Amnesty International reported on Wednesday that at least 540 people were killed by armed invaders in rural communities of four local government areas in Benue State within the first two months of this year. The revelation was made by Barbara Magaji, the programme manager of Amnesty International, during a photo exhibition and press conference on the conflicts in Benue, held in Makurdi, the state capital.

Magaji stated that the killings occurred between January and February 18, 2024, in the local government areas of Apa, Otukpo, Agatu, and Guma. “As a result of the attacks, a total of 12,369 individuals from 2,105 households were displaced from their homes, forcing them to seek refuge in neighbouring communities. At least 540 people were killed and 149 injured due to the attacks,” she reported.

The programme manager also revealed that 55 schools were either destroyed by armed attackers or closed due to insecurity, leaving hundreds of children out of school. Additionally, periodic markets in rural communities have been attacked, destroyed, or closed following conflicts and insecurity.

Magaji explained that her presentation was based on Amnesty International’s research on frequent attacks in Benue State, highlighting that 18 out of 23 local government areas in the state have been affected by continuous attacks by armed herders. “Between January 2023 and February 2024, over 50 rural communities in Benue State recorded 135 attacks, leading to the deaths of 2,600 people, many of whom are women and children. This has left hundreds displaced, wounded, raped, and others kidnapped,” she added.

These attacks are significantly affecting food security and livelihoods, as the affected communities are predominantly farmers who are now unable to carry out their activities due to displacement. Amnesty International has called on Nigerian authorities to protect lives and ensure that the attacks in Benue State end. They also urged for impartial investigations into the incidents to seek justice for the victims, survivors, and their families.

Israel preparing to increase water supply for Gazans, sources say

Israel, under pressure from Western allies to ease a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, is preparing to boost electricity to a desalination plant so it can produce more water for people in the enclave, an Israeli security official and a western official told Reuters on Wednesday.

An Israeli offensive launched on Gaza in response to an October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas has left millions in Gaza with little food, scarce water, and failing sanitation, Western aid agencies say.

Washington and other allies are pressing the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to ease the military offensive and allow in more aid and supplies to relieve the humanitarian crisis.

The Israeli plan, the details of which were shown to Reuters, is to directly supply electricity from Israel to a large water desalination facility in Khan Yunis, the two sources said.

The facility was established with United Nations funding in 2017 to provide drinking water to areas in Deir al-Balah, Khan Yunis and the Mawasi area, where many Gazans have fled due to fighting.

The facility has a production capacity of about 20,000 cubic meters of water per day, while today the facility provides only some 1,500 cubic meters due to the lack of electricity. Gaza depends on Israel for much of its electricity supply. That power has been cut since the fighting started.

The Israeli source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the planned supply of electricity to the water plant could provide water for just under a million people.

The source did not give a deadline for when the power supply would come on line. Current power is coming from generators and solar.

The source said the plan has been approved by both the Israeli prime minister and the Israeli minister of defense but still requires approval from other ministers in the government.

"There are parties who are trying to cancel the process," the source said without providing details.

The Israeli prime minister's office declined a request for comment.

A Western official familiar with the plan, speaking on condition of anonymity, also said preparations were being made to restore the power to the plant.

The official said that Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant approved the reopening of the power line when U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with him in Israel earlier this month.

“The Israelis are ready on their side," said the official. "Right now, Palestinian engineers are inside the strip checking the integrity of the line.”

The official said restoring power to the line that feeds the desalination plant was a crucial element in alleviating the water crisis in Gaza, but would not solve the issue.

There was still a need to get in equipment to fix the sanitation system, and this was hampered by the fighting, the official said.

 

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia keeps up pressure on the front line as Ukraine gets a boost from Western military aid

Relentless Russian attacks on Ukrainian positions defending the strategically important eastern town of Chasiv Yar are disrupting troop rotations and the delivery of some supplies, soldiers in the area say.

Russian troops are seeking to press their advantage in troop numbers and weaponry before Ukrainian forces are bulked up by promised new Western military aid that is already trickling to the front line, analysts say.

