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Chairperson of the African Union (AU) President Cyril Ramaphosa said efforts to secure a COVID-19 vaccine for the continent were always collaborative
A November 26 letter from the presidency asked the head of Uganda's national drug authority to 'work out a mechanism' to clear the importation of the vaccines.
China has about five COVID-19 vaccine candidates at different levels of trials. It was not clear what vaccine was being imported into Uganda.
One of the frontrunners is the Sinopharm vaccine developed by the Beijing Institute of Biological Product, a unit of Sinopharm’s China National Biotec Group (CNBG).
On Wednesday, the United Arab Emirates said the vaccine has 86% efficacy, citing an interim analysis of late-stage clinical trials.
China has used the drug to vaccinate up to a million people under its emergency use program.
On Tuesday, Morocco said it was ordering up to 10 million doses of the vaccine.
Record cases
Uganda on Monday registered 701 new COVID-19 cases, the highest-ever daily increase, bringing its national count to 23,200.
The new cases were out of the 5,578 samples tested for the novel coronavirus over the past 24 hours, the country's health ministry said in a statement.
Tuesday's tally was 606, the second-highest ever number of new infections, bringing the cumulative number of confirmed cases in the east African country to 23,860.
Health authorities have blamed ongoing election campaigns which have drawn huge crowds for the rise in infections.
[SAnews.gov.za] The first team of experts from the World Health Organisation, who will assist South Africa in its fight against Coronavirus, is set to arrive in the country today.
President Cyril Ramaphosa will meet with traditional leaders on Saturday to discuss the national response to the Covid-19 pandemic and matters related to the lockdown.
This will be the second consultative meeting with traditional leaders on the national response to the pandemic, with the first one having been led by Deputy President David Mabuza, Presidency spokesperson Khusela Diko said.
Diko said Ramaphosa had recently held consultative meetings with the National Economic Development and Labour Council, the President's Coordinating Council, leaders of political parties represented in Parliament, leaders of interfaith communities, and the tourism industry.
\"The engagement with traditional leaders is part of a series of consultations the president has held with leaders across various sectors of society since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, to ensure that the national effort to combat the crisis is inclusive and enjoys the support of all stakeholder groups.\"
News24 was reliably told that party leaders in the virtual meeting, which kicked off at 07:00 on Wednesday, were given ample time to share their views on how the country should be navigating the coronavirus pandemic and the related lockdown to curb the spread of infection.
Ramaphosa was addressing a virtual Youth Day discussion on Tuesday focused on the Covid-19 pandemic, and he encouraged young people to take the lead in turning around the economy.
\"We are looking forward to innovation and creativity and new ideas from young people.
READ ALSO | 44 years after the Soweto uprising: We speak to those who were there
Ramaphosa said young people would have to take the lead as technology would define our future.
As young people, we need ask ourselves are we prepared living with the inequality that has persisted forever and in a day.
National Youth Development Agency CEO Waseem Carrim said Covid-19 would not derail their plans to invest in young people.
The three women were among the latest victims in a surge of violence against women in South Africa which the country’s president has described as a “pandemic.
“As a man, as a husband, and as a father, I am appalled at what is no less than a war being waged against the women and the children of our country,” said President Cyril Ramaphosa in a nationwide television address Wednesday.
More than 20 women and children have been murdered in South Africa in recent weeks, he added.
More than 2,700 South African women and 1,000 children were killed last year, according to police figures According to Ramaphosa, around 51% of women in the country have experienced violence at the hands of their partners.
“We note with disgust that at a time when the country is facing the gravest of threats from the pandemic, violent men are taking advantage of the eased restrictions on movement to attack women and children,” the President said.
President Paul Kagame joined leaders across different sectors in celebrating Africa day, which marks the founding of the Organisation of the African Union (OAU) - currently the African Union - and called for solidarity among the people of Africa.
Kagame who addressed Africans virtually during the Africa Day online concert hosted by MTV and Youtube, said that \"Africa Day symbolizes the unity of purpose and proud heritage of our continent, and of African people wherever they may be.\"
A year after its independence, Ghana convened the first Conference of Independent African States on April 15, 1958 - a collective platform promoting Africa's rejection of colonial and imperialist domination of the continent.
At the meeting, the first African Freedom Day was celebrated, which was later recognised as Africa Day.
Speaking during the virtual event, Dr Vincent Biruta, Minister of Foreign Affairs, emphasised that Africa Day gives the continent an opportunity to ensure that the spirit that the founding fathers of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) had in 1963 is not lost.
