economy

Peter Obi, a former governor of Anambra, is running in Nigeria’s presidential race. He discusses his objectives for the country with CNN’s Zain Asher.

CNN
 — 

Afrobeats – the pulsating, fusion sound coming out of West Africa and the diaspora – has been on the rise globally for the better part of a decade. In recent years, the genre has gained a foothold in Western pop culture, and the Grammys are taking notice.

Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. recently said that the Grammys were considering adding an award category for Afrobeats. Speaking to reporters in Ghana over the weekend, Mason said he had been meeting with players in the genre to explore the possibility.

“We called in producers, songwriters, artists, executives and we had a virtual listening session where we heard from Afrobeats creators,” he said at a September 24 news conference. “[We] just talked about, ‘What are the different subgenres? What are the needs? What are the desires?’”

It would likely take a while for such a change to be made, though. Throughout the year, the Recording Academy – the group of music industry professionals that presents the Grammy Awards – accepts proposals for new categories from its members. Those proposals are then reviewed by a committee and voted on by the Recording Academy Board of Trustees.

For example, at an April 2021 meeting, the Recording Academy approved the addition of two new categories in the global and Latin music fields, but the change didn’t take effect the 2022 Grammys. This year, the Recording Academy announced five additional categories, including songwriter of the year and best score soundtrack for video games and other interactive media, which will take effect at the 2023 Grammys.

“My goal is to make sure that we represent all genres of music, including Afrobeats, at the Grammys. But it has to be done properly,” Mason said during the news conference. “I think the listening session last week was very important, very valuable, and a step towards that path.”

Afrobeats artists have crossed over into mainstream pop through collaborations with Beyoncé, Drake, Ed Sheeran and other stars. But they’ve also achieved mainstream success on their own. Burna Boy, Wizkid and Tems have each notched Grammy nominations (though they’ve typically been relegated to the global music field), while Burna Boy garnered a win in 2021 for his album “Twice as Tall.” CKay’s “Love Nwantiti” dominated on TikTok last year before eventually showing up on the Billboard charts.

The UK’s Official Charts Company launched an Afrobeats singles chart in 2020, while Billboard debuted a US-based Afrobeats chart this year, further nodding to the genre’s growth outside of Africa and the diaspora.

CNN reporter: Report of Nigerian mass abortion program could affect US relations

Since at least 2013, more than 10,000 pregnancies were aborted as part of a “secret, systematic and illegal” abortion program allegedly “conducted” by the Nigerian military, a Reuters investigation has found. CNN’s Nima Elbagir has more.

CNN
 — 

On a busy weekend in Freetown, Sierra Leone, dozens of people gather to watch an afternoon football match not unlike countless others you’d find anywhere else in the world. But there’s one striking difference – these players are all amputees.

They’re members of the Single Leg Amputee Sports Association (SLASA), an organization co-founded by pastor Mambud Samai in 2001 after he returned home toward the end of Sierra Leone’s deadly civil war, which lasted from 1991 to 2002 and killed at least 50,000 people across the country. Thousands more were left with missing limbs during a brutal campaign to terrify the civilian population.

After coming across a refugee camp filled with hundreds of amputees, Samai felt compelled to help. “At that time, there were no activities like trauma recovery for them. So, amputees believed that once they lost their limbs and their legs, they have no future, they have no opportunity. So, I volunteered myself to give them confidence,” he said.

While at the refugee camp, he met an American missionary who introduced him to a form of adaptive football. After showing the amputees how to play, the response was overwhelming and SLASA was formed, “to give hope to the amputees, to give confidence to the amputees, and to allow them to become ambassadors of peace,” Samai said.

According to the World Amputee Football Federation, players cannot use prosthetics and instead power across the field on crutches. Each team has seven players on the field at a time, with outfield players only having one leg and goalkeepers only having one arm.

Several SLASA players have since gone on to compete in international programs including the World Amputee Football Championships, Amputee Africa Cup of Nations, and the Open European Amputee Football Championship.

Related: Football saved his life. Now this former Ghana star is scouting the next generation of underprivileged talent

“Most of them are now very proud that they can represent their country at international competitions,” Samai said. “They are contributing something back to society.”

Samai says the sport is not only a good form of exercise, but it unites players and serves as a “therapy” for war victims to face their shared trauma. “We try to give them hope and then give them the credibility that they are useful, they are important to society,” he said.

Ali Badara Kamara is a goalkeeper in the SLASA league. He says he’s grateful for the life-changing opportunities he’s received. “My mother was afraid (for) me to play football because she sees me as an amputee. She thought that if I fell on the floor, I would have another problem,” he says. “But SLASA (has) taken me to Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania.”

Kamara is one of the more than 80 million people with disabilities living across the continent. According to the United Nations, that figure includes those with mental health conditions, birth defects and other physical impairments. With assistive devices often unavailable or unaffordable, many find employment hard to come by and are left begging on the streets.

While football matches only last 90 minutes, Samai’s latest mission is to find a way to help amputees beyond the pitch.

“My passion (is) to make sure that every life, irrespective of your disability or irrespective of your background, that you are able to be happy and you are able to smile at the end of the day,” Samai said.

To achieve that, SLASA works closely with the National Rehabilitation Center in Sierra Leone and partners with international organizations like SwissLimbs to provide prosthetics for amputees and train local technicians.

