Month: September 2020

The World Health Organization announced Tuesday it would investigate newly released reports of alleged sexual exploitation and abuse against Congolese individuals perpetrated by the WHO’s Ebola aid workers in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  A year-long investigation by the New Humanitarian and the Thomson Reuters Foundation included interviews with 51 women who recounted several instances of abuse during the 2018 to 2020 Ebola crisis — mainly by men who self-identified as working for the WHO.  The investigation also identified abuses by members of the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Medecins Sans Frontieres, Oxfam, World Vision, the U.S. migration agency IOM, the medical charity ALIMA and Congo’s health ministry.  The majority of accounts said that numerous men frequently plied women with drinks and either had propositioned them, forced them to have sex in exchange for a job, or terminated their contracts when they refused. Some women were hired on short-term contracts and promised salaries more than twice the standard wage in the area. There were also accounts of women being locked in rooms by men who solicited jobs or threatened to terminate their employment if they did not comply.Approximately 80% of survivors globally do not report sexual assault. The abuses in the Congo were no different. A survey that was a part of the investigation found that 18 agencies involved in the Ebola response said they received no reports of sexual exploitation.  Most women who participated in the investigation said they were unaware of how to report instances of sexual exploitation or abuse.  Half a dozen senior U.N. officials and NGO workers confirmed that sex-for-jobs schemes were rampant in the DRC during relief efforts. Officials also confirmed that several strategies implemented to target sexual exploitation in the area largely failed.  Aid sector experts say the male-dominated Ebola response team, along with vast income and power imbalances and a failure to win locals’ trust, were to blame for the years of abuse during the crisis. Approximately 81% of Ebola responders working for WHO were men, according to a 2019 report.Experts say that involving more women in the emergency response system is an important first step in changing the power dynamics of aid delivery.  Previous investigations into similar problems in emergency response efforts found that such abuses also occurred in places such as Bosnia, Haiti and the Central African Republic.  Several agencies deployed thousands of aid workers into the eastern Congo in 2018 when Ebola erupted in the area, costing some $700 million. A network to prevent sex abuse was not set up until 14 months into the crisis, according to an internal report by the interagency Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Network.  A WHO spokeswoman told investigators it was reviewing a “small number” of sexual abuse or exploitation reports in the Congo and encouraged the women involved to contact the organization directly.Women alleging instances of abuse said that there was little hope for justice. Many say they could not come forward out of fear of retribution by employers or being stigmatized by family or their communities.    
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By the time a patient comes to Dr. Clement Edusa with colon cancer, it is often too late.The medical director of the Sweden Ghana Medical Center will see cancer that has been misdiagnosed and spread, as the patient has sought out other treatments, including some from ill-equipped small clinics or herbalists.Edusa said while Ghana does not see many cases of colon cancer, as lifestyles change, he expects to see an increase, and there need to be systems in place to provide detection and affordable treatment.“Definitely, there is going to be an increase,” Edusa said. “But don’t forget that apart from that, you need to have a structure in place to do the screening. So, if you don’t have a national program which sort of pulls in the people to do the screening, you won’t get it early. So, you will have an increase in numbers and people coming late, and of course, more fatalities.”FILE – Chadwick Boseman poses in the press room at the American Music Awards on Nov. 24, 2019, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.While fans have been mourning the loss of American actor Chadwick Boseman, who died of colon cancer a month ago, a beloved actor and preacher in Ghana also met this fate this year.Bernard Nyarko’s son Gideon said his dad’s illness was gradual. By the time he got his colon cancer diagnosis, doctors could do little, as it had spread.“He went to the hospital, but they were not able to diagnose the main source of his illness,” Nyarko said. “They were linking it to other sorts of illnesses. It was later that we discovered it was colon cancer. That was 2019.”When Gideon saw images of Boseman’s weight loss, he saw the similarities of how his own father looked toward the end.Gideon Kankam Nyarko with his late father, Ghanaian actor Bernard Nyarko who died this year of colon cancer. (Courtesy of Gideon Kankam Nyarko)He hopes both his father’s case and that of Boseman will create awareness of the need for early detection and better training in health services.Some organizations in Ghana have taken up this mantle.Cancer Support Network Ghana tries to get cancer survivors to speak out to encourage others to go for screenings, to ultimately lower fatality rates in Ghana, said oncology nurse Eric Brobbey.“People think that when you have this cancer you’re going to die, but there are people who have lived for many years, Brobbey said. “So, when they come out to share their stories, it encourages others to also seek treatment.”Ibrahim Rauf of the Zurak Cancer Foundation works to increase cancer awareness in low-income communities, in Accra, Ghana, Sept. 26, 2020. (Stacey Knott/VOA)Ibrahim Rauf from the Zurak Cancer Foundation focuses on low-income communities, advocating prevention, education and the promotion of healthy lifestyles.“The lifestyles that expose people to cancers kind of run through, regardless of which cancer you are referring to,” Rauf said. “So, we might not be heavily focused on colon cancer now, but then we believe the awareness we are creating is giving people the opportunities to adopt lifestyles that save them from it.”The ultimate hope is that more people will be aware of the signs and risks of cancers, including colon cancer, and that eventually all screenings, diagnoses and treatments will be funded by the government. 
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Uganda and Tanzania in September signed an agreement to build what they say will be the world’s longest heated oil pipeline, a $3.5 billion project that will run from southwestern Uganda to Dar es Salaam. Ugandan authorities say those affected will be compensated but rights groups worry that few details have been announced. Environmental activists warn the oil project, run by French Company Total and Chinese company CNOOC, also puts Uganda’s nature reserves and ecosystems at risk, as Halima Athumani reports from Buliisa, Uganda.VIDEOGRAPHER: Francis MukasaPRODUCER: Jason Godman
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Botswana’s parliament voted Monday to extend by a further six months a state of emergency imposed to fight the coronavirus. The move comes despite objections from opposition parties. The extension means President Mokgweetsi Masisi will continue to rule by decree until March 2021, a full year since the pandemic hit Africa.
   
