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As political tensions and uncertainty continue to rise in Chad, Ruth Lago spoke with Attorney Max Loalngar to get more insight into the situation.
\t On Friday, internet and international calls were cut off across the West African nation in anticipation of the election results, according to locals and international observers in the capital, Conakry.
\t This was the third time that Conde matched-up against Diallo. Before the election, observers raised concerns that an electoral dispute could reignite ethnic tensions between Guinea's largest ethnic groups.
Khartoum — Sudan's Attorney General, Tajelsir El Hibir says that the remaining International Criminal Court (ICC) suspects might not necessarily stand trial in The Hague, because of \"sovereignty and other legal issues\".
On Monday, Radio Dabanga reported that former Darfur janjaweed leader Ali Abdelrahman (aka Kushayb*), made his first appearance before International Criminal Court (ICC) Judge Rosario Salvatore Aitala in The Hague to hear charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Arrest warrants
In 2007, the ICC issued arrest warrants against former Minister for Humanitarian Affairs, Ahmed Haroun, and former janjaweed leader Ali Kushayb for numerous counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The court issued a first arrest warrant against Omar Al Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in 2009.
In 2011, the ICC confirmed the charges of war crimes brought by the court's prosecutor against Abdallah Banda, former leader of the Justice and Equality rebel movement, and committed him to trial.
The leaders, 27 of them, said in an open letter that some countries were using health emergency laws to arbitrarily postpone elections.
They said such countries abandoned \"appropriate political channels as stipulated by their constitutions and international standards\" and did not have a \"consensual process for fixing a new date\" for elections.
The letter, however, admitted the challenges faced by countries that are due to hold elections - challenges such as how to hold campaign rallies, voter registration, face-to-face debate, and election-day gatherings.
It suggested some key principles that could guide the electoral processes in countries due to hold elections during the pandemic:
A firm grounding in the law.
In protecting the health and safety of our citizens, we must also be sure that protection measures safeguard the integrity of elections and the legitimacy of democratic political systems,\" the letter said.
Union shared a beach photo of herself, her daughter, and a mystery woman spending quality time together, which had fans noticing Kaavia’s big character.
Fans raved over baby Kaavia’s facial expression as she was motioning ahead of the two women, and Union’s caption also was a winner with IG users.
While most fans noticed Kaavia’s face of determination, some fans were left mulling over whether Union has a doppelgänger.
As it turns out, the other woman in the background is Union’s sister, Tracy Union.
The two ladies have similar hairstyles and facial features, leading at least one fan to proclaim that Union and Tracy are twins.
The Nelson Mandela-founded global peace and human rights non-profit organization, The Elders has also joined the call for a swift electoral declaration based on the national recount results.
The article Nelson Mandela-founded group calls for swift declaration based on recount results appeared first on Stabroek News.
The U.S. criticized Tanzania’s arrest of eight opposition leaders during their party meeting on Wednesday, saying the action stifles democratic norms.
ACT-Wazalendo party leader Zitto Kabwe and other members were taken by authorities, citing alleged illegal assembly.“The police detained us for more than 30 hours,” Zitto told reporters, adding it was politically motivated.
Political tensions are rising in Tanzania ahead of the October general elections in which President John Magufuli plans to seek re-election.
The government also closed the Tanzania Daima newspaper following coverage critical of Magufuli’s administration.
“These actions follow a disconcerting pattern of intimidation toward opposition members, civil society and media outlets,” the U.S. Embassy in Tanzania said in a statement on its Twitter account.
Kilwa District Commissioner Christopher Ngubiagai couldn’t immediately comment on the allegations of politically-motivated arrests when contacted on Thursday. Magufuli has denied in the past he is cracking down on dissent.
Agencies
Anti-government demonstrations gripped several countries in the Middle East in early 2011, and protests in Libya followed those in Egypt, Tunisia, and Bahrain. The crackdown by the government in Libya, however, was the most vicious. The protesters took to the streets on Feb. 16 in Benghazi, the countrys second-largest city, demanding that Qaddafi step down. The next day, declared the Day of Rage, saw the number of demonstrations burgeon throughout the country. Security forces began firing on protesters, and by Feb. 20 Human Rights Watch estimated that as many as 200 people had been killed by troops. Several government officials and diplomats defected, and members of the military joined the ranks of the opposition as the government attacks on civilians grew increasingly brutal. Some reports had fatalities numbering near 1,000 or more. Qaddafi refused to resign, but offered to double the salaries of public workers and freed some Islamic militants from jail. Protesters dismissed the move as a hollow gesture and continued their actions throughout the country. Qaddafi enlisted the help of mercenaries as the number of defections by troops swelled. He cast blame for the uprising on the West, which he claimed wants to assume control of Libyas oil, and Islamic radicals who want to expand their base.