The Kremlin’s military has been hitting civilian targets just as hard, using powerful glide bombsthat obliterate buildings and leave huge craters. Its monthslong campaign to cripple Ukraine’s electricity supply aims to sap public moraleand deny energy to Ukraine’s burgeoning arms industry.

Attacks on such civilian targets brought arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court on Tuesday for former Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and military chief of staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov for alleged war crimes. Judges said there is evidence they “intentionally caused great suffering or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health” of Ukrainian civilians.

For Ukrainian soldiers defending the eastern Donetsk region, the Russian ground assaults and aerial barrages allow little respite after more than two years of war.

“We work, you could say, without rest,” said a platoon commander who, in line with his brigade’s rules, identified himself only by his first name, Oleksandr.

“So no two days are alike. You always need to be ready to work day and night,” he told The Associated Press on Monday.

His platoon is part of Ukraine’s 43rd Artillery Brigade. It dashes to positions and without delay fires a Soviet-era Pion self-propelled howitzer at Russian positions before it can be targeted itself.

Holding Chasiv Yar is crucial. The town, highly sought-after due to its strategic location and elevated position but now largely in ruins, lies to the west of neighboring Bakhmut, which was captured by Russia last year after a 10-month battle.

Ukraine is racing to stabilize parts of the about 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line after badly needed military assistance was approved by the United States in April. A six-month delay in U.S. aid threw Ukraine’s military onto the defensive.

Members of the artillery brigade in Chasiv Yar reported that supplies of American ammunition have started to arrive.

The U.S. is expected to announce this week an additional $150 million in critically needed munitions to Ukraine, and Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said Tuesday that the first shipment of ammunition under a Czech initiative has been delivered to Ukraine.

Separately, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke by phone with Russian Minister of Defense Andrei Belousov.

Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Austin emphasized the importance of maintaining lines of communication amid the war. The last time Austin, who initiated the call, spoke to his Russian counterpart was with then-minister Shoigu on March 15, 2023. There was no immediate report of the call by Russian officials.

The Czechs are looking to acquire from countries outside the European Union at least 800,000 artillery shells that Ukraine badly needs. The war has drained stockpiles in Europe, the U.S. and Russia.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said it will take time for the effects of the new Western weaponry to be felt on the front line.

Meanwhile, it said, “Russian forces are attempting to make tactically and operationally significant gains” before it arrives.

Elsewhere, the Kremlin’s forces kept up their barrages of civilian infrastructure with three aerial strikes in the northeastern Kharkiv region Tuesday, local officials said, though nobody was injured.

Russia has pounded Kharkiv in recent months, apparently to draw some Ukrainian forces away from the defense of Donetsk while trying to create a buffer zone to prevent cross-border Ukrainian attacks.

Russian launched 42 glide bombs against the Kharkiv region in the previous 24 hours, authorities said Tuesday.

In other developments, the Russian Defense Ministry and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that each side had released 90 war prisoners to the other in an exchange mediated by the United Arab Emirates. The Emirati Foreign Ministry said it was the fifth swap mediated by the country this year alone.

The deal “is the outcome of the UAE leveraging its distinct ties and partnership with both sides, including as a reliable mediator among both parties,” the UAE said in a statement.

Zelenskyy said the swap included troops across the country’s military and its border guard, including those who fought at the Russian-occupied city of Mariupol, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and other regions.

Also Tuesday, Moscow responded to the EU’s decision to suspend the broadcasting activities of Russia’s Voice of Europe, RIA Novosti, Izvestia and Rossiyskaya Gazeta by banning the broadcasts of 81 European media outlets.

“The Russian side has repeatedly warned that politically motivated repressions against Russian journalists and unfounded bans of the Russian media in the EU won’t go unanswered,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in the statement.

 

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russian forces destroy 12 Ukrainian drone control centers — defense ministry

Russian forces destroyed 12 drone control centers in the zone of responsibility of the Battlegroup West, spokesman for the battlegroup Ivan Birma said.

"Seven fixed-wing reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicles were destroyed by air defense systems and electronic warfare tools near the settlements of Vladimirovka, Preobrazhenskoye, Ploshchanka, Torskoye, and Kremennaya. <…> Apart from that, twelve drone control centers were destroyed," he said.

