News & Announcements

In what will most certainly go down as Africa’s first big shipment of the vaccines for the coronavirus pandemic, Morocco, on Friday, received 2 million doses of Astrazeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine.

With that quantity of shipment, the North African country became the first African country to get a large enough shipment to roll out a nationwide immunisation programme.

The consignment, according to Reuters, arrived on a Royal Air Maroc flight from India, which began exporting the vaccine, developed in conjunction with Oxford University, to mid-and lower-income countries this week.

The vast majority of the production of the three most widely approved Covid vaccines, including the Astrazeneca drug, has so far been hoovered up by developed nations.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus this week described the unequal access poor countries had to Covid-19 vaccines as a “catastrophic moral failure”.

Rabat has placed orders for 65 million doses, comprising 25 million of the AstraZeneca vaccine – for which it has dealt with both Serum Institute of India (SII) and Russia’s R-Pharm – and the remainder with China’s Sinopharm.

Morocco plans a free vaccination campaign targeting 25 million people or 80% of its population, starting with health workers. By Friday, it had reported 463,706 coronavirus infections, including 8,076 deaths.

Although Egypt received 50,000 vaccine doses in December from its close ally the United Arab Emirates, no African country had up to now received enough supply to start mass inoculations.

India, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, began exporting the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine to neighbouring Asian countries on Wednesday. The SII also planned to ship doses to Brazil on Friday, Reuters reported.

The AstraZeneca vaccine requires two doses, but unlike some other vaccines, it does not need ultra-cold storage, making it easier to roll out in hot countries and remote locations.

The United Nations says it has received “disturbing” reports of sexual violence and abuse in Ethiopia’s conflict-hit Tigray region, including of individuals forced to rape members of their own family.

Pramila Patten, the UN’s special representative on sexual violence in conflict, said she was greatly concerned by serious allegations from the northern region, including “a high number of alleged rapes” in the Tigray’s capital, Mekele.

“There are also disturbing reports of individuals allegedly forced to rape members of their own family, under threats of imminent violence,” Patten said in a statement on Thursday.

“Some women have also reportedly been forced by military elements to have sex in exchange for basic commodities.”

Patten called on all parties involved in the hostilities to commit to a zero-tolerance policy for crimes of sexual violence.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, winner of the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, announced military operations in Tigray in early November, saying they came in response to attacks by the regional ruling party on federal army camps.

Abiy declared victory after federal forces entered the regional capital in late November, though leaders of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) remain on the run and have vowed to fight on.

Thousands have died in the conflict, according to the International Crisis Group, though a communications blackout and media and humanitarian access restrictions have made it difficult to assess the situation on the ground.

In her statement on Thursday, Patten noted that “medical centres have indicated an increase in the demand for emergency contraception and testing for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) which is often an indicator of sexual violence in conflict”.

She called for full humanitarian access to Tigray, including camps for displaced people “and refugee camps where new arrivals have allegedly reported cases of sexual violence”.

She voiced concern about “more than 5,000 Eritrean refugees in and around the area of the Shire living in dire conditions, many of them reportedly sleeping in an open field with no water or food, as well as the more than 59,000 Ethiopians who have fled the country into neighbouring Sudan”.

The caretaker administration in Tigray did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Earlier this month state television broadcast footage of a meeting during which an unidentified man in a military uniform expressed concern about rapes in Mekele.

“Why are women being raped in Mekele city?” the man said.

“It wouldn’t be shocking had it been happening during the war, because it is not manageable so it could be expected. But at this moment while federal police and local police are back in town, it is still happening.”

After Somalia denied sending troops to fight in the northern Tigray part of Ethiopia during a government crackdown, the Ethiopian Government has also denied that troops from Mogadishu joined forces under a secret plan to unleash war on the region.

According to a report by the Nation Media Group, Dina Mufti, spokesman of the Ethiopian Foreign Affairs Ministry, rejected the assertions, indicating his country never requested Somalia’s support in the crackdown against the erstwhile ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.

Mufti was reacting to a January 18 letter by the chair of Somalia’s parliamentary Foreign Affairs committee, Abdulkadir Osoble Ali, requesting Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo to investigate complaints by families that their sons serving in the Somalia National Army (SNA) had gone missing while fighting in Ethiopia.

