International

A series of strong earthquakes rocked southern Iran yesterday, killing at least five people, injuring over 90 others and reducing an entire village to rubble. The quakes, including two of magnitude 6.0, struck west of the major port city of Bandar Abbas in Hormozgan province, the US Geological Survey said. The first rattled an area north of the town of Dezhgan shortly after 2:00am (2130 GMT), before a 5.7 tremor hit two hours later followed quickly by the second 6.0 magnitude quake, the USGS said. Five people were killed, Hormozgan governor Mehdi Dousti said, quoted by official news agency IRNA. Dousti told state television that the village of Sayeh Khosh, close to the epicentre, had been “completely destroyed”. “Ninety-three people were injured, of whom only seven are still in hospital for treatment,” national emergency services spokesman Mojtaba Khaledi told state television. The broadcaster showed footage of residential buildings reduced to rubble in Sayeh Khosh, which was plunged into darkness in a power outage. In another video, a family was seen sifting through debris and trying to recover their belongings, as a woman was heard screaming in the background. Ambulances and other vehicles tried to navigate roads covered in rubble as shocked residents wandered through the streets. People spent the night outdoors in the provincial capital Bandar Abbas — with a population of more than 500,000, located about 100 kilometres east of the epicentre — as long queues formed at gas stations there, state media reported. Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi visited Hormozgan province and told state television that restoring water and electricity were among the government’s top priorities. Iran’s Red Crescent Society said in the morning that search and rescue operations were nearly over. “We are concentrating on housing the victims of the earthquake,” Hormozgan governor Dousti told state television. A provincial heritage official told IRNA the quake damaged 50 historical windmills on Qeshm island, located just off the coast. Iran sits astride the boundaries of several major tectonic plates and experiences frequent seismic activity.

Libya’s rival leaders were under growing street pressure yesterday after protesters stormed parliament as anger exploded over deteriorating living conditions and political deadlock. Libyans, many impoverished after a decade of turmoil and sweltering in the soaring summer heat, have been enduring fuel shortages and power cuts of up to 18 hours a day even as their country sits atop Africa’s largest proven oil reserves. Libya has been mired in chaos and repeated rounds of conflict since a Nato-backed uprising toppled and killed dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Protesters stormed the seat of the House of Representatives in the eastern city of Tobruk on Friday night, ransacking its offices and torching part of the building. In both the main eastern city of Benghazi — the cradle of the 2011 uprising — and the capital Tripoli, thousands took to the streets to chants of “We want the lights to work”. Some brandished the green flags of the former Gaddafi regime. Calm appeared to have returned to Tobruk yesterday, though there were calls on social media for more protests in the evening. The UN’s top Libya envoy Stephanie Williams said that “riots and acts of vandalism” were “totally unacceptable”. “It is absolutely vital that calm is maintained, responsible Libyan leadership demonstrated and restraint exercised by all,” she tweeted. UN-mediated talks in Geneva this week aimed at breaking the deadlock between rival Libyan institutions failed to resolve key differences. Presidential and parliamentary elections, originally set for December last year, were meant to cap a UN-led peace process following the end of the last major round of violence in 2020.  But voting never took place due to several contentious candidacies and deep disagreements over the polls’ legal basis between the rival power centres in east and west. In Tripoli on Friday, hundreds came out to demand elections, fresh political leadership and an end to the chronic power cuts. The sudden eruption of unrest appeared to be spreading to other areas of the country, with Libyan media showing images of protesters in the oasis city of Sebha, deep in the Sahara desert, torching an official building. A local journalist said protesters in Libya’s third city Misrata were blocking roads after setting fire to a municipal building on Friday night. Interim prime minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah leads a Tripoli-based administration while former interior minister Fathi Bashagha draws support from the Tobruk-based House of Representatives and eastern military strongman Khalifa Haftar. “For more than a year, the overwhelming majority of diplomatic and mediation efforts around Libya have been monopolised by the idea of elections, which won’t happen for at least two years, given the failure of the Geneva negotiations,” Libya expert Jalel Harchaoui said. This year “has been extremely painful for Libyans” because the country “imports almost all its food and the Ukraine war has hit consumer prices”, Harchaoui said. Libya’s energy sector, which during the Gaddafi era financed a generous welfare state, has also fallen victim to political divisions, with a wave of forced closures of oil facilities since April. Supporters of the eastern-based administration have shut off the oil taps as leverage in their efforts to secure a transfer of power to Bashagha, whose attempt to take up office in Tripoli in May ended in a swift withdrawal. Libya’s National Oil Corp has announced losses of more than $3.5bn from the closures and a drop in gas output, which has a knock-on effect on the power grid. “There is kleptocracy and systematic corruption in the east as in the west, as the fancy cars and villas of the elite constantly remind the public,” Harchaoui said, accusing militias from both camps of carrying out “massive” fuel trafficking. Recent weeks have seen repeated skirmishes between armed groups in Tripoli, prompting fears of a return to full-scale conflict. The European Union’s envoy to Libya, Jose Sabadell, said Friday’s events “confirm people want change through elections”. But he urged peaceful protests, adding that “special restraint is necessary given the fragile situation”.

