Journalists in Cameroon have marched to government offices to demand an account of their missing colleague, Samuel Wazizi, after local media this week reported he was died in military custody.  
 
Isidore Abah of the Cameroon Association of English-Speaking Journalists’ (CAMASEJ) says he led scores of reporters Thursday in a march to government offices in the southwestern town of Buea.
 
Abah, who spoke from Buea via a messaging app, said journalists are demanding authorities tell them what happened to their colleague.
 
“We are disenchanted because we got news that our colleague is no more, so we have come here today to express our grief and to tell the governor that journalists are not armed robbers, journalists are not supposed to be treated with disdain.  We have a right, so we have come to express our grief,” he said.
 
Abah said among the government offices they visited was that of Southwest Region Governor Bernard Okalia Bilai.
 
According to Abah, Bilai said only the central government in the capital Yaounde could tell them what happened to Wazizi.
 
Wazizi, whose legal name is Samuel Ajiekah Abuwe, worked for Chillen Music Television.   
 
He was arrested Aug. 2, 2019, for allegedly supporting separatists in Cameroon’s English-speaking northwest and southwest regions by hosting fighters on his farm.  
 
The military transferred Wazizi from Buea to Yaounde, where he had no access to lawyers or family and has not been seen since.  
 
On Wednesday, Cameroon media reported that Wazizi died in military detention in Yaounde.  Neither Cameroon’s military nor government have so far commented on the reports.   
 
Journalists in the French-speaking town of Douala staged a similar protest march Thursday to government offices.   
 
