DRULAP

WHO Expects to Quickly Tackle DR Congo’s New Ebola Outbreak

The World Health Organization says lessons learned from previous outbreaks of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo and effective therapeutics will allow it to more quickly contain a new outbreak of the deadly disease in Equateur Province.U.N. health officials report there is no link between the Ebola outbreak declared June 1 in Mbandaka, Equateur Province, and the epidemic, which broke out nearly two years ago in DR Congo’s North Kivu and Ituri provinces.

They say the experience gained, however, and lessons learned from tackling this deadly disease in eastern DRC will help them to more quickly stop the spread of the virus in Equateur Province in the western part of the country.

WHO Emergency Operations Manager Michel Yao says the World Health Organization has more than 20 staff on the ground and is ready to send in more, if necessary. He tells VOA that the WHO is working with partners to set up treatment centers, to monitor risks and respond promptly to identify and trace new cases. “Our objective this time is to work through local authorities that were already trained,” Yao said. “They had some experience. So, we have just to refresh and we have to remain behind coaching them. Lesson learned remain the critical one is to work through the community.” The epidemic in eastern DRC, which has infected more than 3,460 people and killed 2,280, finally appears to be winding down. The latest reports from western DRC, where the outbreak has just started, put the number of confirmed and probable cases at 12, including nine deaths.

Two years ago, the same region was stricken with Ebola. It took less than four months to contain the outbreak with the help of an experimental vaccine, which provided protection against the virus.

Yao says the vaccines, which since have proven to be safe and effective, will help to speedily contain the virus. So far, he says, more than 600 people have been vaccinated in Mbandaka and Wangata health zones. He says 3,000 doses of the vaccine are in place and more are expected to be delivered soon.
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UN Chief: ‘Deeply Shocked’ by Mass Graves in Libya

A spokesman for U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres says the secretary is “deeply shocked by the discovery of multiple mass graves in recent days, the majority of them in Tarhouna” in Libya.Tarhouna was a stronghold of renegade General Khalifa Haftar and his forces, but it recently was recaptured. Guterres spokesman Stephane Dujarric says the U.N. chief has called for “a thorough and transparent investigation, and for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.” Guterres also has offered U.N. assistance, Dujarric says, “to secure the mass graves, identify the victims, establish causes of death and return the bodies to next of kin.”Philippe Nassif, Amnesty International’s director for the Middle East and North Africa, told the Associated Press that he wanted his agency or the U.N. “to go in and collect evidence of potential war crimes and other atrocities … so eventually a process takes place where justice can be served.”Tarhouna is 65 kilometers southeast of Libya’s capital, Tripoli.
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Botswana’s Capital City Back on COVID-19 Lockdown

Botswana’s director of health services, Dr Malaki Tshipayagae, announced Friday that the capital, Gaborone, will return to extreme lockdown after eight new COVID-19 cases at a private hospital.“We are concerned because we did not know if it is a communal infection or a hospital-acquired infection, or [it] indicates significant local transmission, or whether there is some form of contamination at the facility,” Tshipayagae said. “As a result, because of those factors, or unknowns, we have decided to shut down or lock down Greater Gaborone.” A further four imported cases were reported Friday, bringing the country’s COVID-19 tally to 60.Tshipayagae said the army and police would resume patrols, effective Friday midnight.“Movement of people will be through a permit and there would be patrols to ensure that rules are adhered to.” People going about their activities in Gaborone, Botswana, before authorities announced the city’s return to lockdown on June 12, 2020. (Mqondisi Dube/VOA)Most economic activities had resumed as the diamond-rich country emerged from a seven-week lockdown that ended May 21.Schools had reopened but will now close in Gaborone and surrounding areas until further notice.Gaborone resident Mpho Marumo said the latest development is a drawback.“It’s quite disappointing really,” Marumo said. “We were looking forward to… the schools, the kids. It’s a really big setback, the schools had reopened and now closed.”Prior to Friday’s 12 cases, Botswana only had one active case. The country has recorded one COVID-19 death.
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All 36 Nigerian Governors Declare State of Emergency Over Rapes and Violence

