Militants have killed 52 villagers in northern Mozambique who refused to be recruited to their ranks.

The massacre took place on April 7 in the village of Xitaxi in the Muidumbe district of Cabo Delgado Province, home to multi-billion-dollar gas projects led by foreign companies such as Total.

“The young men were about to be recruited but they resisted, which provoked the ire of the bandits, who killed the 52 indiscriminately,” police spokesman Orlando Modumane said on Tuesday.

Modumane said most of the victims had been either shot dead or beheaded, adding that a manhunt had been launched for the attackers.

Militants have in recent weeks stepped up attacks in the gas-rich province, targeting towns, villages, or government buildings.

For more than two years, the militants have mainly targeted isolated villages, killing more than 900 people, according to the US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED).

The unrest has forced hundreds of thousands of locals to flee the troubled province.

Cabo Delgado, expected to become the center of a natural gas industry after several promising discoveries, has seen a string of assaults on security forces and civilians.

In 2017, the government announced plans to build a commercial port in Cabo Delgado.

Attacks have prompted security concerns for investors in Mozambique, one of the world’s poorest countries.

NGOs say the government must do more to protect the mostly poor civilians in the area.

Source: Presstv

The Federal Government has directed security agencies to stop Cameroonian refugees fleeing Southern Cameroons  from gaining entrance into Nigeria through Kwande Local Government Area of Benue State to check the spread of Coronavirus, COVID-19, pandemic,  in the country. State Deputy Governor, and chairman of the State Action Committee on COVID-19, Benson Abounu, announced this, yesterday, in Makurdi, while inaugurating members of the 11 task forces constituted by the state government to enforce restriction of movement at the major interstate boundaries of the state.

 According g to the Deputy Governor, “the directive that came from the presidency is that we must stop every refugee coming from Cameroon from entering Benue state to help us check the spread of Coronavirus in our state and country. That order did not stop us from allowing Nigerians into their own country but certainly not citizens of other countries who might expose our people to the pandemic.” He explained that the task force members on inter-state boundaries were not on a mission to stop interstate movements but to ensure that travelers were checked and their temperatures taken to determine their health status.

 “Where the health status of any traveler is suspicious, such a person must be asked to step aside for observation and necessary checks and test for the virus. The task force must ensure that the destination of every traveler is availed them to know those coming into the state for all necessary action to ensure that no one brings the virus into the state. The essence is to ensure that our people are protected.” The Deputy Governor who expressed displeasure at the attitude of beer parlor operators in the state who he said flagrantly disobey the dusk-to-dawn curfew imposed on the state by the government promised to lead a team round such drinking spots to enforce the order.

Source: Vanguard

The UN Security Council on Monday imposed sanctions on Central African Republic rebel leader Abdoulaye Miskine, who last year signed a peace agreement between the government and armed groups.

Miskine, founder and head of the Democratic Front of the Central African People (FDPC), was offered a government position under the terms of the February 2019 accord.

However, in the last report by UN experts monitoring sanctions and an arms embargo imposed in 2013, the self-proclaimed general was mentioned as looking for fighters.

Despite the signing of the agreement, Miskine “remains a threat to the peace, stability and security of the CAR,” a diplomat said.

Miskine had signed the peace agreement in Khartoum between CAR President Faustin-Archange Touadera and the heads of 14 armed groups.

Under the deal, militia chiefs were given senior government positions in the purported aim of helping to cement peace.

Miskine was named as an adviser to the new government but never took up his post, according to Bangui.

In November 2019, the Central African government said Miskine had been arrested in neighboring Chad and demanded his extradition.

He has now been put under UN sanctions, which include an asset freeze and travel ban. One of the world’s poorest countries, the landlocked CAR has been mired in conflict for years.

Most of the country is in the hands of armed groups that claim to represent religious or ethnic communities, and often fight over the country’s rich mineral resources.

Miskine set up the FDPC in 2004, when the country first plunged into civil war, and gave himself the rank of general.

