Survivors Rescued, Dozens Still Trapped After a Deadly Building Collapse in South Africa

Rescue teams made contact with workers trapped under the rubble of concrete after a multi-story apartment complex collapsed in a coastal city in South Africa.

BY GERALD IMRAY

10:32 PM EDT, May 7, 2024

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Rescue teams searching for dozens of construction workers missing after an apartment complex collapsed in South Africa brought out more survivors Tuesday as they entered a second night of desperate work to find anyone alive in the wreckage. At least seven people have been confirmed dead.

Authorities said 26 workers had now been rescued from the site where the five-story building collapsed Monday while under construction in George, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Cape Town on South Africa’s south coast. An additional 42 people are believed to be still buried in the debris of concrete and metal scaffolding.

Rescuers were hopeful of more people being found alive after saying earlier that they had made contact with at least 11 workers trapped in the rubble and were communicating with them.

It wasn’t immediately clear how many of those had been rescued but five survivors were brought out on Tuesday, adding to the 21 found on Monday, according to a count provided by city authorities. There were 75 construction workers on the site when the building collapsed.

Rescuers erupted in applause as one of the survivors was brought to the surface. They yelled at the man to “stay with us!” as he was pulled out of a gap in the wreckage and put on a stretcher. They then shouted to him, “you are outside now!”

Authorities haven’t given updated details on the extent of the injuries but said in the first few hours after the collapse that at least 11 of the workers rescued had severe injuries.

Colin Deiner, head of the provincial Western Cape disaster management services, said the search-and-rescue operation would likely take at least three days. He said it would take at least the rest of Tuesday to bring out all 11 of the survivors they had located, which included a group of four workers trapped in what was the basement of the building.

Some of those workers had limbs under concrete slabs and couldn’t move, Deiner said.

“We are going to give it the absolute maximum time to see how many people we can rescue,” Deiner said at a news conference. “It is very, very difficult if you are working with concrete breakers and drillers close to people.”

“Our big concern is entrapment for many hours, when a person’s body parts are compressed. So, you need to get medical help to them. We got our medics in as soon as we possibly could.”

Deiner said it was possible that there were more survivors deeper in the wreckage and a process of removing layers of concrete would begin in time.

More than 100 emergency services and other personnel had been working on the site in shifts and the rescue operation had passed the 30-hour mark since the building collapsed. Rescuers were using sniffer dogs to try to locate workers. Large cranes and other heavy lifting equipment were brought in to help and tall spotlights were erected to allow the rescuers to work in the dark.

Deiner said a critical part of the rescue operation came when they had ordered everyone to remain quiet and shut off machinery so they could listen for any survivors. That’s when they located some of them, he said.

“We were actually hearing people through the rubble,” Deiner said.

Several local hospitals were making space in their trauma units in anticipation that more people might be brought out alive. More than 50 emergency responders had also been brought in from other towns and cities to help, including a specialized team that deals with rescue operations in collapsed structures.

Family and friends of the workers had gathered at the nearby municipal offices and were being supported by social workers, the George municipality said.

Authorities were starting investigations into what caused the tragedy, and a criminal case was opened by police, but there was no immediate information on why the building collapsed. CCTV footage from a nearby home showed the concrete structure and metal scaffolding suddenly collapsing, causing a plume of dust to rise over the neighborhood.

People came streaming out of other buildings after the collapse, with some of them screaming and shouting.

Alan Winde, the premier of the Western Cape province, said there would be investigations by both the provincial government and the police.

Authorities said that under city law the private construction company’s engineers were responsible for the safety of the building site until its completion, when it would be handed over to the city to check and clear.

Winde said the priority was the rescue effort and investigations would unfold after that.

“At the moment, officials are focused on saving lives. This is our top priority at this stage,” Winde said.

The national government was being briefed on the rescue operation, Winde said. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa released a statement offering his condolences to families of the victims and also called for investigations into the cause of the collapse.

South Africa: 5 Workers Dead, 49 Still Missing After a Building Collapsed

The scene of a collapsed building in George, South Africa, Tuesday, May 7, 2024.

By Africa News

Rescue teams worked through the night searching for dozens of construction workers buried for more than 12 hours under the rubble of concrete after a multi-story apartment complex that was being built collapsed in a coastal city in South Africa.

Authorities said early Tuesday (May. 7) that the death toll had risen to five, while 49 workers remained buried in the mangled wreckage of the building, which collapsed on Monday afternoon. Authorities said a further 21 workers had been rescued from the rubble and taken to various hospitals, with at least 11 of them suffering severe injuries.

The collapse happened in the city of George, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Cape Town on South Africa's south coast.

More than 100 emergency personnel and other responders were on the scene, using sniffer dogs to try to locate workers, some of whom were trapped under huge slabs of concrete that fell on them when the five-story building came down.

Large cranes and other heavy lifting equipment were brought to the site to help with the rescue effort and tall spotlights were erected to allow search and rescue personnel to work through the night.

Rescuers made contact with 11 workers trapped in the rubble and were hopeful of bringing them out, said Colin Deiner, the chief director of the provincial Western Cape Disaster Management and Fire and Rescue Services. He said some of them were talking to rescuers but couldn't move because they had limbs trapped under concrete.

"It's a very tough operation," said Deiner, who was at the scene. "There's a lot of concrete ... so we think it will still take quite a while. The search operation will continue all day. We've got a lot of people on the scene but it's really, really hard work."

"So many people trapped in a building like that is like searching for a needle in a haystack. You literally have to break through the concrete and cut through the reinforcing."

Ongoing rescue operation

There were 75 workers on the construction site when the building collapsed, the George municipality said. It said three teams of rescuers were working at separate sites around the collapsed building where they believed construction workers were likely to be.

Family and friends of the workers gathered at the nearby municipal offices.

"Our thoughts are with the families and all those affected who continue to wait on word of their loved ones," George Executive Mayor Leon Van Wyk said.

Authorities were investigating what caused the tragedy and a case was opened by police, but there was no immediate information on why the building suddenly collapsed. CCTV footage from a nearby home showed the concrete structure and metal scaffolding around it come crashing down at 2.09 p.m. on Monday afternoon, causing a plume of dust to rise over the neighborhood.

People came streaming out of other buildings after the collapse, with some of them screaming and shouting.

Marco Ferreira, a local representative of the Gift of the Givers nongovernmental organization, was at the site with a team to offer support and food and drink to the rescuers on Monday. Gift of the Givers is a charity that often helps during disasters in South Africa. It also provided three sniffer dogs and handlers to help with the search, Ferreira said.

"The situation at this stage is still very much in the rescue stages," Ferreira told the eNCA TV news channel. "We don't know, it's probably going to carry on for days. There are some cranes there to help lift some concrete. But it's not a pretty sight."

The provincial Western Cape government sent Deiner, the head of its disaster response unit, from Cape Town to George to oversee the rescue operation and Western Cape Premier Alan Winde, the head of the provincial government, was also at the scene.

Winde said the provincial government had also sent extra resources to assist.

"All the necessary support has been offered to emergency personnel to expedite their response. At the moment, officials are focused on saving lives. This is our top priority at this stage," Winde said in a statement.

The national government was being briefed on the rescue operation, Winde said.

Italy PM in Libya to Sign Deals Part of "Mattei Plan" for Africa

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni meets Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, a prime minister of Libya under the Government of National Unity, in Tripoli, Libya,on May. 7, 2024.

By Africa News

The Prime minister of the UN-backed government in Libya hosted his Italian counterpart, in Tripoli Tuesday (May. 7)

Abdul Hamid Dbeibah and Giorgia Meloni held bilateral talks.

Meloni was accompanied by the Minister of University and Research, the Minister of Health, and the Minister of Sport and Youth who signed declarations of intent to step up cooperation.

The declarations on university cooperation and research, health, sports and youth are part of the Mattei Plan framework.

A plan sponsored by the Italian government which seeks to reduce illegal migration from Africa to Italy through economic prosperity. The plan also aims to transform Italy into a key energy supply hub.

