On World Malaria Day, the World Health Organization is calling on countries to step up the fight against malaria, saying the coronavirus pandemic threatens to reverse important gains made in efforts to control this deadly disease. Since 2000, the U.N.’s World Health Organization reports 1.5 billion malaria cases and 7.6 million deaths have been averted globally. Some of the greatest achievements were made in sub-Saharan Africa, which bears the brunt of this deadly disease spread by mosquitos. Additionally, the director of the WHO’s Global Malaria Program, Pedro Alonso, said 21 countries have eliminated malaria over the last two decades. Of these, he says 10 have been officially certified as malaria-free by the WHO. “That means that more than half of all the world’s endemic countries are within reach of elimination,” Alonso said. “In the beginning of the century, three countries had less than 10 cases per year. Now, we have 24 countries, which are literally one step away from elimination.” Despite remarkable progress, however, the World Health Organization reports global gains have leveled off in recent years. This is because of insufficient funding and a lack of access to proven malaria control tools, such as insecticide-treated mosquito nets and preventive medicines for children. The emergence of the coronavirus pandemic is now posing an additional challenge to the malaria response. WHO’s regional director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, said the gains made in Africa over many years against poverty and disease risk being reversed by the virus responsible for the COVID-19 disease. “Already, malaria causes a 1.3 percent loss in Africa’s economic growth every year,” Moeti said. “And we know that the COVID-19 pandemic is projected to push sub-Saharan Africa into recession for the first time in 25 years. This incredibly challenging situation requires renewed commitment to sustained and accelerate the gains that have been made in the fight against malaria.” Moeti noted malaria continues to kill many more people than diseases like COVID-19 and Ebola. In 2019, the WHO reported the global tally of malaria cases was 229 million, including more than 400,000 deaths. It said 90 percent of these cases and deaths were in the African region. Most of the victims were children. The U.N. health agency reports global funding for malaria last year totaled $3 billion. This falls far short of the $5.6 billion needed to roll back malaria.
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Month: November 2020
Investigators Search Doctor’s Office, Probing Maradona Death
Argentine police searched the home and office of one of Diego Maradona’s doctors on Sunday, taking away medical records as part of investigations into the death of the 60-year-old soccer star that caused a wave of grief across the country.Neurologist Leopoldo Luque told reporters after the searches that he had given investigators all of the records of his treatment of Maradona, as well as computers, hard drives and cellphones.Weeping at times, he insisted he defended his treatment of the troubled soccer star, who died Wednesday of a heart attack following a Nov. 3 brain operation.”I know what I did. I know how I did it…. I am absolutely sure that what I did the best for Diego, the best I could.”Luque said he was not Maradona’s chief physician, but part of a medical team.Court investigators have been taking declarations from Maradona’s relatives, according to a statement from the San Isidro prosecutor’s office, which is overseeing a probe into the medical attention Maradona received prior to his death, which caused an enormous outpouring of emotion across Argentina and among soccer fans worldwide.Fans stand on a roof of a house along the route of the motorcade carrying the remains of football star Diego Maradona to the Jardin de Bellavista cemetery in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Nov. 26, 2020.Tens of thousands of weeping fans lined up to file past Maradona’s coffin, which lay in state at the presidential palace, before his burial on Thursday.Maradona had suffered a series of medical problems, some due to excesses of drugs and alcohol. He was reportedly near death in 2000 and 2004.Luque said he was a difficult patient and had kicked the doctor out of his house several times.”Diego did what he wanted,” Luque said. “Diego needed help. There was no way of getting through to him.”
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Dozens Reported Detained in Anti-Lukashenko Marches in Belarus
Authorities in Belarus have detained dozens of protesters amid ongoing demonstrations aimed at ousting strongman Alexander Lukashenko from the presidency.