He joined the coalition of mainly Muslim militias that in 2013 overthrew then-president Francois Bozize — a revolt that sparked French military intervention and the holding of elections for a successor.

Since then the CAR has been devastated by fighting between numerous rebel militias and government forces and also between the armed groups themselves.

The violence has abated in CAR since the Khartoum accord, but fighting between rebel groups continues and the toll among civilians is still rising. More than a quarter of the 4.7 million population have fled their homes.

Source:  AFP

Ghana’s president on Sunday lifted targeted lockdown on two major regions in the country citing improved testing of the coronavirus pandemic across the West African country.

In the over half-an-hour address delivered to the nation, the president also announced that Ghana’s tally had passed the 1,000 mark. Ghana becomes the first African country to not extend but lift a lockdown.

Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda and more recently Zimbabwe have all extended lockdowns aimed at curbing spread of the pandemic. Government however warned that lockdowns could be imposed in hotspots if need be.

Source: Africa News

The government and people of Togo are mourning the death of a former Prime Minister of the West African country, Edem Kodjo. The former diplomat died at the age of 82 in the French capital Paris on Saturday, April 11.

The current Togolese Foreign Minister in reacting to the news posted on Twitter: “A brilliant academic, and an ardent Pan-African, our beloved Edem Kodjo died in Paris after a long illness.

‘You will always remain a reference for us’. On the eve of Easter, you practicing Christian return to your creator. Condolences to his family,” Minister Robert Dussey added.

In Togo, Kodjo spent two stints as Prime Minister, the first period from 1994 to 1996 and again from 2005 to 2006 under former president Gnassingbe Eyadema. He also held a number of ministerial posts.

Kodjo served in Eyadéma’s government as Minister of Finance from 1973 to 1976 and as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1976 to 1978. He was elected as the Secretary-General of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) at its summit in Khartoum on July 18–22, 1978.

At the time he took over the OUA leadership from Etéki Mboumoua, a Cameroonian diplomat reputed as the man who dismantled the Portuguese colonial empire in Africa. Eteki died in October 2016 at the age of 83 in the Cameroonian capital, Yaounde.

In his condolence message, the current African Union Commission chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat, described Kodjo as “a brilliant African intellectual,” and “a distinguished statesman and tireless knight of peace.”

The AU chief continued that death was “painful” before extending on behalf the staff of the AUC, his most sincere and deep condolences to his family, the Togolese people and all the African peoples. May his soul rest in peace and may his example continue to inspire the continent,” the statement concluded.

Namibian president Hage Geingob was one of the earliest African leaders to react to the death as well as Malian president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.

Geingob wrote: “With the passing of Edem Kodjo, Africa has lost an illustrious former SG of the OAU, a former Prime Minister of Togo and a refined intellectual. A towering Pan-Africanist who contributed immensely to a peaceful and better Africa is no more. Condolences to the people of Togo. RIP.”

Aside his work as OAU chief which ended in 1983 following which he returned to France to continue with academic pursuits at the prestigious University of Sorbonne; the AU named him envoy to the Democratic Republic of Congo during the electoral crisis in the late years of Kabila’s mandate.

Source: Africa News

Desperately needed aid for millions of people across sub-Saharan Africa is under threat as the deadly coronavirus pandemic sweeps a continent already facing a volley of crises.

In some cases social distancing measures and border closures are preventing workers from distributing aid.

In others, funding is under threat as agencies scramble to pool resources to fight the fast-ballooning COVID-19 outbreak on the continent.

Cameroon’s polio vaccination campaign has been suspended, while in Chad a measles vaccination programme has been postponed.

In Niger and Burkina Faso, where hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced by jihadist violence, flights bringing in humanitarian aid have been put on hold.

In the Central African Republic, where most of the territory is under the sway of armed groups, supplies of chlorine, needed to provide safe drinking water, are running low.

“Some programmes have slowed down or been temporarily suspended, but most humanitarian operations are continuing,” said Julie Belanger, head of the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs for West and Central Africa.