All 36 of Nigeria’s governors resolved to declare a state of emergency over rape and other gender-based violence against women and children in the country.The decision was made after a meeting among the governors earlier this week.As a part of their initiative, the governors aim to impose tougher federal laws punishing rape and violence against women and children, and to set up sex offender registers in all of the states.The emergency declaration comes after a buildup of the country’s concerns about gender-based violence.Within the span of a few days, from May 28 to June 1, two Nigerian students were raped and killed in separate incidents. The women were Vera Uwaila Omosuwa, 22, and Barakat Bello, 18.Women’s rights activists protested nationwide and the hashtag #WeAreTired circulated on social media.Out Here!#WeAreTiredpic.twitter.com/UXJ2UFGjP1
— Oreoluwa Eyan Nla (@NoraAwolowo) June 5, 2020In November 2019, Nigerian authorities launched the first nationwide register of sex offenders, but the recent state of emergency declaration and recent protests signal that the country seeks to do more to combat gender-based violence.There has been a global increase in gender-based violence since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.According to the United Nations, Argentina, Canada, China, France, Germany, Spain, Britain and the United States, among other countries, have observed a higher number of domestic violence cases.Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, Nigeria already had reported an alarming prevalence of sexual violence.In Kaduna, Nigeria, the U.N. children’s fund has said, one in four boys and one in 10 girls under age 18 have been victims of sexual violence.Barrister Zainab Aminu Garba, the chairperson of the International Federation of Women Lawyers in Kaduna, described rape as an “epidemic” in northwestern Nigeria.Since the pandemic, Nigeria has seen a threefold increase in the number of calls to domestic and sexual violence hot lines.
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African Countries Call for Debate on Racism at the UN Human Rights Council

African countries on Friday called on the U.N. Human Rights Council to organize an urgent debate on racism and police violence, in the context of global mobilization after the death of George Floyd in the United States.In a letter written on behalf of the 54 countries of the African Group, of which he is coordinator for human rights questions, the ambassador of Burkina Faso to the United Nations in Geneva, Dieudonné Désiré Sougouri, asked the body to the U.N. to organize an “urgent debate on the current racially-inspired human rights violations, systemic racism, police brutality against people of African descent and violence against peaceful demonstrations.””The tragic events of May 25, 2020 in Minneapolis, USA, which resulted in the death of George Floyd, sparked worldwide protests over the injustice and brutality faced by people of African descent daily in many regions of the world,” wrote the ambassador.”The death of George Floyd is unfortunately not an isolated incident,” he wrote, adding that he was speaking on behalf of the representatives and ambassadors of the African Group.The letter, addressed to the President of the Human Rights Council, Elisabeth Tichy-Fisslberger of Austria, requests that this debate take place next week, at the resumption of the 43rd session of the Council, interrupted in March due to the COVID-19 epidemic.The request comes after the family of George Floyd, families of other victims of police violence and more than 600 NGOs called on the Human Rights Council to urgently address the problem of racism and impunity which benefits the police in the United States.In order for the Council to consider such a request, the approval of at least one country is required.With the request now coming from a large number of countries, “the chances” that such a debate can take place “increase,” a spokesman for the Council told AFP.
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Burundi Court Orders New President Sworn In Soon as Possible

Burundi’s Constitutional Court has ruled that President-elect Evariste Ndayishimiye must be sworn in as soon as possible, following the death of Pierre Nkurunziza.A court ruling issued Friday and obtained by VOA’s Central Africa service said, “It is necessary to proceed as soon as possible to the swearing in of elected president Evariste Ndayishimiye.”Nkurunziza died Tuesday at age 55 at a Burundian hospital where he had been taken two days earlier. The government said the cause of death was a heart attack.FILE – Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza queues at a polling station during elections, under the simmering political violence and the growing threat of the coronavirus, in Ngozi, Burundi, May 20, 2020.His wife was airlifted to Nairobi late last month to be treated for COVID-19, sparking rumors that Nkurunziza also died of the disease.Nkurunziza served three terms as Burundi’s president, taking over at end of a brutal civil war that killed an estimated 300,000 people. His decision to run for a third term in 2015 sparked protests and violence that killed hundreds of people and prompted hundreds of thousands more to flee the country.Ndayishimiye, a retired general who Nkurunziza picked as his successor, won the May 2020 presidential election, and his term of office was originally set to begin on August 20th.Ndayishimiye may now be sworn in as early as next week. Eddie Rwema contributed to this report.
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UNHCR Launches $186 Million Appeal for Sahel Displacement Crisis