At least 21 teenagers, the youngest possibly just 13, died at the weekend after a night out at a township tavern in South Africa, in a tragedy whose cause remains unclear. Many are thought to have been students celebrating the end of their high-school exams on Saturday night, provincial officials said. There were no visible wounds on the bodies. Officials have ruled out a stampede as a possible cause and said autopsies would determine if the deaths could be linked to poisoning. Crowds of people, including parents whose children were missing, gathered yesterday outside the tavern where the tragedy happened in the city of East London, while mortuary vehicles collected the bodies, an AFP correspondent saw. Senior government officials rushed to the southern city. They included national Police Minister Bheki Cele, who broke down in tears after emerging from a morgue where the bodies were being stored. “It’s a terrible scene,” he told reporters. “They are pretty young. When you are told they are 13 years, 14 years and you go there and you see them. It breaks (you).” The provincial government of Eastern Cape said eight girls and 13 boys had died. Seventeen were found dead inside the tavern. The rest died in hospital. “We have a child that was there, who passed away on the scene,” said the parents of a 17-year-old boy. “This child, we were not thinking was going to die this way. This was a humble child, respectful,” said grieving mother Ntombizonke Mgangala, standing next to her husband outside the morgue. President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is attending the G7 summit in Germany, sent his condolences. He voiced concern “about the reported circumstances under which such young people were gathered at a venue which, on the face of it, should be off-limits to persons under the age of 18”.  The authorities are now considering whether to revise licencing regulations.

South African authorities are investigating the deaths of at least 22 young people found inside a popular tavern in the coastal town of East London, provincial health officials and the presidency said on Sunday. State broadcaster SABC reported the deaths resulted from a possible stampede, but was scant on details as the exact cause of death remained unknown. The bodies will be transported to state mortuaries where relatives are expected to help identify both male and female victims, said Siyanda Manana, a spokesperson for the Eastern Cape provincial health department. "We are going to immediately be embarking on autopsies so we can know the probable cause of death," he told Reuters as forensic personnel continued their work at the cordoned-off crime site at Enyobeni Tavern. "We are talking 22 bodies right now," Manana said, adding that toxicology tests were part of the examination. Expressing his condolences to affected families, President Cyril Ramaphosa said he was worried about the circumstances under which young people, potentially under the age of 18 years, were allowed to gather at the tavern. Ramaphosa said in a statement the law must take its course once investigations conclude. "The call is on the parents to see that their kids are kept well, the call is on the community to say we can't allow our kids to die," Bheki Cele, the national police minister, told a large crowd in Scenery Park during an impromptu visit broadcast live on television. A 17-year-old girl, who only gave her name as "Lolly" and lived close to the tavern, told Reuters the venue was a popular hangout with teenagers, but the community wanted it shut down after the tragedy. "Everyone wants it closed down because they sell alcohol to under-age children. Everyone is angry, everyone is sad because of what happened," she said. Earlier Brigadier Tembinkosi Kinana said police were alerted by members of the public to the incident in Scenery Park, about three kms (1.9 miles) from the city centre. "What has happened can be equated to a massacre," East London mayor, Xola Pakati said in a statement.

The 56 members of the Commonwealth made broad commitments to addressing climate change and boosting trade yesterday as they concluded a summit aimed at shoring up the relevance of a group that evolved from the British empire. The club, which covers some 2.5bn people or about one-third of the world’s population, presents itself as a network for co-operation with shared goals, but critics say it needs to take concrete actions and be more than a talking shop. The week-long summit in Rwanda’s capital Kigali included comments from Britain’s Prince Charles on Friday expressing sorrow for his country’s role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the first time the Commonwealth has publicly addressed the subject. Some members urged the organisation to go further by discussing reparations to countries affected by the trans-Atlantic slave trade. There was no mention of the topic in the final communique or news conference, which instead focused on declarations regarding sustainable development, healthcare and gender equality. A “Living Lands Charter” charter stated that Commonwealth countries would work to implement previously-signed international agreements like the Paris climate agreement. “We know that we are at code red when it comes to climate change and that the small member states are facing a crisis that could be existential,” Patricia Scotland, re-elected during the summit as Commonwealth secretary-general, told reporters. Scotland also touted rising trade between Commonwealth members, which she said she expected to hit $2tn per year by 2030 after collapsing during the Covid-19 pandemic. Gabon and Togo were newly accepted into the Commonwealth, part of a trend of former French colonies in Africa seeking new alliances beyond Paris’ old networks of influence. “If the Commonwealth wasn’t alive and vibrant and constructive, why would countries such as Gabon ... and Togo join?” Michael Moussa Adamo, Gabon’s foreign minister, told Reuters. Mostly absent from the summit’s public discussions were awkward issues concerning the host country. Many human rights groups consider Rwanda among Africa’s most repressive countries. The US State Department has cited credible reports of arbitrary killings by the government, including politically motivated reprisal killings abroad. Neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo accuses Rwanda of supporting rebels waging a major offensive in eastern Congo. Rwanda denies all of these charges. At the news conference, Rwandan President Paul Kagame defended Rwanda’s human rights record and accused Western governments of hypocrisy. “There is nobody that is in prison in Rwanda that should not be there,” he said. “Actually there are people who are not in prison who should be there.” Also in the spotlight has been Britain’s controversial policy to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, described as “appalling” by Prince Charles, according to British media. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Kagame have both defended it.

