With the threat of the coronavirus infecting thousands of prisoners held in extremely overcrowded South Sudanese facilities, Human Rights Watch (HRW) is urging the country’s prison authorities to release pre-trial detainees and prisoners who have served most of their terms.  According to HRW, the country’s prisons and detention sites are overcrowded, unsanitary, and have inadequate medical care: the perfect breeding ground for spreading the pandemic.  Closing the borders, imposing a travel ban, and suspending all mass gatherings are all positive moves taken by the government to control the spread of coronavirus said HRW researcher in South Sudan, N yagoah Tut Pur, but prisoners are still at great risk of becoming infected.Many of them sleep in overcrowded hallways or bunk beds, increasing the risk of infection. Prison authorities should ease overcrowding by releasing non-violent prisoners, said Tut.“Those who are in pre-trial detention for non-violence and less offenses, they should consider older people, older prisoners as well as prisoners with underlining conditions and prisoners with disabilities and those who do not pose a general risk to the public,” Tut told South Sudan in Focus.She also suggested that detention facilities run by the National Security Service (NSS) be closed. “Beyond prisons we have also focused on National Security Service detentions because the NSS do not have the constitutional mandate to detain civilians, but they still do. And now we have called on the government to ensure those unlawfully detained by NSS are released and that NSS facilities are shut down,” Tut told VOA.General Henry Kuany Aguar, Director General for the National Prison Service, said he distributed a circular to all states instructing prison authorities to release 1400 inmates to ease overcrowding. “The number of prisoners is big. We requested them to [get] bail, they can be bailed. They are not convicted, they are not investigated, nothing proves somebody is innocent or convicted so we are requesting let these people be bailed,” Aguar told South Sudan in Focus.  Kuany also recommended juvenile detainees and prisoners with six months or less remaining on their sentence be released.Major General Anthony Oliver Lege, spokesperson for the National Prison Service, insists prison authorities are implementing measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. “We make sure that we avoid coming together even though the nature of the prisons of course they will stay in one place but we are trying to say to them the value of social distancing is very important,” Lege told South Sudan in Focus.South Sudan also ended prison visitation hours to control the spread of the pandemic.Prison authorities in the Unity state capital Bentiu as well as in Yirol and Yei have already released some prisoners to ease overcrowding, according to Lege.
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An Ebola flare-up in eastern Congo may spread again after a patient escaped from a clinic, complicating efforts to contain the disease that has infected six people since last week, the World Health Organization said on Sunday.The Democratic Republic of Congo was two days away from declaring the end of the world’s second-largest Ebola epidemic when a new chain of infection was discovered on April 10, following more than seven weeks without a new case.Since then, health authorities have sought to contain any renewed spread of infections.But on Friday a 28-year-old motorbike taxi-driver who had tested positive for Ebola ran away from the center where he was being treated in the town of Beni.”We are using all the options to get him out of the community,” said Boubacar Diallo, deputy incident manager for the WHO’s Ebola response operation. “We are expecting secondary cases from him.”Decades of conflict and poor governance have eroded public trust in authorities in Congo. Despite Ebola having killed more than 2,200 people since August 2018, research shows that many communities believe the disease is not real.Small outbreaks are common towards the end of an epidemic, but health workers need to ensure the virus is contained by tracking, quarantining and vaccinating the contacts of new cases.”We do not have any details yet. All have been working with the authorities, youths and civil society to find him. Search is ongoing,” Diallo said by WhatsApp message.A 15-year-old girl also tested positive for the virus on Friday, Diallo said, taking the total number of confirmed new cases since the flare-up to six.Beni’s deputy mayor Muhindo Bakwanamaha said the local authorities have not so far been able to track down the escaped patient. “Since he is out of treatment he will die, and create a lot of contacts around him,” he said.Two new vaccines have had a major impact in containing Ebola, but militia attacks have prevented health workers from reaching some areas hit by the virus.Congo’s battered health system is simultaneously fighting measles and cholera epidemics, as well as the global coronavirus pandemic. The country has recorded 327 cases of COVID-19 and 25 deaths. 
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Parliamentary elections went on as planned in Mali Sunday, despite threats of Jihadist violence and fears of spreading the novel coronavirus. Low voter turnout was expected Sunday for the run-off legislative elections. The first round of elections, held on March 29th after repeated delays, was marred by intimidation and jihadist attacks — including the kidnapping of opposition leader Soumaila Cisse. Voter turnout in the first round of elections was just over 12% in the capital city of Bamako, according to government officials. Many are expected to stay inside, heeding guidelines to avoid large gatherings and keep distance between people. Mali has reported over 200 cases of COVID-19 and 13 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. These are the first elections to fill Mali’s 147-seat parliament since 2013. Elections were initially scheduled to take place in late 2018 but were delayed due to security concerns, which has left many Malians questioning why Sunday’s vote was not delayed as well. President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who was elected in 2013, addressed the nation last week wearing a face mask, saying that the decision to continue with the vote as scheduled was not made by his government, but instead determined by an independent commission in the country. Thousands of Malians have died as the country suffered sporadic attacks by jihadists as well as cases of inter-ethnic violence since unrest began in 2012. 
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The U.N. Human Rights Office reports scores of civilians are being killed, wounded and abducted in worsening Inter-ethnic violence between the Hema and Lendu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ituri Province.More than 150 people have been killed in Djugu and Mahagi territories in Ituri province since early March, raising the number of civilian deaths this year to more than 200. In addition, the U.N. Human Rights Office reports scores of other civilians have been wounded and abducted in this inter-ethnic conflict.The agency says attacks by CODECO fighters, a militia tied to the Lendu ethnic group, have escalated against the Hema people after their commander was killed on March 25 by the DRC Military.U.N. human rights spokesman, Rupert Colville, says 23 civilians were killed in the latest attack last week in the village of Koli.“The brutality of the attacks with perpetrators using machetes to kill women and children, raping, looting property, destroying houses, killing livestock, suggests the aim is to inflict lasting trauma on the affected populations, forcing them to flee, and so gain control over the territory, which is rich in natural resources.”The Lendu, who are mainly farmers and Hema, a herding and trading people, have been fighting sporadically for decades over valuable resources in their gold mining and oil rich province. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced.After a decade-long lull, fighting between the two groups re-emerged in late 2017. A U.N. report published January, found that widespread systematic attacks by the Lendu against the Hema civilian population may constitute crimes against humanity.Colville says the current leaders of the Lendu community have largely distanced themselves from the attackers. And, he notes the Hema and other ethnic groups in the area generally have shown restraint.“But we are worried that if the attacks continue without a decisive response from the security forces to defend the civilian population, those communities may form self-defense militias and that would increase the likelihood of a descent into all out inter-communal violence, which would be absolutely catastrophic.”The U.N. Human Rights Office is calling on the authorities to strengthen the presence of security forces in the region. It is urging officials to thoroughly investigate alleged abuses and human rights violations and to hold the perpetrators to account. 
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More than a thousand COVID cases have been confirmed in conflict-prone Cameroon, provoking fears that the situation may get out of hand if the virus spreads to refugee camps and areas where internally displaced persons from the country’s separatist crisis and Boko Haram terrorism live. Rights groups are asking for humanitarian assistance, saying resources are already stretched tackling Boko Haram terrorism, separatist conflicts, the spillover of the carnage in neighboring CAR and now, COVID-19.Cameroon’s prime minister, Joseph Dion Ngute, in a declaration broadcast on all local radio and TV stations, said schools that were closed March 17 will remain closed for at least the next 45 days, since COVID-19 cases have increased from barely a hundred in March to over 1,000 on April 18.”The resumption of classes on the indicative date of 1st June,” he said. “It is understood that this measure is subject to change, depending on the evolution of the pandemic.”Ngute called on Cameroonians to remain indoors, practice hygiene methods and wear masks if they must go out. He said COVID-19 has killed 23 Cameroonians and 180 have recovered, while more than 800 are still being treated in already-overcrowded health facilities.Strained resourcesCameroon Civil Society Group leader Edward Nfor said the country may not be financially and materially able to handle its increasing COVID-19 cases because it’s also tackling Boko Haram terrorism on its northern border with Nigeria, separatist conflicts in the English-speaking regions and the spillover of the carnage in neighboring Central African Republic.”With the COVID just coming in, I find it very difficult for the state of Cameroon,” he said. “There are alarming numbers of refugees coming