According to the spokesman, Russian forces hits positions of Ukrainian troops near the settlements of Petropavlovka, Stelmahovka, Boguslavka, Stepovaya, and Novoselovka. "Two counterattacks by assault groups of the Ukrainian army’s 3rd assault brigade were repelled near the Olgovka area. Two Grad multiple launch missile systems and five mortars were destroyed in the course of counterbattery activity," he added.

 

AP/Tass

Yoruba people have a proverb that translates, “When a youth stumbles, they look ahead; when an elderly stumbles, they look backwards.” As a child, I thought the proverb was talking about how children and elders contrarily process the embarrassment of falling in public. I assumed that an elder looks backwards when they fall because it would be too shameful to look elsewhere. Growing older helped me appreciate the wisdom the proverb encodes. The youth and the elderly look in opposite directions when they miss their footing to draw upon sources of wisdom available to them.

Foundering during one’s youth is a chance to look ahead and learn from the experiences of those who have walked a similar path. There is always someone ahead whose wisdom, insight, and experience one can readily call upon. An elder looks behind them to review their stumble because they are expected to have accrued enough experience to reflect and make amends.

When President Bola Tinubu fell on his face during the Democracy Day celebrations, I briefly wondered what the Yoruba in their wisdom had to say about the direction an elderly president looks when they lose their balance.

What happened to Tinubu was, of course, a physical fall and not the metaphorical one that the proverb reflected on. Yet, tripping up on Democracy Day of all days— especially for a man who boasts he helped fight military dictatorship—symbolises his presidency more than anything else. He is a faltering leader, and I want to believe that even he knows that this presidency of a thing is way beyond his much-vaunted abilities. Forget the repeated excuse of him inheriting a bad situation (every president since 1999 has said the same anyway), this man has confronted a situation whose scale neither his administrative abilities nor the propaganda machine that propagated his managerial capabilities can possibly sustain. His second year as president has started counting, but his leadership remains as unexciting as it was on Day One.

I observed two sets of responses to Tinubu’s fall. Younger people, especially those with social media accounts, thought it was funny and were quick to restage the moment he slipped in many satirical skits that instantly flooded social media. Given the anonymity social media platforms offer, the moral accountability and cultural codes of respect that would otherwise restrain us from laughing at the pitiable sight of an old man falling down are far looser. When you are young and vibrant, I suppose an old person whose body has succumbed to the will of nature can be a comic spectacle. Even if it occurs to you that you could one day end up the same way, the possibility will still be so remote that you could laugh.

Older people, especially those closer to the generation of the president, did not think his tripping over was funny. Not only did they demonstrate a fellow feeling for the president, but they were also mortified by the irreverence of youths laughing at an elder. Despite the justified criticisms, I do not see the satirists as lacking either empathy or even good manners. The man who stumbled on Democracy Day was no random elder but a political figure already despised by a younger generation for everything he represents. Few things in life can possibly be as delightful as the irony of a person who sells their soul to acquire invincible political power losing their physical balance. It was the same reason the internet went wild when former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe tripped and fell on a red carpet in 2015.

Perhaps because I am caught between the older and younger generations, I am ambivalent at the sight of a president falling on his face. When you have seen videos of people falling on the road out of the hunger Tinubu’s policies induced, his awkward situation loses even its schadenfreude worth. Even if you want to laugh, you are reminded that millions of us are only divine grace away from collapsing either due to hunger or the stress of living in Nigeria under his leadership. Nigeria is tough at the moment; so tough that survival is a traumatising sport.

Things have reached the point where everyone is advising everyone to take to farming. On the surface, this looks like a wise counsel but it is a non-solution. How is a country supposed to survive the real challenges of the 21st century when the majority of its citizens resort to subsistence farming just to alleviate hunger? Would they also need to take up animal husbandry to meet other dietary needs? Given how much agricultural produce Nigeria wastes every year due to the broken value chain of agriculture, our troubles are not food shortages. There is food, but the majority of us just lack purchasing power. Give it a maximum of one year, and it will eventually dawn on the proponents of mass farming that the agricultural practices that led to what is called “food security” in richer nations have long gone beyond the pre-modern planting methods we are being encouraged to take up in 2024.

