The Senegalese parlimaentary session comes in the wake of deadly protests and internet cuts in parts of the country.
Senegal’s parliament is meeting to consider the postponement of presidential elections announced by President Macky Sall, a move that has plunged the country into crisis.
Monday’s session is happening after a day of violent street protests in the capital Dakar – during which at least one senior opposition figure was arrested – and growing international concern.
Lawmakers are voting on a proposal to postpone the presidential poll – previously set for February 25 – for up to six months. The text before them will need the support of three-fifths of the 165-seat parliament to pass.
Sall’s announcement of a delay on Saturday has since set off a chain of events in the West African country.
On Sunday, the government ordered a private television broadcaster off the air for “incitement to violence” over its coverage of the protests, another sign of the mounting political tension in the country. There were also local reports on Monday of mobile internet coverage being cut and restriction of motorcycle movements in Dakar, even as security has been reinforced in the capital.
Opposition leaders have used the term “constitutional coup” to describe the current situation, which they say is an assault on democracy.
Sall said he delayed the vote because of a dispute between the National Assembly and the Constitutional Court over the rejection of candidates.
“I will begin an open national dialogue to bring together the conditions for a free, transparent, and inclusive election,” he added, without giving a new date.
The dispute Sall blamed for the delay to the election arose out of the decision by the Constitutional Court to exclude Karim Wade, son of former president Abdoulaye Wade, from running for the presidency.
He was barred because he allegedly also holds French citizenship – a decision he denounced as “scandalous”.
Wade’s supporters in the National Assembly called for a parliamentary inquiry into the partiality of two judges on the Constitutional Court.
Some members of Sall’s party were among those who voted for its passage on January 30.
Sall, who last year ruled out running for a controversial third term, had designated Prime Minister Amadou Ba from his party as his would-be successor. But with the party split over his candidacy, Ba faced possible defeat at the ballot box.
Wade is not the only candidate the Constitutional Court has excluded from the vote.
Also barred from running is firebrand anti-establishment figure Ousmane Sonko, who has been jailed since July 2023.
His surrogate, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, has been approved to run and emerged as a credible contender to win – a nightmare scenario for the president’s camp.
Reactions
The international community has reacted with concern to Sall’s decision to put off the vote.
The chairman of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, urged Senegal to resolve its “political dispute through consultation, understanding and dialogue”.
Faki called on the authorities to “organise the elections as quickly as possible, in transparency, in peace and national harmony” in a post on Monday on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The United States, European Union, and former colonial ruler France have also appealed for the vote to be rescheduled as soon as possible.
It is the first time since 1963 that a presidential vote has been postponed in Senegal, one of the few African countries never to have experienced a coup.
The postponement of Senegal’s presidential election opens a “period of uncertainty”, the European Union has said, and the United States called for a swift new date for free polls ahead of opposition protests in the capital, Dakar, that were dispersed by police.
“The European Union … calls on all actors to work … for the staging of a transparent, inclusive and credible election as soon as possible,” EU spokesperson Nabila Massrali said in a statement on Sunday.
On Saturday, Senegal’s President Macky Sall indefinitely postponed the election scheduled for February 25.
In a televised address to the nation, Sall announced he had cancelled the relevant electoral law, citing a dispute over the candidate list.
He said he signed a decree abolishing a November 2023 measure that had set the original election date, but did not give a new date.
France, the former colonial power in the country, called for a vote “as soon as possible”, saying that Senegal should end “uncertainty”.
“We call on authorities to end the uncertainty about the electoral calendar so the vote can be held as soon as possible, under the rules of Senegalese democracy,” the French foreign ministry said in a statement.
Opposition presidential candidates said they would launch their campaigns in defiance of the postponement.
Senegal has traditionally been seen as a rare example of democratic stability in West Africa, which has been hit by a series of coups in recent years including in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.
