Syphilis burden higher among men who have sex with men, study reveals

Men who have sex with men more at risk of syphilis. Image source: thebhutanesse

A new study has highlighted the unacceptably high global prevalence of syphilis among men who have sex with men.

The study titled, Prevalence of syphilis among men who have sex with men: A global systematic review and meta-analysis from 2000 to 2020, underscores the need to advance stalled progress toward eliminating syphilis as a public health threat by 2030.  

Syphilis, a sexually transmitted infection is caused by the bacteria Treponema pallidum. 

The study lead by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK and published in The Lancet Global Health presents the first global syphilis prevalence estimate among men who have sex with men. 

Findings from this global review show that men who have sex with men have a high burden of syphilis infection, with significant variation across countries and regions. 

The global pooled prevalence of syphilis among men who have sex with men was 7.5 percent during 2000-2020 (95 percent CI: 7.0-8.0), as compared to the most recent estimate of syphilis among men in the general population in 2016, 0.5 percent (95 percent UI: 0.4-0.6). 

The proportion of men who have sex with men with syphilis was highest in settings where HIV prevalence was greater than five percent and in low and middle-income countries. 

The sub-analysis showed that pooled prevalence estimates were higher between 2015-2020 compared to the prior five years in half of the global regions assessed and several countries are reporting a high and sustained increase in syphilis infection among men who have sex with men.

Globally, there were an estimated seven million new syphilis infections in 2020. 

The World Health Organisation noted that it has set ambitious targets to reduce the incidence of syphilis by 90 percent by 2030, but the global response has been slow. 

“While there have been modest reductions in congenital syphilis as a result of the scale-up of interventions in antenatal care, such as syphilis screening and treatment for pregnant women, there is an urgent need to galvanise momentum and better serve other priority populations disproportionally impacted by the disease. 

“Syphilis is preventable and curable, with cost-effective and, in certain contexts, cost-saving interventions. 

“Easy to use and inexpensive point-of-care tests include blood-based rapid tests that produce results in less than 20 minutes and products that test syphilis and HIV using a single platform. Treatment with injectable benzathine penicillin is simple to administer and inexpensive. 

“A major challenge is that populations at higher risk for syphilis, particularly in LMIC, are often not able to access services due to structural barriers, including criminalization, policy and legal barriers, discrimination and violence. 

“As recommended by WHO, governments should address these structural barriers as a priority,” it said.

According to the Director of WHO’s Department of Global HIV, Hepatitis and STI Programmes, Dr. Meg Doherty this first review of global syphilis prevalence among men who have sex with men highlights the urgent need to improve access to syphilis testing, treatment and prevention services.

“Stakeholders must address structural barriers, like discrimination and violence; improve sexuality education, and expand access and delivery of syphilis testing and immediate treatment for all populations at higher risk of infection,” Doherty said. 

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Insurgency: Burkina to install 900 surveillance cameras

File: Burkina Faso map

Burkina Faso, battling a jihadist insurgency that has claimed more than 1,500 lives, is to install 900 video cameras in two cities under a Chinese-funded surveillance system.

The “Smart Burkina” system is being installed at 220 locations in the capital Ouagadougu and 80 locations in the second-largest city of Bobo-Dioulasso, Security Minister Maxime Kone said on Thursday in a ceremony to launch the project.

The scheme will give the security forces “the means to be able to detect crime areas and follow delinquents,” Prime Minister Christophe Dabires said.

“Smart Burkina” will cost around 52 billion CFA francs CFA ($94 million / 79 million euros).

Two Chinese firms, Huawei and China International Telecommunication Construction Corporation are in charge of carrying out the project.

“Once the project is finished, the Burkinabe side, as sole beneficiary, will have independent and autonomous management over all the data and all the installations,” the Chinese ambassador in Ouagadougou, Li Jian, said.

Landlocked Burkina Faso is struggling with a six-year-old jihadist campaign that has forced 1.5 million from their homes and inflicted crippling economic damage to one of the world’s poorest countries.

Ouagadougou has been hit three times since 2016, with a loss of nearly 60 dead.

On Saturday, several thousand people rallied in the country’s major cities to protest against insecurity.

(AFP)

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Oxford scientists begin HIV vaccine clinical trial

HIV Vaccine

Scientists at Oxford University, United Kingdom, have commenced a clinical trial for a novel HIV vaccine.

The trial known as HIV-CORE 0052 began on Monday.

The goal of the trial, according to Oxford, is to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of the HIVconsvX vaccine – a mosaic vaccine targeting a broad range of HIV-1 variants, making it potentially applicable for HIV strains in any geographical region.

For this clinical trial, 13 healthy adults aged between 18–65 who were considered not to be at high risk of infection received one dose of the vaccine which will be followed by a further booster dose at four weeks.

Speaking on the trial, Professor of Vaccine Immunology at the Jenner Institute, University of Oxford and lead researcher for the trial, Tomáš Hankeof in a statement said, “An effective HIV vaccine has been elusive for 40 years.

“This trial is the first in a series of evaluations of this novel vaccine strategy in both HIV-negative individuals for prevention and in people living with HIV for a cure.”

Describing how this vaccine would work on Oxford University’s official website, the researchers said “While most HIV vaccine candidates work by inducing antibodies generated by B-cells, HIVconsvX induces the immune system’s potent, pathogen obliterating T cells, targeting them to highly conserved and therefore vulnerable regions of HIV – an “Achilles’ heel” common to most HIV variants.”

This trial is part of the European Aids Vaccine Initiative (EAVI2020), an international collaborative research project funded by the European Commission under Horizon 2020 Health Programme for Research and Innovation.