At least 130 people were reported detained in Minsk and Barauliany, according to the Vyasna human rights group. Other detentions were reported across the country. This is the second week in which the Belarus demonstrations have been held under the rubric March of Neighbors. The opposition has adopted the strategy as a way of decentralizing the protests and making it more difficult for police to round up activists. RFE/RL’s Belarus Service reported that law enforcement used tear gas and stun grenades against some demonstrators. Mobile Internet services were not available in Minsk and the central metro stations were closed.
It was unclear how many people participated in the demonstrations.
Belarus has seen nearly continuous protests since a disputed presidential election on August 9 gave Lukashenko a sixth presidential term. The United States and the European Union have not recognized Lukashenka’s reelection.
The opposition has been calling for Lukashenko’s resignation, the release of all political prisoners, and a new election.
During a visit to a Minsk hospital on November 27, Lukashenko implied that he would resign if a new constitution was adopted.
“I will not work as president with you under the new constitution,” state media quoted him as saying.
Lukashenka has called several times for a new constitution, but the opposition has dismissed the statements as a bid to buy time and stay in power.
A former collective farm manager, Lukashenka, 66, has ruled Belarus since 1994. Demonstrations were reported in almost all districts of the capital.
One video posted on social media appeared to show police in Minsk dragging away an unconscious person near the Pushkin metro station. It was unclear how many people participated in the demonstrations.
Belarus has seen nearly continuous protests since a disputed presidential election on August 9 gave Lukashenko a sixth presidential term. The United States and the European Union have not recognized Lukashenko’s reelection.
The opposition has been calling for Lukashenko’s resignation, the release of all political prisoners, and a new election.
During a visit to a Minsk hospital on November 27, Lukashenko implied that he would resign if a new constitution was adopted.
“I will not work as president with you under the new constitution,” state media quoted him as saying.
Lukashenko has called several times for a new constitution, but the opposition has dismissed the statements as a bid to buy time and stay in power.
A former collective farm manager, Lukashenko, 66, has ruled Belarus since 1994.
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Court Orders France to Rethink 30-Person Limit on Worship
France’s highest administrative court on Sunday ordered a rethink of a 30-person attendance limit for religious services put in place by the government to slow down the spread of coronavirus.The measure took effect this weekend as France relaxes some virus restrictions, but it faced opposition by places of worship and the faithful for being arbitrary and unreasonable. Even before the ruling, several bishops had announced they would not enforce the restrictions and some churches were expected defy it.The Council of State has ordered that Prime Minister Jean Castex modify the measure within three days.French churches, mosques and synagogues started opening their doors again to worshippers this weekend — but only a few of them, as France cautiously starts reopening after its latest virus lockdown.Many people expressed irritation outside several Paris churches where priests held services for groups that numbered over 30.“People respected social distancing perfectly, each to his place and with enough space so I don’t think there’s anything to worry about here,” Laurent Frémont told The Associated Press on his way home after Mass.To attend Mass, they had to book tickets online and give their names on their way in. However, the church’s protocol didn’t seem to help limit the number of people inside the building.Asked whether they would stay if the crowd was too large, most said they would. “I really think you couldn’t do better from a sanitary point of view,” said Humbline Frémont.For some, the new rules stirred up fears. French Catholics were sharing rules and recommendations on social media for how to behave if the police arrive at a church for a head count.Farid Kachour, secretary general of the group running the mosque of Montermeil, a heavily immigrant suburb northeast of Paris, says that his mosque simply wouldn’t open with too few people permitted.“We can’t choose people” allowed to enter for prayer. “We don’t want to create discontent among the faithful,” he said.Kachour noted that Muslims pray five times a day, further complicating the situation. To respect the rules, the mosque would need 40 services a day to allow all the faithful to pray, he said.Places of worship were allowed to continue during France’s latest nationwide lockdown, which is coming to an end in December, but regular prayer services were banned due to health concerns. Around the world, some religious services have been linked to coronavirus clusters, including superspreading events.France has reported over 52,000 virus-related deaths, the third-highest pandemic death toll in Europe after Britain and Italy.“Non-essential” shops reopened in France on Saturday, but bars and restaurants will not reopen before Jan. 20.
