June 13, 2021

Zimbabwe Reimposes a Lockdown to Contain Rising Coronavirus Cases

Zimbabwe’s government on Monday is reintroducing a lockdown as a way to contain rising coronavirus cases in the southern African nation.

Announcing the 12-hour curfew Saturday night on national television, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga said complacency had resulted in a recent spike in cases of the coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 disease.

“Our vaccination against in COVID-19 is going on very well,” he said. “The country is however experiencing a surge in cases. The last seven days has seen 596 new cases and 26 deaths, as compared to the same period in May last year where we had 132 cases and six deaths.”

Chiwenga, who doubles as Zimbabwe’s health minister, said all gatherings except for funerals would be banned comes Monday. Only 30 people would be allowed at funerals. He did not indicate when the new measures would be reviewed.

Itai Rusike, head of nonprofit Community Working Group on Health in Zimbabwe, commended the government for tightening the lockdown to avoid a “pending third wave disaster.”

“Yes, this may look a bit draconian, but the measures are still necessary if we are to save lives. It is important that the people of Zimbabwe should embrace these measures. It is also important for Zimbabweans that are eligible for vaccination to come forward and willingly get vaccinated if the country is to move forward towards achieving herd immunity of vaccinating at least 60% of the population which translates to about 10 million Zimbabweans,” he said.

Zimbabwe’s vaccination effort against the infection has recently been hit by shortages of the shots. But officials say the country still has stocks of the 1.7 million vaccines it has received from China, Russia and India since February.

Last week, Zimbabwe received 25,000 Sputnik V doses from Russia. That was a few days after it rejected Johnson & Johnson vaccines from the African Union, financed by the African Export-Import Bank. Zimbabwe has 39,852 confirmed coronavirus infections and 1,632 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University, which tracks the global outbreak.

Source: Voice of America

June 13, 2021

Cameroon Albinos Ask for Greater Attention, Care

International Albinism Awareness Day on June 13 has been observed in Cameroon, with albinos asking for more government and community care and protection. Those living with this hereditary genetic condition that reduces melanin pigment in skin, hair and eyes, say stigma, violence, superstition and killing have greatly lessened, but abuses have not been eliminated.

One hundred and sixty albinos and their family members assembled at the World Association for Advocacy and Solidarity of Albinos office in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde, to mark International Albinism Awareness Day.

Among them is 16-year-old albino Ronald Essi, who said he was abandoned because of his condition.

Essi said he wants to become a police officer to defend his country Cameroon and punish civilians who abuse albinos’ rights. He said his mother abandoned him when he was two years old. He said his grandmother resisted family pressure to kill him. He said he has been living in the streets since 2015, when his grandmother died.

Essi said a Catholic priest rescued him from the street and sent him to a school in Yaoundé.

Essi is one of the about 2,200 albinos the government says live in Cameroon.

This year Cameroon reported that prejudice and discrimination against albinos in employment and social life had lowered drastically. The government said hunting down albinos for their body parts has been eliminated from many communities.

Witch doctors who claim that albinos bring wealth and good luck to people who have access to their body parts are disappearing. In many communities, albino babies are no longer considered signs of misfortune and buried alive or starved until they die.

Jean-Jacques Ndoudoumou, the founding president of the World Association for Advocacy and Solidarity of Albinos, says albinos are gradually being accepted by communities.

He said the association he leads is happy, as people are increasingly accepting albinos as normal human beings. He said many albinos have graduated from universities and are using the knowledge they acquire to contribute to developing Cameroon. He said complaints of stigma and violence on albinos have greatly declined and there are now marriages between albinos and people without the condition.

Ndoudoumou said his association has instructed all its members to continue teaching people albinos are normal human beings who need special assistance.

Gregoire Amindeh is member of The Association for the Promotion of the Rights of Albinos.

Amindeh said that although Cameroon’s government has done a lot, albinos still urgently need special reading glasses and handheld magnifiers to stop their high school dropout rate from low vision. He said they need subsidies to be treated in hospitals since their skin is extremely sensitive to the sun and can develop cancer. He said skin cancers remain a major cause of death in African albinos.

Pauline Irene Nguene, Cameroon’s minister of social affairs, says albinos are placed in the group of people with special protection needs. She said Cameroon ensures the socio-economic integration and protection of albinos, and immediately intervenes to protect albinos whenever cases of abuse are reported.

She said in 2020, staff of her ministry visited more than a hundred villages where abuses of the rights of albinos were reported. She said civilians in the villages were taught in their local languages to respect the health, education and social rights of albinos. She said the government has continued to lobby for private enterprises, schools and outside organizations not to reject albinos looking for positions in their institutions.

Nguene said 60 government offices created in Cameroon’s administrative units receive complaints and immediately help albinos in need.

