International

Charities in Africa slammed rich nations yesterday for blocking efforts to waive patents for coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccines, saying that this would prolong the pandemic for years in poorer nations and push millions across the continent deeper into poverty. More than 40 charities, including Amnesty International and Christian Aid, said Wednesday’s move by Western nations to prevent generic or other manufacturers making more vaccines in poorer nations was “an affront on people’s right to healthcare”. Peter Kamalingin, Oxfam International’s Africa director, said sub-Saharan Africa – 14% of the global population – had received only 0.2% of 300mn vaccine doses administered worldwide. “Ensuring every African can get a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine ... is the most effective way to save lives and livelihoods, keep our children in school, reduce unemployment rates and re-open our economies,” he told a news conference. “Without it, gains made by African countries on issues of food security, democratic governance, gender justice and women’s rights will be reversed completely.” Richer members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) blocked a push by some 80 developing countries – led by India and South Africa – to waive its Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) agreement rules on patents. The move sent a message that African lives were less important than those of people in rich nations, Kamalingin said. Countries such as the United States and Britain argue that protecting intellectual property rights encourages research and innovation, and that suspending those rights would not result in a sudden surge of vaccine supply. Africa’s confirmed coronavirus caseload is almost 4mn, with more than 100,000 deaths, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. While Africa accounts for less than 4% of the 118mn cases and 2.6mn deaths recorded globally, health experts say a lack of testing and reliable data from many African nations means the true figures may be far higher. The World Bank estimates that the new coronavirus crisis has already pushed 40mn people in sub-Saharan economies into extreme poverty, that is, living on less than $1.90 a day. Africa needs equitable access to vaccines to prevent further lockdowns, job losses and school closures, said the charities, which included the Pan-African Fight Inequality Alliance and the East Africa Tax and Governance Network. “Without the vaccine, the pandemic will be prolonged on the continent. Africa will be in a pandemic state for the next four or five years,” warned Mwanahamisi Singano, programme manager from the African Women’s Development and Communication Network. “If we don’t have the vaccine, we are extending the pandemic phase and all the evil that we have seen come with it.” Western nations have celebrated the Covax facility – a World Health Organisation (WHO) vaccine-sharing programme to aid developing nations – which has so far delivered approximately 2mn doses to a handful of African countries. However, the charities said that Covax was far from an acceptable solution as it would only result in 20% of the population in those countries being vaccinated by the end of the year.

Libya’s prime minister-designate demanded the departure of an estimated 20,000 foreign fighters as he sought support from lawmakers to help end a grinding civil war in the North African nation. Oil-rich Libya descended into chaos after dictator Muammar Gaddafi was toppled and killed in a 2011 Nato-backed uprising, resulting in multiple forces vying for power. “The mercenaries are a stab in our back – they must leave,” interim premier Abdul Hamid Dbeibah told parliament, saying he would contact the United Nations and the countries where the mercenaries come from to demand they withdraw. “Our sovereignty is violated by their presence,” Dbeibah added, speaking in the central seaside city of Sirte. Libya has been split between the UN-recognised Government of National Accord, based in the capital, and an administration in the east supported by strongman Kalifa Haftar. Dbeibah was speaking on the second day of parliamentary debate yesterday on his proposal for a new interim government, where he denounced a “fierce campaign” carried out by “those who want to destroy our country, who want to occupy it”. A UN-supervised process aims to unite the country after an October ceasefire between the two rival administrations. But according to the UN, some 20,000 mercenaries and foreign fighters were still in Libya in early December, and a January 23 deadline for their withdrawal passed without any sign of them pulling them out. Some have literally dug in. In January, satellite images broadcast by CNN show a trench running tens of kilometres (miles) dug by mercenaries near the front-line city of Sirte. An advance team of a UN observer mission arrived in Libya last week tasked with monitoring the ceasefire and verifying the departure of the thousands of foreign fighters. Dbeibah, who submitted his proposed government to parliament for approval last week, pleaded for deputies to vote in favour of it. “We have no choice but to come to an agreement, for the future of our children,” Dbeibah said, to the applause of parliament. Dbeibah was selected in February at UN-sponsored talks, attended by a cross section of Libyans, to steer the country towards December 24 elections. The process has been marred by allegations of vote-buying, but the interim premier defended the composition of his proposed government. “My first objective was to choose people with whom I would be able to work, no matter where they come from,” Dbeibah said. The members of his government “must be able to work for all Libyans in all of Libya, not just for their region or their city”, he insisted. Over 130 of a total 188 lawmakers began meeting on Monday in Sirte, Gaddafi’s hometown, to debate the proposed cabinet. The Mediterranean port city lies halfway between Tripoli, where the western government is based, and the east, where parliament has sat in recent years and which is home to a rival administration. The United Nations Support Mission in Libya, or UNSMIL, called the meeting “historic” and praised the convening of a “reunified session after many years of divisions and paralysis”. Dbeibah, 61, a billionaire businessman from the western town of Misrata, was selected alongside an interim three-member presidency council to head the new unity administration.

