Conclave to replace Pope Francis to begin May 7, Vatican says

(NAIROBI, Kenya) — As cute and confident as Pardamat now seems, the little elephant had a difficult start to life.

“Pardamat was found next to the dead body of his mother,” Edwin Lusichi, head keeper at the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust’s nursery in Nairobi, Kenya, where Pardamat is being cared for, told ABC News. “His mother had a big wound that had been caused by human beings.”

The story is similar for many elephants across the country — victims of what’s known as “human-wildlife conflict,” which has surpassed poaching as the No. 1 cause of illegal elephant death in Kenya, according to conservation groups.

Conservation groups say the growing human population, combined with drought and resource scarcity linked to climate change, are increasingly causing people and elephants to compete for things like space, food and water.

A common scenario involves elephants raiding and destroying crops in search of food. Some vulnerable farmers, desperate to protect their livelihoods, retaliate by spearing the elephants.

“The shopping malls, the roads, have been built on lands that used to belong to elephants and their migration routes,” Lusichi said. “So the resources are not there for humans and wildlife, and so animals are forced to get into human properties.”

According to some conservation groups, the issue has been exacerbated by the proliferation of new commercial farms growing crops like avocados for the West and China.

Every year, hundreds of people around the world are killed or injured by elephants due to conflict between humans and elephants, conversation groups said.

In southern Kenya, such conflict has become so common that some rangers now patrol farmlands on a nightly basis.

“On a busy night, on a dry season, even 20 elephants can come and raid,” Daniel Kutata, a ranger for the nonprofit conservation organization Big Life Foundation, told ABC News. “Farmers will be losing their crops, which they are depending on to earn a living, so yeah, there is a lot of pressure. We need both farmers and elephants to be safe.”

Big Life has installed an electric fence to help keep elephants within their protected areas. The organization reports that this initiative has significantly improved the situation, although some elephants have learned how to get around it.

A Maasai farmer who spoke to ABC News shortly after his tomato farm was raided told us he lost months of hard work and approximately $4,000 — that’s about eight times the average monthly salary in Kenya.

Save the Elephants, a research and conservation organization headquartered in Nairobi, has been working with local farmers to develop creative solutions to the problem.

ABC News spoke with farmer Jonas Makima, who nearly gave up on his business due to elephants raiding his crops.

“If an elephant gets onto the farm and raids everything, then it means now, you’ll not have food for the family, you’ll not have money for education for my children,” Makima said.

Makima told ABC News that during crop season, every night is a battle. He has set up all sorts of contraptions around his farm to keep the elephants away, including a watch tower, a sound cannon, and “chili bombs.”

However, Makima said his most effective tool is his beehive fence. A project by Save the Elephants found that elephants avoid crops up to 86% of the time during peak seasons because they are terrified of bees.

With Kenya’s population expected to double by 2070, Makima is now working with Save the Elephants to teach farmers across Africa that peaceful coexistence between people and elephants is possible with the right tools.

“People need to be educated, people need to know what to do when they encounter these animals in their farms,” Lusichi said. “And people need to know that these animals also have a right to life, a right to their space, so these habitats should not be invaded and occupied and used by people.”

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(NEW YORK) — An alleged leader of violence during the Rwandan genocide in 1994 has been living in an exclusive enclave on Long Island, where he was arrested Thursday and accused of concealing his role in horrific violence and human rights violations by making false statements in his applications for a visa, green card and for U.S. citizenship, according to the Justice Department.

Faustin Nsabumukunzi is charged with visa fraud and attempted naturalization fraud for allegedly lying on his application for a green card and for U.S. citizenship.

Nsabumukunzi was arrested at his home in Bridgehampton and was scheduled to appear later Thursday in Central Islip federal court.

“As alleged, Nsabumukunzi repeatedly lied to conceal his involvement in the horrific Rwandan genocide while seeking to become a lawful permanent resident and citizen of the United States,” said United States Attorney John Durham. “For over two decades, he got away with those lies and lived in the United States with an undeserved clean slate, a luxury that his victims will never have, but thanks to the tenacious efforts of our investigators and prosecutors, the defendant finally will be held accountable for his brutal actions.”

According to officials, Nsabumukunzi served as a local leader with the title of “Sector Councilor” in Rwanda in 1994 when the genocide began. Between April 1994 and July 1994, members of the majority Hutu population persecuted the minority Tutsis, committing acts of violence, including murder, rape and sexual violence. During the three-month genocide, an estimated 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus died.

