In Nairobi, the residents of Eastleigh, a predominantly Somali neighborhood, will celebrate Eid al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan, in lockdown after the government extended the movement in and out of the area for another two weeks. Some families say they have never experienced an Islamic celebration like this one. Mohammed Yusuf reports.
Camera: Amos Wangwa, Producer: Jason God
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At least four civilians were killed and more than 15 others were wounded in a bomb blast during Eid al Fitr celebrations outside the Somali town of Baidoa, witnesses said.Two of the dead are children, according to reports from the scene.
 
The explosion occurred on Sunday afternoon as people performed traditional dances in a field near an internally displaced persons camp north of the town.
Somalia observed Eid al Fitr on Saturday but festivities continue for three days according to Islamic traditions.
 
A security official who could not be named says celebrations were held in the field Saturday without incident. He said he believes the bomb was planted before celebrations continued for a second day Sunday.
 
Earlier on Sunday, a police general survived a roadside explosion targeting his vehicle in Mogadishu. General Ali Hersi Barre and his bodyguards escaped unhurt following the explosion.
 
General Barre is the acting chief of the health department of the national police. He was targeted on May 20 when a similar roadside explosion hit his vehicle. Gen Barre was not in the vehicle, but one of his bodyguards was killed and three other people were wounded.There was no immediate claim responsibility for either attack Sunday, but security officials suspect al-Shabab was behind the blasts.
 
