标签： Africa

CAIRO – In a stark new assessment released Monday, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has revealed that more than 300 children have been killed or injured across Sudan over the past six months, with the vast majority of these casualties linked to increasingly widespread drone strikes across the war-torn nation.

Sudan’s brutal internal conflict, which pits the country’s official military against the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has stretched on since April 2023, leaving the nation fragmented and its population in crisis. Today, the heaviest fighting is concentrated in three key regions: Kordofan, Darfur, and Blue Nile states. According to UNICEF’s casualty analysis, drone attacks account for 60 percent of all child harm recorded in the latest six-month period.

International bodies and major global powers including the United Nations, the United States, and the United Kingdom have raised urgent alarm over reports of potential mass atrocities as both factions battle for control of el-Obeid, a strategically critical city in North Kordofan. The battle for this urban center has worsened already desperate conditions for civilians trapped in the crossfire.

The full scale of the conflict’s human cost is staggering. Official estimates place the total death toll at no less than 59,000 people, while more than 13 million Sudanese have been forced from their homes to escape violence. Large swathes of the country are now on the brink of famine, and more than 30 million Sudanese – nearly two-thirds of the nation’s population – require life-saving humanitarian aid to survive.

Indiscriminate drone strikes and artillery shelling have repeatedly targeted civilian infrastructure that communities depend on, including schools, public markets, fuel depots, and water distribution stations. UNICEF estimates that these deliberate attacks have put more than 500,000 civilian lives at direct risk, and residents across contested areas have endured nearly a year of conditions that amount to a de facto siege, cutting them off from basic supplies and emergency care.

“Children are being caught in a relentless cycle of violence, displacement and deprivation,” said Sheldon Yett, UNICEF’s top representative for Sudan. In line with the agency’s statement, the United Nations has issued a formal call to both warring parties, demanding that they uphold international humanitarian law by protecting civilians and civilian infrastructure, grant unimpeded, rapid, and safe access for humanitarian aid convoys, and take every possible measure to shield children from the harm of ongoing conflict.

Along the sunbaked Indian Ocean coastline of East Africa, generations of small-scale fishing communities have built their lives around the sea. But today, rapidly warming waters, rampant overfishing, and illegal industrial fishing operations have pushed traditional livelihoods to the breaking point, forcing coastal residents — and women in particular — to reimagine their relationship with the ocean through conservation-led enterprises that offer both hope and stability.

In Malindi, a coastal town northeast of Kenya’s major port Mombasa, 54-year-old Nuru Mohamed is putting the final touches on her new beachside restaurant, where fishing nets hang as rustic decor while her daughter sweeps away construction sand. For most of her life, Mohamed was one of the region’s rare female artisanal fishers, but she has faced declining catches, stolen boats, and unfair competition from large-scale industrial trawlers that operate illegally in nearshore waters. A nearby Chinese-owned fish processing facility stands as a stark reminder of how the local industry has shifted beyond the reach of small-scale operators. “I can’t compete with that kind of power or scale,” she says. “I fought to remain a fisherwoman. But I think it’s a fight I can no longer win.” For Mohamed and the women working with her on the restaurant, the new business is more than just a construction project — it is a lifeline. “For us women, this is hope,” she says. “It will help support many families that have depended on the ocean for decades.”

This shift is not an isolated case. Across East Africa’s entire coastal belt, communities are turning to tourism, mangrove and seagrass restoration, and other conservation-focused ventures to build sustainable incomes as traditional fishing becomes increasingly unviable. In Kenya, women have turned restored mangrove forests into income streams through beekeeping and ecotourism; in Tanzania’s Zanzibar archipelago, fishing communities run locally managed coral reef protected areas to reverse ecosystem damage; in Mozambique, seagrass restoration projects create jobs while reviving critical marine habitats. Far from abandoning the ocean that has sustained their families for generations, these initiatives redefine resilience as restoring the marine ecosystem while building long-term livelihoods that work with, not against, the ocean’s natural health.