Tear gas fired at protesters
Police fired tear gas to disperse opposition supporters in Dakar on Sunday, in the first clashes after Sall’s announcement, the AFP news agency reported.
Men and women who were waving Senegalese flags or wearing the jersey of the national football team had converged at a roundabout on one of the capital’s main roads at the call of a number of opposition candidates.
Police then pursued the fleeing protesters into surrounding neighbourhoods, with some in the crowd hurling rocks at the officers.
Reporting from the outskirts of Dakar, Al Jazeera’s Nicolas Haque said all 19 opposition candidates had asked their supporters to gather in the area.
“There’s a sense that the security forces do not want any gathering. But for the members of the opposition, until the decree [cancelling the elections] is published … then [it] is not in place,” Haque said.
“Some of the opposition figures that I spoke to said it’s a ploy for him to cling onto power, others describe it as a constitutional coup.
“A motorcyclist … shouted: ‘We’re going to burn everything down’. From every protester that we spoke to, they feel angry at that decision; they feel robbed of their ability to express themselves in this election cancelled by Sall.”
Some 200 protesters blocked traffic on a main thoroughfare in Dakar with a makeshift barricade of burning tyres, the Reuters news agency reported.
Further protests are planned outside parliament on Monday.
Senegalese riot police lobs tear gas at supporters of opposition presidential candidate Daouda Ndiaye, in Dakar, Senegal [Stefan Kleinowitz/AP Photo]
‘Inclusive and credible elections’
The US Department of State noted Senegal’s “strong tradition of democracy and peaceful transitions of power” and urged “all participants in [the] electoral process to engage peacefully to swiftly set a new date and the conditions for a timely, free and fair election”.
Senegalese politicians must “prioritise dialogue and collaboration for transparent, inclusive and credible elections”, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) bloc said in a statement that called on authorities to “expedite the various processes to set a new date for the elections”.
Opponents suspect that the president’s camp fear the defeat of his anointed successor, Prime Minister Amadou Ba.
Senegal cannot “indulge in a fresh crisis” after deadly political violence in March 2021 and June 2023, Sall said on Saturday as he announced a “national dialogue” to organise “a free, transparent and inclusive election”.
The country’s electoral code states that at least 80 days must pass between the announcement of a new presidential vote and polling day – theoretically putting the soonest possible new date in late April at the earliest.
Sall’s presidential term is supposed to end on April 2.
Analysts say the crisis is putting one of Africa’s most stable democracies to the test at a time when the region is struggling with the recent surge in coups.
Senegal has been embroiled in political tensions as a result of deadly clashes involving opposition supporters and the disqualification of two opposition leaders ahead of the crucial vote.
Geingob died on Sunday at Lady Pohamba Hospital in the capital Windhoek with his wife and his children at his side, acting president Nangolo Mbumba said in a statement posted on Geingob’s official Facebook page.
“The Namibian nation has lost a distinguished servant of the people, a liberation struggle icon, the chief architect of our constitution and the pillar of the Namibian house,” Mbumba said.
“At this moment of deepest sorrow, I appeal to the nation to remain calm and collected while the Government attends to all necessary state arrangements, preparations and other protocols. Further announcements in this regard will be made.”
Geingob’s office announced last month that the African leader had begun treatment following the discovery of “cancerous cells” during a routine colonoscopy and a gastroscopy.
His office said a few days later that he would be travelling to the United States for medical care and would return to Namibia in February.
Geingob had a history of health problems that preceded his election as Namibia’s third president in 2014.
He underwent an aortic operation last year in neighbouring South Africa, and in 2014 he revealed that he had survived prostate cancer.
Namibia, a former German colony that achieved independence from South Africa in 1990, is scheduled to hold presidential and parliamentary elections in November.
Naivasha, Kenya – Caroline Njau comes from a family of farmers who tend to fields of maize, wheat, and potatoes in the hilly terrain near Nyahururu, 180 kilometres (112 miles) north of the capital Nairobi.