The U.N. refugee agency is appealing for $186 million to protect and assist hundreds of thousands of civilians who have been forced to flee from escalating, increasingly brutal attacks from multiple armed groups in the volatile central Sahel region. The agency reports attacks by Islamist extremists and criminal gangs in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have crippled life in the border towns and areas, and forced people to flee their homes multiple times.The agency reports more than 3 million, including 831,000 refugees, are displaced in the region, making the Sahel one of the fastest growing displacement crises in the world. UNHCR spokesman, Babar Baloch told VOA the continuing, indiscriminate attacks on innocent civilians are unfathomable.

“These horrible accounts or incidents include summary executions, the widespread use of rape against women, and attacks against state institutions, including public infrastructure like schools and health facilities …,” Baloch said. “This is a very troubling and tragic trend that we have seen unfolding in the Sahel region. It is very difficult to understand it.”

Baloch said displaced families live in overcrowded sites where access to basic services is minimal.  He said many people arrive in impoverished communities without any belongings. He said they are welcomed by local people, who themselves live hand-to-mouth. In addition, he said escalating insecurity is hampering the delivery of humanitarian aid. Baloch said money from the appeal is a critical lifeline for all these people on the run and for the communities hosting them. “If we do not get enough support, the consequences on the ground for these people in terms of basic needs — food, water, shelter would be disastrous,” Baloch said. “But also, the added element of COVID makes it more important to bring all the relief to the desert area.”  Baloch said 3.1 million people in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger and Mauritania are in desperate need of humanitarian support. For them, he said international aid is a matter of life and death.
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Cameroon Clinic Helps Victims Traumatized by Separatist Conflict

The ongoing separatist conflict in Cameroon’s western regions has created a growing humanitarian emergency that has affected close to two million people. Humanitarian experts say those displaced by the fighting need help resettling, but also psychological support. A clinic in Cameroon’s capital provides rare trauma therapy for those affected, as Moki Edwin Kindzeka narrates in this report by Anne Nzouankeu in Yaoundé.
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Risk of Conflict Rising Between 2 Ethiopia Regional Powers, Report Finds

Tension between Amhara and Tigray, two of Ethiopia’s most powerful regions, is increasing as the country approaches elections next year, says a new International Crisis Group report. The northern Tigray region, which ruled the country for nearly three decades, has been ostracized by the federal government in Addis Ababa, raising the risk of military conflict in the north. The two regions also share a contested border and are at odds over when federal elections should be held.Increased competition involving Ethiopia’s patchwork of ethnic groups and political parties has been a hallmark of the government formed by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, due to greater social and political freedoms granted by his administration.But it is the dispute between the Amhara and Tigray regions, the new report says, that “is arguably the bitterest of these contests, fueled in part by rising ethnic nationalism in both regions.”FILE – Eritrean nationals Goitom Tesfaye, 24, left, and Filimon Daniel, 23, are pictured at their garage in Mekele, Tigray region, Ethiopia, July 7, 2019.William Davison, the Crisis Group’s senior analyst for Ethiopia, tells VOA that Amhara citizens believe that several key zones, notably the Wolqait and Raya areas, were annexed by Tigray when the current Ethiopian federation was mapped out in the early 1990s.“The problem has been there in some form for decades,” Davison said. “It flared up and became more prominent during the anti-government protests [between 2016 and 2018.] It has not gone away and it is simmering away as one of Ethiopia’s major inter-regional fault lines.” Adding to the heightened tension, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, the former ruling party, has threatened to hold its own regional election.Plans to hold a vote have led political elites in Tigray and Amhara to adopt increasingly hardline stances toward each other, the report says, noting a recent warning from Prime Minister Abiy that any such act would “result in harm to the country and the people.” Davison pointed out that relations between the TPLF and the federal government, to which members of the Amhara Democratic Party belong, are becoming “increasingly acrimonious.”“People have to be seeking a compromise and we need a political atmosphere to seek that compromise,” Davison said. “But what I’m getting at is that we obviously do not have that, unfortunately, at the moment…Whilst we have that situation, it’s going to be hard to make any progress on this entrenched territorial dispute between Amhara and Tigray. So, the problem is simmering and it’s not going away and the worse that Tigray and TPLF relations get with other federal actors, the bigger potential risk there is that this problem with Amhara could turn into something more deadly.” Numerous Amhara and Tigray officials, including Fanta Mandefro, deputy president of the region, did not respond to repeated calls for comment. But Dessalegn Chanie Dagnew, chairman of the opposition National Movement of Amhara, said via a messaging app that Ethiopia’s regional map based on ethnic territories has been the root cause of many tensions, not just between the Amhara and Tigray regions, but many others.“I would say it [violence] has happened in most of the areas and it’s not [unique] to the Amhara and Tigray regions,” Dessalegn said. “But still, in spite of all these things, I wouldn’t expect that there would be an open clash.”To reduce tensions, the International Crisis Group recommends that the national boundary commission facilitate dialogue by providing information on the contested land and the two regions’ current and former demographics.

