As anger boils over among Ethiopia’s Oromo population after the killing of a revered singer, analysts and activists say swift action and transparency by the government are necessary to avoid further bloodshed.Hachalu Hundessa was shot dead in Addis Ababa this week in what police say was a targeted killing. Police quickly apprehended suspects. But few details have been released about Hundessa’s death, fueling suspicion.Protests in and around the capital city led to injuries and at least 52 people have been killed, according to the regional spokesman, Smoke rises over Addis Ababa skyline during protests following the fatal shooting of the Ethiopian musician Haacaaluu Hundeessaa, June 30, 2020, in this screengrab taken from a video.But a slow or heavy-handed government response risks a repeat of past protests among the Oromo ethnic group that led to hundreds of deaths, rights activists say. In November 2019, 86 people were killed in protests following allegations that security forces were plotting to attack Jawar Mohammed, an activist and co-founder of Oromia Media Network.“It’s absolutely key that the Ethiopian authorities respond to this by acting urgently to reduce tensions and to ensure that security forces do not make what could be a combustible situation worse,” said Laetitia Bader, Human Rights Watch’s Horn of Africa director, in an interview with VOA. “The government needs to order security forces not to use excessive force or to carry out arbitrary arrests including against protesters, as they’ve often done in the past.”As has been the case during past periods of unrest, Ethiopia’s government-controlled telephone and internet provider, Ethio Telecom, shut off internet access inside the country.Bader said this lack of access to information adds to the confusion.“It’s absolutely key for the government to make sure that as soon as possible it is providing accurate, timely information to the public on what they’re doing to investigate [the] killing, but also how they are responding to what could be a very tense situation,” she said.Protesters have been further angered this week as news spread that Jawar Mohammed was arrested and the domestic operations of his television network were shut down.A total of 35 people have been arrested in Addis Ababa, including Oromo leader Bekele Gerba.Merera Gudina, chair of the Oromo Federalist Congress, an opposition party, said the events show the urgent need for reform. He called for a commission with representatives from all sectors of society to oversee the way political opponents and protesters are treated in Ethiopia.“We want a more inclusive commission that can oversee the way the government is conducting its business, including the way the election board is running, the way the security sector, the army, the police, the militia and the way they are behaving,” Merera told VOA’s Daybreak Africa. “This is not the way. The government is not properly functioning. So, that is our worry.”James Butty contributed to this report
 
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Cameroon’s football (soccer) authorities say they are confident they can complete the infrastructure for hosting the postponed Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), the continent’s biggest football championship, in 2022.  The contest was originally scheduled for next January but the Confederation of African Football on Tuesday postponed the event for a year because of the coronavirus. Sports Minister Narcisse Mouelle Kombi says the postponement of the Africa Football Cup of Nations offers Cameroon the opportunity to prepare a memorable competition. He says Cameroon will have time to quantitatively and qualitatively accelerate work on all sports, health, communication and road infrastructure in order to offer Africa a very successful continental football competition. He says Cameroon is going to perfect what it has already done to offer African youths a memorable AFCON.  
On Tuesday the Confederation of Africa Football, CAF, announced that it had postponed the continental soccer event by a year. 
 
The CAF said it was moving the competition to January 2022 due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic across the continent. Cameroon last week said some key construction projects in the capital, Yaounde, and the seaside town of Douala had slowed due to COVID-19. It was the same situation in the northern town of Garoua, the western town of Bafoussam, and Limbe and Buea in the English-speaking South West Region. FILE – Governor Augustine Awah Fonka in Bangourain, Dec. 23, 2018. (M. Kindzeka/VOA)Awah Fonka, governor of the West Region, says he now has more time to make sure all AFCON fields and roads are in place. 
 
He says although construction work is almost complete on stadia in western Cameroon, only 40 percent of road infrastructure for the African Football Cup of Nations has been complete. He says he hopes that with the postponement of AFCON, companies will have more time to complete work that was either stopped or reduced due to COVID-19. FILE – Cameroon’s supporters chant ahead of the African Cup of Nations Group A soccer match between Cameroon and Gabon at the Stade de l’Amitie, in Libreville, Gabon, Jan. 22, 2017.The postponement has been received with mixed reaction. Football fans say they are anxious to see their teams play. Anabel Singeh says she took a loan to build a restaurant near the Olembe Stadium in Yaounde that will host some matches.  She says it will not be easy for her to either repay the loan or pay interest. “The postponement of the Africa Cup of Nations is not easy for the world of sports in general,” she said. “Many people you know invested so much in the construction of hotels, of restaurants with the hope that they would regain this money by hosting the African Cup of Nations in January 2021. Imagine now, the interests are piling up and more so, the hotels, the restaurants will not be used for the purpose for which they were initially intended.” This was not the first time the CAF changed the tournament’s dates. It was originally scheduled for June and July 2021, but was moved forward to January due to Cameroon’s hot summer climate.  On Tuesday, the CAF also confirmed the African Nations Championship, the biennial tournament for home-based players, is being postponed by a year. It will also take place in Cameroon, in April 2021.  
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At least eight people were killed and 80 hurt in and around Addis Ababa when protests erupted after Haacaaluu Hundeessaa, a popular Ethiopian singer and musician, was killed. Haacaaluu was shot dead, police said, in what Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed calls “an evil act.” “This is an act committed and inspired by domestic and foreign enemies in order to destabilize our peace and to stop us from achieving things that we started,” he said. Police said several suspects have been arrested, police commissioner Getu Argawhe told state media, but have given no further details, except that Haacaaluu was targeted.Several Ethiopian cities erupted with rage, and three separate bomb blasts rocked the capital, Addis Ababa, killing several bystanders, police said. Doctors reported hospital emergency rooms filled with stabbing and shooting victims. Protests also erupted outside the U.S. embassy, prompting a security alert. Haacaaluu was an Oromo activist, a member of Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, which has a long history of being discriminated against.The singer was a former political prisoner who became a national figure during anti-government protests that led to Abiy, a fellow Oromo, becoming prime minister in 2018.Abiy won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for economic and social reforms in Ethiopia and working to settle the long-running conflict with neighboring Eritrea.But he has also been challenged by the dozens of other Ethiopian ethnic groups jockeying for more land and power.The coronavirus pandemic has forced officials to postpone the August elections until sometime next year.  