But Njau has chosen a different path in life.
These days, the 30-year-old lives in Naivasha, a scenic town at the centre of Kenya’s flower industry and midway between Nyahururu and Nairobi. Seated in her living room with a cup of milk tea, she labels data for artificial intelligence (AI) companies abroad on an app. The sun rises over the unpaved streets of her neighbourhood as she flicks through images of tarmac roads, intersections and sidewalks on her smartphone while carefully drawing boxes around various objects; traffic lights, cars, pedestrians, and signposts. The designer of the app – an American subcontractor to Silicon Valley companies – pays her $3 an hour.
Njau is a so-called annotator, and her annotation of data compiles the building blocks that train artificial intelligence to recognise patterns in real life, in this case, with self-driving cars.
“My parents have not fully embraced technology because they find it hard to learn. But I always loved science. Data annotation creates opportunities, and you do not need a degree to do this – just your phone and an internet connection,” says Njau who studied teaching but has been annotating since 2021.
Kenya is emerging as a hub for such online work, rising to compete with countries like India and the Philippines. The birth of tech start-ups since the late 2000s, followed by the entry of tech outsourcing companies, along with business-friendly policies, skilled labour and high-speed internet have all led to an economy where digital jobs are the bread and butter for a large portion of the youth. In 2021, a survey by Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) showed that at least 1.2 million Kenyans are working online, most of them informally.
But Nairobi’s data annotators have recently revealed a less rosy side to this industry. In a Time article from last year, workers at an outsourcing firm in Nairobi described the “torture” they went through while labelling pieces of texts drawn from the darkest corners of the internet – all in a quest to make OpenAI’s ChatGPT able to recognise harmful content. According to the piece, the workers were paid less than $2 an hour to do this.
In Kenya, most data annotators are freelancers, often working from their homes. Riziki Ekaka, 45, labels data for an American AI company in her bedroom. Her young daughter looks on while playing with a feature phone [Anne Kidmose/Al Jazeera]
AI in the countryside
Despite these stories, the annotation industry has continued to spread far beyond the cramped office spaces in Nairobi.
In mid-January, when Kenya’s President William Ruto launched a government-sponsored tech hub in Kitale – an agricultural town near the border with Uganda – a young ICT student explained how he had earned $284 in three weeks by training AI for Silicon Valley companies. He had been using Remotasks, an American website where freelancers get paid for labelling data.
The video clip from the tech hub – one among a series of facilities designed to equip learners with marketable tech skills – spread like wildfire on social media and made young Kenyans rush to create Remotasks accounts.
“Many young people are jobless. Even people who graduated in computer science cannot find jobs. The government is doing right by helping young people access online work,” says Kennedy Cheruyot, 24, a recently graduated nurse from Eldoret in western Kenya.
He opened a Remotasks account in 2021 and has continued to work online while looking for a job in hospitals. Some of his friends have entirely left other careers to focus on digital tasks.
“Previously, boys in our culture were supposed to go to the farm, herding the cattle. Now, they stay inside to do online work,” Cheruyot says when we meet at a cafe overlooking Eldoret’s business district. Hardware and agricultural supply stores blend with bright yellow signs advertising internet cafes, so-called “cybers”.
Although Cheruyot’s dream is to own a ranch “like in the Western movies”, he currently spends most of his time looking for more online gigs to pay for rent, food, electricity, water and transport.
Commodity prices in Kenya have soared since 2022, attributed to a prolonged drought that year and the Russia-Ukraine war. Meanwhile, the Kenyan shilling has continued to depreciate due to demand for dollars from the energy and manufacturing sectors. As the shilling weakens, import prices increase and with them the cost of goods for consumers like Cheruyot.
He expects that, should he land a job as a nurse, he will continue to work online in his spare time, earning from $5 to $20 an hour depending on the task.
“I do not care if the AI companies in the West grow rich because of our work. As long as we are paid. It may not seem like much, but it goes a long way in Kenya,” he says.