Press groups threatened to extend their protests to towns all over Cameroon if the government on Thursday fails to issue a statement. 
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Kenya’s Independent Policing Oversight Authority (or IPOA) on Thursday announced a police officer was being charged with murder in the shooting death of Yassin Hussein Moyo.The thirteen-year-old boy was standing on the balcony of his parent’s home in Nairobi on March 30 when he was hit by a bullet as police enforced a nighttime coronavirus curfew.Jonathan Lodompui, vice chairman of the policing oversight authority, a civilian group established to investigate and audit police misconduct, says more officers have been disciplined, but he would not disclose how many.  “They have really been disciplined.  Some of them have been recalled, some of them have been interdicted, and some certain disciplinary action or role models have been preferred against them,” he said.The IPOA said Thursday that five other police officers were facing charges over other deaths, shootings, and assaults that pre-dated Kenya’s curfew.  In a statement earlier this week, the oversight body said 15 deaths linked to police during the curfew are under investigation.   But rights groups say since Kenya’s curfew began March 27 police are responsible for at least 26 deaths, the vast majority in poor neighborhoods.   Juliet Wanjira is secretariat of the Mathare Social Justice Centre, an organization that documents extrajudicial police killings.  She says charges brought against officers has not led to fewer civilians being killed.  “Arresting the killer of Yassin Moyo is not going to bring Yassin Moyo back. It’s not going to. What is justice really? Justice is preventing Yassin Moyos from being killed, and that is what we need IPOA and this government to do.”Public anger is beginning to boil over.  Video on social media showed protesters defying the curfew Monday night in Nairobi‘s Mathare slum and setting tires on fire in outrage over the shooting death of an elderly homeless man.  The protesters accuse Kenyan police of killing the man, whom locals called Vaite, while enforcing the curfew.  Speaking to Kenya’s NTV news Tuesday, Kenya Police Spokesman Charles Owino claimed that Vaite was shot not by police but by men on motorcycles. “If any police officer, including myself, if I take the law into my own hands and kill someone, you will not need to expose it. I’ll be taken to court,” Owino said.The police oversight authority says Vaite’s death is one of those being investigated.The IPOA says 87 complaints of police violence have been lodged since the curfew, including shootings, robbery, and sexual assault. The executive director of Amnesty International Kenya, Irungu Houghton, says the spike in cases shows that not enough disciplinary actions are being taken.“If you continue to retain a veil of secrecy around both the disciplinary actions that you’re taking and the officers that are being disciplined, then essentially what you are sending is a signal to the other officers is that they can continue doing what they’re doing and that there will be no consequences.” Kenya’s prosecution of police officers is exceedingly rare.  Since its establishment in 2012, the IPOA has convicted only seven police.  
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A senior South Sudanese army officer implicated in the shooting deaths of four civilians has succumbed to his injuries and died at a hospital in Juba. A source in the office of President Salva Kiir who is not authorized to speak to the media said Lual Okook Wol Kiir died from injuries he sustained during a gunfight involving his bodyguards and civilians on the outskirts of the city on Wednesday. At least three other people died in the shootout in Juba’s Sherikat neighborhood.  Residents say the shootings occurred when Wol Kiir, a distant cousin of the president, ordered soldiers and police to open fire on demonstrators. Demonstrator Juuk Thiong Juuk said Wol Kiir, who was also known as Lual Marine, was trying to steal land from local residents. “Lual Marine is trying to grab land from the civilians and when the citizens try to reopen their businesses, Lual Marine came with his soldiers and immediately started shooting civilians and in that moment he shot dead two men and one women and other five are injured,” Juuk told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus program. Shortly after the shootings took place, some Sherikat residents took to the streets to demonstrate. They chanted slogans condemning President Kiir, burned tires, and blocked the Nimule highway, a major route leading into and out of Juba. A statement released by presidential spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny on Wednesday called the killings a “very serious criminal act” and said the perpetrators “must be punished.”  Lual Marine was arrested by authorities before he died.   South Sudan Army spokesman Major General Lul Ruai Koang said there was a “misunderstanding” in Sherikat “and it got out of hand and as a result, some shooting ensued between him and his bodyguards on one hand and civilians on the other.”  Police and soldiers were seen using live bullets to disperse demonstrators in Juba Wednesday. Resident Garang Abraham said he witnessed an officer shoot another demonstrator. “We were coming together and he got shot by the police. He is wounded here on the leg from inside,” Abraham told South Sudan in Focus. Abraham said the demonstrator later died. Demonstrator Amer Majur said she and other Sherikat residents are angry over the killings. “Today, the government is killing our brother. They are killing our sisters. Very innocent, very innocent lady, who making their tea to help their kids and the one that killed them is government of South Sudan,” Majur told South Sudan in Focus. Ateny’s statement said, “The President of the Republic urges restraint from the families and community of the victims.”   
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After a few fits and starts, South Africa will gradually open schools this coming week, and feelings are mixed about the event as students between 7th and 12th grade go in first. Is it safe? Is it too soon, or overdue? Anita Powell in Johannesburg reports on what doctors, teachers and educational experts are saying.
Camera: Zaheer Cassim   Producer: Rod James
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The wife of former Lesotho Prime Minister Thomas Thabane, who was charged with killing her husband’s first wife, is back in prison after a judge revoked her bail last week, pending a June 16 hearing.Maesaiah Thabane was taken into custody Wednesday. She was initially charged in February for her alleged involvement in the 2017 shooting death of Lipolelo Thabane, just before her husband’s inauguration.Days after Lipolelo’s killing, Maesaiah married Thomas Thabane.Maesaiah’s current legal challenge marks her second stint in prison.  She spent hours in jail before posting bail earlier this year and traveling to South Africa to be with her husband seeking medical attention there.Police arrested her when she returned to Lesotho. Her husband, who could also be charged in the case, told the French News Agency (AFP) he didn’t kill anyone, certainly not his wife.Lesotho is a small African country surrounded by the much larger South Africa.   
