Nigeria warns against fake COVID vaccines

Nigerian authorities recently announced they hope to vaccinate 40 percent of the population in 2021.

In April last year, black market coronavirus tests flourished in Nigeria [File: AFP]

Nigerian authorities have warned against fake coronavirus vaccines in the country where 10 million real doses of the shots are expected to arrive in March.

“There are reports of fake vaccines in Nigeria,” Director General of Nigeria’s National Agency for Food Drug and Administration Control (NAFDAC) Mojisola Adeyeye said on Friday.

“NAFDAC is pleading with the public to beware. No COVID vaccines have been approved by NAFDAC. Fake vaccines can cause COVID-like illnesses or other serious diseases that could kill.”

Nigeria’s anticipated vaccines add to 100,000 expected doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine although it was not specified which type of jab would be used for the 10 million doses.

It was also unclear whether the batch would be financed by the African Union (AU) or as part of COVAX, which links the World Health Organization (WHO) with private partners to work for pooled procurement and equitable distribution.

Nigerian authorities recently announced they hope to vaccinate 40 percent of the population in 2021.

But the challenges of transporting and storing vaccines for many millions of people are enormous in a country where adequate hospital facilities are lacking.

In April last year, black market coronavirus tests flourished in Nigeria because citizens were reluctant to be subjected to mandatory quarantine.

The most populous nation in Africa, with about 200 million people, Nigeria has officially reported some 104,000 COVID-19 cases, with 1,382 deaths.

But these figures are believed to fall short of the real toll since the number of tests in low.

Cases have risen sharply since the end of November, notably in the economic capital Lagos, a city of about 20 million people. The death rate has also increased.

A variant strain of coronavirus has been discovered in recent months. It was found in two patient samples collected on August 3 and October 9 in Nigeria’s Osun state, according to a working research paper seen by The Associated Press news agency.

 

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RWANDA: Hotel Rwanda 'hero' sues Greek airline for 'aiding kidnap'

Paul Rusesabagina is now in detention facing terrorism charges in Rwanda

 

The man portrayed as a hero in a Hollywood movie about the Rwandan genocide, Hotel Rwanda, says he is suing a Greek charter flight company for aiding his alleged kidnap.

Paul Rusesabagina says that in August he intended to visit Burundi but after he boarded a private flight in Dubai he was instead flown to Rwanda.

He was arrested for leading "terrorist movements", Rwandan officials said at the time.

His lawyers denied the charges.

An ethnic Hutu, Mr Rusesabagina became well known after the 2004 film Hotel Rwanda depicted his efforts a decade earlier during the genocide to save hundreds of Tutsis at a hotel where he was a manager.

He is a fierce critic of President Paul Kagame and is the leader of the opposition MRCD group.

It is said to have an armed wing, the National Liberation Front (FLN), which stages attacks on Rwanda.

He had been living in exile and has Belgian citizenship and a US green card.

But he says he was tricked by a pastor into taking a trip to Burundi for speaking engagements.

Rwanda has charged him with terrorism, financing terrorism, recruiting child soldiers, kidnapping, arson, and forming terror groups.

In September, a Rwandan court heard allegations that the FLN had received help from Zambia's President Edgar Lungu because of his close friendship with Mr Rusesabagina.

His lawyers denied the charges against him and Mr Lungu's spokesman denied the allegation in a BBC interview.

Mr Rusesabagina is currently in prison in Rwanda awaiting trial.

'Bound and gagged'

He has filed a lawsuit in Texas, where he has been living, against the charter company GainJet, alleging the company agreed to facilitate the plane journey because of its close relationship with officials in Rwanda.

"Paul was bound and gagged before the plane landed in Rwanda," said his lawyer Robert Hilliard.

"The pilots have an international responsibility to every single one of the people on the plane. They cannot be complicit with kidnappers and say go ahead and tie him up, go ahead and drug him, go ahead and bind him, go ahead and bind his feet and his hands and we'll get you to Rwanda where you can then pretend he's going to get a fair trial," he added.

A similar case is expected be lodged in Belgium where Mr Rusesabagina holds citizenship, reports the BBC's Africa correspondent Catherine Byaruhanga.

GainJet has not responded to the BBC's requests for comment.

Rwanda's Justice Minister Johnston Busingye has denied that Mr Rusesabagina was kidnapped and insisted he will get a fair trial on 26 January.

What is Hotel Rwanda about?

 

Don Cheadle (L) played Mr Rusesabagina (R) in the film

The 2004 film Hotel Rwanda told the story of how Mr Rusesabagina, a middle-class Hutu married to a Tutsi woman, used his influence - and bribes - to convince military officials to secure a safe escape for an estimated 1,200 people who sought shelter at the Mille Collines Hotel in Kigali.

Don Cheadle played Mr Rusesabagina in the film.

Rwandan genocide survivors' group Ibuka has in the past said that he exaggerated his own role in helping hotel refugees escape the 100-day slaughter.

SOURCE: BBC 

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NIGERIA: More than 300 students still missing after a Nigerian school was raided

The Government Science secondary school in Kankara district was attacked by armed gunmen on Friday.

Parents gather at the school on Sunday following the abductions.

Abuja, Nigeria: Some 337 students are still unaccounted for after gunmen attacked a school in northern Nigeria over the weekend, a government official told CNN on Monday.

Local police said a large number of attackers riding motorbikes ambushed the all-boys Government Science Secondary School in Kankara late Friday, in a possible kidnapping-for-ransom attempt.

The apparent kidnappers are making a demand via a teacher at school, Abdu Labaran, the director general of media for the governor of Nigeria's Katsina state, said Monday.