Tinubu himself was embarrassed by the Democracy Day fall given how he tried to ameliorate the embarrassment with a joke as soon as he got the chance. For him to have alluded to the pillorying he received on social media, he must have been self-conscious about it. What I truly wonder is the nature of his shame: that he fell on his face or that the physical fall metaphorises his presidency? Tinubu’s reaction to his own stumble brings me back to the earlier question: when a president stumbles, in which direction is he supposed to look? I suppose a quick retort will be that a wobbly old person like him should look into their past to draw the necessary wisdom to process their fall.

Trouble is, which past would a man with Tinubu’s history be looking into? His past is pretty recent. Virtually every biographical detail about the man pre-1999 (family history, educational path, and even career trajectory) when he became the Lagos governor is under contention. The rest is so enshrouded in overlapping scandals that he is one president who will probably never be able to launch his autobiography. Whatever he has to say about himself (or his biographers’ document) will instantly be investigated by the online sleuths who, with their access to a world wide web of information, will puncture through the façade.

If his pre-1999 life is draped in the mystery of who he truly is and the road that brought him here, his personal history that unfolded after he became governor is no less fabricated. His alleged leadership record, wildly celebrated by a band of hired intellectuals and professional sycophants, has been a hyperbolic celebration of what is essentially mediocre leadership. His praise singers drummed him up and trumpeted his praises to Aso Rock. Now that he is up there, it turns out there is very little quality in his past that he can draw on to salvage Nigeria.

He is not stumbling because Nigeria is a difficult state to administer. No, he is falling because he was promoted beyond the degree of what suffices as his past—his administrative record, experience, and leadership sagacity—can sustain. The incoherence and lack of coordination in his government give him away as a man who has subsisted on propaganda rather than a true achiever.

So, here we are, stuck with a stumbling president who is too old to look in the forward direction and has very little in his past to call upon at a crucial juncture in the life of the nation. Without the benefit of a past and a future, the best he can do is to look lost.

 

Punch

People are losing the cognitive and social skills they need for a thriving personal and professional life, says organizational psychologist Richard Davis.

"We are at risk of losing this essential capability that I call receptivity," says Davis, the managing director of Toronto-based leadership consulting firm Russell Reynolds Associates. "It's the ability to have good judgment, to have insight about people, and it's a major concern."

Technology, social media and artificial intelligence are to blame, Davis adds: People rely so much on their their phones that they're increasingly unable to make judgment calls on their own. "It's a cognitive ability that you need to actually exercise in order to not lose it," he says.

Davis uses GPS as an example. People once used physical maps, or memory, to get to where they needed to go. Now, if your phone dies, you might find yourself lost more easily.

"What happens when Waze fails? When you don't have a cell signal? When we don't have ChatGPT?" says Davis.

People's ability to talk to and connect with each other is similarly at risk, he says.

"If your head's in your phone, you're meeting people through Tinder profiles or you're basing your business decisions based purely on a resume and not really seeing or spending time with a person, you're losing your core human capability to have insight into other people," says Davis.

'Get your head up out of your phone'

Being tech-savvy can help you with efficiency, productivity and learning. But constantly relying on your devices won't make you successful in the long run, Davis says.

Showing an ability to complete tasks, solve problems and meet people on your own will make you go far, he says — some CEOs value those skills in potential employees, and look them for when weighing candidates for promotions.

Try and limit how much you're reaching for your cell phone, Davis advises. Twenty percent of U.S. adults between ages 18 and 29 are smartphone-dependent, according to January data from the Pew Research Center.

Even a small reduction in phone use can help you make space for "screen-free" activities that strengthen your receptivity and cognition, like exercising and reading books, Amy Blankson, a happiness expert and co-founder of the Digital Wellness Institute, told Make It last month.

Exercise increases blood flow to your brain and reduces stress and anxiety, making it easier to mentally recharge after a long workday, studies show. Similarly, reading can improve long-term brain function and memory.

"Get your head up out of your phone and go take the subway and out to midtown Manhattan and meet people in person," Davis says. "You will have so much more insight about people, make much better decisions [and] have better insight into others."