The researchers said they hope to be able to report the results of the HIV-CORE 0052 trial by April 2022.

There are also plans to start similar trials in Europe, Africa and the US, the site reports.

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COVID-19: Worst yet to come for Africa, says WHO

Africa has just lived through its most devastating week of the pandemic, but the worst is yet to come as the third wave gathers pace on the continent, the World Health Organization said Thursday.

“Africa has just marked the continent’s most dire pandemic week ever. But the worst is yet to come as the fast-moving third wave continues to gain speed and new ground,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO’s regional director for Africa.

Cases are doubling every 18 days, compared with every 21 days only a week ago, she said during a virtual press conference, adding that “the end to this precipitous rise is still weeks away.”

Coronavirus cases have been rising in Africa since the start of the third wave on the continent on May 3. During the week ending July 4, more than 251,000 new Covid-19 cases were recorded on the continent,  a 20% increase over the previous week and a 12% jump from the previous January peak.

Sixteen African countries are now seeing a resurgence of the virus, with the more contagious Delta strain detected in 10 of them.

South Africa is the worst-hit country in Africa, with new daily infections hitting record highs of 26,000 cases over the weekend, fuelled by the Delta variant.

Vaccination rates remain sluggish, with only 16 million people, 2% of the African population, fully vaccinated.

But Moeti said there was some room for optimism because vaccine deliveries were picking up after grinding to a near halt in May and early June.

“Our appeals for ‘we first and not me first’ are finally turning talk into action. But the deliveries can’t come soon enough because the third wave looms large across the continent,” she said.

Africa has so far received 66 million doses and has administered 50 million of them.

Moeti urged governments to expand vaccination sites and take other measures to take advantage of the vaccine deliveries when they come.

According to latest figures, Africa has officially registered  5,730,638 cases and 147,125 deaths from Covid-19.

AFP

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Burundi Frees 1,300 Prisoners Under Presidential Pardon

Prisoners released in January 2018.

Burundi on Monday freed some 1,300 prisoners in the first stage of a presidential pardon aimed at emptying overcrowded jails in the East African nation, the country's justice minister said.

Nearly 1,000 prisoners were released from a jail in Bujumbura at a ceremony attended by President Evariste Ndayishimiye, government ministers and foreign ambassadors. Another 331 inmates were discharged in the capital Gitega.

They were the first among some 3,000 detainees the government has promised to imminently release, with another 2,000 receiving sentence cuts that will allow them to walk free in coming weeks.

"This is the first time in our country that nearly 5,000 detainees have benefited from a presidential pardon," said Justice Minister Jeanine Nibizi.

The government announced in March plans to release 5,255 inmates -- a figure amounting to some 40 percent of Burundi's estimated 13,200 prisoners, civil society groups said.

The country's prisons have a capacity of 4,100.

In his presidential decree at the time, Ndayishimiye said he was "convinced that an exceptional measure of clemency is needed to de-congest prisons and improve conditions of detention."

Those convicted of corruption, and prisoners serving sentences of up to five years, were slated for release. Certain exceptions were made, including cases involving participation in an armed group or threatening national security.

"It is a good thing, even if the prisons remain crowded... I only regret that political prisoners have not benefited from this presidential pardon," Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, president of Aprodeh, an organization for the protection of inmates, told AFP.

One foreign diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it was a "gesture in the right direction" and followed the release of four journalists in December detained for a year on charges rights groups condemned as baseless.

Ndayishimiye was elected in May last year, raising hopes that the iron-fisted and repressive state would open up, which have since been dashed.

He succeeded the late president Pierre Nkurunziza, whose insistence on a third term in office in 2015 plunged the country into a serious and prolonged political crisis marked by summary executions, disappearances, arbitrary arrests and torture of dissidents.

 

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Chad President Idriss Deby has died: Army spokesman

President Idriss Deby, who won a 6th term on Monday, has died of injuries suffered on the frontline, an army spokesman said.

 

The 68-year-old son of a herder was one of the longest-serving leaders in Africa [File: Aurelien Meunier/Getty Images]

Chad’s President Idriss Deby has died of injuries suffered on the frontline in the Sahel country’s north, where he had gone to visit soldiers battling rebels, an army spokesman said on Tuesday.

Deby, 68, “has just breathed his last defending the sovereign nation on the battlefield” over the weekend, army spokesman General Azem Bermandoa Agouna said in a statement read out on state television.

The army said Deby had been commanding his army at the weekend as it battled against rebels who had launched a major incursion into the north of the country on election day.

The army said a military council led by the late president’s 37-year-old son Mahamat Idriss Deby, a four-star general, would replace him. A curfew has been imposed and the country’s borders have been shut in the wake of the sudden death of the president, army said.

The shock announcement came a day after Deby, who came to power in a rebellion in 1990, won a sixth term, as per provisional results released on Monday. Deby took 79.3 percent of the vote in the April 11 presidential election, the results showed.

 

Deby postponed his victory speech to supporters and instead went to visit Chadian soldiers battling rebels, according to his campaign manager.

The rebel group Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT), which is based across the northern frontier with Libya, attacked a border post in the provinces of Tibesti and Kanem on election day and then advanced hundreds of kilometres south.

But it suffered a setback over the weekend.

Chad’s military spokesman Agouna told the Reuters news agency that army troops killed more than 300 fighters and captured 150 on Saturday in Kanem province, around 300 kilometres (185 miles) from the capital Ndjamena.

Five government soldiers were killed and 36 were injured, he said.

Relished the military culture

Deby was a herder’s son from the Zaghawa ethnic group who took the classic path to power through the army, and relished the military culture.