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One person was killed and several others injured during largely peaceful demonstrations in Sudan on Tuesday, a government spokesman said, as tens of thousands of people took to the streets demanding faster reform and greater civilian rule in the country’s transition toward democracy. Waving Sudanese flags, protesters gathered in Khartoum and its twin cities Khartoum North and Omdurman after the government closed roads and bridges leading to the center of the capital in the largest demonstrations since a transitional government took power late last year following the ouster of Islamist ruler Omar al-Bashir after three decades. Similar protests took place across the country, including Kassala in eastern Sudan and in the restive region of Darfur. Protesters chanted “freedom, peace and justice,” the slogan of the anti-Bashir movement. Some protesters blocked streets with burning tires. Civilians chant slogans as members of Sudanese pro-democracy protest on the anniversary of a major protest in Khartoum, June 30, 2020.The gathering on June 30 came on a highly symbolic day, as it was the anniversary of Bashir’s ascent to power in a 1989 military coup and also marks the day one year ago when thousands marched to pressure the generals who assumed power after Bashir’s ouster to resume negotiations over a peaceful power-sharing deal with civilian opposition. Premier Abdalla Hamdok, a technocrat, governs the country in awkward tandem with the long-dominant military that helped remove Bashir after mass protests against his 30-year autocracy. The opposition coalition agreed to joint governance with the military in a three-year transition toward free elections, but key parts of the deal have not been implemented, such as appointing civilian state governors and establishing a parliament. While many protesters expressed their support for Hamdok during Tuesday’s rallies, they renewed their calls for the transitional government to fulfill the agreement. “Your demands are met with complete agreement,” Sudan’s information minister and government spokesman, Faisal Salih, said in a televised address. FILE – Sudan Premier Abdalla Hamdok speaks at a celebration of the first anniversary of the start of the uprising that toppled long-time ruler Omar al-Bashir, at the Friendship Hall in Khartoum, Sudan, December 25, 2019.Hamdok’s government has been preoccupied with a worsening economic crisis. Sudan’s pound currency has plunged, and annual inflation has topped 100%. Last week, foreign donor nations pledged $1.8 billion at a conference hosted by Germany to help Sudan overcome the economic crisis hampering its transition. That was well below the $8 billion in aid Hamdok has said is needed. The crisis has been compounded by the coronavirus pandemic, which has diverted the resources of many donors. Hamdok sought to appease disgruntled citizens with a speech Monday night in which he said he would announce major decisions on the way forward within two weeks. “The transitional government … [is] aiming to achieve the highest levels of consensus and popular approval,” he said, though he gave no details. Hamdok is also pursuing peace talks with rebel groups across the sprawling country, a key priority for both the government and protesters, but no agreement has been reached yet.  
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International and regional powers agreed at talks on Tuesday to intensify a military campaign against Islamist militants in the West African Sahel region, with French President Emmanuel Macron saying victory over the jihadists was within grasp. Militant attacks in the Sahel have increased over the last two years, especially in the tri-border region of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali known as Liptako-Gourma, where local authorities have been overrun. Mauritania hosted a meeting of the leaders of five Sahel nations plus France and Spain to plot future strategy in the scrubland south of the Sahara where since 2013 thousands of French troops have been helping countries counter insurgencies. “The heads of state stressed the need to intensify the fight on all fronts by national and international forces against terrorist groups,” the final communique said. French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during the closing press conference at the G5 Sahel summit on June 30, 2020, in Nouakchott.The so-called G-5 Sahel nations comprise Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Chad — all former French colonies. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez also attended the summit, while other EU leaders joined by video. “We are all convinced that victory is possible in the Sahel. We are finding our way there thanks to the efforts that have been made over the past six months,” Macron said after the summit. Ahead of the summit, a joint statement by the United Nations and a group of aid organizations painted a dark picture of the situation on the ground. “The security situation in the Sahel countries has deteriorated considerably in recent months. Conflicts prevailing in the region are having unprecedented humanitarian consequences,” it said. The joint forces, led by France’s 5,100 troops, have so far targeted the regional affiliate of Islamic State, concentrating military efforts on Liptako-Gourma. French forces said this month that they had killed al Qaeda’s North Africa commander Abdelmalek Droukdel. But the G-5 force has been hampered by a lack of funding, equipment and coordination. France has long called for more help from its European allies for the mission, which it sees as essential to protecting the security of Europe’s southern flank. 
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Hundreds of thousands marched in Sudan’s capital Tuesday, demanding justice for the people killed by security forces during last year’s street protests. Protest organizers say they need to keep pressure on the transitional government despite the ongoing risk of the COVID-19 pandemic.       Demonstrators waved Sudanese flags and held pictures of those killed during the 2019 protests. A similar demonstration took place one year ago today, when hundreds of thousands marched to condemn brutal attacks against pro-democracy protesters that left more than 100 people dead. Musatfa Abdallah was among those in the streets Tuesday, demanding punishment for those who attacked the protesters.By Whatsapp message, Abdallah said despite the health situation, youth are in the streets marching now demanding justice for the victims of the revolution and to correct the path of the transitional government generally. He said the demands are peaceful and legal, at least in terms of justice for the revolution victims.  Civilians chant slogans as members of Sudanese pro-democracy protest on the anniversary of a major protest in Khartoum, June 30, 2020.In April 2019, the military ousted Omar al-Bashir after four months of mass protests against his 30-year rule. A military council ruled the country for several months, until army leaders and protest organizations signed a power-sharing agreement that created a Sovereign Council to run the country until elections in 2022.  Human rights activist Alzain Othman said protesters want the people responsible for last year’s killings to be prosecuted.  Othman said protesters insisted on marching because they feel the government’s reluctance to punish anyone for the killings and the investigations have yet to achieve anything. This year’s protest is different from last year’s, he said, as last year it was against the military rule and this year it’s against even the civilians in the ministers’ council.  Sudan’s prime minister addressed the nation Monday on national TV, promising the government will make progress on the justice issue within two weeks. Riot police officers hold their position on June 30, 2020, against protesters near the Parliament buildings in Khartoum.Meanwhile, the Sudanese military is out in force, restricting citizen movement, especially on bridges and in central Khartoum. Hundreds of troops and heavy vehicles are surrounding military headquarters and blocking roads linking Khartoum to other cities.  Protest organizations called for this march, but asked that participants abide by restrictions to combat COVID-19, like wearing face masks and social distancing.  Sudanese health officials have confirmed more than 7,000 active cases of COVID-19.  The government says lockdown measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus will end in the first week of July. 
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Nigeria is reopening schools for the graduating class on the advice of a task force that students get help in preparing for examinations. The chairman of the presidential task force on COVID-19 Boss Mustapha said, the federal government also lifted the ban on interstate movement outside curfew hours and reopened airports for domestic flights. Mustapha also said, President Muhammadu Bihari approved the extension of the phased lockdown for four weeks, meaning the 10 pm – 4 am nationwide curfew, restrictions on mass gatherings and sporting activities will continue. Nigeria’s mandate for face masks in public places remains in effect. So far, Nigeria has confirmed more than 25,100 COVID-19 cases and more than 570 deaths. 