 

CNBC

Kenyan President William Ruto on Wednesday withdrew planned tax hikes, bowing to pressure from protesters who had stormed parliament, launched demonstrations across the country and threatened more action this week.

The move will be seen as a major victory for a week-old, youth-led protest movement that grew from online condemnations of tax rises into mass rallies demanding a political overhaul, in the most serious crisis of Ruto's two-year-old presidency.

But some demonstrators said on social media that despite Ruto's climbdown they would go ahead with a rally planned for Thursday, with many reiterating demands that he resign.

Ruto announced he would not sign a finance bill including the tax increases, a day after violent clashes between police and protesters at the assembly and nationwide left at least 23 people dead and scores wounded, according to medics.

"Listening keenly to the people of Kenya who have said loudly that they want nothing to do with this finance bill 2024, I concede. And therefore, I will not sign the 2024 finance bill, and it shall subsequently be withdrawn," he said in a televised address with lawmakers, some clapping, seated behind him.

Vice President Rigathi Gachagua asked young people to call off the protests to avoid any further loss of life and destruction of property, and blamed the intelligence services for giving the government poor advice.

"There would have been no mayhem, but they slept on the job," Gachagua said in a speech, calling on the head of the National Intelligence Service to resign.

Protesters were defiant, repeating calls for Ruto to step down and vowing further action in the streets.

Boniface Mwangi, a prominent social justice activist involved in the protests, called for a "1-million-people march".

"The arrogance is gone, but the lies are still there," he said on social media platform X. "Yesterday they unleashed goons and police to kill peaceful protesters. That will not stop us."

Other members of the protest movement continued to post on social media using the hashtag #tupatanethursday, or "see you on Thursday" in a mix of Swahili and English.

Ruto said he would now start a dialogue with Kenyan youth, without going into details, and work on austerity measures - beginning with cuts to the budget of the presidency - to make up the difference in the country's finances.

He said the loss of life on Tuesday was "very unfortunate". Kenyan police have not responded to requests for comment about the violence.

COMPETING DEMANDS

Even if Ruto's concession manages to see off the immediate threat of more unrest, it still leaves him caught between the competing demands of his hard-pressed citizens and of lenders such as the IMF - which is urging the government to cut deficits to obtain more financing.

Kenya's sovereign dollar bonds were trading largely flat despite Ruto's rejection of the finance bill. Its bonds were trading between 74.6 and 95 cents on the dollar, Tradeweb data showed, with the longer-dated 2034 maturity at the lowest price.

On Tuesday, police opened fire on crowds who massed around parliament and later broke into the senate chamber and national assembly, minutes after lawmakers had voted through the tax measures and sent them on to the president.

The Nation newspaper documented protests in at least 35 of Kenya's 47 counties, from big cities to rural areas - even in Ruto's hometown of Eldoret in his ethnic Kalenjin heartland.

At least 23 people were killed across the East African country and another 30 were being treated for bullet wounds, the Kenya Medical Association said on Wednesday. Medical officials in Nairobi said scores had been injured.

Posts on social media had urged people to occupy State House, the president's office and residence, on Thursday, and the local offices of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday, though it was not immediately clear if the calls came from individuals or a broader movement.

Heavily armed police patrolled the streets of the capital Nairobi, which were quieter than usual on Wednesday.

The protests began as an online outpouring of anger by young, tech-savvy Kenyans at proposed taxes on bread and diapers and evolved into a nationwide movement calling for the scrapping of the entire finance bill including the taxes.

Thousands took to the streets of Nairobi and several other cities during two days of protests last week as an online movement gathered momentum.

While the young Kenyans in the current demonstrations have no official leader and have loudly urged the political opposition figures that have typically organised protests to stay away, some of Ruto's main rivals could not hide their delight with the president's climbdown.

"Self-preservation has kicked in," opposition senator Edwin Sifuna posted on X.

Lawmakers had already removed some tax hikes from the final version of the finance bill on Tuesday, including ones on bread and cooking oil, but inserted others in an effort to avoid a budget gap.

 

Reuters

Kenyan protesters vowed on Wednesday to keep up their demonstrations against new tax hikes, a day after violent clashes outside parliamentand across the country left at least 23 people dead and scores wounded.

