Month: May 2024

U.N. development specialist Garry Conille was named Haiti’s new prime minister on Tuesday evening, nearly a month after a coalition within a fractured transitional council sought to choose someone else for the position.

The long-awaited move comes as gangs continue to terrorize the capital of Port-au-Prince, opening fire in once peaceful neighbourhoods and using heavy machinery to demolish several police stations and prisons.

Council member Louis Gérald Gilles told The Associated Press that six out of seven council members with voting power chose Conille earlier Tuesday.

He said one member, Laurent St. Cyr, was not in Haiti and therefore did not vote.

Conille has been UNICEF’s regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean since January 2023 and previously served as Haiti’s prime minister from October 2011 to May 2012 under then President Michel Martelly.

He replaces Michel Patrick Boisvert, who was named interim prime minister after Ariel Henry resigned via letter in late April.

Henry was on an official trip to Kenya when a coalition of powerful gangs launched coordinated attacks February 29, seizing control of police stations, shooting at Haiti’s main international airport and storming the country’s two biggest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates.

Henry was locked out of the country by the attacks, with the airport in the Port-au-Prince capital remaining shuttered for nearly three months.

Gang violence is still surging in parts of Haiti’s capital and beyond as Conille takes over the helm of the troubled Caribbean country awaiting the U.N.-backed deployment of a police force from Kenya and other countries.

Conille studied medicine and public health and helped develop health care in impoverished communities in Haiti, where he helped coordinate reconstruction efforts after the devastating 2010 earthquake.

He worked for several years at the United Nations before Martelly designated him as prime minister in 2011.

Conille resigned less than a year later following clashes with the president and his Cabinet over an investigation into government officials who have dual nationality, which is not allowed by Haiti’s constitution.

In addition to picking a new prime minister, the council also is responsible for selecting a new Cabinet and holding general elections by the end of next year.

Cristiano Ronaldo finished the Saudi Pro League by setting the season goal-scoring record on Monday.

Ronaldo scored twice in Riyadh as Al-Nassr defeated Al-Ittihad 4-2 and lifted his league tally to 35, one more than the record in 2019 by Abderrazak Hamdallah.

In the final seconds of the first half, Ronaldo, who had already had two goals ruled out for offside, chested down a long pass from Mohammed Al-Fatil and opened the scoring with a low shot from the left side of the area.

Celebratory Goal and Standing Ovation

With 21 minutes remaining, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner celebrated wildly after heading home a corner from Marcelo Brozovic. He was substituted off the field five minutes later to a standing ovation from the home fans.

It ended an action-packed season for Ronaldo, who scored four hat tricks and collected one red card. He was also suspended for an obscene gesture in February at Al-Shabab fans who had been chanting the name of Lionel Messi, Ronaldo’s longstanding soccer rival.

Al-Nassr finished second in the league, 14 points behind local rival Al-Hilal, which won the championship more than two weeks ago and completed the 34-round league unbeaten on Monday.

Al-Hilal’s Dominant Season

Al-Hilal was too strong even without Neymar, who joined the club in August from Paris Saint-Germain but suffered a season-ending ACL injury in October.

Aleksandar Mitrovic stepped in and ended the season with a goal in the final seconds to clinch a 2-1 win over Al-Wehda. The Serbian striker, signed from London club Fulham last summer, reached 27 league goals, second only to Ronaldo.

On its way to the title, Al-Hilal went on a 34-game winning streak in all competitions, a new world record for a top tier team.

“This season has been truly exceptional for the team, arguably our best ever,” coach Jorge Jesus said. “The credit goes to the immense talent within the squad and the incredible sense of unity that transcends both on and off-field interactions.”

Al-Ittihad’s Disappointing Season

Al-Ittihad’s defeat at Al-Nassr ended a disappointing season for the defending champion. Karim Benzema, signed from Real Madrid, struggled with injuries and even with N’Golo Kante and Fabinho in midfield, signed from Chelsea and Liverpool respectively, the team from Jeddah could manage only fifth place.

Poor results cost Nuno Santo his job as coach in November, and the Portuguese tactician returned to the English Premier League a month later to take over Nottingham Forest.

