Africa 54 - April 20, 2021

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: Chad's President Idriss Deby has died while visiting troops on the front line of a fight against northern rebels, according to an army spokesman. This comes the day after Deby was declared the winner of a sixth term in office. Deby's campaign said on Monday that he was headed to the front lines to join troops battling "terrorists." Rebels based across the northern frontier in Libya attacked a border post on election day and then advanced hundreds of kilometers south across the desert. Deby, 68, came to power in a rebellion in 1990 and is one of Africa's longest-serving leaders In northern Mozambique, a brutal insurgency has forced hundreds of thousands of terrified civilians to flee their homes, many of them women who lost their husbands in the violence. Andre Baptista reports on their struggles from two camps for displaced people in Cabo Delgado province as narrated Amancio Vilanculos. Clashes between people belonging to Ethiopia's two largest ethnic groups, the Oromo and Amhara, killed at least 18 people late last week, according to local officials. The latest incident happened in the north of the country, in Ataye town in Amhara region on Friday, after Amhara's security forces killed a shopkeeper, according to Jemal Haasen, head of the region's Jile-Temuga district of Oromo Special Zone. The zone is classified as special because it is in Amhara region, but residents are predominately Oromos. April is World Autism Month. Autism Spectrum Disorder affects 1 in every 270 people worldwide, according to The World Health Organization. Autistic disorders include early infantile autism, Asperger’s syndrome, and pervasive developmental disorder. Autism poses a special challenge in Africa where many parents are confronted with the lack of diagnosis and adequate resources. Various myths and misunderstandings also complicate access to proper care. Africa 54 Health correspondent Linord Moudou spoke with Susan Kwizera Gakwavu, behavior assistant and founder of New Life Autism Foundation, who shares some of the main issues surrounding the condition in Africa and steps to help those who live with Autism, especially during COVID 19 the pandemic. The top brass of the Ugandan People’s Defense Forces played two friendly soccer matches with members of the media fraternity. The Friday matches were aimed at improving army-media relations after some journalists were beaten by army troops in the run-up to the January elections. Halima Athumani reports from Kampala. It is now up to a jury to decide the outcome of the trial of former Minnesota police officer Derek Chauvin, who is accused of murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd. VOA’s Jesusemen Oni has more. NASA -- the U.S. space agency -- has developed an app that allows "citizen scientists" around the world to participate in an Earth science project. VOA’s Julie Taboh has more. #Africa #Chad #IdrissDeby #Mozambique #Ethiopia #Oromo #Amhara #April #WorldAutismMonth #Uganda #NASA