News & Announcements

There is hope of tackling the Coronavirus pandemic in Africa as the Africa Union (AU) has procured vaccines for the continent.

The AU secured up to a provisional 270 million vaccine doses which are set to be administered in regions on the continent. President Cyril Ramaphosa, who chairs the AU, made the announcement on Wednesday.

There have been concerns around Africa’s ability to access vaccines as European countries and the US have long begun rolling out vaccines to its citizens. South Africa leads in Covid-19 cases on the continent.

The 270 million vaccine doses, which were acquired through the AU’s newly established African vaccine acquisition task team, will be supplied from pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson.

Ramaphosa said the first 50 million batches of vaccine doses can be expected between April and June. He said all other doses should be delivered this year.

The latest acquisition is expected to complement the vaccine acquiring methods offered by the World Health Organisation’s Covax facility – which has promised 600 million vaccine doses for the continent.

“From the onset of this pandemic, our focus as a continent has been on collaboration and collective effort. We have held steadfastly to the principle that no country should be left behind.

“With this in mind, we have not only campaigned vigorously for changes through all the available international forums, but we have taken the additional step to independently secure vaccines using our own limited resources as member states.

“As a result of our own efforts we have so far secured a commitment of a provisional amount of 270 million vaccines from three major suppliers: Pfizer, AstraZeneca (through Serum Institute of India) and Johnson & Johnson,” he said.

AU member states would be required to pay for the vaccines based on their needs. Payment arrangements would be made through Afreximbank for member states who need access to the vaccines.

“Upon delivery of the vaccines, member states may pay using their internal resources or access an instalment payment facility of up to five years offered by Afreximbank.

There is also close collaboration between the AU team and the World Bank to ensure that member states are able to access about US$5 billion either to buy more vaccines or pay for the delivery of vaccines committed on their behalf by Afreximbank,” the statement from the presidency said.

Ramaphosa said efforts were under way by the AU to acquire more doses of vaccines as concerns were that with the Covax facility only 20% of the continent would be vaccinated.

Meanwhile, in a World Health Organisation Africa briefing, officials announced that the first Covax vaccine doses were expected by March.

The organisation also announced that the new variant of the Covid-19 identified in South Africa has been identified in three other African countries, Botswana, Gambia and Zambia.

The Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) on Wednesday afternoon announced the death of former Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin during a battle in the country’s Tigray region.

He served as foreign minister from 1991 to 2010.

Seyoum was killed alongside Asmelash Woldeselassie, former Ethiopian parliament chief whip and Abay Tsehaye, Ethiopia’s former minister of federal affairs, during a battle earlier on Wednesday, said Tesfaye Ayalew, head of the defence force’s Deployment Department. 

Seyoum, Asmelash and Abay had served as a central committee members of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which used to rule Ethiopia’s Tigray region. Ethiopia’s federal government has been undertaking military operations in Tigray since November 4, 2020, against the TPLF following the TPLF’s attack on the Northern Command of the national defence force. 

Ayalew said, five other civilian officials and army officers were captured in the military operation, reported the state-run Ethiopia News Agency.

The state of the emergency task force, established by the Ethiopian federal government to watch over the ongoing military operations against the TPLF, also confirmed the death of the senior TPLF leaders. The Ethiopian government has been blaming the TPLF, one of the four coalition fronts of Ethiopia’s former ruling party the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, for “masterminding various treasonous acts” across different parts of the country with a goal of destabilising the East African country. 

The mounting differences between the federal government and the TPLF exacerbated in September last year when the Tigray regional government decided to go with its planned regional elections, which the Ethiopian parliament had previously postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

On November 28, 2020, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said that the “full command” of Tigray region’s capital Mekelle marked the completion of the defence force’s military operations. 

The prime minister had also stressed that “we now have ahead of us the critical task of rebuilding what has been destroyed, repairing what is damaged, returning those who have fled, with the utmost priority of returning normalcy to the people of the Tigray region.” Last week, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warned that the security situation in Ethiopia’s conflict-hit Tigray region “remains volatile.” 

“As the security situation in some areas of the Tigray the region is slightly improving, humanitarian workers have been able to access areas that were so far inaccessible, particularly in cities,” said the UN office. 

However, “localized fighting and insecurity continue, with fighting reported in rural areas and in the peripheries of Mekelle, Shiraro and Shire, among other locations, as of last week,” it added. 

More than 55,500 refugees have fled Tigray into eastern Sudan in the aftermath of the military operations, according to the UN refugee agency.