As heavily armed police patrolled the streets of the capital Nairobi on Wednesday, supporters of the week-old protest movement took to X, using the hashtag #tutanethursday, or "see you on Thursday" in a mix of Swahili and English.

An online outpouring of anger over tax increases has swelled into a nationwide protest movement calling for a political overhaul, in the most serious crisis of President William Ruto's two-year-old presidency.

Police opened fire on crowds who massed around parliament on Tuesday and later broke into the assembly's compound, minutes after lawmakers had voted through the contentious tax measures.

The Nation newspaper documented protests in at least 35 of Kenya's 47 counties, from big cities to rural areas - even in Ruto's hometown of Eldoret in his ethnic Kalenjin heartland.

At least 23 people were killed across Kenya and another 30 were being treated for bullet wounds, the Kenya Medical Association said on Wednesday.

In the capital, the main public mortuary received the bodies of six people killed in Tuesday's protests, a police officer posted there told Reuters. Another two bodies and 160 people with injuries came into the Kenyatta National Hospital, two health officials said.

Many social media users focused on Ruto's speech after the clashes, in which he said the attack on parliament was the work of "criminals pretending to be peaceful protesters".

"Good morning fellow CRIMINALS Tupatane Thursday To do what CRIMINALS do," one X user posted.

Posts on social media urged people to occupy State House, the president's office and residence, on Thursday, and the local offices of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday, though it was not immediately clear if the calls came from individuals or a broader movement.

'IT'S OUR RIGHT TO DEMONSTRATE'

Ruto said in his televised address to the nation late on Tuesday that the debate about the tax measures had been "hijacked by dangerous people".

The government ordered the army deployed to help the police deal with a "security emergency", though there were no reports of troops on the streets of Nairobi on Wednesday.

Protester Wellington Ogolla said he would head back out onto the streets. "It's our right to demonstrate ... We are just expressing ourselves," he told Reuters as he walked through downtown Nairobi, where the smell of tear gas lingered in the air.

Lawmakers removed some tax hikes from the final version of the finance bill, including ones on bread and cooking oil, but inserted others in an effort to avoid a budget gap.

Protesters - who have no formal leadership and are primarily organised on social media platform - say they want the entire bill scrapped, and many are now demanding that Ruto resign.

He won election almost two years ago on a platform of championing Kenya's working poor, but has been caught between the competing demands of lenders such as the IMF - which is urging the government to cut deficits to obtain more financing - and a hard-pressed population.

Aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said its staff were left hurt and traumatised when stones were thrown at one of its ambulances during Tuesday's unrest. The Kenya Red Cross also said its staff and vehicles were attacked, without going into further detail.

 

Reuters

Kenyan President William Ruto said on Tuesday security was his "utmost priority" after protests against a bill to raise taxes descended into violence, with police firing on demonstrators trying to storm the legislature, killing at least five.

In chaotic scenes in the capital Nairobi, protesters overwhelmed police and chased them away in an attempt to enter the parliament compound, with Citizen TV later showing damage from inside the building, which had been partially set ablaze.

Protests and clashes also took place in several other cities and towns across Kenya, with many calling for Ruto to quit as well as voicing their opposition to the tax rises.

In a televised address to the nation, Ruto said the tax debate had been "hijacked by dangerous people".

"It is not in order, or even conceivable, that criminals pretending to be peaceful protesters can reign terror against the people...," he said, pledging a swift response to Tuesday's "treasonous events".

Police in Nairobi opened fire after tear gas and water cannon failed to disperse the crowds. They eventually managed to drive protesters from the parliament building and lawmakers were evacuated through an underground tunnel, local media said.

Later on Tuesday, Defence Minister Aden Duale said the army had been deployed to help the police deal with a "security emergency" which had resulted in the "destruction and breaching of critical infrastructure".

A Reuters journalist counted the bodies of at least five protesters outside parliament.

The Kenya Medical Association said that at least five people had been shot dead while treating the injured, and that 31 people had been injured, with 13 shot with live bullets and four with rubber bullets.

The association called on authorities to establish safe medical corridors to protect medical staff and ambulances.