On Feb. 27, the UN Security Council voted to impose sanctions on Qaddafi and several of his close advisers. The sanctions included an arms embargo on Libya, a travel ban on Qaddafi and other leaders, and the freezing of Qaddafis assets. The Security Council also requested that the International Criminal Court investigate reports of widespread and systemic attacks on citizens. The UN sanctions followed unilateral action by the U.S., and the European Union also sanctioned Libya. By Feb. 28, rebels had taken control of Benghazi and Misurata and were closing in on Tripoli. The rebels organized a military and formed an executive committee, the Transitional National Council, illustrating that they could establish a
Mali held a state funeral on Tuesday for former president Amadou Toumani Toure, an emblematic figure who steered the troubled nation to free elections and led it for a decade before being ousted in a coup.
Toure, sometimes called Mali's \"soldier of democracy,\" died on November 10 at the age of 72 after he had been transferred to Turkey for medical care following heart surgery.
A coffin draped in the national flag and borne by six soldiers was slowly carried into the centre of a square in the capital Mali for ceremonies attended by the leaders of the country's latest putsch and by foreign dignitaries.
\"A great man has fallen,\" the master of ceremonies declared.
\"It is an incalculable loss for Mali. He came bringing the breath of life, he leaves with the wind of hope.\"
Those in the VIP stand included Bah Ndaw, a former military officer who is currently president of Mali's transitional government, and the vice president, Assimi Goita, who led the August 18 coup.
Niger and Guinea-Bissau were represented by their prime ministers, and other countries in the region sent their envoys.
Ceremonies were to conclude with a parade by troops and aircraft, according to the programme.
Toure, a former soldier, first took charge of the country for a year in 1991.
He helped overthrow the iron-fisted regime of Moussa Traore, who had been in power since 1968.
He then took the helm of a transitional committee, exercising the duties of head of state and steering the country to elections.
These were won in 1992 by Alpha Oumar Konare -- the first democratically-chosen president in Mali's post-independence history.
Popularly known by his initials as ATT, Toure won presidential elections in 2002 and again in 2007.
His presidency was abruptly curtailed in 2012 by rebel troops who accused Toure of failing to support their battle against Tuareg and jihadist insurgents in the north of the country.
Toure fled to Senegal, only returning from exile in 2017.
The chaos that followed his downfall wrecked Mali's poorly-equipped and demoralised army.
The jihadists swiftly overran the north of the country before being forced out in 2013 by French intervention.
They regrouped and advanced into central Mali, a flashpoint region where they ignited ethnic conflict, and then headed into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.
Thousands have died and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes.
[The Conversation Africa] Ethiopia's government, under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, is carrying out a military offensive in Tigray, Ethiopia's most northern state. A six month state of emergency has been declared in the region. Dozens of casualties have been reported amid fears that nine million people are at risk of being displaced.
A cabinet meeting held Tuesday, June 16, chaired by President Paul Kagame named Marie-Claire Mukasine as the new Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission.
Mukasine replaces Madeleine Nirere, who last month completed her two four-year terms at the helm of the rights body.
Nirere had handed over to her former vice chairperson,Silas Sinyigaya on May 8, after completing her final term.
Mukasine has previously served in different capacities, including in the Senate and as a permanent secretary in the Ministry of Infrastructure.
Mukasine has also served in civil society, including in a women and children rights promotion body Haguruka, which she headed between 1994 and 1996.
There was nothing we didn't love about Mills and Johanne Thenor's vow renewal ceremony. The style, cake, and family photos were impeccable. But most impressive was their determination to reaffirm […]
The post Bridal Bliss: Mills And Johanne's Vow Renewal appeared first on Essence.
I am aware that as I write, the biggest hurdle still stands before us – getting to and getting past the eventual Declaration that the PPP/C won our March 02, 2020 elections; that for the next five years the PPP/C will be sitting in the seat of our Government, still-young Irfaan Ali our President and Retired Brigadier Mark Phillips our Prime Minister.