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Nigeria is reopening schools for the graduating class on the advice of a task force that students get help in preparing for examinations. The chairman of the presidential task force on COVID-19 Boss Mustapha said, the federal government also lifted the ban on interstate movement outside curfew hours and reopened airports for domestic flights. Mustapha also said, President Muhammadu Bihari approved the extension of the phased lockdown for four weeks, meaning the 10 pm – 4 am nationwide curfew, restrictions on mass gatherings and sporting activities will continue. Nigeria’s mandate for face masks in public places remains in effect. So far, Nigeria has confirmed more than 25,100 COVID-19 cases and more than 570 deaths. 
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Nigeria’s slave descendants hope race protests help end discrimination”>When Barack Obama was elected the first Black U.S. president in 2008, Anthony Uzoije noticed less contempt towards descendants of slaves like him in his south-eastern Nigeria community.Uzoije, from Ogbaru in Anambra state, now hopes Black Lives Matter protests globally will inspire similar change for him and the Igbo people, one of the largest ethnic groups in Africa and principal group enslaved during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.It is estimated that between 10 and 20% of Igbos – amounting to many millions of people – are descendants of slaves and still face significant discrimination, which has sparked unrest and violence in recent years in some areas.Slave descendants are banned by traditional law and custom from traditional leadership positions and belonging to prestigious local groups. So-called “freeborn” people are forbidden from marrying them, according to the culture in many communities.”People began to see that if the white man can allow Obama to be president, why can’t you allow your fellow black to occupy whatever position. People began to realize that what they were doing is nonsense,” said Uzoije, 67, who is the chairman of the Ogbaru People’s Convention, an association of slave descendants.”When people here see that there is more equality between the black and the white people in America, it will affect the way they treat their fellow black brother,” Uzoije told the Thomson Reuters Foundation via phone from his home in Onitsha.The British colonial administration officially abolished slavery in Nigeria in the early 20th century and finally eradicated it in the late 1940s and early 1950s, but the descendants of slaves retained the stigma of their ancestors.The discrimination continues and not just against descendants of slaves in south-eastern Nigeria, with similar reports from countries across Africa, including Ghana, Senegal, and Benin Republic.For while no data exists on the number of slave descendants in Nigeria or in Africa, communities know about every family’s history and lineage so it is impossible to hide.Laws against such discrimination exist in the Nigerian constitution and, in 1956, legislators in what was then the Eastern Nigeria house of assembly, voted overwhelmingly for a law banning the discrimination against slave descendants.But these laws are difficult to enforce, especially at the grassroots level where people pay more attention to traditional beliefs than to the country’s constitution, and where there are social implications of violating local laws.For the past three years, 44-year-old Oge Maduagwu has been traveling to different communities in south-eastern Nigeria to advocate for equal rights for descendants of slaves.With the recent BLM protests, she hopes those responsible for the ongoing discrimination in Nigeria and across Africa will re-examine their attitudes, and that more Africans globally join the fight against the inequality in their own homelands.”They should realize what the black people in America are going through is exactly what the slave descendants here are going through,” said Maduagwu, founder of the Initiative for the Eradication of Traditional and Cultural Stigmatisation in our Society (IFETACSIOUS).”(They must) find a way to abolish it here before they raise their voices against what the whites are doing over there.Maduagwu’s activism was inspired by the widespread opposition to marriage with slave descendants.She is not a slave descendant herself but witnessed the discrimination while growing up in Oguta in Imo State of south-eastern Nigeria.She finally decided to do something to bring it to an end after a close friend was prevented from marrying someone she loved because he was descended from a slave.”She was devastated and moved in with me for two weeks and we inconsolably cried together,” Maduagwu said from her home in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital.”Her pain became my pain. The humanity and activism in me came alive.”Maduagwu founded the charity IFETACSIOUS in 2017 to facilitate dialog between traditional leaders and descendants of slaves, providing a forum where they can address the laws and customs that promote discrimination.Her work has taken her to about five of Nigeria’s 36 states, including Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo.She has achieved some success, with a handful of traditional leaders openly declaring an end to all discrimination against slave descendants.For Maduagwu it is vital this is a peaceful process. She is concerned that the agitation for equality has turned violent in the past, as has been the case in some parts of the United States.”Healing will not come through fighting,” she said.While there are hundreds of slave descendants in Uzoije’s community, the Ogbaru People’s Convention has 40 registered members whose activism has prompted some changes.For example by pressuring religious leaders to intervene in cases where romance with slave descendants was opposed by families, some of their children have gone on to marry so-called “freeborn” citizens.”When a young man sees a lady he wants to marry, they should allow them. That is the important thing,” Uzoije said.He noted, however, that the change in attitudes following Obama’s election was not necessarily accompanied by a change in laws. Descendants of slaves in Ogbaru are still not allowed to run for local leadership positions.”Change is gradual. It’s not automatic,” he said. 
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As part of measures to curb the spread of COVID-19, a Ugandan innovator has come up with a plastic shield for motorcycles to protect both driver and passenger.  The shield is seen as not just reducing body contact, which could spread the virus, but also adding security for motorcycle taxi drivers.Uganda has hundreds of thousands of motorcycles on its roads, and most of them work as taxis known as boda-bodas.But since April with the COVID-19 pandemic, the government has banned motorcycle taxis because of the close proximity between the driver and passengers.To solve that problem, Dickson Ngirani created a plastic shield to mount between them.“We believe the shield is entirely going to protect the passenger from getting contaminations on the road in the process of moving.  No. 2, he will not get in direct contact with the rider,” said Ngirani.Four months into Uganda’s lockdown, boda-boda drivers — currently allowed only to deliver goods — are struggling to make a living.Drivers such as Fred Luwaga are urging authorities to let them take passengers if they use the shield.”He says, this shield, we all as boda-boda riders should use it, because I see there’s a distance.  He says, if I am seated here, and the passenger is at the back, I don’t see how we are going to get infected by COVID-19,” he said.Uganda’s Ministry of Works and Transport says it is investigating the effectiveness of the shield.The ministry’s chief engineer, Tony Kavuma, says one concern is that passengers will wrongly believe the shield is all they need for protection.“That is the use of the masks and the helmet. A fully covered helmet. Because that one. One, it shields the rider. In case he or she is infected, they will be able to contain the droplets. That’s No. 1. Two, in case of a fall, it will also protect the head,” he said.It’s not clear when Ugandan authorities will allow passengers back onto boda-bodas.Meanwhile, Ngirani said they are manufacturing more shields in anticipation of high demand. 