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COVID-19 Spread Speeding up in Africa, WHO says

The World Health Organization said the rate of infection of the novel coronavirus is accelerating across Africa.The WHO warned Thursday it took 98 days to reach 100,000 cases on the continent and just 19 days to reach 200,000 cases.South Africa, which has one of the highest coronavirus rates on the continent, is representative of the rapid surge in cases and deaths.Late Thursday, South Africa’s Health Ministry reported 74 more coronavirus deaths, and more than 3,157 new cases over a 24-hour period.The WHO said South Africa is the hardest-hit country, accounting for 25 percent of the continent’s total cases.So far, South Africa has confirmed more than 58,000 COVID-19 cases and more than 1,200 deaths.
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Ethiopia Races to Stave Off Coronavirus in Refugee Camps

Tens of thousands of refugees from Eritrea are at risk of contracting the coronavirus after the first case was found in one of Ethiopia’s largest refugee camps. Experts and humanitarian workers say conditions in four northern camps holding approximately 100,000 Eritrean refugees are ideal for the virus to spread with people living close to each other in confined spaces. Authorities in Ethiopia are racing to improve health facilities and water levels at the country’s 26 refugee camps after the government confirmed that a 16-year-old girl from Eritrea had tested positive for the coronavirus last week. The patient has since been transferred to a government hospital where she is in stable condition, said Ann Encontre, country representative for the U.N. refugee agency in Ethiopia. The girl lives in the Adi-Harush camp, which houses about 33,000 people. Samples from two more suspected cases from the camp, located in the Tigray region, are currently under examination at a government laboratory. Ethiopia’s Administration for Refugee and Returnee Affairs (ARRA) has worked with the U.N. to increase the amount of water at camp sites in the Tigray region to an average of 15 liters per person per day, closer to the necessary 21 liters the U.N. recommends. Encontre told VOA via a messaging app that containing the spread of the virus will be a challenge considering the living conditions at refugee camps. “It’s really tight accommodation, tight normal social and cultural practices. So, in all honesty we are fairly confident we have done our best but we have to continue our efforts. We cannot let our hands down now,” she said. “We really have to keep the standards…and brainwash basically that this has to be more than ever important to daily living. But the sheer numbers will be a challenge. Some of our camps are 80,000 and above.” Encontre also said there was a big risk of new cases from Eritrea. “Ethiopia continues to be a welcoming country to asylum seekers and people running to save their lives for safety and security. And we do have people who are coming across the borders there. The borders are porous,” she said. Ethiopia has recorded more than 2,500 COVID-19 cases and 35 deaths since the first case was confirmed on March 13, although most of those have emerged in the last two weeks. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus. In January, the government stopped granting automatic asylum to Eritreans in an effort to reduce what it deemed to be a “high influx of unaccompanied minors, illegal migrants and others who do not fulfill the criteria laid [out] for refugee status.” Aid groups have said the policy will force Eritreans wishing to flee their homeland to take the dangerous northern route, toward Libya and Europe. Dan Connell, a visiting researcher at Boston University and an expert on Eritrean refugees, says Ethiopia also changed its policy toward Eritrean refugees in January by issuing more residency permits for refugees to leave the camps. “They went into the camps and they offered out of camp permits to anyone who wanted it. I was told while I was there in February by ARRA that some 5,000 people had accepted it within the first three weeks that it was offered,” he said.FILE – Eritrean refugee children play within Hitsats refugee camp, during the visit of the Crown Prince of Norway, Haakon Magnus and Crown Princess Mette Marit near Eritrean boarder, Tigrai region, Ethiopia, Nov. 9, 2017.The policy is designed to reduce the size of the camps so authorities can eventually close a camp known as Hitsats, which holds around 13,000 people, has less amenities than the other three camps in Tigray and is located in an area with high levels of malaria. “Once you get the virus moving within those camps, the problem gets compounded by the fact that there are many people on the camps distrusting the authorities, and not checking in when they do get sick,” said Connell.Connell also said there was no way to social distance inside many camps and that there are still “significant numbers” of people coming from Eritrea who are not being counted by the government or U.N.
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Coronavirus Poses Leadership Test for Africa’s Heads of State