Six people including civilians were killed when a military detachment was ambushed in northern Burkina Faso, security sources said Sunday. The nation, among the world's poorest, is struggling with a militant insurgency that has killed more than 1,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands. ‘A unit from Gaskinde (Soum province) was ambushed on Saturday. One (soldier) sadly lost his life, and another was injured. On our side, there were five other casualties, all volunteers,’ a security source told AFP. The five civilians were part of Volunteers for the Defence of the Nation (VDP), a network of civilian volunteers who help the army in their uphill battle against the various militant groups operating in the country. ‘The Kourao VDP were patrolling the area and were targeted by armed individuals. A unit went to their aid and came under heavy fire,’ said another security source, confirming the death of one soldier. The source said ‘the enemy side’ had also suffered casualties in the ensuing exchange of fire, without giving more details. The militant insurgency began in neighbouring Mali in 2012 and spread into its territory in 2015, killing more than 1,200 people and displacing roughly one million. Last week six people, including a pregnant woman and a young girl, were killed in a roadside bomb, also in the country's north. The poorly equipped and disorganised army is flailing, and the creation of the VDP was an attempt to bolster efforts against the insurgency. Members receive 14 days training and are then sent out on patrols and surveillance missions, equipped with light arms. More than 100 have been killed in combat since January 2020. Over 1,000 troops from Chad -- pledged in a recent Sahel summit -- are expected to arrive in days to help strengthen security in what is known as the three-border zone, where the frontiers of Burkina, Mali and Niger converge.  

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has warned against Ethiopia continuing to fill its Nile dam, on his first visit to Sudan since the ouster of long-time autocrat Omar al-Bashir nearly two years ago. Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia have been locked for almost a decade in inconclusive talks over the filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Blue Nile, which broke ground in 2011. Egypt sees the structure a threat to its water supply, while Sudan fears that its own dams will be harmed if Ethiopia proceeds with filling the GERD before a deal is reached. “We reject the policy of imposing a fait accompli and extending control over the Blue Nile through unilateral measures without taking Sudan’s and Egypt’s interests into account,” Sisi said yesterday in a statement carried by Sudan’s state TV. Addis Ababa, which said it reached its first-year filling target last year, has declared plans to go ahead with the second phase of filling regardless of whether an agreement is in place. Egypt and Sudan “have agreed to relaunch negotiations with quadripartite mediation that includes the African Union, the United Nations, the European Union and the United States to reach a deal before the flood season”, Sisi added, standing alongside Sudanese head of state General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. The visit to Khartoum, Sisi’s first since Bashir’s ouster in April 2019, comes amid efforts to bolster Sudanese-Egyptian ties and amid tensions between Sudan and Ethiopia over a disputed border region. Sisi’s talks with Burhan, and separately with Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, also addressed maritime security in the Red Sea and the Sudan-Ethiopia border tensions, state TV reported. In a statement released after the meetings, the Egyptian presidency hinted at Cairo’s support for Khartoum in its border dispute with Addis Ababa. “Recent Sudanese moves to assert sovereignty over its eastern borders with Ethiopia are in line with Sudan’s respect for international border agreements,” presidency spokesman Bassam Rady said. Tensions have been running high over the Al Fashaqa border region, where Ethiopian farmers cultivate fertile land claimed by Sudan. The two countries have been trading accusations of violence in the area and territorial violations. This week, top Egyptian and Sudanese army officials signed a deal on military co-operation between the two countries, while Sudan’s Foreign Minister Mariam al-Mahdi also discussed the GERD in Cairo with Sisi and other Egyptian officials, according to Egypt’s foreign ministry.

A Senegalese opposition collective has called for fresh protests starting tomorrow, following days of clashes that have left at least four people dead. At a news conference in the capital Dakar, the Movement for the Defence of Democracy – which includes the leading opposition party Pastef – urged Senegalese people to “massively descend on the streets”. This came after days of clashes between opposition supporters and police in the West African state, which began after Pastef leader Ousmane Sonko was arrested on Wednesday. Police arrested Sonko, 46, after scuffles with his supporters broke out while he was on his way to court to answer a rape charge – which he says is politically-motivated. The arrest sparked violent clashes which continued through Friday – in the worst unrest Senegal has seen in years – with protesters torching cars and shops in the capital Dakar. Although tensions appeared to have eased yesterday, the Movement for the Defence of Democracy – which includes civil-society groups as well as Pastef – called for three days of new protests from tomorrow. It also demanded that the government release “political prisoners”, respect the right to protest, and that it restore the licences of the two television channels that were temporarily suspended for broadcasting images of the unrest. Yesterday the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States, which includes Senegal, urged all parties in the country to exercise restraint and to remain calm. In a statement, it also called on the government “to take the necessary measures to ease tensions and guarantee the freedom to demonstrate peacefully”. Sonko, who is popular with young Senegalese and seen as a challenger to President Macky Sall, is due to appear before a judge in Dakar tomorrow to face questions about the rape charge. The Pastef leader ran against Sall in the 2019 election, but finished third in a race that delivered the incumbent a second term. Sonko’s political future came into doubt in February, however, after an employee at a beauty salon where he received massages filed rape charges against him. Frequently critical of Senegal’s governing elite, Sonko accused Sall of conspiring to sideline him from politics. The 59-year-old president, in turn, has dismissed the allegation that he engineered Sonko’s legal troubles. But to opposition supporters, Sonko’s arrest falls into a perceived pattern court cases against Sall opponents. Karim Wade, the son of former Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, was prevented from running in the 2019 election after being convicted for graft. Ex-Dakar Mayor Khalifa Sall – another rival of Sall’s – was likewise stopped from running in 2019 after being jailed in 2017 for corruption. The rape allegation against Sonko also comes as uncertainty grows over whether Sall will seek a third term in 2024. Senegalese presidents are limited to two consecutive terms, but Sall launched a constitutional review in 2016, raising suspicions that he intends to run again. Other presidents in West Africa – such as Guinea’s Alpha Conde or Ivory Coast’s Alassane Ouattara – have used constitutional changes to win third terms. Senegal, a former French colony of 16mn people, is often heralded as a beacon of stability in an otherwise volatile part of the world.