Hanging before us all Guyanese, and particularly the leading members and supporters of our outgoing Coalition Govern-ment, is the question of what further dangerous, destructive detours would they take our people and country through.
Recall also the various thrusts of varying forcefulness to have Mr. Granger sworn in at dawn, as our returning President on the basis of those openly blatant and outrageously fictitious Mingo declarations; the assertions and denials about the “Guyana Dossier” submitted to the USA Government – was it submitted by the Government of Guyana or the APNU+AFC parties in coalition?
We of the PPP and PPP/C and indeed all Guyanese should be forever grateful to the persistent insistence of the Ambassadors of the Western Countries and their Central Governments, former PM Owen Arthur (of Barbados) heading the Common-wealth observers, former PM Bruce Golding (of Jamaica) heading the OAS team, PM Mia Mottley (of Barbados) current Chair of Caricom and a most concerned close neighbour, PM Keith Rowley of Trinidad and Tobago that the Guyanese people and country have so far been spared the travesty of a Mingo declaration.
Acknowledging that I came to the political stage of our country relatively recently (mid 1990) and through a side door opened by Dr. Jagan, the PPP and the PPP/C, and aware that I have no office nor authority to speak for any other but myself, nonetheless I will say for Dr. Jagan, the PPP and the PPP/C, that we will always work our hardest so as to earn the votes of approval of all our citizens, at every elections, regardless of their race, colour, class or creed or region of Guyana.
The law under Section 17(2) of PFMA provides that, \"a vote that does not expend money that was appropriated to the vote for the financial year shall, at the close of the financial year, repay the money to the Consolidated Fund.\"
Usually around this time, many government agencies and ministries are involved in the last minute commitments and signing of contracts to reduce the amount of unutilised funds because \"every appropriation by Parliament shall expire and cease to have any effect at the close of the financial year for which it is made,\" reads 17(1) of PFMA.
Once in the Consolidated Fund, the money forms part of the government's cash resources directed to funding programs and activities in a new financial year.
Meanwhile, for local governments, those that fail to utilise at least 60 per cent of their unconditional or equalisation grants within a financial year are given up to July 31 \"of the following year to explain in writing to the minister, the reason for failure to utilise the grants.\"
Mr Mugunga emphasised that under the existing legal framework, all spending agencies are supposed to meet their spending targets for both wages and capital investments before the end of the financial year, lest they lose all their unspent balances.
Ugandas 18-year-long battle against the brutal Lords Resistance Army (LRA), an extremist rebel group based in Sudan, showed signs of abating in Aug. 2006, when the rebels agreed to declare a truce. Between 8,000 and 10,000 children have been abducted by the LRA to form the army of prophet Joseph Kony, whose aim was to take over Uganda and run it according to his vision of Christianity. The boys are turned into soldiers and the girls into sex slaves. Up to 1.5 million people in northern Uganda have been displaced because of the fighting and the fear that their children will be abducted. Kony and three other LRA leaders have been indicted on charges of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court. The LRA and the government signed a permanent cease-fire in February 2008. Kony failed to show up to sign the landmark agreement several times in 2008, dashing hopes for formalized peace. The rebels, however, sought a cease-fire in January 2009, after the armies of Uganda, Southern Sudan, and Congo attacked their bases.
Parliament introduced the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in November 2009. The legislation would implement the death penalty on gay individuals. The proposed bill met fierce condemnation from the European Union and the United States. Parliament did not act on the bill, and it became increasingly unpopular following the January 2011 murder of Ugandan gay-rights activist David Kato. In May, the government shelved the bill.
In July 2010, about 75 people watching the final game of the World Cup in a Kampala restaurant were killed in an explosion. The Somali militant Islamist group Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the bombing, saying the attack was aimed at discouraging countries from supporting the transitional government in Somalia. Al-Shabab has been battling Somalias weak, Western-backed government for power for several years. Uganda contributes troops to an African Union force that has been propping up the government in Somalia.
Allow me to quote from the letter he sent last week to all UN staff: \"The position of the United Nations on racism is crystal clear: this scourge violates the United Nations Charter and debases our core values.\"
The Human Rights Council meets as marches for racial justice and equality fill the streets of cities and towns around the world.
I have even become numb, to the extent that one has forgotten how to feel the injustice of racial slurs and my human right to live a life of dignity and respect.
Let us turn the page of history today by making this a turning point when we agree that all humans have the right to thrive with dignity and freedom from racism and discrimination in all its forms.