As Burundi enters a period of mourning for President Pierre Nkurunziza, who died Tuesday, his leadership during the coronavirus pandemic is being scrutinized. Nkurunziza’s official cause of death was listed as “cardiac arrest.” However, FILE – Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza queues at a polling station during elections, under the simmering political violence and the growing threat of the coronavirus, in Ngozi, Burundi, May 20, 2020.”Burundi is an exception, because it is a country that has put God first,” said the president’s spokesperson, Jean-Claude Karerwa Ndenzako. Across the continent, the coronavirus crisis is exposing different leadership styles, with some heads of state embracing the role of crisis leader, while others stay silent or even spread misleading information. Tolbert Nyenswah, senior research associate at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and former deputy minister of health in Liberia, said early, aggressive action by leaders is key. He says the countries where leaders were proactive in instituting testing and contact tracing will be better off. “You’ll find the countries with a high number of cases, like Senegal, Ghana, South Africa, are some of those countries that are very good at doing testing,” Nyenswah said on VOA’s Straight Talk Africa. “Testing, contact tracing, isolation, social distancing, hand-washing, are the tools that we have right now and are the tools to control COVID-19. And so, countries that are doing high levels of testing are on a path to continue back.” FILE – People look at newspapers without adhering to the rules of social distancing despite the confirmed COVID-19 coronavirus cases in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, April 16, 2020.Magufuli, who used to teach chemistry, has been skeptical of the virus and has echoed conspiracy theories, saying its severity is being exaggerated by “imperialists.” On live television, he announced the country’s national laboratory had inflated coronavirus numbers. He even said the virus cannot survive in the bodies of those who pray. Tanzania has also been criticized for its secrecy in reporting cases. The cause of death for the country’s justice minister, who passed away at age 74, has been cloaked in mystery. The U.S. Embassy in Tanzania has warned that the risk of contracting COVID-19 in the country remains high and said the government has not released aggregate numbers in over a month. Nyenswah said ignoring the problem is not a strategy. “Denial and resistance that the disease does not exist will not help the country,” he said. “You cannot hide an outbreak, and that infectious disease will expose you when people begin to die. It will expose the health system and expose the country.”AIDS, Ebola provide lessons Many African leaders are learning from the past. In Uganda, President Yuweri Museveni said scientists had learned from public health crises like AIDS and Ebola. The key, he said, is to determine the most common means of transmission and block it. On May 7, Uganda mandated that people wear masks in public. FILE – Travelers queue to buy bus tickets while adhering to social distancing measures and wearing masks to curb the spread of the coronavirus at the Namirembe Bus Park in Kampala, Uganda, June 4, 2020.”You have a mask because it is riding on the droplets or … the breath of the infected person. If you block it, then you block it. That’s why I would like you to put on the masks all the time,” he said in an interview with NBS-TV, a VOA affiliate in Kampala. Museveni has also advocated a cautious approach to reopening public transportation and schools. He said his administration’s priority is to save lives and will worry about the economy later. “There’s no way you can compare so that many people should die so we make money? No. The money can wait. … So really, there’s no comparison. … You don’t compare the incomparable. With life, we go for life first and then the economy will come later,” he said. Close to homeNigerian President Muhamadu Buhari has probably been touched more personally by the coronavirus than any head of state. On April 17, his chief of staff died from the disease. Like other leaders, he enforced a lockdown but began easing it on May 4 in key areas, including the capital, Abuja, and the largest city, Lagos. Africa’s most populous country has the third-highest number of coronavirus cases, with just over 11,000. FILE – A Muslim man observes Ramadan prayers along the road in open space of Tinubu Square, wearing a face mask and adhering to social distancing measures to curtail the spread of coronavirus in Lagos, May 13, 2020.On June 1, Nigeria’s COVID-19 Presidential Task Force announced it was beginning Phase 2 of the reopening, which includes churches, mosques and hotels. This, despite some health experts warning that the country has not yet hit its peak and risks a jump in cases. Boss Mustapha, chairman of the task force, said the reopening does not signal that the country is letting down its guard. “COVID-19 is still a fight for life,” he said when announcing the reopening. “Our advancement to Phase 2 does not mean that COVID-19 has ended, as Nigeria has not reached the peak of confirmed cases.” This story originated in the Africa Division, with contributions from a one-on-one interview in collaboration with NBS-TV, a VOA affiliate in Kampala, and English-to-Africa’s ‘Straight Talk Africa’ TV show host, Shaka Ssali.
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WHO Says COVID-19 Pandemic is Accelerating in Africa