South African police have arrested more than 7,000 people caught without face masks in public since the end of December, the government said on Wednesday.

Officials made face coverings mandatory in May last year at the same time as they gradually eased movement restrictions imposed in March to stem coronavirus infections.

A partial lockdown was reinstated last month as the virus resurged, fuelled by a more transmissible variant.

Officials at the time vowed to be more stringent in enforcing the regulations, which include an alcohol sales ban. 

Police Minister Bheki Cele on Wednesday said more than 20,000 people had been arrested or fined since December 29 for breaching the new rules, including 7,455 people detained for not wearing face masks.

More than 830 people have also been arrested for selling, dispensing and transporting alcohol.

“Law enforcement agencies do not enjoy making these arrests,” Cele noted in a statement.

“However, officers… are left with no choice in the interest of saving lives.”

More than 342,000 people have been arrested for contravening coronavirus measures since South Africa declared a national state of disaster in March 2020.

The country is the continent’s worst-affected by the pandemic, with more than 1.2 million coronavirus cases and 34,000 deaths recorded to date.

A week after President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the US Capitol, the US House of Representatives gathered on Wednesday to impeach the president for his role in an assault on American democracy that stunned the nation and left five dead.

At least five Republicans have said they would join Democrats to impeach Trump for the second time, just seven days before he is due to leave the office and President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in on January 20.

A vote of the House majority to impeach would trigger a trial in the still Republican-controlled Senate, although it was unclear whether such a trial would take place in time to expel Trump from the White House.

Washington is on high alert after the riot and with a week to go in Trump’s term. Thousands of National Guard troops were planned to be on hand and some members in fatigues, with weapons at hand, could be seen sleeping inside the Capitol building on Wednesday ahead of the session.

The House convened just after 9 a.m. (1400 GMT) in the same chamber where lawmakers hid under chairs last Wednesday as angry rioters clashed with police in the halls of the Capitol.

Democrats moved forward on an impeachment vote after Vice President Mike Pence rejected an effort to persuade him to invoke the 25th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to remove Trump.

“I do not believe that such a course of action is in the best interest of our Nation or consistent with our Constitution,” Pence said in a letter Tuesday evening to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Despite the letter, the House passed a resolution late Tuesday formally calling on Pence to act. The final vote was 223-205 in favour.

As the House prepared for the impeachment vote, there were signs Trump’s once-dominant hold on the Republican Party was beginning to ebb.

At least five House Republicans, including Liz Cheney, a member of her party’s leadership team, said they would vote for his second impeachment – a prospect no president before Trump has faced.

“There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution,” Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, said in a statement.

Trump “summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and let the flame of this attack” on the Capitol, she said.

Republicans Jaime Herrera Beutler, John Katko, Adam Kinzinger and Fred Upton also said they supported impeachment.

In a break from standard procedure, Republican leaders in the House have refrained from urging their members to vote against impeaching Trump, saying it was a matter of individual conscience.

The New York Times reported that the Republican majority leader of the U.S. Senate, Mitch McConnell, was said to be pleased about the impeachment push, another sign Trump’s party is looking to move on from him after the attack on Congress.

In his first public appearance since last Wednesday’s riot, Trump showed no contrition on Tuesday for his speech last week in which he called on his supporters to protest Biden’s victory by marching on the Capitol.

“What I said was totally appropriate,” Trump told reporters.

At a meeting to set the rules for Wednesday’s impeachment vote, Democratic Representative David Cicilline, who helped craft the impeachment measure, said the impeachment drive had the support of 217 lawmakers – enough to impeach Trump.

House Republicans who opposed the impeachment drive argued Democrats were going too far, as Trump was on the verge of leaving office.

“This is scary where this goes because this is about more than about impeaching the president of the United States. This is about cancelling the president and cancelling all the people you guys disagree with,” said Republican Representative Jim Jordan, one of Trump’s staunchest defenders when the president was impeached in 2019 after encouraging the government of Ukraine to dig up political dirt on Biden.

Pelosi on Tuesday named nine impeachment managers who would present the House’s case during a Senate trial. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 Democrat, said Democrats intended to send impeachment charges, once approved, to the Senate “as soon as possible.”

It remained unclear how swiftly such a trial would take place. McConnell has said no trial could begin until the chamber returns from its recess on January 19.

But Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who is set to become the majority leader after two Democrats from Georgia are seated and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris is sworn in later this month, told reporters the Senate could be recalled to handle the matter.