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The rallying cries #JusticeForUwa, #JusticeForTina and #JusticeForJennifer have reverberated among internet users in the country as celebrities have joined virtual campaigns drawing inspiration from Black Lives Matter protests in the United States.  The latest outpouring of anger has been unleashed by the cases of three women and girls who were killed or raped in incidents activists say showcase the sexual violence and police brutality widespread in Nigeria.  In April, an 18-year-old known only as Jennifer was allegedly attacked and raped by a gang of five men in the northern city of Kaduna.  The case only gained attention after her relatives — scared the accused would escape justice — released a video online of family comforting the traumatized teen that was shared tens of thousands of times.  Now local police say two men have been arrested for rape and three other suspects are being sought.    Two cases that happened last week sparked even more outrage.  A 16-year-old high school student called Tina Ezekwe was fatally shot after police opened fire at a bus stop in biggest city Lagos during a night-time coronavirus curfew.  After an outcry online the police force said two officers had been detained and were facing disciplinary action and possible prosecution.The same day in southern Edo state 22-year-old university student Vera Uwaila Omozuma, known as Uwa, was found beaten to death in a church after reportedly being raped.  A female blogger from the area drew the attention of hundreds of thousands of internet users with the hashtag #JusticeForUwa.Under pressure the regional governor and police pledged an investigation to track down those responsible for the killing of the microbiology student.  ‘Bring light’For Nigerians the internet is a key outlet for protests in a country where taking to the streets can often draw a punishing response from security forces and officials frequently duck accountability.   “Social Media is a tool to bring light on police, or institutions,” Segun Awosanya, the head of Social Intervention Advocacy Foundation that campaigns against abuses by law enforcement.  “Once the light is on them, they have to go back to the cases and dig them up. They can’t keep quiet anymore.”Now the protests rocking cities across the US in the wake of the killing of George Floyd and the power of the online campaigns against police brutality there appear to be pushing more Nigerians to demand action.  “We see the crowds in America, and its an opportunity to share our pain and our displeasure,” Awosanya, who has more than 500,000 followers on Twitter, said.  ‘#Wearetired’While the online protests were sparked by violence against women, they have quickly began tapping into broader anger about the state of the country.  Now some of Nigeria’s biggest stars have ditched their usual reticence to get involved in politics and are speaking out.  “#WeAreTired of senseless killings, lorries falling on road and killing passengers, ACs catching fire and burning houses, young girls getting raped, young boys killed,” tweeted Afropop diva Tina Sawage to her four million followers.  “Please add your own frustration because my list is long.”Sawage has been joined by other celebrities like music producer Don Jazzy, who has 4.6 million followers, and singers Mr Eazi and Rema who railed against rape in the country and police violence.  “The police kills [sic] black Americans and the Nigerian police kill Nigerians,” wrote the even more popular star Wizkid in Pidgin to his 6.5 million followers, taking direct aim at President Muhammadu Buhari.“Buhari/Trump are the same person — only difference is that one knows how to use Twitter.” 
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The novel coronavirus has complicated the election-year calendar for Africa, as elsewhere, prompting some polling delays, suspensions and uncertainties. It also has created openings for leaders to exploit fears and tighten their grips on power, political observers say.At least nine African countries – including Nigeria, Kenya and Zimbabwe – have postponed elections at some level because of COVID-19 infection risks, the FILE – A police officer prods a man at a checkpoint during lockdown in the Eastleigh neighborhood of Nairobi, Kenya, May 7, 2020.Punitive measuresThe storms already have started, says Human Rights Watch’s Africa director, Mausi Segun.Governments have declared states of emergency and imposed lockdowns to halt the spread of infection. But some have used restrictions to crack down on perceived enemies, she told VOA.In Guinea’s capital, Conakry, “we have seen it used against political opposition. Many are being arrested in their homes under the cover” of COVID-19 restrictions, Segun said. “We’ve seen them [governments] use it against journalists in Somalia, Rwanda and in Nigeria.”She also noted crackdowns against the LGBT community in Uganda, where a presidential election is expected early next year – and where longtime leader Yoweri Museveni has hinted at a possible delay. “It will be madness” to vote while COVID infection risks lurk, Reuters reported him saying in a local television interview last month.Lockdowns have weakened opposition forces – including minority political parties and civil society groups – across the continent, Fomunyoh says. He points out they are unable to hold public meetings. Without rallies, it’s harder to mobilize support – especially in countries where communications technology is limited.The COVID-19 crisis already is sparking political instability, with opposition parties and civil society groups accusing government security forces of abuse and attacks in South Africa, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and elsewhere.Push to protect healthIn campaigning and polling, health experts have called for coronavirus safeguards.”It is very important to keep that physical distance and assuring these events do not become an occasion for the virus to spread further into the population,” Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organization’s regional director for Africa, was quoted by the AFP newswire. South Korea has been held up as a model for protecting this fundamental democratic exercise. In its April 15 parliamentary elections, voters respected social distancing in polling lines, wore masks and gloves, and used hand sanitizer, a VOA reporter observed.South Koreans Preserve Democracy, Even During Pandemic South Korea vote could serve as model for other democratic countries The country had its largest turnout in nearly three decades in giving the ruling liberal party a victory, CNN reported. With a population of 51 million, South Korea had almost 11,600 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 273 deaths as of Wednesday, according to Johns Hopkins University researchers.Precautions against COVID-19 infection were far less prevalent in the central-east African country of Burundi, where leaders permitted large political rallies and unrestricted movement before its May 20 vote. In campaigning, retired General Evariste Ndayishimiye, the ruling party’s presidential candidate, downplayed fears, saying, “God loves Burundi, and if there are people who have tested positive, it is so that God may manifest his power.” Burundi’s election commission named Ndayishimiye the winner with 69% of the vote, an outcome that leading opposition candidate Agathon Rwasa has challenged in the constitutional court.Crowds also have turned out in Malawi, where a rerun of last year’s contested presidential vote is set for July 2 but may be moved up to June 23. As of Wednesday, 358 COVID-19 cases and four deaths were confirmed in the landlocked southeast African country of 18 million.Conflicting currentsEspecially in countries with upcoming elections, Fomunyoh says he sees two opposing currents. The first is what he calls “authoritarian opportunism.” The second is “democratic resilience.”With authoritarian opportunism, leaders “use the cover of the pandemic and COVID-19 to shrink political space even further,” he says. They “tilt the playing field for elections in a way that would favor either themselves or their preferred candidates.””The strongest arm of government, as we see right now, is the executive branch, in most countries,” Fomunyoh says. “And so, it’s an imbalance that existed in the past but that has now been aggravated by the crisis.”Democratic resilience, the second current that he sees flowing from the COVID-19 situation, is positive.”Despite these challenges, political leaders, electoral officials, civil society, the media and all of the progressive forces that we continue to see across Africa are going to work collectively,” he says, “to make sure that the emerging democracies that we see on the continent come out of this crisis stronger.”Ideally, the analyst says, leaders will resist the temptation to stifle critics and will go beyond “patronage networks” to consult other stakeholders when making important decisions. They’ll choose accountability and transparency rather than use coronavirus as an excuse for secrecy. But, he says, “it’s a long shot. Old autocratic habits die hard.”Fomunyoh encourages all political parties to engage with citizens. Otherwise, he says, “the electoral process could become a very hollow process, and whoever gets declared as the winner may not have the legitimacy to be able to govern.”Carol Guensburg contributed to this report, which originated in VOA’s English to Africa Service.  
 