At least seven soldiers were killed when fighters of the Somali militant group al Shabaab stormed a jail in the semi-autonomous state of Puntland early on Friday, police and the group said. Al Shabaab said it had freed at least 400 prisoners, many of them its members, in its assault on the main prison in Bosaso, Puntland's largest city, in the early hours of Friday. The authorities did not confirm that figure. "Last night many well-armed men attacked us from various directions. We fought back but finally they entered the central jail by force using explosions. They freed the prisoners and took most with them," Mohamed Abdi, a prison guard, told Reuters. "There was a hellish battle... As I fought inside, we lost five soldiers." He said two other soldiers who had been sent to reinforce the regular prison guards were killed in their car which was set on fire. Al Shabaab confirmed that its fighters had carried out the attack and said they had freed at least 400 prisoners. The group often exaggerates its successes in such assaults. "The prisoners included men and women who were al Shabaab members and were in jail for over 10 years," Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab's military operations spokesman, told Reuters. Al Shabaab frequently carries out such attacks in Somalia and elsewhere as part of its campaign to oust the central government in Mogadishu. Bosaso police commander, Col. Hussein Ali, said an operation was underway to recapture prisoners who had escaped or had been taken away by the fighters.

Sudan received its first coronavirus vaccines yesterday and will begin inoculation of frontline medical staff next week, health officials said. The first consignments which arrived at Khartoum airport comprise 828,000 doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine. Sudan has secured a total of 3.4mn doses, which are expected to arrive in the coming months through Covax, a UN-led initiative that provides jabs to poor countries. Inoculation of around 414,000 medical staff across the country will begin “next week,” Dalia Idris, a health ministry official co-ordinating vaccine deployment, told AFP. “The vaccine will be available for free,” health minister Omar al-Naguib earlier told a press conference in Khartoum, noting that frontline medics and the elderly will be the first to get the jab. More batches are expected to arrive, so that by the end of September there are jabs for 20% of Sudan’s 40mn population. The virus has so far infected more than 28,500 in Sudan and killed nearly 1,900, according to official data. Sudan is navigating a rocky political transition and a deepening economic crisis following the April 2019 ouster of longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir. Yesterday’s announcement came nearly a month after Sudan unveiled a new cabinet. Galloping inflation and chronic hard currency shortages have piled pressure on a population that has long struggled to afford basic necessities.

Ten people, including the two pilots, died when a plane crashed Tuesday at an airstrip in South Sudan's Jonglei state, the region's governor said. "It was with great shock and horror to receive the news of the plane crash (HK-4274) of South Sudan Supreme Airline that happened today the 2nd day of March 2021 at around 5.05 PM at Pieri Airstrip," Governor Denay Jock Chagor said in a statement sent to AFP Wednesday. "Ten people including the two pilots lost their lives."

