Coronavirus: Nigeria confirms first case in sub-Saharan Africa

 

Nigerian officials have been screening passengers arriving at the country's main airports

The first case of the coronavirus in sub-Saharan Africa has been confirmed in Nigeria.

The patient is an Italian citizen who works in Nigeria and flew into the commercial city of Lagos from Milan on 25 February.

Authorities say he is stable with no serious symptoms and is being treated at a hospital in the city. 

Elsewhere on the continent, Algeria and Egypt have also confirmed cases of the disease. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) had warned that Africa's "fragile health systems" meant the threat posed by the virus was "considerable".

Meanwhile, South Africa's health ministry has announced that two nationals aboard a cruise ship docked in Japan have tested positive for the virus. 

In Kenya, the High Court has ordered the temporary suspension of flights from China following a petition by the Law Society of Kenya. 

It comes amidst public outrage after China's Southern Airlines resumed flights to Nairobi amid concern about the spread of coronavirus.

Globally, more than 80,000 people in nearly 50 countries have been infected. Nearly 2,800 have died, the vast majority in China's Hubei province.

What is happening in Nigeria?

Nigerian authorities say the Italian patient - who had flown in from Milan, a city badly hit by the coronavirus outbreak - is clinically stable, with no serious symptoms, and is being managed at the Infectious Disease Hospital in Yaba, Lagos.

The patient was screened when he arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos on Tuesday and did not show any symptoms of the virus, according to Nigerian health authorities. 

They have obtained the passenger manifest from the airline and started tracking people who had contact with the patient, Health Minister Osagie Emmanuel Ehanire said. 

He added that there was no need for alarm as Nigeria was well prepared to deal with the disease, adding that the country had four laboratories where patients can be tested.

At least 60 doctors have been deployed to Lagos's main airport to support the ongoing screening effort. 

The authorities also say Nigeria was not planning to halt flights from affected countries; nor planning to quarantine those travelling into the country. 

Health authorities are advising people to regularly and thoroughly wash their hands with soap and water, and use alcohol-based hand sanitisers, to avoid contracting the virus.

People have also been told to stay home if they have persistent coughs and sneezes, and contact authorities if they have any concerns.

However, the president of the Nigeria Medical Association has expressed fears over the safety of health workers in the country.

The association has directed all its members to treat every single case as a possible coronavirus infection, Dr Francis Faduyile told the BBC. 

Nigeria was widely praised for its efforts to contain the Ebola outbreak in 2014 which killed more than 11,000 people in West Africa.

The coronavirus outbreak has reached a "decisive point" and has "pandemic potential", WHO head Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus said on Thursday.

He urged governments to act swiftly and aggressively to contain the virus.

"We are actually in a very delicate situation in which the outbreak can go in any direction based on how we handle it," he said.

"This is not a time for fear. This is a time for taking action to prevent infection and save lives now," he added.

What about the South Africans?

The country's health ministry has announced that two nationals - working for the Diamond Princess cruise ship docked in Yokohama, Japan - have contracted the coronavirus. 

It quoted Japanese officials as saying the two patients were not outwardly displaying symptoms of the virus but were receiving treatment.

The cruise liner was carrying 3,700 people when it was quarantined on 5 February, but more than 600 have since been allowed to leave after being cleared. 

Meanwhile, President Cyril Ramaphosa has ordered the repatriation of some 132 citizens living in Wuhan.

No timeframe for the repatriation was given but the government said the 132 citizens - out of a total of 199 South Africans living there - had put in requests to be returned home.

None has been diagnosed with the virus or exhibited any symptoms of the disease, but they will be quarantined for 21 days upon arrival in South Africa as a "precautionary measure", the president's office announced in a statement.

What's behind the outrage in Kenya?

The arrival of a Southern Airlines flight from China's Guangzhou city in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, on Wednesday sparked public anger.

Many criticised the government for allowing the 239 passengers into the country amid concern of the spread of the coronavirus.