“We have seen reports about Eritrean troops that have crossed into Ethiopia,” Mufti said.

“We are also witnessing similar reports about Somali soldiers participating in the same campaign. Both of these claims are false and unfounded.”

Reports emerged this week that about 370 Somali soldiers who had been training in Eritrea were massacred in Ethiopia where they had been drafted to fight alongside Eritrean troops.

On Tuesday, Somalia’s Information Minister Osman Abukar Dubbe appeared on State-run Somali National Television (SNTV), telling the nation that no Somali forces were involved in the Tigray conflict in Ethiopia.

Dubbe insisted that reports indicating that 370 Somali soldiers were killed while fighting alongside Ethiopian forces in Tigray were fake and based on pure fabrication.

The minister said, “No Somali soldiers have been recruited by Ethiopia or deployed to participate in the fighting in the Tigray region.”

“It is just a rumour and it’s nonsense,” he added.

For almost a week, the independent media in Somalia have been releasing the voices of mothers claiming to have lost touch with their youths, reportedly sent to Eritrea for military training by the Federal Government of Somalia.

Similar complaints have gone viral through social media.

Following days of street protests in parts of Galmudug State of Somalia, the State’s security minister, Mr Ahmed Moalim Fiqi, met on Wednesday with parents, mothers and fathers of the soldiers said to be missing in Galkayo town, 750 km north of Mogadishu.

Fiqi assured the parents that his Galmudug State government will address the issue by referring to relevant federal offices.

So far, the Federal Government has not explained the whereabouts of those men or even confirmed they were indeed serving in the SNA.      

President Hassan Rouhani of Iran, on Wednesday, hailed the departure of “tyrant” US counterpart Donald Trump, who is due to leave office later in the day making way for President-elect Joe Biden.

The Iran leader said the “tyrant’s era came to an end and today is the final day of his ominous reign,” Rouhani said in televised remarks to his cabinet.

“Someone for whom all of his four years bore no fruit other than injustice and corruption and causing problems for his own people and the world.”

During his presidency, Trump led a campaign of “maximum pressure” against Iran, pulling Washington out of a landmark nuclear deal with Tehran in 2018 and re-imposing punishing sanctions.

The sanctions targeted Iran’s vital oil sales and international banking ties, plunging its economy into a deep recession.

Agreed between major powers and Iran in 2015 when Biden was vice president under Barack Obama, the nuclear deal imposed clear limits on Iran’s activities in exchange for relief from international sanctions.

Since 2019, Tehran has suspended its compliance with most of the limits set by the agreement in response to Washington’s abandonment of sanctions relief and the failure of other parties to the deal to make up for it.

Biden’s pick for secretary of state, Anthony Blinken, said at a Senate confirmation hearing that Trump’s policies had made Iran “more dangerous.”

Blinken confirmed Biden’s desire for Washington to return to the nuclear agreement but said that was conditional on Tehran’s return to strict compliance with its commitments.

Joe Biden becomes @POTUS on Twitter on Wednesday. But unlike four years ago, when President Donald Trump took over the handle, Biden won’t keep the account’s current followers.

Instead, those followers will get a notification about the transfer with the option to follow Biden’s POTUS account if they wish. Twitter users who follow his transition account, @PresElectBiden, will automatically follow the new POTUS account.

Washington Post reports that Biden’s digital director Rob Flaherty called Twitter’s transition plan “profoundly insufficient” in a tweet last week.

“They’re bending themselves over backwards to break with the 2017 protocol they set on the transfer of accounts and also breaking with every other social platform in providing the new administration a follower base,” he added.

The move of accounts between administrations is just one of a broader digital transition among social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube taking place as Biden becomes the 46th president Wednesday.

The social media companies will hand over the keys to the White House accounts to the Biden administration after archiving them on Inauguration Day, ushering in what is expected to mark a different tone and cadence of the accounts after the past four years.

The Biden administration will take over the @POTUS account on Twitter, as well as @WhiteHouse, @VP, @FLOTUS and @PressSec. On Facebook, the administration will take over accounts for the White House and POTUS, and on YouTube, they will inherit the White House channel.

Twitter declined to comment beyond its blog about the decision not to automatically move followers.