Gunmen have freed all 279 girls kidnapped last week from a boarding school in northwest Nigeria, officials said yesterday, and victims told of how their abductors had beaten and threatened to shoot them during a forced march into captivity. Dozens of girls in veils sat in a hall in a state government building before being taken for medical checks. A few parents arrived, and one father wept with joy after seeing his daughter. Farida Lawali, 15, told how she and the other girls had been taken to a forest by the kidnappers. “They carried the sick ones that cannot move. We were walking in the stones and thorns,” she said, covered in a light blue veil. “They started hitting us with guns so that we could move,” she added. “While they were beating them with guns, some of them were crying and moving at the same time.” “They said they will shoot anybody who did not continue to walk,” another of the girls, Umma Abubakar, told Reuters, saying many had injuries that had made walking difficult. Relief at their return was tempered by concern over the circumstances of their release.  A series of similar school abductions in recent months has led many Nigerians to worry that regional authorities are making the situation worse by letting kidnappers go unpunished or paying them off. Zailani Bappa, a media adviser to the state governor, denied that a ransom had been paid, but said the captors had been offered amnesty, as well as assistance to resettle at a site with newly built schools, a hospital and other facilities. “The process means amnesty for those who repent and will be assisted to resettle. Hence, no monetary inducement or ransom was involved in the rescue. It was a willing surrender of the girls,” he said. “Those who surrender their arms will be assisted to start a new life. Since they are herders, they will be supported with a few cows each.” President Muhammadu Buhari called for the captors to be brought to justice and said that if any ransoms were being paid, this would only make future attacks more likely. The pupils from Jangebe, a town in Zamfara state, were seized just after midnight on Friday. All had now been freed, Zamfara Governor Bello Matawalle said. Boarding schools in northern Nigeria have become targets for mass kidnappings for ransom by armed criminal gangs. The trend was started by the terror group Boko Haram, which kidnapped 270 schoolgirls in 2014, around 100 of whom have never been found. But recent months have seen a sudden escalation of similar attacks, including the abduction of 344 boys in December. Friday’s raid on the Government Girls Science Secondary School was the second school abduction in little over a week in the northwest. Initial reports put the number kidnapped at 317. Zamfara government spokesman Sulaiman Tanau Anka said the total was 279, as some of the girls had escaped into the bush during the raid. Lawal Abdullahi, whose seven daughters were among those kidnapped and freed, said the incident would not deter him from schooling his children.

Sudanese moviegoers are enjoying what organisers are saying is their first drive-in cinema after a festival showcasing the country’s resurgent, post-uprising film scene moved outdoors this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. About 100 vehicles gathered in a Khartoum parking lot across from giant screens showing Sudanese and European films on Friday, the start of a week-long festival organised by the British Council. “We’re watching films from our cars, and that’s something that has never happened before in Sudan,” said Asmaa, among festival attendees sitting inside, next to, and on top of their cars for the nighttime screenings. Once heavily regulated by the regime of former President Omar al-Bashir, who was toppled in 2019, public spaces in Sudan are being slowly reclaimed, helped by a re-ignited art scene. Films from Sudan’s small cinema industry have won awards at major festivals, and Sudan submitted its first film, You Will Die at Twenty, to the Academy Awards in 2020. This week’s festival expanded to include Sudanese films in 2018, said British Council country director Robin Davies, but precautions against Covid-19 prompted a change of format. “I’m so happy that the festival has Sudanese films, and we encourage all the creatives and young people to produce movies,” said Rabab al-Haj, another moviegoer. “We need programmes like this in Sudan.”

All 279 girls kidnapped from their boarding school in northern Nigeria have been released and are on government premises, the local governor told AFP Tuesday. Nigeria has been rocked by four mass abductions of students in less than three months, sparking widespread anger against the government and memories of the 2014 kidnapping of hundreds of schoolgirls in Chibok, in the country's east, that shocked the world. "I am happy to announce that the girls are free," Dr. Bello Matawalle, governor of Zamfara state, told an AFP journalist. "They have just arrived in the government house and are in good health." An AFP reporter saw hundreds of girls wearing hijabs, gathered at the government premises. Authorities initially said 317 girls were abducted in the raid by hundreds of gunmen on the Government Girls Secondary School in remote Jangebe village on Friday. But Matawalle said the "total number of female students abducted" was 279. "We thank Allah they are all now with us." AFP footage showed minibuses pulling up in the night with students inside and lines of girls filing into a building. Government officials had been in talks with the kidnappers, known locally as bandits. A source said "repentant bandits" had been contacted to reach out to their former comrades as part of efforts to free the students. - Armed gangs -Heavily armed criminal gangs in northwest and central Nigeria have stepped up attacks in recent years, kidnapping for ransom, raping and pillaging. The Nigerian military deployed to the area in 2016 and a peace deal with bandits was signed in 2019 but attacks have continued. In December, more than 300 boys were kidnapped from a school in Kankara, in President Muhammadu Buhari's home state of Katsina, while he was visiting the region. The boys were later released but the incident triggered outrage and memories of the kidnappings of 276 schoolgirls by jihadists in Chibok. Many of those girls are still missing. The gangs are largely driven by financial motives and have no known ideological leanings. But there are concerns they are being infiltrated by armed Islamists. The jihadists' decade-old conflict has killed more than 30,000 people and spread into neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon. Authorities have denied paying any ransom to secure the recent releases, although analysts say this is unlikely and security experts fear that this will lead to an increase in kidnappings in these regions plagued by extreme poverty. President Buhari, who has been criticised for failing to deal with the unrest, had insisted that he would "not succumb to blackmail by bandits". Kidnapping for ransom in Africa's most populous country is already a widespread national problem, with businessmen, officials and ordinary citizens snatched from the streets. At least $11 million was paid to kidnappers between January 2016 and March 2020, according to SB Morgen, a Lagos-based geopolitical research consultancy. The student abductions have increased the number of children who cannot attend school, especially girls. The regions involved account for the greatest number of unschooled children in the world, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group says.