The passengers were screened and cleared and also told to self-quarantine for 14 days, Kenyan authorities say. The Chinese embassy in Kenya also said it was working with Kenyan health officials to monitor all the passengers.

But the assurances have done little to assuage the anger and anxiety of many Kenyans worried about the spread of the virus and the country's ability to contain it.

One of the local papers labelled some of the government ministers "enemies of the people":

A judge has now ordered the temporary suspension of flights from China after the Kenya Law Society petitioned the High Court.

The Chinese embassy in Kenya has, however, said the debate about the outbreak should be "rational and scientific"; it also warned against "irresponsible and even racist remarks" targeting its citizens, after a Kenyan MP suggested that locals should avoid Chinese people.

Thanks for reading. Follow the page and Share it.

Kizito Mihigo: The Rwandan gospel singer who died in a police cell

KIZITO/FACEBOOK

Rwandan gospel singer Kizito Mihigo was at one time hailed as a great national talent but then he was accused of being a traitor. He was recently found dead, at the age of 38, in a police cell. The BBC's Great Lakes Service looks back at his life. 

With his signature crucifix dangling around his neck and his patient demeanour, Kizito, as he was popularly known, resembled a priest rather than one of the most popular performers in the country.

Like a priest, he felt he had a mission to promote peace in a country scarred by slaughter, but it was this mission that is widely seen as having eventually landed him in trouble with the authorities.

He was initially embraced by the government. His concerts drew tens of thousands of fans, from all walks of life, who appreciated his message offering hope for the future.

But his journey from superstar to pariah was swift.

Influenced by his father, who composed liturgical music, his songs echoed the sounds heard in Catholic worship. 

But in 1994, at the age of 12, he lost his father, as well as other relatives, in the Rwandan genocide, in which about 800,000 people, ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus, were murdered by Hutu extremists.

Profoundly affected by what had happened, Kizito, an ethnic Tutsi, made reconciliation a central message of his work once he became a performer.


Kizito Mihigo, Inuma (The Dove) - 2011

Dove of love and peace among people 

Dove of asking for forgiveness and forgiving

Dove for the willingness to reconcile 

That's the good dove and the one we need


Born in 1981, Mihigo was the third child in a family of six. He grew up in Kibeho, southern Rwanda, an area that became a pilgrimage site after several schoolchildren there saw apparitions of the Virgin Mary in the 1980s. 

It was in this religious context that the future gospel star grew up.

He fled to neighbouring Burundi in the wake of the genocide and was reunited with surviving members of his family.

They returned home once the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), the mainly Tutsi rebel movement led by the current President Paul Kagame, had taken power.

'Trailblazer'

An initial plan to join the army and take vengeance for the death of his father did not work out as he was turned away. But then, at 14, he enrolled in the Karubanda Minor Seminary, where his musicianship was nurtured.

"I will remember him as a very talented musician who gave people joy, who was a trailblazer in composing and singing," school friend Jean de Dieu Sibomana told the BBC.

In his second year at the seminary, Kizito became the school's chief organist ahead of some more senior students and led an elite choir, which entered competitions across the country.

Eventually, his talent was recognised by President Kagame who awarded him a scholarship to study at the prestigious Conservatoire de Paris.

Kizito Mihigo, Turi abana b'u Rwanda (We are Children of Rwanda) - 2011

America and Europe, Asia and Oceania, give us shelter, 

But let us never forget that we are children of Rwanda

He began his performing career in Europe, but he never forgot where he was from and he went home in 2011. He was feted by the authorities and often invited to sing at official functions in front of the president.

Kizito was also awarded a prize by the first lady, Jeannette Kagame, for establishing a foundation to promote peace and reconciliation.

By 2013, the government was partly funding the Kizito Mihigo Peace Foundation, which saw him tour schools and prisons to spread his message.

Challenging the official narrative

But Kizito's fortunes changed in 2014 after he released The Meaning of Death. 

Timed to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the genocide, many saw the song as challenging the officially accepted version of what happened - that only Tutsis were killed.