South Africa registered more than 10 000 daily cases as infections surge at an exponential rate, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said.
Kenya is staring at a possible public health crisis after MPs rejected the National Treasury’s proposal to allocate Sh1.5 billion for purchase of Covid-19 testing kits.
Guinea Bissau was warned on Saturday to prepare for a possible increase in coronavirus cases by the head of its response commission, as a team of Cuban health workers arrived to help the nation tackle the pandemic.
Almost all cases (94%) have been recorded in the capital Bissau.
Former health minister Magda Nely Robalo, who was appointed to take charge of the response, urged people to continue preventive measures as she welcomed the 23 Cuban doctors and health workers who came at the request of the Bissau government.
Robalo said Guinea Bissau was facing major challenges due to the weakness of its health system.
Over 170 of Bissau's 2,000 health workers have contracted coronavirus, according to the World Health Organisation, while health authorities have raised the alarm over a lack of oxygen to treat patients.
Sudan, in northeast Africa, measures about one-fourth the size of the United States. Its neighbors are Chad and the Central African Republic on the west, Egypt and Libya on the north, Ethiopia and Eritrea on the east, and South Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, and Democratic Republic of the Congo on the south. The Red Sea washes about 500 mi of the eastern coast. It is traversed from north to south by the Nile, all of whose great tributaries are partly or entirely within its borders.
Military government.
What is now northern Sudan was in ancient times the kingdom of Nubia, which came under Egyptian rule after 2600 B.C. An Egyptian and Nubian civilization called Kush flourished until A.D. 350. Missionaries converted the region to Christianity in the 6th century, but an influx of Muslim Arabs, who had already conquered Egypt, eventually controlled the area and replaced Christianity with Islam. During the 1500s a people called the Funj conquered much of Sudan, and several other black African groups settled in the south, including the Dinka, Shilluk, Nuer, and Azande. Egyptians again conquered Sudan in 1874, and after Britain occupied Egypt in 1882, it took over Sudan in 1898, ruling the country in conjunction with Egypt. It was known as the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan between 1898 and 1955.
The 20th century saw the growth of Sudanese nationalism, and in 1953 Egypt and Britain granted Sudan self-government. Independence was proclaimed on Jan. 1, 1956. Since independence, Sudan has been ruled by a series of unstable parliamentary governments and military regimes. Under Maj. Gen. Gaafar Mohamed Nimeiri, Sudan instituted fundamentalist Islamic law in 1983. This exacerbated the rift between the Arab north, the seat of the government, and the black African animists and Christians in the south. Differences in language, religion, ethnicity, and political power erupted in an unending civil war between government forces, strongly influenced by the National Islamic Front (NIF) and the southern rebels, whose most influential faction is the
After more than a year of no oil, Sudan and South Sudan reached an agreement in March 2013, brokered by the African Union, to resume oil production within the month. South Sudan gets 98% of its revenue from oil. The agreement established a timeline for resumption of oil production, and addressed other issues including security and border demarcation.
Sudans President Omar al-Bashirs austerity measures led to the doubling of prices on cooking oil and gas—and the worst riots in decades. Beginning in late Sept. 2013, the crackdown on protesters has left at least 50 people dead, though this number was likely to rise.
In an unofficial referendum held on Oct. 31, 2013, the 65,000 registered voters from the Dinka Ngok tribe of the disputed Abyei region voted to join South Sudan with a 99.9% majority. The unsurprising results were not recognized by the government of either country, nor did the other tribe, the Misseriya—who side with Sudan—nor the African Union support the vote.
South African soldiers deployed to enforce one of the world's strictest lockdowns to control the spread of coronavirus have returned to barracks as new infections slowed, the SANDF says
The leaders of the federal government of Somalia and the self-declared republic of Somaliland held a landmark meeting in the neighboring Djibouti on Sunday.
“The resumption of the talks between Somalia and Somaliland is a perfect illustration of the continued determination of the leaders of the region to resolve differences through dialogue,” Guelleh said via Twitter.
Guelleh acknowledged the meeting is a follow-up of the initiative by Ahmed, who brokered a meeting between Somalia President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo and Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi in Addis Ababa in February.
Sunday's talks coincide with preparations by Somalia and Somaliland to celebrate their 60th anniversary of independence from Britain and Italy.
In February, Farmajo acknowledged atrocities committed by the previous government of Somalia in the northern regions and apologized to the people of Somaliland.