"The abductors of the Kankara students have contacted a teacher and asked him to tell the government to stop the helicopter surveillance. They have not asked for ransom," said Labaran, who added that the military had deployed in the area to search for the boys.

He said that at least 446 students had been handed over to their parents, but they have been unable to reach scores of families to confirm the safety of students because of bad phone connectivity.

The United Nations strongly condemned the abductions on Sunday, and called for the "immediate and unconditional release" of the children.

There have been varying estimates of the number of children that were kidnapped from the school late on Friday. Government officials said it was difficult to accurately track the numbers as some children ran away during the attack, while others escaped and made their way back to villages and the school over the weekend.

Garba Shehu, a spokesman for Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, told CNN via text message on Monday that some of the students had been interviewed by military officers.

"Some of the returning students debriefed by the military disclosed that ten of their colleagues were taken by the bandits, but this still needs to be verified," he wrote, adding that there could still be others unaccounted for.

"The forests and neighboring villages are being searched and parents are being contacted for information about their children."

A school official told CNN that at least three of his students escaped their abductors and returned to the school on Sunday. He said they had not eaten and that they had bruised and swollen legs from hours of trekking. CNN is not naming the school official to protect his safety.

"They commanded the crowd like a herdsman herd the sheep," Hassan Abdul-Bashir, a 13-year-old student at the school, told CNN on Saturday. He said the gunmen were asking students for money, ransacking their lockers and taking some of their belongings. "They shot the policeman guarding our school. I saw them driving many students."

Several more students were rescued on Monday, according to Labaran.

"Fifteen students were rescued today by military in their search and rescue operations, while the police rescued another person and a third came back to parents' house himself," he said Monday.

Musa Adamu, a senior secondary student at the school, said he and many of his roommates jumped out of the windows when they heard the gunshots on Friday. "We headed to the fence and climbed on it and jumped down," the 18-year-old told CNN. "The gun shots sound got louder, we ran in different directions ... into the forest. Most of us had no shoes on, and we kept running until we got tired and the sound of the gunshots fainted."

Nigerian authorities said the motive for the attack is unclear, but added the area has seen kidnappings for ransom attacks in the past.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged the Nigerian authorities to "bring those responsible for this act to justice."

"The Secretary-General reaffirms the solidarity and support of the United Nations to the government and people of Nigeria in their fight against terrorism, violent extremism and organized crime," his spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, said in a statement Sunday.

 

SOURCE: CNN

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Zuma to stand trial on corruption charges relating to $2.5bn arms deal

He is is accused of taking bribes from French arms manufacturer Thales in the 1990s when he was deputy president.

Former South African president Jacob Zuma will face trial for corruption.

The 77-year-old, who was president from 2009 to 2018, is accused of taking bribes from a French arms manufacturer relating to a $2.5bn (£1.78bn) deal in the 1990s which took place while he was deputy president.

The charges were raised more than a decade ago but were dropped. They were reinstated when the National Prosecuting Authority announced there were sufficient grounds to bring him to trial.

Zuma denies any wrongdoing and had applied for a permanent stay of prosecution from 16 charges of fraud, racketeering and money laundering relating to the deal.

He was forced to step down as leader last year following different corruption allegations.

The former president's legal team argued his court case has been prejudiced by long delays as well as alleging there has been political interference in the decision to bring charges.

Zuma can appeal Friday's ruling and has not made a statement so far.

The trial is expected to start on 15 October.

His successor, President Cyril Ramaphosa, made tackling corruption a key policy.

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Nobel Peace Prize: Has Abiy brought peace to East Africa?

By Reality Check team

What has Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed achieved for him to be awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize?

The Nobel committee said he had been chosen for his role in resolving the border conflict with Eritrea, and promoting peace and reconciliation both in his own country and in the wider East African region.

Mr Abiy's supporters hail his achievements as a triumph, but he does also have strident critics who point to the current situation in his own country, beset by ethnic tensions.

We look at his record.

A huge challenge

In 2018 Mr Abiy inherited a country with unresolved conflict across its northern border, in a region where instability had drastically held back economic development.

Within a few months, he had signed a peace deal with Eritrea.

To achieve this Mr Abiy promised to hand over fiercely contested border territories, in particular the town of Badme, the focus of heavy fighting from 1998-2000, in which tens of thousands had lost their lives.

Mr Abiy has also been praised for bringing important democratic reforms to Ethiopia and for his conflict resolution efforts elsewhere in the region.

But let's start with the outcome of his peace deal with Eritrea.

Has the peace with Eritrea lasted?

At first, border towns opened up and goods and people were able to move relatively freely across the border which had previously remained closed and militarised.

However, following widespread euphoria in the country at reaching an agreement, there have been frustrations about the progress of the peace deal on the ground.

The town of Badme effectively remains under Ethiopian control, as the two governments tease out details of the agreement, and all the borders posts which were initially opened are now shut. Some businesses in the border towns, which initially prospered, are now struggling.

Flights between the two capital cities, Addis Ababa and Asmara, have resumed.

Some Tigrayans, the ethnic group in the north-east region that borders Eritrea, had protested at the opening of the border posts.

The dominant political group in the north-east region, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), was against the process and has terse relations with Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki.

When the peace deal was signed, Mr Isaias was highly critical of the TPLF - his nemesis when the countries were officially at war.

When the Ethiopian government attempted to remove military equipment from the border, it was blocked by residents of Tigray who feared future conflict with their neighbour.

Some analysts also blame the slow progress towards peace on Eritrea's President Isaias.