“These institutional accounts will not automatically retain the followers from the prior administration,” Twitter wrote in a blog post about the inauguration. “People on Twitter who previously followed institutional White House Twitter accounts, or who currently follow relevant Biden or Harris Twitter accounts, will receive in-app alerts and other prompts that will notify them about the archival process, as well as give them the option to follow the new administration’s Twitter accounts.”

Trump’s POTUS account has more than 33 million followers. It and all its tweets will be archived Wedesday and preserved by the National Archives and Records Administration. Twitter will also create a new institutional account for the incoming administration: @SecondGentleman for Doug Emhoff, husband to Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and the first male spouse in that role.

The official POTUS account is separate from Trump’s personal account, which he primarily used as his mouthpiece during his tenure and which has now been banned by Twitter over concerns his tweets were inciting violence.

Trump has also been suspended “indefinitely” from Facebook, and YouTube confirmed Tuesday that it would extend his suspension there for at least another week. The historic crackdown by the social media companies came after years of increasing tension between the sites and Trump’s fiery rhetoric, which often included dangerous misinformation.

The final straw was the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol that Trump failed to immediately condemn, leading the companies to shut down his social media access to try to prevent more violence.

YouTube will transition the White House account to the Biden administration, along with its 1.9 million followers. The videos currently on the page will be moved to a new channel to serve as an archive, similar to the Obama White House channel.

Facebook and Instagram will archive Trump’s POTUS and White House accounts and turn over those usernames to Biden.

People who follow the current White House account will automatically follow it when Biden takes over, and people who follow Joe Biden’s current political accounts will also follow him on the POTUS handle. But current followers of Trump’s POTUS handle will not automatically follow that account under Biden.

“We’re following the same procedures we used during the transfer between the Obama and Trump administrations when President-elect Biden is sworn into office,” Facebook spokesperson Dani Lever said.

Biden will be only the third president to use Twitter while in office, and it’s a safe bet that he will not strike the same tone as Trump.

“Anyway, the nice thing about Joe Biden is that he truly couldn’t care less about Twitter followers. Or Twitter!” Flaherty tweeted last week.

Ahead of the inauguration of president-elect, Joe Biden’s inauguration today, Google-owned YouTube has confirmed it has extended a ban on new videos being added to US President Donald Trump’s channel due to the potential for inciting violence.
The weeklong suspension of uploading or streaming live video to Trump’s channel had been set to lift on the eve of President-elect Joe Biden taking the oath of office.

“In light of concerns about the ongoing potential for violence, the Donald J. Trump channel will be prevented from uploading new videos or livestreams for an additional minimum of seven days,” YouTube said in response to an AFP inquiry.

“As we shared previously, comments will continue to be indefinitely disabled under videos from the channel.”
Trump’s access to the social media platforms he has used as a megaphone during his presidency has been largely cut off since a violent mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol in Washington DC on January 6.
Operators say the embittered leader could use his accounts to foment more unrest aimed at Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday.

Last week, YouTube suspended Trump’s channel “for at least seven days” and removed a video for violating its policy against inciting violence, joining other social media platforms in banning his accounts after the deadly Capitol riot.
Facebook suspended Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts following the violent invasion of the US Capitol, which temporarily disrupted the certification of Biden’s election victory.

In announcing the suspension, Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg said Trump used the platform to incite violence and was concerned he would continue to do so.
Twitter went a step further by deleting Trump’s account, depriving him of his favourite platform. It was already marking his tweets disputing the election outcome with warnings.

Trump also was hit with suspensions by services like Snapchat and Twitch.
Trump, who has not appeared in public for a week, broke days of silence on Tuesday with a pre-recorded farewell video address uploaded to a White House channel on YouTube.

He, for the first time, asked Americans to “pray” for the success of the incoming President Biden’s administration — a change of tune from weeks spent persuading his huge number of Republican followers that the Democrat cheated in their election battle.
Trump has yet to personally congratulate Biden on his win or invite him for the customary cup of tea in the Oval Office.

The outgoing president’s supporters attacked the US Capitol were “provoked” by Trump and “fed lies”, Senate Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday.
Thousands of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6 following a speech he made outside the White House in which he repeated his false claims that he won the election.