in from the Central African Republic and the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Just imagine that the COVID-19 enters into these refugee camps. I find Cameroon in a very delicate situation.”Issa Tchiroma, Cameroon employment and vocational training minister, said Cameroon finds itself in a difficult situation because most of its resources are already invested in crisis and humanitarian assistance.Cameroon has not disclosed how much it spends in the separatist conflict that has killed 3,000 people since 2017 and in the war against Boko Haram terrorism.Already affecting exportsAntonio Pedro, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa director for central Africa, said exports that Cameroon relies on for income are already affected by the spread of COVID-19.”We have seen oil prices go down from $65, 60 to 30. Coffee, cocoa, wood, palm oil —  the demand in the major importing countries will go down, and prices are also being revised downwards,” he said.In a report published April 17, the International Rescue Committee describes Cameroon as one of the world’s most forgotten crises, facing three distinct emergencies, from armed violence in the northwest and southwest to an influx of refugees from Nigeria and Central Africa Republic.The IRC said that more than 700,000 people in some places have been forced to flee their homes and are living in cramped, crowded informal camps, meaning COVID-19 will spread rapidly throughout the population.The IRC said that Cameroon, with almost 4 million people in need of humanitarian aid and the highest COVID-19 caseload across the Sahel and East Africa, faces increased danger from the pandemic. And with 2.5 million people already in need of urgent medical care without the outbreak, the health system is clearly ill prepared to handle a rapid escalation in cases, despite the best efforts of the government and its partners.
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A group of 44 suspected members of Boko Haram, arrested during a recent operation against the jihadist group, have been found dead in their prison cell, apparently poisoned, Chad’s chief prosecutor announced Saturday.Speaking on national television, Youssouf Tom said the 44 prisoners had been found dead Thursday.An autopsy carried out on four of the dead prisoners revealed traces of a lethal substance that had caused heart attacks in some of the victims and severe asphyxiation in the others, he said.The dead men were among a group of 58 suspects captured during a major army operation around Lake Chad launched by President Idriss Deby Itno at the end of March.”Following the fighting around Lake Chad, 58 members of Boko Haram had been taken prisoner and sent to Ndjamena for the purposes of the investigation,” said Tom.”On Thursday morning, their jailers told us that 44 prisoners had been found dead in their cell,” Tom said, adding that he had attended the scene.”We have buried 40 bodies and sent four bodies to the medical examiner for autopsy.” An investigation was ongoing to determine exactly how the prisoners had died, he said.A security source, speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP that “the 58 prisoners were placed in a single cell and were given nothing to eat or drink for two days.”Mahamat Nour Ahmed Ibedou, secretary general of the Chadian Convention for the Protection of Human Rights (CTDDH), made similar accusations.Prison officials had “locked the prisoners in a small cell and refusing them food and water for three days because they were accused of belonging to Boko Haram,” Ibedou told AFP. “It’s horrible what has happened.”The government denied the allegations.”There was no ill-treatment,” Chad Justice Minister Djimet Arabi told AFP by telephone.”Toxic substances were found in their stomachs. Was it collective suicide or something else? We’re still looking for answers,” he said, adding that the investigation was still ongoing.One of the prisoners was transferred to hospital on Thursday, but he was “faring much better” and had rejoined “the other 13 prisoners still alive and who are doing very well,” the minister said.Earlier this week, the minister told AFP the captured men had been transferred to Ndjamena on Tuesday evening and handed over to the court system for trial.The military operation against Boko Haram killed more than a thousand of the group’s militants and cost the lives of 52 soldiers, a Chadian army spokesman said. The operation ran from March 31 to April 8.It was launched in response to a devastating attack on Chadian troops on March 23 on a base at Bohoma, in the Lake Chad marshlands, that killed 98 soldiers. It was the largest one-day loss the army had ever suffered.Since then, Idriss has warned his allies in the region that Chad’s army will no longer take part in operations outside the country.The force, considered one of the best in the region, has fought Boko Haram in the Lake Chad region as part of the Joint Multinational Force with Nigeria, Cameroon and Niger.But on Friday, French Defense Minister Florence Parly said Chad remained committed to the G5 Sahel anti-jihadist force operating in the region.  
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At least five women and children died Saturday in a stampede when cash and clothes were handed out to thousands of displaced people in northeastern Nigeria, militia and local people told AFP.A large crowd surged forward for the government aid distribution and people were trampled under foot in the town of Gamboru, near the Cameroon border, a region hit by jihadist violence.”Five dead bodies, four women and a little girl, were brought to the hospital along with seven injured,” a medical source said at the hospital.”We learned that [other] bodies were identified and claimed by relations from the scene,” the source added without specifying how many.However, Umar Kachalla, who heads a local anti-jihadist militia force, said: “There was a crush, which led to the death of 12 women and children and left seven with severe injuries.”Some of the dead were taken to hospital and others were claimed at the site of the stampede, he added.Handouts at schoolThousands of women had gathered at a primary school for handouts of $13 and clothing supplied by Borno state Governor Babagana Umara Zulum.”There was a stampede as the distribution was about to start” in the morning, said local resident Yahaya Bukar, who also counted 12 dead.Gamboru, a border trading hub, has been repeatedly targeted by Boko Haram insurgents since August 2014, when the jihadists seized the town along with nearby Ngala.Nigerian soldiers retook both places a year later with the help of Chadian troops after a series of offensives that lasted months.Residents returned to both towns but 70,000 live in squalid camps at Gamboru and rely on food aid from international charities.Fourteen people died Friday and 15 were badly hurt in a blaze in the town’s main camp.The insurrection has killed 36,000 people and displaced 1.8 million from their homes in the northeast. The violence has spread to neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
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Zimbabwe on Saturday marked the 40th anniversary of its independence from Britain, but unlike years past, there were no celebrations. Zimbabwe is on lockdown and battling the spread of COVID-19 amid shortages of resources.Some citizens say that even if there were no coronavirus pandemic, they would be in no mood to party. Their reasons vary.President Emmerson Mnangagwa delivered a televised address Saturday from the State House instead of the traditional way – in person in a football stadium.“This year, we had planned to celebrate this grand occasion, in Bulawayo province,” he said. “However, the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic is seeing us endure a necessary lockdown in our homes. Although we are physically separated, we are united in spirit.”The time to celebrate together shall come. … Today, our task, in relation to COVID-19, is to stay at home, keep our distance and wash our hands. We celebrate our milestone 40th independence anniversary in the context of unprecedented times, that of the threat brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.”UncertaintyTo date, Zimbabwe has recorded 24 cases and three deaths. Some citizens, like computer science student Raphael Maramba, 23, say the pandemic has led to uncertainty about the future.“I am feeling independent but just stressed over the corona[virus] thing,” he said. “We do know what happens after Independence [Day]. We will go back to school or lockdown extension. If there was no corona[virus] I would be happy. This corona[virus] thing is affecting my studies. If I do not go back to school this year, it means I will have a year extension. So, it will not [be] good for me.”A 33-year-old woman who wished to be identified only as Rutendo cited financial challenges and a lack of upward mobility for not wanting to celebrate the anniversary.“Personally, I am not independent and I am not happy, because it has been a struggle since my adulthood until now,” she said. “We talk about financial freedom, but it is happening to a few elite. Most of us are still struggling. So, independence is just a word. If you are not connected, then you continue with the struggle. Hard work does not matter if you are not connected.”FILE – Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa speaks in Minsk, Belarus, Jan. 17, 2019.Mnangagwa took power in November 2017, succeeding the late, long-serving leader Robert Mugabe. Mnangagwa promised to address corruption, human rights abuses and economic problems that his predecessor had been accused of ignoring. Some critics say Mnangagwa has failed to deliver on his promises.Tabani Moyo, head of the Media Institute of Southern Africa in Zimbabwe, says the Mnangagwa government, like the previous one, has not respected press freedoms.Too much ‘entitlement’“We have gone for a good decade without alternative means of expression,” Moyo said. “Even if there was no lockdown, chances are that we were going to be mourning as we commemorate this day. Unfortunately, and sadly, there is too much level of entitlement among the generation that brought independence. That sense of entitlement erodes the cornerstones of the freedom of expression and access to information that the country yearns for.”Ahead of the anniversary, police told the High Court that the state broadcaster was the only news medium to be considered an essential service during the lockdown, which ends Sunday after 21 days.
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The U.N. refugee agency warns millions of people across 21 countries in West and Central Africa are facing a potential humanitarian catastrophe because of armed conflict and the impact of coronavirus as the pandemic spreads throughout the region.
 