He has resisted opening up his country, considered to be one of the most oppressive on the continent, so he is not pushed into making reforms at home, his critics say.

Have there been democratic improvements?

When Mr Abiy came to power, he freed thousands of political prisoners, ended a state of emergency and unbanned numerous political parties.

He appointed the country's first female president, gave half the seats in his cabinet to women, and committed the country to full multi-party elections in 2020.

These are all measurable democratic gains, but his critics say his leadership style has relied on a cult of personality, while he has sidelined important government ministries from the decision-making process.

Have Ethiopia's internal ethnic tensions got worse?

Tensions between Ethiopia's numerous ethnic communities have always been a matter of serious contention but the authoritarian state had kept a lid on the issue.

When Mr Abiy came to power in April 2018, he introduced wider political freedoms.

In some areas, this has led to open conflict and led some 2.5 millions people to flee their homes in these unstable regions.

A report by Refugees International in November last year criticised the government for encouraging premature returns to regions not yet safe and for not doing enough to protect civilians.

What is Abiy's role as a regional peace mediator?

In his short time in office, Mr Abiy has also played a significant mediation role in other regional hot spots.

He was instrumental in bringing the military regime in Sudan to the negotiating table with the opposition following widespread protests in Khartoum and elsewhere.

The talk led to the formation of a transitional power-sharing government.

In addition, he has tried to help normalise diplomatic relations between Eritrea and Djibouti after years of political hostility.

Mr Abiy has also sought to mediate between Kenya and Somalia in a protracted conflict over the maritime border between the two countries.

And he has been actively involved in peace talks between South Sudan's President Salva Kiir and the rebel leader Riek Machar.

He facilitated a meeting between the two leaders in June last year in Addis Ababa although a peace deal signed last August has yet to be fully implemented.

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Cargo plane crashes in Congo, killing presidential staff on board

BY RASHEED SOBOWALE

A cargo plane carrying presidential staff crashed in eastern Congo on Thursday, killing all eight passengers and crew, a presidential advisor told Reuters on Friday.

The plane, carrying President Felix Tshisekedi’s driver, a logistics manager and some soldiers, was headed for the capital Kinshasa and went off radar on Thursday afternoon, an hour after departing, a statement from the civil aviation authority said.

It crashed in a forest in Maniema and broke up upon landing.

“There are no survivors. The bodies were all burnt to ashes,” said advisor Vidiye Tshimanga.

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South African government bonds offer refuge to investors in search of income

By David Whitehouse

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa and finance minister Tito Mboweni (AP)

The latest article in our series on income investing in Africa considers the case for South African government bonds.

Previously we have considered Grit Real Estate, Anglo American, Mondi and Aspen. The articles are not presented as investment advice and readers should take professional advice and/or do their own research.

What will it take to end South Africa’s love affair with equities?

At over 200%, the ratio of the Johannesburg stock market’s capitalisation to the country’s GDP is higher than anywhere else in the world.

Meanwhile, the yield on 2-year South African government bonds currently stand at 6.7%, with 8.2% available on 10-year paper.

A switch by South African institutions into bonds would provide support for international investors who face negative bond yields in their domestic markets and who need to find new homes for their money.

Current yields indicate that the market is already pricing South Africa as sub-investment grade, argues Grace Debeila, co-portfolio manager at Mergence Investment Managers in Cape Town. That suggests that the loss of the last remaining investment-grade rating with Moody’s would “confirm their perception rather than change their outlook of sovereign risk in a meaningful way,” she says.

The importance of a downgrade would lie in the exclusion of South Africa’s debt from global indices that track investment grade securities. This could briefly cause a spike upward in yields, but it would also attract buyers of sub-investment grade debt, Debeila says.

Many foreign investors have already bailed out: overseas ownership of South African government debt slumped to 37% at the end of August.

Bottom of Form

Yet as dire as South Africa’s financial situation is, the country is not yet at the point where an IMF bailout is required, Debeila argues.

The risks of a bailout being needed would increase if there were multiple sovereign downgrades deeper into sub-investment grade territory, acceleration of flight of and an inability to borrow at reasonable rates. “For now, these risks remain muted,” she argues.

The country’s central bank has kept its credibility, while the floating exchange rate regime and healthy level of foreign currency reserves help in managing the balance of payments, she says.

Hard currency debt

Crucially, Debeila says, South Africa’s issuance of hard currency debt is a relatively small proportion of overall debt – 10% at the last budget presentation in February. Keeping it low will help to avoid the need for a bailout, she says.

A higher proportion of hard currency debt is initially positive for the central bank’s foreign reserve balance. But in the long run it increases the risk of being unable to manage the country’s balance of payments in a distress scenario.

Updated figures will become clear at the treasury’s medium-term budget policy presentation on October 30. Moody’s is due to give a rating review on South Africa by November 1.

The country also has the advantage of time.

Much of its borrowing has been in the form of long-dated bonds, so there is still scope for gradual management of economic reforms and public finances.

That window won’t last forever: Debeila sees little room left to increase taxes, so it is the expenditure side of the budget that will have to take the strain.

So far, political pressures have prevented these measures being taken, Debeila says.

Debeila also sees a potential red flag is the treasury’s suggestion of increased issuance of shorter-term T-bills rather than long-dated debt.

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Turkish tanks involved in the offensive

Thousands flee, dozens reported killed as Turkey pushes Syria assault

BY TEMISAN AMOYE

Turkey pounded Kurdish militia in northeast Syria for a second day on Thursday, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee and killing dozens, in a cross-border assault on U.S. allies that has turned the Washington establishment against Donald Trump.