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For months, experts have warned of a potential nightmare scenario: After overwhelming health systems in some of the world’s wealthiest regions, the coronavirus gains a foothold in poor or war-torn countries ill-equipped to contain it and sweeps through the population. Now some of those fears are being realized. In southern Yemen, health workers are leaving their posts en masse because of a lack of protective equipment, and some hospitals are turning away patients struggling to breathe. In Sudan’s war-ravaged Darfur region, where there is little testing capacity, a mysterious illness resembling COVID-19 is spreading through camps for the internally displaced. FILE – people enquire about their relatives from a health worker at a COVID designated hospital in New Delhi, India, June 10, 2020.Cases are soaring in India and Pakistan, together home to more than 1.5 billion people and where authorities say nationwide lockdowns are no longer an option because of high poverty. Latin America
In Latin America, Brazil has a confirmed caseload and death count second only to the United States, and its leader is unwilling to take steps to stem the spread of the virus. Alarming escalations are unfolding in Peru, Chile, Ecuador and Panama, even after they imposed early lockdowns. The first reports of disarray are also emerging from hospitals in South Africa, which has its continent’s most developed economy. Sick patients are lying on beds in corridors as one hospital runs out of space. At another, an emergency morgue was needed to hold more than 700 bodies. “We are reaping the whirlwind now,” said Francois Venter, a South African health expert at the University of Witswatersrand in Johannesburg. Worldwide, there are 10 million confirmed cases and over 500,000 reported deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University of government reports. Experts say both those numbers are serious undercounts of the true toll of the pandemic, due to limited testing and missed mild cases. FILE – A student is screened as schools begin to reopen after the coronavirus disease lockdown in Langa township in Cape Town, South Africa, June 8, 2020.Africa
South Africa has more than a third of Africa’s confirmed cases of COVID-19. It’s ahead of other African countries in the pandemic timeline and approaching its peak. If its facilities break under the strain, it will be a grim forewarning because South Africa’s health system is reputed to be the continent’s best. Most poor countries took action early on. Some, like Uganda, which already had a sophisticated detection system built up during its yearslong battle with viral hemorrhagic fever, have thus far been arguably more successful than the U.S. and other wealthy countries in battling coronavirus. But since the beginning of the pandemic, poor and conflict-ravaged countries have generally been at a major disadvantage, and they remain so. The global scramble for protective equipment sent prices soaring. Testing kits have also been hard to come by. Tracking and quarantining patients requires large numbers of health workers. “It’s all a domino effect,” said Kate White, head of emergencies for Doctors Without Borders. “Whenever you have countries that are economically not as well off as others, then they will be adversely affected.” Global health experts say testing is key, but months into the pandemic, few developing countries can keep carrying out the tens of thousands of tests every week that are needed to detect and contain outbreaks. “The majority of the places that we work in are not able to have that level of testing capacity, and that’s the level that you need to be able to get things really under control,” White said. South Africa leads Africa in testing, but an initially promising program has now been overrun in Cape Town, which alone has more reported cases than any other African country except Egypt. Critical shortages of kits have forced city officials to abandon testing anyone for under 55 unless they have a serious health condition or are in a hospital. Venter said a Cape Town-like surge could easily play out next in “the big cities of Nigeria, Congo, Kenya,” and they “do not have the health resources that we do.” Lockdowns are likely the most effective safeguard, but they have exacted a heavy toll even on middle-class families in Europe and North America and are economically devastating in developing countries. India
India’s lockdown, the world’s largest, caused countless migrant workers in major cities to lose their jobs overnight. Fearing hunger, thousands took to the highways by foot to return to their home villages, and many were killed in traffic accidents or died from dehydration. The government has since set up quarantine facilities and now provides special rail service to get people home safely, but there are concerns the migration has already spread the virus to India’s rural areas, where the health infrastructure is even weaker. Poverty has also accelerated the pandemic in Latin America, where millions with informal jobs had to go out and keep working, and then returned to crowded homes where they spread the virus to relatives. FILE – Portraits of people who died of the COVID-19, are seen inside the Cathedral, in Lima, Peru, June 13, 2020.Peru’s strict three-month lockdown failed to contain its outbreak, and it now has the world’s sixth-highest number of cases in a population of 32 million, according to Johns Hopkins. Intensive care units are nearly 88% occupied, and the virus shows no sign of slowing. “Hospitals are on the verge of collapse,” said epidemiologist Ciro Maguiña, a professor of medicine at Cayetano Heredia University in the capital, Lima. Aid groups have tried to help, but they have faced their own struggles. Doctors Without Borders says the price it pays for masks went up threefold at one point and is still higher than normal. The group also faces obstacles in transporting medical supplies to remote areas as international and domestic flights have been drastically reduced. And as wealthy donor countries struggle with their own outbreaks, there are concerns they will cut back on humanitarian aid. Mired in civil war for the past five years, Yemen was already home to the world’s worst humanitarian crisis before the virus hit. Now the Houthi rebels are suppressing all information about an outbreak in the north, and the health system in the government-controlled south is collapsing. “Coronavirus has invaded our homes, our cities, our countryside,” said Dr. Abdul Rahman al-Azraqi, an internal medicine specialist and former hospital director in the city of Taiz, which is split between the rival forces. He estimates that 90% of Yemeni patients die at home. “Our hospital doesn’t have any doctors, only a few nurses and administrators. There is effectively no medical treatment.”   
