South African-born U.S. billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa have cut the ribbon Wednesday at a new vaccine manufacturing plant. It is hoped the facility will soon start making Africa’s first locally produced COVID-19 vaccines, as well as cancer vaccines and other pharmaceuticals.

A crowd of ceremony participants cheered as Dr. Soon-Shiong and President Ramaphosa took the stage at the NantSA vaccine manufacturing campus at a business park in Cape Town. 

Soon-Shiong, 69, left South Africa after doing his internship to become a medical doctor. Today, he is number 89 on the Forbes 400 list of wealthiest Americans with an estimated fortune of $7.5 billion. A transplant surgeon by profession, he became known for inventing the cancer treatment drug Abraxane. 

He says the COVID-19 vaccine he has developed is second generation and will stop the transmission of the virus. However, he emphasized the vaccines currently available are effective and necessary.

“It is so important for you to be vaccinated. These vaccines that were there played a very important role as I would say, not a stopgap measure because it’s first generation, but it did absolutely reduce death and it does continue to do so. So, I want to make sure that people understand that you need to be vaccinated,” Soon-Shiong said.

However, he said today’s vaccines aren’t the final answer to the pandemic. 

“Unfortunately, two things happen: the antibodies wane and the viruses mutate and you get yourself into a spiral, which then opens up the opportunity for the second-generation vaccine. So, the first-generation vaccine was absolutely not a waste of time. However, we needed to, in parallel, I believe, focus on the second-generation vaccine so that we stop the transmission,” Soon-Shiong said.

Ramaphosa, who has been campaigning for vaccine manufacturers to give up their patent rights so that all countries can produce COVID-19 vaccines, said discussions with the World Trade Organization on this continue. 

“The demand that we have been making, initiated by both India and South Africa is that we want the world, or those who have the capacity to manufacture the drug substance to transfer their technology so that we are able to manufacture ourselves the drug substance. And this is where the real challenge has been. We want to migrate from just doing fill and finish and be able to manufacture the drug substance ourselves,” Ramaphosa said.

The president and Soon-Shiong also launched the Coalition to Accelerate Africa’s Access to Advanced Healthcare, known as the AAAH Coalition. It aims to hasten domestic production of pharmaceuticals and vaccines that will reach patients across the African continent.

The Africa Regional Director for the World Health Organization, Matshidiso Moeti, congratulated Ramaphosa and Soon-Shiong on the launch, saying it was a proud day for Africa.

“This new vaccine manufacturing campus will be an important space contributing to the eco system for manufacturing capacity. It will contribute positively to Africa’s response to COVID-19, as well as cancer, HIV, childhood preventable diseases, neglected tropical diseases and other diseases,” Moeti said.

Soon-Shiong said it will cost about 196 million dollars to complete the plant. He says once it is fully operational, his company hopes to produce about 1 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses by 2025.
…

Tuesday, January 18, 2022

Malawi vs Senegal | 0-0

Zimbabwe vs Guinea | 2-1

Gabon vs Morocco | 2-2

Ghana vs Comoros | 2-3

 
…

Kenyan police say they are sending investigators to the Yala River in western Kenya, where locals have been finding bodies tied up in sacks.

The Yala River in western Kenya has become the center of attention for human rights workers and families of missing persons.

Local residents say five bodies have been found in the river this month alone, including one discovered Wednesday.

Nicholas Okero is among the divers who have retrieved bodies from the river.

“The bodies are tied up tightly, like a parcel, in a sack. And since July, we’ve got nobody from our area who has reported a missing person,” he said. “Just the other day, I retrieved the bodies of two Somali men again and those people do not reside here. I don’t know where they were killed.” 

Okero said he identified the two bodies as Somali based on their physical features. Authorities have yet to determine the identities of any of the people found.

In a statement, local police said the five bodies are among 19 discovered in the river over the last two years. Police say no one has come forward to claim the bodies. 

Salome Nduta is the director of Haki Africa, an organization working to promote human rights and justice in Kenya. Her organization visited River Yala and the Yala hospital mortuary Monday.

“When we got to Yala, we went straight to the morgue where we discovered 21 unknown bodies. Most of the bodies were tied up, others were found in sacks and others seemed to have deep cuts. Still, we had some bodies which had polythene on their heads,” she said.

On Wednesday, after the discovery of the five bodies, dozens of family members of missing persons trooped to Yala in Siaya County. 

Ismail Okumu, 55, a farmer from Mumias town in western Kenya, is one of them. He is looking for his brother, who was abducted by armed men 18 months ago.

“I am at Yala mortuary searching for my brother’s body. He was arrested on August 10, 2020, at 1 pm. I have never found him. I have searched in all mortuaries but I never found him. Whenever I hear there are bodies found somewhere, I go there,” he said. 

Bodies have turned up in other Kenyan rivers under mysterious circumstances. Last September, 11 bodies were recovered in the Tana River in Garissa County.
…

A South African study has found the omicron variant of COVID-19 is less severe than previous ones, even for the unvaccinated. The country’s top scientists say this could be good news for bringing an end to the pandemic as the highly contagious variant also spreads resistance. Linda Givetash reports from Johannesburg.
…

At least four people were killed and more than 10 others injured after a suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest at a tea shop outside an army training center in Mogadishu’s Wadajir district, police said.