Almost 100 migrants were rescued off Libya’s west coast yesterday as they made failed attempts to reach Europe, while around 20 were missing, AFP reporters and the coastguard said. People traffickers have thrived amid the lawlessness that followed the overthrow of dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in 2011, making the North African country an important conduit for migrants seeking safety and a better life in Europe. The Libyan coastguard rescued the mostly African migrants as they attempted perilous sea crossings to Italy and brought them to a naval base in the capital Tripoli, where they were met by a team from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). The majority of the migrants were from Cameroon, Sudan and Mali, an IOM representative said. The survivors included six women and two children. Two people in critical condition were transported to hospital in the Libyan capital. Some 20 people were still missing, according to the coastguard.  “The additional tragedy is that in most cases, there is very little search to recover the bodies of those who drown,” said Safa Msehli, IOM spokesperson in Geneva. “The sight of bodies washing ashore later has become too familiar.” More than 1,200 migrants and asylum-seekers died while crossing the Mediterranean in 2020, according to the IOM. On Saturday, German charity Sea-Watch said it had saved nearly 150 migrants off the Libyan coast in two operations. International agencies frequently denounce the return to Libya of migrants intercepted at sea due to the chaotic situation in the country and poor conditions in detention centres. “At least 3,700 men, women, and children, were returned to (Libya) this year,” the IOM said Friday on Twitter. “Most were taken to detention, where already dire conditions continue to worsen.”

Gunmen in Nigeria on Saturday released 42 people, including 27 students, who were kidnapped from a boarding school last week in the north-central state of Niger, the state's governor said. Their release comes just a day after a separate raid on a school in Nigeria's Zamfara state where gunmen seized more than 300 girls. Kidnappings for ransom by armed groups, many of whom carry guns and ride motorcycles, are common across many northern Nigerian states. Last week, twenty-seven students, three staff and 12 members of their families were abducted by an armed gang who stormed the Government Science secondary school in the Kagara district of Niger state at around 2 a.m., overwhelming the school's security detail. One boy was killed during the raid. ‘The Abducted Students, Staff and Relatives of Government Science Collage Kagara have regained their freedom and have been received by the Niger State Government,’ Governor Abubakar Sani Bello said in a tweet The recent attacks have raised concern about rising violence by armed gangs and insurgents. Militant group Boko Haram carries out abductions in Nigeria's turbulent northeast, as does a branch of Islamic State. The unrest has become a political problem for President Muhammadu Buhari, a retired general and former military ruler who has faced mounting criticism in recent months over high profile attacks by the gangs known locally as ‘bandits’. Buhari replaced his long-standing military chiefs this month amid worsening violence in Nigeria. Violence and insecurity have compounded the economic challenges faced by citizens in Africa's most populous country and top oil exporter, which is struggling to cope with a fall in revenues due to a slump in crude prices in addition to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.  

Ivory Coast received a shipment of Covid-19 doses from the Covax vaccine-sharing facility yesterday, becoming the second country to benefit from a programme meant to ensure fairer distribution amid a global scramble. A plane carrying 504,000 doses touched down in the commercial capital Abidjan, paving the way for the West African nation to launch a vaccination campaign next week. By the end of this year, Covax plans to deliver nearly 2bn doses to over 90 low- and middle-income countries, hoping to level a playing field that has seen wealthier nations vaccinate millions while comparatively few have received shots in poorer parts of the world. “This fight against the pandemic must be done in a democratic manner,” said Ivorian Health Minister Eugene Aka Aouele as he welcomed the arrival of the shipment. “The democratisation of the fight enables our countries to get the right to the vaccines in the same way as the big nations,” he said. The first batch from Covax was delivered to neighbouring Ghana on Wednesday. The plan should provide coverage for up to 20% of countries’ populations. But it will not be enough to reach herd immunity and effectively contain the virus, forcing African countries to also look to bilateral agreements, donations and an African Union procurement plan. And while many countries will receive the Covax shots for free, they have to find financing for distribution and community outreach. “You want to make sure that the right regulatory approval, the right cold storage is there and everything else, otherwise you risk having things not work,” said Seth Berkley, chief executive of the GAVI vaccines alliance, which leads Covax with the World Health Organisation and other partners. Africa’s reported Covid-19 death toll surpassed 100,000 last week, much less than other continents but rising fast as a second wave of infections overwhelms under-equipped hospitals. Ivory Coast, population 25mn, has recorded around 35,650 coronavirus cases and 188 deaths. In Abidjan, some residents were sceptical about the vaccination drive. “It’s the rich and their families who will get vaccinated,” said 40-year-old vegetable-seller Seydou Kamagate, as customers at his stall nodded in agreement.  “I don’t think my family and I will ever get a vaccine.”

