Photo : BBC
NIAS Area Studies
AFRICA MONITOR
Photo : BBC
IN BRIEF
by Apoorva Sudhakar and Anu Maria Joseph
Chad: Around 100 miners killed in clashes near the Libyan border
On 30 May, BBC reported the government's claim that nearly 100 people had been killed and 40 injured in clashes between informal gold miners in the Kouri Bougoudi district near the border with Libya. The exact dates and casualties are unclear; the defence minister said the violence began after a minor dispute between two people escalated. The minister further said the clashes were between miners from Libya and Mauritania and that calm had been restored after a military contingent was sent to the area. However, the head of Chad's National Human Rights Commission estimated the death toll as around 200 and said the troops sent to restore calm had fired upon the people. (“Clashes between Chad gold miners leave 100 dead,” BBC, 31 May 2022)
EU building solidarity lanes to secure Ukraine’s exports to Africa
On 30 May, News24 reported European Union Commission president Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen’s virtual address to the African Union (AU) Extra-Ordinary Summit on 27 May. The EU Commission president said the EU was building solidarity lanes to help Ukraine export goods to Africa and other regions. The solidarity lane will connect Ukraine and Moldova to make a passage into Europe and thereby export at least 20 million tonnes of Ukraine’s wheat in less than three months. Von der Leyen also outlined that food security was critical in parts of the Horn of Africa, the Sahel and the Lake Chad region. (Lenin Ndebele, “EU comes up with 'solidarity lanes' to move grain from Ukraine to Africa,” News24, 30 May 2024)
Nigeria: 21 confirmed cases of monkeypox: NCDC
On 30 May, Aljazeera reported, that the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) said 21 confirmed cases of monkeypox with one death had been reported in the country in 2022. On 29 May, a statement released by NCDC said: "Among the 21 cases reported in 2022 so far, there has been no evidence of any new or unusual transmission of the virus, nor changes in its clinical manifestation documented (including symptoms, profile and virulence)". It said that the confirmed cases were reported in nine states including the capital Abuja. Six cases were confirmed in May alone. Though monkeypox is endemic in African countries of Nigeria, Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the recent reports of more than 200 suspected and confirmed cases in over 19 countries have brought global concern. ("Nigeria CDC confirms 21 cases of monkeypox in 2022," Al Jazeera, 30 May 2022)