Police said the bomber walked into the tea shop, pretended to be a customer and sat for tea. Moments later, the bomber blew up.

Police spokesman Major Abdifatah Aden said the bomber deliberately targeted the tea shop customers. Fourteen people were injured in the explosion, and four of them succumbed to their injuries after being evacuated from the scene, Aden said. 

The al-Shabab militant group immediately claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attack.

The explosion did heavy damage to the tea shop, which was made of corrugated sheet metal. 

A second explosion occurred about two hours after the first, in the same district, police reported. The latter attack was from a device attached to a vehicle belonging to a private company, and no casualties were reported, police said.

On Sunday, Somali government spokesman and former journalist Mohamed Ibrahim Moalimuu was seriously injured when a suicide bomber ran toward his car and detonated an explosive vest.

Moalimuu’s hand and leg were injured by shrapnel from the device. He has since been airlifted to Turkey for medical treatment.

 
…

Monday – 01/17/22

Burkina Faso vs Ethiopia | 1-1

Cape Verde vs Cameroon | 1-1

 
…

 Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is unveiling a massive pyramid of rice harvested by farmers to pay back bank loans they borrowed to expand their production. Nigerian officials say the low-interest loans helped more than double the average yield of rice and maize, ending the country’s dependence on rice imports. The Central Bank of Nigeria plans to sell the rice at below market rates to reduce the high prices that consumers have been paying for the staples.  

The massive pyramid of rice bags stacked one on top of the other was unveiled Tuesday at the chapter office of the Nigerian Chamber of Commerce in Abuja. 

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari presided over the ceremony, with top government officials, including from the Central Bank and various state governors, in attendance. 

President Buhari praised the farmers and urged more of them to participate in the loan program.

“It is my desired hope and expectation that other agricultural produce commodities will emulate the rice farmers association of Nigeria in supporting our administration drive for food self-sufficiency,” he said.

The Anchor Borrowers Program was launched in 2015 by Nigeria’s Central Bank. The plan provides rice farmers with loans and technical advice so they can expand production and increase yields while limiting the nation’s dependence on imports. 

Authorities say more than five years later, the program has yielded the desired result, reducing rice imports significantly, and boosting local production from about 4.5 tons a year to nine. 

Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, says the resilience of farmers has paid off. 

“Permit me to commend all our holder farmers and the leadership of their various associations for their diligence, bravery, patriotism and [adaptability],” he said. “The past few years your Excellency has been quite challenging for these people as they have battled with insurgency, banditry, lockdowns and other related setbacks. Indeed, we lost some of our farmers to insurgency attacks nationwide, while some could not access their farms for several months.”  

Nigeria banned rice imports in 2015 with the aim of producing the staple locally. 

At Tuesday’s launch, authorities expressed confidence that adequate quantities of rice could be produced locally, saying the trend could affect the domestic price of rice.

Meanwhile, the Rice Farmers Association urged Nigeria to leverage this opportunity and export the commodity to other West African nations. 

 
…

The U.N. human rights office has condemned what it says is the brutal, disproportionate use of force by Sudan’s security forces against peaceful protesters, many of whom reportedly are being killed and injured every day. 

The military mounted a coup d’état against Sudan’s civilian government on October 25. Since then, credible statistics from the Central Committee of Sudan Doctors show state security forces have killed 71 people and injured more than 2,200. Of these, 17 have been killed this year.

U.N. monitors report such atrocities occur on an almost daily basis. On Monday, they noted security forces used live ammunition to break up a demonstration in the capital Khartoum, killing seven protesters and injuring dozens.

The use of live ammunition is only permissible as a measure of last resort under international law. U.N. human rights spokeswoman, Ravina Shamdasani, said a thorough, independent investigation into these violations must take place promptly. She added the authorities must bring the perpetrators of human rights violations to justice.

“It is crucial that these investigations take place. In fact, this is one of the calls of the protestors as well. They are calling for an investigation of civilian rule and they are calling for accountability. And every time there are additional killings, additional violence against peaceful protesters, it emboldens the protest movement and there are further protests, further violence,” said Shamdasani.

She said this is clearly not the path to the restoration of sustainable, peaceful civilian rule in Sudan.

Shamdasani told VOA military authorities justify their actions by claiming they are trying to maintain public order. She said they claim protesters have used violence and that some of those who have been arrested are responsible for the killing of an army official as well.

“But our monitoring of the protests has shown that they are by in large very peaceful. The most force that we have seen used is protesters throwing stones. Nothing at the level of the live ammunition that is being used by the military in responding to the protesters,” she said.

Shamdasani notes the United Nations does not recognize the military leaders as the legitimate government of the country. However, as the de facto authorities in Sudan, they currently are in charge.

She said this means they have human rights obligations toward the people of Sudan. She says they are responsible for investigating allegations of human rights violations, including killings and gender-based sexual violence. And, she adds, the military leaders must hold the perpetrators of these crimes accountable. 
…

Somalia’s worst drought in decades has millions of people dependent on food aid and thousands flocking to cities to escape hunger.  At makeshift shelters on the outskirts of the capital, displaced people face cramped conditions and poor sanitation in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Somali villagers escaping drought are arriving every day in camps for internally displaced people on the outskirts of the capital, Mogadishu.