His latest election victory had never been in doubt, with a divided opposition, boycott calls, and a campaign in which demonstrations were banned or dispersed.

Deby had campaigned on a promise of bringing peace and security to the region, but his pledges were undermined by the rebel incursion.

 

The army said a military council led by the late president’s 37-year-old son Mahamat Idriss Deby, a four-star general, would replace him [File: Marco Longari/AFP]

The government had sought on Monday to assure concerned residents that the offensive was over.

There had been panic in some areas of Ndjamena on Monday after tanks were deployed along the city’s main roads, an AFP journalist reported. The tanks were later withdrawn apart from a perimeter around the president’s office, which is under heavy security during normal times.

“The establishment of a security deployment in certain areas of the capital seems to have been misunderstood,” government spokesman Cherif Mahamat Zene had said on Twitter on Monday.

“There is no particular threat to fear.”

However, the US embassy in Ndjamena had on Saturday ordered non-essential personnel to leave the country, warning of possible violence in the capital. Britain also urged its nationals to leave.

France’s embassy said in an advisory to its nationals in Chad that the deployment was a precaution and there was no specific threat to the capital.

The group, FACT, has a non-aggression pact with Khalifa Haftar, a military strongman who controls much of Libya’s east.

FACT, a group mainly made up of the Saharan Goran people, said in a statement on Sunday that it had “liberated” the Kanem region. Such claims in remote desert combat zones are difficult to verify.

The Tibesti mountains near the Libyan frontier frequently see fighting between rebels and the army, as well as in the northeast bordering Sudan. France carried out air raids in February 2019 to stop an incursion there.

In February 2008, a rebel assault reached the gates of the presidential palace before being pushed back with French backing.

 

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France ‘enabled’ 1994 Rwanda genocide, report says

Study commissioned by Rwandan gov’t alleges France ‘did nothing’ to prevent ‘foreseeable’ April and May 1994 massacres.

 

An estimated 800,000 people were slaughtered in the genocide [File: Baz Ratner/Reuters]

The French government bears “significant” responsibility for “enabling a foreseeable genocide,” a report commissioned by the Rwandan government concludes about France’s role before and during the horror in which an estimated 800,000 people were slaughtered in 1994.

The report, which The Associated Press has read, comes amid efforts by Rwanda to document the role of French authorities before, during and after the genocide, part of the steps taken by France’s President Emmanuel Macron to improve relations with the Central African country.

The 600-page report says that France “did nothing to stop” the massacres, in April and May 1994, and in the years after the genocide tried to cover up its role and even offered protection to some perpetrators.

It is to be made public later on Monday after its formal presentation to Rwanda’s Cabinet.

It concludes that in years leading up to the genocide, former French President Francois Mitterrand and his administration had knowledge of preparations for the massacres – yet kept supporting the government of then-Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana despite the “warning signs.”

“The French government was neither blind nor unconscious about the foreseeable genocide,” the authors stress.

The Rwandan report comes less than a month after a French report, commissioned by Macron, concluded that French authorities had been “blind” to the preparations for genocide and then reacted too slowly to appreciate the extent of the killings and to respond to them.

It concluded that France had “heavy and overwhelming responsibilities” by not responding to the drift that led to the slaughter that killed mainly ethnic Tutsis and the moderate Hutus who tried to protect them. Groups of extremist Hutus carried out the killings.

‘A common understanding of the past’

The two reports, with their extensive even if different details, could mark a turning point in relations between the two countries.

Rwanda, a small but strategic country of 13 million people, is “ready” for a “new relationship” with France, Rwanda’s Foreign Affairs Minister Vincent Biruta told AP.

“Maybe the most important thing in this process is that those two commissions have analysed the historical facts, have analysed the archives which were made available to them and have come to a common understanding of that past,” he said. “From there we can build this strong relationship.”

The Rwandan report, commissioned in 2017 from the Washington law firm of Levy Firestone Muse, is based on a wide range of documentary sources from governments, non-governmental organisations and academics including diplomatic cables, documentaries, videos and news articles.

The authors also said they interviewed more than 250 witnesses.

In the years before the genocide, “French officials armed, advised, trained, equipped, and protected the Rwandan government, heedless of the Habyarimana regime’s commitment to the dehumanisation and, ultimately, the destruction and death of Tutsi in Rwanda,” the report charges.

French authorities at the time pursued “France’s own interests, in particular the reinforcement and expansion of France’s power and influence in Africa”.

In April and May 1994, at the height of the genocide, French officials “did nothing to stop” the massacres, says the report.

Operation Turquoise, a French-led military intervention backed by the United Nations which started on June 22, 1994, “came too late to save many Tutsi,” the report says.

Authors say they found “no evidence that French officials or personnel participated directly in the killing of Tutsi during that period”.

This finding echoes the conclusion of the French report that cleared France of complicity in the massacres, saying that “nothing in the archives” demonstrates a “willingness to join a genocidal operation”.

French gov’t ‘distorted the truth’

The Rwandan report also addressed the attitude of French authorities after the genocide.

Over the past 27 years, “the French government has covered up its role, distorted the truth, and protected” those who committed the genocide, it says.

The report suggests that French authorities made “little efforts” to send to trial those who committed the genocide. Three Rwandan nationals have been convicted of genocide so far in France.

It also strongly criticises the French government for not making public documents about the genocide.

The government of Rwanda notably submitted three requests for documents in 2019, 2020 and this year that the French government “ignored,” according to the report.

Under French law, documents regarding military and foreign policies can remain classified for decades.

But things may be changing, the Rwandan report says, mentioning “hopeful signs”.

