Djibouti News Gazette

Security officials in Somalia say dozens of people were killed after militants attacked a small town in the central state of Galmudug early on Sunday.

At least 30 people were killed, among them civilian residents caught in the crossfire between militants and security forces in the town of Wisil, local officials told VOA Somali.

The attack started with the militants detonating a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device in an area close to a security camp in the town, said a regional official who asked not to be named because he is not allowed to speak to the media.

Galmudug’s information minister, Ahmed Shire Falagle, told VOA Somali that regional forces repulsed the dawn attack and inflicted losses on the militants. Falagle said three soldiers were among the dead with at least seven others injured. He said about 100 militants attacked the town and that “many of them have not returned alive.” He did not elaborate.

For its part, the al-Shabab militant group claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it killed 34 members of the security forces.

Wisil lies 200 kilometers southeast of Galkayo in an area where al-Shabab recently made advances. In April, the group captured the town of Ba’adweyne, not far from Wisil, after government and regional forces vacated it for undisclosed reasons.

About two hours after the attack in Wisil, authorities in the regional state of Puntland executed 21 men accused of al-Shabab membership and terrorism, regional police commander Colonel Mumin Abdi Shire told the media.

The men were convicted in separate trials in the towns of Galkayo, Garowe and Qardho this year.

Eighteen of the men were lined up next to a sand hill outside the town of Galkayo. Security forces facing them opened fire, executing them. Separately, three other men were executed in Garowe and Qardho town. All of the executions were by firing squad. It is the largest single execution of al-Shabab militants in Somalia, observers say.

Security officials in Puntland accused the men of involvement in a series of assassinations and attacks, spanning more than 10 years, which claimed the lives of regional and community leaders, security officers and journalists.

Al-Shabab is largely active in south-central Somalia. The group also has a small footprint in Puntland in the northeast. Puntland is a semi-autonomous state.

Source: Voice of America

In Malawi, members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and inter-sex (LGBTI) community Saturday held their first ever pride parade in the capital, Lilongwe, pushing for recognition by the government, legalization of same-sex marriage and equal access to health care.

During the parade, marchers carried placards with messages like; “We Are Also Human Beings,” “Diversity Creates Community” and, “We Are Also an Image of God.”

Many of them covered their faces not only with coronavirus protective masks to hide their identity.

Eric Sambisa, director of Nyasa Rainbow Alliance, which organized the parade, told reporters that sexual minorities are in danger in Malawi.

“People are not safe here because they are targeted for violence all the time. There are so many forms of violence targeted to LGBTI people, so I don’t blame them if they cover their [faces]. It’s for their own safety,” Sambisa said.

The marchers petitioned Malawi’s government to cancel an online survey on citizens’ views on homosexuality announced last November during a United Nations Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the country’s human rights record.

A U.N. report stemming from the review noted that “Malawi had refused to accept the recommendations” related to the LGBTI community “and the hate crimes, physical violence, and mental health issues that its members faced.”

Malawi held out the survey as a reason for delaying the government’s response to pressure from the international community to better protect sexual minorities.

George Kachimanga, program manager for Nyasa Rainbow Alliance, said progress on human rights should not depend on the results of a poll.

“So, we said we cannot expose issues of the minority to the majority because you actually know the outcome. So, we are saying ‘no’ to that because Malawi is sitting [on the] Human Rights Council now and it should lead by example. It shouldn’t be selective on the rights that it can actually implement or fulfill. So that [is our] our argument,” he said.

Kachimanga also said the alliance wants Malawi authorities to review its laws on homosexuality, which is currently illegal and punishable by a 14-year maximum prison sentence.

In 2010, Malawi sentenced two gay couples, who received the maximum sentence on charges of gross indecency and unnatural acts.

They were, however, pardoned a week later following an international condemnation of the convictions.

In 2015, the country issued a moratorium on punishing homosexuality until a decision was made on possibly repealing applicable laws.

Some commentators argue the moratorium serves as de facto recognition by the government of sexual minorities – and that further agitation by the LGTBI community is therefore unnecessary.

But Kachimanga said the absence of legal reform subjects LGBTI people to human rights violations, discrimination, stigma and unequal access to health care.

“Despite the moratorium, cases are still ongoing. Mind you it’s not all the cases that have to come in the national media, there are other cases that happen underground, so you need to take care of those cases as well. So, we need something concrete that will determine the right direction in terms of these issues,” Kachimanga said.

VOA was unable to reach government officials for comment.

Nyasa Rainbow Alliance is appealing to the Malawi Law Society as well as the country’s parliament and human rights commission for change.

Habiba Osman, executive director for the human rights commission, said the group’s petition is in line with provisions in the Malawi Constitution.

“The Constitution is very clear. It says no one shall be discriminated [against] based on race, tribe, and sex. It’s very clear; Section 20 says that. And again, if you notice the treaty mechanisms that Malawi has ratified among other binding treaty obligations, for example, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1 says all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights,” Osman said.