Kizito Mihigo, Igisobanuro cy'Urupfu (The Meaning of Death), 2014

Those brothers and sisters, they too are human beings

I pray for them. I comfort them. I remember them

Death is never good, be it by genocide, or war, or slaughtered in revenge killings


In The Meaning of Death, Kizito was not only asking for those who were murdered by the Hutu extremists to be remembered, but all those who were killed around that time. 

This was viewed by some as a reference to the revenge killing of ethnic Hutus allegedly committed by Mr Kagame's RPF as they took power in 1994. 

Although the RPF said that such killings were on a small scale and those who committed them have been punished, the government views comparing these killings with the mass slaughter of Tutsis as a form of genocide denial.

In The Meaning of Death, Kizito Mihigo sang about all those who died in 1994

The RPF has a reputation for not tolerating any dissent. "Political opposition leaders have been intimidated and silenced, arrested or forced into exile," in the words of Human Rights Watch (HRW).

A number of prominent government critics have been killed inside and outside the country in recent years. 

The government has denied involvement in most of their deaths, although President Kagame last year said he should not be apologetic for the killing of former Home Affairs Minister Seth Sendashonga, who was shot dead in Kenya in 1998.

Music banned

On 7 April 2014 Kizito was reported missing and days later the police paraded him in front of the media. He was accused of plotting terrorist attacks and working with opposition movements with the aim of toppling the Rwandan government.

His music was then banned on all local radio and television stations.

In 2015 he was sentenced to 10 years for planning to kill the president and conspiring against the government. At his trial, the prosecution produced text messages that showed him plotting the assassination.

He confessed to the charges, but later said he was coerced into pleading guilty. He was convinced that it was that song that got him into trouble.

"I was told that I had to plead guilty. They said if I didn't plead guilty, they would kill me," he told human rights activist Ruhumuza Mbonyumutwa on the phone from prison in 2018. The audio from the interview has just been released.

Asked if he would write the song again, Kizito said: "Yes, I would. I couldn't help myself."

"The song was about reconciliation. I got to a point where I felt compassion for all victims," he added.

"Not just victims of the genocide against the Tutsi, of which I am one. But also victims of other violence committed by the ruling RPF."

He was freed in September 2018, after being pardoned by the president, along with 2,000 other prisoners.

Kizito Mihigo left prison in 2018 after a presidential pardon

On his release, he told the BBC that he would continue with his music and through his foundation would carry on his activism with the message of "living in peace, reconciliation, unity and tolerance" among Rwandans. 

But, like all those pardoned, his movements were restricted and he had to report regularly to the police.

Shortly before his death, he told HRW that "he was being threatened to provide false testimony against political opponents" and that he wanted to flee the country.

Found dead in a police cell

On 13 February, the Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) announced that he was in custody after he was arrested for trying to cross into Burundi illegally. 

Four days later, he was found dead in a cell, after hanging himself, according an RIB investigation.

A number of human rights organisations and foreign-based Rwandan activists have cast doubt on the official version.

Philippe Basabose, a spokesman for 36 genocide survivors living abroad, wrote an open letter to the president calling for an independent investigation to be carried out by international experts and government officials.

But state prosecutors said that the evidence and witness statements showed that the cause of death was "suicide by hanging".


Kizito Mihigo, Uzabe Intwari (Be a Hero), 2019

Be a hero my child

I love you and through that I love Rwanda

That's why I am going to dedicate it to you

Be a hero and be important for Rwanda

For those who see Kizito as a hero, he has become a symbol of someone prepared to stand up to the government.

But for the authorities, he was a criminal who had betrayed the president.

[BBC]

Thanks for reading. Follow the page and Share it.

Coronavirus: China bans consumption of wild animals

It’s official, China has banned the consumption of wild animals

More than 2,700 people have died as a result of the novel COVID-19, with another 81,000 cases confirmed across the globe.