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It’s a reverse migrant crisis: Moroccan workers trapped in Spain are begging their own government to let them come back home.    Construction worker Mohammed Benali is among hundreds of Moroccans who headed to their jobs in Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta one day in March thinking they’d be home for dinner — but instead they found themselves trapped for more than two months by Morocco’s abrupt and unusually strict border closures to keep out the virus.    They have slept in a parking lot, gyms, mosques, churches or with generous employers. One stranded woman gave birth. A few were so desperate they jumped into the Mediterranean Sea to swim home.    At last, Morocco is starting to allow them back.    Benali, who reached Moroccan soil on Friday, was so shaken by the experience that he told The Associated Press: “I’ll never return to Ceuta again.” Others are still stuck, their return dates uncertain.    While countries around the world closed their borders to foreigners to keep out the virus, Morocco went even farther, barring its own citizens from coming home in hopes of limiting the risk of coronavirus arriving on Moroccan soil and overwhelming its underprepared hospitals.    That left more than 21,000 Moroccans stranded around the world. They include legal workers in the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla who live in Morocco and work in Spain in construction, commerce, or as domestic employees, as well as undocumented migrants whose jobs have dried up amid economic shutdowns and Moroccan tourists whose visas have now expired.    When she was nine months pregnant, Houria Douas went to Ceuta to visit her brother and buy baby clothes but ended up getting stuck. She gave birth to her firstborn in a Ceuta hospital because Morocco wouldn’t allow her to come home.    Hospital workers “would look at me with pity and tell me it’s in the hands of the Moroccan government,” she said.    During childbirth, Douas, who does not speak Spanish, struggled to breathe through her mask and to understand the doctor and nurses. She was told that her newborn boy couldn’t be vaccinated because Douas does not have Spanish residency papers.    After weeks of waiting, good news came Friday: Benali, Douas and her baby were listed along with about 200 people eligible to return to Morocco.    Spanish authorities said 300 people would be allowed back in Morocco from Ceuta. But the stranded Moroccans say hundreds of others still remain, staying in sports complexes and a mosque. It’s unclear when they will leave.    The lucky ones waited for eight hours Friday in a parking lot in Ceuta for buses to take them home. When they crossed the border into the nearby Moroccan city of Fnideq, they were separated into groups and taken to separate hotels where they were tested for the virus. Spanish authorities said they would be isolated in the hotels for two weeks.    “The first thing I’ll do after the quarantine is get my newborn his vaccination shots,” Douas said.   Aberrahim Ennaw, a Moroccan who is still stuck in Ceuta, and says anxiety among the remaining Moroccans is intense.    “We were not given any information on repatriation,” he said. “The Spanish and Moroccan authorities do not communicate with us at all.”    Moroccan Prime Minister Saad Eddine El Othman announced last week that repatriation plans are “finally ready,” but details are only slowly trickling down to those trapped in Ceuta. Moroccan authorities cited the heavy virus toll in Europe, which has now seen more than 169,000 coronavirus deaths, as a reason for the tough border closure. They said they would only start allowing people when it is safe for them and Morocco.    Some Ceuta residents opened up their houses, shops, and garages for the stranded Moroccans. Churches in southern Spain also housed those who couldn’t go home.   The Moroccans appealed to their king for help, and held small protests earlier this month in Spain and France.    At least a dozen Moroccans swam in April in the chilly Mediterranean from Ceuta around the border checkpoint to the nearby Moroccan town of Fnideq, according to the president of the Northern Observatory of Human Rights, Mohammed Ben Aissa.   As the virus raged across Spain, France and Italy, Ben Aissa said smuggling networks even offered to bring undocumented Moroccan migrants back to their relatives in Morocco — for a fee. But he said no families took smugglers up on the offer. Authorities in Morocco and Spain could not confirm the report.    Two Moroccans trapped in Spain’s North African enclave of Melilla even climbed a border fence to go back home, according to the Moroccan Human Rights Association in the Moroccan town of Nador. This is the same high border fence that is regularly stormed in the opposite direction by scores of African migrants trying to slip into Spain to seek better lives in Europe.  
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Thousands of Muslims in Cameroon’s capital, Yaoundé, have defied Sunday’s ban of Eid-al Fitr public prayers, ordered as part of measures to stop the spread of COVID-19.  There have been 4,400 confirmed cases and 197 deaths in the central African state in less than three months. The ban was announced after more than 500 people tested positive for COVID-19 in Cameroon within 24 hours.Speaking via a messaging application from his residence, Mamadi Mahamat, the highest government official in Yaoundé’s second district, said he was surprised that many Muslims were ignoring government instructions that Eid-al Fitr prayers not be held this year in public spaces, with thousands of faithful coming out to pray as has been traditional in Cameroon.He said he had asked police to make sure Muslims do not have access to the two main public prayer grounds in Yaoundé’s second district after he was told thousands had defied his instructions to pray at home and were insisting on saying their prayers at the public prayer grounds. He says all imams and Muslim leaders in Yaoundé should also respect the commitment they took to only pray in three of the district’s 42 mosques, maintaining social distancing.Mahamat said the ban on prayers in public spaces traditionally used by Muslims on feast days was taken to stop the spread of the coronavirus after 514 people tested positive on Wednesday alone, bringing the number of COVID-19 cases to 4,400, with 197 deaths in Cameroon in less than three months.Muslim Issa Karimou said that although he is aware of the dangers of COVID-19, he prayed in public with other Muslims as a sign of respect to the teachings of the Quran.He said he would be disobeying the Prophet Muhammad and the teachings of the Quran if he failed to say Eid prayers in public together with other Muslims. He said that without the prayers, his 30 days of fasting from dawn to dusk during Ramadan would be in vain, and that the government should instead encourage Muslims to pray constantly for Allah’s grace and protection as people are being infected and are dying of COVID-19.Njimgou Ibrahima, spokesperson for Muslims in Yaoundé’s second district, said it would be wise for Muslims to protect themselves from the coronavirus and be healthy to promote their religion and be useful in building their communities.He said he is calling on all Muslims to leave public spaces and pray at home or in mosques, respecting government instructions that people should be at least 2 meters apart. He said no Muslims should organize a feast that brings together more than 10 people, and that social distancing norms should be followed, and people should wash their hands regularly.Last month at the start of Ramadan, 13 mosques were sealed, and the police used force to disperse Muslims praying at mosques for violating government orders not to gather in groups of more than 50, about 2 meters apart, because of the coronavirus. 
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Somalia was among Muslim countries Saturday that performed Eid al-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of the Islamic observance of Ramadan.Many Muslims across East and West Africa are celebrating the holiday, though the majority of Muslim nations observe it Sunday.Muslims decide when Eid will be observed by the sighting of the moon. In countries where the moon is not sighted on the 29th day of Ramadan, people must complete the 30th day before celebrating. Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and United Arab Emirates, will observe Eid Sunday.The Muslim holiday is always marked with celebrations, the reunion of family and friends, and a lot of feasting. This year, however, it is different due to coronavirus restrictions.While most Somalis celebrated the holiday in their homes with their families, the frontline heroes helping COVID-19 patients have willingly sacrificed their celebrations and chose to stay at hospitals.VOA’s Somali Service spoke with two of them.Ahmed Hassan Kulmiye, a 31-year-old nurse and father of three, works at Martini Hospital’s COVID-19 isolation center in Mogadishu. He worked his regular shift as his wife and his three children celebrated Eid at home.”I marked Eid today with a mixture of happiness and sadness. I am happy that I have sacrificed for my patients and that I am saving lives. On the other hand, I was very sad that it was the first Eid I did not celebrate with my children and wife or friends,” Kulmiye said.Instead, of wearing new clothes and shoes, as Muslims usually do on Eid, Kulmiye was in his protective gear to help patients recovering from COVID-19 at the isolation center.“To at least revive the spirit of the Eid, we had breakfast and lunch together, of course in our protective gear, at our isolation center, and we invited COVID-19 patients who have recovered. Also, we sang Eid songs for the lonely patients at the center who, like us, could not be with their families and friends,” Kulmiye added.Fardowso Mohamed Hassan, a 27-year-old nurse, was on duty at the isolation center and marked Eid away from her husband.“I am happy to be doing a life-saving job, which is more important than a celebration of any kind,” said Fardowso. “Although I did not celebrate with my husband, friends and relatives, it made my day to take time with my patients and my colleagues at work.”Fardowso said she used her break time at work by calling her husband and relatives via video to share the happiness of the day.Kulmiye and Fardowso said they have spent the entire holy month of Ramadan fasting while working at Martini Hospital.“Being [here] is very risky, but we have willingly chosen to help our fellow humans, Fardowso said.“My conscience did not allow me to take a day off to celebrate and leave patients on ventilators behind. They needed us more than any other person,” Kulmiye said. 
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A court in Zimbabwe has jailed two journalists who are charged with breaking the country’s COVID-19 lockdown regulations. Rights lawyers say the arrests confirm their fears that freedom of the press in Zimbabwe remains in dire jeopardy.
 
Paidamoyo Saurombe of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, who is representing journalists Frank Chikowore and Samuel Takawira, said Saturday the magistrate court would hold the men until it makes a bail ruling Tuesday. Paidamoyo Saurombe, of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, told reporters in Harare, May 23, 2020, that it was disturbing that journalists were being arrested for doing their job. (Columbus Mavhunga/VOA)“It is disturbing. These are journalists who were in the course of what they should do when they were arrested. So, it is quite surprising.  Why would you arrest someone who is going to work? You never know. It becomes scary that if you are arrested while going to work, what else will happen?” Saurombe asked.
 
According to court papers, the two journalists broke COVID-19 regulations when they entered a hospital to interview three members of the political opposition who were being treated for injuries sustained after being abducted and tortured by suspected security agents.  
 