At least five people died in the mayhem.
The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives impeached Trump on January 13 for “inciting insurrection” and he faces a potential trial in the Senate after he leaves office on Wednesday.

Violence continued unabated on Monday in the troubled Darfur A region in Sudan, as militia fighters staged a deadly attack, residents said, as doctors said the death toll from a separate attack that began two days earlier in the region had risen to more than 100.

The surge in violence will add to concerns about the departure of an international peacekeeping force that stopped patrolling in Darfur on January 1 ahead of its full withdrawal and replacement by a Sudanese force.

The latest attack took place close to the town of Gereida, where two residents said an Arab militia had attacked members of the Fallata tribe. One resident, Mohamed Salih, told Reuters that 47 dead had been counted. The reason for the attack was unclear, he said.

Gereida had also seen deadly clashes in late December involving the Masalit and Fallata tribes.

On Saturday and Sunday, attacks took place in and around El Geneina in West Darfur following a reported fight in which a member of the Masalit killed a man from an Arab tribe.

A doctors’ union in West Darfur said on Monday that the toll had risen to 129 dead and 198 wounded, including children. Thousands had been displaced by the violence and were in dire need of humanitarian aid, the group said.

Conflict in Darfur escalated from 2003 when government forces and mainly Arab militia were accused of widespread atrocities as they fought to suppress mostly non-Arab rebels. An estimated 300,000 were killed and some 1.5 million remain displaced within Darfur.

UNAMID, a joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping the mission established in 2007, is due to be replaced by a national force that should include Darfuri former rebels who signed a peace agreement last October.

Sudanese officials say the first members of the force are deploying, but residents and some diplomats fear UNAMID’s withdrawal will leave civilians more vulnerable.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed deep concern on Sunday over the violence in Darfur. His spokesman said it had led to the displacement of nearly 50 000 people.

“The Secretary-General calls on the Sudanese authorities to expend all efforts to de-escalate the situation and bring an end to the fighting, restore law and order and ensure the protection of civilians,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

Stephane District, the spokesperson to the United Nations general secretary, said a UN peacekeeper was killed and another suffered injuries in an attack in the Central Africa Republic (CAR).

In a statement, Dujarric said United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the attack against the convoy of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) on Friday near Tessalit in Kidal region.

Guterres emphasised that attacks against United Nations peacekeepers may constitute a war crime.

“The Secretary-General strongly condemns the attack against a convoy of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) that took place on 15 January 2021 near Tessalit in Kidal region, which resulted in the death of an Egyptian peacekeeper and serious injuries to another,” the statement read. “The Secretary-General expresses his deepest condolences to the bereaved family, as well as to the people and Government of Egypt. He wishes a speedy and full recovery to the injured peacekeeper,” the statement added.

The new attack comes days after three United Nations peacekeepers were killed and six wounded in central Mali after a convoy struck an explosive device and came under fire.

The spokesperson said the United Nations will spare no efforts in supporting the Malian authorities in identifying and promptly bringing to justice the perpetrators of this heinous attack.

“The Secretary-General emphasizes that attacks against United Nations peacekeepers may constitute a war crime. The United Nations will spare no efforts in supporting the Malian authorities in identifying and promptly bringing to justice the perpetrators of this heinous attack,” it read. “The Secretary-General reaffirms the solidarity of the United Nations with the people and Government of Mali,” it added.

Since December 19, a coalition of rebel groups, which occupied two-thirds of the CAR, has been reportedly carrying out offensive to disrupt the presidential and legislative elections that took place on December 27, Xinhua reported.

According to UN News, despite attempts by rebel groups to obstruct presidential and legislative elections, nearly 2 million Central Africans cast their votes.

Indonesian authorities have intensified efforts to rescue those trapped or buried but still alive after a powerful earthquake on its Sulawesi island, which killed dozens, injured hundreds and left more feared trapped in the rubble of collapsed buildings, as monsoon rains lashed the disaster-struck region.

Recall that at least 46 people died after the 6.2-magnitude quake struck in the early hours of Friday, triggering panic among residents of the island, which was hit by a 2018 quake-tsunami disaster that killed thousands.

