ADDIS ABABA – Rescuers, aided by drones, continued a desperate search on Wednesday for possible survivors of devastating landslides in southern Ethiopia that have killed 229 people and affected thousands more.

Humanitarian agencies are scrambling to rush emergency relief to the stricken community, the deadliest such incident ever recorded in Ethiopia, a country highly vulnerable to climate-related disasters.

About 14,000 people need to be urgently evacuated from the area due to the risk of further landslides, according to The New Indian Express.

Local residents have been using shovels and their bare hands to dig through vast mounds of mud in Kencho Shacha Gozdi, a hard-to-access locality in South Ethiopia, hundreds of kilometers from the capital Addis Ababa.

The Gofa Zone Communications Affairs Department confirmed Tuesday that 148 men and 81 women have died in the disaster, which struck the remote and mountainous area.

Senait Solomon, head of communications for the South Ethiopia regional government, said eight people had been pulled from the mud alive and taken to medical facilities for treatment.

The number of people still missing is unknown.

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Dozens of people have been detained in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, following anti-corruption protests that defied an official ban.

Around 60 individuals, including a prominent TV presenter and three young protest leaders, were swiftly brought before courts and remanded in custody after a march on the country’s parliament on Tuesday.

The protests, which were organized via social media, were sparked by long-standing allegations of corruption involving several high-profile public officials.

The demonstrations drew inspiration from recent protests in neighboring Kenya, which led President William Ruto to abandon planned tax hikes.

President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled Uganda for nearly four decades, had issued a stern warning prior to the protests, cautioning that participants were “playing with fire.”

Authorities had previously denied permission for the march, citing concerns about threats to Uganda’s “peace and security.”

Read More: At least 50 bodies pulled from mud after southern Ethiopia landslide

On the day of the protest, riot officers established roadblocks and security forces sealed off roads and maintained a heavy presence around the parliament building.

Images from the scene showed marchers holding signs reading “Stop corruption” and labeling the parliament as a “den of thieves,” while others declared “We are peaceful protesters.”

The response from the police was forceful, with protesters being seen being manhandled and pushed into riot vans.

Notable among those detained were television and radio presenter Faiza Salima and protest organizers, George Victor Otieno, Kennedy Ndyamuhaki and Aloikin Praise Opoloje.

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ADDIS ABABA – At least 50 bodies were reportedly pulled from the mud on Monday following two landslides in southern Ethiopia, a local official said.

“There was a heavy rain yesterday night and some people died from a landslide,” said Kassahun Abayneh, the government spokesperson for Gofa district in the South Ethiopia regional state.

“In the (Monday) morning, locals, including police, gathered at the site to save those who were affected by the first landslide.

Read more: ‘I concede,’ Kenya president, Ruto, backs down on tax hikes after more than 23 die from protests

That is when the second landslide happened around 10:00 a.m. (0700 GMT) today and those who gathered there died,” Abayneh said as reported by Reuters.

Meskir Mitku, the District General Administrator of Gofa district in the Southern Ethiopia region, said women, children and local police were among the dead, the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC) reported.

Photographs on Facebook shared by EBC showed scores of people on a blank hillside searching for victims.

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President Joe Biden has succumbed to mounting pressure regarding his health and announced that he would not seek re-election in the November 5 presidential race.

In a statement issued on Sunday on his official Facebook page, Biden stated: “I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as President for the remainder of my term.”

Read more: Trump escapes death in campaign rally shooting; assassination attempt leaves three dead

Biden reflected on his 2020 decision to select Kamala Harris as his Vice President, describing it as “the best decision” he made.

He expressed his full support for Harris to be the Democratic nominee this year and urged party unity to defeat former President Donald Trump.

This decision may mark a significant shift in the 2024 presidential race and underscores Biden’s commitment to ensuring a strong Democratic candidacy moving forward.

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KENYA – Kenyan Opposition figure, Kalonzo Musyoka, has called the country’s Cabinet change “cosmetic,” saying nothing would change as long as the William Ruto administration was in office.

Musyoka said that any opposition party joining the broad-based government would be doing so as an individual party and not as the opposition coalition, according to a report by Africanews.

Musyoka was reacting to a move by Ruto on Friday of appointing the first 11 members of his Cabinet, retaining six former ministers in the key portfolios of defense and interior.