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In Ethiopia, mobile applications are spreading fast to help health care workers and the public fight against COVID-19, which has claimed 12 lives in the country and affected about 1,100 people.  Ethiopian web developers have designed seven apps that do everything from virus tracing to sharing data and patient information among health workers.  But while the apps are spreading in cities, getting into remote and poor areas of Ethiopia remains a challenge.  FILE – Ethiopians have their temperature checked for symptoms of the new coronavirus, at the Zewditu Memorial Hospital in the capital Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, March 18, 2020.Just days after Ethiopia confirmed its first case of the coronavirus in March, 38-year-old software engineer Mike Endale, who emigrated to the U.S. 20 years ago, sent out a solitary tweet calling for help.   He called on all software developers and engineers in the Ethiopian diaspora to help the health ministry by contributing open source software to respond to COVID-19. Endale became coordinator of the Ethiopia COVID-19 Response Team, a volunteer force of doctors, artificial intelligence specialists, software engineers and data analysts.   He spoke via a messaging application from Washington, D.C., where he works as principal technologist at BLEN Corporation, a company that provides technology solutions for the public sector and charities.   “People just organically gathered around a slack channel and we started figuring out how to help,” he said.  “So, the impetus for the group was… to see if we could augment the Ministry of Health’s work in a couple of areas.  One originally was around tech.  Luckily for that there was already an internal initiative going on that started a day before [we originated].  We got connected with them and we started working on broad-based solutions.”  Alongside software engineers at the Ministry of Health and the Ethiopian Public Health Institute, Endale’s army of tech gurus helped to develop a series of applications to aid health workers.   The apps allow health workers to register the identity and medical profiles of people entering the country and also record information about those in contact with COVID-19 patients.  The ministry’s contact tracing team is then sent into communities with tablet computers to identify suspected infections and test for the virus.   Though still limited in their use, the apps are modernizing how health workers and hospitals accurately and quickly share information in Ethiopia, where — until the pandemic — patient data was recorded on paper.   Other apps created through the response team can be downloaded by the public. The COVID-19 Ethiopia app was launched in late May so that the public can self-report cases or alert health authorities to others with symptoms.  And an app called Debo captures the identity of anyone who comes within two meters of the user so that contacts can be traced should the person one day test positive. “This is very important work for the country in responding to COVID-19,” said Biruhtesfa Abere, a senior health information specialist at the Ministry of Health. “Also, for decision makers, the ministry task force is sitting here trying to forecast how many cases they’re going to have in the future, next month.  So, they need data, they need baseline data.”  Biruhtesfa says the digital tools mean that test results — thousands per day — can be shared to health workers nationwide within 24 hours, allowing those who test negative for the virus to leave isolation quicker. Data in the apps are also being used to record where test kits are sent in Ethiopia, how many are being used, and how many are being wasted.  But while the apps are making progress in cities, Biruhtesfa says getting rural health workers using the tools where good internet and smartphones are rare, is a challenge.  “The tool can help you manage your records, maintain contact listing and [record] the relationship of the positive person’s contacts in the past 14 days.  That is basically automated and fully functional,” he said.  “But the problem is bringing the users on board to use the system.  We are strongly pushing contact tracing and the follow-up team to record using the system and they are coming a little bit at a time.  They will be on board very soon.”  Biruhtesfa says the health ministry is rolling out training sessions via video link to health workers in rural areas so they can learn how to use the applications.  And 30,000 tablet computers that were to be used for Ethiopia’s national census are being repurposed so that health workers in areas with poor internet can also use the applications.   Endale’s global network of volunteers are now organizing themselves beyond developing digital apps for Ethiopia.  He says members of the community have organized themselves into ten different work streams for tasks such as donation drives and repairing ventilators.              
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Journalists and activists in Cameroon are calling on the government to respond to media reports this week that the military has killed in detention journalist Samuel Wazizi. The military detained Wazizi about a year ago for allegedly supporting anglophone separatists and he has not been seen in public since. Lawyer and rights defender Christopher Ndong says he has reliable information that Cameroonian journalist Samuel Wazizi died in a military hospital in Yaoundé of wounds inflicted on him by the military.”The brutal torture that was exerted on Wazizi by military officers is a condemnable act,” said Ndong. “He was arrested and badly tortured and when he fell ill, they took him to a military hospital in Yaoundé, where he finally died.  And so, we are asking for an independent investigation to detect all the culprits so that they should be brought to book and punished.”Ndong says does not know when Wazizi died but most local media have this week been reporting his death as confirmed and that military officials are refusing to release his body. Cameroonian activists and journalists are calling on the government to respond to the reports and explain the circumstances, if Wazizi is in fact dead.  Ambe Macmillan Awah is president of Cameroon’s Association of English-Speaking Journalists (CAMASEJ).  He says Wazizi’s death in prison would prove how officials continue to abuse the media.  “Cameroon is a state of law and our laws provide for journalists to be tried.  So, we keep asking, why was the law not applied?  We are calling on the competent authorities to investigate and bring all the perpetrators to book,” said Awah. “Nobody is above the law.”Samuel Wazizi, whose legal name is Samuel Ajiekah Abuwe, worked for Chillen Music Television.  Police arrested Wazizi last August for allegedly supporting anglophone separatists in Cameroon’s English-speaking western regions and turned him over to the military.  He hasn’t been seen since.  The military claims Wazizi was hosting rebels on his farm.  After Wazizi’s disappearance, authorities threatened to go after any journalists reporting on alleged military abuses or giving a voice to the rebels.  Yaoundé-based freelance journalist Ndi Eugene Ndi says it is becoming impossible to report in Cameroon’s English-speaking west regions under such pressure.  “If you do a report which seems like giving some little credit to the separatists, you should be sure of meeting a military court,” said Ndi. “It is not easy.  We are not safe.”Cameroon’s Association of English-Speaking Journalists (CAMASEJ) says Wazizi was being held in a prison in the capital, Yaounde.  Both a military spokesman and a government spokesman refused to comment on Wazizi and the reports of his death.  