Dewa Mavhinga, the southern Africa director at Human Rights Watch, said Harare must drop the charges against the journalists.
 
“Failure to do so severely undermines any image of Zimbabwe as under a new dispensation and reaffirms the sense that Zimbabwe is now a pariah or rogue state that is not respectful of the rights of journalists, of the constitutional rights to the freedom of the media. There is need to ensure that journalists, in the course of [the performance of] their duties are free to do their work without fear that the police will arrest them without cause,” Mavhinga said.
 
Zimbabwe’s minister of information, Monica Mutsvangwa, told VOA that she would only comment on the matter after the courts have completed the case.
 
Tabani Moyo, who the Media Institute in Southern Africa in Zimbabwe, called it an assault on the country’s press.
 
“Journalism is in the line of fire. There is a daily threat when you are a journalist in Zimbabwe. For us to defeat this pandemic – we have said it again and again – all hands should be on the deck, focusing on the pandemic rather than pointing in a misplaced manner at what is presumed to be the weaker targets; that is the media,” Moyo said.
 
Rights groups say they have recorded 14 cases of harassment of journalists and nearly 300 cases of citizen assaults by Zimbabwe authorities since late March when the government imposed a lockdown to contain the coronavirus pandemic.   
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In Ghana, the COVID-19 pandemic has spurred health technology innovations – from apps to track symptoms in workplaces, to online diagnosis and drone delivery of test samples. As confirmed infections continue to rise in Ghana, reaching over 6,000 cases and over 30 deaths, health tech experts want to ensure people have access to needed medicines and doctors. Stacey Knott reports from Accra.
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A new report is warning that China may be spying on African government officials from within their own buildings.The report by the FILE – Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian takes a question at the daily media briefing in Beijing, April 8, 2020.Chinese government responseDuring a May 22 news conference, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian strongly denounced the report, saying it was filled with “lies, illusions and ideological bias.”“We urge [a] certain think tank in the U.S. to spend more time and energy on assisting Africa with real actions instead of spreading lies,” Lijian said, according to the FILE – Construction work by Chinese state-owned firms is seen at the University of Nairobi, Kenya, Sept. 2, 2015.“For decades, a central element of China’s international diplomatic efforts has been cultivating strong relationships with senior African officials and giving them glitzy, brand-new government buildings,” Meservey said. “It is clearly a way of building favor with these governments. … These are designed as pieces of political influence.”His report found that Chinese companies had built at least 24 African presidential or prime ministerial palaces, residences or offices and at least 26 parliaments or parliamentary offices.Meservey said China might be looking to pick up information from third-party countries such as the U.S. when its diplomats visit African countries. He said it might be interested in gathering financial data on African countries for future investments and gaining the upper hand in loan negotiations. China also may be looking to gather useful, personal information about African leaders.“It’s possible to gather information on specific leaders, learn about their habits, their predilections, their financial situation,” he said. “Things that you could use to manipulate them or even to recruit them as an asset if either through blackmail or just knowing how to tailor your pitch to them.”
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On just one day this month, 50 Tanzanian truck drivers tested positive for the coronavirus after crossing into neighboring Kenya. Back home, their president insists that Tanzania has defeated the disease through prayer.  All the while, President John Magufuli has led a crackdown on anyone who dares raise concerns about the virus’s spread in his East African country or the government’s response to it. Critics have been arrested, and opposition politicians and rights activists say their phones are being tapped. The country’s number of confirmed virus cases hasn’t changed for three weeks, and the international community is openly worrying that Tanzania’s government is hiding the true scale of the pandemic. Just more than 500 cases have been reported in a country of nearly 60 million people. While many African countries have been praised for their response to the coronavirus, Tanzania is the most dramatic exception, run by a president who questions — or fires — his own health experts and has refused to limit people’s movements, saying the economy is the priority. Fatma Karume, a human rights activist and former president of the Tanganyika Law Society, said authorities are discouraging people from going to hospitals to avoid overwhelming them, but they are not giving adequate guidance about the virus. “When you are disempowering a whole nation by withholding information and creating doubt on how they should respond to the crisis, the outcome can be disastrous,” Karume said. FILE – A man washes his hands with chlorinated water at the Mabibo market in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, April 16, 2020.The president has refused to shut churches, mosques and other gathering places, such as pubs and restaurants. He has questioned the accuracy of tests done by the national laboratory, saying the swabs used may themselves be tainted with the virus. He has suspended the head of the laboratory and fired the deputy health minister. On Thursday, Magufuli ordered the Health Ministry and other agencies not to receive personal protective equipment from donors until tests are done to ensure it works and is safe. While Magufuli halted international passenger flights in April, he is now allowing them to resume — and says any visitor who doesn’t have a fever will be allowed in.  For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness and lead to death.  The president has argued that if restrictive measures are adopted, Tanzanians may have nothing to eat.  In fact, rather than urge Tanzanians to keep their distance, one Magufuli ally encouraged them to flood the streets this weekend to celebrate.  “Make all kinds of noise as a sign of thanksgiving to show our God has won against disease and worries of death that were making us suffer,” Paul Makonda, the regional commissioner of commercial hub Dar es Salaam, said at a news briefing. In March, Magufuli ordered three days of national prayers against COVID-19 and has since said they have been answered. While health experts say recorded coronavirus cases and deaths the world over are undercounts, opposition leaders accuse Magufuli’s government of hiding the outbreak’s true toll.  Government spokesman Hassan Abbas told The Associated Press that it would be impossible to cover up an outbreak. He also dismissed reports that hospitals were overwhelmed, noting that one, which has room for over 160 patients, only had 11. “It is unfortunate that COVID-19 has come up with lots of misinformation, propaganda and false news,” he added. He said Tanzania has taken measures to curb the disease, and infection rates are falling, though he gave no data. He said the country’s health officials have been working hand in hand with international experts, including at the World Health Organization. Calls to share dataOfficials outside Tanzania remain worried. “We strongly call on Tanzania, encourage Tanzania, to share data in a timely fashion,” the head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, John Nkengasong, said this month, adding that fighting the virus is more difficult without accurate data from all member states. “No country is an island,” he warned. On Thursday, Nkengasong said Tanzania still had not provided the body with any more information — but officials were still hoping the government would eventually cooperate. 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.Kenya closed its border with Tanzania this month except for cargo traffic and imposed stringent testing measures on Tanzanian truck drivers after more than 50 of them tested positive for the virus in a single day. The U.S. Embassy in Tanzania has issued an unusual statement, warning its citizens that “all evidence points to exponential growth of the epidemic” and that hospitals in Dar es Salaam have been overwhelmed with COVID-19 cases. “On Tanzania, yes, it’s very disappointing,” the top U.S. diplomat for Africa, Tibor Nagy, told reporters this week. “Obviously, they are very concerned with the economic impact that the loss of the tourism industry is going to have on them, but I can’t imagine any tourists flocking back there in such an uncertain environment.” In a more subtle note of concern, the British High Commission announced a charter flight for British nationals who want to leave. Critics: Climate of fear Meanwhile, the climate of fear has grown inside Tanzania, rights groups and critics say, as Magufuli seeks a second term in an October election that shows no sign of being delayed despite the pandemic. Magufuli has stifled independent journalism since taking office and severely restricted the work of non-governmental organizations, according to rights groups.  “People in Tanzania cannot express themselves,” said Roland Ebole, an Amnesty International researcher based in neighboring Kenya. Lawyer Albert Msando was arrested in late April after a video circulated showing him distributing masks to journalists and talking about the importance of the news media’s role in informing the public, according to the Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition. Tanzanian authorities have also targeted media that have attempted to report on the pandemic, according to Amnesty International.  Three media organizations were fined for “transmission of false and misleading information” about the government’s response, and a newspaper had its online publishing license suspended for publishing a photo that it said showed the president flouting “global social distancing guidelines.” Authorities contend the photo was not recent.  
 