Shortly before the president’s announcement, opposition coalition members on Friday distanced themselves from the proposal to form a broad-based government, calling it a “betrayal of the Kenyan people, particularly Gen Zs and millennials,” who have been leading the protests calling for change.

Read more: Kenyan President Ruto sacks entire Cabinet in unprecedented move to stabilize his govt

Main opposition leader, Raila Odinga, was not present during the opposition coalition media briefing.

Last week, Ruto dismissed all but one minister and said he would form a broad-based government that would help him address issues that led to month long protests.

The protests started as calls for legislators to vote against a finance bill that was proposing new taxes and later morphed to calls for the president’s resignation over bad governance.

The president on Friday retained the former ministers in interior and defense, but he had yet to appoint a finance minister, under whose area of responsibility the contentious budget falls.

The country’s public debt had been increasing and Ruto defended the proposed taxes as a way to repay debt and increase internal revenue collection.

Demonstrators had been calling for a fresh start accusing the former ministers of incompetence, corruption and displays of opulence amid the high cost of living.

At least 50 people had died since the protests started and more than 400 others have been injured, according to data from the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights.

A court on Thursday suspended a ban by police on protests in the capital, Nairobi.

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RWANDA – Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame is set to extend his 24-year rule by another five years in a landslide victory, according to partial results from Monday’s election.

Kagame has reportedly secured 99.15 percent of the vote so far, with approximately 79 percent of ballots counted, the electoral commission announced.

The 66-year-old faced no meaningful opposition, with leading figures banned, as reported by the BBC.

His two opponents, environmentalist Frank Habineza and journalist Philippe Mpayimana, have garnered 0.53 percent and 0.32 percent of the vote, respectively.

In an address at his Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) party headquarters, Kagame thanked Rwandans for their trust.

“These are not just figures, even if it was 100 percent these are not just numbers. [They] show the trust, and that is what is most important,” he said.

The full provisional results are due by 20 July, with final results expected by 27 July.

These results mirror the 2017 election, where Kagame also faced the same candidates and won with 98.8 percent of the vote.

At least three aspirants were disqualified from running this year, including outspoken critic Diane Rwigara.

Kagame has been the de facto leader of Rwanda since the end of the 1994 genocide and has served as president since 2000.

While rights groups accuse him of curtailing freedoms, his supporters credit him with presiding over economic growth and helping to end ethnic divisions.

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KIGALI – Voters in Rwanda lined up at polling stations on Monday to elect their next president, with 66-year-old incumbent Paul Kagame, who has ruled the central African country for nearly a quarter of a century, expected to secure an easy victory.

Kagame has won more than 93 percent of the vote in each of the last three elections, according to Reuters.

Eight candidates had applied to run against him, but only two—Frank Habineza and Philippe Mpayimana—were retained in the final list validated by the electoral commission.

The others, including Kagame’s most vocal critics, were barred for various reasons, including prior criminal convictions.

At the Rwandexco polling centre in the capital, Kigali, people began queuing 90 minutes before polls opened.

Kagame is looking to win the endorsement of more than 9 million eligible voters, who are also electing members of parliament.

Provisional results are expected by July 20.

Kagame won nearly 99 percent of the vote in the 2017 poll, following a constitutional change removing term limits that would have prevented him from standing again.

He has received acclaim for transforming Rwanda into a thriving economy but has also faced criticism from rights activists and Western nations for muzzling the media, stifling opposition, and backing rebel groups in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Rwandan government has denied all accusations against it.

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Donald Trump was reportedly shot in the ear during a Saturday campaign rally, an attack that left the Republican presidential candidate’s face streaked with blood.

This, according to a Reuters report seen by Zambia Monitor on Sunday, prompted his security agents to swarm him before he emerged and pumped his fist in the air, mouthing the words “Fight! Fight! Fight!”

The shooter was dead, one rally attendee was killed, and two other spectators were injured, the Secret Service said in a statement.

The incident is being investigated as an assassination attempt.

Law enforcement officials told reporters they had tentatively identified a suspected shooter but were not ready to disclose the information publicly.

Former President Trump, 78, had just started his speech when the shots rang out.

He reportedly grabbed his right ear with his right hand, then brought his hand down to look at it before dropping to his knees behind the podium.