Masisi, in his address to a special session of parliament, said it was necessary to extend the state of emergency, which came into effect in March.
   
“The disease burden has made it clear and imperative for us to extend the state of public emergency in the interest of the public. In this context, I will request parliament to extend the state of public emergency by a period of six months,” Masisi said.  
   
Botswana has seen a steady rise in cases since registering its first in March. The country currently has more than 3,170 cases, with 16 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking the pandemic.
 
Masisi added the state of emergency will be used solely for the purpose of fighting the spread of the COVID-19.
 
“It is my considered view that the extension of the state of emergency provides a better option to safeguard the lives of Botswana, while containing and controlling the disease.”  
 
Among others, Masisi said the state of emergency would ensure workers are protected against retrenchment and maintain the restrictions on the movement of people in and out of the country.
 
He said the country’s Public Health Act was inadequate to fully equip his government to fight the pandemic.
 
Opposition parties said they were not convinced an extension of the state of emergency was necessary.
 
David Tshere of the opposition coalition Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) argued against the move.
    
“This is not acceptable. We are restricting movement of people in and out of the country. South Africa has opened up the borders, Namibia has opened up and we have a treaty with these countries. You are saying we should continue to close when your neighbors have opened,” Tshere said.
    
The leader of the opposition in parliament, Dumelang Saleshando, warned the economy will suffer as a result of the extended restrictions.
   
“We are locking down the economy. They (people) need certainty. Households are not going to survive this,” Saleshando said.
 
Despite the opposition members’ objections, the ruling party holding a majority in the National Assembly meant the extension was approved.
 
The country’s economy is expected to contract by around 9% this year. Its backbone, the diamond industry, suffered significantly after international buyers were shut out due to travel restrictions.
 