West and Central Africa have one of the largest displaced populations in Africa. More than nine million people have been forcibly displaced by conflict and extreme weather events related to climate change.
 
The U.N. refugee agency warns the growing spread of the coronavirus will worsen the already acute humanitarian crisis throughout this volatile region.  So far, more than 5,000 cases of COVID-19, including more than 100 deaths have been reported to the World Health Organization from all 21 countries.
 
UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch says all cases and deaths have occurred within the host populations. So far, no cases have been reported among the displaced. But he warns this could change rapidly as the virus does not discriminate among people.
 
He told VOA aid agencies fear this deadly outbreak could spread wildly unless steps are taken to prepare and prevent this.
    
“As violence continues, as displacement continues, as people are forced to be in crowded situations without any access to water or sanitation, so economies being affected, this could be really a lethal mix with COVID,” he said.
 
Baloch said the UNHCR is stepping up efforts across West and Central Africa to protect the millions of vulnerable refugees and internally displaced people.  But implementing preventive measures is a race against time.
    
“Resources are needed for sure and joint efforts as well.  That is why our appeal that no set of population can be left out in this fight against the virus because even leaving one group could have deadly consequences for all of us,” he said.   
    
Baloch said aid operations in the region face numerous obstacles as armed conflict in West Africa’s Sahel region is creating insecurity and limiting access to people in need.   
 