Libya’s location on the Mediterranean, and the political chaos that followed the killing of Muammar Kadafi, have made the country a major route for migrants trying to reach Europe.

In the instability context, the country split, with rival administrations in the east and west backed by rogue militias and foreign governments.

The Libya to Italy crossing is nwo one of the most-used and dangerous routes for sea migration.

According to Italian news Agency, Agenzia Nova, Meloni will also meet with Khalifa Haftar. Libya's other strongman who virtually controls the eastern part of the country.

Before Libya and most recenty Albania, Italy, a coastal European country, sought more solidarity from fellow EU nations, mainly in vain.

Additional sources • Agenzia Nova

Kenya Continues Forceful Demolition of Nairobi Informal Settlements Near Rivers

A bulldozer demolishes houses on land near a river in the Mukuru area of Nairobi

By Africa News

Kenya's government has continued the forceful eviction of people living in most of the informal settlements in Nairobi that are next to rivers.

Last Tuesday, President William Ruto ordered the evacuation of all homes along the nation’s waterways.

The announcement came a day after a torrent of water swept away scores of people in an area some 50 kilometres east of the capital.

Tensions were high in Nairobi’s settlements on Tuesday with residents saying they were caught unawares, despite the 48-hour directive to move lapsing five days ago.

As anguished residents watched the demolition of their homes, many directed their pain at President William Ruto saying his government had failed them.

"Ruto we voted for because you said you will safeguard the poor, now are you helping the poor or you are actually finishing them. If you plan to finish poor people then just bomb us all and get it done with," said resident Elizabeth Katana.

As excavators and bulldozers pulled down structures, some residents watched helplessly as others tried to grab iron sheets, timber, and anything of value they could get their hands on.

The death toll in weeks of flooding and landslides caused by torrential rain has risen to over 200.

The Interior Ministry said earlier this week that 164 people are still missing, with a total of 42,526 households displaced by the ongoing flooding, affecting over 210,000 people.

It also said it has begun setting up camps in various parts of the country to host those displaced by the flooding.

Congo Military Releases 2 Kenya Airways Staffers Held for 2 Weeks over Cargo Dispute

BY EVELYNE MUSAMBI

2:28 AM EDT, May 7, 2024

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The Republic of Congo’s military has released two Kenya Airways staffers who were detained for two weeks in a cargo dispute, Kenya’s foreign ministry said Monday.

The staffers’ detention had led Kenya Airways to suspend flights to Congo, but the state-owned airline said flights would resume Wednesday.

The airline said it had rejected the cargo because it didn’t have the required documentation. The nature of the cargo, described as “valuable,” hasn’t been disclosed.

Congo’s military had arrested the staffers from the airline’s offices in the main airport in the capital, Kinshasa.

A military court granted the airline’s application for their release but the military continued to hold them.

Kenya and Congo have cordial relations, with Kenya participating in U.N-backed peacekeeping missions in Congo.

The Kenyan Embassy in Congo negotiated for the release of the staffers, Foreign Ministry Principal Secretary Korir Singoei had said.

Colleagues and embassy officials were only granted a few minutes with the two.

Singoei met the family of one of the detained staffers and assured them that their kin would be safe and “fairly treated” by the authorities in Congo.

EVELYNE MUSAMBI

Musambi is an Associated Press reporter based in Nairobi, Kenya. She covers regional security, geopolitics, trade relations and foreign policy across East Africa.

New Liberia Forest Boss Plans to Increase Exports, Denies Working with War Criminal Charles Taylor

(AP Illustration/Peter Hamlin)

BY ED DAVEY

9:55 AM EDT, May 6, 2024

Liberia, West Africa’s most forested country, has a long history of illegal logging, which the country’s regulator, the Forestry Development Authority, has repeatedly struggled to confront.

So it raised eyebrows when Rudolph Merab, whose companies were twice found to have engaged in illegal logging, was recently appointed to lead the FDA. One of Merab’s companies was also mentioned in the trial of Charles Taylor, a former Liberia president who was convicted of war crimes during the civil war in neighboring country Sierra Leone.

In an interview with The Associated Press, for the first time Merab answered questions about his past and detailed his plans for managing Liberia’s forests, promising to increase timber exports and cut regulations.

“Commercial logging has always helped the country,” said Merab, interviewed by phone in late April, adding that more sawmills were needed so freshly cut trees could be processed within Liberia before being exported.

Liberia, a country of more than 5 million people, is bordered by Sierra Leone, Guinea and Ivory Coast, and has a long coastline along the Atlantic Ocean. Despite a recent past that includes civil war and chronic problems with illegal logging, much of its tropical forests remain lush and intact.

Merab implied that twice as many trees could be felled compared to Liberia’s previous peak without endangering its rainforests, which are home to West African chimpanzees and endangered forest elephants. The highest previous annual timber exports from Liberia were 1.4 million cubic meters (1.83 cubic yards), he said, whereas 3 million cubic meters (3.92 million cubic yards) would be sustainable. That would be the equivalent of about 1,200 Olympic-sized swimming pools filled with wood.

Last year, the AP revealed $3 million of timber had been illegally logged under the FDA’s then managing director Mike Doryen. He presided over a shadow system for illegal log exports in which up to 70% of timber was exported off-the-books, a dossier compiled by the U.K. Foreign Office said. Doryen has denied wrongdoing.

The United Kingdom and European Union, both major donors to Liberian forest conservation, hoped a change in government would bring about a new era. Ex-president and former footballer George Weah, who appointed Doryen and refused to sack him despite sustained diplomatic pressure, was voted out of office last year. That meant a new boss of the FDA.

President Joseph Boakai’s February appointment of Merab has been met with criticism by environmentalists. Requests to the president’s office seeking comment on Merab’s appointment were not answered.

“Fifteen years ago, there was real hope that a newly reformed Liberian forest sector could become a shining example of how to manage tropical forests legally and sustainably,” said Sam Lawson, founding director of nonprofit Earthsight and a timber expert who trained new FDA staff when the organization was reformed in the 2000s. “This latest news is the nail in the coffin of those hopes.”

As president a trade group, the Liberia Timber Association, Merab strongly criticized a $150 million deal between Liberia and Norway that aimed to protect remaining forests. He argued it threatened the logging industry and said he would leave “no stone unturned” in challenging it.

A logger since the 1980s, one of Merab’s companies, Liberia Wood Management Corporation, came up in the trial of Taylor, convicted for aiding rebels during Sierra Leone’s civil war. Taylor’s activities were part-funded through the sale of what was dubbed “blood timber.”

While being tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity, Taylor was accused by prosecutors of channeling support through LWMC to the rebels, something the former president denied. A 2001 U.N. report said LWMC was attacked by opposing rebels “to discourage them from doing business with Charles Taylor.”

Merab told the AP that he had “engaged” with the Taylor but gave no details. LWMC did business with the Republic of Liberia, not with Taylor, Merab said.

“I never engaged in arms trafficking. I was one of those who was affected by this,” said Merab. “We never participated in the war, we never supported any members of the war.”

Merab also took issue with determinations by previous governments that his companies had been involved in illegal logging. In 2005, a Liberia government review found LWMC’s sizable logging concessions were illegal. The company’s contract didn’t comply with the rule of law or labor laws and had tax arrears of $1.4 million, the review found. The company’s concessions were subsequently canceled.

The findings were “completely incorrect,” said Merab. “From the time I started logging, I worked within the confines of the law.”

Merab said there was no court judgement finding illegality, but rather an executive order from then President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf made without proof. Merab said some taxes were owed but it was a smaller amount than alleged.

In 2012, a scandal hit another of Merab’s companies, Bodeco. A government investigation found its contract had “many inconsistencies” and was “void for illegality.” Bodeco had more than 90,000 hectares (347 square miles) worth of logging permits revoked.

The company “knew or should have known that they were executing a contract with material falsehoods,” the review found.

Merab said that Bodeco’s concessions were awarded by the government, which then backtracked, and due process was not followed in cancelling them.

