Nigeria’s government for years has been seeking a lasting solution to the conflict between farmers and herders over grazing lands, a conflict that has claimed thousands of lives. The country’s middle belt region is most affected by the dispute, but recently the government introduced a settlement plan for herders aimed at ending the clashes. But the settlements, known as RUGA in Hausa, are meeting some resistance. For Haruna Isah, it’s a daily struggle to keep his father’s herd well-fed. He gets up early to find a few good grazing spots around the city center of Nigeria’s capital. When he ventures out, he often has to share spots with other herders and says he can get in trouble when his cows stray into farmland. “Sometimes, we have a problem with the farmers when the cows enter their farm and destroy the crops. The farmers seize our tools and sometimes our herds until we pay some ransom to get them back,” Isah said. The conflict between cattle herders and farmers in Nigeria dates back decades.  Population growth, urbanization and desertification triggered by increasing climate change have escalated the conflict.  More than 3,600 people have been killed in clashes over grazing land between …

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says his country is not seeking heightened tensions. Speaking Wednesday during a visit to Japan for talks with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Zarif said Iran believes “every nation should be allowed to exercise its own rights under international law.” Abe visited Tehran earlier this year in an attempt to serve as a mediator between Iran and the United States. This week, U.S. President Donald Trump said “there’s a really good chance” he would meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to negotiate a new agreement to limit Iran’s nuclear program in place of the 2015 international deal Trump withdrew from last year. But Rouhani said if Trump wants to hold talks, he must “take the first step” and lift all of what he called the “illegal, unjust and unfair” sanctions the United States has imposed on Iran. Trump put his own conditions on possible negotiations, saying Iran could not create more overseas tensions with military advances and attacks.  He also said a new deal would have to ban Iran from developing nuclear weapons and testing ballistic missiles, and that it would have to cover a longer period than the 10-year time frame indicated in the …

In a solemn ceremony on August 21 in Khartoum, Sudan, 11 people placed their hands on Korans to be sworn in to lead the country. The group, known as the sovereign council, will guide Sudan during a transitional period following 30 years of autocratic rule by Omar al-Bashir. The moment was historic for many reasons, including the group’s composition — the council includes two women. And the newly appointed chief justice of Sudan’s Supreme Court, Nemat Abdullah, is also a woman.  The representation raises expectations that women will be granted additional rights and minority groups of all types will be given a voice in a new Sudan.  “The Sovereign Council is the culmination of the people’s quest for equality and justice,” said Ayesha Musa Saeed, a member of the council, following the ceremony. In an interview with VOA’s South Sudan in Focus, Raja Nicola Issa Abdul-Masseh, a member of the sovereign council and a member of Sudan’s Christian minority, said the process will be slow but the new leaders are determined. Embed

Just across the East River from Manhattan, Brooklyn has a thriving local art scene. One of the borough’s most interesting artists is Misha Tyutyunik, known as MDot, who has found some interesting places to display his work. Nina Vishneva met with the artist. Anna Rice narrates her story. …

In a remote part of Jordan, a first-of-its-kind solar energy plant is powering a Syrian refugee camp and is making a difference in the lives of 40,000 residents, while benefiting the host country and the environment. The project is the innovation of the U.N. Refugee Agency and Sweden’s IKEA Foundation. VOA’s Margaret Besheer visited the plant at Azraq camp. …

As the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s new president unveils his coalition government, opposition members are complaining about being left out.  On Monday, President Felix Tshisekedi announced his cabinet, seven months after winning a contested election that landed him in the country’s highest office. The 65-member cabinet includes 23 appointees from Tshisekedi’s Direction for Change Party and 42 from former President Joseph Kabila’s Common Front for Congo coalition. But members of the DRC’s numerous other political parties are warning that the cabinet gives too much power to allies of the former president and not enough to opposition voices.  Emery Kalwira, president of the opposition group Congolese Coalition, said that Tshisekedi’s predecessor, Kabila, maintains the majority of the seats in the government and doesn’t want to leave power.  “He is [Kabila] still the main leader of the DRC and Tshisekedi isn’t the real president,” he told VOA’s Daybreak Africa radio program. “That is why we want to call all the people to get up and to put them out and to begin a good transition with our popular salvation authority.” Embed