The United Nations, its leadership and staff, stands with all those who are pursuing the end of the scourge of racism in all its forms.
Demanding reparation for the more than 300 years of slavery in the Caribbean, Sir Hilary Beckles, vice chancellor of The University of the West Indies (UWI), charged that colonialism has left a legacy of diabetes and hypertension that continues to...
Governments must attach strings as they pledge billions to pay for vaccines in developing countries
Geneva, 2 June 2020—Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) urged leaders to demand pharmaceutical corporations commit to selling any potential future COVID-19 vaccines at cost, as Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, prepares to launch a global mechanism to negotiate with corporations on such vaccines, and appeals to governments to set up a fund to purchase them for developing countries.
“Governments and Gavi need to demand that pharmaceutical corporations open the books so we can see how much potential COVID-19 vaccines will actually cost to produce,” said Kate Elder, Senior Vaccines Policy Advisor for MSF’s Access Campaign.
The COVID-19 vaccines fund that is being mapped out by Gavi aims to raise billions to pay for increased production capacity for future vaccines, and to secure a price, but there is no guarantee whatsoever that pharmaceutical corporations will charge affordable prices.
A fund that was designed by Gavi, the Gates Foundation, the World Bank and others in 2009 to pay for pneumonia vaccines suffered from pharmaceutical companies demanding a relatively high price for the vaccine, leaving developing country governments who have had to take over paying for the vaccine long term with unaffordable prices.
Read more about MSF’s analysis of the global mechanism for potential future COVID-19 vaccines, including MSF’s past experience with Gavi’s pneumonia vaccine Advance Market Commitment.
There are of course huge differences between US states and African countries, but consider for a moment that the US has one international border.
Though the US may be rich, it lacks many of the social protections found in the developed world
In Africa, if Zimbabwe and Mozambique experience severe outbreaks, it will almost certainly spill over into neighbouring countries like South Africa and Tanzania, and vice versa.
Africa needs regionally coordinated strategies that are responsive to the needs of individual states
Africa has many vulnerable populations - poverty, hunger and conflict put millions of Africans at risk - and a huge informal sector that won't be easy to protect from the negative economic impacts of lockdowns.
COVID-19 is a fake news bonanza in the US; Africa must be ready for attempts to exploit the uncertainty
The pandemic is also stimulating structural drivers of instability that increase the potential for violence, crime and political unrest.
COVID-19 is a fake news bonanza in the US, and Africa needs to be ready for attempts to benefit from the uncertainty by pushing false narratives.
The Burundi Constitutional Court ruled late Friday that the country does not need an interim president as stipulated by Article 121, saying the country already has a president-elect.
The Court president Charles Ndagijimana said that since the president-elect is competent and the position of president is vacant, Evariste Ndayishimiye should be sworn in as soon as possible so that he can assume office in line with the country's constitution.
Burundi's 2018 Constitution, Article 121, states that; \"In case of vacancy caused by resigning, death or any other cause by the president then the Speaker of the National Assembly takes over in the interim until a new president is elected.\"
Burundi government announced a one week mourning of the death of the country's outgoing President Nkurunziza, all sorts of karaoke and music other than religious ones were banned country wide in bars and restaurants and other public places.
The Hague — The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, has hailed the surrender and transfer of former Darfur janjaweed leader Ali Kushayb, indicted by the court for crimes against humanity, as \"a milestone in the Darfur, Sudan situation\".
'The victims in the Darfur situation deserve to finally have their day in court'
\"Kushayb's surrender and transfer, almost two decades after his alleged crimes, is a powerful and sombre reminder that the victims of atrocity crimes in the Darfur region of Sudan have waited too long to see justice done.
Tangible justice
In her statement, Bensouda reiterates her call on Sudan's authorities \"to ensure tangible justice for the victims in Darfur without undue delay,\" underlining that \"all the five remaining arrest warrants in the Darfur situation, against Omar Al Bashir, Abdel Raheem Hussein, Ahmad Harun, and Abdallah Banda, remain in force.
'Ending impunity for atrocity crimes is also essential to achieve durable peace and security in Darfur'
\"Alternatively, under the Rome Statute, Sudan can demonstrate to the Judges of the Court that it is genuinely investigating and prosecuting the four remaining suspects for substantially the same criminal conduct alleged in their respective ICC arrest warrants.\"
On February 11 this year, government negotiators and the Sudan Revolutionary Front rebel alliance agreed during peace talks on the Darfur track in the South Sudan capital of Juba, to hand Al Bashir and the other ICC indictees to the court in The Hague.