After four arduous years, South African investigators have published the final part of a report detailing how rampant corruption under former president Jacob Zuma gutted state coffers. From around 5,600 pages spread over six volumes, here are the highlights of the findings and recommendations. Zuma set up the commission himself, after a damning report by the national ombudswoman about corruption at state enterprises forced his hand. In January 2018, he named judge Raymond Zondo to lead the inquiry. Zuma may have hoped the commission would ease pressure on him, but his own African National Congress (ANC) forced him to step down one month later to limit the damage to the party. Hearings started in August 2018. In more than 400 days of testimony, millions of pages of documents, and 300 witnesses, the inquiry incriminated 1,438 individuals and institutions, including Zuma. Zuma briefly appeared before the commission, but refused to return to answer questions. South Africans call the web of corruption “state capture” because the organs of state were subverted to serve wealthy people and companies. The commission accused Zuma of being “a critical player” in the plan to hollow out state firms through the Gupta family of business tycoons, who employed his son Duduzane. Duduzane became the “conduit” in the graft scheme. Zuma “would do anything that the Guptas wanted him to do for them”, it said. The former president fled the investigators “because he knew there were questions that would be put to him which he would not have been able to answer. This is the antithesis of accountability”. Zuma’s refusal to testify prompted a showdown at the Constitutional Court, which ordered his imprisonment in July 2021 for contempt. His incarceration sparked riots in which more than 350 people lost their lives – the deadliest unrest of the democratic era in South Africa. He was released after two months on medical parole. The report concluded that Zuma and the ANC aided corruption which current President Cyril Ramaphosa estimates cost the country more than $30bn. “The ANC under President Zuma, permitted, supported and enabled corruption and state capture,” said the report. It said that if the ANC had not protected Zuma and he had been removed from office sooner, the Guptas would probably have fled the country earlier than 2018 – and would not have looted as much as they did. “The ANC must take responsibility for this,” the report said. For two days Ramaphosa testified before the panel, but was criticised for some of his “opaque” answers about what he knew of the corruption. It also said he should have acted on a number of serious corruption allegations that were already public knowledge. Had Ramaphosa “spoken out firmly” against corruption and wrongdoing, Zuma would have fired him, and that would have given hope to other cabinet members. “The option he chose did not prevent state capture from continuing,” the report said. The commission recommends more than 130 individuals face criminal charges, including Zuma’s son Duduzane. Suspended ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule, already facing corruption charges over an asbestos-roofed housing project, is another. Arthur Fraser, a former intelligence chief who this month accused Ramaphosa of wrongdoing, is himself on the panel’s list of suspects. In the report, the investigators recommended a raft of dramatic legal changes. One proposal would allow voters to directly elect a president. Currently voters elect lawmakers and then parliamentarians vote for a president. If this recommendation comes into force, it may not prevent a president “similar to Mr Jacob Zuma or even worse”, but voters will have themselves to blame if they choose a person with “no integrity”, the report said. It also recommended a new racketeering law against abuse of public power, punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to 200mn rand (almost $12.5mn).

The coffin of slain Congolese independence hero Patrice Lumumba returned to his home region yesterday for an emotionally charged tour and burial, more than six decades after his assassination. A plane took Lumumba’s mortal remains — a tooth that ex-colonial power Belgium handed over to his family on Monday — from Brussels to Kinshasa for a nine-day trip around the Democratic Republic of Congo. The coffin and an accompanying delegation then flew to the central province of Sankuru, where the country’s first post-independence leader was born in the village of Onalua in 1925. The remains will visit sites symbolically important to Lumumba’s life and be laid to rest in a mausoleum in the capital Kinshasa on June 30, following three days of national mourning. “His spirit, which was imprisoned in Belgium, comes back here,” said Onalua Maurice Tasombo Omatuku, a traditional chief and nephew of Lumumba. Finally able to mourn his uncle but knowing he was assassinated in 1961, Omatuku said he was feeling emotionally torn. Onalua, which since 2013 has been part of a commune named Lumumbaville in honour of the anti-colonial leader, was preparing to welcome back its favourite son. Braving the oppressive heat, men cleared sand, tree branches and grass from the road leading to the neighbouring town of Tshumbe under police supervision. Palm leaves, used as a symbol of mourning or celebration, were being installed by the roadside next to Congolese flags. A podium in the national colours of yellow, blue and red, tents and banners bearing Lumumba’s face were erected in the village square where the coffin was set to arrive. A local resident pointed to a large, unfinished concrete house falling into dilapidation, with much of its roof missing. “That’s the family plot where Lumumba was born,” he said. Catherine Mbutshu said she felt joy at the idea that Lumumba’s “relic” was finally returning to the land of his forefathers. “I’m old, my legs hurt, but I’m happy because the son is returning,” said the woman believed to have once known Lumumba. “I spoke with him before his departure for Kisangani,” his political bastion in northeastern Congo, she said. Lumumba earned his place in history as an anti-colonial icon when the DRC proclaimed independence from Belgium on June 30, 1960, delivering a fiery speech against settler racism. He was overthrown that September before separatists from the southern region of Katanga and Belgian mercenaries executed him and two close supporters, Maurice Mpolo and Joseph Okito, on January 17, 1961.   Lumumba’s body was dissolved in acid and never recovered. Decades passed before human remains were discovered in Belgium, after a Belgian police officer who took part in Lumumba’s death boasted about his actions in the media. Belgian authorities seized the tooth from the officer in 2016. In a solemn ceremony in Brussels, a casket containing the tooth was placed in a coffin that Belgium handed over to the Congolese authorities in the presence of Lumumba’s family. “Father, we mourned your passing without performing the funeral prayer... our duty as descendants was to offer a worthy burial,” said his daughter Juliana. Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo apologised again for his country’s “moral responsibility” in Lumumba’s death. Two weeks before, Belgium’s King Philippe on his first trip to the DRC reiterated his “deepest regrets for the wounds” of Belgian colonial rule. Historians say millions of people were killed, mutilated or died of disease as they were forced to collect rubber under Belgian rule. The land was also pillaged for its mineral wealth, timber and ivory.