Exasperated with the government’s unflinching attitude to escalating civil unrest, Jason Tse quit his job in Australia and jumped on a plane to join what he believes is a do-or-die fight for Hong Kong’s future. The Chinese territory is grappling with its biggest crisis since its handover to Beijing 22 years ago as many residents fret over what they see as China’s tightening grip over the city and a relentless march toward mainland control. The battle for Hong Kong’s soul has pitted protesters against the former British colony’s political masters in Beijing, with broad swathes of the Asian financial center determined to defend the territory’s freedoms at any cost. Faced with a stick and no carrot – chief executive Carrie Lam reiterated on Tuesday protesters’ demands were unacceptable – the pro-democracy movement has intensified despite Beijing deploying paramilitary troops near the border in recent weeks. “This is a now or never moment and it is the reason why I came back,” Tse, 32, said, adding that since joining the protests last month he had been a peaceful participant in rallies and an activist on the Telegram social media app. “If we don’t succeed now, our freedom of speech, our human …

Water scarcity is one factor driving millions of people from their homes each year but is often not the only reason why they move, researchers told an international conference on Tuesday. In most cases, other economic and social problems like conflict, corruption or a lack of jobs contribute to the decision to leave, they said. They warned against over-simplifying the links between water and migration, and said many of those who do move – at least partly because of water-related pressures such as floods, droughts and pollution – may not travel far. “International migration is very expensive and very risky and it lies beyond the reach of many of the poorest people who are most vulnerable to water security and drought,” said Guy Jobbins of the London-based Overseas Development Institute. Those who suffer water-related shocks to their livelihoods – losing animals or crops – “are less likely to have the funds to start again in South Africa or France”, he told an audience at World Water Week in Stockholm. Conversely, there was some evidence to suggest that people who have better access to secure, affordable water are more likely to have enough financial resources to migrate, he added. Although much …

SpaceX test-launched an early prototype of the company’s Mars rocket on Tuesday, rattling the nerves of people living near the Texas site and clearing another key hurdle in billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s interplanetary ambitions. The prototype, dubbed Starhopper, slowly rose about 500 feet(152m) off its launch pad in Brownsville, Texas, and propelled itself some 650 feet (198m) eastward onto an adjacent landing platform, completing a seemingly successful low-altitude test of SpaceX’s next-generation Raptor engine. The Raptor is designed to power Musk’s forthcoming heavy-lift Starship rocket, a reusable two-stage booster taller than the Statue of Liberty that is expected to play a central role in Musk’s interplanetary space travel objectives, including missions to Mars. The prototype “hopper” vehicle, resembling a chrome water tower with four landing legs, was originally slated for its test liftoff on Monday. But a “rather embarrassing” wiring issue with the single Raptor engine halted the countdown less than a second before ignition, Musk, the SpaceX founder and chief executive, said on Twitter. About a dozen people living in the adjacent village of Boca Chica, just over a mile from the test site, had been urged in advance by local authorities to vacate their homes as a precaution …

U.S. President Donald Trump’s border wall is expanding. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper recently approved another 32 kilometers (20 miles) of barriers for the United States’ southern border with Mexico, a defense official has confirmed to VOA. The official said Esper is using an expected surplus to build the additional barrier. To date, nearly 250 kilometers of the barrier wall have been funded by shifting military funds originally marked for other purposes. A divided U.S. Supreme Court in July allowed the administration to start using disputed Pentagon funds to construct more than 100 miles of fencing along the border. The justices lifted a lower court freeze that was designed to block $2.5 billion in spending while lawsuits by the Sierra Club and another advocacy group went forward. Those cases may still go trial. The Pentagon had previously approved the reprogramming of funds into its counter-drug account, which is authorized to spend money on border barrier construction in order to block potential drug smuggling corridors. In May, Acting Secretary of Defense Pat Shanahan confirmed the transferred Pentagon funds included money the Pentagon was saving for training Afghanistan security forces. At the time, he added he would not reprogram any more money …