CAUGHT BETWEEN COMPETING DEMANDS

Ruto won an election almost two years ago on a platform of championing Kenya's working poor, but has been caught between the competing demands of lenders such as the International Monetary Fund, which is urging the government to cut deficits to obtain more funding, and a hard-pressed population.

Kenyans have been struggling to cope with several economic shocks caused by the lingering impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, two consecutive years of drought and depreciation of the currency.

The finance bill aims to raise an additional $2.7 billion in taxes as part of an effort to lighten Kenya's heavy debt load, with interest payments alone consuming 37% of annual revenue.

In Washington, the White House said the United States was closely monitoring the situation in Nairobi and urging calm.

Ambassadors and high commissioners from countries including Britain, the U.S. and Germany said in a joint statement they were deeply concerned by violence they had witnessed during recent anti-tax protests and called for restraint on all sides.

Kenyan activist Auma Obama, the half-sister of former U.S. President Barack Obama, was among protesters tear-gassed during the demonstrations, a CNN interview showed.

Internet services across the East African country experienced severe disruptions during the police crackdown, internet monitor Netblocks said. Kenya's leading network operator Safaricom said outages had affected two of its undersea cables but the root cause of the outages remained unclear.

Parliament approved the finance bill, moving it through to a third reading by lawmakers. The next step is for the legislation to be sent to the president for signing. He can send it back to parliament if he has any objections.

Opposition politicians called on Ruto to step down.

"Ruto must go, Ruto must resign, he must do the honourable thing," senior opposition leader Eugene Wamalwa said in a statement on TV.

Another opposition leader, Raila Odinga, urged the immediate withdrawal of the finance bill to make way for dialogue.

"I am disturbed at the murders, arrests, detentions and surveillance being perpetrated by police on boys and girls who are only seeking to be heard over taxation policies that are stealing both their present and future," he said in a statement.

The government has made some concessions, promising to scrap proposed new taxes on bread, cooking oil, car ownership and financial transactions. But that has not been enough for protesters.

The finance ministry says the concessions would blow a 200 billion Kenyan shilling ($1.56 billion) hole in the 2024-25 budget, and compel the government to make spending cuts or raise taxes elsewhere.

Tuesday's protests began in a festival-like atmosphere but as crowds swelled, police fired tear gas in Nairobi's Central Business District and the poor neighbourhood of Kibera. Protesters ducked for cover and threw stones at police lines.

Police also fired tear gas in Eldoret, Ruto's hometown in western Kenya, where crowds of protesters filled the streets and many businesses were closed for fear of violence.

Further clashes broke out in the coastal city of Mombasa and demonstrations were held in Kisumu, on Lake Victoria, and Garissa in eastern Kenya, where police blocked the main road to neighbouring Somalia's port of Kismayu.

In Nairobi, people chanted "Ruto must go" and crowds sang in Swahili: "All can be possible without Ruto". Music played from loudspeakers and protesters waved Kenyan flags and blew whistles in the few hours before the violence escalated.

Police did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.

ORGANIC MOVEMENT

Thousands had taken to the streets of Nairobi and several other cities during two days of protests last week as an online, youth-led movement gathered momentum.

Protests in Kenya have usually been called by political leaders who have been amenable to negotiated settlements, but the young Kenyans in the current demonstrations have no official leader and they have been growing increasingly bold in their demands.

While protesters initially focused on the finance bill, their demands have broadened to demand Ruto's resignation.

Amid the unrest, Kenya's sovereign dollar bonds slid on Tuesday afternoon, Tradeweb data showed. The 2034 maturity fell the most, trading 0.6 cents lower at 74.7 cents on the dollar.

"They are budgeting for corruption," said protester Hussein Ali, 18. "We won't relent. It's the government that is going to back off. Not us."

 

Reuters

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has firmly denied allegations of dirty fuel being imported into Nigeria. Speaking to journalists after a meeting with oil marketers and local refiners at the NMDPRA headquarters in Abuja, Executive Director of Distribution Systems, Storage and Retailing Infrastructure, Ogbugo Ukoha, assured the public of the quality of petroleum products entering the country.

"There is no dirty fuel that we would encourage to come into Nigeria. And there is no dirty fuel being brought in," Ukoha stated emphatically.

