– NEWS –
New allegations of massacres in Tigray: Almost three weeks ago, the UN’s high commissioner for human rights called for an independent investigation into human rights violations that may amount to war crimes in Ethiopia’s Tigray region. A CNN investigation published on Friday revealed a massacre which took place during a religious festival in the town of Dengelat late last year. Now, more evidence of sexual violence being used as a deliberate weapon of war is emerging from Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region. Women are being gang-raped, drugged and held hostage, according to medical records and testimonies from survivors shared with CNN. According to the doctors, almost all the women they treat recount similar stories of being raped by Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers.
cnn.com, cnn.com
Tanzania’s head of state dies – first woman appointed president: Samia Suluhu Hassan was sworn in as Tanzania’s president at State House in Dar es Salaam on Friday, making history as the first woman to hold the top job in the East African country. The 61-year-old’s inauguration comes two days after she announced the passing of President John Magufuli. Prior to his death, Magufuli had not been seen in public for over two weeks, prompting speculation that he may have been suffering from Covid-19, which he had repeatedly denied was a problem in Tanzania.
dw.com
South Africa sells its own AstraZeneca supplies to neighbors: South Africa has concluded the sale of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines to other African Union (AU) member states, the health ministry said on Sunday. The country had paused AstraZeneca vaccinations last month because of a small trial showing the shot offered minimal protection against mild to moderate illness caused by the dominant local coronavirus variant. At the time, South Africa had received 1 million AstraZeneca doses from the Serum Institute of India and the delivery of another 500,000 was pending. The ministry said it had in the past weeks worked to ensure that all member states identified by the AU vaccines acquisition teams as recipients of the vaccines were compliant and had obtained all regulatory approvals, permits and licenses to roll out the vaccines in their respective countries.
reuters.com
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Opposition leader dies of Covid a few days after the election in Congo: Republic of Congo opposition leader Guy-Brice Parfait Kolelae died of coronavirus while he was being transferred to France for treatment, his campaign director said Monday. The news came a day after presidential elections in which he was the main challenger. Kolelas tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday, and could not host his last campaign meeting in Brazzaville. The presidential election had been boycotted by the main opposition and took place under an internet blackout. Critics had voiced concerns about the transparency of polls, which were seen as tilted in favor of veteran leader Denis Sassou Nguesso. Kolelas was the main rival to Sassou Nguesso, who has been the Republic of Congo’s leader for total of 36 years since 1979.
dw.com
Criminal court decides in dispute between Somalia and Kenya: The ongoing standoff between Kenya and Somalia over a sizable area of the Indian Ocean has sparked concern among hundreds of thousands of people who depend on the region’s rich fishing grounds for survival. After Somalia first brought the case to the table in 2014, the UN’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) was scheduled to begin the public hearing in The Hague on Monday. The proceedings were expected to run until March 24. Before proceedings could begin, Kenya’s government announced its intent to withdraw from the case and present its complaints to the UN Security Council, of which it is currently a nonpermanent member. Based on international maritime law, the court was widely expected to rule in Somalia’s favor.
dw.com
UN report says arms embargo against Libya is completely ineffective: In a report on Tuesday, a United Nations panel of experts declared the 2011 arms embargo on Libya to be “completely ineffective”. “Designated terrorist teams remained energetic in Libya, albeit with diminished actions. Their acts of violence proceed to have a disruptive impact on the steadiness and safety of the nation”, the report stated. According to the investigation, which covers a period from October 2019 to the end of January 2020, the embargo is regularly violated by international allies of both sides in the Libyan civil war. Until the recent agreement on a transitional government to represent the entire country, the renegade General Khalifa Haftar in the North African country had been in conflict with the allies of the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan and Russia and a government supported by Qatar and Turkey in Tripoli.
mena-watch.com
EU continues Irini mission to monitor arms embargo against Libya euractiv.de
Mohamed Bazoum elected President of Niger spiegel.de
At least 40 dead in attack in Niger derstandard.de
Egyptian suffragette Nawal al-Saadawi dies at the age of 89 dw.com
– BACKGROUND –
Covid vaccinations in Africa continue to be sluggish: It becomes clear what a luxury it is to speak of disaster in the vaccination campaign in Germany when one takes a look at the numbers from southern Africa. Only around 183,000 doctors and nurses have been vaccinated in South Africa so far, in part due to the still unequal global distribution of available vaccination reserves. The government expects around 500,000 people to be vaccinated by the end of March. Overall, only around half of all African countries have received vaccination doses through the Covax initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO). 7 million people on the continent have been vaccinated so far, 90 percent of them with AstraZeneca. With a total population of around 1.36 billion, this is too low a number.
taz.de
Streaming is becoming more popular in Africa: The audio giant Spotify is discovering the African market. If the Swedish company is currently only available in five countries on the continent, it should be 39 by the end of the year. There are now over 25 streaming platforms in Africa, including smaller local providers. Nevertheless, the Nigerian technology analyst Victor Ekwelaor is skeptical of the cheers from the streaming companies that the market is booming. The main point against this is the low prevalence of the internet. Only 29 percent of the people on the continent use it.
dw.com
Digital startups as new colonial masters? Digital startups as new colonial masters? Western digital startups are discovering the African market for themselves. The digitization campaigns are often used as a model for trying to escape poverty with few resources through the blessings of modern technology. The companies and their products all too often reproduce the colonialist image of the “noble white savior” in their appearance. “Although these credit mechanisms have been sold as a way out of poverty, as a way to give bank access to women without an account, these people are suffering the effects. While the startups, which are founded and run almost exclusively by people from Western countries, make a lot of money,“ says Abeba Birhane, PhD student at University College Dublin.
deutschlandfunkkultur.de
– NUMBER –
The crew of the „Ocean Viking“ rescued 106 castaways on Monday who were in distress around 60 kilometers off the Libyan coast in the Mediterranean.
dw.com
– QUOTE –
„This century is the century of Africa. Togo is on the way forward. […] We want to support this course with our reform partnership and thus bring our cooperation to a qualitatively new level.“
German Development Minister Gerd Müller at a meeting with Togolese Foreign Minister Robert Dussey to sign a declaration of intent on a reform partnership between the two countries.
bmz.de
– AT LAST –
The need for Chinese medicines triggers a donkey shortage in Africa: The need for Chinese medicines triggers a donkey shortage in Africa: the alleged miracle drug „Ejiao“ is enjoying increasing popularity among the Chinese middle class. The gelatin from donkey skin is said to act as a sexual enhancer, make the skin beautiful and promote healthy sleep. In East Africa, however, from where the animals are imported, the increasing demand has led to a solid „donkey crisis“, as one newspaper puts it. Accordingly, there is now even a threat of complete annihilation of the donkey population on the continent.
bild.de