[Daily Maverick] African leadership has become a 'boys' club' of former liberation movements intent on holding on to power at all costs. The locations change, yet the story is similar in all cases. Liberation movements using violence and suppression to hold on to power, regardless of the will of the people.
United Nations members are scheduled to vote today for new non-permanent members of the Security Council in a race that could test future relations of Kenya and Djibouti.
Kenya, Djibouti, India, Mexico, Canada, Ireland and Norway have all fronted their candidature, but the actual race is between Kenya and Djibouti, two African countries bidding to replace South Africa on the UN's most powerful organ.
For Kenya and Djibouti, the voting will be the climax of a bare knuckle campaigns that has forced African countries to take sides and at the African Union Summit last February, Kenya complained of Djibouti's \"dishonourable\" campaign.
Diplomatic overtures, as well as an attempt for mediation by then AU chairperson Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, seemed to have failed to have one drop from the race.
Nairobi won the African Union endorsement last August, but Djibouti stuck in the race, arguing the AU decision was \"illegal.\"
The week began with unwanted milestones as South Africa reached 50 000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 1 000 deaths.
On Thursday, January 14, 2021 from 7:30 until 8:30 PM, the International African Arts Festival in conjunction with the National Association of Kawaida Organizations will hold their first virtual program of the new year entitled: Marcus Garvey Goes Home to Africa. The program will focus on efforts to have a statue of the Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey installed at the … Continue reading \"Marcus Garvey Goes Home to Africa\"
HUMAN rights doctors have laid into government over its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying they had noted a “sad scenario” where the fight against the dreaded pandemic was being hampered by the poor living conditions at the quarantine facilities, resulting in the recent spike in cases.
“This sad scenario is further compounded by the poor state of the quarantine facilities whose standards fall far below the World Health Organisation minimum standards,” the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR) said in a statement yesterday.
“ZADHR strongly suspects that the recent spike in cases in quarantine centres is a result of the poor living conditions at the quarantine facilities.”
“ZADHR received reports that the Girls High quarantine centre, where a group of about 96 returnees — including pregnant women and an infant who were quarantined at Harare Polytechnic College on May 10, 2020 and later moved to Girls High School in Harare for further quarantining, upon arrival at Harare Polytechnic College — were not tested despite some individuals clearly exhibiting flu-like symptoms,” the doctors said.
ZADHR said it was concerned about reports that about 150 returnees were released from a Gweru facility four days ahead of schedule on May 24, 2020, after returnees threatened to protest against poor living conditions.
Major African stats: May 16 at 7:30 GMT:
\t
\t\tConfirmed cases = 78,280
\t\tNumber of deaths = 2,624
\t\tRecoveries = 29,245
\t\tActive cases = 46,411
\t\tInfected countries = 54
SUGGESTED READING: rolling coverage of the coronavirus outbreak in Africa II
\t\tZimbabwe extends lockdown level 2 indefinitely
\t\tCongo evacuates citizens from Europe
\t\tLesotho confirms index case
\t\tComoros records first case
\t\tUS support for Kenya, South Africa; Africa’s equipment crunch
\t\tAfrica case increase worries experts
\t\tMauritania virus-free
\t\tTanzania MP infected
\t\tZimbabwe quarantines UK returnees
\t\tMadagascar announces COVID-19 treatment
\t\tAfrica will suffer Trump’s WHO move
\t\tBurundi voters locked out
\t\tTanzania’s three-days of prayer
\t\tMalawi imposes lockdown as president’s court hearing starts
\t\tUganda speaker unveils COVID-19 combating spray
\t\tUS joins Africa in fight against Chinese racism
\t\tAU appoints four-member international liaison team
\t\tTwo prominent deaths
\t\tAU protests Chinese mistreatment of Africans
SUGGESTED READING: rolling coverage of the coronavirus outbreak in Africa I
May 16: Over 100 Congolese return from Europe
\tOver 100 Congolese nationals stranded in Europe returned to the country on Friday, local UN-run media outlet Radio Okapi reports.
The South African president is also current chairperson of the African Union, AU; he is leading Africa’s most impacted country and the continent’s effort to get international support to fight the pandemic.
Africa dangerously behind in global race for virus gear
\tAs Africa braces for a surge in coronavirus cases, its countries are dangerously behind in the global race for scarce medical equipment.
AP
April 23: Africa’s 43% jump in virus cases in 1 week worries experts
\tAfrica registered a 43% jump in reported COVID-19 cases in the last week, highlighting a warning from the World Health Organization that the continent of 1.3 billion could become the next epicenter of the global outbreak.