And now, China’s government has officially banned the trade and consumption of wildlife in their ongoing efforts against COVID-19 epidemic that has taken over the world since 2020 began.

It’s an indisputable fact that China was the top market for the breeding and trading of wild animals.

The wildlife trade is even estimated to be a multibillion dollar industry.

According to the South China Morning Post, a government-sponsored report published by the Chinese Academy of Engineering found that China’s wildlife trade and consumption industry is valued at US$74 billion (520 billion yuan) and employs more than 14 million people across the nation.

More than half of those employees work in the fur and leather industry, estimated to be valued at US$55 billion (390 billion yuan), while the other half work in breeding farms or processing plants.

On Monday, February 24, China’s top legislative body, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, laid the groundwork to amend China’s Wildlife Protection Law in a move to permanently criminalize the consumption of wildlife and illegal wildlife trading. The new ban took effect immediately.

Although China does have existing laws regarding wildlife protection and conservation, it’s filled with loopholes as consuming wild animals and captive breeding was allowed for commercial purposes.

“There has been a growing concern among people over the consumption of wild animals and the hidden dangers it brings to public health security since the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak,” Zhang Tiewei, a legislative spokesman for the Legislative Affairs Commission, said to Reuters.

Zhang said the decision was made at the “critical moment for the epidemic prevention and control.

Crackdown after crackdown have been taking place across the nation after warnings that eating wild animals could pose several threats to the public health.

It remains to be seen how long this ban will last, however. After all, during the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic in the early 2000s, China held a similar ban too.

Thanks for reading. Follow the page and Share it.

Plot to bomb London cathedral revealed

A 36-year-old woman who swore allegiance to Islamic State on Friday pleaded guilty to plotting a bomb attack at London’s St Paul’s Cathedral and a nearby hotel.

Safiyya Amira Shaikh entered her plea at London’s Central Criminal Court, or Old Bailey, and will be sentenced on May 11 for preparation of terrorist acts  and dissemination of terrorist publications.

Shaikh, who was born Michelle Ramsden, was arrested after discussing the preparation and planting of explosives with two undercover police officers.

The Metropolitan Police said she researched methods and decided on a plan to carry out a terrorist act, and travelled to central London and stayed at a hotel in order to conduct reconnaissance.

Shaikh handed an undercover officer two bags that she wanted to be fitted with explosives, and she  prepared the words of a pledge of allegiance to Daesh  Islamic State , the police said.

Thanks for reading. Follow the page and Share it.

Nigeria Clears Hurdle for Africa’s Second-Biggest Hydro Plant

By William Clowes

Nigeria will build the second-largest hydroelectric plant in Africa after the government settled a legal dispute that was delaying the project, Power Minister Sale Mamman said.

“We have now overcome the major problem stopping this project and it is nearly over,” Mamman said in an interview in Abuja, the capital. He said Attorney General Abubakar Malami is finalizing the terms of the settlement, which are undisclosed.

Only 60% of residents of Africa’s most populous country have access to electricity and even those who do are plagued by regular outages. President Muhammadu Buhari has made tackling the energy deficit a priority, pledging to rehabilitate dilapidated power infrastructure and build new ones, including the Mambilla facility in the eastern Taraba state.

First conceived in the 1970s, the complex of dams on the Donga River will produce 3,050 megawatts, equivalent to a quarter of Nigeria’s current installed capacity. International arbitration in Paris initiated by Sunrise Power and Transmission Co., a company that once held the construction contract, was recently resolved, clearing the main obstacle to the plant’s construction, according to Mamman.

The only bigger hydro power facility in Africa is Ethiopia’s 6,000-megawatt Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which was started in 2011 and is now more than five years behind schedule. The Democratic Republic of Congo’s government also has a dam, which is still under construction. It will be capable of producing as much as 11,000 megawatts.