The Turkish offensive against the U.S.-allied Syrian Democratic Forces, launched days after Trump pulled U.S. troops out of the way, opens one of the biggest new fronts in years in an eight-year-old civil war that has drawn in global powers.

At least 23 fighters with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and six fighters with a Turkish-backed Syrian rebel group had been killed, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors Syria’s eight-year-old war.

The SDF said Turkey’s airstrikes and shelling had also killed nine civilians. In an apparent attempt by Kurdish-led forces to retaliate, mortar fire from Syria killed three people including a child in the Turkish border town of Akcakale, hospital and security sources said.


The International Rescue Committee said 64,000 people in Syria have fled since the campaign began, the Observatory said. The towns of Ras al-Ain and Darbasiya, some 60 km (37 miles) to the east, have been largely deserted as a result of the attack.

The Observatory said Turkish forces had seized two villages near Ras al-Ain and five near the town of Tel Abyad.

President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan told members of his AK Party in Ankara that 109 militants had been killed so far. Kurds said they were resisting the assault.

According to a senior Turkish security official, the armed forces struck weapons and ammunition depots, gun and sniper positions, tunnels and military bases.

Jets flew operations up to 30 km (18 miles) into Syria. A Reuters journalist saw shells exploding just outside Tel Abyad. “The operation is currently continuing with the involvement of all our units,” Erdogan said in a speech.

Trump, who has faced rare criticism from senior figures in his own Republican Party who accuse him of deserting loyal U.S. allies, said on Twitter he was talking to “both sides”. He warned Ankara it would be hit hard financially if it did not “play by the rules”.

The SDF have been the main allies of U.S. forces on the ground in the battle against Islamic State since 2014. They have been holding thousands of captured IS fighters and tens of thousands of their relatives in detention.

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Demand slumps in Burundi, Rwanda for Kenya’s exports

Kenya Export Promotion and Branding Agency CEO Peter Biwott (left) with Trade PS Chris Kiptoo at a past event. PHOTO | DIANA NGILA | NMG 

Demand for Kenyan products has slumped in Rwanda and Burundi amid competition from China, India and Saudi Arabia, a study by Kenya Export Promotion and Branding Agency (Keproba) shows.

Kenya, which mainly exports iron sheets, steel, oils, perfumes, paints, paper and cigarettes to the two landlocked States, has recorded slow export growth as other players come into their turf.

Rwanda and Burundi officially joined the East African Community trading bloc in 2009 where they are able to trade with Kenyans without tariff and import quota restrictions.

“There is a notable trend in the abandonment of the Kenyan brands in Rwanda and Burundi due to increasing prices, unavailability of products, competition from substitute products and counterfeiting,” says the study released yesterday.

Kenya commands three percent share of the import market in the two countries, valued at about Sh6.5 billion in Burundi and Sh17.8 billion for Rwanda.

“Kenya needs to improve competiveness of its export commodities, better the export penetration strategies to grow its market share vis-à-vis competing countries,” the agency chief executive Peter Biwott told the Business Daily.

The research shows that Burundian household spends mostly on household items such as clothes and footwear (32 percent), cereals (18 percent), meat and groceries (14 percent, oils (10 percent) and cooking energy (five percent).

Similarly, Rwandan households’ budget is dominated by clothes and footwear (up to 34 percent) and food items (cereals, groceries, mea, cooking oil, and dairy) making up to 52 percent of the budget.

“New opportunities for Kenyan exports products should target household items such as clothes, cereals (rice) and groceries,” states the study, adding opportunities also exist to deepen market penetration for confectionery, footwear, toiletries and plastics.

“The survey of consumers in Burundi established that price was the most important driver influencing their purchase decision for most products,” says the agency.

Kenya can compete with local industries in Rwanda, where consumers value quality, to get a share of the 78 percent domestic supply, it said.

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President Buhari allegedly set to marry 2nd Wife

Sources in Aso Rock - Abuja , Nigeria have revealed President Buhari will be getting married in a very quiet ceremony to Sadia Umar Farouq, the current Minister for Humanitarian Affairs Disaster Management tomorrow.

This has confirmed the suspicions of concerned Nigerians over the continued absence of the current First Lady who has been totally incommunicado since her trip to the UK.

According to a source who spoke to PointBlankNews on the condition of anonymity, Ms Farouk is a very close friend of Buhari and the Cabals love her.

She has been the mastermind behind all the delicious meals Buhari and the Cabal members have been eating especially during political gatherings such as rallies and campaigns.

The source also revealed how Buhari enjoys getting massaged by Sadia who is known to be skilled in the art of massage.

This is the reason Aisha Buhari who runs a Cosmetic business, was forced to include massage services i  her business recently to regain the heart of her husband.

When Aisha Buhari discovered President Buhari’s relationship with Sadia Farouq, she kicked heavily against it. She allegedly made confrontations with her husband and pleaded with him to stop.

Unfortunately, her plea fell on deaf ears as an alleged member of the cabal, Mamma Daura who is Buhari’s Uncle told Aisha to accept her fate as Sadia was there to stay.

The pressure to marry Sadia had begun to mount on Buhari when he first won the Presidential Elections in 2015. The alleged Head of the cabal, Mamman Daura had insisted on the idea which was later dropped after several considerations.

Sadia received her first Ministerial nomination then but she was not considered because of her lack of relevant experience. Instead, she was given an appointment as Head of the Refugee Commission.

First Lady Aisha Buhari saw a red flag when she got wind of information that Sadia was being nominated a second time after Buhari won the 2019 Presidential elections.

