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Ukraine’s pro-democracy, pro-Europe demonstrations in Maidan square a decade ago marked the “first victory” in its war with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared on the anniversary of the popular protest movement.

Nearly 100 civilians died in violent clashes with security forces when Ukrainians took to the streets of the capital in 2013, demanding to move Ukraine out of the orbit of Vladimir Putin’s Russia and “join” the family of European democracies to which it “historically belongs”.

The “Revolution of Dignity” protests ultimately led to the ouster of Kremlin-backed President Victor Yanukovych and gave space to the rise of a new generation of anticorruption, pro-democracy movement leaders.

“The first victory in today’s war took place. A victory against indifference. A victory of courage. The victory of the Revolution of Dignity,” Zelenskyy said in a statement on Tuesday.

He praised his country’s progress towards gaining membership in the European Union since Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February of last year.

“Year after year, step by step, we do our best to ensure that our star shines in the circle of stars on the EU flag, which symbolises the unity of the peoples of Europe. The star of Ukraine,” he said.

His comments come as Russian forces chip away at Ukraine’s sovereignty and continue their full-on invasion of their smaller neighbour.

Show of support

A number of foreign leaders made trips to Kyiv in a show of solidarity. German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius arrived by train for an unannounced visit to reaffirm Berlin’s backing for Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s troops.

“I am here again, firstly to pledge further support, but also to express our solidarity and deep bond and also our admiration for the courageous, brave and costly fight that is being waged here,” he said laying flowers at Maidan square in central Kyiv.

Also in Kyiv on Tuesday, European Council President Charles Michel, shared a post on the social media platform X, saying it was “Good to be back in Kyiv – among friends”. He posted a picture of himself shaking hands with the EU ambassador to Ukraine, Katarina Mathernova.

Moldova’s President Maia Sandu arrived in Kyiv early on Tuesday to join Zelenskyy in honouring the memory of those who died during the Revolution of Dignity, her office said on X.

United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin made an unannounced visit to Kyiv on Monday “to meet with Ukrainian leaders and reinforce the staunch support of the United States for Ukraine’s fight for freedom”, the Pentagon said in a statement.

The United Kingdom’s foreign secretary, David Cameron, visited Ukraine last week to underline British support for Kyiv amid its ongoing war with Russia. He told Zelenskyy the UK would support Ukraine for “however long it takes”.

Bitter rival?

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs commented on the anniversary of Maidan protests by blaming Ukraine and the West for the current war in which nearly 10,000 people have lost their lives.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova questioned what the dream of Europe had brought Ukraine.

“From a prosperous, industrially developed, densely populated ex-Soviet republic, Ukraine has turned into an impoverished, dying territory,” she said, according to comments published on the Foreign Ministry website.

Ukraine had lost its independence as a result of the Maidan events, she said. “Western colonisers determine its domestic and foreign policy.”

Russia’s Foreign Ministry also made statements saying Russia cannot coexist with the “regime” in Ukraine.

“The current regime is absolutely toxic, we do not see any options for co-existence with it at the moment,” Russian ambassador-at-large Rodion Miroshnik said on Tuesday.

He further stated that in order for the war to end, Ukraine must be “de-militarised and de-nazified” so as not to be deemed a threat to Russia.

More than 1.7 million people are in need as torrential rains destroy homes and livelihoods in Horn of Africa.

The death toll from flash flooding caused by torrential rains in Somalia has risen to 50, with nearly 700,000 people driven from their homes, according to a government official.

With more heavy rains starting on Tuesday, the plight of people in the country is expected to worsen, he said.

“Fifty people died in the disaster … while 687,235 people were forced to flee their houses,” Mohamud Moalim Abdullahi, the director of the Somali Disaster Management Agency, said at a news conference on Monday.

“The expected rains between 21st and 24th of November … may cause more flooding which could cause death and destruction.”

The Horn of Africa region is experiencing heavy downpours and floods linked to the El Nino weather phenomenon, killing dozens of people and causing large-scale displacement, including in Somalia, where the rains have destroyed bridges and inundated residential areas.

The floods and extreme rains have resulted in “catastrophic” consequences for hundreds of thousands who have lost their homes and properties, or their animals and crops, the International Rescue Committee said in a statement on Monday, adding that more than 1.7 million people are in “urgent need”.