Arbitration Award

A consortium including China Energy Engineering Corp. and Sinohydro Corp. Ltd will build the Mambilla facility, which is forecast to cost $4.8 billion, about $1 billion less than earlier estimates, Mamman said. The minister said he expects the Chinese firms to start construction this year, an ambition listed by Buhari in his New Year’s speech to the nation.

Sunrise accused the Nigerian government of breaching its 2003 agreement when it granted a separate contract to Chinese companies four years later and was seeking an arbitration award of $2.3 billion, risk advisory group Songhai Advisory LLP said in a note in January. The legal wrangle caused the Export-Import Bank of China to pause its interest in financing the Mambilla plant, it said.

Nigeria has 13,000 megawatts of installed electricity-production capacity, about 80% of which comes from gas-fired plants. Only 7,500 megawatts of that is available and about 4,000 megawatts is dispatched to the grid each day. Distribution companies are sometimes unable to take up generated power, citing dilapidated transmission infrastructure.

Mamman criticized Nigeria’s 11 electricity distribution companies, which were transferred to private control in 2013, for their failure to utilize all available power or pay for the energy they purchase. The minister said he’s submitted a proposal to the cabinet to review their performance.

“From the look of things, I do not think they are capable because they cannot meet what they are required to do,” Mamman said.

[Bloomberg]

Thanks for reading. Follow the page and Share it.

What Kenya stands to gain from South Sudan peace

President Uhuru Kenyatta and South Sudan's Salva Kiir Mayardit at State House in Nairobi on July 1, 2019. PHOTO | DENNIS ONSONGO | NATION MEDIA GROUP 

By CHARLES WASONGA

Kenya stands to benefit significantly from Saturday’s formation of the Transitional Government of National Unity (TGoNU) as announced by South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar.

Dr Machar, leader of Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in Opposition (SPLM-IO), accepted to rejoin the government as the First Vice President, based on the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS), signed in September 2018 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The two pledged to end a five-year civil war that had sent the country's nascent economy into convulsions.

Kenya, being one of the largest foreign investors in that country, stands to benefit tremendously with the return of the peace and stability.

Many Kenyans who have invested in sectors such as construction, insurance hospitality, transport and banking will see their businesses recover from effects of the 2016 civil war.

BANKS

Formation of the TGoNU is good news for KCB, Equity, Co-operative and Stanbic banks. 

They are among the Kenyan lenders which scaled down their operations after war erupted. 

The banks set up shop in South Sudan after it attained independence in 2011, attracted by a large unbanked population and oil wealth.

TRADE

Formation of the unity government is also expected to boost trade between Kenya and South Sudan.

In the recent past, the youngest country in Africa has been a valuable export destination for many Kenyan products including foodstuff.

According to the latest statistics from the Kenya Bureau of Statistics (KBS), Kenya’s exports to South Sudan account for 11.2 per cent of the total exports to the Common Market for East and Southern African (Comesa).

This, arguably, places South Sudan as one of the largest export destinations for Kenya out of 18 other Comesa members.

DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS

The return of peace in Southern Sudan will also boost key projects such as the Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia Transport (Lapsset) corridor, which will spur socio-economic development in Kenya and the region.

Kenya, South Sudan and Ethiopia jointly launched the infrastructure project in March 2012.

It involves construction of a new transport corridor for the new port of Lamu, through the Kenyan towns of Garissa and Isiolo. 

One part of the corridor is meant to connect Kenya and Ethiopia while the other will connect Kenya and South Sudan through the border town of Nakodok.

The project entails construction of a new road network, a railway line, an oil refinery in Lamu, airports in Lamu and resort cities at Isiolo and the shows of Lake Turkana.

It will promote trade along the corridor hence open northern Kenya up to faster development

REFUGEES MENACE

The number of South Sudanese refugees hosted in Kenya reached 120,452 as at end of October 2019, according to figures from United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Many are likely go back home if political stability returns with establishment of the unity government. 

This will relieve Kenya of the pressure of hosting many refugees in camps such as Kakuma in Turkana County and Dadaab in Garissa County.