He said limits on international movements from complete to partial border closures and other restrictions related to COVID-19 also are hindering humanitarian efforts.
 
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Media and rights groups are calling on Mozambican authorities to locate and immediately release a community radio journalist missing since April 7.Ibraimo Abu Mbaruco, a reporter of Rádio Comunitária de Palma, or Palma Community Radio, disappeared while on his way home shortly after he left the radio station. His family and his colleagues have not heard from him since.“The information gathered so far indicates that soldiers witnessed this journalist’s disappearance and may have been involved,” Arnaud Froger, the head of the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Africa desk, said in a statement Friday.The government of Mozambique has not commented on the disappearance of Mbaruco.“The silence coming from the highest authorities is extremely worrying and we fear that he could suffer the same fate as other journalists, who were held incommunicado for months last year for covering the violence in northern Mozambique,” the statement said, adding “turning this violence-torn province into a black hole for news and information will not help to end the insurrection.”In a text message, sent to a colleague on April 7, Mbaruco said he was “surrounded by military,” according to RSF, which said it has contacted the person.“Mozambican authorities must be thorough and transparent in their investigation into Ibraimo Abú Mbaruco’s whereabouts and ensure accountability, given that Cabo Delgado has become a no-go area for the press and human rights defenders,” said Africa program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists Angela Quintal in a statement.  “It is unacceptable that 10 days after he disappeared, his family and colleagues remain in the dark about his whereabouts.”“Ibraimo Mbaruco’s apparent forced disappearance is of grave concern, particularly given the Mozambican security forces’ alarming record of wrongfully detaining journalists,” said southern Africa director at Human Rights Watch Dewa Mavhinga.  “The Mozambican government should urgently take all necessary steps to locate Mbaruco and ensure his safe release.”Amnesty International also called on Mozambique government, if Mbaruco is in state custody, to ensure his safety and release him immediately.The organization demanded that the practice of enforced disappearances in Mozambique come to an end and that the government ensure that the right to freedom of expression and media freedom are “fully respected, protected, promoted and fulfilled and that journalists are able to freely carry out their work without fear of attacks, intimidation, harassment and censorship.”Mbaruco’s disappearance comes as evidence is growing that Mozambican security forces have continued to harass, intimidate, and arbitrarily detain journalists covering fighting between government forces and Islamist militants seeking to establish a caliphate in the country’s northern region.  
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The World Health Organization reported Friday that COVID-19 cases in Africa have increased 51 percent and deaths have jumped 60 percent.Speaking at a conference in Geneva, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO’s director-general, said the figures could be even higher if testing were adequate.As of Friday, according to official figures, Algeria, with more than 360 deaths so far, is the African country with the highest number of fatalities. Egypt comes in second with more than 200.  Morocco has reported 135 deaths and South Africa 50.African countries have confirmed a total of 19,334 infections since the virus emerged in China in late December.Although, so far, Africa has suffered less than other regions from COVID-19, health officials fear the situation is deteriorating.Tedros also addressed the issue of reopening so-called wet markets, open-air marketplaces almost everywhere in the world where vendors sell fresh meat, fish, produce and other perishable goods.”Wet markets, as you know, are an important source of affordable food and livelihood for millions of people all over the world,” he said. “But in many places, they have been poorly regulated and poorly maintained. WHO’s position is that when these markets are allowed to reopen, it should only be on the condition that they conform to stringent food safety and hygiene standards. Governments must rigorously enforce bans on the sale and trade of wildlife for food.”Although the origin of COVID-19 is yet to be determined, some scientists suspect the virus was transmitted to humans from animals at a wet market in Wuhan, China.
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For Orthodox Christians, this is normally a time of reflection and mourning followed by joyful release, of centuries-old ceremonies steeped in symbolism and tradition.But this year, Easter — by far the most significant religious holiday for the world’s roughly 300 million Orthodox — has essentially been canceled.There will be no Good Friday processions behind the flower-bedecked symbolic bier of Christ, to the haunting hymn of the Virgin Mary’s lament for the death of her son. No hugs and kisses, or joyous proclamations of “Christ is risen!” as church bells ring at midnight on Holy Saturday. No family gatherings over lamb roasted whole on a spit for an Easter lunch stretching into the soft spring evening.As the coronavirus rampages around the globe, claiming tens of thousands of lives, governments have imposed lockdowns in a desperate bid to halt the pandemic.  Businesses have been closed and church doors shut to prevent the virus’s insidious spread.For some, the restrictions during Easter are particularly tough.”When there was freedom and you didn’t go somewhere, it didn’t bother you,” said Christina Fenesaki, while shopping in Athens’ main meat market for lamb — to cook in the oven at home in the Greek capital instead of on a spit in her ancestral village. “But now that we have the restrictions, it bothers you a lot. It’s heavy.”In Greece, where more than 90 percent of the population is baptized into the Orthodox Church, the government has been at pains to stress that this year’s Easter cannot be normal.Greek Orthodox priests hold aloft the bier depicting Christ’s preparation for burial during the Good Friday procession of the Epitaphios, held without worshippers in an empty church in Thessaloniki, Greece, during a lockdown April 17, 2020.It imposed a lockdown early on, and so far has managed to keep the number of deaths and critically ill people low — 108 and 71 respectively as of Friday, among a population of nearly 11 million.But officials fear any slippage in social distancing could have dire consequences, particularly during a holiday that normally sees people cram into churches and flock to the countryside. Roadblocks have been set up, and fines doubled to 300 euros ($325), for anyone found driving without justification during the holiday.”This Easter is different. We will not go to our villages, we will not roast in our yards, we will not go to our churches. And of course, we will not gather in the homes of relatives and friends,” government spokesman Stelios Petsas said. “For us to continue being together, this year we stay apart.”Easter services will be held behind closed doors with only the priest and essential staff. They will be broadcast live on television and streamed on the internet.One particularly complex issue is how to handle the “Holy Light,” the flame distributed throughout the Orthodox world each year from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem to mark the resurrection of Christ.Greek and Russian authorities have arranged to pick the flame up from Israel but won’t distribute it. Cyprus won’t even pick it up; there is “no need,” the island nation’s Archbishop Chrysostomos said.”Today, faith is not at risk but the faithful are,” Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades said.Patriarch Bartholomew I, spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox, has urged the faithful to adhere to