“If the government of Liberia gives something,” he said, “and later on because they felt under pressure they said ‘No, (they) were illegal,’ who’s at fault?”

As forest chief, Merab said he would work to scale back regulations.

“Sometimes regulations become too cumbersome and it stifles productivity,” he said. “Same thing with laws. Sometimes the law becomes very repressive.”

Chad Holds a Presidential Election After Years of Military Rule

Voters in Chad headed to the polls on Monday to cast their ballot in a long delayed presidential election that is set to end three years of military rule under interim president, Mahamat Deby Itno. Deby Itno seized power after his father who ran the country for more than three decades was killed fighting rebels in 2021. Last year, the government announced it was extending the 18-month transition for two more years, provoking protests.

BY EDOUARD TAKADJI AND MOUTA ALI

4:02 PM EDT, May 6, 2024

N’DJAMENA, Chad (AP) — Chad held its long delayed presidential election on Monday following three years of military rule under the interim president, Mahamat Deby Itno, a vote that analysts widely expected the incumbent to win.

Deby Itno seized power after his father, who spent three decades in power, was killed fighting rebels in 2021. His government announced it was extending the 18-month transition for two more years, which provoked protests across the country.

The oil-exporting country of nearly 18 million people hasn’t had a free-and-fair transfer of power since it became independent in 1960 after decades of French colonial rule. There were 10 candidates on the ballot, including a woman. More than 8 million people are registered to vote, in a country of more than 17 million people, one of the poorest in the world.

Analysts say Deby Itno is likely to win the vote. A leading opposition figure, Yaya Dillo, the current president’s cousin, was killed in February in circumstances that remain unclear. The main other front-runner in the race is a former opposition leader who recently returned from exile to serve as prime minister in January, Succès Masra.

Chad is seen by the U.S. and France as one of the last remaining stable allies in the vast Sahel region following military coups in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger in recent years. The ruling juntas in all three nations have expelled French forces and turned to Russia’s mercenary units for security assistance instead.

Earlier this year, Niger’s junta ordered all U.S. troops out, meaning Washington will lose access to its key base in Agadez, the center of its counterterrorism operations in the region. The U.S. and France still have a military presence in Chad, which consider it to be an especially critical partner.

The West also fears that any instability in Chad, which has absorbed more than a half-million refugees from Sudan, could increase the number of migrants moving north towards Europe.

“These are all the reasons the West is staying relatively quiet about the democratic transition in Chad,” said Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel program at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. “Everybody just wants this vote to pass so Deby Itno gets elected so they continue to work with him and preserve the stability of the region,” he added.

The vote, which began Sunday for the military and nomads, was marred by a number of incidents of violence that led to at least two deaths, according to local journalists. In Moundou, a major city to the south of the capital, a voter was shot dead by security forces for reasons that were unclear. In the country’s eastern city of Abeche, a civilian fatally stabbed a soldier, also according to local journalists there.

Over the weekend, several civil society groups issued a joint statement to say that many of the 2,900 observers that had requested accreditation to monitor the vote had been denied.

Along with the arrival of refugees from Sudan, Chad is also dealing with high food prices partly caused by the war in Ukraine and a renewed threat from the Boko Haram insurgency spilling over from its southwestern border with Nigeria.

In March, an attack the government blamed on Boko Haram killed seven soldiers, reviving fears of violence in the Lake Chad area after a period of peace following a successful operation launched in 2020 by the Chadian army to destroy the extremist group’s bases there. Schools, mosques and churches reopened and humanitarian organizations returned.

“For years now, we’ve had to cope with the high cost of living, without any solution,” Adoumadji Jean, a teacher at a state secondary school in Moyen-Chari province, said in an interview with The Associated Press. “We want a change this year through this election.”

Boko Haram, which launched an insurgency more than a decade ago against Western education, seeks to establish Islamic law in Nigeria’s northeast. The insurgency has spread to West African neighbors including Cameroon, Niger and Chad.

Human rights groups have called for an investigation into the killing of Chad’s main opposition figure, Dillo. The government has said Dillo was killed during an attack on the the National State Security Agency by his group, known as The Socialist Party Without Borders. But a photo of Dillo showed that he was killed by a single bullet wound to the head.

Human Rights Watch said the killing raised serious concerns about the environment for the election.

According to the U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, known as ACLED, Chad experienced almost 270 incidents of political violence, leading to the deaths of more than 1,000 people.

“With his most significant opponents either co-opted or eliminated, and critical electoral institutions stacked with his supporters, Déby Itno’s victory is all but certain,” wrote Michelle Gavin for the Council of Foreign Relations, a Washington- based think tank.

Votes will be first counted at polling stations, but preliminary results will be announced three weeks later on May 21. If no candidate wins outright, a runoff will be held on June 5.

___

Jessica Donati contributed to this report from Dakar, Senegal.

Togo’s Longtime Leader Signs a New Constitution that Eliminates Presidential Elections

FILE - Togo's President Faure Gnassingbe waves before a working lunch at the Elysee Palace in Paris on April 9, 2021. Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe has signed a controversial new constitution that eliminates presidential elections, a statement from his office said late Monday, April 6, 2024. It's a move that opponents say will allow him to extend his family's six-decade-long rule. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly, File)

BY ERICK KAGLAN

9:13 AM EDT, May 7, 2024

LOME, Togo (AP) — Togo’s president has signed a new constitution eliminating presidential elections, his office said late Monday, a move that opponents say will allow him to extend his family’s six-decade rule. Civil society groups in the West African nation have called for protests.

Parliament will now choose the president. The new constitution comes days after the election commission on Saturday announced that President Faure Gnassingbe’s ruling party had won a majority of parliament seats.

There was a crackdown on civic and media freedoms ahead of the vote. The government banned protests against the proposed new constitution and arrested opposition figures. The electoral commission banned the Catholic Church from deploying election observers. Togo’s media regulator suspended the accreditation process for foreign journalists.

The new constitution also increases presidential terms from five to six years and introduces a single-term limit. But the nearly 20 years that Gnassingbe has served in office would not count, and the political opposition, religious leaders and civil society say it’s likely that Gnassingbe will stay in power when his mandate expires in 2025.

Togo has been ruled by the same family for 57 years, first by Eyadema Gnassingbe and then by his son. Faure Gnassingbe took office after elections that the opposition described as a sham.

A voter casts her ballot in Togo's regional elections in the capital Lome, Monday April 29, 2024. Togolese voters headed to the polls on Monday to vote in the country's parliamentary elections, which will test support for a proposed new constitution that would scrap future presidential elections and give lawmakers the power to choose the president instead. (AP Photo/Erick Kaglan

The new constitution also creates a figure similar to a prime minister, to be selected by the ruling party. Critics fear that could become another way for Gnassingbe to extend his grip on power.

A group of about 20 civil society organizations in Togo have called for protests to reinstate the previous constitution.

“We will never accept this new constitution, even after its promulgation,” David Dosseh, a spokesperson for the civil society groups, told The Associated Press, calling the 2025 election “absolutely necessary for the people to choose a new president and finally achieve a democratic transition in Togo.”

Ramaphosa Touts Israel Court Win in South African Votes Drive

S'thembile Cele, Bloomberg News

Ramaphosa said that ordinary South Africans had encouraged the government to file its case against Israel.

(Bloomberg) -- South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is capitalizing on his administration’s efforts to bring an end to Israel’s war on Hamas as he seeks to draw votes in the only province that isn’t controlled by the ruling African National Congress.

Pretoria has been outspoken against the war in Gaza, filing a lawsuit in the International Court of Justice on Dec. 29 that accused Israel of genocide during its campaign against Hamas. The United Nations court ruled in January that Israel must act to prevent Palestinians from being killed or injured, but stopped short of demanding an immediate cease-fire. 

“People are appreciative of the stance taken by the ANC” and will take it into consideration, Ramaphosa said in an interview during a weekend campaign stop in the Kayamandi suburb of Stellenbosch, near Cape Town.