At the Najah camp, 45-year-old mother of four Muhubo Adam is cooking what food she has for her family. They arrived last week after fleeing her village in Lower Shabelle, some 90 kilometers away.

She said they had to leave because they had no rain for two seasons and the drought devastated livestock and farms. Adam said they spent a whole day trekking to get to the camp.

But conditions in the crowded camp are also difficult. Despite the coronavirus pandemic, nobody is wearing a mask, there is no room to socially distance, and sanitation is poor.

Fifty-six-year-old Nur Hassan Ali looks much older than his age and appears weak as he slowly moves past the camp’s makeshift tents.

He and his family of six also fled hunger in their village last week but are not doing much better near the city.

Ali said his livestock began to die because of the long drought, so he had to run away with his children and finally reached the camp. But now here, he said, they don’t have anything, and his children are hungry and don’t have any food.  Ali said that he is also sick.

District authorities put Faisa Omar in charge of keeping track of new arrivals to the camp.

She said the Najah camp is home to 370 families who have recently been displaced by drought and whose livestock was wiped out. Omar said they are not receiving any assistance, either from the government or from aid agencies. She said they lack shelter from the sun, the cold, and the rain.

But it’s a lack of rain back home that forced the influx of villagers to Mogadishu.

It’s putting a strain on the city’s health care system, which was struggling even before the pandemic, said Martino Hospital Director Dr. Abdirizaq Yusuf.

He said the drought comes at a time when they are grappling with the burden of a recurrence of COVID-19. 

Yusuf said the drought has only added a further burden on the already existing COVID-19 problem, which has caused sickness and death. He said the drought is causing its own pain and plight as it also spreads disease.

The government and U.N. aid agencies have warned that millions of people in Somalia are in urgent need of food assistance.

Officials say thousands of refugees living in camps near Mogadishu are also vulnerable to diseases from poor sanitation, congestion, and dirty water.
…

The worst drought in Somalia in decades has millions of people dependent on food aid and thousands flocking to cities to escape hunger. At makeshift shelters on the outskirts of the capital, displaced people face cramped conditions and poor sanitation in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. Mohamed Sheikh Nor reports from Mogadishu. Camera: Mohamed Sheikh Nor
…

Ugandans were struggling Monday with a fuel shortage that has sent prices skyrocketing, as hundreds of trucks remain stuck in huge tailbacks at the border with Kenya. 

Energy Minister Ruth Nankabirwa said the border delays were caused by a faulty scanner used by custom officials to check vehicles, and “issues regarding COVID-19.” 

Truck drivers have been complaining of massive queues at Uganda’s eastern border as officials carry out mandatory coronavirus testing. 

In the western district of Hoima, ironically the area where Uganda discovered large oil deposits earlier this century, a liter of fuel was selling at $3.40 (12,000 Ugandan shillings) — up from $1.13 (4,000 Ugandan shillings) previously.

The pumps had run dry at other petrol stations in the north and west of the landlocked East African country, according to checks by Agence France-Presse. 

“I call on the dealers not to use this chance to cheat Ugandans,” Nankabirwa said.

“I know we are following a liberalized economy where goods follow market demand to determine prices, but you can’t put fuel (up) from 4,000 to 12,000 Ugandan shillings. That is cheating.” 

Ugandans were also reporting hikes in taxi and bus fares in many parts of the country, which is a net oil importer.

One truck driver, Mohammed Abubaker Kayima, told AFP there were queues of goods vehicles stranded at the Malaba border crossing between Uganda and Kenya. 

“There are hundreds of trucks clogged at the border waiting for clearance from customs and COVID-19 task forces,” the 57-year-old said. “Some have been there for days.” 

 
…

Sudanese forces killed seven anti-coup protesters Monday in one of the deadliest days of recent rallies against a military takeover, medics said, as security chiefs vowed to hold to account those they accused of causing “chaos.”

The latest violence comes ahead of a visit by U.S. diplomats, as Washington seeks to broker an end to the monthslong crisis in the northeast African nation.

The deaths Monday bring to 71 the number of protesters killed since the army’s October 25 takeover led by General Abdel-Fattah Burhan.

The military power grab triggered international condemnation and derailed a fragile transition to civilian rule following the April 2019 ouster of longtime autocratic president Omar al-Bashir.

On Monday, three protesters “were killed by live bullets” by “militias of the putschist military council,” anti-coup medics said on the Facebook page of Khartoum state’s health ministry.

Later, four more demonstrators were killed “during the massacre by the coup authorities who were seeking to disperse the protests,” according to the independent Central Committee of Sudan Doctors. 

Medics also counted multiple wounds by “live rounds.”

Government responds

Burhan on Monday held an emergency meeting with security chiefs and agreed to form a counterterrorism force “to confront possible threats,” according to a statement by Sudan’s ruling Sovereign Council.

The statement said the officials blamed the “chaos” on protesters who “deviated from legitimate peaceful demonstration” and vowed to hold to account those involved in “violations” during protests. 