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The World Food Program reports unprecedented flooding in South Sudan has plunged some 700,000 people into a hunger and livelihoods crisis, made worse by ongoing violence and economic shocks due to COVID-19.Nearly half of South Sudan is under water.  The World Food Program reports entire villages, homes, and farmlands in 36 counties are submerged.  It says the situation is particularly dire in Jonglei State, where one-third of the country’s 700,000 flood victims live.WFP Country Director in South Sudan, Matthew Hollingworth says 85,000 people have been displaced by the flooding, which has disrupted trade routes, damaged crops, killed livestock and submerged houses.“This flooding crisis is coming on top of a very grim hunger situation in Jonglei where already this year 1.4 million people were suffering from acute and severe hunger in addition to over 300,000 children under five who are acutely malnourished,” Hollingworth said.Hollingworth says tackling the humanitarian needs of the flood victims is particularly difficult in the midst of increasing violence and COVID 19-related economic and health crises.  This year’s torrential rains began well before the water from last year’s flooding had fully receded.  Aid workers fear the flooding is likely to be even more severe when the so-called normal rainy season starts. Hollingworth says there are very worrying signs of deepening hunger in a country which has seen 31 pockets of famine in the past five years.  “We have yet to get data back to confirm how bad it will be.  But I think we all need to prepare ourselves that we must do everything in our power to avoid famine and to avoid the levels of hunger—the catastrophic hunger that we have seen sadly in the past in this country,” Hollingworth said.  
WFP currently is providing food aid to 300,000 people.  It is scaling up its life-saving operation to support 700,000 flood-affected people who have lost their harvests and livelihoods.  The agency is appealing for $58 million for the coming six months.
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Human rights groups in Cameroon have condemned the de facto house arrest of opposition leader Maurice Kamto, who has spent a week at his residence surrounded by riot police.  Authorities say Kamto’s Cameroon Renaissance Movement party is being investigated for attempts to destabilize the country after last week’s anti-government protests.Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior central African researcher for Human Rights Watch says several hundred people have been arrested in Cameroon since September 22 protests. Opposition leader Maurice Kamto called for demonstrations demanding the cancellation of upcoming regional elections and to protest Paul Biya’s leadership of the country.Allegrozzi says by cracking down on protesters, Cameroon disrespects fundamental rights.”This follows a well-documented pattern of politically motivated arrests and prosecutions and also threats to crush opposition parties and silence dissent,” Allegrozzi said. “It is a step backwards for Cameroon and authorities should immediately end the crackdown and release all those who have been unjustly imprisoned since the demonstration of September 22nd.”Allegrozzi said several hundred civilians were arrested and some have been released. She said it was unjust for anti-riot police to surround the Yaounde residence of Maurice Kamto after the September 22 protests.
Christopher Ndong, secretary general of Kamto’s Cameroon Renaissance Movement Party says 600 civilians were arrested in the coastal city of Douala, the capital Yaounde, the western towns of Bafoussam and Mbouda and the northern town of Garoua. He says the arrests and the presence of anti-riot police at Kamto’s residence will not stop the CRM from asking Biya to peacefully hand over power.”I want to reiterate that Professor Maurice Kamto is in good health but for the fact that his rights of movement have been restricted and this act is illegal,” Ndong said. “That march{protest} was peaceful but for the security forces that beat, killed, imprisoned and are now torturing more than 600 of our militants{supporters}. We decry that dehumanizing situation, creating terror and in fact refusing people to express their democratic rights.”The police have not issued a statement regarding their presence at Kamto’s home. VOA contacted the communication unit of the Cameroon police but received no comment.The government’s communication minister, Rene Emanuel Sadi, says Kamto’s CRM party is being investigated for attempts to destabilize state institutions and mount insurrection. Sadi says many supporters and CRM party executive members have been arrested and are helping the police in investigations.”Its leader and its cronies have once against singled themselves out in an engrained and systematic logic of provocation, defiance of state authority and confrontation of public authorities,” said Sadi. “It should be recalled that this political party (CRM) had already in the same way disturbed public order in the aftermath of the presidential election of October 2018″Sadi did not say how many people have been arrested, but noted that some of Kamto’s associates are wanted by police.On September 22, the CRM said Cameroon’s police violently suppressed opposition party demonstrations throughout the country, beating protesters and arresting journalists.In January, 2019, police detained Kamto and 200 of his supporters who insisted Biya stole the 2018 presidential election, which Kamto claims he won. Amid international criticism, Biya pardoned Kamto last November and had him released. 
 
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