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The chairperson of the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC), Jane Ansah, has resigned just a month before the country conducts fresh elections. Her decision comes after months of protests organized by rights campaigners who accused her of mismanaging last year’s elections.Announcing her resignation on state television Thursday night, Ansah said her decision is not because of the pressure from protesters but in respect of the rule of law. Political analysts say her decision was long overdue.  
 
Ansah’s resignation comes a few weeks after Malawi’s Supreme Court of Appeal upheld a Constitutional Court ruling that nullified last year’s elections in which President Peter Mutharika won a second term.Protesters rally against Jane Ansah in a street march in Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe. (Lameck Masina/VOA)In its May 8 ruling, the Supreme Court found Ansah and her commissioners incompetent, citing massive irregularities including the use of correctional fluid.
However, Ansah said her resignation is not an admission of wrongdoing.
 
“In fact, I don’t regret. I did the best. I have worked very well, truthfully with clean hands and that’s it. I live full of confidence,” Ansah said.
   
Since June of last year, Ansah has been the target of protests calling for her resignation over her handling of last year’s disputed election.
 
However, Ansah, a judge at the High Court, said she did not bow to protesters’ demand, to avoid setting a bad precedent.
 
“In [the] future, if a judge is writing a judgment and you sit and there is uproar because of that judgment, and they demand that judge should resign. Should the judge resign?  And not be heard? I believe democracy must be preserved in this country at any cost and that is why I did not resign,” Ansah said.
Political analyst Vincent Kondowe welcomed Ansah’s decision, but said she could have resigned soon after the Constitutional court’s judgment and not waited for the Supreme Court’s decision.In October of 2019, supporters of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party rallied against calls for the resignation of Jane Ansah. (Lameck Masina/VOA)“In the first place, the whole decision of the Electoral Commission, appealing, was in itself very ill conceived.  They are a referee between political parties, so she was appealing on behalf of who?” Kondowe said.  
 
Malawi is expected to conduct fresh elections on June 23 following the court order in February for a new poll within 150 days.  
 
However, the election will now come nearly three weeks after the mandates of the rest of the election commissioners expire, June 5.  
 
This means that Malawi’s President Mutharika should appoint another electoral commission to handle preparations for the fresh polls.   
 
Government spokesperson Mark Botoman told VOA that Mutharika is yet to decide on the way forward.
 
“Let us wait and see on what the president is going to do. Obviously, we cannot preempt the decision whatever the president is going to make. But what is obvious is that we need commissioners to take care of the events around preparations for next elections, so let us wait and see,” Botoman said.
 
Meanwhile, the Human Rights Defenders Coalition which has been organizing demonstrations against Ansah says they are happy with her resignation and that they will continue pushing for the resignation of remaining commissioners.
 