This statement comes in response to accusations made by Devakumar Edwin, Vice President of Oil and Gas at Dangote Industries Limited (DIL). Edwin had claimed that International Oil Companies (IOCs) in Nigeria were attempting to undermine the Dangote Oil Refinery and Petrochemicals by importing substandard refined products. Edwin also criticized the NMDPRA for allegedly granting licenses indiscriminately to importers of dirty fuel.

The NMDPRA reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring that only high-quality petroleum products are supplied and consumed in Nigeria. Ukoha explained that in 2020, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) endorsed the Afri-5 fuel roadmap, which mandates a maximum of 50 parts per million (ppm) of sulphur in imported fuels. While immediate compliance was expected for imports, local refineries were given until December 31, 2024, to meet this standard.

Ukoha noted that the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 upholds this ECOWAS treaty, and the NMDPRA has been actively enforcing compliance. He reported a downward trend in sulphur content in imported products, with significant improvements since February.

"As of June, the average sulphur content in Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) imported into Nigeria is well below the 50 ppm legal limit," Ukoha stated. "Local refineries, while currently operating under deferred standards, are also installing desulphurisation units to reduce sulphur levels to as low as 10 ppm in the near future."

Ukoha assured that the NMDPRA is dedicated to safeguarding the health and well-being of Nigerians. "There is no dirty fuel being brought in, and we have the statistics to prove it. The sulphur content of imported fuels has significantly decreased, meeting and often exceeding regulatory requirements."

The meeting between NMDPRA officials, oil marketers, and local refiners aimed to foster collaboration and ensure energy security in Nigeria. Discussions addressed pricing, competition, and other significant industry issues.

In a country grappling with unprecedented economic hardships, the Federal Government's proposal to purchase new jets for the President and Vice President is not just ill-timed but also deeply insensitive. With mass unemployment, galloping inflation, and widespread poverty, this move exemplifies a stark disconnect between the government and the suffering populace it claims to serve.

The recent revelation that the government has already spent nearly N15 billion on maintaining the existing presidential fleet within just 11 months underscores the significant financial burden this fleet places on national resources. Despite this expenditure, the administration now seeks to approve the purchase of two additional aircraft at an estimated cost of N918.7 billion. This decision comes amidst an economic climate where every naira should be judiciously allocated to alleviate the citizens' plight.

President Bola Tinubu's administration must reconsider this decision and instead focus on overhauling the current fleet. The government maintains a fleet of six aircraft, including a Boeing 737 and several Gulfstream jets, which, if properly maintained, should suffice for the President's and Vice President's travel needs. The exorbitant cost of new aircraft, juxtaposed with the billions already spent on maintenance, raises critical questions about fiscal responsibility and prioritization.

The argument presented by government officials—that the safety of the President necessitates new aircraft—fails to acknowledge that comprehensive maintenance and refurbishment can ensure the safety and functionality of the existing fleet. Leading aircraft manufacturers such as Boeing and Gulfstream offer extensive overhaul services that can extend the lifespan and safety of these jets, providing a more cost-effective solution than purchasing new ones.

Moreover, the government's justification that the purchase of new jets is a "basic thing any sane government will do" is tone-deaf to the realities faced by ordinary Nigerians. The timing of this proposal, coinciding with severe economic distress and policy-induced hardships like the removal of fuel subsidies and hikes in electricity tariffs, only exacerbates public discontent and mistrust in the administration.

While the safety of the nation's leaders is paramount, it should not come at the expense of neglecting the broader needs of the citizenry. The leadership must demonstrate empathy and solidarity with Nigerians by redirecting resources towards urgent social and economic interventions. Investments in job creation, poverty alleviation programmes, and infrastructure development will have far-reaching impacts, fostering a sense of shared sacrifice and commitment to national progress.

In conclusion, the Nigerian government should prioritize the refurbishment and maintenance of the existing presidential fleet over the acquisition of new jets. This approach balances the need for safety with fiscal prudence and public accountability. By aligning its actions with the pressing needs of its citizens, the administration can build trust and show that it truly understands and is committed to addressing the challenges facing Nigeria today.