Category: Key Issues

This month’s riots across South Africa have underscored concerns about inequality and stability after nearly three decades of democracy. In Soweto, owners of pillaged shops accuse the government of failing them.

Mahamadali Randera watched helplessly from outside his electronics shop at a strip mall in Soweto as determined looters broke through its heavy metal gate.

In a matter of hours, his livelihood of the past seven years disappeared.

Neighboring shops were also emptied before the one-story building was torched.

Nationwide, losses from the unrest that overwhelmed police, destroyed infrastructure and halted local economies are estimated in the billions of dollars.

Small business owners like Mohamadali Randera in Soweto are left asking authorities: why?

“I’m really disappointed in this government,” said Randera. “Why the government can’t open up their hands and do this targeting these people who are do this nonsense because not only my shop, there’s a million people who lost their business.”

Experts say the riots were an eruption of frustrations that have long been simmering among South Africans.

Extreme inequality has persisted since the ruling party — the African National Congress — was first elected in 1994.

Nelson Mandela University’s Hlingwe Ndlovu says although it brought freedom to the nation, the ANC has since failed to deliver for the poorest.

“We’re seeing now post 1994, we have a different governance with a different face, but the conditions pretty much are more or less the same… People are angry, people are hungry and they want to take out this frustration,” Ndvolu said.

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced this week the return of a social grant for those who have lost their jobs during COVID-19 lockdowns.

Uninsured business owners like Randera can also expect funding.

But Johannesburg-based international relations expert Leaza Jernberg says the response has yet to restore public confidence in the state.

“There is some frustration that everything moves too slowly and that we hear lots of wonderful promises but if you’re not actually going to carry them through then what’s the point?,” Jernberg asked.

Divisions within the big-tent party are also festering while allegations of corruption under former President Jacob Zuma’s administration mount.

But voters are left with few alternatives. Jernberg said opposition parties fail to attract broad support by being too radical or appealing to old racial and ethnic ties.

And yet, Jernberg says the unrest may have also revealed the strengths of the country’s democracy.

“The constitutional court held firm, the different people in civil society and the institutions came out in support of the court and despite the unrest, President Zuma remains in prison, which has to be seen as a triumph for the rule of law,” Jernberg said.

The country is now closely watching how the law is being enforced on those involved in the riots.

More than 25-hundred people have been arrested, six of whom face charges for inciting violence. The government has said more arrests are expected.

Source: Voice of America

Authorities in Sudan say at least 3,000 Ethiopian refugees fled into Sudan this week, after the war in Ethiopia’s Tigray region spread to the neighboring Amhara region. VOA speaks to a refugee camp director and a political analyst about the significance of the influx in this report from Khartoum.

Sudanese authorities reported thousands of Ethiopian refugees crossing the border this week. In a phone interview with VOA, the head of the Al-Qadarif Emergency Committee handling refugee camps, Alfatih Mogadam, said the registered number of the new asylum seekers is 1,058.

Mogadam says the camps will struggle to absorb so many refugees, and he asked the Sudanese government and aid groups to quickly intervene.

The majority of the new refugees fled from Ethiopia’s Amharic region, bordering war-torn Tigray, and the conflicted Alfashga region between Sudan and Ethiopia.

The war erupted in Ethiopia last November between the federal government in Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed accused Tigrayan troops of attacking federal military camps.

The war in Ethiopia has caused a devastating humanitarian crisis mostly in the Tigray region.

Humanitarian aid agencies like the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) say more than 5 million people in the Tigray region are in urgent need of food aid. About 60,000 Ethiopians have fled to Sudan and are camping in the eastern cities bordering Ethiopia.

Sudanese analysts like Ahmed Abdelghani warn the influx from the Amhara region might lead to tension between Amharans and Tigrayans in the camps.

Abdelghani says it is challenging because of the previous disputes between the two ethnic groups, with the Amharic group supporting the federal government of Ethiopia in its war against the Tigrayan people.

He adds that receiving the new refugees in the same camps may cost Sudan a lot if the government did not conduct security procedures to avoid any breakdown between the battling groups.

The conflict in the Tigray region has worsened the already-troubled relationship between Sudan and Ethiopia.

The countries have engaged in a years-long dispute about Ethiopia’s massive hydroelectric GERD dam, which Sudan and Egypt fear will cut off their access to adequate water from the Nile River.

The Ethiopia government announced updated plans Tuesday for electricity generation from the dam, after the second-phase filling of the dam ended this month.