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Opposition Calls on Hungary’s Orban to Sack Museum Head for Likening Soros to Hitler
A leading Hungarian opposition party joined calls on Sunday for Prime Minister Viktor Orban to sack the head of a state-funded museum for making extreme anti-Semitic comments likening U.S. financier George Soros to Adolf Hitler.Nationalist Orban has long vilified Soros, a Hungarian Jew who emigrated after World War II, as part of a general campaign against immigration. Orban accuses Brussels of trying to force Hungary to accept migrants under the influence of Soros. In an op-ed published on Saturday, Szilard Demeter, who heads the Petofi Literary Museum and serves as a government cultural commissioner, called Soros “the liberal Fuhrer” and wrote that Europe was Soros’ “gas chamber” with “poisonous gas” flowing from the capsule of multicultural open society. Demeter issued a statement on Sunday that he would withdraw the article, saying his critics were right that “the Nazi parallel could unintentionally hurt the memory of the victims.” Earlier Hungarian Jewish groups including the Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities called his op-ed “unforgivable” and “an ugly provocation”. The main leftist opposition party the Democratic Coalition called for Demeter’s immediate dismissal. “The Democratic Coalition expects from the government that Szilard Demeter should be unemployed by the end of today. A man like him has no place in public life, not just in a European country but anywhere in the world,” it said. The government has not replied to emailed Reuters questions on whether they shared Demeter’s views. FILE – Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban arrive ahead of a meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels, Belgium Sept. 24, 2020.Referring to a budget row between Poland and Hungary and the European Union, Demeter said Poles and Hungarians were the “new Jews” who were targeted by liberals who tried to expel them from the bloc. Poland and Hungary have said they would block a new European Union budget and coronavirus recovery fund if rule-of-law conditions are attached. Israel’s embassy tweeted that it utterly rejected “the use and abuse of the memory of the Holocaust for any purpose… There is no place for connecting the worst crime in human history, or its perpetrators, to any contemporary debate, no matter how essential.” Soros has been at odds with Orban’s government for years for pouring funds into liberal organizations and institutions in Hungary. In 2019 the Central European University he founded said it was being forced out of the country by the nationalist government and moved most of its operations to Vienna.
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Nigeria Buries Scores of Farmers Killed by Militants, Some Beheaded
Villagers in northeast Nigeria’s Borno state on Sunday buried 43 farmers killed in an attack by suspected Islamist militants while security forces searched for dozens of people who are still missing. Roughly 30 of the men killed were also beheaded in the attack, which began on Saturday morning in Zabarmari village in northeast Borno state. Residents said a total of 70 people are feared dead. While no group claimed responsibility, such massacres have been carried out in the past by Boko Haram or the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). They are both active in the region, where Islamic militants have killed at least 30,000 people in the past decade. President Muhammadu Buhari condemned the killings and said, “the entire country is hurt.” In Zabarmari, dozens of mourners surrounded the bodies, which were wrapped in white burial shrouds and placed on wooden pallets, as clerics led prayers for the deceased. One resident and Amnesty International said 10 women were among those missing. Borno state governor Babagana Zulum, speaking at the burials, called on the federal government to recruit more soldiers, Civilian Joint Task Force members and civil defense fighters to protect farmers in the region. He described desperate choices facing people. “In one side, they stay at home they may be killed by hunger and starvation, on the other, they go out to their farmlands and risk getting killed by the insurgents,” he said. Food prices in Nigeria have risen dramatically over the past year, driven by flooding, border closures and insecurity in some food-producing areas.
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Allies of Burkina Faso’s Kabore Retain Control of Parliament
The ruling coalition of Burkina Faso President Roch Kabore, who was re-elected to a second term last week, has retained its majority in parliament, the electoral commission said on Sunday.Kabore’s People’s Movement for Progress (MPP) and allied parties won about 90 of 127 seats in the Nov. 22 vote, official results showed.The Congress for Democracy and Progress (CDP) party of former president Blaise Compaore, who was ousted from power by an uprising in 2014, has become the largest opposition party in parliament with 20 seats, according to the results.Kabore was declared the provisional winner of the presidential election on Thursday, setting up a second term in which he will face familiar challenges, including battling Islamist groups that have made large areas of the country ungovernable.