Al-Ahli Finishes Third

Al-Ahli, the fourth of the ‘Big Four’ clubs taken over by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund last June, finished third, 17 points behind Al-Nassr. Al-Ahli beat Al-Fayha 1-0 thanks to a late goal — his ninth of the season — from former Liverpool forward Roberto Firmino.

Ronaldo took the headlines, however, and the 39-year-old still had one more chance to end the season with a trophy when Al-Nassr meets Al-Hilal in the King’s Cup final on Friday.

First introduced as part of the routine immunisation programme in October last year the HPV vaccine, developed to help prevent cervical cancer, was extended to a majority of Nigerian states on Monday.

In the country’s southwestern Oyo state, health workers took part in a drive to spread information about the vaccine in local villages.

“We have heard about the cervical cancer before now and we are aware of the disease it creates, that’s why I asked my daughter to go get vaccinated as a preventive measure,” said Ramotalai Awoniran, after her daughter received the vaccine.

The HPV vaccine is now available across the country.

In Nigeria cervical cancer is the third most common cancer and the second most frequent cause of cancer deaths among women aged between 15 and 44 years, according to the United Nations.

In 2020 – the latest year for which data is available – the country recorded 12,000 new cases and 8,000 deaths from cervical cancer.

Unlike other vaccination campaigns that the West African country has successfully run against all odds – like the more than 500 languages spoken by its population of at least 210 million people that could make communication more challenging or the underfunded primary healthcare centers which are the remotest government-run health facilities where the shots are usually given – HPV is quite different.

Ahead of the nationwide vaccination drive, Nigerian authorities had been ramping up campaigns online and offline to educate citizens about the HPV vaccine.

“There are some rumours going around that they want to reduce the fertility of the girls, but we have been educating the parents that this vaccine is safe, the only thing it does is it prevents cervical cancer, ” Oyo-west’s primary health care coordinator, Lagbenro Arinlade-Ayoade, told The Associated Press.

Although the HPV vaccine has been in use in many developed nations for about two decades, it has only been introduced in the immunization programmes of just half of the countries in Africa despite the continent’s heavy burden.

One in five cervical cancer deaths that occurred globally in 2020 was in Africa, where 100,000 women developed the disease with 70,000 deaths recorded.

Burkina Faso’s military leader will stay in power for five more years after a new charter was signed following national consultations on Saturday, May 25. The talks in the capital, Ouagadougou, included civil society, security forces, and transitional lawmakers, but most political parties did not participate.

“The duration of the transition is fixed at 60 months from July 2, 2024,” said Col. Moussa Diallo, the chairman of the organizing committee of the national dialogue process, in a speech after the talks.

Burkina Faso is one of a growing list of West African countries where the military has taken power, accusing the elected governments of failing to keep their promises. The current junta seized power in September 2022 by ousting the military regime of Lt. Col. Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba about eight months after it staged a coup to remove democratically elected President Roch Marc Kaboré.

The transitional government has been running Burkina Faso under a constitution approved by a national assembly that included army officers, civil society groups and traditional and religious leaders. The junta had set a goal of conducting elections to return the country to democratic rule by July 2024.

Capt. Ibrahim Traore was named the transitional president. However, since its inception, the junta has struggled to end Burkina Faso’s security challenges — the very reason that it said prompted it to take over power in September 2022. Around half of Burkina Faso’s territory remains outside of government control.

The West African country has been ravaged by growing attacks by Muslim extremists linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. The violence has killed thousands, displaced more than 2 million people and pushed tens of thousands to the brink of starvation.

Frustrated with a lack of progress over years of Western military assistance, the junta has severed military ties with former colonial ruler France and turned to Russia instead for security support.

Traore will be able to run in elections at the end of the five-year transition period, according to the new charter. However, the charter also retains the possibility of holding elections before the end of the transition period.

A Papua New Guinea government official has reached out to the United Nations, indicating that over 2,000 individuals are believed to have been buried alive in the recent landslide by Friday.

