Four African leaders head to Mali amid political crisis

Yahoo – AFP, Serge DANIEL and Kassim TRAORE, July 20, 2020

Mali (AFP Photo)

Bamako (AFP) - Malian leaders are gearing up for more mediation talks on Thursday, when four African presidents will fly to the country in a bid to resolve its deepening political crisis.

The leaders of Ivory Coast, Ghana, Senegal and Niger are all due to arrive in the country, according to an official from Mali's presidency, saying that their visit concerned the impasse but did not elaborate.

Thursday's talks follow on the heels of a mediation mission from the West Africa bloc ECOWAS, which ended Sunday after failing to reconcile the president with the political opposition.

President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has been locked in a standoff for weeks with the opposition June 5 Movement, and the conflict spiralled into violent clashes earlier this month, leaving 11 dead.

Opposition figures have been tapping into a wellspring of anger over the president's perceived failures in tackling the dire economy, corruption and the country's eight-year-old jihadist conflict.

Many Malians are also incensed at the outcome of long-delayed parliamentary elections in March and April that handed victory to Keita's party.

But the current crisis came to a head on July 10, after an anti-Keita rally organised by the June 5 Movement turned violent.

Protesters blocked key bridges in the capital Bamako, stormed the premises of the state broadcaster, and attacked the parliament.

Three days of clashes between protesters and security forces followed, leaving 11 dead and 158 injured, according to an official tally, in the worst political unrest Mali had seen in years.

The ECOWAS mission on Sunday suggested the formation of a new unity government including opposition members, as well as the appointment of new judges to constitutional court who could potentially re-examine disputed election results.

But the June 5 Movement had earlier rejected any outcome that does not include Keita's departure -- a demand opposition leaders have insisted on for weeks.

The movement is a disparate alliance of political, social and civil society leaders gathered around powerful imam Mahmoud Dicko, who is seen as its de facto leader though he is not a formal member.

Neither Keita nor Dicko had commented on the failed ECOWAS effort by Monday.

'Radical change' urged

Mali's neighbours and international allies are anxious to avoid a slide into chaos in the poor Sahel nation of some 20 million people.

The former French colony has been struggling to contain a jihadist insurgency that first emerged in the north in 2012 before spreading to the centre.

Thousands of soldiers and civilians have died in the conflict, and hundreds of thousands of people have been driven from their homes.

Keita, who came to power in 2013, has been under increasing pressure to stop the fighting.

But much of the current tension in Mali was sparked in April, when the constitutional court tossed out 31 results from the parliamentary elections, sparking protests.

Many Malians were awaiting Dicko's next move after the ECOWAS mission ended on Sunday.

A European diplomat, who declined to be named, told AFP that Dicko had met foreign ambassadors on Monday, telling them that "the doors of dialogue are not closed, but Mali's governance must radically change".

ECOWAS mediators had also said Sunday that they would set up a technical committee to oversee their recommendations, suggesting that talks between the warring parties may continue.

In Egypt, sexual predator case reignites #MeToo debate

Yahoo – AFP, Menna Zaki and Hager Harabech, July 16, 2020

A woman in Egypt checks an Instagram account for reporting allegations of
sexual harassment and misconduct (AFP Photo/Khaled DESOUKI)

Cairo (AFP) - Egypt has seen a strong resurgence of the #MeToo movement after dozens of women made shocking claims of sexual abuse and assault by a member of the country's wealthy elite.

Amid a campaign unprecedented in its intensity in the deeply conservative country, state and religious authorities have started to take a firmer stand.

The latest outpouring of anger, on the Instagram account "Assault Police", centres on allegations against Ahmed Bassam Zaki, a 22-year-old former student of some of Egypt's most elite schools and universities.

They have ranged from claims that he took part in a rape at the gym hall of a gated residential community to screen-grabs showing salacious messages and blackmail of women. Some alleged incidents involved girls as young as 14.

Police on July 4 arrested Zaki who, according to prosecutors, has confessed to assaulting at least six girls including one aged under 18 and to blackmailing the victims.

While Zaki is awaiting trial, his case has kicked off a wave of other complaints in a society where, United Nations surveys say, most women have experienced catcalling, pinching, groping or worse.

In this file photo from 2013 protesters hold up placards and shout slogans during
a demonstration against sexual harassment in Egypt's capital Cairo (AFP Photo/
Khaled DESOUKI)

"Women immediately jumped at the opportunity to vent and tell their stories," the Instagram page administrator told AFP, requesting anonymity for fear of reprisals.

