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Nigerian Muslims Adapt to New Ramadan in Age of Coronavirus

The Muslim holy month of Ramadan is beginning with many countries in lockdown over the coronavirus — including Nigeria, which is home to West Africa’s largest Muslim population. Nasir Umar, 27, an automobile electrician, has not fixed a single car in three weeks because of the lockdown measures announced by Nigerian authorities in late March to flatten Nigeria’s coronavirus curve.Having sent his wife and child to his father’s house in Maidiguri to reduce his financial burden, he sometimes strolls to his shop near his residence, hoping to find work.The auditorium at NASFAT mosque sits empty because of the coronavirus lockdown, in Abuja, Nigeria, April 19, 2020. (Timothy Obiezu/VOA)Now, without money to send them and with Ramadan approaching, Umar says he may skip the traditional feast to break the daily fast this year.Food is basic for life and important during fasting, he says, but without food, he cannot fast. This year’s Ramadan has been described by many as the “lockdown edition,” as practices like communal prayers and breaking the fast with a feast called Sahur will now be curtailed by COVID-19 restrictions.Abuja Muslim cleric Isa Mohammed says unless the ban is lifted, the faithful cannot congregate at mosques to pray and will have to observe their prayers privately at home.Mosques throughout Nigeria have been shuttered, and many people are using the internet and social media to gather virtually for prayer.Thousands swarm Utako market, which opened for just four hours to allow citizens to buy supplies before Ramadan, in Abuja, Nigeria, April 22, 2020. (Timothy Obiezu/VOA)However, Muslim scholars such as Sharafadeen Abdulsalam say some prayer routines and rituals cannot be done online.”There’s nothing like online Jumat, you can’t do that,” he said. “You can’t ask people to form a row in their respective homes and follow you while you lead them in prayers. No, you can’t do that. The Jumat service has to be physical.”His Abuja mosque, which usually hosts 700 underprivileged Muslims a day for large meals to break their fast during Ramadan, has been shut for nearly one month.Abdulsalam says it may be safer for some followers to skip this year’s fasting if they have no food.”Islam is a simple way of life. If you cannot have what to eat during Sahur and you know surely that if you try it, it will affect your health … Islam doesn’t want anyone to fall down. … You are allowed to leave your fasting. That is Islam for you,” he said.
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Nigerian Muslims Adapt to Different Ramadan in Age of Coronavirus

The Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins Friday with many countries in lockdown over the coronavirus, including Nigeria, which is home to West Africa’s largest Muslim population. Communal prayer and breaking the daily fast with a large meal will be disrupted by social distancing measures. Timothy Obiezu reports from Abuja.
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Rise in COVID-19 Cases Convinces Sudanese to Take Pandemic Seriously

Many Sudanese are taking the threat of coronavirus more seriously, as the number of confirmed cases has now topped 160, with 13 reported deaths as of Thursday.Sudanese health officials say Khartoum has by far the most cases with 155. White Nile and Jazeera states each have three confirmed cases and River Nile state has one. FILE – Sudanese Health Minister Akram Ali Al-Tom speaks during a press conference in Khartoum, Sudan, Friday, March. 13, 2020. Sudan reported its first case of the coronavirus , a person who had already died.Residents who earlier did not believe there would be a COVID-19 outbreak in Sudan now say they’re following protective measures advised by the World Health Organization and the government.Samia Argawi, a resident of Khartoum’s Jabra neighborhood, is one who changed her view. “I make sure I wear gloves and mask and I have to keep a distance. And in most cases when the place is crowded, I… get back home without buying anything. We can still survive on Chapatti or anything else,” Argawi told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus.Bella Ufendi Ndima, a South Sudanese national living in Khartoum’s Jebel Aulia neighborhood, said reports of new coronavirus cases are causing panic in her community. A member of a medical team wearing protective suits clean the airfield, to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at the Juba International Airport in Juba, South Sudan April 5, 2020.Ufendi says she now practices social distancing and drinks herbal tea, believing it treats coughs and any other chest infections.“Every two days, I do prepare hibiscus at home and all us at home drink it every morning and evening. We wash our hands with soap frequently and used sterilized [products] and overall, I do encourage everyone at home to continue praying so that we don’t get infected with corona,” Ndima told South Sudan in Focus.Authorities in Khartoum have closed all mosques, churches and banned all forms of social gatherings for 21 days to stop the spread of COVID-19 in the country.Elsewhere, calls for people to follow coronavirus safety guidelines are sinking in more slowly. Abdurrahim Mohammed Hassan, a resident of Al Obeid town of Northern Kordofan state, said people are not following travel restrictions or the night-time curfew.“We don’t see the implementation of curfew in the town, people move around all the time. I am speaking from my shop in the town market. People here don’t adhere to the curfew directives, and our people also don’t have enough awareness about the disease,” Hassan told South Sudan in Focus.However, Mahmood Dagash says people are panicking about the rise in cases in the eastern state of Al Gadarif. There, health officials collected samples this week from 14 people suspected of having coronavirus. All 14 have been isolated and are awaiting test results.“After we have these 14 suspected cases, you find that all the people talking just about these cases,” Dagash told South Sudan in Focus. He added that some are taking about closing nearby borders with Ethiopia and Eritrea.
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$2.6 Million Payout to Legislators Angers Ugandan Public