On April 7, the day of commemoration of the genocide, Macron announced the decision to declassify and make accessible to the public the archives from 1990 to 1994 that belong to the French president and prime minister’s offices.

“Recent disclosures of documents in connection with the (French) report … may signal a move toward transparency,” authors of the Rwandan report said.

President Paul Kagame of Rwanda praised the report commissioned by Macron as “a good thing,” welcoming efforts in Paris to “move forward with a good understanding of what happened.”

Félicien Kabuga, a Rwandan long wanted for his alleged role in supplying machetes to the killers, was arrested outside Paris last May.

And in July an appeals court in Paris upheld a decision to end a years-long investigation into the plane crash that killed Habyarimana and set off the genocide.

That probe aggravated Rwanda’s government because it targeted several people close to Kagame for their alleged role, charges they denied.

Last week, a Rwandan priest was arrested in France for his alleged role in the genocide, which he denied.

 

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Religious freedom groups lament rising Nigerian persecution

Seven years after Boko Haram kidnapped 276 girls from a majority Christian school in Chibok, Nigeria, U.S. religious freedom advocates are lamenting escalating religious persecution in the African country.

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom noted the growing number of abductions of students and other residents by terrorists and bandits copying Boko Haram’s tactics.

“Nigerians have waited too long for the violence to stop,” Tony Perkins, vice chair of the commission, said April 14. “Seven years since the outrageous abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls, copycats are still popping up all over, taking inspiration from Boko Haram and other extremist groups. It is the Nigerian people who pay the price.”

600 students kidnapped since December

The commission noted the kidnappings of 600 students between December 2020 and March, compounded by “ongoing attacks against Christian communities, Muslim congregations and houses of worship.”

Amnesty International said Wednesday that kidnappings have forced the closure of hundreds of schools because of safety concerns, and that hundreds of children have been “killed, raped, forced into ‘marriages’ or forced to join Boko Haram.”

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom estimates about 10.5 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 are out of school in Nigeria because of the closures and violence.

Various Nigerian government officials are “apathetic and negligent,” Commissioner Frederick A. Davie said.

“Nigerian officials at all levels, from the president (Muhammadu Buhari) and federal officials to local governors, police commissioners and courts need to do more to prevent growing insecurity and hold accountable those who perpetrate violent acts,” Davie said.

He urged the U.S. government to ensure progress in Nigeria by leveraging the U.S. State Department’s December 2020 designation of Nigeria as a country of particular concern.

‘No lessons have been learned from the Chibok tragedy’

Osai Ojigho, director of Amnesty International Nigeria, said the failure of Nigerian authorities “shows that no lessons have been learned from the Chibok tragedy. The authorities’ only response to schoolchildren being targeted by insurgents and gunmen is to close schools, which is increasingly putting the right to education at risk.”

Seven years after the Chibok kidnapping, about 100 of the abducted girls remain missing, although others have escaped or been released. Leah Sharibu, kidnapped from her school in Dapchi in 2018, still is being held for refusing to denounce her Christian faith, although 104 students were released to their families. Five girls were killed in the kidnapping conducted by the Islamic State West Africa Province.

A series of kidnappings early this year in northwest Nigeria, which resulted in the death of Christian student Benjamin Habila, were blamed on loosely organized bandits copying Boko Haram.

But many terrorist groups, including Boko Haram, Boko Haram faction of the Islamic State West Africa Province and militant Fulani herdsmen are active in Nigeria’s northeast and Middle Belt.

Open Doors’ 2021 World Watch List designates Nigeria as the ninth most dangerous country for Christians, compared to its number 12 ranking on the 2020 list. From November 2019 to October 2020, more than 3,530 Nigerian Christians were killed for their faith, Open Doors said in its report.

Christians are abducted and killed while going about their daily lives. In one of the most recent attacks, Christians blame militant Fulani herdsmen for kidnapping eight members of the Redeemed Christian Church of God from the church bus as it traveled from Kaduna to Kafanchan in late March, Morning Star News reported.

 

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Over 7,200 Human Penises Shipped Out of Nigeria: What is Chinese Doing With Nigerian Penises?

Shocking as Chinese authorities seize 7,221 human penises on cargo ship from Nigeria’s Lagos. 

Former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode says a ship from Nigeria has been impounded while it was trying to smuggle 7, 200 penises into the Asian country.

 

A total of 7,221 penises of African origin have been seized by the Chinese customs officers in what has now been tagged the world’s biggest seizure of human organs in history.

The organs which were hidden in a refrigerated freight container were seized when the ship harboured in the Shanghai Port following information from an anonymous informer who alerted the Chinese authorities.

The organs were packed in 36 boxes labelled as ‘plantains’ inside the refrigerated container on a ship which transited from Lagos, Nigeria and ship’s crew consisting of four Nigerians, two Malians and two Cameronese now being detained.

Speaking on the seizure, the spokesman of the Chinese General Administration of Customs, Li Wu, says an increasingly large number of armed groups in Africa use organ trafficking to finance themselves, making such seizures predictable.

“These organs are common commodities now, but they were certainly harvested in unsanitary conditions or contaminated at some point, so we can’t let them out on the Chinese market.”

Mr. Li says the organs were shipped from Lagos in Nigeria but may have only transited through that country and could possibly originate from elsewhere in Africa.

“We know that penises from Lybia and Sudan fetch a higher price than those from other African war zones, but can’t presume of their origin before the end of the investigation.”

Describing the organ’s value as high as illegal drugs, he said that “specimens of this size” usually fetched around $160,000 each on the black market, and its total value was more than US$1.15 billion, adding that similar seizures may become more common over the next few years as armed groups in Africa turn to organ trafficking to finance their military operations.