The coffin of slain Congolese independence hero Patrice Lumumba returns to his homeland on Wednesday for an emotionally charged tour and burial, more than six decades after his assassination. A plane will take Lumumba's last remains -- a tooth that ex-colonial power Belgium handed over to his family on Monday -- from Brussels to Kinshasa for a nine-day trip around the Democratic Republic of Congo. The coffin and an accompanying delegation will then fly to the central province of Sankuru, where the country's first post-independence leader was born in the village of Onalua in 1925. The remains will visit sites symbolically important to Lumumba's life and be laid to rest in a mausoleum in the capital Kinshasa on June 30, following three days of national mourning. "His spirit, which was imprisoned in Belgium, comes back here," said Onalua Maurice Tasombo Omatuku, a traditional chief and nephew of Lumumba. Finally able to mourn his uncle but knowing he was assassinated in 1961, Omatuku said he was feeling emotionally torn. - 'The son is returning' -Onalua, which since 2013 has been part of a commune named Lumumbaville in honour of the anti-colonial leader, was on Tuesday preparing to welcome back its favourite son. Braving the oppressive heat, men cleared sand, tree branches and grass from the road leading to the neighbouring town of Tshumbe under police supervision. Palm leaves, used as a symbol of mourning or celebration, were being installed by the roadside next to Congolese flags. A podium in the national colours of yellow, blue and red, tents and banners bearing Lumumba's face were erected in the village square where the coffin was set to arrive. A local resident pointed to a large, unfinished concrete house falling into dilapidation, with much of its roof missing. "That's the family plot where Lumumba was born," he said. Catherine Mbutshu said she felt joy at the idea that Lumumba's "relic" were finally returning to the land of his forefathers. "I'm old, my legs hurt, but I'm happy because the son is returning," said the woman believed to have once known Lumumba. "I spoke with him before his departure for Kisangani," his political bastion in northeastern Congo, she said. Lumumba earned his place in history as an anti-colonial icon when the DRC proclaimed independence from Belgium on June 30, 1960, delivering a fiery speech against settler racism. He was overthrown that September before separatists from the southern region of Katanga and Belgian mercenaries executed him and two close supporters, Maurice Mpolo and Joseph Okito, on January 17, 1961. - 'Worthy burial' -Lumumba's body was dissolved in acid and never recovered. Decades passed before human remains were discovered in Belgium, after a Belgian police officer who took part in Lumumba's death boasted about his actions in the media. Belgian authorities seized the tooth from the officer in 2016. In a solemn ceremony in Brussels on Monday, a casket containing the tooth was placed in a coffin that Belgium handed over to the Congolese authorities in the presence of Lumumba's family. "Father, we mourned your passing without performing the funeral prayer... our duty as descendants was to offer a worthy burial," said his daughter Juliana. Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo apologised again for his country's "moral responsibility" in Lumumba's death. Two weeks before, Belgium's King Philippe on his first trip to the DRC reiterated his "deepest regrets for the wounds" of Belgian colonial rule. Historians say millions of people were killed, mutilated or died of disease as they were forced to collect rubber under Belgian rule. The land was also pillaged for its mineral wealth, timber and ivory.

The United States and Morocco yesterday launched the vast annual “African Lion” military exercise, amid heightened tensions between the North African kingdom and neighbouring Algeria. The exercise, which began in the southern Moroccan region of Agadir and lasts the rest of the month, involves some 7,500 personnel from 10 nations such as Brazil, France and the United Kingdom. It will include observers from Nato and for the first time, officials from Israel. Some manoeuvres will take place in Tunisia, Senegal and Ghana, US Africa Command said in a statement. The “exercise bolsters interoperability among partner nations and supports US military strategic readiness to respond to crises and contingencies in Africa and around the world”, it added. The Moroccan military’s second-in-command, General Belkhir El Farouk, said yesterday the country needed to tackle “security challenges”.  The kingdom will host land, sea and air phases, a paratrooper landing and a weapons of mass destruction response exercise. Most will take place in Kenitra, near Rabat, but others will be near further south near the Algerian border, according to the Moroccan military. There will also be a paratrooper landing and an artillery exercise in the desert.