Uganda’s parliament has come under scrutiny after legislators allocated themselves a total of $2.6 million to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Lawmakers say the funds are being used to feed constituents. But the High Court may order them to return the money. Early this month, Uganda’s parliament passed a supplementary budget of $80.2 million meant to support the fight against the spread of COVID-19.The budget included $2.6 million in pay to legislators, or about $5,250 to each member.Describing the payout as fundamentally wrong and criminal, lawmaker Gerald Karuhanga says parliament violated legal procedures on how a supplementary budget is passed and says the money for members was smuggled into the budget.Karuhanga, speaking to VOA, argues that the $2.6 million should have been handed to the Ministry of Health.“What message are we sending to the nation? That when people are busy donating, we can’t donate from what we’ve earned,” Karuhanga said. “That we can even easily, take away, literally, even the food meant for a patient in intensive care.”Ssemuju Nganda, the opposition chief whip, says the money is being used to feed hungry constituents. Nganda says that before the supplementary budget was passed, their constituents were thronging their homes, seeking help ranging from food to health service requests.FILE – Member of Uganda’s armed forces, and a Red Cross worker distribute foodstuffs to people affected by the lockdown measures aimed at curbing the spread of the new coronavirus, in the Bwaise suburb of Kampala, Uganda, April 4, 2020.This, says Nganda, shows how deaf the government has been to the pleas of Ugandans. “I am doing work that is supposed to be done by government. We gave them 59 billion shillings to distribute food relief to vulnerable people in Kampala, Wakiso and Mukono during the first 14 days of lockdown,” Nganda said. “The 14 days ended when they had distributed food in less than ten percent of the targeted one point five million people, so really, there is no government in Uganda.”President Museveni has said that any legislator found distributing food to the public will be charged with attempted murder. One legislator, Francis Zaake, was on Monday arrested from his home constituency in Mityana district, Central Uganda.The payout has caused an uproar among Ugandans. Nana Nalongo is a mother of six.“It makes me very angry. The things that Ugandans would think were the ones to be tackled by Parliament, like put a voice for us to get services at subsidised rates, it’s not what’s happening,” Nalongo said. “Health, food and water and power, we kept waiting, will Parliament talk about this, they haven’t done that. We wait for the top, from the head of State, he just makes it a comedy show. People are starving, we are having one meal, when we had three meals.”Uganda’s High Court has ordered the $2.6 million frozen until it holds a hearing on the matter, scheduled for April 29th. On Wednesday, Speaker Kadaga summoned the attorney general to advise parliament on how to handle the matter, as the money has already been disbursed.
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Kenyan Police Accused of Killings, Excessive Force While Enforcing COVID-19 Curfew