“We are focusing on activities that are vital for survival, but we are also adapting our way of working,” Belanger told AFP.

The United Nations says about 76 million people in sub-Saharan Africa need aid to survive and protect their health.

The coronavirus pandemic could further threaten populations on the continent, which so far has at least 12,700 recorded cases and more than 650 deaths, according to an AFP tally Friday.

Organisations are quickly learning to change how they work to prevent the virus from spreading further.  

In Niger, for instance, food handouts are being distributed in small groups in order to keep social distancing, said Jean-Noel Gentile with the UN’s World Food Programme.

“To reduce the frequency of food distribution, we are handing out two or three months of rations each time,” he said.

‘Humanitarian corridors’

One fear that NGOs and governments have is that aid workers travelling to isolated areas could bring the coronavirus with them.

In eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the first case of the virus registered in Goma was that of a Nigerian aid worker.

Masks, gloves and protective clothing are required by some organisations — but the crucial gear is hard to find in many countries.

“This is already difficult enough in France — you can imagine how it is in the furthest reaches of the Central African Republic,” said Isabelle Robin of the French charity Action Against Hunger (ACF).

The closure of borders and restrictions on movement inside countries are additional obstacles to delivering aid.

As a result, NGOs everywhere are attempting to negotiate with authorities in Africa to allow “humanitarian corridors” or exemptions for their personnel.

Money worry

But of all the problems for humanitarian work right now, “the biggest is financial”, said a UNICEF official in the DRC, pointing to the fact that donor attention lies elsewhere at the moment.

The United Nations has launched a $2 billion (1.83 billion euro) “global humanitarian response plan” on coronavirus, much of it earmarked for Africa.

Though Africa has not been hit as badly as most of the rest of the world, the pandemic is a growing threat, given the continent’s weak healthcare systems, entrenched poverty, poor sanitation and crowded slums.

There are concerns that funds received to deal with problems existing before the outset of the pandemic may now have to be rerouted.

That could be a harmful approach.

“It’s important that we don’t forget other needs,” said Maaike Hersevoort, head of the Doctors Without Borders mission in the Central African Republic, pointing to an outbreak of measles there.

‘Extreme distress’

In western and central Africa, the number of people needing aid has increased — even before the coronavirus hit the continent.

There are 44 million people in need this year, six million more than in 2019, according to UN projections.

In the Sahel region, food insecurity levels are rising and there are fears for the next harvest following a poor rainy season.

“We are especially concerned for the children, who become more vulnerable to illness when they are malnourished,” said Robin from ACF.

More generally, wellbeing in Africa could be hit by tough measures to stem the spread of COVID-19 — lockdowns mean that millions of people are unable to work, and thus likelier to sink further into poverty.

“We must not lose sight of the mid- and long-term impact of this crisis,” said Bruce Biber of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the Central African Republic.

“People have already been under great pressure for years, so it takes very little to push them into a state of extreme distress.”

Source: AFP

A Senegal judge has granted Chad’s former dictator Hissene Habre two months’ leave from prison, where he is serving life for crimes against humanity, as the jail is being used to hold new detainees in coronavirus quarantine.

Habre, who ruled Chad from 1982 to 1990, was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity at an African Union-backed trial in the Senegalese capital Dakar in 2016.

A Chadian commission of inquiry estimated 40,000 people were killed by his regime.

After he was overthrown, Habre fled to Senegal and for more than 20 years lived freely in an upmarket Dakar suburb with his wife and children.

Dubbed “Africa’s Pinochet”, Habre was finally arrested in 2013 and tried by a special tribunal set up by the African Union under a deal with Senegal.

His trial set a global precedent as the first time a country had prosecuted the former leader of another nation for rights abuses, and was seen as a landmark example of African rights abuses being tried on the continent.

Since his conviction, the ex-leader in his late 70s has been serving his sentence in a penal establishment in Cap Manuel, at the tip of the peninsula where Dakar is located.