Human penises were seized in nine cases since 2002, but today’s find represents more than four times the amount seized by customs officers over the past 18 years.

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Nigeria Medical Association apologises to Nigerians, patients over NARD strike

Nigerian Medical Association, NMA

Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) has apologised to Nigerians, especially patients at various government hospitals, over the strike embarked upon by the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD).

Dr Enema Amodu, the Chairman, NMA, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) chapter, made the plea on Sunday in Abuja while addressing newsmen over the NARD strike.

According to him, the association is sorry and wishes to apologise to Nigerians over the action.

The resident doctors embarked on strike on April 1 to press home their demand for upward review of their N5000 hazard allowance, payment of outstanding COVID-19 inducement allowance, among others.

He said “we are not insensitive; we hope that government and those in charge of the discussion with NARD will take it seriously, with a view to settling the issues at stake.

“To our patients, we are very sorry that you have to suffer this epileptic irregular healthcare service delivery; we have taken an oath to take care of you.

“But if a doctor is not in a sound state of mind and is not happy with what he or she is getting from the job, the doctor may not be in right frame of mind to discharge his or her duty right.

“And this will invariably affect you; by the time we get placed properly, renumeration and other welfare matters and facilities that we need to serve you, we will be able to serve you better with productive results,” he said.

He pleaded with all health workers, pharmacist, nurses, among others, to stop the incessant acrimony and disharmony among them.

 

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At Least 90 Dead, Dozens Missing In Indonesia Timor Floods

This handout photo taken on April 5, 2021 and released by Indonesian National Board for Disaster Management (BNPB) shows the aftermath of a flash flood in Lembata, East Flores, as dozens are missing after flash floods and landslides killed more than 70 people in Indonesia and neighbouring East Timor, while thousands fled to shelters after the disaster left them homeless. HANDOUT / Indonesian National Board for Disaster Management (BNPB) / AFP

 

Tropical cyclone Seroja pounded Indonesia and East Timor Monday after torrential rains triggered floods and landslides that have killed at least 91 people and left dozens missing.

Packing heavy winds and rain, the storm heaped more misery on the Southeast Asian nations after Sunday’s disaster turned small communities into wastelands of mud and uprooted trees and forced thousands of people into shelters.

Downpours are expected over the next day as the storm triggers offshore waves as high as six metres (20 feet), Indonesia’s disaster agency said.

The cyclone, which was picking up strength as it moved toward the west coast of Australia, hampered efforts to reach trapped survivors.

 

This handout photo taken on April 5, 2021 and released by the National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) shows rescuers looking for survivors in Nelemamadike village, East Flores, after torrential rains triggered floods and landslides in Indonesia and East Timor.
HANDOUT / NATIONAL SEARCH AND RESCUE AGENCY / AFP

 

Indonesia’s disaster agency said at least 70 people have been killed, with another 70 missings.

In East Timor, at least 21 people have been killed according to an official in the tiny half-island nation of 1.3 million that lies between Indonesia and Australia.

Many of the deaths were in East Timor’s inundated capital Dili, where the front of the presidential palace was transformed into a mud pit.

In Indonesia’s remote East Flores municipality, torrents of mud washed over homes, bridges, and roads.

Images from Indonesia’s search-and-rescue agency showed workers digging up mud-covered corpses before placing them in body bags.

On Lembata, an island east of Flores, parts of some villages were swept down a mountainside and carried to the shore of the ocean.

Soon after flash floods began tearing into resident Basir Langoday’s district in the early morning, he heard screams for help from a nearby home covered in rubble.

“There were four of them inside. Three survived but the other one didn’t make it,” he told reporters.

Langoday and his friends scrambled to try and save the trapped man before he was crushed to death.

“He said ‘hurry, I can’t hold on any longer,” Langoday added.

Juna Witak, another Lembata resident, joined his family at a local hospital where they wept over the corpse of his mother who was killed in a flash flood Sunday. Her body was found by the seashore.

“There was a rumbling sound and the floods swept away homes, everything,” Witak said.

– ‘Medicine, food, blankets’ –
Indonesian President Joko Widodo expressed “deepest condolences” over the devastation in the southeast end of the archipelago.

“I understand the deep sorrow suffered by our brothers and sisters because of this disaster,” he said in a nationwide address.

The European Union said it was ready to offer assistance to poverty-stricken East Timor, officially known as Timor-Leste.

“The catastrophic floods come at a time when Timor-Leste is working hard to contain the spread of Covid-19 among its population, putting a considerable additional strain both on resources and on the Timorese people,” the EU said.

Across the region, residents have flocked to temporary shelters or taken refuge in what was left of their homes.

“The evacuees are spread out. There are hundreds in each sub-district but many others are staying at home,” said Alfons Hada Bethan, head of the East Flores disaster agency.

“They need medicine, food, blankets.”

Some 2,500 people had been evacuated in East Timor, along with several thousand more in Indonesia.

Pounding rains challenged efforts to find any survivors.

“We suspect many people are buried but it’s not clear how many are missing,” Bethan said.

In Lembata, local officials were forced to deploy heavy equipment to reopen the roads.

Images from the island showed barefoot locals wading through mud and past collapsed houses to evacuate victims on makeshift stretchers.

Fatal landslides and flash floods are common across the Indonesian archipelago during the rainy season.

January saw flash floods hit the Indonesian town of Sumedang in West Java, killing 40 people.

And last September, at least 11 people were killed in landslides on Borneo.

The disaster agency has estimated that 125 million Indonesians — nearly half of the country’s population — live in areas at risk of landslides.

