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Prepare for the Worst, WHO Warns Africa As Top Burkinabe Politician Dies
Sub-Saharan Africa has recorded its first COVID-19 death, a high-ranking politician in Burkina Faso, as the head of the World Health Organisation urged the continent to “prepare for the worst”.
“Africa should wake up,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference in Geneva on Wednesday, pointing out that “in other countries, we have seen how the virus actually accelerates after a certain tipping point”.
Africa has lagged behind the global curve for coronavirus infections and deaths, but in the past few days has seen a significant rise in cases.
Experts have repeatedly warned about the perils for the continent, given its weak health infrastructure, poverty, conflicts, poor sanitation and urban crowding.
Medical authorities in the poor Sahel state of Burkina Faso announced Wednesday that the number of infections there had risen by seven to 27 — and that one of them, a 62-year-old diabetic woman, had died overnight.
The country’s main opposition party, the Union for Progress and Change (UPC), said in a statement that the victim was its lawmaker Rose-Marie Compaore, the first vice president of the parliament.
South Africa, the continent’s most industrialised economy, reported a more than one-third jump in cases, with 31 new infections bringing its tally to 116.
Nearby Zambia announced its first two confirmed cases — a couple that returned to the capital Lusaka from a 10-day holiday in France.
As of Wednesday, a tally of reported cases compiled by AFP stood at more than 600 for all of Africa.
Of these, 16 cases have been fatal: six in Egypt, six in Algeria, two in Morocco, one in Sudan and one in Burkina Faso.
Those figures are relatively small compared to the rest of world — the global death toll has passed 8,800 with almost 210,000 total infections.
WHO chief Tedros said sub-Saharan Africa had recorded 233 infections, but warned the official numbers likely did not reflect the full picture.
“Probably we have undetected cases or unreported cases,” he said.
– ‘We live day-to-day’ –
Watching from afar as disaster unfolds in Asia and Europe, some African countries have wasted little time in ordering drastic measures.
Air traffic has been particularly hard hit, as many of Africa’s initial cases were detected in people who had returned from affected countries in Europe and the Middle East.
Some countries, such as Somalia, Chad, Guinea-Bissau and, most recently, the island of Madagascar have moved to stop all flights into their countries.
On Wednesday, Cape Verde — a tropical archipelago off Africa’s west coast that is heavily dependent on tourism — and the continent’s most populous nation, Nigeria, joined others in banning flights from the countries most affected by coronavirus.
Burkina Faso has ordered the closure of all schools and barred all public and private gatherings until the end of April.
There was concern on the unusually quiet streets of the capital Ouagadougou on Wednesday.
“It’s worrying what is happening with this virus, but we cannot barricade ourselves like developed countries. We lack everything here — we live day-to-day,” said bicycle seller Boureima Baguian.
“We cannot, for example, close the big market. If that happens, it’s not the coronavirus that will kill us but misery and hunger.”
The Democratic Republic of Congo announced similar measures as it reported its first local case, banning flights from affected countries and closing schools and universities for four weeks.
South Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa’s worst-hit country, has banned cruise ships from its ports. More than 1,700 people are stranded on a liner off Cape Town over fears that some have the virus.
It is just the latest blow to tourism across the continent, with coronavirus fears also cancelling sporting, cultural and religious events.
Christian and Muslim leaders in Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Senegal said they would suspend services to protect their faithful.
– ‘Disease hot spot’ –
A 2016 analysis by the Rand Corporation, a US think-tank, found that of the 25 countries in the world that were most vulnerable to infectious outbreaks, 22 were in Africa — the others were Afghanistan, Yemen and Haiti.
The report identified a “disease hotspot belt” extending across the southern rim of the Sahara through the Sahel to the Horn of Africa, where many countries are struggling with conflicts.
“Were a communicable disease to emerge within this chain of countries, it could easily spread across borders in all directions, abetted by high overall vulnerability and a string of weak national health systems along the way,” the report warned.
Tedros recommended that mass gatherings be avoided, urging Africa to “cut it from the bud, expecting that the worst can happen”.
“The best advice for Africa is to prepare for the worst and prepare today,” he said.
AFP.
Cameroon ’s top court on Monday declared incumbent Paul Biya, the world’s oldest president, the winner of the Oct. 12 election. Clashes with security forces left at least four protesters dead ahead of the announcement as opposition supporters rallied to demand credible results.
Biya, 92, has led the central African nation since 1982. The Constitutional Council said he received 53.66% of votes while former ally-turned-challenger Issa Tchiroma Bakary got 35.19%. The turnout was 57.7%.
In a social media post after the declaration, Tchiroma said that there was gunfire directed at civilians and two people were shot dead in his hometown in Garoua.
He said: “Toll of their attack: two dead. I wonder what will be said this time? Shooting point-blank at your own brothers — I can’t help but wonder if you’re mercenaries. Kill me if you want, but I will liberate this country by any means necessary. What blatant impunity.”
The four protesters were shot dead in Douala, the economic capital, on Sunday, as hundreds of people stormed streets in several cities. Tchiroma had claimed victory days before Monday’s announcement, citing results he said were collated by his party. Biya dismissed the claim.
According to Samuel Dieudonne Ivaha Diboua, governor of the Littoral Region that includes Douala, several members of the security forces were injured by protesters. He said at least 105 protesters were arrested.
Dozens of opposition supporters, activists and leaders have been arrested in recent days. Paul Atanga Nji, minister of territorial administration, said on Saturday the government arrested several people plotting violent attacks.