A new generation of scientists
But for Njau, the monotonous online tasks are a gateway to something bigger.
“Right now, Kenyan annotators water someone else’s garden. The flowers begin to bloom, but we are not even there to see it,” she says, gesturing towards the green grass outside her brick house.
“I do not want to stay in data annotation, my goal is to advance in technology. I want to know where the data go and how AI is programmed. Technology is taking over whether we like it or not, and us Kenyans should become data scientists,” says Njau who has already trained people with disabilities and young women in data annotation together with the Nairobi-based non-profit Next Step Foundation. Recently, she was awarded a scholarship in AI and data science by the Ministry of Investments, Trade and Industry.
Programmes like these aim to make Kenya a frontrunner in the technological revolution, explains Nickson Otieno, training manager at Next Step Foundation.
“I will not be surprised if a Kenyan comes up with the next big AI invention. We have an innovative generation and there are many problems to solve. For example, how can AI be used to inform Kenya Power and Lighting Company about blackouts by feeding it with complaints about power cuts posted on social media?” asks Otieno.
Still, there are bumps on the road to make Kenya – and other African countries – stand out as AI innovation hubs. According to Professor Tshilidzi Marwala, a South African scholar of AI and the Rector of the United Nations University, the education systems need an overhaul.
“Africans often receive quite specialised education, which is the case in countries like Kenya and South Africa that have British-oriented education systems. However, specialised education is outdated in a multidisciplinary world,” he argues and brings up an example: to create an AI platform that analyses x-ray images, one must master both medical and computer science.
Much of the conversation regarding AI, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, has focused on the human jobs that risk redundancy, and this is also a real concern in African countries. Marwala, however, believes that many people have “overplayed the significance of AI and confused it with normal automation”. Furthermore, AI might help small-scale businesses thrive.
“If a flower farmer in South Africa uses AI to analyse the soil quality using a camera rather than paying a scientist to do it, this could make the flower production cheaper for the farmer. I foresee AI providing much more efficiency and cost reduction,” he says.
AI apps that rely on data labelled by Kenyans, such as the chatbot ChatGPT, are already popular with young people like Njau and Cheruyot. He finds it “really useful” when in need of recipes or travel itineraries. But it cannot do his work for him.
South Africa’s ambassador to the US talks to Marc Lamont Hill about the implications of the case and the court’s ruling.
Last week, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered provisional measures in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel. The ruling states that Israel must prevent and punish incitement of genocidal acts and allow civilians access to humanitarian aid.
The decision comes after nearly four months of war in Gaza, which has killed more than 26,000 people and caused a major humanitarian crisis.
While the interim ruling on South Africa’s case has been hailed as a legal win for Palestinians and their supporters, many are questioning what practical implications this will have on the war and for the people of Gaza. Will South Africa’s case help change the course of the conflict?
This week on UpFront, Marc Lamont Hill talks to South Africa’s ambassador to the United States, Ndumiso Ntshinga.
Abidjan, Ivory Coast – As the quarterfinal stage of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) kicks off on Friday in Ivory Coast, none of the five teams highest-placed teams in the FIFA ranking of December 2023 will feature.
Reigning champions Senegal, 2022 World Cup semifinalists and pretournament favourites Morocco, 2004 champions Tunisia, two-time champions and 2019 winners Algeria, and seven-time AFCON kings Egypt have all been eliminated. Other top teams like five-time champions Cameroon and four-time winners Ghana, have also exited the competition.
In a tournament which has come to be defined by the frequency of upsets, it is the unlikely progression of some of the continent’s lesser-fancied sides that is making the headlines.
As it stands, four of the last eight have never won the competition so the chances of a first-time champion are 50-50. These uncrowned four include perennial underachievers Guinea and Mali, which though boasting talented squads since the turn of the millennium, have never been able to progress beyond the last four. But there are also Cape Verde and Angola who have never even reached the semifinals before.