Authorities have repeatedly denied using live ammunition in confronting demonstrators and insist scores of security personnel have been wounded during protests.

On Thursday, Sudanese authorities said protesters stabbed to death a police general, the first fatality among security forces.

Protesters — sometimes numbering in the tens of thousands — have regularly taken to the streets despite the security clampdown and periodic cuts to communications since the coup.

On Monday, security officers in Khartoum deployed in large numbers, firing volleys of tear gas at protesters heading toward the presidential palace, an AFP correspondent said.

Several people appeared to have difficulty breathing, and others bled from wounds caused by tear gas canisters, the correspondent said.

Sawsan Salah, from the capital’s twin city of Omdurman, said protesters burned car tires and carried photos of people killed during other demonstrations since the coup.

In Wad Madani, “around 2,000 people took to the streets as they called for civilian rule,” said Emad Mohammed, a witness there.

In North Khartoum, thousands of protesters demanded that troops return to their barracks and chanted in favor of civilian rule, witnesses said.

U.S. officials to visit

U.S. Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa David Satterfield and Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Phee are expected in Sudan in coming days.

Washington’s push comes after the United Nations said last week it would launch talks involving political, military and social actors to help resolve the crisis.

On Monday, the U.S. diplomats were expected to meet in Saudi Arabia with the Friends of Sudan, a group calling for the restoration of the country’s transitional government.

The meeting aims to “marshal international support” for the U.N. mission to “facilitate a renewed civilian-led transition to democracy” in Sudan, the U.S. State Department said.

The diplomats then travel to Khartoum for meetings with pro-democracy activists, civic groups, and military and political leaders.

“Their message will be clear: the United States is committed to freedom, peace, and justice for the Sudanese people,” the State Department said.

The mainstream civilian faction of the Forces of Freedom and Change, the leading civilian pro-democracy group, has said it will accept the U.N. offer for talks if it revives the transition to civilian rule.

Proposed talks have been welcomed by the ruling Sovereign Council, which Burhan restaffed following the coup with himself as chairman.

Burhan has insisted that the military takeover “was not a coup” but only meant to “rectify” the course of the transition after al-Bashir’s deposal.

Earlier this month, Sudan’s civilian Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok resigned, saying the country was now at a “dangerous crossroads threatening its very survival.” 
…

Nigerian authorities say the military is responding to a series of killings and kidnappings by gunmen in the country’s northwest. In the latest attack, gunmen on motorcycles Saturday raided a village in Kebbi State, killing at least 50 people, according to locals.

President Muhammadu Buhari’s senior aide Garba Shehu said on Twitter Sunday that the president has ordered the military to “respond robustly to the cases of killings and kidnappings.”

He added, “The federal government is willing to strengthen support and cooperation with all the states,” and said the president believes that with the full cooperation of the citizens, Nigeria will surely overcome this problem.

It is not the first time the president has issued strong worded threats against armed gangs in the country, known locally as bandits.

But gangs continue to raid communities, looting for supplies and killing and kidnapping for ransom, mostly in the northwest and central regions. The latest incident occurred in Dankade village in Kebbi state over the weekend. More than 50 people were reportedly killed.

Last week, more than 200 people were killed in attacks that lasted three days in northwestern Zamfara state.

However, security analyst Kabiru Adamu says recent efforts by authorities are paying off.

“Since the president renewed his calls to the security forces, what we’ve seen is military airstrikes in forests where these bandits are holding their victims. We’ve also seen an increase in police operations. All of that has affected the ability of these bandits to operate,” he said.

Late last year, Nigeria officially classified armed gangs as terrorists, putting them in the same category with Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa province (ISWAP).

Experts say the designation was a major step in taking deterrent measures against the groups.

“The attacks do not diminish that fact that yes there’s progress,” said Senator Iroegbu, a security analyst. “The terrorists’ capacities have been greatly diminished, so there’s definitely progress from what it used to be.”

Nigeria’s armed forces said last week they killed 537 armed bandits and other criminal elements” in the region and arrested 374 others since May of last year.It said 452 kidnapped civilians have been rescued.

Still, the armed forces are struggling to maintain basic security.

More than 10,000 people were killed in Nigeria in banditry and terror related attacks last year, according to the U.S.-based Council for Foreign Relations.

This month, Nigeria received clearance to deploy fighter jets purchased from the United States after months of delay due to human rights concerns.
…

Authorities in Cameroon are blaming anglophone separatists for the abduction of eight rubber plantation workers Friday in the country’s volatile Southwest region. The country’s Agricultural Workers Trade Union is pleading for the workers’ safe release.

A man speaks in pidgin English as he presents eight men and women as enemies of separatist groups fighting to carve out an independent, English-speaking state in western Cameroon. 

In the audio, extracted from a video widely circulated on social media, the man says fighters abducted the civilians for collaborating with Cameroonian government troops. 

The video also appears to show the men and women holding rifles. The speaker in the video says separatists expect the civilians to use the rifles to fight the government.

The civilians are also forced to sing a song the speaker in the video calls the national anthem of Ambazonia. Ambazonia is the name of the state separatists say they are fighting to create. 

Cameroon’s military says people seen in the video are rubber plantation workers abducted Friday from the town of Tiko.