Zimbabwean health workers went on strike yesterday after rejecting a 100% wage hike offer last week, pressing their demand for payment in US dollars as the local currency slumps. Zimbabwe’s main nurses’ union urged the government to negotiate and warned that lives would be lost if the dispute was not resolved quickly. The government and health workers are at an impasse after inflation jumped to 131.7% in May, a grim echo of the hyperinflation that wiped out people’s savings a decade ago. Government workers rejected the below-inflation 100% wage hike offer on Friday. At Sally Mugabe Hospital in Harare, patients seeking treatment sat in the courtyard while doctors, nurses, radiographers and pharmacists left their workplaces to protest. “The salaries that the health workers received last week were pathetic,” Enock Dongo, head of the Zimbabwe Nurses’ Association, told Reuters, adding that the majority were paid 20,000 Zimbabwe dollars ($53) a month. He said health professionals across the country had decided to strike until they were paid US$540 a month, the pay they used to receive in 2018 before the local currency slumped. Kindness Paradza, the deputy minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, said the government was trying to find “a positive solution” to the standoff, against a backdrop of economic challenges faced by the country due to sanctions. Zimbabwean authorities blame the sanctions imposed by the United States and European Union since 2001 for the economic ills plaguing the southern African nation. President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who took over from longtime leader Robert Mugabe in a 2017 coup, has struggled to end an economic crisis that started under his predecessor.

Families of victims from a church attack this month in southwest Nigeria yesterday held a funeral mass for the 40 people killed in the gun and bomb assault. The violence at Saint Francis Catholic church in Ondo State drew international condemnation and was a rare attack in the country’s usually safer southwest region. Government officials say they suspect Islamic State West Africa Province was behind the June 5 attack, though the group usually operates far away in the country’s northeast where an insurgency has been grinding on for more than a decade. Families gathered for a mass ceremony in a hall in Owo in Ondo State, with a line of coffins laid out before the congregation. “We are here today for this service, the last service for those who were killed mindlessly on June 5,” Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu told the families. “The good lord, he is the only who can console the families.” One of the coffins had a pair of policeman’s boots placed on top for the officer who was killed. Some families had already buried their relatives, others were to carry out burials after the ceremony. No group has claimed the attack. Police said gunmen hid among worshippers inside the church during a Sunday service and others also opened fire on the congregation from outside. At least one blast detonated inside the church and three unexploded improvised explosive devices were also found. A priest conducting the service said some worshippers hid in the vestry with others, including children, for about 20 minutes before emerging to carnage. The attack drew widespread international criticism, including from Pope Francis. Nigeria’s military and police are battling on several fronts, with militant groups in the northeast, criminal gangs in the northwest and centre and separatist violence in the southeast.

Tens of thousands of children in Ethiopia are suffering from the "most deadly" form of malnutrition as a prolonged drought ravages the east and south of the country, British charity Save the Children said Thursday. Four consecutive rainy seasons have failed in the Horn of Africa, with a fifth also expected to fare poorly, causing the worst drought in 40 years and a major hunger crisis spanning Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia. Over one million people need urgent food aid across the Ethiopian regions of Oromia, SNNP (Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples), Somali and South West, the charity said in a statement. "About 185,000 children (are) now estimated to be suffering from the most deadly form of malnutrition," it said.  "Children -- especially small children -- are bearing the brunt of a harrowing and multifaceted crisis in Ethiopia," said Xavier Joubert, the charity's country director in Ethiopia. "A prolonged, expanding, and debilitating drought is grinding away at their resilience, already worn down by a gruelling conflict and two years of the Covid-19 pandemic," he added. In the Somali region -- one of the worst affected -- the malnutrition rate jumped 64 percent in the past year, according to Save the Children. During the same period, more than 50,000 cases of severe acute malnutrition, which requires emergency treatment to prevent death, were recorded, the non-profit said. Much of the region's pastoral nomadic community was on "the brink of starvation", it said, with families reporting "that many children are only being fed one meal per day."   - Lack of funding -   The record drought has affected about 8.1 million people in Africa's second most populous nation, which has also been suffering the consequences of a 19-month conflict in the north. About 30 million people or a quarter of Ethiopia's population need humanitarian assistance, Save the Children said. Insufficient rainfall has destroyed crops, killed livestock and forced huge numbers of people to leave their homes in search of food and water across Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia. The dire conditions have been exacerbated by the conflict in Ukraine, which has contributed to soaring food and fuel costs. Meanwhile, the humanitarian response is suffering from a lack of funds, with a February appeal by the UN's World Food Programme raising less than four percent of the cash needed. East Africa endured a harrowing drought in 2017 but early humanitarian action averted a famine in Somalia. When a famine struck the country in 2011, 260,000 people -- half of them children under the age of six -- died of hunger or hunger-related disorders. Experts say extreme weather events are becoming more common and more intense due to climate change.