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The U.N. refugee agency reports more than 1,000 people have fled a site in western Niger following an attack by unidentified armed men on Sunday. The group — a mix of Malian refugees, displaced and local Niger nationals — has arrived in the town of Telemces, some 27 kilometers away. The attack, which occurred about 70 kilometers from the Malian border, left two Malian refugee leaders and a local host community leader dead. The U.N. refugee agency says it fears more deadly assaults will occur in this volatile region.   The agency said there has been a sharp increase in attacks in the past few months in the Liptako Gourma region where the borders of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger intersect. UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic told VOA armed groups operating in the area are deliberately targeting local communities to drive people further inland in Niger. “It is clear that this is an area where they see the possibility of being able to use the border area between the three countries and to operate with impunity,” Mahecic said. “Obviously, that is why it is so important that there is a response to this.”   While security is important, Mahecic said it also is important to take into account the huge humanitarian and displacement needs in the region. Militant Islamist groups and armed criminal gangs operating in the Sahel have terrorized the civilian population for years, creating a huge displacement crisis. The UNHCR reports more than three million people are displaced in the region, including an estimated 820,000 refugees. Mahecic said the UNHCR, along with partners and local authorities, are providing immediate aid to those fleeing, especially water so people do not die of thirst in the desert heat. He said water also is needed to help fight COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. “Despite violent attacks and insecurity severely limiting humanitarian access to those in need of protection and assistance, we are stepping up our response in Niger, focusing especially on providing shelter, education and programs to prevent and address sexual and gender-based violence,” Mahecic said.The UNHCR has condemned what it calls the assassination of the Malian refugee leaders. It is calling on all sides to respect civilian lives. The agency says those responsible for these crimes must be brought to justice to deter others from committing similar acts. 
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Some parts of Kenya’s capital have been without running water for weeks, after a landslide destroyed a water pipe, making frequent hand washing for coronavirus prevention a challenge. Water distribution points have been set up to help tens of thousands of Kenyans cope.For more than two months, Maureen Mkala has taken a narrow alley in Mathare slum in Nairobi to get water for her family, including three children. She ends up at a crowded water point and it takes her an hour to get 20 liters of water. “I look for water to clean my hands so that I don’t get the virus. We have a water problem and you are forced to go to the crowded water points to get water,” she said. A landslide in April destroyed a major water pipe in central Kenya, cutting off running water to entire Nairobi neighborhoods.    The need for water has increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as more people are encouraged to wash their hands regularly to limit the spread of the virus. Roda Angaya said she is forced to ignore health guidelines in order to get water. There are many people at the water point, and they are told to keep one-meter distance to limit the spread of coronavirus, Angaya said, questioning how that is possible when everyone is fighting to get the little water that is available. In central Kenya, engineers are fixing the water line to restore running water supplies, which fell by as much as 20%.The Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company said they have reduced the water loss to about 10% and the new line being installed will resolve the shortage.“There won’t be landslides where we are taking the line through,” said Nashashon Muguna, Managing Director at Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company. “The line realignment is about 3.4 kilometers. We expect by mid-June we will be through with it. Already, road work has been done on 8 kilometers. So, all the materials can be able to access the site easily.”For the people of Mathare, and tens of thousands of others forced to collect water during the pandemic, the work cannot be finished soon enough.
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Malawi is seeing a surge in COVID-19 cases as citizens return from South Africa, the country hit harder than any other in Africa. Hundreds of returnees are expected to arrive in Malawi this week, raising fears the figures will increase even more. Out of nearly 1,000 Malawian migrant workers who recently came home, 134 tested positive for the coronavirus, almost doubling the country’s total cases. Malawi started registering a rise in COVID-19 cases on Thursday, a few days after the return of a group of migrant workers who had been stranded in South Africa because of a coronavirus lockdown.Of the 102 cases confirmed Thursday, 92 were among the returnees, the highest number of new cases in a single day since Malawi confirmed its first case on April 2.The trend continued this week. The Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 said out of 52 cases confirmed Monday, 42 were from people who have just returned from South Africa.And in a more alarming development, about 400 returnees escaped last week from a stadium where they were being held in quarantine. Officials are concerned the escapees will spread the virus when they go back to the rural areas where most of them live.Dorothy Ngoma, former president of Malawi’s National Organization of Nurses and Midwives, told VOA that it’s time for Malawian political leaders and clergy to help teach people about ways to prevent the virus from spreading.“We must go house to house and I want to encourage UTM [United Transformation movement Party], Malawi Congress [Party], DPP [Democratic Progressive Party], whatever party; the chiefs, the churches to continue doing this 24 hours a day until we make sure that everybody understand,” said Ngoma.Critics blame the government for failing to enforce anti-coronavirus measures, which include social distancing, use of face masks and closing borders to prevent imported coronavirus.FILE – President Peter Mutharika of Malawi said cash payments aims to support Malawians who normally depend on the markets for their livelihood. (Lameck Masina/VOA)Speaking on live television Monday, President Peter Mutharika said his administration has tried to contain the spread of the virus but politics has undermined those efforts. The country is preparing for a June 23 presidential election.“Our fight against coronavirus is being undermined by politics and politicians. The courts stopped us from going on a lockdown. The same courts want us to go to an election. Now, we have a situation that is encouraging everybody to campaign and undermining social distancing,” he said.Mutharika, who later in the day conducted a political rally, said it is now up to Malawians to choose between fighting coronavirus and going to an election.A survey released this week about public perception of COVID-19 has shown that 82 percent of Malawians are more scared of hunger than being infected with coronavirus.Boniface Dulani is the research director at the Institute for Public Opinion and Research, which conducted the survey.“Our findings, interestingly enough, also show that Malawians support that the elections should be held notwithstanding the risk of coronavirus. So this actually has basically made people think that maybe social distancing is not the best way to fight the coronavirus, which is really dangerous in itself,” said Dulani.Health experts have warned that the ongoing political rallies, coupled with the return of people from South Africa, puts Malawi at higher risk of more COVID-19 cases in the near future. 
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Demolition of Accra’s iconic James Town fishing community began late last month, to construct a China-funded multi-million-dollar fishing harbor. Local authorities pulled down over 300 temporary and permanent structures, including businesses, a school, and places of worship in the largely poor, densely populated area. While many are excited about the prospect of development, the demolition has also raised fears for already precarious livelihoods, as Stacey Knott reports from Accra.Camera: Stacey Knott  Produced by: Rod James
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Minneapolis. Washington. Houston. New York. Detroit. Philadelphia. Atlanta. In recent days, rage in these and other cities over police brutality against black Americans has spread across the United States. But the outrage has also spread to Africa.  Officials on the continent have expressed concern over developments in the U.S. following the death of George Floyd, the black American man killed in police custody in the city of Minneapolis last week.The head of the African Union described Floyd’s death as an act of “murder,” while South Africa’s ruling party is calling for calm in the U.S.Statements from the African continent could portend a shift in global relations — and hopefully, analysts say, make a bigger point: whether you live in Minneapolis or Monrovia, George Floyd’s death affects us all.
 