"It is now bigger than Ahmed Bassam Zaki. We receive a dozen messages per minute from girls and women telling of personal incidents of harassment, abuse and rape, some dating back years."

Victim-blaming

Following Zaki's arrest, the campaign has swept up other well-known figures.

One of them is Mohamed Hashem, a writer and founder of a top publishing house, who was detained over harassment allegations but later released on bail.

The current momentum builds on earlier #MeToo waves in Egypt, the latest in January following a mob assault on two women in Mansoura, north of Cairo, on New Year's Eve.

The Zaki case highlights that sexual assault and harassment -- widely perceived to be more prevalent among the poorer classes -- pervades all levels of society.

Zaki is a former student of the prestigious American University in Cairo. He briefly went on to study in Barcelona but was expelled this month after a claim of online harassment by another student.

A protester at a 2013 rally in Cairo holds a placard pledging an 'uprising of 

women in the Arab world' (AFP Photo/Khaled DESOUKI)

"We are talking about Class A, the creme de la creme of society who enrol in universities and schools worth tens of thousands of pounds annually," said Fathy Farid of Aman, an initiative against gender-based violence.

Campaigners hope the case will help shift attitudes in Egypt, which only criminalised sexual harassment in 2014.

Women in Egypt are often reluctant to speak out about sexual harassment, fearing public shaming and being blamed for wearing "provocative" clothing.

'A safer place'

In stark contrast to the #MeToo revival, Egypt has also seen an ongoing campaign targeting female TikTok influencers accused of "indecency and immorality".

Among recent cases is that of a 17-year-old girl who was arrested after posting a TikTok video in which she said she had been gang raped by a group of young men.

These girls "suffer discrimination and bullying" and their arrests "are part of violence against women because they come from lower classes," said lawyer Intesar al-Saeed.

Campaigners hope to shift attitudes in Egypt, which only criminalised sexual 

harassment in 2014 (AFP Photo/Khaled DESOUKI)

The Instagram group administrator also reported "a lot of these messages" attacking the women, but added that "they are nothing compared to the messages of support".

As more online testimonies have kept pouring in, the National Council for Women said it had received at least 400 complaints and enquiries on sexual harassment and abuse.

The government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has taken some action.

His cabinet has approved amendments, yet to be passed by parliament, to the criminal code that would grant the right of anonymity to victims of sexual assault.

And the prestigious religious institution Al Azhar released a strongly-worded statement lambasting harassment as "forbidden and deviant".

The Dar al-Iftar, in charge of issuing religious edicts, slammed those who blame women for wearing provocative clothing as "sick".

The Instagram activist said the goal is, "if we're not forced to shut down the account for any reason, to turn Assault Police into a platform for women to share their stories.

"We are optimistic about making this country a safer place for women."

Sudan criminalises female genital mutilation

Yahoo – AFP, Abdelmoneim Abu Idris, July 10, 2020

Sudanese women walk in the capital Khartoum's district of Jureif Ghar (AFP
Photo/ASHRAF SHAZLY)

Khartoum (AFP) - Sudan's highest governing body Friday ratified a law criminalising female genital mutilation, a widespread ritual in the African country, the justice ministry announced.

The sovereign council, comprising military and civilian figures, approved a series of laws including criminalisation of the age-old practice known as FGM or genital cutting that "undermines the dignity of women", the ministry said in a statement.

The reform comes a year after longtime president Omar al-Bashir was toppled following months of mass pro-reform protests on the streets in which women played a key role.

Sudan's cabinet in April approved amendments to the criminal code that would punish those who perform FGM.

"The mutilation of a woman's genital organs is now considered a crime," the justice ministry said, punishable by up to three years in prison.

It said doctors or health workers who carry out genital cutting would be penalised, and hospitals, clinics or other places where the operation was carried out would be shut.

Sudanese women lift national flags by burning tyres as they take part in a
demonstration on Sixty Street in the capital Khartoum, on May 23, 2020
(AFP Photo/Ashraf SHAZLY)

Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok hailed Friday's decision.

"It is an important step on the way to judicial reform and in order to achieve the slogan of the revolution -- freedom, peace and justice," he tweeted.

The premier vowed that Sudan's new authorities would "forge ahead and review laws and make amendments to rectify flaws in the legal system".