A two-thirds majority of the Senate is needed to convict Trump, meaning at least 17 Republicans in the 100-member chamber would have to vote for conviction.

Democrats could also use an impeachment trial to push through a vote blocking Trump from running for office again.

Only a simple Senate majority is needed to disqualify Trump from future office, but there is disagreement among legal experts as to whether an impeachment conviction is needed before a disqualification vote.

A different part of the Constitution, the 14th Amendment, also provides a procedure for disqualifying Trump from future office with a simple majority of both chambers.

An American woman who murdered a pregnant dog breeder in order to steal her baby was put to death by lethal injection on Wednesday, becoming the first female to be executed by US federal authorities in nearly seven decades.

The US Justice Department said Lisa Montgomery, 52, was pronounced dead at 1:31 am Eastern Time (0631 GMT) at a penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana.

It said the execution was “in accordance with the capital sentence unanimously recommended by a federal jury and imposed by the US District Court for the Western District of Missouri”.

The US Supreme Court cleared the way for Montgomery’s execution just hours earlier — despite doubts about her mental state – after the government of President Donald Trump had pushed for the application of the death penalty.

Montgomery’s defenders did not deny the seriousness of her crime: in 2004, she killed a pregnant 23-year-old in order to steal her baby.

But her lawyer Kelley Henry, in a statement, called the decision – the first for a female inmate since 1953 – a “vicious, unlawful, and unnecessary exercise of authoritarian power.”

“The craven bloodlust of a failed administration was on full display tonight,” Henry said. “

“Everyone who participated in the execution of Lisa Montgomery should feel shame.”

The execution came after a legal back-and-forth that ended with the country’s highest court allowing it to proceed.

Unable to have a child, Montgomery carefully identified her victim – 23-year-old dog breeder Bobbie Jo Stinnett – online.

Under the guise of buying a puppy, Montgomery went to Stinnett’s home, where she strangled her and cut the baby from her body.

In 2007 she was convicted of kidnapping resulting in death and handed a death sentence.

Her defenders believe that she suffered from severe mental health issues stemming from the abuse she suffered as a child. She did not understand the meaning of her sentence, they said, a prerequisite for execution.

On Monday evening, a federal judge offered the defense a brief lifeline, ordering a stay of execution to allow time to assess Montgomery’s mental state.

“The record before the Court contains ample evidence that Ms. Montgomery’s current mental state is so divorced from reality that she cannot rationally understand the government’s rationale for her execution,” the ruling stated.

But an appeals court overturned that decision on Tuesday, leaving it up to the US Supreme Court to decide. It said the execution could go ahead.

Trump, like many of his conservative constituents, is a strong supporter of the death penalty and ignored a plea for clemency from Montgomery’s supporters.

Despite the decline of capital punishment in the US and around the world, Trump’s administration resumed federal executions in July after a 17-year hiatus and has been carrying them out at an unprecedented rate ever since.

Since the summer, 10 Americans have died by lethal injection in Terre Haute. In addition to Montgomery, two men are scheduled for federal execution this week. Their executions were stayed on Tuesday due to them having contracted Covid-19.

Democratic Senator Dick Durbin on Monday announced the introduction of legislation to end federal executions. It could be passed once president-elect Joe Biden takes office next week and Democrats regain control of the Senate.

In a scathing statement, Helen Prejean, a Catholic nun known for her activism against the death penalty, spoke over the weekend of federal prosecutors “working all day and through the nights” to counter the appeals of federal inmates.

“You may not have to see the fear or smell the sweat in the execution chamber, but your hand is in this,” Prejean wrote, urging them to “just say ‘no’ this week to work to get one woman and two men executed the week before the Inauguration” of Biden.

Former guards of the penitentiary in Terre Haute have written to the Justice Department to request that the executions be postponed until the penitentiary staff are vaccinated against Covid-19.

Between the executioners, guards, witnesses, and lawyers, an execution assembles dozens of people in a closed environment, which is conducive to the spread of the virus.

US states, including the deeply conservative Texas, have suspended executions for months due to the pandemic – unlike the federal government, which has pushed to carry out many before Trump leaves power.

Ugandan Minister of State for the Vice Presidency, Dr. Baltazar Kasirivu-Atwooki, on Wednesday morning, survived an assassination attempted by gunmen who fired bullets at his vehicle in an ambush.

Dr Kasirivu, who is also the Bugangaizi West Member of Parliament, was allegedly waylaid by gunmen at around 1 am at Kakora village, Nyalweyo town council in Kakumiro District, a few kilometres away from his home.