In 2018, Samai traveled to Japan to study sustainable agriculture leadership and community development. Upon his return, he began offering classes on sustainable agriculture through SLASA.

Related: From child soldier to boxing champion – Mohamed Kayongo on why he’s using boxing to teach life lessons

SLASA also assesses members’ education and provides learning resources to those in need. Its goal is to get more amputees off the streets and provide them with a safe way to make a living for themselves and their families.

To date, Samai says SLASA has directly assisted 350 amputees, and hopes to grow that number. The ultimate goal is to build a regulation pitch and rehabilitation center of its own.

“We want Sierra Leone to compete with another countries in terms of development,” Samai said. “We believe that disabled people should not be left behind.”

Watch the full episode of African Voices featuring Mambud Samai here.

CNN
 — 

March 11 marked the start of the Basketball Africa League, the continent’s premier basketball competition. Ahead of its third season, president Amadou Gallo Fall reflected on the rise of the sport on the continent. “It’s been an evolutive journey,” he said.

This year’s competition will be held over three months, starting in Senegal’s capital, and Fall’s hometown, Dakar, and will feature 12 teams from across Africa

Launched in 2019 as a partnership between the NBA and the International Basketball Federation, the inaugural BAL season was postponed as a result of the Covid pandemic, finally taking place in 2021. It was the culmination of the work Fall has been doing for almost a quarter century.

Read: ‘This is a dream’: Burna Boy, Afrobeats stars take center stage at the NBA All-Star game

In 1998, while studying in the US on a basketball scholarship, Fall founded the SEED Project (Sports for Education and Economic Development) – a non-profit that uses basketball as a platform to engage youth in academic, athletic and leadership programs. He was later involved in the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders program, which develops players from outside the US, and the opening of the NBA Africa office in 2010.

“All the programs that we’ve launched … are the milestones that ultimately led to the Basketball Africa League,” Fall said.

African basketball stars pave the way for young athletes

African basketball stars pave the way for young athletes

23:02

Those initiatives are helping to introduce more young Africans to the sport, and giving them an opportunity to pursue a basketball career on the continent.

“The best will always, hopefully, get to the NBA and that’s what we want. But if they don’t make it to the NBA, we want to make sure their next best choice is right here,” Fall adds.

At the start of the 2022-2023 season, NBA rosters included 16 players born in Africa, while 35 players had at least one African parent.

When the Toronto Raptors faced the Philadelphia 76ers last October, it was the first time an NBA court had been shared by three players from Cameroon: Joel Embiid, Pascal Siakam and Christian Koloko, who have all taken part in the Basketball Without Borders camp.

It was a historic moment for African basketball and for Koloko, the Raptors rookie center.

“It was one of my first games in the NBA,” he recalled. “I was like wow; we really have three Cameroonians at the same time. Embiid was one of my favorite players (growing up),” he says.

That admiration is shared by others. Embiid was voted the third most likely player to win the MVP award this year, as part of an NBA survey of the league’s general managers.

Raptors president Masai Ujiri was raised in Nigeria and in 2010 became the first African general manager in US professional sports when he joined the Denver Nuggets. He joined the Raptors in 2013 and won the NBA championship with them in 2019. The team’s current roster features eight Africans – more than any team in the NBA.

Ujiri believes that, as the only NBA team based outside the US, it has a unique opportunity. “I think Toronto is global. We’re a team of the world,” he says.

Nonetheless, he is working to grow the game in his home continent. His Giants of Africa non-profit has hosted basketball camps for more than 5,000 children in 16 African countries since 2003 – and he is currently on a mission to build 100 basketball courts across the continent.

It ties in with efforts in the NBA and BAL to create an ecosystem to foster talent at in Africa. The rosters for this season’s 12 BAL teams will include 12 players from the NBA Academy Africa, an elite basketball training center in Saly, Senegal,

Raptors Cameroonian forward Siakam believes the future is bright for African talent. “We all know that this is something incredible that we are achieving,” he says. “At the end of the day Africa is winning.”

Look through the gallery above to see some of the NBA’s African stars.

CNN
 — 

March 11 marked the start of the Basketball Africa League, the continent’s premier basketball competition. Ahead of its third season, president Amadou Gallo Fall reflected on the rise of the sport on the continent. “It’s been an evolutive journey,” he said.

This year’s competition will be held over three months, starting in Senegal’s capital, and Fall’s hometown, Dakar, and will feature 12 teams from across Africa

Launched in 2019 as a partnership between the NBA and the International Basketball Federation, the inaugural BAL season was postponed as a result of the Covid pandemic, finally taking place in 2021. It was the culmination of the work Fall has been doing for almost a quarter century.

Read: ‘This is a dream’: Burna Boy, Afrobeats stars take center stage at the NBA All-Star game

In 1998, while studying in the US on a basketball scholarship, Fall founded the SEED Project (Sports for Education and Economic Development) – a non-profit that uses basketball as a platform to engage youth in academic, athletic and leadership programs. He was later involved in the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders program, which develops players from outside the US, and the opening of the NBA Africa office in 2010.

“All the programs that we’ve launched … are the milestones that ultimately led to the Basketball Africa League,” Fall said.

African basketball stars pave the way for young athletes

African basketball stars pave the way for young athletes

23:02

Those initiatives are helping to introduce more young Africans to the sport, and giving them an opportunity to pursue a basketball career on the continent.

