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WORLD NEWS Saturday 28 May 2022
‘We don’t have food’: African leaders meet as crises grow

By SAM MEDNICK rest of the animals and
DJIBO, Burkina Faso (AP) — unfortunately prices of
African leaders gathered animals have decreased,”
for a summit Friday in Ma- said cattle owner Mamou-
labo, Equatorial Guinea, to dou Oumarou.
address growing humani- The 53-year-old father of
tarian needs on the conti- 13 fled his village in Febru-
nent, which is also facing ary and said the blockade
increased violent extrem- in Djibo has prevented
ism, climate change chal- people from coming to the
lenges and a run of military market to buy and sell cat-
coups. tle, decreasing demand
Leaders called for in- and lowering prices for the
creased mobilization to animals by half.
resolve a humanitarian cri- Before the violence, Djibo
sis that has left millions dis- had one of the biggest
placed and more than 280 and most vital cattle mar-
million suffering from mal- kets in the Sahel and was
nourishment. a bustling economic hub.
For people in Djibo, a town Some 600 trucks used to
in northern Burkina Faso enter Djibo monthly, now
near the border with Mali, it’s less than 70, said Alpha
any help can’t come soon Ousmane Dao, director of
enough. Internally displaced people wait for aid in Djibo, Burkina Faso, Thursday May 26, 2022. Seracom, a local aid group
The city in the Sahel region Associated Press in Djibo.
the large expanse below Burkina Faso is facing its
the Sahara Desert -- has to be really a tragedy for and lined much of Djibo’s ading when they see an worst hunger crisis in six
been besieged since Feb- the entire group of people perimeter with explosives, opportunity to gain incen- years, more than 630,000
ruary by jihadis who pre- that are here.” blockading the city, say lo- tives in negotiating with the people are on the brink of
vent people and goods Djibo has been at the epi- cals. The town’s population government and simulta- starvation, according to
from moving in or out and center of the violence has swollen from 60,000 to neously send a message the UN.
cut water supplies. Few linked to al-Qaida and the 300,000 over the last few to their base that they are As a result of Djibo’s block-
truckers want to run the ji- Islamic State group that years as people flee the in control. It’s a bargaining ade, the World Food Pro-
hadist gauntlet. Residents has killed thousands and countryside to escape the card and a winning one,” gram has been unable to
are suffering with no food displaced nearly 2 million violence. he said. deliver food to the town
or water, animals are dying people. While Djibo and Blockading cities is a tac- A U.N. team flew in briefly since December and
and the price of grain has Soum province where the tic used by jihadis to as- to assess the situation. The stocks are running out, said
spiked. town is located experi- sert dominance and could AP was the first foreign me- Antoine Renard, country
“The goods are not arriving enced periods of calm, also be an attempt to get dia to visit the town in more director for the World Food
anymore here. Animal and such as during a makeshift Burkina Faso’s new military than a year. Program in Burkina Faso.
agricultural production is ceasefire between jihadis junta, which seized power “Today there is nothing to Efforts to end the blockade
not possible because the and the government sur- in January, to backtrack on buy here. Even if you have through dialogue have
people cannot go back to rounding the 2020 presi- promises to eliminate the cash, there is nothing to had mixed results. At the
their villages,” U.N. resident dential election, the truce jihadis, said Laith Alkhouri, buy. end of April, the emir of Dj-
and humanitarian coordi- didn’t last. CEO of Intelonyx Intelli- We came here with four ibo met with Burkina Faso’s
nator Barbara Manzi told Since November, insecurity gence Advisory, a group donkeys and goats and top jihadist, Jafar Dicko, to
The Associated Press from in the region has increased. that provides intelligence some of them died be- negotiate lifting the siege.
Djibo this week. “Unless (a Jihadis have destroyed wa- analysis. cause of hunger. However, little progress has
solution) is found, it’s going ter infrastructure in the town “Militants resort to block- We were forced to sell the been made since then.q

Biden renews sanctions license for Chevron in Venezuela

By JOSHUA GOODMAN those who wanted to see negotiations with the U.S.-
Associated Press a resumption of exports to backed opposition and
MIAMI (AP) — The Biden ad- ease pricing pressure at release several Americans
ministration has renewed a American pumps. imprisoned for years.
license partially exempting Vladimir Putin’s invasion Their carrot: the possible lift-
Chevron from sanctions on of Ukraine and ensuing in- ing of crippling oil sanctions
Venezuela so it can keep ternational sanctions tar- imposed in 2019 after Mad-
operating in the oil-rich, geting Russia’s oil industry uro breezed into a second
socialist-run nation. have led the Biden admin- term following elections
The license issued Friday by istration to reconsider long- considered undemocratic
the U.S. Treasury Depart- standing policies isolating by the U.S. and dozens of
ment allows the Califor- two other oil powers: Ven- allies. While Maduro has
nia-based Chevron and ezuela and Iran. welcomed the surprise
other U.S. companies to In March, three senior outreach, joking that he
perform only basic upkeep Biden officials traveled wanted to soon travel to
of wells it operates jointly to Caracas to meet with New York to attend a salsa Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro arrives to Revolution
with state-run oil giant PD- President Nicolás Maduro festival, there’s been little Palace to attend the XXI ALBA Summit in Havana, Cuba,
VSA, dashing the hopes of to try to lure him back to progress since.q Friday, May 27, 2022.
Associated Press