In Addis Ababa, African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat took the U.S. government to task over the death of Floyd. Going a step further, the former Chadian prime minister used a powerful word that many protesters are using to describe Floyd’s death: Murder.  
 
Meanwhile, U.S. embassies in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo issued rare statements of concern over Floyd’s May 25 death and called for accountability after the arrest of a police officer on third-degree murder and manslaughter charges.  
 
Why? Because, in the words of Carine Kaneza Nantulya, Human Rights Watch’s Africa advocacy director, George Floyd is all of us.  
 
“This is the eternal struggle of any member of a minority community. … It’s going to touch anyone who has had previous experiences of abuse and oppression, be it because of one’s race or religious background, or sexual identity, you name it. And at the same time, it touches me in a way that it is bringing up issues that could be very, very easily forgotten as well. And I guess the struggle, and I think a challenge for every for every institution like the African Union, for leaders around the world, for organizations like ours, is to find the tools to forge ahead, to move to move ahead and to address some of some of the deeply seated social economic issues that are the trigger factors for this,” Kaneza Nantulya said.’A perilously low value on black lives’For decades, African leaders have publicly chafed at what they view as paternalistic treatment from Western nations. This tragic incident, says Andrews Atta-Asamoah, an Addis Ababa-based researcher for the Institute for Security Studies, could compel the African Union to take the lead.“This is a broader issue, and it fits into a broader systemic crisis which the AU can engage the U.S. on, in terms of what needs to be done. Between the AU and also the diaspora community, I think this is an opportunity for the AU now to begin to emphasize exactly what the African-American community go through on a day-to-day basis,” Atta-Asamoah told VOA.
 
And, Kaneza Nantulya says, this strong statement from African leadership could also spur citizens across Africa to demand that the AU stand up for them, too.
 
“It’s important because I think, beyond the United States, it reminds us of what Africans in all their diversity have the legitimacy and the right to ask — not only their government, but also the African Union. I was looking at some of the some of the comments and responses to the chairperson’s tweet when the statement was out. And it was very interesting how people from Cameroon, people from different countries were like, ‘OK, violence also exists in our own countries, and people die in the hands of security forces.’ So that’s another expectation. It’s a layer of expectation that’s now being put on the African Union because of that statement,” Kaneza Nantulya told VOA.
 
This week, as fires burned across the U.S., South Africa’s ruling African National Congress party also weighed in on the mounting crisis, saying the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor show that “American society places a perilously low value on black lives.”
 
But, rights groups are quick to chime in that no society is perfect. Human Rights Watch has documented how coronavirus lockdowns across much of the continent have spurred security forces to cross lines. In Lagos and Nairobi, security officers shot and killed teenagers while attempting to enforce the restrictions.
 
And in April, soldiers entered the Johannesburg home of Collins Khosa, a father of three, and accused him of violating lockdown regulations. His family says they dragged him outside, slammed him against a cement wall, kicked, slapped and punched him. He died hours later, and military authorities exonerated the soldiers implicated in his death. His family is challenging that in court.  
 
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Rwanda says it will announce new restrictions on containing the coronavirus Tuesday, a stark reversal of the country’s plan days ago to ease restrictions, including motor vehicle travel throughout the country.   Rwanda’s latest move is linked to the east African country’s first recorded death from the coronavirus and a surge in cases over the weekend. Rwanda recorded 11 new cases Saturday as the country’s first person to die of the virus was laid to rest. Rwanda also decided to continue restrictions on motor vehicle travel between provinces and the City of Kigali in an effort to protect the public from the spread of the virus. Rwanda has confirmed 370 COVID-19 cases and one death. 
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The World Health Organization has warned that malaria deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa could double this year to 769,000 due to disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Nigeria has the highest cases of malaria in the world but with the global focus on controlling the spread of COVID-19, many malaria patients are not getting to hospitals and intervention could fall through the cracks. Nigerian technology startup Wellahealth is trying to bridge the gap with rapid malaria testing. Timothy Obiezu reports from Abuja.Camera: Emeka Gibson  
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The World Health Organization on Monday confirmed a second outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo, just as an initial outbreak appeared to be ending.At a briefing Monday in Geneva, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said this new outbreak is near the northwestern city of Mbandaka in the DRC’s Equateur province.Provincial Governor Bobo Boloko Bolumbu also confirmed four deaths on local radio. He said samples were sent to the INRC, the national medical research headquarters in Kinshasa, for secondary confirmation. He urged the population to remain calm, maintain good personal hygiene and not greet people “with your hands.”In 2018, Equateur province had an Ebola outbreak that killed 33 people before it was brought under control.Elsewhere, the eastern DRC has been battling an outbreak of the deadly virus since 2018. That outbreak left more than 2,240 people dead. The DRC is also grappling with a measles breakout, the world’s largest, as well as the novel coronavirus, which causes the COVID-19 disease. Close to 3,200 coronavirus cases have been reported in the DRC, according to the Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking cases. Seventy-two deaths have been reported. 
 