Source: Voice of America

Cameroon’s government has sent ministers to its northern border with Nigeria to convince villagers who fled Boko Haram militants to return. Cameroon invested $10 million on reconstruction efforts after damage caused by the Islamist terrorist group in some villages. But, in northern Cameroon, many villagers are reluctant to go home, and authorities acknowledge the militants are still a threat.

Bulldozers of Cameroon’s Ministry of Public Works fill destroyed portions of the 30-kilometer road linking Cameroon’s northern town of Mora to Banki, a town in northeast Nigeria.

Celestine Ketcha Courtes, Cameroon’s minister of housing and urban development, and Talba Malla Ibrahim, minister of public contracts, traveled to the site this week.

Courtes said they went to find out the effectiveness of reconstruction work on infrastructure damaged during fighting by Cameroonian troops and Boko Haram combatants.

She said Cameroonian President Paul Biya instructed her and the minister of public contracts to visit markets rebuilt to facilitate the purchase and sale of goats, cattle, table birds and food. She said they also saw roads built to ease travel between Cameroon and Nigeria and to facilitate trade between the two neighbors. She said Cameroon’s government is planning to rebuild infrastructure destroyed by the jihadist militant group Boko Haram.

Cameroon said the $10 million was invested this year for reconstruction of schools, hospitals and markets destroyed by Boko Haram. Alamine Ousman Mey is the minister of economy. He said civilians who fled can return and occupy infrastructure that has been reconstructed.

“It started with the reconstruction be it [of] the police as well as custom administrative facilities [buildings]. It has gone further to train those involved in protecting the population and also the community to be part of the stabilization process. It is about bringing back economic life,” he said.

Mey acknowledged Boko Haram is still a threat. He said civilians should return as the military will protect people to help in the development of their towns and villages.

But this week, Cameroon reported two Boko Haram deadly attacks that claimed the lives of 13 troops and civilians in the border villages of Sagme and Zigi. The latest attack was in Zigi on Tuesday. Authorities say five troops and six civilians were killed.

Cameroon said several hundred civilians fled the two villages.

There has been no comment from Nigeria, but a Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), established by Lake Chad Basin countries to combat Boko Haram, consists of troops from Nigeria, Cameroon, Benin, Niger and Chad. The troops, which have a base in Mora, are posted along Cameroon’s border with Nigeria.

Gregory Bonglam is a teacher. He said on Tuesday, he fled Mozogo, a northern administrative unit on the border with Nigeria after yet another Boko Haram attack.

“You never can identify who is Boko Haram and who is not. We were sitting outside and discussing. Little did we know that Boko Haram was around and before we knew it, there were already explosives. Luckily, we were a little far from the incident otherwise we would have been killed. Going back there is really very dangerous,” he said.

Philemon Ndula, conflict resolution specialist with the Cameroon NGO Trauma Center, said Cameroon should ensure there is peace before reconstruction.

“What I will suggest is for the government to talk about recovery. In recovery, there is the physical aspect of building the schools, building the houses, building the hospitals and so on. So that is why I am saying that reconstruction is just a starting point. The psychological aspect is actually the heart of the matter. People can only go out to do their businesses, to go to their farms when they have that minimum security,” said Ndula.

Cameroon says security will improve if civilians collaborate with authorities and report to authorities if they see suspicious activities in towns and villages. The government is also asking for the creation of militias to assist the military fight Boko Haram.

Boko Haram has been fighting for 11 years to create an Islamic caliphate in northeast Nigeria and parts of Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Benin.

The violence has cost the lives of 30,000 people and displaced about 2 million civilians, according to the United Nations.

Source: Voice of America

NAIROBI, KENYA – Tunisia’s president, Kais Saied, was accused of staging a coup this week, when he dismissed the prime minister and suspended parliament after violent protests. Clashes between Saied’s supporters, protesters, and police have raised fears that Tunisia’s fragile democracy is under threat.

A nationwide, dusk-to-dawn curfew began in Tunisia Tuesday and no more than three people are allowed to gather in public places.

The move comes two days after Tunisian President Kais Saied fired Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi and suspended parliament for 30 days.

To justify the prime minister’s firing and shutting the parliament, Saied cited Article 80 of the constitution, which he said gave him the power to carry out such a decision.

Opponents are calling that decision a coup.

Marc Owen Jones, a professor at Qatar’s Hamad bin Khalifa University, told VOA the president planned this moment for months.

“This policy or what he is doing reflects the content of a document that was leaked back in May that basically suggested that the president should consolidate his own power by issuing the measures we have seen in the past two days. And this policy is certainly supported by certain countries in the Middle East, which includes Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates governments in particular,” he said.

