03 November 2021
eSwatini: With close to 30 people dead at recent protests and after meeting Cyril Ramaphosa, King Mswati has agreed to establishing a national dialogue forum.
BBC Africa Live 03 November 2021. 4:35
HIV-Aids: Reporting “a decrease in people receiving prevention, a decrease in people testing, and increasing numbers (of) people falling out of treatments”, UN Aids agency believes that HIV infections and Aids-related deaths could spike in Central and West Africa as a consequence of the Covid pandemic.
BBC Africa Live 03 November 2021. 13:27
Covid-19: Africa Data Hub had produced an interactive map for tracking the evolution and progress of COVID-19 across the continent, and in individual countries.
https://theconversation.com/data-map-tracking-covid-19-waves-in-africa-170884
Ethiopia: A joint investigation by the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and the UN Human Rights Office has found extra-judicial executions, torture, rape, and attacks against refugees and displaced people – all sides in the Tigray conflict have violated international human rights, some may amount to crimes against humanity. The Ethiopia Prime Minister Abiy said his government “was ‘heartened’ that the investigation did not establish the claim of genocide against Tigrayans and did not give any evidence that the government had wilfully denied humanitarian assistance to people in Tigray”.
In the meantime, the US embassy in Addis has advised US nationals to ‘consider making preparations to leave the country’ and warns them against travelling outside Addis.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-59143627
BBC Africa Live 03 November 2021. 8h41
BBC Africa Live 03 November 2021. 10:59
Egypt: The President has instructed the government to start transferring to the New Administrative Capital 45km east of Cairo as a part of a 6-month trial. Eventually, the New Administrative Capital is to decongest Cairo and provide living space for 6 million people.
BBC Africa Live 03 November 2021. 15:39
02 November 2021
Ethiopia: The Council of ministers has declared a nationwide state of emergency.
BBC Africa Live 02 November 2021. 15:07
Ethiopia: “In total breach of international humanitarian law”, there has been intentional and targeted destruction of Tigray’s health system (including health personnel) which leaves the majority of Tigrayans without healthcare. While there were 47 hospitals, 224 health centres, 712 health posts and 269 functional ambulances before the war, the health system is in the authors’ view now “in a similar (if not worse) position to the early 1990s, when it had only 4 functional hospitals, 10 health centres and 102 clinics”.
https://theconversation.com/decades-of-progress-gone-in-one-year-tigrays-healthcare-system-has-been-destroyed-170406
Nigeria: 4 lecturers and 2 of their children have been kidnapped by gunmen at the University of Abuja which “is located opposite a military facility near the Abuja airport.”
BBC Africa Live 02 November 2021. 9:46
Zimbabwe: A “race to retrieve a rod from the Mazowe River in Rushinga” (300km north-east of Harare) was to determine who would baptise the congregation of popular Vadzizi VaJeso Apostolic religious sect. 8 church elders “drowned, 2 were rescued and no-one retrieved the stick”. The government will cover funeral costs.
BBC Africa Live 02 November 2021. 12:39
Gambia: The article presents the “underdog” candidates in Gambia’s presidential elections. The real race will likely be between incumbent Adama Barrow and long-time opposition leaders Ousainou Darboe, Mama Kandeh and Halifa Sallah. There is one female candidate, Marie Sock, but she’s a bit of a scandal – not only is her age unknown, on top of that she is unmarried and her dress code and hair style are seen as “inappropriate”.
BBC Africa Live 02 November 2021. 14:24