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In Nairobi’s Kibera neighborhood, those who depend on day-to-day wages have been hit hardest by the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic. While Kenya’s government is providing some support, a local charity has formed to pick up the slack.  The “Adopt a Family” campaign connects well-off Kenyan families with those less fortunate during the COVID-19 pandemic.  So far, the initiative has connected more than 400 families, providing relief to many families in desperate need.  Rael Ombuor reports from Nairobi.Camera: John Kamau 
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Somalia’s electoral commission has announced that upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections will not take place on time, as scheduled.The chairperson of the National Independent Electoral Commission (NIEC), Halima Ismail Ibrahim, has told the Lower House of the parliament that political differences, insecurity, flooding and COVID-19 have hampered the commission’s work schedule.The parliamentary elections were scheduled for Nov. 27; the president’s term ends on Feb. 8, 2021. Ibrahim says neither deadline can be met.Ibrahim says the biometric registration necessary for holding popular election as stated in the electoral law cannot be completed in time. She said buying the registration equipment, securing registration sites, conducting public awareness, registering voters, issuing a list of voters, registering political parties and the candidates, among other tasks, need more time and budget.More than 6 million Somalis are estimated to be eligible to vote, half of the country’s population, but the commission targeted registering fewer because of security and logistical constraints. The commission proposed the registration of up to 3 million voters biometrically, the creation of 5,000 polling stations, and vowed to hold the election in one day. Ibrahim told the parliament that this process requires nearly $70 million, which the NIEC does not yet have.“Therefore, we would like to state before the parliament and the Somali people that elections based on the biometric system is not possible to be held according to the scheduled time of November 27, 2020, due to the reasons mentioned above,” she said.She said this type of election could only take place in 13 months starting from July 2020 and ending by August 2021.Ibrahim proposed a second option with a quicker timeline. She proposed conducting a same-day manual registration of voters with the registration of 3 million and 5,000 polling stations, which costs $46 million. But she said this process will also need nine months to prepare, starting from July 2020 and ending by March 2021.But the move to postpone the election earned swift denunciation from the country’s main opposition umbrella. The Forum for National Parties (FNP), which brings together six political parties, has called on the electoral commission to resign for failing to hold the election on schedule.In a statement, the FNP accused the NIEC of collaborating with the current government on term extension.“The forum will not accept to unlawfully delay the election even one day,” read the statement.“Not what we expected,” said former President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, a member of the FNP, to the media. “We were not expecting them to come up with term extension, and to create political cloud.”Commissioner Ibrahim has rejected the calls from the opposition to resign. She said NIEC did not have a complete electoral law and resources needed in order to hold the elections on time.“We would have resigned if they have given us an electoral law, a political agreement and resources and then tell us to go and hold an election,” she said. “We have not had that.”The president of Somalia signed an election law in February, but it is incomplete because it does not define four key major portions – distribution of seats in constituencies, quota for women, allocation of seats for Mogadishu in the Upper House of Parliament, and modalities for electing lawmakers who will be representing Somaliland. So far two of those provisions, the quota for women and seats for Mogadishu have been approved by the parliament.Holding elections also needs political agreement between stakeholders in Somalia, as the commission and the international community demanded.  In particular, it needs the federal government and regional leaders to work together. For years, the relations between the regional leaders and the federal government have been thorny as regions accused the executive branch of interference and undermining regional elections.  Last week, President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo invited all regional leaders to attend a meeting, July 5-8 in Mogadishu, in an attempt to solve the differences.  Hassan Kafi Qoyste contributed to this report from Mogadishu.
 
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Democratic Republic of Congo’s prime minister protested on Sunday over the brief arrest of the justice minister, saying the coalition government could resign over the issue and calling on the president to guarantee Cabinet members’ legal protections. Justice Minister Celestin Tunda was detained by police on Saturday evening and released following several hours of questioning by prosecutors at the court of cassation, triggering a political storm within the ruling coalition.”This serious and unprecedented incident is likely to weaken the stability and the harmonious functioning of institutions, and to cause the resignation of the government,” Prime Minister Sylvestre Ilunga said in a statement. Tunda has clashed with President Felix Tshisekedi over judicial changes proposed by Tunda’s party that would give the Justice Ministry more control over criminal prosecutions. Opponents of the change say it would undermine the independence of the judiciary. The disagreement has highlighted strains in the ruling coalition between Tshisekedi and allies of his long-serving predecessor, Joseph Kabila. Kabila stepped down last year but maintains wide-ranging powers through his parliamentary majority and control of most Cabinet ministries and the prime minister’s office. Tunda is a heavyweight in Kabila’s PPRD party. “No member of the government can be prosecuted for opinions expressed during deliberations of the council of ministers,” Ilunga said referring to Friday’s meeting where Tshisekedi and Tunda reportedly quarreled over the judicial changes. Ilunga said the magistrates responsible for what he called Tunda’s “brutal and arbitrary arrest” should face disciplinary action. Tshisekedi came to power in January 2019, forming a coalition with Kabila, but the alliance has shown increasing signs of disharmony. Hundreds of protesters rallied against the planned law on the grounds of parliament on Wednesday. They were dispersed by police firing tear gas and water cannon.  
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A Cameroonian journalist who freelances for the Voice of America says he was harassed by police who seized his equipment Saturday in Yaoundé, the capital. Moki Edwin Kindzeka said he was also ordered to speak only in French.In a social media post, Kindzeka said, “These guys should not molest people just because they speak the English language.”The Cameroon Association of English-Speaking Journalists on Twitter condemned “this act in the strongest terms.”  The group demanded an apology.#Cameroon police harassed our member, Moki Edwin Kindzeka, today in Yaounde. He was ordered to speak only in French. We condemn this act in the strongest terms and demand an apology
— CAMASEJ National (@CamasejN) June 27, 2020Kindzeka is also a journalist with the state broadcaster CRTV.TimescapeMagazine reports that the attack on Kindzeka came during military raids Saturday on Anglaphone Cameroonians in the capital, many of whom were arrested and ordered to speak French.Cameroon has had an ongoing separatist conflict that the U.N. says has cost more than 3,200 lives and displaced more than half-a-million people.The conflict started in 2016 when protests by English-speaking teachers and lawyers against the dominance of French-speaking Cameroonians led some to take up arms.Cameroon’s military declared war on the rebels, who have been fighting since 2017 to create an independent, English-speaking state.   
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Malawi’s new president Lazarus Chakwera was sworn in for a five-year term on Sunday, hours after unseating former leader Peter Mutharika in a rerun election. Chakwera, 65, won 58.57% of the vote in Tuesday’s poll, a dramatic reversal of the result of the original election in May 2019, which was later overturned by the courts. The repeat vote was regarded by analysts as a test of the ability of African courts to tackle ballot fraud and restrain presidential power. “To stand before you as president today is an honor. It’s an honor that fills with unspeakable joy and immense gratitude,” Chakwera said in his acceptance speech.”With your help, we will restore a new generation’s faith in the possibility of having a government that serves, not a government that rules,” he told a cheering crowd dressed in the colors of his own Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and the allied party of Vice President Saulos Chilima. MCP is Malawi’s founding party and Chakwera’s win brings it back into power after 26 years in opposition. The judiciary infuriated Mutharika in February by overturning the result of the May 2019 election that had given him a second term, citing irregularities, and ordering a rerun. Mutharika’s disputed win had sparked months of anti-government demonstrations, a rare sight in Malawi. Mutharika said on Saturday there had been voting irregularities including violence and intimidation against his party’s election monitors, but his complaint was dismissed by the electoral commission. Critics had accused Mutharika of doing little to tackle corruption. “Curbing corruption is crucial now more than ever,” said Lauryn Nyasulu, president of the Economics Association of Malawi. “The government needs to seal all loopholes and use whatever resources available in efforts to rebuild the economy and safeguard the welfare of those that have been heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.” 