Several hundred girls are missing after a raid by suspected armed bandits on a school hostel in Zamfara, northwest Nigeria, a teacher and parent told AFP on Friday, in what would be the latest mass kidnapping in the troubled region. Heavily-armed criminal gangs in northwest and central Nigeria have stepped up attacks in recent years, kidnapping for ransom, raping and pillaging. ‘More than 300 girls are unaccounted for after a headcount of remaining students,’ a teacher at the Government Girls Secondary School Jangebe who asked to remain anonymous. A parent told AFP he had received a call about the incident. ‘I'm on my way to Jangebe. I received a call that the school was invaded by bandits who took away schoolgirls. I have two daughters in the school,’ said Sadi Kawaye. Police have not yet confirmed the incident. Last week, 42 people were taken by a gang from a school in nearby Niger state. More than 300 boys were kidnapped from a school in December in Kankara, President Muhammadu Buhari's home state of Katsina, while he was visiting the region. The boys were later released after negotiations with government officials but the incident triggered global outrage.  

Italy’s ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) was among three people killed yesterday when a UN convoy came under attack in the troubled east, Congo sources and the Italian government said. Luca Attanasio died of his wounds after a World Food Programme (WFP) convoy came under gunfire near Goma while he was on a field trip, a senior diplomatic source said in Kinshasa. The Italian government confirmed Attanasio’s death and said an Italian police officer, Vittorio Iacovacci, as well as a local driver it did not identify, had also died. President Sergio Mattarella lashed what he called a “cowardly attack”. “The Italian republic is in mourning for these servants of the state who lost their lives,” he said in a statement. Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio expressed his “great dismay and immense sorrow”, breaking off from a meeting in Brussels with EU counterparts to make an early return to Rome. “The circumstances of this brutal attack are not yet known and no effort will be spared to shed light on what happened,” Di Maio said. His Congolese opposite number Marie-Therese Tumba Nzeza offered Italy the DR Congo government’s condolences for “this huge loss”, pledging in a video sent to media to “do everything to find out who is behind this despicable murder”. Attanasio, 43, had been representing Italy in Kinshasa since 2017, first as head of mission, and then as ambassador from October 2019. The envoy suffered “gunshot wounds to the abdomen” and was taken to a hospital in Goma in critical condition, the diplomat in Kinshasa said. The DR Congo’s army said its troops were searching the area for the assailants. A vast country the size of continental Western Europe, the DR Congo is grappling with numerous conflicts, especially in its remote, mineral-rich east. Scores of militias roam the four eastern provinces, many of them a legacy of wars in the 1990s that sucked in countries around central-southern Africa and claimed millions of lives. The Rome-based WFP said that Attanasio was on a fact-finding mission with the UN’s food agency. “The delegation was travelling from Goma to visit a WFP school feeding programme in Rutshuru when the incident took place,” it said in a statement. “The attack ... occurred on a road that had previously been cleared for travel without security escorts,” it said. The convoy was attacked about 10.15am (0815 GMT) in an attempted kidnap near the town of Kanyamahoro, about 25km (15 miles) north of the regional capital Goma, a spokesman for the Virunga National Park told Reuters. Armed groups in the area include a Rwandan Hutu militia called the FDLR, as well as the M23, also known as the Congolese Revolutionary Army. The governor of North Kivu province, Carly Nzanzu Kasivita, told Reuters that the assailants stopped the convoy by firing warning shots. They killed the driver and were leading the others into the forest when park rangers opened fire. The attackers killed the bodyguard and the ambassador also died, Nzanzu said. The region includes the Unesco-listed Virunga National Park, a vast wildlife reserve that is home to a quarter of the world’s population of critically endangered mountain gorillas. More than 200 of the park’s rangers have been killed in attacks stretching back more than a decade. The UN’s refugee agency, the UNHCR, said last week that more than 2,000 civilians were killed in North and South Kivu and Ituri province last year. Attanasio joined the Italian diplomatic service in 2003 and served previously in Switzerland, Morocco and Nigeria. He was hailed as “a man gifted with uncommon courage, humanity and professionalism” by Emanuela Del Re, who was deputy foreign minister from 2018 until last month. Del Re said she worked with Attanasio on the emergency repatriation of a “very sick” nun from DR Congo. “I remember his infectious smile, his class, his great knowledge of African affairs,” she said. “Ciao (good-bye) my dear esteemed Luca.”  Attanasio was married and had three young daughters, according to his Facebook page. “He was an enthusiastic young diplomat with a great sensitivity to social problems,” said Mauro Garofolo at the Sant’Egidio charity based in Rome. “He closely followed our work such as our programme to help HIV/Aids sufferers.” Attanasio is the second European ambassador to have been killed while serving in the DR Congo. In January 1993, French ambassador Philippe Bernard was killed during riots in Kinshasa sparked by troops opposing dictator Mobutu Sese Seke. Yesterday’s attack was in the same village where two British tourists were briefly kidnapped in 2018, leading the Virunga National Park to close to tourists for nine months. 

eSwatini’s King Mswati III said he had recovered from Covid-19 after Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen sent antiviral medication to help him. The small southern African country, an absolute monarchy formerly known as Swaziland, is Taiwan’s only remaining diplomatic ally on the continent, and Taipei has provided large amounts of economic and other aid. In a speech on Friday, the king said while the country awaited the arrival of vaccines, there was an antiviral drug that could be used to treat the illness, which he did not name. He said he had tested positive “for a couple of days” in the first week of January, but was now negative. “I am grateful to the president of the Republic of China on Taiwan for sending through this medication to treat me,” he said, using the island’s formal name in the speech posted on the eSwatini government’s official Twitter account https://twitter.com/EswatiniGovern1. Taiwan Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou said that upon hearing the king was infected, Tsai arranged medical assistance for him. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is gratified to hear of the eSwatini king’s successful recovery under the joint care of Taiwanese and eSwatini medical staff,” she said. The king could have been referring to Gilead Sciences Inc’s antiviral drug remdesivir, which was conditionally approved in Europe in July for treating Covid-19 in adults and adolescents with pneumonia requiring oxygen support.