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Zimbabwe welcomed the U.S. decision Thursday to remove two of its banks from the sanctions list, saying the move will allow them to easily obtain credit to address the country’s moribund economy.However, the ruling ZANU-PF party is calling for more from the U.S. and other Western countries that imposed the sanctions in 2002.The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control gave Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe and Agricultural Development Bank of Zimbabwe a clean bill of health. Mthuli Ncube, the country’s finance and economic development minister, could not hide his joy over the news to reporters in Harare.  “Of course, any removal of any institution, especially a financial one, is very positive indeed,” he said. “This will help the bank access credit lines and remove any restrictions that pertain to KYC — know-your-customer — challenges, which is really what happens when a bank is on the spotlight, the way they were. Now that they [sanctions] have been lifted, the banks will find it easier to do business going forward. So this is a very welcome development indeed.” Tafadzwa Mugwadi, the director of information in the ruling ZANU-PF party, said the party is not satisfied, though President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s efforts to reengage the West are bearing fruit.  “We are not happy as long as part of these sanctions, the major parts of these sanctions are still in place,” Mugwadi said. “Our position as ZANU-PF is that the illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe from the United States of America have no place in this civilized world, so that the people of Zimbabwe can fully realize their full potential without any hinderances, so that the government can be measured on the basis of its capacity without these hinderances, without sanctions in place.”   The U.S. and several Western countries and institutions, like the European Union, imposed sanctions on some state institutions and some senior party officials in 2002 following reports of election rigging and human rights abuses. Harare blames the sanctions for the country’s moribund economy, while critics blame bad government policies for causing the economy to catch a cold. People queue for cash at an ATM which dispensed the new Zimbabwean ten-dollar notes, in Harare, May 20, 2020. The higher denomination bank note was introduced to help ease perennial shortages of cash in the country.Rejoice Ngwenya, an independent political commentator, said the U.S. may have lifted sanctions on the two banks to help the country fight the COVID-19 pandemic but ruled out giving in to ZANU-PF demands. “The present government has not shown any appetite for reforms. Given their response to the abductions of the [opposition] MDC Alliance youth leaders, it would be really unlikely that the local American embassy recommend removal of any political leaders, unless those political leaders are targets of possible liberal reform,” Ngwenya said. The U.S. Embassy in Harare was not immediately available for a comment.Earlier this month, three members of Zimbabwe’s main opposition party were allegedly abducted and tortured after taking part in a protest demanding that the government pay those affected by the ongoing coronavirus lockdown. The government has said it is investigating the matter. 
 