Fifteen people were killed and 37 injured Friday when a bus and a truck collided on a South African highway near the capital Pretoria, an emergency services spokesman told AFP. "The death toll is now 15 dead, and 37 people have been injured, some of them critically," spokesman Thabo Charles Mabaso said. The accident happened before dawn, and rescue workers were called at 5:05 am. "Emergency services arrived on scene to find a bus and truck that collided head-on, with multiple patients lying around and some still trapped inside both vehicles," emergency services said in a statement. Eight women and seven men died at the scene, while 37 others were taken to hospital. Seven were in critical condition, the statement said. The road was closed throughout the morning. An investigation into the accident's cause has been launched. South Africa's roads are among the most developed on the continent, but safety remains an issue. Nearly 1,500 people died on the roads during the last Christmas holidays, which is South Africa's peak summer travel season.

Somalia’s newly-elected president, Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud, used his inauguration speech yesterday to appeal to the diaspora and international community to help stave off the famine that threatens his drought-stricken country. Aid agencies have warned of an approaching famine as cases of severe malnutrition among children shoot up in the troubled Horn of Africa nation, which is battling a record drought following four failed rainy seasons. “There are fears that starvation may strike in some areas,” Mahmoud said, urging “the diaspora and the world to play a role in saving our people who were affected by the drought.” “These conditions were caused by accumulated problems including climate change, destruction of our economic resources and the weakness of our government institutions. Therefore, my government will establish an agency for environmental matters,” he said. Multiple appeals for aid have gone largely unnoticed so far, with nearly half the country’s population going hungry and more than 200,000 people on the brink of starvation, the United Nations said Monday. The drought crisis has also hit Somalia’s neighbours, Ethiopia and Kenya, whose presidents were among the foreign leaders attending Thursday’s ceremony, held under heavy security in the Mogadishu airport complex. In addition to tackling the looming famine, Mahmoud —who previously served as president between 2012 and 2017 — faces a grinding insurgency in parts of the country, making humanitarian access a challenge. In a sign of the lingering threat, militants fired several rounds of mortar shells in neighbourhoods near the airport in an overnight attack. A former academic and peace activist, Mahmoud’s first term was dogged by high-profile corruption scandals and political turmoil, with two of his three prime ministerial appointees forced out, and two central bank governors resigning. The first Somali leader to win a second term, he has promised to transform Somalia into “a peaceful country that is at peace with the world” and repair damage inflicted by months of political infighting, both at the executive level and between states and the central government. He vowed Thursday to foster “political stability through consultation, mutual endorsement, and unity among... the federal government and federal member states,” striking a contrasting tone to his confrontational predecessor Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, better known as Farmajo. Somalia’s international partners have welcomed the election of President Mahmoud, with many hoping it will draw a line under a long-running political crisis that has distracted the government from tackling the Al Shebaab insurgency and the devastating drought. Meanwhile, calls for international aid have raised less than 20% of the money needed to avert a repeat of the 2011 famine that killed 260,000 people — half of them children under the age of six.

Two Indian-born brothers who allegedly wove a web of corruption across South Africa have been arrested in Dubai and face extradition, in a landmark step in Pretoria’s anti-graft fight. Dubai police confirmed yesterday they had arrested Atul and Rajesh Gupta after receiving a so-called red notice from Interpol, and were co-ordinating with the South African authorities for their extradition. South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority confirmed the contact but gave no details, saying extradition processes were complex and involved heads of states. The arrests took place on June 2, according to the UAE’s state news agency. They bring a glimmer of hope that the alleged masterminds behind South Africa’s darkest corruption scandal will face prosecution after years of legal fog and delay. The two tycoons are accused of paying bribes for state contracts and wielding influence over ministerial appointments in a scandal that clouded former president Jacob Zuma’s administration and eventually forced him from office. By one estimate, several billion dollars were lost to the South African economy as a result of their activities. After Zuma resigned in February 2018, his deputy Cyril Ramaphosa took over. Ramaphosa vowed to make the fight against graft the cornerstone of his presidency. But prosecutions have been rare, public scepticism runs deep and Ramaphosa himself is now fighting accusations of scandal. The Guptas came to South Africa in 1993, eventually building a sprawling empire in mining, computer technology and media. Some members of their family were granted South African citizenship. But the pair and other family members fled the country shortly after a judicial commission, launched in 2018, started probing “state capture” — the alleged looting of state assets — and the brothers’ influence over the ruling African National Congress (ANC). After arduous investigations, Chief Justice Raymond Zondo this year published a report that described how the brothers became intertwined with the highest levels of government and the ANC. The family befriended Zuma to the point where they influenced cabinet appointments and infiltrated state-owned enterprises, where they secured some of the juiciest contracts, it said. Zuma “would do anything that the Guptas wanted him to do for them”, Zondo said in his report published this year. Zuma was last year jailed for 15 months for refusing to testify before the investigators. He was released on parole, having served just two months. An independent investigator estimated that the cost of the Guptas’ alleged illicit activities in South Africa could be as much as 50bn rand ($3.2bn) over the years. Their current arrest is however for fraud and money laundering in connection with a 25-mn-rand contract paid to a Gupta-linked company for an agricultural feasibility study. Their arrests came almost a year after Interpol issued a red notice — a global alert enabling law enforcement to arrest a person sought for prosecution or to serve a custodial sentence and hold them pending extradition. A third brother, Ajay Gupta, is not cited in the current case, but has been named in another embezzlement and corruption case. The ANC lauded the arrests, calling for the extradition to be expedited. “The latest developments underscore the commitment of the ANC-led government to rigorously root out all forms of corruption,” it said in a statement. The main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) said it hoped the detentions marked “the beginning of arrests and prosecution of those who have... looted our country for years and are directly responsible for the hardships that millions of South Africans face today”. Ramaphosa, meanwhile, is enmeshed in a growing scandal centred on the theft of cash from his sprawling cattle and game farm. He is accused of buying the silence of the burglars, who were allegedly detained on his property. He fiercely denies the allegations, which have surfaced as he vies to stay on as ruling party leader when his term expires in December. “The ones who are pursuing the corrupt also have skeletons in the cupboards,” said Sandile Swana, an independent political analyst, who believed Ramaphosa would probably retain his presidency despite the “Farmgate” scandal. Julius Malema, leader of the leftist Economic Freedom Fighters, wants Ramaphosa “to step aside with immediate effect” over the farm scandal.