Gunfire broke out in Mogadishu yesterday when the opposition tried to march against delayed elections in the Somali capital, sending months of political tensions bursting into the open. Somalia missed a deadline to hold an election by February 8, when President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, better known by his nickname Farmajo, was due to step down, sparking a constitutional crisis in the already-fragile state. Farmajo and leaders of the country’s federal states have been unable to resolve squabbles over how the vote is to be conducted, after hopes of hosting Somalia’s first one-person, one-vote ballot since 1969 were abandoned due to security and political problems. A coalition of opposition candidates have said they no longer recognise Farmajo as president and had vowed mass protests until he steps down. A small group of protesters attempted to march down the main airport road, when shots rang out, sending them ducking for cover, according to AFP footage of the incident. It was unclear who opened fire first, but one witness Yusuf Mohamed reported a “heavy exchange of gunfire” between security forces and armed guards protecting opposition supporters. Meanwhile witnesses and police confirmed an explosive projectile had hit an area hosting shops and restaurants just inside the airport gates. “Something hit a restaurant inside the airport, it burned, I cannot say what it was but it caused a heavy explosion and fire that devastated the whole restaurant,” said witness Liban Ali. After the incident the opposition leaders addressed a press conference, charging the shooting incident was an assassination attempt and that rockets had been fired. “Myself, several other candidates, legislators and other protesting civilians survived a direct attempt to get rid of us,” said former prime minister Hassan Ali Khaire. Another opposition leader, Abdiharman Abdishakur, said: “The rockets they fired at us passed and struck the airport where it caused destruction.” By early afternoon gunfire had subsided in the capital. In an address to the nation Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble said he was “deeply disappointed with what has happened in Mogadishu the past 24 hours.” “I call on the people in Mogadishu to stand up against violence. We will not accept organised demonstrations led by armed men against the security forces.” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “gravely concerned by the outbreak of violence in Mogadishu and calls on all parties to exercise restraint and calm,” a statement from his spokesman said. He urged federal and state leaders to finalise a deal for national elections while also calling for the right to peacefully protest to be respected. The government had warned the opposition against staging the protest, due to soaring coronavirus cases in the city. However the opposition coalition vowed to press on. The group is allied against Farmajo but includes candidates running individually for his job, including two of Somalia’s former presidents. Farmajo had been due to hold a meeting with regional leaders on Mogadishu yesterday in the latest bid to resolve the election impasse, however it did not take place. Tensions first erupted overnight, with both sides accusing the other of staging attacks. The Somali government in a statement accused “armed militiamen” protecting opposition leaders of attacking a government security checkpoint and seeking to take over parts of Mogadishu. The opposition denied this and accused government forces of attacking the hotel where they were staying. “They have attacked Maida hotel where myself and former president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud” were staying, said another former president Sharif Sheikh Ahmed on Twitter. After the fighting overnight, government forces took control of the public square where the protest was to be held, and closed down all roads leading there, stationing military vehicles and troops around the capital.

 * South Africa expecting 7mn Pfizer doses by June * Study suggested variant may reduce protective antibodies * Advisers say vaccine still good fit for country * S.Africa worst-affected by pandemic on continent Two of the South African government's top advisers on Covid-19 backed Pfizer's vaccine on Friday, despite a study earlier this week showing that the dominant local coronavirus variant may reduce protective antibodies it triggers. The country is counting on the Pfizer shot, developed with German partner BioNTech, to step up its vaccination programme after administering its first Johnson & Johnson doses on Wednesday. AstraZeneca vaccinations are on hold after a small local trial found the shot offered minimal protection against mild to moderate illness from the 501Y.V2 variant first identified late last year. The laboratory study published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggested that the 501Y.V2 variant may reduce protective antibodies elicited by the Pfizer vaccine by two-thirds. But scientists were quick to caution that because the study's findings were from a lab it was difficult to judge what they might mean in the real world. Professor Barry Schoub, chairman of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on vaccines, told Reuters the two-thirds reduction in antibodies mentioned in the study "means there is quite a significant remnant neutralising potency, ... we feel Pfizer is still a very good vaccine in our context". The advisory committee held its regular weekly meeting on Thursday and discussed the study. While it has not been established in a clinical trial that the Pfizer vaccine protects against the more contagious 501Y.V2 variant, "we can have a reasonable extrapolation because it's such a potent stimulator of the immune system", Schoub said, adding that authorities would monitor closely those who get the Pfizer vaccine. Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said on Wednesday that South Africa was expecting 500,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine initially and about 7 million doses by June. 'WITHIN TOLERABLE LIMITS' Professor Salim Abdool Karim, another government adviser, said in a separate interview that the reduction in neutralising activity identified in the study was "within the tolerable limits of what we can accept". Importantly, he said, it was not yet established that antibodies against the spike protein that the virus uses to infect human cells correlate with protection. "It is one of many hypotheses that are currently being investigated," he said, adding: "We do not know what it is in these vaccines that's leading to protection." Asked whether he would recommend pausing Pfizer vaccinations for now, he said: "No, in fact the opposite. This is within our tolerable limits of neutralisation." He said there was little point in doing a clinical study to further test the Pfizer vaccine against the local variant because it was already being adapted with a 501Y.V2 insert. "So if we had to start a clinical study, by the time we get the results they will already have their new vaccine," he continued. South Africa, with nearly 1.5 million cases and over 48,000 deaths, has recorded almost half the Covid-19 fatalities and over a third of confirmed infections in Africa. It lagged richer nations in launching its immunisation campaign.