African governments reported a total of nearly 26,000 cases as of Thursday, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, up from just over 16,000 a week ago.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has condemned a \"surge in murders of women and children\", after the body of a young woman was found dumped under a tree in Dobsonville, Soweto, on Friday.
Since the country entered alert Level 3 of the Covid-19 lockdown on 1 June, there has been a surge in gender-based violence and femicide, the president said in a statement on Saturday.
During these visits they will be engaging with communities on this upsurge in gender-based violence, Ramaphosa said.
Citing the case of 36-year-old Sibongiseni Gabada from Khayelitsha who was found murdered last month, the president said survivors of gender-based violence believe the criminal justice is failing them.
The president has urged communities to work with the police and report any information they may have to Crime Stop on 08600 10111, send an anonymous SMS to Crime Line at 32211 or call the Gender-Based Violence Command Centre at 0800 428 428.
WASHINGTON, DC, United States (CMC) - Director of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) Dr Carissa Etienne Wednesday warned that countries should continue public health measures such as social distancing, hand-washing and wearing masks in public, as it may take time before people recive a vaccine to treat the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Among some of the major announcements were that National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) students would receive 10GB free data from June through to August; all students and staff members returning to campuses will be screened upon entry; and one third of students will be allowed back on campuses and in residences under Level 3 of the lockdown.
The students who will be allowed back under Level 3 should be in their final year and must require access to laboratories, technical equipment, data, connectivity and access to residence as well as private accommodation.
First-year students in all undergraduate programmes will be allowed back as well as students in all years of study who require laboratory and technical equipment to complete the academic year.
Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) students will return by specific dates, but if their campuses are in areas that are still on Level 4 during that time - they will remain closed.
Nzimande added the government was not in a position to subsidise data to students who fall within the so-called \"missing middle\" category - those who did not qualify for NSFAS bursaries, but came from households who might have been hit hard by the pandemic.
Speakers Urge the Council to Establish an International Commission of Inquiry to Investigate Systemic Racism in Law Enforcement in the United States
The Human Right Council this afternoon began an urgent debate on current racially inspired human rights violations, systemic racism, police brutality and violence against peaceful protests.
It heard calls from speakers for the Council to establish an international commission of inquiry to investigate systemic racism in law enforcement in the United States.
E. Tendayi Achiume, Special Rapporteur on racism, via video message, on behalf of other mandate holders, urged the Council to create an international commission of inquiry with the necessary authority to investigate systemic racism in law enforcement in the United States.
The Council will next meet on Thursday, 18 June at 10 a.m. to conclude the urgent debate on current racially inspired human rights violations, systemic racism, police brutality and violence against peaceful protests.
Statement by the President of the Human Rights Council
ELISABETH TICHY-FISSLBERGER, President of the Human Rights Council, recalled that on Friday, 12 June 2020, she had received a letter from Burkina Faso on behalf of the African Group containing the formal request to hold this urgent debate on \"the current racially inspired human rights violations, systemic racism, police brutality against people of African descent and violence against peaceful protests\".
President Cyril Ramaphosa will answer questions in the National Assembly on the steps government has taken in the fight against state capture.
Liberia's Foreign Minister Gbehzohngar M. Findley has reaffirmed the country's commitment to work with other Africans in the region and the rest of the continent to promote the achievement of Africa's goal.
\"We, therefore, reaffirm Liberia's commitment to work with other Africans in our region and the rest of our Continent to promote the achievement of the goal of our Continent and we should be proud of our identity as Africans,\" he said Monday, 25 May in a statement to mark the 57th year when 32 independent African states converged in Ethiopia to establish the Organization of African Unity, now the African Union.
He urges Africans to strive to achieve the continent's goal of a conflict-free Africa, to make peace a reality for all its people and to rid the continent of wars, civil conflicts, human rights violations and humanitarian disasters.
He believes that Africans can only achieve a united and prosperous Africa if the guns are silenced, adding: \"Let us keep in mind that our progress and prosperity can be achieved if the guns are silenced ... \"
The Foreign Minister suggests that until the achievement of lasting peace in all of Africa, its people's endeavors to peace and security, and development remain unwavering.To this end, he notes that Africans must do all in their power to work towards achieving the African Development Agenda 2063, which clearly projects the Africa they want.
Mr. Findley calls on Africans from all walks of life to remain committed to the goals and aspirations of a united and prosperous Africa inspired by their forefathers, stressing that only Africans will transform Africa.On behalf of President George Manneh Weah, Mr. Findley congratulates Africans all over the world as they celebrate this great day.