Rights groups in Kenya say police are using excessive force while enforcing a nighttime curfew to contain the coronavirus. The groups say the excessive force has left at least a dozen people dead and hundreds more with life-threatening injuries.Eighteen-year-old Ibrahim Onyango was coming home from Dandora dump site in Nairobi, where he worked collecting plastics for recycling. It was the first night that Kenya implemented a dusk-to-dawn curfew to contain the coronavirus.His brother, Francis Otieno, said Ibrahim must have missed the announcement of the curfew, because he worked all day at the dump, without radio or television.“He was going home, it was the first day of the curfew, Saturday [March] 29th. Together with his friend they met cops. It was around 7.30 p.m. and they asked him where he had come from and then started to beat him. In between the beatings, he got a chance to escape. That’s how he got to his house. When he got in, my sister Rita says he was bleeding, one of his ears was hanging; he had deep wounds on his head.”Ibrahim died two days later, despite treatment at a Nairobi hospital.Security officers arrests a man selling alcohol door to door during curfew hours in Kisumu, western Kenya, March 29, 2020.Human Rights watch on Wednesday said that at least six people died in the first 10 days of the curfew.Otsieno Namwaya was one of the lead researchers for the report.“Most of those six are as a result of beatings from the police but beside the beatings and killings, I think the brutality of the police is much more widespread that the number of those who are dead. There are lots of people who are nursing injuries because of police beatings; there are a lot of people who have lost businesses because of police either demanding bribes or looting,” said Namwaya.Wilfred Olal, a coordinator at the Social Justice Centers Working Group, a collective voice for grassroot activist groups in Kenya, said other deaths arising from police brutality during the curfew period may be going unreported.“On the police killings, we have been using our monitors on the ground, and we have also been following the desktop survey, looking at what the media is reporting. So far, we have recorded 14 killings, and we even have the names,” said Olal.Most of the deaths have taken place in Kenya’s urban slums, areas that have a long history of police killings.Namwaya said the government needs to persuade people to respect the curfew, rather than impose it by force.“This is a containment measure, to prevent an infectious disease from spreading and therefore what government needs is not force but engagement with the public and persuasion. That is what government has failed on and the thinking in government seems to be that if they cannot persuade, they should threaten and beat people to submission, which is totally wrong,” said Namwaya.Kenyan police did not respond when asked for comment on allegations of excessive force and killings by officers.Kenya has now more than 300 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, with 14 deaths.
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Kenya Begins 21-Day Partial Lockdown Amid Rise in Coronavirus Infections

Kenya’s Mandera County began a 21-day lockdown Wednesday night at the direction of Interior Minister Fred Mating’i because more citizens are becoming infected with the coronavirus.Kenya’s latest self-isolation measure bars road travel and flights in and out of the county.Additionally, Matiang’i said Kenya’s National Command Center on the Coronavirus Pandemic is reviewing the enforcement of public health measures in Mombasa, Kwale and Kilifi counties. The results are expected by Friday.Kenya is stepping up its monitoring of compliance with safety measures just as President Uhuru Kenyatta revealed that law enforcement is trying to locate dozens of people who escaped from a quarantine facility in Nairobi.Meanwhile, Kenya reported Wednesday that seven more people tested positive for the virus, raising the total of known infections nationwide to 303. So far, 14 deaths have been reported.
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Kenyans Confined at Quarantine Facilities See It as Sentence  

Kenya’s president, Uhuru Kenyatta, has vowed to arrest and punish 50 people who escaped mandatory coronavirus quarantines at an isolation center in Nairobi. Some Kenyans, who were forced to isolate in government facilities, have complained about high fees to stay at the center. Kenya’s health minister, Mutahi Kagwe, called on the public to report individuals who escaped from the Kenya Medical Training College, one of the government quarantine centers in Nairobi.“An individual who you are aware, because they were even videos, you are aware jumped the fence at KMTC, jumped the wall at KMTC, and is now with you that individual is going to cost you very highly,” Kagwe said. “That individual could end up killing your child. Therefore it’s important that you call the police.”A security guard washed her hands at a government designated quarantine facility in Nairobi on March 31, 2020.Last week some people in the quarantine center in Mandera County bribed their way out of the facility.Godfrey Otieno spent 16 days at the KMTC quarantine facility. The father of four said the government quarantine center had its challenges, and he understands why people would want to escape. “So these people don’t understand why they are in quarantine, they see it as punishment,” Otieno said. “Secondly, you are likely to get more infection that you had. Thirdly there is this notion in the government facility that the government should take care of you because if you tell someone from Kibera to pay 2,000 shillings a day. This person earns 10,000 a month. How is he going to pay for that?”Francis Luchivya finished his quarantine this week after a longer than expected stay at a hotel in Nairobi.“The original instruction was we will be placed under forced quarantine for 14 days,” Luchivya said. “On doing the test at quarantine facility two people tested positive, then they used that as a reason to continue to hold us there, saying we are going to hold you for another 14 days because two people tested positive.”Luchivya paid $1,700 for his quarantine, and was ordered to self-isolate another seven days at home after his release. Kenya has banned public gatherings, imposed a nighttime curfew and forced people to wear a mask in public to stop the spread of the virus. Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta speaks during the state funeral of Kenya’s former president Daniel arap Moi, at Nyayo Stadium in the capital Nairobi, Feb. 11, 2020.President Uhuru Kenyatta, speaking on Wednesday, said anyone who does not follow the directives should be taken to a quarantine facility.“We are saying people who do not respect the set laws and regulations, if you are caught breaking the set regulations, I said there is no need of taking that person to the police station, police have other jobs of protecting us,” Kenyatta said. “If they are arrested, they should be taken to the quarantine center and stay there for 11 days. They break the law again, then they should be added another 11 days because we need to do this to return our country to normalcy.”Also Wednesday, the government restricted the movement of people in and out of Mandera County, which borders Ethiopia and Somalia, after eight coronavirus cases were reported there. Mandera is the fifth county where movement is restricted.The Kenyan government has accused some people of not taking the virus seriously.
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Cameroon Admits Military Massacred Civilians