The principal administrative officer for the Lilongwe City Council, Hudson Kuphanga, has received the petition and says he will deliver it to the appropriate authorities on Monday.

Source: Voice of America

BERLIN – The United Nations said 12 German troops and a Belgian soldier serving in the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali were wounded Friday in an attack in the country’s restive north.

The U.N. mission in the country, MINUSMA, had earlier said that 15 peacekeepers were wounded when a temporary operational base in the Gao region was targeted with a vehicle bomb. Later, it corrected the numbers.

German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said three of the soldiers were seriously wounded. She told reporters in Bonn, Germany, that two soldiers were in a stable condition while the third was still undergoing surgery.

All of the wounded soldiers were flown by helicopter to Gao, where they were being treated at German, French and Chinese medical facilities, the minister said.

“The military operations on site aren’t completed yet,” she said.

A German medevac plane will fly to Gao overnight to bring the wounded soldiers back to Germany on Saturday, said Kramp-Karrenbauer.

Germany has hundreds of troops taking part in U.N. stabilization and European Union training missions in the West African nation.

Mali has been trying to contain an Islamic extremist insurgency since 2012.

Islamic extremist rebels were forced from power in Mali’s northern cities with the help of a French-led military operation in 2013. However, the insurgents quickly regrouped in the desert and began launching frequent attacks on the Malian army and its allies fighting the insurgency.

The extremists have expanded their reach well into central Mali, where their presence has inflamed tensions between ethnic groups in the area.

Source: Voice of America

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Friday that the delta variant of the novel coronavirus has been identified in at least 85 countries and “is the most transmissible of the variants identified so far . . . and is spreading rapidly among unvaccinated populations.” He also said, “As some countries ease public health and social measures, we are starting to see increases in transmission around the world.”

“It’s quite simple: more transmission, more variants. Less transmission, less variants,” the WHO chief said. “That makes it even more urgent that we use all the tools at our disposal to prevent transmission: the tailored and consistent use of public health and social measures, in combination with equitable vaccination.

Meanwhile, health officials say a new strain of the delta variant of the coronavirus, first identified in India, has emerged in almost a dozen countries, including India, the United States, and the U.K. The new variant has been dubbed Delta Plus. Authorities fear Delta Plus may be even more contagious the delta variant. Scientists are just beginning to study the new strain.

Australia’s biggest city has been ordered into a two-week lockdown because of a growing number of COVID-19 cases. Health authorities in Sydney are fighting to contain an outbreak of the highly infectious delta variant. Stay-at-home orders will also apply to other areas in New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state. It is the first lockdown in Sydney since December. Australia has consistently maintained very low rates of coronavirus transmission. The latest outbreak is linked to a limousine driver at Sydney airport.

Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Saturday that the global count of COVID-19 cases has reached more than 180 million. The U.S. continues to have the most infections with 33.6 million, followed closely by India with 30.1 million and Brazil with 18.3 million.

Johns Hopkins said 2.8 billion vaccines have been administered.

Source: Voice of America

HARARE, ZIMABABWE – Zimbabwe on Saturday received a half-million Sinopharm shots against COVID-19 it bought from China, a development officials said would put its vaccination program back on track.

After the plane with the Sinopharm shots landed, Zimbabwe Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said his government would ensure that the country has no vaccine shortages in the future.

“We are receiving 2 million vaccines by end of next week, and after that we will order 1.5 million vaccines, and in the month of August will order another 3.5 million vaccines,” Ncube said. “So you can see we are very focused in terms of our vaccine acquisition agenda. We will not have a shortage at all. We are headed for herd immunity and we will get there.”

Zimbabwe is one of the African countries seeing recent increases in COVID-19 cases. On Saturday, Dr. John Mangwiro, Zimbabwe’s deputy health minister, said the government intensified its vaccination program to contain the spike in cases.

“COVID-19 disease is back via a third wave,” he said. “As a government, we are going

to target border towns for vaccination so that we make sure that if things are getting worse, our border areas are protected, because you find that most of these [new cases] are coming via our borders. We are going to target areas that are very risky and that the disease can come through. … These are tobacco-auction floors, markets, cotton sales floors. All those will be targeted.”

On Thursday, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, who doubles as Zimbabwe’s health minister, said he wanted everyone vaccinated, starting with vendors. On Saturday, Samuel Wadzai, executive director of the Zimbabwe Vendors Initiative for Social and Economic Transformation, said his organization understood the importance of vaccination.

“But we expect the government to urge citizens to embrace the vaccination program,” Wadzai said. “That should be done through information dissemination on its importance to the country and economy. We know the pandemic has decimated economies, lives and livelihoods. But we disagree [about] forcing citizens to get vaccinated. When the program started, we were told that people would not be forced. It should remain that way.”

So far, fewer than 738,000 Zimbabweans have received their first shots, and nearly 485,000 have received their second shots since the program started in February.

Zimbabwe has had 45,217 confirmed coronavirus infections and 1,721 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center in the United States, which tracks the global outbreak.

Source: Voice of America