And some of the other results have been unbelievable: Equatorial Guinea triumphed 4-0 over Ivory Coast, even as Cape Verde won 2-1 against Ghana.
“The results you see in the AFCON are impossible at the Euros or Copa America,” former Nigerian forward Victor Ikpeba tells Al Jazeera. “Imagine the Faroe Islands beating Germany, or England losing to San Marino. Venezuela beating Argentina or Brazil rarely happens, but in African football it is possible.”
In addition, this edition has witnessed an unprecedented number of goals: With 105 already scored in advance of the quarterfinals, it has already surpassed the tallies from the past two editions.
Nigeria’s Victor Osimhen, right, is challenged by Ivory Coast’s Ousmane Diomande during the AFCON Group A football match between Ivory Coast and Nigeria at the Olympic Stadium of Ebimpe, Abidjan, Ivory Coast, January 18, 2024 [Sunday Alamba/AP Photo]
Rising to the challenge
The uptick in goals was expected after AFCON was upgraded to a 24-team tournament, beginning with this edition. Some – including Ikpeba, the 1997 African Footballer of the Year – argue that it is precisely this factor that is responsible for the improved fortunes of historically modest nations in this year’s edition.
“The expansion of the AFCON from 16 to 24 teams has given opportunity to so-called minnows to punch above their weight when they face some of the most successful countries on the continent,” he says.
“So many shocking results at the AFCON show that countries in Africa are developing fast and are not afraid of any team.”
Giving weight to this idea is the fact that, in Qatar in 2022, the continent’s elite sides made significant strides on the global stage. For the first time ever, all five of its representatives won at least one match at the World Cup, and not only did two of them advance to the knockout stages, but Morocco became the first African team to reach the semifinals. The Atlas Lions stunned more-fancied, higher-ranked nations such as Belgium, Spain and Portugal along the way, and consequently came into AFCON 2023 as favourites.
But even Morocco have since fallen by the wayside, exiting the competition after a 2-0 drubbing by South Africa who are ranked 66th globally, more than 50 places beneath the North Africans.
This, industry insiders say, is an indication that, rather than the better sides getting weaker, it is a case of the smaller nations rising to the challenge.
“African football is a different territory. Atlas Lions of Morocco can roar loudly at the World Cup but can easily be tamed by a team ranked 60 places below them in Africa,” says Mimi Fawaz, a broadcast journalist and African football specialist.
“There are remarkable changes happening within the continent. Some countries are putting their trust in local managers and also closing the gaps because of improved facilities,” she adds.
Ghana’s head coach Chris Hughton, left, gives directions to his players during the AFCON Group B football match between Egypt and Ghana in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, January 18, 2024 [Themba Hadebe/AP Photo]
Growth on and off the pitch
Targeted investment in local sporting infrastructure has also been central to their newfound success, much of it anchored upon the FIFA Forward Programme. The programme was conceived in a bid to provide 360-degree, tailor-made support for football development to all of FIFA’s member associations (MAs) and is based on three principles: more investment, more impact and more oversight.
Between 2016 and 2022, funding to the tune of $2.8m was made available to 211 MAs, according to the latest FIFA Forward Report. These disbursements were predicated upon compliance with the programme’s regulations, as well as annual audits by FIFA at the end of each financial year. With more funding, smaller countries have also been able to call on more players from the diaspora.
The Mauritanian football association (FFRIM) is one shining example of the success of the initiative, with facilities in the capital, Nouakchott, where $11.1m in FIFA Forward funds have been used to radically revamp and develop football infrastructure.
The FFRIM building is one of several projects funded, as is the Sheikha Boidiya stadium. Originally built in the 1960s, the 5,000-capacity venue has undergone a major facelift, with a new synthetic playing surface being laid and off-the-pitch facilities such as dressing rooms, also being renovated.