Long decried as barbaric

Nearly nine out of 10 girls in Sudan fall victim to FGM, according to the United Nations.

In its most brutal form, it involves the removal of the labia and clitoris, often in unsanitary conditions and without anaesthesia.

The wound is then sewn shut, often causing cysts and infections and leaving women to suffer severe pain during sex and childbirth complications later in life.

Rights groups have for years decried as barbaric the practice, which can lead to myriad physical, psychological and sexual complications and, in the most tragic cases, death.

A doctor gives medical advice about female genital mutilation to a woman 

in Egypt, where the practice is already banned (AFP Photo/Mohamed el-Shahed)

The watershed move is part of reforms that have come since Bashir's ouster.

"It is a very important step for Sudanese women and shows that we have come a long way," women's rights activist Zeinab Badreddin said in May.

The United Nations Children's Fund has also welcomed the move.

"This practice is not only a violation of every girl child's rights, it is harmful and has serious consequences for a girl's physical and mental health," said Abdullah Fadil, the UNICEF Representative in Khartoum.

The UN says FGM is widespread in many countries across Africa, the Middle East and Asia, affecting the lives of millions of girls and women.

In Sudan, rights campaigners say the custom has over the past three decades spread to remote regions where it was previously not practised, including Sudan's Nuba mountains.

In neighbouring Egypt, as in several other countries, genital cutting is now prohibited. A 2008 law punishes it with up to seven years in prison.

Sudan's anti-FGM advocates came close to a ban in 2015 when a bill was discussed in parliament but then shot down by Bashir who caved in to pressure from some Islamic clerics.

Yet many religious leaders have spoken out against genital cutting over the years.

Commonwealth should 'acknowledge' past wrongs, says Prince Harry

Yahoo – AFP, July 6, 2020

Harry, Duke of Sussex, seen here in conversation with Formula 1 champion Lewis
 Hamilton, had already spoken out last week against institutional racism (AFP
 Photo/PETER NICHOLLS)

London (AFP) - Prince Harry has urged the Commonwealth, which his grandmother heads, to acknowledge its uncomfortable colonial past, in video extracts published on Monday.

The 35-year-old royal and his wife, Meghan, joined a video conference call with leaders organised by the Queen's Commonwealth Trust (QCT) from their base in the United States.

The sessions were set up in response to the growing Black Lives Matter movement, sparked by the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, during a US police arrest.

Harry last week outlined his personal commitment to tackling institutional racism, saying it had "no place" in society but was still too widespread.

On the July 1 call, posted on the QCT website, he said: "When you look across the Commonwealth, there is no way that we can move forward unless we acknowledge the past.

"So many people have done such an incredible job of acknowledging the past and trying to right those wrongs but I think we all acknowledge there is so much more still to do.

"It's not going to be easy and in some cases it's not going to be comfortable, but it needs to be done, because, guess what, everybody benefits."

Queen Elizabeth II is the head of the Commonwealth, a non-political organisation of 54 countries, most of which have links to the British Empire.

It comprises 2.4 billion people -- a quarter of the world's population -- of which 60 percent are aged under 30.

The QCT was set up to give younger people from member nations a platform to share ideas and insights.

The chief executive of the QCT, Nicola Brentnall, has said the body is studying how the Commonwealth's colonial past and its legacy should shape its future.

Harry and Meghan stepped down from frontline royal duties this year and have set up a non-profit organisation focusing on the promoting of mental health, education and well-being.

Meghan, a mixed-race US former actress, has previously talked about her own personal experience of racism and unconscious bias.

Former army officer Harry has also complained about the "racial undertones" of media coverage of his wife.

The couple are president and vice-president respectively of the QCT.

Belgian 'regret' for Congo past stirs bittersweet response

Yahoo – AFP, June 30, 2020

King Leopold II pillaged DR Congo and treated the colony as his personal
property (AFP Photo/SAMIR TOUNSI)

Kinshasa (AFP) - DR Congo hailed Belgium on Tuesday after its monarch, King Philippe, voiced his "deepest regrets" for the country's brutal colonial occupation, but some in the country demanded reparations for the past.

In a letter to President Felix Tshisekedi on the nation's 60th anniversary of independence, Philippe expressed unprecedented sorrow for colonial acts that historians say led to the death of millions of Congolese.

"I want to express my deepest regrets for these wounds of the past whose pain is reawakened today by the discrimination still present in our societies," Philippe said.