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Kenya’s ban on church services because of social distancing restrictions to slow the coronavirus pandemic, is not stopping one church leader from spreading the Gospel.The Rev. Paul Macharia from All Saints’ Cathedral in Kiambu County heads the service, dubbed “B2B” for “balcony to balcony.”Each Sunday he hits the road delivering his sermons to scores of people in apartment buildings.Macharia relishes the reception he has received, telling the Associated Press it would not be possible if people didn’t invite his mobile church into their communities.”It has been beautiful seeing children coming together for worship services,” he said.The service appears to have taken on an aura of hope as Kenya tries to contain the coronavirus, which has infected just over 1,000 people and caused at least 50 deaths.
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Kenya has stepped up efforts to find a local treatment for COVID-19. The Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), East Africa’s leading medical research facility, is testing the efficacy of an herbal medicine known as Zedupex.The search for both a cure and a vaccine for the coronavirus has intensified around the globe, including in Kenya, as medical researchers race to find the elusive remedy.Dr. Festus Tolo of Kenya’s Medical Research Institute is the lead scientist tasked with finding out whether an herbal-based drug will be effective against COVID-19. Zedupex, developed in 2015 by Kenyan researchers, has been used in the treatment of herpes.Tolo says his team does not know yet whether the drug will work against the virus.“We are still in very early stages. We cannot be able to say, knowing that the herpes simplex virus is a DNA virus and the coronavirus is an RNA virus,” he said. “This really means that we need to — first of all — to confirm, check whether there’s activity before we can be able to really say this is a product we can explore further for COVID management.”Rudi Eggers is with the World Health Organization. Eggers says that standardizing the various herbal cures could be quite a challenge.“In other medicines, we find that there are specific levels of the active ingredient and in herbal cures frequently you find varied components and then also levels of those components in there,” Eggers said. “So, in fact you’d have to standardize these cures to make sure that you know what is in them and what component is actually acting. So that’s quite a step to be taken before actually evaluating these cures.”Dr. Kefa Bosire an ethnobiologist, based at the University of Nairobi, also has reservations about traditional cures, saying that mass production could be an issue.“The immediate challenge we would face is getting sufficient quantities of the plant so that we can prepare them to supply the number of patients that might require on a short notice, like we have experienced during this pandemic,” Bosire said. “So, this would require a lot of work to go into identifying the best way to upscale the growing and collection of this materials.”Despite these hurdles, researchers at KEMRI are pressing ahead with their study of herbal treatments for COVID-19.Kenya itself has seen more than 1,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus disease so far, and about 50 deaths.
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Burundi’s opposition leader Agathon Rwasa is claiming an early victory in the country’s first presidential election in five years.Longtime president Pierre Nkurunziza decided not to run again, giving voters a choice between his hand-picked would-be successor – Secretary-General Evariste Ndayishimiye – Rwasa and five others.Voters were also choosing a national legislature and local leaders.Wednesday’s voting was generally trouble-free – compared with the 2015 vote, when election-related violence killed about 1,200 people – although some observers noted that few voters waiting in lines to cast their ballots were heeding calls for social distancing because of the coronavirus.The National Independent Electoral Commission is telling people to be patient, saying official results will not be ready until at least Monday. Ballots from 3,800 polling places need to be collected, taken to local election headquarters and counted.But Rwasa told VOA’s Central African service that polling officers from his National Council for Liberty (CNL) party said he is winning.“The trend is that CNL is leading in presidential, parliamentary and even in communal elections in general,” Rwasa said.But commission chairman Pierre-Claver Kazihise said “the intermediate figures from polling stations do not show anything. It is the official results declared after the count at the commune level that must be communicated to the people.Rwasa told VOA that Wednesday was a “great day” for Burundi, but he accused the ruling party of “mischief” and holding the election in an atmosphere of fear and intimidation.“Police and the security officers were given specific orders which were meant to target mostly people from the opposition,” he said. “Many representatives of our party in the polling stations were arrested and put in custody and were hurriedly sentenced. We also have other many cases where people were expelled from polling offices and even beaten harshly by Imbonerakure (the ruling party’s youth league) and some policemen.”Although he is making an early claim of victory, Rwasa alleged the elections “were not free, they weren’t fair, and they weren’t that transparent.”A public security ministry spokesman has accused the CNL of election fraud; there have not been any independent reports of widespread voting irregularities or violence.The opposition boycotted the 2015 election that turned bloody after President Nkurunziza won a third term.Burundi is split between the Hutu majority and Tutsi minority. Human rights observers accuse the government of countless abuses, which it denies. 
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Prompted by widespread reports of police beatings of protesters, heavy-handed enforcement of safe-distancing measures and other abuses, rights groups and academics are raising the alarm over what they see as a squeeze on  basic human rights in Africa’s fragile democracies. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from Johannesburg.Video: Zaheer Cassim
Producer: Jonathan Spier
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A typical wedding in Sudan has thousands of guests, and the celebration may continue for several long nights in some parts of the country.At a traditional wedding party, the groom wears a white outfit called a jalabiya and the bride wears a red traditional outfit called a toub with golden accessories. The ceremony, or jertig, is based on clothing and traditions that have been traced to Nubian pharaohs. The night is a time for tribal dances and celebrations.These weddings are my favorite days, so when my boyfriend proposed to me, my family and friends expected nothing less. My engagement party, for instance, had 300 guests.But the coronavirus pandemic has put a stop to large gatherings, disrupting our plans for a March wedding. I not only had to cancel all of our bookings, I also moved out of my parents’ house so as not to put them at risk from the virus.So now I’m alone and trying to figure out the next step.Smaller gatheringsSince the pandemic began, some of my friends have held small weddings and complied with all the health recommendations for social distancing. None of them had more than 20 guests.But I am the first of my parents’ children to marry, and they want a big celebration.We haven’t decided on a date because it’s not possible to book a venue for the wedding until the lockdown ends. But there is a strong feeling that even when the restrictions are lifted, the virus will still be a threat.As a result, the government is considering a new law that would prohibit the use of large halls for wedding celebrations for one year.So we’ll have to decide when and how to hold our wedding without putting those we care for in danger, even if the lockdown ends.COVID-19 has not only altered our daily lives; it may also force us to change our traditions, including my wedding.
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Botswana’s 48-day lockdown ended at midnight Wednesday after gradually relaxing  restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus in the diamond rich southern African country. All businesses and schools are now cleared to reopen under government guidelines, including individual temperature checks, use of face masks and regular sanitizing. COVID-19 Task Force Coordinator Dr. Kereng Masupu said in a news briefing that depending on the coronavirus disease pattern, a return to lockdown will remain an option.Meantime, people returning home to Botswana will undergo mandatory quarantine and the ban of foreign visitors remains in place. Botswana confirmed 29 COVID-19 infections and one death.  Reuter’s news agency said the Botswana’s government set aside more than $400 million to help absorb the economic impact of businesses suspending operations, including the prized diamond industry, which had no buyers coming into the country because of travel restrictions.         
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Lesotho Prime Minister Moeketsi Majoro is beginning his first full day on the job Thursday, a day after being sworn in at the palace in the capital city of Maseru.Majoro, the 59-year-old former finance minister, said his immediate focus is keeping the country safe amid the COVID-19 pandemic and addressing poverty and unemployment in the small country surrounded by South Africa.Majoro also expects to bring stability to Lesotho, which has been at unrest over the troubles of his predecessor.Majoro replaces 80-year-old Thomas Thabane, who resigned abruptly on Tuesday after months of resisting pressure from a governing coalition to step down amid allegations he was involved in the murder of his ex-wife, Lipolelo Thabane, in 2017, days before his inauguration.Thabane, who denied any involvement in his ex-wife’s death, apologized for his shortcomings over the last three years as Prime Minister during Majoro’s swearing-in ceremony.Thabane’s current wife, Maesaiah, is out on bail after being charged with Lipolelo’s murder. She says she is innocent in the case. 
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In East Africa, long-distance truckers are suspected of carrying the dreaded coronavirus along with their cargo. So for weeks, trucks have stalled at border crossings — with trucks sometimes stretching back hundreds deep at some points — as governments restrict access and implement mandatory COVID-19 testing to protect their residents.“They are calling us ‘corona.’ We are not corona, and we have certificates on the vehicles, but they are still calling us corona. Why?” asked Muhammed Ali, a Tanzanian trucker halted last week at Uganda’s Mirama Hills border crossing with Rwanda. He carried a paper certifying he had tested negative for the virus.With truck drivers seen as high-risk COVID-19 carriers after some cases were traced to them, the Kigali government ordered that they turn over their vehicles to Rwandan drivers in a system of relay driving. The other option was to offload merchandise onto Rwandan trucks.Drivers from other countries refused, saying they had no authorization from their employers and could be held liable for any lost merchandise.“We drivers don’t like that thing of handing the trucks to other drivers from Rwanda,” said Benjamin Ngugi, a Kenyan trucker also stalled at Mirama Hills.As trucks stacked up for days, Rwanda and neighboring Tanzania worked out a deal that scrapped plans for relay drivers but mandated transferring cargo at the border, “except for trucks carrying perishable goods and petroleum products destined to Rwanda,” the Kigali government A technician carries samples from truck drivers testing for COVID-19 at the laboratory of Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) in Busia, a town bordering with Uganda in western Kenya, on May 14, 2020.On Saturday, the Nairobi government closed entry points with Tanzania and Somalia, except for cargo trucks whose drivers have tested negative. In an apparent retaliatory move, Tanzania shuttered several crossings on its eastern side Monday.Kenya’s ambassador to Tanzania, Dan Kazungu, attempted to ease the situation Tuesday, saying at a news conference that leaders of the East African Community (EAC) were working together to address the region’s trucking industry problems.But Wednesday, a day after Kenya announced the return of more than 180 foreigners to Tanzania because of positive COVID test results, a Tanzanian regional official accused the Nairobi government of faulty testing.Mrisho Gambo, a commissioner in Tanzania’s northern Arusha region, said in a statement that 19 truckers who had tested positive in Kenya subsequently had negative results after retesting in his country. He accused Kenya of “a deliberate sabotage strategy” against tourism in his country, according to local news reports.Zambia also had closed its border with Tanzania for several days last week after several truck drivers, immigration officers and sex workers tested positive for COVID, Reuters reported.Several heads of state in the EAC bloc — including Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya and Salva Kiir of South Sudan — last week agreed to double testing of truckers. They will be allowed to drive through the EAC upon testing negative in their country of origin and at the border.The leaders also agreed to adopt a harmonized system for certifying and sharing COVID-19 test results and other information. Kiir and his wife, Angelina Teny, who is Uganda’s defense minister, have tested positive for COVID, it was announced Tuesday.Transportation and trade barriers threaten to increase food insecurity in Africa, where an estimated one in five people already are malnourished, a World Health Organization official warned.“Hunger and malnutrition heighten vulnerability to diseases, the consequences of which could be far-reaching if not properly addressed,” Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, director of the Africa regional office, said last week in a COVID-19 online news briefing organized by the World Economic Forum.Speaking on the same panel, Chris Nikoi, the World Food Program’s regional director for West Africa, said border delays were “leading to increase in prices.” He said the WFP, part of the United Nations, was consulting with governments, agriculture and trade organizations to ensure that “the flow of food and goods is not overly restricted.”Amid the pandemic, Nikoi added, “it becomes even more critical to allow trade and commerce to function in the most efficient manner.”This report originated with VOA’s Swahili and English to Africa services. Catherine Nambi reported from Kigali, Rwanda, and Amina Chombo reported from Mombasa, Kenya. Jonathan Muriithi, Kennes Odongo and Carol Guensburg contributed from Washington. 
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A Sudanese political analyst says Sudan will have a hard time finding the cash to pay the punitive damages imposed by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in connection with the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.”It’s extremely difficult to pay this amount, so the other methods of solution must be followed, including an appeal to the international community to accelerate the lifting of sanctions from the Sudan,” Abdulmuniem Himmat told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus.In a unanimous decision Monday, the Supreme Court reinstated a lower court ruling that ordered Sudan to pay $4.3 billion in punitive damages to some of the victims of the 1998 embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar el Salaam carried out by al-Qaida. The attacks killed 224 people and injured thousands more.FILE – Then-al-Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden speaks to a select group of reporters in mountains of Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, Dec. 24, 1998.Al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden lived in Khartoum for much of the 1990s before moving to Afghanistan.Sudan’s transitional government is pressing the Trump administration to remove the country from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.The state sponsors of terrorism designation prevents Sudan from accessing loans and debt relief from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, as well as investment opportunities with U.S.-based institutions.Sudan should try to reach an amicable settlement with the victims of the embassy bombings, said Himmat.”[The] Sudanese government should lead negotiations with the families of the victims of the bombings of United States embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. And this should follow the same approach that took place in addressing the issue of the victims of the American destroyer Cole and that should be done as quickly as possible,” Himmat told VOA.Last month, Sudan’s government said it reached a settlement with the families of U.S. Navy sailors killed in the terrorist attack on the USS Cole in 2000 off the coast of Aden in Yemen. The attack killed 17 American sailors and wounded 39 others.Court affirmed 2011 rulingNine years ago, a U.S. Federal District Court judge in Washington said Sudan should pay about $6 billion in compensation and roughly $4 billion in punitive damages for the 1998 bombings.  The judge found Sudan guilty of giving al-Qaida and bin Laden technical and financial support, of allowing al-Qaida operatives to travel over the Sudan-Kenya border without restriction, and of permitting weapons and money to flow to the al-Qaida cell in Kenya.FILE – The United States Embassy, left, is pictured with blasted ruins next to it in downtown Nairobi, Kenya, Aug. 8, 1998, the day after terrorist bombings in Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.In 2017, Sudan successfully challenged the ruling on punitive damages, arguing they were awarded under an amendment to a federal law that was made after the bombings occurred and could not be applied retroactively.But the Supreme Court reinstated the damages Monday, saying the law that authorized the punitive damages could indeed be applied retroactively.In Monday’s ruling, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote that for claims made under federal law, “Congress was as clear as it could have been when it authorized plaintiffs to seek and win punitive damages for past conduct.”Sudan’s Ministry of Justice said in a statement Monday that “$7.4 billion of the total $10.2 billion against Sudan remains subject to further litigation,” since the decision ordered the D.C. Circuit to reconsider its decision that foreign plaintiffs who sued Sudan under state law in the U.S. could not seek punitive damages.”As always, Sudan expresses sympathy for the victims of the acts of terrorism at issue but reaffirms that it was not involved in any wrongdoing in connection with those acts,” said Christopher Curran, a lawyer representing Sudan.State sponsor of terrorism designationAnalyst Himmat said Sudan must continue to resolve past charges involving acts of terrorism in order to clear its name with the U.S. government.”Sudan needs to build good international relations with all countries, not with the United States only, and that’s to build a democratic country. Also, Sudan needs support to advance the country and make use of the human and material resources in Sudan,” said Himmat.The United States designated Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism in 1993 because of Sudan’s connections with terrorist groups and figures like bin Laden.After the ouster of long-time President Omar al-Bashir in April of last year, following months of mass protests against the government, Sudan formed a transitional government headed by Sudanese Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok.Carol Van Dam Falk contributed to this report.   
 