The disasters are often caused by deforestation, according to environmentalists.

 

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Kenya Airways sees passenger business recovery in 2024, turns to cargo

Kenya Airways planes are seen parked at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport near Nairobi, Kenya November 6, 2019. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

Kenya Airways expects its passenger business to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2024, its chief executive said on Tuesday.

The carrier, whose joint venture with Air France KLM is set to expire this September, will boost its cargo business to help blunt the impact of the drop in demand for travel by passengers, CEO Allan Kilavuka told Reuters.

 

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African airlines are testing their own Covid-19 passport

 

Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airlines are testing a new digital Covid-19 passport system.The digital health passport allows travellers and airport authorities to authenticate Covid-19 test certificates prior to departure.

The Trusted Travel Pass pilot programme was developed by the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as digital health passports look likely to become a standard requirement for international travel.

A global travel pass developed by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) is currently being trialled by several leading international airlines. The pass allows travellers to create a digital copy of their passports and receive verified information on country-specific travel requirements via an app.

These requirements will inform what testing or vaccination procedures need to be followed prior to departure.

Once these requirements are met, confirmation is provided in the form of a unique QR code which can be scanned by the relevant health authorities. Apart from creating a universal authentication standard, the pass aims to also simplify check-in processes for both travellers and airline staff.

The African Union and Africa CDC launched their own version of the health passport to boost confidence in safe air travel across the continent. Adopting the same principals and processes used by IATA, the Trusted Travel Pass is currently being tested in AU Member States.

Passengers on Kenya Airways or Ethiopian Airlines flights are encouraged – but not yet forced – to use the Trusted Travel Pass.

The online portal, which allows passengers to upload their Covid-19 test and vaccine results to receive a QR code, is accessible via desktop and mobile phone but has not yet been rolled out as an app. Features of the Trusted Travel Pass include:

Signing up to create a traveller profile and itinerary

Listing travel requirements and restrictions applicable to the destination country

Providing a database of authorised Covid-19 testing facilities

Generating a Trusted Testing Code (TT Code) and Travel Code (TC) based on tests completed and vaccines administered by registered health services.

“We are pleased to have introduced a digital platform that will be pivotal in increasing the number of passengers while making air travel safer,” says Getinet Tadesse, Ethiopian Airlines’ Chief Information Officer. “The solution is capable of addressing passengers’ travel needs during [the] Covid -19 pandemic as it helps them validate their test and vaccination documents before departure.”

Other African airlines are expected to join the pilot programme, according to John Nkengasong, Director of the Africa CDC.

“To coordinate our air, sea and land movement on the continent, all countries have to have a similar understanding of what we have to do and harmonise that,” adds Nkengasong.

Should the pilot programme be a success, the pass is expected to be rolled out to all AU member states and airlines as a mandatory compliance protocol.

“Kenya Airways as an AU and Africa CDC partner will also bring invaluable input and feedback to improve the Trusted Travel Pass programme making the ground-breaking step in enabling safe international travel during the pandemic as convenient as possible… giving people the boost of confidence that they are meeting all Covid-19 entry requirements by governments,” said Julius Thairu, Acting Chief Commercial Officer at Kenya Airways, which was the first carrier to adopt the pass on 6 March.

 

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John Magufuli: Tanzania's president dies aged 61 after Covid rumours

 

The 61-year-old president died from heart complications on Wednesday

Tanzania's President John Magufuli has died aged 61, the country's vice-president has announced.

He died on Wednesday from heart complications at a hospital in Dar es Salaam, Samia Suluhu Hassan said in an address on state television.

Mr Magufuli had not been seen in public for more than two weeks, and rumours had been circulating about his health.

Opposition politicians said last week that he had contracted Covid-19, but this has not been confirmed.

Mr Magufuli was one of Africa's most prominent coronavirus sceptics, and called for prayers and herbal-infused steam therapy to counter the virus.

"It is with deep regret that I inform you that today... we lost our brave leader, the president of the Republic of Tanzania, John Pombe Magufuli," Vice-President Hassan said in the announcement.

She said there would be 14 days of national mourning and flags would fly at half-mast.

 

According to Tanzania's constitution, Ms Hassan will be sworn in as the new president within 24 hours and should serve the remainder of Mr Magufuli's five-year term which he began last year.

Mr Magufuli was last seen in public on 27 February, but Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa insisted last week that the president was "healthy and working hard".

He blamed the rumours of the president's ill-health on "hateful" Tanzanians living abroad.

But opposition leader Tundu Lissu told the BBC that his sources had told him Mr Magufuli was being treated in hospital for coronavirus in Kenya.

 

When Covid-19 arrived in Tanzania, Mr Magufuli called on people to go to churches and mosques to pray. "Coronavirus, which is a devil, cannot survive in the body of Christ... It will burn instantly," he said.

He declared Tanzania "Covid-19 free" last June, saying the virus had been eradicated by three days of national prayer.

He also mocked the efficacy of masks, expressed doubts about testing, and teased neighbouring countries which imposed health measures to curb the virus.

"Countries in Africa will be coming here to buy food in the years to come… they will be suffering because of shutting down their economy," he said, according to the Associated Press.

Tanzania has not published details of its coronavirus cases since May, and the government has refused to purchase vaccines.

On Monday, police said they had arrested four people on suspicion of spreading rumours on social media that the president was ill.

"To spread rumours that he's sick smacks of hate," Mr Majaliwa said at the time.

Shock and disbelief in Tanzania

Analysis by Athuman Mtulya, Dar es Salaam

The country is in a sombre mood - for the first time in its six decades of existence, Tanzania has lost a sitting president, John Pombe Magufuli.