The effect on the national team’s performance has been apparent: Mauritania have qualified for three consecutive AFCON tournaments on the trot, and not only scored their first AFCON goal from open play in this edition but recorded their first win and reached the knockout rounds for the first time, eliminating Algeria in the process.
The Lions of Chinguetti may not have made the last eight, but Cape Verde did, and have done so playing some of the best football in the tournament. Their success stems from similar roots, however.
Back in July 2022, a FIFA delegation completed a four-day visit to Cape Verde, during which it unveiled facilities such as new artificial pitches and the refurbished academy and headquarters of the Cape Verdean Football Association (FCF), all funded by the same programme.
“Countries like Mauritania and Cape Verde book spots in the knockout stage of AFCON, but some of their growth and successes are intentional and come from their federations’ ability to use funds from FIFA forward to develop facilities, pitches and improve the local games,” Gelson Fernandes, FIFA director of member associations-Africa, tells Al Jazeera.
At the next World Cup being hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, the continent will have a minimum of nine slots for the first time. The qualification series for the mundial kicked off in October, and the likes of Rwanda and Comoros sit atop their respective qualifying groups after two matches.
If their performances – like those of the underdogs at AFCON 2023 – are anything to go by, a continental awakening may be under way, led by a change of the old guard. Football officials, like the fans, seem enthused by the prospect of the entertaining football that the increased competition will bring.
“Successes on the pitch and growth off it can only impact African teams and the 2026 World Cup will give African countries the opportunity to show what they are capable of,” Fernandes predicts.
Incident took place in the Embakasi district of Nairobi late on Thursday night and firefighters were still trying to douse the flames at dawn.
At least two people have been killed and hundreds injured after a gas explosion triggered a massive fire in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital.
The fire broke out on Thursday night in the Embakasi neighbourhood, government spokesman Isaac Maigua Mwaura said on social media platform X.
“One Lorry [truck] of an unknown registration number that was loaded with gas exploded, igniting a huge ball of fire that spread widely,” he wrote, adding that vehicles, businesses and residential homes had been consumed by the flames.
“A good number of residents [were] still inside as it was late at night,” he said.
Wesley Kimeto, commander in charge of police in Embakasi, was quoted saying on The Standard newspaper’s X account that at least two people had been confirmed dead in the incident.
The Kenyan Red Cross said it had taken some 271 people to health facilities around the capital and 27 were treated on site.
Firefighters were still working to bring the fire under control at about 6:30am local time (03:30 GMT), according to the AFP news agency, and large columns of black smoke were seen rising into the air on the outskirts of the city.
Washington, DC – A new Republican firestorm has ignited around United States Congress member Ilhan Omar — this time over alleged statements she made during a speech to Somali Americans.
The only problem, according to two independent analyses of the speech, is that the words that fuelled the uproar appear to be mistranslated.
Omar is accused of saying in Somali that she would put foreign interests before those of the US — but multiple news outlets have since debunked the accusations, pointing to major flaws in a viral translation of her speech.
That, however, did not stop firebrand Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene from seizing on the speech. On Thursday, she introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives to censure Omar, who is the first Somali American and first former African refugee to serve in the US Congress.
Greene accused Omar of “serving as a foreign agent for a foreign country”. In an apparently intentional gaffe, she referred to Omar as the representative from “Somali — I mean, Minnesota”.
Her resolution comes one day after House Majority Whip Tom Emmer demanded an ethics investigation into Omar. Florida governor and former Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis also called for Omar to be “deported”.
For her part, Omar quickly rejected the attacks, saying they were only the latest attempt by Republicans to weaponise her ethnicity and religion.
In a statement to the Minnesota Star Tribune, Omar called the attacks “not only completely false, they are rooted in xenophobia and Islamophobia”.
“This is a manufactured controversy based on an inaccurate translation taken entirely out of context,” she said.
Critics also see the controversy as the Republican Party’s latest attempt to attack a group of progressive Democrats known as the “Squad”.