Cameroon’s President Paul Biya acknowledged that soldiers killed three women and 10 children in a February massacre that they then tried to cover up by torching houses and blaming rebels.Biya’s office released a statement Tuesday saying three troops were arrested for the killings in the northwestern village of Ngarr-buh. Several other troops were expected to face disciplinary hearings for the killings, which led at least 600 of the villagers to flee to the capital, Yaoundé.A spokesman for the Ngarr-buh villagers in Yaounde, Innocent Laban, welcomed Biya’s admission that the military was responsible.FILE – Cameroon President Paul Biya, Nov. 12, 2019.”This declaration comes to confirm the fact that the Cameroonian military is so unprofessional. A military that is killing the people rather than protecting them,” Laban said. “This comes to show us that human rights activists are doing a good job. I think the government should tender a serious apology to these human rights groups for soiling their dignity, and those unscrupulous fellows in the military should be given maximum sanctions.”Ngarr-buh villagers say that Cameroonian troops raided their village and killed dozens of people the night of February 14. Rights groups and the United Nations condemned the attack, which they say left at least 21 people dead, 14 of them children.Officials initially denied that the military committed any atrocity, calling it propaganda from anglophone rebels and supporters to discredit their troops. Authorities had said rebels attacked a military scouting mission in the village and that the counterattack accidentally caused fuel containers to burn nearby houses.Ilaria Allegrozzi, a senior researcher for central Africa with Human Rights Watch, said punishing the military for the massacre marks a step in the right direction, but added that investigations are needed into other crimes committed during Cameroon’s conflicts.”It is very good first step because there are other abuses and crimes that have been committed in the anglophone regions and beyond by both the security forces and armed groups and these crimes deserve the same level of attention and inquiry that we saw with the Ngarr-buh massacre,” Allegrozzi said via a messaging application from London. “We also welcome president Biya’s call for increased collaboration with human rights groups and we wish that this represents a change in the way government views human rights organizations.”Cameroon’s Ministry of Defense says Biya’s admission of the military’s blame for the massacre shows that abusers will always face justice.”The resilience of the Cameroon defense and security forces is intact. There is no perfect army in the world. Cameroonian defense and security forces, if they commit deviant acts during operations, they are tried in military courts and they do not go unpunished,” said Human Resources Director Colonel Joseph Ajang Sone.It is not the first time Cameroon has admitted its troops committed atrocities in its fight against anglophone rebels and the Islamist militant group Boko Haram.Cameroon arrested seven soldiers in 2018 suspected of executing two women and two children two years earlier while fighting Boko Haram. The arrests followed the circulation online of two videos that appeared to show Cameroonian troops carrying out the killings, and ongoing pressure from rights groups for justice.