government measures and World Health Organization guidelines. But keeping people out of churches hasn’t proved easy.In Serbia and North Macedonia, authorities imposed nationwide curfews from Good Friday through Easter Monday. Ethiopia, with the largest Orthodox population outside Europe, also restricted access to liturgies and deployed security outside churches. Liturgies are broadcast live, although several churches outside the capital, Addis Ababa, were violating restrictions, alarming authorities.But in some Orthodox countries, such as Georgia and Bulgaria, limited church services will go ahead.In Greece, after days of delicate diplomacy with the country’s powerful Orthodox Church, the government banned the public from all services after the church’s governing body imposed restrictions but not a full shutdown. Authorities also quickly scotched a Greek mayor’s plans to distribute the “Holy Light” door-to-door throughout his municipality just after midnight on Saturday.The church of Prophet Ilias is illuminated during the Good Friday procession of the Epitaphios, held without worshippers near the port town of Lavrio about 75 kilometers south of Athens on April 17, 2020.Some priests have defied the shutdown. One recently offered communion — where the faithful sip from the same spoon — through an Athens church’s back door. On Good Friday, a handful of churches opened briefly, allowing people in.Russia’s Orthodox Church initially seemed similarly reluctant to impose restrictions. When authorities in St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city, banned church visits on March 26, the Moscow Patriarchate condemned the move as an infringement on religious freedom. Only three days later did Patriarch Kirill publicly urge believers to “strictly obey the regulations imposed by the health authorities” and “refrain from church visits.”On Friday, Russian Orthodox Church spokesman Vladimir Legoida said churches would stay open in some regions, even though the Church urged people to stay home.”The epidemiological situation varies in different regions, and so do rules for attending churches,” he said.Closing churches during Easter has been hard on Russians used to attending services. Many have turned to the internet and video conference prayers.”At first it was just a shock,” said believer Andrei Vasenev. “How is that possible — not go to church? But then we realized it was a matter of finding a way.”Vasenev, two dozen others and a priest from his Moscow parish have started praying via Zoom and plan to do the same during Easter. For him, going to church is about community, and Zoom prayers keep this community together.For Anna Sytina, another participant of the online prayers, the hardest part is being away from people and the warmth of human contact. “There’s a moment in a liturgy when you kiss each other three times,” Sytina said. “Now we see each other on monitors and displays.”Greek Orthodox priests hold aloft the bier depicting Christ’s preparation for burial during the Good Friday procession of the Epitaphios, held in an empty church in Thessaloniki, Greece, April 17, 2020.Both are prepared to pray at home for as long as it takes. “It is a sacrifice in the life of every believer, but it is necessary,” Sytina said.It is a sentiment echoed in Greece.”Each person has the church inside of them,” said Kleanthis Tsironis, who heads Athens’ main meat market. He will spend Easter at home with his wife and two daughters and will miss the resurrection liturgy. But churches will eventually open, he said, and Easter traditions will return.”Souls are being lost,” he said of the virus deaths across the world. “And we’re going to sit and cry because we didn’t roast on a spit? We’ll do that later, when the measures are over.”  
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The World Bank and International Monetary Fund said on Friday that Africa needs $44 billion more to fight the coronavirus pandemic despite a freeze in debt payments for many countries and massive pledges of support.The Washington-based lenders and other official creditors have already mobilized $57 billion to support healthcare and economic recovery on the world’s poorest continent, they said in a joint statement with African leaders, while private funds have given $13 billion.”This is an important start, but the continent needs an estimated $114 billion in 2020 in its fight against COVID-19, leaving a financing gap of around $44 billion,” the statement said.Africa was high on the agenda during the IMF and World Bank spring meetings this week.Experts fear the continent’s notoriously weak health systems won’t be able to stop the spread of COVID-19 while the combined effects of a slump in demand for minerals and tourism together with lockdowns to stem the contagion wallop economies.The IMF expects Africa’s gross domestic product to shrink by 1.6 percent in 2020, “the worst result ever recorded,” and the World Bank has warned that the region could slip into its first recession in 25 years.”This pandemic has already had a devastating impact on Africa and its effects will deepen as the rate of infection rises,” South African President and African Union Chairman Cyril Ramaphosa said in the statement.”It is a setback for the progress we have made to eradicate poverty, inequality and underdevelopment.”The G20 grouping of the world’s largest economies agreed on Wednesday to a standstill in debt payments for the world’s poorest nations, many of which are in Africa.The World Bank has meanwhile pledged to roll out $160 billion over the next 15 months for health care and economic recovery projects worldwide, while the IMF said 102 countries as of Thursday had asked to tap its $1 trillion lending war chest.                 
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A High Court judge in Malawi blocked the government from implementing a nationwide lockdown for at least seven days. The ruling late Friday came after police used tear gas to disperse hundreds of market vendors protesting a 21-day lockdown that was to start Sunday.  The lockdown would shut down all non-essential businesses and services for three weeks, including large markets where street vendors make a living. Smaller markets would be allowed to stay open between 6 a.m. and 2 p.m.The restrictions aim to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected 16 people in Malawi and killed two.Maltida Ligowe, a vegetable seller at the main Limbe market in Blantyre, says without a place to sell her goods, she will only get poorer.While she says a lockdown may be a good idea, she believes President Peter Mutharika could have appreciated the poverty in their country. Ligowe says the poor cannot withstand a 21-day lockdown.Malawi’s protesters have petitioned city authorities to give them food and money to sustain them until the markets reopen.Health rights activist Dorothy Ngoma says the lockdown is likely to create food shortages and child malnutrition among poor families. A nurse weighs a child at a health clinic in Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe. Heath experts fear a coronavirus lockdown would intensify hunger among the country’s poor. (Lameck Masina/VOA)”Much as I would really love to see this lockdown materialize, but as we do that, the children are going to die,” she said. “What are we going to do? We have few cases yes, but the government hasn’t put any packages to make sure that they don’t die. I am not surprised and if they were in the street protesting, I would definitely join them to protest.”Political analyst Vincent Kondowe said the protests could have been avoided if authorities had consulted with the public.”They could have taken an effort to reach out to the people and could have taken a participatory and consultative process, maybe through the chiefs, and explore locally-based solutions,” Kondowe said.Malawi government spokesperson Mark Bottom told a local radio station Friday that authorities would engage with the vendors to help them understand the importance of the move in preventing the spread of the coronavirus.Malawi’s government was due Friday to announce support measures for the poor during the lockdown.
 