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In Malawi, the leader of the opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP), Lazarus Chakwera, won the country’s historic presidential election rerun, which came after the nullification of last year’s polls that gave President Peter Mutharika his second term.Chifundo Kachale, chairperson for Malawi Electoral Commission announced the winner Saturday night in Blantyre, amid applause from MCP supporters.“The commission declares that, Lazarus Chakwera, the candidate who has attained 58.57 percent of the votes, has attained the requisite majority of the electorate as appearing in the second schedule and is duly elected as president of the republic of Malawi,” Kachale said.According to the results, 4.4 million Malawians voted, out of the 6.8 registered voters.The fresh polls came after the country’s Constitutional Court in February annulled the May 2019 elections over massive irregularities, a decision that the Supreme Court of Appeal upheld in May.Malawi Electoral Commission chairperson Chifundo Kachale announces presidential election rerun results in Blantyre, Malawi, June 27, 2020. (Lameck Masina/VOA)In the polls, Chakwera, ran against Mutharika, leader of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, (DPP) and little-known Peter Kuwani of the opposition Mbakuwaku Movement for Development party.Chakwera won with 2.6 million votes. Mutharika came second with 1.7 million votes while Kuwani won 32,400 votes.At a news conference earlier in the day in Blantyre, Mutharika said the June 23 poll is worst election in the country’s history.Mutharika, joined by his running mate, Atupele Muluzi, leader of the opposition United Democratic Front, told reporters the polls were marred by irregularities.“In short, our monitors were beaten, hacked and intimidated so that they should not participate in voting process,” Mutharika said. “Many tally sheets do not have signatures, as monitors were also in hospital and could not present to endorse the results.”Mutharika also said the election is not a true reflection of the will of many people.“Much as I find this election unacceptable, but for the sake of peace, I still love our country, which is larger than all of us,” he said. “I therefore ask all Malawians to be peaceful with results if announced.”However, various election observers, including the Malawi Human Rights Commission, have described the elections as free, fair and credible.Speaking via televised live broadcast Saturday, Chakwera could not hide his happiness.“I am so happy, I could dance all night,” he said. “By my heart is bubbling with joy and at the same time with great gratitude to the Lord.”Political analyst Sheriff Kaisi told VOA via telephone that Chakwera’s victory showed people were tired of Mutharika’s administration.“You know there is an issue of corruption, which is so rampart in Malawi,” Kaisi said. “You know this issue of nepotism, issue of tribalism.” People got tired of such issues, Kaisi said.Chakwera and his running mate, Saulos Chilima, leader of opposition United Transformation Movement, are expected to be sworn in Sunday at Bingu International Convention Centre in the capital Lilongwe.  
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Botswana soldiers this week shot and killed a suspected rhino poacher during a gunfight in the vast Okavango Delta, where poaching has reached unprecedented levels. The southern African nation’s anti-poaching unit has killed 19 suspects since 2019, as the government employs a shoot-to-kill policy.Botswana’s military said a rhino poaching suspect was killed Wednesday during an exchange of fire in the thickets of the Okavango Delta.Botswana Defense Force’s Major Mabikwa Mabikwa said poachers are using sophisticated weapons of war and communication equipment.  He says the army is up to the challenge. President Mokgweetsi Masisi recently said the military will not hesitate to shoot poachers.“Poachers are sufficiently radicalized to kill, so they are dangerous,” said Masisi. “We put an army in place to defend this country, so any intruder is an enemy. And unfortunately, as with any war, there are casualties.”The army says it has killed 19 suspected rhinoceros poachers since last year, while one soldier lost his life during an exchange in April.Poachers mostly target rhino, with 56 of the endangered animals killed in the past two years.The government recently decided to dehorn all the rhinos and relocate them to secure, private locations.Department of Wildlife and National Parks principal veterinary officer Mmadi Reuben said in addition to dehorning, anti-poaching efforts would be intensified.“We expect to see the results. It (dehorning) is meant to disincentive,” said Reuben. “This does not in any way replace our anti-poaching strategies that we put in place. In fact, we up our anti-poaching operations and augment them further to ensure that any perpetrators that come in, they are brought to book.”The Okavango Delta is wet and challenging to navigate, with some areas inaccessible by road. Most poachers cross over from neighboring countries. 
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Britain’s Royal Air Force says the first in a series of flights taking coronavirus aid to Africa has departed for Ghana with materials for a field hospital with capacity for nearly 100 people.NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement that Britain is the first NATO ally to come forward with an aid flight after NATO agreed to support the United Nations’ appeal for airlift assistance.The pandemic and travel restrictions have severely affected flights to the African continent and the delivery of crucial cargo including medical supplies.Britain. says up to five flights are needed to deliver the field hospital to Accra. Ghana has more than 15,000 confirmed virus cases.
