You are watching Africa 54, your daily news and feature magazine-style program, from the Voice of America. Host Esther Githui-Ewart and a team of correspondents zero in on the big stories making news on the continent and around the world with context and analysis.
Top Stories:
In northwestern Nigeria, more than 150 people were missing and feared drowned on Wednesday, after an overloaded boat ferrying passengers to a market sank in the Niger River, according to local officials. A local manager for the National Inland Waterways Authority said the boat was traveling between central Niger state and Wara in northwest Kebbi state when it went down. Another official had earlier said some 140 people were missing after the Wednesday morning disaster.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, suspected Islamist militants killed at least 22 civilians with knives and machetes in an overnight raid on villages near the town of Beni, according to a local official. The attack comes more than three weeks after the government declared martial law in North Kivu and Ituri, two provinces bordering Uganda, in an attempt to stem worsening bloodshed.
In other news from Congo - thousands of people fled the city of Goma any way they could on Thursday after officials said magma under the city could cause a second volcanic eruption and ordered parts of the city to evacuate. The city that was nearly over-run by lava during an eruption on Saturday has since been shaken by hundreds of earthquakes. More than 20 thousand people are homeless and 40 still missing in the aftermath of Saturday evening's volcanic eruption that sent rivers of lava towards Goma, killing at least 31 people and destroyed more than three thousand homes.
French President Emmanuel Macron has he recognized his country's role in Rwanda's genocide and hoped for forgiveness at a memorial in Kigali on Thursday. He is seeking to reset relations after years of Rwandan accusations that France was complicit in the 1994 atrocities. Quote, "Only those who went through that night can perhaps forgive, and in doing so give the gift of forgiveness," Macron said at the Gisozi genocide memorial in Kigali, where more than 250 thousand victims are buried.The visit follows the release in March of a report by a French inquiry panel that said a colonial attitude had blinded French officials and the government bore a "serious and overwhelming" responsibility for not foreseeing the slaughter.However, the report absolved France of direct complicity in the killings of more than 800 thousand Tutsis and moderate Hutus - a point Macron also made in his speech.
More than more than two thousand cases are being heard by panels set up across Nigeria to investigate allegations of police brutality. The investigations were a core demand of thousands of protesters in October 2020 ,who wanted a police unit called the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) disbanded. They said it was responsible for extortion, torture and extra-judicial killings. The police disbanded SARS, but denied most accusations made against the unit. Six months later, some campaigners and complainants say they are still waiting for justice.
In the first game of the Basketball Africa League’s quarter-finals, Egypt's Zamalek triumphed Cameroon’s Forces Armées et Police Basketball with an 82-53 victory. In a much closer game, Angola's Petroleos de Luanda came out on top against Morocco's AS Sale in a 79-72 win.
Kenya's Department of Gender says reported cases of gender-based violence have nearly quintupled during the COVID-19 pandemic. But campaigners note that stigma and fear of reporting abuse means the number of cases that go unreported is many times higher.
President Joe Biden called on Wednesday for the withdrawal of Eritrean and Amhara forces from Ethiopia's Tigray region. He said immediate humanitarian access must be granted to avoid widespread famine in the conflict-torn area. Thousands have been killed and about 2 million people forced from their homes in Tigray after conflict erupted between the Tigray People's Liberation Front and the Ethiopian military last November.The president said Ethiopian and Eritrean forces "must allow immediate, unimpeded humanitarian access to the region in order to prevent widespread famine.
Antony Blinken has wrapped up his first visit as U.S. secretary of state to the Middle East, where he aimed to shore up the Gaza cease-fire. He also sought to cement relationships and ensure the delivery of aid after a violent flare-up between Israel and Hamas that killed more than 250 people, most of them Palestinians.
A new algorithm tool is helping social workers better detect kids who are in high-risk child abuse situations.
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