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Africa Live: Deadly cyclone hits northern Madagascar - BBC News Africa Live: Deadly cyclone hits northern Madagascar - BBC News
(32 minutes later)
Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt suffer the highest levels of air pollution in Africa, environmental NGO Greenpeace said in a new report. Rwanda has received 57 Eritrean and 35 Sudanese asylum seekers, days after 91 other refugees and asylum seekers arrived in the country from Libya.
The high air pollution levels have propelled the three countries to record most of the continent's nearly one million annual air pollution-related deaths, the report added. The 183 refugees and asylum seekers will remain in Rwanda pending the processing of their resettlement applications, the UN's refugee agency said on Wednesday.
"Exposure to air pollution is the second leading risk factor for death in Africa," the report added. The arrivals are part of a programme supported by the UN's refugee agency, African Union and European Union.
South Africa has especially been singled out as the leading air polluter in Africa and one of the countries with the highest air pollution-linked health risks. Since 2019, the programme has sent more than 2,200 refugees and asylum seekers of various nationalities from Libya to Rwanda. Over 1,600 of them have been resettled in the US and across Europe.
It hosts two of the world’s largest and six of Africa's biggest nitrogen dioxide emission hotspots. The latest arrival of the refugees and asylum seekers in Rwanda comes as the UK attempts to pass new legislation that would allow it to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda.
Four of the country's thermal power stations, which are run by state power provider Eskom, are among the world's 10 largest sulphur dioxide emission points. The UK Supreme Court had earlier quashed the plan, terming it unlawful.
The report also provides accounts detailing the challenges faced by communities that have been most hit by air pollution on the continent.
"The
pollution from coal plants like those operated by Sasol in our region has not only
tarnished our health, leading to failed health assessments and chronic diseases... but it
has also clouded our future, leaving us jobless as companies opt to hire from outside,
citing our unfitness for work, " Fana Sibanyoni, an activist from the coal-rich Mpumalanga province.
The region's multiple coal mines and coal-fired power stations have been linked to extreme air pollution levels.
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