"Acts of violence and cruelty were committed which weigh on our collective memory," he said.

DR Congo Foreign Minister Marie Ntumba Nzeza, in statement to AFP, said the king's letter was "balm to the heart of the Congolese people. This is a step forward that will boost friendly relations between our nations."

Tshisekedi, in a TV address on the eve of the anniversary, paid tribute to Belgium, where he lived in self-imposed exile before returning to run successfully in the 2018 elections.

Philippe, he said, "is searching, just like me, to strengthen the ties between our two countries, without denying our common past, but with the goal of preparing a bright and harmonious future."

In contrast, Lambert Mende, the former spokesman of Tshisekedi's predecessor, Joseph Kabila, said, "It's not enough to say, 'I feel regret.'

"People should be willing to repair the damage in terms of investment and compensation with interest. That's what we expect from our Belgian partners."

Herve Diakiese, spokesman of a citizen's movement called Congolais Debout (Congolese, Stand Up), said the monarch's letter was "a step in the right direction."

"But this belated remorse can only be accepted after adequate reparations for these atrocities which enabled the personal enrichment of Leopold II and his friends," he said, referring to the former Belgian monarch who pillaged Congo from 1885 to 1908.

"Belgium's mischief-making after independence on June 30 1960 to control the DRC's minerals should also feature among reparation issues," he said.

Looted Congolese artefacts, too, should be returned, he added.

Jean-Claude Katende, the president of Asadho, one of the oldest rights groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo, called for a greater effort to identify provinces where colonial Belgium carried out its worst atrocities.

"In Equateur (province), people were killed and others had their hands cut off," he said.

Belgium is contemplating setting up a parliamentary commission to investigate its colonial rule, which also extended over Rwanda and Burundi.

'It's my dam': Ethiopians unite around Nile River mega-project

Yahoo – AFP, Robbie COREY-BOULET, June 29, 2020

The Blue Nile flowing through the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. The project is
passionately supported by the Ethiopian public despite the tensions it has stoked
with Egypt and Sudan downstream (AFP Photo/EDUARDO SOTERAS)

Addis Ababa (AFP) - Last week, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's press secretary took a break from official statements to post something different to her Twitter feed: a 37-line poem defending her country's massive dam on the Blue Nile River.

"My mothers seek respite/From years of abject poverty/Their sons a bright future/And the right to pursue prosperity," Billene Seyoum wrote in her poem, entitled "Ethiopia Speaks".

As the lines indicate, Ethiopia sees the $4.6 billion (four-billion-euro) Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam as crucial for its electrification and development.

But the project, set to become Africa's largest hydroelectric installation, has sparked an intensifying row with downstream neighbours Egypt and Sudan, which worry that it will restrict vital water supplies.

Addis Ababa plans to start filling next month, despite demands from Cairo and Khartoum for a deal on the dam's operations to avoid depletion of the Nile.

The African Union is assuming a leading role in talks to resolve outstanding legal and technical issues, and the UN Security Council could take up the issue Monday.

With global attention to the dam on the rise, its defenders are finding creative ways to show support -- in verse, in Billene's case, through other art forms and, most commonly, in social media posts demanding the government finish construction.

To some observers, the dam offers a rare point of unity in an ethnically-diverse country undergoing a fraught democratic transition and awaiting elections delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Abebe Yirga, a university lecturer and expert in water management, compared the effort to finish the dam to Ethiopia's fight against Italian would-be colonisers in the late 19th century.

"During that time, Ethiopians irrespective of religion and different backgrounds came together to fight against the colonial power," he said.

"Now, in the 21st century, the dam is reuniting Ethiopians who have been politically and ethnically divided."

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (AFP Photo)

Hashtag activism

Ethiopia broke ground on the dam in 2011 under then-Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who pitched it as a catalyst for poverty eradication.

Civil servants contributed one month's salary towards the project that year, and the government has since issued dam bonds targeting Ethiopians at home and abroad.

Nearly a decade later, the dam remains a source of hope for a country where more than half the population of 110 million lives without electricity.

With Meles dead nearly eight years, perhaps the most prominent face of the project these days is water minister Seleshi Bekele, a former academic whose publications include articles with titles like "Estimation of flow in ungauged catchments by coupling a hydrological model and neural networks: Case study".

As a government minister, though, Seleshi has demonstrated an ear for the catchy soundbite.