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Southern African leaders met Wednesday to discuss the growing Islamist insurgency in northern Mozambique.At the day-long meeting in Harare, leaders of Zambia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique said they had discussed the COVID-19 pandemic and the security situation in southern Africa, including Lesotho, where Prime Minister Thomas Thabane resigned this week after months of pressure over his alleged role in the murder of his former wife.But much of the talk centered on Mozambique, where an Islamist insurgency has raged in Cabo Delgado province since 2017. Media reports say the situation has deteriorated in the past month, and that the insurgents have killed nearly 1,000 people and displaced tens of thousands more.FILE – Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi, center, visits the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in central Moscow, Aug. 21, 2019.Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi told reporters that he was hopeful that the continent would rally behind his administration in driving out the jihadists.”Armed attacks like that looks like terrorists,” he said. “Terrorism you can’t fight alone. That is the experience we have. We need to share the forces.”The meeting took place under the banner of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) security committee. The meeting’s final communique said the region would “support” the former Portuguese colony but did not specify what form that support would take.Zimbabwe’s president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, the current chair of the security bloc, refused to confirm if his country or the region would deploy armed forces to Mozambique. He said in his opening remarks that the security situation was “dire.””An attack on a member state of SADC is an attack on the rest of members of SADC,” he said at the end of the meeting.  Alexander Rusero, a former international relations and security studies lecturer at Harare Polytechnic College, said he is confident the SADC will send troops to Mozambique.”Proliferation of terrorism in Mozambique is actually a cause for concern,” Rusero said. “And one way or the other, the regional bloc has to intervene because SADC is more of a security architecture than it is a development community, which is in its name.”Unlike the West Africa bloc ECOWAS, SADC does not have a standing army. But individual countries have in the past deployed their armies to quell security threats in other member countries. Zimbabwe sent troops to the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1998, and South Africa sent troops to Lesotho the same year.  
 