This number starkly contrasts with the U.N.’s estimate of 670 fatalities from the disaster in the mountainous interior of the South Pacific island nation. So far, only the remains of six people have been recovered.

In a communication addressed to the United Nations resident coordinator and dated Sunday, Luseta Laso Mana, the acting director of Papua New Guinea’s National Disaster Center, described the landslide’s devastating impact on Yambali village in the Enga province, noting that it had “buried more than 2000 people alive” and caused “major destruction.”

Estimates of the casualties have been inconsistent, with the International Organization for Migration, actively engaged in the response efforts, maintaining its initial death toll estimate of 670, pending further verification. According to Mana, determining the precise scale of the disaster is challenging due to several factors, including the remote location of the village, communication limitations, and tribal conflicts in the province, necessitating military escorts for relief operations.

The landslide has not only claimed lives but also obstructed a vital stretch of the province’s main highway under layers of debris, impeding relief efforts. Recognizing the dire situation, Mana emphasized the ongoing instability of the terrain, posing risks to both rescue teams and survivors.

Efforts to address the catastrophe have begun, with the deployment of heavy machinery donated by a local builder and the involvement of Papua New Guinea’s defense minister. However, villagers remain divided over the use of such equipment, concerned about potential damage to buried bodies.

As the situation unfolds, Papua New Guinea’s government continues to evaluate the need for additional international assistance, recognizing the long-term economic repercussions of the disaster on the entire country.

Beatrice Chebet of Kenya set a world record in the 10,000 meters at the Prefontaine Classic meet on Saturday, finishing in 28 minutes, 54.14 seconds.

Chebet bested the previous record of 29.01.03 set by Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey at FBK Stadium in the Netherlands on June 8, 2021.

Chebet finished ahead of Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia, who finished in 29:05.92 in cloudy and cool temperatures at Eugene’s Hayward Field.

Chebet started to pull away with three laps to go, then poured herself into the final lap.

“My body was responding good and I felt strong,” she said. “I felt like I was very comfortable.”

It was her first 10,000 race since 2020 in Nairobi.

Chebet, 24, won the silver medal at the 5,000 meters at the world championships at Hayward Field in 2022. She won the bronze in the event at the worlds last year in Budapest.

The finish qualified her for her first Olympics this summer in Paris. She said Saturday she hopes to double in the 5,000 and 10,000.

“But my target is to run 5,000 first, then 10,000 comes second,” she said. “Because this is my first 10,000 outside the country to run, and I’m so happy to run 28, a world record.”

The Prefontaine Classic is the lone American stop on the international Diamond League series.

Nigeria’s government is cracking down on illegal mining, making dozens of arrests since April for unlicensed miners allegedly stealing lithium, a critical mineral used in batteries for electric vehicles, smartphones, and power systems.

The crackdown comes as Nigeria seeks to regulate its mining operations, curb illegal activity, and better benefit from its mineral resources. The global demand for lithium has surged due to the clean energy transition. However, corruption and minimal government presence in remote areas have led to rampant illegal mining, which has fueled militia groups in the north.

In mid-May, a joint team of soldiers and police raided a market in Kishi, Oyo State, arresting 32 individuals, including two Chinese nationals. The market, once known for farm produce, had become a hub for illicit lithium trade. Community leader Jimoh Bioku reported clandestine searches for lithium by Chinese nationals, who then engaged locals to mine for them, turning the market into a transit point.

President Bola Tinubu has blamed illegal mining for worsening conflicts in the north and called for international help to stop it. The Chinese embassy in Abuja has not commented on the arrests, but previously urged Chinese nationals to abide by Nigerian laws.

Nigeria is emerging as a significant lithium source in Africa, but illegal mining denies the government substantial revenues. Emeka Okoro from SBM Intelligence highlighted the exploitation of vulnerable workers from conflict-affected regions. The government estimates that resource theft causes annual losses of $9 billion.

To combat this, Nigeria has established a 2,200-strong “corps of mining marshals.” The corps has made several arrests and seizures, including two trucks loaded with lithium near Abuja in April and four Chinese nationals in Nasarawa State.

The government is also encouraging artisanal miners in communities like Jos to form cooperatives and operate legally.