Move over Ken, Barbie is going to be hanging out with some much more interesting and accomplished friends. U.S. civil rights leader Rosa Parks and astronaut Sally Ride are the latest inspirations joining the Barbie Inspiring Women Series of dolls, which honors brave women throughout history. Toy company Mattel announced the addition of the new dolls on Women’s Equality Day Monday, which marked 99 years since the adoption of the 19th Amendment giving women in the United States the right to vote. “These historical women broke boundaries that made the world a better place for future generations,” a Mattel spokeswoman said in a statement. Parks was a civil rights activist who became known for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white man, a decision widely seen as sparking the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott that ended in desegregation of Alabama buses. Ride was the first American woman and youngest American to fly into space in 1983 at age 32. After her death in 2012 it was revealed that Ride was the first known LGBT+ astronaut. “The Inspiring Women Series pays tribute to incredible heroines of their time; courageous women who took risks, changed rules and paved …

When Mexican singer Mario Domm overheard a Venezuelan migrant crooning Domm’s own song in exchange for coins outside a restaurant in Bogota, Colombia, he was moved to tears by the young man’s powerful voice. Now Domm is helping the singer, 22-year-old Alexander Beja, pursue his dream of musical stardom. Beja is one of 1.4 million Venezuelans now living in Colombia, after fleeing a deep political and economic crisis in their home country that has caused long-running shortages of food and medicine. The young singer arrived in Colombia last year and began to sing regularly on the streets of northern Bogota, in hopes of earning what money he could.  On the day last month when he was overheard by Domm, Beja was singing a tune called “Venezuela.” “He had a voice like a bazooka,” said Domm, who founded the pop group Camila in 2005. “He has to use it.” Domm bought Beja a mobile phone, and the two now talk daily to coordinate Beja’s planned September visit to Mexico, where he is set to record a duet with Domm. “That’s when my life split in half,” said Beja, who walked and took buses for weeks to reach Bogota from his hometown …

Namibia is considering withdrawing from the rules that govern the global trade in endangered species, after countries voted last week to reject proposals to relax restrictions on hunting and exporting its white rhinos. Namibia has the second largest population of white rhinos after South Africa. It wants to allow more trophy hunting of rhinos and export of live animals, arguing that the funds it would raise would help it to protect the species. But countries that are party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) voted last week against downgrading Namibia’s white rhinos from appendix I, the list of species threatened with extinction, to appendix II, a list of species with looser protections. Minister of Environment and Tourism Pohamba Shifeta said in Geneva on Tuesday that Namibia would convene a meeting with other Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states to consider withdrawing from CITES. “We had several submissions from SADC for downlisting our white rhino from appendix I to appendix II, but there are some who feel that Namibia’s population is still small and we contested that Namibia’s population is the second largest in the world,” said Shifeta. The Namibian government estimated its white rhino population …

Three important U.S. allies on Tuesday condemned the “repeated provocative launches” of ballistic missiles by North Korea, saying they violate U.N. Security Council resolutions banning any such activity.    The United Kingdom, France and Germany issued a joint statement after a closed council briefing by U.N. political chief Rosemary DiCarlo that they requested because of serious concerns at the series of missile launches in recent weeks by North Korea. The three European council members urged North Korea “to engage in meaningful negotiations with the U.S.,” as President Donald Trump and its leader Kim Jong Un agreed to on June 30 at their meeting in the Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas. FILE – President Donald Trump meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea, June 30, 2019. “Serious efforts by North Korea to re-engage diplomatically and make progress on denuclearization are the only way to guarantee security and stability on the Korean peninsula and in the region,” their statement said. The three countries stressed that “international sanctions must remain in place and be fully and strictly enforced until North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs are dismantled.” Many …

Actress Keira Knightley turns to the 2003 Iraq War for her latest film “Official Secrets,” in which she portrays a British government employee who was fired for leaking a secret U.S. memo in the run-up to the conflict. The 34-year old plays Katharine Gun, a former translator at Britain’s global spy center who was charged with breaking the Official Secrets Act for leaking a U.S. memo seeking London’s help in spying on the United Nations. Knightley spoke to Reuters about the role. Below are edited excerpts of the interview. Q: Very few people know Gun’s story. Knightley: “I remember the lead up to that conflict really well and I do not remember anything about this story…I thought wow, this is a really interesting thing to shine a light on, particularly when you look at the conflict in Iraq in terms of history, you think well that’s a piece of the puzzle that feels very important and that I think people should know more about.” Q: Why is it important for people to know more about it? Knightley: “It’s the questions that it brings: government accountability, legality of conflict and if perhaps conflicts are not legal, who is held accountable for …