The World Health Organization reports the COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating in Africa and moving from the continent’s large capital cities into the remote rural areas where it will be more difficult to contain the spread of the disease. Globally, there were more than seven million coronavirus infections Wednesday, including more than 400,000 deaths. Latest reports Wednesday put the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in Africa at more than 200,000, including 5,000 deaths. World Health Organization Regional Director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, notes it took 98 days to reach the first 100,000 cases and only 19 days to move to 200,000 cases. “So, even though these cases in Africa account for less than three percent of the global total, it is clear that the pandemic is accelerating,” Moeti said. “Ten of the 54 countries in Africa are currently driving the numbers, and they account for 75 percent of the total cases. Five countries account for 71 percent of the total deaths.” South Africa has the largest number of cases and deaths. Data show the majority of coronavirus deaths in the region follow a similar trend to that seen in Europe and the United States. That is, most who die are over age 60 and have underlying conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and obesity.FILE – Heath officials check the listings of people who are to be tested for COVID-19 as well as HIV and Tuberculosis, in downtown Johannesburg, April 30, 2020.The pandemic arrived in Africa in February, later than in other parts of the world. Moeti says this gave countries precious time to prepare for the onset of the crisis. She says the experience gained from combatting deadly diseases such as Ebola and HIV/AIDS has enabled countries to quickly scale up their health operations.She says lockdowns and other social measures such as social distancing, were quickly put in place. She says these public health measures have been effective in slowing the spread of COVID-19 in Africa.“However, stay-at-home orders and closing of markets and businesses, have taken a heavy economic toll, particularly on the most vulnerable and marginalized communities, and we know that many African people work in the informal sector of the economy…So, the need to balance between saving lives and protecting livelihoods is a key consideration in this response, and particularly so in Africa,” Moeti said.Africa faces many challenges. Moeti says one of the biggest is the lack of test kits and other supplies. She notes many essential health services are being neglected because of the focus on the pandemic. For example, she says vaccine preventable disease campaigns and regular immunizations against killer diseases have been reduced.She expects Africans will have to live with a steady increase of COVID-19 until there is access to an effective vaccine. However, she says the disease probably could be managed so health systems are not overrun by people who are ill, if Africa gets the supplies and other international support it needs.
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Floyd Killing Finds Echoes of Abuse in South Africa, Kenya