Bernard Okalia Bilai, governor of the Southwest region where Tiko is located, says the eight abductees are employees of the Cameroon Development Corporation. 

Gabriel Nbene Vefonge, president of Cameroon Agriculture and Allied Workers Trade Union, called for the workers’ release.

“We are appealing to who so ever group of persons that is keeping these workers, to kindly release them. Workers have nothing to do with the armed conflict. They should leave workers alone,” he said.

Speaking over a messaging app from Tiko, Vefonge said a breastfeeding mother is among the abducted workers. 

Adamu Chinda, who works at the Tiko rubber plantation, says workers took the woman’s three-month-old daughter to the Tiko hospital Monday. 

“I am going there now to see how we can raise money and buy the essential things that she [the baby] needs. Let them even release that breastfeeding mother so that she can take care of the child rather than the child dying because of lack of care,” he said. 

This is not the first time Cameroon Development Corporation workers have been attacked. In 2020 officials of the agro-industrial complex said that more than 6,000 of its 20,000 workers had fled attacks, killings and kidnappings. 

Cameroon’s separatist conflict began in 2016, after teachers and lawyers in the North- and Southwest regions, where English is the predominant language, protested alleged discrimination from the country’s French-speaking majority.

The conflict has killed an estimated 4,000 people and displaced more than three quarters of a million. 
…

South African university students are fighting mandates that require they be vaccinated against COVID-19 before returning to the classroom on February 14. Even students who are vaccinated, and want others to get inoculated, are against the policy and the students’ union is threatening protests across the country. Linda Givetash reports from Johannesburg. Camera – Zaheer Cassim. Video editors – Zaheer Cassim and Marcus Harton.
…

The United Nations is allocating $150 million from its Central Emergency Response Fund to support seriously underfunded humanitarian operations in 13 countries in Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Middle East.

Topping the list of underfunded crises are Syria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan. These countries will receive between $20- and $25 million each to help them implement life-saving humanitarian operations. 

International support for Syria has all but dissipated after more than a decade of conflict. Some 13 million refugees and internally displaced Syrians are living in a state of destitution, with little recourse to basic relief. 

The DRC is one of the longest and most complex humanitarian crises. Millions of people are suffering from conflict, displacement, epidemics, and acute hunger. 

The United Nations warns the humanitarian crisis in Sudan is deepening, as political instability grows and the country contends with flooding, rising food prices and disease outbreaks. 

Jens Laerke, the spokesman for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, says the distribution of funds made by Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths is the largest ever. He says it beats last year’s $135 million by $15 million. 

“This announcement of funding will help the prioritization of life-saving projects to respond to for example food security, nutrition, health, and protection needs. More detailed strategies are expected from these countries later this month,” he said.

Other recipient countries include Myanmar, where the U.N. is providing aid to some three million people suffering from conflict, COVID-19, and a failing economy. U.N. aid also will go to Burkina Faso, Chad, and Niger, three countries in Africa’s central Sahel that are struggling with mass displacement because of armed attacks. 

Laerke says these countries as well as six others in dire straits in Africa, the Middle East and the Americas, including Haiti and Honduras, will receive between $5- and $12 million each from the U.N. fund to help them tackle their emergency needs. 

“These allocations happen twice a year to countries selected because of their low level of funding, severity of humanitarian needs, and vulnerability,” he said. “These countries have just entered a new cycle of humanitarian fundraising and program implementation on the back of underfunded appeals from last year, all below 50 percent covered at year’s end.”

Humanitarian needs are growing across the world. The United Nations says it expects at least 274 million people will need humanitarian assistance in 2022 and it will require $41 billion to assist the most vulnerable. 

Afghanistan is the world’s largest humanitarian appeal. The U.N. recently launched a record $4.5 billion appeal to assist 22 million Afghans, more than half the country’s population. 
…

Cameroon launched a massive campaign Sunday for fans to be tested and vaccinated against COVID-19 to fill stadiums in the ongoing Africa Football Cup of Nations the country is hosting. Cameroon and African football officials say only 2,000 supporters turn out for matches at 20,000- to 60,000-seat stadiums because of COVID-19 restrictions and separatist threats.

This is the deafening noise of vuvuzelas from thousands of football fans outside Yaoundé’s 42,000-seat Ahmadou Ahidjo stadium. The vuvuzela is a long horn blown by fans to support their teams at matches.

Among the fans is Sylvie Dinyuy, a 21-year-old university student. Dinyuy says COVID-19 restrictions imposed by organizers of the Africa Football Cup of Nations make it impossible for her and her peers to get into the stadium to support African Football. 

“I have been blocked because I have not done my COVID-19 test and I have not been vaccinated. I would have loved to watch the Morocco Comoros match at the Ahmadou Ahidjo stadium. Morocco is my favorite team,” she said.

Dinyuy and football fans outside the stadium say but for COVID-19, thousands of people would have been present in stadiums to support African men’s soccer as they did when Cameroon hosted women’s AFCON in 2016.

In 2016, the Confederation of African Football congratulated Cameroon for the massive turnout of fans when the central African state hosted the women’s AFCON. 

This year, the confederation said only fans who show proof that they have received COVID-19 vaccines and proof of negative COVID-19 test results no more than 24 hours old will be allowed into stadiums.