“The best will always, hopefully, get to the NBA and that’s what we want. But if they don’t make it to the NBA, we want to make sure their next best choice is right here,” Fall adds.

At the start of the 2022-2023 season, NBA rosters included 16 players born in Africa, while 35 players had at least one African parent.

When the Toronto Raptors faced the Philadelphia 76ers last October, it was the first time an NBA court had been shared by three players from Cameroon: Joel Embiid, Pascal Siakam and Christian Koloko, who have all taken part in the Basketball Without Borders camp.

It was a historic moment for African basketball and for Koloko, the Raptors rookie center.

“It was one of my first games in the NBA,” he recalled. “I was like wow; we really have three Cameroonians at the same time. Embiid was one of my favorite players (growing up),” he says.

That admiration is shared by others. Embiid was voted the third most likely player to win the MVP award this year, as part of an NBA survey of the league’s general managers.

Raptors president Masai Ujiri was raised in Nigeria and in 2010 became the first African general manager in US professional sports when he joined the Denver Nuggets. He joined the Raptors in 2013 and won the NBA championship with them in 2019. The team’s current roster features eight Africans – more than any team in the NBA.

Ujiri believes that, as the only NBA team based outside the US, it has a unique opportunity. “I think Toronto is global. We’re a team of the world,” he says.

Nonetheless, he is working to grow the game in his home continent. His Giants of Africa non-profit has hosted basketball camps for more than 5,000 children in 16 African countries since 2003 – and he is currently on a mission to build 100 basketball courts across the continent.

It ties in with efforts in the NBA and BAL to create an ecosystem to foster talent at in Africa. The rosters for this season’s 12 BAL teams will include 12 players from the NBA Academy Africa, an elite basketball training center in Saly, Senegal,

Raptors Cameroonian forward Siakam believes the future is bright for African talent. “We all know that this is something incredible that we are achieving,” he says. “At the end of the day Africa is winning.”

Look through the gallery above to see some of the NBA’s African stars.

CNN
 — 

Mercy Esther was eight years old when she left home.

Raised by her grandmother in rural Tanzania, Mercy Esther and her siblings were born into poverty, sometimes without money for food, let alone schoolbooks. When their grandmother was approached with a job offer for Mercy Esther in Kenya, and the promise that money would be sent home, she accepted. The money could help Mercy Esther’s siblings. They might have a better future.

The job offer turned out to be a lie – the first of a string of broken promises that would deprive a young woman of her childhood and her family.

Mercy Esther was born with a deformity in one foot, causing a pronounced limp. On the streets of Nairobi she and other children were forced to beg. She was told to pretend she could not walk, to elicit sympathy from the public. Each day, what money she collected was taken from her.

One day, while begging, Mercy Esther was approached by a woman who offered her domestic work and more promises: a new home, a wage and good treatment. She went with the woman, but instead Mercy Esther was abused and received no money for her labor. It would be six years before she ran away.

More from the CNN Freedom Project

With the support of the Nairobi police and Kenyan and Tanzanian governments, Mercy Esther returned to the country of her birth, but without details of the village where she was raised, authorities put her in the care of WoteSawa Domestic Workers Organization, which runs a shelter for trafficked children in Mwanza, on the shores of Lake Victoria, in the north of the country.

“Tanzania is a beautiful and a peaceful country, but there is a dark side,” said Angela Benedicto, the organization’s founder and executive director.

“Many people live in poverty, and forced labor is a very big problem,” she added. “The most common form of human trafficking in Tanzania is domestic servitude, young girls forced into domestic work. They face abuse, exploitation, and are not paid for their work.”

Around one million children – mostly girls – are engaged in domestic work in Tanzania, according to the non-profit Anti-Slavery International.

WoteSawa was set up in 2014 and every year takes in around 75 children who have escaped trafficking. Space is tight: children sleep two to a bed. Some stay longer than others, says Benedicto, particularly those involved in criminal cases, as prosecutions can take time. So far, the non-profit has helped hundreds of survivors, but the needs are greater than the resources available. Benedicto dreams of building a bigger haven for more children.

Her mission is to empower domestic workers and advocate for their rights. It’s an issue that’s close to her heart; she is herself a former domestic worker. “I faced abuse and exploitation, but I was able to speak out,” she explains. “Many domestic workers, they can’t speak out. Who is going to speak (for) them?”

“I’m using my story to tell them, ‘Don’t give up.’”

WoteSawa means “all are equal” in Swahili. At the shelter children are housed and provided with counseling and legal support. They also receive an education in literacy and numeracy, and vocational skills such as needlework. Reintegrating children back into education works in step with efforts to reunite children with their loved ones, “so that when they go back to their families, they can help not only themselves, but they can help their families,” said Benedicto.

Lydia lives in the Ngara district in the mountains of Western Tanzania. She left home to become a domestic worker aged 16, but was beaten by her employer and not paid for her work. She escaped and was helped by WoteSawa, where she learned how to sew. Lydia returned to her family with a sewing machine provided by WoteSawa and today she is a dressmaker with dreams of a shop of her own.

“She is making enough money to provide for her family,” said Benedicto. “Her dream is to help other young girls to know how to sew. She has a plan to give back to the community.”

As well as helping survivors of trafficking, WoteSawa works to prevent it from happening. Benedicto coordinates with bus depot agents on the lookout for young children, and with local police who have powers to intervene.