Ten kilometers from Mohamed’s restaurant, where the Sabaki River flows into the Indian Ocean, Beatrice Mwanyiro manages both a mangrove nursery and a community restaurant, run by a 30-member women’s self-help group called ReSea that receives funding from the Canadian government. “We have to adapt to the changing times,” Mwanyiro says. “The number of fish coming into the shallow waters are falling every year. Without another source of income, we won’t be able to feed our families.”

Critical coastal ecosystems — mangroves, coral reefs, seagrass meadows, and nearshore fisheries — provide far more than food: they buffer coastlines from destructive storm surges, support biodiversity, and store massive amounts of carbon that help slow global climate change. Yet these habitats are increasingly threatened by warming oceans, plastic pollution, habitat destruction, and overfishing. In Lamu, Kenya’s UNESCO World Heritage coastal site, veteran fishery leader Mohamed Somo notes that where boats once brought in up to 100 kilograms of fish per trip, today catches often top out at less than 30 kilograms. While Kenyan law restricts industrial trawlers to operating at least 5 nautical miles offshore, Somo says many vessels flout the rules, moving into shallow, nearshore waters where small-scale fishers work overnight to strip the remaining fish stocks. “By morning, there’s very little left for us,” he says.

This crisis is not unique to Kenya. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing costs the global economy roughly $23 billion annually, while threatening marine biodiversity and the food security of billions of people who rely on fish as their primary source of protein.

As coastal communities fight to survive, growing pressure has pushed ocean conservation higher up the global political agenda. Conservation leaders emphasize that the communities that depend on the ocean are also its most effective protectors, particularly when women lead local efforts. “Communities that depend on the ocean are also its best stewards,” says Andreane Martel, ReSea’s project director. “When local people, especially women, lead conservation, they protect biodiversity while creating more resilient and inclusive livelihoods.”

Jerry Mang’ena, co-founder and executive director of Tanzania-based conservation group Action for Ocean, which restores mangrove habitats along the country’s coast, echoes this view. “Coastal communities are on the frontlines of climate change and declining ocean health, but they are also among the strongest drivers of resilience,” he says. “Supporting sustainable livelihoods, from aquaculture and eco-tourism to ecosystem restoration, helps families adapt while reducing pressure on the ocean. If we’re serious about protecting our seas, we must invest in the people who have cared for them for generations.”

At the recent Our Ocean Conference held in Mombasa, conservation groups called on African governments to quickly ratify the landmark UN Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement, also known as the High Seas Treaty. The global pact, which entered into force in January this year, establishes frameworks to create marine protected areas in international waters and ensure equitable sharing of marine genetic resources. As of April, 145 countries have signed the agreement, and 81 have fully ratified it. For small-scale fishers like Mohamed, the outcome of global ratification efforts could reshape their future, reducing the pressure of unregulated fishing on nearshore stocks and creating more stable conditions for their new conservation-led livelihoods.

“The BBNJ Agreement gives African governments a historic opportunity to protect the high seas and safeguard the future of our fisheries,” says Aliou Ba, oceans campaign lead at Greenpeace Africa. “But protecting the ocean also means confronting illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing that is stripping African waters of marine life and robbing coastal communities of food and income. Governments cannot afford to delay.”

This reporting on climate and environment by The Associated Press is supported by funding from multiple private foundations, with AP retaining full editorial control over all content.

On sun-baked beaches along Sierra Leone’s Sherbo Island, 120 kilometers south of the capital Freetown, the age-old ritual of collective shore fishing unfolds much as it has for generations. A dozen villagers strain against thick ropes, shouting in coordinated bursts as they haul a heavy net bulging with snapper, mackerel, barracuda and rays out of the Atlantic surf. But where this communal work once yielded enough to feed local families and earn steady incomes, today’s hauls tell a story of growing crisis: small-scale local fishermen across the country say their catches have plummeted in recent years, and they point to one clear culprit – large, unregulated foreign trawlers operating illegally inside protected coastal waters.