In February 2023, Omar was removed from the House Foreign Affairs Committee in a vote divided along party lines, amid accusations that she had voiced “anti-Semitic” and “anti-Israel” rhetoric. At the time, Omar said she was being targeted because of her identity as an African Muslim woman.
In November, the House also voted to censure Representative Rashida Tlaib for comments critical of Israel. Tlaib has stood by her remarks, rejecting claims they were anti-Semitic.
Mistranslated speech
The Star Tribune — a newspaper based in Minneapolis, Minnesota — and another publication, the Minnesota Reformer, have both independently translated Omar’s speech, which was delivered to Somali Americans in the state on January 27.
Both found the words that stoked the Republican ire were not actually what Omar said.
The flawed translation, which spread widely on social media, read: “The US government will only do what Somalians in the US tell them to do. They will do what we want and nothing else. They must follow our orders, and that is how we will safeguard the interest of Somalia … Together we will protect the interests of Somalia.”
According to the more accurate translation, verified by the Star Tribune, Omar expressed a different message, one that encouraged civic engagement among Somali Americans.
“My answer was the US government will do what we tell the US government to do. We as Somalis should have that confidence in ourselves. We live in this country. We pay taxes in this country. It’s a country where one of your own sits in Congress … The woman you sent to Congress is aware of you and has the same interest as you,” she said.
.@RepJeffries: “This week we continue to see performative politics and political stunts from our Republican colleagues.”
On @RepMTG‘s resolution to censure Rep. @Ilhan, he says it’s a “frivolous censure resolution, designed to inflame and castigate and further divide us.” pic.twitter.com/I0q229F36f
According to the Star Tribune, Omar used the speech to recount how she had responded to constituents’ concerns over a new agreement between Ethiopia and the self-governing region of Somaliland, which Somalia claims as its own. The agreement would see Ethiopia lease a portion of Somaliland’s coastline, a move vehemently opposed by Somalia.
Observers have noted the Congress member was also speaking in support of longstanding US policy. The US maintains some ties with Somaliland — but does not recognise its independence or its authority to unilaterally strike a deal with landlocked Ethiopia.
While that position has stoked condemnation from Somaliland officials, Democrats have roundly rejected the notion that it indicates Omar is working on behalf of Somalia or that she puts her Somali roots before her congressional duties.
On Thursday, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries condemned Greene’s move to censure Omar as “frivolous”. He called it “designed to inflame and castigate and further divide us”.
There were an estimated 20 million new cancer cases in 2022, with more than 35 million new cases predicted by 2050.
The number of new cancer cases globally will reach 35 million in 2050, 77 percent higher than the figure in 2022, according to predictions from the World Health Organization’s cancer agency.
A survey conducted by the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) cited tobacco, alcohol, obesity and air pollution as key factors in the predicted rise.
“Over 35 million new cancer cases are predicted in 2050,” the IARC said in a statement, a 77 percent increase from the some 20 million cases diagnosed in 2022.
“Certainly the new estimates highlight the scale of cancer today and indeed the growing burden of cancer that is predicted over the next years and decades,” Freddie Bray, head of cancer surveillance at the IARC, told Al Jazeera on Thursday.
There were an estimated 9.7 million cancer deaths in 2022, the IARC said in the statement alongside its biannual report based on data from 185 countries and 36 cancers.
Around one in five people develop cancer in their lifetimes, with one in nine men and one in 12 women dying from the disease, it added.
“The rapidly-growing global cancer burden reflects both population ageing and growth, as well as changes to people’s exposure to risk factors, several of which are associated with socioeconomic development. Tobacco, alcohol and obesity are key factors behind the increasing incidence of cancer, with air pollution still a key driver of environmental risk factors,” the IARC said.
Lower-income burden
The IARC also highlighted that the threat of cancer varies depending on where a patient lives.