Collins Khosa was killed by law enforcement officers in a poor township in Johannesburg over a cup of beer left in his yard. The 40-year-old black man was choked, slammed against a wall, beaten, kicked and hit with the butt of a rifle by the soldiers as police watched, his family says.
Two months later, South Africans staged a march against police brutality. But it was mostly about the killing of George Floyd in the United States, with the case of Khosa, who died on April 10, raised only briefly.
“We also lost our loved one. South Africa, where are you?” Khosa’s partner, Nomsa Montsha, asked in a wrenching TV interview Friday, eight weeks after she held his hand as he died while waiting for an ambulance.
Her words, in a soft, steady voice, were a searing rebuke of the perceived apathy in South Africa over Khosa’s death. The army exonerated the soldiers in a report that concluded he died from a blunt force head injury that was no one’s fault. His family is still seeking a criminal case.
Floyd’s death also emboldened a small number of people in Kenya to march and tell their own stories of injustice and brutality by police.
Despite racial reconciliation that emerged after the end of the apartheid system, poor and black South Africans still fall victim to security forces that now are mostly black. The country is plagued by violent crime, and police often are accused of resorting to heavy-handed tactics.
Journalist Daneel Knoetze, who looked into police brutality in South Africa between 2012 and 2019, found that there were more than 42,000 criminal complaints against police, which included more than 2,800 killings — more than one a day. There were more than 27,000 cases of alleged assault by police, many classified as torture, and victims were “overwhelmingly” poor and black, he said.
“It is clear that in South Africa, 26 years of democracy have not as yet ensured that black lives matter as much as white lives,” said a statement last week from the Nelson Mandela Foundation, which promotes the vision of the anti-apartheid leader and the country’s first black president.
Angelo Fick, who researches issues of human rights and equality, said white people are policed differently from blacks in South Africa in what he calls “the echoes of apartheid.”
Khosa’s family said his beating death followed accusations by the soldiers that he was drinking a beer in his yard, which was not illegal even though buying alcohol was prohibited at the time because of South Africa’s strict coronavirus lockdown.
The sale of tobacco also is illegal during the lockdown, and middle-class whites discovered buying cigarettes have gotten off with a warning from police.
Montsha described how the soldiers, while beating Khosa, struck her with sjamboks, the heavy whips wielded by security forces during the apartheid era. Police and soldiers still carry the notorious weapons.
“The old house. You put new furniture in but it’s still the old house,” Fick said of the security forces.
In Kenya, the police force has for two decades 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 in Kenya, 15 people, including a 13-year-old boy, have been killed by police while they enforce a curfew, according to a watchdog group. Human rights activists put the figure at 18.
The boy, Yasin Hussein Moyo, was shot in the stomach by police in March as he stood on the balcony of his home. Police have blamed a “stray bullet,” but witnesses say the officers deliberately started shooting at the boy’s apartment building as they patrolled the neighborhood during the curfew.
Kenya’s culture of an oppressive colonial police force is still intact, said Peter Kiama, the executive director of the Independent Medico Legal Unit, which tracks police abuse. There also is a security system that has sought to subdue opposition to the government and, in turn, has become corrupt.
“There is a symbiotic relationship,” Kiama said.
When Kenya created two organizations nearly a decade ago to monitor and hold police accountable, the members of one of them found a severed human head in their new offices on the first day of work. Just in case the message wasn’t clear, there also was a piece of paper with the words: “Tread carefully.”
Kiama’s organization says 980 people have been killed by police in Kenya since 2013, and 90 percent of those were execution-style slayings.
Despite the decades of injustice and brutality, activists say there is no groundswell of public support for change in South Africa and Kenya, two of the biggest economies in Africa.
“I gave up on police violence being an issue around which one could get any kind of attention from politicians, or anyone,” said David Bruce, an expert on South African law enforcement for 20 years.
In her interview on national TV, Montsha looked at the camera and asked South Africans why no one was standing up for Khosa.
“We are crying out loud,” she said.
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Kenya Celebrates Removal of British Queen Victoria Statue