“My mission is to make sure (the) offense of human trafficking is stopped – totally. And it is through education we can achieve (that),” said police commander Juma Jumane. “We have to educate families. We have to educate the victim, him or herself. We have to educate also society in general.”

When Mercy Ester arrived at the shelter she was reluctant to share the name of her village because she feared being trafficked again if she returned there. But eventually she changed her mind.

CNN met Mercy Esther through the Poland-based Kulczyk Foundation, which supports WoteSawa.

WoteSawa was able to find her family, and took her grandmother and siblings to the shelter. It had been eight years since they had last seen each other. “It was so emotional,” said Benedicto. “They cried, they hugged. I think every one of us was so emotional. We were in tears of joy.”

Mercy Esther is still uncomfortable with the idea of returning to her village and has chosen to stay at the shelter until she is older, and skilled enough as a seamstress to start a business to help provide for her family.

“Her future is so bright,” said Benedicto. “I can see that she will be a light to her siblings.”

CNN
 — 

Five-time Grammy winner Angélique Kidjo has been announced as one of three 2023 Polar Music Prize recipients, putting the Benin-born singer-songwriter in rare company.

Founded in 1989 by ABBA manager Stig “Stikkan” Anderson, the Sweden-based Polar Music Prize has been awarded since 1992 and is considered to be among the most prestigious honors in the music industry. Past winners include Paul McCartney (1992), Elton John (1995), Stevie Wonder (1999), Björk (2010), and Sting (2017).

“Having a beautiful voice is one thing,” Kidjo told CNN’s African Voices in a 2018 interview. “You always have to think about what you want to do with that voice.”

She will join only two previous recipients from the African continent: South Africa’s Miriam Makeba in 2002, and Senegal’s Youssou N’Dour in 2013. Honored alongside Kidjo this year will be Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records in the UK, and Arvo Pärt of Estonia, the world’s most performed living composer, according to a Polar Music Prize press release.

“To be awarded the Polar Music Prize is humbling,” Kidjo says in the release. “I have no words to say how important this is for me. It comes with a sense of responsibility that is bestowed upon me as an artist to continue to do great work. I will do my best to be a proud recipient of the Prize through my work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, on behalf of the children, and as an ambassador of music, to help create a world in which we can all live in peace.”

The ceremony will take place on May 23 in Stockholm.

CNN
 — 

For years, the people in the villages around Chingola in Zambia endured frequent health challenges and dead fish floating around in their water source, but that was just the beginning of their nightmare.

In 2006, their once-clear river water suddenly turned a vivid blue, tainted by waste from the copper mine owned by the Zambian subsidiary of UK-headquartered mining giant, Vedanta Resources, according to a 2015 Zambian Supreme Court ruling.

Villagers suffered nose bleeds, rashes, and abdominal pain, and some even had blood in their urine, which was a result of contamination by the Zambian subsidiary Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), said Chilekwa Mumba, the son of a former miner who has been fighting for justice on behalf of the communities.

The Supreme Court ruling found that KCM was in contravention of its license and that the “final straw” was the bursting of slurry pipes which “discharged” acidic effluent into the tributaries of the Kafue River, which provides almost half of the country’s drinking water.

But attempts by residents to get compensation for damages caused to their environment had been unsuccessful in Zambia.

In 2015, Mumba launched an epic David versus Goliath fight to try to secure compensation for the community.

The community organizer, led a six-year legal battle in the UK that eventually led to Vedanta Resources and its subsidiary Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) paying compensation to 2,500 Zambian villagers, although the companies admitted no liability.

Along the way, Mumba helped to set a new precedent, allowing a British company to be sued for the actions of its subsidiary in another country.

On Monday, Mumba, 38, was awarded the 2023 Goldman Environmental Prize for Africa for his work for the community and setting legal precedent. ​

“It’s a wonderful feeling to receive this award,” he told CNN. “It’s the culmination of work which was done, not just by me but even the community themselves … who stood up against injustice and stood with us for six years.”

Mumba, a father of three, is one of six global winners of the prestigious award, which honors grassroots environmental activists.

The prize is awarded each year by The Goldman Environmental Foundation, with ceremonies in San Francisco and Washington, DC.

Zambia is Africa’s second-biggest copper producer and its economy relies heavily on copper mining, which generates more than half of its revenue from exports, according to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).

KCM is one of Zambia’s largest mining operations and also one of the country’s biggest private employers, according to its website.

CNN has reached out to Vedanta and KCM for comment but has not received a response.

Mumba said he faced a battle getting justice for Chingola communities suffering the effects of pollution.

In 2011, the Lusaka High Court ordered KCM to pay $2 million to 2,000 Chingola villagers for polluting Mushishima, a tributary of the Kafue River, with toxic chemicals.

The Environmental Council of Zambia, a body set up to protect the environment, provided evidence to the court that KCM violated its license by discharging acidic mine water waste into the river.

While the Supreme Court of Zambia later upheld the verdict that KCM polluted the villagers’ water source, it overturned the ruling on compensation, as the lower court had not fully assessed the extent of injury and damages for each of the 2,000 people.

Only six villagers had provided evidence to the high court of health complications, according to the Supreme Court ruling.