Marie Pierre, one of the local workers sorting sardines from discarded jellyfish after the net comes ashore, says illegal international vessels have been violating the country’s official seven-mile exclusion zone – an area reserved exclusively for small-scale domestic fishing – in growing numbers. For many fishermen, the incursions go far beyond just stealing fish. Musa Gassimo, a local Sherbo Island fisherman, alleges that foreign trawlers deliberately cut the lines of small-scale fishing nets when local crews return to shore overnight. Each replacement net costs up to $250, a catastrophic expense for low-income artisanal fishermen who rely on their gear to make a living.

West Africa has long been recognized as the global epicenter of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. A 2024 global analysis estimates that 40% of the world’s unlicensed fishing catch is harvested from the region’s waters, costing West African governments a combined $10 billion in lost annual revenue while putting the food security of more than 30 million people who depend on local fishing at risk. Industry observers note that little progress has been made to reverse the crisis in the two years since the report was published.

Thomas Turay, president of Sierra Leone’s Fishermen’s Union, confirms the severity of the decline, saying average catches for local members have dropped by roughly 40% since illegal incursions surged. Speaking from Tombo Harbour near Freetown, Turay points to large foreign vessels anchored just outside the exclusion zone, saying these ships slip into protected coastal waters almost every night under cover of darkness. Multiple local fishermen who spoke with reporters shared personal accounts of damage and loss: 70-year-old Abou Waisissé described an incident where dozens of small local boats had their nets cut in a single incursion, while 55-year-old Mohamedi Kamara said his small fishing craft was badly damaged in a collision with a large international trawler.

When asked about the nationalities of the illegal vessels operating off Sierra Leone’s coast, Steve Trent, CEO and co-founder of the global advocacy group Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), says the vast majority are flagged to China. While vessels from South Korea, Taiwan and European countries have operated illegally in the region in the past, Trent says Chinese trawlers now overwhelmingly dominate unlicensed fishing activity across West Africa.

Local fishermen say they have repeatedly reported illegal incursions to Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Fisheries, but their complaints have gone unanswered. Turay blames systemic corruption for the lack of enforcement, saying operators of illegal trawlers bribe government officials to avoid penalties. “I know that somebody who is doing this illegal business has the money to bribe and pay,” he says. “Government authorities are afraid to help the local fishermen.”

These allegations of widespread unenforced regulation are strenuously denied by Sheku Sei, director of Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Fisheries. Sei acknowledges that illegal fishing was once a major problem, but argues that new regulatory measures have reduced incursions significantly. He says all international vessels operating in Sierra Leone’s waters are now required to carry transponders to track their movements, and government inspectors conduct routine checks on foreign fleets. When asked about the common global practice of vessels turning off transponders to avoid detection of illegal activity, Sei claimed this does not happen in Sierra Leone’s waters. He also argued that steep financial penalties for violating the seven-mile exclusion zone act as a strong deterrent, but could not name a single instance where penalties had actually been applied over the past 10 years.

The Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Sierra Leone did not respond to BBC requests for comment on the allegations. Last month, however, the Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a blanket denial after similar claims of illegal Chinese fishing in Latin American waters, saying “China is a responsible fishing nation, strictly enforcing the regulation of its distant-water fishing activities and engaging in mutually beneficial fisheries cooperation with relevant countries in accordance with international law.”

Trent from EJF rejects this claim, arguing the Chinese government has adopted a deliberate “head-in-the-sand” approach to the crisis. “It’s simply not credible for them to carry on in this way. China, to date, still is not doing nearly enough to control its fleet. In fact, I would say they’re enabling it, through subsidies, through a lack of oversight and control.”

Trent says the solution to the crisis requires two key changes: improved global tracking of commercial fishing vessels, and increased international pressure on the Chinese government to enforce regulations on its distant-water fleet. He notes that fish illegally harvested from West African waters are sold to consumers around the world, giving everyday shoppers the power to drive change by choosing only legally and sustainably sourced seafood, a choice that protects the livelihoods of vulnerable small-scale fishermen in poor coastal nations.