International Albinism Awareness Day is observed by the United Nations on June 13 every year. This year’s theme, “Strength Beyond All Odds,” according to the U.N. highlights the achievements of people with albinism all over the world.

Source: Voice of America

June 13, 2021

Cameroon Aids CAR Citizens Displaced by Ongoing Post-Election Violence

Cameroon has offered huge consignments of food and mattresses to at least 3,000 displaced persons said to be in dire need on its eastern border with the Central African Republic. Most of the people, displaced by violence following December presidential elections in the CAR, say they lost everything and that ongoing unrest keeps them from returning home.

At least 700 displaced people from the Central African Republic turned out in Kentzou, an administrative unit on Cameroon’s eastern border with the CAR, Friday to receive assistance from the host country. One day earlier, Cameroon said it had sent a delegation led by Territorial Administration Minister Paul Atanga Nji to eastern Cameroon to help those displaced by the CAR crisis.

Nji visited several border villages and administrative units, including Kentzou and Garoua-Boulai. Nji said he distributed food and humanitarian assistance from the government of Cameroon. He said Cameroon decided to assist displaced persons after local government officials said the Central Africans were living in poverty.

He said the government of Cameroon mobilized 17 trucks to transport and donate mattresses, blankets, buckets and food to at least 3,400 displaced people. He said President Paul Biya instructed him to tell the displaced persons to live in peace and respect Cameroon’s laws. He said Cameroon wants to know when the displaced will want to voluntarily return to the CAR.

The violence that sparked the exodus involves armed groups and has been ongoing since Austin-Archange Touadera was reelected president in December. Much of the trouble is centered on border areas. It is suspected that fleeing rebels are among the displaced persons.

Nji said Cameroon was delighted that the items will improve the living conditions of the displaced persons until they go home.

Donatien Barka, the mayor of Kentzou, however, said host communities have been reporting clashes with the displaced Central Africans and that the area is no longer secure.

Barka said between 2017 and 2020, some 32,000 people displaced by the fighting have sought refuge in Kentzou. He said the influx inundated the 28,000 inhabitants of Kentzou and that theft of food and cattle, and conflicts over lodging and farmlands were reported daily. He said Cameroon reinforced its military in Kentzou in January when rebels protesting the CAR leadership came to Kentzou illegally.

Barka said he did not have updated figures of the number of displaced people remaining in Kentzou because movement across the porous border is uncontrolled. He said when there is fighting in the CAR, people cross over to Cameroon. He said his wish is for the displaced persons to return to their country.

Martial Beti-Marace, the CAR’s ambassador to Cameroon, says peace is gradually returning to the CAR and civilians who fled fighting should agree to voluntarily return to their country.

Speaking from the CAR’s capital Bangui, he said democratic institutions are gradually being put in place after the December 27 elections in which a majority of CAR civilians chose Touadera as their president. He said a majority of civilians who fled bloody conflicts between government troops and rebels in the CAR have voluntarily returned and are living in peace in their towns and villages.

Beti-Marace said Cameroon and the CAR are both struggling to maintain a collective peace because a crisis in either country affects them both. He said Cameroon and the CAR are trying to convince displaced persons to return home and contribute to the development of their country.

Violence among armed groups since 2013 has forced close to a million Central Africans to flee to neighboring Cameroon, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria.

Cameroon shares a 900-kilometer border with the CAR. Cameroon’s Territorial Administration Ministry says Cameroon has taken in and is home to more 300,000 displaced Central Africans.

Source: Voice of America

June 13, 2021

Official Consecration of His Reverend Abune Qerlos, 5th Patriarch of Eritrea

Official Ceremony for the Consecration of His reverend Abune Qerlos, 5th Patriarch of Eritrea’s Orthodox Tewahdo Church, held today at Asmara’s St. Mary’s Church with all the elaborated church rituals. Representatives of monasteries, dioceses, administrations, and departments of the Holy Synod as well as Theological Colleges, Government officials, and members of the diplomatic corps attended the official ceremony. At the ceremony, a brief history of His Reverend Abune Qerlos was presented.

His Reverend Abune Qerlos has been elected as 5th Patriarch of Eritrea’s Orthodox Tewahdo Church in an election conducted on 12 May in Asmara in accordance with the norms and regulations of the Holy Synod and the Church.

Abune Qerlos was Arch-Bishop of Adi-Keih Diocese.

Source: Ministry of Information Eritrea

June 13, 2021

Ethiopians, Eritreans in UK Stage Rally

(ENA) The “Defend Ethiopia” task force in collaboration with Ethiopians and Eritreans living in the UK and the Ethiopian Embassy in London organized and made a rally in Cornwell, South West England

According to Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the purpose of the rally held in Cornwell, South West England where the G7 countries summit is being hosted, is to protest the undue pressure on Ethiopia that compromises the country’s sovereignty.

Source: Ethiopia News agency