Dr. Kasirivu, who was in his vehicle returning from a radio programme at Emambya FM in Kakumiro Town, faced gunfire where over eight bullets riddled through the vehicle.

He and his driver escaped unhurt after the driver sped off from the scene.

Dr. Kasirivu told Daily Monitor that he survived because of God’s mercy. He suspects the attack is politically motivated ahead of tomorrow’s general elections.

“They almost finished our lives. As we were approaching my home at a swampy place, unknown people who were armed with guns opened fire on us. As gunfire raged, I told the driver to speed off and that is how we escaped unhurt. I don’t know who was behind this attack but I have informed the police. It was a miracle for me to survive,” he said.

The minister’s bodyguard, who was driving the vehicle, said the ambush was laid by about two gunmen who were firing from both sides.

The Kakumiro District Police Commander, Mr. Twaha Buyinza confirmed that there was a shooting at the minister’s car adding that police investigations have commenced.

“I can confirm that there was a shooting at the minister’s car but we immediately dispatched police from Nyalweyo and more police officers are going to be dispatched to the scene of the crime to investigate the matter,” he said.

Dr. Kasirivu is vying for Bugangaizi West MP seat on an independent ticket after he lost in the September 2020 NRM party primary elections. He is facing Fred Byamukama (NRM) and Annet Kusingura (indep).

The United States has canceled its decision to observe Uganda’s election, which is scheduled for Thursday after the East African country’s electoral commission failed to accredit its observers.

The American ambassador to Uganda, Natalie Brown, said in a statement on Wednesday that the electoral commission had despite constant pleas and reminders failed to issue its observers with the necessary documents required for the elections, leaving them with no choice but to withdraw their support.

Brown said that only 15 of its observers had been granted access to the polls, a number short of the figure that the mission had requested, just a day before the country heads to one of its hotly contested polls in decades.

“It is with profound disappointment that I announce U.S. Mission in Uganda’s decision to cancel our diplomatic observation of Uganda’s January 14 elections due to the decision by the Electoral Commission of Uganda to deny more than 75 percent of the US election observer accreditations requested,” Brown said.

“With only 15 accreditations approved, it is not possible for the United States to meaningfully observe the conduct of Uganda’s elections at polling sites across the country,” she added.

The ambassador’s statement follows reports of new tension between Ugandan police and the opposition after President Yoweri Museveni’s opponent Bobi Wine claimed that a number of his security personnel had been arrested during an early morning raid on Wednesday.

Wine, through his official Twitter handle, said the raid also resulted in the withdrawal of security officers attached to members of his staff.

“So, the private security company that has been guarding my home for the last 12 years has been ordered to withdraw security at my house. Their supervisors showed up unannounced at midnight, disarmed my guard, and said they had instructions to immediately withdraw my security,” Wine said.

Uganda heads to what many observers describe as one of the country’s most fiercely fought presidential elections, pitting President Museveni against Wine and 10 other contestants.

Wine, a popular figure among the youthful urban population, has in the past few months waged a strong opposition against Museveni’s leadership, accusing the Head of State of dictatorship, intimidation, and running down the economy.

But the 76-year old Museveni, who has expressed confidence of winning a sixth term in office, has termed the campaigns by the opposition inconsequential, accusing Wine and his team of poisoning the otherwise peaceful Uganda with radical philosophies and ideas.

Ambassador Brown also said on Wednesday that concerns were growing over reports that a number of missions, observers, and members of the civil society had been denied access to observe the elections, raising doubts on the credibility of the polls.

“Numerous civil society organizations planned to observe the elections, but many have not heard back from the Electoral Commission on their accreditation applications. Among those civil society organizations which already had organizational accreditation, the vast majority of their individual observers have not yet – two days ahead of elections – received accreditation badges,” she said.

“Uganda’s elections will lack the accountability, transparency, and confidence that observer missions provide. Uganda will also miss the opportunity to benefit from observers’ insights to improve and inform future elections,” she added.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says it has completed the fourth review of Angola’s economic programme supported by an extended arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF).

IMF said the decision by its Executive Board allows the immediate disbursement of SDR 338.5 million – about $487.5 million, bringing total disbursements under the arrangement to SDR 2,143.2 m (about $3 billion).

Angola’s three-year extended arrangement was approved by the Executive Board on December 7, 2018, in the amount of SDR 2.673 billion (about $3.7 billion at the time).

