Africa 54 - October 29, 2020

You are watching Africa 54, your daily news and feature magazine-style program, from the Voice of America. Host Esther Githui-Ewart and a team of correspondents zero in on the big stories making news on the continent and around the world with context and analysis. Top Stories: Vote counting is underway in Tanzania on Thursday for parliamentary and presidential elections. President John Magufuli wants a second five-year term, but there are complaints from his main rival of "irregularities." Results from the elections are expected within a week. The World Trade Organization is trying to regroup after its bid to select a new leader was plunged into uncertainty on Wednesday after the United States rejected Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala who was proposed as the global trade watchdog's next director-general. The U.S. says it supports South Korean trade minister Yoo Myung-Hee because of her 25 years of trade experience and that she would be able to hit the ground running. The WTO has called a meeting for November 9th, less than a week after the U.S. presidential election, by which time it says it hopes to have secured full backing for Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. The decision, however, needs to be approved by consensus, meaning any of the 164 WTO members could block her appointment. A Malian court has sentenced to death a suspected jihadist and his co-defendant for killing more than two dozen people in attacks targeting foreigners in 2015. Wednesday’s court ruling against Fawaz Ould Ahmed and his co-defendant Sadou Chaka came after two days of hearings. Ahmed said his militant group, al-Mourabitoune, carried out the attack at the la terrasse club -- and expressed no remorse for killing five people in revenge for cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad published by France’s Charlie Hebdo magazine. Ahmed also admitted to participating in a raid that killed 17 people at Hotel Byblos in the town of Sevare in august and another that killed 20 people, including 14 foreigners, at the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako in November. The U.S. election has attracted many African immigrants who are seeking elective positions in various capacities. We bring you the story of Boni Njenga, a Kenyan American who is hoping to be elected as the Hennepin county commissioner in the state of Minnesota. The Kenyan government says COVID-19 has forced two million people out of work. As Mohammed Yusuf reports from Nairobi, many Kenyans who had steady jobs are now relying on informal work to survive. Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune is undergoing medical examination at a German hospital, after the government announced he had earlier been admitted to an Algerian hospital after self-isolating because several of his senior aides tested positive for COVID-19. The 75-year-old president's treatment in Germany comes days before Algeria’s critical November 1st referendum on changes he has proposed to the constitution. A government statement announced on state television did not specify what Tebboune is being treated for even though he had a coronavirus scare. There has been no official announcement that Tebboune tested has positive for COVID-19. He replaced Algeria’s ousted longtime president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, in January amid political unrest in the country. Days before the November 3 election, the campaigns of President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden are making their last pitch to voters, sending high-profile surrogates including former President Barack Obama and the Trump family children. The issue of climate change and its effects on our planet draws mixed reaction, but a new documentary “The Last Ice” seeks to shed some light on what our world is facing. VOA’s Esther Githui-Ewart spoke to Scott Ressler, director and producer of "The Last Ice", a national geographic film and begun by asking him what the current scientific projections are for our planet. #Tanzania #WTO #UnitedStates #NgoziOkonjoIweala #Nigeria #WorldTradeOrganization #Mali #CharlieHebdo #Kenya #Coronavirus #Algeria #Germany #COVID19 #DonaldTrump #JoeBiden