Africa

Photo credit: Paul Saad/African Arguments

COVID-19: An Open Letter from African Intellectuals to Africa’s Leaders

100 leading academics and writers call on leaders to govern with compassion and see the crisis as a chance for a radical change of direction. The following is the full text of the letter, being reproduced courtesy of African Arguments under a Creative Commons Licence 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).

LONDON (IDN) – The threats that are hanging over the African continent with regards to the spread of COVID-19 demand our individual and collective attention. The situation is critical. Yet this is not about mitigating another “African” humanitarian crisis but to diffuse the potentially damaging effects of a virus that has shaken the global order and put under question the bases of our living-together.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 07 May 2020

COVID-19: Urgent Need for African Governments to Upgrade the Health Systems

By Kester Kenn Klomegah*

MOSCOW (IDN) – Amid multifold theories and disinformation spreading around the COVID-19 in Africa, it is important for African governments to consider strengthening the existing health systems and infrastructures, and allocate substantial funds for health research and production of basic equipment, for attaining sustainable development goals set in the African Agenda 2063, according to experts.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 07 May 2020

Why Russia Is Slow to Unlock Media Potential with Africa

Viewpoint by Kester Kenn Klomegah

MOSCOW (IDN) – Researchers and experts have identified a lack of interest and a well-coordinated mechanism as being behind the absence of effective Russian media cooperation with Africa. European and Western media brands, such as British Broadcasting Corporation, Cable News Network, Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France Press, Quartz and Bloomberg, are active with their African partners, while the Russian media are largely invisible.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; THE WORLD; Russia; 01 May 2020

Photo: The unsung heroes of Majengo slums | YouTube screenshot.

Two 'Unsung Heroes' Helping Kenya's Slum Dwellers Facing Coronavirus

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Journalists who step out of their high-floor offices or manage to escape from their coronavirus confinement sometimes find a great story right on the street below. Such was the story discovered by Kevin Phillips Momanyi, a reporter with Kenya’s Tuko news channel.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 29 April 2020

'Flowers of Hope' from Kenya As Major Markets Dry Up

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – It was inevitable during a lockdown that sales of Kenya’s flower exports would dry up as buyers make fewer impulse purchases of carnations, roses and other blossoms.

According to data from the Kenya Flower Council, sales of cut flowers in overseas markets have fallen below 35 per cent of what is expected this time of the year.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 29 April 2020

Photos: Three African artists who have passed away: (left to right) South Sudan's Dr. Mansour Khalid; Sierra Leone's Abou Whyte; Cote d'Ivoire's Rose Marie Guiraud, a distinguished African dancer.

Africans Mourn the Passing of a Distinguished Thinker and two Outstanding Artists

By Lisa VIves, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – While the rate of fatalities in Africa is still much below that of developed countries, every life lost is a library gone, according to a saying. Here are three noted Africans who passed this year just as thousands of lives were tragically lost to the coronavirus worldwide.

Dr. Mansour Khalid, a prolific author in both Arabic and English, exposed all the ailments of Sudanese elites that led to the secession of South Sudan in July 2011. These ills are vividly elucidated in two books –The Government They Deserve: The Role of the Elite in Sudan’s Political Evolution in 1990, and The Paradox of Two Sudans: The CPA and the Road to Partition in 2015.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 28 April 2020

Photo: A passenger washing hands using the new device before boarding a public service vehicle at Muangatsi Market Centre Bus Stage, Busia County, Kenya. Credit: Kevin Wafula.

Kenyans Are Innovative in Finding Ways to Fight COVID-19

By Justus Wanzala

BUSIA, Kenya (IDN) – It is a hot afternoon at a bus station at Mungatsi market centre, Nambale Sub-County, in Busia County, Western Kenya. Many people, many travellers, are queuing to wash their hands. Each person is maintaining a distance from the other as they wash their hands and board public service vehicles heading to their various destinations.

Hand washing before boarding public service vehicles and maintaining social distance are new practices that Kenyans are constrained to observe. They have been declared mandatory by health authorities as a safety measure to contain the spread of COVID-19.

: Justus Wanzala; THE WORLD; Africa; 27 April 2020

Image credit: UN Economic Cooperation for Africa

COVID-19: Should You Believe What ECA Is Saying About Africa?

Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene *

ABUJA, Nigeria (IDN) – In one of his bestsellers, The Zahir, Paulo Coelho said there are two major problems in life: knowing when to begin and knowing when to stop.

If, for example, Nigeria had closed its borders early on and enforced quarantine for all returning Nigerians, whoever they are, things might have been different today. I’m sure many others would say the same for their own countries as well.

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 24 April 2020

Collage of coronavirus affected Africa and animated video by INPS-IDN.

The Impact of COVID-19 Stalks Africa – Animated Video Tells Children About It

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – While Africa, like the international community, on the whole, is engaged in a tough fight against the coronavirus, a World Health Organization (WHO) expert has called into question frightening estimates of those affected by COVID-19. At the same time, Ghana in a surprise move has ordered a partial lift of the lockdown. The pandemic virus is luring Rwanda into massive 'loans' under the garb of debt reduction.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 22 April 2020

Photo: Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) meets with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali, who was in Beijing for the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, at the Great Hall of the People on April 24, 2019. Credit: Xinhua/Ding Lin.

The Chinese Experience in Fighting COVID-19 and the Imperative of a Global Coalition – Part 2

Viewpoint by Teshome Toga Chanaka

This is the second of a two-part article by Teshome Toga Chanaka, currently Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia to China. Click here for Part 1. Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the government and IDN, the flagship of non-profit International Press Syndicate.

BEIJING (IDN) – Can the Chinese experience be replicated elsewhere? No two social, economic, political and cultural settings are identical.