Determined to get justice for affected Chingola communities despite setbacks in the Zambian courts, Mumba approached English law firm Leigh Day in 2015 to launch a legal challenge against KCM’s parent company Vedanta in the UK.

No UK parent company had been held liable for environmental damages caused by their overseas operations at the time.

Vedanta Resources, founded by Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal, has had a controlling stake over KCM since 2004, with the Zambian government retaining minority control. CNN has contacted Vedanta and the Zambian state mining company for comments.

Threats and arrests

Mumba said he played the role of facilitator between community members and Leigh Day lawyers. He said he managed to convince the claimants to provide blood samples for analysis of the health impacts of the pollution, overcoming people’s concerns that their blood samples would be misused.

He recounted nearly being attacked by reptiles while wading through a flooded river during the rainy season to gather water quality samples for the case.

“It was just sheer will,” he told CNN. “The very first day we were collecting samples, we saw a snake just fall out of a tree. We laughed about it and moved on because we knew what we were trying to achieve. We also had to go close to a crocodile infested river, so there was always that threat.”

Mumba said he faced other challenges, including being arrested by local police in 2017 for not having the required permission from authorities to address thousands of villagers from polluted communities.

“I did feel threatened at certain times,” he said.

The road to compensation was lengthy.

A breakthrough came in 2019, when a landmark ruling from the UK Supreme Court held that the Zambians could sue Vedanta in the English courts, finding that Vedanta, as the parent company of KCM, owed the villagers a duty of care.

The ruling added that “even if Zambia would otherwise have been the proper place in which to bring the claims, there was a real risk that the claimants would not obtain substantial justice in the Zambian jurisdiction.”

The litigation was eventually settled. In January 2021, Vedanta announced in a joint statement with Leigh Day: “Without admission of liability, Vedanta Resources Limited and Konkola Copper Mines Plc confirm that they have agreed, for the benefit of local communities, the settlement of all claims brought against them by Zambian claimants represented by English law firm Leigh Day.”

A Leigh Day spokesperson, Caroline Ivison, told CNN that the amount paid as compensation was “confidential under the terms of the settlement agreement.”

Leigh Day attorney Oliver Holland, who worked on the Vedanta case, said in an email to CNN, that the 2019 UK Supreme Court ruling has established “an important precedent for providing access to justice for foreign claimants in transnational corporate liability litigation.”

Following the Vedanta case, the UK top court also ruled in the same year that two Nigerian communities could sue oil company Royal Dutch Shell and its Nigerian subsidiary in the English courts.

Peter Sinkamba, a prominent environmentalist in Zambia, said KCM’s now restricted operations due to a legal dispute over liquidation, have reduced pollution in the Copperbelt area. Zambian authorities handed control of the firm to a liquidator in 2019, sparking a legal dispute with Vedanta, the company’s largest shareholder.

Sinkamba, was among those who helped repeal a law preventing Zambian communities from suing mines for pollution in 1996, said the country’s judiciary is now building expertise in handling environmental cases. CNN has reached out to the office of the chief registrar of the Zambian judiciary​​​​.

Despite the risks posed to communities and wildlife in Zambia, mining operations are still being approved. The government, however, says that approved projects will follow environmental policies set by the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA).

Environmentalists were angered when Zambian authorities supported a huge open-pit mine for copper in Lower Zambezi National Park last year. Sinkamba says they fear that the project will harm the vital wildlife conservation area.

For Mumba, who now runs an orphanage in the Zambian capital Lusaka with his wife, the battle is far from over.

“I’m still working to make sure that our communities live in better ways in terms of the extractive industry. We want pollution and environmental degradation minimized if we cannot stop it,” he told CNN.

“We remain focused in holding those companies accountable … and the communities must be seen to get some justice.”

Johannesburg, South Africa
CNN
 — 

The US ambassador to South Africa on Thursday accused the South African government of delivering arms and ammunition to a sanctioned Russian cargo vessel late last year, local media said.

“Among the things we noted was the docking of the cargo ship in Simon’s Town naval base between the 6th to the 8th of December 2022, which we are confident uploaded weapons and ammunition onto that vessel in Simon’s Town as it made its way back to Russian,” Ambassador Reuben Brigety II told local media, including News24.com.

“We are confident that weapons were loaded onto that vessel, and I would bet my life on the accuracy on that assertion,” the ambassador also said in a video released by Newzroom Afrika, a local news channel that was also at the briefing.

“The arming of the Russians is extremely serious, and we do not consider this issue to be resolved, and we would like SA to [begin] practicing its non-alignment policy,” he said, according to both news outlets.

In response to the ambassador’s claims, South Africa has summoned Brigety to Pretoria. In a statement released on Twitter Friday, Clayson Monyela, the head of public diplomacy for the South African foreign ministry, said it would “demarche the USA Ambassador to South Africa following his remarks yesterday.”

Monyela said a detailed statement would be released following the meeting. South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor would also speak to her US counterpart, Secretary Antony Blinken, about the matter, he added.

The presence of the mysterious ‘Lady R’ cargo vessel caused significant speculation when it docked at the naval base in Simon’s Town near Cape Town in December last year. Cargo vessels routinely dock at Cape Town’s civilian harbor, not the naval base.

At the time, opposition member of parliament and shadow Defense Minister Kobus Marais said in a statement that goods were loaded off and onto the ship during the overnight hours and demanded answers from the government.