His lawyer Mamadou Diawara had requested 60 days’ leave for Habre as, due to his age, he was “particularly vulnerable” to the coronavirus pandemic, according to the judge’s order obtained by AFP on Monday.

Judge Boubacar Ndiaye noted that the Cap Manuel prison has been selected by the Senegalese authorities to hold newly arrested detainees in solitary confinement while they are under quarantine to avoid possible spread of COVID-19 in jail.

He granted a 60-day temporary leave to Habre, to be served at his home in Ouakam, a district of Dakar, and ordered him to return to prison on its expiry.

An association of victims of his regime last week said “the health crisis should not be used as an excuse for the early release of Hissene Habre”.

Senegal has registered 226 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and two deaths.

Source: AFP

It is a cry from the heart and the stomach that is reverberating across African towns and cities reeling under lockdowns and curfews to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

“How can anyone stay home without anything to eat?” asked Garcia Landu, a motorcycle taxi driver in the bustling Angolan seaside capital of Luanda.

He ventured out to try and earn a living, defying the government-ordered anti-coronavirus restrictions.

“We have responsibilities towards our families. We have to go out and get food,” said Landu, sporting a helmet in the national red-and-black colours.

It’s “better to die of this disease or a gunshot than to starve to death,” he said. “To starve to death, I will never, ever accept that. I can’t”.

Days after the government declared a state of emergency and imposed restrictions on March 26, crowds continue to mass at markets, in front of shops or by water points in Luanda.

Under the restrictions, President Joao Lourenco has banned travel, meetings and public activities as the country reported 10 infections with two deaths.

“The situation demands… sacrifices from all citizens, whose rights and professional and social life will have to be restricted,” Lourenco said in a televised speech last week.

– ‘I have nothing at home’ –

But not to the point of depriving people of water, retorted Quechinha Paulina, a widow who has no running water in the heavily-populated Cazenga municipal district in the capital of the oil-rich country.

So she is forced to buy from private water bowsers. She placed an order and still awaits delivery.

“It’s been two weeks and it hasn’t come,” she said. “So today I got up at 3am to buy (elsewhere).

“I have nothing at home. I have children,” she said, complaining that nearly a week into the new month, she hasn’t received her social grant payment yet.

Despite the lockdown, many view earning money, finding food and fetching water as legitimate reasons to leave home.

Announcing a slew of measures to help keep people at home, the government also promised to distribute water in disadvantaged neighbourhoods.

Telephone operators have joined in by offering free call minutes to avoid queues of people buying airtime recharge vouchers at their outlets.

But all that has failed to empty the streets of Luanda.

On the eve of the state of emergency, the police chief, Paulo de Almeida, vowed to hammer home the message about the seriousness of the virus.

“But we will not tolerate disobedience,” he warned. “It’s a question of everyone’s health.”

–‘People are stubborn’ –

On Friday, Interior Minister Eugenio Laborinho reported that 1,209 people had been detained in just days, more than 1,000 of them for having entered Angola after the borders were shut on March 27, and 189 for violating the state of emergency.

“The police are not on the ground to please (people) or to distribute chocolates,” Laborinho told journalists. “People are stubborn anyway, they know they have to stay home”.

The lockdown order has largely gone unnoticed in the daily grind and hustle on the capital’s streets.

“The disease is dangerous, we see that. Everyone sees that, everyone knows,” said Domingos Joao, a taxi driver.

“But (by) staying at home, we won’t achieve anything. That is why we are in the streets, working with (and obeying) the rules, as you see.

“Before passengers climb in, they are disinfected first,” he said showing a bottle of hand sanitiser.

Out doing his shopping, teacher Geraldo Dala, is fearful that “if COVID-19 starts spreading here, that will be it! Thousands will be infected”.

But he justified his and others being out on the streets because “people have to go out for bread or a kilo of rice”.

“The state of emergency will not be respected as long as people depend on street hawking to feed their families,” said veteran journalist Rafael Marques.

Marques, who is usually critical of the government, agrees the emergency steps “were taken for the good of the people”.

Source:  AFP