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Indian Farmers Protest Deregulation Legislation
Farmers unions in India are meeting with the government Sunday as thousands of farmers stage a third day of protests outside New Delhi against new agricultural deregulation legislation.The legislation would allow farmers to sell their products anyplace, including to large corporate buyers.Currently, farmers may only sell their products to government-regulated wholesale markets, where the farmers are guaranteed a minimum price.Small farmers remain suspicious about the effects of deregulation.The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced the legislation in September.Modi said Sunday in his monthly radio address. “From these reforms, farmers will get new rights and opportunities.”
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Afghan Army Base Bombing Kills Dozens
Officials in Afghanistan say a massive vehicle-borne bombing of a military base in eastern Ghazni province Sunday killed at least 30 security force members.Baz Mohammad Hemat, head of the provincial public health department, told VOA the blast also injured at least 24 personnel.The army base on the outskirts of the provincial capital, also named Ghazni, was manned by Afghan special forces, witnesses told VOA.Meanwhile, a separate car bombing in southern Zabul province killed three people and injured more than 20, officials told VOA. The head of the provincial council, Atta Jan Haqbayan, apparently the target of the attack, and his security guard were among the victims.There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the two attacks that come as peace talks between Taliban insurgents and representatives of the Afghan government have for weeks stalled.The so-called intra-Afghan negotiations, brokered by the United States, are being hosted by Qatar. Both the Afghan warring sides blame each other for the deadlock.Violence in Afghanistan has significantly spiked in recent weeks, with scores of security forces and civilians killed in the month of November alone.
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Britain, France in Pact to Stop Illegal Migrant Crossings
Britain and France on Saturday signed an agreement aimed at ending illegal migration across the English Channel.Starting Dec. 1, patrols on French beaches will be doubled, and technology, including drones and radar, will be used detect the would-be migrant crossings, British Home Secretary Priti Patel said.Patel said the agreement would help the two countries “make channel crossings completely unviable.”She said in the past 10 years Britain had given France nearly $200 million to tackle immigration.More than 6,000 people tried to cross the Channel from Jan. 1 through August of this year.French authorities have said that in September they had intercepted more than 1,300 people attempting to reach Britain.Seven people have died so far this year trying to cross to Britain, and four died last year.
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UK, EU Resume Face-to-face Trade Talks With Time Running Out
Teams from Britain and the European Union resumed face-to-face talks on a post-Brexit trade deal Saturday, with both sides sounding gloomy about striking an agreement in the little time that remains.EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier returned to London to meet his U.K. counterpart, David Frost. Talks have been held virtually for the past week as Barnier completed a spell of self-isolation after a member of his team tested positive for the coronavirus.COVID-19 is just one complication in negotiations that remain snagged over key issues including fishing rights and fair-competition rules. Barnier said Friday that the remote talks had made little progress and the “same significant divergences persist.”The U.K. left the EU early this year but remained part of the bloc’s economic embrace during an 11-month transition as the two sides tried to negotiate a new free-trade deal to take effect January 1. Talks have slipped past the mid-November date long seen as a deadline to secure a deal in time for it to be approved and ratified by lawmakers in Britain and the EU.If there is no deal, New Year’s Day will bring huge disruption, with the overnight imposition of tariffs and other barriers to U.K.-EU trade. That will hurt both sides, but the burden will fall most heavily on Britain, which does almost half its trade with the EU.While both sides want a deal, they have fundamental differences about what it entails. The 27-nation EU accuses Britain of seeking to retain access to the bloc’s vast market without agreeing to abide by its rules and wants strict guarantees on “level playing field” standards the U.K. must meet to export into the EU.The U.K. claims the EU is failing to respect its independence and making demands it has not placed on other countries with whom it has free-trade deals, such as Canada.To reach a deal the EU will have to curb its demands on continued access to U.K. fishing waters, and Britain must agree to some alignment with the bloc’s rules — difficult issues for politicians on both sides.British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Irish leader Micheal Martin on Friday that he remained committed “to reaching a deal that respects the sovereignty of the U.K.,” Johnson’s office said.