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South African Rural Pharmacist on Frontline During Coronavirus Lockdown

South Africa’s pharmacists are often overlooked as frontline healthcare workers in the fight against Africa’s worst outbreak of coronavirus, despite frequently being the first in contact with those showing symptoms. In the rural town of Mokopane, in South Africa’s northern Limpopo Province, pharmacist Bronwyn van Heerden and her colleagues provide medicine to hundreds of patients daily. Reporter Marize de Klerk brings us van Heerden’s story, told in her own words.
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South African Rural Pharmacist on Frontline During Coronavirus Lockdown

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South Africa’s President Announces $26 Billion Coronavirus Rescue Package

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has unveiled a $26.3 billion “extraordinary budget” to help the country recover from the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. President Ramaphosa said Tuesday in a nationally televised address the budget will address the “hunger and social distress” the pandemic has caused among South Africa’s poorest citizens. He said some 250,000 food parcels will be distributed across the country in the coming days, and the country will increase financial grants for child support and for unemployed citizens. Ramaphosa said the new aid package is equal to 10% of the gross domestic product of South Africa, the continent’s most industrialized nation. The president imposed a strict lockdown on March 26 during the early stages of the outbreak in the country, banning anyone but essential workers from leaving home for the next 21 days. Ramaphosa said the government will follow a “risk-adjusted approach” to reopening the economy, and that he will unveil a phased-in plan on easing the lockdown on Thursday. South Africa has 3,465 confirmed cases of COVID-19 infections, including 58 fatalities.
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In Angola, Family Buries Polygamist ‘Big Dad’

Before he was laid to rest Sunday, the Angolan man known as Pai Grande, or Big Dad, drew a crowd of at least 1,000 people – including most, if not all, of his 156 surviving children and 250 grandchildren – to  pay their respects. At least 1,000 people gathered for the burial of Francisco Tchikuteny Sabalo despite prohibitions on large gatherings in Angola, April 19, 2020.Tchikuteny was a Christian who belonged to the New Ecclesiastic Order of Angola, a relative said. He was buried in a nearby cemetery newly dedicated to his family. That family includes 42 current wives; another seven had left the family earlier, relatives said. FILE – The late Francisco Tchikuteny Sabalo is shown in 2015 with some of his family. When he died April 14, 2020, he had 42 wives and 156 children. (Photo by Armando Chicoca) In 2015, Tchikuteny told VOA that he prized education and spent more than $1,500 a year on school supplies.He had expressed a desire for seeing some of his children trained in science and technology. Three daughters currently are studying medical sciences and two sons are learning computer science, all at the high school level. Lumbaneny Sabalo had volunteered as an elementary school teacher for five years. At Sunday’s service, Gonçalves Hunandumbo, the director of the island’s school, praised Tchikuteny for supporting education and starting “a revolution against illiteracy. … He was a man and a complete human being.” According to his family, Tchikuteny had fathered 281 children, but 125 predeceased him.  He is survived by his wives, children, grandchildren and 67 great-grandchildren.    With Tchikuteny’s death, “We lost a father,” Lumbaneny Sabalo said. He asked journalists and others to continue to visit the island, “where the greatest in Angola lived, and he will remain alive in the history of this country.” This reported originated in VOA’s Portuguese Service.
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Ugandan Security Forces Arrest Writer, TV Anchor After Coronavirus Posts

Ugandan security forces have arrested a writer and a television news anchor over posts they allegedly wrote on social media related to the coronavirus pandemic. Author Kakwenza Rukirabashaija appeared in court Monday, charged with committing an act that could spread the virus. Police also detained TV anchor Samson Kasumba as he left work and say he is under investigation. Kakwenza was arrested Monday by a team of operatives from the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence who stormed his home in Iganga district, Eastern Uganda.Kakwenza is the author of a satirical book titled The Greedy Barbarian, which most readers see as a comment on the president, Yoweri Museveni.After his arrest, he appeared before a Grade One Magistrate Court in Iganga and was charged with conducting an act likely to spread a disease.He is accused of posting a Facebook message on April 6 that allegedly urged the public not to comply with public health guidelines issued to prevent the spread of COVID-19.In the message, Kakwenza posted a picture taken inside a market, showing how people in Iganga were ignoring government guidelines on social distancing.The message suggested the president needs to “be serious” about enforcing directives, and said, “If the country plunges into the abyss of famine … never blame coronavirus but yourself and bigoted methods.”Eron Kiiza, Kakwenza’s lawyer, spoke to VOA via Whatsapp.“They produced him in court, but now not in Kampala, in Iganga and he was remanded up to 6th May. They refused him the chance to make his bail application yesterday and he has some torture marks, especially on his feet. But, we are happy that he’s at least from military detention to civil detention,” said Kiiza.In a separate incident, police arrested a Kampala television anchor, Samson Kasumba, as he left his TV station Monday night.Police spokesman Fred Enanga spoke about the arrest on Tuesday.“He’s a subject of investigation and it’s not connected in any way to his journalistic work. But, he’s being investigated together with others for alleged subversive activities,” he said.The spokesman did not specify what the alleged activities were. Over the weekend, Kasuma posted a Facebook message about the coronavirus that appeared to be non-controversial. The message said recoveries have surpassed active cases in Uganda, and asked if Uganda was the first country to accomplish this.Arnaud Froger, head of the Africa desk for media advocacy group Reporters Without Borders, said the group has recorded 65 press freedom violations in sub-Saharan Africa since the start of the coronavirus crisis.He said authorities in multiple countries are trying to make journalists stick to the government line on the pandemic.“Because they are afraid that independent information may get out. They are afraid that their official discourse may not be what corresponds to the facts that journalists are finding independently,” said Froger.Reporters Without Borders insists correct information is essential in the fight against the pandemic and has called on governments to make the media their ally, not an enemy.
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Volunteers Step in to Help South African Rhino Orphanage

