New hope for Ebola victims

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Written by northsouth

Category: Africa

Published: 13 August 2019

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KINSHASA - Ebola can no longer be called an incurable disease, scientists have said, after two of four drugs being trialled in the major outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo were found to have significantly reduced the death rate.

ZMapp, used during the massive Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, has been dropped along with Remdesivir after two monoclonal antibodies, which block the virus, had substantially more effect, said the World Health Organization and the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which was a co-sponsor of the trial.

The trial in the DRC, which started in November, has now been stopped. All Ebola treatment units will now use the two monoclonal antibody drugs.

“From now on, we will no longer say that Ebola is incurable,” said Prof Jean-Jacques Muyembe, the director general of the Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale in DRC, which has overseen the trial. “These advances will help save thousands of lives.”

One of the biggest obstacles in fighting the year-long DRC outbreak, the second biggest ever and now with 2,800 cases, has been the reluctance of those who fall sick to seek treatment.

It has not helped that the chances of survival have been low – up to 70% of those infected in the DRC have died. Muyembe said many people saw family members go into an Ebola treatment centre and come out dead.

“Now that 90% of their patients can go into the treatment centre and come out completely cured, they will start believing it and building trust in the population and community,” he said.

Anthony Fauci, the director of the US NIAID, said the overall mortality of those given ZMapp in the trial in four centres was 49% while that of Remdesivir was 53%. A monoclonal antibody drug made by Regeneron had the lowest overall death rate, at 29%, while the monoclonal antibody 114 made by Ridgeback Biotherapeutics had a mortality rate of 34%.

But the results in people who arrived at a treatment centre soon after they became sick, rather than staying at home, were even more impressive – with death rates of 24% on ZMapp, 33% with Remdesivir, 11% with 114 and just 6% with Regeneron’s drug.

On average, people who fall ill are not turning up at a treatment centre for four days, said Dr Michael Ryan from the World Health Organization. This reduces their chances of survival and makes it likely that the virus, spread through bodily fluids, will be transmitted to their families.

“The numbers might change,” said Fauci. “Not all the data has been accumulated.” The two monoclonal antibodies will both now be used in every treatment centre in DRC.

Fauci paid tribute to all of those involved in the trial in four towns: Beni, Katwa, Butembo and Mangina. NGOs including International Medical Corps and Médecins Sans Frontières “put their lives on the line every day to care for patients in extremely difficult conditions in the area where the outbreak is occurring,” he said.

Clinical trials in epidemic conditions are hard – even more so in Ebola outbreaks, where medical staff have to wear protective suits and all patients must be isolated.(FA)

Libya drone strike kills dozens

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Written by northsouth

Category: Africa

Published: 05 August 2019

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TRIPOLI - At least 42 people have died in a drone strike in south-western Libya carried out by the forces of rebel Gen Khalifa Haftar, local officials say.

The strike hit a town hall meeting in the town of Murzuq, reports say.

Gen Haftar's forces - which are based in eastern Libya - say they targeted the town late on Sunday, but deny targeting civilians.

The country has been torn by conflict since the fall of long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

The air strike left "42 dead and more than 60 injured, 30 of them critically" at the town hall in Qalaa neighbourhood, where more than 200 people were at a meeting "to settle social differences", council official Ibrahim Omar told AFP news agency.

Local media earlier reported that the strike had hit a wedding party.

The UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) condemned the attack on social media and accused Gen Haftar's forces of carrying it out.

It also urged the UN to "carry out an investigation into the crimes committed by Haftar's militias in Murzuq".

Pro-Haftar media outlets said the attack had targeted Chadian mercenaries, which is how they refer to the Tebu ethnic group which opposes Gen Haftar.

Months of fighting between the GNA and Mr Haftar's forces has claimed more than 1,000 lives since April, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

This is the second time in two months that an air strike thought to be by Gen Haftar's forces has resulted in mass civilian casualties.

In June, some 44 people were killed in a migrant detention centre on the outskirts of Tripoli.

His forces seized Murzuq earlier this year as part of an offensive to take control of the oil-producing south - but they later withdrew.(FA)

South African corruption fighter seen amplifying ANC battles

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Written by northsouth

Category: Africa

Published: 30 July 2019

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By Alexander Winning

JOHANNESBURG - To allies of President Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa’s anti-corruption watchdog is a wrecking ball who is abusing her office and could derail efforts to clean up government

and turn the economy around. To Ramaphosa’s opponents, she is holding the country’s top officials to account without fear or favor.

Busisiwe Mkhwebane, who was plucked from relative obscurity when she was appointed public protector in 2016, denies playing politics. She says some of her most attention-grabbing

investigations were the result of complaints raised by members of the opposition, which she has a duty to scrutinize.

But her recommendations for disciplinary action against Ramaphosa and one of his closest allies, public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan, have placed her at the center of a bitter power

rivalry in the governing African National Congress (ANC) between supporters of the president and his scandal-plagued predecessor Jacob Zuma.