The US Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control added the Lady R to its sanctions list in May last year for alleged weapons shipments, along with a host of other Russian-flagged cargo vessels.

The South African presidency called the explosive allegations “disappointing” and warned that the remarks “undermine the spirit of cooperation and partnership” between the US and South African government officials who had been discussing the matter.

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office said in a statement late Thursday that no evidence had been provided to support these allegations and that the government planned to form an independent inquiry into the matter.

“In recent engagements between the South African delegation and US officials, the Lady R matter was discussed and there was agreement that an investigation will be allowed to run its course and that the US intelligence services will provide whatever evidence in their possession,” the statement read.

CNN asked presidential spokesman Vincent Magwenya why an inquiry was needed for events at South Africa’s own naval base.

“US intelligence services said they had evidence that they would only provide to us via a credible investigation or inquiry. We take the allegations seriously, and we want to have a credible independent voice to state the actual facts of the matter,” he said.

“Otherwise, we risk a back forth series of accusations and denials, which is not going to be helpful in the context of our bilateral relations.”

It is unusual for a US ambassador in South Africa to make such public accusations against the government.

The South African government has come under intense criticism for its stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and has routinely abstained from votes condemning Russia at the United Nations General Assembly.

While South African leadership has repeatedly stated that they are neutral in the conflict and have frequently called for a negotiated settlement, their actions have come under increasing scrutiny from Western powers.

In February of this year, South Africa convened naval war games off its coast including both the Russian and Chinese military.

Later this year, South Africa will host the BRICS summit, a grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Russian President Vladimir Putin was invited to that summit.

South African officials have flip-flopped in their public commitment to the Rome Statute – the treaty that compels signatory nations to arrest individuals indicted by the court – after Putin was indicted for alleged war crimes in March.

While South Africa’s ruling party African National Congress has an ideological history with Russia and the former Soviet Union, the European Union and the United States are far bigger trading partners.

CNN
 — 

Ten lions have been killed in southern Kenya this past week, including six on Saturday alone, as human-wildlife conflict escalates in the region, according to the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS).

This is “an unusually large number of lions to be killed at one go,” a spokesperson for the KWS told CNN on Sunday.

It comes after conservationists announced the killing of one of Africa’s oldest lions, Loonkiito, at the age of 19 earlier this week.

He had ventured out of a protected area and into a livestock pen due to being “starving,” and was killed by the livestock owner, according to conservation organization Lion Guardians.

The organization said that the end of a drought is commonly marked by an increase in human-lion conflict, since wild prey becomes harder to hunt and livestock owners are “particularly vigilant” after losing so many animals. Kenya has been experiencing its worst drought in 40 years.

The six lions that died on Saturday had killed 11 goats and one dog, the KWS said in a press release on Saturday.

The lions were all part of Kajiado County’s Amboseli ecosystem, a UNESCO biosphere reserve site near Mount Kilimanjaro, according to the UN.

KWS hosted a meeting Saturday attended by locals and government officials to discuss the recent killings.

“The discussions centered on exploring ways to minimize the risk of human-wildlife conflict, including developing early warning systems to alert communities to the presence of wildlife in their vicinity,” said the KWS.

“Further discussions centered on the wider picture of exploring human-wildlife conflict in the context of community livelihoods and benefit sharing towards a harmonious coexistence in the open community and wildlife landscapes,” it added.

Reuters
 — 

The United States has imposed entry restrictions on more Nigerians for undermining the democratic process during the African nation’s 2023 election cycle, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday.

“These individuals have been involved in intimidation of voters through threats and physical violence, the manipulation of vote results, and other activity that undermines Nigeria’s democratic process,” Blinken said in a statement.

Additional details were not provided.

The action is the latest in a series of visa restrictions imposed on Nigerian individuals in recent years.

Nigeria’s election tribunal this month was to begin hearing opposition petitions challenging president-elect Bola Tinubu’s victory in the disputed February presidential vote, court records showed.

Tinubu, from the ruling All Progressives Congress party, defeated his closest rivals Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party and the Labour Party’s Peter Obi, who have alleged fraud and have launched a court challenge.

Atiku and Obi want the tribunal to invalidate Tinubu’s victory, arguing that the vote was fraught with irregularities, among other criticisms. Tinubu, who is set to be sworn in on May 29, says he won fairly and wants the petitions dismissed.

There have been numerous legal challenges to the outcome of previous Nigerian presidential elections, but none has succeeded.

CNN
 — 

A United States convoy was attacked in Nigeria on Tuesday killing four people, including two personnel from the US consulate and two police officers, and kidnapping three others, according to local police and US officials.

The attack took place in the southeastern Anambra state, with Anambra Police Command telling CNN that the attackers “murdered two police operatives and two staff of the US consulate and set their bodies and their vehicles ablaze.”

The personnel who were killed were not US citizens, according to the White House and the local police. “No US citizens were involved and therefore there were no US citizens hurt,” said John Kirby of the US National Security Council. “We are aware of some casualties, perhaps even some killed.”

When the assailants saw security forces “they made away with two police operatives and a driver of the second vehicle in the convoy,” Ikenga Tochukwu, deputy superintendent of police, said. “No US citizen was in the convoy,” he added.

Police said that joint security forces “have embarked on a rescue and recovery operation in the area.”

A State Department spokesperson said Tuesday that “Mission Nigeria personnel are working with Nigerian security services to investigate.”

