Africa 54 - September 30, 2021 | Nigeria Reopens Schools, Ethiopia's Elections, & COVID19 in Africa 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: Nigerian authorities are reopening schools in northern Kaduna state after more than two months of shutdown due to insecurity. The region has suffered a string of armed kidnappings at schools and the UN's Children's Fund, UNICEF, says about one million Nigerian children are "afraid to return to school." Members of a banned Shi'ite Muslim group in Nigeria say police opened fire during a procession on Tuesday in the capital Abuja. Ethiopians in three regions where elections had been delayed head to the polls on Thursday to vote for their representatives and one area will also vote on whether to form its own regional state. Mali's Prime Minister was met by cheering crowds as he returned from the United Nations - where he said the West African country felt abandoned by former colonial power France Russia is delaying the appointment of panels of independent experts to monitor violations of U.N. sanctions on South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic (CAR) and Mali, diplomats said on Wednesday, leaving their work in limbo. The head of the World Trade Organization said on Tuesday that the low COVID-19 vaccination rate of around 4 Percent in Africa was "devastating," saying that trade should help address vaccine inequity. Following a tumultuous several weeks in which the president fell victim to an assassination plot and a massive earthquake flattened parts of the island, many Haitians fled their home country. And the United States turned away some at its southern border. But this is not the first Haitian exodus. As VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports, Haitians fleeing Haiti is a cycle that is generations old. A new national survey conducted by the Eurasia Group Foundation finds that most Americans say they want more diplomacy and fewer U.S. military deployments around the world. The findings come in the first large-scale opinion poll conducted since the end of the 20-year U.S. involvement in Afghanistan. VOA's Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports. The global health crisis saw the number of international vistors to Kenya plummet by two-thirds, but tourism sector workers like massage therapist Marion Minayo are hopeful for a recovery. Doctors around the world have seen an unusual rise in Tourette-like tic disorders over the past year. Matt Dibble reports on how social media may be the trigger