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South Africa’s 21-day coronavirus lockdown presents an unusual challenge for a nation with the world’s highest burden of HIV.  In order to remain healthy, those on antiretrovirals need to venture out of their homes for their lifesaving medication — a move that puts them at greater risk of contracting the highly infectious coronavirus.Therefore, some health care advocates are seeking broader use of an existing workaround in the form of automatic pharmaceutical dispensaries, much like ATMs, where patients can get their pills without making human contact.
 
Already, South African hospitals are busy preparing for a coming storm of coronavirus cases, which officials expect to peak in September.  
 
But as they stare down this pandemic, they’re also dealing with at least 7.7 million HIV patients, already supported by one of the world’s largest free government-sponsored antiretroviral programs.
 
So how, in this age of lockdowns and strict social distancing, can these vulnerable patients stay safe from a new viral threat?
 
Enter the pharmacy ATM.  
 
South African non-profit Right to Care rolled out the innovative program in 2018 to give patients with chronic illnesses a quick virtual consultation with a pharmacist, followed by dispensation of their medication — all in under three minutes. In normal times, the program saves patients the inconvenience of waiting in long lines at government clinics.
 
But during this new pandemic, it could save lives, says pharmacist Taffy Chinamhora.  
 
“The interaction between the patient and health care professional is minimized, is very minimal; it’s more or less virtual from the patient point of view, because it’s via an audiovisual link. So interaction, so the spread of the virus is limited because there is no person-to-person interaction because we’re using audiovisual link, we’re using an ATM pharmacy to dispense medication to patients,” Chinamhora said.The program’s managing director, Fanie Hendriksz, says it could also lift a burden off the nation’s hospitals. Patients can get two months of medication at a time.
 
“In a time like this it’s important that we decant our chronic, stable patients from our overburdened facilities to make way for the side effects of the pandemic,” Hendriksz said.
 
The program has five locations in South Africa, most of them in high-density urban areas in Johannesburg and the city of Bloemfontein. Most are inside shopping malls, which, under South Africa’s strict lockdown conditions that only allow essential trips outside of the home, also minimizes the number of trips patients have to make. Hendriksz says there has already been a spike in the usage of these locations.
 
“We’ve seen a rapid increase in patient numbers at our ATM pharmacies. One of the main reasons for this is just remember that these ATM pharmacies are situated in community shopping centers. So, in a period of lockdown, patients can easily align the collection of their medication with their monthly or weekly shopping. And also, the ATM pharmacy is open seven days a week, and already we are open 80 hours a month more than the public health care facilities,” Hendriksz said.
 
The program is busy collecting data on how many new patients have entered the program. But, they say, every single patient they can help contributes to the larger fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
 
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Tanzania began observing three-days of national prayers Friday as COVID-19 infections increased.
 
President John Magufuli made the declaration for nationwide prayer Thursday, urging Tanzanians to pray for God’s protection and healing as six more people tested positive for the virus, raising the number of infections to 94.
 
So far, four people have died from the coronavirus in Tanzania, where social gatherings have been suspended and schools closed, but places of worship remain open and people still move about without restrictions.
 
The appeal for prayers comes as Tanzania canceled this year’s April 26 national holiday commemorating the 1964 merger of Tanganyika and Zanzibar to become Tanzania because of the virus outbreak.  
 
Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said Magufuli is redirecting the $217,000 set aside for the holiday celebrations to go toward fighting the coronavirus in the country.
 