A South African baby rhino sanctuary found itself facing a dual threat from the COVID-19 pandemic: an influx of newly orphaned rhinos and a lack of volunteers.The Rhino Orphanage in South Africa’s Limpopo province is a non-profit facility that specializes in raising baby rhinos left orphaned by poachers and eventually returning them to the wild.They rely on foreign volunteers for much of their staffing, but the coronavirus pandemic forced them to leave when their visas were revoked.Orphanage staffer Yolande van der Merwe said they were also concerned the lockdown would lead to an uptick in poaching, resulting in more orphaned rhinos coming to the facility.A series of phone calls and social media posts led to hundreds of South Africans willing to step up — many of whom, themselves, were out of work because of the pandemic.Africa’s rhino population has been decimated over decades by poachers who sell them to meet the demand for rhino horns in Asia.

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Algeria Targets Online Media

Algerian authorities have blocked a third online news website that covered the anti-government “Hirak” protest movement, stirring condemnation Monday from media watchdog Reporters Without Borders. RSF also voiced concern that a draft law on “fake news” could be used as another channel to “muzzle the press.” The draft legislation aims to “criminalize … fake news,” which authorities say could undermine national security. “Algeria is the country recording the largest numbers of deaths related to the coronavirus in Africa but authorities prefer to hound the free press,” said the RSF director for North Africa, Souhaieb Khayati. Algerian authorities earlier this month shut down online media sites Maghreb Emergent and Radio M. On Sunday, news website Interlignes was also hit by the censor’s axe and no longer accessible online, said founder Bouzid Ichalalene. “The authorities are trying to push serious media to close and allow only the mediocre ones to exist,” Ichalalene told AFP. There was no immediate comment from the authorities. In July last year, Interlignes was targeted by the authorities for its coverage of the Hirak protest movement. For more than a year, Algeria was gripped by weekly protests which started in February 2019 and led to the resignation of veteran president Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Demonstrations continued even after he stepped down in April with protesters demanding a complete overhaul of the political establishment. But the rallies have been suspended as the authorities imposed lockdowns to try to stem the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Algeria has declared 384 deaths and more than 2,700 confirmed cases, according to latest figures. Said Salhi, vice president of the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights, said authorities were targeting online media outlets because they are “more active” and “escape government control.” Salhi said the new draft law was “another turn of the screw against freedoms” in Algeria. The bill is aimed at “legalizing the campaign of repression which for months has targeted activists of the Hirak movement, journalists and human rights defenders,” Salhi said. RSF said it fears that the draft legislation will become a “tool” in the hands of the authorities to “muzzle the press.” At least two journalists are behind bars in Algeria, including Khaled Drareni, correspondent of French channel TV5 Monde and RSF.
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Zimbabwe HIV Positive Patients Struggle to Collect Their Meds

People living with HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe are having trouble accessing their medication due to the lockdown imposed because of COVID-19. The government recently extended the restrictions to run until May 3. VOA correspondent Mariama Diallo reports.
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Lesotho Coalition Government Calls for Prime Minister’s Immediate Resignation