WITH MORE intense hurricanes and climate extremes, mass sargassum influxes and the ongoing challenge of COVID-19, building resilience is a priority for Caribbean small island developing states. A new report, titled Rising to the climate challenge...
While Lesotho outgoing Prime Minister, Tom Thabane still ponders when exactly to vacate office, it will be imperative for incoming leader of the Mountain Kingdom, Prime Minister-designate Dr Moeketsi Majoro to prepare for office in earnest.
Against this fleeting background, it will be incumbent upon Dr Majoro to consider the following six action points as his immediate priorities in order to save the US$2.73 billion landlocked economy:
With at least one positive case of coronavirus having been confirmed, Lesotho may not afford to rely on South Africa to test cases for far too long.
Besides political sectarianism in government departments, the morale among Basotho public servants is very low, and it is understandable.
The new Prime Minister should now ensure that the security cluster is permanently kept out of politics and into the service of protecting Basotho.
Re-arrange foreign missions and explore more into Basotho in the diaspora
Lack of diplomatic presence in South America and the Oceania means Lesotho has no direct representation in a market of almost half a billion people.
The Special Investigating Unit says fraudulent and corrupt tendencies have been creeping in, with the intention to illegally benefit from the R500 billion social relief and containment fund allocated to ease the impact of Covid-19.
Dennis Brutus , in full Dennis Vincent Brutus (born November 28, 1924, Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia [now Harare, Zimbabwe]—died December 26, 2009, Cape Town, South Africa), poet whose works centre on his sufferings and those of his fellow blacks in South Africa.
For 14 years Brutus taught English and Afrikaans in South Africa. As the white minority government increased restrictions on the black population, he became involved in a series of antiapartheid-related activities, including efforts to end discrimination in sports. The government subsequently banned him from teaching, writing, publishing, attending social or political meetings, and pursuing his studies in law at the University of the Witwatersrand. In 1963 his refusal to abide by the ban resulted in an 18-month prison term. His campaigns eventually led to South Africa’s suspension from the 1964 Olympic Games. Due in part to Brutus’s continued pressure on the International Olympic Committee, South Africa was later officially expelled from the Olympics and did not compete again until 1992.
After leaving South Africa in 1966 with a Rhodesian passport, Brutus made his home in England and then taught at the University of Denver (Colorado, U.S.). In 1971 he became professor of African literature at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. In 1983, after engaging in a protracted legal struggle, he won the right to stay in the United States as a political refugee. Brutus accepted a position teaching African literature at the University of Pittsburgh in 1986. After his retirement from that position in 1999, he continued to lecture and write prolifically, often lending his talents to the various social causes championed by the Centre for Civil Society at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.
Brutus’s first collection of poetry, Sirens, Knuckles and Boots (1963), was published in Nigeria while he was in prison. His verse, while political in nature, is highly developed and restrained: “. . . all our land is scarred with terror / rendered unlovely
Daniel arap Moi , in full Daniel Toroitich arap Moi (born 1924, Sacho, Kenya Colony [now Kenya]), Kenyan politician, who held the office of president (1978–2002).
Moi was educated at mission and government schools. He became a teacher at age 21 and in the early 1960s, as Kenya began to move toward independence (1963), was appointed minister of education in the transitional government. Although he had originally been cofounder and chairman of the Kenya African Democratic Union, a party composed of minority peoples, he joined the Kikuyu-dominated Kenya African National Union (KANU) in 1964. That same year Moi was appointed minister of home affairs.
Named vice president in 1967, Moi became president in 1978 following the death of Jomo Kenyatta. He quickly consolidated his power, banning opposition parties and promoting his Kalenjin countrymen to positions of authority at the expense of the Kikuyu. He also curried favour with the army, which proved loyal to him in suppressing a coup attempt in 1982. His continuation of Kenyatta’s pro-Western policies ensured significant sums of development aid during the Cold War (1947–91), and under Moi’s stewardship Kenya emerged as one of the most prosperous African nations.
