Uganda to Close Schools Early After Eight Children Die of Ebola

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Written by northsouth

Category: Africa

Published: 12 November 2022

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KAMPALA - Schools across Uganda will close two weeks before the scheduled end of term after 23 Ebola cases were confirmed among pupils, including eight children who died.

Education Minister Janet Kataha Museveni said on Tuesday that the cabinet had taken the decision to close preschools, primary schools and secondary schools on November 25 because densely packed classrooms were making students highly vulnerable to infection.

“Closing schools earlier will reduce areas of concentration where children are in daily close contact with fellow children, teachers and other staff who could potentially spread the virus,” the minister, who is also the wife of longtime President Yoweri Museveni, said in a statement.

Students in Uganda are currently in their third and final term of the calendar year.

According to government figures from Sunday, 135 people have been infected with Ebola and 53 have died.

The World Health Organization (WHO) last week said Uganda had registered more than 150 confirmed and probable cases, including 64 fatalities. Uganda’s last recorded death from a previous Ebola outbreak was in 2019.

The virus circulating in Uganda is the Sudan strain of Ebola, for which there is no proven vaccine, unlike the more common Zaire strain, which spread during recent outbreaks in neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Friday reiterated his refusal to impose a nationwide Covid-like lockdown to contain the spread of Ebola despite a worrying increase in cases..."There will be NO LOCKDOWN. Therefore, people should go ahead and concentrate on their work without any worry," he said on Twitter.

Official confirms detailed Ethiopia peace deal is final

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Written by northsouth

Category: Africa

Published: 03 November 2022

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By CARA ANNA

NAIROBI, Kenya — An official close to the Ethiopian peace talks says the copy of the “permanent cessation of hostilities” agreement obtained by The Associated Press with details on disarmament of Tigray forces and federal control of the Tigray region is the signed and final one.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity Thursday, a day after the deal’s announcement, because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly. Enormous challenges lie ahead in implementing the deal, including getting all parties to lay down arms or withdraw.

The agreement says Tigray forces will be disarmed, starting with “light weapons” within 30 days of Wednesday’s signing, and Ethiopian federal security forces will take full control of “all federal facilities, installations, and major infrastructure such as airports and highways within the Tigray region.”

The final, detailed agreement hasn’t been made public, but the brief joint statement read out by the warring parties Wednesday night notes “a detailed program of disarmament” and ”restoration of constitutional order” in Tigray.

The war in Africa’s second-most populous country, which marks two years on Friday, has seen abuses documented on both sides, with millions of people displaced and many near famine.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed asserted on a visit to southern Ethiopia that his government’s proposal at the talks was accepted completely and the government was ready to “open our hearts” for peace to prevail. He also said the issue of contested areas will only be resolved through the law of the land and negotiations.

Ethiopian media outlets have ceased using the word “terrorist” to refer to Tigray authorities and forces. The country is holding a remembrance event Thursday for some victims of the conflict.

Inside Tigray, one humanitarian source in the town of Shire said there was no sound of gunfire, as in the past few days, and a “blockade” of movement on people and vehicles was still in place. Like many inside Tigray, the source spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.

Ethiopian govt, Tigray agree to end fighting after 2 years

Ethiopia’s warring sides agreed Wednesday in Pretoria, South Africa, to a permanent cessation of hostilities in a conflict believed to have killed hundreds of thousands, but enormous challenges lie ahead, including getting all parties to lay down arms or withdraw.

The war in Africa’s second-most populous country, which marks two years on Friday, has seen abuses documented on both sides, with millions of people displaced and many near famine.

“The level of destruction is immense,” said the lead negotiator for Ethiopia’s government, Redwan Hussein. Lead Tigray negotiator Getachew Reda expressed a similar sentiment and noted that “painful concessions” had been made. Exhausted Ethiopians, urged by the parties to “stop voices of division and hate,” watched them shake hands.

A draft text of the agreement, shared with The Associated Press by a diplomat, says Tigray forces will be disarmed, starting with “light weapons” within 30 days of Wednesday’s signing, and Ethiopian federal security forces will take full control of “all federal facilities, installations, and major infrastructure such as airports and highways within the Tigray region.” The final, detailed agreement was not made public, but the brief joint statement notes “a detailed program of disarmament” and ”restoration of constitutional order” in Tigray.

Ethiopia’s government will continue restoring basic services to the Tigray region, where communications, transport and banking links for more than 5 million people have been severed since fighting began. The parties also commit to unfettered humanitarian access.

“The devil will be in the implementation,” said former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who helped facilitate the talks. An African Union panel with representatives from both sides and Africa experts will monitor the process.

It was not immediately clear when independent journalists and human rights researchers would be allowed into Tigray.

Major questions remain. Neighboring Eritrea, which has fought alongside Ethiopia, was not part of the peace talks. It’s not clear to what extent its deeply repressive government, which has long considered Tigray authorities a threat, will respect the agreement. The draft says the Ethiopian and Tigray sides agree to stop “collusion with any external force hostile to either party.” Eritrea’s information minister didn’t reply to questions.