South Africa said on Monday the United Arab Emirates had arrested Rajesh Gupta and Atul Gupta, brothers who face charges of political corruption under former South African president Jacob Zuma. Confirming South Africa's statement on Tuesday, Dubai police said on Twitter that it had coordinated with South African authorities "regarding the extradition file to complete the legal procedures". South Africa's Ministry of Justice and Correctional Services said on Monday there were discussions between various law enforcement agencies in the UAE and South Africa "on the way forward". The two nations agreed an extradition treaty last year. The brothers are accused of using connections with Zuma, who ruled from 2009 to 2018, to win contracts, misappropriate state assets, influence cabinet appointments and siphon off state funds. Zuma and the Guptas deny any wrongdoing. The Indian-born brothers left South Africa after Zuma was ousted in 2018. An inquiry was established in 2018 to examine allegations of graft during Zuma's years in power. The UAE ratified an extradition treaty with South Africa in April 2021, a move that South African President Cyril Ramaphosa's government hoped would lead to the return of the Guptas to face charges. South Africa's largest opposition party welcomed the arrests. "We hope that this is indeed the beginning of arrests and prosecution of those who have - locally and abroad - looted our country for years and are directly responsible for the hardships that millions of South Africans face today," the Democratic Alliance said in a statement.

The bodies of two men were found in the hold of an Air Algerie plane at Algiers International Airport on Saturday, Algerian police said. "Two lifeless male bodies aged between 20 and 23 years were discovered on Saturday at 5:00 am (0400 GMT) in the hold of an Air Algerie plane which was parked at Algiers airport," the police said in a statement. It did not specify where the plane came from or where it was going, but said an investigation had been opened. According to Algeria media, the two victims were Algerians seeking to reach Europe clandestinely. In March, a 16-year-old managed to get into the baggage hold of an Air Algerie plane at Constantine airport and safely reached France, Algerian media reported.

Security forces shot a protester dead in Sudan’s capital yesterday, medics said, as pro-democracy demonstrators demanded justice for those killed in a bloody crackdown three years ago to the day. Thousands took to the streets in Khartoum and other cities to commemorate the 128 people who medics say were killed when armed men in military fatigues violently dispersed a months-long sit-in outside army headquarters. The latest demonstrations came as UN human rights expert Adama Dieng visited Sudan and urged authorities to “refrain from use of excessive force”. The protests in 2019 were crucial to pressing the military into sharing power with civilians in the wake of the ouster in April that year of long-time ruler Omar al-Bashir. But a military coup led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan in October last year derailed that fragile political transition, and protesters have returned to the streets at least weekly since then — often in the face of renewed deadly force. “Blood for blood,” protesters in Khartoum chanted, while others urged the military “to go back to their barracks”. The police released a statement accusing demonstrators of attacking police stations, wounding policemen and causing damage. Amna Behiri, whose son Abdel Salam Kesha was one of the demonstrators killed three years ago, joined one of the rallies yesterday wearing a shirt emblazoned with a print of her son’s face. “We want justice before anything else,” she said. “Without justice, we can’t have a democratic state.” An investigation was launched into the June 2019 crackdown later that year, but even before last year’s military power grab, it struggled to make headway and it is still to announce its findings. “We lost youth who were dear to the people of Sudan,” said Diaa Eddine, whose nephew was also killed in the crackdown three years ago. “With this anniversary, God willing, the Sudanese revolution will win.” Britain, Norway and the United States issued a tripartite statement yesterday “calling for the prompt resolution of the government-appointed investigation into the (2019) massacre and disclosure of findings to the public.” A bloody crackdown since last year’s coup has killed nearly 100 more people, according to pro-democracy medics. Dieng’s visit is his second since Burhan’s power grab. Burhan has said some security force members have “misused” their weapons during demonstrations since October, but no trials of personnel have been publicly announced. Yesterday, UN special representative Volker Perthes announced the Security Council had voted to extend by one year the United Nations’ mission in Sudan. The UN, along with the African Union and regional grouping IGAD, have been pushing to facilitate Sudanese-led talks to resolve the crisis. On Wednesday, military officials met with UN, AU and IGAD representatives and agreed to launch “direct talks” among Sudanese factions next week. On Sunday, Burhan lifted a state of emergency in force since the coup to set the stage for “meaningful dialogue that achieves stability for the transitional period”. Since April, Sudanese authorities have released a several civilian leaders and pro-democracy activists.