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Starting in late March, South Africa has had one of the most rigorous COVID-19 lockdowns in the world. At Level 5, all air travel was grounded and all non-essential businesses, such as restaurants, salons and tourism operators were required to cease all operations. Residents were required to stay home at all times with limited exemptions for trips only to the grocery store, pharmacy, or a doctor. That included many international visitors, who are now stuck in South Africa for the foreseeable future. VOA talked to Paulina Migalska, an American tourist who leveraged her involuntary Cape Town visit extension into a valuable partnership with a local artist to help locals in a township.Arrival in South Africa
Paulina Migalska, a 39-year-old entrepreneur in international development field from Boston, arrived in Cape Town in mid-February on a three-month tourist visa. The first case of COVID-19 in South Africa was reported on March 5, but it wasn’t until much later in the month that South Africans began to fully understand the danger associated with the coronavirus. Scheduled to depart in early April, and not yet fully grasping the severity of the situation, Migalska went on a street art tour of Khayelitsha township, one of the top five largest urban shanty towns of the world, which is famous for its vivid mural art.In South Africa, the phrase “township” typically refers to an underdeveloped and racially segregated urban area where the Apartheid government, which ended by 1994, would relegate Black and other people of color. Migalska observed that the pre-1994 segregated paradigm of Cape Town’s neighborhoods and suburbs remains to a large extent today. It was there Migalska met Juma Mkwela, a local artist turned activist and founder of “Juma Art Tours.” She was one of Juma’s last guests before the lockdown. Helping hand during lockdown
When the South African government announced the lockdown, Migalska re-connected with Mkwela and asked if it would be helpful for her to sew fabric masks for residents who cannot afford to buy one. Mkwela said “absolutely,” and a race against time began before everything shut down for months. Migalska spent the last 24 hours prior to the lockdown purchasing fabric and borrowing a sewing machine from a friend’s mother, Sophia Wippenaar, a former seamstress.Mkwela told VOA, many residents of Khayelitsha and other township areas in Cape Town live in crowded single-room dwellings constructed of corrugated steel and other materials, making social distancing close to impossible, and mask-wearing that much more important. Before Migalska’s maskmaking idea, Mkwela had asked her to help raise money to support Khayelitsha families. Through that campaign they helped more than 40 families, who received food supplies and face masks throughout April and May. Mkwela says “I believe that everyone that travels (here), there’s always a way that you want to meet locals. So, I play a role in a way that I connect visitors and locals.” So far, they have given out 400 masks and are working on 50 more.Sexy Socks
During the strict lockdown one issue arose: distribution. That’s where Sexy Socks came in, a local Cape Town social enterprise, which provided MIgalska with a special “essential services permit” so that she could join Mkwela on trips to Khayelitsha to donate the masks. Founded by Dave Hutchison, Sexy Socks donates a pair of colorful socks to a child in need for every pair sold. Hutchison also turned to donating masks instead of socks. “Part of the ideas is, we gotta give some back, she (Migalska) had the perfect avenue to market it. So, it’s really just coming together of a number of lucky events,” Hutchison told VOA. Mkwela describes meeting Migalska as a lucky event, and Migalska describes going to Juma Art Tours in Khayelitsha as a lucky event, but the biggest lucky event was the wedding of Pamela, Migalska’s sister and Hutchison on February 29, which brought Migalska and guests from 25 countries to Cape Town for the leap year festivities.Migalska remains unlucky in attempts to return home to Boston in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. Although the lockdown is at Level 3, commercial flights remain grounded. Her flights have been rescheduled three times, and there are no flights until September, making her the only visiting wedding guest remaining in Cape Town. Her tourist visa is expired but she says she “feels safe in this strict lockdown, especially as compared to back home in America.” 
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The leaders of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia agreed late Friday to return to talks aimed at reaching an accord over the filling of Ethiopia’s new hydroelectric dam on the Blue Nile, according to statements from the three nations.Early Saturday, Seleshi Bekele, Ethiopia’s water and energy minister, confirmed that the countries had decided during an African Union summit to restart stalled negotiations and finalize an agreement over the contentious mega-project within two to three weeks, with support from the AU.The announcement was a modest reprieve from weeks of bellicose rhetoric and escalating tensions over the $4.6 billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which Ethiopia had vowed to start filling at the start of the rainy season in July.Egypt and Sudan said Ethiopia would refrain from filling the dam next month until the countries reached a deal. Ethiopia did not comment explicitly on the start of the filling period.Ethiopia has hinged its development ambitions on the colossal dam, describing it as a crucial lifeline to bring millions out of poverty.Egypt, which relies on the Nile for more than 90 percent of its water supplies and already faces high water stress, fears a devastating impact on its booming population of 100 million. Sudan, which also depends on the Nile for water, has played a key role in bringing the two sides together after the collapse of U.S.-mediated talks in February.Just last week, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedu Andargachew warned that his country could begin filling the dam’s reservoir unilaterally, after the latest round of talks with Egypt and Sudan failed to reach an accord governing how the dam will be filled and operated.After an AU video conference chaired by South Africa late Friday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi said that “all parties” had pledged not to take “any unilateral action” by filling the dam without a final agreement, said Bassam Radi, Egypt’s presidency spokesman.Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok also indicated the impasse between the Nile basin countries had eased, saying the nations had agreed to restart negotiations through a technical committee with the aim of finalizing a deal in two weeks. Ethiopia won’t fill the dam before inking the much-anticipated deal, Hamdok’s statement added.African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat said the countries “agreed to an AU-led process to resolve outstanding issues,” without elaborating.Sticking points in the talks have been how much water Ethiopia will release downstream from the dam if a multi-year drought occurs and how Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan will resolve any future disagreements.Both Egypt and Sudan have appealed to the U.N. Security Council to intervene in the years-long dispute and help the countries avert a crisis. The council is set to hold a public meeting on the issue Monday.Filling the dam without an agreement could bring the stand-off to a critical juncture. Both Egypt and Ethiopia have hinted at military steps to protect their interests, and experts fear a breakdown in talks could lead to open conflict. 
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A witness says three people were killed in a small town in Kenya’s Rift Valley during a confrontation between police and residents over the wearing of face masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.  
Police confirmed the deaths but gave a different account.
Human rights activists for weeks have protested alleged killings by Kenyan police officers while enforcing virus-related restrictions. They also accuse officers of using the measures to extort bribes.
Kenneth Kaunda told The Associated Press that violent protests erupted in Lessos on Thursday after residents tried to prevent police officers from taking a motorcycle taxi rider to the station for not wearing a mask. Kenya has made it compulsory to wear face masks in public and failure to comply brings a $200 fine, a hefty fee for many.
Kaunda says residents were tired of police shaking down people for not wearing masks. He asserted that a policeman who had arrested the driver opened fire at the angry crowd, killing a local cobbler.
“He shot at least five times into the crowd,” said Kaunda, a stone mason.
Angered by the cobbler’s death, residents set fire to the house of the local police chief and attacked a police station with stones. In the chaos two other people were shot dead, Kaunda said.
Police said something else sparked the incident.
Kenya’s police spokesman Charles Owino said in a statement that other motorcycle riders tried to prevent their colleague from being arrested for carrying two passengers. The government has restricted motorcycle taxis to carrying one passenger to prevent the spread of the virus.
Owino accused the motorcycle taxi riders of trying to “snatch” a rifle from the arresting officer, leading to the shooting.
Police Inspector-General Hillary Mutyambai told the AP that the police officer who shot the cobbler had been suspended from work and arrested.
Kenya’s police force for two decades has been ranked the country’s most corrupt institution. It’s also Kenya’s most deadly, killing far more people than criminals do, according to human rights groups.
In the last three months 15 people, including a 13-year-old boy, have been killed by police while enforcing the new restrictions, a watchdog group has said. Human rights activists now put the figure at 21.
Activists say there has been no groundswell of widespread public support for change in Kenya, one of Africa’s biggest economies, even as protests have erupted in many parts of the world over police abuse.
But human rights activist Al-Amin Kimathi said that despite the loss of life, it is encouraging to see the public is no longer subdued.
“It is heartening that this time, after the cops killed the first man, the people didn’t sit back but went for the police in protest,” he tweeted. “Serves notice that any other time won’t be the usual resignation.”