The most-developed countries are expected to record the greatest increases in case numbers, with an additional 4.8 million new cases predicted in 2050 compared with 2022 estimates, the agency said.
But in terms of percentages, countries on the low end of the Human Development Index (HDI) – used by the United Nations as a marker of societal and economic development – will see the greatest proportional increase, up 142 percent.
Meanwhile, countries in the medium range are predicted to record a 99-percent increase, it said.
“One of the biggest challenges we are seeing is the proportional increases in the cancer burden are going to be most striking in the lower income, lower human development countries,” Bray told Al Jazeera.
“They are going to see a projected increase of well over doubling of the burden by 2050.
“And these are very much the countries that currently are ill-equipped to really deal with the cancer problem. And it’s only going to get bigger and there are going to be more patients in cancer hospitals in the future.”
Bray said that although there are more than 100 different cancer types, the top five cancers account for about 50 percent of cases.
“Lung cancer is the most common cancer worldwide … particularly in men, whereas breast cancer is certainly the most common cancer in women,” he said.
The IARC also said different types of cancer were now increasingly affecting populations as lifestyles change. For example, colorectal cancer is now the third most common cancer and second in terms of deaths. Colorectal cancer is linked particularly to age as well as lifestyle factors like obesity, smoking and alcohol use.
“There should be a lot more investment in the early diagnosis and screening [of cancers]. There should be a lot more investment in preventing the disease,” as well as in palliative care for people who are suffering, Bray said.
The UN official said he was ‘appalled’ by the killings in central Mali.
The UN rights chief on Thursday said he was “appalled” by alleged summary executions of 25 people by Mali’s army and “foreign military personnel” last week in a region plagued by violence from armed groups.
Volker Turk also expressed alarm at the killing of approximately 30 others in attacks over the weekend in central Mali, a particular hotbed of violence.
“I am appalled by credible allegations that Malian armed forces accompanied by foreign military personnel summarily executed at least 25 people in Welingara village, in the central Nara region on 26 January,” Turk said in a statement.
“I am also alarmed by reports that about 30 civilians were killed in attacks by yet unidentified gunmen on two other villages – Ogota and Oimbe – in the Bandiagara region over this past weekend,” he added.
Gathering and verifying information in Mali is made difficult by the country’s vast geography, deteriorating communications infrastructure and security concerns.
Rebel violence that started in northern Mali in 2012 spread to the centre of the country in 2015, when Katiba Macina – an al-Qaeda-affiliated group – was established, led by the Fulani hardline preacher Amadou Kouffa.
West Africa recorded more than 1,800 attacks in the first six months of 2023, resulting in nearly 4,600 deaths and creating dire humanitarian consequences. According to an ECOWAS top regional official, this was just “a snippet of the horrendous impact of insecurity”.
Mali is currently led by a military government that seized power in 2020 and turned away from former colonial power France, before pushing the UN peacekeeping mission MINUSMA to leave at the end of 2023.
The government has chosen instead to pivot towards Russia, both politically and militarily. This January, it announced its withdrawal from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), alongside Burkina Faso and Niger, which are also led by their militaries. The regional bloc has been central in condemning and imposing sanctions on the trio after the takeovers.
France once had a strong presence across the Sahel, but announced the withdrawal of its troops from the three countries after the coups.
Many observers have claimed Mali has enlisted the services of Russian mercenaries, despite frequent Malian denials.
The UN and local sources have regularly accused the Malian army and its allies of abuses against civilians, which Mali has also categorically denied.
UN rights investigators and groups like Human Rights Watch said that Malian troops and foreign forces – presumed to be Wagner – were behind the massacre of at least 500 people in the central Malian town of Moura in March 2022.
“It is essential that all allegations of arbitrary deprivations of life, including summary executions, are fully and impartially investigated and those found responsible brought to justice in trials observing international standards,” the UN rights chief said Thursday.
To date, none of the investigations launched in Mali into abuses by the military has been successful.
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