As South African artist Fhatuwani Mukheli paints a portrait of a woman at his Johannesburg studio, he is creating not only the work before him but also a digital asset destined to adorn a virtual world. Mukheli uses “The Tree”, an online marketplace for South African artists to promote and sell their art as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). “There’s a virtual world where people are buying land in it,” said Mukheli. He is referring to the metaverse, a three-dimensional digital reality that tech giants like Microsoft and Facebook say is the future of the Internet. “People have properties there ... and your art can be on those walls.” Mukheli’s customers receive both the actual canvas and the NFT, while other artists on The Tree sell up to five limited edition NFTs for each piece, akin to digital prints. Mukheli has already made thousands of dollars by using the platform. “I think it’s important as an artist and a creative to always play where the ball is going and not necessarily where it’s at,” said Trevor Stuurman, one of the four other artists currently showcasing their work on The Tree. Critics say blockchains, digital ledgers used to store information, are not climate-friendly because they guzzle computing power. The Tree says it saves energy by running on Polygon, a blockchain that uses a fraction of the power, and offsets each transaction by sending money to Greenpop, an environmental organisation that plants trees across Sub-Saharan Africa. “It’s not just about art and artists and the story, it’s about making sure that this growth in technology for artists doesn’t come at a cost to the planet,” said Dan Portal, co-founder of The Tree.

* Mohamud elected by lawmakers, faces drought and insurgency * Meeting former rivals and regional leaders * Biden authorised return of US troops to fight al Shabaab Somalia's new president has applauded the return of US troops to help fight a deadly insurgency and says delivering security depends on reconciliation with other Somali leaders, after a power battle splintered the security forces into rival factions. US President Joe Biden this month authorised the redeployment of hundreds of US soldiers who will help train, equip and support the military's elite Danab special forces fighting the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab militants. President Donald Trump withdrew them in December 2020, leaving them flying in and out for missions from neighbouring Kenya, a move experts described as costly and dangerous. "We are very much grateful for President Biden to send back some of the forces ... they always have been playing a role in war against al Shabaab," President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud told Reuters, adding that he wanted US support to continue. Al Shabaab has killed tens of thousands of Somalis in bombings in Mogadishu and elsewhere as it seeks to topple the government, as well as civilians in neighbouring countries in attacks on a shopping mall, hotel, university and restaurants. Somali legislators selected Mohamud as president this month - the country has not held one-person-one-vote elections since civil war erupted in 1991. Legislators foiled attempts by the previous president to extend his term, but the issue deeply divided security forces, who battled each other in the capital's streets. The protracted crisis drained attention from a growing humanitarian emergency forcing more than 6 million Somalis to depend on food aid. James Swan, the top UN official in Somalia, praised Mohamud's appointment of a prominent politician to handle the emergency, triggered by the worst drought in 40 years. Since Mohamud's win on May 15, official government social media accounts have pumped out images of him welcoming former political rivals and beaming Somali regional leaders, many of whom fought armed clashes with his predecessor. "The people have to reconcile," former educator Mohamud said from a gilt chair in Villa Somalia, a government complex painted in the national colours of white and sky blue. Mohamud's words have encouraged allies frustrated by slow progress under his predecessor, which allowed the insurgency to amass a huge warchest. Lieutenant General Diomede Ndegeya, commander of African Union forces in Somalia, said he hoped local forces and administrations could help secure roads for AU and Somali forces to make progress against al Shabaab. "It's important for us to all work together," he said. The last major offensive against al Shabaab was in 2019. The insurgents still control swathes of the country but African Union peacekeeping forces are due to leave in three years. This month, al Shabaab overran an AU peacekeeping base, killing dozens of soldiers. Burundi put the death toll at 10. "Our top priority is the security," said Mohamud, although he listed other urgent matters, including building institutions and codifying election laws and government powers. When Mohamud previously served as president, from 2012-2017, rampant corruption packed the military with ghost soldiers. Those that did exist often sold their guns when their wages were stolen. Since then, the United Nations has set up a long-planned biometric database. Soldiers and civil servants now receive their salaries directly to their bank accounts. Mohamud acknowledged the repeated complaints of corruption, but hailed digitalisation and said he planned to continue a financial reform package he had previously helped negotiate with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. "We are all ... for the economic reforms," he said. Campaigners say the proof will be whether backers receive plum procurement contracts or top posts they use for kickbacks. "We need an audit for all the taxes raised in Mogadishu, we need to pay salaries on time and we need avoid cronyism," said Mohamed Mubarak, founder of anti-corruption group Marqaati.