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Boko Haram Kills at Least 43 Farmworkers in Nigeria, Militia Says
Boko Haram fighters killed at least 43 farmworkers and injured six in rice fields near the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri on Saturday, anti-jihadist militia told AFP.The assailants tied up the agricultural workers and slit their throats in the village of Koshobe, the militia said.”We have recovered 43 dead bodies, all of them slaughtered, along with six others with serious injuries,” said militia leader Babakura Kolo, who helped the survivors. “It is no doubt the handiwork of Boko Haram, who operate in the area and frequently attack farmers.”The victims were laborers from Sokoto state in northwest Nigeria, roughly 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) away, who had traveled to the northeast to find work, said Ibrahim Liman, another militiaman who gave the same toll.”There were 60 farmers who were contracted to harvest … the rice fields. Forty-three were slaughtered, with six injured,” Liman said.Eight others were missing, presumed to have been kidnapped by the jihadists, he said.The bodies were taken to Zabarmari village, two kilometers away, where they would be kept ahead of burial Sunday, said resident Mala Bunu, who took part in the search-and-rescue operation.Last month, Boko Haram militants slaughtered 22 farmers working in their irrigation fields near Maiduguri in two separate incidents.Boko Haram and ISWAP, its IS-linked rival, have increasingly targeted loggers, herders and fishermen in their violent campaign, accusing them of spying and passing information to the military and the local militia fighting them.At least 36,000 people have been killed in the jihadist conflict, which has displaced around 2 million people since 2009.The violence has also spread into neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a regional military coalition to fight the militants.The attack took place as voters went to the polls in local elections in Borno State.The elections had been repeatedly postponed because of an increase in attacks by Boko Haram and ISWAP.
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French Protesters, Police Clash Over New Security Legislation
Violent clashes erupted Saturday in Paris as tens of thousands took to the streets to protest new security legislation, with tensions intensified by the police beating and racial abuse of a Black man that shocked France.Several fires were started in Paris, sending acrid smoke into the air, as protesters vented their anger against the security law that would restrict the publication of police officers’ faces.About 46,000 people marched in Paris and 133,000 in total nationwide in about 70 cities, including in Bordeaux, Lille, Montpellier and Nantes, the Interior Ministry said. Protest organizers said about 500,000 joined nationwide, including 200,000 in the capital.President Emmanuel Macron said late Friday that the images of the beating of Black music producer Michel Zecler by police officers in Paris last weekend “shame us.” The incident magnified concerns about alleged systemic racism in the police force.”Police everywhere, justice nowhere,” “police state” and “smile while you are beaten” were among the slogans brandished as protesters marched from Place de la Republique to the nearby Place de la Bastille.”We have felt for a long time to have been the victim of institutionalized racism from the police,” said Mohamed Magassa 35, who works in a reception center for minors. “But now we feel that this week all of France has woken up.”People with banners and posters attend a demonstration against security legislation, in Paris, Nov. 28, 2020.”The fundamental and basic liberties of our democracy are being attacked — freedom of expression and information,” added Sophie Misiraca, 46, a lawyer.Several cars, a newspaper kiosk and a brasserie were set on fire close to Place de la Bastille, police said.Some protesters threw stones at the security forces, who responded by firing tear gas and using water cannon, an AFP correspondent said.Police complained that protesters impeded fire services from putting out the blazes and said nine people had been detained by the early evening.French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin condemned “unacceptable” violence against the police, saying 37 members of the security forces had been injured nationwide.Investigation launchedAn investigation has been opened against the four police involved, but commentators say the images, first published by the Loopsider news site, might never have been made public if the contentious Article 24 of the security legislation had been made law.The article would criminalize the publication of images of on-duty police officers with the intent of harming their “physical or psychological integrity.” It was passed