This led to another confrontation with President Buhari during the Hajj in Mecca. But her confrontation was in vain as President Buhari’s mind was already made up to marry a second wife. This explains why she traveled to London and has remained incommunicado ever since.

According to the PointBlankNews source, the Cabals felt Aisha Buhari could not be trusted, being a native of Adamawa which is not a core Muslim state. Sadia on the other hand is from Zamfara state.

Well-meaning Nigerians have reacted to this news in a series of tweets.

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Boko Haram: 22 health workers killed, 60 health facilities destroyed in Yobe

By Shehu Usman

Dr. Hauwa Larai Goni, Director Public Health at the Yobe State Ministry of Health, has disclosed that a total of 22 health workers lost their lives with 60 health facilities destroyed during the peak of Boko Haram insurgency.

The director made the disclosure at a one day workshop on improving access to healthcare services in post conflicts setting leads to building a resilient health system in Yobe state held on Tuesday in Damaturu.

She added that, over 300 health were also displaced during the period.

“A total of 90 health workers were attacked, 22 were killed, over 300 were displaced while 60 facilities were completely destroyed during the insurgency”, Goni said.

She noted that curfews, ban on motorcycles and GSM services cut-off for 6 months among others hindered access to healthcare delivery in the state.

The Director, however, pointed out that responsive policies, resources flow, developing institutional and individual capacities, livelihood support as well as community coercion were some the resilience and recovery methods adopted in reversing the ugly trend.

The State Deputy Governor, who is also the Chairman of the Task Force on Immunization and Primary Healthcare, Idi Barde Guban, represented by Alhaji Baba Ali, said the activities of the insurgents have resulted in the destruction of 1098 of public buildings and private properties including healthcare facilities in the state.

The workshop has a theme: “improving access to healthcare services in post-conflict setting: a case of Yobe State health system resilience.”

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South Africa demolish 14-man Canada to enter Rugby World Cup last eight

• Cobus Reinach scores hat-trick as Springboks run in 10 tries

• Canada’s Josh Larsen sent off after review for foul play

Video: Rugby World Cup: 10-try South Africa beat Canada 66-7 – video highlights

South Africa secured their place in the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals with a 66-7 victory against 14-man Canada in Kobe.

Canada, who conceded 48 points against Italy and 63 against New Zealand in their opening matches, again found the going tough in Pool B as they shipped 10 tries to the dominant Springboks.

Northampton’s Cobus Reinach helped himself to a hat-trick in the opening 20 minutes while influential fly-half Elton Jantjies kicked his way to 16 points.

Canada, who trailed 47-0 at the break, also had to play more than half the game with a man less after Josh Larsen was sent off for a shoulder charge into the head of Thomas Du Toit.

South Africa made 13 changes for the game but there was no problem with their cohesion as they raced in front with a try after just two minutes.

Damien De Allende, one of only two players retained in the starting lineup, profited from a break by RG Snyman to touch down and within three minutes S’busiso Nikosi went over in the corner for the second.

Reniach claimed his first after nine minutes as he gathered his own kick to cross and grabbed another following more powerful running by Snyman. He then sprinted half the length of the field to claim his third and South Africa scored again when Warrick Gelant weaved his way through the Canucks defence.

Canada’s night got even worse when Larsen was sent off before the break following a foul-play review by the TMO and they were breached again when Frans Steyn crashed over from close range.

The Springboks made a slow start to the second half and Canada registered a consolation when Jeff Hassler drove to the line and Matt Heaton forced his way over.

Normal service was soon resumed, however, as the veteran hooker Schalk Brits claimed a well-worked try and Damian Willemse – only recently drafted into the squad as an injury replacement – went over from a scrum.

Frans Malherbe powered through the defence for South Africa’s 10th try eight minutes from time.

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U.S. Pastor Arrested in Rwanda Has Criticized Government for ‘Heathen Practices’

President Paul Kagame of Rwanda at the United Nations General Assembly in New York last month.CreditCreditDave Sanders for The New York Times

By Carlos Mureithi

   

NAIROBI, Kenya — An American missionary who ran a conservative evangelical church and radio station in Rwanda was arrested in Kigali, the country’s capital, on Monday before he could hold a news conference to denounce the government for clamping down on churches like his.

The Rev. Gregg Schoof is one of several outspoken evangelical pastors who have criticized the Rwandan government for allowing access to abortion and birth control, and for teaching evolution. He was detained for attempting to hold a news conference without permission said Modeste Mbabazi, spokesman for the Rwanda Investigation Bureau.

Mr. Schoof moved his family from Indiana to Rwanda 16 years ago, nearly a decade after the genocide that killed as many as one million people. He established a Baptist church and Amazing Grace Christian Radio. But the government of President Paul Kagame last year revoked his station’s license and shut down his church, and recently refused to renew visas for Mr. Schoof and his family, Mr. Schoof said.

“I did not come here to fight the government. I came to preach the Gospel,” Mr. Schoof said in a statement he brought to what he had billed as a final news conference. “But this government has taken a stand against God with its heathen practices.”

The Rwandan government has been conducting a broad crackdown on the country’s religious institutions, closing thousands of churches and dozens of mosques, often accusing them of failing to comply with building safety standards. Many of the shuttered churches are small Pentecostal groups that meet in tents or flimsy buildings, and some preach a brand of so-called prosperity gospel that encourages worshipers to donate beyond their means.

Pastors who protested the closures have been arrested, and human rights advocates have accused Mr. Kagame of violating religious rights and free expression.