The removal of a prominent reminder of Kenya’s British colonization is being celebrated — five years later.The statue Britain’s Queen Victoria outlasted several of statues from before Kenya’s independence from Britain in 1963.It was beheaded and thrown into nearby brush in 2015, after standing in Jeevanjee Gardens in Nairobi for more than century.Nairobi resident Samuel Obiero was among those this week who welcomed the removal of the statue, saying citizens do not want to be reminded of slavery, colonialism and the suffering it brought.Worldwide, statues that pay homage to people with a history linked to racism and slavery are coming down.The push accelerated after the death of George Floyd, a black American who died last month after a white police officer in Minneapolis knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.The officer is jailed on a murder charge, and the FBI is investigating whether civil rights violations occurred.Three other officers on the scene are charged with aiding and abetting.
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Ex-Lesotho PM Linked to Murder for Hire Plot in Ex-Wife’s Killing

A just filed police affidavit revealed a murder for hire scheme, where Lesotho’s former Prime Minister Thomas Thabane and his wife, Maesaiah, made a down payment of $24,000 to kill his estranged wife Lipolelo three years ago. The French News Press (AFP) said, Deputy Commissioner of Police Paseka Mokete said, Thabane and Maesaiah “wanted the deceased dead so that (Maesaiah) could assume the position of First Lady.” Thabane was in a nasty divorce with Lipolelo when she was shot and killed outside her home two days before her husband’s 2017 inauguration. Police say the initial attempt to kill Lipolelo failed, but it’s unclear what happened. Thabane resigned under pressure last month as leader of the tiny southern African country, amid allegations he was impeding the police investigation. Thabane denies any involvement in the murder, but police say he physically pointed out his ex-wife’s house to. Maesaiah before the ambush shooting. Maesaiah, who is charged with murder, is out on bail. One of her co-conspirators is reportedly helping prosecutors. The police commissioner said, the total payout for the murder for hire was just over $179,000.
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Kushayb’s Surrender Lifts Hopes ICC Could Try Others Wanted for Darfur Crimes

The surrender of ex-warlord Ali Kushayb to the International Criminal Court has raised hope that others wanted for crimes in Sudan’s Darfur region could be turned over to the ICC, including former Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir. Sudanese officials in February said that former officials, including Bashir, would face trial at the ICC. Ali Kushayb is in the custody of the International Criminal Court (ICC) after surrendering to authorities in the Central African Republic on Tuesday. Kushayb was a commander of a militia, the Popular Defense Forces — also known as the Janjaweed — that attacked towns and villages in Darfur as the government of then- president Omar al-Bashir tried to crush a rebellion that began in 2003. The ex-warlord is now facing charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including counts of murder, torture, pillaging and rape. Kushayb’s surrender has raised hope that others wanted for crimes in Darfur could be turned over to the International Criminal Court. Samia al-Hashami was a defense lawyer for protesters arrested during demonstrations against former president Bashir. She says Kushayb’s arrest puts pressure on the current Sudanese government. Al-Hashmi says the transitional government earlier stated that it doesn’t mind forming a hybrid court to sue the accused people of war crimes in Darfur. But since the statement was issued, no serious steps or procedures were taken. The arrest of one of the accused people and the delivery of him to ICC hands in the Hague shall put an end to the lack of progress on this case. Kushayb is one of six men wanted by the ICC for crimes in Darfur. The list of suspects includes Bashir, who was ousted by the military last year after months of protests against his 30-year iron-fisted rule. The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Bashir in 2008, accusing him of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. A Sudanese court sentenced him to two years in detention for corruption last December. There are reports in the Sudanese media that Kushayb may be used as a witness against other war crimes suspects. Political analyst Ahmed Abdelghani thinks that would cause trouble for the transitional government. Abdelghani says if Kushayb is used as a witness for the state regarding war crimes in Darfur, it will lead to political complications, especially that some military institutions might be involved in the conflict, with Kushayb and other militias in committing war crimes and genocides in Darfur region. That step will definitely add confusion to the Sudanese political scene. The Darfur conflict killed more than 300,000 people and has left two million internally displaced. In a statement, ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said Kushayb’s surrender is a milestone in the court’s dealings with the Darfur situation. She called on Sudanese authorities to “ensure tangible justice” for the victims in Darfur without delay, and said ending impunity for atrocities is essential to achieving durable peace and security in Darfur.
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