The streets of several predominantly Muslim neighborhoods in Cape Town, the capital of the Western Cape province and the nation’s tourism hub, have been adorned with murals in support of the Palestinian cause. 

The main opposition Democratic Alliance wrested control of the Western Cape from the ANC in 2008, and has ruled the country’s third-most populous region ever since — though some opinion poll suggest it may lose its majority there in elections on May 29. The DA won 52% support in the province in 2019, and the ANC 31%.

The polls also suggest that the ANC risks losing its national majority for the first time since it first took power under Nelson Mandela in 1994, and that its grip on several of the eight provinces it controls is also under threat.

Muslims account for just 1.2% of South Africa’s 62 million people. The biggest concentration is in the Western Cape, where they make up 5.6% of the population, and could potentially tip the balance of power. 

Ramaphosa said that ordinary South Africans had encouraged the government to file its case against Israel, and that it was intent on perpetuating Mandela’s backing for an independent Palestine. 

“It is you that ensured that we took that position, and it was Nelson Mandela who inspired us to adopt that very strong position, and we are never going to turn back from supporting the cause of the Palestinians,” he said in Cape Town’s Rylands suburb, where residents applauded him for taking Israel to task. 

Fighting has dragged on for seven months since Hamas attacked southern Israel from Gaza, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 hostage. Israel’s bombardment and ground attack on the Palestinian territory have killed almost 35,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Muddying the Water on US Student Protests

Alastair Crooke

Seyed Hassan Nasrallah, as the spokesman for the unity of Resistance Fronts, has made clear that the aim of the Resistance is to exhaust "Israel".

Many of the incumbents of the leadership posts in Institutional America are either liberal Zionists or Evangelicals. Such a situation should be no surprise. The Washington Post, for example, asked Matthew Brooks, the CEO of the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), whether he planned to fund electoral challengers to the twenty House Republicans that voted against the Bill giving aid to the Israelis:

“The RJC is gearing up to spend upward of $15 million in what will be the largest targeted effort toward the Jewish community in critical battleground states across the country … We have a long-standing history of speaking out against folks who are anti-Israel, whether they be Democrats like “the Squad” and the progressives on the left, but also against folks who voice anti-Israel sentiments on the Right”. 

“We were the group that was responsible for defeating Congressman Steve King. We’re spending over a million dollars in Indiana this election cycle, to beat former congressman John Hostettler, who was one of the most anti-Israel voices in Congress during his tenure”. 

“Question: Twenty other House Republicans voted against the Israel bill. Do you plan to endorse challengers running against any of them?”

“Brooks: If there’s a credible challenger [on the ballot] to any of those people - we absolutely will be involved”.

Against this background, it should not surprise that as Edward Luce writes in the Financial Times, the US Institutional leaders are tied in knots over the campus protests. The angst in no small part hinges around the undoubted power of AIPAC and the RJC to make -- or break -- Congressional aspirants:  

“In practice”, Luce says, “adults from all walks — Republicans, Democrats, the media, and university administrations — are exhibiting the traits of hysteria and dogmatism they deplore in the young. It should come as no surprise that the protests are getting angrier. Students have every right to protest even with speech that many of their peers find abhorrent”.

Luce asks:

“At what point does anti-Zionism become antisemitism? The line is blurry. But most people — except to those in charge, apparently — can tell the difference between lawful protest, and calls to violence”.

But just to blur the distinction further: 

The US ‘House’ is advancing a Bill to codify the contentious International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism. The definition is contentious because most of its examples of antisemitism involve criticism of t"Israel", including calling "Israel" a “racist endeavour”. The Bill’s passage would mean the definition would apply when officials adjudicate Title VI complaints alleging campus antisemitism. The Bill passed 320 – 91 in the House.

“There is however another factor behind the Congressional hysteria: the protests have sparked fears of a repeat of 1968. Like then, the unrest began at Columbia University. As in 1968, this year’s Democratic convention will be held in Chicago. The 1968 convention was also a disaster because Chicago’s mayor, Richard Daley, sent his police into pitched combat with the protesters. The street battle dominated the media’s attention”. 

Luce however, draws a sharp distinction with 1968: “The chief driver of these protests is humanitarian” (as was not the case in the VietNam war).

But then, Luce resorts to the old canard: 

“Some of the demonstrators consciously subscribe to a Hamas worldview that would wipe Israel off the map. At what point does anti-Zionism become antisemitism ...?” 

This is where the issue is being muddied. Wiping "Israel", qua Zionism, off the map does not imply wiping it away by violence (though there is a legal right of resistance for those living under occupation).

Seyed Hassan Nasrallah (as the spokesman for the unity of Resistance Fronts) has made clear that the aim of the Resistance is to exhaust "Israel" -- and to drive it to a state of defeat and despair -- such that Israelis begin to recant the claim of special rights and exceptionalism, and become content to live ‘between the River and the Sea’ with others  (Palestinians), sharing in a parity of rights. That is, with Jews, Muslims and Christians living on a common territory. There would then be no Zionism.

Seyed Nasrallah explicitly foresaw the possibility of such an outcome emerging -- without major war. 

It is ‘sleight of hand’ therefore to cast the Hamas ‘worldview’ to be one of ‘wiping Israel off the map’ as if that implies ‘exterminating’ or killing Jews. "Israel" would be ‘off the map’ in the sense that a future state would not be exclusively Jewish in nature -- but multi-faith.

The Hamas ‘worldview’ sly imputation of antisemitism is  a calumny almost on a par with the slogan ‘Hamas is ISIS’. (ISIS had Hamas officials on their death list).  Hamas’ worldview cannot be stripped from the context of the hatreds ignited by the war in Gaza.

Most of Luce’s article relates to the issue of antisemitism -- but Islamophobia is growing at an accelerated pace, too.  It is important to de-bunk the ‘Hamas is ISIS’ meme in the West, lest such falsities slide us into yet another ‘war on terror’.

What is Happening at US Universities – Latest from the Student Uprising for Gaza

May 4, 2024

Thousands of American students have taken part in the anti-war protests, and in solidarity with Gaza. (Photo: @ColumbiaSJP Tw page)

Who are the protests? What are their demands? And how the unprecedented student uprising is being handled by US police and government?

Student protests over the Gaza war have spread across the United States over the past a few weeks, with police demolishing a number of sit-in camps.

At times, this followed confrontations between protesters and organized groups from outside campuses, or as a result of direct assaults by US police.

In some cases, however, solidarity tents have been cleared after universities agreed to protesters’ demands.

However, protests continue on many campuses across the country.

What are the demands of the pro-Gaza protesters?

Students at universities where protests erupted have issued calls for a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, an end to US military aid to Israel, divestment from universities from arms suppliers and other companies profiting from the war, and amnesty for students and faculty who have been ‘disciplined or expelled for protesting.

The students are demonstrating against Israel’s war on Gaza, which began on October 7. This is not the first Israeli war on the Strip, but the most violent as it followed a Palestinian Resistance operation targeting the Israeli military and settlements in the so-called Gaza Envelope region.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said that the Israeli aggression has so far led to the death of more than 34,000 people, and the injury of more than 77,000 others, while over 11,000 are still missing, presumably killed.

Meanwhile, Israel claims that the Resistance has killed around 1,200 Israelis, including many soldiers and other military personnel.

Who are the pro-Palestinian protesters?

Pro-Palestinian protests attract students and faculty from different backgrounds. Organizers of the protests include Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace.

The camps also feature prayers and musical performances, as well as a variety of teaching programs.

Organizers deny responsibility for the violence against pro-Israel protesters, but some Jewish students claimed to have felt ‘unsafe’ on campus and worried about chants they described as anti-Semitic.

The chants include “free Palestine” and “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

University administrators and some local leaders allege that activists from outside the campus have participated in or organized some of the protests. For example, the University of Texas at Austin said 45 of the 79 detainees on its campus on April 29 had no connection to the university.

Who are the counter protesters?