The southern African country of Lesotho’s coalition government is calling for the immediate resignation of scandal-plagued Prime Minister Thomas Thabane. The 80-year-old leader has been under pressure to leave office after being linked to the murder of his estranged wife, 58-year-old Lipolelo Thabane, three years ago. The prime minister’s current wife, Maesaiah Thabane, is charged with shooting to death Lipolelo, two days before Thabane’s inauguration in 2017. Both the government of Lesotho and South African mediators released a joint statement Monday, saying Thabane’s departure should be graceful and that he gets what is described as a secure retirement. Its unclear if that means Thabane would no longer face legal consequences for his alleged ties to his estranged wife’s murder. Thabane has also been criticized for calling up troops over the weekend to restore order in Lesotho, following his claim some leaders in law enforcement were seeking to undermine democracy in the small country surrounded by South Africa. Observers believe the troop deployment to the capital, Maserua, was a last ditch effort by Thabane to remain in power. A day before he called up the troops, his authority took another hit when the constitutional court ruled against his decision to suspend parliament. Although Thabane has previously promised to leave office at the end of July, South African mediator Jeff Radebe told reporters his departure should be imminent.
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Kenya Activists Fear Spike in Violence Against Women During Coronavirus

Rights activists in Kenya have raised alarm after indications that gender-based-violence may be on the rise with restrictions on movement due to the coronavirus.  The East African country has more than 280 reported cases of COVID-19 so far, and at least 14 deaths. Community organizer Jane Anyango, 48, has for years documented cases of gender-based violence in Nairobi’s Kibera neighborhood, Africa’s largest urban slum. People walk across a bridge with a message written on the barriers advocating personal efforts to stem the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus in the Kibera slum, Nairobi, on April 14, 2020.But, since Kenya announced restrictions on movements over coronavirus, she says the number of reported cases has increased. Two weeks ago, a 13-year-old girl called Anyango when her parents started to physically fight. “We got the report from a child which was really sad — that there is no peace in their home. That is why to me this is very unique because mothers and fathers fight but, when it bothers the children, it’s more than what people should take. And then with the curfew, most conflicts are happening in the night or late in the evening so the kids cannot even run out,” said Anyango. Kenya in March imposed a nationwide nighttime curfew and restrictions on public gatherings and transportation. Schools went to remote learning and many people began working from home.FILE – Vendors look at cabbage loaded on the back of a tricycle, as it is brought to the market to be sold in the town of Kiu, south of Nairobi, Kenya, Jan. 12, 2020.However, Kenyans who rely on a daily wage in markets or through manual labor suddenly found themselves struggling to put food on the table, as shops closed down and economic activity came to a halt. Wangechi Wachira, the director of the Kenyan feminist Center for Rights Education and Awareness, says the Center has seen an increase in reported cases of violence against women. “In our office, in a day, we receive between three to seven cases and these are cases where someone walks into the office or someone makes a call,” she said. “But within this period, we have seen those numbers go up. Just last week we had about an increase from seven cases to between 10 to 12.” Agnes Odhiambo , a researcher on sub-Saharan Africa with the women’s rights division of Human Rights Watch, says that during coronavirus restrictions, a large spike in violence against women is almost certain. FILE – Residents desperate for a planned distribution of food for those suffering under Kenya’s coronavirus-related movement restrictions push through a gate and create a stampede, at a district office in the Kibera slum of Nairobi.“Gender based violence or violence happens mainly for two issues. One is an issue of power and control, and two, is an issue of inequality,” she said.  “Now this is the situation that COVID has created where people are behind closed doors, there is no money. It’s a perfect environment for people who are abusive to even be more abusive or even for those who are usually not abusive to become abusive because of that stress, where they feel they need to exert their dominance in an environment where they are feeling kind of emasculated.” Rights groups say until coronavirus restrictions are relaxed, cases of gender-based violence in Kenya will only rise. They also note that when so many people remain behind closed doors, most of the violence will go unreported.
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Top South Sudan Opposition Members Ditch Machar, Jump to Ruling Party