The news of his death was received with shock and disbelief - although there were rumours of his illness, the authorities reassured the country that all was well with him.

From his home district of Chato to the capital of Dodoma to the business hub of Dar es Salaam, most Tanzanians have been mourning Magufuli.

There are those with a different view, especially on social media led by exiled opposition politician Tundu Lissu, who has been speculating that President Magufuli had contracted Covid which led to his death, however the authorities have insisted the death was caused by heart complications.

Tanzanians are now turning their minds to the succession, which should see current Vice-President Samia Suluhu Hassan become the country's first female president.

 

Mr Magufuli was declared president on his 56th birthday in October 2015. He was elected for a second term following a disputed poll last year.

He was hailed for his anti-corruption stance during his time in office, but he was also accused of cracking down on dissent and curtailing certain freedoms.

 

His critics agree that Mr Magufuli contributed to Tanzania's development. He invested in large infrastructure projects such as a standard-gauge railway to connect the country with its neighbours, major highways, and a bus system in the commercial hub of Dar es Salaam.

He also increased electricity production, reducing the need for power rationing.

But it is his approach to Covid-19 that many analysts say will define his legacy.

 

African leaders pay tribute

In Tanzania, people have reacted with grief and disbelief to the news of Mr Magufuli's death.

One, Joseph Petro, told the BBC he thought Mr Magufuli was a "caring" leader, adding "he was helping people in one way or another".

"I am really pained. I am personally pained," he said.

 

Another, Illuminata Abel, offered similar sentiments: "He was not my relative, but he was someone who listened to people's problems, and he was down to earth."

African leaders have also come out to pay tribute.

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta said: "I have lost a friend, colleague and visionary ally," and declared a seven-day period of national mourning in Kenya.

Former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan called Mr Magufuli a "partner in democracy" and a "patriot who loved his country".

But Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu told the BBC that Mr Magufuli's "politics, policies and Covid denialism" had "driven the country towards disaster".

 

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Nigeria: Lagos kicks off Covid vaccination

 

Nigeria's Lagos state started its coronavirus vaccination campaign on Friday after receiving over 500,000 doses of the AstraZeneca jab, despite concerns in some countries over the safety of the vaccine.

Lagos state health commissioner Akin Abayomi told reporters that authorities had spent a long time looking over the data and concluded that there was "no reason for us to slow down our COVID-19 vaccination response."

Some countries, mostly in Europe, have paused use of the AstraZeneca jab following sporadic reports of blood clots.

But the European Medicines Agency said there was no evidence of an increase in dangerous blood clots in connection with the shots.

Health workers and front line responders began receiving the vaccine in Lagos on Friday.

"I am very, very happy that we are advancing and the government is doing so much," said Clara Emembolu, a 74-year-old who was inoculated.

"I appreciate the government's effort in trying to secure this for our people."

Nigeria is among more than 180 countries worldwide receiving vaccines through the COVAX initiative.

 

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Rwanda becomes first African nation to use Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine

Rwanda began its COVID-19 vaccine campaign on Friday, becoming the first nation in Africa to use pharmaceutical company Pfizer’s doses that require ultra-cold storage.

Authorities began transporting Pfizer and AstraZeneca shots round the hilly nation of 12 million people after they arrived earlier this week, using helicopters to reach far-flung parts.

“This means that I will die when God wants because the coronavirus cannot kill me now,” 90-year-old Stephanie Nyirankuriza said, leaning on a walking stick after her shot at a health centre just east of the capital Kigali.

As in most nations, health workers and the elderly are first in line as President Paul Kagame’s government plans to vaccinate up to 30% of Rwandans by the end of this year.

The Kagame government, which prides itself on efficiency and technological prowess but is often criticised as authoritarian, has installed special infrastructure to keep the Pfizer vaccine at the required -70 degrees.

‘LENGTHENING MY LIFE’

At some centres, people were required to sign consent forms before receiving the shots.

Sitting in a makeshift tent awaiting her turn, Urusaro Ntoranyi, 70, said she was confident the vaccine was safe. “I have children who got COVID-19,” she added, saying that they survived but two other relatives had died.

Those vaccinated were required to stay for about 15 minutes in case of side effects.

“This is like lengthening my life span,” 69-year-old Sisiyani Rusenyanteko, a community health worker and father-of-nine, exulted after an AstraZeneca shot.

Rwanda has so far received 102,960 and 240,000 doses of Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines respectively via the global COVAX facility.

Rwanda’s Health Minister Daniel Ngamije said he expected to get more but did not say from where. “The turnout is good,” he said, shortly after receiving his Pfizer shot, adding the doses had been distributed to over 500 health facilities countrywide.

Rwanda has reported just over 19,000 cases and 265 deaths.

 

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Nigeria gets tough on offshore gambling operators

 Director-general of the Nigerian Lottery Regulatory Commission, Lanre Gbajabiamila

The West African country of Nigeria is the continent’s largest economy, primarily due to its petroleum production and export industries, and is well-known for its long-time love affair with gambling of all kinds. Many in the gambling industry believe that Nigeria has the potential to become the continent’s largest online betting market.

Due to its economic leadership in Africa, what happens in Naija may affect the financial state of the rest of the continent. Yet, despite the apparent success of both online and offline gambling enterprises in Nigeria (with many benefits to the state), government officials are now looking to seriously crack down on offshore and unregulated gambling operators.

Cracking down on unregulated sites
The unprecedented growth of the gambling industry in Nigeria has proved to be the largest obstacle for authorities to properly govern the actions of the operators and players within the country.