At a January press conference in Addis Ababa, he fielded a question from a journalist wondering whether countries besides Ethiopia might play a role in operating the dam.

With an amused expression on his face, Seleshi looked the journalist dead in the eye and responded simply, "It's my dam."

In those five seconds, a hashtag was born.

Coverage of the exchange went viral, and today a Twitter search for #ItsMyDam turns up seemingly endless posts hailing the project.

At recent events officials have even distributed T-shirts bearing the slogan to Ethiopian journalists, who proudly wear them around town.

The dam's wall is 145 metres (475 feet) high. Filling the lake that will form behind it 

will probably take years (AFP Photo/EDUARDO SOTERAS)

Banana boosterism

Some non-Ethiopians have also gotten in on #ItsMyDam fever.

Anna Chojnicka spent four years living in Ethiopia working for an organisation supporting social entrepreneurs, though she recently moved to London.

In March, holed up with suspected COVID-19, she began using a comb and thread-cutter to imprint designs on bananas.

Her #BananaOfTheDay series has included bruises portraying the London skyline, iconic scenes from Disney movies and the late singer Amy Winehouse.

But by far the most popular are her bananas related to the dam, the first of which she posted last week showing water rushing through the concrete colossus.

On Thursday she posted a banana featuring a woman carrying firewood, noting that once the dam starts operating "fewer women will need to collect firewood for fuel".

The image was quickly picked up by an Ethiopian television station.

"Maybe the fact that I'm international, and not Ethiopian, but I'm sort of showing solidarity is meaningful," Chojnicka told AFP when asked why she thought the dam posts were so well-received.

"It shows that this is something that's not only seen as valuable by Ethiopians, but the value is also something that an international person can see."

Political pressure

Big hydro projects have in many parts of the world fallen out of favour in the face of their environmental impact and outsized cost compared with wind and solar.

In Ethiopia, though, fervour for the GERD has eclipsed such doubts, and stoked pressure on Abiy to start filling it next month regardless of what happens in upcoming talks.

Failure to do so would prompt a backlash that would be "catastrophic for the prime minister and his government", said Jawar Mohammed, a leading opposition politician.

Abiy has so far shown no sign of retreating from the timeline.

In October, the same month he won the Nobel Peace Prize, he went so far as to assure lawmakers that "millions" of troops could be mobilised to defend the dam if necessary.

Billene, his press secretary, used similarly direct language in her poem extolling the dam's virtues.

"When I say 'it's my dam'," she wrote, "I damn well mean it too."

Kenyans march in capital against police violence

Yahoo – AFP, June 8, 2020

Protest: Residents of Mathare demonstrate against police violence (AFP Photo/
TONY KARUMBA)

Nairobi (AFP) - Around 200 people turned out Monday for a protest in a poor Nairobi neighbourhood against police violence linked to the deaths of 15 people nationwide since the authorities imposed a curfew to fight coronavirus.

The crowd in the Mathare neighbourhood was composed mostly of young people and mothers carrying signs with the names of friends, neighbours and sons killed in police operations in recent years.

"I am here to protest for our youth who have died in the hands of the police without any wrongdoings and we are saying enough is enough. As mothers, many of our youths have been killed while being labelled as thieves," said Mathare resident Rahma Wako.

Kenya's Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) reported last week it had received 87 complaints against police since the dusk-to-dawn curfew and heightened security measures were imposed on March 27.

Some 15 deaths and "31 incidents where victims sustained injuries" have been "directly linked to actions of police officers during the curfew enforcement", it said.

In recent days, cities around the world have seen massive protests against racism and police violence prompted by last month's police killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old unarmed black man in the US state of Minnesota.

Though Floyd's killing has not led to major protests in Kenya, activists on social media have seized the moment to highlight the country's own scourge of police brutality, which typically goes unpunished.

Kenya's police force is often accused by rights groups of using excessive force and carrying out unlawful killings, especially in poor neighbourhoods.

In April, Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused the police of imposing the coronavirus curfew in a "chaotic and violent manner from the start", sometimes whipping, kicking and teargassing people to force them off the streets.

It described the case of 13-year-old Yassin Hussein Moyo who died in Nairobi on March 31 after being shot while standing on his balcony as police forced people into their homes on the street below.

Other cases include a tomato seller who died in western Kakamega after being hit by a teargas canister, and four men who were beaten to death in different parts of the country.