They continued: “The security of our personnel is always paramount, and we take extensive precautions when organizing trips to the field,” they continued.

CNN
 — 

Nigerian chef Hilda Effiong Bassey has become a national sensation after cooking nonstop for 100 hours, in an attempt to set a world record.

The chef, known on social media as Hilda Baci, started cooking on Thursday and continued until Monday – creating more than 55 recipes and over 100 meals designed to showcase the best of Nigerian cuisine in the marathon kitchen session.

The Guinness world record committee still has to confirm that all their criteria have been met and whether Bassey will become the record holder.

The record to beat – 87 hours and 45 minutes – was set in 2019 by Indian chef Lata Tondon who posted a message of support to Bassey during her attempt.

Bassey told CNN that she was motivated to attempt the record because she wants to put Nigerian food on the map.

“Nigerian cuisine is the best out there,” she said. “The more recipes are propagated, the more people will be willing to try it. Nigerian food is such comfort food,” she added.

Despite the lack of sleep throughout her cooking spree in Lagos, Bassey remained in high spirits and could be spotted dancing and waving at her fans who turned out in droves to support her.

One man, Uduak Obong, told CNN he took a bus journey through the night, traveling hundreds of kilometers to arrive at the venue in Lagos.

“I drove 12 hours to be right here to support my sister, my friend. She’s just amazing,” he said.

Enioluwa Adeoluwa, a media personality, who also doubled as MC for the cookathon, told CNN: “When a Nigerian is doing something we all come out to show support… We are super excited. She’s doing such an amazing job.”

“She’s opening the door to the African food market and showing all the youth out here that if you can dream it, you can achieve it,” actor and Nollywood star Damilola Ogunsi said.

Celebrities including musician Tiwa Savage and local politicians visited Bassey during the cooking challenge.

Bassey told CNN that she nearly gave up on the first day, but after surpassing the previous record, she decided to aim for 100 hours.

“The first day was the most difficult. I was ready to give up 6 hours in. I feel like a miracle happened and somehow I got to this. The support has been incredible,” she said.

CNN
 — 

A toddler has died after a boat ferrying more than 30 villagers across the Shire River in Malawi’s Nsanje district was attacked by a hippo, causing it to overturn, authorities said.

A police spokesperson, Agnes Zalakoma, said the incident happened early Monday and 23 of the boat’s 37 passengers were missing and feared dead in the water, which is infested with crocodiles and hippos.

“Well-wishers managed to rescue 13 people while 23 others went missing and the dead body of the toddler has been found,” Zalakoma said in a statement Monday, adding that the deceased child was only one-year-old.

Rescuers are continuing searching for the missing persons, Zalakoma’s statement added.

Zalakoma told CNN Tuesday that it was dangerous to cross the river and accidents are common.

“It is too dangerous because it (the river) is too shallow and in this river there are crocodiles that most of the time attack people and also hippopotamus that cause incidents like the one we’re dealing with,” Zalakoma said.

According to a lawmaker for the Nsanje district, Gladys Ganda, the villagers were crossing the Shire River to get to their farms at the Malawian border with Mozambique when their boat was hit by a hippo.

Hippos are one of the world’s most dangerous animals, and they can snap a canoe in half with their strong jaws, according to National Geographic.

They are found naturally in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, especially in east and southern Africa.

Hippo attacks are also common in sub-Saharan Africa. In December, a two-year-old Ugandan boy was attacked by a hippo which swallowed half of his body before spitting him out, Uganda’s police said.

CNN
 — 

Floods have caused almost a quarter of a million people to flee their homes after the Shabelle river in central Somalia broke its banks and submerged the town of Beledweyne, even as the country faces its most severe drought in four decades, according to the government.

Aid agencies and scientists have warned climate change is among the key factors accelerating humanitarian emergencies, while those impacted are some of the least responsible for CO2 emissions.

Seasonal rains in Somalia and upstream in the Ethiopian highlands triggered flash floods that washed away homes, crops, and livestock, and temporarily closed schools and hospitals in Beledweyne, the capital of Hiraan region, local residents said.

“At once the entire city was underwater. Beledweyne itself became like an ocean,” said shopkeeper Ahmed Nur, whose business was washed away.

“Only the roofs of the houses could be seen. We used small boats and tractors to rescue people,” he said.

Nur has been staying with relatives on the edge of the city which, just weeks earlier, had been celebrating the end of the crippling drought.

“Rain came, we were happy. People planted their crops,” he said.

The drought, coupled with violence and a spike in food prices caused by the war in Ukraine, killed as many as 43,000 people last year, according to United Nations figures.

Since mid-March the floods have affected more 460,000 nationwide and killed 22, according to the U.N. humanitarian office (OCHA).

The Somali Disaster Management Agency said the floods in Beledweyne alone have caused the displacement of more than 245,000 people.

“Recovery from six consecutive seasons of poor rainfall performance will take time,” OCHA said in a May 14 report.

The rains are recharging water sources and enabling vegetation to regenerate, however, it will take much more rainfall to effectively alleviate the impact of the recent drought, OCHA said in a report.

After back-to-back disasters, at least one resident of Beledweyne, Halima Abdullahi, said she had seen enough, making her one of the 216 million people the World Bank predicts could be compelled to move within their own country by 2050 because of climate stress.