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Burundi is holding its first competitive presidential election since a 1993 civil war, with President Pierre Nkurunziza stepping down after 15 years in power. But political analysts and rights groups say few Burundians expect the vote, which has already been marred by violence and rights abuses, to be free and fair.
 
Wednesday’s vote marks Burundi’s first step toward a post-Nkurunziza era. His time in office has been marred by allegations of human rights abuses and his controversial decision to seek a third term in 2015.
 
Nelleke van de Walle, deputy project director for Central Africa at the International Crisis Group, says Nkrunziza’s decision not to run again may help the east African nation make some political progress.
 
“I think the fact now there are elections in which he is not represented and he has shown a willingness to step down, I think it indicates that there might be a possibility for Burundi to move forward and to take a step in a different direction,” van de Walle said.
 
Nkurunziza picked retired army general Evariste Ndayishimiye to be the candidate of the ruling CNDD FDD party. He will compete against main opposition leader Agathon Rwasa and five other candidates.
 
The electoral process has been marred by violence and accusations that the vote will not be credible.
 
At his last political rally, Rwasa warned of possible electoral fraud.
 
Jean de Dieu Nzisabira, the head of Ligue Iteka, a Burundian rights group, says failure to agree on the presidential poll results may create more problems for the country.“We fear if there is massive fraud in this elections, we fear there will be a very dangerous situation because the major opposition party may not accept the result of the polls and the ruling party, it’s sure it has won. So we fear for the civilians,” de Dieu Nzisabira said.
 
Since 2015, the United Nations Human Rights Commission has documented hundreds of killings, torture, and sexual abuse against opposition members in Burundi. The abuses were blamed on security forces and the ruling party youth wing, known as the Imbonerakure. The 2015 crisis led to more than half a million Burundians fleeing the country.
 
The ICG’s van de Walle says Burundi’s next administration will likely give more attention to economic development.
 
“Both politicians mainly focused on economic development. So I think both Rwasa and Evariste realized that when they become president, they have to take the country forward in reviving its economy. So it’s likely that the country will open more slightly than it has under Nkurunziza. So restoring economic ties is a priority for both presidential candidates in case of victory for Evariste today or in the second round,” van de Walle said.
 
The electoral commission is expected to announce the presidential poll results next week.
 
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 Thousands of Nigerians are receiving free mental health care through a program to help people cope with stress and isolation from COVID-19.  The program, Mentally Aware Nigeria, or MANI, was formed by psychologists and medical experts to create an environment where people can seek mental health care without fear of stigma or discrimination.  Timothy Obiezu reports from Abuja.
Videographer: Simpa Samson 
Producer: JG 
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More than two years after the start of an Islamist insurgency in northern Mozambique, security forces are still struggling to curb the growing violence that has killed hundreds of civilians and forced thousands of others to flee their homes. VOA’s Andre Baptista has this report narrated by Sirwan Kajjo.Produced by: Mehdi Jedinia 
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