by the National Assembly, although it is awaiting Senate approval.Cars burn during a demonstration against the “Global Security Bill” opposed by rights groups in France, in Paris, Nov. 28, 2020.The controversy over the law and police violence is developing into another crisis for the government as Macron confronts the pandemic, its economic fallout and a host of problems on the international stage.In a sign that the government could be preparing to backtrack, Prime Minister Jean Castex announced Friday that he would appoint a commission to redraft Article 24.But he was forced into a U-turn even on this proposal after parliament speaker Richard Ferrand, a close Macron ally, accused the premier of trying to usurp the role of parliament.For critics, the legislation is further evidence of a slide to the right by Macron, who came to power in 2017 as a centrist promising liberal reform of France.”The police violence has left Emmanuel Macron facing a political crisis,” said the Le Monde daily.’Anger and fear’The issue has also pressured the high-flying Darmanin, who was promoted to the job this summer despite being targeted by a rape probe, with Le Monde saying tensions were growing between him and the Elysee.The images of the beating of Zecler emerged days after the police forcibly removed a migrant camp in central Paris.A series of high-profile cases against police officers over mistreatment of Black or Arab citizens has raised accusations of institutionalized racism. The force has insisted violations are the fault of isolated individuals.Three of the police involved in the beating of Zecler are being investigated for using racial violence and all four are being held for questioning after their detention Saturday was extended for another 24 hours, prosecutors said.In a letter seen by AFP, Paris police chief Didier Lallement wrote to officers warning them they risked facing “anger and fear” in the coming weeks but insisted he could count on their “sense of honor and ethics.”
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Catholics in France Oppose Prayer Service Restrictions Imposed on Places of Worship
As French authorities ease some measures taken due to the coronavirus pandemic, Catholics in the country are challenging the size limit still imposed by the government on prayer services.The coronavirus pandemic places a heavy burden on France, where more than 50,000 people have died of COVID-19. Places of worship were still open during the lockdown, but regular prayer services were banned due to health concerns.Believers in France were relieved this week when French Prime Minister Jean Castex announced that prayer services could resume Saturday in places of worship.During a press conference, Castex explained it would be progressive in places of worship, as they have become clusters during the pandemic, in France and all over the world. Only 30 people at a time will be allowed at prayer services inside places of worship and with stringent sanitary measures. That number might increase by December 15, when the lockdown ends, if the epidemic is under control, the French prime minister said.France’s Catholics Protest Lockdown MeasuresAs COVID infections rise, safe-distance restrictions include bans on public masses, prompting observant French Catholics to take to the streetsSince the announcement, the government has been heavily criticized for the arbitrary number. The 30-person limit for any building no matter the size – from tiny churches to gothic cathedrals – is not acceptable to a lot people, like Christiane, a Catholic from Paris.She says with this decision, authorities are making fun of them, as 30 people in a cathedral does not make sense to her. She said it shows disdain toward Catholics.Some Catholic clergy has vowed to fight the decision and said it hopes the government will shift its restriction on places of worship, according to Roman Catholic Bishop Matthieu Rougé of Nanterre, a city near Paris.“Many Catholics and non-Catholics find the decision ridiculous, unfair and disrespectful of Catholics,” said Rougé. Thirty people in a very large church is ridiculous. Why such a repeated mistake? These are institutional failures. There is, also, I think, a lack of consideration for faith or believers.”Shops regarded as “non-essential” also reopened in the country Saturday. Bars and restaurants will not reopen until at least January 20.
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Government: Ethiopian Military Has Taken ‘Full Control’ of Tigray Capital
Ethiopian federal forces have taken “full control” of the Tigray region’s capital Mekelle, the prime minister and the military’s chief of staff said on Saturday evening.Authorities had said earlier that government forces were in the final stages of an offensive in the region and would take care to protect civilians in Mekelle, a city of 500,000 people.