Rwanda’s telecommunications regulator revoked the license of Mr. Schoof’s radio station in 2018 after it had aired a sermon in which a pastor was heard denigrating women, by calling them evil, the regulator said. Rwanda has exerted strong control over the media since the 1994 genocide, which was partly incited by inflammatory radio broadcasts.

Mr. Schoof took the matter to court, but he said that the case has not been heard. In his statement, Mr. Schoof said that the pastor’s sermon about “evil” women had been taken out of context. He said the pastor had been preaching about bad churches — not bad women — and that the local media had parroted the government’s mischaracterization.

On Monday, Mr. Schoof had planned to give a news conference, issuing a news release saying he would “update all about the radio being closed, court cases, and other things.” But the manager of the bar where he planned to speak asked him to show government authorization to hold the meeting, and he didn’t provide it, a police spokesman John Kabera told a local newspaper, The New Times.

Mr. Kabera said in an interview with The New York Times that Mr. Schoof “was arrested for disturbing public order.”

Mr. Schoof could not be reached for comment.

In the statement he was planning to read for the press, Mr. Schoof faulted the government for closing churches and his radio station, arresting pastors, teaching evolution, allowing abortion and distributing condoms to young people.

He wrote, “Is this government trying to send people to hell?”

Until last year, Rwanda imprisoned women accused of having abortions. But a law passed last year allowed abortion in cases of rape, forced marriage, incest, or when the pregnancy posed a health risk to the mother. Earlier this year, Mr. Kagame ordered the release of nearly 400 women and girls who had been jailed for having or aiding in abortions.

Mr. Schoof said he and his family planned to move to Kampala, Uganda, this month. On Monday night, the minister was still in custody, the spokesman for the Rwanda Investigation Bureau said.

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Rwanda launches first 'Made in Africa' smartphones

REUTERS

Photo: @Maraphone/Twitter

Rwanda’s Mara Group launched two smartphones on Monday, describing them as the first “Made in Africa” models and giving a boost to the country’s ambitions to become a regional technology hub.

The Mara X and Mara Z will use Google’s Android operating system and cost 175,750 Rwandan francs ($190) and 120,250 Rwandan francs ($130) respectively.

They will compete with Samsung, whose cheapest smartphone costs 50,000 Rwandan francs ($54), and non-branded phones at 35,000 Rwandan francs ($37). Mara Group CEO Ashish Thakkar said it was targeting customers willing to pay more for quality.

“This is the first smartphone manufacturer in Africa,” Thakkar told Reuters after touring the company alongside Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame.

Video: Kim Kay/African News Agency

Companies assemble smartphones in Egypt, Ethiopia, Algeria and South Africa, but import the components, he said.

“We are actually the first who are doing manufacturing. We are making the motherboards, we are making the sub-boards during the entire process,” he said. “There are over 1,000 pieces per phone.”

Thakkar said the plant had cost $24 million and could make 1,200 phones per day.

Mara Group hopes to profit from the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, a pact aimed at forming a 55-nation trade bloc, to boost sales across Africa, Thakkar said.

Photo: @Maraphone/Twitter

The agreement is due to begin trading in July next year, aiming to unite 1.3 billion people and create a $3.4 trillion economic bloc. But it is still in the very early stages and no timelines have been agreed for abolishing tariffs.

Kagame said he hoped the phone would increase Rwanda’s smartphone usage, currently at around 15%.

“Rwandans are already using smartphones but we want to enable many more. The introduction of Mara phones will put smartphones ownership within reach of more Rwandans,” Kagame said.

                

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Eight killed, 18 wounded in attack near Rwanda's tourist hub

Attack occurred in Musanze district, a popular area for tourists visiting Volcanoes Park to view mountain gorillas.

Unidentified attackers have killed at least eight people and wounded 18 others during an overnight attack in northern Rwanda near the border with Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to police.

The attack took place on Friday in Musanze district's Kinigi sector which attracts tourists because of its Volcanoes National Park and its mountain gorillas, an endangered species.

"Those criminals killed eight people, including six who were killed using traditional weapons and two who were shot dead," John Bosco Kabera, police spokesman, said in a statement on Saturday.

"Eighteen people were injured and are being attended by doctors," he added, noting that the search for the attackers was under way.


Police did not say whether any tourists were among those killed. However, the hotels in the area are heavily guarded by the military and are unlikely to have been attacked.

It was not clear who the attackers were or where they came from but Rwanda has in the past seen incursions by fighters from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) armed group from their bases in eastern DRC.

The FDLR is composed of former Rwandan soldiers and Hutu rebels who fled after taking part in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

Over the years, various groups opposed to Rwanda have found sanctuary in DRC's eastern jungles from where they have occasionally launched attacks on the country.

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Xenophobic attacks in South Africa embarrassed continent: Nigeria's Buhari

Daniel Mumbere

  

An embarrassment for the continent

Nigeria’s president Muhammadu Buhari said on Friday that a wave of deadly violence against Nigerians and other foreign nationals in South Africa last month was an embarrassment to the continent.

In September, rioting and attacks on foreigners led to at least 10 deaths, dozens of injuries and hundreds of arrests, triggering anger at home and abroad.

“The recent acts of xenophobic attacks on our compatriots and other Africans in South Africa are shocking to me, Nigerians and indeed Africa. It was an embarrassment to the continent,” Buhari told a town hall meeting with Nigerians living in South Africa, according to details of his speech on the Nigeria presidency Twitter page.

As the government of South Africa, we have expressed our deep regret at the attacks directed at foreign nationals.

“As a government, we are quite disturbed by these very unfortunate events and have taken actions and measures to address this issue and prevent their reoccurrence with the South African government,” he added.

