Africa 54 - May 31, 2021

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:

An armed gang abducted students from an Islamic school in the north-central Nigerian state of Niger on Sunday, according to police and state government officials. A spokesman for Niger's state police said in a statement that gunmen on motorcycles attacked the town of Tegina, in the Rafi local government area of the state, at around 3 p.m. on Sunday. He said the attackers were "shooting indiscriminately and abducted a yet to be ascertained number of children at Salihu Tanko Islamic school."

The West African regional bloc ECOWAS on Sunday suspended Mali's membership in response to last week's coup and said authorities must stick to a timetable for a return to democracy. However it did not announce sanctions like those it imposed after the coup last August, which saw members temporarily close their borders with landlocked Mali and halt financial transactions. It also did not call for new interim President Assimi Goita to step down.

A Zambian court on Friday jailed a former cabinet minister Emerine Kabanshi for two years, in a corruption case that had prompted some Western donors to freeze aid to the southern African nation. Britain, Finland, Ireland and Sweden withheld nearly $34 million dollars in aid to Zambia's social welfare and education sectors in 2018 because of concern over financial mismanagement. Following the aid freeze, President Edgar Lungu fired the then Community Development and Social Welfare Minister who was in charge of the funds.

Saudi Arabia is requiring all pilgrims for the scaled-back, annual Hajj in July to be vaccinated against COVID-19. In Tanzania, where vaccinations have still not begun, Muslims hoping to go to Mecca are urging authorities to start vaccinating. Charles Kombe reports from Dar es Salaam.

South Africa has extended its nightly curfew and limited the number of people at gatherings to slow the spread of COVID-19 as positive cases surge. President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the extension on Sunday in a televised address to the nation.The level two lockdown restrictions will start on Monday, forcing non-essential establishments like restaurants, bars and fitness centers to close by 8:00 pm local time as the curfew will now start at 11:00 pm instead of midnight and end at 4:00 am.

In East Africa, Kenya has also extended its nightly curfew by 60 days to slow the spread of COVID-19, according to the Interior Ministry. The move followed a decision by President Uhuru Kenyatta in late March to extend the 10 p.m to 4 a.m. curfew. A ban on political gatherings and processions that could turn into super spreader events was also extended for 60 days. The ban on public gatherings and processions and overnight meetings will stay in force, according to the Interior Ministry.

Zamalek is the king of African club basketball winning the inaugural Basketball Africa League trophy in Kigali Sunday. The Egyptian club beat Tunisia’s U.S. Monastirienne to top a 12-team tournament organized by FIBA and the NBA. VOA’s Jackson Mvunganyi has all the BAL action.


Ahead of the U.S. Memorial Day weekend, President Joe Biden delivered a message of hope around domestic declining COVID-19 cases and increased vaccination rates. But the United States continues to be accused of not doing enough to fight the pandemic around the world and is under pressure to come up with a global COVID-19 strategy when it meets with other advanced economies at the G-7 summit next month. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this report.


From mammoth cash prizes to free perks, states and businesses in America are finding all kinds of ways to encourage residents to get vaccinated against COVID-19. More with VOA Correspondent Mariama Diallo.

An investigative report this year accused the Burkina Faso representative of Swiss American tobacco giant Philip Morris of funding terrorism through tobacco smuggling. Despite a U.N. report also calling him a smuggler, Apollinaire Compaoré, has rejected the findings in an exclusive interview for VOA with reporter Henry Wilkins in Ouagadougou.

According to the Adobe Digital Economy Index, eCommerce worldwide reached $876 billion in the first quarter of 2021. And even as stores begin reopening consumers are continuing to do more shopping online. Maxim Moskalkov has the story.

#ECOWAS #Niger #SaudiArabia #Zambia #BAL #BurkinaFaso #Mali

Видео Africa 54 - May 31, 2021 канала VOA Africa