Gunfire broke out in Mogadishu on Friday as the opposition tried to march against delayed elections in the Somali capital where roads have been sealed off and heavy security deployed over the planned protest, witnesses said. Months of political tensions over the holding of elections in the fragile Horn of Africa nation have burst into the open, prompting the United Nations to call for "calm and restraint". Somalia missed a deadline to hold an election by February 8, when President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, better known by his nickname Farmajo, was due to step down, creating a constitutional crisis. Farmajo and leaders of the country's federal states have been unable to resolve squabbles over how the vote is to be conducted, after hopes of hosting Somalia's first one-person, one-vote ballot since 1969 were abandoned over security and political problems. A coalition of opposition candidates have said they no longer recognise Farmajo as president and had vowed mass protests until he steps down, to begin on Friday. A small group of protesters attempted to march down the main airport road, when the shooting started. - 'Heavy explosion' -It was unclear who opened fire first, but one witness Yusuf Mohamed reported a "heavy exchange of gunfire" between security forces and armed guards protecting opposition supporters. "There can be casualties but we are taking cover now I don't know exactly what happened," he told AFP. Meanwhile witnesses and police confirmed an explosive projectile had hit an area hosting shops and restaurants just inside the airport gates, however it was unclear what it was. "Something hit a restaurant inside the airport, it burned, I cannot say what it was but it caused a heavy explosion and fire that devastated the whole restaurant," said witness Liban Ali. After the incident the opposition leaders addressed a press conference, charging the shooting incident was an assassination attempt and that rockets had been fired. "Myself, several other candidates, legislators and other protesting civilians survived a direct attempt to get rid of us," said former prime minister Hassan Ali Khaire. "If there was anyone with doubt about the dictatorship political ideology of Farmajo, they can get inspiration from what happened last night and this morning." Another opposition leader, Abdiharman Abdishakur, said: "The rockets they fired at us passed and struck the airport where it caused destruction." By early afternoon gunfire had subsided in the capital. - 'Armed militiamen'-The government had warned the opposition against staging the protest, due to soaring cases of coronavirus in the city. However the opposition coalition vowed to press on. The group is allied against Farmajo but includes candidates running individually for his job, including two of Somalia's former presidents. Farmajo was due to hold a meeting with regional leaders on Mogadishu on Friday in the latest bid to resolve the election impasse. Tensions first erupted overnight, with both sides accusing the other of staging attacks. The Somali government in a statement accused "armed militiamen" protecting opposition leaders of attacking a government security checkpoint and seeking to take over parts of Mogadishu. The opposition denied this and accused government forces of attacking the hotel where they were staying. "They have attacked Maida hotel where myself and former president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud," where staying, said another former president Sharif Sheikh Ahmed on Twitter. After the fighting overnight, government forces took control of the public square where the protest was to be held, and closed down all roads leading there, stationing military vehicles and troops around the capital. - 'Deeply concerned' -The UN in Somalia (UNSOM) wrote on Twitter it was "deeply concerned by armed clashes in Mogadishu overnight and on Friday morning, calls for calm and restraint by all parties involved, and urges that open lines of communication be maintained to help reduce tensions." UNSOM highlighted the urgent need for the federal government and states to "reach political agreement" on the election. Somalia has not had an effective central government since the collapse of Siad Barre's military regime in 1991, which led to decades of civil war and lawlessness fuelled by clan conflicts. The country also still battles the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab Islamist militant group which controlled the capital until 2011, but retains parts of the countryside and carries out attacks against government, military and civilian targets, seemingly at will, in Mogadishu and regional towns. Somalia still operates under an interim constitution and its institutions, such as the army, remain rudimentary, backed up with international support. The election was to follow a complex indirect system used in past election in which special delegates chosen by Somalia's myriad clan elders pick lawmakers, who in turn choose the president.