Jones said the Tunisian leader is following the footsteps of other rulers who ruled with an iron fist.

“The president is consolidating power in his hands and is threatening anyone who engages in violence will get bullets. He has not learnt the lessons of Arab uprising, which is that most people in the region don’t want authoritarian leaders who basically concentrate violent powers in their hands and threaten the population with violence. This is a huge significant moment in the middle east that represents an infringement of authoritarian rule once again,” he said.

President Saied was elected in 2019. The election that year was the second free presidential vote in the north African nation. The electorate hoped he would improve their lives and move the country forward.

The developments Sunday came after months of wrangling between the president and Prime Minister Mechichi. A parliamentary coalition led by the biggest political party, Ennahdha, supported the prime minister.

On Monday, the military sealed off the parliament building and supporters of the president and Ennahdha clashed outside.

On Tuesday, Ennahdha called for dialogue to end the political crisis. The party said there is a need to preserve democratic gains and return the country to constitutional order.

Mohamed-Dhia Hammami is a political science researcher based in Tunis. He said Tunisia can solve its problem.

“We still have what we call a national organization, mostly a strong and powerful labor union UGTT, that can play the role of a mediator for Kais Saied and the others. Yesterday, [there were] calls from one of the quartet members of the 2013 mediation calling for national dialogue, and calling for similar mediation between Kais Saied, the president and Rached Ghannouchi, the head of the Ennahdha and the head of the parliament. So that might be an option,” he said.

In 2013, Tunisia’s National Dialogue Quartet helped resolve the political crisis, their effort won them the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize.

However, some experts fear the current political crisis may end in an impasse and a standoff, leading to a conflict.

Hammami said the president cannot hold power that long.

“I don’t think it will be dark as Syria or Egypt or Yemen but I think that we are facing a risk of the authoritarian term. But at the same time, we should keep in mind that the current president Kais Saied is an outsider to the system, his understanding of the complexity of things is limited. He doesn’t have the political party that allows him to govern the country like Bin Ali did, the former dictator. And a significant part of the establishment and political elite are opposing or at least skeptical of his recent moves,” he said.

Tunisia has achieved democracy in recent years, but the country has struggled with high unemployment, corruption and slow economic growth.

Source: Voice of America

The European Union on Tuesday stressed the need to preserve democracy and stability in Tunisia following Tunisian President Kais Saied’s suspension of parliament and firing of the country’s prime minister.

“We call for the restoration of institutional stability as soon as possible, and in particular for the resumption of parliamentary activity, respect for fundamental rights and an abstention from all forms of violence,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he had spoken to Saied by telephone and expressed “support for Tunisia’s democracy.”

“I encouraged President Saied to adhere to the principles of democracy and human rights that are the basis of governance in Tunisia and urged him to maintain open dialogue with all political actors and the Tunisian people,” Blinken tweeted.

Saied’s move late Sunday followed weeks of political turbulence in the country – fueled in part by public anger over the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Saied, a political independent, said he was acting in response to the country’s economic woes and political deadlock and added that the country’s constitution gave him that authority.

Rached Ghannouchi, the parliament speaker and head of the dominant Ennahdha party, called the president’s actions a “coup” and said the legislature would continue its work.

Two other main parties in parliament also called it a coup, which the president rejected.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the Biden administration is concerned about the situation. She told reporters the developments “come as Tunisian authorities are seeking to stabilize their economy, confront a resurgence in the COVID-19 pandemic, and improve living standards for all Tunisians.”

Saied’s announcement drew crowds of demonstrators into the streets of the capital, Tunis, and elsewhere to celebrate, reflecting people’s anger at parliament to address the country’s problems.

There were also protesters outside the parliament building who were against the president’s actions, and clashes took place between the opposing groups.

Tunisian authorities shut down a live broadcast of Qatar’s Al-Jazeera TV, alleging that its correspondent appeared to encourage the small crowd of protesters to chant against the government. The broadcaster reported that its office in the Tunisian capital was sealed shut and that journalists were not being allowed to enter.

Tunisia has struggled economically for years, and along with political challenges, it has dealt with a spike in COVID-19 cases and deaths.

Political analyst Amin Mustafa told VOA that “most Tunisians have been badly hurt by the ongoing economic crisis and high unemployment, so the issue of suspending parliament is not likely to arouse a strong negative reaction.”

The influential Tunisian Federation of Labor declared Monday that it considers “all measures taken by the president to be legal.”

Source: Voice of America