“With above-normal rainfall expected to persist until the end of 2023, this will exacerbate the already grave humanitarian situation, whereby 4.3 million people, a quarter of the population are expected to face crisis-level hunger or worse by the end of 2023,” the aid agency added.

NGO World Vision said the current floods have destroyed homes, schools and roads, leaving children without basic needs such as shelter, food and drinking water.

“The floods have made life extremely difficult for children. Ongoing flooding has destroyed homes forcing children and their families to leave their homes, some of whom are now sheltering in makeshift structures in the open. As they move, they are at increased risk of illness,” Kevin Mackey, the organisation’s Somalia country director, said in a statement on Monday.

On Saturday, the United Nations humanitarian agency OCHA said the number of people displaced by heavy rains and floods in Somalia “has nearly doubled in one week”.

“In addition, roads, bridges and airstrips have been damaged in several areas, affecting the movement of people and supplies and leading to increased prices of basic commodities,” OCHA said.

British charity Save the Children on Thursday said more than 100 people, including 16 children, had died and hundreds of thousands were forced from their homes in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia due to flash flooding.

The Horn of Africa is one of the regions most vulnerable to climate change and extreme weather events are occurring with increased frequency and intensity.

The region is emerging from the worst drought in four decades after multiple failed rainy seasons that left millions of people in need and devastated crops and livestock.

Humanitarian groups have warned that the situation is only likely to worsen and called for urgent global intervention as El Nino is expected to last until at least April 2024.

The arrests of the director and editor in chief of Abzas Media come after a series of reports looking into officials’ wealth.

Two journalists have been arrested in Azerbaijan, according to their lawyers, after their media outlet recently published a series of reports looking into the wealth of high-ranking government officials and the family of President Ilham Aliyev.

Sevinj Vagifgyzy, the editor in chief of privately owned Abzas Media, was arrested and her home was searched on Tuesday, her lawyer and Abzas Media said.

A day earlier, police also arrested Ulvi Hasanli, the director of the same media outlet, on charges of “smuggling foreign currency”.

Hasanli pleaded not guilty to the charges, for which he could face 12 years in prison, his lawyer Zibeyda Sadygova said.

Abzas Media reported that Hasanli faced “inhumane treatment” while in custody, including being punched and kicked by officers who asked him about his corruption investigations.

Meanwhile, police also raided the media outlet’s office in Baku and kicked out journalists attempting to document the search from outside, footage from Abvas Media shows.

Abzas Media is one of the few independent media outlets left in Azerbaijan following a near decade-long campaign against independent media and press rights groups, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.

Stifling dissent

Natalia Nozadze, a South Caucasus researcher with rights group Amnesty International, said Hasanli’s arrest “fits into a pattern of critics being arrested by the authorities to stifle their dissent”.

She said Hasanli “has bravely exposed allegations of high-level corruption in Azerbaijan and covered critical issues of public interest” and that he has in the past “faced repeated harassment from the government”.

Signs of dissent are often met with a tough government response in Azerbaijan, an energy-rich nation long ruled by the Aliyev dynasty.

In July, Azerbaijan arrested high-profile political economist and civil activist Gubad Ibadoghlu on charges of various financial crimes, which he has denied.

He has said his prosecution was retaliation for exposing high-level corruption in Azerbaijan.

Amnesty International has said Ibadoghlu has significant health issues, and his life is in danger “due to unsafe prison conditions and denial of adequate healthcare”.

The government of Aliyev, who has ruled the country with an iron fist since 2003 after succeeding from his father Heydar, has long faced international criticism over the country’s poor democratic record.

Lagos, Nigeria – When Yusuf Mogaji joined Nigeria’s federal civil service as a non-teaching staff member at the University of Ilorin in 2015, he had dreams of building his own house. His monthly salary of 46,000 naira (then worth $236) was enough to cater for himself and his family and even buy a half-plot of land (300 square metres) later that year.

Eight years and four civil service appointments later, the land has remained untouched and Mogaji’s aspirations are no longer a priority as he is finding it difficult to feed himself and his family of three.