Following the attacks, Buhari ordered the immediate voluntary evacuation of all Nigerians wanting to return home and around 600 people were repatriated.

Buhari met South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday. They both regretted the violence and subsequent retaliation in Nigeria against South African businesses, pledging instead to deepen trade ties.

Buhari called for peace at the town hall meeting.

“The authorities have expressed their apologies over the incidents and have resolved to take necessary steps to end this ugly trend in the interest of our relationship,” he said.

“Let us therefore give peace a chance and pray we have seen the last of this ugly violence.”

Recalling the xenophobic fallout

In September, mobs armed with makeshift weapons attacked businesses and homes owned by foreigners, leading to at least 10 deaths, dozens of injuries and up to 400 arrests.

In response Nigeria repatriated around 600 of its citizens living in South Africa.

The local units of South African telecoms company MTN and supermarket chain Shoprite closed all stores and service centres in Nigeria after their premises were attacked by Nigerians protesting against attacks on their compatriots in South Africa.

#PMBinSA significant for a number of reasons:

- 2019 marks 20 years since establishment of SA-Nig BNC

- First State Visit to SA since new administration kicked off in May

- First Meeting of the “elevated” BNC (first time ever both Heads of State are co-chairing the BNC) pic.twitter.com/dpej9Mi9Vh

— tolu ogunlesi (@toluogunlesi) October 3, 2019

South Africa, Nigeria trade deals

South Africa and Nigeria signed 32 bilateral agreements and memoranda of understanding covering trade and industry, science and technology, defence, agriculture and energy.

One of key items on Nigerian Agenda here is the push for large® Nigerian companies to have more opportunities to invest/establish in South Africa. At the moment the reality is of an imbalance: while SA Cos in Nigeria are large Corporations, Nigerian Cos in SA tend to be SMEs.

— tolu ogunlesi (@toluogunlesi) October 3, 2019

Nigeria accounts for 64 percent of South Africa’s total trade with the West African Region and is one of its largest trading partners on the continent.

Buhari, Ramaphosa address xenophobia

Presidents Cyril Ramaphosa and Muhammadu Buhari, at the conclusion of a two-day visit by the Nigerian leader, said they regretted the violence and subsequent retaliation in Nigeria against South African businesses, pledging instead to deepen trade ties.

“As the government of South Africa, we have expressed our deep regret at the attacks directed at foreign nationals and our condemnation of all forms of intolerance and acts of violence,” Ramaphosa told journalists.

Buhari said beyond the economic partnership the anti-foreigner violence had to be addressed quickly.

“We decided to take concrete measures to prevent the recurrence of such unacceptable incidents in the future,” Buhari said.

Both countries have agreed to establish an Early Warning System / Mechanism to ensure that future potential outbreaks of violence are nipped in the bud before they degenerate. Identify tensions as soon as they emerge, alert each other, take steps to de-escalate. #PMBinSA pic.twitter.com/uh7rKWpPpV

— tolu ogunlesi (@toluogunlesi) October 3, 2019

Buhari leaves for South Africa

Nigeria’s president Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday travelled to South Africa, to resolve the issue of the welfare of Nigerians.

In a statement posted by the Nigerian presidency on Tuesday, it was announced that Buhari would meet Nigerians living in South Africa, preside over the South Africa-Nigeria bi-National Commission and participate at a South Africa-Nigeria Business Forum.

Buhari’s visit follows a spate of xenophobic attacks in South Africans cities that targeted foreign nationals including Nigerians.

Both governments sent special envoys to manage the diplomatic fallouts from the attacks, even as Nigeria’s government organised evacuations of its nationals that were no longer at ease in South Africa.

‘‘Buhari will hold a town hall meeting with Nigerians living in the country, with a view to sharing in their experiences and reassuring them of Nigerian government’s commitment to working for the protection of their lives and property and promoting peaceful co-existence,’‘ read part of the statement.

The violence in South Africa had stoked concerns about relations between Africa’s two biggest economies.

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Thwarted by Rwanda-Uganda border closures, women await resolution

Goods traders have sued the Kampala and Kigali governments over shuttered crossings that are harming their livelihoods.

by Alice McCool

Olivia Tumwebaze (left), one of hundreds of Ugandan traders struggling with the closure of the Uganda-Rwanda border, borrowed $3,800 to grow potatoes to sell in Rwanda - and is now unable to pay that money back [Alice McCool/Al Jazeera]

Katuna-Gatuna Border Post, Uganda/Rwanda - "We are blood sisters and brothers. We want to talk to them," business owner Miria Akankwasa said as she sat in her house in Kabale town in Western Uganda, an area surrounded by thick forests and mountains blanketed in mist. "Let them open the border so people are free to move."

Akankwasa owns a small wholesale shop in the border town of Katuna, a 30-minute drive from her home. Like thousands of others whose livelihoods hinge on the free flow of goods, services and people across the Uganda-Rwanda border, Akankwasa arrived at her shop on February 27 to discover that the local border crossing had been closed.

"I didn't know what closing the border meant," she said. "Rwanda said we cannot take goods or services there, and no Rwandans should come here."

The financial pain inflicted by the closure has only intensified since February. And Akankwasa not alone. Hundreds of women are caught in the crossfire of a dispute between Uganda and Rwanda that is compromising tens of millions of dollars in trade and has even triggered a lawsuit on behalf of women like Akankwasa, who are demanding that both governments reopen the border.