In the early 1990s, however, Western countries began to demand political and economic reforms, leading Moi to legalize opposition parties in 1991. The following year he won the country’s first multiparty elections amid charges of electoral fraud. Riots and demonstrations marred the 1997 elections, and hundreds of Kenyans, mainly Kikuyu, were killed. Easily elected to his fifth term as president, Moi promised to end government corruption and implement democratic and economic reforms. In an effort to combat corruption, in 1999 he appointed Richard Leakey, the popular and respected anthropologist, the head of the civil service and permanent secretary to the cabinet, a position Leakey retired from in 2001.
Required by the constitution to resign in 2003, Moi backed Uhuru Kenyatta, son of Jomo Kenyatta, as
Sudan’s ruling body ratified a law banning the widespread practice of female genital mutilation, the justice ministry announced Friday, handing the movement for women’s rights in the African country a long-sought victory.
The Sovereign Council passed a set of sweeping amendments to the country’s criminal code late Thursday, including one that criminalized the deep-rooted practice. The draft law had been approved by the transitional government that came to power last year following the ouster of Omar al-Bashir.
A U.N.-backed survey in 2014 estimated 87% of Sudanese women and girls between the ages of 15 and 49 have been subjected to the procedure. Most undergo an extreme form known as infibulation, which involves the removal and repositioning of the labia to narrow the vaginal opening.
Anyone found guilty of performing the procedure will be sentenced to up to three years in prison, according to a copy of the new law obtained by The Associated Press.
Female genital mutilation “degrades the dignity of women,” the justice ministry declared in its statement. Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok hailed the decision as “an important step in reforming the justice system.”
The ratification achieved a decades-long goal of women’s rights advocates and represented a win for the country’s technocratic leaders, who have been struggling to push democratic changes and roll back al-Bashir’s legacy despite the persistent power of army generals in Sudan.
Under Hamdok, women have been appointed to four government ministries. Last fall, authorities overturned unpopular Islamist laws passed under al-Bashir that dictated women’s dress and criminalized drinking alcohol. Another amendment adopted Thursday allows Sudanese mothers to travel with their children outside the country without permission from their spouses.
During al-Bashir’s rule some Sudanese clerics said forms of female genital mutilation, or FGM, were religiously allowed, arguing that the only debate was over whether it was required or not.
While many were elated by the the law’s long-awaited passing, rights groups warned that the practice remains deeply entrenched in the region’s conservative society and that enforcement poses a steep challenge.
In neighboring Egypt, for example, where genital cutting was banned in 2008 and elevated to a felony in 2016, a government survey still found that nearly nine of every 10 Egyptian women had undergone the procedure.
Other veteran activists questioned the timing of the ratification, saying the coronavirus pandemic puts them at a disadvantage since they cannot mobilize awareness campaigns or police training in a country under lockdown.
“Currently there are fuel shortages and long daily power cuts as well as rising infections of COVID-19,” said Nahid Toubia, a leading Sudanese women’s health rights activist specializing in FGM. “Communication and people’s mobility are severely hampered. These are not the conditions where advocacy for legislating against FGM is a priority or even possible.”
Still the move, both symbolic and
My Government is committed to providing support for survivors and the First Lady, myself, and my Government urge every Sierra Leonean to join in raising awareness, advocating, and standing up to rid this country of this menace.
With the support of international and development partners, traditional and religious leaders, civil society, the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists, and various community stakeholders, our COVID-19 preparedness and response measures have been robust.
To every Sierra Leonean who has complied with healthcare protocols, public-safety directives, and also communicated awareness of the virus, we thank you immensely.
Our anticipation and timely responses, contact tracing and surveillance, well-considered economic response, social safety support, and other measures have been praised and well-supported by our multilateral and development partners.
I urge every citizen to strictly comply with healthcare and public safety protocols — from handwashing, using face masks, social distancing, travel restrictions, and all other restrictions on public gatherings in public spaces.
Sudan is a prime example of states facing these dimensions of fragility, now made worse by COVID-19.
As part of its initiative to support countries transitioning out of fragility, the International Growth Centre has been engaging closely with Sudan's transitional government on economic reforms since November 2019.
Should the government not delicately navigate these difficult reforms, or fail to secure the $4 billion in international assistance needed to make a much-needed social protection programme viable, it faces potential removal by a population exasperated by years of economic hardships.
Despite the country's dire health and economic situation, Sudan has yet to access emergency funding made available by the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund.
It is in all of our interests that Sudan is given the support needed to fight COVID-19 and to keep progressing towards a more effective, democratic state.