Tigray Leader: Ethiopian Forces Conducting Offensive to Capture MekellePM Abiy rejects call from AU for negotiations with regional leadersThere was no immediate comment from the Tigrayan forces in the northern region, who have been fighting government troops for the past three weeks.
“The federal government is now fully in control of the city of Mekelle,” Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said in a statement posted on his Twitter page.
That followed a statement saying the same from the army chief of staff, Birhanu Jula, on the military’s official Facebook page.
Claims from all sides are difficult to verify since phone and internet links to the region have been down and access has been tightly controlled since fighting began on Nov. 4.
Earlier on Saturday, a diplomat in direct contact with residents, and the leader of Tigrayan forces said federal forces had begun an offensive to capture Mekelle.
The government had given the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) an ultimatum that expired on Wednesday to lay down arms or face an assault on the city.
Thousands of people are believed to have died and around 43,000 refugees have fled to neighboring Sudan during the conflict. The northern region of Tigray also borders the nation of Eritrea.
Abiy accuses Tigrayan leaders of starting the war by attacking federal troops at a base in Tigray. The TPLF says the attack was a pre-emptive strike.
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Effort Launched to Reunite Cameroonian Families, Children Separated by Crises
Humanitarian organizations in Cameroon have launched a program to reunite with their families the increasing numbers of children who have fled the Boko Haram conflict and the separatist crisis in the English-speaking regions. The groups say the effort was launched after the number of such children jumped from about 10,000 to 25,000 in major cities within three months. Among the children who are ready to return to their families are teenagers who fled economic hardships caused by the spread of COVID-19.Three police officers lead 10 representatives of humanitarian organizations to where children separated from their families are living in Cameron’s capital, Yaoundé. Eleven-year-old Alain is one of 15 children who have agreed to leave the streets.Alain says hunger and mistreatment by his father were unbearable, and in July, he and his brother escaped from their home in Batouri, on Cameroon’s eastern border with the Central African Republic to Yaoundé. Alain says he will return to the family home when he is sure he will be given food and education.Cameroon’s minister of women’s empowerment and the family, Marie Theres Abena Ondoua, says Alain is one of several thousand children who fled their homes because of the economic hardship caused by COVID-19.She says many parents lost their jobs, became poorer and could not provide for their families as a result of the economic nosedive after the first cases of COVID-19 were reported in Cameroon on March 5. Ondoua says many children who had to stay home under government measures to stop the spread of COVID-19 fled to towns in search of food and better living conditions.Ondoua said the children living on the streets as a result of COVID-19 are in addition to those escaping Boko Haram terrorism on Cameroon’s northern border with Nigeria. Other children on the street have fled separatist crisis in the western English-speaking regions of the French-majority bilingual country.Fourteen-year-old Erasmus says he escaped from the English-speaking northwestern town of Jakiri in September. He says fighters attacked his family for violating separatist instructions that no one should go to school.”My uncle died before I found my way outside [out of Jakiri],” Erasmus said. “I am telling my mother that I will be back and that I am still alive. I am not dead. Maybe she will be thinking that I am dead, but I am not dead. I am still alive.”Cameroon began rounding up street children in April. The country found 10,000 street children in Yaoundé and the economic hub, Douala.Cameroon says the number of street children has increased to 25,000 in the past three months. Fighters have increased attacks on English schools that defied separatist instructions and opened their doors when the 2020-2021 school year started in September and COVID-19 has made an unknown number of people either close their businesses or become jobless.August Ewudu of the Cameroon Red Cross program to restore family links says they want to reunite at least 10,000 children with their families before the end of the year.He says he is asking communities to direct all children who have fled crises to any Red Cross staff member or Red Cross office. He says people in search of family members displaced by the crises Cameroon is facing should contact their local Red Cross offices.Ewudu said lists of children who cannot trace their parents are available at Red Cross offices.Cameroon’s government and humanitarian organizations are also pleading with concerned cirizens to take care of children in need should it be impossible to trace their family members. The government says it will be giving either education or job training to the children who refuse to be reunited with their families.
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