According to the indictment, Nsabumukunzi used his leadership position as Sector Councilor to oversee the violence and killings of Tutsis in his local sector of Kibirizi and directed groups of armed Hutus to kill Tutsis. He set up roadblocks during the genocide to detain and kill Tutsis and participated in killings and violence, according to court documents.

Nsabumukunzi allegedly ordered a group of armed Hutus to locations where Tutsis were sheltering, and the Hutus killed them. Nsabumukunzi also allegedly facilitated the rape of Tutsi women by verbally encouraging Hutu men to do so. According to court filings, Nsabumukunzi has been convicted of genocide in absentia by a Rwandan court.

The suspect applied for refugee resettlement in the United States in August 2003 and then applied for and received a green card in November 2007. He later applied for naturalization in 2009 and 2015. Nsabumukunzi allegedly lied to United States immigration officials to gain admission to the United States as a refugee, by falsely denying in the applications under penalty of perjury that he ever engaged in genocide, federal prosecutors said.

He allegedly repeated those lies in his subsequent applications for a green card and for naturalization. Nsabumukunzi has lived and worked in the United States since 2003.

If convicted, Nsabumukunzi faces a maximum of 30 years in prison.

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(LONDON) — American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander, who had been held captive by Hamas in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, was released on Monday after successful negotiations between the U.S. and the terrorist organization and is now in the custody of the Israel Defense Forces, the IDF said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement that its workers “successfully facilitated the safe transfer of a hostage from Gaza to Israeli authorities.”

Alexander’s mother, Yael, has arrived at Re’im military base in Israel near the Gaza border to see her son before he’s taken to a hospital in Tel Aviv. Retired Brig. Gen. Gal Hirsch, the Israeli coordinator for prisoners of war and missing persons, and U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff are also heading to the military base, an Israeli official told ABC News.

Israeli security officials told ABC News there would be a temporary pause in combat, airstrikes and aerial reconnaissance in the area of Gaza where Alexander was to be released. The pause will last until Alexander crosses into Israeli territory, officials said, which is expected to take less than 30 minutes.

Alexander, a New Jersey native, traveled to Israel at the age of 18. He was serving in the Israel Defense Forces when captured from his base close to the Gaza frontier during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. He was 19 when abducted and has had two birthdays while in captivity.

Alexander is the last living American citizen still believed to be held hostage by Hamas. The terror group is believed to also be holding the bodies of four dead American hostages, according to U.S. officials.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday met with Witkoff and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, per a readout from his office. Netanyahu also spoke with President Donald Trump, the statement said, with the Israeli leader thanking Trump for his assistance in securing Alexander’s release.

“The prime minister discussed the last-ditch effort to implement the outline for the release of the hostages presented by Witkoff, before the escalation of the fighting,” the statement said. “To this end, the prime minister instructed that a negotiating delegation be sent to Doha tomorrow.”

“The prime minister clarified that the negotiations will only take place under fire,” it added.

Hamas announced its intention to free Alexander on Sunday, describing the decision as a “part of the steps being taken to achieve a ceasefire.”

The statement said Hamas has been in contact with American officials “over the past few days” as part of ceasefire negotiations.

Trump posted to Truth Social saying Alexander’s release “is the first of those final steps necessary to end this brutal conflict.”

A U.S. official familiar with the deal to release Alexander told ABC News that the agreement came together in recent days via direct talks between the U.S. and Hamas.

Alexander’s release is being viewed as a goodwill gesture toward the Trump administration and a potential opening to jumpstart talks surrounding the broader conflict, U.S. officials told ABC News.

Still, officials said the U.S. did not secure all the concessions it was seeking. Negotiators had also been pushing Hamas for the release of the remains of the four dead American hostages still held in Gaza, officials said.

Alexander’s family said in a statement released through the Hostage Families Forum that it was informed of Hamas’ announcement and “is in continuous contact with the U.S. government regarding the possibility of Edan’s expected release in the coming days.”

They added that “it is forbidden to leave any hostage behind” and said that “Israel is committed to ensure the return of all 58 remaining hostages without delay.”

Alexander was one of the 253 hostages taken during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, in which some 1,200 people were also killed, according to Israel.

Israel’s subsequent offensive in Gaza had killed 52,829 people and wounded 119,554 more as of Sunday, according to figures released by the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in the strip.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston contributed to this report.

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