When he meet Dr Machar in Juba on Thursday, President Kiir expressed hope that the next three years of the transitional period will pave way for refugees in neighbouring countries and internally displaced persons to return to their homes.

“The recent changes are meant for peace to be achieved. They are not meant to bring conflict back. In the next three years, we want to see new changes,” he said.

REGIONAL PEACE

The return of peace in South Sudan is also likely to enhance regional stability. 

It will stem the proliferation of illegal small arms and weapons.

Thanks for reading. Follow the page and Share it.

South Korea coronavirus cases jump over 200 as sect infections spike

Health workers fumigating.

South Korea’s coronavirus cases nearly doubled Friday, rising above 200 and making it the worst-affected country outside China as the number of infections linked to a religious sect spiked.

A total of 100 new cases were confirmed by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), 85 of them connected to the Shincheonji Church of Jesus in the southern city of Daegu.

More than 120 members of Shincheonji have now been infected, starting with a 61-year-old woman who developed a fever on February 10 but attended at least four church services before being diagnosed.

The mayor of Daegu — South Korea’s fourth-biggest city, with a population of over 2.5 million — has advised locals to stay indoors, while access to a major US military base in the area has been restricted.

People were out and about on the streets Friday, with most wearing masks, but many businesses were closed due to the outbreak.

Workers on motorcycles sprayed disinfectant outside the Shincheonji church in the city, where passer-by Seo Dong-min, 24, told AFP: “With so many confirmed cases here I’m worried that Daegu will become the second Wuhan,” referring to the Chinese city where the virus first emerged.

Shincheonji is often accused of being a cult and claims its founder, Lee Man-hee, has donned the mantle of Jesus Christ and will take 144,000 people with him to heaven on the day of judgement.

But with more church members than available places in heaven, they are said to have to compete for slots and pursue converts persistently and secretively.

The KCDC said one more virus case had been confirmed at a hospital in Cheongdo county near Daegu where a total of 16 infections have now been identified, including a long-stay patient who died Wednesday after showing symptoms of pneumonia.

Cheongdo is the birthplace of Shincheonji’s founder Lee, and county officials said a three-day funeral was held for his brother three weeks ago at a hall owned by the hospital.

President Moon Jae-in called for a “thorough investigation” of everyone who attended the funeral and Shincheonji services.

“If you simply rely on the information provided by the church, the process can be slow,” he told a cabinet meeting. “We need faster measures.”

– ‘Too late now’ –

KCDC said 4,475 Shincheonji members had been tested in Daegu and 544 said they had symptoms.

The city’s renowned Mijin restaurant, which has been in business for over 40 years, was closed, with a notice reading: “For your safety, we are suspending the business until coronavirus-19 is under control. We wish you and your family good health.”

And Lee Yoo-jin, 73, who runs a dress shop in the city centre, told AFP: “I have not had a single customer this week. I have run the shop for over 20 years and never have I seen such a drop.”

Residents expressed frustration, with a passer-by at the church saying authorities should have closed a nearby subway station for cleaning.

“Now it’s all over the place,” said the woman, surnamed Kim. “It’s too late now.”

The central government on Friday declared Daegu and Cheongdo “special management zones”, with Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun saying the region would be supported with medical personnel, beds and equipment and the cabinet will meet three times a week to discuss the outbreak.

Authorities in Seoul banned public rallies at three main locations on health and safety grounds.

The US army garrison in Daegu — where around 10,000 soldiers, civilians and family members live or work — has restricted access and instructed any American troops who recently attended Shincheonji services to self-quarantine.

“Travel in and around Daegu is highly discouraged unless absolutely necessary,” the garrison said Thursday in a Facebook post.

“Please avoid public places and public transportation, to include stores, restaurants, subways and other heavily congested areas.”

Shincheonji has closed all its facilities nationwide.

“We are deeply sorry that because of one of our members, who thought of her condition as cold because she had not travelled abroad, led to many in our church being infected and thereby caused concern to the local community,” it said in a statement.

[AFP]