When in December of 2019, the state of Lagos began granting licenses for online sports betting, Nigerians were able to start playing at offshore online casinos for decades without fear of prosecution.

Unfortunately, not all government agencies were kept apprised of the swift growth in players playing in offshore establishments, causing a backlash of issues such as capital flight, tax evasion, the non-disclosure of financial transactions and movements of illicit funds.

The collaboration
Recently, the Nigerian Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC) sought out the country’s Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) in order to form a cooperative task force to restrict Nigerian gamblers from playing on unregulated sites.

Earlier in 2020, the NLRC had partnered with the country’s Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to fight “unscrupulous companies” in the country’s gambling industry. Although these organizations have previously worked together to scrutinise operators, they’re now ramping up their efforts.

In a statement, NLRC director-general Lanre Gbajabiamila said, “Our alliance and mutual cooperation are now more imperative, and as responsible agencies, it is our duty to keep pace with the dynamic and growing complexity of the modern lottery industry which features multi-channel availability, the electronic delivery of play, and complex financial transactions.”

It will be interesting to see how this new partnership affects the ongoing reorganization of federal and state cooperation in regulating this ever-growing and ever-changing industry.

Australia as a case study
We expect that Nigeria will continue its aggressive enforcement against offshore operators. Nigerian officials, however, should be wary that many countries have tried this in the past.

Australia is a perfect case-in-point. When the Australian government regulators decided to crack down, they began by implementing site blocking at an ISP (internet service provider) level. This did little to stop the online casinos from simply bypassing the attempted blocks and then it’s back to business as usual for the offshore operators.

For this reason, the two federal departments in cooperation with the state regulators must come up with better ways of combating the unlicensed operators than have been tried in the past.

Gambling in Nigeria
The state of gambling in Nigeria is a complex beast. There’s no doubt that in any nation, the gambling industry does provide significant benefits in the form of jobs, revenue to healthcare and education, and, of course, general entertainment for the population.

For many years, Nigeria’s offline sports betting and gambling industry saw significant year-to-year growth, with its online gambling counterpart gaining strength in the last decade or so with an increase in the country’s population and widespread access to the internet. In 2018, it was reported that Nigeria was the second-largest online betting market in Africa, with gross gaming revenues of $58 million for that year.

The downsides, however, can be just as significant without proper regulation. Federal and state regulatory agencies have never been on the same page about current laws, licensing, or legal procedures for dealing with gambling entities.

Corruption
Public officials in Nigeria do have good reason to fear for the future of unregulated gambling in their country. Concerns have surfaced recently about the uses of illicit money generated by illegal gambling in Nigeria. These include things like money laundering, terrorism financing, “financial leakages” to the unlicensed sector, and other issues that the new regulations are aiming to stamp out.

Recently, the NLRC and the NFIU signed a Memorandum of Understanding that contains their plans to combat these harmful forms of corruption within the nation.

Ambiguous legal status
Confusingly, gambling is currently both legal and illegal in Nigeria, complicating the status of regulated and non-regulated operators. Depending on the type of gambling, the status of the game, operation, or casino could be deemed legal or outside the law.

It’s not surprising then, that many Nigerian government officials have called for new laws to clarify the status of gambling operators in the country. Only time will tell whether the ongoing struggle between federal agencies and state lottery boards issuing licenses and blacklisting operators will solve the country’s current problems or only further muddy the issue going forward.

 

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UN calls for investigation into possible war crimes in Tigray

 

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Thursday called for an "objective and independent investigation" in the Ethiopian region of Tigray, after having "corroborated serious violations" likely to constitute "war crimes and crimes against humanity".

In a statement issued in Geneva, Bachelet said her office "has managed to corroborate information on some incidents that occurred in November last year, indicating indiscriminate bombings in the towns of Mekele, Humera and Adigrat in the Tigray region" in the north of the country, the scene of several months of fighting.

The UN office also verified "reports of serious violations and abuses including massacres in Aksoum and Dengelat in central Tigray by Eritrean armed forces," the statement said.

"Serious violations of international law, which may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, may have been committed."

The forces on the ground include the Ethiopian National Defence Forces, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), the Eritrean armed forces, the Amhara Regional Forces and affiliated militias, the same source said.

- "General denials" -

"With multiple actors in the conflict, general denials", there is "a clear need for an objective and independent assessment," said Ms. Bachelet.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights urged the Ethiopian government to allow her office and other UN investigators access to Tigray "to establish the facts and help ensure accountability, regardless of the origin of the perpetrators".

She stressed that her office continued to receive information about ongoing fighting in central Tigray.

She deplored "deeply distressing reports of sexual and gender-based violence, extrajudicial killings, widespread destruction and looting of public and private property by all parties".

"Without prompt, impartial and transparent investigations and without holding those responsible accountable, I fear that (human rights) violations will continue to be committed with impunity and the situation will remain volatile for a long time to come," she said.

Ms. Bachelet also expressed concern about the detentions this week in Tigray of journalists and translators working for local and international media.

As they were released, she highlighted worrying remarks by a member of the government that representatives of the "misleading international media" would be held responsible.

"Victims and witnesses of human rights violations and abuses must not be prevented from sharing their testimony for fear of reprisals," Ms. Bachelet said.

In late November, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed declared an end to the military operation in Tigray with the capture of Mekele, but authorities fleeing the region promised to continue the fight and fighting has been reported since.

Several massacres have also been documented, some attributed by survivors to Eritrean troops in Tigray, whose presence continues to be denied to this day by Addis Ababa and Asmara.

Ethiopian and Eritrean troops responsible for possible "war crimes" in Tigray (UN).

 

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