The value of the naira has plummeted such that even though his net salary has increased to 57,000 naira, the dollar equivalent in 2023 is $68.06 – $167.94 lower than what he earned in 2015. Almost half of the new earnings now go into transporting himself to and from work.

“Is it the money that is not even enough for me to feed that I will use to invest? There was a time when government work was great, but now there is nothing like that again,” Mogaji said.

Since 2015, Nigeria has experienced two recessions and its economy has been ravaged by the vagaries of global oil prices, the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s continuing war in Ukraine. In June, the country’s Debt Management Office said the government is servicing debts with at least 73.5 percent of its revenue, making it struggle to meet basic responsibilities.

Inflation is currently at an 18-year high – at 26 percent – in Nigeria as the naira continues to plunge in value against the dollar. The economic realities became grimmer when Bola Tinubu, elected president in February, devalued the naira and removed a decades-long fuel subsidy which had helped lower living costs. Mogaji has cut back on the amount of regular food and household items he purchases, including rice, semolina and even nappies because their prices have tripled.

The Nigeria Labour Congress, a major trade union coalition in the country, has repeatedly threatened to shut down the economy in protest against the government’s refusal to increase workers’ salaries despite the enormous spike in the cost of living. Nigeria’s minimum wage currently stands at 33,000 naira ($39.40).

During the independence speech, the government compromised by opting for an additional 35,000 naira ($41.79) wage award for six months. Al Jazeera spoke with Mogaji and three other workers who said this is barely enough.

“Even the salary is just for food and the remaining to transport yourself to work, there is nothing left. And they [the government] said the palliative is for six months. After the six months, will things go back to the way it was before? We will be back to square one,” he said.

‘A rock and a hard place’

As Nigeria’s economy worsens, an increase in the minimum wage has been the core demand of various workers’ unions. According to experts, salary increases cannot materialise because Africa’s biggest economy is broke and can barely fund its expenditure. Temporary remedies, they add, will barely help beneficiaries.

“There is no other answer than the inflation to be brought down and for inflation to stay down. The honest truth is that for anybody earning in naira, a 26 percent inflation rate ensures you are going nowhere no matter who you are; your monthly salary more or less does not matter,” Joachim MacEbong, a senior analyst at Lagos-based economic insights firm Stears said.

“The money is just not there. Nigeria’s total revenue is five trillion naira and under; you cannot do anything with that amount of money for a country of 200 million people,” he said.

Workers say they are not to blame for the country’s situation amid decades of corruption and wasteful government spending during economic booms.

“Unfortunately, there is a cost to that kind of governance that does not look to avert long-term pain. There is nothing we can do,” Amara Nwankpa, director of public policy initiatives at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Foundation, told Al Jazeera. “We can postpone it one or two more years but at the end of the day, the chickens will still come home to roost and that is the reality – the Nigerian workers are between a rock and a hard place.”

‘Liveable wage’

Since Tinubu announced his raft of economic reforms, many workers, even at the state level, have been clamouring for comprehensive policies to cushion the associated shocks.

Nigeria’s food inflation hit 30.64 percent in September, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. According to SBM Intelligence, a geopolitical advisory based in Lagos, inflation has made even staple foods like jollof rice, a popular food, out of reach. Similarly, electricity tariffs have increased by 40 percent and fuel now costs 700 naira ($0.84) per litre (0.26 gallons). Transport and other amenities are increasingly out of reach for workers, too.

Tunde Taiwo* [name changed for fear of retribution], 31, is a sergeant at Lagos Neighbourhood Safety Corps, a security agency created by the state government to tackle urban crime. His work often puts him in danger. Last year, he was overpowered and brutalised by louts.

When his 50,000 naira ($59.70) pre-tax October salary came, three loan companies shared in it.

“It is not like I want the loans but when your family is suffering, what will you do? What is the essence of doing a government job when you cannot even feed your family?” Taiwo, who has been working for the government for five years, said. And this is why he is unfazed by temporary increments.

“They should give us a liveable wage that we can depend on, not minimum wage, the way we are living is not up to any standard of living,” he said.

Experts say the government may have missed the window for introducing safety nets as it has squandered years of booms. “The government needs to go for the low-hanging fruit that can target the vulnerable and the most affected in the country like food and other sources of energy that can have immediate impact,” Nwankpa said.