Israeli-American and Zionist groups, as well as students and members of the American Jewish community, are leading anti-protests at universities.

Hundreds attended a counter march at the University of California-Los Angeles organized by the pro-Israel American Council group. An active Jewish student at the university posted a video claiming to be of pro-Palestinian protesters preventing him from entering an area on campus.

A brawl broke out at the University of California-Berkeley in early May between the co-founder of the Zionist group Students Supporting Israel and Palestine solidarity activists.

Hundreds of students at the University of Mississippi were also seen chanting against pro-Palestinian protesters on the second of this month, some waving American flags and banners supporting former President Donald Trump.

What is the response of the US authorities so far?

Some university administrators have called on law enforcement authorities to arrest protesters, remove camps, and break up sit-ins, while others have allowed camps to continue or reached agreements to end the protests.

On April 18, Columbia University called in the police only one day after students set up camp on campus in Manhattan.

On April 30, police again raided the camp and a building occupied by students and made hundreds of arrests.

University President Nemat Shafik, who labeled the protesters anti-Semitic, said the camp was an unauthorized protest that made the campus ‘unbearable’ for many Jewish students.

The University of California-Berkeley allowed a pro-Palestinian camp as long as it does not disrupt the functioning of the campus and does not pose a threat of violence.

Northwestern, Brown and Rutgers are among the universities that have reached agreements to remove tents.

Brown University will hold a vote on a possible divestment from companies linked to Israel.

Rutgers University reportedly agreed to establish an Arab cultural center and consider a department of Middle Eastern studies.

What has been the response from US presidential candidates?

Democratic President Joe Biden told reporters Thursday that Americans have the right to demonstrate, but they have no right to unleash violence, though no evidence of organized violence by protesters have been presented.

Biden has faced criticism from protesters for providing Israel with money and weapons that allowed it to carry on with its genocidal war on Gaza.

Trump, the Republican nominee for the 2024 election, called the college protests a sign of tremendous hatred. On April 30, Trump described the Columbia University police attack on protesters as a pleasing sight.

(AJA, PC)

Renowned Gaza Surgeon Killed in Israeli Detention

Maureen Clare Murphy 

4 May 2024

The death of a leading Gaza surgeon has brought renewed attention to the widespread and systematic abuses endured by thousands of Palestinians in Israeli lockup.

Dr. Adnan al-Bursh, the 50-year-old head of orthopedics at Gaza City’s al-Shifa hospital, was killed in Ofer Prison in the West Bank on 19 April, according to the Palestinian Authority. His death was first reported on Thursday after a released detainee said al-Bursh had been tortured and killed.

The Israel Prison Service issued a statement on 19 April saying that a detainee had died in Ofer prison but did not mention the detainee’s name or cause of death. A spokesperson for the prison service later confirmed to media that the statement had referred to al-Bursh.

The surgeon’s body is being held by Israel, four Palestinian human rights groups – Addameer, Al Mezan, Al-Haq and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights – said on Friday.

The groups said that Israel released more than 60 Palestinian prisoners and detainees via the Kerem Shalom crossing, some of them displaying “visible signs of physical torture.”

Israeli authorities also transferred the body of 33-year-old Ismail Abdelbari Khader. Dr. Marwan al-Hams, the director of Al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah, southern Gaza, said that Khader’s body bore “torture marks … on his wrists, as well as swelling in his shoulders, knees and chest.”

The human rights groups said that Khader’s body is the first Palestinian who died in Israeli custody to be returned to Gaza since 7 October, though the deaths of two other detainees from Gaza as a result of medical negligence or torture have been documented.

They include Majed Zaqoul, a 32-year-old laborer who was being held in Ofer Prison, and another individual “whose identity remains undisclosed as Israeli authorities refuse to provide any information,” according to the rights groups.

Sixteen Palestinians are confirmed to have died as a result of medical neglect or torture while in Israeli detention between 7 October 2023 and 22 April 2024.

The rights groups say “the actual number of Palestinians who have ‘died’ while in Israeli custody is much higher than the documented cases suggest.”

Palestinians released by Israel to Gaza have testified to witnessing “fellow detainees being beaten to death,” according to the rights groups, while Israel denies detainees access to lawyers and bans visits by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Israel refuses “to provide accurate and timely information on thousands of Gaza detainees, including their whereabouts,” the groups added.

Children forcibly disappeared

An unknown number of children are among those forcibly disappeared from Gaza.

Al Mezan, a human rights group based in Gaza, estimates that 3,000 Palestinians have been detained by Israel in Gaza since the beginning of its ground offensive in late October.

Around half of them, including children, are being held under Israel’s Unlawful Combatants Law, according to Al Mezan.

Ayed Abu Eqtaish, a program director with Defense for Children International-Palestine, said that children from Gaza are “likely being tortured by Israeli forces at Israeli detention centers and military bases in southern Israel.”

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the West Bank and Gaza Strip, urged “the diplomatic community to intervene with concrete measures to protect Palestinians.”

“No Palestinian is safe under Israel’s occupation today,” she added, and demanded that UN member states take action.

“Deliberate assassination”

Israeli forces abducted Adnan al-Bursh at Al-Awda Hospital in Jabaliya, northern Gaza, in mid-December.

The Palestinian Authority Commission of Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Club said that the death of Dr. Bursh “is a deliberate assassination,” given the systematic targeting of doctors and the healthcare system in Gaza.

The two bodies pointed to the destruction of al-Shifa – Gaza’s largest hospital – “where hundreds of people have been killed and arrested.”

Al-Bursh remained on duty throughout the war until the moment of his arrest, moving from one hospital to another to treat injured people.

The last post he made on X shows a cartoon of a doctor wearing scrubs and a coat bearing the colors of the Palestinian flag. “We will die standing and we will not kneel,” al-Bursh stated in the post.

The four previously mentioned Palestinian human rights groups said that in addition to his role at al-Shifa, al-Bursh was the head of the medical department at the Palestinian Football Association and served on the board of the Palestinian Medical Council.

“Through his work, he has saved countless limbs of Palestinian patients injured during repeated Israeli assaults on Gaza and during the Great March of Return,” they said.

Israeli forces killed more than 200 Palestinians and maimed thousands more with live fire during the Great March of Return series of protests that began in early 2018 and were suspended in late 2019. More than 150 people lost limbs due to injuries sustained during the protests.

The loss of al-Bursh, who was a father of five children, the youngest aged 3, is a major blow to Gaza’s all but destroyed healthcare system.

Nearly 500 medical workers have been killed in Gaza since 7 October, according to the health ministry in Gaza, and another 1,500 were wounded and more than 300 are in Israeli custody.

Ghassan Abu Sitta, the British-Palestinian surgeon who was in Gaza during the first weeks of the ongoing genocide, said at the time of al-Bursh’s arrest Israel was rounding up doctors to create “a series of show trials aimed at maintaining the criminalization of the health system in Gaza.”

Israel has sought to portray Gaza’s hospitals as bases for armed resistance groups as it destroys the healthcare system in the territory.

Abu Sitta contends that the Israeli military made the health sector a primary target in order to facilitate a mass expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza.

Doctors targeted

Israel has systematically attacked medical professionals “with the aim of eliminating an entire generation of doctors,” according to Abu Sitta.

The Israeli objective, according to Abu Sitta, is that “even if you rebuilt hospitals, you wouldn’t be able to build the health sector,” thus making Gaza unlivable for its population of 2.3 million Palestinians.

Healthcare workers who remain in Israeli custody include Ahmad al-Kahlout, the director of Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza, who was also detained in December.

Soon after al-Kahlout’s arrest, Israeli authorities released a video purporting to show a confession made by the hospital director. In the four-minute video, al-Kahlout says the facility was used by Hamas as a base for its operations and employed members of the armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Gaza’s health ministry accused Israel of extracting the purported confession “under the use of force, coercion, torture and intimidation.”