Cameroon says spectator turnout at stadiums since AFCON began on

January 9 in Cameroon is very sparse. The government says a maximum of 3,000 fans and supporters turned out in the 20,000-seat stadiums in Limbe and Bafoussam. More than 10,000 supporters turned out at the 32.000-seat stadium in Garoua, a northern commercial city. Fewer than 15,000 watched matches at the 60,000-seat Japoma stadium in Douala, Cameroon’s commercial hub. 

Cameroonian football officials say strict COVID-19 measures make it impossible for fans to have access to the stadiums.

Bafoussam hosts pool B AFCON matches. Augustine Awah Fonka is governor of Cameroon’s West region, where Bafoussam is located. Awa said on Sunday he launched a campaign for people to get COVID-19 tests and vaccines so they could have access to the stadium. 

“During the first match, they did not know certain entry conditions,” he said. “This time around, everybody is sensitized, and everybody is mobilized and prepared to watch these great encounters. Tickets are already available at the various sales points, so the populations are invited to go there and obtain their tickets.” 

Awah said, as an incentive, the government is providing free transportation to stadiums for people who are vaccinated and show proof of negative COVID-19 test results. He said Cameroonian Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute on Saturday asked workers and students who meet conditions to leave their offices and schools by 2 p.m. instead of 4 p.m. to attend matches. He says the permission given by Ngute for workers and students to leave their offices early ends on February 6, when AFCON is expected to end. 

Before the tournament began on January 9, Cameroon said thousands of fans were rushing to get their vaccines but that vaccine hesitancy in the country is still quite high.

The Public Health Ministry says 4,000 people all over Cameroon have received the vaccine since AFCON started, and that number is too low to bring out a massive fan turnout. 

The ministry says fewer than 5% of its targeted 16 million people have been vaccinated. Cameroon has about 26 million people.

In addition, separatists have vowed to disrupt the games in Buea and Limbe, both English-speaking towns hosting football fans, players and match officials for group matches for teams from Gambia, Mali, Mauritania, and Tunisia. 

Last Week, Cameroon reported that only about 300 supporters and fans turned out at the 20,000-seat Limbe stadium during matches. Limbe is hosting football fans, players and match officials for group matches for teams from Gambia, Mali, Mauritania, and Tunisia.

The military said separatists increased attempts to infiltrate Limbe and disrupt the games. It says separatists frustrated over their inability to disrupt AFCON matches in Limbe have attacked civilians in neighboring towns, including Buea. 

However, the government says troops will protect all civilians threatened by separatists over attending matches. 

The government says civilians should turn out en masse for COVID-19 tests and vaccinations so they can watch matches and that civilians in English-speaking towns should help the military by reporting intruders who want to see stadiums empty. 

 
…

The World Food Program warns Ethiopia is on the edge of a humanitarian disaster as escalating fighting in the north is preventing the delivery of needed food from reaching millions of people in battle-scarred Tigray province. 

The last time a food convoy was able to reach Tigray’s capital, Mekelle, was mid-December.  Millions of acutely hungry people in this war-torn province have been deprived of food since then.

In a blunt warning to the warring parties and international community, World Food Program spokesman Tomson Phiri says his agency’s humanitarian operation in northern Ethiopia is about to grind to a halt.  He says intense fighting in the region is blocking the passage of fuel and food.

“Stocks of nutritionally fortified food for the treatment of malnourished children and women are now exhausted, and the last of WFP’s cereals, pulses and oil will be distributed next week,” said Phiri. “Because of fighting, food distributions are at an all-time low.  WFP aid workers on the ground tell me that warehouses are completely empty.”  

Fighting erupted between Ethiopian government troops and Tigrayan forces in November 2020.  Conditions have seriously deteriorated since then.  The World Food Program says 9.4 million people in northern Ethiopia now require humanitarian food aid, an increase of 2.7 million from just four months ago. 

In Tigray alone, the United Nations says 5.2 million people depend on international assistance to survive.  It says 400,000 people are living in famine-like conditions and another 2 million are on the verge of famine.  

The WFP aims to provide food aid for 2.1 million people in Tigray and for an additional 1.1 million people in the Amhara and Afar regions.  However, money is in short supply.  The U.N. food agency is urgently appealing for $337 million to carry out its emergency food assistance program in Northern Ethiopia over the next six months.
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After several airlines discontinued service to Mali due to new regional sanctions, the country’s government has responded with its own economic threat.

Mali’s military government Friday gave airlines 72 hours, starting Jan. 15, to confirm their service to Mali with the country’s National Civil Aviation Agency or lose their time slots.

In a statement, Transport Minister Madina Sissoko, said that if airlines did not respond by the 72-hour deadline, “their time slots will be allocated to other airlines.”

Regional airlines such as Air Cote d’Ivoire and Air Burkina, the national carriers of Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso, halted service to Mali after Economic Community of West African States sanctions were imposed following a special summit January 9 in Accra, Ghana. 

The bloc, known as ECOWAS, had threatened sanctions if Mali’s military government did not hold elections next month as previously agreed. Mali’s leaders last month announced a plan to hold the next presidential elections in 2026. 