Republican and Democratic U.S. senators said Russia refused to grant them visas for a visit to Moscow next week, amid disagreement within Washington and among U.S. allies over whether the country should be readmitted to the Group of Seven. Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said on Tuesday that Russia denied him a visa. Senator Ron Johnson, a Republican, said on Monday that his visa request had been denied, which he called “a petty affront.” FILE – US Senator Ron Johnson listens Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade, Serbia, Feb. 18, 2018. President Donald Trump said last week it would be appropriate to let Russia return to the G-7 group of advanced industrialized countries, telling reporters that former Democratic President Barack Obama had wanted Russia out of what used to be the G-8 but he thought it was “much more appropriate” to include the country. Other G-7 countries have objected. Murphy and Johnson are Senate Foreign Relations Committee members and have pushed for sanctions. Another Republican, Senator Mike Lee, was issued a visa and intended to visit Russia, a spokesman for Lee said. “With the collapse of recent arms control agreements and significant domestic opposition to Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian rule, this is …

Dawda Kairaba Jawara, Gambia’s first post-independence president who led the tiny West African country for 24 years before being deposed in a 1994 coup, has died at the age of 95, the presidency said on Tuesday. The office of President Adama Barrow, whose election in 2016 brought an end to the rule of the army officer who toppled Jawara, Yahya Jammeh, hailed the late president as “an elder statesman” and Gambia’s “founding father.” A veterinarian by training, Jawara in 1959 founded the Protectorate People’s Party, later rechristened the People’s Progressive Party, which emerged as the dominant political force following independence from Britain in 1965. Dawda Kairaba Jawara, Gambia’s first post-independence president, is pictured in this handout picture obtained by Reuters, Aug. 27, 2019. He served as prime minister from 1962-70, as the newly-independent Gambia, a sliver of land along the banks of the Gambia River and Atlantic coast surrounded by Senegal, remained a constitutional monarchy under Queen Elizabeth II. In 1970, Gambia adopted a republican constitution by referendum and Jawara was elected its first president. Over the next two decades, he presided over a multi-party political system in a region plagued by authoritarian rule and frequent civil unrest. He drew …

Norway, until recently the main donor to a fund to curb Amazonian deforestation, on Tuesday called on Norwegian companies active in Brazil to ensure they do not contribute to the destruction of the rainforest. Representatives of oil firm Equinor, fertilizer-maker Yara and aluminium producer Norsk Hydro attended a meeting on Tuesday with Climate and Environment Minister Ola Elvestuen to discuss the fires in the Amazon. “They must be conscious about their supply chains and ensure that they do not help contribute to deforestation,” Elvestuen told reporters after the meeting, called on Monday in response to the blazes afflicting the vast Amazon region. The Norwegian state is the top owner of all three firms. Tuesday’s meeting was also attended by pension fund KLP and environmental non-governmental organizations to discuss the issue and what could be done to solve it. The number of fires recorded across the Brazilian Amazon has risen 79% this year through Aug. 25, according to Brazil’s space research agency. Earlier on Tuesday, Brasilia said it would not consider an offer of at least $20 million from the Group of Seven nations to fight the fires until French President Emmanuel Macron retracted “insults” against Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Amazon …

Opposition parties said they would try to pass a law which would force Prime Minister Boris Johnson to seek a delay to Britain’s departure from the European Union and prevent a potentially chaotic no-deal exit at the end of October. The United Kingdom is heading toward a constitutional crisis at home and a showdown with the EU as Johnson has pledged to leave the bloc in 66 days without a deal unless Brussels agrees to renegotiate the Brexit divorce. The sticking point is the backstop, an insurance policy to prevent the return of a hard border on the island of Ireland. Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during a news conference at the end of the G7 summit in Biarritz, France, Aug. 26, 2019. Johnson told European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Tuesday there was no prospect of a deal unless the backstop was abolished. Parliament returns from its summer break next week and is preparing for a battle with Johnson, who has promised to take Britain out of the European Union at the end of October with or without an exit agreement. Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn hosted talks with opposition parties on Tuesday, where they agreed that passing …