Muhammad Abu Salmiya, the director of al-Shifa hospital who was arrested by Israel in November, was reportedly tortured after refusing to appear in a coerced confession video. His hands and feet were reportedly broken, leaving him unable to walk and stand, Al-Araby al-Jadeed reported, citing the doctor’s family.

“To further humiliate him, they put a chain around his neck, forced him to move on all fours and eat food with his mouth from a bowl placed on the floor,” the publication reported.

Meanwhile, released detainees have said that Israel is abusing employees of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, in order to extract forced confessions.

Israel seeks to destroy UNRWA. The agency is the largest provider of humanitarian assistance in Gaza and also provides government-like services to millions of Palestinians in the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

UNRWA staff released from Israeli detention told their employer that in addition to ill treatment that may amount to torture, they were “subjected to threats and coercion” and pressure during interrogations to incriminate the agency.

These “forced confessions against the agency [included] that the agency has affiliations with Hamas and that UNRWA staff took part in the 7 October attacks against Israel.”

UNRWA has collected information from hundreds of Palestinians who were detained in Gaza since the beginning of Israel’s ground operation in late October last year.

Israeli authorities subjected Palestinians – “men and women, children, older persons, persons with disabilities,” according to UNRWA – to ill treatment throughout their detention, including sexual abuse and threats of sexual violence.

UNRWA staff observed “signs of trauma and ill treatment” including dog bite wounds among the released detainees upon their arrival to Kerem Shalom checkpoint on the Gaza-Israel boundary. Many were transferred to hospitals in Gaza due to injury or illness.

Gaza Tops Agenda at Organization of Islamic Cooperation Summit

Gambia's President Adama Barrow addresses the 77th session of the UN General Assembly

By Africa News

The 15th summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation got underway on Saturday in the Gambian capital, Banjul, with the conflict in Gaza on top of the agenda.

World leaders from the 57 members countries are expected to attend the two-day gathering which take place every three years.

The OIC is a group of mostly Muslim-majority nations which calls itself “the collective voice of the Muslim world”.

In his opening remarks, Gambia’s President Adama Barrow said the crisis in the Gaza Strip posed a serious challenge to stability and peace in the world.

“It is essential to address the prolonged conflict in Palestine and the devastating wars in Gaza. Those encounters have caused endless human suffering for over 75 years,” he said.

The OIC condemned Israel’s attacks on Gaza and reaffirmed the organisation’s support for, and commitment to the people of Palestine.

Barrow said it was essential that “affected Palestinian communities” were able to regain their dignity.

“We stand in solidarity with South Africa, and all those who advocate justice and accountability, and pledge our support for their efforts to seek redress for the victims of atrocities committed by Israel,” he said.

Also on the agenda was Gambia’s case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on behalf of the OIC against Myanmar.

Lodged 2019, Gambia accused Myanmar of committing genocide against its Rohingya Muslim minority.

The case remains in court.

Chad Goes to Polls to Vote for a New President

Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Deby

By Africa News

Candidates in Chad delivered their final campaigning messages on Saturday ahead of the country’s first presidential vote since the death of long time ruler Idriss Deby.

Success Masra, currently prime minister of the interim government, is one the main challengers.

Speaking to supporters in the capital, N'Djamena, the former African Development Bank executive promised young people a better future and the creation of more jobs.

A "minimum package of dignity" in his programme includes an ambitious five-year plan to create 200,000 jobs, divided equally between the private and public sectors.

Masra’s grassroots campaign has also promised to deal with other urgent issues like access to electricity, water, and security for all.

“We would like to live in a country at peace and reconciled, so the victory on the horizon is not that of one side against another, but that of all the people of Chad. The victory of the hope of peace, the victory of an enthusiastic future over a difficult past,” he said.

He urged his supporters to remain vigilant during the election and the vote count.

Elsewhere in the city, the country’s interim president, General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, often referred to as “MIDI”, also addressed supporters.

He seized power three years ago after his father, Idriss Déby, was killed, apparently on the battlefield fighting rebels trying to overthrow his government.

Deby senior had ruled Chad with an iron fist for three decades.

A career soldier, Deby junior had promised to hold elections within 18 months, but his government postponed the poll and allowed him to run for president.

He is backed by a broad coalition of political parties and civil society groups and it is widely believed he will win the vote.

“There's no match, because with our candidate we've already made a 100 per cent success of the election. No candidate can match our candidate, the MIDI champion,” said supporter Abakar Bishala who attended the rally.

Deby's supporters boast of his success in optimising the country's defence and security, national reconciliation, and the organisation of referendums on a new constitution.

Some opposition and civil society groups have called for a boycott of the vote.

Polling stations opening at seven on Monday morning. Results are expected on 21 May, with a possible second round on 22 June.

Chad is the first in a string of countries in the region which experienced coups in the past four years, to hold elections.

Ethiopian Orthodox Christians Around the World Celebrate Easter

Orthodox Christian pilgrims during a Easter procession at the Ethiopian monks' village in Jerusalem

By Africa News with AP

Orthodox Christians in Ethiopia have been celebrating Easter at churches across the country.

Home to the largest Orthodox population outside Europe, they fast for 55 days prior to Easter, abstaining from meat and animal products.

On the eve of what is the country’s most celebrated religious holiday, worshippers wearing traditional white clothing attend church services lasting into the early hours of the morning.

At Kidus Gebreil Church in the capital, Addis Ababa, priests, deacons, and worshippers marked the day together on Sunday.

"We are celebrating the date our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ rose from the dead. When we say this, we are witnessing the resurrection of Jesus Christ in this service and emphasising that just as He rose from death, we believers will also rise,” said the head of the church, Megabi Hadis Leake Mariam.

During the Easter period, family members and friends travel from faraway places to be with their loved ones.

While most Western churches observed Easter on 31 March, Eastern Orthodox churches follow the older Julian calendar, marking the holiday across the world on Sunday.

South Sudan Removes Newly Imposed Taxes that Had Triggered Suspension of UN Food Airdrops

BY DENG MACHOL

4:46 PM EDT, May 4, 2024

JUNA, South Sudan (AP) — Following an appeal from the United Nations, South Sudan removed recently imposed taxes and fees that had triggered suspension of U.N. food airdrops. Thousands of people in the country depend on aid from the outside.

The U.N. earlier this week urged South Sudanese authorities to remove the new taxes, introduced in February. The measures applied to charges for electronic cargo tracking, security escort fees and fuel.

In its announcement on Friday, the government said it was keeping charges on services rendered by firms contracted by the U.N peacekeeping mission in South Sudan.

“These companies are profiting ... (and) are subjected to applicable tax,” Finance Minister Awow Daniel Chuang said.

There was no immediate comment from the U.N. on when the airdrops could resume.

Earlier, the U.N. Humanitarian Affairs Agency said the pausing of airdrops had deprived 60,000 people who live in areas inaccessible by road of desperately needed food in March, and that their number is expected to rise to 135,000 by the end of May.

The U.N said the new measures would have increased the mission’s monthly operational costs to $339,000. The U.N. food air drops feed over 16,300 people every month.

At the United Nations in New York, U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said the taxes and charges would also impact the nearly 20,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, “which is reviewing all of its activities, including patrols, the construction of police stations, schools and health care centers, as well as educational support.”

An estimated 9 million people out of 12.5 million people in South Sudan need protection and humanitarian assistance, according to the U.N. The country has also seen an increase in the number of people fleeing the war in neighboring Sudan between the rival military and paramilitary forces, further complicating humanitarian assistance to those affected by the internal conflict.

Sudanese Military Leader’s Son Dies of Injuries Following a Motorcycle Crash in Turkey

1:35 PM EDT, May 3, 2024

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The son of Sudan’s army chief, Abdel Fattah Burhan, has died in hospital on Friday two months after he was severely injured in a motorcycle accident in the Turkish capital, Ankara, Turkey’s state-run news agency reported.

Mohammed Fattah Burhan Rahman was being treated at an Ankara hospital since the March 6 accident in which his motorbike crashed into a vehicle in the outskirts of the city, Anadolu Agency said.