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The mystery surrounding a mass die-off of elephants in Botswana is deepening after initial test results ruled out poisoning and anthrax.Wildlife officials had earlier ruled out poaching as no ivory had been taken. But officers have discovered more carcasses as the death toll surpasses 100.Samples would now be sent to neighboring South Africa for further tests.Wildlife officer Dikamatso Ntshebe said more animals could die, as some look sickly.“We are still experiencing elephants dying in the Okavango Panhandle,” Ntshebe said. “We also see elephants that show that they are sick and are on the verge of dying. As of Friday, we had a total count of 110 elephant carcasses.”  
Villagers have been warned against consuming meat from the dead animals.Ntshebe said the public has thus far heeded the call.The Department of Wildlife has begun removing tusks from the carcasses.“We have started removing the tusks in the dead elephants, and we have started burning the carcasses.” Ntshebe said. “We have started with those (carcasses), which are close to the villages, and those that are lying in the water. The idea is to burn as many carcasses as possible. However, we have a challenge since some of the carcasses are in areas which are difficult to reach.”The department is also investigating the cause of the elephant deaths.  The search is complicated by the COVID-19 crisis, which may delay results from the samples. The COVID-19 disease is caused by the coronavirus.Botswana has the world’s largest elephant population, at more than 130,000.Okavango Panhandle, Botswana 
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Schools and universities in Cameroon have opened Monday with hundreds of thousands going to class, despite the number of COVID-19 infections continuing to increase. Cameroon so far has 6,380 confirmed cases of the virus with 273 deaths.  But officials say the increasing number of recoveries from the virus and health measures taken at schools makes them confident that they can handle the pandemic. Speaking on Cameroon state media CRTV on Sunday, Cameroon prime minister Joseph Dion Ngute said president Paul Biya ordered schools that he closed last March 17 as part of measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus to reopen on June 1st because 3, 630 of the 6, 380 COVID-19 patients in the central African state have recovered from the killer disease indicating that the strategy put in place by the government to protect its citizens from the coronavirus is yielding posotive results. FILE – A health worker wearing protective equipment, disinfects a member of medical staff amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at an hospital in Douala, Cameroon, April 27, 2020.The prime minister said a majority of the 2, 300 active COVID-19 patients were responding to treatment and that enough measures have been taken to reduce the risk of contamination at school. “Let us not give into panic,” he said. “The ministers concerned have been instructed to ensure that protective masks are worn and that social distancing is respected. They should also make available the required sanitary kits such as hand sanitizers and hand washing buckets in each establishment.” Ngute said all schools will be disinfected at least three times a week and that schools that lack water will be provided with the liquid daily by the government. Ngute said not more than 24 children will be admitted in classrooms and that only one will sit on a bench instead of four or five as has been the practice. 
 
But 19-year-old Velma Soli says the government did not respect its promises and she decided to return home. “I went to school and I discovered that the face masks and hand sanitizers were not available as the government said so I decided to come back to the house and wait. When the hand sanitizers and face masks are ready, I will go back to school,” she said.Teachers and university lecturers complained that some classes and lecture halls were congested and there was lack of water and soap to wash hands in some establishments.  FILE – Schoolchildren smile as they walk out of school, on the outskirts of Yaounde, Cameroon, Oct. 9, 2018.Naloca Lyonga, Cameroon minister of secondary education says while the government is struggling to provide what is needed to protect children and teachers at school, parents should also make an effort to provide their kids with what is needed to reduce COVID-19 spread and make sure children have their rights to be educated in spite of coronavirus threats. “Do we want to stay at home for ever because there is a virus? No. So this is the time when we should support the leadership of Cameroon,” said Lyonga. “We have made sure that everybody who is involved is going to be covered as far as masks are concerned, as far as the water in the schools are concerned.” Lyonga said after Monday’s return of high school students who will be writing their General Certificate of Education and those of primary school age who will sit the First School Leaving Certificate Examination, the government will for three days observe if the students and teachers are behaving well to stop COVID-19 spread before allowing their peers of other classes to start school on Thursday. 
 
The government said although schools and universities reopened effectively in spite of the coronavirus spread, hundreds of parents especially in the towns of Yaounde, Douala and Bafoussam, that have recorded the highest number of COVID-19 cases in Cameroon, did not send their children to school. The French Embassy in Yaounde asked its citizens not to allow their children to go to school because, according to them, Cameroon’s capacity to take care of COVID-19 cases continue to reduce as the number of positive cases increase.  
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The coronavirus pandemic has left truck drivers in Kenya especially hard-hit. There are fears the drivers themselves have the virus and moving goods has also slowed due to the spread of COVID-19. Mohammed Yusuf introduces us to one driver who has been affected.
Camera: Amos Wangwa  Producer: Jason Godman
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These days 40-year-old truck driver Bob Njagi has a lot of free time. He spends much of it meeting colleagues to talk about COVID-19.Njagi’s contract was terminated after it took too long to deliver goods because of coronavirus restrictions.   “All the goods we were moving to Kampala had to wait for over two weeks before they could cross to the other side. So, this means there is no business, and we are also out of work,” he told VOA. The father of three is finding life difficult since losing his job two months ago.“We depend on work so that we can feed our families. If you don’t work, you don’t have money to feed your family,” he said. “So it’s that direct to us because if we cannot move our goods, if we cannot work, allowed to work how do we feed our families?Long-distance truckers like Njagi are suspected of carrying coronavirus, which has stalled activities at borders in East Africa. Duncan Mutunga, an employed truck driver, says coronavirus has made life difficult.”At the border, every country has its restrictions. In Kenya, we have our challenges. Uganda has its challenge,” he told VOA. “For example, when we arrive in Uganda, they confiscate our possessions, saying they are bringing corona and don’t return them. It’s a problem everywhere. “The restrictions to limit the spread of the coronavirus in East African nations has forced some drivers to work overtime, says Mercy Ireri of Kenya Transport Association.  “It’s forcing transport drivers to be behind the wheel for a very long period of time, and you find that these drivers are suffering from fatigue, and it’s not a very good thing to have a fatigued driver on the road,” she said. “So, we are still calling upon our governments to try and reorganize their measures so that they are favorable to our drivers.”Kenya’s government spokesman, Cyrus Oguna, says truckers must live with these conditions as long as the virus is spreading. “Every truck driver must be able to ensure he plans his journey well so that after 48 hours, he will have been issued with that corona-free certificate to be allowed to travel,” Oguna told VOA.  “What that means is this, for those truck drivers that might test positive, then they will not be allowed to travel. Only those that are negative will be allowed to travel, and then 14 days again they must take another coronavirus test.”  Governments in the region have agreed to work together and share the drivers’ statuses as one way to ease the delay of goods. 
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Botswana’s president, Mokgweetsi Masisi, says his government will allow farmers to keep small game as a way to encourage locals’ participation in agro-tourism. He added that it is paramount for them to have a stake in the industry.
 