While global attention has been focused on fires burning across the Brazilian Amazon, neighboring Bolivia is battling its own vast blazes, which have charred an area nearly as extensive as the nation of Lebanon. At least 38,793 fires were burning across the country as of the weekend, and a total of 3,700 square miles (950,000 hectares) had been burned so far this year – most of that in weeks – according to Cliver Rocha, director of the national Forests and Lands Authority. While some of the fires were burning in Bolivia’s share of the Amazon, the largest blazes were in the Chiquitania region of southeastern Bolivia, a zone of dry forest, farmland and open prairies that has seen an expansion of farming and ranching in recent years. The College of Biologists in the capital, La Paz, has estimated that the fires have destroyed $1.1 billion worth of timber. Yanine Rubi Montero said the fires burned away the lemon trees her family depended on near the rural town of Robore. They were left without water as well because the blazed destroyed a plastic pipe that ran to a well. One neighbor fled with just the clothes on her back, Montero said. …

Almost two dozen Polish former ambassadors are telling U.S. President Donald Trump that Poland’s democracy is at risk, and urging him to use an upcoming visit to pressure the country’s populist government to respect human rights and stop flouting the constitution. “Mr. President, you are coming to a country where the rule of law is no longer respected,” the Conference of Ambassadors of the Republic of Poland wrote in an open letter posted on its website late Monday. Trump is to arrive Saturday in Warsaw to attend ceremonies Sunday marking the 80th anniversary of the start of World War II, which began with Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland on Sept. 1, 1939. More than 40 other world leaders will also attend. The 23 former ambassadors, some of whom have had multiple postings abroad and also held government positions at home, are also urging Trump to stop sowing divisions within the European Union and NATO, reminding him that Poland — a country in a difficult geographic position — depends on those alliances for its security and long-term survival.  “An isolated Poland, surrounded by enemies, conflicted with its neighbors and, as was the case before World War II, reliant solely on geographically …

Consumer confidence dipped slightly in August after a big rebound in July. The Conference Board, a business research group, said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index edged down to 135.1 in August, slightly below a July reading of 135.8, which had been the highest since November. Economists had been looking for a bigger drop in August. The reading on consumers’ assessment of current conditions improved and now stands at its highest level in nearly 19 years. Conference Board economists say that while other parts of the economy have shown some weakness, consumers have remained confident and willing to spend. The hope is that consumer spending can cushion the adverse effects to the U.S. economy from trade wars and a global slowdown. But Lynn Franco, senior economic director at the Conference Board, said, “If the recent escalation in trade and tariff tensions persists, it could potentially dampen consumers’ optimism regarding the short-term economic outlook.” The overall economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, slowed to growth at an annual rate of 2.1% in the April-June quarter, compared to 3.1% GDP growth in the first quarter. However, the drop would have been much more severe except consumer spending surged to a …

More than 800 Namibian refugees in Botswana have vowed to stay put despite a court ruling saying they must return to their country, 20 years after fleeing following a secessionist uprising. Felix Kalula and hundreds of other Namibian refugees fled to Botswana in 1999, after violent clashes with Namibian government forces broke out over the disputed Caprivi strip, which wanted to secede from the rest of the country. The Namibian and Botswana governments say it is safe for the refugees to return home, and the migrants have until Aug. 31 to leave. But Kalula says the issues that made them flee have not been resolved. “Some of our colleagues are still in prison since 1999, and many of them died in prison,” he said, adding that refugees have been asking for dialogue with the Namibian government, but the opportunity has not been afforded. Kalula was a member of the secessionist party, the United Democratic Party, which remains banned in Namibia as the Caprivi residents were willing to use force to gain independence. FILE – Two bodies of rebel insurgents lie in a street after sporadic gunfire in the Caprivi strip, Namibia, Aug. 3, 1999. He says they are not prepared …

U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton says there is no need for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to “rush” into any course of action regarding Russia’s involvement with separatist forces in eastern Ukraine. “I think, from the perspective of a new government in Ukraine, President Zelenskiy would be well-advised to look at how to unfold a strategy of dealing with the Russians very carefully,” Bolton told RFE/RL in a wide-ranging interview on August 27 in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv. “I don’t think there is any reason to rush it into one course of action or another…. I think working this through over a period of time makes sense for the new government in Ukraine.” “I don’t suppose that the Europeans are going to have a solution that is readily apparent,” he added in reference to the so-called Normandy format of negations aimed at ending the Ukraine conflict. More than 13,000 people have been killed in eastern Ukraine after Russia-backed separatists took up arms against government forces in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in April 2014. After being elected in April this year, Zelenskiy called for a four-way meeting with fellow Normandy format participants Russia, Germany, and France to revive peace talks with …