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Rwanda’s coronavirus lockdown has led to a protest by refugees and migrants who were relocated to the country last year from crowded detention camps in Libya, witnesses said.They gathered in their camp on Wednesday to organize a demonstration against the lockdown “but authorities came in quickly and stopped it,” Elise Villechalane, spokeswoman with the U.N. refugee agency, told The Associated Press.Nearly 300 refugees and migrants are living in the Gashora emergency transit center outside the capital, Kigali. Rwanda took them in under an agreement  signed with the United Nations and African Union after repeated allegations of dire conditions in Libya’s detention centers including beatings, rapes and other abuses.Some refugees had been screened and approved to move to countries such as Norway or Canada — the first large group was resettled in February — but virus-related travel restrictions have stranded the others for now.Rwanda was the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to issue a lockdown and recently extended it, to some anxiety.  “We understand these refugees are stressed and some still have trauma from Libya, but they have to abide by these measures like other Rwandans,” Villechalane said. The refugee agency said it and Rwanda’s government had printed posters in multiple languages with coronavirus messaging.Residents who live near the transit center said the refugees and migrants exchanged bitter words with camp authorities.  “Some of the refugees said they should be allowed to go back home to the countries of their origin,” Jean Claude Habananimana, who coaches a football team for the refugees and migrants, told the AP.  
Before the coronavirus spread to Rwanda, they had been allowed to go out and play football with neighboring communities as well as go to church or the mosque.”They cannot go to Europe either,” Habananimana said. “Now their lives are confined in one place.”
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Africa could see 300,000 deaths from the coronavirus this year even under the best-case scenario, according to a new report released Friday that cites modeling from Imperial College London.
Under the worst-case scenario with no interventions against the virus, Africa could see 3.3 million deaths and 1.2 billion infections, the report by the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa said.
Even with “intense social distancing.” under the best-case scenario the continent could see more than 122 million infections, the report said.
Any of the scenarios would overwhelm Africa’s largely fragile and underfunded health systems, experts have warned. Under the best-case scenario, $44 billion would be needed for testing, personal protective equipment and treatment, the report said, citing UNECA estimates. The worst-case scenario would cost $446 billion.
The continent as of Friday had more than 18,000 confirmed virus cases, but experts have said Africa is weeks behind Europe in the pandemic and the rate of increase has looked alarmingly similar. The new report is the most detailed public projection yet for coronavirus infections and deaths in Africa, where more than 1.3 billion people are bracing for the pandemic.  
Poverty, crowded urban conditions and widespread health problems make Africa “particularly susceptible” to the virus, the U.N. report said. “Of all the continents Africa has the highest prevalence of certain underlying conditions, like tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.”  
On Thursday, a World Health Organization official said one projection over the next six months shows more than 10 million severe cases of the virus.  
“But these are still to be fine-tuned,” said Michel Yao, the WHO’s emergency operations manager in Africa, adding that public health measures could have an impact in limiting cases. He did not give the source of the projection.
The new report also warns of severe economic pain across Africa amid the pandemic, with growth contracting 2.6% in the worst-case scenario and an estimated 27 million people pushed into extreme poverty. The World Bank has said sub-Saharan Africa could fall into its first recession in a quarter-century.
“Collapsed businesses may never recover,” the new report said. “Without a rapid response, governments risk losing control and facing unrest.”
Nearly 20 European and African leaders called this week for an immediate moratorium on all African debt payments, public and private, until the pandemic is over, as well as at least $100 billion in immediate financial help so countries can focus on fighting the virus.
The U.N. report said the continent has no fiscal space to deal with shocks from the pandemic and recommended a “complete temporary debt standstill for two years for all African countries, low and middle income included.”  
The report comes days before African officials launch a new initiative to dramatically accelerate testing for the new virus. More than 1 million coronavirus tests are being rolled out starting next week to address a major gap in assessing the true number of cases on the continent.
It’s possible that 15 million tests will be required in Africa over the next three months, the head of the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, John Nkengasong, told reporters Thursday.
Africa has suffered in the global competition for badly needed medical equipment but in recent days created a continental platform so its 54 countries can team up to bulk-buy items at more reasonable prices.  
One major shipment of equipment, including more than 400 ventilators, arrived this week for sharing among all 54 countries.
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild to moderate symptoms such as fever and cough. But for some, especially older adults and those with other health problems, it can cause pneumonia and death.
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Among its many other effects, the coronavirus pandemic has cut deeply into flower sales. This is being felt in the Netherlands, the center of the global horticulture industry, and in East African flower exporting countries like Kenya and Ethiopia, where tens of thousands of jobs are increasingly in danger. Aalsmeer, just outside of Amsterdam, is home to the world’s busiest flower auction, where thousands of flowers are purchased each day and shipped all over the world.But since the coronavirus pandemic began, flower sales have dropped by 50 percent, says Michel van Schie of the Royal Flora Holland company. FILE – Empty racks are seen at flower auctioneer Royal FloraHolland in Aalsmeer, Netherlands, March 19, 2020. Sales at major Dutch growers have slumped, forcing farmers to destroy their flower crops.”This is also the period with the most important days for the flower industry like Valentine’s Day, International Women’s Day, Mother’s Day,” van Schie said. “The crisis which we are now facing couldn’t have come at a worse moment than this. Not only there were a lot of unsold flowers, but the flowers that were sold were also sold for very low prices.”That is bad news for Africa’s leading flower-growing countries, Kenya and Ethiopia.Flower exports add about $1 billion annually to the Kenyan economy. But with demand falling sharply, Kenyan exports have dropped by about two-thirds in recent weeks, costing the industry and the country millions in revenue.Hosea Machuki, CEO of the Fresh Produce Exporters Association of Kenya, says the situation is critical.”And we just hope that when it’s all done, that the industries and the companies that are involved in the horticulture industry will be able to spring back to life, or at least continue their business and to keep their employees,” Machuki said. “We have about 350,000 Kenyans directly employed and at the moment about 200,000, they’re likely to lose their jobs on account of loss of business.”FILE – Farm worker Evans Makori pulls a handcart of roses to be thrown away at Maridadi Flowers farm in Naivasha, Kenya, March 19, 2020.Neighboring Ethiopia is the second-largest African flower exporter, and the horticulture sector is the country’s fourth-largest in export earnings. But because of COVID-19, Ethiopia is exporting only about 20 percent of its usual volume.Frank Ammerlaan, a Dutch flower farmer in Ethiopia, says he noticed the effects immediately once Europe was hit with the coronavirus. “Majority of our sales stop suddenly. And that’s because of shops in Europe being closed, borders being closed and logistics to give priority for food items and other essential items. So it was a big shock for us,” he said.Ammerlaan employs about 1,000 people and usually exports two million stems a week to the Dutch flower auction, but business has dropped by 30 to 40 percent.To prevent the Ethiopian flower industry from collapsing and to keep foreign exchange flowing into the country, the government has designated the sector as essential – meaning its companies and its estimated 150,000 workers can keep operating despite the state of emergency measures.  
 