Speaking in a televised address Saturday, Masisi said Botswana’s tourism sector needs a boost after the severe impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
 
“In order to revive Botswana’s tourism sector, government shall accelerate initiatives aimed at stimulating local and international tourism by creating an enabling environment for increased investment in the tourism sector, in particular citizen participation,” he said.    
 
Masisi said, as one of the measures to boost tourism, his government will allow local farmers keep wildlife within their properties.    
   
“The agro-tourism guidelines are also being reviewed to facilitate citizens to make a decent living out of their fields (masimo) to complement agro-tourism and diversify its products. Game farming guidelines shall soon be issued to enable those Batswana who are interested to keep small game or wildlife in their fields if they meet set criteria,” Masisi said.    Botswana farmers will soon be able to diversify their activities to include keeping small game. (Mqondisi Dube/VOA)Local farmer Banks Ndebele has previously sought permission to keep small game in his property outside the capital Gaborone.
 
He said while it is a welcome initiative, the government must remove bottlenecks, which might impede the initiative’s implementation.
   
“I think it’s a welcome development. It has always been our belief that agriculture needs to be diversified. One only hopes that the government will remove bottlenecks and impediments that end up discouraging people from taking up the initiative,” Ndebele said.  
 
Tourism is a significant contributor to the southern African nation’s economy, employing nearly 100,000 people.
 
But the impact of COVID-19 has been devastating, with all bookings cancelled for the rest of the year, leaving many people jobless.
 
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Cameroon’s military says three of five men recently arrested by Togolese police and portrayed by Togolese media as notorious criminals who committed serious offenses against Togolese citizens are Cameroonian soldiers, while the other two are former convicts. The three military men stole weapons from the military headquarters in Yaoundé and went to Togo’s capital, Lomé, where they used the weapons to harass Togolese, according to Togolese police.  Cameroonian military spokesperson Atonfack Guemo says investigations by the military indicate that Ntanga Clement Didier Mogo, Oumarou Abdou Fadil and Ewoundjo Elle Serge Hubert, who were arrested in Lomé for robbery and harassment of civilians, are notorious, dangerous and dishonest members of the Cameroon military.  He says Cameroon has started disciplinary and administrative proceedings against the men as provided for by military regulations and that Togo should punish them as its law provides. He says Cameroon’s Defense Ministry denies responsibility for their crimes and atrocities because the men in question have broken off links with Cameroon’s military. Guemo said the other two men arrested in Lomé are civilians with criminal records and were wanted. He said the five arrested in Togo were helped by another military officer, Essimbi Francis, who has been arrested for his role in other crimes and is being held in Yaoundé. Togo media reported May 20 that the five Cameroonians had been arrested in Lomé after using weapons to rob a Togolese businessman of his car and money.  Cameroonian media reported that Yendoube Douti, head of the Lomé research and criminal investigation unit of the Togolese police, said the five men confessed they were using weapons they obtained from the Cameroon defense headquarters in Yaoundé.  He says investigations carried out by Togolese police indicate that the brain behind the group of robbers is Ntanga Clement Didier Mogo, known as Tony, a member of the Cameroon military. He says Tony convinced his colleague, Oumarou Abo Fadil, who was in charge of weapons at Cameroon’s defense headquarters in Yaoundé, to steal automatic pistols and go with him to Togo, where they could make a better living stealing and selling vehicles. Mogo, speaking on the state broadcaster Television Togolese said he and his group traveled to Lomé to buy cars for a senior military official he refused to name, but that they were tempted to steal when their stay was extended by COVID-19 travel restrictions. He says that he did not plan to steal when he left Yaoundé for Lomé but that he asked his colleagues who control weapons at the defense headquarters to accompany him with pistols for security against possible attacks by highway robbers. He says after they got to Lomé, both Cameroon and Togo sealed their borders and they could not return. Mogo acknowledged that Togolese police arrested them after they stole money and a car from a rich Togolese businessman and were trying to escape. He said it was the only act of robbery they committed. Cameroon’s military says whenever they return after facing justice in Togo, they will  answer charges for the crimes committed in Cameroon and for damaging Cameroon’s  image in a foreign country and that for now, they are no longer members of the Cameroonian military.            
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Somali officials say nine civilians were killed and 10 others were wounded in a roadside bomb explosion outside Mogadishu on Sunday. The blast from an improvised explosive device hit a bus transporting civilians from Mogadishu to the town of Wanlaweyn, 90 kilometers west of the capital. The Somali government says al-Shabab is responsible for the attack. “The federal government of Somalia condemns the barbaric act of terrorism committed against the Somali civilians,” read a statement issued by the Ministry of Information. Governor of Lower Shabelle region Ibrahim Aden Najah told VOA Somali that seven victims died on the spot while two others died in hospitals. He said there were a total of 22 people in the bus and only 3 people escaped unharmed. Al-Shabab has been known to plant IEDs in the area of the explosion known as Hawa Abdi, about 18 kilometers west of Mogadishu, to target the Somali military and African Union peacekeepers. These IEDs often miss their targets and kill civilians.  Al-Shabab has been using IEDs increasingly in its attacks in Somalia. Last week, 14 government soldiers were killed in two separate IED attacks in Middle Shabelle and Lower Shabelle regions. Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for both attacks. The Director of the U.N. Mine Action Service Agnès Marcaillou told the U.N. Security Council earlier this month that there more than 160 IED attacks through the end of April in 2020. The U.N. has reported a drop in civilian casualties in Mogadishu this year, which was attributed to the current security plan and military operations in the neighboring Lower Shabelle region.    
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