Search-and-rescue worked through the night as they pulled dozens of bodies from beneath crumpled buildings in Mamuju, a city of about 110,000 people in West Sulawesi province, where a hospital was flattened and a shopping mall lay in ruins.

Others were killed south of the city after the quake struck, as a strong aftershock jolted the area Saturday morning.

Grieving relatives began burying the dead at a local cemetery.

Planes and boats packed with food and other emergency supplies were arriving, with the navy reportedly sending a ship equipped with mobile medical services as Mamuju’s still-standing hospitals were flooded with hundreds of injured.

Rescuers said a shortage of heavy equipment was slowing the search effort, while thousands left homeless by the quake set up makeshift shelters on the higher ground — many little more than tarpaulin-covered tents that were lashed by heavy downpours.

“We’re running out of food. There hasn’t been any aid from the government yet,” 24-year-old survivor Desti told AFP from hard-hit Majene, adding that some survivors at the camp needed medical attention.

“Some people are using coconut leaves as mats,” she added.

Many survivors are unable to return to their destroyed homes, or too scared to go back fearing more quakes or a tsunami, said Desti, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.

Authorities have not given a figure for the number of residents who could still be trapped under buildings reduced to twisted metal and concrete chunks, including the hospital that collapsed with more than a dozen patients and staff inside.

On Saturday, authorities said they had pulled eight corpses from under the building, while five members of a family of eight were found dead in the crumpled remains of their home.

Among the Mamuju survivors was a pair of young sisters plucked from under the mass of concrete and other debris. The pair are now being treated in hospital.

The Pope said he was “saddened” to learn of the quake.

“His Holiness Pope Francis expresses his heartfelt solidarity with all those affected by this natural disaster,” the Vatican said in a statement.

“He prays for the repose of the deceased, the healing of the injured and the consolation of all who grieve.”

Landslides triggered by the heavy rains and quake blocked the main access road out of the seaside city, scuttling some residents’ efforts to flee.

The city’s airport had also been damaged, while the regional governor’s office was also partly destroyed, authorities said.

Power remained out in parts of Mamuju after the quake damaged its electricity grid.

Save the Children warned that the young were among the most at risk.

“While the extent of the earthquake damage is still unclear, we know children are often the most vulnerable following disaster,” it said.

“It will be essential that children are prioritised in any response, as they may have witnessed the death of loved ones or become separated from their parents.”

The quake’s epicentre was 36 kilometres (22 miles) south of Mamuju and it had a relatively shallow depth of 18 kilometres.

In neighbouring Kalimantan, Indonesia’s section of Borneo island, at least five people had died in heavy flooding while dozens more were missing, according to reports.

Indonesia, a sprawling Southeast Asian archipelago of nearly 270 million, experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, where tectonic plates collide.

In 2018, a 7.5-magnitude quake and a subsequent tsunami in Palu on Sulawesi left more than 4,300 people dead or missing.

On December 26, 2004, a 9.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Sumatra and triggered a tsunami that killed 220,000 throughout the region, including around 170,000 in Indonesia.

A rehearsal for U.S President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration scheduled for Sunday has been postponed because of security concerns, Politico reported late on Thursday, citing two people with knowledge of the decision.

The rehearsal is now planned for Monday, according to the report.

Biden’s team had also cancelled an Amtrak trip from Wilmington to Washington planned for Monday due to heightened security concerns, the report added. Biden will be inaugurated on January 20.

The presidential inaugural committee declined to comment on the report.

Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray said earlier that the FBI was looking into individuals who could possibly threaten the safety of the inauguration.

A presidential inauguration traditionally draws hundreds of thousands of visitors to Washington, but the ceremonies have been scaled back dramatically because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Biden asked his nominee for deputy attorney general and former President Barack Obama’s counter-terrorism adviser, Lisa Monaco, to serve as a temporary homeland security adviser leading up to next week’s inauguration.

Officials have warned of plans for armed protests in Washington and all 50 states and activist groups have been concerned about the potential for violence.

The warnings follow last week’s assault on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump that left five people dead.

Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol last Wednesday, trying to halt the certification by Congress of Biden’s election win.

Trump, who has challenged the validity of Biden’s victory without producing evidence, initially praised his supporters but later condemned the violence.