A SCAN THROUGH AFRICA AHEAD OF UNGA
IN LIBYA:
Libyans have lost faith that the political class and its allied militias and mercenaries are willing to end their robbery of the nation’s wealth, a senior US diplomat has warned, after some of the worst violence in Tripoli in years. UN security council hears bleak assessment of country’s prospects after violence between militia in capital. More than 32 people were killed and 150 wounded in clashes in the capital last week between militia allied to the rival prime ministers Abdul Hamid Dbeibah and Fathi Bashagha. Dbeibah’s Government of National Unity, which he has run since last year and which controls the western part of the country, has been based in Tripoli since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in 2011, while Bashagha has run the eastern part of the country since March, backed by the military strongman Khalifa Haftar. Bashagha-allied militia, including a brigade commanded by a wealthy gangster called Haitham al-Tajouri, entered Tripoli to try to topple Dbeibah’s government, but were soundly defeated.
IN SOMALI:
At least 19 killed in Somalia in attack by al-Shabaab insurgents. The killings come two weeks after group besieged a hotel in Mogadishu for 30 hours, leaving 21 dead. Fighters from the Islamist insurgent group al-Shabaab have killed at least 19 civilians in a night-time attack in central Somalia, clan chiefs and local officials said on Saturday. The attack comes two weeks after al-Shabaab, which has waged a long insurgency against the Somali state, besieged a hotel in the capital Mogadishu for 30 hours, leaving 21 people dead and 117 injured. The sources said the group intercepted at least eight vehicles travelling between the towns of Beledweyne and Maxaa overnight from Friday to Saturday, setting fire to the vehicles and killing the passengers near Afar Irdood village. “The terrorists massacred innocent civilians who were travelling … last night. We don’t have the exact number of victims, but 19 dead bodies have been collected,” local clan elder Abdulahi Hared told AFP.
IN ZAMBIA:
Crisis-hit Zambia secures $1.3bn IMF loan to rebuild stricken economy. Years of mismanagement have led to soaring debt levels, but critics say that without meaningful relief, austerity will continue. The International Monetary Fund has approved a $1.3bn (£1.1bn) loan to Zambia, as the country scrambles to rebuild its crisis-hit economy after defaulting on its foreign debts in 2020. The Covid pandemic compounded Zambia’s economic woes, blamed on years of mismanagement and corruption, which left the country with unsustainable levels of debt. The bailout, announced on Thursday, follows months of negotiations between Lusaka and Zambia’s main creditors, which include France, the UK and China. Nearly half of the country’s debt payments are to western private lenders.
IN NIGERIA:
Jam today: Nigerians turn a profit from the choked traffic of Lagos. The city’s 24 million people can sit in gridlocked streets for more than 30 hours a week. For some, that represents a good way to make a living. Just after 6am, Omowumi Adekanmbi leaves the one-room flat where she lives with her four children. An hour later, she is at work in the gridlocked morning traffic – her customers the frustrated car commuters of Lagos. From a bowl balanced on her head, Adekanmbi deftly hands over cans of fizzy drinks with one hand and collects naira banknotes with the other. When the bowl is empty, she buys more and returns to lines of cars that have barely moved in the meantime. A 2018 report showed that Lagos residents spend an average of 30 hours a week in traffic, one of the highest figures in the world. The city – Africa’s seventh largest economic hub despite being Nigeria’s smallest state by area – is home to an estimated 24 million people. This contrast between size and population means that the city’s 9,100 roads accommodate 5m vehicles transporting eight million residents.
IN MALAWI:
Petrol pumps run dry across Malawi as fuel import problems deepen. Motorists forced to pay premium for smuggled black market fuel or drive to service stations at border with neighbouring Mozambique. Motorists in Malawi are having to rely on fuel smuggled in from neighbouring Mozambique as pumps across the country run dry, while some drivers told the Guardian they had to cross the border to get petrol as the country grapples with severe shortages. “We have been depending on smuggled fuel from Mozambique,” said Allick Pondani, a motorist from the southern Malawi district of Phalombe. “Some entrepreneurs have taken advantage of the situation and are smuggling the scarce commodity, which they are selling at 50% over the normal pump price.On Monday, Malawians traveling from the capital, Lilongwe, to the commercial city Blantyre told of making a 66-mile detour to fill up in Lizulu, a town on the Malawi-Mozambique border. Blessings Masache had travelled to Lizulu to buy fuel for his fleet of taxis but was disappointed to find pumps already dry due to high demand.
NOW LET'S GET INTO AMBAZONIA:
The genocidal onslaught is escalating - targeted and random killings are intoxicating. On this morning according to reports coming in from Kemi Ashu: An EKONA-based school teacher has been caught in a crossfire between BIRs and ARFs. Kemi Ashu with an angry tone says further: "Teachers have been told to stay away from schools until there is a buffer zone and French Cameroun stops killing our people but they don't listen. Her life hangs in the balance now as she is on a critical condition in hospital. Get well soon. Hope the other teachers learn and stay away". This brings us to a serious concern, conflicting reports are coming in from the homefront in relation to School resumption and lockdown that's in spite of the Interim Government position that has been pointed out very clearly.
According to reports by Mimi Mefo this morning:
"Day 2 of school resumptions in the Cameroons, and the ghosts are out in some parts of Bamenda!" She reports. "The streets have been completely blocked today at Below Foncha. Contrary to the prediction of government officials, school resumption in the North West Region - that's the Midland zone I guess especially remains timid". Yesterday we reported being dumped in a bush in Mbengwi probably because of poverty amid the war. A man his entire family were wiped in Kuv at Bui County last week simply because he is Ambazonian. A hustler and bike rider would to be killed in Bafut LGA because colonial forces suspect he is an ARF and has dreads. We can go on and on, and the UN is much aware of these carnage. Their agencies like the UNHCR in different regions also portray redundancy. Some believe that the UN is a toothless bull dog. In fact UN said 50 civilians were killed in last April by Mali’s army. Alleged massacre took place on market day in Hombori after military convoy hit explosive device
You would want to ask but have they done after that. As per the lockdown, The secretary of state gor Communication and IT has this to say. Let's hear him.