One protester, Oumarou Bouba, a 27-year-old trader in Maroua, said: “I am ready to stake my life to defend my vote. I voted for Tchiroma because I want change.”
Following the announcement of the results, Sani Aladji, a 28-year-old who works in a hotel in Maroua, said: “Nothing will change. I expected that Issa Tchiroma would bring change, which is why I voted for him. There’s rampant corruption under Biya’s regime. We are tired of that. We don’t have roads.”
Biya has ruled Cameroon longer than most of its citizens have been alive. Over 70% of the country’s almost 30 million population is below 35. The election has been the latest dramatic example of tension between Africa’s youth and the continent’s many aging leaders.
He first came to power in 1982 following the resignation of Cameroon’s first president and has ruled the country since then, later benefiting from a constitutional amendment that abolished term limits.
Critics accuse Biya of leading Cameroon from a period of relative stability into one of crisis and conflict. The country in recent years has faced attacks by Boko Haram militants in the north and a secessionist insurgency in the country’s English-speaking North West and South West regions.
That crisis, triggered by the government’s attempts to impose French in English-speaking schools and courts, has killed nearly 7,000 people, displaced more than one million more internally and sent thousands fleeing to neighboring Nigeria.
Despite Cameroon being an oil-producing country that is experiencing modest economic growth, young people say the benefits have not trickled down beyond the elites. According to World Bank data, the unemployment rate stands at 3.5%, but 57% of the labor force aged 18 to 35 works in informal employment.
“Many young people across the country and in the diaspora had hoped for change, but that their hopes have been dashed. It feels like a missed opportunity,” said Dr Emile Sunjo, a senior lecturer in international relations at the University of Buea. “Cameroon could potentially slide into anarchy.”
Source: AP
There was mild drama in court on Monday as detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, declined opening his defence against the seven-count terrorism-related charge the Federal Government preferred against him, saying categorically that there’s “no case against me”.
Kanu, who elected to defend himself after he disengaged his team of lawyers, adduced reasons before the Federal High Court in Abuja, why he would not open his defence to the charge.
Addressing the court from the dock, the IPOB leader maintained that after going through the case file, he discovered that there is no valid charge to warrant his defence.
He contended that since he had been subjected to an unlawful trial based on an invalid charge, there would be no need for him to offer any explanations or defend himself through the evidence of witnesses.
“Join me in praising God. I have gone through my case file, and there is no charge against me,” he started.
“There is no extant law in this country upon which the prosecution can predicate the charges against me. If there’s any, let my Lord read it out to me.
“So, I should not enter any defence in a charge that does not exist under any law in Nigeria. I urge you to release me today or grant me bail.”
Consequently, he shelved his initial request for the court to issue summons to compel certain persons to appear as his witnesses in the case.
Kanu, who has been in detention since 2021, had in a motion he personally signed and filed before the court, named several individuals that included serving Governors, Ministers, ex-Governors and Security Chiefs, among the 23 persons he intends to produce as his witnesses.
Describing them as vital and compellable witnesses in his case, Kanu, urged the court to grant him a 90-day period to enable him to open and conclude his defence.
He argued that expanding the initial six-day period the court gave for him to conclude his defence has become necessary in view of the number and status of the witnesses he intends to produce to give evidence in the case.
Among the proposed witnesses in the principal list he submitted before the court, included the Governor of Imo state, Hope Uzodimma; that of Lagos state, Babajide Sanwo-Olu; Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike; the immediate past Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami; as well as a former Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Tukur Buratai (rtd).
Others are the Minister of Works, Dave Umahi; the immediate past Governor of Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu; a former Minister of Defence, Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (rtd); immediate past former Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, NIA, Ahmed Rufai Abubakar; as well as the former Director-General of the Department of State Services, DSS, Yusuf Bichi.
In the motion dated October 21 and marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/383/2015, Kanu equally hinted that he would call other persons whose names were not on the list he submitted.
However, he ditched the plan on Monday, a development that led the court to adjourn the matter till November 4, 5 and 6 for the adoption of final written addresses.
Before the case was adjourned however, trial Justice James Omotosho implored the IPOB leader to consult experts in criminal law to explain the consequences of his decision.
It will be recalled that the court had earlier rejected a no-case-submission that Kanu filed to be discharged and acquitted.
The court dismissed his contention that the totality of evidence the prosecution tendered in the matter failed to establish a prima facie case against him.
Kanu argued that the five witnesses FG brought to testify before the court failed to prove that he committed any offence that is known to law.
Former US Vice President Kamala Harris said in a British television interview previewed Saturday that she may “possibly” run again to be president.
Harris, who replaced Joe Biden as the 2024 Democratic presidential candidate but lost to Donald Trump, told the BBC that she had not yet decided whether to make another White House bid.
But the 61-year-old insisted she was “not done” in American politics and that her young grandnieces would see a female president in the Oval Office “in their lifetime, for sure”.
“I have lived my entire career a life of service, and it’s in my bones, and there are many ways to serve,” Harris told the British broadcaster in an interview set to air in full on Sunday.
“I’ve not decided yet what I will do in the future, beyond what I am doing right now.”
The comments are the strongest hint yet that Harris could attempt to be the Democratic Party nominee for the 2028 election.
The interview follows the release of her memoir last month in which she argued it had been “recklessness” to let Biden run for a second term as president.
She also accused his White House team of failing to support her while she was his deputy, and at times of actively hindering her.