Penlope Kyasiimire, who used to work as a clearing agent, saw her office close when the border did, and now stays at home with her three children [Alice McCool/Al Jazeera]

Ongoing diplomatic row

Uganda and Rwanda are embroiled in an ongoing diplomatic row that has seen both countries' presidents accuse each other of espionage, political killings and attacking trade.

Hopes for improved relations were raised on August 21, when Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and his Rwandan counterpart, President Paul Kagame, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) aimed at ending months of tensions. 

September brought more progress after Uganda released 32 incarcerated Rwandans. But relief is still pending for cross-border traders, with the issue of free movement across the border not scheduled to be discussed between the two countries until at least mid-October.

There is a lot at stake for Uganda. According to the country's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, Uganda exported nearly a $250m worth of goods and services to Rwanda in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2018 - only to see exports fall to just shy of $174m during the following fiscal year, which included four months of border closures.

Both Uganda and Rwanda have said the borders are not closed. But two heavily trafficked crossings at Katuna and Cyanika have not been open since February, according to the nonprofit Eastern African Sub-regional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women (EASSI).

Affiliated border crossings in Buhita and Kamwezi have also been impacted by the closures.

When the Katuna border was shut, trucks were diverted to the still-open Mirama Hills-Kagitumba crossing, according to Ugandan Minister of Foreign Affairs Sam Kutesa.

Trucks with goods in transit to Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are allowed to cross into Rwanda, according to a May statement by Uganda's foreign ministry. Ugandan citizens can also cross, as long as they are not trading or carrying commercial goods.

"To the small traders we are working with, all the three borders are literally closed off for business," Sheila Kawamara-Mishambi, the executive director of EASSI, told Al Jazeera.

In June, three civil society organisations including EASSI filed a lawsuit on behalf of women traders against the Rwandan and Ugandan governments, alleging that the closures infringe on multiple provisions in the 1999 Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community - including violating the economic rights of women to engage in trade.

The lawsuit demands that both countries reopen the border immediately and compensate women traders for losses stemming from the closures.

When asked to comment on the case, Olivier Nduhungirehe, Rwanda’s minister of state for foreign affairs, told Al Jazeera that "this is an issue for the court".

Uganda's Ministry of Foreign Affairs referred Al Jazeera to the MOU.

Akankwasa, who chairs a 200-member strong women traders' cooperative that is represented in the suit, said that its members have suffered a dramatic loss of income due to the border closures, and as a result, many cannot pay back some 14 million Ugandan shillings (about $3,800) in business loans issued by the cooperative.

I spend sleepless nights thinking of the loans, and I get dizzy spells.

OLIVIA TUMWEBAZE, UGANDAN CROSS-BORDER TRADER

An overnight change

For generations, people living in communities around the border have crossed it by foot to conduct business, visit family members and access hospitals and schools.

"They are the same people, divided by a line that was drawn by the colonialists," Kawamara-Mishambi said. "Communities on the ground don't see these borders as dividing lines."

For Akankwasa, the divide thrown up by the border closure has destroyed business relationships she had built up over years. 

She told Al Jazeera she had given mattresses to some of her Rwandan retail clients on credit with a verbal agreement that the clients would pay her back after the mattresses had been sold, just as they have always done. 

"I called and they said, 'We don't have any way to pass the border.' Now, some of them don't pick up their phones," she said.

Akankwasa estimates she has lost about nine million Ugandan shillings (nearly $2,500) on the mattresses alone.

No longer able to afford petrol, she journeys by motorbike taxi and then public taxi to her shop in Katuna every day.

Inside Akankwasa's shop, cardboard boxes full of expired juice cartons line the walls. Outside, shuttered businesses are padlocked, the doors caked in dust and cobwebs.

When she spoke with Al Jazeera in August, Akankwasa tied on a pink apron and sat in a plastic chair outside her store, waiting to serve customers in case any happened to stop by.

"This used to be a busy place," she said. "We used to have Katuna international market, where Rwandans and Ugandans would meet."

That market has not been held in six months, she said.

Olivia Tumwebaze is another trader struggling with the border closure. She borrowed $3,800 to grow potatoes to sell in Rwanda - loans she is now unable to pay back.

Selling her potatoes in Kabale, a 30-minute drive away, will not make up her losses, either. The market for potatoes on the Ugandan side of the border has become so saturated that they now sell for around half of what they used to.

"I spend sleepless nights thinking of the loans, and I get dizzy spells," Tumwebaze told Al Jazeera.

Stuck and fearing for their safety

Women make up over half of the business people in Katuna, according to EASSI. Many are the primary breadwinners for their families.

The businesswomen in Katuna with whom Al Jazeera spoke said that other traders have either moved to the Mirama Hills border crossing, which has remained open, or back to their home villages.

But many women in Katuna are tied to the area for personal and financial reasons.

Penlope Kyasiimire once worked as a clearing agent in Katuna, processing paperwork for exports. Her office shut when the border did.

"Now I just stay at home with my three kids. They are young, so it's hard for me to move," she told Al Jazeera.

Ongoing tensions between Uganda and Rwanda have also led to an increased military presence along the border, the EASSI report noted, introducing yet another layer of uncertainty and fear.

"I worry a lot about safety," said Kyasiimire. "Some of us have even packed some things so that if you hear something, you just rush. We keep alert."

In March, a pregnant woman from Rwanda reportedly collapsed and died at a border crossing with Uganda. Press accounts allege she was being chased by border security. In May, Rwandan security forces reportedly shot two men dead at the border in circumstances that were disputed.

"People are very scared," EASSI's Kawamara-Mishambi said. "They think 'If someone says their citizens cannot come to our country, what will they do to us when we go there?'"

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