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South Africa’s quick move to implement a strict national lockdown seems to have slowed down the coronavirus infection rate considerably in the country, according scientists. One of the South African doctors at the forefront of fighting the disease is Dr. Taheera Hassim, a gynecologist who is also volunteering for the disaster response NGO, Gift of the Givers.  When the coronavirus pandemic hit South Africa, Dr. Hassim’s role changed and she is now in charge of her hospital’s gynecological isolation facility while also volunteering at a drive-through coronavirus testing center.  Reporter Marize de Klerk brings us Dr. Hassim’s story, told in her own words. 
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A Catholic priest was charged in Kenyan court on Thursday with spreading the coronavirus, the second person to face such charges in Kenya.Kenya, which has 234 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 11 deaths, has banned all public gatherings, limited the number of mourners at funerals, imposed a daily curfew and restricted movement in and out of four regions most affected.Catholic priest Richard Onyango Oduor was charged with having “negligently spread an infectious disease” after authorities said he failed to adhere to coronavirus quarantine rules following a visit to Italy.He denied the charges in a Nairobi court, and was freed on a 150,000 Kenyan shilling ($1,415) bond. He was ordered to spend another 14 days in quarantine and reappear in court on May 2.Archbishop Anthony Muheria, in charge of the Catholic dioceses of Nyeri and Kitui, told Reuters he could not comment on the case, and it was up to the authorities to determine whether the priest was at fault.Last week, another court charged Gideon Saburi, the deputy governor of the coastal region of Kilifi County, with spreading the coronavirus by going out in public without taking precautions. He also denied the charges as was freed on bond while being ordered to self-quarantine.Some African countries have had trouble persuading citizens to comply with restrictions imposed to curb the virus.Kenyan media have been awash with stories of people trying to circumvent restrictions, holding parties in their houses and parks due to bar closures. A lawmaker was arrested for holding a party at a restaurant in the capital on Easter weekend.Last week, some Botswana lawmakers were put in supervised quarantine after failing to observe an instruction to self-isolate. All of the country’s parliamentarians and President Mokgweetsi Masisi were asked to quarantine for 14 days after a health worker screening them tested positive.In South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa last week put its communications minister on leave for two months, one of which will be unpaid, for breaking the rules of a countrywide lockdown and having lunch with a former official. 
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Huddled under a highway bridge with a small bag of belongings, a 19-year-old student from Ivory Coast was desperately dialing his few contacts in China.The student said he arrived in the southern city of Guangzhou last week after completing his quarantine in another city during a coronavirus clampdown that several African countries and Africans in Guangzhou say has unfairly targeted them.”I really need help. I just don’t want to sleep on the streets again,” he said on Monday, asking not to be identified by name.He came to China to study the language, but his university shut because of the coronavirus. Hotels kept turning him away, but later on Monday he said he had found one.Several African ambassadors wrote to China’s foreign minister last week, calling for the “cessation of forceful testing, quarantine and other inhuman treatments meted out to Africans.”Ghana’s foreign minister on Saturday called in China’s ambassador to convey the government’s concern.China’s foreign ministry said on Monday that all foreigners are treated equally. But it also said virus controls on Africans would be lifted, apart from confirmed cases and those who have had close contact with them.”African friends will be treated fairly, justly and amicably in China,” the ministry said.Foreigners barredMany foreigners in China say they have faced suspicion as the country brought its own outbreak under control, only to see new cases brought from other countries. China has barred entry to most foreigners, and the vast majority of imported cases of the disease have come from Chinese nationals returning home.In Guangzhou, a hub for African traders, authorities said on Tuesday that 111 Africans had tested positive for the coronavirus, while a total of 4,553 Africans had undergone testing since April 4, state media reported.Several African residents said the black community was being unfairly targeted for stricter checks.”If they do this to all foreigners, then it’s not a problem, but it’s only black people,” Soumana Toudou, a garment trader from Niger, told Reuters by WhatsApp. He said he was undergoing his second 14-day quarantine because the authorities did not believe he had completed his first.Such decisions are made at the local level, and Reuters could not independently confirm this.The scrutiny from the authorities had triggered hostility from Chinese residents, one student said.”The selective testing has set the Guangzhou locals into panic, thinking black people are carrying the virus,” he said.He declined to be identified.Targeted for quarantineA Communist Party social worker, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters on Monday that black people were specifically being made to enter a period of quarantine.Last week, authorities announced that two neighborhoods popular with Africans would be locked down to curb the coronavirus after five Nigerians tested positive.On Monday, the U.S. consulate general in Guangzhou advised African Americans, or those who believe Chinese officials may suspect them of having contact with African nationals, to avoid the city.The provincial foreign affairs office provided no immediate comment to Reuters about complaints from Africans and embassies that Africans had been unfairly targeted.African engagementChina has stepped up its engagement with Africa in recent years, with state-owned companies building infrastructure and signing hundreds of deals across the continent.Guangzhou was home to 13,652 Africans in 2019, and about 351,000 Africans entered the city from abroad last year, official figures show.Videos on social media in recent days showed what appeared to be Africans sleeping on Guangzhou streets after being evicted from their apartments. Reuters could not independently verify the footage.Property agents near Guangzhou’s Sanyuanli trading hub said such evictions of foreigners, including Africans, had contributed to a glut of empty apartments.”For a white person, you can’t rent around here now because of the virus, but you’ll be welcome again in a few months,” said one agent, referring to when the pandemic passes. She declined to give her name.”But black people, no one will accept them.” A spokeswoman for McDonald’s in China apologized on Tuesday after staff at a Guangzhou branch forced black customers to leave.The fast-food chain had temporarily closed the outlet while staff completed “diversity and inclusion” training, spokeswoman Regina Hui said in a statement.The Chinese authorities now seem to be taking a more conciliatory stance. On Tuesday, media showed hazmat-clad personnel delivering food and flowers to Africans in home quarantine.The chairman of the African Union, Moussa Faki Mahamat, was receptive, saying on Twitter on Monday he had spoken to Foreign Minister Wang Yi.”He reassured me of measures underway in Guangzhou to improve the situation of Africans, in line with the strong and brotherly partnership between Africa and China.”   
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Ugandan Speaker Rebecca Kadaga unveiled a spray she claims kills the coronavirus  amid a storm of criticism over the mission of the product.Kadaga repeated to NBS Television Wednesday that the product was introduced as a spray, not a vaccine.Kadaga was accused of circumventing the works of the health ministry after announcing a month ago, the spray was being developed by a professor working on a coronavirus vaccine in the United States.The Nile Post online news service said the spray “Conavil’ is being made in Uganda.Meantime, the Ugandan Health Ministry announced Wednesday that 1,032 people tested negative for the coronavirus at the country’s virus research institute. The group tested included hundreds of truck drivers at Uganda’s border and 481 other people under quarantine.So far, Uganda has confirmed 55 coronavirus cases and no deaths.
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Tanzania has canceled this year’s April 26 national holiday celebration commemorating the 1964 merger of Tanganyika and Zanzibar to become Tanzania as the country’s coronavirus tally rises.Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said the Union Day observance was called off because of the pandemic.Majaliwa said President John Magufuli is redirecting the $217,000 set aside for the holiday celebrations to go toward fighting the coronavirus in the country.Meanwhile, the government’s 30-day order closing schools and universities and banning public gatherings is to expire Friday.Tanzania’s coronavirus tally rose to 53 on Wednesday, with four more people testing positive and three deaths reported.
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