Political analysts warn that the powers of Mkhwebane’s office, which played an important role in keeping Zuma in check, can just as easily be used to settle political scores.

The public protector has authority enshrined in the constitution to investigate alleged wrongdoing by public officials and demand remedial action.

Because Ramaphosa and others are bound to comply, the consequences of her investigations can be far-reaching. One danger, analysts say, is that Mkhwebane will tie up Ramaphosa and his

allies with questionable investigations, which will take them months to fight in the courts.

“The public protector is polarising politics and exacerbating factionalism in the ANC,” said Ebrahim Fakir, an analyst at the Johannesburg-based Auwal Socio-Economic Research Institute. “She

could distract Ramaphosa from critical tasks like creating jobs and attracting investment.”

ZUMA’S PICK?

Mkhwebane, who did not respond to questions submitted by Reuters last week, remains an enigmatic figure to many South Africans.

A former security analyst and mid-level bureaucrat, she worked in the public protector’s office between 1999 and 2005 before moving to the home affairs ministry. She did a stint in the South

African embassy in China before joining the state security agency in 2016.

When her candidacy was discussed before a parliamentary committee, two opposition parties, the Democratic Alliance (DA) and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), said they had been tipped

off that she was Zuma’s pick and were worried about her links to the state security agency, a ministry staffed by Zuma loyalists.

ANC lawmakers, who made up roughly half the members on the parliamentary committee that recommended her nomination, said they found her interview impressive.

But Mkhwebane had less legal experience than some other applicants, and former colleagues have since raised questions about her competence.

An official who worked with Mkhwebane at the home affairs ministry told Reuters her approach to the law at that time was reckless.

Mkhwebane supported a policy change to house refugees in processing camps pending a decision on their status, which would have been in contravention of the constitution and an

international refugee convention, according to the official, who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

Only when home affairs got a legal opinion from the foreign ministry advising against the move did Mkhwebane back down, the official said.

SELECTIVE JUSTICE?

One of the main accusations against Mkhwebane is that she is selective in the cases she pursues.

Mkhwebane says she has issued more than 100 reports since she took office and dealt with more than 34,000 complaints.

Many of those haven’t attracted much media attention.

But when she has taken on high-profile cases, such as her investigations into an apartheid-era bank bailout by the central bank, a donation to Ramaphosa’s 2017 campaign for ANC leader or

an investigative unit set up by Gordhan while he was tax commissioner, they have often ended up in the courts.

Part of the problem, legal experts say, is that she has made errors that fueled suspicions of bias.

South Africa’s highest court ruled last week that Mkhwebane’s investigation into the bailout was flawed and that she had misrepresented important facts under oath.

Pierre de Vos, a constitutional law expert, said her reports concerning Ramaphosa and Gordhan also contained errors. In blog posts, he described her finding that Ramaphosa had misled

parliament about the donation as a “legal and factual mess” and called the Gordhan investigation “irrational”.

Ramaphosa has said he will challenge Mkhwebane’s findings in court. A judge on Monday granted Gordhan’s request for an urgent interdict to stay disciplinary proceedings against him.

SECRETIVE APPROACH

One person who has worked closely with Mkhwebane in her current role said most of her blunders were a product of her secretive approach to investigations.

The person, who was not authorized to speak to the media, said Mkhwebane did not consult widely and had surrounded herself with people who agreed with her.

Mkhwebane has said civil society groups are waging a campaign against her and that her office is underfunded and has skills shortages.

That doesn’t wash with Ramaphosa’s allies.

ANC Chairman Gwede Mantashe said last month that the public protector was playing a political role, while a senior Communist Party official called her a “hired gun”.

Outspoken ANC officials such as Tony Yengeni, who support more radical policies than Ramaphosa, leapt to her defense, hailing Mkhwebane as “our Lady Justice”.

ORDAINED BY GOD

After the constitutional court judgment, calls for her removal gained momentum.

The DA asked the speaker of parliament to schedule an early debate on Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office.

But the ANC, which has around 58% of lawmakers in the lower house, is divided over what should be done with Mkhwebane.

Removing a public protector before the end of their non-renewable seven-year term is not easy. First a parliamentary committee would have to submit a recommendation to the lower house,

then that recommendation would have to be approved by a two-thirds majority.

The EFF, with 11% of the seats in parliament, would most likely vote against Mkhwebane’s removal, as would a potentially sizeable part of the ANC.

Ramaphosa doesn’t want to be seen to be counting on the DA, his party’s main rival with 21% of lawmakers, for support.

“With an investigation hanging over him, Ramaphosa also can’t be seen to be pushing too hard for her removal,” analyst Fakir said.

Even if such a motion were to pass, Mkhwebane could decide to challenge her removal in court.

Addressing a sheriffs’ association last month, she was defiant.

“I strongly believe I was placed in this position by the God that I serve,” she said, “and I believe that only he can remove me if he is of the view that I have failed.”