More members of South Sudan’s main opposition party have defected to the ruling party led by President Salva Kiir, with one former member accusing First Vice President Riek Machar of running the opposition like a family dynasty.Dak Duop Bichiok, a former SPLM-IO (Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition) political bureau member, announced his resignation and that of hundreds of his followers in the diaspora at a Juba news conference late last week.“We are declaring that we are not any longer part of Dr. Riek Machar, and we are not alone. We have a group in Nairobi, Egypt, Khartoum and also in Addis Ababa and in the diaspora elsewhere in the world,” he said.The defections began after Machar’s wife, Angelina Teny, was appointed minister of defense in South Sudan’s transitional unity government. FILE – South Sudan President Salva Kiir, right, and opposition leader and now Kiir’s deputy, Riek Machar, congratulate each other after a swearing-in ceremony in Juba, South Sudan, Feb. 22, 2020.Another recent defector, Yien Thiang, said Machar is biased when he appoints officials and squanders party resources.“The party has been turned into a family dynasty where the chairman and his family run it like his personal property. The functions of important organs like the political bureau and national liberation council have been rendered irrelevant. The chairman single-handedly manages the affairs of the party with impunity,” Thiang told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus.Bichiok, a former petroleum minister, said Machar no longer follows the party’s regulations.However, Thiang and Bichiok declined to offer specific instances of Machar acting inappropriately. SPLM-IO spokesman Manawa Peter did not respond to repeated phone calls or text messages for comment on this story. Machar’s Deputy Chief of Staff James Koang and other SPLM-IO officials announced their defections last month over allegations the party has lost its direction and vision. They, too, joined Kiir’s ruling party. A former SPLM-IO official, Peter Adwok Nyaba, said he left the party two years ago because Machar refuses to share power. “It is the same situation, because if you read what they said, it is that this guy took the party even to a prison. So, he was managing it from the prison in South Africa as if he is the only person who can lead,” Nyaba told South Sudan in Focus.Before South Sudan’s transitional unity government was formed in February, Machar was in South Africa, where SPLM-IO representatives said he was being held under house arrest.Unless things change, Machar should expect more defections, Nyaba said.“The issue of lack of democracy, transparency and accountability is still there. The leader has refused to apply democracy, to listen to the people, and that is why people are leaving. And you will have more who will also get angry and will leave,” Nyaba told VOA.
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Kenya Activists Fear Spike in Violence Agaist Women During Coronavirus

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Ghana’s Decision to Lift Partial COVID-19 Lockdown Criticized by Some

Ghana has lifted a three-week partial lockdown in major cities over the coronavirus – one of the first African countries to ease such restrictions. Some Ghanaians say they fear the restrictions are being lifted too soon, while struggling shop owners and daily wage workers were already back at work as the lift took effect Monday.President Nana Akufo-Addo announced an end to the partial lockdown in a televised address late Sunday.Akufo-Addo said the nation is not letting down its guard against the pandemic.Public gatherings are still banned, schools remain closed and social distancing measures continue. The borders will remain closed for a further two weeks to stop the virus from entering the country.He said Ghana was taking action to protect its people from the virus was but using an approach which suits the country.“We shall be nimble and adapt as the situation changes. We will tailor our solutions to our unique social, economic and cultural conditions. There is no one-size-fits-all approach, but I pledge to you that government will do whatever is required, in our particular circumstances, to safeguard the lives of our people, and keep our economy going,” said the president.Reaction to the speech was mixed. Many on social media say the move is premature. Ghana has seen more than 1,000 cases of coronavirus to date, although the death toll has been low, with only nine fatalities.Ernest Agyei Badu, who sells television sets in Accra, said he is pleased the lockdown is over. He had spent the time in Kumasi, which was also in partial lockdown.On Monday morning, he took a bus back to the capital so he could return to work.“There were a lot of issues. I had imported a lot of TVs and they were all locked up in the warehouse, and nothing was going on, so I personally didn’t support the lockdown. I have workers; how am I going to pay them when we are not selling? So, it was a big problem,” he said.People wait to receive food and water in Accra, Ghana, during a partial lockdown to slow the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), April 4, 2020.To try to relieve suffering from the lockdown and ongoing pandemic, Ghana is providing food for the vulnerable and free or subsidized electricity. It has also borrowed one billion dollars from the International Monetary Fund to help close the financing gap created by the pandemic.William Nyarko is the executive director of the Africa Center for International Law and Accountability, a non-partisan research group. He said the impact of the lockdown is significant as Ghana’s economy is largely informal, and people rely on daily wages.Nyarko said he would have preferred incremental steps in lifting the lockdown to avoid further spread of the virus.“An incremental approach would have been that he would lift the restrictions in phases like he did when he was doing a partial lockdown, so for example, he could have lifted the restrictions for two weeks and then would be monitoring to assess how things were going.”As the streets return to life in Accra, Ghana’s government has said it will keep a clear focus on the situation and continue testing contacts of positive cases.So far, it has traced 86,000 contacts and tested 68,591 of them, of which 1.5%, have come back as positive.
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