The private DHA news agency said he was thrown several meters (yards) from his motorbike due to the impact of the collision and was being treated in the hospital’s intensive care unit.

Burhan, Sudan’s de-facto leader, and other family members were informed about the death, DHA reported.

There was no immediate statement from the Turkish authorities. Sudanese embassy officials could not be reached for comment.

Sudan plunged into chaos in mid-April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between its military, led by Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary commanded by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo broke out into street battles in the capital, Khartoum. Fighting has spread to other parts of the country, especially urban areas and the western Darfur region.

Earlier this year, the son of Somalia’s president was convicted of “causing death by negligence” by a Turkish court after a diplomatic car he was driving hit a motorcycle courier on a highway in Istanbul. The court sentenced him to 2 1/2 years in prison but later commuted the sentence to a fine.

They Study Next to One of Africa’s Largest Trash Dumps. They’re Planting Bamboo to Try to Cope

BY ZELIPHA KIROBI

12:23 AM EDT, May 5, 2024

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Armed with gardening hoes while others cradled bamboo seedlings, students gathered outside their school in Kenya’s capital. They hoped the fully grown bamboo would help to filter filthy air from one of Africa’s largest trash dumps next door.

More than 100 bamboo plantings dot the ground around Dandora secondary school, which shares a name with the dumpsite that was declared full 23 years ago. Hundreds of trucks still drive in daily to dump more trash.

Allan Sila, 17, said sitting in his classroom is like studying in a smelly latrine.

Acrid smoke billowing from the burning of trash fills the air every morning, hindering visibility and leaving some students with respiratory issues.

“Asthma is a disease that is commonly known,” Sila said.

The school’s principal, Eutychus Maina, recalled being greeted by the smell and smoke when he was posted to the school last year. He knew he had to do something.

“My motivation for initiating the bamboo project in the school was to mitigate the effects of the dumpsite. It really pollutes the air that we breathe,” he said.

He said he researched online and came across the use of bamboo. He believes it will help reduce the cases of respiratory infections in the community.

The fast-growing bamboo has been promoted by the United Nations and others for its high uptake of carbon dioxide.

Aderiana Mbandi is an air quality research and policy expert at the United Nations Environment Program, based in Nairobi. She said the impact of air pollution is felt in all parts of the body including the brain, and the best way to reduce its effects is minimizing exposure.

The seedlings the students began planting last August are already nine feet (three meters) tall. The giant bamboo variety is expected to reach 40 feet when mature, depending on soil conditions.

Students hope the bamboo will help transform the school compound into a green haven in the litter-strewn Dandora neighborhood.

The publicly funded school relies on donations to afford the seedlings that retail at 400 Kenyan shillings ($3) each.

But the school management is determined to keep going until bamboo lines the 900-meter wall that separates the school and the dumpsite.

The Dandora dump occupies about 50 hectares (123 acres) of land and receives more than 2,000 tons of waste daily from around Nairobi, home to 4 million people.

Its stench can be smelled kilometers (miles) away.

UNEP, in partnership with the Stockholm Environment Institute, deployed sensors to the Dandora neighborhood from October to April to monitor pollution levels from the dumpsite.

Out of the 166 days monitored, only 12 had a daily average of excellent air quality according to World Health Organization guidelines.

Nairobi’s air is also polluted by emissions from secondhand cars that make up much of the city’s transport. Other pollutants include smoke from industries that are often located near residential areas.

The Dandora school is also planting trees including jacaranda and grevillea.

Student Josiah Nyamwata called them easy to obtain and easy to plant. “The other advantage is that the trees will be helpful in order to boost our air circulation around our school,” he said.

The air isn’t the school’s ' only challenge. Vultures from the dumpsite are a nuisance at mealtimes. Students guard their plates from being snatched.

Cyclone Hidaya Weakens as it Moves Toward Tanzania’s Coastline, Officials Say

BY EVELYNE MUSAMBI

2:57 PM EDT, May 4, 2024

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Cyclone Hidaya significantly weakened as it approached Tanzania’s coastline, the country’s meteorology department said Saturday.

Officials warned residents to remain cautious, however, as the cyclone brings heavy rain and strong winds to the country through Sunday. The meteorology department did not say what the cyclone’s updated maximum wind speeds were.

A major blackout hit most of Tanzania Saturday as heavy rains and strong winds from Hidaya lashed the country following weeks of flooding in the region.

Ferry services between Tanzania’s commercial hub, Dar es Salaam, and Zanzibar were suspended as Hidaya earlier approached the East African coast with maximum winds of 120 kph (33 mph) and powerful gusts.

Reports of trees falling due to strong winds experienced in Mafia island were shared by local media by Saturday afternoon.

Authorities had warned residents to exercise caution as the intensity of the cyclone increases.

The weather service said more than usual amounts of rainfall were recorded in coastal areas overnight. The Tanzania Red Cross Society has been carrying out preparedness campaigns along the coast.

Heavy rains and flooding in recent weeks in Tanzania and the rest of East Africa have left some 155 people dead, authorities said. More than 200,000 others have been affected.

EVELYNE MUSAMBI

Musambi is an Associated Press reporter based in Nairobi, Kenya. She covers regional security, geopolitics, trade relations and foreign policy across East Africa.

Togo’s Ruling Party Wins a Majority in Parliament, Likely Keeping a Dynasty in Power

FILE - Togo’s President, Faure Gnassingbé, centre, looks on, prior to the start of the ECOWAS meeting, in Abuja, Nigeria, Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024. Togolese voters headed to the polls on Monday, April 29, 2024, to vote in the country’s parliamentary elections that will test support for a proposed new constitution that would scrap future presidential elections and give lawmakers the power to choose the president instead. (AP Photo/Gbemiga Olamikan, File)

BY ERICK KAGLAN

11:46 AM EDT, May 5, 2024

LOME, Togo (AP) — Togo’s ruling party has won a majority of seats in the West African nation’s parliament, the election commission said as it announced provisional results of last week’s vote that was rejected by the opposition as part of a move to extend President Faure Gnassingbe’s tenure.

The provisional results late Saturday showed the ruling Union for the Republic (UNIR) party won 108 out of 113 seats in the vote that tested support for a proposed new constitution that would scrap presidential elections and give lawmakers the power to choose the president.

The new constitutional provision provides for a presidential tenure of four years with a two-term limit. It makes it likely that 57-year-old Gnassingbe — in power since 2005 — would be reelected by the new parliament when his mandate expires in 2025, and could stay in power until 2033.

“The Togolese have spoken clearly in our favor,” Gilbert Bawara, a ruling party spokesman, told The Associated Press.

Both the opposition and religious leaders have called for protests after they rejected the legislation passed by lawmakers in March after their mandate expired.

The West African nation has been ruled by the same family for 57 years, initially by Eyadema Gnassingbe and then his son. Faure Gnassingbe took office after elections that the opposition described as a sham. The opposition says the proposed new constitution makes it likely that Gnassingbe will stay on when his mandate expires in 2025.

Nearly half of Togo’s 8.8 million people were registered to vote in the election that had been previously postponed on at least two occasions amid controversies over the new legislation.

An opposition party spokesman, Eric Dupuy, told the AP there was no “real opposition” in the parliamentary vote. “What’s happening in Togo is akin to North Korea,” he said.

Analysts also raised concerns about that the election did not meet voters’ expectations.

In some places like the capital of Lome, turnout was as low as 33% while it was up to 97% in the ruling party’s strongholds in the north.

Columbia Students Faced Unprecedented Police Crackdown in Final Hours

By Al Mayadeen English

At 8:18 p.m., students at Columbia University received an urgent email from the Emergency Management team instructing them to "shelter in place for safety".

Pro-Palestine student protesters at Columbia University found themselves in a standoff with authorities as their occupation of a campus building entered its 18th hour, Reuters reports.

Despite failed negotiations with administrators, police eventually intervened, arresting dozens and dispersing protest encampments. Witnesses described a scene of tension as students engaged in defiant acts like raising supplies via pulleys and displaying gestures of solidarity from a balcony.