The sanctions include border closures between Mali and ECOWAS countries and the blockage of transport of goods between the countries, except for such essentials as food and medicine. 

France’s national carrier, Air France, also halted flights to Mali this week, according to a Wednesday statement from the Malian Transport Ministry, after France backed the ECOWAS sanctions.  

 
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A key European diplomat believes there is still a chance to defuse the growing political crisis in Mali that has seen the country’s interim military government clash repeatedly in recent days with both its neighbors and members of the international community.

Emanuela Del Re, the European Union’s special representative for the Sahel, criticized Mali’s current rulers for provoking countries in the region and Europe by postponing elections for five years and for bringing in Russian mercenaries to help with security.

But in an interview Friday with VOA, Del Re said she thinks the coup leaders will eventually have no choice but to relent.

“I think that despite, of course, the fact that the government is so firm in saying that they want this long transition because probably they want to stay in power for a long time, the pressure will be so strong that at one point they will have to come to a compromise,” she said.

Del Re praised sanctions targeting Mali adopted earlier this week by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the EU, describing them as coherent and consequential, and called on the international community to maintain the pressure on the interim government.

Brussels meeting

At the same time, though, she and other European officials are continuing to talk to Malian officials and expect Mali to take part in a meeting scheduled for later this month in Brussels.

“The European Union wants to be coherent with this approach of the sanctions … it wants to be firm in this sense,” Del Re told VOA. “At the same time, it wants to also keep the doors open for negotiation.”

“I am sure that there will negotiations. There will be a dialogue,” she added.

Thousands of supporters of Mali’s military government took to the streets Friday in the capital, Bamako, railing against the ECOWAS sanctions as unjust.

“These illegal and illegitimate measures have three objectives: to destabilize the institutions, to destabilize the Malian army and to destabilize Mali,” Prime Minister Choguel Maiga told the crowd.

“But what they must not forget is that Mali is a lock, Mali is a dam. If Mali blows, and God help us, it will not blow, but if that happens, no one will have peace in ECOWAS,” he added.

Many of the protesters praised the military government for standing up to France, while others waived Malian flags and some even waived Russian flags.

The presence of Russian flags is likely to increase concern in the West, with European countries and the United States repeatedly warning the military government against bringing in mercenaries from the Wagner Group, a paramilitary company with ties to the Kremlin.

“We have seen what they have done in the Central African Republic, the predatory behavior and the violations of human rights, so we have made clear that we are completely against their intervention in Mali,” a European official told reporters Friday, requesting anonymity to discuss the sensitive subject when asked about reports that several hundred mercenaries are now in Mali.

According to the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, Mali’s military government has committed to paying Wagner $11 million per month – $132 million a year – for the services of 1,000 mercenaries, an amount equal to more than 20% of Mali’s yearly defense expenditures.

Mali’s government has denied reports it is using Russian mercenaries, but the move appears to be having an impact on other international forces sent to the country to help fight against terrorists linked to Islamic State and al-Qaida.

Sweden to withdraw

Sweden’s foreign minister said Friday that her country will withdraw from the Takuba Task Force, a European special forces mission to Mali, and that it may withdraw a couple hundred troops serving in Mali under the United Nations.

“We now know that there is Wagner Group,” Sweden’s Ann Linde told reporters in Brest, France, following a meeting of EU foreign ministers. “If they have a stronger and stronger impact, then it will be not possible to continue with those large number of troops from us.”

Other European officials cautioned that additional troops could be pulled if the situation worsens and warned there could be regional implications.

“It cannot be accepted for its part for the risk of having a domino effect,” Del Re told VOA. “The countries of the region, the countries of the G-5, for instance, they fear that this could be an example that might somehow give the idea of copying the situation to other countries.”

Despite these complications, Del Re and other European officials insist they have no intention of abandoning Mali or its neighbors in the Sahel.

“What we are worried about very much is the population of Mali, because they are already in such a condition,” Del Re told VOA. They don’t deserve this situation.”

Annie Risemberg contributed to this report from Bamako.
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Africa Cup of Nations – Day 6 – 01/14/22

Senegal vs Guinea | 0-0

Malawi vs Zimbabwe | 2-1

Morocco vs Comoros | 2-0

Gabon vs Ghana | 1-1

 
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Supporters of Mali’s military government demonstrated Friday against West African sanctions that have cut off the country from regional trade and finance.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) imposed the punishment this week after coup leaders postponed promised elections to restore civilian rule by four years.

Mali’s military government called for mass demonstrations against ECOWAS sanctions that were imposed after a special summit last Sunday in Accra.

ECOWAS said it would further sanction Mali if elections weren’t held on a previously agreed upon date of February 2022. In December, leaders proposed a much longer transition with the next elections held in 2026. 

Because of the new sanctions, which included border closures and the blocking of shipments of goods, except for essentials, such as food and medicine, Mali reciprocally closed its borders to ECOWAS neighbors as well. 

Much of the country has been out of the control of the state since Mali was plunged into conflict in 2012. 

Modibo Dramé, a student at the University of Bamako who helped organize the demonstration, says that he supports the current military leaders for a period of five years, or even 10, because he thinks that is the only way Mali will finally see security.