It aims to restore external and fiscal sustainability, improve governance, and diversify the economy to promote sustainable, private sector-led economic growth.

At the time of the third review, the Executive Board also approved a request for access to SDR 540 million (about $765 million) to support the efforts against the Covid-19 pandemic and sustain structural reform implementation.

Angola recorded its first two cases of the coronavirus on March 21, 2020 – two people who had returned from Portugal.

As of January 11, the country had reported 18,254 cases with 3, 009 of them active, 420 deaths, and 14,825 recoveries.

Despite challenges due to the pandemic, Angolan authorities have demonstrated a strong commitment to sound policies under the IMF-supported arrangement, according to a statement from the funder, which quoted Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair Antoinette Sayeh.

The authorities’ robust policy response has enabled Angola to weather large external shocks, most notably lower oil revenues, and mitigate their macroeconomic impact while protecting the most vulnerable.

“The authorities also need to maintain momentum in other structural reforms that support stronger diversified growth, enhance governance and combat corruption”, Ms. Sayeh said.

This is not the first time Angola is getting support to boost an economy hit by Covid-19.

Earlier in January, the country got a $61.3 million loan from the Europe Bank to fight the pandemic and a donation of $ 6.1 million for technical support. The institution had earlier donated biosecurity equipment and test kits to the southern African country.

Previously, the  EU has also donated Angola $ 16, 37 m (€20 m)for supporting the response to the socio-economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In its bid to revive an oil-dependent economy battered by Covid-19, the Angolan government sees diversification as the way out.

Oil production continues to account for approximately 50 percent of Angola’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 80 percent of government revenue, and 95 percent of exports.

Agriculture’s contribution to the GDP – including forestry and fisheries – stands at about eight percent.

The non-oil sector in Angola is mainly dominated by agriculture, banking, communications, fisheries, state-owned retail stores, and diamond production.

In July, the African Development Bank (AfDB) set aside $1.04 million for two Covid-19 research projects in Angola, the institution confirmed Thursday.

“Funds from the AfDB’s ongoing Science and Technology Development Project have been committed towards the two research.

US President-elect Joe Biden on Monday announced William Burns as his pick to lead the Central Intelligence Agency, tapping a retired veteran diplomat who helped lead secret talks with Iran.

Burns spent over three decades in the US foreign service, including a stint as ambassador to Russia from 2005-2008, and high-ranking jobs in the State Department.

“Bill Burns is an exemplary diplomat with decades of experience on the world stage, keeping our people and our country safe and secure,” Biden said in a statement released by his transition team.

Burns, who holds a masters and doctoral degrees from Oxford University also served as US ambassador to Oman from 1998-2001.

He retired from the Foreign Service in 2014 and is the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, an international affairs think tank in the United States.

Burns had been considered a likely candidate to lead the State Department under Biden, given his deep experience with Iran.

He was involved in back-channel negotiations that set the stage for the 2015 deal to limit Iran’s nuclear capabilities.

“The fact that we did it quietly or secretly caused a certain amount of controversy,” he said in a 2016 interview.

“But the reality is that after 35 years without sustained diplomatic contact between the United States and Iran, there was a huge amount of baggage, a lot of mistrust, and a lot of grievances.”

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune was flown back to Germany on Sunday for treatment in hospital after suffering complications in his foot caused by Covid-19.

Asharq Al-Awsat News reported that the 75-year-old had returned home two weeks ago from Germany after two months of treatment for the coronavirus.

In a statement seen by the publication, the presidency said the treatment of the complications was not urgent.

Tebboune decided to postpone the treatment because of various obligations that prompted him to return home on December 29.

France24 reported that the president had spoken briefly upon his return, wishing a happy new year to all Algerians and was much better than in 2020, implying that he was almost cured of the virus.

Asharq Al-Awsat News spoke to a public hospital medic who said that Tebboune’s habit of heavy smoking likely triggered a case of deep-vein thrombosis in his leg.

The physician also said the reason the president spent more than 60 days abroad being treated for the coronavirus, which is much longer than the average period, was due to complications in his lungs.

In its latest update, Algeria has reported 102 144 Covid-19 cases. The North African country has also recorded 69 212 recoveries and 2 807 deaths to date.

Tebboune won a boycotted presidential election in December 2019, following months of mass protests that had swept his predecessor Abdelaziz Bouteflika from office.

Mass protests broke out in early 2019 against Bouteflika’s bid for a fifth term in office.