Interior Minister Fred Matiangi on Friday criticised police excesses, but "took exception to painting the entire service with the same brush", his office said in a statement.

On Thursday, the IPOA announced six police officers would be arrested and prosecuted -- one for Moyo's death; another for shooting dead a secondary school teacher while responding to a burglary at a market in western Siaya; and four others for seriously assaulting a man during an arrest.

Top Egypt medical union warns of health system 'collapse'

Yahoo – AFP, May 25, 2020

Egyptian medical staff intubate a patient in a coronavirus isolation ward at a
Cairo hospital (AFP Photo/YAHYA DIWER)

Cairo (AFP) - Egypt's top medical union on Monday warned of a "complete collapse" of the country's health system, accusing the health ministry of negligence in failing to protect healthcare workers from coronavirus.

"The syndicate is warning that the health system could completely collapse, leading to a catastrophe affecting the entire country if the health ministry's negligence and lack of action towards medical staff is not rectified," the Egyptian Medical Syndicate said in a statement.

COVID-19 has killed 19 doctors and infected more than 350, according to the EMS, a body representing thousands of Egyptian doctors.

"The EMS holds the health ministry entirely responsible for the mounting deaths and infections among doctors due to its negligence... that is tantamount to death through a dereliction of duty," it added.

Egypt, the most populous Arab country, has recorded more than 16,000 COVID-19 cases and over 700 deaths.+

The EMS called on the "executive, judicial and legislative" branches of government to force the health ministry to comply with its demands.

These included providing all doctors with personal protective equipment (PPE), training for dealing with coronavirus cases and testing for those with symptoms or who have come into contact with infected people.

Hospitals have been hit by a flight of doctors abroad in recent years while the frontline staff left behind face shortages of medical supplies and protective gear that heightens the risk of infection.

The EMS statement came after 32-year-old doctor Walid Yehia died on Saturday after being unable to secure a bed in an isolation hospital.

The country's 17 isolation hospitals reserved for novel coronavirus patients reached their maximum capacity at the start of the month, deputy health minister Ahmed al-Sobki told local press last week.

A colleague resigned in protest from the same Cairo hospital where Yehia worked.

In a widely shared online post, the co-worker blamed the health ministry for not treating Yehia as soon as he showed symptoms of the virus.

In recent weeks Egypt has sent medical aid to countries including China Italy and the United States, angering many medical professionals, who complain about the lack of PPE domestically.

"The health ministry has an obligation towards doctors and all medics who are sacrificing their lives on the front lines to defend the safety of the homeland," the EMS said.

"It is imperative to provide them with the necessary protection and rapid medical intervention for those who contract the disease".

Madagascar sends troops, doctors to virus-hit eastern town

Yahoo – AFP, May 25, 2020

Madagascar has made wearing face masks obligatory during the pandemic
(AFP Photo/RIJASOLO)

Antananarivo (AFP) - Madagascar's government has announced it will dispatch troops and doctors to an eastern town after several bodies were found in the streets and where two people died from the novel coronavirus.

Madagascar's cabinet held a special meeting on Sunday to discuss the situation in Toamasina, the country's second largest city.

The Indian Ocean island nation has registered 527 infections and two deaths, both in Toamasina.

Since Thursday, more than 120 new cases were confirmed, and several bodies were found in the city's streets though the cause of death was not clear.

"Doctors must carry out thorough examinations to see if these deaths are caused by another illness (...) or if they are really due to severe acute respiratory problems which is the critical form of COVID-19," Professor Hanta Marie Danielle Vololontiana, spokesperson for the government's virus taskforce, said in a national broadcast on Sunday.

The government will send 150 soldiers to reinforce Toamasina, maintain order and enforce measures against the coronavirus such as mask wearing and social distancing.

The cabinet also fired Toamasina's prefect without providing any explanation.

A team was also ordered to distribute a drink based on artemisia, a plant recognised as a treatment against malaria, which the Malagasy authorities claim cures COVID-19.

The potential benefits of this herbal tea, called Covid-Organics, have not been validated by any scientific study.

The cabinet has also announced an investigation into the death of a doctor in Toamasina. According to local press, the victim was hospitalised after contracting COVID-19 and was found dead hanged in his room on Sunday morning.