Columbia University implemented a lockdown, allowing only select individuals on campus. Despite this, Sueda Polat, a graduate student and negotiator for the protesters, managed to gain entry and joined demonstrators in their chant of "We shall not be moved."

Negotiations ensued between Polat, her co-negotiator Mahmoud Khalil, and university administrators regarding the protesters' demand for divestment from companies supporting "Israel".

Despite a counteroffer, the negotiations reached an impasse, with Columbia refusing to discuss the fate of protesters occupying Hamilton Hall. Polat and Khalil rejected the deal, anticipating police intervention regardless of their response.

At 8:18 p.m., students at Columbia University received an urgent email from the Emergency Management team instructing them to "shelter in place for safety". Less than an hour later, the campus witnessed a massive influx of police officers, equipped with helmets and armor, marching in what some likened to an "invading army."

Sheila Coronel, a professor at the journalism school, described the scene as she oversaw student journalists, comparing it to protests she had covered in her native Philippines. Amid chants of "Shame on you!" from protesters and bystanders, police advanced, wielding batons and urging everyone to move back from the doors of Hamilton Hall.

In the chaos, Sueda Polat, a key negotiator, briefly spoke to journalists, expressing her belief that Columbia would one day be proud of the protesters. She later disappeared amidst the commotion as police cleared the area, directing most students into a dormitory and threatening arrest for those who attempted to leave.

Police removed barricades and broke bike chains to access Hamilton Hall, where flash-bangs were heard. In the confusion, an officer accidentally discharged a bullet, adding to the tension and fear among students.

Meanwhile, some politicians had called for police intervention to ensure the safety of Jewish students like Jacob Gold, who observed the events from a dormitory window. Although not involved in the protests, Gold expressed feeling endangered for the first time, attributing it to the police presence.

Deputy Police Commissioner Tarik Sheppard filmed a video near the encampment, warning against similar actions in the future. Despite the crackdown, Sueda Polat remained hidden with a friend, capturing footage of her fellow protesters being led away in handcuffs. To her, they remained resolute and principled in their cause.

'Israel' Refuses to Adhere to Permanent Ceasefire: Senior Sources

By Al Mayadeen English

5 May 2024 00:31

Senior Palestinian Resistance sources said that Hamas insists that there will be no agreement without an explicit text on a permanent ceasefire.

Senior Palestinian Resistance sources told Al Mayadeen that the negotiations face a major obstacle due to the Israeli refusal to adhere to a permanent ceasefire.

Hamas insists that there will be no agreement without an explicit text on a permanent ceasefire, the sources added. 

Resistance showing a positive, flexible attitude in negotiations

On another note, a senior source in the Palestinian Resistance factions affirmed to Al Mayadeen that the Resistance leadership is exhibiting high flexibility in indirect negotiations to reach a deal that achieves the Palestinian people's demands of a complete halt to Israeli aggression and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

The source added that the Resistance reacted positively to the proposal set by mediators, emphasizing that contact and negotiations are ongoing between Resistance leaders and mediators, aimed at reaching a serious and actual deal.

Reportedly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli officials are constantly failing in negotiations, as Netanyahu is "stubborn, does not care about his hostages or their families' demands, and is challenging the world to drag on his genocidal war."

The source further addressed the Rafah invasion, stressing that the occupation's threats "will not break the Palestinian people's will or the Resistance's, and will not force the Resistance to succumb in negotiations, as its stance remains firm."

The Resistance, the source stated, is prepared to protect the people of Palestine and repel any aggression while calling on the world to stop the fascist occupation and its genocide in Gaza. 

This comes amid constant efforts to reach a ceasefire and a prisoner exchange deal, as well as Hamas and the Resistance factions' review of the current proposal to the agreement. 

Hamas affirmed that it is acting in positive spirit 

Earlier today, a Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo, Egypt, to continue the mediated talks with the Israeli occupation. 

Hamas confirmed on May 3 that it acted in a positive spirit while studying the ceasefire proposal it recently received adding that its delegation will go to Cairo in the same spirit to try and reach an agreement. 

It added that the Palestinian resistance movement and forces are determined to reach an agreement that would secure the demands of the Palestinian people which include stopping the Israeli aggression against them and the withdrawal of IOF troops along with the return of the displaced Palestinians to their homes, reconstruction and reaching a captives deal. 

Hezbollah Engages Israeli Sites, Retaliates in North

By Al Mayadeen English

Hezbollah announced that it engaged the Israeli radar site in the occupied Lebanese Shebaa Farms using missiles. 

The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon, Hezbollah, engaged several Israeli military posts and attacked Israeli positions in settlements in northern occupied Palestine in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza and in support of their resistance. 

Hezbollah announced that it engaged the Israeli radar site in the occupied Lebanese Shebaa Farms using missiles. 

The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon also targeted Israeli spy equipment at the Israeli Al-Raheb site, opposite the southern town of Aita al-Shaab using appropriate weapons and causing direct hits. 

Using artillery shells, the resistance engaged Israeli occupation troops as they were navigating around the Israeli Bayad Blida site opposite the southern town of Blida. 

Israeli Kan Channel previously said on May 2 that those who stay alive in northern occupied Palestine would be due to a decision from Hezbollah to keep them alive stressing that Hezbollah monitors every movement on the Lebanese-Palestinian borders at all times. 

In a report addressing the situation in northern occupied Palestine, the Israeli channel's correspondent in the occupied north Rubi Hammerschlag said that there is great damage in the Israeli settlement Metulla adding that only if someone is in the area would they understand the level of exposure there. 

He added that the entire Israeli settlement is being monitored by Hezbollah adding in recent days it has been hit many missiles have hit the settlement causing enormous damage. 

The correspondent said that the only reason he was still alive in the settlement and able to report was because Hezbollah had decided not to kill him labeling the latter as the daily reality being lived in the occupied north. 

He emphasized that whoever remains alive is because of Hezbollah's decision which monitors every movement at the northern border at all times. 

In Spite of Political Tensions, DRC-Rwanda Trade Goes On

SATURDAY MAY 04 2024

In South Kivu Province, which shares borders with Rwanda and Burundi, Congolese authorities have stepped up key initiatives to facilitate trade, particularly with Rwanda. PHOTO | FILE | NMG

By PATRICK ILUNGA

Cross-border trade between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda appears to defy their open conflict, which has lately shown signs of escalating.

Residents on both sides of the border have refused to be tied down by the political tensions, trading freely despite some border restrictions.

Congolese government spokesman Patrick Muyaya said the border between Goma in the DRC and Rubavu district in Rwanda is one of the busiest in Africa for commercial traffic.

According to the World Bank, “Petite Barrière is the busiest pedestrian crossing point in the Great Lakes region, with more than 50,000 people crossing every day.”

When the crisis between the DRC and Rwanda came to a head in 2022, the Congolese authorities did not barricade the borders between the two countries, instead moving the border closure to 3pm from 5pm. Business has remained brisk.

Cross-border trade is encouraged beyond the countries of the region and there is no official policy in Kigali or Kinshasa forbidding civilian interactions for trade.

In Goma, women from Rwanda enter the DRC daily mainly to sell fresh milk, as Congolese traders cross the border to buy meat in Rwanda. This trade is also encouraged by the lack of road infrastructure linking DRC’s provinces.

“To travel to Rwanda from Goma, I have to spend just $5, whereas to go to Kinshasa and back, I need around $500,” Akilimali Chomachoma, a resident of Goma, told The EastAfrican.

“There are no roads between Goma and Kisangani. Traders in Goma and North Kivu live off trade,” said Barnabé Milinganyo, a politician from South Kivu.

In South Kivu Province, which shares borders with Rwanda and Burundi, Congolese authorities have stepped up key initiatives to facilitate trade, particularly with Rwanda. A new border post was inaugurated in September 2022.

According to Théo Ngwabije, outgoing governor of South Kivu, the aim of improving services at the border was “to provide the population with the benefits of cross-border trade”.