Secret Service agents swarmed and covered him.

He emerged about a minute later, his red “Make America Great Again” hat knocked off and could be heard saying “wait, wait,” before the first bump, then agents rushed him to a black SUV.

“I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear,” Trump said later on his Truth Social platform following the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, about 30 miles (50 km) north of Pittsburgh. “Much bleeding took place.”

Read more:isis-claims-responsibility-for-attack-at-moscow-concert-that-left-over-133-dead

The shooting occurred less than four months before the November 5 election, when Trump faces a rematch with Democratic President Joe Biden.

Most opinion polls, including those by Reuters/Ipsos, show the two locked in a close contest.

The Trump campaign said he was “doing well.”

Biden said in a statement: “There’s no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it.”

The shooting raised immediate questions about security failures by the Secret Service, which provides former presidents, including Trump, with lifetime protection.

It was the first shooting of a U.S. president or major party candidate since the 1981 attempted assassination of Republican President Ronald Reagan.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro said Trump had left the Butler area under the protection of the U.S. Secret Service with the assistance of the Pennsylvania state police.

Eyewitness Ron Moose, a Trump supporter at the rally, said he heard about four shots.

“I saw the crowd go down and then Trump ducked real quick,” he said. “Then the Secret Service all jumped and protected him as soon as they could. We are talking within a second. They were all protecting him.”

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Kenya’s President, William Ruto, has taken the unprecedented step of dismissing all his ministers and the attorney-general “with immediate effect” in response to recent deadly protests against an unpopular tax bill.

The protests prompted Ruto to withdraw the controversial tax hikes.

Ruto explained in a statement issued from Nairobi, Kenya on Thursday that his decision came after careful reflection and listening to the concerns of Kenyans, leading to a comprehensive assessment of his cabinet.

He said he plans to establish a more inclusive government through wide-ranging consultations.

The dissolution of the cabinet excludes the deputy president, who cannot be removed legally and the prime cabinet secretary, who also served as the foreign affairs minister.

Ruto did not specify a timeline for appointing a new government but indicated ongoing consultations across various sectors and political groups.

Read more: Tough times ahead, as Kenya’s Ruto proposes austerity measures after 39 killed in protests

This move is highly unusual, occurring less than two years after Ruto assumed office.

The last time Kenya witnessed such a significant cabinet overhaul was in 2005 under then President Mwai Kibaki, following a referendum defeat over a proposed new constitution.

Pressure had been mounting on Ruto amid ongoing anti-government protests demanding greater accountability.

While he withdrew the tax increases, demonstrators continued to call for broader reforms and some even demanded Ruto’s resignation.

Recently, Ruto introduced austerity measures across government agencies and halted proposed salary increases for cabinet members and parliamentarians in response to public outcry.

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GHANA – Former President John Dramani Mahama, has voiced his concerns about the escalating protests and civil unrest in various parts of Africa, particularly referencing the ongoing situation in Kenya.

Mahama stated the importance of preserving peace and stability in Ghana, cautioning against the possibility of similar turmoil, according to a report by the Pulse.

“We have all seen what is happening in Kenya and we don’t want that to happen in Ghana. When we come, things are going to be different. It’s not going to be business as usual; we want to be a government in a hurry to repair the mess created by Bawumia and Akufo-Addo.

“The people of Ghana are looking at NDC to come and rescue them from the hardships in which they have been plunged. We will do things that will turn the economy around as quickly as possible,” he stated.

While affirming that the right to protest is a fundamental democratic right, Mahama stressed that it must be exercised responsibly and within the law.

Read more: Tough times ahead, as Kenya’s Ruto proposes austerity measures after 39 killed in protests

Kenya has been experiencing significant unrest, with widespread protests against the government.

Initially sparked by issues like economic hardships and allegations of corruption, these protests have escalated into violent clashes between demonstrators and security forces.

This situation has drawn international attention and raised concerns about the stability of one of East Africa’s most influential countries.

Mahama’s remarks come at a critical time as Ghana prepares for its next general elections.

The former president underscored the importance of dialogue, engagement, and effective governance in addressing the grievances of the populace.

He urged the current administration and political leaders to prioritise the welfare of citizens and address the root causes of dissatisfaction.

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