Eritrean forces have been blamed for some of the conflict’s worst abuses, including gang rapes, and witnesses have described killings and lootings by Eritrean forces even during the peace talks. On Wednesday, a humanitarian source said several women in the town of Adwa reported being raped by Eritrean soldiers, and some were badly wounded. The source, like many on the situation inside Tigray, spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.

Forces from Ethiopia’s neighboring Amhara region also have been fighting Tigray forces, but Amhara representatives also were not part of the talks. “Amharas cannot be expected to abide by any outcome of a negotiations process from which they think they are excluded,” said Tewodrose Tirfe, chairman of the Amhara Association of America.

But observers long strained by the conflict welcomed the agreement. “This is very much a welcome first step,” said the United Nations secretary-general’s spokesman, Stephane Dujarric. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters she was delighted because “what it means is that lives will be saved.”

Another critical question is how soon aid can return to Tigray. Doctors have described running out of basic medicines like vaccines, insulin and therapeutic food while people die of easily preventable diseases and starvation. U.N. human rights investigators have said the Ethiopian government was using “starvation of civilians” as a weapon of war.

“We’re back to 18th-century surgery,” a surgeon at the region’s flagship hospital, Fasika Amdeslasie, told health experts at an online event Wednesday. “It’s like an open-air prison.”

A humanitarian source said their organization could resume operations almost immediately if unfettered aid access to Tigray is granted.

“It entirely depends on what the government agrees to. ... If they genuinely give us access, we can start moving very quickly, in hours, not weeks,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

The conflict began in November 2020, less than a year after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for making peace with Eritrea, which borders the Tigray region. Abiy’s government has since declared the Tigray authorities, who ruled Ethiopia for nearly three decades before Abiy took office, a terrorist organization. The Ethiopian government will facilitate the lifting of that designation, the draft agreement says.

The brutal fighting, which also spilled into the Amhara and Afar regions as Tigray forces pressed toward the capital last year, was renewed in August in Tigray after months of lull that allowed thousands of trucks of aid into the region. According to minutes of a Tigray Emergency Coordination Center meeting on Oct. 21, seen by the AP, health workers reported 101 civilians killed by drone strikes and airstrikes, and 265 injured, between Sept. 27 and Oct. 10 alone.

“The agreement signed today in South Africa is monumental in moving Ethiopia forward on the path of the reforms we embarked upon four and half years ago,” Abiy said in a statement after the agreement. “Our commitment to peace remains steadfast.”

But he made clear he saw the agreement as a win for his government. In a speech hours before Wednesday’s announcement, the prime minster said: “We need to replicate the victory we got on the battlefield in peace efforts, too.”

Nigeria floods kill 500, displace 1.4 million people

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Written by northsouth

Category: Africa

Published: 13 October 2022

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ABUJA - About 500 people have died in Nigeria's worst floods in a decade and 1.4 million others been displaced from their homes since the start of the rainy season, the government has said.

Floods caused by abundant rains and poor infrastructure have affected vast swathes of Africa's most populous country sparking fears they could worsen food insecurity and inflation.

Nigeria's Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs said that "over 1.4 million persons were displaced, about 500 persons have been reported dead... and 1,546 persons were injured".

"Similarly, 45,249 houses were totally damaged... while 70,566 hectares of farmlands were completely destroyed," the statement from the ministry's Deputy Director Information, Rhoda Ishaku Iliya.

National Emergency Management Agency spokesman Manzo Ezekiel told AFP on Wednesday the latest figures were from last weekend.

Most deaths

While the rainy season usually begins around June, most deaths and displacements started "around August and September" Ezekiel added.

"We are taking all the necessary actions to bring relief to the people affected by the flood," humanitarian affairs ministry official Nasir Sani-Gwarzo said.

 Fuel scarcity caused long queues at petrol stations in the capital Abuja this week after tankers were blocked by floods in neighbouring states.

In southern Anambra state, 76 people died when a boat capsized last Friday during flooding of the Niger River.

More abundant rains are expected in the coming weeks and months -- the rainy season typically ends in November in northern states and in December in the south.

Until Thursday, "heavy rainfall is anticipated over parts of Taraba, Ebonyi, Benue and Cross Rivers State," the Meteorological Agency said on Facebook, adding that "flash flooding is likely".

Floods were also caused by the release of water from several damns, a process that was meant to prevent excessive flooding.

The high level of damage caused is also because "people violate regional planning (rules), constructing (houses and buildings) near waterways," said Ezekiel.

In 2012, 363 people died and more than 2.1 million were displaced from flooding.

Russia-Ukraine war

Sub-Saharan Africa is disproportionately affected by climate change and many of its economies are already struggling from ripple effects of the Russia-Ukraine war.

Rice producers have warned that the devastating floods could impact prices in the country of some 200 million people where rice imports are banned to stimulate local production.

The World Food Programme and the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization said last month that Nigeria was among six countries facing a high risk of catastrophic levels of hunger.