“We want our country to have stability,” he said. “If ECOWAS wants to, we can do this together. If they don’t, we accept that — and we don’t stay together.”

In addition to Bamako, demonstrators gathered in major Malian cities like Gao and Timbuktu and in smaller towns across the country. The streets around Bamako’s independence monument were blocked to traffic, as thousands of people gathered by 3 P.M.Demonstrators could be seen carrying Malian and Russian flags 

Sixty-year-old Abdrahman Fofana, a pharmacist, came to the demonstration to support the military leaders, who he said are the first in Mali’s history to be able to stand up against France.

“For us Malians, what’s missing in us?” Fofana said. “That we are united. We have this today thanks to the sanctions. We are united today. We will get through this. We are ready, even if it means death.”

Several political and religious organizations have issued statements denouncing the sanctions against Mali, including those that have rejected the transition’s 2026 elections proposal.

Etienne Fakaba Sissoko, a political and economic analyst and director of Mali’s Economic and Social Policy Analysis Research Center, echoed Fofana’s assertion that the sanctions have united Malians politically.

“We are Malian first, before being part of the opposition or part of the majority,” Sissoko said. “We know that the primary victims of these sanctions are not the authorities, but rather the population, who didn’t ask to be in this situation,  This is why we see these as sanctions against the population more than sanctions against the country or against the current authorities. So this explains in part the support, the union, the cohesion around the transitional leaders that we have today.”

Malian President Assimi Goita said during a televised address on January 10 that he remains open to dialogue with ECOWAS to “find a consensus.” 
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Tunisia Police Turn Water Cannons on Protest Against President

TUNIS, Jan 14 (Reuters) – Tunisian police used water cannons and sticks to disperse more than 1,000 protesters trying to reach central Tunis Friday to demonstrate against the president in defiance of COVID-19 restrictions.

A heavy police presence prevented many protesters gathering in Habib Bourguiba Avenue, the main street in central Tunis that is the traditional focal point of demonstrations including during the 2011 revolution that brought democracy.

Police then tried to disperse several different groups of protesters, at least one of which had hundreds of demonstrators, witnesses said, kicking and pushing them to force them back.

The Interior Ministry said 1,200 people had protested and said its forces had exercised restraint. 

Opposition parties including the moderate Islamist Ennahda are protesting against President Kais Saied’s suspension of parliament, assumption of executive power and moves to rewrite the constitution, which they call a coup.

“Preventing free Tunisians from protesting on the revolution anniversary is shameful … and is an attack on freedoms and represents a big decline under the coup authorities,” said Imed Khemiri, an Ennahda member of the suspended parliament.

Dozens of police cars stood in the area and two water cannons were used outside the Interior Ministry building, which is located on the same street.

Friday’s protest goes against a ban on all indoor or outdoor gatherings the government announced on Tuesday to stop a COVID-19 wave.

“Today Saied’s only response to opponents is with force and the security forces … it is so sad to see Tunisia like a barracks on the date of our revolution,” said Chayma Issa, an opposition activist.

Ennahda and other parties taking part in the protest accused the government of introducing the ban and resuming its night curfew for political rather than health reasons as a way of preventing protests.

Though Saied’s action in July appeared very popular at first after years of economic stagnation and political paralysis, analysts say he appears to have since lost some support.

Tunisia’s economy remains mired by the pandemic, there has been little progress in gaining international support for the fragile public finances and the government Saied appointed in September has announced an unpopular budget for 2022.

Friday falls on what Tunisians had previously marked as the anniversary of the revolution, the day the autocratic former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled the country. Saied decreed last year that the anniversary would fall on the December date of a street vendor’s suicide that triggered the uprising.
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The U.N. human rights office says at least 108 civilians have been killed and many more injured in several air strikes allegedly carried out by the Ethiopian air force in the country’s northern Tigray region since the start of the new year.

In the past two weeks, air strikes have hit Tigray’s state-owned Technical Vocational Education and Training Institute, a camp for displaced people, a flour mill, a private minibus, and numerous other civilian targets.

U.N. human rights office spokeswoman Liz Throssell says the number of dead and injured is based on information gathered from different sources by colleagues monitoring the situation in Ethiopia.

“The deadliest airstrike so far, which hit the Dedebit Internally Displaced Persons camp on the 7th of January, left at least 56 people dead and 30 others wounded. We have since established that three of those who were critically injured later died in hospital while receiving medical treatment, pushing the death toll from that single strike to at least 59,” she said.

Throssell says monitors continue to receive deeply disturbing reports of civilian casualties and destruction of civilian sites resulting from airstrikes in Tigray.

“We call on the Ethiopian authorities and their allies to ensure the protection of civilians and civilian objects, in line with their obligations under international law. Any attack, including airstrikes should fully respect the principles of distinction, proportionality and precautions in attack…Failure to respect the principles of distinction and proportionality could amount to war crimes,” she expressed.

The Ethiopian government has not commented on allegations of responsibility for airstrikes in Tigray. 

The United Nations reports tens of thousands of people have been killed and nearly two million displaced since the conflict between pro-Ethiopian government forces and Tigrayan forces erupted in November 2020. It says 5.2 million people are in need of life-saving assistance, with 400,000 living in famine-like conditions.
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