Madagascar virus potion scorned because it's from Africa: president

Yahoo – AFP, May 11, 2020

Madagascar's President Andry Rajoelina sips Covid Organics, which he
touts as a remedy for coronavirus (AFP Photo/RIJASOLO)

Antananarivo (AFP) - Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina on Monday batted away criticism for promoting a homegrown "remedy" for COVID-19, charging that the West has a condescending attitude toward traditional African medicine.

"If it wasn't Madagascar, and if it was a European country that had actually discovered this remedy, would there be so much doubt? I don't think so," he told French media in an interview.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has repeatedly warned that the Covid-Organics infusion, which Rajoelina has touted as a remedy against the deadly coronavirus, has not been clinically tested.

The drink is derived from artemisia -- a plant with proven anti-malarial properties -- and other indigenous herbs.

"African scientists... should not be underestimated," he told France 24 and Radio France International (RFI).

"I think the problem is that (the drink) comes from Africa and they can't admit... that a country like Madagascar... has come up with this formula to save the world," said Rajoelina, who claims the infusion cures patients within 10 days.

Already Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Niger and Tanzania have taken delivery of consignments of the potion, which was launched last month.

"No country or organisation will keep us from going forward," Rajoelina said in response to the WHO's concerns.

He said proof of the tonic's efficacy was in "the healing of our sick".

Madagascar has officially reported 183 coronavirus infections and 105 recoveries, with no deaths.

"The patients who were cured were cured through the administration of Covid-Organics alone," the president said.

He referred to the remedy as "an improved traditional medicine", adding that Madagascar was not conducting clinical trials but "clinical observations" in accordance with WHO guidelines.

Related Article:

WHO cautions against use of Madagascar anti-virus potion

WHO cautions against use of Madagascar anti-virus potion

Yahoo – AFP, Philippe Alfroy, May 7, 2020

Madagascar's President Andry Rajoelina drinks a sample of Covid Organics which
he touted as a remedy for coronavirus (AFP Photo/RIJASOLO)

Johannesburg (AFP) - The World Health Organization on Thursday advised governments to clinically test a herbal drink touted by Madagascar's President Andry Rajoelina as a remedy against coronavirus.

The Covid-Organics infusion is derived from artemisia -- a plant with proven anti-malarial properties -- and other indigenous herbs.

Rajoelina hopes to distribute the infusion across West Africa and beyond, claiming it cures COVID-19 patients within 10 days.

Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Niger have already received consignments of the potion. Others such as Tanzania have expressed interest.

But the World Health Organization (WHO) has repeatedly warned that there are no published scientific studies of the herbal tea and that its effects have not been tested.

"We would caution and advise countries against adopting a product that has not been taken through tests to see its efficacy," WHO Africa Director Matshidiso Moeti said in a press briefing on Thursday, calling on Madagascar to take the drink "through a clinical trial".

Moeti said that in 2000, African governments had committed to taking "traditional therapies" through the same clinical trials as other medication.

"I can understand the need, the drive to find something that can help," Moeti said. "But we would very much like to encourage this scientific process in which the governments themselves made a commitment."

Rajoelina defended his tonic during a coronavirus screening campaign in Madagascar's eastern city of Toamasina on Thursday.

"The WHO has indicated that artemisia could lead to a cure for coronavirus," the president said, promising to submit the drink to clinical trials.

Scepticism remains

Earlier this week, the WHO recognised artemisia as a "possible treatment" for COVID-19. But the organisation also repeated its calls for more rigorous testing.

South Africa's Health Minister Zweli Mkhize on Wednesday said Madagascar had reached out for "help" with scientific research.

"Our scientists would be able to assist with this research," Mkhize tweeted, adding that South Africa would only "get involved in a scientific analysis of the herb".

The country has the highest number of coronavirus cases in sub-Saharan Africa, with 7,808 infections and 153 fatalities recorded to date.

Neighbouring eSwatini -- a tiny landlocked nation wedged between South Africa and Mozambique -- said it would not consider Rajoelina's tonic for the time being.

"It is important as a country to first ascertain where such herbal products have been tested," she said Health Minister Lizzie Nkosi on Thursday.

"We have to do adequate proper research and be sure that the product works."

To date eSwatini has reported 123 cases of coronavirus, including two deaths.

Meanwhile, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has debunked claims that it had ordered a package of Covid-Organics from a "third country".

"We are aware that several claims of a COVID-19 cure have been made in different parts of the world," ECOWAS said in a statement on Wednesday.

"But we can only support and endorse products that have been shown to be effective through scientific study."