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Omar Radi wasn’t surprised to find he was the target of apparent surveillance by Moroccan authorities. The freelance investigative journalist has been threatened and arrested for his coverage of the government, and was most recently summoned by police on June 24. “The situation of journalists in Morocco is very tough,” Radi told VOA earlier this week. “You can face charges, you can face trial and also some kind of invisible threats such as pushing you into poverty by just calling all the editors and saying ‘don’t hire this one.’”The extent of those threats was revealed by Amnesty International, which detailed in a June 22 report how a spyware tool called Pegasus was used to target Radi on at least three occasions between January 2019 and January 2020.In the same time period, Radi, who covers corruption and human rights, was prosecuted for his criticism of the trial of a group of activists. A court in March handed him a four-month suspended sentence. Two days after the Amnesty report was published, police summoned Radi for questioning on suspicion of “obtaining funds from foreign sources related to intelligence groups.” In a statement, the journalist said the summons was “clearly linked” to the Amnesty International report.Pegasus—the spyware tool used to track Radi—was developed by the Israeli firm NSO Group. On its website, the company says its products are used “exclusively” by government intelligence and law enforcement agencies.Pegasus can infect a phone in several ways including via a text message or email with a malicious link. Once a phone is infected, Pegasus can gain access to contacts and text messages, as well as the microphone and camera, according to Citizen Lab — a University of Toronto center focused on technology, human rights, and global security.  NSO Group has been criticized by international bodies and rights groups who say its products endanger journalists and activists. “Ultimately, it puts people at risk because they aren’t able to necessarily even know that they’re being spied on,” Peter Micek, general counsel for global digital rights organization Access Now, told VOA.NSO Group shared a statement with VOA that said it was reviewing the information in the Amnesty International report and takes any claim of misuse seriously. The company said it “has undertaken a Human Rights Compliance Policy to comply with the U.N. Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights,” and it shared a June 1 letter to United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of expression David Kaye on its plans to mitigate the risk that its products are used to interfere with or infringe on rights to privacy and freedom of expression.The statement added that NSO Group seeks to be transparent in response to allegations of misuse but does not disclose the identifies of customers “because we develop and license to States and State agencies technologies to assist in combatting terrorism, serious crimes, and threats to national security.”Morocco’s Washington embassy did not respond to VOA’s request for comment. Micek, from Access Now, said an “opaque” market meant that a lot of the interactions between surveillance companies and governments are unknown to human rights organizations. “What we’re left to do is kind of put to pick up the pieces and put together the puzzle to show how this sector is working in cahoots with abusive governments in violation of our human rights,” Micek said.The use of Pegasus was flagged in 2018 by Citizen Lab, which identified 45 countries where the tool appeared to have been deployed, including against human rights defenders and journalists.Six of those countries, including Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Morocco, have been known to violate the human rights of its citizens, said Bill Marczak, a senior research fellow at Citizen Lab who contributed to its reports on Pegasus.In response to earlier criticism, the NSO Group released a human rights policy on Sept. 10. The policy stated it would require customers to use the products for the sole purpose of limiting “serious crimes” such as terrorism.The Amnesty report said that its forensic analysis of Radi’s phone showed that just a few days later, the journalist was surveilled for a third time. “It’s always a starting point to get companies to commit to respect human rights and promote human rights,” Micek said. “But unfortunately often that’s not much more than words on paper.”Citizen Lab’s Marczak said that the company could be considered more legitimate if a third party organization was conducting oversight into the human rights policy.“Everyone is sort of really waiting to see evidence that the human rights policy is effective and is working right now,” Marczak said. “The company can say they’re implementing a human rights policy, but if they’re the ones that are in charge of enforcing and implementing, then that can be an issue.”Technologies like Pegasus have dangerous implications on how journalists can work, especially in countries with a hostile environment for the media. Morocco, where authorities regularly jail and harass journalists, ranks 133 out of 180 countries, where 1 is the most free, according to the Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders.For Radi, the apparent government interference has caused him to lose sources he previously relied on. He said most of his reporting now is done in person because contacts are hesitant to interact with him over the phone.“It takes more time to be more and more secure. It slows up your work,” Radi said. “You can’t be secure 100 percent.” These dangers are to be expected for journalists who have been surveilled, Micek said. He added that the threat of surveillance “poisons the well of trust in communities.”“People do suffer knock on effects when the surveillance leads to persecution, exile, they’re detained unlawfully, they’re beaten up,” Micek said. “All of these stem from unlawful surveillance.”
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Families in the low-income neighborhoods of Nairobi are using a virtual community currency to pay for food during the coronavirus pandemic.  More than 500 people a day are signing up to use Kenyan Red Cross-supported community inclusion currency (CIC), known as Sarafu, to get food, soap and other essentials.Jane Mutuku, 49, a Mukuru Kayaba resident, buys food using Sarafu, an e-voucher community currency. Sarafu has been a lifesaver for her and her six children; work has been hard to come by for her because of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Mohammed Yusuf/VOA)Jane Mutuku, 49, lives in Mukuru Kayaba, a slum in Kenya’s capital that’s home to at least 80,000 people. The mother of six does manual work, but those jobs have been hard to come by in the past few months because of the COVID-19 pandemic. These days, she buys her food using Sarafu.Mutuku said that for now, she has no money. “I looked for a job the whole of yesterday,” she said, “but didn’t get any job. So I decided to use my Sarafu to buy food. I have no food at home.”Peter Odhiambo runs a food store in the area.  His store is one of about 100 that accept the community currency.  Shop owner Peter Odhiambo’s store is one of 100 food stores that accept Sarafu, a community initiative currency developed by Grassroots Economics and U.S.-based engineering firm BlockScience. (Mohammed Yusuf/VOA)”I can use the Sarafu to buy goods in the area,” Odhiambo said. “For example, if I want to buy rice from the big stores, I buy using Sarafu. For the things that are not available in my community, I turn my Sarafu points into local currency within our established groups. The groups help us to turn our Sarafu into Kenya shillings.”The shops in the area do about $10,000 worth of business each day using Sarafu.Development of currencySarafu was developed by Grassroots Economics and U.S.-based engineering firm BlockScience. Financial contributions from donors are put into a community fund. The fund is then leveraged to create and back the community credit.Roy Odhiambo, an innovation officer at the Kenyan Red Cross, said that “one Sarafu is equal to one Kenya shilling. So when we register the community, we are able to give them a token of 400 shillings. Now they are able to purchase basic goods and services within the community. This Sarafu is able to multiply if they are engaged in income-generating activities or even their businesses.”Like hundreds of thousands of Kenyans who have lost jobs, the people of Mukuru Kayaba struggle to make a living.For Mutuku, she will be able to prepare at least one meal for the day, thanks to the community inclusion currency.
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