“We shall move to villages far away,” said the mother of two children. “Beledweyne no longer exists.”

CNN
 — 

Rescuers have recovered six more bodies from a river in southern Malawi days after a boat carrying about 37 people was capsized by a hippo on Monday.

Police spokesperson Agnes Zalakoma said the bodies were recovered Wednesday from the Shire River in Malawi’s Nsanje district, bringing the death toll to seven.

Thirteen people were earlier rescued but 17 are still unaccounted for and on Monday, the body of a one-year-old toddler was pulled out of the river, which Zalakoma said was infested with crocodiles and hippos.

Those found dead were aged between 17 and 51, she added.

A lawmaker for the Nsanje district, Gladys Ganda, said the villagers were crossing the Shire River to get to their farms at the Malawian border with Mozambique when the boat they were traveling in was struck by the hippo.

Police spokeswoman Zalakoma earlier told CNN that accidents are common on the river.

“It is too dangerous because it (the Shire River) is too shallow and in this river, there are crocodiles that most of the time attack people and also hippopotamus that cause incidents like the one we’re dealing with,” she said.

She added that rescuers are continuing the search for those missing.

The area has seen previous tragic boat accidents. In January, a canoe carrying 15 people capsized in the Shire River after hitting a tree trunk, leaving one person dead and six others missing and feared dead, Zalakoma told CNN.

London
CNN
 — 

When Africa needs medicines, all too often the continent must look abroad.

African nations consume about 25% of vaccines produced globally, but import nearly 99% of their supply, according to the African Union Development Agency. For packaged medicines, only 36% of demand is produced locally, and just 3% is supplied by regional trade, according to the World Economic Forum.

Of the roughly 600 manufacturers of packaged medicines operating on the continent, South Africa’s Aspen Pharmacare is one of the largest, with more than 9,000 employees in over 50 countries. CEO Stephen Saad discussed the future of the pharmaceutical sector in Africa, and what lessons Aspen Pharmacare has learned from the Covid-19 pandemic, with CNN’s Eleni Giokos.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

During the pandemic, we’ve seen a spotlight on the inequalities that exist on the continent in the pharmaceutical sector. Aspen has had a very strong commercial presence across Africa and now you’re moving up the value chain. Certainly Covid has catalyzed a lot of work that you’re doing. Tell me what you’re up to.

Saad: You mentioned inequalities. [Covid] really sparked the world’s attention to say, ‘Hey, this doesn’t seem right.’ We were very proud to be able to deliver vaccines to the continent in the quantities that we did, but the reality of Covid was that Africa didn’t get vaccinated. But what we’ve learned — whether it was Aids or multi-drug-resistant TB — is that we have to be strong regionally. We have really doubled down and instead of saying, ‘Look we’ve lost the Covid vaccine volumes and so we’re closing up,’ we’ve actually put [in] even more capacity. We’re committed to one person one vaccine in Africa and we’re working very hard towards that process.

If I had to ask you to describe what the pharmaceutical sector looks like right now in Africa, what would your answer be?

The answer is simple. When Covid came and Africa needed vaccines, over 90% of the vaccines were supplied by India — and that wasn’t great. At the end of the day, you can’t ask politicians from other countries to supply someone else before them. I don’t think anybody wants Africans to suffer, but the reality is when the borders close, whether it was Europe or India, they looked after their own population first. If it hadn’t been for Aspen, there would have been no vaccines made in Africa for the continent.

There’s a lot of money going into it now, there’s a lot of investment, there are many initiatives — many of them government-driven. We, off our own bat, have decided that we want to be a source not just of vaccines but biologicals — we would really like to be assisting in oncology, diabetes. We’ve got a lot that we would like to do across the continent to make sure we get access, because there are so many diseases that are just so under-serviced.

The World Trade Organization has done a lot on the policy front for Africa. The Continental Free Trade Area will hopefully make it a lot easier for cross-border trade in the pharmaceutical space. What challenges do you face?

There are numerous challenges. We have facilities in Accra [Ghana], Dar-es-Salaam [Tanzania], Nairobi [Kenya] … It is not always easy to get registrations approved. You decide not to put medicine in Kenya, for example, because of the cost of registration and the time taken. Whereas if it was already registered, we’d be exporting manufacturing into one of those territories.

It’s not so much a tariff issue or a trade issue, this is really a regulatory issue, where your medicine is required to be registered in a specific country in a specific way. For example, you can register a product across Europe [via] a central regulatory body. I think that is something that Africa should also consider.

Even though you say you’re doing good, you still have to make money. How do you balance out all of these factors?

There is this [misconception] that for you to supply cost-affordably means that it’s not very profitable. So much is about economies of scale. I remember when we did ARVs [antiretrovirals, used to treat HIV] and we were desperately trying to cut the price by nearly 90%. We got some fantastic pricing from everyone, but we still made a loss. The decision we made was, let’s go for it. At worst we would have a pretty expensive social investment project, but we backed ourselves that with increased volumes we would be able to reduce pricing. That’s what happened — the volumes came in, the prices, the technologies, and it became affordable. So sometimes you just have to go in and do it. I can’t tell you it was an exact science, but I do believe there’s a balance to be had.

I do think the world acknowledges that there are people that can pay and there are people that can’t pay. To deny people that can’t pay simply because they don’t have money is not a model that’s sustainable.